DISCLAIMER: There's only so many ways I can NOT claim ownership of these characters or anything else otherwise depicted in the SSX games created by Electronic Arts. I just write! hehe. On with the story
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The air of excitement was hard to escape. The day had finally come, the first event of this year's League, and there wasn't a single person on the mountain who didn't know this fact. Since first arriving for their meeting with Atomika, the riders had all been allowed to warm up the past few days on the mountain but, much to all of their chagrin, they had been told that they wouldn't be allowed to race any of the competition tracks until the League officially started. Zoe in particular hadn't been too happy with this news, wondering how they were going to be expected to race well without knowing a single thing about the courses. "Just point yourself downhill and you should be fine," was the response from the smiling Atomika. Zoe had just scowled and muttered to herself under her breath, altho the nearby Psymon thought he overheard something about "avalanches" and "courses probably aren't even ready". At least the first event would be on Snow Jam, one of the courses they had seen shots of during the video presentation.
Elevated stands lined portions of the track, and each section was filled to capacity with fans eagerly waiting to see the riders of the year. Merchants you usually saw at football and baseball games walked up and down the ailes selling beer, hot cocoa, and popcorn to the crowd as they waited for the day's events to get underway. The League officials had decided it would be a good idea to put the four new riders in the first heat with two other veterans, so this was a way for the public to see all of the fresh blood in action.
At the top of the course, the six riders selected for the first heat were stretching and getting into their bindings. Music swelled up the mountain from the speakers that lined the course below. The sounds of cowbells and cheering fans were barely audible from up here, but were deafening to those in the stands close to the source. Elise and Zoe had been chosen to be the veteran riders of this race, and were on either end of the line almost as human bookends of the newbies. Next to Zoe was Nate, followed by the ever-flamboyant Viggo who was performing one stretch that made him look even more effeminate than usual; then Allegra, and finally Griff next to Elise. Elise was stretching in her starting gate, squatting with her arms extended in front of her, as Griff cruised up into his gate beside her.
"Hey ElEEEEEEEEEEEse," said Griff, who quickly cut himself off as his pre-teen voice cracked on him. He was obviously nervous at his first race here in the League. Elise did a good job choking down a chuckle in front of the boy, but a few starting slots away Nate and Viggo were howling with laughter. "EEEEEEE," squeaked Viggo, and Nate bent over laughing at the impression. Griff's face flushed crimson as he stared down the mountain. It wasn't his fault he was so much younger than everyone else. Allegra simply sighed and turned to the two, "Oh, grow UP you guys."
"Gr-grow up?" gasped Nate. "It sounds like our little Griff is doing that right now!" and he began laughing again even harder than before. Viggo was rocking back and forth as he convulsed with laughter, wiping a tear from his eye from the force of his guffaws. Zoe popped out of her bindings and walked the few short paces behind Nate. "She said shut it, ass!" and with a quick shove sent Nate off balance and he fell face first into the snow. Viggo started to laugh harder, but quickly forced himself to regain his composure as Zoe took another step in his direction with her right arm cocking a punch.
"Riders, take your starts!" the official at the top of the hill called through his megaphone, and the group turned their focus back on the race that was about to begin. The lights suspended horizontally twenty feet above and ahead of the group glowed red: the riders all grabbed the handrails on either side of theit gates and lowered into position. Yellow... fingers adjusted on the grips, boards began to rock back and forth for momentum out of the gate. Yellow again, just one second to go. Griff's hands tightened on his grips and he slid his board backwards one last time. The light turned green and with a collective heave the riders were out of the gates!
The beginning of a race was always the hardest part. There wasn't much room to maneuver, and oftentimes the entire race could be won and lost depending on who led the pack right at the beginning. Allegra tucked herself low with her hands pulled to the small of her back. She led Viggo, but was trying to stay far enough to the side of Griff that he wouldn't cause her any problems. He, however, seemed to be more concerned with Elise, who with her height posed more of a physical threat to his wellbeing should they collide.
On the other side of the pack, Nate and Viggo were already heating up. Each rider kept swerving slightly towards the other, playing a parallel game of chicken as they tried to psych the other one out and cause him to swerve out of the way of a potential crash. Zoe was slightly behind and to the left of the two, watching their little duel. She smiled to herself, tucked in low and angled towards Nate whose back was currently to her. As she began to pull alongside, her right arm crossed her body and came back to catch Nate squarely in the jaw. The move caught him completely off guard since his attention had been focused on Viggo, and he tumbled into the snow. "God damn it, bitch!" he yelled as he quickly tried to push himself upright again. "Why don't you 'grow up', Nate?" Zoe yelled back at him, an evil smile on her face. Griff heard the comment and quickly glanced her way with a smile on his face, and she returned it with a thumbs up sign.
"Now show me what you got, kid!" Zoe yelled as the pack approached the first jump and she threw herself into the air for a Misty flip, reaching low and back through her legs to grab the board. Griff squinted his eyes in determination and followed suit on the other side of the ledge, opting for a 720 spin as he popped one of his boots out of his bindings and hung his free leg out to the side. As he finished his rotation he pulled his leg back and placed his foot back in his binding: the step-in bindings made their satisflying "click" as his board hit the snow and pushed up against his boot. "Nice!" yelled Zoe and Griff grinned again. This was quite possibly the best day of his life.
The wind rushed in the face of the riders as the pack continued to make its way downhill. Elise led the pack, her long blonde ponytail whipping this way and that behind her head. "Ahh," she thought to herself, "It's nice to have long hair again." After cutting her hair for a modelling shoot before last season, it felt good to feel the wind flowing over her long blonde locks again. It was a good thing her hair always grew quickly in the summer weather. Atomika's voice boomed across the course as he commentated the race, "Elise Riggs is currently holding first place folks! Not too much surprise there, that gal's shown herself time and again to be a true speed queen!"
"'Gal'?" Nate thought to himself from the back of the pack. "I bet he's gonna hear about that one later from Ice-zilla herself." He focused on the next jump ahead of him, and his eyes picked up a log lying to the side of the dropoff. "Well, nothing to lose," he thought to himself, and quickly brought the nose of his board around towards the wooden pseudo-rail. A small ollie later and he found himself riding the log away from the main path and flying out over an 80 foot dropoff that he hadn't been expecting. A quick yelp escaped his lips as his arms flailed: his balance had been off center and he was falling into a prone position. It was time for desperate measures... Nate pulled his knees up to his chest and leaned even further back, forcing himself to come all the way around before the ground rushed up to meet him. Just at the last second his board came out from above his head and he brought his board to heel edge to swerve away from the otherwise oncoming rock face straight ahead.
Elise had seen Nate come sailing from above her, watching as he miraculously saved himself from a situation that easily could have given him a broken neck. Unfortunately she was uphill of where Nate was flying to, and her line was almost directly going to put her where he was going to land. She didn't expect that experience to be pleasant for either of them. She curved to the right side of the track, determined not to lose any speed by slowing down just so she wouldn't crash into him. Her plan worked, and Nate landed just to her side and slightly ahead of her, but he quickly dug in an edge since he was flying perpindicular to the course's path. With a six foot high rooster tail of snow, Elise was eating the frozen plume coming from the bottom of Nate's board. She yelled as her arms went to cover her face, but her eyes were forced shut and she caught an edge when she lost her concentration, tumbling shortly off the side of the trail.
"Sorry about that!" Nate yelled behind him, but the grin that emerged from within his 3-day stubble said otherwise. Sure, he would have been sorry if he had crashed into her. He wasn't sorry to suddenly take the lead from her though, and a faceful of snow just made that move all the more comical to him. Nate had always admired Elise when he had watched her on TV during the past two seasons, admired her speed and the way she handled herself both on and off the course. But he thought she was perhaps a little too arrogant and could probably stand to be brought down a peg or two.
Back in the powder off the side of the trail, Elise pulled herself up and pushed herself back onto the main path with the rest of the riders chasing the new pack leader. "And Nate Logan takes the lead with an amazing move to cut out a huge corner of track!" yelled Atomika again through the course speakers. "But they're only a quarter of the way down the mountain folks, still a lot of race ahead of us. And anything can happen when these riders hit the woods!"
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I know I portrayed Zoe a little "nicer" than many people might think of her, but you have to believe that she's still a good gal beneath the tough-chick exterior and I felt like showing a little of that through her standing up for Griff. Ok folks, you wanted action and you got a taste. :) This chapter was originally shorter, shorter than the previous two in fact, but I felt I wasnt giving nearly enough action for those who have been waiting patiently so I appended the section with Nate & Elise. Next chapter we see what happens during the rest of the race! Stay tuned
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The air of excitement was hard to escape. The day had finally come, the first event of this year's League, and there wasn't a single person on the mountain who didn't know this fact. Since first arriving for their meeting with Atomika, the riders had all been allowed to warm up the past few days on the mountain but, much to all of their chagrin, they had been told that they wouldn't be allowed to race any of the competition tracks until the League officially started. Zoe in particular hadn't been too happy with this news, wondering how they were going to be expected to race well without knowing a single thing about the courses. "Just point yourself downhill and you should be fine," was the response from the smiling Atomika. Zoe had just scowled and muttered to herself under her breath, altho the nearby Psymon thought he overheard something about "avalanches" and "courses probably aren't even ready". At least the first event would be on Snow Jam, one of the courses they had seen shots of during the video presentation.
Elevated stands lined portions of the track, and each section was filled to capacity with fans eagerly waiting to see the riders of the year. Merchants you usually saw at football and baseball games walked up and down the ailes selling beer, hot cocoa, and popcorn to the crowd as they waited for the day's events to get underway. The League officials had decided it would be a good idea to put the four new riders in the first heat with two other veterans, so this was a way for the public to see all of the fresh blood in action.
At the top of the course, the six riders selected for the first heat were stretching and getting into their bindings. Music swelled up the mountain from the speakers that lined the course below. The sounds of cowbells and cheering fans were barely audible from up here, but were deafening to those in the stands close to the source. Elise and Zoe had been chosen to be the veteran riders of this race, and were on either end of the line almost as human bookends of the newbies. Next to Zoe was Nate, followed by the ever-flamboyant Viggo who was performing one stretch that made him look even more effeminate than usual; then Allegra, and finally Griff next to Elise. Elise was stretching in her starting gate, squatting with her arms extended in front of her, as Griff cruised up into his gate beside her.
"Hey ElEEEEEEEEEEEse," said Griff, who quickly cut himself off as his pre-teen voice cracked on him. He was obviously nervous at his first race here in the League. Elise did a good job choking down a chuckle in front of the boy, but a few starting slots away Nate and Viggo were howling with laughter. "EEEEEEE," squeaked Viggo, and Nate bent over laughing at the impression. Griff's face flushed crimson as he stared down the mountain. It wasn't his fault he was so much younger than everyone else. Allegra simply sighed and turned to the two, "Oh, grow UP you guys."
"Gr-grow up?" gasped Nate. "It sounds like our little Griff is doing that right now!" and he began laughing again even harder than before. Viggo was rocking back and forth as he convulsed with laughter, wiping a tear from his eye from the force of his guffaws. Zoe popped out of her bindings and walked the few short paces behind Nate. "She said shut it, ass!" and with a quick shove sent Nate off balance and he fell face first into the snow. Viggo started to laugh harder, but quickly forced himself to regain his composure as Zoe took another step in his direction with her right arm cocking a punch.
"Riders, take your starts!" the official at the top of the hill called through his megaphone, and the group turned their focus back on the race that was about to begin. The lights suspended horizontally twenty feet above and ahead of the group glowed red: the riders all grabbed the handrails on either side of theit gates and lowered into position. Yellow... fingers adjusted on the grips, boards began to rock back and forth for momentum out of the gate. Yellow again, just one second to go. Griff's hands tightened on his grips and he slid his board backwards one last time. The light turned green and with a collective heave the riders were out of the gates!
The beginning of a race was always the hardest part. There wasn't much room to maneuver, and oftentimes the entire race could be won and lost depending on who led the pack right at the beginning. Allegra tucked herself low with her hands pulled to the small of her back. She led Viggo, but was trying to stay far enough to the side of Griff that he wouldn't cause her any problems. He, however, seemed to be more concerned with Elise, who with her height posed more of a physical threat to his wellbeing should they collide.
On the other side of the pack, Nate and Viggo were already heating up. Each rider kept swerving slightly towards the other, playing a parallel game of chicken as they tried to psych the other one out and cause him to swerve out of the way of a potential crash. Zoe was slightly behind and to the left of the two, watching their little duel. She smiled to herself, tucked in low and angled towards Nate whose back was currently to her. As she began to pull alongside, her right arm crossed her body and came back to catch Nate squarely in the jaw. The move caught him completely off guard since his attention had been focused on Viggo, and he tumbled into the snow. "God damn it, bitch!" he yelled as he quickly tried to push himself upright again. "Why don't you 'grow up', Nate?" Zoe yelled back at him, an evil smile on her face. Griff heard the comment and quickly glanced her way with a smile on his face, and she returned it with a thumbs up sign.
"Now show me what you got, kid!" Zoe yelled as the pack approached the first jump and she threw herself into the air for a Misty flip, reaching low and back through her legs to grab the board. Griff squinted his eyes in determination and followed suit on the other side of the ledge, opting for a 720 spin as he popped one of his boots out of his bindings and hung his free leg out to the side. As he finished his rotation he pulled his leg back and placed his foot back in his binding: the step-in bindings made their satisflying "click" as his board hit the snow and pushed up against his boot. "Nice!" yelled Zoe and Griff grinned again. This was quite possibly the best day of his life.
The wind rushed in the face of the riders as the pack continued to make its way downhill. Elise led the pack, her long blonde ponytail whipping this way and that behind her head. "Ahh," she thought to herself, "It's nice to have long hair again." After cutting her hair for a modelling shoot before last season, it felt good to feel the wind flowing over her long blonde locks again. It was a good thing her hair always grew quickly in the summer weather. Atomika's voice boomed across the course as he commentated the race, "Elise Riggs is currently holding first place folks! Not too much surprise there, that gal's shown herself time and again to be a true speed queen!"
"'Gal'?" Nate thought to himself from the back of the pack. "I bet he's gonna hear about that one later from Ice-zilla herself." He focused on the next jump ahead of him, and his eyes picked up a log lying to the side of the dropoff. "Well, nothing to lose," he thought to himself, and quickly brought the nose of his board around towards the wooden pseudo-rail. A small ollie later and he found himself riding the log away from the main path and flying out over an 80 foot dropoff that he hadn't been expecting. A quick yelp escaped his lips as his arms flailed: his balance had been off center and he was falling into a prone position. It was time for desperate measures... Nate pulled his knees up to his chest and leaned even further back, forcing himself to come all the way around before the ground rushed up to meet him. Just at the last second his board came out from above his head and he brought his board to heel edge to swerve away from the otherwise oncoming rock face straight ahead.
Elise had seen Nate come sailing from above her, watching as he miraculously saved himself from a situation that easily could have given him a broken neck. Unfortunately she was uphill of where Nate was flying to, and her line was almost directly going to put her where he was going to land. She didn't expect that experience to be pleasant for either of them. She curved to the right side of the track, determined not to lose any speed by slowing down just so she wouldn't crash into him. Her plan worked, and Nate landed just to her side and slightly ahead of her, but he quickly dug in an edge since he was flying perpindicular to the course's path. With a six foot high rooster tail of snow, Elise was eating the frozen plume coming from the bottom of Nate's board. She yelled as her arms went to cover her face, but her eyes were forced shut and she caught an edge when she lost her concentration, tumbling shortly off the side of the trail.
"Sorry about that!" Nate yelled behind him, but the grin that emerged from within his 3-day stubble said otherwise. Sure, he would have been sorry if he had crashed into her. He wasn't sorry to suddenly take the lead from her though, and a faceful of snow just made that move all the more comical to him. Nate had always admired Elise when he had watched her on TV during the past two seasons, admired her speed and the way she handled herself both on and off the course. But he thought she was perhaps a little too arrogant and could probably stand to be brought down a peg or two.
Back in the powder off the side of the trail, Elise pulled herself up and pushed herself back onto the main path with the rest of the riders chasing the new pack leader. "And Nate Logan takes the lead with an amazing move to cut out a huge corner of track!" yelled Atomika again through the course speakers. "But they're only a quarter of the way down the mountain folks, still a lot of race ahead of us. And anything can happen when these riders hit the woods!"
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I know I portrayed Zoe a little "nicer" than many people might think of her, but you have to believe that she's still a good gal beneath the tough-chick exterior and I felt like showing a little of that through her standing up for Griff. Ok folks, you wanted action and you got a taste. :) This chapter was originally shorter, shorter than the previous two in fact, but I felt I wasnt giving nearly enough action for those who have been waiting patiently so I appended the section with Nate & Elise. Next chapter we see what happens during the rest of the race! Stay tuned