Venue 5: Rush Hour
----- -----
(Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God...)
Kaori's mind raced as she saw Viggo look behind him and see a stampede of snow, tree trunks, and debris race towards him. He then looked back to Kaori and forced himself to go faster.
"KAORI!!!" he shouted, "We gotta outrun this thing!!"
"No, you THINK!?!" was the Japanese border's response as she also pushed her body to navigate through the pathway in front of her. She never noticed how well she was boarding, railing downed trees like it was second nature and catching air off gaps and tricking out to no end to build up her adrenaline, not once looking back. Viggo, too, did what he did best, taking his own line down Happiness, but he was awed by Kaori's skills. The avalanche died down about 700 meters from the fork in the pathway that Kaori separated from Hiro, but still she kept on until she saw sight of the overhead glass sign the signified Peak 1's main attractions... Without thinking, Kaori braced herself and launched, twirling her body around while dislocating herself from her snowboard. It was a pretty picture as she performed a Sick 2150 Katana to a Body Board, holding the board close to herself as she spun and landed the trick, trashing the sign (and because of the blue attire and helmet she wore, she didn't notice) and landing on a rail.
Kaori, now going out of character, started to show off, getting off the board as she railed it and while standing up, flipped it on it's side and rode on it until it got near the end of the rail. She quickly got herself back on the board and jumped off, doing a small FS 360 with a stalefish and then board pressed, riding it down for a while until saw another cross...
(Hmm...)
A smile crossed her face and she headed right... right towards R&B to show off some more. Viggo was following close behind, checking out Kaori's moves and getting it all on a digital camera.
(Now I'm starting to believe all the hype around this girl) he thought. (Excellent... I'll ask her to be my riding partner sometime... Maybe on Kick Doubt on Peak 3...)
----- ------
(No sign of the Mac... Great! This race is in the BAG!!!)
Nate was leading the Ruthless Ridge final race for the last 1:25 and now the end was just a giant jump away. There was a high road hanging over that he could pull his signature move, the Banger, on and do it with a bunch of SSX fans watching in the stands. No one was going to catch up... so it wouldn't hurt. As he approached the jump, however...
"Wassup, mountain man!?"
"WHAT!?" Nate gasped as he looked to his left... and saw a blur... or rather TWO blurs past him and take the low road to his right. They were Mac and Allegra, both smiling at Nate as Nate stared at him for a while, temporarily forgetting that he lifted off... and slammed into the bottom of the upper route slope, making him tumble all the way down the bumpy lower road. He really FORGOT about the shortcut around the end of the track that the two companions took... and it cost him. On the lighter side of things...
"ALRIGHT!!!" Mac yelled out over the screaming crowd as he crossed the finish line. "First place AND the gold! That's how the Mac does his work!!"
"Yeah, awesome run, man!" Allegra congratulated. "Thanks on the tip on that shortcut."
Mac shrugged. "What can I say? I just wanted to, you know... beat Nate. Why do it alone?"
Allegra smiled. "You got that right..."
Mac didn't notice Allegra's soft tone when she said that. All he could think about for the moment was that he won his first Gold on Mount BIG without Hiro interfering... and the feeling was good. However... it would only get... more interesting... Mac felt a hand on his shoulder as he was about to take off his board from his feet and paused, looking over his shoulder. Allegra looked at him with a sweet look in her face and it made him blush all over again.
"How about... a prize...? It's not money, like what you're going to get in a minute... but I bet you'll like it..."
"A-and that would be...?" Mac asked, his voice a little quaky. Allegra brought herself closer to Mac, grabbing his left hand with her right and his right shoulder with her left. She leaned in, about to plant a kiss on Mac's lips, but... something unexpected happened. Mac was faster, not by a lot, but enough to make Allegra notice, and brought his lips to hers on his own free will. Allegra's eyes went wide for about a second, surprised about what Mac just did... but eventually let the moment carry on. The crowd let out wolf whistles and cheers as the two let the moment go on... and then they ended the kiss and looked at each other. Although it only lasted 13 seconds or so, it seemed to be a lot longer...
"M... Mac..." Allegra found herself stuttering, "Y... you actually...?"
Mac nodded. "Just returning the favor... for last night... You liked it?"
Allegra put a hand on her slightly freckled cheek, noticing that she found herself blushing a bit, and smiled at Mac. "Well... yeah, I did..."
"I hope you did..."
"YEAH, MAC!!! That's what I'm talking about!!!"
Just coming in was Marty, grabbing the bronze with his entry. However, that was the last thing on his mind. Mac smirked.
"You made it, uh?" he asked.
"Yeah, just in time to see you kiss Allegra. I knew it. You two are going places... and I don't think I mean the mountain."
Allegra twisted her face at Marty's smile, knowing exactly what he meant, and looked back at Mac. He was cute with all that urban gear and such on... She couldn't help but smile.
(Maybe I am...)
"Mac!"
Allegra's thought was cut off by Nate, who walked over to him after getting last place, Eddie just beating him out by a tenth of a second. Mac immediately turned his attention to the big man and brought his right hand down to swing the air in front of him for emphasis.
"Didn't I tell you you were going to be criss crossed all over this course, son?"
"Yeah, you did, Mac," Nate admitted. "You got lucky here, but I'll get you later. I'm going to chill out in the Ruthless Backcountry. Later, guys..."
As Nate rode off, Marty returned his attention to his cousin.
"So... what are you guys up to now?" he asked. Mac just shrugged.
"I don't know... Maybe..." he paused, looking at Allegra, who returned his glance with a smile, "Allegra and I will be doing some personal time... How about it, girl?"
"Sure thing, Mac," Allegra responded, getting ready to ride off. "You coming with, Marty?"
"You guys going to Peak 1?"
"Yeah... It is the bottom of the mountain, you know..."
"Fine. I'll be going down, but I'm going with Griff. I heard he was around here, maybe on the halfpipe. I'm going to call him up on M-Comm and meet you at the top of Snow Jam."
"Fine," Allegra chimed. "We'll be down there. Just wait up for us, kay?"
Marty nodded and the three left, Marty going towards Griff's direction and Mac and Allegra going towards the bottom of the mountain... together.
----- -----
"Hey, did you hear about the avalanche on Happiness?"
"What?"
"Yeah. Atomika's all on it..."
"Yeah? Let me see you're M-Comm."
"You have your own..."
"Yeah, I know... I just like to mess with you."
"Okay, here..."
Near the bottom of the slopestyle R&B, Moby, Zoe, Jurgen and Marisol were chilling out, their boards resting behind them. Moby and Jurgen just had a little show off competition at the halfpipe section near the bottom of the course (Moby won) and now Zoe just laid down the word of the Peak 1 avalanche. Moby grabbed Zoe's headphones and listened to Atomika...
"...far no severe damage was laid out on the backcountry but riders are being cautioned not to head towards the very east side of the area due to the snow being unstable. You know we couldn't stop them entirely if we tried... then again, why would we? Insane, you ask? Tell that to Japanese veteran Kaori Nishidake. I was checking her out as she outran that avalanche on my Happiness mountain cams and I swear... it was like watching poetry in MOTION. Don't believe me? See this footage..."
Moby and Zoe gathered on that little solitary screen and eyeballed Kaori's full run down Happiness, and were in slight shock. They never saw anyone on the circuit rise that fluidly in the face of danger. It wasn't like Kaori at all...
"THAT'S Kaori!?" Marisol asked. "No way! She can't be feeling well to have done that. I mean.... wow..."
"Yeah, right?" Zoe commented while not looking at her. Atomika then spoke again.
"If there is not a reason to like her, then I don't know what is. Honestly, she's just that good. Want to interview her? Look for her as she shreds R&B as I speak. Okay, you guys... Now here's some recent SSX3 news. Ruthless Ridge has a new king. That's right... Nate Logan has finally shut his mouth... because Mac Fraser shut it for him along with Allegra Sauvagess. These two are making quite a buzz around the mountain lately as they are seen more frequently with each other... and after the little kiss that the two shared at the end of the run, let's just say that this little relationship isn't going to die anytime soon. Weird... Always thought of it being at least Kaori and Mac together... but hey, speaking of that, Hiro and Kaori are also getting to know each other very well... but this isn't the time to talk about SSX couples... That's in 10. To ease your pain of the lack of gossip... here. Take some Black Eyed Peas to make you feel better. Labor Day is the name of the song. Here we go."
Just as he ended and the song started, Hiro rode up behind the four and took his helmet off.
"You guys seen Kaori and Viggo?" he asked in a hurry.
"You kidding?" Jurgen asked. "You should have been watching your M-Comm... She totally ripped up Happiness and is on her way down here now."
"Really?" Hiro took a very deep breath and sighed it out in relief. "That's wonderful. I thought she might have gotten in trouble or something."
"Anything but,' Marisol reassured. Just then...
"BAAAAANNNZZZZIIII!!!!"
All heads poked up as Kaori lifted off the huge snow bunker over a parked SUV, performing her signature uber, the Pirouette Grind, and landed right in front of the five, taking off her helmet and raising an arm in the air.
"That was AWESOME!!" she congratulated herself. "I never had such an adrenaline rush-mmm!!"
Before she could react, Hiro ran over and gave her a big hug (of which Viggo also recorded on his camera as he rode up.)
"Kaori, you had me worried. Really, you did. I thought you were trapped in that avalanche once I reached the bottom and found out that you weren't behind me. You sure you okay?"
"Positive, Hiro," Kaori laughed while pushing herself away. "I'm fine. Just a little tired... from all the tricks I did."
"And it's all on tape," Viggo added while showing off his camera. "The best of Kaori Nishidake, volume 1. On sale VERY soon!"
All looked at him, Zoe and Moby the only ones to actually smile at the comment, then eyed Hiro and Kaori as the girl gave Hiro a look.
"You sure are worried about me, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah, I was," Hiro responded, running a hand through his hair coolly, "but I'm glad that you're okay. I'll let you rest here and then we can do something together, okay?"
"Wait a minute, Hiro," Kaori reassured. "I'm not that tired. My adrenaline is still up... Let's go and do a race at Snow Jam, you guys! I'll beat all of ya!"
"Well look who's all confident all of a sudden," Zoe joked while getting up. "Okay, since you're talking big, the least I can do is show you that you're biting off more than you can chew."
"Bring it on, Zoe!" Kaori provoked while getting ready. "Heck, I'll even race you from here down to Snow Jam. Ready, guys?"
"Hmm... an all out race..." Viggo thought as he also got ready with the rest. "Fine by me. Let's just keep it fun... Ready?"
"Set..." Moby called afterwards, bracing himself.
"GO!!!" Kaori finished, and the group took off...
----- -----
End of Venue. That was some chapter, wasn't it... and things are only going to get even crazier as over half the SSX circuit heads towards Snow Jam... The biggest question is... how will Kaori and Mac react to see each other with Hiro and Allegra respectively? You'll have to keep reading to find out!
----- -----
(Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God...)
Kaori's mind raced as she saw Viggo look behind him and see a stampede of snow, tree trunks, and debris race towards him. He then looked back to Kaori and forced himself to go faster.
"KAORI!!!" he shouted, "We gotta outrun this thing!!"
"No, you THINK!?!" was the Japanese border's response as she also pushed her body to navigate through the pathway in front of her. She never noticed how well she was boarding, railing downed trees like it was second nature and catching air off gaps and tricking out to no end to build up her adrenaline, not once looking back. Viggo, too, did what he did best, taking his own line down Happiness, but he was awed by Kaori's skills. The avalanche died down about 700 meters from the fork in the pathway that Kaori separated from Hiro, but still she kept on until she saw sight of the overhead glass sign the signified Peak 1's main attractions... Without thinking, Kaori braced herself and launched, twirling her body around while dislocating herself from her snowboard. It was a pretty picture as she performed a Sick 2150 Katana to a Body Board, holding the board close to herself as she spun and landed the trick, trashing the sign (and because of the blue attire and helmet she wore, she didn't notice) and landing on a rail.
Kaori, now going out of character, started to show off, getting off the board as she railed it and while standing up, flipped it on it's side and rode on it until it got near the end of the rail. She quickly got herself back on the board and jumped off, doing a small FS 360 with a stalefish and then board pressed, riding it down for a while until saw another cross...
(Hmm...)
A smile crossed her face and she headed right... right towards R&B to show off some more. Viggo was following close behind, checking out Kaori's moves and getting it all on a digital camera.
(Now I'm starting to believe all the hype around this girl) he thought. (Excellent... I'll ask her to be my riding partner sometime... Maybe on Kick Doubt on Peak 3...)
----- ------
(No sign of the Mac... Great! This race is in the BAG!!!)
Nate was leading the Ruthless Ridge final race for the last 1:25 and now the end was just a giant jump away. There was a high road hanging over that he could pull his signature move, the Banger, on and do it with a bunch of SSX fans watching in the stands. No one was going to catch up... so it wouldn't hurt. As he approached the jump, however...
"Wassup, mountain man!?"
"WHAT!?" Nate gasped as he looked to his left... and saw a blur... or rather TWO blurs past him and take the low road to his right. They were Mac and Allegra, both smiling at Nate as Nate stared at him for a while, temporarily forgetting that he lifted off... and slammed into the bottom of the upper route slope, making him tumble all the way down the bumpy lower road. He really FORGOT about the shortcut around the end of the track that the two companions took... and it cost him. On the lighter side of things...
"ALRIGHT!!!" Mac yelled out over the screaming crowd as he crossed the finish line. "First place AND the gold! That's how the Mac does his work!!"
"Yeah, awesome run, man!" Allegra congratulated. "Thanks on the tip on that shortcut."
Mac shrugged. "What can I say? I just wanted to, you know... beat Nate. Why do it alone?"
Allegra smiled. "You got that right..."
Mac didn't notice Allegra's soft tone when she said that. All he could think about for the moment was that he won his first Gold on Mount BIG without Hiro interfering... and the feeling was good. However... it would only get... more interesting... Mac felt a hand on his shoulder as he was about to take off his board from his feet and paused, looking over his shoulder. Allegra looked at him with a sweet look in her face and it made him blush all over again.
"How about... a prize...? It's not money, like what you're going to get in a minute... but I bet you'll like it..."
"A-and that would be...?" Mac asked, his voice a little quaky. Allegra brought herself closer to Mac, grabbing his left hand with her right and his right shoulder with her left. She leaned in, about to plant a kiss on Mac's lips, but... something unexpected happened. Mac was faster, not by a lot, but enough to make Allegra notice, and brought his lips to hers on his own free will. Allegra's eyes went wide for about a second, surprised about what Mac just did... but eventually let the moment carry on. The crowd let out wolf whistles and cheers as the two let the moment go on... and then they ended the kiss and looked at each other. Although it only lasted 13 seconds or so, it seemed to be a lot longer...
"M... Mac..." Allegra found herself stuttering, "Y... you actually...?"
Mac nodded. "Just returning the favor... for last night... You liked it?"
Allegra put a hand on her slightly freckled cheek, noticing that she found herself blushing a bit, and smiled at Mac. "Well... yeah, I did..."
"I hope you did..."
"YEAH, MAC!!! That's what I'm talking about!!!"
Just coming in was Marty, grabbing the bronze with his entry. However, that was the last thing on his mind. Mac smirked.
"You made it, uh?" he asked.
"Yeah, just in time to see you kiss Allegra. I knew it. You two are going places... and I don't think I mean the mountain."
Allegra twisted her face at Marty's smile, knowing exactly what he meant, and looked back at Mac. He was cute with all that urban gear and such on... She couldn't help but smile.
(Maybe I am...)
"Mac!"
Allegra's thought was cut off by Nate, who walked over to him after getting last place, Eddie just beating him out by a tenth of a second. Mac immediately turned his attention to the big man and brought his right hand down to swing the air in front of him for emphasis.
"Didn't I tell you you were going to be criss crossed all over this course, son?"
"Yeah, you did, Mac," Nate admitted. "You got lucky here, but I'll get you later. I'm going to chill out in the Ruthless Backcountry. Later, guys..."
As Nate rode off, Marty returned his attention to his cousin.
"So... what are you guys up to now?" he asked. Mac just shrugged.
"I don't know... Maybe..." he paused, looking at Allegra, who returned his glance with a smile, "Allegra and I will be doing some personal time... How about it, girl?"
"Sure thing, Mac," Allegra responded, getting ready to ride off. "You coming with, Marty?"
"You guys going to Peak 1?"
"Yeah... It is the bottom of the mountain, you know..."
"Fine. I'll be going down, but I'm going with Griff. I heard he was around here, maybe on the halfpipe. I'm going to call him up on M-Comm and meet you at the top of Snow Jam."
"Fine," Allegra chimed. "We'll be down there. Just wait up for us, kay?"
Marty nodded and the three left, Marty going towards Griff's direction and Mac and Allegra going towards the bottom of the mountain... together.
----- -----
"Hey, did you hear about the avalanche on Happiness?"
"What?"
"Yeah. Atomika's all on it..."
"Yeah? Let me see you're M-Comm."
"You have your own..."
"Yeah, I know... I just like to mess with you."
"Okay, here..."
Near the bottom of the slopestyle R&B, Moby, Zoe, Jurgen and Marisol were chilling out, their boards resting behind them. Moby and Jurgen just had a little show off competition at the halfpipe section near the bottom of the course (Moby won) and now Zoe just laid down the word of the Peak 1 avalanche. Moby grabbed Zoe's headphones and listened to Atomika...
"...far no severe damage was laid out on the backcountry but riders are being cautioned not to head towards the very east side of the area due to the snow being unstable. You know we couldn't stop them entirely if we tried... then again, why would we? Insane, you ask? Tell that to Japanese veteran Kaori Nishidake. I was checking her out as she outran that avalanche on my Happiness mountain cams and I swear... it was like watching poetry in MOTION. Don't believe me? See this footage..."
Moby and Zoe gathered on that little solitary screen and eyeballed Kaori's full run down Happiness, and were in slight shock. They never saw anyone on the circuit rise that fluidly in the face of danger. It wasn't like Kaori at all...
"THAT'S Kaori!?" Marisol asked. "No way! She can't be feeling well to have done that. I mean.... wow..."
"Yeah, right?" Zoe commented while not looking at her. Atomika then spoke again.
"If there is not a reason to like her, then I don't know what is. Honestly, she's just that good. Want to interview her? Look for her as she shreds R&B as I speak. Okay, you guys... Now here's some recent SSX3 news. Ruthless Ridge has a new king. That's right... Nate Logan has finally shut his mouth... because Mac Fraser shut it for him along with Allegra Sauvagess. These two are making quite a buzz around the mountain lately as they are seen more frequently with each other... and after the little kiss that the two shared at the end of the run, let's just say that this little relationship isn't going to die anytime soon. Weird... Always thought of it being at least Kaori and Mac together... but hey, speaking of that, Hiro and Kaori are also getting to know each other very well... but this isn't the time to talk about SSX couples... That's in 10. To ease your pain of the lack of gossip... here. Take some Black Eyed Peas to make you feel better. Labor Day is the name of the song. Here we go."
Just as he ended and the song started, Hiro rode up behind the four and took his helmet off.
"You guys seen Kaori and Viggo?" he asked in a hurry.
"You kidding?" Jurgen asked. "You should have been watching your M-Comm... She totally ripped up Happiness and is on her way down here now."
"Really?" Hiro took a very deep breath and sighed it out in relief. "That's wonderful. I thought she might have gotten in trouble or something."
"Anything but,' Marisol reassured. Just then...
"BAAAAANNNZZZZIIII!!!!"
All heads poked up as Kaori lifted off the huge snow bunker over a parked SUV, performing her signature uber, the Pirouette Grind, and landed right in front of the five, taking off her helmet and raising an arm in the air.
"That was AWESOME!!" she congratulated herself. "I never had such an adrenaline rush-mmm!!"
Before she could react, Hiro ran over and gave her a big hug (of which Viggo also recorded on his camera as he rode up.)
"Kaori, you had me worried. Really, you did. I thought you were trapped in that avalanche once I reached the bottom and found out that you weren't behind me. You sure you okay?"
"Positive, Hiro," Kaori laughed while pushing herself away. "I'm fine. Just a little tired... from all the tricks I did."
"And it's all on tape," Viggo added while showing off his camera. "The best of Kaori Nishidake, volume 1. On sale VERY soon!"
All looked at him, Zoe and Moby the only ones to actually smile at the comment, then eyed Hiro and Kaori as the girl gave Hiro a look.
"You sure are worried about me, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah, I was," Hiro responded, running a hand through his hair coolly, "but I'm glad that you're okay. I'll let you rest here and then we can do something together, okay?"
"Wait a minute, Hiro," Kaori reassured. "I'm not that tired. My adrenaline is still up... Let's go and do a race at Snow Jam, you guys! I'll beat all of ya!"
"Well look who's all confident all of a sudden," Zoe joked while getting up. "Okay, since you're talking big, the least I can do is show you that you're biting off more than you can chew."
"Bring it on, Zoe!" Kaori provoked while getting ready. "Heck, I'll even race you from here down to Snow Jam. Ready, guys?"
"Hmm... an all out race..." Viggo thought as he also got ready with the rest. "Fine by me. Let's just keep it fun... Ready?"
"Set..." Moby called afterwards, bracing himself.
"GO!!!" Kaori finished, and the group took off...
----- -----
End of Venue. That was some chapter, wasn't it... and things are only going to get even crazier as over half the SSX circuit heads towards Snow Jam... The biggest question is... how will Kaori and Mac react to see each other with Hiro and Allegra respectively? You'll have to keep reading to find out!