Author's Note: Ah, didn't think I'd make a Ch.3, did you? Well, writing this fan fic takes about 2-3 weeks per chapter, and I haven't had the time to sit down and write in a while. This might be my last chapter for quite some time because school is starting up soon. The infamous junior year will definitely take up a lot of my time and energy, simply to get good grades in some really hard classes and also to take some really hard tests, such as the ACT, SAT, etc. So, don't be expecting many chapters after this one. I will try writing more in any free time I may have, if the response is high enough. Frankly, it hasn't been. Anyways, enjoy this chapter!!!
Chapter 3: Gotta Have Enemies
Nate woke up at seven o'clock in the morning. Being a countryman, he is used to waking up early, even though he usually wakes up at five. He gave one final turn on his bed before he opened his eyes and sat up, taking in everything that has happened to him from the night before. He turned his head to left to see if his two roommates were still asleep. Surprisingly enough, he saw two empty beds.
Yawning, Nate got up from his bed and executed a lazy attempt to make the bed, which failed. He looked to the direction of the bathroom, and saw the door closed with sounds of a shower coming from behind. Apparently, one of the two roommates is in the bathroom getting ready, while the other must have gotten ready a bit earlier. Nate sighed and proceeded to pick out his clothes while he waited for the only bathroom in the cabin to be free.
Knock! Knock! Two large knocks on the cabin door completely scared off any sleep that remained off Nate's face. Lazily, Nate walked over to the door, wearing nothing but the snowpants he wore since yesterday, and opened it, showing Zoe, completely dressed in a white tank top, a black jacket, and dark baggy snowpants.
"Hey Nate!" Zoe exclaimed once she caught site of Nate, trying hard not to check him out.
"G'morning," Nate yawned. "Up early?"
"Yeah, they just opened all of the tracks on Peak 1!" she informed. "I want to take a few practice runs before the qualifying heats begin."
"Oh, that's a good idea," Nate nodded, a bit angry at the fact that he woke later than usual on such a crucial day.
"Hey, is JP there?" Zoe asked awkwardly.
"I'm not sure. Someone is in the bathroom, and I have no idea where the other is," Nate explained, catching site of a little look of disappointment on Zoe's face.
"Well, I have to go. When whoever is done in the bathroom, tell him to meet me up in Snow Jam. I want to get a few more practice races before the real thin," Zoe said as she started to walk away waving, "See you later Nate!"
"Later," Nate mumbled as he closed the door to the lodge. It felt like a brisk morning outside, so he decided that he would wear a vest over his T-shirt before he went out. Now all he has to do is take a quick shower and eat a quick breakfast, providing how early he can get in the bathroom.
Nate noticed that the shower has turned off during his conversation with Zoe. About fifteen minutes later, Tony popped out, wearing a gray muscle shirt over a blue T-shirt and blue and gray snowpants. His hair was spiked, and it looked recently dyed.
"Good morning Nate!" Tony exclaimed as he threw his dirty clothes and tower into a laundry bin. "Sorry I took so long. I had to dye my hair again."
"No problem," Nate nodded, a little angrily. "Is this going to be a daily thing?"
"Nope," Tony muttered as he went over to his backpack and started rummaging through it. "It's just that I haven't dyed it in a while, and I couldn't dye it any earlier otherwise it'd messed up my hair."
"Ah," Nate faked interest.
"Should last for a month or so, so there's no big problem," Tony clarified.
"Cool," Nate seemed relieved. "Hey, Zoe came over and she wants you to meet her at a Snow Jam venue for a practice race."
"Right now?" Tony asked in disbelief.
"She didn't say," Nate replied.
"OK, I'll meet her after I eat. Go to the cafeteria at the Lodge. JP said they have really good bacon over there!" Tony said as he took out his gloves, shades, shoes, and his blue and gray snowboard.
"Thanks for sharing," Nate laughed as he walked on over to the bathroom.
"No problem!" Tony smiled. "I'll see you at the practices!" And with that, Tony left the cabin leaving the bathroom all to Nate.
"Yeah!" Mac screamed, landing a Triple Misty off the final jump in Snow Jam.
"Nice job!" Kaori commented, clapping her hands while sitting in the soft, white snow. Somehow, she had agreed to watch Mac show off, even though she would rather practice.
"No one is going to pull out as many good tricks as I can, that's for sure!" Mac, still full of excitement, shouted.
"You do know that this is a racing venue," Kaori pointed out, stifling a laugh.
"Well, I would LOVE to go to Crow's Nest and practice my tricks over there, but there's a certain someone already practicing there. A certain someone named Psymon!" Mac attempted to scare Kaori on the last bit. She jumped in surprise.
"Oh, stop that," Kaori said, lying down on the snow to start making a snow angel. She is scared of Psymon, and is angered when others try to tease her about it. She doesn't get too angry with Mac though.
"Watch OUT!" a female voice shouted further up from the jump. Both Mac and Kaori turned their heads to see what the commotion was about, and they saw two boarders jumping that final jump, and coming their way. The red haired boarder swerved around in a quick motion to avoid a collision. Her companion, a blonde boarder wearing black and white, wasn't so lucky and collided straight into Mac.
"Could you look and see where you're going?!?!" Mac yelled as he pulled himself back to his feet. He was just knocked down, nothing broken or anything.
"I could," JP sneered coldly, picking up his snowboard, which had gone flying during the crash.
"Hey, I gave you a warning Mac!" Zoe laughed, taking her goggles off. "You should have moved out of the way!"
"Still..." Mac began.
"Zoe! JP! Were you racing?" Kaori asked, interrupting one of Mac's rampages.
"Yeah," JP answered simply.
"Aww, JP you're no fun!" Zoe shook her head.
"What?" JP asked with concern in his voice.
"You guys having another race?" Mac asked as he finished adjusting his beanie and goggles.
"Sure, why not," Zoe answered for the both of them.
"I'll race with you!!" Kaori shouted as she picked up her blinding neon-pink board, and raced towards the gondola at full speed.
"What's got into her?" JP remarked, noticing Kaori has acted more energetic than she usually is.
"She has to go do something now that her precious "alone with Mac" time is over," Zoe said with a wink.
"What's that supposed to mean?!?!" Mac blushed uncontrollably.
Zoe just laughed, turned around, and ran towards the gondola, with JP and a red-faced Mac trailing behind her.
On the other end of the mountain, Allegra stood at the starting gates of Snow Jam, facing the big downhill slope, checking out the track from above as she waited. Hearing the crunching of snow behind her, and a snowboard clattering to the floor, she turned around and yelled, "It took you long enough!"
"Sorry, I was hungry!" Tony shot back, adjusting his gear.
"Racing on a full stomach isn't good for you!" Allegra scolded.
"Neither is racing on an empty stomach," Tony pointed out. "Besides, it's not like the qualifying heats are starting any time soon."
"They start at ten-thirty. And it's past eight now!" Allegra continued. "You're going to get cramps and lose."
"I don't recall asking you to become my mother," Tony muttered, now finished gearing up.
Suddenly, Kaori leaped from the gondola as it approached the starting area and ran towards Allegra and Tony.
"Hi Tony! Hi Allegra!" she exclaimed as she struggled to catch her breath.
"Had too much sugar?" Allegra joked, covering her mouth with a hand so Kaori couldn't see her laughing.
"Good morning," Tony said back, doing his best to divert Kaori's attention from the laughing Allegra.
"Do you, want to, race with us?" Kaori said in between breathes.
Tony looked over to Allegra, who quickly answered, "Why not?"
"Who is 'us'"? Tony asked. Suddenly, the next gondola approached and Mac, Zoe, and JP emerged from it, looking shocked to find Kaori near collapse.
"Hey, do you want to race?" Mac asked, truly wanted to see how well he can match up with five of the other boarders.
"Yeah we will," Allegra answered with a tone of annoyance in her voice. "Let's hurry up before the bitch arrives," she muttered and she shook her head towards the lodge, where Elise was just stepping out to practice.
All six boarders immediately approached a gate, then took off into the venue that will decide who gets the first medals of the third SSX circuit.
At precisely ten-thirty, DJ Atomika arrived at the starting gates, carrying a rather heavy backpack. The boarders all noticed this when he called them over for the run down of the rules for this event.
"What's in the bag, bro?" Mac asked as he approached DJ Atomika.
"The hell..." Moby broke off once he caught site of the glances given by Zoe and DJ Atomika.
"I'll tell you later. Is everyone here?" DJ Atomika asked, looking around and counting bodies. Sure enough, all sixteen boarders were there, but they have impatiently scattered about, all with stressful looks on their faces.
"What is this? Grade school?" Psymon asked, clearly annoyed at waiting.
"Hey!" Griff started.
"Everyone shut up and let the guy talk!" Seeiah scolded, glaring at everyone in general.
"Thank you Seeiah," DJ Atomika thanked as Seeiah smiled. "The first heat is the qualifying run. All of you will race down the track at different times. Your goal is to get a good quick time to the finish. After all sixteen of you got your times, we will compare the times. The fastest twelve times will move on to the semifinals. There, the twelve boarders will be split in two groups of six, and will race. The top 3 from each group will move on to the finals, where one more race will be held to determine who wins which medal. Any questions?"
"How many runs do we get to qualify?" Elise asked coolly.
"One, but I'm sure everyone has practiced on this track long enough," DJ Atomika smiled grimly. "Any others?"
No one asked any questions, but just exchanged bored, impatient glances with one another.
"Well, that was a surprise," DJ Atomika laughed. "Well, in this backpack I have a PDA for each of you." Several eyebrows rose at this statement. "You can use these to store personal best times and scores, communicate with one another via text messaging, and check out the schedule for future events."
Everyone went up and took their PDA accordingly, some of them, mainly Kaori, started messing around with theirs.
"So, who gets to qualify first?" Nate asked, shoving his PDA in his pocket.
"Let's see," DJ Atomika pulled out a clipboard and examined it. "Moby and Psymon!"
The two boarders groaned, picked up their boards, and approached their desire starting gates. In an instant, the two were off.
"We're going two at a time?" Elise asked.
"Yeah, since the time is the only thing that matters, we took extra precautions to make sure everyone gets a chance to ride their best, meaning without interference with other boarders," DJ Atomika answered.
"Who goes next"? Viggo asked.
"Look at your PDA!" DJ Atomika shouted. Everyone checked and, sure enough, there was a schedule detailing which two will ride together, and in what order.
"These things are pretty cool!" Griff exclaimed.
"Kaori!! Stop sending me messages!" Eddie yelled.
"Me too!" Elise yelled.
"Seriously, I have seven already, all from Kaori!" Zoe noted.
"Sorry, I guess I got carried away," Kaori smiled with her traditional Japanese cute smile that make everyone forgive her in an instant.
"Marisol, Eddie, you two are up!" DJ Atomika pointed out. Marisol stood up, and picked up her long Alpine board, and walked on over to the starting gate where she encountered Elise.
"Still using a board that's three sizes too big for you, eh?" Elise sneered.
"Just because you can't handle pure speed, doesn't mean you could try and put down others," Marisol responded calmly as she shoved Elise out of her way, and continued on.
Everyone grew nervous as they anxiously waited for their turn to ride. Viggo, getting ready to go next, picked up his Alpine board, and nearly knocked everyone down with it as he tried to navigate it through the crowd to the gates.
"Hey! Watch it!" Mac shouted as he ducked to avoid the board.
"Come this close to hitting me again, and you will regret it!" Elise threatened.
"I'm sorry!" Viggo called.
"Pfft, he's going to get last," Zoe commented once Viggo and Seeiah took off.
"Three apliners?" Griff noted as he started to get prepared. "Won't that be first, second, and third right there?"
"Just because they have a faster board, doesn't mean they'll have a faster time," JP said, eyes glaring at Brodi.
"Yeah, Marisol just plain out sucks," Elise laughed.
"Why don't you leave her alone!?" Allegra yelled, growing more and more impatient.
"Excuse me?" Elise sneered. "Did someone with a squeaky baby voice say something?"
"WHAT!?!?" Allegra screamed. But a potential catfight was diverted because Elise was next to ride.
"I'll get back at her, I swear," Allegra promised.
"Ah, I just love this SSX circuit," Zoe commented, with a hilarious expression of awe on her face.
"Is everyone always like this?" Tony asked JP.
"Uh, no, I think this is the worst one yet," JP said after thinking for a while.
"You said it!" Mac exclaimed, jumping up to get ready.
Eventually, all sixteen boarders finally finished their qualifying runs. Once at the bottom, everyone looked up at a gigantic scoreboard that showed everyone's time, and what rank he or she was. It read:
1. Brodi 2:32.87
2. Zoe 2:35.23
3. Psymon 2:39.85
4. Marisol 2:39.89
5. JP 2:43.57
6. Elise 2:44.02
7. Mac 2:45.43
8. Tony 2:45.93
9. Nate 2:45.98
10. Kaori 2:47.00
11. Allegra 2:47.49
12. Eddie 2:54.03
13. Seeiah 2:54.78
14. Moby 2:54.88
15. Griff 3:01.18
16. Viggo 4:29.32
"I'm sorry to say this but Seeiah, Moby, Griff, and Viggo, the four of you are no longer in this race," DJ Atomika broke the bad news to those four, Seeiah being the most disappointed of the 4. "But for the rest of you, the semifinals will start at two. I'll see you there."
Elise bent over and picked up her board from the safe confides of her cabin. Kaori had littered the place with a whole bunch of stuffed animals and bright, colorful objects. Elise had just finished her lunch, and after conversing with some of the other boarders, it was time for the semifinals. Elise had gone back to her cabin to pick up her board, sunglasses, and gloves.
Leaving the cabin and locking it behind her, Elise wearily started walking over to the gondola that will take her up to the starting gates. In this race, she will have to deal with Marisol and Allegra, both of which are her biggest enemies to deal with. She will also be racing alongside Tony, who is starting to develop a hatred for her, Nate, who is starting to become her best ally, and Psymon, who just likes messing around with her. Things weren't looking too good for her, and she realized that she would have to pull way ahead of the five if she were to win unscathed.
Arriving at the starting gates via the gondola, she noticed that almost everyone else were already there. Allegra and Tony were talking to one another, and Elise could have sworn she heard Allegra muttering, "bitch," as she walked past. Nate and Marisol were gearing up by themselves, Marisol with her back facing Elise in a gesture that implied that she is ignoring her. Psymon was nowhere to be seen.
"OK racers, approach the staring gates!" DJ Atomika announced from a tine little announcer booth at the top of the track. As soon as Elise picked the gate on the left end, she noticed that there were quiet a few people in the stands on either side of the starting gates. She also noticed the suspended television sets that were providing high-quality pictures of the track.
Marisol ended up taking the gate right next to Elise, followed by Allegra, Tony, Nate, and then an empty gate where Psymon should be.
"Where's Psymon?" DJ Atomika asked as son as he noticed that he was missing.
"I'm right here!" Psymon yelled, running from the gondola.
"What took you so long?" Allegra asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Some moron broke the gondolas!" Psymon exclaimed.
"What!?!?!" DJ Atomika yelled. "Those gondolas were brand new!! How could they break after one day!?!?"
"Was that moron you?" Nate asked Psymon with a smirk on his face.
"Oh, you shut your mouth, country-boy!" Psymon snapped back, as he took up the final starting gate on his end.
"I don't see how such a puny guy like you could make me," Nate shot back.
Elise, ignoring the rest of the two's argument, took this opportunity to mess with Marisol.
"Think you could make it to the bottom? It looks you didn't work on your chicken legs since the last season," Elise commented coldly.
"Shut it, Elise," Marisol replied coolly. "You're just jealous of my good, natural looks, unlike you, who had to get surgery just to whore yourself into a spot on this season."
"What did you say!?!?" Elise shouted through gritted teeth. But Marisol did not have the chance to respond because the race was about to start."
"3!" DJ Atomika started a countdown to the start, as the six boarders quieted down and started rocking back and forth in their gates, focusing more on getting a top three placing.
"2!... 1!... Go!!" he yelled as the gates were opened and all six boarders shot out like missiles into the track.
Right from the start, Elise had gotten some ground with an impressive shot out of the gates. She turned her head and saw Tony and Allegra not too far off, with Marisol bringing up the rear. Nate and Psymon, still infuriated with one another, tried their best to knock the other down, but it resulted in both of them falling, leaving the two in last place.
Elise bent her knees, and prepared for the upcoming jump. Executing a perfect Double Backflip, she was positive she would have a huge lead over the others. But as soon as she was shouting about her successful landing, Allegra dropped in on her from above, knocking the two of them to the ground.
"What the...?" Elise started as she pulled herself up.
"Watch where you're going, bitch!" Allegra shouted as she recovered much faster, and began her descent down.
"You're not going anywhere," Elise muttered to herself as she crouched, driven by the fact that she needs to pick up her speed to knock her down. Elise got little in air in the next few jumps, and after a sharp turn to the right, Elise was neck-to-neck with Allegra.
"Leave me alone!!" Allegra shouted as she threw a punch in Elise's direction. Elise straightened out, dodging the fist with ease, and threw out her own fist. Aimed straight at Allegra's shoulder, Elise's punch was strong enough to knock Allegra right off of her feet.
"Take that!!" Elise shouted with her head facing behind her, looking at Allegra roll around to try and get back on her board. She turned her back to start concentrating on the race, but only to find out she turned her into a black and pink gloved fist, that could only be Marisol. Elise couldn't help falling, but she turned her feet sideways, thus enabling her board to collide with Marisol as she flew by, tripping over in the opposite direction.
Elise got back up, rubbed her gloved hand on her jaw, and then set off, not knowing or caring what position she was in. She just wanted to get rid of Allegra and Marisol. She crouched and kept pushing herself forwards. The course shifted over to the left, then to the right before reaching a huge cliff. Elise saw the cliff, and jumped, performing her signature trick, the LaLaLa Lock Step. As she twirled in the area, she looked around, grasping a scope of her surroundings. She noticed three people preparing to land below her, and two boarders just starting their jumps.
As Elise landed, she heard Psymon cursing behind her. She looked back and noticed he had landed on his face, and was struggling to get back on his feet. Elise smiled, she's now third.
Elise continued to hold on to her position, taking each turn smoothly as it approached. Soon enough, she saw two shapes in front of her, which had to be Nate and Tony. Her hopes on getting a better position were dashed as upon entering the next turn, she heard a familiar, annoying voice to her left.
"Miss me, stupid head?" Allegra smirked, as she took the corner hard.
"Did you miss eating snow?" Elise replied coldly, turning sharply to try and keep up.
"No, not really," Allegra laughed, throwing a punch at Elise. The two tried their best to knock the other one down, throwing and dodging punches. Elise finally got lucky and aimed a punch at her side as she was throwing one, and Allegra fell over.
"Take that you little..." Elise started to cheer until she was interrupted by a shove from her right, knocking her completely off balance.
"You snooze, you lose..." Marisol's voice trailed off as she shot by like a bullet.
"Darn it!" Elise muttered to herself, popping up to reclaim her third place spot. Elise pushed herself to the max to catch up. The course started to widen out, telling her that the finish line was not too far away.
Rounding the next turn, Elise saw Marisol almost directly in front of her. Crouching even harder to go faster, she pursued after Marisol, the finish line in her sites. She closed her eyes. Only a few more yards to go... She opened them to see Marisol right next to her. She grinned, and threw a punch, landing at Marisol's shoulder, knocking her down. But Marisol had learned from earlier in the race. She shifted her legs as she fell, tripping Elise with her board in the process. This trip was so fast, Allegra, trailing behind, couldn't avoid it and she tripped over Marisol's board as well.
The three pulled themselves to their feet as soon as possible, trying desperately to get a head and cross the finish line that was only a couple of yards away. The three crouched, pushing their speed to the max, not bothering to try and knock down the one next to them. They pushed themselves, the finish line getting closer and closer by the nanosecond. And then finally, Elise pulled slightly ahead of the mess and crossed the finish line!!!
"And Elise, finishes at third!" DJ Atomika's announcement filled the stands. The few people in the stands started cheering loudly.
Elise had never felt this excitement before. Not only did she qualify for a chance at a medal, but she had also single-handedly outraced her two main rivals in this circuit!
"Hey Elise!" Allegra shouted, walking on up to Elise, facing her one-on-one. "Don't think this is over!!" Allegra stormed off, whispering something to Tony, who had finished second, right after Nate.
Marisol walked over. "I'd rather lose with honor, than win by playing dirty," she said as she walked past Elise. Elise didn't care. Those two weren't going to present her a problem any longer!!!
As she was waving at her fans, she felt someone tap her on the back. She turned around, seeing an angry-looking Tony with his arms crossed in front of him.
"That wasn't nice," Tony commented, shaking his head.
"Oh, and I'm supposed to care?" Elise asked coldly, wondering what Tony is trying to get at.
"Just to let you know, I'm not going to put up with that in the finals," Tony said as he walked away.
"Why is everyone out to get me, just because I'm so good?" Elise thought out loud, before she picked up her board, and headed off to her cabin to rest.
In the other semi-final heat, Mac, Kaori, Zoe, Brodi, JP, and Eddie went head to head against one another for the remaining three spots in the finals. JP, holding a grudge against Brodi since the last season, made sure Brodi didn't get a top three spot, even at the risk of losing a spot himself. Kaori finished first, with Zoe and Mac right behind her, obtaining second and third. The finals, consisting of Nate, Tony, Elise, Kaori, Zoe, and Mac, will take place at six in front of a full audience.
Standing at the starting gates, Kaori couldn't help but look around, taking in all this excitement she had missed since the last circuit. It was almost six o'clock and the sun was setting, leaving a blinding orange glow on the snow. The stands were packed, filled with many different colorful coats that belong to various people. They were shouting and yelling, whether it may be words of encouragement towards the six finalists, or complaints of how long it's taking for the race to start. Kaori didn't care. She couldn't understand them either; their voices were lost in the voices of others, and vise versa.
"Do you think we have any chance?" Nate asked Tony, both of them were ready for the race, although very nervous.
"What makes you think we don't?" Tony responded, pulling his shades down to block out the sun from his eyes.
"Us two newbies are up against four veterans!" Nate pointed out, referring to Kaori, Mac, Elise, and Zoe, all four of which had been on the previous SSX circuits.
"We got this far, and we already outraced a few veterans," Tony thought out loud. "I think we have a pretty good chance. Everyone will underestimate us."
"I hope you're right," Nate agreed silently.
Zoe approached the two. "Good luck!!"
"When are we going to start!?!?" Mac complained, growing more and more impatience by the second.
"Oh calm down," Elise smiled. "You'll get you chance to lose soon enough."
"Elise, over at Italy we like to exchange words of wisdom before we do anything like this," Tony started, staring angrily at Elise. "So I have four words of wisdom for you: 'Shut the hell up!'"
Elise just gave him a strange look, and then made a whipping motion, complete with the sound. Everyone, other than Kaori and Tony, laughed hysterically.
"What!? I don't get it!" Kaori cried, almost in tears.
"It means..." Nate started.
"Riders, take your positions!!!" DJ Atomika announced, interrupting everyone's thoughts and moods.
"Finally!" Mac exclaimed.
The six boarders approached the actual gates. Elise took the first one on the left, then Kaori, Mac, Tony, Nate, and finally Zoe. As Tony was making his final preparations, he couldn't help but feel good. He has a good chance to get a medal. He is racing against friends, except for Elise. And everyone isn't too fond of Elise except for Kaori and Nate.
"3!" DJ Atomika started the countdown. Everyone started rocking back in forth in their gates, hoping for an extra boost if speed as the gates release.
"2!... 1!... Go!!" DJ Atomika yelled, before his voice was drowned out by the cries and yells from the audience.
The six boarders all got a good, clean start, leading up to the first pair of jumps. Everyone tried not to get as much air, but good enough air to throw in a couple of jaw-dropping tricks. Zoe and Elise got out to an early lead, but the other four were right behind them, with Nate slowly but sure getting a lead over the other three. The turn to the right came up, and you know what they say about turns: races are won and lost through turns.
"Hey Elise!" Tony yelled, cutting through the corner very sharply, passing Elise up on her left. "In real life, slow and steady will not win the race!"
"And that's coming from you? Oh please!" Elise groaned, throwing her fist out. However, Tony got the edge of the next turn, and sped off, leaving Elise's fit to almost collide with Kaori.
"Aai!!!" Kaori screamed as she try to avoid the punch, but ended up losing her balance, and tripped, colliding directly into Nate.
"Sorry Kaori!" Elise called behind her.
"Two down, only you to go," Elise heard Zoe taunting her from her right.
Tony barely had the lead now. Basking in the excitement of the chaos going behind him, he wasn't paying attention to any of the riders next to him. Finally, BAM!!! Mac's fist collided with Tony's side, sending him face first into the snow.
"You have to move to win," Elise taunted as she and Zoe passed him up, chasing after Mac for first.
Tony shook his fist at Elise, pulled himself back up, and started concentrating on the race. "That must have been an accident. Mac wouldn't do something like that to his friend," he muttered to himself, trying his best to catch up and restrain from letting Nate and Kaori pass him up.
The positions haven't changed very much afterwards until the track led over the cliff and into the forest. Mac now had a pretty good lead over everyone else, but Zoe had passed Elise up and was doing a great job to catch up. Tony, Kaori, and Nate were struggling behind them.
As the boarders arrived at the forest, they dispersed, each taking their own route through the complications the forest offered. Mac and Elise liked to stick to the main path, but the rest risked the positions even more by using newly discovered shortcuts.
"Surprise!!" Zoe called as she landed from a jump right in front of Mac.
"Go away! This one is mine!" Mac yelled, crouching even harder to go slightly faster than Zoe.
"You asked for it!" Zoe yelled back.
Suddenly, a huge pile of sticks from the trees blasted out in front of them. The two did their best to avoid them, but they noticed two boarders were not right in front of them.
"Stop following me, Kaori!" Tony shouted. Kaori just smiled and laughed, she had found out Tony's awesome shortcut.
The two new leaders were boarding at their top speeds, cutting each turn very sharply. However, Zoe and Mac had caught on, and the two were gaining on them. The finish line was getting close, and both Zoe and Mac knew it.
Around the next turn, Kaori accidentally got a little too close to Tony, and their boards collided, making the two of them lose valuable speed. Once they were back to the speeds they were going, Mac and Zoe were literally half a foot behind them. The crowd cheered louder and louder as the finish line got closer and closer.
Mac suddenly got a burst of speed. Using this speed, Mac was able to catch up right there next to Tony. Without warning, Mac fired a punch at Tony. However, Tony was sort of anticipating this and dodged it.
"What the hell...!" he started, but another one of Mac's punches caught him in the face, leaving him unbalanced and falling, yet again, face first into the snow.
"You asshole!" Tony shouted after him. However, as he was pulling himself up and shaking his head, Elise just so happened to be riding by, and she shoved him back down as she passed by.
"Stay down!" she shouted.
An angry Tony crossed the finish line fifth, with Mac winning Gold, Zoe Silver, and Kaori winning Bronze. Elise got fourth, and Nate got sixth, never able to recover from the flying Kaori incident.
After everyone had received their medals and the crowd had started to file out, Tony walked over to Mac, who was waving at the crowd, and shoved him.
"What the hell was that!?" Tony yelled.
"What was what?" Mac sneered back.
"You think you can just push and cheat your way to first!?!?" Tony shouted back. All of these shouts and yells were attracting the attention of the other boarders.
"What the hell are you trying to say!? That I don't deserve this?" Mac responded, his temper rising uncontrollably.
"Damn right!" Tony answered.
But before the two could argue some more, Mac threw out a punch at Tony. Retaliating, Tony punched back, and before either knew it, they started fighting like crazy, throwing punches everywhere with constant swearing from both. The other boarders saw this and immediately ran to break the two apart. It proved to be hard because the two teens were completely enraged with one another. However, Nate was able to pry the two apart and hold Tony back.
"Stop!! What's wrong with you?!" Nate yelled, struggling to keep Tony from attacking Mac, who was know being held back by Eddie and Viggo.
"Leave me alone!" Tony yelled, struggling to break free from Nate's strong grip. "I have to teach this asshole a lesson!"
Eventually, the two were dragged over to their own cabins where they cooled down. Some of the boarders, such as Elise, were disappointed because they actually wanted to see a fight.
"Geez, where did that come from?" Nate asked Tony when they were at the cabin and Tony had calmed down.
"I don't know. I guess I got pissed off when he knocked me down. You know, I had the perfect opportunity to mess him up, but I didn't because I thought we were friends," Tony tried to explained as he laid down on his bed.
"Don't worry," JP explained with a sinister smile. "You'd get many more chances to beat him."
"I hope so," Tony said before falling asleep out of pure exhaustion.