You know I own nothing.

Chapter 8: Throwing down the Gauntlet
Nate sneered at the television. Moby stood in a heated booth and looked into the camera.
"Last week, my boys 'ad the guts to take on SSX 'ead on like men. 'ere we are several days later, and where are the SSX boarders? Nowhere. Ya know why? Because they're afraid of XCL. We've got the better talent, we've got the better slopes, all in all we just kick their ass!" Fans from outside the booth cheered loudly at the proclamation. "Simon Morgan and Nate Logan are brave enough to fight XCL boarders on their own turf, and with a pipe, might I add."
"It was four on two you piece of trash!" Nate screamed at the television.
"But no matter. I know both those men personally, and I know that they are nothing but spineless cowards." Nate went to stand.
"Sit." Allegra said sharply.
"So I'm throwing out a challenge to those two morons. Psymon, Nate, if either of you 'ave the balls to show up on my show, do it next week. Race me and let me show the 'ole world that XCL is 'ere to stay, while SSX is curling up and dying." Nate turned off the television, seconds later the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Don't even think about it, Nate." Rahzell said firmly on the other end. "All they want is an SSX superstar on their show to boost ratings. Our ratings haven't been this high in years with this feud, we're not going to do them the same favour they're doing us. Their ratings were already high enough this week with fans thinking you guys would show up, let their momentum slide from the fan disappointment."

The week passed, Psymon nor Nate accepted Moby's challenge. Ever week Moby would set aside a segment on XCL television to continue to challenge SSX, only to never be answered. The fans at first agreed that it was a smart business move to not fight back, but now fans of both sides were beginning to sway towards XCL as SSX began to appear cowardly. The attacks grew fewer in the coming weeks, though XCL was dominant in about half of their attacks, several times leaving the SSX boarders laying in a heap, defeated.Once Psymon was medically cleared to return and Griff's boys began to show some backup the attacks were rare, as XCL's winning streak with the fights took a large spiral down with the revitalized frontline. Kaori and Allegra were preparing for their race, a one on one dash down peak one, always a fan favorite; plus there was still just enough tension between the two of them regarding the situation with Mac a few years back to make them entertaining rivals to watch. Their race was going smoothly and they both showed great competitive spirit, until the now all too familiar sound of the forfeit horn rang. A pair of snowmobiles glided out of the woods and stopped in front of the ladies. Sandra and Jess from XCL dismounted their rides and tackled Allegra and Kaori to the ground. SSX fans had grown tired of this, as it seemed a race could never be finished anymore, and this was hurting SSX in the ratings. Allegra managed to get Jess off her and got to her feet. Where Jess would attack with slaps and pulls of clothing and hair, Allegra wasn't too worried to ball up a fist and drill Jess in the mouth. Jess clutched her mouth and her eyes watered. Jess was the XCL equivalent of Elise, charismatic, sexy, graceful and got the male ratings to skyrocket whenever she was on screen, but now she had a mouth full of blood. Allegra turned her attention to Sandra. Sandra on the other hand was like Moby's replacement for Zoe, the only difference was where Sandra simply looked badass, Zoe would have eaten her alive.
"Hey bitch!" Allegra shouted, Sandra turned around to receive a straight right punch in the mouth. Sandra staggered backwards. Allegra reached out and grabbed the hoop in Sandra's nose and ripped it out. The stands all echoed "ooh" in relation to the pain that must have caused. Jess had taken off and Sandra was now all Allegra's. Allegra grabbed the suspenders on Sandra's cargo pants and pulled her towards her. Allegra lifted a knee into Sandra's gut, doubling over the rock chick. Allegra held Sandra in a full nelson any wrestler would have been proud of as Kaori got back to her feet. Kaori looked at the fans and a roar of applause echoed through the peak. Kaori wound up as hard as she could and struck with an open handed slap right across Sandra's face. The slap resonated loudly and the fans exploded. Allegra threw Sandra face-first into the snow and kicked some powder onto her back. The SSX ladies stood tall and proud as they acknowledged their fans. They shook hands, re-buckled their snowboards, and finished their race; the fans roared loudly the entire way down the peak.

The men all cheered and laughed while watching the television in the pub at the base of the mountain. High-fives all around expressed their pride in their ladies."Wait wait wait instant replay!" Eddie said loudly as he pointed, making sure everyone looked back at the screen. The replay had a nice, satisfying slow motion capture of Kaori's slap, the AV guys even dubbed in the sound of a bomb whistling and then exploding on impact. The women walked in to a loud reception and some of the guys started singing something about them kicking the XCL ladies' asses. Nate walked to Allegra and picked her up in a huge hug.
"That was the greatest thing I've seen in forever." The men all offered to buy the women drinks and offered their approval of their actions until a sharp whistle silenced everyone. Elise and Marisol stood in the door of the pub and looked very pissed off.
"Well I hope you're happy." Elise started a she walked towards the ladies. "Now those XCL tramps are going to be coming after all of us, including me and Marisol." Allegra slammed down what was by now her fourth beer and wiggled her fingers at Elise like she was worried. "This is serious you brat. Maybe it doesn't matter to you two since you're only second rate, but Marisol and I can't afford to get these faces banged up." The men all went "oooh" in unison, waiting for a fight to break out.
"Heeey, catfight." someone murmured from the back of the crowd.
"Well if it's too hot in the oven, get out of the kitchen, bitch." Allegra spurted, flipping Elise off. "If you're too scared to defend yourself, then go back to Canadaland." Some of the men looked a little questionable at Allerga now, as most of the roster was from Canada. "That wasn't a shot at Canada… I'm just drunk." Allegra admitted, holding up her drink. The men laughed as Elise sneered and walked out.
"Let's go Marisol." Elise huffed, Marisol stopped.
"No… allegra's got a point. I want to kick some as to!" The men again cheered and immediately were offering to buy her beers.
"Take off your shirt!" Mac called from his wheelchair. Everyone paused and stared at him, he shrugged. "Was worth a try… no?.. you can't hurt me!"

Ah poor Mac, the guy tries anyhow. So now the SSX ladies are ready to put up their dukes, this is going to get veeeery interesting.