I own nothing okay down to business.

Chapter 12: Love Thy Enemy
Psymon left Marisol's lodge and continued on his way to the chalet near the base of peak one. He had made her lodge a daily visit since the night of her attack, checking up on her, making sure she was doing alright. He had enjoyed getting to know her better; hearing about her stories of growing up in Columbia and then coming to America to make her fortune. He chuckled as he remembered her shyly admitting she started as an exotic dancer to get herself on her feet before her calling for snowboarding came, but that seemed to be a road several of the SSX women had to take at one time or another, so it didn't surprise him too much; it was easy money for a beautiful woman. He came to the chalet and fell backwards into a couch next to Sarah.
"What's up kiddo?" he said as he stretched out his legs. She looked away from her Xbox for a second then back at it.
"Not much, how are you?" Psymon yawned and covered his mouth.
"Freaking tired, been trying to get a hold of Zoe but the girl's fallen off the face of the earth. I've left so many messages on Brody's answering machine it's ridiculous. If I don't hear from her tonight I'm going out to find her."
"That wouldn't be wise." Rahzell's voice said firmly as he rounded the corner with a cup of coffee, seating himself across from the boarders. Psymon grimaced and told himself off in his head for not looking over his shoulder before he spoke. "Zoe's in trouble, Psymon?" Psymon shrugged and leaned forward.
"I don't know, sir. Her phone line has been disconnected, I can't get a hold of her on Brody's cell phone… I'm just worried about her." Rahzell nodded as he took a loud sip of coffee.
"You do that a lot." Psymon tried to keep his sneer to himself.
"In all due respect, sir, she's all I have." Psymon's tone was quite firm and a hint disrespectful. Rahzell placed his coffee cup down on the table and also leaned forward.
"Need I remind you, Mr. Morgan, that we are at war right now? I've lost too many SSX boarders to injuries as it is; I can't afford to have one of my top names, and like it or not, a locker room leader, turn his back and walk out on me. Right now we have to rely on these kids like Sarah more than anyone else, can you live with yourself turning your back on them and letting them down?" Psymon sighed and fell backwards again in a slouch in the couch.
"No sir."
"I promise you, we'll do whatever we can to help you find Zoe, but until XCL is out of my hair I need you here, plain and simple." Psymon looked at Rahzell's shiny shaved head and thought of the irony of XCL being in his hair. Rahzell stood up and took his coffee with him. "Just relax Psymon, Zoe and Brody can take care of themselves. You're needed here right now, too many people are counting on you." Psymon rolled his eyes and drummed his fingertips on his leg until Rahzell was out of the chalet. As soon as the door closed, Psymon shot out his foot and kicked over the coffee table, still sitting in the couch. He cursed quietly under his breath and remained calm. Sarah looked at him, a little startled.
"Sorry, Sarah, that was wrong of me." Psymon sighed as he shook his head. He stood the coffee table back up and then returned to his slouch. Sarah kept looking at him. She then paused her game, put down the controller, slid over and put her arms around Psymon's waist.
"You look like you need a hug." Psymon wiped one of his eyes with the back of his hand and put one arm around Sarah, he ruffled her hair with the hand that wiped his eye.
"Thanks kiddo, means a lot to me."

Nate took Allegra's bowl from her night table quietly, making sure not to wake her. She'd been ordered by doctors to stay on her back for at least two weeks as her legs and back were all very roughly banged up. He put her bowl in the dishwasher in the kitchen then walked back to her room. He stared down at her as she slept. He could kill Jurgan for how Allegra looked right now. Dark bruises and small cuts interfered with her usual good looks. Nate was feeling the stress of the situation, things were getting from bad to worse for the SSX crew. The only good news he'd heard in a while other than Jurgan being in rough shape was that Griff was back on his feet again and was starting to practice again on the beginner hills. Otherwise the SSX frontline consisted mainly of himself, Psymon, Kaori and Eddie. This was not a group to be taken lightly by any stretch, but they could only keep up with XCL for so long riding on just those four. Nate picked up the phone and dialed a few digits. He got Psymon's answering machine, so he tried his M-Comm.
"Psymon you there?" he typed. A few seconds passed.
"Hey." The M-Comm's screen lit up.
"Wanna go bowling?" Today was their day off from racing as the WSA execs got themselves settled in at Big Mountain, so the boarders were restless.
"Sure, I'll meet ya there. Call Eddie." Nate made a quick phone call to Eddie and then he was out the door.

Nate walked to his lane to see Eddie already lacing up his shoes. Psymon came a little late with one of the younger boarders behind him."Guys you remember Sarah, right?" She waved shyly at the older men. "Is it cool if she rolls with us?" Nate and Eddie both nodded and welcomed Sarah to the game.
"Need someone to replace that assclown Viggo anyways." Nate smirked, the others laughed lightly. Eddie finished putting the names into the computer and then he looked up.
"Hey guys, look at what we got here." He pointed cautiously to the arriving quartet of XCL boarders that were lacing up their shoes a few alleys down the way. Nate and Psymon scanned the four boarders. Psymon nodded to himself as Paul Diamond laughed with one of his friends and laced up his shoes. The other three were also younger boarders, ones that had given the SSX superstars no trouble besides strictly on the mountain in races. Nate stood up and stretched.
"These pieces of trash think they can roll into our alley and start throwing? I think not." Nate began to walk towards their lane. Psymon got up and raised his hand.
"Nate, just leave them, man. They're just a few kids wanting to have fun, they've done nothing to us." Nate shook his head.
"It's the principal of the thing, dude." Nate came to Paul as the younger XCL boarder got the feel for the ball he picked up. Nate took the ball from his hand and tossed it down the gutter. "That weight seems a little out of your league, small fry." Psymon now walked to their lane.
"Nate."
"Why don't you and your girl scouts go on down to Little Lanes five pin down the road, and leave the big game to the men?"
"Nate." Psymon was firm now. Paul raised his hands.
"Look man, we just wanted to bowl. We're not looking for trouble." Nate got into Paul's face, the other three XCL kids stood up, not sure what to do to confront the much larger Nate.
"You don't want trouble you shoulda stayed the hell off our mountain, out of our town, and sure as hell out of our alley!" Nate grabbed Paul's collar with his right hand.
"Nate that's enough!" Psymon yelled now, bringing even more attention from the other lanes to them. "Calm down!" he shouted as he ripped Nate's hand from Paul's collar, tearing his shirt. Nate shouted something inarticulate and glared at Psymon. The four XCL boarders backed up as quick as they could. Nate breathed heavily as his temper was ready to blow at any second. "Calm. The hell. Down." Psymon said calmly and firmly. Nate nodded and walked back to their lane. Psymon walked over to Paul, who stepped back a bit and looking up as Psymon stood quite a height taller than him. "Sorry man, you alright?" Paul hesitated and looked at his friends, then looked back at Psymon and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm good, thanks man. I didn't mean any trouble." Psymon shook his head and raised his hands to calm Paul down.
"You did nothing wrong, Nate was out of line." Paul breathed a slight sigh of relief. "He's a good man, but he gets a little over-zealous." Paul nodded. Psymon looked at the other three kids, who still looked very uncomfortable with Psymon being present. "Look, can I make it up to you guys? Come on let me buy you some nachos and drinks." The XCL kids hesitated, but accepted. As they stood in line, Psymon assured them it was fine to order anything they wanted. The other three returned to their lane, Paul followed but stopped.
"Mr. Stark?" Psymon paused and turned back to face Paul. "Thanks a lot, eh?" Psymon smiled.
"You're a damn good boarder Paul, I hope to see you on the slopes some day." Paul smiled shyly. "Hopefully maybe someday as an SSX boarder." Paul now stopped smiling and nodded.
"Well, thanks again." Psymon smiled.
"And Paul." Paul turned around again as he walked to his friends. "It's Simon Morgan, and if you don't mind, just call me Psymon, lose this 'mister' crap." Paul smiled and raised his pop.

Nate looked up at Psymon with his eyes as he returned.
"Getting a little buddy-buddy there, huh? You ain't thinking of jumping ship, are ya?" Psymon took a sip of his beer and raised an eyebrow at Nate.
"Dude, you know I'm SSX, if anything we should be trying to win those kids over to OUR side. And even if they do stay XCL, they're good kids, they never get in our faces, and let's face it that Paul kid-"
"I know I know, Paul Diamond is the future of snowboarding, I've heard you say it a million times." Psymon nodded and put his beer down.
"And I still believe it."
"Just take your damn turn." Psymon slowly stood and lifted his ball.
"You don't trust me, do you?" he said as he looked down at Nate. Nate sighed and shook his head.
"Nah man, I trust ya, it's just the stress talking." Psymon put out his fist.
"Brothers?" Nate looked up and smacked his fist against Psymon's.
"Brothers."

Tensions are running pretty high now, can the SSX boarders co-exist even with each other, or are they quickly falling apart? Read on.