"Time for another competitor spotlight! Seems like long-time member of the SSX circuit, Snarlov, is makin' quite a comeback at Peak One. That bear had one of the best runs over on Crow's Nest that we've seen in quite some time. Heck, with those gnarly tricks he was pullin' off earlier, there's no wonder he managed to score better than the Queen of Freestyle, Skye, in her own domain. What does he got planned for the next freestyle events? Well, we're just gonna have to stick around and find out. And as for Skye… who knows? Maybe she'll come back even stronger in the next events, and maybe Snarlov will give her a run for her money. Either way, I'll be watching it all from this little booth. Until then, though, here's more killer beats for all you riders out 'n' about…"

"Yeah, we know," Skye sighed as the music returned.

Hearing once again about how spectacular of a performance Snarlov did caused her to roll her eyes. She was obviously there for the event itself and witnessed him winning first place in it, so she didn't need to have somebody talk about it over and over again like the radio was doing. It was the last thing she needed to hear about, matter of fact.

The sounds of a drum and bass tune started to pick up, filling her ears with something that possessed an energetic vibe. There was nothing like listening to these kinds of things while snowboarding, according to her. It always managed to get her pumped up, ready to take on whoever it was she was about to take on. Which was the case at the moment, even though this whole trick contest thing against the bear wasn't officially part of the year's circuit.

"At least the music's good right now," she said to herself.

With that, the vixen started to make her descension into the backcountry, eagerly anticipating the opportunities around these portions of the peak to bust some legendary tricks.

Meanwhile...

The backcountry provided a much different snowboarding experience compared to the peak's courses. Whenever there was an event on one of the circuit's designated areas, things were always created with a specific passage in mind. Here, however, it was the exact opposite. Out in this part of Peak One, riders had an ultimate amount of freedom to shred in any direction they chose. Though caution had to be exercised on certain occasions, as members of ski patrol have reported avalanches within the area at times. The last thing somebody wished to do was get caught in one of those.

Throughout the time he had his role in the SSX circuit, Snarlov absolutely loved the adrenaline rush that came with riding out in the backcountry. Nothing prepared for him events to come like doing a little shredding here, dodging his way through the trees and rocks in his path and catching legendary air at times.

The polar bear started out at the views in the distance, looking out at all of Peak One's snow-covered glory. He smiled as he felt the strong winds coursing behind him, blowing a bit of the falling snow in his direction. He reached into his pocket and got out his Z-Comm, flicking it open and pressing a few buttons on it. With a view like this around him, it was the perfect opportunity to get one good selfie before the one tagging the peak showed up.

Snarlov quickly took the picture and placed his Z-Comm back into his pocket. Shortly afterwards, he heard something started to come up behind him. He turned his head to the left in time to see a certain vixen swiftly coming his way. She grinned as she made a sharp and sudden turn, proceeding to descend down the slope.

Speaking of which… he thought.

"Hey, Snarlov!" Skye exclaimed. "We doin' this backcountry jam or what?"

"Time to shred," the bear said to himself, placing his colorful glasses over his eyes before following her down the slope.

Snarlov cruised across the snow as he directed himself around the trees in his midst. Skye, meanwhile, was boarding forward in a zig-zag pattern, her tail swishing in the wind. The ursid observed as approached an elevated spot that she could use to get some air.

"You ready to see who got the better tricks, Skye?" Snarlov called out. He was never the kind of bear to engage in talking smack like some of the others he competed against in the past, but a little challenging remark like that never killed anybody.

"We'll see about that," Skye, who was not too far away from him, returned. "Guess you gotta find out the hard way that new-school's the better school."

The white-furred ursid chuckled and shook his head as made his way towards the same spot Skye used to catch air. Once he was airborne, he took his right foot out of the board and let it hang off of it as he stretched his arm out behind him. The amount of air he managed to catch wasn't exactly that much compared amounts he did on other portions in the backcountry, but it was enough to get a simple trick like that one in.

Click! He popped his bare paw back into the bindings of his new snowboard, the board he used for the first freestyle event of the year. He hit the snow and pumped his fist up and down one time in celebration. He then started to pick up speed as made his way further through this unmarked portion of Peak One.

After the bear and vixen continue to course through and dodge things in their way, another big-air opportunity appeared before them. This time it would provide a better chance to show off their tricks.

Black birds squawked as they fled the ground and made their way to the sky, the same place the two snowboarders were about to go. They both ascended into the air after making the well-sized jump, which provided enough air as the one portion back on Crow's Nest earlier.

Skye did a swift series of spins while in mid-air, doing them faster than she had done before. She then stopped performing that followed up with another trick she had, removing both of her paws from her board's bindings and holding it above her head. She quickly clicked herself safely back into the board as Snarlov performed his own trick.

The polar bear did a handstand on his board and kicked his foot paws back and forth in a slow motion. The trick, admittedly, was similar to what he saw Weaselton perform at today's event, but he decided to put his own twist on it that he was about to do. He stood back on his legs once again before grabbing the board and holding it out away from him, doing what looked like a leg split in the air.

The ground was steadily approaching, and Skye prepared to touch it once again and avoided doing anymore tricks. Snarlov, however, still saw the opportunity to do more. Being part of SSX a but longer than her meant that he learned how to get the most out of every jump on a course.

The bear took his left paw out of the board and put it behind the board, only did this for a split second before putting it back in the bindings and then sticking out his right paw. He then got ready to touch the snow again. Once he landed on the ground, he found himself being slowed down a bit. This was not too much of a concern, though, because he was still going quite fast alongside Skye.

"That was almost too good!" he proclaimed joyously.

Skye ignored the excited exclamation coming from the ursid that was not too far behind her. With a sigh, she internally admitted to herself that he was apparently stepping up his game since the previous circuit.

She wasn't exactly the happiest to admit that he was actually busting some pretty good tricks so far, because performing tricks was supposed to be her specialty. First she missed her chance to place at Crow's Nest earlier by a few measly points, and now she was being showed up by the champion of the event? This current amount of luck she possessed couldn't last much longer. Not if she wished to maintain her known title as the dominator of this particular peak.

Better take things up a notch, she thought as she picked up some speed on her snowboard.

As the music she was listening to while riding changed, she made a swift right turn and became out of sight to the polar bear behind her a bit more. She then shifted to the left when she saw a large tree trunk that was pointing out of the ground a bit, presumably belonging to a tree that had fallen at one point or another. This served as an opportunity to use it like it was a rail on an actual course.

The vixen approached the trunk and started to smoothly grind across it. She then jumped off of it just before the trunk started to break. As she went back onto the snow, she saw Snarlov speeding forward to her right, doing a tailpress on his board.

After a good distance, she started to see a blue sign that was glowing up ahead. The markers indicated that making a left turn would eventually lead them towards Snow Jam. The two snowboarders both made the turn in that direction, and Skye then saw her chance to unveil another trick of hers. She curved further to the left to have a greater distance away from Snarlov, then made her way towards a naturally-formed incline that made executing the trick possible.

The arctic vixen ascended into the air, clicked herself out of her snowboard and held it out away from her a bit. From there, she held it with one paw as she passed it around her head and into her other paw. This motion she repeated swiftly for about a few seconds before safely landing on the snow again. By the time she did this, the polar bear was now in front of her.

At the next available ascension, she pulled a trick she hadn't done on a course yet. "Play Dead" was the name she had called it after she did it for the first time. While in the air, she laid down flatly on her snowboard with her hands crossed over her chest. She clinked her feet back into the board just as it was about to land on another trunk that would serve as a rail.

She slipped her paws immediately out of the board once again and did a quick handstand on it as she glided over the trunk. However, she ended up being too late to secure herself back into the bindings, and she ended up taking an embarrassing tumble into the thick snow.

Skye, though, was quick to pick herself up after this occurrence and got back to making her way down the backcountry passage before her. As she gradually got back to the speed she was going before, she became upset at the fact that that had happened.

"What the heck was that?" she muttered as she face-pawed.

Snarlov witnessed the short-lived wipeout of Skye's, managing to pass up the vixen behind him as she tried to quickly return to what she was doing before. He only remained in front for a short time, though, and they were now both cruising down the snowy terrain at the same speed a few moments later.

The two continued further through the backcountry, only doing spins and simple grab tricks due to there not being any other chances to catch big air. They soon appraoched an open and level area, a small hill with a couple of trees on it visible up ahead. Skye curved towards the left edge of the hill, and he followed her movements. Having taken this route several times before, Snarlov knew well that this would lead to a big cave.

The polar bear and his rival soon enough found themselves in the heart of the large chamber that had formed in this part of Peak One. The temperatures became even chillier against their fur as they sailed across the snowy ground. Some large rocks started to fall along the right side of the cave, but the two managed to stay away from the danger by sharply turning away from it.

Skye passed him up and carved up a small hill that went to the left, and he did the exact same after she was a good distance ahead of him. The snowboarders were now approaching the exit to the chilly cave, and a solitary tree stood in the middle of this way out. Snarlov, upon coming towards it, made a sharp left, and the vixen went the opposite direction as him.

The ursid saw a log jutting over the edge of the cliff that was dead ahead. He hopped onto it and ground across it, the sound of it creaking a bit due to him applying his weight onto it greeting him as he did so. It slowed him down just a little bit, but that was quite alright. When he got to the very end of the log, Snarlov jumped off of it and caught some more big air. While he was in that state, he started to spin as he clacked his paws back out of the board and did another leg split.

About halfway until he knew he would hit the snow again, he returned to his original position and felt the weightlessness that came only with big air. He turned his head to the side and saw the trick Skye was executing. The arctic vulpine laying across her snowboard flat on her stomach, a paw crunched into a fist outstretched in front of her as she floated through the air.

"You seein' this?" Skye remarked loud enough for him to hear. "This is how it's done."

They both landed onto the snow safely, and the path before them was split into two once again. Snarlov chose to go a different route than he had taken on this part of the backcountry, and settled on making a right. He saw up ahead that there was a yet another log that was incled upward on the very edge of a snow drift.

"Time to have some fun," he said to himself, grinning widely.

As he neared the tall, curving mound of snow, he squatted down a bit on his knees, reaching his paw out and grabbing a bit of the snow he glided across. Whilst approaching the thick fallen trunk coming up, he formed a snowball. He then started to grind the log before jumping up into the air just enough to perform this trick that he quickly thought up in that moment.

While he was airborne, he passed the snowball he had been holding around his back and into the other paw, repeating this motion like he was passing a basketball. He then threw the snowball he formed downward and watched for a quick second as it landed onto nothing whatsoever. A few seconds later, he came into contact with the snow on the ground once again. He celebrated his own accomplishment of that trick by making the "Rock On" symbol in both paws and pumping them into the air.

"Whose the greatest bear on this slope? Right here!" he proclaimed with pride.

He met back up with Skye a short time later, and the two tried to cruise through the trees that were in their way. As they were both doing this, however, they started to feel a rumbling sensation.

Avalanche zone, Snarlov thought.

Ski patrol always was urging caution to mammals who were riding through these parts of the peak, and for a very good reason at that. Even though he never had a negative experience involving them, the polar bear knew that avalanches weren't something to mess with. The last thing he wanted to do was end up getting caught in one.

The rumbling mass of snow that they were feeling, soon enough, started to rapidly fall down the slope. The two remained safe, however, and kept to the left and away from the peril. It was easier said than done with the passage ahead of them being chaotic enough, with a maze of trees and rocks already present for them to avoid.

The two soon encountered a flatland with packed snow, allowing to glide faster across it. Snarlov knew where this path would eventually lead to, and that was over towards Snow Jam.

Meanwhile, At Snow Jam…

"You got this, Judy," the doe said to herself, trying to provide herself with some optimistic words. "Just remember everything you've practiced. Just focus on keeping ahead of that weasel and don't slow yourself down with too many tricks. Do that and you'll be just fine."

The time was slowly ticking for her little race against Duke Weaselton, and she had been trying to get some practice in preparation for when it was going to happen. The rabbit had been trying her best to get the hang of what was possibly ahead of her by boarding the way over towards Snow Jam rather than taking some other sort of transportation. While practicing on the terrain that led up to this location, she, if she did say so herself, actually managed to shred at a good speed that she thought would do good in this race and any in the future.

It'll be a bit different, though, she thought, when traveling through Snow Jam. I don't know what kind path's in store for me up ahead.

Taking a momentary break from the practice she had been doing, Judy stared out into the distance. Out ahead of her was the construction that the starting gates were positioned. Looking at it right now it felt a bit strange to her. There wasn't any music blasting around like it normally was before an event, and there was no cheering crowds to be heard either. There was no sounds to be heard except the wind as it blew and the occasional squawk of a bird.

Just then, the lagomorph heard something coming in sharply to her side. The sudden sound of the crunching snow not too far away from where she stood caught her off guard, and she actually jumped a little bit. She turned her head to the left and saw that it was none other than the weasel snowboarder that had made the noise, swerving across the flat snow like he was the most awesome mammal on the peak. He came to a stop and grinned competitively back over at her.

"Duke?" the bunny said, wondering what he was doing here just now.

"Since you're already here, I guess we oughta just start this race right now," the weasel responded. "Wasn't expectin' t' just see ya out here this afternoon."

"I first thought this race between us wasn't happening until this evening," Judy replied in the most polite manner. "So I thought I'd do some practicing so I can get ready for it."

"Well, Cottontail, I'm hopin' ya got enough practice in," Duke retorted, "cuz this race is happenin' right here and right now."

It was with that remark that Judy put her game face on. "Guess it's time to show ya what I've got, Weaselton."

"Alright, Flopsy," the weasel proclaimed, "I'll race ya t' where that finish line is here."

Judy ignored Duke's words and started to just direct her focus on her surroundings. Having no prior experience regarding what Snow Jam looked like, or what obstacles might be around the area, the terrain was entirely new to her. This meant that she needed to be a bit more on the careful side, as she needed to ensure that she went in the direction that wouldn't slow her down.

Weaselton made a sharp curve to the left, and Judy simply decided to the opposite way and chose to turn right. A shiny blue rail that ascended a couple inches started to appear in her midst, and she ground over it easily. Once she was of the end of it, she noticed there was another one below her. She landed directly onto it with ease and glided across it. Yet another rail, very short compared to this one and the one before it, was up ahead, so she curved to the left to ensure she would be able to grind right onto it.

"Smooth as butter," the doe remarked with a smile as she traveled across the third consecutive rail.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, rabbit," Duke said, coming up in front of her and retaking the lead in the race.

The path carried on from there, with the two members of the circuit swerving through the sharp bends within their way. Soon afterwards appeared a metal structure with bright lights above it, a sign that read "Out of Bounds" directly to the left of it. Weaselton was quick to go in the direction of the sign, but Judy just continued to go straight.

The lights above and inside the structure strobed colorfully like those in a club as she neared it. Taking this route gave her an opportunity to catch some air for the first time on this course, and she gladly took the chance to do her "Lounge" trick.

"Livin' the dream!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, holding her board behind her back and kicking her legs back and forth.

Once she hit the ground after performing Lounge, she realized that Weaselton was now even further ahead of her at the moment. The mustelid told her before that he knew the ins and outs of the peak quite well, and apparently he knew that taking that shortcut was the best option.

Don't worry, Judy thought. You'll catch up to him in no time.

The bunny carried down the passage, coming up drop-off that looked like it descended into a forest of some sort. While this race against Duke wasn't exactly about showing off her cool tricks, she still grinned at the opportunity to try a new one out that she thought up.

When the drop-off started to get closer and closer, she got caught back up to the weasel once again. With them now neck and neck, she noticed on the mustelid's muzzle that he wasn't too happy about her getting close to passing him up.

Judy redirected her attention to the sharp descent into the forest. The combination of excitement and adrenaline that she felt back at Crow's Nest coursed through her, and she felt extremely pumped up to try out another trick she had up her sleeve. Nick had told her that after she discovered her special trick, the ideas for new ones would surely come to her while boarding across the mountain. And it turned out that the fox was right! She had been having a bunch of ideas for some new tricks that she thought would be pretty gnarly, all of which were inspired by her own personality or experiences.

"Here we go…" she said to herself.

Finally at the edge of the drop-off, she jumped into the air. The descent turned about to be pretty misty, and she could feel the cloud of droplets hitting her face directly. Surfing high above the trees on the forest floor below, she started to pull of her latest trick.

She started by slipping her right paw out of the bindings of her board. With that raised foot on the knee of her supporting leg, she started to twirl in a swift circle on one paw, arm flicked above her as she pirouetted like a ballerina. Judy came to a stop and returned to her normal position, now seeing very faintly that it was time to touch the floor of this forest area pretty soon. She landed in a hard manner, which slowed her down for a split second before she continued onward.

Soaring through the air as she tried a trick this for the first time...

That was a feeling that was indescribable for her.

Just like when she did Lounge for the very first time, it felt like time itself just stopped, everything coming to halt as she felt a freedom that was unlike any other kind. It was like an out-of-body experience for her, to put it in other words.

The doe made the motion of flexing her muscle in celebration of not only performing one, but two of the newer tricks she was dying to try out. "This bunny's got some skills!" she proclaimed loudly with glee.

Looking behind her for a moment, she saw that she was now in front of Weaselton. He was still on her tail, however, and she needed to get further out into the distance to ensure she wouldn't be passed up another time.

A big tree was what she was steadily approaching next, and she banked to the right of it and over towards another sign that read "Out of Bounds." She went directly through this part of the course and kept straight, the next thing coming up in her vision being a bit cool to her. A humongous fallen tree log that was hollow on the inside was dead in the middle of the path, and her snowboarding instincts started tingling. She just had to go in the direction of it.

And so she did. Once she was right in front of it, she jumped up a bit and entered the inside of the large and hollow log. Gliding across it like a rail, the bunny found joy in taking this particular shortcut. After all, it was being able to do things like this on courses like these that made this circuit she was a part of the most exhilarating experience of her life.

Judy saw that there was now some stumps sticking in the passageway, but she was quick enough to dodge all of them. Behind her, meanwhile, she could hear Duke coming up, and she made note that this path, regardless of which direction taken earlier, lead to here. The weasel, however, didn't do as good as her at dodging the stumps. She could hear him mumbling under his breath upon running into one, slowing him down and causing her to take even more of a lead.

The lagomorph remained focus on heading straight down the course, and surely enough the finish line was starting to show up in her view. Upon seeing it in the distance, she started to smile brightly. For being on this course for the very first time and having no prior knowledge of it like Weaselton, she didn't do too bad. After all, it was her that was taking the lead.

Ahead of her was a final jump that was in the middle of the open passage. The ascension would have made for a good time to bust one final trick, but Judy restrained herself from doing that. This was a race and not a freestyle event like she had been a part of some time ago. The tricks were best saved for something like that.

Don't slow yourself down now, she coached herself. We're so close to that finish line.

And she was close to it, indeed. So close to it, in fact, that she could pretty much taste the victory that she was about to achieve against the weasel.

Judy swerved to the left and avoided the oncoming jump, and Duke ended up ascending what she was avoiding. There was no doubts that the mustelid tried to show off whenever the opportunity came about, and this was one of those instances.

The bunny looked behind her for a moment and caught a glimpse of the trick that Weaselton was performing. From what she could see as she was speedily boarding ahead, he was doing the handstand that was like what he did on Crow's Nest. He miscalculated how quick he needed to execute the trick, however, and ended up taking a bit of wipeout.

"Ugh!" she could hear him utter as he fell into the snow.

Judy turned her attention back to the finish line which was dead ahead. She continued straight for the remainder of the course and crossed it swiftly.

"Yes!" she said, pumping a fist into the air as she came to a stop.

The gray leporine remained where she was just as Duke Weaselton slowly made his way to the finish line, the look on his face being one of disappointment.

"And to think that I would've won if I hadn't taken that damn fall," the mustelid grumbled. Casting a look in the rabbit's direction, he remarked, "That was beginner's luck, Cottontail. You ain't gonna be so lucky, though, if ya make it t' Peak Two."

With that, he took his paws out of his board and proceeded to walk away. As he did so Judy started to see a figure steadily approaching, the faint sounds of snow getting crunched growing a bit more audible.

As the figure got closer, she started to see that it was Snarlov. The polar bear swerved into view from off the course's path and was making his way towards where she was standing. Upon getting near her, he came to a stop and took a moment to catch his breath.

"Hello, Judy," he greeted a moment later.

"Hey, Snarlov," she replied back. "Weaselton challenged me to a race right before you came here. You out and about on the slopes as well?"

Snarlov put on a smile that was as big as the one on the rabbit's muzzle. "Actually, Skye ended up challenging me to some trick contest out in the backcountry," he informed. "After that was over I just started doing some boarding towards Snow Jam."

"I presume you were the winner of that contest," Judy said. "Those tricks you were pullin' off at Crow's Nest were spectacular."

"Thanks," responded the ursid. "And, yeah, I did win it. Skye wasn't too happy about it, though, and told me that the next time a freestyle event comes up, she'll be the one that takes the show."

"I'm thinking that new snowboard of yours has been your good luck charm. Can't get over how awesome it looks."

The polar bear nodded his head. "You know, that reminds me of something," he said upon remembering something. "While we're on the topic of snowboards, I oughta introduce you to one of my good friends. He's the guy that I said I sponsored before, and he designed the board that I'm using right now. Maybe he'd be able to make ya one that was special for the upcoming events."

"That sounds like a good idea," Judy responded. "This board that I've used since the start of the circuit is one that I've had for as long as I can remember. Maybe it'd be a nice change to put this one aside for a little while and try something different."

"Well, my good friend makes some very unique snowboards for locals and competitors, some of 'em being just like mine and different from the regular kind."

"You think he could do something unique for me too?" the bunny inquired.

Snarlov answered, "You give him whatever idea ya have in mind and he's bound to make it come alive."

"You think it'd be possible to head over there now?" Judy asked eagerly. "How far is he from here?"

"Not too far, actually. Just a short distance away from the nearby lodge. I'm sure he would be more than happy to make something neat for you."