Disclaimer: I do not own YOI, just this fanfic. (This is getting pretty tiresome writing it over and over again...)

Omigosh, I'm so so so so sorry for the wait! I know that I promised to release more chapters during the summer months, but it was harder than expected. I'm doing co-op right now, so I barely have time to work on this during the week from Monday to Friday, and I have music history lessons, which take out even more time! On top of that, I have my regular piano practices to worry about!

Ugh! I'm starting to think I may never catch a break! But for the sake of this story and its readers, I WILL NOT SUBMIT TO STRESS! NEVER!

So here! A new chapter! Now just let me collapse on my bed and sleep...

Ch. 18: 2014 Team Trophy

Present time. Victor's parent's home.

"And here's a video of him when I took him skating for the first time!" Nicole switches the video again with a click of the remote control.

On the large tv screen, appeared a small three-year old boy, tightly bundled up in a thick layer of winter clothing, it was so thick that if he were to fall, he would probably start rolling!

Yuri leans forward and fawns. "Aww! So cute!" He looks over to the other side of the sofa, where Victor is seemingly taking a nap.

"Victor? Aren't you going to complain about this?"

"Nah. You were expecting that weren't you? Well, if only I could...you see, my mom's shown this to almost all of my past…'significant others,' that by now I'm immune to embarrassment. Nothing to be ashamed about." Victor slumps back down against the throw pillow.

"Oh my, Victor. I didn't realize your dignity's been damaged that much…" Yuri comforts.

Victor winces upon hearing that. His dignity is still here! Somewhere...oh whatever. Nicole laughs over what Yuri just said. Loud footsteps entered the living room, Yuri turns around to see Victor's dad, Nicole's husband, Kostner come in.

Yuri met Kostner a little earlier, he was a very calm and friendly man, the kind of guy everyone would want to be friends with. He's got this really assuring and trustworthy aura about him, unlike his wife and son.

"Finally finished with printing, hon?" Nicole asks as she hands the remote to him.

Kostner nods. "You have to keep it down a bit, Nicole. Look, he's sleeping again." He points to Victor, who was fully unconscious by now.

"And you call yourself his 'dad,' when clearly, you know nothing about him, watch this." Nicole stands up and whips out her phone. Placing the speakers right next to Victor's face, she presses a button.

🎝 We were, born to make history!

We'll make it happen, we'll turn it around

Yes, we were, born to make history! 🎝

The song was loud and sudden, causing both Yuri and Kostner to cover their ears. However, Victor was surprisingly unaffected despite his close proximity to the cell phone. Yep, he continued to sleep soundly like a baby.

Nicole turns off her phone and smugly smirks. "See? Out like a light. Just like back then. Sigh. And I thought just graduating college is enough to make him more mature."

Kostner shakes his head at his wife but is clearly amused by his son's amazing sleeping abilities. He takes out his phone and connects it to the tv via airplay.

Nicole looks at him confusingly. "Hon, what are you doing?"

"I think I know how to wake Victor up." Kostner gestures to Yuri. "Yuri, you have the honour of learning the secret initiation process that every single one of Yakov's students has to go through in order to train with him."

Immediately, Victor sat up from his sleeping position and ran over to his dad, desperately trying to steal his phone.

"No! No! Anything but that! No one's allowed to see that!" Victor cries.

Kostner easily dodges all of the attempts. "Sorry Victor, but it's something not only for Yuri to see. Your mom deserves to know about this too."

"What? What is this about?" Nicole asks.

"What is this 'secret initiation process?' Does it have to do with Yakov?" Yuri asks.

Kostner selects a video from his phone and a loading screen appears on the tv. "Haha, you'll see."

Yakov's initiation process for accepting new skaters!

The large arena was filled with several skaters, ranging from preteens to post-secondary students, intermediates to seniors, male and female, but all of them had one thing in common. They were all under, or partly under the tutelage of Yakov.

And today, they were about to receive a new skater entering their rink.

A new intermediate skater, a young silver-haired preteen with a giddy attitude, knelt one knee on the ice while crossing one arm across his chest and the other across his back, smiling excitedly nonetheless.

The spectating skaters all looked down carefully, fully prepared to what's about to happen.

Yakov enters the scene, hands in his pockets and a serious expression plastered on his face. He slowly glides around the little Victor, examining his stance and facial expression, he begins speaking.

"So, you think you have what it takes to be here? To train under these circumstances? To represent this club?" Yakov's voice echoes across the arena.

Victor is not fazed yet. "Yes, sir!"

"Well guess what?" Yakov stops abruptly in front of Victor, scraping up some snow from his blades. "If you already had what it took, you'd be here long ago! Working on your exhibition right now for an upcoming Regionals competition! But you're not, I wonder why."

"I wanted to end things with my old coach before the start of the new season then come to you!" Victor answers without hesitation. "That is why, sir!"

Yakov leans back a bit, this kid isn't as soft as his previous candidates, but he doesn't seem too clever either. Wanting to see more of what his potential student is made of, Yakov continues to interrogate.

"So you want to start the new season fresh with me, eh?" He asks.

"Mmhmm!"

"To begin at five every morning and train until five in the afternoon?"

"Mmhmm!"

"To exert yourself until every single muscle in your body is crying out in pain and not even the gods will grant you a slice of mercy?"

"Yes!"

"To stick to any regiment, no matter how tough, how stressful, it may be. From plyometrics to weight-lifting, you're ready for that?"

"Yea—wait, what?" Victor asks again after hearing the mention of 'weight-lifting.'

Unfortunately, Yakov does not have the time nor patience to repeat what he just said and continues on. "To dedicate yourself to this sport, to this country, even when you feel that all eyes are gazing upon you menacingly, even when you feel no support, will you still stay?"

"Uh—yeah, sure!" By now, Victor is only half-listening, fifty percent of his mind was focusing on the possibility of bench presses again.

Yakov slowly reaches into his pockets again before revealing a medium-sized glassy object in his right hand, he stares intently at Victor, who is more confused by now than intimidated. Yakov brings the object above Victor's head where it came into direct contact with the sunlight.

There, Victor could see what the object was. A black rimmed magnifying glass shone above him, focusing a single of beam of light on his head...

"Victor Nikiforov. In this club, there is only one thing that we fight for. One thing that we strive for. One reason that we're here…"

A light painful sensation blossoms on Victor's head, exactly where the beam of light from the magnifying glass is directed on. He sucks in his breath and tries to focus on what Yakov is saying.

"No matter how painful the injuries, how heartbreaking the losses, how unfair the results, you will not flinch! You will not submit! Instead, you will make it through that event, you will move on and only become stronger, no less! Because in this club, our one goal is…"

Alarms began ringing inside Victor's head as he feels smoke emerging from his ears. Water, water! His larynx threatens to release the scream he's been trying to keep down this whole time. Biting his lip and squinting his eyes, Victor tightens his entire body to make it look like he's taking this seriously.

Yakov is about to get to the climax of his speech. With one majestic finger, he points towards the large glass window at the top of the arena, where the sunlight was coming in from. Victor follows the man's finger to the beams of the golden rays.

"...out there! Beyond the line of possibility! The gold is waiting to be claimed! Take it, before your opponents do!"

That's it, that's the end. "SIR, YES, SIR!" Victor cries at the top of his lungs. He's pretty sure there's a distinct burn mark on his head by now.

Yakov puts the magnifying glass away and puts a firm hand on Victor's shoulder. "You pass. I look forward to working with you." With that, Yakov skates off the ice, leaving Victor there still on one knee and with his arms crossed.

Finally, the sound of the large metal door clangs shut, confirming that Yakov has left the arena. All of the spectating skaters rushed down to the ice where they bend their knees and tense their arms, almost as if they were preparing for a battle.

Five...four...thr—

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

And Victor's vocal cords finally let out that long overdue scream.

One of the male senior skaters shouted, "that's 2.5 seconds! Go, go! Hurry!"

Immediately, Victor is picked up by nearly the entire group of skaters while the rest ran ahead to make way for the group coming through.

"Make way! Make way!"

"Coming through, 'scuse us!"

"Another 'Yakov victim' coming through!"

"Get to the washroom!"

The group of skaters carrying Victor rushes into the male washroom and one of the skaters that running in the front grabbed an empty bottle before filling it with cool tap water. Two senior skaters held Victor over the sink while the other poured the water over his head.

They continued this until Victor's screams subsided along with most of the pain.

A female skater runs up with some sterile dressing and places it over Victor's head. "Don't worry kid, the mark won't last forever, but it will be kind of noticeable for awhile. Due to your hair colour and all."

"Well, kid. Welcome to the gang. All of us here, we all had those burns. The same thing will happen to the future candidates." Another skater explains.

Victor gingerly touches the top of his head where the sterile dressing was. "Is this why he's such a great coach?"

Present day.

Nicole and Yuri stare at the tv screen, jaws dropped and eyes as wide as sauce pans. While Victor wept in his father's arms.

Kostner stroked his son's silver hair. "Ah, there, there. The worst part's done. You can stop being a baby now."

Yuri continues to stare at the screen shockingly, but Nicole has moved onto a new emotion. And that is rage.

In exactly three and a half steps, Nicole went from the living room to the kitchen and then emerged with a giant frying pan.

That's when Kostner loses his cool.

"Nicole! Nicole! Hon!" He runs across the room and stops her from opening the front door to exit.

Nicole claws right back at her husband. "Let go me! I'm paying Mr. Feltsman a visit! No one does that to my kid and lives! No one!"

Kostner sighs and lets go of Nicole, leaning against the wall next to the door. She was about to leave again when he speaks once more.

"I don't see what's the big deal about," Kostner answers in a tired voice. "If the burn was really bad, why didn't you notice it all those years ago on Victor? You spend more time with him than I do after all!"

Nicole slowly let's go of the doorknob and turns to face Kostner. "I guess...but—"

"And," Kostner continues. "It's getting late. You don't want to give Yakov any more gray hairs than he already has. The poor man's life span is shortening with every new student he receives."

Nicole happily puts the frying pan back in the kitchen. "I guess you're right! Time to call it a day!"

Victor, who is being cradled in Yuri's lap since his father ran to stop his mother from going on her kill Yakov death mission, suddenly reaches up and pulls Yuri by his sweater.

"Yuri…" he groans. "I'm scared of you sleeping by yourself, sleep with me!"

Yuri opens his mouth to protest but Nicole has beaten him to it. The giddy mother wraps an arm around Victor's waist and pulls him to her.

"No, Victor!" She cries. "I haven't seen you in a millennium! Sleep with mommy! I'm lonely!"

"Hey, Nicole," Kostner shouts from the other side of the room, his face buried behind a large newspaper. "I'm lonely too."

"No, you're not!" Nicole shouts back. "I give you your 'fantasy nights' every Saturday! Tonight is clearly mommy and sonny time!"

"F—fantasy nights?" Yuri repeats.

Suddenly, a very, very, very inappropriate and disturbing image of Kostner and Nicole pops up in Yuri's mind. His face heats up and his back shudders at it.

Victor squirms out of his mother's arms and covers Yuri's ears. "He did not need to hear that!"

Nicole laughs. "I apologize, Yuri, Kostner may seem like your average everyman kind of guy, but he's very needy sometimes. Though, I don't ever recall him giving me the time of day! It's always me who's keeping him happy. Makes me wonder why he even approached me back in college."

"I'm a simple man, Nicole. You were hot." Kostner answers.

"Well, that just turned me off," Nicole grunts as she walks towards the guest room. "As a matter of fact, I think I'll be sleeping by myself tonight!"

"Wait, I just realized something. If Victor is serious about getting together with Yuri, which family name are we going to use in the future?" Kostner suddenly wonders.

"Yuri, we'll be using your last name!" Nicole declares without hesitation. "I'm sick and tired of sharing the same last name as this stranger! 'Sides, your last name is waayyy cuter. Anyways, I'm out!"

SLAM!

Kostner stands up and folds his newspaper. "Yuri, you can take Victor's room. I'll be staying on the sofa-bed tonight. Safest place to be from that crazy lady."

He turns his attention to Victor. "Victor...you choose where you want to be, whatever. Good night, my favourite skaters."

With that, Kostner goes to the washroom to wash up, leaving the two men alone together. Victor looked at Yuri with puppy eyes, waiting expectedly. Yuri feels his face flush as he thinks about the options for where to stay tonight.

"Uh...where do you want to go?"

"Wherever you are!" Victor falls back on the couch behind them. "Whew! I haven't been back home for like half-a-year and yet, it felt like a decade! Maybe I should really visit more often…"

"Is it alright if I take your dad's room?" Yuri suddenly asks.

Victor, surprisingly, doesn't jump back or act shocked in any way. "Yeah, sure, go ahead. Good choice, Yuri. The bed is king-sized in there!"

Yuri sighs and shakes his head. "That's not the reason why I asked. It's pretty far from the other rooms, so your parents won't be bothered by us talking."

Victor sits up, smiling sweetly. "You want bedtime stories?"

"Absolutely." Yuri answers in a fake excited voice. "A story about the events at the Sochi Olympics!"

"Well, let's get ready first…"

Feb. 6, 2014. Iceberg Skating Palace. Team Trophy: Men's short

Today is the day of the first event of the Team Trophy at the 2014 Sochi Olympics! Basically, qualified countries send a team of skaters, each representing one of the four disciplines, men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.

The countries can choose at most, two skaters or couples for each discipline, and the purpose for that is to allow a different skater or couple to skate the free skate after the short program. But they can have a single skater or couple to skate both programs, that really depends on the country and their athletes.

There are ten countries competing, but only five will remain to compete in the free skate event. The men's short program is today. All the representing skaters want to do their country proud, but it won't happen for half of them.

This is it. The chance to shine. You either crush it or blow it.

First skater up is the skater from Great Britain, Robb Parr. He skates to Elrking. The program is vibrant and sends the feeling of urgency and fear so great, that it gave the audience—and some spectating skaters, goosebumps.

Victor is among those spectating skaters. He shivers while watching from the stands and rubs his arms for warmth. Constantine and Mila sit next to him, also entranced by the British skater's dark and melancholy performance.

Victor could see some unease in Constantine's eyes, however. After all, Constantine has been selected to skate the short program tonight. Victor himself is going to be skating the free skate two days later, he still has plenty of time to remain relaxed.

"Hey." Victor nudges Constantine by the arm. "Stop gawking at the first skater, you'll lose faith in yourself."

"There's a difference between gawking and admiring, Victor. I'm simply getting some information here so I can input more into my program and put my opponents." Constantine explains.

Mila grins. "You're so amazing and calm, Constantine! I won't be surprised if you win tonight!"

"Eh? What about me?" Victor asks. "Or am I so great, that you think I can win by default?"

"Nope." Mila shrugs. "If you can focus on your program entirely, then you can win by default. I mean, it's pretty obvious you have something big on your mind lately. A significant other perhaps?"

Victor laughs out loud, but Constantine agrees with Mila. "She's right, Victor. Who is he or she? Whatever you were in the mood for that day."

Mila begins pointing all around the arena. "It is him? Her? Or that tall sexy one over there? I think he suits you very well! Oh no! Never mind! It's that Italian girl right?"

Constantine shakes his head. "You got it all wrong, Mila. Victor doesn't go for those types. Being his rinkmate ever since novice, I know that he has a thing for the innocent or feisty ones. Like our local boy, Maximus Noda."

"What about Max?" A teenage boy's voice suddenly appears behind them.

Yuri. P walks up to the three older skaters with a guy and girl that looked his age walking next to him. They were Mike Dahmer and Norah Meyer, junior skaters that are also under Yakov's tutelage. Yuri. P's rinkmates.

Norah jumps towards Victor, leaning in close. "You have a thing for Max? Don't worry. I'm not against it. If it makes you happy, I'll be the first to join this new ship."

Victor slowly turns to face the fifteen-year-old girl. "My dear partner in crime, you have made a grave mistake. Max is the one who has a thing for me. And for me to stop constantly thinking about it, I have to be given some peace and quiet right now, and just be left to enjoy these amazing short programs."

Robb Parr finishes his short program with an 87.40, putting him in first place for the time being. The next skater is from Italy, Stefan Orlando, skating to Requiem for a Tower.

Victor holds his breath as he watches the program, he remembers the time when he was choosing songs for his new short program and this song was one of them, but in the end, he settled on Pan's Labyrinth.

Constantine's face shows no change in emotion, but his hands show otherwise. Unlike his eyes, his hands are shaking and his fingers fidgeting. It is clear. He is definitely nervous.

Fourth skater to go, he should technically be down at the boards, warming up, but Yakov is understanding enough to let him sit up at the stands until the end of the second performance.

Stefan has fallen twice in his program, but manages to finish with a score of 83.98, putting him in second for the time being. Victor keeps his eyes on the ice as the third skater goes on and Constantine is waiting by the boards.

Ukrainian skater, Samuel Boiko, skates to Symphonie Fantastique. No falls happened here, but Samuel was being very careful. His face and expression barely hid the anixety behind it. Still, he ends up topping the previous two skaters and place first with a score of 90.81.

The skater many have been waiting for skates onto the ice. Constantine's entry is met with a shower of cheers, and maniacal screams from a few of his rinkmates. The silence before the music was killing them, but as soon as it comes on, they were brought back to life again.

Love's dream plays from the loudspeakers and Constantine begins his emotional heartfelt program. Beginning with a strong quadruple salchow/triple loop, Constantine fixes all eyes on him and only him. The program goes from gentle, to urgent in the middle of it, and finally returns to the same gentleness from the start.

Just like the context of the song. Victor folds his arms and watches on, Constantine is always so good at interpreting music, but he also delivers the technical aspects into his performances, and that's what gives him the high scores.

Finishing with a simple backscratch spin from the combination spin, Constantine ends the program and scores a 92.98, setting the bar high for the next skaters to go, and putting him in first place.

The rest of the short program performances ranges from spectacular to mediocre. A few skaters manages to catch Victor's eye, such as the Canadian champion, Jean-Jacques Leroy. Victor also knows JJ from previous competitions, but from he saw from today, doesn't compare to any of his previous performances. JJ added a new sense of maturity today, and that did him good. He places third with an 89.01.

Another skater who stood out was the veteran skater from Japan, Nobuo Adachi, who skates with such grace and stability, that Victor truly believed he would've won if not for a two-footed landing on his triple axel. But Nobuo clung onto second place with a score of 92.79.

Nobuo is the last skater of the men's short program, confirming and concluding the results. The top five skaters currently are, Constantine from Russia, Nobuo from Japan, JJ from Canada, Yu Han from China, and Peter Moreau from France.

Feb. 8, 2014. Iceberg Skating Palace. Team Trophy: Ladies Short.

Today is the day for the ladies short program, and after last night's men's and pairs' short programs, the top five countries currently are Russia, Canada, Italy, Japan, and the US, but that's only currently. After today's events, the five countries to move onto the free skate will be confirmed.

First skater up the representative from Canada, Gaby Leonhart, who skates to Carmen. Victor sits with his same rinkmates from yesterday in the same area. The whole lot of them watch as Gaby skates a flawless and sassy program, finishing with a score of 66.48.

"Nice start for the short program!" Norah claps enthusiatically.

Mike looks at her with curiosity. "Don't be so hasty to judge, Norah. Besides, aren't we really here to cheer on Annie? I mean, she is doing her short program today."

Yuri. P nods. "Honestly, I'm surprised that she made it into the Olympics at all, after her standings in the Nationals! Not that she's a bad skater or anything, in fact, I think she's one of the best out there, but...I'm just surprised."

Victor silently cringes at the memory of that day when he read the list of the ones who made the Olympic team. "And that's why she's chosen, little Yuri. Because she's one the best out there!"

"The girl who placed first at the Nationals was good too." Constantine suddenly adds. "She's no Annie, but she's a strong skater in her own terms. She's not part of the team trophy, but she's Laurel's replacement for the individual events, right?"

"Yeah." Victor answers. Why isn't she here watching the team events? Don't tell me that she got school projects to worry about in this moment!

As the seventh skater goes onto the ice, Victor stands up and stretches. He's been sitting down for way too long! His legs are practically asleep by now!

The skater is a young blonde woman from the US named Jane Richette, Victor eagerly walks to the top of the stands, knowing that the next one up is Annie Vasin.

Halfway through Jane's short program, Victor catches a glimpse of a person waving at him not too far from his right side. It was Liv.

Smiling, he looks around to make sure his rinkmates aren't looking for him before making his way to Liv's side. Jane's short program is near its peak when Victor reaches Liv.

She exhales in relief. "Good for America. They've chosen a strong and fine skater to represent them. I hope they'll do good."

"I thought you hated that country." Victor smirks.

"No, I never did. I thought that country hated me, remember? I told you that. And I could never hate that country! I was born and raised there! A few fallouts isn't enough to deter me!"

"Hmm." Victor leans on the cold bars dividing him from the seats below. "Fine then, let's talk about something else. Annie! How do you think she'll do today?"

Liv didn't show much reaction other than peeking up a bit. "Oh Annie? She's going up next, right? Jane Richette just finished her performance." And with a 64.15! "I think Annie will win the short program."

Victor is surprised to hear this. "You're not upset or anything?"

"Hey, as a skater, I greatly admire her skills. She's talented and amazing, but...a bit stiff sometimes. Then again, I have my flaws too, and yes, I am upset about the first Olympic Team list, but as a fellow skater, I have faith in her. That's all."

Annie Vasin steps onto the ice with a wave of applause following behind her. The audience quiets down as Annie prepares for the start of her short program to Riverdance.

Just like at the Nationals, Annie performs with confidence and sass to match the tone of the music, all of her jumps were as clean as ever. After landing her last jump, the double axel, Liv turns to Victor with a smirk and says, "told you."

Annie scores a 72.94, placing her in first for the time being. Everyone cheers when they saw the score being displayed and announced. None louder than Annie's rinkmates though, Victor included.

As he claps and cheers, he turns to see the rest of his rinkmates sitting on the other end of the arena, Yuri. P and Mila were already noticing his missing presence.

Not wanting them to go look for him, Victor decides to go back. "Liv, I guess I'll see you later."

"Not ready to introduce me to the rest of your friends?" She asks knowingly.

"Not ready for them to start losing faith in me for the free skate tomorrow." He corrects.

"Ah, I see. Then get out of here already! Focus on what's important!"

Victor nods quickly before turning around to speed walk back to the seats where his rinkmates are.

"Hey!" Liv shouts after him. "I'll be rooting for you!"

Feb. 9, 2014. Iceberg Skating Palace. Team trophy: men's free skate, ladies' free skate.

This day marks the end of the team trophy event. And after that, the skaters would have to focus on their actual events for this year's Olympics.

The first event of the day is the men's free skate, and after last night's end of the short programs, the countries that qualified for the free skate includes, Russia, Canada, Italy, the United States, and Japan.

The rest didn't make the cut. First skater of the men's free skate is Italy's Stefan Orlando, who also skated the short program two days ago. Planets played from the loudspeakers as Stefan begins his free skate.

He falls on his first two jumps but manages to pick himself up after landing his third jump, the quadruple loop, cleanly. From there on, Stefan skated cleanly and majestically throughout his program.

Stefan scores a 172.48, placing him in first since no other skater has bested that score yet. The next skater is from the US, Luke Bryant. He skates to Winter's Wind in a program filled with fast-paced strokes and crossovers with high jumps and rapid spins.

Only stumbling once in his quadruple toe loop/triple toe loop combination, Luke has the audience captivated by his advanced technical skills and ability to skate in time to the fast piano music.

The American audience all jump to their feet and wave their flags when Luke finishes his program, scoring a 182.15. New Canadian skater, Andrew Jarvis, takes the ice.

This is his first big international event since he moved up to the senior circuit. Only fifteen years old and barely meeting the requirements to compete in the Olympics, Andrew has the demanding eyes of the audience, all expecting to be blown away by him.

The pressure is on. Moonlight Sonata is the song Andrew skates to, the beginning of his program is slow and melancholy. Then it slowly picks up the pace until the second half of the program, where the song moves into its third movement.

Rapid turns, stops, and crossovers were in sync with the notes itself. Victor looks closely at Andrew's face as he performs, he is in another world. Andrew's free skate captivated the hearts of all spectators and he quickly advances to first place with a 189.10.

Victor is up next. The atmosphere seems to have changed as soon as Andrew stepped off the ice. Excitement and anxiety filled the entire arena as the respected and untouched skating genius steps onto the ice.

Expectations are now higher than ever. Looking through the audience, Victor spots his rinkmates in the same seats as usual, all waving at him with their flags and some even brought giant plushies of brown poodles that resemble Makkachin. Victor shook his head and chuckles at the sight of them.

A little further down from his rinkmates, is Liv, leaning against the metal bars at the top of the arena, also cheering for him and behind her, is a large plastic bag filled with something he does not know. Oh whatever, his free skate is about to start anyway.

A hush fell over the arena as Children plays from the loudspeakers. With the first stroke Victor takes, everyone's eyes were glued to him, he made sure of that. Nobody's attention will ever divert when he's on the ice!

The beginning of the program is gentle, slow, but has the essence of anxiety buried beneath it. The first few jumping passes were huge and successful, with smooth transitions in between. Then, after the third jump, the triple axel, the music picks up the pace and Victor goes into a death drop sit spin.

The audience claps in time as the music reaches its climax and is followed by a round of applause. A short energetic choreographic sequence showcases the peak section of the music that leads into the second half of the program. Once again, Victor lands all the jumps of the second half, earning the bonus that comes with it.

Going into a serpentine footwork sequence, the music begins picking up its pace again to reach the familiar climax a second time. He finishes the program with a rapid combination spin and pumps his fists into the air with joy.

Applause and cheers rain down upon him, along with toys, flowers, and many other items. Looking up to his rinkmates, he catches sight of Liv thrusting down the large plastic bag filled with something. Picking it up from the ice and skating off, he finds it to be full of...Makkachin-sized dog sweaters.

Victor scores a 192.68, setting the bar all over again and placing in first for the time being. Last skater of the men's free skate is Japan's Shinichi Chitose. He is very nervous as he steps onto the ice, after a performance by the skating genius himself, it is very difficult to top that, especially as last skater of this event.

Nonetheless, Shinichi performs with his head held high, to Malaguena. His technical skills are amazing, his artistic skills, even better. Despite coming after Victor, Shinichi didn't fail to swivel heads around. His performance goes from fast, to slow and gentle to fast and furious.

The rapid combination spin at the end got audiences to their feets and Victor swore, that the entire arena rumbled! Truly an amazing way to end the men's free skate. Shinichi scores a 188.93, placing him in third.

That's the end of the men's free skate, the results in order from first to last, Victor, Andrew, Shinichi, Luke, and Stefan. Next up is the ladies' free skate event.

Team trophy: ladies' free skate.

Victor sits with his rinkmates, carrying a large box of popcorn in one hand and the bag of Makkachin sweaters in the other. The team trophy is almost over! After the ladies' free skate, all that's left is the pairs' free skate and the results will be determined, along with the medal ceremony for this event.

And then they can bring their attention to preparing for their individual events coming up a few weeks later. Norah sneaks several handfuls of Victor's popcorn, he quickly takes it away from her.

"Hey!" He berates. "My popcorn!"

Norah makes puppy eyes at Victor, but he simply rolls his eyes at her. "You have money, go buy your own popcorn!"

"Too far away." She complains before taking another handful from Victor's bag.

"You can share with me instead." Mike suddenly offers his bag of popcorn to Norah and sits in between her and Victor.

"Thanks!" She cries happily.

Victor whispers a 'thank you' to Mike who replies with a smile and a nod before talking about the start of the ladies' free skate. "Sonia Ivanov from Moscow is going to skate here. You think she'll do good?"

"Positive, she placed second at the Nationals and first at the GPF this year!" Victor cries.

"Let's hope for the best." Max joins in from the seat above Victor, also stealing a handful of popcorn from Victor's bag.

First skater up is Lindsey Beach from Canada. She skates to Carnival of the Animals in a childish but interesting free skate. Stumbling only once in the second half of her program, Lindsey scores a 120.35, placing her in first.

Next up is the skater from the United States, Gloria Westchester. The song of her choice is Morrowind. It is epic and majestic, and Gloria shows those details through her expression, arm movements, and timing of her jumps. It is always on time with the right notes. An amazing free skate overall, she scores a 141.10, beating Lindsey and being in first.

The third skater is Japan's Maaya Yuzuki. Almira plays from the loudspeakers and she begins her free skate. She stumbles on her first jump combination, but is superbly clean with the rest of her jumps. But it was her spins and footwork sequence that really made the audience wow, especially little Yuri. P, who dropped his handful of Victor's popcorn.

Maaya scores a 139.25, putting her behind Gloria, and in second place. Fourth skater to go is Sala Crispino from Italy. She is slightly not as experienced as the some other skaters, but more experienced than the skaters who just moved up to the senior circuit, which makes her someone in the middle.

Sala skates to Divenire. Her program is absolutely stunning, from her strong jump combinations to her powerful footwork sequences and intricate spin variations. Sala is finally making a mark for herself right here at the Sochi Olympics. She finishes strongly with a score of 150.89, placing in first for now.

Last skater of this event is Russia's girl, Sonia Ivanov. Victor never knew Sonia on a personal level, but does know that she's an excellent skater. Still, it's difficult to tell how things will go for her today. It's like what Max said, "let's hope for the best."

The arena shushes as Sonia's music, Lord of the Rings Medley comes on. She begins in long patient strokes that carves out a circular footwork sequence. The program comes to life after the first successful jump combination and from there, the music picks up and Sonia engages with the entire performance.

Victor looks at the jaw-dropped faces of his rinkmates, though he's pretty sure his own jaw has dropped. Sonia knows how to end an event strongly, she knows how to perform under these circumstances. She is a competitor!

The event ends with Sonia placing in first with a score of 155.61, which pretty much secures Russia's team in first place for the team trophy, though the pairs' free skate event will be the true determiners of that.

Victor and his rinkmates all celebrate by going down to the stands to give Sonia a proper congratulations and suffocate her with hugs. After that, Victor rushes back up the stands to find Liv. He wants to thank her for the Makkachin sweaters and maybe talk for awhile before this event officially ends. But Liv is nowhere to be found.

YAY! DONE AND DONE! Now I can go back to reviewing the styles and terms relating to composers and their music of the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern eras...waaahhh! I wanna have some summer fun like everyone else too! :(

Please tell me that you guys are enjoying yourselves more than me (wherever you are in the world...), and I'm sorry if you're just as stressed or more stressed than me.

I wish you out there, the best of luck! Peace out!