Chapter 9: Trick It on The Big Show

Hallway towards Mac and Ty's Room

In the hallway, Mac and Alex walked to Mac's room as he grabbed his keys and opened the door. The two walked in.

"Here we are, this is my room." Mac said.

"Looks messy, don't you think?" Alex asked.

"Yeah sorry, I was too tired to clean up. I'll do it right now." Mac said as he grabbed all the stuff from the ground and the dirty clothes with the other laundry. "Alright I'm done, sit down." Mac said as he sat on his bed.

"Okay, thanks." Alex said as she sat down.

"So tell me, with what do you need help with. You said that you wanted to trick better, but I need to know how you do it yourself." Mac asked.

"Well, I was on the course, and I did some tricks. I asked Atomika a couple times about my score, but somehow the points I received were not that high." Alex said.

"Okay go on." Mac asked while listening closely.

"I heard that you had 10 million in the beginning and at the end of the race you had 120 million. How did you achieved that, I want that score too, tell me your secret. How can I get higher points with my tricks?" Alex asked.

"Oh so, you want to know how you can get higher points with the tricks you are currently using." Mac asked.

"Yes, that is correct." Alex said.

"Let me start with how I had become like I am right now. You see, through the years while I was competing in tournaments, I wasn't a great rider at all. People always laughed at my performance and made fun of me." Mac said.

"Really, but Atomika said that you are the best Trickster of the team." Alex said.

"That's true, I wanted to get better and better until I was the best on the mountain. You know, after losing every tournament I entered, I wanted to know everything about snowboarding and how to get better than anybody else. After a couple months of hard training on the mountains and tiring myself out, it finally happened in the second Tricky tournament." Mac said.

"Tell me what happened!" Alex said.

"Just like Atomika said, I became the best Trickster in the tournament, Zoe made herself the best Racer while I was the best Showoff. They are called Showoff in the second tournament. The reason why I became so good at tricking is because I forced myself to get better, I even invented some of my own tricks. Even though Atomika said it, I already knew those things about myself. Eventually I developed my two greatest strengths, my excellence and knowledge about snowboarding and my skilled execution of the tricks." Mac said.

"Excellence, knowledge and execution? How do I got those things?" Alex asked.

"You can't just get them, it needs time and experience to develop. I'll get to the point, to get higher points in tricking, you need a great mix up game for your tricks and some original tricks you don't normally use. Mix ups are your friends, remember that." Mac said.

"Mix ups, what do you mean with mix up?" Alex asked.

"You can either use three options, either trick in the air, on a rail, or on the ground. You can always start up with a ground trick, like balancing on the tail of your board. Doing long ground tricks helps to get the trick combo going. Second, you can look for high jumps and use super Uber tricks, not too many beginner tricks to start off because you saw what happened to Ty, probably one of the lowest scores. There are many tricks, but the best earning Uber tricks are Huge in Europe, Cradle May Fall, Blackbird, and Royal Flush. Using those three aspects differently each time are called mix ups, you do a ground trick, then speed up to a ramp and trick in the air, and then land on a rail, that is a mix up." Mac said.

"Okay, those are the tricks I'm actually using, go on I'm learning." Alex said excited.

"Third, you can ride on a regular rail, a tree or whatever you see in the area and do Uber tricks on them. The four best earning moves on rails are Sit on It, Russian Dreidel Boardslide, The Lugar Boardslide and The Skeleton." Mac said.

"Okay, I also know those moves, maybe... I didn't use them the right way, that's it! Thank you, I know enough." Alex said.

"To give you a little summary of what I told you, you have to think strategic and divide the trick possibilities, from rails, to ground game, to tricking in the air. The more you mix up and change style, the more points you will earn. Do not duplicate tricks, or your points are going downhill." Mac said.

"Thanks a lot for your help, I know how I will do my Trick it against Griff." Alex said.

"No problem, I'm happy that I could help you out." Mac said.

"So now that we are done, how is it going with that Japanese girl?" Alex asked.

"I don't know, I think it's going alright... I guess." Mac hesitated a little bit.

"What's wrong, talk to me, it's my turn to help you." Alex said.

"It's nothing really, but I think she is jealous of you." Mac explained worried.

"Jealous of me, why would she? I mean I understand that I'm beautiful and outstanding, but why? It's not like we are dating or... Oooohhh..." Alex said as she finally figured it out.

"She thinks that because we were spending so much time together, she figured I liked you more than her. She thought that because... we are best friends and she deeply cares about that." Mac said.

"That's not good, did you tell her we are just friends?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I told her we are just friends and doing business, nothing more or less." Mac said

"Great, I don't want to come between the two of you. To help you out, I'll stay out of your way a bit more after I'm done with my mountain. We have been spending too much time, so I'll give you your own space." Alex said.

"Oh come on, you don't have to do that, she believed me right away that there was nothing between us. I mean, we have been friends for a decade, we trust each other." Mac said.

"Cool, I really hope you and her will get along just fine." Alex said.

"I hope so to, we know each other for a very long time, it's time to grow up and move on to the next level." Mac said.

"That is very true." Alex said as she looked at the time. "Oh it's already late, I have to go to sleep, my competition is going to start tomorrow morning and I need to be fit." Alex said.

"Alright, good luck, I'm rooting for you." Mac said.

"Bye Mackenzie, thanks again for your help." Alex said as she quickly left his room and went to her own room.

While she was walking in the hallways, Elise passed her on the way.

"Hey Elise." Alex said.

"Hi Alex." Elise said as she opened the door of her own room and entered.

Elise and Kaori's room.

Elise went into her room and sat on her bed, when she laid down in her bed, Kaori also entered her room in a bathrobe and a towel on her head, covering her hair.

"So how was that shower?" Elise asked.

"It feels so refreshing, the bad tub really makes me calm, and the chocolate in the drawer is delicious. The shampoo makes my hair all soft, and don't get me started about the conditioner, heavenly. My problems just disappeared in front of my eyes." Kaori said.

"Yeah I know, this resort is just perfect, it has almost everything, don't you think?" Elise asked.

"It sure does." Kaori said as she walked up to her life size mirror and dries her hair. "So, what did you do in the mean time?" Kaori asked to Elise.

"I watched The Expendables with Moby, Zoe, Ty, Tane and Psymon. Silverster Stallone is so hot, but the best actor of the whole movie for me is Terry Crews. Oh hey, what I have noticed is that Moby seems kind of depressed every time he is with Zoe. He's been like that after Zoe ended her event." Elise said.

"Really? You know, it's obvious that he likes her, but now that you mention it. Zoe doesn't seem to care much for him, she is only busy with the competition. Even if you talk to her now, she just talks about the competition, she seems really obsessed and Moby must know it too." Kaori said.

"Yeah I have seen it, she wants to beat Griff so badly after she failed to beat him on her own. It's like she has forgotten about him and everything else." Elise said.

"What do you think, should we talk to Moby?" Kaori asked.

"He needs some time alone like when he left during the movie, he didn't seem like he wanted to talk to anybody." Elise said.

"Okay sure, might not be a good idea after everything that has happened." Kaori said.

"Now that we are on the subject, how is it with you-know-who?" Elise asked.

"It's going alright, nothing wrong and I'm not stressed anymore." Kaori said.

"Really? Because I heard your earlier conversation with Mac after Mark left. He didn't want you to come with him, and I thought that was kind of rude for him to say to you." Elise said.

"I was wrong about Alex and Mac, I just have to trust him some more. What's the point of being friends if you can't trust each other." Kaori said happily while brushing her hair.

"What do you mean, what did he tell you. Come on, spill it out already!" Elise said excited.

"He told me one of the most beautiful things he has ever said to me, at first I was upset that he didn't want me with him like you just said. But then he said "Alex can never replace you as my best friend, no one could ever do that. You are still number one girl, you are my number one and always will be." as I was relieved and happy at the same time." Kaori said.

"That truly is beautiful of him to say, I didn't know he could think of such things. He kind of seems like the type of guy to rip it off from a soap opera. What did he do right after?" Elise asked.

"Well because I was so understanding about him and Alex, he said that he wanted to ask me a question, he said that it was kind of personal." Kaori said.

"What, he really said that to you!" Elise asked shocked.

"Yes he did, what do you think about it?" Kaori asked.

"Are you ignorant? Mac... Personal... Midnight, hello? He's going to ask you to be his girl. It is completely obvious, my Gosh!" Elise said.

"No come on, he's probably going to give me some type of bracelet, a really, beautiful, bracelet." Kaori said while blushing as Elise saw her through the reflection of the mirror.

"Girl I see you blushing, you know just like me what he's going to do." Kaori asked

"Okay I do know it, ever since he said that it was personal." Kaori said while dressing up in her sleeping clothes.

"I'll stay in the room, I want to see this with my own eyes." Elise said.

"I don't know, I rather have you out of here." Kaori said as she laid in her bed.

"But I want to see it." Elise said.

"I'll think about it hihihi." Kaori said. "Good night." Kaori said as she went to sleep.

"Why are you always being like that, it's not funny." Elise asked.

"It is for me." Kaori said teasing.

"So can I see it?" Elise asked.

"Good night Elise." Kaori said.

"I hate it when you do that." Elise said as she also went to sleep.

SSX Resort Next Morning

The next morning, Alex stood up around 8:00 am as she immediately got ready to start her event.

"This is it, my time to ride on the mountains and show what I can do." Alex said nervous.

She took a shower and got dressed in her usual snowboard clothes. One hour later of getting ready, she grabbed her board from under her bed and left her room, on her way to the main hall.

When she arrived in the main hall, she saw her whole team and Griff waiting for her, with Atomika up front.

"Good morning, good to see that you are not tired." Atomika said.

"I did as you please, I'm ready for action." Alex said encouraging.

"Great, the helicopters are waiting for both of you. Go out there and start your first event, the Race It." Atomika said.

"Wait, before we go, do you think we can do the Trick It event first?" Alex asked as Mac looked surprised at her.

"I don't know, if Griff agrees with you then it is fine." Atomika said as he asked Griff. "What do you think Griff, Trick It first?" Atomika asked.

"Yeah sure, do whatever you want, I don't care much." Griff said.

"Well then, Trick It first." Atomika said.

"Okay then, it's time, bye guys, see you soon." Alex said as she waved goodbye at her team.

Alex and Griff went to their helicopters and the vehicles took off to Siberia.

The Big Show

The helicopters were on their way to their first mountain for the Trick It, the Big Show. After 3 hours of flying, they finally started to see Siberia through out their windows and saw major industrial areas almost covering the mountains.

"Look at the park, it looks so challenging, but no worries for me." Alex said.

"You sure you can take a challenge like this, don't try to cry on your way down, this is not for little girls." Griff said though his headset to Alex's helicopter.

"Says the 22 year old who is acting like a girl. You're a jerk Griff, get ready to lose." Alex said.

"Excuse me riders, but we are finally at our destination for the Trick It, get your boards waxed and ready to go." the pilot said.

"Almost there, don't act nervous, just relax and think about what Mac said." Alex said while waxing her board.

Meanwhile in the SSX resort, the team was waiting for the stream to go live for 3 hours straight.

"Man this takes so long, are they going to stream it or what?" Mac asked.

"Don't panic, I just received word that that they have arrived in Siberia and it could begin any minute from now." Atomika said.

"Finally. I'll go get something to eat from the snack corner across the street before it starts. They have some amazing fries." Mac said.

"While you are at it, bring something to eat for me." Ty said.

"Fine then..." Mac said bummed.

"For me two, I'm starving." Zoe said.

"Okay!" Mac said irritated.

"Oh and also..." Elise said as she got interrupted by Mac.

"Okay, okay, okay I get it. Look, if you want something to eat, raise your hands now." Mac said as literally everybody rose their hands up.

"You have got to be kidding... What am I? An errand boy? Heeh... Fine, but this can take a while, so when I'm back, somebody has to fill me in with the details. Let me see, 1, 2, 3... 7 boxes of fries." Mac said.

"Do we need to give you some money?" Zoe asked.

"No, I don't need it, I've got enough money on my own. See it as something that's on my bill. I'll be right back." Mac said as he left the building and went across the street.

Back at the helicopters, Alex and Griff were ready to start as they waited in front of their doors.

"Okay, 3... 2... 1... Go!" the pilots both yelled as they both jumped out and started their Trick It event.

Alex started with simple tricks to get started, the same with Griff. At the same time, Atomika started the live stream as it was seen on television back at the SSX resort.

"It started, too bad Mac already left, oh well his loss." Moby said.

"At least we are getting something he's paying for, he's rich after all." Zoe said.

"Since when is he rich?" Moby said.

"Ask him, he'll be back soon. Now shut up, I wanna see how she does it." Zoe said as Moby looked mad the other way with his arms crossed.

"My God, she is really starting to irritate me. I do not know how long I can take this." Moby said mad.

The Big Show Trick It Event

Back on The Big Show Trick It event, Alex and Griff were even in points. Alex wasn't riding like her usual self, she thought about what Mac said about mixing up your trick possibilities.

As she was finally on the course, the first thing she focused on was the big jump in front of her, she used the jump to build up her points with regular tricks. Griff on the other hand, also took the big jump, but then went to the right side to the mountain area.

As Alex had full confidence inside about herself, she took the rail on the right side and did a Handstand while doing 360 spins.

"Only do one big trick for more points and... Jump off!" Alex said as she approached the end of the rail, jumped off and did The Blackbird while doing backflips.

She landed safely on the ground and approached another hill, she sped up to the hill and did a Cradle May Fall while doing 360 spins again.

"Alright, go on Chamonix Assassin!" Alex yelled from excitement.

In the main hall, the team was watching Alex riding better than ever, and doing tricks like a true boarder.

"Look at her go, Griff is way below her, and her points are growing so fast." Elise said.

"Alex sure has changed since the analyses, maybe she learned something that day." Tane said.

"You are right Tane, this is different than before, I think I already know what she did to become like this." Atomika said.

"What is her secret, this could be useful in the competition?" Zoe asked.

"Hahahaha, it's what I said before, I'll give a hint, and it starts with Mac." Atomika said proud.

"This is Mac's work, he made her like this?" Kaori asked shocked.

"Her execution and mix ups on the different situations are perfect, and she thinks before she is doing something. Maybe hard to believe it, but that's definitely something Mac would do on the mountain. That is also the reason why Mac had such a high score, he is thinking like a genius on the course." Atomika said.

"Oh come on, you're joking, there is no way she could be that good because of Mac." Elise said.

"I'm serious Elise, Mac is a genius Trickster, I was not lying when I said that he was the best." Atomika said proud.

"Wow, I knew he was good, but not this good. He said that he had nothing to teach me, but after seeing Alex like that, I have to reconsider." Kaori said with her hand on her chin.

On the mountain, the trick it was half way done as both riders were neck on neck. They started to approach the industrial parts of the mountain.

Alex was railing on the side of the building, doing the Lugar Boardslide. When she approached the end of the rail, she jumped off while doing her signature trick, The Catwalk.

"Okay, I have to get the final stretch of this event, I'll make it." Alex said while coming out of the industrial park and entering a tunnel.

Griff on the other hand didn't care much about this event, and only focused on his plans. He didn't care much because his plan to win the competition will be water proof and guaranteed the victory for himself, as he thought about it himself.

Meanwhile, Mac returned back at the resort. He tried to open the door with his hands full of snackbar food.

"Ah, okay I'm almost there and..." Mac said as he entered the building. "Hey guys, I'm back, what did I miss, Is Alex winning the event?" Mac asked.

"Oh she is winning alright, Griff doesn't stand a chance. Her points are skyrocketing." Ty said.

Mac walked up to everybody who was watching the live stream, he packed the bags out and gave everybody their fries.

"Here you go, guys." Mac said as he gave Zoe, Ty, Tane, Moby and Elise their fries. "Here Psymon." Mac said as Psymon grabbed the bag agressively out of his hand.

"Thanks man, I'm hungry!" Psymon said while eating like a beast.

"Take it easy man, it's not like you are going to die any day soon." Mac said.

"You never know man!" Psymon said.

He then walked up to Kaori and handed his food over.

"Here you go, some fries for you too." Mac said as he handed it over like a gentleman.

"Thank you, looks really good but uuhhmm..." Kaori said as she grabbed the bag.

"Whats wrong? Don't you want it anything to eat?" Mac asked.

"Well, it's just that you payed for my food again. I just don't want to be the type of person that lets other people pay for what I want." Kaori said.

"Not this again, Kaori it's okay. I got enough money left. It's nothing. You really have to stop worrying. Alright, after this, I won't buy you anything you want yourself." Mac said.

"Thank you, I just feel cheap you know, it's nothing personal. But thanks again, I really appreciate it." Kaori said guilty

"Anything for you." Mac said as Kaori looks surprised at him and smiled happily. "So anything interesting happened while I was gone?" Mac asked.

"Alex is beating Griff with tons of points." Zoe said.

"Really, how did she managed to do that?" Mac asked surprised.

"Don't act like you don't know, you helped her out, right?" Zoe asked.

"I only told her some things she needed to think of while doing tricks, nothing special, really." Mac said with his hands crossed and closed eyes.

"Well she took advantage of it, sit down, it is almost done so maybe you can see the end." Zoe said as he sat down.

He grabbed his bag of fries and enjoyed the show

3/4th Through of The Big Show

At the the end of the trick it, Alex and Griff were at the last area until the finish line where the helicopters were waiting for them.

"This is my chance, just like Mac told me." Alex said as she went to the left side and took a high jump.

Griff on the other hand just went peacefully to the finish and finished first. While Griff had finished the event, Alex did the trick, Huge in Europe while doing backflips.

As she was approaching the ground, she went back on her board to cash in her final points and finished the event.

"Alright, that was so cool! I wanna go again!" Alex said as Griff only smiled at her and went back to his own helicopter.

"Enjoy the victory while you still can Alex, eventually, this competition will be all mine, hahahaha." Griff said as he stepped in.

"I wonder what he means with that, does not matter, time for me to go to my next event." Alex said happily as she stepped into her helicopter.

The helicopter took off from the mountain and went to the next mountain, Vapor Trail, to start the next event, the Race It.

Back at the SSX resort, the whole team was waiting impatient on the score result as the pilots of both Alex and Griff gave Atomika the points via headset.

"Hmm... Okay, okay I understand. I will tell them." Atomika said as he listened to his headset and turned it off.

"What is the result Mark?" Zoe asked.

"Well you see, Griff has a total of 71 million points." Atomika said bummed.

"Wow, not bad, but why so sad, did Alex lost?" Zoe asked.

"That's just it, Alex has got... 95 million point!" Atomika said happy.

"Yeah awesome, this event was all ours!" the team said while celebrating Alex her first victory.

"But, I think we also owe Mac a thank you, he did however helped Alex out." Atomika said proudly.

"Come on guys, I know I'm awesome, but Alex did it all by herself. No need to thank me." Mac said.

"Good, because we weren't about to." Elise said.

"That's kind of messed up. Here am I happy that we won the first event, and then you come and BAM, you hurt my feelings. Not cool Elise." Mac said while joking around.

"Anyways guys, this means that Alex has to win the Race It event to close the victory." Atomika said.

"Don't worry, Alex is a very good racer, Griff won't stand a chance." Mac said.

"Everybody come together to support Alex." Zoe said as everybody gathered in a circle and puts their hands in the middle.

"One... Two... Three... Team SSX!" the whole team yelled out hardly around the room.