Avalanche of Love Ep. 09

"Hiroshi Yukazama, thanks for chasing off the guy obviously over-compensating for something," The buck sneered out as the lion snarled at the trash-talk over his shoulder.

"Down boy! You know you're already sporting an infraction, you wanna get kicked out of the league?" Ellery called out as the lion known as Charles snorted and turned back to his coffee he was making.

"An infraction? We can get those?" Kai cocked a brow.

"Heh... Charley over there has a hot head, got in a fight with a mouthy fan a few months ago, league told him if he causes anymore issues like picking fights with rookies, he's suspended for three years!" Ellery explained jovially.

"Ah, I recall hearing something about that. We may be different sports, but we're all still snowboarders, word gets around in the community." Hiroshi shrugged.

"It'd be a shame too, because Charley is having a break-out year this season, a commanding points lead of six, mainly because none of the rest of us can make up our minds on placement!" Ellery laughed again as the lion just gave a snarl at the casual commentary.

Kai rubbed his muzzle at that. "Wow, but there's only been like four competitions, so-"

"Yes, I've ranked first in all four of them, so you little pukes can dash any thoughts of winning today!" The lion growled out with a glare.

"First taste of winning huh? Happens to a lot of guys. Was he this bad last season?" Hiroshi drolled out, largely ignoring the lion.

Ellery showed an approving grin and shook his head. "Nah, mate. He just came back with a chip on his shoulder, must have been all the intense training I'd wager."

Kai snorted at the lion. "Well, me and Roshi are still learning things, so I don't think you've gotta worry about us nipping at your heels." Kai offered a smug grin as he lifted a gloved paw, flipping the larger cat off. "Yet..."

"You coming in here trying to start something?!" Charles snarled and stomped back over to the leopard who still had his middle paw-finger poking up at him with a smirk.

"Okay, that's enough, save some of that bullshit for when you guys race!" The lead event staffer pushed in with a snarl, breaking the two big cats up before it turned into something. "Gods, Charles, you gonna let a couple of rookies get under your fur? You're never gonna make it through the season at this rate!" The staffer sighed as he moved to start giving everyone their drop in orders.

Things got sorted, and the two boys found themselves near the starting gate. Hiroshi folded his arms and tilted his muzzle up. "You nervous?"

Kai grinned and gave a shrug. "Of course I am, I know you are too, yeah?"

"Well sure... everyone's nervous at first, right?" Hiroshi shifted to put his paws on his own hips. "Though frankly, I wouldn't mind one upping that stupid lion."

"Sounds like a goal. Hey, you got some solid clear times, you're probably more than capable man!" Kai shoved his fist out as they knocked their paws together and Hiroshi walked away from the gate.

"And dropping in first is one of our new riders, it must be surreal, being the top cat at one sport, but coming in all the way at the bottom in another." Chaz spoke out as the leopard showed the camera that same cocky grin.

"Well, he doesn't seem too worried at all." Harley called out as the camera moved to Kai.

"Hey, just gotta make my sister and fans proud, easy peasy!" Kai mewed out to the camera as he dropped his goggles then pushed off.

The average time to the bottom in qualifying came out to about 38.4 seconds. But, as everyone knows, not all riders put it out there during qualifying runs. Kai knew he had to put on a good showing for Hiroshi, but it probably didn't help he had a certain set of girls down at the bottom of the course cheering him on.

He didn't have the confidence to be too technical on his first run, he just wanted to get a feel of the course, he'd try for more speed on his second drop. He shifted by each gate, trying to be smooth as possible, feeling the board oddly rut under him during one of the turns, but he kept it together, only losing a little time but not crashing.

Coming to the bottom of the hill, he threw his arm up with a fist as the crowd cheered, having set a 33.1 which would have actually put him in second if they had gone by first drop ins during qualifying.

Moving to the edge of the barricade, both his sisters were there cheering him on. Kayla looked like she was about to leap over but Madeline grabbed her hip to hold her at bay.

"Damn! That was solid, brother!" Kayla mewed out with a grin.

"It was okay, turn four was sloppy, dip your knee a little more next time, also keep your chin up for the wind drag. Don't forget to tuck your tail as you do these, wrap it around your thigh if you need to!" Madeline barked out orders to him as he grinned and nodded.

"Thanks coach." He gave them both a loving grin before unbuckling and moving back to the lift.

Kai sauntered over towards the lift, Chaz already waiting there with mic in paw. "That was a far cry from your qualifying time, now wasn't it, Kai? Think it'll hold up as the day goes on?"

He offered the smaller older cat a grin as he lifted his muzzle and flicked his thick tail. "It better not, be pretty sad if you let the trick-style guys come in here and one-up all you pro-feshional types, wouldn't it, Charles?" The leopard offered a wicked little grin at the camera.

"Trash talking on your first day? I'm here for it young'un!" Chaz laughed out and slapped his shoulder with a heavy pat. "Good luck on your next run."

"Arrogant piece of-" Charles snarled and clenched his fists, then glared at the buck that just cocked a brow, calmly standing there leaning against the wall. "Not gonna say anything without your buddy around?"

Hiroshi snorted and sipped his tea before meeting the lions eyes. "I'm not here to lower down to your petty bickering level, and I've been knocking down faster times than Kai on average, so..." The buck took another sip of tea and shrugged. "Put up, or shut up."

Ellery barked out a laugh and grinned at the other buck. "Oh man, you guys are bringing a much needed attitude shift to these things. I love it!"

"Why don't you butt out, Ellery!" Charles snarled.

The large buck seemed to feed on the tempo and showed his own grin. "Maybe you should worry about your own run, Charley! Seasons just getting started, big guy!"

"Yukizama!" The staffer called out.

Hiroshi snorted and finished his tea before moving over. "It's Yuke-ah-za-ma, you'll be hearing it a lot, so get it right." The buck snarled as he shoved his nose up like Madeline would do and sauntered out of the prep area.

Kai was back up at the staging area to head the buck off before he dropped in, offering a grin as he quickly spoke with him, "Heh... watch out for turn four, make sure to keep your knees in for it, okay?"

"Thanks, Kai. Be ready to give that moron CPR after I lay this time down." Hiroshi offered the big cat a grin.

"Heeey... Mad's wearing off on you! I think I could get used to trash-talking Roshi!" He clapped the buck on the shoulder. "Ride safe man, be sure to kill it!"

"And here's our second rookie of the day, Hiroshi Yukazama. A rookie to us, but no slouch in the boarding community, he's currently in a points battle with Kai Hannah for first place in half-pipe!" Harley squeaked out to the viewers at home.

"Kai surprised us a few runs ago, and Hiroshi did better than him in qualifying, it'll be interesting to see what this buck has up his sleeve." Chaz cooly spoke out as the camera focused on the buck that was finishing strapping his boots into the board.

Hiroshi gave a nod to the viewers before snapping his goggles in place and dropping in. He wasn't just chilling in the prep area with tea, when Kai did his run, the buck had watched every second of it, analyzing each turn and gate point. Where as Kai was a little more conservative with it, Hiroshi focused on the tight turns and speed.

There was a reason there were larger guys in slalom vs the other sports. The more mass you have, the more speed you can build. It also lets you dig in more for the tight turns whereas lighter competitors had to be more technical with their turns lest they lose all control.

Just like how Kai and Kayla were innate at a disadvantage on paper with the trick-style sports, Hiroshi was at a disadvantage here in the slalom. That's of course, on paper.

Hiroshi grit his teeth against his mouth guard as he came into turn four, remembering what Kai said and tucking a little tighter, even shoving one paw out into the snow to offer some drag as he made a tight pinpoint turn that even got the crowd excitedly cheering at how technical it was.

Zipping past the last gate, he shifted into a low-profile position to get as much speed as he could, as a skier would going downhill, and when he passed the finish gate, the time blinked at 31.2 seconds.

Just as Kai did, he ground his board to a halt near the barrier where the girls were waiting. He lifted his goggles and perked his ears, hearing the crowd roaring and cheering more than he expected for a simple race, they were really into it.

Kayla also was cheering and clapping her paws for him, but wasn't looking like she was ready to tackle him like she had been with Kai. Madeline gave a nod as she folded her arms, leaning in as Hiroshi did to hear her over the crowd, "Good, but turn six had too much drag, on your next approach, angle it a little steeper, imagine one of those sports bike competitions where the rider gets really close to the road on the tight turns, let your board cut the snow, don't just fight against it."

Hiroshi gave a nod of understanding and threw his paw up, giving a thumbs up to her before walking back towards the lift. Kayla shoved Madeline with a grin as she huffed into her ear, "Listen to these guys going crazy, imagine what kind of cheers you could get, love! You sure you don't want to do this?"

Madeline snorted and just pushed her paw around Kayla's hip, leaning in to speak into her ear. "I'll stick to doing slalom non-professionally, but I'll do it any time you want to watch it, babe." Kayla offered her a grin and they both quickly stole a kiss, the camera getting the shot of it happening, because after all, they were the top women's riders right now, they wouldn't pass up a chance to get a shot of that.

"31.2? That would have landed you in a gold position last competition, Hiroshi, think it'll hold up?" Harley shoved the mic into the buck's face.

He snorted and put his paws on his hips. "Just one half of the run, Harley. I don't need to worry about it holding up until the second run is complete." Hiroshi responded cooly, not bothering with any trash talk, and gracefully walked back to the lift.

"Aye! He's so cool!" Ellery spoke out while clenching his paws, showing a grin as he watched the TV in the staging area.

"He's okay." Kai gave a laugh and put a paw on his own hip.

"Brown!" The staffer yelled out.

"Alright! After seeing that I have to step it up!" Ellery declared with a fierce-looking grin.

"Ride safe, man!" Kai slapped the buck on the shoulder with a grin, Ellery giving him a nod as he moved to the gate area. Kai watched Ellery locking in on the tv, then perked his ears, hearing Charles snarling from across the room. "Something weighing on you, big guy? Still sore about my trash-talking, or you got more worries on your mind?" Kai showed his sharp teeth and a cocky grin.

"You two didn't put numbers out at all like this in qualifiers, were you just holding back?" Charles hissed out, seeming more composed than he had since Kai had first spoken with him.

Kai grinned at that and lifted his muzzle. "We've got a good instructor, and we've already got the nerves of being a professional cleared in our systems thanks to half-pipe." Kai showed his teeth as he flexed his paw and locked his sharp blue eyes with the lion's yellow ones. "We only needed one more catalyst to excel and you gave it to us, so thanks for that."

Charles snapped his teeth and clenched his own paw into a fist. "What's that supposed to-" He was cut off as he heard the roaring crowd even from up top in the prep area.

"Looks like Ellery isn't going to let the new buck steal this competition away without a fight!" Harley's voice shouted out excitedly from the TV as both the big cats looked back, seeing the other buck had just laid down 31.5 for his own time, only a few points from Hiroshi's.

Kai showed his teeth in a grin and shoved his paws into his jacket pockets before looking back at Charles. "I'm still new to this, probably like you are... but you see, the thing is, when you're really in the head space, you thrive and push past your limits when the other competitors step up. You've been on cloud nine thinking you're the big cat in town, but now you're going to have more even competition. Are you going to rise to that challenge, or sulk about it?"

Hiroshi pushed into the waiting area and walked right over to the TV. "Don't tell me he just beat my time already?"

"Almost, but it'll be tight for the next run." Kai just turned to his friend, leaving the lion there with his jaw gaping a little at the words as if trying to process them still.

Charles finally composed himself and snarled out at the two of them, "You... You two can't expect to just come in here and-"

Hiroshi sighed rather loudly at that and spun on his heels, taking a few steps towards the lion as he looked up at him with that cool neutral gaze in his dark eyes. "Give it a rest. No one here cares or will even consider caring once I and Kai are done. We're here, and we're shaking your whole world up. Do you want to stay on top? Earn it, because this is how it works. We'll spark the other riders to try harder too. More falls and failed rides, but lower and lower times."

"Your smug ass attitude is pissing me off, prey!" Charles roared out and grabbed the buck up by the collar of his coat. All the other riders in the area snarled and shouted at the lion to calm down, it was incredibly disrespectful in this day and age to refer to non-carnivores as 'prey' and the whole room was clearly upset by it.

Kai was already moving over to them as Hiroshi just gave the lion that same slow blink of a bored look, then Charles saw a flash of white before dropping the buck and stumbling back, gripping his snout with a snarl. Hiroshi sighed and rubbed his forehead before giving him a bored look. "Lucky I didn't have my antlers in, or you'd probably be blind right now, huh?"

"Damn, man! Didn't expect you to just headbutt the moron!" Kai laughed as Hiroshi snorted and folded his arms. Charles just scowled and held his bloody snout, his own wiry tail whipping about.

"Oh that is fucking it!" The head event staffer snarled out and stomped over. "I'm reporting this to the league, you're not going to turn my fucking staging area into some kind of fight club!"

"I was just defending myself, you reporting me as well?" Hiroshi cocked a brow at the large elk that had the event coat on.

He snorted down at the deer and shook his head. "No, everyone saw he started it and you just ended it, you're fine, Yukazama."

Charles already looked panicked as he felt the realization dawn on him, all the other competitors grumbling and muttering agreeing sentiments to having him reported. Hiroshi looked to Kai who just gave a frown and shrugged, then cut his dark eyes to the lion, who already looked like the whole world was falling down around him.

"So... it's my forehead that got bruised, no big if I don't make a fuss out of it, right?" Hiroshi looked back over at the lead event staffer.

"Well... he's fucking around in MY prep area, so it kind of isn't just about that, Yukazama, but what are you saying?" The elk cocked a furred brow.

"I'm saying leave it with his nose busted, I don't want to file anything with the league, and if he stirs anything up again, then do what you have to do. Is that fair enough since I'm the one that had to deal with it?"

The elk snarled and looked over at the lion, then back down at the smaller deer. "You sure about that? This guy has a reputation for a reason."

Hiroshi looked over at the shocked-looking lion who now had a paper towel against his snout, then back to the elk. "I'd appreciate it if you turned a blind eye this one time, but it's your staging area at the end of the day."

He snorted in disapproval before looking at the TV, "And we're still waiting on the next rider, I'm being told we're having some mechanical issues with the gate, so bare with us one-moment folks," Chaz drolled out to the viewers.

With a grumble in his throat, the elk jerked his gaze to the lion and thrust a finger at him. "Mallory, shove some tissue into your fucking snout and get to the gate, if you're not there in 2 minutes your run is canceled!"

Kai folded his arms with a grin as he looked to the lion in the room. "Better wipe the blood and shock off your face. Get moving, big guy."

Charles looked like he had a million questions for the buck but quickly composed himself and scrambled to make it to the gate. Hiroshi hissed and rubbed his head before looking to Kai. "Can you find me some painkillers? That moron has a thick skull."

"Heh... no problem man, give me a sec!" Kai trotted over to his own bag to fish out some medicine.

"I'm being told the mechanical issues are sorted and we're ready for the last rider of this first series of runs." Harley hummed out to the viewers at home.

"And naturally it's Mr. Dynamite himself, Charles Mallory! He's been uncontested this whole season but today he might be about to take it on the nose!" Chaz laughed out.

"Well the bloody tissues shoved into his snout says he might have already done that! Either that or he saw my swimsuit spread I did a few years back!" The rabbit catcalled out.

Charles snarled at the camera, the tips of his gloves still caked with blood as he adjusted his goggles and pushed off. His board seemed to just carve through the snow thanks to his size, his speed just growing with every turn he made. Despite the drama he managed to throw down a clean run that gave him a 31.3, barely slipping him into second place between Hiroshi and Ellery.

"Well well! For the first time this season, it looks like the King isn't finishing the first half of our competition in the lead! One of our newcomers is taking it to his house and showing he's not going to make it easy on, Mallory!" Chaz mewed out with a bit of excitement in his face.

"That's right, and we've got our other newcomer right on their heels too, this promises to be a clawbiter folks!" Harley chimed in with just as much excitement in her voice. "We'll see you all for the start of the second half in just a few minutes!"

Once back up top in the prep area, the lion went straight to the buck. "Hey."

Hiroshi gave him that same calculating look and cocked a brow. "What do you want?"

"Why? You think I needed your pity?" Charles snarled as he shoved his paws into his coat pockets.

With a sigh, Hiroshi shoved his paws into his pockets and looked at the big cat with a side glance. "Look, I didn't do it for any reason other than I felt you were fucking up in the moment. You fuck up again, rest assured I'll let you have what's coming to you."

"That's it?" The big cat cocked a brow.

"Who do you think I am? You expect me to tell you to throw a ride for me or something?" Hiroshi showed his teeth in a snarl as he stomped over to the lion and lifted up on his footpaws to get more eye-to-eye. "You ride like your fucking life depends on it, Charles, or me, and Kai will have you wearing bronze or worse the rest of this season."

Charles showed his teeth in a snarl but said nothing as he pushed past the smaller boy, bumping his shoulder, Hiroshi looked bored with the gesture and let the lion stalk on by. Kai who had been watching from a distance finally sauntered up with his gloves in his own pockets.