Avalanche of Love Ep. 12

The funny thing about sports, you'd be amazed how many bad memories and regrets are tied to them. We only see the highlights, the greats, but what about the ones that fall short or have their dreams flounder too soon?

What happens when you're not done, but outside factors beyond your control say you are? What happens when you let your fans down? Or worse yet, the rivals that looked up to you.

Let's jump right in!

The older leopard ran his paw through his graying hair and fur, looking over the small document on the table before him. "Really now? You all want to form a union against us? I like to think Altima has done right by you guys." His gray eyes looked back up at the collection of riders that had made the trip to speak with him in person about the player league.

"This isn't against you or Altima specifically, Allan, it's about watching out for our own. If anything, if we were against you, we'd not be coming in talking to you openly about this, giving you the chance to get in on the ground floor of this," Kai explained as he tapped his padded fingers on the shiny conference room table.

"Kai is right, we're taking a big chance even talking to you about this, you could literally go tell the league and turn this into an even steeper uphill fight for the lot of us. We are showing faith in you and Altima, despite how it might look at first glance," Hiroshi offered his own input on the situation with a shrug.

The VP tapped his paws together as he frowned. "Be that as it may, you have to understand how the company feels about custom-"

"Come off it, Allen! You aren't stupid and you know Gemini will snatch up most of the new riders that are forced off custom boards anyway! All this stunt is doing is alienating the competitors, it's setting the sport back just as we started getting some real traction!" Kayla hissed out and smacked her paw down on the table with a loud thud.

Jarome was the last Altima rider to show for the meeting and lifted his own muzzle. "Kayla is right, they finally added slope and big-air to the lineup at the Olympics last time, this stunt will just slow down the growth of the sport on the whole. You're all going to end up losing cash long-term over it."

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but our shareholders, lawyers, and finance experts all agree this will pay off in the long term," Allen sighed with a frown.

"Yeah, and did any of them expect us to form a league?" Hiroshi snarled back, seeing the older leopard offer a deeper frown at that.

Kai sighed as he spoke, "Allen, you helped me and my sister get started in this... I know you used to ride too... I'm grateful for you and Altima taking the shot on us, but the only manufacturer that might come out of this in the black if we all form and strike, is Gemini."

Allen drummed his padded-fingers together. "So you're willing to jeopardize your own careers over the other riders that use non-commercial boards? What sense does that make?"

"When you competed, what were you there for, Allen? Were you worried about the money, or the challenge? I'm doing this for my fans because I want them to see me being the best I can be. I can't do that if I don't have everyone pushing me!" Jarome called out with a grin on his muzzle.

"You sure need someone to push your tail out of fourth place!" Kai mewed out in a sassy tone of voice.

"I bet you'd like to push something into my tail," The lynx snarled with a playful grin back at the snow leopard as he lifted the middle finger of his paw.

"Hey, you two try not to have a lovers quarrel in front of the boss, okay?" Hiroshi drolled out, Kayla offering a giggle at the commentary.

Kai and Jarome glared at the buck but then lifted their ears as Allen gave a jovial laugh at the display. The older leopard offered a small grin as he folded his paws on the table. "Oh man... that takes me back... I guess some things never change, eh?"

"Do you know how many guys you used to ride with that used non-commercial boards, Allen? How many major manufacturers were there then?" Kayla asked as she lifted her muzzle.

"Point taken..." Allen frowned and looked at the document in front of him once more, paws tapping the table. "How many riders do you have in on this thing?"

"So far? About twenty, and given there are only around eighty competitive boarders in the league right now across all sports, that alone is significant, and we've only been talking to people for about three days." Hiroshi gave the VP a resolute nod.

"I've not talked to the girls from slope-style, and Kai hasn't even mentioned this to the slalom guys, but Madeline is reaching out to others every day. Almost two dozen riders were displaced from the decision, and you know they'll all sign on. We'll probably easily have two-thirds of the base by the time we're done." Kayla pulled out her cell phone to check the figures. "Yeah, we're currently at twenty-five riders."

"Our lawyer, Trevor, said you and him were old buddies. You've both lived the life, you know this isn't right, and you also know if we drag most of the riders to strike, the only ones that are coming out of this unscathed are Gemini. I hate to say it, but, Altima, Astral, and the other manufacturers quite literally have a gun to their heads, and we're the ones holding it." Hiroshi scoffed matter-of-factly.

"I respect you shooting straight with me on this, Yukazama. I can't deny your argument either." Allen sighed and shook his head. "Tell Trevor I'm in favor of this, I'll have to talk to the shareholders and President, but I think once I show the chain of logic, I can sway them."

"Thank you, Allen. I appreciate your continued faith in us. Don't think me and Kayla won't remember this when it comes time to renegotiate with Altima." Kai gave a nod to the VP.

"They say never show loyalty to a brand, but yeah, if you guys show you have the rider's best interests at heart, count me in on that too." Jarome mewed out with a grin.

"But let's be realistic for a moment. I can schedule the shareholder's meeting in a week, but you all will have to work quickly. Obviously, once this gets out, the league is going to lose its collective mind. You'll need to get talking to those riders sooner than later." Allen gave the four of them a grim look.

"No worries on that, you just focus on getting Altima onboard with us, that will give us more leverage with the other manufacturers, and thank you, Allen." Kayla offered her own smile to the older leopard.

"Don't I see enough of your tail at our job, Jaron?" Jasmine showed a grin to the greyhound as she took a seat at the small table in the dive bar, the last member of the trio to arrive.

"C'mon, Jas, you know you love me." He leaned back in his chair with a grin across his muzzle, rolling his mostly full beer around in the glass.

"Do you two actually do that back-and-forth thing in person too?" Madeline asked with an already irritated look before sipping on her sugary cocktail.

Jaron perked his ears while barking out, "I have no idea what you're talking about Madeline-"

"That's right, Jaron, it's clear we talk like perfectly normal people when we're together off camera." The mouse gave him a nod.

"I agree Jas, and-"

"Oh my gods, stop it..." Madeline groaned and rubbed her forehead with a paw, both of the other members of the table showing playful smiles to the rabbit.

"Anyway... how'd the studio take you two bailing a few days ago?" Madeline composed herself as she asked, then took another sip of her drink.

"Oh they're furious with us, but we also have most of the fan support behind us, so they're treading lightly. Currently, we're just being warned not to do it again." Jaron shrugged.

"Yeah, even if we did try to step out of line, the producer and engineers would be watching us like hawks, they'd cut to commercial the instant we acted out." Jasmine gave a nod to the barkeeper who brought the hard liquor cocktail she'd ordered.

"You know what? I'm just going to get right to the point." Madeline pushed the small document between the mouse and greyhound, both of the sportscasters looking it over for a few long moments.

"Huh... thought I smelled something cooking up, wasn't just my imagination after all." Jaron sipped his beer and leaned back once more. "If you're asking, I'm in."

Jasmine frowned at him and spoke up, "Jaron, you don't even know what 'in' is yet."

"So? I still ride even if it's not professionally, I want to support my fellow riders in whatever way I can." Jaron fixed the mouse with a small adamant glare.

"Cool, what I'm asking is for you two to get your social media flex on with this info, maybe officially endorse the players association. Off the air of course." Madeline shifted her red eyes to the mouse. "Unless you like the idea of trying to do your job with a dwindling field."

Jasmine sipped her hard drink before speaking back to Madeline, "I'm willing of course, we could start right away if-"

Madeline cut her off, "No, I'd need you guys to hold your cards until I told you to go. We've got more riders to talk to and I want to get everything lined up before we pull the trigger. Once we start this the league is going to lose it."

"Going to have as much ammo as possible before you go to the table to negotiate eh?" Jaron smiled.

"You know the old saying, you'll get more with kind words and being armed, than with just kind words." Madeline scoffed as she pulled the cherry out of her glass with the toothpick.

"So that's all? Just plug our social media when you give the green light?" Jasmine asked.

"I mean, you can go talk to some of the other sportscasters about it if you wish, they're former riders too, and they'll probably have personal stakes in it. I could go talk to them but I've got a lot of riders to talk to as well."

"Do you plan to pull that stunt again next competition?" Jasmine asked dryly.

Madeline shook her head. "We won't be able to. The league isn't stupid, they'll just require us to register boards before the competition, so you'll probably just see a lot of scratched riders, and the fans will do most of the heavy lifting from there."

"But, it doesn't matter, I plan to have all the irons out of the fire before then. They'll be dealing with negotiations or a full-on strike of riders, so good luck filling their allotted time slots and keeping advertisers." Madeline scoffed as the two sportscasters frowned.

"Madeline, not every rider is an elite that can afford to go on strike," Jaron said pointedly.

"Most workers historically couldn't afford to go on strike, Jaron, that's why it's a big deal," She fired back before sipping more of her mixed drink.

"The Olympics are just around the corner, are you sure this is the time for all this?" Jasmine asked.

"The fact they are coming up in a few months is exactly why this needs to be sorted now. Even my sponsor, Gemini, will lose their collective shit if they can't be represented during the games by me, and they can't legally make me do it, there's no clause in my contract about the Olympics."

Jaron frowned and pushed a paw through his hair. "This is going to get messy..."

"Actually, I don't think it will be as messy as you're thinking, Jaron," Jasmine responded back.

"And why is that, Jas?" He cocked a brow his voice shifting as if he were on camera.

"You guys are doing that thing again," Madeline grumbled.

The two sportscasters paused and Jasmine smiled before composing herself. "Sorry about that. Anyway, you're planning to just basically fire all the cannons at once, yes?"

The rabbit gave a nod at that. "More or less. I'm telling the riders to be ready to dig in if they need to, a strike will supersede contract terms, but I'm hoping since we're not really asking for a lot here, the league will buckle rather quickly."

Jaron perked his ears. "Chaz was also a rider that used a custom board, I think I could get him in on it. He's the oldest sportscaster we've got, but he's got a good heart, and participates in lots of community programs getting riders into the sport."

"Cool. The more pressure we can apply at the onset, the better. I know some other athletes within Gemini that do other sports that might throw in support on social media." Madeline grumbled as she rubbed her own head. "What a pain..."

"Why are you spearheading this, Madeline?" Jasmine asked her.

The rabbit cast her red eyes down to her empty glass, mulling on that for a while before shrugging. "I'd like to say it's for my stupid girlfriend and her brother... Kayla was so adamant about doing something, but-" She leaned back and folded her arms, frowning as she looked away. "I dunno, I guess I'm just selfish..."

"What do you mean by selfish? Isn't this the opposite of selfishness, Madeline? You're putting your own money and energy into this." Jaron tilted his head curiously.

Madeline snarled as she drummed her claws on the table. "People ride for different reasons, I ride for the competition, I ride for that feeling I get, seeing people hate me, idolize me, knowing I've got a target on my back, pushing myself and pushing others, that's the shit I live for. I'm in my prime right now, but I also know it's a short journey, you two can attest to that. Jasmine, how old were you when you retired?"

Jasmine frowned as she answered, "Uhm... I was thirty-one, blew my left knee out, doc said it'd take at least six months to heal. I knew it'd take me years to recoup my training losses, so..." She got a distant look in her eyes as she trailed off.

Madeline looked to the greyhound who just sighed. "Yeah, I broke my arm at thirty coming down off a trick jump, skateboarding competition of all things, not anything to do with the snow. By the time I got out of the cast a year later and tried to train again, I realized I'd lost so much and it was a slow climb back. I went from consistent top-three finishes to struggling to qualify."

Jaron rubbed the back of his head with a frown. "I guess I always wanted to finish my career in a blaze of glory, you know? I was running out of steam, maybe medal at the Olympics one more time, then retire with my head held high."

"Yeah, sports as a lifestyle are rough, and you guys were elites like I am. A lot of the riders in the league do this as a side gig while having to balance work, school, or even families." Madeline grumbled as she looked away. "Whatever... all I'm saying is, I know this is my time right now and it's really short. So I want the most competitive experiences I can get while I can rise to it. If I can invigorate the industry to raise the level of competitors all around, I'll do it."

"I mean your girlfriend is right there on your heels, and she's not a custom board user." Jaron smiled at her.

Madeline frowned and put a paw to her chest. "Sure, and I can put aside my relationship with her when we compete, but Gina has also always been there, and she is a custom board user. A little part of me was devastated at the idea of losing her as a competitor."

"You act tough, but you've got a soft side to you, huh?" Jasmine grinned at the rabbit across the table.

The bunny snorted at that. "Acting as if you know me? I wish you were in your prime so I could kick your smug tail on the halfpipe, mouse."

"Ha! I wish I was still in my prime too!" Jasmine laughed then slowly frowned. "I get you though, I was never at your level for what that's worth, 'Snow Bunny', but it really does go too fast and I felt similarly to how you did when I rode."

"I suppose that's the toughest part of being a sportscaster. We see the young kits out there doing the crazy tricks we used to do, and we're all like, 'Man I wish I could still do that crazy shit', but I guess that's true for a lot of things." Jaron sighed and sipped his beer.

"Maybe you old guys should form a 'senior league'. Award a special medal to see who can fully suit up fastest without running out of breath!" Madeline offered them both a cocky smirk.

"Blow me," both the sportscasters said in unison, then looked at one another with a grin as Madeline just guffawed out.

"Papa!" A blur of black slammed into the greyhound's leg as he barked out with a laugh.

"Ooph! Okay okay, hey there, sweetheart!" Jaron offered a grin as he leaned down to scoop the small feline girl up into his arms, her fur the color of onyx, but having his eye color.

"Well, you've been away for a few days, of course, she's going to miss her daddy," The black cat purred out as she trotted over in the wake of the small kit that had run to the door the moment the lock was thrown.

"Yeah, I'd have been home sooner, but I had to meet with Jas and, believe it or not, Miss Snow Bunny, herself." The cat in his arms perked her ears at the words, she made sure to watch all the events her father covered and both of them knew she specifically enjoyed watching Madeline.

"Was that about the whole player union thing you texted me about?" His wife purred as she moved closer to him, having to raise up on her bare footpaws to reach his muzzle for a quick kiss.

"Uh-huh! I've already told them I'm all in on supporting them, Jas is also going too! I'll call Chaz tomorrow and see what he wants to do." Jaron hefted his kitten daughter to his shoulder as she grabbed the side of his head with her paws.

"It's great to see you helping with this, I was very proud of you for standing up for the riders like you did last show," She smiled at him with a comfortable look in her green eyes, seeing their kitten clinging to his head awkwardly, her husband giving a goofy grin at it.

"Of course. I hope you didn't think it was silly of me though. I am risking our livelihood over this after all..." He sighed as he looked away.

"We'll figure something out if it came down to it, I want you to always follow your heart, honey. You may be retired, but you'll always be part of that life. You can stop using the board, but the board will always be part of you, isn't that the gist of it?"

"That's right! Even when I'm old and falling apart, I'll find a way to putter down the slopes, and I'll always support the present and future riders," Jaron gave her a nod while listening to his daughter purr happily in his ear.

"Then follow your heart, honey. Come what may we'll be here to support you." Her dark ears perked as she showed her sharp teeth. "Now unpack your bags, I'll have dinner ready in a few minutes."

"Oh thank the gods, I'm about ready to eat my arm!" Jaron barked out with a laugh.

The small click from the door shutting filled the darkness, followed by the heavy thump of duffle bags hitting the floor before the mouse flicked on the nearby light switch, illuminating the empty apartment.

Shrugging her coat off, she went straight to the kitchen and brought down a bottle of scotch whiskey, pouring some into a tumbler with some ice. She moved over to the mantel near her stereo system, looking at the various medals that decorated it, pictures of her on the podiums of each one.

Sipping her drink, she could clearly hear the sportscaster's words in her mind as she looked at that first silver medal.

"Can you believe it? At fifteen years old, Jasmine Sayotame is going to be one of the youngest girls to ever walk away with an Olympic medal in the sport of halfpipe! I think we're going to see a lot of this mouse in the future!"

"At fifteen she became the youngest mouse to ever win a medal in halfpipe, now at nineteen, she's claimed her due with her first Olympic gold!"