Cold Snow, Hot Blood (OPEN)

[ParamountKeymaster]

A powdery spray of white was spewed up in the wake of Summer Snow Valley's (debatably) best snowboarder. Evan leaned in as he raced down the slope, eyes narrowed behind his goggles, heart pumping from the adrenaline rush. He dropped down a steep incline and launched himself off a natural ramp, spinning once, twice, three times before touching back down.

"Come on, Toby!" he called over his shoulder. "At least make it a challenge for me!"

Toby smirked, crouching down to improve his aerodynamics. "We can't all be like Jason, Ev! I'm not quite as speedy, but I can be just as tricky!" He then leaned down, scooped up some snow, packed it into a snowball and threw it at Evan's back.

Evan laughed at this attack. "Hey, come on, that's playing dirty!"

"You call that playing dirty?" Toby joked. "I haven't even used my shadows yet!"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

As the two boys bickered back and forth, they failed to notice the wolf hanyo on skis trailing alongside them. Swift smirked at them through the corner of her eye, easily catching up to them with the intense wind blowing through her ears and scarf.

"Alright, you two!" she playfully scolded. "I think you need to chill!"

To drive her point home, she braked just hard enough to send snow spraying onto Evan and Toby. While they were thrown off by this move, Swift swerved around them and continued down the mountain. She laughed at her own joke before the corniness finally occurred to her. "Aw, man, that was stupid."

[DMis]

"You just had to drag me with you didn't you?" commented a female as she shivered from within several layers.
"Oh take a chill pill. You have hot enough blood for the both of us Chrys and you know it," another retorted. "So do you know how to snowboard or ski?"
"I know both of them well," Chrys replied. "You?"
"Not a single clue," the other replied.
A face palm came from Chrys. "Elizabeth really?" she sighed as she picked up a board.
Beth lowered her head and looked out to the slopes. It can't be that hard, Beth thought as she picked a board as well.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"ACK! PFFT!" Despite the icy sting of snow in his face, Evan still had to laugh. "Come on, Swift! No fair!"

Just as he said that, Evan's own shadow seemed to leap off the ground from beneath him, causing him to topple backwards and land with his upper body buried in the snow. Toby smirked at his successful attack and called out, "All's fair in love and war, Evan!" Then he turned around and followed Swift.

Evan sat up and spat out snow, grinning devilishly at the two speeding downhill. "Well, then, time to fight fire with fire."

He reached into his coat and pulled out the Paramount Key, sticking it in each of his legs before standing back up and putting the key away again. A golden aura surrounded him as he took a running start, reaching a speed comparable to Olympic sprinters; by the time he got back on his board, he was racing down the hill so fast that one would swear the snow was melting behind him.

At this rate, he caught up with Swift and Toby in no time. "Whoa!" the latter yelped. "Talk about a sore loser!"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Seriously," Swift chuckled, using her staves to push herself onward. Along the way, she let out a loud whistle that echoed off the mountain for all to hear.

Down below, Andromeda and Aether were sitting outside the ski lodge, enjoying the show as the trio descended the slope. Upon hearing Swift's whistle, Aether sprang into action. "That's the signal!"

Normally, Aether wasn't one to pull pranks or jokes on her friends, but on this occasion, it wouldn't hurt. It was all in good fun, after all, and... well, consider it Swift and her housemates' way of saying "thank you" to Evan for introducing them to Dimensional Island.

Aether rushed out into the snow and created a mighty gust of wind that caused a miniature blizzard to form, small enough for her to maintain control of but too big for Evan to avoid.

[DMis]

"Just follow my lead!" Chrys offered to Beth as she laid the boards down. Beth nodded and followed Chrys' lead.

Both started out simple and kept going down hill.

"Is that a blizzard?" Beth asked seeing the chaos a head.

"I believe so. Up for a bit of pyrotechnics?" Chrys replied with a smirk.

"No but I know you'll do it anyways," she replied.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"WHA NO!" Evan tried to break, but his momentum was too great to stop him in time and he ended up trapped in Aether's snowy storm. He momentarily vanished in the white flurry, and once it finally dissolved, Evan was left covered in so much snow that all he was missing was a top hat and a carrot nose.

Carter, Jen and Darien rushed out of the lodge, both concerned and amused upon seeing Evan's predicament. "Whoa. You okay, bro?" Jen snickered.

"Peachy," Evan grumbled.

Toby was hysterical as he slowed to a halt at the bottom of the hill. "Now THAT'S just cold! ...Yeah, that was lame too."

"Whoo!" Carter laughed. "You got OWNED!"

"Oh, you think that's funny?" Evan teased before scooping up a snowball and throwing it at his dog.

After taking the hit, Carter sped off in a playful run. "Try me, kid! I'm a mountain dog! I'm in my element!"

While Evan and Carter chased one another, Jen smiled and elbowed her boyfriend, who let out a knowing sigh. "Bloody hell, Jen, you're really going to make me do this?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Swift braked right behind Toby, shooting a thumbs-up at Aether. "Well done, my young apprentice." She smirked as Evan chased Carter around. "That boy. He's just an animal when it comes to his snowboarding."

Andromeda elbowed Darien and gestured towards the mountain. Aether chuckled and said, "You might as well do it once, Darien. You know she won't leave you alone until you do."

[DMis]

Chrys watched the events below. Chuckling as she did.

Beth on the other hand gulped as she leaned slightly towards the group of people.
"Incoming!!!" she shouted as she came really close.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Darien groaned. There really was no way around this. "Alright, let's get to it."

The group then looked up and noticed Beth speeding towards them. "Whoop! Look out!" Jen yelped as they jumped out of the way. As he moved aside, Toby thrust out a hand and summoned shadowy tendrils to grab Beth's snowboard and gently slow her down.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Andromeda and Aether moved in time with the group. Once she was certain no one was going to crash into anybody, Swift ran over to Beth, left ear flat and a humorous smile on her face. "Easy there, Tomodachi! You okay?"

[DMis]

Beth offered a smile. "Yeah. First time on a board that didn't have wheels on it," she answered as Chrys boarded over to them.

A bit of powder sprayed on the others as she came to a stop. "Sorry about my student. She's still getting the hang of-" her voice trailed off seeing Evan and Carter. She shook her head."Everything," she finished.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Evan paused in his and Carter's tussle when he noticed his friends talking to some newcomers. One of them he just so happened to recognize.

"Hey!" He ran back over and smiled at Chrys. "Hey, I remember you!"

"You do?" Jen questioned.

"Yeah! I told you about that incident with Bowser when I first arrived here; she helped Carter and me out with that." He turned to Beth. "So who's your friend?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Swift brushed any excess snow off her coat. "Small world, huh?"

"Quite." Aether bounded over to the group. "Sorry about that blizzard, Evan. Just a bit of fun, right?" She laughed and then addressed the girls. "Pleasure to meet you both."

[DMis]

"Hey Evan. Yeah. It is. This is my friend Beth," Chrys offered.
"What she said," Beth added calmly. "And hey no harm not foul."