<h4>Chapter 1341 Chapter 1341 A Hurt- I mean Helping Hand </h4>


    ?--- Kress ---


    Kress couldn''t help but cackle as he soared through the air behind Nell. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing through his hair. Stan was ahead in the race. For a moment everything was perfect. Then Nell started screaming. Kress red forward at her, and then realised what the she had. The ramps were lined up in such a way that, if you didn''t jump perfectly, you were going tond right on top of the next line of obstacles instead of clearing both. "SHIT!" screamed Kress.


    Kress didn''t know what he was meant to do, but the choice was swiftly taken from him as Nell crashed into the barrier before them, shattering it and slowing her right down… moments before Kress crashed into the back of her jet-ski. Throwing the beastkin from the vehicle.


    Kress tried to hold on… and seeded! Which was great until the jet-ski he was holding onto came to rest upon the water, topside down. Kress quickly let go of the handlebars and swam out from under it. Nell was in the water nearby coughing and hacking out water and Kress knew he was only slightly better. His ass and legs were smarting from when the jet-ski had made impact and it was doing his swimming form no favours. Still, he managed to recover first, and it gave him a great idea.


    *I can just take Nell''s jet-ski. That will keep me in second ce and then force her to flip over mine before she can be back into the race. It''s perfect.* Kress reached out a hand before flinching away. Green''s voice cutting through his mind as he remembered her words. "We''re going for good sportsmanship here. No sense in making enemies when everyone seems surprisingly happy with us despite the fact we snatched the win from them,"


    *Perhaps not then. How about apromise?* "Hey look sorry about that Nell. How about if you help me flip my jet-ski, I''ll boost you up and back onto yours? I''ll also promise not to run into you again. It really wasn''t my intention the first time, but I promise to be careful from now on," said Kress. After all, it despite their enhanced strength lifting things in the water was still rather awkward. This would likely only lose him a bit of time, and Nell a good chunk as well.


    Nell sucked in a deep breath and looked him over, searching for any deception. She found none of course. Kress was beingpletely truthful with his offer. "You know what skinny boy? Sure," said Nell.


    "Not sure why you''re calling me skinny but I''m d you ept," said Kress as he swam over to his jet-ski. Nell wasn''t far behind him, and as she got close he yelled out. "We lift on three alright?"


    Nell gave a firm nod and Kress made the call soon after her hands were positioned. "One, Two, THREE!" With a great heave the jet-ski was flipped up and over, past the point it needed to be to tip over on its own. It hit the water, wobbling a bit but obviously it was fine where it was. The seating was soaked, and had this been a jet-ski from earth the controls might need a look over.


    As it stood though? This was all enchanted andpletely waterproof so there was no need to worry so Kress swam over to Nell''s jet-ski… where he noticed that it was still somewhat stuck on the wooden barricade. It didn''t look like the wood was digging in anywhere, the remains of the barricade were just thick enough to keep the boat partially out of the water. "Want me to help with that?" asked Kress as he pointed to the problem.


    Nell narrowed her eyes but nodded, "Thanks. I didn''t even realise it was stuck," said the beastkin with a slight grumble. *This is good. I didn''t realise it before either, but this is going to massively slow Nell down. Sure it means that she might actually need my help and I''m saving her time… but this is whole song and dance is still taking a while. If Stan can''t get the win off the back of this then… there isn''t much else I can do for him. Not without majorly pissing Nell off. Which really isn''t part of the n.*


    "How do you want to do this?" asked Kress.


    "What do you mean?" returned Nell.


    "I mean, do you want to just pull the jet-ski backwards over onto this side so you can more easily get on, or do you want to push it forward enough so that it falls on the other side of the barricade. You can probably stand on the wood to hop on the jet-ski easily… unless it starts to float away too much, in which case you''d want to hope you''re urate enough with your jump. Though of course, kicking too hard off the wood might mean it breaks and then you''d really be in trouble," exined Kress, taking perhaps a bit longer then needed toy out the options.


    Nell clicked her tongue as she considered the problem for a moment before shaking her head. "Just push it over. I don''t know if that''s the right call but I don''t want to waste time thinking about it,"


    "Sure thing," said Kress, "Though just to be clear, I''m not going to be spending the extra time to hold onto the jet-ski. If it floats away, it floats away,"


    "That''s fine," said Nell dismissively. Kress just shrugged and they swam around to the back of the jet-ski. Nell called it this time, "One, two, three," with much less force than Kress. Appropriately, when they heaved the forward. Kress kept his hands on the back of the jet-ski even as it pitched forward. He didn''t want to make it seem like he was sabotaging Nell after all.


    When things seemed calm Kress let go and said, "Well, it appears me work here is done," both as a way to say goodbye, and to ensure that Nell was aware of that fact. Technically he had promised to help her up, but with the wood there for stepping on, and the help moving the jet-ski, it probably counted.


    His suspicions were confirmed, when Nell called out a "Thanks," and started climbing onto the wooden structure to get a better look at things. Deciding it was no longer his business Kress swam over to his own jet-ski and looked it over. *Now how am I going to do this…* Kress reached out and managed to throw his arm over the seat before trying to pull himself up… only to feel the jet-ski tilting as he did so. Kress quickly let go and allowed himself to drop back into the water.


    Ok that was clearly a mistake. Hmm… should I just take a jump from the wood myself? As the idea came to Kress he heard Nell start the engine on her jet-ski. Deciding that was as good as a sign as he was going to get Kress swam back over to the wooden barricade and pulled himself up and out of the water. It was easy to bnce on, and once he had his feet under him, Kress made the leap straight onto the back of his jet-ski.


    Turning it on was simple from there. Once everything was in working order Kress made his way towards the gap in the barricade. The intended one, not the one Nell had identally made. It was best not to try and tempt fate by charging through that. Once he made his way through it was time for the lom. Kress knew he didn''t have the speed to take the jumps anymore so he was ready to shift from side to side.


    Kress didn''t hesitate in his path, and that meant that he was able to catch Nell surprisingly quickly. He didn''t know why she was now just a single barricade ahead of him on the course. His best guess was that she tried to speed up and go straight for the nearby ramp without elerating enough to actually make it over the jump. *Bit of a shame she didn''t have more speed. Well, that is if my guess is correct. If so, then she could''ve ended up stuck again just after I freed her.*


    Kress eased off the elerator just a touch. It seemed that after the mistake Kress assumed Nell made, she''d decided to take things slow and steady. Now, Kress didn''t want to slow downpletely, in an ideal world he''d still catch up to her… but he was aiming not to crash into the back of her jet-ski after his early promise. It''d be one thing if he''d made no statements about it earlier, but now? She''d look very poorly on him for a second mistake of such magnitude. Even if it was a definitely something he''d have done on purpose if he''d realise the situation earlier. Though… I wonder where the other two guys are? They''ve barely done anything this round. I guess that''s a good thing. It means I know where to concentrate on my efforts.


    --- Midnight and Cyan ---


    "So… you know how to start this thing?" asked Cyan.


    "No idea," replied Midnight. "I don''t know what even half of these little buttons do…"