<h4>Chapter 1342 Chapter 1342 Lights, Current, Action </h4>


    ?--- Kress ---


    Kress was keeping pace with Nell quite well when the beastkin shouted out, "Why are you so intent on riding my ass, won''t your boyfriend get jealous?" Nell realised what she''d done as the words left her mouth. She turned a horrified stare back at Kress, wondering what possessed her.


    Kress shared a simr fate, looking at Nell like she''d suddenly grown a second head. Despite the distraction they managed to continue the lom without any issues, but the silence was growing, even with the sounds of the jet-skis to help mask it. Finally, Kress gave the only answer he could. "Marigold? How did you sneak into this race and why are you wearing fake ears?"


    Nell let out a loud groan. "I can''t believe it! I didn''t even spend that much time with that perverted elf and she''s somehow corrupted me! I can''t believe I said that shit. There better not be audio for the people watching or I''m NEVER going to hear the end of it. I genuinely have no idea why I said that… urgh, what a pain. s, my life is over,"


    "Stop being overly dramatic," said Kress.


    "No, we give Nabras shit all the time for his dumb choices, but I don''t think any of his slip-ups are as easy to make fun of as what I said earlier. I''ll be the but of my parties jokes for years! Years I tell you. Or at least until someone else manages to pull off something dumber, but I doubt it," exined Nell.


    Kress gave a shrug and said, "As long as it''s mostly in good fun I don''t really see the problem,"


    "I suppose it''s not a major problem, but it will stick around forever. It''ll be like having a rock in your boot for a day because you can''t risk stopping to take it out… except instead it''ll be stretched out over at least a few months. Just constant little things while your teammates keep poking at you. I doubt evening first would save me from my fate,"mented Nell.


    Kress just sent back a deadpan look. "Hey, why are you looking at my like that? This is serious business,"ined Nell.


    "If you say so," said Kress as he angled towards one of the ramps. He was hoping he''d built up enough speed to make the jump at this point. It would get him ahead of Nell which was ideal. Mostly because it provided more chances to make fun of the beastkin. Kress had already decided to let her take second ce if he could manage it without making things too obvious.


    Kress zoomed up the ramp, losing speed as expected… but it wasn''t enough to stop him! He sailed over the barricade, just barely clipping the top a bit which didn''t slow him down in the slightest. Kress let out augh as he braced himself for the impact. "Hahahahahaha, not riding your ass anymore am I!"


    "See it''s already begun!" retorted Nell. "This sort of shit is exactly why I regretted it as soon as the words left my mouth. Couldn''t you have just… overtaken without the theatrics, or better yet, not overtaken me at all?"


    "Well I could hardly do that. I might upset my boyfriend before I properly lock him down!" insisted Kress.


    Nell let out a groan, resting her head on the handlebars. She did make sure to still be looking forward so as to not crash into anything, but the motion said enough about her annoyance. Nell had decided that silence was the best course of action for now. Anything she said, could, and would be used against her in some annoying fashion.


    So the pair road in silence until they reached a very fake looking rock rising out of the water. The whole thing appeared to be made out of paper maché and there was a poorly painted ''Go into this tunnel'' sign made of red paint that hadn''t been given the proper time to dry. Of course, the drips didn''t seem to be moving despite their shiny appearance, and if it was really paper maché the thing would''ve broken apart in the ocean.


    Kress could see Stan''s jet-ski crashed against the side. Kress wasn''t sure how intentional that stop had been on the demon''s part, but considering Stan was nowhere to be seen Kress was hopeful that the stunt was nned on Stan''s part… so taking that example Kress only slightly let up on the gas and let the jet-ski crash into the ''rocks''. Kress was kicked forward when he did so, but having expected it Kress was able tond on his feet and quickly dive into the water.


    As soon as he did so, he could feel the current pulling him down into the hole. Kress quickly straightened himself with his hands forward as he started to really move. The current yanked him down the hole that seemed to just barely berge enough to amodate him, speed increasing all the while. *How is Nell going to get down here? I don''t think I had even five centimetres of clearance and she has muchrger arms then I do… well that and boobs, but I think the her arms are probably going to cause more problems.*


    Kress'' worries were dashed as he shot out into the next section of the race. It was beautiful. The top of the cave was lined with glowing algae that lit the way forward with a soft and gentle glow. Down below there was another strip of the stuff that was congregating around the air Thyme had set up.


    That''s when the first air bubble whizzed past Kress. He''d been too distracted by the majesty of the ce. He panicked for a second before forcing that panic down. There was no sense in wasting air freaking out. Eyes now firmly fixed ahead, Kress waited for the next bubble to appear. It ended up being down and to his right. Kress kicked in that direction… but the current held him strong and he ended up missing for a second time.


    *Oh shit. This is actually more dangerous then I was expecting. I''m going to need to really put in some effort to catch one of those aren''t I? Hmm… should I just head to the bottom instead? Try to be safe about it? It''s a good excuse if Nell passes me that way, and… I might genuinely need it. I''m not sure if I can catch one of these bubbles before the current drags me past. Yeah… I''m not looking to win here so let''s just go for the bottom*


    With that decided Kress started trying to make his way down to the fresh air. Emphasis on the trying. The current was really strong, and Kress was starting to wonder if Thyme had bothered to properly test all of this. Kress grimaced and started to put all of his effort into swimming straight down and finally started to make some progress. The lower he went, the easier it was to keep going and soon he was within arms reach of the bottom. A few more kicks and Kress felt his face break through the algaeyer and into fresh air.


    "Bleugh, urgh, it got in my mouth," grumbled Kress as he started to spit out the glowing organism. Sure it looked lovely but it tasted horrible. What was even more annoying was that even all the way down at the bottom, he was still being pulled along by the current so he had to be careful not to get any more of it in his mouth as he moved. The first time was enough, and the little bits that leaked in despite his efforts were hard enough to ignore.


    Kress sucked in a deep breath and then swam back into the stream. It was much easier to go back up into the thick of the current then it was to leave. Part of him wanted to stay down longer, he hadn''t seen Nell swim past… but he also didn''t want anyone to work out that he wasn''t trying to win at all. He''d managed to get Stan ahead and in first ce without it looking like he was sabotaging anyone, no reason to hurt what goodwill he''d managed with Nell by making any of this obvious.


    So he swam along with the current, or more urately he road the current and tried to ignore the burning in his throat from the algae that had gotten in his mouth. It was certainly distinct from the burning in your lungs when you need air. Kress wasn''t sure how long he had until he was experiencing both but he was trying to be careful. Bubbles flew past him… but he didn''t bother with any of them. It was too much effort to course correct into them and they''d be good for one gulp of air at the most.


    Then the tunnel started to narrow again. Kress didn''t panic, he just let himself be carried along until… the open air! Kress looked around and saw both Nell and Stan sitting at the finish line. Or rather, Nell was on all fours and throwing up a bunch of water while a Thyme looked her over and Stan was sitting down.


    Kress was so distracted by this sight that he didn''t react properly to thending. No instead of a nice smoothnding he smacked down face and stomach first and proceeded to bounce towards the finish line like a skipping stone, bleeding of momentum, but it was going to hurt more when he crashed into the wooden tform…


    At least, until Stan reached down and caught him. *Worth it.* Thought Kress through the pain as he started to rx.