Pixie sticks are not considered substance abuse in the world of sports, only the world of parenting and some schools.  So the Badger is probably fine.

  Hakkof couldn't decide to consider the human practical for a good paycheck, or foolish for dealing with something so beneath him as to not be worth his time.  Like wondering if you should bother breaking a bar stool over someone's head instead of just punching them... Or nothing like that.

The beginning of the race is very simple. You just go straight for a bit. But soon, the twists and turns come. Clearly, nobody in the competition is getting eliminated simply from terrain. But soon after the turns come obstacles. Your basic flagpoles to weave in between. Remember Pocket D's Winter Event area? :) Well along those lines... this is the advanced course.

Kevin finds himself challenged just to stay on the course, but he does stay on thanks to his skills! Most of the competitors get ahead of Kevin, but three are behind him (Two deksharr and the badger). The badger girl comes up next to Kevin. Her goggles are transparent, making it easy to see her eyes as she grins over at him. "This race course is TOTALLY WICKED!!!" she yells, waving her arms in the air before going back to racing pose. She seems to be staying with Kevin rather than gaining ground over him.

Meanwhile, Nivi sees this and giggles. "Looks like Kevin has a friend."

Juros looks a little confused. "I'm wondering if she cares about winning or not..."

So far so good for Kevin's first two goals of not being disqualified and not finishing last.  Not messing up another competitor and causing them to be disqualified seems to be working out as well.  Kevin frequently smiles and thumbs-ups at the camera to reassure his friends he's hanging in there.

"For real!" he answers the Badger with an aloha handsign, "Not as radical is my competition, though, hahah!  I'm Kevin.  What's your name?  Super awesome rocket babe?"

  "The human may not be the only one who entered purely for entertainment."  Though the badger sure seemed to have more enthusiasm for the actual skiing.

The badger answers Kevin, "My name's Lulu! But I'm OK with Super Awesome Rocket Babe! Thanks, Kevin! See you at the end zone!" before she leans in order to gain speed, goes to a ramp and flies off, doing a backflip before continuing to ski. "WHEEEEEEEEEEE!" can be heard coming from her.

Nivi smiles. "Well it's good to have fun. Oft times competitions like this take all the fun out of it for the competitors and they take things way too seriously."

Juros shrugs. "If your goal is fun, then sure. But if your goal is to win, you can't let your guard down."

"Nice to meet you too, hahahah WOAH-Ho-Ho!  Epic backflip, Lulu!  Hahahah!"

But because Kevin is trying to win money for his friends, and fancy tricks slow you down, rather than answer with a trick of his own Kevin focuses on going fast... and messing with the competition's minds.

"Dude!  I'm like, totally gaining on you, hahahahah!"

Unless you get extra points for fancy tricks.  In which case, he's totally all over that.

Sweet tricks done mid air after going off ramps was how you refilled your turbo bar right?

"As far as I know, this course is more relaxing than what Kevin has normally done.  Though it also means it is longer."  After all, skateboarding over a helicopter was a short ride, whether or not you pulled it off.

The ski course is fun and Kevin places 4th! Really good considering he had plenty of competition. The egotistical human placed second, though. Which seems to annoy the guy. But the 1st place guy isn't a soar winner.

The others meet afterword to congratulate each other on a good race. Lulu can be seen taking the course again just to have fun on it! Nivi just nods to Kevin as if to indicate he can go to have fun too.

When all is done, the sky is getting dark and Nivi invites the group to go spend the night at the nearby cabin lodgings.

"Woohoo!" Kevin cheered at the finish line.  Not only did he finish the course without a wipeout, he did so without placing last.  He was sure to congratulate the others, especially the top three and Lulu.  Then totally goes for a second run.  Mostly so he can try out the sweet tricks he was thinking up during the competition but held off on in favor of more speed.  Kevin of course accept s the invitation to stay at the cabin.

"Dibs on any top bunk, hahahah!"

  How to put it?  Saying he performed adequately while factual probably didn't sound very nice.  <brown>"Good to see you enjoyed yourself Kevin."<brown>  Close enough.

Nivi giggles. "I'm sure we can get a room with a bunk, so you can have an upper bunk, Kev. Let's find out."

When the bunch make it to the lodgings, a shady looking deksharr is there and keeping an eye on the group. He makes no moves and doesn't give them any mean looks. Just has the whole jaded look about him while keeping an eye on them.

The human racer shows up at the place. He smirks as he notices the goat who competed. "Well... if it isn't the surprise-4th-place! These your friends?"

"Thanks, Hakkof!  Hahahahah!"

Considering all the things he mentioned were going against him, Kevin is very happy with how well he did.  He takes note of the Dekshar, smiles, and waves.

"Dude!  It's like, the skicret service!  Hahahahah!"

"That they are, second place dude!  Hah.  We are Hakkof, Juros, Kevin, and Nivi.  Like, space explorers, hahahah.  So like, nice to meetcha, dude!"

  Hakkof knows that look on the Deksharr, he sees it in the mirror often enough. He nods to the human, "It would be for the best if you let us know what to call you, except for anything but first place of course."

The human says, "My name's Gaither. Nice to meet you. You sure are an odd bunch. Mind telling me the story of how you all got together?"

Nivi says, "They needed jobs; I provided."

Gaither chuckles. "So the blissian lady's you all's boss? This is getting interesting."

"So like, 'After an extensive review of our current budgetary constraints we have determined that sponsoring your team no longer fits within our company's long term goals,' hahha," Kevin quotes, "'Dude!  That's like, our biggest sponsor!  Without their dough we'll have to like, disband our team!'  Hahah.  'No way!  Bummer!'  Hahahah."

  Hmm, Kevin sounded more like he was having a flashback than an explanation.   Those team breakups can be rather traumatic?  He looks to Gaither and says "If one were optimistic, working for a Blissian is like a paid vacation compared to my usual employment."

Gaither asks, "And if one were pessimistic?"

Nivi gives Kevin another hug. "I'm well-funded, don't you worry. I've got enough to sustain you guys for a good 2 years without any actual jobs to fund me. But it shouldn't take us THAT long to find jobs we can handle. And even if it did, that's 2 years we all got to hang out and befriend one another."

She remembers Hakkof is one of those "not comfortable with hugs" kind of people, so she avoids hugging him for now. Especially since it's a public place.

"Dude!  If one were pessimistic they'd like, say Murphey's Law doesn't apply to the competition.  Hahah.  But like, Murphey's an equal opportunity misfortune bringer, hahah."

Being hugged by one's boss is rather unheard of, but Kevin's boss is a Radical Snow Bunny!  So he returns the hug with a friendly one-arm hug and his signature aloha hand sign and chuckle.

"Dude!  If you tell your employees that, they'll like, slack off!  Hahahah!"

  It was difficult to look the part of Worf stereotypes when a colorfully dressed snugglebunny was hugging your kneecaps, yes.

  The prices people pay for professionalism.

  "Two years slacking off is also two years not making any savings for later, though some would not look at it that way of course."

Nivi looks befuddled. "You guys will slack off? Why?"

Juros says, "Speak for yourself, Kevin. As long as there's technology for me to play with, I'll be doing my job. Remember, poor Nivi here, being a Blissian, is used to a socialist society, so ideas like being a leach are new to her."

Nivi asks, "Being a leach?"

Gaither can't help himself and chuckles. "....sorry, young lady, but unless you lucked out, Kevin's right. Tell you what. I have a job for you all. If you simply deliver a message for me that I can't afford to email, then I'll pay you each 10 creds and whatever the Gammus* cost would be to get there."

*In case anyone forgot, Gammus is the "Gasoline" in Faction.

"Woah, good point, Hakkof, hahahah.  Not that stops some dudes.  Stupid, right?  Hah."

To Juros he answers, "Woah, chill, dude, hahah.  No way would I peg you as the kinda dude to slack off, hah.  I was like, warning her about the dudes that'll take our places after we die, hahahah."

He then asks Gaither, "So like, what's keepin' ya from emailin' it?  Is it like, schematics for a chimera virus and we'll be hounded by spies and stuff?  Hahahah."

  "Perhaps what he has to send exceeds his services attachment limits."  Interstellar Email could either be incredibly easy, or incredibly difficult depending on the setting  (Commander shepard I sent you an email to your stealth ship out in the ass end of space to thank you for finding my pet fish).

  Hakkoff was not particularly worried about the work ethic of this crew (even Kevin).  But will leave the desicion of picking up this sidequest to his employer.

Gaither says, "It's a personal message and I don't trust email with it. Long story short, I have a very tenacious ex-girlfriend who happens to be a hacker."

Nivi says, "....well we'll gladly take that job. So long as the destination is safe enough to get to."

When Gaither shows Nivi where she's going, she agrees it's safe.

"Woah.  Bummer about the crazy ex, dude.  Best of luck, like, surviving and stuff, hahahah."

Kevin doesn't believe Gather's cover story, but it's fun to play along.

  "I am sure that if he has not died in an apparent accident yet, his ex is merely petty at worst"  That or only a mediocre hacker.