After Fern ha collected a bunch of branches he moved his head towards Kaz his direction.

'Don't we have enough yet? Maybe we should go now.'

Kaz looked at the number of branches they had both collected. Yes, they had more than enough but by going back they'd lead their stalker right to Pacco's house. He couldn't say this out loud, he just had to make something up and hope Fern would understand.

"Oi, let's have a race!" Kaz almost shouted.

Fern almost fell to the ground. (In that funny anime kinda way when one almost stumbles over their own feet when unexpected things are said or done.)

'Uh what.. you want to race.....like right now .. while we carrie wood... you serious? And where would we even race too anyway.'

"Yeah, right now, wood and all! It'll test us both, strength as well as speed."

Kaz grinned. All they had to do was disappear from sight for a moment and they could go safely back to Pacco's.

"We'll race around the grove and then go through it, right?"

Fern looked annoyed/confused.

'You know Kaz, as much I would love to kick your as in a race do you really think now is a good time..'

He moved over to Kaz and whisperd. 'If you want to get rid of the person following us you could be a bit more subtle about it. No idiot is going to fall for such a random unlogic race.' Fern teased with a small grin.

---
The one in the bushes smirked. 'How cute, a race. And it is Not at all to lose me.' The one chukkeld.

'Yes, lets race you 2. If I win......game over.'

Kaz gave Fern a serious look.

"I'm just playing his game..." He said, a hint of hatred in his voice. "We go on three, ready?"

Kaz got into sprinting position and whispered to Fern.
"There's only one of him, no matter what he tries there's no possible way he can corner us around here."

Fern raised an eyebrown and looked a bit amuzed.

'All righ then boss, it's your party.'

And Fern got ready to run as well.

Kaz began the countdown.

"Okay, one..."

"Two..."

"THREE!"

And with that, Kaz and Fern dashed forward.

Fern knew this race was not really a race. Still he did not wish to lose. He gave it all he had.

As Fern shot forward Kaz was a little surprised at how fast he was but that quickly faded when his competitiveness kicked in. He did not want to be out done by this small-town boy. He might not be as fast as Fern but he had power and they were carrying quite a bit of wood.

Going all out, Kaz managed to keep up easily enough. Just as he was about to attempt to overtake, he heard something to their right.

~There you are.~ Kaz thought to himself. He looked over at Fern to see if he noticed.