Oh, this was rich. This was really tops. Shin would have to tell everyone about the time he saw a kitty cat calling a doggy. He suppressed the jerk of a grin on his face as he bowed his head to focus on the stopwatch.

Roxy ran. Thor followed with his eyes. A more wild Thor might have followed, ran alongside him like a coach cheering their player on from the sidelines. But nope, he stayed put. Good dog.

Shin stopped the stopwatch just as Roxy came in. "Seven Point Six." He noted matter-of-factly. His eyes rose to look at Were. "What did you get?"

Sara glanced down at the watch. Roxy was at her knee, hopping into little rears, where her front legs hardly left the ground. Roxy was getting as much attention as she could from Sara as possible in the did ya see? Is that what ya wanted fashion of tail wagging and bouncing.

“It’s close enough.” Sara said glancing again at her own watch. “seven point eight here.”

Sara picked up a long stick and traced the two numbers in the dirt under Roxy’s name. Using it to Make an impromptu score board. “Are we just using the one run? Or are we doing more?” She asked as she started in on Thor’s name.

Forget TV and video games. Stick drawing was a needed skill that should be done more often.

"Just the one. This is the tie-breaker, after all." Shin replied, clearing the time off the watch. Sara was drawing it on the ground with a stick. No need to keep it set on 7.6 for posterity. Actually, drawing on the ground looked pretty fun. "Now, me. Time to break a score."

Thor's tongue lolled out happily as Shin walked forward for the pep talk. He crounched down, and put his hands on Thor's shoulders, looking him in the eye. "You can do this, Thor. I believe in you. Do not believe in yourself, believe in the me that believes in you. Yours is the bound that will break a semi-decent score. Now OK. Let's rock."

Shin stepped back across the court the proper distance, and bent forward, patting his knees. "Come, Thor!" After a few pats, he straightened up to focus on Thor, eyes averted as far away from the stop watch as humanly possible.

Thor looked around for a moment, watching a butterfly, then began to run. His paws rose and fell, digging into the court.

Approximately 7.6 seconds later, he reached Shin. The stop watch stopped. Shin peeked down at it...

"... Oh. Seven Point Six. Cool. What'd you get?" He glanced to Were.

((OOC: After this, you pick out the next competition!))

(Thank you so much for your incredible amount of patience with me and my slowness.)
Sara raised an eye brow as Thor readied his little doggy self at the front line. Shin tapped his hand on his knees, and even though this was going to be a fair race, you know Sara was thinking and hoping for something else to happen. ‘Trip (But don’t hurt yourself), Turn the wrong way, Chase your tail!’ were only a sampling of the thoughts echoing inside Sara’s head as Thor made his way across the finish line and Sara’s thumb obediently tapped on the button for the timer on the watch.

"... Oh. Seven Point Six. Cool. What'd you get?"

Sara sighed as she glanced at the stop watch. “Seven point seven. Only a little faster.” She held up her thumb and index finger making it so they hardly held apart. “Tiny difference. Tiny”

Ok so that should leave Sara to think of the next challenge for the mighty pooches of the x-mansion. She tried to think of something that played to Roxy’s strengths. Something with toys definitely. “How many tenis balls do you think Thor can pick up and hold in his mouth?”

"Tennis... balls..." Well, that was an original competition idea. When Shin had asked her to think of them, he'd never have thought she'd select something like that. The Asian tapped his forehead, think think thinking. "I... I really don't know. He's never tried his steel against this test's blade. I guess we'll find out?" He laughed.

This test... was interesting. Thor didn't know how interesting it truly was. For Thor, that butterfly held far more splendor than Sara and Shin's conversation. Splendor, and... phantasmagoria. With its constantly-shifting color patterns, and its flap flap flapping path. It was like a rainbow of eyes, and... what was this? Now he was being led? Thor got up off his haunches to follow his leader.

Shin looked back at the pooch with a helpless smile. "Sorry, bud. Gotta stuff balls down your throat. In the danger room," He added the last part, glancing towards Sara. "They'll have a good supply of magical holographic illusion balls that won't be sullied by dog slobber. We can go there. Agreed?"

((If you so agree, godmode Shin's leading us all there in your next post! Slipping past security, all the good stuff.))

(Are we staying in the same thread then? I really don't mind either way.)

Sara couldn't help but be amused by the fact that apparently getting the dogs to hold tennis balls in their mouths required the danger room. Though the danger room was a good idea in that if there was a chance of a choking hazard, then things would be safer. This also gave Sara the chance to not have to admit that she hadn't come to the mansion grounds, prepared with a load of tennis balls, like Shin had with the stop watches. Things that Sara should have thought of a head of time. Like some people.

Sara had nodded her head about the idea of using the danger room for the rest of the competition, and it didn't take long for them to reach the under ground training room. Sara had let Shin lead the way. Sara had only been in the room once before. That was with Luke and it was the day after her accident that was basically getting shot in the head by Rupert. She'd been blind for a month after that, before her vission started to return. Now it came and went in spurts but some how, it was also linked to a new mutation.

None the less, despite Sara knowing of the danger room, and having been there before, today was her first time seeing it. Sara strolled to the center of the room, looking around rather curiously at the high cieling as Roxy seemed fascinated with a smell she found on the floor.

Shin would have to be the one to give the commands to the danger room to make it do it's danger room thing. Sara doubted it would recognize her voice. She wasn't an x-man. In fact despite her friends being x-men, and her staying at the x-mansion, she hardly even considered herself an affiliate. There for, the room wasn't really there for her. For her it was old school training. Not this high tech stuff.

"Well do your thing." She said to Shin. "Wave your magic room controling wand, or voice, or what ever has to happen."

Shin smirked. "Oh, how I wish it were so easy. Magic wands don't program computers." With that remark, he slipped over to the wall panel, tapped some buttons, entered some commands, and spoke clearly 'ball'.

A ping pong ball fell and hit him in the head, bringing with it charred memories of Legos... Legos he'd sooner have forgotten. With a sigh, he picked it up and turned it in his hand. He glanced back to Sara. "Well, I programmed ping pong balls before... I'm not sure how to program fuzzy balls." He shrugged.

Oh sure, he could just tell the Danger Room exactly what he wanted. That was fine. But in his experience, it was better to program it in, lest insane Lego men creep into your simulation... this danger room obviously had a screw loose. Shin wasn't one to fiddle with things that had loose screws. Often times, they were ready to fall apart.

Why, one time, he'd had an old car. He'd had it for several thousand miles. The thing was ancient. It was tired. It broke down on a road trip. He'd taken it to a mechanic, and asked their opinion, highly believing the ultimate conclusion would be... as his father put it 'Grab your bags, box your stuff, and take the next bus home'. The pack and run method, where fixing the car was more expensive than buying a new one, and it was cheaper to leave his old wreck wobbling where it lay. It was an old car, that he'd picked up for cheap. Only $600. And he'd certainly gotten his usage out of it...

In a stunning twist of fate, the mechanic had told him the car was fine! He repaired a few things. Shin asked about another few things. He wanted to be sure it was safe.

The mechanic told him he only wanted to fix the basic problem. He was worried if he took off the nuts and bolts that were holding the old car together, the cover plating would fall in, and the whole thing would collapse. Best fix what they knew was wrong, and pray the rest held together.

Shin drove home, later sold the car, and made 100 dollars more than he'd paid. And that was the story of Shin's first, and last, car. He so loved mopeds. Less maintenance. Less of a risk everything would fall inwards in a heap.

Shin put the holographic ping pong ball down on the floor in front of Thor. The dog took it up into his mouth, and chewed. Shin looked to Were.

"Will it work?"

"Oh, how I wish it were so easy. Magic wands don't program computers."

"Really? This room is that hard to opporate? When I was in here before, Luke made it seem easy." Sara said with a shrug. Perhaps one day, she would know exactly how hard it was to program the danger room. Was it really all that important to use something that was made up of being a computer program rather than going out and training in an actual environment?

If anyone could hear Sara's thoughts, it would be clear that she hadn't seen what the Danger Room could actually do. She was so used to finding her own training grounds or accidentally stumbling onto things instead of being prepared the way that the room would allow her to be.

Obediently when Shin asked for a ball, the room gave him one, though it wasn't a tennis ball like what Sara had originally thought up. She stood back, with her right ear twitching slightly when she noticed the smooth sides it had. It wasn't the same size either really.

"Will it work?"

Sara shrugged. "I think so, as long as the dogs don't choke. I'm a little worried about the smoothness and the size. Can it be made just a little bit bigger?" Unlike shin, Sara was one to mess with things till they were right. Yes it got her into trouble but it was one of the side effects of being a person who could get so hooked up on details.

"Uuuuuuuuum... Danger Room?" Shin said to the ceiling. "Bigger." Another ball fell from the ceiling, straight onto Shin's head. It hopped across the floor to Sara, slightly bigger than the last. Shin blinked. "Actually, how about we try a Tennis Ball...?" He asked cautiously, pressing his luck.

Again, another ball fell from the ceiling. It fell towards Sara's head, fuzzy and yellow, the size of a melon. Shin hit the panel with a curse. "Sorry, sorry. This thing always seems to act up when I'm in charge. Like it hates me... one more try. 'Just your average tennis ball, please. Not Melon-sized, not twenty of them. One." Maybe if he pushed a button? Shin pushed the 0, then the 1.

One.

Or had he pushed the 1, then the 0? 1, then 0, then 0, then 1?! Something bounced behind him. Shin turned.

"Ah, there we go! Just an average tennis..." His voice slowed as he heard another bounce. Shin turned. "Ball."

Two more balls fell, then five. Shin covered his head as tennis balls rained. Thor ran left, then right, in tennis ball heaven! Shin cursed. "Dammit!"

If Sara hadn't been looking up to begin with, she certainly would have certanly had the larger of the balls so far bounce off of her head. It seemed the danger room had an attitude when cooperating with Shin. The ball bounced off of the ground, next to Sara then went to hop away. Roxy counted this one as hers as she bounced into the air after it and practically pounced the ball before it hit the ground. Roxy then busied herself with trying to wrestle the one ball so that it would wedge between her teeth well enough to be carried.

Sorry, sorry. This thing always seems to act up when I'm in charge. Like it hates me... one more try. 'Just your average tennis ball, please. Not Melon-sized, not twenty of them. One."

Sara smiled and shrugged. "Just blame the ghost of the machine." Go I robot quotes.

A single tennis ball fell from the danger room's ceiling and Sara scooped it up, examining it for a moment. It looked right. However there was one thing wrong in this room. The sound. One ball should not have continued thumping on the floor once hold in Sara's pay like hand and the problem was enough to make Shin not finish his sentence. Sara refused to look behind her as more thumps thumped their thumping way down on the floor. Roxy had managed to wrestle the larger ball in her mouth only to look up and loose her grip on the things again. She quickly joined Thor in the running left and right in ball heaven.

Mean while Sara just stared at Shin. Blink blink... Stare... Then to the control pannel... Blink blink..... stare. "Um. I think your buttons might of gotten stuck." She said. Two steps took her to the control pannel She tried slipping the tip of her claw around the edge of the 0 button, careful not to push, but trying to stop it from holding it's self down.

(I'll edit this if I need to. I hope my little bit of god moading is alright.)

Perhaps, a stuck button was the cause. Perhaps not. Her finger did unjam something! But it seemed as if the damage was already done... and highly irreversible. Balls continued their descent. Shin left his post by the control panel to run around like a madman, flailing his arms (within his own mind, mind you. In all physical reality, he stayed by the control panel, stunned, yet composed).

"Balls..." He stated. Was that a general comment, or profane in origin? The room was quickly filling. It didn't seem too far off the mark to assume 'either'.

Thor was getting worried, (if dogs worried). His happy hopeful gallivanting slowed to a toying tussle. Haunches lowered. His hustle was happenstance. Usually, he didn't lunge at falling objects. This time, though, as the room became more and more like a ball pit, Thor did hop! Jaws did drop. A tennis ball shrunk in the crushing teeth of the husky.

Shin finally began to flail in his physical reality, as the balls swarmed around him like the churning pull of the ocean. Like he was caught in a riptide, about to be pulled out to sea. Oh, why'd he have to go for the shining ring in the water!? Oh wait, that was the wrong situation. And his name wasn't Alexander... yes.

"ROOM, STOP!!"

The last tennis ball bounced against its many others. Shin looked around with a grumble. "This room could use a bit more color. Why isn't it rainbow?"

Now would be an excellent time for someone outside the danger room to open the locked doors... and thanks to timing, that's exactly what happened.

A telltale red-shirted speedster tapped the panel to the Danger Room outside the heavy doors. Blue eyes narrowed, as further tapping was required. "I could have sworn this was the code... Shin said..." The yellow blur muttered (though today, he was once-again wearing red).

The panel beeped. The doors slid open. The Yellow Blur's face lit up as he looked in upon the Danger Room's contents... then quickly shifted to a mask of horror as yellow balls cascaded down upon him like a tidal wave.

He ran.

He was a speedster, after all. No evidence remained of his encounter, save the pouring of holograms into the hallway outside the danger room (and their instantaneous departure as holograms left the room producing holograms, and became a load of light and air). Shin was sucked down into the pit of garbage data.

For one shining moment, Shin felt like Mark Hamil.

One ball two ball red ball blue ball. If only the balls had colors to them. The sheer size of the ball mound had become misgiving as they continued to fall from the ceiling. If only it were possible for Sara to count them. Or to be able to see the screen where the numbers had been typed in. One. The screen and control panel was now covered with balls and two, thanks to that stuck button, the screen of the control panel had been covered with 0s. There for it was impossible to know exactly how many round fist sized foes were surrounding them.

Instead the Danger room only seemed to stretch on away from them in the great sea of balls, that made Sara half expected to see a fin of a shark ominously circling them as it’s fins swam through and splashed through the surface of the balls. Just like in the shark horror movies, only there, there was a sea of water. Not balls.

There was only one other instance that Sara remembered being in similar scenery, and that was when she had been surrounded by snow, on a flat piece of land. No trees to make any sort of distance reference, and no color to the snow, like there was no difference in color to the balls. It was just emptiness that one had trouble gagging distance in.

The last ball fell from the ceiling as if the room was actually being obedient to Shin’s words, and for a moment the sea of balls was still except for the struggling of Sara to get to the surface. Even though she could breath instinct drove Sara to kick her way to the top. Claustrophobia has gotten a hold of her once her head went under and now busting through the top layer of tennis ball sized ping pong balls. Some where Roxy had dog paddled to the surface as well as she circled the group. Three balls geld hostage, firmly in her German Sheppard jaws. That’s right people. There may be a room full of tennis ball sized ping pong doom but three of the opposing balls wouldn’t be going anywhere. Thank you very much Roxy. Our hero.

“Ok. So I get now, why you call this room the Danger Room.” Sara paddled so that she could turn around on the spot looking for where Shin and Thor had ended up. “So if this thing ends…” Based on what she remembered Luke saying to control the room she suddenly had a fear of saying program end. Was there still even a floor? “Will we just be dropped?” Ok how was there not a floor? Of course there had to be a floor. Well at least the balls that encircled them covered the fact that Sara’s tail was puffed to three times it’s normal size.

There was a tap, tap that echoed through the room, despite the number of balls, that made Sara fall silent, despite the fact that she had other questions. Then there was something like someone had pulled the plug on a bath tub. The mound of balls near where the danger room door had been sank. For a moment, Sara and Roxy stared at the spot, Roxy still keeping her three balls captive, but forgotten, Sara’s mouth just open slightly.

The pile near the door shrank and this made the pile around it seem bigger and bigger till nothing was holding it up anymore and the balls began to avalanche. RUN err. Ahh… Swim! Errr ahhh… Sara’s body and her train of thoughts were trying to work together. The fact was her body couldn’t really do either of those things as she and Roxy turned in unison and began to struggle to stay afloat on the sea of ping pong doom. The action Sara ended up doing was a cross between a run and a swim as she fought the current of balls tumbling down.

Despite Sara’s struggling, she still sank back . In the middle of the kicking and sputtering and trying to climb the tumbling balls gravity was laughing at her for gravity shoved her out the door where she slid for a moment on top of holographic balls till she landed with a soft rolling thud on her tail side and her back slapped against the wall on the other side of the Danger Room door. Some how Roxy was beside her looking very confused now that it seemed her ping pong hostages that she had been holding in her mouth, had disappeared. Roxy’s tail wagged as the dog then stood up giving a sharp bark, then looked back at Sara as if to say, ‘Lets do that again!’

(Since you said I could go farther I did. Again, any editing I need to do, just tell me.)

Gagging Distance. Pretty much, zero. As Shin struggled under the endless layers of balls, Sara's words fell on deaf ears. Yellow, yellow. It enclosed him, like the faces of 10001 Lego men aiming to kill. Lego men Shin and Koga had beheaded. Lego men they had...

A ball crashed into his forehead, knocking him out of his thought. The mental image of sneering Lego men vanished. Shin paddled to the top! And came face to face with Thor, who grinned at him from behind four balls. Shin gasped, flailing his arms. Tennis balls scattered. More rolled down and down, as the room seemed to drain. It seemed Sara was falling with them. Shin caught sight of her (what would you call that, swimming?) running out the door.

"Danger room, Stop! Remove all Tennis Balls!"

And just like that, all the balls in the room poofed. Shin flopped the final few feet from where he'd been seated, onto his back. Thor plopped down on top of him, knocking the wind out of Shin's gut. "Oof!"

"Woof Woof!"

Pain! Extreme pain. And victory. "I think I... I think we win," He struggled gruffly to his feet, eyes bulging in exhaustion. "We're still in the room. You two fell out. So..." Shin's voice rose in a squeak. Thor ran out into the hall to dash around Roxy playfully. Shin smacked his chest. A ping pong ball fell from his mouth, hit the floor, bounced, and vanished.

FLOP.

Shin hit the floor.

"Danger room, Stop! Remove all Tennis Balls!"

shin couldn't say those words just a little sooner? preferable before the sara's display of a failing cat paddle. really now. how hard is it to open one's mouth?

Sara rocked forward to rub her tail side where she'd landed. The pain hadn't lasted longer than a few seconds and really there had hardly been any pain at all between the way Sara had fallen out of the danger room, and her mutation healing the minute bumps instantly. Roxy's tail was a blur as she circled with Thor. At least someone enjoyed this game.

"I think I... I think we win,"

"Huhh Sayh wha- now?" Sara pushed herself to her feet and stepped inside the danger room doors.

"We're still in the room. You two fell out. So..."

Sara took advantage of one of the tennis balls keeping shin from talking and interupted him. "Yeah. we fell out of a room that's supposed to be under your control. a room that you told to only produce on ball at a time, and that you typed the wrong things into the control pannel."

Despite the words, Sara had a small smile on her face. she was enjoying giving Shin a rough time about their situation. "Look on the bright side though. It only produced many tennis balls that were normal sized. Not one giant one to mimic a giant snow ball like in the bugs bunny cartoons."

Shin glanced up towards the ceiling, as if expecting the danger room to spite them. No such luck. His hazel eyes fell back on Sara. "Yeah. Guess so. Could of been worse." He shrugged. "If you want to say that you won, then by all means. The game was entertaining enough. Titles don't matter that much to me."

They did. Shin was doing his best to be nice about it. He patted his legs, and called for Thor.

The Siberian husky bounded back in from the hall to run around him, then sat down in front of the Asian. She ran a hand over the back of the dog's head with a smile. Shin glanced up. "Unless you want to continue... then, I guess it'd be your turn to figure out some sort of test..." Preferably something less creative, that didn't require the Danger Room's tools.