Chapter 3: The Competition Heats Up
BAMF!
"What's everybody staring at?"
Ororo clutched the collar of her shirt impulsively; catching the breath she lost in her sudden retreat from the fence. "Well… I guess we'd all be staring at you now."
Shadowcat had suffered a similar startle as Storm, even from across the entire court. "Really! As if seeing a fuzzy, blue guy with a forked tail weren't freaky enough, you have to pop in everybody's face like that!"
Peter chuckled good-naturedly. "I'm sure Kurt didn't mean to scare us… again... like always… actually, he probably does do that on purpose."
Kitty realized her good luck at the situation and pulled a fainting spell despite the slightly bad timing. Right on cue, Colossus intercepted her wobbling form. "Oh the shock!" She placed a hand to her forehead dramatically, letting her weight fall into his arms.
"You'd think she'd never seen a good-looking mutant before." Nightcrawler crossed his arms at the shameless display.
"Let's just be grateful that Peter is a perfect gentleman in addition to those good looks." Ororo sighed.
"Actually," Nightcrawler waved his three-fingered hand through the air in that strangely expressive way he had. "I was talking about me. But I guess Colossus isn't too bad himself."
Beast threw a disapproving look at Kurt. "So did you just drop by to tell us all how highly you think of yourself?"
"Not at all, mein freund!" (Ha ha! I got a Nightcrawler speech pattern thingy in there! Yay! Uh… what does it mean?) He revealed a tennis racquet that was gripped by his flexible tail. He transferred the racquet to his hands and started twirling it from side to side in a show reminiscent of juggling. "I came to play some tennis also!" The racquet passed back to his tail and then he really did start juggling some tennis balls that had been previously unseen.
"Well for your information," Kitty yelled from the other side of the court, still reclined in a fainting position and being supported by Peter. "That is not how you play. You're just showing off! As always." The last words were spoken quietly, but everybody caught them just the same.
"Ah, tough crowd." Kurt caught the balls in one hand and returned them to his pocket. His hurt expression was quickly replaced with a fanged grin. "It appears I'm not the only one to be showing off?" He gestured to the ball squished between the fence slats.
"That was an accident." Storm explained. "We're teaching Peter how to play."
"It's jammed pretty good." Beast added.
Nightcrawler waved his hand in another highly eloquent gesture to dismiss their worries. He placed his thumb on one side of the ball and two fingers on the other…
BAMF!
Kitty jerked out of Peter's grip with a shriek, finding herself falling over for real with the sudden loss of support.
"I believe this is yours?" Nightcrawler had time to hand the ball to a confused Colossus, bow theatrically and then…
BAMF!
…catch Shadowcat in mid fall. "Thank the good Lord for showing off, eh falling damsel in distress?"
Colossus finally caught up with the last three or four seconds, seeming embarrassed to be holding the tennis ball rather than intercepting Kitty's second fall. He grabbed her hand to help stand her on her feet.
Kitty glared angrily at the blue intruder. "Thanks." She said icily.
"So… you play this game too, comrade?" Peter addressed Kurt sheepishly.
"Play it?" Nightcrawler frowned at Shadowcat's obvious distaste with him. "I only invented the triple-twist backhand slice supreme!"
"Well, it's a shame we have to miss it, but we already have four players on this court." Kitty chirped, making shooing motions.
"Katia!" Colossus looked at her reproachfully.
"What I mean is," Kitty stumbled. "There's only room for four. That's the rules. No offense. Go on now." This time, she settled for shaking Kurt's hand, though she paled at the touch.
"Excuse her rudeness." Ororo was standing close enough to the net she didn't have to yell to be heard. "You're welcome to join this lesson."
"No need." Nightcrawler shook his head, feeling even worse at the sight of Kitty scrubbing her hand in a casually frantic sort of way. "I've got a match scheduled that should be arriving any moment. And knowing this guy, it's practically impossible for him to be late."
