xp_logs | Malibu: Volleyball Vendetta

Returning from her appearance at court, Doreen meets up with everyone's favorite purple feline for a heart-to-heart.

The hearing hadn’t gone well. In fact, the whole process left a bad taste in her mouth. Monkey Joe hadn’t been allowed in the Court house or on the stand with her and both sides had seemed intent in pulling her in one way or another and she couldn’t decide which way was supposed to be the right way. Ideally, she recalled, they didn’t want her on the stand. She remembered that.

But that had meant not answering her father’s lawyer’s questions honestly.

And the whole time there, Dad didn’t as much as look at her. Doreen kicked a rock that had been on the side walk as she made her way back to Julian’s beach house.

"Ow!" Catseye called out as the rock struck her bare foot. It was more of an acknowledgment of her presence than a cry of pain, however. "How come Dori is kicking rocks at Catseye?"

Doreen looked up, the voice kicking her out of her reprieve, “Oh my gosh! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there, Catseye,” she said, “Are you okay?” she asked.

"Sure! Is Dori okay?" she asked, tilting her head in curiosity, knowing this wasn't like Dori. "Is something making Dori upset?"

Doreen shrugged, “It’s all kinda complicated. I don’t even get it,” she said, her tail drooping. Stupid parents.

"Maybe Dori and Catseye can understand it together if Dori tells Catseye?" the catgirl offered.

“Maybe,” Doreen said, though she wasn’t sure how that would work. “Well… it’s… basically, my parents used to be married and still kind of are but don’t want to be anymore, you know?” she started.

"And that makes Dori sad? And being sad makes Dori confused?"

“Well, instead of just stopping being married, which I guess I could maybe deal with,” Doreen said, “They’re going to a court house with a judge and things are all really messy. And my Dad is trying to get my little brother to stay with him and not me.”

Catseye sat down on the sidewalk. "Dori's brother was going to stay with Dori at the mansion but now Dori's fatherperson will not let him? But what if his powers hurt someone? Catseye thinks the judge is SillyStupid if he will not let Dori's brother go with Dori!"

“Huh? Oh, no. Ryan was going to live with Mom and me when I’m not in school, he isn’t a mutant. Dad wants Ryan to live with him, but he doesn’t want me to. …I don’t think my Dad wants anything to do with me anymore.”

"Because Dori is a mutant?"

Doreen stopped walking for a moment, “Mom says that’s not it. But this all started right after I grew my tail and got my claws on my hands and feet,” she said, “Not that I don’t like it. I like my tail and I like being able to run and jump like this. But I don’t think Dad likes it.”

The purple head nodded pensively and gave Dori a look of sympathy. "Catseye understands. Catseye's FatherPerson threw her out into the snow to die when she was a baby because she had claws and a tail."

“My brother’s been acting different too, but that wasn’t the problem today. Because my parents are fighting so much and have to do stuff in front of a judge I had to talk to the judge, which is done with the lawyers,” she said, pausing to start taking off the shoes. Mom had made her wear nice shoes and they were hurting. “It’s all really stupid and confusing and Mom and Dad just need to stop fighting.”

Catseye leaned over to give Dori a hug. "Catseye doesn't know about judges and lawyers and parents fighting, but Catseye knows Dori has a family who loves her at the mansion so even if her parents are SillyStupid she is not all alone. And Catseye thinks no one can fight forever. Catseye also thinks Dori should come to the beach with Catseye and swim and try to catch fishies!"

Doreen laughed, just a bit, "I don't know how many fish we'll catch, but we can go swimming. At least I won't be the only one with wet fur," she said brightly. Girls with Tails had to stick together.

A while later, walking on the beach, Doreen runs into some familiar- though unfriendly- faces.

*****

Blake jumped up and met Mark, square on, one hitting the ball towards the other, who smacked it back down.

"Yeah!" Mark yelled, balling his fists and turning to give Nick a high five. "In your face Carter."

Cas grinned at her friends, stumbling to the side and picking up the ball. She had a nasty comeback but then suddenly caught sight of a bushy tail. "Oh my god, the Rodent returns!"

Blake cupped his cheek, "Hey Rodent!!"

"Rodent!!" Nick echoed and Mark chimed in with the girls.

"Rodent! Rodent! Rodent!" the group hollared together.

Dori's ears twitched. A feat with her ipod in. Ironically the song that was playing was 'Brand New Day' from Dr. Horrible. At the moment, she decided to ignore it, just hanging out on the beach, looking out over the water. Stupid smog. If she had smelled them all here, she never would've come out in the first place.

Cas was the first to abandon them game, but Blake took the ball from her and threw it towards Dori's head.

She saw it out of the corner of her eye before it hit her head and caught it easily. She could've sent it right back at them, but the force which she would've used might have been enough to hurt someone. Even though she didn't have super strength, her arms and legs were a lot stronger than normal.

So Doreen held on to the ball. With everything else going on right now she really wasn't in the mood for this. But she smiled anyway, "You dropped this."

"He was aiming it at your head," Cas snarled though it was Mark who walked towards Dori, ready to take the ball from her.

"Gee, really?" Doreen asked, innocently, "I didn't even notice. I'm sorry. I suppose he has to work on his aim," she didn't offer the ball back.

"Dori, give us the ball," Mark said evenly, holding out his hand to take it. It was the first time he'd address her by her name and while the others watched on, old childhood friends went face to face. "Give me the ball."

"Just take it from her," Nick called from over Mark's shoulder. Jogging in closer, he got to the pair and reached for the ball. "She probably doesn't even know how to play it."

"I know how to play," Doreen said, "I taught Mark," she said. And she had, back when they were little kids. "I can probably play better than you guys can."

"Can you?" Blake cut it, stepping past Cas as she stopped. He stood next to Mark and looked down at her skinny little hands cupping the ball. "Ten bucks says any one of us can take you out."

Doreen thought about the agility training and stuff she had been going to back at the mansion and she couldn't help it. She started to laugh. "I don't think so."

"Didn't think you could cut it," Cas said as she came up beside Blake.

"Fifty bucks!" Nick said.

"No, a hundred," Mark smacked the ball,taking it from her and doging, tossing it to Rebecca who came up on the sidelines.

"She's not worth a hundred--" Rebecca scowled.

"Maybe her tail is," Nick crossed his eyes and pretend to drop to the ground, only to stumble through the sand to their left.

"That's not nice. You don't have anything on you worth that much that I could sell when I win," Doreen returned, standing up, "And I don't have a full team. So it'd look really bad when I'd beat you all by myself."

"Didn't think you were serious," Blake said. "Let's go. All talk, no action is for losers." Mark fell in step with him but not before he gave one of those looks that said better luck next time.

"Is that tail of any use? Rebecca asked and tossed the ball to Nick who aimed it at Dori's head again. "Here Squirt."

Doreen caught the ball, tossed it up into the air, jumped up seven straight feet to meet it and hit it hard into the sand infront of everyone, "Give me twenty minutes. I can get a team. And you know what? I'm sick of all of you," she said, her tail frizzing out. They were the LAST thing she wanted to deal with while she was here, "So when we win, I don't want to see you here again," she said, clicking on the last.

"Beach rights? Fine. For a week, so you can get your scrawny ass off our clean sands," Cas smirked as the others turned. "Twenty minutes Rodent, or we get to detail you."

With beach rights at stake, can they pull together as a team...?

*****
Julian bent down and picked up a bit of the dry, white sand, sifting through it and brushing the remainder off on his swimsuit. It wasn't his idea of revenge, but Doreen seemed confident that beating these jerks at their own game would be the best revenge they could hope for without getting arrested. Of course, it also wasn't his idea to do this without their powers. Playing fair, didn't seem like the right thing to be doing right now. On the court, Johnny, Dori, Catseye, Nick and Angel joined him on the sand and on the other side of the net, Cas, Blake and their motley crew of bullies.

"Enters the Losers," the red head, Rebecca, said with chewing gum in her mouth. She scowled at Johnny from across the net and twirled a piece of her hair, gesturing to his and made a face. She leaned forward and whispered to him with complimentary sarcasm. "Stylish."

"They all have their fashion sense don't they?" the blonde, Cas Morgan, taunted. "Looks like they fell off of the fashion train all together."

"Why don't you just roll over and call it quits?" Mark asked Dori and gave a small kick in the sand towards her. It wasn't quite enough to reach but it got the point across.

"No powers," Blake said from the back, eyeing them all. "Power use is automatic forfeit," he said. "And we'll know you used them--"

"--We know all about your little powers escapades," Cas cut in. "Google likes your name a lot Julian."

Inez walked up next to Julian and took a moment to look at the two girls across from them. "Yo. This is the best Malibu has to offer? Barbie and Skipper here want to play, we got this." She patted Julian on the shoulder, then glanced at the other girls and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. "Shut these bitches out, Julian."

"I'm not calling anything quits, not anymore," Doreen said. Or any less. She had managed two years of high school with all these people, a game of volley ball would be nothing, "I'm sorry, but we're going to really kick your butts. You know, the real reason they benched me in gym class was they thought me playing anything was unfair to the other kids. So... I guess I thought I should warn you," she said, directing her comment to Mark, mostly. And a few of the others. She was tired of being a verbal and physical punching bag.

"Serve already," Blake said, sick of the banter and he tossed the ball to Nick, who threw it up, nailed it hard and straight in between Angel and Johnny.

Fred watched the game from the sidelines. After all, since it was 'no powers', and it wasn't like he could turn his off, it really wasn't fair. Still, he couldn't help but feel a very strong desire to feed the anorexics to Blake and Mark fist by fist for the way they were treating his friends....

Fred hadn't really been keeping up with his meditation over the summer. Maybe he should get back into the habit...

No powers meant no flying and volleyball had never been Angel's favorite sport. But she was fit enough and coordinated enough to get her cupped hands under the ball and hit it hard, arcing it back up and over the net with some power. "Eye on the ball, Cats," she called out lazily. "Pretty easy to do, yeah?"

Catseye kept her eye on the ball as it sailed back towards her, and kept her eye on it right until it hit her face and knocked her flat. "Ow! Owowow!" she grumbled, lying on her back in the sand. "Angel!" she barked. "That is not a good idea, eye on the ball! Catseye thinks 'hands on the ball' would be much better!"

"It's a turn of phrase!" Angel yelped, trying to not laugh. "Sorry about that."

Julian stifled a laugh and shook his head, "Okay, you got a lucky one in there, it's not gunna happen again." He prepared for the next volley by firming his feet in the sand and bending his knees. It suddenly dawned on him that this may turn out badly.

Doreen was all ready to go. No powers was impossible for her, but that didn't matter. But this was a challenge against her she got to play. She jumped, sand squishing between her toes with the small hop. "Don't worry. We'll get it," she said.

For someone who often wavered, she had a very steely determination right now.

"Catseye does not like turns of phrase," the purple-haired girl grumbled. Her face hurt, and tears blurred her eyes from the pain. She didn't think she would be much help to her friends in this condition, so she slunk off to the sidelines and sat next to Fred. "Fred want to play instead of Catseye?" she suggested.

Fred smiled and took off his heavy jacket and cracked his hand as he stood up. It would be incorrect to say he hadn't hoped he could play. While volleyball had never been a sport of his per se, it doesn't mean he wouldn't be...useful, "Are you sure these little Charge Card Fairies ain't gonna run home cryin?"

The teasing had been fairly easy to shrug off, even if it had left Johnny's cheeks lightly tinted and his expression twisted with faint agitation, but the obvious pleasure the other group of teens wore on their faces as Catseye retreated from the court, teary-eyed and sniffling, was not. He frowned tightly and glanced briefly back at Fred as the older boy stepped in to fill her place. "...Thought that was the point."

His sixth sense alerted him to the incoming ball just in time for him to turn and meet it with natural coordination and an effortless jump, knocking it back over the net with a high arc.

Blake stepped forward to the ball's descend, "Head's up Mark," and he set the ball up. Mark ran up two paces, jumped and spiked it clear over the onto the other side.

"Yeah!!!" The Mark, Nick and Blake chanted before Nick got the ball and spun it. He gestured something rude to Catseye before he spun it again,easily arching it high over head and serving the other team. The ball spun, purposely heading right for Fred's face since he replaced the purple haired girl.

Fred grinned a little despite himself and only moved his head slightly so when the ball did hit his face with so much force, it whizzed almost straight up into the air. The unphased Fred chuckled a little and, in the long span of time before the ball came back down, he looked to Jules, "Your friend here hits like a girl. Why don't you give him our answer?"

With a grin, Julian jumped into the air and spiked the ball back down towards Blake. It landed with a satisfying thud in the white sand before rolling a few inches and being picked up. "Our ball, I believe," Julian said, returning the earlier gesture that Nick had made at Catseye.

*****

Fred had moved up into the sand and, smiling broadly,smashed his fist into the ball after Johnny had set it up perfectly for him, "Incoming!" he said as he sent it shooting over the net. The game had been going well, though Fred hadn't been paying enough attention to be sure, he was fairly certain they were only down by one against these assclowns...

Blake jumped up and met the ball with his fist, cracking it down into the sand on the other side. He flipped Fred off triumphantly and backed up two paces, scooping up Cas and whirling her around. It was obvious both sides were having fun, but there was an underlying tension between Nick, Mark and Blake that could be seen forming as the others recovered from a bad start. Cas laughed but it died as soon as he set her back down and resumed their positions, while the Aalia stepped up to serve.

It was hard for Doreen to not overtly use her powers. She had been good at Volleyball before, but she was taking steps to make sure she wasn't jumping too high or hitting too hard. The serve went her way and instead of jumping up to drive it back over the other side of the net rudely and meanly she passed it towards Johnny, who could do it with a little bit more grace.

"Catch, Johnny!" Doreen said, passing the ball easily.

"Got it!" The ball knocked his direction, it wasn't hard for the spry, white-haired teen to make his way beneath it, extending both hands and setting it nimbly with slim fingertips in preparation for a spike. It flew upward, losing its spin, as Johnny called, "All yours, Julian!" Assuming he made it to the edge of the net before Blake did.

"On it!" cried Julian, jumping toward the ball, stretching his hands to get a piece of it. It would be close and the temptation to use his abilities was nearly overwhelming. However, knowing what was at stake, he resisted and surprisingly made contact with the ball, sending it against Blake's chest. It bounced off the young socialite's sculpted chest, careened off the net and finally impacted on the ground, making it a tied game. "YES!" he shouted, fully aware that his was not the only excited voice filling the air.

He tossed the ball toward Angel, who was now up to serve. "Game point, Angel...think you can manage it?"

She spun it lightly in the palm of her hand and grinned, cheeky and confident. "Does a fish know how to swim?" she asked. Angel glanced at the other team, who were shifting and looking quite out irritated by now. Some of them were making half-hearted taunts still and her hand flexed on the ball.

No powers, okay, she could deal. But it wasn't like she wasn't fit with her powers off. What swim training had started, the trainee status with the firefighters and the X-Men had only improved upon. So it was with some amount power that the ball was sent arcing through the air and towards the other team.

"Got it," came Nick's concentrated voice and he hit it upwards, calling the red head nearby. "Bec--"

"Got it," she said, easily hitting it over the net with flawless effort. The ball was struck back to the others and the team of snubbing highschoolers braced for the ball to come back at them with the assumption that one of the other team would be tempted to use their powers.

"Mine!" Vic called from the back half of the court as the ball sailed towards the far corner. He was actually at a fair disadvantage; the sand irritated his toe pads, and his fingers were too sticky to set the ball properly, so he'd stayed in the back of the court.

He dove into the sand, reaching out to dig under the ball just before it hit and popping it into the air, midcourt. "Heads up!"

Julian stepped back and put it up in the air again, but only just. They needed to get it back on the other side of the net and fast, unfortunately he'd no directional on control when he set it and it began to careen out of bounds, the only hope...was Doreen.

Doreen jumped up and spiked it, all of her concentration on this shot as she sent it back over the net. Please let it hit the sand. Please let it hit the sand. There was no telling how this might go if it was sent back over the net.

Please...

Cas ran for the ball, Mark diving at the same time and the two collided. Arms tangled and the ball hit the sand without either touching it.

"Nice going," Aalia said and Rebecca rolled her eyes at the group, a silent whatever to the victory cheer that came up from the other side of the net.

Blake walked over, quietly grabbed Cas by her arm and lifted her from the sand. His glare bore into Julian and he pointed at him as he walked backwards three paces, turned and headed off the court. The rest followed but the only one that remained was Mark, who'd stepped up to the net, facing Dori.

"Good game," he said lightly. His hand started to reach half way, halted and hesitated before extending beneath the net, offering it to her.

"Yeah, it was," Doreen said, taking his hand, careful to mind her claws, "You didn't think I forgot how to play, did you?"

"Only when you fumbled," he replied and squeezed her hand briefly before letting go. "Take Care guys. Nice win."

"Hell yeah it was!" Julian let go of Angel gently setting her down after having spun her around in a victory hug several times. "Now if you would kindly...get of our beach."