Xaviers!

After classes, Nailah is waiting at the entrance to the Point in the slight recess of the door to avoid the wind blowing in from the ocean, poking around on her phone as she waits for Drake.

Drake landed with a final flap of his wings a dozen or so feet from the entrance. Walking up, he said with a smirk, "Ready to lose?"

"You wish." she grins, pushing herself off the wall and swiping her student ID on the door-lock, the entrance hissing open.

"Got any preferences for the landscape or scenario? There's a whole bunch of flying ones in the computer..." she says as she leads Drake down the corridor and to the entrance to the Danger Room.

"Anything that keeps score is fine by me."

"Alrighty!"

Stepping into the empty room with the blank metal walls Nailah immediately pipes up "Computer, load Grand Canyon flight map with checkpoints."

The room swiftly dissolves into red stone and blue sky, extending into the distance and leaving the two of them standing near a cliff overlooking the enormous canyon. There's floating circles of faintly glowing light suspended in mid-air all throughout.

"Holy shit," he exclaimed with wide eyes, "I thought the realism of this thing was exaggerated."

"Freakin' amazing, isn't it? No idea how it works, but who cares!" she says, spreading her wings as she does a couple twirls in the slight wind blowing from the canyon.

He took to the air and performed a leisurely roll. "Even the wind feels right. It's... incredible."

"Yeah, especially with the weather being what it is outside." she says, spreading her wings wide and folding them back in as if she was stretching.

"So, checkpoint race seem fair to you?"

"Perfectly fair. One at a time or simultaneously? I'll even give you the advantage of seeing me go first."

"Pff, same time or bust."

"Very well then. Let the contest begin."

"Alright, it's on." she says, shrugging out of her leather jacket and letting it drop to the ground. "Computer, give us a countdown."

As the computers voice begins counting down Nailah gets in position like a sprinter a couple yards from the edge of the canyon.

Back on the ground, Drake briefly debated keeping his cool bomber jacket on before removing it. There was no shirt underneath, only a scaly chest and some rather fit abs. He took his position as the countdown neared zero.

"May the best mythic beast win."

The countdown finishes with a loud beep and Nailah takes off, claws providing traction and leaving scuffmarks on the rocky ground. Her foot finds the edge and pushes her out into the open air. With wings partially unfolded she falls into a dive to built up momentum as the cliff-face rushes past her, her descent gradually slowing as she curves back upwards, finding an updraft to add to her speed. She can't help but laugh as she brushes a couple loose strands of hair to the side from where they got trapped against her face from the headwinds.

Talons left gouges in the ground as Drake took a running start. He launched himself off of the cliff, keeping pace with Nailah as the two hit the updraft.

"Screw gravity!" he cheered before breaking away to maneuver towards the first checkpoint ring with an unnecessary spin.

"People don't know what they're missing!" Nailah shouts over the rush of air before she does an unnecessary spiral to pull into a hard curve and hit the first checkpoint.

Drake was keeping pace so far. "Not losing me that easy!" he called out before diving hard for the next ring.

Nailah grins, but she's losing some ground any time there's a stretch of flying straight ahead. Maybe it's fewer muscles or her wings being built more for control than straight up speed, but she's losing ground that she only barely makes up when diving down and around a large outcropping of rock to hit the next checkpoint. She may have picked more of an obstacle course for this exact reason.

Continuing on, Drake lost speed and his lead when he suddenly had to pull up to avoid another outcropping he was going too fast to gracefully maneuver around. He performed a vertical loop to reacquire a proper flight vector towards the next ring and flapped furiously to regain speed.

"Think fast!" Nailah shouts as she flies a much more graceful curve, barely losing any speed and even finding a moment to fly at a 90 degree angle along the cliffside and give herself an extra push with her legs. It's a way too risky move for a minor payoff, but when you can sort through the dozen times you'll smash into the rock to find the one successful attempt it might be worth it. The move gives her the momentum to gain some substantial ground while Drake is wasting energy getting back on track. She hits the next checkpoint and sets her eyes on the final one, way down below, barely visible above the river winding through the canyon.

Drake passed the penultimate checkpoint and growled to himself before entering a final dive for the finish line. His powerful wings ate up the gap between the two racers, but it was going to be close if he even managed to catch up in time.

Catching a glimpse of Drake catching up over her shoulder, a look of determination settles over Nailah's face and she suddenly folds in her wings and goes into what's bordering on freefall. Spearing towards the distant ground she only uses her wings to adjust her fall instead of catch it in any significant way, soon passing the point of being able to pull up even if she wanted to. Instead she angles herself at the checkpoint and straightens her arms out in front of her before slamming through the goal-line and into the water.

Drake barely had time to gape at the reckless-by-even-his-standards maneuver before he soared through the last ring and past Nailah. He slowed and wheeled around, desperately scanning the water for her. Danger Room safeties didn't even occur to him.

"No, no, no, no, no..." he muttered worriedly.

Nailah doesn't resurface for a couple moments, but eventually her flailing shape washes up a little bit downstream where the shore gets flat. She doesn't exactly look like a winner, completely drenched and wings sagging with water as she crawls out of the water on all fours, but she seems okay. She flops around on her back, wet wings slapping against the ground and she starts laughing.

Drake breathed out a heavy sigh of relief that was lost on the wind. He landed nearby tried to act nonchalant as he sauntered over.

"I can't tell if you're bold or just crazy," he smirked.

"There's a difference?" she chuckles, sitting up and flipping her wet hair back into an approximation of a hairstyle.

"Eye of the beholder I suppose," he chuckled. "Looks like you win."

"Dang right, Drake-Boy. I gotta admit, I thought it'd take longer to get a sidekick." she winks.

"At least call me your partner," he groaned.

"You lost the bet, you can deal with it for one patrol." she chuckles, giving Drake a slap on the shoulder. "If it feels undignified just remember what I looked like winning." she says and spreads her soaked wings and flicks her dripping tail at him.

"You do look rather pathetic at the moment," he grinned.

"Okay, I walked right into that one."

"Yes. Yes, you did," he smirked.

"So when is it you want to go paint the town justice?"

"There's some stuff I've been meaning to look into right here in Maldon, so we can go tonight if you're up for it."

"Sure. Sounds fun," he said.