Tennis Ball

When the Leinhard returned from Earth, in addition to having a cargo hold full of future Rocket Dogs, it also had a large supply of tennis balls, chew toys, rawhide strips, squeaky toys, and snuggly blankets, all so that the dogs would feel at home on Quantum Prime.

While the toys were brought for the dogs, the Toba dog trainers had lots of fun playing with them too - particularly the tennis balls.

The Toba have balls, of course - small yinyon balls, a bit smaller than a ping pong ball, for an indoor game using curved sticks, medium sized balls for an outdoor kicking game, and very large balls almost as tall as a Toba, used on an outdoor field in a competitive game called lentisi where two teams try to push the ball past the opponent’s goal line - but Toba culture had never created a small ball that bounced like a tennis ball.

The imported human tennis ball was an immediate hit, and a magazine-fed, spring-powered launcher was soon invented and used by Toba children in a newly created schoolyard game. Amusingly, the invention was shared back into the Rocket Dog program, travelling full circle, and the Tennis Ball and launcher became a secret weapon that any Rocket Dog lucky enough to have one can use to distract a competitor.