"The beach!" cried out Hayner, tightening his grip on the train's steel handrail, "Think about it; the sun, the sand, and most importantly, the cute girls in skimpy bikinis!"

Hayner's friends all looked at him with slight embarrassment, this being his fifth outburst ever since they had left the Usual Spot for the train station. Roxas, sitting across from the excited boy, started to look away from Hayner and through the window behind him, viewing the passing scenery of trees and river. Pence, however, shared his blonde friend's enthusiasm, and started conversing with him about "scouting" and "wingmen".

Pence said, "So, this time, you have to wingman for me, since I helped you last time."

Hayner scoffed as he crossed his arms, replying in an accusing tone, "Helped me? Please, you dragged me down with you last time you wing manned for me!"

Pence stared at Hayner with a confused face, "Dragged you down? How did I drag you down when we were going after those girls in Besaid?"

Hayner practically yelled back, "You were the one who threw a blitz ball at my girl's head after yours ditched you!"

"That was an accident!"

"Accident, my ass!"

"It was!"

"Was not!"

"Was so!"

"Boys!" Olette intervened, throwing herself between the two and giving them both a deadly glare, "Would you two please be quiet? Other people are on this train, too, y'know."

"Eh?" Hayner looked around and saw a couple dozen other people sitting down in the seats and holding the handrails, all staring up at him and Pence with interest and annoyance, "Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot, hehe." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly before looking down at the floor.

"Why are there so many people on this train to the beach, anyways?" Pence asked Olette, his brown eyes scanning the crowd for a cute girl.

Olette explained, "Well, the weather report said that today would be the last good beach day before autumn weather kicks in. So, I guess everyone's just trying to enjoy it."

Hayner lifted his head back up, adding, "And with the more people going to the beach, the more chicks to choose from!"

Olette rolled her eyes at the blonde and looked over to the still daydreaming Roxas, sighing, "Well, at least you aren't a skirt-chaser, huh, Roxas?"

Hearing his name being said, Roxas snapped out of his thoughts and looked to the brunette, "What was that, Olette? I was just staring at those three girls at the other end of the train."

"Ya hear that, Olette?" laughed Hayner, "All men are pigs!"

Upon seeing Hayner and Pence force Roxas into a high five, Olette face palmed, mumbling, "I hang out with a group of imbeciles."

"Woohoo!" cried Rai with excitement and joy in his booming voice, " It's the beach, y'know? All of those gnarly waves, the warm sun, and the pretty girls, y'know?"

Seifer glared at Rai with annoyance, "Shut up, Rai, it's still another ten minutes before we get there. Besides, you're still going to need to help me train again before I let you surf, you hear?"

Rai smiled at Seifer and nodded his head, "You got it, boss! Y'know I got that counting business down, y'know?"

"Screw that!" Seifer replied loudly, "Because of you, I didn't know whether I was 200 or 500 reps in! I swear, my left arm is three times sorer than my right! This time, Vivi's on count duty, right, Vi?"

Seifer looked down at the small boy in the brown wizard hat. Vivi looked up at him with yellow eyes and gave him a thumbs up, showing compliance.

"Good," Seifer then turned to his right to see Fuu staring through the window of the train. He was still a bit worried about her ever since she had frozen up the other day. But he was sure she was fine now; a day's rest should have done her good.

He said to her, "I don't know what you could do when we get to the beach, Fuu. Vivi's counting my reps and Rai's gonna help me with my endurance, but I don't know about you…"

Rai chimed in, "She could get us some food, y'know? Y'know, after the workout, yer gonna be real tired and hungry, boss!"

Seifer barked back, "I'm not gonna reduce Fuu to just running around getting us snacks! There's gotta be something-"

"It's fine," interrupted Fuu, apparently having listened to the conversation the whole time.

"You sure?" asked Seifer, "Cuz' it's not really that glamorous of a job in the whole training process."

Fuu didn't answer, instead turning back to the window and staring blankly out it again.

After a short silence, Seifer replied, "Eh, it should be fine. Everyone's got their part, right? When we get there, go fetch us some sea salts, will ya, Fuu?"

"'Kay," she answered, not moving her gaze from the fleeing forest scenery.

In truth, Fuu didn't really mind getting food for her friends while Seifer was training. In fact, she was a bit relieved she'd be able to spend some time away from them so she could think more clearly. About a certain issue.

An annoying issue.

A blond issue.

Fuu knew they were at the beach before the conductor announced they were at their destination, since she saw the gradual change from forest to ocean from the window. Since the four had been sitting in the back of the car, it took a couple of minutes before they were able to step out. They didn't really know why the train would be so crowded during a fall day, but it wasn't so bad. Fuu didn't really mind crowds. Unless certain individuals were part of them.

Seifer called her over so that she could help Rai unpack his surfboard and to help him unpack his training gear. He had brought his Struggle bat, some weighted clothes, and perhaps the dumbest piece of equipment of all: weighted swimming trunks.

Fuu threw Seifer an exasperated glance as she tossed him the 10 pound pair of trunks. She noticed the beanie-wearing boy struggle a little with the trunks' weight. Seifer merely replied, "What? It helps me work the abs."

In her head, she replied, "Who needs abs when you're drowning?"

After all of the gear was ready, Seifer, Rai, and Vivi made their way to the shore and Fuu headed over to the snack stand.

Hayner leaped out of the train car as soon as the crowd of people in front of him had disbanded. He was so excited about this trip to the beach. It was smack dab between Twilight Town, Besaid, Kilika, and even Destiny Islands; girls from all over would be coming here to soak in the sun and be hit on.

Sure, some of the girls would also be from his own high school, where he was now an infamous "girl beater", but that didn't matter; chances at a high school romance were still high!

"Hayner, quit standing around and help us with the gear!" Olette half panted, half barked, carrying a broad pink surfboard through the slim exit of the tram.

Hayner turned around to see Pence holding a very large rainbow beach umbrella and briefcase while Roxas ran over to help Olette with the surfboard.

"We have to hurry up or the door'll close on us!" explained Roxas half-frantically, still inside the car and trying to shove the large plastic board through the narrow opening, "So lend us a hand, will ya, Hayner?"

The blonde quickly swooped over to Roxas' side inside the train and helped him push the board through the door. He instructed Roxas, "OK, on three, we shove hard, okay?"

"Got it," replied Roxas with compliance.

Hayner started readying himself, calling slowly, "One…two…"

Olette, unaware of Hayner's plan, heard the counting and asked nervously, "Uh, guys, what're you-"

"THREE!"

Hayner and Roxas tackled the board with all their might, squeezing it through the opening and knocking Olette far back.

"W-whoa!" Olette stumbled about five feet back before finally landing flat on the hard brick surface of the train platform. She rubbed the pained area, groaning, "You jerks could've warned me, y'know."

Roxas heard Olette's groans and rushed over to her, offering her a hand to lift her up, "Sorry," he said in an apologetic tone, "Besides, it was Hayner's idea, so we sorta knew something bad was gonna happen."

Hayner crossed his arms in a defensive pose, retorting, "Hey, you were the idiot that followed through!"

Olette accepted Roxas' hand and he pulled her up. She dusted herself off and pointed an accusing finger at Roxas, " I forgive you, I guess. But do that again, and I'm not gonna let you copy my notes in English anymore."

"What do I care?," replied Roxas, shrugging "I can't even read your messy chicken scratch anyways."

"It's called shorthand!" yelled back Olette, offended and slightly pink, "And at least I don't doodle crappy cartoons in the margins like you do!"

Pence watched the two continue their exchange for a bit before turning to Hayner, "They might take a few minutes. Should we go ahead?"

Hayner scoffed, and replied coyly, "Yeah, better if we leave the two lovebirds alone, anyhow."

He picked the heavy briefcase of beach items up off the concrete ground and walked with Pence off of the urban train platform and down to the sandy beach.

With the Dodgeball done with, we move on to Misadventures at the Beach! Enjoy! :D