Waking up to a text from Maverick telling his team to meet him at the beach.
Confused was a good way to put it. Reuben had no idea what to expect, and since Jia had the day off, she decided to join him.
As they ate breakfast and prepped some beach bags, Jia sent a text to Benji, asking if he wanted a beach day as well. They very rarely had days off during a shoot, so they took advantage of it whenever they could.
So, with everything ready to go, Jia and Reuben left for the beach, ready to discover what exactly Maverick had planned.
Turns out, literally no one knew why they were called to the beach and not their jets. They needed to fly the course, not play on the beach!
But Maverick came out to the group, a bag in hand. Imagine everyone's surprise when he pulled out two foam footballs. "Today, we need to work as a team. It's not happening up in the air, and that's going to cost lives."
He tossed one ball to Hangman and the other to Rooster. "This is Dogfight football. You'll be playing offense and defense at the same time. Captains, pick your teams."
And with that, he walked off to the chair he had set up, waiting to see how the team handled this.
Jia had also walked away, setting up her own little station. She checked her phone once more to see if Benji had responded yet. (He hadn't.)
She looked back to the aviators, noticing everyone, but Bob had taken their shirts off. She was tempted to join the game but knew they needed to play for a while to build up their teamwork.
Jia watched the game for a while, barely able to keep up. Maverick had the ball, and then suddenly Hangman had it. Rooster and Phoenix score points for their respective teams before throwing the balls back to their 'quarterbacks'.
At some point, Rooster throws to Coyote, who makes a touchdown, causing the two men to chest bump, and for Rooster to do some weird shimmy that she had to admit looked good
As she continues to watch the absolute chaos unfold on the beach, her phone dings. Checking it, she finds a message from Benji. He had finally made it to the beach, so Jia stood up to go meet him.
They reach their destination just in time to see Hangman make a touchdown and yell out, muscles rippling. He throws the ball down behind him, causing the guys to fall down in sync.
"Do you think they practiced that?" Benji whispers to Jia.
"I wouldn't put it past them, not going to lie." Is her response.
Now it was Benji's turn to watch a few rounds of the game, confused at first, and then he understood.
Maverick had finally stepped away from the game, no longer able to keep up with the younger pilots. But in-between the boos and shouts, someone spotted Benji.
"Jia! Benji! Join on in, let's go!"
The friends look at each other before shrugging and running to the group. It was just as chaotic in the game as it was looking from the outside.
Hangman throws his ball, and it surprisingly lands right into Bob's arms, everyone cheering for the man, who was shocked himself.
Jia got the ball at one point, sprinting to the end zone before Reuben caught up to her, grabbing her around the waist and spinning the two of them around.
Benji had gotten the ball from Phoenix but was blocked by Coyote and Hangman. What they didn't expect was for Benji to basically vault over the two of them, landing in a roll before pushing himself to his feet and running in to score.
Their jaws were on the ground as Benji celebrated, Jia giving him a high five and Mickey dancing along with him.
Moments like that continued for a little while longer, going until the sun was actually starting to lower in the sky.
"How the hell did you do that jump and roll earlier?" Coyote had to ask Benji. There was no way he couldn't. It was just too impressive.
Benji shrugged a bit. "It's not anything I don't do on a regular basis. You just have to learn how to jump. It's all about the positioning and timing. I'll be honest, I got lucky. Sand is unpredictable in a lot of areas."
Hangman, who had also wanted to know the answer, looked Benji up and down. "What exactly is your specialty? We know Jia does pretty much anything."
"I'm kind of the same. No super specialty, but I'm pretty good with the weapons."
Nearly everyone perked up at that. "What kind of weapons?" Phoenix couldn't help but ask.
Benji turned to Jia, his face giddy with hope. “Can we give them a demonstration? I need to prove I'm just as badass as you. Can we? Can we? Can we?”
Jia smiled as she shook her head. "I've got some staffs in the car, give me a second."
She runs to the car, quickly grabbing some practice staffs, bos and swords alike.
Both she and Benji like the bo staffs, so they go for those to demonstrate.
Mickey and Reuben both have smirks on their faces. They had witnessed a number of these little 'battles'. Mickey had even gotten his phone so he could record this one.
With a simple nod, Benji took the first move, swiping out towards Jia. She ducked, blocking it with her own staff. Since they often trained together, knowing each other's moves allowed for a fun fight. They spun, blocked, hit, and missed. It was a whirlwind of movement, staffs spinning on their practiced hands.
The battle went on for maybe five minutes or so before Jia had finally managed to knock Benji's staff from his hand.
No one could believe what they had just witnessed. It was incredible.
"Payback, I'm serious. Watch your back, I'm stealing her." Phoenix had to say.
The laughter that followed mellowed out the mood even more. It was the perfect ending to an otherwise strange day.
This wasn't what they were expecting when they were recalled to Top Gun. Certainly, many weren't expecting to make friends with people they absolutely despised.
The beach created memories no one was soon to forget.
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Word count: 1,063
The beach had finally arrived!! I had fun writing this and creating some illusions for Jia and Benji. Not sure if I described everything well, kind of just making it up based on shows and movies I've seen use bo staffs.
But get ready for next chapter, because we are finally at the bird strike.
Bye guys!!
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