AN: Here's another fun short! I've been enjoying some wonderful adventures playing in waterfalls and running barefoot through flooded roads with friends. I decided Nosedive, Thrash, and Mookie get to have some outdoors fun too! Also, more character development for his friends, cause they don't get nearly enough in the show. There is a brief mention of something that happens in my story Epicede, but it's not vital you read it before reading this one.

Nosedive grabbed one of the canvas bags Thrash had shoved in his trunk and hooked the strap over his shoulder. His own bag went on his other shoulder and he maneuvered the large beach umbrella into the crook of his right arm and his surf board under the left.

"Dude, I can, like, carry some of that." Mookie held the blanket under one arm and her beach bag on her shoulder.

"Here," Thrash handed her yet another bag.

"Thrash, seriously!" Nosedive stared at the amount of stuff his friend had brought. "How much do you need?"

"It's this stupid assignment!" He slammed the SUV's hatch closed and juggled his two bags, canvas, and easel.

"Or, you know, we could make more than one trip," Mookie suggested.

"Nah, I got it," Thrash grunted, determinedly turning towards the water and waddling towards a flat space surrounded by rocks. Sea gulls took off from the sand and hovered in the air above him, crying their disgust at being disturbed.

"Psh." Nosedive followed suit.

"Want me to carry one of those bags?" Mookie offered again.

"Nah," he shook his head. "They balance me out like this. If you take one, I'm going to be leaning to one side like that dweeb." He jerked his head towards Thrash at the word 'dweeb.'

"Whatever."

Thrash stood in a large enough open area just above the tide line and waited for Mookie to spread out the blanket before setting down his art supplies. Mookie took the umbrella from Nosedive and tried jabbing it into the sand, but it kept falling to the side. Nosedive unloaded the pile of stuff he carried, setting the surf board to the side, before taking the umbrella from Mookie and driving it deeper into the sand for her. He left her to open and reposition the jointed top to provide shade as the sun moved throughout the day.

They had arrived at the beach just after sunrise. Hardly anybody else was there this early in the morning. None of them liked getting up before noon; but, the occasional trip out to see a sunrise was worth it, especially if it meant no insane crowds demanding Nosedive's attention.

Mookie ran a hand over the braided ridge across the top of her head, checking that it was still tight and wouldn't come loose in the water. She removed her over sized t-shirt and jean shorts to reveal a purple and black bikini. She dropped her outer layer on the blanket and dug the wet suit from her bag.

Thrash began setting up his easel and canvas while Mookie removed the sunscreen from her bag and began applying it. Nosedive pulled off his t-shirt and shoved it into his bag. Discarding his sandals next to the blanket, he picked up his surf board and headed towards the water.

"You coming, chica?"

Mookie stood, one hand on her hip and the other holding out the sunscreen.

"Fine, mom," he teased. Letting the board lean on his shoulder, he took the tube and applied some to his bill before capping it and handing it back.

"I so should have brought the camera," she said, stepping carefully to avoid some of the sharper rocks.

"Why?"

"To prove what a bad surfer you are."

"Like you can do any better."

"Yeah, but I'm not a pro athlete!"

"Hockey, dudette! Totally different sport."

"Yeah, but like, aren't ducks supposed to be great at anything involving water?"

"Surfing isn't exactly a thing back home." They stood at the edge of the water, the waves lapping around their ankles before retreating. "And I'm a way better swimmer than you." He leaned the surf board towards her. "You want to go first?"

"Nah. Your board, you get first ride."

"Cool." He headed further out until the water was waist deep before pulling himself onto the board and paddling out to where the waves were bigger. He watched large fish swimming below him before turning his attention to the horizon and watching the waves. He maneuvered to let several go under him before finding one heading to the right. Hopping onto the board, he stood and balanced, riding the wave back towards shore. They traded the board back and forth, taking turns for about an hour before deciding to head back and see how Thrash was doing.

More people had begun to show up and fill the beach. Currently, it was mostly surfers, swimmers, and joggers. The families would really start showing up in force in another couple hours. Those were the ones they had to look out for; children and fans would spot Nosedive and start crowding around, begging for his autograph or a photo, and asking lots of questions.

Thrash looked up at their return; Nosedive's hair clung to his face. He'd lost the ponytail holder to a wave when he wiped out. The human burst out laughing at the bedraggled duck.

"Yeah, yeah," Nosedive laughed along. "Like you do any better."

"I think you're, like, actually improving," Mookie said, drying herself off with a towel before sitting on the larger blanket. She unzipped the top of her wet suit and let it hang around her waist while keeping the towel wrapped around her shoulders. She dug around in her wet suit a moment and tried to get more comfortable. "Freaking sand," she complained. "Hate it getting in my butt crack."

"Ch-yeah!" He dug through his bag, looking for another ponytail holder. Unable to find it easily, he began removing everything in hopes that it had fallen to the bottom. He stopped at a soft tap on his arm. Mookie held one out to him and he gladly took it, pulling his hair back and wrapping the holder around it several times. Snagging his com, he checked it to make sure nobody had contacted him and tossed it back into the bag. Their coms were waterproof, but he still preferred not to wear it surfing. Tanya had already had to make him a new one twice and he didn't want to bother her with needing to make another because he lost it to the waves.

"How's it coming?" Mookie leaned over Thrash's shoulder, checking out the canvass.

"It's not." He threw the brush into the small bucket of diluted turpentine. "I keep getting sand in the paint!"

"What's the assignment?" Nosedive asked. He sat with knees bent, elbows resting on them and eyes closed. He raised the feathers along his arms, chest, and neck to allow the breeze to reach his skin and hopefully dislodge some of the sand that had gotten stuck in uncomfortable places.

Thrash motioned to Mookie to be quiet and hand him his his sketch book and pencil.

"Water." He took the spiral bound book and pencil, flipped it to a blank page, and quickly began sketching out Nosedive's pose. "I've got to show how light interacts with water. The teach said he would prefer moving water and just putting a glass of water in the sun would be, like, a D. I thought early morning light on waves would be rad; but, the stupid wind keeps blowing sand on my canvas!"

"Hm." Nosedive opened his eyes and looked at his friend.

Thrash smiled apologetically and tilted the book up to hide what he'd been drawing.

"Dude! You drawing me again?" He settled his feathers down.

"Totally," Mookie answered for him.

Thrash turned the book around. He'd managed to get the form down and had begun shading Nosedive's face, paying close attention to how the small feathers around his bill looked when fluffed up.

"I'm not water," he joked. "Do your homework, slacker."

"Nope! Go back to what you were doing. I want to finish this."

"You're going to fill that whole book with sketches of me, aren't you?"

"Nah." He kept shading in Nosedive's face while the duck patiently remained motionless. "There's like, maybe three sketches of Lucifer and a couple of Mookie and some random dude who came into the shop."

"Why him?"

"Dude! He was wearing a top hat! Guy had on combat boots, business slacks, one of those fisher vests with all the pockets, a trench coat, and a top hat. It'd have been a crime not to get a sneaky sketch in."

"MONICA!" An excited squeal preceded two young women running to their blanket and nearly tackling Mookie in a hug.

"What the fu-?!" Mookie was knocked over by the forceful hug.

"It's been forever since we've seen you!" The blond woman rocked back and forth, arms wrapped around Mookie's shoulders and making her move too.

"Uh, what?" Mookie sharply disentangled herself and stood, backing up. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Duh," she rolled her eyes and looked falsely offended. "Sarah P! We went to middle school together."

"Yeah, and Sarah H!" the other girl added. "We totally hung out in Spanish class all the time." Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail as well. They both wore short shorts, halter tops, and running shoes.

"Pendejas." Mookie smirked.

"Uh," Sarah P raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You know them?" Nosedive asked Thrash quietly. He'd shifted to a kneeling position, ready to stand and drive them off if needed.

"Maybe?" Thrash shrugged. "It was middle school. I spent most of my time drawing in books instead of reading them."

"Hey, Michael!" Sarah H hit him on the shoulder playfully, making him smear white across the painting instead of detailing the foam on waves. "Long time since I've seen you too. Still drawing those weird mutant things?"

"Alright," Nosedive said as he stood. "What do you want? Autograph? Photo? My soul?"

"AH!" Sarah P's eyes grew wide and she leaned forward, hand out to shake his. "Mike! You never told us you know a Mighty Duck!"

"Listen," Nosedive shook her hand. "You don't have to annoy them. I'll give you the autograph or whatever and then will you please leave us alone?"

"Actually," Sarah H drew out the word much longer than needed, "I kind of wanted to catch up with my friends. But you're cool to hang around too."

"Dude!" Nosedive practically shouted, "You don't even know their names! Scram!"

"He's got a point," Mookie crossed her arms and shifted closer to Thrash.

"Yeah," Thrash nodded. "You can't call us by our real names, you can get lost."

"And the autograph offer is withdrawn," Nosedive added.

"Fine," Sarah P scoffed and put a hand on her hip. "You two were always a couple of lame weirdos anyway." She snapped and turned on her heel to leave.

"Bye, babosas," Mookie flipped them off.

The two girls stormed off, matching ponytails swaying in indignation as they headed back to whatever part of the beach they crawled out of.

"I'm sorry, gu—" Nosedive started.

"Chill," Mookie said. "Actually, I did know them back in middle school. They always tried to copy off me in Spanish class and math." She sat back down on the blanket.

"Yeah, but they called you guys Monica and Mike…"

"Uh, yeah!" Mookie scooted back into the shade from the umbrella.

"So… You're not Thrash and Mookie?"

"Nah, we are," Thrash picked up his paint brush and began hitting it against the easel. "Friggin sand, getting in everything," he muttered. "Do you have any idea how common the name Mike is? There were like four others in just my kindergarten!"

"So why Thrash?"

"Last name's Thrasher," he shrugged. "And, it sounds wicked awesome."

"Okay, but what about Mookie? That your last name too?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head no. "Perez."

"Fraggle Rock," Thrash sing-singed while laughing. He loaded up more blue paint and went back to work on correcting what Sarah had made him mess up.

Mookie glared at him and held up a handful of sand.

"I'll turn that oil painting into a sand painting," she threatened.

"What's Fraggle Rock?" He'd never heard of it and assumed it was some obscure human thing.

"It was a TV show back when we were kids," Thrash explained, occasionally glancing towards the water and back to his canvas. "It was full of Muppets living in this kid's back yard. I don't remember much about it other than Mookie was like this purple leader who was always stoned."

"She was the nice one!" Mookie scoffed. "And everyone listened to her."

"And your hair matches her."

"Nah," she shook her head, "Her's was more feathery."

"That's why you've got me," Nosedive joked. He stretched out next to Mookie, enjoying the shade. "So… I'll tell you guys a secret about me if you swear not to tell anyone else."

"Ooh, sounds good," Mookie teased. "Spill."

"Sure, whatever," Thrash agreed.

"Seriously. You tell anyone, I'll know it was you cause nobody else, well, except for Wildwing, on the team knows."

"What?" Mookie kicked at his shin.

"Nosedive isn't what my parents named me."

"Wait, what?" Thrash stopped painting and turned around.

"You heard me."

"So, what's your real name?"

"Only the most common Duck name ever."

"What?" Mookie pressed. "You do know we only know of, like, six Duck names total."

"Eight!" Nosedive corrected indignantly, sitting up.

"Uh…" Thrash started counting, holding up a finger for each name. "Nosedive, Wildwing, Duke, Grin, Mallory, and Tanya. That's six, dude."

"Oh! Canard!" Mookie added.

"And…" Nosedive prompted.

"And who else?"

"Wing wears his mask…"

"That DuCaine guy?"

"Drake?" Mookie snorted and tried not to laugh. "Your real name is Drake?"

"Yeah, yeah." He waved off her amusement. "Now you know why I needed something way more cool."

"So, is Wildwing actually his name or is it something else?" Thrash leaned back, his paint brush in hand, before he realized he had just stuck the wet brush right on the sand. Annoyed, he tossed it back in the bucket.

"Nah, that's his name. But, it's like way old fashioned. You rarely hear anyone else named Wildwing. He was named after our great grandpappy."

"Cool." Mookie pulled a bottle of water from her bag and took a drink. "Why'd you pick Nosedive?"

"I didn't?" He shrugged. "I wanted to be a goalie because he was and that's the only way I could actually stop the pucks. Toss— lameo team captain when I was eight— kept calling me that and the name stuck. I was really mad about it until Wildwing decided it was cool and started calling me Nosedive everywhere. Then everyone else seemed to think it was the best name ever and it's sorta stuck."

"Awww…" Mookie teased, ruffling a hand through his hair, "Your big brother named you."

"Baaah!" He knokcked her and away. "So? I used to have a major case of hero worship and…" He drifted off as he watched a sea gull hover just above Thrash and his easel. "Um… Dude?"

"What?"

Thrash looked up at Nosedive's gesture.

The white bird dropped a huge poop right onto Thrash's painting before crying loudly and soaring back towards the boardwalk.

"Hahaha!" Mookie and Nosedive both laughed loudly at Thrash's dumbfounded expression and the ruined painting.

"You know what? This majorly sucked anyway." He picked up the canvas and threw it into the sand, face down. "Shit. That was my last one. Now I need to go back to World O' Paint and buy another one."

Nosedive had shifted to a sitting position, right elbow draped over his knee. He glanced at the tattoo of Canard's logo under ice on his wrist and grinned.

"Thrash, my man, I don't think the beach is the right subject for you."

"What do you mean?"

"The assignment is light and water, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, everybody's going to do the ocean! Why not be unique?"

"Okay…"

"How about ice?"

"You mean?"

"Yeah! Come on; let's go back to the Pond. I'll set up any lighting you want. Purple, blue, stars, disco party, anything!"

"I'm not sure that'll be enough… He said he wanted moving water."

"What about if he messed it up some?" Mookie suggested. "You know, paint the lines from his skates or something."

"Yeah!" Nosedive grinned. "I can totally make some massive snow piles for ya."

"Snow piles?" He frowned. "You can make it snow in there?"

"Ch'yeah! Snow's what the shaved ice is called when we do quick stops and send ice bits everywhere. Wing likes to make little snow forts around the crease during games to slow down the puck. But I can make some pretty wicked ones. Or, like, do some figure skating and leave some really cool lines for you."

"You figure skate?" Mookie's grin grew even wider. "We're learning all sorts of secrets about you today!"

"Not exactly what you're thinking of." He rolled his eyes. "There's more than one kind of figure skating."

"Nah, man," Thrash began packing up his supplies. "I want to see you in a sparkly leotard and short skirt, spinning around to Swan Lake."

"Pffft." He grabbed his t-shirt and put it on, arms through the arm holes first and poking his bill through the neck before pulling it the rest of the way over his head. "In your dreams. Nah, I was talking about aktaniye. You make specific patterns in the ice and the lines you leave behind are more important than what you look like doing it."

"I think I can find a tutu for you to wear," Mookie added.

"Whatever." He pulled the ponytail holder from his hair and shot it at her like a rubber band. "Let's get this shit cleaned up and hit the art store on the way back."

End AN: Honestly, half the point of this story was just to make that bird poop on Thrash's art… And I've been trying to figure out how to show Nosedive's 'real' name for a while.

There is another massive story currently in the works, but I'm not sure when it will be done. All I know is, I have to write it. And it's not one I'm going to post as I work on it because too much early on keeps getting changed as I write more. I may be posting few and far between, but I'm still writing ;) Thanks for your patience with me and for the reviews!