Biking Lessons

"Look, Nick! There's a ton of bicycles over there!" Maya said, eagerly pointing at a far of part of the park.

The Turnabout team had decided to take a short after-lunch stroll through the nearby People Park before heading back to the office. It was quite a hot summer day, which forced most people out of their stuffy rooms and out into open aired spaces. Kids, out for summer vacation, played in the grass while their parents sat picnicking in the shade. Young couples occupied the park benches, while some old men passed the time fishing along the river.

Phoenix allowed himself to be dragged along as his assistant headed towards the bicycles. Indeed, there was a vast array of them-there were small, colorful children's bikes; larger, single bikes (which he assumed were for adults); there were even a few tandem bicycles.

Maya was weaving her way through the rows of bicycles parked in the shade, quickly eying each one and checking them out. He could already sense she was picking one out and braced himself for the question—"Nick, let's rent one!" Well, it wasn't exactly a question, but the intention was the same.

With a sigh, he paid out a bill to the man in charge as Maya started to wheel along a red, adult-sized bicycle. "Go pick your bike, Nick," she said happily as she approached.

"No, it's okay," Phoenix replied sheepishly. "I only paid for one bicycle. I… don't really feel like biking."

"What?! But this is good exercise," Maya exclaimed, climbing onto her newly rented mode of transport. "You could burn all the fat from the burgers with this faster than you could by walking."

She didn't wait for his response though, as she cycled away on the two-wheeler. Phoenix watched as she circled the nearby area, laughing and hollering as the wind from the speed of her movement whipped at her hair and her robes. His gaze fell to her legs, quickly and steadily pedaling the bicycle in circles around him. He flushed; shaking thoughts out of his head, he jogged towards his assistant, who had just skid to a stop by an empty bench.

"Nick!" she cried, waving to the attorney, who was already making his way to her. "You sure you don't wanna try?"

"No really, it's okay, Maya," Phoenix, lightly panting from the jog, had sat himself down on the bench. "Besides, I can't really ride a bike," he muttered as he shook out of his blue coat.

"Whaaaat?!" Maya quickly unmounted herself from the bicycle, shoving its handles into the attorney's hands. "No way! You've got to learn then!"

The young spirit medium then proceeded to push him off the bench and closer to the bike. "Maya—come on, I can't—no, wait—" try as he may, he knew the girl wouldn't give up. Sighing, he turned to her with a look of anxiety and unease. "Aren't I too old for this?"

"Don't be silly! You're only 25, right? You don't have brittle old man bones yet."

Surprisingly, the tables have turned and she was the one defending his youth now. Letting out another sigh, Phoenix placed himself onto the bicycle's seat, sliding a foot onto a pedal, while the other remained firmly planted on the ground. "So what do I do?"

Maya chuckled, moving positioning herself behind him. "Well, you gotta balance first," she said; he could feel her holding on to the edge of the bicycle's seat. "Don't worry, I'm holding it. You won't fall," she reassured him, though it did little to dispel his fears.

A whimper made its way out of his lips as he tightened his grip on the bike handles; he put both feet onto the pedals and tried to balance—for one second. "I can't do this, Maya. What if I fall?"

"You won't! I'll be holding on to you," Maya replied, coaxing him to try again. He put his feet back on the pedals—having difficulty at first as he stepped down on them one at a time, resulting in an almost endless loop of stepping-but-not-biking, until Maya reminded him again of what to do—and took a deep break. "Go!"

"Aaaah!" Phoenix immediately let out a cry as he pushed a pedal down, propelling the bicycle into a forward movement. "AAAH! I can't do this, I swear, I going to fall, Maya!" Both his feet were back on the ground, his knuckles white from grabbing on too tightly onto the bicycle's handlebars. "Maybe we should first get me a helmet and some elbow and knee pads and—"

"Nick! Come on," Maya replied, puffing out her cheeks in disagreement. "You really want to wear those things? Then everyone will find out that the Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright, can't even handle a bike," Maya teased, silencing the attorney. "They'll notice the training wheels too, so that's not an option. You've got to learn it the right way!"

Why are we even doing this now? Isn't it about time we return to the office? Phoenix thought, desperately wanting out of the situation. "I don't have a bike anyway, so there's no reason to really learn…"

"Nick, don't you know it's way cheaper to just ride a bike than to always take a taxi wherever you're going?" This talk of saving money silenced him again. "Now come on, up you go on that bike, Nick!"

He did as he was told, though obviously still anxious; beads of sweat caused by more than just the summer heat were forming on his forehead. He resumed his earlier position on the bicycle. Maya still holding on behind him, he again tried to push forward—one cycle, two cycles, three—"Aaaah!"

"Hey, you managed to do three! You're getting there, Nick!" Maya cheered, clapping her hands together in joy. "Now just try to straighten your back a bit more, and stop looking at your feet," she added, patting the middle of his back for effect.

They went through the first motions again—her hands supporting the end of the bicycle, his feet on the pedals, eyes forward, back straight, he pushed forward again. One, two, three, four—slowly, Maya began to loosen her grip—five…

Phoenix screamed; he had almost lost balance. It was a good thing he had quickly set one foot on the ground, but being shaken off-balance when the weight she put on was gone—it rocked his world, quite literally. But more accurately, it felt like he almost had a heart attack. "I almost fell!" He whined, turning to her as if it were her fault. "You promised you wouldn't let go!" his accusatory glare seemed to say.

Maya only laughed. "You've got to fall some time, Nick. It's part of learning," she put a reassuring hand on his arm, which was still tense and shaking from his shock. The tone in which she said those words made her sound years wiser, catching the attorney by surprise. Resuming her position behind him, she sighed. "But I guess it can't be helped. The older you get, the more scared you become of getting hurt."

There she was again, speaking words that sounded wise and oddly apt for things more than just learning to ride a bicycle.

Phoenix took a deep breath as he put his feet to the pedals again. Huh, she's… right, he mused. I guess it's the burden of experience. Kids don't know what would hurt them, so they plunge into things head on, embracing everything that comes to them. Is this what they really mean by 'ignorance is bliss'? Lost in thought, he continued to push forward, pedaling mindlessly. Slowly, mindlessly, but steadily.

Sensing he was getting the hang of it, Maya gently let go, allowing the attorney to freely roam using his newfound skill. "You're doing it, Nick! You're biking!"

Hearing Maya's distant voice, Phoenix snapped out of his reverie, quickly realizing that he was, indeed biking on his own. "Ha! I'm biking!" He shouted triumphantly. He felt elated, ecstatic—he felt… free. Like he could go anywhere, and no one could stop him.

Literally.

"Maya!" He cried upon the realization. For some reason, his legs wouldn't stop pedaling, and he couldn't quite figure out how—rather, he didn't dare try—to turn his bicycle around. People were moving out of his way; the river was coming into view. "MAYA, HELP!"

"Niiiick!" He could hear the spirit medium call from behind him, but he was too fast for her and her legs, even if he was just a rookie cyclist. He turned his head to take a peek at how close (or far) she was from catching him, when—

SPLASH!

—he cycled right over the railings and into the river. And into a trip to the clinic.

"Mr. Wright, are you alright?" the Judge asked, wide-eyed as he glanced at the defense. Another trial was opening, and just as he was about to ask if the defense was prepared, he noticed something odd with the so-called Turnabout King.

"Y-Yes, Your Honor," Phoenix let out an embarrassed laugh, his free hand rising to rub the back of his neck, while the other hung limp in a cast. There are some "turnabouts" he was yet to learn, it seemed. "It's just a sprain from a little cycling accident, that's all."

"Good thing the bicycle wasn't broken, or else we'd have to pay for that, too," Maya covered her mouth with her hand as she whispered. We?! You mean, me!

"I do hope you got a bicycle with insurance, Mr. Wright," the Judge added. Giving a short nod, he cleared his throat and called the trial into order. "Very well. The prosecution may give its opening statement…"

"I won't go easy on you just because you're injured, Mr. Wright," the prosecutor declared before launching into his position on the case.

"Don't worry, Nick, I'll be your extra pair of hands today," Maya smiled reassuringly. "Just give me a signal, and I'll slam the desk for you!"

The end.

Author's notes: Yay! Another fic. I got the idea for this one while I was looking through fanfic themes. There was a 100 Themes list I came across, and the first one was "crash." I probably won't be writing a 100, but I decided I liked the idea so I just went ahead and wrote this.

As I was brainstorming, I remembered this time a few friends and I were asking other friends of ours to teach us to ride bicycles. No one crashed or rode straight into anything though, thank goodness. (But I still can't ride a bike, haha.)

By the way. I know there's an official art somewhere with Phoenix riding a bicycle. But there's no mention of him ever riding a bike in canon, neither on the Ace Attorney Wiki (actually it says there that he usually takes a cab to wherever he goes). So yeah. XD

Oh, and just a bit of trivia: did you know that they actually have bicycle insurance in Japan? Well, I'm actually not sure if I understood this story on NHK News 100% correctly (I just read it as part of some translation homework I had to do for my Japanese class), but it came across to that effect, haha.

Anyway, let me channel my inner Ron DeLite by saying, "Let me know what you think by reviewing, pleaaaase!" Thanks for reading!