A/N As much as I enjoy angsty fiction, here will be a couple of one-shots that are only humour and friendship. So here's to catch you up. Ponds is the commander of the renocconce 91st legion and is a total Dad. Neyo is second in command and is grumpy but not really. And Clicky loves morse code and speaks it in the background of everything. This is LOOSELY based on my recent bike ride with my Dad and sister. *Cough cough* Enjoy this little ficlet!
Neyo sighed. "Do I have to do this?"
Ponds nodded with a small smirk, "Yes Ney-ney, if you're in the second command of the Recon corps, you have to learn to ride a speeder bike."
Neyo grumbled, Did he have to use that nickname? He was a sucker for it and Ponds knew it.
"Fine."
"It'll be fine, "Ponds assured him confidently, "Remember, when you finish, you can decorate your bike as you wish."
At least that's something to look forwards too. If he survives this.
"Neyo!" A call came from behind him came. Clicky. His favourite youngest brother."Ready to ride brother?"
Neyo just grumbled.
"I know your short by an inch but you'll be fine." Ponds tried to reassure. Ok Kriff! I forgot about being short! Will that really hurt my chances!?
Apparently his panic showed.
Ponds slapped a hand on his shoulder."Don't worry Ney-ney, It'll be fine."
"Yeah! This will be GREAT!"
Clicky was jumping up and down excited, then used the plastic between his thumb and forefinger to talk in rapid morse code. Neyo wasn't as proficient in morse as
his brother but the gist was: Come on! Let's go! I'm sooooooooo excited.
Neyo sighed deeply. This was going to be hard. He never liked riding on the simulations. They headed through the layered corridors of the 91st bunker until they got
to the hanger bay. They were currently stationed for R&R on Coruscant so the tradition was, they had to ride a lap around the large compound. Then come back with
a functioning bike... easier said than done. Neyo was still grumbling when they got to the bay.
"Come on brother," Ponds said comfortingly, "It'll be ok."
He grumbled some more. Only Ponds would know that he was nervous. They hop on their bikes. Ponds bike was painted in the same places as his armour was so it was as if the bike melded into him. As part of the Reconnaissance Corps, there was a special connection between the speeder bike and the rider. They trusted the bike with their life, so to speak.
Clicky's bike was covered in phrases in morse-code, and it even had a morse-clicker built into the communicator. Now, It was his turn. His turn to get his speeder. His personal speeder.
"Ok, so, you know where everything is?" Ponds asked kindly.
Neyo snorted, annoyed, "Obviously! I had the SAME training as you, you know."
Clicky opens up his hands" We're just asking!"
Neyo grumbled again. He was nervous. He was shorter than the others by a whole inch. How will that affect his performance? Will that make him fail? What would happen should he fail?
"Relax Ney-ney, It'll be fine." Ponds once again said soothingly.
Neyo sighed, Ponds could read him so well.
"Well," He said begrudgingly, "I guess we should get going."
"That's the spirit Neyo!" Clicky said enthusiastically. Then he clicked it in morse code rapidly.
They each hopped on their bikes and Neyo couldn't help grinning at Clicky's rapid morse code. He was excited to try riding. Then he sat on the bike. He could barely touch the pedals. Kriff, this wasn't going to go well. He could see as much already.
"Ready?" Ponds asked, placing his helmet on his head.
Neyo sighed deeply, then put on his helmet as well, followed closely by Clicky, "Sure brother. But I can't believe I'm gonna die without taking a single clanker with
me."
Ponds just laughed and pressed the gas pedal, zooming off. Kriff. Why. Just, why. Clicky made a rapid succession of clicks before showing off with a few tricks, then leaving the hanger. Well, here I go...
He went out and, for a second, he thought that it was going to be fine. It was not. At his first turn, Clicky was riding too slow, he got distracted and forgot to signal. Kriff! Neyo could see the pitying look from a trooper in a transport. He turned on his comlink.
"Ponds. I can't believe you're doing this to me."
He could hear a playful snort from the other side of the link.
"Ney-ney, It's either me taking you out, or it's Stak."
Neyo humphed quietly, Stak was a joker, if he crashed on his first ride, he'd never hear the end of it. He turned off his comlink and turned back to the road. Already one mistake and it hasn't been even one minute. This isn't going well.
Another turn. Oh, dear. This one was around a large tower that was home to the medical facility. He spun around and executed it flawlessly, even though Clicky was moving at a snails pace. Then a transport came from behind him.
Clicky sped up, for ONCE and overtook the transport to his left. Neyo slowed down a gave himself a second to breathe. The transport overtook him but he was left to catch up with his brothers. This going well. This will go well. He tried to convince himself, but he failed.
Neyo used the tips on his toes to press the gas pedal, then it started to go wrong.
He couldn't press them down far enough. He scootched forward in his seat and attempted to press it down farther but it lurched suddenly. He couldn't grab the handlebars in time and he swerved suddenly into a parked transport on the side of the road.
"Kriff! Kriff Kriffin' kriff!" Neyo winced as he saw a brother standing on the side of the road, trying to hide his laugher.
It wasn't that bad, just a scratch on both the transport and his bike, but still...
This is the end of my career. Ponds and Clicky turned around and came towards him. He looked at his bike and saw it was fine, so he quickly tried to make up for it.
"It wasn't too bad..." Clicky started but Neyo could hear the laughter in his voice. Kriff.
"Oh be quiet." He snapped. Whyyyyyy!
Ponds nodded his head towards the road, "Come on Neyo, they'll be suspicious if we get back late."
Neyo glared at Ponds, but couldn't detect any humour in his voice. He grumbled under his breath and leaned forward, whizzing off before they could comment any more.
Maybe I can say that Clicky was halucinating...No that wouldn't work. It was all smooth going until they made it to their first stop. A small divot in the otherwise perfect complex. Rumour was, the gaping hole in the wall was made when Ponds was taken on his first ride.
Anyone who asked got a straight, No, as an answer though. Neyo was gonna get it out of him though. He rode across the rougher ground, bumping on the divots. He turned the handlebars to stop but it counteracted due to his small weight.
The bike slid out under him and he was left standing up as his bike crashed into the wall. He stood there gaping. Kriffin' poodoo.
He stood looking at the sorta surviving bike, then facepalmed. This is just sad, he chastened himself. He was still standing there as two other bikes came upon him a few seconds later. One of the riders hopped out and started rolling on the floor laughing.
"Y-you made the divot BIGGER!" He managed through his laughter. Neyo glared and kicked him in the arm.
"Owwwwww!" Clicky complained, but then went off in a whirl of clicks. In short: Hahahahah! You fell! I didn't even do THAT bad on my first go!
"Serves you right Di'kut," Neyo grumbled.
"How," Ponds said disbelievingly, "Did you even manage that?"
Neyo grumbled angrily and stomped to where his bike lay. He picked it up and dusted it off. It was mostly fine. The question is, was it still functional?
Ponds jumped off his bike and attempted to help Neyo pick him up. Neyo tried to shove him away but Ponds came back to help. They ended up doing a small hand slapping contest. In the end, Neyo activated his mask glare of doom. The scariest look you can do with a mask.
Ponds threw up his hands in resignment and left Neyo to pick up his own bike. After a few moments, Neyo sat on his broken bike.
"Let's go."
Neyo could tell that Clicky was grinning.
"Finally want to ride properly?"
"Why you..." The rest of his phrase was cut-off as his brothers went off.
Neyo grumbled but pressed the gas pedal and went through the next part of the complex, trouble-free. Finally...Hopefully...
They were heading to the last bend and Neyo held his breath then made a smooth turn. Sweet, sweet relief.
"Coming to the hanger bay, hold on Ney-ney, we're almost there." Ponds' voice came through his comlink.
Maybe he would make it!
Neyo gently eased it onto the platform whereas custom, Bind, their medic was waiting just in case. Then he finally stopped his bike with a sigh. Then his toes slipped from the pedal. He jerked forward and hit a parked transport. He flopped on the floor as his bike coughed sadly.
"Kriff!"
Bind comes walking up to him and offers him a hand.
"Didn't go so well then?"
Neyo grumbled but took his hand. Was it enough...
"I can't BELIEVE you made me do that Ponds."
"You know you had to at some point. Now," Ponds said, WAYYYYYYY too dramatically, "It's time to see if you passed..."
He walked up to the bike and flipped a few switches, there was a few seconds of tense silence then... It started! It actually started!
Neyo actually had the energy to through a fist in the air. He did it! After all of those crashes! He passed! Then he returned to his not-caring attitude.
Ponds came up and gave him a hug.
"Well done Ney-ney, it was rocky but you did it."
Despite himself, Neyo felt pride swell in his chest.
Clicky laughed then waggled his finger at him, "Not so fast brother, first you need to fix this scrap pile,"
Neyo turned back towards said scrap heap and sighed.
"Yup, this might take a minute though."
Ponds smiled, "Don't worry Ney-ney, I'll help you."
"Thanks Ponds."
"No worries."
...
Finally, the bike was fixed. There was a few scratches that they were unable to get out, but that adds personality to the bike.
"So do you know where you're going to paint it." Ponds said, pride leaking into his voice."How are you going to do it?"
Neyo had been thinking about it the whole ride. Probably why I crashed so many times... He knew now what he was going to do.
"I have some idea's..."
Ponds grinned and Clicky said in morse: Ohhhhh! What are they going to be?!
Clicky then ran off quickly and grabbed some deep red paint.
"Here you go."
"Thank you Clicks."
Clicky started jumping up and down in excitement.
"Go on. Shoo. I need to get to work."
As custom, everyone filtered out of the Bay. Kneeling down, Neyo got to work.
...
"What do you think Neyo will put on his bike?" Ponds asked Clicky enthusiastically.
The trooper was jumping around clicking rapidly.
"Hmmm. Maybe a regulation paint job. You know how he LOVES the reg manuals."
Ponds considered this, maybe...but Neyo had grown since Kamino, "Maybe, maybe not. We'll just have to wait and see."
They stood there for a few moments more, then they heard a call from Neyo signalling them to go in.
"I bet you 20 credits I'm right!" Clicky said before heading in. Usually, no one would dare bet in front of their commanding officer, let alone with; But Ponds was off duty so he just rolled his eyes and followed him in.
Neyo was standing proudly next to his finished bike. Ponds walked up to it then stopped suddenly and grinned. From a distance, it looked like a regulation paint job but up close, there were many carving in the paint.
Part of it was morse code, which when Clicky read, tears came to his eyes and he gave Neyo a hug. Ponds walked around the other side of the bike and stopped again, tears coming to his eyes now. There, covering the whole side, was a large symbol.
A combination of the Republic symbol, and the Mandalorian symbol for brother. The same symbol which they both shared, on the back of their armour.
"Vod-"
Ponds didn't get to say more before he was crushed into a hug.
"That you for taking me riding Ponds, I appreciate it."
"No worries Ney-ney, I'll always be here for you."
"Thank you, brother."
"Always."
