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Rideback: Fire and Water

Chapter 7

Double Arrows

The next morning (Sunday morning) Rin 's eyes opened to see Shouko's closed eyes just inches from her own. "Wow... I've got my Shouko back... And she loves me." Thought Rin as she tightened her old on Shouko a bit. "I wonder why it took me so long to to figure out my own feelings. It seems like such a no brainer now."

That extra squeeze was apparently just enough to rouse Shouko and her eyes opened to meet the gaze of Rin's and in a soft voice barely above a whisper said "Good morning Rin." tightening her own hold on Rin.

"Good morning Shoko."

Several minutes of silent bliss passed as they just basked in each other's embrace before Rin finally said "Hey Shouko, How come you never gave ridebacks a try?"

"I guess I was just always content to watch you ride."

"Why don't you come down to the club today and give it a try. Those ballet skills you've worked so hard for work quite well on ridebacks."

"Don't you already have a dance partner?"

"Oh come on. This isn't about that. I just want to have fun with you and I know you'd love it if you just gave it a try."

"Can't I just ride on the back of yours? It gives me an excuse to get my arms around you."

"Well, Maybe I want to ride on the back of yours so I can have that excuse." said Rin.

"Okay, when you put it that way. I'll give it a try. When did you want to head down there?"

"I don't know. What time is it?"

"Shouko picked her head up enough to peak over Rin at the alarm clock behind her. "About eight thirty." she said.

"In a little while I guess. We've got plenty of time. All I know is I'm not quite ready to let go of you yet." said Rin pulling Shouko in close for a kiss.

~RB~

Around ten am Rin and Shouko arrive at the rideback club. "Hello?" Rin called out not seeing any one at first.

"Back here!" said Dota as he came out with his hands busy wiping grease off a carburetor with a rag. "Oh wow, Hey Shouko! Long time no see."

"Yeah, Sorry. I wasn't feeling myself for a while there." said Shouko.

"Yeah we were all pretty worried about you. Especially Rin. She just wasn't the same with you gone."

"Yeah, well I'm back now." said Shouko linking arms with Rin which cause Rin to blush about.

"uh... So where is everybody?" said Rin trying to recover from the blush.

"Well lets see, Tamayo is out on Agua at the moment. She showed up bright an early eager to get in some more practice. She waited around for a little while hoping for you to show up but eventually gave up waiting and just headed out on her own. And Haruki took her RB-Z into the shop for a tune up. There wasn't anything wrong with it but Tamayo insisted. She's always been a stickler about keeping it in tip top shape." explained Dota.

"Oh I see. How's Balon? Is Balon ready to ride?" asked Rin.

"Yeah sure, Balon's good. You don't want Fuego? Practicing for next years race already?"

"No it's not that. I'll be taking Fuego. It's just..."

"I was kind of hoping I could give Balon a try." Interrupted Shouko.

"Oh sweet. Finally gonna give it a try ey? Want me to go over the basics with you?" asked Dota.

"Actually I was hoping Rin could teach me. I might as well learn from the best right?" said Shouko inducing another slight blush on Rin's face.

"Yeah I can't argue with that. So you guys want me to set up the course checkpoints for ya?"

"No. We're not gonna be racing. It's her first time." said Rin.

"Well it was only your second time but that didn't stop you." said Dota in his own defense. "Well, Just let me know if you need anything then." he added.

~RB~

After Rin had changed into her riding suit she walked back out front to where Shouko was waiting looking more like she was ready for a safari the a ride on a rideback with the outfit she had on. Not having a riding suit yet this was the most appropriate gear she had. At least having pants she wouldn't have to worry about a skirt blowing in the wind showing off her panties to the whole world.

"Hold out your wrist." said Rin. "This is Balon's EW band. It's kind of a limited remote control. You can power it up with this button here." she added pointing to one of the buttons on the side.

"Watch what I do." said Rin pushing the same button on Fuego's EW band. "Fuego come." and with that Fuego stood up and rolled out of the garage right to where Rin was standing. "Now you try it."

Shouko pushed the button on Balon's EW band and said "Balon come." and with that Balon stood and rolled out to where Shouko was standing.

"Okay now do this. Fuego Lower." said Rin and Fuego lowered like a well tamed beast kneeling to allow it's master to mount.

"Balon Lower." said Shouko and Balon lowered allowing Shouko to mount.

"Woah. I didn't realize how high up you sit on these things. It' looks so different watching from the ground." said Shouko.

"Yup, That's why they're called ridebacks. Okay now to start the engine turn that key to the 'ON' position and push the start button just below that red one.

Rin started Fuego at the same time and with both engines purring she continued "Okay now lets go over the gear shifting."

~RB~

After explaining the basics Rin and Shouko just casually tour the campus while Shouko gets the hang of it and after about twenty minutes of that they run into Tamayo riding Agua, apparently on her way back from the water tower.

Spotting Rin and Shouko coming towards her Tamayo thought, "That's Rin on Fuego but who's that on Balon?" Tamayo came to a stop next to Rin who was heading the opposite way and said "Hey Rin. Sorry i didn't wait for. I just felt the need for speed ya know?" then glancing over at Balon to take a closer look said "Is that Shouko under that helmet?"

"Yup. It's little old me. Surprised?" said Shouko.

"Oh my god! Your back! And on a rideback no less." said Tamayo. "So I guess you two have worked things out?" she added.

Rin and Shouko both looked at each other and blushed and said "Yeah, you could say that." in unison.

Tamayo knew right away what that meant and said "That's so awesome. I was so hopping there would be some kind of happy ending for you two. Who else knows anybody?"

"No. So far just you. We're okay with Haruki and Dota knowing but we'd like to keep it within the rideback club. Oh and Okakura can't know either. He's on the faculty and if they find out it would only be a matter of time before they try to put us in different dorm rooms." said Rin.

"I gotcha. Okay, mums the word then. Oh speaking of Okakura, did you ever get around to talking to him about your idea yesterday?" said Tamayo.

"What Idea?" asked Shouko.

"Oh Rin had this great id... Wait. You tell her. It's your idea." Tamayo said.

"Well, I just thought since Tamayo has been doing so well with the ballet on Agua that maybe we could do some kind of exhibition ballet on ridebacks after the preliminaries next year." said Rin.

"Oh my god! That's an awesome idea Rin!"

"Is it any wonder I love this girl? What would I do with out her support." thought Rin.

"So did you talk to him?" asked Tamayo again.

"Yeah, You were right. He shot it down." said Rin sadly.

"What? Why?" asked Shoko.

"You know, He never did give a reason. I argued my reason why we should and he just yelled at me 'I said no damn it!'" said Rin trying to imitate Okakura's voice.

"He really can be such an ass at times." said Tamayo who looked at Shouko and thought. "She's got all the years of ballet training Rin has. It really should be her doing the exhibition with Rin. hmmmm, I wonder." "Hey Shouko, Trade ridebacks with me for a moment."

"Oh hey, I appreciate the show of confidence but this is my first time and that looks brand new I don't want to bang up your new ride which looks awesome by the way." said Shouko.

"Thanks but really. Give it a try. You've got as much ballet skill as Rin right? Way more than me at least. Just try it. I'm curious." insisted Tamayo.

"Okay, If you're sure." said Shouko getting off of Balon.

"Just take it easy at first. See how it handles." said Tamayo.

Shouko got on Agua and started riding slowly. "What is with this thing? I can't seem to get it to turn." said Shoko.

"Are the handlebars kind of fighting you?" asked Tamayo.

"Yeah, They are."

"Okay, that's enough. You can stop. Damn, I actually thought that might work since I haven't had it very long." said Tamayo.

"What were you thinking Tamayo?" asked Rin.

"Well I was just thinking if this exhibition thing ever does happen it should really be you and Shouko."

"So you would have let Shouko ride Agua just for that?" asked Rin.

"Well, unless you can find another special Type L lying around."

"Wow, That's really nice of you Tamayo." said Rin.

"Oh come on. You know I hate it when you get mushy." said Tamayo. "I'm going back to the garage to take a break for a while. You two staying out?"

"Yeah we just got out here a little while ago so I think we'll ride around a bit more." said Rin. "Oh but wait! Before you go there's something I should tell you." she added.

Tamayo stopped for a second and looked back. "What?"

"Since Shouko has been upgraded from best friend to girlfriend that leaves a vacancy in my best friend slot and I've decided you're it." said RIn.

"What? Just like that? I don't get a say in it?" complained Tamayo.

"Nope. Sorry but you're stuck with me."

"Well, Alright. What ever. I guess it was inevitable." said Tamayo before riding off.

"Wow, I actually thought she would put up more of a fight than that." said Rin.

"You two really have gotten close in my absence haven't you?" said Shouko.

"I guess about as close as anyone can get to Tamayo." said Rin. "Well, Let's go have some more fun." she added and they both rode off towards the water tower.

~RB~

Arriving back at the garage Tamayo rode right in and looked around and finding only Dota said "Haruki's still not back yet?"

"Nope." said Dota.

"What about Okakura. Is he around?"

"No he hasn't been around at all yet today."

Tamayo pulled out her cell phone and considered calling him but then thought, "No. If I call him he'll just hang up on me as soon as he hears what I want to talk about. No, This is going to have to be in person." "I'll be back in a little while." she said and rode ride out again.

~RB~

Knock, knock, knock

Tamayo wrapped at the open door to Okakura's office.

"This better not be about that exhibition idea." said Okakura.

"First of all. I really didn't come here to get into a shouting match. And I know that there's a lot I still don't know. But I do know that you served with Kalenbach and he's dead know so what is there to hide from anymore?"

"Yeah the guy that wanted me dead is dead. But there are still plenty of people in the GGP that wouldn't mind locking me up and throwing away the key... Look, Rin's right about one thing. That exhibition would be exactly the kind of attention that ridebacks need but the software I wrote that's in those ridebacks directly links me to the battle of Arizona. It's the same software we used in those ridebacks. If anyone were inspect Fuego or Agua and find that software installed..."

"Okay. I get that."

Tamayo thought for a moment and said "Would it be possible to rewrite a new version of the software that would do the same thing but be different enough to not connect you to that battle?"

Okakura's eyebrows lifted and his eyes opened wider, still showing nothing but pupil, and he said "That's actually not a bad idea. But even that has a problem. If I did that and installed it in Fuego and Agua they'd lose everything they learned about there riders. In fact there's no guarantee the ridebacks with the new software would even accept their old masters again. It would really be starting all over from scratch."

"Wow, yeah that is a problem." said Tamayo.

"You and Rin would have to decide if you want to take that risk. In the mean time I should probably start working on that anyway. I could still install the new software in other ridebacks."

"Okay well ,Thanks for listening." said Tamayo as she turned to leave.

"hmm, Maybe I can make the never version even better somehow. Maybe make it so that any rideback it's installed on can't be used as a weapon. Gotta think of some kind of safeguard to prevent that. Maybe I can finally redeem myself with this." Thought Okakura.

~RB~

"Haruki How's the RB-Z?" said Tamayo as she walked into the garage finding he had finally returned.

"Perfect as expected. They said it wouldn't take long since there was nothing wrong with it to begin with so I waited while they worked and brought it right back with me." said Haruki.

"Thanks." she said and then looked around for Fuego and Balon. "Rin and Shouko still aren't back yet?" she added.

"Neh, I bet Rin's having a hard time talking Shouko into calling it a day. I'm sure she's having a blast on Balon." said Dota.

"Oh here they come." said Haruki.

Rin and Shouko rode into o the garage and took off their helmets.

"Oh my god Rin. That was so much fun. I can see why you like these things so much." said Shouko.

"Hey Shouko. I heard you were back. Long time no see." said Haruki.

"Yeah, Hi Haruki." said Shouko.

"Rin look, I just came from Okakura's office and I've got good news and bad news. The good news is Okakura is going to start working on rewriting the software that makes Fuego and Agua so special. A brand new version that he won't have to feel so paranoid about anyone finding." said Tamayo.

"Rin's Eyes widened, "Does that mean we'll be able to to the Exhibition?"

"Well, that brings us to the bad news. If he installs this new version on Fuego and Agua not only will they lose everything they learned about our riding habits but there's no guarantee that they'll even accept us as their riders again. We'd be starting over from scratch." said Tamayo."

"Oh" said Rin looking down at Fuego sadly.

"I know. It almost feels like murder doesn't it." said Tamayo. "Well, we have plenty of time to think about it. No doubt it will take him a while to rewrite all of that. We've probably got a few months before we have to decide." she added.