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Being in charge of a whole World was tiring, Stacey thought.
But not as tiring as what he was attempting. Which was…riding a bike.
“You’re doing just fine, Stacey-kun!” Goshikida Isao praised, his hand a reassuring presence on Stacey’s back as he attempted to keep his balance.
“You got this, Stacey!” Kaito cheered from where he was sitting on the grass.
Stacey scowled, although he wasn’t sure why. Kaito had learned this at a young age, but he had never made fun of Stacey for not learning. But old habits died hard.
And it wasn’t like the Goldsuiker family had learned either, being pirates . In fact, Magine was helping Flint, Zyuran was helping Cutanner, and Gaon was helping Ricky. They were all in an empty park, struggling to keep upright.
“Now, the hardest part is just keeping upright, the actual pedaling will be much easier,” Isao explained. Instead of using training wheels, Isao had removed all the pedals from the bikes he had bought for Stacey and the others.
“This probably would have made helping you a lot easier, Magine,” Zyuran called as he helped a fallen Cutanner up.
“Nu nu nu no, it’s fine! I still learned, didn’t I?” Magine said back, jumping out of the way as Flint nearly crashed into her.
“How in the heck did Aniki learn so fast?!” Flint groused.
Stacey smirked at that. Zox had actually taken the bike Isao had gotten him and crashed immediately, his confidence over-deserved. He had disappeared after that, and when he came back, he was extremely good at riding his 21-speed bike. Stacey figured he had learned on some other World. Stacey, on the other hand, was more than willing to learn with the Goshikidas, on his one speed purple beach cruiser. Sometimes he couldn’t believe it had really been that easy to be accepted into the Goshikida family.
“Hey, you’re doing it!” Gaon cheered as Ricky managed to coast for several hundred yards, his feet up.
“We’ll be adding the pedals for you in no time!” Isao said with a grin towards Ricky. “You too, Stacey-kun!”
Stacey nodded uncertainly. It seemed daunting to keep his balance and pedal, but he was determined to do it.
“Yo-ho-hoi!” a familiar voice called from above.
“Zox!” Kaito called happily, jumping up and waving with his entire body as only he could.
“I am a pii~irate, I see my boy~friends are bi~iking, I’ve come to jo~in th~em,” Zox sang, somehow holding his bike as he came down from the ship.
“No one asked you to come, pirate,” Stacey muttered under his breath.
“But then I would miss out on this outfit!” Zox said, somehow having caught what Stacey had said.
Stacey scowled. It wasn’t like his regular outfit was a good biking outfit, so he was in Yacchan’s old pants from the seventies that had been unearthed, as Kaito’s clothes were too big.
“It’s like RetroWorld is back,” Kaito agreed, eyes crinkling as he took in Stacey’s outfit, which was the only reason Stacey didn’t attack him on the spot. It was bad enough he was the shortest of the three, especially in the sneakers he was sporting instead of his usual boots.
“Come on, Stacey-kun, don’t you want to put the pedals on as soon as possible?” Isao’s voice cut in.
Stacey stuck his tongue out at Zox, who just looked delighted.
“Don’t let go,” Stacey said as he started walking with the bike as instructed. He had fallen enough and really didn’t need to fall in front of Zox .
“I won’t,” Isao promised.
Except that he did! Stacey didn’t even realize it until Kaito was cheering that he was indeed coasting on his own, which of course nearly made him crash, except that he dug his toes into the ground and managed to stay upright.
“I think it’s time to add pedals, what do you four think?” Isao asked after apologizing to Stacey. The other three had indeed also improved greatly.
“Biking at full-throttle!” Kaito shouted happily, throwing an arm around Stacey. He blushed, and thought about pushing him off, but he was too secretly pleased to actually go through with it.
The other Goshikidas were called to bring the pedals over, since no one had had the oversight to bring them in the first place. It didn’t take long for the pedals to be attached to the four bikes, the twins being done first to keep them from exploding out of impatience. Their bikes were red and blue, of course, but otherwise matched. Flint’s was next, her magenta bike having silver streamers on the handlebars. Stacey would never admit he was jealous of them.
Finally, it was his turn to get the pedals put back on. He was strangely nervous, which was ridiculous. He had faced the Tojitendo and won , he was currently helping Kikaitopia and Zenkaiger World relations, and had been in more danger all his life. So why was a bike of all things making him nervous?
“You got this, Stacey-kun,” Isao promised, ruffling Stacey’s hair. Even if it messed up his braids, he had to admit he liked it, even if it was only to himself. Isao, despite really not having any memories of being Hakaizer, treated Stacey as he had done when brainwashed.
“YOU GOT THIS, GUYS!” Kaito yelled as the four of them got into a crooked line. Yacchan and Mitsuko waved, Mitsuko holding a phone. Vroon was muttering that he needed to learn this at some point, as well. Stacey figured someone had pulled him out of the library, since he hadn’t been there earlier.
“The lil’ humans are all grown up!” Gaon said, holding Ricky steady with one hand as he wiped his eyes with the other.
“Remember if you fall, it’s just a mistake, and mistakes are for--”
“Making up,” Stacey finished the sentence for Isao. He gave him a smile, wondering if it looked as nervous as he felt.
“You’re gonna do great, don’t worry,” Isao said with a reassuring grin. “You’re Stacey, aren’t you?”
Stacey took a deep breath. He was still getting used to being called “Stacey” as something positive, and not a negative. But he gave a determined nod, refusing to acknowledge Zox’s little thumbs up, no matter how encouraging it was. He had some pride left.
“Ready?” Isao called. Magine, Zyuran, and Gaon nodded, as did Stacey, Flint, Cutanner, and Ricky.
“Three, two, one, go!” Isao said, and with a gentle push, Stacey was off, on his own, biking .
“You guys are two good at it, Goldsuikers!” Zox called. “And you two, Stacey!”
There was definitely an exhilaration to this, Stacey thought giddily, the wind going through his hair.
“Don’t forget to brake!” Isao reminded them. Stacey gently pushed the hand brakes and found himself stopping. He turned around and pedaled back, high-fiving Flint when she came back. He got off the bike, pleased when Isao patted him on the back. The second he was away from the bike he found himself tackled into the grass.
“Get off me, Goshikida Kaito!” Stacey complained.
“But you did such a good job!” Kaito protested, even as he got off, helping Stacey sit up.
“You really did, Stacey,” Zox agreed, bending down and dropping a kiss on Stacey’s head.
Stacey blushed.
“Come on, boys, let’s go back to Colorful to celebrate! It’s not every day people learn to bike,” Yacchan called. “We’ll whip up a good dinner for you guys!”
“Coming, Yacchan!” Kaito called back happily. With Zox’s help, he got Stacey up, brushing the grass off him.
“Let’s go home on full-throttle biking power!”