The Fight for Flight

"Good! Great job, Yori!"Ranko clapped her hands enthusiastically as the cheerleader jogged around to the back of the line, and Tamiko stepped up to take her place. Ranko held out her right arm, placing the back of her hand against Tamiko's belly and gently gripping her right forearm with her left hand. "Okay, Tami, let's do this."Tamiko jumped upward, tucking herself into a ball. Ranko's hands gently guided her through the rotation of a front flip, ensuring she landed on her feet in the lush grass of the rugby field. "Yes! You got this, girl!"Kotone stepped up next, looking nervous."Ready?" Ranko gave her a nod of reassurance and took her spotting position. "One… two… three!"Kotone hopped slightly, flipping over awkwardly to her right. She crashed into Ranko, knees first, driving both of them to the ground in a heap. Ranko groaned quietly, writhing under the taller girl's weight until Kotone could get up.Still wincing badly, Ranko struggled to her hands and knees. "Damn it! You had it before. I don't get it!""That was three hours ago, Ranko." Kotone brushed grass from her bare knees. "We're exhausted!"The redhead rolled to her side and sat on the grass. "I know. Mastery isn't easy. It takes time. It takes getting your butt kicked. But it's gonna be worth it when you hold up that trophy in January.""I don't think I can hold up my arms anymore," an orange-haired girl named Tanda croaked from the back of the line.Ranko shook her head with a smirk. "Alright, alright. We'll call it for the night, if it's okay with Shiori. Great work everybody!" A half-hearted whoop came from the girls as Shiori nodded wearily, and the line dispersed as everyone went to go collect their belongings.As most of the group went their separate ways, Ranko hopped up on the metal bleacher next to where Shiori's bag sat. "This is gonna be harder than I thought."Shiori sat on the bleacher next to her bag. "Some of the things you're asking the girls to do are way beyond what they're used to. You're pushing them kind of hard.""Sometimes, that's what it takes to win. They can't stop talking about some of the things I can do, but I only got there with thousands of hours of practice. We don't have that kind of time."Shiori unzipped her duffel bag, pulling out a foil packet of pea chips and ripping it open. She popped one in her mouth and offered one to Ranko as well, who gratefully accepted. "I get it, Ran-chan. But try not to forget, they're here for fun, too. And so are you."Ranko smirked, drinking from a bottle of water. "I'm here to perform. And to be the best at it I can. Speaking of which…" Ranko reached into the side pocket of her purple gym backpack, pulling out an unlabeled purple cassette in a clear plastic case. "For you. Tell me what you think."The cheerleading captain looked over the unlabeled cassette. "What's this?"Draining the rest of her water bottle, Ranko gave a little grin. "That, my friend, is the very first copy of the Rise dance mix. Courtesy of Dee-Jake." She giggled a bit. "I asked our synth player to remix the song, to get rid of some of the slow parts so we had something a little more high-energy, and to make it fit a few of the choreography ideas I had."Shiori squealed, bouncing a little on her seat in the bleachers. "See, this is why we love having you around! Seriously, you rock so hard! I can't wait to check it out." She pulled open her bag to drop the tape in, and Ranko caught a glimpse of a small three-ring binder. Hand-pasted to its cover was a picture of a cheerleader, in a uniform Ranko didn't recognize.The redhead motioned to it with her head. "Who's that?"Blushing, Shiori zipped her bag up. "That is Mieko Suto."Ranko shook her head. "Sorry. Not up on my cheerleading lore. Who's that?"The captain's eyes widened with an awestruck grin, a little dumbfounded that someone could possibly not know. "Only the most amazing flyer in the history of the Invitational!"Ranko nodded. "Gotcha. Aaaaand, what's so great about her?" She reached forward, pulling another chip out of the bag and crunching down on it while waiting for a response."Mieko is the only cheerleader in the history of the Invitational to land a quadruple twist. She was on track to go to the Olympics for gymnastics back in '84.""Yeah?" Ranko leaned back in the bleachers. "How come she didn't?" She swigged from her water bottle as she awaited a reply."She got hurt." Shiori sighed. "After she landed the quad the first time, she tried to one-up herself and add a front layout, out of a toss. But she got disoriented in the air and missed her spot for the catch, and she ended up falling from some ten meters in the air, and shattered her leg. She never performed again."Shaking her head, Ranko sat up a little. "Damn. That sucks. Sometimes I forget how dangerous some of the stuff you girls do up there is."Shiori laughed. "What's this you girls business? You're one of us, you know, Ran-chan."The redhead flushed a bit, brushing her hand through her hair to hide it as best she could. "Yeah, I suppose I am."The captain leaned back as well, resting her elbows on the bleacher bench behind her. "I'm sure you banged yourself up lots of times with all the aerials and stuff you can do."Ranko frowned. Yeah, torture as training will do that to you. "The… um… The guy who trained me didn't care much if I got hurt, as long as I learned."Shiori nodded, turning her eyes to the few members of the squad she could still make out dragging themselves wearily over the hill toward their homes. "Just be careful you don't make that same mistake."