Western Military Training Camp

Kotaro pulled the car into the parking lot of the camp. The camp was large, consisting of a firing range, messhall, obstacle course, grenade tossing range, demolitions, and a full scale warfare simulation zone. Kotaro hit his head on the wheel. When he had been a state alchemist, he had to run a course like this. “Well, here we are.”

Renee slowly got out of the car. She had a huge dislike towards this place. She didn't know why

Kotaro got out of the car and breathed in deeply. He instantly wished he hadn't. The smell of sweaty soldier, mud and some other odor filled up his nostrils. His face scrunched up. "Well this should be fun." He looked at Renee. "You alright? You seem tense."

Renee was tense.

"Damnit........ why this?" She muttered to herself. The stench made her wanna hurl. She kept it down.

"O-okay........ only three days of this........... its not so bad........ much better then 10 years......." Renee had begun talking to herself.

Kotaro sighed. Somehow, he had made it worse by trying to defend her. He walked up to her. "You just focus on teaching them how to use those guns. I'll do the rest. This will be over fast."

A man in an officer's uniform approached them from the training facility. I Looked at Renee and Kotaro with a stern look. "Renee and Kotaro?"

Kotaro turned to him. He padded Renee on the shoulder and walked up. "Yes sir."

The officer pointed to a large building. "Thats your teams barracks. It's were you will find them. You will also find some rooms for yourselves." He began to walk back to the camp.

Renee felt better with Kotaro's support. "Lets do this....."

Renee walked towards barracks and entered, quickly searching and entering her room. She felt much better in a closed up space.

Kotaro walked into his room and put his bag on the bed. He sat down and began to think. I will need to get the men to trust me and give their loyalty, that way they will listen to me. But will they listen to Renee? Kotaro scratched his chin, thinking. A horn on his wall blared and a voice came from it. Troops returning from the run! Prepare yourselves for introduction! Kotaro stood up and walked toward the barracks main room. I gotta find a way to help Renee with this.

Renee heard the announcement as well. She hugged her pillow sadly before reporting to the main room as well.

Kotaro stood on the podium as the soldiers filed in. They all took seats at multiple tables in the main hall. None of them seemed to notice Kotaro or Renee. They were all talking and being loud. Kotaro sighed. He took in a deep breath. "SILENCE!" Kotaro's voice seemed to cut the soldiers chatter like a knife, ending it instantly. He exhaled and took a step forward. He had no rank to give the soldiers to show his authority, so he thought something up. "I am Kotaro Kuya, ex-state alchemist and combat trainer." Some of the soldiers smirked. Kotaro tried to make himself look stern. He stood up straight and placed his heels together. He motioned to Renee. "This is my partner Renee. She will be in command when I am not available and show you proper gun control. You are to address her as Ms. Renee, Mam, or sir."

Renee remained silent, trying to look stern as well. She saw Kotaro knew how to handle them, so she let him speak.

Kotaro gazed at the faces of the men him and Renee had to train. They seemed between the ages of 18-24. Kotaro looked at Renee and sighed. This might be a problem. He turned his gaze back toward the crowd. A soldier had stood up.

"Stop trying to scare us. You don't look so tough. I doubt you can fight without alchemy anyway." Multiple soldiers nodded and started to murmur.

Kotaro gave out a sigh. This is a punishment. Kotaro stepped off the podium and approached the young soldier. "Name?"

"Seargent Duke Williams"

Kotaro nodded. He turned backwards. The soldiers began to snicker. Kotaro jammed his right heel in between the soft tissue between the mans ankle and heel. The seargent cried out and came down to grab his injured heel. As he did this, Kotaro's elbow came toward his head, sending him sprawling on the ground. In a split second, Kotaro's foot was on the mans chest, a fearful stare was emanating from his eyes. "Don't speak to me like that again. Understand?" The young man nodded and Kotaro helped him up.

Renee took in the insult and decided to show them whats what.

She took her pistol and loaded it, the soldiers wondering what she was doing. She grabbed a hand full of peas and threw them away, into the air. She readied her pistol, and shot every single pea in the air, not missing once, the peas about 7 feet from her. She spun her gun in her hand and blew at the barrel, blowing away the smoke.

"Alchemy is fine, but what if I shoot those pretty hands of those before you can use it?"

Renee looked at the men.

"By the end of my time here, you might be able to hit a man in the eyes with a bullet."

She shot her pistol randomly at another gun she had set up. The bullet went right into the barrel. She then put it away.

The soldiers stared fearfully at Kotaro and Renee. Kotaro could see some were sweating. He smiled and walked back up to the podium. "10 minutes! Firing range! MOVE!" Kotaro heard the hurried bustle as the soldiers scrambled to get to there rooms to get their equipment. "And the last five there have to carry targets for Renee!" The scrambling became faster and more brutal. Kotaro smiled. "This might actually be fun."

Renee was thinking.

"What gun should I make them start with?"

Kotaro thought. “Start with a sidearm, then work your way from there. If they don't listen to you, just try showing off your skills again. If that doesn't work, I'll fix it.”

"Right" Renee replied. She went for a pistol to begin with, and went to the shooting range

Kotaro followed Renee to the range. The soldiers were already there, each one carrying a bag. In each bag was their weapons. Kotaro nodded. “Heres the deal. Renee is going to drill your firing. I doubt you will give her any trouble.” The soldiers shook their heads. “No, No sir!” Kotaro hid a smile. The soldiers had seen what she could do and weren't risking themselves as future targets. “Alright, Listen to Renee. Refuse, and you will be left collecting HER targets.”

Renee pulled out the same pistol she showed off with. "Most of you know how to use a pistol. Most of you also can't use one right. Its because when you pick one up, you use basic aiming and just shoot. You also don't focus on making your hand still."

She fired at a target, it missing the bulls eye.

"Thats what you get when you don't focus. When you do it right........"

She fired off her pistol again, it hitting the bulls eye

"You get a direct hit. You have to work on how you hold your gun first. Pick up a pistol and aim it at a target. Don't fire. Keep your hand steady. No shaking."

As the soldiers began to pick up their guns, she added in....

"I will not physically assist you with keeping your hand still"

Kotaro watched as the soldiers aimed down the range. A few seemed to get it right off the bat, hitting the bulls-eye, or the ring around it. The others however seemed to be lacking. Their hands contiued to shake as they fired.

Renee walked over to those who had shaky hands.

"Use two hands of you must. Its better to be accuret with two hands then miss with one."

The soldiers continued to fire, this time, the majority of them had the hang of firing a handgun. After 20 minutes, they ran out of munitions. As the targets were brought, the soldiers were chatting about the good shots they made. One ran up to Kotaro and Renee with his sheet. Every shot was either in the inner circle or the bulls-eye. He smiled and ran back to the the others. Some were looking towards them. “Looks like you earned not just their respect, but some admirers.” Kotaro covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.

An officer ran up to Kotaro. “Kotaro Kuya, the lieutenant wants to see you.”

Renee pulled out a machine gun.

"Next lesson! Machine guns!"

Renee heard what the messenger said. "Go, Kotaro. I got things handled here."

Kotaro nodded, following the officer. At least Renee seemed to be enjoying herself. Kotaro entered the main office and sat down in the cair in front of the desk.

“The lightnings pain alchemist, the cresent moon.” The lieutenant turned his chair to face Kotaro. “Why are you stuck training the underdog battalion when you trained the double daggers years ago.” Kotaro flinched. The Ishbalan extermanation squad. “I didn't expect you to be alive lieutenant Shrewn”

At the sound of Renee's order, the men took up their machine guns and lined at attention.

Renee began again.

"Machine guns are dependent on ammo. They don't focus on aim. But, for me, its about aim, and conservancy of ammo."

Renee pointed. There were three dummies per person.

"I want you to shoot, and shred the dummies, while using as little ammo as you have to. You can't move, and you got one minute to do so. Begin!"

The soldiers nodded. This time, they held the guns still and fired in short controlled bursts. The dummies were shred to pieces by the one minute mark. The soldiers clipped the safty and counted the amount of rounds used. They ranged from 50-75 rounds used. The soldiers smiled. This was the least they had shot.

“I want you to ditch that girl and train my special forces team Kotaro.”

Kotaro glared at Shrewn.

“The soldiers you trained were real weapons in flesh. They killed as if it was an art. I want you to train mine like them.”

Kotaro shook his head. “No.”