A/N: People that own stuff sell them in books. I only post on fanfiction.

Thanks to TkHale and AgenJoy. I really appreciate ^_^

Enjoy:

A few more days had passed.

No one actually managed to get up that idiot pole so far.

Their shooting skills were better, but not that good. The best at shooting was, unexpected, Riza.

The staff fight was all right, but they still had a long way to go.

"Today we'll do something new" the colonel said. He got a pail of water and put it on his head. He told the soldiers to throw some rocks at him, and he blocked them all with his staff gracefully, without dropping water from the pail.

Riza starred in shock. They were supposed to do that too? He was kidding, right?
"I think pretty boy wants to make fools of us" mumbled Havoc.

He seemed to have something against the colonel, but at the same time it was clear that he was admiring and respecting him.

"What's up with you and Mustang, Havoc?" asked Fuery, who seemed to have noticed the same thing as Riza.

"What's up with me and the colonel?"
"I don't know, you keep mumbling against him."
"Yeah, well, he's a bitch to us."
"Not really. Other commanding officers would be a lot worst" replied Fuery. "He's pretty cool actually. I mean I'm still wondering why he didn't already kick Al out of here"
'Al' was Riza's new nick name, from 'Alphonse'. She didn't really like it, but it was better than the whole name.

Yeah, I'm wondering too. Maybe he thinks there's still hope for me to stop being a complete failure the girl thought and sighed.

Havoc didn't reply.

Roy was throwing a rock at a soldier, who dropped the pail. And they didn't throw more rocks at once, like it happened with the colonel. He sighed and called the next one.

Only two or three of them managed to stay steady and push or avoid the rock.

When it was Riza's turn, Havoc, Fuery and Falman smirked and threw three rocks at her.

The pail turned and the water fell on her. This earned a few laughs from the soldiers, a glare from Roy and some inking from Yoki, who was supervising everything.

The next day they practiced staff again, than balance, with the water pail and rocks.

Things went a bit better, but not that much. For Riza it was pure torture. She could hardly keep up, and her body was screaming for a break.

She didn't dare ask for one, they already thought she was weak enough.

Than they went fishing. With their bare hands.

Roy didn't seem to have any problems in catching fish at once, but the others…

Riza and Havoc were working near each other, and she somehow managed to grab his foot and drag him under the water.

She tried to smile apologetically and help him get up, when Edward came from under the water and gave her a fish. She glared at him and refused to take it. She wanted to be appreciated by Roy and Havoc's group but she wouldn't cheat.

That wasn't fair. So she dismissed Edward with a mumble and went back on fishing.

"You need to be tranquil as a forest, but on fire within" the colonel said wisely.

The girl tried hard not to sniff.

Fire? No thanks, I've had enough of that from my dad she thought. The fire alchemist, Berthold Hawkeye.

Despite her inner mumbling against him, she missed her father. A lot.

A few days later, after hours of practice, Roy decided it was time for new techniques. They were far from being ready for war.

They had to avoid projectiles on a 'battlefield' at night time. There were arrows and arrows on fire.

"I'm never gonna catch my breathe" Fuery mumbled as he avoided an arrow.

Riza was close behind him, running and feeling like her head had been chopped off. She was dizzy, there were projectiles everywhere and she could barely see a thing.

"Say goodbye to those who knew me" said Havoc when an arrow hit him. Riza stopped and helped him up, and, surprisingly he smiled at her.

But just for a second, because then they were back at running.

Another day of training. Rock breaking, with their heads. Falman was having a hard time.

"Boy I was a fool in school for cutting gym" he said, holding a cold rag on his hurt face.

….

Combat training. They had to fight on pairs. Riza against Roy.

She sighed.

I'm going to be so dead.

Everyone that fought him ended up with scratches and bruises. He was too good. But there had to be a good part in this, right? There had to be…

At least his body will be close to mine…No, delete that! The good part is that I'll be able to fight like him one day. Yes, that's right, that's the good part.

She tried to deny the lustful thoughts she had and concentrate on battle.

He hit with his fist and she stopped the attack. She took a step back as he tried to kick her in the stomach with his foot.

He almost managed to, but she ducked in time. Than he hit her with his fist.

And she fell.

Edward came to her and gave her some water.

"This guy's got you scared to death" he mumbled helping Riza up.

Than he run to hide. He couldn't be seen by the other soldiers.

I hope he doesn't see right trough me the girl thought worried.

Maybe not 'see' the way Edward could, but she was scared he would see her fears, her week points. Her tones of week points.

….

"Now I really wish that I knew how to swim" Fuery said.

They had to jump from a pole on another, on water. The water was deep, cold and dirty.

He jumped from one to another, than lost balance and stopped, so he wouldn't fall.

Behind him Roy had to stop as well, and he managed to stand, making the next soldiers behind fall in the water, because they couldn't stop in time.

Havoc set the canon on fire and it flew in the air.

He didn't hit the target.

He growled as he watched Riza flame her own canon fire. She would most likely hit her target, they all realized her aiming was good.

He winked at Falman, who walked by Riza and 'accidentally' kicked the support at her canon. She had already flamed it, so now it was flying, without reaching the target.

Instead it flew right into Yoki's tent.

"Someone is going to have problems" Havoc smirked and fired his canon.

It still didn't reach the target.

Roy sat alone on the mountain's field. It was a clear night, and the moon and stars were lighting.

'We need to be like the dark side of the moon' he thought preoccupied. 'We can't let the Homunculus see what we're planning. We need to be able to improvise…well, they first need to learn how to fight'

He sighed. It was harder than he thought. They had already been there for a few weeks, and they were making slow progress.

He had to speed up the process a bit.

Tomorrow they would be going on a trip.

I'm going to give that loser one more chance.

…..

As Roy planned, they went on the mountain. Normally, the first trip would be just fast walking, but he didn't have time to lose.

So he started with walking up the mountains, but caring poles with two sacks of grains each. They had to keep balance, speed and strength at same time.

For the men it was hard. For Riza it was a nightmare. She could barely stand.

Roy was leading them, when Yoki shown him how far behind Riza was.

He sighed and went back after her. He took her burden and glared at her.

She starred in shock as the colonel started running to catch up with the others.

He was clearly disappointed. Disappointed and angry. And much stronger than she was. She was a mess. A total mess. A useless mess.

Why couldn't she be as strong?

She felt so frustrated.

…..

That night Roy decided. No matter how much he tried to show him, help him, teach him, Alphonse just couldn't do as good as the others.

And the others were pretty much pathetic, so it was really bad.

He called Alphonse and brought him his horse.

"You're unsuited for the rage of war. So pack up and go home. You are through" he said, and every word was like a knife piercing Riza's skin.

Did he…did he just kick her out?
"B-but…"
"Go home" he said, and left.

She was…lost. She felt so lost. She couldn't go home.

After she had been told she was a dishonor to her family, after her father was disappointed in her, she couldn't just go home and let them down once again.

She had to do something.

'Heed my every order and you might survive' Roy used to tell them. She did try to do everything he said, why didn't it work?
She knew the answer. She was no man. She was a woman. In more time, she could be good. But just a few weeks…she had to work two times as much as the others, who were already used to fighting and kicking.

She was a complete stranger.

Of course, until that point she had learnt quite a few things. She could hit the target with her canon fire, she could shoot the tomatoes with her arrows, she could pretty much fight with her staff…

But the other parts she couldn't do. She couldn't even catch a damn fish!
The frustration took over as she was alone into the night. Edward was sleeping in her tent. He had no idea what was going on.

She could use friend. But she didn't want to wake him up. He had done a lot of things to help her, she could at least let him sleep until morning, when they would take off.

The dawn was breaking and she hadn't slept one moment. She starred at the pole in front of her, until she realized something.

The arrow. The arrow from the top of the pole.

No one had managed to take it. No one actually reached it so far. If she could…

That's it. She wasn't going home.

She had a plan.

If only she could find a way to do that….

That was it xD.

I wanted to put the 'I'll make a man out of you' song in one whole chapter because, you see, I really don't think all that stuff happened in a few days. It happened in more weeks/months, right?

So it deserves some space. I hope you enjoyed the training part. Next chapter will be up soon.

Please REVIEW!