TRI: I told you I would update again. Unlike with my other chapters, I won't have much to tell you. I mean, nothing huge is going to happen in the span of 1 or 2 days.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buso Renkin.

same location, same time

Mysterious Person #2: With his pace, you will have to go fight him. He's already taken out most of our troops.

Mysterious Person #1: It matters not, he never kills anyone. He's certainly stupid sometimes.

Mysterious Person #9: So, how long before its ready?

#1: Even with you gone it'll take us 10 minutes. Now remember, if he's early then we're screwed.

#9: Whatever. I can hold him off for twice that time.

#: Don't fail us. Remember what's at stake.

the present

The next couple weeks were some of the busiest of Simon's life. Right after he had checked his backpack, which had his ramen stash, his new laptop, some clothes, and his MP3 in it, he was dragged outside for his training.

Training was all well and good, but he needed to awaken his "fighting spirit", And to do that, Simon would need some actual combat. Captain Bravo or Kazuki could fight him, but his training would progress much quicker if he battled someone that not only wouldn't hesitate to kill him, but would actively try to kill him. For this, they had to recruit Koshaku Chouno.

But that wasn't enough; they had to come up with a strategy. It wasn't like they were battling a few homunculi; they were battling an entire army. No matter how good Kazuki or Tokiko or Captain Bravo was, the homunculi's superior numbers would eventually overwhelm them.

But that was Bravo's job; Simon had to first learn how to use a Buso Renkin. The first thing that Kazuki and Tokiko had him do was to get used to his Buso Renkin. Simon was not at all surprised when his Buso Renkin turned out to be a sword, but he was surprised when he found out that it could divide into smaller swords and knives.

What happened was that, right after Simon had taken a few practice swings, Kazuki attacked him with his Sunlight Heart. Simon knew enough to block Kazuki's weapon, but that's all he was able to do. After a few minutes of blocking Kazuki's attacks, Kazuki feinted and Simon fell for it. Luckily he had managed to block at the last second. But Simon was tired from the sparring, plus he hadn't managed to block the Sunlight Heart very well. Seeing this, Kazuki decided to press his advantage. He had managed to drive the sword back to where it was resting against Simon's flesh, but before he could finalize his victory, the sword was engulfed in a piercing white light. Kazuki quickly turned his head away, but the light had partially blinded him. After he could see again, he looked back at Simon, but there was no 2 ft sword in his hands. Instead, Simon was holding a slightly shorter katana in one hand and a tanto in the other.

After seeing his new weapons, Simon's face broke out into a grin.

"This is perfect. I practiced this style of swordplay with my lightsabers. Even though my lightsabers were lighter than this, but they were made of plastic."

"What are lightsabers, Simon?"

"That's not important. Just know that I won't be as easy to beat as I was just a minute ago."

"Sounds fun. Just try not to lose too quickly."

"You're on."

True to his word, Simon certainly did do better. Getting a second wind, and some confidence, Simon managed to almost hold his own against Kazuki. But after 30 minutes, his second wind died down. He might've done better if he wasn't already tired or if he was used to the weight of metal, but that wasn't the case. Instead Kazuki got under his guard and wacked him with the side of his Sunlight Heart. Simon fell to the ground, unconscious.

The next day

Simon woke up around 12 P. M. the next day and felt fully rested, despite the beating he had received. After stretching for a few minutes, Simon decided that he should get some food, namely ramen. After making some Oriental for lunch, he sat down to eat. But before he could, Bravo walked in.

"How do you feel, Simon?"

"Just fine, a few more days and should be able to make Kazuki fight seriously."

"You're confident. That's good, just don't get too confident. I have a letter from Kazuki for you." Clearing his throat, he said:

"Koshaku has agreed to fight you, but he is strong so make sure you're ready."

Two hours later, he fought Koshaku, but he didn't even stand a chance. After finding out how strong homunculi really were, Simon then devoted almost every second of every day for the next 2 weeks to getting stronger.

two weeks later

Simon had just challenged Koshaku again and finally managed to wound him.

"So, what do you think? Will I be powerful enough to hold my own against the homunculi army?"

Suddenly Kazuki, who was standing nearby so Koshaku didn't go to far and kill Simon said, "You better be ready. Bravo says that they here now."

TRI: What a place to end, eh? Hope you enjoyed it, and try to tell people about this story. I only have 33 hits to this story. I know why, but "What a Shame".

R&R