I woke the next morning at 5:40am and sighed before snuggling into the pile of blankets and pillows I was burrowed into. 'Another lazy day no doubt' I thought to myself and tried to go back to sleep. My eyes popped open as soon as I had processed my own thought which, surprisingly, took a minute. I took another look at the clock, 5:45. I had another lesson from Spike at 6, I needed to get up.

Taking a moment to stretch first I got up and went about getting dressed. I threw on a tank and some sweats and headed to the bathroom. There I brushed my hair and teeth, splashing some water on my face to get me up completely. With one last glance in the mirror, I was ready, so I set off to Spike's training room. I didn't expect him to be there yet, but again he surprised me. He was, if all the sweat and light panting were anything to go by, fairly far into his training already. I stood in the doorway for a moment contemplating this before going through. 'Maybe he woke up early again and decided to get some extra training in?' I pondered before dismissing it. It was time to start my second day of training. First I did some stretches so I wouldn't pull anything, then started out with 30 of the punches(with each arm)Spike had taught me before turning to wait for him to finish whatever exercise he was doing. He did so quickly and finally came over to me with a nod.

"Today we'll work on a fairly easy kick. It should come to the ribs of your opponent." he said and turned, demonstrating it. I tried to memorize what he had done but realized just once wasn't enough to remember. "You start out in the position I showed you yesterday, fists up. Then rotate your top half, turning to the opposite side of the foot you're kicking with, and down a bit." he described. Once more he demonstrated it, much slower this time. Then again a bit faster. Finally I got a good idea of what I was doing. "Now I want you to try." he said standing again, about 2 and a half feet from me. 'He wants me to kick him now? No way!' I thought shocked, though as soon as I saw the look on his face I knew he was serious. I also remembered just who he was. Spike Spiegel: Famous bounty hunter and a man who can not be hurt by a girl half his size, no matter what they do.

After the brief pause it took to contemplate these things I nodded and kicked out as hard as I could with my right leg. I heard the impact and turned quickly to see that my shin had made contact with his forearm, which had blocked me from hitting his ribs. I almost smiled at the small success. I lowered my leg and he let his arm drop to his side. "The power behind it was good but you have to keep your eyes on me. Never look away from an opponent." he told me seriously. How could I have forgotten that? That was even basic for people who had never even been in a fight! I nodded sheepishly and rubbed the back of my head. He chuckled a bit then told me to do the kick with my left, I didn't look away this time. I kept my eyes on him the entire time. He then instructed me to do 20 kicks with each leg on the punching bag, as well as 10 more of the punches. As soon as I was at it, he resumed his training once more. I had actually finished my assigned work this time before Jet popped in. "Spike, Ed, breakfast." he said and pulled back, likely to go find Faye. I smiled and followed Spike out, not bothering to change this time. It could wait till after breakfast, as could my shower.

I wanted to just gobble down my food I was so hungry but even as a kid(aside from when I was at the orphanage) I had some manners. So I ate normally, if not just a bit faster than usual. Spike and Faye on the other hand…I'll just leave it to your imagination. When I finished I put my plate in the sink and took a much needed shower. Once the necessities were taken care of I headed over to Tomato. Even though it had been less than 12 hours, it felt like weeks since I had been on it. The number of messages I had also seemed like weeks had passed. That wasn't good. Good mood fading I threw my goggles on and launched into cyber-space, and into Tomato. There were several alerts floating around; someone had used my name, some one tried to patch through to Tomato, and someone had tried to break IN to Tomato. 'Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! This can't be happening. Is it the syndicate? A new hacker? WHO? Please cyber-gods, don't let it have been the syndicate!' I thought frantically.

My breathing growing shallower and faster slightly. Then I was aware of a presence. I stilled completely, not even breathing. My body began entering fight or flight mode due to my panicking and the disorientation of being in cyber-space. 'No!' I planted myself firmly, mentally that is, and took as close to a normal breath as I could. If someone had tried to break into Tomato, it didn't necessarily mean that it was a hacker. It could have been someone on the ship, trying to use it. As soon as I was calmed I took my goggles off slowly and turned to see Spike on the couch staring at me.

A jolt went through me but I ignored it and tried to muster a strong voice. "Spike, did you try logging on to Tomato?" I asked, voice only wavering slightly. He seemed confused, "No, I wouldn't even be able to navigate that thing if I tried. Computer's are your thing…Why?" he answered. I shook my head and stood, going to Jet's 'Bonsai room.' I saw him peacefully cutting small branches off of the trees. "Hey Jet?" I got his attention. "Have you tried getting on Tomato lately?" I was thankful to note that my voice held no tremble this time. He pulled back from his mini-tree. "No, can't say that I have Ed, why?" his answer was to Spike's and just as truthful. "No reason, just wondering. Tomato was moved a bit when I got on this morning is all." I lied and walked away, looking for Faye.

I went to her room but got no response. Instead of checking the who ship, I went to the hangar to check if she was even here. Her zip-craft was gone and the stone in my stomach seemed to grow heavier. Who knows when she would be back. Maybe soon, or tomorrow, or never. Now how would I know if she'd been the one to try getting in or not? I sank to the floor ungracefully and not really caring if Jet came by or not, lit a cigarette. It wasn't small puffs like usual, but deep drags almost like what Spike is sometimes prone to doing in a fight. After about my fifth cigarette my eyes began to droop, tired from the physical and mental strain the day had already but on me. And it wasn't even noon! I surrendered more quickly than I though and soon I was out.