Chapter 2:
Hearts Afire

Mugen hoped he would be the first one back for the day. He didn't feel like explaining their new acquisition to anyone just yet. Fuu would yell at him and Jin would just look at him in that way that he does when he just doesn't know what to say. Jin wasn't exactly a Chatty Cathy but even so, Mugen always got the impression that he occasionally just struck that kid dumb. He enjoyed it and felt a bit sheepish about it at the same time. Had he previously been around people whose esteem he held in even the slightest regard, he would have recognized this emotion as "self-consciousness." But the sensation was unfamiliar, so he chalked it up to some bad eel and ignored it.

Besides. He had a beetle to train. He knew finding a sparring partner for his new acquisition would be impossible. Impossible in that it would require effort on his part, and he had already clocked in more than the usual amount. He would have to find a replacement. But how do you exercise a beetle? He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice he had tripped until he was about half way to the ground. Alarmed at this development, he gracefully held his investment over his head so not to squash him, all the while twisting his body around to get a good look at what dared to interrupt his walking. He soon found himself at eye-level with a mangy little dog.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" an old lady yelled from down the road. She was lumbering towards him, waving her cane around as if she was planning to deliver swift justice. Light on the "swift."

Mugen took another look at the pathetic creature before him. "Lady, that dog ain't worth watchin'." He shrugged and stood up, finished with this whole exchange.

The woman harrumphed her dissatisfaction with young men as an institution, and she and the dog stalked off towards town. It was only then Mugen realized the dog had three legs. And, it seemed, he was pulling a small cart of oranges. Heh. Inspiration strikes in the damndest places.

Beetle on the Right didn't complain much when Mugen flipped him on his back and tied a string around his middle. He didn't even mind the stone attached to it. It wasn't until he righted himself and tried to move that he seemed to take offense. He scurried off to the end of his tether and found he couldn't move forward. His little legs scratched frantically on the wood floor for a moment before he gave up and flopped down in defeat. He gave Mugen a sort of dirty look, like, "What the hell are you trying to pull, man?"

"Don't be a pussy," Mugen replied. "It ain't that big. See?" he lifted the rock, and by proxy the beetle, up into the air. "It's not even a pound. You can do it."

He set the beetle back down and gave him a little nudge. The beetle responded with an aggressive hissing sound. "I hate you," it said.

"Fine," Mugen rolled his eyes and picked up a smaller rock. "You need a name," he decided as he tied the latest equipment on to his charge. "I should call you Fuu 'cause you're such a little bitch." He plopped the beetle back down on the floor and pictured that conversation in his head. "What did you name him?" Fuu would ask.

"Oh, I named him Fuu cause he's such a little…"

He wouldn't even get to finish the sentence before things would go badly for him. Fuu was a dumb name for a beetle anyway. He needed something intimidating. Something scary. He tried to think back to the craziest guy he had ever met. That was quite a toss up, but one guy immediately entered his mind. He was at a sort of back alley sumo match in Kanagawa once. There was this guy who was definitely not from around there. He wore this crazy ass mask and yelled and spit a lot, and when people asked him what his problem was, he'd scream, "Yo soy luchodore!" That seemed to freak people out, considering no one knew what a luchodore was, or what soy had to do with it. He won that match, as Mugen recalled. And then he was asked to leave the premises since he was making everybody really uncomfortable. His name was Rodriguez.

"Beetle on the Right," Mugen declared, lifting the little guy on the palm of his hand so that he may address him in the eye. This seemed like official business somehow. "I dub you, Rodriguez. The Beetleodore! Or…whatever." Rodriguez seemed unmoved by the proceedings. Mugen shrugged and set him back down on the floor, where he immediately began towing his rock. Mugen smiled, approving. Rodriguez was gonna kick ass and take names. And none of the other beetles would have a cooler name than Rodriguez.

"Hi, there, I'm back," Fuu sing-songed as she walked through the door. Mugen braced himself for the inevitable. "I won't like the answer but…what are you doing?"