M:   MA focused on scrubbing the paint on his leg rather than cleaning the dirt from his feathers. The dirt actually was healthy for his feathers because it absorbs oils and gets rid of feather parasites, so he didn't mind them being a little dirty. 

"Yeah I think that's a good idea," MA agreed, "and your uniform should be clean by now, so if you want you can change into that instead of more of my clothes." 

"But I didn't get to shoot anything," Poldara said.

"Sorry about that Blue-Jay, I guess we got a little carried away," MA said, patting the kid's head, "maybe next time." 

Poldara made another pout face but didn't say anything else.

L:   "Why don't you and I do some target practice while they have fun cleaning themselves up?" Iremacht suggested to Poldara. "I want to see how good of a shot you are." 

He remembered that he'd dropped his gun from before, but it looked like the human staff had already retrieved it and put it away. He was planning on trying out a different gun anyway, maybe a pistol. His own handgun was tucked away in his vest but he avoided using that one for sport. 

He pointed at the newly erected targets in the distance. "Want to have a quick shot?"

M:   Poldara's eyes lit up at the offer and he looked to MA for permission. The militant smiled, "I don't see why not, just nothing too powerful," he said. 

The kid smiled back and he grabbed Iremacht and dragged him back over to the gun range. He went to the stall and picked out a simple handgun, he made sure to grab some earmuffs too since he was still slightly sensitive to the loud bangs.

When he was ready, instead of running through the course like Iremacht did, he stood at a line-up area to shoot, he didn't have Iremacht's Enhanced Mode to help him so he had to work a bit harder to aim. After a moment of concentration, Poldara unloaded the .45 into as many targets as possible, and out of the 8 bullets in the gun and five targets; three missed, two hit the outer rings, two hit the inner rings, and one was a bullseye. 

When he was done, he turned to Iremacht, "was that good?"

L:   "Not bad," Iremacht said. "That bullseye and the other two inner ring shots were impressive. I can tell you're excited but don't let that get in the way of your shooting. Pause after each shot to regain your bearings. Your uncle might be able to get consecutive bullseyes but I'll bet he had to learn to pause first. Let's not get any misses this second time, ja?" 

Iremacht also selected a gun and aimed it at a target. He didn't activate his Enhanced Mode as he fired one shot, steadied, fired another, steadied again, and fired a third. All three struck home, meant to symbolize Poldara's three missing shots.

M:   Poldara watched Iremacht intently, studying his grip on the gun, his firing rate, and how he steadied after each shot. When the militant was done, Poldara took his advice into account and raised his gun again. He tried to mimic Iremacht by firing three rounds and pausing after each one, none of them missed this time but they weren't bullseyes either. 

Poldara frowned, "hmm, I guess that first bullseye was just a lucky shot." 

MA and Wehrmacht had finished cleaning their war wounds and walked over to watch the two. MA was quite proud that Poldara and Iremacht got along so well, it made him feel guilty about how suspicious he was of the German yesterday, maybe he was wrong about Iremacht.

L:   "I don't believe in lucky shots," Iremacht said. "Let your gun show you how to aim. Align the sights with the target. With the weight of your wings, you might have to lean forward a bit." 

Wehrmacht was also happy that Iremacht and Poldara were getting along. At least his son was warming up to someone, which minimized hostilities. As Iremacht taught Poldara, Wehrmacht remembered how MA and Mandara had taught Iremacht and glanced at the Mandarian. 

"Thanks for taking us to the shooting range," he said. "I think we all got some much-needed relaxation and bonding."

M:   "It wasn't any trouble Wehrmacht," MA said with a smile, "I'm just glad that we got to see the old Iremacht come back, even if it's just for a little bit, it's good to know he's still in there somewhere." 

Poldara was concentrating really hard on aiming his sights with the bullseye on one of the closer targets, for whatever reason he couldn't keep his hand steady so it was hard to aim. Eventually, he got frustrated and just fired, the bullet hit the line of the inner ring and center. 

"Stupid gun won't hold still," he grunted.

L:   "Patience kiddo," Iremacht chuckled. "Your energy is making your hand vibrate as much as your feathers. Deep breaths, calm down. If you're going to be a militant entity in the future and help your dads and uncle, you need to be strong and level-headed." 

Iremacht looked around briefly as he said this and found that MA and Wehrmacht were already done cleaning and were watching them. Wehrmacht smiled at him in encouragement and Iremacht looked away, though he felt a tingle of pride in his chest. Then he remembered an exercise that he had done under Mandara's guidance.

"It's just you and the target," Iremacht whispered to Poldara. "Let everything else melt away. Focus only on the target."

M:   Poldara tilted his head in slight confusion, but nodded and tried one more time. He took a few deep breaths and tried to block out everything else around him, it helped that he had the earmuffs on so the sounds were silenced for the most part. He closed his eyes and just took the moment to recede into his own world, where there was nothing but him and his target. When he finally opened his eyes, he took one determined look at the target and fired, hitting a bullseye at last. 

"YES I DID IT, I DID IT!!!!" Poldara shouted, jumping up and down in place and flapping his wings in excitement.

"Great job Poldara," MA said from where he was standing, he walked over to his nephew, "I'm so proud of you, bud." 

Poldara was so happy that he gave Iremacht a jumping hug, which surprised MA at first but it was replaced by a proud smile for both of them.

L:   Iremacht grunted when Poldara leaped on him, looking incredibly flustered as he was hugged. His face flushed in embarrassment and he patted one hand awkwardly on Poldara's back. 

"Nice shot," Iremacht said, wheezing a bit from the hug. "I knew you had it in you. Soon, you'll be able to shorten the pauses between each shot and make them quick bullseyes every time."

Wehrmacht decided to save his son from further discomfort and said, "Why don't we head back and Poldara can tell his dads all about it?"

M:   "Ok," Poldara chirped, he squeezed Iremacht one last time and let go to return his gun and earmuffs. 

"Sorry about that Iremacht," MA said, "he's always been a hugger, though one of these days he's going to break someone's ribs with the power of his hugs." 

"Come on guys, let's go," Poldara insisted when he came back, he started pushing MA to make him go faster.

"Jesus Christ Poldara, calm down will you," MA said as he tried to keep from toppling over.