(continued from ch. 2, part 1)
Written by Xelloss

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The days went by in the Training Room, and Ken learned. With reluctance
and difficulty, but he learned nonetheless.

"...Focus. Visualize journeying through your spiritual layers, toward 
your center..."
"...please. Give me some credit. I didn't survive years of infiltration
jobs without learning to cover my nuts..."
"...leg's broken, alright. Again. Next time, apply the leg-lock _this_ 
way..."
"...That was a _joke_, son. Learn to laugh at things, it'll come in 
handy in the long run..."
"...lot of talent, here, but it's going to waste because of your 
attitude..."
"...Good form, Ken. Now do it just like that 100 times..."
"...Here. Figured a hot-tempered Dragyn boy like you can handle my 
Armageddon Chili. Have a taste... dammit, stop drinking straight from 
the bottle!..."
"...After your Change, you'll have to do plenty of 'book stuff' in your
magic-learning. Believe me, it's better if you get a head start on it. 
Now, let's go over this again..."
"...see, it's easy. Point, aim, shoot. Control your breathing, that's 
the key..."
"...and I call this nasty little ditty the Dynamite Palm..."

And so it went, until the day the training ended.

---------
"Ken, it's been hard for you, I know. But you made it through 'basic 
training', as it were, and for that I'm proud of you. I'll warn you 
though," Grey said as he and his student walked through the door of the
Training Room, "I'm not the toughest sensei in the NDF. When you get to
some of the others' methods, you'll think I was downright pampering of 
you. But I think you'll be able to handle it."
This unnerved Ken more than a little bit. "Oh? Why's that?"
His answer came as he began to feel a piercing pain in his gut, 
followed by stronger ones in his back, neck, and shoulders. His eyes 
started blurring, and his chest felt like some gremlin was tearing 
apart his pectoral muscles one fiber at a time. He wanted to rub the 
blurriness out of his eyes, but couldn't lift his arms through the 
pain. He collapsed to his knees, and felt a wet splash on his skin. All
he could think about was how he was bleeding to death.
A piercing light shot through his mind, bringing with it a memory. Grey
had to set Ken's right leg-bone before the myosteodermal regenerator 
would work properly, and anaesthetic was dangerous to pre-Change 
Dragyn. So he had to bear it. "Just concentrate, Ken. Pain is a sensory
perception, and it can be blocked out. Just like I taught you, 
remember? And you're strong enough to handle whatever pain you can't 
block out." When his teacher had set the bone, it was excruciating. But
Ken didn't scream, no matter how much he felt like doing so.
Ken used what he had learned then. He concentrated on the feelings of 
pain, pinpointing exactly where each of them was centered on. 
Carefully, one by one, he shut his mind off from each pain. It couldn't
block all of the sensation, but it would at least make the pain more 
manageable.
Grey looked at his student. He was handling this well. He had almost 
laid a hand on Ken's shoulder before remembering that for a Dragyn 
undergoing Change, _every_ sensory input was painful. Grey didn't want 
to add to the maturing Dragyn's pain.
"He's doing well. Handling the pain as he should. You taught him your 
way?"
Grey turned to the source of the voice. "Hey, Ryu. Yeah, I taught him 
the best way I knew to prepare for this. And he got plenty of practice,
what with how many times he got broken bones."
"Heh. He's lucky the regenerator didn't burn out, I bet."
The cyberwizard flinched as he saw bony protrusions burst through the 
skin between his pupil's shoulder blades. That looked like it _hurt_.
"This... really... has to suck for Ken. Was it this bad for you, too?"
"No," Ryu stated in reply.
"Then..." Just as he was about to ask 'why is it so bad for Ken?' Ryu 
cut him off with a terse statement.
"Mine was worse."
Shaken by the imagery Ryu's statement brought to mind, Grey turned back
to his pupil. Ken's transformation was almost complete. Large wings 
were partially folded at Ken's back. A thin tail had grown from the 
base of his spine. An odd sheen of moisture that covered the 
newly-grown limbs was dissipating. And as the two bystanders watched, 
Ken's Change was finished.
Ken stood and, after steadying himself, experimentally flexed his 
wings. They were large enough that they spanned the width of the 
corridor, and had sharp-looking bones protruding past the wing 
membranes.
Something in Grey's mind warned him of danger. Familiar with this 
sense and knowing from experience not to discard its warnings, he 
braced himself, unsure of what might occur. His feelings were 
well-founded as, with a yell that reeked of madness, Ken attacked his 
sensei.
Grey was shocked by this sudden, unprovoked assault, but managed to 
guard himself from Ken's arms and legs. He was totally unprepared for 
the assault from Ken's wings, however, and received a gash on the left 
side of his face as punishment.
'Ouch! I guess those wing protrusions aren't just for show!' Now wary 
of an attack from what amounted to bladed weapons, Grey did not 
hesitate to bring his own into play. With a muted metallic *SHINK!*, 
his cyberspurs came through the skinseams on his forearms.
Ken, still not returned to his normal mindset, lashed his wings out at 
Grey again, in his madness wanting to do whatever harm he could to 
whoever was around. Razor-sharp wingblades whistled through the air, 
heading for their target with deadly speed. This time, however, they 
were met with another set of blades. The serrated back edges of Grey's 
spurs caught the first strut, preventing the entire wing from moving 
further.
The not-quite-conscious mind of Ken Skybolt was confused. This target 
suddenly had talons, ones capable of stopping his wings? Ken struck at 
his teacher with the other wing, yet again achieving nothing as it was 
caught by Grey's other set of blades.
Grey knew he could be in trouble. Ken was merely attempting to force 
his way through Grey's defenses. The data his cybernetic eyes were 
showing him indicated that his 'spurs were holding Ken back nicely and 
without damage to his systems, but he knew that Ken could attack with 
his arms or legs at any time. And Ken's wing-reach was long enough 
that Grey couldn't knock him out with a headbutt like he did in their 
first lesson.
Suddenly, Ken gave a short lurch forward. Grey steeled himself for a 
hit - one which didn't come as his pupil slumped forward like a 
marionette with its strings cut. Grey quickly retracted his cyberspurs 
into their forearm housings, disengaging them from the young Dragyn's 
wingblades. Looking up from the limp figure now resting on the floor, 
he understood why Ken had collapsed.
"Tsk, tsk, Ryu," the 'upgraded' human jokingly chided the only 
conscious Dragyn in the corridor. "I thought attacking from behind was 
beneath you. Not that I mind, you understand, but..."
"Well, an elbow to the back of the head seemed like the quickest 
solution." Ryu caught his friend's light-hearted attempt at easing the 
tension out of the situation. "And since it worked, I assume you didn't
give him the endurance conditioning yet?"
"No, not yet. Hitting him with heavy objects to up his pain resistance 
seemed a bit extreme for such a young one. Maybe now that he's 
undergone the Change, though..."
"It'd be a good idea. He'll need it for the advanced hand-to-hand 
combat training." Ryu grinned an expectant grin and continued, "And 
he'll definitely need it for my weapons training."
A new voice added itself to the conversation. "I hope you weren't 
planning on just leaving our new recruit lying there. As I understand 
it, he'll need plenty of food and liquids to replace the nutrients used
by the process." Dracos, clad in his usual black and gold outfit, 
walked up to the group.
"Well, if you'd hold his wings steady while Ryu and me carry him, we'll
get him to the infirmary. That'll make things a bit easier. Ryu, get 
his feet would you?"

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End Chapter 2, Part 2.
To be continued in Chapter 2, Part 3...