Chapter 04
"Mystic Arts"
Written by Dracos

	Ken made his way down the hall to the training room once more,
the thoughts in his head being mostly along the lines of "I wonder what
insanity I'm in for THIS time..."
	The doors opened, and he was greeted with the sight of Dracos of
Avalon sitting in a lotus position and glowing a soft gold color. Of
course, with Dracos, a soft golden glow was hardly out of the ordinary.
In fact, it was almost a constant presence. No, that wasn't what caught
Ken's attention. What caughty Ken's attention was the fact that Dracos
was floating some two feet off the ground and that a small golden
pendant was floating just in front of his closed eyes. Also note the
fact that there were several small streamers of light converging around
and going through the small pendant and the sight would be enough to
make anyone jump.
	"Calm down Ken and have a seat, if you please. I'll be with you
in just a second..." The fact that Dracos still hadn't so much has
opened his eyes or twitched helped Ken realize that he had actually
jumped a good ten feet and was still hovering there. Quickly he lowered
himself back down to ground level and took a seat, deciding for once to
exercise a little bit of patience.
	Dracos continued to glow and the streamers of light continued to
flow into and out of the small pendant for another 30 seconds or so
before the glow began to fade and Dracos settled slowly to the ground.
Taking a long, slow breath, Dracos opened his eyes and smiled at the
young Dragyn.
	"Welcome to your first lesson in the use of the Mystic Arts. Now,
before I begin, is there anything I need to have cleared up?"
	"Well, you could tell me what exactly you were doing just now..."
	"Oh, that. Just fixing a small problem with that pendant. Now it
won't limit my access to Dragon Magic the same way that it used to."
	Ken blink a couple times.
	"Anything else?"
	"Yeah. Why do I have to learn this stuff, anyway?"
	Dracos sighed and got up, walking a few feet away before taking
up a netral stance.
	"Attack me."
	Ken looked at him. "What?"
	"I said attack me."
	Ken smiled. Finally he'd be able to pay this arrogant human back.
According to what everyone said, this human had less than half the
martial arts skills the others had. He quickly gathered himself up and
charged at his opponent, deciding to first test his reflexes a bit. He
whipped his left wingblade forward and sliced at him with it.
	He just barely caught the golden glow surrounding Dracos' body
once again.
	"Diamond Skin!"
	Chink!
	Ken looked up to see his wingblades being stopped by... a finger?
Ken quickly whipped his other wingblade around, only to have it stopped
by the other finger.
	Dracos considered. Since Ken still hadn't undergone the endurance
training, a standard Megaton Punch could kill him at this point, so he
decided for something a little different.
	"Concussion Wave!"
	Ken was flung back and away from the mage, as Ken had mentally
labelled him, by what appeared to be a dome of compressed air. Then,
just as he was beginning to once again dive at his opponent...
	"Soul Grenade!"
	BOOM!
	Ken landed on the ground, little stars in his eyes. Dracos
sighed, picked up the young Dragyn's body, and headed for sick bay.

	Ken awoke with a splitting headache and a slight feeling of
nausea. Fortunately, those only lasted for a few moments. He got up and
turned to see Dracos leaned up against the far wall with his arms
crossed and an introverted expression on his face.
	"I see you're awake. Do you understand now why you need my
lessons?"
	"Not really..."
	Dracos sighed. This was going to be a long day.
	"It's simple really. All the physical attack power in the world
won't be enough to save you if a mage decides to hit you with a Dragon
Slave. As much as you may not understand it, energy attacks will very
easily become a necesity in the battles you'll be called to fight as an
NDF officer."
	Dracos raised his head to look at Ken.
	"I can teach you how to do things that none of the others can...
IF you're willing to try it. However, I've also got my own methods, and
one of those is simple. I'm not going to force you into anything."
	"I'm giving you a choice. You don't have to learn from me if you
don't want to. However, if you don't, I'm afraid that you may not be
able to handle your duties as an NDF officer. Still, the choice is up
to you."
	Ken considered for a minute. Did he really want to do this? Now
that he had a choice, did he want to take it?
	Of course, being Ken, the answer was pretty obvious. It just took
him a minute to realize it. He wanted to be the best.
	"I'll do it."

	And so it began. Dracos slowly began to teach Ken how to access
and control his own ki. Since he wasn't a Dragyn, it took a little
longer than it could have, but he managed to teach it to Ken
nonetheless.

	"You're doing good, Ken. Keep it up. Remember, at first you'll
have to learn how to tune out the outside world and any distractions.
You'll learn to use it in battle soon enough. For now, just learn how
to hold it."
	Dracos watched as Ken slowly lit up with a bluish-white battle
aura, and the ex-Guardian smiled. It wouldn't be long now.

	Then came the days of real training.

	Dracos stood at one end of the dojo, his usual golden glow
surrounding him. Ken stood at the other end of the dojo with his own
bluish-white battle aura flaring.
	"Are you ready?"
	"Bring it."
	Dracos lifted up his hands and began charging up a ki blast. When
he decided it was sufficiently powerful, he launched it at Ken.
	Ken simply stood there, waiting. Closer. Closer. Closer... NOW!
	Ken's hand snapped up, and the ki blast smashed into the nearby
wall. Ken smiled at his accomplishment.
	Dracos applauded. "Well done, Ken. Well done. You've learned how
to deflect ki blasts. Now, shall we see how long you can keep it up?"
With that, he fired another ki blast at the young Dragyn.

	A few days later (though, since they were in the Training Room,
it was more like a few hours later, but whatever)...

	Ken stood, glowing a soft bluish-white color. Slowly, he cupped
his palms at his sides.
	Dracos watched from the side, offering occasional advice, keeping
the same contemplative expression on his face.
	"That's it, Ken, keep going. Look for your own stores of
confidence within yourself, and bring it forth. Believe in yourself,
and it will form on its own. I've explained to you how to form and
shape the chi, now just... bring it forth..."
	Within Ken's cupped palms, a small orb of blue light began to
form. Slowly, it grew to be about the size of a baseball. Ken's brow
was furrowed as he concentrated on bringing forth his own chi and
concentrating it the way Dracos had instructed him. He had to tie the
flows of chi together in just the right way and... There!
	"Soul Grenade!"
	Ken lobbed the ball of chi forward in an overhand toss, and it
detonated against the wooden training dummy with a loud 'pop' like from
a firecracker. Ken smiled. Then he heard Dracos applauding.
	The ex-Guardian of Balance smiled. "Well done, Ken. Well done.
You managed a basic ki projectile. Of course, we'll have to work on
your detonation, but other than that, you've done pretty well..."

	A few hours later, the doors of the Training Room opened to admit
Ken and Dracos.
	"Well, Ken, I guess I was right when I said you had potential.
You're picking up ki and chi faster than I ever did. Of course,
considering your species, I guess that's to be expected..."
	They walked slowly for a few more minutes as they headed towards
their quarters.
	"Now, don't let it go to your head, Ken. You've still got to get
through the Basic Weapons course that Ryu's gonna give you. Of course,
Ryu's probably going to end up your main instructor, since he can teach
you how to best fight as a Dragyn, but I'll give you a pointer."
	Ken looked at him. "And that would be..."
	Dracos stopped and turned to regard the young Dragyn.
	"The fighting style that you're currently using isn't going to
work in a real battle. I'll tell you that right now." Dracos pointed to
Ken's wings. "You're a Wyvern. As such, your greatest asset is speed
and aerial superiority. So far whenever you've attacked you haven't
bothered to even use your wings except as an extra set of limbs to
strike with. You always charge head first into battle as if you were a
Landracer. You've got to remember that you're a Flyer. Don't charge
straight at your enemy. That'll just get you stabbed on the end of a
sword. Instead, try using your wings to your advantage. You can fly,
and when your in the air you've got a natural advantage over your
enemy. Ryu has that too, but since he has so many other natural
abilities, he never bothered to develop his aerial skills to the level
that you can. Just remember not to be so headstrong. Try to go for
speed, not power, and you'll do well."
	Ken snorted, but he had to admit, to himself at least, that the
man was right.
	Dracos patted the young Dragyn on the soldier. "Get some rest.
Tomorrow, Ryu will meet you in the dojo." With that, the ex-Guardian
left, closing the door behind him as he entered his own quarters.
	Ken stood there for a few more seconds, pondering on what Dracos
had said.

	In his quarters, Dracos sighed deeply.
	<I need a little taste of freedom...>
	With that, Dracos teleported himself to the holodeck, and took
out the pendant he had been working on earlier that day. With a small
incantation, he activated it, and sighed as he felt the change begin.