The road to becoming a Cyber-Knight was a strange one indeed.
Master Jiang had always been a tough old tutor, his harshness intended solely to toughen up his pupils. Yet, the further Alphonse had progressed in his training, the stranger and stranger things had become. Especially since the night of his surgery...
Alphonse did not remember the night well. He had long been practicing his psychic discipline and martial arts prowess, a zen fighting machine several years in the making, when Master Jiang had finally said the fateful words.
"You're ready."
He spoke this phrase fairly often, so Alphonse paid it no mind, except perhaps to wonder at what horror this would be now. The last time the Master had said "You're Ready," he had dropped Alphonse into a large pot full of electric eels, supposedly to "attune his cyberkinetic senses".
Yet this time there had been no cold dark clay vessel, no wriggling mass of stinging burning slimy sea-worms. No, there had simply been a small ceremony, during which Master Jiang administered some sort of sedative to Alphonse via injection. His head had grown heavy and he remembered passing out, groggily waking up to bright fluorescent lights only briefly before more sedative was given him and he returned to an unconscious state.
Upon waking, Al's entire body ached, and his head pounded. He sat up and immediately vomited. Wiping his mouth with a sleeveless arm, he looked around - he was sitting in the Master's garden, exactly where he'd been during the injection ceremony. Master Jiang sat nearby, facing away from him.
"Master, what has happened to me? What have you done?"
The old man chuckled softly.
"You have become a true Cyber-Knight. Come, it is time to train you anew."
And so began a daily ritual in which Master Jiang would carve a fresh bamboo pole and beat Alphonse about the head, neck, shoulders, arms, and back. Every afternoon he would do this until the pole broke, and then they would break for tea. Alphonse checked himself daily, surprised to see no marks despite the unyielding power of his master's whipping arm. Truly, he had become stronger.
At long last, he worked up his nerve one day to again inquire Master Jiang.
The master sat cross-legged facing the pool, his back to Al. Timidly, Alphonse approached and asked of his master:
"Sir Iron Fist, excuse my curiosity, but what is it exactly that made me a Cyber-Knight? Did you inject me with some sort of cybernetic blood that enhances me? Have you given me cybernetic subdermal implants? Was my psychic power just boosted to a level that allows me to enhance my body subconsciously?"
Jiang said nothing, chuckling softly in that unsettling way of his.
"Master please! I wish to know the source of my own power!"
Jiang sighed, and at length he spoke.
"What matter is it to you? The source of your power is within. Have I not given you an internal source of power through these years of training? Have I not instilled such a martial prowess and psychic rigidity within you that they have become a part of your very identity, the core of your person? Now you have all the power of a true Cyber-Knight, at no further cost to yourself. How you choose to use it is the most important part."
He turned around as he spoke the last part, revealing several dozen nuts, bolts, and chunks of scrap metal, all contained in the lap-fabric of his robe.
"Now then... it is time to practice your cyberkinetic awareness. Let's see if you can dodge this!"
Master Jiang had always been a tough old tutor, his harshness intended solely to toughen up his pupils. Yet, the further Alphonse had progressed in his training, the stranger and stranger things had become. Especially since the night of his surgery...
Alphonse did not remember the night well. He had long been practicing his psychic discipline and martial arts prowess, a zen fighting machine several years in the making, when Master Jiang had finally said the fateful words.
"You're ready."
He spoke this phrase fairly often, so Alphonse paid it no mind, except perhaps to wonder at what horror this would be now. The last time the Master had said "You're Ready," he had dropped Alphonse into a large pot full of electric eels, supposedly to "attune his cyberkinetic senses".
Yet this time there had been no cold dark clay vessel, no wriggling mass of stinging burning slimy sea-worms. No, there had simply been a small ceremony, during which Master Jiang administered some sort of sedative to Alphonse via injection. His head had grown heavy and he remembered passing out, groggily waking up to bright fluorescent lights only briefly before more sedative was given him and he returned to an unconscious state.
Upon waking, Al's entire body ached, and his head pounded. He sat up and immediately vomited. Wiping his mouth with a sleeveless arm, he looked around - he was sitting in the Master's garden, exactly where he'd been during the injection ceremony. Master Jiang sat nearby, facing away from him.
"Master, what has happened to me? What have you done?"
The old man chuckled softly.
"You have become a true Cyber-Knight. Come, it is time to train you anew."
And so began a daily ritual in which Master Jiang would carve a fresh bamboo pole and beat Alphonse about the head, neck, shoulders, arms, and back. Every afternoon he would do this until the pole broke, and then they would break for tea. Alphonse checked himself daily, surprised to see no marks despite the unyielding power of his master's whipping arm. Truly, he had become stronger.
At long last, he worked up his nerve one day to again inquire Master Jiang.
The master sat cross-legged facing the pool, his back to Al. Timidly, Alphonse approached and asked of his master:
"Sir Iron Fist, excuse my curiosity, but what is it exactly that made me a Cyber-Knight? Did you inject me with some sort of cybernetic blood that enhances me? Have you given me cybernetic subdermal implants? Was my psychic power just boosted to a level that allows me to enhance my body subconsciously?"
Jiang said nothing, chuckling softly in that unsettling way of his.
"Master please! I wish to know the source of my own power!"
Jiang sighed, and at length he spoke.
"What matter is it to you? The source of your power is within. Have I not given you an internal source of power through these years of training? Have I not instilled such a martial prowess and psychic rigidity within you that they have become a part of your very identity, the core of your person? Now you have all the power of a true Cyber-Knight, at no further cost to yourself. How you choose to use it is the most important part."
He turned around as he spoke the last part, revealing several dozen nuts, bolts, and chunks of scrap metal, all contained in the lap-fabric of his robe.
"Now then... it is time to practice your cyberkinetic awareness. Let's see if you can dodge this!"