The next two years of Kiyo’s training weren’t so easy.  His physical abilities raised almost ten whole points (That means that if his standard was 100, then it would be 200.) and he was a lot smarter.  The only side effect was his emotions going to hell and never coming back.  He didn’t have any more fun with his training, didn’t think of life as a game.  As the instructor watched him, he saw that Kiyo was becoming more and more fit for his purpose, an assassin.  The trials were in a year and a half and Kiyo was already more than prepared.  The only thing that he was afraid of was that Kiyo pushed everyone away.  He pushed himself beyond the limit and still was.  The Instructor was less worried about what Kiyo would do to his target, but what he would do to himself.

“1999…2000.” Kiyo got up from his sit ups, almost breaking a sweat.

“You’ve raised the level of every exercise by 1000 over the past two years, don’t you think you should give yourself a break?” Katherine commented.

“Nope.”

Laurel entered the dome with Psych.  Kiyo always got there at least two hours earlier than them now.

The red haired boy flipped himself up and proceeded to do his running exercises.

“How long has he been at it?” Psych said, watching his best friend run at least two laps a minute not tiring out.

“About an hour before usual.” Katherine replied.

“Alright, Kiyo, I think that’s enough.  Try the self defense moves I taught you yesterday with Psych.”

Kiyo ran up to Psych, still not tired.

Psych looked into his friend’s listless face.

It showed no pain, no love, and no envy at all.

Kiyo stood there, almost cockily as Psych dropped to the defensive stance Katherine had taught him.

Kiyo rushed at his friend, first snapping a kick to his temple, then landing a pressure point on his back, paralyzing him for at least four minutes.

“What?!  That’s no fair!” Psych wailed at his defeat-in-a-second.

Kiyo wasn’t even facing in the same direction; he was walking out the door.

Since he wasn’t required to go to the mental training anymore, he spent a third of his day in the hanger, practicing his zoid repair and knowledge, a third of it in the physical training dome, and the rest in the zoid sims.

He entered the zoid simulation room.

Kiyo walked in and noticed something different.

Psych caught up to him and noticed the same things.

The lights were off, the sims were unplugged, and no one was there.

“Where do we go now?” Laurel asked as she walked up.

Kiyo did the next best thing, head to the hanger.

There was something different here to.

There, in the hanger, there were three zoids.

Kiyo walked up to the Instructor, who was obviously waiting for them.

“What’s going on?”

“Its time for you to start training with actual zoids.”

“Why?”

“You simulation scores are much too high for you to stay on them.  Pick your zoids and we’ll begin.”

Kiyo looked at the three zoids stationed in the hanger.

There was something like a Konig Wolf, a Liger of some sort, and a strange looking Raynos like zoid.

Kiyo, liking the shear power and mobility of four legged zoids, chose the strange green Liger.

Psych chose the Konig Wolf thing and Laurel was left with the air zoid.

Kiyo jumped into the cockpit and pushed some buttons.

As soon as he gripped the controls, the Liger roared, as if a warning, and ejected Kiyo from the pilot’s seat.

He landed on the ground and the Liger roared at him.

Kiyo, not feeling fear, got up and stared at the Liger.

“What did you do to it.” Kiyo asked the instructor.

“Nothing.  It has what’s called an organoid system.  It enables the zoid to have a life of its own.”
Kiyo had heard of black boxes.  Nothing was really known about them except their ability to turn a zoid into a living being.

“It obviously doesn’t like you.”

Psych had no better luck, but Laurel was fine.

She was talking to the zoid, almost crooning it.

“Why’s she so lucky?” Psych asked, annoyed a girl had done better than him.

“She must have the rare ability to sooth a zoid with an organoid system.”

“BS.” Kiyo went up and gave the Liger a death stare.