Jay clenched his fists, so tightly his nails dug half-moons into his palms. He turned back to find the gangbanger grinning, and the controlled calm he'd developed from years of training with Paupau disappeared as though it had never been.

He didn't fight it. Instead, he let that enormous something he always felt shifting inside him grow, rising up to fill not only himself, but the entire hall. No- it was more like he was filling the hall, because as the secret behemoth grew inside him, he merged with it. He could feel the weight of enormous wings on his shoulders pushing against the roof high above. His lungs were hot with raging coals and fire. There was a roaring in his ears, like a long continuous rumble of immediate thunder.

The fire, when it burst from his mouth could have erupted from a flamethrower: an awful, blistering tongue of heat that enveloped the gangbanger. Jay stomped his enormous hind foot-ten times the size of an elephants-and the ground shook, the building trembled. He stomped again, claiming his victory over his foe and marking his territory. Cracks streaked up the walls. Dust and plaster flaked and fell. A second blast of fame and the gangbanger was briefly outlined before he was entirely consumed and collapsed into ash.