"AAAAAAAH!" Max and Jake screamed at the same time.
Max screamed because she saw her wings changing, she saw scales grow all over her skin while her finger- and toe-nails turned to claws.
Jake screamed because he felt a searing pain in his back as his vertebrae changed to make room for the bones and muscles growing behind his shoulder-blades.
When the screaming faded, a bewildered brown and white dragon stood in Max's place. The human Jake looked almost the same, but his shirt was a shredded heap on the ground. With his upper clothes removed, two big, feathery wings sprouted from his back. His wings were black with thin red streaks.
"Okay. Now that you know the initial effect of Councilor Jebidiah's orders, I guess I'm allowed to fill you in on the rest. Jake, you are now a recombinant-DNA life form. You are only 98 human, like Max was, so you should have similar powers to what Max had. Max, you are now the American Dragon. You can breathe fire and do other things dragons do. You still have the Voice, though. Everyone, it's time to get you to Jake's house. Max needs to start dragon-training immediately, and Jake needs some lessons on being a bird-kid. Let's go!" The short-haired pile of wrinkled fat started to walk away.
"Fu dog! How do I change back to human? I don't think dragons are a common sight in New York. Little help?" Max knew well not to draw attention to herself.
"And I can't get my wings to disappear!" Jake sounded distressed. He obviously thought that the wings were like his dragon form, and that he could change whenever he wanted.
"You can't get rid of your wings. They're always there. The best thing you can do is to tuck them close into the pockets under your arms and put a sweatshirt over them. But right now, I suggest you leave them out and fly into your bedroom window." Fang's mouth twitched, showing he was amused.
"And Max, you just need to think about changing—or actually, think about changing and think about fire. You can change without the flames, but it's quicker when you use them." The old man, Lao Shi, had been forgotten when the Huntsgirl first attacked, and everyone jumped when he spoke. "Try it."
Max concentrated, but she couldn't change back. "Angel? Can you look into his mind and see what I'm doing wrong?"
"I can't get into his or Fu's mind. Let me try Jake's." Pause. "Think about your regular human form, minus the wings. At the same time, think about fire covering your body, and think about changing to your human form."
"Thanks. That makes more sense than what he said." Max did what Angel had said to do, and her scales disappeared. Which meant that Angel was better at explaining things than the teacher was. Hm.
"Good. Now that that's clear, you will walk with me, Fu dog, and Total to Jake's house, and your Flock will fly there with Jake. Follow me." Lao Shi walked off. Shrugging, the dogs and Max followed. The Flock minus their leader took off. Jake tried to get flying too, but couldn't get his wings to catch air. Laughing, Angel explained that he had to either run and jump, or hop forward before moving his wings. Apparently, bird wings worked differently than dragon wings. Figures. When he was finally in the air, the group flew in the direction that the others had gone.