Light and Shadow

Chapter 6

Light inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly, feeling her energy flow through her. She was in the training area with Shock and they were about to begin their first session.

"Okay," Shock brought his hands together, "Before we can begin dueling, we need to work on control. I'm not saying you're not good at controlling your power, there are just higher levels of more control in what your doing. For instance, I used to only be able to shock people when they touched my hands. Now it's my whole body. Another thing, which is harder, is focusing on one spot for long periods of time. I still have difficulty doing it."

Light nodded. She hadn't tried doing wither of those before. She never needed to become stronger or more focused dueling Silver. Although, she's sure she wasn't really dueling him now that she knows what her uncle is capable of, "What should I try first?"

Shock took Light's hands and held them up, "Try focusing your light bulb abilities on only your hands. If that's too difficult, try a larger area. The thing about beginning, is that you want to focus on the area you're trying to use, when that's not going to work. Kind of focus on pulling on everywhere else, while using your powers."

He stepped back and shielded his eyes in preparation. Light allowed her power to extend from her, brightening the room. She wasn't sure what to do at this point. She held her arms up and remembered what Shock said. Her first instinct was to focus on spreading the light in her arms, but tried to pull it in everywhere else. It wasn't near as easy as Shock made it sound. She was sort of focusing on two things at once. Her eyebrows pulled together in concentration, her arms tightening.

She felt hands on her shoulders and she tensed even more.

"Relax," Shock breathed in her ear. Light looked at him in surprise. His eyes were closed against the blinding light, but his hands remained on her shoulders in support, "You're thinking of it like it's a physical thing. Your powers are controlled completely with your mind."

Light thought about that and closed her eyes as well. She imagined her body with her mind's eyes as an infrared object with her shape. She imagined the power was a green glow around her and she focused on pulling the areas into the red image, except for her arms. She could swear she felt the power around her dimming, and wondered if she was even lit up at all.

"Open your eyes Light," Shock whispered. Light opened her eyes and looked down. She broke into a huge grin and jumped up with excitement.

She wasn't illuminating her arms, just her hands.

However, the moment she stopped focusing, the light came out again. Shock closed his eyes, chuckling, "That was easy. It took me months to get that right!"

Light let her powers go and hugged Shock tightly. The green hedgehog shouted in surprise, but hugged her back hesitantly. Light pulled back enough to kiss him lightly on the cheek, "You didn't have an awesome teacher!"

Shock's crystal eyes were wide open and someone could have bowled into his mouth. Light laughed and turned around, trying her power again. Because her eyes were closed, she didn't see Shock smile slightly and touch his cheek.

They practiced on that move for a couple hours. After that, Shock declared her a master of it. Light was sure he just wanted to be able to keep his eyes open.

"Okay, so. Is your lightning power limited to your hands, or..." He rolled his hand, waiting for her to answer.

Light nodded, "I've only ever been able to use my hands, but I haven't exactly needed to expand it."

Shock thought a moment, "Okay, once again, this is in your mind so whatever you've been doing, stick to that. The thing with electric powers is they are mostly triggered by some sort of emotion. Anger, jealousy, love, something like that."