Jim sent his sister an image of Raina's current position. Mental laughter rang through his head.
Leila sent an impression of a nod at him.
“So what's next, Sensei?” Raina had finally recovered somewhat.
"We're done with training for today," Jim assured her. "Leila will be up here in a few minutes for a spar, and I want you to see how much of it you can track."
Raina nodded, immediately going beginning one of the recovery meditations that he had shown her earlier. After a few minutes, a woman exited the elevator. If it wasn't for Jim's connection with her, he would never have thought she was his sister. Leila had a full makeover. Her cheekbones were higher and more pronounced, her nose was a bit smaller, her formerly blood-red hair was now a space-black and she had added a few inches, making herself five feet ten inches tall. The most noticeable characteristic of the now Leila wasn't her height or her new hair color, but her eyes. They had changed from a deep blue to a piercing forest green that immediately drew Jim's eyes to meet them. Jim felt a shiver run down his spine as he looked into those eyes. He felt his eyes trying to shift to match but fought down the urge. Not the place for a dominance fight. Better to do that later, in private. As his sister walked towards him, he noticed that, for the first time since he had given it to her, she didn't have her sword on her. Before he could comment on that, his eyes narrowed as he spotted an intricate gray tattoo going up her right arm. He also noticed, that despite her new size, his sister's clothes fit her perfectly.
His sister nodded.
Jim nodded. “Ready.”
Jim watched his sister as he prepared his psi for the first stage of the test, hand-to-hand combat. He would be using primarily Enhance for speed and agility, with a kine technique to increase to the power of his strikes. Focusing, he charged his sister. Leila's right arm, the one that had the gray tattoo, was suddenly covered by a black energy that seemed to be a part of her skin. The tattoo shone bright silver against the pitch black of the energy. Jim's eyes widened at the sight slowing his advance. Moving more carefully, Jim probed his sister with a couple of jabs, which she easily avoided, stepping around his line of attack. The black arm shot at Jim, forcing him back. The two went at each other, with fast probing attacks, that were either deflected of dodged outright. After a few minutes, Leila overextended on a punch. Taking advantage of the instants opening, Jim sent a powerful punch wrapped in amethyst colored Kine energy for extra effect. Leila twisted, catching Jim's amethyst hand with her black one. Jim's eyes widened. While Leila was more powerful then he was, she had been suppressing her psionic powers to match his. As far as he could tell, that hadn't changed, but it felt he had just made the mistake of punching Howard Dawson. While his aura had protected his fist he had the feeling that if it wasn't for that, he would have a broken hand. As Jim stared at his sister, the gray tattoo glowed, creating some sort of energy that began dissipating his protective aura, even as his sister began increasing her strength, trying to crush his fist. Grunting, Jim switched his Enhance from speed to power and twisted, ripping his arm out of his sister's grasp.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
She agreed, resetting her stance.
“Idiots and skilled people.” Jim returned her smile, flowing forward, using his aura to increase his speed.
The two met again, Jim's blades flowing, some cuts getting deflected by Leila's arm, a few cuts, however, flicking around the arm, drawing a couple shallow cuts on her stomach and chest. Leila grimaced slashing with her black arm, pushing Jim back and following up with a couple of jabs.
Jim probed his cheek for a second with his Enhance for anything that would stop him from fighting. Satisfied that the damage wasn't anything that would need immediate attention, Jim reactivated his Kine. Asteroid. Belt Rotation. Twenty small spheres appeared at his waist, beginning to orbit his body. Sekandar. A two-handed version of a shamshir manifested in his grip. Flow. His aura resumed it's previous flow, this time entering the sword. Leila inclined her head, taking the offensive for the first time, rocketing towards him, body protected by her shield. Jim evaded, leaping back. Release. The Asteroids shot at Leila, using the centrifugal force that they had built up. Leila ignored the kine attacks, safe behind her shield. A thought from Jim, however, and the spheres split, attacking his sister from both left and right. Leila spun, managing to block most of the spheres and twisted to avoid the last two attacks. The spheres made it to the ropes, before dissipating just before leaving the ring. Leila's gaze returned to her brother, her eyes widening as she registered the sheer power that Jim had stored in his blade. Jim met her gaze, an adrenaline-fueled grin pulling his lips back, showing his teeth. Leila charged again, trying to close the distance before he could put any more power into the blade. Before she could reach him, Jim performed a single two-handed slash. Release. A slash of shadow-black energy flashed toward Leila, who had no choice but to take the attack directly on her shield. Gritting her teeth against the force, Leila felt herself start to get pushed back. With a roar, the woman managed to deflect the attack, sending the shadow slash out of the ring.
The slash flew towards where Raina was standing, trying to keep track of the match, cutting a line through the floor. No! Jim prepared to forcibly cancel the attack before the slash hit the woman. Before he could, however, a wall of kine power appeared before the slash. The shadows rushed at the wall, only to shatter without leaving a mark on it. The terror that Jim had felt only an instant turned to pure dread as a wave of irritation came at him from the woman who had created the wall. “I hope there's a good reason why you two are destroying the building.” Mae Dawson said with a calm the belied the emotions that Jim felt coming from her. “And it had better have something to do with why I had to cancel movie night with Howard.”