A New Opponent

The sleep I had was very refreshing, I was quite a bit more at ease today and so I went out into the habitat to continue my training. The ship had finished its modifications to the scanners, it was now able to detect the mindforce type of energy and so we were now able to get an accurate count of the creatures in the habitat as well as knowing where they were. My mission today was to be able to detect the creatures quite a bit better as well, I didn't want to rely solely on the ship's sensors. I sat down in a clearing and began focusing my attention on the subtle energies I had detected yesterday in my training. It was quite a bit easier today and as I continued working at it my range started to improve. The ship helped me a bit in this by giving me directions to focus for the next closest creature. After awhile I was able to keep track of the ones in range as well as the ship did.

I knew my range wasn't perfect, but I also knew I needed to work on different aspects of the power in me. I didn't want to be left with the ability to sense but not defend or protect myself. So after lunch I spent some time focusing on the next aspect I wanted to be able to use. My focus was on healing, I had used that the most and knew exactly what it felt like to perform that type of mindforce. I focused on the feeling I rememebered and slowly felt the energy flowing in the same way. I used the energy to simply heal some plants that had been damaged by passing creatures. It was very ineffective but at least I was using the right energy on it. I focused more on this and tried to push more power into the healing effect, I thought it was going well as the plant started to mend but suddenly realized that I was pushing too hard when the plant went up in flames. I had pushed too hard and the wrong energy went into my efforts, I learned what fire felt like but was a bit discouraged that I had gone from healing to incinerating with such little effort. Mindforce was going to take quite a while to get the hang of, it was no wonder we relied so much on chips to allow us to use the one we wanted.

I continued working on the different energies throughout the afternoon, the ship monitored each type and kept track of my vitals and energy flow so that it could show me later what it was sensing. Towards the end of my training I sensed something coming nearer to me, from what I had been learning about the different feels of the mindforce that each creature put out I knew that this was one of the more hostile creatures from the planet. Normally they avoided me but this time it was coming much closer than normal. I turned in the direction that it was coming and informed the ship to allow it to approach, I wanted to see what it wanted or try out my powers against it if it attacked. Normally this wasn't my desire, but I knew I would eventually have to train them in situations that were uncontrolled and the ship could always assist if things went poorly. As I saw it come out of the foliage nearby I started to charge up my electric energy. As my hands began to glow and the energy coursed through my body the creature stopped and I felt its energy changing as well. I didn't know what it was doing but I braced myself for anything, making sure to keep my energy focused and not lose the charge I was building. Suddenly the creature lept into the air, I got a good glimpse of it, it was feline in shape and had large eyes, it bared its sharp little teeth, about three rows of them as it sprang towards me, this was the first time anything had tried to attack me and as it did I unleashed the energies I had towards it. The creature was knocked back, slamming into a tree. The attack had been effective, but the creature turned towards me after that and it unleashed a similar bolt of electricity back at me. In my shock I was only able to jam a portion of the attack and felt the rest rip through my body, it was not a pleasant feeling. I had no idea the creatures could do such things but I wasn't ready to give up yet, I charged up some energy to heal myself, I had to maintain my body if this fight was going to go well. As the energy finished the creature lunged at me again, I was able to evade the attack and use my healing energy at the same time. I realized now the freedom I would have without the technology, normally a movement would have caused me to lose the charge but when there was no technology I could actually have some freedom to maneuver. The energy was strong in the heal, my body recovered and it was as if the attack never happened. The rush of this fight was boosting the energy flow within me, I wasn't pressing so hard to get results, they were just coming because I had no time to force them. The next charge came much quicker, this time I charged up the fire aspect of my ability. The creature again started shifting its energies and before it could finish I unleashed my fury at it. The creature was briefly engulfed in flames and howled horribly in its pain. Not wanting to torment it I pulled forth some healing energy and healed its wounds. The creature at this point lied down and looked at me, its eyes were filled with relief and it seemed more at ease. After it had rested a moment it got up and ran off. I had the ship keep track of it, I wanted to learn more about why this creature had attacked me and how it had unleashed electrical energies back towards me. For now I was satisfied with my progress, I was gaining control over my powers, though they were still very weak, but I now had a better idea of how to harness them. With that I left the habitat and went back to the control room to analyze the data the ship had just collected.