Liz awoke to a strange man tapping her shoulder

Liz awoke to a strange man tapping her shoulder. It took a second to remember where she was. But Liz couldn't complain, as long as she can wake up next to Max then she didn't care where she was. Liz rousing from her sleep woke Max too. He smiled at her and gave her a good morning kiss. The pod squad and Liz met in the larger room. Larek entered.

"Good morning, I hope you all slept well because today we start training." Larek said bluntly. "I am going to have you four practice your powers together. Chris is going to supervise and tell you what to do. Liz you are going to practice with me."

Max was reluctant to leave Liz alone with someone they barely knew, but he realized that Liz had to learn this power if they wanted to survive.

"Hello your majesties, I am first going to show you how to learn when someone is going to and using their power. Tess, since you can mind warp and that doesn't involve hurting anyone I want you to mind warp a situation and the rest of you try and figure out what is real and not." Chris explained.

Tess imagined that she was telling them that she wanted to go shopping out in the market; she wanted to create a situation they could believe was actually happening. Max, Isabel, and Michael found it hard not to go along with the mind warp but after a couple tries they could feel power being released from Tess and could separate the warp from reality. They were all excited that they had figured out one skill.

Meanwhile Larek pulled Liz into a smaller room. "Now Liz I understand that you are very scared about using your powers and I fully understand why. However there is something you have to keep in mind, you are the first person to posses this power and maybe the only one who will ever have this. The skins have enslaved us for years. If the skins had it their way your grandmother would have died the day of the crash and you would never have been born. I know you want to help us, I can see it in your eyes, but I also know you have apprehension about killing. No one wants to kill Skin, Antarian, or human. The thing that you have to remember is that if you don't do this then Earth will be overrun and humans will die, followed by Antarians. No one is going to force you to do what you don't want to, but we can only ask you to fulfill the destiny you are supposed to follow." Larek said while trying to look Liz in the eye. Liz's eyes seemed interested in her shoes.

"I will do whatever is needed of me, I just wish it did not have to be this way. I don't want to be the one to deny life to anyone; I just don't want to condemn death either. But I want to one day when this is done come home to my family, so I guess show me what I got to do." Liz said shyly. Larek couldn't help but admire this little girl who had such a huge heart, it was tough for him to understand the compassion she had, but respect her greatly. 'They choose the right girl.'

"Okay, well with that said let's get to work. Everyone has a set amount of energy in their body. You have more power in your body then anyone has ever had. If the power is completely drained from your body then you body shuts down and you become weak and bones and organs become easy to break. That is what happened to you before. That is why when Max saved you slept for a long time afterwards; you needed to build up that energy again. What I am going to teach you is how to use that energy more effectively so it doesn't drain you too much. I want you to try it now. Don't worry this power only effects the Skins. Think about how they hurt you and your friends, and how they are planning to kill people you love. However this time focus and try to control the energy your using, use little by little. If anything goes wrong we will stop you and help you." Larek explained. Liz nodded

Liz thought about the things they went through because of the skins and all the people hurt and will be hurt by them. Her eyes slowly started to glow red and the blue light shot out from her tiny frame. Liz made sure that the light only filled up the sanctuary. Larek was in awe, but had to shield his eyes from the intensity of the light. Liz started to feel weak so she immediately thought of Max and how she wanted to run up to him and kiss him, which then promptly stopped the light. Liz felt dizzy.

Max rushed into the room not caring if he would get in trouble for doing so. He saw the light fill into the room he was working in and he got nervous that Liz was going to get hurt again so he bolted to find Liz. He saw her about to faint so he ran and caught her body before it fell. He cradled her head in his lap. He tapped his connection with her and checked to make sure she didn't injure herself. He realized that she was physically fine, but her energy is low. He gave her a little of his energy. Liz just looked up at Max and smiled. 'My knight in shinning armor.' After hearing this Max's eyes burned with rage and looked up at Larek who was still shocked. "How could you let her endanger herself like that; too much longer and she would have been killed!" Max screamed. Liz put a finger up to Max's lips. She didn't want him to overreact."

"I'm sorry Max, you have to remember we have never seen this before. No one has ever been able to produce that light; everything we know is based on a legend. That would be like you seeing Noah's Arc or what did you call it? Oh yes, a unicorn. I expected it to be bright and strong, but nothing like that. I assure you that next time we will take more precautions." Larek tried to explain.

"This is a person we are talking about not a mystical horse. I won't let you be so careless with her." Max started to scream, but Liz sat up and gave him a quick kiss and stood up.

"Enough! Larek probably should have stepped in, but I don't blame him. If anyone is to blame it is me. I didn't feel my energy becoming low until I felt weak. Larek couldn't have known my limitations on the first time. Max I want to tell you something since you were passed out at the time. When I first did this no one could keep their eyes off me, and the only time they did was to shield the light from their eyes. If I don't do this I will never be able to figure it out myself, I can't always have someone standing there making sure I don't get too tired. I'm glad he didn't step in, I am starting to figure out myself better. So stop the arguing. I am going to take a short nap, but when I come back I am going to try it again." Liz yelled and stormed off into her room. Max was dumbfounded; he had never seen her like that before. Through the connection they shared he could tell that she was angry that people think she is just a little girl and she needs protection all the time. He understood and felt horrible about how he treats her. He headed for their room but was stopped by Isabel who had just witnessed the whole scene.

"Max, let her rest, she needs it. Also based on the way you were just acting I think she could use sometime away from testosterone. Besides Chris wants us to keep training." Isabel quietly pleaded. Max just kept staring at the closed door and nodded. He reluctantly went back to training and sighed.

Liz could hear Isabel talking to Max outside the door. She felt bad at the harshness of her voice before, but she wasn't sorry she said it. She needed to learn her own powers and she couldn't do that with Max hovering over her making sure she doesn't break a nail. 'I just hope I can figure this out.' She sighed and turned over on her side and fell asleep.