Aki- Hey, I know I missed updating last week, but I was busy and this chapter was hard to write, but I hope you like it. Tenshi is here and is annoying me about the above run-on sentence and being generally obnoxious.

Chapter 8: Training

"What do you know how to do?"

"Sometimes I can, uh, kinda," Alex looked down at his hands hopelessly. "They sorta glow blue and then they shot?"

"They're called starbolts," explained Kori, where the two stood in the gym that Alex rarely stepped foot in. Kori closed her fist and around her hand formed an orb of green colored energy.

Alex eyes grew wide. "You—can just bring it up on command like that?"

Kori let the energy die, her eyes changing from glowing green to her regular shade. "Yes. You will be able to with much practice. The powers of my people are controlled by our emotions, but once you get used to them enough, you learn how to draw them up without that emotion exactly."

"What emotion brings up those starbolty thingies?" asked Alex.

"Righteous fury."

"Righteous what-now? I'm pretty sure I don't do righteous fury."

"Oh really?" said Kori in a skeptical tone. "Think back at the times you have used starbolts already, what brought them about?"

"Well, the other day Halle said I didn't have super powers when I did and knew I did and the first time…" Alex wrinkled his brown in thought. The first time he used these 'starbolts' he was being antagonized by bullies, but he had been antagonized by bullies many times before without anything happening. Of course, he didn't snap until they tried to call Halle a sl—…Oh.

"Am I right?" asked Kori.

"Yes," said Alex grudgingly.

"Glorious!"

"O-kay."

"Have you thought that you might have the ability of flight? That is the most earliest and natural of my people's powers."

"Flight? Um, what emotion do you gotta have to fly?"

"You have to feel the boundless joy of flight," said Kori wistfully. So wistfully that she was floating a few inches off the floor as she said it.

"Riiight," said Alex, looking at his mother with concern. "I haven't felt boundless joy since I found out that they were making a Starcraft Two. What powers do I get for being cynical or geeking out?"
"Eh…"

"That doesn't sound good."

Kori landed and walked over to her son. "Just try it. Come on, Alex. Once you feel flight…it's amazing. I can't believe I've had to keep it secret all these years, how…how …wonderous it is!" She fixed her son with a big smile.

"Fine," Alex digressed, feeling guilt tripped into it. His mother was unable to feel the boundless joy of flight for years because she gave up superhero work to protect him and his twin sister. She hadn't purposely tried to press that on him, he knew, but it happened anyway.

He closed his eyes and thought to himself. 'Okay, the boundless joy of flight….joy of flight…ugg, I got sick on that airplane once, wait!, that's not joy…joy…starcraft two…zurg's and protose…how do we even know that I can fly in the first place…' Alex popped an eye open, his mother was watching him expectantly.

"I don't think this is working," stated Alex, feet still firmly on the ground.

Kori deflated a bit, but only a little bit. "There's always tomorrow. For now we can work with starbolts, which we know you can do."

…

Dick and Halle had commandeered the mansion gym a few hours later.

"What's that?" asked Halle.

Dick glanced over his shoulder to see where Halle was pointing to scorch mark on the wall.

"Uh, I think that was your mom trying to teach Alex how to control his powers."

"Remind me not to get on his bad side anytime soon," Halle muttered under her breath.

"Okay, don't get on his bad side anytime soon."

"I didn't mean right now," Halle said, rolling her eyes.

"Are you ready?"

"Why am I learning martial arts again…?"

"Why? To be able to know your body and it's limits," said Dick, striking a martial artists pose where he was in a slight lung, his fists held up defensively. "To able to use your strength to its greatest advantage. To be able to…" Dick caught sight of Halle barely restraining her laughter. He stood up straight. "To make sure you don't accidentally use your super strength to hurt somebody."

"I'm not going to hurt anybody," Halle protested with a touch of indignity in her voice.

"Maybe not intentionally, but when your mom first came to earth…well, her hugs could crack ribs…seriously. When you're angry or excited, that strength may come out and affect whoever you're interacting with."

"I thought martial arts were about kicking people's butts."

"No," said Dick through gritted teeth. "They're about—"

"I know, I know…knowing your body and its limits."

"Ah…yes."

"Okay, let's start…but before we do, you're not going to make me wax your car and tell me that it practice, are you? 'Cause I won't be digging this 'wax on, wax off' action."

Dick chuckled. "You got to stop watching old movies."

"It crossed your mind, didn't it?"

"…maybe…"

…

"Not only do you have to learn to aim, you have to learn how to control how much energy to release in your starbolt."

"Well, that's really not a problem, I can't get my setting past extra low."

"It will grow with time and the much practice…Oh, have you been practicing flying in your free time?"

Alex sighed in exasperation. "Yes, and I haven't hovered as much as an inch off the floor."

"Oh, well…keep trying…"

"Why are you so sure I even have flight? I mean, Halle could have it for all we know. Or neither of us."

Kori sighed. "I just have this feeling…"

"Right, feeling, that's concrete proof," Alex muttered, crossing his arms.

"Feelings are proof. My powers, your powers, are controlled by them! If you automatically refuse to believe in your ability to fly of course you never will, you klorpbag!"

"Did you just call me a klorpbag?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you such a horrible name. It was wrong of me, but you were acting so…what?...why are you laughing?"

"…klorp…bag…" Alex managed to squeeze out he uncontrollable snickers. "Wha—the hell—is a stickin'—klorbag?" Tears sprang up in his eyes.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Look at the floor." He looked.

"What about it?"
"You're not standing on it anymore."

Indeed he wasn't. He was floating a few inches above it. "I'm—I'm flying," he said lamely.

"Told you so."

"I'm flying. I'm actually really flying." He began to move. He rose higher, then to the left and more to the left and he couldn't find the brakes and more the left and he banged into the wall and slid down to the floor.

"You okay?" asked Kori, running over to his side.

He held his head cautiously in his hands. "It's not as easy as it looks."

…

Halle picked up martial arts with a good speed. She had been on a gymnastic team for many years when she was younger and still retained much of her reflexivity, balance, and skills she had gained from it. However, she was not so good at controlling her strength.

"OW!" Halle cradled her hand in the other. "How thick is that board?" she questioned, nursing her bruised knuckles.

"As thick as the one you punched through with ease last week," replied her father.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Then why isn't it breaking?"

"Hmm." Dick rubbed his chin in thought. "I had assumed that your strength was an inherit ability, like your mom's. That you had it all the time and would have to learn to tone it down, but…I guess, if that you're the case you would have exhibited from birth and it wouldn't have developed later in life…"

"What are talking about?"

"Your super strength is a power like Alex's starbolts or flight. It's something you can turn on and off. But you have to learn how."

"How am I going to do that?"

"We'll think of something."

…

Diner was a quite affair, because Alex and Halle were too exhausted from school and training to do anything other than focus on bringing their fork from their plate to their mouths. Dick and Kori had something else planned.

"God, I'm going to up to bed and sleep for like, 10 hours."

"Me too," grumbled Alex. The twins began to push away from the table to get up.

"Wait a minute," said their father.

"What?" the twins said in unison, sitting back down.

"We need to have a family meeting," said Kori.

"A what?"

"You know, an open forum to discuss issues in a judgment free environment."

"Yeah, I've heard of the concept," Halle said sharply.

"We think that you two could benefit from more diverse training methods."

"Meaning?"

"Starting tomorrow I'm going to teach Alex some marital arts and your mother is going to teach, you Halle, to control your strength."

"But—"

"No buts, this is for your own good."

Halle and Alex shared a disgruntled glance. Although they were often on opposing sides, they were united in the horror of having to be alone and personal for prolonged periods of time with the parent they had they had, to put it kindly, 'issues' with.

Aki- I've got a real clever idea, it involves you, the readers, going and clicking that little purple/blue button that says go and giving me a review. Isn't it novel? See, because people generally judge stories (or at least I do) by how many reviews they have per chapter. And I only have seventeen for seven chapters total, which is lame. So, please, please, please review!