Today was Saturday and I was finally off bed rest. This was also the day that I could start relearning how to control my powers. Now that I've gotten all of them, I had to learn control so that I didn't have an accident in public. This was the only mentally tiring part of being a Shifter.
Nigel and Umbra came over while I was in the coma, and they will join Nixis in my control training. Nixis is an Electric Dragon, Nigel is a Fire Dragon, and Umbra is a Darkness Dragon. Donatello was also a Darkness Dragon, but he doesn't fight. Instead, he's dedicated himself to being the best doctor possible for both Humans and Shifters.
I woke up today around 7 am, and was dressed and ready for breakfast by 8. Joining everyone in the dining room, I grabbed pancakes, bacon, strawberries, black coffee, and orange juice. Everyone was happy to see me up and the conversations were about the plans for the day.
"So, how do you plan to spend the day, Andrew?" Aunt Maria asked, after she swallowed her bite of food.
"Nigel and the guys are going to help me relearn how to control my powers." I said, swallowing my own bite of food.
"Are you planning on using the Safe Room?" Uncle Bartholomew asked, curiosity in his voice. The Safe Room was a room that was specially designed for when I got my full powers. It's called the Safe Room because it keeps people outside safe while I learn control.
"That's the plan. After all, that's why you built the room. I just hope it holds up, you know?" I replied, mildly concerned that something would happen.
"Well, just take it one step at a time. There's no point in worrying about something that might not happen." My dad said in his mild baritone voice.
"True. Speaking of which, it's time for the training to start, Andrew." Nixis said as he walked into the room.
"Coming." I said as I got up from my seat. We walked into the Safe Room and Nixis closed and secured the thick and heavy door. Nigel, Umbra, and Donny were already waiting for us.
"Are you ready, Andrew?" Nigel asked once we joined them in the middle of the room.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I replied nervously.
"Just breathe and let your Beasts guide you. They'll know what to do." Umbra's mellow voice advised. Nodding my head, I followed the older Dragon's advice. Closing my eyes, I focused on Magnis first.
"Hey, buddy. I know that you know your powers best, so please guide me." I said to him, knowing that he'd help me.
"Of course. You are me and I am you." Magnis replied in his rumbling voice, letting me feel his affection for me. "Now, let's focus on our power of Darkness. Our abilities are Mirage and Teleportation." Following Magnis's guidance, I was able to teleport to each corner of the room with relative ease. As for Mirage, we were now able to add more details as well as make it a physical change. So instead of altering someone's perception of me, I could now change my physical body. Magnis called this ability Disguise.
Next was my Fire element, which was now at the Absolute Heat level of intensity. My abilities for this were Fire Wall and Fire Ball. For my Electric element, I had Lightning Armor, which covered my body in lightning; and Live Wire, an Electric current that I could plant underground. Anyone who stepped on it would get electrocuted. Even though we didn't experiment with it, my Poison abilities were Poison Fog and Hallucinogen, which caused the victims to hallucinate before dying.
Focusing on Nightmare now, we did the same thing. Since Magnis and Nightmare shared Mirage, they now shared the Disguise ability as well. My other Darkness ability is Nightmare's namesake, Nightmare. It caused the victims to live their worst nightmares, making them go crazy. Lastly was my Ice element. It was now at Absolute Zero intensity, the complete opposite of Magnis's Absolute Heat Fire. My two abilities are Ice Manipulation and Frozen Touch.
Even though I had help from my Beats, I still struggled with control. For example, controlling the intensity of my Fire or limiting my Ice to a certain area. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't use my Poison abilities right now. My Beasts and my godfathers said that true control came with time, but started with knowing my abilities and current limits.
We spent a couple more hours practicing before stopping for lunch. In the dining room, I grabbed a plate with two loaded cheeseburgers, fries, and a glass of Coke with no ice. Everyone was curious about how my training was going, so that was what we talked about.
"So, are there any changes to your magic?" Uncle Bartholomew asked around a mouthful of his burger.
"Actually, yeah, there is. My Fire is now at the Absolute Heat level and my Ice is at the Absolute Zero level. I'm still struggling to control them, though. Right now, I either completely melt something or turn it to ash, or I turn it into a giant ice cube." I said, trying to explain my predicament.
"Ah, so you're struggling with Intensity Control. What other abilities do you have?" My dad said, understanding my situation. The rest of lunch was spent talking about my abilities. After lunch, my godfathers and I went to the gym to do a physical assessment.
"So, why do I need a physical assessment again?" I asked, not seeing the point of this test.
"We need to see if any of your physical abilities like speed, hearing, strength, etc. have changed since your Inheritance." Donny explained patiently.
"Well, I can tell you that my hearing is more sensitive. I can now hear my parents talking in the sitting room." I told Donny honestly. It was surprising since the sitting room they were in was on the other side of the Castle. After that, we started the other tests.
Donny had me attached to devices to monitor my heart beat and breathing while he had me run on the treadmill for 30 minutes at full speed. When the half hour was over, my heart rate and breathing had stayed even, and I hadn't even broken a sweat. However, my speed had increased and I had to adjust it to a speed that matched the treadmill, or else it would have broken.
"Since you had to adjust your speed, how long do you think you could maintain it?" Donny asked as he wrote on a piece of paper.
"Honestly? Even if I could've gone full speed, I could keep going for a couple hours." I said truthfully.
"So not only has your speed increased, but your stamina as well." Donny said, writing it down. After the speed and stamina test, the next one Donny had me do was my strength. He had me punch a metal plate with a sensor in it. Punching with my right fist showed a score of 362.874kgs (800lbs) of force and my left punch showed a score of 317.515kgs (700lbs) of force.
It was a struggle to keep my strength in check. I had to constantly keep reminding myself to relax my hold on a fork or a pencil. Truthfully, it was annoying but Donny said that it would get easier. That's what they said about everything: that it would get easier with time. When we were done, it was time for dinner and I went to bed soon after.