The Descendants

The Inner Circle

"Again!" Daliah yelled at him.

Timothy straightened up as he prepared for another round. They were both dressed in black sleeveless training gear and had been training for four hours non-stop - and he was clearly exhausted. Standing opposite her in the hall of Taj, Timothy closed his eyes in concentration as something that looked like red smoke slowly appeared right above his head taking the shape of about a dozen spears hovering above him. He shot out his hand suddenly, and the spears dashed forward toward a huge bulls eye target at the other end of the room, next to his aunt. All the red spears struck the target, and none of the spears disappeared into a puff of red smoke as it had during the first hour of training. He was making steady progress

He was happy to know that his manipulations were now taking on a more precise form. His ability worked with his imagination, like his aunt had observed, and although it was kind of exhausting, Timothy had learned to create objects with his red matter.
"Excellent!" Said Daliah. "You've started getting a grasp of shape and nature manipulations, and under four hours only. Your talent is quite promising."

Timothy beamed with pride. It was rare to be complimented by such a heavy-handed lady.

"But now let me see how you would fare in actual battle" she continued, as she readied herself to attack.

As usual, his moment of self-pride was snuffed out in an instant and his shoulders slouched.

"Bu...But, can't we take a break. We've been......"

Without warning, she jumped and punched the air like there was an invisible enemy right before her. Before he knew what was going on, an invisible force swept him off his feet pushing him to the ground. He skidded across the floor, about twenty feet from where he had been standing. It seemed like she pushed the air molecules toward his direction.

"If you want to grow into the best of you, you don't take breaks after only four hours of training." She said impassively as she took off her black gloves.

Timothy thought he saw a mark on the back of her right hand. It reminded him of the mark on Tobi's hand.

"Get up! We go again."

Timothy stood up reluctantly, but this time, he was ready for any sudden attacks.

So, she could manipulate and pressurize air molecules, but it seemed she could only do that within a short radius around her. He would be ready this time.

He took a steady stance and closed his eyes in concentration as he prepared for the next round.

"Never close your eyes in front of an enemy!!!" She shrieked as she punched the air again.

This time, it first of all, struck the semi-finished shield he was forming, dissipating it back into smoke, before it hit him and sent him flying across the room again.

"The next thing we need to work on is your speed, and what better way to do that than like this." She said, stoically. "Again!"

Timothy was getting frustrated. He stood up angrily and faced her as he gathered red matter in his mind like she had taught him. His red matter appeared above him again instantly taking the form of a solid red ball.

"Good, you're getting faster..." She said as she charged toward him.
Long tentacles suddenly shot out of the ball, whipping through the air towards Daliah. She stopped in her tracks as she gave the air a mighty punch sending the tentacles flying.

Another tentacle came from the side, but that wasn't enough to deter her. She stretched forth her palm, and the air before it seemed to distort as if it was boiling. The tentacle seemed to strike a wall right in front of her raised palm where the distortion was.