Oops. Sara felt one foot hit the bone of the hip and the other hit the part that Raina might notice an injury too. Good thing she pulled her claws back. Sorry Raina.

Sara felt Luke’s sonar change and her ears pinned back. Luke uttered the great B word that he had held back from calling Sara on a few occasions, and that’s when she knew she was pushing him right. Though just how right didn’t become apparent till Luke’s sonar pitch changed and all Sara had time to do was brace herself.

Sudenly the idea of having Luke aim his blast at her, didn’t seem all that bright. The hit came and Sara felt her body flip back. Thankful she’d kept the low pose at the beginning. It made the landing shorter and allowed her to get low once her body had finished the first flip so that she was facing the ground.

“**** that packs a punch.” Sara grunted between clenched teeth. She sat there for a second checking herself. She propped herself up on one knee and one hand while her other hand checked her ribs. Luke could have cracked one with the force that thing had. Sara realized that some where in the process, she’d lost track of her cane, as her hand ran across one part of her ribs that still chose to be tender.

“I’ll mention your mother again if you don’t use your blast again. Figure out what you did and do it again! Preferably in another direction but if you need a target…” Sara opened her arms mockingly and inviting.

The pain eminating from his groin had become a dull throb that wouldn't be going away any time soon, but at least it wasn't the sharp lancing pain that Luke had been experiencing before. Beginning to move toward Sara it still hadn't really clicked in his mind with what he'd done until her voice broke through his emotion filled mind.

“I’ll mention your mother again if you don’t use your blast again. Figure out what you did and do it again! Preferably in another direction but if you need a target…”

Suddenly, Luke was frozen in one spot as he tried to get what she was saying. She had just set him up? Sara had done all this just to get him emotional enough to access the power he had been telling her about? Obviously he had asked for her help but didn't she think that what she had just been doing was pushing it a little?

"I might thank you when it's all over. Then again I might not." Luke grumbled under his breath before shouting out an order to the computer. "Bring up dummy target, ten yards!"

At the only point that would make a triange, exactly twenty yards from both Luke & Sara a mannequin target suddenly appeared. Yanking his attention away from Sara, Luke did his best to recreate what he had just been feeling. At the moment it was relatively easy since he was still ticked off at her and subconsciously his mind once again went through the steps.

A. Focus sonar down to just the size of the target.
B. Increase power as high as possible.
C. Strain and increase just a touch more.

Once again the power erupted, slamming into the mannequin like a freight train, but even as the dummy sailed backward a good twenty to thirty feet Luke knew that something had felt different.

"It wasn't as strong." Luke observed quietly as he slowly turned back around to his feline friend, his conscious mind catalogueing the steps that he had taken in order to access the power, "I wonder if it weakens the more I use it with recharging."

Did Sara think she was pushing Luke hard emotionally? Yes, but she hadn’t just started shouting things about his mother first thing. She’d tried lighter subjects. It had build up to his mother. There for that was the softest subject that worked. Despite the way Sara was still acting, the moment Luke hit her with the blast, she could have given him a hug and a kiss. On the cheek of course. It’s what he had just proven.

"I might thank you when it's all over. Then again I might not."

“Don’t!” There. The command to not thank her was simple enough. She didn’t want thanks. Not for this.

Luke brought up a target dummy, and Sara started shuffling her feet slowly, back and forth across the grass, in search of her cane. She didn’t realize how stranded she’d feel without the thing. Unbeknown to her, she started looking in the wrong direction. The cane had landed 15 feet away from her in a different direction, but she wasn’t asking Luke for help. It was like with the sink in the infirmary. She’d found sinks hundreds of times before. The same went for things she dropped.

"It wasn't as strong. I wonder if it weakens the more I use it with recharging."

Sara paused. Her ears flicked forward from being pinned on that thought. “Possible. You did used to get uncomfortable when you’d hold your sonar back for me. Could be like a muscle.” She stopped for a moment in search of her cane, in thought of what she’d felt and heard, compared to what she had heard this second time around.

Sara’s first experience with meeting Luke, she remembered his voice changing in the conversation at the sushi restaurant. He’d become uncomfortable while trying to make Raina, Duke, and herself feel more at ease. Sara’s senses gave her a different insight than most, on Luke’s mutation. It gave her an advantage in helping.

“Bring up a second test dummy.” Sara instructed. “Leave the first out, but put the second in the same place.” They were going to do a comparison experiment based on what Luke had just said, and her basic understanding of his abilities. “Hold your sonar back completely for 5 seconds, then do it again!” Even though Sara was continuing to help, and there was a half smirk on her face, she kept her voice callused. She hadn’t expected Luke to be able to perform a second sonic blast so quickly. He deserved a pat on the back, but Sara wasn’t going to drop the abrasive nature she’d picked up if it was getting results for him.

Sara was being really bossy and even though Luke knew that she was doing it in order to help him it still was a little annoying. He had been training with his powers all alone for years so he'd finally branched out and asked someone for help but that didn't mean they had to take full advantage of him!

"Computer, bring up second dummy target! Ten yards!" Luke barked out. As soon as his sonar saw the spot where the target had appeared Luke concentrated on completely shutting off his 'sight'. Immediately he could feel the pressure beginning to build in his head. It didn't increase at an extremely fast rate but the pressure was there and would build until it was to powerful to hold back or until he chose to release it.

"1... 2... 3... 4... 5." The blind man counted silently before reaching out with his sonar toward where he had seen the target standing. He could feel that there was more power but it still took focus to bring it to bear in just a small area and then try to open the dam that would let everything flow out. Without thinking about it part of his subconscious continued to tick off the time as he mentally pushed harder and harder in order to finally get the flood gates to crack open.

"6... 7... 8... 9... 10... 11... 12... 13... 14... 15... 16... 17... 18..."

And finally he reached the point but even with the added power of his built up sonar Luke could feel that it was different. Sure this sonic blast was technically more powerful than the one that had struck target #1 but it felt different. Even though he had managed to get out more power because of his holding back the sonar, the crack in the floodgates had been smaller. Luke didn't know how he knew it but somehow he did. He was beginning to lose access as he focused and began to calm down.

"It worked but it's still different. Having to focus that long on accessing it would be deadly in a fight." Luke said quietly as he allowed his sonar to sweep back over the whole area. Sara looked like she was searching for something and it didn't take a genius to figure out that she was heading away from where her cane was laying in the grass. Could he hit something that small and be accurate? Could he get at least one more blast out before he lost it completely?

Gritting his teeth in concentration Luke brought his sonar down into tight focus on the cane. "She talked about my mother! She deserved a whole lot more than that little blast!" Luke thought, trying to get back the anger that had fueled his power moments before, "And that cat even interupted me with Raina! She probably even got off on listening to the two of us!"

For another ten or fifteen seconds he remained silent until finally he pushed open the gates and sent the blast of sound waves rocketing toward the cane. It was a precise hit, slamming into one end of the cane so that it pressed into the ground while forcing the other end to shoot upward. Suddenly the cane was airborne, curving lazily through the air before landing on the ground aproximately six feet to Sara's left with a gentle thumb.

"It worked." Luke murmured quietly as he brought his sonar back in but suddenly he noticed something. His sonar wasn't reading as far as it had been before they began working. "Uh... Sara... I, uh, my sonar isn't scanning as far as it was. I've lost a good ten feet or something." Concentrating Luke spread out his sonar as far as it could reach only to find that he couldn't get out as far as usual. "And I'm at least thirty feet down with my max range."

Sara waited patiently as the buzz from Luke’s sonar left her and the time when it would sound again, against the dummy. He went way past the 5 seconds she had instructed, but this was his experiment. He was the one to feel when the sonar was right and feel things through. It was a good thing.

"It worked but it's still different. Having to focus that long on accessing it would be deadly in a fight."

“Baby steps, Luke” Sara said. She was finally starting to drop that edge. It was hard to hold up that front when she was standing there with out her own way of moving around. Especially when by saying Baby steps, she was taking away something she said about power growths.

Sara let the silence fill the room for another set of seconds. Choosing to let Luke continue to think about how his power had been triggered while she continued to shuffle about slowly running her toes along the grass. She heard Luke’s sonar go off again and her head tilted at the first ding, that the cane made she changed directions before it hit the ground though the sound it made confirmed where she knew it would land. A foot away, she bent, swept her hand across the handle, and scooped it up.

“When my mutation was changed, I had to learn how to walk, again, on a new pair of legs.” Just one of the many curve balls Sara knew about and dwelled on. This time with her own new handicap reminded her of back then. “Luke, you’re not only aiming blasts, you’re getting them off now, Although I worry about what might happen to a student if they try to get under your skin as much as I know I can.”

"Uh... Sara... I, uh, my sonar isn't scanning as far as it was. I've lost a good ten feet or something."

"And I'm at least thirty feet down with my max range."

“Well that will put a damper on training.” Sara mumbled. Her ears flicked back again, as Luke extended his range. Not completely pinned but back. “It might be like developing a muscle.”

Luke was confused. The idea that his sonar was connected this intricately to his sound blasts had never even entered his mind. Had his maximum range been decreased after the fight back in Paris? With his being so worried about Raina and then so focused on trying to make the rest of the trip wonderful for her he just couldn't remember. Plus there was also the fact that unless he was out patrolling or specifically searching for something he rarely pushed his sonar to its max.

"Maybe it's like I have a reserve." Luke mused aloud as he pulled his sonar back in to a comfortable distance and back down to a power level that wouldn't be that annoying for Sara. "Obviously my body continually produces the sound waves," He continued as he wandered over in Sara's direction, "But maybe that production is used to fill a tank or holding container for lack of a better word. My sound blasts drain that tank and until its refilled my sonar isn't as powerful."

Having to think this much about his new ability was completely draining Luke of any anger he may have still felt toward his friend.

"I guess I better be focusing on my control again." Luke said with a wry smile, momentarily forgetting that Sara wouldn't be able to see the expression, "Like you said, I wouldn't want one of the kids annoying me enough that I blasted them."

Sara should be asking Luke for help with her own problems at the moment. The fact that it had been almost an entire day and her sight hadn’t come back yet was probably a bad thing. Doc Prof said she needed to give her body time, and she needed to rest, but Sara knew her body. She knew how long it took simple cuts to disappear. Paper cuts were normally gone before she had time to move the paper away. Burns melted away in minutes. Broken bones knitted in a matter of minutes, and in a few hours those were completely healed. So why wasn’t her sight back yet?

Sara sensed Luke was done for now, and she wished his training would continue for another hour. Maybe longer because he was right. Sara wasn’t ready to face the fact that she might be permanently blind.

“It’s too bad we never know when the crap will hit the fan around here. It would be nice to know exactly how many sonic attacks you can make without running out of power, and how weakened your sonar can get before you actually try to use this ability and need it. While the time it takes you to make a blast is annoying, not having the ability at all is more concerning.” Luke had so many new possibilities to look for with this power. Sara has having more trouble finding hers than when she had dropped her cane and had to find it. Sara lifted the cane and let it drop vertically through her fingers, so that it thumped the ground. Then repeated the process. So the end thumped between her toes again.

“I suppose I’m not much of a contender anymore, huhh…” Sara began walking back towards the door. “How do you do this anyways?”

"Yeah." Luke said with a slight smile as he finally began to calm down completely, "If only the baddies would call up and let us know they were coming a day or two in advance so that way all of us could be at the top of our game when they got here."

It was an amusing thought but was also something people rarely saw except in old westerns. The days of scheduling a time to meet in the middle of the street and fight it out were long gone and instead the days of stealth, deceit, and trickery had arrived. Fair play was long gone and instead came the necessity to do whatever it might take in order to win.

Finally, the comment came that Luke knew would allow him an opportunity to return the favor. Maybe without even realizing it Sara was leaving the door open for him to work with her and the abilities that she had left.

"I think you'd be surprised by just how much of a contender you still are." Luke said with a slight smile, "And the cane's pretty easy to use. Basically you just gently swing it back and forth in front of you with the tip just above the ground instead of dragging.

Bringing his sonar in tight so that it wasn't even touching the feline anymore, Luke allowed a moment of silence as her hearing would once again become acclamated to just the normal sounds around her.

"Tell me... exactly how sensitive is your hearing? What's the faintest sound that you can make out?"

Sara had watched people on the street a lot. When it came to the blind, she had noticed the way they carried their canes that was so different from someone who needed a cane to walk with. Luke’s sonar left her and disappeared from her range. She tested the cane the correct way for a moment. She let it sweep across once to the right then once to the left before bringing it back in. Felt awkward and stupid. Sara didn’t like doing things that brought attention to herself and her looks were bad enough. Her looks with a cane might be asking for future trouble.

"Tell me... exactly how sensitive is your hearing? What's the faintest sound that you can make out?"

Sara was silent for a moment. She’d brought the cane bake to it’s vertical position right in front of her, so the end was right between her toes. She could actually hear quite a bit. Especially when Luke’s sonar stopped getting in her way. “Past the sounds the dangerous,.. Danger room is making to make it sound like we’re outside I hear the electric hum of the machines that make it happen. If I were closer to you, I could hear your pulse.” That is if Luke wasn’t buzzing in her ears already.

That was a far better response than Luke could have ever hoped for. Sara heard more than well enough to get through the world without her sight but she wasn't used to using her hearing in that manner. If he could just help her 'see' with sound then she might be able to be a contender once more.

"Computer, give me a staff." Luke ordered. Moment later a plain wooden staff that was aproximately 6 feet in length appeared beside him. Gripping the staff firmly in his hand Luke's voice changed from that of a friend to that of a teacher or mentor. This wasn't going to be easy but if Sara felt OK pushing him then he was going to make sure to push her as well.

"Focus on what you can hear." Luke spoke quietly his sonar pulsing gently so that its edges just caressed the top layer of Sara's fur. It wasn't enough to see her whole body but it was enough to ensure that when he swung the staff there would be no chance of hitting his friend. "My sonar works because my body knows how to read the soundwaves that bounce back. Your mutation doesn't make that automatic for you but I'd be willing to be that with your fantastic hearing you could learn."

Slowly swinging the end of the staff across an area that was aproximately 6 to 12 inches in front of Sara's face even Luke could hear the swish as the wood moved through air particles. "Focus on exactly where the sounds come from. Not just a general area but a precise location."

Sara leaned forward a little on the cane. Again it felt odd. This hole thing felt odd. Sara chose to give it a shot anyways. For now.

At first Sara just crossed her arm. Holding the cane lightly under one arm. She heard enough to know Luke’s sonar was closer than it had been a moment ago, but it wasn’t over whelming her like it had in the past. She wasn’t exactly sure what Luke was going to do at first. Her ears flicked a the staff moved by her the first time, and she actually flinched. Sara took a step backwards to catch her balance, away from the general direction of the staff. Ok so focusing…

The staff rose and fell for a moment while the two were completely silent. Sara was sort of starting to understand it’s rhythm. Everything had a pattern that she started to focus on as well to try and make herself think about things less. She could hear her own heart, that had started beating harder against her throat for the moment she’d shyed away from Luke’s staff. Then there was the grass and trees that clapped so fast in fake wind, they sounded like water. Luke’s heart was steady, slowly increasing because he started using his arms to move the staff, and he wanted her to focus on just the staff… The tip of her tail whipped back and forth as she began to grow annoyed. Something Luke might notice as the tail went in and out of his sonar range.

“Luke… I know it’s there, in front of me, but that’s it.” Sara sighed. Her ears flicked back and forth again as the staff passed her face, again.

Pulling the staff back Luke rested one end on the ground and then leaned against the poll as he tried to consider a different method of attack. Instead of something that emitted sound for only a moment perhaps they needed something that emitted sound the whole time. Something high pitched and annoying would do the trick quite nicely and right at the moment the blind man found a rather sly smile appearing on his face.

"Computer, I need exactly two fly sized gnats programs to fly in circles around Sara maintaining a distance of aproximately six to twelve inches away from her head." Luke ordered as he took several steps back to give Sara plenty of room.

"Now, they're not going to be diving into your ears or anything," Luke continued rather conversationally as he began to address Sara once again, "But they will be emitting a constant sound. Track them and then squash them before they can become to annoying. Use your hearing and your sense of touch to make a map of where sounds are coming from. Slap at where you think they are and then adjust accordingly."

On the one hand it was an extremely easy exercise but on the other hand it was extremely difficult. A person that was used to their sight would often have difficulty allowing their other senses to fill in the gab. Fortunately Sara had enhanced hearing to help with the process. The trick for her would be trusting that hearing completely and not second guessing it.

Sara’s ears had flattened just before Luke had stopped swinging his staff. The chalange he presented her next, Sara didn’t know what to think of. “Well at least they’re not going in my hears.” She mumbled.

Sara lean against the cane as the danger room made it’s flies, and they started circling her head. Luke gave his directions and Sara sighed. “Did you really have to choose something this annoying?”

A moment or two went by, and Sara was actually trying to do what Luke said. She could hear the flies and she was getting an idea of the space that was between herself and the insects. Then something odd happened. Her mind traced the paths that both flies were taking as if Sara were looking at a 3D road map in her head.

Sara took one step backwards so that her head walked right through the constant paths the flies were cutting, and the lit up. It caused Sara to stumble back another step in shock, and she lost the map. Mean while she could still hear the flies continue their assault on her nerves. “Odd….” Sara started focusing on the sound again, but the 3D map in her head didn’t come back.

Ok so batting… Sara moved her hand once without success and felt stupid like a kitten. The fly circled again, and Sara followed it’s pattern it had made in her head. At the last second she snapped her fingers around the insect.

Luke was silent as he 'watched' Sara begin to learn just how powerful her other senses really were. Someone else watching may have found the sight strange, amusing even, but for Luke it was a very serious matter. There was no way he could laugh at Sara for movements that seemed awkward or forced. This was something she had never had to do before and as such it should be awkward.

As Sara apparently lost her footing and began to stumble backward, Luke almost rushed forward to help but stopped himself at the last second. Sara had to learn how to do this for herself and his rushing to her aid at the slightest hint of trouble would do her no good. No, she needed to handle this on her own.

"Good job." The words sprang unbidden from Luke's mouth as soon as Sara's fingers closed around the first of the two flies. While still awkward just the fact she had been able to catch the fly showed that she was beginning to understand the idea that Luke was trying to teach her.

"Your hearing is more sensitive than anyone I've ever met Sara. That gives you a powerful weapon if you just learn to use it in that manner." Luke said quietly, "Have you ever been in a super dark room where you had to rely on all your senses other than sight? Just imagine that's the situation you're in right now. Once you train yourself to work this way, your brain will still know the process even after you vision returns."

"Good job."

Luke said the words before Sara really knew she had actually been successful in her fly catching. Her ears flicked again as she started trying to focus on the second fly’s movement. “That was a really odd sensation with my hearing.” Sara told Luke. “It was like I was tracing where the fly had been, in my head.” Was that how listening to a target worked? Sara was trying to repeat the process in her head, with the second fly. She was trying to focus on drawing out a path, but her path wasn’t matching what her ears were telling her.

She swung a little more wildly at the second fly, as Luke talked. Her confidence from catching the first fly disappeared fast and she open ‘growl’ Of frustration. Something Sara hardly ever did. Make a sound that represented her animal half. She tried to act as human as she possibly could. Sara was so used to getting things physically right and near perfect the first time. Failing was hard.

---- your brain will still know the process even after you vision returns."

Sara stopped her insane batting at the last fly. The path wasn’t showing up in her head again and what she could visualize, was showing up on the other side of her head, from where her ears were telling her the fly was located. “Luke,.. I don’t think My vision is coming back.” Sara didn’t like giving up, but as the time ticked by it just meant more and more that she shouldn’t get her hopes up. “I’ve spent a life time learning about my body. Broken bones heal completely in a few hours. Sometimes less if the break’s clean, but I also know it’s possible to leave me with a scar. I’ve had two, from extended and repeated burns.” Scars that each took months for Sara to gain. “This loss of sight is probably due to another, that’s just on the inside.”

Sara’s head tilted, as she stared straight a head. “It’s also why I can’t just let myself quit. I’ll go crazy.” Sara’s hand rose again so that it was held right in front of her face. She started working on a different tactic. The fly circled three times and when the sound came from right in front of her nose, she could feel the air push the fur on her wrist. With every circle, she moved her hand out closer and closer to the fly’s circle. She snatched at it only to miss and repeat the process 4 more times, before she flicked her wrist out to the side a head of the fly to head it off. Her fingers closed aroud the insect, making a hollow cave in her palm and digits where the fly continued to buzz.