Hi guys,
Here's my theory of what happend with Elle - I think Sylar understood how to perform Empathic Mimicry, not Lightning. While investigating Elle's emotions, his Intuitive Aptittute tought him Empathic Mimicry. Then, using it, he aquired Elle's ability.

Sounds good but Arthur basically said that he had it already. (Not really a difference i suppose)

But yes, i think that scene was to show that he had E.M. now. As well as a hot piece of a** to tap!

I was right, he could make it without killing. =)

I hope they didn't screw Intuitive Aptittude, cus that will conflict with the idea that Peter needed Sylar's ability to understand how to save the world...

When Sylar was faced with Knox in the future, I think he obtained his power just by seeing how it worked because he tells Knox how it works and then Sylar throws down on him. So I think Peter and Sylar have the same power, "Like Twins" they each use them differently though. Peter began with his EM and Sylar began with his IA. He already absorbed the power, he just thought he had to cut open heads to get the power. I think peter has IA too, he just doesn't know how to use it until Sylar shows him.

"Mind if I attempt an amature explanation?
It doesn't seem unreasonable that Arthur--assuming he wasn't lying--gave Gabriel to a Primatech family. He wouldn't have trusted a normal adoption agency, and we know from the only other prior example, Claire, that they prefer Primatech Agents to raise important people. Considering Mr. Grey's job--whether it be cover, retirement, ect.--it's possible he too had the ability of Intuitive Aptitude; after all, Gabriel uses a watch to teach the ability to Peter.

My amature explanation is that his base power is Empathic Mimicry, and he learned IA from his adoptive father. Until last night I always wondered...how does understanding how something works change one's DNA so the user can throw things with his mind? Basically, he could use EM to learn the abilities, but remember how much trouble Peter had early on? Instead of practicing in the same manner as Peter--as Sylar did not know of his EM, he used IA to learn how the abilities worked, hince making the learning curve much, much shorter."
Posted that last night in another topic.

i absolutely love this explanation!! It seems to be the only one which makes actual sense

But it would also be quite poetic to have Peter and Sylar having the same ability, which is "Empathic Intuitive-Aptitudinal Mimicry" (mouthful, eh? ) or EIAM for short

This EIAM has two aspects to it. The empathy, which allows you to connect with people and mimic their powers through these emotional connections; and the intuitive-aptitude, which allows you to understand... well, lots of things... and lets you mimic powers through understanding the human brain (from inspecting it- ewww)

So, with this in mind, Peter began with the Empathy aspect of this power, and learned the other half from Sylar teaching him the thing with the watch. Conversely, Sylar began with the Intuitive-Aptitude aspect of this power, and learned the other half from his encounter with Elle.

IMO, they are both two halves of the same power, kinda like how the Haitian's Mental Manipulation is both the removal of memories and negation of powers