The Secret of Rosewater High: A Naideu's Tail

An Unexpected Outcome

"Now that I've gauged some of your abilities, I want to see how well you can use them while under pressure," Mrs. Shelsea said.

"Alright. What d-did you have in mind?" Elie asked nervously.

"I want you to have a mock battle with this," she said.

With a wave of her hand, a nearby patch of seaweed uprooted itself and bundled up into the shape of a Naideu. 

"Since we don't have a lot of time, I only want you to fight this for 4 minutes."

"You want me to fight a ball of seaweed?" Elie asked in disbelief.

"Yep. Feel free to take it on with any methods you wish to use."

"Okay, if you say so," Elie said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You may begin!" She announced as she clicked the start button on her stopwatch.

Without a moment's hesitation, Elie shot a ball of water straight at the center of the seaweed Naideu. However, his foe opened up a hole in its chest and Elie's attack went right through it.

"Impressive," Mrs. Shelsea remarked.

"Thanks," Elie said as he dodged a glob of seaweed.

As the battle continued, Elie found it harder and harder to dodge. Either his opponent was getting faster or he was moving slower. That was when he noticed that he was so focused on hitting his target that he hadn't beheld the strands of seaweed that had latched onto his tail in order to gradually restrict his movements. 

"Always remain aware of your surroundings," Mrs. Shelsea called out with a smile.

"No kidding," Elie yelled as he frantically tore at the seaweed wrapped around his tail.

Almost forgetting about his opponent, Elie glanced up from his "predicament", only to be met, head on, with an enormous ball of seaweed. Upon impact, Elie was knocked down to the sea floor.  Just as his slimy foe threw another attack, Elie managed to roll out of the way. Before the enemy could throw another attack, Elie managed to untangle himself from the seaweed and retaliate with a water beam. The green figure was unable to react in time and was blasted to pieces. Elie made a triumphant double-fist towards the surface. 

"Did you see that? I totally beat it!" He exclaimed.

Unfortunately, just as Elie had finally thought it was over, the bits of seaweed all flew back together and, to Elie's horror, his sparring partner was completely reformed. Within a matter of seconds, Elie soon found himself pinned against the sea floor. He struggled with all his might, but was unable to break free.

"Time!"Mrs. Shelsea called. 

The seaweed moved away from Elie and rooted itself back into the sand. Clapping her hands, Mrs. Shelsea swam over to a disoriented Elie. 

"Why are you clapping? I failed. Didn't I?" Elie said with a disappointed look on his face. 

"Why do you say that?" Mrs. Shelsea inquired. "Is it because you got your ass handed to you by a, so-called, "patch of seaweed."  

Elie simply nodded his head. After a brief moment of silence, Mrs. Shelsea burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Elie asked, clearly not amused.

"It's funny that you should say you failed even though it was impossible to pass or fail."

"Huh?" Elie said with a look of confusion. 

"Did I tell you that you had to beat it?" Mrs. Shelsea questioned. "I simply asked you to fight it. This was a simple test to measure how comfortable you are in unfavorable situations, and, might I add, it was a splendid performance. No one has ever been able to beat my familiar, let alone blast it to pieces."

"So, I didn't fail?"

"Of course not. If you had "failed", then I would have had to fail all of the other students before you."

"Oh," Elie said with a dumbstruck look. 

"Well, that will be all I need from you for now," Mrs. Shelsea stated. "If you could go and grab the next person, it would be much appreciated."

"Yeah. Sure thing," Elie said in a daze. 

Elie lifted himself out of the water up onto the dock. He was met by Luke and Leila, who handed him a much needed towel. He gratefully took it. As he was drying off a boy with beach blonde hair walked past him. 

"No need to fetch me. I know that I am up next," he said to Elie. 

With that, he leaped into the water. 

"Who was that?" Elie asked his friends.

"Not sure," they replied.