Shoal o ka nalo: Nendo's Trial: Ready! Set! Seal?

It was just becoming dawn when an all too familiar horned snout was bumping the dozing Aqrion. Not wanting to be disturbed from his sleep Nendo made an attempt to scoot away from Trellia. 'The sun isnt even filtering through the ice yet...why is she waking me up..?' He huffed at the thought as more insistent nudging of his side woke him all the way up.

With a tired yawn Nendo looked at his guide, who was swimming laps around him! In the few minutes it takes him to get his bearings Trellia fills him in on what's getting ready to happen. "We're going to be having a little race, see how well you can think on your fins. It'll be a race to who can get back here first through the ice caves"

Nendo balks at the idea, lowering his fins "You're so much faster than I am! This is crazy!" He flicks his tail and makes a series of bubbles. 'But..I do live around the ice..maybe I'll have the advantage!' He swims up off the ocean floor and gives his guide a grin, feeling pretty confident that he can win this race..how hard can that be? "Alright, you're on!"

Little did Nendo realize how agile his guide was, watching her take off. With a startled squeak he took off after her, mind racing as he tried to map out his route. 'Crap..I know there's one tunnel that will lead into a larger cavern..but I dont know if it's opened after some ice settled.' Nendo sees the tunnel in question, diving down for it as Trella went another way.

His fins are flicked up as he looks at the cavern he swam into 'Weird..I didn't remember that tunnel being so short.' He takes a minute to familiarize himself with the cavern before a growl cuts through the silence. Swimming into sight is a young adult leopard seal, watching Nendo's every move.

Nendo can feel his heart pumping faster as an odd ringing reached his fins. Taking a deep breath he tried to roar and scare it away. The vibrations came out as a concentrated ripple of the water, but it didnt do anything more than make it flinch. With a snarl the seal shot in his direction, teeth flashing in the low light. Nendo barely managed to twist himself out of the way, a back flipper a hair too close. It was like a firecracker went off when it bit down, Nendo yanking his flipper away. That only brings a fresh wave of pain as blood started to spill into the water.

With a startled shout for his guide he struggled to keep distance from his hunter. A mistake was turning his head when he thought he heard Trellia, the seal grabbed his head fin and started to shred the sensitive membrane. Nendo could only growl out and thump his upper body against the seal. This seemed to give him the opening he needed to dart away, whipping his flexible tail to snap at the seal. With an irritated growl the seal backed up to reevaluate its prey 'Okay..this thing hurts..ohhh I hope Trellia heard me..'

After what seemed like an eternity of standing off with this massive seal, it suddenly seemed to..stop attacking? Nendo blinks in confusion as Trellia appears, nudging his flank to guide him out of the cavern while she had the seal calmed down temporarily. Nendo was swimming slower than he had before, trying to not irritate his torn fin and flipper any further. A small stream of blood is following him, but it doesn't appear to be a deadly amount. His fins are flattened like he just had the scolding of his life.

Trellia makes a small sigh and nudges him again "Come on Nendo, it's okay. You didnt know there was a seal in there! Did you think it was your shortcut through the caves?" Nendo gave a small nod "But..I could hardly do anything to it! I'm not even sure my element helped.." The older Aqrion swam in front of him to be eye to eye "You defended yourself from something that could have killed you, that's all that matters! I was waiting to see you appear behind me, when I heard a shout I knew something was wrong. I think that's enough for one day, dont you?"

Nendo started to chuckle, his fins raising up again as he calmed down. He settled onto the sea floor to take a rest. "More than enough, I'd say."