Miss Shogone floated in the water shaped into a giant bowl. She floated at an angle and- she really didn’t have legs. Instead she looked more like a shark version of a mermaid, white under belly, dark gray sides with pale looking scars crossed over her form. Some were odd circles with dots around it, others looked like cw marks and the way a few connected looked more like a tattoo. Dots, sshes formed a sort of tic-tac toe kind of pattern just behind her dorsal fin. B-but that wasn’t the all…….uh…..

  “Where’s your shorts?” I asked as I forced my eyes to hover above her head. Seriously! All I saw was a smooth white underbelly, it looked a little squishy like a marshmallow or a woman’s inner thigh.

  “Hehe-hahaha!” She waved above her head to pull my attrition then pointed to a spot where her waist should be. “Right here. Though it’s shrunk to better fit my body and shape.” On the spot she pointed to was what looked like a small bikini-like stick on. Or a napkin that got stuck down there with how small it was!

  “You have magic shorts?” How the heck?! They shrink or do they become a part of her body? I looked up at her smirking face. “How do they work?”

  “Enchantments mostly, though mine are made of a drider’s silk. Takes the both of them to make the good stuff…….” She then looked me up and down for a second. “Are you not going to have css today? Is that why you’re so early today?” She asked with a raised brow.

  I looked over at my bag where my swimwear was. I didn’t like the idea of wearing skintight clothes that made me seem like some wild girl that would call paint clothes. I’m not some horny weirdo or even just girly, I was a man. But sadly if I wanted to learn more about my mana then I had to skin more of my dignity. I had to feel this body. And it wouldn’t be hidden like the flight suit either, I’ll see these things move around. And that? It felt like the kind of wrong that made you wake up without legs or half your face melted off.

  As I gred daggers at my bag, Miss Shogone cleared her throat. “Is something wrong? If the water’s too deep we can always go into the shallows. I won’t judge if you can’t swim.” She offered with a thumbs up.

  I shook my head. “No, it’s……” I looked at the ground with a worried face. “You know about who I was before…..right?” I asked as I kept my eyes on the ground, uncertain if she’d ugh or tease me, maybe she’d think it was weird to be so worried.

  “You were human, you have a record of fighting certain ‘untolerable' students. You had decent grades and was a bit antisocial. But, you seem pretty caring to me and you’re very curious.” I could feel her looking at me. Her eyes peeling back not just my clothes but my skin. “But, that’s not what you meant, is it?”

  I stared at the ground for what felt like eons, maybe lightyears but finally I shook my head. “I was a guy…uh I mean, I am. So wearing tight clothes that shows my-this body, it feels…..” I made a sour grimace as I looked for a word but my insides shuddered at what I could say, at what might…. “Uh, I-I mean having a strange new look takes some getting used to. I just need to power through it.” I said as I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder like it was time to go to my next css.

  “That’s fine. There’s no need for you to tackle the waves right away. I promise, I won’t say or do anything strange to make you regret wearing your swimwear.” She patiently said while I looked away. My back tingled and my mouth felt sour, dry even.

  After she pointed me to a nearby door, I found myself in a decently sized changing room. There’s at least ten lockers in here and enough space for two minotaurs to be standing next to each other. A few posters of what looked like two crabs snapping cws at each other in racer red and blue colors with what looked like a checkered fg behind them.

  With a sigh I opened a locker. Nothing inside……………………. I better get changed for mana lessons……………. Peeling my clothes off made my scales feel like I had worms writhing in between them and folding them neatly and stored them on the locker’s shelf. Here I stood, in the form of this thing, misshapened lumps people called tits and plenty of stupid ass that existed, that called to people. Even if there wasn’t a mirror, I felt like my face was drooping, melting off my skull while my body…. My left arm was long, too long, it grew millions of fingernails. All of them long or clipped at wrong angles, crooked things.

  No….I’m, still me… I am still here… I took a deep breath and got back to work.

  I pulled out my swimwear and the first, ugh, the one piece. Pulling it on felt wrong, like stole my mother’s clothes and trying them out, wrong. The annoying part was how it went between my legs, into my crack and around my tail like a string thong. But surprisingly, it sorta hid my weights like they were slightly smaller, though not by much. I knew that on this body, I was sexy and that made me shudder. Once it was on, I quickly pulled on the short trunks which sorta hid some of the high cut one piece and most of my butt. Some of it…. Even though the material didn’t squeeze or chafe, I felt like I was trying on hagfishes, those bucket pumping slime snakes, their heads hooked around my neck as they uselessly flopped to get free.

  “This’ll just have to do.” I grumbled to myself. “I’ll be fine. I can take it.” I took a step and near instantly had to pull on the one piece as it was already feeding itself to my ass. “Why do women even wear this stuff?!” I groaned.

  I ended up doing a weird shuffle as I made my way back to the water's edge. Where my teacher was waiting and watching.

  “Ready to begin?” She asked, thankfully ignoring my awkwardness. A quick nod was my reply. “Ok, before you jump in I want you to keep your wings close to your body. You don’t have anything like feathers to weigh you down but I want you to get used to swimming with the extra weight your wings give. And as a heads up, you’ll probably feel lighter and heavier in certain areas.” She expined before waving her arm for me to get in.

  I stepped into the water finding it felt like room temperature which wasn’t bad. Unlike the underwear I was fs-EHM… Once I walked until the water was around the lower area of my weights, I noticed how Miss Shogone popped out of the water nearby. She just appeared like she teleported under the water and came up in another spot.

  “Wow, most people would’ve shivered or mentioned something about the cold water! Especially with the added salt.” She said with an impressed smirk.

  “Salt? Is that for you?” I asked.

  “Nope, it’s to make sensing your mana easier for you. Although, this salt water might make your scales look shinier.” She swayed her head side to side in a maybe it will, maybe not. “Alright since you’re deep enough I want you to just channel your mana out of your body.”

  I quickly nodded before channeling as much mana as I could. At first it poured out of my hands and the more I focused on it, I could sort of feel something in front of me. It was almost like small specks of rice floating around zily, some was just clumped up and slowly bumped into each other. I then focused on my arms and tried to channel through them. It didn’t work right, instead of mana pouring or spraying out, my arms started to warm up into a nice toasty temperature. Looking down, I saw my scales were glowing with flickering orbs but that was only up to my elbows, the rest of me was not giving a light show.

  I grumbled to myself as I closed my eyes and tried to think of a different way of doing this. I could try letting it come out like a spray. Let the mana stream out like some mist and fill the area around me? But then I’d be peeing mana wouldn’t I? Not to mention my main goal is to feel my own mana so just pissing it out wouldn’t help me get closer….hmmm, wait a second!

  I focused a little more, while this time, letting my shoulders rex and dropping my arms. Come on, it shouldn’t be too hard. My body started to warm up as mana began to swirl within me, not in even streams, more like crashing waves. Waves that hit everything, vibrations I could feel, back and forth. Focused on the heat inside, felt it warm up from toasty to a nice simmer and finally to a rexing boiling. Once I reached that, I let out a breath, easing my muscles and letting the water carry my weight.

  Within seconds, I felt my body growing, spreading over the water, through the waves and into the clumps of rice like salt. It was like running my fingers through dry beans, some of it smooth, some rough and scratchy while the rest was bumpy. As I grew I felt something else within me, it was round and smooth…. There’s something inside it too……a tail ending in a crescent……smooth almost squishy……..a couple of chewy tender things and a head… it shook and trembled before finally realized……. As I grew I even felt more rough which slowly turned into a line then rock and into the shore I was just at.

  I released my focus on the heat and felt everything quickly shrink away. The shore disappeared, then the bubble with a blobby body and finally all the clumps were gone. I opened my eyes and spotted the water bubble Miss Shogone dash around in earlier and found her floating belly up inside it. She didn't move as a few bubbles escaped her gilled ribs. Almost like a dead fish!

  In a panic, I squatted down and my wings opened up in front of me. As I pushed off the floor, my wings scooped through the water and bsted it behind me as I rushed over to her still form. Reaching her in mere seconds, I smmed my cws through the bubble, cutting into it like hard sand, I pushed until both hands were inside. I quickly pulled until I managed to yank it open which made it melt away, back to the water, while I rushed over to her and shook her.

  “Are you ok! I didn’t kill you did I?!” I shouted as I shook her more and more in a panic.

  After what was probably my sixth attempt to wake her, she jumped and looked around with a confused face. “Wha? What happened? Where….. Oh-Oliver!” She looked back at me with a wide, ready to pop out of her head, eyes. “A p-pulse?!”

  “Oh my god! Are you ok?! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know that would happen!” I cried as I reached out to check her and stopped for a moment. I just hurt her! How could I-No, help first! I quickly decided to carry her to shore. Only for her to wiggle out of my arms. “I didn’t mean for that to happen! Are you hurting anywhere? Can I do anything to help you? Should I get a doctor?” I quickly asked.

  “Wait-wait-wait!” She waved her arms in front of her. “I’m ok, just a little shocked. I’m not dead or dying. Just confused.” She grabbed my shoulders, trying to calm me down.

  I eventually took a deep breath and pushed everything down. Ok-ok, just rex. I slowly nodded. “Ok. I thought I killed you. I promise not to do that ag-”

  She held up a finger to stop me. “No.” She leaned in close with a fire in her narrowed eyes. “Fearing your magic won’t help you. All you’ll do is hurt yourself by cutting off future paths. You didn’t know you could do that, so what else do you not know about?” She asked with stern gre.

  My eyes looked away and around at her sudden intensity. “I-I…uh..”

  “What are you going to do when that unknown something appears in a moment of stress?” She pressed.

  “Apologize and-” I began as my panic I thought I killed rose from my gut.

  “And if you killed someone?” She quickly snapped out. Her words hit me like a heavy hammer as I froze.

  I thought I killed her. If she did die then could I really live with that? How many times would that happen by not learning? What if I hurt my mother or my brother? Killed them?! I’d be sending them to the void, another world maybe and then what?! Show up to a funeral to empty cassettes, burry pictures or mutited leftovers?!

  I felt an emptiness open up at this realization. It swirled, pulled at my insides and everywhere it touched left me feeling cold.

  I quickly shook my head. “You made your point. Then what should I do, what needs to be learned?” I asked, pushing away those thoughts and feelings.

  Miss Shogone looked at me with a raised brow. She seemed to be examining me for something but before I could ask, she nodded and smiled. “I like you. So tell me, what did you do to release a pulse?” She asked in more friendly voice.

  “I held my mana inside my body and let it move around. Then I just let my body loosen up, letting it bst out like sonar.” I expined. “So what I did was called a pulse? What is that?”

  “That’s interesting……. Hmm? Oh, a pulse is a purposeful release of your mana. Think of it like a shockwave that monsters use to push back opponents and weaker magic attacks. Like in those battle anime when they charge their ki to wild levels and the world around them shakes.” She expined but her eyes looked off at the waves. “…And yes they can hurt people but if you know your stuff, you can protect them.” She quickly added, deciding to not sugar coat things. “Now, I suggest you don’t hold your mana inside and don’t make it move or you’ll be charging an attack. Have you ever held it in before now?”

  “Yeah, when I breathed fire on myself and when I made that bomb that blew up with white stars.” I said. “And I can also do some sort of heat bst with my wings.” I said, deciding it was a good idea, I make her aware of what I can do.

  She nodded. “Good to know. We’ll practice those when I’m better prepared…” She brushed a hand through her shockingly dry hair. “How does next week Tuesday work for you?” She asked.

  “That soon? Jaque never went into them when I pulled them off.” I said with raised brows before quickly nodding my head. “But what about my mana training?”

  “Of course that soon!” She looked at me like I just said something stupid before quickly breaking into a teasing smirk. That got a chuckle out of me. “I just need time to get prepared and the week’s not even over. Css isn’t either……..” She let her words hang in the air as an obvious hint.

  “Alright, so what should I try next?” I asked with a raised brow.

  “Nothing much.” She held out her palm. “Hold my hand and just feel the warmth.” She said. I slowly reached up and paused when I felt a cold chill in my chest. But I forced my hand to wrap around hers which was almost the same size as mine.

  After another second of two of holding hands, I started to feel a nice heat gently pulse in my hand like a heartbeat. It felt small and gentle, almost as if it was a fluffy puppy, its heart pounding after a crazed run. The warmth increased to something of a steamy bath as a sudden feeling fizzed and gently pricked at me. I didn’t understand what it was as the feeling seemed to move around my hand as if it was exploring, looking or adventuring. That’s when my instincts nudged me, it wanted to share, to feel and understand this weird warmth.

  What did it feel like? It moved in an odd cursive like path. It bobbed up and down, side to side. No, it more swayed than shook. Almost like it was dancing or skating. It then slowly sunk deeper, up my wrist and that’s when I felt something different. My own mana started to warm up, not as much as hers was but I felt the change. Suddenly my instincts wanted to do the same, to share maybe? All I knew was I really wanted to move my mana in a simir way.

  But when I channeled it, my mana felt more ft than bouncy. So I swayed my arm trying to get a feel for the feeling and it hopped. It was a soft buzz when it did a hop and I moved my arm a couple more times until I could feel the buzz come from my muscles, bones and veins! It was like hearing an echo at its farthest distance. Barely a sound, more like soft noise at this point but I now knew it was there! And that was enough to look for it. I quickly tensed my forearm then rexed it. Nothing.

  But when I channeled my mana together with the flexing, my mana jumped! I did a few more times and felt the mana moving on everything in my arm.

  Miss Shogone finally let go of my hand and smiled. “How do you feel?”

  “Amazed.” was all I could say as even now I was still able to move mana in this new way, just in my right arm but I’ll get both soon enough.

  “Then let’s get your left interested in the dance.” She offered up her right hand and I quickly took it.