Jideh wheezed, and watched as the wind blew chunks of dirt from the spider, but...

The breeze did nothing to stop its inexorable advance. He rolled over and managed to put his arms underneath himself to sit up. The spider was at the base of the wall, and he could spot the base of the spider, roots dangling between its legs and running through the whole of the soil. It was as though the spider were a possessed tree. The earth was being wielded undoubtedly by the elementalists controlling the tree, but the tree itself couldn't be moving on its own, could it?

But if they were moving the tree, then that must mean that the tree itself was being enhanced and if it could be enhanced then couldn't Jideh-

No, he'd never done that! Couldn't do that, as far as he knew. Jideh stuffed his hands in his pockets, but none of the familiar seed shapes could help him here. He didn't even have any food to eat. The spider was crawling up the wall now, and Jideh realized he'd have to act now, and think later.

Jideh stood up, head dizzy and light. He reached down with his elemental energy, and with all the effort it would take to practically lift and throw the spider several metres, Jideh induced a surge of growth energy into the spider-tree-earth elemental, hopefully causing the roots of the tree to shoot outward, immobilizing the construct as its roots dug deep into earth and stone, preventing its legs from moving it any closer to catching them.

Of course, Jideh wouldn't see any of this happen, and it might not matter at all if it had worked, since after using that burst of energy, he felt himself falling backward, tumbling through open air. And as he fell, Jideh remembered the gym teacher and laughed inwardly. 

[i]That teacher should give me some pointers on how to deal with this sort of thing. He seems like an expert at it.[/i]

[hr]

Jordan locked his shed, having put away the equipment he hadn't decided to crush and erase from his memory. He made his way back to the gym at the student dorms, just to lock up his office and retrieve his finished prep papers. He found a note taped to the door and read it, nodding as he finished the paper. He'd need a lot of rest if he was going to give this kid a run for his money. [i]After all,[/i] Jordan thought as he winced, rubbing his shoulder, [i]An old pro like me has got a lot to live up to, facing a rising star like Felix.[/i]

"Fuck the whole lot of us indeed..."