"Hey Kid, you have to be quiet!"
You're louder than I am!
Lucian held his tongue, his pants' knees were completely muddy. His lanky figure was covered by the longest grass he has ever seen. If he had so much as made a little noise, his actions were screamed by the old man.
How the hell am I going to find these rats in this damn field?! His thoughts yelled as he snapped his neck back and forth. The scurrying of the little paws tapping through the ground reverberated in his head.
Why the hell did this old man make us catch these damn rats?!
He repeatedly insulted the old man inside his head; for the past half hour he has been chasing the sputtering of footfalls.
One, he had caught a singular rat; it was the size of a small dog, but agile as a leopard; constantly it leapt out of his hands until he snagged its tail.
With one rat under his belt, he felt demotivated; catching one alone, he'd need the entire day at least. More? He felt his heart tighten with dread.
'Why did I take this request…?' Lucian complained in his mind. As his complaints deafened his mind, he kept his ears open for scurrying. 'It's practically impossible!'
With an ultimate decision in his heart, he planted his feet on the soft ground. He closed his eyes, sucked his breath and focused his attention on hearing. One set of scurrying stopped, then a second… all the way to a sixth.
The closest one was to his right, as a result, he turned his head there. Furthermore, opening his eyes, a giant rat appeared in his vision.
'Got you!' He exclaimed internally.
Squeal!
Now, the rat was in his gloved fingers. It writhed its entire body, letting out a deafening squeal across the yard.
'I'm not going to let you go!'
He wrestled the rat to a standstill, it eventually fell silent in his hands. However, it was still alive, but its beady big eyes glared at him in disdain.
With a gigantic grin, and satisfaction rising in his chest, he marched towards the gigantic basket the old man laid out.
Brown, interwoven with decent sized pieces of branches, and the holes were filled with a dirt-like substance with slight holes on the lid for air.
"Second one, eh? Lot faster than yer first catch, decent job kid." The unnamed old man observed, just before lifting the lid. "Set it in here again, then go scurrying for more kid."
'I know… damn it.'
After a plunk, Lucian went back towards his side of the field. With every minute his frustrations grew; in toe with numerous questions he could only answer once it was all over.
From the many paddings of feet, there was an estimated 6 rats left; with time nearing an hour, it would take two hours more if he didn't improve his catching.
With a slight grumble that itched his throat, he began once again. This time, he immediately went silent, and kept his head low. Blades of grass tickled at his chin, eventually bringing a burning sensation in his nose.
'Don't sneeze! C'mon! What the heck is with this old man!? Who the heck doesn't cut their damn grass?!'
Squeak!
He dove instantaneously, his goal slipped through his fingers. With a loud splat! he face planted into the ground.
'I hope our next request isn't something like this…' Lucian thought as he pushed himself up, wiped his face off and repeated his process.
"Keep going young man! Only a few left!"
"Oh come on! Can't you help me?!"
"Nah! White hair is doing it herself, ya should be able to do this kid!"
"FFFFF!" Lucian sucked his breath and shot after another rat.
"If ya keep cursing ya won't get yer money!"
"UGH!"
For another thirty minutes, he chased after one more rat; catching it with a quick grab and run technique. Or in other words, crawling on the ground slowly and moving as fast as he could.
With every catch, he had to change his technique; in his mind, it seemed that each rat learned with every disappearance. And so he did, although struggling.
'Not just big rats, smart ones at that!' he thought as he thought of the next strategy
By the fourth rat, they spread out; hiding beneath the grass in which Lucian was blind to.
Eventually, he caught the fifth, but his body was caked in mud; and the furry rodent in his hands had an unamused expression. It was as if it was disgusted by his smell.
'Just gotta keep going; push yourself! Fei can just use her ice to freeze the mud!' With words of motivation fueling his drive, his speed at catching became ferocious.
In less than an hour the last rat was the sole survivor. It was shriveled up into a few blades of grass. Its head was shivering at the towering human in front of it.
The human was letting out shallow breaths; paired with the brown eyes that showered an invigorated anger caused it to cower further.
Even when it felt the hands of this beast wrap around its gigantic body, it stayed quiet. Then— it felt itself being lifted into the blue sky.
"FINALLY!!!!" Lucian roared in success. In his hands, was the last rat. His arms were raised high into the sky, "This is the last one, right?!"
"No idea, bring it here."
"Great."
Once the creature in his hands was inside the basket, Lucian crossed his arms and stared at the old man.
The mentioned individual lifted the lid, counted each scurrying critter inside, alas turning to Lucian with a shocked expression. "Huh, that's eight of them."
'That did not feel like eight…' Lucian looked at the squabbling basket with frustration. To show his frustration, he clenched his hands, whilst light was missing in his gaze. "Is that all?"
"On yer end, yes. White hair over there hasn't caught a thing."
"Huh? Fei hasn't?"
"Mhm, I hear her walkin' around, but I can't see where she is. I told tha' girl to bring the rats here, but she hasn't been back."
'That's not good… I better check on her.'
"Kid, let her."
"She won't be able to catch them-!" Lucian proclaimed, although with a rushed whisper. 'At least physically…'
The old man let out a scoff before leaning against one of his home's pillars. Finally, he knocked on it, and continued, "have faith in yer partner."
'This old man knows nothing… agh… yeah, yeah I should have more faith in Fei…' With a shake of his head, Lucian took the old man's offer and stood next to him.
Alas, his part was done, and now he waited patiently for his partner.