Pest Control {Mission Complete}

[Kaisei]

Name: Catch the Crabs!
Rank: D Rank
IIC Length: 1 Day
Difficulty: Easy
Description: A local spa is full of crabs, and people refuse to go there now. The owner is loosing business because of them!
Objective: Go to the spa and catch the little critters! [5 Posts Minimum]
Reward: 700 Ryo

Despite it being a 'local' spa, Kaisei couldn't help but admit to himself that he had a difficult time finding it. He went in to building after building inquiring about the spa until someone finally pointed him in the right direction. After peeking his head in to make sure he had the right place that time, he stepped inside and began twirling his sickle.

Hellllloooo?" he called out into the spa. It was empty. Probably because of the crabs, but that just made his job a whole lot easier.

"Can I help you?" a woman's voice said from somewhere behind Kaisei. He spun around and nearly knocked over the woman who he guessed was the spa's owner. She was short and obviously old, and Kaisei thought that the slightest bump would break any number of her bones. He bowed in apology and took a step back for personal space reasons.

"I understand that you have crabs," he said. The wording immediately made him wish that he hadn't said anything at all, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Ah, yes," the lady said softly. She gestured to a door towards the back of the room they were currently in with a frail, bony finger. It was a macabre sight, so Kaisei thought it best not to look and do his job instead.

"I'll be out soon," he promised as he walked towards the door. The spa owner was silent, probably gone. He didn't bother to check. With one last deep breath as if going into a poisonous fog, Kaisei flung the door open and submerged himself into the heart of the infestation.

"Let's dance, babies!" he yelled, bringing his sickle down by his side.

[Kaisei]

The room Kaisei had entered was a large, open area with lots of small hot springs surrounding a big one in the center. The design obviously showed that it was man-made, but that was the last thing on Kaisei's mind. He was more focused on finding the crabs. There was enough light coming from various lamps and candles to see, but not enough to see everything at once.

In order to exteriminate the crabs, Kaisei felt that he had to know two things. First, how big they were. Second, where they were located. He wished that he had asked when he first arrived, but he was so excited about doing a mission that he forgot. As he was cursing himself for his lack of thought, the first of his questions answered itself by scuttling across his foot.

"Hello, darling," Kaisei muttered as he picked up the crab. It was about the size of his big toe, but a few crabs that size wouldn't have needed a ninja to get rid of. That meant that the problem here was quantity.

Kaisei's sickle was too big to skewer the crabs one by one, so he needed to search for an alternate method. He stuck the blade in between two of the decorative stones that made up the ground and draped his duster over it. His hat was tossed on the end of the handle, which did a good job of keeping it off the ground and away from any crabs.

"Let's see," Kaisei muttered to himself. He began patrolling the outer stone walkway, both scouting out the area and looking for something to deal with the crabs with.

[Kaisei]

The solution came to Kaisei rather suddenly. Actually, he got his foot caught in it and tripped. When he had regained his balance, he found his foot caught in a little square net. It was only a foot wide, but its extendable handle made it the perfect weapon against the crab invasion. It was most likely used to clean out the springs, but it would serve a different purpose now.

Where could crabs possibly be? Kaisei thought in mock frustration. The answer was all around him. Crabs like water, and a hot spring is full of it. Kaisei set a leisurely speed towards the nearest spring and looked in. Sure enough, crabs littered the bottom. Something seemed off, though. Hot springs were hot, and crabs get cooked in hot water.

After scooping out a few crabs with the net and inspecting them, Kaisei proclaimed them all dead. That made his job easier. As he was scooping out net after net full of crabs, one thing still bothered him. He had found a live crab, which meant that the springs weren't the only placed infested. There was at least one other place too.

The outer springs were easy to clean. Each one could only hold about four people, so Kaisei just needed to lean in to scoop out the crabs. The tricky part was the center spring. It was at least twelve feet wide and twenty feet long. The net couldn't reach the center from the outer edge, so Kaisei decided that it was time for a swim. After stripping off his shirt, pants, and socks and tossing them next to his sickle, he slowly eased himself into the water. It was hot, as a hot spring should be, but not overly so.

Pity that I'm here for a job, thought Kaisei as he fought against the urge to relax a little. Instead, he occupied himself with scooping out the rest of the dead crabs from the spring. Just to be on the safe side, he slowly strolled around the outer edge to check for any other crabs. Then he checked the center again. Then the outside. When he was finally content with the 'crab situation', he stepped out and grabbed a towel from a towel rack near the door.

[Kaisei]

After putting his clothes back on, Kaisei checked each small spring again. They were all crab-free. Just as he was about to pick up his sickle and leave, he remembered the live crab and figured that he should ask the old lady about any other sightings. Kaisei opened the door to go and find her and was met with another shocking surprise. There she was, standing on the other side, bony little hand raised in a knock that would never sound.

"Did you get them?" she asked hopefully. Kaisei could imagine why, too. This spa was probably her main source of income, and the crabs had scared away customers who supply that income.

"Yes, I did," Kaisei responded. He didn't want to sound too confident since there might be more crabs somewhere else. "May I check the rest of the spa for any others?"

"Be my guest." The first stop on Kaisei's list was the waiting room, where he already was. The lighting here was better, so he could see that there were no crabs or anything that he could use to track them.

The next areas were the massage rooms. Kaisei inspected each one from top to bottom, but there were no signs in any of them. As he moved down the hall, he couldn't help but notice the old lady's prescence behind him. She was following him and taking obvious pride in her facilities. Pity that they were closed at the moment, or Kaisei would have bought a massage and another dip in the hot springs.

[Kaisei]

Every room in the spa was thoroughly checked. The waiting room, hot springs, massage rooms, exercise area, and owner's office were all crab-free. There were a few minor problems that were either cracks in the walls or broken floor stones, but that would have to be dealt with by someone in the field of construction.

As Kaisei moved towards his final destination, the showers, he couldn't help but notice the spa owner's prescence following him. She had been trailing him for some time now, probably taking pride in her facilities. It was a shame that they were closed, but that's what he was there to help with.

In his first general overview, Kaisei saw nothing wrong with any of the shower stalls. They were all cared for pretty well, minus a crack or two in the wall, and there seemed to be nothing wrong with the ceiling above. Upon closer inspection of the floor, he saw the problem.

"They're coming up the drain," he whispered to himself as he crouched down in front of a hole in the floor that drained out the shower water. A little crab stuggled desperately to emerge, but it just didn't seem to be able to. When it looked like all hope was lost, the crab exerted one final burst of strength and managed to hook the outer ring of the drain with its legs. It pulled itself up and immediately began exploring. Kaisei picked it up and examined it closely as it fought for freedom. It was just an ordinary crab. What could it possibly want that was inside a spa?

"Ma'am, how often do you clean the hot springs out?" Kaisei asked suddenly. He thought he had a good idea as to why crabs were coming in the spa.

"Oh, I haven't been able to for a while now," the old lady replied from the shower stall's doorway. "My husband used to, but he passed away when he fell in the big spring. His old body wasn't meant to swim any more..."

As sorry as he was to hear that, Kaisei didn't want his condolences to bring him away from his ultimate conclusion.

"Well you may want to hire someone to do it regularly," he said with no hint of sorrow in his voice. He felt that he sounded heartless, but it was too late now. "Whatever's accumulating in those springs is attracting the crabs. They must really like eating it or something because they were willing to risk their lives for it."

The old lady asked for no details, but Kaisei was slowly figuring out everything in his mind. A stray crab must have found the hot springs, eaten something out of the dirty water, liked it, and brought it back to the rest of the crabs. They acted like ants and went back to the source to eat as much as they wanted for themselves. The water was too hot for them and ended up killing them. That explained why the crabs were dead, but the springs weren't as dirty as they should have been. It was an extravegant theory, but Kaisei was no genius when it came to crabs so it would have to work.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he finally said after getting up and turning to face the spa's owner. He bowed and reflexively reached for his hat to take it off, but it wasn't there.

"It was six months ago," she said nonchalantly, waving a hand as a sign for him to rise back up. "I'm over it."

All Kaisei could think about as he returned to the hot springs for his equipment was how sad the old lady must have felt when she lost her husband. Even six months prior, she was probably in no shape to take care of a whole spa by herself. Kaisei thought about going there regularly to help stimulate her income a little more.

Another thought crossed his mind as he left the building after gathering his things. The spa hadn't been cleaned for SIX MONTHS? On second thought, his ninja duties always came first and it was difficult to develop a schedule around them.

Mission End

[Return]

Kaisei burst through the front door, his cheeks flushed from the run over. There, in the last place he had seen her, was the old owner of the spa. She smiled at him and he returned it, all the while thinking about if she had even moved from that spot.

"I need to get some crabs," he huffed, still trying to regain his breath. The smile dropped from the lady's face.

"I'm sorry, but I just threw them away. They're in the trash can if you want them."

Without so much as a goodbye, Kaisei raced back out the front door and around the back. It was true. The little old lady had somehow transported hundreds of crabs to the back of the building. The weight should have killed her, but it didn't. Odd.

Now, with crabs in hand, our hero returned to the Tower to reap his reward.

[Out. For good this time. I promise.]