Rodent Assistance

Patreon reward for KickahaOta. Kickaha and Calex find themseleves reduced to a very tiny size and in need of assistance from a now giant mouse.

Rodent Assistance

By CalexTheNeko

 

“GAAAAAAH!” A very high pitched scream came from a very tiny foxyote who was currently traveling at

very high speeds (from his point of view) through grass that towered over his head. Kickaha was not having the best of days. Usually the fox-coyote hybrid stood around the three foot tall range. This put him quite a bit below average compared to other people… Especially humans who were often twice his size. Right now though he wasn’t even that big! From the tip of his ears down to the bottom of his paws the little canine currently measured only two inches in height. It was far from the first time it had ever happened to him but today  was proving to be especially troublesome.

 

Kickaha was currently sitting atop the back of a large field mouse. Though he was less sitting, and more hugging the mouse’s backside clinging for dear life. A few shoelaces had been wrapped around the mouse’s chest to form a harness and reins in a doomed attempt to control the mouse’s movements.

 

“Where’s the brakes on this crazy thing!?” Kickaha shouted as he tugged on the reins hoping the mouse would stop. It didn’t. He couldn’t even see which way the mouse was going as it sprinted through the forest of grass. “Come on, just ease up a little! Please!” The mouse responded by bucking up its hind legs and tossing Kickaha from its back. The tiny foxyote only flew a few inches… But it felt like a few feet before landing on his backside. Thankfully, due to his tiny size the force of impact was small and he was unharmed. At least physically. His ego had taken a bit of a bruising.

 

“Kickaha?” A younger voice called out. A few moments later a few blades of grass parted as a much more docile mouse entered the scene. Atop this mouse’s back was a small orange kitten half Kickaha’s size that seemed to have his mouse under perfect control. “There you are!” Calex’s eyes lit up as he saw the foxyote. “What happened to your mount?”

 

“He wasn’t feeling very cooperative.” Kickaha muttered through gritted teeth as he sat up. “How’d you get yours to actually behave?”

 

“I dunno.” Calex shrugged then reached forward to pet his mouse between the ears. “I guess maybe he just likes me! Do you wanna try riding this one? He’s really docile! You might have a bit more luck.” The young feline slipped off his mouse to make room for Kickaha.

 

“Uh-huh.” The foxyote stood up and squinted as he stared at the kitten. “Fine… That one does seem nicer…” He slowly walked over and watched as the kitten slid off the mouse. You would think the rodent would have been nervous being around a cat… Even a very tiny inch tall cat. Yet it didn’t seem to pay Calex any mind. Yet… As Kickaha reached out one paw to try and grab at the mouse’s fur its eyes suddenly went wide.

 

“SQUEEEEAK!” The mouse gave a shout and reared up on two legs. It knocked Kickaha backwards onto his back before it took off sprinting through the grass.

 

“AGAIN!?” Kickaha gave a shout as he found himself laying on his back in the dirt for the second time within five minutes.

 

“Wow.” Calex stared in wonder. “You are not good with mice… Like all. They really don’t seem to like you.”

 

“It’s mutual! I wish I were looking for lunch rather than transportation!” Kickaha sat up and shook his fist in the direction the mouse had gone.

 

“You know…” Calex did his best not to meet the foxyote’s eyes. “Comments like that -COULD- be why they don’t like you.”

 

“Look. There’s a natural order of things. It’s very straightforward. Foxyotes are predators. Mice are entrees. It’s a splendid system. And when I’m smaller than the mouse, the system breaks down. Civilization is ruined!” Kickaha grumbled. “I can’t believe you got us stuck like this. Wait. Poor choice of words. Actually I believe it completely. But today you really outdid yourself!”

 

“What!?” The kitten looked taken aback. “You think this is my fault?”

 

“Isn’t it?” Kickaha asked.

 

“Well… It depends how you look at it…” The kitten moved his left paw around in a circle in the dirt.

 

It had occurred roughly an hour ago. Kickaha had found Calex wandering around in an abandoned park. The kitten had just been minding his own business playing on the swings when the foxyote had gotten a fun idea. There was an old well in the middle of said park. It had long ago dried up… But the foxyote had an idea for something he thought might be funny.

 

“A magic wishing well?” Calex had seemed unsure when he heard the foxyote’s description.

 

“Yup!” Kickaha had nodded and handed the kitten a penny. At the time he had still been wearing his green cloak since he hadn’t shrunk yet. Calex of course wasn’t wearing anything. Kickaha was fairly certain he didn’t actually own any form of clothing. “Just make a wish and toss it in! Then it’ll be magically granted in an instant!”

 

“Huh I thought wishing wells were something that only worked in cartoons.” Calex had mused. He held the penny in his paw and stared at the well as if deep in thought trying to decide on something.

 

“Well, you know, those cartoons had to be based on something!” Kickaha had explained. “Give it a try! You never know what will happen!” The truth was that it was just an ordinary well. There was nothing magical or extraordinary about it! It didn’t even have an interesting history! No one had ever even fallen down it! But… The foxyote had noticed a strange trait about the werekitten. He tended to attract the strange. Or maybe he caused it. It was exceptionally unclear. And folks had always said that about Kickaha… so when someone managed to out-weird him, that was something. That merited further study. And so Kickaha had decided to experiment a bit just to see what would happen.

 

And if the little kitty wished for something and it came true? Well, Kickaha would be there to help out! He wasn’t about to let the little guy hurt himself if the wish went wrong! Discounting the fact he was rather fond of the kitten, endangering a child was just wrong! He was sure that, whatever Calex managed to do to himself, he could save the day in time for a leisurely dinner at Rodent Repast. At least that was the plan… But then Kickaha’s fur stood on end as he heard the kitten mutter one sentence.

 

“I wish me and Kickaha could have a big adventure!” The kitten had spoken loudly and clearly as he tossed the penny into the well. Kickaha wasn’t supposed to be involved in the wish!

 

“CALEX NO!” Kickaha grabbed for the penny but it was too late. It had flown past his own paw and straight into the well. And then a moment later Kickaha was buried underneath his own cloak. A few seconds later he had crawled out from underneath, now only two inches tall. Calex was nearby, only an inch tall.

 

“Okay, maybe I should have seen that coming…” Kickaha muttered. “But… I really do have other things to do today, so let’s change back to normal size.” He snapped his fingers casting one of his own spells. Nothing happened. He snapped two more times as nothing continued to happen. “Uh oh.”

 

“Huh I guess in terms of magical powers wishing wells outrank you!” Calex grinned. “Looks like we’re stuck this way for awhile!”

 

“You sure are chipper about that.” Kickaha rolled his eyes.

 

“Well I mean we are getting a big adventure!” Calex bounced up in down. “So what’s the big deal?”

 

“Yeah…” Kickaha sagged a bit. “I guess you’re right. There’s no harm just running with it till it wears off.”

 

“Or if it wears off!” Calex smiled.

 

“Wait… If?” Kickaha looked down at the kitten. “Do you think this is permanent?”

 

“Well it usually is.” Calex shrugged. “But I don’t worry about these things.”

 

“But nothing’s ever permanent around me! Things always go back to normal! Or what passes for normal around here! And wait a minute… When I see you, you’re almost always normal too! And then the shenanigans break out! But there’s normalcy first!” Kickaha threw his hands up in the air. “How do you get back to normal if you don’t worry about it!?”

 

“Oh that’s cause Odin worries about it!” Calex had insisted. “I just enjoy the ride! Odin is the one who always figures out to get things back to normal! We could go ask him.”

 

“And he’d be at your home which is miles away…” Kickaha’s tail sagged. “That’s a really long walk.”

 

“Well…” Calex grinned. “I might know a way to get there faster! We’re just going to have to catch a ride.” And that was how they had gotten into this situation. Calex had planned for them to catch a few mice and ride them all the way back to his home. The problem was it had turned out to be a lot harder for Kickaha than Calex. And now they had lost their mice and were lost themselves somewhere among the park’s grassy landscape.

 

“You were the one who wanted me to make a wish!” Calex insisted. “I thought just wishing for a big adventure would be harmless! How was I supposed to know it’d shrink us?”

 

“Maybe because around you, that’s the usual course of events!” Another thing Kickaha was unsure of was just how oblivious Calex was to his own hand in causing these situations.

 

“I kind of thought it was a little unlikely.” Calex shrugged. “I  mean, three times in one week?” Kickaha slapped a paw to his face at this.

 

“Okay, let’s just try to get back on track. Looks like Plan A didn’t work.” The foxyote sighed. “Any sign of a Plan B on the horizon?”

 

“Well… This park’s been abandoned for awhile I think.” Calex rubbed his chin. “I’m pretty sure there are lots of other mice around! We just gotta find you another one to ride! One that you can get along with.”

 

“No, no, I think that’s a bad idea.” Kickaha shook his head. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been thrown off them enough for one day.”

 

“Uh come on!” Calex jumped up and down. “Don’t give up already! We just need to find you a mouse you already have some rapport with! And I already have just the one in mind!”

 

“I’m pretty sure I’d recall if I had any lunch-shaped friends,” Kickaha muttered. “That’s the sort of thing that comes up in conversation. Good afternoon, how are you, your ears are particularly adorable today, gosh I’m hungry all of a sudden.”

 

“No! No! I promise you! You have one! And he happens to be nearby!” Calex looked around. “I think… I’m a little turned around… Give me a second.” The kitten quickly scaled a blade of grass to get a better view of the surrounding area. A few seconds later he slid back down to the ground with a proud smile upon his face. “Aha! He’s this way!”

 

“You really just know someone close by?” Kickaha asked.

 

“Yup!” Calex dropped to all fours and took off running through the grass. “Come on, follow me! It’s this way!”

 

“Well at least with you things are never dull.” Kickaha managed a wry smile as he followed after the kitten. That smile quickly faded though when they encountered the mouse Calex had been talking about.

 

He hadn’t been far away. The mouse had been nearby hunting for grains and berries near the roots of a large oak tree. The mouse had white fur covering most of its body with blue tips along the top of its ears. Kickaha did indeed know who this mouse was!

 

“ERAKIR!?” Kickaha’s eyes widened. “What are you doing here!?”

 

“Erakir promised to watch me for the day!” Calex explained. “He brought me to the park because he thought I needed to run around a bit to work out some energy!”

 

“So he brought you to a completely abandoned park outside the city…” Kickaha tilted his head. “Yeah that checks out… But why is he a mouse?”

 

“Oh that’s easy.” Erakir grinned as he studied the tiny foxyote. Erakir was one of the few people outside Calex who was shorter than Kickaha naturally. He seemed to be enjoying the fact he was currently bigger despite his mouse shape. “That’s Calex’s fault.”

 

“Hee. Yeah it was my bad!” Calex grinned sheepishly.

 

“I should have guessed…” Kickaha muttered. “But… How did it happen?”

 

“It’s a really long story.” Erakir shrugged. “But the gist of it is that Calex gave a mouse a cookie and it triggered a long series of events that resulted in me becoming a mouse.”

 

“He had asked so nicely too!” Calex replied.

 

“But… What are you doing here?” Erakir asked as he smiled a predatory smile. “I haven’t seen you since you gave me that collar at the cafe.”

 

“Aha ha… Yeaaah thaaaaaaaaat.” Kickaha laughed nervously. Him and Erakir were… Well they were friends! But… There was a certain dynamic to their relationship that some others might call spiteful or cruel. Really it was just how they were! Buuuuuuut… Last time they met Kickaha had pulled a small prank on Erakir and well… The fact he was bringing that little fact up did not bode well. “You know me! Just… Out here! Seeing some nature! Doing… Foxyote things.”

 

“Quite.” Erakir’s grin only grew at Kickaha’s discomfort. “So… What has you running to me now.”

 

“You can’t guess?” Kickaha gestured at his tiny two inch tall body. “Look at us.”

 

“Oh that?” Erakir shrugged. “I’ll be honest, after I turned into a mouse and Calex ran off I expected something like this to happen. I’m not at all surprised he somehow got shrunk, or that he now has you tagging along.”

 

“Really? Not even a little?” Kickaha tilted his head quizzically.

 

“It’s Calex.” Erakir replied flatly.

 

“… Yeah you’re right…” Kickaha sighed.

 

“Heeeeeey!” Calex waved his arms wildly. “You two are making fun of me! Come on Erakir! Don’t be mean! We came to you because we need your help!”

 

“Is that so?” Erakir’s face was outright diabolical. “Please go on.”

 

“Well you see there was this magic wishing well!” Calex explained the entire situation in a single breath. “And I threw a penny in and now me and Kickaha are all tiny! But he’s worried that it might last forever! So we need to go see Odin so he can figure this out! But he’s like… A hundred billion infinity miles away! And that’d take forever to walk at this size! So we tried to catch some field mice to ride back! But Kickaha isn’t very good! He can’t get a single one to let him ride back properly! They don’t like him for some reason! But then I remembered you were a mouse now! So maybe we could ride you back!”

 

“I see…” Erakir nodded slowly as he processed everything Calex had said. It was a lot of information to have thrown at him in under two seconds of talking. “Alright, I’ll help.”

 

“Wait really?” Kickaha sensed a trap.

 

“Of course!” Erakir’s voice dripped with venom. “After all, how could I refuse after you previously gave me such a thoughtful gift.”

 

“Gotta be honest…” Kickaha’s ears folded back. “It’s making me really uncomfortable that you keep bringing that up.”

 

“Come on Kick!” Calex tugged on the foxyote’s tail. “Give Erakir a chance! I’m sure it’ll be fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!”

 

“You saying that only makes me more nervous!” Kickaha exclaimed. Then he paused. “Wait… Actually! Erakir! You study a lot of white magic! Doesn’t that mean you should know quite a bit about curse breaking! Couldn’t you just remove the spell that’s keeping us stuck tiny?”

 

“Sorry can’t do it.” Erakir shook his head. “It’s impossible. Everyone knows wishing well magic can’t be broken even with the most powerful of white magic.”

 

“Really?” Kickaha gave the mouse a deadpan stare. “You’re going to just say that without even trying.”

 

“Come on, Kickaha, you’re too suspicious of him!” Calex folded his arms. “He’s trying to help us! Why would he lie?”

 

“Indeed!” Erakir stood up on his hind legs so he could pat the kitten on the head. “I’m just trying to be helpful. Why would I lie?”

 

“Would you like the list sorted chronologically or by importance?” Kickaha muttered.

 

“Kick!” Calex elbowed the foxyote in the stomach. “Be nice! If you make him angry he might take back his offer to help. If he’s willing to give us a ride to Odin’s place where’s the harm?”

 

“Yeah come on Kickaha!” Erakir chided. “Why are you being so rude when I’m offering to carry you across town. You know I’m pretty small too! Just cause I run on four legs right now doesn’t mean it’s an easy trip for me! You should show a little appreciation.”

 

“Alright fine…” Kickaha didn’t so much as trust Erakir as much as he didn’t see any other options right now. It wasn’t like there were any other mice willing to carry him miles to his destination. “Thank you Erakir.”

 

“Wonderful!” Erakir continued to stand up on two legs and crossed his forearms as if they were arms as he stared at the two. “Though… If we’re going to go that far I need to make one adjustment first. Suddenly he lurched forward and placed one paw on each of his companions heads. There was a small puff of smoke around each of them… Then suddenly the two figures began to shrink again!

 

Kickaha had been small before… But now he was absolutely miniscule! He was only a tenth of an inch tall making him smaller than many ants! Calex was no better off still being half the foxyote’s size.

 

“Erakir, what the heck!?” Kickaha shouted. “You said you can’t make me bigger but you’ll shrink me further!?”

 

“There’s no need to be so upset.” Erakir scooped one paw down and picked up both Calex and Kickaha in it. He used two fingers to pinch down on both of their tails and dangle them upside down back to back with each other. “I said I can’t break the curse but there’s no reason I can’t stack my own on top of it.”

 

“But… but…” Kickaha twitched nervously as he looked around. He thought things had been gigantic before! Individual pebbles were now mountains! Blades of grass stretched beyond the sky itself! He looked at Calex to see how the kitten was handling it and… Saw that Calex seemed not to be concerned at all! Despite being smaller than a bug and dangled upside down the kitten was just looking around in awe admiring the gigantic alien world.

 

“Come now, how do you expect me to carry you both as you were?” Erakir asked. “Sure you might not weigh much… But that’s a long distance for me to travel carrying you! I could probably manage the weight if it was just one of you… But carrying you both would have left me utterly exhausted before we got halfway! Now you’re so light I’ll barely notice you at all.”

 

“Yes I’m sure that’s the only reason you did this.” Kickaha crossed his arms and stared up at the giant mouse while he dangled upside down.

 

“Ah come on, Kickaha, don’t be so mean!” Calex insisted. “What he’s saying makes sense! He’s already doing us a big favor! We don’t want to be any bigger of a burden than we have too.”

 

“Yeah but let me guess…” Kickaha was sure he was onto Erakir’s scheme. “Now that we’re this small because of the wishing well magic you can’t make us rodent sized again.”

 

“Don’t be so pessimistic.” Erakir lightly swayed the foxyote from side to side. “It’s my own spell! Of course I can reverse it! Just don’t let me forget after we arrive and I’ll change you back to normal in no time!”

 

“See!” Calex replied. “You’re far too suspicious, Kickaha! Not everyone is trying to swindle someone! You should just relax and enjoy the ride.”

 

“Maybe, but it really is hard to relax with all the blood rushing to my head!” Kickaha whined.

 

“Well…” Erakir considered this. “I suppose it is going to be a little hard to run on all fours if I have my hands full.” He reached his hand above his head and released both of them. He had purposely held them as high up above his head as he could so that they literally fell downward before landing in his head fur.

 

“Being a little rough aren’t we!?” Kickaha whined as he landed next to one of Erakir’s giant ears.

 

“What’s that?” Erakir tilted his head forcing the kitten and foxyote to grab onto strands of fur to avoid being tossed off. “I hadn’t noticed! You’re just so small it’s really hard to handle you carefully.”

 

“It’s okay we know you’re trying your best!” Calex shouted as he wrapped both his arms and legs around the mouse’s fur.

 

“Sure we do…” Kickaha muttered. But at this point he was already in too deep to turn back so to speak.

 

“Now make sure you hang on tight…” Erakir dropped onto all fours. “Cause I’m going to run you there at top speed.”

 

“Aye aye!” Calex shouted. “Full speed ahead Erakir!”

 

And with that the mouse took off running. Kickaha was surprised that it was a surprisingly smooth trip. Despite the setup… Erakir was good to his work! He didn’t even ‘accidentally’ dislodge the tiny duo at any point during the journey or bump them into anything when he crawled beneath plants or pipes. Instead Erakir just took the most direct path as he could as he ran across the park, and then across town transporting his two tiny passengers.

 

Of course, as fast as he was on all fours Erakir was still just a mouse. It wasn’t a short trip. And so it must have taken over two hours before they finally arrived at Calex’s neighborhood. Erakir ran up to the sidewalk and right up to the front door before flopping down atop a piece of cardboard sitting on the front porch.

 

“That… Was even more draining than I imagined.” Erakir panted. “Was a really long run… Maybe I really did need you two that small to do it.”

 

“Wait what do you mean maybe?” Kickaha demanded.

 

“Come on be nice Kickaha!” Calex tugged on the foxyote’s tail again. “He got us home safely and he’s really tired!”

 

“Yeah! And I didn’t just toss you into the yard and say you were home or anything…” Erakir panted.

 

“Were… Were you considering doing that?” Kickaha asked.

 

“… Maybe.” Erakir tilted his head dislodging the tiny kitten and foxyote and dropping them into the cardboard he was perched on. “But look I’m really tired… I’m going to… Go find a dark quiet place to curl up.” With that Erakir slinked off the front porch and disappeared from sight.

 

“ERAKIR WAIT!” Kickaha shouted after the mouse but it was too late. He wasn’t even sure if his tiny voice just couldn’t carry that far or if Erakir had deliberately ignored him

 

“Wow he must be tired!” Calex mused as he looked in the direction Erakir had gone. “He completely forgot to unshrink us!”

 

“Yes forgot…” Kickaha muttered. Still… At least they had gotten here! Now they just had to figure out how to get inside and then they could hopefully illicit Odin’s help in getting bigger. “Hey… Do you have any idea how to get Odin’s attention?”

 

“Oh it’ll be easy!” Calex smiled. “This happens to me so often we have a system in place! Actually… If we just wait here on the front porch he’ll find us and take us inside eventually.”

 

“That’s a relief…” Kickaha muttered. “I was actually worrying about how to get inside… Guess we can just relax for a bit. The problem will solve itself now.”

 

“Yup!” Calex laughed. “And you were so worried Erakir was going to play a mean trick on you!”

 

“Yeah I guess the guy really came through.” Kickaha mused. Sure… He had shrunk them further, but he supposed if Odin could fix this then no real harm was done. For now they just had to wait until Odin arrived.

 

It hadn’t even been thirty minutes before a gigantic shadow passed over Calex and Kickaha.

 

“ODIN!?” Calex’s eyes lit up as he looked at the source of the shadow. He was always so happy to see his friend. However spirits sank slightly as he saw who it was. It was hard to make him out as big as he was… But the giant casting the shadow was clearly wearing a blue and white uniform. “Awww it’s just our mailman. Odin must still be at work.”

 

“I guess…” Kickaha shrugged. He had gotten comfortable waiting and didn’t mind waiting a little longer. “But what’s he doing at the front door? Doesn’t he just drop stuff off in the mail?”

 

“Usually!” Calex smiled. “Sometimes Odin leaves packages on the front porch for him to pick up though! He must just be grabbing one of those.”

 

“That makes sense…” Kickaha laid down to rest for now. This didn’t really seem to matter much… Until he had a realization. Weren’t they on top of something made of cardboard?

 

Suddenly… The earth itself began to move and shake.

 

“GAHHHH!” Calex gave a shout. “Grab something!” The tiny kitten sunk his claws into the cardboard to stay on. Kickaha had to do the same.

 

“Erakir! That snake he set us up for this!” Kickaha shouted as he clung to the box as well. “Just when I thought we were safe.” Kickaha did have to appreciate a trick well done… But that didn’t make the situation any less dire. Ohhhh, when he got back to normal, he was going to get that mouse moogle back so good.

 

The two tiny figures were currently sitting atop a cardboard box marked for delivery to Timbuktu. The mailman hadn’t even noticed the two orange and rust colored specks atop the box as he picked it up and carried it out to his truck. Meanwhile thanks to the movements of the box the two tiny companions had been jostled from their positions and landed inside the cardboard box. They were stuck now!

 

“Huh…” Calex looked around, his cat-like eyes letting him see in the dark. “I guess the wishing well is doing overtime and giving me a really really big adventure.”

 

“Of course, that’s your takeaway from this.” Kickaha rolled his eyes.

 

Meanwhile the mailman turned his truck back on and pulled back onto the stream. He began to drive away completely unaware of the two miniscule figures he had just accidentally kidnapped. And with their package heading to a far away foreign land it was unlikely they would be getting home or back to normal size anytime in the near future.

 

 

The End?