<div class="floatright">(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/db/e9/cf/dbe9cf5fe0e93ceb0b2c4707e6679664--character-portraits-character-ideas.jpg)</div>Sophie could hear the footsteps of Mr. Pain in the Ass behind them as they trudged down the hill towards the wet, puckered, rat spewing anus of the mountain. Needless to say, her mood had not improved much on the brief stroll. The closer they got the quieter the area became. The mammoth queen rat and her filthy spawn had just simply vanished, leaving only two of the little runts rutting in the mud.<br/><br/>Cerias had stopped following them as the dirt gave way to the slop they had managed to flop around in half an hour earlier and somehow, in that brief amount of time she had managed to forget just how awful it smelled. She had to clamp her throat shut to keep from gagging.<br/><br/>“Let’s get this over with.” She muttered to Les at her side, feeling her adopted sister taking a deep breath, squaring up for the second round.<br/><br/>The two rats while near were not standing side by side and all she could hear was his voice boring “make them count.” into her head. If he was right, then they’d really have to conserve abilities they only just discovered they had. She felt like she might hurl the pressure and anxiety was strong.<br/><br/>“Make them count.” She whispered, pondering what to do.<br/><br/>If they could get the rats together perhaps they would be able to hit them both with a single shot? But how, though? The faintest flickering of an idea was brewing in the Evenember’s mind as she looked from the rodents to her best friend and then back again.<br/><br/>“Les?” She asked. “I… I think I got an idea.”<br/><br/>Let’s be real honest here, with the amount of uncertainty in her voice, the notion of her having an idea seemed about as threatening as just running into the cave of rats.<br/><br/>“I’m thinking if I can get their attention and force them to run up the hill towards us, you think you could hit both of them with a single ice spell thingy?”<br/><br/>The pair very quickly discussed the logistics, keeping their voices low as to not give their teacher a chance to tell them they were wrong. After a few hurried words, they agreed. This would be their best shot. Or, at least, the only one that seemed to make any sense.<br/><br/>Sophia ran her fingers nervously through her hair, a habit she had since she was a child, which served no real purpose other than to smear the muck through the blue-black locks. At least it kept it from her eyes rather effectively.<br/><br/>“Okay, here goes nothing. Don’t hit me, okay?”<br/><br/>With that, she began sinking down the hill, her boots sliding in the mud and more than once almost losing her balance. It took her a few minutes of walking forward and stopping. She watched the rats completely ignore her for a moment and then continued. Eventually, they would see her, right? She wouldn’t have to kick them in the heads, would she?<br/><br/>They seemed perfectly content to just much away on gods only knew what on the floor as she moved ever closer. The smell from the grotesque cave opening hit her full-on in a humid concoction of putrid smells and repulsive damp heat.<br/><br/>Still nothing. She considered yelling at them to get their attention but she didn’t want to risk the others scampering out of the cave. Not this close with Les too far up the hill to get to her in time. She was just considering this as she took another step when suddenly both rats raised their heads at once, beady black eyes instantly finding her.<br/><br/>The trio stood frozen for a moment as if completely gobsmacked as to what to do next but when the rats shrieked in an angered rage at being snuck up on, survival instincts kicked in.<br/><br/>"Guh!!!"<br/><br/>The reluctant priestess spun on the spot and took off running, a task made exceedingly difficult as the ground under her boots was about as slippery as a married man trying to explain the whore in his bedroom. Several times she fell forward on her hands, nails clawing at the mud in desperate search of resistance somewhere below them. She could hear the wet little slappings of the rat's bald feet and webbed claws splattering in the muck behind her.<br/><br/>Her vision was a mess but she kept aiming for the spot of flame-red hair up the hill. She was almost there and chances a peek over her shoulder. What she saw gave her a leap of pride, not to mention a sizable dose of surprise, that the two rats were bumping their fat, boil speckled rumps together, almost fighting one another for the chance to bite into her first.<br/><br/>“Les!” She yelled, half as a request and half by shock.<br/><br/>The tip of her boot had snagged a root buried somewhere under the feted layers of gunk and the suddenness of it sent her flying, practically belly flopping at the feet of the mage who was standing ready.<br/><br/>Even the loud splatter was not enough to drown out the sound of the air freezing over her head. The way even the very breath pouring from her lips in great white puffs froze to her skin as Les sent a bolt of glittering ice hurtling towards the beasts. The shrieks were quickly muffled as the aim of her spell proved to be perfection.<br/><br/>They both halted, the front halves of their bodies frozen and left immobile while their back ends thrashed wildly as they attempted to escape their icy straight jackets. Injured but they could maybe break free.<br/><br/>Scraping the muck from her clothing and slinging it from her hands by wiping her arms, Sophie pointed her fingers at the pair of struggling animals and felt the still strange sensation of energy flowing from deep within her limbs.<br/><br/>One sizzling ball of light later and the heads of the rats exploded in frozen gory glory. Sophie beamed at her sister with a wide, muddy grin. That had gone better than she had expected, really.<br/><br/>But, like all good things for the pair it seemed, the victory was short lived.<br/><br/>The commotion outside seemed to have roused the larger rats wherever they had managed to vanish to and now three or four of the massive fuckers stomped out into the daylight.<br/><br/>“Uhhh, you think it’ll work again?” the black haired girl asked her friend sounding concerned. The other two had been small but these were the big ones. Last time it had taken everything they had in order to kill even one of them.