HSV: Jan '14 Path Mission : Food collection

Niro let out a bit of a sigh, the storm had finally stopped but the snow was still falling slowly. He pulled his scarf up over his nose as he started to trudge through the snow. It reminded him of mountains in a way, the way some piles were higher than the others. The heavy snow had taken out some multiple power lines resulting in power outages throughout the city.

This wasn’t a problem to Niro and his family since they didn’t rely on electricity; but the rest of the village was in the dark and the cold. Because most people couldn’t get out and the markets were closed, the only food that they had around was canned. This is where the village’s ninjas came into play. While some of the ninjas helped the civilians dig out; the multi-weapon ninjas were asked to go hunt down natural and nutritious food sources for the village till the electricity natured ninjas could get the power back up and running.

Living off the land wasn’t anything new to the farm boy; after all, his grandfather had taught him basic survival before the boy had even entered the ninja academy. Since there was so much snow, any plant life would be buried including whatever mushrooms hadn’t been eaten by the wildlife. Most animals were hibernating, a smart thing as Niro saw it. Sleep through the whole winter and not have to deal with the snow and cold. Maybe if he could hibernate, he wouldn’t get so sick during the winter.

There would be no real point in hunting since no animals would be out here in their right mind; and any animal what was outside was going to be desperate for food and dangerous to be around.  Since the farm was still up and running thanks to Niro making some tunnels under the farm; eggs and milk were still available for the rest of the village but the demand was too high for just the Renkia farm to handle. After all, they were just one of few farms in the village; alone one farm couldn’t supply the whole village. The village still needed food and Niro was going to make sure he found some for them.

Traveling through the snow was rather tough, but Niro was prepared. Wearing a pair of snowshoes, he was able to walk on top of the snow. He also had with him some tools, a fishing pole, large woven basket and a hand ice drill. Even it if was cold outside, near the bottom of the river was a constant temperature. This meant the fish were still in the water and able to be caught. Once he reach were the river was, he dug through the snow to find the ice. Using the ice drill, he made a small hole to figure out how thick the ice was. Once he determined that the ice was thick enough for him to walk on he headed out on to the ice. Reaching the middle of the river, he put his things down and started to make shelter from the snow on the ice.

It only would not just it keep him out of the wind but it would help trap in heat inside. It took a bit of time, since he had to make small brick shaped snow balls and stack them. With his snow shelter finished, he could finally begin the preparations for fishing. After drilling himself a hole in the ice, he placed the hook of the fishing rod into the water. His bait? Frozen worms he had found when making the tunnels between the houses and the barns. Yes it was frozen but to the hungry fish below, they weren’t picky enough to really care. The fishing was long and boring, but he was able to catch some fish.

Fishing for the village was going to take a while and Niro couldn’t say outside too long thanks to his weaken lungs. This meant that he would be doing this for a series of days. Last thing he needed to happen was to get sick and get stuck in the hospital for days; that wouldn’t get anything done but worry a handful of people. As the day grew later, the temperature started to fall rapidly. This was a signal for Niro to head back home before he froze himself out there.

 Grabbing his gear, he headed back to the center of town to drop off the fish he had caught. With the fish now making their way into the homes of hungry people, Niro headed back home. After taking care of his usual chores, he finally was able to head off to bed.

Waking up the next morning was tough, his bed was nice and warm but he had to return to finishing for the village.

“Gimu, Duke get off of me,” the boy muttered as he tried to wiggle out from underneath the two dogs.

He answer came in the form of a lick from the beagle, “Duke, just get off,” Niro said as he moved the small dog off his chest and looked at the bermese mountain dog on his feet, “Gimu, that goes for you too,” he added.

Gimu just looked up at Niro and went back to sleep. “Gimu! OFF!” Niro yelled as the large dog rolled off his legs, “Thank you buddy,” Niro stated as he pet both dogs and got out of bed.

For the next few days, as the rest of the village was working on digging out, Niro was out on the water fishing. It took some time but the power in the village finally got restored and things were started to return to normal.

As for Niro, he managed to avoid getting seriously sick, but that didn’t stop him from catching a cold. “I really dislike the winter,” he muttered before sneezing.

Both his dogs looked up at him, “Don’t give me that look. I didn’t see you out there fishing” he stated with a bit of a grin before another sneeze.