Welcome to Windclan, Mr. Lord [Open, for one more after Suma]

He hadn't intended to go as far as his paws carried him. The loner hadn't traveled so far since before he had planted himself in the walkerlands, waiting for the impossible return of his kin. Something about being able to let himself run wherever the wind happened to blow was impossibly freeing. The feeling was incomparable to anything he had felt for some time. But the knowledge that each passing step carried him farther and farther from Gold, her kits, and his own offspring was a weight that could not be shaken from his shoulders. As much as his inherently free nature was finally allowed to run wild, there was no denying the loss that had to be made for this to happen. Starlord had full intentions of returning to Riverclan territory which was why he found himself skidding to a halt on the moorlands. If he remembered right, this was Windclan territory, beyond he would have outpaced the clans. After a moments pause, his steps resumed in a leisurely canter. The stars were on full display out here, and it was marvelous.

Starlord paused to drink in the open air, reveling in the beauty of the moment. It was peaceful and briefly seemed to soothe the twisting currents of emotion that budded up within the cavity of his chest. Each labored breath became more eased with the chilled breeze. Just above the horizon were hints of the sun's dazzling brilliance, signifying the coming dawn. But the rays had not quite drowned out the navy sky background that displayed a host of exquisitely crafted balls of light. He could almost picture his father, Zeus, among the star lords. The thought comforted him as he watched the sky with a kit-like awe for a few moments. Before he could truly allow himself to relax, a scent his glands that caused his fur to stand on end. At once the tom snapped out of his gaze. There came a chilling, enraged roar as the black and white creature came into view. So much for leaving the fight, it appeared a new one had found him. Badger.

It easily was twice his size but the ginger and white tom was not one to back away from a fight, especially one he likely could not outrun. Despite the fact he had always been quick on his feet, Starlord was no Windclan cat. He unsheathed his claws and without hesitation raced towards the lumbering creature. One set of massive claws swung around and caught the side of his maw immediately causing blood to well up from where Jaystar's paw had slashed him earlier. There was a wave of pain and he was momentarily dazed. Shaking his head, Starlord darted around back of the badger and leaped onto his broad shoulders, digging in with his claws.

Badger used Heavy Blow on Starlord dealing 25 damage and using 20 stamina.

Badger
HP: 120/120
SP: 300/320

Starlord
HP: 20/45
SP: 140/140

Starlord used Leap and Hold on the Badger, dealing 9 damage and using 10 stamina. Badger is held for x turns.

Starlord
HP: 20/45
SP: 130/140

Badger
HP: 111/120
SP: 300/320

It had only been about a moon since the moon, sun, and stars returned. Barleytuft had always been a morning cat - even as a kit his late mother Amberheart had struggled to keep him sleeping past sun-up - and when the dawn returned, it was as though a significant piece of his life had been returned to him. For the time the sky was dark, he would wake up at all sorts of odd hours and have no idea if it were even close to dawn or not. Once, he hadn't even been asleep for a full watch before he was awake again feeling fully rested and itching to hunt rabbits.

It had taken Barleytuft a while to get his schedule back, but now, just like the sun, he was one of the first things up and about on WindClan's territory in the morning. There were early birds, of course, and rabbits, but Barleytuft's first priority in the morning was a run. The sandy tom slipped out of the camp quietly and, after padding several fox-lengths from the entrance, began to sprint. The direction didn't matter - it never did. One moment he could feel the icy chill of late leaf-bare piercing through his thing coat and the next he was flying, the grasses skimming the bottoms of his paws as he raced over the hills.

The sun continued to slowly rise, and the world which had been a dark sepia quickly lightened to a soft orange. The young warrior slowed after a while and scanned his better-lit surroundings. He had run alongside the Gorge for a while and split away, but the scent of RiverClan that usually wafted over the border - the newly changed border, actually - didn't lessen. If anything, it got stronger. Breathing hard, Barleytuft slowed and parted his lips, drawing the scent over his tongue. No, that can't be right - RiverClan scent in our territory? he wondered, a flicker of irritation lighting in his belly.

Moving swiftly but quietly, Barleytuft followed the scent, and after several fox-lengths the tom came over a rise of a hill to see a sleek-looking ginger-and-white tom on their territory. Barleytuft opened his mouth, readying to call out a challenge, but a flicker of gray-and-white down the slope near the intruder made the warrior hesitate. His eyes locked on the lumbering thing the moment it let out a booming roar - and that seemed to be the same moment that the RiverClan cat, too, realized there was a badger near him. "Watch out!" Bareytuft called, but the other tom charged right for the predator.

The WindClan warrior, without any thought or hesitation, pelted down the hill towards the stranger. Intruding or not, no cat can fight a badger alone! Barleytuft could do nothing but keep running as he watched the badger swipe a heavy paw across the tom's face; for a moment the RiverClan tom reeled but quickly recovered to leap on the enemy's back. Barleytuft reached the base of the hill and did not slow until he had reached the badger's flanks. With vicious, ripping claws, Barleytuft reared up to batter the large creature's hind legs and flanks, yanking out tufts of hair and sending blood spraying.

His head still swam as he clung onto the massive black and white creature. It continued to roar furiously underneath him and shook violently back and forth as it's paw tried to slash at the cat on his back. Starlord heard another cat and a sense of relief washed over him. As skilled as he was in battle, there was no way he would be able to outmatch a badger. As his grip relaxed slightly, the loner was thrown to the side. Pain immediately radiated from his shoulder as he hit the ground unceremoniously. Pushing it aside, Starlord scrambled back onto his feet and faced the creature, he darted off to the side of Barleytuft. Briefly swinging his head to the Windclan cat, he meowed, "Perfect timing, pal. This thing is getting ready to skin me. What do you say we drive it off?"

Badger is unable to move.

Starlord continued to use Leap and Hold on the Badger, dealing 9 damage. Badger is no longer held.

Starlord
HP: 20/45
SP: 130/140

Badger
HP: 102/120
SP: 300/320


OC: added a dice roll because I apparently forgot before. We can get HP down and chase this dingus away after another post each. then barley can drag starlord back to camp ;D also sorry for the carp post trying to speed this along a slight bit

The member 'Reindeer Ripped' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 3

Barleytuft was impressed by the other tom cat's ability to hold on and his brazenness despite the danger the two of them were in. When the ginger-and-white tom was thrown and rolled, Barleytuft let out a snarl and managed a quick lash at the badger's face to give the RiverClan cat a moment to recover; after all, a badger was a vicious opponent and would surely take advantage of his momentary vulnerability. 

Barleytuft lashed out again with another hiss as he felt the other tom come to his back and immediately the WindClan tom backed up to the other warrior's side, replying with a grin, "Gladly."

As the Windclan warrior attacked, lashing out with incredible speed, Starlord paused to watch after dodging another powerful swing of the badger's massive paws. A slight grin came over his maw. It was truly impressive, the stranger was fast. Perhaps the rumors of this moor-dwelling group of cats were true. They were more graceful than Riverclan cats on land yet likely inept in the water, nowhere near as graceful as Goldeneye as she navigated the waves. He couldn't help but let the joyous break from his maw, "Nice hit! What's your name, Wind cat?" Before he could say anything else, something smashed down on the top of his forehead. Starlord felt his teeth clang together as the strength of the blow rattled his skull. The loner's body was forced to the ground and the bottom of his maw smacked ungracefully into the earth. There were only a few moments of consciousness as he registered the awful agony from the tearing of those massive claws. Blood welled up from tears in the top of his skull and everything went black.

Badger used Heavy Blow on Starlord, dealing 25 damage and using 20 stamina. Starlord is unable to battle.

Barleytuft
HP: 45/45
SP: 125/160

Starlord
KO'D

Badger
HP: 89/120
SP: 280/320

ooc: idiot son tries to talk in battle, gets smaaaacked. also you can hold the badger now bc starlord is gone and then chase it awaaay :)

Barleytuft was grateful for a moment for the RiverClan tom's strength to join his, and he was about to answer the question - though a bit oddly phrased at the end - when he saw the badger charging forward, a heavy, vicious paw swinging. The sandy tom was able to leap sideways, but in the air he heard a horrifying thump. Barleytuft whirled around, now behind the badger, to see the stranger practically stomped into the ground. "No!" Barleytuft hissed, leaping onto the badger's shoulders and digging his claws in just above the creature's eyes.

The ear-piercing shriek that echoed through the sky made Barleytuft's ears ring and his stomach drop with horror. The badger rearer away from the RiverClan tom, and all that Barleytuft could do was hold on, clench his claws as tightly as he could, and hope.

The member 'sumashira' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 6

As the cat clung onto the badger's back, its frustration grew. One of them was still and it wanted to rip into the fur and tear it apart for attacking. But its attention was immediately drawn to the faster cat. Massive claws, deadly as mouse-length thorns, swung as the black and white brute thrashed apart wildly. The ground was torn up as it reared onto its hindpaws. However, it couldn't shake off the cat. Another furious roar ripped through the air.

Badger is unable to move. Pinned for one more turn.

Every time the badger thrashed and stomped, all that Barleytuft could do was hope that the unconscious RiverClan cat was not in the badger's path of destruction. The sandy tabby felt his claws beginning to burn and fray from the effort of digging into the badger's face. Whenever the badger would take a break even for a moment, the WindClan tom would kick fiercely into the predator's back and shoulders, spitting furiously. I just have to keep it away from the other warrior, Barleytuft thought, and figure out how to chase it off.

Grunt and growls of a mixture of anger and anguish flew from the creature's snout. It finally threw its paws to the growl with a ear-splitting snarl. Out of instinct and panic, rather than skill, the badger threw itself to the side, finally escaping the attacker's claws as they hit the ground together in an ungraceful manner. Slowly, it rose back onto its hindpaws, in a way far slower than any Windclan cat had ever moves. Enraged huffs let out vapor into the frigid air, steaming up from each side of it's mouth. Although the pain of the claws that had penetrated its thick fur began to radiate, the unadulterated rage prepared it to lash out once more at Barleytuft.

Badger is no longer pinned.

Barleytuft felt his muscles scream in protest the longer the badger thrashed, and when the badger threw itself to the side he allowed himself to let go, making himself go limp. They both hit the ground and Barleytuft rolled a short distance away, his breath wheezing out of his lungs as he got his bearings. As quickly as he could he whipped up back to his feet, feeling his whole pelt bristling with fear and fury. "Get out of here!" Barleytuft spat, "We're not worth it!"

The badger reared up and Barleytuft charged, twisting nimbly in midair to duck sweeping paws and rake at the soft flesh of the predator's underbelly. Another pained and furious shriek hit his ears as he righted himself behind the badger, whirling around and letting out the most fearsome caterwaul he could manage. "I'll flay you! Leave this territory!" he howled, lashing his claws with lightning speed at the badger's heels.

The cat became a fury of yowls and claws. While it had once been prepared to attack with more ferocity than before and rip into its prey, the blood that rushed from its wounds caused instinctual panic and as if in response to the warrior's words, it galloped awkwardly away over the moorlands.

Relief flooded Barleytuft's adrenaline-filled body as he realized that the badger was withdrawing and, indeed, fleeing from him. The WindClan warrior stood panting in place, his back arched and the entire length of his spine bristling as his tail lashed. He snarled after the creature, his voice craccking hoarsely, "Don't come back, you flea-bitten furball!" When the shambling thing had lumbered from sight, Barleytuft whirled to find the RiverClan tom. Oh, StarClan, he thought habitually as he approached the battered warrior.

The ginger and white tom hadn't moved from where he had been stamped into the dirt, but the blood that oozed from the wounds on his face and shoulders let Barleytuft know that the RiverClan cat was alive. There was a cluster of several jagged gashes from the badger's first swipe against the tom's head and several more on the top of his head where the badger had slammed him down. Barleytuft pressed his nose against the other tom's neck, feeling his heart beating slowly but steadily. "You'll be alright, buddy, just hang in there," Barleytuft murmured to the unconscious tom, "I'll get you to Briarpaw."

The slender warrior slipped his body under the other tom, hoisting him over his shoulders. Barleytuft's aching muscles strained at the new weight, but he hadn't risked his life just to let this tom die on their territory. Tensions were already high between RiverClan and WindClan, and Barleytuft couldn't afford to let things get worse. As quickly as he could manage, Barleytuft made his way towards camp, keeping his ears attuned to the soft, shallow breathing of the injured tom on his shoulders.