[Newleaf Tears] Blood In Common

Maplekit, for a split second, could see the dog's face. Growling and evil and monstrous. She tumbled back when another cat shoved her and just sat there, stunned. But she was helping. She then watched as the dog bit down into an apprentice with a crack. She could see the determined, scared, almost desperate look on Ferretpaw's face- And that's when it clicked. She was in some real danger. If a dog could defeat an apprentice in one hit... What could it do to her? And if even Jaystar had been worried... She turned and ran the other way, dodging running cats but ultimately tumbling towards the outer edges and quickly spotted her siblings. She trotted up to a terrified-looking Lightkit, licking down some of her tufted up, dirty fur. "I attacked a dog!" She boasted, leaving out the fact that she was terrified that she almost died. "Look, I'm shaking from adrenaline!" That much was true. "Fighting lights something in me." She grinned.

Maplekit fled the battle!

Cloud’s bright blue eyes widened as she spotted kits- yes, kits, scampering through the chaos. The long-legged she cat was after them in an instant, leaping over and around battling cats. “What do you think you’re doing?!” She cried, finally reaching the kits’ side and cuffing the bold she-kit with a shaking paw. The black and white she cat realized with a jolt that these kittens must be Firflower’s- they certainly bore some resemblance to the gentle she-cat. That was all the more reason to get the to safety- no matter who they were with, they wouldn’t be safe in the midst of a battle. Besides, she knew from her brief training in Skyclan that she wasn’t the best fighter. She would most likely hinder the others if she were to get involved now.
Instead, she quickly herded the kits further from the battle, settling them in the shadow of a nearby boulder and crouching in front of them, her tail lashing as the occasional yowl or yelp of pain reached her ears.
Ooc: mobile ;;

With the sudden hit, the dog took Berrycloud's breath for a few seconds. Hardly, the golden tom stood up shaky, and with his vision blurred. He looked up to face the dog but something caught his attention then. Were they... more? He looked around, still everything with a fog-like shape, and noticed more bodies moving around, jumping to the dogs his patrol was fighting. Were they... their clanmates that were in the mountains? It was a miracle from Starclan!

Berrycloud is no longer stunned.

---

The large yelped at first by the surprise of another young cat attacking him. The canine then turned his body and growled at the apprentice before leaping forward and grabbing the small animal by one of their legs. The animal closed his jaws around the flesh and shook the apprentice before dropping an injured Batpaw next to the other two cats he had just defeated. It didn't matter how much they joined him. These cats were going down now for once and for all.

Dog# 2 used Iron Bite on Batpaw, using 20 stamina and dealing 30 damage.

Dog#2
132/150 HP
290/350 SP

Batpaw
0/20 HP
70/80 SP

Redwing could barely see- the whole world was swimming. Firestone. Even as she stumbled down hills and paths, she barely knew where she was going, just following the cats in front of her. Father. She couldn't think straight. Dad.She couldn't do anything. Daddy. All that she could do was keep moving, numbly forcing one paw in front of the other, trying to keep the hot, stinging tears from falling down her face. She would have stayed like that for only StarClan knew how long if the sounds of yelling and snarling, and the scent of blood, hadn't reached her. The warrior stopped abruptly, panic and confusion seizing her through the previously overwhelming grief. In the swimming, shaking world, she tried to make sense of the images she saw. Giant hulking beasts, flinging cats around the place and tearing them to pieces... Were those the dogs that had attacked WindClan and SkyClan?

Blinking frantically to clear the wetness from her eyes, seized by an urgent need, she began running, trying to get to the fight. Maybe there was someone she could help. Maybe, one of those dogs would strike her down and send her back to Firestone. But even as she cast her eyes about to choose a dog to attack, her eyes caught on a strangely familiar-looking bright red pelt. That was strange... she'd only ever seen one cat with that pelt color before. But it couldn't be him. Right? Her mind tried to convince her that it wasn't logical, but something inside her snapped on and suddenly she was sprinting towards the almost familiar smelling red form, even as it was struck heavily by the dog it was fighting. When she got there, she couldn't believe her eyes- it was him. It had to be. That pelt, those eyes, that tail. Poppyheart. But he was bleeding and in pain. A fierceness entered into her driving her forwards towards the hulking beast that she wouldn't otherwise dream of approaching. "Stay... away... from my MATE!" she yowled, all the pain from the past days streaming through her voice at the hated target. She slashed violently at the dog, claws drawing as much blood as possible until the brute drew back, then raced over to the tom. "Poppyheart? Poppyheart! Oh, StarClan, is that really you? Where have... You're hurt... I thought..." But no more words could come. All she could do was stare in awe and terrible hope at the limp, injured cat before her. Knowing that the dog was only distracted for now, she nudged him frantically. "Please, Poppyheart, get up! Please! I can't lose you too, after...."

Redwing used Rear-up-to-Slash on Dog #1, dealing 11 damage and costing 15 stamina.

Dog #1:
101/150 HP
310/350 SP

Redwing:
45/45 HP
145/160 HP

Poppyheart:
5/60 HP
140/200 SP

Emberheart:
80/80 HP
220/240 SP (-20)

-

The dog was disappointed when his prey got up from being hit, but then felt a sense of vindictive pleasure- he would just have to knock him over again. He grabbed hold of the golden cat and bit down on him hard, feeling something snap between his teeth. If the cat knew what was good for him, he'd never get up ever again.

Dog #3 used Iron Bite on Berrycloud, dealing 30 damage and costing 20 stamina.

Dog #3
124/150 HP
310/350 SP

Berrycloud
K.O.

Everything happened so fast, even being a young warrior, Liontail couldn't help to be taken by surprise by the dogs, barely escaping their attacks, but he didn't had time to be stunned or scared, there were kits there! So he rushed and avoiding the dogs, took the first kit he could and fleed with the other cats.

Heronflight felt the searing pain from the dark-furred dog, and almost yelped in pain.  However, he bounced back, snarling at his larger opponent.  You won't beat me.  The gray tabby stood on his back paws, then slashed at the dark-furred dog.

Heronflight used Rear-up to Slash on Dog #4, dealing 17 damage and costing 15 stamina.

Heronflight:
HP: 75/100
SP: 255/280

Dog #4:
HP: 117/150
SP: 310/350

With every second Maplekit didn’t answer, Lightkit’s throat grew tighter. Trying to force his way through the much bigger cats was a hopeless venture, but he tried to stop anyway, twisting the rest of him around. Right as he was wondering how he could separate from the escape party entirely to track her down, Maplekit popped out in front of him, casual as ever. He searched her up and down, eyes narrowing after he confirmed she wasn’t hurt. How could she think she could go up against a not-Sharptooth? (Or a dog, as they were actually called.) ”You’ve got rocks in your brain,” he said, fear draining away, a mixture of anger and disbelief rising to replace it. She was making puns? At a time like this? ”You can’t fight those, they'll eat us!” Maybe he was still afraid. It wasn't for Maplekit's sake this time, so it didn't count.

A black-and-white she-cat charged toward them and promptly cuffed his sister with a paw. In any other situation, Lightkit might have taken issue with that, but he was too busy being relieved not only that Maplekit was safe, but that his concerns were shared—by an adult, too! Or, well, someone closer to being an adult than he was. The specifics didn’t matter; she was older than them, so she probably knew what was safe and what wasn’t. ”See?“ Lightkit’s scolding died out before it could begin as he realized what was happening. The she-cat was blocking them from the others, leading them toward a boulder, further from Firflower. ”We have to go,” he said, urgency clear in his now-quiet voice, and tried to squeeze past Cloud. What if the others forgot them? He couldn't fight one dog, let alone six! ”We'll get left behind, we have to go—”

With a wild, pained shriek, Night felt himself being torn from the gray dog's back, his claws coming free with only pawfuls of blood and corse fur to show off his efforts.  Gritting his fangs, the former Tribe cat closed his emerald eyes and waited for the end to come, a final burst of pain before he left this wonderful world...but it never came.  Instead, breath left his lungs as the dog flung him aside, dark body flopping limply onto the hard stony earth.  With a groan, Night forced himself to lift up using his undamaged forelegs, glancing back to see that, though his hind leg the dog had bitten was bleeding, it was not broken.  Still, as he lifted himself to a standing position with a low hiss, he knew that he needed to flee.  Perhaps...no, it wasn't possible, not in his state.  It was too far, they'd never arrive in time; not to mention the chance that he would never make it at all.  The Tribe, and any Clan cat refugees that may be waiting there could not help.  His patrol...was doomed.

That was when he realized...his group had seemingly tripled in size.

Jaws gaping in astonishment, the rogue patrol leader watched as many, many cats streamed down the slope, some of them launching into battle, while others rushed past with kits hanging from their jaws or elders leaning against their shoulders.  The...the Clan cats!  To his horror though, a cat had broken off from the group; a kit.  A kit, who had just slapped the gray dog he had been fighting with a feeble paw and doomed itself to death.  Before his instincts could kick in though, an unfamiliar brown tabby she-cat -an apprentice he would guess- bundled the kit away, before commencing the battle she was ready to face; and giving him a chance to escape.  Nodding thankfully in her direction, though he knew she probably wouldn't see, the dark pelted exile began limping as fast as he could away from the heated battle, glancing around desperately for something he could do, some way he could help.  A ginger pelt caught his eye; the same kit that had attacked the dog, being pushed under a boulder by a somewhat familiar black and white she-cat.  Eyes narrowing, Night approached them and meowed hurriedly; "My name is Night, I led the patrol of Clan cats to come find the Clans, and I used to be a SkyClan warrior.  They need as much help as possible out there, and you're still fit; let me protect the kits, my pelt will blend into the shadows and block them from sight until the dogs are driven away."  Slightly breathless, Night's gaze kept dancing back and forth from the battlefield to the kits, fear driving his pleas.  If I can get them away from here, then my weakness during this fight will be nullified in my eyes.

Yet another hit sent the warrior sideways with a grunt of pain and anger. Fortunately, the canine was quickly distracted. After a brief instant, Barleytuft recovered enough to stare, dumbfounded, at the mass of cats coming down the mountain. They were all ages, from kits ushered by queens to elders supported by warriors. The WindClan tom realized with a jolt that was exactly what they were: warriors. Clan cats. The survivors StarClan must have been speaking of! He desperately wanted to search the throng for Brindlestar, Finchbreeze, Gingerpaw, and Graybriar's son, Briarpaw; however, the sounds of the dog continuing to snarl nearby brought him back to the fight. The pain up his tail that had deblitated him for so many moments had dulled to an intense throb, and he knew he needed to join in the fray or else he'd never find out who was racing down the mountainside now.

The cream tabby tom whirled to face the dog and charged towards its face, his dark hazel eyes glittering with exhaustion and rage. Using all the strength he could muster, Barleytuft rose to his full height and began to whip forward with infamously speedy claw-strikes at the great gray beast's nose, eyes, ears, and face. He dodged one way and had enough time to lash out with one more paw before realizing he wasn't going to be able to dodge again.

Barleytuft used Upright Front Paws on Dog #6, using 20 stamina and dealing 15 damage.
Barleytuft also used Swift Strike, using 10 stamina and dealing 6 damage.

Dog #6
59/150 HP (-21)
290/350 SP

Wasppaw
20/20 HP
50/80 SP

Dapplepaw
20/20 HP
60/80 SP

Barleytuft
10/80 HP
220/240 SP (-20)

Swanpetal
45/45 HP
145/160 SP

Aspenpaw
20/20 HP
70/80 SP

---

That attack had been unlike any other that the dark gray dog had ever endured. The ripping, tearing claws of the furious she-cat made the canine yelp with pain and terror, stumbling sideways to dodge her attacks. Just when the dog thought she would never relent, another cat attacked - the stupid silver one again - and immediately after, the gray-furred creature was thrown forward with a jarring force that impacted with its haunches. The massive creature tumbled head over heels, but as it began to right itself it immediately spotted the lean, thin-furred tom that had knocked it over. As the dog stood it surged forward, slamming its forehead with an audible thonk against the small cat's skull.

The impact even made the dog's jaws clamp shut, letting out a muffled yelp as it accidentally shut onto its tongue. The dazed canine heard a snarl and whirled to see the first pale cream tabby, having apparently recovered and come back ready for me. Head still throbbing, the canine was unable to move quickly enough to avoid the cat's razor claws. It chomped once but closed its fangs upon empty air. The second time...

The second time, the canine's teeth closed on a thin pelt with hard, lean muscle underneath. With delight it clamped down and shook the tom once or twice before throwing him aside like the others. The gray dog didn't care if it killed them right away; the pack would get them all eventually.

Dog #6 used Iron Bite on Barleytuft, using 20 stamina and dealing 30 damage. Barleytuft can no longer fight.

Aspenpaw has been headbutted (per user request) and can no longer fight - something feels off for him...

Dog #6
59/150 HP
270/350 SP (-20)

Wasppaw
20/20 HP
50/80 SP

Dapplepaw
20/20 HP
60/80 SP


Barleytuft [KO'ed]
0/80 HP (-30)
220/240 SP

Swanpetal
45/45 HP
145/160 SP


Aspenpaw [KO'ed]
0/20 HP (-HEADBUTT)
70/80 SP

Crowfur recovered quick from his dizziness and swiftly got up onto his hind legs. He proceeded to slash the dog as the other cat had done. He made sure most of his swipes were aimed for the face. The large tom them jumped away and hissed at the dog, fur spiking in order to make himself look bigger. This dog was going down!
----------------------------------------
Crowfur used Rear-Up To Slash on Dog #4, dealing 17 damage and costing 15 sp.

Crowfur:
80/100
265/280

Dog #4:
100/150
310/350

Heronflight:
75/100
255/280

Ferretpaw screeched in horror as Hailpaw was thrown aside like a piece of fresh-kill. She instinctually stepped in her clanmate's direction, realizing almost too slowly that she was still in mortal danger. Knocked off her rhythm, and with her bad eye turned toward her opponent, she had no choice but to aim with less accuracy than she would usually. She reared up and attacked the dog's face, ferociously hissing, though it was in vain. It didn't matter: she had to defend Hailpaw from further attack.

Ferretpaw used Front Paw Strike on Dog #5, dealing 4 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Dog #5
108/150 HP (-4)
290/350 SP

Ferretpaw
20/20 HP
60/80 SP (-10)

-

Aspenpaw was proud of himself as the dog fought to wrestle him off. A surge of adrenaline rushes his body for the very first time. A real battle... and he felt like a true warrior! He stood beside his fellow cats with his head high. At last! He was capable! He could—

The dog's head rushed him too quickly for Aspenpaw to react. He shut his eyes as the impact sent a crunching feeling through his neck. His vision seemed to explode in front of his eyes. As his body crumpled under the sheer force, his paw slipped and he tumbled down the mountainside. He extended a paw to his clanmates, a final plea, before he landed, limply, in a nook. Nestled between two rocks, the apprentice pondered his fate. His eyes felt oddly fuzzy and dark. If he were to die here, at least nobody would see him. At least nobody would blame themselves. At least he gave them a chance to escape...

Darkness enveloped him, and he faintly smiled.

Aspenpaw is critically injured, and can no longer fight.

Awe was written over the tiny tom's face as he perched in the windowsill. His coat was a stark contrast to the cottonous white that stained the frame, save for the patches of naturally bleached fur. Profound and telling blue eyes were wide with wonder. The outer world had always seemed so vast and endless in comparison to the walls that surrounded him on all sides. It was so vibrant and captivating. He longed to feel the grass on his tiny pads. But it wasn't allowed yet. The fact his mother had been allowed out once had set a fiery determination within him to one day be allowed the same opportunity. All of his littermates, except for Neb who was more than contented to snuggle up in the bed alongside Flower. Granted, it was easily the most comfortable place in the house, other than nestled between the frond in the houseplant, soothed to sleep the peat of the pot's earth. That was one of the many things that made him long so desperately to squeeze through the open window and join his father beyond the confines of his home. A flash of tabby fur caught his attention. Imagine by the hopeful mind. Zeus wasn't here tonight. The tom seldom was. Disappointment briefly flitted across the kit's face. It was quickly replaced with a steely expression and claws digging into the fractured wood. Starlord determined that one day he would walk a free cat, out there next to his father. Whatever it took.

Moons had passed and the dream had been realized, all those seasons ago. The passionate tom and his enthusiastic brothers managed to escape the den of the walkers and realize the true freedom they had sought. Flower had guided them all, in hopes to join Zeus now that their offspring was old enough to see the world at large. Everything was supposed to be perfect for the little family. No walkers would collar them. Their mother would be freed from the hardened fabric that tightened and strained at the silken fur around her neck. He remembered that moment like yesterday. It had been such a beautiful feeling. As if soaring through the clouds above his head at the moment. That had only lasted for a fleeting second. Zeus, ever lax in his sworn promises to the cat he loved, had failed her one final time as a hawk tore through the soft flesh with unforgiving malice and craving for the taste of cat flesh, one it must have had before. Flashing before his eyes now were the flecks of blood that had dotted the coats of her kits. One was enough. The rest were spared and left with the reeling disappointment of loss. Neb had fled back to the garden and quickly found her solace back in the loving embrace of the walkers who had overseen their birth. Conviction had driven the brothers on a far different path. Away from the distant walkerlands and towards the forest.

'You're no father of mine! You're nothing more than a coward!'

Thankfully, the moons following Zeus' death had been filled with a jovial path of travel. Nothing limited their paws. Each day was a directionless new adventure filled with discoveries beyond kit Starlord's dreams. He, Drax, and Rocket had traveled along on their own until coming upon the duo that was James and Pelly, lost lovers who knew little more than each other and the decrepit den in which they called their home. All five of them had bonded quickly and decided that more cats would be beneficial against the growing number of harsh rogues that also lead directionless lives. Starlord never forgot these times. Joy so abounding was something he had never known holed up as a kit. He found a deep and passionate love in Pelly, a she-cat who never returned his affections. And an unlikely companionship with her mate, as well as the beauty of brotherly love. It had been perfect, overshadowing the tragedy of their past lives. As Starlord stared deeply into the intricate patternings of the sky above the highstones, he could picture it just down the bridge of his nose. There was a dazed, half-smile written across his maw as he thought over it. But that too had been shattered by the harsh reality of life. Few things had managed to break the spirit of the ever unyielding loner's zealous nature. A storm ripped apart the family, one forged from bonds of learned kinship and the blood that ran through his own veins. Those times were over.

With that, the separation had ushered in a new era, the very one that had guided him to the spot he stood at this very moment. Goldeneye. He had to admit if Jaystar had managed to do anything with his selfish casting away of the cat he had claimed to love so fiercely, then they would have never met. Love would not have been kindled from the dimmed ember left unattended in the cavern of his chest. Between her, the kits, oh, the precious kits, Starlord had found devotion somewhere within his twisted sense of romance and dedication. Perhaps it was Zeus that had left him with some deeply rooted terror of sorely disappointing his own offspring in a similarly horrific way to that of his late father. Starlord had never considered it. Life had kept him too busy. It had landed him deep within the heart of Riverclan territory among a group of rule-abiding forest cats whose brains were filled with thoughts of stars and wars. Although it had constantly him to have to listen to their mindless chatter and the bantering of clans, there had been so many wonderful cats there. Namely, beautiful and spirited she-cats.

Littlestream, Sharptooth, Thornbriar, and finally, now that he had been blessed with her name, the lovely Firflower.

Each one had provided something to the orange-patched tom, more than simply companionship, or even the kits they bore. They had left a mark on his stubborn, and yet impressionable, soul. Thinking about it now tugged at the very heart that had seemed to be hard enough to leave them behind. Rather, it had been untamable to one mere set of paws. Only Goldeneye had seemed to do the impossible within his lifetime. And that too had been barred by her own true desire: one meant only for her sense of duty. Jaystar had managed to get in the way several times. But Starlord still loved her with a devotion beyond and comprehensible reason and rooted him to the forest like one of its many great oaks. That, and something that had become an unimaginable treasure found in endearment for the kits he bore with each she-cat. They were genuine miracles of life that shared the very blood that was within him. The concept of it all was still incomprehensible to this moment, even though some of his kits were near warrior-aged. That once joyous expression fell as he considered it. He'd missed their lives. Despite his best efforts, and even the fear to not be like his father, the tom had left each one in the care of their respective mothers and forest clans he had a built-up disdain for.

Ivypaw. Galepaw. Berrycloud. Sparkfrost. Tasi. Caspain. Hali. Calder. Strom. Arno. Ridley. Galia. Cari. Ara. Aros. Styx. And Princess.

His sweet little Princess. Inhale. They deserved more. Even the kits who belonged to Goldeneye and Jaystar by their unholy birthright. As he stood, frozen, at the edge of the battlefield all of these things had rooted his paws to one singular spot. Everything had happened so quickly. One moment they were among the tribe cats, the clan's filled with immense homesickness, and the next they were fleeing back towards the forest. Starlord had been caught up in it all. His paws ached. Time had become almost entirely surreal, especially as the cries of many creatures flitted past his ears and ticked the sensitive hairs inside. It somehow still managed to not reach him in his state. Reflecting. Why his mind had chosen now was a mystery only one of the great cat gods could have answered. It prevented him from recklessly throwing himself into the fray as he would have on any other occasion. As he realized his own hesitation, the patched tom seemed to find himself pulled back into the reality ahead of him. In the madness, cats were almost indistinguishable. But it occurred to him that within that writhing mess were all of the remaining cats he loved. There was a chance he could save them from snapping jaws tearing into the soft flesh. Once awestruck eyes were closed for a singular moment as he sucked in a deep breath to prepare himself. Thinking of his beloved kits, the she-cats, and... Goldeneye among the wreckage. It stalled him in a most terrifying way. The deep pools of blue opened once more to fixate on a nearly stilled ginger coat. Fire lit up his paws and he charged forward, an invisible force propelling him towards the strange apprentice. Minkpaw. His son. Storm. None of these things he knew. But there was one single clarity: he had to protect that life from the madness around them.

Starlord had always longed for the freedom of his paws on the grass, the earth, the stone, and that wish had been granted. In his kitlike state, the tom had never imagined all of the horrors that leaving behind the soft life of a housepet would bring. But it had brought something better, more wonderful than he ever could have conjured up in his imagination. Unadulterated love for so, so many things. A brief flash of fear transformed into a moment of clarity before-

He went limp.

The alpha let out a deep howl of pain and anger when he saw the high amount of cats approaching. His sole blue eye stared into the three orange-furred he was now fighting and that he wished to destroy. These cats took his eye a while ago, they kept stealing more and more prey from the forest... He was sick of them and to his pack's pleasure, they made a nice meal. No matter they would come, they were no challenge for them. The grey and white dog caught the most injured tom in his jaws one more time until he felt he couldn't fight anymore.

Dog #1 used Iron Bite on Poppyheart, dealing 30 damage and costing 20 stamina.

Dog #1:
101/150 HP
290/350 SP

Redwing:
45/45 HP
145/160 HP

Poppyheart:
0/60 HP
140/200 SP

Emberheart:
80/80 HP
220/240 SP

He lashed his tail and faced the two she-cats, his fangs covered in blood ready to kill them next. However, something strange happened...
A new scent accompanied by a mighty roar. The canine lifted his head, noticing a group of six new cats coming... being followed by a great, feline-like animal who was twice as big as him. For the first time in his life, the alpha felt fear.

---

---

Jaystar ran at high speed, even though his legs burned by the extra effort he had to put in each step. He wasn't used to running this much but it had to be done. From the distance, he finally took a glance at the chaos caused by the fight of dogs and cats. Finally! They had arrived! Using one last sprint, the Riverclan leader kept running, trying to forget about the beast that was following them. Gathering the remaining breath he had on his lungs, he let out a loud yowl. "EVERYONE! RUN NOW! WE WILL STOP THEM NOW! GATHER ALL THE INJURED AND KITS AND LEAVE!

Swanpetal's fury was not quite broken by her daughter's voice, but she did acknowledge it somewhere in her mind. Now, though... She wasn't going to pause and say Oh, hello sweetheart, how have you been? Not while the dog was still there, anyway. And it was still there, still attacking, still taking out other cats around them. No, she was fighting to protect them both as best she could. Anything past that could wait until they were safe.

Swanpetal used Rear-Up to Slash on Dog #6, dealing 11 damage and costing 15 stamina

Dog #6
48/150 HP (-11)
270/350 SP

Wasppaw
20/20 HP
50/80 SP

Dapplepaw
20/20 HP
60/80 SP

Swanpetal
45/45 HP
130/160 SP (-15)