Far From Home

"Hey do you guys smell that?" Spotlake sniffed the air, a strange scent hitting her nose. A scent of a predator and a domistic kit? Worried, Spotlake ran over to the source of the smell.

She volunteered to escort Softbreeze out with her Grandkit and her only living son coming along. It was nice to be out on the territory searching for flowers instead of prey or checking the borders or being wary of any threats. Though sadly the last part came true.

Her calico fur pricking up, Spotlake ran to the kits side, letting out a hiss at the creature that attacked the young kit. Dark and huge, Spotlake figured that the creature was something big like a dog or a badger. Though she couldn't exactly detect what it was, with scent of dung and blood all over it. The motherly side took over her and Spotlake pushed the kit away with her tail, praying that the dog, badger, stinky thing didn't chase the kit.

Wildflower had volunteered to help Softbreeze herb hunt. She enjoyed spending time with the older medicine cat and was adept at scenting and finding herbs due to her stronger sense of smell than most. The same nose that had just been finding tansy and the like twitched as a new scent entered: a kit, a kittypet kit it seemed, and a badger (though it was hard to detect; a rotten dung-like smell entrapped it as well). A few moments later, Spotlake seemed to scent the same thing. Her grandmother led the way over to the scene. Wildflower quickly visualized what was happening: a badger attacking the lone kitten.

Smallbean and Softbreeze were left behind as Wildflower lunged next to Spotlake. "Softbreeze!" The blind warrior yowled. "This kit got attacked by a badger, we could use your help here." Gently picking up the kit by her scruff, Wildflower backed away from the badger, hoping Spotlake could keep its attention diverted. She dropped the kit lightly at Softbreeze's paws and sprang back towards the badger, fur fluffing up. The kit wasn't WindClan, but she was a cat, an innocent kitten. The speckled molly was determined not to back down. Three warriors could take on a badger... whenever Smallbean got over here. "Stay back," she spat, "you rotten mange-pelt, or we'll line our nests with your fur." The normally gentle warrior was in an offensive position. No one was getting hurt here if she had anything to say about it.

(To avoid paradoxing, Downpaw is Downtuft if his name is said or thought.)

Softbreeze knew her clanmates were concerned -- she hadn't said much since Aspenheart's death. But as a scent if a kittypet kitten, she lunged into a sprint, once more beating Spotlake and Wildflower, her shorter legs hardly touching the ground as she zoomed past. This kitten was just like Haypaw.
"Get away from her you smelly monster!" She hissed with such ferocity the creature took an uncertain step back. Taking the kit by the scruff from Wildflower, Softbreeze ran back, opting for defense rather than offense if she were to care for the kit.

Thankfully, she had a pawful of lavender with her, perfect for calming anxiety-- and getting the stench off the poor kit that the smelly heap of a badger had rubbed on her. Eyes scanning the surrounding area like lightning, and almost equally as fast, rushed off, nipping a marigold plant and a poppy head.

"Don't worry, little one, we'll look after you. Est these little seeds and the pretty purple plants, you'll feel much better, I promise. My name is Softbreeze, the calico is Spotlake, the tom is her son Smallbean and the tabby is Wildflower, his daughter." Softbreeze talked soothingly, her name very accurate.

Gently, she chewed the marigold into a pulp, licking it into the kit's wounds gently, letting the juices soak in to prevent any infection. Thankfully, the kit didn't look too harmed.

Smallbean really only agreed to go on the patrol for two reasons. One of which being to help ease his family's worry over him being distant. The second being that he really did want to spend more time with them. He almost never really talked to Wildflower and Spotlake anymore, and he wanted to fix their relationship with each other. It wasn't right how he had been neglecting them, he now realized, but deep down he felt an instinct to separate himself from the cats, for they could find out his secret at any moment.

Focusing his mind back to the purpose of the patrol, he wondered what kind of herbs they would come across. He himself had no clue what any of them looked like, or what their function was. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to go out on a herb gathering patrol. Letting out a sigh, he kept to the back of the group, taking in the beautiful view of Greenleaf. Beginning to zone out, he kept in pace with the rest... that was until he noticed that the three she-cats were gone. Suddenly, the smell of blood, dung, and dog hit his nose, covering the smell of kit. Snapping back to reality, he saw the rest of the patrol dashing toward what seemed to be a badger, with a small ball of fluff next to it. His heart seemed to stop, leaving him frozen in his tracks. Why couldn't one thing go right for him? He turned to run, but came to a halt no sooner than he had walked a pawstep. He should be helping. Two warriors and a medicine cat would have trouble taking down a beast like that, not to add the life of a kit on the line.

Following the tracks of his clanmates, he darted toward the action, his heart beating quickly in his chest. He jumped up beside the she-cats, forming some sort of line, while hissing at the creature. He really didn't know what he was going to do, all he knew is that something needed to be done. Turning around to Softbreeze, he opened his mouth to ask a question, a concerned look fixed on his face. "Is the kit okay?"

Time seemed to slow as soon as she’d been attacked, and Amber could only stare in slow-growing horror as she was sure she’d met her doom. If one’s life was supposed to flash before their eyes during their death, then all Amber could see was a whole lot of nothingness. It was a life wasted, being little more than a kitten in a two-leg prison.

But as pain exploded across her senses, she found there was no room to think anymore about regrets. She could only cry and scream and generally act like she’d just come out from her mother’s womb (only that transition had not been half as painful, she suspected).

Then, a miracle happened. Out of nowhere, a group of unknown cats appeared. Amber could do nothing but gape uselessly as they sprung into action and attacked the strange non-cat creature like they actually knew what to do. Maybe they did. Certainly, they fared much better than she had against the scary thing.

There was a small cry of indignation that slipped instinctively from her mouth when she was picked up by her scruff, but there was no time to protest as she was quickly dropped into the company of one of the mystery cats. She had some kind of flower with her, which smelled quite wonderful, especially compared to the stink of the scary monster creature. Amber moaned in pleasure, feeling the lingerie fear and anxiety fade, “Hmm.. smells nice.”

While she was enjoying herself, the strange cat was doing even more strange things, chewing something in her mouth before spitting it onto her wound. Her expression curled in momentary disgust, before she realized it had helped with the pain. Maybe she should listen to what the cat was saying after all. Despite her usual disdain for following orders, Amber found herself obediently chewing the seeds and flowers as directed. Their names sounded as strange as they were, but Amber thought she sort of liked it.

“You’re… Softbreeze, you said? I’m Amber!” She introduced herself, with growing cheer. Now that she wasn’t about to die, she realized just how cool this all was. Now this was the adventure she was looking for! Speaking of, turning towards the fierce battle raging before her eyes, she asked with a scrunch of distaste. "What is that smelly thing?"

Turning her head to see her kin run in besides her, Spotlake smiled as Wildflower handed the kit over to Softbreeze. The calico then turned her gaze back to the badger. What should we do? Fight it? We're outnumbering it so we should! If we don't it'll probably try to kill us. Spotlake thought, her smile going into a neutrel expression. Ok quick think up of something! What if I snapped at it's paws. Then it would step back and either Wildflower or Smallbean will be able to attack while caught off guard. After coming up with plan in her mind, she pounced towards the badger's paws just barely missing causing the stinky badger to step back and wobble.

"Wildflower! Smallbean! Attack now" Spotlake called towards them, crouching down, ready to attack.

((so sorry for short/late response))

As Spotlake pounced at the raccoon, Wildflower leapt up and over its back, flipping in midair to land on its back. She was surprised she had managed the jump, but it turned into adrenaline as she began to rake the back of the little creature. She had no qualms about fighting or killing predators whatsoever, especially aggressive ones like this one.