Warrior, Defined [closed battle patrol]

Beecloud led the group through the heavy, slushing snow, which sank in splotches under his large paws. He hardly felt the cold sting on his pads anymore, despite all the emotion that might have otherwise heightened the grueling sensation. The tom felt a darkness brewing, and what frightened him was that each time he turned back to look at Sablepaw, the abyss grew louder, snarling up from underneath him. It was thrashing, furry mass, like a rabid bear, which lived behind his ribcage. It was born only a short while ago, on the evening of his kittens' birth. Suffice it to say, Beecloud knew exactly where it came from. He just didn't like it. Queens often told stories of the fierce rage that took hold of their scruff the first time their baby cried out in pain or fear. Beecloud now understood what that meant. Something was different now, and it lit a fire with white-hot coals under his soft belly-fur. This was a sensation he previously thought he was incapable of, and it was as barbaric as he had imagined. It was the warrior instinct, which craved justice, balance, and righteousness. It was the thing which he had always lacked, until now.

His eyes swiped left to the Asylum cat that accompanied them. Beecloud shuddered, a twitch throttling his next step, as he imagined the dripping sound of blood against the snow. He looked back down to his paws. Truthfully, he feared this new power. He kept it stuffed quite low beneath the surface. Another cat would come along to make things right. StarClan would deliver to them the solution, and the forest would be saved. All five clans, returned to harmony. However, as the days went by, Beecloud began to doubt the power of StarClan in the matters of the living. Perhaps they could not hear over the vicious jeers of the Asylum.

"Sablepaw," he finally said through the thick silence that accompanied snowfall. He felt oddly uncomfortable using her other name in the presence of a rogue. He hoped she didn't resent him for it. "A dog has escaped its twoleg near Snakerocks, by the Thunderpath. It still has its colored vine attached, and it's... very frantic. I couldn't run it off myself, so you're here to help me. All we have to do is get rid of it. You're going to show me how your training has paid off in a real battle Remember: use the terrain, rely on your wit, and don't try to barrel through your enemy with just your strength to save you. Do you think you can do it?" Beecloud barely looked the Asylum guard in the face. "You, erm... You can help, if you're going to lurk anyway. Let my apprentice land the first blow."

Sablepaw slushed through the forest behind her mentor, a prickle running through her pelt with every glimpse she got of the Asylum cat coming with them. Everything... was different. Her mind went back to a day when she'd seen a forest in ashes, clouds of smoke drifting like fog through charred skeletons of the pines. Another rogue had been there, on that day. One who could have killed her, but didn't - instead explaining part of his way of life to her.

She had no doubt she cats would kill her if she gave them the chance. Maybe even if she didn't. A shudder ran through her at the memory of Pinefrost's death, and Dustcloud.... Mawmaw.... Her father had taught them to call their grandparents those - Mawmaw and Pawpaw - though it seemed to make him sad sometimes. Her thoughts wandered with their feet, eyes drifting through the forest as she followed in Beecloud's pawsteps. They flicked to his large frame briefly, almost furtively. Something about him had seemed different lately, too. The same sort of thing that she'd sometimes seen in Minkstream - an odd intensity, an almost curl of his lip, a brief shadow in his eyes. Yet somehow, she knew it wasn't directed at her, or even the other cats of the Clan. It did make a brief feeling of discomfort shuffle under her fur, but it also... somehow made her feel safe. Well, safer.

And then he spoke, and she definitely didn't feel safe. No, scratch that, she felt downright terrified. Eyes widening, she stumbled slightly in the slushy snow, a shivering, slightly shocked breath drawn like an icy knife into her chest. "A... a dog?" She'd known they were going out for training purposes, to get some battle experience, but...

The memory of a piece of the night - slavering and snapping - raging through the camp leapt into mind, and she shivered. She'd... failed her siblings then. Rosekit had been brave enough to face one of them, but not her. No, she couldn't ever overcome her fear. Not when the dogs invaded; not when Asylum came. A miserable icy darkness welled unexpectedly up from her chest into her throat, rendering her mute for a moment as Beecloud turned his attention to the Asylum cat. No, I'm useless. I can't. I can't do it. For just a moment, she savagely wished she had leapt to attack the Asylum cats, in spite of Beecloud's instructions, in spite of the danger freezing her limbs. Maybe... it would've been better if I'd died like Pinefrost.

It was misery being like this, though. When had she come to feel like that? Why... why? Her eyes settled on the ground, an affirmative grunt the only sound that could pass through her maw in reply to the question she knew he needed an answer to. She hoped he couldn't hear the quaver of fear in it, half-strangling her. And yet another part of her wanted him to - she didn't want to die, even if she did want to be rid of what she was. Face a dog.... It wouldn't be by herself, but... Her eyes closed briefly, breath coming a little faster, a little harder, heart beating like a fluttering sparrow. I'll fail. I'll freeze.

Beecloud immediately noticed the terror creeping into Sablepaw's eyes and paused as he processed it. What to do about such paralyzing fear? He was like that, many times. In his self-deprecation, he chalked it up to lacking a sense of duty. Now, being a little wiser, he knew that it was not fair to himself to say such a thing, and it would not be fair to do the same for Sablepaw. She was afraid, as he had been, that she would not know what to do, and that she would simply fail, frozen by indecision forever. He sighed, watching the cloud of condensation collect in front of his pink nose. "C'mere."

He pulled his apprentice aside, slightly away from the Asylum guard. He sat down, encouraging her to sit with him. "Sometimes, you walk right in to something... and you don't know what to do," he admitted. "You don't have a clue. Not just battles. Conversations, gatherings, ceremonies, patrols, mentoring. At every point of your life, you're going to have a time when you are scared of failure, and you're not going to know how to fix it. But, you know what the best part of being in a clan is?" Beecloud reached out, placing a heavy, six-toed, mitten of a paw over Lirista's. "There's always somebody next to you, win or lose, live or die. And I'm not going to let you fail or die. But the only way to get over this feeling is to smash right through and grab it by the scruff. We're going to do it together. Okay?"

In the distance, Beecloud heard a bark, high and panicked. The dog was rightfully nervous, smelling the group of cats approaching. It wanted to think it was tough. Beecloud knew it wasn't. "I'll go first, and you follow. You have seasons of training behind you. You can do this, as long as you remember three things: strike first, strike fast, strike smart. Oh, well, and use the undergrowth. Forgot that." His appearance darkened, just slightly, casting a shadow under his brow. "Make that dog sorry that it ever underestimated you," he whispered.

Crawling through the brush, he paused until he could see the floppy-eared mutt panting in the cold snow. He looked sideways at Sablepaw. He nodded. Then, Beecloud struck out with a battle cry that could shake the sky, jumping for the beagle's scruff. He brought it down with the moment of surprise he had earned, shaking it in his jowls, biting until he could taste blood. "Go, Sablepaw!"

Beecloud used Scruff Shake. Dog is stunned for 1 turns.

Beecloud
80/80 HP
215/240 SP (-25)

Dog stunned
143/150 HP (-7)
350/350 SP

Sablepaw
20/20 HP
80/80 SP

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

---

'Effect Dice' : 2

Her eyes opened as she felt him pause, her own paws coming to a hesitating stop as she looked up at him, another fear slowing creeping through the other. He... had seen her fear, hadn't he? Oh no, no no. I've already failed, haven't I? Will he stop this and take us back to camp? Some part of her wanted that - wanted to walk back, head down, and curl up in her nest. Perhaps the shame would be better than fighting this dog - or maybe fighting the dog and feeling her life flung from her body, her face scarred like Rainstrike's, would be better. She couldn't decide.

His sigh misted in front of his muzzle, and she fought back a cringe, swirling shame and sudden biting hatred at her own cowardice like a bitter cocktail in her throat. But his tone didn't sound frustrated or disappointed as he pulled her aside, and she sat with him, suppressing a shiver at the cold of the ground beneath her. It brought a flash of memory back, just a day ago - her father and her beneath these trees, his head cocked as his clear green eyes searched her blue ones, the strong protecting presence a brief comfort against the cold confusion of her world. She felt that again, to an extent, steadying her in the bitter struggle of her emotions as she looked up into her mentor's face. Nodding hesitantly, she admitted to herself that what he said was true. She really didn't know, well... anything about anything - let alone fixing things, or standing up and saying the right thing at the right time, or even what to do. She didn't even know herself, really.

But something hesitantly started to still, and she tilted her head slightly at his question, feeling her brow scrunch - an unconscious mimicry of the expression she saw him make sometimes - his far larger paw dwarfing her cold, small one as he laid it over top. A part of her was slightly ashamed at just how easily he saw through to her problem, another relieved with an odd sort of warmth that quietly stirred in the bottom of her heart, twining upwards into her throat. Hesitantly, after a moment, she nodded. If he said he wouldn't let her die... She couldn't help but trust him - not just because of his size and experience, but the earnest, genuinely determined expression on his face.

Smash right through and grab it by the scruff.... I... I can try. She took a deep breath, the fluttering beat of her heart still there, but with an edge of determination, no matter how wavering. Searching his eyes and reassuring herself that the determination she saw there had no waver, she gave him a nod - one she hoped was firm and determined, rather than timid. "Okay." It didn't quite come out firm, or confident - more of a whisper, but it was there. The sound seemed to help, reassuring her that her own voice worked, that she had a little bit of control over herself, over what she could - would - do. She could smash right through and grab it by the scruff. Hopefully.

She listened hard, stuffing the information he gave her into her mind, furiously sorting through it and clutching it like a lifeline. In a way it was - a distraction, something to put herself into, to take away this fear and twisting maelstrom of emotions that still lingered. Strike first, strike hard, strike smart. Use the undergrowth. She could do it, she'd been trained to do it. Oh stars help me.

The darkening of his expression somehow only steadied her, easing the quick breaths drawing in and out to slower, more even ones. Make it sorry it ever underestimated you... She tightened her own expression in response, tail lashing behind her. "I will." The resolve in her own voice, the sudden hint of strength there almost surprised her. But then... maybe the dog was just another little bit of her, a representation of everything she feared and hated fearing. Yes, she'd make herself and all the voices in her head sorry they'd ever underestimated her. She had to.

Following him, her paws padding lightly on the ground like he'd taught her and barely making a sound, she spotted the yipping monster. To her brief surprise, it was smaller - not huge like the ones that had broken into the camp. Little, yipping, panicked, and annoying. Yeah, that about summed up all the voices in her head, all the little doubts that bounced through her brain all day and strangled her voice. Her claws slid out, eyes narrowing, and she waited, heartbeats pounding in her ears.

Beecloud looked sideways at her with a nod, and she tensed, bursting out and darting around the side away as he let out a caterwaul that shook the trees. Her breath came quick in her throat, paws drumming against the ground, sharp cold in her lungs. The world seemed a whirl, the snow-iced ground spinning as her body twisted, claws glinting. Its smell rose like a stench this close, short-furred rough pelt close - close enough to reach out and slash. So she did.

Ducking under close, her claws flashed out, slicing flesh with a dragging, coarse feeling, prickling furs against her paw pads, a hint of liquid warm coming with it. And she darted away again, using the bushes nearby to shield her red-and-silver pelt from its eyes.

Sablepaw used Belly Rake, dealing 7 damage and using 10 SP.

Beecloud
80/80 HP
215/240 SP

Dog
136/150 HP (-7)
350/350 SP

Sablepaw
20/20 HP
70/80 SP (-10)