Dogs!! [open]

Mottlepaw nodded in response to what Thrushstar had said, and crept off from the others. He followed the scent of the lizard carefully. Trying not to make a sound like the other warriors talked about. He kept his tail from brushing the ground and making a sound. Finally he saw the lizard. Carefully he approached the lizard, and kept his eyes locked on the lizard. The dark apprentice lept forward grabbing the lizard in his claws, and killing it with a swift blow. Mottlepaw picked up the lizard in his mouth, when something else drifted across his nose. What is that? Mottlepaw thought to himself before bounding back to his Leader to show what he had caught.

Magpiepaw nodded intensely and zoomed off towards the closest frog. Once he got close enough, he slowed his pace until he was silently stalking his way through the wet marsh. Spotting the brown creature peacefully croaking on a lily pad, he smiled a wide smile. His father and mentor had taught him the basics of hunting as a kit, and he's had many moons to perfect his skills. Crouching low to the ground, he approached the frog and with one swift movement, leaped forward and bit down hard into it's neck. Like usual, it was a perfect kill. Raising his head high with the frog in his maw, he approached the leader and placed it at his paws.

"I hope this will suffice, oh great one," he meowed, bowing his head. It was hard to tell if he was joking around, or if he truly saw Thrushstar as "the great one".

"You are doing a great job!" Thrushstar said as Mottlepaw and Magpiepaw brought back the frog and the lizard. This was good. They were learning very quickly. "Alright, now see if you can find anything else in this area. There shouldn't be, but maybe something else scurried through here recently. Remember, deep and slow breaths to take in everything around you." Showing them what he meant, the Shadowclan leader stuck his nose in the air and took in a deep breath as a gentle breeze blew by them, carrying a scent that he'd smelled only once or twice before but only around Twoleg place. That was odd... What was it?

Suddenly giving off a rather disturbed look as he focused on the scent, he searched deep in his head on what the smell could be. What was it? "Moonsong, do you smell that?" he asked. The part that concerned him is that it was rather fresh and not too far away. Looking towards the direction the breeze came from, Thrushstar focused as hard as he could on anything that moved. There was something down there, and it was something dangerous. "Everyone, stay quiet," he said sternly as he continued staring deep into the territory. Suddenly a huge black figure appeared over the tall grass that made up the territory. It looked around this way and that until its eyes suddenly locked onto Thrushstar's. The leader froze as he watched this creature, his claws digging deep into the mud underneath them. 

Suddenly it was like all broke loose. With a loud, deep, menacing bark, the large black creature started running towards them with, to Thrushstar's dismay, another creature (this one being brown and white) standing up straight and running after the first one.

"Dogs!" Thrushstar yowled. "Run! Get high up! I'll distract them!" he demanded before running towards the dogs that seemed to be running too fast for the leader to get away from with gnashing teeth and loud barks.

Shadepaw yowled in fear and climbed the nearest tree.

Cinderpaw watched Mottlepaw and Magpiepaw come back with their prey. ShadowClan has good hunters! The she-cat noticed Thrushstar acting strange, as if he saw something out of the ordinary. Is he.. ok? Suddenly, Cinderpaw spotted a huge creature, locking its eyes with Thrushstar's. Cinderpaw was in fear, to see these scary creatures. Without hesitation, the apprentice followed Thrushstar's orders and headed for the nearest tree, climbing as fast as the small she-cat could. So that's what dogs are! She had heard that they're one of the most dangerous creatures, and to be avoided.

OOC sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry

IC: Leopardpaw had preferred to stay quiet to answering questions. He crouched, followed the scent of prey, and nearly had a lizard in his long claws before it was scared off by a loud a noise. He didn't recognize this noise... He followed where it had come from, noticing it was in the group's direction. Leopardpaw broke into a sprint but came sliding to a stop when he saw two large beasts, and Thrushstar sprinting straight at them. With a few quick glances around at the other apprentices he guessed that they had been ordered into the trees, and the spotted apprentice followed Cinderpaw up and onto the first branch he could reach.

Mottlepaw froze when he heard the barks. The scent of the two beats drifted across his nose, and he realized it was the same scent as earlier! Thrushstar couldn't take both of them on his own! He surely would get caught and be killed! "Don't do it!" He shouted at his leader. He didn't want to run and hide. He wanted to help his leader, but the apprentice wouldn't move from his spot.

OOC: it's all good ;u;

When he saw that all of the apprentices were safe, Thrushstar took off away from them, trying to get the dogs to follow him deeper into the territory. At first it seemed to work, the two large creatures quickly turned and ran after the Shadowclan leader, quickly catching up to him. With his heart pounding, the tom looked behind him only once to see the ravenous look in their eyes as a rugged and almost incomprehensible voice escaped their throats in between barks. "Hunt, hunt. Kill, kill." But suddenly the two stopped when they heard Mottlepaw shout towards Thrushstar, turning around quickly to spot the apprentice who hadn't taken to safety. Immediately, a growl emitted from their throats as they took off towards Mottlepaw.

"Mottlepaw! Get out of here!" Thrushstar yowled as he ran after the dogs, trying to reach the apprentice first.

Mottlepaw's eyes grew wide as the dogs started charging for him. After being frozen by fear for a moment, the apprentice took off running. The dogs following behind him. Mottlepaw could hear their heavy breathing and growls coming from behind him. He was too small to out run the dogs. He wasn't a windclan cat! He wasn't built for running! It didn't take long for the dogs to catch up to the small black and white apprentice. He let out a yowl as he felt one of the dogs grab his ear with it's teeth. The dog lifted him and the air, and tried to bring him back so the other could assist, but the momentum of being lifted tore his ear off. He let out a sharp yelp as he was flung into a near by tree, and landing on on of the branches. All he could feel was a soaring pain in his ear.

Mottlepaw steadied himself on the tree branch and stood up. He looked down at the dogs that were trying to jump up and bite at their lost prey. With an angry the apprentice jumped down, with claws extended reaching for one of the dogs face. He managed to drag his claws across a dog's face most likely blinding the dog in one eye. He kept digging his claws deeper into the dog's skin, until the other dog managed to pull him off an toss him away from the two dogs. Mottlepaw let out a gasp as he hit the ground with a thud.

Moonsong snapped out of her daydream as Thrushstar tried to get the dogs to follow him. She thought it would be best to stay with the apprentices in case the dogs came back their way and she had to fight. "Just stay here." Moonsong ordered to the apprentices

OOC: You guys can feel free to join in cx you don't have to follow his directions unless you're just done with the topic. I think they kind of need the help since the dogs came back toward you guys.

It was too late. Thrushstar couldn't make it in time before the dogs picked up Mottlepaw and tossed him high up. Thankfully, the tom seemed to be okay other than the bleeding skin that used to be his ear. Using the moment the dogs were distracted to his advantage, the leader ran up with a loud caterwaul, jumping on to the back of the black dog with claws extended, leaving deep scratches down its back as it gave out a loud yelp as it threw the leader off and turned on him, lashing out with its teeth, barely catching Thrushstar on the back leg.

On the other hand, the brown dog cried out as Mottlepaw raked his claws across its eye. It backed away for a moment, shaking the blood away that began dripping down its face before it turned back onto the apprentice with a low growl.

OOC: Oh well, I'm late.

IC: Stumppaw had been hunting near the barn and caught a lizard and two mice. Mice weren't any of their particular favorites, but food was good never the less. But as he approached the others and saw the large creatures, he gasped in horror. He dropped his prey and ran. Gotta go gotta go gotta go. His first natural thought was to flee, but he knew that was a mousebrained idea. He then crashed into one of the dogs Thrushstar was leading away. It had fur over it's eyes, and it's white fur was tangled with sticks and leaves. It growled at him with sharp teeth. Stumppaw's eyes widened and the dog attempted to bite him. Stumppaw ducked and unsheathed his claws. It's now or never, scaredy cat.

He swiped at where he imagined the eyes were, and that seemed to be efficient. The dog howled and pounced on him. Scrambling away, but with failed effort, Stumppaw swung at it's face again, which caused large amounts of blood to pour. He thrashed his claw at where the eye was now visible, trying to blind him, but the dog ducked away and bit Stumppaw's paw. He let out a hiss of pain. "Help!" He yowled. But Thrushstar was leading the dogs deeper into the territory and he didn't know if the other cats were there.

OOC: I'm fine editing this if it's a bit wrong for an apprentice to scare away a dog lol

IC: Cinderpaw watched the cats fight the dogs. They're so brave.. but.. there's no way I can fight them... The she-cat didn't know how to fight these dogs, but watching Stumppaw aim for its eyes, Cinderpaw realised what he was trying to do. Blind them! But.. Thrushstar ordered us to get high up... When Stumppaw yowled for help, the she-cat let out a sigh, and held back her fear. No, they need us! Without hesitation, the gray cat flexed her claws and leaped off of the branch she watched from, aiming for the dog's head. The she-cat successfully landed near the back of the dog's head, slicing its neck, holding on.

As the dog growled in frustration, it attempted to shake Cinderpaw off. The apprentice lost her grip and was thrown to the ground. Grunting, the she-cat quickly got back to her paws. The two were only a mouse-length away from each other. The dog snapped forward, aiming for Cinderpaw's neck, but the she-cat leaped to the opposite side and aimed for a blow on the dog's eye. She felt blood on her paw, but it wasn't hers. The dog yelped in pain, shaking its head furiously. Did I get it? Blood swelled from the dog's eye. With a final yap, the dog ran away from the territory.

Looking back at Stumppaw, Cinderpaw scanned the apprentice's paw. "Stumppaw, are you alright? I-I could take you back to camp, or.."

yay long posts <3

OOC: oooookay this is slowly turning into a bit of a mess. So Mottlepaw already blinded the brown dog in one eye so I'm assuming that when the brown dog was going back after Mottle, Stump charged at it and hit it then lashed out and struck the dog before it tried to bite him, so Cinderpaw jumped down to the rescue. Kay. That's what we're going with. All the while, Thrush is still fighting the black dog. As long as we're all on the same page.

Keeping his eyes locked onto the black dog that was trying its best to get around to one of Thrushstar's sides, the leader hissed, swiping at the dog every time it tried to get near. It was when he heard the cry for help that Thrushstar stupidly took his attention off of his opponent, looking over at the three apprentices taking on the brown dog before it took off out of the territory. In that moment of distraction, the black dog took its chance, lunging at Thrushstar and biting down on him around the middle of his body as hard as it could before shaking the leader around and tossing him to the side.

Dear Starclan, that hurt. It was one of the worst feelings Thrushstar had ever felt as the large creature's teeth dug through his skin and deep into his body. At the point, the tom was just a helpless rag doll being shaken and tossed through the air like a leaf in the wind. The searing pain that rushed through his body as he hit the ground with a loud thud was enough pain to last him two lifetimes. As he lay in the mud struggling for breath as blood poured out of the bite wound on both sides of his body, he could only watch as the black dog turned its attention away from him and towards the three apprentices that managed already to scare off its companion. "W-Watch..." he rasped, but nothing else would come out as his vision went black and his eyes opened to a dark world that was suddenly filled with Starclan cats. Looking around him, he saw many familiar faces. "What's going on? I need to get back!"

"You must give us time, Thrushstar," the familiar voice of Gingerheart spoke out. "You have suffered severe injuries. We must heal them before you can get up again. Give us--" Her voice was suddenly cut off as Thrushstar was jolted awake with a loud gasp of air. His eyes flew open as his body was sent into a short spasm until he was suddenly sent back into the still darkness.

One life.

As he opened his eyes, Thrushstar saw the Starclan cats once again, their pelts glittering against the black background. "What? What happened? I was just here! Send me back! I must protect my clan. I must--"

"Your wounds were too great. We are doing the best we can," Gingerheart said, padding out in front of the rest of the Starclan cats to look Thrushstar in the eyes. "You must give us more time. If you try to force yourself awake again, you will lose more than two lives. You'll be dead before you can do anything else for Shadowclan."

At that point, the leader stopped, his look frozen in a kind of terror before giving up. "Just please... hurry."

Two lives.

While the Shadowclan leader lay still, the black dog was creeping ever closer to the three apprentices on the ground with a loud growl and a few barks to try to scare them. Looking at the three, the dog quickly lunged towards them, lashing out with its teeth to try to catch any of them around it.

Leopardpaw watched with eyes narrowed as the other three took on one of the dogs. They seemed to be getting along fine without him, so he stayed up in his tree. A blur of motion caught his eye and he saw his leader's body being thrown aside some ways away. Leopardpaw's heart stopped for a moment in anticipation of Thrushstar getting back up, but the only movement was a few spasms that marked the leader's death throes. The black dog had abandoned its first prey and had turned to the other three apprentices, and the spotted tom figured it was time he got out of his tree and did something about it. Sure, the dog had just killed his leader, and that should have been terrifying. But Leopardpaw was too focused on making sure that no other Clanmates got killed to worry about himself dying.

He sprang from his low tree branch and landed behind the black dog. It was already lunging and snapping its huge jaws at the others, and that just wouldn't do. They had already sent away one dog, and another might not have been such a challenge, but he knew they'd probably appreciate the help anyway. Leopardpaw sprang forward with a loud caterwaul and sank his fangs deep into the dog's hind leg, hanging on for dear life as it swung around and tried to reach the pest clinging onto its leg and ripping through tendons with his teeth.