The Final Showdown (Closed for those on the battle roster)

Honeydrop watched in horror as Flamestrike took on Bear. The ShadowClan warrior was strong, but he never stood a chance against the rogue. The fight was brutal until suddenly, it stopped. The medicine cat was barely close enough to hear their conversation, but the words spoken astonished her. She had known Flamestrike used to be a rogue, but never had she imagined that he would be related to her kidnapper. Yet, as they talked, she could see the resemblance. She waited with bated breath as the brown tom offered her friend a place with his rogue group. Please, no.... Stay strong, Flamestrike! But when he refused, she knew with a sudden flash of thought that Bear wasn't above killing his own brother. It only took a quick, split-second decision before her golden paws flew across the clearing, heading for her captor.

"Flamestrike, no!" the medicine cat yowled, voice suddenly clear and strong, more sure than it had been since Wolffang's attack. A golden dappled blur hit Bear with all the fury of LionClan, pushing him off the prone form of the ShadowClan warrior. Honeydrop stood facing the rogue, amber eyes determined and defiant, claws unsheathed. Her heart pounded harder than ever, knowing she faced her doom. He'll kill you now, Honeydrop, her rational side told her, panicking slightly. Her newfound heroic side stopped her from running. At least my friend will have time to get away. "I-If you want to k-kill Flamestrike," the she-cat told him, bravely staring into the face of her death, "y-you'll have to k-k-kill me, f-f-f-first."

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Moonlight hissed angrily after her attack landed on Nero, the lack of an answer to her previous question making her grow even more worried “Where is Cherrymist?! Answer me!”

Waiting for Nero’s move

Nero:
31/45
140/140

Moonlight:
80/80
220/240

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“Take away your family? What do you mean by that?” Blizzardshine awaited for the younger cat’s response, clearly surprised by his choice of words. Had this kit lost anyone to clan cats? If that was the case his hatred towards her kin could be justified. Maybe the cats of Bear’s group were actually hurt from mistakes committed by the clans in their past. But if that’s the case, why would they kidnap cats at all? Why would they try to keep the same cats they claimed to hate so bad?

Taking a deep sigh, she raised a paw and landed a blow on his flank. Usually she would follow her training and hit with all her strength on the opponent’s head to knock them out of battle, but she felt that doing so could easily harm a cat as young as Diesel, something she would never forgive herself for doing. Plus, he looked determined to win this impossible fight, and knocking him out like this could potentially leave an ugly scar on his pride and future will to fight.

“You have great potential, kit, but throwing yourself head first into battle without thinking like your leader does will only bring defeat after defeat, carrying unnecessary bloodshed and the loss of those you love. I had seen it happen many times in the past, and I had lost friends and family to such actions as well” Carefully, she picked up Diesel by the scruff, fearing he would ignore her words and try to jump into battle once more when he was clearly in no state to fight at all “Where is your mother? I’ll carry you to her, it isn’t safe for you out here”.

Blizzardshine used Front paw blow on Diesel, dealing 12 damage and costing 5 stamina

Diesel:
KO’ed

Blizzardshine:
90/100
265/280

"You've caused me enough trouble, medicine cat. Maybe it is about time to kill you," His eyes glinted darkly at the prospect. The muscular tom stalked towards her slowly, hoping to instill some fear. Even if she did not back down, the idea of watching the light in her eyes die away excited him. Long, sharpened claws scored the ground as he came closer. Ragged breaths brushed pasted the golden she-cat's muzzle and stirred the fur there. Bear was dangerously close. In an instant, those claws could tear through her throat and the medicine cat's life would drain away into the already bloodied battleground. But Bear was too focused on his intended kill to think about what was happening around him.

Not wanting to waste a second, the long-legged warrior leaped back onto his feet. Honeydrop would not die under the claws of his blood thirsty brother. Flamestrike did not take the time to think about what was happening, he simply lunged forwards with as much speed as he could manage. Teeth sunk into soft flesh and the metallic taste of blood began to fill his mouth. Bile rose in Flamestrike's throat. He instantly felt sick due to the taste of the rogue's fur and the thought of what had just happened. Bear was dropped to the forest floor. Gushes of warm, red blood pooled onto the ground, and matted the ragged brown fur. The rogue leader twitched as gurgled attempts at speech bubbled from his throat. Brothers locked eyes for the final time. Flamestrike watched as the intense anger died away from Bear's eyes and he went limp.

"What have I done..." He whispered, staring down at the cat he had just murdered in horror. Scarlet drops of blood stained his paws and he stumbled backwards. The Shadowclan tom stared silently at the ground, trying to process the weight of the moment.

***

Wolffang let out a hiss of shock as she was knocked off of the Thunderclan tom. She didn't speak, but simply lashed out with a forepaw. Lichenpaw was knocked to the ground and no longer able to fight. In moment, the former warrior was back on her intended target. A spew of insults came from her mouth as she pinned him back down. The pair rolled to the side of the clearing. Wolffang, being too engaged in battle and on the other side of the battlefield, missed the murder of her mate. She did not know his body lay there limp and one of her kits was now fatherless.

Wolffang used front paw strike on Lichenpaw, doing 8 damage and using 10 stamina. Lichenpaw is KO'd.

Lichenpaw:
KO

Wolffang
8/40
90/120

Leopardpaw reeled from the impact of the she-cat's blow, and spat in her face.  Lips curled in a snarl, he hissed back "Oh, you think my blood's pure?  I'm more of a rouge that you'll ever be half-clan!  Feel lucky you have clan blood at all!"  He reared up his hind legs to kick the she-cat off, but Lichenpaw tackled her before he could strike.  Jumping up, he dashed over to help her but saw his best friend slump to the ground, exhausted.  Growling, the fully grown tom approached from behind and grabbed the half-clan rouge between his jaws, and yanked sharply.  Knocking her off balance, he stood over her with unsheathed claws, prepared to finish the fight.

Leopardpaw used Tail Yank, doing 2 damage and using 10 stamina

Leopardpaw
12/20
50/80

Wolffang
6/40
90/120

Wolffang is stunned for 1 turn

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Pansyface noticed the reunion of her family out of the corner of her eye, and fought her way through the crowd to join them. Dashing after them out of the barn, she suddenly stopped and glanced back, searching the crowd with frantic eyes. She had never seen Bouncepaw in the battle, and dark thoughts began to cloud her mind. Was he killed? It he laying somewhere, bleeding out? Oh, what if I don't get to say goodbye? For a moment the she-cat wanted to launch herself back into the fray, but turned away instead. Bouncepaw was going to be fine. Her family needed her right now; she had chosen them. Dashing up, she purred loudly, nuzzling first Cherrymist then Rippedsky. "Oh StarClan, I'm so glad your both safe!" Gazing down, she smiled lovingly at her sister's kits. Soon enough, they would all be going back to SkyClan; home.

Bat growled at the comment, "I wouldn't put it past your clan to kill me." He spat, "We're all strays, you just try to ignore it. We're one and the same."

Bat used Front Paw Strike! -9 HP, -10 SP!

Bat: 27/120

Snowstorm: 79/280

Diesel began squirming and trying to swipe his claws at the much older cat. "Let.. go of me!" He hissed. His struggles stopped suddenly when he saw his leader, idol, laying on the ground in a pool of blood. His throat was bubbling as he fought death only for a moment before going still. Diesel went limp with shock. "Get up, get up, get up! Please get up.." he whispered almost to himself, pleading.

"Blizzardshine, over here!"

Pepper mewed as she gradually crept up along the wall of the barn. Her body dragged behind as she gave Diesel a quick look over to sum up the damage. Then, she followed his gaze to the dead leader. "Oh no.." she motherly cat tried to be quicker to reach the duo.

Snowstorm scoffed at Bat's reply. She saw Bear laying limp on the ground bleeding and smiled. She turned back to Bat. "Ha! You think that clans and rogues are the same?" she hissed. "You are all just a bunch of rogues who fed off the scraps from everyone who are actually important, until Bear decided "I'm going to make a fighting force that will destroy the clans!". The rogues took his propaganda, and banded together to make a wannabe clan that tries to grab our attention. You finally got us to pay attention to you, and then look what happened to your precious Bear." she growled. She pointed to Bear's limp body with her tail. "We weren't created by some rogue deciding to play clan, we were created by the ancient clans who were brought together by the stars. If you believe the two are alike in any way, you are more mouse-brained than I thought." she snarled. She didn't attack Bat, she just waited for his reply.


OOC: You can finish this this move or the next.

Storm was lying still in the corner the whole fight, waiting for it to all to pass. Part of him was hoping that Bear would lose and die, but the other thought of what will happen to him. As the sound seemed to die down he looked up. Just as he hoped, Bear was lying in a puddle of blood, and he stood up uncertainly. Looking around, he saw some Clan Cat threatening Bat or something. Racing over, he turned around defensively, facing the she-cat across from Bat. "Is she hurting you Bat?" he asked worriedly, baring his teeth at the strange cat, "If you hurt him, you have to get through me!"


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Jazz shifted uncomfortably next to the spotted cat as she watched Bear die. The memory of his promise echoed in her ears, the tantalizing scent of prey seeming to be right under her nose. He promised all the prey she could want, after a lifetime of starving in the city. It was something she can't resist. Could she go back to all the plentiful mice, the comfort and warmth of hay? Shaking her head to herself, she turned away from the sight. Looking at the tom uncertainty she asked, "So, how are these Clans any better than Bear's group? I don't wanna go from one bad group to one just as bad?"

A few cats still wrestled, not yet realizing the battle was all but won. The scene around Bear had died out quickly. As Rippedsky led his kin out of the barn, his eyes fell onto the gruesome scene. Close to the still, brown frame on the ground was Flamestrike. Horror and shock crossed the Shadowclan warrior's features. Based on the blood that stained his paws, the deputy was able to figure out what happened. When Pansyface approached, he nuzzled her back briefly, but said nothing. Instead he padded over to the flame orange cat and rested his tail over the tom's shoulders.

"You've saved quite a few cats tonight," Rippedsky tried to meet the other clan cat's eyes to no avail. Clearly, Flamestrike was caught up in his own thoughts. The deputy's black and white head swung around to look at tall of the assembled cats. There was a strange mix of clan cats and rogues. A kit cried at the sight of his fallen leader's body. His head shaking sadly, the tom let out a sigh. What had happened here today and for the past few moons was horrible. But it was coming to an end. They could all go home now. It felt like it would be his place to say something, so he did, "It is time to us to go home now. For those of you who have chose to oppose Bear: if you would like, Skyclan has a place for you." He glanced at the cats formerly of Bear's group, mainly Diesel, Jazz, Luna, and Artemis. It would be up to them whether or not they followed.

"Now, let's go home," The deputy meowed deeply, turning away from the scene. Battle was over. There was no more reason to delay going back to camp.

***

Flamestrike's paws shook slightly. It was a long time before he pulled his eyes up from the ground. In front of him lay the body of his dead brother. His murderous, awful, dead brother. And the Shadowclan warrior had killed Bear himself. It seemed unreal. He had both met and slain his only kin. Painful memories of his very early kithood raced through his head. When cats had finally cleared, the tom went over to touch his nose to his brother's cheek. It felt wrong, given that he was the reason the other cat was dead. But he could not simply leave. Without a word, his teeth snagged in the brown fur. Flamestrike buried the treacherous rogue's body alone. No one else would be willing to help. Nor did he want to help.

"We should leave," He meowed flatly to Honeydrop. His paws started to drag as he padded away, but he stopped after a short while. Something pulled him back to the barn. It had occurred to him that other cats may still be there. The warrior hoped Honeydrop would simply follow him and not question it. Explaining was the last thing he wanted to do. Inside, the warrior sniffed around. It wasn't long before he picked up a scent. Kits! Picking his way up to the loft, Flamestrike discovered two lonely little scraps of fur. One of them was the spitting image of the dead rogue leader. A shudder ran through his orange pelt. But he could not leave them alone. His tail twitched, signalling for the medicine cat to grab one. They would be coming back to Shadowclan, regarless of their parentage.

***
"Clan blood does not make you better!" Wolffang hissed. The sharp pain in her tail stunned her. She fell to the ground in exhaustion. Defiance was obvious in the older cat's eyes. However, the desire to fight had been drained from her due to the moons of fighting. Since before her warrior ceremony, her world had been one of battle, "Go ahead. Kill me. Finish what Shadowclan started." Wolffang challenged him as she realized her position. This would be the end.

Honeydrop watched in terror as Bear advanced, claws unsheathed, eyes crazy with livid rage. This is it. I'm going to die. I'm... I'm sorry, Puddlepaw. I tried. But just as suddenly as the rogue tom leapt, he fell, Flamestrike at his throat. The medicine cat blinked in surprise. Flamestrike... It took a few moments to digest what had happened. The ShadowClan tom sat looking at his brother's still, bloodied form in remorse. The golden dappled she-cat stayed where she was, paws frozen while she watched in respect as the flame-orange warrior buried the tom's body. She didn't know whether she could ever forgive Bear for the pain and fear he had inflicted on her, but she could respect her friend's sadness at losing his only kin. Seeing the pain in his eyes, the she-cat tentatively moved closer. "Y-You did the right thing," she murmured, touching his tail with hers comfortingly. "It w-was the only way. B-but for the record, I'm s-s-sorry you had to do that."

The ShadowClan medicine cat followed the tom as he gestured for her to come with him, barely pausing as he went back inside the barn. She nodded as he pointed out the kits. "Those are W-Wolffang's kits, Redkit and Barkkit," Honeydrop informed him. "B-Bear said they were h-his, but I think one m-might have been from M-M-Mudfoot." How odd. I have a younger brother. The golden dappled she-cat smiled a half-smile as she took the kit who looked like her father gently into her jaws. It's good to know that something good came of that psychotic she-cat. With any luck, neither kit will have to know their true parentage. They will be ShadowClan kits, through and through.

Blurrykit looked back as he bounded after the SkyClan deputy. The tomcat's tiny paws pelted against the ground, and he felt a pang of sadness wash over him as they left what he thought was his home. Blurrykit paused, only to see his idol limp on the floor. "Bear!" he yowled voice cracking. The tom glanced between his family and Bear's dead body. He honestly felt so conflicted.

Blurrykit looked back to his family, only to see they were already going. Slowly, he trudged after them, sending a longing glance back to the barn.

Luna, who had stayed in the barn with her kits the entire fight, finally exited as the fighting quieted. Seeing Bear's dead body Luna didn't even so much as blink. She was glad he was gone. Now she just had to worry about feeding her kits, not them dying in some crazy cat's pointless war against the clans. At the words of the black and white tom who had come into the barn for the blind queen who seemed to be his mate, Luna looked startled before looking down at the kits, both of them sitting at her paws. They were half a moon younger then the clan-queen's kits. [color=ecc44e]'They would have a better life in the clans.' If they joined the clans now they wouldn't remember her. At least, she hoped they wouldn't. Deciding to ask Pepper about it She turned and led her kits back into the barn.

Standing over the half-clan rouge, Leopardpaw felt no malice or spite towards the she-cat; only sympathy.  The pained shadows hidden in her voice and the defeat in her eyes gave away what she truly was; an outcast who only wanted to be accepted.  The thought sent him back to the day when he and his mentor Grasswhisker had had their first training session; when he poured out his innermost emotions and thoughts to another cat for the first time. "I..I don't think I belong here!"   "All of you clan cats know that there is someone there you can rely on, someone you share an unbreakable connection with.  I don't have that!"    "I should have just died in the snow."  A flood of heartfelt emotion overtook his memory as he remembered those dark times, before he knew Lichenpaw and Grasswhisker, and felt confident in his position as a ThunderClan cat.  This cat, though in a different situation, seemed to had gone through a similar emotional crisis; and his soul ached for her.  

Suddenly, his hazel eyes widened, and his jaw dropped.  "Grasswhisker........the dream...."  "Wolfpaw is a young, grey pelted Shadowclan cat. Her eyes are amber, edging on yellow. While she is small, she is a tough young thing, hard to miss. As for the question of her parents, that is true. She is half-Skyclan as well. But, it is no fault of hers that she was born to disobedient parents. Remember this: she is a product of circumstance."  "You....you're Wolfpaw!"  In a heartbeat, his manner changed.  His face softened, but hardened all at once.  His voice commanding, the young tom stepped forward and grabbed the she-cat's scruff, pulling her to her paws.  "Come, we don't have much time.  The clans are leaving, and I need to give you a message.  I promised my mentor Grasswhisker I would, her wish from the grave, and I am not about to disobey her!"

It didn't take long for all of the fierce noises to die down. A lot of terrifying sounds had echoed through the barn, sending the kits farther into the hay that they were settled in, their small bodies shivering anxiously. Barkkit tried his hardest to stay down and out of sight no matter how much he wanted to peek at what was happening. However, his brother's scared expression was a nice motivator to keep him down. "What do you think happened?" he whispered sharply, hoping that only his brother heard him.

Redkit's mind had been buzzing as all of the loud yowls and cries rang through the barn followed by almost dead silence. Even as it died, his ears continued to ring until he felt his brother's gaze nearly burning through his fur. Glancing over, the small tom really didn't know what to say. "Hopefully they're just arguing over barn space. I'm sure Bear scared them off and we'll be okay," he said, his voice shaking as he tried to stay optimistic. He really wanted to believe what he said and for a second, he started to convince himself. However, as soon as two shadows drifted over the kits, all of his confidence drained out of him as he stared up at two nearly unfamiliar faces. He faintly recognized Honeydrop as someone who had been around camp, but the other face was a complete mystery. Neither one said much as they looked down at Redkit and Barkkit, their expressions full of... sadness?

Instantly, both kits shut their mouths, staring up at the strangers with wide, nervous eyes. Barkkit felt the most uncertain about the two older cats, looking frantically between them and Redkit for some kind of idea of what was going on. However, when he was getting no answers, he just stopped. Within a few heartbeats, both of the cats leaned down to pick up the kits. Redkit just let it happen, an anxious look on his face and in his wide amber eyes but Barkkit found a new energy as Flamestrike grabbed his scruff. "W-Wait! Let me go! Let... Let me go, you big meanie!" He cried, thrashing for a moment before settling down at the sight of his brother gently hanging from Honeydrop's jaws. "Is everyone else okay? Are we going to be okay? What's... What's happening?" The questions started spilling from the small tom's mouth but as he continued to speak, he quickly grew more and more tired. Man, hiding was hard work...

Blizzardshine ears raised at the sound of Pepper’s voice, looking across the barn without moving much to avoid making the kit she was holding uncomfortable before finally spotting her. Her paws carried her to the rogue she had considered to be one of her closest friends since her days as an apprentice in this same barn when she met her.

Placing the small kit at her paws, she gave him a soft smile before following her and the kit’s gaze, her eyes landing on the now limp figure of the rogue that had managed to turn the whole forest against him with his decisions. Part of her, fueled by the anger that came from his actions prior to the battle, tried to convince her to celebrate the defeat of such a dangerous enemy…but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead she lowered her head with sadness in her eyes, surprising herself by grieving for the one only minutes ago she considered as nothing but an enemy that had to be defeated for the greater good…but defeated didn’t meant killed.

“I’m really sorry…” Her voice, low and gloomy, wasn’t directed towards just Pepper or the kit, but to the rogue group in general. She alongside Rippedsky guided the attack of the clans to this place, and with her being the oldest and most experimented of the two, she felt that this death now rested on her shoulders, that it was her responsibility even if she wasn’t the one that dealt the fatal blow.

Her gaze traveled from the body of the brown rogue to Rippedsky as he talked, nodding in agreement with his words “ThunderClan will accept you within our ranks as well” She quickly added once the SkyClan deputy had finished speaking, wanting to give a couple more options to the rogues if for any reason they decided they didn’t want to join SkyClan.

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Moonlight’s attention was dragged away from the rogue she had been battling by Rippedsky’s words, for the first time noticing the death of the leader of the rogues Serves him right… It wasn’t like her to think like that, but for the first time in her life she didn’t felt anything for a cat that had fallen on the battlefield. Yes, if the choice had been made by her, she probably wouldn’t had killed Bear, but after all what he had done part of her was glad to know that he wouldn’t cause them any trouble ever again.

Feeling her muscles relaxing, knowing that there would be no need to fight anymore, her eyes scanned the battlefield carefully until they spotted the cat she had come for. Without a second thought, she rushed towards her daughter, nuzzling her affectionately while checking her to see if the rogues had done anything to her while they kept her captive.

“I was so worried for you, I feared that you…that they…” Taking a deep breath and shaking her head to get rid of the dark thoughts, she decided to not go into details “But you’re safe, and that’s all that matters. I see that your belly is back to its normal size though, you think it is a good time for me to meet my grandkits?” She meowed with the smile of a proud mother and now grandmother. The fear of finding out that something awful happened to the young kits still was there, but she was trying her best to push it to the back of her mind.