Constant Viligance {CLOSED}

Alert.
Watchful.
Observant.

Hollowpaw paced, his treads specified and heedful, each step followed by a light slush sound. The dampened sludge had coated his legs with a sheet of moist soil, assisting with and softening his inaudible strides. His piercing, translucent eyes were pinched to slits, and his gaze darted around to survey the area. The tom's breaths were intense and heavy as he marched back and forth, every muscle rigid and tensed.
Everything was chaos.

Littlestar: dead. Moon: gone. Sun: gone. StarClan: inaccessible.
Everything was drenched in utter darkness.

He needed some time to refresh, to think.
To reflect.

---

The odour was absolutely repulsive. Scarred snout wrinkled with revulsion, Aspenpaw stalked by the border, her lithe form soaked with a dismal shadow. Sulkily sliding through the undergrowth, the apprentice stealthily strided until the immense foliage diminished, and met with the acrid, coal-black layer.
The Thunderpath. The potentially-dangerous, abhorrent Thunderpath.
She wasn't unnerved by a stupid, mere lane. She wasn't daunted by anything! Everything that others considered intimidating didn't terrorize her.

Aspenpaw glowered down at the revolting surface, and the pungent stench doused her pelt. "This'll take a moon to completely remove this odour from my pelt!" she spat into the sky. "But it'll be worth it if I execute this plan correctly." She scanned the Thunderpath's trail, and, once satisfied no monsters were to ruin her plan, trotted across the sharp sheet, regarding the pricks and stings with a grunt.
ThunderClan would surely appreciate such a courageous expedition, and perhaps some cats would realize that she ought to be respected for her unyielding confidence.
All she had to do was step over that border, slay a frog or two, and exhibit her mighty catches.

It would all work out.
And then she streaked through the air as purposeful force slammed into her.

---

"You idiot!" he roared with utter fury as he collided into the intruder. His large build had inflicted a such a powerful impact, the puny ThunderClanner had crashed onto the ground, her form crumpled. Hollowpaw advanced onto the apprentice, his face contorted with a meaningful scowl as he glared severely down at her. "Leave ShadowClan territory, ThunderClanner. Now. Before I assemble a patrol to capture you."

•••••••••••••••••

Hollowpaw used Run-and-Tackle, dealing 9 damage [6 + 3] and costing 10 stamina

HOLLOWPAW
HP: 20/20
SP: 70/80 [-10]

ASPENPAW
HP: 11/20 [-9]
SP: 80/80

---

She felt paralysed. Shock seemed to crackle menacingly in her bones, and her entire body ached with immense soreness. Her side throbbed with extreme agony, and a distressed gasp splintered the still air. A blinding glint of amber flashed in her fogged sight, and she rapidly blinked her vision clear. "ShadowClan," she rasped, her voice faint.
Something sizzled and snapped inside her.

"ShadowClan. You fox-hearted, dung-faced, mange-pelted, rotten fools!" her voice increased to a dangerously shrill pitch as she instantly straightened, ignoring the sharp agony still freshly scorching her side, and launched herself beneath the tom. Once his vulnerable spot was exposed, her claws slashed deeply into his belly as she skidded out. Tensing her front paws, she modified her position into a battle stance. That was the most advanced move she had learned, and she had just executed it perfectly.
Adjusting her legs farther apart from each other, she let out a threatening, malevolent snarl,

"Want to fight?"

•••••••••••••••••

Aspenpaw used Belly-Rake, dealing 7 damage and costing 10 stamina

ASPENPAW
HP: 11/20
SP: 70/80 [-10]

HOLLOWPAW
HP: 13/20 [-7]
SP: 70/80

---

"No," he growled in an equally belligerent tone, with a hint of dark foreboding "but I will if I have to."
He had reacted to the she-cat's abrupt recovery with a disgruntled, shocked grunt, but otherwise regarded all agony with silence. Although this was his first experience with true, excruciating pain, he had to stand high, blocking all these empty retorts and attacks. His tail was thrashing viciously, like a frenzied storm. Twisting to face the ThunderClanner, with a slight wince from the blistering burn, he shot his paw up to rake at the she-cat's already distorted muzzle. His paw slipped up to sit alarmingly close to her eyes. He steadily slid his piercing claws to slit one of her eyes - just thinly at her cornea.

"Are you sure you're prepared?"

•••••••••••••••••

Hollowpaw used Front-Paw-Strike, dealing 6 damage and costing 10 stamina

HOLLOWPAW
HP: 13/20
SP: 60/80 [-10]

ASPENPAW
HP: 5/20 [-6]
SP: 70/80

---

There was a fire in her eye.
Her eye burst and flared. The sheet screening her eye from direct harm had been narrowly cut. An appalling screech fractured the air as the apprentice tumbled backwards, ears crushed against her head. Additionally, as the tom had gashed at he snout, it had reopened her intense, partially healed wounds. Everything was pounding, she felt as if the murkiness of the unlit night was approaching to swallow her whole. Everything was burning, blazing, searing.
His fault.
"You.. You.." she breathed, voice increasing dangerously slowly, "You evil, foul, rat-faced monster! How dare you!"
Half of her vision obscured by a blistering fog, she launched at the wild, vigorous lashes that she could barely percept. His tail. Her razor teeth inserted themselves viciously into the ShadowClanner's storming appendage. Vile-tasting tufts jammed into her mouth, with Aspenpaw barely avoiding choking on the ragged fur. The she-cat clicked her teeth down as violently and forcefully as she was capable of doing, sour, sadistic pleasure flooding over her as she heard a mortifying crack. For a final blow, she snapped her jaw and roughly tugged, inflicting further damage.
"You haven't experienced the full force of my wrath yet, dung-face. That was just the light thunder rolling, before the petrifying storm," she snickered bitterly, retracting.

•••••••••••••••••

Aspenpaw used Tail-Yank, dealing 2 damage and costing 10 stamina. Hollowpaw is stunned for one turn.

ASPENPAW
HP: 5/20
SP: 60/80 [-10]

HOLLOWPAW
HP: 11/20 [-2]
SP: 60/80

---

Crack.
His clenched jaws released their abrupt tension as they extended for a thunderous bellow of anguish. The world was drowning, drowning, and he wad being drenched by the pitch-black gloom. His tail was scorching with fiercly-blazing agony, and everything was collapsing. Everything was collapsing.
The storm.
He couldn't tolerate a storm.
What storm?
Storm.
Storm.
Battle.
ThunderClanner.
She'd make a storm? How?

Everything was whirling. He couldn't sense his paws. Was he paralysed? Was this a dream? This had to be a dream, this had to be a dream.
No.
This wasn't a dream
It was a nightmare.

•••••••••••••••••

Hollowpaw is no longer stunned.

HOLLOWPAW
HP: 11/20
SP: 60/80

ASPENPAW
HP: 5/20
SP: 70/80

---

The rush of callous satisfaction surging into every bone was astoundingly large, although it wasn't enough to penetrate and break the mist of pain still lingering at her eye. Immediately realizing the state of which her opponent was - disoriented and perplexed - the glee at this opportunity was certainly evident in her expression. Strutting unhurriedly up to him, at a taunting pace, she promptly slammed his head, claws unsheathed, and mockingly raked it down, slowly and steadily, her marks deep. She flashed a smirk at the tom.

"Think twice before messing with me, kit."

•••••••••••••••••

Aspenpaw used Front-Paw-Strike, dealing 6 damage and costing 10 stamina.

ASPENPAW
HP: 5/20
SP: 50/80 [-10]

HOLLOWPAW
HP: 5/20 [-6]
SP: 60/80

---

Excruciating torture.
Tormented by a puny, undersized, narcissistic ThunderClanner.
The gashes she was leisurely creating were agonizingly, intentionally slow. The bash before the slash also bewildered him further. She had seen his dizziness, and had taken advantage of that. Clever, but unbearably cruel. Everything was spinning. He couldn't win. He was weak. Weak.
In a feeble attempt to break free, he striked at het chest, his paw frail, sheathed and trembling. This was over. And he had lost.

•••••••••••••••••

Hollowpaw used Front-Paw-Blow, dealing 4 damage and costing 5 stamina.

HOLLOWPAW
HP: 5/20
SP: 50/80 [-10]

ASPENPAW
HP: 1/20 [-4]
SP: 50/80

---

A cackle of wild delight echoed through the air as she smugly grinned at the pathetic blow. No flinch, no twitch, but mad enjoyment. He was a delicate wimp, shook by her scores. This was an exceedingly awarding battle, so much better then slaying two revolting frogs. It appears that the storm had taken ts toll. She'd achieved, advanced, and would leave victorious. The grand celebration would have been more monumental if these excruciating damage in her eye hadn't been dealt, or the soreness still blazing at her side, or her dripping, ruby-stained muzzle.
But she'd won.
Smirking, she smacked her paw at the tom's head, the force severe and powerful, with an extra slash while the opportunity was free. "Run, little weakling, before the lightning strikes again."

---

Aspenpaw used Front-Paw-Strike, dealing 6 damage and costing 10 stamina.

ASPENPAW
HP: 1/20
SP: 40/80 [-10]

HOLLOWPAW
HP: -1/20 [-6]
SP: 50/80

KO'ED

---

This was it.
The final strike of lightning.
The final strike.
The end of the battle.
The end.
He'd lost.
The harsh bash had sent him plummeting to the damp soil. The harsh bash had sent him crashing.
He was doomed.
Dead.
Defeated.

---

It was a striking performance sighting an older, more experienced ShadowClan tom crumple beneath her claws. She was twitching vigorously, eyes expanded to their full size, but with ceaseless, indifferent delight. She'd won. She'd won.
Twisting, a spectacularly dramatic recount already wording itself in her head, she slunk towards the Thunderpath. Aspenpaw was going to rehearse her ultimate story, perhaps omitting the fact she'd intentiinally trespassed, to her fellow apprentices. They would be thoroughly impressed by her glorious victory.
She had stalked to the center of the cold, coarse surface, when a flash blinded her.
A flash.
Screeching, she dove, tail whipped by the gust created by the monster. Aspenpaw tumbled, eyes glinting with a mortified spark, and skid agonizingly across the grass. The ragged stones had pierced her already aching, throbbing side as she had launched for her safety, for her life.
She couldn't get up.
She couldn't.
But she had to.

She'd recite her victory story.
But only if she lived.