Two Clans... Awkward in Their Own Right [Closed]

Nothing had changed since Beartooth's warrior ceremony. Every fiber of his being was just as worn and weary as it had been before. He pushed himself more now, especially given that he was now able to leave the camp alone. The tom's massive paws and elongated fangs might have seemed to make him much more suitable for the tasks at paw, yet his bulky mass of a self drug him down. Besides any cat would be generally exhausted with the amount of work he had managed to do. An unintentional, low sigh left the tom's mouth as he prepared for another patrol. For some reason, perhaps the shortage of warriors, the clan's leadership had decided he would be suitable for the final border check of the evening before they all rested. Mostly things had been decent with the clans since the battle against Lichenmask, nothing more than the occasional skirmish. Regardless he was to check the Shadowclan border.

Given he was able to take his own patrol and allowed a lean one, it was easy to make a decision. His siblings had other matters going on and he had not had the time to spend with Harepaw lately. Quickly finding his friend, the tom flashed him a brief, fanged smile as he let out a low breath, "Patrol? I'm supposed to check the borders and I'd like if you'd come along." After waiting for a response, Beartooth turned to the camp entrance and began to pad away. The border was quite a distance away and he wanted to cover that distance quickly. Harepaw was a great companion and kept up with him the entire time, also likely slowing for the patrol leader. As soon as they stopped their journey, seeing the thunderpath in the distance. The young warrior's maw raised in the air to attempt to taste more than the acrid stench that arose. Monsters rumbling had slowed as the sun fell. But that also meant the rise of the night-dwelling clan.

"Do you smell anything?" He asked his friend with a quick glance. Scenting had never been one of his specific strengths. Beartooth was physically built for battle.

Harepaw was still just an apprentice, a warrior-aged tom who still acted as timidly and hesitantly as when he was first apprenticed. His mentor was wonderful, of course, but he was a slow learner and very much avoided conflict when he could. Perhaps the most obvious difference between then and now was his size. He'd been plagued as the runt of the whole nursery, and he stayed small as an apprentice. Until now. Harepaw was a late bloomer and was only recently hitting his growth spurt, resulting in him being very lanky and long-legged; now that he was taller, he was uncoordinated and quite off balance. Hunting, once a simple pleasure for the agile apprentice, became a troublesome chore that became even more difficult with the colder seasons. It was overall very frustrating.

Which is why, on this particular day, he returned to the camp empty pawed and with disappointment visible on his face. Another failed hunting patrol in just a few days. 'I can't feed the clan with my apologies.' He thought bitterly to himself, making his way to the apprentices' den with his head low. Being stopped by Beartooth was at once a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, he wouldn't be able to go sulk for the rest of the evening if he was busy on a patrol, which is what he was looking forward to doing. On the other, Beartooth was quite persuasive with his endearing smile and simple request. Harepaw wanted to stay moody but he found himself at ease in his friend's presence. "Yeah, I'd be happy to." He meowed, trying to keep the purr out of his voice. He followed along, content to let the warrior lead, and managed to only trip twice on the way to the border.

He raised his nose in the air along with Beartooth despite the burning scent of the thunderpath. "Well, monsters for one. ShadowClan scent, too, of course. But it's kind of... close? I think I'm picking up..." He trailed off, focus switching to what he was smelling. He hadn't stopped walking, intent on finding out, and unknowingly stepped onto the cold, hard surface of the thunderpath. He was fortunate none of the loud creatures were in sight.

The atmosphere crackled with tension and awkwardness. Poppyheart would have much rather been anywhere else, doing anything else, than patrolling alone with his brother — and apparently the only full brother he had. All his other brothers and sisters, younger and older, were only his half-siblings. While he didn’t mind that in the least, the fact still stood that Asterspark had chosen to keep this information a secret from him ever since the two were just starting their training as apprentices.

That was something he didn’t think he could ever forgive of him.

”Poppyheart...”

The ginger-and-white tom rolled his eyes in annoyance when his brother spoke up in a soft voice. Without looking back as he was leading the patrol of two, he growled, ”Whatever you want to say to me, I don’t want to hear it.”

”Oh, c’mon, bro, look, I’m sorry!...” Asterspark pleaded with desperate exasperation. ”I didn’t think keeping my secret from ya was gonna hurt ya that bad.”

”Well, maybe you should’ve,” Poppyheart snapped back with an irritated thrash of his bushy tail. Please, StarClan, just make that dumb furball stop talking! ”Look, I really don’t want to talk about this right now, Asterspark. Just focus on the patrol so we can get back home.”

Asterspark fell silent behind him. Good, he was going to keep quiet.

All of a sudden, a squirrel raced out from underneath a wilting shrub close to the Thunderpath, but before Poppyheart could act, he felt the wind whisk past him as Asterspark began his pursuit across the Thunderpath towards it — straight into ThunderClan territory. ”Asterspark! You stupid frog-brain, get back here!”

"It is strong..." Parting his maw, Beartooth realized he could scent it himself. Harepaw was right in that it was unusually strong. The warrior raised his maw to try and pinpoint the smell better. There was a slight barrier of foliage that hid the patrol from sight until Harepaw pushed forward and stepped ever so slightly onto the Thunderpath. Following after, prepared to stop him in case of any approaching monsters, Beartooth immediately caught sight of the Shadowclan cat that was approaching, heading straight for his companion. The squirrel had veered away in the madness and disappeared well into their territory. In a hast, Beartooth threw himself into the side of Asterspark to knock him away from the apprentice. What was it with Shadowclan cats and being unable to keep prey and themselves on the other side of the Thunderpath.

As he collided with Asterspark, his mind flashed back to when he had fought Aspenpaw near this very sot. Beartooth swallowed back the torrent of emotions, namely pain, and guilt. And faced the enemy cat. While the cats may have changed the situation was still the same. He still needed to defend the territory as fiercely as he had been before. Long claws slashed at the tom with the mismatched gaze. A fierce protection welled up in the cavern of his chest. Before it had only been him, now a cat he cared for stood at his side. Shadowclan would not be allowed to hurt Harepaw; he would make sure of that. A snarl exploded from the warrior as his many claws sunk into the earth as he found his footing. Standing over the other tom, he followed it up with a growl, "Stay away from Thunderclan. Get away from here."

Beartooth used run and tackle, dealing 8 (+3) damage, and using 10 stamina.

Beartooth
HP: 40/40
SP: 110/120

Asterspark:
HP: 29/40
SP: 120/120

The blur of motion just across the path finally caught his attention, but he was completely off-guard and did not react at all to the ShadowClan warrior. Harepaw was lucky that Beartooth's processing skills were faster, or the stranger would have completely taken him out with a lot of force. The scrawny apprentice's expression switched from blank to shock as soon as the whole event registered in his mind, and he backed away to watch his clanmate scuffle with the enemy warrior. He really wanted to help Beartooth, but he was sure he'd just get in his friend's way. Harepaw looked around, panicked, not sure what he was supposed to do since he'd never been in a border fight before... or a fight at all, really. "Oh, uh... I guess I should... um..." Glancing around for a sign of what to do, the awkward tom locked eyes with a second enemy warrior on the other side of the path. 'Reinforcements?'

The thought had barely formed in his brain when he charged across the hard path, unsure what he was even doing and what he expected to gain from this poor decision. The apprentice miscalculated his steps and wound up running into Poppyheart, paws outstretched for another bound and with an expression of panic and confusion plastered to his face.

Harepaw accidentally used Run-and-Tackle on Poppyheart, dealing 9 damage and using 10 stamina.

Harepaw:
20/20
7o/80

Poppyheart:
31/40
120/120

Everything happened so incredibly fast. One second Asterspark was nearly on top of the squirrel, and the next something hard slammed into his side from completely out of nowhere, sending him flying into ThunderClan territory's undergrowth. He lay there dazed for a few moments. "Nnngh... Did anyone catch the scent of that monster?..."

Shaking his head to grip his bearings, he looked up just in time to see an unfamiliar Clan cat glaring down at him. His fur rose along his spine. Oh, great, he just trespassed into enemy territory without even realizing it! Leaping up to his paws and acting in panic, he reared up and slashed his claws across Beartooth's muzzle. "Uhhh, Poppyheart! A little help please!"

Asterspark used Rear-Up to Slash on Beartooth, dealing 9 damage and costing 15 stamina.

Asterspark
29/40 HP
105/120 SP

Beartooth
31/40 HP
110/120 SP

---

Poppyheart clearly saw the attack coming a mile away. He gave a grunt of annoyance when a ThunderClan cat slammed into Asterspark's side, sending him flying into the bushes. At his brother's desperate cry for help, he simply rolled his eyes. He got himself into this mess. He can get himself out. He was about to turn and walk away when he suddenly saw a ThunderClan apprentice race across the Thunderpath towards him. He didn't have time to leap to the side to avoid falling over to a slam in the side by the apprentice.

Climbing back up on his paws, he glared at the young tom, but quickly noticed how panicked he looked. Perhaps he just didn't know what else to do. Deciding to go easy on him, but still teach him a lesson about crossing into enemy territory to attack someone who wasn't even doing anything wrong, he pounced on Harepaw and pinned him to the ground, digging his claws into his shoulders but refraining from doing anything else to prevent hurting him too bad.

Poppyheart used Leap-and-Hold on Harepaw, dealing 8 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Harepaw is Pinned for one turn.

Poppyheart
31/40 HP
110/120 SP

Harepaw
12/20 HP
70/80 SP

The member 'Yoshachu Scorchachu' has done the following action : Dices roll

---

'Effect Dice' : 3

There was an obvious panic in his opponent's eyes before he cried out for assistance but Beartooth saw none of that. He was seeing red in the midst of the fight. His best friend had been faced by yet another Shadowclan cat who somehow missed the Thunderpath as their border. After Aspenpaw, after what that apprentice had done to Birdflight, the warrior wouldn't take any risks. Harepaw had charged across the black stone in pursuit of the other cat on their patrol. If he would have caught the action, Beartooth would have sworn under his breath. But instead, there was a sting of claws across his muzzle that only drew him further into the fight before him. A brief snarl tore from the bulky tabby's chest and he gathered every ounce of his muscle to launch his mass onto Asterspark.

Beartooth managed to land squarely on the other tom's back, digging in his many claws to hold a tight grip. Between the weight and the thorn-like appendages, he clung on tight. This cat would not break free so easily. By the time he was done, the tom Shadowclan warrior would never dare to cross into their territory again. Without saying anything else the tom hissed lowly, sinking into the soft flesh and causing blood to begin to well up from the pinpricks.

Beartooth used Leap and Hold on Asterspark, dealing 8 damage and costing 10 stamina. Asterspark is held for 1 turn.

Asterspark
HP: 21/40
SP: 105/120

Beartooth
HP: 31/40
SP: 100/120

The member 'Reindeer Ripped' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Effect Dice' : 1

OOC; i'm so sorry i never even knew it was my turn

Harepaw flinched severely, easily being taken off his feet. His opponent had sunk in his claws, and that was quite unpleasant, but adrenaline was quickly taking over and the pain was beginning to be blocked out. He struggled under Poppyheart's paws, shaking from his panic and heart racing.

Harepaw is pinned.

Poppyheart
31/40 HP
110/120 SP

Harepaw
12/20 HP
70/80 SP

Asterspark helped as he was pinned underneath the ThunderClan warrior’s heavy weight and sharp claws, struggling and lashing his tail behind him, trying desperately to break free. He let out a low howl of pain the longer he has to suffer.

---

Poppyheart tightened his hold on the squirming apprentice underneath him, only digging his claws a little deeper into his fur and through flesh, but still refraining from adding any insult to injury. He didn’t want to severely hurt the apprentice after all, even if he was in the wrong.

Poppyheart used Leap-and-Hold on Harepaw, dealing 8 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Harepaw is no longer pinned.

Poppyheart
31/40 HP
100/120 SP

Harepaw
4/20 HP
70/80 SP