For king and country and a little bit of praise (open to apprentices)

Turtlepaw hurried through the reeds and into the crowded camp, breathless from running. He'd made a mad dash from the river, eager to share his news with some other apprentices. The small tom ducked into the apprentices' den, spotting a few resting cats, and meowed loudly, "Hey! I found a big ol' turtle at the river! It was mean and it snapped at me, so I thought I'd get some help. Come on, I don't wanna lose it!" He chirped in excitement and withdrew quickly, his short tail sticking high up in the air. Killing his namesake wouldn't necessarily help RiverClan or their guests, but it would be exciting and he could maybe even earn some praise from the warriors if he and his fellow apprentices were successful in their hunt. The patched cat awaited them at the entrance, desperately hoping his prey hadn't left the place he spotted it.

Flashpaw was lazing about, as she often did when she wasn't in the midst of her training, and while she rarely concerned herself with whatever the other apprentices were doing Turtlepaw's words - and, indeed, his volume - swiftly caught her attention. "Well... Someone should make sure it's taken care of," she mused aloud. "I'll accompany you, to ensure it doesn't take care of you while you're at it."

Besides, I'm certain there won't be any peace in this den until it's dealt with!

“No need to be rude, Flashy,” Shrikepaw chirped, playfully nudging his sister. “A turtle! I’ve never seen one before. Don’t you ever get excited?” He rose out of his nest and followed Turtlepaw eagerly. Shrikepaw didn’t know much about Turtlepaw and hadn’t interacted much with the tom. Well, time to fix that. The ghost tabby rolled a few pebbles around as he waited for his counterpart to lead the way. Three apprentices would be able to take on a turtle, right? Even if Nightwolf hadn’t bothered to teach him any battle moves?

Ever the follower, Splashpaw's ears perked as Flashpaw spoke and she found herself nodding emphatically. "You're gonna need all the help you can get," She added, stretching her sore legs as Turtlepaw turned tail and exited the den, presumably to wait at the entrance to camp. Splashpaw's heart leaped. She'd never seen a turtle up close, and was eager to find out what exactly they were dealing with. "Should we let some of the Skyclanners tag along?" The tortoiseshell molly mewed, glancing around at the other apprentices as they all stood and began to file out of the den. "Surely they've never seen a turtle before. Think of how exciting it would be!"

Beechpaw had settled outside of the den, done with her own tasks for the day and had little intention of moving from her spot now that she'd claimed it. She was only half listening to the conversation around her. One of the Riverclan apprentices wanted to hunt a turtle or something, several comments in reply...

Something about Skyclan apprentices tagging along? Beechpaw's ears pricked curiously.

"A turtle...? I've never seen one." She admitted, glancing over to the group of apprentices. The large Skyclan apprentice rolled silent to her paws, not failing to note how she towered over the younger apprentices in the group. Thanks, dad, she thought wryly. She was a medicine cat apprentice now and that would extend her training even further, probably, but just because she was no longer a warrior's apprentice didn't mean she had gone soft in any way. It would give her something to do that wasn't sitting around watching the reeds sway in the wind, at least.

"I'm Beechpaw, by the way." She added. She hadn't interacted much with the Riverclanners upon arriving to their camp, and had spent most of her time around her own clanmates, helping Sagelight and avoiding the general busyness of the camp. Still, it seemed like they'd be here a while, so Beechpaw figured that she should at least try and make nice with the clan who was so graciously allowing them to stay.

Viperpaw was in a sour mood-- although, she very rarely was in a good mood lately. The camp was crowded and noisy, and she found it hard to relax when she had the overwhelming scent of SkyClan stuck in her nose. She’d finally gotten comfortable enough to sneak in a nap in between her training when Turtlepaw came bursting, yowling his head off about a turtle. She had half a mind to cuff him over the ears for waking her from her doze.
“A turtle? That’s what you’re wailing about?” She yawned, stretching before she got to her paws to follow. A good fight could be just the thing she needed. "Fine, I'm coming too."
Viperpaw glanced around her gathered Clanmates-- at least we’ve got numbers on our side. Her gaze stopped at the larger SkyClanner that had decided to join them. They would need the muscle to take down the turtle, and it seemed this cat-- Beechpaw, she announced-- had it. “I’m Viperpaw,” she said, giving the larger apprentice a polite yet curt nod.

Dustpaw had taken up a spot outside the RiverClan apprentice den, not wanting to be in such close proximity of cats she did not know or trust and had weird smells about them. She watched as an apprentice dipped into the den and began mouthing about some 'turtle', whatever that could be, and squinted at the cat that was just...oh so excited about whatever this 'turtle' could be. Still squinting at the cat, and the others that started massing, she rolled to her paws and noticed her sister, Beechpaw, also seemed to be in on this 'turtle' hunt. Dustpaw and Beechpaw both seemed to be rather large compared to these other apprentices, which to some cats might be an issue but to her, she preferred it this way.

"I've never seen whatever this 'turtle' is either. Since you seem so excited about it, and my sister having joined you already...figured I should go along too. Dustpaw." As per usual the maine coon was not looking even slightly friendly, and didn't make it a point to sound friendly either. She just didn't like the idea of there being things she didn't know about, and with the excitement of the RiverClan apprentice she figured maybe it was uncommon or just...something RiverClan cats in general knew about and since Beechpaw was joining maybe she should go along too. It was weird seeing so many cats banding together for this turtle thing, but maybe it was necessary, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that RiverClan cats seemed to be far more friendly with each other than SkyClan...or maybe that was her own fault...maybe. She awaited instruction on where the happy little group would be going to find this turtle, and wondered if she'd need to keep a conscious effort on keeping her mouth shut and not snapping at any of these strange apprentices she didn't know or trust.

Primrosepaw was re-entering the RiverClan camp, when all of a sudden an apprentice (judging by his size) rushed past her. He seemed in an immense hurry to say something, but she kept her distance behind him, cautiously padding forward to hear what he had to say. Something about a turtle? She had no idea what it was, but it sounded exciting. At first, she planned to just listen, but when they asked for help, and her sisters decided to join too, her mind changed. If there was a massive group of them, what was the worst that could happen? She desperately didn't want to be left out, so she padded over to join them.

"Hi! I'm Primrosepaw, can I come along too? I promise I'll try to be helpful.." she bit her tongue. These cats didn't already know she was at a disadvantage (apart from her littermates fo course), and she was perfectly happy to keep it that way, "Uhh, I mean I didn't really get hurt in the fire or anything, and I can fight, I guess" She was silently hoping for someone to quickly end the silence that her sudden appearance caused.

Turtlepaw's energy grew as more apprentices massed around him to join in on the hunt, even if some of them weren't quite as excited as he was--Flashpaw and Viperpaw, notably, although he was already familair with Viperpaw's sharpness from their days as kits. He nodded in agreement as a pretty tortoiseshell, Splashpaw, mentioned SkyClan apprentices. Would they want to join? Apparently so, the small patched tom concluded as a strange and imposing she-cat from the displaced Clan approached. "H-hi Beechpaw! And Dustpaw and Primrosepaw! We'd be happy to have you along." He meowed with only slight hesitation. She-cats were already intimidating enough, but some of these newcomers were at least double Turtlepaw's size and not too happy about his volume. He took a subconscious step closer to Shrikepaw, his lone male companion.

"Turtles are big! Some of them, anyway. Some others are small, like... like the size of a newborn kit. But the one I saw was as big as Stormbringer and almost as vicious!" Turtlepaw chimed, touting his mentor's ferocity despite the fact that he hadn't yet seen her in a battle. Whether the turtle had really been that big or not... well, he'd been moving a little too fast in his excitement to get a good view of it. "Let's get going before it swims away!" Although his tone was hushed to avoid alerting the warriors of either Clan, his excitement was still quite audible. He turned and dashed back through the reedy camp entrance, following his still-present scent trail to make sure he was heading right where he'd found it.

Upon reaching the dry bank of the river, Turtlepaw halted the entourage of apprentices with a quick flick of his short tail. The water ran low but was thankfully still running, which was more than RiverClan could say a moon before. He scanned the shoreline with narrowed eyes, searching methodically for the shelled creature, before taking a hesitant step closer to the water. "I know it's still here. It's gotta be here..." The tomcat meowed, voice lowering as he spoke. It would be a great disappointment to have let it get away because he spent too much time rounding up help. Frustration itched at his toes, and he took another step so that his paws barely touched the water as it streamed by.

Were the other apprentices laughing at him? Would they think he was stupid for losing the turtle? A slight whimper escaped his mouth and his ears burned at the thought of total strangers from another Clan thinking poorly of him. 'Come on, come on, it's around here somewhere...'

"Agh!!" Turtlepaw yelped in surprise and pain as the turtle's bumpy head shot from beneath the water and gripped onto his front leg with the force of an angry badger. "Over here, it's over here! Someone come help!" He yowled, trying to yank his leg from the turtle's fierce grip; although the more he pulled, the more of the creature surfaced from the shallow water, revealing a big, round beast with claws and a rigid shell the color of an unappealing mud puddle. The RiverClan apprentice smashed his free front paw against its head in a desperate attempt to free himself.

A second shelled creature drifted towards the riverbank, its small, beady eyes glinting with malice.

Turtle 1 used Gripping Bite on Turtlepaw, dealing 10 damage and using 30 SP.

Turtlepaw used Front Paw Strike on Turtle 1, dealing 6 damage and using 10 SP.

Turtle 1
146/150 HP
420/450 SP

Turtle 2
150/150 HP
450/450 SP

Turtlepaw
10/20 HP
70/80 SP

Viperpaw followed the rest of the group at a leisurely pace. Surely a turtle wouldn’t be able to get away that easily. She stopped when Turtlepaw gave the signal, casting a curious look around for the creature they were all there to fight. Nothing. Maybe Turtlepaw saw a funny shaped rock, she thought dismissively, giving the smaller tom a glance. Hopefully he hadn’t led them all on a wild goose— er, rather, turtle chase. She took a step forward to help him search and lowered her head to see if she could pick up a scent. Before she could even so much as twitch her whiskers, Turtlepaw was yowling his head off.
Viperpaw whipped around to see not only did he find the turtle, but it was massive, and held him firmly in its jaws. “Turtlepaw!”
Without a second thought, she launched herself forward into the fight. She braced herself and slammed a shoulder into the turtle’s shell with all her weight in an attempt to either knock it over or force its attention away from the apprentice in its maw. “Let go of him, sludgebreath!”

Viperpaw used Run and Tackle on Turtle 1 dealing 9 damage and costing 10 SP.

Turtle 1
137/150 HP (-9)
420/450 SP

Turtle 2
150/150 HP
450/450 SP

Turtlepaw
10/20 HP
70/80 SP

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

Shrikepaw’s fur rose noticeably as SkyClan joined their group. And the medicine cat apprentice of SkyClan, that was her, right? He glared at the large she-cat. “Aren’t you a medicine cat apprentice?” His anger and frustration came out on Beechpaw. He hated how those outsiders were learning their territory. Could they be useful against a turtle? Maybe. But they weren’t RiverClan. The tabby peered out over the river. He could see a few rocks, but no turtle his denmate had mentioned - but Turtlepaw wasn’t the type of cat to make up fantasies. It had probably just left-

-and as he thought that, one of the ‘rocks’ snatched Turtlepaw’s leg in his jaws. Viperpaw ran into help. Shrikepaw froze in indecision for a moment, then shook his head and snarled at the turtle. I’ll show SkyClan what we can do. Only he wasn’t sure what to do. He knew the turtle’s shell was hard. Aiming at the head would work, maybe, but Turtlepaw had done that and the turtle didn’t seem to care. Uh, other fleshy parts? Neck! He slid in beside Viperpaw and thwacked the turtle’s neck into the ground. “It’ll have to give you up at some point,” Shrikepaw muttered, trying to figure out how to help the only other tom.

Shrikepaw used Front Paw Blow on Turtle 1, dealing 4 damage and costing 5 stamina.

Turtle 1
133/150 HP [-4]
420/450 SP

Turtle 2
150/150 HP
450/450 SP

Turtlepaw
10/20 HP
70/80 SP

Viperpaw
20/20 HP
70/80 SP

Shrikepaw
20/20 HP
75/80 SP [-5]