Some Dapple backstory

This is something I wrote about Dappleleaf's injury story, and I decided that I might as well post it.
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Dapplepaw (Dappleleaf)
Doepaw (Doeskip) - Dapplepaw's best friend/crush
Featherstep - Dapplepaw's mentor/father
Pansyheart - Dowpaw's mentor
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ThunderClan's wooded territory was crisp in the late leaf-fall air. Leaves crunched underpass and the scuttles of tiny paws promised a good day's hunt as the patrol set out. Pansyheart dutifully led the way as she had been asked to, and close behind her followed Featherstep, Doepaw and Dapplepaw. Everyone's spirits were generally high as they padded through the undergrowth and weaved in-between trees, monons of experience showing in the warriors' paws. The two apprentices, on the other hand, struggled to keep up - both were much more interested in the crunching leaves than the patrol. A golden leaf would drift down from a tree, and one of them would quickly pounce on it.

"Doepaw! You've got one on your head! Let me catch it," Dapplepaw's excited mew cut through the quiet as she bowled into her friend. Doepaw was fresh out the nursery and Dapplepaw (although was older) was still brimming with kit-like energy.

"Hey! Dapplepaw! That's not fair!" Doepaw was now lying in a heap in a pile of leaves. Complaining, however, had given her the upper hand. She leapt up at the mottled she-cat, and they started rolling around on the floor, each trying to pin the other down.

Featherstep and Pansyheart were now quite far ahead, as they had continued to walk at a slow pace whilst the two apprentices were play-fighting. "You two are going to scare all the prey away. Come on!" Featherstep called. His words were commanding, but there was a playful glint in his eye. They quickly came at his call, abandoning their game for the sake of the hunt.

The group walked together, the only conversation being hushed whispers exchanged between Dapplepaw and Doepaw. As the racket they had made had probably made the prey scatter, they had to travel even deeper into the territory. Once the black-and-white patrol leader was satisfied that they were far enough out, she paused snd signalled for the rest to do the same. "Ok," she turned to the apprentices, "Doepaw and Dapplepaw, you two hunt together, but stay close. Me and Featherstep will be nearby if you need any help. Remember to keep you tail down before you pounce, Dapplepaw." she said the the brown and cream she-cat, "And Doepaw, don't hesitate for too long or you'll lose your prey. All good?" When they both nodded, she turned and began her hunt.

Dapplepaw and Doepaw padded a few fox lengths away to see what they could catch. Dapplepaw instinctively parted her maw to search for prey-scents, but a different scent hit her. It was an unbearable stench that reminded her a little of the Twolegs that sometimes wandered around the woods. Just before the word came into her head, she heard her father's yowl.

"Dog!" he cried, "Doepaw, Dapplepaw, get behind me and Pansyheart!"

As the words left his mouth, two small dogs ran at them. The black and white one went for Dapplepaw and Doepaw, and the brown one dashed at the warriors. Even though the dogs were small, so was Doepaw, and both had poor fighting skills. The mottled she-cat dashed to her father to follow his orders, but then she caught a glimpse of something. Doepaw. She thought. The small she-cat was frozen with fear and would be easy prey for the dog who wasn't locked in combat with Pansyheart. Without another thought, Dapplepaw skidded slightly on the floor as she whipped around and leapt towards her friend. "Climb the tree!" she instructed, panic rising in her voice, "climb as fast as you can and don't look down!"

"No, let me help you: you can't fight them alone!"

"I'm not alone! Just climb!" Dapplepaw yelled back. She breathed a short sigh of relief as fear got the better of the brown tabby and she began to make her escape up the tree. Truthfully, it would be safest for her to be in the tree with her, but she would feel useless in safety. Meanwhile, Featherstep and Pansyface were managing to keep the two dogs at bay, but the former was losing a large amount of blood from a cut above his eye and both were tiring unusually quickly. Get away from my dad, she thought, don't you dare hurt him. "Hey! Mousebrains! Over here!" Oops. One of the dogs may have ignored her taunt, but the other's gaze locked on her. It abandoned Featherstep like a rotten piece of fresh-kill and lunged at her. Caught a bit off guard by her own stupidity, she lashed out with an unsheathed forepaw, but her attack was  merely an annoyance to the dog. Jaws snapped shut. Pain shot through her foreleg. Her paw trapped in its maw, it violently shook its head from side to side, It flung her a fox-length away, where she landed, hitting her head hard on the ground.

She couldn't move. She was barely aware of what was happening around her. Something screeched, but it felt as if it were worlds away. Doepaw? Her father's voice echoed in her head, but she couldn't make out the words. She felt like her leg was on fire, but a strange numbness swaddled the rest of her. Body limp, she could only just feel herself being dragged to safety, up the tree that she had told her friend to climb. The last thing she remembered as she drifted off was the soft touch of Doepaw's pelt and her familiar, foresty scent.