The Head of the Snake [PLOT TOPIC]

Shira sat in her dark cage. She noticed something odd. The sound of more cats approaching, most likely members of the Asylum. She sighed. Curled up, resting, there was not much else to do. Sounds came from familiar voices. The voices of the cats that she had been raised with. Her head rose, looking at each one of them, trying to make sure they were all okay especially Spark and Ceres and Mirae. That was all she needed to know. Visitors were not allowed and most did not even know where she was. She just needed to know that everyone she loved was okay, that was enough for her to be content.

After she confirmed this, she put her head back down, but continue watching with her eyes. Eris was there with them too. If you touch one piece of Spark's or my sister's fur I will- her thought was interrupted by what she guessed was a clan war cry and said 'Mousehunt' whatever that meant. She jumped up in her cage, having honestly no idea of anything going on at the moment.

Quick fights began emerging around her and all she could do was watch... That is until one of the clan cats came and got her out of the cage. She nodded in thanks to that clan cat, but quickly went to see what she could do. She briefly spotted the cat that she attacked in Skyclan territory, Copperfox if she remembered correctly, and felt like saying something to him, but there was no time. She saw one of her fellow scouts, but she did not know him to well. She knew that he would do anything for the Asylum though, just like she would have done before she knew the truth. She came over to that Asylum cat and without much hesitation stood on her back paws and scratched wildly at Casper's back, before returning back on four paws and jumping back into a fighting stance. She hoped that no clan cats still saw her as an enemy.

Shira used Rear-Up to Slash on Casper, dealing 14 in damage and using -15SP

Shira
75HP / 185SP (-15SP)

Casper
24HP / 210SP (-14HP)

Murkystrike
45HP / 105SP

Mistyfalcon
65HP / 220SP

Dawnhawk was quickly overwhelmed by other cats. Smartest thing these clan cats could have done was team up on him three to one. Claws ripped through his fur one second and something hard hit him in his ribs the next. Whatever words were being said were drown out by both his focus and his rage. Focusing on his original target, Dawnhawk tore into Shrikesong's body. The Asylum was being overrun, that much was obvious. The fools had become so complacent that they hadn't set up perimeters. If Dawnhawk got out of this, he intended to unload all of his frustration with this outcome onto Eris.

Dawnhawk used Rear-Up-to-Slash, dealing 17 damage and -20SP


Ravenclaw:
45/45 HP
150/160 SP

Shrikesong:
28/60 HP (-17HP)
175/200 SP

Cedarheart:
85/85 HP
215/230 SP

Dawnhawk:
78/120 HP
260/300 SP (-20SP)

---

Bloodstrike had no idea what was happening. The yowling, the garbled words and the scent of blood hit him all at once. The confusing mess unfolding outside of his cell was enough to have him approach the roots. He stared out on weakened, shaky legs and a clouded mind. It was only then he realized that those shapes were in fact... cats. Had they always been cats? The dark tom thought back to the she-cat that he'd killed... she was familiar somehow. Why couldn't he remember? His mind could only recall fighting hordes of cats, falling from a tree, then descending into the darkness where he was now. Noticing that there was no shapes at either side of the root cage, Bloodstrike took a careful step forward. Nothing happened. Was this a trap? The massive tom stepped once more outside of the root cage, with half of his body out now. The battle continued. His ears were tattered and torn, cut into sharp points like some fighting dog except not as clean. The ripped things swiveled around at the noises that sounded so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It was just like yesterday he'd been in the middle of a sea of whirling cats... yet a lifetime ago since he had died from it.

"Bloodstrike!" A voice called out. The giant tom's expression went from curious and a bit bewildered, to one of contorted, unbridled fury in an instant. Bloodstrike hurriedly stepped forward out of the root cell and let out a long, deep caterwaul that sounded like it should have come from a feral feline that was not of the domestic variety. Mist flowed from between his parted jaws and his tattered ears flattened against his head. He didn't know which cat had said the word as his glanced around furiously looking for the one responsible for calling on the others to hurt him. As other cats battled and died around him, confusion set in once again. It had been the first time in many moons that anyone had said "Bloodstrike" and he wasn't attacked. The Asylum had trained Bloodstrike to expect pain whenever one said his name. To suddenly take that familiar, albeit brutal routine away from him caused him to hesitate.

"I'll kill whoever said that!" Bloodstrike bellowed, his voice booming across the clearing. His brain buzzed with the effort. His head swam. The large tom staggered sideways but managed to catch himself. Waves of nausea and pain radiated throughout his body. The neglect that the other clan cats had faced was only a mere fraction of the horror that Bloodstrike had suffered, and he was far weaker than the others as a result. The tom's heart raced uncontrollably and his breathing became rapid in response to it.

"I'll kill each and ev-" His eyes suddenly recognized two figures in the whirling mass of battle and death: Dawnhawk, his son. No surprise to see him in the Dark Forest, as he had been very similar to Bloodstrike in many ways. But Blossomstep? Why of all cats would his mother be here??? She was locked in battle with an unknown cat as well. Bloodstrike stared, stunned into a motionless disbelief. This isn't real... they torturing me again. They found a way into my head. This isn't real! All of the fury died away within Bloodstrike, replacing it with confusion and fear. Blossomstep wasn't a bad cat... she never had been! There was no way she was in the Dark Forest with him. Dawnhawk maybe, but not her! Never her!

"My mother isn't dead..." Bloodstrike muttered to himself.


EDIT BEGINS HERE:

Blossomstep was in the middle of a fight it looked like, however. What if this was a trick? What if this wasn't real? What if it wasn't? Bloodstrike buried his claws into the earth and he grit his teeth together. For his mother, he was willing to risk being pulled back into that dark cell and kept there for moons longer. After a few breaths to steel his resolve, Bloodstrike growled low in his throat and charged forward. He wasn't about to waste time on words, as they only took up precious time in battle. Another cat was helping Blossomstep, it seemed, so Bloodstrike would keep an eye on them for now rather than lash out.

The bobcat sized tom plowed his weight and his strength, both fairly limited now from starvation, into his opponent with determined claws and teeth fixing themselves into his flesh. Bloodstrike wasn't just covered in scars... his ears were sharp traingles rather than rounded as they once had been, and were tattered now as well. He was missing three quarters of his tail and the left side of his lip had been torn in a way that he would forever be in a permanent half-snarl. To keep from drooling on himself and to prevent his fang from drying out, he would have to lick at it periodically. Would his clan mates recognize him at this point? Would Smokefeather still love him once she saw him again? Bloodstrike's mind was elsehwere, however, as he sought to tear into the cat that had dared to hurt his mother.

Bloodstrike used Upright Lock on Fen, dealing 17 damage and -25SP

Bloodstrike
85HP / 205SP (-25SP)

Fen
24HP / 220SP (-17HP)

Flashlight
30HP / 110SP

Blossomstep
52HP / 145SP

Determination gripped at Ceres' heart as Brick joined the battle. There was no way that they were going to lose now, not when it was the three of them against one cat. Each of her former denmates were strong on their own, but it was undeniable that they were stronger together. Now, this newfound fuel that added to the fire of their strength came from a hatred for lies, which was all their lives had been built on, and three of them were facing only one of the cats who had contributed to those fabrications. The calico couldn't help but flinch as she watched Lyralei take a final swipe at Raisha, who promptly proceeded to collapse to the ground. Now, all of the focus was on her.

"The only pretty words we fell for were yours." Ceres spat, her tail lashing.
"If it weren't for Thalia finding out the truth, we would've lived our entire lives blind. You and the Asylum would've been perfectly content with that, but somehow we're the bad guys here?"
She quickly lifted herself up using her hind legs and raised her paws to attack as she spoke, "Nothing you say will change my mind."
Without another thought, she silently braced herself for impact as she forcefully lowered her front paws and let them collide with Lyralei's head.

ceres used "upright lock" on lyralei, dealing 16 damage and costing 25 stamina.

ceres
hp - 75/75
sp - 165/200

lyralei
hp - 34/120
sp - 215/300

brick
hp - 75/75
sp - 185/200

Noise. Sound. Like snakes hissing in his ears. A scream.

Snarls and cries. A dark alleyway, the glowing yellow eyes of a russet-pelted monstrosity, foam dripping to the ground. Chaos. A rocky plateau, the wind howling with the nose-biting scent of snow, caterwauls and barks, unnatural growls. Shouting.

The fog in his head roiled with a gasp that burst free of his lungs, eyes snapping open to find something out of focus. Was that a face? The barriers around his small, painfully entwined existence peeled away - bitter black of thorns glinting and dripping shadows. Something in him tightened, fear pulling him to draw away from the entrance and the figure there, pain from the tips of his paws sliding out to grip the earth. The face disappeared in an instant, whirling away. Wait!

A hoarse cry tore free of his throat, sudden enveloping panic sweeping through his body in burning flames, agony that tore through his head as he stumbled forward. The world spun; he didn't know how he was even on his paws, the raging of cats all around whirling into a mass of red and patchwork pelts. The dogs! Bat! We have to-

Russet-red, yellow.

The scene lurched, every hair on his pelt standing on end as he scrambled away, shooting pain coursing through legs and ribs, sparking through tears on his neck. A hiss of pure rage-filled terror spat from his maw, pricking against his skin from behind. His teeth bared at a fox pelt, eyes wild and feral. Darkness flickered in his vision, heart pounding until his whole body trembled to its galloping beat, short breaths coming in gasping bursts. Bat! Bat, they'll kill you!

The dogs - she was there, she was running past. Star... Starlord. Agony coursing through his head like claws wrapped around his skull, vision jumping up to see ginger-and-white flashing towards him. He cried out as something collided with his chin, something pressing hard against his body. The scent of earth rang in his nostrils, a peal of rot and red, raw death soaking it.

No no.

He snarled, pushing against the ground pressed against his side, yowls and screams still ringing out all around. Thoughts... he felt like a kit, calling out blindly in a panicked mewl for the warmth of its mother, unthinking, unaware of anything. It all blurred together - it wasn't real. Kerath's steady green eyes the colour of the foliage under the trees flashed through the maelstrom in his head and he snatched for it, the memory of fighting a nightmare surging in a lightning flash that seared across his vision. He stumbled through snow; he bruised his paws against the cracked, wind-blasted rocks of a mountain; he swam through a raging fever pulsing with raw agony in his body. Seeking black and green.

I've killed her, I've killed her....
"No... no..."

She was there. She spilled red onto the earth with her claws and her matted, prison-stained pelt had never looked so beautiful, eyes dulled with weariness sparking in determination. In his memory he touched his nose to hers, a soft moment as fragile as a breath, her green eyes reflecting the golden of a rippling field - the glimmer of a warm river.

In reality his legs gave out beneath him, breath gasping out as he hit the earth. "Bat...." Everything wavered. He couldn't help her; a feral, cracked and wordless cry all that escaped him as claws slashed for her face. Shadows wavered in his vision, flickering with stars. He couldn't move.

He could remember being here before. Claws buried in the earth, frozen to the ground, locked by memories. His body had worked then; his head had whirled almost as bad as it did now, but for a different reason. No... No! A flicker of a faint ember stirred in his chest, the ground falling away - shuddering in his legs. A caterwaul ripped free of his maw - half cry of pain, half mindless fury. Pain for claws, agony for fangs.

I will not leave her.

He could barely feel the wreck of his own body, the bands of blazing fire tightening around his head not enough to stop him as he slashed out. Red sprayed. It wasn't his. She was there; she was real and living. The world blurred like water under the river, hot agony and relief leaking across his face. All he wanted was to bury his nose in her fur and weep - let the fighting fade away to the pure joy that he hadn't killed her, that she still stayed in the territory of the living.

Instead, a wobbling, wincing half-smile lilted up one side of his face, muscles trembling with fatigue even as the fire of adrenaline somehow kept him standing. His voice was cracked and rasping, barely more than a hoarse mutter that burbled in his own ears as he spoke for what seemed like the first time in a moon-long nightmare. "It's a good night to destroy some evil, isn't it?"

Minkstream used Upright Lock, dealing -17 damage and using -25 SP! Mah boi is alive! Somehow!

Minkstream:
HP: 85/85
SP: 205/230 (-25)

Batbite:
HP: 31/45
SP: 145/170

Wisteriabloom:
HP: 100/100
SP: 270/280

Robinloft:
HP: 45/45
SP: 160/170

Toad:
HP: 15/85 (-17)
SP: 215/230

Fen hissed as claws tore through his pelt. For the first time, panic flickered in his gaze as he scrambled away. This needed to end, and quickly; but the majority of their numbers were not here, and now their own were turning against them. The odds seemed overwhelmingly low... how the Clan cats had managed to even gather was a puzzling thought, one which he could not focus on right now. He kept his focus trained on one opponent, rearing up and slicing both claws in rapid succession at the gray molly. Flashlight's words rang around loudly-- ah, her brother had been killed. "And some of ours have been killed by you Clan cats. Bother to think about that, with your flawed sense of justice?"

Fen used Rending Front Paws on Blossomstep, dealing 15 damage for 25 stamina.

Flashlight
30/30 HP
85/110 SP

Blossomstep
37/65 HP [-15]
145/190 SP

Fen
24/85 HP
195/230 SP [-25]

Cedarheart knew that three cats could easily overpower one. Although the cat that had just joined the battle was younger, they still had the advantage. As Dawnhawk turned towards Shrikesong, she kicked him with her hind legs. She felt exhausted beyond comprehension, but she had to fight, for her family. There was no way she would step down now. If they won, there would be time to eat and rest. The hunger gnawing at her belly was still present, but she channeled all of her pains into anger. She needed to take down the Asylum. They had caused all of this. She found herself glancing around between moves, trying to see who else was at the fight. Obviously Beecloud, who had seemingly lead the charge, and her daughter Shrikesong who she fought alongside. Yowls and hisses broke through the air, and the smell of blood began to grow. This wasn't just a battle anymore. It was a war, for their home. And she had plans on winning it.


Cedarheart used Back Kick, dealing 16 damage and costing 15 stamina!

Cedarheart
85/85 HP
200/230 [-15] SP

Dawnhawk
62/120 [-16] HP
260/300 SP

Shrikesong
28/60 HP
175/200 SP

Ravenclaw
45/45 HP
150/160 SP

A booming voice echoed over the din of battle, and Blossomstep's fur stood on end. That voice couldn't belong to any other cat than her son. Bloodstrike.... What had they done to him? He had always been short-tempered, but... She shuddered as she thought of the horrific scene she had witnessed when Asylum had first arrived at SkyClan's camp. If he had continued to experience treatment like that... Who knew what state he would be in. Their opponent reared back, and she gasped as claws sliced through her fur. As she turned to retaliate, a somewhat familiar face caught her eye next to her. There he was, her son. Oh thank the stars, he was alive, he was here, he was.... Definitely not okay, she could tell from the quick glance the state he was in physically, and he had a strange glimmer in his eyes, but he was fighting against this Asylum cat with them. With her. She brushed her tail to his side for only a moment before rearing up and bring her paws down hard on the Asylum cat's head before stepping back quickly, feeling her legs shaking from the effort. As much as she wanted to, there was no time for reunions... Her strength was fading quickly. They would have all the time they could want soon, once the battle was over.

Blossomstep used Upright Front Paws on Fen, dealing 16 damage and costing 25 SP.

Flashlight:
30/30 HP
85/110 SP

Blossomstep:
37/65 HP
120/190 SP (-25)

Fen:
8/85 HP (-16)
195/230 SP

Bloodstrike:
85/85 HP
205/230 SP

Shrikesong grinned as she saw another cat join in the fight. There’s nothing that he can do about it now. As the fight began to turn in their direction, Shrikesong got struck again by Dawnhawk. It didn’t matter, though. Even if she was knocked out, the others would finish the job. Slashing back at Dawnhawk, the brown she-cat knew that attack after attack, the Asylum would collapse.

It was only a matter of time.

Shrikesong used Rear-up-to-Slash on Dawnhawk, dealing 13 damage and costing 15 stamina.

Shrikesong:
HP: 28/60
SP: 160/200

Dawnhawk:
HP: 49/120
SP: 260/300

---

Spark did have an answer for Rama’s question. He was fighting for Shira, for the rest of the Missing Kits, for every bad thing that Asylum did to them, to the clan cats that were jailed, and she, for one, was someone that he barely knew in Asylum. That last point caused the only visible response to be a hostile glare at the she-cat, then a slash crossing through the body. He was on the clans’ side, and nothing would come close to changing that.

Spark used Rending Front Paws on Rama, dealing 15 damage and costing 25 stamina.

Spark:
HP: 75/75
SP: 175/200

Rama:
HP: 36/85
SP: 210/230

"Is that so?" The she-cat muttered, spitting droplets of blood out from the blow to her head. Droplets of crimson had welled up where Beecloud had attacked her moments ago, but she elected to ignore them, letting them drip from her mouth as she spoke to the tom. "And what makes you think you've got the gall to do such a thing in the first place? What starforsaken being has convinced you that you, Beecloud of ThunderClan, has what it takes to beat the Head of the strongest group of cats across all the lands?" She growled, hissing as he landed blows on her face repeatedly. In response, she raised her hackles and readied herself, throwing all her weight forward and crashing into the tom. Adrenaline prevented her from feeling the brunt of the pain as she stared into Beecloud's eyes, detecting any morsel of fear in them.

Like a swirling, devastating whirlwind, her many claws slashed and cut through his thick fur, reaching muscle and spilling blood on the clearing below. "Intimidation is a last resort. Most cats have sense enough to know what's best for them." She continued to slice and tear at the tom, straining to get in every blow she could while she still had the chance. Her confidence may have been strong, but so was Beecloud's. Perhaps he was more of a worthy opponent than she'd ever imagined. "I inherited these paws from my mother, just as I did her empire. One that she built from the ashes of my ancestors, through trials and tribulations unlike any other. From day one she was a fighter." Again, she took the opportunity to extend her menacing claws and slash Beecloud, this time right on the muzzle. "It was her teeth and paws that gave her the strength to fight on as she did. Even as a kit, she had more strength than you ever could. Against the odds, as a kit she survived nearly being eaten by a fox. Her siblings, however, didn't share that same fate. Her determination pushed her to go bigger, to push towards brighter things. Her paws simply aided her in her mission."

With movements precise and calculated, she pushed back, watching as the scarlet droplets of blood began to drip from his new scars. "You see, the difference between you and I is that I find value in my teeth and paws," For a moment she pushed the hood of her lynx pelt back, far enough so that her maw was visible and she could flash her oversized teeth to the tom. As always, they poked past her lips and reflected the light of the evening finely. "far more than you could imagine. These paws are a blessing in disguise, young Beecloud. You are weak because you do not treat them as such." Her ears were slicked back against her skull as her claws dug into the ground below her, waiting for a retort from the tom.

Eris used Sanctum Strike, dealing -15 Health Points and using -29 Stamina Points. Beecloud is stunned for one turn.

Eris:
95/95 HP
280/300 SP [-20]

Beecloud:
85/100 HP [-15]
190/240 SP

A faint, yet enviably steady voice creaked out behind Pyrik; the RiverClan tom, still conscious, was struggling upright to face Eosphoros again. Pyrik didn’t so much as twitch. His attention remained on the Scout, eyes narrowed to bright blue slits. For all the anger twisting up his insides, some deeply-buried part of him (the part that believed everything Raisha said about him, that still called Iniko “Captain”) wanted to see confusion on Eos’s face, a single scrap of proof that Roe wasn’t the only Asylum cat he could trust.

What he got was an apology. Pyrik closed his eyes.

Nearby, another cage fell to ruins, and a skeleton of a she-cat threw herself into the fight, claws scoring the Scout’s shoulders. Even if Eosphoros’s words were genuine, they hardly scratched the surface of what Asylum had done. The battlefield left no space for what-ifs. Pyrik only had one life—whether tonight would be the start or the end of it. “You still chose to lie,” he said quietly, and brought his paws down onto Eosphoros’s head.

Pyrik used Front Paw Blow on Eosphoros, dealing 11 damage and using 5 stamina.

Pyrik
75/75 HP
175/200 SP (-5)

Ivystar
105/105 HP
235/250 SP

Jayshriek
16/45 HP
130/160 SP

Eosphoros
11/85 HP (-11)
190/230 SP

Ivystar's brain was whirling to the point that she was hardly able to understand much of what her allies said. Occasionally she'd be able to pick out specific words and phrases, but the overall meaning of what they were saying was lost on her. Her vision being hazy didn't help either- strange darkness began to creep in slowly around her peripherals, like shadows that she couldn't quite catch a glimpse of. Perhaps this fighting would do her in, and she'd have to leave her son to fight this monster by himself. Not quite alone, of course- some other tom she didn't recognize was also there. He smelled like Asylum, so she wasn't entirely sure why he was fighting what was likely his superior, but at this point she didn't care. Aid was aid.

With what little strength she had left, she reared up on her hind legs. Eos was already weakened from fighting the two toms by her side, so it wasn't hard to hit her exactly where she'd intended to. With a loud, sickeningly gross crunch, she brought both her paws down on the she-cat's head, sending shooting pain up both her front legs. Despite trying her hardest not to, a yowl of pain escaped her maw. She was just stable enough to back away from the defeated she-cat before she collapsed to the ground, her sore paw pads thanking her. "Jay? Jayshriek, we've... we've got to go." She mewed, her ears flattened not out of anger, but out of something she wasn't much used to- fear. Not entirely for herself- yes, she had sustained injuries and was malnourished, but she could see the pain in his eyes. He wouldn't last much longer and they needed to get out of the fray before either of them got hurt beyond repair. As carefully as she could she raised herself to her paws, a slight limp noticeable in her walk. With her tail she beckoned for her son to join her. "Asylum c-cats are outnumbered. Dropping like flies... Help me get to the outskirts of the clearing?" Her sentences were choppy at best, but it was enough to get the point across.

Ivystar used Upright Lock, dealing -20 Health Points and using -25 Stamina Points. Eos has been KOed.

Ivystar:
105/105 HP
210/250 SP

Eos:
KOed

Only when Zinnia was entirely certain that Theron wouldn't rise to rejoin the fight did she turn her back on the fallen Nightstriker, allowing herself to scan the field again. Something caught her eye, something she hadn't thought she would ever see again - Tawnykit, now grown, lying on the ground. So their own were here, among these Asylum cats. The kits they had thought lost forever.

(So, then, was her lost son here as well? They'd only known Finchkit so briefly, but... She could only hope to see him here, to know that he was still alive.)

More pressing, though - Tawnykit was unconscious, and it was easy to see that she had fought back against her own. The why and how of that would have to wait, then, as she leapt into the fight. "Tawnykit[/i.] So this was the truth. You stole our kits and took them for your own, you led us to believe they were lost to us..."

She spared only a moment's glance to the Asylum cats she had chosen to fight alongside - if perhaps they, too, had been lost to the Clans.

Zinnia used Run-and-Tackle on Lyralei, dealing 16 (13+3) damage and costing 10 stamina.

Lyralei
18/120 HP (-16)
215/300 SP

Ceres
75/75 HP
165/200 SP

Brick
75/75 HP
185/200 SP

Zinnia
34/100
185/280 (-10)

---

Flashlight spared a slight nod for the two cats who had come to her aid, unfamiliar to her as they were. They weren't a matter of her concern, at the moment. "Yes, well, forgive me for not caring that your hostile takeover of our lands came with some casualties for you! I swear, you Asylum rats wouldn't know the definition of self-defense if it struck you across the nose - I killed no one, I didn't even lay a paw on that pathetic rat until after she killed Shrikefrost and tried to kill me!"

There was a thought she didn't dare to voice, one that haunted her now. Maybe if I'd done something sooner, he'd still be here.

She didn't want to kill, had no desire for another's life to be in her paws.

(Every rule has an exception. Would this be it?)

"I won't make the same mistake again."

Flashlight used Front Paw Strike on Fen, dealing 9 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Flashlight
30/30 HP
75/110 SP (-10)

Blossomstep
37/65 HP
120/190 SP

Fen
KO

Bloodstrike
85/85 HP
205/230 SP

"Perhaps I should have spoken up about it sooner. The Asylum, I think, is falling, crushed by the weight of their own falsehoods, Pyrik." Eos coughed out after Pyrik had spoken. She had thought it was necessary, at the time... But the lies had never worked to bring loyalty. They never would. The scout had made an error in judgement, as had much of the Asylum, captains and head included. It was far too late for her turn against them now, though. Even if she did, she was too weakened by fighting.

Ivystar's paws slammed into the back of her neck, and Eos crumpled beneath the hare pelt. Sorrowful brown eyes lifted briefly to meet Pyrik's before her vision blurred. When the cats she'd been fighting had turned away, the scout would crawl off, keeping to the shadows and avoiding the fighting. The battle was already lost, and she would not stay long.

Eosphoros has been KO'd.