First Hunting Patrol (Shrikesong)

Waterpaw woke up early and waited for the sun to start rising before she leaped up and walked out of the apprentice den.  It was her first real hunting patrol and it was so exciting!  Not only that, but she was doing it with her sister.  She realized how little time she spent with most of them, but this was the perfect opportunity to start.  She walked towards the edge of camp and sat down, waiting for Strikesong to join her.

Shrikesong noticed Waterpaw waiting for her to join her on the patrol. The brown she-cat mused that it would be good to grow closer to her sister, due to the losses that they had faced within their own family. Buzzardpaw, Crowcaller, and Cedarheart had all died within the last moon, and it was growing clearer by the day that Kitefire didn't want to stay in ThunderClan long-term.

The brown she-cat nodded to Waterpaw. "Okay, I'm ready," she said. After all, it was important to participate for the clan, no matter what Shrikesong was herself feeling. "Let's catch some prey."

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Eventually, the two she-cats arrived at a clearing. "I'm sure that Orangeheart taught you how to hunt well, but if you need any reminders, feel free to ask me!" The brown she-cat gave a friendly smile to her sister. "I'll be over here if you need me." The brown she-cat padded to a side of the clearing where she could hunt prey. Hunting birds seemed to be easier for her than for other cats in the clan, which helped when sparrows seemed to be wherever she looked.

Not today, however. There was a squirrel on the other side of the clearing, though, so she crouched down and began stalking the animal. It had been feasting on an acorn nearby, which it seemed to have pulled out of a tree. The brown she-cat was surprised by the rodent's ability to store food inside trees, but she shook the thought out of her head. ThunderClan needed this squirrel. Thankfully, since it was so distracted eating the acorn it had in its fuzzy paws, Shrikesong was able to catch it with ease. Nipping its neck to end its life quickly, the brown she-cat brought it back to Waterpaw to bury near the middle of the clearing.

The member 'Mamenchisaurus' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

"Yay!" She said enthusiastically.  She hoped that going on a real patrol was as fun as she imagined.  It almost seemed to make her feel older and like she was doing something that mattered, instead of just staying in the nursery.

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She reacted the clearing, having a skip in her step, which was something she did not have recently.  Cedarheart took her in when she was pretty little.  She took care of her after one of Waterpaw's parents couldn't and the other one didn't.  Then she was gone too.  Like a blink of an eye she was not there.  It always made Waterpaw shiver to think about.

She nodded when Strikesong said she would help her if she needed it.  "Thank you," she said happily, "although I don't think I need any help."  To be honest, she was just hoping she did not need help.  She did not want to seem like she needed to be taken care of like a kit, even though she was still young.  "Okay," she responded to the second thing her sister said.

She watched her sister effortlessly catch the squirrel and a small "wow" escaped her.  The older cats were all really good at catching stuff and even though she new how to, it always seemed to be a lot harder for her.  "That was a great catch!" she said when her sister returned.  Then she walked away a little in search of something she could catch.  She spotted a rabbit nibbling on a some leaves on a bush.  She crept closer, trying to remember what she did when she was younger and when she was training with Orangepaw.  She jumped forward, trying to kill it.  It saw her and hopped to the side as she jumped and it was sort of embarrassing when she hit into a tree just passed the rabbit.  The rabbit then hopped away as if nothing happened.  Some grass got caught in her hair.  She tried to get up as quick as she could, slightly hurting upon the impact but nothing bad.  She walked back to her sister, hoping that Shrikesong did not see how badly she failed.

Waterpaw used 3SP to catch in an attempt to catch a rabbit.  She was unsuccessful.
77SP / 80SP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Shrikesong saw Waterpaw try to catch a rabbit from the corner of her eye. It was interesting seeing the she-cat attempt to catch it, but she wasn't able to catch the rabbit after launching herself towards it. "Are you okay?" she said instinctively, staring at Waterpaw. "That was a pretty good pounce, all things considered. Rabbits are just extremely hard to catch due to their speed and size. Even the best of hunters have trouble catching rabbits." Shrikesong never tried catching a rabbit herself, but she saw they were so fast for creatures so big.

Noticing a rabbit nearby, she began stalking the creature. It wouldn't be easy to catch by any means, but if she failed, she could just use it to show that hunting rabbits really did come down to chance. As the brown she-cat got closer and closer to the rabbit, she began to pounce at it. It easily evaded her. Sighing, the brown she-cat turned back to Waterpaw. "Like I said, hunting rabbits relies on a ton of luck to do successfully." Of course, those with WindClan blood were better at hunting rabbits than the rest of the clans, and Shrikesong was herself half-WindClan, but she didn't know the proper techniques to hunt those types of prey. "Besides for most WindClan cats, the cats that know h- Watch out!"

In the blink of an eye, a raccoon came bursting from the bushes. Before it could attack the apprentice, the warrior rammed into the predator, catching it off-guard. When it sunk its sharp teeth into Shrikesong's scruff, the she-cat winced in pain. However, the she-cat wouldn't just let this beast take her down.

Shrikesong used Run-And-Tackle on Raccoon, dealing 14 damage and costing 10 stamina.
Raccoon used Iron Bite on Shrikesong, dealing 30 damage and costing 20 stamina.
Shrikesong:
HP: 50/80
SP: 227/240

Raccoon:
HP: 16/30
SP: 280/300

"I'm fine," she responded to the first thing the other she-cat said.  She was angry more than anything.  Waterpaw was sure that Shrikesong was just trying to make her feel better, but it actually did work a little bit.  When Shrikesong attempted to catch the rabbit and failed, she smiled, feeling better.  "One day we should all go try to catch rabbits," she said as if that was an amazing idea.  "And the first one to catch a rabbit wins."

She jumped back when her sister said to watch out and quickly turned her head to the raccoon.  She saw it bit her sister in the neck after she hurt it.  She quickly rushed forward.  "Get away from her!"  She quickly whirled around on her back, under the raccoon.  She lifted her hind legs up and quickly hit and scratched the underbelly of the animal.  She then rolled again, getting up faster than she ever had before.

Waterpaw used Belly Rake, dealing 7 in damage and using -10SP

Waterpaw
20HP / 67SP (-10SP)

Shrikesong
50HP / 227SP

Raccoon
9HP / 280SP

As Waterpaw helped fight the raccoon with her, Shrikesong gave her a concerned glance. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Before the raccoon could begin slashing at her, the brown she-cat sunk her teeth into the predator's neck. She could feel its life draining away as she continued to bite it. When she was finished, the predator's dark eyes were now lifeless, and its body was limp. Stepping away from the body, she turned to Waterpaw. "Once a predator is weak enough, you can kill it in a similar way that you can kill prey. Of course, this doesn't always happen, and many predators would know when they were beaten and just leave."

Shrikesong used Killing Bite on Raccoon, costing 10 stamina. Raccoon is dead.

When Shrikesong picked up the predator in her jaws and dig her teeth in till blood spilled from the wounds and the fire that ignited the animal's life vanished, she could not help but feel sorry for the creature.  It was easy to catch mice or other small creatures when you weren't seeing as clearly the pain it caused them.  The bigger animals it was easy to see them more like cats and seeing how easily they died in someone else's jaws made her slightly scared for what could happen to her and small built cats like her.  Shrikesong told her that you could kill a predator like prey when they're weak enough and she nodded with not as much energy as before.  But, she reminded herself that if she was to be a good warrior she would need to do this often.  So, eventually she would be able to stop herself from thinking about the life that the raccoon could have lived and instead just see them as cats needing to eat them to survive, as she tried to do now.

"I hope his family does not miss him," she quietly mumbled to herself about the raccoon. Waterpaw quickly lifted her head up and her eyes met her sister's.  "That was a good kill!"  She said on a more positive note.  "I'm sure the others in Thunderclan will appreciate it.  Do you think we caught enough or should we continue hunting?"