Toadpaw & Darkpaw's Excellent Adventure (O for Toad)

”Darkpaw?” Toadpaw asked incredulously, large eyes even wider than usual. This is exactly what he didn’t want to see— someone sneaking out of camp at the exact same time and at the exact same place he was. Darkpaw was such a rule-follower, too; certainly he would just turn tail and tell on Toadpaw to every cat in RiverClan! He had just become an apprentice, taking advantage of his new freedoms; Perchstar would de-rank him to a kit again for sure! He had never seen her do it, but he’s heard her threaten it a couple of times.

He had to come up with a cover-up and fast. Head swiveling side to side wildly in search of some idea of clue, Toadpaw began to mumble rapidly— something he was very, very good at. If he played his cards right, he could keep Darkpaw busy until he came up with an excuse! ”What are you— I mean, why— I mean! Darkpaw! What are you doing out here after dark! That’s not allowed, you know!” Darkpaw continued at him a little too knowingly for Toadpaw’s liking, and the black tom began to sweat nervously. ”I was just, you know— Checking the camp! I heard a strange noise, and I wanted to scare whatever it was away, if it was a bear or an eagle or something… but it was probably you! You’ve gotta tell me what you’re doing out here!”

”I asked first!” Toadpaw mumbled under his breath, trying his hardest to ignore Darkpaw’s seemingly omnipotent knowledge. It was very difficult to pull something over his eyes; Toadpaw was charismatic, but not very bright, and Darkpaw was the exact opposite. Intelligent, strong, and already imposing at such a young age— Toadpaw envied him a little bit.

Not that he would ever tell anyone, of course.

”I saw you sneak out of the apprentice den.” Toadpaw admitted quietly, weaving through the weeds to join Darkpaw at his side. ”I wanted to know where you were going, so I… followed you… But it was for the safety of the clan, you know! I had to know if you were running off in the night to fraternize with the other clans!”

Looking Darkpaw in the eyes was getting increasingly harder as Toadpaw continued to dig himself into a hole. Looking out onto the river, he continued, ”But I knew you weren’t. I just wanted to check. What are you doing, anyway? Hunting? You know there’s owls and foxes out now, since it’s dark.” At that thought, Toadpaw let out a shiver— predators were his worst fear.

”Yeah, yeah” Toadpaw snickered as he followed behind Darkpaw. ”Whatever you say, fraternizer!” He never did think Darkpaw was fraternizing, of course— Darkpaw would honestly be the last apprentice Toadpaw would suspect— yet the joke was just too good to lay to rest. It was just too fun to irritate and rile him up.

The forest was quickly getting dark and was frighteningly still, silent except for the lapping of the river against the rocks and the distant calls of predators Toadpaw couldn’t name; as a kit he would cover his ears and cry at those sounds, so he never listened when his mother attempted to teach him their names. The distance of the calls were the only thing keeping him held together, if he had to be honest, big yellow eyes flickering around wherever he stepped. He didn’t want to act like a coward in front of Darkpaw— he cursed his paws as they shook with every step. Though he couldn’t shake the feelings of fear and anxiety, Toadpaw could admit he felt a good margin better than he thought he would. Darkpaw was stoic and as silent as the trees as he walked in front of Toadpaw, confident and serene, and the tom felt as if he was accompanied by a senior warrior instead of an apprentice like him. If something bad did happen, at least Toadpaw had Darkpaw to handle it for him.

”We should go hunting!” Toadpaw announced after a pause, a little uneasy with the silence between him and the other tom. ”Catch some fish or some mice! Whatdya say?”

Speaking of mice… a bush by Toadpaw’s side shook with activity! Surely there had to be some prey hiding in there! He had yet to be properly trained for hunting, had little idea what to do, but Toadpaw was a cat above all else. He could just follow his instincts!!

He stopped, listened for the rustling to begin again, and when it did he leaped into the bush, and…

He caught it! He really, actually, caught it! Admittedly, he did drop the mouse in surprise when he realized what he had done, but he had been so quick to grab it again he was sure Darkpaw didn’t notice. ”Darkpaw! Look!” he called, words garbled by the prey in his jaws.

”No!” Toadpaw admitted without a second thought, before realizing what he said. Oh StarClan above, Darkpaw didn’t need to know that! ”I mean! I mean sure I have! I’ve hunted plenty before! This is– this is nothing! This is just some little mouse! Hardly enough to bring back to the clan!”

Stumbling out of the bush to meet Darkpaw halfway, Toadpaw spat out the little mouse at the dark tom’s feet. ”You can have it, if you want! It’s just something small, not anything to go cry home about. You know what– let's go and see if there’s any fish out on the river! You know they’re real active at night, I’ve been told. The water’s cold but It’ll keep us awake!”

It was getting to be more and more of a chore to ignore the heat flaring up in Toadpaw’s face as he ran ahead of Darkpaw out onto the shoreline. It was just some mouse. It didn’t mean anything.

If Toadpaw were to ever meet a predator, he promised himself he wouldn’t scream. He had spent his entire childhood screaming at anything that moved, from leaves to bugs, and it made him the butt of the joke for a lot of the nursery. He resented it, really, wished his clanmates found him brave instead of cowardly, so he promised himself the night after his ceremony he wouldn’t ever scream. He would be stoic and strong, never show fear again…

but a weasel popped out from the bushes, soaking wet and snarling, and Toadpaw shrieked. Toadpaw shrieked loud and long enough to wake all of RiverClan.

”Eeek!” Toadpaw squealed when the slippery, slimy little thing grabbed ahold of his foot from the brush. The weasel wouldn’t let go no matter how hard Toadpaw shook and hopped around— it didn’t look strong at all, at first glance, but Stars Above it had strong jaws! ”Get it off me! Get it off!!”

The Weasel used Gripping Bite, dealing 7 damage and costing 15 stamina! The weasel is now clamped onto Toadpaw and won’t let go for two turns!

Toadpaw:
13/20 HP (-7)
60/60 SP

Darkpaw:
20/20 HP
60/60 SP

Weasel:
20/20 HP
120/135 SP (-15)

When Toadpaw was very young, his mother told him a story. Her pretty eyes, yellow like Toadpaw’s, staring wistfully at the sky, she told him how sometimes, things happen because StarClan wants them to. That his ancestors were looking down on him, watching him, and made sure his story was told exactly as it should be.

Whichever StarClan cat did this to him needed to be replaced. Toadpaw’s life was starting to look like one big joke, with him smack dab in the middle.

Darkpaw couldn’t get the blasted weasel to let go of Toadpaw’s poor, poor paw, its little jaws clamping tighter and tighter each time his friend tugs. At the beginning, when it first latched on, the pain was almost unnoticeable, but now… [color:8805=ffcc00]”Ow, ow, ow, ow!” Toadpaw squealed, swapping hopping around hopelessly for batting at the weasel with unsheathed claws. It didn’t seem to be doing much, however. ”Darkpaw, get it ooofffff!! It’s gonna take my paw off!!”

Toadpaw uses Front Paw Strike, dealing 6 points in damage and using up 7 points of stamina! Gripping bite continues to do 7 points of damage and cost 15 points of stamina! The weasel will release next turn.

Weasel: 8 HP (-6)/105 SP (-15)

Toadpaw: 6 HP (-7)/53 SP (-7)

Darkpaw: 20 HP/53 SP