Beyond Enemy Lines

[Rani]

Mudhound
Thunderclan Hornet | They/them | 35 Moons
Bilingual T2 | Flock Together T3 | Rapid Recovery | Beefed up T3

Bumblestar might be doubting Mudhound but the rest of the group got it!!!! The tripods jaw went slack at the abject refusal, hornet looking offended as they gestured to the other cats who felt the presence with a flailing paw.

"I saw a headless cat Bumble-sis!!! I saw it, Im not trying to freak cats out I really saw it, its out there right now!!"
Mudhound could still feel its not-eyes in their back!


This place was totally haunted and they should move to a nice not-evil beach, the maine coon was certain! A thought that was proven right by what happened next.


A ghost, a real headless ghost that was chARGING RIGHT AT MUDHOUND!!!!!


Fight or flight was real and with Wolfpaw at their side and the ghost coming right at them both fight won out, not that it did much. This was a ghost and nothing the living could do could touch him, even as the hound tried, desperate and howling (honestly more of yipe-ing) to protect their puppy.
It was fitting really, that for little Wolfpaw, and thus now he was doomed to it forever, not that he'd know for a bit.


Ok so fight failed and the untouchable ghost was veering towards Bumblestar, time for flight. Bumblestar had lives to spare after all and Mudhound had a newly crippled kiddo to protect so priorities.


Wolfpaw was grabbed by the scruff and the hornet was gone, poof, bolted, vanished, ran. There were GHOSTS here man, nopenopenopenopenopenopeNOPE! Everyone else could deal with this Mudhound would be meeting them at the next location with Wolfpaw safe and NOT CURSED!


@Bean

[dino.]

Great, now everyone WAS panicking. Awesome, wonderful, thank you so much, sibling. Bumblestar grumbled a curse under her breath and was about to snap at the others to relax when the woods suddenly erupted.

A flash of too-fast movement caught the corner of her eye, and Bumblestar whipped around to face it. Her hackles spiked as she spotted exactly what Mudhound was screaming about charging right for them - or maybe it was toward her, she couldn't tell, but fight had always taken precedence over flight, and she wasn't about to risk this gorey sight of a spirit making contact with any of her Clanmates.

It was a split-second decision. She lunged forward to meet the spirit, hardly thinking about how this would even work as she carved her claws toward the spouting stump where its head should have been. It vanished right as she made contact (or at least as much contact she could make with something non-corporeal) and she skidded to a halt, tail whipping back and forth as she scanned the trees for anything else before she spun in time to see Mudhound snatch Wolfpaw and run.

Her expression contorted. "MUDHOUND! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE NOW IF YOU DON'T WANNA BE STUCK IN CAMP FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!" There was a reason she said to stick together! They didn't know this territory, and now her sibling had grabbed one of her apprentices and taken off!!

[ @BEAR. @Rani @Bean ]

[Fawn]

°•. info & relations ✿ they/them ✿ finder coming soon ✿ challenge mode! [skill-perk free]   .•°

Beachpaw -

A familiar voice. Beachpaw's ears drew to a tension, and they swiveled.

Ooooo!!! Wolfhive!

"I haven't seen you in sooo long! Where have you been?" They were ecstatic Wolfhive had made a timely appearance since it bolstered their courage and pumped up their mood a great deal. Feeling lighthearted with joy, they (were extremely careful not to bounce) followed Bumblestar's lead now that the mission was officially a go.

They stole a peek at Wolfhive and grinned. In their head, a tune formulated impulsively:
With Wolfhive by my side, I feel so strong!
His eyes are sharp, his heart is ... long.. No, wait, in his heart I belong.
Yeah, that was better.
We’re a sneaky team, the best you’ve seen, and we're not mean,
Together we’ll uncover what’s behind the RiverClan scene....s.

Enjoying the fun of making up a song, the jaunty verse played on repeat in their mind until it was interrupted by a shrill scream. Tense, they weren't loving the idea of seeing any ghastly figures. They could work with that. Very quietly under their breath, a new addition: "A ghostly figure, or was it just the breeze? ... A cat from StarClan, floating through the trees. Heart’s pounding, but I gotta stay cool . . . even if I’m spooked, gotta follow the Bumbooo..l."

Like Bumble, just. Bumbool. It worked, okay?

@BEAR.

[Bean]

- Wolfpaw -
- He/Him - 6 Moons - ThunderClan Apprentice -
- A large dark brown tabby tom with green eyes and a missing hind leg -

Wolfpaw giggled as his mentor spoke, his grin so wide that it hurt. "Oooo, That sounds cool! But how would we sneak a crab back to camp? What does a cra-" the next thing he knew, Bumblestar was leading them out of camp. Wolfpaw maintained his little bounce while using his mentor as a sort of 'crutch', and soon they reached the border.

Unease trickled through the tripod apprentice as the group crossed over to RiverClan territory. The brown apprentice stayed close to his mentor, green gaze glancing around. Wolfpaw nodded and let out a quiet purr as Mudhound pulled them closer. They were right, something about this place fe- WAITITWASAGRAVEYARD!?!?! The tabby apprentice let out a small "eep!" at the mention, fluffing his fur out. "Uhhh, I don't like this place," he whimpered, shuffling closer to his side. He jumped up when Mudhound sc- "AAAAAAA!!!! HEADLESS CAT HEADLESS CAT HEADLESS CAT GET ME OUT OF HEEEEEEEERRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" he yowled, shaking now. "Getmeout getmeout getmeout getmeout," he repeated quietly, whipping his head around in search of the 'headless cat' the older tripod spoke of.

Wolfpaw pinned his ears back as Bumblestar spoke. "If mudhound says theres a headless cat there's a hea- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! GETMEOUT!!!!!!!!" he was cut off and went into a burst of screaming AS THERE WAS A HEADLESS CAT CHARGING STRAIGHT AT HIM!!!!! Before Wolfpaw could even turn to speak with his mentor, he was being picked up by his scruff and being carried away. The tabby remained limp as Mudhound carried him. WHAT. THE. HELL!?!?!? WHY WAS THERE A HEADLESS CAT IN RIVERCLAN TERRITORY!?!?!

Once his mentor came to a halt, Wolfpaw squirmed his way out and limped back to their side, a small whimper emerging from him. "W-What w-was that!? G-Ghost.... H-how???" he stuttered, pushing himself into Mudhound's fur for comfort. What. The. Hell. Was. That. He jumped as he heard Bumblestar's faint call. No idea what she was saying though. In all honesty, he didn't care. He just wanted out of there, deal with the consequences later. "Y-You'll protect me, Right??" he whimpered, looking up at his mentor.

WAIT!
WAITWAITWAIT!!!

"WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN TO MORNINGPAW?!?" he cried, glancing back at the direction they came. "W-What if Morningpaw gets hurt??? I don't want them to be hurt!! Sure they're stinky but he's my baby brother!! What are we gonna do!?" he wailed, burying his face in Mudhound's fur, tears streaming from his eyes. For the first time since... ever, The young tripod was worried for his brother. "I-I d-dont w-want m-morning t-to g-get h-hurt."

[ @Rani @dino. @Dolomedes [Morningpaw mention] @/anyone else whos involved ]

[Morrigan]

Nightgaze
Thunderclan warrior

Attention mildly diverted by an orange apprentice's strange question. Dead cats rising from the dead to eat them? Crazy, but not impossible. Tail curling in amuesment, Nightgaze ready to snicker in good humour but the sentence that came nextmade her whirl around on her heels "Ha!" Was the loud remark that left Nightgaze's maw at the teasing quip that was aimed at her.

"Eat me? I'd like to see it try! Besides, apprentices are much easier meals, pipsqueak!" A toothy grin lay on her features as she playfully jibed back at Sunpaw. No one would get away with that without some banter from her in return! Occupied with the apprnetice hopping around her, Nightgaze temporarily forgot about the ghost until it appeared once again.

Literally jumping in surprise as the headless ghost appeared, Nightgaze couldn't believe what she was seeing. "WHAT THE HELL!?" Sharp claws emerged from their sheaths as the small warrior bounced back onto the sandy ground. Instincts kicking into action, she attempted to shield Sunpaw from the ghostly enemy, watching with slitted emerald orbs as Bumblestar ran to meet it's claws. The booming voice made the hairs on her pelt stand up, though this time not from excitement. Talons curling into the earth, Nightgaze stayed glued to her protective position as the ghost disappeared as quickly as it came.

@Kix

[kittycatburmise]

Mallowpaw
89/100

RiverClan territory was different to ThunderClan's. The ground was damp and sandy, the grass thick and rough when she brushed against it. The trees were mostly sparse, but they soon reached an area where they clumped together like the trees did in ThunderClan's territory.

Once they were in the thicket, Mallowpaw started to look around. She could scent prey among the sand, although she couldn't see any- not that she was looking that hard. She was investigating some shells over a fairly loose patch of dirt when a scream cut through the air.

Heart thudding loud against her ribcage, Mallowpaw span around to see Mudhound shouting about a headless cat. The fear that had gripped her slowly eased, although her heart had not yet settled to it's normal rate. What is he doing? Mallowpaw hadn't expected that from a Hornet of all cats, but then he had always been the least mature of them. Was he joking? She wasn't sure.

Bumblestar scolded Mudhound, and Mallowpaw was about to continue her investigation of the thicket when the unexpected happened. Mallowpaw's paws were rooted to the ground, unable to look away as a cat emerged from the shadows, lunging at Mudhound. A headless cat.

It felt surreal. It felt like when Bumblestar's throat was ripped out by an invisible force, when Violetfreckle rose from the dead despite not being a leader. It hadn't just been the bloodshed that had frozen her in place.

Like she was now, her heart thudding against the cavity of her chest like a trapped rabbit. A gust of wind swept through the thicket, rustling the leaves around her. They were whispering, warning her to leave. But she couldn't. She couldn't move. She could only watch as the ghost rushed at Mudhound- no. Bumblestar.

The leader lunged forwards to meet the spirit, claws slashing into the bloodied stump of his neck. But as soon as her claws made contact, it vanished. Not even a trace of it remained. Just the wide-eyed cats that had witnessed its appearance.

Mallowpaw hadn't realised she was shaking until then. Her breaths were heavy like she'd run the whole of ThunderClan's territory, her heart slowly returning to its normal rate. One thought echoed in her mind: what had just happened?

[Kix]

Sunpaw
I'm chasing dreams since I left the womb
+ she/her + no purrks

Sunpaw was so fascinated by seeing an actual ghost that she almost forgot that Nightgaze existed. Yeah, that's right she completely had forgotten about the warrior she was bunny-hopping around a moment ago. She had been joking around when she was speaking that mumbo jumbo about the dead coming to life! Yet those dreaded undead beasts wanted to prove her right, this was all crazy. "Look, I was joking about that right, there's no way the dead can come back to life right?!" she turned her amber eyes back to look up at the warrior. Well, she didn't have to turn to look since the other chose to get in front of her to shield her from something like a ghost. No lie in her eyes but she found it cute that their reaction was to shield her.

"There ain't no way that this is actually real, we all probably ate really bad pieces of prey and are just dreaming this!" she let out a nervous laugh as she peaked around the bigger cat. Hold on, did she just witness the doggy-looking cat running away with another apprentice?! Why were they being forced to stay here while those two got to run away. "WHY THEY GET TO RUN AWAY!" she whined, yeah she didn't want to be stuck in this haunted graveyard anymore. After witnessing the ghost she thought that was enough sight seeing the dead for now. "You agree right, Mrs? right? RIGHT?!" she got a bit louder by the minute.

@dino. @Morrigan

Header made by Marigold

[Rani]

Mudhound
Thunderclan Hornet | They/them | 35 Moons
Bilingual T2 | Flock Together T3 | Rapid Recovery | Beefed up T3

Ok so as it turns out tripod carrying another tripod blindly panic running from a ghost in a location they didnt know wasnt easy, no matter how large the first tripod was. Mudhound really only got two clearings over before they tripped over a root and was forced to stop lest they drop Wolfpaw or accidentally squash him or something, and instead had tucked him right under their fluffy belly as they fell into a paranoid battle stance ready for more ghosts.
"Im not gonna let any ghosts get you puppy, Im gonna- Wait Morningpaw?"


The tripods brain took a second to catch up before they remembered that Morningpaw, the grumpy black and orange cat they'd trained (and scolded) was Wolfpaws sibling and also back at the clearing with the ghost. Aaaaaaaaand on cue Mudhounds own sister was screaming at them for bolting (which they held was a very valid and smart reaction thank you!) prompting a flinch. Mudhound wasnt event that far, still in easy yelling distance, just out of the obviously cursed riverclan graveyard!



The graveyard mudhound very much didnt wanna go back into mmmmmmmmmm!!


Shuffling a bit closer with Wolfpaw still firmly shoved under them like a ducking the hornet called out, easily able to be heard in the next clearing over given how quiet things were now in the wake of the terrified ghost induced yowling. "Im still here dont twist your tail! Im not going back there though, you come to me!! There's GHOSTS Bumble-sis! Not even good ghosts, bad mean ghosts! Thats a bad clearing and theres nothing good there but to be cursed so lets gooooooooooooooo!



Oh and Morningpaw! Wolfpaw wants you and Im not letting him back in the ghost clearing so please come over here!"
The tripod wouldve offered to protect Morningpaw from ghosts too but they were pretty sure the more spunky sibling would be insulted by that offer.


@Bean @dino. @Dolomedes

[SuspiciousMindz]

​
[Treetiger] | Trees Friend
​ThunderClan Warrior
Silver Tongue | Hulk SMASH

Sleepy Thicket was the first place they'd come across, not that she knew the name of this piece of territory. Treetiger had gotten to sniffing around, looking for anything useful, up until the commotion erupting near a supposed graveyard caught her attention. The Bengal would begin approaching, overhearing the screaming of a headless cat and ghosts. The scene was comical from the distance she was.

Then, the yowl from an actual headless cat took her by surprise. The fur on her shoulders stood on end, but settled once she processed the situation at hand. Treetiger stood, watching Bumblestar and Mudhound deal with this in two different ways. She'd blink lazily, unphased now by the dramatics of the dead feline. Headless was a new one for her, but a spirit cat wasn't anything she hadn't seen before.

"Well, that's enough excitement for the rest of their lives, huh?" Treetiger would murmur to herself, although it was intended to be towards her inner friend. She could feel the dark feeling sulking on her shoulders, but they were quiet lately as she'd held a fairly calm disposition. She felt. . . sane for once. The chaos wasn't her today, it was the clanmates on this mission. She simply waited for orders to move on or figure out what Bumblestar wanted to do about the spirits here, aside from charging them.

[open]

[BEAR.]

"Sick, mostly." And thus, confined to rest. He was getting better, though. Not perfect, just enough where he could DO things. "Y'know I'm in Bumba's den usually if you can't find me.. but if I'm sick it's best to keep some distance, don't wanna spread it to you." Last think they needed was Beachpaw becoming a Beachedbaby, stuck in the den with nothing to do.

He was oblivious to Beachpaw's mental audition for showtunes, his attention on their surroundings as they passed through fishland. The thicket was dark and eerie, but that alone wouldn't have been a problem if not for Mudhound's howling. A headless ghost?? Wolfhive knew Mudhound was a little scrambled, but this took the cake. He shook his head and moved to keep exploring when things really hit the fan.

He only saw a glimpse of it - a bloodied figure charging toward his 'ma. Wolfhive was never one to back down from a challenge - he spent his days training, honing his skills to try to ensure he could protect anyone and everyone he possibly could. Where Mudhound ran, he sought to lunge - too far from Bumba to stop the collision, but maybe he could yoink the creep from her.

... And it was gone, just like that. Wolfhive skidded to a stop and looked at the empty spot in confusion, before whisking around to survey his Clan-mates. Some cats looked half-scared to death, some a little less convinced by the display. Wolfhive wasn't sure what he believed, but he knew they needed to get the patrol back in order. Bumba could handle Mudhound. "Nightgaze! Risingstorm! Treetiger! Hawkcatcher! Help make sure our apprentices are secured. Same with the rest of you. Ghosts can't harm us, but them running off because of one will."

Mallowpaw and Beachpaw both looked freaked out, but Mallowpaw moreso. Wolfhive approached her with a little mrrp to get her attention. "You alright there? I know that.. thing was a little overwhelming."

[ @---Bluestar--- @KestrelPaw @Rowan @nyme @PINTO BEAN @Idiotic.Bean101 @gs29513 @Spider. @Katiethewolfchild @phantom @Tallstar @Desert Rain Frog @Rani @Lightningpaw666 @Kix @Bean @constellation @Omari @Highsnow of Matterhorn @Weekend-Wondering @kittycatburmise @SuspiciousMindz @Luminous @Morrigan @Hollyheart of thunder @TacocaT371 @Dolomedes @twizzypaw @Rose @Bonsai @Fawn @dino. ]