One lovely thing Alderstep wished he could appreciate more at the current time was Sparrowfur's fighting technique. Despite doing his best to divide his attention, the macabre way the warrior drew blood was admirable.
With a small wince, somewhat winded from that rib-kick, Alderstep continued with his little step with the beast. Dart in, nip at the heels, duck under and swat the nose. Jump back from a snapping snarl, hiss lowly as teeth scraped old scars on his shoulder. It was a familiar song and dance, and his motions became more fluid the longer he kept at it. He'd never be great at fighting a fellow cat, morality and unpredictability there to hinder him. But the animalistic, instinctual moves of a desperate fox were easily gauged, easily intercepted. It helped that he had the advantage.
That advantage was brief. They never could hold the element of surprise forever. A harsh shove pushed Alderstep back to the ravine, and he had to quickly calculate how to worm away. Foxes weren't big like dogs. He couldn't necessarily shimmy underbelly unless he wanted his ear ripped apart by canine teeth. The tabby ended up rearing back with a drawn-out growl, delivering a flurry of blows to the fox's muzzle. One claw made landfall on an eye, which seemed to be the breaking point. The fox screeched and backed off, no doubt understanding that it could no longer push the offensive with one working eye.
He put his paws back to the sweet ground and paused to breathe in the petrichor, assessing the state of the fox. That slight second gave Alderstep the chance to look around. He almost wished he hadn't if only for the selfish reason of pretending his plan had been utterly perfect and undeniably genius. Rainfall's face was practically blood and Lotuspaw seemed almost frozen to the spot trying to help the warrior. And there were others, like Mudhound and Leafpaw in an equally compromising position. Firestream, too.
This was a stars-damned mess born from hell, and he could hardly stave off the horror seeping into his bones.
Alderstep didn't want to choose. He really didn't. Everyone here seemed pretty deserving of some form of help. But he had to help somebody -
White-hot pain lanced through the back of his neck, where the joint met his spine by his shoulders. Right. Fox. For a moment, Alderstep was shaken about like a dog toy, not that he'd know what that was. He eventually regained his wits and tore himself from the jaws of the slavering canine, wanting nothing more than to curl up and die rather than face the pain. Oh well, not everyone gets what they want.
Deft paws made good work in maiming the scarlet fox, targeting its extremities until it could no longer dance with Alderstep. Each strike, each slash of his claws dealt more and more damage, shredding the thing into a whining, wounded mess. It begged his attention no more, and so Alderstep redirected his focus onto Rainfall and Lotuspaw.
They likely needed more help. Lotuspaw clearly could not fight (why the hell had he agreed to let her join?), and Rainfall was basically out of the battle. If he didn't intervene, both of them would lose their lives. The same could be said for Firestream, though. "Sparrowfur - help Firestream!" Alderstep sharply directed, raising his voice above the din of screeching foxes. He wove around some other foxes and a smattering of bushes, darting straight over to the wounded warrior and frightened apprentice.
Muscles twinged in violent protest, both from sustained injuries and old ones screaming their histories of suffering. All that was duly ignored as Alderstep took a tip from Sparrowfur and jumped atop the stunned fox's back, sinking his claws deep into its short fur and flesh. Blood welled up at the breakages, sliding down the fox's back in rivulets of red rain. His tail waved wildly as he fought to keep his balance on the fox, and he dug his claws even deeper to keep the high ground.
"Lotuspaw!" Alderstep yelped as the fox bucked, almost unseating him from his throne. His attempt to instruct the apprentice was squashed as Alderstep gracelessly slid down the flank of the fox, growling as his claws failed to keep a good hold. He was eventually forced to let go and he chose to roll away (narrowly missing a chomp from the fox), then righted himself and inched toward Rainfall with his back to the wounded warrior. Still, the other fox kept its opening to lunge at the apprentice if it so desired to. In anticipation of that, Alderstep tensed up, prepared to take a blow for the 'paw.
Rainfall watched, still in a daze as he tried to pull himself up, but failed miserably. He was making a choked sound of a grunt of effort, only to be cut off by blood. If he was going to survive, he needed to get out of there. Fast. But he couldn’t. Not in these conditions, not while Lotuspaw was— well, standing there, waiting for a fox to attack or something. Just as he thought the apprentice would’ve tried to save him in vain, dying with the warrior she had failed to protect, a tiny slump on top of his bloody body, another figure stepped into the fight. Immediately, a pang of fear gripped his heart. Was it another fox? No, it was something way better than that, it was the deputy, Alderstep. He could help Lotuspaw.
It was humiliating, basically dying on the ground, Alderstep crouched beside him, back to his bloody face. Suddenly, a twinge of hope sounded from his heart, an idea. “Alderstep..” he said weakly, voice brittle as he pawed at him for one second before his paw went limp, tired, but he was still breathing. “T-that one.. it’s scared..” he continued, almost choking on blood, but he fought it down. “Use it’s shock to your advantage.. you’ll be able to scare it off just by swiping..” he said, eventually giving in to the blood and coughing on it.
@navarra @poppy.
[ one fox scared and in shock, will most likely run at any sign of aggression ]
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Dimkit purrkks: Lyrebird’s Lullaby
Last edited by Caspian; September 24th, 2023 at 03:20 PM.
Leafpaw
Dark brown Siamese mix ▵ She/Her
❀•°❀°•❀
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tw for description of wound
Leafpaw slashed once more at the fox that had her tail in its jaw clamped shut, managing to get its eye. Combined with her attack and mudhounds, the fox let go of the apprentice to turn its anger onto the warrior. Leafpaw felt a moment of relief before she felt herself hit the ground and the air knocked out of her. If her falling from the mouth of a fox felt like this, she didn't want to know what falling from a tree was like. Gathering her wits she rolled over while the fox was momentarily going for her savior. One thing she noted was the slow loss of feeling she was getting in her tail. Before she could feel the pain of it being used as a chew toy for the thing, now it was starting to ebb away into nothing. Something in her was saying that wasn't normal, it should be painful especially since the fox was basically trying to eat it. The apprentice glanced back to her tail to see it was nothing but a mess, hair missing in clumps along with the blood staining it creating a pool beneath her. Leafpaw couldn't even call it a tail anymore it was lying limp on the ground just following whatever movement she was doing so far. She didn't have time to stare Gobsmack at her mauled limb, there was a stupid fox that was double-teaming Mudhound. She stood back up onto her feet, the aforementioned tail just hanging behind her dragging. She went to bite down hard on the fox's leg and drag it towards her, she would at least have this beast's attention on her for now. She would give the warrior a chance to deal with the other one for now. Leafpaw was quick to turn around and dash away from mudhound looking back to see said fox return its attention back to her. Which gave the fox plenty of time to slam her backside a couple of times leaving claw marks behind. It was already hard enough for her to run straight since she didn't have a working tail anymore, the fox hitting her backside was not helping. She was pretty sure she tumbled a couple of times but she got back up quickly to land a swipe at the fox's face to make it back off a bit. Leafpaw could see it was having a hard time itself with one eye open and the other closed courtesy of her.
(this post contains mentions of gore and mentions of severe injury)
Lotuspaw
[skip the steps purrk: battle lesson - activated]
Why did you bring us all here to die? Lotus heard her mind screaming at the deputy as he barreled across at just the right time, attacking one of the foxes. Using this distraction, the small pale furred molly bent down and grabbed Rainfall's scruff, not worrying about being gentle because it was either she put all her effort into this action or she and the warrior both die a horrific death. Her teeth dug into Rain's scruff, not breaking skin of course, as she looked up as the deputy attacked the fox, eyes frozen on the stunned fox. Terrified tears poured down her face as Lotuspaw dragged the larger cat to the tree bridge. Okay. They were here. "Foxes... can't cross... you cross... safe...." She choked out between horrified, squeaking whimpers. Eyes still on the nearby deputy and foxes, and after a moment of struggle, she hauled Rainfall onto the bridge and slowly inched her way across, finally making it to the other side. "Get help... from camp... o-or stay and wait for u-us.... kay? Don't... overwork, only cross tree if you feel... feel good enough." She panted softly, eyes widening to take in the poor tom's injuries, sliding him off the bridge and onto the grass on the other side, fatigue from the trek setting in. She briefly wondered if she should apologize to the deputy for leaving him, but decided against it. She was doing what she thought was right, it would be bad timing, and it was his planning that got them here.
Wiping her runny nose and face from the pouring tears, Lotuspaw tried to wipe the blood off of her face. She was unsure of what to do next, and was about to make her way over to help Alderstep, when a loud, nauseatingly pained cry split the air. It was like blood drained from her whole body as the apprentice went ghost pale and almost green with nausea, eyes widening as she let out a choking hiccup. Muddy. Leafy. "Muddy? Leafy?" She whispered out, lip quivering, visibly flinching as another scream split the air. "MUDDY!" She shrieked out, leaping to her paws and practically sprinting across the bridge, paws flying across the ground as she ran as fast as she could to where the screams came from. The sight of the fox's teeth so deeply sank into her mentor's side, and her sister's mangled tail had the molly moving before another thought of panic and terror flash through her mind.
Somehow she knew immediately what to do as she launched herself at the fox that was left attacking her beloved mentor, claws digging as deep as she could into the fox's back and she lunged for any chunk of flesh she could on this foul, hellsent creature that had the unbelievable amount of evil inside of it to hurt her mentor. Digging her fangs deep into the meat of the fox's neck, it was obviously not enough to kill it but hopefully enough to get it to release Mudhound. Tears poured down her face but her eyes were so narrow they were almost closed with determination to keep her loved ones alive. Even if she was being a little, teeny bit helpful, it was better than nothing.
Rainfall let himself be dragged onto the tree bridge. His breathing came out as low gasps. Rainfall shifted his only eye to the apprentice. He fought on, slowly inching towards the end of his life. He dragged himself over to a tree and slumped himself beside it. Rainfall tried to breath, hazy vision getting more blurry by the second. The grey warrior barely heard the apprentice yowl, both Leafpaw and Lotuspaws screeches were completely drowned out, the long EEEEEEEE sound ringing in his— well, not ears anymore, just ear.
His low, shallow breaths quickened as his body tried to keep him alive. But.. how could he get help. How could he get back up to save his clanmates? He was very tired, and very limp. But he was desperate, and desperation was key to doing amazing things. “A-Alderstep!” the strength in his voice was slowly ebbing away. He needed the deputy to call off the battle, too much blood was spilled. “C-call off the battle! Make us retrea—“ he couldn’t finish before he coughed up blood and went limp, eye closed as he fainted due to loss of blood. His leg hurt. He just wanted.. to take a tiny nap.. yeah.. a nap..
You wanna know the worst part of all this to Mudhound? It wasnt even their own agony, the pain stabbing into their side as an unchecked beast dug in. It was the cries of their beloved apprentice and the cracking of bone from Leafpaws tail. Mudhound wasnt sure they'd ever forget that.
But that required surviving the battle.
At least one thing was panning out for Mudhound, the fox had at last released Leafpaw, freeing the apprentice but not without cost. To both cats involved. Whirling on Mudhound the steadily weakening fox ripped itself out of the warriors hold, lashing out at the tripod as Leafpaw grappled with her shock. The maine coon mix didnt blame her, that tail was obviously beyond repair and for a young cat it'd be a hard thing to come to terms with, but it didnt change the fact that now the warrior had two adult foxes on then at once. The on at their flank continued to bite bite bite and now, with desperate paws and claws and snapping fangs they tried their best to keep this enraged thing from their throat. They couldnt even find a gap to attack back, this beast was clearly back against the wall and closer and closer to death and not going quietly.
Mudhound was very lucky that the apprentices came back when they did. The entire situation was mainly the cat being a seconds of bad luck from death. In the nick of time however, both mollies struck. The injured fox at their front was dragged off of them by the ankle and turned to pursue its ex mouthful and suddenly the constant pain at their side vanished as it was attacked by.... Lotuspaw?! For a moment as the tripod gasped for breath all they could do was stare wide eyed at their apprentice, untrained and tested, preforming a back mount just like the warrior had taught in an event not to long ago. Except Lotuspaw wasnt even there, deemed to young by the mentor and so was displaying an incredible natural skill.
Even as Leafpaws continual struggle drew their attention away (second of rest over) all the warrior could do was hope the fox, now shaking its head in a bid to get Lotuspaw off, wouldnt figure it out for just a moment and spare the apprentice its fangs. Lotuspaw would get so many compliments for her bravery and skills from a proud mentor when they made it out (because Mudhound was rallied by this sight, even bleeding heavily, determined one more) they swore.
Luckily it took less then a second. With two large bounds forward to reach the further injured fox and Leafpaw Mudhound barked deep and crashed into it, tumbling down in a mass of fur and claws. For a moment fox and cat were a indecipherable mass of blood and pained yelps until one body fell still..... And with a groan and a new bite in their shoulder, Mudhound shoved the now limp body off of them, loosening their teeth from where they were dug deep into its throat.
The rancid mouthful was spat onto the ground and stoney golden eyes fixed on the new that'd torn open the maine coon mix's side. One down, one to go, and the warrior growled a low new order they hoped Leafpaw now had the sense to listen to. "Ill do my best to hold it down, seal its mouth. If either of you get an opening to kill it, take it." And once more changed.
How exactly they'd do it was mainly up to how they could keep the apprentices from getting injured further. Maybe they'd rear and grapple it face to face, maybe pull a leg out from under it, maybe bite over its muzzle so it couldnt bite them. But as they went forward they barked another order to Lotuspaw. "Lotus-honey! Rainfalls not going nowhere! When this thing is dead run and get help! Ill be find and keep Leafpaw safe but we need backup, now!"
@poppy. @Leafy (Alrighty, one fox dead and if you could pls decide which one of you you want to have kill this fox, or if you want muddy to do it, and Ill have muddy pin it and set that up next post! Once this one is dead given rainfall is KO'd and lotus is in best shape could she run to get help, even if were in better odds well need people to carry back the injured.
Also, starfall has requested that whoever gets help runs into spider 'in the territory along the way' so spider can come in in advance to fight a fox before theyre all taken lol.
Sorry for the word dump whew this is complex)
1 adult fox almost dead via sparrowfur
Alderstep engaged another adult, it dead
Rainfall down and maimed p much immediately, lotuspaw tried to defend him from an adult alone. Alderstep stepped in on the defense of rainfall against his fox.
Rainfall was dragged outta the way but is full on unconscious
1 kid fox dead courtesy of leafpaw
Leafpaw was then maimed by an adult fox, tail is dead
Mudhound yanked it off of her but was blindsided and mauled by another adult fox, so was stuck between two.
Muddy was freed when the two open apprentices came to their rescue and distracted the foxes and Muddy then killed the one who hurt Leafpaw.
The trio is now attacking the other adult and Mudhound has ordered lotus to run and get help as soon as possible.
Firestream engaging another adult fox, looks like she needs help (open)
Violetfreckle is being wrecked by a mother fox and its two kits (open)
Foxes left alive: 5 adults 2 kids
Foxes not currently engaged: 0!
Aw, hell yeah. It was time to give some foxes a beatdown.
When it was finally her turn, the dark lilac tabby exploded from her hiding spot, charging at the first fox she saw. The pathetic creature let out a snarl and puffed itself up, but Violetfreckle wasn't slowing down. Using her body weight, she barrelled into the skinny fox claws first, sending it tumbling down.
Despite her initial advantage, it seemed the fox had found its bearings and scrambled up before Violetfreckle could get a hit in. Hot breath hit the side of her neck as desperate jaws snapped just a hair away. In response, the angry she-cat aimed a swipe toward the fox's neck. To her immense irritation, it too dodged. Now there they were, Violetfreckle and the fox staring each other down.
It was the fox who made the first clumsy move, breaking the tense stare to let out an angry yip and charge at Violetfreckle. The feline sidestepped easily and launched an attack on the fox's flank, noticing the way the poor creature's ribs stuck out beneath its fur. She hesitated for a second, then shook her head with a growl. No, no mercy! These were threats to her Clan, and they needed taken care of. Cries of pain erupted from her target and she felt satisfaction blossom in her veins. But then, she felt teeth sink into her hind leg.
With a pained yowl, Violetfreckle stepped back to face her enemy -- and found a fox kit latched onto her leg like a leech, and another one licking its lips and looking ready to attack. Stars, did she attack a mother or something?? What the hell?? She was confused and overwhelmed and the damn fox kit's teeth were sinking deeper and deeper into her leg -- she could feel spurts of blood running down her leg and staining the forest floor. With a hearty screech, Violetfreckle turned herself from a cat to a whirlwind of claws and fangs, flailing and twisting in order to free herself from the crushing jaws of the fox kit. It worked, but... Violetfreckle ended up dizzy and disoriented at the paws of fox kit #2.
She could practically see the little creature's dark eyes fill with glee as it pounced on her in her moment of weakness. It went for her neck; Violetfreckle barely managed to duck and turn away before jaws snapped, latching onto her shoulder. She yowled, wriggling on the ground, but the stupid fox baby stuck to her like a burr. That was when the first kit -- the one that attacked her hind leg -- decided to join in on the fun. It, too, went for her throat, and had better luck, managing to at least sink its teeth into her neck. Sure it was more the side of her neck than the throat, but it still hurt. It was like the fox kits were trying to turn Violetfreckle into a moss ball to fight over, tugging her this way and that way. Her paws flailed uselessly above her as she lay somewhere between her back and side.
And then came the adult fox.
Its side still bled from where Violetfreckle mauled it, and its eyes shone with a hungry desire for revenge. It walked slowly, purposefully, while the kits pulled and shook at her. Flecks of drool and blood stained the edge of the fox's dark muzzle, and Violetfreckle could have sworn it gave her a mirthful look before letting out a howl and leaping for her exposed underbelly. Sharp fangs aimed for soft skin, but Violetfreckle managed to parry the creature with her limbs.
Her uninjured hind leg may have been the only thing in that moment keeping her from being absolutely mauled and torn limb-from-limb. On occasion, the adult fox got annoyed and aimed a few bites at Violetfreckle's flailing limbs -- soon, she was bleeding from those injuries, too. Meanwhile, the younger foxes took turns trying to get their jaws around Violetfreckle's neck like it was some sort of game. One kept her pinned in her precarious position while the other circled around her, waiting until Violetfreckle was fully focused on the adult then striking.
Oh Stars... was this it? Was this really how Violetfreckle was going to go?
(All foxes are occupied! No new foxes should spontaneously appear)
(Post is open to anyone hehe <3)
Last edited by vellichor; September 25th, 2023 at 12:30 AM.
Leafpaw
Dark brown Siamese mix ▵ She/Her
❀•°❀°•❀
‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿‿
Thank god that the one that was originally going after her was gone and dead never to see the light of day again. Good riddance it got what it had coming to it for her tail, though she wished she had killed it. Leafpaw knew that she wasn't fully capable of killing an adult on her own, that was a task that needed help. At least she got to kill one of the kits before this, she idly wondered if she would be allowed to go after another one. Something was telling her that Mudhound wouldn't let her run off this time like before. She could worry about that later when they were done dealing with this mangy beast. She still had a lot of pent-up energy to use and she'd use it on this thing, even if her tail was hindering her. With Mudhound going for pinning the thing down, Leafpaw lunged forward. She aimed to slash the mutt's throat but it had jerked itself trying to get out of the warrior's grasp. Her attack had left behind a bleeding wound, though any attack next would end up being the final undoing.
[pp permission for mudhound pinning the fox was given by Rani.
Once Poppy posts with lotus this fox will be as good as dead!]
Her mentor was free. Mudhound was able to free themselves and go protect her sister. The pale Siamese clawed at the fox, her teeth still deep in the side of it's neck as it turned it's attention from Mudhound to the snow and lilac apprentice on it's back. Lotus's earlier assumption that she was unreachable by the large creature was... incorrect, and as she heard the dying yelp of the other fox she felt razor sharp teeth dig into her lower back. The apprentice dropped the neck of the fox to let out a cry of pain, jerking back so that the fox had to let go of her, feeling warm wetness on her back. The molly tripped back as her mentor and sister attacked the fox, wide blue eyes staring at the fox.
Sniffling softly, the young molly watch Mudhound pin the fox, it's angry yelps ringing in her ears as she watched her sister attack as well, standing up and darting over herself, Lotuspaw lunged forward and sank her teeth into the fox's neck, and with her bite from earlier, the wounds Mudhound had gave the creature, and her sister's clawmarks, the small molly jerked back wiping the crimson from her maw as the fox made horrible choking sounds, growing weaker and weaker with every breath. Oh god. She had helped kill something. If this hellsent creature hadn't been ravaging her beloved mentor and sister, she would feel bad, but she just stared down at it, looking back up at Mudhound as they barked the order. Sniffling softly and hiccuping with fear and pain, the molly nodded, too tired to argue and the mission was too urgent to refuse to leave her loved ones again. "O-okay Muddy. I will. I'll be fast." Not wanting to watch as the fox went limp, she turned tail, luckily the large bite mark on her back wasn't hindering her ability to run, and she sprinted to the bridge.
"Excuse me, Mr Rainfall." She squeaked softly as she dashed past the unconscious Rainfall, running like a bat out of hell in the direction of camp.
---------------- (in the territory) ----------------
Runninng, the young molly almost dashed past a semi-familiar warrior, slowing as she noticed the large form, her breaths coming in large, desperate gasps. The injured apprentice crossed the gap between her and the warrior, panting heavily but spoke quickly and urgently, too exhausted to be anything but to the point. "Mr Spiderthroat... we're fighting all those foxes at Hollowdive Hero- u-um Herondive Hollow a-and we really need help, l-like really fast, can you please go over there? I'm going to c-c-camp to get more w-warriors b-but we- they really need help, please." Knowing that this was too urgent to wait for the Hornet's response, she nodded to him shallowly and pointing in the vague direction she had come from, the little molly then started running again, hoping the tom had understood her and was going to help the rest of the doomed patrol.
[ @Rani @Leafy @navarra (so yk) @Starfall ]
[ I should have a post with Lotus in the clearing summoning the backups in likeeeee 1-2 hours? ]
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nightshade | birdsnow | daybreak | fallenkit
Last edited by poppy; September 25th, 2023 at 06:22 PM.
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Re: perish, foxes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by navarra
alderstep
content warning - violence, blood
One lovely thing Alderstep wished he could appreciate more at the current time was Sparrowfur's fighting technique. Despite doing his best to divide his attention, the macabre way the warrior drew blood was admirable.
With a small wince, somewhat winded from that rib-kick, Alderstep continued with his little step with the beast. Dart in, nip at the heels, duck under and swat the nose. Jump back from a snapping snarl, hiss lowly as teeth scraped old scars on his shoulder. It was a familiar song and dance, and his motions became more fluid the longer he kept at it. He'd never be great at fighting a fellow cat, morality and unpredictability there to hinder him. But the animalistic, instinctual moves of a desperate fox were easily gauged, easily intercepted. It helped that he had the advantage.
That advantage was brief. They never could hold the element of surprise forever. A harsh shove pushed Alderstep back to the ravine, and he had to quickly calculate how to worm away. Foxes weren't big like dogs. He couldn't necessarily shimmy underbelly unless he wanted his ear ripped apart by canine teeth. The tabby ended up rearing back with a drawn-out growl, delivering a flurry of blows to the fox's muzzle. One claw made landfall on an eye, which seemed to be the breaking point. The fox screeched and backed off, no doubt understanding that it could no longer push the offensive with one working eye.
He put his paws back to the sweet ground and paused to breathe in the petrichor, assessing the state of the fox. That slight second gave Alderstep the chance to look around. He almost wished he hadn't if only for the selfish reason of pretending his plan had been utterly perfect and undeniably genius. Rainfall's face was practically blood and Lotuspaw seemed almost frozen to the spot trying to help the warrior. And there were others, like Mudhound and Leafpaw in an equally compromising position. Firestream, too.
This was a stars-damned mess born from hell, and he could hardly stave off the horror seeping into his bones.
Alderstep didn't want to choose. He really didn't. Everyone here seemed pretty deserving of some form of help. But he had to help somebody -
White-hot pain lanced through the back of his neck, where the joint met his spine by his shoulders. Right. Fox. For a moment, Alderstep was shaken about like a dog toy, not that he'd know what that was. He eventually regained his wits and tore himself from the jaws of the slavering canine, wanting nothing more than to curl up and die rather than face the pain. Oh well, not everyone gets what they want.
Deft paws made good work in maiming the scarlet fox, targeting its extremities until it could no longer dance with Alderstep. Each strike, each slash of his claws dealt more and more damage, shredding the thing into a whining, wounded mess. It begged his attention no more, and so Alderstep redirected his focus onto Rainfall and Lotuspaw.
They likely needed more help. Lotuspaw clearly could not fight (why the hell had he agreed to let her join?), and Rainfall was basically out of the battle. If he didn't intervene, both of them would lose their lives. The same could be said for Firestream, though. "Sparrowfur - help Firestream!" Alderstep sharply directed, raising his voice above the din of screeching foxes. He wove around some other foxes and a smattering of bushes, darting straight over to the wounded warrior and frightened apprentice.
Muscles twinged in violent protest, both from sustained injuries and old ones screaming their histories of suffering. All that was duly ignored as Alderstep took a tip from Sparrowfur and jumped atop the stunned fox's back, sinking his claws deep into its short fur and flesh. Blood welled up at the breakages, sliding down the fox's back in rivulets of red rain. His tail waved wildly as he fought to keep his balance on the fox, and he dug his claws even deeper to keep the high ground.
"Lotuspaw!" Alderstep yelped as the fox bucked, almost unseating him from his throne. His attempt to instruct the apprentice was squashed as Alderstep gracelessly slid down the flank of the fox, growling as his claws failed to keep a good hold. He was eventually forced to let go and he chose to roll away (narrowly missing a chomp from the fox), then righted himself and inched toward Rainfall with his back to the wounded warrior. Still, the other fox kept its opening to lunge at the apprentice if it so desired to. In anticipation of that, Alderstep tensed up, prepared to take a blow for the 'paw.
"Oh well that escalated quickly..." the thought crossed Firestream's mind as she watched the fighting with wide eyes before she gingerly place a paw on the rather rotten wood...her frown deepened even further at the small creak that the log released ugh how terrible was this day?
Slowly making her way across the natural bridge the warrior felt another twinge of annoyance, why did Alderstep have to choose her!? She was the most precious treasure of Thunderclan her clanmates would be distraught if anything happened to her!
After a long time of hesitant steps the tabby finally reached the other side of the ravine and she let out a deep breath of relief...then she was attacked.
A loud yowl of pain came out of the pretty she-cat 's maw as sharp fangs sunk into her scruff and started shaking her frantically as if she was prey, how did this happen!? She didn't even have time to look up and now her life was already in danger.
Without thinking she twisted backwards and lashed out rapidly with all her claws and soon she heard a yelp of shock as her claws met flesh.
With a loud thump Firestream was dropped onto the ground, wasting no time she scrambled to her paws and now saw her opponent an adult scrawny but fierce looking fox reeling back from her blow claw marks on it's muzzle and chest.
Feeling warm blood trickle down her neck the molly felt fury rise inside of her "HOW DARE YOU!?" she screeched her voice booming with power as she felt hatred for this mangy creature from the tips of her ears to the tips of her claws.
As quick as a snake she lunged at the fox fangs bared and this time sunk her fangs into the foxes making it yelp out in pain again before it tried to snap at her and get her off but she leaped back before she could be grabbed again.
But before she had time to lunge again the fox made a move striking her with powerful force and knocking her onto her belly as a strong paw slammed down on her chest pinning her to the hard ground as her dark blue eyes flashed with fear.
Her breath was knocked out of her and she was helpless now as deadly weapons lowered to her throat the fury she once had was know replaced with pure fear and she was to shocked to do anything but whimper "H-Help..." she whispered terrified to no one in particular but to everyone at once anybody! Mabye even Starclan themselves...
Sparrowfur - she/her - 18 moons
Beefed Up I - ACTIVE
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Wasting as little time as possible, Sparrowfur lept into action as Alderstep called after her. For an old man, he fought pretty good. Though of course their was a time and a place for complements (and maybe even a private lesson if she asked nice enough) and this certainly was not the time or place.
She threw herself at the fox who was holding down Firestreak and tumbled over it, trying to catch the upper hand. It growled and bit at her front leg. Sparrowfur let out a huge and painful hiss. She swiped with fury, going absolutely feral on the thing. She bit and clawed and hissed until the thing lie limp.
The adrenaline blocked nearly anything the fox had managed to do to her. It wasnt until she stood momentarily to catch her breath that she felt the scorching pain of her front leg where she had been bit, but also where she had been scratched. Hot blood dripped from her face. She'd certainly feel that in the morning.
She hobbled quickly over to Firestream, doing her best to help the other molly up while also trying not to loose balance herself.
Re: perish, foxes.
