CLOSED Their Finest Hour - the final battle.

[Longstorm]

It was barely dawn; the warriors of TawnyClan and DewClan ascended from the Moonfall to the Bloodstones and looked out over the sea of MudbloodClan cats.

[Loki]

Falsecall stood on the highest of rocks, flanked by Stormclaw and Life. He knew he was at a disadvantage where his clan stood. But he had cats surrounding the Bloodstones. Their bloodthirsty eyes stuck to the cats at the cave mouth. They waited patiently though some prowled, frustrated and nervous.

The massive tom they called Falsecall stood forth, proud and tail as high as possible.
He called, "Cats that once inhabited these lands. I am most merciful and will give those who come before me and lie on their backs before my unbeatable clan, exposing the soft flesh of their bellies, pardon from injury and death."

Wolffang snarled, claws kneading the mud in anger, "That disgusting, vile, owl eyed!"
Skyblaze offered his friend a look of annoyance, speaking softly, "Hold your anger, Wolffang, please."

Falsecall continued, "Those who don't, elders, toms, she-cats... You will perish."
His clan, fitting of over three hundred cats, howled their approval.

[Longstorm]

Dewdrop, deputy of DewClan, stood with her Clanmates amongst the red rocks and boulders (OOC: ?) that made up the Bloodstones, having padded up the incline with them - even those who had betrayed the Warrior Code.
She flattened her ears at the sound of Falsecall's voice and looked out in his direction. So many cats, she thought grimly. She glanced at Grimclaw, who in turn flashed her a nervous glance. Dewdrop knew she must look a little worried herself; she nodded to him, her twitchy expression hardening at the edges until her face became a mask of grim determination. Grimclaw sighed softly and nodded in return, taking some courage.
She's just as scared as I am, he saw. And he felt inexplicably proud of her. Proud to be with her.
Grimclaw looked out at the Mudbloods when Dewdrop looked away from him, and he shivered a little, but he felt a rush of relief too, relief that his apprentice, in his absence, would escape whatever grisly end it seemed that the cats of the Clans were set to face. Or we could succeed. So long as the mouse-brains from TawnyClan - and these weird OTHER Clans - don't trip up, we could do it. There's some chance, certainly. He narrowed his eyes at the cats of MudbloodClan and felt the strength in his thick legs and neck. Even if they didn't win, he knew he was going to take some unfortunate souls with him, of that he was certain.
Dewdrop glanced up at the looming boulders, knowing that the cats around them would be joining the cats above them. She kept an ear pointed towards Falsecall and couldn't help but wonder - could he be stalled?
"Can we keep him talking," she said quietly to the other leaders she knew would be near her.

OOC:

[Loki]

Solarstorm, the eldest cat here and brother of Lokistar, took his eyes off of Dewdrop as she asked her question. He was standing to the left of Ezziestar, his leader. He wondered with everything that had happened in his life, if this here was the worst enemy he'd ever faced. Hate curled around in his stomach at the sight of the Tawneyclan traitor. If he could get near him, Solarstorm would happily die killing him and making sure he regretted killing Tawneyclan's wise, old leader.

He backed away. Gesturing to Wolffang to follow him, Skyblaze too.
They inclined their heads curiously and followed the old tom away from Ezziestar's ear shot.
"Solarstorm?" Skyblaze questioned.
"I have a request of you both," the tom said under his breath, offering Ezziestar a nervous glance, "You've served Tawneyclan wonderfully. Lokistar, of all, was proudest to see you become warriors. Now we have a leader, protected by her nine lives... yes." The elderly tom paused before saying softly, "I think Starclan will favour us in this battle."
"But?" Wolffang inclined, under his breath like the tom before him.
"Nine lives have been lost before in one swipe of a paw. You two must stick to Ezziestar. Without a leader, Tawneyclan will fall into chaos. She hasn't named a deputy." His worried, golden eyes fell on them both. "Do you understand?"
The two young warriors nodded immediately, eyes grim.

Skyblaze spoke softly to Wolffang, "At least our leader is protected by numerous lives and wisdom..." he cast a glance at Dewdrop and Maplejay, "Dewclan is already split, with two cats calling for leadership with only their own lives to guard them."
Wolffang didn't have anything to add to the conversation, falling obediently behind Ezziestar.
"At least the kits are safe," he pondered.

Maplejay called down to Falsecall, haughty and hot headed as always, "You want us to lie on the flat of our backs, telling us we'll be safe?"

Falsecall looked up at the she-dispassionately.
"And..." He said, a smirk going to Life, "who is... that?"
"The pretender, brother. She calls herself a leader. All she leads is a band of cowardly, disobedient cats from Daystar's wishes."
"Daystar is just as cowardly and disobedient. The large tom sat.
"You'll be safe," he said, boredom in his tone, "if you denounce your allegiance to the pathetic idealism of your clans and join me in mine."

"Your crazy!" some cat, namely Sunshift hissed. "No one from Tawneyclan wants to join your disgusting, filthy, flea ridden clan!"
Leopardstorm swiped the boastful tom, "Keep your tongue, Sunshift before you do further damage!"

But bellow her, Falsecall stood, his head rolled back in a deep, vibrating laugh.
"Bwahahahahaha!"
His claws unsheaved and he looked at the cats he saw. "Then I exclude Tawneyclan, too proud too realise their going to die! Anyone else? Anyone?" He snarled, smile falling, "You have but a moment to decide."

He turned away from them, tail flicking as he turned to his brother.
"Life, you can go now. Good luck."
Life smiled pleasantly, "we won't be needing it."

OOC: Shall I get Sparrowhawk and his friend to stroll on in?

[Longstorm]

Grimclaw tensed where he stood. He looked at Dewdrop, wondering if she would speak - but then something else happened.
The leaders of DebrisClan stood together, heads close to one another as they whispered furiously about MudbloodClan. Leafstar, Crow and Spike had come to glaring at one another half out of concern and fear; had they known there would be so many of the enemy? No, not really. They'd never seen the full force of the Mudbloods together. Were some of them regretting coming out all this way to probably die with their entire Clans? Eh, yeah. But they were here and they really couldn't do anything about it. So Spike, black tom, leader of SearClan, squared his shoulders and looked out at the Mudbloods. He took a few steps towards them and called to them,
"For what? What we would get if we surrendered?" He had heard what Dewdrop said and had chosen, on his own, to screech at the Mudbloods.
Meanwhile, Leafstar and Crow sort of stared at him incredulously.
Dewdrop looked at the black tom - wait, who was this again?

OOC: I keep forgetting about these guys, HAHAHAHAHA!

[Loki]

"Your first reward will be your life, spared today. Mudbloodclan is united. We have order!"
The tom that spoke now was not Falsecall. It was his one and only son. Covering whilst his father spoke to his uncle.
"Mudbloodclan has knowledge and identity. You stand separated as four clans... though two of those have abandoned you to your own luck I see. Mudbloodclan, is one large clan. We look out and care for one another, with routine and control that gives its individual cats the chance to learn and... move forward. We are becoming more than wild cats. We are united, we are strong and we are progressing!"

[Longstorm]

Spike scoffed softly and looked back at Leafstar and Crow.
Crow, leader of CoreClan, wondered what it was that Spike was doing and hissed, "Spike! Why are you speaking to them, traitor?"
Leafstar, leader of RoseClan, however, was starting to grasp the concept. "How will we know we'll be safe?" She called to the Mudbloods.

OOC: is one of these cats NK's? DOes she want one of them to live? I think Crow might be hers...

IC: Grayfall, Shadowspot, Duskpaw and Frostfire stood with Grimclaw and Dewdrop - though they weren't that far away from Maplejay and her group. Ravenswift being killed by the Mudbloods hadn't really erased the animosity between the groups, but the want for revenge was as good of tie as any.

OOC: referencing last night.
so when DewClan went into AbyssClan territory, Niteowl, Coalstripe, Daystar, and Creekheart died. Tigerpaw and Firefoot are still missing and presumed dead. okay.

[Loki]

OOC: Okay, I got you! (And I'll have to check my DA on who she wanted alive) so hold on
IC:

The son of Falsecall lifted his chin, "Do you feel safe now? You stand at the top of this mighty hill, flanked by these cats and you question your safety. You're safest down here, where we accept any, willing to join our clan. Many have, many have sought us out when we were back up within the mountains and they stand today, proud to fight for the release of this land. To unite is all we want under the Lord's loving and merciful rule. You are no safer up there then coming down here and joining us. You are not even requested to fight today, only that you hang back with sheaved claws is enough to satisfy your new brothers and sisters!"
He was a smaller cat, despite his father's size, so he had to lean forward as he called up to them.

(EDIT: She wanted us to keep Corrupt, Crow and Hollowstripe.)

[Longstorm]

Behind their leaders, the warriors of the combined DebrisClan were exchanging looks - Foxclaw caught onto this pretty quickly.
"Oh, man," he groaned.
Leafstar had the utmost faith in her small Clan - they had stuck with each other for some time, even if they were a ragtag band of random cats back in the beginning - even she had been a cat of one of the bigger Clans back in the day - but they had all come to together to make a tight-knit little group, and she was proud of her few warriors and her daughters, and - wait. Wait. Threelegs, Feathertail, and Lizardtail - her warriors! - were walking past her and down the slope towards the Mudbloods.
"But - where are you going!" She screeched at them. "You can't just leave!"
Threelegs, a tom who was missing his right foreleg, turned to look at her with his mismatched eyes. "It's pointless, Leafstar," he called back. "We had a good run. Come on, we can still make it past this, if we just stop!"
The young leader shook her head. "No - no, I -"
"It's over, Leafstar," Lizardtail, a dark striped she-cat said. "Just stop."
Spirepaw and Nightpaw, daughters of Leafstar and apprentices of RoseClan, gasped and looked at one another. Those were their friends - their mentors - that were just leaving them. Spirepaw could barely comprehend it. Nightpaw's breathing picked up as she began to panic. Were they really just all going to die? Was that why their warriors were just leaving? Why wasn't Leafstar stopping them? Nightpaw looked at her mother, searching for some fight in her face.
"Come on, guys," said Feathertail, who was a fluffy she-cat. The three RoseClan warriors turned and resumed their walk to the cats of MudbloodClan.

Dewdrop stared furiously at the departing warriors, seething in anger. Cowards. She was reminded of some other DewClan cats she knew...

Leafstar could only stand helplessly as her warriors deserted her. Shakily, she looked at Dreamsong, her medicine cat, the cat who had helped her birth her kit and raise both Spirekit and Nightkit (OOC: I don't even know). "You'll stay - won't you?"
The pale tabby she-cat looked at Leafstar sadly for a long moment then shook her head. Dreamsong looked away from Leafstar and padded after her Clanmates. "You should come with us, younglings," the medicine cat told the apprentices. "Before it's too late..." But she didn't stop to see if they would follow.

Meanwhile, the cats of SearClan were restless. "We should go with them," hissed Flametail to Wolfheart. Whitedash and Pantherleap hissed at the two threateningly, and in front of them Spike was growling low in his throat.

"COWARDS," Grimclaw yowled at the deserters. "CURSE YOU!" Of course - how ever could the cats of DewClan trust any cat who wasn't loyal - any cat who wasn't one of them. He might have known...

[Loki]

Solarstorm chin fell to his chest, his heart dropping, they were losing more claws.

Falsecall turned, Life was disappearing into the mass of cats now, a platoon followed after him. He had a task to complete.

"Brave warriors, intelligent ones who see there is no hope for those who stand." He shook his head, "Are there anymore? Anymore who see the truth?"

There was a parting in his mass of cats, they began to allow the ex-foresters through, seemingly greeting them with kind and caring words of encouragement.

[Longstorm]

"You can't make us stay, Spike," Flametail hissed. "Right, Wolfheart?"
Spike glared at Wolfheart, and Wolfheart looked between the two. "Yes - no - I don't like confrontation!"
Flametail rolled her eyes. "Come on, Wolfheart." The tortie she-cat pushed past Spike with a huff and bounded after the RoseClan warriors. Wolfheart looked apologetic but he followed Flametail anyway.
"DAMN IT," Spike roared after them, stuck where he was. His tail lashed in anger, back and forth, back and forth.
"Sh!t," Dewdrop growled under her breath.

[Loki]

Falsecall's tail stood on end, pleased with the outcome.
"Ah... this is it then?"
His gold and green, odd eyes peered at the cats above him. A furious, hot tempered look now crossing his face.
"Are their any more snivelling cowards wanting to weasel into my clan? Any more who think they can walts in and earn my trust?"
By now all those who had left the Bloodstones paused, looking around themselves in panic at his words. Falsecall's platoons circled them, kindness washed away replaced with disgust.

"I WILL NOT be fooled!" Falsecall bellowed, his ears flat against his head, teeth bared, hackles raised and tail arched in his rage. "HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU THINK ME A FOOL! IF YOU COULD SO EASILY BETRAY YOUR KIN THEN HOW DARE YOU THINK I WOULD BE STUPID ENOUGH TO TRUST YOU IN MY RANKS!"

Cats jumped forward and over powered the small group with little resistance. A snake and its mouse.

"This one smells of herbs, my lord," one tom called, his paw holding the medicine cat who cowered beneath him.
"I don't care," Falsecall smiled menacingly, "I am not interested in them."
And with that, the cats slashed their throats or brought long claws from belly to gullet; allowing sunlight to peek at their innards.

Wolffang paused in horror, an expression similar to many faces present.

Falsecall regarded them. "Fools, Mudbloodclan is already united. Tied together by blood and a noble trust," He looked toward Stormclaw with affection, "I care for all those under my rule, valuable. All of them. I am not foolish to tarnish this with cowardly cats."

His eyes lit up, "Shall we begin?"

[Longstorm]

Leafstar watched in horror; Spike watched in fuming anger; Dewdrop snarled at the cats of MudbloodClan; damn them. Damn all of them. I didn't expect anything else, she thought fiercely.
She looked at her cats and hissed, "Get up, like we planned!" She flicked her tail up at the red rocks around them, and Grimclaw nodded, along with the others on her side.
Frostfire scrambled up the rough red rock onto its top and looked out over the sea of Mudbloods. "Oh," she said.

[Loki]

Falsecall howled his orders and cats began to scramble up the rocks toward the clan cats.

[Longstorm]

"Uh - huh, nope!" Grayfall leaped like a maniac up into the red rocks, followed quickly by Dewdrop and those with her.
Spike and Crow immediately followed them, and Leafstar shook of her shock and ushered her daughters after them, following them up onto the lower-set rocks (they were NOT jumpers - well, neither were the cats of DewClan, either). Leafstar pushed her daughters into jumping up onto some of the higher rocks from there.
"Dewdrop, what do we do," Grimclaw asked quickly.
The deputy looked at the advancing enemy. "Keep them below us," she said, "Keep the higher ground!" Grimclaw nodded and relayed the instructions to the DewClan cats around him, and they called back in acknowledgement.

[Loki]

Wolffang sgrowled menacingly, swiping at those bellow.
Leopartstorm snarled and launched onto a cat who crumpled under her wait before she jumped back to her rock with a small wound on her flank. She looked back with a dark look in her eyes at the crumpled victim who, unfortunatly for her, got back up in a daze but didn't resume his attack. Another took his place.

Solarstorm waited, he wanted Stormclaw.

Maplejay hissed, her posture angry and taut.
If someone could get to Falsecall... dispatch the snake at its head then all this could end.

[ticktock]

Whiterose jumped upon a rock just as a large brown MudBlood with white spots and big beefy muscles ran past her rock and the spot she was just in. Phew, glad I made it up here before he/she came along, she thought, or I would be dead now. Then she saw all the MudBloods starting to try and climb up the rocks and thought, Sh!ttttt, we're probably gonna die today, but the show must go on. I don't really know what that means, but I think it means I have to keep going, we all have to keep going, no matter what. She thought all this while taking a few strong, well aimed blows with her claws unsheathed at a few smaller MudBloods(Who were her size or slightly smaller.) faces and making them fall back a little and hitting their heads, leaving them dazed. Then thought, I'm gonna keep doing this because it works and it's funny seeing the look on their face when they come back up all dazed, hehe. Because even though she's small, she still packs a punch.

OCC: I'm not sure what to do with Honeyfang right now, but I will post about her next time because the idea I had for her is that she scream out FOR TAWNYCLAN, then jump into the crowd of coming MudBloods and fight a little bit and then she would get killed and dies a heroes death. but I don't want to kill her right now.

[Ezziestar]

((O geeze, I wish I was here sooner. XD Don't let the party run without me. lol))

Before the sudden attack of the Mudbloods, Ezziestar glared down at the Mudblood cats, Traitors! The lot of them!
Her eyes glanced around at her clan, briefly keeping in her memory, the faces of those she cared about.
Starclan... please be with us.

Stone looked over to where Ezziestar stood, he noticed she appeared to not move a muscle, except for the occasional twitch of her tail in anger towards Falsecall and his followers.
His eyes turned from her to where the Mudblood cats stood, he noticed quickly Stormclaw standing within the ranks.

He felt his heart drop in dismay, to see a good warrior, turn against his own clan.
Storm claw stood there, his muscles lean, his pelt had mud along with blood on one of his paws, which he hadn't cleaned off. His sharp claws dug their way into the ground as he was itching to fight, however he held his head high with dignity and his own ego.

Storm claw's eyes just locked onto Stone's, and Stone almost flinched in hesitation, Stormclaw grinned, knowing exactly who he wanted to fight first.

As the battle was announced by Falsecall, Stormclaw yowled out for his platoon to attack, he waited as cats began to scramble their way up the red rocks.
Stone hesitated, looking around quickly at the others, for any hints on when to attack back.

As he turned to see where Stormclaw was, the older tom had hidden himself amongst the other cats. He was no where to be found.
Stone raced to the front where there were cats fighting off the Mudbloods, his quest was to find Stormclaw.
He didn't hear Ezziestar's voice, telling him to wait, as he was already on his way to defend the clan that took him in.
Suddenly, there was a flash of fur and a sudden pain pierced his back and his body soon registered heavy weight forcing his body down.
He yowled out as sharp claws dug into his back, he tried to shake off his attacker, to no success.
Then he heard a voice hiss in his ear, "Remember me?"

Stone managed to break free at that moment, turning towards his attacker, and before his eyes he saw the tom he really wanted to fight all along, "Stormclaw!" He spat back.
Stormclaw grinned again, it was just as menacing as it was before when their eyes met. He lunged forwards, claws unsheathed and prepared to deal damage.

Stone was more prepared this time, he leaped to one side, dodging the strong tom, before spinning around and leaping at him, aiming to strike him down before Stormclaw gained enough balance.
He's technique worked, he caught Stormclaw off guard, managing to unbalance him and grip his fangs and claws into his left flank.

Stormclaw snarled, "You think you are so tough now, just because you grew older!" He spun to swat Stone with his right paw, Stone felt the blow hit his head, once, twice, three times. The pain of the sharp claws smacking into his neck caused him to let go, dropping off.

Stormclaw snorted, "You're no fun! I guess I'll warm up on you before I strike down Ezziesong!"
His taunting words made Stone feel anger, mixed with fear, He's gotten stronger!
He spat back at the tom in defiance, "I'm not going down that easily! Oh and she's Ezziestar now... you'd know if you didn't betray us!"

Stormclaw growled, "So what, her name's changed. She shouldn't have left me!"
"She left you? You abandoned her for what? To become a killer!"
Stone's words didn't settle well in Stormclaw's mind. He knew he had fought cats before... but could he bring himself to kill?
He's lying! She left you for HIM! Don't listen to him! The familiar shadowy hiss Stormclaw had openly accepted spoke to him with such clarity.
"Mousebrain! She left me for you! Why else would she accept you into the clan! She's as Foxhearted as that fool Lokistar!"

Stone couldn't believe his ears, Is he really thinking that Ezziestar and I were falling in love with each other?
Stone didn't know how to respond, his face filled with doubt now, and he hesitated. Storm claw saw the hesitation as the perfect opportunity to attack.

He lunged forwards, this time, aiming for the loner's neck. Stone shook off his hesitation, realising his situation, he went to move forwards, and was greeted by having the wind in him knocked out as he was side tackled to the ground.
He tried to get up, gasping for breath. He saw Stormclaw slowly advance, claws unsheathed, ready for his next attack.
"Time to end this..." Stormclaw growled.

Stone coughed, "You kill me... then what? How does it make you any better a tom?"
He realised that his words hit a sore spot, as Stormclaw, whom had a paw pressing against Stone's shoulder, was hesitating. Stone saw that older tom was just staring at him, his face unreadable and blank of expression.
"You'll be hated! Even Ezziestar will never forgive you! You'll be hunted down for the traitor you really are!"

Stormclaw spat, He raised his paw and went to strike down. Stone closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate.

A blur of white striked Stormclaw. His death blow was repositioned to hit Stone's right ear instead, which ended up leaving a scratch down his cheek, just under his eye.
"It's not him you want!" Stone recognised the voice of the she cat.
Ezziestar?!

Stormclaw waited, the tension between the once mates rising.

((I'm sorry I haven't hopped on in so long... I've been so busy since Jan... But yeah, I really wanted a battle between these guys... and they're right near the edge of Bloodstones where the Mudbloods are climbing up, so Ozzie's not exactly far from where she stood. I just feel the need to add suspension here... I might get Ezzie vs Storm if they are left uninterrupted. ))

[Loki]

Wolffang and Skyblaze took off after Ezziestar glaring at Stormclaw ominously, snarls erupting from their throats.
They batted away cats that tried to intervene, Wolffang was dragged off of the side of the Bloodstones and seemed to disappear in a riving mass of fur and claws.

[Ezziestar]

Ezziestar was ever alert on the cats fighting around her.
"Why?" Stormclaw hissed, his hackles on end and his body tense.

Ezziestar crouched down, her clear blue eyes cold as ice. She could tell Stormclaw didn't want to fight her. His hiss wasn't of aggression like how it sounded to Stone. She stayed, crouched near the loner, her fur lay flat, her black tipped tail was thrashing to and fro, indicating her disgust and anger towards Stormclaw.
"Don't do this." Ezziestar's voice sounded, mixed between anger and cold.

"Why?' Stormclaw growled, "Why did you choose him... over me." His voice was quiet, his voice was of sadness and grief.
Stone coughed, his breath finally returned, he scrambled to his paws, growling, his fur on end and claws unsheathed. He crouched and leaped, but felt a force push him back. He turned to face Ezziestar, "Why did you-?"
"Not yet!" Ezziestar hissed, causing Stone to shrink back. Ezziestar sighed, "He's not interested in you... Don't get yourself beaten up more than you need to." Her voice was calm with reasoning, however Stone picked up on an urgency from her.

She turned to face Stormclaw, slowly getting to her paws, "I don't understand why you left us, But this isn't going to help anyone if you keep this up... Why don't you come back to Tawnyclan... we can start this over again."

Stone couldn't believe what he was hearing, "What are you saying? Have you become a mouse-brain all of a sudden?"
Ezziestar ignored him, instead she kept her eyes on Stormclaw, her heart was racing, secretly, she didn't want to fight him. I'd rather things be the way they are... then to make things worse.

Stormclaw watched her, then, cautiously approached her. His ears were still back, however he remained alert, and still on edge.
"You really mean that?"

Ezziestar was pleased to hear the voice of the tom that she fell in love with, the tom who was willing to go to Starclan and back to help her.
She nodded as he got closer, until the two were just within swiping distance.
Stormclaw could scent fear from her, he drew his head back, a snarl remained on his face though the only words he could form were, "You're lying..." His ears folded back and he withheld his tears.

Ezziestar responded quickly, "Stormclaw, please! Listen to reason!" Tears filled her eyes, eventually flowing down her cheeks, causing the fur on her cheeks to appear darkened.
"No!" Stormclaw snapped, "You just lied to me! You always put everyone above me! You never truly loved me for who I am!"
Ezziestar took a step forward, her jaws opened as if she was going to say something, but nothing came out. "That's not true! I always-"
"Enough of your lies!" Stormclaw continued, interrupting her, "I went away, so I could be a better warrior, I found Falsecall, who helped me improve. He showed more care for me than any of you could!"
Ezziestar froze, shock was plain and clear on her face, the tears didn't stop. "How could you say that? Lokistar she'd-"
"She was a Fox hearted fool!" Stormclaw snarled.

Ezziestar shook her head, "I can't accept that! You're not quite yourself! Please Stormclaw... Please don't-"
Stormclaw unsheathed his claws, "What? You afriad to see another cat die? This time it'll be you!" He leaped forwards, crashing straight onto Ezziestar's chest, forcing her onto the ground on her back.

The Tawnyclan leader squirmed underneath him, unable to shake him off. Stormclaw placed his right forepaw, claws glistening in the light, the dark red of blood covering his paw. The stench of blood was strong to Ezziestar as it was held close to her throat.
"No!" Stone shouted, he leaped at Stormclaw, despite feeling bruised and the cut of his ear. He clawed the older tom's flank and made his way towards his thick tail. He grabbed it within his jaws, and bit down.

Stormclaw's screech split the air. Ezziestar continued to struggle for breath as Stormclaw continued to keep pressure over her throat.

((There... a few more hours have gone by but I think now their quarrel can now be interrupted. ^-^))

[Runfast]

Shadowspot of DewClan stood with his DewClan comrades to fight of the Mudblood hordes. It had been a while, and there were so many cats, and he could feel himself getting a little tired, but he wouldn't stop. He wouldn't stop. He wouldn't stop...

Mistjay, medicine cat, grimly slashed at the Mudblood cats below her. She kept an eye out for the cats she was fighting with, watching if they may stumble or take a blow too great to continue right after. She had little in the way of herbs - anything she had with herself had been lost when the cats of Mudblood rushed them. So she could hope. Pray, she could do that too. Fight, she would most certainly do so until the bitter end. And so she kept fighting.

[Ezziestar]

Ezziestar, now felt weak and faint, the sounds of battlecries of her clanmates were muffled, and all she could hear was her heartbeat an the blood in her ears. She tried to call to Stormclaw, to tell him to get off her, but no air escaped, just as she was about to loose consciousness she used the energy she had left, to try and smack Stormclaw's forepaw, her claws were sheathed as she had no strength to unsheath them.

Stone released Stormclaw's tail as he leaped back trying to avoid the strong, thick lashing tail. He then crouched, bracing to leap at the older tom again, this time he leapt and landed square on Stormclaw's back. He dug his claws into the Torteshell tom's shoulders and he bit down on the back of Stormclaw's neck.

Stormclaw tried his best to ignore the attacks of the young tom, however when he felt the presence of teeth on his neck scruff caused Stormclaw to snarl as he left the near unconscious Ezziestar and aimed to roll Stone off his back. Stormclaw tried to throw Stone off guard and tried to scratch the young tom off, but to no prevail.
"Get off me!" He spat as he decided to fall onto his back to knock Stone off after attempts of trying to hit Stone off.

Ezziestar gasped and coughed as she tried to reclaim breath into her lungs, after realising that a sudden weight was lifted from her. Stone's ears perked up when he heard Ezziestar cough, which temporarily distracted him from what Stormclaw was doing. Then in an instant, Stone felt a heavy weight crash upon him, he let go in the shock of his pain.

Stormclaw felt Stone let go, he rolled off the young tom, and without giving him a second to recover, he leapt upon him.
"No!" Ezziestar yowled when she regained the strength to talk and stand. She saw Stormclaw was crouched over Stone, claws unsheated and this time against his throat.

Ezziestar pounced at Stormclaw, however her strength was weak and in knocking Stormclaw off of Stone, he had instinctively spun around and slashed at Ezziestar's throat.
Ezziestar stood momentarily, staring at Stormclaw, she turned to see if Stone was ok, before she collapsed onto the ground.

Stomrclaw's fur began to stand on end. I... I did it? I killed her? Fear began to creep into his heart, he turned to where he saw the Mudblood cats slashing at the clan cats. He turned and caught eye contact with Stone, before turning to rush into battle alongside the Mudbloods.

Stone stared in disbelief, he just stared at Stormclaw, the murderer of Ezziestar. He waited until Stormclaw took off before he raced over to where Ezziestar's body lay, he fought back the tears as best as he could as he searched her body for any signs of life. Here he saw the deep gash on her throat, he crouched down next to her body and quickly thought words, "I know I never grew up to believe in the ancestors you did but...

Don't you have other lives? Didn't this Starclan give you lives when you became leader?" He looked around at the devasation of the battle, and the ferocity of the fight. It was then that he noticed Ezziestar was still breathing, however it was shallow, he decided she wouldn't last long.

((Yeah... What would happen if Ezziestar lost a life or two here? Would I make a post in Starclan?))

[Longstorm]

OOC: You don't have to, but you can if you want!

IC: Dewdrop could barely pay attention to the scene between Ezziestar and the two Mudbloods unfolding before the Bloodstones. She could feel the battle fever in her veins temporarily taking away her fatigue and distress. For now, the battle seemed winnable, almost. She rowred in anger and defiance when a Mudblood cat got a good strike at her face, and blood blinded her left eye. She didn't really feel the pain in her state, but she was angry that she could no longer see as well. Regardless, she sent the cat screaming when she raked her claws down its face, in its eyes and mouth along the way.

Leafstar, one of the pseudo-Clan leaders, fought valiantly alongside the cats of the other Clans. Behind her, huddled on the red stone were Nightpaw and Spirepaw.
They were terrified. The noise of the battle was deafening. The two apprentices looked at one another and huddled closer to each other. They could fight, certainly, but Leafstar knew the two were tired, and that they had never had to fight for their lives. She pitied them. She feared for them. But how long could she keep them from fighting? They would inevitably have to fight for their survival, she knew this. But she didn't want it.
Meanwhile, Spike, another pseudo-Clan leader (recently teamed up with the other pseudo-Clans in a previous issue) was near Leafstar. Suddenly, an enemy seized his foreleg and with a screech he was yanked down into the roiling mass of Mudblood cats. His scream could only just be heard over the sounds of the other cats, but then it was gone.
Leafstar stared at the spot in the crowd where Spike had vanished in shock. She shook herself and kept fighting.

OOC: I don't think they really knew each other that well so my whole inner monologue writing part of my brain went, "eh, she'll get over it." LOL
but yeah, Spike is totally dead.

IC: Whitedash, a cat from the same pseudo-Clan that Spike lead, watched in horror when Spike disappeared into the mass of roiling Mudblood-cats-enemies-things and was totally like "NOOOO!" but he did not jump off in a heroic way and he felt really bad about it anyway and kept fighting though he felt like some of the nobility was sucked out of the entire notion and he was just fighting for his life from here on out.

[Ezziestar]

((Ok, awesome thanks for that. XD))

Ezziestar's breathing began to happen more rapidly, "Don't leave us." She heard Stone whimper.
"Go." She rasped, "You are needed in this fight, don't waste your time with me."
Her voice was hoarse, and weakly spoken. Ezziestar felt her strength rapidly fading.
Stone hesistated, he didn't want to leave her to die, but he didn't want her fight to be in vain.

Ezziestar sensed his hesitance, she weakly shoved his chest with her paw, "Go! I'll be fine."
Hurt he got to his paws, Ezziestar then purred using the remaining ounces of her strength, "I have a few lives to spare."
Stone nodded briskly before turning and racing into the battle, on a search for the tom who did the damage to Ezziestar.
Stone... When I get my claws on you -!

When Ezziestar was certain he had left, her eyes closed and her body fell silent, no breath escaped her. Her first life was lost as her soul went to Starclan.

((I'm not going to fuss with a Starclan topic... That way I can bring Ezziestar back into the battle. XD))

Stone located Stormclaw, the tom was about to swing at a clan cat, Stone leaped without planning, and managed to miss him. However by the time Stone landed unsteadily and turned to face his opponent, he noticed a new scratch that had formed on Stormclaw's right cheek.

It was enough to get Stormclaw off-guard, and caused him to direct his attention on Stone.
Stormclaw began to give chase towards Stone, who arched his back, his fur on end, in his defence, he didn't move.
Stormclaw lunged at him, however Stone was more nimble and managed to leap aside.
Stormclaw's tail lashed back and forth, ears flat against his head. His eyes closed to mere slits as he lashed at Stone, landing a heavy blow on the young tom's forehead, cutting his forehead.
Stone felt unbalanced as he tried to avoid the blow, however like an adder's strike, it was unpredictable.

Stormclaw, realising how weak his actual opponent was, snorted, "Give up now..." He lowered his head, and crouched, like a hunter stalking his prey, "While you're still breathing."

Stone's right ear flicked toward him, the insulting tone, "Why give up? Fox-hearts like you don't stand a chance!"
Stormclaw's tail lashed the ground, "You're not worth the energy, You're not even a Tanwyclan cat! You're just a loner, plucked from nowhere, who tainted our clan."
Stone felt infuriated, not just for the taunts, but for the fact that Stormclaw showed no obvious want to fight. Stormclaw picked up Stone's silence as a indication of weakness.

((Yeah... I'll continue this later. I need to go to bed.))

[Loki]

Skyblaze who had been jumped on straight away before he could intervene was defending the form of Ezziestar who lay behind him. He swiped at the cats who came forward, often having one or two jump on him leaving more wounds that bled sluggishly as he came away.
His limbs were feeling very heavy and his left nostril was flooded with crimson.

He was not coming away from this alive.

Solarstorm would have loved to help the young warrior but even if he tried, his old age was already proving an awful ailment to have.

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