A/N: Hey guys, sorry this took so long! I had no ideas for what could happen next. I hope you like it!
Tearpaw stared Leappaw down. Their "assessment" for the first week was over. This was the final fight.
Longstar had claimed that if they didn't draw blood from their opponent she'd draw blood from them herself, so Tearpaw was forced to have her claws unsheathed.
She didn't want to attack Leappaw. Among the eight of them, he was one of her favorite, despite the fact she'd only heard him introduce himself.
But here she was, facing him, preparing to attack him. Leappaw beat her to it.
He gave one of his famous jumps into the air, did a perfect flip, and landed squarely on her shoulders. He leaned down and lightly set his teeth on her scruff. For a moment Tearpaw didn't know what he was doing, but it didn't take long for her to figure it out. She let out a squeal of shock that she didn't know whether was real or not, and threw Leappaw from her shoulders. They began circling each other again.
Tearpaw thought she saw a small twitch of Leappaw's mouth that represented his slick smile.
She knew there was a flaw in their plan. Longstar said she wanted blood, and Tearpaw knew she'd get blood.
Leappaw jumped again and landed behind her. She knew this was where the flaw would be fixed. Bracing herself, she squealed unhappily, for real this time, as Leappaw drew his claws lightly down her back, but hard enough to draw blood. Then she shook him off. It was her turn. She ran head on into his side and bit down where her head had hit. He let out an irritated hiss and fell over.
Tearpaw had… well, won. But not because she should have. Next to face her was Firepaw. She nodded to him and flicked her tail, the signal for I have a plan. He nodded slightly.
Showing him the plan would be the hard part. She threw herself into the air, twisted, and landed lightly on his shoulders. Then she raked her claws down his back and cuffed his ear. Looking surprised, he yowled and began rapidly trying to shake her off.
Tearpaw knew she hadn't left a mark.
The battles continued like this. Eventually, she let Tornpaw win, hoping that Longstar would take favor to the sweet she-cat, but instead Longstar looked repulsed. When Tornpaw won the assessment, Longstar nailed the she-cat in the ribs and tossed her across the camp carelessly.
The rest of them looked shocked. Tornpaw had won! Why wasn't Longstar changing her mind?
As soon as Longstar finished lecturing them about how terrible the rest of them did, and checking them all to make sure there had been pain, they all turned to Tornpaw. She didn't look bad. She had some claw marks on her side where Longstar had thrown her, and a few where Tearpaw had been forced to scratch her, but that was it. Snarlpaw and Tearpaw supported her as she walked back to their puddle in the camp.
