AvatarCat12:I'm sorry if I haven't been updating lately. I've just been playing a lot of World of Warcraft lately.
Katara: Isn't it that online roleplaying game where millions gather every day?
Aang: I've heard about that! And I've heard it's fun! Besides the violence on there. (To Katara) Hey Katara, you think we should try it out sometime?
Katara: ...I guess we can. Besides, some ice attacks on there looked like WaterBending.
AvatarCat12: Glad to hear that, you two. Now let's get this chapter done.
Disclaimer: I own neither series. I'm blending them together for others' enjoyment.
Summary: The search for Archie has to wait, for Goldwing and his small pack come across a machine made by FireClan. Can they disable the machine before the machine breaks down the wall of BoulderClan? Meanwhile, Bearclaw is asked by Flash if he could join the Freedom Fighters. But will he take the chance?
Uploading Date: May 21, 2012
All three: Enjoy!
...
The Battle Drill
A group of FireClan tanks rumbled across the barrens, escorting a gigantic vehicle. When a bird would back away, it would look at a titanic tunneling machine, ten stories high and stretching out a great distance. The tanks flanking it appeared as little more than minor toys by contrast. There were large parts of the drill's body pushing forward under steam power, punching steam driven spikes into the ground, and then contracting again to gain forward movement.
It was a great Drill, a vast black iron cylinder creeping forward like a caterpillar, the tanks beside it ant-like. There was a tower topped by a command center levering upward from the drill's back. And inside the watch tower, Frostfire was plotting with her friends Rose and Aya beside her.
"Frostfire." The black she-cat looked up from her forepaws to see the pale brown war minister, Logtail, stepping forward to address his deputy. "This drill is a feat of scientific skill and raw destructive power. Once it digs through the wall, our troops will storm their city. EarthClan will finally fall, and you can claim BoulderClan in the name of your father. Nothing can stop us."
"Hmm..." Aya muttered. She was looking through a periscope before looking back. "How about those tough guys way over there?"
Frostfire stalked over to where Aya was looking out at. Then she saw what the white she-cat was looking at. EarthClan cats were dropping down into a few trenches, their teeth bared and their fur ruffled at this uneasy fight. They were sending up pointed stones, one after another, in order to quickly brace themselves against FireClan.
No matter. They will meet their end soon, Frostfire sneered to herself, letting Aya look through the periscope.
"Oh please," Logtail scoffed, tapping the periscope hard with his paw and startling Aya. "This drill's metal shell is resistant against any EarthBending attack."
"Oh, I'm sure it is, Logtail. But better safe than sorry," Frostfire purred. In a commanding voice, she called, "Rose! Aya! Take those EarthClan cats out!"
Aya looked excited while Rose rolled her amber eyes. "Finally...something to do," she muttered.
...
Goldwing flew above the desert badlands with Tobias by his side. He was happy he could find hope in finding Archie again, but that would have to wait. For right now, he had to worry about the machine charging towards BoulderClan. It was quickly snaking its way towards the city as quickly as a cheetah.
But something caught his eye: six figures on the ground. When he swooped down lower, he saw that it was his friends and the family of loners. They had been huddled near a rocky pass toward the base of the great wall. As they paused, Goldwing and Tobias swooped into view from the direction of the wall. Goldwing landed with all four paws on the ground while Tobias landed on his shoulders.
"Hey, Goldwing," Silverheart greeted him, pulling him into an embrace. When they pulled apart, she asked him, "What're you doing here? I thought you went to find Archie?"
"I was," Goldwing told her. "But something stopped me along the way. It's something big."
Turning away and flicking his tail towards his friends, he padded away towards the wall. Then when Goldwing stopped by the wall, he and Nightpaw started to equally EarthBend a big pillar platform up the face of the wall, lifting them all upwards. Beside them, the family of loners was staring around them in awe, the kits mewling and dangling from their jaws.
As the platform kept going up, Ashfeather looked at Goldwing with suspicion. "So what's so big that Archie will have to wait?"
Goldwing flicked his tail to the moving machine. "That."
Around him, he could hear gasps from the other cats when they saw the machine. If that wasn't enough for the others to be scared, smaller FireClan machines were flanking the giant machine on both sides. But they had reached the top of the wall, where Goldwing and his pack helped the loner family get on board.
The kits were already mewling, though they had no idea what was going on. Rhea laid down beside the wall and let her kits be laid down beside her to nurse.
"We made it to BoulderClan, but we're still not safe!" Rhea mewed despairingly. "No one is." She closed her eyes tight while her family padded over to comfort her and the kits.
"What are you cats doing up here! No one is allowed up on the walls unless it's important!"
Goldwing and his pack turned to see a scrawny creamy-brown tom looking over at them. He seemed to be irritated that someone had come onto the wall.
Knowing what to say, Goldwing took a step forward. "Sir, I'm the Avatar Cat. Take me to who is in charge here."
The warrior nodded and padded away with the other cats behind him. After some walking, they arrived at an area atop the outer wall, where a roof was supported by archways. An EarthClan senior warrior was waiting, seated at a desk. This cat was a brown-gray tabby warrior with dull yellow eyes and a missing ear.
Goldwing was reminded of Birchbark, the EarthClan warrior who had tried to force him into the Avatar Cat State. At first, he was about to turn away and run away, but he told himself he was being silly. This wasn't the same insane cat he had met just a moon ago. Besides, this cat looked grayer while Birchbark looked browner; plus, Birchbark was a tabby while this cat wasn't.
"My name is Barkfur. And it's an honor to have you here, Avatar Cat," the warrior meowed, smiling. "But I'm afraid your help is not needed."
Surprised, Goldwing repeated, "Not needed?"
Smiling haughtily, Barkfur repeated, "Not needed. My warriors and I have this under control. I assure you FireClan won't even penetrate these walls. Many armies have tried to break through before, but none have succeeded."
The EarthClan warrior leaped off of the desk as he spoke, leading the group back out towards an open area of the wall manned by warriors standing near large stacks of rocks. They were shown an aerial view of the outer wall. Nothing lied beyond the outer face but barren wastelands while a patchwork of fertile fields grew behind it.
Goldwing had to admit that Barkfur was in denial by the way he smiled contentedly out over the inward face of the wall. The other three cats behind Barkfur exchanged looks before Nightpaw stepped forward.
"What about the Griffin Of The West?" she meowed, her blind eyes narrowed. "He got in."
"Well..." Birchbark meowed, looking stunned. "...technically, yes. But he was swiftly removed." More confidently, he meowed, "Yet, that is why the city is BoulderClan. It's the solid city. They don't call it MossClan." He gave a belly laugh before becoming serious. "That's the penetrable city."
Nightpaw yawned. "Thanks for the tourist attraction and all, but there's still the machine."
Pacing back to look out over the wastelands, Barkfur replied, "Not for long. We have a way to stop it. I've sent over an exclusive team of EarthBenders called the Terra Team."
"Terra Team?" Ashfeather mewed wistfully. "I like the name there. Very catchy."
But something out at the horizon caught Goldwing's attention. He flicked his tail to the other cats to be silent and watch. The four other cats stayed silent and watched on with worried looks.
They watched on as the Terra Team launched their assault on the FireClan military tanks. They propelled one of the tanks into the air, catching it in the middle and causing oil to bleed from beneath it. After that, they rode a surge of earth through the gap left in the tank's formation.
"Attack!" the Terra Team leader, a dark tabby, roared.
The EarthBenders tried to wedge several large pillars of stone against the side of the machine, but it shattered them effortlessly. The Terra Team barely managed to raise a defensive shield against a barrage of Rose's throwing knives. Rose and Aya were now sliding down the side of the machine toward them. Nimbly avoiding their EarthBending attacks, Aya leaped in among them and began sending a flood of pressure-point attacks. One by one, the Terra Team dropped weakly at her paws.
However, the leader got back up to his paws and leapt at Aya, swiping his claws at her. But the white she-cat dodged the blow and retaliated by jabbing him in the chest with a quick paw stab. When the leader got up to strike back, Rose hurled a knife at him, which imbedded itself into his chest. The leader let out a screech of pain and anger before falling lifeless into a puddle of blood. A few more warriors got back up and charged towards the she-cats, but they met the same fate their leader met.
"We're doomed! Doomed, I tell you!" Barkfur wailed, looking away from the telescope. Now flailing his paws in the air, he cried, "Oh StarClan, we're doomed! Doomed!"
Right away, Ashfeather padded up to the brown tom and smacked him across the face with his paw. "Get a hold of yourself, scaredy-ass!"
Goldwing blinked at the dark gray tabby tom, mildly surprised. Ashfeather had never struck a cat across the face to pull them together.
Barkfur, however, seemed to recover from the shock of being slapped across the face. He looked at him, rubbing his stricken cheek with his forepaw, and mumbled, "You're right. My apologies."
"So I guess you'll need the Avatar Cat's help now, right?" Nightpaw meowed.
"Yes please," the EarthClan warrior replied, crawling towards Goldwing timidly and bowing low to him.
The golden Avatar Cat dipped his head to him in respect before looking back out at the plains. The machine was still making its way slowly towards the walled city like a turtle going to the beach to lay its eggs. If they didn't stop it soon, then the wall would truly be torn down to the ground by FireClan.
"Now how do we stop that machine?" he meowed. At this, everyone looked over at Ashfeather.
The WaterClan warrior looked surprised as he asked them, "Why're you all looking at me?"
Goldwing reminded him, "You're the idea cat."
"And I'm the only one not to come up with a plan?" Ashfeather complained. "Do any of you have any idea how much pressure that is?"
"Let's not forget you're the whining cat," Silverheart purred teasingly.
Ashfeather looked down at his paws. "I don't mind that, but...never mind."
...
It felt good to be on dry land once again, Bearclaw was thinking as he stretched his forepaws out. It had taken a while for them to land thanks to the many other ferries going into the harbor. But it was worth it; they would be away from angry EarthClan cats or proud FireClan cats. Bearclaw's honor was taken for a bit, but he hoped he would regain it soon.
Bearclaw watched as Irontail padded towards the customs table, papers dangling from his jaws. He approached an EarthClan official, a sour-looking plump black-&-gray she-cat with a big ugly mole on her nose. When Irontail placed the papers on the pedestal, she glared down at them very dubiously.
(Author's Note: You know the cat Lucifer from the 1950s Disney movie Cinderella? Well, imagine this cat looking like Lucifer. And the upcoming reference will also be from the show TUFF Puppy.)
"So," she muttered, sounding unpleasant. "Your names are Moss and...Warhog?"
"It's pronounced 'wart-hog,'" Irontail corrected her.
The black-&-gray she-cat glared at him. "Are you telling me how to do my job?"
Irontail shook his head, stepped closer, and replied, "No, I wasn't." Then, with the charm of a younger tom, he had a smile on his flat face as he purred, "But I must say...you are like a jade flower in bloom, your beauty enchanting."
Bearclaw felt surprised and disgusted at what his gray tabby uncle was doing. Irontail had flirted with some elderly she-cats and even a young female rogue named April. But since he was flirting with an ugly old cat like her, he was afraid this plan would fail.
However, the black-&-gray she-cat looked charmed, for she was smiling as she purred, "Well, you're not bad in the charms yourself, handsome. Rowr!" she added, waggling her tail towards Irontail. "Anyways, welcome to BoulderClan. Enjoy your stay."
While she started stamping out the papers, Bearclaw felt himself start to retch. That looked quite disgusting for a cat that old; he himself wouldn't mind if he was seduced by a younger she-cat. But he wasn't looking for a mate, for he really wasn't one to be engrossed in romance. So when Irontail padded forwards to pick the papers up, Bearclaw leaped forward and took them.
"When we get inside, I'll bleach my eyes. I'll forget I ever saw that," the dark brown tabby tom muttered.
Irontail didn't protest, but he did give his nephew a wary glance. He nodded a farewell to the black-&-gray she-cat before following Bearclaw towards the ticket gates. But he wasn't alone in going into the city.
From a few fox-lengths away, he could hear Flash talking to Hornet and Spearhead. Bearclaw swiveled his ears around to hear what the rogue was talking about.
"You know, Moss will make a good Freedom Fighter," Flash was meowing. "Like us, he's just trying to find his place in the world."
Hornet gave him a confused glance. "But Comrade Flash, you don't know anything about him."
Reaching into his bag, Flash fished out a weed stalk and popped it into his mouth. He meowed to Hornet, "I know he didn't get that scar from falling down from a cliff."
"Besides..." Hornet meowed on, ignoring what she was just told, "...weren't we gonna go straight now?"
"Yeah," the brown-&-ginger striped tom replied. "But the Freedom Fighters could use a cat like Moss. I mean, he has the skills of feeding his comrades before himself, as the Warrior Code of the Clans say you gotta feed others before yourself. What do you think, Spearhead?" he asked the pale tabby tom.
Spearhead didn't say anything. Instead, he fixed his leader with a pale gray meaningful stare.
Flash nodded back. "Don't worry, Comrade Spearhead. I understand."
Bearclaw turned away from the Freedom Fighters and followed his uncle back to the ticket gate. He tried to ignore what Flash meowed about him joining the Freedom Fighters, for he didn't want to join any pack. He and Irontail were rogues; rogues would either stay alone or with an ally or two.
So, ignoring Flash's amber eyes fixed on him, Bearclaw padded after his uncle, swatting his tail at an annoying fly buzzing in his ear.
...
As Goldwing and his pack waited on the wall, they saw something on the horizon. A closer look through the telescope told the Avatar Cat that it was indeed a cat limping. His left hind leg was bent at an odd angle, and there was a creaking sound every time he walked. Several other cats ran out to the plains to escort him back to the medicine den.
When the cat came nearer, it was revealed that he was a dark ginger tom with a missing ear and a missing green eye. A dark tortoiseshell tabby she-cat escorted him to the nearest nest, where he collapsed into it with gratitude. Quickly, Silverheart got him some water-soaked moss, and the dark ginger tom lapped it up. Beside him, his Clanmates were being healed in their other nests.
Barkfur, Goldwing's pack, and Tobias watched as Silverheart got to work. The silver she-cat spread the blue energies of her healing technique over the shoulder of the fallen EarthClan cat. Goldwing could see the dark ginger tom's remaining eye close tight at the thought of pain. But knowing Silverheart, it wouldn't hurt one bit.
"What's wrong with him? He doesn't look injured," Barkfur mewled. "No fresh claw marks...and no blood."
"His Chi's blocked," Silverheart replied. She dissipated the blue energy before turning to the dark ginger warrior. "Who did this to you?"
The dark ginger tom looked weakly up at her. He tried to speak, but he began coughing up blood. Barkfur leaned down towards the injured cat and urged him, "Tell us, Rowanfall! Who was the cat who injured you?"
Rowanfall coughed again before finally moaning, "Two she-cats, just two, ambushed us. One of the she-cats, a white cat with gray patches and black head fur, hit me with a bunch of these damn quick jabs, and suddenly I couldn't EarthBend at all. I could barely move... And then she started doing some cartwheeling trick as she got away from us." After that, he sighed as he laid his head back down on the pillow, unconscious.
Goldwing saw Silverheart's dark blue eyes widen with realization. He remembered her telling him about the she-cat who had nearly killed her at MudClan. There were no surprises that she had accompanied FireClan over to BoulderClan.
Meanwhile, Silverheart looked away pensively and meowed to Rowanfall, "The white she-cat is named Aya. She doesn't look dangerous on the outside, but she knows the anatomy of a cat's body well. And she knows where a cat's weak points are. She's kinda like a tapeworm: taking you down from the inside."
That sounds scary, Goldwing thought, flinching at what his crush meowed. He could imagine being struck at certain pressure points in his body and making him succumb to the damage. But he was glad she didn't have anything against him. The only thing Goldwing had against was FireClan and their leader.
"Ooh! Ooh! I have an idea!" Ashfeather was calling, jumping up and down like a kit. Goldwing and Nightpaw chuckled at that gesture.
"Yes?" Silverheart asked her littermate. Unlike Goldwing and Nightpaw, she didn't really share their amusement.
The dark gray tabby warrior settled down before quickly meowing excitedly, "Remember what you just said? Her being a tapeworm in taking someone down from the inside? Well, that's what we're gonna do to the drill! It's the same way Aya took down all of those EarthBenders!"
"Of course!" Nightpaw added in eagerly. "We have to hit all the pressure points!"
Goldwing looked out the window at the machine and concluded, "Then we're taking it out from the inside."
...
Commercial Break
...
As Goldwing and his pack raced out to the battle machine, the Avatar Cat looked up to see what the machine was. It was a drill, large and long like a whale, and it was even flanked by FireClan tanks, which looked like fleas compared to the machine. There was a swirling part at the front of the machine, with the pointy end aiming right for the wall of BoulderClan.
Goldwing and his pack dove down to where the Terra Team had camped before. A metallic scent of blood reached their noses and made Goldwing almost retch, but he tried to focus. He couldn't afford to back out when FireClan was threatening BoulderClan.
Nightpaw flicked her right ear towards the older warriors and mewed, "Once I make some cover over there, you won't be able to see me. So stay close to me, and don't sniff out anything else."
"Got it," Silverheart mewed.
Leaping up from the trench, Nightpaw began a diligent EarthBending gesture that ended with a powerful paw stomp. This summoned up a mighty blast of dust and broken stone rocketing along the ground toward the drill. But the drill didn't seem to stop at the moment, for it let out a groan as it trudged towards the city wall.
"Run!" Nightpaw called. "Into the dust cloud!"
Racing right behind the small black cat, the older warriors followed her into the dust cloud. They wasted no time in sniffing out the machine; it had a distinct smell that a mix between flames and metal. It was indeed as wide as a whale and as tall as a Brachiosaurus. Dust and sand billowed up and blew into the faces of the cats, but they lowered their heads and dashed through.
Little did they know that they were being watched...
(Author's Note: What's gonna come up will be like last episode. Characters will keep switching around back and forth. Just bear with me.)
"Hey, look at that dust cloud!" Aya's mew made Frostfire look up from blueprints to see the white she-cat looking through the periscope to a dust cloud. "It's so...poofy." She turned to the other cats with a dreamy look on her face and mewed, "Poof!"
Frostfire raised an eyebrow at her. Sometimes, her friend could be such a cuckoo when it came to this kind of stuff. It was like when they had found the fur of the Avatar Cat's dragon's fur; at that, Aya had started talking about clumps.
Logtail meowed with confidence, "Don't worry, faithful deputy. I'm sure it's just nothing."
But Frostfire gave him a doubtful look. She highly doubted that it was nothing. It had to be more than just nothing.
...
Goldwing and his friends halted where they had run to as they looked up. The drill looked even bigger than it did when they looked at it from the wall of BoulderClan. The four cats had been running within the thick dust to emerge near the front of the drill. Standing in the drill's shadow, Nightpaw Bended open a pit in the ground.
"Everyone! Into the hole!" the black she-cat ordered.
The older warriors obeyed her as they followed her into the hole. When Ashfeather landed right next to Goldwing, Nightpaw flicked her tail towards the surface, and a rumbling made Goldwing look up. Sand was covering the hole at the surface, perfectly hiding them. Pawsteps ahead of them made the cats follow her down the tunnel Nightpaw was making.
Goldwing felt a little constricted as the four cats travelled down the tunnel. Ashfeather was making little stumbling sounds and he was letting out growls of annoyance.
"Damn, this tunnel's so dark!" the dark gray tabby warrior growled. "I can't see a thing!"
"Oh no! What a nightmare!" Nightpaw retorted with mock horror.
Ashfeather muttered something before adding, "Sorry."
Soon, after a few minutes, Goldwing could no longer hear digging sounds up ahead of him. Then he heard digging sounds, but from the way he could sense the earth around him now, he realized this digging was from above. Nightpaw seemed to have found the belly of the drill, for she had looked up and started clawing her way to the surface. The cats nodded to each other in the dark (though they couldn't see each other) and followed the apprentice.
Pale sunlight lit the tunnels as Ashfeather leaped out of the tunnel, but the sunlight was altered by something big. Towering above them was the drill. They stood underneath the Drill itself, a vast gloomy region framed by long rows of tracked wheels, with the Drill's body as its ceiling.
Goldwing had never been close to anything this huge before, not even a building. This thing was around eight times as huge as Archie, if not even more. In fact, it looked like it could fit several dragons in there, like around six or a little bit more.
"Look up there!" Ashfeather meowed, looking up at the drill. The other three cats did the same thing.
They could see an opening in the Drill's belly, with a narrow length of pipe extending out of it horizontally. Goldwing leaped up to catch it and hung upside down from it by wrapping his forelegs around the pipe. Silverheart leaped up and Goldwing grabbed her scruff, pulling her up until she got inside. Ashfeather did the same thing, thus boosting them up into the Drill.
There was a pause and Goldwing looked down. Nightpaw was not following.
Ashfeather called to her from the opening, "Nightpaw, what're you waiting for? Come on!"
"No way in Hell am I getting into that metal death trap!" Nightpaw called back. "I can't Bend metal! I'll slow it down from here!"
"All right," Ashfeather called back, after a bit of thinking. "Good luck!"
Before going back to follow Silverheart, Goldwing watched as Nightpaw did her best to stop the drill. She tried vainly to stop the forward movement of the Drill by Bending up an outcropping of stone, but both she and the brace were pushed along back by the persisting force of the Drill's progress.
A yowl from Ashfeather told Goldwing he was getting left behind. Just after looking down at the small black cat again, the golden tom got up and padded after his other friends.
...
When Goldwing and his friends padded around some more in the drill, they felt the area glow red around them. Looking around, they saw that there were many pipes and valves decorating the inside of the drill's engine room. This looked like where rats would play instead of a place for the drill's engine.
Ashfeather looked over the pipes, muttering, "We need to find the plans of this machine. You know, charts to show what the insides look like. Then we can find its weak points and hit 'em hard."
"But where are we gonna get something like that?" Goldwing asked him.
To his horror, Ashfeather took out his walrus-tusk knife and started hitting the pipes with the sharp end. Then he started slashing it back and forth, cutting up the steam valve. Goldwing rushed forward, hissing, "Ashfeather! What the hell are you doing? Someone's gonna hear us!"
"Exactly," the WaterClan warrior told Goldwing. The golden tom looked worryingly around as steam began filling the room. "I believe a machine as big as this needs an engineer to keep it in check. And when something breaks in here..."
"Then they'll have to send someone over here to fix it!" Silverheart finished for him as she and Goldwing exchanged smiles.
Goldwing now saw sense in this part of the plan. If they could just trap the engineer and knock him out (not murder him), they could get an important cat out of the way so the drill could be destroyed faster. So the three cats climbed up the pipes and crouched there, waiting like crows swooping down on fish.
Moments later, a large FireClan engineer in a filter mask appeared through the steam, holding a large wrench and a rolled up paper in his jaws. The large cat lifted his muzzle into the air and started sniffing the air; it was as if he was sniffing for prey. But it was clear that he was looking out for intruders.
Finally, Silverheart dropped down from the pipe and landed behind the engineer. The FireClan tom turned to see if she was in the steam, but all she said was:
"Yo."
At this, she flicked her tail around and started Bending the steam around her. Condensing it into an icy shell, the silver she-cat wrapped it around the engineer, trapping him. Silverheart backed off from the gray tabby, letting Goldwing and Ashfeather get behind her. The two toms leapt down from the pipes and ran up to the engineer, Ashfeather scooping the paper from the cat's frozen jaws.
"This'll work, thanks very much!" Ashfeather meowed as he picked up the paper with his teeth.
The three warriors raced off, leaving the large gray tabby helplessly trapped in ice. Behind them, the clank of a wrench dropped was heard through the metal floor.
As the three cats travelled through some of the drill, Ashfeather suddenly stopped at this. He had bunched his muscles together and leaped onto a larger pipe, laying the paper out across it. His sister and Goldwing leaped up beside him onto the pipe to look at it.
Ashfeather began explaining, "This Drill is made up of two main structures. Here's the inner machine, where we are now, and the outer shell." He traced his claw along the diagram while speaking, "The inner part and the outer part are connected by these brace pillars. If we can cut through them, the entire thing will break down."
He rolled up the paper, placed it in his jaws, and looked around him at the other cats as if waiting for them to agree. Goldwing and Silverheart nodded, so Ashfeather leaped down from the pipe and raced off towards their destination. His friends did the same thing.
...
The arrival point for BoulderClan, which was like a large stone train station, was totally packed. Cats were walking about in groups, and Bearclaw sat away from them, not wanting to speak to anyone right now. Irontail was sitting around a waiting area, tapping the tip of his feathery tail on the wall.
Bearclaw stood up, ready to go for a short round of hunting. Perhaps the officials here would let him take prey onto the train. He had just gotten up when Flash padded over to them and sat down next to Bearclaw.
"You got any plans once you get into the city?" the brown-&-ginger striped tom asked him.
Bearclaw was about to say something, but he was interrupted by a cream merchant with a cream cart. Instead of a cat, the cream merchant was a green-&-yellow macaw.
The macaw was squawking, "Get your fresh hot cream here! Finest cream in BoulderClan!"
"Excuse me!" Irontail called out; his amber eyes were lit by joy at lapping up cream. When the parrot steered the cream cart over to them, the fat gray tabby meowed, "May I have some emerald flower cream?"
The macaw nodded and grabbed a bowl in its strong beak, a beak that could break a cat's claw off its paw. With one foot, it brought out a pitcher of cream from a cabinet in the cart; with the other foot, it held the bowl down. It poured some cream into the bowl, fluttered down carefully to the floor, and pushed the bowl towards Irontail.
Irontail accepted it gratefully and, when the macaw wheeled the cart away, lapped one tongueful of cream. But suddenly, his eyes widened in shock and he spat it out in disgust. His nephew just looked at him in mild shock; Irontail had never tasted any cream he never liked before.
"Ugh!" Irontail spat, rubbing his tongue frantically with his paw. "This is more like the foulest cream in BoulderClan! Outrageous!"
Bearclaw rolled his eyes at this.
"Hey, can I talk with you, Moss?" Flash was looking at him with interest. "Just for a moment."
The dark brown tabby tom looked over at Irontail, who was still complaining about the foul bowl of cream. He gave a sigh, got up while making sure Irontail didn't watch, and padded after Flash to behind a large pillar. Hornet and Spearhead were waiting for them; Hornet was just snorting crossly, and Spearhead was flicking one of his ears.
Flash sat down at the head of the group and meowed, "I got something to tell you. You and I could stand a better chance of making it in the city if we stick together. Wanna join the Freedom Fighters ?"
"Sorry, but no," Bearclaw replied with no hesitation. "I don't think I'll fit into your little pack."
"Come on, mouse-brain," Flash retorted playfully. "You know how well we worked together when we robbed that pig of a captain. Think of all the good things we could do for all the cats in the city. Think of it!"
Bearclaw growled without hesitation, "I said NO. Now leave me alone."
Flash blinked at him, his amber eyes filled with mild surprise. Then he meowed, "All right, fine. Have it your way."
Bearclaw sighed with irritation and padded over to where Irontail was lapping cautiously at his cream. His uncle pushed the bowl around a little bit more before his eyes lit up from maybe having an idea. Then, to Bearclaw's dismay, Irontail spun the bowl around and placed his paw on it, heating it up with steam from his pink paw pads.
A gasp of shock made Bearclaw look up to see Flash staring at them with shock before closing his mouth. But then...it happened. Flash's fur was suddenly bristling, and his amber eyes were widening in shock, realizing what he had seen. Reaching Irontail, Bearclaw looked back to Flash, who now wore a look of ugly hostile suspicion on his face. The rogue tom turned around and stalked off, his two friends following him.
Does he know we're FireClan cats? Bearclaw thought, the worry from the back of his mind creeping to the front.
Watching Flash leave them, Bearclaw reached over and slapped the bowl of cream away from his uncle. Irontail responded by grunting, "Hey!"
"Irontail, why the hell are you FireBending your cream?" Bearclaw hissed through gritted teeth. "For a wise elder, that was a stupid move!"
"I know you're not supposed to cry over spilled cream, but..." Irontail sniffed mournfully as he pointed a paw to the puddle of spilled cream, "...it's so sad!"
Bearclaw rolled his eyes again.
...
A rumble from below told Goldwing that they were travelling over rocks, crushing them in the process. Ashfeather was leading them on through the drill, out a doorway, and out onto a large steel beam. When the two other cats stopped behind him, Ashfeather set the plans down and laid them flat onto the beam.
"Wow," Ashfeather mewed, studying the plans. "They look bigger than they do in the plans. We'll have to work really hard at this to cut through this beam."
Silverheart raised a brow in disbelief. "What's this 'we' stuff? Goldwing and I will be doing the hard work."
Ashfeather rose to his haunches and gestured to himself with his paws, meowing, "Look, I'm the planning cat." Making chopping waves with his forepaws, he added, "And you two are the 'chop all the shit up with WaterBending' cats." Finishing the speech with his chest puffed with pride, he finished, "Together, we're AvatarClan!"
Goldwing and Silverheart shared embarrassed looks as if he had just given them bad names. But team names were the least of their worries; they would have to make Ashfeather take away the team name later. What they needed to do was climb up some of the beams and cut them down with powerful WaterBending.
So the three cats padded over to one of the beams and Ashfeather stepped away from the beam to let them do their work. Silverheart began Bending the water out of her water pouch, sending it to ring against the edge of a vertical beam before being caught by Goldwing, who Bended it back at her along the same path. As the water went back in forth, a scratch began to form in the side of the thick beam. Wearing looks of active concentration, Goldwing and Silverheart sent the water slicing back through the diagonal cut again and again.
Moving forward to a point where the cut has reached the midway point through the beam, the two cats bent over, gasping with exhaustion. However, Ashfeather was prancing around them, calling out needless stuff to them.
"C'mon, team! Don't give up now!" Ashfeather cheered them on. "We're doing it! We're-"
But Silverheart spun around and gave him a glare and a hiss, her ears flattened and her blue eyes narrowed. She seemed ready to explode with anger at any minute like the volcano they stopped a few moons ago.
Ashfeather seemed to get the hint, for he stopped prancing and mewled, "I mean..." He recovered and mewed reassuringly, "Keep up the good work."
The two WaterBending cats resumed slicing away at the girder little by little. Ashfeather looked on, an eager look of expectancy growing on his face. Finally, the beam was cut easily in two, and the upper section grinded down the angled cut a few inches before screeching to a halt.
But it came at a cost: the exhaustion Goldwing and Silverheart were feeling. The two cats sat down with a plop and began panting.
"This is bullshit," Silverheart gasped, spitting a little on the beam. "At this rate, we won't do any damage before the drill gets to the wall."
"Well, I don't know how much of those I have left," Goldwing panted, plopping down beside her.
Suddenly, Ashfeather lashed his tail at them to shut up and listen; tiredly, the two cats sat still and listened. An ominous shudder and low moan passed down the length of the Drill.
"Did you hear that?" Ashfeather told the gold-&-silver cats, straining his ears towards the sound. "We took it down! Now let's get outta here!"
But as they raced away, they paused at a doorway, listening once again. A voice was coming down from overhead speaking tubes. They paused as still as they could; the voice seemed to belong to a middle-aged tomcat...
...
"Well done, crew," Logtail was meowing to the cats in the cabin. "The drill is now making its way into the wall even as we speak." Turning to Frostfire, he meowed, "Let us all start the countdown to victory!"
Frostfire nodded, an illegible expression on her face. She got up from her seat to pad over to the window to see the scene before her. Right before her, the drill's titanic bit penetrated into the surface of the outer wall.
The black she-cat looked at it some more before smirking evilly. This was one plan that was going to go well.
...
Commercial Break
...
Whirring sounds told Goldwing that the drill was starting to bore into the outer wall. A different view from the window told them the rubble from the wall was being soaked with moisture as it was carried backwards through the Dill. He looked around the red room with slight worry; any minute now, the drill would tear down the wall.
Ashfeather, meanwhile, was throwing his weight against the severed black girder. The other two cats watched on with worry as he kept pushing the girder with little success.
"Come on, girder! Budge!" the dark gray tabby warrior kept grunting.
Deciding that there was nothing else to do for now, Goldwing and Silverheart rested on the beam they were standing on. They laid down and tucked their paws under their chests while Ashfeather kept up the hopeless progress. Finally, Silverheart stood up.
"It won't budge, okay?" she told her brother. "This is bad. REALLY bad."
Ashfeather insisted, "But we're putting everything we've got into breaking these damn braces! And you wanna know why it's not breaking down? It's taking too long!"
Suddenly, as Goldwing watched this little scene, he looked around at the braces, forming an idea in his head. He recalled something Nightpaw told him while training in EarthBending: breaking down a weakness from the inside. And he saw that Ashfeather was using too much of his power to try and break the girder. There had to be some way to persuade his friend to think like a cat with EarthBending.
I think I got it.
So he meowed, "I think we don't have to cut it all the way. Nightpaw taught me something about not using all of your energy in one go." He got to his paws and padded over to Ashfeather, who gave him a look of confusion.
"Do a battle pose, Ashfeather. You'll have to be fast and precise," he ordered as the WaterClan warrior did so. He hooked a forepaw around one of Ashfeather's back paws and pulled it back, pulling him off balance. "Hit a series of points, and break your foe's stance." Goldwing hit him with a series of false blows. "And when he's taking a break, you deliver the final blow." The golden cat bonked him lightly on the head as a finish. "His own weight literally becomes his downfall."
When he was being used like a dummy, Ashfeather flopped forward comically onto the beam.
Silverheart spoke up, "So instead of cutting all the way through the beam, we just weaken the braces?"
Goldwing nodded. "Yep. Then I'll go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow."
"Then BOOM! It all crashes down!" Ashfeather spoke up while lying down. He was raising his forepaws in the air before sweeping them above him.
"Yeah." Goldwing looked up to the top of the beam and mewed with passion, "Everyone in those walls and everyone in the world...they're counting on us. We won't let them down."
Ashfeather sat up and added, "Everyone IS counting on us. Except for FireClan, of course."
He just grinned at them after saying that, hoping they would laugh along. But instead, Goldwing and Silverheart looked frustrated with him.
Anyhow, Goldwing and Silverheart raced to various pillar beams and started to weaken them with WaterBending. Slowly but fortunately, the beams began to weaken.
"That's enough!" Goldwing called to his friends as they finished with one beam. "Let's go on to the next one!" At this, he ran off to the next beam, the other two cats following him quickly.
...
Nightpaw was still struggling greatly to slow its advance with a stone prop. But sadly, it merely resulted in a pile of loose earth growing behind her paws as both she and the brace were dragged along. The small apprentice dug her claws deep into the machine, blood seeping up from around her claws, but she didn't mind.
"Come on, Twinkletoes!" she grunted as she tried hard to stop the machine. "Hurry up!"
Beside her, to her shock, several EarthBending cats that survived the attack rushed forth to help. Some cats summoned up stone from the ground to stop the tires, while others started to dig into the ground, tossing boulders at the drill. They must have seen her struggling and rushed over to help out.
...
Frostfire looked down at the pool of water in front of her seat, leaning down to lap at the chilling water. She smirked silently to herself as she thought of all the territory FireClan would conquer if they broke through BoulderClan's walls. Any minute now, the cries of frightened cats and the boom of crumbling walls would reach her ears as calmly as music.
But however, her thoughts came to an abrupt end. As she finished lapping up some water, a loud voice was calling through one of the voice speakers.
"War Minister, an engineer was ambushed! His plans were stolen!" the voice called.
Logtail's eyes widened with shock, fear flowing into their gaze. Frostfire narrowed her eyes, her fur bristling with suspicion.
A second voice called, "War Minister, a support beam on the starboard side has been cut clean through! It's damaged, sir!"
Logtail gulped, paralyzed by fear, as he watched Frostfire from the corner of his eye. The black she-cat guessed her was afraid she would have him executed for negligence.
Not today, she decided. Turning to Rose and Aya, she called, "Move out, girls! We got a prowler to catch!"
Aya leaped to her paws right away while Rose yawned and rose slowly to her paws. Flicking her head towards the doorway, she dashed out to the superstructure of the drill, her friends running behind her.
...
His paw slipping a little on the beam, Goldwing pulled it back as he and Silverheart continued their work. So far, things were looking well with the beams being weakened one by one, bit by bit. Ashfeather was watching, no longer shouting needless stuff to them; he was just patrolling about, his tail lashing eagerly.
"Good work, AvatarClan!" he meowed after pacing around. He turned around to add, "Now all Goldwing has to do is...DUCK!"
The Avatar Cat swiftly ducked low just in time for his ears to avoid being singed by blue flames. Dread filling him at knowing who the owner was, he got back up and hissed at who had come to confront them.
It was Frostfire; the black-furred FireClan deputy was sliding down a girder right towards the three other cats. Her other friends, the white-furred Aya and the dark tortoiseshell Rose, were sliding on the beam next to her. While they slid down towards their targets, the three she-cats leapt off and landed with a thud right before them.
Frostfire's claws were shrouded by blue flames, and then she raised it into their air and fired the flames at Goldwing. The golden AirClan warrior let out a yowl of surprise as he ducked to avoid the second blast.
Aya spoke up, "Wow! You were right, Frostfire! It IS the Avatar Cat! And friends," she purred with a seductive smile on her face.
Goldwing looked up at the white FireClan warrior, confused. What was Aya smiling at?
"Uh, hey there," Ashfeather stuttered, smiling vacantly and waving.
Silverheart rolled her eyes, grabbed her littermate's tail, and dragged him away. Goldwing didn't know Ashfeather had a bit of a longing for Aya.
Letting out a battle yowl, Aya dropped to the bottom part of the girder and leapt at Goldwing. Spinning around on the spot, Goldwing lashed out a hind leg and kicked the FireClan cat in the belly, making her yowl with shock and leap backwards. While Aya stood there, dazed from the attack, the AvatarClan cats took the chance to run off to the doorway into the corridor, the three FireClan she-cats following them.
As they ran down corner after corner, Goldwing started getting tired. Panting noises behind him told the golden cat that his friends were also getting tired. Right when they approached a cross-shaped intersection, Goldwing stopped.
"You should go, you two," he told the WaterClan cats. "I've got something I can do here."
He spun around on the spot and started to run down the corridor. Tobias, who was absent when they were in the framework, flew over him, his wings flapping hard.
"Goldwing, wait!" Silverheart's mew made Goldwing turn around, thinking she was telling him to not do it. Instead, she reached into her bag, got her small WaterBending pouch out, and tossed it to him. "You need this more than I do right now!"
The AirClan warrior gave her a nod before darting off. He could hear his friend's pawsteps fade away into the walls of the drill.
"Follow them. The Avatar Cat is my prey," Frostfire's cold meow made Goldwing run deeper into the drill.
...
Silverheart and Ashfeather ran with all their might until they reached a dead end. They looked behind them to make sure Frostfire or her lackeys weren't following them before looking back around. In front of them was a large hatch marked by a sign written in English.
"'Slurry pipe?'" Silverheart read as Ashfeather struggled to open the hatch with both paws wrapped around it. "Wait, what's slurry?"
Ashfeather opened the hatch at last before looking down at it. As he and Silverheart looked at all the stuff inside, he replied, "Slurry's rock and water mixed together; it's like mud except mud's created by water and dirt or sand. To us, it's our way out."
Silverheart leapt onto the rim of the hatch with Ashfeather doing the same thing. As they hung there at the edge of the hatch, they saw two familiar she-cats rushing towards them. Rose and Aya must have sniffed out their scent, but it was perhaps Frostfire who told them to go after the WaterClan cats.
Letting out a squeak of shock, Silverheart let go and leapt into the slurry, followed shortly by her littermate. To them, it was a good thing, for Rose's throwing knives reflected off the open slurry hatch. Both WaterClan cats splashed about in the slurry neck-deep and were quickly swept away by the current.
...
Meanwhile, back above the slurry hatch, Rose and Aya had reached the hatch as soon as the dark gray tabby tom vanished. Aya, who didn't mind much of the filthiness despite being a clean cat, leapt onto the brim, looking down with resolution. Rose, who had followed by more slowly than her friend, reared up onto her hind paws and rested her forepaws on the rim as she looked down.
"Ugh," the dark calico she-cat sniffed, making a disgusted face. "That's disgusting."
"Come on, Rose," Aya told her friend, bunching her muscles together to prepare to leap inside. "You heard what Frostfire said. We should go after them."
Rose retorted with a shudder of her long pelt, "Frostfire can shoot all that damn blue fire at me all she wants. I am NOT going into that wall mud juice."
Aya rolled her gray eyes at her and leaped down after them. The white she-cat didn't seem to be affected by the mud juice on her clean pelt. Taking a deep breath, she ducked her head beneath the murky brown waves.
...
Back inside the drill, Goldwing panted as he ran on ahead away from the intersection. In front of him, he saw several FireClan warriors place themselves in a circle, ready to throw him down to the ground. Goldwing leapt into the air, landed in the middle of the circle, and watched on as the cats ran at him. He pushed some warriors to the ground, slashed others across the faces with his claws, and blasted some away with AirBending. With that done, Goldwing ran off.
Behind him, Frostfire was panting harder as she leapt from girder to girder. The black she-cat was like a shadow among the girders, leaping like a phantom haunting him. Goldwing swore her claws were crackling with electricity every time they landed on the cold steel. He watched as she landed on the ground behind him before launching an air blast behind him with his tail. When Frostfire was blown back, he ran away as fast as he could.
After dodging some engineers, who couldn't see him because of their repertory masks, Goldwing slid to a halt as he arrived at a dead end. But there was a ladder in front of him, and he looked up to see a hatch right above his head. Sighing with determination, Goldwing leapt onto the ladder and started climbing upwards.
StarClan, let this be the right choice.
...
Yowling with terror, the WaterClan siblings rode the cascade of slurry out the rear spout of the drill, sliding to a halt into a large pool of slurry starting to form at its rear. Once they hit the dirty ground, Ashfeather began to wipe the horrible stuff off his tongue, lashing his tail around in the slurry in disgust. Silverheart rolled her eyes at that.
"Ashfeather, it wouldn't have hurt you to close your mouth, would it?" Silverheart asked him.
"Hey, don't tell me like that," her brother retorted. "You were also screeching your head off!"
Silverheart was about to say something else, but she looked back and gasped. Ashfeather looked away from her and widened his eyes with shock.
Aya was appearing from the pipe exhaust, riding waist deep in the slurry flow with a look of wicked eagerness on her face. The two cats had never seen anything like that on her face from the three times they had faced her before. Just before she would reach the ground, Silverheart Bended back the rush of slurry, pinning the mud-covered white she-cat at the end of the pipe.
Silverheart growled at her fiercely, "Try blocking my chi NOW, circus bitch!" As she said this, she raised herself onto her haunches resolutely and raised one forepaw into the air.
Ashfeather meowed, "Keep it up, little sis! The pressure will build up in the drill! Then when Goldwing makes the final blow, it'll pop like a toad!"
...
Goldwing placed one paw on the lid of the hatch before pushing up with all of his might. He let out a sigh of relief, and then it turned to revolt. Right now, he smelled something that was like a mix of fox-dung and boulders. Tobias flew out of the hole after him, soaring around in the air, cawing with joy at smelling fresh air once again. But Goldwing remembered something right away: the wall.
He leapt out of the hole and started rushing towards the wall, only to stop when he looked in horror at what he saw. The drill was already deep within the wall, drilling harder and piles of mud flying in its wake. Goldwing's delicate paws were now becoming stained from all the mud.
"This looks like a good place for the final blow," Goldwing told Tobias, who had landed next to him. "Now how to..."
But he didn't finish, for he had to leap out of the way of a large boulder that bounced off where he was standing. Goldwing barely had enough time to recover when he gave a yowl of surprise. This was because more boulders were raining down onto him. He dodged a second and third rock before looking up.
"Barkfur!" Goldwing yowled up to the warrior directing the attacks. "Tell your warriors to stop shooting rocks down here!"
The brown-&-gray tabby tom looked down in confusion, perhaps not hearing him. Then, much to Goldwing's dismay, Barkfur yowled, "Warriors! No matter what, do not stop shooting those rocks down there!" Then he withdrew, covering his face with his paws.
The row of Benders next to him released another volley of boulders down below them. Below, Goldwing sped past this new wave of stones, and as he landed, opened up the water pouch that Silverheart let him borrow. Taking a deep breath, he let the water form around his claws and began rapidly slicing the surface of the drill.
...
There was another battle still raging on at the end of the drill. Silverheart continued blocking the pipe's exhaust with a slurry ball containing Aya, who was yowling with surprise. Ashfeather was once again calling out needless cheers and speeches her way.
The dark gray tabby tom called out, "Nice move, Silverheart! Keep it up! Remember to breathe!"
Finally, the silver she-cat lost her temper, snarling, "Will you shut the fuck up already? I'm so sick and tired of you telling me what to do all day! You're acting like a ranting baboon!"
"JUST BEND THAT SLURRY, WOMAN!" Ashfeather screamed back.
Silverheart sighed and Bended up a rush of slurry with her free forepaw. But she did this behind her, for she ended up launching him up to plunge back down into the foul muck. Ashfeather let out a moan of revolt and started shaking the muck off of him, but she rolled her eyes.
"Hey, guys! Need any help?"
Silverheart looked under the drill with surprise. Nightpaw was crawling out from underneath a pile of earth under the tires.
"Hey, Nightpaw!" Silverheart called to her apprentice. "Help me out with plugging this up!"
Nightpaw nodded and ran over to her, her black pelt stained with dirt. Bracing her muddy legs, she matched up with Silverheart, driving the slurry-plug even further up the pipe. Aya was now writing violently amongst the murky sludge, but Silverheart felt satisfied with this.
And right now, the slurry pipe system began to buckle and swell under the pressure.
...
At the front of the drill, fountains of slurry began to jet where the drill met the wall. Just nearby, Goldwing continued to rapidly cut away at the outer hull in an X-like pattern. Somehow, the water left an X-shaped scar on the surface of the drill, and that was better than nothing.
But this came at a cost for the golden tomcat. When he stopped to take a break, he lowered his head and began panting out of exhaustion. He gave a sigh and sat down, ready to lay down for just a few moments.
"Great StarClan, I wish I was a MetalBender right now," Goldwing panted.
Tobias, who was sitting down next to him, suddenly gave out a sharp cry. Goldwing looked up in time and leaped out of the way as he deflected a blast of blue flame with an air blast. His red-tailed hawk flew upwards just in time to avoid the fire coming at him.
Not wanting to get his hawk in danger, Goldwing called, "Tobias, get out of here! I'll handle this!"
Tobias nodded, spread his wings, and took off. Goldwing turned around in time to take a stance.
He saw a feline shadow and looked up at Frostfire herself, who was making a stance with a look of steady confidence. Goldwing, who looked nowhere near as sure of himself, backed away until he was up against the wall. The two wildcats were facing off about a dozen fox-lengths apart on top of the drill.
Frostfire began the fight by launching a ball of fire at Goldwing, who ducked and sent an arc of wind at her. Leaping over the windblast, the black cat struck again, but she was forced to counter a rapid series of water-whips slapping away her attack gestures, blood spraying from an attack at the face. Leaping into the air, Frostfire sent a pair of aerial FireBending kicks towards the whips, drying up the water Goldwing was Bending, and sending him spinning back. She was prevented from pressing the attack, however, as another salvo of boulders from above forced both of them to dodge.
Goldwing caught one of the boulders with Bending, sending it hurtling at Frostfire. The FireClan deputy fell into a split to avoid it, rose up, and launched another fire blast. The golden warrior cat EarthBended pieces of rubble into a protective wall, then he tossed chunks of it toward Frostfire. Kicking them out of the air, she launched a sweeping counter blast which barely missed the head of Goldwing, who hurled an even larger chunk towards her. Vaulting into the air, Frostfire made an incredible forward spinning double-kick fire blast, destroying his defensive wall and hurtling him backwards to slam against the outer wall.
Moaning with blood dripping from his jaws, Goldwing looked up to see Frostfire sneering coldly at him. Her yellow eyes seemed to glow a demonic-like color, and her black fur turned a grayish color in the dying sunset. Despite that, there was a bloody slash on her flank, but she ignored it as if it was nothing.
Readying another attack, Frostfire relaxed as she saw the Avatar Cat drop down and fall forward, unconscious; he was sprawled against the drill's hull. Frostfire was shaken by the advance of the drill, and the massive bit would be bursting through the other side of the outer wall. Goldwing could barely move as he was slowly pulled under the wall's exterior by the progress of the Drill. Frostfire pulled him up by his scruff and shoved him up against the wall. As she clawed at his muzzle and cheek, Goldwing slowly opened one eye to see a blurry Frostfire preparing to deliver the final blow.
Finally, one of Goldwing's dark gray eyes snapped open in alarm. He spun his head around, bit through the surface of the wall, and surrounded his fangs with jaws of broken rock. Quickly, he caught Frostfire's scruff and threw her far back, her claws sparking against the drill's structure. Goldwing made a defiant EarthBending stance as she leaped at him, paws spread out and ablaze.
(Author's Note: Lion King much, anyone?)
The battle was suddenly disrupted by a blast of slurry that erupted at the point where the drill met the wall, throwing Goldwing from his paws before slamming against the onrushing FireClan cat, their heads crashing together. The golden cat flailed about, trying to get to his paws, and made it to his knees before Frostfire, forelegs flailing, skated weakly through the slop to send them both bowling into the wall. Knocked briefly senseless, they both slid face-first through the slurry and away from the wall, diverging to slip down opposite sides of the Drill.
Recovering, Frostfire tried to stop her plunge using her paws, her claws sparking. She managed to stop herself midway down the side of the drill, clutching at it riskily. Meanwhile, Goldwing slid down his back, his rock fangs breaking apart as he tried to stop himself with it. At last, he was rescued by Tobias; the hawk swooped down, catching his scruff and pulling him up so he could use his swift-running technique to get to the top of the drill. The Avatar Cat landed back onto the back of the drill, and Tobias settled on his back.
"Thanks, Tobias," Goldwing purred, reaching his paw up to pat Tobias on the head. "I owe you one."
Tobias nodded as if he knew what his owner said.
While his hawk took off, Goldwing padded along the Drill's back, through the slurry mess, to stop at the X cut into the plating. He looked down at it, knowing that water was not going to make the drill fall apart faster.
"Now all I need is a..." A boulder crashed down next to him, startling him. "Wow. Actually, I DO need that."
Bending the boulder around to the incision, he began a series of full EarthBending moves, each slicing away a large chunk of boulder. Eventually, he was left with a large stone spike pointed down into the breach. Goldwing dropped back, fell into a sprinter's stance, and started running toward the wall. Nearing it, he Bended up small balls of air and set his paws in there, riding up the sheer face of the outer wall. As he ran up the wall, the Air Paws dissipated, and Goldwing began to run up the vertical face. As his momentum fell away, he turned around and saw that he had nearly reached the top of the outer wall, the drill far below him.
With a powerful battle screech, Goldwing spun around and ran down at top speed. Meanwhile, Frostfire, who crawled back up on top of the drill with blood dripping down her face, spotted the golden cat falling down parallel to the wall. With a shout, Goldwing broke free of the wall and plunged downward, spinning in circles, as Frostfire prepared a potent blast to intercept him. Her attack passed just over his head as he struck the spike with incredible force, pushing all four of his paws deep into the spike. The explosive shockwave hurled a shrieking Frostfire through the air as it traveled the length of the drill.
The drill beneath Goldwing's weary paws began to shudder brutally. He could tell that the beams in the superstructure room began to cut in half as torrents of slurry rushed past. Then he could see a chain of slurry eruptions begin at the front segment and work their way towards the rear. And at the rear were his friends; Silverheart and Nightpaw were Bending something while Ashfeather was standing behind them.
"Everyone, get behind this pillar!" Nightpaw was calling, stomping the ground and making a tall earth pillar appear under them. "She's gonna blow!"
As the rock pillar rose from the lake of slurry, a great rush of it issued out from the exhaust pipe. Aya was somehow washed up against the earth pillar, slammed against it, and held there by the powerful current. Safe atop the pillar, Nightpaw and the WaterClan cats watched as one by one the segments of the drill crash to a stop, great clouds of steam rising from them. On the other side of the wall, the massive bit slowly stopped rotating.
While the sun set before him, Goldwing got wearily to his paws, mud covering his bright golden fur. He lifted a forepaw and swiped the mud away from his face, revealing a large smile on his face. Tobias landed on top of his head and started hopping up and down on the mud. They had done it; they stopped the drill at long last.
Goldwing looked upwards to look at the mud-covered windshield of the Drill command center. As the mud slid away, it revealed a pale brown tom, standing with an expression of horror and amazement. In another minute, Goldwing's gray gaze followed a long streak of mud that had exploded up the face of the wall. Barkfur was sitting there, completely covered in mud, as it dripped away to reveal the pathetic look on his face.
Thanks again, sir, Goldwing told him silently. Looks like you DID need us after all!
Aya was sitting up from the mud pool, wiping her face clean, and spitting out a mouthful of mud in disgust. Frostfire slid down the back of the Drill, dropping down next to her and splashing her with a fresh layer of mud; the mud turned a dark red thanks to the blood from Frostfire's head wound. The FireClan deputy looked back to see a steaming hatch open in the rear of the drill, revealing a somber Rose.
And all Rose said was... "We lost."
...
"Last call for passengers to BoulderClan!"
As the cats that were heading for BoulderClan padded forward, Bearclaw looked around him. Some cats were skinny with several sick-looking kits following them, while others were big burly cats. Also, some cats were old and weak, while others looked too young and also weak. The rest were divided; some weak, some strong.
Bearclaw heard a growling noise, and he turned his head to see who it was. Flash was stalking aboard the train with Hornet and Spearhead following him. When Flash looked back at him, there was anger and rage hidden beneath those amber depths.
"Relax, Flash!" Hornet was telling him. "So the gray tabby elder ordered a bowl of warm cream. So what?"
"So what?" Flash repeated through clenched teeth. "Hornet, that old bastard didn't order any warm cream. I saw him heating it up by himself! Those two cats are FireBenders!"
Looking over at them, Bearclaw allowed himself to be led to the train by Irontail. When the two former FireClan cats passed Flash and his friends, Flash turned away from them with a snort while Spearhead lowered his head to hide his face behind his hat. They were attempting to look ordinary as they boarded a few cars down.
Still angry about Flash asking him to join him, Bearclaw sat down next to his uncle in a different seat. Three cats were already there with them: a black-&-white tomcat, a brown tabby-&-white queen who smelled of milk and kits, and a gray tabby she-cat. Bearclaw got up and looked over to where his uncle was looking. There were three kits suckling close to the brown tabby she-cat's belly; one was black-&-white, one was light gray, and the other was golden tabby.
Bearclaw shook his head as he saw the family of loners. He recognized them as the family he had almost mugged when he was alone for the time being. And the formerly pregnant she-cat looked like she had given birth just a few hours ago.
"What beautiful kits you have, ma'am," Irontail purred, tickling the light gray kit with his tail.
The brown tabby-&-white queen nodded back and smiled, purring, "Thank you, sir. They were born just this morning."
"Their names are Fox, Mist, and Hope," the black-&-white tom spoke up proudly. "We just love these little ones already."
The golden tabby kit squeaked as if agreeing, and the queen looked down at her with pretty green eyes. Beside her, her littermates didn't reply, for they were continuing to feed.
Bearclaw looked away from the kits to look out the back window. Two EarthBenders began to push it forward with a grinding noise; at last, the train had pulled out of the station. The train was now traveling on a raised track over sunset lit fields. To many, it was a great place to get away from danger, but to Bearclaw, it was an unknown life.
...
Goldwing sniffed the air as he and his friends watched the sunset from the top of the wall. For right now, the stench of mud and blood had filled the air, but the stench would fade away soon. But for Goldwing and his pack, the air smelled like victory and peace. Goldwing felt the wounds sting, but it was worth it.
"I'd like to say this: good work out there, AvatarClan!" Ashfeather spoke up happily.
Silverheart sighed and growled, "Enough of this AvatarClan bullshit today. It won't catch on no matter how hard you try!"
But Ashfeather didn't look miffed. Instead, he meowed, "Well, how about..." He leaped into the air and drew out his badger-bone boomerang, startling Tobias, "...the Golden Quadro! See? It's good! There's four of us, and he's golden," he added, patting Goldwing's head. "The GOLDen Quadro!"
Goldwing purred, "Hey, I like that one!"
"We'll talk about names once we're in the city," Silverheart huffed, walking away towards the other end of the wall. The other three cats followed her with Ashfeather bouncing after them.
"How about the Furious Four?" Ashfeather mewed happily.
Silverheart retorted, "How about not?"
Ashfeather tried once again, "How about the Awesome Pawesome?"
"You're crazier than a loon," Nightpaw retorted as she began walking faster away. Goldwing and Silverheart did the exact same thing.
"Why?" Ashfeather called back, now alone. "We're awesome!"
The three cats rolled their eyes while Ashfeather ran after them. They were finally going into the heart of BoulderClan.
To be continued...
...
AvatarCat12: Once again, folks, I'm sorry if I haven't updated recently.
Katara: It's okay. But besides the World Of Warcraft thing, what kept you so long?
AvatarCat12: My friend spent the night this weekend, and we went to a housewarming party my sister held at her apartment yesterday.
Aang: Wow. I wish we were there.
AvatarCat12: It's over now, but it was okay. So who wants to say the review and the preview for Clan Of Walls And Secrets?
Aang: I will! (To the readers) Read and review, everyone! Those who do will get a virtual person from each race (by choice) from World Of Warcraft. Flames aren't allowed, but advice and constructive criticism are.
Preview: AvatarClan has finally made it into BoulderClan, and they have to give the leader the great news. But when they arrive, they see that something's not right in this huge city. Meanwhile, Bearclaw tries to fit into the city but finds it too hard. And Flash tries to expose the former Clan cats as FireBenders.
All three: See ya next time!