A/N: To the fighting!
The ginger she-cat crouched down, wriggling her backside as she waited for the tom to attack. "What's the matter, Breezy?" she taunted, her fangs glinting in the light of the full moon. "You don't want to attack such a tiny putty tat?"
Breeze lunged forward with a feral growl, only to miss as Flame jumped nimbly away. The gray tom skidded a few feet, and Panther was close enough to touch his tail as he whipped around to face Flame once more.
"Come on, you can do better than that!" she mewed condescendingly, sitting down with her tail wrapped around her paws. Breeze snarled in anger, and leapt at the snobby she-cat once more. With a slight jump to the left, Flame dodged his attack, and ripped her long, dog-tooth claws down his side.
Breeze yowled in pain, and Panther flinched. Who would've thought that such a brave, tough warrior would sound so like a kit when hurt?
It was then that Breeze decided a different tactic. The way he was going now was to play nearly dead. Breeze limped forward with a spark of anger in his eyes, clearly faking. However, Flame was clouded by pride and only saw a dutiful BloodClan cat.
She danced in front of him, taunting Breeze with cruel, harsh words. The tom lashed out once with sheathed claws, and Flame easily dodged, laughing in his face.
She jumped on top of him, whispering more insults in his ear as she prepared her claws at the side of his throat. "Goodbye, Breeze, my friend."
Breeze closed his eyes, seemingly preparing for the inevitable. Flame smiled and tensed her shoulders, preparing to rip his throat out. Then, Breeze smiled, stopping Flame in her tracks, confused. He brought up his hind legs, and ripped downward, bringing with it Flame's bowels.
"I see you have outsmarted me," she whispered as her eyes dimmed. Steam rose from her mutilated body, and Panther shuddered in excitement. She hoped that one day she would be in that circle, fighting to the death for her Clan, except she would be more like Breeze, of course.
The black and white tom called in a pure white she-cat, who gingerly grabbed Flame's scruff and dragged her off the circle. A large trail of bright crimson was left in her wake, and Panther knew that soon it would be a dull maroon.
Breeze was excused, and thanked Checkers as he left. Checkers then ushered two new cats into the Death Circle. The two were brothers, both pure black. One was named Spade, while the other was named Curly.
Checkers read out the rules again, and the brothers faced off. Curly was the face-value winner. He was much bigger, and his long black hair would keep a lot of damage off. Spade was scrawny, with shorter ragged hair. But he had the air of a fighter in him.
Curly and Spade circled each other, searching for their brother's weakness. Panther found it impossible that the two toms had lived together for all of their lives, but yet not know each other's strengths and weaknesses.
"Come on now," Checkers mewed impatiently. "My family wants me in by sundown, and I really can't be out there afterwards." Spade gave the tom a surprised look, while Curly just laughed smugly. Then, the real battle began. It was fast and furious, with Curly seeming to have the upper hand. He often pinned Spade before the tom could wriggle out of his brother's grasp.
Spade seemed to grow tired, but the spark in his eyes grew brighter. He jumped and dodged and clawed at Curly, trying desperately to keep his life. Panther saw an elderly black she-cat cheering on Curly with all her might, and saw that the mother had clearly favored the elder brother.
Spade ducked and weaved, effectively tiring Curly out as he leapt on his back. Spade dug his claws deep into Curly's fur, using the tom's defense against him. Curly yowled and screeched, trying to dislodge Spade without much success. Curly's moves to try and get Spade off got slower and slower, and finally Curly slumped to the ground, defeated.
A roar went through the crowd of watching BloodClan cats. Nobody had expected Curly to lose! It was expected that Spade would get his throat ripped out just seconds into the battle.
Spade dislodged his claws from Curly's long fur, and crouched near his brother. "I'm so sorry," he whispered into Curly's ear, so quietly that Panther had to strain to hear it. She heard Mahogany snort next to her, and turned back just to watch Spade grab Curly's throat and pull.
The blood spattered, once more feeding the maroon streaks with fresh color. Checkers stepped into the middle once again, and called forward two more cats.
Although Checkers was the referee of sorts for the Leader Brawl, Panther and most other cats didn't have respect for him. That's because he was a housecat that was let outside occasionally, not street-cats like the warriors. Panther held him in disdain, because the tom didn't need to learn how to hunt, and had no intention of doing so. He was happy with a carefree life and a quick jaunt outside once in a while.
Panther pulled out of her thoughts to witness Carlos and Tabasco, two equally strong and tough leaders. Although she watched their fight with mild interest, Panther couldn't imagine either as the leader of BloodClan. They were both too headstrong, and would easily fight and kill others just for the fun.
In a quickly maneuver move, Tabasco cut open Carlos' face, and the tom fell to the ground, bleeding to death. Tabasco limped to the side, going to where Spade and Breeze resided, preparing for tomorrow night, when he collapsed.
Checkers ran over, and nosed Tabasco several times in different places. "He's dead!" the housecat announced, making the crowd sigh in disappointment. It was rare that both cats died in a fight, but when it happened, everyone was upset. It meant that he next round would have fewer cats in the second and every following round to fight. It was such a disappointment.
"I'm kinda bored," Rust whispered to Panther, distracting her from Checkers calling up Mila and Lead to fight.
"Me too," she whispered back, trying to pay attention to both at the same time. It was hard work, and eventually she just paid attention to Rust, ignoring the several fights that happened. "I wonder what it's gonna be like when we're older," she mewed, and Rust shrugged.
"Well, I hope not. I don't wanna fight you, or Take and them. But I think that the leader'll last a long time, if he's smart." He turned his head sharply to hear Checkers announce that Tigger won over Oreo, before paying attention to Panther again.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Panther asked indignantly, her eyes boring into Rust's. He shrugged, and asked a 'what' in return. "'He's,'" she nearly hissed. "What if it's a she-cat? I'd be a pretty good leader!"
"Well," Rust mewed, trying to fight Panther's accusation. "It was just saying something! I bet that Ebony, Nickel, or Berry'd be pretty good. They all won against toms, it was just a saying!"
Cream heard the two bickering, and motioned to Dawn. Then, the two queens picked up the kits by their scruffs. "See," Mahogany mewed," now we have to leave because you two are fighting."
Panther and Rust stopped attacking each other with their paws to stare open mouthed at Mahogany. The two tried opening their mouths to complain, but Dawn shushed them. "There's only this near-kit named James and an older tom named Clover left for today, anyway. We're not missing much."
The queens put the two kits down, and ushered their brood out of the Death Circle. The cats behind them pushed into the empty void. Going back, Take, Keep, and Claw chattered, while Rust and Panther were silent.
"So, Dawn," Claw asked, "The winners were Breeze, Spade, Ebony, Charger, Nickel, Bennie, Creek, Damien, Tigger, Berry and Jordan, right?" Dawn nodded silently, quickly pushing Claw faster. They were nearing the dog-house and they had to walk the fence. Near midnight the dog was asleep, but if they waited too long, the number of cats passing it would wake the dog. A few warriors were lost this way, and that dog loved cat.
"And tomorrow's playoffs we won't go to. It's pretty much the same thing, and you guys seemed a little bored. But near midnight is when they start the tiers. There's only one tomorrow, sorta like a precursor, but it's the best fighters, so it's worth it." As Mahogany explained that, panther listened carefully.
It excited her so much to learn about her Clans traditions, and Panther couldn't wait for tomorrow. If only it could come faster, then she could see the blood spilt to make a better Clan.
A/N: Stay tuned until… 5 days… for the next update on one of my stories. Yay!