Hello to you guys! Just writing another one of these chapters at 12:30 Am because why not?
Daily reminder that I still don't own the Warriors series so, you know… Trying not to use a dead cat because that'd be weird, but if I do I apologize.
Stretching out groogily, Bumblestripe pads out of his nest at the sun shining in his eyes. It's a bit past dawn and he thinks to himself: "Wow, another dawn patrol I haven't had to do! I must be on a lucky streak.." Out of the corner of his eye he sees his sister, Briarlight dragged herself over to him. With her eyes shining light and a teasingly upbeat voice she teases him "Another Dawn Patrol you haven't had to do, heh, lucky furball! How you doing?"
"Well other than wondering what the point the Shadowclan attack last night was, nothing really." He responds.
"It's probably just a scare tactic or something, no need for it to get out of hand." She flatly says to him. "It'll probably just be something for another day or two, then they'll leave us alone for a bit."
"I wish I could share your optimism, but while the scare attacks may end, the war has no end in sight. Maybe if there was a site that a decisive fight would go down, but nothing like that yet. You also take this not very seriously it seems, why? He wistfully says before sternly turning on her.
"Oh so now you have a problem with being upbeat?" She lashes her tail at him.
"No no, it just seems optimism isn't the correct thing at the moment." He mumbles to her quietly.
Dewnose quietly butts in wisely. "Bumblestripe there's no reason to be sharp over optimism, it keeps morale up, something you in particular seem to be lacking. With all the cats dying, whether it be your sister, or your kit, you need to stay strong." He wistfully finishes.
"While I appreciate the advice, I don't feel it's needed." He says with a lackluster tone.
Briarlight gently presses her nose to his as she speaks. "Don't be so quick to disregard his advice Bumblestripe. For it carries merit, even if you disagree."
"She's right." Graystripe says quickly, looks him in the eyes and walks away.
Squirrelflight walks over to them. "Now that you're little chat is over, how about you do something more useful, such as hunting!" She looks them in the eyes as she sternly speaks.
"Of course." Dewnose speaks as he flickers his tail over in the direction of the tunnel. "After you Bumblestripe." And with that they begin hunting. Taking in the scents around him, he smells nothing. So he continues on a little bit in the direction of the abandoned Twolegplace. Scenting once more, he smells a mouse downwind with the wind blowing at him. He starts to head over to it. He sees it nibbling on a seed next to a tree root. So he slowly starts moving. His tail low and immobile, he prepares to pounce. He puts his energy in his rear paws, and pounces and quickly kills it. With that he scrapes earth over his kill, and proceeds on. A little bit later he's scenting, but before that he hears a thrush nibbling around on the ground. He proceeds to head over it to. The wind is upwind but blowing at him, and so he prepares to pounce, but the thrush suddenly calls out in alarm, and a shadow darts out of the bushes. It's Cherryfall making a jumping attempt to catch the thrush! It must have smelt her scent! She misses her jump and it flys away. "Mouse dung!" She meows to herself.
"Wind changed direction?" He asks her quickly. "Yes, I probably should have been ready for that." She says disappointed. "Or maybe you should have just pounced a little sooner. You would have had it if you hadn't waited so long." He says. With that she her eyes light up. "You really think so?" He nods to her as she flicks her tail on his shoulder. "I'm sure you'll catch your next prey." He says while smiling at her. And a few moments later they break away into seperate directions.
He scents another mouse scurrying around, and he heads after it. As he prepares to pounce the wind changes direction and the mouse is alerted to his presence. But it's too late as the mouse is already dead in his jaws. With a satisfied smile he returns to his other kill, retrieves it and returns to camp for some fresh kill.
As he puts his kill on the pile, he takes a mouse and Dovewing walks up, "Willing to share the mouse?" She politely asks with a pleading look in her eyes. "Of course! Why wouldn't I?" He asks a little taken aback. "Well, you have been working very hard lately." She responds with an admiring look. "That doesn't mean I'll treat you differently Dovewing! I still love you and I will continue to love you." He responds happily.
"Glad to know you two are still doing well." Ivypool walks up and teasingly says. "Ivypool when are you going to get a mate?" Dovewing asks her politely. "Probably after you go to Starclan." She responds somewhat sarcastically somewhat teasingly. "Well isn't that an odd thing to say, so there's no cat that you're smitten with?" Bumblestripe asks her jokingly. "Well no, there really isn't." She responds dryly. "If I'm going to take a mate, I'll take one in my own time, and I'll know who it is." She responds with a passionate and fiery look in her eye. "At least you're open to the idea." Dovewing teasingly says to her.
"Do you have a problem with her not taking one? Is that really a bad thing?" Bumblestripe inquisitively asks Dovewing. "Yes, is there one I'm not aware of?" Ivypool adds on while irrate.
"No no no, I just think you'd be missing out on something." Dovewing nervously chuckles to her sister. "If I want to be apart of that I can. Otherwise you will not influence me. Understand?" Ivypool sternly but angerly says. "Y-yes."
About then Cherryfall walks by. Bumblestripe meows to her "You catch one?" She grins as she nods to him. "Told you you would." He says with a smile, and then turns back to Dovewing and Ivypool who are squabbling over something else. Waiting patiently for him to get an opening, he finally gets one. "How's the nursery going." He asks her.
"Well with Willowshine and Cinderheart in it with the kits, it's cramped and chaotic. But they're good mothers, they manage. I manage as well, and some of the conversations we have are unforgettable." She smiles as she thinks of one of them. "You make a great mother as well." Bumblestripe says happily as he licks her behind the ear. Dovewing merely purrs in response to him.
"Well since you two seem to be doing well, and I have nothing more, I'll be on my way. See you later." Ivypool says as she pads away.
Without missing a beat "How are Graykit and Silverkit holding up?" "Well they've been fine with the news about Whitekit, a tad saddened. But they didn't really like him, he was shy yet agressive. I guess I should teach them a little more about respect but it's fine I guess. And the two play well with each other and the other kits. Graykit plays constantly with Jaykit and Softkit, and Silverkit hangs around with them too." She says in a long breath, disappointed yet then more gentle and upbeat.
"Well as long as they're doing well. How are they doing to the world around them." He asks quietly, almost in a mumble.
"Well I can only keep so much of the world hidden." She says quietly. "And they also hear some of the nursery gossip, and if that wasn't enough they're able to see the dank condition of some of the cats. But they're strong, they'll understand and adapt." She continues sadly but brightens up.
"Good. I'm going to go on a walk, willing to go?" He gently offers her an invatation. "Gladly, I'll enjoy some more time with you." Padding out the tunnel side by side, they quickly come across Jayfeather and Willowshine sitting together. "Didn't expect to find you out here." Bumblestripe says somewhat sarcastically. "It feels beautiful out, and I really should spend time with my mate, just as you are with yours." Jayfeather says sharply, but quite polite for his normal tone.
As he licks Willowshine on the cheek, Dovewing pipes up "Heh. I still wouldn't picture you as a gentle and polite cat." She says gently teasing him. "I'll never be as perfect as you Dovewing, but that doesn't mean I can't be more polite." He says while rolling his eyes. "How are the kits doing, Willowshine?" Bumblestripe respectfully asks. While her green eyes flash him a look of gratitude, she meows back to him. "Fine, they all get along for the most part except Mosskit, but she's merely shy. It'll blow over."
"Well that's good to know. Good luck with them, I'm sure all of the kits will be great Warriors." He says with a smile. And with the grin, he meows to Dovewing. "But ours will be the best." Then he flicks his tail for her to follow him. Which she does, and while walking they brush fur. They're near the Shadowclan border when they hear yowling. And so he looks at her with fear in her eyes, and they both know what they must do. Rushing into the battle with a yowl, he sees Millie being double teamed by Tigerheart and Dawnpelt. And so he rushes in and smashes into Dawnpelt. Slash, slash, block, slash, slash. He starts to beat her back, when Tigerheart knocks Millie away and slashes him across the belly, he yowls in rage. Looking into Tigerheart's eyes, he sees a rage, and he knows that he'll probably try to kill him. He dodges a slash, then dodges one from Dawnpelt. He jumps over one but it knocked down from a blow by Tigerheart. Graystripe barrels into Dawnpelt in the corner of his eye, and he quickly springs up to deal with Tigerheart. Graystripe is keeping Dawnpelt back, so it's just him and Tigerheart. He sends him back with a blow, but it knocked back from one of Tigerheart's. Tigerheart tries a slash at his face, but he misses, and Bumblestripe pushes on his paw as he misses, knocking him on his side. Bumblestripe does a slash to his revealed belly and then to his face as he's getting up. Dovewing then pads up next to him, and Tigerheart realizes he cannot win. With a look of remorse, he flees.
Dovewing is tad bloodied, but otherwise all right. So he goes to Graystripe who's fighting Dawnpelt and Stoatfur. Dawnpelt is holding strong but Stoatfur is wavering and bloodied. So he focuses on slashing Stoatfur. He does it once or twice, and she lands a weak blow to his head. But he slashes her belly, and she falls over. And she just doesn't get up. So he goes to deal with Dawnpelt. He gives a slash across her nose while Graystripe slashes her leg. And as that happens, Birchfall comes up with a slash, and she too realizes she cannot win. And she flees. And the last two cats fighting are Pinenose and Brooke. But while Pinenose is winning the others slowly walk over and she looks around, outnumbered, and in disdain, she flees from the battle. Thunderclan has won this battle, and the only cat lying dead is Stoatfur.
And with that the patrol starts to quietly walk home. Brooke is wounded a bit so Birchfall pads by her side.
As they walk into camp, Jayfeather is back at the Medicine den, and flickers his tail over to Willowshine for her to help him. And with that she pads across the clearing. They first check Brooke, who's mostly fine but they wrap her up in a few cobwebs and give her some marigold. Then they check Dovewing, who's basically untouched. And then they check Bumblestripe. He's bleeding a little bit from his belly still, and so Willowshine puts some cobwebs on, then some marigold to help prevent the infection. Willowshine also gives him a few poppy seeds with the words. "Sleep, rest for a day, then you can go back to Warriors duties." He simply nods as he walks to his nest, tired. He sleeps. And sleeps. And sleeps. Until the next morning.
It's a little bit past dawn. He's supposed to rest this day, but he's impatient. And so he goes out anyway, just to catch a mouse and then he'll rest a bit. He goes out through the tunnel, flicks his tail towards Brightheart and Cloudtail and goes out. He scents a vole, so he proceeds to go over to it. It's upwind, but the wind isn't blowing towards him, and it scents him, and tries to flee, but he pounces, and with a bit of an ache, he kills it. He proceeds to happily bring his prey back to camp. He walks through the tunnel, and decides to rest for a little while.
He wakes up a little past sunhigh, he goes to get something to eat. And so he goes to the Fresh Kill pile. He grabs a mouse off of it and eats it near the sunning rocks. Where, he goes and rests for a little while longer. It's almost dusk and so he goes and asks to have Night Patrol, he's not tired and so he needs something to do. Squirrelflight lets him on, along with Mousewhisker and Lionblaze. They stay quiet for a little bit. Then Bumblestripe walks over to Lionblaze and meows to him. "So how are the kits doing?"
"They're doing well, how about yours?" He responds quickly and uninterested.
"Same with mine."
A little bit more waiting and patrolling the outside. He finds Cloudtail trying to sneak out. So he calls to him "Cloudtail there's no need for you to sneak out you silly furball, you just need to go through the tunnel." He calls back to him "The memories of sneaking out of camp are just too good to pass up on sometimes, maybe one day you'll feel the same." And with that he pads away. A rustle her, a rustle there. Lionblaze catches them a mouse to share, and they do.
"Erm, well Mousewhisker, how have you been lately? Bumblestripe awkwardly asks. "Better than I have been doing, it's starting to finally blow over. It'll never be fully gone, but maybe I can accept the fact soon." He says quietly but with a determination in his voice. "Oh don't worry, I'm sure it'll pass." Lionblaze calmly says to him.
And soon they go back to a rather boring, but warm night. As the sun rises, he pads back into camp and hears Jayfeather talking to Molewhisker about that tonight is the Half Moon. And that he and Willowshine will be going to the Moonpool. And after that he pads into his nest for some sleep. He hears a yowling sound as Cinderheart is in disarray. Hollykit and Silverkit are missing! He hears Cloudtail groan "Not again! Why do they keep doing this…" The ominous omen flashes in his head. "If peace is not found, blood will tint the lake, and all may be lost."
Well I think I did a bit better with the battle scene, hope you like and review!