Struck Down

"I will beat you!" Berrystar hissed. "My trainees and I will fight against you! You are no match for us, you…. you…. you vile creatures!"

"Nonsense!" Sparkstar hissed. "RootClan will beat VineClan! Remember, these are ShadowClan trainees! They are always stronger!"

"Oh, really?" Berrystar challenged, leaping at Sparkstar again. "Well, we have Lionpaw!"

Sparkstar leaped easily aside and came crashing into Berrystar again. Berrystar quickly rolled and came out on top.

"Ha! Lionpaw! That's nothing, compared to all my trainees!" Sparkstar boasted.

"Well; pretty soon most your trainees will die! And so will you!" Berrystar laughed evilly. She bent down for the killing bite….

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Fangpaw came crashing into Berrystar and knocked her off Sparkstar. "Sparkstar, go!" he yowled. "Flamepaw and Rockpaw can help me beat Berrystar!"

"Thank you!" Sparkstar yowled, bounding off to go kill some other apprentices or something. No, she wasn't bloodthirsty. Yes, she needed to protect her Clan!

Flamepaw, Rockpaw, and Fangpaw all surrounded Berrystar.

"You can't beat us!" Flamepaw crowed.

"No, you can't! We'll beat you first!" Rockpaw agreed.

"We'll—"

"SILENCE!!" Berrystar cut off Fangpaw's revelation by launching herself at him. In the blink of an eye, she pinned him down and chomped down on his neck. She tore his throat out with her teeth.

Fangpaw's last words were, "Tell Waterpaw I love her…."

Berrystar jumped back and looked triumphantly at Flamepaw and Rockpaw, who were whispering to each other. They turned around and faced her fearfully.

"So, not so strong now, eh?" she boasted triumphantly. "WE WILL WIN!!!"

"NO, YOU WON'T!" Flamepaw disagreed loudly, launching himself at her. He and Rockpaw pinned her down and started clawing at her.

Meanwhile, Sparkstar was fighting Thornpaw, Firepaw, and Lionpaw. Lionpaw whirled around and struck her on the nose. She jumped back and flew at Firepaw. She pinned him down, but Lionpaw barreled into her, knocking her off. Thornpaw raked his claws down her belly once, twice, three times. Lionpaw and Firepaw held her down.

"Torturing cats is fun; don't you think?" Thornpaw asked his comrades, grinning evilly from ear to ear.

"Oh, yes," Lionpaw agreed.

"Definitely." Firepaw nodded.

Sparkstar knew she was being beaten. She screamed in pain as Thornpaw raked his claws down her belly.

All of a sudden, Skypaw came barreling into Thornpaw! He gave Sparkstar time to knock the other trainees down and rush away.

All the male trainees were fighting each other. The she-cats, the hunters, were just sitting at the edges of the clearing, watching with wide eyes.

Flowerpaw, Cherrypaw, and Dovepaw were battling against Waterpaw and Wingpaw. They were the only female trainees that were fighting. Most females weren't trained to fight, but these were cats that had been in the old training systems for most of their lives. The new training system had been implemented two moons ago. Now, cats had to train for ten moons instead of six.

The battle raged on, hard as ever, while some of the hunters watched.

Suddenly, Sparkstar and Berrystar were battling again!

"So, here you are again. Ready to be beaten?" Berrystar taunted.

"Oh, never!" Sparkstar acted like this was all a big joke. "We'll win!"

"No, you won't!" Berrystar objected.

"Yes, we WILL!" Sparkstar leaped and pinned Berrystar down in a heartbeat. She leaned down for the killing bite.

"Send my regards to StarClan," Sparkstar purred menacingly to Berrystar, just before she bit her throat out.

All the VineClan trainees gasped.

"VineClan has been struck down!" Flowerpaw declared unhappily. All the VineClan trainees ran away, back into their own territory. Today, RootClan had gotten about half of the territory for themselves. They had won.

VineClan has been struck down….