Warriors RPG (V2)

[The Kingpin]

"That'll be interesting to see. I've been curious about what Shadowclan's been up to...Many of my old friends died with the sickness that struck them four seasons ago...I find myself looking to my former Clan and seeing strange faces...too young to remember me" growled Wraith between bites from his meal, using his claws to pull the fur wide and cut through to the flesh below...

[Hopeflower]

Falconflight and Mapleleaf moved away from the den to join Shadowstar, the deputy remarking scathingly, "I would expect an apprentice to keep a patrol waiting, not a warrior. D'you expect the prey to walk into camp and wait patiently to be someone's next meal?" Mapleleaf sighed, rolled her eyes, and mumbled, "No, Falconflight...I'm sorry, alright? I was out late for a walk. I won't keep you waiting next time." "See that you don't," the tabby tom growled, noticing that she didn't quite meet his eyes when she gave her excuse. He fell in beside their leader as Shadowstar led them out of the camp.

[Turbo Tyrannophonic]

Firestreak's tail brushed the dark-pelted tom's side in a small gesture of sympathy. "Maybe it's for the best?" he suggested, glancing at the hunting party as they left. "You have a new clan now. Maybe it's better ShadowClan is a clan of strangers, rather than a bunch of old friends you might have to fight someday."

[The Kingpin]

"It wouldn't make much difference, I don't think" responded Shadowsoul thoughtfully as he ate. "I have ended up fighting former friends repeatedly during my time as a Loner. And as a Warrior. Nothing's really changed aside from the Clan to which I pledge allegience" he added as he gutted his meal, disposing of the unwanted parts...

[Turbo Tyrannophonic]

Firestreak turned back to his own meal with a frown. He admired his friend's certainty on the matter. The young warrior had tried his best to avoid conflict with ThunderClan and WindClan - the only clans that he was on good terms with - when he was a loner. It didn't matter if his interests at the time conflicted with the decision or not; he hadn't been keen on fighting cats he used to call allies. He knew now that his position in ThunderClan might put him at odds with WindClan, but it was something he had long since come to terms with. WindClan and ThunderClan had no reason to hate each other, and he hoped he would not have to meet the clan's deputy - one of his oldest friends - in battle any time soon.

[C S]

Tiberium saw the light running across the dewy walls. He quickened his pace, his heart thumping away in his chest. Could it really be that he and his brother had surmounted the test of darkness? He dared to believe such a thing as he followed the winding tunnel. The more he trekked along it, the more he felt something. What it was he could not describe, but he felt the need to brace himself, lest his heart go rampant and seize. Such a strange feeling that he never felt before... but instinctually he associated it with finality and inevitability. Why, he wondered, would he feel such a thing now in his life. It felt more akin to a phase a kit would go through. Was the truth he was looking for his own end? Was that dream a call to die, and Mothermouth was to be the final resting place of him and his brother? If so, why was he so fervently drawn to it? Why did he not fear death?

Tiberium was seconds away from stopping and asking his brother what his thoughts on all of this were when he turned one last corner in the stone passage. That was when he saw it. Underneath golden rays of light, the chunk of crystal seemed... drab and lackluster.

"... What?"

"Brother," Ferallion growled, "go on."

"But-" was all Tiberium could say before he felt his brother brushing past him. Ferallion continued onwards and Tiberium stood where he was in the tunnel.

"... What!?"

Ferallion stepped out of the passage into the enormous chamber of rock. He eyed the hole at the center of the roof and then looked down to the crystal the sunlight came down on. After a moment of inspection, he sat on his haunches and closed his eyes.

"Ferallion," Tiberium mewed from the end of the tunnel, "Ferallion what are you doing?"

The gray tom merely flicked the end of his tail in response. Tiberium made a rumbling within his throat and stalked onwards until he was standing beside his brother.

"It's just a rock! All those stories... all the nights we spent unable to sleep..." Tiberium shook his head. "We could have gotten lost and died down here! And all that for a rock!"

"Your eyes see a rock, and leave you short changed for what it truly is," Ferallion said. With that, he touched his nose to the crystal.

A moment or two passed where the gray tom's nose was firmly planted against the light pink surface of the stone before he jumped back and hissed. "Nothing happened!" he mewed. Tiberium grunted.

"It's a rock," the white tom said.

"It is not just a rock. Why would the forest spread tales of prophecy and ceremony if it is just a rock!?" Ferallion responded heatedly. He started to pace around the crystal, his green gaze scrutinizing every angular formation, every glinting point.

"We are looking at it!" Tiberium exclaimed. "It is just a rock-"

In the blink of an eye Ferallion's nose was pressed against Tiberium's. The gray tom's eyes were large in their sockets, boring into his brother's gaze. "We have done the most we could do alone," he said. "We need... expertise."

"... What?" Tiberium mewed, stepping backwards.

"The medicine cat."

"... Mistpool?"

"Same difference," Ferallion growled. "We need to consult with her. Cats of her rank are said to be knowledgeable of such things, it is time to make use of that knowledge."

"Ferallion... I'm starting to think our dream wasn't some prophecy-" Tiberium tried to tell his brother, but the gray tom was off before he could even complete his sentence. With Ferallion taking an abrupt, uncontested lead, Tiberium sighed and started jogging after him as he left the great subterranean chamber at speed, disappearing into the tunnel.

[The Kingpin]

Twitching his whiskers as he swallowed a particularly tough bit of Vole, the older Warrior continued. "However, that's not to say that your discomfort is anything negative" he growled as he straightened. "Quite the contrary, in fact. Wars between Clans, inevitable though they may be, must not be conducted lightly. All life is a gift from Starclan, and thus is precious; something too many Warriors tend to forget, despite it being part of the Code to which they all claim to adhere" he explained. "Concerns like your own are what make sure wars don't happen unless there is no other option. Were it not for that concern, the Clans would have died out long ago to their injuries and losses" concluded the black Bengal as he leaned forward to resume his meal...

[Turbo Tyrannophonic]

Firestreak flicked an ear in acknowledgement, giving the other tom a thoughtful stare. "With wisdom like that, I sometimes wonder if you'd be better off with the elders," he teased, taking another bite from the thrush.

[The Kingpin]

"With a turbulent life comes an experienced mind. And my life's been nothing if not turbulent" purred the tom as he stripped the last of the flesh off the Vole's bones. "To be honest, I do not envy the living terms of an Elder in any Clan. They have the unfortunate duty of droning on endlessly about things that most either lack the interest to learn or the insight to understand. I do not know how well I would be able to live such a life" growled Shadowsoul, reflecting with a bit of genuine concern, the thought of growing old without his younger brother to talk to scaring him especially, though what little visible signs he had actually been thinking it were quickly concealed behind a mask of indifference...

[Turbo Tyrannophonic]

"Oh, I wouldn't say that no one appreciates those stories," Firestreak meowed, glancing at a small tail that disappeared in a flash into the elders' den. The apprentices - and even more so, the kits - often used their regular duties for the elders' benefit as currency for tales that the rest of the clan has heard millions of times. To young and impressionable ears, even the most basic story was an incredible experience.

"Most of the elders have lived long and eventful lives, fighting battles, hunting, and helping the clan," the young tom went on, his eyes still resting on the den across the clearing. "Even if there's only a kit or two that appreciates their stories, I think they're quite content about it." He paused. "Well, most of them anyway."

[The Kingpin]

"Perhaps" purred Shadowsoul as he licked his chops. "All too often those tales are ignored by those who should listen to them most attentively, however" he added with the faintest hint of disappointment...

[Turbo Tyrannophonic]

"Always the optimist," Firestreak mewed with a roll of his eyes, smiling wryly. The tabby and white cat polished off the last of his thrush, his hunger sated. The clan was operating fully by now, despite Mapleleaf's earlier offense. A few apprentices still slumbered in their den, and for a moment Firestreak felt a twinge of envy at the idea of having his own apprentice to mentor. He often frequented the training hollow to see the young cats' progress; it was definitely a more entertaining way to spend the day than traipsing around the forest to stock the fresh-kill pile, he had to admit.

[The Kingpin]

"It's the unfortunate gift that accompanies experience" growled the tom with a sigh, before picking up the remains of his meal, moving to dispose of it outside the Camp's proximity...

[Hopeflower]

An explosion of panicked squawking and flapping wings had Shadowstar whirling around to see where it had come from. She sighed as Mapleleaf's voice cursed, "Fox dung!" and the brown she-cat stepped into view, the fur on her neck bristling with frustration. Falconflight's growl was, mercifully, muffled by his mouthful of vole fur. Rather than let their hunting mission dissolve into another scolding, Shadowstar dropped her thrush and meowed, "Go on ahead, Falconflight. We'll catch up." With a short nod, the ThunderClan deputy turned and stalked off, his tail twitching with irritation. When he was out of earshot, Shadowstar turned to Mapleleaf and meowed quietly, "What's going on with you?" Mapleleaf blinked and an alarmed look crossed her expression before she tried to appear indifferent. "Nothing, Shadowstar," she meowed quickly. "I'm just tired." The brown she-cat trotted away before her leader could ask more questions, leaving Shadowstar frowning after her.

[Turbo Tyrannophonic]

After following Shadowsoul out and burying the remains of his meal, the young tom sighed, feeling restless. "Let's do something," he meowed at last, bouncing rapidly from paw to paw. At the end of his strange display of pent up energy, the tabby warrior dropped into an exaggerated hunting crouch and stalked toward a tree not far from the ravine. A moment before his next step would place his nose against the bark of the tree, Firestreak sprung, wrapping his claws around the tree and adhering himself to its surface. He scaled the tree in seconds, using its claws to hike himself up the trunk until he reached one of the lowest branches. He knew he looked - and felt - like an excitable kit, but he really didn't mind. He needed to keep himself busy if he wished to keep his mind off less-than-pleasant things.

[The Kingpin]

Cocking his head, Shadowsoul pursued the excitable tom to the tree, albeit at a fairly slow, more collected pace, stopping at the foot of the tree as he looked up. "Feeling energetic, I take it?" growled the tom amusedly, tail swaying to and fro in interest and amusement...

[Turbo Tyrannophonic]

"Sometimes I wish there were more exciting things to do," Firestreak meowed in response, not bothering to answer the dark tabby's question. The young warrior lay sprawled across a low lying branch, barely large enough to support his weight. "No life-changing danger, though, of course," he added quickly, ears flattening for a moment. As he rolled back and forth on the limb, it creaked and groaned in protest; the tom ignored it, of course. "Maybe I'll ask Mistpool later if she needs more herbs," he said suddenly, rolling onto his belly with ears pricked. "Or maybe I'll ask Cloudpelt if I could take Icepaw out for training!" Firestreak looked as though these were the best ideas he'd ever heard.

[C S]

Ferallion dashed out of Mothermouth a gray blur. Tiberium was not too far behind, bounding down the cool rocky slope after his brother. As he leaped down from bolder to bolder and sped across the rocks, he was followed by the clicking and clacking of pebbles tumbling along the incline. Before long, the hard ground turned to matted grass and matted grass became healthy and green. The droning sounds of the thunderpath transitioned out of the silence and through the trees in the distance, the two tom saw the blurry shapes go passing by.

Ferallion came to an agitated rest in the shade of one of these trees, tail tip lashing about like a riled up snake. Tiberium arrived a few seconds later, eying both his brother and the activity on the black trail worriedly. The ground vibrated as one especially large monster of a gleaming ebony frame went roaring down it, twin trails of smoke trailing over its long silvery back. The rocks on the edge of the thunderpath jumped and danced even after the behemoth passed and was a receding shape further along the way.

With a wordless growl, Ferallion took off, sprinting across while it was clear. Tiberium followed, making the dangerous crossing for the umpteenth time since the two became residents of the forest. It was not long at all until the two toms were skirting the very edges of Windclan's borders, cautious of the patrols. Being at the heart of the forest near their seasonal allies had been a fairly conflict-free experience for the cats. Getting there, however, was always a gamble.

[The Kingpin]

"I take it you aren't the kind to enjoy a pleasant snooze by the riverside" purred Shadowsoul amusedly. "Or a stroll through the forest deep within our territory, far from the borders. Enjoy the peace and silence" he added, noting a few of the things he took pleasure in during his free time...

[Turbo Tyrannophonic]

Firestreak tilted his head from side to side, indecisive. "Depends, I guess," he mewed at last with a shrug. "But green-leaf has only just begun! Prey isn't as scarce, we haven't seen hide or hair of a badger or a fox in our territory, and all the clans are at peace. There's nothing for a heroic young warrior such as myself to do!" he lamented, giving the dark tabby below him a smirk. The ginger tom was only half joking. He definitely felt the need to prove his worth to the clan, even after three seasons of service, and green-leaf offered little means to do so.