The Fresh Leaf [open]

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Dustpaw laughed loudly as his claws connected with her face. "Gotcha," he sneered, wiping the blood from his face with a paw. He felt the remains of his ear curl downwards towards the back of his face. Wincing slightly, he was relieved to feel that only the top of the ear had been severed, leaving his hearing fine. But half of his ear was as good as gone. Parts of the bottom were cut through, but not deeply enough to intrude on his eardrum.

Backing away, the tom's breaths came short and fast. He didn't like cats like this: who didn't take his snide remarks with merely pathetic little sermons, like Jaypaw, but instead fought it out physically. Their blunt way of dealing with things seemed to deflect his criticism. And irking or even hurting others was all he had. Cats like Finchpaw ruined all of that.

Dustpaw mused over the fact that the blue-gray apprentice was quite obviously a talented fighter. Clearly, he wasn't about to pause their quarrel to compliment her, as such a thing was ridiculous. She'd been through some battling before, as shown by her missing eye, and it had given her some experience, he assumed. He, on the other hand, had been a kit during the time of the DeathClan conflict.

Just as he was mulling over this internally, he was brought to his senses when sharp canine teeth sunk into his left foreleg. The surprise led his leg to buckle, and he lost his balance, tottering onto the ground. Grunting from the pain, he shakily stood, aiming an adrenalin-induced swipe somewhat blindly. Whether and where his claws would connect was unknown to him.

[finchsong]

Finchpaw could sense her rival's uncertainty. She was throwing him off; perfect. Just the slightest uncertainty was all she needed. Her fangs sank deep into his foreleg, causing him to fall. The she-cat pulled away sharply, breaking the grip her teeth had on his leg. Oh, he would be feeling that one for a while, that was for sure.

Her eye was gleaming with cold, metallic copper. She had the glare of the hunter; completely and utterly focused on the task at hand. She had her swift mind in her favor, and she was putting all her power and cunning into every blow. This apprentice would be sorry he had messed with her. She would make certain of that much.

The female took a step back, rage radiating from her pelt. The twin scratches on her face were dripping with crimson blood, and she took a small moment to observe her surroundings. Splatters and drops of blood had fallen onto the ground, making the most interesting of patterns on the earth.

She let out a low, furious growl as she returned her icy glare to Dustpaw, who was just staggering to his paws once again. Time seemed to have slowed, and each action took far longer in her eyes than it had actually taken in perspective. Any cat watching this furious clash of wills would be confronted with a pair of swiftly battling apprentices, while Finchpaw's mind was moving at a speed that made it more drawn-out. It was one of the strange quirks that adrenaline had; your mind would work so fast that time literally slowed for you.

The blue-gray combatant flattened her ears and let out a hiss as Dustpaw launched a badly-aimed strike. He was weakening; that was good, but he was still awfully quick and his strikes weren't weak by any means. She flinched at his clawed blow left a shallow gash on her right shoulder. The she-cat let out a yowl and leaped in retaliation, aiming to pounce on the tom and pin him down. Her claws were aimed at his neck; if she could hit his neck with her leap, it would be easy to knock him down and keep him down. She wasn't going to kill him or anything, just use enough force to make him submit. That was, if she didn't miss.

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Dustpaw felt his claws connect with her shoulder haphazardly. Growling, he stepped back to wipe the blood from his face with his good foreleg. Some of it had already dried to a black and crusty coating, and it caked his paw as he swiped it away. Wincing as his other leg protested from the weight, the apprentice glared at Finchpaw for a moment. She was putting up an excellent fight. His mentor had done worse, for CloudClan's sake. Then again, he had fought with Greenflare long enough to know his moves. Finchpaw's were far more unpredictable than the ones in his training.

Dustpaw yowled and stumbled backwards as Finchpaw pounced. He attempted to scramble away, his claws frantically scuffing the ground, but he felt a weight make contact with its mark. Next thing he knew, he felt claws digging into the nape of his neck. He could've easily surrendered, but Dustpaw's only useful trait forced him not to: his ignorant persistence and stubbornness. Twisting his head around, attempting to ignore the pain, the tom furiously aimed a slash at her cheek. He couldn't do much else, seeing as he wasn't exactly in a flexible position at the moment.

(I snuck onto my iPod. >D)

[finchsong]

The blue-gray apprentice did her best to pin her opponent down, but he was flailing an awful lot. Her claws stayed firmly on his neck, but she flinched as he lashed out again and left a bad scratch down the cheek of the bad side of her face. Finchpaw let out a threatening hiss but didn't move. No, she would rather keep her hard-won position.

Blood dripping down her face, the one-eyed cat lowered her muzzle until it was right next to Dustpaw's undamaged ear. Her breath ruffled his fur as she began to speak in a soft, dangerous tone. "So, are you quite ready to go running off to the medicine cats? Or are you going to keep resisting?"

She bared her teeth just the slightest bit. If Dustpaw tried to attack again, she would sink her teeth into his good ear and make sure she shredded that one even more than the first one. Her copper-colored eye was narrowed just the slightest bit. She was tiring, and she had to consider her own injuries. She wouldn't be able to keep up the fight forever. On the other hand, she hoped she had left Dustpaw in no position but to surrender. If he was to flee, she would let him go. But if he fought back, she still had enough strength to continue the battle.

Finchpaw kept her fangs only a mouse-length from the tom's ear. She wouldn't hesitate to strike again, and she wouldn't show mercy. She could be a terribly dangerous opponent on occasion. Since the battle with DeathClan, the blue-gray she-cat had spent much of her time thinking over what had occurred that day. She had developed a lot of her own techniques as well as strategies for defending against different enemies. Who knew that the next battle she'd have would be against a fellow apprentice from her own Clan?

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Dustpaw's hiss echoed across the walls of the den. Finchpaw obviously wasn't going to budge. He had hoped that his strike would be enough to send her reeling back, but he supposed that his current position didn't allow for much movement.

His eyes widened the slightest bit as Finchpaw lowered her muzzle to his other ear. Obviously, she was planning this out well. He had little choice but to surrender at this point. But as he stared for another moment at her bared teeth at his ear, one more shred of hope came to him slowly. It was a stretch, and probably a foolish idea, but he didn't consider the latter. His entire life was based on foolish ideas. The decision was quickly made inside his head: he would try out his idea. If it didn't work out as he planned, he would surrender. If it did, well, he'd try to make sure that Finchpaw was the one who lost this battle.

The apprentice sighed and shook his head, putting up a false front of regret as he looked up at Finchpaw with his eyes agape. Looking back down, he opened his jaws, as if he were about to start speaking. Then, he let one of his unsheathed paws dart out, aiming for her muzzle. He hoped that the blow would be enough of a surprise to give him enough time to escape from her grip. The tom clamped his eyes shut, waiting for the feeling of any weight lifted from his body.

He shivered under his pelt, wondering feebly whether he'd feel teeth in his ear instead.

[finchsong]

Finchpaw stared uncertainly as Dustpaw looked at her with what seemed to be regret. His muzzle opened just the slightest bit - but it was a trick! Her enemy's paw slammed into her face. She let out a screech of pained frustration as his claws left deep wounds on her muzzle. The female jerked back with the blow, the pain from her muzzle burning like fire. She was left reeling from the strike.

The apprentice's eye shone with fury and pain, but a dangerous glint was present too. She snapped to her senses. There had to be a way to end this. The slightly-younger female forced mind over the pain of her new injury and opened her jaws, aiming them right for Dustpaw's ear. If he wouldn't surrender, then the other ear was in peril. Might as well make them the same at this point; besides, it might just help to even the battle scales.

Anger welled up from deep inside the copper-eyed apprentice; a black rage that she hadn't shown since her fight with Shade. A new wave of adrenaine hit her, and she yearned to feel her sharp teeth sink into the soft skin of Dustpaw's ear. At such a point-blank range, it was almost impossible to miss. She let out a snarl in mid-strike. She would make him pay.

A complete, utter calm flowed over Finchpaw as suddenly as a ray of sunlight in the middle of a storm. Her black rage was still burning around her, but her mind was in the eye of the storm wihile her body was in the midst of the waves. She wasn;t paying any attention to anything around her now; if she could sink her teeth into Dustpaw's other ear, it might be all over. At least she would have a better chance of pinning him entirely if she shredded the intact ear.

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[Jayfoot]

[ Eh.. really late reply. Good fight though :3 ]

Jaypaw hissed malevolently, already unsheathing his claws one by one. But even before he knew it, Finchpaw had come to his aid and aimed a blow at Dustpaw's vulnerable ears, making a good mark on it and hearing his loud howl of pain at the sudden attack. The calico apprentice grinned at the blue-grey she-cat in the shortest time he could make before standing back and letting her do what she meant to do.

Not sooner, crimson liquid began covering the den floor, and even some managed to stain the calico's untouched fur. He watched in pure awe as Finchpaw battled with her own Clan-mate, her swipes and bites as fierce and powerful as a fox. He knew he would never get to be like the she-cat being that he still had no mentor until maybe a few more days but still part of him told him that he could be like her given if he trained with more vigor than ever.

Relief washed through him as his amber eyes saw the blue-grey female finally get to pin down the dust-colored tom. Walking forward, again he only had enough time to take a step back as Dustpaw lunged out once more, now aiming for Finchpaw's muzzle. A menacing growl escaped his maw as he stepped forward once more, tail lashing wildly in fury as Jaypaw positioned himself at the back of Dustpaw's head, waitign for a chance to possibly attack him first before he could to his new friend.