BRONZE

ｏｎｅ

ONE
"mothpaw!"

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tanglepaw's green-ish yellow eyes flickered from a pigeon to a mouse, one perched on a tree with its wings folded softly against itself with a content look while the latter flicked around leaves and grass to make its way to a plum, probably getting ready for a litter of creatures due to the warm new-leaf nature. the tom narrowed his gaze as he proceded to creep up to the mouse, forgetting about the fat bird.

yet the new apprentice soon realized that was a bad decision for the bird let out a screech, seeing his dark brown fur, making tanglepaw watch in disbelief as the mouse bolted away at the sound of the pigeon's alarm, and tanglepaw barreled after it. he sprinted around the trees, eyes fixed on the ball of fur as he shoved his way through bushes and ferns alike.

soon, though, the apprentice stopped as a forign scent hit him like an angered badger, making his nose wrinkle as he stared wide-eyed at his surroundings. where was he? the trees had lightened to a birch and underpaw had been littered with flowers and clovers, all the startled apprentice knew was that he wasn't in kaleclan.

"tanglepaw!"

the adressed tom threw his head around at a fimilar voice, calling out in despair, "beetlenose? where are you! i'm scared!"

"he's an idiot, i told you," a new, more feminine voice came from the same direction, yet it could still identify as male.

"now's not the time, cloudspots. it's okay, tanglepaw, we'll get you. follow my voice and try not to make a ruccus, you're in rueclan territory," beetlenose hollared back, the first statement slightly quieter. the apprentice could hear they were still talking but it was faint and unrecognizable- he couldn't tell what they were saying.

he stepped forward, yet a growl broke through the air as he stepped, and he turned, meeting cold blue eyes. he whimpered, spinning around, crouching. this was not one of his clanmates. she was tall, strong, and had light grey, long fur. glancing behind her, he noticed an orange tabby and a tortoishell. he gulped.

"what are you doing in rueclan territory?" she spoke strongly, eyes narrowed, to which tanglepaw just flinched.

cloudspots and beetlenose hopped beside him, a small grey apprentice at cloudspot's side. he recognised her, for they used to play cat and mouse. mothpaw.

"he's meerly an apprentice, let him go, i promice he wont do it again," beetlenose spoke calmly, and whispered in cloudspots ear, likely calming the tom down, who had his hackles raised and looked like he could attack at any moment.

"how should we know he's not a spy?" the tabby behind her spoke, his green eyes glimmering. a small apprentice, hidden behind him, looked terrified, and tanglepaw almost felt bad for her.

"a spy? rueclan cats are mousebrains, he's only 7 moons!" cloudspots spoke up, his voice in a loud hiss. beetlenose whispered to him yet again, but cloudspots only stepped away and snarled softly to him.

the muscular shecat hissed loudly, "how dare you call us mousebrains!" and launched herself forward at cloudspots, and immediatly all hell broke loose.

the tabby had pushed his apprentice forward, who clumsily tackled mothpaw, their light grey pelts blending in together in a flurry of fur.

that left him with the calico, who was somewhat small yet muscular and lean, her yellow eyes staring him down as she lept forward, tearing at his spine and knocking him to the grass.

he screamed, grabbing her by the shoulders and hauling her off, paws skidding on the ground as he bounced up and assumed a defence stance. his paws were a little away from eachother, he was pushing down on them as hard as he could, and rooted himself to the grass.

the molly snarled as she scrambled up from the grass, and got her muscles ready to attack. tanglepaw knew he had to get first hit or else he would be pinned, and couldnt get her off, so he launched himself onto her, yet she reared on her hindpaws and smashed her paws down onto his spine, and he let out a painful cry.

tanglepaw struggled to flip over onto his belly, aiming a slash at her eyes, and she screamed, leaving one deep gash on his stomach defore she hauled off of him and ran into the bushes.

feeling pleased with himself, he stood, glancing around. to the left of him was mothpaw, she was up against a lean tabby tom, who seemed to be having no problems. yet when he looked harder, he couldnt find that apprentice. had she gone for help?

blinking away his thoughts, he glanced up, and beetlenose was fighting two tall shecats while standing over an injured cloudspots, his black-and-white fur matted and bloodied. baffled between whether to help beetlenose or mothpaw, he shook his head and bolted to the warrior.

skidding to a stop beside them, he rammed into an orange shecat, pinning her to the ground and aimlessly slashing. blood splattered his pelt, and he wasnt sure if it was his or hers, but in that moment, it didnt matter. she threw him off, but he sprang back up and aimed a blow at her throat. a different cat rammed into him, and all he could see was red as he landed with a hard thud on the grass. he blinked a few times, just enough to see a calico shecat help her limp away, and see some more rueclan cats break through the bushes.

shit.

a lump of grey fur, spattered with red and flank barely moving, was resting by some bushes. through the ringing in his ears, he could hear a dull, "mothpaw!" and a black-and-white mass crouched by her. he could tell it was yelling and frantically looking around and he could tell it was cloudspots. he was beckoning someone over.

tanglepaw looked away. through the flurry of pelts, he could see that apprentice, her lilac-grey pelt fluffed up harshly and bright yellow eyes searching for something to do. he staggered to his paws, breathing heavily, and before he could get his head together and stop the world from spinning, a call rang out above the wailing.

"kaleclan, retreat!"

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a/n: jeez its been long lmao
i'll try more to update ig sorry