Warriors: Light and Dark Ch. 12

    The sun shone through the clouds, glimmering the snowfall. The rays only got so far before the flakes reflected them back into the sky. The snow on the ground still caught the sunlight, glistening like a flattened rainbow. As trees shook slightly and the city noises were almost silenced, the warriors and apprentices found it to be the perfect time to train at the newest addition to their territory to the west. Sharpstones.

    The terrain was quite difficult to take a simple stroll through. Rocks jutted skyward, almost rising 3 fox-lengths. The snow was a bit thinner than in the forest and the sun was perfectly aligned with the center of the clearing. A brisk breeze also swept along the rocks, coming from the sea that was not very far away. Any more west would put them at the cliffs, which were labeled too dangerous for any warrior to be near on account of the risk that a cat could fall.

    Echopaw took a lot of time to think the past 3 days since he met Alex. The camp had been repaired, everyone healed correctly, and all was calm. He was able to let himself trust and believe the Guests to return to their groups on their own as well. Echopaw could only hope they would not be attacked on the way back.

    The decision on who to bring with him to meet the Tenkai twins had not been settled yet. The option Echopaw would love to make is to take everyone, but Crowpelt’s injured legs spoke otherwise. Leaving someone here other than him and Gingerpaw would be necessary just in case they ran out of prey and needed more. Then there’s Squirrelflight...

    “Echopaw, watch out!”

    Splashpaw’s call snapped Echopaw out of it just in time to slip away from an attack by Darkpaw. His claws barely sliced Echopaw’s whiskers.

    Splashpaw sighed, “That was close. Come on Echopaw, get your head in the game!”

    He nodded to her, then looked back at Darkpaw. Darkpaw began to climb the jutted rock and rose higher and higher until he was at the top. He looked downward at Echopaw and smiled.

    Echopaw sensed what he was going to do and prepared.

    Darkpaw stepped back, the lept down at Echopaw, paws widened.

    Echopaw bent lower. Before Darkpaw was a tail-length above him, he slid to the side and twisted to see Darkpaw’s horrible landing. Unstable, Darkpaw was open for an attack by Echopaw.

    However, Darkpaw’s failure of a landing turned out to look that way on purpose. His eyes gleamed at his once dazed self returned to a fierce guard, taking Echopaw’s blow. Something about the way Darkpaw could take so many hits and not be knocked back confused him. It felt as though he could barely tip Darkpaw.

    The moment Echopaw stopped his attacks, Darkpaw flung his whole body at him and caused Echopaw to stumble back against a wall of a rock. It seemed to be over, though Darkpaw wasn’t just yet finished. He gathered his strength and crouched lower to the ground.
Echopaw saw only one way out of this situation.

    Darkpaw rushed head first at Echopaw. His movements were locked on to Echopaw.

    In a plight of slyness, Echopaw bent down, then jumped higher than any squirrel could. The leap was high enough that Darkpaw couldn’t reach him. He found himself unable to stop and plowed into the wall.

    Echopaw landed somewhat stumbling, then fell to his haunches. After all of that, he was too tired to see if Darkpaw was down.

    A paw landing on his head made it final.

    “Darkpaw won this match.” Dovewing snickered, “Echopaw, that’s 0 of 5 now. What? Is Darkpaw too strong for you?”

    “YES!” Echopaw lifted himself after Darkpaw’s paw retreated back. “He’s a commander of the twins. I’m only an apprentice and he’s probably had years of training.”

    “Still, that’s no excuse. It doesn’t matter how powerful the opponent is. You need to beat them with whatever possible tactic you have.” Dovewing’s tail flicked side to side. She rose her head. “For example, Darkpaw has an amazing amount of perseverance. Constantly pounding on him won’t do anything, and making him crash into a wall would do minimum damage at best. Tiring him out won’t work either. So what kind of moves and strategies could you use against him?”

     That was something to think about over a long period of time. How was he supposed to know that in an instant?

    While Darkpaw and him were sparring, in the far distance, Harlem was sitting alongside Lionblaze, surveying the fight. He, unlike the other Guests, decided to stay behind. Echopaw could appreciate Harlem staying behind, but something felt strange. It sounded as though he wasn’t planning on joining StoneClan, so is the only reason for him staying here just to learn about them?

    Harlem’s eyes were steady. He looked to Lionblaze every so often to ask a question, like many of the ones he’s had before. “So you train for what reason exactly? To fight?”

    Lionblaze chuckled. “Well, that’s one way to look at it. We train to become warriors. Warriors are the cats who take care of a clan by hunting and fighting off other animals or cats. Fighting is used as self-defense for clans, and of course we try to avoid it at all costs.” He glanced back at the forest in the direction of the twolegplace. “However, in StoneClan’s case, we’re training to defeat BloodClan.”

    Harlem was shocked. “Wait, so that’s the only reason you are here?”

    “Pretty much. The plan is to gather cats to join StoneClan and train them in the ways of the warrior code, which I still think will be almost impossible.” He tilted his head. “Though, Echopaw and StarClan have more faith in the plan than I do. For some reason, they think it’ll work.”

    “StarClan... The clan that you were talking about before. Where all clan cats go after they die, right? They can still speak to you?”

    “Yes. It’s amazing to think about it. Well, for you, it probably sounds like a mouse-brained fantasy.”

    “No, no. I find it fascinating Lionblaze. The only question that I have now is why you’re challenging the Broken Hearts.” Harlem got closer. “I’ve heard that one of you killed Zon.”

    “Zon threatened to kill our friend for no reason at all. Cats like them are evil.” Lionblaze shifted his focus back to Echopaw. “Evil is evil. No matter how you look at it. Warriors live to protect life in the Clans, but never stop to think when a good cat is in trouble. We save them.”

    “You’re just getting into more trouble with the Broken Hearts. If everything you say is true about you fighting to protect good cats, you’ll be up against more than you can handle. BloodClan especially. They may not be the largest group in the upwalkerplace, but they sure are the strongest.” He narrowed his eyes. “Just hope that they don’t all attack you at once, or you’ll all be dead.”

    Lionblaze couldn’t hide his distress. “We all know the risk, and we are ready to face any odds to stop BloodClan.”

    Echopaw felt a bit guilty. All his friends will be fighting by his side, and they might die.

    Darkpaw came at Echopaw, zigzagging across the rock tops. His voice went through Echopaw’s head. “Pay attention Echopaw. Stop thinking and act. You already know how to beat me. You’re not focusing on me, and that’s why you keep failing.”

    Echopaw snapped out of it and saw Darkpaw charging down the rock toward him. Yes, he needs to focus. Echopaw turned to face Darkpaw. Focus... wait... focus? Something about that sounded interesting. Focus... all my power into a single point. Attack where the pain won’t go away too quickly.

    Darkpaw leaped and put his paws forward.

    That’s it. Echopaw held his ground, envisioning the attack before it came. After the second, he thrusted himself upwards with a lot of force. A single paw in front, he struck Darkpaw in the middle of his chest.

    Darkpaw’s weight was too much for him as they both fell to the ground. Echopaw rolled over a few stones and into a pile of snow. Darkpaw fell onto his side and laid still.
Dovewing and Splashpaw were in awe. Splashpaw dashed to Echopaw, as Dovewing ran to Darkpaw.

    Echopaw coughed out some melted snow and smiled. “I’m okay.” He tried not to move much. “Hey, I did it. That’s all that matters.”

    Splashpaw grumbled. “You could have gotten a broken bone, or cut yourself! This is training, not a real fight.”

    “Darkpaw’s okay!” Dovewing shouted from across the clearing. “He hit a couple sharp rocks and got some cuts, but he’s okay.”

    “See?” Splashpaw scolded. “Take it easy next time.”

    “It’s Darkpaw. He’ll be fine. He’s one of the twins commanders. I’m sure he can survive a few cuts.”

    “Hmph.” Splashpaw strutted away to catch up with Dovewing and Darkpaw, who were heading back to camp. They disappeared into the white forest.

    Echopaw recovered from the shock of the fall and saw Harlem and Lionblaze heading toward him. Harlem laughed, “Nice one. Never seen a squirt like you take on a cat both bigger and heavier than him. Now I know what happens. Ha.”

    Lionblaze grinned. “Anything to take out a cat like that. He’s pretty strong for you Echopaw. Even injuring him is an accomplishment.”

    “Thanks.” Echopaw shook the snow off his pelt. “During all of that, I was able to decide who’s going to come with us to see the twins.”

    “Was that why you kept getting pinned? Echopaw, you need to focus more.”

    Echopaw smiled. “Trust me. I did plenty of focusing.”