Warriors #1 - The Phantom Menace (currently editing!)

Duel of the Fates

The blazing sun beat down on the sandstone boulders, heating the smooth surface as hot as fire.

Orange eyes swathed with crimson veins flashed venom, a dark red tabby pelt bristled in the suffocating dryness, and red claws the color of freshly shed blood burned the rocks.

This was the beginning and the end.

This was the battle that would seal the fate of the Galaxy forever.

For the first time in a thousand years, Dawnclan Knight and Darkhaven Warrior meet in battle.

"We'll take him together." Sagepelt's voice was a battle-hardened growl as he unsheathed his Kyberclaws.

Hazelpaw swallowed hard and nodded, hackles up and tail lashing.

Bloodburn threw back his head and roared a challenge, the thick fur around his throat bristling like a lion's mane.

Sagepelt yowled in answer, his eyes blazing green flame.

Hazelpaw quivered with excitement; he was facing what no other Padawan had experienced before.

The battle between the fragile line of light and dark.

Bloodburn lunged for Sagepelt, Kyberclaws flashing deadly in the sunlight, and the two cats rolled around the blazing hot surface, screeching.

Hazelpaw nipped at the huge Zabrak while leaping away swiftly whenever the red claws got close. Blood roared in his ears as he clawed at the Darkhavener's thick pelt, again and again, the jagged cuts smoking.

Sagepelt had learned not to underestimate Bloodburn at their last meeting at tribe Dune; he now switched his fighting style to Ataru, a dueling form known for its deadly and agile acrobatics.

The old knight seemed to fly around its enemy, landing powerful blows that sent the Zabrak screeching with fury while lurching away from him.

Yet Bloodburn, having the advantage of youth, quickly recovered from Sagepelt's vicious attacks.

He now reared up with his matted tail bristling, slamming down into Sagepelt's flank and digging his talons inside the flesh.

The knight shrieked, ripping free from the Zabrak's grip, and bit down hard into Bloodburn's forepaw.

His teeth scraped bone as Bloodburn yowled with agony, dislodging the knight into a pile of jagged rocks with a powerful kick of his hind claws.

Sagepelt slid to the ground limply with a shower of pebbles and lay still.

"How dare you!"

Hazelpaw hissed with fury as he attacked Bloodburn with a flurry of blue.

The Darkhavener met his attack with bloodstained fangs and crimson Kyberclaws.

"You think you can beat me, kit?" Bloodburn shrieked with insane laughter as he knocked him over with a single blow of his powerful claws.

"I was trained in the dark arts by the lord of Darkhaven himself!"

"Bloodshed and battle is what I was bred for, what I was chosen for!"

Hazelpaw leaped to his paws, arching his back and hissing ferociously.

"Don't count on it, ugly." he spat as the hulking figure of the tom advanced closer and closer.

Yet panic flashed in his mind before he tried to press them down.

'He's already defeated Sagepelt, what chance have I against him?'

He desperately tried to remember any of his training that might be useful against the powerful warrior.