Shadows Broken

Chapter One: Temper Breaks

"I'd rather not claw my ears of during battle!" A  black tom with a white and brown mask over his eyes snarled.     

A fat, fluffy white tabby she-cat with grey stripes rolled her eyes meowing, "Phantomstar, just clamp your mouth. She won't care."    

Phantomstar growled, "Well she shouldn't be ordering us around in the mist of war!" he snapped back.    

"But..... she's like the leader...... right?" Said a short scarlet tom.    

The white tabby nodded, "Right, Tarno. She is, and 'Phantoms', over here, shouldn't be getting all mad about it," She stated glaring at the black masked tom.    

Tarno smiled running up to the figure in the outlined by the light coming through the boarded door.    "You're back!" The scarlet tom mewed looking at the cat.    

The cat nodded before it stepped out of the partially blinding light, revealing a calico she-cat with a sliced off tail and gun pouch around its waist.    "So if I heard correctly you don't like that I'm leader? My ears better be broken or you're gonna get a bite to the neck!" She snapped pushing her face closer to Phantomstar's.    

"Yeah, I don't like your leadership style. All you do is yell orders at us in battle and even around here!!" Phantomstar hissed claws sliding out.    

The calico swiftly smacked Phantomstar across the face claws out and eyes narrowed her pupils shrinking into slits with an emotionless face. Phantomstar landed on his side touching the claws marks on his cheek.    

"XENIA! What's wrong with you?" The white tabby exclaimed running over to the black tom.    

Xenia, the calico, shrugged licking the blood off her claws, "He should know better than too challenge me, you know that, Guinevere," she defended herself before turning around to see Tarno's shocked expression.    

"Yes but did Tarno need to see that?" The white she-cat countered about to say something else but stopped at Xenia's shocked look.    

Tarno stepped backwards frighteningly staring at the calico. Xenia stood in place her jaw gaping open showing her teeth. Tarno glanced behind him, seeing the partly boarded up doorway.   

 Guinevere saw where he'd looked, "Tarno, don't do it," She warned standing up. Tarno stared her in the eye before shifting his gaze to Xenia it soften as he looked at her aghast face, he turned around and slid under one of the boards.    

Xenia shook her head yowling, "TARNO!!!!"    

"You've chased your own son away, you are such a great mother. You've lost all your kits, Flowl, Zoric, Mounew, and now Tarno,"  Phantomstar sneered shakily standing up.    

Xenia jolted outside yelling, "Tarno! Tarno...... TARNO!!!!" She started to frantically search around until she got to a dinner. Xenia squinted her eyes to read the sign, 'Carl's Dinner Dine & Die' she hadn't realized how close to their old home she was. "Tarno would be in here, if not he was captured,"  she thought pushing open the door, walking inside she realized that it had the smell of rotten flesh. Scrunching up her nose she started searching for her son. A sniffling noise caught Xenia's attention, following the noise she found herself in front of a wooden door, the whimpering was much louder and clearer here. "Who's in there? And what going on?" She wondered thoughts rushed into her mind, she cleared her head and slightly pushing the door open. Peering inside she gazed upon the animals in the room; a grey anthropomorphic fox holding a gun, a raccoon with red stripes holding down their victims, her son and a red panda cub.    

"Tell us where yals' supplies are!" The raccoon shouted.

"Yeah! If you two don't tell us soon well shoot ya'!" The anthropomorphic fox snarled tail lashing as it pointed the gun at the two.

Xenia growled, a little to loudly as the two bandits heard her and walked over to the door. She pulled her head back quickly and scrambled behind a broken table.

The fox flicked its tail and started to look around for anyone cocking its gun, "Desprox! There isn't anything or one here!" It called to its friend before walking back into the room.

"Did ya' check everywhere, Tragoon?" Desprox, the raccoon, asked.

A loud groan and sigh could be heard, "Yeah, I checked everywhere. NOW! My legs are gettin' tired, lets just shoot these kids since they won't talk," Tragoon, the fox, complained.

Xenia narrowed her eyes and crept towards the door. She heard the gun being cocked again, then a shot. Her eyes widen and without thinking she rushed into the room claws unsheathed.

The two bandits screeched as she busted through the door.

"I thought ya' said, you check everywhere?!" Desprox yelped.

"Who cares if I did or not? She came here for one of em'," Tragoon growled following Xenia's gaze he stopped when his eyes rested on Tarno. "Come closer an I'll shoot the kit," he threatened pointing the gun at the scarlet colored kit.

"You wouldn't dare," Xenia snarled stepping forward claws glinting in the sun creeping through a crack in the ceiling.

Desprox started to shake glancing at Tragoon he whimpered, "Lets just go Tragoon. I don't want to fight her."

Tragoon rolled his eyes, "What's so intimidating about her? She's just some prissy, uptight, house-cat," He scoffed.

Desprox looked at Xenia's claws, "This is her domain, we shouldn't have come here. She probably came here to kill us," she stated.

Xenia smiled knowing that she could manipulate this raccoon, "Yeah, I don't like trespassers. You wouldn't want too know what happened to the last animal that went through my territory," She deluded bringing her claws to her throat and making a slicing gesture.

Desprox flinched, "Please don't kill us! Take the kids, they weren't talkin' anyways!" she shrieked. 

Xenia nodded, trying not to show her fear for her son, as she walked forward only to be stopped by Tragoon.

"Just because she's scared of ya', that don't mean I am!" Tragoon flashed tail swishing on the ground.

"Move you; no-clothes, twoleg-loving, dimwitted, mouse-brained fool!" Xenia ordered bitterly glaring at the animal in front of her.

"You. Didn't. Just. Say. What I Think Ya' just said!" Tragoon hissed pointing his gun at Xenia's chest.

"Oh, but I did!" sneered Xenia showing her teeth while smirking.

Tragoon growled, his animal instincts kicking in, dropping his gun he lunged at the calico she-cat.