Odds And Ends (random book)

SCRIPTORIAL | Round Delta - warplanes

2017
WattyWarriors
Watty Warriors Fan Magazine SCRIPTORIAL

Single elimination one-on-one short story writing tournament for Warriors.

Result - advanced

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"Fleetpaw, Littlepaw, get up here, quick!"

The air was hot, moist from the lack of wind. Thick smoke quickly rose in the distance, followed by several quick, echoing snaps.

Panzer sat on the roof of camp - a twoleg structure - winded but calm. Two kit-sized apprentices scrambled up the steps to the roof.

"We're supposed to be inside, Panzer!" Fleetpaw shouted, her black and white fur spiking. "Longstar says it isn't safe for us up here."

"And tell me, mouse-brain," Panzer started, "what happens if we get struck by their lightning? We die anyway. This nest keeps us no safer than the things twoleg warriors wear on their heads."

Littlepaw was shaking, practically curled up in a ball.

"Panzer, please," she said. "We shouldn't be out here."

"Oh, toughen up you little-"

She was cut short by a high-pitched whine. It sliced through the twolegplace; nothing would be oblivious to it.

"There, do you hear that?" Panzer said. "It's muffled a bit by the taller nests around us but everything can hear it... look, up there! Do you see them?"

Four black dots floated past the dim horizon and made their way to the nests on their side. The apprentices hopped onto the ledge and looked on. Their eyes were wide and both their tails curled around their legs.

They approached quickly. A hum accompanied them, low, almost growling.

"What is that sound?" Fleetpaw asked.

"That's the least of your concern," Panzer said. "Wait until they get close, until you smell them, see the lightning come from their noses!"

"It's still not safe," Littlepaw said. "Longstar said-"

"Longstar can't keep you safe," Panzer snapped back, "Not from them. As a StoneClan warrior you should know what to fear most. Remember when we went to get some medicine and I took you past that prayer-nest?"

The apprentice nodded.

"You're about to find out more, more about how twolegs think. And from here, you shouldn't fear the wildcats of LeafCLan, or even the twoleg warriors on the ground. These things are far worse."

The humming objects dove from up high, breaking off on their own. One of them was coming right for them.

"Get down!" Panzer shouted. "Stray debris will likely kill you, not a direct hit."

The three ducked behind the ledge. The apprentices curled around the elder medicine cat as the sky cracked. Large rocks carelessly flew over their head. The echo shot throughout the twolegplace; all would hear it.

Panzer sat up, motioning the apprentices to do the same. The monster flew right overhead, low. It was all grey, shining in the bright sunlight. Its wings were massive, held together by a very slim body. Each wing had a rounded nose on it, a spinning object could barley be made out at the ends of them. They were smaller but identical at the rear of it.

What caught their eye were the two symbols on each wing. A blue ring surrounding a white circle, a red dot in the center. It was the brightest of all the features.

The monster left a thin wisp of smoke, but the smell was enough to make them all gag. The scream from the two noses drove the apprentices deeper into Panzer's fur.

"Oh will you two grow a brain already," Panzer said. "They didn't come to kill us. They just can, accidentally."

Fleetheart tensed her muscles and stopped shaking. "That thing looked ready to pick us up by just blowing us away. I've never felt anything that fast before."

"Well now you have," Panzer said. "That's a two-nosed sky-monster. Made by twolegs. Flown by twolegs. Meant to kill other twolegs. You've seen ones with one nose fly up high, but I wanted to show you what one flying low looked like."

The sirens continued to cry, and the monsters continued their rampage. The one that flew over them climbed sharply and dove on a distant target. The snap nearly scared the apprentices off the roof. The ducked for falling debris. Panzer stayed standing.

"Scared kittens. Look up! There are no debris this time."

"I don't want to take chances," Littlepaw said. "Those things sent rocks flying right over us. We're really really high up and they just flew right over us!"

"We aren't that high." Panzer shook her head and hopped back on the ledge. Another one of the monsters flew close, right in front of their view.

"Look, look," she said. "This is what I wanted you to see."

The apprentices meekly looked over the ledge. A twoleg was clearly visible under a clear dome. It was wearing different types of fake-fur; they almost could not recognize it as one.

"Twolegs killing other twolegs," Fleetheart whispered. "In monsters like that... but why? I know, I know, you told us about them. We've seen the thundersticks they use on the ground. But where to they get the idea to make these things from? They make monsters on the ground look like nothing."

"Compared to these the monsters on the ground are nothing." Panzer hopped off the ledge, watching the sky-monsters form up and rise together in the air.

"You see, twolegs have a different method of war than we do. We have to fight on the ground, in the open, ambush others. The twolegs do that, too. But they can make birds like that. And war-monsters on the ground that can pulverize their own nests. Sticks that can spit lightning to kill anything they aim at. The wild surrounding this twolegplace is dangerous. Not as dangerous as being inside it. Right on top of a target for the other twolegs."

The sirens continued to blare. And in the distance six more sky-monsters were fast approaching.

"They don't fight like us, they don't pray like us, they don't hunt like us, they're higher beings. They are above StarClan. Remember that lesson well. It came in handy for me a few times before sky-monsters started attacking. The twolegs are more powerful than StarClan... but that doesn't mean StarClan isn't real. But use your brain rather than their's to solve twoleg problems, got it?"

The apprentices nodded.

The sirens stopped crying. They looked over the twolegplace. The six sky-monsters arrived overhead. The four two-nosed ones began to retreat. The single-nosed monsters, higher pitched, faster, and familiar to the apprentices, began to chase. They spat small bursts of light. One of the attackers exploded and dove in a ball of fire. They were quickly out of sight.

"Use your mind and your ancestors'. As a clan cat living in a place like this, you'll need both. Got it?"

The apprentices nodded.

"Now get out of here. Remember what I said and you'll live longer than the other flea-bitten scatter-brains huddling each other below."

The two scrambled back down the steps and into the camp. Panzer looked back to the sky, watching the monsters chase each other around. She shook her head and headed for the steps herself.

"Sometimes I hate twoelgs..."