EchoClan forest

Blackfern heard the two cats, but continued to attack the now completely enraged badger with a renewed frenzy.

Spiritheart returned and she stood back to back with Blackfern, fending off attacks from the badger.

The badger howled and retreated, the wounds along it's side stinging. Blackfern hissed and thrashed her tail, feeling blood from her ripped ear dripping down the side of her muzzle and splashing in a small, warm puddle by her forepaw.

Spiritheart paused to observe her wounds. There was a deep gash along her side, and it was bleeding heavily. Some fur was ripped away along her tail, and a deep cut along her forehead where the badger had caught its claw in it. She steadied her gaze on the badger, which was retreating, leaving the dead rabbit.

Blackfern hissed and the badger retreated fully, heading towards the Flower Meadow.

Spiritheart glanced at Blackfern. "We need to just plain drive it out." she said quietly. "If it stays in our territory, it could come back to this place, even back to the camp."

Blackfern shook her head to the younger warrior. "We'd need more than just two cats to do that," she replied. "We can ambush it tomorrow." And with that, aw started limping towards camp.

Spiritheart stared at Blackfern, and followed.

Mistyfeather flicked dew off her paws as she walked, glancing up to the light-cracked canopies of a hundred trees around them. "We need to get as much as we can before the first snow," she stated as if the cats didn't know. "I'm going to send another patrol out as soon as we get back, but for now, we hunt." She opened her mouth and almost immediately scented squirrel.

Flicking her tail in acknowledgement of Mistyfeather's words, Autumnburn crouched silently and opened her mouth, heading toward a scent of a vole. She prowled along, spotting the tiny animal and stopping dead, observing it as it rustle In the leaves. Lashing her tail she lept at the vole lightning quick with her small body, crashing Into it neatly and rustling a small patch of leaves. Dispatching it quickly before it can cry, she rose with her pray, and turned back toward the patrol, vole clasped between her jaws.

Mistyfeather glanced around for the squirrel, locating it sitting on a root at the foot of a tree hiding nuts under a pile of leaves. Sorry little buddy, but you won't be needing those, Mistyfeather thought, creeping up on feather-light paws and pouncing with startling accuracy. The squirrel didn't have time to cry out before its neck was snapped, the deputy purring triumphantly at her catch.

Autumnburn purred as she came up to the deputy "stunning catch as always Mistyfeather" she said after approaching silently, and she dropped her catch next to the squirrel "I scented a mouse over there, so I'll be back" the tiny she commented, creeping back in the direction she had come. Scenting the mouse again, she found the plump creature gorging on seeds. Whipping her tail she pounced with accuracy onto the mouse and cut it's cry off before the sound left the poor creature's lips. Pleased with herself, she trotted back to her deputy, bearing the plump prey, which she dropped next to the vole that sat next to Mistyfeather's squirrel.

Autumnburn tilted her face to the sky "looks like trouble, we might want to hurry Mistyfeather" she said worryingly, frantically tasting the air. Scenting another squirrel, she found the skinny animal nearby. It wasn't much, but it would curb somecat's hunger, so it was something. Crouching expertly, she prowled forward and neatly dispatched the new pray next to the growing pile at Mostyfeather's feet

Foxpaw nodded in agreement, aware of the weather pressing on them. He padded away from the others to a area with more foliage and immediately picked up the scent of a mouse. He spied it not too far from him and was surprised it hadn't seen him. Nevertheless, he took advantage of the mouse's horrid survey skills and killed it with ease. It wasn't plump, but what could he expect? He buried it and went on with the hunt.

Mousepaw's mood had slightly brightened at the thought of hunting. She carefully scented the air, taking her time to pick out each scent in the air. No foxes and no badgers. The anxiety that was always there inside of her died down a little and she followed the scent of a blackbird.
The bird was on a branch a little too high up to leap for and would be gone by the time she climbed up there. She flicked her fluffy brown tail in annoyance and instead opted to follow another scent.

Watching the apprentices hunt, Autumnburn smiled lightly, heading off in search of her own prey again. The group was hauling well, and the clan would need it to survive the snowin. She anxiously glanced at Mistyfeather, who had been silent the entire time, but decided the clans' hunger was more important than her friend's silence... At least right now it was.

Mistyfeather breathed in through her mouth deeply, scenting the same bird as Mousepaw, and decided to try her luck. She sunk her claws into the bark of the next tree, hauling herself to the branches, and sat, tail tip flicking ever so slightly, to see if the bird had noticed. It hadn't, thank SoulClan, but she frowned. The animals shouldn't be so skinny, she thought to herself. They should be all plump for leaf-bare, but this bird wouldn't feed a kit!

watching Mistyfeather go, Autumnburn headed a different direction, prowling silently through the forest. After what seemed like ages of no prey, she caught wind of a crow, an old thing, that was in a tree. It was fat, but probably stringy. She shrugged, noticing that her small size might allow her to leap high enough to snag the bird, and decided to give it a shot. It wasn't much of a loss, the old bird, but it was a gain if she caught the prey.

OOC: Short post because hunting is painfully boring. XD

At the end of his hunt, Foxpaw only managed to catch two small mouses. He was a little bit upset, but knew it would be better than nothing at all.

Mousepaw managed to catch a very scrawny bird.

Autumnburn gathered the remaining crows she had managed to catch along with her big haul from earlier. They had set out at sunhigh, and she saw the sun dipping below the horizon now. That means they had been hunting for half the day. Well... she had. She sighed, gathering her impressive catch from the holes and the pile at the deputy's feet, and headed back to camp alone, nodding to the apprentices on the way back.

Snowstripe padded here. Lynxcloud followed close behind, thinking of her sister. She sighed, prowling and staying low to the ground while the two hunted. "Snowstripe, are you sure you can hunt? I think you should stay in camp since you're an elder." Lynxcloud whispered. Snowstripe huffed. "Of course not. I may be old, but I still got my might!" she huffed again and let her flanks drag across the ground as she spotted a rabbit scurrying across the ground. That's pretty scrawny. I don't think it will do any good for the Clan. Lynxcloud thought, but held in the smart remark from getting the elder mad. She opened her jaws, letting in the scent of the early newleaf morning. She saw a flash of white fur when Snowstripe pounced elegantly, ending the rabbit with one slash of the claw. "Wow! Snowstripe!" Lynxcloud stared in disbelief. "That was a wonderful catch." Snowstripe flicked her ears, flattered. They headed back to camp, chatting about.

Kitestar arrived at the forest with the rest of the patrol. She lifted her head to scent, and caught several different ones. She chose the scent of the robin and started to stalk it.

ooc: I need to go back to camp for plot-related reasons so yea heheh

Lynxcloud prowled through the oak and birch trees, listening to the soothing sounds of songbirds. She stalked a starling and pounced, silently killing it with a bite to it's red breast. She picked it up and tossed it under a small elderberry bush to collect later while she went to hunt some more. Finally, she came back and gathered all of her prey together, pushing them against each other and clamping her jaws around them. She prodded some back towards camp with her paw, muffled purrs leaving an echo behind her.

Sandleap tasted the air, finding a mouse. It was shivering and fumbling with a seed, and Sandleap pounced. The spine made a small cracking sound, and then he gave thanks to Soulclan. Sandleap sort of cuddled the mouse to make it warm for Dovepaw, and hurried back to camp.