#you ever wonder how she felt when she was the only apprentice that wasnt sent to kitty concentration camp

[marmotclaw]

Dawnflower

Name meaning: Pale colours, early riser, has potential, beautiful, friendly

Very pale grey molly (she/her)

Cause of death: Starvation and thirst at 5.67 years

Family and Education

Mothers: Mosspelt, Shadepelt

Sisters: Dapplenose, Willowshine

Brothers: Robinkit, Woodkit

Adopted Brother: Stormfur

Adopted Sister: Feathertail

Daughters: Minnowtail, Tumblekit

Son: Pebblefoot

Mentor: Heavystep

Apprentices: Icewing, Beetlewhisker

[justaghostingon]

Chapter 11: Butting Heads

Tori

Tori crouched on top of a roof, surveying the street below. There had been six attacks now since she’d last seen Simple and those strange purple people. She had submitted the license plate number to the police, but it would take them months to track it down, if it turned up anything at all. The strange star-shaped robots were still flying uninhibited in the city, and quite a few had even started following her around, requesting her assistance with monster attacks. At first, she had cut them down, but for everyone that she managed go catch a hundred rose in its place, and she gradually stopped trying.

They weren’t the real problem anyway. They tried to keep people out of danger zones. She’d never admit it, but it was helpful to have them quarentine off areas until the good doctor’s team could get there and clean up the area.

Not that it mattered if the police got there first. They seemed to think themselves immune, bursting in dangerous areas and trying to fight, spreading the toxins around as they did so. To make matters worse, they refused to believe the good doctor when he warned them again and again that it was not safe. They refused to believe without solid proof.

And the only one who could provide that solid proof, was nowhere to be found. Tori twitched on the roof at the very thought of Simple. The man who knew...something...more about the spread and how to contain it.

“It doesn’t do any good, it’s already spread,” Simple had said. And those words had haunted Tori ever since. She had turned them over and over inside her mind late at night. Had the toxicity really gotten to far to be stopped? Was there really no hope and they were all living on borrowed time? Why had he sounded so regretful like he had firsthand experience? And most of all, what did this mean for Mary?

Tori hadn’t been able to see her since the hospital took her away. The doctor had kept her informed of Mary’s condition, but it wasn’t the same as being able to see her, to hold her hand and promise her she’d find a solution. She had taken to hanging around the hospital when she wasnt hunting monsters, pacing the waiting room up and down.

It was almost a relief when the good doctor had stopped her, and told her to use her free time to hunt down Simple instead. She doubted she’d find him, she’d been tailing the robots but they didn’t seem to need to return to Simple’s base regularly enough for her to find it. Still, she had put on her white hazard suit armor and grabbed her knife and some hazard tape, and headed out.

Which led her to her current situation, sitting on a roof and wondering if she should try following the robots again. Something blue caught her eye. It couldn’t be, could it? She hurried across the roof to get a better view. There it was again, the glow of blue on the horizon. Simple.

She hurried down to the street where her car was parked. Briefly she wished she had a better, faster method of transportation, but it was only a passing fancy. This car had out run monsters, it could get there in enough time to catch Simple.

As she grew closer she found the scenery growing familiar. She pulled over on the street filled with empty warehouses, and tightened her jaw. It figures Simple would be out here, she thought as she batted away one of the robots who flew to close.

Noises filled the air, monsterous shrieks and a human scream. Tori felt her blood run cold as she bolted between the buildings, swords raised at the ready to aid the person in trouble. She rounded the corner to see Simple and another man facing off against a chimera. The smaller man was half pinned beneath the creature, while Simple looked on, an eyebrow raised.

“Come on Gyrus. We don’t have all day,” Simple called out.

The man pinned struggled to free himself. The monster raised its last remaining head in a snarl filled with many teeth. Tori raised her knife and dove forward to come to his aid, but at the last second the man pinned raised a strange glove and shot something bright out of it that hit the head. It exploded in a rain of green goo.

The man, now soaked in green goo, gave a loud groan. “Can we stop now Kodya?”

“Not yet,” Simple said as he crossed over to take the younger’s hand. “You need to be able to take on more than a two headed hydra.” The younger groaned again, but accepted Simple’s extended hand.

“What is going on?” Tori shrieked, and both men froze. The younger gave a shriek and let go of Simple’s hand, falling back into the goo. Simple reached out a hand to try to catch him, but was to slow. Goo splattered them all.

“Nothing! Absolutely nothing is going on at all!” The man on the ground waved his hands wildly in the air. “We were...I mean...this is just...a rescue attempt?” He finished half heartedly, peaking big eyes at here through his bangs.

Behind him Simple scowled at her, arms crossed. “What are you doing here Red?”

The man below glanced between Tori and Simple. He sighed, then jumped to his feet. “What Ko-Simple here means-“ he fixed Tori with a friendly smile, “-is that he thought you were patroling on the otherside of the city, so he decided to cover this side.”

Tori raised an eyebrow. “Simple can speak for himself.” The man blushed and looked down. If it was possible, Simple’s glower darkened.

“Have you run into the Numbers Gang again?” Simple snapped.

“The who?” Tori frowned.

“The purple people,” the other man offered. 

Tori shook her head. “Since you disappeared, I have not seen head nor tail of them.” 

“Then we have nothing to say to each other,” Simple snapped, turning away. “Come on Gyrus.”

The goo covered man hesitated, gazing back at Tori. He bit his lip, then turned to Simple. “Wait!” He reached out a hand to his retreating back. “Maybe she could help us.”

Simple stopped, but did not look back. “I don’t have time for someone who gets in the way and thinks goo is the problem.” 

“So you admit there is a problem!” Tori stepped forward. “If the goo is not the cause, then what is? Tell me! This could save lives!”

Simple’s shoulders’s slumped as he sighed. “It’s not that simple.”

“Then make it so! Explain!”Tori cut through the air with her hand.

“I can’t!” Simple whirled around, hands balled into fists. Tori growled as she stomped towards him, opening her mouth to speak.

A hand appeared on her shoulder, stopping her approach. She glanced down at it in shock, and then over to Simple, who wore a similar expression of surprise as he gazed at the hand on his own shoulder. “Stop it,” Simple’s companion said, green hair still dripping goo. He looked Tori right in the eye. “White Knight, we don’t know where it comes from. But we do know it’s connected to the Numbers Gang. Help us find them, and we can find a way to stop the problem in our city.”

Tori considered her options. The last thing she wanted was to have to work with someone as callous as Simple. But then again, what choice did she have? If there was any chance of saving Mary...the image of her lying in a hospital bed, only approached by professionals sent as shiver down her spine. She made her decision. “I will help you, If you behave.” She glared at Simple.

“Oh we will!” The man between them smiled. “Right Simple?” He gave the vigilante a sharp look. 

“Fine.” Simple crossed his arms. “The sooner we find them the better.” The man between them gave him a smile, and Tori realized something.

“I don’t believe we have been introduced,” she said to the man beside Simple. “I am called the White Knight.”

The man brightened. “I know, I’m a big fan!...”

“Kid,” Simple grumbled. The kid rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly in response.

“Call me...Astronaut,” he said, glancing to the side as if he had just come up with it on the spot. “I’m kinda like Simple’s tech support.”

“Apprentice,” Simple corrected. 

“You mean sidekick?” Tori corrected, remembering the superhero movies Mary had insisted they watch on movie nights. 

The one dubbed Astronaut grinned. “I think you and I are gonna get on just fine.”’