No Stopping Us Right Now

Strike finally a rived on the scene to see Pepper on covered in blood and dead with Perdita stand. Strike was filled shock and horror, then moved his head up see Queen Nala fighting a timber wolf her eyes full of psychotic blood lust. It didn't take even one second for Strike to figure out what just happened. That was when his shock and horror turned to anger, he knew Nala was have problems but he did not I think it would drive her to murder someone.

It took almost all off the burnt puppy's will power to keep himself form just snapping into homicidal rage, but he closed eyes and took a deep breath, if he was going to be any use at all he was going to need to keep cool head. They way things were going now it looked they could only be two outcomes one more heroes showed up and ripped Nala to pieces or more like she would chased out of the The Pridelands. Strike really did not care which, all he wanted was to play a small part in it, even it was the role of a pouching bag. Strike quickly ran around the back of the lioness and bit down as hard as he could on her tail.

Like Mortaray, Dipstick had been napping in Rebecca's old tent when the terrified yelp of a puppy startled him awake. He raised his head, looking rather stupid at first with eyes half-open and comically crossed, mouth hanging open a little. He stumbled to his feet and shook his head, trying to shake the sleep out of his eyes, mind and body. Who WAS that? Who yelled for help? Eyes wide open now, Dipstick stood still a moment and listened but could hear nothing.

Wait... in the far distance, there was the faint sound of snarls, as if somebody was fighting, and the calls of someone who sounded...completely unhinged. He turned to behold the apparition of Rebecca, staring at him with that same expression seemingly permanently plastered on her face, an expression of fear, confusion, and concern.

Dipstick turned his head toward the sound as more signs of a struggle erupted, worry creasing his brows. Hastily he turned back to Rebecca. "Stay here." She only dipped her head a little, her expression unchanging, but he was already dashing out of the tent.

Once out, he turned this way and that, trying to pinpoint the direction of the sounds, before he spotted them. Some distance away, a lioness was struggling with a wolf, and he thought he could see further out an adult dog, standing over something. Is that Mom? He wondered. This couldn't be good.

He started out at a fast trot, expression wrought with concern and worry. Presently, he became aware of someone walking beside him, and noticed that Rebecca was trotting along beside him. "I thought I told you to stay in the tent!!" He admonished the illusion, but she only stared back at him with her baleful blue eyes and her lips pursed.

Sighing, he shook his head. Nothing to be done about it now. "Stay with me. This could be dangerous." That said, he broke out into a full out run, coming to a stop only when he had closed the distance between Perdita and himself.

"Mom, what's happe-" He started to ask, but cut off with a gasp when he finally saw what his mother was looking at. Pepper was lying on her side in the grass, her side stained with blood. Dipstick's mouth dropped and hung open in absolute shock. No, no not Pepper...not Pepper too.... Wait..... "too"? Why did he say "too", there wasn't anyone else dead...?

Closing his mouth, Dipstick looked at Perdita balefully, eyes growing huge and shiny. "Mom... is she gonna be all right?"

Please... please, don't die...

Perdita crouched closer to Pepper and nudged her nose against her daughter's body in the hopes of arousing her, even if it was only for a few moments. Although she was fighting to keep her emotions from going beyond her control, she couldn't keep her body from trembling. Perdita didn't want to witness another of her children slip away. Yet, there she was with Pepper bleeding out in front of her and probably losing her hold on life as she stood there.

Her thoughts were shaken when Dipstick's presence was brought to her attention. She looked to him and tried to think of a way to respond to his question. The slender female wasn't all that hopeful that Pepper would survive. Losing so many pups and her mate all at once had shaken her hopes, despite her praying for the chance that her daughter would live, and it definitely wasn't easy to convey that to one of her surviving pups that she knew had been shaken by the death as well. Soon enough, though, she came to an answer.

"I'm afraid I may not have made it in time, Dipstick." Perdita finally said. Her voice was low, almost as if she didn't want Pepper to hear her say that, but not low enough to keep her from being heard entirely. "Please, Pepper, please say something. Anything." she begged.

What drove Queen Nala to murder an innocent child? This wasn't something Nala would do, she was too kind to condone such brutality.

Hunter watched Mortaray launch himself at Nala and silently debated on whether he should follow his cousin's example. He had promised his loyalty to Queen Nala and King Simba the moment she accepted him into the Pridelands. If it hadn't been for Nala, Hunter wouldn't have joined Simba's Army! But he also promised his loyalty to King Scar and he had his lionesses murder two children and their general. There was no way Hunter was going to stand by and allow this to happen. Not this time. I know what I have to do. Hunter realized. I sure hope I don't regret this. Hunter was a horrible warrior, but he had to at least try.

Hunter suddenly narrowed his eyes and snarled viciously before charging forward. Mouth opened, Hunter attempted to jump on Nala's back and bite the back of her neck.

Pepper something brush against her and she forced herself to look up. It was her mother and Dipstick. They both looked sad and scared. She didn't want them to be sad about her, she didn't want them to cry because of her. She didn't want to leave them. Her eyes were growing heavier but she fought to stay awak

"M...Mummy." her voice sounded so weak "'m...s-sorry...didn't...I don't."

She wanted to bury her head in her mother's chest. She didn't want to go. Not yet. Not now. She didn't want her family torn even more by her. She looked at Dipstick, tears beginning to trickle down her face.

"D-Dip...'m...sorry."

""I'm afraid I may not have made it in time, Dipstick." It took the pup a moment to comprehend. When he did, he wished he hadn't. "No.....no..." He looked at the bloodied body of Pepper. "No..."

It was then that her weakened voice reached his mismatched ears. So weak and distant she couldn't seem to form complete, coherent thoughts. Dipstick's mouth dropped open again. "No...no Pepper, not you too. Not..." His lower lip wobbled. He was in shock, shock and he didn't know what to do. And he couldn't understand why he kept talking as if there was more than one member of his family dead....more than....

"Pepper don't leave!!" He cried suddenly, crouching down beside his sister, "Please don't. Don't..." Not again. He couldn't take this again..couldn't...

Her brother's voice broke Pepper's heart. He begged her not to go and she wished she could promise him she wouldn't. She wished she could stay here with him, her mother, her siblings, Mooch...she wanted to be with them all. She didn't want to give them all fresh heartache.

She stretched her paw out, the white fur was stained red where her blood has touched it, the fem centimetres seemed like a thousand miles before she made contact with Dipstick's paw.

"Won't...go...not yet." she breathed, her voice seemed to get weaker the more she fought to stay "Not...yet."

Pepper didn't notice that the rain had started to fall. She was too weak to register the feeling of the raindrops hitting her fur until one fell and hit her nose. Her eyes went skyward, the sky was dark and grey and rain was falling around them. The sky was crying for them. For her family, for the next loss they had to go through. She would soon be crying up there too for them.

"L-Love...you...love...you." she said. She needed to say it. She didn't want to leave without telling her mother and her brother that she loved them. They deserved to know that.

Dipstick's lower lip trembled hearing that and fresh tears began welling up from his eyes and running down his face. "Pepper..." He sniffled, sobbed a little, settling down on the ground next to her, placing his own paw on top of hers.

Not more death, not more death, not more death, please.... he prayed, begged, silently. Beside him, the phantom of his dreams, Rebecca, hovered at his side, looking just as sad as he felt. Dipstick glanced at her, sniffling, although to Pepper it might look just as if he was simply too riddled with pain to look at her anymore and had to glance away. "P..ep..." He sniffled again.

There was too much death. Too much death. He couldn't take much more.

She wasn't gone. She wasn't dead yet. Perdita felt a tiny bit of relief flow through her being when she heard Pepper speak. However, it didn't do much to calm the slender female. Perdita didn't have to guess what was happening. Her daughter had been attacked by one of the lionesses she thought she could trust, and now her life was bleeding away. Perdita gently licked Pepper's cheek, having to stifle what felt like a flood of emotions in that moment, and tried her best to put on a brave face for her daughter. She didn't want Pepper to think her mother was suffering, even though it was clear that taking another loss to their family was not something Perdita wanted to do right then.

"Oh, Pepper... I love you, too. It's going to be all right, dear. It's going to be all right..." Perdita murmured. Whether or not there was any truth in her words, Perdita wanted to at least try and reassure Pepper that soon she wouldn't be in pain anymore. Pepper probably already knew that. Perdita realized that this was probably the case. Even still, she wanted to keep trying to reassure her. Or was she trying to reassure herself that things would be okay in time? Truthfully, Perdita didn't know anymore.

Her mother's words helped reassure Pepper, she knew she wasn't going to be alright...but she could pretend for a little while more that it had only been a flesh wound and a little blood. She would be alright, she'd be at peace. She wasn't afraid of death, she wasn't afraid of what was coming, of the darkness lingering on the edges of her vision.

Still, she fought for another while longer with her mother and brother.

"Does...n't hurt....anymore." she said with a weak smile "'m gonnna...be...alright. T-Tell...tell others...love them."

She felt her energy fading. The end was coming soon, she couldn't delay it forever but she wished she had longer, wished she had told everyone that she loved them.

(( Nala injured Mortaray? Ohhhh hell..... xD ))

Pepsi heard the cry for help, however it didn’t register at first. He had been perched atop a slate rock, with a smoothened tree limb between his paws. Moments before he had been whacking away at ’the intruder’ in the water (which turned out to be his reflection). Finally realizing that someone was indeed in trouble, he flung his stick at the strange devilishly handsome wolf in the water and took off toward the sound. The moment he entered the scene he spotted the young pup, which was at death’s door. Shifting his gaze he saw Nala and his brother Mortaray, locked in a fight. Pepsi noticed Hunter charging toward the deranged lioness and his irises narrowed. Wasn’t Nala the queen? The hero queen? Why? Why had she killed the puppy? Pepsi took a few shaky steps forward and the clouds above, shifted, allowing the sun’s rays to brighten the area. The light reflected off of Mortaray’s scruff, as the glistening scarlet tendrils of blood matted the fur. “Morta…ray….”

Pepsi’s breath hitched and his pupils shrank as he took a solid step toward the malicious queen. His haunches rose, doubling his size and his lips peeled back, displaying his deadly ivories. A haunting growl bubbled in his chest as his frame shook violently. He suddenly took on a hushed demonic tone as he snarled, “Ahh. Blood for blood. Whadda ya say there queenie?” Pepsi’s eyes flashed as they twitched in a psychotic manner. It was happening, he was going into one of his many ‘fazes’. Not only that, but the massive wolf could feel the rage and the pain radiating off of Mortaray in profuse waves. It only fueled Pepsi’s anger and the desire to kill. He’s banner lashed like a viper and his blunt claws scored gouges in the earth as he kicked off the atmosphere at high speed.

In a split second, Pepsi lurched forward without hesitation. He circled the lioness once then leapt at her, his jaws aiming for her throat. He knew a straight forward attack was very dangerous, but his anger had clouded his judgment and all of wanted was blood. He wanted revenge. He wanted the lion to suffer for injuring his brother. If she were to counter his attack, it would definitely injure him severely, however, if she wasn’t paying attention, it would cause massive injury to her. Either way, blood would be spilled. In fact, by the end of this encounter, it was certain that another life would be taken and the terrain would soak up the scarlet blood, leaving it stained.

(Sorry for the wait, everyone xP)

Nala's expression turned from sadistic and thrilled to utterly surprised in a matter of seconds. She felt the force of the wolf on her back again, then a painful stinging in her eyes. Rearing up, the creamy lioness let out a deafening roar, head swinging as she landed, crystal blue eyes wild. Within a matter of seconds, the former queen felt another wolf's presence on her neck, then quickly felt a searing pain shoot through her tail. Eyes flashing, Nala threw purposely threw out both of her right legs, swinging them as to remove the dalmatian pup and the rat. With luck, she should have batted them off, not exactly seeing them as a threat. It was moreso the wolves that the former queen was worried about.

Collapsing to the ground (seeing that she threw out her two legs), Nala's clouded mind raced for options. Right now, her natural instict was screaming for her to race away, but her new, blood-thirsty mind longed for her to stay and fight. Lifting herself (and the two wolves still clinging to her) the creamy lioness was about to swing around and claw them off when, out of the corner of her crystal blue eyes, she spotted another wolf, coming at her in an increasing rate. Immediatly, the former queen saw an opening. Standing still, ignoring the searing pain in her back and shoulder, the creamy lioness waited. And waited.

Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.

NOW!!!

Springing into action, Nala swung her head back and latched onto the wolf's shoulder, aiming to lock her ebony fangs into his flesh. Eyes wild and wide, she swung her head, aiming to knock the other two wolves off of her back with the one that she predicted was in her mouth. Honestly, everything was going so fast, the creamy lioness wouldn't have been surprised if she hadn't even grabbed the timber wolf in the first place. But she didn't exactly have time to think like that, nor would her mind allow her too. Nala had one main objective, at the moment. Get. Out. Alive.

"Stop - stop!!

Alerted by the sounds of violence and frantic, sorrowful cries, the Pridelander princess had quickly drawn near. The sight of her friends, her best friends, tangled in a hateful mad of gang and claws made Kula pause in sheer confusion. Why were they... Had the wolves been sent by Scar for thisthe entire time? Mortaray and Hunter... All that time, had they just been deceiving her by pretending to be her friends? Kula's heart clenched to the point where it was difficult to even breath.

No, it couldn't be. Not Hunter.

Feeling as if she was choking the dark lioness walked forward. Despite how she felt, those wolves were attacking her oldest friend. She had a duty and a right to stop them from killing her adopted sister and queen... Even if she broke her own heart doing it. As the hopeful usurper drew near though, her attention was drawn to the spotted dogs gathered around-

Was that

Was that a puppy?

Kula stopped dead in her tracks to stare. The dead puppy. Nala's bloody mouth. Dreadful realization hit as the lionesses' jaw fell. She couldn't have. She wouldn't-!

"Na... Nala...? What have you..." Red eyes suddenly narrowed as they turned back to the fighters. Parting her lips to reveal ivory fangs, Kula roared the question.

" What's going on here?![/I]"