Nettlejaw

"'If WindClan wants a war, we'll let them have it.'" Nettlejaw to his leader, Rookstar after learning of WindClan's declaration of war

Appearance
Nettlejaw is a gray tom with blue eyes and white specks along his body, namely his chest and chin.

He is very tall for a cat, standing at 13 inches, and weighs about 10 lbs. He towers over a few of his clanmates, as well as cats from other clans.

Another notable trait is his jaw, he has an overbite, which causes his fangs to protrude slightly.

He was struck by a monster, which caused a kink in his leg and gave him a permanent limp.

Personality
Nettlejaw is described as a calm and collected tom, though he does have some situational anger issues. He is very skilled in hunting, and that happens to be his favorite activity.

Kithood
Nettlekit was born to Rookstar, Rooktail at the time, and Lilystripe. He has a brother who resides in ShadowClan, Mosskit. Raised within the comfort of ThunderClan's nursery with Whitekit, Smallkit, Sunkit, and Boltkit, the six of them became fast friends. Plus, with being raised in a time of peace, there wasn't much to worry about for them growing up.

Apprenticeship
At the age of six moons, all six of the kits were ready to be made apprentices. Nettlekit became Nettlepaw, and earned a mentor in Magpiestalk. Mosskit became Mosspaw, and was assigned Gullpatch, who was Magpiestalk's sister. Whitekit became Whitepaw, and was given to Peachcatcher. Smallkit became Smallpaw, and was assigned to Rubblefall. Sunkit became Sunpaw, and was given to Muntjacridge, while his brother, Boltpaw, was given to Mintystream.

From early on, Sunpaw showed great promise in hunting, fighting, and strategy, he seemed to be the golden child! While Boltpaw achieved in other ways, namely defensive moves. Nettlepaw however, showed excellent progress in learning how to hunt, able to memorize the moves with ease and pass hunting assessments with flying colors!

However, around the middle of the six's apprenticeships, Mosspaw came to them regarding something that was on his mind for a while. Mosspaw says that he has been wanting to leave ThunderClan for a while now, because he just doesn't feel at home there. Nettlepaw is greatly upset by this, as are the rest of the apprentices. However, while Nettlepaw is begging Mosspaw to reconsider, Sunpaw, the voice of reason, is urging Mosspaw to follow his heart. Of course, Mosspaw appreciates Sunpaw's wordsm and that night heads for ShadowClan territory. Though only Sunpaw, Whitepaw, and Boltpaw went to send Mosspaw off, Nettlepaw watched his brother leave his nest for the last time. Nettlepaw and Mosspaw have seldom spoken since.

Warriorhood
Nettlepaw, Boltpaw, Sunpaw, Whitepaw, and Smallpaw all earn their warrior names at the same time. Nettlepaw becomes Nettlejaw, Boltpaw becomes Boltflash, Sunpaw becomes Sunflight, Whitepaw becomes Whitetalon, and Smallpaw becomes Smallfang. Shortly after, Rookstar announces that WindClan's leader, Sparkstar, has declared war on ThunderClan.

Later, Nettlejaw is sent on a patrol with Grayfoot, an older warrior, to the border between them and WindClan. A larger patrol was waiting for them, comprised of Cottonpoppy, Softlily, Breezetuft, and Sandyleap. A battle starts, and the two ThunderClan warriors force Breezetuft and Sandyleap to retreat, while Cottonpoppy and Softlily continue to fight. Nettlejaw ends up fighting Softlily, while Grayfoot fights Cottonpoppy. Nettlejaw hits Softlily with a fatal blow, and leaves her to die. Cottonpoppy cries for the fight to stop, curses out Nettlejaw, and bolts it for WindClan camp, Softlily hanging limply from his jaws. Nettlejaw considers this a victory for ThunderClan, they've kept their territory safe, after all.

After the battle with WindClan, Nettlejaw takes more interest in fighting, much to Sunflight's concern. And during this time, Nettlejaw begins to take interest in Whitetalon, though things are slow between them at first. Nettlejaw is spotted going on multiple border patrols and earning plenty of battle scars. Things are going very smoothly for him, and he's earning quite a reputation in his clan, until a battle with ShadowClan at the Burnt Sycamore.

The battle was a gruesome one, resulting in the death of two cats, Darkclaw of ShadowClan, and Blackwish of ThunderClan. After Blackwish was struck down by a completely different ShadowClan warrior, Shadepelt, Nettlejaw took it out on Darkclaw, killing him quickly. Terrified of the frenzied warrior, Shadepelt retreated back to ShadowClan's camp, leaving Nettlejaw alone with the carnage.

On his way back to camp, Nettlejaw was struck by a monster, and found by Sunflight's patrol bleeding and near-death. Luckily, Nettlejaw managed to survive, and though they tried to heal his legs, one of them had been too damaged to be repaired, and Nettlejaw was confined to the medicine cat's den. Jasminecry and Leafthroat, the medicine cats, were just about his only company for the moons it took for him to heal enough to walk, unless his friends visited, which they did of course! And once Nettlejaw was able to walk, he was assigned to help the medicine cats gather herbs, accompanied by Leafthroat for assistance with physical, as well as emotional therapy.

Leafthroat helped Nettlejaw manage his anger about Blackwish's death, and the two of them grew quite close during this time. About a moon later, it had been a while since Whitetalon and Nettlejaw became mates, Whitetalon had their kits! A tom called Halfkit, and a molly called Swankit. Halfkit looked like a mix of his father, with a half gray face and a ginger and white pelt, while Swankit was a gray and white molly. Nettlejaw was elated, things were finally working out for him once again! He was even allowed to continue his warrior duties after his kits became apprentices.

Things took a grave turn for the worse however, while on a hunting patrol near the Owl Tree, Nettlejaw was ambushed by a patrol of six warriors, led by Cottonpoppy. They all ambushed him, overpowering him and leaving him to die. The last thing he saw was Sunflight, Smallfang, and Boltflash rushing to try and rescue him.