The Death of LightningClan

[♥Goldenheart♥]

A creamy she-cat slipped easily through the trees, her roselike markings shimmering slightly as she passed through patches of dappled sunlight. Suddenly, she stood stock-still, her ears swiveling to catch another hint of the sound she had just heard and her mouth open to search for the scent of the cat- it had to be a cat- that had made it. "Who's there?" she meowed, now scanning the trees for any hint of the other cat's pelt. "Who are you? This is LightningClan territory- show yourself!" Rosepool strained every sense to detect the faintest trace of something that would reveal who it was. "Show yourself!" she repeated.

"Rosepool, you really need to calm down." meowed Sunnypelt.

"Oops, sorry," mewed Rosepool to her deputy. "I guess I'm feeling a little bit nervous today. I don't know why, since it's a wonderful day and everything's going fabulously, but I have this feeling... I don't know how to explain it." The cream she-cat licked her paw self-consciously and drew it over her ear. She always was shy around higher-ranking cats.

Emerging from the bushes, Cloverfoot jumped onto Rosepool's back, but her claws were sheathed and she slid down immediately. "Maybe that was why," she purred at her Clanmate. "But, all kidding aside, it does feel like something's wrong, doesn't it?"

Surprised at the sudden appearance of more cats (and the sudden feeling of Cloverfoot on her back), Rosepool yowled wordlessly.

"Ahhh!" cried Crystalspring loudly, as Sunnypelt had just copied Cloverfoot. "I'll be okay, I'll be okay, I'll be okay..." she muttered nervously.

Sunnypelt wondered what everyone was so nervous about. It was a beautiful day. She started to chase a mouse. Rosepool began to do as Sunnypelt did, but stopped short.

"What's that smell?" she muttered distractedly. It smelled poisonous, vaguely like crowfood, and was tinged with the unmistakable odor of... "Twolegs!" she yowled. "RUN!!!"

"When we get back, we need to tell Silverstar!" cried the deputy, as she and all the rest ran towards the camp.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Brackenstorm panted heavily. He had been sent on a hunting patrol with Charlockfur and they had been hunting all morning. He was exhausted, and needed something to drink. He padded over to a nearby puddle, where Charlockfur crouched.

Charlockfur gazed at the puddle, her face blank. Brackenstorm wondered why the she-cat didn't drink any or say anything. Was she alright?
"Charlockfur?" Brackenstorm meowed. "You alright?"
The pretty queen looked up as if she had just been woken from a trance. "Oh, yes, I'm fine!" she purred.

Brackenstorm leaned down to drink. He quickly lapped up about 2 mouthfulls before realizing there was something wrong. The water had a strange taste, though not foul. In fact, it wasn't half bad, but Brackenstorm dared not drink any more, who knows what it could've been?
"Whoa!" Brackenstorm meowed. "There's something wrong with the water."
"Is there?" Charlockfur mewed. She took a few quick sniffs. "Hmm...smells a bit odd to me. Perhaps we should warn Silverstar?"
Brackenstorm nodded. "You're right." he mewed. Without stopping to pick up any of the prey he and Charlockfur had caught, he raced off into the undergrowth.
The spotted queen wasn't so keen to leave the prey to rot there. She picked up as much as she could carry and followed Brackenstorm at a brisk pace.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Rosepool burst through the gorse tunnel and sped into the camp. Within seconds, she was in Silverstar's den. "Silverstar, we need to talk to you!" she yowled. "It's urgent! There are TWOLEGS in the territory, over near the Training Hollow!" She stood there, panting from the exertion, her gaze darting wildly about in sheer panic and horror.

"Silverstar, this is serious!" added Sunnypelt, as she followed Rosepool into the den.

Silverstar raised her head and looked around at the panicked cats. "Twolegs? In the middle of the territory? Are you sure?" she meowed, stunned. "You need to be absolutely sure of your facts."

"We saw them with our own eyes!" Sunnypelt cried.

Brackenstorm burst into his leader's den, not long after the first patrol.
"Silverstar!" he mewed urgently. "There's a strange tasting water near the Twolegplace. I've never seen anything like it in all my days!"

"Brackenstorm, we were here first!" hissed an annoyed Sunnypelt. "Stop interrupting."

Brackenstorm narrowed his eyes, but dipped his head respectfully.
"Excuse me," he meowed. "I just thought our leader might want to know about what's going on in her territory."

Silverstar gazed thoughtfully at all the cats who had crowded into her den. "You know, you are all trying to tell me about matters involving Twolegs. I think I understand what you mean. Now, will you please leave for a while?"

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Silverstar leaped onto the Highrock. Two urgent matters had just come to her attention, and she needed to tell the Clan. "LET ALL CATS OLD ENOUGH TO CATCH THEIR OWN PREY JOIN HERE BENEATH THE HIGHROCK FOR A CLAN MEETING!!!" she yowled, rather louder than usual. As the Clan began to file in, she gazed down at them, wondering what would become of them once she gave them the news she was about to impart.

Rainstorm and Larkpaw were about to leave the camp for a training session when Silverstar called the meeting. They paused fr a second, then turned back to sit beneath the Highrock.

Wildheart and Cloverfoot had been discussing the matter of the strange-smelling water in low voices over near the warriors' den. They, too, turned to the Highrock to attend the meeting.

Brackenstorm darted out of the warrior's den at the sound of his leader's urgent cry.

Charlockfur came out more slowly, rather carelessly.

Sunnypelt ran over to the meeting, with Crystalspring right behind her.

Laurelkit wondered if she counted as "old enough to catch her own prey." She was six moons now; maybe she did! Just to be safe, she padded out into the clearing. As she did so, she bumped into Rosepool, who had been relaxing just outside the camp and come in to join the meeting. The two cats sat down in the gathering crowd.

Silverstar watched as her Clan gathered around her. Once they were all present, she yowled into the clamor of voices, "An urgent matter has just come to my attention." The muttering crowd fell quiet as she continued, "A group of cats recently entered my den with the urgent message that Twolegs were dumping some sort of strange poison." She beckoned with her tail to her deputy, adding, "Sunnypelt and several others found this odd-smelling liquid in the territory. Sunnypelt, would you please explain what you found?" The silvery leader moved aside to allow her deputy to speak to the Clan.

"It was a kind of purplish-red color," Sunnypelt cried. "We were just drinking our water, minding our own buisness when twolegs dumped it in the river! It tasted terrible, but we were so thirsty we drank anyway. Then some of the cats started acting strange and getting sick. It was awful!" Sunnypelt shivered just remembering it.

Charlockfur remained blank-faced and seemed not to hear what Silverstar had to say, though really she did. Unknown to the rest of the Clan, Charlockfur knew exactly what the strange stuff was. Her first Clan, DarknessClan, had once suffered the same epidemic that LightningClan now faced. The strange liquid, which her Clan had always referred to as toxicwater, dulled cats senses and made them less keen to behave like proper Clan cats. Vomiting, falling ill, and some even dying were the worst side effects of this strange water. Charlockfur was contemplating on whether or not to tell Silverstar this.

Brackenstorm stood up.
"Charlockfur and I found something similar while out on a hunting trip!" he meowed. "It was near the Twolegplace, and it looked like twolegs had recently stayed there."

Silverstar was taken aback. "Brackenstorm? You found some too?" This was getting even more worrisome! "HAVE ANY OTHER CATS FOUND SOME OF THIS ON THEIR PATROLS?!?!?!" she yowled desperately, fear coursing through her. "DOES ANY CAT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS?" The leader could not quite keep the panic out of her voice. Just how bad was this poison, anyway?

Charlockfur spoke to LightningClan.
"DarknessClan has seen times like these before." She meowed. "This liquid has killed many cats. It's very dangerous."

"Thank you, Charlockfur," meowed Silverstar numbly. She was surprised by so much frightening news about this poison. "Now I can turn to a happier duty." She beckoned Laurelkit forward. "Rosepool, you are ready for your first apprentice. You will be Laurelpaw's mentor. Rosepool, you have an unwavering loyalty. I will rely on you to pass on all you have learned to Laurelpaw, and help her to become a warrior the Clan will be proud of." The words rang oddly hollow, sounding much as if Silverstar's thoughts had been poisoned as the water had.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Charlockfur's ears pricked with alarm. She had been sunning herself on the topmost stones of Sunningrocks, when she heard a strange, choking noise. She raced into the direction of the noise. She nearly ran over Brackenstorm, who was struggling feebly to stand.
"Brackenstorm?" she hissed, surprised. He was vomiting repeatedly, coughing and spluttering foam. He smelled of the toxicwater. "Brackenstorm!"

The ginger tom's eyes rolled back and he lay still. Charlockfur nosed him a couple times before confirming he was dead. She gingerly picked him up by the scruff and dragged him back to camp.

Not too far away, Rosepool was on a border patrol when she drank from an innocuous-looking stream. If it had a tinge of something odd, she was too thirsty to pay any attention. She kept drinking and drinking, until at last she gave a great lurch and fell over where she was.

Cloverfoot, also on the patrol, was drinking from that same stream. She drank until she felt satisfied, and then began to stagger off. She watched interestedly as a group of flying purple fish swooped past her, and began to bat at them, but they were too fast for her paw.

Wildheart was alarmed by the behavior of the other two members of his patrol. "Cloverfoot?" he meowed worriedly. She was staggering and batting at thin air!

Cloverfoot looked at him. "It'sooookay, Wildie," she slurred. "I'm fiine... buddooya knower I could find Silverstar? I needa eater tail."

Now Wildheart was really alarmed. Cloverfoot's words were alarmingly loud and indistinct. "No, it's not okay!" he yowled. "It's not okay if you do things like this!"

At that juncture, Rosepool interrupted loudly, "IT'S AN OLD TALE, A VERY OLD TALE, AN OLD, OLD TALE OF A SILVER TAIL!" She got up began to pad woozily around, still caterwauling nonsense. "NOW THIS SILVER TAIL WAS ON A SILVER CAT AND THE SILVER CAT WAS IN A SILVER STREAM AND THE SILVER STREAM WAS IN A SILVER WOODS AND THE SILVER WOODS WAS IN A SILVER DAY!"

Cloverfoot joined in with Rosepool. "WHEN I SAW THE SILVER DAY, I WENT IN THE DAY AND SAW THE WOODS. WHEN I SAW THE SILVER WOODS, I WENT IN THE WOODS AND SAW THE STREAM. WHEN I SAW THE SILVER STREAM, I WENT IN THE STREAM AND SAW THE SILVER CAT."

"Cloverfoot! Rosepool! Stop that right now and keep patrolling!" yowled Wildheart. "I don't know what you're doing, but I don't like it!"

"Wwwwwwhatever," slurred Rosepool, collapsing on top of Wildheart. "WHEN I SAW THE SILVER CAT, I WENT IN THE CAT AND SAW THE SILVER TAIL! NOW THE CAT YOWLED AT ME BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T LIKE ME IN HER LOOKING AT HER TAIL, SO I TOOK THE SILVER TAIL AND BROUGHT IT HOME TO MY GREEN WOODS! WHEN I WENT IN MY GREEN WOODS, I WENT IN THE WOODS AND SAW A GREEN STREAM! WHEN I SAW MY GREEN STREAM, I WENT IN THE STREAM AND BROUGHT THE TAIL! NOW I'M A GREEN CAT WITH A SILVER TAIL IN A SILVER STREAM IN MY GREEN, GREEN WOODS!"

Cloverfoot was about to answer with more dreadful noise, but fell over into the water. She tried to get out, but was too drunk to make any semblance of swimming, and sank beneath the water, which bubbled furiously.

"Cloverfoot!" yowled Wildheart, as he dove into the stream, leaving Rosepool slumped on the ground. He tried to find her, to catch her, to pull her back up, but he couldn't, and eventually was forced to admit defeat. One member of the patrol had drowned; his only chance was to save Rosepool by getting her back to camp. Hopefully, a little sleep would get rid of this weird state she was in.

Rosepool gladly allowed Wildheart to help her back to camp. She was tired and dizzy anyway, and there was an odd thumping noise in her head. "Yareblaaahfraaah," she mewed.

Wildheart was just turning to head to camp when he saw something in the water. "HA!" he yowled, as he jumped in and dragged it out. It was Cloverfoot, or at least what was left of her- she had been drowning when apparently she smashed into some rocks, and her head was now grossly misshapen. Trying not to gag, Wildheart pulled her body and supported Rosepool as they returned to the camp.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Charlockfur emerged from the gorse tunnel, Brackenstorm's scruff still grasped in her mouth. His long ginger tail trailed in the dust. She put him down in the middle of the clearing. To draw the attention of everyone, she let out a loud, mournful yowl.

Crystalspring, alarmed, rushed over to see what the commotion was about. When she saw Charlockfur yowling, she was a little annoyed. "What in the name of StarClan did you do that for?" Then she saw Brackenstorm's dead body. "Is he..." Crystalspring trailed off. "Dead?" she finally said.

Charlockfur nodded, grief raw in her eyes. "I found him right before.." she meowed.

Wildheart staggered into the clearing, not from drunkenness as the two she-cats he had been patrolling with had done, but from the exhaustion of supporting Rosepool and dragging Cloverfoot's body. He dropped the dead Cloverfoot next to Brackenstorm's body, and nearly passed out from the fatigue.

Silverstar padded out into the clearing. "What's-" She broke off as she spotted two dead cats in the middle of it. "How?" she asked instead.

Wildheart panted, looking up, "The toxic..." but didn't finish his sentence as he was still tired.

"NO!" yowled the leader, a cry that was taken up by many of the other cats around them.

"Rongululable..." moaned Rosepool. She wasn't quite aware of what was going on. "Asditimen."

Laurelpaw darted up for a look at her mentor. "What's wrong?" she mewed curiously.

Stormsky darted from the medicine cat's den. "Come on, Rosepool," she meowed coaxingly. "You need to come to the warriors' den, and then you can sleep. You're tired. Come on, come on, come on."

Rosepool happily went with the medicine cat. There was something hypnotic about that soothing voice... and the creamy warrior settled down in her nest, and went straight to sleep. She would think when she woke up.

Silvertip emerged from the warriors' den, wondering what all of the racket was. "What's..." She fell silent, having seen the dead bodies. She called out to no one in general, "How did this happen?" She thought she would pass out from nausea.

Wildheart raised his head and meowed, "The toxicwater. Brackenstorm, Cloverfoot, and Rosepool drank it by accident. Brackenstorm drank enough to kill him, Cloverfoot fell into the water and drowned, and Rosepool is sleeping it off in the warriors' den. I had to carry Cloverfoot and Rosepool all the way back here." The spiky-furred warrior lay down again, exhausted by the effort.

Silvertip was shocked. How could this happen? How many more cats will this poison affect? She shuddered and headed back to the warriors' den to try and sleep, but it was no use. Her sadness and the fear of what was to come haunted her.

Crystalspring padded back to the warriors den. She wished she could do something to stop the cats dying, but it was no use. I couldn't do anything, except make sure nobody drinks that water. She vowed that would be what she would do.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Mallowpaw bounced around the training hollow, playing with the other apprentices as they waited the arrival of their mentors. As they played, he began to pick up a strong scent coming from somewhere not far off.

"Take that!" yowled Laurelpaw as she pretended to bat at Mallowpaw. The young apprentice, barely more than a kit, was having an excellent time.

"And that!" added Larkpaw, bringing a paw crashing down on her friends' tails. "This is fun!"

"Sorry to spoil it," meowed Larkpaw's mentor Rainstorm as she padded in, "but we have to start training now." Rainstorm, too, noticed the odd scent, but didn't really care. She had more important things to do, like mentoring.

Mallowpaw let out a low moan. His head was stating to hurt really bad.
"Rainstorm?" he mumbled.

Rosepool arrived at that point. She smelled something odd... "Every cat out!" she yowled commandingly. "The training hollow is poisoned!"

Laurelpaw felt too sick to move. "Eggbarderclober..." she mewed weakly.

Larkpaw yowled her pain and confusion as the fumes swirled up into her head, befuddling her. How could she move? Ahead of her, Rainstorm was bounding strongly away... but Larkpaw was smaller and had been exposed to the deadly scent for longer. She couldn't move... she couldn't think... she could only hurt. And hurt she did. Mallowpaw, summoning his last strength, crawled over to Larkpaw, pressing his pelt against hers. He closed his green eyes and lay still for a long time, not saying anything. Larkpaw's eyes were similarly closed- it took too much effort to blink them. She was breathing, but just barely- it took too much effort to breathe the poison any more than she was now. She was only just aware of Mallowpaw pressing against her pelt- her body was shutting down her consciousness in a last desperate effort to keep her alive until this horrible danger was past.

Rainstorm paused in her rapid escape from the training hollow. The apprentices weren't with the warriors! She turned back and began a race against time and poison, trying to rescue the apprentices.

Rosepool stopped in her tracks. Rainstorm had obviously noticed something she hadn't- "Aiyee! The apprentices aren't with us!" she yowled, and pelted after Rainstorm with the same goal in mind.

Laurelpaw was the last one still conscious. She drew in great, ragged gasps of air, fighting with all her strength to keep on her paws, to keep breathing, to keep alive. The apprentice staggered painfully around the clearing, trying her hardest but too weak to get out. "H-el-p!" she yowled brokenly as her legs gave way beneath her.

Larkpaw's eyes blinked open for a heartbeat, then closed again. She was seeing a sparkling cat who beckoned her with her tail. She got up, leaving her body behind, and followed Cloverfoot through the stars to the sky and StarClan.

Rainstorm entered the hollow and saw all three apprentices there. Laurelpaw looked awfully weak, and the others weren't moving at all. She carefully picked up Larkpaw by the scruff of her neck, and began to drag her apprentice's body out of the hollow. Then she saw Mallowpaw lying there alone, and began to drag him too. The warrior tugged first one, then the other, slowly dragging the dead cats toward camp.

Rosepool helped her own living apprentice out of the hollow and they joined Rainstorm in the difficult return to camp with two warriors, two dead apprentices, and one dying apprentice.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Rosepool padded into camp, shock etched on her every feature. She carefully placed her dying apprentice on the ground. Laurelpaw moaned feebly, and her mentor knew in her heart that she had come too late to save any of the apprentices. Still, Laurelpaw was alive now, and there was the hope that Silverstar... Rosepool cut off that thought. Best not to think about it until more cats arrived. Still, when was Rainstorm going to come? She was carrying the bodies of the two dead.

Rainstorm dragged the bodies of Larkpaw and Mallowpaw into the clearing, and tiredly arranged them so that they at least didn't look in crazy positions.

Silverstar padded out of her den and surveyed the dead apprentices, her eyes dull with grief. She turned to Laurelpaw, and whispered, "It's a miracle you're dying and not dead." A slightly different air seemed to come down on the leader- an air of ceremony. Silverstar meowed quietly, "I ask my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has learned the warrior code, and given up her life in the service of her Clan. She will be known as Laurelheart, so that we will always honor her bravery in trying to survive in the face of impossible odds." She touched her nose gently to Laurelpaw's head. "Let StarClan receive her as a warrior."

There was complete silence for a heartbeat, save for Laurelheart struggling for breath. Then Rosepool meowed, "It's okay." Laurelheart looked up at her former mentor and meowed, "It always is." Those were her last words, as she lay down and stopped breathing entirely.

Charlockfur hung her head low. This was just like the plague of toxicwater DarknessClan had suffered. Maybe even worse. So many dead cats...

Brackenstorm. Mallowpaw. Larkpaw. Laurelpaw. More.

Memories came back to haunt her as she though of the dark time she had lived through in DarknessClan. Her mother had died of it. Losing her was like losing the world.

"Something will happen," meowed Rosepool softly, more to herself than any other cat. "Someday this will be over, and then we'll be happy again."

"You're right," Sunheart meowed to Rosepool from behind the gathering of cats. "Someday our Clan will flourish again. We will survive." Sunheart mewed with utmost certainty. "I have seen this in a dream from StarClan." She glanced quickly at Silverstar with sorrow in her eyes before she walked back to her den.

"We will survive," mewed Rainstorm softly.

"We will survive," repeated Silverstar. It felt a little bit wrong to her. "The Clan will SURVIVE!" she yowled. Joy swirled within her. She knew she was right.

Rosepool meowed softly, "I don't know how long this will last, but someday it'll pass, and we will have survived." She didn't know why she said it like that, but she was certain that it was true.

"Yes," mewed Sunheart. She turned around as a sound at the camp entrance startled her. Morningpaw walked into camp and stopped dead with shock in her eyes. "No, NO!" she wailed in grief, and raced back out of camp.

Rosepool fell silent again. Was this even possible? She began to count the dead in her mind.

One was Brackenstorm, Two was Cloverfoot, Three was Mallowpaw, Four was Larkpaw, Five was Laurelheart- and how many more? Will there be a Six, Seven, or Eight?

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Rainstorm padded quietly through the forest. Despite the dangers of the toxicwater, it was always a relief to get out of the camp for a while. After some time, she began to feel rather light-headed. Something smelled... odd... good... and Rainstorm thought she would go have some of that water that was trickling so prettily over the rocks. She began to drink, and was crashed into by Wildheart. Unbeknownst to either, both had accidentally drunk the toxicwater, and so were both drunk. Wildheart climbed up onto Rainstorm's back, and tried to take ahold of her scruff. She was so drunk, she didn't notice. She didn't even realize it when Wildheart accidentally bit through her spine, and he found himself atop a dead she-cat. The tom tried to climb up on her again, but noticed that she was dead, and so worriedly began to scoop earth on top of her body. Halfway through, however, he gave up and lay down on his back with his head touching the ground.. He thought he smelled another cat. A LightningClan cat. Flightpaw! Before he could see her, however, he was sick all over his face. He was too drunk to stand, but he was drowning in his own sick. His last thought was Yuck, before it all went black.

Flightpaw staggered around. She had drank a good few mouthfuls of the deadly toxicwater and was feeling extremely dizzy. She stumbled over the two dead cats and stared, confused, at her surroundings. The only thing she could think was:
Where is Mallowpaw?

Copsepaw was on patrol with a few other RiverClan cats, when she smelled LightningClan, and very close to the border. She charged ahead of the patrol, right up to the border. What she found there was more confusing she'd ever come accross. Two dead warriors and an apprentice, just standing there.
"You there!" she called. Flightpaw dazedly turned her head to the RiverClan apprentice.
"Are you okay?"
Flightpaw nodded slightly. "Where's Mallowpaw?" she asked.
Mallowpaw? thought Copsepaw. Who's Mallowpaw?

Flightpaw suddenly felt she was going to wretch. She staggered over to the river and vomited. She felt very weak. Without another word, slipped into the river, dead.

Three dead LightningClan cats.

That was all that Tigernose could see or hear. She hated looking at them, especially as sick as they seemed to have been. And the fact that they had watched that apprentice die...!

Copsepaw's eyes were wide with horror. She crawled over, behind Tigernose. "Should we tell LightningClan?" she meowed.

Tigernose stared across the riverbank, horrified, for a few heartbeats before responding. "Yes, I think we should, since they will be wanting to know where their cats have gone." With that, she leaped into the river and began swimming strongly towards the other side. The shuddering warrior picked up Rainstorm's body and began to drag the dead cat in the direction of LightningClan camp.

Snowpelt, the third member of the patrol, followed Tigernose's example by crossing the river and gingerly picking up Wildheart's body. Eww! Yuck! Gross! Disgusting! Eww! Yuck! Gross! Disgusting! he chanted inwardly as he padded through the unfamiliar forest carrying the body of a cat who had drowned in his own sick.

Rosepool was standing guard at the gorse tunnel that was the entrance to LightningClan's camp when she smelled a strange scent- approaching RiverClan, mixed with traces of LightningClan, toxicwater, and death. The creamy she-cat drew breath to yowl a warning to the Clan, but the RiverClan tabby at the head of the patrol dropped a large bundle of dirty fur in order to meow, "We're here to return three LightningClan dead to their own Clan. Two of them were dead when we passed them on patrol, and the third- a little apprentice wondering where a cat she called Mallowpaw was- died even as we watched."

Intrigued, Rosepool looked closer to the dirty fur the tabby had been carrying, and let out a squeal of shock. It was none other than the dead body of their warrior Rainstorm!

"Rainstorm! Why- how?"

"She was found half-buried right next to the border. There was another body next to her, and there was earth in that one's claws." Tigernose didn't like having to do this. She would have much rather given happier news, but it was dead cats she and her patrol had found, and so it was dead cats they would have to present to LightningClan.

Scenting the other cats in Tigernose's patrol, Rosepool beckoned to them all. "You'd better come into the camp. Silverstar will definitely want to know about this."

Snowpelt, carrying a second body, followed Tigernose to the LightningClan camp. He placed the body of a spiky-furred cat and, remembering to speak aloud, mewed, "Do you recognize this cat?"

Seeing the group arrive in the camp, Sunnypelt looked at Rosepool and nodded. "What do you want?" she asked the RiverClan cats. "Intruding is not okay."

"This isn't really much of an intrusion," meowed Tigernose, dipping her head to Sunnypelt- even though she was deputy of another Clan, Sunnypelt was still a deputy, and therefore higher-ranking than Tigernose. "We are returning the bodies of two warriors who died near the river. Our patrol noticed them, and we thought that you might want to know what happened to them. She," Tigernose added, indicating Rosepool, "has identified the cat I found, and Snowpelt is carrying a second body." She flicked her tail towards the white warrior and the spiky-furred cat he had been carrying.

Copsepse, much slower, arived just then with Flightpaw's body clamped in her jaws. She had ran downriver a ways and jumped in to get the body; she felt LightningClan should have it. The dead apprentice was bigger than she was, which caused her to lag behind quite a bit.

She gingerly placed the apprentice in front of the warriors. "Er--the apprentice. We saw her die..." she trailed off.

Rosepool stared, horrified, at the three bodies of her Clanmates. Rainstorm- dead. Wildheart- dead. Flightpaw- dead. What had happened? She rushed to count up the number of cats left in the Clan. "I'm still alive, and Silverstar's still alive. Sunnypelt, Crystalspring, and Sunheart are still alive. Silvertip's alive, Kestrelpelt and Beechclaw are alive..." Eight. Eight cats left. Would any of them survive this madness?

Tigernose listened quietly as Rosepool counted up the cats remaining. She knew the other cat was trying to convince herself that there was still some of the Clan left, and didn't interrupt. However, when the creamy she-cat was done, she mewed, "You know, they say the toxicwater doesn't always kill. There are cats who have been said to survive."

Rosepool's head snapped up. "I know. I am one of those cats. On a patrol, I drank some by accident, and only survived because the other cats helped me to safety at the last minute."

Copsepaw stared at her paws miserably. She decided she didn't like telling other cats their Clanmates were dead.

Snowpelt had deliberately looked away. That was one benefit of being deaf, he decided: if you didn't look at cats who felt horrible, you didn't have to know what painful things they were saying.

Silverstar padded softly out of the camp, so quietly no cat noticed. She stared sadly, grief-stricken, at the bodies of her Clanmates, waiting for one of the other cats to realize she was there. And she had already lost five lives to this madness, though she had concealed that carefully...

"Silverstar?" called Kestrelpelt softly as he padded towards her. "Are you alright?" His pale eyes were dull with grief but his voice remained steady.

The silvery leader turned towards her warrior. "I'm fine," she rasped. "I'm just a little worried. These three good cats were some of the few we had left..." She broke off, remembering just in time that there were enemy cats there.

"So what happens now?" Sunnypelt asked. "I think we should call an official clan meeting and say no more water." She turned to the RiverClan cats. "Thank you for bringing them back."

"You're right, Sunnypelt," meowed Silverstar. "I'll have to do that. Thank you," she added to cats of RiverClan. "You may leave now." There was a definite tone of polite dismissal in her voice.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Silverstar's eyes were dull and clouded with grief as she leaped onto the Highrock. Far too many of her warriors were dead... but now, at least, she had a happy duty to fulfill. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!" she yowled, while reflecting grimly that there wouldn't be many of those left.

Sunheart emerged from the medicine cat's den, her eyes cloudy with immense grief. She sat at the edge of the gathering group of cats. Morningpaw entered from the apprentices' den, shadowing her sister in her grief.

Sunnypelt hurried in to the clearing. So the meeting about the water is about to begin.

Crystalspring had been hunting by herself near the camp, and heard the call. She stepped into the clearing, hoping the leader was going to do something about the water problem.

Charlockfur padded out of the warrior's den and sat near the back of the crowd. Kestrelpelt had already been out and remained where he was.

Silvertip emerged from the warriors den and nudged her way toward the front of the crowd. She didn't want to miss anything.

Rosepool and Beechclaw joined the meeting now, listening attentively to Silverstar.

Dustpaw heard the call just as he came back from outside the camp, and sat down amongst the cats.

Silverstar watched what was left of her Clan return, then yowled, "As you know, LightningClan has suffered from a plague of toxicwater for some time now. The only thing that can be done is to try and keep our cats away from the toxicwater. Therefore, since the poison is the strongest in our small streams, we are to drink ONLY rainwater and river water. All other water on our territory is hereby declared toxic. And now for a happier duty." She beckoned to Morningpaw, and meowed, "Morningpaw, you have been an apprentice to none for some time now. Your mentor will be Kestrelpelt." The leader took a deep breath. "Kestrelpelt, you have proven yourself to be a loyal and trustworthy warrior. I trust that you will pass on these traits to Morningpaw."

Rosepool raised one delicate paw to stretch straight out in front of her, held it there for a few seconds, and then let it drop. She was thinking hard. Silverstar has declared much of our water toxic. What will that mean for the Clan?

Crystalspring felt a twinge of disappointment about not having an apprentice, but at least something was being done about the water! She smiled.

Morningpaw let out a squeal of excitement as she dashed up to the Highrock.

Silverstar watched the apprentice lovingly, then added, "We have another apprentice in need of a mentor. Sunnypelt, you will be mentor to Dustpaw. You have learned to be loyal and to work hard for the Clan. I trust that you will pass these qualities on to Dustpaw."

Sunnypelt jumped up in surprise. Wow, sure didn't see that one coming! she thought, walking up to Highrock.

Dustpaw walked proudly up to the Highrock to stand next to Morningpaw. He couldn't wait to start his training with Sunnypelt! He only wished that the atmosphere could've been a little more cheerful.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Although the Clan was in danger, one lone tom believed that a bit of fun was in order. He wondered where he would go to have such fun, now that the mood in the camp was so grim, and so now he was wandering the forest, looking for something fun to do. The grown warrior who thought that a slightly kitlike outlook would help now approached a small, shallow stream. He dabbed at it with one paw, and began to play. Each paw flashed out towards the water in turn, until he overbalanced and fell in. "Aiyp!" he yowled. Suddenly, a new scent was carried towards him by the breeze, and he quickly got out of the water. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about his sodden fur, and a Clanmate was about to see him all wet.

"Er...Beechclaw?" Kestrelpelt called. He'd been hunting nearby when he'd smelled a Clanmate. "Are you alright?"

"Except for my dignity, yes," meowed Beechclaw. He wished he could do something about his soaking wet fur. He thought he smelled something odd, but put it out of his head immediately. "I fell into the stream."

Silverstar wished she could get away from the stench of the toxicwater for just one day. She had been smelling it for the longest time, and now it was making her giddy. She couldn't afford to lose her head now, when her Clan was depending on her. She could ikspar, and maybe if that didn't work she might get to a proafhicls and figure it all ouft. That tree over there looked awfully sideways,and the silvery leader thought that if she could straighten it out, perhaps the toxicwater would go away. She stalked purposefully across to the tree, over the unfamiliar, wet, Beechclaw-colored boulder that had sprung up in the way, but before she could make it there, an oddly Kestrelpelt-colored bush appeared. She moved between the strangely furry-feeling branches, and made it to the tree at last. Silverstar proceeded to tug on one of the low-hanging branches, and soon the tree began to move. She was pulling! The toxicwater scent was dissipating! CRACK! The branch was falling! Some cat was yowling! The scent was returning! She had a fleeting sensation of being tickled before something went black, and a sparkling cat was all that she could see. The cat, her lost warrior Rainstorm, was beckoning to her, and she followed. This was, she could sense, the beginning of an entirely different sort of adventure.

A heap of silver fur was slumped beneath the entirely unmoved and straight tree, impaled on a fallen branch. The erstwhile owner of the silvery fur had gotten a little bit carried away, having smelled the toxicwater for long enough that she became drunk.

The Beechclaw-colored boulder that Silverstar climbed over was, of course, Beechclaw, who was rather surprised to feel the leader walk over his back. He was about to yowl in surprise, but instead yowled in more surprise when she pulled a branch off of a tree on the other side of the clearing. Then, when she stabbed herself with it, he raced over to try and help her. "Silverstar- SILVERSTAR!" he yowled. There was no answer. "Silverstar! Silverstar! Silverstar!" he moaned again and again, unable to stop but knowing that it was too late.

Kestrelpelt crawled fearfully along the ground towards his fallen leader, and nudged her with his nose. "Silverstar?" he mewed softly. "Silverstar?" His pale green eyes were filled with a mixture of shock and grief.

Kestrelpelt's mew reminded Beechclaw that there was more than one living cat in this clearing, that he wasn't really alone. He would think about this tragedy when they were back at camp; right now he needed to get Silverstar's body back. He began to drag her down towards camp. That branch had already claimed one victim- now it seemed determined to spear him as well. "Kestrelpelt, could I have some help here, please?" he asked politely, although he felt like saying much worse. He felt like swearing at the branch, actually.

Sunclaw, who was guarding the camp, smelled a mixture of toxicwater and Clanmates coming his way. Soon enough he saw Beechclaw and Kestrelpelt carrying the small, helpless form of Silverstar. He rushed up to them and quickly noticed that Silverstar had speared herself with a branch. "Oh, Silverstar. What happened?" he whispered as he pressed his nose against her cold pelt.

"She died in a tragic accident. The branch fell on her and killed her," meowed Beechclaw sadly. "We've been trying to get her into the camp, but it's difficult to carry her without getting spear-" he broke off as he slipped and speared himself on the branch.

Sunclaw lifted his head with grief in his eyes and fastened his teeth around the branch. After a couple of tries he finally got it out, and helped carry his leaders body to the camp.

Beechclaw moaned. That branch had really hurt him, and now he was bleeding from his hindleg.

Kestrelpelt rushed to Beechclaw's side. "Oh, no!" he moaned, "Not you too!" He began licking Beechclaw's wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

Beechclaw staggered into the camp, panting desperately. Blood gushed from the wound left by the stick that had stabbed him, the same stick that had killed Silverstar. Silverstar...

He was dragging her silvery body now. Kestrelpelt and Sunclaw had been helping him- now, if only he could make it one more step...

The tom collapsed. He was only vaguely aware of what happened from that point forward.

"What have we here?" asked Sunnypelt, then she noticed Silverstar. The leader. Dead. What will I do without Silverstar? wondered Sunnypelt. The fact that she was deputy and would be leader now didn't even cross her mind, she was so sad. Silverstar, why did you have to go? she thought.

A limp heap of silver and red fur lay in the middle of the clearing, a bloodied branch stuck grotesquely into it.

That was all Rosepool could see as she left the warriors' den. Wordlessly yowling her grief and fear, she sped up, and tried to push her nose into Silverstar's now-cool fur. The prickly branch thwarted her efforts, however, and she ended up with a somewhat lacerated muzzle. "Silverstar! Oh, Silverstar," she moaned. Then she noticed with increasing trepidation a second bloody heap of fur, but this one was still alive and blood was spurting out of it. "Beechclaw? Not you too!" she whispered. "SUNHEART!" The cry was loud enough to split the air in the grieving camp in two, and urgent enough to make heads snap up all around. Rosepool didn't particularly care- it was the medicine cat she wanted to see.

"SUNHEART! BEECHCLAW'S HURT!"

Kestrelpelt shot off to get Sunheart, even though he knew she couldn't have missed Rosepool's call. He just felt as if he should do something, rather than sit and watch Beechclaw bleeding to death in the middle of the clearing. Charlockfur sat under the shade of a tree, just outside camp, mourning silently for the loss the Clan has suffered.

Rosepool moaned miserably. "Silverstar," she mewed. "Beechclaw." Faces proceeded to pass in front of her eyes, each name floating up into her consciousness.

Cloverfoot. Brackenstorm. Larkpaw. Mallowpaw. Laurelheart. Stormsky. Rainstorm. Wildheart. Flightpaw. Silverstar. And now the name and face presented itself to her, the face she didn't want to see in that list, Beechclaw. But he's still alive, she told herself. Oh, it was hopeless. Who was she kidding? Beechclaw was dying.

Crystalspring came out of the den when she heard Rosepool's shriek. When she saw Silverstar, she stopped immediately. "Silverstar!" she cried. "Is she...?" Crystalspring trailed off.

"Yes." meowed Sunnypelt somberly. "She is in StarClan now."

Rosepool mewed quietly, "Sunnypelt, you will be our next leader." She had only just remembered that fact herself, and now felt that she had to bring that to the attention of the deputy.

Beechclaw felt himself slide halfway across the border between life and death, and then stop. By sheer force of willpower, he kept himself alive enough for Sunheart to have a hope of rescuing him. When was the medicine cat going to arrive? He couldn't hold on for much longer!

"WHERE IN THE NAME OF STARCLAN IS SUNHEART!?!?!?!" Kestrelpelt hissed, frustrated. Beechclaw was hanging by a whisker, and the medicine cat was no where to be seen.

Sunheart raced into camp, herbs clamped in her mouth, just in time to hear Kestrelpelt. Her eyes widened when she saw the cats, wounded and dead, but she didn't say anything and just went into her den. She came back out with cobwebs, marigold (sorry, don't know how to spell it), and poppy seed. She placed 3 poppy seeds in front of Beechclaw's mouth before placing cobwebs delicately on the wounds. Without turning around, she mewed to Kestrelpelt "Don't stand there like a useless lump of fur, get him to eat them!" she said with a flick of her tail to indicate the seeds. She then returned to her task and before long, most of the bleeding had stopped.

Beechclaw tried to extend his tongue far enough to lap up the seeds, but he didn't have the strength.

Rosepool was about to push the poppy seeds towards her Clanmate, but something told her it was the wrong thing to do. She closed her eyes, trying to figure out why, and something she had once heard the old medicine cat Stormsky say floated up into her consciousness. "If some cat is dying, you can find poppy seeds and make their death easier. That's if you can't save them. But if you want to try, don't give them poppy! It'll make them fall asleep, and if they're dying, they'll never wake up." Instead, the creamy rosetted warrior pushed the seeds away from Beechclaw. "It might hurt, but I want you to have a chance," she mewed softly into his ear.

Are Beechclaw and Rosepool in love? wondered Sunnypelt and Crystalspring. That's certainly the way they're acting. "Rosepool, there's no chance. Let him join StarClan painlessly," murmured the deputy, pushing the poppy seeds back to Beechclaw.

Beechclaw was largely unaware of everything around him, but he did know what Sunnypelt had said. "No... I... can't... go..." he choked out.

Rosepool looked at him with sadness in her eyes. "Beechclaw... I love you," she mewed softly.

Laurelheart once of LightningClan, now a warrior of StarClan, was watching. Now she meowed to Beechclaw, "LightningClan cannot have you anymore. There is no more time, but a whole new world waits." She mentally applauded herself for remembering to be serious. She had been an apprentice when she died, and still wasn't quite fully mature.

Beechclaw gasped, "Rosepool, I love you!" Then he went completely still. He was leaving to join Laurelheart, whose mentor had been Rosepool.

Rosepool noticed a small something. It was sparkling with stars. She looked closer and nosed it. She knew that scent, knew it so well. "Thank you, Laurelheart," she meowed quietly.

Crystalspring was a bit shocked. That was romantic and tragic at the same time. Beechclaw had just died. Just like that.

Once Sunnypelt calmed down, she thought, So they were in love. This was all happening too fast. She wished that she could redo this day all over again. "I think Rosepool wants to be alone right now," whispered Sunnypelt to Crystalspring. "I think we should go."

Crystalspring nodded, and they walked slowly away.

Rosepool yowled her grief to the stars. The names came on thick and fast now, all the names of the far too many who had died. Cloverfoot- Mallowpaw- Larkpaw- Laurelheart- Wildheart- Rainstorm- Flightpaw- Silverstar- Stormsky- Beechclaw. More cats had died than were alive in the Clan now.

Sunheart walked towards Rosepool, grief in her eyes. She gently laid her tail on Rosepool's shoulders and, just as gently, guided her towards the medicine cat den. "Come, Rosepool," she could be heard saying, "You need to rest; he is with StarClan now."

Rosepool took one last, agony-filled look at the bodies in the clearing, then one grateful look at the tuft of starry fur lying next to them, and followed Sunheart into the medicine cat den, away from all that was left of three cats she had depended on, the cats she had loved more than any other, including herself. Laurelheart, Beechclaw, and Silverstar.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Redstar and his Clan swam easily across the river to stand atop Sunningrocks. So far, so good. A LightningClan patrol would come along eventually...

Rosepool was wandering through the territory, mourning the cats she had loved who had died, when she scented RiverClan- stronger than usual. She hid in the undergrowth and peeked out through its protective branches to see Sunningrocks- with what looked like all of RiverClan on it! She quickly turned tail and raced back towards the camp. Sunnypelt would have to know about this right now. A RiverClan attack wouldn't wait for their new leader to visit the Moonstone.

Rosepool came tearing into camp. "Sunnypelt!" she yowled, hoping that the cat who was about to become leader hadn't already left for Highstones. "I have news, and you won't like it."

"What is it?" asked Sunnypelt, running out of her den. She had been preparing to go to Highstones, but now she was interrupted.

"RiverClan! On Sunningrocks! Looks like their whole Clan! Just standing there!" Rosepool was nearly incoherent with distress. First their problems with toxicwater, and now this!

Charlockfur's ears pricked up. The normally quiet she-cat was now a frightening sight, her eyes ablaze and her fur spiked up.

"We've got to teach them a lesson, once and for all!" she hissed.

Rosepool wished she shared Charlockfur's confidence. She wanted to feel the same, but it was hard when everything seemed so bleak.

"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's show them that they can't take Sunningrocks without a fight!" exclaimed Sunnypelt. "Rosepool, Charlockfur, go get the rest of the clan and meet back here!" Ignored, as usual, thought Crystalspring. She wondered what she should do.

Rosepool bounded away to raise the rest of LightningClan. "Silvertip! Dustpaw!" she yowled.

Sunclaw heard Rosepool. "I'm here, even if no other cat is!" he yowled. "What do you need?"

Silvertip and Dustpaw ran out of their dens as fast as they could. They heard the urgency in Rosepool's voice.

"What is it?" asked Silvertip.

Panting, Dustpaw sat attentively, ready for the news.

"RiverClan! On Sunningrocks! Come on!" she yowled in their faces, she was so panicked. The creamy warrior bounded towards the gorse tunnel that formed the entrance to the camp. "Are you coming?"

Silvertip and Dustpaw both nodded and raced off.

Sunnypelt stood behind a tree, waiting for the other cats to arrive. She was with Crystalspring. "Where are they?" she hissed.

Rosepool, who had returned to Sunningrocks with Crystalspring and Sunnypelt, hissed back, "Coming, I hope."

Sunclaw padded up to stand with Rosepool, Crystalspring, and Sunnypelt. "They're bound to notice us sometime," he meowed in a nearly inaudible voice. "Where are the others?"

Rosepool was about to answer, but was cut off by a voice coming from the top of Sunningrocks.

"Longleg!" snapped Redstar. "I think I smell LightningClan!"

Longleg mewed evenly, "Of course you do. We all do. Don't forget that LightningClan hunts here and nearby, as they have done for many moons. However, you may be right- I think I smell fresher scent."

Rosepool stared fearfully around at her Clanmates, not daring to say a word. Had they been discovered?

Crystalspring prepared to pounce, should she need to. "I don't like the sound of that," she hissed, about as quietly as a cat can hiss.

Rosepool crouched too, knowing that it was a good idea not to let on that they were present. "Where are the rest? We need every cat right now!" she hissed, frustrated.

"Back at camp, I guess," muttered Sunnypelt. She wasn't impressed with how long it was taking the others.

Rosepool wasn't impressed, either. "Are they even coming?" she mewed at the bottom of her voice.

"I'll go back and check. This is taking way too long." Crystalspring hissed. She started back to camp.

"Good luck," meowed Rosepool seriously, then turned her attention back to the menacing presence of RiverClan on Sunningrocks. Don't let them catch us, don't let them catch us, don't let them catch us, she prayed frantically.

Copsepaw's eyes widened for a brief moment. A fresh scent of LightningClan had just reached her nose. They were being watched. By how many cats, she had to wonder?

The small tabby she-cat nudged her friend, Creamflower. "Do you smell that?" she whispered, making sure Redstar couldn't hear.

Swiftpaw padded over to her friends Copsepaw and Creamflower in time to hear the latter mew, "I think I do."

The amber-eyed tabby meowed softly, "As soon as we've finished fighting LightningClan, or maybe even before if they don't hurry up and GET HERE ALREADY" -in the bushes, Rosepool winced, as Swiftpaw's annoyed voice carried to her ears- "it will be time for us to confront the killer."

Sunnypelt shot Rosepool a confused look. It was obvious enough what she meant. Killer? she wondered while she waited for the others.

"They're just as anxious for us to arrive as we are!" mewed Rosepool to Sunnypelt in the quietest possible voice.

Hollyleaf stared unhappily down at the rock beneath her paws. She had been standing around here far too long for her taste, and she felt unprepared without her supply of herbs. She longed to snap at Redstar and march back to camp, but he was just so dangerous...

Sunclaw noted the RiverClan medicine cat's miserable stare, and began to get restless. Could he bear to wait for reinforcements? His tail waved from side to side faster and faster.

Smokytail sniffed the air deeply. "There's LightningClan scent close by!" she yowled. "Look at the bushes! I see a TAIL moving there!"

Redstar peered into the undergrowth. "LightningClan! We know you're there! Show yourselves!" he hissed.

Sunnypelt didn't move a muscle for a few moments, then leaped out and pounced on Redstar.

"LightningClan, come on!" she shouted.

Rosepool surged forwards, joining her soon-to-be-leader.

Longleg lunged at the creamy rosetted she-cat, swiping one paw across her face to let her know he was there. Just then, a yowl from Redstar distracted them both for a heartbeat, as the RiverClan leader brought one paw crashing down towards Sunnypelt, starting the fight with the move that had ended the lives of Fleetfoot, Wildcloud, and StarClan knew how many others.

Sunnypelt tried to plan exactly what she would do before she did it. She couldn't afford to make a mistake. Why couldn't this have happened tomorrow? she thought. Then this fight would be a lot easier because she would be back from the Moonstone with nine lives. The truth was she couldn't fight Redstar alone.

Suddenly, Sunclaw saw the situation his soon-to-be-leader was in. Without stopping to think, he launched himself across the clearing and knocked into Redstar's paw. The impact winded him for a second.

Crystalspring ran back to Sunningrocks. She was confused with the sight she saw. The only cats actutally fighting were Sunnypelt and Sunclaw against Redstar. None of the other cats were doing anything.

"Crystalspring, don't just stand there, do something!" Sunnypelt shouted, shoving her claws into Redstar.

"What am I supposed to do?" Crystalspring hissed back.

Rosepool answered easily as she dodged out of the way of Longleg's oncoming claws: "Fight!" The creamy she-cat leaped onto the RiverClan deputy's back, sinking her claws into his pelt as she prepared for a long stay in the same place. Longleg did a half-backflip that might have killed the delicate she-cat had she not dropped off and scrambled out of the way just in time.

Smokytail looked around, and launched herself at Crystalspring. "Sunningrocks is RiverClan's!" she hissed as she unsheathed her claws.

Hardclaw noticed that two cats were fighting his leader, and barreled over to Sunclaw. "Get away from Redstar!" he yowled.

Meanwhile, Redstar screeched and recoiled from Sunnypelt's strike. "AIYEEE!" he yowled, countering it by leaping high into the air. The red leader had made up his mind to fall on Sunnypelt, and keep her from ever becoming leader. The fewer leaders in the forest, the more power he could have, to his way of thinking.

Just then, a yowl sounded from the undergrowth, announcing the arrival of Charlockfur. She streaked towards the fighting in a blur of black, gold, and white. Copsepaw's eyes grew round as full moons when she saw that the LightningClan warrior was headed straight for her. She leaped down from the rock on which she had been perched and watched as Charlockfur nearly collided with it, trying to skid to a rather ungraceful stop.

Copsepaw was terrified. She had never raised a claw against any cat in her life! She flattened herself to the ground, trying to convince herself that she could disappear.

Charlockfur reared over the apprentice, ready to come crashing down on the small figure with all her weight.

Creamflower caught sight of Charlockfur ready to flatten Copsepaw. "Get away from my friend!" she yowled, charging over and throwing herself between LightningClan warrior and RiverClan apprentice.

Firefur jumped in to help Copsepaw, who was stuck to the ground. Charlockfur of LightningClan was about to get her. Firefur stepped in and clawed away at the she-cat, not knowing if she was doing any damage or not.

Vixenleap jumped to the aid of her sister. She was a very skillful warrior and could definitely beat this LightningClan cat. She raced towards Charlockfur and was about to launch herself at her, when she was bowled over by an unknown cat. She had the wind completely knocked out of her. She gradually started to rise but pain erupted in her chest in her when this happened. She had to get out of there, she was defenseless!

Longleg saw Vixenleap knocked to the ground. Quickly ending his fight with Rosepool by shoving her away, he rushed to his Clanmate's aid. "Vixenleap! Are you all right?"

Vixenleap replied, "I need to get back to camp- I can barely move!" she looked and saw she had been hit by Kestrelpelt, running from another cat.

Longleg looked around. "Can any cat get Vixenleap back to camp?" he asked. "I need to keep fighting!"

Sunpaw perked up. "I'll take her!" she meowed, ready to help and very unhappy in this battle. "I don't know much about this fighting business, but I'm willing to help the Clan however I can."

"Thank you," meowed Longleg gratefully, turning his attention back to the fight.

"Then come over here and help me walk back to camp!" Vixenleap replied a little angrily. She was mad because she didnt get to fight and she was hurt and in immense pain. "Hurry, before I get killed!" she yowled somewhat urgently.

Sunpaw began to carefully guide the warrior back towards the river. Gently, supporting Vixenleap when needed, she helped her along. Soon they drew close to the camp and vanished from the view of those at Sunningrocks.

Charlockfur snarled at the RiverClan cats. There were too many!
Still, she fought like a warrior of TigerClan. She gave Firefur a heavy blow that knocked her right off her feet. She aimed another blow at Creamflower when suddenly, Coalstorm barreled into her side. Dazed, Charlockfur tried to get to her feet, but Coalstorm stood over her, claws raised.

Firefur had taken a hard blow from Charlockfur which landed her right back on her back, filled with pain from head to paw. Still she got up and found Charlockfur battling with 3 cats. It was about to be four. She jumped swiftly into the air and sped right for Charlockfur. Firefur sprang and completely bowled Charlockfur off of her feet. Firefur rolled and bit into Charlockfur's pelt, making it bleed profusely. She got up and saw more cats still fighting. She knew this was going to be a big battle. It may last for another moon! she thought.

Charlockfur dealt Firefur and extremely heavy blow to the side of her head, sinking her claws in deep. Not waiting for the she-cat to get up, she immediately leapt on top of her and sank her teeth into her shoulder.

Meanwhile, Copsepaw hid in a clumb of ferns just outside the clearing.
Ugh, she thought. I'm such a kit! A coward! I'll never be a warrior if I keep this up...

Swiftpaw felt at loose ends, but decided to attack Kestrelpelt. "You can't possibly fight worse than my mentor!" she yowled as she dropped onto his back and sank her claws in deep. She continued firing off insults that sounded like they were aimed at her opponent, but carefully worded so that she actually insulted her leader. Kestrelpelt furiously rolled over onto his back, in attempt to smash the apprentice, but Swiftpaw let go just in time. "Redstar's hurt me worse than that!" she taunted, skipping in to nip at his side and skipping out to try and avoid backlash.

Kestrelpelt aimed a dangerous blow at Swiftpaw, but Brokencloud intervened. She flew at him from one side and grabbed his shoulders as she sailed over him, bringing him down with her. He struggled under the small she-cat but she was too quick for him. She bit deep into his neck, and he lay there, limp.

In a lull in her fighting, Rosepool looked around. Everywhere, the already-weakened LightningClan warriors were collapsing under the greater numbers of their opponents. "Sunnypelt!" she yowled. "We can't win! We can't afford to lose any more cats!"


Longleg saw Rosepool dash across the clearing, and decided that she didn't yet bear enough scars from his claws.

The she-cat saw him coming. "Back off, RiverClan," she snarled. "My claws are still sharp, and I want to stop this fight."

Redstar, meanwhile, had given up on fighting Sunnypelt, and was now content to yowl, "Move it, Swiftpaw, he's not getting any weaker just standing there!... Watch that tail!...Longleg, to your right!"

Both Swiftpaw and Longleg were getting a little frustrated with their leader.

Sunnypelt looked at her sister, then looked at Hardclaw. Crystalspring nodded, and they started against him. They leaped, and both prepared to bite.

Hardclaw's blue pelt was instantly dripping in blood. He focused on clawing Sunnypelt, but his legendarily sharp and hard claws were dangerously neglectful of Crystalspring's presence. While he batted at the deputy, he ignored her sister just long enough for her bite to sink deep into him. "AIOWUOOOOOOOO!" he yowled.

Thank StarClan! thought Sunnypelt. Much longer and she would have joined them. She wasn't quite the best fighter. I'll have to fight with my head instead of my claws. I'm probably smarter then this old lump. She rolled back and took a bite out of his leg. If she could get rid of his claws, she would be in a good position.

Crystalspring, meanwhile, looked with satisfaction at the blood spurting out of her enemy. But he was still attacking, so she pounced on him, sinking her claws in.

Hardclaw felt Crystalspring's claws bite into his side and rolled over to try and smash her. He did his best to curl up and bring his forepaws around and hit Sunnypelt, but he couldn't quite get at her. The blue tom growled in frustration at his inability to do so.

Crystalspring did a dangerous (and probably idiotic) thing: She leaped over Hardclaw to aviod being crushed. She saw what her sister was doing as used her sharp teeth and bit into his front leg, ripping some of his skin off.

Meanwhile, Sunnypelt was getting dizzy. Then she noticed what Crystalspring had done. Ewww! She leaped back and then scratched the place where there was no skin. That had to have hurt.

"OW!" yowled Hardclaw. For a moment, the pain was so intense that he could not see, hear, or think. During that moment, he could not defend himself, and was completely vulnerable to any attack.

"I'll let you do the honors, sis." Sunnypelt said. She was still aching from narrowly escaping Redstar.

For a second, Crystalspring felt bad. Then she remembered his trying to crush her a few moments ago, and his attempt to rip her sister with his sharp claws. I won't kill him, I'll just make him too weak to fight. She leaped onto his back and scratched hard, making a huge gash. That should do the trick. she thought. Crystalspring obviously cut harder than she thought. Hardclaw gasped, and lay absolutely still.

Longleg saw a LightningClan warrior- that brown one with the white spots; he didn't know her name- kill his friend Hardclaw. The deputy immediately launched himself at his blue-gray friend's killer, yowling, "Hardclaw and RiverClan!"

"Keep away from her!" shouted Sunnypelt as loud as she could. "You wanna join Hardclaw in StarClan?" she demanded, running as fast as her legs could carry her.

Crystalspring rolled away quickly, and sprinted to the other side. Why do I keep ending up fighting cats about 3 times my age? she thought.

Laurelheart of StarClan was watching her former Clanmates, waiting for an opportunity to talk to one of them, and ensure that they weren't entirely wiped out. Now she darted up to Crystalspring, and whispered in her ear, "Because you're good enough to win." The starry cat, hidden by the light of the sun, then scrambled out of the way.

Longleg swiped at Crystalspring, and missed badly. Furious with himself for not tracking her position right, he tried again with the other paw.

Sunnypelt's hotheadedness came out at this moment and she swiped at Longleg, scratching his side. "Take that!" she exclaimed.

Encouraged by her former clanmate's words, Crystalspring headed back towards Longleg. Upon hearing her sister's comment, she thought, Is Sunnypelt trying to make Longleg even more furious at her than he already is?

Longleg felt Sunnypelt's claws dig into his pelt. "YAIOW!" he yowled, as he curled back up on himself. He sank his teeth into the other deputy's flesh, trying to make her let go.

Sunnypelt screamed, but didn't let go. "I don't give up that easily." she said.

Crystalspring ran over and bit into Longleg's tail. When her teeth were firm, she started to pull. Maybe it wasn't her best move, but she couldn't imagine the pain of not having a tail, so it would be their advantage.

Longleg jerked horribly, and tried to push her off. "OW!" he yowled. Unable to reach Crystalspring, he clawed frantically at Sunnypelt instead. He didn't know how well he'd done, but he was fairly certain that he'd gotten at least one or two pretty serious gashes onto her.

Creamflower noticed her deputy's struggle, and froze for a heartbeat; she liked Longleg and didn't think he was at fault for his leader's crimes. Her indecision quickly gave way to calm purpose. She flowed over to the three cats and soared through the air, landing on the brown-and-white LightningClan warrior. The pink she-cat held fast, sinking her claws in as deeply as she could.

Who does she think she is? wondered Crystalspring, aching from the scratches, but acting as if they didn't hurt. When I was an apprentice, I wouldn't have tried fighting a warrior who had just badly hurt another cat of equal if not higher rank. Oh well, she's brave, gotta give her that. Crystalspring wasn't being sympathetic, though. "Sunnypelt, take over Longleg!" she shouted, letting go of his tail, so she could properly attack this pink apprentice. She scratched the lower side of the other cat's back.

Sunnypelt, meanwhile, had only gotten one somewhat serious cut. She wasn't going to give up. I'll try the strategy used for the other cat. she thought. She used her sharp teeth to cling to his pelt, and started to pull off his fur.

Longleg scrabbled with his hind paws, trying to get them between his belly and his enemy. If he could just push Sunnypelt off, he might have a fighting chance. There! He pushed her away with all the strength he could muster. The older cat was tiring now.

Sunnypelt lay on the ground for a moment, dizzy. Then she got up and rushed back to Longleg. She grabbed his leg (that was easy enough, there was plenty to grab) and used it to get to his belly. She then did a very dangerous thing: she clawed at her enemy with both of her front paws, while biting his leg.

Longleg thought fast, and bit back faster.

"Youch!" cried Sunnypelt, rolling over so that she was on top. She started to pull off his fur again. When she had just enough, she pushed her claws in his skin.

Rosepool caught sight of the two's fight. "Leave my Clanmates alone! Go back to your own territory, RiverClan!" she yowled, but before she could get as far as Longleg, she was intercepted by a furious Smokytail. "You wouldn't dare attack Longleg," the latter hissed, and the two she-cats began their own tussle.

Longleg gasped with pain, but tried his best to claw at Sunnypelt's tail anyways. That's a useful trick she used, he thought. I should make some use of that one.

Sunnypelt's tail was now aching from being pulled, but she persisted, thought a bit more distracted than usual until she flicked it away between clawings, stalling it for a few moments. She started making that patch of skin with no fur wider, pulling less gently at the fur.

Longleg tried to pull away from Sunnypelt and get his advantages back. Her attack hurt, and he wanted her to leave him alone.

Realizing that the cat she was attacking had had enough, Sunnypelt let go, but still was on guard, just in case. She scanned Sunningrocks again, looking at her choices on what to do. StarClan, what now? she asked silently.

Creamflower, who had been thrown off of the older warrior's back, now ignored the pain of Crystalspring's attack and quickly flipped backwards in an attempt to force the brown cat to move. She moved smoothly from her squishmove to a strike at the other cat's haunches. Either she would resume her riding attack, or she could hopefully make the LightningClan she-cat in a shape just bad enough to make her stop.

Crystalspring leaped to the other side of Creamflower (thought she didn't know her name). She accidentally fell on her side, and then realized she could use this to her advantage. She pretended she was hurt worse than she was.

Creamflower saw Crystalspring (whose name she didn't know) lying on her side and appearing badly injured. She felt a twinge of guilt that she was responsible for hurting other cats- and suddenly, she realized what Redstar had done. "This fight didn't have to be," she told the other warrior sadly, as she circled in, thinking of a move that might injure the brown-and-white she-cat just enough to stop her fighting. She raised a paw to apply a consciousness-ending blow, steeling herself to do it.

The pink warrior brought one paw crashing down- and stopped. She couldn't do it. Her paw resumed its place beneath her. "I don't even know what I'm fighting for," she meowed softly. "I don't believe this is my real battle. Your Clan is in the right this time. I won't fight this battle. I want to save my strength for the fight that is really worth fighting." With that, Creamflower of RiverClan vanished from the fray, melting gently into the trees.

Wow, that worked better than I thought it would, thought Crystalspring. Plus, nobody gets hurt. I should probably get up, so nobody thinks I'm actually dead. Her original plan had been to jump up as the pink cat tried to get one last blow, but this was better. She got up and looked to see who needed help.

Kestrelpelt was running out of the clearing, howling in pain. Copsepaw's eyes lit up. This may be my chance to prove myself... She stepped out of the ferns to find that the ginger tom was gone.

"Wha--" The little tabby apprentice didn't get to finish her sentence. Kestrelpelt had leapt on top of her from an overhanging tree.

Swiftpaw caught sight of a cat she had been fighting, smashing her small Clanmate. "You again!" she yowled as she slashed with her claws at his pelt, trying to get him at least distracted enough to leave Copsepaw alone.

Kestrelpelt rounded on Swiftpaw. Copsepaw gave her a grateful look. He aimed a blow at her but before he struck, Copsepaw sank her teeth into his tail.

Swiftpaw dodged into the far more dangerous position in front of Kestrelpelt. "Don't you dare hurt my friend!" she hissed challengingly as she brought her front paw slicing down at his face.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Dustpaw gasped at the scene he found before himself. May StarClan be with me... he thought, and he plunged into the battle. This was Dustpaw's first battle, and he desperately hoped that this was not his last. He then scanned the mass chaos for any cats who needed assistance.

Silvertip quickly took in her surroundings. It didn't look good, but she had to try. LightningClan's survival depended on it.

Rosepool and Smokytail had been rolling around on the ground, but with the arrival of more LightningClan cats, they broke apart. Rosepool made a dash for it, while Smokytail challenged Silvertip. The smoky gray she-cat flung herself at the cat with the silver-tipped whiskers, sending her claws slicing at Silvertip's flank.

Silvertip found herself at the bottom, and the tussle began. StarClan help me! I have to get out of this alive. She tried to dodge her enemy's claws, but they still grazed her leg. She let out a soft hiss, and aimed her claws toward Smokytail's face.

Smokytail felt Silvertip's claws score lightly across her face- she had managed to get out of the way, at least partly. The grayish she-cat rapidly retaliated with a quick slice towards Silvertip's chest.

Silvertip yowled as Smokytail's claws raked her. It wasn't deep, but it was still brutally painful. She won't get away with this! Silvertip thought, and mustered up what strength she had left and lunged to slice her claws against Smokytail's shoulder.

Smokytail winced as Silvertip sliced her shoulder. The cut was fairly deep, and she was injured, although the sight of her leader gave her hope; at least she wasn't that badly injured. The smoke-colored she-cat snaked over to behind Silvertip, and sent a paw hard at her hind legs.

Silvertip tried to dodge Smokeytail's blow, but couldn't quite get out of the way.

Redstar had seen Sunnypelt fighting his deputy, but had taken until now to make his way that far through the crowd. He now made his way across, and challenged the golden-beige she-cat once again.

Not you again, thought Sunnypelt. "Crystalspring, Dustpaw, get over here!" She pounced on Redstar once again, pulling her legs out and clinging to him with her claws pushed into his skin. She started to pull his fur out as hard as she could. She could spare the others, but this cat was obviously cruel and must die.

Crystalspring, upon hearing her sister's call, grabbed his tail with her teeth and started to pull it as if she wanted to rip it off. She didn't feel bad for even a moment on this one. He asked for it, she thought.

Redstar winced under the combined weight of the cats attacking him. "Help!" he yowled. He looked around- who could help him? Not Hardclaw, who was dead; not Smokytail, occupied with Silvertip; certainly not his volebrained apprentice! The bloodred leader tried his best to hit Sunnypelt with his signature deathblow, but he couldn't quite get there, and only swiped at her face.

"Dishonorable vole-brained scum!" shouted Sunnypelt, realizing what Redstar was trying to do. Her nose hurt, but it looked like they were going to win! Patches of his skin were now bare. She could just scratch until he bled, then push in.

Crystalspring pulled so hard on his tail that the very end came off, except for the bone. Gross! she thought.

Longleg's pelt still hurt with the injuries Crystalspring and Sunnypelt had already inflicted, but he still jumped onto the shier of them. He turned their own trick back on them, working to pull off Crystalspring's fur.

Dustpaw heard his name and rushed to the assistance of Crystalspring and Sunnypelt. He gagged when he saw Redstar's tail, but swiped at the part of his coat that was not yet scarred.

Redstar yowled in pain as what seemed to be- and literally was- half of LightningClan attacked him. He moved quickly, smashing a paw against Dustpaw's side and spinning around to fend off a blow from Sunnypelt in the same heartbeat, but couldn't quite get them all.

Crystalspring pushed her hind legs up and flexed her claws out in an attempt to get Longleg to stop. She hoped this would be over quickly, she wanted to fight Redstar.

"Thanks," whispered Sunnypelt to her apprentice, pushing in until Redstar bled. She then started to make the holes she had clawed wider.

Silvertip, still fighting Smokytail, quickly assessed the damage: Her left hind-leg was bleeding, but she could stand the pain until the fight was over. She then aimed a blow toward Smokytail's jaw.

Dustpaw winced as RiverClan's leader smashed his side. However it was not that severe, so Dustpaw continued his attack on any part of Redstar that he could reach.

Redstar felt Sunnypelt clawing holes in his body, and Dustpaw battering away at whatever was left. The pain became more and more intense, until he went utterly limp. RiverClan's leader stopped trying to breathe.

Redstar was standing at Fourtrees, with the cats of StarClan arrayed all around him. "You have lost your first life," meowed a familiar voice. It sounded like a chorus of every cat he had ever known, just as it had when he became leader. The leader looked around, until he saw the cats he had murdered. He raised his head proudly, to show that he didn't care. The gentle she-cat who had once been his leader and friend looked him over sadly. "You will regret what you have done before the day is out," she mewed, her voice quiet.

Smokytail squeaked as her head was pushed sharply to one side by Silvertip's blow. She retaliated with a quick bite to the offending paw.

She knew it would have been truly savage to say, but while her and her apprentice's victim was loosing a life, Sunnypelt thought, One down, eight to go! She continued to grow rip the holes bigger and bigger, so there would just be more pain when he awoke. "Good job!" she added to Dustpaw.

Smokytail smashed one paw onto Silvertip's face, and without waiting to see if she had stunned her enemy or not, leaped for Sunnypelt. "Leave my brother alone!" she yowled.

"No," meowed Sunnypelt calmly. "It's too late. He's already lost a life, and he will only wake up to more fatal injuries."

Enraged, Smokytail did her best to claw Sunnypelt's belly open. That had to hurt, she thought.

Meanwhile, Longleg dodged Crystalspring's last attack, and countered by clawing her face, hard. He wanted to keep her away from his leader as long as possible. If he could just hurt her badly enough to put her out of the fighting...

"Thanks." Dustpaw was proud that he had pleased his mentor, but he had no time to dwell on it. He had to be ready, alert at all times.

Silvertip whimpered as Smokeytail's paw struck her square in the face. I have to shake this off... She sought out her attacker and lunged, hoping to scrape Smokeytail's belly in the process.

Sunnypelt rolled over and leapt on Smokytail's back, claws pushing in, leaving red streaks. Now that's attacking, she thought with satisfaction. "Dustpaw, a little help here?" she added, noticing that he wasn't occupied with anything else.

"Youch!" cried Crystalspring, having just been poked in the eye. Fortunately, her eye wasn't poked out. Ducking her head, she pulled down under Longleg and pulled his tail under him as hard as she could.

Smokytail's immediate reaction to Sunnypelt's attack was to drop and roll on the ground, with an eye to either flattening the enemy deputy or knocking her away. She then sprang up and clawed Sunnypelt in the side, leaving a matched set of gashes.

Longleg clawed at Crystalspring's belly. He ripped a shallow hole in her soft flesh, the kind that isn't as serious but hurts much more than a deeper cut.

Crystalspring screamed in pain. The wound wasn't even close to fatal, but quite painful, and probably wouldn't go away for a few hours. What should I do? she wondered. If she left, her clan would have one less cat fighting, making it harder to win, but if she stayed, she would be an easy target. StarClan, what should I do?

StarClan may not have answered Crystalspring's question, but Rosepool certainly did. She saw her friend bleeding badly, and raced over. "Go!" she yowled. "LightningClan can't afford for any more of our cats to die like this!"

"You're right. May StarClan help you fight." Crystalspring said, then ran off towards camp.

Redstar awoke at last, feeling as if he had spent the time in between lives compressed between two huge boulders. It really hurt. He rose stiffly, and padded weakly over to the edge of the fighting. Where was Hollyleaf? The leader needed help, and rest, before he could return to his battle.

Coalstorm struggled away from Charlockfur, whom had been practically tearing his pelt off throughout this whole battle. He had witnessed Redstar being attacked, and now watched as his leader staggered away from the thick of the fighting. The young RiverClan warrior knew nothing of his leader's treachery, and remained as loyal to him as any warrior should be to their leader. He aimed a heavy kick to Charlockfur's face and raced towards the blood red tom.

"Redstar!" he yowled, "Watch out!"

Kestrelpelt leaped out of the bushes and right onto the RiverClan leader. The apprentices he had been fighting were nowhere to be seen, yet he bore many wounds and blood streaked his pelt. The ThunderClan warrior sank his teeth into Redstar's ear while he raked his hind claws down his back.

Coalstorm pelted across the clearing with all the speed of StarClan, trying to reach Redstar. But when he was a mere foxlength away, he felt thorn-sharp claws dig into his hind legs. He whipped around to see Charlockfur, her face contorted in a screech of fury.

"Not you again!" the black tom hissed viciously, raking his claws across her eyes.

Sunclaw noticed the odd proportion of RiverClan to LightningClan. Many more RiverClan, yet all of LightningClan kept attacking the same enemies! He decided to change that some, and ran to Charlockfur's aid.

Tigernose hated Redstar, but she didn't believe that now would be the best time for her to show that hatred. Besides, he had all those crimes to answer for, and he needed at least one life from which to answer. She raced over and sent a claw scoring down Kestrelpelt's side.

Dustpaw rushed to Sunnypelt's assistance, clawing at Smokytail's back.

Sunnypelt was bleeding, but the scratches weren't too painful. "You'll regret this!" she shouted, she started pulling skin.

Smokytail hissed as her opponent began to claw at her. She swiftly moved, clawing first Sunnypelt then Dustpaw. "Do you really think that?" she meowed coolly.

"Actually, yes, I do." Sunnypelt! This is not the time for sassy remarks! screamed her conscience. She was still pulling off skin on her upper back. This cat didn't seem as cruel as the last one, so she was trying hard not to accidently kill her like Crystalspring had done with Hardclaw. She bit into the bare skin.

Smokytail yowled her pain, and rejoined with a powerful blow to Sunnypelt's side. While she would not kill her enemy, she didn't want to keep fighting, either.

Brokencloud rushed across the clearing to Smokytail's aid. The brown tabby she-cat was bleeding from many wounds and one of her ears was split down the middle. Regardless, she leaped onto Sunnypelt's back and aimed a heavy blow near the base of her opponent's skull.

Sunnypelt rolled over to avoid Brokencloud's attack. Weather she realized it or not, Brokencloud was extremely close performing an unfair and dishonorable move that should only be used as a last resort. She attacked accordingly. She bit one side of her ear and pulled it down in an attempt to get her pelt off.

Feeling Sunnypelt relenting somewhat as the deputy's attention shifted, Smokytail quickly reacted with a rapid clawing to the golden-beige cat's side.

Sunnypelt hopped to the other side of Smokytail to avoid her attack, still holding on to Brokencloud's ear with all her might. Needless to say, she wasn't talking due to the fact that she was rather busy biting Brokencloud.

Smokytail tried a new move, one she had just thought of. She hooked her claws into Sunnypelt's back fur and hopped over, with the aim of using inertia to put the other she-cat on the defensive, and temporarily vulnerable.

"Rosepool! Take over Smokytail!" shouted Sunnypelt. There was power in numbers, as she and Crystalspring had used earlier, but that could be used both ways. Delegating attacks would make things easier. Having ripped off a good amount of flesh off Brokencloud, started to pull on her tail.

Dustpaw sneered at Smokytail, and then slashed across her back.

Mistyheart looked around- and identified a cat she hadn't met before. It was a pretty cat, with a gray pelt and whiskers tipped in silver. Nevertheless, they were enemies. The RiverClan queen took off to fight at a run.

Smokytail felt Dustpaw's claws rip at her. She yowled her pain and returned the favor.

Dustpaw hissed as his back was sliced. Sharp claws... he thought, and clawed at Smokytail's face.

Silvertip noticed that the RiverClan queen was charging her, and braced herself for the attack.

Smokytail recoiled as Dustpaw's claws lanced towards her face, but couldn't quite get out of the way. However, having learned a lesson from her old friend Hardclaw's fate, she stood through the pain and sent a frontal paw strike of her own towards where she guesstimated the other cat's face would be, even though her nose hurt enough to temporarily blind her.

Dustpaw hissed in pain as Smokytail's claws slashed his face. He retaliated by swiping his claws across her shoulder.

Smokytail clawed the other cat as fast as she could, which was pretty fast. She hated the feeling of Dustpaw's claws on her pelt, and was absolutely determined to drive him off ASAP. That shouldn't be too hard- he was an apprentice, she a senior warrior- but he seemed to be pretty good.

Sunnypelt looked around. The odds of her Clan winning were against them with their Clan so small. She went over to Redstar. "Okay, you win. With so few cats, we don't truly need more hunting grounds. Just stop the fighting." If cats could cry, Sunnypelt would be in tears, but she had to choose her battles, literally and figuratively, and Sunningrocks wasn't worth the loss of her Clan's few remaining lives.

Rosepool yowled, feeling that the entire Clan must have been lost all over again, and sadly padded off into the forest, away from the place she had been unable to save.

Smokytail and Longleg celebrated their victory with loud yowls. Tigernose pretended that she was doing the same for the same reason, while she actually celebrated the wide-open chance to challenge Redstar.

Swiftpaw and Creamflower didn't trust themselves to do the same. They instead stayed absolutely silent, planning out their next move.

Sunclaw, like Rosepool, padded out towards the camp, beaten and miserable. He wished they could have kept on fighting, but there was no choice... Sunnypelt knew what she was doing, or at least he hoped so.

As she was leaving, Sunnypelt noticed that Longleg, Smokytail, and Tigernose were celebrating a little too much for comfort. She realized what she did made the clan sound weak. With all the dignity she had left, she shouted, "BUT NOT ONE PAW IN OUR TERRITORY OR YOU WILL REGRET IT!"

Tigernose fell silent, and moved over to a shadowed corner of the territory they had just gained.

Silvertip and Dustpaw both left Sunningrocks, sad to have lost such a wonderful place to RiverClan. At least I made it out alive... they both thought.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

Sunnypelt stood in front of the cavern. This is what I've dreamed of. she thought, though just a little nervous. She wasn't even twenty moons, and already about to become Clan Leader. No turning back now! she thought.

Okay, on three I'm going in there. "1... 2... 3!" Sunnypelt did all but leap into the cavern. She shivered, it was late leaf-fall and the nights were getting cold. It was dark, and she had to look hard to find the actual moonstone. When she did, she put her nose against it and shut her eyes.

A glittering, mostly-white warrior put a glowing paw forward and began the long journey down to the earthly place where Sunnypelt waited. All around her, the rest of StarClan was doing the same, and the millions of them stalked proudly down the sky. No cat could have told how much time that took, because time was irrelevant to these cats. When they were finally all sitting around the hollow, they spoke. "Are you ready for your nine lives and new name?" They didn't need to ask this question, because they knew already. It was part of the ceremony, however, so they asked it, as they had asked every Clan leader who had risen to power since the formation of StarClan.

"Yes." said Sunnypelt, less than calmly. Sunnypelt, you're not Crystalspring. Quit acting like her, she admonished herself.

Rainstorm stepped forwards and bent her head to touch her muzzle to Sunnypelt's. She then meowed solemnly, "With this life I give you courage. Use it well in defense of your Clan." She stepped back, and Brackenstorm padded towards Sunnypelt.

"With this life I give you justice. Use it well to judge the actions of others."

The action of approaching the warrior was repeated over and over. Each cat had a different message. Cloverfoot had, "With this life I give you loyalty to what you know to be right. Use it well to guide your Clan in times of trouble."

Flightpaw mewed, "With this life I give you tireless energy. Use it well to carry out the duties of a leader."

Laurelheart used the words, "With this life I give you protection. Use it well to care for your Clan as a mother cares for her kits."

Mallowpaw carried the message, "With this life I give you mentoring. Use it well to train the young cats of your Clan."

Stormsky announced clearly, "With this life I give you compassion. Use it well for the elders of your Clan, and the sick, and all those weaker than yourself."

Beechclaw purred, "With this life I give you love. Use it well for all the cats in your care."

Finally, Silverstar stalked proudly over to Sunnypelt. "Welcome, Sunnypelt, my warrior, and my deputy. With this life I give you nobility and certainty and faith. Use them well as you lead your Clan in the ways of StarClan and the warrior code." The ceremony was almost over now, and there were only a few things left to do. StarClan rose to their paws. Silverstar signaled that Sunnypelt should rise as well. "I hail you by your new name, Sunnystar. Your old life is no more. You have now received the nine lives of a leader. LightningClan is also no more. In its place rises a new Clan, greater because its cats have known pain and yet still go on proudly. StarClan grants you the guardianship of ThunderClan. Defend it well; care for young and old; honor your ancestors and the traditions of the warrior code; live each life with pride and dignity."

The cats chanted, as if receiving new warriors, "Sunnystar! ThunderClan! Sunnystar! ThunderClan!" At length, the chant faded away, and the starry warriors swirled back up to their places, leaving Sunnystar in the center of the clearing at Fourtrees. The forest would never be the same.

Sunnypelt felt the pain and good feelings of each of the lives, and was honored when she became Sunnystar. "Thank you." she whispered.

When all the cats were gone, Sunnystar woke up and began walking back to her clan's territory, with big news to tell them.

[♥Goldenheart♥]

"Would all those old enough to catch their own prey gather for a clan meeting!" shouted Sunnystar loudly. She had urgent news that called for a meeting.

Rosepool padded in to sit down at the base of the Highrock. She looked attentively up at Sunnystar, wondering what happened.

Crystalspring slipped in quietly. "Hello, Rosepool," she said, noticing her friend. "I see Sunnypelt, well, she's Sunnystar now, has come back."

"Yes," meowed Rosepool. "Whatever she has to say should be interesting, especially given what happened right before she left. I wonder what it'll be."

"Perhaps she is just naming the new deputy." replied Crystalspring. "Hey! Maybe it'll be you!" she added. It did seem like a reasonable guess. There were only a eight other cats, and she could guess it wouldn't be Sunheart or any of the apprentices, so who was left?

Sunnystar was getting impatient. Where are they? she wondered.

Just as Crystalspring decided that Sunheart couldn't be the deputy, the aforementioned medicine cat padded in to sit down in the clearing.

Sunclaw padded into the clearing. He noticed that there were only three other cats standing underneath the Highrock. Then he reminded himself that there were only eight cats left in the Clan, and so that was most of them. When he sat down, there were only three left to come.

"I repeat. WOULD ALL THOSE OLD ENOUGH TO CATCH THEIR OWN PREY GATHER FOR A CLAN MEETING!" Sunnystar screamed at the very top of her lungs. "I'm going to start without them if they don't come soon," she informed the four cats there.

"Well, there might be a perfectly reasonable explanation for Silvertip, Dustpaw, and Charlockfur not being here," meowed Rosepool calmly. She fell silent, and stretched out one delicate paw, held it there for a few heartbeats, then let it fall. Maybe they were hunting.

"Rosepool's right. I think they're hunting. In any case, do you think we should start without them?" asked Crystalspring.

"I don't know. It's too important. We can afford to wait a few minutes." Sunnystar replied. "I hope they get back soon."

Several minutes later...

"They're not here," meowed Rosepool. "There are only three missing. They must be on some long patrol; I suppose they've been delayed. Sunnystar, why don't you start now?"

"All right, but they really need to hear this." Then she began the actual announcements. "This clan can no longer be called LightningClan, with so much of it gone." stated Sunnystar. "StarClan has told me that now the clan shall be called ThunderClan." She did not continue for a moment, waiting for her clan's reaction.

Rosepool stared up at Sunnystar in shock for a second. No more LightningClan? They were now ThunderClan?? Then a wonderful possibility hit her. "LightningClan did look weak- so now we can prove that ThunderClan is strong!" she yowled, excitement flooding her voice.

Crystalspring wasn't as assured as Rosepool. She felt secure knowing that she would always be in LightningClan, but now there would be no more. She kept her doubts to herself.

Sunclaw didn't know what to think. On one paw, Rosepool was right and they could prove themselves strong as a new Clan, but on the other, his world had just been turned upside down... To hide his confusion, he licked one paw and drew it over his ear.

"And on a happier note" said Sunnystar, "The time has now come to choose a new deputy. I say these words before StarClan, so that the spirits of our ancestors may hear and approve of my choice." The took a breath, and, hoping nobody would be disappointed with her choice, meowed, "Sunclaw will be the new deputy."

Rosepool cheered for her Clanmate. She thought that StarClan had made a good choice in renaming the Clan during a leader ceremony. Now all the traditional expressions of a new leader's gathering power would be power for the new Clan, as well. Sunclaw, she felt sure, could help the Clan reach its first goals, and she would be there to watch it all. For the first time since her Clanmates' deaths had shattered her mind, Rosepool felt hope for the future.

Surprise spread through Sunclaw's entire body. "Me? Deputy? Really? Thank you, Sunnystar! I wasn't expecting this!"