High Waters [CLAN EVENT]

OOC: Surprise! I thought that RiverClan could use a little excitement. Feel free to do your own, other Clans.

IC: Reedstar's eyes flashed open to the sound of lightning.

He stared out into the gloom and rain and reluctantly stood up on stiff legs, drinking in the scent of rain and mud. It was storming outside, and hard. This den is too dank... Reedstar still longed to be in the warrior's den even after all these moons. No wonder Froststar could never sleep at night. With a shiver and stretch, the tom poked carefully poked his head out of the den. How long would it be before dawn? He couldn't tell. Everything was pitch black.

Another earth-shattering crack of lightning filled the night with a blue light, just for a moment. Reedstar's breath caught in his throat as he saw dark water lapping at the nursery walls before the darkness returned. The river shouldn't be up that high! It was one of those horror stories that were often passed along. The Newleaf storms would make the river rise and sweep away a den full of cats while they slept... But it was Leaf-fall. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Reedstar looked up at the sky, instinctively tucking his head in as a fat, icy cold raindrop plopped on his nose. The sky was black and twisted. It made him feel as small as a kit. He silently cursed before rushing out into the rain, sending up sprays of mud with each step and getting soaked to the bone in what seemed like only a few seconds. "Wake up!" he shouted, barely audible above the storm. "We move to higher ground! Wake up!"

The two apprentices' eyes shot open and they leaped to their paws, Hailpaw shivering beside her sister, trying to keep warm. Stormpaw quickly nudged her with her muzzle to get her going and the two of them rushed outside, her snowy-furred sister letting out a yelp of surprise as she splashed through water outside the den.

"What's going on?! Why is there so much water?" Stormpaw called in panic, though her voice was barely audible above the roaring winds and clashes of thunder. Her amber gaze shot from left to right, looking to see if everyone was waking up and getting outside. Was their any higher ground nearby camp?

Hailpaw suddenly vanished from her sister's side, bolting towards the nursery. "The kits! We have to get the kits to safety!" She yowled, the water sweeping up the hocks of her back legs as a strong wind blew.

The bright flash of lightning and bang of thunder ripped Sandwhisker from his peaceful sleep, pulling him to reality. He heard the sound of panicking cats just barely over the howling winds and pouring rain, but didn't understand what was happening.

"The kits! We have to get the kits to safety!"

Someone yowled loudly over the clamor, and Sandwhisker instantly darted from the warriors' den, all traces of sleep swept away with the raging winds. He was surprised to feel the water splash up past his paws, to feel it licking at his stomach as it quickly grew higher. He looked down in shock, frozen, before Reedstar's yowls jolted him into action. He sprinted to his leader, fear consuming him and spurring on his panic. His pale ginger fur was quickly darkening as the cold rain soaked his pelt and began to weigh him down. Sandwhisker's eyes were pools of terror and confusion as he yowled louder than he thought he could so Reedstar could hear him, his voice betraying his innermost emotions.

"What do we do, Reedstar? Where do we go?"

Frogpaw was asleep in the apprentice den. The water kept rising and had just started to cover his paws. "What the..." he muttered before realising that the camp was flooding. He scrambled to his feet and started running to higher ground. He slipped up on some muddy ground and slid down into the water. "H... Help m-" he shouted before going under.

Stormclaw snapped awake from his sleep, right from the sound of thunder. He jolted up, hearing the voices of cats outside, panicking. He ran outside, listening to them yell about the kits. 'The kits!' he ran to the nursery, picking up two kits and running up to higher ground, and placing them next to another cat. "Take care of them" he said to the cat, running back to get more, feeling water rise up to his belly. He looked to Frogpaw, noticing him start to slip under the mud and water. He ran over, quickly using his strong body and picking up him by the scruff. Stormclaw quickly dragged him to higher ground, slipping one the mud. He placed him down, making sure the apprentice was breathing. He quickly yelled "Make sure the other cats coming up are safe and okay!" Running back down through the mud, and passed by Reedstar, quickly nodding to his leader, he rushed back to the nursery, quickly seeing all the kits had been taken. He ran to the elder den, seeing an elder struggling out. He started pushing him up the slope, making sure his older body was making a fast climb up. As soon as he reached the other group of cats, he rushed down the slope again, helping cats up the slope.

Beepaw was never known to be easy to wake. But now was a different story, the raging storm and panicked yowls of cats was enough to jolt him into awareness. He looked around, taking in the situation. Water was pouring into the den, most cats had already gotten out of the den, so he felt safe bailing out now. Sloshing through the mud, Beepaw felt useless, he didn't know where to go or who to help. His problem was solved when a warrior sat down a pair of kits in front of him. "Take care of them," Stormclaw mewed before running off to help someone else. The apprentice looked at the kits for a brief moment before picking them both up by their scruffs. This, at least, was something he could do, he thought, climbing up the slope rather awkwardly as he held the kits above the rising water.

As one of the cats who had night watch, the silver tabby stared up to the was so dark, so twisted and corrupt, it wasn't right. Not at all. It was leaf-fall, the weather was cold, but storms like this shouldn't happen. The wet cold rain continued dripping, but before long, a large deafening sound of lightning had caused her to become more alert. Leaving her post despite orders were strict not to most of the time unless needed, Mintcloud had went in, only to be swept away by a cascading wave from the river.

The instant it had tried to submerge her, she had heard Reedstar's orders and struggled to stay afloat. Why is the current so strong...? Why is the river so high? Trying to lift her eyes open under water, despite its harsh stings, the RiverClan warrior had pushed herself forward, swimming beneath towards the apprentices' den. Inside, she had seen apprentices looking shocked and frightened. Despite much of her energy already drained away, she was desperate to help her clanmates at the cost of her life.

Mintcloud carefully lifted Hailpaw and her sister up by the scruff, helping them stay afloat just in case they went under. "It's alright, just follow me. Pretend you're running except in water. Keep your muzzle up, lifting your head as if you were just praised and showing pride. The silver tabby was hoping the two would listen to her, but it can't be helped if they didn't. Just anything to keep your head up...

Ivykit squealed and attempted to swim towards saftey but colapsed. " HELP!" she squealed louder.

Reedstar didn't know how to respond. What do I do? There was a hopeless feeling gnawing at him as he stood there. He'd never seen the river flood before. "We... We just go inland! Towards the farm, as far away from water as we can!" he shouted back before rushing towards the flooded nursery and the terrified squealing of a kit. StarClan, why have you done this to us? He peered into the darkness as thunder boomed overhead when he saw a small silver head poke out from the churning black current. "Ivykit!" he called at once, leaping into the water where he thought he saw the kit pop up.

Mapleclaw's eyes flashed open at Reedstar's cry as she pushed herself to her paws, clearly confused a bit about what was going on. One second she was in the middle of a nice dream about being leader and now she was being awoken t-Crash! The sudden echo of thunder rang in her ears as she jumped, before bounding out of the den with a surprise hiss. Her paws slid to a stop as she stared at the water that was flooding the camp in horror, her tail swishing. Her eyes widen as she clearly attempted to back into the den to escape the rising tides, but there was just to many cats trying to flee the den still that she was forced to move forward.

Her claws dug into the muddy ground as rain poured onto her, her breath growing rapid as she watched the water. Why, why now? What if she made a fool of herself in front of her Clanmates? Would they ever approve of her being leader if they knew what she really was...A dry paw? She hissed to herself as she attempted to skirt her way around the water and to the entrance of the camp, but there was just no use. It was either face her fear, or die drowning, and it was clear the latter wasn't an option.

With a deep sigh, she quickly bounded into the water, closing her eyes as she felt the cold, muddy water press against her pelt in just so many ways that it felt wrong. Her ears remained perked as she moved toward the entrance of the camp. She could hear the cats around her crying out in fear, and her eyes widen as she turned her head to look at the nursery as she heard Reedstar calling out for one of the kits.

She let out a small growl as she forced herself to move forward. Why was StarClan doing this? If they lost any of their Clan mates...No. She couldn't think about it but why would they do something like this so early into her deputyship? Did they not approve of her? No...She had a feeling that perhaps StarClan wasn't approving of something, but what? There had to be a reason such a terrible storm was upon them. Her eyes flickered back to the nursery, her eyes narrowing. Maybe...Maybe they didn't approve of Reedstar?

She attempted to shake the thought, not wanting to believe StarClan might not approve of his reign. He had been a fine leader so far...hadn't he? However, Mapleclaw couldn't help but shake the thought that perhaps if she was leader, this storm wouldn't had happened...Or perhaps it was just a freak storm but still, a storm this bad...?

Ooc: If you're talking about my Hailpaw and Stormpaw(I assume you are, since you said 'and her sister' which would apply to Stormpaw), then both her and her sister are outside already o3o; But we can say you grabbed Hailpaw since she has nowhere to go now?

Ic: Hailpaw had brought another one of the kits up to Beepaw, then ran back down. Her gaze shot to her left as she heard a splash and the squeal of a kit. Ivykit! She thought in panic, but relaxed slightly(if that's possible in this situation) when she saw Reedstar swimming in the direction of the cry. Suddenly she felt her scruff be grabbed and lifted by Mintcloud. She immediately began doing as she was told, suddenly remembering she had yet to learn how to swim, since she had been too timid to learn earlier. "W-will everything be okay?" She whimpered, half to Mintcloud, half to herself.

Stormpaw dove forward, sliding through the puddles and shallower water that was slowly rising. To the barn? She thought. Where is that even at? I've never been there...
The tabby rushed into the deeper part of the flood so that she had to begin swimming. The current pushed her back up against the shore a few times, and she struggled to go forward, desperate to make sure everyone was okay. Unable to see anyone close by, but also unable to go any deeper in the flood to check(she's not very strong a swimmer yet D:), she paddled back to the shore; it seemed farther away now despite the short time she had begun swimming. The water must be rising faster than she first thought. Coat drenched, Stormpaw clambered out of the water onto a slippery rock, then jumped away to race after the others. The warriors knew where the barn was, and hopefully it wouldn't be flooded there as well, if the river even stretched back there.

Silvershade jolted awake from her place on top of the warrior's den where she'd fallen asleep; her pelt was soaking wet and, frankly, she was freezing. One look down told her the camp was beginning to flood- crap, she thought, jumping down and running after where the barn was. Damn the fact that she's a heavy sleeper. /shot

Beepaw blinked, finding another kit in front of him. Without question, he picked it up, as they were all three small enough for him to carry. Then he started moving again, but the mud made it difficult to climb, and he had no idea where to go. "Towards the farm!" he heard Reedstar's voice over the thunder. He really does have grand timing the apprentice thought, now having a direction to go in. He followed the warriors that weren't panicking or helping the others, hoping they had the right direction in mind. Thankfully, as he went the water around his paws seemed to diminish, though it was slow going with the heavy rain and deep mud.

Ivykit turned her head around to see Reedstar holding her by her scruff. " Thanks Reedstar " she mewed , " Can i help in any way? " she asked.

Stormclaw listened to Reedstars call to go to the barn, finally having more direction. Good timing too, he had just gotten the last of the cats out of camp, except for Ivykit who was in Reedstars jaws. He climbed the slope, helping the cats lagging behind.

OOC: Short post is short :3