Turned Upside Down [Sitewide]

Things had been calm, or as calm as they could be. It was hard for Shrikestar to sleep, what with all the noisy sounds of monsters and twolegs farther away. Twolegs, in their territory. It was despicable, but unfortunately they could do nothing against the might of the towering, hairless beasts. Regardless of that realization, sleep wasn't going to come to him easy. Not only the business with the twolegs, but the fact that they were at Fourtrees in general. All five clans had to bunker down beneath the stars, and while that was fine for Shrikestar, being around all the other clans was not. He was fine with it during Gatherings, but when he was trying to sleep? The mingling of other clan scents was itching his nose. He nestled up against Coyotegrin, doing his best to find comfort in her warm fur.

So he was half-awake, half-asleep when the twolegs came. When that happened, he was awake in an instant. It was hard to not be with the yowls of other cats ringing in his ears. He was up on his paws in a heartbeat, taking stock of the situation. The twolegs were everywhere, grabbing cats indiscriminately. There were so many of them, too many of them... "WindClan! Retreat to Highstones! If the twolegs follow you, keep running to the mountains!" He could barely hear himself over the yowling of other cats and the stomping of twolegs. He had to make sure every cat got out. Seeing Sleepypaw, he hurried over to the frightened apprentice. "Sleepypaw, where are your siblings?" He tried to remain as calm as he could, but faced with this nightmare, there was an undercurrent of worry evident in his voice. Would everyone have heard his instructions? Would they all meet at Highstones? He could only hope so.

It seemed that as soon as Lightningpaw had started to settle into her life as a SkyClan cat, everything flipped upside down. First there was her apprentice ceremony, which was the good kind of flip, something that made her feel as if she should be there. No longer was she a helpless kit, but trusted to learn!

The thrill she still felt when she thought of herself as an apprentice, though, was challenged by the current crisis. This was the bad kind of flip, an exhilarating rush that was nonetheless entirely bad news. Chaos broke out immediately, cats scrambling in every direction and yowling at the top of their lungs, and Lightningpaw was no exception. Birdchaser gave their orders, to take themselves into the woods, but there was something she needed to do on her way- a specific cat she wasn't going to leave behind.

"Creampaw!" she shouted, her voice adding to the crowd as swift paws carried her through it. "Let's go, we gotta run-!"

Lightningpaw is looking for Creampaw, and trying to escape!

Blazefang nodded, registering Shrikestar’s words. “Sleepypaw, help Shrikestar find your siblings and get to Highstones. Russetpaw, you — wait, where’s Russetpaw? I told her to stay right here!”

OOC: Sorry for short post.

It seemed to Swirlpaw that she was never going to be able to relax ever again. She had spent a few blissful days in fourtrees after she had arrived sopping wet, despite the makeshift conditions. She had just started to relax, started convincing herself that she could stop jumping at the slightest noise when this happened. As soon as the twolegs entered the clearing, Swirlpaw ran like a frightened kit under the nearest bush and hid there, trembling, hoping - praying that they would not see her.

Swirlpaw is hiding!

H-He couldn't breath. Blood roared in Creampaw's ears as his heart thumped loudly in his chest, his paws rooted into place as chaos had settled over Fourtrees. He had been working on being brave, getting used to the painful distance of not always being able to be by Blackbear's side when everything had broken loose...Meaning he had nothing to stablize the fear that was rushing over him. His breath was coming out in short gasps, struggling to calm himself down as he tried to press his paws to move - to run - but they wouldn't listen. H-He couldn't... His eyes screwed shut as he heaved to take in the air, ears slicking back before a familiar voice broke through his panic and fear.

"Creampaw!"

Lightningpaw! His eyes snapped open as he glanced around, seeing the familar yellow pelt of his friend among the crowd of fleeing SkyClan cats. She wasn't far from where he was cowering, if he could get his paws to listen he could join her and they could be safe and- To his surprise, he found his paws actually listened to him this time as he sprung forward - eyes remaining locked on Lightningpaw's form as he weaved his way towards her. "I-I'm here, Lightningpaw!" he managed despite the fear that clogged at his throat, as he fell into step just behind her. He could feel the fear that ached through his body slowly disappearing - or at least, to a far more manageable degree. "H-Have you seen Blackbear?" he asked, glancing around - hoping to see his mother's large form somewhere. S-She had to be safe as well, right...?

Creampaw has joined Lightningpaw and is fleeing - thought is trying to keep an eye out for his mother-figure, Blackbear.

Blackbear hissed curses under her breath as the tore through the underbrush. Hot on her heels was a pack of twolegs, pungent with the acrid smell of monsters. Her eyes were half closed to shield them from the brambles she was bulldozing as she ran, ignoring the small cuts to her face. Her mind was focused on one thing: getting to Creampaw before the twolegs did. No kit of hers would become twoleg food.

She barreled out of the brambles and into the chaos of the clearing. Yowling filled her ears from all directions as cat scattered from Fourtrees- or got caught. She spared the captured cats no pity as she pushed forward, reaching Creampaw and his friend. "Get out!" she growled, nudging him forward with a paw. "Climb a tree, high as you can. Those things can't climb." She looked at Lightningpaw. "You too. Go!"

She wasn't quite sure when the event had started, but she did know that getting grabbed by one of the twolegs wasn't a bright idea. With so many of them on the assault, it was difficult avoiding the paws that grasped for her, but from either sheer luck or sheer skill Silverwing managed to narrowly evade the twolegs. In the rush of things, she had even forgotten Windclan, her apprentices, her friends! "Russetpaw! Fuzzpaw! Sleepypaw!" Silverwing called for the her apprentices, and though she knew that Sleepypaw would be perfectly fine in Blazefang's care, she called for her anyway. It was pointless worrying about the warriors, Windclan was fast, too fast for twolegs to catch, they would all be fine she was sure.

Silverwing scanned the mess of cats and twolegs, looking for the familiar faces or pelts of the apprentices. Almost immediately her eyes snapped to a reddish brown cat. " Russetpaw!" She was moving before the words even left her mouth, her paws carrying her right up to the apprentice. At least one of them was safe. "Russetpaw are you okay?" No, there wasn't time for this right now, they had to escape! "Have you seen Sleepypaw or Fuzzpaw? We need to get out of here immediately!" At some point she had heard someone yelling about Highstones, that might be promising.

__

Stoatclaw wasn't going to disobey his deputy. As soon as the order was given, he had bolted for the forest, but something prevented him from leaving Fourtrees entirely. Stars, he was a warrior now, a warrior with an apprentice, securing Lightningpaw should have been his first priority! Turning back, Stoatclaw plunged into the writhing throng of cats and twolegs. He really didn't want to screw this one up, he had to show Birdchaser that despite his earlier faults, he could be a good warrior. Eyes met the apprentice's blonde tail, and Stoatclaw rushed toward her. "Lightningpaw, didn't you hear Birdchaser? We have to-" He froze, forgetting about the twolegs around him as a familiar voice roared above the chaos. Blackbear. She was here, and she was... Directing the apprentices? That didn't seem right at all, was she just leading them to their deaths as sneakily as possible?

__

Paws reached out, and cats were restrained in those odd cages. Sablestrike was forced to watch helplessly as Thalia and some of his other clanmates were trapped in those cages. As much as it pained him, he knew that it would be impossible to rescue them from their prisons, instead he would just have to try and help others evade capture. Nightstar's words rung in his head as the young warrior carried out his objective, clawing at twolegs that dared reach for any Shadowclan cat close enough to defend. It wasn't much, but in the moment it was all he could do to help his clan escape with minimal losses.

Silverwing has found Russetpaw and is asking about Fuzzpaw and Sleepypaw
Stoatclaw has joined Lightningpaw Creampaw and Blackbear

Relief- utmost relief flooded through Russetpaw at the sound of a welcome voice cutting through the hubbub. Silverwing. With a stifled sob, the red-pelted apprentice turned to her mentor, fighting the urge to bury her face in her silver pelt. She was safe. She was safe, and Russetpaw hadn’t abandoned her, and Sleepypaw hadn’t seemed angry at her disappearance… despite the chaos, Russetpaw felt much, much better. “Silverwing! Everyone’s okay- I just couldn’t leave you, again-“The cats she cared about? Were safe.

Silverwing asked where everyone was-

And then-

“Fleeing to Highstones! Blazefang and Sleepypaw and Fuzzpaw are headed there too!” Not- not a lie- she wasn’t sure if Blazefang and Sleepypaw were headed there yet, but that was certainly their destination, and as for Fuzzpaw…

…well…

It was just a teensy, tiny lie. If he got kidnapped, he’d be a happy fat kittypet. That was all that would happen- and Russetpaw would have Silverwing’s undivided attention once more!

Birdchaser leapt to meet her halfway, and Wolfblossom resisted the urge to laugh. If Birdchaser hadn't winced, if twolegs weren't yowling around them, she might've. But she'd found one of her siblings. That was good. Focus on that, not the fluttery, panicky feeling in her chest. Later, maybe, but now wasn't the time. Wolfblossom took in Birdchaser's words with a brisk nod. They were good at disappearing into the forest. They just needed to outwit the twolegs and hide long enough. If they had come to fourtrees, now there truly was no ground that was safe for any of them.

"I'll do what I can." She said softly, pressing against Birdchaser's fur for a moment. "I love you, sister. Be careful."

Dawnfeather's yowl rose above the noise. "Run! Hide! You won't be able to get me out- run! Please!" Wolfblossom felt ill. Dawnfeather had been nice. She was half a stranger still, but she liked the older she-cat who had shown up at the side of Beechfang and Fogfeather. They'd sparred together, and she was smart. She couldn't be-

But she was. Grim resolve making up her mind. She would get as many Skyclanners out of here as she could.

She spotted Creampaw, Blackbear and Lightningpaw just as Stoatclaw bounded up to them. All she caught was the tail end of Stoatclaw's words, but it was enough. She didn't care to know what else had been said. "Into the forest, you heard Birdchaser. We can't stay here." She called to them, continuing past in search of their other clanmates. "We have kits around too, we need to get them out of here! Don't waste time standing around." They all needed to leave, and leave quickly.

---

Stonekit pressed herself against Mistkit briefly, though she wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure herself or her sister. The voice of Skyclan's deputy rose above the crowd, telling them to run to the forest. Forest... Trees. Okay. The deputy's words spurred Stonekit's paws into moving. "Come on!" She mewed. She would get them both out of here, she would be brave. If the older cats were getting away, so could they.

Harechaser and Brackenwing have fled.
Wolfblossom has reinforced Birdchaser's order to Blackbear/Creampaw/Lightningpaw and Stoatclaw.
Stonekit is trying to be brave and escape with Mistkit.

Smallbean's was one of the first voices to cry out when the Twolegs arrived. The clans had been there for so long unbothered that he wasn't expecting anything to change. For some reason he'd begun to trust that the twolegs would keep their distance. It was foolish of him, why would the twolegs ever leave them alone. It was in a twolegs nature to ruin everything they looked at. A feeling of dread seeped into his conscience, he began recalling his time trapped with twolegs. If he could help it, he wasn't getting captured again. He wasn't going away again, he couldn't go away again.

As the adrenaline kicked in, tears welled in his eyes; not of sadness, but of panic. Jolting upwards, he slowly backed away, eyes wide as he stared up at the hulking figures of twolegs. They stomped though Fourtrees, yanking cats from their paws without care. Cats he knew were being taken. Cats he'd never met, too. It made him sick. His stomach turned. And the worst part was, he could do nothing about it. Not even the largest warrior could take down a Twoleg, and Smallbean was nowhere among them. All he could do was watch and listen as the yowls of terrified cats ripped through the Fourtrees air. Except, he could do something else. He could run. He had to run. He couldn't get captured. The deputy crashed through the underbrush around the clearing and fled without direction until he heard Shrikestar's voice ring through the trees. Highstones. He needed to get to Highstones. Everything would be fine if he got to Highstones.

Smallbean began to increase his pace out of fear that a Twoleg would follow. Sparing a final, terrified look behind him, he check for Twolegs. Instead, his eyes met the figure of a slow, awkwardly moving cat. He stood completely still, studying the figure for a moment before he recognized who it was. Brackenwing. Fighting every instinct to keep running, he turned back, running as fast as his paws would carry him. If Brackenwing ended up captured, he'd never forgive himself.

"Brackwing!" He called between heavy breaths. When he met the warrior, he took her side, trying his best to stand tall. He'd help despite the height difference. "B-Brackenwing, come on, lean on me, let's go!" He pleaded shakily, every ounce of terror he felt obvious in his voice. "We need to get to Highstones, I'll help you, we need to go, quickly."

---

Beetlekit jumped at the sudden approach of a warrior. They recognized her, but had never spoken to her. She was Shadowclan, though, she could be trusted. In all honesty, they were terrified, eager to take the help of any grown cat if it meant getting away from the twolegs. They'd have probably taken the help even if the cat who offered it wasn't Shadowclan.

"Okay." They responded, shakily. "Louse, come on, lets go. We're going to find mother." Hesitantly, Beetlekit peeked outside of the hollow, looking behind them before following after Harechaser. They stuck close to Lousekit. Wherever they ended up, they wanted Lousekit to be with them.

---

Astershine watched the scene in terror. Every cat who he'd dedicated time to learning about over the last few weeks were now fleeing in every direction, some being lifted by their scruff by twolegs and being taken. His mouth fell open as he watched the queen who he'd just met days earlier be pulled into a bramble cage.

Birdchaser's call rang out above the rest, calling for Skyclan to flee to the woods. As soon as he'd heard the call he began to move across the clearing, stopping and backing away when a twoleg crossed his path. "Stoatclaw!? Stoatclaw where are you!?" He called out, frantically searching for the tom. Luckily he found him almost immediately, standing with a group of cats.

"Stoatclaw, what are you doing? Lets go, we need to get out of here." He mewed, a sense of urgency prominent in his voice. "Skyclan is heading into forest, we need to go."

Smallbean is helping Brackenwing flee
Beetlekit is following Harechaser
Astershine has is trying to get Stoatclaw to flee

Shadepaw looked at her makeshift nest. It was comfy enough, constructed mostly with moss and grass but something was missing. There should be something else, something softer than moss. The apprentice sat back on her haunches and glared at the nest like it offended her. She couldn’t remember, something from before the trees, something that lined the nests in the real nursery, the one that just kept getting dimmer and dimmer in her memory. The dark she-cat shrugged and stretched out her legs, still gangly. It seemed every dawn they just kept getting longer.

And then the hesitant peace of four trees shattered.

A screeching unlike anything the young apprentice had heard before rumbled from the deep of the trees. It sounded like the sky was breaking. The clearing flooded with noise and yowling cats. Pelts brushed past her, streamed away into the bushes, scattered like thistle heads in the breeze and she stood with her pelt puffed up and legs frozen, eyes wide as saucers, and watched the world she knew descend into chaos. Something deep in her reared ugly and afraid, and she bolted like dark forest cats were on her tail. Her legs swallowed the ground, graceless, all haste and panic. She dodged moving tree trunks in bizarre colors and strange furless paws. The noise was meaningless, all a jumble of rocks that knocked around in her skull and made her want to crumple to the ground right there and never get up again.

She pressed her ears flat and kept moving. Openness! Her heart screamed. Somewhere she could just keep running until nothing reached for her. There were only trees and undergrowth and fear-scent. The apprentice stumbled into some bushes, the undergrowth grabbing harshly at her fur. She didn't know where she was, the putrid scent of fear and two-legs clouded any of the scent tangles she was familiar with.

Shadepaw almost tripped over him in her panic, but there is a cowering tabby tom-kit at her paws. She stared at him for one long moment, all small and curled tight around himself. It was all it took. “I’ll make sure we get away from this, don't worry.” And he really couldn’t be much younger than her, a few moons behind maybe, but she is tall and strong and older and she couldn’t leave him, not when everything was crumbling down around them.

Her head felt less like a landslide now that she had a goal, someone to protect. Her head snapped up. Echoings of highstones rung over the chaos. She didn't even know where the highstones were, but following most of the other cats seemed like a good place to start.

And there, in the midst of the chaos, sat a familiar boulder in the sea of fleeing cats, looking remarkably unbothered considering the circumstances. “Fuzzpaw!” She yowled. Kit, Clanmate, highstones. She would get out of this nightmare with claws and teeth if she had to. The she-cat reached down and hooked her teeth into the kit’s scruff, hauling him up with a grunt of effort. She was tall enough that he dangled clear of the ground, but he wasn’t exactly light either. Her neck and shoulders were going to hate her later.

With the kit clenched tightly in her jaws, Shadepaw bounded toward her Clanmate. She knocked a few shoulders and took a swipe at a reaching paw before all but slamming into Fuzzpaw’s flank in her haste, sides heaving and fur bristled out. Her heart slammed like a war hammer against her ribs, so loud and it quick it almost drowned out the rumble of the strange shimmering monsters descending on them like vultures. She was strong and fierce and would fight to her very last breath without a second thought, but she couldn’t help but press herself against her Clanmate, ears pinned flat to her head. It’s just so we don’t get separated. All around cats hissed and screamed and scattered. It felt like four trees was breaking apart at the seams. “Highstones!” She tried to yell, but it came out quiet and muffled around the mouthful of kitten swinging from her jaws. She flicked her tail towards the direction most of the other cats were fleeing, hoping he’d get the message.


Shadepaw has scooped up Frondkit and is trying to flee with Fuzzpaw

Blazefang inwardly groaned. Silverwing should be looking out for her apprentice, not the other way around! Frantically scanning the crowd, she finally spotted them both and ran over, knowing Sleepypaw would be safe with her father. “Silverwing! Russetpaw! There you are! Head for Highstones! And Silverwing, when we get there, I need to talk to you.”

Woolywing's ears were flat against his head, fur spiked in panic. All around him cats were swarming, clamouring to get out. His senses were muddled and his nostrils were full of fear-scent and the sickening smell of twolegs. His mind screamed at him to run as far as he could, but the voice was drowned out by another scream, one much more important- Stormdance's. He was calling for Rowanpaw in a tone of voice Woolywing had scarcely heard from the tom before. Panic. The sound came from outside the clearing, but it was far too close for the larger tom to be safe from the invaders. Woolywing set off in a run towards his voice, bumping into innumerable cats as he ran. More than once, a collision almost sent him sprawling to the ground. But he didn't let up, pushing on in a direction he could only hope was the right one.

He sniffed, hoping to find his mentor's familiar scent, but all he could smell was fear. Perhaps it was his own, he'd no time to find out. He stopped, though he knew it was a stupid thing to do. He'd sooner get captured than leave Stormdance to die. "Stormdance!" he yowled, hoping for a response. For a split second he heard nothing. Then, a moan of anguish. It was undoubtedly Stormdance's voice and Woolywing rushed to it, nearly colliding with his mentor head-on. "Stormdance, Stormdance can you hear me? Can you walk? We have to run. I'm not leaving without you, okay?" The older tom's despair was not lost on Woolywing. Rowanpaw must have been taken. But as much as his heart urged him to comfort Stormdance, he couldn't afford to.

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Lousekit opened their mouth to answer Beetlekit's question. Of course they didn't see where mother went! That's why they only woke Beetle up after! But before the kit could say as much, a ShadowClan warrior appeared next to them and answered for Lousekit. Beetlekit looked like they trusted her, and while Lousekit couldn't say the same there was hardly time to argue. "She's bigger than us, the Twolegs would've seen her! She must've run, she's waiting for us out there!" The small kit ran out of the clearing, only a hair's distance away from their twin.