AN//

I don't usually add author's notes to the beginning of chapters; I think it distracts from what you're about to read. However, I thought it was necessary for this. I'm very sorry I haven't updated in like...  six(?) months. I just had no motivation to do so. I'm not proud of this chapter, but you deserve at least SOMETHING. Again,,, sorry. I recommend rereading the previous chapter to remember what's going on if it's been a while since you last read. Sorry. I added a realistic Lightspark above for all your troubles. On with the story.

-tea

"Ready to go?" Smokeflood glanced over her shoulder. Lightspark stood at the entrance to the medicine den, watching her carefully. She looked up to Laurelstep, who she had been visiting, and meowed a goodbye. Her former fighting trainer was still healing, and today, two days after the battle, he was itching to move around again.

"Is he your friend?" Laurelstep asked as she stood up. The stark white tom craned his neck to watch her. Smokeflood thought a moment before her flicking her ear.

"Eh. He's supposed to teach me some fighting moves." She half-lied. While he was supposed to teach her fighting moves that were unknown to RiverClan's finest, she was actually leaving for a border patrol. Laurelstep would probably freak if he knew I was leaving to fight ThunderClan on a border patrol.

"Maahh, am I not a good enough trainer?" He joked, purring. His eyes, pale lilacy-blue and seemingly filled with all of the stars, half-closed as he smiled.

"Nope," she sassed, a teasing light in her eye, making his rumbling purr deepen in laughter. "I'll see you later," she left to take her place at Lightspark's side.

"Did you get strengthening herbs?" He asked, golden eyes focused.

She nodded, and cast a look back to her clanmates. Laurelstep had started grooming his fur, and attempted to secretly scratch at his healing wounds. Rainstep, the ShadowClan medicine cat, noticed, however, and sharply chastised him. Kestrelkit was sitting by himself, still in the same place his mother had once lay. Honeybreeze's body had been moved at dawn to be buried, and all the while Kestrelkit had cried. Pearlfrost watched the kit from his nest while Collieheart spoke to him, the deputy only half-listening to his fellow ice warrior. Smokeflood caught Kiwipaw's eye, and she waved her silver tail in a bright greeting. Other warriors were slowly trying to pick themselves back up, but many were still down. One now was missing an eye and groaned in agony, another had their leg torn clean off by either earth or tree roots, and was half-dead in their nest.

"So, you ready to go?"

She hardened her jaw and padded past him.

"Let's go."

The patrol was already gathered by the fallen pine entrance to camp, energy coursing through them. She recognized most all of them, which surprised her. Coalpelt was most memorable; the black tom had been the one to help Flurrypaw.

"Aye, Smokeflood! Good t'see yer comin'!" He purred. She blinked in response. The second tom on the patrol she couldn't remember the name of, but he had been there on the night she had run to ShadowClan to get help.

"I remember you! I'm Smolderlion, remember me?" The tom grinned. His body was creamy white, but pointed in dark sepia marks on his face, legs, and tail. His fur was longer, especially around his neck, and his eyes, an odd but beautiful bright sapphire blue, strikingly stood out on his masked face.

"Yeah, a bit." She replied. The other she-cat was unknown to her. She was of average build, with sharp ears that were almost too big for her. Her eyes were round and a warm amber color. Her fur, short and neatly kept, was the color of dusk: a nice, solid dark gray.

"Darkblaze." She greeted, dipping her head. Smokeflood watched the movement and flicked her ear in acknowledgement.

"About to leave, I see?" The RiverClan warrior glanced over her shoulder as ShadowClan's deputy approached. The small light brown tabby waved his tail in greeting. "Make sure you only attack if there is a high chance of victory," he continued. Lightspark gave a firm nod. "Also, try and get some intel before and during battle, too. We're going to save what's left of RiverClan's tail, and this is the first step." His eyes held a sharpness, something almost akin to a fox's gaze. Lightspark raised his tail, readying the patrol to leave.

"Don't leave without me!!" StarClan how many interruptions are we going to have I just want to shred some— oh jeez. No way. No way.

"No way...," She grumbled, glaring as a dark tortoiseshell trot over. Of course. Ferntail's apprentice, Slatepaw. "You put an apprentice on the patrol?" She muttered to Lightspark. His eyes were narrowed slightly as he shook his head.

"You're coming? Does your mentor know about this?" He was careful not to mention that he knew her mentor was Ferntail.

Slatepaw nodded firmly.

"Yeah. Ferntail said I could come."

"And what will you bring to this patrol? I'm not interested in kit-sitting." The silver tom meowed.

Slatepaw seemed to waiver slightly at this, Smokeflood wasn't sure why, but the apprentice continued on.

"I can hold my own in battle; I'm nearly a warrior. I even know the secret smoldering ashes technique among other moves." Lightspark seemed to consider this, and looked over his patrol. Smolderlion gave a bright nod of approval for Slatepaw. Smoldering ashes technique? I wonder what that is. I'm pretty sure the fire element is a lot more versatile in offense compared to water. Though, water has a bit of defensive measure, compared to the purely offensive fire. The silver patrol leader finally blinked in affirmation.

"Alright. We could use another fire elemental. You know what you're getting into, though," he warned darkly, before leading the way out of camp. I suppose I'll have to rely on the little guppy since I'll have to fight tail-to-tail with her. They padded on trough the golden-touched pine forest, sunhigh light failing to warm the growing chill in the air. Smokeflood didn't mind to much; at times like these she was grateful for her thick coat.

"Can't wait to crush those mud-slinging earth clumps!" Coalpelt meowed with a fiery grin. Smolderlion fed off the energy with an excited jump.

"I bet they won't see us coming, either!" He was much larger than his under-sized, scruffy, black furred counterpart due to his long legs. "We'll just come in and bam!" Smokeflood blinked, watching her black paws as she walked.

"Are you ready..?" She looked over to the casual mew. Slatepaw had come to her side and had spoken.

"Of course I'm ready." Smokeflood half-growled, looking away.

"StarClan, calm down...," the smaller she-cat curled her lip.

"Weren't you the one who went out of their way to fight me?" The RiverClan warrior reminded sharply. Slatepaw's dull blue eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yeah? And what's wrong with that?" She meowed smartly, tipping her nose up. Smokeflood scoffed but kept her eyes ahead.

"Since you were to quick to fight, I figured it best to not polite to you," she meowed with a sickeningly sweet tone. The apprentice didn't seem to like this, as she dropped to the back of the patrol. The mottled gray water elemental blinked slowly, but dropped her gaze to the ground. I've felt so lost lately. I hate it. It's like I have don't have steady footing. Like at any given moment, I could slip right off the edge and fall without anything to catch me. It's frustrating, but I don't know how to fix it. Being sharp with Slatepaw and others helps-- no matter how awful it sounds. It helps steady me, but only for a moment.

The patrol eased down a steep ridge, then crossed a small creek, they cut through a clearing, and finally followed a well-trodden and narrow path lined with ferns. This leg of the walk to the edge of the massive territory was the longest, and by the time the scent of ThunderClan was becoming more and more prominent in the air, their shadows had grown long. The earthy, bloody scent of ThunderClan.

"Keep your eyes open." Lightspark spoke for the first time since leaving. "Darkblaze...," he started, but the black she-cat flicked her ear in acknowledgment before he even finished saying her name.

"I'm already ready." This must be her shadow ability..! Smokeflood picked up the pace so she was at Lightspark's side.

"So are we just going to go in and fight?" She meowed quietly. He glanced at her from the corner of his electric golden eyes before he raised his tail and halted the patrol.

"This pertains to everyone, so I'll stop us now while we're still are in a moderately safe zone. While Darkblaze and Smolderlion probably already know how these things work, Slatepaw and Smokeflood, and maybe Coalpelt as well, don't. Darkblaze is a shadow elemental, as we all know," the cats had circled around him, sitting down to listen. "She'll be able to cloak our presence until the time is right. We'll be completely undetected until we go in and attack. From there, we'll have to fight with all of our strength, don't hold back. If we have the opportunity, I'd like to get a hold of one warrior to gather information, but in case that doesn't happen, try to collect as much info from your opponents. In the heat of battle, cats tend to have loose tongues. Make sure you don't corner Darkblaze and I on the same side of the battlefield; my element tends to work against hers." He gave a side-smile, and she smirked.

"Aye, let's get started then!" Coalpelt showed his teeth, eyes glimmering with energy. Lightspark blinked, then shifted his attention to the border.

"If there are no other questions, then, we should get going," he led the way again, and the patrol fell in step behind him. Suddenly, a cool prescence raised the fur along her spine, and she whipped her head to see what it was. Black, foggy shadows drifted around, shrouding the patrol and completely canceling the sound of their pawsteps. "Don't talk from now on, Darkblaze can't mask speech like she can mask pawsteps. Her element works like an illusion, any opposing cat will merely see a dark forest." Lightspark sounded in her ear. She looked out the corner of her eyes to look at him, his eyes dark and serious. He blinked, then picked up his pace enough so that he was still next to her but not right at her side.

They stopped once they reached the ravine that marked the border, and carefully climbed down the steep valley. While the distance from one side to the other of the ravine was just barely jump-able for any solid warrior, Darkblaze had warned against it as her shadow's hold would weaken.The bottom was a gentle creek, deep enough to come to their shoulders, so the patrol carefully used partially-submerged stones as a bridge. They then trudged up the opposite side, slick with moist earth and moss. Smokeflood stopped to give the short legged Coalpelt a helping boost as he scrambled up the side, and Smolderlion helped him up the rest of the way. She didn't bother to help Slatepaw, though, rather the RiverClan warrior made her way up after Coalpelt and then watched the dark tortoiseshell struggle to get from one muddy landing to the next. If you can't take the heat get out of the fire. The apprentice made it up though, giving Smokeflood a disdainful glare as she passed.

Darkblaze took the lead then, finding a suitable place to hunker down along the ravine. Plumes of shadow washed over the cats, who kept low to the ground. Anxiety prickled at Smokeflood's paws, and a twisting feeling wrung at her stomach. A gentle presence touched her flank, and she glanced up to see the soft blue eyes of Smolderlion, and just behind the leggy fire tom was a firm, reassuring look from Lightspark.

It took longer than Smokeflood thought it would, but finally a ThunderClan patrol did come around. The feeling of heavy pawsteps echoed through the earth, making the young warrior's fur stand on end. She forced her breathing to steady, her eyes narrowing. As they came into view, she found it harder to contain the seething hatred. A patrol of six that was stacked with heavily built and scarred warriors, all boasting fresh minor wounds. New nicks in the ear, a fresh muzzle scar. Her pelt warmed with anger, and she grit her teeth. Give us the command, Lightspark. Let's go now! I'm ready to tear them apart-- THEY KILLED MOST EVERYONE I KNOW.

But Lightspark did not call them on. He didn't motion to attack. His face was usually unreadable, but in the dark half-light of the shadows, she could somehow see the doubtfulness in his golden eyes. He thinks we can't do it.We we instructed to only fight if we will surely win, and he thinks we can't do it. That must be why he isn't motioning for us to fight. She bared her teeth, and he only had time to shake his head. The patrol was passing them, they were getting away. Her eyes followed them. No way. They're not getting away with killing my Clan. I won't let them! She unsheathed her claws, muscles tensing, and she leaped out of the shadows as Lightspark moved to hold her back. She skid out into the path, the patrol's back to her.

Dust clouded in her wake, the shift in the earth and the new presence alerting the ThunderClan cats. As they started to turn though, all she could feel was rage. Pure and utter rage. Hatred for what they had done, who they were. The water from the ravine came to her without her even needing to physically call it, the cool liquid forming a tall, tall wall ready to crash down any moment. Lightspark was at her side the moment the water came.

"You ember-head!" Was all he hissed. He raised his tail though, and as she directed the water to smash down on the ThunderClan patrol, their own ShadowClan patrol sprung out of the shadows to come to back them up. Smolderlion and Slatepaw fanned out, Coalpelt staying just behind with Darkblaze.

"You're all a bunch of 'ember-heads.'" Smokeflood curled her lip as a ThunderClan cat spoke, mocking the phrase. The cats had put up a defensive wall to keep from being smacked down with the water, but still had been washed several tail-lengths back. The leader of their patrol, a deep gold tabby she-cat that lacked a tail, dragged themselves from the water, amber eyes set. "We knew you guys would try and attack a patrol at some point."

"Probably the only intelligent conclusion you guys have come to," Lightspark mused. His fur slowly stood on end, though the cause was solely from static.

The bobtailed ThunderClan she-cat curled her lip in annoyance, but unsheathed her claws.

"All right, smart-mouth, I'll take you." Wood began splintering up at her paws as she challenged him. Lightspark shrugged, but leaped forward without without warning signalling for the other ShadowClan cats to do so as well. Smokeflood charged ahead without second thought, slamming right into a large white tom. He has long, thick fur, and strangely looked similar to her own clanmate Laurelstep: his fur was similarly stark white and eyes also were an eerie pinkish-blue. She didn't have time to dwell on it though, as a large earthen wall was being pushed up from the ground by the bulky tom's earth power.

      The ground beneath her was swept out from under her paws, but she managed to jump off of the group that was being ripped up in time. She tumbled to solid ground, quickly rolling back to her paws. As soon as she had done that though, heavy clods of muddy earth were launched at her front the white tom, knocking her back down. When I brought down that wave, I completely changed the earth. It's heavy with water, and it's having even more power behind it because of the water in the earth they pick up. The wind was knocked out of her as a heavy chunk of wet ground smashed into her. The white tom let out a surprised laugh. Smokeflood swallowed thickly and got back to her paws, already feeling a bruise start to form along her right side.

      The glow of fire warmed her back as Smolderlion let out a swirl of flames from his claws, only to be deflected by an earthen wall. The other two fire elements cats ran into a similar problem: their fire could not penetrate the earth. For some reason, they refused to just torch the whole area, but she figured that might not be such a bad thing: she herself didn't want to burn down with the ThunderClan cats. Lightspark was at Slatepaw's side; his opponent laying off to the side incapacitated from electrocution. His lightning didn't seem to be able to have any effect on earth though. I guess that makes sense, when there are lightning storms, we go to underground dens instead of staying by the water. The lightning doesn't effect the earth. But this earth is becoming a problem for us, I think I'm the only one who's element can do any real damage to it.

      A sly grin touched her muzzle as she evaded a round of earth pellets. I've never done something like this, and it'll probably take a lot of energy but.... She ducked behind a cover of rocks, closing her eyes.

      "Lightspark, cover me!" She hollered. The silvery tom's golden eyes flashed to meet hers, and immediately he was there to distract the white tom. Here it goes!

      Smokeflood planted her paws firmly on the ground, closing her eyes. Come on, water. I know I'm going to ask a lot of you, but come on! I need you, and I need you right now! She could feel the flow through her veins, responding to her call. It did not hesitate, it did not falter. She heard a cry of pain from a fighting cat, but kept going. It pooled at her paws slowly before quickly amassing, and she raised her head with gritted teeth to raise the liquid high in the sky. Quickly it became apparent to the others what was happening: all of the water was being pulled from the earth. The whole strip of land they had been fighting in. The soil, which had once been dark with heavy moisture, was now dusty golden, and fell apart as the ThunderClan earth cats tried to use it.

       She grinned. The disruption gave enough time for the others to get in shots without being blocked by earth. As flame-covered claws slashed at the ThunderClan cats, loud cries of pain echoed through the forest: the fire instantly cauterizing the wounds with searing pain. Smokeflood felt her legs grow weak from the weight of the mass of water above her head. I can't hold it up anymore--! She unsheathed her claws, digging them into the dusty earth. The mass of water seemed to shatter; breaking apart into a torrid downfall of water. The heat of the flames went out, and Slatepaw screeched in annoyance before continuing the onslaught with sharp claws. Smokeflood let out a small purr of satisfaction. The ThunderClan cats were still reeling from the sudden drought, and the pummeling only worsened it. 

      With the water still pelting down, she staggered out from behind the rock, water sloshing with each step. She was confused at what she didn't see: Lightspark fighting it out with the white ThunderClan tom. Her eyes widened as she saw a lump of silvery gray fur.

      "Lightspark..?!" She dashed to his side. His breathing was shallow, and his body was battered. Blood ran from a wound above his closed eyes, pluming out like clouds into the water that hadn't managed to seep into the dry ground. "Lightspark, can you hear me? Hey!" His eyes cracked open finally, and he swallowed. His breathing picked up suddenly, pupils slitting. 

      "Behind you--!" He gasped out. She whipped around to a looming shadow of the white tom, just in time to be hit with a heavy paw. She slammed into the ground next to Lightspark, splashing into the water. Before he could pin her, she rolled over, the water responding and shooting up in narrow, piercing streams. The white tom yipped in pain, jumping back. His eyes were narrowed. 

      "What did you do to the earth?! You hurt it! I'll kill you, you little river rat!" He snarled, and charged forward. Smokeflood stood her ground: if she were to dodge, he would trample Lightspark. Bringing her paws up, she met him with open claws. He crashed right into her, bringing her down. There was a flash of silver, and a cry of pain. The white tom's weight was off of her.A  warm drop of blood landed on her face from above. Her hazel eyes blinked in shock. Lightspark's yellow-gold gaze looked down on her from where he stood above, lightning sparks crackling at his jaws in the half-light. He panted heavily, but he had a weak smile. 

      "I can't let you die," he panted, "Deerskip would be so mad at... me...." And then the great lightning ShadowClan tom collapsed at her side.

AN//

Okay I know I had an AN at the beginning but here's another one haha. Since it's been six months, I need to know some things from you guys:

1. what do you want to see more of (besides updates lmao)

2. if you changed your username and need me to fix it the allegiances (if you own a character, that is)

ALSO I didn't really check this for errors since I was like "bruh they've waited long enough and I'm lazy af" so yeeeah probably might be a few mistakes but I don't think it's a big deal~