Rain.

      Darkness.

      Mud covered her vision.

      Darkness.

      Lightspark breathed laboriously as he dragged her along.

      Darkness.

      "Ferntail, watch over her," he mowed gruffly.

      Smokeflood let out a small whimper of pain, closing her eyes, darkness enveloping her once again as Ferntail's narrow face came into view.

      When she opened her eyes again, her head felt much clearer. The rain had slowed from perpetual sheets of hard-falling rain to a gentle but still vigorous fall. Ferntail was sitting in front of her, his back to her, and a low-hanging pine branch protecting them. Across a stretch of grass under a neighboring pine was Rainstep the medicine cat. Rather than Flurrypaw in his care, though, a stark white tom lay, his underbelly stained a sickening red. Wait a moment.. that's...!

      "Wha-- Laurelstep..?" Smokeflood picked her head up, and Ferntail turned.

      "Oh, glad to see you're awake! Yeah, a few other cats have fled the battle this way. Laurelstep came in with Thymeclaw, Collieheart, Leopardnose, Kiwipaw, aaand... what was his name...? Oh! Kalepaw."

"Just them? Anyone else come through?"

Ferntail shook his head.

"Not yet. Thymeclaw went with Smolderlion and Coalpelt to drop Flurrypaw and Olivestripe off at ShadowClan camp. Murkyripple decided they should go take shelter at camp, since they're wounded. Cherrystar would never cast out injured rival cats, especially once she hears of the circumstances," he filled her in, settling down. He twitched his nose in annoyance, though, as a raindrop plopped down from the pine's nettles to between his eyes.

"Oh. How long was I...?"

"Not too long. Actually a little long. Kinda long. A while. You've been out for a while," he gave a sheepish grin, standing and turning to look her over. "Can you stand? Sometimes when Lightspark shocks a cat they have trouble with—" Smokeflood forced herself to her paws, gritting her teen through the pain. Her legs ached and paws protested, and every wound on her body was shot with pain. She could feel the off-balance effects from her poisoning, and her legs wobbled a bit. She lay back down before she could fall, looking up to the light red-brown tabby.

      "I've never heard of a lightning element," she whispered. Ferntail's face lit up and he nodded.

      "Yeah, Lightspark is the only lightning element cat in the clan! His mother, mother's brother, and grandfather were all lightning elements, too."

      "...Oh," she connected the dots that they all had to be dead or missing for Lightspark to be the only one. "That's.. unfortunate."

      "Yeah, definately. He's really strong, at least that's what I think." Ferntail closed his eyes and let out a purr. The cats were all gathered at the ThunderClan/RiverClan border, sheltering under the pines and oaks that edged both sides. The river that marked the border crashed loudly, but the root bridges created by wood elemental ThunderClan cats earlier eliminated the ruthless obstacle.

ShadowClan's Rainstep sighed loudly as he applied cobwebs to a whimpering Laurelstep. Thymeclaw stood by protectively, but was held back from getting in the way by ShadowClan warrior Smolderlion, both seemingly unaware of just not caring about the rain that attacked them. Kiwipaw was also taking shelter by Leopardnose and a wounded Collieheart under a birch, to the left, her sniffles barely audible as she got under Leopardnose's paw. The oddly spotted medicine cat growled lowly to her to move and get cobwebs, but she just let out a louder whine. Lightspark sat vigil in the rain, looking out across RiverClan's territory.

Kalepaw was staring blankly at Smokeflood, cobwebs thickly bound to his chest and hindquarters.

"Kalepaw...?" She whispered. Where's Eelpaw? Why would he leave battle without her? She felt sick to her stomach. No way. There's no way Eelpaw's dead—

"Oh hey! More cats are coming." Ferntail stood, looking out across to the horizon. Lightspark was already on his paws, eyes carefully scanning. This must be where it gets tricky. It's too dark to really see if it's a RiverClan cat or a ThunderClan cat, and the rain is too heavy to scent them too. For some shoddy medical post like this, we're all practically mice in an open field, praying that a hawk doesn't come. Smokeflood pushed herself onto her paws, shakily making her way across the stretch of land to Lightspark.

"Can you tell if they're your clanmates?" He growled, squinting as he tried to make out defining RiverClan features. Smokeflood hummed, trying to tell if the running cats were in deed friends. She pricked her ears.

"No need, they're being chased. That's why they're running. Look, cats are chasing them." Smokeflood started padding forward, more dark shapes on the horizon as they raced after the oncoming group.

"No way RiverClan would abandon the battle to chase down runaways, only abandon battle if they're about to die." Lightspark grunted, starting off at a run. "Stay back. Get your clanmates to safety. I'll chase off ThunderClan." He's a lightning elemental cat. He has powers I've never even heard of, unknown limits. Who knows; he could be able to blast them all out of their pelts with no effort. Smokeflood didn't nod in agreement, but did as he told anyway.

      The approaching cats were led by Rosepaw, Kestrelkit firmly clutched in his jaws, followed by the ginger kit's mother, Honeybreeze. Nightfreeze led the back of the patrol, his run slowed as he shot ice behind him to slow the pursuers, as a limping Finchleap was struggling at his side.

      Lightspark charged past them without hesitation, and Smokeflood stopped at the patrol's side. Electricity sparked around his body, the air humming as light crackled around his long, thick fur.

      "What in StarClan's name—!" Nightfreeze gasped as he watched the strange element. "Is that lightning?!"

       The ThunderClan cats put up an earth blockade before a long range shock could shoot them, and returned with their own volley of earth clods. It's no use. ThunderClan earth cats have solid defense, Lightspark can't get around their defense. I have to help.

      Smokeflood charged forward, feeling the off-balance sickness rock her. She could feel herself start to topple. No. Not yet—! I have to—! She unsheathed her claws, hindquarters slipping out from under her. Before she could fall though, she smacked her paw against the muddy ground, the rain coming to her summon. Though she couldn't quite get the water to collect and spray down in a high pressure, the rain did come together before hitting the earth, sloshing up in a wave, and swooping down on the earth cats.

      Their defense had no chance of stopping the  oncoming tide. It's a such weak wave though, it'll only slow them, no way it could possibly stop them altogether. In a blur, though, a flash of silver fur bounded in front of her. As the tendrils of the wave went to swoop down on ThunderClan warriors, the blur, which could only be Lightspark, reached out a sparking claw in a massive jump, a hum filling the air. The wave immediately was alive with sparks of electricity, and as he landed on the ground with all four paws, head down and eyes wide with what Smokeflood could only describe as exhilaration, the ThunderClan cats cried out in pain as they were met with fiery shocks.

      When the wave completely hit the ground, the electricity dissipated, and the ThunderClan cats collapsed to the ground. Smokeflood looked up to Lightspark, who was standing with shoulderblades sharp and his head low. Is he... happy? Is he thinking?

"We need to get you and the rest of your clanmates back to ShadowClan camp, it's not safe," he stood straight, picking his head up. His eyes were alight with a fire, and static still sparked down his pelt, making it stand on end.

      "You're insane. How are you the way that you are? How can you dole that out and keep going? You just took down a whole patrol!" Lightspark blinked.

      "I only took advantage of your move. All I did was add a little spark to it. That was a pretty big wave, too, I think you're a lot more powerful when you're not dead on your paws." He have her a prod as he padded back. She struggled to her paws, looking out he tree-length distance to where they had all been sheltering. Everyone was watching with varying expressions, most being summed up in one word: shock.

      "But how are you... so okay with it?" Smokeflood took big steps to catch up with the smaller tom. He thought a moment, returning to Ferntail's side.

      "We've gotta go, now. Back to ShadowClan camp," Lightspark called out to the cats. They nodded awkwardly, helping each other up and supporting each other as they began the trek. "My clan has always had high expectations for me. So I've always been training. I guess over time I've grown... fine with it." He flicked his tail in the direction of the motionless electrocuted warriors.

      Smokeflood narrowed her eyes. There's no way that's the whole truth. There's no way— when I fought for He first time, and actually fought, I came out hating it.

      "Smokeflood, go help Kalepaw." Murkyripple called from the front of the traveling group. The dark shaded she-cat glanced over her shoulder. Kalepaw was lagging behind, refusing the help of Collieheart. Smokeflood grimaced, turning and coming to the side of the brown tabby.

      "I don't care if you want help or not, you're slowing us all down," she growled as she strode over. The tabby looked up at her, stopping in his tracks. He dropped his head, breathing heavily.

      "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry— you would've been able to protect everyone. You would've... you could've saved Eelpaw." Smokeflood choked on her breath at his words.

     "No, I know you... you must've fought as hard as you could to protect her."

      "I couldn't. I couldn't even get to her. They pulled her aside as one of the prisoners; she's stuck there. I couldn't get to her, I couldn't save her. I'm so sorry, she's stuck in ThunderClan's grasp, and it's all my fault!" He pinned his ears back, bowing his head forcefully. "I'm so sorry, Smokepaw!" She touched her nose to his ear, not wanting to correct him.

"It's...," she sighed, "it's alright. Come on, we're falling behind." He leaned into her shoulder, and they both stiffly crossed the border.

//
An

Plus ultra bitches it's been a day since my last update. Grind don't stop.

I don't know if you caught it, but in chapter nine, Wildpaw had said ThunderClan cast some cats aside when Pearstar arrived before they started actually murdering everyone.

You may be thinking "my RiverClan cat wasn't mentioned, are they dead??!" Maybe. Maybe not.