This one`s for BlueViolets87. Happy Birthday!
She writes Warriors stories like this, only exponentially better. She`s also written inspirational and touching Victorious one-shots too. You should totally check her out, and leave her a wonderful birthday message while your at it!
The rapid river is a curse and a blessing, a great but terrible thing. It`s the foundation of Riverclan life. It provides food and protection from the other clans, but it can sweep an inattentive kit away in an instant, and even some strong swimmers feared it at its most wild.
Mistyfoot was terrified of it as a kit. The white cascades reminded her of glinting teeth. As she got older, she convinced herself it was an irrational fear. When she was an apprentice, she concurred the strongest currents to prove to Stonefur she wasn't a fraidy-cat. Deep down though, she couldn't suppress that instinct to fear it. It was a good thing that she was good at pretending.
But even the Riverclan deputy couldn`t suppress her surprise when she saw a strange stripped tabby cat struggling to stay afloat in the rapids while she was patrolling the border.
Without hesitation, she plunged in, swimming as hard as she could to the cat. She dragged the cat to shore, nearly drowning under the strain of lifting both of them to land.
Both cats coughed up water and struggled to regain their breath as they surveyed each other.
"What clan do you belong to?"
"Clan? I`m not a part of any 'clan'." The cat said, flicking water off himself.
"So you`re rouge? Kittypet?"
"What does that even mean?"
Mistyfoot hesitated. "Why were you in the river? Are you aware you`re trespassing on Riverclan territory?"
"I fell in. I`m only on 'Riverclan Territory' because you dragged me here. Thanks for that, by the way. What`s Riverclan?"
"Riverclan is a clan of cats that lives on this side of the river. They`re like my family. I`m the deputy." Mistyfoot said proudly. "The river is our territory too, so don`t go jumping in again."
"I wouldn`t dare." The cat said. "What`s your name?"
"Mistyfoot. What about you?"
"Kale."
"Oh, so you`re a kittypet."
"What`s that?"
"Kittypet`s live with Twolegs, the tall, loud creatures."
"How could you tell I was one?"
"You`re name. Kale." The name sounded different when she said it. "Only a Twoleg would name a cat that. Your name would be different if you were a clan cat, and tougher if you were a rogue."
"Humph. Well, Missyfoot-"
"Mistyfoot." She cut in.
"Missyfoot, how about showing me around this Riverclan?" he said.
"I can`t. You`re not allowed."
"But you`re deputy!"
"And I wouldn`t be if I brought you to camp. They don`t like kittypets."
"Well, I wouldn`t want to get you in trouble after you just saved my life."
Mistyfoot looked back towards camp. "You should go."
"Can you help me with…" Kale looked pointedly at the river.
"Sure." The pair walked back to the river.
"How are we gonna do this?"
"Um, we`ll jump in and I`ll drag you across, I guess."
"Alright then. Jump together?"
Mistyfoot looked at the river and felt the tug of fear in her gut. "Okay."
"Ready…Go!" The two cats
As soon as she touched the water, Mistyfoot paddled with all her strength towards Kale, who was helplessly being hauled along by the current. Mistyfoot quickly caught up to him and towed him to the far bank. Technically, it was Windclan land, but there were no other cats in sight, so it was alright.
"Thanks again for saving my life, Missyfoot. If you even need anything, I live just over there." He nodded towards a Twoleg place off in the distance. "I won`t forget this."
"Don`t fall into any more rivers, you might not be so lucky next time. Most clan cats aren`t like me"
"Oh, I can tell. See you around."
"Hopefully not, for your sake."
"I don`t know, this was fun."
Mistyfoot smiled and dove back into the river and paddled back to Riverclan territory. When she looked back, Kale was gone.
The river was high; almost flooding the banks, like it always was after the rainy season. Mistyfoot was out fishing with Silverstream, and the pair had taken a break and sat down with their pile of fresh fish. They were farther down the river than usual today.
"Crookedstar will be pl-" Silverstream was cut off by a Windclan cat running up.
"Riverclan!" He growled belligerently.
Mistyfoot suddenly became aware of what side of the river they must be on.
"Oh no." Silverstream said, looking to Mistyfoot. "This is a big misunderstanding-"
"You`re in our territory, there`s no misunderstanding." The cat pounced at Mistyfoot, who slashed him in the ear.
"Go get help!" Mistyfoot yowled as two Windclan she-cats emerged from the brush.
Silverstream hurried back across the river and off to get reinforcements.
"This`ll be easy." One of the she-cats said. The other pounced and rolled her over, almost pinning her down, but Mistyfoot clawed the Windclan cat in the face until she yowled in pain and let go.
Mistyfoot got back up and got in a fighting stance. Silverstream had better come soon, because Mistyfoot couldn`t hold out forever.
Suddenly, something darted out and Mistyfoot felt herself falling backwards and then suddenly crashed into the water. She was frozen from the shock of hitting the water, and felt herself being dragged down, farther and farther into the wet abyss. It was like she`d always feared. She was helplessly frozen, drowning. She almost didn't see the other shape break down from the surface seconds after her.
Her instincts finally kicked in. Mistyfoot kicked and paddled her way to the surface and grabbed the other cat and dragged it to land (the Riverclan side) with her.
"Kale?" She said, recognizing the lump of fur who`d pushed her in.
He coughed. "You`re welcome, Missyfoot."
"You almost killed yourself again!"
"Well, I had to get you out of there. Those cats didn`t look friendly."
"That was incredibly stupid, but brave."
"I owe you one, remember?"
Mistyfoot remembered Silverstream. "You`ve got to get outta here. My friend is coming with reinforcements."
"Well, good luck."
"Where are you going?"
"Down the river a bit, there`s a Twoleg bridge down there I found recently." Kale gestured down the river out of Riverclan territory. "See you around, Missyfoot?"
"Maybe." Mistyfoot smiled.
Kale ran off down the river.
Mistyfoot ran back up to where the Windclan cats were still picking at her and Silverstream`s fish across the river.
Silverstream, Stonefur, and a few other Riverclan cats ran up just as Mistyfoot was about to dive in.
"Did I miss anything good?"
"Nothing much."
"Let`s get `em." Stonefur yowled.
The cats dove into the river. This time, Mistyfoot wasn`t afraid.