Chapter Twelve

Rain fell heavily through the canopy of leaves. Lightning illuminated the sky, and a crack of thunder followed shortly after. Skypaw groaned as she looked up. It had been raining for most of the night, though it was mostly a drizzle. Of course it would start pouring the moment she woke up.

"My nest is getting wet!" Flightpaw complained when the thunder startled her awake.

"Get over it," Shadowpaw grumbled, hiding his face with his wings.

Skypaw couldn't help but smirk at Flightpaw's crestfallen look. Shadowpaw was always grumpy in the morning. It wouldn't be long before he lightened up and hopefully apologized.

"Maybe we can find where the water's getting through on the den," she suggested helpfully. Flightpaw's eyes lit up at the prospect of doing something, and she got out of her nest in a heartbeat.

Skypaw followed suit and jumped onto the lowest branch she could find. From here she could see that the camp was drenched. The fresh-kill pile had to be moved during the night into a drier location. No one even bothered going out at this point. Skypaw had already learned that most WingClan cats stayed in camp during rainstorms; it was too dangerous to fly in strong winds and when it was thunder and lightning outside.

"Can you see anything?" asked Flightpaw.

She tried peering at the roof of the den, using her hind legs to gain more height. The rain made their wings feel heavier than usual, and Skypaw hated that. But she tried to ignore it and follow Flightpaw's questioning gaze.

"It looks like…. There's a hole here," replied Skypaw after noticing that one of the patches of moss was torn. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she tried figuring out how that would have happened. Than she noticed that the lowest branch had a piece of moss clinging to it. "This must have caused the moss to rip," she murmured as she tried prying the branch away from the den.

Flightpaw immediately leaped forward to help her. Their commotion had caused a few cats to peer outside the warrior's den and watch. Skypaw's fur flushed with unease as she managed to grab the branch with her teeth and pull it away. Finally they managed to bend the branch in a way so that the tip wouldn't tear away at the roof any longer.

"We did it!" exclaimed Flightpaw with an excited skip.

"Thanks for the help, I appreciate it," Skypaw purred when she landed on the ground. "We should see about fixing that patch though; there might be moss outside of camp if we can find it."

The younger apprentice nodded in agreement. Before they got any further though, they were stopped by Leafstorm and Lightbreeze. For a moment Skypaw was afraid they had done something wrong, until Leafstorm's eyes lit up with amusement.

"You two work well together," meowed Lightbreeze.

Skypaw stared at the older she-cat in disbelief. It was rare to receive a compliment from Lightbreeze. Like Ashwhisker she was tough on her apprentices. From time to time though Skypaw could see that she was gentle towards Flightpaw, whose eyes were now glowing with pride.

"Does this mean we get to become warriors?" asked Flightpaw; her voice was full of eagerness as she stared at her mentor hopefully.

"No, of course not," Leafstorm snapped. "But it does mean you are one step closer to becoming warriors." She paused and looked back at Skypaw, who was studying her paws warily. "Let's go and see if we can find that moss you were talking about," she added.

The two apprentices looked at their mentors in surprise before nodding vigorously. Anything to get out of camp on a boring day like this. The rain had made it impossible for any of them to do any battle training. So for now keeping themselves busy was the second best thing.

"Leafstorm, what happens if the streams around us get too swollen?" Skypaw asked when they passed a stream that already looked overflowed. Leafstorm followed her gaze and flicked her tail.

"We usually don't have to worry about—" She was cut off by a massive clap of thunder that shook the entire forest, causing all of them to jump in terror. "—that," she finished, her eyes widening out of fear.

They padded on in silence until finding a rock with moss clinging onto one side. Skypaw and Flightpaw managed to grab as much as they could so that they could clean out the elder's den as well. With Lightbreeze and Leafstorm keeping watch, they managed to clean off almost half the rock.

"Alright, let's get this back to camp before we start growing fins," Lightbreeze muttered crossly.

"I think you'd have to spend a few days in the water to do that, Lightbreeze," Leafstorm purred in amusement.

Lightbreeze didn't look as amused, but luckily she didn't say anything. The four of them returned back to camp just as the rain had finally begun to slow down. By now Skypaw couldn't even tell whether or not it was past sunhigh. The gray clouds made it seem so dull and boring, just like CaveClan.

"Great, you brought more moss!" Creamfur's eyes lit up as she stood in front of them. "We could use more for the elders."

"That's why Skypaw suggested grabbing some extra," Leafstorm replied, glancing down at her apprentice. "Skypaw, why don't you go and help Creamfur out. Flightpaw and I can patch up the apprentice's den."

Skypaw nodded in agreement and followed the creamy white she-cat towards the elder's den. Normally the apprentice's took care of the elders. But with everyone being so busy at the moment, it seemed Creamfur didn't mind taking up the extra task.

"So I take it you're adjusting well to life in this Clan?" asked Creamfur as they carried the moss towards the branch-surrounded den.

The elder's den was probably the most protected next to the medicine cat's den and the nursery. It had branches covering the roof and making up the den itself, with moss protecting them from the rain and snow.

"Yeah, it's great here," Skypaw murmured. Though she didn't really sound as enthusiastic as she would have her first few days here. Creamfur eyed her in surprise. "Leafstorm told me about… what Whiteflower did," she admitted.

"Whiteflower, now there's a name I haven't heard in moons." The wistful sigh from Palefoot made Skypaw jump. "Waterwing, I wonder why she hasn't visited us? She was always so eager to hear out stories and help us out."

"Whiteflower is gone, Palefoot," the gray-blue elder murmured sympathetically. "We don't speak of her name here, and with good reason."

Palefoot's eyes narrowed at the she-cat, but luckily he didn't say anything else.

"Is it true what they say about her? Did she really have a mate from outside the Clan?" Skypaw couldn't help but ask as she helped Creamfur clear out the old dusty nests.

"That is not for me to say," Creamfur replied. "We really shouldn't be talking about her though. It's bad luck."

Bad luck to talk about a former Clanmate? Skypaw stared at the senior warrior in disbelief. Even in CaveClan the ones who had joined StarClan were always remembered and even revered as brave warriors. Skypaw couldn't believe that these cats wouldn't even want to remember a queen who had lost her life, and maybe even her kits.

Once they were finished replacing the old nests with the fresh ones, Skypaw went to work checking their fur for ticks. Luckily that part of the task wasn't too tedious. Palefoot kept muttering under his breath about why certain young cats didn't like visiting them. She had no doubt he was referring to Whiteflower.

"I don't have any ticks, you don't have to waste your time on me," Waterwing reassured her.

Skypaw looked at her doubtfully but didn't say anything. Instead she sighed and padded out of the den, shaking off moss in the process. Her paws stank of mousebile, and she would have to wash them in a stream before doing anything else.

"Ugh, elder duty?" Cloudpaw guessed when she noticed Skypaw retreating to the nearest stream. Luckily by now the rain had stopped completely, and Skypaw could see blotches of blue mixed with the dark gray clouds. "That's probably the least fun part of apprentice training."

"It's not that bad," Skypaw protested. "Okay, maybe the ticks aren't that good," she added when Cloudpaw wrinkled her nose at the stream, "But other than that I enjoy listening to their stories, and helping them out."

"I guess you're right about that," Cloudpaw admitted. "It sure beats staying out in the rain all day."

Both apprentices purred in agreement to that. At least with the rain gone they could resume their training. Of course as soon as the rain was gone the wind had to pick up shortly after.

Cloudpaw was struggling to keep herself standing against the force of the wind. Skypaw managed to help her stay upright as the wind threatened to tear them both off the ground. Their wings made it impossible to go any further.

"We need to find shelter, fast!" Skypaw gasped when she saw a tree branch snapping against the wind.

She exchanged a fearful look with Cloudpaw before both apprentices made a break for it towards a hole in the ground. At this point they didn't care whether or not a badger or a fox was living there. They needed to stay out of the wind, otherwise it might carry them away for good.

"StarClan, it's never been this bad!" Cloudpaw yelped as another branch hit the ground right next to them.

"I don't know what to do, our wings will make it so hard to get back," Skypaw murmured, her eyes widening when she saw a bird struggling to fly to another tree.

They crouched there in silence as the wind howled throughout the rest of the day. Skypaw wasn't even sure when they would make it back to camp, or if anyone had noticed they were missing. Surely by now they would have realized they were missing two apprentices, or even one for that matter.

She shook her head and glanced at Cloudpaw, hoping this whole ordeal would be done and over with soon. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck here for the rest of her life. Not when she had finally found a place she could call home.

AN: So, what did you think? I don't know why, but this chapter reminded me of Bramblestar's Storm in a way... I liked it though. I certainly hope you did as well ;)

Wyldclaw - Yeah, he is a big old jerk, but he has his reasons. And it sure is a terrible tradition /:

Lightclaw's Shadow - You were right, it's Ashwhisker :) And that's funny, because for some reason I ship them too XD

.7315 - I'm glad you're enjoying it that much! Updates will probably be every other day, since I work during the week. It kind of eats away at my writing schedule, unfortunately... that and Shiny Hunting in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire XD

Foreststar of WindClan - Me too. And yep, Ashwhisker is pretty much Cinderstorm 2.0 XD I don't blame you for not liking their tradition, it's not exactly the most pleasant one...

Spring Feather - Who knows... maybe he has fleas in his fur? They couldn't exactly make a wingless kit a medicine cat at the time because Nightwing was still an apprentice than. It kind of complicates things for them Oo And you'll have to wait to find out, I'll be explaining everything in the next few chapters when they are posted.