"Where id was...

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ScarShadow looked at Freud and snorted. His ringed tail flickered back and forth, his amber eyes glowing with excitement and amusement. This was really entertaining to see, no matter what anyone said or did.

"Not answering that, because I'm not helping, kittypet."

He mew'd, his pink tongue rasping along his dark-colored lips.

"Why would I help a cat who betrayed their clan?"

He said that coldly and rather harsh, his amber eyes moving towards Crystallight, his ears flickering around. It certaintly served her right. You Never betray your clan nor the warrior code.

He then looked back at Freud and grinned sheepishly.

"It's your fault, too."

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Crystallight screamed again, "H-Help!" her claws were slipping, "Please! Help!" Her back paws were flailing in the water and claws were trying to get a better hold. "Freud! Help me!"

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The tom sat there mockingly, watching the she-cat struggle. He made no sudden movement, only watched. He wasn't about to help a riverclanner, one who wasn't clan-born at that.

His tail was swishing side to side, his gaze only staring at her mockingly.

"Serves you right."

He hissed at her, and then looked at Freud.

"Standing there frozen, are we? How intriguing."

He mocked, staring back at the drowning warrior.

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Freud stared. Yes, he stared, for this cat before him defied the logical response of any cat with half a heart. Fascinating, and yet frightening. How could anyone around such an atrocity not at least show some outward sign of worry or anxiety for the endangered? Even one who would choose not to help would generally look away...

"Standing frozen there, are we? How intriguing," the cat before him said suavely, bringing Freud out of his stupor. He realized with a shudder that he had in fact frozen in shock. He quickly unhindged his claws from the plant-matter underneath him and shot the emotionaly devoid cat a ruthless glare.

"If you will be no help, then so be it!" he stated in a raised voice and pivoted against the mushy ground, leaping into the water again after the she-cat in danger. Adrenaline gave him enough of a burst to combat the cold water's affect on his meager muscles and keep above water. He drifted past Crystallight's side and grabbed at some patchy roots sticking from the bank of the river here.

"Crystallight! Swim here and grab a hold of me!"

[Deleted]

Crystallight grabbed hold of him before falling into unconsciousness. Her grip loosened but she stayed holding onto him.

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She supposed it was a fine day for hunting. The prey was out and it wasn't too late to try and catch it. She had gone out on her own, without waiting for a hunting patrol to be assigned, for she hadn't planned on going far from the camp at all. She was just crouching, stalking a mouse in the grass, when she heard something.

The sounds of shouts of fear met her ears and the silver tabby she-cat perked her ears. A cry for help made her freeze in her tracks in recognition. She knew that voice. Something was terribly wrong. The mouse forgotten, Mossflower spun around towards the origin of the yowls and sped off through the grass, her paws pounding the ground in her attempt to move just that much faster.

The silver tabby she-cat flung herself out of the reeds that bordered the river and raced down the beach, searching for the cat who had cried out for help just seconds before. Finally, Mossflower caught sight of her. "Crystallight!" She cried, just as the she-cat in question slipped underneath the surface of the water just down stream of stepping stones that lead across the river.

Mossflower did not recognize the tom that was trying to save her clanmate. His scent crossed her nose and she instantly knew that he was no clan cat. The other cat sitting across the river, watching as Crystallight drowned, was a Thunderclan warrior. There was no telling what had just happened here, but she didn't have any time to stop and demand what was going on. She threw herself into the river, swimming as fast and as hard as she could to catch up to the floundering cats. The current certainly gave her a decent boost of speed, and speed was what she needed to reach the two in time.

The tom who was trying to help, but Mossflower could instantly tell he was not a very good swimmer. She remembered Crystallight had never really been a great swimmer either. There was no way she would be able to save both of them by grabbing on to them, but perhaps they could grab onto her. Praying that she was strong enough, she maneuvered herself so she floated backwards towards the two other cats, with her tail outstretched. "Grab onto me! Grab onto my tail!" Mossflower instructed, "I'll pull you to the shore. Don't worry!"

Panic surged through her as she turned to see Crystallight fall unconscious. Now more than ever, Mossflower needed to get the other she-cat to dry land. "Come on!" She urged, her green eyes wide with fear as she angled herself towards the shore nearest to the three of them.

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Freud's mouth filled with water as the added weight of Crystallight pulled him down into the river. He didn't bother exerting the energy to spit it out and just swallowed. He sputtered anyway and nearly lost grip of the bank.

A large, nearby splash forced water into Freud's eyes and he cringed, instinctively forcing his claws into the bank's roots and mud. He barely heard another cat's terror-filled demands over the rushing water by his ears.

"Grab onto me! Grab onto my tail! I'll pull you to shore. Don't worry!" the shouts, probably coming from the form that had caused the splash, called him forward. He reopened his eyes and suddenly felt Crystallight's claws go limp in his fur, though she was still attached to him.

"I'll--pth--try!" he shouted forward at the cat rapidly approaching him and pressed off against the bank with his hind legs. Claws outstretched, he caught the tail that was given to him. Now that he was no longer attached to the higher ground, though, he sunk from the weight of himself and Crystallight.

Thank Starclan he kept his grip on that foreign tail.

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ScarShadow narrowed his eyes into slits when MossFlower came.

"Saving a non-clanborn cat, who broke the warrior code? Very weird, very abnormal."

The tom spat, his claws unsheathing and digging into the ground. Probably looked as if he did it himself, but his scent was not on Crystallight, that was for sure. Then again, even if it was, the river would of wiped it clean.

He looked at Freud, who seemed to be struggling, and gave a slight chuckle.

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Time was all that mattered now. The thought that she would be too late getting Crystallight to shore drifted across her mind and made her blood run cold. And even if she did get the other she-cat and the strange tom to the shore, would she know what to do? Mossflower remembered the lessons she had had as an apprentice on what to do if a cat's lungs were waterlogged. Could she clear the water that was no doubt in Crystallight's lungs?

Determination clawed at her belly as she felt the strange tom's claws close around her tail. She would not allow her clan mate to die. She angled herself downriver so the current would aid her in getting to the nearest bank and struck out powerfully with her legs, fighting as hard as she could to pull the two other cats to the shore. They couldn't immediately get out of the river, because the banks of the river were steeped here, and impossible to climb, but Mossflower knew there was a beach just a few fox leaps ahead.

She felt her paws touch the silty bottom of the river and the silver she-cat surged forward, turning to grab Crystallight's scruff and drag her out of the river and onto the dry sand. "Help me carry her!" She growled at the black-and-white tom through the other she-cat's fur, struggling to climb up onto the shore. Now that they were out of the river, the weight of Crystallight was increased; her pelt was soaked and heavy with water. The fact that Crystallight was actually bigger than her was also a factor.

Finally, Mossflower had hauled her clan mate out of the river. She quickly spun around and pressed her ear to Crystallight's mouth. "Fox dung! She's not breathing." The silver tabby hissed, and began to press down and release the other she-cat's chest, hoping the motion would stimulate her clan mate to breath, and to expel as much water from her systems as possible. It didn't even occur to Mossflower that this side of the river was not Riverclan territory at all; the scent of Thunderclan was only just now wafting into her nose, but the slender she-cat couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. A life was in danger, and she knew it was up to her to save that life.

"Come on, Crystallight!" She hissed in a low tone, urging the larger she-cat as she pumped her chest. "Come on!" Every second that went by felt like an eternity and questions floated across her mind. What if she was too late? What if Crystallight was already dead? Mossflower refused to allow that to happen and banished those thoughts away. "Breath!"

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Crystallight started choking, water dripping from her mouth and she started to breath, Her blue eyes opened and she flicked her ears. She was exhausted and tired, but she was alive. "Freud, Mossflower?" she mewed, blinking. She stood up shaking her pelt to make it dryer, "Sorry, I-I slipped on a rock and I..." she sat down. "Sorry... and Thank you for rescuing me, I thought I was going to wake up in StarClan!" her claws dug in the solid ground, happy to be on land again, she turned her back to the River and realized, "We are on ThunderClan territory!"

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ScarShadow was indeed watching all of this occur, slowly padding or rather, prowling over. He kept low, and hopefully, with all of this occurence, they forgotten about him.

Then he sprung; right at MossFlower. He used his right fore-paw to swing at her head while in the air, his claws unsheathed.

"Bad move.."

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((Sorry this is late.))

Freud struggled to keep the small amount of air he'd taken in before being pulled under in his lungs and he and Crystallight were dragged to a bank much less steep than the last. At the very moment his back paws touched the sand and silt of solid ground he pressed up against it and gasped for life sustaining breath. The cat on his back wasn't lucky enough to have the opportunity.

The unknown cat the saved him--Freud now identified her as a she-cat no larger than Crystallight--shouted more commands at him as she grabbed at Crystallight's scruff. He could not hear them. His ears were filled with water. Shaking his head furiously to rid his inner ear of the liquid, he assisted her in pushing the half-drown she-cat to shore. It was all he could do to help.

His heart sank when the other cat announced Crystallight wasn't breathing. Freud drew in a gasp every time their hero pressed her paws into Crystallight's chest as though he could breath for her. His heart beat heavily from both panic, fatigue and hyperventilation until Crystallight's eyes opened once more. He sighed and held his breath now to calm himself down.

"I thought we'd both end up in Starclan. Not that they'd take me from the likes of it," Freud sat soaking wet before the two she-cats and tried to make idle conversation to take everyone's mind off the situation and out of shock.

A sudden gush of wind came rushing past Freud in the form of the heartless mange that he had shouted at earlier, attacking his savior. Freud hissed and threw himself at the other cat to knock him off course, more by jerk reaction than by intention. What a day this was becoming...

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Crystallight choked and coughed, and the water was cleared. Mossflower sighed in relief, stepping back to allow her clan mate to get up. "Don't move too fast. You need to recover." She advised, and then gave herself a good shake to get the water out of her fur. Only now did she realize her tail, with claw marks going fairly deep. She hadn't noticed Freud holding on so tight. The river, with its cold waters, must have numbed the pain. She'd have their medicine cat look at it when she got back to camp.

"No, it's alright, Crystallight. We all make mistakes." Mossflower soothed, giving the other she-cat a quick lick. "Starclan wouldn't have let you join them. They know your life isn't over." The silver tabby purred, joking slightly. In her eyes, it wasn't at all Crystallight's fault. Accidents happened to every cat.

She turned to the strange tom cat, and finally got a good look at him. He was black and white, and she confirmed from his scent that he was not another clan cat, but a loner or a rogue. "Thank you." Mossflower nodded to him. "I don't think I could have saved her without you." Well, she might have, but if Freud hadn't kept Crystallight from being dragged down river by the current, perhaps she wouldn't have been able to catch up to the other she-cat in time. She wouldn't know. She was just glad her clan mate was alive.

Crystallight's yelp made the silver tabby look over. Suddenly, something large bowled her over and knocked her to the ground, and Mossflower let out a snarl of pain. It was the Thunderclan brute from before! She rolled sideways, trying to avoid the blow, but failed and felt the claws score across the side of her face. The Riverclan she-cat crouched down, before leaping forward and trying to catch the other warrior off guard and knock him off his paws. She aimed a quick swipe, claws unsheathed, at his nose, trying to discourage him. "Both of you, get to the Stepping Stones!" Mossflower hissed at Crystallight and Freud as she fought. "Now!"

She then leaped back, out of range of the other cat. The Thunderclan warrior was about twice her size, perhaps. With her small, slender stature, all she could really do was try and stay out of the range of his claws but be quick and land some blows. Mossflower knew she was on Scarshadow's territory. She wouldn't attack unless he did. But the circumstances of her and her clan mate's presence were hardly malicious; obviously this thug of a Thunderclan cat had no honor. A cat had almost drowned, and he had done nothing to help, and now he was attacking them.

Mossflower spat. "We're leaving, badger-face! We weren't planning on staying. Obviously you're as blind as a newborn kit!" The fur on the back of her neck bristled as she spoke, holding her ground, waiting until Crystallight and Freud had gotten safely over the Stepping Stones, and waiting for the Thunderclan thug to attack.

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Crystallight hissed, her claws burning for a fight but she turned to the Stepping stones, she carefully jumped from stone to stone her claws scraping on the grey surface. Once she was at the other side of the River she turned to Freud to make sure he crossed safely too.

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Before Crystallight got to the stepping stones, he took this chance to spin around, and lunge at her, while MossFlower was leaping back, which, she should be at a good distance away, at least, far enough to where he could land a scratch or two on Crystallight.

He swung his right fore-paw against her cranium, his tail lashing. Scarshadow hissed.

"Non-ClanCat Scum! Fight me, and die!"

He growled, with a mocking tone.

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