Floods in RiverClan

The floods in RiverClan were severe river flooding that took place in Forest of Secrets and Leopardstar's Honor. It resulted from the newleaf thaw and days of heavy rainfall that damaged RiverClan's camp and resulted in four deaths. RiverClan was already recovering from sickness and poisoned river prey, and they relied on the kindness from Fireheart and Graystripe for fresh-kill. The flooding also impacted ThunderClan's territory and prevented them from accessing the Gathering without RiverClan's help.
==Summary==
===Premise===
:During a difficult leaf-bare, Crowfur, a WindClan elder, recalled how the current season reminded him of the leaf-bare when Bluestar lost her kits. The river was frozen for three moons, and as newleaf approached, it flooded the river, causing cats to drown and others to starve from the lack of prey. The elders hope that the current leaf-bare won't be as bad as that one. The river frequently flooded RiverClan's camp, and RiverClan warriors crafted their dens to float so they can be salvaged later. As newleaf drew nearer and the weather warmed, a sickness struck RiverClan, killing Tanglewhisker and leaving Sedgecreek, Shadepelt, and Mallowtail weak. In addition, discarded Twoleg rubbish in the river poisoned the fish, killing Birdsong and poisoning Heavystep and Mallowtail. RiverClan avoided catching river prey until they could dislodge the Twoleg rubbish from the reeds. Heavy rainfall continued to plague the Clans for several days, resulting in the river slowly rising.
===Overview===
:Heavy rainfall continues to fall for several days, resulting in the river becoming dangerous. RiverClan is only able to catch land prey due to the poisoned river and is still recovering from the harsh leaf-bare, so Frogleap suggests hunting upstream from the Twoleg rubbish. While the hunting patrol is successful, Frogleap drowns after the storm causes a tree branch to fall and hit him. The night after his vigil, the river rapidly floods and breaches the camp. During the hasty evacuation to higher ground off of the island, two of Mistyfoot's kits—Perchkit and Pikekit—wash away in the flood. Mosspelt's three kits—Dawnkit, Woodkit, and Robinkit—are also swept away, and Crookedstar leaps in to save them. However, Woodkit and Robinkit drown and Crookedstar loses a life. Bluestar, leader of ThunderClan, worries about the flood's impact on her own Clan. Fireheart and Graystripe scope out the flooded Sunningrocks where they find Pikekit and Perchkit. After rescuing the kits and bringing them back to their Clan, the two ThunderClan cats offer to hunt for RiverClan while they recover. However, they are caught and punished by Bluestar a quarter-moon later. Despite this, Crookedstar allows ThunderClan to safely travel through his territory after the Gathering when theirs is flooded as thanks for ThunderClan's help, though Leopardfur harbors some resentment for the enemy Clan's assistance.
==Description==
===The floodwaters===
:RiverClan's plan to remove the Twoleg rubbish is delayed by heavy rainfall. Leopardfur is convinced by Mudfur and Frogleap to hunt upstream of the rubbish despite the heavy wind and rapid current. While the RiverClan patrol manages to catch a plentiful pile of fish in the rapid water, Frogleap is killed when the wind breaks a branch from a nearby tree and it strikes him. During Frogleap's vigil, the rain continues to fall and the river slowly rises around the edges of the camp.
:Later that night following Frogleap's vigil, the river quickly floods RiverClan's camp, and nearly reaches the elders' den, which is at the high end of the camp on top of a slope. Leopardfur calls for an evacuation towards the elders' den and orders the warriors to save the nursery. However, two of Mistyfoot's kits—Perchkit and Pikekit—float away in the strong swell on top of their buoyant nest. As the strong waves continue to batter RiverClan's camp, it reaches the elders' den, and the RiverClan deputy orders everyone to flee the camp towards higher ground. The RiverClan cats flee their island home by crossing the opposite channel, which is narrower. However, Dawnkit, Woodkit, and Robinkit are swept away from their mother's back when Mosspelt crosses the channel and a wave crashes into them. Crookedstar dives into the flood after them and disappears. In the morning, Leopardfur, Mudfur, and Stonefur discover Crookedstar's body with the three kits. While the RiverClan cats can revive Dawnkit and Crookedstar recovers from losing a life, Woodkit and Robinkit are already gone.
:In ThunderClan, Tigerclaw orders Fireheart to mark the RiverClan border since the thick snow has finally melted. However, Fireheart, Graystripe, Runningwind, and Sandstorm are shocked to see the riverbank flooded and Sunningrocks barely poking from the surface. After reporting this to Bluestar, the ThunderClan leader insists the RiverClan floods impact all the Clans due to scarce prey and dangerous conditions, and she orders her deputy Tigerclaw to scope out the extent of the flood.
===The missing kits===
:In the afternoon, RiverClan focuses on constructing a makeshift camp on the slope above the island with their home still flooded. Crookedstar orders hunting patrols and for Leopardfur, Blackclaw, and Stonefur to search for Pikekit and Perchkit. Meanwhile, Graystripe worries about his RiverClan mate Silverstream, and he and Fireheart offer to scout the flood around Sunningrocks to search for her. The two ThunderClan warriors discover Perchkit and Pikekit trapped on their nest caught against Sunningrocks. After rescuing the two kits from the swollen river, Fireheart and Graystripe decide to bring the two kits back to RiverClan by crossing a fallen tree over the river. Leopardfur, Stonefur, and Blackclaw angrily confront them by the bank and take them to Crookedstar. While some warriors are still hostile towards the two toms, Crookedstar and Mistyfoot are thankful. After some prodding, Fireheart and Graystripe learn of the poisoned fish and offer to hunt for RiverClan until the floods dissipate. Each morning, Fireheart and Graystripe bring forest prey to RiverClan to supply their own pitiful fresh-kill pile, though some RiverClan cats are skeptical of their kindness. Their ruse lasts a quarter-moon until Cloudkit follows them to the river and reports to Tigerclaw. While Bluestar understand their intentions, she punishes them for breaking the warrior code by assigning them apprentice duties.
===The Gathering truce===
:With the Gathering drawing nearer, Whitestorm reports that the shallow stream that crossed through the forest to the Thunderpath and divided the Clan from Fourtrees was flooded. Tigerclaw leads a patrol a few days later to check on it, though it's still flooded. The ThunderClan deputy orders Fireheart to check out a narrow branch to try to cross the swollen flood, though he falls in and nearly drowns until Longtail saves him. On the night of the Gathering and with the stream still flooded, Bluestar leads her warriors along the Thunderpath and ShadowClan's territory to reach Fourtrees. However, they are confronted by Nightstar and his cats for trespassing, though the ShadowClan cats escort them to Fourtrees. At the Gathering, Nightstar reveals that ThunderClan has been harboring Brokenstar, the treacherous former leader of ShadowClan. Though Bluestar defends her choice, WindClan and ShadowClan swear retribution. Nightstar refuses to allow ThunderClan passage through his territory to return home, but Crookedstar offers for ThunderClan to travel with them as thanks for sharing prey.
===Cats who died===
==Aftermath==
:Two days after the Gathering, WindClan and ShadowClan attack ThunderClan's camp in retribution for sheltering Brokentail. In addition, the floodwaters recede by the day, and the floods fully dissipate the day after Silverstream's death. However, newleaf brings little precipitation, causing the forest to dry up after two moons of insufficient rainfall. RiverClan continues to rebuild its camp for several days after the flood and eventually move back home. They also rebuild the nursery next to the elders' den to prevent it from sweeping away from another flood. When a fire strikes in ThunderClan's territory, Crookedstar allows ThunderClan to seek shelter in their camp until the storm extinguishes the flames.
:On his deathbed, Crookedstar tells Leopardfur that the Clans must still be united when danger looms, such as the floods and the fire in ThunderClan. Leopardfur, however, disagrees with that paradigm. When she becomes leader, Leopardstar decides that her Clan needs to take back Sunningrocks to secure more hunting grounds since they've been too reliant on the river, which was previously frozen, poisoned, and flooded. Her determination to keep her Clan from going hungry again is one of her reasonings to join forces with Tigerstar to form TigerClan.
==Characters==
===Leopardfur===
:Leopardfur was RiverClan's deputy, second-in-command to Crookedstar. She was fiercely dedicated to keeping her Clanmates safe from sickness, poisoned prey, and the flood. The golden spotted she-cat was deeply impacted by Frogleap's death, and she blamed herself for losing so many kits during the flood. However, her quick thinking and resolve secured the safety of the rest of her Clanmates. While Leopardfur had ambition to be leader soon, she realized she was not ready after witnessing her Clan's devastation following the flood. Accepting that she had more to learn from Crookedstar, Leopardfur followed her leader's advice to maintain a comforting yet firm presence to help her Clanmates grieve. The RiverClan deputy and her patrol found Fireheart and Graystripe with Mistyfoot's missing kits, and she detested being indebted to the Clan who killed Whitefang, Sunfish, and Whiteclaw when the two warriors offered to hunt for the Clan. However, Leopardfur agreed with Crookedstar's reasoning that RiverClan needed prey, though she despised being dependent on them. As the dawn of her own leadership arrived following Crookedstar's death, Leopardstar believed RiverClan was too reliant on the river for prey and sought to reclaim Sunningrocks from ThunderClan, having no sympathy for the Clan that gave them prey. She also used the flood's destruction as part of her reasoning to join TigerClan with Tigerstar.
===Crookedstar===
:Crookedstar was the leader of RiverClan. The once strong tom was losing his strength when the flood swept through his camp, though Crookedstar insisted on being the last to evacuate the camp to ensure his Clanmates left safely. When Dawnkit, Woodkit, and Robinkit were swept away, Crookedstar did not hesitate to dive after them, though it costed him one of his nine lives. His new life rejuvenated him, and he encouraged his deputy to process her grief for her Clan. When Fireheart and Graystripe found Mistyfoot's missing kits, Crookedstar believed their story. He initially refused their offer to catch prey for the Clan until Graypool spoke up in disagreement. The RiverClan leader believed if the two ThunderClan cats were foolish enough to break the warrior code to help RiverClan, then it was RiverClan's gain and ThunderClan's loss. In thanks, Crookedstar allowed ThunderClan passage home from the Gathering through RiverClan territory when Nightstar refused. The twisted-jaw leader realized that the Clans were stronger when they helped each other through adversity, a belief that he attempted to pass on to his deputy before he joined StarClan.
===Fireheart and Graystripe===
:Fireheart and Graystripe were ThunderClan warriors under Bluestar's leadership. When the floods struck RiverClan, Graystripe longed to check on his mate Silverstream in RiverClan, so Fireheart convinced Tigerclaw to let them scout the flooding near Sunningrocks. The two friends discovered Mistyfoot's missing kits trapped near Sunningrocks, and they successfully rescued the kits after Fireheart nearly drowned. When they brought the two to RiverClan, Fireheart and Graystripe were angrily confronted by Leopardfur and her patrol and accused of stealing the kits. After informing Crookedstar what happened, Fireheart offered to hunt for RiverClan since they were suffering from lack of prey, believing Bluestar's statement that four Clans were needed in the forest. However, some RiverClan cats were skeptical of their kindness, and the pair were later punished with apprentice duties by Bluestar for breaking the warrior code. However, Fireheart's selflessness provided ThunderClan an ally in RiverClan for the later moons, and his decision to help RiverClan was later characterized by Bluestar as an example of his courage, loyalty, and fairness.
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
===Mistakes===
*In Leopardstar's Honor, Fireheart and Graystripe continue to feed RiverClan following the Gathering, but in Forest of Secrets, the pair are discovered and punished by Bluestar before the Gathering.
==See also==
*Forest of Secrets
**Forest of Secrets/Cliffnotes
*Leopardstar's Honor
**Leopardstar's Honor/Cliffnotes
==Notes and references==
pl:Powodzie w Klanie Rzeki
Category:Events
Category:Natural disasters
Category:Forest of Secrets
Category:Leopardstar's Honor