Shadow's P.O.V.

I padded out into the rain from my den. The warriors den was starting to fill with water, I had woken up with water all around me. I am no RiverClan cat! This was terrible; another day of rain?

I trekked through the water on the stone and to the pile of fresh kill. The prey was water-soaked and I groaned. 'Ew...'

Picking up a squirrel and a blackbird, I found a ledge on the front of Venom's cave and stuffed them in there after cleaning it of the cobwebs with a stick. I ran into the medicine den and left it on the ground below the medicine, unsure of where I should store it.

I padded quickly out and grabbed the rest of the prey, storing it in the hole in Venom's cave. He shouldn't mind.

A sweet voice made me jump. "Hey, Shadow. What are you doing?" I looked over my shoulder and saw that it was Bella. Her ears drooped from the rain water and she seemed to have no effort to keep them up, same with her tail. Her fur was clinging to her scrawny shape and I noticed her paws were cakes with mud and, what seemed to be, blood.

I dipped my head, "Moving the prey to a place where the water won't dissolve it." I replied, not bothering to say a hello in return. Bella smiled back and nodded.

Thunder crashed above and I looked up at the brightly lit sky. "You're quite smart, you know. Venom should've given you your deputy spot back." Bella meowed. I shrugged, sitting down, "I am getting old, I wouldn't last too long."

Bella nodded and sat beside me. I looked over at her dripping pelt in the corner of my eye. I wondered, 'Would we be able to be mates or would it be creepy?'

I looked forward again and watched the rain pour out of the sky. The clouds were dark like black, even this early in the morning. "I hated the sun for those terrible dry days, now all I would like is some sun." I purred, smirking as I turned to look at Bella. She nodded and purred in laughter. She was shivering and I pushed my shoulder to hers and she laid her head on my shoulder.

Warmth from my heart pulsed through out my body and I smiled. 'Maybe I can be happy again with someone else...'

My thoughts were interrupted when Venom came over and - ears flat to his head, eyes silted and fur drooping - informed me, "Shadow, we need to go see those cats you and Thorn met yesterday," I nodded and dipped my head to Bella, leaving the camp with Thorn and Venom in front of me.

As we began to pad closer to the Twolegplace, Venom broke the silence. "So, Shadow," He began, looking over his shoulder, "What's going on between you and Bella?" Venom snickered and Thorn did too. 'Am I really going to be teased over this?' I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Yeah, gotta crush?" Thorn teased, smirking.

"We're only friends." I growl, whipping my heavy tail. Being a long-fur had too many bad things to it - one being when in the rain your pelt is way too heavy - and very few good things to it. I lifted my chin and regretted it as the rain pounded on my face like ice pellets.

"Friends he says!" Thorn purred, laughing more as he turned away from me. Venom did too, but louder.

"Whatever. We're only Tribemates - friends." I groaned, rolling my eyes.

They purred like never before; Thorn rolling on the ground and Venom hitting the muddy ground. I hopped onto the wooden fence. "Glad I could give you this laugh." I hissed, jumping off the fence and into the other side. 

"What could possibly be so funny about it?" I growled low, fluffing out my fur and looking around. Splashes from behind me made me look behind my shoulder in a rush, but it was only Venom and Thorn.

"Friends. Aah, good one. You can't be friends with she-cats, if you are it means you have a crush on them," Venom informed, raising his chin. "Who ever said that? I'm friends with you, it doesn't mean I like you." I hissed, eyes silted. "Hostile much?" Thorn teased. "Well obviously. I'm a tom, you're a tom. That'd be weird. It would be a waste of time; no kits would come out of the relationship." Venom hissed, shoving his face into mine. I growled and shoved mine into his, nose touching his.

"Any cat can love who they want, it shouldn't be up to you. Believe in what you want but stop telling everyone like its the right thing you mouse-brain." I growled, unsheathing my claws.

"Okay you two, get it together we have a meeting." Thorn meowed, shaking out his brown fur. Venom twitched his nose and stepped forward, leading the way. In the distance, there were three cats sitting under some Twoleg thing that hung over the entrance to get into the den.

"Hello." Venom greeted, dipping his head to the three cats. They had gotten rid of the collars, which I was glad of. We rarely took in kittypets, and Venom would order us to kill them immediately.

"Venom, this is Dagger, Snow and Storm. They put up quite a fight yesterday." Thorn informed Venom and he nodded as he spoke. Circling the three cats, he inspected them carefully.

"Snow, you seem like a fat kittypet. Dagger and Storm I'm okay with but Snow I'm skeptical of." Venom growled, looking up her white form. Storm narrowed her eyes at Venom but said nothing.

"If I'm to bring all three of you, Snow will need some serious trainging and limited prey. One fresh-kill per day and train as much as you can." Venom ordered and I narrowed my eyes.

Snow looked quite hurt, eyes looking to her paws and ears flat. "Venom, don't be so mean. If you want them to be part of our Tribe you need to be less rude." I hissed to him, getting in his face agian. He growled but didn't look me in the eye.

"You were fine a little while ago, when you were teasing me. Whats wrong, don't like it when I make a point?" I hissed quietly. I knew the others could probably hear me but it didn't matter. I was supposed to be leader, not him. I would've done just fine.

Venom didn't answer, just stared at the three cats. I looked away and my eyes softened. Thunder crashed a few times over head and Storm jumped in fright. I heard Dagger and Snow purr and Storm growled at them, unsheathing her claws.

"You can eat only twice a day, like everyone else, Snow. But you do need to train a lot to be fit and strong." I meowed to her and she nodded, looking up. "Who said you made the decisions?" Venom hissed. "Your decisions aren't fair, so I took over. Are you taking the three in or not? I'd like to get back to-" "To what? Lolly-gagging over your crush?" Venom teased, spitting at me. "If you would let me finish, I would've said I was going to help clean out the dens so we could actually sleep." I hissed back, unsheathing my claws.

"Whatever. Welcome to the Tribe of Rotting Skulls Dagger, Snow and Storm." Venom greeted, only speaking half-hearted.

And with that, we padded away. Thorn informed them of what they were to do each day and what to expect while Venom and I snarled at each other.

Finally getting sick of it, I trotted away. I hopped up and over the fence without even touching the top. Landing in a mud puddle, I fluffed out my fur for at least the fifth time today.

I trotted quickly away and up the trail, trekking through the water in the camp. 'Wow, the water in the camp is crazy!' I thought to myself looking to the hole to go to the river.

"Where's Venom?" Bella asked when she spotted me. "On his way, why?" I replied following her when she didn't answer. She took me to the river where cats were piling stones. "The reason for all the water is because the river has over flowed and we're trying to fix it." She sighed and I nodded, eyes wide.

"Need any help?" I meowed and she nodded, her eyes weary. "Have you guys been working on this ever since we left?" I asked and Bella nodded, fluffing her pelt out, spraying me with water and dirt. "Pretty much, yeah. Adder showed us it and we started working right away." I nodded once and grabbed a few stones. They seemed to be low on them.

They were piling some kind of hard mud in between the rocks, setting up heavier ones behind them. The hard mud was closing the cracks between the stones so the water would have a harder time coming through.

"Wow, you guys are pretty smart when it comes to this," I praised, slabbing on some of the hard mud over some stones and setting more over it. Bella dipped her head and kept working.

"Whats going on here?" Venom's voice came from the camp where the hole was and he didn't look too impressed. "I tried to warn you Venom, but you wouldn't listen. I got Kink, Bella, Shell and Slash to help out with keeping the river water from coming through," Adder replied. His legs were knee-deep in mud.

Venom dipped his head. "When you finish we need to leave for the Gathering. We've been holding it off for a moon or so and it is time we go, tonight is another full moon." Bella and I exchanged glances, "Who's going?" Kink asked, her voice raspy. "I will tell everyone who Thorn and I choose when you're done." Venom told her and when no one replied, he nodded once and turned back to go into camp.

"He is such a pain. He can be a real mean one, but he certaintly can be mature, I guess." Bella nodded, agreeing with it. "He also is evil and that's just what Killer wanted: an evil leader to rule the Tribe." I nodded back, not really replying. I don't think I needed to anyway.

Rock after rock, we piled them up to the top of my neck. The routine was the same, and it was annoying me. Splatter on the gray, hard mud and put the rock over it. Repeat. When you're done that, pile bigger rocks behind them to hold it up. I suggested putting sticks in between the bigger rocks and that began to work better to. Especially when there were holes needing to be filled.

Soon, the whole side of the river was covered with a stone wall. It had taken us almost the whole day to finish it. Kink and I rolled a medium sized boulder to the middle of it so we could keep track of the water and how much it was rising.

I fluffed out my fur and joined everyone below Venom's den as he stood waiting for everyone to come. "Slash's patrol should be back anytime now." Thorn told Venom, which gave me time to clean up for the Gathering.

Soon after I finished, Slash came in leading Fox, Brindle, Moon and Lily. Slash carried a blackbird, Fox a rabbit, Moon a magpie and Lily two mice. I was actually surprised to see Brindle with nothing, I assumed that would be Lily.

Speaking of Lily, she seemed to be getting bigger. Same with Fawn. I wondered if she had known Dagger, or maybe she was seeing Crowfeather again? We all knew Lily was going to get pregnant again, it seems more in her nature then being in fights.

The five cats settled and Venom began.