#arc 4.5

The Ocean Journey

The journey to the Ocean, on the other hand, was a desperate, tiring experience. They had even less choice with where they were going this time, not having the time to send a group ahead to scout for a proper territory. They initially went back to the Forest- but that was completely destroyed, and only made the older warriors and elders more upset about losing yet another home. Sorrowful, quiet stories were shared about the forest, before they had to continue onwards, pick a direction, and keep walking.

Starclan had left them by that point, too injured by the battle with the Dark Forest to contact them. Jayfeather and Hollyleaf were the ones to lead the journey, the rest of them too tired or injured to lead. Brackenstar couldn't risk his health, as with no starclan, he never got the other 8 lives, and he hadn't picked a deputy in moons. It's not as if the stars could approve.

Grief was a heavy thing during this journey, dozens of cats had died during and in the moon after the fight. litters of kits were born stillborn, the first cases of such in Jayfeather's lifetime, and a barrage of predator attacks and water poisonings had killed off some of their best warriors. Most of the clans were injured, in one way or another, but they couldn't afford to stay at the Lake for any longer, so they walked, or were carried, or were dragged on sleds. There was bonding, in a way, but not the light hearted bonding that came with the Lake Journey, this was a bonding over trauma, over the horror they had witnessed. They had only been at the Lake for 4 generations, maybe less, it was a jarring experience to still have living cats who remembered being apprenticed in the Forest.

Except for Firestar, of course. He had been one of the casulaties of the initial fight, he hadn't lived to see the aftermath. Thunderclan missed him deeply, but none of them wanted him to bear witness to such a tragedy. But he wasn't gone, not entirely, as Sandstorm was carrying his kits. She only found out after he was gone.

Settling into the ocean territory was far more of an adjustment, Shadowclan was now back in a marshland, but those that remembered living in the Forest knew they'd starve far before anything else could kill them, so they went inwards, they claimed a cave system as most of their territory, the marshland only a mouth to it. a true Shadow now.

Riverclan went from grassland and rivers to a beach with rockpools, a jarring and completely new habitat that had animals the clans had never witnessed before. They had to completely change their hunting techniques, as ocean hunting was nothing like the rivers they were used to.

Thunderclan went from mostly oak to mostly birch, not a huge difference, but it was just similar enough to the Forest camp that the senior warriors were unable to settle for a long while. the remaining Frostthree kept swearing they could see their sister relearning how to walk in the clearing, Sandstorm couldn't shake the image of her father's body at the entrance, and Greystripe held back tears as he told stories of training alongside Firepaw and Ravenpaw. Dovewing left for Shadowclan, causing yet another reminder of the Forest.

Windclan was now in a human-planted flower field, compared to their dry heath and moorland. It was certainly a brighter enviroment, but they too adjusted to an underground camp, in the weaving tunnels under their territory. There were no cats left who remembered the days of Heatherstar and the original Tunnelers, though Onestar had tried valiantly to bring them back, as per Tallstar's last wish. Harestar had to work even harder to prove herself as a trustworthy cat, after her training in the Dark Forest.

Although the clans found a spot where the moon was well reflected in the puddles of a small cave, Starclan was unresponsive, and so nobody really went to it. Only Hollyleaf did.

But then, things got worse, as the Six lost their powers, at the same time, on the same day, with no warning. Dovewing was listening in on an apprentice ceremony in Windclan when everything went silent, and she realised she couldn't hear anything. Breezepelt was in the middle of a rant to Heathertail when his throat closed up. Lionblaze was helping with some heavy items when he suddenly collapsed to the ground, barely able to pick himself up. Raven and Bracken were finishing their nests in the abandoned twolegplace when they both fell severely ill, in opposite ways. Bracken ran burning hot, as Raven froze to the bone. It was only because Hollyleaf was on her way to check on them that they survived.

Hollyleaf herself didn't notice it, initially, as her powers are based on being around people, so travelling to the abandoned twolegplace on her own hid the loss of her powers until she found Raven and Bracken. And when she realised her powers were not responding, and neither were theirs, thats when she found out. Jayfeather also struggled to notice, until Lionblaze tried to tell him that he was okay after his collapse, and Jayfeather's lie detection didn't go off. It was only then did he realise he could only feel his own emotions, nobody else's were smothering him like normal. He hated that he didn't feel relieved.

Now, i havent decided if Ivypool gets powers too, or from the same place, but if she does, she is sleeping when it happens. When she is woken up in a panic by her clanmates- because of Jay and Lion's powers vanishing- she does not recognise them. she does not remember them. her power was a perfect memory, so without it, she develops some version of amnesia. Perhaps not permenant, but long-lasting enough that it seriously alters her life. She also exhausts far easier, her enhanced speed completely gone, replaced with bone-deep exhaustion most of the time.

The clans found this to be the worst part of it. Their star-given heroes, the prophecy cats that just saved the clans, were powerless. To say the clans panicked would be an understatement. They knew the stars were gone, but to revoke the powers of a prophecy already fufilled? the stars were not just gone, they had abandoned them. Night fell on that fateful day, and the sky was pitch black. the stars were gone.