Warriors: A Fan-Based Series Book 1: Snowballing Troubles Chapter 4 Part 1 “S-Snowball, Snowball!!” Nearby the nursery, a kit shouted, running towards him. Snowball was now fully healed, and he also headed in the kit’s direction. The kit finally screeched to a halt right in front of Snowball, nearly crashing into him. Her shiny pelt was a pretty pearly white and peach, with pink tinged around her muzzle. Her grey-brown eyes were sparkly and bright, even brighter than Crystalpaw’s, whose eyes were really bright! Panting, the kit said to Snowball, “Today… I… am going to… become… AN APPRENTICE!” She sat up straight and tall, looking cheerfully at him. Her eyes shone and the spark in them danced about happily. “Wow, that’s great, Blossomkit!” Snowball gave the excited kit a grin. Looking at Blossomkit’s eager face, he suddenly recalled Acorntree on the day of his warrior naming ceremony, feeling a pang of sadness in his heart. He was distracted from his thoughts by Blossomkit, who beamed back at him and turned away. She bounded towards the space outside the nursery, where a pastel yellow kit with white paws waited for her. Watching as Blossomkit and her friend chattered merrily, Snowball sighed and his mind was filled with memories of Acorntree again. He took a deep breath, thinking, Acorntree is dead, it’s alright, don’t think about it. Afterwards, Snowball headed to the warrior den, hoping to get some rest after hunting the whole dawn. He entered the den, thinking that it was empty, but was pleasantly surprised to find Flowerheart in the warrior den grooming herself. After all, she was supposed to be patrolling the borders that morning. Seeing Snowball standing awkwardly at the entrance of the warrior den, Flowerheart stopped licking herself and beckoned him inside. “What’s up, Snowball?” she asked as he sat beside her on the moss. “Um… do you know that Blossomkit is going to become an apprentice today?” Snowball said quickly, feeling his face blush a fiery red. Why did he always feel like this around Flowerheart? “Oh, yes. She did mention it to me earlier. By the way, I heard that Foxtail is going to be her mentor. Another kit called Honeykit, Blossomkit’s friend, is also becoming an apprentice too. I’m not sure who her mentor will be, though,” mewed Flowerheart. Foxtail was Acorntree’s best friend since they were kits. Snowball asked, “I thought you were supposed to be patrolling the borders now?” He gestured with his paws a little. “Oh, Rainstar said I am to have the sun-high patrol instead,” she explained. Snowball nodded slowly and suggested that they go and hunt for the clan together. Flowerheart agreed and they went to the forest to hunt. As it was still new-leaf, prey was plentiful and in a few moments, they had caught plenty of prey and went back to camp, dumping the fresh-kill into the fresh-kill pile. Flowerheart then went off for the border patrol. Snowball, after his friend left, had nothing to do so he went back to the warrior den. Approaching the warrior den, he saw Foxtail. Foxtail was sitting outside the den, looking around. Peering into the den, Snowball realised there was no one inside. Snowball sighed. He had nothing to do. There was more than enough prey for the clan and he was told to not go on patrols. But he didn’t want to think about Acorntree. The conversations about his brother had made him feel heavy-hearted. Left with no choice, Snowball mustered every bit of courage within him and went over to Foxtail. “Uh, hey,” he said. He was not the kind who made friends. He was friends with Flowerheart because she was the one who actually talked to him and so he warmed up to her. “Hello,” Foxtail greeted back. Then there was an awkward silence hanging in the air. “I really miss Acorntree.” Foxtail lowered his head, pawing at the ground. Snowball finally sat down beside Foxtail and said, “Me too.” The orange-brown tabby went on, “Acorntree was one of the best hunters. Too bad he isn’t around no more. No wonder our fresh-kill pile is getting lesser than what it used to be before.” Foxtail laughed at his own joke. A little smile played on Snowball’s face and he urged Foxtail to tell him more. “Well, Acorntree just loved climbing trees. Since he was a kit, when we played together, he would always climb up trees near the nursery and look at me from the top. Being agile, he had no problems getting to the top of the very high ones.” Foxtail said, looking up to the sky. “He is also great at hunting. I recognise him as one of the best hunters. Not just because we were really good friends. You should know that too. Actually… you are like him in many ways.” Hearing that last sentence of Foxtail’s, Snowball was surprised. He did not expect Foxtail to notice him, let alone compare him with his brother. “R-really?” Snowball asked after a pause of shock. Foxtail nodded. “Both of you can hunt very well. StormClan has never run out of fresh-kill so far.”
Written by: @lostMyBigAcount & @HaizKLyn
