A New Beginning: The Lost Hope

Chapter 4

After the passing of six moons, it was time for Ivypaw's final assessment before she could become a warrior.

Lots had changed since her apprentice ceremony. All the apprentices except for Snowpaw and Fluffypaw got their warrior name. Acornfur and Adderstrike went to the elder's den whilst Flowerwhisker had her kits and the clan became immediately active when it was obvious it was slowly dying.

The saddest thing though was how much sickness had killed. Some cats were now infected by a mystery sickness plaguing the fresh-kill. It was the animals getting into twoleg trash. From that mystery sickness, Mistpaw, Spottedstorm, Dawnflight, and Smokeskip all died and Mossheart was the only one that remained with the sickness. It was quite clear though that she'd be joining her fellow clanmates soon in Starclan.

No one really cared what happened with the Shadowclan cats. To be honest, all they knew was that they tried to put off as many apprentice and warrior ceremonies as possible because they weren't in their true territory anymore.

But all Ivypaw could focus on right now was the squirrel eating a nut in front of her.
She couldn't smell Mapleleaf's scent nearby, but she was almost certain she was watching. The cat had been able to climb trees, so it was possible she was hiding there.

In anticipation and excitement, she wiggled her haunches, getting ready to pounce, but hr tail brushed against the tall grass, alerting her prey. She cursed Starclan as it ran away. She only had a pitiful caught two mice, one squirrel, and one bird, and she could see Mapleleaf jumping down from tree in the distance.

Ivypaw groaned, "is my assessment over?"

Mapleleaf nodded and mewed, "I think you did well."

The apprentice retorted, "then why in Starclan did you end the assessment when I failed to catch a squirrel?"

"I decided I had tortured you enough after you didn't catch the squirrel," Mapleleaf explained.

"Great Starclan, sometimes I really hate you," Ivypaw hissed back sarcastically.

Mapleleaf pretended to be offended as she scowled, "I can't believe you Ivypaw! Here I am, mentoring you, making you into a warrior, giving you your final hunting assessment, and you say you hate me? I am greatly offended!"

Ivypaw didn't respond, but she just rolled her eyes.

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When they got back to camp, Mapleleaf was about to go and report to Squirrelstar the results of the final hunting assessment and Ivypaw was about to go see her mother in the medicine cat's den. But then, they heard a yowl of pain as Snowpaw dashed into camp, her hind leg trailing behind her limply, with a large scratch through the middle of it.

Fruitpaw, now Fruitleaf, being one of Snowpaw's closest friends, dashed out of the medicine cat den quickly to sit by her side. "Snowpaw," she asked, "what happened?"

Snowpaw hissed in pain as Squirrelstar slowly stepped out of her den and onto the highrock, "it's Cloudfur's patrol..."

Fruitleaf replied, "we can't do anything to help you or Cloudfur if you don't tell us exactly what happened." The cats slowly got out of their dens to see what was going on.

Snowpaw croaked, "twolegs, thunderpath..."

Squirrelstar didn't hesitate to question, "who else was on Cloudfur's patrol?"

Snowpaw cried, "Foxface, Applebelly, Bramblebush, and Fluffypaw..."

Squirrelstar's face changed to a face of fear and grief. It was quite a tragic thing to look at. The reason behind this was that Cloudfur was Squirrelstar's mate and Foxface was one of their children, and after rumors of her insanity going around Thunderclan, losing the cats she cared for most would cause one of the worst feelings an insane mother and leader like her could have.

Then the leader asked, "did any of them die?"

Snowpaw's breath hitched for a second before she mewed, "I only saw Cloudfur fall, but Foxfur was outnumbered..." But before the answer had even come out of her mouth, Squrirelstar was already nowhere to be seen.

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When Squirrelstar entered, Finchwing was ready to talk. The leader had been taking deathberries to put inside of prey to keep snakes away from Thunderclan territory and killing them for a while now, but Finchwing had just recently heard the rumors and was ready to stop giving her mother the berries. "Mom," was all the medicine cat said.

Squirrelstar scowled, "I need more deathberries. The snakes haven't gotten the message yet."

"I won't give you anymore deathberries," Finchwing explained, her voice wavering only slightly, "I don't know what you're doing with them but I'm sure as Starclan that you aren't using them to warn away snakes."

The leader stood face-to-face with the medicine cat for a while, tail flicking in anger, until she eventually said, "okay then, I'll leave you be. May Starclan light your path, my brave daughter."

Finchwing sat down, muttering a small "good" and started licking her paw whilst Squirrelstar started to exit the den. Then, at the last moment, the leader turned around quickly and dashed towards where she knew Finchwing and Fruitleaf kept the deathberries.

The medicine cat yet out a yelp of fear as she tried to get up to stop what was happening, but it was too late. By the time she had exited her den, Squirrelstar was nowhere to be seen.

But one cat did see Squirrelstar dash out of the medicine cat's den. She was another one of her and Cloudfur's daughters.

She knew what was happening, and she was determined to stop it.

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Squirrelstar leaned over the pile of deathberries in her den when she heard a cat come in. She asked, "who is it?"

"Your daughter," the cat replied.

Squirrelstar questioned, "Mapleleaf, Finchwing, Flowerwhisker, or Mistyflight?"

Then the cat came into view of the leader. "Hello mom," she said.

Squirrelstar sighed, "hello Mapleleaf."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey folks! Thanks for reading Chapter 4! So, Cloudfur and Foxface are presumed dead and Squirrelstar is about to commit suicide but Mapleleaf is going to try and convince her not to. In the next chapter, Ivypaw becomes a warrior and her life changes completely in an instant when an important cat in her life dies.

Anyways, I hope that y'all have an amazing day, and I'll see you in the next chapter, byeeeeee!

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