Another chapter! Hope you liked the last one!! Me and my Beta are proud of our work so far and hope that you enjoy what our crazy minds come up with!!

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"Marigoldkit, how's my pelt look?"

Marigoldkit watched as Brokenkit tried in vain to get his dark brown tabby fur to lie down flat, but there was no helping him, he would forever look like a nettle patch that got into a fight with a group of angry squirrels.

"Still looks like a prickly bush to me." Marigoldkit teased, lightly bumping shoulders with her best friend as he scowled at her. "But it gives you a fierce appearance so I think it should stay this way." That seemed to give Brokenkit an ego boost and in an instant her best friend was sitting taller with his head held high as Marigoldkit quietly murmured in amusement to herself.

Sitting side by side both Marigoldkit and Brokenkit were impatiently awaiting the time till they were to be made apprentices. They would be made apprentices together, as Raggedstar had told them they would be. This was a good thing seeing as Deerkit and Tanglekit have already been made apprentices a moon ago, being made apprentices together meant that Brokenkit and Marigoldkit wouldn't have to deal with them alone.

Leaning against her, Brokenkit whispered into Marigoldkit's ear, "I bet father is going to make me his apprentice!"

Marigoldkit's ear twitched as his hot breath brushed over it, and she turned her head slightly to give him a dubious look, "Don't father's never mentor their own kits?"

Brokenkit shrugged, "I'm sure he'd make an exception for me."

Marigoldkit was still doubtful and hoped that Brokenkit didn't get his hopes up too high, because from what she was feeling, it didn't feel right for a parent to mentor their own kit. The sleek, flame-pelted she-kit wasn't able to suggest this as she became distracted by Raggedstar bursting from his den, his amber eyes shining with excitement no doubt for the upcoming apprentice ceremony, and watched as the ShadowClan leader jumped on the Clanrock as he called the Clan for without a doubt, Marigoldkit and Brokenkit's apprentice ceremony.

Loud and clearly the ShadowClan leader stated, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Clanrock for a meeting!" The Clan slowly existed their dens and stopped what they were doing in order to gather around the Clanrock, there were murmurs going around, all aware of what was happening, and a mix of reactions from disinterested to curiosity and also the question of who will become the mentors to the son of the leader and the outsider.

Raggedstar waited till they all were settled before gesturing for Marigoldkit and Brokenkit to step forward. Both did so with barely controlled excitement and whiskers, tails and ears shivering with anticipation.

"Today I introduce two new apprentices into the Clan, Marigoldkit and Brokenkit are both ready to start their apprentice training!" The ShadowClan gestured to his son first.

"Nightpelt, you are an intelligent and dedicated warrior. I know that you will do your best to pass on these qualities to Brokenpaw."

"Brokenpaw! Brokenpaw!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Marigoldkit could see the abrupt change in her newly apprenticed best friends countenance, from what was originally excitement and anticipation went straight to grumpy with the obvious displeasure of getting a totally different mentor to the one Brokenpaw had been hoping for. But he kept his head held high and touched noses with a small, lean, and battered, black tom with a long tail, and a short, glossy pelt begrudgingly.

Brokenpaw brushed past Marigoldkit as he followed his new mentor towards the sidelines, and Marigoldkit caught him giving her an encouraging look and that gave the flame-pelted she-kit the courage needed to stand alone before the Clan, awaiting to be assigned a mentor.

"Flintfang, you have never before had an apprentice. I believe it's time to change that and reward you for your hard work as a loyal and trusted warrior. You will mentor Marigoldpaw and I hope to see a great outcome."

"Marigoldpaw! Marigoldpaw!"

Marigoldpaw could tell that the Clan wasn't entirely cheering for her, she hadn't lived that long with the Clan nor did she have blood ties within ShadowClan to gain that much attention or involvement yet, it sounded more like they were cheering for Flintfang, a highly regarded warrior from the sounds of it.

The warrior in question seemed surprised by Raggedstar's sudden decision but nonetheless appeared thrilled, the gray tom with very thick fur on his paws stepped forward the same time as Marigoldkit and stretched his head down low to touch noses with the bright orange she-kit to officially confirmed that Marigoldkit was now Marigoldpaw.

The newly made apprentice followed her mentor to stand beside Brokenpaw and his mentor and watched as Flintfang and Nightpelt were congratulated on becoming mentors. Both Brokenpaw and Marigoldpaw were somewhat pushed to the side by all the attention their mentors were receiving, though the newly made apprentices didn't really care too much.

"I can't believe my father gave me that old bag of bones as a mentor," Brokenpaw grouched, heavily disappointed. "He's so old, practically an elder! My father better make it up to me when Nightpelt starts to neglect my training because he has to take constant breaks to catch his breath."

Marigoldpaw felt sympathetic for her best friend. He did deserve better than an old elder who probably wouldn't be able to keep up with Brokenpaw's fiery drive and dedication to proving himself. But another part of her could understand that Brokenpaw may actually benefit from Nightpelt's level-headedness and calm approach to conflict situations.

A sudden shudder went down Marigoldpaw's back as the young she-cat thought of Brokenpaw in a conflict situation. For some reason it made her feel terrified of him being in a situation that called for fighting or war. As strongly as it came, Marigoldpaw strongly pushed it down deep, it was just the concern for her friend being in a situation where he could be hurt. She ignored the fact she felt more terrified at the feeling of the enemy going up against her friend.

"I think there might be some spare nests already set up in the apprentices den that you both could use." Nightpelt called out to the pair, drawing their attention. "Why don't you check them out for now and get settled in your new den first."

Marigoldpaw thought that was a good idea. Though Brokenpaw seemed disappointed that they weren't automatically going to go training. He's been anticipating his apprenticeship for so long now and couldn't wait to get started, Marigoldpaw was aware.

"Come on," Marigoldpaw flicked her tail over Brokenpaw's nose, gaining his attention. "Let's go check out these nests. I want the better one."

"Not if I get it first!" Brokenpaw playfully growled as he unexpectedly charged forward, causing Marigoldpaw to gasp in surprise.

"You cheater!" Marigoldpaw cried out, racing after her friend but he was already pushing his way into the thornbush den when she managed to catch up.

The flame-pelted apprentice pushed her way in behind her friend and saw his fur bristling up in anger. Confused, Marigoldpaw turned her head to look in the direction that her friend was looking.

The supposed pre-made nests that had been awaiting them were obviously destroyed beyond use and the culprits, Deerpaw and Tanglepaw, standing over them without an ounce of guilt to be seen. Infact, there was a sort of smugness to them as if they accomplished something in their short unimpressive life's.

"Hey! Those were our nests!" Brokenpae growled at the pair of siblings, glaring hateful at them.

"And we were the ones forced to make them in the first place, therefore they were ours to do what we pleased with." Tanglepaw retorted, baring her sharp fangs back at him smugly.

"Guess neither of you will have a place to sleep tonight." Deerpaw added.

"You think you're both so almighty." Brokenpaw spat, his anger spiking and Marigoldpaw knew she had to intervene before a fight broke out in the den.

Miraculously, or by Brokenpaw's own choice, Marigoldpaw was able to hold her friend back, "this is just the result of a traumatic kit-hood where they were never loved by their parents" Marigoldpaw shot Deerpaw and Tanglepaw a glare of her own as she continued, "besides, there's enough here for us to construct our own nests."

Some of what she said seemed to somewhat calm Brokenpaw down. But the tension and animosity still lingered in the den as Marigoldpaw and Brokenpaw began collecting bits and pieces of the destroyed nests and began assembling them into makeshift ones until they were able to go out and collect new material. Their nests were somewhat mashed together, appearing as though it was one big one, kind of like how the nest that they shared as kits used to look. They didn't have enough good material to make separate nests at the moment but sharing a nest between themselves didn't sound so bad to either of the best friends.

"That looks like a pile of dirt!" Tanglepaw snidely remarked, getting a snort from her brother.

"How they are related to Runningpaw I'll never know." Marigoldpaw muttered as she once again stops Brokenpaw from jumping into a fight with the older apprentices.

Runningpaw had become Yellowfang's apprentice on the day of his sixth moon. The nervous gray-and-white tom that usually avoided conflict had accepted his destiny as a future medicine cat without complaint, although how he will fare as a medicine cat will depend on whether or not he could cure his own runny nose.

Once they were done they shared a look that conveyed their agreement to get more bedding as soon as possible. But those plans were put on hold as they heard their mentors calling out for them outside their den.

"Good luck on your first day!" Tanglepaw said mockingly as Marigoldpaw and Brokenpaw exited the den, both anticipating a long journey to becoming warriors.

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Fun Facts:

Admittedly I hadn't a clue as to who to choose from as mentor for Marigoldpaw so my Beta settled it for me and now we have Flintfang as her mentor!!!

Brokenpaw's has stayed the same for future reasons!

Tanglepaw and Deerpaw will have their day as bullies usually do.

Brokenpaw and Marigoldpaw being BFF'S

Marigoldpaw continues to show us how small she really is.

Marigoldpaw without a bent tail tip is something we will have to remedy as it's customary in basically all my female Firestar AU's at this point that she has a bent tail tip. (It's gonna be even more fun with Brokenpaw/tail around!)

Might do a time skip so that we can start getting into the good stuff!!!

I'm throwing some shade at Runningnose and his inability to cure his own cold.