Buster

"Tell Buster that ShadowClan is whole again. Darktail is dead and the rogues are gone, and Rippletail's littermates, Cloverfoot and Berryheart, have come back. Can you remember all that, Fuzzball?"

— Alderheart telling Fuzzball to give Buster a message in River of Fire, page 273

Buster
The pixel artwork is fanart based on the canon description; undefined traits are left to the artist's interpretation.
Affiliations
Current:	Kittypet
Past:	The Kin, ShadowClan
Names
Kit:	Unknown
Warrior:	Rippletail
Rogue:	Rippletail
Kittypet:	Buster
Kin
Mother:	Snowbird
Father:	Scorchfur
Sisters:	Cloverfoot, Berryheart, Beenose, Yarrowleaf, Bluebellkit, Gullkit, Frondkit
Brother:	Conekit
Book appearances
Living	The Apprentice's Quest, Thunder and Shadow, Shattered Sky, River of Fire
Living	The Apprentice's Quest, Thunder and Shadow, Shattered Sky, River of Fire

Buster is a white tom.

History

In the A Vision of Shadows arc

The Apprentice's Quest

The Apprentice's Quest does not formally appear in The Blazing Star , but is listed in the allegiances.

Thunder and Shadow

Rippletail is on patrol at the ShadowClan border with Tigerheart and Cloverfoot. Alderpaw greets him and Twigkit is with him. She figures that the ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice knows their names from meeting them at Gatherings. Alderpaw states that they are gathering herbs and Rippletail questions why at night. Alderpaw replies that some herbs are best gathered at dark. The ShadowClan warrior looks at Twigkit, asking if ThunderClan send their kits out of camp at night often to help their medicine cats. The two ThunderClan cats are worried about Violetkit and if she is safe from the rogues. Rippletail is confident the rogues are no threat, but Alderpaw stares at the warrior and reminds him Furzepelt was killed. Rippletail huffs, pointing out that WindClan started that battle.

Rippletail is seen half-asleep outside the warriors' den, the wind rippling his fur. Later on, Rippletail and Mistcloud barge past Violetpaw, knocking Whorlkit and Flowerkit as they rushed across the clearing. Whorlkit protests, but the warriors ignore him. Tawnypelt snaps that they are late, and Rippletail replies, showing a lack of respect for the senior warrior, flicking his tail. Tawnypelt insists everyone must hunt and Rippletail steps in front of her, rubbing his nose with his paw. He states that sick cats do not eat and asks why they need to catch so much prey then.

When Twigpaw, who is being held hostage, tries to escape, Rippletail jumps at her but the apprentice escapes his grip. He then lines up beside Scorchfur, Mistcloud, and Sparrowtail with Lionpaw and Birchpaw joining him. Spikefur is disgruntled with Crowfrost letting Twigpaw go, and stalks across the camp. Rippletail and Mistcloud glance at each other before following him and the other angry cats.

The Clan is unhappy how hard they have to hunt to feed the sick cats. After Rowanstar and Tigerheart probably discuss who can hunt, they exit the leader's den. Rippletail's eyes are shown to have disdain and he crosses the camp to murmur something to Spikefur. Violetpaw wonders what they were talking about, and figures it’s nothing good by the look of it. Tigerheart then selects Rippletail as part of the patrol to hunt among the ditches.

When it is time for the Gathering, Rippletail, among a lot of the young cats, refuse to go to the Gathering due to the Clans not helping them fight the sickness. Darktail comes and takes over the Clan, stating whoever leaves for the Gathering will never come back. Rippletail remains behind with all the Clan except Rowanstar, Tigerheart, and Tawnypelt.

Shattered Sky

Rippletail is now a part of Darktail's Kin. Violetpaw notes him to be among the line of rogues that stand on the edge of the Thunderpath that separates the Kin's territory from RiverClan's, ready to attack.

Darkest Night

Rippletail is mentioned by Rowanstar as one of the many missing ShadowClan cats who have not returned, which causes shock upon the Clan cats.

River of Fire

Alderheart witnesses Rippletail talking to Fuzzball in a Twoleg garden when he decides to go back to Twolegplace to return Velvet's toy to her. He stares in shock as he realizes he knows this tom, calling out to him as he leaps down from the fence. Rippletail whirls around with a stunned look at the medicine cat before he bolts for a Twoleg den, pushing his way inside a small gap in the door. Alderheart continues to call his name, saying it's him from ThunderClan, but the white tom doesn't reappear.

Fuzzball walks up and touches noses with Alderheart as he greets him, and asks what Alderheart had called that cat. The ginger tom replies that the kittypet is called Rippletail and is a ShadowClan warrior, but Fuzzball only looks puzzled. The kittypet replies that he thinks Alderheart has got it wrong because the cat's name is Buster, and he'd told him all about life in the Clans. He adds that Buster surely would have told him if he'd been a part of them. The medicine cat questions if he'd been there for that long and Fuzzball replies that he'd been there for a while and seems very happy with his Twolegs.

Alderheart debates what to do as Rippletail seems happy, thinking that he maybe shouldn't disturb him if that's the case. He decides to ask Fuzzball to give Rippletail a message, to which the kittypet agrees. The ThunderClan cat slowly explains to tell Rippletail that ShadowClan is whole again, Darktail is dead, and two of his kin have returned to the Clans. Though he has to repeat it several times before Alderheart is confident he'll remember it, Fuzzball finally remembers and promises to tell Rippletail the message. The ginger kittypet warns that if the white tom is who he thinks he is, he may not want to come back. Alderheart thinks that he is probably right, based on the way Rippletail had fled at the sight of him.

When he returns to the Moonpool with the thyme Velvet had given him, Alderheart mentions to the cats present that he had seen Rippletail living in the Twolegplace as Buster, even though he feels bad about mentioning it. After they exchange shocked glances, Puddleshine finally mentions that it's good to know he's okay, and he'll tell Tigerstar and Tawnypelt about it to see if they'll send a cat to talk to him.

Trivia

Mistakes

• He was mistakenly called a tabby.
• There is a major inconsistency in what happened to Rippletail; In Tigerheart's Shadow he escapes the Kin and is one of the cats that return to ShadowClan, while in River of Fire, he is a kittypet, and Slatefur takes his place in the patrol back to ShadowClan.
  • Kate later confirmed he had become a kittypet, as in River of Fire, and Slatefur is the one who is actually meant to be on the patrol.

Character pixels

The pixel artwork is fanart based on the canon description; undefined traits are left to the artist's interpretation. Kit Version Warrior Version Rogue Version Loner Version Alternative Loner Version Kittypet Version

Kin

Members

Mother:

Snowbird: Living (As of Wind)

Father:

Scorchfur: Living (As of Wind)

Sisters:

Cloverfoot: Living (As of Wind)

Berryheart: Living (As of Wind)

Beenose: Deceased, verified StarClan member

Yarrowleaf: Living (As of Wind)

Bluebellkit: Deceased, verified StarClan member

Frondkit: Status unknown

Gullkit: Status unknown

Brother:

Conekit: Status unknown

See more

Nieces:

Needletail: Deceased, verified StarClan member

Sunkit: Status unknown

Nephews:

Spirekit: Status unknown

Hollowkit: Status unknown

Uncle:

Ratscar: Living (As of Squirrelflight's Hope)

Nieces/Nephews:

Flaxkit: Status unknown

Hopkit: Status unknown

Tree

Unknown

Kinkfur ♀

Scorchfur ♂

Snowbird ♀

Ratscar ♂

Dewkit ♀

Mistcloud ♀

Sparrowtail ♂

Berryheart ♀

Cloverfoot ♀

Beenose ♀

Yarrowleaf ♀

Nettle ♂

Buster ♂

Gullswoop ♀

Frondwhisker ♀

Conefoot ♂

Bluebellkit ♀

See more

Fringewhisker ♀

Spireclaw ♂

Hollowspring ♂

Needletail ♀

Flaxfoot ♂

Hopwhisker ♀

Sunbeam ♀

Nightheart ♂

See more

    = Tom

    = She-cat

    = Gender unknown

Quotes

Alderpaw: "Gathering herbs."

Rippletail: "At night?"

^{Thunder and Shadow}

Rippletail: "Besides, the rogues are no threat."

Alderpaw: "They killed Furzepelt."

^{Thunder and Shadow}

Tawnypelt: "You're late for the morning meeting."

Rippletail: "So?"

^{Thunder and Shadow}

"Sick cats don't eat. Why do we need to catch so much prey?"

―Rippletail, unconcerned about the sick cats

""Never. We made a terrible decision. We didn't realize that Darktail was a liar and a bully. We truly thought he could make ShadowClan stronger and safer. We are wrong. And we will spend our lives making up for it to ShadowClan, if they agree to take us back.""

―Rippletail to Tigerheart