Overwhelmed; Darkness

It was time. Shrikestar was okay with Coyotegrin putting the start of the tunnel project to the side after her kits were on solid foods. The queen had spent her time in the nursery musing relentlessly over how she should go about this project. No cat bore the knowledge necessary to make it work easily; the tunnels had fallen into depressing disrepair. All she knew of the tunnels was her sister's crushed frame and dying breath. Was she able to make it to StarClan? Was she forced to walk the tunnels forever, trapped? The thought made her nauseous. She named Goldenkit after her mother, Goldenstar, due to the golden color of his pelt. When it came to Daisykit... The name came from guilt.

But after moons of wallowing and musing, it would only be harmful to keep waiting to start. It was an early morning, and the kits were still asleep when Coyotegrin met Brackenwing at the entrance of the camp. The molly was large, unlike Coyotegrin who was small and lean, but she wasn't sure who else to ask. Hawkheart would be staying with the kits while she was gone, and would also send a rescue party if they had not returned by sun-high. Whisperpaw would be a great candidate for tunneling. In the future. She wasn't ready to subject them quite yet. So, Brackenwing was her next closest friend after those cats, and she had a stable head on her shoulders.

"Are you ready to go? I'm sorry to ask you of this." Coyotegrin said as a greeting to the other warrior, in a quiet and soft voice so as to not arouse the sleeping camp. She nodded to the camp entrance and headed out upon Brackenwing's response. As they traveled the moor, Coyotegrin kept a sharp eye out for a promising tunnel. It was nice to finally stretch her paws out again and feel the fresh air on her face, the grass beneath the paws, and the sun on her pelt. It had been too many moons, though she was grateful to have a happy family.

A large tunnel gaped out of the side of a hill, and the calico slowed to a halt in front of it. Studying the entrance for obvious signs of danger, she saw none. After a few heartbeats, she turned to her companion. "Well, this is the best spot as any. Now that we are out of earshot of the camp, I should probably explain what is going on. Shrikestar has asked me to be the Tunnel Captain, and repair and build tunnels for WindClan to safely use again to our advantage and safety. I ask that you keep this to yourself, though. I don't want rumors to spread quite yet, as I'm not sure where to go from here. I figured my first step would be to see how bad the tunnels are..." She hesitated for a second, and then glanced at the gaping hole. The darkness would be all-consuming, and the space claustrophobic. A twinge of frustration tugged at her chest; she much rather would have been Deputy than Tunnel Captain. But Shrikestar trusted her, and asked her to do this. Her loyalty laid soley at the leader's paws. WindClan would remember her name through this project, if she could not be remembered as Coyotestar.

Attention turning back to Brackenwing, she gave one single nod to set her thoughts straight. "I should probably go in first. Let me know when you are ready." Would either of them really ever be ready?

She'd been let out of Batsong's care, and Brackenwing was happy to be back in her own nest and not cooped up in the medicine den. The sun hadn't bothered her eyes in a few days and she could go for walks around camp without losing her balance, and so Batsong had reluctantly deemed her ready to return to her duties. She knew why Batsong was so protective, of course, and while Brackenwing appreciated it, she'd been antsy to get back to normal.

"Hey," Brackenwing mewed a soft greeting to Coyotegrin as she neared the camp entrance. "Don't worry about it." She added, turning and following the older warrior out of camp.

A dark opening in the hillside greeted them where Coyotegrin had come to a stop, and Brackenwing's first instinct was to check for predators. No scent of badger or fox that she could tell, that was good. Coyotegrin had began to speak, and Brackenwing turned her attention to the calico, tail twitching slowly back and forth as she listened. "You've discussed this with Shrikestar? Clearly you've given it a lot of thought." She murmured, more to herself than anything. "I can keep it to myself, you can count on me." She promised.

"How long's it been since any cat has been down there? I suspect they'll be a difficult repair either way with how often they're used now." She knew there had been deaths, of course,.. She would be lying if she said the idea didn't make her anxious.

"Now's as good a time to start as any." She smiled slightly, though it couldn't quite hide her nerves at the idea of heading into the tunnels. She'd spent a little time in some of the active rabbit warrens, just enough to catch prey and make her way back out, nothing more. "I'm ready when you are." She said, gingerly sniffing at the entrance to the tunnel once more.

Coyotegrin gave another firm nod. A confidence boost for herself, before turning once more to face the tunnel. With a deep breath, she entered the darkness. A strong scent of dirt and earth hit her senses, but she continued forward wearily. Quickly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she was able to see the faint outlines of the tunnels. Hopefully, her vision would become stronger as she spent more time down here. They passed support beams; old, but appeared to still be functioning. The close quarters of the tunnels was suffocating. But she pressed on. Struggling to hold back the memories of Daisypaw's death, her heart began to race more and more. Finally, they came across two forks in the tunnels. Both were blackholes; nothingness. She had to chose one, and to her, she had two chose quick. With a swish of her tail, she could feel the whiskers of Brackenwing behind her. "The right one." Coyotegrin called out to her companion so they didn't somehow get separated down here.

Taking the right one, thoughts ran through her head. While the anxiety was still there, she was able to finally convince herself to focus on the mission; see the state of the tunnels. The tunnel they entered from seemed to be good enough, but she started to see signs of increased decay in this one... It would need to be repaired. They should turn around, before going too deep in this one. "Brackenwing, we should turn around and check out the left one. This one is looking worse than the one we came from." Could they turn around? They would have to figure it out.

Taking a deep breath, Brackenwing followed after Coyotegrin into the darkness of the tunnels. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust properly and she stood, inhaling the earthy, dusty scent, heart pounding in her ears.

Brackenwing's eyes flicked around at the dark surroundings as she followed Coyotegrin, marbled tabby fur bristling instinctively. The tunnels were going to need work, that much was clear, but how? Coyotegrin's tail brushed against her whiskers, and Brackenwing shivered. The earth felt like it was pressing in around them, even with the branching tunnels. The right one, Coyotegrin said, and Brackenwing hesitantly followed. It was too dark to make out much in these tunnels, and the space was much too tight.

"I don't like this at all." She muttered, "These tunnels are tighter than I thought they would be." Turning around was awkward at best, but Brackenwing managed it and gingerly made her way toward the second of the tunnels. It was clear that Brackenwing was a bit too large to be playing in such spaces, but she couldn't very well back out. Windclan needed this. "Let's check this one out, then we can talk outside. In fresh air." And without feeling like she was going to trample the slightly smaller Coyotegrin, or like she was running into a wall at every turn.

Coyotegrin agreed with a solid 'mhm' but concentrated on the task of turning around herself. It was much easier for her than it was with Brackenwing. A fortunate thing due to her size, she supposed. It was a conflicting feeling being down here. She was starting to get used to the tunnels and found a strange comfort like a never ending hug; it was almost a struggle to fight the urge to relax and enjoy the experience. In the back of her head, she knew if she relaxed like she had with her sister, Daisypaw, things could go bad.

They amde it back to the entrance to the tunnel they had just been going down, and Brackenwing had just turned to enter the other tunnel when a low growl sound echoed across the walls. Freezing to a halt, hackles raised, Coyotegrin tried to distinguish a scent out of the dirt of the creature that made the sound. It was a waste of time, however, as the crimson fur of a fox and the yellow almost glowing eyes appeared in the mouth of the tunnel they came in from. "Fox!" She hissed to the other warrior, before turning to face the fox head on. "We can only fight one at a time down here so just be loud and scary as I drive it back."

The fox was inching closer, and Coyotegrin didn't hesitate. With a large shriek, she lunged awkwardly for its muzzle, slashing it with her claws. Pushing forward with her swipes. They needed to get the fox out into the open, and not fight down here.

Coyotegrin used Front Paw Strike for 7 SP and causing 8 damage. Coyotegrin used Swift Strike for 10 SP and causing 7 damage.

Coyotegrin
50/50 HP
103/120 SP (-17)

Fox
45/60 HP (-15)
180/180 SP

"Foxdung." Brackenwing muttered, staring into the amber eyes of the beast that the Windclanners had found themselves against. And Coyotegrin was right, the tunnels were much too tight for this... But running wasn't ideal either. Especially with how tight and claustrophobic these tunnels were. Moving around in them had proven awkward and cumbersome at best for Brackenwing thus far. She would be eager to get out into the fresh air and sunlight the moors offered. Once this fox was dealt with, of course. When Coyotegrin moved back, Brackenwing lumbered forward, jaws sinking into whatever part of the fox she could reach, yanking back hard. It had tried to go after her clanmate... That was a mistake.

Brackenwing used Tail Yank on Fox for -15 sp, dealing -8 damage.
Fox is stunned for one turn.
Moor Runner active, damage taken reduced by -1.

Brackenwing
50 / 50 hp
105 / 120 sp (120 - 15)

Fox
37 / 60 HP (45 - 8)
180 / 180 SP

Coyotegrin
50 / 50 hp
103 / 120 sp

The fox didn't expect to face such opposition in his own home. Growling, the fox started to back out of the tunnels slowly. His back paws scrambled in the dirt, unable to see where he was going it was too much to try to lash out and attack.

Coyotegrin was greatful that Brackenwing was there and willing to fight, even down in the dirt where StarClan couldn't see. She swiped and swiped at the fox's muzzle, attempting to blind the rotten creature so when they surfaced to the moor, it couldn't run. Coyotegrin was angry and frustrated; the fox her unlucky victim. In her defence, it attacked first.

The fox is stunned, but can fight after this turn.
Coyotegrin used Front Paw Strike for 7 SP and causing 8 damage. Coyotegrin used Swift Strike for 10 SP and causing 7 damage.
Moor Runner is active, -1 damage.

Brackenwing
50 / 50 hp
105 / 120 sp

Fox
23 / 60 HP (-14)
180 / 180 SP

Coyotegrin
50 / 50 hp
86 / 120 sp (-17)

The fox backed away awkwardly, growling all the while. It seemed to be having the same difficulties that Brackenwing and Coyotegrin were, the tunnels truly were a tight space to try and move around in, much less to fight in. Coyotegrin lashed out as Brackenwing had stepped back, and once she had, Brackenwing snapped at the fox and lashed out with her claws in turn. She hoped they could drive it off or kill it without sustaining too much injury themselves. The last thing they needed was to get hurt down here.

Brackenwing used Snap for -7 sp, dealing -8 damage.
Brackenwing used Swift Strike for -10 sp, dealing -7 damage.
Moor Runner is active, -1 damage.

Brackenwing
50 / 50 hp
88 / 120 sp (105 - 7 - 10)

Fox
8 / 60 HP (23 - 8 - 7)
180 / 180 SP

Coyotegrin
50 / 50 hp
86 / 120 sp

Anger, frustration, and determination fueled Coyotegrin as she lunged forward to attack once more. This fox would die. Leaving it alive would only allow it to return and keep the tunnels dangerous. She will be feast with the clan tonight. Rearing up as much as she could in the tunnel, she allowed the fox to go for her stomach. It fell for her bate, and using as much force as she could muster she slammed her paws down on the fox's head. She heard and felt the snapping of bone as she made contact with the fox's neck. The fox went limp under her paws and she backed up slightly, still ready for it to stand back up and keep fighting. It didn't. The panting warrior cocked her head to speak to Brackenwing. "It's dead. Let's drag it out of the tunnels, regroup at Lone Stump, and then bring it back to the clan to feast." She wanted to be home now, and see to Brackenwing getting medical attention, if she need it.

Coyotegrin used Upright Lock on the fox, causing 10 damage and using 10 SP. The fox is killed.

Brackenwing
50 / 50 hp
88 / 120 sp

Fox - Dead
0 / 60 HP (-10)
180 / 180 SP

Coyotegrin
50 / 50 hp
76 / 120 sp (-10)

Coyotegrin left her belly open to attack and the fox went for it, much too quickly for Brackenwing to react. The warrior's fangs sank into the predator's neck before the fox could do real damage however, and Brackenwing breathed a sigh of relief as it fell limply to the ground. Still breathing hard herself, Brackenwing nodded as her clanmate spoke. "Hopefully there's only the one." She mewed, "Yes, let's get out of here. It was cramped with just the two of us, much less this." She added with a huff. Gripping the fox by a hind leg, Brackenwing backed up, dragging it with her a bit to allow Coyotegrin to maneuver about the small space.