Emberkit growled to himself. The black kit leapt upwards, towards the damp stone walls of the tunnels. He hooked his short claws in between the cracks and pushed off the wall with his hind legs, flying backwards.

The three-moon old kit twisted midair and landed on his feet. A spike of shock ran up his foreleg, but he only wobbled a little.

"Yes!" he cheered.

"Nice moves," came a voice behind him. The fiery-eyed kit turned to see Tigerheart, his father.

"It really was brilliant, wasn't it!" Emberkit stated proudly.

Tigerheart purred at his youngest kit. "It certainly was."

"Please," Pouncekit said, rolling her eyes. "I could do that."

"Go ahead," Emberkit said, gong to sit by the other kits, Lightkit, Shadowkit, Hollykit, Sorrelkit, and Fernkit.

Pouncekit got into the position and prepared to leap. She bunched up her hind legs beneath her and jumped up to the same position that Emberkit had been in.

Pouncekit nearly made it, but as she landed her legs buckled and she feel to the ground.

"Good try sis," Lightkit said, helping Pouncekit up.

"You almost landed it!" Emberkit purred, giving his sister an encouraging smile.

Pouncekit shook her pelt out, allowing the slight dust to fall from her fur.

"Ok kits, it time to go outside," Dovewing called, Cinderheart following her out of the makeshift nursery.

After the Dark Battle some of the clan cats had been moved to the underground tunnels so it was easier for the Dark Forest cats to keep an eye on them. Emberkit thought it was clever, keeping most of them all together as too keep them from running away, and making them easier to keep track of.

Cats from all four clans lived down there, and they'd explored a lot of the tunnels during the ten moons that they'd lived down there for, but no-where near all of them.

Every day two hunting patrols would be sent out, each with three clan warriors and two Dark Forest warriors. In the Territory, which is what they called clan land, there were at least five cats stationed at each camp. Prisoners and executes would be kept at the ThunderClan camp, since it was the easiest to guard, away from the other cats and only fed scraps and crow-food, then, at the Full-Moon gathering, their fate would be decided before StarClan.

Ivypool, one of the cats stationed in the Tunnels, padded over to them.

"I'm supposed to escort you today," she said, not looking at Dovewing.

Emberkit waited for everyone else to pad into one of the few remaining exit tunnels before falling in beside Ivypool. He's always thought the silver striped Dark Forest warrior was interesting.

"Why did you join the Dark Forest?" he asked Ivypool, curiosity filling his flaming gaze.

He could see Dovewing stiffen ahead of him, but he was intent on getting an answer.

"I was unappreciated and hardly noticed. It made me jealous and that's when I met Hawkfrost," Ivypool replied after a moment.

"Some of the older warriors talk about you and Hawkfrost, there are rumors going around," Emberkit said, looking back up at his aunt.

"Well they aren't true. I'm Hawkfrost's assistant so of course I have to spend time with him. I'm not much for romance," Ivypool replied, tail flicking.

Emberkit didn't press.

The silver-and-white she-cat padded to the front as they approached the cave entrance. She nodded to Fear and Cloversky as the group padded by, heading towards what used to be the ThunderClan training area.

Emberkit purred in the dappled sunlight. He liked the sun, but he'd always found the damp walls of the cave comforting. He loved running off into the pitch blackness of a cave, only being able to rely on his other senses.

The black tom-kit liked talking to Jayfeather about him being blind, always wondering what it would be like to only see black. Jayfeather had told him that going into the tunnels was like being blind, it was pitch black in there and you only had your other senses to rely on. That's what lead Emberkit to enter the tunnels for the first time, and many times after that.

Emberkit watched as the she-kits went to chase some butterflies, and Fernkit, Shadowkit, and Emberkit stayed near the edge of the clearing.

"I get that chasing butterflies used to be fun, but don't you think fighting and getting our paws dirty is more fun?" Fernkit asked.

Emberkit looked around and spotted a puddle of mud, still wet due to recent rain. "Getting our paws dirty, hmm?"

Shadowkit and Fernkit shared a look, before they both grinned at Emberkit.

The three tomkits let out yowls of joy as they bounded towards the mud, each taking flying leaps and landing in the puddle, splashing the thick brown liquid everywhere.

Emberkit swiped some mud and his brother, Shadowkit, and didn't manage to avoid being tackled by Fernkit. The three kits were now wrestling in the mud, getting themselves as messy as possible.

By the time it was time for them to go back to the tunnels, the three were covered from ears to tail tip in mud.

All four she-kits were glaring at them with disgust.

"I get the roughhousing," Sorrelkit said, flicking her tail. "But did you really have to add mud to the mix?"

All four toms grinned, and, in unison, shouted, "Yup!"