I meant to post this a LOOOOONG time ago, so sorry for the delay, but here it is! I hope you all enjoy.

So this is set in the old territories, before WindClan cats were using the tunnels in their territory. I was looking around at Warriors lore and realized that they said who first started using the tunnels, an ancients cat named Shattered Ice. He's in Gray Wind's camp if you guys know the Dawn of the Clans series. But they never actually gave a description of how they discovered the tunnels. So I decided to make the scenario. Enjoy! Because in my mind, every great discovery happens one way- through completely innocent accident!

Warning- Minor spoilers for people who have not read the Dawn of the Clans series.

~Blaze

Short Story: Tunnels

"It's so COLD." Someone behind him complained. Shattered Ice ignored it.

"I'm hungry." Another whined.

"Why are we sitting here in the camp instead of getting more food?" The gray and white tom whirled around, eying the group of three in annoyance.

"You are sitting here because there IS no prey to find! All of them have gone in their burrows. Maybe instead of complaining, you can go out and try hunting again!" The three cats blinked in shock at him as he tried to control his breathing.

This lack of prey was taking its toll on every cat in the Clan. With this harsh, horrible leafbare, it was no wonder that the prey decided to hide from sight. Yet now they were left hungry, and once more, regretting their decision to leave from the Tribe.

Was this truly the right decision? It feels like leaving the Tribe was a bad idea. As if no matter what, we will always be forced to move to a different territory, only to struggle and want for food. Shattered Ice hung his head.

No cat had taken these rough times harder than him. As a cat determined to help his Clan, sitting by and doing nothing felt like a horrible waste and made him feel useless.

With an angry growl, the gray and white tom rose to his paws. With quick steps, he padded out of the camp without a backwards glance.

Shattered Ice was disheartened. The territory, usually covered in lush, green grass and thick bushes and brambles, was a shade of its former glory. It's yellowed grass and dead foliage brought no peace to his mind, and revealed to him just how few places there were for animals to hide.

Where could the prey be? Shattered Ice wondered. On open plains like these, there could only be one place. But how could we ever lure them out?

The tom had realized long before this harsh leaf-bare started that the prey hadn't left. In colder months like these they simply burrowed underground and feasted on the nuts and food that they had stored for the colder months. They would never come out from under the ground; they had no reason to!

The gray and white Warrior sped up, approaching an area that was largely considered to be the best hunting grounds in green-leaf. Even now he spied the tiny brown shapes of mice and the larger forms of rabbits, yet as he approached, they spotted him from far away and darted off.

Shattered Ice held his breath as one rabbit, a smaller, brown one, sat still and unmoving while munching on a piece of hay. It didn't seem to hear him come closer.

Maybe I can get lucky and bring some prey home for the Clan! He thought hopefully. Already his muscles were bunching in anticipation of a chase.

His body darted forward instinctively, the tom barreling down on the little rabbit. To his dismay, the tiny creature sped away, faster than the tired, hungry tom. Shattered Ice chased in frustration, gaining no ground on the creature but following its trail across the clearing until it dived into a burrow.

Shattered Ice stopped just before it, knowing the potential danger of sticking a paw or his face near a burrow.

"I had it!" He yelled angrily, stomping a paw.

What was that noise? As his paw came down, a strange shifting sound eminated from the ground. It was similar to the sound of sand falling down a hillside. But there was no sand here...

"Ah!" Shattered Ice cried in shock as the ground beneath him seemed to open up.

It only took moments for a wave of soil to give, pouring massive amounts of dirt down into uncharted depths. Shattered Ice gasped as he was sucked down, becoming steadily buried by the soil. It seemed to pull him impossibly far down in the depths of the ground, covering him with piles and piles of dirt and grass.

Shattered Ice was deposited at the foot of the pile, soil streaming down his body and face. The tom spluttered and spat, shaking his head desperately as dirt threatened to clog his lungs and block his airways.

He clawed his way desperately out of the mound, hacking as he brushed the dirt off his body. Everything around him was pitch black. He could see nothing, and felt only dirt beneath his paws.

As another pile of dirt cascaded down, covering the tom, he felt what little breath he had get knocked out of him. Light-headed, he stumbled forward before crashing to the ground, unconcious.

When Shattered Ice finally woke, he had no idea where he was. He stared around in the inky blackness with fear and no small amount of loathing. He hated small spaces. There was a reason that he chose to live in the open moor territory rather than the forest with Clear Sky.

The young tom walked forward, trying to remember. He wasn't above ground anymore; that much was obvious. Why was he covered in dirt? He let out a small wail as he finally remembered how he had gotten there. The tom shivered in the darkness. His mouth was dry; who knew how long it had been since he first fell? Grumbling, he shook his pelt, knocking dirt and dust everywhere.

Shattered Ice let out a sneeze, stumbling a few steps forward from the force. The patched tom startled as he felt stone beneath his paws. Now that he was away from the dirt, he was acutely aware of how much larger the area he was in was now. He had somehow come from a small rabbit hole to some sort of cavern.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" He yowled, nose pointed to the sky, His voice echoed, leaving only silence.

The brown tom decided to explore the area, hoping to find something to tell him where he was or how to escape. At this point, he really just wanted to see the sky again.

He stepped forward, one paw in front of the other, carefully patting the ground in front of him. As far as he could tell, he was on a huge, thick slab of stone. He padded forward, steps turning more confident. He was going to get out of this place! Eventually!

As he sneezed again, Shattered Ice inhaled once more. This time, without all the obstruction, he was able to make out more scents.

"It smells, dank. Like stagnant water. No animal scent." His voice sounded weird echoing around the cave, but Shattered Ice felt as if he would go crazy in the silence. He was used to the wind in his ears and the constant rustling of animals and nature. The silence was unnerving.

Drip. Shattered Ice jumped. Drip. He turned his head away from the noise. He could tell that it was coming from further ahead to the right, but it was still dark enough that he could not see it. The tom pressed his body against the wall to his left, using it as a guide to whatever might lay beyond.

Following the wall, he startled once more as he felt it curve away from him. The ceiling seemed to be closing in on him, the walls becoming narrower. He could feel his fur brushing against the sides of the cave.

A few more steps led to him crouching to get through the space. The tom fought his inner panic, pushing through the area faster in hopes that he would find something good at the end. He could smell fresher air down this tunnel, and it motivated him to keep moving.

Was it getting lighter? The gray and white cat looked around, noticing that he could now make out the barest of colors and shapes. It was getting lighter, he realized as he stared at his white paws. With renewed vigor he crawled forward, moving recklessly.

The tunnel pressed even closer over his head, making his breath come out in little pants. He knew full well that he was panicking and it was probably a bad idea in this area. Yet Shattered Ice could barely think coherently, especially as the tunnel got tighter and smaller, crushing him to the ground.

What if the tunnel was a dead end? What if he kept moving until he couldn't go forward or backwards and got stuck in this horrible, tight space?

The tom could barely prevent himself from crying in relief when the tunnels began opening once more. Now it was light enough that he could see in front of him, and now as he looked he could see the exit.

Shattered Ice tumbled head first out of the opening, crashing into more hard stone. He got up, stumbling forward simply to get away from his overwhelming fear.

Drip. Drip. SPLASH!

Shattered Ice flailed as his front paws came in contact with water. He opened his eyes to the unwelcome sight of a large underground pond. Who knew how deep it stretched? He had a feeling that it was huge because of the rainfall from two days ago. Many of the rivers on their territory had overflowed.

The tom wisely stepped back from the water, taking in his surroundings. This was a cave that he liked a lot more than the first one. He could see, which was always good, and the area was huge.

The lake took up the center of the huge cavern, but around the lake there was the promise of rocky ground. Shattered Ice could see at least three more tunnels leading in other directions underground. The walls and part of the ceiling of the cavern were made of colorful rock with brown, gray and black stripes running along the walls. More interestingly, part of the ceiling was made of dirt, and Shattered Ice could see the hole that was letting in the light.

"Bingo." He spoke. His voice was echoing just as strongly as before.

Shattered Ice circled around the potentially dangerous water (Who knew how deep that was? He could drown!) and padded up to the rock wall. No matter how thirsty he was, he was not going to drink from there. He remembered the words of Stoneteller- never drink from a foreign source. It could have anything in it. So Shattered Ice averted his eyes from the temptation and forewent the cool liquid's potential relief.

Now that he was closer he could see convenient pawholds and ledges that he might be able to use to escape. With bated breath he cautiously pulled himself up. Level by level, he hauled his body up the wall, latching his claws on the thick moss that grew there. It was especially dangerous to climb rock surfaces because there was usually nothing for claws to grasp. This ancient rock face, however, had plenty of old, overgrown moss.

As he began climbing, he noticed that the smell of rabbit was getting stronger. He stood still for a moment, and in his silence he could make out the noise of rabbit paws stomping around.

There are rabbits down here! Food!

Shattered Ice knew that to stop and hunt now would be foolish. For one, he was still too weak, and for all he knew, the rabbits were in a smaller tunnel and inaccessible to him and his Clan. But still the young Warrior felt a sudden rush of hope for the future of his Clan.

The young tom clambered to the top of the rock face. From there he could feel the wind coming from the hole in the ceiling. Shatterd Ice felt as if he had been separated from the wind for moons. Cautiously, he padded up to the hole. It smelled strongly of rabbit. Thankfully it also wafted the scent of WindClan.

Shattered Ice poked at the edges of the hole. This one was much smaller, most likely made from an accident. His shoulders would not fit through this without assistance. The tabby used his claws to carefully shred dirt and roots from the edges until finally he could fit through.

As he dug at the hole, he heard scratching close to him, then felt something nudge his leg. The tom jumped, startled, lashing out with unsheathed claws, and was met with blood, fur, and a loud squeak.

He moved his body from the sunlight to see that somehow, miraculously, he had slashed through the throat of a rabbit, which now hung limply from his paws. Shattered Ice took the corpse and pushed it through the hole, following it through to the light.

The first thing he did upon bursting out from the dark, dirt-filled tunnels was collapse on the nearest patch of grass and stare at the sky. He registered that it was sun-high. Seeing that it had been almost sun-down when he fell, he figured that he had been underground for a night.

Shattered Ice happily closed his eyes, letting his guard down for a moment. There was nothing like the sensation of the sun beating down on your pelt and the wind running through your fur. Even though it was much colder with the wind than it was underground in the stagnant air, the fresh air made him feel alive.

When he opened his eyes, he took deep breaths, inhaling the wonderful, strong scent of WindClan and moor. He rolled over, looking around him. He could discern the scent of a river, one of the many that ran through their territory.

The tom was conflicted. If he simply sat there for a while, the guard at the top of their camp was sure to notice him. He was, however, very thirsty.

With a shrug the white tom got to his paws and stumbled his way to the river. It was awfully close to where he was in the tunnels, he realized, thinking of the large underground lake. That had the potential of becoming dangerous. Shattered Ice realized a moment later that he didn't really care at that moment as he stuck his whole face inside the water and attempted to suck up as much of it as he could. He just wanted to drop down and sleep, he was so exhausted.

"Who is that?" A voice said behind him. Shattered Ice recognized the sound of one of the newest additions to their Clan. He decided against turning around for the moment, saiting himself with water instead. He dunked his head in the stream, letting the dirt flow off of his fur.

"Shattered Ice! Oh thank our ancestors! You're back! Where did you go?" Shattered Ice finally turned around, watching as Gray Wind sped down the hill towards him.

"You would not believe what I found." Shattered Ice purred, suddenly exhilarated.

This could save his Clan!

So yeah! I hope you enjoyed it. I wrote it with WindClan used under the assumption that this is AFTER the Dawn of the Clan series where the Clans have been newly established, but not with the usual conventions or the terms apprentices and the likes. So eveything is still new and disorganized for them.

Regardless, I hope you all like it! Message me with suggestions for more! I had a lot of fun writing this for you guys.

~Blaze