A Grand Discovery

[tigerflight]

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[atrb=background,http://www.cartownforums.com/forums/downloads/tiger_print_-_800x600_mi6.jpg] Tigerflight walked silently through the trees, flowing with the shadows, making him invisible even in plain sight. It was a technique that he himself had personally developed, forced to come up ways to hide his large and muscular frame, and doing so in unique ways. It was in these moments of thinking that Tigerflight wished he had an apprentice, or kits of his own, so that he might pass on these things to future generations. Sure, Tigerflight is a highly outgoing flirt, but he still had the same dreams as the warriors. Even more so! Thought Tigerflight. He shook his head and plunged on, trying to focus on what he had come to do. It wasn't too long before he came to the Abandoned Two-leg Nest, rotting from the passage of time and looking as if it was going to collapse at any moment. This is what he came for. Not all the territory had been explored, and this was the perfect place to start, Tigerflight tingled with anticipation. He made his way inside the two-leg nest, breathing in the smell of rotting wood and stale air. It was at least 20 tail-lengths to the roof, but Tigerflight decided that trying to climb up would be far to dangerous because the beams were likely to fall. Starting at the back and working his way up, Tigerflight scratched at the ground, hoping to unearth something. It seemed to be futile. A long time passed when he suddenly heard a screeching noise under paw from his scratching. He jumped, surprised by the unexpected noise, and began to gently scrape away soft earth from the thing that cause the noise. It shined as light from the sun hit it for the first time in ages, though not by much but because an odd, red rough mold covered most of it. "What have we here?" Tigerflight said with a grin, looking at the square and somewhat shiny object.

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[shiningheart]

Fawnpaw was bored. She wanted adventure, and she wasn't getting it being stuck in camp, cleaning out dens. So without letting anyone know, Fawnpaw slipped away, just like that. No one came after her, no one raised an alarm. She stifled a laugh and ran, feeling the wind in her fur and her tail streaming out behind her.

She ran until her legs started to burn, which wasn't very far, considering she was only eight moons old. She hadn't even had her first battle session, so she'd be out of luck if she met an enemy. Fawnpaw slowed down when she neared the abandoned twoleg nest, panting. She heard the sounds of scratching and digging and pricked her ears, keeping low to the ground and running along.

Hiding behind one of the wooden beams, she peaked out of the side and blinked at what she saw. Tigerflight, a warrior of her Clan, was examining a shiny thing. Abandoning her hiding post, she meowed, "Hiya Tigerflight! What'cha got there?"

[tigerflight]

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[atrb=background,http://www.cartownforums.com/forums/downloads/tiger_print_-_800x600_mi6.jpg] Tigerflight watched the shiny thing in his paws, feeling the weight of it, testing it's strength. It didn't look very special, it smelled like nothing he'd smelled before. Then he heard a loud noise, followed by an excited "Hiya Tigerflight! What 'cha got there?" He turned see the source of the commotion, a new apprentice named Fawnpaw, trotting up to him. "Hello my dear Fawnpaw." He said casually, turning back to the shiny object. "This is but a two-leg thing, buried under the earth long before you were born. Would you like to look at it dear?" Tigerflight let one side touch the ground and held the other with his paw, allowing it to be viewed fully.

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[shiningheart]

Fawnpaw was already by his side when he asked if she wanted to see it. She blinked her dark amber eyes at it and sniffed at the twoleg object, being careful not to touch it. Just because Tigerflight was touching it didn't mean it was dangerous. "How do you know how long it was buried for, huh?" she asked curiously. She sniffed a bit more before sitting back and looking at the warrior with a tilted head. "All I can smell on it is earth and dust. And you, but that's probably just because you're the one who dug it up."

Without waiting for his reply, she leaped to her paws and wandered away a bit, putting her nose to the ground carefully. "I wonder if there's anything else like that in here. How long did it take you to find that thing? Do you think there might be any more? What if it's dangerous? Will the twolegs come back for it, do you think?" Despite the topic at hand, there was no fear to Fawnpaw's voice. She really was just curious.

[tigerflight]

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[atrb=background,http://www.cartownforums.com/forums/downloads/tiger_print_-_800x600_mi6.jpg] Tigerflight watched in amusement at the apprentices eager and curious attitude, thinking that she would make the perfect apprentice for him, both so interested in the world around them. He set down the shiny two-leg thing, looking at Fawnpaw before pointing at the crusty red stuff that covoer most of the object. "This red stuff here is called Rust." Tigerflight replied, proud of the knowledge he had accumulated over the years. "Rust is something that only happens on hard and silver two-leg rubish. It takes countless moons of being in the rain for it to happen." Right as he finished the apprentice began again, asking question upon question. "No," Tigerflight said as if he were considering it. " I don't believe two-legs would ever come here. That's why we call it the Abandoned Two-leg Nest. But I wouldn't doubt there would be more here." Tigerflight looked back at his shiny two-leg thing. He realized suddenly that something had been scratched on the less rusty side. Curiosity took over and he shifted the object over, showing him the scratching. "Hmmm..."

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[shiningheart]

Fawnpaw snuffled along the ground with her ears pricked towards the warrior. She heard his words about the twolegs probably not coming back. When he hummed in thought, she looked up and saw him examining the side of the twoleg thing closely. She jogged up to his side and peered at it as well, before mentioning off-hand, "Well, we're here because we're curious, right? Why shouldn't twolegs find things of mystery mysterious too?"

She walked around to the other side of it and placed a paw on the sides, trying to brush the rust off. She whined when it didn't. "Do you know how to get this rust stuff off? Because if you did, you could have an entire collection of twoleg stuff that only we know about!" The apprentice grinned brightly at her idea before bounding away again, looking through the air. "Maybe it just needs something with a rough surface... Have you ever seen anything like that before, Tigerflight?"

[tigerflight]

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[atrb=background,http://www.cartownforums.com/forums/downloads/tiger_print_-_800x600_mi6.jpg] Tigerflight looked closely at the shiny object. It had scratches on it, like they were on purpose, maybe a message. Unfortunately he didn't know how to understand the scratches. "I say, Quite the puzzle these scratches are!" He said mostly to himself. Putting down the shiny, he turned to Fawnpaw with a smile. "I'm sorry to say that there is not a way to remove the rust." Tigerflight padded away to the corner where he found the shiny, digging at something else that had caught his attention. It was a circle, it was more of a ring though, that connected to the floors hard surface. He bent down and grabbed it with his mouth, pulling at it to put it with the other shiny. To his surprise the floor rose up with it, a small and straight edged square shape. Tigerflight jumped back in surprise and shock, dust flying out as if it was just as startled.

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[shiningheart]

Fawnpaw sighed in sadness when he said that there wasn't any way to get rid of the rust. Fawnpaw debated asking if he'd ever tried before, and what happened, but then Tigerflight found something else. Fawnpaw made a sound of surprise, not quite a squeak but not quite a squeal either. She leaped back about a tail length when he practically pulled up the floor, her ginger-and-white fur puffed up until she looked like a giant ball of fuzz.

Eventually, her curiosity outweighed her shock and she carefully approached the hole in the floor, sneezing when the dust disturbed her nose. "Huh..." she meowed when she looked down. There were blocky stones in a steep slope leading down. She put one paw down and blinked. It didn't feel like the stone back at camp, but it most certainly wasn't wood. "Well, that's interesting."

[tigerflight]

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[atrb=background,http://www.cartownforums.com/forums/downloads/tiger_print_-_800x600_mi6.jpg] Tigerflight calmed himself of the surprise, breathing evenly and flattening his fur. He had somehow pulled up a part of the two-leg nest, and it opened down into a dark hole with strange, smoothed stepping platforms, each with an unnatural edge. Once the dust had scattered, Tigerflight took a step forward. Suddenly Fawnpaw rushed to the hole, taking a step down. "Get back, Fawnpaw!" He said unusually stern and slightly angry. "Anything could be down that two-leg hole, wait to attack. Wait here and I will make sure it's safe." He gave her a hard look. "If something happens and I don't come back, go back to camp and tell them what has happened." Cautiously, Tigerflight stepped forward, ears pricked and claws unsheathed. Dust left the prints behind him visible, and the air became a little bit colder the farther down he went, until his paws finally met cement. He scanned the area, nothing, it was just a low-lit and empty underground two-leg nest. It was actually a rather large space, much bigger than Thunderclan's camp, and it had shiny reflective round things. Padding up to them, he could see himself, noticing that the round things were held up by some other two-leg thing. He suddenly remembered Fawnpaw was waiting and called for her. "It's safe! You can come down if you wish!"

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[shiningheart]

Fawnpaw leaped backwards at the sudden angry shout from Tigerflight. Her ears pressed against her skull as she backed away from the hole when he came forward. She re-approached the hole after he started down, watching as the paw-prints went deeper and deeper into the darkness. She stayed still and alert until she heard his voice fall up. She almost breathed a sigh of relief that he seemed unhurt before she started down.

She had to pause at the bottom of the blocks to let her eyes adjust. There was very little light to see by. There was a chunk of stone missing from the top of the walls, letting sunlight come in. Fawnpaw spotted Tigerflight examining some shiny things by one wall, so she went to the other to not get in his way.

Fawnpaw sniffed at the air to try and find anything interesting and made a face. "The air is stale here. I don't think that... that... opening," she flicked her tail towards where they came down, not knowing what to call it, "has been opened for a long time."

She spotted something and, meowing a quick, "Come over here!", she scuffled across the floor to something against the wall. It was covered by a white pelt, and it felt smooth when she pressed her paw lightly against the pelt. "It feels like the end of a reed, like the ones we find by the lake."