My pod broke atmosphere, and I descended to the world below. The air buffeted my ship as I dove through the clouds, the rockets burning against the wind. My scanners picked up something ahead. I blinked and narrowed my eyes at the viewscreen, trying to make it out.
I shot past the UFO, almost breaking the speed of sound as I missed a collision by a few inches.
…I had only received a brief glace for my troubles, but I could've sworn to Serpents that what I just flew past was a flying Bison. With six legs. And passengers. Who looked rather surprised to see me.
I slapped my palm to my mask. I'd forgotten to turn on the cloak! I pressed the small button. I heard the tell-tale sizzle of Yautja-made tech bending the light around my small craft.
I looked up just in time to notice that I was about to break the tree line.
With a crash, the nose of my craft shattered the tree-tops and blasted through branch after branch, finally skidding to a stop at the end of a lengthy trench. I groaned, opening the hatch. I hopped out of the craft and surveyed the damage.
The good news was, the ship was still cloaked. The bad news? I'd left a trail of destruction upon my landing. I growled to myself and began to unpack my gear.
First to come out was my Smartdisc. This little Frisbee with teeth could cut through limbs, turn around, cut off another on the way back to my hand, ricochet off of a wall, and go for thirds before returning to my hand. This went to my hip, near my currently empty trophy belt.
Second was the Plasma blaster. This one went to my shoulder. The small cannon tested itself, the tri-point laser guide marking a nearby tree before folding back onto my shoulder.
Final was my brother's spear. I lifted it with gentle reverence from the pod, caressing the tip with a tender hand. I placed the end into the ground and reached over to shut the pod.
It shut itself, and lifted off back where it came.
I watched it go before dropping my hand. Then the horror of my situation sunk in.
I was stuck here indefinitely. I felt my terror turn to rage, threw back my head, and roared. The bellow echoed off of the trees and into the skies for miles around, my fists shaking as my rage was ejected into the world.
I took deep breaths as it faded, trying to regain my breath. My shoulders heaved as I trembled, still pissed with the Elder.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!"
I blinked as the rage subsided, giving way to gold ol' fashioned 'Uh-oh.' I opened my wrist pad as someone came crashing through the trees. I cloaked, light bending around me like water as I jumped into a nearby treebranch.
The first to emerge from the brush was a boy in a sleeveless blue shirt, tanned skin, wielding a boomerang. His eyes were defiantly that of a fellow hunter's surveying the area. He gaped as he saw the trench. "Okay," He said, crossing his arms, "This is too weird."
The second to emerge was a pair of young girls, one tanned and wearing blue like the other (I assumed they were family) and the other had pale skin and dark hair hiding her eyes. How could she see with that? It remained a mystery as I heard her speak. "Wow, cool!" She said, not even moving, "So something DID nearly hit us!"
The other girl looked a little more concerned as she surveyed the trench I had laid out. "It probably crashed here, but…where is it now?" Probably in the hangar of the ship, with the Elder cackling happily at me, that scaly-
A few more people emerged. A tall man with an odd mustace-beard combo, a rather obsess boy carrying much smaller one with an oversized helmet, and another boy in a wheelchair all followed them out.
Then, with a rumble, the UFO followed.
The first thing I noticed was that this was one big beast of burden, even dwarfing my pod. A long arrow design went from its head along it's spine, as six massive legs moved the beast forward. Riding on the neck, between the head and the massive body that followed, was a small, bald boy, sporting the same arrow tattoos and wearing orange and yellow robes. He hopped off and flew through the air, riding air currents to the crater.
I blinked.
Wow.
Um.
Wow.
The bald boy touched the crater gently, kneeling down. He looked rather small from where I was, thin and pale against the dark soil of the crater. A small, lemur-like creature flew to his shoulder and looked down at the crater. I remained still. No sense giving myself away when I had only just arrived.
"There was defiantly something here: Big too," He stood, placing an end of his staff on the ground, looking around, "Whatever it was, it left right after it crashed."
The boy in blue spoke up again, walking the long trench to the bald one. "C'mon, Aang," He said, tapping him on the shoulder, "We need to keep going to the Western Air Temple." The bald boy nodded, his lemur squeaked, and the group proceeded on, the massive creature following them off into the brush.
I exhaled the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding as they passed. I remained still for a bit, my mind planning the hunt.
Odds were, that bald kid was one of those elemental users; his was air. Odds were, other users would appear soon enough, so long as I followed them. I cracked my neck, and jumped into the woods after them.
The hunt was afoot.
