A.N. Hello people. Time for next chapter, but first! Stat Chart:
Reviewers:
PrincessAnime8 (Here is more)
moonLight117 (Sylwanin. And there it is)
Chaoseater7074 (Sylwanin...again. Also I'm glad you like the story)
Views:
254+
Two votes for James/Sylwanin (Neytiri's Sister), and nothing else so...I'm going with that pairing. Now onto the chapter.
James woke up to see Max shining a flashlight in His eyes. James quickly blinks his eyes and pushes the falshlight away from his face.
"Good morning, or should I say good evening" Max says
"Haha, yeah, I guess so"
"The bodies" Grace says, "Are they safe?"
"Phew, you are not gonna believe it?" Jake says
The two go into the tale of what happened, and after a long time of explaining they were allowed to go sleep. The next day, breakfast of an interesting affair. Jake went to sit with Grace, Norm, Max, and a ouple other people, while James went with Lyle and Sean and a couple other soldiers.
"The last thing we see is this marine's ass disappearing into the forest with this angry Thanator on His tail" Grace says
"Not something you can teach" Jake responds
On the other side, the soldiers were having their own conversation.
"So the Shadow survives another night, hey, how'd ya do it man?" Lyle asks
"Just a matter of survival" James responds
"Ah, come on, you gotta have some tricks"
"Well, alright, listen closely" James says, "What you want to do, is make a torch, or any type of fire"
James keeps eating.
"That's it?" Lyle asks
James nods, continuing to eat.
"Wow, fire? That's your master plan?" Sean says
"It's the only thing that all you ar heads could comprehend" James says, breaking down in laughter
The others join in too, with Lyle giving James a friendly punch on the shoulder.
"Look at this guy. He's got the balls and brains to beat all of us down" Lyle says
"Doesn't take much. Just need to know what weapon to use"
"And what weapon are you using right now?" Sean asks
"The only weapon I need to deal with all you, my mouth"
The other soldiers laugh with James and clap him on His shoulders.
"Hey, watch this" Lyle says, standing up, "Hey everybody, we've got a very important guest with us. And he's got some words to share with us"
Lyle lifts up James, who stands up on one of the chairs.
"Well, looks like Lyle made a moron out of himself" James says, getting a couple of laughs, "But hey, if there are any of my fellow Shadows out there, start making some noise!"
A couple people started clanging their in cups on the tables, and more followed. Soon the whole room was filled with the noise before James signalled them to quiet down.
"Well alright...looks like most of us are here, and we are gonna kick some ass like we always do! Hoo-rah!"
They all let out a cheer as James sat back down. He gave Lyle a good natured punch to the shoulder. Soon everyone started to clear out, and Jake and James headed to Quaritch to give Him a report.
"Jarhead Clan? Heh, and it worked?" Quaritch says
"Hey, we're practically family" Jake says
"They're gonna be studying us, and we're suppose to learn their ways" James says
"That's called taking initiative, I wish I had five more like each of you two"
"Look look look, just, find out, what the blue monkeys want" Selfridge says, "I mean we've offered them medicine, uh education, roads, but no no, they like mud. And that wouldn't bother me except. Can someone, just-Sector 12"
Selfridge signals for a technitian to start scrolling across the large holo-map.
"Ok keep going...going...going-stop, stop, Rich, jesus. Their damn village, happens to be sitting on the largest Unobtanium deposite within 200 klicks in any direction. I mean, look at all that cheddar" Selfridge says with a chuckle
"So who gets them to go?" Jake asks
"I think you know the answer to that" Quaritch responds
"Heh, how much time do we have?" James asks
"About 3 months. That's when the dozers get there"
"Alright...then we're wasting time" Jake says
"I like these guys" Selfridge says
The two were then released and sent back to Grace, who was getting the link pods ready for them. The two went into their seperate pods, and Grace gave Jake the advice of, "Don't do anything unusually stupid".
The two woke up to find themselves in the leaves. Neytiri had already left, so the two got out and started wakling and climbing to the bottom on the tree. On the way, they picked up some fruit and ate it on the way.
"Oh sh*t, where's my rifle?" James realizes, "I put it down where we had to change, so I'll go get that and meet you at the base of the tree"
"Alright, see you there"
James started working his way back to where he left the gun. He finally found it leaning against the wall. Attatching it to his belt, James started back down to the base of Home Tree. (A.N. The rifle is attatched horizontally like on Mass Effect)
Once he made it down, a couple warriors eyed the rifle suspiciously, but James just ignored them and walked up to Jake, who was waiting with Neytiri.
"Come" Neytiri says, and starts to lead them away
She led the two into a large open area with a few Direhorses standing around, eating nectar from the flowers. Neytiri brought over two Direhorses and had each of them mount their Direhorses and form the Tsaheylu, while explaining it as they went along.
"For now, say where to go" Neytiri says
"Forward" Jake says, but winds up falling off and landing in the mud
James and Neytiri laugh at Jake's antics as Neytiri runs off the retrieve the animal.
"Forward slowly" James says
The Direhorse started moving slowly.
"Turn towards Jake"
It turned towards Jake.
"Stop"
It stopped.
"Show off" Jake says, wiping some mud off His body
James just laughed, but got serious as Tsu'tey rode in with a few other Na'vi. Tsu'tey rode circled around James with a sneer. One of the Na'vi smacked James' Direhorse on it's rump, causing it to rush forward a bit, knocking James off in the process. Tsu-tey and the others laughed at James embarrassment while He just got up and started wiping some dirt off his back.
"You should go away" Tsu'tey says
"Nah, you'd just miss us" Jake responds, "I knew you spoke english"
Neytiri walked over with an annoyed look on her face. She saw the exchange and was not amused.
"You can't teach them anything. A rock sees more" Tsu'tey says
"Hm, go" Neytiri saw, giving Tsu'tey's Direhorse a smack on it's rump
Tsu'tey and the his followers left on their steeds as Neytiri said, "Again", to Jake. She then walked over to James and noticed a long but not deep cut on his shoulder.
"You are wounded" Neytiri says
"Huh? Oh yeah, must've landed on a rock. I'm fine"
"You should have it cleaned"
"I'm fine, let's just get back to the lessons" James says, walking to his Direhorse
Neytiri hears James whisper, "I'm use to pain anyways", to himself. Neytiri dismisses it and focuses back on the lesson. Once they finished, they want back to the village for a short break. James decited to clean out his gun as best he could.
While he was cleaning, he noticed a few children watching him from afar. One of the smaller walks up to him and looks as James' gun. James held it out so he could get a better look, and soon the other children started surrounding him. He slid the cartdidge into his belt so they wouldn't go for it, and double checked to see if it was in safe mode. While distracted, he didn't noticed the Tsahik watching from afar.
After a while, the kids left to do something else, and James was left to himself. The rest of the day went by, and Jake and James found themselves in the CIC of Hell's Gate giving Quartich his info.
"So there's a center spire, with support ring, around here" James says, motioning inside the holo-tree
"It'll be complicated" Jake adds
Once their de-briefing ended, the two went back to the bio-lab. They saw a few packs and Jake asks, "Where are we headed?"
"Getting out of dodge" Grace responds, "I'm not gonna let Quaritch and Selfridge micro-manage this operation. There's a link up we can use at Site 26, way up in the mountains"
"The Hallelujah Mountains?" Norm asks excitedly
"Yes?"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes"
"Yes!" Norm exclaims
James and Jake give him questioning looks.
"The legendary floating mountains of Pandora? Ever hear of those?"
The group was sent out with Site 26, and flew their way into the Flux Vortex. From there, James, Jake, and Norm were in awe at the sight of the floatinf mountains while Trudy just laughed at them. Soon they landed the site, and they all went inside. They were all given the grand tour, and were waiting for a few minutes in order to get situated. Once that time was done, they went into the link pods and got to work.
Jake and James found themselves in the leaves again. The two of them made their way to the base and saw their teacher talking with another girl. The two walked up to introduce themselves.
"Jake, James, this is my sister, Sylwanin" Neytiri says
"Pleasure to meet you" Jake greets
James responds in a smiliar way.
"It is very nice to meet you as well" Sylwanin says, "I'll be assisting you with your learnings"
"Oh, a second teacher. That might make it easier" Jake says
"One for each of us" James says, "That way the responsability doesn't all fall on Neytiri"
The four made their way to something of an "Archery Range" where James and Jake are given a bow and a few arrows. Neytiri spotted Jake while Sylwanin spotted James. Neytiri had to keep editing Jake, which James laughed at a few times. When James went to shoot, Sylwanin could find only very small things, like aiming a bit higher or pull back the string a bit more. Most of the time he nearly got a bullseye.
"You have very good aim" Sylwanin says
"Thank you" James responds
The four take a small break to rest before going at it again. They discussed improvement and such on how to better themselves as archers. Once they got back, they retrieved their bows and strted shooting again. Only after the first few shots, James' bow started to break. When he was drawing the string back, the middle part of the wood broke, making the upper limp smack James in the face.
"Goddammit!" James says, feeling a small bit of blood run down his face
Sylwanin inspects the bow to see that some of it was cut with a knife. She looks around and sees Tsu'tey laughing at them with his friends. Sylwanin marches up to him and pushes the broken bow into his chest.
"I would have thought better of you Tsu'tey"
"He's not welcome here, or his friend"
"If you want me to make your life easy when we're mated, then you'll stop being such a nusance"
Sylwanin shoved him and then started walking away. He looked over at James and threw the broken bow at him like a spear. Seeing the object, he jumps back, grabs his rifle, un-colapses it, turns off the safe mode, and shoots. Sylwanin sees him grab his gun and is surprised to see him shatter the wood into bits and pieces.
James puts the gun back into safe mode and colapses it before walking over to the remains and picking them up. He then walks up to Tsu'tey and blows the sticks into his face.
"Don't get in my way. I have met many people like you, and it has always ended bad for them" James says
He turns around, but quickly swings the butt of his rifle under Tsu'tey's feet, knocking him to the ground. James placed the gun on his back and walks back to the other three. Jake nods to James with a smirk on his face.
They start up lessons again for a few more shots. James got a new bow to continue with.
"You're welcome, by the way" James says to Sylwanin
"What do you mean?"
"With the way he threw that bow, it wouldn't have hit me" James looked at her, "It would have veered off course due to it's shape, and hit you"
"Thank you, then"
James just nods then focuses back on shooting. After their final shots, they move on to knife work. They didn't actually use knives but they'd spar with each other. Neytiri and Sylwanin would watch them fight each other first to assess their strengths and weaknesses.
Jake had good power and James had good agility and sight, using the environment to his advangage sometimes. They ended that day and seperated. Sylwanin pulled James over to talk since she'd only met a few sky people in her time and was eager to learn more. The two relaxed at the base of Home Tree and started talking to each other.
"So, what is it like to by a Sky Person" Sylwanin asks, "I've only had the pleasure of meeting a few of your people"
"Well, not much for me. I don't normally socialize with people, but it's interesting to try something new"
"Interesting, Oh, I wanted to ask, where did you get that scar from?" Sylwanin says
"Oh, when your sister was teaching us to ride a Direhorse, I fell off and landed on a jagged rock"
"Really? My sister told me that Tsu'tey caused you to fall"
"Well, yes, that is true"
"While we're on the topic of injuries, how's that cut on your head"
Sylwanin looks at James' head and sees it has a small wood piece in it.
"You're got some wood left in it"
James feels around and finds it. He then turns his head as he pulls out his knife. Sylwanin tries to see what he's doing, but understands once she hears the sound of a knife cut. James uses the knife to dig out the wood piece and throws it into the roots of Home Tree. He then wipes the knife on his belt and sheathes it.
Sylwanin looks at the now fresh wound and, without thinking, reaches out and runs her fingers around the edge of the cut. Sylwanin thought that James either didn't feel it or didn't care.
"It does hurt, only slightly" James says
"You don't show an indication that it does"
"I've learned to mask my feelings. It comes easy when dealing with others"
"Need you mask them with me?"
"I must mask them with everyone, least I let me guard down"
James gently removed her hands from his head and got up. Night was falling, and it would be a good time to get a video log in. He crawled back into the leaves. Before he could close his eyes, he saw Sylwanin sitting on the branch above him.
"My sister told me that you kept to yourself. Now I know she was telling the truth. So, that makes it my job to make friends with you"
"Why would you do that?"
"There is good in all. Even among sky people, there is sometimes good"
James closed the leaf covering and closed his eyes. He was then shot back into his real body. The link pod was opened and James sat at the edge and rubbed his eyes. Things were looking to be more complicated, and that was fine with James.
A.N. Sorry to leave it on a strange note, but...yeah. I keep watching the movie over and over to get in the mood...and it's gone to the point of my mother complaining...lol.
Reviews would be appreciated
Anyways stay awesome guys and gals of the world, and I'll see you next chapter