PRF Base: Delta Squad Chambers
"Man its been a month since Ben left to go swing from vines with the blue monkeys" Jameson said looking at the calendar
"Don't remind us" Griffin said
"You sound like your worried about Ben or something" Daniels said to Griffin
"I'm not worried about Ben, I'm worried about what the chief is going to do to him if he doesn't come back with the information he was supposed to get" Griffin replied
"Ben is doing all that he can, from what I heard, he has to learn their ways or something like that" Thomas said
"That sounds awfully familiar" Simmons said
"Didn't that cripple bastard Sully have to do that and then he became an arrow shooting tree hugging monkey lover?" Jameson asked
"Yeah but I highly doubt Ben will end up like that" Simmons answered
"The kid is human just like us, no way he'd betray us" Griffin said
"What the heck are you idiots talking about?" Ramirez asked entering the room with Laskey
"We're talking about Ben and if he is going to betray us, Griffin says he isn't but I've got my doubts" Jameson answered
"What do you think boss?" Daniels asked Ramirez
"All I can say is this, Ben may be human but he's also a kid and even then he has a strong sense of right and wrong, if any of us is going to be honest, we all know that the forces that came here before weren't exactly the "good guys" in that situation, so when it comes down to it, Ben will choose whatever he views as right, the question is who has the balls to try and kill him if the commanders tell us to" Ramirez answered looking around at all of delta squad
Everyone in the room got extremely quiet after Ramirez said that to them, they knew he was right and they weren't going to argue with him
"With all of your realities cracking, commander Cross wants us in the meeting room at 0800" Laskey said
Pandoran Jungle
Right now Ben was riding on the back of a direhorse firing arrows at targets that Aashta had set up for him. In the month that Ben had been out with the Omaticaya people he had learned many things. He learned how to hunt, how to track, he even learned how to navigate using the stars. As time went on Aashta became less and less hostile towards Ben. She still saw him as an idiot but she also stopped seeing him as a nuisance and an enemy. Aashta decided that Ben should get to see something very special and important.
"Remind me again why we are climbing a giant tree in the middle of the jungle?" Ben asked Aashta as he climbed up another branch
"There is something I need to show you" Aashta answered as she jumped up to third branch
"What could be so important that we need to climb a tree to see?" Ben asked jumping to a branch
"Just consider it apart of your training, now be quiet and climb" Aashta answered
"Whatever you say" Ben said as he continued to climb up the tree
Eventually Ben made it to the top of the tree where Aashta was waiting for him. Right away, Ben noticed that the top of the tree had what looked like a bottom half of a tree house built around it and there was still more tree to go.
"Do we have to climb the rest of that?" Ben asked Aashta
Aashta didn't answer Ben, she began to walk around making a noise that sounded weird to Ben
"Come on Aashta what is the reason you brought me up here?" Ben asked Aashta going up to her
Aashta stopped Ben and silenced him, as she continued to make that sound, Ben heard a noise coming from the leafs near the edge of the tree
"What the?" Ben asked before something burst out and scared him
Ben fell on his back and crawled backwards away from the thing, Aashta laughed at Ben's foolishness. The thing that scared Ben was a large reptile of some sort but it had large wings. Ben recognized the creature as a banshee, Cross and Dagger told Ben about them. How the Na'vi ride them and attack from the sky without warning and vanish like it was nothing.
"It's a banshee" Ben said
"Yes, that is what the sky people call her kind, she is ikran, hunter" Aashta said walking over to the banshee
She began to talk to it and pat its head along with scratching under its jaw. Ben got up and slowly walked over to it, the banshee snapped at him causing him to back away.
"Cotra will not hurt you" Aashta said reassuring Ben
Ben went back up to the banshee and put his hand on its head
"See, I told you" Aashta said
"Yeah you did" Ben replied
With that Aashta made a noise and her banshee flew away
"So what was the point of that?" Ben asked
"I wanted to show you what will come in the future" Aashta answered
"What do you mean by that?" Ben asked confused
"To ride an ikran is a right of passage for all Omaticaya, you will eventually take that right of passage" Aashta answered
"Wait, so your telling me I get to learn how to ride one of those things?" Ben asked
"Yes but know that it isn't as simple as that, you must pick your ikran and it must pick you, riding one is not liking riding horse, it is different, the bond is forever" Aashta answered
"Oh, I see, don't worry Aashta, I won't let you down, I'll show you that I am ready to take on that right of passage" Ben said
"Good" Aashta said
Time Skip
Pandoran Jungle
After that day, Ben worked even harder to earn the right to take part in the right of passage ceremony and earn himself a banshee. Ben practiced and studied everything he could learn and then some. Aashta saw the determination in Ben and wondered when that exact moment would come when he would prove himself. Little did Aashta know, Ben was also doing what Cross and Dagger asked him to do. While not fully understanding why they wanted all this information, Ben still gave it to them.
That month Ben had stayed with the Omaticaya turned into another month, Ben was becoming one with his surroundings. He was faster, he could see things around him that the naked eye could not. He mastered hunting, he mastered riding, he mastered tracking and mastered much more. Each time Aashta was with Ben, she became more and more impressed with him. She was also amazed by how much determination he showed in learning.
The time was coming but Ben still hadn't proved himself to her, Aashta wouldn't let him participate in the right of passage just yet, he would need to do something no Omaticaya had done yet.
Time Skip
Deep In The Pandoran Jungle
"Remind me again where we're going?" Ben asked Aashta
"All I can say is that it is important that you see it first" Aashta answered
"Look Aashta, I don't really feel like climbing up another tree again" Ben said
"It isn't that, it is something completely different" Aashta replied
After that Aashta lead Ben to some bushes and stopped right there, Aashta silenced Ben and motioned him to keep quiet
"What is it?" Ben asked whispering
Aashta moved some of the bush aside and motioned Ben to look, Ben did and saw something incredible. They were near a waterfall and there was a gathering of creatures. All of them were drinking from the waters bellow, not caring about one another.
"Normally, they wouldn't be this close together but the water does, they aren't on alert for there is a mutual understanding" Aashta told Ben
Ben understood, it was like a watering hole back on Earth, all of the animals would gather there and drink. They didn't care if the elephants, lions and hippos drank. They knew not to attack one another and ruin the water in the hole with blood.
"So why exactly did you bring me here?" Ben asked
"I just wanted to show you that we aren't the only ones living in balance and harmony with Eywa and the world around us" Aashta answered
As Ben and her continued to watch the scene, Ben began to see something that was off. In the shrubs watching down below, Ben saw something moving around stalking the other animals. When it stuck its head up, Ben saw that it was thanator and it was stalking a baby titanothere.
"Aashta, look!!!" Ben said to Aashta pointing towards the thanator
Aashta looked down and saw it stalking the baby titanothere as well
"There is nothing we can do about it, if that is what Eywa wants then we shouldn't stop it" Aashta said
"Aashta, you don't get it, that's a baby, its parents aren't focusing on it because they are drinking, they don't know something is going to kill it" Ben said
"Then do something about" Aashta said
"I will" Ben said tightening his bow string
"Just know if the angtsìk try kill you or the palulukan does, I won't save you" Aashta tells Ben
"Good, because I don't need saving" Ben said before jumping off the cliff and landing into the waters bellow
Even though she said she didn't care, Aashta watched as a Ben swam to shore quickly, startling most of the creatures that were drinking. Ben then ran over to the baby titanothere as the thanator jump from the bushes trying to kill it. Luckily Ben using his bow, smacked the thanator in the head stopping it mid air. The adult hammerhead titanothere saw both Ben and the thanator and charged at it. Ben was quick and jumped onto the back of one of the titanothere riding it like he would a direhorse.
"I'm not trying to hurt your baby, that thing is" Ben said trying to calm the titanothere down
Eventually the thanator turned its attention towards Ben and tried to kill him instead of the baby. When it lunged at him and jumped over the titanothere Ben leaned back barley avoiding its attack. Ben knew that he could fight the thing and prevent getting trampled by the walking tank at the same time. In a moment of uncertainty, Ben decided to try something that probably had never been done before. Ben grabbed one of the antenna of the titanothere he was riding and formed a bond with it.
Right away the two connected causing the titanothere slam its head around until Ben did way he could to calm it down. Aashta could not believe what she was seeing right now, this had never been done before and was thought to be impossible.
"You see my thoughts now, you know my intentions, now let's make that thing go away" Ben said
With the help of the titanothere and the others following Ben's lead, the smacked the thanator around. While not killing it, eventually the thanator left to go and lick its wounds. With that over, Ben dismounted from the titanothere and pat it on the side. It made a noise and nudged him a bit in happiness.
"I know, we make a good team" Ben said to the titanothere
The little baby one ran up to him next and ran into his leg knocking him back a bit
"Take it easy there, you don't need to thank me" Ben said
With that the titanothere all left the watering hole, as they left, Aashta dived down and swam over to Ben
"Look who made it to the party" Ben said with a smirk
"So, come to apologize or thank me?" Ben asked Aashta
"You are ready" she said
"Wait, what was that?" Ben asked confused
"You are ready" Aashta answered saying the same thing again.
PRF Base: Briefing Room
"Alright soldiers, today is a new day for us, we are coming closer to finding the camp of natives and learning all that we can about it" Dagger told the soldiers
"We are sure that you are all aware that our inside man has provided us with enough information to come to vicinity of their camp, from there you will wait for your orders" Cross said
"For now, you all will continue with our base mission on collecting lost technology and destroying that which cannot be retrieved" Dagger said
"Do I make myself clear?" Dagger asked the soldiers
"YES SIR!!!" They all answered
"The squads not on retrieval mission detail will focus on training for the raid on the camp" Cross said
"These natives aren't the same ones that were fought last time, they have a human amongst them who knows all are tactics and the ways we operate, Jake Sully is the number one target, capture him alive so we can send him back to Earth for a trial" Dagger said
"Sir, how will he do that, he no longer has his human body?" A soldier asked
"Do not worry about that, Tennyson will help us with that" Dagger answered
"Now all of you dismissed" Cross said
With that all of the soldiers gave a salute and left the room, Ramirez and the rest of delta squad left together
"Boss, I'm not liking the sounds of that" Daniels said
"Yeah, I may hate the blue monkeys but I don't hate them enough to start another war" Jameson said
"Ben isn't going to like hearing that" Laskey said
"Boss, what do we do on this one?" Simmons asked
"You gotta say something Ramirez" Thomas said
"Look, as I said before we follow orders, unfortunately for us, we were given orders to prepare for the raid on the camp when they find it" Ramirez said
"What about Ben?" Griffin asked
"What about him?" Ramirez asked
"He's our friend, he's one of us, he's delta squad" Simmons said
"Yeah" the rest of delta squad said
"I know, that's why this is going to be a hard decision, what do we chose, who do we chose" Ramirez said
"We all know Ben isn't going to like this and he will fight back but if the Omaticaya discover what he is, they might kill him first" Laskey said
"Either way, we're soldiers so you all make your choices now or later and be ready to except what comes after them" Ramirez said
Little did delta squad know, they were being listened to and everything they were saying was being recorded
A/N: Alright, Ben has proven himself ready for his own banshee and Cross and Dagger are finally starting to show their hand. Will Ben find out in time to stop them and what will the members of delta squad end up choosing? This questions and more will be answered in a future chapter. I hope you enjoyed seeing Ben earn the right to participate in the right of passage differently then Jake did in the movie. I wanted to do something different and unique, something no one expected. For those who noticed, Now when Ben talks it isn't in bold. He still is in his Na'vi form but after being in it for a long time, he is starting to adapt to it. Don't think to hard about it, I'm not planning anything, I just wanted a reason to not have to write his dialogue in bold anymore.
Now since there aren't any questions to answer, I will be responding to comments from the last chapter. Stranger45, thank you, you have no idea how much I appreciate that. I am going to finish this story to the end and I hope you enjoy it as much as I am. I am vegetarian, thanks, I do appreciate it, those kind of comments keep me working on this story. Equilized Enigma, I am glad this story did that, I wish it could do that to more people but I am grateful for the readers it did attract to it. When it comes to what's coming next, you honestly have no idea.
Now, thank you for reading and for your support, I will be seeing you all later