Part One

Jake led Sora through the facility. Sora took in everything he saw in awestruck fascination. However, what seemed to catch his attention right away was the rather large glass cylindrical tank of blue tinted water. Inside of it, he saw what he could only register as a tall and slender almost human like creature with blue skin, cat like eats, face and a long slender tail. Sora gazed at it, completely in shock and awe.

"Amazing isn't it?"

Sora jumped at the new voice and spun to see a rather tall young man with short brown hair and green eyes standing there.

"Oh, sorry," the man said. "I'm Norm Spellman, I'm part of the Avatar program."

"Oh, no, it's fine.." Sora replied. "I'm Sora."

As the two shook hands, a question soon flashed in Sora's mind.

"Uh, Avatar Program?" he asked confused.

"It's when scientists take the DNA from Na'vi, which are the inhabitants of the planet and DNA from human volunteers to create what are called 'Avatars'," Norm explained. "Each volunteer is paired with their own 'Avatar' so each volunteer is in sync with their 'Avatar'."

"Huh.." said Sora.

He was deep in thought as his mind tried to catch up with what he was being told.

"So.. Everyone here has an Avatar?" he finally asked, looking up.

"Well, not everyone.." Norm replied. "There are people who need to run the facility."

Sora nodded in acknowledgement at this. As Jake and Norm began talking about the program, Sora turned his gaze back to the tank, lost in his thoughts.

"It looks just like him.." Jake muttered.

"No.. It looks like YOU.." Norm corrected. "This is your Avatar."

Sora turned to look at them.

"Looks.. Like who?" Sora questioned in confusion.

Jake looked away, not wanting to look at him.

"Jake?" asked Sora.

"My brother.." Jake responded.

"Oh..! O-oh..." Sora frowned. "I'm.. I'm sorry.."

Sora remembered when he had met someone who had lost their brother during his visit in another world.

"Don't be.." said Jake suddenly. "He wouldn't want me to dwell on it.."

"Still.." Sora frowned. "I shouldn't have-"

Sora was interrupted as a man he did not recognize called Jake to meet with the head of security of the program. Out of curiosity, Sora decided to join him. The duo soon made their way to the main hanger and Sora was surprised to see a rather muscled looking man with short silvery-white hair lifting heavy looking weights.

As the two began to talk about different topics about the planet of Pandora, Sora couldn't help but sense something was off about the older man. Sora was snapped from his thoughts as the man addressed him.

"So, you're the one out beyond the fence.." he commented. "Surprised you're still around considering how you went out without any protection from the savage world outside."

'Why do they keep bringing this UP?' Sora thought, becoming a bit annoyed.

"Yeah.." Sora replied instead. "I don't know how I got here.. I just kinda woke up here."

"Well, from what I see, I can tell you got the guts to fight." the man commented. "What's your name, Private?"

Sora was surprised by the use of the term but soon spoke up.

"Uh, it's Sora, Sir." Sora replied.

"Private Sora," said the man after a moment. "I am lieutenant colonel Miles Quaritch.. I am in charge of the security of the program."

Sora nodded.

"Yes, Sir." he replied.

The man nodded in acknowledgement.

"As for you, Corporal," said Quaritch, turning to Jake again. "You get me what I need and I'll see to it that you get your legs back.. Your REAL legs."

"Yes, Sir.." Jake nodded.

Colonel Quaritch soon prepared to leave in a rather large robotic suit, he bid them farewell. As the man left, Sora turned to Jake.

"What exactly did he mean by, 'Getting what he needs'?" Sora asked.

"We need to gather information." Jake replied.

"Information?"

"The RDA is gathering a valuable mineral called unobtanium." Jake told him. "It's the most valuable mineral on Pandora."

Sora nodded, soon thinking to himself.

'Information just to gather a mineral..?' Sora frowned. 'Something does not seem right about this..'

After a moment, he turned back to Jake.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Sora. "I know I just got here, but I just.. Something doesn't seem right.."

Jake was silent for a few moments, lost in his thoughts. After a few moments, he turned back toward the main facility.

"We should get going.." he said finally.

With that said, Jake began to head back toward the main building. Sora wanted to protest but decided against it as he followed behind him.

As they reached the facility, many of the people had already emptied the tanks and were cleaning them.

"What's going on?" asked Sora, confused.

The answer to Sora's question was soon revealed as Norm and others had begun to climb into rather unusual machines. Sora watched in shock as he watched Jake enter the unusual machine with Dr. Grace helping with getting Jake situated.

"Uh, Miss Grace?" said Sora. "What's going on?"

Dr. Grace turned to look at him with an exasperated expression, not seeming to like her title being shortened. She nonetheless answered him.

"New trainees for the program are going to be testing out their Avatars to make sure everything goes smoothly.

"O-oh, okay." Sora replied.

He soon turned back toward the machine as the top was soon closed. Sora took notice of a room next to the machines as people wearing what he assumed was medical attire were moving about and working with rather complex equipment. Sora turned back toward the machine, taking a cautious step toward it.

"Jake?"

There was no answer. Sora was about to say something again but then noticed movement in the room next to the machines and was shocked to see one of the large creatures moving within the room and he could hear shouting from the medical personal inside the room. Though it was muffled, he was able to hear them saying his new friend's name.

Sora turned toward the machine again before turning back toward the room. He was taken aback as he saw the creature who had been moving about hurry out of the room and out of the building allowing the poisonous air outside to rush into the medical room. Sora hurried after him, becoming rather concerned about his friend's wellbeing.

As he left the building, he was shocked to see other creatures much like the ones he had seen in the medical room engaged in different activities. Sora turned toward the figure running through the grounds and quickly hurried after them, trying to avoid running into the ones around him.

He was so focused on avoiding any hazards and others around him, he failed to notice his friend had stopped running and collided into Jake's back, falling to the ground with an 'Oof'. Jake turned around in surprise.

Sora looked at him a bit sheepishly before lowly climbing to his feet again. Jake was about to say something when a voice interrupted him. Sora turned toward the voice and was surprised to see another one of the creatures making their way toward them.

"Grace?" said Jake.

Sora was taken by surprise by this as he turned from Jake toward the newcomer and back.

"Well who'd you think it was?" the female creature said with a smirk.

She turned to look at Sora, an unreadable expression crossing her face. Sora opened his mouth to say something but soon closed it again.

"You should head back to the facility." she said.

Sora wanted to protest but was cut off.

"Don't worry about what's going on," said Grace. "I'm sure you both can chat as much as you want when we're done."

Sora hesitated but soon nodded and turned to head back toward the building.

Author's Note: So sorry for the long wait.. I've been extremely busy with work and had not had the time to really write anything.. I will do what I can to try and get more done but I can't make any promises..