A Lot of time skips in this one. Sorry, I just want to start focusing more on the world, and not the dreary compound.
The next morning, I'm in the Link room with Norm, waiting for Jake to arrive.
"How much Link time have you logged?" Grace asks me.
"Almost 1000 hours. I was one of the first selected."
"Dedicated. We could use more like you, Kita." I bow my head, smiling at the praise. "What about you Norm?"
"Five hundred and twenty hours." He answers.
"Like- an hour." Jake says. I take a step back slightly. He was not prepared for this at all.
"Tell me you're joking." Grace says.
Norm helps me into my link the soft, squishy gel making my arms shake slightly. "This feels weirder than the foam they used in school." I chuckle.
Norm releases a short laugh. "I bet. This is top quality. Come on, let's get you in there." I lay down, instinctively pulling the metal sensors down. "I'll see you on the other side Kita."
"Yeah, I hope so." I respond, pulling the metal lid down, completely encasing my body. I close my eyes as the link begins.
Suddenly, I feel very different. I open my eyes, and instantly I start to cry.
"Kita? Kita can you hear me? What's wrong? Are you in pain?" The doctors around me ask. I lift my hand to my eyes, looking at the beautiful blues that covered my skin.
"I-I'm fine. I can see. I can see!" I shout, starting to laugh as I look up at the white ceiling. I sit up slowly, knowing the procedures. I look over and see Norm going through the same thing. "Norm! I can see!" I exclaim, still laughing as I look at everything around me. One year I was without sight, Five that I was sleeping. To see colors and shapes again, to see the people around me, was the greatest gift in the world.
Norm looks over at me and smiles. "I knew you would! Let's finish this up, maybe if everything looks good we can travel outside."
I nod and let the doctors run their scans, my mind still ablaze with the realization that I could finally see Pandora the way I want. Something next to me falls, and I look over to see Jake overreacting. He's ripping wires from his body and standing around, whacking things with his tail as the doctors yell at him to calm down. I chuckle a little bit, understanding what he's feeling.
My tail curls around my arm before falling back to the bed. Suddenly, Jake is running out of the hospital wing, and outside. "Jake!" I shout, getting up and chasing after him.
Norm is behind me and yells, "We aren't supposed to be running!"
As Norm falls behind, I catch up to Jake, running side by side, our laughter filling the air as our feet dig into the soft dirt. The colors fly by me, some I didn't even know the names of. Jake stops, digging his feet into the ground as I slow to a walk, looking up into the sky, taking in the beautiful sights.
"It's beautiful…" I whisper, my eyes filling with joy.
"Hey Marine!" Grace shouts. I turn towards her and start walking her way, the medical gown rubbing against my legs. Jake looks shocked to see her.
"Grace?" He asks.
"Well who'd you expect, numbnuts? Think fast!" She throws two fruits, one at me, and another at Jake. We both catch it with ease. "Motor control is looking good!" I smile as Jake moans about the taste of the fruit. Instead of eating, I examine it closely, seeing all of the colors combine in a wave of glory.
"Pandora is so… beautiful. I don't even have the right words to explain…" I whisper. Grace's smile only grows.
"You haven't even seen out there yet. This is still the compound."
My eyes dart to her's, excitement shining brightly in their blue depths. "Can we? Oh please! Can we go?"
She laughs, "Not today. Come, let's get you settled into your new bodies."
Throughout the day, Grace taught us about our bodies, and our new limits. She showed me and Norm how to move our tails to make it easier, while Jake was too busy trying to look at his. He looked like a dog.
It was night now, and Grace led all of the Avatars to this secured building where the bodies would sleep for the night.
She told us, that when we sleep in the Avatar, we wake up back in our normal bodies. This was going to be weird. Would my body be just as tired as I feel?
Jake's bunk was next to mine, he was sitting down with his braid in his hand. He picked up the end of it and examined it. "That's kinda freaky."
Grace shut the lights off, making everyone lay down. "Lights out kitties. See you at dinner."
With a deep sigh, My eyes close, welcoming the darkness I was stuck with as a human.
Hearing the machine turn off, I open the lid, and pull myself into a sitting position. Norm is by my side in an instant.
"Did you have fun?" He asks.
I nod. "I only wish I didn't have to come back to darkness…"
After a long, dark, bland dinner, I went to bed, eager for the next day, to see the light once more.
My dreams were filled with flying, the Pandoran trees rushing past me as I weaved between them. I wish I could fly, just so I could really experience Pandora the way I did in my dreams.
As I wake up, I notice that I missed breakfast, and was about to be late to meet up with Grace. Carefully, I threw on some sweatpants and T-shirt, and, with cane in hand, made my way to the link room.
Along the way, I heard the whispers from the soldiers, wondering why a blind woman was there, and how I would die quickly out there. Instead of making snappy remarks, I ignore them, more interested in getting into my Avatar.
Grace was snapping at people when I walk in.
"Finally! Someone with some brains! Kita, come here. Norm, help her." Instantly, Norm was at my side, and led me over to where Grace stood. "Okay, Kita, would it be smart to bring guns with us into the forest?"
I shake my head quickly. "Are you kidding? They would shoot us where we stand if they saw us armed. They already feel threatened. Let's not make it worse, m'kay?"
"But the beasts-" Someone starts. I whirl on them, angry.
"Are just like the animals back home. They won't bother us, if we don't bother them! Now, the only trigger happy person that will be with us, is Jake. That's it. Even he is smarter than you jarheads!"
"Thank you Kita. Now let's get going. We have a lot to do." Silent this time, Norm leads me over to the link. Grace walks up to him. "When we get into our bodies, we are going to go to the air hanger. We're going to take some samples today." We both nod, and Norm starts the link for me. Within moments, my eyes are open, and I can see the wood ceiling, my tail flicking against the bed in anticipation.
Jumping out of bed, I see Jake and Norm standing by the door, waiting for me. I run over to them, a huge smile on my face. "Let's go!" I shout, bounding past them through the doors.
Grace is already at the hanger when the three of us arrive, Jake and Norm out of breath, my eyes going over everything, making sure to remember where everything is.
A few humans pass us by, and I notice how tall we are compared to them.
"Come on kitties. Let's fly." Uh oh. In all of my excitement to see Pandora, I forgot we would have to fly. Taking a deep breath, I cautiously step into the helicopter. Jake and Norm follow behind me, with a Marine behind them. A woman I don't know sits in the cockpit, with Grace being the last to enter.
What feels like forever passes, and we are out of the compound, and above the beautiful forests of Pandora. My eyes seek out everything, taking it all in before the beauty is lost to me again.
Finally, once my stomach begins to heave, does Grace tell the pilot, Trudy, to land and cut the engine.
"Stay with the ship, one idiot with a gun's enough."
Jake leads us through the forest, his gun raised high. I roll my eyes and place my hand upon each tree we pass. All my life, I wanted to be here, and now that I am, I just can't seem to get enough of it.
"Relax Marine. You're making me nervous." I laugh at Grace's words when Jake slowly lowers his gun, wary of the area.
After a few, blissful moments of silence, Norm pipes up, "How will they know we're here?"
"I'm sure they're watching us right now." Grace replies.
Grace and Norm, more interested in the science, wander off to run some scans on a tree. Jake just wanders off, and I stand where I am, excited to just be here.
Seconds later, snort's alert me to danger. I run towards Jake's path, and stop when I see a Hammerhead Titanothere. It looks like a six-legged rhinoceros, but twice that size. Its massive, low-slung head has projections of bone giving it the look of a hammerhead shark. Jake raises his rifle, only for Grace's voice to cut him off.
"Don't shoot. You'll piss it off."
"It's already pissed off!" Jake shouts.
"Jake, that armor's too thick. Trust me." Jake starts to back away, but the Titanothere bellows and paws the earth. "It's a territorial threat display. Do not run, or he'll charge."
"What do I do?"
"Just, Just stand your ground." Grace claims, uncertainty ringing in her voice.
The hammerhead slashes its head sideways, splintering saplings. It bellows again, lowers its head and charges. Jake screams at the top of his lungs like a gorilla, spreads his arms wide and runs straight at it.. It stops abruptly, with an oversized bleat.
Amazed at the interaction, completely shocked that it worked, I ignore everything else around me, including the snarl of the Thanator… that's right behind me and Jake.
"Run! Definitely Run!" Grace shouts, shocking me back to the world around me. Jake grabs my hand, pulling me through the forest with an angry Thanator at our heels.
"We won't make it together. We have to split up. Whoever it isn't chasing, has to run and get help!" I yell, knowing how predators work.
Without a word, Jake splits from me, the Thanator chasing after him. I run in the opposite direction, hoping that I can find my way back to the others.
However, the farther I go, and the darker it gets, I realize that I'm helplessly lost.
