Jade dodged to the left, bringing up her gun level with her assailant's chest. The club missed her head and caught her upper arm with a glancing blow. Jade could have shrugged off the blow had it been a human attacker. The force of the strike numbed her entire right arm, her gun dropping from nerveless fingers. Her attacker wound up for a horizontal swing. Reacting quicker than she ever had before, Jade ducked. A blur of movement, the club parting the dense air on its path, then blinding pain in her skull. The straps of her helmet snapped and sent the headgear spinning into the undergrowth.

Jade felt her body enter autopilot. Her knife arm flashed out, too slow to be of any use. The Na'Vi saw it coming and jumped back, the slash passing its stomach harmlessly. Jade let her arm complete the arc and switched her knife to her right hand. Another vicious slash hit nothing but air, the impetus sending her past her opponent. As it began its third swing Jade darted so close that the Na'Vi lost the advantage of its club. She grabbed its outstretched arms and rammed her shoulder into its torso. Using the Na'Vi's own momentum against it, Jade swung the whole gangly creature over her body in one swift movement and slammed it into the ground.

It seemed dazed by the impact, giving Jade enough time to grab it by the hair braid and yank it off-balance. Its cry of pain was suddenly cut off as she brought her knife to its throat.

"The Colonel told us you were hard to kill," Jade panted, trying to breathe in more oxygen than her mask was filtering. "I guess he never met you."

The Na'Vi started to struggle, but froze when Jade pressed her knife in hard enough to draw blood. She spied her gun lying close by and picked it up. She sheathed her knife in its holster slung across her chest and rather pointedly cocked the hammer of her revolver. Starting to feel faint, Jade turned on the high intake valve on her mask and tried to get her heart beating normally again. Her head was still thumping like she'd taken a bottle of tequila and a dirtnap sometime recently, and her arm felt shaky and unsteady.

Jade furrowed her brow. Now that she was taking a close look at her captive, it seemed…odd. It was actually shorter than she had first estimated, seven feet tall at the most. Tall in relation to the 6'1 Jade, but downright miniscule by Na'Vi standards. In fact, it didn't even look like a full-grown adult. More like a teenager.

"You picked the wrong woman to screw with." Jade panted when her lungs stopped being desperate enough to chance unfiltered air. "I have not had a good day."

Her finger tightened on the hair-trigger.

"Wait! Don't shoot, please!"

Jade nearly dropped the gun. "You can talk?"

"Of course I can talk, I'm not an animal!"

"No I-I mean, you can speak English?"

"I guess I can, considering I'm talking to you right now!"

"Don't get snippy with me; I'm a gun-wielding woman on the edge. Did you go to Dr. Grace's school?"

"No, I asked a passing Thanator."

"I see the good doctor taught you the wonders of sarcasm." Jade sighted down the barrel of her gun. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you."

"U-uh wait! Just c-calm down, ok? Look, you're lost, right?"

"No, I'm taking this stroll in Satan's backyard for my health."

"Ok, I get the point. If you're lost I can take you back! A guide would be pretty useful, right?" The Na'Vi seemed to be sweating profusely.

"What makes you think I need a guide?" Jade retorted dismissively and turned to walk away.

"You're going to the big human city, right? I just… you're going the wrong way."

Jade stopped dead in her tracks and gripped her gun so tight her knuckles turned white. "What?"

"You've been walking in the opposite direction every since you woke up."

Jade rushed back to where the fallen Na'Vi was getting up and pushed him back into the dirt. "Have you been following me you little creep?"

"No! Well yes… a little…"

"AND you just tried to kill me!"

"I was only trying to knock you out!"

"If I hadn't been wearing my helmet my head would be in those bushes over there!"

"Please stop yelling at me!"

Jade stood back and folded her arms, letting the Na'Vi stand up. "So you want to help me. How do I know you're not just going to wait until my back is turned then kill me and use my skin to make a canoe?"

The Na'Vi looked ready to puke when it pictured her suggestion. "Oh no. I tried fighting you. I don't want to repeat that."

Jade secretly agreed. She'd heard stories of the strength of Na'Vi, and the creature before her had at least some of that. She knew she'd won with skill and luck in equal measure. Sure she didn't want him around, but the alternative was wandering in a place where some of the plants might eat her. Enemy you know and all that.

"Ok guide, commune with nature. What have I been missing?" Jade asked half-sarcastically.

The Na'Vi rubbed the back of its neck. "There was a pack of ravenous Viperwolves stalking you but they seem to have backed off now that I'm here."

"Fascinating Papa Smurf." Jade said, but couldn't suppress a small giggle. The Na'Vi looked confused.

"What's funny?"

"A really old show from Earth about a village of little blue people. I guess Pandora is the Planet of the Smurfy-Cats."

The Na'Vi rolled its eyes. "I wonder if I should have let you kill me instead. It might have been less painful."

Jade cocked her revolver again for emphasis. "Your wish is my command, Papa Smurf."

"Nononono, that's fine! I'm good… Look, just follow me…" the Na'Vi finally decided, leading Jade into the jungle once again.

Oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into? Jade thought.