I apologize for not updating sooner I have been busy at the moment with work and university applications and haven't had much time to write. This chapter is longer than the others mainly because I wanted to get the movie story part over with so that I can get into the new story next chapter. This story will contain spoilers if you haven't seen the film don't read it. Finally I don't own any of the characters, places or whatever you can think of from the avatar universe that belongs to James Cameron and 20th Century Fox respectively. Also please remember to review all criticism is helpful.
It's been a few months now since Jake joined the omaticaya and started training in their ways. It's been quiet here at the compound ever since Jake, Norm, Trudy and Grace all moved up into the hallelujah mountains. I get occasional updates to what's going on but truthfully I wish I could have gone there with them. Unfortunately the cabin is too small for us all so I stayed here. I can't say how boring things have been.
It seems Jake is making remarkable process within the tribe I heard from Norm he's already an accepted member of the clan and even has his own banshee. Also the mercenaries here seemed to be anticipating something. I don't know what it is but I have a bad feeling about it.
All of a sudden I was brought out of my reverie by someone calling me.
"Phoebe! You ready to go?" it was Max "we should be linking up any moment."
"Yeah I'm ready I'll be there now" came my response. As I walked over the monitor Max was sat in front of burst into life. On the screen was the rest of the gang. "Nice of you to call" was the first thing I said before anyone else had chance to start.
"Nice to see you to Phoebe's" Jakes quickly replied with that trademark cheeky grin. All of a sudden Jake was holding the back of his head after a swift slap by Grace.
"Behave" was the only thing she said and I couldn't help laughing a bit at that. All of a sudden Norm chimed into the conversation.
"It's not like your missing much here anyway. We hardly see some people." He said while looking over in jakes direction. I couldn't help but giggle again at the small argument that erupted between Jake and Norm. That is until once again Grace stepped in giving each another swift slap to the back of the head.
"Will you two quit it already? Neytiri's right about you. Just like a child!" came graces remark. "Max we just wanted to let you know that we'll be coming back down to resupply soon okay? Could you make sure that everything we need is ready when we arrive? I'll send the link through after were finished for what we need."
"Yeah sure thing" said Max "is that all you need?"
"Yeah that's all well see you in a few days time" said Grace
"Hey if were finished here then can I link up? You know I've kind of got a date to be going to." Jakes voice came from behind where Grace was sat shaking her head.
"You've got a date, who with?" I asked curiosity taking over
"Neytiri. We're going to some sacred place" was jakes nonchalant response
"Moron the utraya mokri-(tree of voices) is more than just a sacred place. Its somewhere the Na'vi can commune with their ancestors. It is a very important site to them." Came norms slightly agitated response obviously not completely other the current situation concerning Jake. As the two once again started to bicker Grace just shook her head and bid us farewell before severing the connection.
"They seem to be getting along well" I laughed.
"Yeah" laughed Max "anyway you linking up to your avatar?"He asked
"Might as well. Got nothing better to do" I remarked "might as well get some exercise in." That's basically how the rest of that day went. As I said it's been quite boring around here lately.
After the training session yesterday I didn't really feel like going into my Avatar. Instead I made my way towards the mess hall to grab something to eat before relaxing for the rest of the day. There is only so many times that I could examine the same thing and I had now run out of stuff to do until someone brought me back more samples.
It was while I was in the mess hall that a merc ran into the mess and ran over to the table next to me where a group of them sat together joking about something. I couldn't help but overhear what was being said to the group by the new arrival. Hell I'd be surprised if the whole base didn't know by how loud he was shouting.
"Guys, Quaritch wants us suited up and ready to move in 5" shouted the new arrival
"What the hell for?" came the agitated response of one of the mercs sat at the table.
"Seems one of those avatar drivers attacked a bulldozer. So were going up to the Hallelujah Mountains to retrieve them." the merc replied. With that the team got up and left mumbling something on their way out about 'damn scientists' and bloody 'tree huggers'.
Once the group were out of site I made my way as fast as I could to find Max in the ink room to warn him about what was about to happen.
"Max! Max! Where are you?" I shouted at the top of my lungs as soon as I entered the room. A few seconds later Max came running out of one of the adjacent rooms with a look of complete confusion on his face.
"What's going on phoebe, what's all this commotion about?" Max said as soon as he saw me.
"We need to contact Grace and the others now!" I half shouted again trying to speed things up.
"Okay, but May I ask what for?" was Max's reply
"One of them attacked a bulldozer. Put it out of service by blinding it. I'm guessing it was Jake but anyway Quaritch is heading there now to drag all of them back here!" I said while my voices volume began to rise again.
"Oh crap that is not good" exclaimed Max as he rushed over to the comms console and started pushing buttons in order to raise the team.
*ring* *ring* *ring*. "No one is answering" said Max as the terminal kept on ringing. "Come on Grace........Norm.......... pick up already!" after five more minutes of waiting for a reply Max hung up on the channel.
"What are we going to do now?" I asked with absolutely no idea
"I don't know" replied Max "the only thing I can do is keep trying to contact them."
"This makes no sense" I suddenly realised
"What doesn't?" questioned Max starting to get lost
"It makes no sense why they wouldn't answer. I mean even if the three of them are in their avatars there shall still be Trudy left since she doesn't have an avatar." I stated.
"That's true" responded Max "however she could be doing something else and is unable to answer. Don't assume the worst okay. They'll be fine." Max then gave me a small smile to try and reassure me however the worry he was experiencing himself still broke through the facade. After that we waited for an hour while still trying to contact them which was when to our surprise all four of them walked through the link room door. Well with the exception of Jake that is who rolled in.
"Hey guys how's it going?" Jake asked as if nothing had happened.
"What do you mean 'how's it going?" I replied with a small bit of anger creeping into my voice. "Do you know how worried we were? Or how long we tried to get in touch o warn you?"
"Sorry about that" Grace chimed in "we were all out in our avatars at the time and Trudy was out flying.
"What's going on Grace" Max suddenly asked. Cutting of any further protests I may have had.
"Well some empty headed marine we know attacked one of the bulldozers and now Selfridge is shutting down. As well as that Quaritch is planning to attack hometree." Grace said with obvious discomfort. However as grace told us the situation Jakes face conveyed all emotion he was feeling even if he wasn't saying anything. He was really worried. As Grace was discussing the situation I made my way over to Jake.
"Hey you okay? You've been pretty quiet." I asked.
"Yeah I'm fine. Don't worry." Jake replied.
"Jake don't lie I can tell your worried about them. It's written all over you face." I said
"Yeah I am worried. They're my friend's phoebes. My........My Family." He said sullenly. I have to admit I was a little shock at him saying they were family but I didn't think now was the best time to mention that. Before I had chance to continue consoling Jake however another member of the avatar program ran in through the link room door. Adam I think his name was. Before we had a chance to ask what was the matter he just came out with it.
"Quaritch has gone to drive out the Na'vi. He's attacking hometree!" Adam pretty much shouted. In the blink of an eye the worried expression jakes face had been sporting change to one of terror and anger. With that Grace and Jake rushed out of the door to the ops centre.
Having not listened to the entire story from Grace I had to ask.
"Norm when I was speaking to Jake he said that the omaticaya were his family. What did he mean by that exactly?" I questioned.
"He's actually become a part of the clan now so he technically is part of the family." He answered. "Oh and he's now mated to Neytiri."
"What! When did that happen?" I asked completely shocked. Norm couldn't help but grin slightly at my reaction.
"Last night on their 'date' they made tsahaylu" he answered. Before I had chance to pursue things over Jake and Grace returned followed by Selfridge and his goons. Why does that keep happening to me? As I got closer we could see Jake and Grace climbing into their link chambers. Meanwhile Max was prepping the sequence and Norm made his way over to help.
"You've got one hour. Unless you want your girlfriend in there when the axe comes down, get them to evacuate. One hour." Selfridge remarked.
Max managed to get us a live feed from the dragon that Quaritch was in so that we would be able to see what was happening. All we could do now was sit back and wait.
50 minutes later
As we watched the screens we could see hometree come into view. It was massive. Far larger than I even imagined it would be. But after a moment something caught my eye. Something that made my blood run cold. At the bottom of the screen we could see jakes and graces avatars bound to an arch outside hometree. Obviously negotiations had failed and the omaticaya blamed Jake and Grace for the coming storm. A few moments later we saw the dragon firing gas chambers into the entry of hometree. Seconds later the warriors on the ground opened fire on the gunships as Na'vi women and children tried to escape the toxic fumes now engulfing hometree. Jake and Grace could be seen struggling, trying to escape and help. All of a sudden missiles were heading into hometree, wave after wave. Tears started rolling down my cheek unable to stop.
After I opened my eyes again after wiping them I looked back to the monitor and despite the destruction that was occurring all around one thing caught my attention. An elder Na'vi with a red garment over her shoulders approached Jake and Grace with her knife drawn. Before I managed to say anything however I saw her say something to the pair and then cut the ropes that bound them with her knife. I then released the breath I was unknowingly holding and looked back on screen at the destruction caused. The camera then turned away signalling the dragon was returning and the assault was over.
All of a sudden all hell broke loose in the link room as Selfridge and his men pulled cancelled the link between Grace, Jake and their avatars. As they then attempted to pull Jake and Grace out of their chambers Norm did something I never expected him to do. He punched a soldier. As this was going on I then came to my senses as to what was happening and was about to jump in and help but that was when Max grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away. As I was about to complain to Max about what he was doing he started speaking.
"We've got to get away from here now phoebe. We can't get arrested okay. So no attacking them." Max said sternly.
"But we've got to help them." I replied the worry creeping into my voice. "We can't just leave them!"
"I know that" Max said calmly yet at the same time commanding. "Were not going to be able to help them if we get locked up with them are we?" he pointed out. All I could do at that statement was lower my head for not comprehending the situation we were in properly.
Ten minutes later Max and I entered the mess hall in order to find Trudy. Luckily she was sitting at one of the far tables away from everyone else gathered there. As Max and I approached her, her head looked up from whatever it was she was reading to look at us approach.
"Hey guys what's up." Trudy asked seeing the worried looks on our faces.
"Trudy we need your help." I stated quickly Jake, Norm and Grace have been arrested."
"What! Why?" Trudy questioned with a look of complete shock upon her face.
"They tried to stop Quaritch from destroying hometree and save as many of the Na'vi as they could." I answered "it was horrible Trudy Quaritch just slaughtered them." I was about to say more when Trudy's hand rose to stop me.
"I know what happened at hometree." said Trudy with a sad expression on her face. A bit quieter than before Trudy continued. "I was there. I was in Quaritch's little fleet. Don't worry I didn't stoop to their level. That's why I'm here. I refused to fire and pulled out from the fleet and returned to base."
"Then will you help us to free the others?" Max asked a few moments later after the news we just heard. "We need to help the Na'vi and those three are our only hope of doing that."
"Max. Do you really need to ask that? Of course I'm going to help!" said Trudy back to her normal cocky self. "But were going to need a plan." And with that Max, Trudy and I sat discussing how we were going to help Jake and the others.
After half an hour the plan had been hatched and Max and Trudy started to set off to make it happen. That was until I interrupted them of course.
"Guys, Aren't you forgetting something here?" I stated "you have both got something to do but what about me? I want to help!"
It was Max that replied to me. "Phoebe, I want you to head down to the avatar link room and stay put okay."
"But why can't I help" I moaned still trying to get involved in the rescue of my friends.
"You can't come because we need you to remain safe. If anything happens to us that means we can still depend on you to help Jake and the others. Okay?" Max argued "in the mean time prep your avatar in case it's needed okay."
"Fine!" I said with a huff not being able to fault the logic behind Max's plan. And with that I headed off in the direction of the link room while Trudy and Max grabbed one of the food carts and made their way out of the mess hall towards the prison area of hells gate.
2 hours later
Max and I were sat waiting in the link room now after the successful rescue of Jake and the others. As far as we knew they had returned to the camp in the hallelujah mountains. They were then moving the link chamber somewhere else so that Quaritch did not know where to find them. We were waiting for the team to contact us to tell us the situation.
Ten minute later one of Adam ran back into the link room looking like he'd just run the marathon. "Guys Quaritch is planning a surprise attack on the tree of souls!"
"What!" Max and I both shouted while jumping out of the seats we were in.
"He's loading the Valkryie full of mining explosives and he's going to use it as a make shift bomber!" said Adam panting all the while.
"We have to warn Jake and the others" I said turning to Max "they have to be warned!"
As we were speaking the monitor for the comms console started to beep loudly signalling that someone was trying to connect. Max went over and flipped a few switches. A few seconds later Jake, Norm and Trudy appeared on the monitor. Before they had a chance to get a word in Max spoke up
"Jake we've got a big problem here." Said Max "Quar.......where's Grace?"
"She's resting" came jakes reply "she was shot by Quaritch on our attempt to escape." All three of us gasped in complete shock at the news.
"You said she's resting. That means she's okay right?" asked Max concern evident in his voice.
"She's fine Max" replied Jake. "There was a complication however and her consciousness has been transferred fully into her avatar body." Jake said to the complete shock of everyone on our side of the monitor. "Anyway we can discuss this later. You said something was happening there. What's happening?"
Max continued on from where he left of before. "It's crazy here, Jake. It's full mobilization. They're rigging the shuttles as bombers. They've made up these big pallets of mine explosives. It's for some kind of shock and awe campaign." "Quaritch is rolling and there's no stopping him."
"Do you know when?" Jake asked. Max looked over to Adam who informed him of that detail having left it out before.
"0600 tomorrow" Max said into the monitor. There was then the sound of people approaching the link room. Not wanting to be discovered talking about this we bid our farewell and shut down the link just as the other scientists entered the room.
Half an hour later I approached Max in the link room. He was fidgeting with one of the consoles in the main area when approached.
"Max I want to go and help out Jake and Norm." I stated sternly. "Don't try and talk me out of it okay because I've made up my mind." Max just looked over at me with a grin on his face.
"I thought you'd say something like that" said Max smiling at me. "I went ahead and got your avatar ready as well as a ride up to the old camp in the Hallelujah Mountains."
To say I wasn't thankful for the nonexistent resistance I was expecting would be a huge lie. In fact I had to restrain myself from jumping over and hugging the guy. That was when Max started to speak again.
"I know it's not going to be your real body out there but I want you to look after yourself okay."
"I'll try Max" I replied.
"Okay Trudy will pick you up from the old camp and take you to the new one okay." Max stated.
"Okay. And thanks for this Max." I said while heading over to my avatars link chamber. With that I started making my way towards the Samson that would fly me halfway to meet up with the others.
Two and a half hours later
I walked up to the shed housing everyone near the tree of souls and was greeted by Jake who didn't seem to be aware of me coming to help.
"Sorry I've been busy preparing with the clans" said Jake while walking up to me and giving me a hug. Behind him I could see a female Na'vi eying me warily.
"Jake." I whispered into his ear. "Who's that behind you, and why is she staring at me like that?"
"Oh right you two haven't met have you?" he said "phoebe this is my mate Neytiri, Neytiri this is my friend phoebe she has come to join the battle and help the people.
I then made my way over to Neytiri "kaltxì Neytiri Oel ngati kameie" (Hello Neytiri I see you) to which she responded.
"Sì Oel ngati kameie febee." (And I see you phoebe) "You speak our language well" said Neytiri changing to English.
"Thank you I studied it for many years." I said showing my gratitude for the praise. That was when Jake made his way over to us.
"Good to see the two of you getting along" smiled Jake "Phoebe since you don't have an ikran you can join Norm on the ground assault. Is that okay?"
"Yeah that's fine." I replied
"Try to get some rest okay but be back in your avatar for 0500 so that you can get into position with Norm. Jake stated
"Sure thing" I replied as I headed towards the area set up for the avatar bodies. "Jake, good luck for tomorrow if I don't see you before the battle."
"Yeah you to phoebe's" said Jake with that trademark cocky grin which made the situation that bit more bearable. With that I set my avatar down and disconnected the link and heading off to my quarters to get some sleep in order to be fully prepared for the coming storm.
After a night of restless sleep I had made the link up back to my avatar body to find Norm and Trudy already prepared for the battle to come. Norm walked over to where I was stood
"How come I'm wearing these" I said looking down at the native clothing now adorning my avatar body.
"Neytiri" said Norm smiling "she couldn't help herself give you a Na'vi makeover" he then moved over to the side of the room and then turned around and held out an M60 machinegun.
"Here you'll need this." Norm said. "How are you feeling?"
"Other than being half naked I'm not too bad. So where are we heading to?" I asked. This time it was Trudy that answered me. As I looked over I saw her face and couldn't help but feel a little shocked. The hard as nails pilot was covered in tribal markings on her face as well as the Samson that she would be flying in. Seeing my shocked expression Trudy decided to explain.
"It's so the Na'vi can tell I'm on their side." She said coolly "I don't really fancy being taken down by friendly fire" all I could do was nod showing her that I understood. "Anyway you and Norm are meeting up with the ground force at the tree of souls. I'll give you a lift but I won't be able to take you all the way." All of a sudden a voice appeared behind us. I turned to see Jake and another Na'vi warrior.
"Hey guys. Don't worry about that Trudy; Atan'eko will be taking them to meet up with the ground force since they left to set up their ambush a few hours ago."Jake said. After this the other Na'vi stepped forward. He was tall even for a Na'vi. His hair was braided on one side so that it hung next to his right eye. He was also adorned in jewellery such as necklaces of bones and teeth. He was already fully covered in war paint. A mixture of red, black, blue and white which made him look more beautiful than he already was but also symbolised that he was dangerous and strong. '
'Wait did I just think he was beautiful' I thought to myself. Seeing him just looking at us I decided that I should greet him
"Oel ngati kameie" I said lowering my head slightly as a mark of respect. Atan'eko was obviously a little surprised at how well I could speak their language.
"Oel ngati kameie" he replied. Switching over to English he continued. "Come, we have not got far to go but I would like to get there soon to help my brothers prepare.
"Sure I'm ready" I replied "Norm how about you? You ready to leave?"
"yeah I'm ready let's get going" as I looked back from the tree line I could just see norms avatar moving away from were Trudy was standing. And for a moment I thought I had seen them holding hands. As I was walking away with Atan'eko I thought to myself how absurd I was for thinking that. I mean come on Norm and Trudy!
As we walked into the makeshift field camp of the Na'vI ground forces some of the Na'vi stopped what they were doing to stare at the 'dream walkers'. Thankfully the majority of stares were aimed at Norm who was wearing human clothing whereas I had been changed by Neytiri into local clothing. A few moments later the Na'vI in the camp all returned to their preparations.
"There is a place for you to wait there." Said Atan'eko pointing to a small alcove with mats and a small fire.
"Thank you" I said as he walked away towards a tent in the centre of the camp. Norm and I then made our way over to the area that Atan'eko had designated and waited until we were told what to do. About half an hour later Atan'eko and an older looking Na'vi man exited the tent and shouted to the gathered warriors.
"Brothers and Sisters! The sky people are here. Prepare your selves for we Fight!" shouted the older male. Atan'eko then made his way over to us.
"Phoebe, you will ride with me. Norm You will ride with Ba'lamut" said Norm motioning to another Na'vi behind him. With that we made our way to the dire horses or Pa'li as the Na'vI call them and set off towards the battle.
As we sat waiting over one of the hills in the jungle the nerves finally hit me full force. 'What am I doing here I'm not a soldier.' I thought to myself. Seeing that I was nervous Atan'eko who was sitting next to me tied to calm me and prepare me for the oncoming battle.
All of a sudden the sound of rotor blades spinning caught the attention of my ears and I knew the battle was about to start. A couple of hundred meters away troops started to disembark from transports and AMP suits mobilised space evenly among the foot soldiers. The next part was like a blur. The Na'vi got up and charged toward the human forces. As they did this I also stood and ran with them acting more now on intuition and fear than anything else. All of a sudden the sound of gunfire filled the air as both ground troops and Amp suits opened fire on the advancing Na'vi forces.
As I took cover behind a large tree popping out every few minutes to fire into the oncoming forces all around me Na'vi were being killed. Unlike me they could not come back from this. This increased the rage I was already feeling and impulsively I charged towards the enemy ducking behind the foliage as I went.
As I killed a few of the soldiers near one of the Amp suits it turned and aimed at me and opened fire. The driver probable saw me as a bigger threat than the Na'vi due the M60 that I was using. All around me wood was chipping everywhere as rounds from the Amp suits massive gun impacted against the tree that I was taking cover behind. All of a sudden a round penetrated through what was now left of the trunk piercing straight through the right hand side of my chest. All of a sudden the pain became overwhelming as I slumped down to the forest floor. The driver must have seen this or become distracted with something else since he had now stopped firing at me.
Through the blinding pain one thing kept popping into my head. When will I ump back to my own body? As I lay there screaming in agony someone came over and flipped me over onto my back. I looked into the face of who it was through tear stained eyes. After a few moments of focusing I could see Atan'eko's face just before I felt my mind jump out of my Avatar into my own.
As the lid of the link chamber opened I jumped up screaming in agony. Max ran over with Adam and a few other members and picked me up of the floor where I had fallen.
"Phoebe? Phoebe? Are you okay? What's the matter" asked Max worriedly. Through ragged breaths and tears I managed to tell him that I got shot by an AMP suit. He looked at me now trying to reassure me that everything was fine and started to explain that the sensations I were experiencing were similar to phantom limb and it would soon pass.
After 20 minutes I finally felt better and had to ask Max something.
"Max isn't there a safety feature on the avatars that any massive trauma will eject he user?" I asked.
"Yes why do you ask? You ejected fine didn't you?" he asked with worry creeping back into his voice.
"Not really after I was shot I was still in my body for maybe two or three minutes. And guess what? It hurt like hell." I replied.
"I don't know why that happened." Answered Max confused. "I'll look into it okay. Now try and get some rest." With that Max left the room and I lay my head down and attempted to fall asleep but as I did I was plagued by the memory of the Na'vi that I had just seen be slaughtered under the RDA's tyrannical might. The last thought that crept into my head before I drifted off to sleep was who won the battle, how many people died and who would be made to pay for this atrocity.
I woke up a few hours late to the sound of a banshee screeching outside. 'But that's impossible' I thought 'it would have been shot down two hundred meters away from the fence. All of a sudden another screech echoed through the room. I made my way over to one of the windows looking out into the courtyard to see nothing. As I was staring hard through the glass jakes large, blue head popped out from the other side of the window from where I was looking. As he did this Jake burst out laughing motioning for me to make my way outside.
I rushed over to the door place an exopack on and made my way through the decompression chamber out into the courtyard. I approached Jake who was still chuckling to himself.
"I'm so glad your okay" I said giving jakes massive body a hug. "What happened? Did we win?"
"Yes we won don't worry." Jake said smiling. "I just came to get you cause were kicking the RDA off Pandora. I wanted to know if you wanted to stay or go"
"Stay here? As if the Na'vi would wa...." I was suddenly stopped by a big blue hand covering my mouth. I turned around to see who it was to find Neytiri smiling at me.
"Kaltxì Phoebe. I stopped you speaking because I know what you were going to say." Neytiri remarked. "You fought alongside the people. They will allow you to stay."
I thought over for a moment what I had to lose and gain by staying here on Pandora. Within a minute I had made my choice as I turned to Neytiri with her arm around Jake.
"I would like to stay" I replied cheerily. Jake was happy to hear it you could see it on his face. All of a sudden he started to speak.
"okay then shall we go and get this show on the road" Jake commented I replied back but then saw the confused look on Neytiri's face.
"It means the same as let's start the task at hand" I said. Understanding filled Neytiri's face and with that we headed over towards the landing pad where the Valkryie was docked.
As I stood there watching the last unwelcome humans board the transport a sense of accomplishment washed over me. As I watched the Valkryie take off however I realised something. Although it may take some time the RDA would be back. This planet has too much unobtainium for them to resist. As I walked away however I reminded myself it would not be for another 12 years and we had time to come up with something. I then made my way back to my room to get some rest after the ordeals of the day.