+An Experience+

Mia P.O.V

"So, how much link time have you logged," Grace asked Norm as we walked into the Link room. Today we were going to link with our avatars. I was a little nervous, but ecstatic all the same

"Uh, about 520 hours," Norm said wringing his hands nervously.

"That's good. You're in there," she replied pointing him to his own machine and then continuing on, "Mia you're here, and Jake you're there." Going up beside his machines I heard her ask Jake, "How much have you logged."

"Zip," Jake replied as he pulled his chair up next to the machine while the good old doctor looked over the computers, "But I read a manual." She turned around slowly and asked coldly, "Tell me you're joking." Jake's only reply was, "This is cool," as he poked the squishy material in the link machine with a goofy smile, that made me giggle.

Hearing the machines start up, I waited to get in mine as I watched to make sure Jake could get into his. Grace tried to help him, but all he said was, "Don't, I got this." Swinging his legs over into the machine with his hands, he paid no mind to Grace as she went back to the computers, and replied, "So you just figured you'd come out here to the most hostile environment known to man, with no training of any kind, and see how it went. What was going through your head?"

Listening closely I heard Jake's truthful answer. It kind of sounded a little directed toward Grace, but I also knew better than to believe that, "Maybe I was sick of doctors telling me what I couldn't do."

Coming to stand beside him she pushed him down onto the platform and replied, "Keep your arms in, hands in, head down," but Jake was still being difficult by raising his head again, she once again replied, "Down," before pushing his head down for him. "Just relax and let your mind go blank; shouldn't be hard for you," she said as she was getting ready to close the hatch, "Kiss the darkest part of my lily-white…" Thank the Lord she managed to shut the hatch before he said anything else. God only knows he and she could probably battle it out forever just as much as he and I could.

"Initiate link," she said looking over at the control panels as I got inside my own machine. She made her way over to me and began to mess with the computer, before looking at me and asking, "Is he always like that."

"Difficult. Yeah I guess," I chuckled as she smiled.

"Please tell me you're different," she silently pleaded.

"I am, I'm worse," I muttered as she rolled her eyes and told me the same things she told Jake while helping me get situated. Closing the hatch I followed her orders and closed my eyes and let my mind go blank.

Grace's P.O.V

"These are gorgeous brains. Nice activity," Max said as I walked up behind him, "Hmph, Go figure." Looking over the charts I said, "Alright, going in." I walked away while taking off my lab coat and handing it to a nearby lab worker. "I'm going in, in four."

Mia's P.O.V

Slowly my mind began to slip, and then suddenly I was hurling through a tunnel of bright neon colors, and at the end was a bright white light. Opening my eyes carefully I found doctors above me checking me over, and asking if I was okay.

"She's in, Mia can you hear me," a male nurse asked on my right while another male doctor was shining a flashlight in my eyes on my left. How had I gotten here and away from the link bed? Oh yeah my avatar of course, or had something gone wrong. "Pupillary reflexes, good," the doctor replied as the male nurse snapped his fingers around my ears. Wow my hearing had improved by a lot, "Pinna response normal. How you feeling, Mia?"

"Hey," I replied waking up fully into my new mind.

"Welcome to your new body, Mia," The doctor chuckled from beside me. I guess that confirmed my theory. I'd made it to my avatar. Raising my arms in front of my face I could see my blue feminine hands. Rising up slowly I began to feel like a giant next to these doctors as they checked me over and asked questions. I answered them occasionally as I looked at all my new parts including my… tail! However, soon the peace was disturbed when Jake came too.

Jake could move his legs! At least in his avatar. That's all it took to get him riled up though as he stood up against the doctors' orders. As he caused havoc he took one look and me and smiled and that's all there was to it. Even though Norm and all the doctors were trying to get him to stop moving, even threatening to sedate him, he took off out of the room at full speed. Norm and I ripped off our little wires even with the doctors protests as well, but I was the first to get out of there, maybe a millisecond after Jake had left.

I followed him to where he was standing outside just staring in amazement at the others like us, playing basketball and moving around. He had his legs, he could move! The doctors followed behind me, but I told them not to worry. I'd get him and get him I did. Tapping on his shoulder I replied, "You're it." He grinned as I took off with him chasing closely behind me. Somewhere along the way we ended up standing in a garden of some sort. I watched as Jake just simply let his feet dig into the dirt as he smiled happily. I closed my eyes and did the same. Yeah it was definitely a good feeling.

"Hey kids," we both looked up and found a tall Na'vi woman, Grace-look-alike, making her way towards us. Grace's avatar body made her look 10 years younger than she was. Even Jake couldn't help from muttering, "Damn," under his breath.

"Grace?" We both asked.

"Well who'd you expect numb-nuts," she replied directing that more toward Jake. I had this feeling she hated men, more than she did women, especially Marine men. "Think fast," she said before throwing both of us some kind of fruit. "Motor controls looking good," she said as Jake and I both bit into the fruit. The juices just poured out, and it tasted so amazing that I couldn't just compare it to one fruit, but all. It tasted like tropical fruit punch, but better. It was all Jake and I could do from losing our minds. We felt free, both of us. That much I could see.

Later when it became dark we were all ushered into the dojo like cabin. I was shown a bed by one of the human helpers there. Yeah I definitely felt like a giant next to them. The best thing though was that I didn't have to wear a mask like them however.

Slipping onto my cot I pulled my braided part of my hair up to my face and looked at the end where, I had seen earlier that day, the strange little squid like movements of the tendrils. I didn't know what they were called really, and if I did I couldn't remember, but they were weird, and quite unusual. I looked over at Jake who was doing the same thing. Grace called out to us to let them be, and so we did. Leaning back on the cot I listened as Grace ushered out the remaining scientists and headed to her own cot calling out, "See you at dinner kiddies."

I looked around the room before looking up at the ceiling. This wasn't all that bad, in fact now that I was wearing some normal clothing I felt pretty good. Closing my eyes I immediately met the same neon light tunnel I had before, and then with a jolt my eyes opened and I was back to being the same old Mia Sully, human bitch from hell who's life was perfect, and yet un-perfect. Opening up the hatch I raised the little net like contraption as well. Swinging my legs over the side I let my senses come back to me before getting off the link-bed and heading over to Jake who seemed to have a sour expression plastered on his face now.

"You alright," I asked, but I got no answer, just a curt nod as he rolled out without me. I knew how he felt. He felt teased, but it hurt him worst of all, because within that moment, within that body, his life didn't suck. He could use his legs, and we got along, but back here was different. He was a cripple, and we could barely speak two words to one another.

I made my way to the Dinning Hall to grabbed dinner, before heading on to bed for a real night's rest.

The next day I linked with my avatar again, only this time Grace was taking, Norm, Jake, and I on a mission out into the forest to get some plant samples. Hell I even got a gun to use. That was thanks to Jake though and his wonderful persuading of the easy to swoon woman of the artillery room.

Now we all sat or stood in a plane as we flew over Pandora's jungle life. Norm pointed certain animals out to me and told me what they were, ever so occasionally inching closer to me, until I was squished up against the side of the plane. Jake noticed this from the other side of the plane and simply laughed at my predicament. Yeah Norm definitely had a crush on me, it was not good.

Another thing that wasn't good was that the butterflies were returning, and this time they were there to stay as Trudy, our pilot, flew the plane crazily for Jake who enjoyed the whole ride to our destination. The only thing that seemed to keep me occupied though, and keep my mind off of the butterflies, was the scenery and the creatures. Norm showed me two kinds of animals that stuck out in my mind the most. One was the Ikran, a reptilian sort of dragon bird on Pandora that the natives used to get around. Second were these rhinoceros type creatures grazing down in a field. He said their armor was super tough.

The scenery was even better though, as we flew down a massive Niagara Falls look alike. In fact it was much bigger that Niagara Falls, and much prettier. Pandora might want to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes, but hell it was gorgeous place to look at.

Trudy landed the plane in some part of the forest as I grabbed my backpack and threw it over my shoulder. Locking it into place I then leaned down and picked up my gun, all the while the soldier, Wainfleet whom that had came with us, was eyeing me suspiciously.

"How'd you get one," he questioned.

"Blame my brother," I smiled at him as I jumped out of the plane and onto the firm, non-moving ground.

Grace walked over to the front of the helicopter telling Trudy to shut it down because we'd be here a while. The whipping sound of the propellers slowly ceased. Grace turned to Norm and yelled out to him to get his pack, all the while making her way toward the forest. She caught sight of Wainfleet and told him, "Stay with the ship. Two idiots with guns are enough." I heard his snarky reply of, "You the man, Doc," as I passed him.

As we entered the forest Jake took to the front with Grace behind him, and then Norm behind her. I was in the back, which didn't at all bother me, because if I saw something coming, then I had better time to hightail it back to the ship and tell them to get the hell out of there.

Most creatures on our planet were extinct, but the few that still were alive still could give you a heart attack if you met them out in what was left of our jungles. Me personally, I had a small fear of bugs, spiders especially. My biggest animal fear was wolves though, and even more so the big jungle cats that lurk in the shadows. So being here in this jungle with the strong fear I had of animals like that didn't really sit well with me.

As we walked we all watched below and above us as we listened to the moans, roars, chittering, squawking, yoweling, and squeaking of the animals all around us. Jake was nervous up front, that was for sure, because he kept whipping around pointing his gun in the direction of whatever noise we'd here. At one point we heard some chittering from above us, and as we looked up a monkey-like creature swung onto a vine in our direction we were heading. He was a cute little animal with big yellow eyes and a sad look on his light blue face; however Jake still pointed his gun.

"Pro-lemurs, they're not aggressive," Grace told him a Jake steadily lowered his gun, and looked around as the pro-lemurs swung out of there after grabbing their desired fruit from the branches of the trees. "Relax marine, you're making me nervous," Grace replied walking up next to him and pushing the gun downwards toward the ground.

Continuing on Norm asked, "So how will they know we're here."

"I'm sure they're watching us right now," Grace answered him as she trudged her way through the thick vegetation around us. Norm began slowing down as the trail got harder; making me myself have to slow down as well. When Jake noticed this he called out, "Keep moving, Norm," when Norm was just about to lean against a tree for a breather while blocking my path. "Keep up guys," Grace yelled back to us, noticing we were farther behind her than anyone.

In no time though my brother and I were standing and watching over the two scientists as they took samples from a tree root.

"Scanning…Oh wow it's that fast," Norm said with shock looking at a small computer in his hands. Grace chuckled with a bright smile from ear to ear as she said, "Amazing isn't it."

"Yeah," Norm whispered when Grace went serious again and replied, "So that is signal transduction, from this root to the root of the tree next to it. So, we should take a sample." I tuned the rest out from there as I lost interest. Turning to my brother who was getting just as bored as me, I nodded my head in the direction in front of us before walking away. Jake followed, just glad that he could walk away from all the science talk for a few moments.

As we walked over into the small clearing beside us we found, these tall, reddish-pinkish, circular plants looming in front of us. They seemed to glow brightly in the sun, and sway without barely a breeze. They seemed almost alive, as Jake and I made our way over to them. Jake carefully outstretched his hand reaching to touch one, but when he barely got his finger out to it, the plant just shriveled up and sucked its self back down into a tiny stem in the ground with a loud 'thump' sort of sound. Jake and I both gasped, all the while we could still here Grace talking to Norm.

As if still in disbelief, I too reached out my hand and did the same as my brother had done. The plant recoiled into it's self with a loud 'thump' once again. I looked at my brother and smiled evilly as did he. In a matter of moments we were reaching our hands out to the plants in a playfully frenzy as we chuckled at each and every, 'thump, thump, thump.'

However, eventually all the plants began to recoil on their own and in their wake they left a clearing, and in that clearing stood one of the monstrous creatures Norm had pointed out to me early. Up close the rhinoceros-look-alike didn't seem so majestic as much as frightening. It lifted its head up and caught site of us, with a load roar from the creature Jake and I immediately held up our guns and pointed directly at the rhino.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot you'll piss him off," Grace said suddenly as she used the communication radios that wrapped around our necks. The rhino suddenly took its hammer head and butted it against the trees next to us angrily.

"It's already pissed off," Jake told her keeping a firm grip on his gun.

"Jake, Mia, that armor's too thick, trust me," Grace told us as the creature screeched, and growled at us, while continuing to destroy the trees and plants around him in rage.

"It's a territorial threat display. Do not run or he'll charge," Grace warned us as we got ready to take off. The thing roared at us as I yelled, "So what do we do, dance with it?"

"Just…hold your ground," Grace explained as the thing calmed down a little, but I knew better. There was always the calm before the storm. Then out of nowhere the thing charged at us. I took one look at Jake as he and I both charged right back screaming, and hollering at the creature. It stopped right before reaching us doing the same. Slowly it backed away as both Jake and I began chuckled at the thought we weren't dead at this very minute. For a moment there I thought I was about to be road-kill.

"Yeah, come one. What you got," Jake taunted the creature, "Oh yeah, whose bad? Yeah that's right."

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about bitch," I said getting caught up in the taunting now as well, as relief flooded over me, and I began to feel safe again. The creature turned and began to hightail it back to the other rhinos, all the while Jake still taunting, "That's right get your punk ass, back to mommy. Yeah you got nothing, you keep running…" I stopped listening there when I felt some hot breath on the back of my neck and heard the heavy breathing of something behind me. Before Jake even realized it I was turning around to find a huge, black, leathery looking panther animal behind me. I knew the name started with a 'T' but right now with the shock, and fear coursing through my veins I couldn't get it off the tip of my tongue as I reached my hand out to Jake to stop him from ranting and to look behind him. When he did turn his eyes widen and his ears on each side of his head laid back like a frightened kitty.

"Shit," he managed to mutter as the thing roared ungodly killing my ears. It leaped over us and toward the rhinos. It must have been hunting them, but now that the creatures formed a strong line and showed they weren't moving, the hunter knew it had lost its prey, but with a low growl it turned its head toward us and centered in on its new prey.

"So what about this one? Run, don't run, what," Jake yelled out fearfully to Grace. The creature smoothly began stalking toward us all the while training its eyes upon my sky blues.

"RUN! DEFINITELY RUN," Grace yelled as Jake turned, grabbed my hand, and high-tailed it out of there with me right on his heels, and the creature only a foot or two from mine.

We jumped through some thick tree roots, as the creature slammed into it and clawed at the wood, but it detoured and as we were running through some bamboo plants it managed to catch back up to us. Jake and I came close to tripping over a tree stump, almost getting or legs bitten off by the creature's jaws.

Finding our ground quickly we flew through the trees almost, as our hearts beated wildly, and our breaths grew short. The creature clawed its way through the bamboo, occasionally using its jaws to rip the wood out of its way.

Jake and I ran under a large fallen tree, and the creature followed getting stuck for only a moment, before the rotten tree gave way to the pressure that was putting on it, which in turn large splinters of wood flew in every direction.

Seeing a tree up ahead and a cage like opening that we could squeeze through that the creature couldn't, we immediately ducked in, but that didn't stop it either, while we turned and watched as it tore at the roots around us. We crawled to the other side when it managed to get its head inside the place, but it switched over to the other side as well and clawed and bit the roots away. Jake in anger finally lifted his gun screaming, and baring his teeth, shot at the monster. Following his example I quickly found it didn't really phase the animal all that much. Instead it just pissed him off enough to lean in and clamp down on Jakes gun, and fling its head the other way disposing of it. Then it came back for mine as I leaned over Jake and continued firing. My gun was, almost in an instant, in pieces.

Now without the threat of us shooting at it, the creature clawed its way inside the root like cage around us. Jake took me by the waist almost and hauled me out of there. Pushing me in front of him we began to run once more, but the Thanator was smart.

Jumping over the fallen tree we had just crossed under, it outstretched his claws and drew Jake to the ground. I turned when I heard him grunt from the impact. I watched in terror as the monster took his bag on his back into its jaws and began slinging him around like a rag doll. I thought that was the end of him until he successfully managed to get himself unhooked from his bag. Jake was flown to the side in my direction. Helping him up the Thanator quickly noticed that the thing he was now chewing on was not his particular prey. It's antenna like whiskers perked up when it caught sight of us, and then it was on again as we shot through the forest like bullets.

Seeing the cliff up ahead, and the waterfall, Jake didn't hesitate as he took a hold of my hand and flung us right off the cliff and probably into our watery grave below. The creature barely had enough time to catch itself from going over as he roared in angry at us, and at losing its prey.

The moment my feet met water it felt as if I had been thrown into a bucket of ice. Not because it was cold, but because the impact was so great. The water carried me a little downstream as I fought to get to the surface. I wasn't a good swimmer. I never had been, so as of right now as my body floated on down I could feel the lack of air getting to me. I almost all but gave up at reaching the surface, when I felt a hand take hold of my black tank-top and yanked me up and out of the water.

Jake hauled me up onto the tree branch as I coughed and sputtered, and inhaled deeply for air. "You alright," he asked as I merely nodded and said, "I can't swim." Realization flooded into his eyes and right then I knew he felt guilty for taking me with him into the water, but quickly before the guilt could worsen I replied, "If you hadn't have done it though, it would have killed us." He followed my pointed finger up to the cliff where the Thanator was roaring ungodly trying to figure a way down so he could get at us.

"Near death experiences, are not what we signed up for," I muttered as Jake chuckled lightly while helping me over to shore.

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