Hello everyone sorry it took so long for me to update, Uni has been a bit crazy and then I also managed to get side tracked my mmorpg's. Eden Eternal has captured my heart! Really I have slowed down with them for now… must concentrate on work! So many fic's to update. Hope you all enjoy this extra long chapter!

Beta read by Kuro Mitsu


Chapter 4: First Mission

He was flying again, the aquamarine forest passing past below him. Jake was giddy with excitement, the wind going through his air chilling his warm cheeks, adrenaline coursing through every part of his body. His heart beating so fast that he thought it would break out of his chest. Yet even with all this excitement he felt at peace, as if he belonged in the sky, amongst the cotton white clouds. His gaze fell towards the ground again, his blue eyes widening in shock when the beautiful forest gave way to the dark desolate pit of the mines.

There was a beeping sound and suddenly-

K-WHOOOM!

The entire face of one terrace was blown skyward in a chain of explosions. The shot blasted hundreds of tons of rock loose. Jake watched in disgust as enormous wheel-loaders started shoveling up the ore-rich rock and dropping their cargo into dump trucks. He watched the disembowelment with shock, seeing a wall dozer blades crush everything in its path as it reduced trees to kindling. Remotely operated dozers cutting a road through the dense jungle, their slash-cutters, a vicious spinning head mounted on hydraulic arms, that hogs through the enormous tree trunks in a spray of wood-shrapnel.

The heavy machines were escorted by ampsuits, Colonel Quaritch on foot as leader. Jake didn't know why but the sight of the man brought nothing but rage and anger up inside of him. The trail of destruction was this man's fault; he had to get rid of him. He had to kill him.

Jake felt himself flying downwards towards the older man, his body tensed and ready to attack, wanting to shred him to pieces like he had the forest. Yet before he even got close Quaritch raised his gun, aimed and took shot. Two bullets landed firmly in his chest; the shriek that left him was inhuman, more animal than man. He clutched his chest, surprised to see that instead of his normal fleshy arms he saw two blue striped ones. The ground came ever closer, and he crashed with a sickening crash-

"Ahhhh!"

He screamed, fighting the covers off him as he fell out of bed and onto the hard ground. Jake groaned as his head hit against the hard floor. His lunged felt like they were being crushed as he laid there, his body feeling weak and drained. Loud footsteps made their way towards his room, the knocking on his door only made his head hurt more.

"Jake you okay, we heard screams!" it sounded like Max's concerned voice.

It took him a while to gain his bearings, the world had yet to stop spinning. But he had to reply before they all stormed in and saw him like this. "Yeah fine… just-just a bad dream," he replied back.

There was silence form the other side. "Well, okay, if you say so…" came Max's uncertain reply.

He listened to the footsteps had faded away before forcing himself into a sitting position. His back resting against the side of the bed, he ran his hand through his short hair feeling for a bump or any other kind of injury. Not finding one he tried to relax, but he still felt edgy, his heart beating like a drum, pounding in his chest as if he has run a mile. That must have been a really bad dream, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what it was. Jake tried not to dwell on it; after all, it was just a stupid dream.

Jake sighed looking down at his crippled legs, detesting the sight of them. He rubbed the pale skin as if trying to wipe their existent away. It had been nearly a week into the Avatar program and he was already starting to get homesick. He had to assimilate himself with his new surroundings, learning to control his new body, getting used to its strength. All in preparation for their first field mission that had been postponed for him. Since he still wasn't used to all this new scientific gizmos, he would simply be going in as escort with Grace and Norm.

There were at least another two hours to go before he actually had to get up, so might as well get ready now, there was no way he was going to get any more sleep now. With some effort the brunette dragged his wheelchair towards him and unfolded it, grasping the sides he lifted himself up and sat down on his chair. He wheeled himself towards the adjoined bathroom and underwent his usual cleaning regime. While brushing his teeth he caught sight of his reflection; his hair had grown out a bit. Guessed there wasn't any need to keep it short anymore since it wasn't his human body that was out in the field, but the avatar one. Still, he thought rubbing his bristled chin, a shave wouldn't be out of the question.

Cleaned and refreshed he left the bathroom, and got dressed in a thin vest and cargo pants before leaving for the link room. Norm was already there, getting ready setting up his pack for when they leave. Grace and Max were in the middle quietly talking to each other, looking over last minute figures.

"Good thing you're up marine, heard you had a bad dream," Grace taunted, when she spotted him.

Jake couldn't help but blush, a marine having a nightmare was just embarrassing. He didn't reply to her taunt; instead he hurried to finish his own pack, it was already half-packed. He ignored Grace's scowl as he cocked the rifle, checking it was in working condition, before grabbing some of the set-up rations for his use and putting them in his backpack as well.

"Sully!" someone called his name.

He turned around and noticed the pilot Trudy Chacon approaching, dressed in her flight suit. She's a rock-hard former Marine with thousands of flight hours out in the badlands. She was quite small, standing next to Grace she only came to just under the older woman's chin, but her size said nothing about her strength. She was tough cookies, and Jake knew there were very few that could go against her.

"Colonel wants to see you in the Armour Bay," she said.

The brunette arched an eyebrow in confusion; he gave Norm a puzzled glance and pivoted from his table to follow Trudy to the Armour Bay. Passing tilt-rotors under repair, there were heavily armed scorpions as well as several SA-2 SAMSON work-horses outfitted with door guns and rocket pods. All packed in rows.

"You guys're packing some heavy ordinance," Jake commented at the sight.

Trudy smirked. "Yeah, 'cause we're not the only thing flyin' around there. Or the biggest. I'm gonna need you on a door gun, I'm a man short."

"Yeah, no problem," Jake nodded. She smiled and extended her fist so that he could bump it with his.

"See ya on the flight-line, zero-nine," then she pointed down. "He's down there."

Jake thanked her and then rolls his chair along the central gallery of the Armour Bay, passing a row of Ampsuits standing in service racks. Techs clamber over the 'suits, loading with cranes and lifts. At the end of the row was a makeshift gym area. Colonel Quaritch was there bench-pressing massive plates, for a man his age he was in great shape.

"The low gravity makes you soft," he grunted, pushing the last rep. "You get soft, Pandora will shit you out dead with zero warning."

Quaritch racks up the bar and stands up, he's sweating but not winded. Grabbing a towel the older man wiped away the moisture. "I pulled your records, Corporal. Venezuela- that was some mean bush. Nothing like this here, though. You got heart kid, coming out here."

Jake frowned. "I figured… it was just another hellhole," well he didn't think of Pandora like that, so far everything he had seen was amazing. But this was his was superior he was talking with and he had to agree with the man.

The Colonel chuckled appreciatively, clapping Jake on the shoulder. The chief mechanic yelled out from the nearest Ampsuit. "The servo's in, Colonel, if you want to try it."

Quaritch nodded at him; he crossed to the Ampsuit, with Jake following close behind. "I was in First Recon a few years ahead of you. More than a few. Two tours in Nigeria, not a scratch on me. I come out here and," he points to his scarred face.

"They could fix this if I rotated back. But you know what? I kinda like it. Reminds me every day what's out there. Besides, I can't leave," he said looking towards as if he could see outside and into the tree-line. "This is my war, here."

The Colonel grabbed the handle bars on the top, lifting himself up and inside the cramped compartment of the cockpit of the suit, searching for the belt to strap himself in before throwing some switches. The suit's gas-turbine spools up with a rising whine.

"The Avatar program is a joke- buncha limpdick scientists. But we have a unique opportunity here, you and I. A recon Marine in an avatar body could get me the intel I need, on the ground, right in the hostiles' camp."

The whine was now a roaring whoosh as the suit trembles with power, causing the air boiled above the exhaust vents. Quaritch reaches in and operates the controls, making one of the huge metal hands flex open and close. He nods at the waiting mechanic. "Looks good," he told him.

Then he turned to Jake. "I need you to learn about these savages, gain their trust. Find out how I can force their cooperation or hit 'em hard if they don't. Maybe you can keep some of my boys from going home like you, or bagged-and-tagged."

Pointing out his disability was something he didn't appreciate, but he kept his mouth shut and nodded in agreement. "That sounds real good, Colonel. So… am I still with Augustine?"

"On paper. You walk like one of her science pukes, you quack like one, but you report to me. Can you do that for me?"

Jake nods in agreement. He atched as slowly Quaritch brings the ampsuit to life. He steps forward and pivots smoothly, balancing the two ton machine on one foot while sweeping the arms in strong, graceful arcs. Jake gasped when he realizes he is doing 'Wu-Shoo Kata'. A flawless display of strength and control. Jake was impressed, Quaritch was the kind of man he respected- focused, hard. Determined. A man who knew the world.

"Look son, I take care of my own. Get me what I need and I'll see that you get your legs back when you rotate home. Your real legs."

The brunette watched in stunned silence, did he hear correctly was Colonel actually promising him his legs back? Could he actually do that. he watched as Quaritch raised the suit's hand and slams the canopy shut like the visor of a helmet. Then the Colonel walked past, huge feet clanging past him causing the ground to shake.

"Just think about it," the older man called out before disappearing behind two metal doors.

Slowly Jake wheeled himself out of the Armour Bay, his thoughts a muddled mess of ideas. There really wasn't a question about what he wanted; he wanted his legs back. That was his biggest dream, and he would be able to leave this planet quicker and go back home. It was just another mission, one where his other body was a fucking hermaphrodite. So if he did what Quaritch wanted then he get his legs back, his life, and go back home.

Without even realizing it he was already back in the Link room, everything was already set up and ready. Professor Augustine was in a frenzy, ordering everyone around to get everything finished. The techs were cowering in fear away from her.

"Get ready everyone, we're going in," Grace instructed. When she spotted him entering she went towards him. "So what did Atilla want?" she asked.

"Just Marines comparin' tattoos."

Grace huffed in disbelief. "Yeah. Well, listen to me Marine," she said drilling him with a look. "You're driving an avatar now. That mean you're in my world, got it?"

"Got it," he replied.

She grimaced at his carefree attitude, and turned around striding towards Jake's Link Unit, as the other went to catch up.

"That son of a bitch has screwed up this program enough. All this," indicating towards the link room, "exists so we can go out there and build a bridge of trust to these people, who could teach us much. But thanks to Quaritch and his thugs the Na'vi won't even talk to us anymore."

"Then how's this supposed to work?"

Grace smiled at that. "With a new face of course," she said turning to Norm. "You're fluent, you've studied the culture, you're non-threatening. The ones we know best, the Omaticaya clan, may give you a chance. Maybe you can get them back to the table before things go tits-up for good."

Norm however failed to see the encouragement. "This is failing as a pep talk."

The shell already open Grace stood beside him as he dragged himself inside the unit, the older professor not making a move to help him this time. The last few times she had tried only earned her a harsh glare.

"Then how do we contact them?" Jake asked.

"We don't. They contact us. If they see us taking our samples, treating the forest with respect," she said giving Jake another look. "Not trampling everything in sight, they may reach out to us."

He couldn't help but snort. "Or they may skin us and make a drum…" Jake mumbled under his breath.

"Just keep your mouth shut and let Norm do the talking."

The biometric sensory shell was lowered over him, and then the lid was slammed down. No matter how many times he went through this, the sensation still left him breathless. The sudden onslaught on his new senses, completely different from that of his human body. By now the avatars weren't kept in the facility anymore, now that a phase link had been properly set up they were sleeping in their own bunks outside the main facility, in their natural environment.

So when he woke from the blur of lights he was met by the rising sun of Pandora filtered through the wooden screens on their window. Jake simply laid there for a while, trying to get used to his avatar body, slowly moving his fingers, rotating his wrists, flexing his arms before finally sitting up. It was the feeling below his lower back that always surprised him. He had actual legs. There were times, especially after a hard day's training, that after he fell asleep and woke up in his human body he would try to stand up, as if he was still in his avatar… and fail miserably.

It was always a harsh blow to realize that he still couldn't walk. It was probably something he would have to mention in his log, but so far he couldn't bring himself to do so. It was too… private. Then there was Quaritch's offer, with that he could finally have what he wanted, In his own body. That was the onky thing that drove him to go on this mission.

Slowly he stood up, and dressed himself in his specially made camo-gear and Kevlar vest since he was there as protection. Unlike Norm and Grace who wore something lighter, and easier to move in. Max, exo-pack over his face, came out to meet them with their oversized packs on a trolley.

"Everything is ready, your ride is already waiting for you on the strip," he said, his voice slightly muffled by the mask.

"Good," Grace said handing him a clipboard. "Start calibrating. We're on the flight line in ten minutes." Max nodded and jogged back to the Link room.

Trudy was waiting for them in a pressurized cockpit, they stashed their equipment and packs inside the Samson, and then they took off. It was a bumpy start to ride as Trudy tried to even the Samson out.

Flying over a carpet of rainforest, past sheer cliffs and cloud-wreathed mesas, Trudy's Samson tilt-rotor chasing its shadow across the treetops as it flew on. Though the ship was a Blackhawk, it was tiny in the vast primeval landscape of Pandora. Angling through the open side doors of the Samson, trooper Wainfleet, a burly bold man in exo-mask and body armour, leaned on his door gun, scanning for aerial predators, as if waiting to actually shoot one down.

In avatar form Jake, Grace, and Norm watch the forest unrolling beneath them, the wind blasting against their clothes. Jake mans the other door gun, his feet propped on the skids for support as he leaned out from the side. Trudy grinned from the front, she twists the controls of the Samson and banks to follow a shallow river.

"Strumbeest herd, one o'clock," she called out through the intercom.

Norm jumped excitedly, moving towards the side pulling at Jake's sleeve to gain his attention. Jake managed to look just in time to see a herd of Strumbeest running bellow them. They were massive six-legged creatures reminiscent of buffalo, their hoofs thundering across the river. Their skin was a mottled blue on their plated back with brown and greens around a big horn-like structure on their head. Jake couldn't help but whistle at the sight, now those were some fearsome beasts.

"Looks like a bull, six cows and some juveniles," Grace said, squinting at the ground.

"The bull had the red on the dorsal armour?" Norm asked. Grace nods approvingly.

Jake ignored their chatter for the most part; he was simply amazed at the environment, the different types of terrain, from the lush forest that led to the vast savannah-like planes, to the mountains tall and jagged, tipped with snow. There was so much to see that Jake's head was spinning; this was only the second time he flew over Pandora and the sight was stunning.

They flew over a vast lake, suddenly hundreds of purple winged creatures take flight from the lake, startled by the Samson. They skimmed the water above their own reflections. Jake was reminded of miniature dragons, with their long snake-like necks, with four pectoral wings and long tail.

"Those are Tetrapterons!" Grace commented, noticing his fascination.

The ground dropped away as the Samson flies over a waterfall hundreds of feet high. Trudy banks hard, rolling in on the gorge below like a gun-run. Somewhere behind him Wainfleet whoops, while Norm looks like he's about to be sick.

Jake simply grins into the airstream, enjoying the ride.

They flew for a few hours before they found a small clearing, a meadow among towering trees. The fern-like 'grass' was beaten down in waves by the rotor-wash as the Samson settles to the ground. Jake pulled the massive door gun off its pintle mount and hefted it like an assault rifle. He and Wainfleet leaped out to the LZ, scanning the tree-line warily, weapons aimed. Grace jogs forward to the cockpit, motioning Trudy to shut the engine down. She towered over Wainfleet who looked up at her with slight unease.

"Stay with the ship, one idiot with a gun's enough."

"Whatever you say, Doc," the trooper replied.

Jake took point as they entered the jungle. The forest seemed to engulf them in a cyan gloom. The shadows are alive with the chittering sounds of unseen alien wildlife. He moved through the foliage, his senses hyper-alert, looking around like a tourist in hell. Something heavy crashed on the ground; Jake jumped away, cocking his gun up to the trees above him. Grace was instantly there pushing the rifle down.

"Don't, they're harmless!" she hissed.

He gave the scientist a puzzled look before looking up at the creatures swinging above him there in the canopy. They were monkey-like creatures, with powder blue fur and four arms, eyes a vivid yellow. They shrieked and howled as they swung away from them, flashing through the sunlight streaming down in shafts. They reminded him of the few pictures of the natives that he saw; it seemed like even evolution took the same steps here as they did on earth.

They kept on moving. Jake shuddered away from a plant with swaying tendrils that seemed to be reaching towards him as he walked pass. Everything in the forest seemed alive, with plants that reacted and moved like animals. Jake gritted his teeth together as they continued to move through the forest, his nerves on edge as if every shadow concealed the razor fangs of death.

"Relax Marine, you're starting to make me nervous," Grace said, pushing him ahead on the trail.

She forced him to lower his muzzle as he followed her. Grace moved nimbly on the path, seemingly unconcerned, not caring about the dangers that could await them inside. He sighed wearily as they continued on. Trees towered above them, making Jake feel as small as an ant, the trail in front of them getting steeper and tougher. This route hadn't been travelled in a long time.

Soon they found themselves in a clearing with an overgrown building made of timbers cut from the local trees, with a thatch roof. Yet it had now been abandoned, vines covering it, crushing the rotten wood as the jungle reclaimed it. Grace looked sadly upon the sight; this had to be the school that Dr. Augustine had run before, trying to teach the natives English. She sighed and slowly walked towards the dilapidated building.

"How will they know we're here?" Norm asked as he stepped inside.

Grace gave him a small smile. "I'm sure they're watching us right now."

Norm gulped; Jake looked behind him as he approach the school, feeling unseen eyes digging into his back. His boots cracked dry leaves as he tried to avoid the few mouldering children's books littering the floor of the school. Stepping on the floorboards, caused them to creak dangerously. Jake moved slowly around, worried it would all collapse around him.

Grace gathered up all the book in a pile, looking down at the sadly. "The kids were so bright, so eager to learn… they picked up English faster than I could teach them," she said to herself with a sad chuckle.

Jake felt a pang of regret as he explored the dimly lit room. Everything was rotted, the furniture was broken, shelf's collapsed, and the few bits of pottery shattered. Grace and Norm were selecting dirty instruments from storage cases on a wooden table, checking them over so that they were still in working order.

"Bring the soil probe-right there, yellow case," Grace ordered, Norm around.

Jake looked up at when he heard rustling sound above him. There among the rafters, were roosting stingbats eyed him warily, fluttering their wings and squeaking. Although they didn't look much like earth bats, nothing furry, more like Tetrapterons although smaller. The underside speckled black and yellow standing out against the leathery bluish skin. Again like all creatures on Pandora the stingbat had more appendages than earth animals. The serpent-like head of the creature hissed at him, yellowish eyes following their every movement warily.

Grace picked up a mouldering copy of 'The Lorax' by Dr. Seuss from the floor and puts it back on the shelf. "The stingbats knock them off. I guess I always hope somebody will come back and read them."

"Why don't they come back?" Norm asked.

The professor frowned skimming the covers of the book. "The Na'vi learned as much about us as they needed to know…" she replied with an edge of bitterness.

Jake wondered what she meant by that, then he noticed something at the wall beside him. Slowly he approached the dusty blackboard and reached out to touch a pattern of holes blasted into the slate. They were unmistakably bullet holes, and a horrified thought entered his mind. "What happened here?" he turned to ask her.

"Are you going to help with this gear? We've got a lot to do," she replied sharply and turned away from him. Jake watched her as he jammed some of the equipment into his pack. A part of him could already guess what had happened here. It wasn't the first time he had seen such a sight at times of war.

After gathering up anything that was still working they left the school house and entered the forest. Jake kept quiet as Grace and Norm continued to gather new readings and analyze them. Currently they were crouching down near some tree roots; gently Grace's blue hand brushed away some soil to expose a tangle of root tendrils, explaining things to Norm.

"See, right here where the roots of the two trees interact," she took out a tiny sample using a needle-like probe. Norm uses a digital device to scan the roots, pointing out exciting formations and readings.

After a while of simply standing there Jake felt bored; he wasn't interested in the same stuff they were, so he decided to scout ahead a few meters. Again he was fascinated by all the plant-life, the lush paradise that surrounded him. In all honestly he couldn't see what could be so dangerous, all the creatures he had met so far had been small and more frightened of him than the other way around. He didn't think however that the Colonel would downplay the danger that could be waiting for them inside here. He scanned his surroundings, sharp eyes spotted something cream-coloured ahead.

Curiosity gripped him as he Squeezed his way past between two trees he came to a glade filled with shoulder-high spiral plants. He reached out in fascination, blue fingers brushing against the side-SHTOOK- and it sucked down into a tube in the ground so quickly it seemed to have simply disappeared. Interested, Jake touches another just to see if it happened again, and just like a balloon popping it vanished as well. All of a sudden a chain-reaction begins and the whole colony pulls down into the ground, revealing an enormous Hammerhead Titanothere.

Like a six-legged rhinoceros, but twice the size. Its massive, low-slung head had projections of bone giving it the look of a hammerhead shark. Thick skin, a stony grey along its legs with veins of cyan blue around its tree-trunk legs and blue around the thick plate of its back. Its baleful eyes locked onto him; fearfully Jake raises his rifle, ready to shoot at any moment.

Grace, who had been alerted by the creature's snorts, ran to him but stopped when she saw the agitated Hammerhead Titanothere towering over Jake. She stayed behind a tree, pressing as close against the bark as possible; raising her hands she pressed the mike against her throat.

"Don't shoot, you'll piss it off," she hissed at him.

Suddenly the bull Hammerhead bellows and lowered its three meter wide sledgehammer of a skull, rearing to trample him down.

"It's already pissed off!" he didn't want to end up mushed on his first day.

"Trust me Jake, that armour's too thick for bullets."

Jake bit his bottom lip; slowly he lowered his rifle and started to back away, hoping that the creature would get the message that he wasn't a threat. The hammerhead bellows again, pawing the earth in agitation.

"It's a territorial threat display. Do not run, or he'll charge."

By now Jake was panicking, display or not he couldn't simply stand around do nothing. "What do I do?"

"Hold your ground!" Grace commanded.

The hammerhead slashes its head sideways, splintering the surrounding saplings. It bellows again, lowering its head, and charges. Thinking quickly Jake screamed at the top of his lungs, spread his arms wide and ran straight towards the thing. If this didn't work, well… he had led a pretty good life- yeah, right…

The creature stopped abruptly with an oversized bleat, thick legs crunching against the ground as it came to a halt. Jake stared at the sight in amazement, his ploy had actually worked; triumphantly he took a step forward, raising his arms higher and waving them about. The creature continued to back away, snorting and bleating at him in warning.

"Oh yeah! Who's bad? That's right, me, go run away you oversized cow!" he continued to shout

Grace watched the display with a mirthful smile, just like Jake she had been surprised that that actually worked. She had expected him to be trampled, it would have been a sad loss on the Avatar body. Suddenly she felt that something was wrong, a prickling sensation against the spine of her Grace glanced to the side and gasped when she noticed that just behind Jake was a massive Thanator. The most awesome land predator the universe had ever conceived. This thing could eat a T-rex and have the xenomorph from Alien for desert.

He creature was a sleek black in colou six-limbed panther, with an armoured head and massive distensible jaws. She watched in frozen fear and awe as the Thanator advanced on an unaware Jake. Who was still focused on taunting the hammerhead.

"That's what I'm talkin' about, bitch!" he shouted, at the bull. The bull wheels around trumpeting in fear and crashes away through the splintering undergrowth.

Realizing that was Jake was about to get eaten she had to hurry and warn him. "Jake-Marine!" she tried to call but Jake was too distracted with the hammerhead. "That's right mother-"

'Growl'

Jake stopped his taunting when he heard that ferocious sound; his spun around and three tons of rippling Thanator launched over him, landing between him and the hammerhead that got away. Its sleek body twisted on itself gracefully, turning to face Jake, bearing its fangs with a lethal hiss.

Jake stared at the beast in fear, all the confidence before drained away. "What about this one? Run, don't run?"

"Run. Definitely run!" Grace shouted.

He bolts, running into the dense forest behind him; the Thanator emitted an ear-splitting roar and leaped after him. Jake launched himself between two large tree trunks, forcing the beast to claw its way around the side while he tried to scrambled up and around over the tangled roots. His foot getting caught on the roots as he tried to run. Claws slashed the air behind him, exploding the bark of the trunk he felt the splinters hit against his skin. Jake willed himself forwards, his new muscles burning with strain as he continued to run. He prayed to get away, but the creature seemed to get ever closer.

The Thanator was right on his heels, with strong muscles the beast was airborne again moving amongst the trees, its massive body backing out the sun. Thinking quickly Jake dived under a massive root system of a big tree for cover. The beast hit against the roots. Kindle rains around him as it tears into the root-trunks above him. Claws slash down next to him as he rolls and crawls out of its attack. Glistening jaws smash and snap against the barrier, sending chunks of wood flying. Its spittle sprays across Jake's jaws, just inches away from his face.

Fuck it, he thought. Jake rolled onto his back, grabbing his gun, and fires his AR point blank at the Thanator, but the rifle was snatched out of his hands. The beast screeches an ungodly wail of pain and rage; it ripped the entire trunk away in animalistic anger. Jake tried to scrambled away to escape but huge jaws lunged downwards and snap shut around his backpack, ripping him out of the tree and shaking him like a dog with a rabbit.

Quickly Jake unlatched the straps and flies free before the Thanator crushed the pack with its massive teeth, giving Jake a moment to sprint away. A hideous bellow echoed behind him as the Thanator crashes after him. He kept on running, that was the only option he had, the surroundings blurring into one as a black tornado shreds the forest behind him.

He ran into the clearing and stopped at the edge of a cliff, a waterfall rushing beside into the foamy waters below. Jake looked behind him at the beast and the rushing foaming waters below him. He couldn't tell how deep it was, but there really seemed no other choice. The creature stalks towards him, its claws ready to swipe him down. Jake ducks under and with no other thoughts leaped off the waterfall, disappearing down the throat of the thundering cataract.


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