Author's Notes: Hi, readers. Here's chapter twenty-five of 'Gone in the Dark.' This chapter has plenty of Jake/Neytiri. It is quite possible several canon and/or original characters will be seriously injured in some way. I will not say who they are. You will have to find out for yourselves. Stay tuned for chapter twenty-six.
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Chapter 25: Heading Home
Jake and Neytiri walked through the rainforest an hour later. They held hands somewhat tightly. They swung them back and forth three times. A viperwolf and her two pups ran out in front of them. This caused them to come to a stop. The trio headed for a tree trunk not far from them. They went inside, turning around and poking their heads out. Jake and Neytiri couldn't help but chuckle.
"Talk about being in a hurry," he said with a smile.
"The same goes for being silly," she added and touched his arm.
"I have to say those nantang look cute poking their heads out of that tree trunk," Jake said, his eyebrows raising.
"I agree," Neytiri said and kissed his cheek. "Of course, you are cuter than they are."
"You are the cutest," Jake teased and tickled her chin. He growled as if he were a thanator. "Yes, you are."
She pushed his hand away and tweaked his nose. She grabbed it with a playful growl. She moved his head from side to side twice. He took hold of her wrist and pulled her hand off. He put it at her side. He gave her arm a gentle pat.
"I love it when you do silly things to me," Jake said, a laugh leaving his mouth.
"I love it when you do the same to me," Neytiri replied and winked at him. "Of course, the things I do to you are sillier."
He shook his head. "No, they are not."
She nodded. "Yes, they are."
Jake put his arm around Neytiri to give her a hug. They resumed walking and looked around. They observed prolemurises leaping across vines. They listened to their chittering. They heard viperwolves growling, dorado verdes squawking, and tetrapteron cawing.
"The animals are rather lively this morning," Jake whispered, his voice showing a bit of awe.
"They sure are," Neytiri agreed and touched his chest. "The forest on the mainland is a bit louder than this."
"That is due to palulukan and angtsìk," Jake pointed out truthfully. "I consider them to be loudest Pandoran animals of all."
"When they make their sounds at a distance, it is not bad. When they do it up close, it hurts your ears," Neytiri mumbled annoyingly.
"To a human, a little bell sounds quiet. To an owl, it sounds very loud," Jake commented with a nervous chuckle. "An owl has much more sensitive hearing than a human does."
"I don't think I would ever want to be in the path of a big bell," Neytiri commented and chuckled nervously.
He made a funny noise. "I was not far from a big bell once. When it rang, it scared the shit out of me."
"I can't count the number of times we scared each other for the hell of it," Neytiri said, grabbing his nose and making a honking sound. She took her hand away. "That is always fun."
"It sure is. Of course, I have scared you more times than you have scared me," Jake said, a big smirk forming on his face.
She laughed with much sarcasm. "Sure, you have."
Jake reached behind his mate to pull on her tail. She hissed in a mock-annoying way and presented a fist to his face. She tightened it a bit while narrowing her eyes at him.
"You do that again, and you will get a knuckle sandwich!" Neytiri warned and clenched her teeth.
"Okay," Jake responded and reached behind her. He gave her tail another pull, this time a little harder. "Oops. My hand forgot."
She hissed. "All right. You asked for it."
She pressed her fist in between his eyes. He groaned softly and fell on his back. He spread his legs and arms out eagle style. He twitched three times before losing consciousness. She walked over to him and leaned close to him. She screamed at his grabbing her and pulling her on top of him. She smacked him on the chest.
"You are mean, Jake," she hissed annoyingly.
"I am so proud of it," he said and put his arms behind his head. "Come to think of it. You can be mean with me."
"No, thank you," Neytiri said, shaking her head.
"Spoilsport," Jake mumbled.
"I heard that!" Neytiri growled and smacked him in the head. She snorted in some annoyance. "Skxawng."
"At least I am your skxawng," Jake said, a cheeky smile crossing his lips.
"That's true," Neytiri admitted and sighed contently. "Yes."
Neytiri kissed her mate tenderly. She stood up and grabbed his hands to help him to his feet. He tickled her chin before planting a kiss on the tip his nose. She tried not to giggle, but she couldn't help herself. She felt something hit her in the back of her head. She looked over her shoulder to see a banana fruit laying on the ground. She gasped in delight.
"Look. It is an utumauti!" Neytiri yelled in amazement. She picked it up and brought it close to him. "I had no idea they grew on this island."
"Me neither," Jake said with a soft chuckle. "You are lucky to find one."
She smiled. "Would you like some?"
He moved his hand toward the fruit. "Would I ever?"
Suddenly, another banana fruit hit the former marine in the forehead. It dropped to the ground. He touched the top of his hand and looked toward a prolemuris that had just picked another one. He broke into a fit of hysterical laughter. She turned around to see it.
"I think we just found out who threw those utumauti," he said and pointed his finger at the critter.
"I can't believe it," she responded in some shock. "Who knew syaksyuk could be so mischievous?"
"The mainland syaksyuk never threw fruit at us," Jake pointed out and grabbed the fruit next to him. He touched it to his chest. "This is a completely different species."
"At least you have your own utumauti now, Jake," Neytiri said, smiling in great warmth.
He moved his fruit toward her. "I do. Mine is a little bigger than yours. Do you want to trade?"
She nodded fast and giggled to herself. "Sure. Here we go."
Jake and Neytiri crossed arms of the hands that held their fruit. They took them with the other ones. They bit into them. They chewed at a steady pace. They swallowed with loud gulps. He whooped delightfully before laughing softly.
"This is sweeter than the utumauti back on the mainland," Jake said and resumed walking along with her.
"Tell me about it," Neytiri agreed and sighed in great content. "Wait until the kids learn what happened out here."
"They will never believe that we got hit in our heads with utumauti thrown by a syaksyuk," Jake commented and spoke gibberish. "They just might think we are crazy."
"We both saw it happen," Neytiri said truthfully. "You could say we both felt it happen and caught a syaksyuk in the act of picking an utumauti."
"That would be a better way to explain it," Jake responded and took another bite out of his fruit. He chewed quickly before swallowing with a loud gulp. He eyed her biting into hers. "They will be surprised to learn the island version is sweeter than the mainland version is."
"Oh, yes," Neytiri agreed and chewed slowly. She swallowed and gulped quietly. "Maybe we can take them into this forest and try to find these fruits."
Jake nodded in agreement. He and Neytiri observed three prolemurises leaping across overhanging vines. They returned their attention to the path in front of them. She blew in a hard way.
"We were supposed to have the annual tulkun celebration a month ago. Everyone was so disappointed when Tonowari and Ronal announced they had postponed it. They feared their pod would be targeted and used as bait for traps by Green Spears and asked them to remain away. I heard around the village Uzukay and Nessa did the same for their pod because of similar fears with the Metkayina," Neytiri whispered somberly.
"I can never forget the first celebration we joined in," Jake said as he remembered that day. "We were astounded at how much larger the tulkun was than the toruk had ever been."
"Even more astounding was they could breach out of the water in spite of their huge size. Tonowari said the largest tulkun grow up to three hundred feet long and weigh up to one thousand tons," Neytiri pointed out matter-of-factly.
"Everything is bigger on Pandora," Jake admitted and emitted a sharp exhale. "That includes the natives."
"I find it neat that Lo'ak said he and Tsireya felt like SeaWorld trainers when Payakan and La tossed them into the air," Neytiri said with a giggle.
"Animal trainers undergo a great deal of training to interact with terrestrial and marine animals. It is a very risky job. They can never be sure how the animals will behave. They can make guesses through certain gestures and movements," Jake explained.
"We can do that here, though we do not really have to train animals," Neytiri commented. "Anyway, I wish we could have the celebration. Everyone could use it for mental stimulation, especially the kids. They always enjoy playing with the tulkuns."
"Maybe we could talk to Tonowari and Ronal about having it. I know they want to see their spirit siblings so much. Payakan and La could come to it if the latter's podmates can convince them to," Jake added.
"I am not sure, Jake. Tonowari and Ronal do not want to risk the pod's safety," Neytiri said, pressing his lips together.
"I know," Jake responded. "Still, I do not think it is fair to the reef Na'vi or the tulkuns to keep putting this off. We may not be able to see this year's calves if the postponement continues."
Neytiri sighed heavily. She still did not want the pod's safety to be threatened, but she had to admit Jake was right. She remembered seeing a tulkun calf at their first celebration. She thought it was so beautiful. She ached to see the calves for this year. She nodded at him.
"Okay. Let's talk to Tonowari and Ronal," Neytiri relented.
"Great," Jake said and smiled warmly. They picked up their pace as they ate more of their fruit.