The next morning, Lia and Jake wasted no time jumping into their Link Units, after being told by Grace that they were going to explore some of Pandora, which was what they wanted to do in the first place. Especially Lia, who wanted to learn how to use the plants of Pandora to make medicine, while Jake just wanted to explore to test out his new legs that he could walk on now.
Although, Lia could tell that something was off with Jake, considering that before they left for their mission, during breakfast, Jake was called on to see the Colonel, which seemed to have upset Grace. She wanted to ask what was up but she knew that her Older Brother would brush her off, so she left the matter alone, although she did frown at him when she saw that he would be a Gunman on their way out on the plane.
Turning away, the youngest Avatar on the plane peered out at the world of Pandora with a look of pure wonder in her eyes, taking in the breathtaking scenery and animals around her. Although she had trained to be a Doctor, she had taken art classes on the side, so when she pulled out her art book and began drawing what she briefly saw of some of the animals, she didn't noticed the way Grace was watching as she drew, rather well in her opinion.
"Impressive!"Grace said, getting Lia's attention and she looked up at Grace, her eyes wide at being caught drawing. She was rather shy about her art and didn't really let anyone see it."If your Brother had told me you had great artistic skills, I would have had you draw the plants and wild life for my book of Pandora."Lia's blue cheeks darkened at the compliment.
"Tommy didn't know that I took art classes, so yeah..."Lia trailed off, shrugging her shoulders.
"Ah."Was all that Grace said, nodding in understanding.
After finding an area where they could land, Jake and a male Soldier jumped out before they could land, causing Lia to frown at her Brother and shake her head at him as soon as she got out of the plane when it had landed and stopped moving.
"What?"Jake asked, grinning at her.
"Can you be a little more careful with your Avatar? We don't need you chopping your own head off."Lia said sarcastically."Dr. Augustine would throw a fit."She added, glancing back at Grace, who had told Trudy to power down and that they would be staying a while before telling Norm to get his pack.
"Hey, I know what I'm doing."Jake said reassuringly.
"Not in that body, you do."Lia retorted."You're like a child, too loud. Remember when you were a Marine?"Jake frowned at her."You were so quiet, you used to scare me all the time when you were home."
"I still can."Jake said in a challenging voice.
"Sure you can."Lia said, nodding as if she actually believed him.
"Stay with the ship."Grace said to the gunman."One idiot with a gun is enough."She added, knowing fully well that Jake heard her, causing him to smirk at Lia.
"What are you smirking about? She called you an idiot, idiot."Lia said, rolling her eyes but followed her Brother, with Grace and Norm behind her, into the woods.
Unlike Jake, who was on high alert, making his footsteps loud, Lia walked slowly and calmly, making her feet sound nonexistent with every step she took, as did Grace. The sound of a creature cooing caused Jake to turn sharply and pointed his gun at the trees and they all saw monkey-like-creatures swinging from the vines and grabbing food.
"Prolemuris."Grace stated as one paused to look at them with a fruit in its hand."They're not aggressive."She added as Lia made Jake lower his gun slightly with a dark look."Relax Marine. You're making me nervous."She scoffed as she walked past Jake, taking the lead.
"Yeah, Jake, relax."Lia said, shaking her head as she followed Grace.
"I can still ground you, you know?"Jake stated as a question and Norm snorted softly behind him while Lia glared over her shoulder at the two, causing Norm to cough while Jake merely raised an eyebrow at her.
"I'm twenty-two, nearly twenty-three, not five, Jake!"
"Nah, you're still, technically, seventeen and you were living under my roof back on Earth, so I can still ground your ass."
"Whatever."Lia said, not believing that he would actually ground her on an Alien Planet.
After a few minutes of silence, Norm broke it by asking Grace a question;"So how will they know we're here?"
"I'm sure they're watching us right now."At hearing this, Lia couldn't help but look at the trees, trying to see if she could catch sight of a single Na'vi but no such luck, causing her to pout.
"Keep moving, Norm."Jake, noticing that Norm had started to fall behind, said.
"Keep up, guys."Grace said, although unlike Jake, she didn't look back to see if they had fallen behind.
After a while, they made a stop so that Grace could take samples with Norm, running data analysis on the roots of ferns while Jake and Lia stood around them, although, out of curiosity, Lia peeked over Norm's shoulder, finding herself amazed as she looked at screen, which was showing them something that was similar to neurological pathways.
"Oh, wow! Its that fast?"Norm asked, sounding just as surprised as Lia felt.
Grace merely laughed."Amazing, isn't it?"
As Grace continued speaking, Lia turned her attention away from them when she heard the sound of grass crunching beneath someone's feet and glanced at where her Brother was supposed to be standing guard, only to find him walking away. A sigh left Lia's lips and she followed after him, knowing that despite him being the oldest, he was the one who always got into trouble. Her eyes widened at seeing coral-like plants with spirals going into the ground.
Helicoradians. Lia realised, having remembered reading about them in Grace's book, and chuckled to herself when Jake jumped slightly out of fright after touching one, causing it to shrink in on itself.
After a few minutes, Jake, after glancing back to make sure that Grace and Norm were alright, only to pause when he saw Lia standing there, watching him with a raised eyebrow and a small, amused smile on her lips, grinned at her before he did it again to another plant, but this time, he laughed softly.
"What are these things?"Jake asked Lia, knowing that she knew what they were.
"These are called Helicoradians or as the Na'vi call them; Loreyu, meaning beautiful spiral. They're zooplantae's. Half animal, half plant."Jake glanced at her in disbelief but she just grinned at him, shrugging."If you read Dr. Augustine's book, you'd know more about them."
"Whatever."Jake said before all of the Helicoradians suddenly shrunk in on themselves, revealing a hammerhead Titanothere.
It stomped it's feet and roared at the Sully Siblings, causing Lia to pin her ears back in fear as her eyes widened, but despite her own fear, she slowly placed her hand on Jake's shoulder and started to inch back, away from the animal, taking her Brother with her.
Grace and Norm, realising that the Sully Siblings were missing and having heard that roar, ran to where they were, but stayed on the sidelines when they saw the hammerhead Titanothere, and Jake cocked his gun, aiming at it, ready to shoot.
"Jake, no."Lia hissed at him as the hammerhead Titanothere swung its head back and forth, stomped its feet again and continued to roar at them.
"Don't shoot. Don't shoot, you'll only piss him off."Grace, who went behind a tree, warned Jake.
It trumpeted once again, flaring up a big fan of blue and purple like a peacock, making himself bigger than it already was, and kicked his hoof on the ground, while the vines swung around him.
"It's already pissed off."Jake stated, eyeing it warily but side eyed Grace.
"Jake, that amours too thick. Trust me."Grace said, eyeing the Titanothere.
"Listen to her, Jake. Dr. Augustine knows what she's talking about."Jake merely pushed Lia behind him protectively, his entire body rigid, but he put the gun upwards in surrender, as the Titanothere took a step forward swinging more trees out of the way, splintering it.
"It's a territorial threat display. Do not run, or he'll charge."Grace warned them.
"So what do I do? Dance with it?"He questioned Grace sarcastically.
"Just hold your ground."Grace said, trying to reassure the Siblings while Norm looked terrified for them.
The Titanothere trumpeted and charged at Jake and Lia."Jake!"Lia screamed, her eyes widening in horror as her Brother decided to run towards his death and turned away while also closing her eyes tightly, not wanting to see her own Brother, her last Family Member be killed.
However, when she heard a new sound, a screech that came from the Titanothere, Lia opened her eyes, only to be met with a new creature. A predator. A Thanator. If Lia recalled correctly from what Tommy had told her, the animal before her was able to strike fear into the largest and fiercest of Pandora's creatures.
"Yeah? Come on! What you got?"Jake taunted the Titanothere, as it slowly backed away from, not just Jake, but the sleek Thanator, as Jake's tail waved boisterously."Oh, yeah. Who's bad? That's right."
"Jake..."Lia choked out, her voice barely above a whisper.
"That's what I'm talking about, bitch!"Jake said, not realising that his Sister was trying to get his attention.
"Jake!"Lia said more sharply, causing Jake to look back at her, only to see that she was looking directly at a Thanator.
The Thanator snarled softly and raised its muzzle, making itself seem bigger and more threatening as it looked at the duo. It continued to snarl softly, this time, Jake's ears also flattened in fear as the Thanator roared at them before jumping over the pair, casting a dark shadow above them.
"Oh shit!"Jake exclaimed, cocking his gun at the Thanator with one hand while his other hand grabbed Lia's other hand. The Thanator had clearly wanted the baby Titanothere, but the rest of the herd blocked the Thanator from getting the baby, so it turned its attention back to Jake and Lia."So what about this one?"He questioned Grace, glancing back and forth between Grace and the Thanator."Run? Don't run? What?"
"Run! Definitely run!"As soon as those words left Grace's mouth, Lia and Jake shot off into the forest like the devil was on their heels and god, was that true.
~~~Preview~~~
~~~Meeting The Na'vi of the Omaticaya Pt. 1~~~
"Sorry."Lia apologised in Na'vi, gaining a look of surprise from the Na'vi woman, before muttering in Na'vi herself, sounding annoyed with the torch, and threw it into the muddy water, effectively putting it out and covering them in darkness, all the while ignoring Jake's protests.
Jake scoffed and glared at Lia."Why'd you let her do that?"
"Because she doesn't need to see with a light in the dark, and neither do we."Lia stated, rolling her eyes at Jake as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, which wouldn't last long due to the glowing plants, around her.