//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Impact // Story: Dan Vs. Avatar // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// One Earth News BREAKING NEWS: Hope on the Horizon for RDA? Major losses have been announced this quarter for the Resource Development Administration after reports indicated one of their mining operations escalated into what can only be called a full-scale war. With massive equipment and personnel losses and little to show for it, RDA seemed on the verge of bankruptcy yet again following its complete withdrawal from its latest ventures on the planet Pandora. That is, until the unbelievable happened: in a move officials are calling a modern-day miracle, the Kingdom of Equestria has agreed to take on ALL of the corporation's debt. In exchange for a partnership and the rights to nearly half of the company's existing holdings, Equestria has taken on all of the company's financial obligations. This shocking development comes alongside the announcement that Equestria itself is launching its own operations on Pandora, effective immediately. This unprecedented move has likely saved the company but put Equestria's own economy in peril once again. Like Earth, the energy crisis continues for Equestria as well with supplies running thin on both sides of the universe. Although this new agreement has eased the burden for RDA, experts say this is only a temporary solution for the ongoing energy crisis. In related news, the New Houston blackout has finally ended after thirty-seven days of near total darkness. RDA technicians released emergency supplies to repair the city's aging power grid and have been successful in installing new superconductors to primary substations. City officials estimated that nearly eight-thousand deaths were a result of the reactor failure alone and that many more would have occurred if not for the timely intervention. We will have more updates as this story develops. Pandora Neytiri crept through the forest. The ershwinna was still close by, likely trying to camouflage itself. She'd never hunted this far away before and the area was still unfamiliar to her. Even as she tracked her prey, she had to take care that she did not become prey herself. Carefully, quietly, as silently as possible, she lifted the low-hanging petal of the glopyrus flower. To her people, they were called 'bol-bwissa', meaning light flowers. The ershwinna was directly ahead of her, trying to hide itself under a bol-bwissa across the tiny clearing. Neytiri did not hesitate; she drew her arrow and fired, sticking the creature in its neck. Step by step, she crossed the clearing and knelt by her kill. Roughly the size of a human itself, it would provide a meal to at least a few of the tribe. There had been more when she first found their herd, but they had scattered when she killed the adult. When she'd been forced to kill the adult. She removed her arrow from the hide of the creature, thanked Eywa for the meat and shouldered it, preparing to make her way back to camp. It was just as she was getting back up that she noticed a sparkling, translucent vine wrapping around the base of the flower. Her eyes went wide; she dropped the dark blue boar almost immediately. With care, she worked over the vine, unwrapped it from the flower, felt it, pulled it to test its durability. It was an older vine, extremely rare. It would work perfectly. She ignored her dinner for a solid few minutes as she carefully severed the shiny vine from its source, bundled it up and took it with her along with the boar. It was heavy, but important to carry both. If she needed to, she would've dropped the ershwinna boar to carry the vine. "You've been gone a long time." "Hsssh, Laca. Where is Jake?" "Where you left him," Laca said. She was a foot smaller than Neytiri and was still too young to ride or hunt, but was wise for her years and made a good attendant. Her mother, Mo'at, insisted she have one for as long as she was with child. The ikran grumbled in the fern above them. Cle-ka, Neytiri's newest bonded ikran, was among them. The winged creatures preferred great heights to being low to the ground, but they would have to make due until the Omaticaya found a new home. It had been several weeks since they departed the Tree of Souls. Although it was a spiritual site and their natural link to Eywa, it was near no fertile or hunting grounds. The Omaticaya Clan had always dwelt with the trees and the loss of Hometree, as well as many of the clan's members, was still heavy on their minds. Hometree had been there home for generations. Jake Sully, the new clan leader, was determined to find them a suitable new great tree to call home. Unfortunately, that was beginning to look like a harder prospect than any of them imagined. Neytiri entered the small hut she called home. "Ma Jake." "Neytiri," Jake said, smiling as she walked in. He steadied himself, wincing only slightly. "How was the hunt?" "Jake," her voice became scolding, "you should not be standing. This is not good for-" "I know, I know," he said. He pushed through her wifey berating and hugged her tightly. They kissed, momentarily forgetting everything but each other. The moment passed quickly, and he was forced to sit down again. "Jake..." she repeated, tone now heavy with concern. She looked down at him, through his optimism and down to his legs. She knelt down to rub them, causing him only mild pain. "Neytiri, Neytiri... that's enough, thank you," he said. She suddenly shot up, excited. It was one of the traits he loved about her. "I found something! While out hunting- something to help with your pain! We can make shima-tse, the medicine!" "Neytiri," he reached out to her, and took her hands in his. He took a deep breath, sighed, then nodded. "Okay. Thank you." "It will help you, Jake. Eywa- She guided me to it! It will make you better!" "Okay, but after dinner!" he called after her. He sat back down in the hammock again and shook his head. Pregnant wife and she's more worried about him than he is. He looked down at his legs and rubbed them. The muscles under his blue skin tingled slightly. Avatar bodies had been grown and engineered for the purpose of interacting with the Na'vi, not becoming one of them. They had never been meant to be used for such prolonged periods. Not only that, despite being Tommy's genetic twin, the avatar Jake Sully was inhabiting was based on Tommy, not him. Honestly though, none of that mattered to him. He was a Na'vi now, this was his reality. He had to find some way to fix it. It was getting harder for him to walk every day. It had happened slowly, first with him being unable to run without pain and then even standing became difficult. His leg muscles, the muscles of his Na'vi avatar body were degenerating and becoming like his human legs had been. First there was just burning, but now he was beginning to lose sensitivity. The thought of him having to go back to a wheelchair was both terrifying and saddening to him. Not to mention what his child might be like. A baby conceived by an avatar body? It had never been done before. Neytiri seemed to be taking the pregnancy well, but it was still early, even if Na'vi pregnancies were only six months long. Dinner was quiet, but happy. The boars that Neytiri and the other hunters had fed, along with some fruit they gathered, made a decent meal. The camp was not home, but at least they were not going hungry. At night, the children danced and Rusu and Nanat sang. Jake took his medicine and it did help some with his pain, although he didn't want the pain to completely go away. Some feeling in his legs was better than none. The next morning, the clan packed up and prepared to move again. "We are nearing the coast. If we keep moving, we should see the beaches before midlight tomorrow," Hirum said. His name meant 'sight self' or 'deep seeing.' Like Laca, he was a young scout but wise and a good ikran rider. They would all have to be in order for the clan to survive. "Pah, there's no good hunting near the coast. Nothing but bek'sha and tesslik cubs," Keenok said. "There is good fishing. Plenty of fish and clear waters." Keenok grinned a toothy smile and leaned to his friend. "Good, then I can use the fish to bait something bigger!" "Must you talk incessantly?" Neytiri asked, more of a command to shush. They picked through the underbrush together. Hirum and Keenok were two of the best hunter/trackers left in the clan. Neytiri lead them, and right now needed their eyes and ears, not their mouths. Two of their other scouting parties she knew were making progress. Unua and Laca led them while Veruna and Veruga, the two oldest members of the tribe, stayed with Jake and the others. It was complicated. With Jake losing the ability to walk, Neytiri had become de facto leader of the Ometicaya. Her mother, Laca and Tekoret tried to help her, but she felt the people's burden on her shoulders weighing down heavily. Growing up, she had been taught that she would become a spiritual leader, and so had studied and communed with Eywa. In her heart, she was still a hunter, and felt the call of the wild constantly. She would rather be doing something with her husband, hunting together instead of leading alone. Right now, she felt very alone. Even before meeting Jake, she had not been looking forward to her arranged marriage with Tsu'Tey. Her parents had told her it was her youth, that she would hear the call to her role as Eytukan soon enough. But instead, she had heard Jake. She would still be Eytukan, but in ways she had never imagined. Eywa is a wild spirit at times, her mother had told her. You cannot always see her or hear her until she makes her call, but call she does. Jake had said Earth had a similar spirit among them, and had said "God works in the ways of mysteries," or something like that. But the Sky People did not listen to their mother, they had murdered her, and now sought the same of Eywa. She would not let this be, not for Jake or for anyone else. They pushed through the leaves until the foliage became less dense and more green. Finally, they arrived at the coast. "Ahhh, sun's light. It is good to feel the sun again, yes?" Keenok, arms folded, relented from his stubbornness for the moment. "It does feel nice." The older brother gazed up and down the length of the coast. The Ossa Shiir, or Ocean of Many Eyes stretched out before them. The Osska Cove was one of the largest they had found, and they could fish there, but it was no Home Tree. The Ometicaya were tree-folk and fliers, not fishermen. Perhaps they would be nomads now, like the plain-riders. But for now, they were all survivors, and the cove would serve them until they could find a new home. "Unua!!" Hirum waved. The female warrior looked around, then smiled and waved back with her spear. For a young man, fewer gestures mattered more in that moment. He could feel his heart nearly set ablaze by it. "I see someone has already been fishing. But who has caught who?" Hirum quickly lowered his hand. Older siblings were the same on every planet. Keenok socked him in the shoulder, and Hirum did his best to ignore it, hoping Unua didn't see. Neytiri left the two of them to see Unua and Laca. "The water is so blue! More blue than the lakes and more clear!" The sky was as blue as the sea, gorgeous to behold. "This is your first time seeing the shiir?" Unua nodded. "Yes, it is beautiful! Will we swim to the islands?" Neytiri returned the nod but spoke firmly. "There will be time for exploring but for now, we must make camp. Take time to rest and then we must gather wood." Both of them nodded, and then bowed. "Yes, Eytukan. Eywa will provide." She shook her head at their jokes. She was about to say something else, chide them for their impertinence when something broke the sky above their heads. A loud hum filled the air, several birds broke from the treeline. They all searched for the source of the disturbance, but it seemed to be all around them. The leaves from the trees shook as if with fear, and the ground vibrated with rapid pulses. It was as if a great drum were beating near Pandora, a drum that shook the world. Hirom pointed to the sky. Neytiri followed it to see a mountain flying overhead. Like one of the floating mountains, but Neytiri could see this mountain was not of Pandora. This mountain was made of cold metal, the kind on which no seed could take purchase, the kind which shoved aside the dirt and trees wherever it went. And now, it was flying over them. The Sky People had returned. It was large and oddly-shaped structure. If she had not been mistaken, Neytiri would have thought it was an uprooted tree. The Sky People mountain was being hoisted by some great machine, but not like one she had ever seen before. She heard the hum of their 'cutters', the spinning blades their steel-fliers used as wings. So violent was their nature that they cut the very air to fly. The structure had six long and massive legs, like dangling tree roots. Painted on those legs was a symbol she recognized, "3." She felt her breath catch in her throat. The Sky People were planting their own Home Tree. "Neytiri," Laca said. Her friend's voice shook her out of the trance she had been in. "Go tell Jake." The graveness in her voice was unmistakable. It matched the feeling Neytiri felt grip her heart. She ran back to the forest as fast as her legs could take her, back to where Jake and the others were. But before she even reached the trees, another floating mountain appeared. And another... and another... and another...