Vendetta.

[tm20]

“I want to help.” he said, with his eyes tightly closed. Noticing the absence of a blade deep in his neck, he opened his eyes slowly to face Tak. This sounded like bull**** to Tak but he stopped to listen to any last words Alan had to say.

“I know this may seem.... hard to believe, but I see your point.” said Alan. It didn’t sound convincing at all, more like an excuse not to kill him.
“Oh do you? Right before I’m about to kill you, what a coincidence.”
“I can help you. I can get you weapons from the base. I can find out what’s going on, I can be an insider. You can use my help.” Tak listened to what he said, but “weapons” stood out from the rest of the words. Now Tak was seeing Alan’s point. He could be useful after all. He asked Alan to continue explaining.

“Oh really? And exactly how are you going to do that genius? And what the **** are you going to do if you get caught?”
“I don’t know, but... two people are better than one.”
Seeing that Alan was emotionally unstable gave Tak the idea that he could easily be manipulated and could be of some help. Lowering the knife, he slowly eased his grip off Alan and stood in silence.
“Let’s go. And don’t try anything stupid or I WILL ****ing kill you.” said Tak. He waited for Alan to go in front and he followed him back to the shacks.

Back at the shacks, Dr. Eileen was explaining to the others what was going on.
“They just went for a walk. Alan said he wanted to see more of the forest so Tak took him on a tour.” she said with a normal voice. She was very good at lying. She could have told them the truth but that probably would have unsettled them. However the others were still curious as to why Tak had searched through the desks. Dr. Eileen once again told them a load of crap.
“He was looking for his guitar pick, he said he left it somewhere on his desk. I guess he decided to go for a walk since he couldn’t play his guitar. He’s actually really good. You guys should listen to him sometime.”

They then heard the sound of the door opening. Tak and Alan had returned from their “walk”. Surprised to see Alan alive, Dr. Eileen knew there had been a change of plan. She walked with Alan back to the others and along the way began to talk about the “walk” through the forest.
“So how was it? Very beautiful isn’t it?”
“Eeehhhh, yeah. I saw many interesting things.”
The other scientists began to ask him questions about his first proper tour of the forest. Back at the link, Tak woke up and got out. He walked to his desk and sat down in front of it.

Alpha Centuri A decided to call it a day and it was now night. As usual, Tak separated himself from the rest of the group and went to his bed to read magazines, play his guitar or draw in his sketch book. But this time Alan also decided to have some alone time. He was outside the shacks, sitting on the stairs and looking up at the sky. Polyphemus cast a beam of light which shined through the opening in the forest canopy. Still in disarray over his decision, Alan stared at the gas giant that looked down on to him from above. He then heard the door open and turned around to see Dr. Eileen smiling at him.

“What are you doing out here?” she said as she sat down next to him. Alan looked down from the sky to the ground as he sighed.
“I’m so lost...... I don’t know who I am anymore.”
“Is this something to do with what happened earlier today? You still haven’t told me what happened.”
“Well, you probably know already. You looked surprised to see me still alive.”
“Heehe, yeah that I will admit. No but really, what’s wrong?”
There was a moment of silence before Alan continued to speak.
“I don’t know who I am. I came here as a soldier, and then I noticed myself changing. Feeling some sort of connection with the natural world. And now I’m caught in between. Well, it’s nothing new. I felt like this during school. That’s why I joined the army, because I never knew what I wanted to be. It was ok I guess, but I didn’t last long.”
“What happened?”
“I was relieved of my duty for disobeying orders. My commander thought it would be better to leave one of his men to die but I thought differently.”

There was another moment of silence. Then Alan started to sniff. His eyes were beginning to fill with tears. “What am I doing?!” he said, as the decay of his composure forced out more tears. Dr. Eileen held onto his shoulder and tried to calm him down. She then faced Alan and spoke to him.
“Hey, come on. Hey, hey hey, come on. Don’t feel bad. We all feel like this sometimes. I did when I was in highschool. My mother wanted me to become a lawyer or a doctor while my dad told me I should do whatever I wanted to. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do at the start either. But I found it, it took a while but I eventually found it.”

Alan held back the tears and looked at Dr. Eileen. She had a special ability of making people around her feel at ease. She continued.
“You ‘re still finding out what you want to be. You maybe a soldier, but your job isn’t everything. I know you love this place, I’ve seen it many times before. You were asking me all those questions about my research not too long ago, remember?”

Dr. Eileen’s attempts at trying to convince him that he was one of her kind, one who “sees”, and not one of them, those who don’t “see”, hadn’t quite worked. Alan took a deep breath and held it. He took off his exopack to wipe the tears from his face and put it back on. Dr. Eileen then stood up. “Come on, let’s go for a walk” she said. Alan stood up as well and followed her down the stairs. Dr. Eileen led the way through the bioluminescent night life. Alan followed closely as he stared at the life that surrounded him. This was nothing like what he had seen during the day time. Alan still wasn’t sure why he was been taken on this walk, but his love for Pandora was now set in concrete. The two didn’t walk too far away from the shacks as Pandora at night was dangerous. After 15 minutes of walking, they headed back to the shacks.
“Thanks for that, I don’t know why but I feel a lot better now.” said Alan with a slight smile on his face. Dr. Eileen returned the smile and the two walked back to the other scientists.

Meanwhile, Tak had been letting out his misanthropic feelings onto paper with pencil. He was drawing humans ripping each other apart as their insides spewed out of their bodies. Disturbing, yet so true. A perfect picture which represented the human race in the 22nd century. Killing each other for their own selfish reasons. It was amazing what Tak could do with just a pencil and paper. All those years staying locked up in his room lead to the development of such a high level of artistic expression. After completing his drawing, he closed his sketch book and headed to the bathroom for a shower and to brush his teeth. Still being able to hear the conversation of the others, he went to the door which separated the two connected shacks and closed it. He then got into his bed and went to sleep.

The next morning Tak woke up early. He had his morning shower to fully wake him up and then got dressed and ate breakfast before continuing with his work. Surprised to see him awake this early, the others commented on his efforts to wake up earlier than usual. Dr. Eileen realized that he hadn’t been out to do field work in a while so she decided to let one of the unlucky scientists stay behind so Tak could go instead. The others decided again with a game of scissors, paper, rock as to who would miss out. This time it was Dr. Dale and Dr. Isaac. As they finally decided who would go, Alan showed his eagerness to get outside.

[tm20]

“Let’s go doc.” he said. He was in a much better mood compared to the day before. The three scientists got in their links and into their Avatars where Alan awaited them. The group then headed off into the forest and decided to go to a new location with a new group of plants. On the way, Tak observed Alan’s behaviour. He was obviously in a good mood. Tak didn’t know why and he still didn’t trust him. But seeing that his uncertainty in who he was seemed to have disappear, he decided to relax as that’s what initially caused Alan to turn his back on the group. When the group reached their destination, they began observing the specimens, collecting samples and recording all sorts of data. It seemed like things had gone back to normal. Alan was asking his usual set of questions to Dr. Eileen while Tak was left alone to do his work in peace. There weren’t many plants so not a lot of time was spent in the area. After the group got what they came for, they returned to the shacks. The scientists returned to their work and Alan occupied himself with a magazine.

Tak ate his lunch while he did his research. The “no food in the laboratory” rule obviously didn’t stop him. When it was about time for his daily “therapy” he refused as he hadn’t finished his work. Once on a roll he didn’t like to be disturbed. Shortly after, he finished and he got back into his Avatar along with Dr. Eileen. As they walked to the links, Alan questioned Dr. Dale about their daily routine of going to hometree.

“Isn’t is a bit unfair that he gets to go out every day and you guys don’t? I mean, he does work n everything, but so do you guys.” said Alan.
“Yeah but have you seen how much he gets done? It’s insane! His concentration is something I wish I had during my high school and college years. It could’ve saved me all those late nights studying right before the exam.” replied Dr. Brent.
“Yep, he’s right. Besides, we’re a lazy bunch!” added Dr. Isaac. Everyone laughed.

Tak and Dr. Eileen arrived at hometree. As usual they were greeted by kids running towards them. Dr. Eileen took Tak inside the hometree for his first visit. They walked towards where the injured hunters were resting but they were all gone.
“Hello Gillian.” said a voice from behind. The two turned around to face the Tsahik.
“Oh hello.” replied Dr. Eileen. She then introduced Tak to the Tsahik to which he nodded. As usual he didn’t have anything to say. He stood there with his hands in his pockets while the Tsahik discussed with Dr. Eileen about the recent events.
“Thank you for helping our people.” said the Tsahik.
“Don’t mention it, it was nothing. By the way where are they? Obviously they’re not resting so I guess they’re back to doing the usual stuff?”
“Yes they fine. Their wounds are still not healed but they can walk. Thank you for helping us, you have always showed kindness to us.”

The greeted each other a goodbye before the Tsahik left. “Well, I guess she doesn’t mind us being inside their home. Come on, I’ll show you around.” Dr. Eileen took Tak around the hometree. She showed him all the parts of the tree, taking him on a tour as if it were her own home. They stopped before the top level which went outside to the branches.
“What’s out there?” asked Tak.
“The Ikrans, only the clan members go out there. We would get ripped to pieces by those creatures.”
Tak was interested. Anything that could rip apart something to pieces would always get his attention. “Cool” he said. They headed back down to ground level and exited the hometree. As they walked out they ran into Tsuwokan. He gave an unfriendly look to Tak as he walked away.

“What’s that *******s problem” said Tak.
“He wasn’t always like that.” replied Dr. Eileen. She then began to retell the unfortunate events that lead to Tsuwokan’s attitude.
“It was two years ago, I was here teaching the children some English. That’s when she came from the distance. She was struggling with every step, covered in her own blood. She had gunshot wounds on her legs and torso.” Dr. Eileen began to feel an uncomfortable feeling inside her.
“.....Who’s this you’re talking about?” asked Tak.
“Oh, ehh. Tsuwokan’s mate. Yeah, it was really.... hard to watch. People gathered around and began to panic. Tsuwokan came and ran towards her. She collapsed into his arms.”
Dr. Eileen’s eyes began to fill with tears but she tried hard to hold them back. Her voice began to tremble as she forced out the words from her mouth.
“Tsuwokan held her tightly as they said their last words to each other.... and then she died in his arms.” She took a deep breath and continued. “After that Tsuwokan lost his trust in all of us. He blamed us for bringing pain and suffering to his people.”

As Dr. Eileen wiped her tears, Tak stood there in silence. He was unable to comprehend the unfortunate events as he was an emotionless being when it came to death. Just like when his grandfather died, he felt nothing. However he now understood why Tsuwokan was the way he was.
“Yeah, well. That’s what happened.” said Dr. Eileen. The two walked into the open. Tak sat down on the moss covered log as usual as he watched Dr. Eillen go and talk to some of the people. Thinking about the events of the past two days, he wondered what was going to happen. He asked himself all sorts of questions. What’s next? How are you going to fight this fight? How are you going to do it with only you and Alan. Is Alan even on your side? He decided to look at something else and that’s when his eyes caught a glimpse of Tsuwokan who was standing on his own as he looked at the people go on with their daily activities. Tak got up and walked to him. Before reaching Tsuwokan, their eyes locked onto each others.

“What do you want?” said Tsuwokan in an aggressive tone. Tak stared at him for a while before answering his question with a question.
“You like killing skypeople?” asked Tak.
“What are you talking about?”
“Do. You. Like. To. Kill. Sky. People?
Tsuwokan couldn’t understand why he was being asked such a question, not to mention from an Avatar that was controlled by a skyperson. He gave Tak a confused look to which Tak explained his reasons for asking such a thing.
“You and me, we have something in common you know? You know what? We could be friends? Wow, wouldn’t that be some ****? Me actually making a friend.”
“I am not your friend!”
“Ooooooo.... getting a bit angry...... it’s ok. I understand. After what happened to your mate, but eh. That’s none of my business.”

The conversation ended there and Tak walked away. He decided he would go and look for his only friend, the little boy who he had not seen since the incident. While walking around and searching for the boy, Tak bumped into one of the people. The person verbally let out a sign of annoyance. They locked eyes and stared for a few seconds before the person walked off. She was a very beautiful, young lady. She had bandages around her right leg, a patch on her waist and a few on her back. Tak instantly recognised her as the hunter he saved from death two days ago but she didn’t recognise him at all. Tak finally found his friend and the two went off to the small river to make dirt castles.

Later that night back at the shacks while Dr. Eileen was having her usual chat with the scientists, Tak and Alan were discussing outside the shacks as to how they would go about helping the Takahayo clan.
“So what, you’re just going to keep killing whoever you see?” asked Alan.
“No not me, we. You’re in this as well, or did you forget already?” replied Tak.
“..... You still don’t trust do you.”
“No I don’t. I don’t think you’ve got the balls to kill anyone.”
“I was in the army, I’ve probably experienced more intense **** than you bro.”
“Then prove it to me.”
“Yeah I ****en will, but anyway. So look, I can get weapons. I can steal some from the FEBA base but I won’t be able to get lots of stuff instantly. And we’re going to have to stash it all somewhere. Any ideas?”
“I’ll find somewhere.”
The two stayed outside for a little longer before returning inside. This was the beginning of their fight against their own kind.

[tm20]

Chapter 11

Tak woke up late the next morning as usual. However today he didn’t want to do any work. For nearly two weeks he had been at his desk writing reports and working on the computer every day, very boring and repetitive stuff. He had a quick shower and got dressed. Walking into where everyone was with his cereal, he sat down at his desk and ate his breakfast while looking out the window. He then turned on his laptop and played some rap to start the day. As N.W.A. bumped from the laptop speakers, Tak played one of his games. Alan sung along to the song.

“I gotta get paid, paid in a hurry see. I gotta have it if I’m not paid fully. I start talkin, makin sure my **** is steady bumpin, a *****’z always into somethin! Hehehehe I love this ****!” he said.
Dr. Eileen turned to laugh at him. She was glad he was in a good mood. Tak continued to play his game. No one seemed to care as they probably took notice of how hard he had been working his *** off ever since he joined them. Alan continued to sing along as he walked to the food cabinet to get a snack. The food supply was low.

“Hey guys! We’re nearly out of food!” he shouted to the others.
“OK!” replied Dr. Eileen. She started a video call back to Hell’s Gate to request for refill on supplies. A connection was established and one of the Hell’s Gate logistics staff appeared on the screen.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Gillian Eileen. I’m currently located at the FEBA with my team. Just wanted to request a helicopter to come over here and bring supplies, we’re running low.” She said
“Yep, just let me see what I can do” replied the staff. “Mmmmmm... looks like you guys are there under special circumstances. I’ll need to get an OK from the higher ups. I’ll see what I can do. Just stay online and I’ll get back to you”
“Alright thanks” replied Dr. Eileen. The video call ended.
“Why can’t they just send us stuff? It’s not that hard.” said Dr. Isaac.
“Well the lady did say we were here under special circumstances. You think the colonel’s got something to do with this?” said Dr. Dale.
“Yeah he probably doesn’t trust us.” said Dr. Brent.
“Or maybe he won’t give us what we want unless we give him what he wants. After all we are supposed to be here just to make them more money, you know with the plants.” said Dr. Eileen.

After ten minutes the logistics lady called them back.
“Ok, well looks like you guys are going to get what you need.” she said.
“Oh excellent!” replied Dr. Eileen.
“One of the scientists will bring the stuff over. Until then try not to starve to death hahahaha.”
“Scientist?” asked Dr. Eileen.
“Yeah, delivering supplies to a group of scientists isn’t considered important so my boss said to get one the, to do the job. Don’t worry, there are a number of scientists who are trained pilots as well.”

It took quite a while, but the helicopter arrived before noon. It landed outside the shacks and it was loaded with boxes. “Hey you two, you want to go out and unload the stuff? It’s not like you’re doing anything right? Hehehehe” said Dr. Isaac. Tak and Alan put on their exopacks and walked outside to the Samson. As they approached it, the pilot became more recognisable to Tak. The pilot then waved to Tak. She put on an exopack and hopped out of the cockpit.
“Hey! I didn’t know you were here! I was wondering where you were since I havdn’t seen you for a while back at Hell’s Gate.”
“Oh, hey Yuki...... I didn’t know you could fly one of these things.”
“Yeah well during college I was also taking flying lessons. I always wanted to fly one of these. They’re so cool!”
“Cool, well thanks for bringing the stuff.”
Alan saw Tak and Yuki were talking to each other and assuming they were friends, he was surprised to see that Tak actually had a friend. He walked over and introduced himself.
“Hey, I’m Alan. You two know each other or something?” he asked.
“Yeah, we went to the same college. Hahaha!”
“Oh really? You probably didn’t expect to run into each other on another ****en planet did you. Hahahaha! Aaaahh well, let’s unload the stuff.” As Alan walked off, Tak corrected Alan softly. “It’s a moon you dumb ****.” he said. As the two of them unloaded the goods from the Samson and carried them to the shack door, Yuki began to chat with Tak.

“So did you hear about what happened to those men a few days ago?”
“Yeah”
“Wasn’t it close to here? Oh my god you should be careful. The Na’vi are dangerous.”
“Really? I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Yeah, but no only that. The colonel said there’s a traitor among us. Like, as in US. Humans. I’m a bit worried to be honest. I just hope I don’t do anything to make myself a target.”
“Just mind your own business and you’ll be alright.”
After carrying all the goods to the door, Yuki began to walk back to the cockpit. Tak called out to her.
“Hey wait up! After we get all the stuff inside can you fly me and Alan to the FEBA base? I need to do some mandatory weapons training. Alan needs to get some ammo.” he said.
“Yeah sure, that reminds me. I need to get started on that.”

Tak and Alan carried the goods into the shacks and left them for the others to open and sort. The two then hopped into the Samson and they took off. On the way Alan was showing off to Tak by leaning out of the side. “Hey look! No hands!!!” he said as he let go for split seconds. “HEY! That’s dangerous!” said Yuki, showing her concern. They soon arrived at the base and went straight to the shooting range. Tak got straight into it while Yuki was explained the procedure. Tak fired rounds from the pistol and signed the log book before leaving. “I’ll wait for you at the chopper” he said to Yuki. He met up with Alan and they went to the armoury. They approached a soldier who was on duty in the little booth. Alan told Tak to leave the talking to him.

“Hey, wassup. I need a few more clips and this guy needs a weapon.” said Alan to the on duty soldier.
“You authorized?” he asked. He didn’t seem like an intelligent person, or someone who knew the rules.
“Ofcourse. I’m a sergeant, I’m allowed access to ammunition. And he’s completed enough weapons training to have his own gun.”
The soldier stopped reading his comic and turned to face Alan “You’re not bull****ting me are you?”
“Bull****ting you? **** no! Why would I? Dude, I just need more rounds so I can get back out there and kill more of those ****en blue bastards ok. He just needs a piece to protect himself. Yeah?"
The soldier took a long look at Alan before allowing them into the armoury. Alan told Tak to go ahead as he wanted to keep talking to the soldier in attempts to earn his trust.
“Dude, if you knew what I have to deal with, you wouldn’t hesitate to let me in. Yesterday I had to escort a group of those geeks into the jungle right. I killed four of those bat things and also took out two viperwolves.”
The soldier was amazed to hear of such action. “Really? You got to shoot ****? Damn, sounds fun. I’m stuck here for most of the day. Well, it’s only once every 2 weeks so I guess it’s ok. I’ve only killed one of those blue monkeys. A few flying things but they’re easy.”
“Only one? I’ve killed four. Well, you’ll get better at it.”

Feeling like he had made a good start to earning the soldiers trust, he joined Tak in the armoury. It was a large room packed with racks of guns and ammunition. At the back there was body armour. Tak’s love for guns got hold of him and he was now like a kid in a candy store. Alan was no different. They walked up and down the aisles, checking out the wide range of weapons. “Oh yeah, because you’re just a scientist you’re only allowed a pistol, so choose carefully”. Tak continued to look at the automatic rifles while Alan was looking at the automatic shotguns. Tak made his way to the pistol section. He was no gun expert but if it was big then he liked it. He then began to pick out pistols that caught his attention. He then brought them back to a table and went back to look at the guns. Alan had chosen an automatic shotgun and was now looking for a replacement for his current automatic rifle. He made his way to the appropriate aisle and looked at the many guns. He picked one up, held it in both hands and aimed with it. Liking the feel of it, as well as it’s looks, he walked off with it and went to look for Tak. Seeing the selection of pistols on the table he called to Tak who came back to the table.

“Hey, hey. What the hell’s all this? You can’t take this many guns.”
“I know, so help me choose. But I am taking atleast two.”
“Ah ok. Well let’s see.” Alan and Tak went through the pistols. Alan found one for himself but Tak still couldn’t decide.
“....... Well I do like this one. And this one as well.” he said.
“I don’t think it matters. They’re all 50 cal.”
Tak looked around the room to see if there was anything else that looked more cool. Instead he spotted a bag. He got the bag and brought it back to the table. He then threw in all the pistols except one and threw in Alan’s auto shotgun. He then returned to the racks. Alan didn’t even stop him from going over the limit of allowed weapons. Instead, he admired his way of thinking. “Hmmm, good idea” he said to himself. Alan then walked over to Tak to see him getting cases of bullets. The two filled the a fair amount of the space in the bag with ammunition. When they finished, they closed the bag and were about to walk out but Alan stopped Tak.

[tm20]

“Wait, one more thing” he said. Alan ran to the far side of the room and looked through the weapons. Tak couldn’t see him but heard a loud “**** yeah!”. Alan walked out with two grenade launchers.
“And why the **** do you need two?” asked Tak.
“One to attatch to my rifle, and this one for.... I don’t know, I just want one”

Tak carried the heavy bag and held onto a pistol while Alan carried the rifle around his shoulder and the grenade launcher in his hands. Avoiding being detected with it, he held it low so the soldier in the booth couldn’t see it even though the soldier was too busy reading his comic. The two then walked very fast back to the helicopter. There weren’t many people in the base as most of them went to serve as security at the mines during the mining hours. This was an opportunity that was too good to be true. “Wow, I didn’t think we would be able to get this many in one go” said Alan. Yuki was waiting in the cockpit ready to go. She fired up the rotors as she saw the boys jogging towards her. They hopped in the chopper.

“What’s with the bag?” she asked.
“Just some equipment that’s going to help keep away those nasty viperwolves” replied Alan.
Yuki flew them back to the shacks. Tak and Alan hopped off and Tak told Alan to take the bag and hide it in his Avatar’s tent. Before taking off, Yuki told them something.
“Hey guys, if you need a lift just contact me and I’ll see if I can come. Staying in the labs gets really boring. Hahahaha. I can fly you guys anywhere you want, well I think I can go anywhere. But anyway yeah, just let me know. Your friends as well, let them know.”
“You sure? That seems like a lot to ask for.”
“Nah it’s ok. But not too often.”
“Wow, thanks heaps. Really, you’ve been a big help today. Really, thanks heaps.”

Yuki flew back to Hell’s Gate and Tak entered the shacks. He then went to ask for someone to help him get linked to his Avatar. Dr. Eileen went to the links with Tak. She then asked him where he went.
“Oh right, I went to the base for more weapons training. Alan came along since he had nothing to do. Anyway on the way back Alan started asking me all these ****en questions about the plants and animals and **** and now he’s really excited so he wants me to show him around and yeah I think you get the picture.”
“Hahahahaha. He’s funny. Well, just be careful ok?” she said. Tak hopped into his link and Dr. Eileen pressed the touch screen to get him setup. He then woke up inside his tent with the bag on the ground next to him. He grabbed it and looked out of his tent. No one was looking out of the windows. He then walked out of his tent and put the bag on his shoulder. Tak walked off into the forest with Alan.

“So where are we going to hide all this stuff?” asked Alan.
“You’ll see” replied Tak.
They walked along the river and diverged from it just like when Tak and Dr. Eileen walk to hometree. Alan had never been to hometree so he didn’t know where he was. Before proceeding to the open area at the base of hometree, Tak told Alan to wait where he was with the weapons. He then looked for Tsuwokan while trying to not attract too much attention, walking near plants and in shaded areas. He finally found him and walked over to him.
“Hey, come. This way, come.” he said.
Tsuwokan didn’t know what Tak was up to but he thought that the sooner he did as Tak told him to, the sooner he would go away. He followed Tak back to where Alan was waiting. Alan’s second encounter with Tsuwokan wasn’t great but it was better than the first.
“Wow, who the **** is this?!” yelled Alan out of surprise. Tsuwokan was not happy to see Alan as shown from his facial expression.
“Calm down you bitch, geeez.” said Tak. “Right, open the bag.” Alan opened the bag. Tak then picked up the autoshotgun and showed it to Tsuwokan.
“Nice ha? We’re going to kill us some tawtute with these. Here, wanna hold it?.... No? That’s cool. Anyway, we need to hide these somewhere. Can you help us with that?”
Tsuwokan didn’t understand why Tak was trying to become his ally. He didn’t trust him and so he kept quiet. Tak then broke the silence. “You still don’t trust me?” he said. Tsuwokan looked at him with uncertainty but then finally something inside him forced out some words. “This way....” he said. Tak put the shotgun back into the bag and closed it. He then picked it up and followed Tsuwokan. Alan did as well. They walked to the other side of the small river near hometree and came to a large tree with a thick growth of ferns around it. “Put it here” said Tsuwokan. Tak dropped the bag in between two large sections of the tree base and then ripped off some leaves from the ferns to cover the bag. “Now go away.” said Tsuwokan. Tak and Alan walked away and returned to the shacks.

By the time Tak and Alan got back they were starving. Tak got out from his link and headed to get food. Alan was already eating while he explained what Tak had “shown him” on his “tour” of the forest. Tak ate lunch and rested while playing his guitar for a while before going back outside to workout. By the time Tak finished his hour long workout, Dr. Eileen was getting sick of doing her work. She went outside to Tak and told him to get in his link because she wanted to go visit the clan. Tak didn’t feel like doing so but there was nothing else to do so he agreed. He went back inside and got something small to eat before getting into his Avatar. He woke up in his Avatar and saw Dr. Eileen waiting for him outside his tent. The two made their way to hometree. On the way, Dr. Eileen talked to Tak about what she wanted from Tak.
“So hows the first two weeks been?”
“Alright”
“That’s good. I’ve noticed you’re talking more than you were when you arrived here. That’s really good. And I see you’ve become friends with one of the youngsters of the clan. That’s really nice. But I know you can do better. You’re a nice person you know. You just don’t show a lot of that towards people.”
“...... ok.......”
“Hehehehe, it’s true. But anyway, do you think you could.... maybe get to know the people better? You don’t have to say much, just ask them what they’re doing, or what their name is, or.. you know. Just get to know them a little bit more.”
“Yeah... well if you haven’t noticed, I’m not good at this socialising ****.”
“I know, and I’ll help you with it. I’ll introduce you to people. You can take it easy, but I really do want you to get to know these people better. There’s so much they can teach you and if you get on their good side they’ll even show you around this place, around this world perhaps.”
“Around the world?”
“Ok maybe not that, but they can take you to other places you know. Let’s just try and talk a bit more today, OK?”
“Yeah yeah, whatever...”

The two reached hometree but this time they weren’t swarmed by a large group of kids as only a few came running to them. Dr. Eileen signalled Tak to follow as she approached one of the people. The two greeted each other.
“Oel ngati kameie.”
“Oel ngati kameie. How are you? Your wounds seem to be healing, that’s good.”
“Yes, thank you for helping.”
“Tak, this is Zetey. I’ve known her since the year I came to Pandora. Zetey this is Tak. He’s the newest member of my group.”

Zetey recognized Tak from their encounter the day before. She looked at him with her beautiful Na’vi eyes and tried to force a small smile. Tak did the same but only for a little while before looking towards the ground and minus the smile. Dr. Eileen broke the akward silence by asking if Zetey could show Tak the people’s way of life. Although she didn’t want to, she never refused Dr. Eileen’s requests as Dr. Eileen had helped her people so much in the past. Zetey walked off and Dr. Eileen signalled Tak to follow her. Not knowing what to say, he decided to ask her name since he had already forgotten it. It took him a while but he managed to spit out the question.
“So..... what’s your name?” he asked with very little enthusiasm.
“Zetey......” she replied with the same tone.
“What is your name?” she asked.
“Tak” he replied.
So far so good. Zetey made an effort to try and get along with this dreamwalker as he was Dr. Eileen’s associate.
“Why did you come here?”
“......Because Dr. Eileen told me to.”
“No, why did you come to our world?”
“Oh..... because my world is a **** hole.”
“...**** hole?”
“Kawng kifkey.”

Zetey nodded as she now understood his reasons “Yes, Gillian tell me about your people’s world. Many bad things.”
As Tak looked up from the ground to his surroundings, he saw Tsuwokan staring at him. He needed to gain Tsuwokan’s trust. Not wanting to maintain eye contact, he decided to look away at something else. His attention was drawn to one of the people cutting up meat. He continued to observe the activity until he got an idea.

[tm20]

Chapter 12

Tak suddenly interrupted their conversation. “Sorry, I’ll be right back” he said as Zetey wondered what it was that he had to go and do. She continued to watch him walk off until she concluded that he probably didn’t want to continue talking to her. She decided to help some of the people with their daily activities. Tak made his way back to his tent. He checked to see if anyone had noticed his return. No one was at the window. He sneaked into his tent and got his mask and his knife. Putting the mask and the knife in the back of his pants, he hid them by pulling his singlet over them and headed off back to the village. Once he returned he searched for Tsuwokan. He found him carrying wood up into hometree and decided to follow him. Confronting him by the fire place he began to ask questions.

“Ey, where do I find the skypeople?”
“What do you want? Go away!”
“Just tell me where to find the skypeople.”
Tsuwokan paused for a while before answering his question.
“....Follow river, the skypeople walk there. They look for us.”
“Thanks, I’ll **** off now.”
“Why you ask?”

Tak didn’t answer his question. He made his way down. As he did, Tsuwokan noticed something bulging out from the back of his singlet. Tak went to the river and followed it. From where he stops following the river to go to hometree, he walked for roughly twenty minutes along the river without finding a single human. He decided to follow one of the shallow streams which connected to the river and made his way into unknown territory. It was warm and humid. He stopped to kneel down and reach for the wet dirt on the ground. He then applied it to the area around his eyes, put on his mask and pulled out his knife. Not knowing where he was, he decided to follow the stream. The stream connected to another stream, which connected to another stream and so on. This was a wetland which was incredibly rich in primary production. A perfect place for animals to graze. However he still didn’t know why humans would come here. Trying to avoid detection, he hung around large plants as they provided cover. Tired from walking, he decided to take a rest. Sitting down on tree trunk which grew horizontally on a small hill, he observed his surroundings. To his left were a group of Hexapedes nibbling on the leaves of a plant. He observed their activity until they fled to the sound of gunshots.

“YEAH!!! I got one!” yelled a human voice. Judging where the voice came from, he hid behind a tree to avoid being detected. He continued to listen.
“It’s just an animal, big deal. I came here to kill me some blue monkeys, now where the **** are they?!” yelled another soldier. Tak slowly crawled up the hill to some grass and larger plants. He peeped through the small gaps to see a group of four soldiers hanging around in the open. He continued to watch.
“God damn it I thought we were going to find those bastards! I didn’t come here to shoot these dumbass animals!”
“Relax they’ll be here. This is where they come to hunt.”
“Yeah well they better turn up soon cos I’m getting bored.”
“We’ll keep searching. They’ll show up.”
One of the soldiers got excited and fired his gun in the air. “WOOOO!!! Yeah you hear that?! We’re coming to get you ****ers!!! YEAH!!!”
“Stop it! That’ll just scare them you retard! Geez!”
“Ok, well let’s split up and find something to shoot. Killing something is better than killing nothing. But don’t go too far, just stay within this area.”

They group split up and went their own ways. One of them was walking towards Tak but not directly towards him. Tak slowly made his way down the hill and back to ground level. He guessed that the soldier had walked towards his left so he slowly moved towards his left. Hearing the footsteps, he hid behind the tree trunk. The footsteps were getting closer and then they stopped. Tak kept very still and quiet. He then heard the sound of a zipper, and then water falling onto the ground. Very slowly her looked from where he was hiding to see the soldier taking a leak. With his knife in his hand, he crept up to the soldier and in a smooth action, dug his fingers beneath the exopack and wrapped them around the soldiers mouth tightly, pulling the soldier towards him. He had nowhere to go. He then quickly stabbed the soldier in the neck. It entered one side. Tak slowly pushed it further and forced it out the other side. Holding this position, he waited until the soldier was dead. The soldier struggled to try and break free while doing his best to pull the knife away from his neck but it was pointless. The strength of an Avatar was too much for that of a human. Tak’s hands were covered in blood. Not wanting to make a mess, he kept the knife buried in the neck and and thought of a way back. He dropped the body and made his way back up the hill. He looked through the plants to see if the soldiers were still there. They had gone off on their own. Now was the time for Tak to make his escape. He picked up the dead body and put it on his shoulder and jogged back the way he came.

Once he reached the river, he continued for a few more minutes before deciding to stop for a rest. He dropped the body on the ground and kneeled towards it. With the knife still in the neck, he took it out and stabbed it into the neck again but not all the way through. Wriggling the knife around to create some space, he started to move the knife in and out. Cutting the head off wasn’t as easy as he thought as he had to work through the spine. He managed to cut through the flash and skin but the spine kept the head attached to the rest. Blood was pooring out and was soaking the soil in red. Tak found a large stick on the ground nearby so he jammed it into the mouth until it poked out the other end. He stuck this end into the ground and used the stick as a lever, trying to bend the neck until it snapped. Keeping the body from moving around with his foot, he violently pulled back on the stick but it didn’t work. That’s when he realized that he forgot an important step. “Ohhhhh” he said to himself. He dropped the stick and placed both hands on the head of the dead body. He twisted the head and broke the neck. Picking up the stick, he tried again. Using all his strength, he pulled back. SNAP! Finally, the head was now detached from the body. Wasting no time, he took off all the clothes and put it into a pile. He then washed his hands and knife thoroughly in the river until the colour and smell of blood was gone. Tak then tied the soldier’s shoes together and wrapped up all the clothes along with the shoes into a big bundle except for the shirt. He then took the head and wrapped it with the shirt. After resting for a few minutes, he then held the wrapped “gift” in one hand and the bundle of clothes under his armpit while he dragged the headless body with his other hand. He made his way along the river. Before reaching the turning point to go to home tree, he got tired of dragging the body so he grabbed it with both hands by the feet, swung it and tossed it into a thick patch plants hoping that either animals would eat it or the decomposers would take care of it. He then picked up the remaining things and made his way to the stash of weapons.

[tm20]

When he got there, he lifted the ferns that his the bag and dropped the stuff and covered them back up. Satisfied with the job he did, he took a deep breath and exhaled while wiping the sweat from his forehead. Taking off his mask, he decided to put it in the bag along with the weapons and did the same with his knife. He then returned to the village and tried to blend in with the crowd. But Dr. Eileen noticed he was gone for quite some time and approached him.

“Hey, where did you go?” she asked.
“Just for a walk.” he replied in a calm manner.
“What happened to your conversation with Zetey?”
“Got boring.”
“Oh, well atleast you managed to speak to her. Maybe you could go back?”
“Maybe.”
“Ok, well I have to go. The kids can’t wait!”

Dr. Eileen ran back to the group of kids she was playing games with. Tak searched for Tsuwokan anxiously. He found Tsuwokan sitting down in a field of grass away from everyone else. It was quiet. Walking over to Tsuwokan, he saw that Tsuwokan had his eyes closed. Tsuwokan breathed deeply and slowly exhaled before opening his eyes to see Tak. Not happy to see Tak, he put on an unhappy face.

“Get up.” said Tak. Tsuwokan was getting used to Tak’s presence but still didn’t enjoy it. Tak signalled him to follow. They walked out of the village and Tak took Tsuwokan to the stash. He removed the ferns. He picked up the blood soaked shirt and handed it to Tsuwokan who looked at it with a suspicious face.
“..... what is this?” asked Tsuwokan to which Tak didn’t reply. He would have to unwrap it to find out. Tsuwokan unwrapped the shirt slowly. Once he untied the knot, he unwrapped the shirt to see a bloody severed human head. A bit surprised and shocked, he retracted while holding the head in his hands. Tak saw this and slightly laughed. Tsuwokan turned to Tak, wondering what kind of psychotic son of a bitch he was.

“So, you trust me now?” asked Tak. Tsuwokan was speechless. Why did this skyperson want to help his people so much? Sure, there were people like Dr. Eileen who had established good relationships with the Na’vi and had helped to conserve their planet. But Tak took things to a whole new level.
“Ok, well you can keep that as a souvenir. I’m going to go back. Don’t tell anyone about this.” said Tak as he made his way back to the village. Tsuwokan was still shocked. Not even he would’ve thought of cutting of the head of a skyperson despite his hatred for them. But Tsuwokan was certain of one thing, Tak was for real. Maybe he could use Tak’s help to fight the RDA. It took a while for Tsuwokan to comprehend Tak’s actions, but once he did, he tossed the head into the distance, dropped the shirt and returned to the village.

Upon entering the village, Tak saw Dr. Eileen who had spotted him walking in. She looked at him then to Zetey, signalling him to go to her and socialise. Tak didn’t like how he was being forced to do so, and this resulted in a forced response. He stuck his middle finger at Dr. Eileen to which she replied with a look that said “haha, very funny”. Again, she told him with her body language to go over and talk to her. Tak closed his eyes and sighed. He didn’t want to, but something inside him forced him to. He slowly walked over to Zetey. He approached her from behind and began to talk.

“Soooo.... doc told me to come here..... and talk to you.... about...... stuff. Anyway, sorry I walked off. I had to go and do something” said Tak with no enthusiasm at all. Zetey let out a small laugh as she found Tak’s inability to finish a sentence without pausing to be amusing. For the rest of the time while Tak was there, the two stayed together. Their conversation consisted of many pauses and awkward silences but it was the best conversation Tak had with any Na’vi.

When Tak and Dr. Eileen got back to the shacks Tak, after awaking in their links Tak went straight to his desk and turned on his laptop. He opened one of his games and began to play. Dr. Eileen then sat down next to him and asked questions.
“So how was it?” she asked but Tak didn’t reply as he was too concentrated on his game. She lightly poked him and reasked the question to which he looked at her and back to his game.
“It was ok.”
“Good, what did you guys talk about?”
“..... I don’t know, stuff”
“Well atleast you made some progress today. I’m happy for you. I really am. Keep it up!”

Dr. Eileen walked to her desk and sat down. Tak continued to play his game. He was then interrupted by Alan who had entered the room. Alan was holding his guitar and was strumming randomly, showing that he obviously didn’t know how to play it. Tak heard this and paused his game to turn around.
“Who the **** said you could touch it you ****?” said Tak aggressively.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t damaged it or anything. Geeez.”
Alan continued to strum randomly while walking around the room thinking he was a rockstar.
“You are so ****en ****. Please do us all a big ****en favour and stop playing.” said Tak to which everyone else giggled at. Alan did so and put the guitar in Tak’s hands.
“Then why don’t you play?” said Alan.
“Go get my ****en amp and cord.”
“YEAH!” said Alan as he was excited to find out how good Tak was. He brought over the amp and chord and Tak set it up. Alan sat down next to him. Tak tuned his guitar so it was perfect and turned on the distortion. He then began to play. Alan instantly recognized the intro.
“EY! I know this song!” he yelled. He grabbed a pen in each hand and played along on his imaginary drum kit, beating the desk and any object that was on it while stomping his feet to provide bass. Dr. Eileen watched as Tak and Alan jammed together. It brought a smile to her face.

Back at hometree the Takahayo clan was gathering around the fire for dinner. Tsuwokan sat amongst the many people in silence. He was still thinking about Tak’s actions. The images of the severed head were still running through his mind. But now he had someone he could trust. He looked from the ground up to the fire. He had met Tak’s insane side. Meanwhile on the other side of the fire, Zetey was also sitting down in silence. She was also thinking about Tak. She didn’t want to admit it but she found the dreamwalker slightly attractive. He was pretty good looking, but his shy personality is what made her feel at ease. Strange but true. She had met Tak’s shy side.

[tm20]

Chapter 13

Tak woke up early the next morning as he was able to get to sleep quicker than usual the night before. After his morning shower, getting dressed and eating breakfast, he brushed his teeth while walking to his desk and sat down. He then overheard the others discussing another reported casualty. Dr. Brent noticed him and began talking to him about it.
“Hey, we just got told this morning that someone’s been missing since yesterday afternoon. A group of soldiers were out in the forest and one of them didn’t come back.”
Tak nodded his head showing little interest in the news. However he already knew this. Trying to act as if he knew nothing about it, he responded with a question.
“What were they doing?”
“Well we don’t know yet but they were probably just looking for trouble. Soldiers have nothing to do around here so they just go and shoot the animals. This isn’t the first time this has happened, but they never learn.”
“Hmph, they deserve it then.”
“Yeah I agree. Honestly, I don’t feel sorry for them. But hopefully they don’t start a war with the Na’vi in this area. Last thing I want is to be caught up in the middle of a fight. I mean, the war’s been going for a while now, but it’s got less intense. Let’s just hope it stays that way.”

Tak continued to brush his teeth while he turned on his computer and waited for it to load. He then went to the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste and rinse his mouth. He then washed his face and dried it with his shirt. He looked and stared at himself in the mirror. “There’s no turning back” he said to himself in his mind. He then returned to his desk. As he entered the room, Dr. Eileen asked him to come and have a look at the different plants she had been growing as experiments.
“I never did show you the plants I’ve been growing did I? Well, here they are. I really do think we getting close to being able to use these back on earth. They evolve quite fast for plants. I’ve been studying the Pandoran fauna for years now and they’ve shown physiological changes within periods of months. It’s amazing.”
“Cool.... So what are the consequences back on earth if these were planted?”
“Well, maybe you could answer that.” said Dr. Eileen with a smile. Tak thought for a while before giving an answer.
“Well they would certainly detoxify the soil. They would also probably outcompete other plant species considering their size and the amount of nutrients they take up. That could lead to other negative things, but who knows.”
“Interesting, well how would you like to help me with these plants? I need help taking care of them and running all sorts of tests and recording data. Probably more fun than writing reports and inputting data all day.”
“.... Ok.”

Tak returned to his desk and carried on with his usual work. Just before noon, Dr. Eileen asked him to help her with the plants. It was good to get away from the boring usual work and get into something hands on. It was also an opportunity for Tak to learn all he could from someone with more experience with the plants. By talking to Dr. Eileen he was also telling a little bit about himself to her without noticing it. He was opening up more. However eventually he noticed that he was being asked a lot of questions but he hadn’t asked any. He decided to do so.
“Why do I always answer your questions? Why don’t you ever tell me anything about yourself?” asked Tak.
“That’s because you never ask.” Replied Dr. Eileen with a smile.
“Ok then, why did you decide to leave home and come here?”
“Oh, that was an easy decision. I just received my PhD and I was eager to find a job and get working as soon as possible. I searched for a while but nothing interested me. During college I kept up to date with the Avatar program and considered it as an option. After a while I decided to join since there were no jobs that I was really interested in and yeah, that was it.”
“What did your parents say?”
“Well my father passed away while I was at college and I wasn’t very close to my mother so she wasn’t too upset to see me leave.”
Tak nodded as he could slightly relate to how his own parents didn’t care too much about him leaving.
“Do you miss home?” he asked.
“At first I did, not seeing your friends or family does take time getting used to. But after a while I got over it and now this world is my home. I just feel like this place was meant for me you know? Anyway, what about you?”
“No, and I don’t think I ever will.”

The two of them continued with their science while discussing Pandoran biology.
After lunch, Tak went outside and for a short workout on the outdoor gym. He then walked around the area to find something he could punch and kick. It had been over 5 years since he last practiced his Judo and Karate but it only felt like a few weeks ago. He found a pineapple plant behind the generator and began to punch and kick it. It felt good to let out all that energy. Alan noticed Tak was gone and went outside to look for him. He circled the shacks then went behind the generator and spotted Tak beating the **** out of a plant. He walked up to Tak.
“Hey, what you doin?”
“Not much.”
“You box ha?”
“No, Karate and Judo”
“Oh pffffff. Judo. You don’t even throw any punches or kicks in that sport. Karate’s cool. But Judo? Nahhh. That **** don’t impress me.”
Alan’s cockiness made Tak slightly laugh. He stepped aside as Alan walked up to the plant and began to punch and kick it as well. But his style was different.
“Muay Thai ha?”
“Yep. None of that fancy crap. Just straight up punching and kicking.” said Alan jokingly.
“Really? Well, how about you try some of that boxing bull**** against my fancy crap and we’ll see who will be impressed.”
“Ohhh, ok. I see. Bring it bitch”
The two faced each other with their hands up and they circled each other.
“So how do we strike since we’re wearing these exopacks?” asked Alan.
“Who said you just had to go for the head?” replied Tak. Alan replied with a strike to Tak’s gut but he dodged it. Another strike, this time to Tak’s ribs but he dodged it again. Alan threw a few more punches and a few kicks but Tak remained calm and dodged them except for one kick to which he replied with a small laugh.
“Come on now! I’m getting bored here!” said Alan. He then went for a swing to the side of Tak’s head but it was grabbed and countered with a Harai Goshi. Tak didn’t bother supporting his opponent’s weight and let Alan fall to the ground with all the force. Landing flat on his back, Alan was winded and coughed as he looked up at Tak.
“Ooo I’m sorry, did that hurt?” said Tak jokingly. He flicked Alan’s exopack as a joke, letting in some of the Pandoran air. Alan panicked and quickly filtered it out via the built in mechanism. He then got up.
“Yeeaah not bad. Next time I won’t go so easy.” said Alan.
“Mhmm. I’m sure. Come on, let’s go” replied Tak.

The two jogged along the river, going the opposite direction from the usual and headed towards the FEBA base. When they got there, they took note of the military vehicles. There were three Scorpion gunships and five ATV Grinders on the ground while four attack boats were parked along the river. The two walked to the gate and were let in. They walked to the closest person on the ground and Alan began talking to one of the soldiers.

“You guys got a lot of stuff here. Helicopters and ATV and boats, you really need all this stuff?”
“Of course. There’s no such thing as too much firepower.”
Tak had a good look around the base. He was now going up against a small army and he only had one, possibly two people to help him. They took a rest inside the base while they watched mechanics service the machines. Sitting down on the ground next to each other, they began to disucss a plan.
“****, how are we going to go up against all this? We’re going to get our asses kicked.”
“Don’t know.”
“Rhetorical question, but anyway....”
“It’s only rhetorical if it doesn’t require an answer.”
“And did that one sound like it did?”
“Yes.”
“Riiiight, well don’t know doesn’t sound like a very good answer to me.”
“Relax, I’ll think of something. After all, I am the smart one.”
“Very funny.”

The two stood up and walked out of the gate. Tak then began jogging back and Alan followed. When they got back inside the shacks they had to explain why they were gone for such a long time.
“Where did you guys go?” asked Dr. Eileen.
“Went to the FEBA base.”
“You went to the base?! As humans?!”
“......Yes, as humans. Because we are humans afterall.”
“You know how dangerous that is?! Oh god, lucky you came back in one piece. I don’t know the route you took but the FEBA is crawling with all sorts of predators. Someone went missing yesterday, so unless you want the same thing to happen to you please be careful next time. Why didn’t you go in your avatar Tak?”
“Exercising my avatar doesn’t exercise me.”
“Ok, fair enough. But guys, please don’t do that again. Ever. Please.”
Alan looked at Tak and then back at Dr. Eileen. With a smart *** attitude he responded to her warning.
“.....Naaaaaah. Don’t think so.” said Alan. Dr. Eileen rolled her eyes and shook her head at his immaturity while Dr. Isaac giggled and smiled at him. Alan turned to Dr. Isaac and replied.
“Well it is very relaxing.” he said. Dr. Isaac giggled more and turned away.
Today Tak was eager to go to the village as he had some things to discuss with his new associate. He didn’t want anyone to get suspicious of him so he tried to keep Dr. Eileen at the shacks.

[tm20]

“You know you don’t have to come with me all the time. If you’re worried about me being left alone with the Na’vi, well I can take care of myself” he said politely.
“I know. But I like visiting them. It’s become a habit. So, you ready?” she replied.
“Yeah” said Tak.

They made their way to the village. Walking along the river, they discussed Pandoran fish and their role in the ecosystem. Dr. Eileen was beginning to take note of how Tak was more talkative in discussions about biological things. When they reached the village, Tak sat down on the moss covered log that he always sat on and watched Dr. Eileen walk off with a group of kids who were yelling at her to teach them new things. Shortly after, Tsuwokan joined him and sat down beside him. There was a moment of silence before Tsuwokan began to talk.
“Why you help us?” he asked.
“Why?..... why not?”
There was another long pause before Tak decided to explain himself.
“You people don’t realize how much of a great life you have. Where I’m from, we work for most of our lives just to get by. We have to put up with crime, pollution, overpopulation and so much other **** that sometimes I ask myself why we continue to exist.”

Tak continued with his rant about the world he came from. Tsuwokan continued to listen but he didn’t understand everything. However he got the overall idea, Earth was far from perfect. Once Tak stopped talking, Tsuwokan then began to explain how his world had become similar on a smaller scale.
“Before skypeople come, this place look different. More animals and plants. But skypeople come and destroy everything. They show no respect to Eywa. They attack other clans first, then come here and attack us. Many people die, so we fight back. This continue for a long time now.”
“A vendetta......”
“....What is that?”
“A fight between two families. One family kills someone from the other and the other returns the favour. A vendetta.”
“....Yes, vendetta.”

Tsuwokan then turned to Tak and in a serious tone, began to talk. “If you want to help us, you must help destroy the skypeople place. Follow river and you will find.”
“The FEBA base. Easier said than done, but it’s possible.”
“We must destroy skypeople place. Tomorrow morning, when sun rise, I wait for you outside village.”
Tak nodded then stood up to walk away. Tsuwokan called him.
“Ftang. What is your name dreamwalker?” asked Tsuwokan.
“Tak.”
“Tak, irayo.”

Tak walked off and Tsuwokan watched while remaining seated on the log. He was beginning to trust him more. As Tak continued to walk off, his little friend ran to him with an Ikran made from sticks and plant fibres. He showed his creation to Tak who took it and examined it, looking impressed. The boy took Tak to a quiet place under the shade of some trees and they began to put sticks in the ground as if they were making a little village. The sight of a large figure sitting next to an extremely small one caught the eye of Zetey. She decided to get a closer look at the two as she was curious about what they were doing. She was surprised to see Tak and the little boy having fun with their stick village as Tak didn’t seem like the type that would interact with the Na’vi. Despite Tak’s size, all Zetey could see was a two kids playing together, except one of them was extremely big. It was cute and it put a small smile on her face. Leaving them undisturbed, she walked away.

Tak’s time with his friend went by fast. It was time for him to go. The sun was beginning to set and the sky filled with orange. Tak and Dr. Eileen returned to the shacks. On the way back Dr. Eileen asked him what he did and he explained but didn’t tell her about his chat with Tsuwokan. Dr. Eileen then told how she taught the kids more English and played some simple games with them like scissors, paper, rock. That night the gang decided to have a proper dinner. Using some of the good food they had, they cooked a decent meal using what they had in the shacks. It was a lot better than the packaged crap that was in the fridge. After dinner, they talked while having beers while Tak played his guitar which was still sitting next to his desk from the other day. He turned down the volume and played some soothing blues. Deep into the discussion, Alan decided to change the topic with a question.

“So, you guys are stuck here on this planet. Don’t you get lonely? Or doesn’t it suck that you can’t date anyone? You know, like, it’s not like back on Earth where you can just meet people at bars or clubs.” he asked.
“No, it’s even better because the people you can ask out are the people you work with.” said Dr. Brent with a smile.
“You did?” asked Alan with a surprise.
“Sure, I’ve been with her for nearly a year now. She’s back at hell’s gate though.” Alan put on a surprised look and then looked to Dr. Dale.
“Me too. Been going out with my girl for over a year and a half now.” He said. Alan then turned to Dr. Eileen and asked her.
“No one special now, but I’ve got lucky with a few guys over the years.” she said with a bit of embarrassment. Alan finally asked Dr. Isaac who had been quiet since the topic was brought up. She replied with her head down, shamefully shaking her head with her eyes closed to say no. the others laughed and joked of her bad luck. Once they were done, she tried to make up an excuse of why that was the case.
“I don’t know, I guess I’m just.... unlucky.”
“Well..... that sucks.....” said Alan, but what he was thinking was the complete opposite. Inside, he was jumping with joy as he now had a chance with this hot scientist. In the background, Tak could be heard playing his guitar. He wasn’t paying attention to anything being discussed. The others then began to discuss quietly about Tak.

“So what do you think about him? You think he would have a chance with any of the girls back at Hell’s Gate?” asked Dr. Dale.
“Mmmmm, probably not. He doesn’t talk to anyone. And he’s kind of scary.” replied Dr. Brent.
Dr. Eileen tried to defend Tak. “What? He’s not scary, he’s just quiet. He’s actually a nice person, you just haven’t got to know him yet.” she said.
“Yeah but things are always so tense when he’s around, you just feel like he’s going to randomly knock someone out.” said Dr. Dale
Alan was too busy to join the discussion as he was shifting his eyes continuously from the table to Dr. Isaac who had her head down, looking at the floor. She would occasionally look up and Alan would quickly look away but he would get caught everytime. Dr. Isaac looked back at the ground but would smile everytime.

The next morning Tak woke up early and had a quick shower, ate breakfast and brushed his teeth then went to his link and set it up himself. He pulled the screen towards him from the link, pressed a few buttons and pushed it away then closed the link. The sound of the link entering the rotating mechanism wasn’t loud enough to wake up the others. He woke up in his Avatar and made his way to meet with Tsuwokan. When he got there he saw not only Tsuwokan but Aketuan and Bakteyo as well. They were all wearing war paint but it was dark rather than bright in order to make them blend in better with the environment.
“What are we doing?” asked Tak.
“We go and kill tawtute. You will prove yourself.” said Tsuwokan.
“Sounds fun, but let me get something first.” said Tak. He went to the bag of weapons that was hidden near the village and took out his mask and knife. He then rubbed dirt around his eyes, onto his arms and then put on his mask. He then returned to the others.
“Ok, let’s go.”

[tm20]

Chapter 14

The gang headed towards the FEBA base. On the way they discussed what they were going to do.
“So what’s the plan?” asked Tak.
“Plan?” said Tsuwokan as he didn’t understand the meaning of the word.
“What are we going to do when we get there?”
“I tell you when we get there.”
Tak was starting to think that Tswokan didn’t know what he was doing. Incase **** hit the fan, Tak decided to think of a backup plan: leave no human witnesses and run away, if that was possible. After a long walk through the forest, they arrived at the outskirts of the forest which didn’t have a lot of huge trees as the land was cleared to make way for the base. They got behind some plants and peeped through the leaves. They observed the large fence that surrounded the base, then looked inside to see the many grunts getting ready to be transported to the mining site. Tsuwokan then began to quietly explain the routine.
“After they leave, more come outside to look for us.”
“Why do they do that?”
“In the past we try to attack after they leave.”
“And I’m assuming that didn’t work..... Ok so then what?”
“They stay close to the place.”
“........Right.”
“They must come closer, so we attack.”
“So we need to lure them deeper into the forest?”
“Aaagh! I do not understand!”
Tak sighed then reasked his question using simple words.
“We need, to get them closer, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Ok, ****en hell. I thought Doc taught you ****s English.”
“They hunt together, too many and we cannot attack. We die.”
“Where do they go? Show me.” Tsuwokan pointed his finger and circled the area surrounding the base. It wasn’t a huge area but it was enough to draw them in and kill them without hopefully attracting any attention. Tak had a think about how to execute the plan.
“You know where they walk right? You’ve seen them do this before?”
“...yes.”
“Good, we need to get back so we aren’t caught. We’ll wait for them to come to us and you guys kill them silently but quickly with your bows. Maybe I’ll get one with my knife if I’m lucky”

They retreated deeper into the forest. Tak waited behind a bunch of plants while Tsuwokan hid behind a large tree. Bakteyo and Aketuan climbed high up the tree and moved to different branches. They were very hard to detect from the ground. It had been a long time since they planned an attack so the skypeople wouldn’t have been expecting this. Shortly after assuming their positions, they could hear rotors approaching the base. Samsons had come to pick up the men to take them to the mine. Once the Samsons left the remaining men exited the base to go about their daily patrol. It was a group of 6. They came out from the gate and spread themselves apart. Walking in a line, they approached Tak and the others. Tsuwokan was ready to signal the guys in the tree who had their arrows pulled back as far as possible. When the soldiers were about 20 metres away, Tsuwokan gave the signal. The arrows were released and both struck their target. One went deep into the chest of its target while the other broke the exopack, entered the eye of the unlucky victim and broke out the back of the skull. Both of the victims fell to the ground. Tsuwokan also fired an arrow, hitting his target in the chest. Three down, three more to go. The soldiers panicked and quickly got to cover behind the closest plant. The thick growth of plants made it hard for Bakteyo and Aketuan to spot them from high above. The soldiers were yelling to each other.

“What the **** was that?! Where did they come from?!”
“I don’t know! Just ****en shoot them!”
“Where the **** are they?!”

Tak remained calm and took a look from where he was. He couldn’t see any of the surviviors but listening to their yells, he guessed where they were and began to move. He jumped out from his position and ran towards where he guessed his victim was. The soldiers heard this and fired in Tak’s direction. This gave away their positions. Bakteyo took out one of the remaining soldiers. Tak continued to move. The sound of rustling plants scared the soldiers as they looked around with their guns aimed. Tak slowly crept forward as silently as he could. He came to a bunch of Warbonnet ferns and pulled out his knife. He listened carefully and could hear heavy breathing. Stalking his victim, he tried to get a look between the gaps of the leaves. A soldier was slowly circling with his gun. When the soldier had his back to Tak, Tak busted though the ferns and stabbed the soldier in the back while holding him by the neck. The soldier yelled. He then took it out and repeatedly stabbed the enemy. With every entry of the blade, the soldier let out a yell but each time it got weaker until he was silenced. Tak turned the dead body over onto its back and made sure he was dead with a few more stabs to the chest. The last soldier hesitated to fire his gun as he didn’t want to give away his position. But there was no point, he was going to be killed. He another look from where he was to see if he could spot any of the Na’vi. None were on the ground. He then looked up and saw a dirty blue figure on one of the branches. He got ready to run, took aim and bolted across the open while firing up into the tree branches. Tsuwokan stood up and took aim. Tak also came out from cover and took aim. Both fired, Tsuwokan missed but Tak managed to get him by the leg with a round. The soldier fell to the ground and struggled to get back up. Tak kept his aim and fired a few rounds as a warning to stay down. He then ran over to the crippled soldier on the ground. Tsuwokan came as well. Bakteyo and Aketuan jumped down from the tree and walked towards the remaining tawtute. The surrounded the soldier, standing over him. He was ****ting his pants. Tak took all his weapons and threw them away.

“The others are gonna be here soon. Grab all the bodies and let’s get the **** out of here”
The Na’vi look confused, they didn’t understand why they had to do so.
“Just ****en do it!” yelled Tak. They went about doing so. Tak grabbed the still alive soldier by the back of the collar and ran to grab another body. Tsuwokan also grabbed two bodies while Bakteyo and Aketuan grabbed one each. Tak then began to run back deep into the forest and the others follow. They ran as quick as they could and managed to clear the area before more grunts came.
“Why are we doing this?” asked Aketuan to Tsuwokan in Na’vi.
“I don’t know, this moron is strange. Let’s just do as he says for now.” replied Tsuwokan.
They decided to stop as they were getting extremely tired and dropped the bodies.
“That one is still alive” said Bakteyo to Tsuwokan. Tak heard this and walked off.
“Keep an eye on him” he said to tsuwokan. He searched for something on the ground while the others got a rest and made sure the remaining soldier didn’t do anything, not that he could. Tak found a small log. He picked it up and swung it around. He then walked over to the remaining soldier and took off his exopack. The soldier tried to keep it on but he was too weak compared to Tak. The soldier gasped as he began to choke on the thick, toxic Pandoran air. Tak then held the log with both hands and brought it down with all his strength onto the face of the soldier. At impact, it made a solid sound. He continued to beat the soldier as he gasped. The colour of the human flesh began to turn red, then purple. Blood splattered from the mouth, nose and from cuts all over the face. The skull was now broken into multiple bits. Tak was now beating a dead horse. The onlookers were speechless. Tak gave a final blow to the face of the dead human and threw away the log. He then turned to Tsuwokan.

“We need to get rid of these bodies.” Tsuwokan didn’t understand.
“Ska’a fra’u.” he said as his hand gestures refered to the bodies. “We leave no evidence that it was us so they won’t know whether it was us or animals or anything other thing that lives in this place.”
“Yes, I know place. Come.” said tsuwokan. Tak then looked at the bodies and saw some still had rifles strapped around their shoulders. He took them off and switched them to safety. He then gave them to Bakteyo and Aketuan to carry. With the dead bodies hung over their shoulders’ they followed Tsuwokan. It was a very long walk. The air was warm and humid. Every where they went they attracted insects. They finally reached their destination. Two large stone walls welcomed them into a wide natural corridor. The area was still roofed by the forest canopy but there were less plants. They walked along this corridor, and on the way there were a few human skeletons, until it became a large open space. It was very quiet. Tak looked around and saw an old abandoned RDA shack which was overgrown by vegetation.

“Come.” said Tsuwokan, causing Tak to snap out of staring at his surroundings. They continued through this large area until they came to a large depression in the ground which lead into a cave.

[tm20]

“Nantang live inside. We feed Nantang” said Tsuwokan.
“Hopefully they eat this **** up before anyone finds them.” replied Tak.

They dropped the bodies on the ground and Tak then began to take off the clothes from the bodies. The others did the same. They piled all the clothes into a big bunch and threw the human bodies into near the cave entrance. Tak tied some shirts together to make a sack, put all the clothes, shoes and exopacks inside it and tied it up. The gang then headed back towards the river. By the time they got to the river the sun was high in the sky and temperatures had risen. It was hot and tak was sweating in his clothes. The dirt on his face was starting to come off. He went to the river and washed his blood stained hands. For minutes he rubbed them hard to try and get rid of the colour and smell. He then took off his mask and washed his face. Feeling refreshed, he decided to head back to the shacks.
“I’m going back now. Put this, this and those along with the rest of the weapons. You know where they are right?” said Tak. Although Tsuwokan didn’t completely understand, he knew what to do with the guns. Tak handed over his knife and mask and returned to the shacks.

When he got back and woke up in the link, he was sweating a bit. Today was quite a hot day and the heat managed to penetrate the shacks. Dr. Eileen saw him wake up on the monitor and let the link out. She opened it.
“Where were you?” she asked.
“I just took my Avatar for a run.”
“Ok, but don’t do that next time. If you do this on your own and something goes wrong then no one’s going to be there to help you ok?”
“Nothing will go wrong.”
“Well, you never know.”

Tak got out of the link and went to the bathroom to splash water on his face. He then went to his desk and sat down. Dr. Eileen then put two plant samples in front of him. Tak knew the procedure so he put them into slides and observed them under the microscope. Everyone else had already begun and were writing down notes and drawing diagrams. It was a typical day for everyone. Dr. Brent and Dale talked to each other, constantly interrupting each other from doing their work. Dr. Eileen would occasionally join the conversation and end by telling them to get back to work. Alan was asking questions but this time he was disturbing Dr. Isaac. She seemed to enjoy his company.

As usual, Tak and Dr. Eileen went to visit the people at hometree. On the way Tak began to talk to Dr. Eileen.
“You still teach English to the people?”
“Yep, more to the kids lately.”
“Teach Tsuwokan more, he ****en sucks.”
“Oh, you’ve been talking to him? That’s good, you’re making more friends.”
“I’ve talked to him a bit. The kids probably speak better English than he does.”
“Hahahaha, got it. So how are you enjoying your visits to the Takahayo clan people? You seem to enjoy spending time with your little friend.”
“Yeah he’s a cool little dude.”
“That’s good, it’s not so hard is it?”
“What?”
“Socializing.”
“Hmmm... probably because I see a lot of myself in him. He’s always alone and seems introvert, just like me..... I don’t know. Maybe we just like to make things from sticks or whatever, but atleast he’s easy to get along with.”
Dr. Eileen now felt like all the progress he had been making socially now meant nothing. She tried to deny this.
“But you also talked to Zetey, remember that girl I introduced you to?”
“A bit.” he said as he nodded.
“I bet you could learn a lot from her, she knows this place really well.”
“Cool....”

As they continued to walk, they saw Stingbats flying through the enclosed space of the forest. A rare sight for Tak. He had a think about what Dr. Eileen said, maybe he could learn more about this world from the Na’vi. As they arrived outside the outskirts of the village, they caught Zetey before she left.
“Oh hi, where are you off to?” asked Dr. Eileen.
“Oh kaltxi, I need to gather food.” replied Zetey. Dr. Eileen then turned to Tak with an enthusiastic look. “Aahh, lovely. Cos Tak here was wondering if you could teach him more about this place so maybe if it’s ok with you he could come along?” said Dr. Eileen. Tak face went from neautral to slightly annoyed, he never said such thing. Zetey looked at Tak then at Dr. Eileen and smiled slightly before agreeing to do so.

“Srane.....” she said with a soft voice. As she began to walk Dr. Eileen smiled at Tak.
“Go have fun.” she said. Tak followed his guide and as he did, he gave Dr. Eileen an open mouthed, unamused look and shook his head to which she replied by smiling and waving a goodbye. Great, now he looked like he was desperate to get as much time with Zetey. He was embarrassed and tried to prove this wasn’t the case by keeping quiet. Every step he took in following Zetey was akward. She then spoke.
“Eywa has given us many things in this place. It is all here for a reason. We must only take what we need.”
“........right......”
“Today we will go and collect seeds from Pxorna.”
“Pxorna? The Episoth.” said Tak to himself. He knew straight away which plant to look for. The two continued to walk around in search for an Episoth tree. By now they were quite some distance from hometree. Tak then noticed patches of plants that had been flattened. He looked to the ground to see large square marks, AMP suit footprints. Zetey noticed Tak was paying attention to the ground and looked as well to notice the same thing.
“Sawtute..... Your people destroy everything.” said Zetey.
Tak could only think of one thing, they were looking for the missing group from earlier in the day. The group that he killed and disposed of. Humans never came this deep into the forest. The atmosphere had turned negative but Tal changed the topic.
“Well, atleast we found what we came for.” he said as he faced a large Episoth tree. It was very tall and shined a bright green. The many segments were stacked on top of each other, where each segment looked like a big colourful sea urchin. Many spiny fruits grew from the side and on the top was a cluster of dangling leaves like a fountain shooting out water. Zetey began to carefully picking off some of the fruits then wrapped them in a cloth. She then picked up a large clump from the ground.

“This is Pxorna seed. When the fruit is ready it will release seeds.” she said, showing Tak the large and interesting looking seed. “We will gather enough for the clan.”
The two began picking seeds from the ground and piling them up onto the laid out cloths. Tak found this relaxing. It was nice to do something different from the usual lab work and get a little taste of the daily life of the Na’vi while taking in the natural beauty of the forest. Once they got enough seeds, Zetey took two out and wrapped up the clothes, handing one pile to Tak. She then gave him a seed which was covered in a sticky coating. She took her seed and smashed it against a tree trunk and took a bite. Tak did the same and tasted his first Pandoran food. It was crunchy and delicious. Sweet like a coconut and very high in protein.
“Mmmm, nice.” he said with a bit of a smile on his face.

The two returned to hometree. They got back before the sun had begun to set so after dropping off the fruits next to the main fire area inside hometree, they went back outside and sat down somewhere quiet. Tak had unconsciously followed her. After realizing, he stood up and walked off. “What a strange person” she thought to herself.
Later that night during the Takahayo clan’s dinner, Zetey was sitting by the fire with her friends.
“You brought back so much! This never happens. Did someone help you?” asked her friend.
“....Yes. I did get help.” she replied softly.
“Who went with you? You always go alone.”
“It was with that dreamwalker correct? I saw you two talking to each other the other day!” said another friend.
“Aaaa really?! Becareful Zetey, don’t get too close to him!”
Zetey’s friends laughed and joked while she kept quiet, unamused. Back at the shacks it was just another usual night. Everyone was talking to each other about the report they got of 6 more people disappearing in the forest earlier in the day while Tak kept quiet. This time he decided to read a magazine. But he couldn’t concentrate on the article because all he could think of was going back outside and living more of the Na’vi life.

[TxonTirea]

Just read all of this, I like it. 1 thing though, why all the swearing? And if you're going to swear, why not use a Na'vi swear instead of starring it out?

[Fkeu 'Awpo]

Originally Posted by TxonTirea

Just read all of this, I like it. 1 thing though, why all the swearing? And if you're going to swear, why not use a Na'vi swear instead of starring it out?

I don't think the Na'vi swear.

[tm20]

holy shiit, someone actually read my story there's alot of swearing because in tense situations like that it's only human nature to swear. this is what Avatar probably would have been like if it wasn't limited to a PG 13. anyway, huge thanks for reading all of it

BTW the forum automatically censors the swearing.

[TxonTirea]

Originally Posted by Fkeu 'Awpo

I don't think the Na'vi swear.

You know what I meant: (Skxawng, Vrrtep) etc

Originally Posted by tm20

holy shiit, someone actually read my story there's alot of swearing because in tense situations like that it's only human nature to swear. this is what Avatar probably would have been like if it wasn't limited to a PG 13. anyway, huge thanks for reading all of it

BTW the forum automatically censors the swearing.

Hmph, just the swearing kinda turns me off.

[tm20]

sorry, but my way of writing isn't changing. other people have said it's great suprised the violence didn't put you off though