jojo.

Crazy didn't even begin to describe whatever the hell Quaritch was doing, maybe fucking crazy? No. Psychotic, yeah, that.

It seemed his boss wasn't thinking straight, prancing around with this.. women.. who scared the living shit out of Lyle.

Shortly after Quaritch brought Varang and her clan to Bridgehead city, Lyle was out of there, absolutely fed up with how things were going. Quaritch seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing, so if he wouldn't stick to the mission, Lyle would.

He had left soon after Jake Sully's bat-shit crazy wife came to his rescue. Well, at this point Lyle wasn't considering her bat-shit crazy anymore, feral yes, but crazy? Nah, that was Varang.

He packed up just what he needed, strapping it on to the saddle of his Ikran, Duke. Leaving Bridgehead city the morning after Jake Sully was broken out.

He did his best to remember what way he and his wife went, however, per Pandora weather, a massive rain storm started, forcing Lyle to have to land.

He guided his Ikran lower, his ears pinned against his shaved head as the rain pelted his face, he lifted an arm, covering his face slightly so he could try to see a bit better.

“Easy, easy boy..” Lyle said, his Ikran landing on a rocky outcrop, Lyle dismounted and pulled his kuru from Duke's, glancing around slightly.

Lyle hums slightly, walking back over towards Duke and sitting down next to him.

“Welp buddy, gotta wait this out.” He said, patting Duke's head as Duke laid his head in Lyle's lap, letting out a low groan of his own.

Lyle settles against his Ikran, gently stroking his hands over Duke's head and chin, his head leaned against him and his eyes closing, taking a small rest.

He hadn't planned to sleep long, but the way the rain sounded, pounding against the ground and rock, lulled Lyle into a sleep, something he hadn't really realized he wasn't getting enough of, was sleep.

Lyle was nudged awake by Duke, his Ikran gently nudging his head into Lyle’s chest, chirping softly at his rider.

“Hm..” Lyle groans softly, rubbing a hand over his face and sitting up, seeing the rain had stopped and the sun was returning from the daily eclipse. “Ready to go, buddy?” He hums, standing up and stretching his arms above his head with a grunt before grabbing his kuru and making Tsaheylu with his Ikran before swinging his leg over him and settling in the saddle properly.

They took off again, leaving the rocky outcrop they spent the storm in and started flying north.

Lyle hoped to whatever God there was that this was still the correct way to go. While they flew, he thought, and thought hard.

What would he do if and when he found Sully and his women? They were smart, Jake had way more experience being a Na'Vi then he ever did.

He'd figure that out later, right now he just wanted to focus on flying as Duke was sensing his unease through the bond and was flying a little funny because of it.

“I'm alright bub.” He reassured him, gently patting his neck.

They flew the rest of the day, both Lyle and Duke were exhausted by the time Lyle saw another Forest come into sight. It was a different Forest, one he definitely wasn't aware Pandora had.

It resembled an Alps almost, pine-like trees standing tall, some easily being over 1,000 feet tall.

“Damn.” Lyle hums, flying over the trees, looking for somewhere to land for the night as it was getting dark.

“Com’on buddy, find a spot.” He urges, glancing around when suddenly Duke started pulling right, flying them towards a cliff side and landing with a heavy thump.

Both of them were exhausted from flying all day, Lyle sighs, getting off Duke with a groan and stretching slightly while Duke dramatically laid down with an annoyed hiss.

“Oh? Gonna give me an attitude now, huh?” Lyle shakes his head fondly, his tail flicking.

“Gonna have to stop letting you be around Cupcake, her bitchy ‘tude is wearing off on you.” Lyle said, grabbing a pack off Duke's saddle and sitting down on the rock.

He flips through the pack, grabbing an MRE pack out. “Alright.. Chili.. or..”

Lyle glances at the other MREs he had packed, deciding to grab his least favorite one so he could save his favorite ones for another time.

“Alrighty, dried chicken and fish.” He rips into the MRE, eating the chewy food with a small grunt.

After eating and making a small fire, Lyle settled down, sighing softly as he rolled out a sleep mat. He laid down, keeping his rifle close as he closed his eyes with a soft huff.

Sleep didn't come very easy, he tossed and turned, the sleeping mat was thin, the rocky floor underneath hard and poking against his bones whenever he tried settling.

He eventually fell asleep, his neck bent awkwardly but he slept nonetheless.

When he woke up he was sore as hell, his back hurt from laying on the rock and his head was killing him since he was still on edge.

He sat up slowly, rubbing a hand over his face with a small groan. “Hm..” Lyle glances at Duke, seeing his Ikran was surrounded by ripped up wrappers.

“You've got to be fucking kidding me..” He hisses, realizing Duke has eaten all his MREs, even Lyle's favorite one.

“Thanks Duke.. now I'm gonna starve and you'll be fucked.” He grumbles standing up and kicking a rock with his boot. He sighs, rolling up his sleeping mat and strapping it back into place on Duke’s saddle.

Now what am I gonna do?

Lyle thought to himself, he didn't have back up food, didn't know what fruits were poisonous or not. Hell, he didn't even know if this biome grew any fruits.

He groans inwardly, deciding the only way he was gonna get food would be to find some unlucky animal, kill it and hopefully not fuck up.

He grabs his rifle, checking the magazine, making sure the chamber was clear before slinging his rifle strap over his shoulder and leaving Duke alone on the outcrop.

Lyle carefully slid down some stones before carefully landing on the soft, mulch-like ground, pine needles almost everywhere on the ground.

He looks up, seeing just how high the pines grew. “Damn..” He whispered to himself, starting to walk down a row of the pines, rifle held up as he looked around for anything.

Lyle’s ears perked upwards, nose catching the scent of something nearby. He slowly follows the scent, rifle lifted upwards and ears rotated forward. He found the source of the smell, a small group of Yeriki.

Pandoran deer

He knew for a fact that these were edible.

He carefully hides in the undergrowth, racking back his chamber, chambering a round. Lining up his sights, finger hovering over the trigger before—

Bang!

The gunshot rang throughout the quiet forest, birds flying away, letting out panicked calls, the rest of the Yeriki scattering as the one Lyle shot dropped to the ground, motionless.

The sound of the gunshot was like thunder, loud and echoing.

Zìra'a’s ears perked upwards and she nearly dropped the water skin she was holding over the running river.

She turns to the two other hunters she was with, her best friend, Kaxì, and another hunter named Kov’al.

Kov’al looks towards the direction of the sound, his ears flicking.

“Thunder?” Kaxì asks, stepping out of the river and tying her water skin closed. “No, not thunder.” Kov’al answers, following Kaxì out of the river.

Zìra'a's tail flicks slightly, her ears twitching as she waits to see if the sound would come again, it doesn't. “I'll go look.” She said, tying off her water skin and giving it to Kaxì.

“Kehe!” Kaxì said firmly, grabbing Zìra'a's forearm. “What if it's a sky demon?” She hisses, yellow eyes flicking to Kov'al before back at Zìra'a.

“Sky demons? Here?” Zìra'a shakes her head with a scoff. “You've gone mad, sister.”

“Sky demons never, never, live long here. You know that.” Zìra'a points out. That seemed to make kaxì relax a bit, letting go of zìra'a's arm.

“Alright, me and Kov’al will go back to the village. Be careful.” She said.

“I will be, see you soon.” And with that Zìra'a bounds across the stepping stones and into the forest on the other side of the river.

She rests her hand over her blade on the belt of her tewng.

Just in case.

She told herself.

She walked along a line of pine, her ears twitching as she lifted her head upwards a bit more, inhaling the air. She could make out the faint scent of something metallic, fresh.

Blood.

She followed the scent until she caught wind of something strong, a scent she had never smelled before.

Zìra'a slinks around the undergrowth, her darker complexion helping her blend into the dark greens and shadows. She tucks herself behind a few old logs from fallen trees, her eyes scanning the scene in front of her.

A man, a man not of here. His skin azure blue, his head shaved so the only hair he had was his kuru braid, he wore strange clothes. A top she wasn't familiar with, his bottoms reminded her of the snow pants her people wore during winter to keep their legs warm.

It didn't make sense to her, why wear so much clothing in the middle of summer? Was he not hot?

She found the source of the blood, a Yeriki, laying motionless on the forest floor, a single wound through the shoulder.

Zìra'a watches the man, watches as he crouches over the Yeriki, setting down a weapon of metal.

Forbidden.

Zìra'a scowls at that, her nose wrinkling as she watches what the man does, using cord from one of the many pockets on his vest and tying the back legs of the Yeriki together before hauling it up and over his shoulder with a grunt.

She watches the man, grab his weapon of metal, and turn around to start walking. When he stopped mid step, ears swiveled backwards.

At first Zìra'a had thought he had noticed her, but then she heard it, a call.

A sickly, injured call of an Ikran.

But the call sounded strange, a weird edge to it that a true Ikran would lack. Zìra'a instantly recognized what it was.

A Tsleng mokri, false voice.

Zìra'a knew the edge was too strange, and what scared her was it was close, very close.

The man however clearly didn't understand what the call was, that it was a false call of a predator trying to lure prey to it.

The man drops the Yeriki, looking around with panic. He whistles, once, then twice, looking upwards towards the trees before speaking in his native tongue.

“Duke? Duke buddy?”

Zìra'a had no idea what he was saying, only that he sounded panicked.

She watches the man turn in circles, calling and whistling. The sound called once more, ringing out and sounding very close now.

Zìra'a was just about to turn and run when the Tsleng mokri let out it’s true call, a deep, Guttural roar. That made the man reach for his metal weapon, lifting it and scanning the line of pines.

Zìra'a slinks back into the undergrowth, her eyes fixed on the ferns on the opposite side of the clearing as the Tsleng mokri stalks out of the undergrowth, it was a young male, not fully grown yet. But it was aggressive, upper lip pulled back in a snarl as it locked eyes with the man.

The man takes a half-step back, lifting his weapon and doing something to make it click.

The beast huffs, a low clicking echoing from it's throat as it started advancing towards the man.

The man squeezed the trigger of his weapon, and suddenly,

Bang! Bang, bang, bang, bang!

The shots rang out, sounding like loud pops of thunder. The Tsleng let out a surprised shriek before turning tail and running back into the undergrowth, it's hearing far too sensitive for the loud thunder from the weapon.

Zìra'a stares in shock, how could the man have known the Tsleng mokri could not handle loud sounds? It was pure luck, had to have been.

Lyle huffs out a breath of relief, realizing that beast had made the call of the injured Ikran when he actually heard Duke call, he lifts his head upwards, seeing Duke hanging off a branch, a darker colored Ikran with him.

“Found yourself a friend?” He chuckles slightly, squinting slightly when he saw a saddle on the other Ikran. He glances around, his eyes widened as he saw a figure step out from the undergrowth, her eyes locked on his.

Zìra'a steps over the ferns, her green eyes locked on Lyle, she watches as he just stood there, his yellow eyes flicking all over her, it was apparent to her that he had never seen an Alpine Na'Vi like herself. She cocks her head at him, tail flicking in interest behind her.

She said one word to him, “Vrrtep.”