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Italics: (Na'vi language or Jake's inner thoughts or narration)
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Quaritch remained as calm as ever. He remained standing over the main pilot of the biggest ship in the fleet. "Alright, people, target in sight. Range, four klicks. Valkyrie 1-6, get your payload ready," He said, relaying the message to his soldiers on standby.
"Copy. Prepare to offload. Staff Sergeant, stage weapon" The pilot said, alerting Quaritch through the coms. The attack was becoming more and more imminent by every second that passed, and even if the Tree of Souls was in eyesight, Jake and the Na'vi were nowhere to be seen. So Quaritch stayed alert.
"Roll it to the ramp! Let's go!" The Staff Sergeant commanded, and at the ramp in the back of the ship, the soldiers pushed a block stocked with explosives to the edge of the ramp. They would push it over the edge when they were close to the Tree of Souls.
As the fleet of ships passed by, all of the aerial Na'vi that were part of the recruited clans, stayed latched onto the side of the mountains in their Ikrans, waiting for the perfect moment to strike at the ships appearing below.
On the ground, Lyle, who was in his Ampsuit, received a message from one of the commanders. "Charlie 1-2, we've got movement," He said, making Lyle raise an eyebrow as he looked at the scans in front of him inquisitively. "Hold position," He started, raising his hand in a motion for the others to stop as well. Everyone came to a halt.
"We got movement out there. 500 meters" Lyle said, looking closer at the scans. "Charlie 1-2, holding position," Fyke said, walking at ground level without an Ampsuit. The soldiers all waited for a few seconds until the ground started to shake and rumble.
In the distance, a large group of Na'vi warriors in their Pa'li's were racing at the soldiers quickly. They were all releasing war cries as they charged at the front line of the group of soldiers that stood not too far back.
"Sir, the ground has movement! Fast approaching!" A man who monitored the ground team said to Quaritch, who walked over to the man and stood over his shoulder to see what was happening. The scans showed how quickly the Na'vi were approaching, much quicker than they had expected.
"Charlie Oscar, Rider section. Firing line! Targets closing. Range, 400 meters." Lyle said, making the soldiers without Ampsuits prepare their weapons and aim them at the incoming charge of warriors heading their way.
"Can't you clean it up?" Quaritch asked, seeing how their scans and monitors were glitching. They were in the Flux Vortex after all, so they should have expected it either way. "No, si4. It's the Flux" The man said, making Quaritch's eyebrows furrow in annoyance.
Without fear, the Na'vi on their direhorses continued to charge and rush directly toward the ground team. They raised their weapons in the air as they rode, yelling out battle cries. Norm was also riding along with this group of warriors, but he had a gun in hand instead of a bow and arrow like the rest.
Up in the air, seeing that the battle had begun, the Ikrans and their riders leaped off of the mountains and started following the lead of Jake while he rode Toruk. Jake had a rifle in his grip while his other hand held onto the reigns of the giant beast. You were right by his side, riding on Nana, while Tsu'Tey and Neytiri stayed on his other side riding their Ikrans.
Whilst you rode beside Jake, you looked back and saw your people flying right behind you. You raised your bow in the air and hooted and yipped. Tsu'Tey did the same thing.
"'eko! 'eko! 'eko!" (Attack! Attack! Attack!) Tsu'Tey yelled out, turning back to face the other Na'vi. War had begun and they had to be strong, fearless, and brave. As the Ikran riders approached the fleet, they began to separate their formation into a much more elaborate one that gave them leverage over the ships.
"Brother, I'm gonna punch a hole. You follow me through," Jake said, pressing onto his coms to relay a message to Tsu'Tey. The said man looked at him with a determined expression and nodded. " Makto ko," (Let's ride) He said, following Jake's lead.
The formation of the Ikran riders dispersed and was now diving down straight towards the RDA fleet of ships. Meanwhile, the ground team was surrounded by the warriors in their direhorses. The fight had officially begun.
As Jake dove down to the ships on Toruk, he aimed his gun down and yelled, baring his canine teeth. You were right by his side and you began to aim your arrows at any enemy ship that came your way.
Jake maneuvered Toruk so that the claws of the giant banshee grabbed onto the tail of a helicopter and swung it around, gaining momentum, and then releasing it, making it crash onto the side of a nearby mountain. The aircraft instantly exploded upon impact and Jake smirked victoriously at his feats.
In the meantime, you were flying straight toward a couple of helicopters, similar to the one Jake destroyed. As you approached one of them, you hooked your feet onto the stirrups and bent your knees, raising your bow and firing two arrows at once at the glass of a helicopter, instantly killing the pilot inside. Having lost control and its pilot, the aircraft began to spin uncontrollably until it crashed into a mountainside nearby.
Other Ikran riders took this as their opportunity to rain down and dive on the aircrafts and ships all at once, letting their banshees land on the fleets, hooking their claws into them, swinging the helicopters around, and consequently making them lose control and crash somewhere else.
"All aircraft, weapons free! Weapons free!" Quaritch announced to everyone in the main cockpit of the biggest ship. He walked around, relaying messages, seeing through the windows the explosions and gunfire they were receiving relentlessly from the Na'vi warriors.
"Break right. Come around," Quaritch said, looking out the window at the damage they were taking. Jake had come prepared, Quaritch wasn't going to lie, but he wasn't going to let himself be intimidated by the likes of him.
On the ground, with the warriors on their direhorses and the RDA soldiers, bullets were being shot relentlessly at the Na'vi. Many of the warriors were shot and fell off of their Pa'li's, but even so, they all continued to ride forward despite the heavy gunfire being shot at them.
"Break formation! Engage all hostiles!" Quaritch commanded, and the ships soon started to disperse after receiving such an ambush from the Ikrans, but even so, the RDA ships started flying after the riders on their banshees with gunfire trailing after them.
You and Neytiri worked as a team to take out even more helicopters coming at the two of you. While she created a diversion, you took the opportunity to strike various arrows at once to many helicopters at a time. Once those were dealt with, you and Neytiri smiled at each other before moving on to the others.
As Jake rode on Toruk, he continued to use the same tactic as before, except that this time he let Toruk's claws grab onto one of the helicopter's tails and then swung it into another aircraft, making the turbine of the thrown helicopter kill the gunmen inside and both fleets exploded.
He didn't get time to celebrate because he got more incoming threats shooting at him, so he lifted his gun and flew in the air expertly as he fired multiple bullets at once both at the pilots inside and at the aircraft itself, making them implode in the process. Jake yelled in victory as he shot at many other enemy ships, going through the ship by ship with no issue.
You flew with Nana towards one of the bigger ships and noticed that one of them had its ramps open with soldiers standing on it. Coming upon the loading door, you raised your bow and arrow, firing straight through two men at the same time like a skewer. Before you could receive gunfire, you led Nana upwards and guided her away to take care of more ships.
In the ground team, bullets and gunfire were still being shot at the warriors on their direhorses. As Norm was riding, a bullet struck his Pa'li and he fell to the ground with a thud, but he quickly stood back up and continued to shoot back at the soldiers on the other side, starting to walk backward to avoid bullets.
"Scorpions, pursue and destroy," Quaritch said, watching the battle from inside the ship. At the Colonel's orders, large missiles started to fire directly at the Ikrans and their riders, killing them instantly. Since you were in the vicinity of all of that damage, your hair started to light up dimly as a headache started to come in. You groaned and pushed through the pain, continuing to shoot more arrows at the smaller helicopters that were just a nuisance.
Many of the helicopters that were higher up in the mountains began to go lower down to the forest and shot missiles at the warriors on the ground, giving backup to the soldiers of the RDA that still hadn't broken their formation.
The damage to not only your people but the trees, Pa'li's, and everything that was being destroyed sent a bigger pain to your head as you rode through the air. It wavered your concentration a little, but you continued to fight nonetheless and endured it. The pain was slightly less severe but it still hurt like a bitch.
The impact of the blows of the missiles made Norm stumble forward as he ran back to temporarily retreat from the line of fire. "Jake! Jake! You copy? We're falling back! We're getting hammered!" Norm yelled through his coms to Jake, who listened intently.
Jake nodded at Norm's message and replied. "Copy. Get out of there," He said. All of a sudden, Jake could see the biggest ship coking straight at him from around the corner of a nearby mountain. It was like a sixth sense, but he knew Quaritch was commanding that fleet, so Jake maneuvered Toruk away from the ship and steered the beast toward another direction.
At the sight of Jake, Quaritch's blood boiled and he growled with anger. "That's him! Get him!" He yelled at the pilot so that he steered the ship directly towards the ex-marine.
Jake wasn't the only one taking heavy fire, because you were being cornered and had a helicopter on your tail. So, trying to escape the gunfire led you straight to flying on Nana through the forest and the trees, and then up again through the branches to get up to the mountains again. The bullets rained down on you and your Ikran without ceasing, even after
Trying to escape Quaritch, Jake swerved in the air in a zig-zag motion, finding any nook and cranny through the mountains that he could fit through to lose the Colonel behind him.
"Take him out!" Quaritch demanded aggressively to the pilot, but before he could do anything, rapid gunfire started to rain down on his ship, damaging it to a great extent. It was Trudy in her helicopter. Her aircraft had blue and white straps on it, differentiating it from the enemy fleets that didn't have anything on them, so it was easy to attack.
Trudy continued to fire bullets of her own at Quaritch's ship, making him yell in annoyance. Trudy only smirked and said; "Oops" She smiled, feeling rather proud of herself.
"Light her up!" Quaritch yelled, his face contorting into one of anger and frustration. Having been prepared for the Colonel to respond like that, Trudy swerved his gunfire at the perfect time and avoided the missiles and bullets being shot directly at her
She hid her helicopter behind some of the floating mountains as protection and cover, and when she had the chance, she fired as many shots as she could toward Quaritch's ship. "You're not the only one with a gun, bitch" Trudy muttered with a scoff.
"Keep her in your sights," Quaritch said, moving out of the cockpit and walking over to configure a few buttons that released even more bullets and missiles. "Purging. Feeding the leak. Arming all pods!" The pilot said.
A few seconds later, missiles began to fire toward Trudy and her helicopter. She managed to avoid the majority, but some bullets broke through her windshield and the toxic pandora air was starting to seep through. Trudy was trying her best to avoid the relentless gunfire, but it was inevitable when the missiles hit the tail of her helicopter and she started to veer away downwards.
Meanwhile, even if you were flying in and out of the canopies of the branches in the forest trying to avoid the bullets being fired at you, the helicopter was starting to catch up to you. Making a hasty decision, you dove down indefinitely to the forest and immediately saw the chaos that was ensuing with the ground team.
You flew on Nana above the battle and group of soldiers from the RDA, and without any warning, Lyle noticed your presence and fired the gun attached to his Ampsuit directly at you and your Ikran. The bullets hit right in Nana's belly, chest, and wings, making your Ikran screech and roar in agonizing pain.
Because of the bond, whatever she felt, you felt as well. Because of the hits your Ikran received, you screamed out in torture at the feeling. As Nana started to plummet through the trees, you held onto her neck tightly, but as you two fell, you and your Ikran got caught in the vines before the grass broke your fall. As you fell, you harshly landed on the ground and rolled until you were on your side.
Nana had fallen on top of a nearby log that had fallen, so her neck was splayed on top of it. Realizing what had just happened, your eyes spotted your Ikran seemingly dead across from you. Your eyes widened and you didn't hesitate to rush over to your Ikran, even with the gunfire still raining down on the two of you.
"Nana!" You cried out and gasped with concern as you approached your Ikran, that was now on the very verge of death. As you kneel before her, Pa'li's were running away just beside you, jumping over the log that Nana was splayed on top of. The sight of her wings with bullet holes filled your heart with anguish and agony.
Even with all the bombing, blasts, gunfire, and explosions going on in the background, you looked up from Nana with an expression that had anger and revenge mingled together, but fear of having lost this battle overcame that when you started seeing your people being shot to death right before your eyes.
Even if you wanted to avenge Nana, it would be foolish to jump into action right now. Your hope slowly started to diminish, but your wishes to take revenge were still strong. After more blasts from the explosions happened around you, the impact made you hide behind the log you were crouched in front of. As this happened, the only thought that circled through your head was; 'Is this it?'
There were still those that hadn't lost hope. Tsu'Tey was flying through the air with his Ikran, determined as ever. He saw an opening towards one of the opened ramps in the bigger ships, so he leaped off of his Ikran and landed on the ramp with a battle cry.
He raised his bow and aimed his arrow at one of the soldiers standing closest to him, and when he let go, the arrow impaled the soldier directly through his chest. Almost instantly, Tsu'Tey began to have gunfire shot at him, but before he could be hit, he grabbed one of the men and swung him into another one. He then swung his bow and knocked out a soldier. Tsu'Tey decided to grab a soldier directly and tossed him out and down to the forest.
It was all happening so fast. Tsu'Tey used his abilities in the best way that he could, so he swung his bow again at another man, consequently throwing him overboard as well. Tsu'Tey was brave, courageous, and tenacious all the way through. He wouldn't have done this any differently and had no regrets.
Before he could attack more soldiers, the last man who he had yet to deal with, raised his gun and shot Tsu'Tey three times in his chest. At the impact, the warrior stumbled backward, and eventually stepped off of the ramp, falling into the abyss of the forest below him.
Trudy hadn't been able to get her helicopter under control after the tail of it got blasted, so she was going in circles now. "Rogue One is hit. I'm going in," She said, speaking through her coms. "Sorry, Jake..." She muttered, knowing that she wouldn't make it out of this.
While she spiraled in circles, her helicopter lost complete sense of direction and it was now falling straight down as Trudy awaited her inevitable death. Quaritch took advantage of her weakness and fired a missile that destroyed her helicopter completely with her inside it.
Norm was still attempting to fall back from battle, given that only he and a few others around him were left. As he continued to shoot at the soldiers of the enemy side, Lyle aimed at Norm and shot his Avatar form in the shoulders and his heart painfully. His Avatar body started to bleed out on the spot.
As soon as Norm was disconnected from the link with his Avatar, the door to his pod opened and he was gasping urgently for breath as he collapsed out of it and onto the ground, grabbing his chest in torturous pain.
For you, everything was happening in a blur. You had no idea if Jake was okay. You had lost track of your sister at some point during the battle, Nana was dead, your people were dying all around you, and everything was destroyed. It seemed hopeless. In the distance, you could spot a Pa'li with its body on fire trying to run away. You let out a shaky sigh, and your hand dropped to your belly to rub it, refusing to give up so that your baby could have the life it deserves to have.
Your eyes suddenly snapped open at a familiar sound. Even within the bombs and explosions, you could hear that instantly recognizable yip coming from your sister. You looked around to spot her until your eyes landed on Neytiri standing behind a tree to take cover. You smiled in relief. Not all was lost. At that moment, the only other thing that you needed was to hear Jake's voice again. It could give you the courage you need to stand up and continue fighting as you promised yourself you would.
"Tsu'Tey! Brother, do you read?" Jake called out through his coms, but he got no answer in return, worrying him. Everything was dead silent. "Rogue One, you copy?" He asked, which was meant for Trudy, but he was once again met with silence. All that Jake could hear was the wind flapping against Toruk's wings as the two soared through the sky.
"Valkyrie 1-6, you are cleared and hot," Quaritch said, already feeling victory starting to settle in. "Copy, Dragon. We are starting our bomb run" The pilot relayed.
At the back of the ship, the remaining soldiers were starting to push further to the edge of the bug blocks stacked with explosives as the ship neared the Tree of Souls. Before dropping it, the soldiers in charge of dropping it activated the timers for the bombs to go off.
As for you, the situation was still dire. You stood up and rushed behind the trunk of a tree as incoming bullets were fired. Being careful and stealthy enough, Neytiri ran over to you and stood by your side against the tree.
"Ma Jake!" You yelled through your coms, and you couldn't see it, but Jake has never been more glad to hear your voice again than at that very moment. "I read you," He breathed out, happy and relieved that you were alive.
You and Neytiri peeked at either side of the tree and saw that your chances of escaping without gunfire behind you were slim. The RDA soldiers and Ampsuits were quickly closing in on the two of you. They had rifles, missiles, flamethrowers, and weaponry that could last them a whole day of battle.
They had the nerve to light up the trees around them as if that would spark any results in them winning or not, so they just did it because they could do so. At the destruction, your head endured an even bigger headache, and it was becoming unbearable. Your hair glowed, dimming on and off.
"Y/n!" Jake called for you, worried that he hasn't heard anything else from you. He needed to hear that you were alright. You didn't have to fight anymore, but he just needed to know that you were okay. It was all he needed to continue fighting.
"Nana and Seyzey are dead," You started, turning to meet your sister's eyes, and you could see how much the death of her Ikran affected her. Losing a bond that special can do that to someone, so it's hard not to feel pain for a creature you felt emotionally connected to.
"They are very close," You started, gasping for breath as you tried to calm down your heart rate. "There are many," Neytiri finished your sentence for you, knowing that you were in no condition to speak right now. Even so, your sister knew you would push yourself to fight even when you couldn't anymore.
"Do not attack," Jake said with worry, knowing deep down you were already planning to. "Do you read me, Y/n? Do not attack! Fall back now. Get out of there! That's an order!" Jake yelled through the coms, unknowing of the fact that you and Neytiri were already notching your arrows into your bows.
While Neytiri stayed pressed against the tree, you turned your head to peek at the soldiers. They were getting closer by the second. You panted softly as you attempted to aim, but were cut off by Jake's voice in your coms. "Y/n!" He yelled, trying to get you out of there.
Ignoring his words, seeing the soldiers approach more and more, you and Neytiri raised your arrows and aimed right at them. You were about to shoot, when all of a sudden, the soldiers stopped in their tracks, confusing you and your sister. The two turned back to press their backs against the tree again, looking at each other with puzzled expressions.
"I got movement. I got movement," One of the Ampsuit commanders said, seeing in his scans that something was coming their way.
"Hold position. Something's coming. We got movement 200 meters," Lyle said, looking around from his scans inside his suit and then towards his surroundings, trying to figure out what was happening. "Be ready. Watch your flanks," One of the soldiers said.
Everything was silent for a moment. All of a sudden, rumbling and thudding began to shake the ground violently. You and Neytiri looked forward and suddenly, a giant herd of Hammerheads started stampeding their way through the trees and avoiding you and Neytiri altogether, heading straight for the soldiers. To avoid being accidentally trampled, Neytiri hugged you and held the back of your head as the Hammerheads continued to plow through.
The giant hammerheads continued to run straight toward the RDA soldiers, heading directly their way. As they charged angrily at the men who trampled over their home, no matter how much they tried to shoot at the beasts, the giant creatures were unbothered and did not hesitate to stomp over them and crush the soldiers with their tusks.
"We gotta get out of here!" One of the men said, right before one of the hammerheads stomped their way over and crushed him.
"Fall back! Fall back!" Lyle yelled, running away as fast as his Ampsuit could take him. Before he knew it, a hammerhead charged straight at Lyle and broke through the glass of his windshield, then to finish the final blow, the hammerhead lifted its body on its back legs and used its feet to crush Lyle completely.
Once the herd had passed through you and Neytiri, she let go of you and you smiled while pressing the buttons to your coms. "Jake, Eywa has heard you," You said softly at first, but then you beamed happily and lifted your bow in the air. "Eywa has heard you!" You yelled gleefully.
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I can't believe I wrote 4k words in just a few hours- also, the next chapter will the last one and I'm so not ready to let book 1 end :,(
I've had so much fun with it, but either way, I'm so excited for the second one! I hope you all are too! Also, this might just be the longest fight scene i've ever written, so bare with me shsj
I'll try to post it this weekend so we can start off on Monday with book 2! I have all of it planned out and I cannot wait to get started 🤍
Ill also be posting the introduction and author's note to book 2 soon before book 1 ends so you we can immidiately move on to the next one and you guys don't have to wait too long :,)
I don't have anything else to say that I know of, but as always, if there is anything else, I will add it to the next author's note next chapter!
Also Ill be reviewing this chapter later on for any errors of any kind. I already ran it through grammarly before posting this but I wanted to make sure its okay
See you guys in the next one! <3
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