Losing Game ~ Lo'ak Sully

    Lo'ak and I walk back to the village hand in hand with one another and enter our mauri. When we get their everyone looks at us and furrows their brows. Neteyam gives us a side eye before smirking to himself.
    "Uhh... we need to speak to both of you... outside," Jake says and Neytiri and him walk out of the Mauri with Lo'ak and I following behind with confused expressions. "Did you two uhh... you know..." Jake looks awkwardly at us and Neytiri has a small smirk on her face.
    "What? Why would you think that?" Lo'ak asks his father.
    "My child," Neytiri starts, trying to keep herself from laughing. "You have clearly marked her as your territory."
    "What do you mean?" He furrows his brows.
    "Her neck, son," Jake says firmly. My eyes widen with realization as he says this.
    "You gave me a hickey!" I whisper yell at Lo'ak. "You idiot!" I hit him upside the head a Neytiri giggles at our interaction.
    "Ow," he says rubbing the back of his head.
    "So you two...?" Jake trails off.
    "Mated?" Lo'ak asks and Jake nods. "Then yes... we are mated before Eywa." Neytiri jumps for joy and pulls me into a hug. Jakes awkward expression turns into one of pride for his son.
    "I've always saw you as my daughter!" Neytiri exclaims. "And now you will be!" We walk back into the hut.
    "What's happened?" Tuk asks us confused as to what is going on.
    "Lo'ak and Leyreya have mated!" Neytiri exclaims and everyone cheers.
    "Finally," Neteyam says before pulling me into a hug.
    "Yeah it was about time," Kiri adds. "You two were so obvious that it physically pained me." I just slightly shove Kiri before turning to Lo'ak. He pulls me into his side, wrapping a hand around my waist.
    "Does this mean you're like my actual sister now?" Tuk asks excitedly.
    "Yes, Tuktirey," I say and pick her up placing her on my hip.
    "Oh, you two will make wonderful parents," Neytiri sighs. Both of our eyes widen.
    "Well we... I don't think we... we're not ready for that yet mother," Lo'ak tells her.
    "And that okay," Jake reassures us. "You have all the time in the world. Right baby?"
    "Yes, yes," she responds. "But I just want grandbabies so bad."

~

    Jake and Neytiri went out with Toniwari and Ronal. They had said it was urgent and they had been gone for quite a while. After a while we hear a commotion and go to see what all the fuss was about. Lo'ak takes my hand and we walk out of the mauri. When we get to the crowd Lo'ak pushes our way to the front and we see Tonowari speaking.
    "We knew about this hunting of our tulkun people," he says. Lo'ak and I look at one another with worry. "But it was over the horizon, far away. Now it is here!" Lo'ak's grip on my hand tightens. The Metkayina hiss and snarl, chanting ready to go to war.
    "No you don't... You gotta understand how the Sky People think," Jake tells him. "They don't care about the Great Balance." The clan keeps shouting.
    "Listen. Listen to him," Neteyam says.
    "The Sky People are not gonna stop," Jake continues. "This is only the beginning. You gotta tell the tulkun to leave. You gotta tell them to go far away!"
    "Leave?" Ronal asks with disbelief. "You live among us, and you learn nothing!"
    "We will fight to protect our brother and sister!" A Metkayina man yells out.
    "No, no, no, no," Jake stops them. "If you attack, if you fight, then they will destroy you! They will destroy everything that you love." They all start to protest. "No, you hear my words! Hear my words!"
    "Stay calm, stay calm," Neteyam tries to reason with them. "Listen to my father."
    "Damn it!" Jake curses.
    "He speaks the truth," Neteyam tells them. I've had enough. I walk over to Neteyam and grab the tracking device that's in his hands, holding it up in the air for everyone to see. They all become deadly silent.
    "You tell the tulkun that if they're hit by one of these, they're marked for death," Jake says. "And call for me, I'll silence it. Saving their lives that's all that matters. Right?" I walk back over to Lo'ak and he places a hand around my waist pulling me close. "Saving your family."
    "Tell the tulkun," Tonowari tells the clan.
    "Go," Ronal says urgently. "Go!" Lo'ak and I look over to each other sharing the same look and we know what we have to do. He grabs my hand and we rush off towards the docks. Lo'ak clicks for his ilu and it comes to the surface. He lets go of my hand and grabs a saddle from the rack and putting it onto the creature. I look over and see Neteyam walking over to us.
    "No way you're rolling out of here, baby brother," he tells Lo'ak.
    "We have to warn Payakan about the pingers," Lo'aks says.
    "No," Neteyam counters. "You've got to keep your skxawng asses here."
    "He's outcast," I say. "There's nobody to warn him but us."
    "Guys, why do you always make things so hard?" Neteyam asks us.
    "No," Lo'ak says. "You mean why can't we be perfect like you? The perfect little soldier. Well, we're not you! Okay? We're not you. He's our brother. We're going."
    "Oh he's your brother?" Neteyam asks as we start to walk away. "No I'm your brother."
    "Lo'ak, Leyreya!" Tsireya yells getting up onto the dock with Aonung and Roxto. Lo'ak grabs my hand jumping into the water. We call the ilu to us and Lo'ak grabs into the handle bar as I grab onto him. He grabs my thigh to steady me as we set off into the open ocean. Once we get to the usual spot, we see Payakan above the water.
    "Payakan!" Lo'ak yells. "Brother." The others call form behind us. Payakan wails and we turn to face him again. "What is it? What's wrong?" Payakan turns to the side and we see a pinger stuck right on top of him. "Shit!"
    "Oh no, no, no, no," I get off the ilu and quickly swim over to the tulkun with Lo'ak following behind. "Stay calm, stay calm."
    "We got this," Lo'ak tells him as he whines in pain. As the pinger beeps we try to pull it out, but it's not budging. We look over and we see the demon ship emerging from the shadows, headed straight for us.
    "Shit!" I yell out as Lo'ak and I continue to pull. The others arrive and start to help us pull as the pinger as it beeps. "Hurry the ship's coming!"
    "They're over there!" Lo'ak points out.
    "Hurry!" Tsireya yells.
    "Call it in!" Neteyam tells Lo'ak. "Call Dad! Call Dad! Just go! Do it!"
    "Dad. I mean, Devil Dog. Do you read me?" Lo'ak calls for Jake as we keep trying. "It's Eagle Eye, do you copy? Dad! We're with a tulkun that's under attack. Killer ship's inbound. It's about two klicks out."
    "It's all of us," he continues. "Aonung and Tsireya too. We're at Three Brothers Rocks. Yes, sir."
    "It's getting closer!" Tsireya yells.
    "Three, two, pull!" Neteyam instructs and we pull with all of our might, but still nothing. Neteyam gets off and grabs a rope from his satchel and ties it to the ilu. "Aonung!" He throws him the rope which he ties to the pinger.
    "Go, go, go," Aonung tells him. and Neteyam get on his ilu trying to swim away.
    "Pull! Now!" Neteyam yells and we pull as hard as we can.
    "Everybody! Together!" I yell out. We all pull it again trying harder.
    "Pull! Harder!" Tsireya instructs and with one last pull the pinger pops out.
    "It's out!" Tuk exclaims. "Reya, it's out!"
    "Tuk, I love you but we don't really have time to be celebrating right now," I tell her softly as to not hurt her feelings. Neteyam grabs the pinger.
    "Go that way!" he says. "I'll draw them off."
    "Okay," Lo'ak says and we both go over to the tulkun. "Payakan!"
    "Go, go, dive!" I tell him and the tulkun follows our instructions submerging into the water. Lo'ak and I get onto our ilu and set off into the water. We hide among the kelp vines underneath the water trying not to be seen. We see the subs coming and start to head the opposite direction, working our way farther into the kelp forest with the subs hot on our tail. Lo'ak and I glide through some thicker kelp to try and shake them off, the leaves hitting our faces from our speed. When we turn out to see if they're gone they aren't in our sight, but when we face the right way again a sun lunging right for us. We dodge it a go the opposite way. When we get far enough away we ditch the ilu, hopping off it to distract the Sky People.
We swim towards a kelp bubble in the water that keeps and air pocket and swim to the surface, gasping for breath. We hear screams and turn to see Tsireya and Tuk already seeking safety.
"Tuk! Tsireya!" Lo'ak yells as I still catch my breath. Tuk hugs him before swimming over to me and I wrap her in my arms. I keep ahold of her as I hold onto the kelp wall for support. All of a sudden we see light and know we've been found.
"It is coming!" Tsireya warns us.
"Tuk take a deep breath," I tell her trying to calm her down.
"We gotta go!" Lo'ak says as he takes a deep breath. We all swim back down under the water trying to escape the sub that's headed straight for us. I try to swim faster, holding onto Tuks arm as I see another one approaching. Out of nowhere a net circles around us. Lo'ak and Tsireya quickly swim out of it escaping, but Tuk and I are stuck trapped inside. We are quickly pulled upward by two ikrans and Lo'ak latches onto the side of the net, not letting go. "Hold on!" They start dragging us to the demon ship.
"Cut it!" I yell holding onto the net for support.
"Let me out!" Tuk screams.
"Watch out," Lo'ak tells us, about to cut the rope with his knife.
"Tuk move!" I say to her.
"Move your hand! Move your hand!" Lo'ak warns me and I do as he instructs. He starts to cut the rope, but we're getting dangerous close to the ship.
"Cut it!" Tuk screams.
"Hurry, hurry," I rush him, but it's too late. They drop the net on the ship and Lo'ak quickly jumps up, holding his dagger towards the Sky People.