No one knew exactly how much time had passed. By the time Annie finally awoke in the neural link center at the RDA Company's base deep beneath Pandora's ocean and climbed out of her link pod, it was already quite late.
By then, the large force of Na'vi outside the base—the ones who had arrived shouting threats and looking for a fight—had left hundreds of bodies behind. After realizing there was nothing to gain and discovering that one of their leaders had already retreated, they gradually withdrew, leaving behind a chaotic underwater battlefield.
The once-vibrant underwater world of Pandora surrounding the base had been left in terrible shape. The glowing underwater plants and coral were broken and scattered, and the commotion had scared away all the glowing fish. Only a few little fish still wandered helplessly outside, making the place seem utterly desolate...
Annie didn't have time to worry about any of that. The human NPCs inside the base, who were celebrating their victory, didn't care about such minor things either. They were busy, tense, and holding their respective posts.
They all knew this was Pandora, a dangerous and terrifying world. They might have won a small victory, and hadn't suffered any real casualties, but they also knew the war was far from over. Their situation wasn't any safer, and the Na'vi could return at any moment!
The next time the Na'vi came, things probably wouldn't be as simple as they had been today.
"Hi~!"
(▽)
"Hello, uncles and aunties!"
(*^▽^*)
After waking up and seeing that there were still so many researchers busy recording data at the Avatar neural link center, all looking at her with concern, Annie greeted them with a cute smile.
"..."
"That's strange."
"Little one, where's your Avatar? Our scans show it's still in good