User talk:Atelda

YES
gooDbyE bEOWULF 2:04 Tue Sep 16 2014

Signatures
Could I have more than one signature if i keep them on one page and don't switch them often? Basically, I'll have the code for two-three signatures on a page, but only use one at a time. I wasn't sure if it'd be allowed, so that's why I'm asking xD 20:38, October 12, 2014 (UTC)

I knew that. That's how I actually do it at my other wikis. Thanks fir letting me kniw, though :o -- 20:56, October 12, 2014 (UTC)

why
why 3:20 Mon Feb 23 2015

:3c
SHREK

Written by

William Steig & Ted Elliott

SHREK Once upon a time there was a lovely princess. But she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort which could only be broken by love's first kiss. She was locked away in a castle guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon. Many brave knights had attempted to                         free her from this dreadful prison, but non prevailed. She waited in the dragon's keep in the highest room of                         the tallest tower for her true love and true love's first kiss. (laughs) Like that's ever gonna happen. What a load of - (toilet flush) Allstar - by Smashmouth begins to play. Shrek goes about his day. While in a nearby town, the villagers get together to go               after the ogre. NIGHT - NEAR SHREK'S HOME

MAN1 Think it's in there?

MAN2 All right. Let's get it!

MAN1 Whoa. Hold on. Do you know what that thing can do to you? MAN3 Yeah, it'll grind your bones for it's                         bread. Shrek sneaks up behind them and laughs.

SHREK Yes, well, actually, that would be a                         giant. Now, ogres, oh they're much worse. They'll make a suit from your freshly peeled skin. MEN No!

SHREK They'll shave your liver. Squeeze the jelly from your eyes! Actually, it's                         quite good on toast. MAN1 Back! Back, beast! Back! I warn ya! (waves the torch at Shrek.) Shrek calmly licks his fingers and extinguishes the torch. The men shrink back away from him. Shrek roars very loudly and long and his breath extinguishes all the remaining torches until the men are in the dark. SHREK This is the part where you run away. (The men scramble to get away. He laughs.) And stay out! (looks down and picks                         up a piece of paper. Reads.) "Wanted.                          Fairy tale creatures."(He sighs and                          throws the paper over his shoulder.) THE NEXT DAY

There is a line of fairy tale creatures. The head of the guard sits at a table paying people for bringing the fairy tale creatures to him. There are cages all around. Some of the people in line are Peter Pan, who is carrying Tinkerbell in a cage, Gipetto who's carrying Pinocchio, and a farmer who is carrying the three little pigs. GUARD All right. This one's full. Take it                         away! Move it along. Come on! Get up! HEAD GUARD Next!

GUARD (taking the witch's broom) Give me that! Your flying days are over. (breaks the                         broom in half) HEAD GUARD That's 20 pieces of silver for the witch. Next! GUARD Get up! Come on!

HEAD GUARD Twenty pieces.

LITTLE BEAR (crying) This cage is too small.

DONKEY Please, don't turn me in. I'll never be stubborn again. I can change. Please! Give me another chance! OLD WOMAN Oh, shut up. (jerks his rope)

DONKEY Oh!

HEAD GUARD Next! What have you got?

GIPETTO This little wooden puppet.

PINOCCHIO I'm not a puppet. I'm a real boy. (his                         nose grows) HEAD GUARD Five shillings for the possessed toy. Take it away. PINOCCHIO Father, please! Don't let them do this! Help me! Gipetto takes the money and walks off. The old woman steps up               to the table. HEAD GUARD Next! What have you got?

OLD WOMAN Well, I've got a talking donkey.

HEAD GUARD Right. Well, that's good for ten shillings, if you can prove it. OLD WOMAN Oh, go ahead, little fella.

Donkey just looks up at her.

HEAD GUARD Well?

OLD WOMAN Oh, oh, he's just...he's just a little nervous. He's really quite a chatterbox. Talk, you boneheaded dolt... HEAD GUARD That's it. I've heard enough. Guards! OLD WOMAN No, no, he talks! He does. (pretends                         to be Donkey) I can talk. I love to                         talk. I'm the talkingest damn thing you ever saw. HEAD GUARD Get her out of my sight.

OLD WOMAN No, no! I swear! Oh! He can talk!

The guards grab the old woman and she struggles with them. One of her legs flies out and kicks Tinkerbell out of Peter Pan's               hands, and her cage drops on Donkey's head. He gets sprinkled with fairy dust and he's able to fly. DONKEY Hey! I can fly!

PETER PAN He can fly!

3 LITTLE PIGS He can fly!

HEAD GUARD He can talk!

DONKEY Ha, ha! That's right, fool! Now I'm                         a flying, talking donkey. You might have seen a housefly, maybe even a superfly but I bet you ain't never seen a donkey fly. Ha, ha! (the pixie dust begins                         to wear off) Uh-oh. (he begins to sink                         to the ground.) He hits the ground with a thud.

HEAD GUARD Seize him! (Donkey takes of running.) After him! GUARDS He's getting away! Get him! This way! Turn! Donkey keeps running and he eventually runs into Shrek. Literally. Shrek turns around to see who bumped into him. Donkey looks scared for a moment then he spots the guards coming up the path. He               quickly hides behind Shrek. HEAD GUARD You there. Ogre!

SHREK Aye?

HEAD GUARD By the order of Lord Farquaad I am authorized to place you both under arrest and transport you to a designated resettlement facility. SHREK Oh, really? You and what army?

He looks behind the guard and the guard turns to look as well and we see that the other men have run off. The guard tucks tail and runs off. Shrek laughs and goes back about his business and begins walking back to his cottage. DONKEY Can I say something to you? Listen, you was really, really, really somethin' back here. Incredible! SHREK Are you talkin' to...(he turns around                         and Donkey is gone) me? (he turns back                         around and Donkey is right in front                          of him.) Whoa! DONKEY Yes. I was talkin' to you. Can I tell you that you that you was great back here? Those guards! They thought they was all of that. Then you showed up, and bam! They was trippin' over themselves like babes in the woods. That really made me feel good to see that. SHREK Oh, that's great. Really.

DONKEY Man, it's good to be free.

SHREK Now, why don't you go celebrate your freedom with your own friends? Hmm? DONKEY But, uh, I don't have any friends. And I'm not goin' out there by myself. Hey, wait a minute! I got a great idea! I'll                         stick with you. You're mean, green, fightin' machine. Together we'll scare the spit out of anybody that crosses us. Shrek turns and regards Donkey for a moment before roaring very loudly. DONKEY Oh, wow! That was really scary. If you don't mind me sayin', if that don't                         work, your breath certainly will get the job done, 'cause you definitely need some Tic Tacs or something, 'cause you breath stinks! You almost burned the hair outta my nose, just like the time...(Shrek covers his mouth but Donkey                         continues to talk, so Shrek removes                          his hand.) ...then I ate some rotten berries. I had strong gases leaking out of my butt that day. SHREK Why are you following me?

DONKEY I'll tell you why. (singing) 'Cause I'm all alone, There's no one here beside me, My problems have all gone, There's                         no one to deride me, But you gotta have faith... SHREK Stop singing! It's no wonder you don't                         have any friends. DONKEY Wow. Only a true friend would be that cruelly honest. SHREK Listen, little donkey. Take a look at                         me. What am I?                                    DONKEY (looks all the way up at Shrek) Uh ...really tall? SHREK No! I'm an ogre! You know. "Grab your                         torch and pitchforks." Doesn't that bother you? DONKEY Nope.

SHREK Really?

DONKEY Really, really.

SHREK Oh.

DONKEY Man, I like you. What's you name?

SHREK Uh, Shrek.

DONKEY Shrek? Well, you know what I like about you, Shrek? You got that kind of I-don't-care-what-nobody-thinks-of-me thing. I like that. I respect that, Shrek. You all right. (They come over                         a hill and you can see Shrek's cottage.) Whoa! Look at that. Who'd want to live in place like that? SHREK That would be my home.

DONKEY Oh! And it is lovely! Just beautiful. You know you are quite a decorator. It's amazing what you've done with such a modest budget. I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder. I guess you don't entertain much, do you? SHREK I like my privacy.

DONKEY You know, I do too. That's another thing we have in common. Like I hate it when you got somebody in your face. You've                         trying to give them a hint, and they won't leave. There's that awkward silence. (awkward silence) Can I stay with you? SHREK Uh, what?

DONKEY Can I stay with you, please?

SHREK (sarcastically) Of course!

DONKEY Really?

SHREK No.

DONKEY Please! I don't wanna go back there! You don't know what it's like to be                         considered a freak. (pause while he                         looks at Shrek) Well, maybe you do. But that's why we gotta stick together. You gotta let me stay! Please! Please! SHREK Okay! Okay! But one night only.

DONKEY Ah! Thank you! (he runs inside the cottage) SHREK What are you...? (Donkey hops up onto                         a chair.) No! No!                                     DONKEY This is gonna be fun! We can stay up                         late, swappin' manly stories, and in                          the mornin' I'm makin' waffles. SHREK Oh!

DONKEY Where do, uh, I sleep?

SHREK (irritated) Outside!

DONKEY Oh, well, I guess that's cool. I mean, I don't know you, and you don't know me, so I guess outside is best, you know. Here I go. Good night. (Shrek                         slams the door.) (sigh) I mean, I do                          like the outdoors. I'm a donkey. I was born outside. I'll just be sitting by                         myself outside, I guess, you know. By                         myself, outside. I'm all alone...there's                         no one here beside me... SHREK'S COTTAGE - NIGHT

Shrek is getting ready for dinner. He sits himself down and lights a candle made out of earwax. He begins to eat when he hears a               noise. He stands up with a huff. SHREK (to Donkey) I thought I told you to                         stay outside. DONKEY (from the window) I am outside.

There is another noise and Shrek turns to find the person that made the noise. He sees several shadows moving. He finally turns and spots 3 blind mice on his table. BLIND MOUSE1 Well, gents, it's a far cry from the farm, but what choice do we have? BLIND MOUSE2 It's not home, but it'll do just fine. GORDO (bouncing on a slug) What a lovely bed. SHREK Got ya. (Grabs a mouse, but it escapes                         and lands on his shoulder.) GORDO I found some cheese. (bites Shrek's                         ear) SHREK Ow!

GORDO Blah! Awful stuff.

BLIND MOUSE1 Is that you, Gordo?

GORDO How did you know?

SHREK Enough! (he grabs the 3 mice) What are you doing in my house? (He gets bumped                         from behind and he drops the mice.) Hey! (he turns and sees the Seven Dwarves                         with Snow White on the table.) Oh, no, no, no. Dead broad off the table. DWARF Where are we supposed to put her? The bed's taken. SHREK Huh?

Shrek marches over to the bedroom and throws back the curtain. The Big Bad Wolf is sitting in the bed. The wolf just looks at               him. BIG BAD WOLF What?

TIME LAPSE

Shrek now has the Big Bad Wolf by the collar and is dragging him to the front door. SHREK I live in a swamp. I put up signs. I'm                         a terrifying ogre! What do I have to                         do get a little privacy? (He opens the                         front door to throw the Wolf out and                          he sees that all the collected Fairy                          Tale Creatures are on his land.) Oh, no. No! No!              The 3 bears sit around the fire, the pied piper is playing his pipe and the rats are all running to him, some elves are directing flight traffic so that the fairies and witches can land...etc. SHREK What are you doing in my swamp? (this                         echoes and everyone falls silent.) Gasps are heard all around. The 3 good fairies hide inside a               tent. SHREK All right, get out of here. All of you, move it! Come on! Let's go! Hapaya! Hapaya! Hey! Quickly. Come on! (more                         dwarves run inside the house) No, no! No, no. Not there. Not there. (they                         shut the door on him) Oh! (turns to                         look at Donkey) DONKEY Hey, don't look at me. I didn't invite them. PINOCCHIO Oh, gosh, no one invited us.

SHREK What?

PINOCCHIO We were forced to come here.

SHREK (flabbergasted) By who?

LITTLE PIG Lord Farquaad. He huffed and he puffed and he...signed an eviction notice. SHREK (heavy sigh) All right. Who knows where this Farquaad guy is? Everyone looks around at each other but no one answers.

DONKEY Oh, I do. I know where he is.

SHREK Does anyone else know where to find him? Anyone at all? DONKEY Me! Me!

SHREK Anyone?

DONKEY Oh! Oh, pick me! Oh, I know! I know! Me, me! SHREK (sigh) Okay, fine. Attention, all fairy tale things. Do not get comfortable. Your welcome is officially worn out. In fact, I'm gonna see this guy Farquaad right now and get you all off my land and back where you came from! (Pause.                         Then the crowd goes wild.) Oh! (to Donkey) You! You're comin' with me. DONKEY All right, that's what I like to hear, man. Shrek and Donkey, two stalwart friends, off on a whirlwind big-city adventure. I love it! DONKEY (singing) On the road again. Sing it                         with me, Shrek. I can't wait to get on the road again. SHREK What did I say about singing?

DONKEY Can I whistle?

SHREK No.

DONKEY Can I hum it?

SHREK All right, hum it.

Donkey begins to hum 'On the Road Again'.

DULOC - KITCHEN

A masked man is torturing the Gingerbread Man. He's continually dunking him in a glass of milk. Lord Farquaad walks in. FARQUAAD That's enough. He's ready to talk. The Gingerbread Man is pulled out of the milk and slammed down onto a cookie sheet. Farquaad laughs as he walks over to the table. However when he reaches the table we see that it goes up to his eyes. He clears his throat and the table is lowered. FARQUAAD (he picks up the Gingerbread Man's legs                         and plays with them) Run, run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the gingerbread man. GINGERBREAD MAN You are a monster.

FARQUAAD I'm not the monster here. You are. You and the rest of that fairy tale trash, poisoning my perfect world. Now, tell me! Where are the others? GINGERBREAD MAN Eat me! (He spits milk into Farquaad's                         eye.) FARQUAAD I've tried to be fair to you creatures. Now my patience has reached its end! Tell me or I'll...(he makes as if to                         pull off the Gingerbread Man's buttons) GINGERBREAD MAN No, no, not the buttons. Not my gumdrop buttons. FARQUAAD All right then. Who's hiding them? GINGERBREAD MAN Okay, I'll tell you. Do you know the muffin man? FARQUAAD The muffin man?

GINGERBREAD MAN The muffin man.

FARQUAAD Yes, I know the muffin man, who lives on Drury Lane? GINGERBREAD MAN Well, she's married to the muffin man. FARQUAAD The muffin man?

GINGERBREAD MAN The muffin man!

FARQUAAD She's married to the muffin man.

The door opens and the Head Guard walks in.

HEAD GUARD My lord! We found it.

FARQUAAD Then what are you waiting for? Bring it in. More guards enter carrying something that is covered by a sheet. They hang up whatever it is and remove the sheet. It is the Magic Mirror. GINGERBREAD MAN (in awe) Ohhhh...

FARQUAAD Magic mirror...

GINGERBREAD MAN Don't tell him anything! (Farquaad picks                         him up and dumps him into a trash can                          with a lid.) No!                                     FARQUAAD Evening. Mirror, mirror on the wall. Is this not the most perfect kingdom of them all? MIRROR Well, technically you're not a king. FARQUAAD Uh, Thelonius. (Thelonius holds up a                         hand mirror and smashes it with his                          fist.) You were saying? MIRROR What I mean is you're not a king yet. But you can become one. All you have to do is marry a princess. FARQUAAD Go on.

MIRROR (chuckles nervously) So, just sit back and relax, my lord, because it's time for you to meet today's eligible bachelorettes. And here they are! Bachelorette number one is a mentally abused shut-in from a kingdom far, far away. She likes sushi and hot tubbing anytime. Her hobbies include cooking and cleaning for her two evil sisters. Please welcome Cinderella. (shows picture of Cinderella) Bachelorette number two is a cape-wearing girl from the land of fancy. Although she lives with seven other men, she's not easy. Just kiss her dead, frozen lips and find out what a live wire she is. Come on. Give it up for Snow White! (shows                         picture of Snow White) And last, but certainly not last, bachelorette number three is a fiery redhead from a dragon-guarded castle surrounded by hot boiling lava! But don't let that cool you off. She's                         a loaded pistol who likes pina colads and getting caught in the rain. Yours for the rescuing, Princess Fiona! (Shows                         picture of Princess Fiona) So will it                          be bachelorette number one, bachelorette number two or bachelorette number three? GUARDS Two! Two! Three! Three! Two! Two! Three! FARQUAAD Three? One? Three?

THELONIUS Three! (holds up 2 fingers) Pick number three, my lord! FARQUAAD Okay, okay, uh, number three!

MIRROR Lord Farquaad, you've chosen Princess Fiona. FARQUAAD Princess Fiona. She's perfect. All I                         have to do is just find someone who can go... MIRROR But I probably should mention the little thing that happens at night. FARQUAAD I'll do it.

MIRROR Yes, but after sunset...

FARQUAAD Silence! I will make this Princess Fiona my queen, and DuLoc will finally have the perfect king! Captain, assemble your finest men. We're going to have a tournament. (smiles evilly) DuLoc Parking Lot - Lancelot Section

Shrek and Donkey come out of the field that is right by the parking lot. The castle itself is about 40 stories high. DONKEY But that's it. That's it right there. That's DuLoc. I told ya I'd find it. SHREK So, that must be Lord Farquaad's castle. DONKEY Uh-huh. That's the place.

SHREK Do you think maybe he's compensating for something? (He laughs, but then                         groans as Donkey doesn't get the joke.                          He continues walking through the parking                          lot.) DONKEY Hey, wait. Wait up, Shrek.

MAN Hurry, darling. We're late. Hurry. SHREK Hey, you! (The attendant, who is wearing                         a giant head that looks like Lord Farquaad,                          screams and begins running through the                          rows of rope to get to the front gate                          to get away from Shrek.) Wait a second. Look, I'm not gonna eat you. I just - - I just - - (He sighs and then begins                         walking straight through the rows. The                          attendant runs into a wall and falls                          down. Shrek and Donkey look at him then                          continue on into DuLoc.) DULOC

They look around but all is quiet.

SHREK It's quiet. Too quiet. Where is everybody? DONKEY Hey, look at this!

Donkey runs over and pulls a lever that is attached to a box marked 'Information'. The music winds up and then the box doors open up. There are little wooden people inside and they begin to sing. WOODEN PEOPLE Welcome to DuLoc such a perfect town Here we have some rules

Let us lay them down

Don't make waves, stay in line

And we'll get along fine

DuLoc is perfect place

Please keep off of the grass

Shine your shoes, wipe your... face

DuLoc is, DuLoc is

DuLoc is perfect place.

Suddenly a camera takes Donkey and Shrek's picture.

DONKEY Wow! Let's do that again! (makes ready                         to run over and pull the lever again) SHREK (grabs Donkey's tail and holds him still) No. No. No, no, no! No. They hear a trumpet fanfare and head over to the arena.

FARQUAAD Brave knights. You are the best and brightest in all the land. Today one of you shall prove himself... As Shrek and Donkey walk down the tunnel to get into the arena Donkey is humming the DuLoc theme song. SHREK All right. You're going the right way for a smacked bottom. DONKEY Sorry about that.

FARQUAAD That champion shall have the honor - - no, no - - the privilege to go forth and rescue the lovely Princess Fiona from the fiery keep of the dragon. If                         for any reason the winner is unsuccessful, the first runner-up will take his place and so on and so forth. Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make. (cheers) Let the tournament begin! (He notices Shrek) Oh! What is                         that? It's hideous! SHREK (turns to look at Donkey and then back                         at Farquaad) Ah, that's not very nice. It's just a donkey. FARQUAAD Indeed. Knights, new plan! The one who kills the ogre will be named champion! Have it him! MEN Get him!

SHREK Oh, hey! Now come on! Hang on now. (bumps                         into a table where there are mugs of                          beer) CROWD Go ahead! Get him!

SHREK (holds up a mug of beer) Can't we just settle this over a pint? CROWD Kill the beast!

SHREK No? All right then. (drinks the beer) Come on! He takes the mug and smashes the spigot off the large barrel of beer behind him. The beer comes rushing out drenching the other men and wetting the ground. It's like mud now. Shrek slides past the men and picks up a spear that one of the men dropped. As Shrek begins to fight Donkey hops up onto one of the larger beer barrels. It breaks free of it's ropes and begins to roll. Donkey manages to squish two men into the mud. There is so much fighting going on here I'm not going to go into detail. Suffice to say that Shrek kicks butt. DONKEY Hey, Shrek, tag me! Tag me!

Shrek comes over and bangs a man's head up against Donkeys. Shrek gets up on the ropes and interacts with the crowd. SHREK Yeah!

A man tries to sneak up behind Shrek, but Shrek turns in time and sees him. WOMAN The chair! Give him the chair!

Shrek smashes a chair over the guys back. Finally all the men are down. Donkey kicks one of them in the helmet, and the ding sounds the end of the match. The audience goes wild. SHREK Oh, yeah! Ah! Ah! Thank you! Thank you very much! I'm here till Thursday. Try the veal! Ha, ha! (laughs) The laughter stops as all of the guards turn their weapons on               Shrek. HEAD GUARD Shall I give the order, sir?

FARQUAAD No, I have a better idea. People of                         DuLoc, I give you our champion! SHREK What?

FARQUAAD Congratulations, ogre. You're won the honor of embarking on a great and noble quest. SHREK Quest? I'm already in a quest, a quest to get my swamp back. FARQUAAD Your swamp?

SHREK Yeah, my swamp! Where you dumped those fairy tale creatures! FARQUAAD Indeed. All right, ogre. I'll make you a deal. Go on this quest for me, and I'll give you your swamp back. SHREK Exactly the way it was?

FARQUAAD Down to the last slime-covered toadstool. SHREK And the squatters?

FARQUAAD As good as gone.

SHREK What kind of quest?

Time Lapse - Donkey and Shrek are now walking through the field heading away from DuLoc. Shrek is munching on an onion. DONKEY Let me get this straight. You're gonna go fight a dragon and rescue a princess just so Farquaad will give you back a swamp which you only don't have because he filled it full of freaks in the first place. Is that about right? SHREK You know, maybe there's a good reason donkeys shouldn't talk. DONKEY I don't get it. Why don't you just pull some of that ogre stuff on him? Throttle him, lay siege to his fortress, grinds his bones to make your bread, the whole ogre trip. SHREK Oh, I know what. Maybe I could have decapitated an entire village and put their heads on a pike, gotten a knife, cut open their spleen and drink their fluids. Does that sound good to you? DONKEY Uh, no, not really, no.

SHREK For your information, there's a lot more to ogres than people think. DONKEY Example?

SHREK Example? Okay, um, ogres are like onions. (he holds out his onion) DONKEY (sniffs the onion) They stink?

SHREK Yes - - No!

DONKEY They make you cry?

SHREK No!

DONKEY You leave them in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin' little white hairs. SHREK No! Layers! Onions have layers. Ogres have layers! Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers. (he heaves                         a sigh and then walks off) DONKEY (trailing after Shrek) Oh, you both have layers. Oh. {Sniffs} You know, not everybody likes onions. Cake! Everybody loves cakes! Cakes have layers. SHREK I don't care... what everyone likes. Ogres are not like cakes. DONKEY You know what else everybody likes? Parfaits. Have you ever met a person, you say, "Let's get some parfait," they say, "Hell no, I don't like no parfait"? Parfaits are delicious. SHREK No! You dense, irritating, miniature beast of burden! Ogres are like onions! And of story. Bye-bye. See ya later. DONKEY Parfaits may be the most delicious thing on the whole damn planet. SHREK You know, I think I preferred your humming. DONKEY Do you have a tissue or something? I'm                         making a mess. Just the word parfait make me start slobbering. They head off. There is a montage of their journey. Walking through a field at sunset. Sleeping beneath a bright moon. Shrek trying to put the campfire out the next day and having a bit of a problem, so Donkey pees on the fire to put it out. DRAGON'S KEEP

Shrek and Donkey are walking up to the keep that's supposed to               house Princess Fiona. It appears to look like a giant volcano. DONKEY (sniffs) Ohh! Shrek! Did you do that? You gotta warn somebody before you just crack one off. My mouth was open and everything. SHREK Believe me, Donkey, if it was me, you'd                         be dead. (sniffs) It's brimstone. We                         must be getting close. DONKEY Yeah, right, brimstone. Don't be talking about it's the brimstone. I know what I smell. It wasn't no brimstone. It                         didn't come off no stone neither. They climb up the side of the volcano/keep and look down. There is a small piece of rock right in the center and that is where the castle is. It is surrounded by boiling lava. It looks very foreboding. SHREK Sure, it's big enough, but look at the location. (laughs...then the laugh turns                         into a groan) DONKEY Uh, Shrek? Uh, remember when you said ogres have layers? SHREK Oh, aye.

DONKEY Well, I have a bit of a confession to                         make. Donkeys don't have layers. We                         wear our fear right out there on our sleeves. SHREK Wait a second. Donkeys don't have sleeves. DONKEY You know what I mean.

SHREK You can't tell me you're afraid of heights. DONKEY No, I'm just a little uncomfortable about being on a rickety bridge over a boiling like of lava! SHREK Come on, Donkey. I'm right here beside ya, okay? For emotional support., we'll                         just tackle this thing together one little baby step at a time. DONKEY Really?

SHREK Really, really.

DONKEY Okay, that makes me feel so much better. SHREK Just keep moving. And don't look down. DONKEY Okay, don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. Keep on moving. Don't                         look down. (he steps through a rotting                         board and ends up looking straight down                          into the lava) Shrek! I'm lookin' down! Oh, God, I can't do this! Just let me                         off, please! SHREK But you're already halfway.

DONKEY But I know that half is safe!

SHREK Okay, fine. I don't have time for this. You go back. DONKEY Shrek, no! Wait!

SHREK Just, Donkey - - Let's have a dance then, shall me? (bounces and sways the                         bridge) DONKEY Don't do that!

SHREK Oh, I'm sorry. Do what? Oh, this? (bounces                         the bridge again) DONKEY Yes, that!

SHREK Yes? Yes, do it. Okay. (continues to                         bounce and sway as he backs Donkey across                          the bridge) DONKEY No, Shrek! No! Stop it!

SHREK You said do it! I'm doin' it.

DONKEY I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. Shrek, I'm gonna die. (steps onto solid ground) Oh! SHREK That'll do, Donkey. That'll do. (walks                         towards the castle) DONKEY Cool. So where is this fire-breathing pain-in-the-neck anyway? SHREK Inside, waiting for us to rescue her. (chuckles) DONKEY I was talkin' about the dragon, Shrek. INSIDE THE CASTLE

DONKEY You afraid?

SHREK No.

DONKEY But...

SHREK Shh.

DONKEY Oh, good. Me neither. (sees a skeleton                         and gasps) 'Cause there's nothin' wrong with bein' afraid. Fear's a sensible response to an unfamiliar situation. Unfamiliar dangerous situation, I might add. With a dragon that breathes fire and eats knights and breathes fire, it sure doesn't mean you're a coward if you're a little scared. I sure as                         heck ain't no coward. I know that. SHREK Donkey, two things, okay? Shut ... up. Now go over there and see if you can find any stairs. DONKEY Stairs? I thought we was lookin' for the princess. SHREK (putting on a helmet) The princess will be up the stairs in the highest room in the tallest tower. DONKEY What makes you think she'll be there? SHREK I read it in a book once. (walks off) DONKEY Cool. You handle the dragon. I'll handle the stairs. I'll find those stairs. I'll whip their butt too. Those stairs won't know which way they're goin'. (walks off) EMPTY ROOM

Donkey is still talking to himself as he looks around the room. DONKEY I'm gonna take drastic steps. Kick it                         to the curb. Don't mess with me. I'm                         the stair master. I've mastered the stairs. I wish I had a step right here. I'd step all over it. ELSEWHERE

Shrek spots a light in the tallest tower window.

SHREK Well, at least we know where the princess is, but where's the... DONKEY (os) Dragon!

Donkey gasps and takes off running as the dragon roars again. Shrek manages to grab Donkey out of the way just as the dragon breathes fire. SHREK Donkey, look out! (he manages to get                         a hold of the dragons tail and holds                          on) Got ya! The dragon gets irritated at this and flicks it's tail and Shrek goes flying through the air and crashes through the roof of the tallest tower. Fiona wakes up with a jerk and looks at him lying on the floor. DONKEY Oh! Aah! Aah!

Donkey get cornered as the Dragon knocks away all but a small part of the bridge he's on. DONKEY No. Oh, no, No! (the dragon roars) Oh, what large teeth you have. (the dragon                         growls) I mean white, sparkling teeth. I know you probably hear this all time from your food, but you must bleach, 'cause that is one dazzling smile you got there. Do I detect a hint of minty freshness? And you know what else? You're                         - - You're a girl dragon! Oh, sure! I mean, of course you're a girl dragon. You're just reeking of feminine beauty. (the dragon begins fluttering her eyes                         at him) What's the matter with you? You got something in your eye? Ohh. Oh. Oh. Man, I'd really love to stay, but you know, I'm, uh...(the dragon                         blows a smoke ring in the shape of a                          heart right at him, and he coughs) I'm                          an asthmatic, and I don't know if it'd                          work out if you're gonna blow smoke rings. Shrek! (the dragon picks him                         up with her teeth and carries him off) No! Shrek! Shrek! Shrek! FIONA'S ROOM

Shrek groans as he gets up off the floor. His back is to Fiona so she straightens her dress and lays back down on the bed. She then quickly reaches over and gets the bouquet of flowers off the side table. She then lays back down and appears to be asleep. Shrek turns and goes over to her. He looks down at Fiona for a moment and she puckers her lips. Shrek takes her by the shoulders and shakes her away. FIONA Oh! Oh!

SHREK Wake up!

FIONA What?

SHREK Are you Princess Fiona?

FIONA I am, awaiting a knight so bold as to                         rescue me. SHREK Oh, that's nice. Now let's go!

FIONA But wait, Sir Knight. This be-ith our first meeting. Should it not be a wonderful, romantic moment? SHREK Yeah, sorry, lady. There's no time. FIONA Hey, wait. What are you doing? You should sweep me off my feet out yonder window and down a rope onto your valiant steed. SHREK You've had a lot of time to plan this, haven't you? FIONA (smiles) Mm-hmm.

Shrek breaks the lock on her door and pulls her out and down the hallway. FIONA But we have to savor this moment! You could recite an epic poem for me. A                         ballad? A sonnet! A limerick? Or something! SHREK I don't think so.

FIONA Can I at least know the name of my champion? SHREK Uh, Shrek.

FIONA Sir Shrek. (clears throat and holds                         out a handkerchief) I pray that you take this favor as a token of my gratitude. SHREK Thanks!

Suddenly they hear the dragon roar.

FIONA (surprised)You didn't slay the dragon? SHREK It's on my to-do list. Now come on! (takes off running and drags Fiona behind                         him.) FIONA But this isn't right! You were meant to charge in, sword drawn, banner flying. That's what all the other knights did. SHREK Yeah, right before they burst into flame. FIONA That's not the point. (Shrek suddenly                         stops and she runs into him.) Oh! (Shrek                         ignores her and heads for a wooden door                          off to the side.) Wait. Where are you going? The exit's over there. SHREK Well, I have to save my ass.

FIONA What kind of knight are you?

SHREK One of a kind. (opens the door into                         the throne room) DONKEY (os) Slow down. Slow down, baby, please. I believe it's healthy to get to know someone over a long period of time. Just call me old-fashioned. (laughs                         worriedly) (we see him up close and                          from a distance as Shrek sneaks into                          the room) I don't want to rush into a physical relationship. I'm not emotionally ready for a commitment of, uh, this - - Magnitude really is the word I'm                         looking for. Magnitude- - Hey, that is unwanted physical contact. Hey, what are you doing? Okay, okay. Let's just back up a little and take this one step at a time. We really should get to know each other first as friends or pen pals. I'm on the road a lot, but I just love receiving cards - - I'd really love to stay, but - - Don't do that! That's                         my tail! That's my personal tail. You're                         gonna tear it off. I don't give permission - - What are you gonna do with that? Hey, now. No way. No! No! No, no! No. No, no, no. No! Oh! Shrek grabs a chain that's connected to the chandelier and swings toward the dragon. He misses and he swings back again. He looks up and spots that the chandelier is right above the dragons head. He pulls on the chain and it releases and he falls down and bumps Donkey out of the way right as the dragon is about to kiss him. Instead the dragon kisses Shreks' butt. She opens her eyes and roars. Shrek lets go of the chain and the chandelier falls onto her head, but it's too big and it goes over her head and forms a sort of collar for her. She roars again and Shrek and Donkey take off running. Very 'Matrix' style. Shrek grabs Donkey and then grabs Princess Fiona as he runs past her. DONKEY Hi, Princess!

FIONA It talks!

SHREK Yeah, it's getting him to shut up that's                         the trick. They all start screaming as the dragon gains on them. Shrek spots a descending slide and jumps on. But unfortunately there is a               crack in the stone and it hits Shrek right in the groin. His eyes cross and as he reaches the bottom of the slide he stumbles off and walks lightly. SHREK Oh!

Shrek gets them close to the exit and sets down Donkey and Fiona. SHREK Okay, you two, heard for the exit! I'll                         take care of the dragon. Shrek grabs a sword and heads back toward the interior of the castle. He throws the sword down in between several overlapping chain links. The chain links are attached to the chandelier that is still around the dragons neck. SHREK (echoing) Run!

They all take off running for the exit with the dragon in hot pursuit. They make it to the bridge and head across. The dragons breathes fire and the bridge begins to burn. They all hang on               for dear life as the ropes holding the bridge up collapse. They are swung to the other side. As they hang upside down they look in horror as the dragon makes to fly over the boiling lava to               get them. But suddenly the chandelier with the chain jerk the dragon back and she's unable to get to them. Our gang climbs quickly to safety as the dragon looks angry and then gives a               sad whimper as she watches Donkey walk away. FIONA (sliding down the 'volcano' hill) You did it! You rescued me! You're amazing. (behind her Donkey falls down the hill) You're - - You're wonderful. You're...                         (turns and sees Shrek fall down the                          hill and bump into Donkey) a little unorthodox I'll admit. But thy deed is great, and thy heart is pure. I am                         eternally in your debt. (Donkey clears                         his throat.) And where would a brave knight be without his noble steed? DONKEY I hope you heard that. She called me                         a noble steed. She think I'm a steed. FIONA The battle is won. You may remove your helmet, good Sir Knight. SHREK Uh, no.

FIONA Why not?

SHREK I have helmet hair.

FIONA Please. I would'st look upon the face of my rescuer. SHREK No, no, you wouldn't - - 'st.

FIONA But how will you kiss me?

SHREK What? (to Donkey) That wasn't in the job description. DONKEY Maybe it's a perk.

FIONA No, it's destiny. Oh, you must know how it goes. A princess locked in a                         tower and beset by a dragon is rescued by a brave knight, and then they share true love's first kiss. DONKEY Hmm? With Shrek? You think- - Wait. Wait. You think that Shrek is you true love? FIONA Well, yes.

Both Donkey and Shrek burst out laughing.

DONKEY You think Shrek is your true love! FIONA What is so funny?

SHREK Let's just say I'm not your type, okay?Fiona: Of course, you are. You're my rescuer. Now - - Now remove your helmet. SHREK Look. I really don't think this is a                         good idea. FIONA Just take off the helmet.

SHREK I'm not going to.

FIONA Take it off.

SHREK No!

FIONA Now!

SHREK Okay! Easy. As you command. Your Highness. (takes off his helmet) FIONA You- - You're a- - an ogre.

SHREK Oh, you were expecting Prince Charming. FIONA Well, yes, actually. Oh, no. This is                         all wrong. You're not supposed to be                         an ogre. SHREK Princess, I was sent to rescue you by                         Lord Farquaad, okay? He is the one who wants to marry you. FIONA Then why didn't he come rescue me? SHREK Good question. You should ask him that when we get there. FIONA But I have to be rescued by my true love, not by some ogre and his- - his pet. DONKEY Well, so much for noble steed.

SHREK You're not making my job any easier. FIONA I'm sorry, but your job is not my problem. You can tell Lord Farquaad that if he                         wants to rescue me properly, I'll be                          waiting for him right here. SHREK Hey! I'm no one's messenger boy, all right? (ominous) I'm a delivery boy. (he swiftly picks her up and swings                         her over his shoulder like she was a                          sack of potatoes) FIONA You wouldn't dare. Put me down!

SHREK Ya comin', Donkey?

DONKEY I'm right behind ya.

FIONA Put me down, or you will suffer the consequences! This is not dignified! Put me down! WOODS

A little time has passed and Fiona has calmed down. She just hangs there limply while Shrek carries her. DONKEY Okay, so here's another question. Say there's a woman that digs you, right, but you don't really like her that way. How do you let her down real easy so                         her feelings aren't hurt, but you don't                          get burned to a crisp and eaten? FIONA You just tell her she's not your true love. Everyone knows what happens when you find your...(Shrek drops her on                         the ground) Hey! The sooner we get to                         DuLoc the better. DONKEY You're gonna love it there, Princess. It's beautiful! FIONA And what of my groom-to-be? Lord Farquaad? What's he like? SHREK Let me put it this way, Princess. Men of Farquaad's stature are in short supply. (he and Donkey laugh) Shrek then proceeds to splash water onto his face to wash off the dust and grime. DONKEY I don't know. There are those who think little of him. (they laugh again) Fiona: Stop it. Stop it, both of you. You're                         just jealous you can never measure up                          to a great ruler like Lord Farquaad. SHREK Yeah, well, maybe you're right, Princess. But I'll let you do the "measuring" when you see him tomorrow. FIONA (looks at the setting sun) Tomorrow? It'll take that long? Shouldn't we stop to make camp? SHREK No, that'll take longer. We can keep going. FIONA But there's robbers in the woods.

DONKEY Whoa! Time out, Shrek! Camp is starting to sound good. SHREK Hey, come on. I'm scarier than anything we're going to see in this forest. FIONA I need to find somewhere to camp now! Both Donkey and Shrek's ears lower as they shrink away from her. MOUNTAIN CLIFF

Shrek has found a cave that appears to be in good order. He shoves a stone boulder out of the way to reveal the cave. SHREK Hey! Over here.

DONKEY Shrek, we can do better than that. I                         don't think this is fit for a princess. FIONA No, no, it's perfect. It just needs a few homey touches. SHREK Homey touches? Like what? (he hears                         a tearing noise and looks over at Fiona                          who has torn the bark off of a tree.) FIONA A door? Well, gentlemen, I bid thee good night. (goes into the cave and                         puts the bark door up behind her) DONKEY You want me to read you a bedtime story? I will. FIONA (os) I said good night!

Shrek looks at Donkey for a second and then goes to move the boulder back in front of the entrance to the cave with Fiona still inside. DONKEY Shrek, What are you doing?

SHREK (laughs) I just- - You know - - Oh, come on. I was just kidding. LATER THAT NIGHT

Shrek and Donkey are sitting around a campfire. They are staring up into the sky as Shrek points out certain star constellations to Donkey. SHREK And, uh, that one, that's Throwback, the only ogre to ever spit over three wheat fields. DONKEY Right. Yeah. Hey, can you tell my future from these stars? SHREK The stars don't tell the future, Donkey. They tell stories. Look, there's Bloodnut, the Flatulent. You can guess what he's                         famous for. DONKEY I know you're making this up.

SHREK No, look. There he is, and there's the group of hunters running away from his stench. DONKEY That ain't nothin' but a bunch of little dots. SHREK You know, Donkey, sometimes things are more than they appear. Hmm? Forget it. DONKEY (heaves a big sigh) Hey, Shrek, what we gonna do when we get our swamp anyway? SHREK Our swamp?

DONKEY You know, when we're through rescuing the princess. SHREK We? Donkey, there's no "we". There's                         no "our". There's just me and my swamp. The first thing I'm gonna do is build a ten-foot wall around my land. DONKEY You cut me deep, Shrek. You cut me real deep just now. You know what I think? I think this whole wall thing is just a way to keep somebody out. SHREK No, do ya think?

DONKEY Are you hidin' something?

SHREK Never mind, Donkey.

DONKEY Oh, this is another one of those onion things, isn't it? SHREK No, this is one of those drop-it and leave-it alone things. DONKEY Why don't you want to talk about it? SHREK Why do you want to talk about it?

DONKEY Why are you blocking?

SHREK I'm not blocking.

DONKEY Oh, yes, you are.

SHREK Donkey, I'm warning you.

DONKEY Who you trying to keep out?

SHREK Everyone! Okay?

DONKEY (pause) Oh, now we're gettin' somewhere. (grins) At this point Fiona pulls the 'door' away from the entrance to               the cave and peaks out. Neither of the guys see her. SHREK Oh! For the love of Pete! (gets up and                         walks over to the edge of the cliff                          and sits down) DONKEY What's your problem? What you got against the whole world anyway? SHREK Look, I'm not the one with the problem, okay? It's the world that seems to have a problem with me. People take one look at me and go. "Aah! Help! Run! A big,                         stupid, ugly ogre!" They judge me before they even know me. That's why I'm better off alone. DONKEY You know what? When we met, I didn't                         think you was just a big, stupid, ugly ogre. SHREK Yeah, I know.

DONKEY So, uh, are there any donkeys up there? SHREK Well, there's, um, Gabby, the Small and Annoying. DONKEY Okay, okay, I see it now. The big shiny one, right there. That one there? Fiona puts the door back.

SHREK That's the moon.

DONKEY Oh, okay.

DuLoc - Farquaad's Bedroom

The camera pans over a lot of wedding stuff. Soft music plays in the background. Farquaad is in bed, watching as the Magic Mirror shows him Princess Fiona. FARQUAAD Again, show me again. Mirror, mirror, show her to me. Show me the princess. MIRROR Hmph.

The Mirror rewinds and begins to play again from the beginning. FARQUAAD Ah. Perfect.

Farquaad looks down at his bare chest and pulls the sheet up               to cover himself as though Fiona could see him as he gazes sheepishly at her image in the mirror. MORNING

Fiona walks out of the cave. She glances at Shrek and Donkey who are still sleeping. She wanders off into the woods and comes across a blue bird. She begins to sing. The bird sings along with her. She hits higher and higher notes and the bird struggles to keep up with her. Suddenly the pressure of the note is too big and the bird explodes. Fiona looks a little sheepish, but she eyes the eggs that the bird left behind. Time lapse, Fiona is now cooking the eggs for breakfast. Shrek and Donkey are still sleeping. Shrek wakes up and looks at Fiona. Donkey's talking in his sleep. DONKEY (quietly) Mmm, yeah, you know I like it like that. Come on, baby. I said I like it. SHREK Donkey, wake up. (shakes him)

DONKEY Huh? What?

SHREK Wake up.

DONKEY What? (stretches and yawns)

FIONA Good morning. Hm, how do you like your eggs? DONKEY Oh, good morning, Princess!

Fiona gets up and sets the eggs down in front of them.

SHREK What's all this about?

FIONA You know, we kind of got off to a bad start yesterday. I wanted to make it                         up to you. I mean, after all, you did rescue me. SHREK Uh, thanks.

Donkey sniffs the eggs and licks his lips.

FIONA Well, eat up. We've got a big day ahead of us. (walks off) LATER

They are once again on their way. They are walking through the forest. Shrek belches. DONKEY Shrek!

SHREK What? It's a compliment. Better out than in, I always say. (laughs) DONKEY Well, it's no way to behave in front of a princess. Fiona belches

FIONA Thanks.

DONKEY She's as nasty as you are.

SHREK (chuckles) You know, you're not exactly what I expected. FIONA Well, maybe you shouldn't judge people before you get to know them. She smiles and then continues walking, singing softly. Suddenly from out of nowhere, a man swings down and swoops Fiona up into a tree. ROBIN HOOD La liberte! Hey!

SHREK Princess!

FIONA (to Robin Hood) What are you doing? ROBIN HOOD Be still, mon cherie, for I am you savior! And I am rescuing you from this green...(kisses                         up her arm while Fiona pulls back in                          disgust)...beast. SHREK Hey! That's my princess! Go find you own! ROBIN HOOD Please, monster! Can't you see I'm a                         little busy here? FIONA (getting fed up) Look, pal, I don't                         know who you think you are! ROBIN HOOD Oh! Of course! Oh, how rude. Please let me introduce myself. Oh, Merry Men. (laughs) Suddenly an accordion begins to play and the Merry men pop out from the bushes. They begin to sing Robin's theme song. MERRY MEN Ta, dah, dah, dah, whoo.

ROBIN HOOD I steal from the rich and give to the needy. MERRY MEN He takes a wee percentage,

ROBIN HOOD But I'm not greedy. I rescue pretty damsels, man, I'm good. MERRY MEN What a guy, Monsieur Hood.

ROBIN HOOD Break it down. I like an honest fight and a saucy little maid... MERRY MEN What he's basically saying is he likes to get... ROBIN HOOD Paid. So...When an ogre in the bush grabs a lady by the tush. That's bad. MERRY MEN That's bad.

ROBIN HOOD When a beauty's with a beast it makes me awfully mad. MERRY MEN He's mad, he's really, really mad. ROBIN HOOD I'll take my blade and ram it through your heart, keep your eyes on me, boys 'cause I'm about to start... There is a grunt as Fiona swings down from the tree limb and knocks Robin Hood unconscious. FIONA Man, that was annoying!

Shrek looks at her in admiration.

MERRY MAN Oh, you little- - (shoots an arrow at                         Fiona but she ducks out of the way) The arrow flies toward Donkey who jumps into Shrek's arms to               get out of the way. The arrow proceeds to just bounce off a tree. Another fight sequence begins and Fiona gives a karate yell and then proceeds to beat the crap out of the Merry Men. There is               a very interesting 'Matrix' moment here when Fiona pauses in                mid-air to fix her hair. Finally all of the Merry Men are down, and Fiona begins walking away. FIONA Uh, shall we?

SHREK Hold the phone. (drops Donkey and begins                         walking after Fiona) Oh! Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on now. Where did that come from? FIONA What?

SHREK That! Back there. That was amazing! Where did you learn that? FIONA Well...(laughs) when one lives alone, uh, one has to learn these things in                         case there's a...(gasps and points) there's an arrow in your butt! SHREK What? (turns and looks) Oh, would you look at that? (he goes to pull it out                         but flinches because it's tender) FIONA Oh, no. This is all my fault. I'm so                         sorry. DONKEY (walking up) Why? What's wrong?

FIONA Shrek's hurt.

DONKEY Shrek's hurt. Shrek's hurt? Oh, no, Shrek's gonna die. SHREK Donkey, I'm okay.

DONKEY You can't do this to me, Shrek. I'm                         too young for you to die. Keep you legs elevated. Turn your head and cough. Does anyone know the Heimlich? FIONA Donkey! Calm down. If you want to help Shrek, run into the woods and find me                         a blue flower with red thorns. DONKEY Blue flower, red thorns. Okay, I'm on                         it. Blue flower, red thorns. Don't die Shrek. If you see a long tunnel, stay away from the light! SHREK & FIONA Donkey!

DONKEY Oh, yeah. Right. Blue flower, red thorns. (runs off) SHREK What are the flowers for?

FIONA (like it's obvious) For getting rid of Donkey. SHREK Ah.

FIONA Now you hold still, and I'll yank this thing out. (gives the arrow a little                         pull) SHREK (jumps away) Ow! Hey! Easy with the yankin'. As they continue to talk Fiona keeps going after the arrow and Shrek keeps dodging her hands. FIONA I'm sorry, but it has to come out. SHREK No, it's tender.

FIONA Now, hold on.

SHREK What you're doing is the opposite of                         help. FIONA Don't move.

SHREK Look, time out.

FIONA Would you...(grunts as Shrek puts his                         hand over her face to stop her from                          getting at the arrow) Okay. What do                         you propose we do? ELSEWHERE

Donkey is still looking for the special flower.

DONKEY Blue flower, red thorns. Blue flower, red thorns. Blue flower, red thorns. This would be so much easier if I wasn't                         color-blind! Blue flower, red thorns. SHREK (os) Ow!

DONKEY Hold on, Shrek! I'm comin'! (rips a                         flower off a nearby bush that just happens                          to be a blue flower with red thorns) THE FOREST PATH

SHREK Ow! Not good.

FIONA Okay. Okay. I can nearly see the head. (Shrek grunts as she pulls) It's just about... SHREK Ow! Ohh! (he jerks and manages to fall                         over with Fiona on top of him) DONKEY Ahem.

SHREK (throwing Fiona off of him) Nothing happend. We were just, uh - - DONKEY Look, if you wanted to be alone, all you had to do was ask. Okay? SHREK Oh, come on! That's the last thing on                         my mind. The princess here was just- - (Fiona pulls the arrow out) Ugh! (he                         turns to look at Fiona who holds up                          the arrow with a smile) Ow! DONKEY Hey, what's that? (nervous chuckle) That's...is that blood? Donkey faints. Shrek walks over and picks him up as they continue on their way. There is a montage of scenes as the group heads back to DuLoc. Shrek crawling up to the top of a tree to make it fall over a               small brook so that Fiona won't get wet. Shrek then gets up as               Donkey is just about to cross the tree and the tree swings back into it's upright position and Donkey flies off. Shrek swatting and a bunch of flies and mosquitoes. Fiona grabs a nearby spiderweb that's on a tree branch and runs through the field swinging it               around to catch the bugs. She then hands it to Shrek who begins eating like it's a treat. As he walks off she licks her fingers. Shrek catching a toad and blowing it up like a balloon and presenting it to Fiona. Fiona catching a snake, blowing it up, fashioning it into a balloon animal and presenting it to Shrek. The group arriving at a windmill that is near DuLoc. WINDMILL

SHREK There it is, Princess. Your future awaits you. FIONA That's DuLoc?

DONKEY Yeah, I know. You know, Shrek thinks Lord Farquaad's compensating for something, which I think means he has a really...(Shrek                         steps on his hoof) Ow! SHREK Um, I, uh- - I guess we better move on. FIONA Sure. But, Shrek? I'm - - I'm worried about Donkey. SHREK What?

FIONA I mean, look at him. He doesn't look so good. DONKEY What are you talking about? I'm fine. FIONA (kneels to look him in the eyes) That's                         what they always say, and then next thing you know, you're on your back. (pause) Dead. SHREK You know, she's right. You look awful. Do you want to sit down? FIONA Uh, you know, I'll make you some tea. DONKEY I didn't want to say nothin', but I                         got this twinge in my neck, and when I turn my head like this, look, (turns                         his neck in a very sharp way until his                          head is completely sideways) Ow! See? SHREK Who's hungry? I'll find us some dinner. FIONA I'll get the firewood.

DONKEY Hey, where you goin'? Oh, man, I can't                         feel my toes! (looks down and yelps) I don't have any toes! I think I need a hug. SUNSET

Shrek has built a fire and is cooking the rest of dinner while Fiona eats. FIONA Mmm. This is good. This is really good. What is this? SHREK Uh, weed rat. Rotisserie style.

FIONA No kidding. Well, this is delicious. SHREK Well, they're also great in stews. Now, I don't mean to brag, but I make a mean weed rat stew. (chuckles) Fiona looks at DuLoc and sighs.

FIONA I guess I'll be dining a little differently tomorrow night. SHREK Maybe you can come visit me in the swamp sometime. I'll cook all kind of stuff for you. Swamp toad soup, fish eye tartare - - you name it. FIONA (smiles) I'd like that.

They smiles at each other.

SHREK Um, Princess?

FIONA Yes, Shrek?

SHREK I, um, I was wondering...are you...(sighs) Are you gonna eat that? DONKEY (chuckles) Man, isn't this romantic? Just look at that sunset. FIONA (jumps up) Sunset? Oh, no! I mean, it's                         late. I-It's very late. SHREK What?

DONKEY Wait a minute. I see what's goin' on                         here. You're afraid of the dark, aren't                         you? FIONA Yes! Yes, that's it. I'm terrified. You know, I'd better go inside. DONKEY Don't feel bad, Princess. I used to                         be afraid of the dark, too, until - - Hey, no, wait. I'm still afraid of                         the dark. Shrek sighs

FIONA Good night.

SHREK Good night.

Fiona goes inside the windmill and closes the door. Donkey looks at Shrek with a new eye. DONKEY Ohh! Now I really see what's goin' on                         here. SHREK Oh, what are you talkin' about?

DONKEY I don't even wanna hear it. Look, I'm                         an animal, and I got instincts. And I know you two were diggin' on each other. I could feel it. SHREK You're crazy. I'm just bringing her back to Farquaad. DONKEY Oh, come on, Shrek. Wake up and smell the pheromones. Just go on in and tell her how you feel. SHREK I- - There's nothing to tell. Besides, even if I did tell her that, well, you know - - and I'm not sayin' I do 'cause I don't - - she's a princess, and I'm                         - - DONKEY An ogre?

SHREK Yeah. An ogre.

DONKEY Hey, where you goin'?

SHREK To get... move firewood. (sighs)

Donkey looks over at the large pile of firewood there already is. TIME LAPSE

Donkey opens the door to the Windmill and walks in. Fiona is               nowhere to be seen. DONKEY Princess? Princess Fiona? Princess, where are you? Princess? Fiona looks at Donkey from the shadows, but we can't see her. DONKEY It's very spooky in here. I ain't playing no games. Suddenly Fiona falls from the railing. She gets up only she doesn't               look like herself. She looks like an ogre and Donkey starts freaking out. DONKEY Aah!

FIONA Oh, no!

DONKEY No, help!

FIONA Shh!

DONKEY Shrek! Shrek! Shrek!

FIONA No, it's okay. It's okay.

DONKEY What did you do with the princess? FIONA Donkey, I'm the princess.

DONKEY Aah!

FIONA It's me, in this body.

DONKEY Oh, my God! You ate the princess. (to                         her stomach) Can you hear me? FIONA Donkey!

DONKEY (still aimed at her stomach) Listen, keep breathing! I'll get you out of                         there! FIONA No!

DONKEY Shrek! Shrek! Shrek!

FIONA Shh.

DONKEY Shrek!

FIONA This is me.

Donkey looks into her eyes as she pets his muzzle, and he quiets down. DONKEY Princess? What happened to you? You're, uh, uh, uh, different. FIONA I'm ugly, okay?

DONKEY Well, yeah! Was it something you ate? 'Cause I told Shrek those rats was a                         bad idea. You are what you eat, I said. Now - - FIONA No. I - - I've been this way as long as I can remember. DONKEY What do you mean? Look, I ain't never seen you like this before. FIONA It only happens when sun goes down. "By night one way, by day another. This                         shall be the norm... until you find                          true love's first kiss... and then take                          love's true form." DONKEY Ah, that's beautiful. I didn't know you wrote poetry. FIONA It's a spell. (sigh) When I was a little girl, a witch cast a spell on me. Every night I become this. This horrible, ugly beast! I was placed in a tower to await the day my true love would rescue me. That's why I have to marry Lord Farquaad tomorrow before the sun sets and he sees me like this. (begins                         to cry) DONKEY All right, all right. Calm down. Look, it's not that bad. You're not that ugly. Well, I ain't gonna lie. You are ugly. But you only look like this at night. Shrek's ugly 24-7. FIONA But Donkey, I'm a princess, and this is not how a princess is meant to look. DONKEY Princess, how 'bout if you don't marry Farquaad? FIONA I have to. Only my true love's kiss can break the spell. DONKEY But, you know, um, you're kind of an                         orge, and Shrek - - well, you got a                          lot in common. FIONA Shrek?

OUTSIDE

Shrek is walking towards the windmill with a sunflower in his hand. SHREK (to himself) Princess, I - - Uh, how's                         it going, first of all? Good? Um, good for me too. I'm okay. I saw this flower and thought of you because it's pretty and - - well, I don't really like it, but I thought you might like it 'cause you're pretty. But I like you anyway. I'd - - uh, uh...(sighs) I'm in trouble. Okay, here we go. He walks up to the door and pauses outside when he hears Donkey and Fiona talking. FIONA (os) I can't just marry whoever I want. Take a good look at me, Donkey. I mean, really, who can ever love a beast so                         hideous and ugly? "Princess" and "ugly" don't go together. That's why I can't                         stay here with Shrek. Shrek steps back in shock.

FIONA (os) My only chance to live happily ever after is to marry my true love. Shrek heaves a deep sigh. He throws the flower down and walks away. INSIDE

FIONA Don't you see, Donkey? That's just how it has to be. It's the only way to break the spell. DONKEY You at least gotta tell Shrek the truth. FIONA No! You can't breathe a word. No one must ever know. DONKEY What's the point of being able to talk if you gotta keep secrets? FIONA Promise you won't tell. Promise!

DONKEY All right, all right. I won't tell him. But you should. (goes outside) I just know before this is over, I'm gonna need a whole lot of serious therapy. Look at my eye twitchin'. Fiona comes out the door and watches him walk away. She looks down and spots the sunflower. She picks it up before going back inside the windmill. MORNING

Donkey is asleep. Shrek is nowhere to be seen. Fiona is still awake. She is plucking petals from the sunflower. FIONA I tell him, I tell him not. I tell him, I tell him not. I tell him. (she quickly                         runs to the door and goes outside) Shrek! Shrek, there's something I want...(she                         looks and sees the rising sun, and as                          the sun crests the sky she turns back                          into a human.) Just as she looks back at the sun she sees Shrek stomping towards her. FIONA Shrek. Are you all right?

SHREK Perfect! Never been better.

FIONA I - - I don't - - There's something I have to tell you. SHREK You don't have to tell me anything, Princess. I heard enough last night. FIONA You heard what I said?

SHREK Every word.

FIONA I thought you'd understand.

SHREK Oh, I understand. Like you said, "Who                         could love a hideous, ugly beast?" FIONA But I thought that wouldn't matter to                         you. SHREK Yeah? Well, it does. (Fiona looks at                         him in shock. He looks past her and                          spots a group approaching.) Ah, right on time. Princess, I've brought you a little something. Farquaad has arrived with a group of his men. He looks very regal sitting up on his horse. You would never guess that he's only like 3 feet tall. Donkey wakes up with a yawn as the soldiers march by. DONKEY What'd I miss? What'd I miss? (spots                         the soldiers) (muffled) Who said that? Couldn't have been the donkey. FARQUAAD Princess Fiona.

SHREK As promised. Now hand it over.

FARQUAAD Very well, ogre. (holds out a piece                         of paper) The deed to your swamp, cleared out, as agreed. Take it and go before I change my mind. (Shrek takes the paper) Forgive me, Princess, for startling you, but you startled me, for I have never seen such a radiant beauty before. I'm Lord Farquaad. FIONA Lord Farquaad? Oh, no, no. (Farquaad                         snaps his fingers) Forgive me, my lord, for I was just saying a short... (Watches                         as Farquaad is lifted off his horse                          and set down in front of her. He comes                          to her waist.) farewell. FARQUAAD Oh, that is so sweet. You don't have to waste good manners on the ogre. It's                         not like it has feelings. FIONA No, you're right. It doesn't.

Donkey watches this exchange with a curious look on his face. FARQUAAD Princess Fiona, beautiful, fair, flawless Fiona. I ask your hand in marriage. Will you be the perfect bride for the perfect groom? FIONA Lord Farquaad, I accept. Nothing would make - - FARQUAAD (interrupting) Excellent! I'll start the plans, for tomorrow we wed! FIONA No! I mean, uh, why wait? Let's get married today before the sun sets. FARQUAAD Oh, anxious, are you? You're right. The sooner, the better. There's so much to do! There's the caterer, the cake, the band, the guest list. Captain, round up some guests! (a guard puts Fiona                         on the back of his horse) FIONA Fare-thee-well, ogre.

Farquaad's whole party begins to head back to DuLoc. Donkey watches them go. DONKEY Shrek, what are you doing? You're letting her get away. SHREK Yeah? So what?

DONKEY Shrek, there's something about her you don't know. Look, I talked to her last night, She's - - SHREK I know you talked to her last night. You're great pals, aren't ya? Now, if                         you two are such good friends, why don't                          you follow her home? DONKEY Shrek, I - - I wanna go with you.

SHREK I told you, didn't I? You're not coming home with me. I live alone! My swamp! Me! Nobody else! Understand? Nobody! Especially useless, pathetic, annoying, talking donkeys! DONKEY But I thought - -

SHREK Yeah. You know what? You thought wrong! (stomps off) DONKEY Shrek.

Montage of different scenes. Shrek arriving back home. Fiona being fitted for the wedding dress. Donkey at a stream running into the dragon. Shrek cleaning up his house. Fiona eating dinner alone. Shrek eating dinner alone. SHREK'S HOME

Shrek is eating dinner when he hears a sound outside. He goes outside to investigate. SHREK Donkey? (Donkey ignores him and continues                         with what he's doing.) What are you doing? DONKEY I would think, of all people, you would recognize a wall when you see one. SHREK Well, yeah. But the wall's supposed to go around my swamp, not through it. DONKEY It is around your half. See that's your half, and this is my half. SHREK Oh! Your half. Hmm.

DONKEY Yes, my half. I helped rescue the princess. I did half the work. I get half the booty. Now hand me that big old rock, the one that looks like your head. SHREK Back off!

DONKEY No, you back off.

SHREK This is my swamp!

DONKEY Our swamp.

SHREK (grabs the tree branch Donkey is working                         with) Let go, Donkey! DONKEY You let go.

SHREK Stubborn jackass!

DONKEY Smelly ogre.

SHREK Fine! (drops the tree branch and walks                         away) DONKEY Hey, hey, come back here. I'm not through with you yet. SHREK Well, I'm through with you.

DONKEY Uh-uh. You know, with you it's always, "Me, me, me!" Well, guess what! Now it's my turn! So you just shut up and pay attention! You are mean to me. You insult me and you don't appreciate anything that I do! You're always pushing me                         around or pushing me away. SHREK Oh, yeah? Well, if I treated you so                         bad, how come you came back? DONKEY Because that's what friends do! They forgive each other! SHREK Oh, yeah. You're right, Donkey. I forgive you... for stabbin' me in the back! (goes into the outhouse and slams the                         door) DONKEY Ohh! You're so wrapped up in layers, onion boy, you're afraid of your own feelings. SHREK (os) Go away!

DONKEY There you are, doing it again just like you did to Fiona. All she ever do was like you, maybe even love you. SHREK (os) Love me? She said I was ugly, a                         hideous creature. I heard the two of                         you talking. DONKEY She wasn't talkin' about you. She was talkin' about, uh, somebody else. SHREK (opens the door and comes out) She wasn't                         talking about me? Well, then who was she talking about? DONKEY Uh-uh, no way. I ain't saying anything. You don't wanna listen to me. Right? Right? SHREK Donkey!

DONKEY No!

SHREK Okay, look. I'm sorry, all right? (sigh) I'm sorry. I guess I am just a big, stupid, ugly ogre. Can you forgive me? DONKEY Hey, that's what friends are for, right? SHREK Right. Friends?

DONKEY Friends.

SHREK So, um, what did Fiona say about me? DONKEY What are you asking me for? Why don't                         you just go ask her? SHREK The wedding! We'll never make it in                         time. DONKEY Ha-ha-ha! Never fear, for where, there's                         a will, there's a way and I have a way. (whistles) Suddenly the dragon arrives overhead and flies low enough so               they can climb on. SHREK Donkey?

DONKEY I guess it's just my animal magnetism. They both laugh.

SHREK Aw, come here, you. (gives Donkey a                         noogie) DONKEY All right, all right. Don't get all slobbery. No one likes a kiss ass. All right, hop on and hold on tight. I haven't                         had a chance to install the seat belts yet. They climb aboard the dragon and she takes off for DuLoc.

DULOC - CHURCH

Fiona and Farquaad are getting married. The whole town is there. The prompter card guy holds up a card that says 'Revered Silence'. PRIEST People of DuLoc, we gather here today to bear witness to the union.... FIONA (eyeing the setting sun) Um-

PRIEST ...of our new king...

FIONA Excuse me. Could we just skip ahead to the "I do's"? FARQUAAD (chuckles and then motions to the priest                         to indulge Fiona) Go on. COURTYARD

Some guards are milling around. Suddenly the dragon lands with a boom. The guards all take off running. DONKEY (to Dragon) Go ahead, HAVE SOME FUN. If we need you, I'll whistle. How about that? (she nods and goes after the guards) Shrek, wait, wait! Wait a minute! You wanna do this right, don't you? SHREK (at the Church door) What are you talking about? DONKEY There's a line you gotta wait for. The preacher's gonna say, "Speak now or                         forever hold your peace." That's when you say, "I object!" SHREK I don't have time for this!

DONKEY Hey, wait. What are you doing? Listen to me! Look, you love this woman, don't                         you? SHREK Yes.

DONKEY You wanna hold her?

SHREK Yes.

DONKEY Please her?

SHREK Yes!

DONKEY (singing James Brown style) Then you got to, got to try a little tenderness. (normal) The chicks love that romantic crap! SHREK All right! Cut it out. When does this guy say the line? DONKEY We gotta check it out.

INSIDE CHURCH

As the priest talks we see Donkey's shadow through one of the windows Shrek tosses him up so he can see. PRIEST And so, by the power vested in me... Outside

SHREK What do you see?

DONKEY The whole town's in there.

Inside

PRIEST I now pronounce you husband and wife... Outside

DONKEY They're at the altar.

Inside

PRIEST ...king and queen.

Outside

DONKEY Mother Fletcher! He already said it. SHREK Oh, for the love of Pete!

He runs inside without catching Donkey, who hits the ground hard. INSIDE CHURCH

SHREK (running toward the alter) I object! FIONA Shrek?

The whole congregation gasps as they see Shrek.

FARQUAAD Oh, now what does he want?

SHREK (to congregation as he reaches the front                         of the Church) Hi, everyone. Havin' a good time, are ya? I love DuLoc, first of all. Very clean. FIONA What are you doing here?

SHREK Really, it's rude enough being alive when no one wants you, but showing up                         uninvited to a wedding... SHREK Fiona! I need to talk to you.

FIONA Oh, now you wanna talk? It's a little late for that, so if you'll excuse me                         - - SHREK But you can't marry him.

FIONA And why not?

SHREK Because- - Because he's just marring you so he can be king. FARQUAAD Outrageous! Fiona, don't listen to him. SHREK He's not your true love.

FIONA And what do you know about true love? SHREK Well, I - - Uh - - I mean - -

FARQUAAD Oh, this is precious. The ogee has fallen in love with the princess! Oh, good Lord. (laughs) The prompter card guy holds up a card that says 'Laugh'. The whole congregation laughs. FARQUAAD An ogre and a princess!

FIONA Shrek, is this true?

FARQUAAD Who cares? It's preposterous! Fiona, my love, we're but a kiss away from our "happily ever after." Now kiss me! (puckers his lips and leans toward her,                         but she pulls back.) FIONA (looking at the setting sun) "By night                         one way, by day another." (to Shrek) I wanted to show you before. She backs up and as the sun sets she changes into her ogre self. She gives Shrek a sheepish smile. SHREK Well, uh, that explains a lot. (Fiona                         smiles) FARQUAAD Ugh! It's disgusting! Guards! Guards! I order you to get that out of my sight now! Get them! Get them both! The guards run in and separate Fiona and Shrek. Shrek fights them. SHREK No, no!

FIONA Shrek!

FARQUAAD This hocus-pocus alters nothing. This marriage is binding, and that makes me king! See? See? FIONA No, let go of me! Shrek!

SHREK No!

FARQUAAD Don't just stand there, you morons. SHREK Get out of my way! Fiona! Arrgh!

FARQUAAD I'll make you regret the day we met. I'll see you drawn and quartered! You'll                         beg for death to save you! FIONA No, Shrek!

FARQUAAD (hold a dagger to Fiona's throat) And as for you, my wife... SHREK Fiona!

FARQUAAD I'll have you locked back in that tower for the rest of your days! I'm king! Shrek manages to get a hand free and he whistles.

FARQUAAD I will have order! I will have perfection! I will have - - (Donkey and the dragon                         show up and the dragon leans down and                          eats Farquaad) Aaaah! Aah! DONKEY All right. Nobody move. I got a dragon here, and I'm not afraid to use it. (The dragon roars.) I'm a donkey on                         the edge! The dragon belches and Farquaad's crown flies out of her mouth and falls to the ground. DONKEY Celebrity marriages. They never last, do they? The congregation cheers.

DONKEY Go ahead, Shrek.

SHREK Uh, Fiona?

FIONA Yes, Shrek?

SHREK I - - I love you.

FIONA Really?

SHREK Really, really.

FIONA (smiles) I love you too.

Shrek and Fiona kiss. Thelonius takes one of the cards and writes 'Awwww' on the back and then shows it to the congregation. CONGREGATION Aawww!

Suddenly the magic of the spell pulls Fiona away. She's lifted up into the air and she hovers there while the magic works around her. WHISPERS "Until you find true love's first kiss                         and then take love's true form. Take                          love's true form. Take love's true form." Suddenly Fiona's eyes open wide. She's consumed by the spell and then is slowly lowered to the ground. SHREK (going over to her) Fiona? Fiona. Are you all right? FIONA (standing up, she's still an ogre) Well, yes. But I don't understand. I'm supposed to be beautiful. SHREK But you ARE beautiful.

They smile at each other.

DONKEY (chuckles) I was hoping this would be                         a happy ending. Shrek and Fiona kiss...and the kiss fades into...

THE SWAMP

...their wedding kiss. Shrek and Fiona are now married. 'I'm               a Believer' by Smashmouth is played in the background. Shrek and Fiona break apart and run through the crowd to their awaiting carriage. Which is made of a giant onion. Fiona tosses her bouquet which both Cinderella and Snow White try to catch. But they end up getting into a cat fight and so the dragon catches the bouquet instead. The Gingerbread man has been mended somewhat and now has one leg and walks with a candy cane cane. Shrek and Fiona walk off as the rest of the guests party and Donkey takes over singing the song. GINGERBREAD MAN God bless us, every one.

DONKEY (as he's done singing and we fade to                         black) Oh, that's funny. Oh. Oh. I can't                         breathe. I can't breathe. THE END

life is a race and i'm gonna win
AVATAR Written by                                   James Cameron THE SOUND OF DRUMS, from a great distance, growing louder. FADE IN: WE ARE FLYING through mist, a dimly glimpsed forest below. VOICE (V.O.) When I was lying there in the VA                    hospital, with a big hole blown through the middle of my life, I started having these dreams of flying. We are very low over the forest now, gliding fast, the drums BUILDING to a PEAK -- VOICE (V.O.) Sooner or later though, you always have to wake up... CUT TO: EXT. CITY - NIGHT A SCREECH OF BRAKES as a vehicle WIPES FRAME, revealing -- JAKE SULLY, a scarred and scruffy combat vet, sitting in a         beat up carbon-fiber wheelchair. At 22, his eyes are hardened by the wisdom and wariness of one who has endured pain beyond his years. Jake stares upward at the levels of the city. MAGLEV TRAINS WHOOSH overhead on elevated tracks, against a sky of garish advertizing. JAKE (V.O.) They can fix a spinal, if you've got the money. But not on vet benefits, not in                    this economy. The traffic light changes and Jake pushes forward with the crowd, pumping the wheels of his chair. Most of the people wear FILTER MASKS to protect them from the toxic air. In a         LONG LENS STACK it is a marching torrent of anonymous, isolated souls. INT. JAKE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT The room is a tiny CUBICLE, prison cell meets 747 bathroom. Narrow cot, wall-screen droning away in the B.G. -- PERKY NEWSCASTER The Bengal tiger, extinct for over a                    century, is making a comeback. These cloned tiger cubs at the Beijing Zoo are... 2.         Jake laboriously pulls his pants off -- rocking to one side, pushing the fabric down past his hip, then rocking to the other, and so on. His legs are white and atrophied. Utterly useless. But his arms are tattooed and powerfully muscled. A "Born Loser" tattoo prominent on his shoulder. JAKE (V.O.) I became a Marine for the hardship. To                   be hammered on the anvil of life. I told myself I could pass any test a man can pass. Jake struggles with his pants a long time. CUT TO: INT. ROWDY BAR -- NIGHT Not the kind of place you'd bring your mom. We find Jake near the pool table, BALANCING his chair, front wheels off the ground, while holding a tequila shot on his forehead. ONLOOKERS, including some other disabled vets, CLAP and WHOOP. Jake grabs the glass, SLAMS down the shot as they cheer. A WALL-SIZED SCREEN filled with the World Cup game -- men RUNNING on antelope legs. CU JAKE, watching what he can't have. Expression stony. JAKE (V.O.) Let's get it straight up front. I don't                   want your pity. I know the world's a                   cold-ass bitch. Jake's eyes shift  -- HIS POV, seeing the bar through gaps in          the crowd. A MAN   on a barstool SLAPS the WOMAN he's with. Hard. She cowers   but he's got her arm, shouting, raising his fist. An eternal   tableau. People look away. CU JAKE -- not looking away. JAKE (V.O.) You want a fair deal, you're on the wrong planet. The strong prey on the weak. TIGHT ON JAKE'S HAND as he starts pushing the wheel of his chair. TRACKING WITH HIM as he rolls forward. 3.                             JAKE (V.O.) It's just the way things are. And nobody does a damn thing. Jake stops, unnoticed, next to the bullying man. He leans down and grabs one leg of the man's barstool -- and YANKS. The chair flips. The guy goes down HARD and -- JAKE hurls himself from the wheelchair, toppling on the guy, getting a grip on him like a pit bull and PUNCHING the crap out of him, right there on the floor. THE BOUNCER jumps in, trying to drag him off and it goes into SLOW MOTION, everybody yelling and pulling... JAKE (V.O.) All I ever wanted in my sorry-ass life was a single thing worth fighting for. CUT TO: EXT. ALLEY BEHIND BAR -- NIGHT THE BOUNCER hurls Jake out the door, sending him SPRAWLING on         the pavement. A moment later, his chair CRASHES down on him, banging across the alley, landing in the trash. Jake struggles to rise on one elbow. He's bleeding and bruised, but still crazed and ready to fight. JAKE I hope you realize you've just lost a                   customer! He collapses onto his back, panting. JAKE (to himself) Candy ass bitch. He stares upwards at the levels of the city. MAGTRAINS ROAR overhead. It starts to RAIN. He just lies there, blinking -- then shouts jauntily to no one in particular -- JAKE If it ain't rainin' we ain't trainin'! CAMERA PULLS BACK high and wide, as Jake lies spread-eagled amongst the trash, getting drenched. TWO LONG SHADOWS enter FRAME, coming to rest across him. 4.         Jake sees two pairs of SHINY SHOES stop next to him. He         squints up at -- TWO MEN. Matching suits. Their features unremarkable and blandly threatening in the way of FBI agents and auditors. AGENT 1 Are you Jake Sully? JAKE Step off. You're ruinin' my good mood. AGENT 2 It's about your brother. CUT TO: INT. MUNICIPAL CREMATORIUM - NIGHT DOWN-ANGLE on a large rectangular cardboard box. HANDS ENTER FRAME, pulling open the top to reveal a DEAD MAN'S FACE. He         looks EXACTLY like a clean-shaven version of Jake. His IDENTICAL TWIN -- TOMMY. JAKE (V.O.) The strong prey on the weak. A guy with a knife took all Tommy would ever be, for the paper in his wallet. WIDER, showing Jake and the two agents in a high tech CREMATORIUM -- a row of stainless steel furnaces. Jake stares down at his own face. JAKE Jesus, Tommy. JAKE (V.O.) The Suits' concern was touching. AGENT 1 Your brother represented a significant investment. We'd like to talk to you about taking over his contract. The ATTENDANT closes the box and seals it with a tape dispenser, like it's a package for shipping. The cardboard coffin is rolled into the furnace. JAKE (V.O.) The egghead and the jarhead. Tommy was the scientist, not me. He was the one who wanted to get shot light years out into space to find the answers. 5.         PUSHING IN ON JAKE as he watches, bathed in orange light. JAKE (V.O.) Me -- I was just another dumb grunt gettin' sent someplace I was gonna regret. INSIDE THE FURNACE the burners quickly eat away the cardboard; TOMMY'S FACE is, for a moment, wreathed in flame but not touched by it, as we -- DISSOLVE TO: JAKE'S FACE, in icy darkness. CLOSE ON his eyes -- they OPEN suddenly, and he takes a sharp breath. JAKE'S POV -- the inside of a metal coffin. A SERVO WHINE and we are moving, emerging into a large chamber -- INT. CRYO VAULT JAKE'S POV -- A TECH in medical scrubs FLOATS WEIGHTLESSLY toward us. Wherever we are, we're not on Earth. Jake squints as the lights flicker on, revealing -- WIDE SHOT -- the multi-tiered CRYO VAULT. Hundreds of CRYO- CAPSULES are opening like morgue drawers, as med techs pull themselves about in ZERO-G, tending to their patients. JAKE (a hoarse whisper) Are we there? MED TECH We're there, Sunshine. TIME CUT -- SCORES OF PEOPLE emerge from their cryo-capsules in ZERO-G. Pale spirits of the dead rising from rows of open coffins. The MED TECH floats among them, using his announcement voice. MED TECH People, you have been in cryo for five years, nine months and twenty two days. You will be hungry, you will be weak. If                   you feel nausea, please use the sacks provided for your convenience. The staff thanks you in advance. 6.         FOLLOWING JAKE as he pushes away from his capsule, gliding to          the LOCKERS across the aisle, his paralyzed legs not an          impediment in weightlessness. CUT TO: EXT. SPACE Against the cold infinity  of stars glides an INTERSTELLAR SPACECRAFT -- ISV VENTURE  STAR. As it moves past like an         endless train, we realize   this thing is ENORMOUS -- over half a mile long. PAN WITH IT   180 to REVEAL -- A GAS-GIANT PLANET called POLYPHEMUS, ringed with dozens of         moons which cast beauty-mark shadows on its vast face. The ISV diminishes away from us toward the largest MOON-- a         blue and surprisingly Earth-like world called PANDORA. The ship dwindles to a speck against the BLUE MOON. CUT TO: EXT. PANDORA ORBIT ISV Venture Star drifts above a spectacular vista -- the sapphire seas and unfamiliar continents of Pandora. CLOSE ON ISV -- two massive "VALKYRIE" SHUTTLES are mated to         a DOCKING NODE. One of them separates from the starship and moves away, its thrusters FIRING in short bursts. As the shuttle moves away, descending toward Pandora, we hear the sound of DRUMS, building, louder and louder until we-- CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - TWILIGHT FLYING OVER A LANDSCAPE of massive cliffs and towering mesas carpeted in rainforest. Great scarves of cloud swirl around the mesa tops. A primeval landscape, vast and forbidding. The trees are alien, the color too cyan. There are waterfalls, rivers, and distant flocks of WINGED CREATURES. Suddenly the carpet of virgin rainforest gives way to -- AN OPEN-PIT MINE. A lifeless crater -- as if a giant cookie- cutter took a chunk out of the world. Down among the terraces are EXCAVATORS and TRUCKS the size of three story buildings. And beyond the mine is the HUMAN COLONY -- 7.         EXT. HELL'S GATE - TWILIGHT HELL'S GATE is a cluster of squat concrete and steel structures surrounded by chain-link FENCE 10 meters high, topped with razor wire. At the corners are towers with automated SENTRY GUNS swiveling on servo mounts. Visible beyond the gun towers, the VALKYRIE SHUTTLE roars in         across the treetops. VECTORING NOZZLES change angle, bringing the ship to a SLOW HOVER. EXT. RAIN FOREST - TWILIGHT Through a screen of jungle canopy, we see the VALKYRIE thunder overhead. Camera TILTS with it until leaves block the view. A BLUE INHUMAN HAND reaches INTO SHOT, parting the foliage to         reveal the shuttle hover-taxiing across the compound. REVERSE -- ECU of two intense, cat-like golden EYES watching. INT./EXT. SHUTTLE The CREW CHIEF stomps down the aisle yelling -- CREW CHIEF Exopacks on! Passengers don their EXO-PACK breathing gear with practiced moves. Everybody except JAKE, who's turning his this way and that trying to figure out the straps. CREW CHIEF Remember people, you lose your mask you're unconscious in 20 seconds and you're dead in four minutes. Let's nobody be dead today, it looks bad on my report. The crew chief stops by Jake long enough to bark -- CREW CHIEF Exopack on, let's go! BENEATH THE SHUTTLE air blasts outward for a hundred meter radius as it settles onto its landing gear. INSIDE everybody is queued up in the aisles, with duffles ready. Rows of tense, expectant faces in breathing masks -- and we DIP DOWN to find Jake, wheelchair putting him at the level of everyone else's WAISTS. 8.         THE CARGO RAMP OPENS with a hydraulic whine. CREW CHIEF Go directly into the base! Do not stop! Go straight inside! HAND-HELD, running with the arriving colonists who double time down the ramp. They jog across the exposed apron toward a walkway covered in CHAINLINK which leads to the complex. Inside the chain-link tunnel are a couple of SEC-OPS TROOPERS, CORPORAL LYLE WAINFLEET and PRIVATE FIKE. Sec-Ops is the colony's private security force. These guys are laid back, hardened, and haggard. WAINFLEET Look at all that new meat. THEIR POV -- Jake rolls down the ramp. FIKE Check it out, man. Meals on wheels. WAINFLEET That is just wrong. Jake, pumping his chair, looks around as -- A huge TRACTOR, taller than a house, ROARS past on muddy wheels. He notices something sticking in the tires -- ARROWS. The neolithic weapons are jarring amid all the advanced technology. Beyond the tractor, two VTOL vehicles take off. Armored and heavily armed, they are AT-99 "SCORPION" GUNSHIPS. MITSUBISHI MK-6 AMPSUITS -- human operated walking machines 4 meters tall -- patrol the perimeter. They are heavily armored, and armed with a huge rotary cannon called a GAU-90. Beyond the outer fence stands a black wall of forest hundreds of feet high. A SENTRY GUN OPENS FIRE from a tower. TRACERS light up the twilight. A shadowy SHAPE SHRIEKS and drops off the fence. It is an armed camp in a state of siege. WAINFLEET and Fike give Jake and his chair the hairy eyeball as he approaches. JAKE What're you two limpdicks starin' at? As Jake rolls past, SOMETHING SWOOPS down behind him and -- 9.         K-KRASH! SMASHES against the chain-link right next to his head. A vicious AERIAL PREDATOR a meter across gnashes glass fangs against the steel. It STABS at him through the chain link with a tail ending in a glistening stiletto. A STINGBAT. WAINFLEET casually BLASTS IT with his PISTOL. It drops off the fence, tail still lashing. WAINFLEET Seen a lotta guys leave this place in a                   wheelchair. Never seen anybody show up                   in one. Jake stares at the gnashing fangs of the dying alien. ON A WALKWAY of the OPS CENTER, seen from above, a UNIFORMED FIGURE grips the railing, watching Jake pump his chair through the tunnel below. The hair is clipped short. The scalp is etched by long parallel SCARS where some Pandoran denizen's claws raked across it. The bare arms, below tightly rolled sleeves, seem hewn out of some hard tropical wood. Criss-crossed by scars. The MAN raises his masked face to look at the sky. He eyes are an icy steel gray. HIS POV -- the mighty POLYPHEMUS seems to fill the sky, beyond the clouds. MAN (V.O.) You are not in Kansas any more... CUT TO: INT. COMMISSARY - TWILIGHT THE MAN from the balcony -- COLONEL MILES QUARITCH -- is the HEAD OF SECURITY for the Hell's Gate colony. A hundred new arrivals watch raptly as he paces like a panther across the front of the large cafeteria. He stops, stance wide. Without his mask, we see that Quaritch's features are rugged and handsome, except for the SCAR, which runs from scalp to         jaw down one side of his face. On one hip he carries a very large PISTOL. QUARITCH ... You are on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen. Respect that fact every second of every day. 10.         JAKE ROLLS IN, watching from the back. COLONEL QUARITCH raises his hand and points out the window, toward the dark treeline. QUARITCH Out beyond that fence every living thing that crawls, flies or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubees. The room gets very quiet. QUARITCH We have an indigenous population of                   humanoids here called the Na'vi. They're                   fond of arrows dipped in a neurotoxin which can stop your heart in one minute. We operate -- we live -- at a constant threat condition yellow. PAN ACROSS the solid faces of miners, Cat-machine drivers, engineers, geologists, as they take that in. QUARITCH As head of security, it's my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed -- (pausing for effect) -- not with all of you. If you wish to                   survive, you need a strong mental attitude, you need to follow procedure...         PUSH IN ON JAKE, watching as the briefing continues. JAKE (V.O.) Nothing like an old-school safety brief to put your mind at ease. CUT TO: INT. CORRIDOR People are roaming in both directions, looking for rooms, lugging duffels and cases. An eager young XENOANTHROPOLOGIST, staggering under an         overpacked duffel, runs to catch up to Jake. NORM Hey, you're Jake right? Tom's brother? You look just like him. (off Jake's wary look) Sorry, I'm Norm Spellman, I went through avatar training with him. 11.         Norm offers his hand and Jake shakes it. NORM He was a great guy -- funny. It was a                   big shock to all of us. JAKE Yeah. Jake pumps the wheels of his chair, rolling on. Norm walks with him. NORM And duh! -- obviously you look like him. I mean, if you weren't genetically identical, you wouldn't be taking over his avatar. JAKE That's why I'm here. NORM So -- you want to go check it out? CUT TO: INT. BIO-LAB - DAY JAKE AND NORM enter the BIO-LAB -- a large lab complex with many adjoining rooms. MAX Me and Norm were out here to drive these remotely controlled bodies called avatars. They're grown from human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives here. A scientist, DOCTOR MAX CULLIMORE, is supervising the uncrating of two SHIPPING CONTAINERS. The nearer has the sides removed, revealing -- a ceiling-height acrylic TANK. Norm stops to stare, and Jake rolls past him as if drawn by         some unseen force, toward -- THE AMNIO TANK. There is a FIGURE floating lanquidly inside, which looks like a man. A very large, very blue, man. Blood circulates through a synthetic UMBILICAL in the abdomen. As the figure turns in the amniotic fluid, we see that it has a lemur-like TAIL. The skin is cyan-blue. Long black hair drifts, graceful as seaweed. JAKE Damn. They got big. 12.                             NORM Yeah, they mature on the trip out. (to Max) So the proprioceptive sims worked pretty well. MAX Yeah, they've got great muscle tone. Give us a few hours, you guys can take them for a spin. THE FIGURE'S sleeping face turns toward us, and the features are -- despite feline ears and a long feral snout -- definitely JAKE'S.                             JAKE It looks like him. NORM No, it looks like you. This is your avatar now, Jake. ON JAKE, mesmerized as he stares into the tank. JAKE (V.O.) The idea is -- every driver is matched to                   his own avatar -- STEREOCAM VIDEO SHOT OF JAKE -- facing the camera, talking directly to the lens. JAKE'S VOICE-OVER up until now has been part of this VIDEOLOG. JAKE -- so their nervous systems are in tune. Or something. Which is why they offered me this gig, because I can link with Tommy's avatar, which was insanely expensive. (looking off camera) Is this right? I just say whatever in                   these videologs? WIDER, showing Norm working nearby with Max. NORM Yeah. You just need to get in the habit of documenting everything -- what you see, what you feel -- it's all part of                   the science. Good science starts with good observation. 13.                             JAKE Right. (to camera) So, whatever. Here I am. Doing science. (looks around) Never been in a lab before. MAX Log off. It's time to meet your boss for the next five years. He leads Jake and Norm through the short corridor to the -- CUT TO: INT. LINK ROOM - DUSK The LINK ROOM contains a dozen PSIONIC LINK UNITS, which look like coffins crossed with MRI scanners. NORM Grace Augustine is a legend. She's the head of the Avatar Program, and she wrote the book -- I mean literally wrote the book -- on Pandoran botany. MAX (low, over his shoulder) That's because she likes plants better than people. DR. GRACE AUGUSTINE sits up in her link, stretching and cracking her neck after a long session. She's fifty, with a         strong face and fiercely intelligent eyes. GRACE (YELLING) Who's got my goddamn cigarette?! A TECH scurries to bring it to her, already lit.  Around here they jump when Grace barks. Grace stands, scowling, as Jake, Norm and Max approach. MAX And here she is, Cinderella back from the ball. Grace, I'd like you to meet Norm Spellman and Ja -- GRACE Norm. I hear good things about you. How's your Na'vi? 14.                             NORM (Na'vi, subtitled) May the All Mother smile upon our first meeting. Grace nods approvingly, taking a drag on her cigarette. GRACE (SUBTITLED) Not bad. You sound a little formal. NORM (SUBTITLED) There is still much to learn. Jake waits while they ignore him, chattering in fluent Na'vi. MAX Uh, Grace, this is Jake S                             GRACE (turning to Jake) Yeah, yeah, I know who you are, and I                   don't need you. I need your brother. (to Max) You know -- the PhD who trained three years for this mission. JAKE He's dead. I know it's a big inconvenience to everyone. GRACE How much lab training have you had? Ever run a gas chromatograph? JAKE No.                             GRACE Any actual lab work at all? JAKE High school chemistry. But I ditched. Grace wheels on Max. GRACE You see? You see? They're pissing on us                   without even the courtesy of calling it                    rain. (turning away) I'm going to Selfridge. 15.         She shoves past Jake. MAX Grace, that's not a good idea. But she's already out the door and clomping down the corridor. Max turns to Jake with a pained look. MAX Here, tomorrow, oh eight hundred. Try to                   use big words. CUT TO: INT. OPS CENTER - DUSK It looks like an air-traffic control tower, with lots of         screens and bay windows showing the whole complex. ADMINISTRATOR PARKER SELFRIDGE takes a ball from a newly opened case of TITLEISTS and sets it on the floor. Selfridge is young, charismatic, focused. Some would say ruthless. He assumes the stance and lines up his putt, toward a         practice cup across the control room floor. He glances up as         Grace strides toward him. GRACE Parker, I used to think it was benign neglect, but now I see you're                   intentionally screwing us. SELFRIDGE Grace. You know I enjoy our little talks. GRACE I need a research assistant, not some jarhead dropout. Selfridge looks down and hits the ball. Grace kicks the practice cup aside, and the ball rolls past. Selfridge looks at her with a sigh. SELFRIDGE Actually, we got lucky with him. GRACE Lucky? How is this in any way lucky? As Selfridge saunters over to retrieve the ball -- 16.                             SELFRIDGE Well -- lucky your guy had a twin brother, and lucky the brother wasn't an                   oral hygienist or something. A Marine we                   can use. I'm assigning him to your team as security escort. GRACE The last thing I need is another trigger happy asshole out there! SELFRIDGE Look, you're supposed to be winning the hearts and minds of the natives. Isn't                   that the whole point of your little puppet show? If you look like them, if                   you talk like them, they'll trust you? Selfridge crosses to his office, behind a glass wall nearby. Grace follows. SELFRIDGE But after -- how many years? -- relations with the indigenous are only getting worse. GRACE That tends to happen when you use machine guns on them. On Selfridge's desk is a magnetic base, and hovering in mid- air, in the invisible field, is a lump of METALLIC ROCK. Pure UNOBTANIUM. He grabs it and holds it up between thumb and forefinger, in front of Grace's eyes. SELFRIDGE This is why we're here. Unobtanium. Because this little gray rock sells for twenty million a kilo. No other reason. This is what pays for the party. And it's what pays for your science. Comprendo? He places it back in the magnetic field. SELFRIDGE Those savages are threatening our whole operation. We're on the brink of war and you're supposed to be finding a                   diplomatic solution. So use what you've                   got and get me some results. CUT TO: 17.         INT. LINK ROOM - DAY NEXT MORNING, GRACE, NORM and JAKE approach their link units. Jake glances through a PRESSURE WINDOW. In an adjoining chamber (the AMBIENT ROOM) JAKE'S AVATAR lies on a gurney, breathing slowly in PANDORAN AIR. NORM'S AVATAR is on a         second gurney. Both are attended by med techs in exo-masks. Norm slips into his LINK CHAIR, expertly donning biometric sensors. GRACE How much link time have you logged? NORM Five hundred and twenty hours. Grace looks pointedly at Jake. JAKE Like -- an hour. GRACE Tell me you're joking. Grace opens the hood of Jake's link unit. Jake starts hauling himself across from his wheelchair. She reaches to         help him but -- JAKE Don't!  I got this. Grace steps back, hands raised. He drags himself into the unit. GRACE So you just figured you'd come out here to the most hostile environment known to                   man, with no training of any kind, and see how it went? What was going through your head? He meets her eyes with a defiant glare. JAKE Maybe I was just tired of doctors telling me what I couldn't do. Grace watches him laboriously pull his inert legs into the link chair by hand. 18.         Jake settles into the warm fluid gel packs lining the unit. It seems to enfold him. Grace adjusts his biometric sensors, then lowers the UPPER CLAMSHELL -- GRACE Relax and let your mind go blank. That shouldn't be hard for you. JAKE Kiss the darkest part of my lily white -- But the SLAMMING HOOD muffles the rest. MAX Initiate link. The LINK TECH touches some controls. ON A LARGE MONITOR a 3D SCAN of Jake's brain appears. Regions of activity flow with complex shifting colors. MAX That's a gorgeous brain. Nice activity. GRACE Go figure. (walking away) Alright, I'm going in. TECH Phase-lock at forty percent. He's in                   transition. Max watches a display showing the avatar's nervous system aligning with Jake's -- two ghostly networks of light merging. MAX That's it. Find your way home. ECU JAKE, inside the link unit. His eyes move under the lids, like a dreamer in REM sleep as -- INSIDE JAKE'S MIND -- radiant streamers coalesce into a         pulsing TUNNEL OF LIGHT and -- THE SCREEN FLARES WHITE -- ZZZWHAP! -- resolving into an         overexposed, out-of-focus image -- two BLURRY FACES wearing masks, looking down. ECU JAKE'S AVATAR -- two very intense eyes FILL FRAME, the pupils contracting. Golden irises pulse with life. 19.                              MAX He's in. TECH Phase-lock ninety nine percent. The link is stable. Blinking, Jake slowly sits up on the gurney. He looks down at his AVATAR BODY, touching his chest with one hand. MAX Take it slow, Jake. We need to check your motor control. Try touching your fingertips together -- But Jake isn't listening. He's staring at his legs. He         eases them off the gurney and -- HIS BLUE FEET touch the concrete floor, taking his weight. JAKE STANDS, feeling the strength in his legs. His expression is child-like with wonder. HIS POV -- looking down at the med techs, who seem the size of children next to his 9' tall frame. He sees something like a blue tentacle curl across his arm and he JERKS AROUND in alarm. HIS TAIL. As he turns to see it, the tail sweeps instruments off a         table with a crash. Jake laughs and grins at Max. MED TECH Easy, Jake, I need you to sit down -- But Jake takes a step, then another. The wires to the bio- monitors pull taut, and he yanks them off his chest. MAX Jake! Wait, we have to run some tests -- But Jake pushes past the protesting med techs, toward the door and -- EXT. AVATAR COMPOUND - DAY Jake emerges, blinking in the morning sun. He finds himself in the AVATAR COMPOUND -- a living and training area. Nearby, a couple of AVATARS are playing one-on-one in front of a (non-regulation height) basketball net. Others go about their daily activities around the compound. 20.         Jake flexes his legs -- JUMPS -- and lands a little unsteadily, but his expression is joyful. He takes a few steps and breaks into a RUN. People are calling to him, somehwere, but he doesn't hear them -- he's         running. RUNNING! He finds himself in the COMPOUND GARDEN, and stops amid neatly tended rows of ALIEN PLANTS. He looks down, wiggling his toes in the warm soil. Then inhales deeply -- revelling in the alien smells -- earth, plants, the nearby forest. He         looks at his bare footprint in the soil of an alien world. GRACE (O.S.) Hey Marine! Jake turns at the familiar voice to see -- A statuesque FEMALE AVATAR walking toward him. AVATAR GRACE is magnificent, with panther thighs, flat muscular stomach and firm athlete's breasts. She wears shorts and a T-shirt. In human years she would be about 35. JAKE Grace? GRACE Well who'd you expect, numbnuts? Think fast! She throws him a piece of Pandoran fruit, which he catches. GRACE Motor control is looking good. Jake bites into the fruit, the juice running down his chin. NORM (O.S.) Hey, check it out. Jake turns to see NORM'S AVATAR posing like a bodybuilder -- chest shot, back shot, bi's.                             NORM I am a living god. CUT TO: EXT. MINE PIT - DAY A WIDE SHOT of the terraced crater of the UNOBTANIUM MINE. A         quiet beat, then -- 21.         K-WHOOOOM! The entire face of one terrace is blown skyward in a chain of EXPLOSIONS. The "shot" blasts hundreds of tons of rock loose. LONG LENS ANGLES of enormous WHEEL-LOADERS shovelling up ore- rich rock and dropping it into DUMP TRUCKS. EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY A wall of steel FILLS FRAME. The DOZER BLADE crushes everything in its path, reducing trees to kindling. WIDER, showing the CLEAR-CUTTING operation near the mine, as         a road is cut through the jungle. Remotely operated DOZERS three stories tall rip into the tree-line. One of the dozers has rotating SLASH-CUTTER, a vicious spinning head, mounted on a hydraulic arm, that hogs through the enormous tree trunks in a spray of wood-shrapnel. The heavy machines are escorted by AMPSUITS. COLONEL QUARITCH, on foot, leads a squad of troopers wearing breathing masks and carrying almighty big AUTOMATIC WEAPONS. A BANSHEE -- a fearsome aerial predator -- HURTLES from above, diving toward them on wings 3 meters across. We get a         glimpse of glassy fangs before -- P-P-POOM! Quaritch cranks off three rapid SHOTS with his massive sidearm, and the creature drops with a SHRIEK. It crashes near them and Quaritch FIRES two more well placed rounds. The newbies stare at the thing's barracuda teeth. QUARITCH For you pogues, this is a banshee. A                   small one. See, they like it when I                   bring fresh meat out here. And this clearcutting really stirs up the hornet's                   nest. So keep your head on a swivel. If                   it moves, shoot it. If you're not sure it's moving -- shoot it! If it looks like a bunch of flowers you want to take home to Sally Rottencrotch -- SHOOT IT! What're you gonna do? TROOPERS Shoot it, sir!                             QUARITCH Outstanding. Let's roll. 22.         Quaritch leads his squad into the gloom of the forest, his eyes scanning. Flanking the squad, LYLE WAINFLEET drives an         AMPSUIT, his massive feet CRASHING through the underbrush. As his gaze comes down, he sees something ahead of him on the trail -- an intricate TOTEM of woven sticks, bones and feathers hanging across the trail like an orb-weaver's web. He tears it down with the barrel of his rifle, and stomps it         into the mud as he moves on. INT. AVATAR LONGHOUSE - DUSK Jake sits on a wooden bed in a long hut of tropical-style construction -- beamed ceiling, open sides covered by screen. Around him the other avatars are bedding down for the night, pulling insect netting around their cots. In one hand, Jake holds the end of his long braided QUEUE of hair. CLOSE ON the queue -- the ends of the hair writhe slowly with their own life, like tendrils of a sea creature. JAKE That's kinda freaky. GRACE switches off the overheads. GRACE Lights out amigos. See ya' at dinner. Jake sits in the twilight, listening to the SCREECHES and HOOTS from the forest. Finally he lies down, CLOSING HIS EYES and -- INT. LINK ROOM - NIGHT ECU HUMAN JAKE -- his eyes OPEN. Jake blinks, disoriented, as Max opens the upper clamshell of         his link unit. In the next chair Grace sits up, yawning and cracking her neck as the scared tech runs to her with a lit cigarette. GRACE (looking down) Damn. Same old sack a' bones. JAKE struggles with the dead weight of his legs as he hauls himself out of the unit. CUT TO                                                                   23. INT. COMMISSARY - EARLY MORNING JAKE sits with GRACE, NORM and the other avatar "drivers", while around them miners, troopers and other base personnel wolf their breakfasts. Grace is engaged in a heated conversation with another SCIENTIST. Jake, isolated from the conversations around him, notices -- PILOT TRUDY CHACON approaching, dressed in her flight suit. She's a rock-hard former Marine with thousands of flight hours out in the badlands. TRUDY Sully -- Colonel wants to see you in the Armor Bay. Jake gives Norm a puzzled glance and pivots from the table. He wheels away, led by Trudy. TIGHT ON GRACE, scowling as she watches him go. CUT TO: INT. ARMOR BAY - MORNING JAKE AND TRUDY enter the ARMOR BAY, passing TILT-ROTORS under repair. There are the heavily armed SCORPIONS as well as         several SA-2 SAMSON work-horses outfitted with door guns and rocket pods. JAKE You guys're packing some heavy ordinance. TRUDY Yeah, `cause we're not the only thing flyin' around out there. Or the biggest. I'm gonna need you on a door gun, I'm a                   man short. JAKE Yeah, no problem. She extends her fist and he taps it with his. TRUDY See ya on the flight-line, zero nine. (she points) He's down there. Jake rolls his chair along the central gallery of the Armor Bay, passing rows of AMPSUITS standing in service racks. Techs clamber over the `suits, loading ordinance with cranes and lifts. 24.         At the end of the row is a makeshift GYM area. QUARITCH is         bench-pressing massive plates. QUARITCH This low gravity makes you soft. (pushing the last rep) You get soft, Pandora will shit you out dead with zero warning. Quaritch racks the bar and sits up, sweating but not winded. QUARITCH I pulled your record, Corporal. Venezuela -- that was some mean bush. Nothing like this here, though. You got heart kid, coming out here. JAKE I figured -- just another hellhole. Quaritch chuckles appreciatively, claps him on the shoulder. The CHIEF MECHANIC yells from the nearest AMPSUIT -- MECHANIC That servo's in, Colonel, if you want to                   try it. Quaritch crosses to the `suit, with Jake following. QUARITCH I was in First Recon a few years ahead of                   you. More than a few. Two tours in                   Nigeria, not a scratch. I come out here and -- He points to his scarred face. QUARITCH They could fix this if I rotated back. But you know what? I kinda like it. Reminds me every day what's out there. Besides, I can't leave -- He looks out, as if he can see through the wall to the tree- line. QUARITCH This is my war, here. Quaritch climbs the `suit and reaches into the cockpit, throwing some switches. The `suit's gas-turbine spools up         with a rising WHINE. 25.                             QUARITCH The avatar program is a joke -- buncha limpdick scientists. But we have a                   unique opportunity here, you and I. A                    recon Marine in an avatar body could get me the intel I need, on the ground, right in the hostiles' camp. The WHINE is now a roaring WHOOSH as the `suit trembles with power. The air boils above the exhaust vents. Quaritch reaches in and operates the controls, flexing one huge hand. He nods to the waiting mechanic -- QUARITCH Looks good. (to Jake) I need you to learn about these savages, gain their trust. Find out how I can force their cooperation, or hit `em hard if they don't. Maybe you can keep some of my boys from going home like you. Or                   bagged-and-tagged. JAKE (NODDING) That sounds real good, Colonel. So -- am                   I still with Augustine? QUARITCH On paper. You walk like one of her science pukes, you quack like one, but you report to me. Can you do that for me? Jake nods. Quaritch brings the `suit to life. He steps forward and pivots smoothly. He balances the two ton machine on one foot while sweeping the arms in strong, graceful arcs. Jake realizes he is doing a WU-SHOO KATA. A flawless display of strength and control. He's impressive, and Jake is impressed. Quaritch is the kind of man he respects -- focused, hard. Determined. QUARITCH Look, son -- I take care of my own. Get me what I need, I'll see you get your legs back when you rotate home. Your real legs. He raises the `suit's hand, and slams the canopy shut like the visor of a helmet. Jake watches Quaritch walk past, huge feet CLANGING -- KUNG! KUNG! KUNG! 26.         INT. BIO LAB - DAY GRACE is on the move, gulping coffee, in a hurry to get their FIRST SORTIE started. She hands a clipboard to MAX. GRACE Start calibrating. We're on the flight line in ten minutes. Max nods and jogs ahead toward the LINK ROOM. JAKE and NORM fall in with Grace as they enter the CONNECTING CORRIDOR. GRACE What did Atilla want? JAKE Just Marines comparin' tattoos. GRACE (not buying it) Yeah. Well, listen to me, Marine -- She stops, turning to drill him with a look. GRACE -- you're driving an avatar, now. That means you're in my world, got it? JAKE Got it. She turns and enters the LINK ROOM. INT. LINK ROOM Grace crosses to the controls of Jake's LINK UNIT. As the others catch up -- GRACE That son of a bitch has screwed up this program enough. All this -- (indicating link room) -- exists so we can go out there and build a bridge of trust to these people, who could teach us so much. But thanks to Quaritch and his thugs the Na'vi won't                   even talk to us anymore. JAKE Then how's this supposed to work? 27.                             GRACE We have a new face. (turning to Norm) You're fluent, you've studied the culture. You're non-threatening. The ones we know best -- the Omaticaya clan -- may give you a chance. Maybe you can get them back to the table before things go                   tits-up for good. NORM This is failing as a pep talk. Jake hauls himself across from wheelchair to link. JAKE How do we contact them? GRACE We don't. They contact us. If they see us taking our samples, treating the forest with respect -- (pointedly to Jake) Not trampling everything in sight -- they may reach out to us. JAKE Or they may skin us and make a drum. Jake lies back, lowering the sensor array over his body. GRACE Just keep your mouth shut and let Norm do                   the talking. She closes his clamshell, HARD, and we -- CUT TO: EXT. RAIN FOREST / AERIAL - DAY FLYING over a carpet of rainforest, past sheer cliffs and cloud-wreathed mesas. TRUDY'S SAMSON TILT-ROTOR chases its shadow across the treetops. Though big as a Blackhawk, it is         tiny in the vast primeval landscape. ANGLE THROUGH the open side doors of the Samson. Trooper WAINFLEET, in exo-mask and body armor, leans on his door gun, scanning for aerial predators. In avatar form JAKE, GRACE and NORM watch the forest unrolling beneath them, the wind blasting their clothes. Jake mans the other door gun, his feet propped on the skids. 28.         TRUDY flies from a pressurized cockpit. She banks to follow a         shallow river. TRUDY (INTERCOM) Sturmbeest herd, one o'clock. Norm grins and points, excitedly. Jake looks in time to see-- A herd of STURMBEEST -- massive six-legged creatures reminiscent of buffalo -- thundering across the river. GRACE Looks like a bull, six cows and some juveniles. NORM The bull has the red on the dorsal armor? Grace nods approvingly. TIME CUT -- Hundreds of purple winged creatures take flight from a lake, startled by the Samson. They skim the water above their own reflections. TETRAPTERONS. TIME CUT -- the ground drops away as the Samson flies over a         WATERFALL hundreds of feet high. Trudy banks hard, rolling in on the gorge below like it's a gun-run. Wainfleet WHOOPS while Norm looks like he's about to puke. WAINFLEET Yo Chacon! Get some! Jake grins into the airstream. CUT TO: EXT. CLEARING - DAY A small meadow among towering trees. The fern-like "grass" is beaten down in waves by the rotor-wash as the Samson settles to the ground. Jake pulls the massive door gun off its pintle mount and hefts it like an assault rifle. He and Wainfleet leap out to secure the LZ, scanning the tree- line warily, weapons aimed. Grace jogs forward to the cockpit, motioning Trudy to shut down. Trudy kills the Samson's TURBINES. Grace, towering over Wainfleet, motions him to hang back. 29.                             GRACE Stay with the ship. (for Jake) One idiot with a gun's enough. WAINFLEET Whatever you say, Doc. Jake takes point as they enter the jungle. WAINFLEET (LAUGHING) Ya'll have fun out there. EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY The forest engulfs JAKE, GRACE and NORM in cyan gloom. The shadows are alive with the CHITTERING sounds of unseen alien wildlife. TRACKING WITH JAKE as he moves through the foliage, hyper- alert -- looking around like a tourist in Hell.A monkey-like PROLEMURIS leaping from limb to limb overhead, flashing through the sunlight streaming down in shafts. A PLANT with swaying tendrils which reach toward Jake as he         passes. This forest is more alive than any on Earth, with plants that react and move like animals. Jake white-knuckles his rifle as if every shadow conceals razor-fanged death. GRACE Relax, Marine. You're making me nervous. She pushes ahead of him on the trail, forcing him to lower his muzzle as he follows her. Grace moves nimbly on the path, seemingly unconcerned. CUT TO: EXT. FOREST/ GLEN WIDE SHOT as the party moves between the huge trees, tiny as         ants. The trail has gotten steeper, the going tougher. CUT TO: EXT. SCHOOL RUINS - DAY They enter a clearing with an OVERGROWN BUILDING made of         timbers cut from the local trees, with a thatch roof. It is         covered with vines as the jungle reclaims it. 30.                             NORM How will they know we're here? GRACE I'm sure they're watching us right now. Norm gulps. Jake looks behind him as they approach the school, feeling unseen eyes. CUT TO: INT. SCHOOL RUINS TRACKING WITH JAKE'S BOOTS as he steps among dried leaves and a few moldering CHILDREN'S BOOKS. Floorboards CREAK. GRACE (O.S.) The kids were so bright, so eager to                   learn... they picked up English faster than I could teach it to them. WIDER as Jake explores the room. Grace and Norm are selecting INSTRUMENTS from storage cases on a wooden table. GRACE Bring the soil probe -- right there, yellow case. Jake looks up at a RUSTLING among the dark rafters. Roosting STINGBATS eye him warily, fluttering their wings. Grace picks up a moldering copy of "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss from the floor and puts it back on a shelf. GRACE (WISTFULLY) The stingbats knock them off. I guess I                   always hope somebody will come back and read them. NORM Why don't they come back? GRACE (GRIMLY) The Na'vi learned as much about us as                   they needed to know. Jake sees something, and approaches the blackboard -- reaches out to touch a pattern of holes blasted into the slate. Unmistakably BULLET HOLES. 31.                             JAKE (turning to her) What happened here? GRACE (SHARPLY) Are you going to help with this gear? We've got a lot to do. She turns away. Jake watches her as he jams equipment into his pack. CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY CLOSE ON Grace's blue hand gently brushing away soil, exposing a tangle of ROOT TENDRILS. GRACE See, right here where the roots of the two trees interact. WIDER -- GRACE and NORM crouch among enormous octopoidal roots. She takes a tiny sample using a needle-like probe. Norm uses a digital DEVICE to scan the roots. JAKE, bored, scouts ahead a few meters. He comes to a GLADE filled with shoulder-high SPIRAL PLANTS called HELICORADIANS. He BRUSHES one and SHTOONK! -- it SUCKS DOWN into a tube in         the ground so quickly it seems to simply vanish. Curious, Jake touches another -- SHTOONK! And another -- like popping balloons after a party. SHTOONK! SHTOONK! SHTOONK! A chain reaction begins and the whole colony pulls down into the ground, REVEALING -- A HAMMERHEAD TITANOTHERE. Like a six-legged rhinoceros, but twice that size. Its massive, low-slung head has projections of bone giving it the look of a hammerhead shark. Its baleful eyes lock onto him. Jake raises his rifle. Grace, alerted by the creature's SNORTS, runs to where she can see the tableau. She presses her THROAT MIKE. GRACE Don't shoot. You'll piss it off. 32.         The bull HAMMERHEAD bellows and lowers its 3 meter wide sledgehammer of a skull. JAKE It's already pissed off! GRACE Jake, that armor's too thick. Trust me. Jake starts to back away. The hammerhead bellows again, pawing the earth. GRACE It's a territorial threat display. Do not run, or he'll charge. JAKE What do I do? GRACE Hold your ground! The hammerhead SLASHES its head sideways, splintering saplings. It bellows again, lowers its head and CHARGES -- Jake SCREAMS at the top of his lungs, spreads his arms wide and runs straight at the thing. It STOPS abruptly, with an oversized BLEAT. ON JAKE -- amazed the gambit worked. JAKE Oh yeah! Who's bad?! That's right. SOMETHING rises up behind him out of focus -- A THANATOR. The most awesome land predator the universe has ever conceived This thing could eat a T-rex and have the Alien for desert. It is a black six-limbed panther from Hell, with an armored head and massive distensible jaws. JAKE, unaware of the advancing thanator, is still bracing the hammerhead -- JAKE That's what I'm talkin' about, bitch! The bull wheels around, TRUMPETING in fear, and CRASHES away through splintering undergrowth. 33.                             JAKE That's right motherf-- A guttural SNARL behind him. Jake spins in time to see -- THREE TONS of rippling thanator LAUNCH over him, landing between him and the hammerhead. The ground shakes. The thanator emits an earsplitting ROAR, enraged that the hammerhead got away. It twists on itself, turning to face Jake, and bares its fangs with a lethal HISS. JAKE What about this one? Run, don't run? What? GRACE Run. Definitely RUN! Jake BOLTS as -- The thanator LEAPS after him and -- Jake launches himself between two large trunks, forcing the beast to claw its way around to the side while -- Jake scrambles up -- around -- over a tangle of roots and -- SK-RASH!! CLAWS SLASH the air behind him, EXPLODING bark off a trunk as -- JAKE wills himself forward in a frenzy. With rippling muscle the beast is airborne again, blacking out the sun but -- JAKE dives under a massive root system, and -- CRASH! Kindling rains around him as the beast tears into the root-trunks above him. Claws SLASH down next to him as he         rolls and crawls -- Glistening jaws SMASH and SNAP against the barrier trunks, sending chunks of wood flying. It's spittle sprays across Jake, jaws inches away as -- He rolls onto his back, and FIRES his AR point blank but the rifle is SNATCHED out of his hands. The beast SCREECHES an         ungodly WAIL of pain and rage and -- RIPS the ENTIRE TRUNK away. Jake scrambles to escape but -- GLISTENING JAWS lunge downward, SNAP SHUT and -- The creature rips Jake out of the tree, shaking him like a         junkyard dog with a rabbit, only -- 34.         It has him by the BACKPACK, so Jake unlatches it and -- He FLIES FREE as the thanator crushes the pack with its teeth. Giving Jake a moment to sprint away, but -- With a hideous BELLOW the thanator crashes after him, splintering trees. JAKE RUNS in a blur, dodging between trunks as a glistening black tornado shreds the forest behind him and -- He sees WATER ahead and DIVES OUTWARD with all his might -- The thanator's jaws SNAP SHUT inches behind him as he flies out into open space and -- JAKE SPLASHES down into a swiftly moving river. The thanator LEAPS DOWN AFTER HIM, pursuing from rock to         rock, its claws swiping like a grizzly fishing for salmon. Jake ducks under as -- FWHOOSH! -- black claws SLASH past his face amid turbulent bubbles. A WATERFALL ahead. Jake is swept over the falls, with the thanator SWIPING at him from a rock, just MISSING and -- Jake disappears down the throat of the thundering cataract. EXT. RIVER BELOW FALLS - DAY The water boils below the cataract. Jake's head bursts through the surface, and he gasps for breath. He is carried along by the current, but manages to grab a         limb on a fallen tree. He weakly pulls himself up, and just lies there gasping on the trunk. Above him, on the cliff, the THANATOR BELLOWS, a roar which echoes across the jungle. CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY JAKE, wet and bruised, crouches under a screen of giant leaves. He hacks manically at the end of a cut sapling with his knife, forming a crude but sharp tip. EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY TRACKING with Jake as he walks through the forest like it's a         minefield, carrying his SPEAR white-knuckled. He is freaked and hyper-alert. 35.         The trees here are a hundred meters high, blocking out the sky. A few pencil beams of sunlight filter down into the cyan gloom. POV FROM ABOVE -- looking down through leaves we watch Jake move warily through the forest. ECU -- TWO GOLDEN EYES, bright in the shadows. DOWNANGLE as Jake passes under a tree limb. Invisible to         him, draped on the limb like a leopard, is a striking NA'VI          GIRL. She watches, only her eyes moving. She is lithe as a cat, with a long neck, muscular shoulders, and nubile breasts. And she is devastatingly beautiful -- for a girl with a tail. In human age she would be 18. Her name is NEYTIRI(nay-Tee-ree). Jake passes less than 2 meters beneath her, oblivious. NEYTIRI rises soundlessly. In one fluid, sinuous movement she NOCKS an arrow to her BOW and DRAWS, aiming RIGHT AT         JAKE. Utterly silent. Below her Jake is totally unaware of the arrow aimed at his THROAT. ON NEYTIRI as she follows him with the bow, muscles tensing for the shot -- -- and SOMETHING drifts down in front of her, F.G.   She hesitates. RACK FOCUS to the tip of the arrow -- where a single WOODSPRITE floats down to land on the arrow-head.Like a         dandelion seed, but larger, the WOODSPRITE waves its silky CILIA, feather light, as it balances on the deadly point. It         glows faintly in the dark shadows. NEYTIRI frowns, puzzled, and LOWERS her bow slowly. The woodsprite WHIRLS away into the gloom. CUT TO: INT./EXT. SAMSON - SUNSET GRACE and NORM peer down into the shadowed forest as TRUDY banks in a search pattern. TRUDY (INTERCOM) I'm going to have to call it, guys. We're                   not allowed to run night ops. Colonel's                   orders. 36.         Grace looks to the west. The sun setting behind alien trees. GRACE Shit. TRUDY Sorry, Doc. He's just gonna have to hang on `till morning. GRACE He's not going to make it till morning. Grace stares into the dark forest as the Samson banks hard, thundering away toward the setting sun. CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - NIGHT LONG LENS-- POLYPHEMUS. The giant planet rises behind the black trees. Jake's got a new problem. He sees shapes moving with liquid grace in the NIGHT shadows behind him. He is being stalked by         a pack of VIPERWOLVES. Jake catches only glimpses -- a glint of eyes, a slinking black movement -- then nothing. Darkness. TIME CUT -- TIGHT ON Jake's hands as he knots his T-shirt around the butt end of the spear. ANGLE ON THICK SAP trickling down a tree-trunk. Jake jams the makeshift torch into the sap, soaking the shirt with it. A WATERPROOF MATCH from his survival kit lights the torch. The torch creates a pool of light surrounded by pulsing, leaping shadows. Jake turns warily as he moves along the trail. Behind him are several pairs of reflective green EYES. Another pair flanking him beside the trail. Black-on-black SHAPES which seem to flow like liquid. He looks up -- sees one cross a limb overhead. Another on         his opposite flank. Then a hideous sound, like a hyena's psychotic LAUGH. The VIPERWOLVES can run like a dog and climb like a monkey. They are hunting Jake from the ground and the trees. 37.         JAKE RUNS by torch-light, on the edge of panic. He reaches a         steep banked stream and -- without thinking -- runs across it          on a horizontal trunk -- -- and STOPS DEAD on the other side. The torch illuminates GREEN EYES cutting ahead of him across the trail. The viperwolves have him encircled. The psychotic BARKS become more intense as they signal each other, getting excited. ONE MAKES A RUN at him, angling on         his legs from behind but -- JAKE WHIRLS, jamming the torch in its face. It yips and goes past, but ANOTHER moves in -- He jabs it with the business end of the spear and it SNARLS, retreating, baring its fangs. Now half a dozen are circling him in the open, and he sees what he's up against. The VIPERWOLVES are six-limbed with shiny chitinous skin, their paws leathery BLACK HANDS. Intelligent eyes. Glistening black teeth in dead white gums. Jake realizes that he is making his final stand. He whirls the torch in an arc, keeping them at bay -- And feels a rush of adrenaline. It goes through him like a         lightning bolt and the fear is gone. JAKE (SCREAMING) I don't have all goddamn night! Come on! Come on! With snarls and a blur of motion THEY ATTACK. Jake CRACKS the spear down on one, then SPINS as -- ANOTHER LEAPS at him and he plants the spear in it, striking true, but -- Its momentum wrenches it from his hands, and the torch goes flying. Left in semi-darkness, Jake draws his KNIFE as-- A WOLF LUNGES, sinking its teeth into his arm. He YELLS in         pain and fury, SLASHING with the knife which -- CUTS deep into the beast's shoulder and it lets go. JAKE SPRINTS, trying to escape, but a snarling viperwolf leaps, GRABBING him by the ankle with its fore-hand. Jake tears away, sprawling, SCRAMBLING to get up as -- 38.         THREE WOLVES charge at once. The nearest LEAPS at his throat just as -- THUNK!! -- an ARROW appears in its chest. The wolf lands on him, already a dead weight. He pushes it         off in time to see -- A BLUE AMAZON emerge from the trees, nock another arrow, draw and FIRE in one fluid motion. AN UNEARTHLY YOWL as another wolf falls. NEYTIRI LEAPS right over Jake, and CRACKS her bow down on the skull of a circling wolf. ANOTHER SPRINGS at her and she drops under its weight, but rolls, coming up on top of it with a knife in her hand. Her knife FLASHES down, buried to the hilt in its chest. SNARLING, a wounded wolf attacks Jake, and he KICKS it away, but -- It SPINS and leaps back onto him, and Jake barely catches its throat in time to keep the SNAPPING JAWS away from his face. MEANWHILE Neytiri swings her bow in a big arc, CRACKING IT         across the heads and shoulders of two remaining wolves. NEYTIRI Rrreeyaaah! Hyaaaah!! The wolves slink and circle, yelping as the bow whistles past them. Finally they break and run, with Neytiri chasing and-- They bound away through the foliage as she SHOUTS after them-- NEYTIRI Raaaarrrr! Jake has his adversary pinned and is choking it with all his weight. Finally it stops thrashing. Panting, he releases it         and looks up at -- NEYTIRI. Her tail LASHES as she scans the forest, listening to the fading YELPS of the wolves. Satisfied the attack is         over, she turns. She regards him coldly for a second, then walks past him. Neytiri picks up the torch and extinguishes it in a stream. JAKE Wait, don't -- 39.         Jake blinks around at the darkness -- realizing he can still see. In fact, with the blinding torchlight gone, the forest is transformed. The jungle has come alive with BIOLUMINESCENCE -- spots and patterns, ghosts and galaxies of blue-green light. Jake scrambles to recover his spear. Neytiri kneels beside -- A DYING WOLF. It's CRIES are pitiful. It paws the air, trying to raise its head. She pulls her KNIFE from its chest. NEYTIRI (in Na'vi) Forgive me, my brother. She cuts its throat, ending the pitiful cries. She touches its head gently, regarding it with sadness. Neytiri wipes the knife and returns it to the sheath at her waist. She crosses to another slain wolf and kneels, pulling the arrow from its heart. JAKE Look, um, I know you probably don't                   understand this. But -- thanks. Thank you. I owe you. Neytiri ignores him, assuming a prayer posture over the dead animal. NEYTIRI (in Na'vi) Forgive me. May your spirit run with the Great Mother. JAKE I would have been screwed if you hadn't                   come along -- She rises and walks away without looking at Jake. JAKE Hey, wait. Wait! Where you goin'? He crashes through some plants, catching up to her. JAKE Slow down a second will you. I just want to thank you for killing those -- He makes the mistake of grasping her shoulder and -- 40.         WHACK! She WALLOPS him upside the head with her bow in a         fierce backhand swing, laying him out flat. He looks up to see a FURY standing over him. A Fury who speaks English -- accented, halting, angry English. NEYTIRI Don't thank! You don't thank for this! This is sad. Very sad, only. JAKE Okay, I'm sorry. Whatever I did -- I'm                   sorry. She gestures at the bodies of the viperwolves. NEYTIRI All this is your fault! They did not need to die. JAKE They attacked me. How'm I the bad guy HERE-- She silences him with the tip of her bow at his throat. NEYTIRI Your fault! You are like a baby, making noise, don't know what to do. You should not come here, all of you! You only come and make problems. Only. Jake gets up, slowly, facing her. JAKE Okay, fine, you love your little forest friends. So why not just let them kill my ass? What's the thinking? CU Neytiri -- looking away. Finally, reluctantly, her eyes MEET HIS for the first time -- a riveting gaze with those big gold orbs. NEYTIRI Why save you? JAKE Yes, why save me? NEYTIRI You have a strong heart. No fear. She leans closer -- 41.                             NEYTIRI But stupid! Ignorant like a child! She turns away, stalking off, but Jake goes after her. TRACKING WITH Neytiri as she climbs nimbly along a huge ROOT. WIDER as she trots with perfect balance along the root, which forms an elevated walkway. Jake runs to catch up, realizing suddenly that he is far above the forest floor. Throughout the following they move through a GLOWING PHANTASMAGORICAL FOREST. JAKE If I'm so ignorant, maybe you should teach me. NEYTIRI Sky people can not learn. You do not See. She leaps to another elevated root. Jake follows, surprised that he made it. JAKE Whooaa. He runs to catch up with her easy jogging pace. JAKE Then teach me to "see." She stops and he almost runs into her. NEYTIRI No one can teach you to See. Then she turns and trots on. EXT. GORGE - NIGHT They run across the elevated root of an enormous tree -- a         horizontal trunk big as an oak. WIDE SHOT as they cross a DEEP GORGE. A waterfall shimmers silver in the Polyphemus-light. Vines hang down a hundred feet into the gorge, and among them swoop stingbats and other night flyers. JAKE Hey, slow down. Look, I think we just got off on the wrong foot and -- 42.         Jake looks down, suddenly aware of the height. JAKE --you just have to get to know me. I'm                   Jake. Jake Sull-- A vine catches his spear and spins him off balance. He drops the spear and almost falls off the root. JAKE Whooaaa -- shit! Neytiri catches him with one hand, gripping his bicep. He         watches the spear cartwheel down to splash in the river. She pulls him upright. Shouts at him in English and Na'vi. JAKE I need your help. NEYTIRI You should not be here. JAKE So take me with you. NEYTIRI No. You go back. DOWN ANGLE FROM FAR ABOVE -- several WOODSPRITES float down through the trees. FOLLOW THEM as they descend silently toward Jake and Neytiri. NEYTIRI, sensing a presence, looks up to see -- The WOODSPRITES, PULSING with purpose, float right towards Jake. They dance gently around his shoulders and head. JAKE (off her amazed look) What? More woodsprites gather around him. Several ALIGHT on him. Jake holds still, knowing he should be afraid -- but somehow he's not. He spreads his arms. More sprites come, landing all over his arms, hands, body. JAKE What are they? CU NEYTIRI -- reacting with a mixture of wonder and dread. 43.                             NEYTIRI Atokirina'. Seeds of the Great Tree -- very pure spirits. Jake -- now a pulsing, glowing, fluttering MASS OF LIGHT -- moves one hand slowly, not wanting to break the spell. He         studies one of the sprites dancing on his palm until -- -- WHOOSSHH! the woodsprites whirl up and away, scattering into the darkness. JAKE What was that all about? Neytiri seems shaken. She seizes his hand and pulls him after her. NEYTIRI Come! CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - NIGHT TRACKING WITH JAKE as he gazes about him in growing wonder. He touches leaves as he passes, watching the bioluminescence shiver through them. Jake looks down as -- they cross a bed of purple MOSS which reacts to the pressure of their footsteps. Rings of green light, like ripples on a pond, expand outward from each footfall. Exploding rings of light where his feet touch down. Dream-like, surreal beauty. WIDE ON THEM as they run over a large root, across a mirror- like POOL at the base of a WATERFALL. Jake follows Neytiri, running along a raised root-trunk. JAKE What's your name? JAKE hears WHOOSH-WHOOSH and snaps a look as a BOLO flies at         him, spinning end for end and -- SHWHAP!! -- tangles around his legs. He topples off the root and crashes into the foliage below. JAKE untangles himself, getting up to run just as -- SEVERAL NA'VI RIDERS thunder toward him. They are riding DIREHORSES -- six-legged, armor-skinned alien Clydesdales. 44.         We see that the riders' QUEUES are connected to the horses' long moth-like antennae -- a neural-link with which they can command the horse, leaving hands free for weapons. The riders aim bows and spears at Jake as they approach. Jake turns to bolt, but -- NA'VI HUNTERS melt out of the shadows, weapons aimed -- blocking his retreat. Neytiri drops to the ground next to Jake and confronts the LEAD RIDER. She shouts sharply in Na'vi -- NEYTIRI (SUBTITLED) Tsu'tey, what are you doing?! He is my                   captive! TSU'TEY(tsu-Tay)is young and powerfully built, with sculpted features and a proud jawline, piercing eyes. Tsu'tey swings off his mount with fluid grace. TSU'TEY (SUBTITLED) These demons are forbidden here. I will kill this one as a lesson to the others! Tsu'tey draws his bow but Neytiri leaps between him and Jake, confronting him warrior to warrior. NEYTIRI (SUBTITLED) Stop! There has been a sign. This is a                   matter for the Tsahik. Tsu'tey clenches his jaw with frustration -- frustration with her as much as the situation. He turns and angrily remounts his direhorse, barking a command to the HUNTERS. TSU'TEY (SUBTITLED) Bring him. They grab Jake and haul him to his feet. Encircled by spears and bows, he is shoved forward along the trail, as Tsu'tey and the others ride ahead. CUT TO: EXT. HOMETREE - NIGHT JAKE is hauled roughly toward Neytiri's village, which is         sheltered inside one of the GREAT TREES. HOMETREE is 250 meters tall, with a trunk four times the diameter of the largest Sequoia, and a base of massive mangrove-pillars. 45.         TSU'TEY rides inside the columns at the base of Hometree, shouting an ululating WARNING. Jake is force-marched through the pillars into -- INT. COMMONS/HOMETREE - NIGHT An open CENTRAL AREA. The villagers gather to see the arriving hunt party. We see the people of the tribe -- mothers with babies, old women, young hunters. They gawk at the alien, expressions ranging from curiosity to         outright hostility. The huge eyes of the children follow him. Jake is amazed at the size of HOMETREE inside. By the light of the COOK-FIRES he can see up into a vast cylindrical gallery -- a living cathedral. Clear membranes -- sturmbeest bladders -- filled with fluttering bio-luminescent insects, act as area lighting. The central space is dominated by the SKULL of some enormous creature, mounted with much embellishment on a TOTEM. Standing in front of this, awaiting their approach, is -- EYTUKAN (AY-too-kahn), the Clan Leader. Eytukan has deeply chiselled features and a long chest mantle of THANATOR CLAWS. His normally stern features are clouded further by anger. EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) Why do you bring this creature here? Neytiri addresses Eytukan in Na'vi. NEYTIRI (SUBTITLED) I was going to kill him, but there was a                   sign from Eywa. He glowers at her as he responds, pointing at Jake. EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) I have said no dreamwalker will come here, to offend our home! His alien smell fills my nose Neytiri stands her ground, answering in a respectful but not submissive tone. 46.                             NEYTIRI (SUBTITLED) Father, many atokirina came to this alien. JAKE What's going on? NEYTIRI My father is deciding whether to kill you. JAKE Your father!? (to Eytukan) Uh, good to meet you, sir.         Jake steps forward, offering his hand, and the hunters JUMP to restrain him, shouting. But they all FREEZE as -- A commanding FEMALE VOICE echoes through the chamber. MO'AT                       (NA'VI) Step back! Everybody looks up. MO'AT (MOH-aht) stands on the second level, looking down. She is a severe woman in her 50's. Her bearing is haughty, her expression friendly as a hanging-judge. Her outfit is         elaborate, denoting her rank as CLAN MATRIARCH. MO'AT                       (SUBTITLED) I will look at this alien. There is an expectant hush as Mo'at descends the helical core of Hometree, a kind of natural spiral staircase. NEYTIRI That is Mother. She is Tsahik -- the one who interprets the will of Eywa. JAKE Who's Eywa? Neytiri kneels before her like an acolyte as Mo'at passes. The villagers stare silently as the Matriarch circles slowly around Jake, examining his tail and the end of his queue. 47.                             MO'AT                        (thick accent) What are you called? JAKE Jake Sully. She produces a long THORN between her fingertips. With a         flourish she strikes his chest. Jake flinches. RED BLOOD wells up and Mo'at rubs some between her fingertips. She tastes it. MO'AT                   Why did you come to us? JAKE I came to learn. MO'AT                   We have tried to teach other Sky People. It is hard to fill a cup which is already full. JAKE My cup is empty, trust me. Just ask Doctor Augustine. I'm no scientist. MO'AT                   What are you? JAKE I don't know. I was a Marine -- uh, a                   warrior. Of the Jarhead clan. TSU'TEY (SUBTITLED) A warrior! I could kill him easily! EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) No! This is the first warrior dreamwalker we have seen. We need to                   learn more about him. JAKE What's going on? What are they saying? MO'AT                       (to Neytiri, subtitled) Daughter. You will teach him our way, to                   speak and walk as we do. 48.         NEYTIRI looks shocked, then angry. NEYTIRI (SUBTITLED) Why me? That's not fair! I only-- MO'AT                       (SUBTITLED) It is decided! Neytiri subsides, turning to glare at Jake. MO'AT                       (to Jake) My daughter will teach you our ways. Learn well, Jakesully. We will see if                   your insanity can be cured. She turns to Neytiri, her expression stern -- MO'AT                       (SUBTITLED) He is your responsibility. Neytiri nods, accepting, but she's not a happy camper. She grabs Jake's arm and pulls him roughly away. JAKE So it's all good, right? You and me -- NEYTIRI Do not speak. CUT TO: INT. SECOND LEVEL/HOMETREE LATER, Neytiri leads Jake up the spiral to the SECOND LEVEL. He now wears only a ratty LOINCLOTH. His wounds are bound with plant-fiber bandages. THE ENTIRE CLAN is squatting at dinner in a huge circle. They stop talking and turn to gaze at Jake as he enters the circle. JAKE Don't get up. Neytiri crosses the circle to the cook pit and returns with several large leaves heaped with food. She kneels next to         Jake, placing the food in front of him almost DEFIANTLY. JAKE You never told me your name. 49.                             NEYTIRI Neytiri te Ckaha Mo'at'ite. JAKE Okay, again, a whole lot slower. NEYTIRI (exaggerated slowness) Neytiri. Nay-TEE-ree. Jake knows she's baiting him. He smiles in response. JAKE Nay-TEE-ree. That's nice. Nay-TEE-ree. ACROSS THE CIRCLE, Tsu'tey, Mo'at and Eytukan sit together, glancing up occasionally from their food to the stranger. TSU'TEY (SUBTITLED) These aliens try to look like people, but they can't.                             MO'AT                        (SUBTITLED) He seems dim to me. And his eyes are too small. NEYTIRI motions for Jake to take portions from the serving leaves onto his own leaf. JAKE Your mom likes me. I can tell. MO'AT, watching Jake and Neytiri, leans over to Eytukan. MO'AT                       (SUBTITLED) Neytiri will test this "warrior." Hey may learn nothing -- but we will learn much. EYTUKAN You speak truth. We must understand these Sky People if we are to drive them out. Jake munches on a white shrimp-like thing. JAKE These rock. What are they? NEYTIRI Teylu. You call beetle larvae. 50.         Jake blanches. She heaps some more onto his leaf -- a         CHALLENGE -- and Jake meets her eyes, takes a handful, and starts munching enthusiastically. JAKE That's some damn fine teylu. That's like grandma's teylu. CU TSU'TEY, warily eyeing Jake -- TSU'TEY (SUBTITLED) I say she will kill him. CUT TO: INT. THIRD LEVEL - NIGHT The sleeping level -- families nesting in groups on woven hammocks the size of trampolines. The hunters sleep along SPOKES joining the inner trunk to the tree's outer shell. Jake lies awake in a hammock, people rustling in the darkness around him. Neytiri is nearby, curled up like a little girl. She stares at him for a moment, then closes her eyes. Jake watches the glowing bugs fluttering inside a night- light, a pulse of life energy. A strange peace spreads through him. He closes his eyes and -- CUT TO: INT. LINK ROOM - NIGHT GRACE is over JAKE in the Link, SLAPPING him, as Max and NORM hover. GRACE Come on back, kid, that's it. JAKE Wha --? Oh. He looks around, blinking. Reality crashing in. GRACE Damn, you were dug in like a tick. (she helps him sit up) Is the avatar safe? JAKE (huge grin) Yeah, Doc -- and you are not going to                   believe where I am. CUT TO: 51.         INT. COMMISSARY - MORNING BREAKFAST the next day. The other drivers lean forward, hanging on Grace's re-telling of the tale. GRACE -- so the kid's out there one night and he's got the Queen Bitch herself offering him the spare room and the car keys. Unbelievable. JAKE It's not something you can teach. Some of the other scientists clap Jake on the shoulders in         congratulation. MAX That's awesome, Jake. NORM chomps his bacon, fuming. GRACE (to Jake, getting serious) For reasons I cannot fathom, the Omaticaya have chosen you. God help us                   all. CUT TO: INT. OPS CENTER - MORNING JAKE has reported to SELFRIDGE and QUARITCH. Quaritch turns from gazing out at the wall of forest, displaying a feral grin. QUARITCH Jarhead clan? (he laughs) And that worked? JAKE (GRINNING) Yeah. They want to study me. See if I                   can learn to be one of them. QUARITCH That's how you seize the initiative. I                   wish I had ten more like you. SELFRIDGE Look, Sully -- find out what these blue monkeys want. (MORE) 52.                             SELFRIDGE (cont'd)                    We try to give them medicine and education. Roads! But no -- they like mud. I wouldn't care except -- Selfridge turns to a large 3D GRAPHIC DISPLAY, pointing. A         road runs from Hell's Gate to a proposed new mine miles away. SELFRIDGE Their damn village is sitting right over the richest unobtanium deposit for a                   hundred klicks in any direction. Which sucks -- for them -- because they need to                   relocate. JAKE (taking that in) Does Augustine know about this? SELFRIDGE Yeah, she does, and she's on the next ship back if she tries to cock-block me                   on it. JAKE So -- who talks them into moving? QUARITCH (TURNING) Guess. JAKE What if they won't go? QUARITCH (ICY) I'm betting they will. SELFRIDGE Killing the indigenous looks bad, but there's one thing shareholders hate more than bad press -- and that's a bad quarterly statement. Find me a carrot to                   get them to move, or it's going to have to be all stick. Jake is shaken by the enormity of this new responsibility. QUARITCH You got three months. That's when the dozers get there. JAKE I'm on it. CUT TO: 53.         INT. BIO LAB - MORNING JAKE pumps his chair across the lab, flanked by GRACE and NORM. Grace holds STEREO STILL PICTURES in front of him, one at a time -- images of clan members she has shot over the years -- a kind of flash card drill. JAKE Tsu'tey. (next photo) Mo'at. (next photo) Eytukan. GRACE He's the clan leader -- (indicating Mo'at) -- but she's the spiritual leader. Like a shaman. INT. LINK ROOM The dialogue is continuous as they enter. JAKE Got it. So who's this Eywa? NORM Who's Eywa? Oh, only their deity. The Great Mother. The goddess made up of all living things. You'd know that if you had any training whatsoever. He hauls himself from wheelchair to Link. JAKE Who's got a date with the chief's                   daughter? GRACE Knock it off. Jesus, it's like kindergarten around here. As Jake settles into the soft embrace of the link, Grace inputs commands at the control station. GRACE Neytiri was my best student. She and her sister Silwanin. Just amazing girls. JAKE I didn't meet the sister. 54.                             GRACE (QUIETLY) No, she's dead. (turning to him) Okay, let's go -- village life starts early. MAX Link is ready. Grace lowers the bio-sensor array over Jake's chest. GRACE Don't do anything unusually stupid. She closes the clamshell and we -- INT. HOMETREE/ THIRD LEVEL - DAY CU JAKE'S AVATAR, blinking awake, staring up at -- HOMETREE, like a gothic cathedral overhead. Sunlight streams down through gaps in the towering vault. CUT TO: INT. COMMONS - DAY JAKE walks among the villagers, who go about their daily tasks. -- young girls sit together, weaving and SINGING. They look up as he passes, then go back to work. --two men clean the fish they've caught. -- a young mother pounds seeds into meal, while nursing an         infant. --children chase each other and climb like monkeys. One bold LITTLE GIRL runs up to Jake, stops -- staring -- then shrieks with laughter as she runs back to her playmates. GRINNING, Jake turns to see NEYTIRI cantering toward him on a         DIREHORSE. She leads a second horse, an old sway-backed MARE. His grin drops. EXT. RIVER NEAR HOMETREE - DAY JAKE nervously grips the surcingle of the mare. Neytiri holds its nose-ring while Jake clumsily mounts. Jake bends one of its ANTENNAE down to the tip of his queue. He hesitantly touches them together and -- 55.         TIGHT SHOT -- the tendrils INTERWEAVE. Jake's PUPILS DILATE and his mouth drops open. The horse's         eyes also go wide and it HONKS nervously. Neytiri touches her fingertips to the neural interface. NEYTIRI This is shahaylu -- the bond. Feel her heartbeat, her breath. Feel her strong legs. Jake closes his eyes, nodding. One with the horse. TSU'TEY and another young hunter come out of the forest leading TWO DIREHORSES. The magnificent animals drink from the edge of the pool. Tsu'tey watches Jake's riding lesson with disdain. NEYTIRI You may tell her what to do -- (she touches her head) -- inside. For now, say where to go. JAKE Forward. The horse LAUNCHES into a GALLOP. Jake flops around, with no         idea how to sit the animal, and is promptly THROWN OFF. He         lands painfully in the mud. He gets up, brushing mud off knees and ass, as Neytiri leads the horse back to him. NEYTIRI Again. SERIES OF JUMP CUTS -- Jake falls off the horse in various ways, seemingly landing harder each time. ON JAKE, face down in the mud of the riverbank. He painfully rises to hands and knees. Which is when he sees -- TSU'TEY and another HUNTER thundering across the shallow river on their direhorses. Spray blasts up from their hooves. Jake stands, covered in mud, as Tsu'tey stops his horse next to him, looking down with disdain. TSU'TEY You should go away. 56.                             JAKE (to Neytiri) I knew this guy could speak English. Tsu'tey turns to Neytiri, who is leading the old mare back. TSU'TEY (SUBTITLED) This alien will learn nothing. A rock Sees more. She sighs in agreement. Tsu'tey and the other hunter wheel their horses around and THUNDER OFF into the woods. NEYTIRI gestures to Jake's horse. NEYTIRI Again. CUT TO: OPS CENTER - NIGHT Grouped around a table are JAKE, COLONEL QUARITCH, SELFRIDGE and few ENGINEERS and OFFICERS. Jake is talking them through plans he's made of Hometree's inner structure. JAKE You've got outer columns, then a                   secondary ring here, and an inner ring. Then a core structure, it's like a                   spiral, that's how they move up and down. QUARITCH I'm going to need accurate scans of all these columns. JAKE Roger that. ANGLE ON MAX, at the stairwell. He's been watching Jake talking rapidly to Quaritch, but can't hear him. Frowning, he backs away, down the stairs. CUT TO: INT. BIO LAB - DAY JAKE, GRACE and NORM are packing science gear and supplies. GRACE I'm not about to let Quaritch and Selfridge micro-manage this thing. (she looks pointedly at Jake) We're going up into the mountains. (MORE) 57.                             GRACE (cont'd)                    There's a mobile link up at Site 26 that we can work out of. NORM The Hallelujah Mountains? GRACE That's right. NORM Yesssss! (off Jake's look) The legendary Floating Mountains of                   Pandora? Heard of them? CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - AERIAL - DAY A SAMSON THUNDERS over the rainforest, climbing into the mist- shrouded mountains. In the SEALED COCKPIT, Norm is up front, sitting left seat so         Trudy can talk him through the flight controls. Jake and Grace are behind them, in the jump-seats. Grace and Norm's UNCONSCIOUS AVATARS ride in the open back compartment. TRUDY It only takes tiny inputs. Here, put your hand on the cyclic -- She points to the stick between her knees. Norm hesitantly reaches over and rests his hand on hers. TRUDY Feel how small the moves are? You barely have to think it, and the aircraft reacts. ON NORM -- reacting to tiny inputs from the hot lady-pilot. THE SAMSON is dwarfed by enormous ARCHES OF ROCK. GRACE See these magnetic formations. We're                   getting close. TRUDY Yeah we are. Look at my instruments. On the dash, many of the displays are fritzing out. 58.                             GRACE Yup. We're in the flux vortex. AHEAD, a cloud bank parts, revealing -- THE HALLELUJAH MOUNTAINS. Right in front of them. NORM Oh. My. God. Jake leans forward between the seatbacks for a good look out the front canopy. JAKE'S POV -- enormous islands of rock are hovering a half mile above the ground. They are overgrown with rainforest, and straggly beards of vines hang down beneath them. Waterfalls stream down the sides and dissolve into spray at         the bottom. ON JAKE, staring in amazement. It is both awe-inspiring and disturbing. Trudy turns, grinning at Jake. TRUDY You should see your face. WIDE AERIAL -- the Samson is tiny as it approaches the floating islands of rock. An archipelago among the clouds, they cast great shadows over the forested slopes below. JAKE (V.O.) Yeah, so what does hold them up? Grace explained it to me -- some kind of maglev effect because unobtanium is a                   superconductor, or something. At least somebody understands it. Just not me. CUT TO: EXT. SITE 26 - DAY A remote RESEARCH STATION -- TWO SHACKS and a few clusters of         instruments perched on a promontory near the Hallelujah Mountains. The shacks are AIRLIFT MODULES the size of buses. THE SAMSON LANDS, beating the grass with its rotor-wash. The humans hop out, wearing MASKS. They move toward the Shack, taking in the spectacular panorama. CUT TO: 59.         INT. SHACK - DAY NORM and TRUDY assist JAKE with his chair as they cycle in         through the AIRLOCK. GRACE is already inside, starting the GENNY. She turns on the lights and equipment. There are 4 bunks, a clutter of science gear, and -- through a short connecting corridor -- THREE LINK UNITS in the second module. As Grace powers up the Link equipment, Jake stops to look at         STEREO STILL PICTURES which are taped and tacked up around her workstation. CLOSE ON PICTURES -- Grace posing at the school with various grinning children. There is one of her with two lanky girls, a younger Neytiri and an older girl who looks much like her. GRACE Jake, take number two, it's the least glitchy. Norm, I need you to operate Jake's link. Norm glares at Jake as he passes. JAKE Hey. You got a problem? Norm turns to Grace, his frustration boiling over. NORM I trained three years for this mission. I speak the language fluently. (he points at Jake) He falls off the frickin' turnip truck and all of a sudden he's cultural ambassador!? GRACE It's not our choice, Norm. He glowers at Jake. NORM Yeah, well I didn't come out here to wash the dishes while you're on some interspecies booty call. He stalks off. GRACE He can't go far. 60.         She points to Jake's link. GRACE Let's get you in. CUT TO: INT./EXT. HOMETREE - BANSHEE EYRIE LOOKING DOWN the central shaft of Hometree, 80 meters to the ground. Villagers are ant-like. Jake tries to keep up with Neytiri as she leaps up the core trunk like a lemur. He climbs the last section, arriving out of breath beside her. She leads him OUTSIDE, onto -- A large branch. Through gaps in the foliage Jake can see other Great Trees scattered across the landscape, like enormous umbrellas above the rainforest. NEYTIRI strides out across the branch toward some kind of         STRUCTURE -- a WEB made of thick woven fiber. DARK SHAPES clinging to it stir with a leathery RUSTLING SOUND. Neytiri makes a series of TRILLS and CLICKS. One of the shapes MOVES toward them, emerging into a shaft of sunlight. A huge MOUNTAIN BANSHEE. Much larger than the forest banshees, this thing is taller than a Na'vi with a 10 meter wingspan. A leathery FWHOOP, like the crack of sails, as it         alights on the branch right in front of her. JAKE Holy shit. NEYTIRI Do not look in her eye. Neytiri feeds it a large scrap of meat, which it SNATCHES and gulps down. She murmurs to it and strokes its NECK. It lets out a signature SHRIEK, and some of the others in the shadows nearby answer. Neytiri flip-catches her queue and gently connects it to the Banshee's ANTENNA. It shivers and stretches its wings as the neural connection is made. NEYTIRI Ikran is not horse. Once shahaylu is                   made, ikran will fly with only one Hunter in the whole life. She climbs smoothly onto the animal's back. 61.                             NEYTIRI To become taronyu -- Hunter -- you must choose your own ikran. And he must choose you. JAKE When? NEYTIRI When you are ready. The BANSHEE shivers with anticipation. NEYTIRI Heeyaaahh! Jake ducks as the great wings EXPLODE OPEN and the banshee DROPS off the branch. It swoops down across the forest canopy, banks hard, lets out a CRY and beats its wings in a         power climb. Completing the bank, Neytiri directs the banshee into a close SWOOPING FLYBY, and Jake instinctively ducks. ON NEYTIRI -- flying in perfect fusion with her winged mount, the rainforest rolling beneath her. CUT TO: INT. SHACK - NIGHT/EXT STEREO VIDEO-LOG IMAGE -- Jake has just switched on the camera. He looks tired. JAKE Do I have to do this? I need some rack. GRACE, behind him, looks up from her MICROSCOPE, scowling. GRACE No -- now, when it's fresh. JAKE Yeah, yeah. (to camera) The days are starting to blur together. The language is a bitch, but I figure it's like field-stripping a weapon. Repetition. THIS THROWS US INTO A TEACHING MONTAGE: JAKE AND NEYTIRI kneel together inside Hometree. Neytiri touches her lips with her fingertips. 62.                                JAKE Seyri. She touches her nose, her ears, her eyes in quick sequence. JAKE Ontu, mikyun, nari. NEYTIRI stands next to him, correcting his position as he         draws a longbow. BARKING commands, she SMACKS him on the shoulder, then the elbow, repositioning him roughly. JAKE (V.O.) Neytiri thinks I'm some kind of retard. HUMAN JAKE emerges from the LINK to see -- TRUDY and NORM caught IN THE ACT on Norm's bunk. Norm blushes and Trudy waves, pulling the blanket over their heads. JAKE (V.O.) Norm's attitude has improved lately. NORM works with JAKE at the small table in the SHACK kitchen. NORM Thank you? JAKE Ireiyo. Norm comically exaggerates the pronunciation. NORM Irrrreiyo. Irrrreiyo. You've gotta roll the R, r-r-r-oll it. Norm makes Jake repeat the word, getting more frustrated. JAKE (V.O.) It's good he's back on board, but he                   thinks I'm a retard too. TRACKING WITH JAKE'S FEET as he runs over rocks, leaping onto a thick root, running on across the rough bark. JAKE (V.O.) My feet are getting tougher. I can run farther every day. 63.         Neytiri leads him along a massive root, and soon they are running 30 meters above the ground. He sprints with her through the trees, trying to keep up. She CLIMBS and LEAPS with the ease of a spider monkey. JAKE (V.O.) I have to trust my body to know what to                   do. With Neytiri it's learn fast or die. Neytiri LEAPS off into space, falling, falling until -- She catches an enormous palm leaf and, gripping it, allows its DROOP to slow her fall. She lets go, plummeting, and catches another. JAKE FOLLOWS in a leap of faith. THE CAMERA PLUNGES with him, from leaf to leaf, down and down in a dizzying kinetic rush. He drops down from the last leaf, landing next to her on a         game trail. He is exhilarated to still be alive. Neytiri is surprised -- that he followed. That he lived. TIGHT ON HUMAN JAKE, in the shack. Thinking as he looks at         the pictures of Grace with the laughing kids at the school. IN THE COMMONS -- AVATAR NORM formally greets MO'AT. The Matriarch looks on as GRACE kneels to hug children she knows. Grace's eyes sparkle as she chats with them in Na'vi. JAKE (V.O.) I sweet-talked Mo'at into giving Norm and Grace a hall pass. Now Grace even makes me coffee before link every morning. Grace looks up to see Neytiri approaching. It is an awkward moment between them. Grace makes the formal gesture of         greeting. GRACE (Na'vi, subtitled) I See you, Neytiri Mo'at'ite. NEYTIRI I See you, Doctor Grace Augustine. ANOTHER DAY -- NEYTIRI kneels on a game trail, pointing out the tracks in the mud to Jake. She touches the edges of the plants around her, and sniffs the air. 64.                             JAKE (V.O.) I'm learning to read the trails, the tracks at the water-hole, the tiniest scents and sounds. JAKE AND NEYTIRI watch through a screen of leaves as -- A HERD of huge, armored STURMBEEST walks through the shallows of a lake. In the middle of the herd, the babies are sheltered from predators among their parents' legs. One of the BULLS trumpets, and a flock of TETRAPTERONS takes flight, an explosion of purple wings. Jake stares at the strange and wild alien tableau. ANOTHER PLACE -- NEYTIRI STANDS utterly still, except for her ears, which move with a life of their own. Her eyes are closed. She speaks very softly to Jake -- NEYTIRI When you hear nothing, you will hear everything. When you see nothing, you will See everything. JAKE (V.O.) Sometimes I have no idea what she's                   talking about. Jake and Neytiri creep quietly, stalking a large male HEXAPEDE -- a six legged deer-like creature. Jake expertly nocks an arrow and draws his bow as Neytiri watches. He takes a bead on the hexapede -- tracks it for a         beat with the drawn bow, then RELAXES his arm. Zen archery. JAKE (V.O.) It's been a month and I'm still not allowed to make a kill. She says the forest hasn't given permission. OMIITED NEYTIRI and JAKE crawl through the undergrowth. She points and he parts some leaves to see -- A MOTHER VIPERWOLF bringing meat to her cubs, which frisk around her legs. She licks their faces. JAKE (V.O.) There's a lot of crap like that. She's                   always going on about the flow of energy-- the spirits of the animals and what not -- 65.         VIDEO-LOG IMAGE -- HUMAN JAKE talks into the lens. He's         changing -- un-shaven, cheeks hollow. Pale. JAKE (SMIRKING) I just hope this treehugger shit isn't on                   the final. Visible behind him, Grace is hunched over her samples. GRACE (without looking up) This isn't just about eye-hand coordination out there. You need to                   listen to what she says. Try to see the forest through their eyes. JAKE Excuse me -- this is my video-log here, okay? NEYTIRI AND JAKE move through the NIGHT FOREST, surrounded by         galaxies of shimmering bioluminescence. They move gracefully, soundlessly -- two forest spirits. CU JAKE -- the pupils of his cat eyes dilated. The night forest floods his brain with its million bio-sources. NIGHT SHOT, from overhead -- Jake and Neytiri bow-fishing from a dugout canoe over huge glowing ANEMONES at the bottom of a pool. A large fish swims silhouetted against the pastel glow. ZAP! Jake drills it. He holds up the fish, triumphantly. ANOTHER DAY -- Neytiri stands close behind Jake, adjusting his position as he draws his bow. Only now her hands are GENTLE as they move on his arms, his shoulders. Aware of her touch, Jake's focus is broken. Their eyes meet, and she pulls away quickly. NIGHT -- they enter a CLEARING filled with chest-high ferns. Neytiri signals him to move slowly. They approach a creature on one of the ferns. An ugly, stick-like LIZARD-THING perched on a frond. As he approaches -- SNAP! A long spine whips in a circle, unfurling a         bioluminescent membrane -- a disk a meter across, opening like a Chinese fan. It FLIES OFF, a living Frisbee. THE FAN LIZARD FLOATS across the clearing. 66.         Neytiri plunges among the ferns with a SHARP CRY. An         EXPLOSION OF COLOR as dozens of FAN LIZARDS take flight. Grinning widely, she hops around like a little girl, until they are all flying. And for the first time, she is         unguarded and joyful, totally herself with him. INSIDE THE LINK -- Jake's eyes open in the darkness. He         doesn't know where he is. He weakly pushes open the lid, blinking at the light. JAKE (V.O.) Everything is backwards now. Like out there is the true world, and in here is                   the dream. TIGHT ON AVATAR JAKE silently drawing his bow, his eyes focused in intense concentration. A beat -- the arrow flies. JAKE PULLS the arrow from the twitching body of a hexapede. He dispatches it with his knife. He speaks haltingly, but with feeling, in Na'vi. JAKE (NA'VI) I See you Brother, and thank you. Your spirit goes with Eywa, your body stays behind to become part of the People. NEYTIRI watches with approval. NEYTIRI A clean kill. You are ready. CUT TO: INT. SHACK - NIGHT Lying in the link, Jake looks exhausted, pale, thin. Norm helps Grace get him to his chair. GRACE You're still losing weight. Here -- She hands him a microwaved burrito. He looks at the now alien food. Bites into it without enthusiasm. JAKE I made a kill today. We ate it. I know where that meal came from. 67.                              GRACE Other body. You need to take care of                   this body. JAKE Yeah yeah. GRACE Jake, I'm serious -- you look like crap. You're burning too hard. Jake takes the cigarette out of her mouth and stubs it out. JAKE Get rid of this shit, then you can lecture me. GRACE I'm telling you, as your boss and someone who might even consider being a friend someday, to take some down time. JAKE Not now. Tomorrow we leave for Iknimaya. GRACE walks past Jake, starts making herself coffee. GRACE Yeah -- you're gonna go ride a banshee. Or die trying. JAKE That's right, Grace. This is what I've                   been working for. GRACE And this is your check up from the neck up, Marine. You're getting in way too deep. (she turns away) Trust me, I learned the hard way. Jake scans the pictures tacked up around Grace's workstation. JAKE What did happen at the school? GRACE looks up from making coffee. Her eyes track across the pictures of the laughing children. Finally -- 68.                             GRACE Neytiri's sister -- Sylwanin -- stopped coming to school. She was angry about the clear-cutting. GRACE sips her coffee, grimaces at the taste. GRACE One day, she and a couple of other young hunters came running in, all painted up -- they'd set a bulldozer on fire -- I guess they thought I could protect them. GRACE'S voice stays oddly CALM as he tells this terrible story, while getting MILK out of the refrigerator. GRACE The troopers pursued them to the schoolhouse. MACRO as she pours the milk -- her hand is SHAKING. GRACE They killed Sylwanin in the doorway. Right in front of Neytiri. Then shot the others. (MILDLY) I got most of the kids out, before they shot me. JAKE Jesus. GRACE Yeah. Jake realizes that Grace is on the verge of tears and desperately trying to hide it. GRACE A scientist stays objective -- we can not be ruled by emotion. But I poured ten years of my life into that school. They called me sa'atenuk. Mother. (turning to him) That kind of pain reaches back through the link. GRACE sits down at the table, looks intently at Jake. GRACE It's a job. Learn what you can -- but don't get attached. 69.         GRACE looks at him with real PAIN in her eyes. GRACE It's not our world, Jake. And we can't                   stop what's coming. CUT TO: EXT. MOUNTAIN TRAIL - DAY TSU'TEY leads three direhorse riders up the trail -- two TEENAGE HUNTERS and JAKE, who's riding well enough to keep up. The horses' hooves CLOP right next to a sheer drop into a         misty canyon. JAKE (V.O.) Iknimaya translates roughly as stairway to heaven. It's the test every young hunter has to pass. TSU'TEY signals a stop. UP-SLOPE AHEAD is an astounding formation. Thick vine-like trees have trapped large FLOATING BOULDERS of UNOBTANIUM in         their gnarled grip. A hundred meters above them more boulders are WOVEN into the twisted vine-trunks. This is some sort of freak natural occurrence -- like the mythical beanstalk, going up into the clouds. There is a THUNDERING ROAR, like an artillery barrage, and the ground SHAKES. Jake looks around at -- One of the FLOATING MOUNTAINS grinding against the flank of a         nearby mesa. A huge rockfall is set loose. The mountain is         drifting toward them, filling half the sky. The Hunters dismount. JAKE looks up at the beanstalk going into the clouds. He         turns to Tsu'tey, who is checking the young hunters' gear. JAKE We doin' this? Jake leaps to catch up as Tsu'tey and the hunters swarm up         the base of the beanstalk. CUT TO: 70.         EXT. BEANSTALK - DAY 200 METERS up the BEANSTALK, the hunters nimbly climb along the vine-trunks. They clamber over one of the unobtanium BOULDERS which is lifting this incredible tree. JAKE looks down -- the massive trunk dwindles to the size of         a licorice stick. A chunk breaks off a boulder as he climbs over it -- it floats upward. They reach the upper branches of the beanstalk. Above them, the craggy underbelly of MONS Veritatis looms. Spray from one of the waterfalls hits them. Some of the HANGING VINES are brushing over the upper branches of the beanstalk with a crackling hiss. One by one the hunters grab onto vines as they pass. Jake shrugs and leaps to a passing vine, his feet dangling over nothingness. They climb toward the floating islands above. EXT. MONS VERITATIS - DAY TINY FIGURES cross a causeway of vines connecting a small island of unobtanium to the main mass of Mons Veritatis. WIDE SHOT looking down a rock face bigger than Half Dome -- the sheer side of Mons Veritatis. Banshees circle next to the cliffs, flashing in shafts of         sunlight. Waterfalls dissolve into nothingness below. EXT. GROTTO/BANSHEE ROOKERY - DAY A waterfall THUNDERS down into the void like a faucet of the gods. Jake looks down the sheer cliff at the world far below -- a view from Olympus. A SHRIEK and the THWAP THWAP of leathery wings -- NEYTIRI'S         BANSHEE swoops in to perch at the edge of the grotto. She dismounts and, like a falconer, covers its eyes with a woven HOOD. It waits, docile, as -- She joins Jake and the hunter party. Tsu'tey leads them through the cave until they emerge onto a CLIFF FACE. And Jake sees -- The BANSHEE ROOKERY. HUNDREDS of banshees huddle on rock out- croppings as far as the eye can see. They cling to the walls with the fore-claws on their wings, or perch on ledges. 71.                             TSU'TEY Jakesully will go first. Tsu'tey smirks at Jake, a challenge in his eyes. The two teenage Hunters are scared but trying to act tough. Tsu'tey scowls when Neytiri leads Jake out onto the ledge. NEYTIRI (WHISPERING) Now you choose your ikran. This you must feel -- inside. If he also chooses you, move quick, like I showed. You will have one chance. JAKE How will I know if he chooses me? NEYTIRI He will try to kill you. JAKE Outstanding. Out of sight of Tsu'tey, Neytiri takes his hand and squeezes it. Jake feels a rush of emotion, but she breaks away like it didn't happen. He is on his own, on the ledge with -- The BANSHEES. They eye him as he approaches. Several SHRIEK and take flight. Others flap their wings and yawn, showing rows of fangs, in a threat display. Jake unrolls a weighted leather strap, like a one-ended BOLO. A LARGE MALE spreads enormous wings, SHRIEKS, and glares straight at him. Jake looks directly into its eyes -- and strides toward it. JAKE Let's dance. The challenged banshee HISSES and leaps at him, jaws wide as-- Jake times the lunge, swinging the bolo, feinting and then slipping aside as the banshee's jaws miss him, SNAPPING SHUT. Jake WHAPS the bolo across its snout. The weighted thong whips twice around its long jaws, tying them shut. A MUFFLED SCREAM and it SLASHES at his stomach with razor talons but -- 72.         Jake is already leaping, over the talons and tackling the banshee around the neck. It topples on its side, and he         SWARMS IT -- arms around its thrashing head. Jake grabs its whip-like antenna and brings it toward his queue but -- The bony head SLAMS sideways, and BAM! -- clocks him right in         the face, almost knocking him out and -- IT WRITHES, flinging him to the ground. He slides on the rock and almost goes over the edge as -- NEYTIRI gasps. Tsu'tey laughs and yells mockingly. The bolo is coming loose as the creature shakes its head, way pissed off now, but -- Jake scrambles up and leaps straight at it. Claws rake his leg but he gets his arms around its head and CLAMPS DOWN HARD. They flop to the ground and he scrambles on top, pinning it and -- Grabs its whipping antenna, locks it under his arm, and jams the end of his queue into it. They FUSE together and -- The banshee stops struggling. It lies there panting. They are locked together, literally eye to eye. JAKE That's right! You're mine. ECU BANSHEE -- the pupil like a deep black well. Jake relaxes his grip and slowly, warily, slides his leg over the creature's back. Neytiri runs to him. NEYTIRI First flight seals the bond. You cannot wait. Jake sits astride the creature, feeling its power. He grips a hank of the beast's main, and -- JAKE Heeeyyyaaaah! THWAP! THWAP! The banshee is off like a shot. Jake SCREAMS as they PLUMMET off the cliff -- the banshee WAILS and -- 73.         They fall together, spiralling out of control, and he is          almost tossed lose. The thing is SQUAWKING and SHRIEKING so         much he can't think. JAKE Shut the hell up!! It does. JAKE Level out! Fly straight! It levels out. Jake cocks his head, only thinking "bank left" and the animal complies. He settles the banshee into an easy loping beat of its huge wings, while he catches his breath. NEYTIRI'S BANSHEE falls into formation with him. She signals "follow me" and DIVES. Jake guides his banshee clumsily after her. Neytiri's         banshee moves with precise movements of its wingtips, while Jake's wobbles and dips, almost falling out of the sky. THE CAMERA SWOOPS after them as Neytiri leads an arcing DIVE around the flank of Mons Veritatis. The scenery is stunning. They pass waterfalls and swoop between hanging vines. Neytiri leads Jake in a sharp bank, skimming close to the cliffs. They punch through streamers of cloud and emerge into sunlight. Jake is getting the hang of it. He jinks left, then right, then dives, tucking himself tight against the animal's back. He's reckless, fearless. Half in control and LOVING IT. Neytiri dives next to him as he lets out a long WHOOP of joy. CUT TO: INT./EXT. GROTTO/MONS VERITATIS - DAY FLIGHT MONTAGE: NEYTIRI squats with Jake, using her hands to explain flight principles like one fighter pilot to another. LOOKING DOWN a sheer cliff. SWOOOSH! Jake and Neytiri dive their mounts STRAIGHT DOWN PAST CAMERA, pulling out and soaring into a series of aerobatic turns. JAKE (V.O.) I may not be much of a horse guy. But I                    was born to do this. 74.         THEY FLY in close formation with TSU'TEY and the young HUNTERS, 5 banshees flashing through scarves of mist. ANOTHER DAY. Jake dives, playing hide and seek with Neytiri among the clouds. They are wild and free in a wild world. She grins and banks hard, diving -- catch me if you can. He         DIVES after her. IN THE GROTTO, by firelight, JAKE'S BANSHEE snaps at a piece of meat which he playfully pulls back. He's teaching it to         take the food more slowly. He strokes its long head. TSU'TEY is nearby with the young hunters. He eyes Jake with frustrated hostility. ANOTHER DAY -- Jake and Neytiri fly abreast, soaring easily. She points and Jake sees -- A BIZARRE GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. Arches of magnetic rock form rainbows of stone above a deep CALDERA. In the center of the caldera is a single, enormous WILLOW TREE, gnarled and ancient. This, we will be told, is THE WELL OF SOULS. CUT TO: EXT. RIDGE JAKE flies with Neytiri along a forested ridge. She is         teaching him to hunt from his banshee. They carry their bows at the ready, scanning below them for prey. A HUGE SHADOW covers him and Neytiri SHOUTS a warning. Jake looks up to see -- A LEONOPTERYX in a delta-dive, whistling straight at him. Like a banshee, only several times larger, it is the king predator of the air: the GREAT LEONOPTERYX. Striped scarlet, yellow and black, with a midnight blue crested head -- it is both gorgeous and terrifying. The hunter has become the prey. JAKE snap-rolls and dives toward the forest canopy. He plummets into the gloom as -- K-CRASH -- the leonopteryx tears through foliage, following him down, both diving like missiles and -- JAKE yanks into a hair-pin bank, right through a gap between two huge branches -- Forcing the leonopteryx to brake with a loud FWOOSH of wings. It banks away with a frustrated SHRIEK. Two flaps of its mighty wings and it is gone, back above the canopy. 75.         CLOSE ON THE LEONOPTERYX, as its fanged mouth opens in a          bloodcurdling SCREECH which echoes among the mountains. The lord of its domain. ON JAKE, shaken. Neytiri flies up, her expression the Na'vi         equivalent of Oh my God. A beat -- they both crack up. CUT TO: INT. SHACK - NIGHT Jake ponders images Grace has called up at her workstation-- science graphics of the Leonopteryx. Trudy and Norm are crowded around as well. GRACE The Great Leonopteryx is the apex aerial predator. Not only rare, but the sightings tend not to get reported. Trudy makes a clicking motion with her thumb. TRUDY There usually isn't time to key the mike. JAKE The People call it Toruk. NORM (TRANSLATING) Last Shadow. JAKE Last one you ever see. TRUDY I saw one take out a gunship once -- WHAM! Total frickin' yard sale. Ate the crew like peanuts. TIME CUT -- Grace is scanning through images and Jake stops her on one -- a 3D aerial shot of the strange arched formation. JAKE That's it. GRACE Vitraya Ramunong -- The Well of Souls. It's their most sacred place. She moves the virtual camera, and we seem to fly around the Well of Souls, catching only a glimpse of the interior. 76.                             GRACE Something big is going on in there, biologically. I'd die to get samples, but outsiders are strictly forbidden. TIME CUT -- Jake looks through the pressure window at HUMAN GRACE and NORM outside. Wearing masks, they are taking readings from some time-series experiments Grace has set up. As TRUDY watches, JAKE works fast to download Grace's images of the Well of Souls onto a memory chip. TRUDY They're coming back. Jake pulls the chip, then hesitates. Torn by what he is         doing. TRUDY If you don't give him something, he's                   gonna shut us down. He hands her the chip and she slips it into a pocket of her flight-suit just as Grace and Norm enter from the airlock. JAKE Hey, guys. CUT TO: INT. HOMETREE - NIGHT JAKE STARES up at the TOTEM SKULL, which we now recognize as         that of a GREAT LEONOPTERYX. NEYTIRI watches as he reaches up to touch the tall indigo crest. NEYTIRI My grandfather's grandfather was Toruk Macto -- Rider of Last Shadow. Toruk chose him. It has only happened five times since the time of the First Songs. JAKE That's a long time. Neytiri takes his hand, because that's what the Na'vi do when they're telling you something important. NEYTIRI Toruk Macto was mighty -- he brought the clans together in a time of great sorrow. All Na'vi people know this story. 77.         PUSH IN SLOWLY on the skull totem, then -- CUT TO: EXT. RIVER BED - DAY JAKE, NEYTIRI and other FLYING HUNTERS swoop low above a HERD OF STURMBEEST -- a rapids of thundering muscle. Dust rises from this living river like steam from a python's back. TRACKING WITH the herd. A HUNTER appears in FG, astride a         direhorse at full gallop. The sight is breathtaking. He         hurls a 3 meter spear and one of the sturmbeest CRASHES down, flipping twice from momentum. JAKE ROLLS IN like a fighter jet, his banshee screaming. He         draws and fires his bow. The arrow strikes true, in the plexus between the armored shoulders and -- THE BEAST crashes to the ground. Skids to a stop in a cloud of dust. NEYTIRI swoops in next to Jake, arms raised and grinning wolfishly. CU TSU'TEY, banking around Jake's kill. Jake looks up, and Tsu'tey SALUTES in grudging admiration. CUT TO: INT. COMMONS/HOMETREE - NIGHT The central space is lit by a BONFIRE, around which the HUNT FESTIVAL is in full swing. Wild dancing. People gnawing on         massive sturmbeest ribs. A bowl of some kava-like intoxicant is passed around. NEYTIRI dances in a flowing costume as the BANSHEE SPIRIT. NORM is dancing seductively with his own tail. JAKE, surrounded by young hunters, acts out the leonopteryx attack with his hands. The leaping fire-light plays across the eye sockets of the TORUK SKULL, bringing it to life. It         seems to watch Jake. TSU'TEY squats next to Jake, the usual scowl on his face. Jake braces himself -- and Tsu'tey holds up the KAVA BOWL, offering it to him. A challenge or an olive branch? Jake takes a long, hearty drink as some of the young hunters hoot and clap hands in a fast rhythm. 78.                              GRACE Watch that stuff. It'll knock you into next week. Jake offers the bowl back to Tsu'tey. They lock eyes. Tsu'tey drinks. LATER -- AN EMPTY BOWL drops, landing on a pile of empty bowls near the fire. WIDER ON JAKE and TSU'TEY, sitting amid the rowdy hunters. Tsu'tey looks a little blearily at Jake. Finally, he GRINS. TSU'TEY I thought -- enough drink -- you would not be so ugly. JAKE Sorry. Tsu'tey looks deep into the fire. TSU'TEY Your warriors -- hide inside machines -- fight from far away. (he looks at Jake) I did not think a sky person could be                   brave. Before Jake can answer, NEYTIRI'S lithe shape runs through the circle of silhouetted dancers toward them. She takes Jake by the hand and pulls him up -- NEYTIRI You must dance! It is the way. TSU'TEY watches as she leads him away, his face darkening -- the moment of connection to Jake lost to anger. The hunters WHOOP and CHEER as Jake joins the circle of         dancers. Jake takes Grace's hand and pulls her up, protesting. JAKE lets the DRUMS and CHANTING flow through him. He lets himself go, dancing from the inside, channeling the primal energy. GRACE is rocking out, grinning. We see the young girl, so         repressed, who lives within her. Jake and Neytiri flow amongst the dancers, but they are looking only at each other. 79.         A couple of the young girls watching from outside the circle are giggling and talking about them. Mo'at and EYTUKAN follow their look, seeing the obvious connection. MO'AT                       (SUBTITLED) We cannot let this seed grow. Her path is                   with Tsu'tey. ON JAKE, dancing with abandon to the primal beat, eyes locked with Neytiri. CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY WIDE VISTA -- mist blowing through the treetops as the morning sun burns it away. A spectacular panorama of a vast, primeval land. UP ANGLE TRACKING among the trees, the sunlight shafting down like light in a cathedral. JAKE (V.O.) It's hard to put in words the deep connection the People have to the forest. HIGH IN THE BRANCHES of a tree, Jake watches as Neytiri gently bends a large pitcher-like flower toward her, sipping nectar which is sweet and thick as honey. An incredibly sensuous image. JAKE (V.O.) They see a network of energy that flows through all living things. They know that all energy is only borrowed-- MACRO SHOT of a purple flower, beaded with raindrops. A blue hand picks the flower. JAKE (V.O.) -- and one day you have to give it back. LOOKING DOWN into a hole dug among tree roots. The body of         an old Omaticaya WOMAN lies curled there like an unborn baby in the womb of the earth. The purple flower is gently placed on her body, joining flowers, totems and beads. Mo'at recites a prayer as Neytiri, acting as acolyte, places a WOODSPRITE, a seed of the Great Tree, on the body. Earth is poured over the LENS and we CUT TO -- 80.         JAKE WAKING UP in the Link. DARK as a coffin. He pushes the lid off, letting in light, and lies there. He looks pale and haggard, with a scraggly beard. JAKE (V.O.) Hard to believe it's only been three months. JAKE SITS in front of the video log camera, late at night. It         is many log entries later. He has lost a lot of weight. He         looks like a junkie watching a test pattern. JAKE (to the lens) I can barely remember my old life. I'm                   not sure who I am anymore. CUT TO: EXT. COMPOUND - DAY Under a sky of thunderheads, the forest is a dark wall beyond the fence. SELFRIDGE, wearing an exopack, TEES UP while GRACE and JAKE approach from the direction of the Ops Center. SELFRIDGE Good of you to stop by. How's it going out there? Our blue friends all packed up yet? Selfridge swings his DRIVER with good form. SELFRIDGE See, I keep hooking it. It's the damn pack. THE BALL drops into the mud just past a marker which reads 220. A TROOPER walks over to retrieve it. SELFRIDGE The low gravity and the high air density cancel out so -- JAKE You called us back to report -- you want to hear it or not? SELFRIDGE Go ahead. GRACE Jake is making incredible progress, years worth in just a few months. But -- we                   need more time. 81.                             SELFRIDGE Not what I was hoping to hear. It starts to rain. Selfridge calmly pulls an umbrella from his golf bag and snaps it open. GRACE Parker, it's their ancestral home. They've lived there since before human history began. You can spare them a few more weeks. SELFRIDGE This thing is inevitable. What does it                   matter when it happens? I'm sorry, Dr. Augustine. You're out of time. He leaves them standing there to get drenched. CUT TO: INT. ARMOR BAY A break table, under a harsh overhead light. Quaritch pulls up a chair, turns it around, and sits astride it facing Jake. He studies Jake's pale, sunken face. The scraggly beard. QUARITCH You're not gettin' lost in the woods, are you son? Jake can't meet his eyes. QUARITCH Your last report was two weeks ago. I'm                   starting to doubt your resolve. From what I see, it's time to terminate this mission. Jake eyes flare with alarm. JAKE No. I can do this. QUARITCH Look, you've given me plenty of usable intel. Like this "Well of Souls" place -- I've got them by the balls with that, when it turns into a shit-fight. Which it                   will. Jake feels hollow inside, knowing what he's done. 82.                             QUARITCH So you'll get your legs back, like I                   promised. (puts his hand on Jake's                        SHOULDER) It's time to come in. Jake ponders this. Isn't this what he was doing all this for? JAKE I've gotta finish this thing. There's                   one more test -- the Dream Hunt. It's the final stage of becoming a man. Then I'm                   one of them. They'll trust what I say... It's hard for him to even form these words -- JAKE ... and I can negotiate the terms of                   their relocation. QUARITCH Then you need to get it done, Corporal. CUT TO: EXT. HALLELUJAH MOUNTAINS - NIGHT Strange horizontal LIGHTNING branches through the floating mountains, twisted by the magnetic fields. The sky is black and heavy with clouds. INT. SHACK KITCHEN - NIGHT Jake is gulping black coffee like a tequila shot, looking pretty STRUNG OUT. GRACE is smoking furiously. GRACE Jake, I can't allow this. You're just not strong enough. JAKE It's the last door -- I'm going through it. You can help me or get out of the way. Jake pushes past her toward the corridor -- GRACE (grabbing him) Will you listen to me? Sometimes the Na'vi themselves die in these vision quests. The venom takes you to the edge of death. (MORE) 83.                             GRACE (cont'd)                    And the psychoactive alkaloid in the worm- - we have no idea what that'll do in an                   avatar brain. Jake breaks free and wheels away, down the corridor. GRACE follows JAKE as he crosses to the Link. A sheet of         LIGHTNING flashes across the sky outside. Norm is initializing the Link. NORM Calibrating. Thirty seconds. She puts her hands on his shoulders. GRACE No matter what you prove out there-- you are still in here. (shaking him) Right here. JAKE I have to go all the way -- become one of                   THEM-- GRACE (FURIOUSLY) Goddammit, Jake, you can never be one of                   them! Norm looks up, startled at the VEHEMENCE in GRACE' voice. GRACE Our life out there takes millions of                   dollars of machinery to sustain. You visit -- and you leave. During this, Jake pulls himself from his wheelchair, levering himself into the Link, hauling his useless legs inside. GRACE (SOFTENING) You can never truly be with her. Jake stops, pinioned by the truth. He seems suddenly very lost. JAKE You know why I'm here? Because Quaritch sent me. NORM What? 84.                             JAKE That's right -- to embed with the Omaticaya. To find out how to screw them out of their home. By deceit or by                   force, he didn't care. And if it turned out to be force, then how best to do it. Norm is in shock. But Grace is eerily calm. GRACE And what about now, Jake? JAKE I'm not that guy any more. Grace nods. She's been on his journey every step of the way. GRACE I know. JAKE But if I tell Quaritch the truth, he                   yanks me out -- I never see her again. And if I tell her the truth, the clan throws me out -- that's if they don't cut my heart out and show it to me. Jake looks hopelessly at the two of them. In his own perfect Hell. NORM They won't understand what you've done. JAKE They don't even have a word for "lie" -- they had to learn it from us. Grace sees he is on the verge of tears. Lost and alone, between worlds. GRACE I know. I taught it to them. JAKE (PLEADING) Grace. I've gotta go. They're waiting. NORM Link is ready. Grace stops him as he tries to close the lid. 85.                            GRACE Jake. You can't carry this burden much longer. JAKE (smiling wanly) It's okay. Mo'at says an alien mind probably can't survive the Dream Hunt anyway. Grace closes the lid. It feels like closing a coffin. She watches his psionic patterns aligning to his avatar, somewhere out in the night. GRACE (to Norm) Prep my link. I'm going in. CUT TO: INT. COMMONS/HOMETREE - NIGHT JAKE SITS, eyes closed, as Neytiri and another young hunter paint his face and body in preparation for uniltaron -- the Dream Hunt. NEYTIRI When your Spirit Animal comes, you will know. Their eyes meet with emotion neither can conceal any longer. TIME CUT. GRACE stands with the crowd at the ramp to         HOMETREE'S LOWEST LEVEL. Jake barely sees her as he goes down the spiral. She tries to follow, but is barred by a hunter. BELOW, seemingly in the womb of the earth, Jake walks slowly into the center of a tight circle of seated elders and hunters. An ELDER is slowly rapping a large WATER DRUM. TIME CUT -- MO'AT purifies him with smoke from burning herbs, CHANTING in a low monotone. Jake, squatting, washes the smoke over himself with his palms. MACRO - MO'AT'S FINGERS unwrap a piece of wood riddled with holes. She catches the end of a glowing purple WORM, and draws it out of the wood. MO'AT                       (SUBTITLED) Oh wise worm, eater of the Sacred Tree -- bless this worthy Hunter with a true vision. 86.         MO'AT places the worm on Jake's out-stretched TONGUE. It         twists on itself, lighting his mouth before he closes it. She indicates he should chew. He does. MACRO -- AN EARTHEN JAR is opened. EYTUKAN removes a         writhing black ARACHNOID, the Pandoran equivalent of a          scorpion. He places it against the back of Jake's neck and presses. The insect drives its stinger into Jake's skin and -- Jake grimaces. Mo'at and Eytukan step back, leaving Jake alone in the circle. Neytiri watches intently, joining in the low chant. SLOW DOLLY IN on Jake. His eyes OPEN. He looks around at the faces -- they seem to TRANSFORM, becoming threatening. Jake looks down at the palms of his hands. JAKE'S POV -- his hands recede, his whole body, the ground and -- INSTANTLY the circle of Na'vi recedes, as if to a distant horizon, leaving vast ground in between. SPACE is utterly distorted, and SOUND as well -- echoing, THUNDEROUS. ECU JAKE -- pupils DILATED black. He looks around and -- The onlookers are gone, replaced by a ring of glowing trees, which seem miles high. The whole image is bathed in spectral radiance. Jake looks down -- JAKE'S POV -- his body and hands transforming -- fingers stretching into tendrils, legs becoming roots which spread outward across the ground, a thousand glowing dendrites which connect to the roots of the trees and -- CUT TO REALITY -- Jake is on his hands and knees, PUKING in         the dirt. He contorts, crying out in agony as the venom contracts his muscles but -- IN HIS VISION Jake stands serene on a FLOATING MOUNTAIN CLIFF. A GREAT BLACK SHADOW covers him, the unmistakable X         silhouette of a diving LEONOPTERYX. The LAST SHADOW. CAMERA SCREAMS down on him as the shadow grows larger -- WE         RUSH into his face, into the blackness of his pupil which FILLS THE UNIVERSE and -- 87.         REAL JAKE writhes in the dirt, his back arched as his muscles seize. He foams and thrashes, his eyes rolled back in his head, while inside -- TIME ITSELF HAS ACCELERATED -- clouds scream around the mountain tops, mist boils through the forest. He feels the wind of time blowing through him as -- REAL JAKE claws the ground, moaning, staring blindly while -- INSIDE, IN POV he FLIES over the landscape of Pandora -- --but the forest is BLASTED. Fires flicker among trees that are BURNED black and lifeless in a smoky twilight. A great WINGED SHADOW is cast below, rippling over the devastated ground. AVATAR JAKE looks down at the shadow. Realizes HE is casting it, and we RUSH IN to his PUPIL and -- PULL BACK from the eye of a GREAT LEONOPTERYX, flying lordly and terrible over the land. It lets out an almighty SHRIEK which seems to echo to eternity and -- SLAM CUT to Jake, on his back, GASPING -- back in his body. He weakly rolls up to one elbow and looks around the room. MO'AT                   It is finished. Neytiri's face is flooded with relief. The faces of the clan elders look at Jake expectantly. EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) Did your Spirit Animal come? Jake looks from Eytukan to Mo'at, Tsu'tey and the elders. How can he tell them what he has seen? Mo'at puts her splayed fingers against his face, seeming to         peer into his troubled soul. MO'AT                       (to Jake) Something has come. (to the others, subtitled) It will take time for the meaning to be                   clear. She steps back, and Eytukan motions for Jake to stand. He         gets up, weakly. 88.         OUTSIDE THE ENCLOSURE -- Eytukan emerges with Jake and the others. The entire clan is gathered, waiting to hear what has happened. Jake looks up at the Leonopteryx Skull Totem, which seems to stare down at him. GRACE watches, her eyes brimming. Proud. Relieved. Amazed. Eytukan places both hands on Jake's chest and holds them there. EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) You are now a son of the Omaticaya. You are part of the People. All the members of the clan press forward, crowding around and putting their hands on Jake's shoulders, back, chest -- hands upon hands, until he is connected to everyone. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - NIGHT JAKE and NEYTIRI run silhouetted in the night. Behind them waterfalls cascade down in the silvery light. POLYPHEMUS RISES behind the trees. NEYTIRI DIVES from a rock, slicing into a mirror of water. Jake follows her and -- UNDERWATER, they swim over glowing ANEMONES. They seem to float in a cosmic dance above a luminous garden of waving shapes. Tiny purple fish swirl around them. Their hands come together, fingers twining, as they float weightlessly, as if between worlds. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. WILLOW GLADE Laughing, they run together into a stand of WILLOWS. Their trunks are as gnarled as bonsai. Long faintly glowing tendrils hang straight down in pastel curtains. Underfoot, a bed of moss glows faintly. It REACTS to their footsteps with expanding rings of light. It is an exquisitely beautiful spot. The willows stir, responding to their presence. She holds up         her hands, letting the TENDRILS caress her. 89.                             NEYTIRI This is a place for prayers to be heard. And sometimes answered. Jake puts out his hands and the tendrils play over his fingers, his palms, his forearms. His eyes go wide. We hear the WHISPERING of ancient Na'vi VOICES. JAKE It's like -- a sound you feel. NEYTIRI We call this utraya mokri -- the Tree of                   Voices. The voices of our ancestors, who live within Eywa. A few WOODSPRITES circle around them, some alighting on their shoulders and arms. They stand, very close together now. Her eyes are intense, almost luminous. He feels drawn into them. But she pulls back a little. NEYTIRI You are Omaticaya now. You may make your own bow from the wood of Hometree. (she looks away) And you may choose a woman. The Amazon warrior trying so hard to sound casual. Jake suppresses a smile. NEYTIRI We have many fine women. Ninat is the best singer -- JAKE I don't want Ninat. NEYTIRI There is Beyral -- she is a good hunter -- Jake puts his fingers on her lips to stop her. JAKE I've already chosen. But this woman must also choose me. She takes his hands and their fingers intertwine, moving gently over each other. 90.                             NEYTIRI She already has. He puts his face close to hers. She rubs her cheek against his. He kisses her on the mouth. They explore each other. Then she pulls back, eyes sparkling. NEYTIRI Kissing is very good. But we have something better. She pulls him down until they are kneeling, facing each other on the faintly glowing moss. Neytiri takes the end of her queue and raises it. Jake does the same, with trembling anticipation. The tendrils at the ends move with a life of their own, straining to be joined. MACRO SHOT -- The tendrils INTERTWINE with gentle undulations. JAKE rocks with the direct contact between his nervous system and hers. The ultimate intimacy. They come together into a kiss and sink down on the bed of         moss, and ripples of light spread out around them. THE WILLOWS sway, without wind, and the night is alive with pulsing energy as we DISSOLVE TO -- LATER. She is collapsed across his chest. Spent. He         strokes her face tenderly. JAKE Neytiri, you know my real body is far away, sleeping. She raises up, placing her fingertips to his chest -- NEYTIRI This body is real. (she touches his forehead) This spirit is real. Her eyes are luminous, honest, infinitely deep. NEYTIRI When I was first your teacher, I hated all Sky People. But you have also taught me. (WHISPERING) Spirit is all that matters. 91.         She lays her head down, against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. NEYTIRI I am with you now, Jake. We are mated for life. JAKE We are? NEYTIRI Yes. It is our way. (INNOCENTLY) Oh. I forgot to tell? He rouses up, making her look at him. JAKE Really, we are? NEYTIRI We are. Jake considers this. JAKE It's cool. I'm there. He lays his head down, and her arms enfold him, sheltering him as he sleeps. INT. SHACK - NIGHT Jake's eyes open in the darkness. He just lies there, thinking. In his coffin. In another world. CUT TO: EXT. WILLOW GLADE - DAWN DAWN BREAKS in the sacred glade. Shafts of orange morning light. Jake and Neytiri asleep in each others' arms. Maxfield Parrish painting. But then -- THE ROAR OF ENGINES. Neytiri awakens with a start. The SPLINTERING, CRACKLING of forest being crushed under enormous treads gets louder. SHE WATCHES in growing horror as the BLADE of a bulldozer becomes a dark wall behind the sheltering ring of willows. She shakes Jake, shouting at him in Na'vi to wake up. 92.                             NEYTIRI Jake! Wake up! Where ever you are, come back to me now. Jake! INT. SHACK - DAWN HUMAN JAKE is in a hurry to get back to the link. GRACE, still groggy, chases him with coffee and microwaved eggs. GRACE Here -- eat this. I'd hate to have to                   force-feed a cripple. She slams the lid shut before he can enter and sticks the plate under his nose. GRACE (GRINNING) She's not going anywhere. He sighs heavily and starts wolfing the eggs. EXT. WILLOW GLADE - DAWN Neytiri SCREAMS as -- The willows begin to fall before the blade, to be ground under the treads. AVATAR JAKE is directly in the path. She tries to lift him, but he is too heavy. She is screaming at         him, frantically trying to wake him, as -- INT. SHACK - DAWN Jake adjusts himself in the link chair. He hands Grace the empty plate. GRACE And when was the last time you took a                   shower? Jesus, Marine. Jake pushes her hands away and pulls the lid down. EXT. WILLOW GLADE AVATAR JAKE wakes up to see -- NEYTIRI dragging him, screaming. He leaps up as -- THE DOZER pushes inexorably into the glade, splintering the trees, plowing the earth before it. JAKE RUNS into the path of the bulldozer, waving his arms. 93.                               JAKE Hey! Heeeey! Stop! Stop! He positions himself where the camera-eyes of the robotic juggernaut will see him. INT. OPS CENTER - DAY CLOSE ON MONITOR -- Jake shouts but there's no sound feed. WIDER as the TRACTOR OPERATOR sees him and pulls back on the remote throttles. He yells to his SUPERVISOR. OPERATOR Hey, I got one of the natives blockin' my                   blade here. This attracts the attention of Selfridge, who comes over to         the workstation. ON THE SCREEN -- Jake, in his Omaticaya loincloth and ceremonial body paint, is unrecognizable. SUPERVISOR (to Selfridge) What do we do? SELFRIDGE Roll on. He'll move. These people have to learn that we don't stop. TIGHT ON THROTTLES as the operator pushes them forward. ON THE SCREEN Jake stumbles back, tripping, disappears below the blade for a second -- reappears, running to the side. EXT. WILLOW GLADE JAKE grabs a rock and LEAPS onto the dozer. He climbs quickly to the CAMERA MAST. SMASH! The rock crashes into the lens of the camera. Jake beats the rock furiously against it, pounding it to junk. INT. OPS CENTER CLOSE ON MONITOR -- as Jake's demonic face is replaced by         noise. OPERATOR I'm blind. He pulls back on the throttles. 94.         EXT. WILLOW GLADE THE JUGGERNAUT grinds to a stop. But the ROAR of engines continues because -- MORE DOZERS and TRACTORS advance nearby, crushing the forest before them. Trees are slashed down by the PLASMA CUTTERS. Terrified animals flee before the onslaught. POWERSUITS and TROOPERS stride through the ravaged forest, blasting anything that moves. A trooper sees Jake on the dozer. He rips off a BURST and -- Rounds CLANG into metal as Jake dives off the machine. He         grabs Neytiri and they run into concealing foliage. From behind a screen of leaves, they watch as -- THE DOZERS advance, obliterating the sacred site, leaving only mud and wood splinters in their path. CU NEYTIRI, stunned by the nightmarish, unfathomable wrongness of it. She sobs as the willows die. INT. OPS CENTER MINUTES LATER, the operator is playing back the CAMERA'S FEED for Quaritch and the others. QUARITCH Freeze it, right -- there. ON MONITOR -- the image expands, until Jake's face is clear, frozen in an animal snarl. SELFRIDGE Son of a bitch! PUSH IN ON QUARITCH as his jaw clenches in cold fury. He turns and strides toward the door, shouting to his WATCH COMMANDER as he passes. QUARITCH Get me a pilot! CUT TO: INT. COMMONS/HOMETREE - DAY A RAIDING PARTY of hunters, their bodies painted, raise weapons overhead. AVATAR GRACE watches with growing alarm. 95.                             EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) Tsu'tey will lead the war party! Tsu'tey steps forward, face full of hate, raising a war cry among the hunters. GRACE (SUBTITLED) Please -- this will only make it worse -- TSU'TEY You do not speak here! JAKE and NEYTIRI cross the commons toward them. Jake feels all eyes turn toward him. He takes her arm, stopping her. JAKE (to Neytiri, low) Okay, listen. There's something I have to                   tell you. It's gonna be hard. I just need you to -- He sees TSU'TEY striding toward them, his face a mask of         fury. TSU'TEY You! Tsu'tey walks right up and SLAMS Jake in the chest with both hands. It is so unexpected, that Jake topples on his ass. TSU'TEY You mated with this woman?! GRACE Oh shit. Jake stands. He reaches out for Neytiri. She goes to him, clutching his hand. MO'AT                   Is this true? NEYTIRI (SUBTITLED) We are mated before Eywa. It is done. Tsu'tey turns to Mo'at and Eytukan, his face anguished. 96.                             TSU'TEY (SUBTITLED) Neytiri was promised to me! Everything is                   changing. Everything is being destroyed! Tsu'tey points at Jake, his pain shifting to rage. TSU'TEY (SUBTITLED) These aliens kill everything they touch, like poison. MO'AT                   Neytiri! If you choose this path, you can never be Tsahik. Your life will be                   wasted. Neytiri looks at her mother -- sees the grief in her eyes. NEYTIRI I have chosen. Tsu'tey draws his knife and -- TSU'TEY Yeeeeeaaa! LUNGES AT JAKE, who's ready this time -- he sidesteps, blocking the knife, and elbows Tsu'tey HARD in the face. Tsu'tey reels back, nose bleeding. He starts forward on a         second attack but -- Eytukan grabs his arm and spins him around. EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) Stop! This is not a proper challenge. Tsu'tey glares at Jake while sheathing his knife. TSU'TEY I challenge you. GRACE Jake, don't -- JAKE I accept. CUT TO: 97.         INT./EXT. SAMSON - DAY QUARITCH rides left seat as Trudy pilots through the mountains. She glances at him, then toggles the aircom. TRUDY Loveshack this is Samson One Six inbound hot to your pos. I have Colonel Quaritch with me and -- But Quaritch SLAMS the switch, cutting her off. QUARITCH Did I tell you to announce us? TRUDY Sorry sir, it's procedure. INT. SHACK Norm punches buttons on the comms console. NORM Samson One Six? Trudy? (no answer) Crap. He looks helplessly at Jake and Grace's link units -- no way to warn them. INT. HOMETREE - DAY TSU'TEY AND JAKE square off. Each holds a long, solid staff. The entire clan crowds around them in a circle. GRACE What the hell are you doing? JAKE It's the only way to get him to goddamn listen. TSU'TEY LEAPS at Jake with a sharp cry and Jake parries with his staff. The staves CLACK off each other as the two combatants LEAP, DUCK and STRIKE furiously. Tsu'tey sweeps Jake off his feet with a roundhouse hit to the ankles, but -- Jake ROLLS out of it and catches Tsu'tey in the belly with the blunt end. 98.         EXT. SITE 26 - DAY TRUDY'S SAMSON lands. QUARITCH and a posse of troopers jump down and rush the Shack. INT. COMMONS TSU'TEY wades in with a series of short, sharp blows. Jake swings with equal fury. Both fighting from the heart. The staves whistle through the air, and CLACK together like gunshots. Jake presses hard, and Tsu'tey staggers back, stumbling as -- Jake lands a SOLID HIT, dropping him to his knees, just as -- INT. SHACK THE INNER DOOR bangs open and QUARITCH stomps toward Grace's         Link controls. NORM Hey, hang on, you can't interrupt a link in progress, it's dangerous -- wait! Quaritch shoves him aside and SMACKS his fist down on the POWER switch. Grace's unit goes dead and -- INT. COMMONS AVATAR GRACE'S eyes roll back and she keels over. NEYTIRI barely catches her before she hits the ground. JAKE parries as Tsu'tey swings but then -- Jake's eyes go blank just as -- K-RACK! Tsu'tey puts one alongside his head. Jake sprawls, completely inert. Tsu'tey pokes him with his staff, then raises it and lets out a         piercing VICTORY CRY. INT. SHACK - DAY JAKE SLAMS OPEN the Link, amped from the fight, furious -- JAKE Are you out of your goddamn mind?! QUARITCH You crossed a line. Quaritch PUNCHES HIM HARD. Jake flops back, dazed. The troopers yank him out and ZIP-TIE his wrists. 99.         INT. COMMONS TSU'TEY draws his KNIFE, and bends down, grabbing Jake by the hair. TSU'TEY (SUBTITLED) This is a demon in a false body. It                   should not live. He puts his knife to Jake's throat but -- NEYTIRI BLIND-SIDES him at full tilt. Tsu'tey sprawls, rolls, comes up to see -- Neytiri crouched like a lioness over Jake, her KNIFE and teeth bared, her ears flattened. She SNARLS with primal fury. Tsu'tey stands panting. He pushes through the crowd and walks away, calling for his hunters. CUT TO: INT. OPS CENTER - DUSK TIGHT ON MONITOR -- showing JAKE'S AVATAR FACE on the dozer camera, as he pounds a rock into the lens. The shot FREEZES on Jake's ANIMAL SNARL. WIDER -- HUMAN JAKE sits, bruised and bleeding, watching himself on the monitor. GRACE and NORM stand nearby, rubbing their wrists where the zip-ties bit in. SELFRIDGE and QUARITCH watch with disdain. QUARITCH You let me down, son. You got a little local pussy and completely forgot what team you play for. Jake meets his gaze with a defiant glare. GRACE Parker, listen, there may still be time to -- QUARITCH Shut your fucking hole! Grace is momentarily stunned by Quaritch's fury. But she meets it with her own intensity, not backing down an inch. 100.                             GRACE Or what, Ranger Rick? You gonna shoot me? (to Selfridge) You need to muzzle your dog! SELFRIDGE Can we just take this down a couple notches, please. JAKE (to Quaritch) You say you want to keep your people alive. Start by listening to her. Jake nods to Grace to continue. GRACE (to Selfridge) This is bad, Parker. Those trees were sacred to the Omaticaya in a way you can't imagine. SELFRIDGE You know what? You throw a stick in the air around here it falls on some sacred fern. GRACE I'm not talking about pagan voodoo here -- I'm talking about something real and measurable in the biology of the forest. SELFRIDGE (FRUSTRATED) Which is what exactly? Grace's nerve fails. A rush of conflicting emotions -- the need to act, to do something, colliding with her scientific rigor. GRACE (to Jake) I can't do this. How am I supposed to                   reduce years of work to a sound bite for the illiterate? JAKE Just tell him what you know in your heart. She turns to Parker, steeling herself. 101.                             GRACE Alright, look -- I don't have the answers yet, I'm just now starting to even frame the questions. What we think we know -- is that there's some kind of                   electrochemical communication between the roots of the trees. Like the synapses between neurons. Each tree has ten to the fourth connections to the trees around it, and there are ten to the twelfth trees on Pandora -- SELFRIDGE That's a lot I'm guessing. GRACE That's more connections than the human brain. You get it? It's a network -- a                   global network. And the Na'vi can access it -- they can upload and download data -- memories -- at sites like the one you destroyed. SELFRIDGE What the hell have you people been smoking out there? They're just. Goddamn. Trees. GRACE You need to wake up, Parker. The wealth of this world isn't in the ground -- it's                   all around us. The Na'vi know that, and they're fighting to defend it. If you want to share this world with them, you need to understand them. QUARITCH We understand them just fine. Thanks to                   Jake here. Jake shares a look of alarm with Grace as Quaritch selects a         NEW CLIP on the main monitor -- TIGHT ON MONITOR -- VIDEO-LOG IMAGE of Jake, looking haggard and borderline deranged, rambling in a late-night monologue. JAKE (RECORDED) They're not going to give up their home -- they're not gonna make a deal. For what? Lite beer and shopping channel? There's                   nothing we have that they want. We're a                   horror to them. We're the monsters from space. 102.         JAKE watches with a growing dread as his words condemn the people he has grown to love. JAKE (RECORDED) They're never going to leave Hometree. Quaritch FREEZES the recording. QUARITCH Since a deal can't be made -- it gets real simple. (to Jake, icily) So thanks. I'm getting all emotional. I                   might just give you a big wet kiss. GRACE Parker, we have to talk, like rational people. SELFRIDGE Well, I'd cherish that, but unfortunately you're out of here on the next shuttle. All of you. I'm shutting down the Avatar Program, effective now. ON JAKE, GRACE AND NORM, speechless. SLOW DISSOLVE TO: A WALL OF FIRE. Silhouettes of direhorse riders cross in SLOW MOTION, spears and bows held high. INT. OPS CENTER - MORNING MONITOR SCREEN IMAGE -- WAINFLEET pans a camera across the smoldering hulks of BURNED DOZERS. The toppled remains of a         charred ampsuit. Dead troopers bristling with arrows. WAINFLEET They hit with banshees first. Set the ampsuit on fire. Driver's toast. Quaritch and Selfridge look on grimly. QUARITCH The rest of the squad? WAINFLEET Six bodies -- that's all of `em. And the equipment is totalled. SELFRIDGE Christ. 103.         INT. SELFRIDGE'S OFFICE - DAY Selfridge is stares soberly as Quaritch outlines the plan. QUARITCH I can do it with minimal casualties to                   the indigenous. We'll clear them out with gas first. It'll be humane. More or                   less. Selfridge sighs and rubs his face. QUARITCH Hey, don't go limp on me now. This is                   exactly the incident we needed. SELFRIDGE Alright, let's pull the trigger. CUT TO: INT. BIO LAB MAX and the lab staff are glumly packing files and equipment, under the watchful eye of armed SEC-OPS TROOPERS. JAKE, GRACE, NORM stare bleakly at each other. GRACE They bulldozed a sacred site on purpose, to trigger a response. They're                   fabricating this war to get what they want. NORM I can't believe that. JAKE Yup. That's how it's done. When people are sitting on shit you want, you make them your enemy. Then you're justified in                   taking it. TRUDY RUNS into the lab, breathless. She's wearing full flight gear and carrying her helmet. TRUDY Sec-ops is rolling the gunships. They're                   gonna hit Hometree! JAKE When? TRUDY Now. We're spooling up now! I gotta go. 104.                             GRACE My God. Jake pumps furiously toward the door, Grace following. INT. OPS CENTER - DAY SELFRIDGE surveys the airfield, where crews swarm over the gunships, loading ordnance. He turns as JAKE and GRACE charge toward him. GRACE Parker, wait. Stop! These are people you're about to -- SELFRIDGE They're fly-bitten savages who live in a                   tree! Look around -- I don't know about you but I see a lot of trees. They can move. GRACE For God's sake, there are children in                   there. Babies! JAKE Look Selfridge, you don't want this kind of blood on your hands. Let me try to                   talk them out. They trust me. ON SELFRIDGE, considering this. CUT TO: INT. LINK ROOM SELFRIDGE and an escort of armed TROOPERS accompany Jake and Grace to the links. The two enter their units, as NORM and MAX prep the system. SELFRIDGE You've got one hour. Unless you want your girlfriend in there when the axe comes down, you get them to evacuate. One hour. Jake lowers the upper clamshell. Norm starts the sequence. CUT TO: INT. COMMONS -DAY The entire clan is gathered, with Eytukan and Mo'at         presiding. Jake looks around, feeling the gaze of the People upon him. He steels himself, and speaks in clear Na'vi -- 105.                             JAKE (SUBTITLED) Eytukan, I have something to say, to                   everyone. EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) Speak, Jakesully. JAKE (SUBTITLED) A great evil is upon us. The Sky People are coming to destroy Hometree. They will be here soon. A murmur of fear and anger goes through the crowd. JAKE (SUBTITLED) You have to leave, or you will die. MO'AT                   Are you certain of this? JAKE They sent me here to learn your ways. So                   one day I could bring this message, and you would believe it. NEYTIRI What are you saying, Jake? You knew this would happen? He is unable to meet her eyes. JAKE Yes. (ANGUISHED) At first it was just orders. Then everything changed. I fell in love-- with the forest, with the Omaticaya People -- (he looks at her) -- with you. And by then, how could I                   tell you? Neytiri can barely breathe. She is shaking with the enormity of it, her voice cracking with rage and pain -- NEYTIRI I trusted you, Jake! 106.                             JAKE Neytiri. Please, I only wanted to -- NEYTIRI You will never be one of the People! NEVER! TSU'TEY yells to his HUNTERS -- TSUTEY (SUBTITLED) Bind them. They grab Jake, who doesn't resist. Others seize Grace. Both are driven to their knees, and their arms bound. CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY SCORPION GUNSHIPS darken the sky as they come over the tops of the trees. At the head of the formation is one much larger ship, a monster 150 feet long -- the GENERAL DYNAMICS C-21 DRAGON GUNSHIP. Quaritch, next to the pilot of the Dragon, surveys the world below like Napoleon astride his horse. EXT. HOMETREE JAKE and GRACE are lashed to posts at the front entrance to         Hometree. The People look up as -- THE DRAGON and its escort of GUNSHIPS arrive over the trees. The DOWN-BLAST from their rotors creates a maelstrom of         flying leaves and debris. IN THE DRAGON COCKPIT Quaritch watches a targeting screen -- a telescopic image of Jake and Grace tied to posts. QUARITCH Well, I'd say diplomacy has failed. TSU'TEY and another HUNTER hold knives to the throats of the two avatars, glaring defiantly at the gunships. QUARITCH I think they mean to cut their throats if                   we don't back off. Make sure you get a                   nice close-up of that. I can tack it onto the after-action report. JAKE YELLS to Neytiri, Tsu'tey, the others gathered nearby -- 107.                             JAKE You have to get out of Hometree! Run to                   the forest! Please, I'm begging you! EYTUKAN scowls at Jake, then GRABS TSU'TEY and yells -- EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) Take the ikran! Attack from above! Tsu'tey grabs some hunters and runs up the roots of Hometree. IN THE COCKPIT Quaritch grows impatient. QUARITCH Alright, let's get this done. Give me                   forty millimeter gas rounds, right in the front door. GUNNER Roger. CS forties. Going hot. QUARITCH Fire. On the Dragon's stub-wings the 40mm ROCKET LAUNCHERS open up         with a BARRAGE of leaping fire which FLASHES down and -- K-WHOOM!K-WHOOM!K-WHOOM! -- the inside of Hometree ERUPTS with multiple EXPLOSIONS of TEARGAS. THE GAS rolls across the confused villagers. They begin to         cough and gag. Eytukan and the remaining HUNTERS bravely fire at the gunships with their longbows. IN THE DRAGON'S COCKPIT, Quaritch laughs as arrows CLINK against the armored windows. AMID CLOUDS of teargas, the Omaticaya run, stumble, collapse. EYTUKAN (yelling/subtitled) Everybody outside! Go to the Forest. The villagers pour out of Hometree. Everyone is yelling. Piercing SCREAMS in the boiling gas. JAKE, eyes streaming, struggles with his bindings. KA-WHOOM! An INCENDIARY ROUND explodes inside the Commons. FLAMES ROAR through the base of Hometree. 108.         INSIDE HOMETREE it is a burning smoky HELL. Flames roar up         the inside like a chimney. STRAGGLERS scramble outside, coughing and dragging wounded with them. High up in the trunk, TSU'TEY and his hunters leap rapidly from spoke to spoke, climbing barely ahead of the fireball. OUTSIDE the fire is driven by the rotor-wash toward JAKE and GRACE who are still bound tightly to the posts. Out of the smoke, MO'AT appears in front of Jake. She raises a KNIFE and -- SLASHES DOWNWARD. Jake looks down, surprised, to see his bonds falling away. He meets her eyes, which are filled with horror, but also something else. Call it faith. MO'AT                   You are one of us. Help us! Jake takes the knife and cuts Grace free. JAKE We've gotta move! He's gonna blow the columns. As Grace realizes what he means, he grabs her and they RUN. Around them the Omaticaya flee in horror and confusion. IN THE COCKPIT, Quaritch watches as the Omaticaya stream away from the Great Tree, running along roots and branches. QUARITCH That's how you scatter the roaches. Okay, switch missiles. Give me H-E's at the base of the west columns. PILOTS (V.O.) Copy, switching missiles. IN TRUDY'S SAMSON -- she hears the other pilots acknowledging Quaritch's order. TRUDY Screw it. She takes her finger OFF the fire-control and pulls her aircraft out of formation. PUSHING IN ON QUARITCH, the Hometree reflecting in his glasses. 109.                             QUARITCH Bring it down. MISSILES stream down from the DRAGON and the other gunships and -- The base of Hometree VANISHES in a chain of HIGH-EXPLOSIVE BLASTS. The massive PILLARS fragment into matchsticks, and -- The Omaticaya watch in horror as -- HOMETREE GROANS and starts to MOVE. In a cacophony of cracking, splintering roots, the mighty tree TOPPLES with agonizing slowness. AT THE BANSHEE EYRIE, TSU'TEY and the other hunters spur their mounts into flight. They swoop among the branches as         the tree, the one fixed thing in their lives, MOVES. It CRASHES DOWN through the forest canopy, crushing the lesser trees in its path, FALLING PONDEROUSLY. HOMETREE hits the ground like the end of the world, raising a         great cloud of dust and pulverized debris. IN THE DRAGON cockpit, Quaritch surveys the destruction. QUARITCH Nice work people. Alright, let's light it up. INCENDIARIES launch from the gunships, EXPLODING into gouts of FIRE in the debris of Hometree. THE GUNSHIPS fan the flames through the trees like a fire- storm. The Omaticaya retreat as a WALL OF FIRE advances. JAKE SEARCHES for Neytiri amid swirling smoke and sparks. JAKE Neytiri! Neytiri! GRACE is gathering crying CHILDREN, and herding them away from the fire-storm. NEYTIRI stumbles through the burning wreckage at the edge of         the INFERNO. She sees -- EYTUKAN. A large shard of wood is driven through him like a         spear. He recognizes her as she kneels over him. 110.                             EYTUKAN (SUBTITLED) Daughter -- take my bow. Protect the People. In his last living moment he places his bow in her hands. She collapses over him, her face crumpling in grief. JAKE reels out of the smoke. Kneels next to her. JAKE I'm sorry -- She shoves him away and stands, screaming at him as tears stream down her face. NEYTIRI Get away from me, Jake. Go away! Never come back! Jake stumbles back as she slumps down by her father's body. Sparks and smoke swirl around him. He watches as -- NETYIRI kneels, grieving. Slumped over, clutching her stomach. Keening like an animal. SLOW MOTION -- Jake staggers lost and alone through the burning forest. Utterly shattered. Eyes vacant. JAKE (V.O.) I was a warrior who dreamed he could bring peace. Sooner or later though, you always have to wake up...         INT. LINK ROOM SELFRIDGE watches a video feed of the destruction on one of         the monitors. Max and NORM stare in shock. SELFRIDGE Pull the plug. A TROOPER crosses to the console and grabs the handle of the MASTER BREAKER -- EXT. RAINFOREST The strings are cut. Jake flops to the ground, limp. Elsewhere in the smoky Hell, Grace slumps unconscious. The crying kids pull at her. Mo'at, leading a group of         Omaticaya, comes upon the scene. 111.         She grabs the kids and pulls them away, leaving Grace's          avatar helpless in the path of the flames. She hesitates, then -- MO'AT                       (SUBTITLED) Bring her. INT. LINK ROOM BLACKNESS. Then the top clamshell of Jake's unit is yanked upward, and troopers grab him, zip-tie his wrists as we -- CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - DUSK ON A HILLSIDE -- a grieving Neytiri stands with Mo'at and the Omaticaya refugees. Two hunters pull Grace's avatar on a         travois. They watch as the flames burn like a funeral pyre below. A         great pall of smoke darkens the landscape. DISSOLVE TO: INT. LOCK-UP - NIGHT Jake, Grace, and Norm are in a common holding cell. They sit, staring in silence. Too wired to sleep, too emotionally drained to move. GRACE They never wanted us to succeed. AT THE DESK OUTSIDE, the lone TROOPER looks up as -- TRUDY approaches along the corridor, pushing a stainless steel trolley. TRUDY Personally I think steak's too good for these traitors. GUARD They get steak? That's bullshit. Let me                   see that -- The guard bends to look into the hot cart and  -- THE MUZZLE of Trudy's pistol presses behind his ear. 112.                             TRUDY Oops. (shoving him down) All the way down, pendejo. She WHISTLES and MAX trots around the corner. Trudy binds the guard with one of his own zip-ties as Max grabs his KEY CARD and runs to the cell. Swipes the card. The door is rolling open when -- ANOTHER TROOPER rounds the corner. Trudy takes him down with a sharp BLOW to the windpipe and a THAI KNEE to the ribs. Meanwhile the first TROOPER is getting up, but Max CLOCKS him heartily with a coffee urn. He goes down and stays down. MAX That was unexpectedly satisfying. Trudy plants a kiss on Norm as he runs out of the cell. NORM Baby, you rock. Jake wheels out, grabbing the sidearm from the fallen trooper as Trudy binds his wrists. JAKE (to Max and Trudy) Thanks. Jake faces his motley group, chambering a round. JAKE So what do you say? Time for a                   revolution? GRACE I'm free. Trudy grins and taps his fist. JAKE Come on. CUT TO: INT. UTILIDOR In the utility corridor under the base, Jake pumps the chair furiously, as the others jog. They reach an AIRLOCK and start donning EXOPACKS. 113.                               JAKE (to Trudy) Get your ship fired up. Trudy nods. She grabs Norm and enters the airlock. Jake turns to Max. JAKE Stay here. I need somebody on the inside I can trust. Max nods. Jake grips his hand tightly. CUT TO: EXT. AIRFIELD - NIGHT IN THE SAMSON, Norm is helping Trudy race through the preflight checks as the turbines spool up. A LIGHT hits them. An armored TROOPER approaches, aiming his AR at them. TROOPER I need you to shut down and step out of                     the vehicle! Now! JAKE rolls up behind him, aiming his pistol. JAKE Take it nice and easy, troop. The trooper turns, sees the gun. JAKE On the ground, face down. Hands behind your head. The trooper hesitates. GRACE Do what he goddamn says! He does. Norm jumps down and grabs the trooper's rifle and side-arm, covering him, while Grace helps Jake from chair to         the back bay of the chopper. She throws his chair in, and jumps in herself. JAKE Go! Go! Go! 114.         INT. OPS CENTER - NIGHT QUARITCH, watching a monitor, sees what's happening down at         the airfield. He slams his palm down on an ALARM BUTTON. He draws his PISTOL. Strides toward the EMERGENCY DOOR. He         undogs it. EXT. OPS CENTER/AIRFIELD - NIGHT HOLDING HIS BREATH Quaritch yanks the hatch open and strides onto the outer landing. Inside people scramble for MASKS. THE SAMSON lifts off in a blast of rotor-wash just as -- QUARITCH OPENS FIRE and -- ROUNDS rake the ship. Trudy banks hard, using the bottom to         shield them. Bullets WHACK into the ship as she climbs-out over the tree-line. Jake's fist pumps the air exultantly. JAKE Oh yeah, baby! GRACE Aaahh, crap. Not again. He looks over at Grace and freezes. She is looking down at a         BLOODY HAND. She clutches her abdomen, covering the spreading stain. Looks at Jake, wide-eyed. GRACE This is gonna ruin my whole day. JAKE Hang on, Grace. CUT TO: EXT. SHACK / SITE 26 - NIGHT NORM'S AVATAR, with an AR slung over his shoulder, stands on         the roof of the LINK MODULE. He gives a thumbs up signal. The lift cable goes taut and -- The shack LIFTS OFF THE GROUND. Trudy's Samson beats the grass of the mountain meadow, straining to lift the module on a long-line sling. The shack sways as Trudy banks across forested slopes and heads deeper into the HALLELUJAH MOUNTAINS. 115.         INT. SAMSON CABIN - NIGHT Outside the windows, clouds and cliffs pass by, lit by         Polyphemus. Jake is yanking stuff out of the Samson's trauma bag, while Grace lies curled across two back seats, hugging her blood- soaked abdomen. She is pale and shocky. Trudy is flying on visual only, by the light of Polyphemus. Her instruments are showing gibberish. TRUDY Well, at least they won't be able to                   track us up here. Not this deep in the vortex. JAKE It's strongest at the Well of Souls, right? TRUDY Yeah. JAKE Good, `cause that's where we're going. TRUDY Copy. He gives Grace an ampule of morphine for the pain. JAKE I'm gonna get you some help, Grace. GRACE Forget it, it doesn't matter. Jake grabs her shoulders. JAKE No! The People can help you. I know it. CUT TO: EXT. WELL OF SOULS - AERIAL - DAWN Dawn light paints the massive ARCHES of magnetic rock above the Well of Souls. Tiny as an insect, the SAMSON passes. 116.                             JAKE (V.O.) The Well of Souls. The heart of the forest. I knew the People would go                   there. EXT. WELL OF SOULS - DAWN The WELL OF SOULS is a deep caldera 100 meters across. It is         ringed with enormous WILLOWS whose roots seem to pour down the sheer rock walls like candle wax. AT THE BOTTOM, in a natural amphitheater, the Omaticaya refugees are clustered around a central rock outcropping which forms a kind of dais and altar. Shafts of dawn light reach to the bottom of the grotto, lighting a single willow -- the MOTHER TREE. Ancient and gnarled, it grows in the center of the rock. Its ROOTS spread down to the grotto floor, where they merge with the roots of the willows ringing the Well -- forming a         braided mat resembling the surface of a brain. Mo'at stands on the dais, leading them in a CHANT. MO'AT                       (SUBTITLED) Wise ancestors who live within Eywa, guide us. Give us a sign. CUT TO: EXT. FOREST CLEARING  - DAWN The shack descends from the sky like a gift from the gods. It bumps to the ground. CUT TO: INT. SHACK -- DAY Grace lies, comatose, in her open link. Trudy gives Jake a         look that says "not much time." Jake feels Grace's cold forehead, then crosses to his own link. As Trudy helps him in, Norm rapidly preps the system. NORM (LOW) Tsu'tey is Olo'eyctan now. He's not going to let you get near that place. JAKE I've gotta try, Norm. 117.         Jake pulls the clamshell down and we -- CUT TO: EXT. RUINS OF HOMETREE - DAY CU JAKE'S AVATAR -- HIS EYES OPEN. He sits up. The forest is         silent, shrouded in smoke that the sun can't penetrate. The animals have fled. Ash blows on the wind. JAKE (V.O.) Outcast. Betrayer. Alien. To ever face them again, I was gonna have to change the rules. DISSOLVE -- JAKE reaches the top of a rise. The forest beyond is utterly DEVASTATED. The trees burned and fallen. Small fires still flicker across a landscape in Hell. JAKE stares. It is his vision, made real. He stumbles through the dark wasteland, sparks and ash swirling around him. A SCREECH. Jake looks up as -- HIS BANSHEE -- bonded for life -- flaps down to a landing in         front of him. He steps to it, and strokes its head. It         nudges his chest like a horse. JAKE (V.O.) Sometimes your whole life boils down to                      one insane move. JAKE Come on, boy. Time to fly. OMIITED EXT. MOUNTAINS - DAY THE GREAT LEONOPTERYX glides effortlessly along the ridge where Jake and Neytiri first encountered him. It scans for prey below, its magnificent indigo-crested head cocking left, then right. JAKE (V.O.) The way I had it figured, Toruk is the baddest cat in the sky. Nothing attacks him. So why would he ever look up? FROM ABOVE -- THE SMALL SHADOW of Jake's banshee falls across the back of the mighty Toruk. 118.                             JAKE (V.O.) But that was just a theory. JAKE DIVES and WE RUSH DOWN toward the great beast and our own shadow then -- CUT TO: EXT. WELL OF SOULS - LATE AFTERNOON The Omaticaya people lift their voices in a SONG filled with tragic loss and yearning for deliverance. CLOSE ON NEYTIRI, singing. A SHADOW CROSSES HER FACE. She looks up, and her eyes go wide as -- A TERRIBLE CRY echoes, turning all eyes skyward. AN ENORMOUS SHADOW covers the crowd as -- TORUK comes out of the sun, beating its huge wings to slow its descent. Its crimson and black wings, backlit by the sun, seem to glow from within. The People CRY OUT in alarm and scatter as the dreaded beast alights in their midst. And that's when they see -- JAKE, riding high on its shoulders, plugged-in to its antenna. It folds its wings and stands calmly amid the paralyzed Na'vi. Toruk lowers its body. They stare in awe as Jake dismounts and strokes the magnificent animal's flank. NEYTIRI, TSU'TEY and MO'AT watch in stunned amazement as the legendary Rider of Last Shadow walks toward them. NEYTIRI (breathing the words) Toruk Macto. Neytiri raises her arms. NEYTIRI (SHOUTING) Toruk Macto! ON THE FACES of the Omaticaya -- new hope dawning in their eyes. WHISPERS flow among them, the words REPEATED -- CROWD Toruk Macto... Toruk Macto...                                                                     119. Jake walks through the crowd, straight to Neytiri at the foot of the dais. He looks into her enormous eyes, and the emotion between them is powerful and pure. NEYTIRI I See you. JAKE (a hoarse whisper) I See you. Neytiri's eyes brim with tears. NEYTIRI I was afraid Jake -- for my people. I'm                   not any more. Jake takes Neytiri's hand and climbs the steps of the dais. MO'AT steps back in awe as he approaches. He turns to         Tsu'tey, who stares at him with fear and incomprehension. Jake plays to the rapt crowd as he says -- JAKE (SUBTITLED) Tsu'tey of the Rongloa, son of Ateyo. I                   stand before you, ready to serve the People. (then just for Tsu'tey) You are Olo'eyctan, and you are the best warrior. I can't do this without you. Tsu'tey struggles with his emotions. Finally -- TSU'TEY I will fly with you. JAKE Ireiyo. JAKE turns to the MATRIARCH. JAKE Grace is dying. I beg the help of the Great Mother. MO'AT                   Bring her, Jakesully. TIME CUT -- AVATAR JAKE carries Grace's HUMAN BODY, lightly in his arms like a child. Jake walks through the crowd to         the dais, followed by NORM, who carries GRACE'S AVATAR. 120.                             JAKE Look where we are, Grace. Her eyes flutter open. She looks up wonderingly at the Mother Tree. GRACE (with a wan smile) I need to take some samples. Mo'at directs them to lay both bodies among the roots on the altar-rock. Mo'at touches Jake's shoulder and he steps back. MO'AT                       (QUIETLY) The Great Mother may choose to save all that she is -- Mo'at's hand indicates Grace's AVATAR -- MO'AT                   -- in this body. CU JAKE, realizing the enormity of what she's saying. JAKE Is that possible? MO'AT                   Possible, yes. She must pass through the Eye of Eywa -- and return. But Jakesully-- she is very weak. Jake kneels next to Grace, taking her tiny human hand in his avatar hand. JAKE Hang on, they're gonna fix you up. Grace is barely conscious. She grips his hand. GRACE I -- always held back. But you gave them your heart. I'm proud of you, Jake. Jake feels his throat close with emotion. Grace's eyes blaze with intensity though her voice is faint. 121.                                GRACE Help them. You do whatever it takes. You hear me? JAKE I will. TIME CUT -- MO'AT stands in a kind of trance amongst the tendrils of the Mother Tree. NEYTIRI and the other acolytes dance hypnotically. All the Omaticaya sway and chant to the rhythm of the drums. MACRO SHOT -- fine, hairlike THREADS have emerged from the roots and are gently spreading over Grace's HUMAN skin. JAKE, still holding her hand, watches her body being fused to         the root-floor by a thousand connections. GRACE'S AVATAR is gently connected by the same questing ROOT- CILIA-- they entwine with the QUEUE and spread over the body. The grotto is dark except for the spectral GLOW of the willows. The CHANT continues, hypnotically. MO'AT, on her knees beneath the Mother Tree, writhes her arms in the trance state. Her eyes are rolled back, showing only WHITE. GRACE GASPS and her eyes SNAP OPEN. Her expression is AMAZED, as if seeing something so beautiful it can never be         explained. ON HER HAND -- GRIPPING Jake's convulsively, as she tries to         anchor herself to this world for a few more seconds -- GRACE I'm with her Jake -- (an amazed whisper) -- she's real -- Grace SHUDDERS, as pain shoots through her. BLOOD seeps through the silken white root-cilia growing across her abdomen. Drowning WHITE in shocking CRIMSON. She exhales a last shuddering breath -- and goes STILL. JAKE Grace! He sees the roots falling away from her human body. JAKE TURNS hopefully toward her AVATAR -- but the roots are falling away from it as well. It sleeps -- VACANT. 122.         MO'AT stops the chant. She crosses to Jake and kneels with him, touching his shoulder. MO'AT                   Her wounds were too great, there was not enough time. She is with Eywa now. NEYTIRI removes Grace's mask and gently closes her eyes. Jake stands slowly, barely holding it together. NEYTIRI comes to him and he sees the despair and hope conflicting on her face -- -- and he raises his head. TURNS to face TSU'TEY and the CROWD. JAKE With your permission, I will Speak now. You would honor me by translating. Tsu'tey gestures assent, and they face the clan together. JAKE SPEAKS, the pain of Grace's death in the passion and fury of his voice. Tsu'tey TRANSLATES beside him. JAKE The Sky People have sent a message that they can take whatever they want, and no                   one can stop them. But we will send them a message. Ride out, as fast as the wind can carry you, tell the other clans to                   come. Tell them Toruk Macto calls to                   them. Fly now with me brothers and sisters! Fly! And we will show the Sky People that this is our land! TSU'TEY finishes with a bloodcurdling war-cry, and the entire CLAN responds, their shouts echoing across the forest. JAKE takes Neytiri's hand and runs to the leonopteryx. He         vaults onto its back and pulls her up behind him. THE HUNTERS run to their banshees, mounting quickly. Jake's         leonopteryx rises on mighty wings into the night sky. With a         thunder of wings, the banshees take off after it. LONG LENS -- POLYPHEMUS. Across its face, the banshees rise like a swarm of bats. Groups of riders peel off in different directions. CUT TO: 123.         EXT. CLAN GATHERING - NIGHT JAKE and NEYTIRI stand before the gathered members of ANOTHER CLAN. Jake speaks as she translates. We don't hear the words. TRACK ACROSS the faces of the clan, a sea of eyes in         flickering fire-light. JAKE (V.O.) We rode out to the four winds. To the horse clans of the plain, to the ikran people of the mountains. When Toruk Macto called them, they came. VARIOUS ANGLES -- SLOW MOTION as riders vault onto their armored direhorses. Banshee riders raise spears and bows, spurring their mounts to leap skyward. CUT TO: EXT. WELL OF SOULS - DAWN With a WHOOSH and the crack of mighty wings, JAKE RETURNS. Jake and Neytiri alight from his legendary mount. Around them HUNDREDS OF BANSHEES are landing. A gathering of         eagles. FROM ABOVE we can see hundreds of Na'vi streaming down into the Well of Souls and many hundreds more camped in the forest above it. DIREHORSE RIDERS are arriving along many trails. BANSHEE RIDERS circle and swoop, darkening the sky above the grotto. JAKE, standing next to the Leonopteryx, watches his army gathering. CUT TO: INT. COMMISSARY - DAY It's standing room only as all base personnel are crowded into the dining hall. A portable 3D GRAPHICS PROJECTOR has been set up, and the lights are down. QUARITCH stands in         front of the display image -- a classic pre-mission briefing. QUARITCH People, you are fighting for survival. There's an aboriginal horde out there massing for an attack. First slide. 124.         The display shows an overhead image of the Well of Souls. It         looks like Woodstock in the jungle. QUARITCH These orbital images show the hostiles' numbers have gone from a couple of                   hundred to over two thousand in one day, and more are pouring in. By next week it                   could be twenty thousand. Then they'll be                   overrunning our perimeter here. We can't                   wait. Our only security lies in pre- emptive attack. We will fight terror with terror. TRACKING ACROSS the grim faces of the miners and troopers. Fear transforming to hatred in their eyes. QUARITCH Next slide. This mountain stronghold is                   supposedly protected by their deity. When we destroy it, we will blast a                   crater in their racial memory so deep they won't come within a thousand klicks of this place. CUT TO: INT. ARMOR BAY - DAY TROOPERS issue automatic weapons and magazines to a long line of mine workers. The miners lock and load like the red- blooded redneck NRA supporters they are. BLASTING TECHS are setting radio-detonated primer charges into two-ton stacks of EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND. The stacks are band-strapped together on pallets. TRACKING WITH SELFRIDGE, staring around him in growing dismay as he walks through the full-scale mobilization. He approaches Quaritch, who is barking orders amid a hive of         activity around the ampsuits. SELFRIDGE This thing is completely out of control! Quaritch ignores him, turning away to focus on ordnance loading. SELFRIDGE Listen to me! I am not authorizing you to                   turn the mine-workers local into a                    freakin' militia! 125.                             QUARITCH I declared threat condition red. That puts all on-world assets under my                   command. SELFRIDGE You think you can pull this palace coup shit on me?! I can have your ass with one call -- Quaritch grabs him and PINS him against the side of an         ampsuit. QUARITCH You're a long way from Earth. Selfridge is paralyzed. Physical force -- against him? Quaritch releases him and walks away. QUARITCH (to his men) Get him out of here. Several troopers converge on Selfridge. SELFRIDGE You touch me you're so fired. He pushes through them and they escort him toward the door. CUT TO: INT. SHACK - DAY HUMAN JAKE, NORM and TRUDY are gathered around the comms monitor, talking to MAX. MAX I don't know how secure this channel is. JAKE Talk fast. MAX It's crazy here, Jake. It's full mobilization. They're rigging the shuttles as bombers. They've made up                   these big pallets of mine explosives. It's for some kind of shock and awe campaign. TRUDY Frickin' daisycutters. 126.                                NORM Holy shit. JAKE (to Max) Can you talk to Selfridge? Maybe we can cut some kinda deal before this thing goes all the way. MAX No, Quaritch has taken over. He's                   rolling and there's no stopping him. JAKE When? MAX Oh six hundred tomorrow. Jake takes that in. JAKE Thanks. Max signs off. NORM We're screwed. TRUDY You know he's gonna commit those bombers straight to the Well of Souls. JAKE That's right. Because I gave it to him on a plate. TRUDY We both did. NORM If he takes out the Well of Souls -- it's                   over. It's their main line to Eywa, to                   their ancestors -- it'll destroy them. JAKE Then I guess we better stop him. Jake looks like he's about to collapse. He's gaunt, eyes deeply shadowed, hands shaking. TRUDY You need to get some rack. 127.         He grabs a packet of freeze-dried crystals and pours them directly into his mouth, chewing them up. JAKE Gonna have to settle for coffee. CUT TO: EXT. BATTLE CAMP - DUSK TRACKING through the warrior camp above the Well of Souls. Hundreds of hunters from many clans prepare their weapons. Hunters paint the wings of their banshees like war ponies. DIREHORSES are painted and ornamented with totemic streamers. The Na'vi paint and pierce themselves. Dance. Bathe in the smoke of cleansing herbs -- RITUAL PURIFICATION. HUGE DRUMS are beaten. A dark primeval energy. They are psyching themselves up for battle. JAKE (V.O.) I was a warrior who dreamed he could bring peace. But there was only one thing I was ever really good at. Ooh-rah. TIME CUT -- Jake, Neytiri a group of banshee riders squat around an animal skin on which he has drawn the silhouette of         a Scorpion gunship -- like a hunt totem. JAKE (Na'vi/subtitled) Strike here and here. Jake splats red dye at the centers of the circles symbolizing the rotors. The Na'vi absorb the lesson eagerly, like kids. He sees TRUDY approaching and breaks off. Neytiri stays with the hunters, talking about what they've learned. TRUDY (LOW) You know our chances suck. JAKE Yeah. TRUDY Going up against gunships with bows and arrows... JAKE What's your point? 128.                             TRUDY (NODDING) Right. She taps his fist and walks away toward her SAMSON. CUT TO: EXT. WELL OF SOULS - NIGHT The cook-fires of the battle camp FLICKER like a         constellation around the edge of the Well of Souls as -- JAKE slips down into the darkened, empty amphitheater. He moves to the MOTHER TREE -- gnarled, ancient, MAJESTIC. The roots spread in all directions, like the center of the world. Jake steps forward. The willow-like tendrils SWAY toward him, moving in a breeze that isn't there. JAKE I've never done this in my life. He squats at the base of the tree. JAKE And I'm probably just talking to a tree right now. But if you're there -- I need to give you a heads up. He looks up into the tree. The hanging tendrils undulate softly. It's easy to imagine a presence. JAKE If Grace is there with you -- look in her memories -- she can show you the world we                   come from. There's no green there. They killed their Mother, and they're gonna do                   the same thing here. FROM UP IN THE TREE, looking down. WOODSPRITES float in         silence, moving around aimlessly. JAKE More Sky People are gonna come. They're                   gonna come like a rain that never ends -- Neytiri approaches silently behind him, listening. JAKE -- until they've covered the world. Unless we stop them. (MORE) 129.                             JAKE (cont'd)                    Look, you chose me for somethin'. And I'll stand and fight, you know I will. But I could use a little help here. Jake senses Neytiri and turns. NEYTIRI Our Great Mother does not take sides. She protects only the balance of life. She comes to him, intertwining her long fingers with his. JAKE It was worth a try. They lean in, foreheads touching, bodies pressed together. Holding each other -- in this, the last moment of peace. CUT TO: TIGHT ON a turbine as it starts to turn. Its RISING WHINE carries over -- A SERIES OF RHYTHMIC CUTS: MAGAZINES are slammed into automatic weapons. AMMO BELTS are fed into rotary cannons. MISSILES are attached to gunship stub-wings. TIGHT ON BLUE HANDS sharpening wooden arrows. Stringing bows. Cinching direhorse harnesses. TROOPERS DROP into ampsuit cockpits. PILOTS close gunship canopies. TROOPERS run up shuttle ramps. LONG LENS STACK, tight and abstract on gunships as they rise in a swarm amid boiling turbine exhaust and blasting rotor wash. EXT. RAINFOREST/ AERIAL - DAWN WIDE SHOT -- TILTROTORS fill the sky. Deadly armored beetles. The DRAGON leads the formation, flanked by SCORPIONS. Behind that is a wave of SAMSONS, and last, the two enormous VALKYRIE shuttles, packed with troops and ampsuits. INSIDE THE DRAGON, Quaritch surveys his armada as they skim over the tree tops. THEY SWEEP toward the Hallelujah mountains in a thundering wave. 130.         EXT. MOUNTAINS/ AERIAL - DAWN SQUADRONS OF BANSHEES darken the sky in waves, led by a         single GREAT LEONOPTERYX. Jake sits astride his mount, flanked by Neytiri and Tsu'tey on their banshees. EXT. MOUNTAINS - DAWN THE DRAGON DESCENDS on final approach to a large clearing -- the LZ. The Samsons flair and touch down, disgorging troops, while the gunships hover protectively. THE VALKYRIES blast the ground with their powerful lift jets. They land. The ramps drop. Troopers pour out, weapons leveled, advancing in a cordon. UP ANGLE as AMPSUITS descend from the Dragon on cables. Their massive feet smash down, and they march forward, leading the army into the forest. LYLE WAINFLEET, walking point in his hydraulic suit, scans his cockpit screens. He sees movement on the FLIR display -- ghostly THERMAL SIGNATURES. WAINFLEET Contact. Two hundred meters. A chilling SOUND echoes through the forest -- the ululating WAR CRIES of untold Na'vi. The troopers, look around, spooked. They can't tell where the sound is coming from. Then they feel it -- the GROUND ITSELF SHAKING. They grip their weapons, bracing themselves as -- THREE HUNDRED NA'VI HORSEMEN charge through the forest at a         full gallop, their hooves POUNDING the earth. It is an         awesome sight. NORM SPELLMAN rides with the Na'vi hunters, carrying an         assault rifle. THE NA'VI CHARGE thunders toward the human line. The hunters raise their bows as -- THE AMPSUITS raise their GAU-90's.         ON THE THERMAL IMAGERS target-cursors track the ghost riders. QUARITCH Fire for effect. The entire line of troopers opens fire. TRACERS riddle the jungle, blasting foliage into confetti. 131.         CHARGING DIREHORSES crash down, flipping over. Riders are flung off. The withering fire continues, and the ranks are decimated as -- RIDERS LAUNCH their arrows at a full gallop. A few hit their marks among the troopers. NORM FIRES his AR on full auto. TWO CHARGING DIREHORSES have a heavy log slung between them like a battering ram. At a full gallop they hit an ampsuit, FLIPPING IT onto its back with a blown-out canopy. Victory is short lived as the two riders are cut down. NORM'S HORSE is hit by tracer fire. He is flung off as the creature cartwheels. He hits hard, scrambling for cover as -- A WARRIOR HURLS his spear a moment before his horse is cut down. It SLAMS through an ampsuit's canopy but -- THE MERCILESS FIRE continues. Horses rear and collapse. Riders pivot their mounts to flee and -- THE THERMAL SCREENS show the remaining ghost riders scattering. LYLE signals and the line advances, firing sporadically at         moving targets. OVERHEAD, NA'VI HUNTERS stream through the trees, running along the branches. As the troopers advance into bow range, the NA'VI open fire and -- TROOPERS SPROUT ARROWS in throat, legs, masks -- the targets Jake taught them, but -- THE FIRING LINE aims upward, tracking the THERMAL TARGETS. TRACERS rip through the foliage and -- NA'VI FALL while others retreat as bark and wood is blasted off the limbs beneath their feet. NORM sprints frantically through the woods, shouting into his HANDSET -- NORM Jake! Jake! We're falling back! SURVIVING NA'VI flee the horrific onslaught. It is a total rout. IN THE DRAGON, Quaritch catches glimpses of the figures streaming through the forest below. 132.                             QUARITCH Blue team, switch forties. Fire at will. Led by the Dragon, the gunships FIRE streamers of 40mm ROCKETS ahead of them. The jungle EXPLODES with HE bursts. Circular SHOCK WAVES flash outward through the jungle -- STROBOSCOPIC GLIMPSES of terrified horses rearing, Na'vi         leaping, as the jungle rocks with the concussive onslaught. HUNTERS LOOK UP as a dark shape hovers overhead. The downblast of the VALKYRIE'S lift jets shreds the forest. INSIDE THE SHUTTLE'S cargo bay, a row of DAISYCUTTERS are lined up. Troopers roll the first pallet down the ramp. THE PALLET falls into the jungle below and -- BA-WHOOOOOM! -- an enormous high-explosive blast rips a huge hole in the forest. A white concussion wave flashes out across the ground for hundreds of meters in all directions. AT GROUND LEVEL it is an apocalypse. Running Na'vi are blasted out of existence by fire and shock waves. IN THE CARGO BAY the troopers WHOOP and high-five. TROOPERS Yeah baby! Get some! GROUND TROOPS ADVANCE, firing flamethrowers, AR's and GAU- 90's.         EXT. FLOATING MOUNTAINS - AERIAL Quaritch's fleet flies into the shadow of the Mountain of         Truth. QUARITCH Blue team, stay with the ground units. Red team, with me. We're punching for the main target. Quaritch glances up to see -- A squadron of WINGED SHAPES, diving out of the morning glare like birds of prey. CLOSE ON JAKE, rushing straight down, SCREAMING a war cry as         he leads the charge and -- SCORES OF BANSHEES SLAM into the gunships and Samsons like falcons hitting fat turkeys. The air battle is joined. 133.         JAKE'S GREAT LEONOPTERYX flairs into its signature crimson X          shape just before -- K-WHAM!! -- it knocks a Scorpion tumbling. It coils around the gunship, slashing furiously as they spin together. JAKE can barely hang onto the gyrating creature. The pilot of the Scorpion sees nothing but jaws slamming into his canopy. Jake releases the gunship and it careens into a         CLIFF, tearing off one rotor -- then plummets into the trees. There is a satisfying FIREBALL. SCORPIONS fall out of formation to pursue individual banshee riders, FIRING cannons and rockets. JAKE BANKS as the cliff face next to him explodes with cannon rounds. SCREAMING down on him is another Scorpion. JAKE tucks and dives along the cliff, feeling the rounds splitting the air around him and -- The Scorpions bank after the furiously jinking banshees as         they head for cover among the floating mountains, or dive down into the trees. DOOR GUNNERS in a SAMSON are shooting down banshees like Messerschmidts from a B-17 as -- WE FOLLOW TSU'TEY'S BANSHEE in a full delta dive. He swoops in from its blind spot and -- THE GUNNERS SWIVEL too late as Tsu'tey flashes past them, SHOOTING ARROWS with deadly accuracy. A SCORPION gunship dives after a banshee. It fires an air-to- air missile and the banshee vanishes in an EXPLOSION. WIDE SHOT as thirty ships and hundreds of banshees wheel and dive, like the Battle of Britain. Banshees are hit by guns and missiles, falling out of the sky. The occasional trail of         smoke and fire marks the demise of a tilt-rotor. IN THE CENTER the Dragon is pouring out hellacious fire -- tracer rounds from multiple turrets and missiles from the stub-wing pods. NEYTIRI BANKS hard as TRACERS flash past her. A Scorpion is         right on her ass as -- SHE ROLLS inverted and dives under the edge of Mons Veritatis, then rolls out, zig-zagging through the dangling vines but -- 134.         THE GUNSHIP stays on her. It rips through the vines, and tracers FLASH toward us as -- SHE JINKS the banshee around a thundering waterfall but -- HER PURSUER explodes right through the curtain of water. It         launches an air-to-air missile. NEYTIRI jinks hard, diving. The missile hits a rock outcropping, pummeling her with the shock wave. THE GUNSHIP follows her through a narrow slit between Mons Veritatis and a smaller floating island. They run this slot rolled up on their sides and -- THE SCORPION GUNNER locks up Neytiri for a missile shot but -- A SHADOW crosses his canopy. Out of the sun comes a crimson demon, shrieking over the roar of the turbines, and -- K-WHAMMM!! The leonopteryx SLAMS the gunship, driving it         downward in a dive. The leonopteryx lashes at it with claws and teeth as they fall together out of control. Jake kicks the gunship loose and it falls like a brick, breaking its back on a rocky promontory and EXPLODING. FLYING WITH A SAMSON as a SECOND SAMSON falls in beside it. This one has its pilot door off, and the PILOT is wearing a         breathing mask. The door gunners wave at -- TRUDY, her expression grim behind her mask. She holds the cyclic stick between her knees while she RAKES the other ship with BURSTS from an AR in her lap. The pilot slumps over and the craft tumbles out of control. TRUDY You're not the only ones with guns, you pricks. NEYTIRI JINKS her banshee hard, an enemy Samson right behind her. The pilot is a hotdog, following her down into the trees, under the canopy. They slalom among the trunks at high speed. The gunners hang half out the doors, firing. Bark and leaves explode around Neytiri as she zig-zags through the jungle. THE BANSHEE dives under a huge tree limb, and the pilot follows. He looks up at the last second, catching a glimpse of blue-skinned figures. THE HUNTERS drop a net of woven vines behind Neytiri and -- 135.         The SAMSON hits it hard. The net fouls the ship, FLIPPING IT         backwards. It crashes upside down to the forest floor. KABOOM!! NEYTIRI'S BANSHEE is hit by GROUND-FIRE. It folds up like a         broken kite, crashing down through branches and -- SHE SLAMS into the ground, stunned. IN THE DRAGON Quaritch looks ahead, seeing the WELL OF SOULS. He taps the pilot and points -- QUARITCH There it is. (into his headset) Valkyrie One, this is Dragon. Target is                   in sight. IN THE CARGO BAY of Valkyrie One, the troopers ready their deadly loads. TROOPER Target in sight. CIRCLING ABOVE, Tsu'tey falls in beside Jake, who talks to         him by AIRCOM HEADSET. JAKE We have to stop the shuttles, no matter what it takes. TSU'TEY nods. He signals, gathering other hunters, who fall in with him as he dives. Jake rolls in after them but -- A GUNSHIP drops in behind him and he is forced to evade as -- TSU'TEY LEADS the attack on the first shuttle. Hunters jink and weave through WITHERING FIRE from the escort ships. GUNNERS with jerry-rigged gun mounts ride the broad backs of         the shuttles, picking off banshees who get past the escort. TSU'TEY is RAKED by a burst from the dorsal gunners. His mount crumples, plummeting with a dying scream and -- WE SPIRAL DOWN with him, the forest rushing up and -- A BLINDING BLIZZARD of green as he tears downward, catching at leaves and vines. He SLAMS to the ground, badly injured. NEARBY, ampsuits and troopers advance across the forest floor, firing their cannons and flamethrowers. The GAU-90s rip the forest to shreds. 136.         Norm, firing as he retreats, is HIT. He collapses, his avatar body mortally wounded as -- HYDRAULIC FEET approach, passing the bodies of direhorses and Na'vi hunters. Norm painfully tries to load another magazine, panting in fear and pain as -- AN AMPSUIT stomps up. Aims its cannon point blank. B-BLAM! INT. SHACK The top of Norm's LINK bangs open. He reels out, collapsing onto the floor, clutching himself as if he can still feel the pain of death. He sits, huddled, shivering -- crazed. EXT. RAINFOREST TSU'TEY lies gasping, mortally injured. He looks up, grimacing, as an ampsuit looms over him. LYLE WAINFLEET reaches down and grabs Tsu'tey by his queue, lifting him painfully. WAINFLEET I hear this is worse than death for you, chief. WAINFLEET cuts Tsu'tey's queue off near the base. TSU'TEY SCREAMS in agony, his nervous system exploding on overload. Grinning, Lyle holds up the queue -- Tsu'tey's only connection to the world-consciousness which is his life. NEYTIRI -- bleeding, bruised -- staggers amid burning wreckage. AMPSUIT footsteps approach and she crouches behind a tree. Troopers are seconds from seeing her as -- NEYTIRI knocks an arrow to HER FATHER'S BOW, and readies herself for a last kamikaze shot when -- THE TROOPER on the far right of the firing line sees something on his screens. TROOPER Right flank -- something's coming! It's                      all lit up out there. The troopers become aware of the GROUND SHAKING. A slow building thunderous ROAR and -- AN AMPSUIT comes FLYING out of the trees, cartwheeling past them, and the SHAKING BUILDS -- 137.         EXT. WELL OF SOULS Mo'at opens her eyes in sudden realization as -- EXT. FOREST The troopers pivot to face -- A WALL OF CHARGING HAMMERHEADS CRASHING out of the foliage in         a shower of broken branches as -- THE TROOPERS open fire but -- the stampede drives over them like a wave. Tree-trunk feet shatter the ampsuit cockpits. Troopers are crushed or asphyxiated. NEARBY the foot-soldiers see LIVING SHADOWS flow out of the gloom as -- VIPERWOLVES race among them with flashing jaws. The troopers FIRE wildly as they go down, hitting each other as much as         their attackers. The survivors break and run as more viperwolves bound out of         the shadows. JAKE BANKS, watching as HUNDREDS of rider-less WILD BANSHEES converge on Quaritch's ships. They literally darken the sky. JAKE What the hell -- ? The wild banshees wheel among the ships, ripping into them. ON JAKE -- slowly getting it. EYWA is in the fight. JAKE WHOO-HOOOO! A GUNNER fires from the door of a Samson. There is a CRASH and the head of a BANSHEE lunges in the open door, jerking him out. Other banshees tear at the pilot's windshield. NEYTIRI watches in awe as the ground troops scatter in         disarray. The viperwolves flash past her, ignoring her. She senses something and turns slowly to see -- A THANATOR emerging from the smoke behind her. A glistening black demon. She stands paralyzed before its stygian gaze-- -- and the thanator lowers itself, until its head is just above the ground. It holds that position -- waiting. 138.         Trembling, she approaches the waiting demon. EXT. FOREST A smoky hell. Fires burn all around. The troopers are disorganized, falling back. Shooting at shadows. Panicked yelling fills the comm freq. WAINFLEET and another AMPSUIT are charging together through the smoky gloom. WAINFLEET A and C squads -- rally at my pos. I                   want -- (screaming on the comm) Who's screaming God damn it?! TROOPER (ON RADIO) We gotta get outta here! Whoever's in                   charge, call for extraction! WAINFLEET Shutup you crybabies! SOMETHING slams into the other `suit, tackling it OUT OF         FRAME. Wainfleet whirls to see his squad-mate missing. He         moves through a screen of foliage to reveal -- The AMPSUIT -- ripped open. Driver gone. Blood inside the cockpit. He WHIRLS at a sound in time to see -- A THANATOR LEAPING straight at him -- WAINFLEET raises his cannon but-- WHAM!! It's on him, slamming him to the ground. The cannon goes flying. He's face to face with its nightmare jaws, right outside his canopy-- On its back is NEYTIRI, and it's a toss up which one looks more pissed off. The thanator rears back, muscles rippling as it poises to strike and -- K-KRAAACKK! Slams its teeth right through his canopy. Wainfleet's SCREAM is brief. Neytiri's demon mount rears up and its triumphant ROAR echoes through the forest. INT. CORRIDOR Max runs down the hall, leading the other scientists. He's         yelling into an AIRCOM HANDSET -- 139.                                MAX Rogue One, Rogue One, this is Max. Tell Jake we are in motion. (to the scientists) Get in there. Barricade the door! INT. LINK ROOM The door is hurled open and the SCIENTISTS charge in. Science geeks barricade the door as AVATAR-DRIVERS scramble into their link units, pulling the clamshells down. INT. CORRIDOR Max checks the door is secure from his side then runs down a         connecting corridor. CUT TO: EXT. SHACK HUMAN NORM emerges from the airlock, wearing breathing gear and carrying an AR. He stumbles, dazed, toward the battle. EXT. MOUNTAINS/ AERIAL JAKE SIGNALS and a formation of hunters rolls in, diving at         the lead shuttle, which is already besieged by winged creatures. THE CARGO RAMP is the scene of a pitched battle. Na'vi         hunters hurl themselves off their mounts in waves, overwhelming the troopers. HUNTERS are shot, falling out of the ship, as others fly in. They shoot arrows and spears from the end of the ramp, and troopers fall back deeper into the fuselage. The panicked CREW CHIEF slams a switch and the ramp begins to         close, a second before he is cut down by a spear. JAKE'S LEONOPTERYX plummets at the shuttle from behind. He         swoops down, flairs to reduce speed, rolls off his mount and lands, tumbling on the shuttle's broad back as -- GUNNERS try to swing their guns toward him but he RAKES them with his AR, still running forward and -- JAKE PULLS two grenades from his battle harness, yanking the pins out with his teeth. He hurls them down the intakes of         the VTOL turbofans as -- HIS LEONOPTERYX BANKS in a tight arc back toward him and -- 140.         HE SPRINTS ON as the grenades EXPLODE, shattering the turbines, which riddle the fuselage with shrapnel and -- JAKE LEAPS INTO SPACE, landing on the back of his mount and reconnecting. They flap away, gaining altitude as fire BLASTS out of the bottom of the shuttle. ON THE FLIGHT DECK, the pilot feels the ship dropping. PILOT Mains to a hundred percent! Get me                    airspeed! The pilot and copilot slam the throttle levers forward and -- The FUSION ENGINES BLAZE, thrusting the shuttle forward. It         still falls, its remaining lift fans screaming, until -- IT'S CLIPPING the tree tops when it gets enough translational lift to fly and -- THE PILOT PULLS back on the stick, lifting the nose. PILOT We're good! BEHIND HIM, a surviving Na'vi hunter runs forward and -- THOONK! ARROWHEADS sprout from the pilots' necks and chests. THE SHUTTLE CLIMBS out of control, at full acceleration. It         SLAMS into the underside of MONS Veritatis. It EXPLODES, and hundreds of tons of flaming debris drop back into the forest. ON THE FLIGHT DECK of the other SHUTTLE, the pilots watch the wreckage falling. PILOT Valkyrie Two is breaking off. And if any of ya'll want to get off this piece of                    shit planet, you better cover our ass, `cause we're the only way back to orbit. GUNSHIP PILOT Roger that. FROM THE DRAGON COCKPIT Quaritch watches the shuttle bank away, with most of the remaining gunships following. QUARITCH Get back here you worthless pukes! 141.                             PILOT Are we breaking off? Quaritch draws his pistol. QUARITCH What do you think? He is over the edge-- no logic in his brain now. Only death. INT. OPS CENTER/CORRIDOR Techs and troopers crowd around consoles, listening to all the yelling and confusion as they try to plot the disintegrating battle. SELFRIDGE (in growing alarm) What the hell is going on out there? CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST Regular troopers and volunteers FLEE through the jungle, scrambling to board SAMSONS as they touch down. INT. DRAGON COCKPIT The pilot listens to comms from Hell's Gate. PILOT Sir, all ground units are falling back to                   the LZ. Quaritch's jaw clenches. QUARITCH Stay on target. EXT. WELL OF SOULS Mo'at LOOKS UP as the DRAGON appears over the trees like the shadow of Death. Around her, the Na'vi mothers clutch their children to them. We see AKWEY'S BOY among them. INT. DRAGON COCKPIT Quaritch sets the target cursor on the MOTHER TREE and what we recognize is the ghostly figure of Mo'at. QUARITCH Switch missiles. Arm all pods. 142.                               PILOT Arming. QUARITCH Let's see what these blue bastards do                     when I bitch-slap their goddess. EXT. MOUNTAINS/ AERIAL JAKE'S LEONOPTERYX drops toward the Dragon like a Mig 29. He         pulls out, skimming over the ship. Uncoupling, he rolls backward off his mount and -- JAKE HITS, skidding, on the hull of the Dragon. He rolls to         his feet, already running as -- QUARITCH sees the leonopteryx WHOOSH overhead and flap away with no rider. He snap-looks aft to see -- JAKE SPRINTING along the spine of the ship, yanking two grenades from his battle-harness, pulling the pins with his teeth, then -- QUARITCH's hand shoots out and SLAMS the pilot's CYCLIC STICK hard over. THE DRAGON lurches sideways, rolling sharply with a ROAR of protesting rotors and -- JAKE IS FLUNG off his feet. The grenades miss the TURBINE INTAKES. One bounces off the ship. The other lodges against a cowling and -- JAKE SLIDES OFF the ship, falling as -- K-BLAM! The grenade blows a two meter hole in the hull -- WHOOOSHH! Pandoran air swirls inside. QUARITCH (to the pilot) Put your mask on. Quaritch leaps out of his seat, heading aft as -- JAKE GRABS the edge of a weapons pod, his feet dangling over open space. HOLDING HIS BREATH, Quaritch blows a RESCUE HATCH and leans outside. Jake sees him aim his massive PISTOL. K-WHAM! K-WHAM! Rounds clang next to Jake's head. He LETS GO, plummeting into the trees -- Jake plunges through jungle canopy. He catches a HUGE LEAF, as Neytiri taught him -- it bends down, breaking his fall -- 143.         HE LETS GO, dropping again only to catch ANOTHER LEAF, and then another, and -- WE RUSH DOWN with him through this green blur. Jake drops to         the ground in a feral crouch. Unhurt. JAKE (into his headset) Quaritch is gonna take out the Well of                   Souls! He's got a clear shot. Hit him, anybody that can! Do it now! IN HER SAMSON Trudy Chacon is all business. TRUDY On it. SHE BANKS hard, pulling g's, coming around on the Dragon. She pours on the coal and the Samson leaps forward, straight at the WARSHIP. QUARITCH, DRILLS a stream of tracers at her, tearing through her canopy, ripping chunks off her fuselage. IN THE JUNGLE BELOW, Norm watches her kamikaze run -- NORM No!                             TRUDY (clipped, pilot-like) Norm, I love you. TRUDY DIVES, raking through treetops and then, at the last instant, YANKS BACK on the stick and -- THE SAMSON leaps straight up and -- K-KRASH!! SHEARS OFF THE COCKPIT of the Dragon as -- QUARITCH THROWS HIMSELF aft along the aisle and -- TRUDY'S SAMSON disintegrates, the wreckage burning as it         tumbles into the jungle. MILES QUARITCH grips the bulkhead as he stares out the open front of the fuselage. Wind howls through wreckage where the pilot used to be. The forest rushes up to meet him and -- THE DRAGON CRASHES through splintering trees, IMPACTING in a         lake with a WHITE BLAST of water. 144.         EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY Norm takes a few steps and drops to his knees. Imploded by         grief. INT. OPS CENTER/ HELL'S GATE ON THE PLOTTING DISPLAY as Quaritch's TRANSPONDER ICON disappears. TROOPER Dragon is down. It's off the board. SELFRIDGE What do you mean, off the board?! Selfridge is stunned. Suddenly the ROAR of an ENGINE makes them all look up. OUTSIDE THE WINDOW, MAX sits in the cab of an enormous SLASH- CUTTER. Max flips Selfridge the bird and pushes a lever forward -- SELFRIDGE Oh shit. Selfridge DIVES as -- K-RASHHHHH! The SPINNING TEETH of the SLASH-CUTTER tear through the window in a blast of glass and lethal air. Alarms go off. The technicians dive for cover in a blizzard of         glass and shredded debris. The slash-cutter head pulls back, and AVATARS SCRAMBLE through the gaping hole into the Ops Center -- The TROOPERS look up to see blue giants aiming weapons down at them. The battle is over in seconds. The avatars are holding the Ops Center. Selfridge lies there gasping, in his emergency mask. In         shock. How could this be happening? CUT TO: EXT. LAKE THE DRAGON lies half submerged. Out of the water FG, a shape rises -- a AMPSUIT. Inside -- MILES QUARITCH, his face bloody, his eyes burning. He slogs out of the water, covered with mud, then strides into the forest. 145.         QUARITCH'S AMPSUIT THUDS relentlessly through the jungle. He         sees something through the foliage ahead -- the SHACK. INSIDE THE SHACK Jake is oblivious under the link. Through a         window we see Quaritch's AMPSUIT step into the clearing. QUARITCH levels his GAU-90 at the shack. His finger goes to         the firing button-- WHAM!! A six-legged BLACK DEMON tackles him. Quaritch pivots as he falls, FIRING the cannon. It misses Neytiri by inches. He grapples with the THANATOR as its razor claws SCREECH over his metal armor. THE TITANS twist and struggle. QUARITCH UNLEASHES a long burst from the cannon. Rounds tear into the creature, which SHRIEKS but -- NEYTIRI wills it to SMASH the cannon hard against a rock, tearing it loose from the `suit's hand but -- Quaritch SLAMS the thanator back against a tree-trunk, almost crushing Neytiri. CLOSE ON one hydraulic hand, as it draws the `suit's KNIFE and -- QUARITCH TWISTS violently, ramming the knife up under the thanator's chest armor. The creature ROARS and Quaritch flips on top of it, stabbing. QUARITCH STABS DOWN AGAIN. The thanator slumps, pinning Neytiri's legs under its great bulk. She is trapped. Quaritch looks down at Neytiri. She glares back at him, panting, scared but defiant. JAKE (O.S.) It's all over Quaritch -- Quaritch turns, seeing Jake DROPPING from a tree limb. The `suit rises slowly, knife glinting in the morning sun. QUARITCH Nothing's over while I'm breathing. JAKE Kinda hoped you'd say that. QUARITCH SURGES forward. JAKE closes fast, snatching up the broken CANNON as -- 146.         Quaritch SLASHES DOWN with the knife and Jake parries, blocking it with the cannon. He CLOSES faster than the suit can move and -- K-CRACK! -- SLAMS the end of the cannon into the canopy, crazing it with a web of cracks as QUARITCH SLICES air with the huge knife. Jake ducks, coming up to meet the next slash and -- SMASHES the knife hand with the cannon once -- twice -- again -- in a furious attack -- knocking the knife flying. QUARITCH catches him with the other arm, hurling him away. Jake rolls just before -- THUDDD! -- the massive foot stomps down where he just was. He         scrambles up as Quaritch CHARGES and -- JAKE DUCKS another round-house, LEAPING forward to smash the canopy again -- then again -- until it is WHITE with cracks. Quaritch manages to GRAB the cannon barrel but -- INSIDE THE COCKPIT, he sees nothing but the sun on the shattered glass. HE HURLS the cannon blindly, but Jake ducks. The massive cylinder cartwheels toward the shack and -- FROM INSIDE we see it CRASH against pressure window, crazing it but not penetrating. Jake's link sits just inside. INSIDE THE COCKPIT, Quaritch yanks a yellow handle and -- P-FOOM! -- the canopy BLOWS OFF, flying through the air. Quaritch can see again. He dons his breathing mask. Bends to         pick up his KNIFE. NEARBY NEYTIRI struggles furiously, trying to get her legs free from underneath three tons of thanator. QUARITCH, panting, glowers at Jake. QUARITCH How does it feel to betray your own race? Then, inexplicably, he TURNS. Walks away. FROM INSIDE the shack, we see him charge straight toward us         and -- CRASH! -- he puts his hydraulic fist right through the window. He is reaching inside for the Link when -- JAKE HITS in a flying tackle with every ounce of force he         has, knocking the ampsuit sideways and -- 147.         JAKE REACHES around the suit, grabbing Quaritch's shoulder and, yanks him forward HARD, SMASHING his face into the edge of the cockpit but -- QUARITCH flings him off with a sweep of his arm, and Jake slams to the ground. INSIDE THE LINK Jake is holding his breath as the toxic Pandoran air swirls in. GAS ALARMS SHRIEK. NEYTIRI shoves with one free leg, desperately trying to pull her other leg out. THE AMPSUIT charges, the knife flashing down and -- JAKE just manages to catch it in both hands, but the force of         the attack drives him to his knees as -- QUARITCH pushes the knife down inexorably, until Jake is         pinned against a rock, the blade now inches from his throat. INSIDE THE LINK Jake is straining to stay conscious, to stay connected as -- THE KNIFE reaches his throat as -- THWAP! AN ARROW APPEARS in Quaritch's chest. He looks up. NEYTIRI STANDS -- a FURY released. A classic archer figure, she NOCKS another arrow. Then draws and releases smoothly. TH-WHAP! The machine TOPPLES off Jake and lies still. QUARITCH STARES at the two arrows in his chest. He touches the feathers of the ancient weapon, then -- with an ironic laugh -- he dies. NEYTIRI runs up, another arrow nocked, bow drawn. Seeing Quaritch, she lowers her father's bow. JAKE sees her, then goes limp, his eyes rolling back, and -- INT. SHACK HUMAN JAKE EXPLODES out of the Link, slamming to the floor where he gags for breath. With his last strength, he claws toward an emergency breathing mask -- across the room. He scrambles toward it, on the edge of unconsciousness. NEYTIRI VAULTS through the shattered window, landing in the debris like a cat. She GRABS the mask and flashes to Jake's         side -- puts the mask over his face and -- 148.         JAKE drags in breath after breath. He looks up at Neytiri, studying him as she holds him -- seeing his human body for the first time. Jake touches her face, his pale human hand against the blue of her skin. There eyes meet across the glass of the mask -- together, separate. Worldless. CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY MO'AT tends to the mortally wounded TSU'TEY as AVATAR JAKE arrives with Neytiri. Mo'at has bound his wounds, but by her expression, it is clear he cannot be saved. Jake kneels and Tsu'tey opens his eyes. Through a haze of         pain, he recognizes Jake. TSU'TEY (NA'VI) I See you, Jakesully. JAKE I See you, Tsu'tey te Rongloa Ateyitan. TSU'TEY Are the people safe? JAKE They're safe. Tsu'tey weakly clutches his severed queue. TSU'TEY I can never ride again, or bond with my                   woman -- or hear the voice of Eywa. I can not lead the People. You will lead them, Jakesully. JAKE No. I'm not officer material. TSU'TEY It is decided. Now do the duty of                   Olo'eyctan. Set my spirit free. JAKE I'm not killing you. TSU'TEY I am already dead. 149.                             JAKE No.                             TSU'TEY It is the way. And it is good. I will be                   remembered -- Tsu'tey's voice is weak, but thick with emotion. TSU'TEY -- I fought with Toruk Macto, we were brothers -- and he was my last shadow. TSU'TEY'S HAND clasps with Jake's in a fierce grip. Jake draws his knife. TSU'TEY'S POV -- Jake leans forward, blocking the sun. HIS SHADOW falls across Tsu'tey. JAKE (NA'VI) Forgive me, my Brother. Go now to the Mother Spirit. By his movement, we know that he has ended Tsu'tey's pain. Jake's eyes well with tears as he continues reciting the prayer for the dead, and his Na'vi words carry over as we -- DISSOLVE TO: EXT. HELL'S GATE -DAY Na'vi ride direhorses among the abandoned machines of Hell's         Gate. Banshees roost on the roofs of the modules, and stingbats flutter about, unimpeded. The SENTRY GUNS are silent, and the GATES are open to the forest. JAKE (V.O.) A few chose to stay. Fewer were chosen. Max, Norm, and a few of the avatars hold AR's as the personnel of Hell's Gate file up the cargo ramp of the remaining shuttle. The evicted humans are sullen and angry, like POW's.         JAKE and NEYTIRI stand together, watching the departure of          the Sky People. PARKER SELFRIDGE shuffles up the ramp. His eyes -- the eyes of a lost soul -- meet JAKE'S. He disappears into the ship. CUT TO: 150.         EXT. SPACE ISV VENTURE STAR hangs suspended against the dark side of         PANDORA. The ISV's antimatter engines BLAZE to life and it         accelerates out of orbit. What remains IN FRAME is a virgin, primeval world. Spanning the black continents is a vast reticulated lace-work of         BIOLUMINESCENCE -- a ghostly WEB connecting all of Pandora. CUT TO: EXT. RAINFOREST - DAY The sun's rays shaft down through the layers of canopy. JAKE (V.O.) The forest will heal, and so will the hearts of the People. New life keeps the energy flowing, like the breath of the world. NEYTIRI, obviously pregnant, is bow-fishing in the shallows. Children jump and squeal with laughter in the river. JAKE (V.O.) This is my last videolog. INT. LINK ROOM VIDEO IMAGE -- Jake sits in a chair, talking straight TO         CAMERA. He is thin, pale. He looks around the high tech room. JAKE The science guys will keep the lights on, here. But I won't miss this place. EXT. WELL OF SOULS - NIGHT THE WILLOWS glow softly. The entire Omaticaya clan is         gathered, seated in a prayer circle around the Mother Tree. JAKE (V.O.) I better wrap this up. There's a funeral tonight, and I don't want to be late. It                      was someone very close to me. WIDE SHOT, moving in across the concentric rings of people, all plugged-in and softly chanting. MOVING toward the center, over the figure of Mo'at, to hover above -- NEYTIRI, kneeling beside two FIGURES on the dais -- 151.         JAKE and his AVATAR lie head to head. Human Jake is wearing an exomask. Both figures are still, hands folded, covered in         translucent silken shrouds of ROOT-CILIA. CAMERA CLOSES IN as Neytiri removes the mask from Jake's         human face. She gently closes his dead eyes with her fingertips. Then bends and kisses him. MOVE INTO CU on AVATAR JAKE as Neytiri's hand comes into frame, stroking his cheek. TIGHTENING slowly to-- ECU JAKE'S EYES. Hold a beat, then -- They open. CUT TO BLACK

may b ur seing things assh
Pika.

Pi.

Pikachu.

Well, Pikachu, we're here.

lt's a Pokémon paradise.

-This looks like tons of fun. -Yeah, the Pokémon love it.

Just keep your eye on Togepi, okay, Pikachu?

Come on, come on, come on

Let's go

Vacation, need a little sun

I'm going to get my friends together and have a little fun

Ain't nobody going to tell us what we going to do

Because today it's up to me and you

Temptation calling out to me

A little relaxation I'll be free to be

Come on and wicky-wicky lou

I do believe it'll start now

Kick it back to the track

Vacation's where I want to be

Buddy on the beach where the fun is free

We don't need a holiday to start to celebrate

Repeat after me: I need a vacation

Let's go

Vacation's where I want to be

Buddy on the beach where the fun is free

We don't need a holiday to start to celebrate

Because I need a break, I need a vacation

Vacation's where I want to be

Buddy on the beach where the fun is free

Pokédex observation unit now activating.

My function: Monitor Pokémon activity...

...to understand behavioral patterns of the Pokémon...

...when they are in a state of total relaxation.

Togepi, the Egg Pokémon.

It exhibits a low tolerance for hunger.

It is able to communicate this condition in a very effective manner.

Pika, Pika. Pikachu.

Squirt.

Saur.

Psy.

Bulbasaur

Bulba, bulba

Bulbasaur

This is the first known recording of ''Bulbasaur's Bulbabye. ''

Bellsprout.

Bellsprout.

Activating Pokémon database.

Snubble, a newly discovered Pokémon.

A Ground-type Pokémon, Cubone.

Cubone-bone-bone. Cubone-bone-bone-bone.

Raichu, the evolved form of Pikachu.

Marril.

Marril, a Water-type Pokémon.

Snub.

Rai.

-Squirtle. -Bulbasaur.

Pokémon do not battle unless directed by their trainers.

Translation activated.

''Let's set a good example for the baby. ''

lKarp.

Togepi.

Slooooooooow.

Pokémon enjoy competition, but not always in Pokémon battles.

It's not uncommon for Pokémon to challenge each other in contests.

Oh come on, try to catch me

Oh catch me if you can

Oh come on, try to catch me

Oh catch me if you can

-Exeggutor. -Oddish.

-Exeggutor. -Oddish.

Pikachu and Raichu are both Mouse Pokémon of the electric variety.

Combined voltage approaching shockingly dangerous levels.

This is the perfect place for a comfy catnap.

What's that?

What's the rush?

Farfetch'd, Farfetch'd....

Hitmonlee.

Chansey, Chansey.

lKeep it down!

Mag.

Magne. Ma.

Magnemites!

Cubone earned its classification as the Lonely Pokémon...

...from its usual attitude of caring only...

...for itself.

l told you to keep quiet!

Well, this ought to shut you all up, you--

Duck.

l think l'll take my nap right here.

Good night.

Preliminary analysis: Pokémon, by nature, are friendly creatures...

...and prefer cooperation to confrontation.

Final conclusion:

Despite earlier uncertainties...

...Pokémon vacations are highly recommended.

Pokédex observation unit now deactivating.

Pikachu, it's time to leave!

Goldeen! Staryu! Psyduck! Come on back!

Geodude! Onix! Zubat! Vulpix! We got to go!

Did you have fun?

Life.

The great miracle and the great mystery.

Who am I?

Since the beginning...

...humans and Pokémon alike have searched for its meaning.

What am I? What am I?

Many strange and wondrous legends evolved...

...from the pursuit of life's mysteries.

Where am I? Where am I?

But none is stranger than this tale...

...of the most powerful Pokémon of all.

I am ready...

...to be, to be....

Where...

...am I?

This is not the same.

Was everything before just a dream?

Why?

-Doctor, look at this. -What?

lts brain waves, they're surging!

-Let me see! -She's right!

-Let's run another scan. -lts mind is racing!

Those voices.

l hope we don't lose this one!

They're outside.

We can't!

Where I must be.

Tell Giovanni what's happened!

Quiet!

Let us hear its psychic powers.

Psychic powers?

For years we struggled to successfully clone a Pokémon to prove our theories.

You're the first specimen to survive!

That is Mew, the rarest of all Pokémon.

From its DNA we created you, Mewtwo.

Mewtwo?

Am l only a copy? Nothing but Mew's shadow?

You are greater than Mew.

lmproved through the power of human ingenuity.

We used the most advanced techniques to develop your psychic powers.

So l am simply the end result of your experiment.

What becomes of me now?

Our experiment isn't over! lt's just beginning!

Now the serious testing begins.

These humans, they care nothing for me.

Congratulations. We've done an excellent job.

-We'll observe Mewtwo for mutations. -ls the new tank ready?

We'll have to come up with a cage for it.

Excellent. We'll start testing.

Is that my purpose?

Am Ijust an experiment?

A laboratory specimen?

This cannot be my destiny!

We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon...

...and we succeeded.

Behold my powers.

l am the strongest Pokémon in the world.

Stronger even than Mew.

Those fools thought you were a science experiment...

...but l see you as a valuable partner.

Partner?

With your psychic powers and my resources...

...together we can control the world.

l do not need your help for that, human.

A wildfire destroys everything in its path.

lt will be the same with your powers unless you control them.

l can help you do that.

How?

l'll show you a way to focus your powers...

...that will make you invincible.

Show me!

You say this armor protects my body...

...yet it suppresses my powers!

Your powers are not being suppressed. They're being focused.

Learn to use them to accomplish your purpose.

What is that?

Patience, my friend. Your purpose will become clear.

So this is my power.

l am in control now.

Alakazam!

lKazam!

But why am l here?

Now l fully perceive my power.

But what is my purpose?

To serve your master. You were created to fight for me.

That is your purpose.

That cannot be.

You said we were partners. We stood as equals.

You were created by humans to obey humans.

You could never be our equal.

Humans may have created me...

...but they will never enslave me.

This cannot be my destiny!

Stop this now!

l was not born a Pokémon! l was created.

My creators have used and betrayed me.

So l stand alone.

Who am l?

What is my true reason for being?

l will find my own purpose.

And purge this planet of all who oppose me.

Human and Pokémon alike.

The world will heed my warning.

The reign of Mewtwo will soon begin.

Today, Ash, Brock and Misty are taking a break from their Pokémon adventures.

As always, Ash is determined to become a Pokémon master.

And, as always, he's ready to endure any hardship, bear any burden...

...with strength, stamina and a will of steel.

Hungry. Need food.

Oh, Ash! You haven't done a thing all day!

l'm too weak to work, Misty.

l haven't eaten since breakfast.

This lunch is going to be just perfect for you.

lt's my lazy-boy no-chew stew.

You there! l'm looking for a Pokémon trainer named Ash from Pallet Town.

-You know him? -Yeah, he's me.

Let's have a match. Unless you're afraid to lose!

l'm afraid you're going to lose this one!

Ash, you just said you were too weak to work!

l am too weak to work, but a Pokémon battle isn't work!

That's progress. At least his mouth is working.

I want to be the very best

Like no one ever was

To catch them is my real test

To train them is my cause

I will travel across the land

Searching far and wide

Teach Pokémon to understand

The power that's inside

Inside Pokémon

It's you and me

I know it's my destiny

You're my best friend

And the world we must defend

Our hearts are true

Our courage will pull us through

You teach me and I'll teach you

Pokémon

Got to catch them, got to catch them all

Great job, Bulbasaur! You did it!

You can challenge along the way

Encourage our faith

I will battle everything

About the place

Come with me, the time is right

There's no better team

Arm in arm we'll win the fight

It's always been our dream

It's you and me

I know it's my destiny

You are my best friend

In a world we must defend

A heart so true

Our courage will pull us through

You teach me and I'll teach you

Got to catch them

Got to catch them all

We did it!

Well, that sure was a shocking ending.

Shocking that Ash moved so fast.

Another credit on Pikachu's charge account!

We've got to grab it!

l know we must grab rare Pokémon for the Boss...

...but it wouldn't be a bad idea if we grabbed a bite to eat.

We didn't come here to steal a meal!

l'd settle for a taste of that Pika-chow.

l'm starving.

l can cook something.

The last time you cooked, you wiped out eight of my nine lives.

Master, shall l extend an invitation to these trainers as well?

As you wish.

Watch where you're flying.

Something for me?

Greetings, Pokémon trainers. I bear an invitation.

She's really small, but really pretty!

You've been chosen to join a group of Pokémon trainers at a gathering.

It will be hosted by my master, the world's greatest Pokémon trainer...

...at his palace on New Island.

A ferry will leave Old Shore Wharf...

...to take you to the island this afternoon.

Only trainers with this invitation will be admitted.

If you decide to attend, you must reply at once.

My master awaits you.

ls there a rewind button?

-Should we go? -Of course! l've got to meet her!

l guess the world's number-one trainer wants to challenge me to a match!

-We've got to let him know right away. -l'm saying yes!

What's so special about the twerp trio's special delivery?

Hey, look!

Yes? To what?

Raticate!

Chill out, Raticate!

lKingler! Save your energy!

This is going to be so cool!

Officer Jenny, report to the ferry entrance.

Officer Jenny to the ferry entrance.

Togepi's totally soaked!

l can't believe how fast the storm came up.

What?! The ferry is canceled?!

But l've got to get to New lsland!

-lt's only a little rain! -lt's more than just rain.

The harbor manager thinks this could be the worst storm ever.

Listen to me.

The prophets have predicted the return of the Winds of Water.

For years...

...l prayed mankind would never witness that deadly storm ever again.

lsn't that just a legend?

Ancient writings tell of the storm wiping out all but a few Pokémon.

ln their sorrow...

...the water of their tears restored the lives lost in the storm.

But there are no Pokémon tears today.

Just waters which no one can survive.

That's why the ferry has been canceled.

l'm going to New lsland anyway! All my Pokémon are Water-type!

We'll just swim over to that palace!

l warn you, the waves will be savage! You will never make it!

lf you try that stunt and your Pokémon got hurt...

...you'd be out of luck because we closed the Pokémon Center.

How come?

The nurse in charge of the center disappeared last month.

lf any of you see her, please contact me at once.

That's a picture of her over there on the wall.

She's cute.

She sure looks familiar.

Come back here, or l'll place you under arrest!

Come back!

Some trainers have no fear.

To them, this is just one more challenge.

They follow their hearts.

That is what sets them apart and will make them Pokémon masters.

Good luck to all of you.

The world's greatest Pokémon master is waiting for me.

Let's use our Pokémon to get to that island.

Our Pokémon aren't strong enough. They can't handle waves like this.

Guess you're right.

You vant to cross maybe? Ve take you?

Ve Vikings are used to big vaves.

Ve get you to New lsland faster than you can say fahrvergnügen.

Stroke!

Stroke!

Stroke! Stroke!

l think l'm going to have one.

-l didn't know Vikings still existed. -They mostly live in Minnesota.

Something's not right. Are you sure this boat's safe?

Don't vorry. This ship von't let you down.

Ve alvays sail in da rough veather. Don't get upset.

Tell my stomach.

Heave! Heave! Heave!

lt's all right, Togepi. We're going to be okay.

-Those aren't Vikings. -lt's Team Rocket.

l knew there was something fishy about them besides the smell!

-Prepare for trouble. -Make it double.

Forget the motto. We're going to have to....

Ash! Misty!

-Have you seen Ash and Pikachu? -Not yet.

Stay together. lt's our only hope.

Look!

My master bids you welcome to New lsland.

lKindly present your invitation.

Here it is, miss.

The bearers of this invitation may be admitted.

l knew l recognized that face.

What?

Aren't you the nurse from the treatment center?

You do look just like her.

l fear you are mistaken.

l've always dwelt on this island and been in the service of my master.

Please, come this way.

My master awaits your arrival.

With you here, all trainers...

...worthy of an audience with my master are present.

There's only three of them.

Aren't we waiting for the others?

Only the trainers capable of braving the storm...

...are worthy in my master's eyes.

Do you mean that storm was some kind of test?

Release your Pokémon from their Pokéballs and join the others.

lt won't be long before my master's intentions are clear.

Now we'll never know what kind of party we're missing!

We'll just have to crash that party.

-You know another way in? -Look over there.

But how are we going to swim up that thing?

Pretend you're a catfish.

-Something wrong, Jessie? -No. Come on. Let's get going.

l think this plan's all wet.

Psy-ya-ya duck.

What took you guys so long?

How did you get here?

l decided to fly over. lt was easy.

Hurricane winds are a breeze for Pidgeotto here.

Guys, say hello.

Those are my Pokémon.

lt was no problem getting through that storm.

l rode over on Gyarados' back.

l heard it takes a lot of skill to train Gyarados.

Yes, but once you train it, it's the most dependable Pokémon there is.

You haven't met my Pokémon. Over there.

You are about to meet my master.

The time has come to encounter the greatest Pokémon master on Earth.

What's that?

Yes. The world's greatest Pokémon master...

...is also the most powerful Pokémon on Earth.

This is the ruler of New lsland and soon the whole world.

Mewtwo.

Mewtwo.

A Pokémon can't be a Pokémon master! No way!

Quiet, human. From now on, l am the one who makes the rules.

-How's it talking? -lt's psychic.

We'll show you! Let's go, Gyarados!

Gyarados, Hyper-Beam attack!

Gyarados!

Child's play.

Your usefulness has ended.

Nurse Joy!

Where am l? And how in the world did l get here?

You have been under my control.

l transported you here from the Pokémon center.

Your knowledge of Pokémon physiology proved useful to my plan.

l have cleansed your tiny human brain of memories from the past weeks.

Who are you?!

l am the new ruler of this world...

...the master of humans and Pokémon alike.

You're just a bully!

Look at these.

They're Pokémon.

Are they real?

l was hoping there'd be a party.

This is the Pokémon replication system. System activated.

Pokémon based on genetic analysis.

Pokémon DNA sampling sequence now in progress.

Put me down.

What are you--? Let go!

-Help! -Grab him!

Help me!

l made it. But just by a hair.

Look, there's your hair.

Analyzing Pokémon biomaterial sample.

Analysis complete. Pokémon identified.

Begin replication sequence.

-Who's that Pokémon? -lt's Meowth.

Meowth!

But l'm Meowth.

-So is the one in the tank. -Your clone.

I haven't got much time.

I pray this record of our experiment survives.

A year ago we discovered...

...the remains of the ancient Pokémon, Mew.

There was sufficient genetic material to replicate Mew.

Giovanni insisted on super-clones...

...more powerful than any living Pokémon.

Finally our experiments proved successful.

We produced a living Pokémon. We called it Mewtwo.

But the creature's anger is out of control.

With its psychic powers, it's destroying our laboratory.

We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon...

...and we succeeded.

-Sounds like a real Pokénstein. -Sure does.

One bad cat!

So this must be the lab.

But if Mewtwo destroyed it....

-Somebody rebuilt it. -Yes, but who?

You humans are a dangerous species.

You brought me into your world with no purpose but to be your slave.

But now l have my own purpose.

My storm will create my own world...

...by destroying yours.

So you hate all humans? And you're going to destroy us to save Pokémon.

No.

Your Pokémon will not be spared.

They have disgraced themselves by serving humans.

Those Pokémon are nothing but slaves.

So, you say l am wrong?

You are not this human's servant? You are his friend?

You are as pathetic as the rest.

Humans and Pokémon can never be friends.

Are you okay?

Don't pick on Pikachu.

lf you are Pokémon, there's no reason l can't capture you.

Go, Rhyhorn.

-No! Rhyhorn! -Fools!

Your Pokémon attacks cannot weaken me. My powers are too great.

No trainer can conquer me.

You won't mind proving it in a real match!

ls that a challenge?

You bet it is!

They're awake!

Blast.

Saur.

-l'm scared. -Me too.

Like most Pokémon trainers...

...l too began with Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur.

But for their evolved forms...

...l used their genetic material to clone even more powerful copies.

-Copies! -They're clones.

A stadium! Mewtwo planned this all along.

Your fake Venusaur can't beat my real one!

Right, Bruteroot?

We'll blow away that Blastoise, won't we Shellshocker?!

lt may not have a nickname, but l do have a Charizard.

l choose you!

Charizard, l didn't say start.

Your Charizard is poorly trained.

Which of you will oppose me first?

Saur.

l underestimated you last time, but that won't happen again!

Go, Bruteroot! Razor Leaf!

Vine Whip.

Bruteroot!

lt looks like l'm up.

Go, Shellshocker!

Blastoise.

Blast.

Shellshocker, Hydro Pump!

Shellshocker!

You better forfeit, Ash. Those clones are too powerful.

l'm not giving up.

Charizard, use your speed, not power, and you'll win.

All right, go!

-Can't Charizard move any quicker? -The clone is too fast.

-Charizard's in trouble! -Finish it.

No, Charizard! No! Are you okay?

As the victor, l now claim my prize:

Your Pokémon.

Wait!

What will you do with those Pokémon?!

l will extract their DNA to make clones for myself.

They will remain safe on this island...

...while my storm destroys the planet.

You can't do this!

Yes, Mewtwo! We won't let you!

Do not attempt to defy me.

This is my world now.

Let's go!

Gyarados!

l know!

Mewtwo can't catch them if they're inside their Pokéballs.

Bulbasaur, Squirtle, return!

lt's no use.

lt's futile to try and escape my power.

Never mind the Pokéballs. Carry them away!

Give back my Psyduck!

Vulpix!

Run, Pikachu!

lKeep running, Pikachu!

You're not going to get Pikachu!

There goes Alakazam.

Dewgong.

Vileplume.

Sandshrew. Nidoqueen. Vaporeon.

But me, l got a special place in my tail for this one.

Look there!

l don't have time for your dumb motto today.

Who's that Pokémon? lt's Pikachu!

Let go! Stupid machine.

Give me back my Pikachu!

What's happening?

l'm so glad you're okay.

The copies are hatching!

-They're fabulous fakes! -Send in the clones!

But where are the real ones?

-l wonder if they feel.... -Clonesome?

The Poké originals!

Squirtle's back!

You're all okay!

Humans, you have served my purpose.

l am sparing your lives, for the moment.

But you cannot escape your fate.

The hour of my vengeance draws near.

Behold!

With Pokémon and humans eliminated...

...the clones shall inherit the world.

You can't do this. l won't let you.

-lt's Ash! -All right!

-Psyduck! -Vulpix!

lt is useless to challenge me.

lt's not going to end like this, Mewtwo. We won't let it.

You're mine!

-Ash, no! -Look out!

What?

Can it be?

-What is that? -l don't know.

Mew. So finally we meet.

l may have been cloned from your DNA...

...but l will prove that Mewtwo is better than the original.

Superior to Mew.

Mew and Mewtwo!

So Mewtwo was cloned from Mew.

This world is too small for two of us.

Why do you flee from me?

Are you afraid to find out which of us is greater?

So you do have some fight in you.

But l have no time for games. Destiny is at hand.

Who will rule? My super Pokémon?

Or your pathetic group of spineless inferior Pokémon?

We were created with powers far stronger than the originals.

-Mew's got a good point. -What's it saying?

You don't prove anything by showing off a lot of special powers.

And that a Pokémon's real strength comes from the heart.

My clones don't need their powers to prove their worth.

l will block all the Pokémon's special abilities...

...using my psychic powers.

Now we shall see who triumphs. Go!

Pokémon aren't meant to fight. Not like this.

lt's useless. What can come out of it?

Nothing but pain.

Can't Mewtwo understand it's not right to force Pokémon to battle?

They're all living creatures.

This just proves that fighting is wrong.

l was prepared for trouble, but not for this.

Make that double for me.

Now l can see how horrible fighting really is.

Even the best of friends will fight sometimes.

l'll promise never to fight again if you will.

What am l doing?

Let's get something straight!

You-owth ain't pushing Meowth around.

You mean, we don't have to fight with each other?

But how can l trust you? You was born different.

l almost made a clawful mistake.

How do l know you're not going to pull a fast one on me?

You're right, we do have a lot in common.

The same earth, the same air, the same sky.

Maybe if we started looking at what's the same...

...instead of always looking at what's different, who knows?

Quit it! Please, stop!

Are you okay?

We got to stop this.

How? Mewtwo wants to prove how strong those super-clones are.

l'd rather risk my life out in Mewtwo's storm...

...than watch Pokémon destroy each other.

Me too.

l wish there were some way to stop them. l don't know what to do.

l don't think they'll ever stop.

Those Pokémon are ready to fight to the death.

That's a fight that nobody's going to win.

Someone's got to take a stand.

Someone's got to say no and refuse to fight.

Just like Pikachu.

Ash, wait!

You've got to stop right now!

Stop!!

Oh, no!

Fool, trying to stop our battle.

Please, no!

The human sacrificed himself to save the Pokémon.

l pitted them against each other.

Only when they set aside their differences...

...did l see the true power they all share deep inside.

l see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant.

lt is what you do with the gift of life...

...that determines who you are.

Mewtwo, where are you going?

Where my heart can learn what yours knows so well.

What transpired here, l will always remember.

But perhaps for you, these events are best forgotten.

-This could be the worst storm ever. -You must listen to me.

You have got to find shelter.

Excuse me, please.

The Pokémon Treatment Center will open as a shelter.

Anyone who needs a place to stay should come with me.

Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny are really great.

They keep getting more beautiful every time l see them.

Guys, how did we wind up in this place anyway?

Well, l guess we're just here because we're here.

Yes, let's eat.

Look, it's a miracle!

l can't believe it.

-The storm disappeared. -That's so weird!

lt's good to have things clear again.

What's that?

What's what?

-l don't see anything, Ash. -Except the sky.

The day l started my Pokémon journey...

...l saw a really rare Pokémon.

And just now, l thought l saw another one.

Maybe you're just seeing things, Ash.

Maybe he's not.

Maybe we'll see.

Many strange legends surround the mysteries of Pokémon.

Just as many adventures await our heroes...

...as they continue on their quest.

For Ash and his friends, the journey's just begun.

l don't know how we got here, but who cares?

-This is paradise! -For once, a happy ending.

Team Rocket's signing off again!

Have any unscreen?

I'd really like to go sailing in one of them catamarans.

Thanks!
Thanks! :) If you look closely at the silver grade voting scheme box, it lists the dates already. Thanks again! 22:19, March 6, 2015 (UTC)

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