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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.

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