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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.

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