Chapter Five: Avatar Day

[This transcription is an exact replication of the one found on AvatarSpirit.net. This page is a tool for further exploration after the initial reading.]

Act I

(Episode opens with an early morning scene that begins with a wide shot of a shoreline. The shore is largely composed of cliffs that drop shear into the sea. The tops of the cliffs in the foreground are forested, those in the background are grass covered. The shot tilts down to reveal Appa, Katara and Sokka asleep. The water tribe siblings each sleep atop a large tree stump.

Cut to a view from inside Sokka's mouth. Sokka breathes heavily with his mouth wide open. A spider has built a web in his open mouth and sits patiently at its center. A moment later, Momo's face appears. His ears stand straight up on his head and he chitters as he sees the spider. He blinks. Shift to a quick profile view of Momo standing up on his hind legs, beginning to lean forward toward Sokka, who is drooling out of the side of his mouth. Cut to Momo's p.o.v.; the camera closes in on the web as a fly enters the frame and lands on the web. The spider moves to get the fly.

Cut back to the profile shot of Momo and Sokka, where Momo cocks back his hand, and the shoves it into Sokka's mouth. Sokka's eyes bug out. Cut to a shot from Sokka's chest looking forward. Sokka lifts his head, chucking Momo over his face and at the camera. He disappears from the frame, leaving an irate Sokka.)

Sokka: (spitting and startled) What are you doing in my mouth!

(Cut to a profile shot of Sokka, Momo eating the bugs, lying upside down on his chest.)

Sokka: Momo, you need to be a little more sensitive to my boundaries.

(As Sokka speaks, Momo hears something that isn't Sokka. He flips upright, chitters and jumps on Sokka's face and then out of the frame. Cut to a brief wide shot of the camp, then a shot of Aang sleeping on Appa. A galloping sounds is heard from o.c. as Aang awakes. He looks off screen in horror. The camera pans right at very high speed creating a rushing effect. It stops on a patch of open ground nearby. A Fire Nation war rhinoceros jumps into the screen and lands with a ponderous "thud." Atop the beast a Fire Nation soldier rides. Cut to Katara, halfway out of her sleeping bag. She gasps, then cut to another rhino emerging from the brush. Cut to a muscular, cruel looking soldier atop one of the rhinos. He wears a nose ring and a short sleeve uniform.)

Colonel Mongke: Give up! You're completely surrounded!

(As he speaks, cut to a wide, overhead shot of the camp. The camera zooms back at high speed to reveal four rhinos circling Appa and the kids. Cut to a shot of a long haired Fire Nation archer with three flaming arrows on his bow. He fires them. Cut to Sokka, still in his sleeping bag, moving in earthworm type fashion. The three arrows pin the end of the sleeping bag to ground. Sokka frees himself and runs out of the frame. Cut to a shot from above Aang who sits in Appa's drivers seat. In front of him, Sokka and Katara run into the frame towards Appa.)

Sokka: Come on, come on, come on!

(Cut to a frontal shot of Katara running towards the camera. Her eyes widen and she stops. She turns to look at the tree stump behind her as a rhino passes by in the background.)

Katara: My scrolls!

(The rhino stops at the stump and its rider twirls a halberd and then plants it into the stump. Cut to Aang, who leans forward with a look of alarm on his face, as Sokka crawls up onto Appa in the background.)

Aang: My staff!

(His face twisting in anger, Aang jumps airbends himself off Appa and out of the frame.

Cut to a frontal shot of a determined Katara running at the camera as it zooms backwards, keeping her in the frame. She opens her water skin as she runs and bends a jet of water o.c. Cut to a shot of the tree stump. The water enters the frame and hardens to ice around the soldier's halberd. Tilt up to reveal the surprised Fire Nation soldier, then cut a shot from the soldier's p.o.v. looking down as Katara scoops up the box of scrolls on the stump and runs out of the frame. Cut to a wider shot as Katara runs o.c. with the box hugged to her chest. In the background, the soldier breaks the ice and retrieves his weapon.

Cut to a shot from the top of a tree trunk high off the ground. A Fire Nation cavalryman at the bottom launches a chain with weights at its end up to the camera. The chain, anchored by the weights, wraps around the tree trunk. Cut to a shot from near the cavalryman, who directs his rhino to move away from the tree. The chain goes taught and the tree is brought down with a huge crash.

Shift to Aang running to his staff. The tree falls in his way, but he airbends lightly over it. Cut to a masked Fire Nation soldier for a second, then to a close up of his hand and belt. He snaps his fingers, removing a cap from a dynamite like stick, one of many, on his belt. Removing the cap seemingly lights a wick. He throws the device. Cut to Aang arriving at his staff as the bomb drops into the frame next to him. He sees it, and with a grimace and twirl of his staff his bats it deeper into the forest. He airbends out of the frame and it explodes in the background.

Cut to a wide shot of Appa surrounded by the four rhinos once more. In the foreground on a rock, close to the camera's p.o.v, Colonel Mongke's rhino sits looking down at the battle. Aang lands atop Appa.)

Aang: Yip, yip!

(With a flap of his tail, Appa takes off. Cut to Colonel Mongke, who fires a blast of flame at Appa's retreating figure. Cut to Katara, Sokka and Momo in Appa's saddle. They duck as the fireball passes overhead.)

Sokka and Katara: Ahhh!
Sokka: Wait, my boomerang!

(Cut to a spinning, zooming backward shot of Sokka's boomerang still on the ground below.)

Katara: There's no time!
Sokka: Oh, I see. There's time to get your scrolls and time to get your staff, but no time for my boomerang?
Katara: (cheerfully) That's correct!
Sokka: (resigned) Oh.

(Cut to a shot from near Colonel Mongke's shoulder. He looks out over the scene below and Appa flying away in the distance. He turns and looks off camera with an angry expression.

Screen fades to a pan right shot of a daytime scene. A walled town lies nearby. A trail leads to it out of the forest on the right of the screen. On the other side the town abuts a cliff that looks over the ocean. In the foreground, Appa has landed in a forest clearing near the trail that leads to town. A small building is also nearby.)

Aang: (initially from o.c.) Sorry about your boomerang, Sokka.

(As Aang speaks, cut to the kids inside the town. Katara is talking to a vendor in a stall behind Aang and Sokka, who is sitting on the ground, mourning the loss of his boomerang. Aang wear's a coolie hat to hide his tattoo.)

Sokka: I feel like I've lost part of my identity. Imagine if you lost your arrow, or if Katara lost her... (cut to Katara, looking confused) ... hair loopies.

(Sokka walks over to the stall, where Katara hugs him. The merchant puts a basket of food on the counter.)

Merchant: Here's your produce, ponytail guy.
Sokka: (picks up basket, then, dejected) I used to be boomerang guy...

(Katara pays the nice merchant.)

Merchant: (surprised) Hey, Water Tribe money.
Katara: I hope that's okay.
Merchant: So long as it's money. (closes shop and begins to walk away) Have a nice Avatar Day!
Aang: Avatar Day?
Merchant: (turning around) You guys are going to the festival, right?

(Aang, Katara and Sokka look at each other. Sokka, who has been crying over his boomerang still looks distraught, but Katara and Aang smile.

Cut to a wide, overhead shot of the sky. Tilt down to reveal the walled town. Festival music plays in the background. Cut to a shot of the three kids in a crowd on a street. Green banners fly suspended on strings across the streets. They look around in wonder, Sokka carrying Momo in his arms.)

Aang: There's a holiday for the Avatar. Who knew?

(Behind them a hug float of Avatar Kyoshi rolls by. They turn to see it.)

Katara: Look! They made a giant Kyoshi float.

(The kids run to the main square.)

Sokka: And here comes Avatar Roku.
Aang: Having a huge festival in your honor is great, but frankly, it's just nice to be appreciated.
Sokka: And it's nice to appreciate their deep-fried festival food.

(Sokka takes a huge chomp out of a cake he is holding.)

Katara: Aang, look!

(A huge Aang float passes next.)

Aang: (smiling) That's the biggest me I've ever seen.

(Cut to a profile shot of the three Avatars now abreast of each other in the main square. Pan right to reveal a muscular and scantily clad young man running into the square with a lit torch.)

Sokka: Now a torch; that's a nice prop. It's bright, dangerous... (inhales deeply)... smells manly. But I'm not sure I could carry it off.
Katara: Hey, what's that guy doing?

(The torch man jumps through the bottom of the Kyoshi statue and lights it on fire.)

Torch Man: Yaaaah!

(He lights Roku on fire as well.)

Crowd: (chanting in unison) Down with the Avatar! Down with the Avatar! Down with the Avatar!

(Cut to a zoom in shot of the kids. Sokka's mouth drops open in surprise and food starts falling out.

Shift scenes to another town that rests on top of a hill, then cut to a man and woman walking down a deserted street. He is carrying two baskets suspended by a pole across his back. A shadow passes in front of the camera, then the Blue Spirit appears in front of the couple, swords drawn. He cuts the baskets away from the terrified man, scoops them up and runs.

Cut again to a forest shot. A fly or other insect is snapped up by the lengthy tongue of a nearby tree chameleon. Shot tilts down to show the Blue Spirit climbing over a log with his baskets of loot. A green clad arm places the mask in the hollow a tree. Zuko looks out from around the tree, then cut to a shot of a cave.

Iroh sits cross legged within the cave. Zuko throws the baskets from o.c. which land in front of him.)

Iroh: Where did you get these?
Zuko: (walking away) What does it matter where they came from?
Iroh: (seriously) Hmm... (eats food and smiles as pink goo drips from his mouth) Mmmm!

(Return to a profile shot of the burning Avatar floats.)

Crowd: (chanting in unison) Down with the Avatar! Down with the Avatar!

(The Mayor gives the torch man a signal, who throws his torch at the Aang float. It lands on his right eye and begins to burn. Cut to a shot of Aang with a distraught face amidst the crowd, the cut to Katara running across the plaza. She jumps forward and waterbends the water from two nearby water caskets, putting out the burning floats.)

Spectator 1: (angrily) Hey! That party-pooper's ruining Avatar Day!

(Aang airbends himself to the left shoulder of his own float.)

Aang: That party-pooper's my friend!

(He takes off his hat and throws it o.c. An animation effect shows a blinding shine from his perfectly bare head.)

Mayor Tong: (surprised) It's the Avatar himself!
Spectator 1: (panicking) It's going to kill us with its awesome Avatar powers!
Aang: (calmly, raising his hand in a non-threatening way) No, I'm not, I...

(Guy runs around completely scared and hurls himself into the crowd.)

Majoy Tong: (snootily) I suggest you leave. You're not welcome here, Avatar.
Katara: Why not? Aang helps people.
Aang: It's true. (airbending himself down to where Katara and the Mayor stand) I'm on your side.
Mayor Tong: (accusingly) I find that hard to swallow considering what you did to us in your past life. It was Avatar Kyoshi; she murdered our glorious leader, Chin the Great.
Aang: You think that I... murdered someone...

(Cut to an old, hideous man.)

Old Man: (slurring) We used to be a great society before you killed our leader. (pointing to himself) Now look at us!
Aang: (cringing in revulsion) Huh!
Katara: (defensively) Aang would never do something like that. No Avatar would. (pointing an accusing finger at the crowd) And it's not fair for you all to question his honor!
Spectator: (to the crowd) Let's tell her what we think of the Avatar's "honor." (blows a raspberry and sticks his butt out at her.)

(Crowd voices its agreement noisily.)

Aang: (to everyone) Give me a chance to clear my name.
Mayor Tong: The only way to prove your innocence is to stand trial.
Aang: (confidently) I'll gladly stand trial.
Mayor Tong: You'll have to follow all our rules. That includes paying bail.

(Cut to a close up of Aang.)

Aang: No problem!

(As he finishes speaking, a stock closes around his neck. The camera zooms backwards to reveal Aang behind bars, heads and arms in a stock. Outside of his cell Katara has her face buried in his hands and Sokka leans sullenly against a wall, Momo beside him.)

Aang: How was I supposed to know they wouldn't take Water Tribe money?

(Cut to commercial break.)

Act II

(Show returns a wide, overhead shot from the town looking out to sea. Tilt down to reveal that Aang's cell is in fact an open air courtyard with a grated observation window into the jail building where Sokka and Katara stand. Cut to a shot from behind the water tribe siblings looking at Aang as Sokka speaks.)

Sokka: So some people don't like you. Big deal! There's a whole nation of firebenders who hate you. Now let's bust you out of here.
Aang: I can't.
Sokka: (upbeat) Sure you can! A little... swish, swish, swish! Airbending slice! ... and we're on our way.

(Sight gag: he flashes to the back of the room and uses his arms to cut the air and then back to the front to shove his face in the camera for "Airbending slice!")

Katara: (disdainfully) I think what "Master Swish" is trying to say is that you're supposed to be out saving the world. You can't do that locked up in here.
Aang: I can't do that with people thinking I'm a murderer, either. I need you guys to help prove my innocence.
Sokka: How're we gonna do that? The crime happened over three hundred years ago.
Aang: (shrewdly) That's okay, Sokka. For some reason, I thought you were an expert detective.
Sokka: (self-importantly) Well, I guess I could be classified as such.
Katara: (playing along) Yeah! Back home he was famous for solving the mystery of the missing seal jerky.
Sokka: (bragging) Everyone wanted to blame it on a polar leopard, but I figured out that it was Old Man Jarco wearing polar leopard boots. See, a real eight hundred pound polar leopard would have left much deeper tracks. Okay, I guess I am pretty good.

(During Sokka's monologue, Katara's holds her hand to her head in a gesture of despair, while Aang makes gestures poking fun at him. Sokka fails to notice either.)

Aang: So you'll help me with my case?
Sokka: Fine. But I'm gonna need some new props.

(An effect of instantly passing time and space stops to reveal Sokka a strange hat.)

Sokka: I'm ready.

(He extends a magnifying glass out of hat that rests in from of his right eye. The contraption is reminiscent of the head gear used by Johnny Depp in "Sleepy Hollow." Katara giggles.)

Sokka: What?

(Sokka turns to her and extends the magnifying glass out a bit more and he hunches over to see her better.

Cut to an armored wagon with a small trailer traveling through a forest scene. It is pulled by a horse ostrich.

Inside, a plump merchant looks at an open cash box with glee. He plays with the coins. The camera zooms backward to reveal the whole interior of the cab. Suddenly, the carriage jolts as it comes to a sudden stop. The merchant's hat falls off and he grabs his cash box protectively. He looks around in alarm and closes and locks the cash box. Cut to a close up as the merchant begins sweating.

After a few moments of nothing, he breathes a sigh of relief. Then a broadsword blade slices through the roof in front of the camera. It slices back and forth. Cut to a shot of the roof from the merchant's p.o.v. A fist appears as it smashes a hole through the damaged roof. Through the hole the Blue Spirit is seen atop the carriage. The merchant offers the box with his eyes closed and the Blue Spirit grabs it. The merchant looks up, but the Blue Spirit is gone. Cut to an overhead shot of the carriage as the camera zooms backward. The driver is knocked out beside the carriage and the ostrich horse is gone.

Cut to a shot of the city of Chin from the sea. On the sea side of the town, there is a small temple right on the cliff overlooking the water below. Cut again to a wide overhead shot of the temple that tilts toward the bottom of the frame. Behind the temple, between it and the city walls, the benches of an amphitheatre are cut into the hillside. Three figures walk from the city to the temple.)

Mayor Tong: This is the crime scene.

(Cut to a closer shot of Aang and Katara as they approach the temple with the Mayor. Sokka looks at the camera through his magnifying glass for a moment, which makes his eye look huge. The Mayor stands right at the edge of the cliff and points to a small footprint at his feet.)

Mayor Tong: This is the footprint of the killer, Kyoshi. It was at sunset three hundred and seventy years ago today that she emerged from the temple and struck down (he indicates a statue of a stern Earth Kingdom warrior made of pink marble near the temple) Chin the Great. After that tragic day, we built this statue to immortalize our great leader. Feel free to appreciate it.

(Mayor Tong exits the scene. Sokka walks around with many sounds effects and a few small animations exaggerating his "Sherlock Holmes" routine.)

Sokka: This temple and this statue were cut from the same stone. And we know that the statue was built after Chin died.
Katara: (getting worked up) So if they were built at the same time, that means...
Sokka: (interrupting) Shhh! I wanna solve it! That means Kyoshi never set foot in this temple.
Katara: That's a big hole in the mayor's story, but it's not enough to prove Aang's innocence.
Sokka: You're right.

(He produces a water pipe out of nowhere, and proceeds to blow a few bubbles.)

Sokka: We need to go to Kyoshi Island.
Katara: Where'd you get that?

(Cut back to courtyard of the jail. An elephant rat peeks out from behind a few pots. It sniffs with its long trunk, moves forward, picks up an acorn. Aang looks at it, still in his stocks, from the background. The elephant rat jumps out of the frame with a few squeaks.)

Prisoner 1: (initially voice over) You got a bald head...

(Cut to a shot of the other end of the courtyard from Aang's p.o.v. There is a partial roof overhanging that part of the courtyard, and the voice emanates from the dark area underneath.)

Prisoner 1: ...some nice tattoos...

(He comes forward. The prisoner is a tall, muscular, bald man with tattoos of his own. He runs forward at Aang with a cry of fury, but is restrained before he reaches him by chains.)

Prisoner 1: (calmly) You're going to fit in real well around here.

(Cut to Aang, who smiles weakly. Cut to an overhead shot of Kyoshi Island, then to a shot from the ground near the watchtower on Kyoshi island. In the sky above, Appa is flying in. The watchtower guards clangs a bell.

Shift to a shot of Oyagi's house. Appa's shadow runs across it. Cut to a closer shot of Oyagi eating on his porch. He looks up with a smile. Koko and another girl run past him laughing. Appa lands in front of the statue of Kyoshi. He is surrounded by townspeople.)

Foaming Mouth Guy appears and pushes through the crowd. He does what he is best at - foaming at the mouth before fainting.)

Koko: (stomps her foot, annoyed) Where's Aangy?
Katara: He couldn't be here, Koko.
Crowd: (disappointed) Ohhh...
Koko: I wanted to see Aangy...

(The Foaming Mouth Guy gets back up and wipes the foam from his face, looking slightly embarrassed. He covers his head with part of his robe and slinks out of the frame. The crowd disperses, but Oyagi approaches them.)

Katara: Oyagi! Aang is in jail. The town of Chin says he murdered their leader in a past life.
Sokka: (looking ridiculous with his hat and pipe) They say it was Kyoshi.
Oyagi: Kyoshi? That's crazy talk! I'll take you to her shrine. Maybe something there will help you clear her name.

(Fade to the three walking up the path from the village to the shrine.)

Sokka: (with feigned casualness) So, uh... what's Suki up to? Is she around?
Oyagi: Actually, she and the other warriors left to fight in the war. You kids had a big impact on Suki. She said you inspired her and she wanted to help change the world.
Sokka: (sadly) Oh, well... that's great.

(They walk under a paifang gate and approach another temple overlooking the sea.)

Oyagi: This temple was converted into a shrine to Kyoshi.

(They enter the shrine. It is dark, and filled with Kyoshi's clothing and weapons.)

Oyagi: The clerics tell us these relics are still connected to her spirit. That's her kimono.
Katara: (touching the kimono) She had exquisite taste.
Oyagi: (quickly) Please don't touch.
Sokka: (musing with an affected voice) These fans... they were her weapons, no?
Oyagi: (wearily) Also refrain from touching the fans.
Katara: These were her boots? Her feet must have been enormous!

(Katara examines the huge pair of boots as Momo emerges from within one of them. He chitters at Katara.)

Oyagi: (full of pride) The biggest of any Avatar.
Katara: (with realization) Wait a minute... big feet? (cut to a brief vision of the small footprint by the Chin temple) Little footprints? (cut back to the present, then happily) There's no way!
Sokka: Ahem. (Sokka clears his throat, interrupting her) Special outfit Hat and pipe These things mean anything to you?
Katara: (with mock respect) You're right. I'm sorry. Please.
Sokka: (dramatically) Aha! There's no way Kyoshi could have made that footprint and therefore there is nothing linking her to the crime scene!
Katara: (unimpressed) Brilliant, Sokka.

(Cut back to a shot from Chin looking out over the ocean. It is now sunset. Pan down back to the courtyard, then cut to Aang sitting cross legged in a circle with three other prisoners.)

Prisoner 1: This girl you're talking about She'll come around. You just gotta hang in there.

(Cut to Aang who easily gets out of the stocks, and rests his elbows on top of it.)

Aang: (hopefully) You think so?

(All at once)

Prisoner 1: Sure!
Prisoner 2: Yeah.
Prisoner 3: You're a catch.
Aang: (uncertainly) I don't know...
Prisoner 1: Hey! You're smart, handsome, funny, not to mention you're the Avatar.
Aang: (smiling) You guys are great.
Prisoner 3: (touched) Don't be afraid to tell her how you feel. (wipes a tear from his eyes and sniffles.)

(Cut back to an exterior shot of the temple on Kyoshi Island, then to a shot of a beautiful mural within the temple.)

Oyagi: (o.c.) This piece is called "The Birth of Kyoshi." (all walk into view) It was painted at sunrise on the day this island was founded. Why, it was today, in fact, three hundred and seventy years ago.
Sokka: (spits out his pipe at the surprise information) Three hundred and seventy years... wait, (grabs Oyagi by the lapels) are you sure it was today?
Oyagi: (annoyed) Seeing how it's Kyoshi Day, yes, (throwing Sokka backwards) I'm sure.
Sokka: This ceremony didn't take place at sunrise; it took place at sunset. Look at the shadows.
Katara: They point east. So the sun must have been in the west.
Oyagi: So what?
Sokka: (shoves Katara out of the way) If Kyoshi was in the ceremony at sunset, she couldn't have been in Chin committing the crime. (points his pipe dramatically and the magnifying glass swing in front of his eye) She has an alibi!

(Katara, only her arm visible, takes his pipe and hits him over the head with it.

Fade back to exterior, night shot of Chin.)

Katara: (formally, and in voice over at first) Honorable mayor, (cut to a shot of the kids and the Mayor at Aang's jail) we've prepared a solid defense for the Avatar. We did an investigation and found some very strong evidence.

(Cut to Sokka leaning over to Aang and giving him a big smilie face, which Aang returns.)

Mayor Tong: Evidence? Hmph! That's not how our court system works.
Aang: Then how can I prove my innocence?
Mayor Tong: Simple. I say what happened and then you say what happened and then I decide who's right.

(Aang and friends gasps in unison, looking horrified.)

Mayor Tong: That's why we call it justice. Because it's "just us." Hahaha!

(The Mayor walks off laughing maniacally. Cut to black for commercial break.)

Act III

(The show returns to a wide profile shot of the amphitheatre, statue of Chin and the temple behind the town of Chin. Cut to Mayor Tong addressing the crowd that populates the benches of the amphitheatre.)

Mayor Tong: Everyone loved Chin the Great because he was so great. Then the Avatar (pointing to Aang behind him, still in the stocks) showed up and killed him! And that's how it happened.

(Walks o.c. with a self satisfied smile.)

Bailiff: (deep monotone) The accused will now present its argument.
Sokka: (quietly) You can do it, Aang. Just remember the evidence.
Aang: Right... evidence. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to tell you what really happened. And I will prove it with facts. Fact number one... (Aang blanks) Uh...
Sokka: (quietly prompting) The footprints!
Aang: Oh, yeah... (to the crowd) You see, I have very large feet.

(Camera tilts down to show Aang's little feet. The crowd looks unimpressed.)

Aang: (unpersuasively) Furthermore, your... temple matches your statue. But... I was in a painting at sunset. (wraps it up fast with a big smile) So there you have it! I'm not guilty!

(Cut to the crowd, which continued to be unimpressed, then tilt down to Katara, Sokka and Momo, both with big smiles son their faces, and Sokka giving a "thumbs up" gesture.)

Sokka: (aside to Katara, both still smiling) He's dead.

(Cut to Zuko and Iroh in their cave. A fire crackles nearby.)

Iroh: Looks like you did some serious shopping. (Iroh walks around the fire and sits, inspecting a gold teapot in front of him) But where did you get the money?
Zuko: (avoids the question) Do you like your new teapot?
Iroh: To be honest with you, the best tea tastes delicious whether it comes in a porcelain pot or a tin cup. (walking over to Zuko who lies with his back to the opposite wall of the cave) I know we've had some difficult times lately. We've had to struggle just to get by. (puts his had on Zuko's shoulder) But it's nothing to be ashamed of. There is a simple honor in poverty.
Zuko: There's no honor for me without the Avatar.
Iroh: Zuko... (sighs) Even if you did capture the Avatar, I'm not so sure it would solve our problems. Not now.
Zuko: (abruptly) Then there is no hope at all.

(Zuko turns to get up.)

Iroh: (quickly) No, Zuko! You must never give in to despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. (Cut to Iroh's p.o.v, he continues o.c.) In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.

(Zuko looks back at his uncle for a moment, then gets up to leave. He walks away form the cave.

Cut back to the trial.)

Katara: Mayor Tong, I'd like for the court to hear one last testimony.
Mayor Tong: (jumping up in anger) I've already told you! It's just me and the accused. You can't call any witnesses.
Katara: This isn't just any witness. I'm going to call... (gestures widely with her arms) Avatar Kyoshi herself!

(Crowd mumbles a lot, then cut to the bailiff walking toward the camera. He turns and exits the frame to reveal Aang wearing Kyoshi's clothes, his face painted like her as well. Cut to a skeptical shot of Mayor Tong, then Katara sitting back beside her brother.)

Sokka: (whispers) What are you doing?
Katara: Well, she is Aang's past life. Maybe wearing her stuff will trigger something.
Sokka: (adjusting his magnifying glass and accepting Katara's reason) I do believe in the power of stuff.
Mayor Tong: (protesting) This is a mockery of Chin law!
Katara: (pleading) Please! If you could just wait one more second, I'm sure Kyoshi will be here.

(Camera flashes over to a wide shot of Aang looking ridiculous in Kyoshi's huge outfit, one of her fans in front of his face.)

Aang: (in an uncertain, mock female voice) Hey, everybody. (He drops the fan slightly to reveal his painted face and his eyes blink to a sound effect) Avatar Kyoshi here.
Mayor Tong: This is ridiculous. For the murder of Chin the Great, this court finds the Avatar...

(As Mayor Tong tries to finish, a whirlwind appears around Aang, obscuring him from view. The sky darkens. Cut to a wide shot of the town and the cliff it sits upon. The sky darkens all around it. Cut back to Aang and the Mayor. The whirlwind around Aang disperses to reveal Avatar Kyoshi herself, resplendent in her kimono. Cut to a close up of her face. She lifts her head to look at the camera.)

Avatar Kyoshi: I killed Chin the Conqueror.

(The screen flashes and a vision begins, narrated by a voice over from Kyoshi. The vision begins with a profile shot of the man from the statue. He sits on a throne, soldiers and retainers in the background. A man kneels before him in supplication. He stands and earthbending a lump of stone out of the floor, casting the supplicant out of the frame.)

Avatar Kyoshi: (voice over) A horrible tyrant, (cut to a close up of the stern tyrant) Chin was expanding his army to all corners of the continent.

(Cut to a shot of a map of the Earth Kingdom. The white map is slowly spread over by a green shaded area. It begins in the northwest, spreads to the interior seas, and then north to the mountains and south to the islands. Only the enormous crater like feature in the northeast remains unconquered.

The screen flashes again to show Chin's army in formation on a battlefield. As Kyoshi's speaks, the camera pans to show Chin in armor standing at the head of his troops.)

Avatar Kyoshi: (voice over) When they came to the neck of the peninsula where we lived, he demanded our immediate surrender.

(Chin stomps his foot once. The cut to Kyoshi walking towards Chin, who is o.c. to the left.)

Avatar Kyoshi: (voice over) I warned him that I would not sit passively and while he took our home, but he did not back down.

(Kyoshi stops, and the camera pans left suddenly to put them both in the same frame. Kyoshi is probably more than a foot taller than Chin.

Chin assumes an earthbending stance. Cut to a frontal shot of Kyoshi. She raises her fan and blows Chin's clothes off him right down to his underwear. Chin is surprised. Cut back to Kyoshi.)

Avatar Kyoshi: (voice over) On that day, we split from the mainland.

(Kyoshi closes her eyes, and opens them. They glow white briefly, then the camera zooms backwards. She jumps up, extends her fans, and slices one in a sweeping motion to her left. Cut to a wide shot of the peninsula, which rips open from her position all the way to where the land meets the sea as the army looks on. She does the same on her other side, then straightens up and closes her fans in one smooth motion.

After a brief moment looking at the camera, she jumps up and lands with her legs bent and her tows pointed sideways. She strikes the ground with her two closed fans. Cut to Chin's grave face, who maintains his earthbending stance despite the power displayed before him.

Shift to an underground shot which rips open to reveal Kyoshi standing atop the fissure. Kyoshi waves her fans in a few quick, but elaborate gestures and raises a wall of intense flame from the breach. The wall rises high into the air.

The wall of flame then drops, and Kyoshi creates a gale that blows most of the army away behind Chin and pushes the island at ever increasing speed away from the mainland. Once the island is out of sight, Chin screams in frustration at his defeat. As he yells, the rock underneath him, which now hangs out over a shear drop to the surf below, crumbles. He falls into the water below.

The vision ends. Fade from the newly made cliff in the past to the an overhead shot of the same area in the present.)

Avatar Kyoshi: (voice over) I created Kyoshi Island (cut to Kyoshi's face) so my people could be safe from invaders.

(She lowers her face, and is consumed again by the whirlwind. The artificial darkness gets reeled back in by the wind. Soon, Aang is himself again, though drained. Katara runs forward and holds up as he threatens to faint. He drops one of Kyoshi's fans.)

Aang: (confused) So... what just happened?
Katara: Uhh... you kind of confessed. Sorry.
Mayor Tong: (getting up in the background and brushing himself off) And I find you guilty! Bring out the wheel of punishment!

(Cut to a wide shot as the crowd cheers. Cut to a shot of Momo who chitters and hides his face with his tail.

Shift scene to Zuko standing behind Iroh, whose back is to the camera, at their cave.)

Zuko: Uncle, I thought a lot about what you said.

(Cut to a frontal shot of Iroh, Zuko visible in the background. Iroh turns his head towards his nephew.)

Iroh: (pleased) You did? Good, good.
Zuko: (without malice, but also without hesitation) It's helped me realize something. We no longer have anything to gain by traveling together. I need to find my own way.

(Cut to a shot of Iroh's back. He looks down and slumps slightly in sadness. Cut to Zuko outside the cave. He picks up a pack and begins to walk away.)

Iroh: Wait!

(Iroh leads over their stolen ostrich horse and places the reigns in Zuko's hands. Zuko looks back at his uncle once, then shakes the reigns and gallops away.

Cut back to the trial, where a tilting down shot of the city reveals Aang, still in Kyoshi's garb, standing before a wheel.)

Bailiff: (deep monotone) The accused will now spin the wheel of punishment to determine his sentence.

(Cut to a shot from behind Aang. The wheel is divided into eight wedges. Each of the wedges has a symbol on it that indicates the punishments he might draw. Among them are getting boiled in oil, a torture machine, eaten by a bear, eaten by a shark, forced to lie on a bed of spikes, getting burned alive, falling into a pit of razors, and community service. On top is an indicator that determines the punishment when the wheel stops spinning.)

Aang: I said I would face justice, so I will.

(He spins the wheel.)

Spectator 1: (rooting) Come on, torture machine!
Old Man: Eaten by bears!
Spectator 2: Razor pit!
Katara: (worried) Community service! Please stop on community service.
Bailiff: Looks like it's "boiled in oil."

(Cut to a wide shot of the plaza as the crowd cheers, then to close up of Aang's face, the worry showing through the Kyoshi make up.

The crowd cheers some more, and Aang looks dejected. Suddenly, a lit firebomb gets thrown into the screen. It bounces a few times before exploding. Cut to Sokka and Katara shielding themselves from the blast, then looking up at the voice they hear a moment later.)

Colonel Mongke: (voice over) We've come to (shot expands to show the Colonel on his rhino and two others mounting the top of the amphitheatre) claim this village for the Fire Lord! Now show me your leader so I may... (cut to a soldier who uses his halberd to destroy the statue of Chin the Conqueror) ...dethrone him.
Spectator 3: That's him over there!

(The spectator points to the Mayor who hides behind the wheel.)

Mayor Tong: (cowers) You! Avatar! Do something!
Aang: (calmly) Gee, I'd love to help, but I'm supposed to be boiled in oil.
Mayor Tong: (spins the wheel to the community service wedge and stops it there) There! "Community service." Now serve our community and get rid of those rhinos!

(Aang smiles and runs forward. He jumps into the air, shedding most of Kyoshi's clothing except for her headdress. The camera zooms backward to reveal a rhino in the foreground. The rider readies his halberd. Cut to a shot behind Aang as he runs at the rhino, the camera following close behind. He leans forward and extends his arms out behind him like a fighter jet. Each hand holds one of Kyoshi's fans, which he opens as he runs. He spins aside out of the rhino's way at the last moment and uses the fan to airbend the rider out of his seat and off the side of the cliff.

Cut to the Mayor who peeps out over the wheel as a rhino bears down on him. He turns in horror and slides down the back of the wheel. His eyes bug out as the creatures three horns bust through the wheel, one just above each shoulder and one between his legs.

Cut to Aang, who locks eyes briefly with the Colonel.)

Colonel Mongke : Rough Rhinos, to the town!

(Cut to a shot of the rhinos and their rhinos now setting the town on fire with arrows and blasts of fire from their hands. The masked rider runs by a hay wagon and drops three sticks of dynamite into it. The wagon explodes as another rhino rushes by.

Shift to another Fire Nation shoulder, shirtless and screaming as he throws a flail at Katara. She draws some water from her skin and uses the water to bend the flail back against her attacker. He is bound and helpless by his own weapon. She then whips the rhino with her water and it runs o.c.

Cut to Sokka looking from behind a street corner at the Fire Nation archer. He lits two arrows ready to fire. Sokka uses reflected sun form his magnifying glass to distract him. The archer turns and fires the arrows. These miss Sokka, but they do take his silly hat on the way toward hitting the side bag attached to the masked Fire Nation's soldier rhino who had just appeared behind Sokka. The side bag contains four sticks of dynamite. Sokka smiles and ducks.

The masked man picks up the bag and throws it on the roof of a neighboring house. A moment later the house disappears under the thunderous explosion. The fate the masked man is unknown since the view of him was blocked by another building, but a moment later his helmet rolls by Sokka still crouched on the ground. Another bag also rolls into the frame, his boomerang hanging out of it.)

Sokka: (happily) Boomerang! You do always come back!

(The archer has returned and aims more arrows at Sokka, who throws his water pipe. The pipe sails through the air and engulfs both arrows in its maw - putting out their fires. The archer looks closely at the contraption in wonder.

Cut to Katara facing off against another rider. She uses her water whip to cut the saddle straps. The rider falls off and starts getting dragged by his animal. Katara replaces the water into her skin.

Cut to Aang running across a t junction. He still wears Kyoshi's headdress and has her fans. He stops in the middle of the junction and looks down the street at the camera. Cut to the other end of the street where Colonel Mongke's and his rhino appear. He and Aang look at each other. With a few quick movements, Mongke produces a constant flame from both arms and begins to charge at Aang at a gallop.

Aang runs at him as well. He jumps of the wall of alley and propels himself over the Colonel's head, using the fans and a blast of air to deflect the stream of fire. He drops down on the other side of the street having turned around in mid air. The acrobatics cost him the rest of Kyoshi's gear, which fall a few seconds apart from each other around him. He gets back up and makes an air scooter. He hops on and runs down the street as the Colonel charges him again. He goes under the Colonel's rhino, avoiding his fire. He in turn avoids Aang's blast of air.

The two antagonists have again reached opposite ends of the street. They face each other again, with a quick pan left shot on the Colonel and a pan right shot of Aang to accentuate the conflict. They run at each other again. Aang jumps into the air as he approaches, sails right through a blast of fire, and kicks the Colonel off the rhino with his feet. The Colonel lands o.c. with a crash as he passes through a wall.

Fade to a night shot of fireworks in the sky, and confetti falling in front of the screen.)

Mayor Tong: (voice over) From now on, (camera pans down to show the kids, backs to the camera, facing the crowd in the plaza) we'll celebrate a new Avatar Day (cut to a frontal shot of the three kids, grinning) in honor of the day Avatar Aang saved us from the Rough Rhino Invasion.

(They each hold a bowl. Sokka looks down at his.)

Sokka: What is this?

(Cut to a shot of the cookies in the bowl, which look like they are melting.)

Mayor Tong: (voice over) That's our new festival food: (cut back to the Mayor) unfried dough. May we eat it (turns to address the crowd) and be reminded of how on this day the Avatar was not boiled in oil.

(Crowd cheers. The three kids look uncertain. They each pick up a dough cookie. Cut to a closer shot of Katara, the cookie drooping in her fingers.)

Katara: (halfheartedly) Happy Avatar Day, everyone.

(She eats it and the camera pans right to Aang, who has one hanging out of his mouth, then shows Sokka as well.)

Sokka: This is by far the worst town we've ever been to.

(They eat a few more cookies. Screen fades to white.)

[End Credits]