Dante Basco credited as playing...
Prince Zuko
- [Aang and Zuko are still trapped in the chamber flooded with sticky green slime]
- Aang: You *had* to pick up the glowing egg, didn't you?
- Zuko: At least I made something happen! If it were up to *you*, we'd never have made it past the courtyard!
- Aang: He-e-e-e-elp!
- Zuko: *Who* are you yelling to? Nobody's lived here for centuries!
- Aang: Well, what do *you* think we should do?
- Zuko: [considers] Think about our place in the universe?
- [Aang sighs]
- Toph Beifong: Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is.
- Sokka: So... is it jumping into a volcano?
- Toph Beifong: I don't know. For earthbending, the original benders were badger moles. One day when I was little, I ran a way and hid in a cave. That's where I met them. They were blind, just like me, so we understood each other. I was able to learn earthbending, not just as a martial art, but as an extension of my senses. For them, the original earthbenders, it wasn't just about fighting. It was their way of interacting with the world.
- Aang: That's amazing, Toph. I learned from the monks, but the original airbenders were the sky bison.
- [to Appa]
- Aang: Maybe *you* can give me a lesson sometime, buddy.
- [Appa growls]
- Zuko: [downcast] Well, this doesn't help me. The original firebenders were the dragons, and they're extinct.
- Aang: What do you mean? Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid.
- Zuko: [frustrated] Well, they aren't around anymore, OK?
- Aang: OK, OK, I'm sorry.
- Zuko: But maybe there's another way. The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors.
- Aang: Sun Warriors? Well, I know *they* weren't around when I was a kid.
- Zuko: No. They died off thousands of years ago, but their civilisation wasn't too far from where we are now. Maybe we could learn something by poking around the ruins.
- Aang: It's like the monks used to tell me, "Sometimes the shadows of the past can be felt by the present".
- Sokka: So, what? Maybe you'll pick up some super old Sun Warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?
- Zuko: More or less. Either I find a new way to firebend, or the Avatar has to find a new teacher.
- [Aang looks concerned and worried at Zuko's statement; cut to black]
- [last lines]
- Sokka: Yeah, that's a great dance you two learned there.
- Zuko: It's not a dance. It's a firebending form.
- Sokka: We'll just tap dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord.
- Zuko: It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!
- Katara: Oh, yeah? What's your little form called?
- Sokka: The Dancing Dragon.
- [everyone laughs at him; end credits]
- Zuko: I bet it's because I changed sides.
- Katara: That's ridiculous.
- Aang: I don't know. Maybe it isn't. Maybe your firebending comes from rage, and you just don't have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to.
- Sokka: So, all we need to do is make Zuko angry! Easy enough.
- [Sokka giggles as he pokes Zuko with his sword]
- Zuko: OK, cut it out!
- [Sokka drops his sword]
- Zuko: [rubs his eyes] Look, even if you're right, I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way.
- Aang: Zuko, something happened to the dragons in the last hundred years.
- [frowns]
- Aang: Something you're not telling me.
- Zuko: My great-grandfather Sozin happened. He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. They were the ultimate firebenders, and if you could conquer one, your firebending talents would become legendary and you'd earn the honorary title "Dragon". The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born... by my uncle.
- Aang: But I thought your uncle was... I don't know, *good*?
- Zuko: He had a complicated past. Family tradition, I guess. Let's just move on.
- [first lines]
- Zuko: I know you're nervous, but remember, firebending in and of itself is *not* something to fear.
- Aang: [sighs] OK, not something to fear.
- Zuko: But if you don't respect it, it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry Komodo rhino! Now show me what you've got. Any amount of fire you can make
- Zuko: *That's* why my firebending was so weak before! Because for so many years, hunting you was my drive. It was my purpose. So when I joined you, I lost sight of my inner fire. But now I have a new drive. I *have* to help you defeat my father and restore balance to the world.
- Zuko: Listen, everybody, I've got some pretty bad news. I've lost my stuff.
- Toph Beifong: Don't look at me. I didn't touch your stuff.
- Zuko: I'm talking about my firebending. It's gone.
- Katara: [laughing] I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know, how it would have been nice for us if you'd lost your firebending a long time ago?
- Zuko: Well, it's not lost, it's just... weaker for some reason.
- Katara: [spitefully] Maybe you're just not as good as you think you are.
- Toph Beifong: Ouch.
- Zuko: My name is Zuko, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. Or at least I used to be. I know my people have distorted the ways of firebending to be fueled by anger and rage, but now I want to learn the true way, the original way. When we came here, I never imagined the Sun Warrior civilization was secretly alive. I am truly humbled to be in your presence. Please, teach us.