The Waterbending Scroll


 * This article is about the episode. For the object, see waterbending scroll.

"The Waterbending Scroll" is the ninth episode of season one of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the ninth of the overall series. It debuted on April 29, 2005.

Overview
''Katara begins teaching Aang waterbending, but, to her fury, not only is he a fast learner, but he eventually surpasses her in skill. The group later finds a waterbending scroll at a store run by pirates. Determined to surpass Aang, Katara steals the scroll, causing the pirates to chase the group, though they manage to escape. Later, Zuko runs into the pirates. Zuko makes a deal with the pirates, saying that if the pirates get Aang for him then he will get the scroll for the pirates. Zuko proceeds to capture Katara, and the pirates capture Aang and Sokka. A fight breaks out between Zuko's crew and the pirates when the latter learns Aang is the Avatar. During the commotion, the group escapes with the scroll.''

Synopsis
Having received Avatar Roku's warning of the impending comet, Aang becomes anxious, worrying feverishly over the short time remaining for him to master the three remaining bending arts. In an attempt to settle Aang's fear, Katara offers to teach him what she knows of waterbending, which he graciously accepts.

Meanwhile, Zuko is busy sparring with Lieutenant Jee when Iroh diverts the ship to find a port in order to replace a white lotus tile for his Pai Sho game. Venting with smoke through his nose and mouth, Zuko angrily allows him. Iroh calmly announces, "It's so good to have an understanding nephew", as the smoke engulfs the bridge.

At a waterfall, Katara begins to teach Aang her knowledge of waterbending. Unfortunately for her, Aang immediately masters the lessons she gives him with little to no effort, despite the fact that it took her much time and practice to master them. While she tries to hide it, she begins to grow jealous of Aang's natural talent.



After Aang accidentally washes away their supplies, the trio goes into town to buy some more, where Aang impulsively buys a bison whistle. They come upon a ship docked with a barker trying to attract business. The ship's crew is selling items that they acquired by "high risk trading". Searching their wares, Katara discovers a scroll featuring several waterbending techniques, which they're reserving for a wealthy client in the Earth Kingdom, though the captain offers it to them if they have two hundred gold pieces immediately available. Aang, stating to Katara that pirates love to haggle, offers them one copper piece; when this offer is laughingly rejected, he ups it to two coppers. Katara, knowing full well this scroll was stolen from a waterbender, slips the scroll into her possession during Aang's distraction. Immediately following this, she pleads with Aang that they should leave. Aang smart-mouths, pirate-style, "Aye, we be castin' off now", and they leave the ship in a hurry.

The pirate crew jumps off the ship, brandishing weapons, and chases Team Avatar. During the chase, Aang airbends the cabbage merchant's cart into the pirates, destroying it. When they escape to the waterfall where they had been practicing earlier, Aang and Sokka find the reason they had been pursued: the pirates wanted the scroll Katara had secretly stolen. Katara claims she considers her theft of the scroll as "high risk trading", mocking the pirates' obvious theft of it first. Sokka remains displeased, but Aang agrees that what's done is done, and supports Katara's desire to learn from it. One of the first techniques they try is the water whip, a simple technique where water is formed into an elongated shape and snapped at the target. Katara attempts to perform this technique first, desiring to master the new form, only to become embarrassed as she strikes herself and Momo in her first attempts. When Aang plays the role of teacher, explaining to her how to shift through the stances and succeeding in his very first attempt, Katara grows personally offended. Her jealousy of Aang's talent gets the best of her as she tells him off for his gifted skill, with stark disapproval from her brother. She quickly realizes her attitude had nearly driven Aang to tears, and regrets her actions so greatly she gives up the right to use the scroll, handing it over to Aang. Later that night, however, she succumbs to temptation and slips the scroll away to study the technique again while her brother and Aang are sleeping.



Meanwhile, Zuko and Iroh arrive at the same port. Unfortunately for Zuko, Iroh didn't find a replacement white lotus tile from any merchant in town, but he found numerous trinkets for music night on the ship which three of their troops were carrying. They then come across the pirates, discovering that they were pursuing Aang as well. Zuko joins forces with the pirates to hunt down Aang, and they find Katara late at night practicing the water whip. Zuko and one of the pirates ambush Katara; he then proceeds to tie her to a tree, attempting to threaten her for the whereabouts of the Avatar. After her initial refusal, he reveals to her that he has her mother's lost betrothal necklace, the last tie that she has to her mother, and attempts to have her agree to exchange Aang's freedom for her memento. After she firmly refuses a second time, however, the pirates demand the scroll. Zuko threatens to destroy it if they don't find Aang, and the pirates begrudgingly comply and begin to search the woods for the Avatar.

Then, Aang and Sokka are found and captured. They discover Katara bound to a tree surrounded by firebenders. As Zuko and the pirates are about to make the trade, the scroll for the Avatar, Sokka convinces the pirates to sell Aang by revealing to them that he's the Avatar, despite Zuko's attempts to keep it a secret from the pirates. The pirates decide that they want to sell Aang to the Fire Nation, and the situation quickly escalates into a battle between Zuko and his crew and the pirates.



During the fight, Aang, Katara and Sokka escape. Katara and Aang use waterbending to get the pirates' boat into water and sail away. Zuko laughs at this but the pirates, except for their leader, steal Zuko's smaller ship in turn and start chasing after them, infuriating Zuko. Team Avatar battle the pirates aboard the pirate ship, with Katara successfully performing the water whip upon re-attempting it. Unfortunately, the ship is fast approaching a waterfall. Aang and Katara manage to use waterbending to stop the ship, but the pirates ram into it with Zuko's boat, sending them falling over, where they are saved by Appa, who heard Aang's bison whistle. Back on shore, Iroh discovers that his lost white lotus tile was stuck in his sleeve the whole time. Unfortunately, Zuko grabs the tile from Iroh's hand and throws it over the waterfall in anger, which strikes one of the pirates on the head and bounces off.

Later, Katara gives Aang a full apology, while Sokka reveals that he was able to regain the scroll in the fighting. Before he could give it to her, he asks what she had learned. She says she learned to never steal, but upon reclaiming the scroll from her brother, she adds, "Unless it's from pirates", which Aang finds humorous.

Credits

 * Written by:
 * John O'Bryan


 * Directed by:
 * Anthony Lioi


 * Starring:
 * Zach Tyler Eisen - Aang
 * Mae Whitman - Katara
 * Jack DeSena - Sokka
 * Dante Basco - Prince Zuko
 * Dee Bradley Baker:
 * Appa
 * Momo


 * Also starring:
 * Mako - Uncle
 * Byron McKittrick - Pirate barker
 * James Sie - Cabbage merchant
 * Jack Angel - Pirate captain
 * Jim Meskimen - Fire Nation soldier


 * Additional voices:
 * Jack Angel
 * Dee Bradley Baker
 * Dante Basco
 * Jim Meskimen
 * James Sie

Series continuity

 * In "The Desert", it is discovered that Iroh's white lotus tile holds significance outside of being a significant piece in the game of Pai Sho. The piece is also a symbol for the Order of the White Lotus, of which Iroh is a Grand Lotus.
 * In "The Library", Katara surrenders the waterbending scroll to Wan Shi Tong to be admitted to his library. The Knowledge Spirit found the illustrations on the scroll to be "quite stylish".
 * This is the episode where Aang purchases his bison whistle, which appears in many later episodes to call Appa and other animals, such as in "The Desert" and "Tales of Ba Sing Se".
 * This is the first episode where the ruby encrusted monkey statue is seen. It also appears in the episodes "The Blue Spirit" and "The Runaway".
 * The pirates that Prince Zuko hires to capture the Avatar are again hired by Admiral Zhao in the episode "The Waterbending Master" to kill Zuko. Some of the pirates are hired again as actors to portray themselves in "The Ember Island Players".
 * This episode marks the first time Katara uses the water whip.
 * This episode foreshadows the fact that Katara will end up being Aang's waterbending teacher. It would be interesting to note that this is the first time Aang uses waterbending along with someone else, all the previous times being alone in the Avatar State.

Goofs

 * When Katara is attempting to form a powerful wave while teaching Aang, she fails and her attempt falls into the water. As she leans over in defeat, 'ghosting' duplicates of her movement appear.
 * The pirates crashed down a waterfall, even though they came upriver from the seashore village earlier. There is no visible way they could have gotten their ships over the waterfall on the way up.
 * When Katara says, "These are real waterbending forms; you know how crucial it is for Aang to learn waterbending", the waterbending scroll is much thicker than before.
 * When Katara says, "Aang, can we get out of here? I feel like we're getting weird looks", her mother's necklace can be seen around her neck, despite the fact that it was currently under Zuko's possession.
 * When Katara takes the waterbending scroll out of the shelf, it was originally on the second row, right in the middle. However, afterwards when the pirate captain puts the waterbending scroll back, a thicker scroll has suddenly appeared in its previous place.
 * When Katara and Sokka escape with Aang on his glider staff, Momo is not seen flying with them.
 * When Zuko is coming out from the smoke, he puts the scroll in his belt. When he's fighting it disappears, then reappears in the next scene.
 * When Zuko is talking to Katara after she is captured, Zuko's belt buckle changes colors multiple times throughout the scene.
 * When Zuko is threatening to burn the scroll and lights a fire under it, the fire is in contact with the scroll which would easily cause it to catch fire.

Trivia

 * This is the first episode in which Aang waterbends outside of the Avatar State.
 * Prince Zuko makes a deal with the pirates to track down their scroll in exchange for their help in capturing Aang. Coincidentally, Dante Basco, the voice actor for Zuko played the character of Rufio, leader of the Lost Boys, in the movie Hook.
 * This episode is one of two episodes in which Zuko laughs, the other being in "The Headband". Zuko rarely laughs in the series because he is often angry and ill-tempered.
 * This is the second episode where the cabbage merchant appears.

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