Warriors of Virtue 2(2002)

Warriors of Virtue 2
The Return to Tao
(2002)

SHORT VERSION:
Ryan and Charles succeed in returning the Star Crystal to its pedestal in Dogon’s fortress, and later, the freed and restored Warriors of Virtue save Ryan, Charles, and Amythis from Dogon and his soldiers before Dogon can kill them. The Warriors eliminate the soldiers before Dogon fights all five of them at once, while Ryan, Charles, and Amythis battle Dogon’s primary servant Volta. Dogon tries to kill the Warriors by firing a blast of negative kung at them, but he misses and kills Volta instead while also becoming weakened. This enables the Warriors to hit him with a blast of positive kung that flattens him. Ryan then approaches Dogon and explains that, like Komodo before him, he made the mistake of weakening himself through using his kung to kill. Dogon begs Ryan to finish him off, but he refuses, wanting him to live his life in shame over this defeat. Soon after, Dogon, Volta, and the soldiers mysteriously vanish, leaving only their clothing behind.

In a celebratory ceremony, Amythis is restored as Queen of Tao, and she knights Ryan and Charles as citizens of Tao. The Warriors of Virtue also bestow special medallions on the guys and proclaim them as Warriors of Virtue.

LONG VERSION:
Dogon (Kevin Tod Smith), his primary servant Volta (Xiao Yuewen), and his soldiers go to the village to find Chi (Wei Wang), the last free Warrior of Virtue, to claim his Fire Medallion since he has come to (correctly) believe that he is hiding amongst the people. He and his army invade the village and locate and defeat Chi, but after noticing that he doesn’t have the medallion, Dogon orders his men to find Ryan (Nathan Phillips). He is found along with Amythis (Nina Liu), and Dogon appears and orders Ryan to fork over the medallion, then produces his friend Charles (Shedrack Anderson III) – who had earlier managed to traverse to Tao – and threatens to kill him unless he complies. Ryan surrenders it to him, and Dogon imprisons him, Charles, Amythis, and all of the villagers in his fortress, opting not to kill Ryan so he can live in shame over what he has done.

In the throne room, Dogon places Chi in the last empty cell next to the other imprisoned Warriors of Virtue, then sets the Fire Medallion into a pedestal with the others. He then pulls out a newly-created Star Crystal from it and places it around his neck, then rests his hand on the pedestal and magically disappears to another world. After he departs, Ryan and Amythis take down Dogon’s guards in a surprise attack despite having their hands tied behind them, and they free themselves and Charles. Amythis then frightens Volta by claiming that Ryan possesses great powers and can kill him with a touch of his hand, and he flees along with the remaining guards. Amythis tries to free the Warriors of Virtue from their cells, but it turns out that they are sealed until the Star Crystal is returned to the pedestal. Yee (Li Baocheng) initially fears that Dogon’s Emptiness is here and entire worlds will now die, but Chi informs everyone that that hasn’t happened yet, and the elements can be restored if the Star Crystal is returned before the Emptiness consumes them. Amythis decides to pursue Dogon, but neither Ryan nor Charles are keen on following her lead. Ryan tells Amythis that he and Charles are going back home, but Amythis warns him that he won’t have a home to go back to if Dogon succeeds. Ryan soon expresses how upset he is over his belief that he failed her and the Warriors, but she informs him that the only reason why he failed is that he thinks he is supposed to be perfect, but perfection is an illusion, and he did what he thought was right when he turned the medallion over. She then shows humility by admitting that she cannot face Dogon alone. His mind changed, Ryan, Charles, and Amythis place their hands on the pedestal and follow Dogon.

They arrive back in the abandoned building in Beijing, and Amythis sees Dogon’s footprints and follows them outside. Once there, Charles decides to ditch the others, refusing to risk his own life for the Warriors and believing that he doesn’t owe them anything. While searching for Dogon, Amythis reveals to Ryan that Dogon was once a good man, but his disposition changed after he learned of the Star Crystal from an old scroll and how the Warriors’ medallions were the key to obtaining it. As a means of claiming them, he suggested to her that the Warriors be sent out individually to distant lands to keep the peace, and she agreed with this idea, and this enabled him to defeat them all and take their medallions and subsequently dethrone her. Out of shame over having been hoodwinked, she told the citizens of Tao that the decision to send them out was hers alone.

They manage to catch up to Dogon in a marketplace but are subsequently attacked by him. He then gets confronted by Ryan’s rival Quan (Brandon Lin) and his friends, since he had earlier bumped into them and destroyed Quan’s wushu tournament trophy out of spite, but Quan and the others are no match for him. Ryan and Amythis resume battling Dogon until the fight ends in a stalemate. When an arriving policeman calls for reinforcements, Dogon attempts to get away on a rickshaw, but it turns out that Charles – having changed his mind – is its carrier, and he knocks the surprised Dogon out and takes the Star Crystal. As he, Ryan, and Amythis roll up Dogon in a cloth, a bunch of cops arrive, but Quan and his gang reappear and distract the cops to give Ryan and the others the chance to escape. The trio get the unconscious Dogon back to the abandoned building and re-enter Tao, but their plan to leave Dogon behind on Earth is ruined when Amythis spots the discarded cloth laying nearby. Amythis orders Ryan and Charles to hurry back to the fortress and restore the elements with the Star Crystal while she locates and fights Dogon to try to slow him down, and she kisses Ryan before leaving.

Amythis finds Dogon at the monument commemorating Ryan and the Warriors of Virtue for saving Tao from Komodo, and she gamely combats him. Ryan and Charles enter the fortress unopposed and find that the Warriors’ cells contain only empty clothes, and when they place the Star Crystal back inside the pedestal, nothing happens. Believing that Tao is finished, Charles tells Ryan that they ought to get back to their world before they’re dead, but Ryan replies that he isn’t leaving without Amythis. After they take off to find her, we hear energy radiating within the pedestal….

Ryan and Chucky find Dogon just as he is about to administer a deathblow to Amythis, and Ryan tells him that he returned the Star Crystal and demands for him to let her go. Charles tries to confront Dogon, but Dogon knocks him out with ease. Dogon then knocks down Ryan and readies to kill both him and Amythis while Volta and his soldiers come in from behind, but Amythis tells Ryan that he has accomplished his mission; she can sense that the Warriors are near. Just then, the Warriors of Virtue emerge and proceed to make short work of Dogon’s soldiers, and then Dogon fights all of them at once while Ryan, Amythis, and an awakened Charles fight Volta. Dogon eventually tries to kill the Warriors by shooting a blast of negative kung at them, but they avoid it and Volta gets killed instead. Dogon then finds that his attack has weakened him, and the Warriors fire forth a combined blast of positive kung that leaves him flattened. Ryan then approaches Dogon and tells him that, like Komodo before him, he made the mistake of weakening himself through using his kung to kill. Dogon tells Ryan to do away with him, but Ryan – throwing Dogon’s words back in his face – decides against it, saying that he would rather have him live his life in shame. Ryan is praised by Yun (Guan Shuntian) for his good judgment, and he then gets a hug from Amythis. They and Charles then notice that Dogon, Volta, and all of the soldiers have vanished, leaving only their clothing behind.

At a celebration ceremony some time later, Amythis is restored as Queen, and she knights Ryan and Charles as citizens of Tao. The Warriors of Virtue then give them special medallions and proclaim them Warriors of Virtue, and bestow upon them the privilege of enforcing peace and virtue in all worlds that need their help, since the Warriors must remain in Tao. Ryan then asks Amythis if she would come with them “wherever it takes us,” and she smiles and kisses him in response. They and Charles then soak in the cheers of the jubilant citizens.