The Dragon War (1991 TV special)

### Starring

Hannah Franklin, Kiri Sheldon, Devon Glenn, Elisabeth Farmer, Joan Rose, Phillip Newman, James McCain

## Release

### Original release

June 29th 1991

***Johnny and the Warriors of Chronos: The Dragon War*** is an animated television special that takes place 10 years after the end of the animated series *Johnny and the Warriors of Chronos,* originally broadcast as Toontopia's first hour-long special in June 1991.

*The Dragon War* was followed by a sequel, *The Rise of Ruthlan* in 1993, which takes place immediately after the events of the film.

## Synopsis

Since she became Dragonlord, Kira only had one thing in mind: honor her uncle and conquer Camelot. It's been ten years since she have been calm, without attacking Camelot even once, she slowly built her army up. Without any strange inventions or crazy plans, she always believed that her uncle's plans were too extravagant, her plan was to surround Camelot and take it by force.

Camelot have put their guard down, without having been attacked for so long, King Marcus continuously ignored his wife Queen Leana's advice to keep on strengthening their forces. Of course, Kira attacked at night at the most unexpected time. Marcus could barely unite enough force to defend the castle, and all of his men were defeated with ease by the Dragon Clan. The Warriors of Chronos joined Marcus and Leana to defend them from Kira, but it failed miserably: since Morgan Le Fay ran away to save herself, nothing could save the kingdom, hence Johnny lead the Warriors to safety, leaving Marcus and Leana as hostages of Kira, letting the Dragon Clan taking over Camelot.

The Warriors were powerless against the Dragon Clan, and even Sergeant Cyborg's battalions or the Amazon Tribes wouldn't be enough force to take back Camelot. They needed powerful magic since Morgan left them, and Johnny proposed they put their pride away and ask for help with the evil sorceress Sinistra, who helped them recently to fight off the Collectors. Most of the Warriors are strongly against going to Sinistra, believing she could give them to Kira if they'd see her, but Luna supports Johnny's idea and convinces the troop.

Sinistra doesn't try to fight the Warriors, but she isn't interested in participating in this war: she believes her "good terms" with Kira's uncle is going to spare her from losing Dark Mountain. Sinistra is really clear into not wanting to be in Kira's bad side, but as a favor to the Warriors for the mutual help they've given each other in pass times, she decides to not alert Kira of their visit and let them go unharmed.

Sergeant Cyborg might be pleased that they aren't allying with Sinistra, but he knows that they still require a powerful magic user, hence he proposes to seek Josie's assistance in the Fairy Kingdom. They decide to travel slowly towards the Fairy Kingdom despite them knowing that the Fairies are a peaceful Kingdom and that they have declined helping them in various battles before. The journey is perilous, with the Dragon Clan looking for them all over Chronos, but they do reach the Fairy Kingdom, which catches the attention of the Dragon Clan. Johnny tries to convince Josie to join forces with them, but since the Warriors lead the Dragon Clan to the Fairy Kingdom and has put them in danger already, Josie isn't pleased by their visit and asks them to leave. Even with Cyborg insisting that their alliance is the only thing that can save Camelot and Chronos, Josie also insists that she doesn't wish to put the Fairy Kingdom in more danger that they are.

Leaving the Fairy Kingdom, the Warriors are stopped by Billy Outlaw and gets surrounded by Kira's men. Tired and with their moral down, the Warriors are ready to give up when powerful magic blasts the troops away, which is enough distraction for the Warriors to fight back Billy and Dragon Clan despite being outnumbered. Once they are safe, the magic-user shows herself to be Morgan Le Fay, who abandoned them a few days earlier. She apologizes for leaving them behind, but she now sees that her help is critical and that despite her cowardliness, she must help the Warriors and stop Kira. On the matter, she tells that her magic only will not be enough to defeat the Dragon Clan, but that she knows of a powerful fighter who could be the key to winning this war.

Morgan leads them to the Sacred Falls, where Shang-Tsei's grandfather, Shao-Tsun, grew up. It's also where Bao, Shang-Tsei's brother, lived with his wife his children Kira and, surprisingly, Ken Fu, the fighter Morgan was talking about. Johnny and the rest of the Warriors were reticent to seek help from Kira's family, but Morgan explained them that they weren't in good terms. That of course didn't meant Ken would agree to fight his sister, but he would be the only one able to defeat her. Bao is unexpectedly hospitable and kind, and offers the Warrior to rest in his home as long as the want.

Bao explains that his brother and him were never in good terms; Shao-Tsun, their great-grandfather, was a farmer at the Sacred Falls, but his son, Khan-Tsun, always craved power and he despised his father's words of wisdom and kindness. Khan wanted to conquer, hence he left the Sacred Falls and traveled to the Dragonlands. The lands were shared by Dragons and a tribe of barbarians who named themselves the Dragon Clan. Khan became the first Dragonlord, helping the Dragon Clan overthrow the powerful Dragons and making them their slaves. Khan had a son, Liu, who succeeded him as the Dragonlord. Liu of course was the father to Bao and Shang-Tsei and was a formidable Dragonlord: because of this, Shang-Tsei inspired to become as great as his father, but Bao preferred calm and peace, he didn't believe in the Dragon Clan's way of war. As soon as he learned his origins, the life of his great-grandfather Shao-Tsun, who wasn't a powerful warlord like he has been told, but a farmer, he decided to follow the tracks of his ancestry and live where his great-grandfather lived, at the Sacred Falls. When he had his two sons, Ken Fu and Kira, it was the opposite: Kira hated the life at the farm and requested to live with his uncle, Shang-Tsei. Bao was too kind to stop Kira from going to her uncle, so he let her, sadly. Even though Kira thinks that her father is weak and embarassing, Bao loves Kira and is really sad to see she preferred war and power to his teachings of peace and kindness.

Thing is, Ken Fu followed the same teachings of peace and kindness his father taught him, and he refused to help the Warriors, because he wouldn't use his abilities to hurt anyone, especially his sister Kira. Still, Ken deems the Warrior's cause is humble and considers joining them: if they beat him in a fight and prove that their intentions are pure, he'll join. Johnny volunteers to be Ken's adversary, since he is the leader of the Warriors, but duel after duel, he can't land a spell on Ken. Day after day, Johnny keeps dueling Ken and loses again and again; his failures discourage the rest of the Warriors who are already trying to find another plan that doesn't include Ken joining them, but Johnny doesn't lose hope. Eventually, after a whole week, Johnny puts his spell aside and finally punches Ken. Unfortunately, a punch is all he can land on him, and he still loses. Despite this, Ken decides to join the Warriors: Johnny might not have won, but he kept on fighting, day after day, persevering.

With Morgan and Ken on their side, the Warriors considers they are ready to prepare a plan to take back Camelot. Returning to Futurus, their base of operation since they lost Camelot, they arrive just in time to face Redbeard's men trying to invade Futurus. Redbeard's men have been technologically upgraded, much like the new equipment Kira designed for her armies. Sergeant Cyborg leads his men to fight off the pirates but can't manage to defeat them. All Cyborg can do is resist, which shows the Warriors that if they are to fight the Dragon Clan, that they'll need better equipment. Futurus was already the most technologically advanced place in Chronos; if they want even better weapons and armor, they were going to require Dr. Rodent's help, the smartest person in Chronos.

Dr. Rodent has been sent to the Void Dimension previously, so if they wanted to seek his help, they'd have to somehow reach him. Luckily, Morgan knows how to open a portal to the Void Dimension. While Sergeant Cyborg difficultly defends Futurus, Johnny and Luna walks into the Void Dimension and finds the doctor. Desperate to get out of this prison of nothingness, Rodent quickly agrees to help the Warriors unconditionally, without even being told what Kira was doing and why his help was critical. Before leaving the dimension, Johnny and Luna spots Shang-Tsei, sitting and meditating. Luna admits that the Void Dimension might be too cruel of a punishment, but Johnny adds that he considers it a fair punishment for the crimes he did, and adds that this is where he'll put Kira once this is all done.

With Dr. Rodent on their side, he asks for three days to build a legion of robots which will not only fight the pirates off, but also be a crucial element in taking back Camelot. For that, he needs half of Sergeant Cyborg's men, which means they won't be able to keep defending Futurus. Morgan proposes they stop fighting back so she can cast a protection spell all around Futurus, which will create a dome shield and prevent anything from coming in, and anything from coming out. It is a very hard spell, and since she'll have to keep it around Futurus for three days, she asks for Johnny and Luna's assistance who will take the shield duty in relay. The three days are hard but everything goes as planned; even though Dr. Rodent did everything he has been told without doing anything suspicious, Luna can't stop but worrying that Dr. Rodent might betray them; after all, he did accept to join them really quickly.

As promised, Rodent finished the robots in three days, and he even found time to upgrade Sergeant Cyborg's robot army with better weapons and armors, hence Morgan can finally stop casting her protection spell. Redbeard also profited from the three day break and called reinforcement which proves that Rodent's robots are essential. Fighting off Redbead and the Dragon Clan is an easy task and the Warriors celebrates their promising victory all night. Luna gets to talk to Rodent, and she admits him that she didn't believe he really turned good. Rodent tells her it isn't her fault, as most people thinks that we are either born good or evil, but it isn't the case. Dr. Rodent explains that his passion for science blinded him before and that he only agreed to work for Shang-Tsei because his researches will be funded and that he would be safe from the Dragon Clan. He also admits that this obliged him to give his son Raptor to Shang-Tsei, and that time in the Void Dimension made him reflect on his values, and that now that Shang-Tsei doesn't control him, he won't let Kira or anyone else take his freedom away.

The morning after they celebrated, the Warriors are ready to take back Camelot, but they noticed Kira is trying to attack Atlantis, the Land of Griffons, the Cat Tribes and Amazon Island at the same time to try and disperse Warriors. Even though they know this, they can't take the chance to let their people be killed by the Dragon Clan, so they'll have to disperse themselves and win every battle individually. They know Kira is unaware that Ken joined them, so his help is their secret weapon. They decide to disperse as such: first, Sergeant Cyborg and Dr. Rodent went to Atlantis to weaponize it against the Shark Tribes, then Fangs and Felina went to their home in the Cat Tribes to lead their Cattian brothers and sisters in a fierce battle against the Snake Tribes, next Dusk and Robyn defeated Redbeard's pirate at the Land of Griffons, and finally, Johnny, Luna and Morgan defended Amazon Island against Kira and the Dragon Clan. The battle is harsh but the the three sorcerers manage to reduce Redbeard's men enough to unleash their secret weapon: Ken Fu appears mid-battle and stands up to his sister. Their strength is equal, but Ken ultimately defeats his sister while Morgan, Johnny and Luna successfully defeats the rest of her armies.

Defeated, Kira is saved by Sinistra who teleports her away. Even though the Warriors protected Chronos, they know the battle isn't finished yet. Kira is weakened and they must attack Camelot to win the war, but for now, they need a little break to celebrate victory and prepare themselves for the final battle.

Meanwhile, Kira didn't teleport to Camelot, but to the Red Mountains. Sinistra asks her if she really wants to do this, because once it is done there is no going back. Kira says that desperate times calls for desperate solutions. To this, she calls the name of the one and only Demon Lord, Ruthlan, and a dark silhouette is seen grinning.