Back in the Bottle
Xena I'm starving. Can't we just cook this thing
and eat it?
XENA
Shh Gabrielle. I'm trying to achieve absolute stillness.
Great, another one.
XENA
I don't know what's going on. Ever since that fight
with Pao Ssu, I can't seem to harness the power.
GABRIELLE
I'll say.
XENA
What did Lao Ma have that I don't?
GABRIELLE
A full stomach.
Boy, I couldn't find anything, except a squirrel. It
put up quite a fight though. As long as we got that ra-
Yep.
JOXER
That's it Xena. If you'd concentrate on makin' that
thing stone, maybe it would cook!
Uh!
GABRIELLE
All right.
JOXER
Oh.
Okay, can I just go to town for food? Who has money?
JOXER
I do. Here.
It's black powder. Joxer I told you to get rid of this.
JOXER
I thought I did!
XENA
All right. Pao Ssu's dead and the secret of black
powder dies with her. Give me that.
Fire!
EXTRA
Ah-h-h-h-h!
Xena!
XENA
Gabrielle!
GABRIELLE
Xena!
Gabrielle!
Gabrie-e-e-e-e-e-e-elle!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you all right?
JOXER
What happened?
XENA
When I touched the black powder, I saw a vision
of death. The power's trying to tell me something.
(whispering) We've gotta go back there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our minds are open to you Green Dragon. May
your formlessness take shape in our realm.
Green Dragon, your humble servant, Khan, at
your service.
MING T'IEN
Is my army ready?
KHAN
They are prepared to carve your name onto the
face of the world or die trying.
MING T'IEN
That may not be necessary. I have become one
with the greater hope. My sister, murdered by Xena,
dead to your world but reborn unto mine is now
part of me and she has a secret to share with you.
A secret Xena failed to contain. A secret I will give
you and every one of your men. The formula for
the black powder.
ACT ONE
It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful it is here.
GABRIELLE
Tell me about it.
Refugees. Coming from La Ma's temple.
JOXER
There must be thousands of 'em.
GABRIELLE
Where are they going?
XENA
Let's find out.
Uh!
K'AO HSIN
You must keep walking.
XENA
K'ao Hsin. K'ao Hsin!
What's going on here?
K'AO HSIN
It's Khan's army. They've come down from the
northern mountains and are taking over the land.
These people have lost everything.
XENA
Who's Khan?
K'AO HSIN
A warlord. We haven't seen anything from him
in years but now he has the largest army I've
ever seen and he has the black powder.
GABRIELLE
I thought you destroyed the black powder.
XENA
So did I. How far away is his army?
K'AO HSIN
A day's ride. Maybe less. These people are tired
and weak. They'll never make it through the cliff
pass before Khan's army arrives.
XENA
Lao Ma's palace. There's a series of tunnels
and caves beneath it. We can hide these people
there. Even with the black powder, it'll take Khan
a while to find us.
K'AO HSIN
Very well.
XENA
Gabrielle I want you to ride ahead. Make sure the
path is clear.
Joxer, redirect these people towards Lao Ma's palace.
JOXER
Okay.
K'ao Hsin, there's only one way that Khan could
have gotten the secret of the black powder.
K'AO HSIN
I told no one.
XENA
No not you. Your sister, Pao Ssu.
K'AO HSIN
But she's dead. You destroyed her.
XENA
Obviously that didn't stop her passing on the secret.
K'AO HSIN
From beyond the grave? How's that possible?
XENA
She must have had help.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who's in charge here?
LIN QI
That would be Lin Qi. He's busy.
GABRIELLE
My name is Gabrielle. I'm with Xena. I have to talk
to him.
LIN QI
I'm Lin Qi. Glad to meet you. Excuse me.
GABRIELLE
You have to abandon your work here.
LIN QI
This palace is directly in the path of Khan's army.
Me and my men can hide out here for two, maybe
three, days.
GABRIELLE
You will be killed in the process.
LIN QI
It'll give the people a chance to escape.
GABRIELLE
They can't clear the pass in time. Their only hope
is to hide in the tunnels under this palace. Xena's-
That was an advance guard.
GABRIELLE
I know.
LIN QI
(to his men) Okay, listen up! Move the sandbags
below. Gabrielle will tell you where.
GABRIELLE
Thank you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are now one with the Green Dragon.
Keep moving. Come on.
The men are clearing some of the lower caves.
I've taken the liberty of moving the children there.
XENA
Good. K'ao Hsin I had a vision the other day. You
must have seen it too.
K'AO HSIN
Yes. It's the future.
XENA
Future. You see, I can channel Lao Ma's powers
but I can't seem to control them.
K'AO HSIN
Maybe you don't have complete control of the
power. But I saw what you did last time.
XENA
Against Pao Ssu, your sister. That was against
one woman. This is an army of thousands.
Get these people to safety.
Come on! Keep moving! Go! Hurry.
Joxer don't move a muscle!
JOXER
I know! I was leadin' these people and that guy
in front of me just...blew up! What's underneath
us? Is't sandworms?
XENA
No, they're traps set with black powder. If you step
on one, they explode. Just stay there. I'm comin'
out to getcha.
Okay.
All right. Okay? Khan sent out a patrol to set mines.
Now I'm gonna lead you out of here. Follow in
my footprints.
JOXER
Okay.
What happened?
Perhaps I can explain.
XENA
Well, well, you must be Khan.
KHAN
And it's always an honor to meet a worthy adversary Xena.
It's funny. You don't look smart enough to come
up with the formula for black powder by yourself.
They say dead men tell no tales, but they were wrong.
Hello again Xena.
XENA
Ming T'ien.
MING T'IEN
Trapped here in the world between worlds. Kept
alive by my burning hatred for you. Well at least
I have family to keep me company.
And so it seems I was fated to walk the path of
the Green Dragon, Xena. When you killed us you
fulfilled our destiny. And death was only the beginning
as it will be for you.
ACT TWO
Pao Ssu. So it was you who gave Khan the black powder.
PAO SSU
And then in turn to an entire legion of warriors,
all of whom are prepared to die in the dragon's
name. What are you prepared to die for Xena?
XENA
Your mother's legacy and your sister's cause!
So you shall.
I see Lao Ma's teachings were not lost on you
but even her power cannot stop a hundred thousand
men, all with the knowledge of the black powder.
XENA
Care to test that theory?
How long can you keep this up?
XENA
I can't attack them unless I let down my guard.
JOXER
Then we're dead.
XENA
Not quite.
All right! Follow the path! Come on! Single file! Go!
Get these people out of here!
Gabrielle let's go!
GABRIELLE
Lin Qi! Come on!
Let'em go.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"To achieve a perfect stillness, one must cease
to will and submit to the greater whole. If something
can be imagined, it can also be realized. Anything
is possible."
Well that's something.
I heard about what happened. Are you all right?
XENA
Considering I saw a ghost? Yeah.
K'AO HSIN
The ancients believe when a soul is not at rest,
it lingers in the realm between the living and the
dead. My brother and sister died with, shall we say,
unfinished business. And so they remain.
XENA
To complete what they started. They tried to kill
me and they couldn't.
K'AO HSIN
I have no doubt your mastery of the power will
be our greatest ally.
XENA
I wish that I could say that I did it on purpose K'ao
Hsin but I didn't. It was a reflex. There's something
you're not telling me. K'ao Hsin?
K'AO HSIN
Before you left, I found a warning in the pages of
my mother's book to me and my siblings. It said
that the more each of us uses the power, the
stronger we all become.
XENA
So you're trying to suppress the power?
K'AO HSIN
Wouldn't you? If Pao Ssu and Ming T'ien have truly
returned then every time I use the power, I make
them stronger.
K'ao Hsin.
K'AO HSIN
Yes.
PEASANT
I was told to report to you. Khan's army have
stopped advancing and they're setting up camp.
XENA
Where do they keep the black powder?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the last of it.
LIN QI
That'll do! (to someone else) Quideam!
Gabrielle, I owe you an apology.
GABRIELLE
For what?
LIN QI
When you came to warn us I, uh, I acted like a
pompous ass, mostly for show.
GABRIELLE
Apology accepted.
LIN QI
You know, we heard Xena traveled with a companion.
A storyteller of sorts.
GABRIELLE
I am. I--I mean, I used to tell stories but it's been awhile.
LIN QI
When you're born with the gift of the bard, you die
with it.
GABRIELLE
My life's more complicated now.
LIN QI
I think you're selling yourself short.
GABRIELLE
You don't know me.
LIN QI
I know that someone who's willing to die for a
cause greater than herself has a merciful heart
and that's where all great stories come from.
Hi. Hi, hi, hi. Am I interrupting? I'm not interrupting
anything, am I?
GABRIELLE
No.
JOXER
Good.
GABRIELLE
What are you doing here?
JOXER
Xena wants ya.
All right, so now we know where Khan is keeping
a large surplus of the black powder. Gabrielle,
you and I are gonna go blow it up.
GABRIELLE
We'll do it.
JOXER
You bet we will.
GABRIELLE
Joxer, Lin Qi and I.
XENA
Gabrielle-
GABRIELLE
Xena come on. You're gonna run through the
woods and set off explosions?
XENA
Thank you. I already have a mother.
GABRIELLE
And you're going to be a mother. It's not just
your life that you're risking. We can handle it.
XENA
I know. Right.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't say they're not prepared.
GABRIELLE
I'll make a trail with the powder.
Like butterflies in a net. I expected more cunning
from one who travels with the great Xena. Young
fools. Even if you had destroyed this supply of
powder, you would not even have begun to inhibit
our campaign. We have hundreds more of these tents.
GABRIELLE
You know what I'm looking forward to? The look
on your face when Xena devastates your army!
Your faith in your friend is misplaced. Every step
she takes, only secures the destiny of my masters.
All of Chin will burn as an emblem of her failure!
Good-bye Gabrielle.
Xena, what is it?
GABRIELLE (voice-over)
Xena!
XENA
It's Gabrielle.
GABRIELLE (voice-over)
Xena help!
XENA
She's afraid.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
The wind. What was that that you said to me about
your mother once? "Every day that passes in
Chin without bloodshed, passes because she
had a hand in guiding its destiny."
K'AO HSIN
"She speaks to me now even through the
whispering wind."
XENA
Good. The wind.
Listen, listen! What is that?
LIN QI
The sound of my dead ancestors making a place
for me at their table.
The wind.
It's sucking all the air! Take a deep breath!
They're safe.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's get out of here!
GABRIELLE
No, we're gonna finish what we came for.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps my brother's confidence in you was
ill-chosen.
KHAN
I supplicate myself before you masters. Failure
will not follow a second time.
You can be sure of that Khan. Move your troops
into position. We attack in the morning.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gabrielle. Are you all right?
GABRIELLE
Are you?
XENA
Yeah.
GABRIELLE
How did you know?
XENA
I felt your fear. I saw through your eyes.
GABRIELLE
You can control the power.
XENA
No I can't control it. It seems to have a will of its
own. It uses me.
K'AO HSIN
Yet it protects the ones you love.
XENA
That won't be much help against Khan's army
now will it? I can't love them to death now can I?
K'AO HSIN
Perhaps not, but if Pao Ssu and Ming T'ien could
return here through the sheer power of their hate,
what makes you think they cannot be defeated
through the power of your love?
XENA
I'm sorry K'ao Hsin. I have never seen a war ended
by love.
GABRIELLE
I used to think that love was enough. I was wrong.
K'AO HSIN
(to Xena) You have always succeeded where others
have failed. Why should this day be any different?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep, I won two awards for this at the Thebian
cooking academy. Of course the Thebians', uh,
legendary flatulence had nothing to do with this.
Heh-heh-heh. There ya go.
Hi. Hi. You should, uh, you should eat something.
It'll make you feel better. Listen, don't worry.
Everything's gonna be okay.
TEI
I'm not worried for myself. It's my family. I don't
know if they made it from the village.
JOXER
Tei, that's your name, right?
Tei, okay. Um, look Tei? I promise to help you
find your family, okay? Okay.
What are you doing?
LIN QI
Can't just sit and wait.
GABRIELLE
I know how you feel. Can I help?
Sure. So, you ever thought about settling down?
GABRIELLE
You know, sometimes people think that a home
is a place. It can be a person.
LIN QI
You know where you belong.
GABRIELLE
What about you?
I used to think I belonged here but I've watched
my people kill each other over petty disputes
that could have been easily solved with a conversation.
That's not a world I wanna live in.
GABRIELLE
It doesn't get any better outside of Chin.
LIN QI
That depends on who you walk through it with.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xena! Xena! Where?! Wait a second! Xena!
XENA
Joxer what is it?
JOXER
It's Khan's army. Comin' over the south ridge.
Big! Villagers are-
-okay.
I thought Khan's goal was to wipe these people
clear off the map. Why would he take hostages?
XENA
To use them as shields. He's going to march
them with his army. That way if we attack his men,
we attack the villagers too.
GABRIELLE
We can't take that chance.
XENA
If we don't Khan stands to take twice as many lives.
GABRIELLE
Xena even if you can control the power are you
prepared to destroy a hundred thousand men?
XENA
I don't have any choice.
ACT FOUR
You understand? I'll hold him off as long as I
can. You get everyone out of there as soon as possible.
GABRIELLE
Xena if you let us fight with you, we can hold him
off longer.
XENA
No Gabrielle. I need absolute clarity in what I'm
about to do. You'll only be a distraction. You can't
help me outta this one.
GABRIELLE
Be careful.
Good luck Lin Qi.
LIN QI
With her by my side, how can we lose?
You always have and always will walk the path
of the warrior Xena, but remember there are
many ways to win a war and they do not all involve
a sword.
My men are ready to begin their assault.
PAO SSU
Nowhere left to run Xena. You're weak. You will
never have the strength to defeat me.
"Fear is a weapon of the wicked but a tool of the
righteous. End the war between the mind and
the heart. Peace must be found within before it
can be actualized."
KHAN
What is she doing?
Facing her death like a true warrior! Destroy her!
Okay! Listen up! Stay low! Tight formation! Follow me!
Come on you knuckleheads!
LIN QI
Move!
Hurry!
Ooh! Ooh!
O-oh! O-oh!
Xena!
XENA
Gabrie-e-e-e-e-elle!
"Anything is possible. Anything is possible."
Xena!
No!
Who was gonna pull their swords first? Me or
them?! I looked 'em in the eye and then, wang!
Ten of 'em went down, right then and there before me.
TEI
You're so brave.
JOXER
We-ell, bravery isn't really the word for it. It's more
like incredible chivalry, because right then and
there wave after wave came.
Wham! Waah! Ah-h-h-h-h! Hah! Yah!
Blood everywhere. Then right in front of me, Khan's
entire army, hundr--thou--thou--hundreds of
thousands of 'em came at me. I, wham! Ten of
em went down! Wang! Wha! Waah!
Heads spurting blood everywhere! And they ran.
I dropped my sword. But then Khan came right
towards me! I looked at him, took my hand reached
through his chest and pulled out his bleeding heart!
Well, maybe we should start packing up! It's getting
awfully late and everyone else seems to be leaving.
What a lovely basket! Is it hand sown?
Are you going home?
LIN QI
You and Xena have it right. To, uh, stand in one
place in the world this big is a real waste of space.
GABRIELLE
Um...
LIN QI
So, um, you're the storyteller. How's this gonna end?
GABRIELLE
I haven't written it yet.
Goodbye Gabrielle.
That was a terrible choice you had to make K'ao
Hsin. Between your family and your home.
K'AO HSIN
Actually, during our time together Xena...I feel
closer to my mother than ever. Her spirit lives
on in you.
XENA
Her spirit perhaps, but not her power. I don't feel
it anymore.
K'AO HSIN
Perhaps it served its purpose. After all, Chin is
safe and with the black powder gone so is the world.
XENA
You know what? Today I felt a kind of compassion
that I've never felt before.
K'AO HSIN
Your point of view changes when you're about to
bring new life into the world.
XENA
No it's not that. The power that I had today wasn't
born out of anger. I wasn't even thinking about
those men. I was thinking about the people that
they wanted to hurt. So I guess what I said before
isn't true anymore. I have seen love end a war.
STARRING
Lucy Lawless as Xena
Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle
GUEST CAST
Ted Raimi as Joxer
Marie Matiko as Pao Ssu
Marie Matiko as K'ao Hsin
Anthony Wong as Lin Qi
George Kee Cheung as Khan
Daniel Sing as Ming T'ien
Helen Phung as Tei
Lohsing Cheng as Peasant
Teleplay by: Buddy Williers (AKA: Steven L. Sears)
Story by: Rob Tapert and Steven L. Sears
Directed by: Rick Jacobson
Disclaimer: Pao Ssu's split personality was not harmed during the production of this motion picture.
