Kinomoto Chronicles: Gift Of Knowledge
----------
The movie starts with the Kinomoto Family (Fujitaka, Sakura, and Touya) and their partner, CIA Officer Heiden McAllister are kidnapped from Mexico, where they were digging for trinkets, by a grave robbery organization called "The White Falcons", under Cooper Whitehall, who infiltrate a secret Utah warehouse labeled "Hangar 45" and force the Kinomoto Family to locate a mummified corpse that was found in a top-secret mission conducted by the Japanese Government. Upon its discovery, Heiden's old partner, Grant "Doc" Dockery, appears and reveals he has defected to the White Falcons. After an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve the body and a somewhat successful fight with Cooper's strongest henchman, Doogle, the Kinomoto Family and Heiden escape to a model town at a military test site, minutes before an experimental atomic missile test. They each take shelter in four separate lead-lined refrigerators and (miraculously) end up next to each other. Soon, they're rescued and decontaminated by NPA officers. Reuniting with Sonomi, Yukito, Nakuru, Douglas, Tao, and the Star Alliance, Fujitaka decides to take an indefinite leave of absence from Towa University, which the dean agrees to.
After spending a month and a half with his family, Fujitaka has a reunion with his old student, Haruto Nakamura, who tells him that Norman Dupree, his stepfather, has found an odd-looking crystal skull in Shulatar, but was later kidnapped, along with Stanley and Omar. Upon this discovery, the two tell the rest of the group about the legend of crystal skulls found in Ankalar, and Haruto gives them a letter from Omar, containing a riddle written by Norman in Mayan. A battalion of White Falcons attempt to capture them, but the heroes escape via fight between a gang of young bikers and a gang of varsity athletes (which was inadvertently caused by Touya after he tried to break up a scuffle between one biker and one athlete) and chase through town, and, finding and following the riddle's meaning, reach Shulatar.
At the local psychiatric hospital, it's reveal that Norman's mind isn't working properly as he scribbles on the walls and floor of his cell lead them to the grave of Francesco Brugahr, a Conquistador who searched for Ankalar. They find the skull at the grave, with Fujitaka reasoning Norman had returned it there.
The heroes are captured by Doc and the White Falcons and taken to their camp in the jungle, where they find Norman, Omar, and Stanley, who (although at a bad time) claims that he wants to retire due to the recent events. Cooper believes that the crystal skull belongs to an alien life form and holds great psychic power and a gift of knowledge, and finding more skulls in Ankalar will grant the White Falcons the advantage of psychic warfare against their enemies. Cooper uses the skull on Sakura to enable her to understand Norman and identify a route to Ankalar. Chiharu and Haruto try to escape out of stress, but get caught in a dry sandpit (Chiharu decides to talk about her history with Takashi out of spite), and are recaptured, much to Touya and Cooper's annoyance.
While on their way to Ankalar, the heroes fight their way out of the White Falcons' clutches, resulting in a hectic chase through the jungle. During the chase, Doc tells the Kinomoto Family that he is actually a double-agent to regain their trust. The chase ends with the two factions crashing into each other, and unleashing a swarm of deadly Dorylus ants. The heroes try to dodge the White Falcons' gunfire, while the Kinomoto Family successfully defeats Doogle, who is gruesomely devoured by the ants.
After surviving three waterfalls in an amphibious bus that they've hijacked, the heroes identify a skull-like rock formation that leads them to Ankalar, unaware that a White Falcon has been secretly following them and dropping transceivers to allow Cooper and the surviving White Falcons to track them.
The heroes evade the city's guardians, gain access to the temple, and find it filled with artifacts from many ancient civilizations, identifying the aliens as extra-dimensional "astronauts", who have been studying the different cultures of Earth. They find and enter a chamber containing eleven crystal skeletons, with one of them missing its skull. A desperate Cooper arrives with his army, and confronts Fujitaka about the many times he's gotten involved in his business. Sakura breaks up the argument, suggesting that they make a truce to complete two objectives: The heroes plan on returning the skull to its rightful owner, while Cooper can have the aliens' gift of knowledge. Realizing Sakura's point, Fujitaka hands the skull over to Cooper, who accepts the truce and presents the skull to its skeleton, whereupon the aliens reanimate and telepathically offer a reward in ancient Mayan through Dupree. Cooper immediately demands to know everything and the aliens transfer their knowledge into her mind. A portal to their dimension becomes activated, and the other remaining White Falcons are drawn into it, while Rika, Kai, and Doc search for something to donate to the museum. As the heroes, with Dupree regaining his sanity, escape from the chamber, the eleven beings fuse into one, and in the process of receiving the overwhelming knowledge, Cooper is disintegrated and sucked into the portal. Heiden is sucked in too after he willingly lets go of Fujitaka's whip. The heroes escape and watch as the city crumbles, revealing a flying saucer rising from under the ground and vanishing into the "space between spaces", while the hollow in the valley floor left by its departure is flooded by the waters of the Amazon, and the inhabitants are forced to flee.
After returning, Fujitaka is reinstated at Towa University and made an associate dean, while Stanley retires to desk work at Towa and passes the torch to Haruto. The movie ends with the heroes celebrating on the university campus.
