The sun blazed in the sky, something that hadn't happened in what seemed like an eternity; ten thousand years of darkness had even been a consideration at one point.
Three years had passed since the Xiaolin monks' greatest victory, and more importantly, the choosing of their leader. Everyone had aged significantly-even Omi, who had grown quite a few inches since the incident. All was well for the Xiaolin monks...for the most part, that is.
There was one monk who was feeling, in terms that he would put it...below the storm clouds.
"Omi, are you okay?"
Everyone stopped and turned to look at Omi as Kimiko spoke. "Come on, cheer up. Look, the sun's finally out!"
"Yeah, perk up, little dude; no more ten thousand years of darkness!" Raimundo began imitating his own version of a salsa dance, but his dancing slowed to a halt when all he received was an unamused stare from Omi. "Ai, caramba! You'd think at least that would be something to smile about..."
Omi merely sighed at the hopeless efforts of his friends and remained unresponsive, his gaze fixed somewhere off in the distance.
"You alright partner? You seem more down than my Uncle Stan in a mud wrestling match."
"It is nothing. Now please leave me alone." The young monk stood and walked into the temple with his head lowered. I feel most bad for hurdling them under a moving yellow vehicle like this, but I have no choice. If I told them...they would never look at me as the same Omi ever again.
Inside the temple, Master Fung sat at a small table holding a fancy cup filled with tea. "Is everything alright, young monk?"
"Yes..." he lied, "I just...need a nap. That is all."
Suddenly, Dojo slithered out of nowhere, presumably from underneath the table cloth, causing Master Fung to jump and spill his tea all over Omi. "We got a new Shen Gong Wu alert! Hurry up and tell the others!"
Omi sighed, now dripping with tea, and walked out of the temple to where his friends were training.
Dojo stroked his beard. "What's eatin' him?"
"I'm not sure, Dojo. But whatever it is, it must be quite serious; Omi never gets like this."
The dragon and the old master exchanged worried glances.
Omi regained his composure and cleared his throat. "Friends! I have a most important announcement!"
All of the monks stopped what they were doing and immediately turned to Omi.
"Uh...heheh...Dojo...?"
"Guess that's my cue," Dojo hopped off of Master Fung's lap and slithered out to the training field. "Get this, guys: a new Shen Gong Wu has revealed itself, and it's a big one!"
Raimundo scoffed. "Tch, yeah, like we haven't heard that before," he retorted, rolling his eyes.
"Anyways," Dojo ignored Raimundo's remark and pulled out a scroll, "This one's called the Deep Dark Monarch," The scroll opened to show a figure holding what appeared to be a monarch butterfly in the palm of his hands.
"What's it do?"
The monks leaned over the scroll curiously.
"This Shen Gong Wu," Dojo continued, "has the power to force its victim to spill their innermost secrets against their will."
The figure on the scroll held up the butterfly, and it began flapping its wings rapidly, causing a sparkly dust to be emitted from it and surround the other figure. The second figure fell to his knees as giant speech bubbles began to emerge from his mouth, just as Dojo closed the scroll. "Pretty useful in battle if your enemy is planning something big."
"Oooh!" Omi's eyes lit up, "That sounds most intriguing! We must get to it before Jack Spicer does!"
"Yeah," Kimiko added, "I can't even imagine what would happen if it fell into Jack's hands."
The monks shuddered.
"Well, we should probably get moving. Hop on!" Dojo grew significantly larger, allowing the monks to climb onto his back, and he flew off into the distance.
Omi stared off into space, his eyes fixated on the colorful sunrise, with someone in particular occupying his thoughts.
"Yo, Omi, snap out of it," Raimundo said, waving his hands in Omi's face intrusively, "we're here."
"Huh?" Omi suddenly snapped out of his daze, a light blush tinting his cheeks. "Oh, yes. Of course!" Omi flashed a huge grin, trying with his best efforts to conceal his inner struggles.
The monks hopped off their dragon and began their journey up the endless hill that was stretched out in front of them.
"Look!" Kimiko cried, pointing at the object that sat atop a huge rock at the top of the hill. "The Deep Dark Monarch!"
"That was too easy," Raimundo sneered, joining the other monks as they all ran up the hill.
Omi, being the smallest and the most agile of the monks, reached the top first. "I've got this, my friends!" A grin spread across Omi's face as he reached his hands out to grab the butterfly Shen Gong Wu, only to be cut short by a sudden flash of a blade. "Huh?" Omi glanced around, puzzled to see nothing, when suddenly, the sky turned into an ambush of flying blades. "Yaagh!" Omi jumped and retreated down the hill.
"Sup, Xiaolin losers?"
"Well I'll be," Clay said, scrunching up his face, "it's that no good yellow bellied snake-"
"Jack Spicer!" Omi spat, "Step away from the Deep Dark Monarch, or we will be forced to send you picking!"
"You mean send him packing?" Raimundo stated dryly.
"Packing?" Omi turned to Raimundo with a puzzled look on his face. "I did not know he was going on vacation..."
"As tempting as that sounds...I think I'll stay," Jack replied with a sly grin. "Jack bots, attack!"
The Xiaolin warriors began fighting off each of Jack's robots one by one, unaware of the fact that he was just inches away from grabbing the wu. Omi was the first to notice this and gasped, flinging one of the robots off into the distance and leaping over to the rock that held the Shen Gong Wu. He stretched his arms out in front of him, desperately trying to grab hold of the wu, while at the same time, Jack Spicer reached out as well, and...
"Omi, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!"
"Very well. My Tangle Web Comb for your Mind Reader Conch."
"Then it's settled. Let's play the silent game. First to make a peep loses."
"Oh, that will prove to be a most difficult task for you, Jack Spicer!" Omi said chuckling.
"Whatever. You're on!"
"Let's go!" they both chanted, "Xiaolin Sho-huh?!"
The monk and the boy genius both stopped short as another figure lept down from the sky and placed his hand on the wu, causing it to glow with an even brighter radiance. "Mind if I join you?"
Omi froze.