Chapter 1: The Scepter Reveals Itself

Omi, the Xiaolin Dragon of Water, was meditating. Balancing himself on top of a tiny wooden platform in the middle of a small pond would be considered a feat for many, but for Omi, it was barely even a neat trick. As he sat there, seemingly oblivious to the world, a dark figure hid in the shadows. Cautious, the figure walked slowly to the monk. Right as it was about to attack, Omi unexpectedly said "My apologies friend, but I know you are there."

Surprised, the figure quickly jumped toward Omi, but he was already in midair, and dodged the attack with relative ease, before kicking his attacker into the pond. Now on solid ground, Omi gloated "Ha! I knew you would do that!" He then heard the sound of a twig cracking behind him, leading him to elbow his second, taller opponent in the stomach fairly hard, causing it to fall to the ground. "I knew you would do that too!" the Xiaolin Monk gloated again, before seeing a rock flying toward him. Omi dodged the attack, but admitted "Okay, I was not expecting that, but you missed anyway!" The somewhat bulky foe who tossed the boulder walked closer, while the short opponent who Omi had kicked into the pond jumped out, and his tall attacker slowly stood up, and the three surrounded Omi.

Despite seemingly having no escape, Omi smiled, struck a fighting pose, and confidently said "Bring it up." His three opponents took him up on that offer, and charged toward him, as nine glowing dots appeared on his yellow forehead, the Xiaolin Dragon of Water yelled the name of his element, "Water!" causing the pond near him to suddenly become dangerous, sending a miniature tidal wave straight for his attackers, while Omi jumped to the safety of a nearby tree. His opponents couldn't move fast enough, and were absorbed by the small tsunami, which then retreated back into the pond, leaving the three completely soaked.

"My hair!" The short figure, apparently a girl, said. "My hat!" The bulky figure, apparently a cowboy, said. "My stomach..." The tall figure, apparently in pain, said. Omi jumped down from the tree, landing near his attackers, who were really his friends. The girl was Kimiko, the Xiaolin Dragon of Fire, the cowboy was Clay, the Xiaolin Dragon of Earth, and the unfortunate person who was having serious stomach pain was Raimundo,. The Xiaolin Dragon of Wind. "I am victorious!" Said Omi triumphantly. "Only because you cheated... And besides, it's 'bring it on', not 'bring it up', Omi." Raimundo said, still holding his stomach. "I wouldn't call it cheating, more like being crafty, like a coyote with a mouse trap." Clay said. "Well, whatever you call it, my hair is ruined, do you know how long it'll take to dry?" Kimiko complained.

"Call it what you wish, just pay upwards." Omi said, accidentally getting another metaphor wrong in the process. "It's just 'pay up', Omi, and I think you've already got enough candy to last you a month, but fine... Best four out of five?" Raimundo asked. This was the fourth time the young monk had managed to beat all of them in combat, but Raimundo was still convinced they could win. "No, I believe I have demonstrated quite well why I am the the team leader." Omi responded with a large smile. As The other Xiaolin warriors, mainly Raimundo, were about to object to that claim, Dojo, their small, green, dragon companion, slithered towards the four, and looked bothered by something.

"What's wrong Dojo? And please don't go into too much detail this time." Kimiko asked the dragon. He had been having some problems lately, primarily the fact he was becoming increasingly ill, which meant that it was very likely that several new Shen Gong Wu, powerful ancient artifacts, were about to reveal themselves. Or it meant that a few, very powerful ones would reveal themselves. Either way, the Xiaolin Dragons were ready to retrieve them at a moment's notice.

"Okay, you know that bizarre rash on top of my scalp? Well, it's not there anymore, but I think it moved to my-" Dojo was interrupted by Kimiko, who stopped him in the middle of his sentence. "Too much detail!" She said, disturbed already. "-Stomach. Sheesh, I wouldn't tell you guys if I thought it would disturb you. Although there is this weird pimple-thing on my eyeball that-" Dojo was interrupted again. "Too. Much. Detail." Kimiko said again, this time with more emphasis. "Alright, fine, the point is-" Dojo started to talk again, but was interrupted, not by Kimiko, but by his own body twisting into various shapes.

"Let me guess, the new Shen Gong Wu have revealed themselves, right?" Raimundo asked, expecting the obvious answer. Yes. "You think?!" Dojo asked, obviously uncomfortable. "Except there's only one... but it's big! Maybe even giant! Maybe even humongous!" "Sounds like it's time to go rope some cattle." Clay said, ready to go. "First, we must check the Scroll to see what exactly it is." Omi reminded his friends. "Right, here it is." Dojo said, pulling the mystical Scroll of the Shen Gong Wu out of seemingly nowhere.

The monks opened the scroll, and almost immediately afterward, Dojo gasped, and his face became filled with extreme terror. "Uh oh! This isn't good!" said the green dragon, almost yelling. "What? It doesn't look that bad." Kimiko asked, concerned. "Yeah, it doesn't sound threatening at all, the 'Reality Scepter'? It sounds like a cheesy-" Raimundo said, before being interrupted by Dojo grabbing him by the shoulders. "The Reality Scepter is not a joke!" Dojo borderline shouted in Raimundo's face. "Dojo is right." Omi said, before reading the Scroll further. "The Reality Scepter is one of the most powerful and dangerous of all the Shen Gong Wu. It gives its user the ability to control and bend reality to his or her will." "Bingo! Which means we have to go now." Dojo said, before turning into his giant, more traditional dragon form. "Go grab any Shen Gong Wu you want from the Vault, then Hop on!" "Maybe you guys should just go, I'm really no good if I don't get my sleep." Raimundo said. "You can nap on the way Rai, we need all hands on deck for this one." Dojo said. "Once again, our dragon friend is correct, evil will not rest until it has its foul clutches on the Reality Scepter." Omi said, sure of his words.

Meanwhile, the Irken Invader Zim was infuriated. He had been trying for days to come up with a new plan to destroy the human race, but he was out of ideas. He hadn't left his base for at least three days. As Zim sat down on his couch, he continued to attempt to brainstorm. Suddenly, he had an idea, a great idea. It was pure genius, the kind of genius that one only thought of once in a lifetime. "Yes! I shall-" He started, before being interrupted by his SIR Unit, GIR. "I made eggs and bacon! Have some!" the somewhat defective robot said before throwing an entire plate of the aforementioned meat onto his master, who was hurt by the meat, which ended up hitting him right in his eyes.

"Ahhhhh! GIR, you fool! Get me something to wash this horrid Earth food out of my eyes, now!" Zim shouted angrily. "Okie dokie! How's this?" GIR asked, dumping an entire container of lemonade in the Irken's eyes. "Nooooo! Something that actually helps!" "Okay!" said the robot, before running into the kitchen, grabbing a pan with some leftover grease in it, and pouring it, again, into his poor master's eyes. "I said something that helps! HELPS!" Zim shouted again. GIR quickly ran out of the house, and grabbed the first thing he saw, which ended up being a container full of gasoline, and ran back. "This should do it!" GIR said, with his next action being fairly obvious. Zim screamed even louder than before, due to the fact that his eyes were now literally on fire. He blindly ran into the kitchen, where he washed his eyes out in the sink with water... another substance hurtful to Irkens. Worst of all, Zim realized that he had forgotten his genius plan.

"Did you like it?" GIR asked his master with a goofy smile, oblivous to the fact that he had nearly killed him, or at least permanently blinded him. As Zim was about to tackle his robot assistant, the voice of his base's computer came on over the intercom. "Sir, I've detected a strange energy source." The Irken Invader lost his rage temporarily. "What kind of strange energy source?" Zim asked. "A very strange energy source." The computer replied, emphasizing very. "Interesting... I must INVESTIGATE!" Zim said, suddenly shouting the last word in his sentence. "We'll talk about what just happened later GIR." Zim warned the SIR Unit, who was rolling around on the floor and laughing for no apparent reason.

Zim used one of the many entrances to the underground portion of his base, this one being an elevator disguised as a toilet in his kitchen, and went to one of his house's lowest sections, a computer room. It had many functions, and one of them was to monitor Earth for abnormalities. Until now, the Invader's equipment hadn't picked up much of interest, but now, it had picked up something of a lot of interest. "Fascinating. It appears that this... strange energy source, is... very strange." Zim told his computer. "Yes... I just said that a few minutes ago." Zim's computer responded. "It appears to be coming from a human city... somewhere on the Earth's United States' West Coast."

"So it's close..." Zim said to himself, although he wasn't sure exactly how close. "Perhaps I should investigate this matter... personally." the Irken continued, before laughing evilly for a few seconds, before realizing that there was nobody around to hear him other than his computer, which made it essentially pointless, so he stopped. Zim came back up to the ground level of his base, and told GIR, who was still rolling around and laughing, "GIR, pack whatever possessions you hold dear, we're going on a trip." "Yay! Vacation, yeah!" the SIR unit said before running upstairs. Little did Zim know that he was being watched...

The person watching him was the self-proclaimed defender of Earth, Dib. Using a spying device he had implanted in Zim's base earlier, he was able to watch his alien enemy from nearly anywhere in the Irken's home. "So, a strange signal coming from the West Coast… Whatever it is, I can't let Zim… do… anything… with it." Dib said, talking to himself. The young paranormal investigator ran down his stairs, and before leaving his home, yelled to his father, Professor Membrane, "Dad, I'm going to sneak onto Zim's ship and follow him to the West Coast! I'll be home in a week or two! If not, I'll call you!" "Okay, you have fun now!" Membrane yelled back from his lab. After he heard his front door shut, he sighed, before muttering to himself "My poor insane son…"

"GIR, ensure that the roof is clear before we take off." Zim, now in his ship, a Voot Cruiser, told his SIR Unit. "Yes sir!" GIR said, his eyes glowing red for a brief moment. The robot took an elevator to the roof, which had a squirrel, a few birds, and Dib hiding on it. GIR went back down the elevator, and into the Voot Cruiser, before saying "We're clear master!" "Good, then let us TAKE OFF!" Zim said, suddenly shouting the last word of his sentence again. The roof opened, and the Voot Cruiser took off, but not before Dib managed to jump onto it. "Now, to Orchid Bay!" Zim said, revealing his destination. "That's the place with the big fancy bridge, right?" GIR asked his master. "No. That's San Francisco." Zim answered. "Oh. Is it the place with the big green lady?" GIR asked again. "No. That's New York City." Zim answered again. "Oh. Then is it the place with the big clock tower?" GIR's barrage of questions continued. Zim sighed. This would be a long trip. Dib, who had gotten into the Irken's cargo hold, overheard the conversation. "Orchid Bay? The paranormal hot spot?" Dib asked himself out loud, hoping that Zim didn't overhear. What would trigger such an odd signal there? Aside from the almost constant reports of paranormal activity?

Meanwhile, in the aforementioned city of Orchid Bay, a group of goblins were gathered at a small dock, most of them carrying crates filled with magical artifacts. "Are you sure this is legal?" One goblin asked another. "Of course not! Why do you think the boss is having us do it?" the second one responded. "Oh… Good point." The first one realized, before asking "How much do you think we'll get payed?" Hopefully enough that I can finally retire and move to Point Pleasant. I'm so sick of this town…" The second mused to himself. There were a few seconds of silence, which seemed odd, as the first goblin had been talking the second's ear off for twenty minutes. "What? Cat finally got your tongue?" "He asked. "Not exactly." A totally different voice answered back, belonging to a girl. "Hey who…" The goblin asked, before realizing who she was. "Uh-oh. It's the Te Xuan Ze! Everybody scram!" The goblin yelled before being promptly punched into unconsciousness by Juniper Lee, who was in fact the Te Xuan Ze.

Upon hearing the warning, most of the goblins panicked, dropped their loot, and ran. The only one who didn't run was wearing noise canceling headphones. However, Juniper was surprisingly quick, jumping over some crates lying around and landed in front of them. Seeing no other choice, they attempted to fight her. She was also stronger than she looked, as she was able to grab a nearby heavy crate and throw it at one goblin, before grabbing two more of the short creatures, hitting them against each other, and throwing one of them into yet another monster. This left only five more goblins, one of them still oblivious to the battle due to his headphones. "Give up… Please?" One of the goblins asked, knowing that they were most likely going to get beaten up anyway. "Uh… No." June pretended to consider the offer for a brief moment, before grabbing the unfortunate creature and hitting his comrades with him like a baseball bat. This left only the still inattentive goblin. As June was about to attack him too, her younger brother, Ray Ray, and enchanted dog companion, Monroe, came running out from behind some of the crates.

"That was awesome!" Ray Ray said, somewhat overenthusiastic as usual. "Not bad, but would it have hurt to use a spell or two?" Monroe asked in his usual Scottish accent. "You know me, I'd rather just hit them, it's quicker and I don't have to memorize anything." June joked. The goblin with headphones was still too interested in his music to notice June, or anything else, for that matter. "Should I go easy on him?" the Te Xuan Ze asked for her companions' opinions. "No way! He did the crime, now let him do the time… or… get hit… or… You know what I mean." Ray Ray responded.

"I kind of wish that something a lot more interesting than these kinds of petty crimes would happen…" June said out loud, when suddenly, the ground started shaking. "Maybe I spoke too soon." she said to herself. The dock itself seemed to be breaking apart. If June, Ray Ray, and Monroe didn't get off it, they would fall in the water. Thinking quickly, the Te Xuan Ze grabbed her brother and dog and ran toward land, and safety. As she ran, the dock sank beneath them at an alarming rate. Even some sections in front of them were rapidly disappearing. When they were about to reach the pavement, June's foot fell through, and she tripped, but luckily, she fell onto the sidewalk, and she, Ray Ray, and Monroe reached stable ground. Almost the entire dock was now underwater, save for part of the dock that the same distracted goblin was still listening to music on. "…Cool!" Ray Ray said after an extended period of silence. "If you find the fact that we were nearly sleeping with the fishes under the dock 'cool', then yes, indeed it was." Monroe said sarcastically.

The goblins who were beaten up by June a few moments ago were now on the surface of the water, shaken up, but luckily, okay. They were trying to get the attention of the goblin focused on his music. "That must be a really good song…" June said, trying to lighten the mood. "What could have caused the entire dock to just fall into the ocean?" She asked Monroe, thinking he might know the answer. "I honestly couldn't tell ye. It may have just been an earthquake." He responded. "Maybe it had something to do with whatever was in those crates?" Ray Ray suggested. "No. I checked a few of them before I attacked the goblins. None of those artifacts could have caused this." "Like I said, it was probably an earthquake." Monroe repeated. The three looked around. "A pretty big earthquake from the look of it." June said. The entire city block had some damage done to it, but it looked like nobody was seriously injured. "Well, we should probably go home and let Mom and Dad know we're okay." June suggested. The trio made their way home.

Meanwhile, at a gas station just outside of Orchid Bay, Gwen Tennyson looked for a snack. There was a problem, though. Almost everything in this gas station had sugar, fat, carbonation, or some combination of the three. Most kids wouldn't mind, but she wanted only the healthiest kinds of food in her diet. She finally saw a protein bar that looked good enough. As she grabbed it, she felt something breathing down her neck. Knowing some martial arts, she quickly punched in the direction of the breathing. Her fist came into contact with a small, grey creature that flew into a nearby shelf, nearly sending it crashing down of top of him. Instead of being scared by it, she was merely annoyed. In fact, she knew who he was.

"Ben, you idiot. Do you want me to hurt you?" Gwen asked, seemingly concerned for him in a way. "Hey, Grey Matter is tougher than he looks. I'll bet none of your stupid karate moves would hurt me that bad, anyway." said Ben Tennyson, who wielded the Omnitrix, a powerful alien device that allowed its wearer to take on the form of a variety of extraterrestrial creatures. His current form, a Galvan, which Ben nicknamed Grey Matter, gave him intelligence far beyond any human. Apparently, that didn't make him smart enough to know not to try and scare his cousin who was trained in martial arts. "Well, I'll make sure that I hit you twice as hard next time." she said, grabbing him by the back of his shirt.

Suddenly, the symbol on Grey Matter's back began to blink red, while simultaneously making a sort of beeping noise. Gwen knew to drop him before a green flash of light engulfed him, and Ben, in his normal, human form, fell onto the floor. "Ow. You could have just put me on the floor gently." Ben said. "But I thought nothing I could do would hurt you that bad." Gwen countered sarcastically. "You know what I meant." He countered back. "Hey, what's going on back here?" The gas station attendant said as he walked into the aisle they were in. "Nothing, my cousin just tripped and fell into this shelf." Gwen lied. "Then what was with the beeping and glowing?" he asked, only somewhat convinced. "My watch… uh… does that… every hour. It's a pretty good alarm." Ben added. The attendant wasn't sure of their story, but the kids didn't seem to be doing anything suspicious, so he decided to ignore it. Ben grabbed a bag of chips and the two brought their purchases to the counter.

After paying for their treats, Ben and Gwen walked out to their Grandpa Max Tennyson's RV, which he had nicknamed the Rustbucket. He was putting gas in it, and was almost done. "I hope you guys didn't get anything too filling, we're having something very special for lunch." their Grandpa said. "I'm sure it'll be very nice." Gwen tried to sound excited. Ben didn't try as hard. "I hope whatever it is isn't as slimy as yesterday's noodle dinner…" Ben muttered to himself, before Gwen kicked him. "Don't worry, this will be a lot more crunchy. It's an old recipe of mine for peanut butter and bacon sandwiches." Max said, ignoring the insult. Neither of the cousins questioned what he had just said, because he had served them much weirder things.

Somewhere, in an unknown location, was the Reality Scepter. Most Shen Gong Wu glowed when they were active, but this one in particular was glowing very brightly, enough to make the entire area around it seemingly as bright as the sun. Grand Master Dashi, the creator of the Shen Gong Wu, made this one of the hardest Shen Gong Wu to find for a reason. If evil were to get its clutches on it, the world would be at its mercy. Even if someone with good intentions were to wield it, the amount of power it would give to the user could corrupt him or her. To make matters worse, the Scepter itself, once it activated, was a danger. It would cause damage to reality itself that could be irreparable. The only way to stop it was to find it and keep it locked away from anyone who would misuse its power. Unfortunately, time was limited, and the Reality Scepter continued to leak its energy…