It was just another showdown, another Shen-Gong-Wu, another grab at power. No one expected anything special or interesting to come of it. However, when it happened, it happened so suddenly and so fast, the Xiaolin monks turned Wudai Warriors almost missed it.
Omi hopped from bot to bot, devastating Spicer's latest creations. His foot made contact with a metal face and the bot fell. It warbled out an auto-tuned whine as it went down, crumpling in a smoking pile in the dirt. He grinned.
"Aha! Jack Spicer," The short monk addressed his adversary, all grin and gait, "The Shen-Gong-Wu is ours!" Jack Spicer stood up, having just gotten his butt royally kicked for the umpteenth time. He sneered at Raimundo, who'd knocked him to the ground with a gust of wind, and stood, brushing off his black trench coat.
"Keep telling yourself that, baldy," Jack goaded, tapping on the interface of his modified smartwatch, "Jackbots, fetch me that Wu!" He ducked as Raimundo threw another punch, his reserve of Jackots flying in to assist. They occupied the monks as he took to the sky, out of Raimundo's reach, who'd gotten caught up with a bot.
"Chicken!" He howled at Jack, holding the robot's disembodied head. Clay slammed his foot against the ground, large pillars of rock shooting up to destroy several bots at once.
"Forget that no-good varmit," He yelled, southern twang and all, "Get that Wu!"
"I'm on it!" Kimiko jumped forward, "Wudai Mars Fire!" Flames spun around then streaked from her outstretched hands, nearly scorching Jack's arm as he reached for the Wu. He jerked his arm back with a shriek.
That's when it happened.
Omi round-housed a bot in the chest and it flew, spinning and screaming away from him. Clay slammed a large chunk of earth against another bot which flew backwards. Raimundo grabbed a bot, spun it, and released, sending it whirling. All three Jackbots were due to hit the same point: Jack Spicer, their creator. As he jerked back from Kimiko's fire, he saw the bots out of the corner of his eye. It barely registered. But it did. In a desperate gesture, he flung his arm out, ducking his head and covering himself.
They never hit him. Instead, in a loud screech, the conjoined bots warped, ripping into ribbons between his splayed fingers. They curled, copper and iron catching the light and fluttering to the ground, harmless.
For a moment, he almost didn't believe it. Neither did any of the others. Kimiko was gaping. In fact, she was so deep in her disbelief that Jack snagged the Wu. He flew off as quickly as he could, holding it to his chest where his heart was pounding against his ribcage.
On the ground, the monks reconvened, a little shell-shocked.
"I'm not quite sure what just happened," Clay drawled, scratching at his blonde hair under the brim of his hat, "Can someone please explain why Spicer ain't as squashed as a bug on my Uncle Eddie's windshield?"
"I'll tell you what happened," Raimundo shot back, a little more than frustrated, "We got our butts handed to us!"
"Ok, so we didn't get this one. I'm sure it was some kind of Spicer technology he came up with. We'll get the next Wu." Kimiko added in helpfully. Omi stood by her side, looking awfully perplexed.
"I do not know, my friends," He said, unsurety it his voice, "But whatever new power Spicer possesses leaves an unpleasant aroma on my tongue."
"That's 'bad taste in my mouth', Omi," Raimundo corrected him, "And yeah… I've got it too."
-ooo-
Back in the basement lab of his home, Jack Spicer stashed the Wu in the cabinet. Not your normal cabinet, mind you; it came with a three stage bio-access denial system. No one but Jack could open it. He closed it and heard the locks click into place. Perfect. Now he could focus on what the hell had just happened. He looked at his hand. There wasn't a single scratch on it, save from a couple of pebbles imbedded in the palm. Probably from when Raimundo had knocked him down, he guessed. But other than that…
He walked over to his lab table which was covered in loose screws, cogs, and wires. Using his arms, he shifted the mess to the side and switched on the overhanging LED lamp. He held hand out under it. He squinted intently. His hand looked perfectly normal. Same as always.
"I must be losing my mind." Jack said aloud to himself, shaking his head. He sat on his stool and pulled over the plans for this latest robotic creation, brushing a few screws off the page. Whatever had happened with the monks, it'd given him a fresh idea…
-ooo-
At the Xiaolin Temple, many miles away from Jack's basement, Master Fung's eyes opened. He'd been startled out of a meditative trance by a subtle shift in the universe, so subtle that anyone else might've missed it. It was like finding the missing cog, the gear that set the world in motion. Up until this point, good and evil had been skewed.
"Very soon," Master Fung spoke quietly to himself, his voice echoing in the space around him, "We will gain perfect Xiaolin/Heylin balance."
-ooo-
Miles farther away still, another being felt the shift. Golden eyes opened, reptilian pupils dilating in barely-concealed shock.
"It has begun."