OMAC001-Indeed, their relationship definitely isn't perfect.
Here's another episode I wrote myself. I hope you all enjoy it and even though reviews aren't mandatory, I'd love to know how I'm doing and if there's anything I need to improve on. Feedback is encouraged, but not required.
Anyway, there are a few bonus tidbits to be found throughout this chapter! If you don't see them, they're posted at the end. Enjoy!
Raimundo woke up to another morning of blinding sunlight. He got out of his sleeping bag, stretched, and yawned. He looked down at the wet dew under his bare feet before taking in their makeshift campsite. He grumbled before clapping his hands. "Rise and shine, everybody! Come on!"
One by one, the other monks woke up and shook off their sleepiness.
"Alright, everyone, let's clean this place up before we get going." Rai instructed.
"Aw, do we hafta?" Clay mumbled as he looked around. "It don't look that bad."
Rai raised an eyebrow. "There's junk everywhere from when we made s'mores last night."
Clay licked his lips. "And boy, were they tasty."
Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Come on, Clay, the faster we clean up, the faster we can be on our way."
"Alright." Clay agreed as the monks started picking up the graham cracker and chocolate bar wrappers.
After all the litter was picked up, the gang neatly rolled up their sleeping bags before putting it all inside the trusty Cosmic Burlap. When all was said and done, the monks got dressed (privately of course) and once again continued their journey for a new home.
"Gotta admit, Rai, you've really improved cleanliness-wise." Kimiko complimented, remembering Raimundo's early days where he'd just sweep garbage under the rug.
"First off, there are no rugs out here." He explained. "Second, I've grown up. After all, how can we clean up evil if we can't clean up after ourselves?"
Kimiko giggled. "Well said, Rai."
Well on the other side of the globe, Jack Spicer woke up to another morning of soothing artificial light. He got out of bed, stretched, and yawned. He looked down at his fuzzy googly-eyed slippers before taking in his messy room. He grumbled and changed into his workday outfit. When he was done, he threw his pajamas on the floor as he left the room.
He walked through and around various bits of machinery in his laboratory, which didn't look any better than his bedroom. He sat down at a desk, rubbed his eyes and snapped his fingers. His mechanical chef, F-Bot, immediately came in with a bowl of cereal poured and ready. The robot took a spoonful and fed Jack as the boy genius started tinkering with yet another one of his inventions. Jack absentmindedly chewed as he worked, dripping milk and bits of cereal onto the floor. When he was done with breakfast, Jack made a shooing motion with his hand and F-Bot took his leave.
Wuya floated into the room and took in the mess. "Jack."
He didn't hear her.
"Jack."
Still no response.
"JACK!"
The villain jumped and knocked more bits of robot parts onto the floor. He whirled to face her. "What?! Can't you see I'm busy?"
"I'll tell you what you should be busy doing! Look at this mess!"
"What mess?" Jack looked around at the piles of electronics. "Oh, that mess. Yeah, my mom usually picked up my room for me. Gave me more time to work on evil, you know?"
Wuya grumbled. "How can you expect to clean up good if you can't even clean up after yourself?"
Jack scratched his head. "What's the big deal? Being clean is for good guys."
Wuya's eyes started glowing yellow. "You'll have to pick up your toys later. The Pied Pipes have revealed themselves."
"Alright! Let's get movin'!" Jack looked around. "Now where did I put the keys to my hover-jet?"
Wuya groaned.
Forest animals scattered as a long green shape soared above them.
"The Pied Pipes rely on the power of music. Just play the right song, and the things and even people you want will be drawn to you. Sort of like a magical game of 'Follow the Leader'." Dojo explained.
Raimundo held out the scroll as the others watched. A figure picked up a trumpet-like object and blew into it. Still playing, he walked off to the side with several objects following him in a straight line.
Dojo flew to a mountain trail flanked on either side by towering cliffs. "Alright, I know it's here somewhere." the dragon said, sniffing around.
The monks had only looked around for a few seconds before they heard a familiar annoying evil laugh.
"Jack-Bots, attack!" Jack shouted from above with his Heli-Bot. His cone-headed droids zoomed down to obey him. As usual, the monks just started smashing them all.
In-between turning the Bots to scrap, Raimundo looked up at Jack and grinned. "Shoku Astro, Wind!" Rai cupped his hands together and made a tornado that sucked the hovering villain towards him. Rai caught Jack and held him by his collar. Jack smiled nervously while Rai did so mischievously.
A punch sound was heard and Jack suddenly slammed into one of the cave walls. Jack wearily got up and leaned on a stone that was sticking out of the wall. The loose rock fell out and landed on Jack's foot. After Jack yelped and hopped on one foot for a second, he looked into a hole the rock had been plugging up and his eyes widened. Jack reached into the hole and pulled out the Pied Pipes with a triumphant smile. The Wu was a dark bronze color and resembled a trumpet that had one coil. The mouthpiece was a small yellow cone and the three valves were the same color. Near the bell was a dark-brown stripe with small round holes and a black wave design was around the edge of the bell. Finally, poking out of the bell was a second bell colored dull yellow and third, cream-orange bell inside that one.
Jack looked back to the monks who were finishing off his robots. He quickly activated the Heli-Bot and flew upward with the Wu in hand.
Once all the Jack-Bots were nothing but litter, Kimiko looked up and saw the instrument in Jack's hands. "Hey, Jack's got the Wu!"
"That's right, baby!" Jack said as he retreated into his hover-jet, which had been hovering in place with Wuya in the passenger's seat. "Once again, evil triumphs over good!"
"I can't believe it! You have actually succeeded!" Wuya said happily.
"Later, Xiaolin Losers!" Jack laughed triumphantly as he soared away in his personal jet.
"Aw man…" Rai said.
"I wouldn't worry, guys. It's Jack Spicer. How long can his luck last?" Kimiko said with a smile on her face.
The monks mumbled in agreement before looking back in the direction the jet had soared off to.
Hold on to those Shen Gong Wu! We'll be right back to Xiaolin Chronicles on Disney XD.
Wu this, Wu that! Now back to Xiaolin Chronicles on Disney XD.
A few hours later, another Shen Gong Wu had popped. Faster than you can say, "To the Wu," the monks were flying to it on Dojo.
"Wu like this one have always made me nervous." Dojo said as Rai opened the scroll.
"It looks like a vial."
"It's called the Toxic Orchid Serum. This Shen Gong Wu falls under the 'Poison' Element. It squirts some nasty juice, and there's no telling what it'll do to you! So you can see why I'd be cautious around that stuff." Dojo finished.
Dojo took them inside a mountain tunnel with plenty of light shining through both sides for visibility. The Toxic Orchid Serum was lying on a flat raised rock inside. It resembled a pill-shaped vial full of sickly green liquid. Blackened on the glass was a picture of a skull holding a flower in its mouth. The container was topped with a gray nozzle that featured an airhorn-like horn.
Raimundo picked it up. "Guess Jack didn't want to spoil his victory by losing…again!" The monks laughed for a bit before they heard music from somewhere. It sounded like a trumpet and had almost a seductive-like tone to it.
"Guys, do you hear that?" Raimundo asked. The others all confirmed as they searched for its source. Suddenly, the vial in Raimundo's hands started wobbling. He tried to hold on to it, but it flew out of his hand. It actually started bobbing through the air toward the end of the tunnel opposite to the one the monks had come through.
"Hey!" Raimundo shouted as he and his team ran to follow the vial. When they exited the tunnel, they saw Jack's hover-jet. The self-proclaimed genius was standing on top of it, playing the mysterious music through the Pied Pipes Shen Gong Wu he had just scored. The Toxic Orchid Serum floated up to Jack. When it got to him, he grabbed it and took the Pipes out of his mouth to sing.
"Sliiiiime beneath me,
Sliiiime up above, ooh,
You'll love my, oh ah oh, Toxic Love!"
When Jack was done, he burst out laughing. "Whaddya think, Xiaolin punks? Ooh, Xiaolin punks, that's a good one. Betcha didn't know I could play the Shen Gong Wu, didja?"
Dojo slapped a hand to his forehead. "Of course! The Pied Pipes draw people and objects toward you! With the right song, of course!"
"That's right!" Jack boasted.
The monks took fighting poses. "Well there's no song for getting rid of us now, is there?" Kimiko spoke up.
Jack grinned fiendishly. "Actually…Pied Pipes!" He started playing another tune from the Wu.
Raimundo raised an eyebrow. The song sounded familiar…then it hit him. His eyes widened in fear.
Jack was playing the instrumental to the hokey-pokey.
The Dragon of Wind's arms and legs started moving of their own accord. He and the other monks were helpless as they danced and shook about.
Finally, the music stopped and the good guys collapsed to the ground, leaving the bad guys to get away again.
Raimundo was the first to pull himself up. "Well…at least now we know what he can do! He won't be able to get the drop on us again, right?"
The others didn't look so sure.
A couple days later, another Shen Gong Wu, the Cheetah Paw, revealed itself. It stood upright atop a small rocky cave in the middle of a little-known jungle. The Wu looked like a golden paw-like gauntlet with brown markings forming the pads. The bottom edge was dressed with several bits of tan fluff, each bit having two blue spots on it.
Dojo touched down and shrunk once the monks had departed.
"Funny, I remember being told to put it on top of this particular cave, but I don't remember why." He said as he slithered onto Clay's shoulder.
Omi walked to the front of the group. "This will be easy-cheesy!"
"Peasy." Rai corrected.
Suddenly, they heard growling. They turned and quickly discovered that the cave was actually a den for a small coalition of cheetahs.
Dojo gulped from Clay's shoulder. "Now I remember."
"Ha!" Omi said. "They are nothing compared to Chase's feline army! This will be peasy-cheesy!"
Rai face-palmed.
Just then, Jack's hover-jet flew in. Rai motioned to the others and they all put earplugs in. Jack flew on his Heli-Bot towards the monks with the Pied Pipes in hand. Raimundo grinned and pointed to his ear, indicating that he couldn't hear the music. Jack just returned Rai's cheeky grin with an evil one and started playing again.
The cheetahs stopped and their eyes widened. Then without warning, the animals stood up on their hind legs and began performing a well-choreographed dance number.
The monks stood there with tilted heads before they looked up at Jack. He briefly stopped playing. "Who knew watching music videos about animal-themed girl groups would come in handy?" Jack continued playing his cheetah-centered song and the Cheetah Paw floated up to him. Once Jack had secured the Wu and made his getaway in his jet, the wildcats went back to normal and once again faced the monks.
Rai groaned as they got ready for battle.
Meanwhile, in Chase Young's mountain lair, Shadow was cleaning and dusting.
"What am I, his maid?" She asked herself. "So what if Omi offered me some soup…that alluring, powerful soup…" Shadow shook her head and went back to her punishment.
Her next stop was the dining table, which she swore Chase had left extra messy just for her. As she was picking up the dishes, she noticed something else on the table: a small black sculpture of a coiled-up dragon.
Shadow picked it up. "What's this, now? Kind of ugly for a centerpiece." She scratched it with her nail only to find that the black came off, showing blue underneath.
"Ugh, it's filthy!" Shadow picked up a washcloth and started cleaning the dragon. "Honestly, the messes I have to clean up…"
When a good portion of the statue had been wiped clean, its eyes shown with a blue light.
A feminine scream was heard.
Sometime later, Chase Young walked into the room. "Shadow, I hope you're still cleaning in there, because you still need to learn your lesson about…" He stopped when he didn't see her. "Shadow? I really hope you're not shirking your duties…"
He then looked to the table to see that the black dragon he left there had disappeared.
Chase put his hand to his forehead. "Oh no…"
He heard growling and jumped to the side just as a blast of blue fire struck the floor where he had been. He looked to see a large form slither out of the shadows.
"Oh no you don't! You're not going to get the better of me with your mindless brute force! Leave now, or be turned back into an antique!" Chase shouted. The figure regarded him for a moment before turning and leaving. As it did, Chase saw Shadow by its side, only now her entire form was colored blue. She stared at Chase for a second with a cold, blank look before following the intruder.
Chase sighed irritably.
The monks were training back at their next campsite. Kimiko and Omi were holding saucers and teacups from the dinnerware they'd managed to salvage from the temple. The cups were filled with water and the two monks were dodging attacks from Raimundo and Ping Pong (respectively) while trying not to spill a drop from the cups.
"How are we supposed to stop Jack this time?" Kimiko asked as she dodged kicks from Rai. "As long as he has the Pied Pipes, he can call the Wu right to him!"
"Have patience, Kimiko." Omi began as he too avoided Ping Pong's attempts at spillage. "The answer will reveal itself in time."
"Yeah, but how much time?" Kimiko asked worriedly.
While the monks talked, Dojo was curled up on the Cosmic Burlap taking a nap. He then felt his body move up and down almost like ocean waves.
"Oh Master Fung, you didn't have to take me to the beach, I know I'm great…huh?" Dojo woke up and saw what was happening. "KIDS!"
The monks turned to see that all of their Shen Gong Wu were floating out of the Cosmic Burlap, followed by the bag itself lifting into the air and making Dojo slide off. The artifacts were going to Jack, who was once again standing there playing music through the Pipes. This tune sounded different from his others. Furthermore, Jack kept taking breaks in playing to say, "Let's go!" and "Xiaolin Showdown!" The gang could have sworn they heard Hannibal Bean's voice too…
The Wu were in a line and one-by-one went into a larger sack at Jack's feet. The Orb of Torpedo, the Mind Reader Conch, the Tangle Web Comb, the Blue Feather Eagle; they all went in. When all was said and done, Jack once again broke into an evil cackle.
"Give back our Shen Gong Wu, Jack Spicer!" Omi demanded as he and the others ran up. "Or else…"
"Or else what, Chrome Dome?" Jack said. "Jack-Bots! Attack!" More of his robots flew up to fight when they were suddenly engulfed by blue fire. The robots froze in mid-air and turned blue, falling to the ground with several clunks.
"What the-" Jack turned to where the fire had come from. "Okay, what's the big ideeeeeaaaa…" he trailed off as his eyes widened.
Jack's fearful expression matched the monks' as they spotted the culprit. "Aw, come on! I didn't even say 'what else could go wrong' yet!" Raimundo shouted. A giant limbless dragon of a deep blue color slithered up to them.
"Is that a friend of Dojo's?" Ping Pong asked, worry apparent in his voice.
"Hardly!" the small dragon answered.
Kimiko pulled Ping Pong close to her. "That's the Sapphire Dragon. It's a Shen Gong Wu that turns into a monster."
"That can turn folks into zombies made outta sapphire!" Clay added.
As if to prove Clay right, several of Chase's cats, now turned into animated gemstone controlled by the Dragon, walked up next to their new master along with the also-converted Shadow.
The Sapphire Dragon gave the monks a look that said, I'll deal with you in a minute. It leaned down to look Jack in the eyes and snorted. Jack quivered in his boots. He then did the only thing he could think of as a feeble attempt to protect himself.
"Pied Pipes!" Jack squeaked. He began playing the same song he used to call the Shen Gong Wu to him. The Dragon's eyes widened and it stood up straight. Jack cracked one eye open when nothing happened to him. Confused at the stiff monster, he lifted his free hand to the side. The Dragon moved its head along with it. Jack moved his hand to the other side and the Dragon moved accordingly.
Jack stopped playing for a minute. "I…can control it?"
"Of course you can!" Wuya exclaimed with a big toothy smile adorning her mask. "The Sapphire Dragon is a Shen Gong Wu, after all."
"Yeah…you're right." Jack said, smiling as his fear slowly diminished.
The Dragon shook its head and growled.
"Keep playing!" Wuya barked. Jack quickly complied and started the music again. When the Dragon was back under his control, Jack slung the bag of stolen Wu over his shoulder and climbed onto its back.
"Welp, love to stay and humiliate you losers some more, but I've got some new toys to play with! See ya!" Still playing the Pied Pipes, Jack rode away on the Sapphire Dragon with Wuya and the sapphire-d victims following.
The monks all stood there for a moment before Clay fell backward.
"We…are in deep voodoo." Omi finally said.
"I'd correct you, but you're kind of right." Raimundo breathed.
Don't forfeit the Showdown! Xiaolin Chronicles will be right back on Disney XD.
Gong Yi Tan Pai! Now back to Xiaolin Chronicles on Disney XD.
Later, after the monks had recovered from the ordeal, Raimundo started pacing while the others sat on the ground in front of him.
"So, not only does Jack have all our Wu and the Pied Pipes, which he can use to make the other Shen Gong Wu and us dance like puppets, but he also has complete control over the Sapphire Dragon, which can actually turn us into puppets, and with it Shadow and a lot if not all of Chase's jungle cats. Have I forgotten anything?"
"Nope. That just about covers it." Kimiko said solemnly.
"Last time that varmint Jack was this powerful was when he trapped Chase in the Sphere o' Yun." Clay recalled.
"Are you crazy, this is way worse!" Raimundo insisted. "That time, his biggest minion was Cyclops. This time it's the Sapphire flipping Dragon!"
"I must admit, this seems most hopeless." Omi gravely spoke.
"Oh come now, don't tell me you're giving up already."
The monks turned toward the voice and leapt to their feet when they saw Chase Young standing there.
"Calm yourselves, my adversaries; I am not here to fight."
The monks didn't move a muscle.
Chase sighed. "As you wish."
"You sent the Dragon, didn't you?!" Raimundo demanded.
"Not exactly. See, I was originally planning on using the Sapphire Dragon as yet another test to see how far I could push you. See how resourceful you were, how long your loyalties would stand, that sort of thing. However, while Shadow was cleaning my lair as punishment for last week's little…'incident', she accidentally released the Dragon ahead of schedule. And now Spicer has tamed it with yet another one of your little toys. How unfortunate."
Raimundo slowly let himself relax. "So what are you going to do about it?"
"I'm not going to do anything. But if you want to stop him, I suggest that you get going to Spicer's little hidey-hole."
"But Jack Spicer has gotten the better of us!" Omi interrupted. "We have no Shen Gong Wu and we are susceptible to whatever tricks he may pull with the Pied Pipes!"
"Which is exactly why an attack is the last thing he'll expect right now." Chase pointed out.
"…As much as I hate to admit it, the evil dude's right." Raimundo finally said. "Jack'll think we're too scared to go over there now."
"He is not entirely wrong." Ping Pong said quietly, still shaken from seeing the fearsome Sapphire Dragon.
Rai leaned down and put a hand on his shoulder. "We can do it." The leader managed to get Ping Pong to smile before he stood up and turned back to Chase. "But we don't need your help."
"I never offered it." Chase turned his back to the monks. "Farewell." In a flash of orange light, Chase disappeared.
Raimundo looked back toward the others. "Well gang, let's get our Wu back."
"Are ya'll sure we're ready for this, Rai?" Clay asked.
Rai sighed. "To be honest, I don't know, but we've gotta try. Come on."
Back in Jack's laboratory, the evil dreamer was using the Pied Pipes to make the sapphire jungle cats stand up and kick in a chorus line with Shadow doing the same in the middle.
"This is so awesome!" Jack said.
"Insolent youth! You are entertaining yourself when you could be out there securing control of the world!" Wuya snapped at him.
Jack moved his hand in a talking motion. "Blah, blah, blah! I'm all for world domination, but what's the point if you can't have fun?"
"At least put the Wu away!" Wuya said, gesturing to the bag that was just sitting on his desk.
Jack lazily waved towards it. "Yeah yeah, in a minute! First I wanna try a conga line! Now the question is how's the Sapphire Dragon gonna fit in if he doesn't have any arms?"
Unbeknownst to Jack or Wuya, the monks were hiding in the shadows behind the line of dancing cats.
"Alright, there's Jack," Kimiko said. "Now what?"
"We must retrieve the Pied Pipes! Then we can fix everything!" Ping Pong exclaimed.
"Yeah, but how?" Clay whispered.
"We take Chase Young's advice." Omi said, standing up. "We attack now!"
Before the others could say anything, Omi ran forward and flipped over the chorus line to in front of Jack. The Heylin boy barely had time to react before Omi whacked the Pied Pipes out of his hands. The Wu flew through the air and landed perfectly inside the bag on Jack's desk.
The sapphire show stopped dancing as the other four monks shoved through them, knocking the cats into piles. "Get the Wu!" Raimundo shouted.
Omi pushed Jack to the ground as he ran toward the bag in the back.
"YOU FOOL!" Wuya shouted.
The zombified Shadow growled before running after the monks, managing to push Clay, Ping Pong, and Kimiko out of the way. She got to the bag just as Omi reached it and shoved it, making it fall to the floor. When it did, the Orb of Torpedo rolled out. Omi quickly grabbed it while Raimundo dashed by and swiped the Cheetah Paw (which had been left on the desk next to the bag). Omi, Raimundo, and Shadow grabbed hold of the bag, but then they noticed something pointed and blue had done the same thing. The Sapphire Dragon had regained its senses as well and was touching the now-glowing bag with its tail.
"We challenge you to a two-on-two Showdown Tsunami!" Raimundo started. "Our Cheetah Paw and Orb of Torpedo against your Sapphire Dragon and, um…" He faltered upon looking at Shadow.
The gemstone warrior held out a helmet-like Shen Gong Wu that resembled the head of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. It was light-brown in color with dark-brown fins with yellow rays, bulging blue eyes, and a scuba mask-like mouth.
"…What's that one again?" Raimundo turned to Dojo.
"That's the Neptune Helmet. It lets the user create a small hurricane around them. That's one of the Shen Gong Wu that was in that massive treasure trove, remember?"
"Oh yeah, now I remember." Rai smiled. "I kept meaning to try it, but never got around to it…" He shook his head. "Now for the game." He looked around Jack's still-messy headquarters then back at the bag. "The game is 'Shen Gong Wu Scavenger Hunt'. Whoever finds the most Wu wins."
The Sapphire Dragon and the mindless Shadow both nodded.
"Let's go, Xiaolin Showdown!" Raimundo and Omi shouted. Jack's lair became much bigger and intricate, almost maze-like. A cubic scoreboard appeared on the ceiling with "XIAOLIN" and "DRAGON" as the team names. Balconies appeared high up on the walls with Kimiko, Clay, Ping Pong and Dojo on one and Jack, Wuya and the cats on another.
"Gong Yi Tan Pai!" Raimundo and Omi shouted while the Sapphire Dragon made incomprehensible roaring noises. Immediately the four scattered to find the hidden Wu. There was junk all over the place so they had their work cut out for them. Finally Raimundo spotted a familiar pattern of blue with white stars in a junk pile. He reached down and pulled out the Cosmic Burlap. The magical bag shown with a bright light before it disappeared. Up on the ceiling, the scoreboard showed that the Xiaolin team had gained one point. Their teammates cheered from up above.
"Why are we stuck all the way up here?" Jack whined. "I can't see anything!"
"I think that's the point," Kimiko answered, "so we can't help them."
In another part of the massive laboratory, the zombified Shadow swept some beakers and burners off a table until she found the Zena Dragonfly hiding amongst them. She grabbed it, it disappeared, and the Dragon team gained one point.
Raimundo came to a line of inactive Jack-Bots. They all looked normal, except for one at the end. It was black with yellow swirled designs all over its body. Raimundo hmm'd and touched the black Bot. It then reformed into the Black Beetle, which went to his team.
The Sapphire Dragon slithered through a mess of power cables until it spotted a tan one with black stripes all over it. The Dragon wrapped its tail around it and pulled it out, revealing it to be the Lasso Boa Boa.
A ways off, a pile of dirty clothes shook and Omi popped out holding the Two-Ton Tunic.
Shadow walked into the middle of an especially cluttered area. She put the Neptune Helmet on her head and wordlessly activated its power. Wind started swirling around her until she was standing in the middle of her own tiny hurricane. Robot parts and other garbage were picked up and thrown away, revealing the Kanabi Star and Tangle Web Comb underneath.
"I have never seen a Xiaolin Showdown with more than one Shen Gong Wu as the prize." Ping Pong said from his high viewpoint on the balcony. "Will the winner get all the Wu?"
"That's right, Ping Pong." Clay answered. "Don't matter how many Wu start the Showdown, it's winner take all. 'Course, I remember this one time where Wuya and Hannibal Bean tried to hornswoggle some of our Wu and Omi got into a Showdown with a robot pretendin' to be his mama (long story). The Wu were just dumped all 'bout then, not tied up all nice-like in a bag like now, and actually, the Sapphire Dragon was one o' em. Omi won, o' course, but the Dragon was the only Wu that was actually put into his hands when he won, leavin' the rest on the ground for Hannibal 'n Wuya to swipe. We got 'em all back, though."
"Hey Clay," Kimiko interrupted, "Less exposition, more Showdown watching!"
Within a few minutes, most of the other Shen Gong Wu were accounted for; Omi and Raimundo had found the Cannon de Lopez, Manchurian Musca, Eye of Dashi, Blue Feather Eagle, Sword of Lucida, and Fist of Tebigong while Shadow and the Sapphire Dragon had secured the Star Hanabi, Fist of the Iron Bear, Sword of the Storm, Monster Camo Cloak, and Mind Reader Conch. The score was now tied at 9-9.
Raimundo was about to search a large walk-in closet in the wall when Shadow kicked him. Rai grumbled and sent a blast of wind at her, but the girl held her ground easily thanks to being made of rock now. She activated the Neptune Helmet again and caused the air around them to swirl around. Rai kept himself grounded, of course, but the contents of the closet, which were mostly consisted of Frankenstein's Monster T-shirts and Jack's evil coats, weren't so lucky. However, several shoes were blown out of the closet, and Raimundo gasped upon recognizing the Jet Bootsu amongst them. Raimundo dived for the high-tech Shen Gong Wu and managed to grab ahold of one, but then he saw that Shadow had grabbed the other one before they both disappeared. Confused, Rai looked up at the scoreboard to see that both teams had gained a point, leaving them tied at 10-10.
"Double pointer. How 'bout that." Dojo commented from his vantage point on Clay's shoulder.
"How many Shen Gong Wu are left?" Kimiko asked. Dojo was suddenly holding a small list and looking at the scoreboard. "Let's see, counting two for the Bootsu…divide by Jack…" Dojo looked up at Kimiko. "There should be one more."
"Hoo-wee, tiebreaker. I'm on the edge o' my seat." Clay said, pulling down his hood and starting to bite his nails before stopping. "You know, figuratively."
Shadow stopped in front of a large portrait of Jack on the wall. The boy was standing on a mountaintop dressed in an evil-looking command uniform and holding the Monkey Staff while grinning with superiority and lighting crackling in the background (AKA his brief fantasy from "Year of the Green Monkey"). Shadow reached up and took the painting off the wall. Behind it was a square alcove with a small black stand supporting the final Shen Gong Wu: the Pied Pipes.
Raimundo quickly looked over and saw this. "Oh no you don't! Wind!" Raimundo cupped his hands together and made a tornado again. The Pipes were sucked toward him before Shadow could touch them. Unfortunately, Rai was so focused that he didn't notice the large blue tail whack him out of the way. The Pipes slid across the ground as the Sapphire Dragon raced after them. They stopped when they bumped against another table covered with Bunsen burners, which Omi had been on the other side of. He suddenly got an idea. He jumped on top of the table and made a small wave gush forward from his Orb of Torpedo. The water extinguished the Bunsen burners and pushed them over the table to where the Dragon was rapidly approaching.
Omi's actions also threw a fair amount of soot into the air.
The Dragon stopped and recoiled as it felt its one weakness all around it; Shadow couldn't get any closer either for the same reason. As they coughed, Omi raced to the other side of the table, reached into the pile of no-longer-burning burners, and pulled out the Pied Pipes.
"Victory is ours!" Omi shouted as the scoreboard showed the final score of 11-10. The Pipes started glowing with one final flash of light and the Showdown ended.
Omi and Raimundo were left grasping the large bag of Wu in one hand each. In his other hand, Raimundo held the Cheetah Paw and Neptune Helmet while Omi balanced the Orb of Torpedo and the deactivated Sapphire Dragon (it wasn't covered with soot, but it was still back to its original form).
Kimiko ran up to Raimundo and hugged him. "You did it! You stopped the Sapphire Dragon!"
"Yup!" Rai said, looking to the artifact in Omi's hands. "That little knickknack won't be causing any more trouble anytime soon!"
A ways away, Shadow and the cats turned back to normal. The evil woman groaned and put a hand to her head. "I see the monks have succeeded." Shadow turned to see Chase walk out of the shadows. "Wh…what happened? The last thing I remember…"
"You were turned into a sapphire servant when you accidentally activated a Shen Gong Wu I had been planning for later." Chase summed up.
"Oh…"
"Though despite the plan not going quite as I expected, it was still an...interesting development." Chase said, looking at the monks as they were putting their Wu back in the Cosmic Burlap. "I suppose you have been punished enough now. Let's go."
"Right." Shadow looked back at the monks, who still hadn't noticed them, then back at Chase. After the cats had gathered around them, Chase made them all teleport back to his lair in a flash of orange.
After the monks had left, Jack and Wuya crept out from where they had been hiding. Wuya folded her ghostly arms. "You know, Jack, you really are amazing."
Jack turned to her, surprised. "Really?"
"Oh yes; after all, it really takes something to have one of the biggest advantages you've had in years and lose it in a matter of MINUTES!" Wuya screeched.
"I kept the Toxic Orchid Serum." Jack defended, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing the vial-shaped Wu. "I thought I might experiment with it later."
"You might have kept more than that if you had just cleaned your room and put away the Wu when I told you to!"
"Well what did you do?" Jack retorted. "I didn't see you play those sweet pipes! Oh right, you can't, you don't have any lips!"
Wuya growled. "I'll give you lip!"
While Jack and Wuya launched into another one of their famous tirades, Dojo flew through the air back to wherever the monks were currently staying. Raimundo held the Pied Pipes for a little more before putting them in the Cosmic Burlap with the rest of their Wu. "You know guys, getting our Wu back is great, but I feel like something's missing."
"A last minute shoed-in moral about the importance of cleanliness?" Dojo offered.
"No, that's not it." Raimundo said as they flew into the sunset.
Now for those tidbits I mentioned. The Pied Pipes are actually from Xiaolin Chronicles, specifically the episode, "Mi Temple, Mi Casa." They along with several other Shen Gong Wu magically appeared from Barky's peaches (I don't really know how that works, exactly, but whatever). None of them were used, named, or even acknowledged since. I came up with the name and power for it myself.
Also, that song Jack played to call the monk's Wu to him and to tame the Sapphire Dragon? That was the music that plays during the end credits and bonus games in the Xiaolin Showdown video game on the Nintendo DS.
See you next time and Happy Halloween!
