Episode 13: Crystal Glasses

It was fairly early morning in Beach City. Dojo was scratching his back with a back scratcher. Kimiko was on her laptop with Raimundo and Amethyst, Omi was meditating, Clay was having breakfast, and Pearl and Garnet were in their rooms while Steven just woke up and walked down the stairs. "Morning, Steven." Kimiko said. "Morning, guys." Steven said. "How are you guys doing?" "We're doing a bit of research on where Peridot might be. Looking through news reports and what forth. I mean, we doubt that Jack would take Peridot back to his Hideout with Chase Young so we need to research and find where Peridot, and for that matter the Heylins, are." Kimiko explained. "Well, I guess we could wait for a shen gong wu to activate." Steven said. Raimundo ponder something. "Was there a shen gong wu activating after the Reversing Mirror?" Raimundo asked. "Oh, there was two, the Sphere of Yun and the Glove of Jisaku. But other than those 2, no." Kimiko said. "And if I recall, you lost to Jack on the Sphere of Yun one?" Raimundo said. Kimiko nods. "Sorry if it opened up a wound." Raimundo apologizes. "No no, it's pretty much healed. I put that behind me as we got you back and most of our wus." Kimiko said. "Knowing our luck, it would activate very soon." Raimundo said.

Steven chuckles a bit as Pearl walks out of her room. "Oh, morning, everyone." Pearl said as she walks over to them. Omi looks at Pearl and kept meditating, basically still ignoring Pearl. Pearl noticed it and just sighs. "Omi, look, I apologized up and down and want to make up to you. What will it take?" Pearl said. Omi remained quiet. Pearl just face palms and sits down next to Kimiko, Raimundo and Amethyst. "Doing research to find Peridot?" Pearl asked. "Yea, right in the ballpark." Raimundo said. "Good, we need as much research as we can to take down Peridot and Garnet might finally forgive me." Pearl said with a big smile. Amethyst remained quiet on that matter but softly nods to not arouse suspicion from Pearl. Dojo slithers up to them with the ancient scrolls as he began sensing something. "Hey, guys! A new shen gong wu revealed itself." Dojo said. "Really, what is it this time around?" Pearl said. They open the ancient scrolls and it was revealed to be…THE CRYSTAL GLASSES!

"Ah, it's the Crystal Glasses. It's allows anyone to peak into the future." Dojo said. "Kinda like how Garnet has the future vision." Raimundo quips. "Kinda redundant don't you think." Amethyst said. "Hey, remember, some of the wus were inspired by you guys." Dojo counters back. "Eh, true." Amethyst said nonchalantly. "Alright, who's hanging back in this one?" Pearl said. "Well, due to you and Omi...relationship issues, I think it's best to sit this one out, Pearl." Dojo said. Pearl was surprised to hear this. "But what if Peridot was there?" Pearl said with a surprised tone. "Look, we doubt Peridot would get the Shen Gong Wu herself, same with Jack. Then again, Jack has gotten more powerful as of late." Clay said. Kimiko closes her laptop. "I'll go, same with Omi and Steven." Raimundo said. Omi overhears this and gets up. "Ah, a mission. Good to hear that." Omi said. Omi, Raimundo and Steven head outside and Dojo grew to large size and fly away with them.

A good while later, they arrive in Russia, Moscow specifically. They land and Dojo shrinks back down and still has that itch in his back. Dojo began trying scratching it but to no avail. "Man, I've been itchy all day." Dojo complains. "That spot is really difficult to get behind." "Well, hello, strangers." A voice echos out. Omi, Raimundo, Dojo and Steven turns to see a big blond Russian young man with a big overcoat. "Who are you suppose to be?" Raimundo asked. "Ah, straight to the point, da? Well, my name is Vlad" Vlad said, introducing himself. "Hey, Vlad, I'm Steven." Steven said with a friendly tone. Dojo kept trying to get an itch but with not success. "Need some itching cream?" Vlad asked Dojo, pulling out a tube of itching cream for Dojo. "Yea, pour it on me!" Dojo said. Vlad obliges and lathers Dojo in the itching cream. Dojo's itch was now gone. "It's...gone. Thanks, Vlad." Dojo said with a big smile. He then senses the Shen Gong Wu being very close and points at an abandon temple. "Ah, need to go inside there? Well, I'll help you guys out if you like." Vlad said. "That would be most important of you, Vlad." Omi said. Vlad nods as he leads them to the abandon temple.

Inside the Temple, Vlad shows them the room where the Crystal Glasses were. "Man, this is too easy." Raimundo said. Just then, Omi got hit by a jackbot. "Oof! Spoke too soon, Raimundo." Omi said as he gets up. Just then 9 more jackbots arrive with Jack in tow. "Well, well, looks like the Monks went small for this trip." Jack boast as he pulls out his sword. "This should be easy." Omi and Raimundo fights as Steven pulls out his shield successfully. Vlad was impressed to see this. "Wow, Steven, I didn't know you could do that." Vlad said. "Well, I'll tell you about it after we beat Ja-" Steven said before Jack tackles Steven himself. "Ah, Sword vs Shield, experience vs youth, who would win?" Jack boasters as he fights Steven as Steven defends as much as he can. Vlad looks over and began walking towards to the Crystal Glasses. Jack kept attacking when one of his damaged Jackbots comes up to him. "S-s-sir, Someo-o-one is getting the w-w-w-wu!" the bot said before getting taken out by Raimundo, who did a flying kick. "We'll fight another day." Jack told Steven as he leaps backwards and grabs the Crystal Glasses at the same time as Vlad. The monks were stun by this. "I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown…" Jack said as he trails off. "What's your name?" "Vlad." Vlad said. "Alright, Vlad, I'm betting my eye of Dashi with your…" Jack said before trailing off again. "He will be betting the Reversing Mirror." Raimundo said, tossing the Reversing Mirror to Vlad. "That'll do." Jack said. "The challenge will be Maze Running, first to find the exit wins." "I'm open with that." Vlad said. "Alright, let's go, Xiaolin Showdown!" Jack said.

A few flashes later, the Temple became a large maze that had twist and turns. Jack stands next to Vlad at the Entrance. "Gong Yi Tan Pai!" Jack shouts as he rushes in. Vlad realized that it meant go and quickly rushes in. Jack went in with a plan, a secret plan, that only he knows about. Jack went left while Vlad went right. Jack kept running and running, trying to find the exit as fast as he could but ran head first into a dead end after making a sudden right hand turn. "Grr...wrong way!" Jack shouts. Steven watches with Omi, Raimundo, and the now itch-free Dojo. "Man, Vlad is doing his best." Steven said. "If he can beat Jack, he might be a difference maker." Raimundo said. Omi looked at Vlad as he kept finding the right path. Jack groans as he decides to make a move. "Eye of Dashi!" He said, firing at a wall that crumbled to show that it was another dead end a few yards ahead of him. Jack just looked and facepalms. Vlad turns the corner and sees that it was near the exit. He began running as fast as he could. He turns to make sure Jack isn't behind him. Just then, Jack finally turns the same corner but accidentally trips on his own feet while making the turn, giving Vlad enough space and crosses the exit first.

A few flashes later, Vlad was holding the Crystal Glasses, The Reversing Mirror and the Eye of Dashi. Steven, Omi, and Raimundo rushes up to congratulate him. "Wow, Vlad, you looked like a natural." Raimundo said. "Yea, you seemed to be really good at this, even in your first time." Steven said. Omi on the other hand, was singing a radically different tune. "Have you ever considered joining the Crystal Monks?" Omi said. Vlad was surprised at the offer but did have one question. "What is the Crystal Monks?" Vlad asked. Raimundo nudges Omi. "You sure we want him?" He whispers to Omi. "Yea, he did good but I wasn't really going to offer him a spot." "Look, Pearl betrayed all of us and we need someone else to help out without Pearl." Omi whispers back. Raimundo just sighs and rolls with it. "Well, if you like, the Crystal Monks is a combo of the Xiaolin Monks and Crystal Gems." Raimundo said. "I think I did hear about them Gems while at school. Saved the world by rebellion if I recall." Vlad said. "Well, yea." Steven said. "I've always wanted to meet them and I will happily accept the offer." Vlad said. Omi and Steven smiles while Raimundo remained...uncertain. Jack looks over and groans as he flies away.

A bit later, they returned with Vlad. Raimundo was outvoted 2-1 at this time but it was up to the Gems to allow Vlad in. Pearl, like Raimundo, was not certain about giving Vlad a position at the Crystal Monks. "Look, Omi, I know what you are trying to do, but Vlad is too inexperience and it's unwise to trust someone so quickly." Pearl said. Omi was having none of it. "Pearl, you betrayed Garnet's trust, you have no right speak of trust when you clearly blatantly broken a trust or a few. I say Vlad is allowed in and he will be a good Xiaolin Monk." Omi said. Garnet thinks a bit. "Master Fung did mention that we do have the call but I suggest we give Vlad a one day tryout and we'll discuss it tomorrow." Garnet said. "I'm down with that. Besides, he bested Jack Spicer, the guy who managed to get trained by Chase Young." Amethyst said. Pearl remained quiet on the whole matter. She's still in the dog house after that stunt she pulled on Garnet. "Well, looks like I'm a temporary Xiaolin Monk." Vlad said with a big smile. Omi was proud that he managed to convince most of them to this. It's a one day try out, sure, but if he does well enough, he might be able to become a true Xiaolin Monk and be a difference maker.

Later on that day, Vlad and Garnet were training with one another. The Monks and Gems were watching this unfold. Vlad wasn't as mobile but was able to hold on with his strength as he was able to hold of Garnet for a good while. It was apparent that he was a bit raw but does have potential. Garnet was impressed that Vlad held her up a good while. "You really show that you are a capable fighter, still got some work to go through but the potential is there." Garnet said. Vlad bows as he walks over to Omi. "See, Vlad is a worthy person." Omi said. "Calm down, Omi. Yes, he held up Garnet but that was for a decent while. He's still got a lot of things to prove. Beside, we still need the Monks to train against him." Pearl said. Omi glared at Pearl with anger in his eyes. "Omi, look, sooner or later, you do have to come around with Pearl." Raimundo reminded. Omi just pouts a bit. Soon, Clay and Vlad were training with one another while Omi began to wonder something. 'Vlad is most impressive. However, I need to know when should we be able to get Peridot' Omi thought. He secretly walks back inside while they watch Clay and Vlad train with one another. He picks up the Crystal Glasses and puts it on. "Crystal Glasses!" Omi softly shouts. He began looking into the future and he sees Peridot, without a leg on her left side, panicking and was going to mention something before she got poofed by someone, it was unclear with the smoke. Omi was surprised from this and removed his glasses. "So… we might be able to capture her in the near future, I hope." Omi said. He places the Crystal Glasses back to the pile and began to head back to the group.

As Omi walks out the door, he sees Barbara walking up with a mail pouch. "Ah, Omi, nice to see you." Barbara said. They must have met offscreen. "Thank you, any mails for today?" Omi asked. "Well, just the one and it's for Steven. Can you deliver it to him?" Barbara said. Omi nods as he takes the mail. "Thanks, Omi. Hope you are training well." Barbara said as she heads out for more of her mail routes. Omi nods as he heads back to the group. Kimiko was now training with Vlad as Clay was taking a breather. Vlad was holding up well against Kimiko's high acrobatics. Omi hands Steven the letter. "Huh? Oh, Omi, you got the mail." Steven said with a smile. "Was there a reason why you checked the mail?" Amethyst asked. "Eh, just wanted to check it as I saw Barbara put the mail in the mailbox." Omi said. Steven nods as he opens it. He reads it and was smiling more and more. "Whoo-hoo! I'm no longer banned from Funland!" Steven shouts. This causes the training to stop as Kimiko and Vlad head over to Steven. "Wait, you were banned from Funland?" Kimiko said. "What is Funland?" Vlad asked. "Oh, right, you guys didn't know." Steven said with an awkward chuckle. "Well, um, I got motion sick on the teacup ride, landed on Mt. Smiley and the control panel...causing it to launch people into the ocean." "That's…interesting." Vlad said. "Well, that's good to hear that you are now unbanned, Steven." Clay said. Steven nods. "I guess I can show it to you in a future date." Steven said with a smile. The monks nods.

Later that night, Vlad was getting his sleeping bag set up. The Monk allowed Vlad to sleep near to the Warp Pad, just in case Peridot does anything fishy. Vlad lie down as everyone else began to fall asleep. "Man, what a good day. Unbanned from Funland, we got a new ally in Vlad, and we managed to win a Xiaolin Showdown. Nothing will spoil the day." Steven said as he lets out a yawn and began to fall asleep. Everyone else began to nod off. Half an hour later, Vlad wakes up and looks around, just to make sure the Monks are asleep. He looks over Omi and just chuckles softly. He walks over to the wu pile and picks up the Shard of Lightning, Crystal Glasses, Longi Kite, Two-Ton Tunic, Reversing Mirror, and the Eye of Dashi. After grabbing them, he walks over to the door and walks out with the Wus in tow. The Monks didn't know this, but Vlad was actually a Heylin. A bit later, Vlad arrive at Chase's HQ early morning. Chase and Jack were getting and saw Vlad with 6 shen gong wus. "Excellent, Vlad." Chase said. "You were right, Jack, they took the bait and we have more wus to help us out." "No problem, Chase, besides, I wanted the Eye of Dashi back." Jack added. Vlad places the Wus on the table. "Omi was so foolish to believe in me. Thanks to your info on them, I was able to gain their trust and snatched up the wus under their noses." Vlad said. "Well, now the cat is out of the bag but you did very well in a short amount of time." Chase said. "Da, thank you, Chase. If you need to some help from me, give me a holler." Vlad said as he walks out. Chase and Jack managed to go up by 4 extra shen gong wus with the Crystal Glasses and the return of the Eye of Dashi to boot, now totaling 11 shen gong wus for themselves. "So, should we still call upon Pandabubba for some extra help?" Jack said. "That would be most wise as we need to see how he performs for the future considerations." Chase said with a smile.

Back at the beach house, The Monks were discussing on the whereabouts on Vlad's disappearance. "Maybe he went back to Russia." Omi said. "Maybe he was a bit home sick." "I mean, it's not wrong" Raimundo said. "When I was at my lowest point, I went back to Brazil." Just then Dojo slithers up with a worried look on his face. "Guys...we are missing a few shen gong wu!" Dojo said. They were stunned to hear this. Steven wakes up and comes down stairs. "Morning, every...one." Steven said before trailing off and seeing their worried look and Vlad being AWOL. "Uhh…did I miss something?" Steven asked. A bit later, they called the Gems to discuss what happened last night. "Vlad was there one night and by morning, he's gone…" Omi said. "To make matters worse, some of our wu got stolen." Kimiko added. Pearl quickly deduces something. "I think Vlad was secretly a Heylin" Pearl said. Omi was shellshocked from this. "NO NO NO!" Omi shouts. "I refuse to believe this!" Omi was clearly shaken up from the suggestion. "No one believe this right? …Right?" Omi added as he looks around and everyone was just silent. Omi began to break down in tear. "I put my trust into Vlad, thinking he would be a difference maker in the battle…and yet, I was wronged and betrayed." Omi said, tears running down his cheeks. Omi was then comforted by Pearl, trying to mend ties. This time however, Omi accepts it and hugs Pearl while crying. For Omi, it was humbling moment. He was wrong to trust Vlad over Pearl and it costed them dearly. He wanted some comfort from his friends and he got that in the most unlikely sources. For the Monks, they got some extra work to do to regain the lost wus. Little do they know, the Heylin has a plan.

End of Episode 13

Wu Count:

Xiaolin:

Falcon's Eye

Jetbootsu

Mantis Flip Coin

Sword of the Storm

Sapphire Dragon

Shroud of Shadows

Star Hanabi

Orb of Tornami

Tangle Web Comb

Heart of Jong

Fist of Tebigong

Helmet of Jong

Golden Tiger Claws

Monkey Staff

Serpent's Tail

Sphere of Yun

Jack:

Changing Chopsticks

Ring of the Nine Dragons

Third-Arm Sash

Eye of Dashi

Thorn of Thunderbolt

Glove of Jisaku

Shard of Lightning

Two-Ton Tunic

Reversing Mirror

Longi Kite

Crystal Glasses