The atmosphere hung thick and heavy over the grounds in front of the Xiaolin Temple. The groaning or unconscious forms of dozens of villains lay scattered in the grass, as well as a mix of monks who had defended their home. Rubble from the temple gate and adjacent walls had chipped to land in the grass, magical artifacts lay scattered free for the first to rise and wish to take them, and some nearby trees had even been uprooted in the conflict that had just ensued. It had been a stalemate between forces of good and evil, but the temple remained safe.
On the short set of steps leading into the temple, four particular teen monks stood, nursing injuries but surveying the grounds with a sense of pride. They were the Xiaolin Dragons, youngest warriors in the temple but destined to play the role in balancing the dark Heylin forces of the universe. Something they felt they had just successfully accomplished for the time being.
This moment didn't last, as all four sets of eyes had their attention caught as a nearby pile of metal debris rattled and trembled, signaling the first of the defeated parties rising. He was moaning and holding his back as he attempted to realign it while letting the robotic parts cascade off of him. It was Jack Spicer, another teen and the very first opponent the Dragons had faced. He had never missed an opportunity to come into conflict with them.
Raimundo, freshly-appointed leader of the Dragons by the powers that be, tipped his head to note that the albino goth they all knew and loathed was the first evil-doer wobbling onto his feet.
"Wow, Jack," the Brazilian boy quipped, "Are you actually ready for another round, or did we just not beat you hard enough the first time?" He slapped one fist into an open palm to signal he was still up to trouncing a weakling like the other boy. His friends snickered lightly behind him, always enjoying a good round of disses, and especially regarding Jack.
The boy in the black trenchcoat lifted the hand not nursing his back in appeasement. "No. No. I got the hint. The surprise attack obviously failed, okay? Just let me salvage my robots and limp home to lick my wounds in peace."
Raimundo grinned to his fellow monks while indicating towards Jack with his thumb as though to suggest he was laughable. Kimiko and Clay, the petite Japanese girl and large Texan cowboy respectively, did chuckle again, but the smallest yellow-skinned boy widened his eyes towards a scrape on his own forearm.
"Is that sanitary?" he questioned. "I would think that medicine would be far more effective than licking for healing wounds."
Jack scoffed and sent his eyes skyward. "It's not literal, Opi. It just means I don't wanna fight again. I'm good."
"Oh. That is most wise then, as you would suffer an even more humiliating defeat than the one you have just suffered," Omi nodded reasonably, ignoring the common slight towards his name. Then Jack's words caught up with him and he perked with a happy gasp. "Did you just say you are good?!"
Brow pinching in perplex, Jack picked up one of the tops to his robots' heads and returned, "Uh. Yeah..? I'm good. All done. No more attacks from Jack. Today."
Suddenly seeming reinvigorated, Omi leaped into the air with a huge beam. "That is most wondrous news, Jack Spicer! I knew that you would one day see the error of your ways! No doubt it is because you have just spent the last timeline as Good Jack and have seen the benefits of leaving the Heylin side!"
He attempted to rush forward and enthusiastically welcome the other boy to the light side with a hug, only to find a fingerless-gloved palm smacking against his forehead and pushing him back as he continued scurrying in place. Jack's head turned away in perturb as he dropped the piece of scrap.
"Wha-ugh, this again? I didn't mean good like that, Cheese Ball! Why is it that every time the world gets saved from ten thousand years of darkness, you think I'm ready to just drop everything and join the Dingus Patrol?"
Omi stopped pressing forward against Jack's palm and let his shoulders sag in disappointment. "Because you are always so instrumental to ending the ten thousand years of darkness..." To him it seemed obvious that Jack was heading towards a greater destiny than the one he envisioned for himself. Although, Omi had also just witnessed a future where he was awfully successful on that envisioned path as well. It had been a very trying day full of time travel and parallel destinies.
Jack's head went back there, cheeks tinting as he pulled his hand away like touching Omi suddenly burned. Sharply, he pushed a sulk onto his face and looked off to the side. Luckily he didn't have to try and justify himself, for Kimiko chimed in to try and correct Omi as kindly as possible.
"He only helps us because he wants to rule the world, remember, Omi?" she prompted, "Or because he's not himself. I doubt he'd choose the same things he did as Good Jack if he were in the same spot."
Standing straighter, Jack confirmed, "Y-Yeah! Of course that's the only reason I'd help you! My good side's done nothing but ruin my rotten evil name! It's a good thing we got merged back together, because now I can...I can keep him buried deep down where he belongs! I'm never helping you guys again! Count on it!" A vigorous finger wag went the quartet's way as Jack oversold the declaration a little bit.
"Suits us fine," Clay passed off while Omi only sagged further.
"Speaking of evil, Jack," Raimundo considered, rubbing his chin as he observed the remnants of the battlefield, many others now having risen, monks helping each other tend to their injuries and many villains leaving after their defeat, "How did you get all these villain guys rallied up like that? It kinda looked like you were at the head of it if I had to guess. Which is weird since it's really hard to picture Chase Young or Wuya or even Le Mime listening to your whiny orders."
"I am not whiny!" Jack whined loudly in defense.
"Yeah, and yer also a total yellow belly," Clay nodded with a smirk, "Leadin' any sort of charge just ain't yer style."
"Hey! I've led stuff!" Jack continued arguing, "And what do you mean yellow belly? Look at Omi! He's all yellow!" His palms thrust for the short boy. Surely that meant Omi was worse than him!
Omi's brow lowered as he looked up towards Clay. "I must admit, I am most confused as to where the insult lies in that statement."
Clay fumbled some. "Well it's...you see it's like...ugh, never mind. Ah'm tryin' to call him a coward is what."
"Oh. Then...why did you not say that? And what is cowardly about the color yellow?"
"Anyway!" Raimundo stepped between the two before the conversation drifted somewhere entirely uncomfortable, "Point being, it's really weird that this attack just happened out of nowhere, right after we got time all sorted out, and appears to have had Jack as its frontman! Yes? Yeeees?" He nodded with distracting emphasis at both friends. Then he turned for Jack, who looked like he was hoping for a fight between the monks to break out. "So? What the dilly-o, Spicer?"
The redhead blanched as the spotlight was thrown back to him, not really wanting to speak in the awkward mood, but then supposed this was a pretty good opportunity to gloat, and reinforce that he was in fact evil. Perhaps to himself as well as the monks. It had been a confusing day.
"Well, as you may have already heard me saying," the pasty boy began with a haughty cross of his arms, "It was supposed to be a surprise attack. You see, after my tactful decision to leave the temple once the timestream or whatever saw fit to dump me in with you losers..."
The Dragons all shared a knowing, skeptical look recalling this departure. In their memories, there had been a lot more panicked screaming and tears after Jack experienced the three created timelines merging.
"...I headed to the gate. Once I reached it, though, I found that all my old prisoners happened to be dropped right at your doorstep too. Right where I'd left them." Jack puffed proudly recalling that in the first timeline, he'd risen to power for eighty whole years and kept all of his old cohorts as his playthings in a mighty totalitarian prison, made overtop the ruins of the Xiaolin Temple, enjoying much revenge for the increasing levels of mockery they'd had for him before his rise.
Now a slightly more uneasy tinge entered the four warriors' faces, remembering that future all too well. Particularly Omi felt a twinge in his chest as it was mentioned, recalling some exceedingly dark things he'd witnessed while there.
"Well, seeing them all there, I, Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius, felt inspired. You losers should all be as weak-kneed and out of it from whatever temporal gobbledy gook you broke as the rest of us, so there was no way you'd be ready to face an army! All we had to do was shake off the nausea first! It seems like everyone else remembered their lives as my own little ant farm, too, because the pitch went down rather well."
A smirk here, the goggled boy reveling in the memory of power, having so many others standing before him and unsure in a very delicious way. Feeling more inclined to listen because they'd finally witnessed firsthand what he could be capable of if given a mere chance. A future where some of them had even died. He took relish in a tiny waver crossing the monks' faces as they found these thoughts as well.
"Uuuunfortunately," Jack then shrugged, "Right after I'd gotten everyone onboard, you guys had to come out and spoil the surprise. Way to go. By the way, dig the new threads, Raimundo. Black, red and gold? Very nice." His hands formed twin 'okay' signs as he approved his favorite color scheme. Raimundo suddenly felt a lot grosser about wearing the Wudai Leader's robes.
Folding his arms again, Jack breezed, "Chase seemed to have his own plan, turning around to just go find Bean once we got rolling, but whatever. We still almost had your sorry butts. Go evil!" His fists now raised in a cheer, only for him to wince and grab at his back again thanks to the sudden movement. "Ahh..!"
Correcting his posture, Jack took a less animated approach to finishing his speech. "Anyway, how's that for whiny and not qualified for leadership? You guys have seen what I can do. It's only a matter of time before the Prince of Darkness rises again!"
Admittedly, this had taken a more dour turn than any of the Dragons had expected. Jack had really earned enough of a reputation in one reality to carry over once all three had been merged?
Kimiko's brow furrowed. "Not gonna happen. You didn't have Omi in that future, and now things are back to the way they should be!" Pointedly, she put a hand on the smaller monk's shoulder in front of her.
"Yup, so Ah reckon it's yer sorry butt what's gonna get whupped," Clay affirmed.
Jack clutched his stomach for a short laugh. "You really think Cue Ball's gonna make that big a difference? Like he's going to stop my evil rise to power! I've seen my future, baby, and I'm aiming for it all over again!"
Omi's expression had become grimly serious the more Jack said, and now he stepped forward to add his own piece.
"Rest assured, Jack Spicer," he evenly decreed, "That if that is the path you wish to walk, then I will most certainly do everything in my power to prevent that outcome from repeating." A thick pause stretched for a moment as the pair's gazes held. It was Jack's turn to feel a nervous waver. Then Omi spoke again.
"But, remember as well, that there was another path."
Jack grimaced as his lovely evil thoughts were now tainted by the second path he'd buried under them. The other future without Omi, where he had been stuck as the good half of himself he'd come out of the Yin Yang World as. The future where when Omi had needed to get to his past self frozen in the temple basement, he'd selflessly thrown himself to Master Monk Guan's army of warrior cats to allow Omi to do so. As Omi had said, becoming integral to setting the timestream straight.
Jack's fists tightened.
Omi pressed, "The future can always be changed. You could choose a different path, Jack Spicer. Or, if you do not..." His stare hardened. "I will not let you steal the lives of my friends in front of me again."
A chill went up Jack's spine at those words, and he couldn't help taking an intimidated step back.
The other monks didn't comment this time, feeling the grave chill themselves and remembering that moment all too well.
But Omi wasn't done. In a softer but just as weighted tone, he insisted, "I see the conflict in you, Jack Spicer. You struggle to belong. Partnership after partnership. Betrayal after betrayal. World's end after world's end. I believe you wish to try another way, but you are afraid. You have all but told this to me. It is up to you to choose, but I know that I for one would much prefer becoming your friend. I feel a new, third path would be preferable for us all."
Taking a bolstering inhale, Jack let his own eyes narrow, holding onto the newfound respect he'd just barely gotten a taste of. That's what he wanted. Omi...Omi didn't know what he was talking about.
"Only you and Guan saw me in the second timeline," he argued, "And I was stuck. I didn't have power, either. I just did one lame thing that let you be the hero. I'll never choose good, Omi. To everyone else, I'm now destined to be the greatest evil mastermind the world has ever seen, and that's what I'm gonna be!"
A breath slipped out through Omi's nostrils. Though they were both battered, he then took a fighting stance towards Jack. "I suppose we shall see."
Bristling, Jack gritted his teeth. He never preferred to be the one jumping into combat, favoring hordes of robotic minions he could command, but now he felt the future he had declared challenged. That new taste of power he so desperately wanted. If he was going to get it, he was going to have to be more determined than ever, and not back down.
Letting out a yell, Jack charged for the shorter teen. The altercation merely lasted a handful of seconds, the upper hand obviously Omi's, and it ended with an upper kick that sent Jack soaring through the air.
Jack hollered anew as he flew, only to suddenly pause and blink, noting to himself, "Hey, I think that just fixed my back...nice!" Then his face met the dirt as he skidded another good yard or two, legs flailing up over his head.
Back at the temple gate, Omi watched his rival soar with a mix of the usual satisfaction that came from trouncing him, and regret. These emotions he let go with a small sigh from his mouth.
Kimiko's hand landed on his shoulder again. "Don't worry about it," she encouraged, "It's just Jack Spicer. There's no way we can lose to him when we're all together, even if he does get all big and bad blowhard again."
"Not if just one of us can keep kicking him like a cross-field soccer goal," Raimundo chirped, trying to lighten things up, "Besides, we've got my brilliant leadership now. Keeping him in check'll be a piece of cake."
"Sure, and it's not yer fault you can't sell him on changin' his ways," Clay sympathized, "Spicer's always been a no-good dirty low-down snake. He couldn't even handle bein' on our side for one day..!"
Together the three behind Omi shared a chuckle as they recalled the instance of Jack actually attempting to join the temple in a bout of listless identity crisis. Successfully, they managed to unburden their hearts as they shared memories of making Jack do all of their chores and constantly hazing him as he worked.
Omi passed his friends a small smile, but then kept his eyes out towards Jack as the albino boy staggered his way upright and activated his backpack style helibot to fly into the sunset. The Dragons dispersed to help with the battle's clean up, but Omi's thoughts were only after Jack Spicer. The taller boy truly did look lost as he drifted away. No allies around, his hunch betraying what looked very much like a stewing mind lest Omi was mistaken. And his friends' words...they only served to weigh on Omi's mind more.
The other monks were unaware, but Omi was much more affected by that single day than they. He'd laughed with them and enjoyed teasing Jack, but he'd also placed himself in a mentor position. He'd begged and pleaded, arguing the case for Jack to stay at the temple to Master Fung, the head monk in charge of training the Dragons. He'd offered to take full responsibility of Jack, and been so thrilled to have won over the boy he'd been trying to convince of his good potential ever since they'd first saved the world together. He'd trusted Jack completely to try his very hardest, and for that one day...he had.
But then temptation had struck. The temple had been raided, and Jack gave up trying for what he thought was a quick and easy appeal back into the good graces of his evil acquaintances.
Omi had never told anyone how crushed he was over that single day. How the bottom had dropped out of his stomach when he turned from giving Jack due credit for saving the temple, only to find that he had fled before he could realize that that was his moment to find acceptance. Omi had never told anyone that he'd felt so strongly about this betrayal that that was why he joined forces with Katnappe to break into Jack's house and demand a confrontation. That the truth had come out in quite probably the most raw, conversational Xiaolin Showdown any of them had ever had. Not only had he confirmed to Jack that he'd believed in and rooted for him, but that Jack had tried his best at being good, only to flee because he feared he wouldn't be good enough at it.
Jack claimed that the difference between the two futures he'd seen was that the one where he was good resulted in a lack of power, but what Omi saw was that even without special powers capable of ruling the world or even his robots, Jack acting for the side of good had still made saving the world possible. Imagine if Jack actually chose to hone his skills like Omi continued to plead. He would make an incredible ally, Omi was sure. He would make a true and reliable friend.
Truly, the small monk would do whatever he needed to in order to protect his home and those dearest to him, but if he could convince Jack Spicer to stray from the Heylin path, doing so would certainly make everyone happier.
As Jack faded from sight, Omi turned his back to the horizon and focused his elemental chi to begin creating ice packs for anyone in need. He decided. It was time he took another sneak visit to Jack Spicer on his own.