The Future's not Always Clear
On a cold and snowy day at the Xiaolin Temple, the monks were meditating, but had a hard time concentrating due to the sound of Dojo's itching and scratching. For him to do so meant that he had a rash from the Shen-Gong-Wu he was sensing. It was the Crystal Glasses, a treasure that allowed the wearer to see into the future. Omi boasted that he already knew what his future held for him, but his friends warned him that the future can always change.
The monks didn't want to ride Dojo because his skin was raw from his constant scratching, but they decided to deal with it. With their clothes, the heroes also put on some sanitary protection like gloves and plastic to avoid getting sick by simply touching Dojo.
They came to Russia, where it was much colder than it was at the temple. While looking for then Shen-Gong-Wu, the heroes also figured they could find a remedy to help treat Dojo'd rash. For one rouble, a merchant named Vlad coated Dojo with a remedy made from his family's recipe. Already, it was doing wonders for Dojo's complexion. After his treatment, Dojo sensed that the Crystal Glasses were hidden in a temple north from their current location.
They came to the temple and saw the Crystal Glasses positioned on the head of a statue. Much to their annoyance, Jack came along riding on his jet-powered snowmobile. His machine quickly turned into a large robot ready to fight. Jack put the Glasses on his head and was ready to escape. Kimiko used the Two-Ton Tunic to protect herself from the robot's attack and Clay used the Tangle Web Comb to snare the robot and toss it out of the temple. It crashed into Jack and the self-proclaimed evil boy genius lost control of his flight from his heli-pack. Raimundo used the Sword of the Storm to create a wind strong enough to lift Omi to the roof. Omi tried to use the Fist of Tebigong, but Jack used the Reversing Mirror to weaken the attack and make Omi punch himself in the eye. Jack thought he was victorious, but he slipped from the roof and landed on Vlad's cart, and the merchant was not happy. He was about to teach Jack a lesson, but Jack freed himself from Vlad's grip and escaped while sledding on a piece of wood.
The heroes thanked Vlad for his help. He may not have done much, but he did get the Crystal Glasses from Jack. He took them off of his head and gave them to Omi. Impressed with Vlad's displays, the heroes decided to welcome him back to the temple as a fellow student. Omi was hoping Vlad would be the last newcomer. Raimundo and Max weren't apprentices yet and still had a way to go to catch up to the others, but they outranked Vlad for training at the temple longer than he had. Raimundo decided to take advantage of Vlad by making him do everyone's chores, but the Russian lad was actually enjoying it.
A few hours later, everyone was fighting over who would get to demonstrate the power of the Crystal Glasses. As always, Omi wanted to be the first to do it because he boasted that he was better than his comrades in every way. Vlad wanted to use the Glasses because he retrieved them from Jack, but Raimundo kept putting him down, saying he had to be the last in line.
Master Fung had enough and thought of a fair way to decide. He challenged his students to a game of tag. If any one of them could simply touch his tunic while he would be wearing the Crystal Glasses, he would permit the player to use the Shen-Gong-Wu. Everyone tried to charge towards their master, but he evaded them with ease. "By simply looking into the future, I am able to predict your moves. I know them before you do." He looked at Max and Emily.
"Then you already know that I yield, knowing nothing can get past you," said Emily.
"As do I," said Max. "This was a game we couldn't win. And you knew we were about to say so."
"Indeed," said Master Fung. "The power of the Crystal Glasses should not be taken lightly," he said, securing them in the vault. "Only the wisest of dragons should attempt to use them."
Already, Max and Emily were proving to be the wisest of their companions. They had more knowledge of the Crystal Glasses than any of their friends did and were aware of the consequences. But, Raimundo, being the sneaky player he was, had a few tricks up his sleeve.
He walked outside wearing a pair of sunglasses, which confused Omi. "Why are you wearing sunglasses on a non-sunny day?"
"Maybe because I wanna look cool," Raimundo answered slyly.
"Why do you want to look cold?" Omi was thinking of the wrong definition.
"No, Omi, cool," Max corrected.
"That is what I said," he remarked, "cold."
Max tried again. "No, Omi-,"
"He's not going to get it," Emily interrupted. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and resumed shoveling the snow. She didn't know why everyone bothered trying to explain things to Omi that were too hard for him to understand. Even Max knew it was pointless.
Max shrugged and said, "Yeah, never mind."
Raimundo challenged Omi to hit him as hard as he could. Omi didn't understand, but he still accepted Raimundo's challenge. Omi tried to strike, but Raimundo evaded him. "What happened to the old tiger instincts?" Raimundo taunted. "You're so predictable." Omi tried again with a pole, but Raimundo continued to read his moves and dodge. Already, Omi saw that something suspicious was going on.
Raimundo removed his sunglasses, revealing the Crystal Glasses.
Emily saw this and rolled her eyes once more. "Why am I not surprised?"
"I knew you were gonna say that," Raimundo called to her.
Together, Omi and Raimundo were saying, "Raimundo, did you not hear Master Fung? This Shen-Gong-Wu is no toy!" Then they started growling at each other.
Omi took the Glasses from Raimundo. He was about to put them back in the vault until Vlad came by. He convinced Omi that he was the wisest of his comrades and that he was also destined to become the greatest dragon warrior. Convinced, Omi decided to use the Crystal Glasses to gaze into his future. But to his horror, the visions he saw were of destruction and he was responsible for it because he saw himself as an evil warlord and his friends were his prisoners.
The others heard about this, but didn't buy it. "You don't strike me as someone who would go over to the dark side," said Raimundo.
"You sure you were lookin' through the right side of the Glasses," Clay asked.
"More importantly, why were you looking through the Crystal Glasses?" Emily wondered.
"It was my inner evil," Omi answered. "It made me look."
"Don't be ridiculous, Omi," said Max.
"I know what must be done. To stop this evil, I must give up my position as a Xiaolin Dragon."
"If you do that, you're giving the world to the evil side," Max warned him.
Unable to take any more, Omi ran from the halls until he bumped into Vlad. The Russian told him to perform a noble purpose by leaving and never returning. Omi decided to take his word and leave the temple forever.
The next day, the heroes noticed that Omi was missing. Raimundo found a letter, saying that Omi was leaving and never coming back and that it was for the best. Max got an idea and requested to use the Crystal Glasses to find Omi. After some consideration, Master Fung decided that using the Glasses for a purpose like that would be considered wise. The future Max saw revealed that she and the others would find Omi at a frozen river near a rock chaped like a hawk.
It was just as she predicted. They found Omi at the designated site trapped in a block of ice and brought him back to the temple to thaw him out and warm him up. "You should not have come for me. Did you not read my letter?"
"We did," Emily answered. "And we don't believe it."
Raimundo was about to get more firewood until he saw Dojo. The dragon warned them that Vlad was working for Jack and that even more Shen-Gong-Wu had been revealed. He urged the heroes to jump on his back, but most of his scales were gone and his skin was still raw from being scratched so much. But once again, they wore protection and endured it.
It was just as Dojo warned the heroes. Vlad, Jack, and Wuya were together gathering the Shen-Gong-Wu. But the villains were surprised to see that Omi was with them again. Nonetheless, Jack ordered his Jack-bots to attack the heroes.
As everyone was fighting, Omi learned the truth. What he saw was not his future. Vlad tricked him by using the Reversing Mirror, making Omi see a false future. Now that Omi knew the truth, he was ready to get back at Vlad by facing him in a Xiaolin Showdown for the collection of Shen-Gong-Wu. In the game, the first one to escape before the dungeon would fill with water would be declared the winner. Omi wagered the Crystal Glasses for Vlad's Two-Ton-Tunic.
Vlad took the lead, but Omi kept trying to block his path with the artifacts in the arena. Vlad used the Two-Ton Tunic to protect himself and keep running down the path. Omi used the Crystal Glasses to predict where the artifacts would attack from and dodged them.
They kept running around until they wound up back together. Escape seemed impossible, but Omi was the Dragon of water and knew how to use his element to his advantage. He used the water like a terminal, leading him to the Shen-Gong-Wu, taking his friends along for the ride, and escaping from the dungeon. Dojo, who had healthy skin again, carried everyone back to the temple.
The heroes learned an important lesson. The funny thing about the future is you can never know what it holds because it's always changing with the course of every action. But looking into the future can also cause it to happen. But you can still change it by taking every second and every minute as you go. Sometimes, it's best to just leave well enough alone too.