Bigger Isn't Always Better
A new Shen-Gong-Wu called the the Wings of Tinabi had just been revealed. This treasure allowed the user to fly like an eagle and leave behind a trail of a rainbow vapor. Emily thought this was her kind of Shen-Gong-Wu. Back home, she was known as the Rainbow Duelist because of her Crystal Beasts and Rainbow Dragon.
At the designated spot, a monstrous cyclops was digging through the well and pulled out the Wings of Tinabi. The cyclops was big and monstrous, but not very intelligent. Still, the monks had never fought against such a creature and needed to be careful. He was large and mighty and he also had the power of a laser gaze. Attacking head-on was useless, so the monks tried to combine their powers with the Dragon Excume formation. But the cyclops attacked with his laser gaze as he stared at the monks. Without giving them time to recover, the cyclops used the Wings of Tinabi to escape with Jack and Wuya following them.
Right now, all everyone could do was try to think of a plan to bring down the cyclops. Max and Emily had faced many monsters before, even without magic. But the cyclops was aleady proving to be a new kind of threat. Omi thought he could build up his size and strength with exercise, but it only seemed to diminish his weight as it put him in shape.
Omi decided to try a different approach and eat his way to becoming bigger and stronger. Raimundo got an idea and used the Changing Chopsticks to shrink the food on the table. At that moment, Omi was struck by inspiration. Normally, the Changing Chopsticks shrink the user to the size of a grain of rice. But when combined with the Reversing Mirror, the user would grow as big as a mountain. So Omi combined the Shen-Gong-Wu and now he was more than twice as big as the cyclops.
If only Omi had waited. Dojo had alerted everyone that a new Shen-Gong-Wu had revealed itself. It was the Glove of Jisaku, a treasure that worked like a magnet and attracted metallic and non-metallic objects. Omi was too big to ride on Dojo and had to trail behind by walking. He also borrowed Kimiko's GPS to track Dojo on the way.
The Glove of Jisaku was hidden in a distant valley. Already, Clay and the cyclops were in a Xiaolin Showdown. Clay made the first move using a technique called the Seismic Kick to attack the cyclops and force him against the stone pillars. The cyclops saved himself from falling by using the Wings of Tinabi. Clay used the Reversing Mirror to make the cyclops fly in the wrong direction. The cyclops crashed into a pillar, but unfortunately, Clay was standing on the pillar next to it. The cyclops broke it down and Clay fell to the bottom, ending the Xiaolin Showdown.
At that time, Omi finally caught up to his friends. Omi blamed himself for Clay's loss and said it was because of his hasty determintation that he did not make it in time to challenge the cyclops. Omi decided to revert back to his original size, but as he used the Changing Chopsticks, he was smaller than he usually was. He used the Chopsticks again until he was the size of a grain of rice.
Max stopped him. "You used both the Changing Chopsticks and the Reversing Mirror to get yourself into this. I think you need both to turn back to normal."
"Unfortunately, the Reversing Mirror belongs to the Helyin team now," Emily said sadly. She took her ribbon and tied one end around Omi and the other end around her wrist. "Here, this'll hold on to you and keep you close."
"Thank you, Emily," Omi said appreciatively. He didn't want to walk back to the temple given his situation.
That night, Omi decided to take a walk in the courtyard. He had never explored it while being so small before. But the insects were of a bigger threat to him now. Thankfully, Clay came to his rescue and brought him back inside. To help make the situation tolerable, the rest of the Dragons cleaned the birdhouse and made it a temporary residence for their little friend. But temporary can be a dangerous word because of its definition. Omi was warned that if he did not return to normal before the next day would be through, Omi would remain his current size forever.
The monks had to get back the Reversing Mirror, so they hurried to the Spicer Residence. Jack was busy giving the cyclops a bath near the falls. But the monster sensed the trespassers and was ready to attack them.
Raimundo used the Sword of the Storm to create a fierce wind, but the cyclops broke through it. Emily tried a technique called the Luminous Wave to temporarily blind the cyclops and attack him, but the creature managed to counter attack though he was in a daze. Max decided to give it a try with her Shadow Blitz, but instead got thrown against a tree. Kimiko tried to contain the beast using the Tangle Web Comb, but the cyclops broke free. Clay used the Fist of Tebigong to attack the cyclops in the shin, but managed to get stepped on as the monster jumped in pain.
Wuya saw what was going on and taunted the heroes. "You might as well give up. None of you are a match for Cyclops."
"We'll never give up," Kimiko groaned. "Not until we get the Reversing Mirror."
Wuya understood their predicament. "We all want to help your little friend Omi."
Jack held out the Reversing Mirror and came up with a bargain. "We'll trade you the Reversing Mirror for all of your Shen-Gong-Wu."
"We can't agree to that," Kimiko cried.
"It's that or Omi will remain tiny forver," Jack warned.
But the heroes stood by their answer. They returned to the temple empty-handed. They told Omi what happened, but he said he would have done the same thing.
The timing of Shen-Gong-Wu activating just doesn't seem to get worse for the heroes either. This time, it was the Thorn of Thunderbolts, a treasure that unleashed lightning. Omi had enough of sitting around and wanted to finally take action in correcting the damage he caused himself.
Out in the desert, the cyclops tried to get the Thorn of Thunderbolts, but being the clumsy, unintelligent creature he is, the monster only ended up hurting himself. Jack tried to use the Wings of Tinabi, but couldn't seem to control his flight pattern and crashed into the cyclops. After recovering, the beast tried to get the Thorn of Thunderbolts. Omi wasted no time and jumped into action. Dojo swooped in close enough to the Shen-Gong-Wu and Omi landed on it. He challenged the cyclops to a Xiaolin Showdown. He decided to raise the stakes with a Shen-Yi-Bu Dare. Omi touched the Wings of Tinabi, making them shrink to his convenience so he could use them along with the Orb of Tornami against the Reversing Mirror and the Jetbootsu. The challenge was a race across the valley. The first to make it to the finish line would be declared the winner.
It was hard for Omi to keep up by simply running, so he used the Wings of Tinabi to fly across the racecourse. As for the cyclops, his vision wasn't the best and he certainly had no awareness of his surroundings. He tripped over rocks and crashed into hills. Omi slipped through a crevice. The cyclops had to go around using the Jetbootsu. He strapped the Shen-Gong-Wu on his toes, but they short-circuited after so much energy was forced into using them. The monster fell, but managed to get back on his feet after tumbling. He swated Omi like he was a common housefly. Omi saw that the cyclops was about to cross the finish line. Quiclkly, he got back on the path and used the Orb of Tornami to freeze the ground at the cyclops' feet. The beast tripped and fell on his back. He used his laser gaze to attack Omi, but the little monk managed to get across the finish line by an inch.
The Showdown was over and Omi was ready to turn back to normal. He wasted no time and used the Changing Chopsticks and the Reversing Mirror. At last, he was back to his regular size and that was the way he liked it. But he still had a big ego. But he also had a big heart and that is the true size of his strength lies.