Partners in Time
Jack invaded the Xiaolin Temple once again. But this time, he brought an arsenal of robotic cheerleaders. They were acrobatic and coordinated like human cheerleaders, but still as merciless as machines. They tossed their pom-poms and unleashed a barrage of fireballs. Omi used the Orb of Tonami to douse the flames. The cheer-bots stacked on each other, forming a pyramid. The Xiaolin Apprentices performed their Dragon Excume formation. Both teams charged at each other, but the monks were victorious. To finish the fight, the Apprentices used the powers of their elements to dismantle the cheer-bots.
Suddenly, a strange machine came down from the sky and landed in front of the battlefield. The machine activated and began projecting a message. "Greetings, Xiaolin warriors. I am Omi from the distant future, here to warn you that the world will soon be dominated by evil."
Jack cheered hearing that.
"But fear not, there is a way to prevent this disaster," the message continued. "The key to the survival of the universe as we know it lies in the future. You must find the Sands of Time before the Sands of Time themselves run out."
No one understood what that was about. "Does everyone in the future talk in riddles too?" Raimundo asked.
Master Fung used the scroll to look up the Sands of Time. This treasure not only allowed the user to travel to the past or future, but to alter time as well.
Rather than wait for the Sands of Time to be revealed, Omi decided it would be best to make haste and search right away. Dojo carried the Apprentices on his back, soaring above every continent for days. They were about to give in to their exhaustion and fall asleep until they came to Egypt and saw a sign depicting the Sands of Time. Was it a clue? The monks were too tired to care, but if it was the Sands of Time, then they had to seize the treasure and take it back to the temple.
Inside the tomb, there were statues and carvings of Egyptian figures from the old kingdom. Resting in the palms of one statue was an hourglass, assumed to be the Sands of Time. Raimundo used the Jetbootsu to fly up to the statue and take the hourglass. The Apprentices were about to leave the tomb until they were surrounded by guards. They fought the guards off, but a door opened, revealing a mummy. Kimiko used the Tangle Web Comb to contain the mummy, but what turned out to be a mummy was an actor in a costume.
The tomb turned out to be a theatre for a movie everyone was working on. That meant that the Sands of Time was just an ordinary hourglass. Suddenly, Dojo sensed the real Sands of Time. Unfortunately, the dragon was too exhausted to fly and needed time to recuperate. So the team headed to the capital where they could catch the next flight home.
All this time, the Sands of Time was hidden in the courtyard of the Xiaolin Temple. But time wasn't a luxury the Apprentices had at this moment. Jack got the Sands of Time before they did and left the temple.
Jack returned home and began using the Sands of Time to recruit the most feared and evil leaders in history. His party included Atilla the Hun, Blackbeard the Pirate, Billy the Kid, Napoleon, Cleopatra, and his own first grade teacher Mrs. Cornhaven.
The Xiaolin Apprentices broke into Jack's basement, only to come face to face with an army of historical figures. Blackbeard managed to take down Raimundo, Cleopatra overwhelmed Emily, Napoleon took Max by surprise and struck her to the ground, Clay tried to lasso Billy the Kid, but got thrown off balance, Atilla the Hun mercilessly attacked Kimiko, and Mrs. Cornhaven decided to teach Omi a lesson in manners.
Jack was satisfied. "I guess this would be the part where I trademark my new evil laugh." And he laughed triumphantly in many different ways.
"Don't you ever get tired of the evil laugh thing?" Emily asked, annoyed.
The Apprentices fought back using their Dragon Excume formation. After taking down Jack's army of historical figures, they were ready to fight Jack himself. But the self-proclaimed evil boy genius used the Sands of Time once again. This time, he used it to take a year's time off for a vacation in the Canary Islands. After that, he went to the future to recruit his elderly self. With his future self enlisted as an ally, Jack would know the location of the Shen-Gong-Wu that were soon to be revealed.
One Shen-Gong-Wu was the Sweet Baby Among Us. Jack found it before the Apprentices could. Jack also knew that the next Shen-Gong-Wu to be revealed was the Ruby of Ramses. Dojo and the monks remembered seeing it back in the theatre in Egypt and knew they had to return there before Jack would.
Jack and his army of historical figures and his future counterpart were already at the theatre, but had not yet gotten the Shen-Gong-Wu. While everyone was occupied with fighting each other, Omi snuck away using the Shroud of Shadows. He snuck inside Jack's jet and used the Sands of Time to enlist help from the future. Now Omi's future counterpart was here to join the party.
Both Jacks and both Omis touched the Ruby of Ramses, commencing a Xiaolin Showdown Tsunami. The Omis wagered the Third Arm Sash and Thorn of Thunderbolts against the Jacks' Monkey Staff and Mantis Flip Coin. The first team to make it to the top of the pyramid would win the Ruby of Ramses.
The elderly Jack used his walker like a machine. It had skis attached to it and he rode on it for additional speed. But skill and senses wane with age and the elderly Jack had little sense of direction. Jack tried to use his heli-pack to get above the maze, but was blocked by the barriers. They still managed to make it to the next level before the Omis did. The elderly Omi had a hard time keeping up with his younger counterpart, but the young Omi saved his elderly counterpart using the Third Arm Sash. Together, they made it to the next level. Though both teams were on opposite side of the maze, they managed to find the warp panel at the same time. The elderly Omi used the Thorn of Thunderbolts to zap the Jacks out of the maze. Together, both Omis touched the Ruby of Ramses and won the game.
After returning everyone back to their proper places and eras, the elderly Omi returned to the temple with the young Apprentices. He was ready to return to the future also and take the Sands of Time with him so no one in this time could misuse its power. After all, history is not meant to be meddled with and people are not meant to live in a time apart from their own. And changing the past doesn't change the future for the better either. As the saying goes: Yesterday is gone, tomorrow never arrives. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.