Screams of the Siren
In the middle of the arctic, Emily finally got the chance to engage in a Xiaolin Showdown by herself. She was battling Jack for the Gills of Hamachi, a treasure that allowed the user to become amphibious. He used the Jetbootsu to gracefully skate on the ice. He was going to have to thank his mother for signing him up for those lessons. Emily wasn't going to give up. The ice was slippery to walk on, but she was careful and knew how to keep herself steady.
Jack thought it was another easy victory. After skating around, he decided to walk up the glacier. Frustrated, Emily punched the glacier, creating a small crack. This gave her an idea. She used the Orb of Tornami against the glacier Jack was walking on. The cracks began to spread to the top of the glacier and water began rushing to Jack's position. The water from the Orb got Jack's feet wet and caused the ice of the glaciers to stick to the bottom of his heels, blocking the power of the Jetbootsu.
"Dang you, Emily," Jack screamed as he fell. Emily leapt from one pile of ice to another, scaling the glacier. When she made it to the top, she grabbed the Gills of Hamachi.
As the heroes were celebrating Emily's victory, they saw a girl trapped in ice drifting towards them. Much to their surprise, she was a mermaid. She came to and introduced herself as Dyris. Another block of ice shattered nearby, revealing a brutal man. From his spear, he launched a set of explosive spheres at Dyris. Clay used the Glove of Jisaku to draw them away from her and Kimiko used the Ju-Ju Flytrap to contain them. Raimundo sent the attacker away using the Sword of the Storm.
Dyris explained that her attacker's name was Clovan and he had been after her for a long time. Much to her sadness, she revealed that she was the last mermaid of her kind in the whole world. The monks offered to take Dyris back to the temple where she would be safe, but she told them she couldn't leave the water. To do so would be a danger to her life. Omi got an idea. If Dyris couldn't ride on Dojo's back, she could ride in his mouth while it was filled with water. The boys were flattered by Dyris' charm, but the girls felt nauseated.
The boys made Dyris comfortable by letting her take refuge in the courtyard fountain. Dyris could see that the girls didn't trust her and needed to fix that. She flattered Kimiko, Emily, and Max, confessing that they were much smarter and prettier and that they could use that to their advantage to get the boys to do everything they commanded.
Convinced, Kimiko decided to give it a try. It was her turn to clean Dojo's litter box, but she asked Omi to do it for her because she was too tired after the adventure. She even complimented Omi for being so strong. Flattered, Omi left to do Kimiko's chore.
Max wasn't too impressed. "Big deal. Omi's too naïve and will fall prey to any petty trick." She smiled and said, "I'll show you how it's done." She saw Raimundo calling for his attention. "Hey, Rai, I need a favor."
He approached her and asked, "Sure, Max, what's up?"
"Run to the kitchen and get me a snack, will you?"
"But I just got back from there," he said, showing his sandwich.
"You'll have to go back there anyway to put your dishes away," she said, gesturing his glass of milk.
"Well, since you put it that way," Raimundo shrugged and returned to the kitchen.
Emily knew Max would take advantage of someone like that. "You girls may think it's funny, but I call it being lazy and taking advantage of someone."
"It's all good fun," said Dyris.
"I'm not stupid, Dyris," Emily snapped. "This isn't the way to make friends and gain someone's trust." So she stormed off and returned to her chamber.
That night, all of the monks except for Max and Emily met up outside. Omi was carrying a bucket of water, Raimundo held sponges in both hands, and Clay was carrying some fish. Kimiko asked what was going on, only to receive an answer of an attack from lasers.
Jack was attacking the temple grounds. The confused the heroes. They knew it wasn't like Jack to attack head-on. As they were fighting the robots, the heroes also noticed Clovan and had a feeling he came here looking for Dyris. Raimindo, Omi, and Clay raced to stop him, leaving Kimiko to fight the robots. Max and Emily came out to help her.
The boys were caught in Clovan's traps. By the time the hunter approached the courtyard lake, he saw that it was empty. The monks came together and were just as confused. Dyris said she couldn't leave water.
Clovan revealed to the monks that while Dyris may appear to be an enchanting mermaid, she's really a monster. He was after her to stop her from plunging the world into destruction. Dojo came by and alerted the monks that the vault had been broken into. The Shen-Gong-Wu that were stolen were the Tunnel Armadillo, Golden Tiger Claws, and Fist of Tebigong.
The way it turned out, Dyris tricked everybody. She convinced Clay to tell her about the vault because she had never seen one before. Kimiko was supposed to be on guard, but Dyris got her to convince one of the boys to do it for her. But the boys were already occupied with their own tasks. Upon Dyris' request, Raimundo activated the Tunnel Armadillo and filled it with saltwater.
"She also asked which Shen-Gong-Wu had the power to create tunnels and I told her which ones," Max confessed.
"I can't believe how naïve you all are," Emily snapped. "Clearly, Dyris wants to use the volcanic routes to melt the polar ice caps and flood the world!"
"How do you know that?" Raimundo asked.
"As I saw how Dyris was using you to take advantage of each other, I looked inside her heart to see her truth," Emily explained. "Looking inside, I saw deceit and cunning."
Max chuckled nervously. "I may have seen her ideals of destruction as I looked inside her mind."
"And you couldn't have said anything earlier?!" Emily shouted.
"I keep things on a need-to-know basis," Max replied.
"You are such an idiot," Emily snarled with her teeth clenched.
"Relax," Max was saying. "With all that Shen-Gong-Wu, Dyris would have to travel close enough to the Earth's core to set off an earthquake and there's no way she could survive down there. So I took that into account as I discovered her plan and figured there was nothing to worry about."
Dojo said differently. He knew of one Shen-Gong-Wu capable of withstanding dangerously intense heat. It was the Black Beetle. It had the ability to encase the user in a heat resistant beetle-like armor. He was just as naïve to Dyris' charm and told her where to go looking for it.
Emily growled in frustration. "Does no one use their common sense around here?!"
"Common sense isn't all that common," Max argued. "We can't all be as smart and thorough as you."
"Emily is right, though," Omi said. "We must make up for our foolishness by finding this mermonster and stopping her." Everyone agreed and began making preparations to follow Dyris' trail. Clovan decided to come along.
Dojo brought everyone back to the Arctic Ocean. Omi decided to use the Gills of Hamachi to turn into an amphibian. "The powers of the Stars allow me and Max to breathe underwater," said Emily. "We'll come along."
"And we'll be careful. Dyris is cunning, but we're not going to fall for her charms again," said Max. The girls were also able to withstand the cold better than the rest of their friends, so they followed Omi below the surface.
The Black Beetle was hidden in a sunken ship. Omi and the girls found it along with Dyris, who was happy to see them. "I hope you didn't believe all those terrible things that man said about me. But wait, how can you girls breathe underwater?"
"Sorry, Dyris, but that information is classified," said Emily.
"Simply put, we couldn't tell you if we wanted," said Max.
"Really," Dyris asked. "Well, fine. You don't belong in my world anyway." She took the Gills of Hamachi from Omi and smacked him with her tail. Emily quickly brought Omi to the surface, leaving Max to fight Dyris. The rest of the monks activated the Silver Manta Ray and used it for underwater transportation. Dyris was heading back to the Tunnel Armadillo, but Max kept holding her back. While the others were in pursuit, Jack was bombarding the Silver Manta Ray.
Omi used the Serpent's Tail to dive down to the Tunnel Armadillo and retrieve the Gills of Hamachi. Apparently, he activated the switch, causing the Tunnel Armadillo to rev up. Max and Emily went inside, hoping to get it back to the glaciers at the surface. Jack's shark robots were coming in to attack the Silver Manta Ray. Clay used the Glove of Jisaku to attract the robots, then he sent them back at Jack's ship using the Reversing Mirror. Jack escaped by ejecting himself.
The Tunnel Armadillo broke through inside an ice cavern. Omi saw the Black Beetle in the water, but he and Dyris touched it at the same time, commencing a Xiaolin Showdown. Dyris decided to wager the Fist of Tebigong against the Gills of Hamachi. The game would be over when either player would succeed in taking their opponent's Shen-Gong-Wu. They would also have their battle above the water.
That was a bad call. While submerged in water, Dyris was a mermaid. But above the surface, her true power and true form was revealed. She was a grotesque fish creature. Omi lost his grip on the Gills of Hamachi. He slid across the ice to retrieve them, but Dyris pounded the Fist of Tebigong against the ice. The Gills secured themselves around Omi's neck, turning him into a fish out of water. As a result, he couldn't breathe. Dyris gripped Omi in her fingers. He used what strength he had to remove the Gills and call upon the power of his element, drenching his opponent.
By coming in contact with water, Dyris was a mermaid again. Omi approached her and took the Fist of Tebigong from her. Omi won the Shen-Gong-Wu, but the battle wasn't over yet. Dyris turned into a monster again, wanting to fight back. Being the hunter he was, Clovan used his weapons to strike her down. The ice began to cave in on them both while the others managed to escape.
Before going home, the monks saw Jack stranded in the ocean. They knew they couldn't leave him to starve and freeze to death, so they offered him a ride home. Rather than let him ride with them in the Silver Manta Ray, Clay lassoed him up and tied him to the tail.