Completing the Puzzle
Max was right that this was just the beginning, but already, things were about to go from bad to worse. It was still hard to believe someone like Omi would turn over to the dark side. "I never thought this would happen. Omi has a good heart. True, he doesn't think like we do or even understand our dialects, but that's part of what makes him who he is: kind, curious, funny-,"
Max interrupts Emily and tells her, "He's not who he used to be. Still, I agree. I thought this would happen to Raimundo." She turned to him and smiled nervously. "Uh, no offense, Rai."
"None taken," he assured her. "Even I figured the exact same thing."
"No, you learned your lesson," said Emily. "You wouldn't be tempted again. Omi is… another person."
It didn't matter to the heroes that the world belonged to Chase and Omi had turned evil. They weren't going to stop until they found a way to get their friend back. Meanwhile, at Chase's palace, Omi was practicing his martial arts. He wanted nothing more than to fight and it didn't matter who he wanted to fight. Chase assured him he had all the time he needed and that the time would come soon.
"This is most opportune," Chase told himself. "Princess Emily won't fight because she thinks she can recover the friend she lost. That's the downside of love. Instead of saving her friend, Princess Emily will only end up losing herself and I'll be able to deliver her to the Dark Lord."
"How are you going to do that?" Wuya asked.
He held his Cobalt Star shard between his fingertips. "These Cobalt Star shards connect us, his servants, to Cobalt himself. They can also open the gateway between our worlds and the Shadow Realm, where the Dark Lord resides."
"I thought the Dark Lord himself was the Cobalt Star," said Wuya. "Or is it the other way around?"
"Same principle," Chase told her. "But the Shadow Realm is the Dark Lord's domain. With the princess imprisoned there along with the Millennium Star, she'll be trapped in his clutches forever and Cobalt will rule all." Chase turned his attention to Omi and said, "While I admire your dedication, Omi, you will need to choose your battles most wisely."
"I will as long as I get to fight," Omi promised him.
"From now on, you will remain at my side, serving the Dark Lord and fighting only for the dark forces," Chase decreed. "We are destined to take evil to a new level. But, first, you must swear your loyalty to me."
Without thinking, Omi immediately pledged his allegiance to Chase Young. "I do swear my loyalty to you."
Chase was pleased to hear that. "Harness your skills wisely and use them to defeat your enemies."
Wuya was beginning to lose her patience. "He was less annoying when he was on the side of good."
Even Chase saw that his inner evil needed some fine-tuning. "For a fallen warrior, his dark side isn't so dark. We'll have to train him in the ways of evil."
Back at the Xiaolin Temple, while the heroes were looking through the scrolls, Kimiko found Dojo-bot and showed her friends a recording of when the temple was attacked. Chase Young invaded the temple and used the Ying Yo-yo to trap Master Fung in the Yin-Yang world. What happened next was that Chase sent his warriors to attack the heroes. The reason no one remembered what happened was because Chase used the Wushan Geyser to erase their memories of the battle.
What the heroes didn't understand was how Chase had the Ying Yo-yo when they remembered Jack escaping with it. It turned out Chase created a counterfeit Shen-Gong-Wu and took the real one while everyone was occupied with their fight at the forest. When he came to the Temple, he took back the common yo-yo and presented Omi with the real Shen-Gong-Wu, convincing everyone that Jack had the Ying Yo-yo all along.
One mystery was solved, but that was just part of the puzzle. There was no time to find the rest of the pieces and put them together, however. Chase Young had returned to the Temple. Omi was there too, ready to fight. The heroes tried to reason with Omi, telling him that Chase used him, led him like a dog on a leash. Of course, he wouldn't listen. Chase commanded him to have his fun.
Omi managed to take down Raimundo. Clay tried to wrangle him up using the Lasso Boa Boa, but Omi grabbed the Shen-Gong-Wu and wrapped it around Clay. Kimiko tried to use the Woozy Shooter, but Omi was too fast. He escaped the fumes and pushed Kimiko towards them, making her inhale them and become dazed. Raimundo got back up and tried to use the Silk Spitter to trap Omi in a web, but only ended up trapping his friends. Omi knocked him towards the web, trapping him as well.
Omi was ready to attack Emily, but Chase stopped him. "No," he shouted. "She belongs to the Dark Lord." Omi growled and reluctantly moved aside.
Emily was still angry at Chase for what he did. "I'd thank you for stopping him, but you and I both know that's not how it turned out."
"You should be grateful," Chase remarked. "I stopped him because he seems to have forgotten that I must be the one to defeat you. Then again, you've already lost. Try as you might, there's not a thing you can do to get through to Omi. He's mine. And you, young princess, will be Cobalt's."
"Never," Emily growled. She got back on her feet, but before she could attack, Chase swung her away.
"You Millennials think love and friendship make all the difference," Chase taunted. "Take a good look, young princess. This is what true power is all about."
"No, Chase," Max argued. "It's not."
Chase grinned. "Max, my dear. You're not worth the effort. A fellow follower of Cobalt such as yourself should be fighting with me, not against me."
"There's a reason for that," she told him. "I know my friends from my enemies. For us to be against each other, that is the way it must be."
"Have it your way," Chase said and grabbed her arm. He tossed her in the same web. He and Omi took their leave.
After Dojo freed the heroes, everyone went down to inspect the vault. Chase said he had no interest in Shen-Gong-Wu, but that didn't mean he couldn't use them for his own benefit. From what the heroes knew in the past was that Chase acquired certain Shen-Gong-Wu for the most opportune times. Perhaps this was no different. Their suspicions were confirmed when they saw that the Serpent's Tail was the only Shen-Gong-Wu that was taken. History was about to repeat itself.
And it did. Using the power of the Serpent's Tail and the Reversing Mirror, Wuya became flesh and blood again. However, her powers had been contained by Chase. Wuya and Chase knew each other very well and agreed that they were both untrustworthy. Chase knew Wuya would try to double-cross him and take his power, so he sealed her power before she could get that opportunity.
Another piece of the puzzle had been discovered by Dojo. While he was tending to Master Fung, he found missing information on the Ying Yo-yo. It turned out it was half of one Shen-Gong-Wu. It had a twin called the Yang Yo-yo. They both serve as a gateway to the Yin-Yang world. When the twins are together, the user can return from the Yin-Yang world as their own person. But when the Shen-Gong-Wu are separated and used individually, the user returns to from the Yin-Yang world incomplete. Bluntly speaking, if someone who follows the path of good uses one of the two Yo-yo's and comes back from the Yin-Yang world, their evil side will take over and vice versa. The side that was left behind becomes chi in a bottle. That was why Omi had changed so much. That was also why Master Fung was dormant in a state of meditation; to keep his evil side contained.
Now that the heroes knew what to do to turn their friends back to normal, they decided they had to go to the Yin-Yang world and recover their chi. Many of them weren't sure, but Dojo assured the heroes that the Yang Yo-yo was hidden somewhere in the Yin-Yang world. All they had to do now was go to Chase's palace and get back the Ying Yo-yo.
Dojo brought the heroes to the palace, but the entrance was blocked by Chase's warriors. Dojo had an idea and told the heroes to use the Sweet Baby Among Us. The heroes had never used that Shen-Gong-Wu before, but they were about to find out what it was capable of. It came to life as a colossal infant and attacked the warriors. It was even bigger than the cyclops and took down the beast with ease. Now that Chase's guards had been defeated, the heroes could enter the palace.
Chase actually wanted the heroes to enter his palace, so he welcomed them inside. "We've been expecting you," he said grimly. Omi used the Orb of Tornami to hose them down with water, but Raimundo countered using the Sword of the Storm. Omi stopped the water by freezing it with his Tornado Strike. Kimiko tried to attack using the Thorn of Thunderbolts, but Jack used the Reversing Mirror to repel the attack back at her. It turned out the thunderbolts broke through the wall behind them, revealing the Ying Yo-yo. Max grabbed it and used it to open the portal to the Yin-Yang world.
The heroes passed through. Dojo tried to follow, but was being held back by Jack. Emily used her strength to pull them both in. Jack thought he had everyone trapped, but soon realized he was trapped. He began groveling again. "I surrender! Don't hurt me!"
"Relax," Emily assured him. "No one's going to hurt you. So stop whining like a miserable, spoiled puppy."
Suddenly, everyone heard Omi's voice. "Hello, my wonderful friends." They all looked down and saw his face on the floor. "I may look bigger now, but no bigger than the joy I feel towards all of you. If I had arms, I would give you all hugs. If I had legs, I would leap for joy."
"But you don't," Max reminded him. "All that's here of you now is your face."
"The Yin-Yang world is a wondrous place limited by one's imagination," said Omi.
"You would only know that based on the time you've spent in this world, learning about it," said Emily. "But maybe you can tell us where to go. Can you help us find the chi we came here to find?"
He could. Omi brought them to the aisles containing the same vials he saw when he rescued Master Fung. The heroes found the vials containing Omi's chi and Master Fung's. Now that they had the chi they needed, the heroes needed to find the Yang Yo-yo so they could return to their world whole.
"We have to find the Yang Yo-yo, but it could be anywhere," said Emily.
"Only Dojo can track it down," said Max. "Since he hid the Shen-Gong-Wu, we should look in the last place we'd ever expect to find it. Or maybe the second to last place because even Dojo wouldn't hide it in the last place because-" then it came clear to her. "Because it's Dojo." She reached inside his ear and pulled out a string. At the end of the string was the Yang-Yo-yo. Now Dojo understood why he had a hard time hearing everything since he came to the Yin-Yang world and the Yo-yo didn't reveal itself until after they came to the world.
Max and Emily combined the Yo-yos together, opening the doorway back to the Xiaolin world. It happened like they were taught. They returned whole as their own persons. Now they had to make Omi and Master Fung whole again. The task wouldn't be easy. Omi just wanted to fight. With the chi in her hand, Kimiko used the Manchurian Musca to enter Omi's head through his ear. Jack got the same idea and used the Changing Chopsticks and followed her.
Emily wouldn't give up. "Omi, you must remember who you are. You never liked to fight. Not like this, anyway. You fought to protect people, not hurt them." As usual, Omi wouldn't listen. Clay and Raimundo managed to catch him before he could hurt her.
"She's right, partner," Clay groaned.
"You have to remember what you're fighting for," Raimundo added. Omi broke free from their grips.
"I guess we're just wasting our breath," said Max. "Shadow Blitz! Darkness!" And she unleashed a wave of darkness on Omi.
"Omi, we're only doing this because we're your friends. So prepare to be knocked back to your senses! Luminous Wave! Light!" Emily unleashed her wave of light. Omi absorbed their attacks and put them together, cancelling each other out. Using his Heylin power, Omi used his Tornado Strike to attack the heroes.
Emily tried again. "Omi, you're an honorable warrior. You made a promise to me that you would help me get the Cobalt Star shard so I could go home. You can forget it. I don't care about that anymore. I just want you to come back with us."
"And I want you to fight," Omi growled. He used the power of water to create fists, attacking her and the others. He was about to drown them in his water, but Max used her strength to grab him and stop his attack. Omi freed himself from her grip and began using his Tsunami Strike.
Inside Omi's head, sparks of electricity from his nervous system were zapping everywhere. Kimiko lost her grip on the chi, but Jack caught it for her and graciously gave it back to her. He also used the Reversing Mirror to protect her by repelling the sparks. She managed to find the right spot and deposited Omi's chi into it.
Omi stopped his attack, feeling a strange sensation. Kimiko and Jack exited Omi's head and turned back to normal. After clearing his vision, Omi happily saw his friends surrounding him. "Kimiko, Raimundo, Max, Clay, Emily," he said happily. "I was ready to humiliate you in battle, but I have no idea why."
Tears of joy fell from Emily's eyes. "That doesn't matter anymore. You're back." She got down and gently embraced him.
"Omi, I've missed you so," Jack said happily.
Omi felt awkward about that. "Okay, now I am most concerned."
Max understood his behavior. "Jack brought the Reversing Mirror with him when he followed us into the Yin-Yang world. So instead of coming out whole, he left behind all of his evil." In response, Jack smiled cheerfully and gave a thumb's up.
"I hate to interrupt such a nauseating moment," Chase was saying, "but we have some serious evil left on the agenda."
"You've got no hold on Omi," said Clay. "He's got his chi back and you ain't gettin' your grubby hands on him."
Chase said differently. "Omi swore his loyalty to me."
"Oh, no," Emily gasped silently. That was why Chase said Omi belonged to him.
"He wasn't himself back then," said Kimiko.
"Omi is going nowhere except back with us," said Raimundo. He tried to attack Chase, but the warrior took on his reptilian form and caught Raimundo by his hands. Clay used the Monsoon Sandals to reach for Raimundo and bring him back down.
Chase approached the heroes with his army of warriors. Dojo grew large and tried to breathe fire at Chase, but the warrior absorbed the attack. Using the power of his Cobalt Star shard, he turned the flame dark and used it to recall Omi's memory of pledging his allegiance to Chase Young.
Omi stopped his friends. "Chase Young is right. As a Xiaolin monk, I am bound by my word. I have no choice but to stay." Chase used his power to bring Omi to his side and turn him into a jungle cat like he did to the many other warriors who pledged fealty to him. Omi was now a lion cub.
Emily tried to approach him, but Max stopped her. She set her hand on her shoulder and shook her head. "As I said before, young princess, Omi belongs to me. So much for love," Chase tormented.
Dojo set everyone on his back and began carrying them away from the palace. Emily looked back and saw Omi watching them leave. She released her tears for him. Max placed her hand over her shoulder once again. Emily turned around and began sobbing on Max's chest. Max didn't normally like this, but she let Emily cry on her for her sake.