Dojo was flying over the forested mountains that surrounded the Xiaolin Temple after a successful Shen Gong Wu retrieval mission. The four Xiaolin Warriors sat on his back, taking turns to look at the new mystical item. The object resembled a bronze bracelet with a large violet gemstone embedded in it; a silver serpent coiled around the magic stone.
"I wonder why Jack didn't show up to fight us," Kimiko pondered aloud, passing the bracelet to Raimundo.
"He's hinted that he's got lots of new gadgets and gizmos," the Shoku leader added, handing the Shen Gong Wu to Omi. "You'd have thought he'd be eager to show them to us."
"What matters is that the Wyrm's Whisker is safely in our hands!" Omi exclaimed, holding the item up proudly.
As they neared their destination, Dojo began to slow down. As the land below them no longer looked like a blur, the dragon spotted something shiny and red amongst the green hills. It was clearly a small, motorized scooter of some kind, lying on its side.
"That's weird," Dojo said, "Didn't know you kids had one of those, but I thought you'd have known better than to just leave it lying out here!"
The four heroes looked down to see the abandoned two wheeled vehicle themselves. "It's not ours," Clay said. "Someone must've lost it in these hills."
"I'll take it back to the Temple," added Raimundo. "It's the only inhabited place in these parts; maybe its owner is waiting there! You go on ahead; tell them I'm retrieving it for them!"
"You want to keep it, don't you?" Kimiko questioned the Xiaolin dragon of wind sneakily.
Raimundo grumbled about something before leaping off Dojo, drifting down to the scooter using his powers over air. He watched his friends soar overhead as he lifted the vehicle back onto its wheels, and once they were no longer in sight, eagerly hopped onto it.
"This is so cool!" he exclaimed, starting the small but strong motor up.
Feeling like a young child again, Raimundo sped down the small dusty road that led to the Xiaolin Temple. After a few minutes, Raimundo was approaching the main entrance. Surveying the area to make sure that none of his companions had observed his glee, the Shoku leader parked the scooter to the side and walked into the Temple grounds.
"I'm back!" he announced. "Kind of a boring trip though, no fun at all."
His surroundings were eerily quiet for a second, before he heard the familiar laughter of his friends. Raimundo eagerly ran to join them, wanting to see what they found so funny. He wandered into the great hall to witness Omi, Clay, Kimiko and Master Fung cheerfully chatting with a complete stranger.
Raimundo immediately noticed that the small boy had black leader robes just like his own, but his sash was white and decorated with multicoloured stars. He had dusty brown hair; with bangs so long they obscured his left eye.
"Hey, did you lose a scooter?" Raimundo asked. "And what's with the outfit?"
The boy's gaze briefly met with Raimundo's. The newcomer smirked fiendishly before producing an orange object from his pocket. Raimundo had no time to see what it was, as it seemed to vanish in a second. Raimundo's expression changed from puzzled to a look of irritation.
"I am super duper pleased to hear that you retrieved the Wyrm's Whisker, Brian Young," Master Fung said to the small boy. "I see that you have mastered the powers of the Ratunga Slam Meister rank quite well."
"Thanks, Fung dude," the boy, Brian, replied snootily. "It wasn't easy to overcome my dark and troubled past!" Brian seemed to say the last four words with great emphasis.
"Big deal!" Raimundo exclaimed. "You're dumb! And a big stupid head!"
"Now, now, Raimundo," Master Fung said as he skipped over to Raimundo. "Brian Young is stronger than all of us combined! You should be nicer to him. He did defeat you to claim your leader rank, after all."
Raimundo grumbled to himself as Kimiko embraced Brian, giving him a big kiss. Omi was happy that their Ratunga Slam Meister leader had retrieved the Shen Gong Wu for them, but somehow he felt like something was amiss.
"Master Fung, I feel like something is not quite right," he said to the cheerful martial arts master, tugging at his sleeve.
Master Fung gave Omi a huge grin. "Oh Omi, it must be from when you betrayed us to join Chase Young! You were hopped up on Heylin power, but luckily Brian saved you and the world from his evil father!"
Omi seemed to remember it well, but still felt troubled. He briefly looked at Clay, who had been standing still in the background the whole time, completely silent and expressionless. Brian walked past him and patted him on the shoulder.
"Let's call it a day, Xiaolin Warriors!" he proclaimed as his comrades blindly followed him to their sleeping quarters.
Instead of heading off to bed, Omi immediately marched off in search of Dojo. The Xiaolin Dragon of water eventually found his green scaly friend sleeping in the garden, rousing him from his slumber with a gentle pull on his tail.
"Dojo, my mind is most troubled," he whispered as the dragon uncurled himself. "My memory is hazy and I fear that Brian's father, Chase Young, has invaded them in some unpleasant manner!"
"What do you want me to tell you, child?" Dojo said, curling himself over affectionately around Omi's head.
Omi was mildly perturbed, but continued to speak. "I have difficulties remembering how Brian joined us and ascended to Xiaolin leader. I fear that Chase Young has tampered with my memories of his son as part of his dark and convoluted plans!"
"I remember it like it was yesterday!" Dojo said with a smile. "Shortly after you beat that giant snowman, Brian came and helped us deal with that meddlesome mermaid! That's when me and Master Fung realized he was the Xiaolin Dragon of awesomeness; the fifth element!"
The Xiaolin Dragon of water smiled, remembering everything. "Brian saved Kimiko's father from Pandabubba, defeated the Heylin Plant and saved the world from Chase Young's reign of terror!"
As Omi reminisced about the events, he saw the images of them clearly in his mind. He saw Brian defeating Pandabubba in a Xiaolin Showdown inside a computer game, making Kimiko fall deeply in love with him. Then he saw Brian push the incompetent Raimundo out of the way and use the Moonstone Locust Shen Gong Wu to vanquish the Heylin Plant. Finally, he saw Brian defeat Chase Young and ascend to the rank of Ratunga Slam Meister, instantly skipping the Shoku Warrior stage between it and Wudai Warrior.
"Thank you Dojo," Omi said with a bow. Dojo giggled girlishly as the bald monk walked to the sleeping quarters.
When Omi was gone, Dojo dropped his over affectionate, out-of-character facade and produced a green gemstone Shen Gong Wu; the Memo Emerald. "I hope this plan works..." Dojo briefly noticed Brian peering out of a window and quickly coiled himself around the Shen Gong Wu before the boy could see anything.
Unfortunately, Brian had seen enough. He walked over to Dojo as he pretended to sleep, pulling out the mysterious orange object from his pocket. The item resembled a glowing feather, only its shaft had been modified to resemble the tip of a fountain pen.
"What the heck?" Brian muttered, thinking the dragon was asleep. "I thought I wrote enough!"
With a wave of the quill, an orange ghostly image began to project from Dojo's forehead. The little dragon shut his eyes even tighter and twitched as Brian began to write upon the image, which resembled the page of a book. The words upon it described exactly what had happened in the past few moments, written like a story. Brian used the orange quill to cross out some of the words and write his own words, before placing the item back into his pocket. The page of writing from Dojo's head vanished into thin air.
"That should do it," Brian mumbled, followed by a small snigger.
When Brian had walked away, Dojo reopened his eyes. He placed his fingers on his forehead and winced, before smiling and lying back down again. "Yes! They're still in there."
Morning came, and with it, another Sheng Gong Wu had revealed itself. Dojo burst into the dining hall, covered in an itchy rash. The heroes and Brian briefly moved their breakfasts away from the table to avoid any shed scales as Dojo scooted around in front of them. The painful itching was making it hard for Dojo to keep his facade up, but the dragon managed it.
"We've got another Wu alert, children!" he squealed. "It's the Chrome Copycat!"
"The what?" Brian asked.
Master Fung leapt into the room, holding the ancient scroll of the Shen Gong Wu. "Ah yes, the Chrome Copycat; a most difficult Shen Gong Wu to master. It possesses the ability to assume the form and powers of any Shen Gong Wu in its vicinity."
"That sounds dumb!" Raimundo snapped. "Let's go get this big stupid head Shen Gong Wu and get back to our dumb home, before big stupid head Spicer shows up!"
"Rai, you should stay here," Kimiko said. "We don't want you jeopardizing the mission!"
Brian panicked a little bit and stopped Raimundo from leaving. "No, no! It's all okay, he can come with us! I'm still feeling weak from the showdown with my father; we need Rai's wind element, even though he is pretty dumb."
"You're the dumb one!" Raimundo yelled. "And a big stupid head too!"
In the Temple courtyard, Dojo expanded to his full size and the five Xiaolin Warriors leapt onto his back. All of them seemed eager to get to the Shen Gong Wu, but Omi seemed disheartened. Kimiko looked back at him and patted the unhappy monk on his knee.
"What's the matter, Omi?" the warrior of fire asked him.
"I agree that Raimundo is a buffoon, but he is a Shoku Warrior," Omi replied. "But I am the one stuck behind; I am still a Wudai Warrior."
Kimiko smiled. "Slow and steady wins the race! You'll get there eventually; maybe you'll even become a Ratunga Slam Meister!"
Her words had cheered Omi up a little, but there was something troubling him. He felt like he could never attain Ratunga Slam Meister status, not because he did not have the skills for it; it felt like the rank did not exist.
As Dojo reached their destination, the Xiaolin Warriors spotted an unusual sight. Several huge boulders floated in front of them, slowly rotating in the air. They were nearing an enormous and deep crater, over which dozens of more boulders hovered in midair. Some of the gigantic, gravity defying rocks had trees and other greenery clinging to them.
"Grandmaster Dashi always told me to hide the weirdest Shen Gong Wu in the weirdest places! That scamp!" Dojo exclaimed tunefully.
The dragon swooped down and dropped his passengers off at the edge of the crater. In front them they saw the unmistakable glint of a Shen Gong Wu, positioned on a boulder floating almost directly above the centre of the massive hole. They would need to leap from boulder to boulder in order to reach it.
Brian, after seeing the considerable work that the heroes would need to do, immediately began to feign a leg injury. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to grab the Shen Gong Wu without me!"
He was acting overdramatically, but the Xiaolin Warriors believed every word he said. "But you're the dragon of awesomeness!" Kimiko exclaimed, giving Brian another kiss and a hug.
"It's only Jack!" Brian said, blushing.
The Xiaolin Warriors were suddenly alerted by the sound of laughing, and a dark figure hopping from rock to rock. Using the Falcon's Eye Shen Gong Wu to see across the great distance, Omi saw that it was Katnappé and alerted the others of her presence.
"Katnappé eh?" Kimiko said. "I'm not surprised that a cat themed Wu caught her interest."
Brian seemed to be somewhat irritated. "Katnappé? I wanted it to be Jack!" His four teammates looked at him with puzzled expressions; it sounded like Brian was eager to see the evil boy genius.
Omi turned to Clay, who had remained completely silent since they came to the Temple with the Wyrm's Whisker. "Clay, you can use the boulders to your advantage using your Shoku Jupiter Earth powers!" he yelled to the unusually quiet cowboy.
Clay began to vibrate violently, staying completely expressionless. Suddenly he opened his mouth and yelled at the top of his voice. "Yee-haw; Texas chilli cook off!"
The warrior of earth summoned a boulder towards him and used his powers to form a bridge from them. With each jump Clay made, he yelled "Yee-haw" which was sometimes followed by another stereotypical cowboy phrase. At one point, instead of moving one of the floating rocks from out of his path, Clay drilled through it using his teeth and out the other side, and spat fragments of stone out afterwards.
Katnappé slowed down to observe the Xiaolin Warrior of earth for a few moments, even as he was reaching the Chrome Copycat's boulder. "Uh, are you feeling okay?" she asked her adversary, although she was fairly sure he was not listening to her.
"He may be dumb, but he isn't a stupid head!" Raimundo yelled. "Go for it, Clay!"
"Yee-haw!" Clay exclaimed. "Shoku Jupiter Earth!"
Clay tossed several boulders at Katnappé, but although it startled her greatly, she gracefully leapt to some neighbouring rocks. The gravity defying boulders collided with each other like billiard balls, scattering in many directions.
"Hey, watch it!" Katnappé shouted. "I know I've got nine lives, but I'd be really mad if I lost one!"
"Yee-haw! Remember the Alamo!" Clay boomed, shattering a rock into pieces.
Katnappé hastily activated the powers of her Shen Gong Wu, the Ruby of Ramses, to move the boulders herself. Clay was also pushed further away, clinging onto the boulder he was standing on tightly. The feline thief smirked, using the red crystal Shen Gong Wu to levitate the boulder that carried Chrome Copycat towards her.
"Purr-fect!" Katnappé could see the mystical object clearly; it resembled a small statue of a cat, one front paw raised and a cheerful expression on its face. Its surface was shiny and very reflective, earning it its name.
"Yee-haw!" Clay leapt towards Katnappé as she was distracted by the Shen Gong Wu's sheen, punching her directly in the face.
Katnappé was sent flying with a large bruise on her cheek, but activated the Crouching Cougar in mid air and used the bestial vehicle Shen Gong Wu to hop from boulder to boulder in order to retreat. The Xiaolin Warriors all cheered except Omi, who thought Clay's actions were wrong somehow.
"You guys are insane!" Katnappé shrieked, nursing her aching face. "I thought that jerk said he'd never hit a girl!"
Omi watched Katnappé and the Crouching Cougar gallop off into the distance before turning back to Clay, who was now hopping towards his comrades with the Chrome Copycat. Clay handed the Shen Gong Wu to Brian, before resuming the eerie silence from before.
"Are you okay, Omi?" Brian questioned the monk.
"I am finding things most peculiar," Omi replied.
"You're right!" Brian added. "Jack didn't show up again!"
Dojo expanded to his full size and positioned himself in front of the group of heroes. "We better get home quickly; don't want to miss bedtime! Brian can stay up as late as he wants though!"
"But we have plenty of time!" Brian exclaimed.
Dojo scooped the five warriors up with his hand and placed them on his back. They had no time to complain as the dragon took off and reached full speed, far quicker than usual. Even after the long flight back to the Xiaolin Temple, it was still not the evening.
Once again, Omi felt troubled, and began to seek Dojo once again. Unable to find the small dragon anywhere, the warrior of water walked to his sleeping quarters, hoping that a quick nap would ease his troubled mind.
When Omi laid his head on his pillow, he felt something small, hard and uncomfortable underneath it. Omi lifted it away to find the Memo Emerald Shen Gong Wu, which had been positioned under the pillow's centre. He was not quite sure why it was there, but Omi knew the mystical objects purpose; the Memo Emerald could create an interactive recording. Dojo had previously described it as functioning like a sticky note to remind you of something, only that it was possible to have an argument with the recording.
"Perhaps someone is trying to remind me of something!" Omi whispered.
The Memo Emerald began to glow, projecting a small green image several inches above where it stood on the floor. The image became more defined, eventually becoming a tiny holographic Omi. "Ah, it's me!" the image of the water monk said, sounding relieved.
"You are certainly a pleasant shade of green!" the real Omi said with a grin.
"No time for compliments!" the hologram snapped. "You are in grave danger, Omi!"
Omi seemed puzzled. "But the Temple is very safe with Brian Young around to protect us! Evil fears his powers of the awesomeness!"
The hologram looked sullen. "That is the very reason why you are in danger! Brian Young is not the person you think he is."
"Nonsense!" Omi said haughtily. "We have known Brian for many, many months!"
"That is what he wants you to believe!" the hologram shouted. "You created this recording before he tampered with your memories! He somehow possesses a Shen Gong Wu capable of doing such a thing!"
Omi looked sad for a few seconds, but then laughed apprehensively. "That is not true, Brian is my friend. He would never do such a thing! Raimundo probably would, however. He would call me dumb and a big stupid head too!"
"No he would not," his hologram said grimly. "Brian has altered your friend's memories too, and has left their personalities as mere shadows of their former selves, so he could fit himself into everyone's lives!" The Omi image began to look around hastily. "I am not sure if his name truly is Brian Young."
Suddenly, Omi felt the memories flooding back to him. Brian Young did not feature in any, but Omi could now remember how it all started. "He came into the temple while Raimundo was bringing back that scooter! It seems that this recording has jogged my memories!" Omi's excitement about his recovered memories faded and was replaced with sadness. "But I don't want to believe that. Brian is still my companion! I can't decide which memories I want to be true!"
The hologram suddenly disappeared, and the Memo Emerald ceased its glowing. Omi knew that if he showed the Memo Emerald's recording to his friends, their true memories would awaken too. He feared that Brian was close by, watching his every move. He needed to think of a way to discretely show the hologram to everyone without getting caught. Omi remembered the Shen Gong Wu that they had recently found; he knew there was a way to use it to his advantage.
In the middle of the night, the Wudai Warrior of water exited the Shen Gong Wu vault and headed to the monks sleeping quarters. After he re-emerged from the room, Omi turned around to find Brian standing behind him, holding his quill like Shen Gong Wu. "I'm sorry, Omi, but you're gonna have to forget what you just saw."
Omi scowled and immediately assumed a fighting stance. Brian cringed, as though he was unable to defend himself. "I do not know what you are talking about, but I do not like being followed."
"I know what you did," Brian said with a sneer. "You figured out how to counter the effects of my Quill of Fenghuang!"
Omi grinned before leaping over the boy's head, landing behind him. Brian turned around hastily, frightened by Omi's display of superior martial arts. "It seems that physical evidence of someone's true memories can dispel the magic!" Omi took the Memo Emerald out of his pocket. "I will need to show this to my friends, and return them to their true selves!"
"I've planned this for so long!" Brian said angrily. "You're not going anywhere!" He began to use the feather Shen Gong Wu to write in midair; Omi froze in place as Brian accessed his memories. "I can use this quill to control everything your brain does! I'll just need to lock you up for a little while so I can make sure you haven't been fooling around elsewhere."
Brian released Omi from his control, leaving the water monk with a throbbing headache. Omi saw Brian walking away, but before he could subdue him, his vision turned black.
The Xiaolin Warrior rubbed his eyes and opened them again, this time realizing he was standing in some sort of small farm. It was also daytime, but the sky was completely grey with clouds.
"Did I fall asleep?" he asked, whispering to himself.
"There you are, Omi!" said a familiar voice.
Omi turned around to see a man with long black hair walking towards him; Chase Young. However, instead of wearing his usual Heylin Warrior armour, he was wearing a blue Xiaolin Warrior garment. The water monk gasped, but then smiled, greeting Chase like a long time friend. Omi knew he was in some sort of dream, but he suddenly felt like he did not want to wake up.
"I am sorry, Master Monk Chase, I feel like I haven't been myself recently," Omi explained to the ancient fighter.
"We're all not feeling quite ourselves," Chase replied remorsefully. "It'll take some time for us to accept that he's gone."
Omi noticed he and Chase were standing in front of a statue of Master Fung. The Wudai Warrior of water immediately realized he was inside the memories he had of the alternate timeline he created, but Omi thought those memories had been erased when the timeline was restored to order. Brian had used the Quill of Fenghuang to lock Omi in the deepest part of his mind, and Omi was too overwhelmed with the recreation of his memories that he did not want to escape.
Dojo slithered into view, twitching with the activation of a Shen Gong Wu. "The Quill of Fenghuang has revealed itself!" he yelped.
Omi was startled from Dojo's sudden appearance and the name of the familiar mystical item. "Dojo, what was the last Shen Gong Wu we retrieved?" Omi questioned the diminutive dragon.
Dojo looked baffled, but then seemed cross that his friend had asked such an obvious question. "You won it in a showdown yourself! It was the Lunar Locket! Did you get snow in your brain?"
Omi remembered what Dojo had said back in the real world, the one where Brian existed. Brian had supposedly joined the Xiaolin Temple after Omi had defeated the giant snowman, Raksha, and won the Lunar Locket that it had used to create a new ice age. Perhaps he would find answers about who Brian really was.
"Sounds pretty fancy," said Raimundo, wearing dirt covered overalls. The other Xiaolin Warriors showed their faces, each wearing worn-out lowly farmer's attire.
"Is this one worth going after?" Kimiko asked Dojo. "Wuya, Guan and Hannibal Bean just seem to get stronger. We should save our strength and only try to get the Wu that could possibly end the world."
"The Quill of Fenghuang is a pretty dangerous Wu alright!" Dojo said, opening the mystic scroll of the Shen Gong Wu and preparing to read its description.
Omi butted in before Dojo could finish speaking. "It allows the user to rewrite an opponent's mind somehow! It can control how they think and what they do!"
"Looks like Omi's been reading ahead," Clay added, laughing at Dojo's confusion.
Dojo kept his eyes fixed on Omi somewhat cautiously as he expanded to his full size. Chase was the first warrior to hop onto his back, sensing the urgency of the situation. Just as all five heroes mounted the dragon, Jack Spicer came running to them. The Xiaolin Warriors groaned at the former evil genius, wearing bright yellow and a wide brimmed hat.
"Wait for me!" he cried, carrying a suitcase with him.
"Jack, why must you bring your belongings with you on each trip?" Chase asked.
Dojo took off to the sound of the good Jack singing a song about flying. From the looks of the other monks, it seemed this happened every time they flew. However, Jack's cacophonous singing was not enough to stop Omi from enjoying the flight. The young monk stared longingly at Master Monk Chase the entire trip.
The heroes eventually arrived at a desolate lava field, occupied by a single large tree that seemed dead. As Dojo assumed his small size and the warriors hopped off his back, Omi could see the orange feather perched in its branches.
But as soon as they took a step forward, the ground around them came to life, literally. Creatures of volcanic rock began to take shape and rise from the earth, followed by the appearance of Wuya. Master Monk Guan, now a Heylin Warrior, stood by her side and brandished his spear.
"You've already caused enough damage to this world, Wuya!" Chase yelled. "Using the Quill of Fenghuang to control people's minds will make no difference to you; your reign of terror already has them under your thumb!"
Wuya spoke in Guan's ear. "Do me a favour and get rid of them for me. I don't want to get dirty today."
Guan nodded and leaped forward, as fast as lightning. Chase defended his allies from the evil warrior's onslaught, while the other monks battled the fearsome rock monsters. Omi made a dash for the gnarled tree and began to climb it, but in the blink of an eye, Wuya was right beside him.
"Let's see how Chase will react to his cutest little monk facing the chop," she chuckled, forming claws of dark energy from her fingernails.
To Omi's surprise, Jack came to his rescue. "Eco friendly Jack-bots; go and help Omi out!"
Instead of Jack's usual evil automatons, these Jack-bots were friendlier looking and sported labels saying they were made from recycled materials. They were equipped with solar panels too, and had benign looking white gloves instead of mechanical claws.
They grabbed the Heylin Witch, but before she could strike them down, one of the Jack Bots produced a deckchair and a cocktail. Wuya looked mildly agitated as they forced her to sit down, but then she appeared satisfied when one of the robots began to massage her shoulders, while another played soothing music.
Jack gave the bewildered Omi a huge grin and thumbs up. Omi smiled timidly in response before climbing higher into the tree, noticing the Quill of Fenghuang was in his reach. Omi was shocked to encounter someone else in the tree's branches with him; Brian. Instead of wearing his black robes and starry sash, Brian was dressed in a worn out blue hooded sweater.
The monk was so startled by the small boy's sudden appearance that he drew his hand away from the Shen Gong Wu rapidly, allowing Brian to grab it. Brian smiled craftily and raised the orange feather in the air, calling out its name. In a flash, Omi was standing on the ground again, surrounded by his allies.
Omi noticed that Wuya, Guan and the rock monsters had vanished. "We were here to retrieve the Shen Gong Wu that had been activated! Why are we standing around?"
The water monk received perplexed looks from his comrades. "We're just stopping for a break, Omi," Raimundo replied. "It's a long way to the Gills of Hamachi Shen Gong Wu."
"I'm just warming up here because I remember the gills are in a pretty chilly place," Dojo explained.
Omi was speechless for a moment, before it all made sense to him. In the real world, a similar event might have happened. Brian had retrieved the Quill of Fenghuang before they did, and rewrote their memories so they had no recollection of the event. He looked longingly at Chase Young again, who seemed generally concerned with Omi's behaviour.
"I am sorry friends, but I must go now," Omi said solemnly.
The scenery around them appeared to disintegrate; transforming into black particles that flew into the air. One by one, Raimundo, Kimiko, Clay and Dojo disintegrated too. Soon, it was only Omi and Chase standing in a white void.
"Good luck, Omi," Chase said with a smile.
"These memories of a time that never was were meant to be forgotten," Omi said. "But I shall never forget you." Chase smiled softly once again before disintegrating slowly into black particles himself. The white void that surrounded Omi grew brighter and brighter, until the monk was enveloped in blinding light.
Omi awoke with a gasp in the very same place where he stood just outside the sleeping quarters, before Brian had used the Quill of Fenghuang to trap him. His tiger instincts tingling, Omi saw Brian walking towards the Shen Gong Wu vault in the corner of his eye. Before he could run after the villain, Omi found his arm in the firm grip of Master Fung, who dragged him into the hallway.
He turned around to see his comrades, but their eyes were wide and their faces expressionless. The others walked slowly towards him as Master Fung held him in place. Luckily, Omi had visited the vault before Brian had captured him, and pulled out the Orb of Tornami from his robes. He used its powers to flood the hallway, sweeping the zombie like Kimiko, Raimundo and Clay off their feet.
Master Fung's grip was too strong, lifting the struggling Xiaolin Warrior off the ground. From out of the blue, a familiar green shape darted forward and wrapped around the old master's eyes. The brainwashed Master Fung dropped Omi to the ground and tried to prize Dojo off his face.
"I'm sorry Master Fung!" Dojo wailed before turning his attention to Omi. "Omi, you've gotta stop Tiny Sim!"
Omi did not question why the dragon had not been brainwashed like his other friends, or why he was referring to Brian with such a strange name. He ran as fast as he could to the Shen Gong Wu vault, managing to outrun his zombie like companions. Finding that Brian had already opened it, Omi descended into the dark treasury.
"Brian Young, you will not treat this temple as your playing ground any longer!" Omi yelled from the spiralling staircase, pointing a finger at the villain below.
Brian looked back at Omi and grinned, removing the Memo Emerald from storage. "It's too late! I'm gonna erase the message you left on this emerald, then none of you will know the truth!"
"I already know enough, Tiny Sim!" Omi bellowed.
Tiny Sim looked shocked for a second, but then flew into a rage. "Don't call me that!" he cried, raising the Quill of Fenghuang to erase Omi's memories of it.
Omi quickly opened one of the many drawers on the wall beside him and pulled out a Shen Gong Wu from within. "Wyrm's Whisker!" he shouted, transforming the serpent on the bracelet into a whip of glowing violet energy.
A crack of the whip aimed near Tiny Sim's feet caused the diminutive evildoer to throw the feather into the air with fright. As the Quill of Fenghuang descended slowly and gracefully to the ground, the Xiaolin Warriors of water and awesomeness leapt forwards, hoping to catch it. As expected, both of them grabbed the object at the same time.
"Get off, it's mine!" Tiny Sim grunted.
"No! It is a Xiaolin Showdown!" Omi exclaimed.
Tiny Sim grumbled and grabbed one of the Shen Gong Wu from nearby. "I'll wager the Kuzusu Atom against your Wyrm's Whisker!"
"And I make the showdown into a Shen Yi Bu Dare! I will also wager my Orb of Tornami, and you will also wager the Sword of the Storm!" Omi added, hoping to use Tiny Sim's inexperience to his advantage.
"The game is snatch the Wu! Whoever grabs both of the other's Wu first is the winner!" Tiny Sim said.
"Let's go! Xiaolin Showdown!" Omi cried, enveloping the vault in white light, transforming the environment.
The vault had been reshaped into a strange sea of blue fire in a void of blackness. Stone pillars rose up from the fiery sea, with small ledges attached to them in random places. The two competitors stood on a ledge attached to two different pillars, quite a distance apart.
"Gong Yi Tan Pai!"
As soon as the showdown started, Omi and Tiny Sim noticed that the blue flames below them were gradually rising. The pillars seemed to stretch upwards for infinity; they would need to keep going up. Using the Wyrm's Whisker, Omi swung himself to another column with a higher platform than the one he was standing on previously. Tiny Sim was visibly struggling; he could barely jump to the next highest ledge on his own column, and had the Sword of the Storm and Kuzusu Atom tucked awkwardly into his pockets.
"I would have expected better of a Ratunga Slam Meister," Omi laughed, swinging to another pillar that was closer to his enemy's. "But unfortunately that rank does not exist!"
"Okay, this isn't a Ratunga sash!" the villain yelled, "It's my security blanket!"
Tiny Sim activated the Sword of the Storm, generating a large gust of wind. Removing the starry blanket from around his waist, he used it like a parachute and rode the winds to a higher place. Then, using the Kuzusu Atom, he cut through the pillar that Omi was standing on. Instead of falling to one side, the column became shorter, lowering Omi close to the sea of fire.
Omi hastily swung to a higher position using his whip like Shen Gong Wu, but as soon as he landed on another platform, Tiny Sim aimed the destructive stream of the Kuzusu Atom at him. Omi generated a large blast of water with the Orb of Tornami, which evaporated as it made contact with the deadly beam, but shielded Omi from its wrath.
"I'll have that!" Omi shouted with a smile.
The Wyrm's Whisker wrapped around the Kuzusu Atom in Tiny Sim's hand, pulling it from the villain's grip. Omi had succeeded in taking one the Shen Gong Wu from his enemy, and would only need to steal the Sword of the Storm in order to win. At first, Tiny Sim seemed furious, but then appeared upset; the showdown was tiring him out quickly. For some reason, Omi stood still and sorrowfully looked at the weary villain. The sea of fire continued to rise, but it was too far below them to start worrying about it.
"Omi, why are we fighting?" Tiny Sim asked weakly.
The false memories that he had implanted in Omi's head with the Quill of Fenghuang still existed, but Omi knew their true nature. However, they felt too real to ignore. The water monk was remembered the day he met Tiny Sim as Brian Young, the warrior of awesomeness's dark past, and the villains they defeated together as a team of five.
"You altered the thoughts of my friends without their consent!" Omi yelled, trying to ignore the memories while shutting his eyes tight.
"We've been friends for so long," Tiny Sim pleaded. "Was it really that bad? They're still your friends, and we still fight evil together!"
Omi could not remember why they had started the showdown. Tiny Sim's pleading had made the false memories even stronger, almost overpowering Omi's real memories. While Omi was trying to collect his thoughts, Tiny Sim caught him off guard with the Sword of the Storm.
A gust of wind pushed Omi close to the edge of his platform. Tiny Sim used his security blanket again to fly higher, standing on a platform beneath Omi's. While waving his arms to his sides, struggling to keep balanced in the intense winds, Omi dropped the Kuzusu Atom and Orb of Tornami. Tiny Sim used his blanket to catch the two falling Shen Gong Wu safely.
Omi regained his balance and tried to strike his opponent with the Wyrm's Whisker, but Tiny Sim managed to avoid the energy whip by mustering the strength to leap to an entirely different column. Tiny Sim was almost completely tired out, but he managed to use the Orb of Tornami to retaliate.
"Wudai Neptune Ice!" Omi yelled, instantly freezing the stream of water as it shot towards him.
Omi slid down the frozen stream, now functioning as a bridge of ice that extended from Tiny Sim's platform to Omi's former position. Omi twirled the Wyrm's Whisker around, hoping to disorientate his opponent before coming in for a final strike. The whip of violet light wrapped around Tiny Sim's body, binding his arms to his sides. The two of them were sharing the same platform, but the sea of fire below them was rising quickly.
"It is time to reclaim the Shen Gong Wu!" Omi said, "And with them, my friends memories!"
"You can't defeat me, Omi," Tiny Sim muttered slyly. "I'm the son of Chase Young! I'm the ultimate Xiaolin Dragon! I'm the strongest warrior who ever walked the Earth; you're no match!" Omi became hesitant; Tiny Sim had convinced everyone that he possessed awesome power. Instead of being sad he was fighting his supposed friend, he was now fearful.
Tiny Sim used his free hand, still clutching the Sword of the Storm, to conjure up a tornado. He used the intense windstorm to spin himself around rapidly, yanking the Wyrm's Whisker from Omi's grasp. Now holding all four Shen Gong Wu wagered in the competition, Tiny Sim smiled as he watched how Omi was blown off the edge of the platform and into the blue flames below.
Omi screamed, and in a flash of light, the Shen Gong Wu vault returned to normal. Omi found himself lying on the stairs, making it seem like Tiny Sim was towering above him. He was already eager to use the Quill of Fenghuang to rewrite the monk's memories, smiling fiendishly as he prepared to call out the Shen Gong Wu's name.
But then it appeared that he had changed his mind. The diminutive villain showed the helpless and injured Omi the Memo Emerald. Activating its power, Tiny Sim erased the previous message that Omi had left for his friends. Omi scowled as he saw the green holographic image of himself dissipate into nothing. Tiny Sim put the Memo Emerald back into one of the vault's many recesses and pointed the Quill of Fenghuang at Omi once again.
"Maybe it'd be better if I just erased you from your own memories!" he chuckled. "Then no one will remember you, not even you!"
"Sphere of Yun!" yelled a voice from higher up the stairs.
Tiny Sim was instantly imprisoned within the large sphere, finding that his Shen Gong Wu were no longer in his hands. He and Omi looked up the stairs to see that it was Raimundo who activated the mystical item to trap Tiny Sim, granting him possession of the Quill of Fenghuang.
"How did this happen?" Tiny Sim growled, pounding the walls of his spherical prison with his fists. "I got hold of the message before little cheese ball could show it to you!"
Raimundo smirked and revealed the Chrome Copycat Shen Gong Wu. The cat statue changed its shape until it resembled the Memo Emerald, albeit entirely silver instead of green. The replica Memo Emerald projected an image of Omi explaining Tiny Sim's trickery.
"Omi created a backup message by using the Chrome Copycat to replicate the effects of the Memo Emerald!" Kimiko explained.
Raimundo approached the sphere shaped prison. "Just who are you, Tiny Sim? Why did you go through all the trouble of writing yourself into our lives? Are you a crazy fan boy or something?"
Tiny Sim sighed. "I wanted to see Jack Spicer," he replied. "I waited for so long after I got the Quill of Fenghuang, but never got the chance! I thought that if I joined you, I could then betray you and leave you all as cowering wrecks!"
Raimundo and the rest of the Xiaolin Warriors were taken back. "So you joined us…because you actually wanted to be with Jack?"
"By messing up your memories, I'd be evil enough to meet the greatest super villain of all!" Tiny Sim growled.
"So Jack actually has a fan?" Kimiko asked. "To be honest, I think I'd prefer it if you were one of our creepy fans."
Clay and Dojo came down the steps, with the warrior of earth managing to carry the red scooter. "I guess this is your ride home," he said, setting the scooter down beside the boy in the bubble.
Omi managed to get to his feet, happy to see all of his friends were back to behaving like their usual selves. "I am glad that you managed to find the Chrome Copycat and restore your brains to their proper functions!"
"You can thank Dojo," Clay said, pointing to the proud looking dragon sitting on his shoulder. "For some reason he was never affected by Tiny Sim's brainwashing!" Clay began to roll the sphere containing the villain out of the Shen Gong Wu vault, still trying to ineffectively break out of the prison.
"Dragon memories are written differently to human memories!" Dojo explained. "I was worried that Tiny Sim would eventually figure that out though."
Raimundo put a hand on Omi's shoulder. "You'll be pleased to hear that Master Fung's back to normal too! In fact, I think he has a few things to say to you!" the Xiaolin leader said.
The Xiaolin Warriors were soon in the main hall, standing in front of Master Fung. They were relieved to see that his personality was back to normal, and Dojo appeared to be coiled around his shoulders in a more loving way than usual.
"Although we have little recollection over what happened, you managed to free us from dangerous circumstances," he said to Omi.
"I would not have been able to free our minds from the grasp of Tiny Sim if it was not for Dojo." Omi looked slightly crestfallen. "I apologise for not being able to win the showdown."
"But Omi, before you even got into that Xiaolin Showdown, you came up with that idea to use the Chrome Copycat as backup if you failed!" Raimundo added cheerfully.
Master Fung smiled gently. "Omi, I have known you for a long time, and over those years I have seen many great achievements."
"You won the first Xiaolin Showdown we experienced!" Kimiko added.
"You travelled to the past to meet Dashi and help us beat Wuya, Chase Young and even Hannibal Bean!" Clay said.
Raimundo looked shy and apologetic. "You'd always trust us, even if we went astray."
"But at the same time, I have caused many problems for you all," Omi said. "I have rushed into things without thinking, fell victim to villainous trickery and once even stood on the side of darkness. I am sure you are tired and sick of me messing up."
"But after all the times you failed, you managed to learn your lesson each time," Kimiko explained. "We're always happy to help you out! That's what friends are for."
"The bond you have made with your companions is unbreakable, Omi," Master Fung said. "Friendship and teamwork plays an important part in increasing your powers."
Omi's blue Wudai Warrior sash began to shimmer, and then glow brightly. Omi's eyes widened as his sash became a golden Shoku Warrior sash, just like his friends.
"Finally!" Raimundo exclaimed, immediately embracing Omi before the other Shoku Warriors could. After a few seconds of hugging, the team leader let go and chuckled awkwardly.
"It appears you were more eager for me to rise to Shoku Warrior than I was," Omi said to the blushing Raimundo sneakily.
"I'm just pleased that we're all at the same level now," Raimundo said hastily. "We'll be able to kick butt more effectively!"
Master Fung smiled again. "Raimundo is correct. Now you are all Shoku Warriors, your powers will be stronger than ever," he explained. "Once you have mastered your new capabilities, you will be able to undertake your most important quest yet."
Meanwhile, Tiny Sim was trundling through the hills and valleys on his motorized scooter. The boy raised his hood and looked back angrily at the Xiaolin Temple before looking down at his hand; he had managed to steal the Majutsu Wand after the Xiaolin Warriors had confiscated his Quill of Fenghuang.