"Dojo, are you sure it's this way?"
"I was!" the green giant dragon cried over the rush of the wind. "My senses are never wrong━"
"I would like to disagree, amigo!" Raimundo Pedrosa interrupted. "I can think of many many many when you're senses have been wrong!"
"Like when you took us to Madagascar when you had fleas," Kimiko Tohomiko agreed.
"Or the time you took us to the land of Texas so you could have bacon!" Omi added.
"Oh, actually…" Clay Bailey started sheepishly. "That was 'causa me."
"Well, I'm sure this time!" Dojo assured them. "Besides, I'm not the one who left the Shadow of Fear in the washing machine!"
Everyone glared at Raimundo.
"...It was really early in the morning, okay?" Rai said, defensively crossing his arms. "How was I supposed to be awake enough to know it would explode and land in Hong Kong?"
"What were you doing with it in the first place?" Omi asked as Dojo flew over the giant city.
"I had a nightmare and I wanted to see if I could capture it and, you know, make it disappear," Rai explained. "Found out it didn't work when I started running from squirrels."
"We're here," Dojo said as Omi shivered. "You all can apologize to me when the fighting is done."
He landed behind some crates on a dock and the monks got off. Almost immediately they heard buzzing and had to hide behind the giant boxes. Dojo reverted back to his small size and joined them.
"We would've been here earlier if you hadn't fallen asleep along the way!" they heard Wuya complain.
"I couldn't help it!" Jack Spicer whined. "I didn't get enough sleep last night! Besides, you would fall asleep too if you had to listen to a smelly ghost nag you for fourteen hours!"
The monks snickered to each other as Jack flew right over them, his back slumped as he passed. Wuya, in her purple ghost form, was flying alongside him, continuing her rants as Jack wearily covered his ears.
"This should be a piece of cake," Kimiko said as they emerged and started searching the dock. "Jack seems more pathetic than usual."
"Yeah, I don't even think he brought those Junk-bots along!" Rai agreed, moving boxes around.
"While I agree most definitely with the both of you," Omi started, looking in the direction Jack had gone. "I do not wish to take the chance that he could surprise us."
"Omi's gotta point there," Clay said, looking at Rai. "What do you think?"
"Guess there's no harm in seeing what the dork's up to," Rai said, starting towards the warehouse Jack had disappeared into. "C'mon."
They snuck in and hid behind the crates stacked up everywhere. Jack had landed and was rifling through a box, his head dipped down into it.
"Hurry up, Jack!" Wuya commanded. "The monks will be here any minute!"
"I'm going, I'm going," Jack muttered, as the monks got closer. "This would be easier if Chase had given me someone with hands."
"What's he looking for?" Kimiko asked quietly, craning her neck to see.
"Probably the Shadow of Fear," Rai whispered, moving so she could see. "Though it doesn't look like he wants to be."
"How strange…" Omi whispered.
Jack gave a short grunt, then emerged from the crate, holding their Shen Gon Wu. Clay moved for the attack, but Rai put up a hand to stop him, studying Jack's expression. Or lack there of. Usually he'd be gloating to no one, calling out that the day belonged to him and such, but he just gave the Wu a shrug and put it in his backpack. Wuya noticed this as well.
"What's the matter, Jack?" she asked, floating in front of him. "Realizing you're not as much of a genius as you thought?"
"Just not feeling it today, ghost-hag," Jack spat at her, his two helicopter poles popping out of his pack. "Let's go, alright?"
"Hold on Spicer."
Jack looked in the monks' direction as they jumped onto the crates and assumed fighting positions.
"Let's make this painless, okay?" Rai offered. "Hand over the Shadow of Fear."
"Oh no it's the monks," Jack retorted lifelessly. "Guess they caught me I've no choice but to give up."
"You insolent boy!" Wuya screeched, getting in Jack's face. "To even suggest the idea is a disgrace to the Heylin side!"
Jack rolled his red eyes and sighed, then assumed a half-hearted fighting position.
"Why don't you come get it?" he lazily jeered, shrugging off his pack and dangling it in front of him.
The monks looked to Raimundo, who shrugged and gave a nod. They all jumped at Jack, who threw up his pack at the last second. Omi landed first, rolled, and leapt for the bag. He caught it just as his team landed around Jack, surrounding him. He raised his hands in surrender.
"You're a disgrace," Wuya grumbled as Omi opened the bag and frowned.
"It is empty!" he declared, showing it to Rai.
"What?" Rai asked, snatching it from him. "How?"
The monks gathered around him as Jack stuck his hands in his pockets and started to back away slowly.
"I saw him put it in!" Rai assured them, turning the bag upside down and shaking out gears, drawings and candy wrappers.
"How'd that no good snake get us this time?" Clay raged, turning towards where Jack had been. "Hey where'd he go?"
Jack picked up to a sprint when he hear them shout and come in his direction.
"How did you manage to hide the Shadow of Fear?" Wuya asked him.
"Easy," Jack said with a smirk, pulling at something over his shoulder. It slid off to reveal Jack's real backpack. "I switched bags when the goof-troop wasn't looking."
"The Shroud of Shadows! I must say, you've impressed me, Jack!"
Something caught his arm and dragged him behind one of the crates. He started to protest, but the hooded figure put a hand over his mouth and a finger to their lips. A second later the monks passed, calling for Jack to show himself. The figure removed his hand when they were far enough. Wuya joined them when he took off his hood.
'Stryker?" Jack whispered as the boy turned and smirked at him. "What're you doing here?"
"My uncle grounded me,' he explained. "So I snuck out and followed you. Figured it'd be entertaining."
He looked at the Shroud in Jack's hand.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing to it.
"Oh, this?" Jack questioned. "The Shroud of Shadows. Turns whatever you want invisible."
"Nice. What'd you hide?"
Jack hesitated, then pulled the Shadow of Fear out of his backpack. Stryker tilted his head.
"A bird?" he asked.
"It's called the Shadow of Fear," Jack explained. "You can use it to view people's dreams and control their nightmares."
"Sadistic," Stryker commented, smirking as he took it. "How's it work?"
"You don't need to know."
Stryker looked up, then shoved Jack away as the monks landed between them. Raimundo grabbed the SOF and pulled, but Stryker refused to release it.
"Who're you?" Rai asked. "And why do you look familiar?"
"Name's Stryker," he said, giving the bird a hard pull in his direction. "Why do you like a narcissist."
Rai snarled as the SOF began to grow gold. Jack brushed off his clothes and stood alongside the monks, feeling uneasy.
"What's going on?" Stryker asked, staring at the Wu.
"It's called a Xiaolin Showdown," Rai explained, glaring at him, "It's a competition to decide who gets the Shen Gon Wu."
"Hey, he doesn't even know how to play!" Jack cried. "It's my Wu, let me play!"
"Whoever's got it has to play." Rai said. "Don't matter if he knows how."
"You talk too much," Stryker said, pulling so Rai stumbled. "Name your game."
"Fine!" Rai growled. "The game is 'Leap Frog'. I wager my Mantis Flip Coin against your…"
He paused.
"Uh…"
Jack groaned.
"Here," he said, tossing the Shroud to Stryker. "Just don't lose it."
"You ready?" Rai asked.
"Guess so." Stryker said.
"Then let's go: Xiaolin Showdown!"
As soon as the words were out of Rai's mouth the stacks of crates extended and shifted together, then hollowed out to form tunnels. Rai and Stryker yelped as they were raised up to them, Rai facing one tunnel, Stryker the other. Kimiko, Omi, Clay, Jack, Dojo and Wuya were lifted on a floating platform so they could see.
"Gong yi tan pai!" Rai shouted before he ran into the tunnel.
Stryker cocked and eyebrow at him in bewilderment. Jack slapped his forehead.
"That means go!" he shouted to him.
"Oh!" Stryker exclaimed as he darted into his own obstacle course.
The inside was rock and had little square columns that were shooting up, crashing into the ceiling, and coming back down to the floor, each repeating at different times.
"'Leap Frog'," Stryker said, nodding. "Got it."
He watched the columns for a moment, then lunged and did a front flip over it while it descended. Using his momentum, he springboarded over the second column just before it came up, then spun over the third and back flipped passed the fourth. The monks, Jack, Wuya and Dojo watched in awe.
"His techniques are superb!" Omi complimented. "He is giving Raimundo a dash for his change!"
"Uh, 'run for his money', Omi," Kimiko corrected. "But I gotta agree with you, he's pretty agile."
"Rai better be on his A game, then," Clay said. "Those roads are crossin' soon."
Sure enough, the two tunnels were combined where the Shadow of Fear rested. Raimundo emerged from the tunnel first and raced over to the podium. But Stryker bolted out and knocked his legs out from under him, then flipped so he was in front of the Wu. Rai stood up into a wide sideways stance.
"You've got more skill than I thought you did," Rai admitted, putting up his fists.
"And you don't," Stryker jeered.
Rai lunged at him, throwing a sidekick. Stryker blocked it and grabbed his ankle, spun him, and threw him across the room. Rai landed on his feet and flicked up the Mantis Flip Coin.
"Mantis Flip Coin!" he shouted.
He flipped up to the ceiling, kicked off, and shot down to the ground. Stryker dodged at the last second and stared at the giant crater Rai made, a smirk coming to his face.
"Wicked," he said, pulling out the SOS. "Shroud of Shadows!"
He threw it over his shoulders, disappearing from view. Rai pulled his leg out of the floor and looked around, then made a dash to the SOF. Suddenly he was thrown back, skidding across the floor. He looked up as Stryker pulled off the SOS and flipped up the MFC.
"You're not very good at keeping track of your stuff," Stryker teased with a smirk.
Rai, fed up with Stryker's attitude, lunged and tackled him. While taken by surprise, Stryker still managed to reach up and grab hold of something to keep him balanced. The object he grabbed gave out and the two fell anyway.
Suddenly the tunnels and columns were gone and Stryker and Rai were on the ground surrounded once more by the crates. Rai sat up in confusion as his teammates ran up to him.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Well…" Kimiko started, looking over at Stryker.
"He grunted as he got up, then pulled the SOF from behind his back. Jack gave a shout of triumph as he and Wuya ran up to him.
"Dude!" Jack cried. "You just won!"
"Don't sound too surprised," Stryker commented, giving him a weak grin. "So do we go now?"
The monks gave him dirty looks.
"Yeah, we should," Jack said. He leaned towards Stryker and whispered: "They're sore losers."
Stryker snickered, causing the monks' glares to deepen. He and Jack gave them sarcastic waves, then bolted before they got any angrier.
"Who was that guy?" Kimiko asked.
"I don't know…" Dojo said slowly, squinting after them. "But he looked very familiar."
"What's going to look familiar is Master Fung's disappointed face," Rai sighed, resting his elbows on his knees. "I can't believe I lost the MFC, the SOS, and the SOF to some newbie!"
"Don't beat yourself up, partner," Clay said, helping him off the ground. "He may've been new to the Showdown, but he wasn't new to the fightin'."
"Yes, that's true," Omi assured him. "He was pushing up moves that took me years to master."
"Uh, busting out, Omi," Rai corrected. "But thanks guys, I guess you're right."
"Let's go home," Dojo said, changing into his larger form. "I have a feeling Master Fung will want to hear about this."