#and of course i had to add in morro ninjago

[sea-jello]

it me fr

alternately:

[zebaji]

Summary:

“You have a ranked list of the enemies you’ve faced?” Morro asks, and everyone shares a devious look with one another. Oh no , he thinks, but at that point, it’s too late. 

“Of course we do!” Nya smirks, “How else do you think we cope?” She asks, and Morro stares at her, trying to see if she’s being serious. She is, Morro realizes, and while he should feel concerned, he was also on their list, so really, this was a problem they all needed to face.

Or: Morro is a zombie and the Ninjas decide to go on a road trip to turn him back into a human. Realizations and bonding ensue.

{This is one of the fics I'm doing for @morrotober's summer event :D The topic is road trip, but I couldn't help but add some plot and worldbuilding and all that fun stuff!

Fic is under the cut, let me know what you think!}

A Road Trip with a Reformed Evil Zombie

In all honesty, just the idea of having a road trip was something to dread about. But to actually commit to it– well Morro can’t promise if everyone is going to survive the week that it’s going to take to this so-called Temple of Life. And he isn’t even alive!

Oh, this was going to be a nightmare, Morro sulks as he watches Jay and Cole cram countless bags of luggage into the Land Bounty, and Kai and Zane fill a large chest with ice and food. 

At least Wu wasn’t coming with them, thankfully– the old man had told him that he would clear out Morro’s old room into something fitting a living person before they came back from the temple. There were actually tears forming in Wu’s eyes when he said it, much to Morro’s disgust and shame.

He’s filled with disgust because Wu? Crying over him? Morro wanted to scoff and tell him to save the pathetic tears for someone worth crying for. The shame is because it was Morro who caused the sadness. He didn’t realize that Wu actually cared– Morro shakes his head, abruptly dismissing the many emotions going through him at an alarming pace, instead focusing his thoughts on watching these Ninja, who despite somehow managing to defeat him at his greatest, run around the monastery’s courtyard like hungry headless chickens.

If Morro were a better person, which he isn’t, he’d offer to help them pack up the Land Bounty and have them on their journey much faster than the pace they are currently at. However, he is more than content to watch them and bask in the sun’s heavy rays. He hasn’t felt the heat in so long it hardly bothers him that for everyone else it is sweltering and irritating to be outside. He isn’t a good person, despite what everyone seems to think, and has blatantly refused to use his wind to cool everyone down.

Never mind that his powers aren't working and he just isn’t telling people. No, it’s because he refuses to participate in this nonsense that the Ninja have determined is important– like bringing him back to life. He’s already somewhat alive, he doesn’t need to be any more!

But apparently, the Ninja have already made their decision, and now, they are going to make the journey to a temple nestled somewhere south, even more south than Metalonia, to a place where Wu is confident in bringing Morro completely back to life.

Because right now, he is simply a rotting corpse, one that isn’t exactly rotting– since he doesn’t smell or have flesh falling off of him with his every movement– but a corpse nonetheless. He can touch the bones in his chest and a portion of his skull, there are green veins of the poison running through the tattered remains of his skin, thick and matted black liquid that pours out of his poisoned green eyes if he forgets to blink.

All nuisances, he’d complained, ignoring the way he was quite literally grotesque to be even looked at for more than a few moments. He told himself he didn’t care. It was just remnants of his injuries in the Cursed Realm and then falling out of a portal that was trying its hardest to keep him from exiting, he told himself and the others. Nothing that was needed to make an entire week's worth of travel. But his argument had been ignored and everyone had begun preparing around him like he was a ghost again.

Morro doesn’t know how he feels about it all, and as such doesn’t move from his position, standing in the monastery’s courtyard as everyone finishes packing. He doesn’t bother to move, even as Lloyd walks up to him, carrying water bottles that he has been passing around to everyone in the heat. “Here,” He offers, and Morro warily takes the bottle.

He has mixed feelings about water– any person who had been a ghost for decades would be, especially when it had been the cause of his second death. But it also helped him realize that he wasn’t a ghost any longer, since Nya blasts him with water every time she feels like it. He thinks he’s gotten used to it, but every now and then it still stings like acid streaking up his limbs, mixing with the poison running in his veins, giving him another slow and painful death– Morro jolts from his musings when he remembers that Lloyd was here, waiting for him to take the bottle.

“Thanks,” He says uncertainly, and Lloyd gives him a small– almost knowing– smile as he walks away, back towards the others who are complaining about the heatwave.

Despite everything with the mad scientist and his zombie creations, Morro still doesn’t understand how Lloyd can handle being around him, let alone be kind to him. He doesn’t deserve it– something the other Ninja have vehemently agreed with him on at first, but after… after everything, with Morro sacrificing himself for the Ninja and becoming this half-monster– zombie– creature– thing, everyone seems to have forgotten how bad Morro used to be.

“We want to help you,” Lloyd had said after Morro had realized his powers were gone and he could feel the heat of the fire. When he could see bone in his fingers and could breathe in fresh air. A monster– and not just figuratively.

“Why?” He had demanded, whirling away from the mirror that he had been staring at for the past five minutes so that he could fully glare at Lloyd, only to falter when the Green Ninja didn’t even flinch at his decaying appearance. “I possessed you,” He hissed, feeling a mixture of satisfaction and guilt, when Lloyd finally paled and took a slight step back. 

“I invaded your mind,” Morro continued, taking a step closer to the Ninja. “I almost killed you, ” He sneered, and Lloyd took a deep but shaky breath and stared back at him.

“You did,” He said plainly as if Morro had told him that he had broken a toy and not everything that he had done.

“So why do you want to help me? ” He demanded, shoving the hysterics somewhere deep in his ribcage. It was too bad that his ribcage was very visible and open at the moment.

“You saved me,” Lloyd had said, leaving no room for argument. “Sacrificed everything that the Doctor had promised you, to save me. From dying. From becoming like my father. An evil zombie–” Lloyd made a face, and Morro looked on, a brief flash of amusement on his face. After all, Morro had taken his place as this supposed, evil zombie. “Okay, sorry, just a zombie, but you get my point! I owe you. Maybe not my life, since y’know, I’m not exactly over everything that you did, but it’s enough to want me to help you.”

 Morro had stared at Lloyd in silence– Forgiveness was not something he had been afforded in his very long undead life, and it was an odd feeling to gain it now. “Alright,” He said at last, and that had spurred the start of this…trip to the Temple of Life. 

And now, preparations are complete and Morro is crammed into this boat on wheels with his once-enemies for the next few weeks. “You brought the portable stove right?” Nya asks, jumping into the driver’s seat. The others have strapped into the seats behind her, and everyone is unbelievably quiet. Morro hadn’t realized how tense the silence had been, but now that he does, he can see that everyone is on edge. He highly doubts it’s because of anyone other than him. He knew this was a bad idea.

Kai nods his head, either oblivious or trying his hardest to ease the tension. Most likely the latter. “And the propane, the grill, the lighter, the lighter fluid, and the charcoal for some reason. Honestly, Nya, just because I don’t have my powers doesn't mean I don’t know how to start a fire,” He rolls his eyes, and Morro is surprised that despite Kai’s loss of powers, he can still manage to joke about it. Morro is still in denial that his powers are gone because he is sure that the reason has something to do with his half-mortality. Not anything else.

Nya scoffs, her eyes focused on the road, as Wu and Pixal wave them off and they start to make their way out of the mountains. “Are you sure? We lived in Dad’s shop for how many years, and I still don’t think you can light a fire without matches.”

Kai glares at her, looking offended as he crosses his arms, “Master of Fire, Nya, I don’t need matches! ” He reminds her in a splutter, and everyone shares an amused look. From there, chatter breaks out, lighthearted and pleasant, and out of the corner of his eye, Morro can see Kai and Nya share a relieved look at each other.

Well, until Jay demands that everyone should start singing 99 Bottles of Tea and Kai lets out a strangled scream and launches himself out of his seat to tackle Jay. Morro blinks at the scene and sighs when Zane is the only one to try and separate the two– everyone is too amused to even try.

Lloyd suggests they play eye-spy, a game that people play on long trips, but the leader of the Ninja forgets who he’s playing with, and Morro watches for the next hour as everyone competes to find the most mundane thing they can spot and get away with.

“Something yellow,” Cole says confidently, staring at the Desert they have just entered.

“Is it sand?” Morro asks dryly, “Or the sun? Because that’s the only thing outside right now.” 

Cole sniffs and points to the bright yellow exit sign. After they pass the sign, there really isn’t much other than the sand and sun. No one wants to play anymore, which Morro is thankful for– until Zane starts reading his book about Ninjago out loud, and has everyone groaning silently in their seats.

Morro is silent for the next few hours, watching as the landscape turns from the familiar mountains into a dry desert. How big was the Desert of Doom? He didn’t remember it being this vast, Morro glares at the sand as if it's the desert's fault that his memory is failing him.

“Y’know, I used to live here,” Jay tells him casually, as the sun sinks to the ground, and Nya stops at a nearby rest stop so that they can stretch, eat, and swap drivers. Lloyd and Zane are out looking for a vending machine to get snacks, and Kai is pulling out the portable stove, while Cole and Nya are outside clearing up a picnic bench for all seven of them. “Before I became a Ninja. They run a junkyard, though it’s closer to the city than where we are right now.”

Morro casts a look at the Master of Lightning. He knew the previous one– Libber, he remembers wistfully. The only one who hung out with him, even though he was being an asshole to all of Wu’s other students. “I didn’t know Libby was still alive,” He says quietly, his voice hoarse and crackly. Jay’s eyebrows fly up, “Libby?” He repeats, sounding confused as he hands Morro two folded-up camping chairs. 

Morro frowns, “Libber? The previous Master of Lightning? The person who gave you your powers?” He says, feeling like he’s missing a crucial piece of information as the two of them carry the chairs to the picnic bench. The weather is nice– which is a pleasant surprise considering that they’re in the desert. It’s even a little windy, which makes his long and tangled hair flutter slightly. It’s nice– really nice.

“You knew my bio mom?” Jay pauses and eyes Morro with surprising intensity, and if he could turn red, he probably would have. Even still, he feels the back of his neck warming.

“I mean, I wouldn't exactly say I knew her. I didn’t really have friends back then,” Morro coughs nervously, grimacing when tar fills his mouth. “And besides, she was either hanging out with Lily and Obra, or on dates with Gordon– some upstart actor who had this weird obsession with pudding cups– wait, did you say ‘bio-mom?’” Morro pauses, almost losing his grip on the chairs as he stares at Jay, who’s shrugging at him sheepishly.

“Uh, yeah. I found out I was adopted a few years back– and the only person who knows is Nya. I figured that if Wu hadn’t brought up knowing the person who had lightning before me in the decade I’d known him, then he wouldn’t know either,” Jay says bitterly. 

Morro can’t say he’s surprised. “Well, that’s Wu for you,” He says, his own bitterness creeping out. “Never says the things he should, and says the things he shouldn’t.”

Jay snorts in understanding, “Yeah, well. Me and Nya tried to find stuff on her, but we never found anything. I didn’t even know her name,” Jay is quiet, and Morro understands. He knows what it’s like to know nothing about the people who were supposed to care and yet didn’t, and being desperate for an answer.

“If you want, I can tell you what I remember about her,” Morro offers, startled by how he genuinely means it. Maybe it’s just because he understands, or maybe it’s because he finally has a heart beating inside of him for the first time in 70 years. Whatever it is, Jay gives him a sincere smile. “That would be awesome. Thank you.” 

Morro nods with a shrug, and they join the others; Kai is grilling something on the small stove– the smell of sizzling meat wafting through the air, and Morro absentmindedly wishes he had a complete stomach so that he could eat– and Lloyd and Zane have returned with a pile of chips and drinks.

There aren’t a lot of people milling around– it is late at night in the middle of nowhere– so it’s quiet and peaceful. Relaxing and soothing– something that Morro hasn’t felt in decades, and casting a quick glance at his companions, they haven't had in a while either.

“Alright!” Kai says a few moments later, grinning as he waves a spatula in the air, “Burgers are done!”

“I think I speak for everyone that this is the best quest we’ve had in a while,” Cole says as they all load their plates with food. “Honestly, this feels more like a vacation than anything–”

“Don’t jinx it!” Jay interrupts with a yelp and goes to knock on the wooden bench. “If some rabid beetle named Bernie pokes out of the sand again, I’m feeding you to it!”

The group goes silent, and Morro looks around, once again feeling like he’s missing something vital before everyone bursts into wild laughter. “Bernie?” He asks uncertainly to Zane, who at least manages to choke down his chuckles to explain.

“The last time we were in the Desert of Doom, an ancient beetle named Beohernie attacked us and ate the Thermolytic Kinetic Inverter, which resulted in me retrieving it from the beetle’s stomach,” Zane explains like half of any of those words means anything to Morro. “Jay nicknamed it Bernie.”

“But the only reason it attacked us is because we were being reckless and were driving off of the road,” Cole jumps in, no doubt reading Morro’s unimpressed look. “We’ll be safe on the path we’re on.”

“Knowing your luck, I highly doubt it,” He says dryly, and the Ninja don’t even bother to argue, instead just laughing harder. 

“At least with this quest, you’re the worst thing we’ll have to deal with,” Lloyd says, still grinning wildly, even if Morro wanted to take offense, his guilt won’t allow him that, so he offers a small smile instead.

“Uh yeah, Morro– I think out of all the villains we’ve faced, you’re top five. You’re actually scary so if we have to deal with some like… I don’t know. Ultra Violet or the Mechanic? You’re dealing with them,” Jay informs him, and Morro’s eyebrows raise in curiosity, as he ignores the reminder of once being a ‘villain’.

“You have a ranked list of the enemies you’ve faced?” He asks, and everyone shares a devious look with one another. Oh no, he thinks, but at that point, it’s too late. 

“Of course we do!” Nya smirks, “How else do you think we cope?” She asks, and Morro stares at her, trying to see if she’s being serious. She is, Morro realizes, and while he should feel concerned, he was also on their list, so really, this was a problem they all needed to face.

“So am I at least top three?” He asks instead, and Lloyd raises a hand.

“For me you are,” He says, grinning at Morro like that was a sentence to be smiling at. Which it wasn’t. These people are crazy, Morro thinks, before once again remembering where and who he is. But so am I, He sighs to himself and gestures for Lloyd to continue.

“It’s Harumi, you, and then Dad,” Lloyd lists off, and Morro should not be this surprised over the revelation. But he’s beating Lord Garmadon? Nice.

“I’m beating your dad?” He clarifies out loud with a snicker, and Lloyd shrugs, taking a bite out of his burger.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“How? Can I ask what the criteria are?” He dares to ask, and Lloyd grins again and shakes his head.

“Nope.”

“But I’m winning?”

Lloyd shoots him a look, although his lips betray a smile. “This isn’t a competition!”

Morro raises his hands in surrender, “You’re making it sound like it is!”

Lloyd snags a chocolate bar from the table, “My trauma, not yours,” he mutters, his mouth full of candy. 

Nya grins sagely in agreement, “For me, you're like top four,” She shrugs, and Kai nods with her. Jay shrugs, “I don’t know, I think he’s my fifth one?”

“Morro’s my third too,” Cole says, and Zane agrees with him. 

“Thanks, I think?” Morro grins uncertainly.

“Again, this isn’t a competition,” Lloyd grumbles, but he doesn’t seem too put off by the rankings. 

Cole pats Morro gently on the shoulder, “It’s alright, he’s just mad because he’s my number one villain,” He says with a wide grin. “After all, he did release the Serpentine and made our lives miserable for five years straight.”

Lloyd chucks the candy bar at Cole and then immediately dives after the bar before it can hit the ground. “I was ten! ” Lloyd screeches on the muddy floor, as everyone bursts into laughter once more. “I was ten, and you hung me up a pole! What was I supposed to do?”

“Not release the Serpentine!” Cole laughs as he leans back in his seat. From there on out, the rest of the meal is the Ninja trying to tell Morro the most ridiculous story they have– the best one Morro has heard is, “When the Ninja turned into children.” He had seen it vaguely in Lloyd’s memories, back when he was… possessing him, but the tale is much funnier when Kai and Jay do their squeaky voices, and Lloyd goes into extreme detail about the Fritz Donnegan competition.

So this is what peace feels like, Morro notes, as the Ninja’s laughter is the only sound around them. Everyone else at the rest stop is gone, and there is a faint buzz of insects around them. The sky is clear and he can see the stars so clearly, it’s almost jarring. Wind flutters around them– or in Morro’s case, through him, and it’s a pleasant night to be outside.

But then everyone is yawning and packing up, and Zane is offering to take the next shift so that everyone who requires sleep can get it. Morro doesn’t think he needs to sleep and doesn’t say much as everyone bids their goodnights and ducks into the back of the Land Bounty where all the bunks are.

It’s an hour after Cole, the last person to disappear into the back, leaves, and Zane eyes Morro, who is sitting next to him in the passenger seat. “Perhaps you should at least try–”

“I’m not going to sleep,” Morro cuts in with a scowl. “Don’t even start.”

Zane nods his head slightly, and they fall into silence once more. Morro watches as they pass a single car, small lights that grow and grow until they cross paths, and then the road is only lit by their own headlights once again. It feels oddly lonely, and now Morro’s desperate for any noise or proof of life that isn’t just him.

“Have you ever done this before?” He asks. Zane gives him a questioning look, his glowing eyes boring into Morro’s side. He shifts uncomfortably. “Like, have you, gone on a long trip before?”

“A few times,” Zane says with a shrug, returning his sights back to the road. “Not as peaceful as this, however. Usually, it’s because we’re attempting to save the day or something along those lines.”

“So you don’t have…vacations?” Morro asks, the word feeling foreign on his tongue. Cole had said it earlier, and it had been bouncing around in his mind for a while. “You don’t just explore Ninjago because you want to? Just have the roads take you around the realm you’re supposed to be protecting?”

“It would be nice to travel without worry. Sounds idyllic in a way,” Zane is quiet, the metallic ring in his voice disappearing for a moment, and Morro catches sight of a billboard that looks like it’s about to fall off. In faint letters, the sign read: Sylvia’s Splashy SuAquarium. 10 Exits Away.

“You ever gone to those sad little roadside attractions?” Morro asks, refusing to let his voice fall into nostalgic territory when he remembers going to that weird fortune-telling lady who loved selling bad advice to Wu. “Ones that leave you wondering why people decided to make that their entire life’s work?”

Zane catches him staring at the billboard, “I have not. But it would be interesting to explore. Perhaps on our way back, we can go?” He offers, and Morro shakes his head and leans back in the seat.

“I mean we can if you and the others want to, but I don’t think I want to do water,” He says, just as they pass another billboard, this time for some alien museum exhibit. “Maybe we could do something like that,” he points towards the sign. “The others would probably get a kick out of that.”

Then Morro wonders when he started to care about what the others would like.

Zane laughs, oblivious to Morro’s realization. “True,” he says. And then, “Do you mind if I put on a podcast? I haven’t been this far south before, and I’d like to know what we could encounter.”

Morro shrugs, “Go for it. It might be nice to know what has happened since I was dead.” He rests his head in his palm, as Zane presses a button, and a slow and evenly paced voice comes out of the speakers, talking about some forest that they’ll probably drive through later that week.

His eyes droop downwards, as the desert finally becomes more mountains, and he’s asleep before the sun rises.

+*+

Two days later, they’re driving through the Forrest of Luminescence, and Morro is reminded of the deep ocean, with no sky in sight, leaving the world around them dark and mysterious. The trees and plants all glow in different colors; blue, pinks, and greens, pulse as the Land Bounty’s lights brighten up their path. He thinks he spots a few birds, but they could be fish for all he knows. This place is unlike anything he’s ever seen.

“Dibs on taking out the bike,” Nya shouts, jolting everyone out of their awed stupor. She’s out on the deck before anyone can process her words, but when they do, everyone shoves against each other, all desperate to get to the other bikes that made their way onboard.

Morro watches, once again wondering how absolute children managed to defeat him, and shakes his head when he hears cackling and shouting echoing from upstairs on the deck. 

Cole– who is driving, and cannot participate in all of this– also shakes his head, but Morro suspects it's for a different reason than him. “I want to go, Zane can you take over?” Cole asks, and Zane rolls his eyes before returning to the book he’s reading.

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

Engines roar in the quiet and Morro spots four motorbikes racing ahead of the Land Bounty a few moments later. Cole drops his head in defeat, “Aww man,” He complains, and the Land Bounty speeds up to keep up with the other vehicles.

Morro snorts, “Did you not bring enough for everyone?” He asks, and Cole shakes his head, just as Zane puts his book down and excuses himself to call Pixal and start lunch– grilled cheese sandwiches and a large garden salad.

“Only a few so if in case we were stranded or needed to get someplace where the Bounty couldn’t– we wouldn’t be stuck like last time.”

Morro nods his head, “Makes sense. Back… Back before I first managed to escape the Cursed Realm, Bansha taught us how to kill inanimate objects. It’s how Wrayth turned that motorbike into the bike that followed you to the train station.” he says, ignoring the way Cole eyes him nervously.

“While turning bikes into ghosts is super cool, in a super creepy way– You can’t do it anymore right?” He asks, and Morro shrugs, smirking slightly.

“Who knows?” He says mysteriously. “I am part ghost after all.”

“Not for much longer,” Cole points out, his eyes briefly flickering to Morro before staring back in front of him.

“Yeah,” Morro says quietly. He still doesn’t know how he feels about that if he’s being honest with himself. Mortality was not a good look on him after all– how many times had he died?

“After the Day of the Departed,” He starts, only to falter, feeling oddly hesitant. He shouldn’t be, he tells himself angrily. He had helped the Ninja fight against the mannequin-ed versions of their previous enemies and Sensei Yang. He had been helpful. He did good.

And yet, Cole had turned back into a human that day. Morro had died again, possessing a doll that looked eerily like him. He feels bitter and doesn’t have enough willpower to dampen the feeling.

“What was it like turning back into a human?” He says, his voice sounding strangled. “You didn’t exactly have this in-between state like I do. How painful was it for you?”

Cole is silent, guiding the Bouty to trail after Kai’s bike. “I wasn’t a ghost for as long as you,” he says finally, as the sky finally peaks its way through the dense trees. “It just felt like a super long nightmare. Something that didn’t feel real. But I still sometimes freak out about water,” he laughs deprecatingly. “And I still run into walls.”

Morro nods, that part made sense– he's only had this decaying flesh for less than a month and keeps forgetting that he now has bones and muscles and can no longer float with the wind.

“And I guess, adjusting to eating and drinking again was rough. And showering– oh man, I’d forgotten how nice it was to feel clean, ” Cole continues, and Morro grimaces. In his partially alive body, he still didn’t have the need or desire to do basic human necessities, but he supposes he should be mentally preparing himself for that. Human, he thinks, allowing for some wonder to enter his thoughts. It has been a while– and Morro isn’t sure that he’s ready to be whole and real again.

“But don’t worry dude,” Cole says, seemingly understanding his thoughts. “You’ll get the hang of it. And we’ll be here to help if you want it,” He says, and Morro hates that his vulnerability is that readable, but doesn’t say anything. There isn’t much point, anyway.

“Thank you,” he says, and wonders if he means it. He doesn’t know. 

Zane comes back, looking cheerful. “I’ve informed Pixal on our whereabouts and made food,” he says, pressing a button on the large dashboard. “Food is ready if you want to come back on board or if you would like to stop,” he tells the Ninja on the bikes. Cole takes control of the button. “And so we can swap drivers!”

Lloyd’s voice crackles back, giving them the affirmative, and in ten minutes everyone is back on the Bounty, digging into their lunch. Morro looks on, and wonders if the food quality has improved since the last time he ate– which was almost seventy years ago. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing, becoming human.

+*+

“I should have known that this wouldn’t have been a peaceful trip!” Kai seethes, as he uses his sword to cut a path through the dense jungle. Morro trails after him, 50% sure that they are walking in the wrong direction.

“Seriously! Were you expecting to be ambushed by goblins?” Kai whirls around and looks at Morro as if he expects Morro to say yes. “I didn’t even know goblins existed in Ninjago!” He continues, ignoring Morro’s reply, not that Morro gave him one.

“I don’t they’re called goblins,” Morro finally juts in, as Kai wipes away the sweat from his forehead. “Don’t be disrespectful.”

Kai stares at him for a minute, “Are you… being serious? They literally chased us away from the Bounty calling us demons, and you want me to be nice to them?” He asks bewildered, and Morro sighs, tilting his towards the sky and regretting literally all of his life choices. All of them. Even the good choices that he’s made were not that great if this is where he has ended up.

“Obviously I’m not being serious, I took care of them, remember?” he drawls out the words slowly, rolling his eyes, and then wipes at his face with a scowl when the black liquid starts leaking out of the corners of his eyes. His vision is already impaired, he doesn’t need to be completely blind, he grumbles to himself, cursing how irritating it was to be in between life and death. He didn’t mind either side, he’s finally determined to himself– but toeing the line? It’s really bothersome.

“Yeah about that– remember that you agreed to the no-killing rule?”

“An odd way of saying thank you, but I’ll take it,” Morro snips back, smirking when Kai shoots him a disgusted look but goes silent anyway.

The two of them resume walking, and Morro’s confidence in Kai taking them back to the Bounty dwindles with the setting sun. “Do you have any idea of where you’re going?” He snaps, suddenly losing all of his patience– which to be fair, isn’t a lot as it is– and Kai levels Morro with a glare of his own.

“It would be a lot easier if you could just float over the trees and see where the Bounty is,” He snaps back, and Morro narrows his eyes– ignoring the reminder that he was powerless.

“Oh, sure. Like I’ll be able to see anything in the dark,” He crosses his arms, and Kai scowls at him, no doubt reading the underlying statement. Won’t be able to see at night, even if your companion is the Ninja of Fire. 

“Come on,” Morro snaps, pushing past him. “We don’t want to lose any more daylight, because we’ll be useless in an hour.”

“Low blow, dude,” Kai growls, but Morro shrugs, continuing through the jungle. “Especially since you don’t have your powers either, do you?” Kai says it like he’s won a game, and Morro bristles silently, but he doesn’t turn around. He won’t take the bait. He’s better than that.

“Because, back before you came out of the portal machine, you practically created a tornado anytime something ticked you off,” Kai continues, and Morro keeps his lips tight. “And now I don’t even feel a breeze.”

Morro doesn’t say anything. Unfortunately, that doesn’t deter Kai. “You could have told us– It’s not like it’s not just you who doesn’t have their powers,” he accuses, and as the last streaks of light in the sky start to fade, Morro frowns and whirls around– his patience evaporating in the wind, no pun intended. 

“And what,” He grits his teeth, desperately trying to keep his cool– a hard feat to do with the Ninja of Fire– “Do you think you would have done? That’s right, nothing. I know how this works– I need to regain my powers by overcoming my fear or some crap like that– something which I can’t control!”

“What do you mean? You know why your powers are gone?” Kai asks peering at him with almost knowing eyes, and Morro scoffs, resuming their trek.

“I’m comfortable being a ghost and I’m comfortable being a human. Being stuck as both at the same time is a painful experience and I have hated every second of it. As soon as we get to this temple, and I become a human, I’ll have nothing holding me back and my powers will return,” He says, not leaving any room for doubt.  He refuses to believe anything other than that is the cause for his loss of power. 

“Careful dude, you’re sounding like a supervillain again,” Kai warns lightheartedly, no doubt trying to ease the suddenly heavy mood, and Morro stares at him stoned-faced. Kai shrugs undeterred, “But are you sure that’s really why they're gone?”

“Of course it is,” Morro dismisses, spotting something glowing in the distance. “What else could it be?”

“Okay,” Kai says, sounding uncertain, but then he spots the glowing lights too. “What is that?”

Morro squints, shouldering past a few more trees to come closer to a building with flashing lights and a sign for… gas prices?

“Is that a gas station?” Kai demands, standing next to him. “In the middle of the freaking jungle?”

Yes. Yes, there is.

It looks like a normal gas station that he’d probably find in the cities, which is jarring, considering the jungle landscape that spreads over most of the southern parts of the realm. There is even a road in front of the establishment, with a car parked to the side of it. All the gas pumps are vacated, but the point is that there is a station with no other civilization surrounding it. They could have at least added a restaurant next to it, or something.

Kai shrugs nonchalantly, “Eh, I’ve seen weirder. But I swear if it’s run by greedy cultist goblins who think we’re demons, I’m going to lose it,” he mumbles as he stalks towards the station.

Morro trails after him, feeling wary of it all as they get closer– or maybe it was because of the decent gas prices. Despite being born before cars were even a thing, and having no idea what the ideal gas rates should be, he’s heard enough of Zane’s grievances to know that gas was more expensive than ever before.

“And what are you hoping to accomplish?” He asks as they cross the paved road. “I don’t exactly think there’s a strong enough signal here to call the others.”

“Might as well ask,” Kai says cheerfully, as they open the door, and a small bell chimes. “Who knows, maybe the goblins have long-range!”

“I highly doubt that,” Morro tries to say, but gets interrupted by high high-pitched scream. They both whirl around and immediately duck as a bag of chips gets thrown their way.

“DEMONS!” The cashier screams and Kai bristles, brandishing his sword at the counter, as if about to charge.

“We are NOT demons!” He shouts back, and Morro groans as Kai prepares to launch himself at the screaming glimmering pink-purple goblin.

“No wait,” Morro grabs Kai’s shoulder and takes a step forward. “No killing, remember?”

“That was a rule for you, not me,” Kai mutters under his breath but crosses his arms. Morro rolls his eyes, “I’ve got this,” he says and takes a smooth step in front of Kai. 

The cashier takes a step backward in response and raises another bag of chips over their head. “Stay back, demon,” they warn with a shaky voice. Morro ignores this and walks around the counter.

“Actually I’m a zombie,” Morro clarifies, letting his eyes bleed green and as he steps closer and closer to the poor shaking cashier, he feels tar dripping down his cheeks. The cashier hits the wall and lets out a quiet squeak. Morro grins, and a louder squeak rings in the empty gas station. Oh, how he missed scaring people. 

If only he had his powers to knock down the shelves and cause the building to rumble with the power of his wind. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. Behind him, Morro can hear Kai sighing in impatience. Rude.  

“Wh-What do you want?” 

He has to strain to hear the question, and Morro shrugs. “Can I borrow your phone?” he asks, and that sentence is what makes the cashier pass out. Morro blinks and takes a step back in surprise.

“Oh great,” Kai grumbles, as he snags a yellow chip bag off the rack, and aggressively opens it. “This is your fault.”

“My fault?” Morro tosses his hands in the air, “You were about to kill them!”

“No, I wasn’t! And I didn’t loom over them like I was evil, either!” Kai points out, hands full of potato chips.

“I didn’t loom,” Morro crosses his arms indignantly, knowing full well that he was. “I was just asking to borrow their phone!” 

“Yeah. By looming,” Kai rolls his eyes and picks up the phone sitting on the counter, quickly pressing numbers as he munches on the chips. “Check on the goblin while I call the others, and hopefully we’ll be gone before they wake up. I refuse to get chased in the jungle this late at night.”

Morro spares a glance at the passed-out goblin that probably was going to wake up any moment now and shrugs. He’s pretty sure if he even looks at the cashier’s direction, then they’ll probably pass out again. “I’ll grab some snacks too,” he decides to stall and grabs a bag before stuffing it with chips and candy. 

“Don’t steal!” Kai hisses at him, his head tilted to keep hold of the phone as he finishes off the bag of chips that he most definitely did not pay for.

Before Morro can point out the blatant hypocrisy, the call goes through, and Kai’s face brightens. “Heyyy, Nya!”

Morro watches in bemusement when Kai’s face immediately falls as he winces and tugs the phone slightly away from his ear. “We’re at some gas station,” Kai explains in a rush. “Yeah! It was the goblins!”

Morro lets Kai deal with his angry sister and then the cashier stirs, and Morro opens one of the refrigerators in the wall, pulling out a bottle of water. Before he can hand them the bottle, he makes a mistake and locks eyes with the poor thing, and the cashier lets out another squeak before slumping back down. 

He just puts the bottle next to them and goes back to wandering the store, looking at the odd trinkets and postcards that decorate the wall. It’s all jungle-themed, and he wrinkles his nose just staring at the cartoon figures of animals.

“ETA is like, five minutes,” Kai says, putting down the phone. “Boy, she is not happy with me, as if it was my idea to get chased down by crazed goblins,” he mutters, and glares at the two bags of candy and chips Morro is holding. “No,” He says flatly. “We don’t have any money! And that’s way more than just a small bag of chips.”

Morro snorts, “It’s funny that you think that you have any control over me. And besides, they called us demons– I think it's fair we reward ourselves. It’s not like we’re robbing them of their money.”

“By stealing their merchandise? Like that makes any sense,” Kai raises a brow, and Morro shrugs, putting a keychain that has the letter M in the bag. 

“Better than you driving a sword through their chest.”

“I can hear you!” An indignant yelp rings through the building and the two of them turn around to face the dazed-looking goblin. “Demons! What have I done to deserve this punishment?” They wail loudly, and Morro gestures a hand at them, and looks at Kai to say, ‘see?’

“We’re really not,” Kai’s face shifts from anger to blankness, trying to go for patience and failing miserably, but Morro can applaud him for trying.

The cashier points at Morro, “His face is falling off! His eyes are bleeding black! I can see his inside of him,” the poor goblin shouts hysterically. They’re not wrong… and Morro can concede that he may indeed look like a demon. Still doesn’t explain why Kai was chased though. Maybe it’s the gelled-up hair?

“We’re working on it,” He shrugs, just as a large beam filters through the store, and the distinct outline of the Land Bounty becomes visible. Perfect, the Ninja are right on time.

“Fine,” He says, making something up. “You have survived this encounter. I won’t… ‘demon-ize’ you? But I’m taking these bags with me,” He heaves up the grocery bags, and Kai’s loud exasperation does nothing to cover the sigh of pure relief and the rushed nod the cashier gives him.

The two of them walk out of the gas station, Morro triumphantly holding out his spoils of war to the waiting Ninja. “We got snacks!”

Every other face stares back at him unimpressed, except Cole, who grins and says, “What did you get?”

+*+

There is a child sleeping on him.

Okay, well Lloyd’s not technically a child, since he’s as old as everyone else, but Morro has quite literally been in his mind, and to him, Lloyd is still and will always be an absolute child. 

Honestly, who eats five candy bars in two minutes? A child, that’s who, Morro grumbles in his mind, but doesn’t dare move an inch on the couch to escape his fate.

This is his fault– he sighs to himself, because had he not taken the bags of snacks from the gas station, Lloyd wouldn’t have been able to end up in a sugar coma, and therefore would not be using Morro as the world's most uncomfortable pillow.

He doesn’t even know how this happened, one moment they were all watching a movie that Jay had put on, and the next, the person he possessed was in his lap, snoring away. The worst part is that everyone else is asleep, wrappers and stray chips littering the ground, as Nya drives for a few more hours up in the front.

 This is uncomfortable, Morro decides. He would very much like to be out of this situation. “ Lloyd,” he says as loudly as he can in a whisper, poking a boney finger into the Green Ninja’s side. “ Wake up! ”

Lloyd moves slightly, mutters something incoherent, and snores again. 

Morro groans, feeling himself start to panic. He doesn’t want to move Lloyd, but he also doesn’t want to be stuck here.

“Lloyd, can you please wake up? Just for a second, and you can go back to sleep. All you have to do is roll over,” He begs, but it’s to no avail. Oh, why couldn’t Lloyd have fallen asleep on someone else– like Kai! He was right there and was no doubt a much better option than Morro!

A blinding light flashes in his face, blinding him, and when Morro can see again, he sees Nya grinning at him, holding out her phone. Did she just… Morro stares at her in dawning horror. 

“Delete it!” He demands with a scowl, but she just smothers her laughter as she takes another picture.

“Oh no, buddy. This is revenge for literally everything,” She says gleefully, and while Morro supposes that while he deserves the picture, he doesn’t deserve to be slept on.

“At least get him off of me!”

Nya shakes her head, “Suffer,” She looks a little manic when she says it, but Morro refuses to become deterred.

“I’m like the last person he should be doing this to,” He whispers loudly to her when Cole shifts in his sleep on the floor. “I have literally tried to kill him. Multiple times!”

Nya, who has killed Morro once, doesn’t seem to be too worried, which is actually so concerning. “Are you going to kill him now?” She asks, and Morro stares at her a little crazed.

Was she insane? “Are you insane?” He asks out loud. “No!”

She rolls her eyes and shrugs, “Then it’s fine.”

No, no, no, this was not fine. Maybe Nya was sleep-deprived and needed sleep to think properly. Because this was definitely not a good idea.

“Nya, you need to kill me right now before he wakes up and kills me himself,” He hisses at her, “Use a knife, water, poison, whatever,” He pleads, and she rolls her eyes.

“Stop being such a drama queen. He’ll wake in,” She glances at her wrist, one that doesn’t have a watch on it. “Oh, I don’t know, five hours from now?”

Then she freaking walks away, “Nya?” He whisper-shouts. “Nya! Come back!”

But she’s gone and Morro is stuck. This is not what he envisioned when they had planned this journey out. He glares at Lloyd’s sleeping form half-heartedly, “When you wake up, I’m going to kill you,” he threatens.

Lloyd just lets out another snore, leaving Morro in disgust and helplessness that he’s never known before. Ah, well perhaps he could put himself in a sugar comma, he thinks, reaching for a candy bar. Perhaps it’ll be less miserable that way.

Spoiler, it isn't.

+*+

But somehow, in some way, there are no other problems reaching the Temple of Life. Not that Morro’s complaining.

The temple itself is in complete disarray, with crumbling walls and columns smothered in ivy. It’s also super quiet, the only noise is their footstep pattering against the ancient stone. He wonders how long ago this temple was built and how long ago someone walked amongst these halls. In a sense, this place feels as much a ghost as he does. Teetering the edge of here and not, it feels… familiar. And isn’t that a scary thought?

Thankfully, it’s not as dark as Morro thought as they walk through the temple– a part of the roof has caved in, and streams of sunlight brighten their way. Not that they know where they’re going– Wu was unsurprisingly very vague on this part of their trip.

“Are we sure this is the place?” Jay asks, right before they find the central room. Then there’s no point in responding.

“Oh yeah,” Cole breathes, as they all stare in wonderment. “Definitely in the right place.”

Morro hums in agreement, as he takes in the room around him. He’s never known a place to be so full of green and brimming with… well, life.

Despite being in the center of a rocky barren land where there are only the harsh waves that crash over jagged rocks and frantic winds that whip across the mountains in a violent scream, nature runs wild here.

Lush plants and trees sprout from the grassy ground and curl around the walls as if creating an illusion of being back in the jungle. It definitely feels that way too, with wildlife walking through the room without care for predators, but something’s missing. Everything seems too still, too quiet.

“Hey, Look at this!” Lloyd points to some pedestal on the edge of the room. While it looks just as aged with time as the temple, it’s not decorated with vines or crumbling with disuse. It’s polished and glowing, and a few inches above the stone hovers a ball of flaming fire.

Morro hears Kai exhale sharply as they all gather around the pedestal. “It’s calling to me,” he murmurs, holding a hand over the ball of fire. His hand flexes and the ball turns into a large flame, sparks fluttering from out of his fingers and dancing across his palms. Kai breaks into a large smile, taking a step back to punch a large blast of fire into the air.

“We are back, baby!” He shouts gleefully, letting more bursts of fire out of his palms. “I’m not using lighter fluid ever again!”

Zane frowns, “But how?” he asks, and Kai shrugs. “I don’t know. It felt like a reminder, I guess. Of where my powers should be.”

“That makes absolutely no sense,” he declares, but before Kai can continue, Nya points at something behind Cole.

“Look, there’s more,” she says, and they all follow her finger to where another pedestal stands, this time holding a ball of rock.

A few feet farther from that, there’s a ball of water. Then a ball of electricity. A ball of ice. The more Morro looks for the pedestals, the more he sees. “These are all of the elements,” he realizes.

“All of them?” Lloyd asks skeptically and starts to walk around the room, and Morro follows him, searching for his own powers, but stops in front of a ball of golden energy. “Huh,” Lloyd says, staring at the ball, stupified. “How is this possible?” He asks, poking at the ball hesitantly. It flashes green momentarily before going back to a glowing gold.

“The First Spinjitzu Master,” an old voice says behind them. 

Everyone jolts out of their awe, and are quick to draw their weapons at… another goblin. A lot older than the ones they have already encountered with long white hair and a staff that could probably make Wu jealous, but still have the same shimmery pink-purple color and pointy ears. “Not this again,” Kai mutters under his breath, but thankfully there is no one screaming about demons. 

“Who are you?” Cole asks suspiciously, although it isn’t unkind. “And what do you mean the First Spinjitzu Master?” Jay jumps in.

The old goblin looks at them individually, before settling his sights on Morro. His eyes widen briefly, but he doesn’t say anything.  “I am Asferus, the keeper of this temple,” the old goblin introduces. “The First Spinjitzu Master tasked my family to protect this place, long before Ninjago was even considered to be a realm.”

“What do you mean?” Lloyd shifts uncomfortably, “I thought the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago.”

Asferus chuckles, “That’s what everyone is led to believe. No, he was not the maker of this realm, but he had a hand in creating it into what it is today. Before his arrival, a great serpent by the name of Wojira ruled the sees, and my ancestors along with the Merlopians helped him put her into a deep slumber.”

Huh. Well, that was interesting. Did Wu ever know this part, or had the First Spinjitzu Master hidden the truth to even his children?

“But what is this place?” Nya asks, pointing to the different pedestals. “Why are our powers here?”

Asferus looks sad when he says, “The First Spinjitzu Master had many enemies that tried their hardest to rid him from this realm and all the others. He worried that if his enemies managed to dispose of him and his allies, a remnant of their powers should be safe in a place that no one but their descendants or their chosen heirs would be able to locate and use.”

“So he created a vault of every Elemental power in existence, just in case something happened?” Cole clarifies, and Asferus tilts his head to the ground.

“Not all of them,” he says quietly. “Wojira had two elements under her control. One of them managed to make their way back to the First Spinjitzu Master’s allies– Nyad. She stole most of Wojira’s powers and it turned her into an ocean. Wojira fell into a deep slumber and in her wake, she left behind two amulets. My brethren on the islands protect one, the Merlopians, the other. But it has been many centuries since then, and you cannot hide something forever.”

“So someone found the amulets?” Nya asks, her eyes furrowed as she tries to make the connection. Morro is in the same place, this story doesn’t seem relevant to help him turn back into a human, so why was it being said?

“Two people, in two different eras. They gained some of Wojira’s powers, making them the Elemental masters of Water and Wind. The calmer versions of Wojira’s storm and waves.”

“Wait, are you saying me and Morro are the descendants of a snake?” Nya demands, and Morro winces. He’d once wondered where his powers came from, why the people who had abandoned him had given him this one gift that had made him think for over seventy years that he was special.

“Your powers are,” Asferus corrects, gesturing to the pedestal that holds the ball of water. “And not long after Raine discovered the Wave amulet, the First Spinjitzu Master found her and helped train her. He never discovered the Master of Wind.”

“Until now,” Morro says, crossing his arms.

“Until now,” Asferus agrees softly.

Morro doesn’t usually think back on his past for obvious reasons. He had been an orphan and homeless until Wu took pity on him and fed him with falsities. Had Wu known? Had he known that Morro was the first person he’d ever seen to use Wind, and thought Morro was special because of it? Had Wu thought he would be the Green Ninja, simply because no one else had known of an Elemental Master of Wind?

It’s so believably Wu, to do something like that, that Morro squashes down his anger and bitter resentment and hardens it into cold determination. So what if that’s what Wu thought? The past was the past, and there was nothing they could do to correct it. Unless he could somehow use the ball of time sitting on a pedestal next to him. 

Morro shakes his head, he wasn’t going to think of the what-ifs. “So this place holds the elemental powers– how does that turn me back into a human?”

“If all the elements are placed on each pedestal, then, in theory, it can reinvent whoever steps in its light. I believe that a few decades ago, a person tried to accomplish the feat of eternal life through a weapon, but failed to harness all the elements and cursed those that he used it on.”

“Yang,” Cole spits out in disgust and Asfernus shrugs.

“He had the right idea, the wrong ingredients. Perhaps you will succeed, or suffer a fate worse than him and your friend over here,” he nods in Morro’s direction, and Morro grimaces. 

No pressure or anything, huh? Good thing Morro is a pro at being under pressure– except there’s something that he can’t exactly control.

“In this state, I don’t have access to my powers,” Morro says, ignoring the way everyone, except for Kai, turns to look at him in surprise.

“What?” Jay demands, “We come all this way and you don’t even have your powers!”

“A few minutes ago, I didn’t even know that my powers were a requirement!” Morro snaps back. “Or that I got them from a freaking snake!”

“So what do we do? How do we get them back?” Lloyd asks, and Morro throws his hands in the air. 

“If I knew how to, don’t you think I would have done it already?” He asks frustrated. He had tried. He had tried so hard to cause something as small as a breeze. But his powers were gone. “I can’t do it when I'm both a ghost and a human. I don’t think it works like this.”

Zane gives him a calculated look, “Perhaps it’s not that. As a ghost, you shouldn’t have technically had your powers, and yet you did– not even in a weakened state but at full power. I highly doubt that now, partially human, you would be struggling to retain any of it.”

Morro scoffs, “So what? You’re saying this is all in my head?”

“Yes,” Zane agrees bluntly, and Morro refuses to look at Kai, who he is sure has an ‘I knew it,’ look on his face. 

“So how do we not make it in my head?” He asks, “Have a small therapy session?” It’s meant to be said mockingly, but the Ninja actually exchange a look and contemplate it, and Morro holds out his hands to stop it. “Nope, no way. No therapy, not from you at least.”

Kai coughs, “I don’t know about the others, but I was going to suggest something else.”

“Trust me, I am all ears,” Morro says a little too quickly.

“When you think of your powers, where do you feel that tugging sensation where your power resides? For me, it’s near my shoulders that goes down my arms and into the palm of my hands. I know the others feel it differently, but where do you feel it?” Kai asks, and Morro frowns with a small shrug.

His power was like another layer of skin. Armor that was invisible to everyone but him– the only thing he could call his own. He was the wind in a sense, the ease of being able to bend it around him came as naturally as breathing. 

Which is why it was so hard to adjust to just… not having it anymore. It was suffocating without it– it was like a piece of Morro was missing. Or was it the only piece of Morro? Was he anything without his powers? He’d like to think so, but he doesn’t know. His life has been so much change, so much chaos, that to have his one constant ripped away from him… He’s swept away with nothing to keep him tethered.

It makes him wonder, why had his power left him after escaping from the Doctor’s portal? If Zane is right, and it is all just mental, then why would he be blocking it out? His wind was a lifeline, a constant in his life and death and ghostly resurrection. What would make him subconsciously want to be away from that?

Maybe he deserved to be without his powers, a small thought creeps into his mind. How many people had he hurt with his powers? It hadn’t just been the Ninja who had suffered from his wrath, and maybe mentally, Morro hadn’t wanted to be with something that had been a cause of it. Maybe… Maybe.

Wind flutters through the remains of his hair, and Morro blinks his eyes open. He hadn’t realized he’d closed them. “Oh,” he breathes loudly as the wind flows through the room, singing to him like a lost friend. He hadn’t realized that’s why the room was so still and quiet. The wind was gone.

He breaks into a grin, letting a large gust blow through the chamber, and the Ninja cheer, sounding more relieved than Morro thinks they should. “Now what?” He asks Asfernus and the elder points to the farthest part of the room. There is an empty pedestal, and Morro has some idea of what he should do. 

“Place a piece of your power onto the last pedestal, and I shall start the ritual,” Asfernus explains, and Morro cups his hands together, and lets the familiar hum soothe his bones as he forms a ball of wind, swirling violently on itself, and places it in its spot.

Then Asfernus begins to chat, ancient, archaic tongues, and before his very eyes, the moon makes its way over the sun. An eclipse, Morro’s mind flashes back to the Day of the Departed. But this time, it is not a comet, and it is not Morro going back to the Cursed Realm.

No, this time– as a glowing gold portal is cast in the center of the room, the middle of every pedestal that contains an element– this time, Morro will get to live.

He takes one small tentative step toward the portal, making sure this is what he must do before his legs take a mind of their own, and he’s walking, running towards the portal. Unlike before, where he had gone from ghost to zombie, in complete and utter agony, begging for another death to come his way– this time, it’s like a warm embrace.

His first death had been inhaling the poisonous gasses in the Caves of Despair, and his resurrection has him breathing fresh air. Gold swirls around him, filling him, fixing him, making him whole.

And then it’s over, and Morro is breathing and alive, and so, so, thirsty.

He stares at his fingers, now covered in flesh and muscles in wonderment. Alive, he thinks, barely able to believe it. The Ninja crowd around him, all grinning at him in delight, and Morro can only mirror their faces.

“It worked,” He says, feeling dazed as Lloyd helps him up from the ground.

“You’re alive,” Lloyd confirms, squeezing his hand slightly before letting go. “We did it.”

“And no one was trying to kill us! New best quest ever!” Jay jumps in, laughing as Kai swats him. 

“Tell that to the crazy cultists!”

“Okay, fine. No one was trying to kill me, ” Jay amends, and Morro can’t help the smile bubbling out of him.

“This has been quite the easy trip,” Cole grins in agreement, “Can’t believe we’ve already finished it.” Zane shakes his head. “The journey is not over yet. We still have to get back to the monastery.”

“That’s right,” Morro nods his head, “I think we agreed to four roadside attractions, right?”

Everyone breaks into an argument about which they should go to first, but Morro slips away to see Asfernus. “Thank you,” he says quietly, and the old goblin smiles at him.

“The temple is complete, thanks to you,” he says, gesturing to the room around them. It’s true, the temple is back in pristine shape, with no more crumbling walls and caved-in roof. “A fair trade in my opinion.”

Morro ducks his head, “I guess, but still, thank you.”

“Try not to repeat it,” Asfernus tells him lightheartedly, and Morro snorts. Yeah, there was no way he was going to die again– not until he was Wu’s age– and thinking of Wu, Morro pauses, feeling unwanted panic consume his newly remade body. Was he prepared to deal with Wu?

No– well, maybe. He’ll see. Right now he was going to enjoy the fact that he was human, had his powers back, and had another week's worth of touring around Ninjago before dealing with Wu and all the battles that it came with.

This was a vacation, and Morro is definitely going to enjoy it as much as he can. He deserves it.

[chellyore]

More for the Ninjago werewolf au. Think I might call it the lycan au. Or something like that.

Anyway designs for Nya and Lloyd. They took me a minute.

Some of the stuff in it is for future ideas. Like Hunter X. Werewolf au.. .they sadly aren't ninja here so I had to rework Samurai X to a more of a hunter type. Think like Artemis or something akin to Van Hellsing.

Now as for more information on this au. The powers are the same, but a bit different. Like I was researching how electrons work and find out they are everywhere so why not use that for Jay... .like give him kind of Astral like state along with Lloyd based on energy and lightning. Becoming one with the elements... .Nya probably does this with water so water mode.. .Cole probably can't as can't Zane as solid objects are their elements. Kai might be able to.

Now as for power differences. I feel like the original show never showed how far these elements can go. Like Earth, it's rocks? Just earthquakes? Earth in definition is life and all of that. So why not add a bit of it. Also I can't write Bolobo so that's also why... .plus no animal elements... .and being a werewolf au. Yeah.

Fire- Fire I researched it and man Kai is so screwd over on powers. Why not have him breathe fire, or do tricks? Like maybe have him make it so hot it turns blue or can melt people?? Is that too dark? Probably, but I'm still looking into this.. .not to mention all the chemical stuff with Fire. Hehe.

Water- I had fun with this one. Moon controls water after all. So i was feeling something with dreams and interconnection... .Like have Nya have something really cool for hers. Because it's a more mysterious one she barely knows anything on it so just screws it she'll do hunting stuff instead. (She got annoyed by it)

Ice- Ok. I had a hard time with this one.... .there's not much you can do with ice... .but the foresight thing, what if I did that? Because Ice is frozen in time and is typically seen as a some form of time pausing feature.. future sight is a part of it. Plus being able to create snow storms and cool people down is something.

I have this little idea for the weather based ones. As they are closer to the sky they tend to have more powerful abilities. Cole and Kai are stuck below but Nya and Jay probably could create a thunderstorm. Zane an ice storm or blizzard is mad enough. Also depends on weather.. .like in a desert it's less powerful.

Also other wolves. There are 12 moons in a year.

Ice- Zane

Lightning- Jay

Fire- Kai

Water- Nya

Earth-Cole

Magic- Skylor(the lore here is amazing, but I can't say anything about that.)

July moon is under debate

August moon is also under debate if I wanna do something with Pixel.

Sound- Ronin(hehe, yeah we're doing something different here... .the whistle that is like a dog whistle fits him though)

Mind- Harumi(yeah I'm having fun with this, and don't know how to write Neuro nor wanna make him a villain)

Wind- Morro of course

Darkness- Someome.. .I'm still deciding this.

Creation- Wu

Destruction- Garmadon

Energy- Lloyd

They don't have months- New Moon, full moon, Blue Moon. Type of thing. Anyway I need to sleep. Peace.

[strangermask]

I thought about something in Ninjago and it led to an entire new arc for first elemental masters

So Wind and Water were the only elements that FSM had no control over, and the first EM of water is now the entire ocean. So how did water and wind find their way into the elemental masters ring considering everything?

Well

The storm amulet is purple and the wave amulet is blue, and they each have essences of wind and water

Currently water is blue, grey and magenta (s5-s7 Nya had magenta), and wind is green and white (adding both Morro and new EM of wind)

Then you have lightning, which is blue but is theorized to have used to be purple because of the color of storm amulet and the keepers.

What do blue, purple, and green all have in common? They’re cool colors.

And what do you get when you combine water, wind, and lightning? A thunderstorm

And adding in the lil animal symbols the main 4 elements have and add in a lil creative story telling spin:

What animal usually represents wind? A bird. What animal usually represents water? A fish. What animal canonically represents lightning in Ninjago? An octopus. And we also have Wojira who at the time was put into a deep slumber. And she (from info I’ve gathered from ninjago fandomwiki) is a storm spirit. What if there were other spirits at the time? Introducing:

The spirit of wind and the spirit of water, by-products of Wojira. And of course, the spirit of lightning, another by-product of wojira. The wind spirit and water spirit used to fight until their younger brother, lightning spirit, calmed them down by doing a dance. It kept them calm and quiet their fighting. The only problem? The lightning spirit had to continue dancing for his sisters or they will go back to fighting.

So the lightning spirit would forever dance so his sisters would not fight and possibly cause destruction to the lands of non-spirits.

UNTIL

Lightning Spirit gets kidnapped by a cult who wants to reawaken Wojira. The two sisters started to get restless, not noticing their brother has been kidnapped, and they start to fight again.

And you’d think: “Mask you have been talking about spirits and very high reach about lightning, wind, and water connection with thunderstorms and colors, how the fuck does this explain how water and wind got new elemental masters?”

Well

Introducing

Yoshimochi, first master of lightning and a die-hard animal lover

He finds the lightning spirit escaping the cult, and Yoshimochi just goes: “aww lil baby! Cute lighting lil baby!”

He and the rest of the elemental masters find out about the cult and lightning spirit’s kidnapping. Then they found out the wind and water spirit are fighting rn and it could destroy Ninjago like Wojira almost did. So the group delivers lightning spirit to his sisters with the help of Nyad (who wanted to help the funny people and keep the ocean at peace). But oop, lightning spirit got badly wounded just as he was about to do the dance that calms them down.

Yoshimochi, being the only other lightning user, decided to take lightning spirit’s place. So Yoshimochi did the dance, and he ends up pulling the two sisters towards him which causes him to be possessed by both of them

And here’s the thing, possession can change a spirit. The two sisters saw and felt everything while possessing Yoshimochi. They felt his emotions, his pain, his desires and wishes, and they saw all of his memories. They experienced raw human emotions and it gave them a new perspective. And it was then they found out, through Yoshimochi memories, that their baby brother was kidnapped and wounded trying to calm them.

And so they left Yoshimochi’s body and ran straight to the lightning spirit to comfort him. The sisters thank Yoshimochi and promise to not be a bother to the non-spirits and offer help whenever needed. And as a thank you gift, Nyad gave Yoshimochi the element of water and the element of wind with permission from the wind spirit and water spirit.

And what do you know, Yoshimochi has twin nephews. And after getting a destiny check to make sure who he should give the elements to, the element of wind and water are passes down to the twins. Thus beginning the line of masters of wind and masters of water.

Does this make sense? Who knows, but I’m sticking with it and this arc is a lot more dramatic then what I typed here

[themadauthorshatter]

... It's been forever since I even TOUCHED this, and this is really just a headcanon post

So, forever ago, I made a post on Morro's wasted potential in Ninjago, and more people agreed with me than I thought, ngl

So, to add to that post, here are some thoughts/headcanons on how Morro's charaxter would shift if he appeared in more than the ghost season

.

.

Right off the bat, he does not die. He runs away after he is proven to not be the green ninja, but he instead is attacked and has to be rescued, something that knocks him down a few pegs even when he's bed ridden and sick with Wu taking care of him. Morro does eventually apologize for his behavior, more specifically admitting that he was wrong to think he was stronger than the rest when he almost died. Wu lets him stay, happy to have not lost a student, and offers him a different goal instead of being the green ninja: stay where he's safe and keep learning so he can be stronger.

Morro agrees and continues to grow and learn until he becomes Wu's right hand man.

In terms of 'hierarchy,' Wu is the teacher, Morro is second in command and tied slightly with Cole, Zane is after them as the scout and the smart guy that doesn't talk much, Jay and Kai are the two that are good fighters, yet still need some reining in, and Nya and Lloyd are the little guys that do what they're told, thankfully.

Morro's dragon does not have a seat/saddle. Morro rides on his dragon while standing because he is in tune with his wind powers.

Is he all work and no play? Of course not. He knows how to kick back, it just takes him a second to do so.

He and Cole are the most experienced of Wu's students and tells horror stories of his days in training just to mess with the guys.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Morro doesn't hate Zane, but he doesn't like being around him either because(spoiler alert if you don't follow all the parts of my PG-13 touch-up AU) Zane is dead. Being near him gives Morro the heebie-jeebies and makes him feel sick, so he tries not to be near Zane for long periods of time. A couple hours is fine, but a day is too much.

Cole and Morro get along, but before, when Cole first joined, they were rivals, as in they were siblings fighting over Wu's approval. Eventually, Wu got stuck of the constant bickering and sent the two on missions together, something that helped the two bridge the gap between them and start getting along. And now they're inseparable

Jay and Kay have DEFINITELY given Morro more headaches than he cares too mention mainly because Jay's high energy and Kai is reckless. All three get along well enough, but there are times when Jay and Kai are a little much for him to deal with.

He has no problems with Nya. It was weird to live with a girl after so many years, but the two are fatherly decent friends and Morro acts as a wing man for both Nya and Jay because he knows theres something there between them

Like I said, Morro can sense and communicate with the dead, and it's a power he hates because he hates seeing what could have happened to him after running away. He's not surprised when Zane reveals he's basically a reanimated corpse, instead having this sullen look on his face.

Does he go on a lot of missions? Sort of. Sometimes he joins the ninja, sometimes he doesn't. The tomb missions were an immediate 'no' for him because of the history and he got a bad feeling, and seeing Pythor for the first time instantly made him freeze because of the fact that Pythor had some lingering spirits following him.

Fighting the skeleton army was a 'no go,' but Morro did have to push through to help save his family.

Jay helps him through times when seeing the dead becomes too much, and has shown him it's okay to use it because Morro found the ghost of a girl that had found Zane and led them to him

Kai's time wondering and obsessing about if he was the green ninja definitely got on Morro's nerves because, as he later reveals to the team, he thought he was the green ninja once before he was proven not to be. He's over it, but he reacted poorly back then and it almost cost him his life. He doesn't know who it is, but he knows it's not him and he wouldn't bet on Kai because his heads big enough as it is.

Upon meeting Lloyd, Morro had mixed feelings. On one hand, the kid was Wu's nephew and family and was alone where literally anything or anyone could get him and hurt him. On the other hand, he didn't exactly like kids and Lloyd being somewhat helpless bothered him. When Lloyd was on the Bounty and recovering from an illness, Morro was reminded of his younger self, how he tried to be bigger and stronger when he wasn't ready. Not Lloyd's situation, but he did tell Lloyd that he did good lasting as long as he did to get to his uncle again, so he can rest easy knowing he has that under his belt.

Lloyd's reveal of the green ninja hit hard, and it hurt. Big time. Like, 'Tai Lung trained for years on end but is not the dragon warrior' hard. Hiw did he react? By putting his hand on Lloyd's head, giving a very dry smile and saying, "Don't think I'll go easy on you now because you're the chosen one." It was actually a nice moment between thebtwo amd after when Lloyd expressed fear and sorrow at having to fight his father.

When Lloyd aged up, Morro was legitimately devastated and felt awful about how Lloyd has to grow and mature so much faster now and that he had to FIGHT HIS OWN FATHER, all of it boiling up and making him snap at Wu and the team that Lloyd's been through so much already and he's literally just a kid and he has so little things in life that are actually good for him because now being the chosen one has put a target on his back.

When the team got their powers back on the dark island, Morro was not messing with his powers. Instead he was in the waters of the beach trying to catch fish and just sort of being on the beach before sunbathing with Zane because he's never been on a beach before. That stopped when Wu yelled at them.

Morro does get a dragon, but his saddle/ seat is a little different because he stands up when he flies, like he flies his dragon in the way you skateboard, and it equally impresses and annoys the ninja because he's just showing off.

What's his golden weapon? A pair of tessens, or fans, that have wind powers. He does get picked on for it, but he reminds the culprit that he's Morro and you don't want to piss off Morro.

The team does not tease Morro about his abilities with seeing, sensing, and communicating with the dead, mainly because it's the ability itself that hunders him against opponents like the skeleton army, Garmadon, and the serpentine. That many cries from people who have died get to him and he has no idea what to do. The team can't really imagine what it must feel like, but they do comfort him because they're family.

And that's where I'm going to call it because I can't really think of anythi g else for this😅

Hope you enjoyed!!!

[dumbfandomdoodles]

okay okay Ninjago fandom i had an idea

a season where the overlord comes back - but actually, he’s not hellbent on destroying Ninjago this time. 

He’s trying to bring balance. To do this, he recruits one of the ninja (Kai or Nya, in my mind - I’ll explain in a second)

So he approaches this ninja in their dreams or whatever, and when they freak out, because yeah he’s been destroyed twice and also he’s pretty evil, but he goes off on an elaborate monologue about how he wouldn’t be there but someone needs to restore balance and he can’t do it alone, yadda yadda. 

“Yeah, of course you want more evil.”

But here’s the kicker, lovelies... there’s too much evil. And the Overlord’s solution? Destroy Wu. 

Here’s where which ninja it is comes in... Kai’s like brotherly love or whatever, right? Plus, Wu’s past mistakes led to him losing his powers, so he’d be super on board with protecting his little family, which would be the Overlord’s angle with him.

Nya, on the other hand, has worked with the Overlord before (admittedly against her will, but he’s pretty familiar to her) and she’s a strong, independent woman. Something that Wu has pretty much taken from her, and forced her to hide. She’s only a ninja because it suited him at the time. He could have told her straight off the bat! But he didn’t. He knew about Kai for forever. They were struggling in the blacksmiths and Wu could have come and helped them at any time. Something which she probably hadn’t thought of, making it an even better argument from the Overlord. 

Anyway it’s a whole slow infiltration thing, with flashback episodes and whatever to all the mistakes Wu’s made - and then the last episode, it’s Wu against ALL of his students (I want Morro back :) he’s been hurt, poor baby, he’d be awesome in this concept), Garmadon (if Morro’s there, I see no reason for Garm to be there too) and the Overlord (the very entity he’s spent his whole life trying to keep from hurting the people he’s loved)

Right at the last moment, the first ‘team Overlord’ ninja kind of has a “wait fuck aren’t we evil now? emotionally attacking this old man?” moment  and turns on the Overlord.

They don’t destroy him this time. They come to the conclusion that everyone is good AND evil, so as long as people aren’t all good or all evil, there’s always balance - within. Wu promises to stop traumatising the poor babies and the Overlord is just your local ex-evil entity. 

What do you guys think? Feel free to add!

[askbanishedkai]

Okay mods low key, how much has Kai lied about? Cause judging by everything, I can bet it’s alot

Edit: Sowwy dis is wate uwu

And I’m genuinely sorry for that last part.

Highkey? What hasn’t he lied about. I hate to say it but Kai’s rewritten his life to be self-indulgent fanfiction. I could just do in general but me an Blizz spill way too much tea not to make an overly detailed post about it all, so buckle up.

First things first: Kai was always the green ninja. He inflates himself to be this flawless hero who saved the day and solved everyone’s problems.

The very basic outline prior to the green ninja thing is probably the most accurate to canon, but after the prophecy gets mentioned it’s all dependent on what Kai wants people to think.

Of course any reasoning why it could be anyone else is shot down or made irrational, especially Lloyd. According to Kai, Wu tried to convince him to give the title to Lloyd because of nepotism *cough cough he was a damn Karen about it cough* but obviously putting that much pressure on a child would be awful. No, Kai had to carry his heavy burden of awesomeness alone.

It’s been hinted at, but Kai also defeated the Overlord in his stories, whereas Zane died helping. But on to the interesting bit, the actual people.

(We didn’t have pics of all of them so take these two) I’ll break them down person to person.

Jay: The fool, comic relief. When he’s not messing up a basic task he’s trying to woo Nya with schemes that always backfire. He’s no longer an engineer either, all that goes to Nya.

Cole: He’s lowkey forgotten in a lot of Kai’s stories, like he’s not important enough to change. Of course he endlessly praises Kai (everyone does) but he keeps everyone else in line when Kai can’t. Except if cake is involved, then he’s on par with Jay and reduced to comedy.

Nya: Not too many differences. She’s technologically smart, but too dense to see through Lloyd’s lies. Her relationship with Jay is also somewhat downplayed. Kai gives her brownie points for being his sister, but there’s always a firm line of “she’s cool, just not as cool as me!”

Zane: More naive and ignorant of regular human things, but otherwise Kai puts him on a pedestal compared to the others. He lets Zane have his own small victories

Wu: Similar to normal Wu, but a lot more senile and kind of an ass. Kai stresses how most of their enemies were people Wu was involved with and never told them about. Also, Lloyd was obviously his favorite. He wanted that poor child to be the green ninja so badly just to keep it in the family.

Skylor: Just noting her because she’s turned into a total damsel in distress. Always fawning over Kai, never tricking him like in canon, and being an all around basic bitch. The only reason Kai doesn’t date her is because “I have too many totally cool and important responsibilities, I’m sorry.” (It’s so damn cheesy I cannot stress that enough)

Lloyd: He gets his own whole section, yay :). As a child, he was fine. He made mistakes and Kai cleaned them up. Yes, he was a bit of a brat at times, but Kai loved him as much as a brother could.

It changed when he got older; jealousy and resentment festered in his heart. He wanted what Kai had, and he became angry because of it; spiteful, always hating the world around him, always wanting more.

He often schemed to embarrass Kai or even harm him, but it always backfired. He was comedic relief with Jay in that sense. But it’s get continuously more dark as time went on.

He wanted Morro to possess him so they could take down Kai together. He was more than happy to fight and imprison his own father if just to look like a hero. He was the one corrupted by Chen’s staff in the elemental tournament. And in the end, he exiled Kai so he could have Ninjago all to himself.

It’s kind of a weird, repressed way of Kai thinking about what he’s done himself. A part of him hates his jealousy, so he projects it onto someone else.

Uuuh idk what else to add but I’m sure Blizz will. They’re smart.

[thepeanutbutterwizard]

Ninjago/Avatar au Pt6

The second half of Book 2 (hopefully)

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

So Garm finally reads the letter from Wu. It starts off as a normal pseudo-journal entry, but after it mentions finding the Garms old armor, but no body, it turns into more of a normal letter. Wu says that he’s missed his brother since he was banished, and that he hopes that they’ll be able to see eachother again soon if Garm is alive, and ends with Wu saying that he normally burns the letters he writes to Garm, so that no-one else finds them, but that he feels hopeful that this one could actually get to him. It’s touching stuff.

Lloyd picks up earthbending almost immediately, unlike Aang. The element Lloyd is going to struggle to learn is fire (if you don’t count his airbending being self-taught. He picked up airbending really, really fast, but bc he’s been making stuff up and trying to do what Maya did with her waterbending [Maya’s had decades to hone her style tho, not just three-ish years, but he’s like someone learning ballet only from YouTube, for only a couple of months] since there are no more airbenders [or so they think, bc none of them saw Morro airbend at the North Pole]), and I’ll get into why that is when it comes up. They haven’t had Garm start to teach Lloyd any firebending bc they’re trying to go in the order as much as they can, but Garm has finally convinced Kai to learn more than just the basics, and he picks it up really quickly.

Meanwhile, Morro is taking care of an injured Wu (and accidentally making him suffer through poorly-made tea). Now, Morro is onboard with Wu wanting to leave the Fire Nation behind; unlike Zuko, Morro isn’t trying to win back the favor of some distant parent, the only family he’s ever known is Wu, and he’s not about to abandon Wu for a bunch of people who would probably kill him as soon as they could no matter what he did for them, and Harumi made it clear that no-one in the Fire Nation is going to be extending them any mercy.

Once Wu wakes up, Morro does yell at him for doing something as stupid as taking a hit from a well-trained firebender to protect a stranger (Wu hadn’t gotten around to telling Morro ‘hey, you know that guy with the big burn scar who’s traveling with the Avatar? That’s my dead-but-not-really-dead older brother. Pls stop trying to stab him’, and Morro wasn’t there when Garm revealed his identity in the North Pole), until Wu tells him that Garm is his brother. This leads to Morro yelling out ‘You mean to tell me that the Avatar is my cousin?!?!’ And that how Wu learns that Lloyd is Garms son (’wait, what?’ ‘Have you really gone this long without noticing that the Avatar calls your brother his dad?’ ‘I’ve had a lot on my mind, give me a break!’), and now he thinks that Garm and Maya are married with three kids, one of whom is the Avatar.

They make their way to Ba Sing Se, with the help of the White Lotus. Wu isn’t the leader of them (he isn’t super old in this au, imagine what he looked like in S9, with the mustache), but he is a fairly respected member. I still haven’t come up with a Jet character who would work, and I am open to suggestions. If I do find a good character, they will definitely throw hands with Morro (mb Shade? Just cut out the romance subplot in S1 and pick a couple of EM’s to be the other freedom fighters?). And yes, Wu does get his tea shop in the upper ring (Steep Wisdom), and Morro tries to be happy and supportive, but even though he is fine leaving the Fire Nation with Wu, it does still feel like he wasted years of his life, both in chasing the Avatar and just trying to prove himself to everyone back in the Palace, so he’s pretty grumpy.

Now back to Team Avatar: at Maya and Garms insistence the kids have been picking out their little mini-vacations. They know that they only have a limited amount of time before the comet arrives, but Garm and Maya want these kids to be able to be, y’know, kids, at least a little bit, in spite of the fact that they’re growing up in a war-torn world. Kai want’s to check out that glacier-spring place by the desert, it’s kinda underwhelming, but they get fruity drinks out of it. This whole time Kai and Cole have been getting closer to each other. Kai feels a little guilty, like he’s betraying Zane’s memory, but talking to Maya and Garm about it does help him start to feel better, and it helps his over-protectiveness start to abate a little.

Jay wants to pick a really cool mini-vacation to impress Nya, and he asks the people who are in the glacier place if there’s any place around those parts, and ends up learning that about a year ago some lady showed up saying something about a huge spirit library in the desert that she was looking for. They never saw her again after that, and figure that she must have died out in the desert. When pressed (and payed) one of the artistically inclined staff members roughly recreated the sketch of the library, and vaguely remembered the area on the map she said she was going to search, and with that Jay has his mini-vacation picked out.

They set off and find the library. Cole chooses to stay outside with Ultra (who can’t fit inside) bc he thinks they’ll be safer if the only earthbender stays outside incase something goes wrong, and if they need to get out of there fast he’d only slow them down with his legs. Everybody else heads into the library and meet Wan Chi Tong (did I spell that right? I’m too lazy to check), who agrees to let them use the library if they 1) don’t intend to use the contents of the library against anyone else and 2) contribute something to his library.

Lloyd and Nya both use their wanted posters (they both thought they were awesome [Lloyd bc he’s 13 and Nya bc you can’t convince me that Nya wouldn’t be thrilled to have a wanted poster bc she’s been fucking with a tyrannical regime] and incredibly accurate considering the art had to have been done by someone using other people’s descriptions, and they totally intend on framing and hanging at least a few of their posters up in their rooms when all this is over), Kai has a copy of a poem that Zane wrote for him, Garm has his brothers letter (he doesn’t want to give it up, but he has nothing else), Jay has a blueprint from one of his inventions, and Maya has a copy of a story in a series that Koko had brought back to the South Pole over the years. Wan Chi Tong comments that about a year ago a researcher had arrived and had offered him another part of the the same series. He mentions that they should be careful, as she never left, and has been primarily researching the Avatar.

Everyone has an idea of who this mysterious researcher could be (except Jay), but they decide to be cautious all the same, just incase she isn’t who they think she is. They all start discreetly searching for anything that could be used to help them fight the Fire Nation, and they end up finding and empty placard saying something about ‘the Darkest Day in Fire Nation History’, but when they go to check part of the section on Fire Nation (that library was enormous, y’all cannot tell me that Zhao was able to destroy absolutely everything that the library had on the Fire Nation. It could only have been the last few decades/mb centuries of Fire Nation history), as well as a campsite that was full of scrolls having to do with the Avatar and different bending techniques (and a few misc scrolls about random things like cooking, engineering, etc). As they’re poking around the campsite, who else comes around the corner but Koko!

She has her nose buried in a scroll as she’s walking, so she doesn’t notice them all until Lloyd happily calls out ‘Mom!’, and goes in for a hug. Koko drops the scroll and has a happy reunion with her son and husband, as well as with Maya, Kai, and Nya, and she and Jay are introduced to each other. Koko explains that she’s been able to stay in the library so long was bc she managed to get the fox assistants to like her enough to start bringing her food and water. She also explains that she’s been doing nonstop research into the Avatar State, the Air Nomads and airbending, and the Fire Nation (though she’s really quiet about that part so they don’t catch Wan Chi Tongs attention and ire) and shows them that planetarium thing and that she discovered the eclipse. (How did she make it out to the library without a flying companion or something? SHe’s just that much of a badass.)

Koko had been saving up supplies and charting a course out of the desert, and planning to leave the library as soon as she could, but now that they’ve showed up with Ultra she can just grab her things and go. Someone, probably Jay, gets a little too vocal about how they have a chance to beat the Fire Nation, and cue Wan Chi Tong sinking the library and trying to add them to his ‘collection of specimen’. Garm and Koko are a dynamic duo, with Garm distraction the angry spirit while Koko gathers all of her scrolls and supplies together while Maya gets the kids to the exit.

Meanwhile, Cole is holding up the library, and trying to help Ultra fend off the sandbenders that showed up to capture and sell the dragon. Cole is able to put up a bit more of a fight than Toph was (meaning that he was able to get one or two good hits in) bc being in the desert doesn’t impair his vision (the sand does tank his mobility just as much as it would anyone with prosthetic legs tho), but he isn’t able to stop them or even hold them off long enough for everyone else to get out. Cole, despite being initially afraid of the large dragon, had quickly grown to be one of Ultras favorite people in their group (like, third favorite. Kai will never admit that he’s jealous), and is pretty upset that he wasn’t able to save him. More on Ultra later.

So Lloyd is really upset about losing his companion, just as much as Aang was. He doesn’t act out (for lack of a better word) as intensely as Aang, since Ultra wasn’t the last thing he had left of his people like Appa was for Aang, but Lloyd is still rightfully pissed off. He takes off shakily on his glider, leaving everyone behind before trying to search for Ultra and the sandbenders, ignoring his families protests. Koko starts working on getting them out of the desert using the route she had plotted out (using the sun and shadows to orient them and get started in the right direction), and starts planing out how long her food and water (she had the good sense to bring those from the library) will last between all of them. The answer is: not long enough.

Kai (and mb Jay too) is the one who has the bright idea to drink the cactus juice, bc while Kai, like Sokka, (and Jay tbh) is smart enough to know that drinking a strange liquid out of an unfamiliar plant is a bad idea,but the fact that it is a stupid idea doesn’t stop him. Wait, y’know what? Jay definitely tries the cactus juice, but instead of acting as out-of-it and inebriated as Kai does, he acts like he does in S9, weirdly chill and disconnected from reality. He’s still tripping balls, but he’s reacting to it differently from Kai. Cole just ends up carrying Kai piggy-back, even though the sand makes it harder for him to move (he’s crushing, and he’s the only one [adults included] whose physically strong enough to carry him for long periods of time) (also Kai awkwardly and drunkenly flirts with him. Everyone pretends not to notice for Coles sake) and everyone else takes turns holding onto Jays wrist and leading him through the desert or else he would have wandered off and died.

Lloyd gets back to them, landing hard in the sand, holding back tears bc even though he’s upset and could use a good cry he knows that they need to conserve as much water as they can. He’s got his family there to comfort him (even if Kai and Jay are kinda incapacitated atm), which does help him a bit, but he’s still rightfully upset. They find the abandoned sandbender skipper thing, find the vulturewasp hive, and come across the sandbenders. Cole is able to pinpoint the sandbender (no idea who this guy would be, Ninjago character wise) who lead the others to take Ultra via his voice bc Cole a) was trained in a myriad of performing arts thanks to his father, primarily singing b) has perfect pitch and c) never forgets a voice bc of that.

Lloyd goes full Avatar State, but is comforted and calmed down by his parents while everyone else books it. The sandbenders tell them that they sold Ultra to some guys who were going to take him to Ba Sing Se, and then they take them out of the desert (with the sandbenders getting the Death Glare from all of Team Avatar the whole way. Koko totally punches the sandbender who lead the others to steal Ultra once they’re out of the desert.)

They make their way to Ba Sing Se on foot, with Lloyd trying to get a handle on his emotions (and worrying everyone in the process), and they run into a family with an expecting mother/wife (I am also taking suggestions for who these characters could be. I’m pretty tired while typing this so I can’t think of anyone) and try and get on a ferry to Ba Sing Se. Cole, whose father is well known and wealthy, uses that fact, his double amputee status (he ‘accidentally’ slips out of one of his prosthetics. Kai catches him before he hits the ground), and his acting skills to get them tickets without passports.

And we get best girl Pixal back! She helps Team Avatar help the pregnant family go through the Serpents Pass, and it goes pretty similar to cannon, except instead of a situation where Sokka is overprotective of Suki, Jay picks up on how much Pixal likes Nya, and sees that Nya, his crush, reciprocates those feelings, and gets a bit passive-aggressive w/everyone, but Pixal especially. It doesn’t last long, bc Jay is a hormonal teenager who realizes he’s being a dick fairly quickly, but it does help fizzle his crush on Nya a bit (sorry again to any hardcore Jaya shippers who were hoping for that in this au, but it’s really not my cup of tea).

They also help deliver the couples baby, but Maya and Koko are the ones helping take care of that. Team Avatar get to the outer wall, just to see a huge Fire Nation drill heading closer and closer to the wall, ready to start tearing through it...

[ninjago-nerd999]

Dead Dad! Au pt. 2

Ok! So some more things I wanna add to this little au of mine.

Warning: Mentions of suicide, character death, and all around angst.

First things first! Garmadon’s appearance. Obviously he’s incredibly pale, seeing as he’s basically a walking corpse. He still has his oni markings since that's what he was supposed to be, as well as horns because why not. I like to draw him in more casual clothing rather than his gi because I refuse to draw anyone in their gi lol. He wears bandages around his neck and right hand because reasons…..

(I’ll put up a reference pic later)

Secondly, since Garm can cross the realms of the dead and living, (don’t question it) he kinda becomes Ninjago’s Grim Reaper. Helping the deceased to the after life. Though he typically changes his appearance to look how he did when he was alive thanks to his Oni abilities.

Thirdly, the Garm family and what happened to them afterwards.

So for Wu, as I mentioned before, he becomes incredibly guilty. All he can think about is all the things he should have done or said that could have prevented what had happened. So he closes himself off, becoming colder as the years go on. He only loosens up later down the line when the ninja start to become his family, but it’s for this reason he tends to come off as cruel or cold. He can’t bear the thought of possibly being the fault of their demises as well.

Misako still leaves. However this time is out of grief instead simply abandoning Lloyd. The thought of raising Llyod by herself scares her, so she leaves him at Darkley’s. (I think it’s pretty clear how much I don’t like her so we’ll move on)

Now for Llyod. Here’s the thing, Garmadon died when he was still very young, so poor Llyod doesn’t really know how to feel. Of course it saddens him that he never really got to meet his dad, and the only memories he has are pretty limited. But that’s the thing, Llyod was never really told who his dad was or what he was like by ANYONE. So he kinda just moves on through life. And since there’s no Lord Garmadon, Llyod has no reason to want to be bad. So instead he runs away. He probably still accidentally unleashes the snakes, but probably more out of wanting a place to stay rather than revenge.

As you can imagine, Garmadon took great care in watching over Lloyd and Wu. (he quickly realized how much Misako sucked) He would carefully watch from the shadows, even though no one could see him, he still tried his hardest to let them know he was still there and that he loved them dearly. Though nothing ever worked. He especially felt guilty when around Wu. Watching his little brother blame himself made Garm feel like he was dying all over again. And watching his baby boy being forced to grow up and take on the whole world broke him to pieces. He wanted so badly to help them, to let them know he was there for them. But he could do nothing but watch.

Now here’s a few characters that were also affected.

Krux. Bet you weren’t expecting that!

See, me and a friend always headcanons that Krux and Acronix were actually really close with the other EMs. However their quest for power broke that bond. And when his brother was banished, Krux’s need for revenge only strengthened. Which is why he took Ray and Maya captive.

So you can imagine how much he understood the pain of losing a brother. 

In response, he let Ray and Maya go, knowing that they too were close to FSM bros, and would be heartbroken at the news.

However, it allowed Kai and Nya to grow up with parents instead of Kai having to raise Nya himself. And Krux still ran the museum, but he became someone the EMs grew to trust again rather than fear. 

Morro! I’ll explain in another post. ;)

And of course since there’s no Lord G, other villians rise to fill the role. I’ll expand on this later lol.

Now here is the main premise of the story. 

Ever since the day of the departed, Cole was still able to see spirits and entities beyond the land of the living. 

What he didn’t expect was to notice some dude following around Lloyd and Master Wu.

Now, when Cole confronts the strange man, he didn’t expect the guy to get so excited.

HOLY SHIT SOMEONE COULD SEE HIM!!!!!!

Garm was ecstatic! He immediately explained who he was (a bit too quickly for Cole to understand) and practically begged this kid to summon him.

But unfortunately, Garmadon made one mistake. 

He mentioned he was a demon.

And Cole was not cool with that.

Cole immediately doesn’t trust him and instead refuses to summon Garm. There was no way his story could be true! 

So the story goes on with funny shenanigans of Garm trying to convince Cole to summon him, but Cole keeps refusing until he’s sure Garmadon is actually who he says he is. Which is kinda difficult since he can’t really ask anyone...

[aweebwrites]

Celestial Influence 5

*sobs in loving @thelucariosfish for beta-ing*

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Pt1 Pt2 Pt3 Pt4

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"Focus. Imagine three T-shaped in a meditation pose. "Visualise it. Feel each piece. Become one with the pieces." He continued as light wind ruffled Cole's hair.

"Whenever you're ready… Bring those pieces together. As slowly as you want." Wu says then took silent steps back to where the rest of his students were, watching to see if he could do it. 

They remained quiet this time, learning that talking breaks his focus. That didn't stop them from using the mental link Lloyd set up however.

'Do you think he'll be able to do it this time Sensei?' Zane asked him.

'Only time will tell.' Was Wu's response.

'Should I pick up the wind? You know, for dramatic effect? Who knows? Maybe it'll help him believe more!' Jay says, grinning.

'No. No… No wind please.' Wu responded, expression unchanged but the underlying pain in his thoughts were loud and clear.

'Right. Sorry.' Jay says quietly, forgetting like the idiot he was that wind meant Morro whom was Wu's departed son whom he still had strong feelings about.

Nya patted his shoulder and he gave her a small smile. They looked back to Cole when a low rumble started up. He was levitating, the lines along his arms glowing brightly as his eyes remained overcast. They looked out in awe as the lands they were between came together slowly but surely. It all came together with a loud boom and Kai hopped out of the Bounty, landing soundlessly on the ground where the trees now around them once more. Sure they were a little a lot roughed up but they were recovering just like the rest of Ninjago. Kai looked down at the huge crack still visible from where the land was separated.

"You know, this is as good as time as ever to try out power combinations." Kai says with a smirk, hair and skin lighting up as he did. "If we're gonna fix this mess, might as well do it right!" He yelled then pressed flamed up hands against the ground.

There was a moment of quiet before fire rose up from the ground- setting part of the Bounty on fire.

"Try to be more careful, will you?" Nya huffed, using her water to put out the fire to the side of the ship.

"Woopsie." Kai grinned sheepishly, revealing little protruding fangs.

"I got it from here." Cole spoke up and Kai looked up to see him before him.

He then grinned then looked down into the crack, watching magma rising up, and up and up until it stopped at the very edges of the crack.

"Zane? Nya?" Wu prompted them.

"A little icy rain will do the trick." Zane hummed, summoning his bow.

"Kai's heat already ups the humidity, all that's left is to add a little more moisture." Nya says, summoning her trident then pointing it at the sky as it glowed.

Clouds began rapidly forming, darkening over them. Zane pulled back the string of his bow, unphased when an ivory arrow appeared, the white of it glowing lightly. He took a slow breath in, focusing on using just enough of his power to cool the rain about to start, not to freeze. Once he was sure he had it under control, he released the bow towards the clouds on exhale. There was a flare of white before the rain began to pour around them, not a single drop hitting the Bounty. Steam rose up as the rain came in contact with hot materials from the planet's mantle, signaling Kai and Cole to return to the ship. They all watched as the rain cooled the magma, making it darken to a black color.

"Let's spread the love a little." Jay spoke up with a grin. "Sure the storms nice but it's not nearly big enough to reach the rest of the cracks. Which is good. We just need to spread it around, you know?" He says with a smirk.

"I'll take the south fault and you'll take the east." Nya says, lifting off her feet as her skin and hair glowed.

"The cold from my arrow will stick around. You both just need to part the storm." Zane told them as Jay floated as well.

"Gotcha," he says before they both shot up into the storm.

They watched as it quickly left the area, Jay's wind working well with Nya's affinity for water.

"While they do that, Cole, do you think you're up for more repairs? The Monastery needs rebuilding, starting with the mountain itself..." Lloyd says with a hum and Cole smirked, allowing his Scythe to appear, the staff of it holding the same breaking patterns as his cloak.

"At this point…" His Scythe shifted into a heavy looking war hammer. "I feel like I can do anything." He grinned widely.

Wu watched them all with trepidation.

__________

"Kai, you really did a number here, huh?" Cole says as he stood on the cold lava that covered the unnatural plateau the mountain. "All I can see is black and dead trees." He says, looking out.

"At least we can fix it." Kai says, a lot more optimistic about it, knowing that they can. "Lloyd, you can use your new nature powers to grow more trees, right?" He asked, looking back at the blond with glowing green hair.

"Way ahead of you." Lloyd spoke, hands glowing as he looked out at the area around him.

They watched in awe as grass sprung up from the blackened soil, trees unlike any other they've seen sprouting up. They looked like a cross between oak trees and giant redwoods. They were very large trees bearing odd vines that held strange looking fruit.

"As long as we're doing this, why not try something new?" Was all Lloyd says as an explanation, glancing back at them with upwards curved horns.

"Something new huh…" The other three said in thought.

"Perhaps-" Wu spoke too late from the Bounty floating close by.

What left of the mountain began to rumble as it pushed upwards from the ground, going higher and higher and higher.

"This is perfect in altitude." Zane tells Cole and he stops the mountain growth then. "I should cool the mountain down before it sparks a forest fire…" he says in thought, looking down at the red hot base of the mountain.

"No need. The forest and plants are fire proof." Lloyd spoke up from his place seated with crossed legs mid air, horns, hair and skin still glowing.

He then cleared his throat.

"Everything here is basically us proof unless we really try." He shrugged, voice not having tuat echoey undertone now.

"Huh. Anyone mind if I test that?" Kai asked, walking towards the edge of the unnatural plateau.

"Knock yourself out. Just try not to ruin my work." Cole says, summoning his Scythe then heading down the mountain.

"Leave the sun out of this." Zane warns, contemplating what he could do with his powers to aid the rebuilding of the Monastery.

"I will, I will." Kai dismissed then flew over the new forest.

He took a deep breath in, light traveling up his arms to his hair as he did before he blew out a huge plume of fire over it all, much like a fire dragon, bathing the entire forest in it's fiery wrath. Once he let up however, the fire disappears, leaving the forest completely untouched.

"Nice." Kai says, impressed.

"Once Cole is done with the mountain and Jay and Nya return, we'll be combining our powers to rebuild the Monastery itself." Lloyd says as Kai floated next to him, arms crossed in a standing position.

"Are you sure you will be able to control it once you do?" Wu spoke up, gaining the three's attention.

"I'm confident that we will." Zane spoke for them. "Yes, errors aren't something we can really afford but now that we have a much better understanding of our powers, I trust for us to be able to measure them in uses." He says and Lloyd and Kai nodded their agreement.

Wu could see their confidence in themselves and he would not ruin that. Confidence gifted them steadier control after all. He was simply not used to any one person aside from his father holding so much power. Here he had 6 juveniles holding that much power and more. He didn't know how but he knew they held so much more power than he's seen, than he's heard. It made him fear. Not just for Ninjago, but for them. 

Even though Lloyd promised not to read his mind without his permission, he had to see what had his uncle so worried. He didn't blame him. Their powers were vast and great. But he wouldn't let anything bad happen again. He was their leader after all. While they could most definitely help themselves now more than ever, it won't stop Lloyd from looking out for his team. They looked down when a rumble sounded, watching as steps formed themselves up to the very top of the cold lava slathered peak. Even more intriguing was the iron and gold railing that came up as well.

"Well that's new. You can control metals too?" Kai asked as Cole walked up a moment after.

"Appears so. Mind putting some of your fire in these crystals? If I'm gonna do this then I'm gonna go all out." Cole says, holding a handful of normal looking crystals.

"Sure. Never did that before but that won't stop me from trying." Kai shrugged then took one.

He looked it over under the light of the sun then tried letting the glow of his hands seep into it. When that failed, he cupped it in his hand and breathed a bit of fire over it. When he opened his hand, the crystal was glowing with his fire.

"Nice!" Kai chuckled then took a breath in and blew fire at Cole who reflexively pulled a block of earth up as a barricade to protect himself.

"Are you crazy?!" Cole yelled at a laughing Kai. 

"Relax! I'm pretty sure our powers can't hurt each other. At least, not unless we want it to." Kai says, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Either way, your crystals are fired up and ready to go!" He says, gesturing to the glowing handful of crystals.

"Allow me to assist." Zane offered and Cole nods, shooting him a glare.

"Are we really gonna make a mansion out of the Monastery?" Kai asked, leaning back against thin air.

"Of course not. The Monastery has been destroyed so much as is. This is us showing appreciation by upgrading it a little. Besides, what's a little more space? I thought you'd like your own room…" Lloyd says with a smirk and Kai perked up a little at that.

"Space isn't a bad thing at all…" He hummed and Lloyd laughed.

________________

Nya and Jay made their appearance in a flash of lightning once Zane and Cole set up the crystals along the wall of the mountain.

"So! What did we miss?" Jay asked, hands on his hips as he stood in the middle of the Kai-formed plateau.

"Nothing much. In fact, you're right on time." Lloyd says, allowing his feet to touch the ground before walking over. "We're going to combine all our powers to rebuild the Monastery." He informed them.

"Cool." Jay grins.

"Sounds like a plan." Nya agrees as the others walked over.

"We should start with an idea in mind. We can't just do this unplanned." Zane says as they all stood in a circle.

"Alright. Everyone, close your eyes and picture the Monastery." Lloyd told them and they did so.

"Um… Jay…" Zane spoke up.

"Yeah?" Jay whispered back.

"Why are you holding my hand?" He asked him and the lightning elemental was indeed holding his hand- and Nya's.

"What? We're doing a power combo! We have to hold hands! You know? 'Cause-"

"Friendship is magic." They all droned and Jay grinned.

"See?! You guys get it!" He says excitedly.

"I don't see the harm." Lloyd shrugged.

They all looked at each other before holding hands.

"Focus." Lloyd says, opening a communal link between them as they all closed their eyes.

Before them lay an image of the old Monastery.

'Ok, so we know we want to a little bigger.' Lloyd's thought came and the image got bigger.

'Starting from the external appearance, the walls will be the same. The murals should be there still.' Zane input as the walls and murals appeared. 'I was thinking of a new mural however…'

'What do you think, Sensei?' Lloyd prompted and the quiet presence with them came forward.

'Yes, I… was considering that myself.' Wu spoke up.

And so, they spent what felt like hours going over the details when it was really no more than 10 minutes. Once everything internal, external and background was set, Lloyd gently pushed Wu out of their connection. He watched in awe as they began to glow one by one: first Cole and Kai, next Zane and Jay, Nya, then Lloyd. Their combined glows merged and became white/gold before exploding outwards. Wu shielded his eyes with his hat, waiting until it dimmed before looking up. Lo and behold, there was the newer, bigger Monastery. It had two floors now with a third for a special bell to be used in case of major trouble. People as far as New Ninjago City would be able to hear it. The training yard was even more expansive with a traditional sand garden to the right for meditation. Just before the garden was the mural holding all 10, all tied together by the eleventh. They were all cradled by five colour coded dragons and Nya's Phoenix.

In the middle of the training yard with a red pole holding a gold dragon on top stood the six ninja. Exactly below them were their glowing symbols in corresponding colours. They opened their eyes then looked around in awe of what they made. It looked even better than they imagined! Lloyd looked down then blinked once he noticed.

"Who's idea was this?" Lloyd asked, releasing Nya and Cole's hand and the glow vanished.

"Not mine."

"Not me."

"I did not add this."

"Wasn't me."

"Me either but it looks cool."

"This is cool as it is but how about we check out the inside?" Cole suggested with a grin.

"You guys go ahead. I'll dock the Bounty." Lloyd says then smiled, watching them eagerly rush inside through the gold highlighted, red sliding doors.

He then looked over to where his uncle was then walked over, hopping across onto the ship with ease.

"See Uncle? Everything turned out alright." Lloyd says, standing before him with a smile.

"So it has." Wu agrees and Lloyd grinned before heading to the wheel.

Wu folded his hands behind his back.

But how long will that last?

__________

"You sure you don't want us to come with you?" Kai asked as they all stood just before the Monastery, all but Lloyd in more comfortable clothes.

"Nah. It won't take too long or too much. I can reverse the radiation on my own." Lloyd says with a shrug.

"Alright. We trust you." Nya says, patting his shoulder and Lloyd grinned.

"Be back in a flash." He says as Nya stepped back then disappeared in a flash of green, shocking Jay.

"How-! But-!" He sputtered.

"You mean you hadn't figured it out by now?" Kai asked him with an arched brow.

"The gis and weapons made it pretty clear Lloyd's the strongest of us all as always. That and we've all been hiding an affinity for other elemental powers, whether the original wielder is alive or not. Kai has shown an affinity for light, Cole has an affinity for metal and sound if the bell is any indication, you have speed and wind, I have time it appears, Nya hasn't shown an affinity as yet but I'm sure we'll find out soon and Lloyd has shown powers for mind, nature, poison and amber." Zane informed Jay who stared at him owlishly.

"And here I thought these powers broadened our understanding." Nya says drily and Jay looked at her insulted.

"Anyone up for video games?" Kai asked from the door and Jay beamed.

"You're on!"

________

Nya hummed as she walked into one of the three bathrooms the Monastery now has, this one she claimed for herself. She was looking forward to a nice soak in the tub. She set her towel down as she hummed then walked over to the tub filled with warm water and stepped in. She had a moment of confusion then looked down.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." She sighed, realising her feet stayed on the surface of the water. "I mean, it's nice to know I can walk on water but I really want a bath…" She says to herself then thought.

There has to be someway to disab-

"Woah!" She yelled once her feet sunk into the water, throwing her off balance.

Thankfully, the water itself caught her. She sighed, then carefully allowed the water to put her into the tub.

Crisis averted.

__________

Kai looked at the popcorn then smirked. What better way to test his powers? He held the bag in hand, thinking carefully about the amount of heat he wants to use with the bag then grinned as it began to pop.

"Nice." He says to himself then set the bag aside and reached for a cup.

To his horror, the cup began to melt onto his hand.

"Crap!" He whispered then tried to put it down, grimacing as the hot plastic drained into the sink.

He tried to run it off his hand- but only end up spreading to his other hand. If he used water, maybe that will help! He reached for the tap then paused. He focused on his hands, turning off his heat then turned on the tap, drawing back a little at the steam but the water doing its job to solidify the plastic once more, allowing it to flake off his hands. He looked at his hands relieved.

Gotta be more careful.

___________

Zane hummed as he prepped dinner, taking out a few tomatoes for slicing. He set them on the table then reached for a knife. He hummed as he steadied the fruit then cut into it- only for the fruit to shatter like glass. He blinked then looked at the fragments of frozen fruit. He… Wasn't using his powers. At least, he didn't think he was. He looked at his hand holding the knife then the knife itself. It was frosted. So he was using his powers. On the plus side, this was a good way to make tomato paste…

A change in menu is in order.

____________

Cole had decided a little fresh air would be nice and to get back to his roots: rock climbing! He looked up at the huge heights above then grinned, rubbing his bare hands together. This is gonna be epic! He jumped up, measure the jump to a normal one and grabbed hold of a ledge then began climbing. Maybe it was the new powers but he was really making impressive work on this mountain! He jumped across to another ledge, moving towards a route to the main peak.

Ha! Half way up and not a sweat!

He climbed quicker, sure he was making some kind of climbing record here! He climbed up and up and up- until he was standing on the peak.

"Woohoo! Yeah I did it!" Cole yelled, standing proudly on the mountain peak.

"Congratulations. That was a very small mountain to climb." He looked down to where an elderly lady was hearing her sheep then blinked.

"Wait, what?" Cole says to himself then looked down at the mountain- that was deep in a hole around him.

He didn't just climb the mountain, he pushed it back into the mantle while doing it. He sighed to himself.

"Aw man..."

_______________

Jay grunted and shifted as he played video games by himself while Cole was out catching some fresh air mountain climbing and Kai being in the kitchen for a while now for snacks. He grinned to himself, knowing Kai will be pissed he continued without him but was confident enough he wouldn't cause global warming because of it. Now to- He blinked once his wireless controller began blinking red, a sign that the battery was critically low.

"Oh fiddlesticks." He sighed then pressed pause, looking around the Monastery for spare batteries.

He paused after a few minutes of fruitless searching. They haven't gone into the city for supplies yet so there were no batteries here. They didn't think of them when rebuilding. That leaves the Bounty as a last ditch option. He sighed then used a spark of his electricity to open the hidden elevator behind the TV, waiting patiently for everything to put themselves out of the way and for the elevator to open. He then walked in, allowing it to close and humming along to the tune playing as it brought him down. Once the elevator dinged open, the lights in their secret base turned on and he walked over to where the Bounty was parked up.

He went in, searching high and low, giving a yell of triumph once he found one. The joy soon faded when he failed to find three more. But then an idea hit him.

"Ha! What am I doing?! I can just recharge the batteries!" He grinned then focused on the controller he still had in hand. "All I have to do is to turn down the voltage…" He whispered as lightning arched along his arms, into the controller.

He grinned once the charging light came up, quickly going from red to orange to green. He headed back upstairs then, stepping out to see Kai eating popcorn.

"What took you so long." He grinned and Jay waved the controller.

"Batteries died. Ready to get your ass kicked?" Jay smirked, dropping down next to him then stared at screen, shocked. "Where'd all my stuff go?!" He yelled, checking his inventory.

"Well I was getting supplies since you were taking forever. A creeper may or may not have blown you to bits." Kai shrugged and Jay seethed as he glared the fire ninja down. "Also, you're gonna need a new controller." He pointed out and Jay looked down at the fried, smoking controller.

"Dang it!"

____________

Lloyd sat across from Wu outside the monastery in the designated spots for meditation. Except… Lloyd was beginning to think he was losing his touch. He peered an eye open, looking at Wu then closed it again. He tried clearing his mind, relaxing. But that wasn't working too well. Sure he had pretty much nothing on his mind but… He flopped on his back into the sand, staring up at the sky. He didn't feel like sitting still today.

"Something the matter Lloyd?" Wu asked without opening his eyes.

"No. Not really. I guess I just…" Lloyd snickered a little. "Have too much energy right now." He says with a laugh.

Wu opened his eyes and smiled at his nephew.

"There is no harm in feeling… Playful. In fact, things have been peaceful these past few days since the Monastery was rebuilt. I suppose… A little fun wouldn't hurt." Wu says and Lloyd sat up with an arched brow, a smile on his face.

"THE Sensei Wu? Giving us permission to have fun?" He asked in a shocked tone. "Who would have thought?! Who are you and what have you done with my uncle?!" He mock-demanded then laughed when Wu gently tapped his head with his staff.

"Don't push it." Wu says drily then smiled. "In light of everything that you six have been through, you all deserve a break. Your control over your new powers grow more refined by the day. The slip ups have been few and very minor. Well. Cole did sink a whole mountain yesterday but he restored it with a path easily traveled." He says lightly.

"Sounds… Fun actually. Taking a vacation even." Lloyd says, really thinking about it. "Maybe we could-!"

"What's with the commotion?" They looked back to see a confused Cole, walking out of the Monastery.

"What commotion?" Kai as he as he and the others followed behind him.

Cole didn't answer, only floating his way over to the walls of the Monastery. He looked over the wall, past the small forest around the base of the mountain out into the Sea of Sand. Five more heads popped up over the wall and they gasped, seeing several people and vehicles in the distance coming their way.

"That's weird. Why are they all coming here? Do you think they want to thank us?" Jay asked, confused.

"Their intentions aren't so pure." Lloyd says with a frown. "They're too far away and too many for me to pick apart individual thoughts but they're all angry, a few afraid…" He whispered, confused. 

"Angry? Do you think they're still mad about the whole… Splitting Ninjago into three, all but roasting the surface of the land, freezing it, electrocuting it, drowning it in water and radiating it?" Jay asked and they all gave him a look that quickly turned to worry.

"Why wouldn't they? I mean, we did mess up pretty bad…" Cole says with a frown, all of them settling to their feet now, Zane walking over to Sensei Wu.

"But maybe they haven't noticed we fixed everything! I mean, once we tell them that, they'll calm down! Right?" Kai says optimistically.

"Yeah! I mean, Ninjago's pretty big! They couldn't see everything we fixed! I still have that device I made to check on the continent's well being. Everything is back to normal physically." Nya says, summoning it and taking a look at the stats.

"So that's the plan." Lloyd says and they all nodded.

"Our worst fears Sensei." Zane whispered to the older man, looking across at his friends solemnly, all of them unaware of the truth of the situation.

He knew he shouldn't have hidden it. Should have let them known but he couldn't bare to see them shoulder the weight of the consequences their powers wrought.

"We should tell them before-" A loud banging started on the Monastery gates and all eyes turned to the gates.

"I'm afraid we've lost our chance." Wu says, looking across at Zane. "For now, all we can hope for, is forgiveness." He watched solemnly as Cole heaved open the gates to a very angry smaller group, holding a few familiar faces like the mailman and the mayor of New Ninjago City.

They were surprised to see Pixal and Cyrus among them but unlike everyone else, the were more sorrowful and resigned.

"Ninja. It's been a while. I just wished our meeting would be about lighter topics-"

"You ninja are nothing but a menace to our society!" The mayor interrupted, glaring them down angrily. "This past month has been one major disaster after another, all of them circling around you six! You've gone from Ninjago's protectors to our plague! We'd rather face whatever else to come on our own! Anything will be better than you 'ninja'! Nothing but danger and despair follow you six and on behalf as well as for the sake of every soul left on this continent; We. Want. You. Gone!" She yelled at them, the mob behind them cheering as the ninja stared, startled and hurt.

"What do you mean? Ninjago is our home too!" Kai yelled, gritting his teeth as he began to flame up.

"To protect them." Zane says without waiting for the question, confusing the grieving ninja.

"Knowing this could have caused for greater destruction. We decided it best to wait until they had better control of their powers." Wu also spoke up, hands folded behind his back. 

"You knew?" Lloyd whispered before Pixal could say anything else. "You knew all these people died…" He choked on the word. 

"And you said nothing?" He whispers, looking at them both, betrayed.

"I… Yes. But only because I hadn't wanted this. You have all been through so much as is and I had wanted to…" Zane sighed, his own explanations sounding weak and feeble to his own ears, even if they are true.

"It may be hard to believe but I had full intentions of feeling you all. When your powers became more stable." Wu says, awaiting their anger.

The group was quiet, the rest of the mob finally arriving, yelling at them to just disappear. The skies darkened further, plunging day into night, flashes of lightning and green light. Icy rain poured down then, heat rising up from the ground as the boom of thunder rattled them all.

"Funny thing is, I would have done the same." Kai spoke up, the water flattening his hair. "I guess these powers really do broaden our understanding. I'm not mad that you kept it away from us. Hurt but not mad." He says and Cole nodded then took a breath.

"To be honest, I almost wished I don't know at all. Almost." He whispered to himself.

"You all want us to disappear?" Jay spoke up and the mob yelled their agreement. "You'll get your wish." He says and the others looked at him wide eyed.

"This too much for me. I mean, I've killed actual people!" Jay says with a watery laugh then sniffled. "I dunno. I need some time to think." He whispered, wiping his eyes.

"I'll come around eventually for now…" Jay says, trying to find the words but failing.

He only shook his head then vanished in a flash of lightning.

"Jay!" They all yelled, a little too late.

"I can't believe he…-"

"He's right though." Nya spoke over Cole. "Causing some collateral damage us one thing but actual lives?" She whispered, gripping her arm tightly.

"... I need some time to clear my head." Kai says, not meeting their eyes. "Nya…"

"I hope you don't mind but… I need to be on my own for a little while." Nya says, looking to him.

Kai gave her a wan smile.

"Give me a sign from time to time that you're alright." He whispered and she nodded with a barely there smile before taking off, disappearing into the clouds.

"That goes for you guys too." Kai says, looking towards them.

He then vanished completely, leaving only Lloyd, Zane and Cole.

"You going off too, Cole?" Lloyd spoke up, voice a little shaky.

"Yeah. I…" Cole glanced into the crowd, the disappointed gaze of his father on him.

He hadn't even known he was here. Hadn't known he knows. He could already imagine all he had to say to him about this mess... He squeezed his eyes shut as he looked away, wanting the ground to swallow him whole. And it did. The ground parted below him and he fell in willingly. Lloyd watched him float into the abyss before the ground sealed over. He turned his gaze to Zane who looked blank faced. The Nindroid only shook his head before vanishing into shadow then nothing.

"Lloyd…" Wu says and Lloyd looked up at his uncle who clearly didn't want him to go but he knew he couldn't stay.

He smiled at him brightly.

"Don't worry Uncle. It's only later. Not goodbye." Lloyd told him then vanished in a flash of green before anything else could be said.

With his leave, the storm cleared up, sunlight peeking through the clouds as Wu stood in the training yard, alone. The mob cheered, their purpose fulfilled. The ninja are gone! They can finally have peace! Cyrus wheeled over to Wu, Pixal by his side.

"They are my friends… But they must also understand their powers cost us." Pixal spoke quietly.

"I'm… Sorry. But it is for the best." Cyrus says, the quiet of his voice almost lost to the celebration at the gates of the Monastery.

"... I know." Wu whispered, eyes looking up to the sky.

____________

Lloyd walked along the beach in the dead of night, by himself. He had a lot to reflect on. That was for certain. And a lot of time to do it. These powers were both a blessing and a curse. But they had them. They won't be going anywhere. It was up to them to make the best of it.

He turned his head towards the clear night sky, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips once he spotted a flash of light from the sky, as if there was a storm nearby. But there was none. He knew it was Jay. In response, he watched as the halved moon became full, the light shining down on him and the beach, brightening the night. Zane was well. A rainbow appeared around the moon then, dull but there. Nya was doing well too. Thunder rumbled low, traveling across the sky in waves. Cole is active and alright. He smiled a little wider at the streaked of fire that ran across the sky. A meteor shower it appears but it was just Kai saying hi. It warmed his heart to know they were ok.

He continued to walk along the beach then turned to the water.

And him?

He walked out onto the water, a smooth path between the waves forming. The sea light up as the sky did, with a bright aurora of green, streaking across the sky, able to be seen all across Ninjago. He kept his smile as the wind blew his coat back.

He wasn't ok. Definitely not.

But with time…

He will be.

__________________

(Weeb: I'll have this up by X!

Y'all by now: I'lL hAvE tHiS uP bY x!

Haaaa it's finally done! I have no idea how much people in Ninjago there is. i mean, its safe to say New Ninjago City has a couple million but hnnn idk. I threw randomesque numbers out for death tolls. It doesn't end here tho! Two more parts to go! I'm gonna continue Move on Dragons but since its gonna be hella long, I'll get some H&F plasma out and whatever else between! Hope you liked it!)

[vrfly]

Behind Closed Doors : Ninjago Angst - Day Three: Scars~Cole

You probably think ghosts are cool, right? I mean, wow, they can fly and go through walls. I've even see some be keys before and shape shift!

But what do you think about actually being part of the undead? What if you actually had that horrific reputation pinned on you after being put through so much pain you died and now all you did was roam lifelessly throughout the Departed Realm, or better yet? Stuck in Ninjago as a see-through, green-tainted blob because you were cursed.

People stood in fear when they looked at you. Well, they stood in fear when they looked at me. I stood in fear while attempting to see my reflection. Because there was none and it was bone-rattling. It was if I had no future.

Hey! It's alright, though, since I now know Airjituzu! And none of the other ninja were cursed; they made it out of the blasted temple in time. That's what really mattered...

And if I was so invaluable before, I was worth everyone's wild now.

I could do more than throw rocks. I could hover; Sensei also taught me how to phase invisible. And I could possess certain items. Of course it's nothing compared to what Morro could do, but I was just getting the hang of it. Sure, it takes a lot of concentration, but it's a trait the others do not have. I was different.

I didn't get hungry anymore - ugh, I was missing out on cake - and I could not touch water - I couldn't touch anything, really. Sometimes, my hand and the rest of my body would not solidify in time and I just...I went through everything. It was worse when one of my brothers' - my best friends' - life was on the line. I didn't know how the wind felt against my face, or the earth under my toes.

I was a ghost. I was different. I was dead.

But it was all for the team - the power of positive thinking, as Jay says.

I mean, sure, there're a few cool perks about being dead. But nothing beats actually inhaling the breath into your body to live.

Although somehow I eventually became used to it. I guess because so much time had passed and it dawned on me I may of never truly been alive again. Also because my family was so accepting about it.

By family, I mean more towards the other ninja.

I don't quite know what my father would have said, realizing his son was...not dead...but not exactly alive either.

Our relationship has always been rocky, to say the least. It did get somewhat better when we had to get a Fang Blade from him and I dropped the bombshell that I was a ninja, not a dancer. However, something between us changed when my mom died - it was an odd thought when I realized I was so close to my dead mother as a ghost but still so far away. Let's just say my father and I have different coping mechanisms.

Eventually, I fell into a pit of sadness. I really did not think I was going to get human again. And while we were on at the museum for the Day of the Departed, I started to see things, hear things.

Then I realized later that psycho Sensei Yang was using me and it just made the matters worse. To add on to the problem of not being able to feel anything for the rest of my life, I would also not be able to walk freely around Ninjago; I could've been trapped in a cursed temple and stuck there as the master of the house. All the while my friends were battling undead foes we already won against alone, I was roaming around the temple and kicking cursed students' butts.

And that moment was one of the greatest of my life, because not only was one of my demons comquered - Sensei Yang - but I passed through an opportunity of a lifetime. Literally.

I went up and Airjituzed right through the Yin-Yang Eclipse portal.

I became human again.

I could touch my face and feel my smile curving upon my lips. My feet actually stood on the dirt, kicking and tossing the beautiful earth around. But most of all, I missed the physical contact I had with my brothers - and sister. I could hug them, squeeze them like I would never see them ever again.

And that's what I did.

We laughed, and joked. Also on the plus side, we had a bran new place to stay: the Temple of Airjituzu because Sensei Yang was now pretty chill.

When I fought after having my body all to myself, there was something new; and no, not the fact that all my limbs were actually solid. I had this really cool Earth Punch! My hands, arms, and scar glow bright orange and I can smash through anything.

Now days I try hard to forget what had happened - I also think Lloyd does the same, given the wind is a fear of his now. Some times, I succeed on not remembering those awful days I was stuck as a ghost.

But then other days, Jay will unintentionally make a quippy joke and remind me or I will look in the mirror; there's a thick green scar on the left side of my face, visible through my black hair. When I am stressed or things become tense and bad, so does the scar. And I can feel it; it painfully throbs.

It is a constant reminder of what I went through.

My sense to touch was worthless for such a long period of time. A slight fear over water had grown deep in my bones, although I know now I can swim, or take a shower without harm. But when you train your mind to go off of something for so long, you get used to it.

I was stuck in my own body. I was used like a pawn for someone else's advantage while I was at my lowest.

It is okay now, because everything is the way it was - to the greatest extent it can be when you live in Ninjago.

(for @ninjago-angst-week)

[infjarts]

NINJAGOTALE MASTERPOST AND FAQ

Here is the FAQ and Masterpost for my Ninjagotale project! Read on for answers to basic questions, and scroll down for links to certain posts! This will be updated whenever new content comes out, so check back often to see if you missed anything!

WHAT IS NINJAGOTALE?

It is an Undertale/Ninjago AU/crossover story that has evolved into a VERY different thing than it started out as. It is basically Undertale, but with the characters swapped with characters from the Ninjago series. However, there will be a HUGE plot twist that changes everything.

ARE YOU THE CREATOR OF NINJAGOTALE?

No. But like Underswap and Underfell, it pretty much belongs to everyone in the fandom. There are multiple interpretations, and I am not the first one to have one. Many of the character choices are actually inspired by other people’s interpretations! However, I’m doing something particularly unique with mine...

IS NINJAGOTALE A FANFICTION?

It used to be! Now it’s a comic. You can find the written version links below the comic version links if you’re interested!

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS LIKE?

In my version, they have the same names as the Ninjago characters, but most of the personalities are the same as the Undertale characters. However, to make things more interesting, the characters you interact with most will have some of the traits of the Ninjago characters. So they will be a bit different.

The appearances are a combination of the two characters. Most are humanoid, but I made it a goal to make them clearly not human (they are still called monsters). You can see what I mean if you take a look at some of the designs. You’ll find the links to them in the “characters” section of this post (scroll down a bit). You may see multiple links, and that’s because those specific characters have been redesigned. Beware, the originals are much less visually appealing than the new ones!

ARE THERE ANY OCS?

VERY few. I made it my goal to use them sparingly, and only if I have no other choice. If there is an OC, know that I had VERY GOOD REASONS to put them there. Don’t tell me that there is no reason for [character] to be an OC, there is. I will be happy to explain my reasons to you if you ask nicely. Unless it is a spoiler (because there is one).

DO YOU TAKE REQUESTS / CAN YOU PUT MY OC / HEADCANON / IDEAS IN NINJAGOTALE?

I used to do that with my fanfictions on FFN. Sadly, I have moved on from taking requests. I have realized it is actually a bad writing move in general and should not be done if you want quality writing. The only people who are authorized to give significant influential input are the members of the Ninjagotale Team.

YOU SHOULDN’T PUT _____ IN NINJAGOTALE! I DON’T LIKE THAT!

Thank you for expressing your concerns. I’m sorry, but I’m not changing the plot to please a few people who don’t like what I’m doing with my story. There are other stories out there. Go find one you do like. Or make your own story instead of whining at other people to change their stories so you like them.

CAN I MAKE FAN ART OF NINJAGOTALE?

Absolutely! After all, I’m not the first person to have an interpretation of the AU! There are several other people who have one of their own! And if it’s specifically for my version, tag me in it and I will reblog it and add it to this masterpost! You will also be featured in the Neutral Ending credits!

CAN I ASK QUESTIONS?

Of course! Just know that I am not obligated to answer them. But I will try my best to do so, as long as they’re not hate, spam, someone forcing their opinions on me, or could potentially cause drama!

WHY ARE YOU MAKING NINJAGOTALE?

First reason: because while I have seen concept art and fan art of it, I haven’t seen many people make it into an actual story (I do have friends who are currently in the process of it though).

Second reason: I actually feel motivated to do this. This is huge, because lately I have not been very inspired. By anything.

Third (and probably most important) reason: On a personal level, this is actually my way of tracking my improvement and development of my art. My goal is to have mastered most of the basics by the end of the project. I don’t know if that will happen, but I’m going to try! #FILLED WITH DETERMINATION

I’M NEW TO NINJAGO. HOW CAN I UNDERSTAND THE AU IF I DON’T KNOW THE BASICS?

Easy! Just join the discord and read the basics for newbies! Here’s the link! https://discord.gg/jZCap2U

NINJAGOTALE (COMIC VERSION) INDEX

Intro

Cover

Part 1 start

Chapter 1 start

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

NINJAGOTALE (WRITTEN VERSION) INDEX

Cover

Intro

Part 1 start

Part 1 Act 1 start

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

FULL CAST OF CHARACTERS WITH PERSONALITY DESCRIPTIONS (updated once in a while, check back occasionally to see changes!)

HOW TO GET INTO THE NEUTRAL ENDING CREDITS

PROMOTIONAL POSTERS

Ninjagotale promo poster 1

Ninjagotale promo poster 2

RELEASED DESIGNS AND SKETCHES (some of these are in my main blog because they’re old and unofficial and I don’t feel like spamming you all with bad art on this blog) (also keep in mind that the official designs are always subject to change along the road and I’m not going to make a new design page every time there’s a shift in style or appearance due to improvement and development of my art) 

Mettaton = Pixane (turns into Zane and Pixal once Mettaton EX happens)

PIXANE DESIGN * ZANE AND PIXAL EX DESIGNS

Alphys = Jay

JAY DESIGN (ORIGINAL) (NEW)

Undyne = Nya

NYA DESIGN (ORIGINAL) (NEW)

Sans = Cole

COLE DESIGN (ORIGINAL) (NEW)

Papyrus = Kai

KAI DESIGN (ORIGINAL) (NEW)

Asriel = Lloyd

LLOYD DESIGN

Chara = Morro

MORRO DESIGN (ORIGINAL) (NEW)

Grillby = Skylor

SKYLOR DESIGN (ORIGINAL) 

Flowey = Lolley the Lollipop

LOLLEY DESIGN  (ORIGINAL) (NEW) (PRACTICE SKETCHES)

Toriel = Misako

MISAKO DESIGN

OTHER PEOPLE’S WORK

firstfandomfangirl’s Jay/Sans design

firstfandomfangirl’s Cole/Papyrus design

firstfandomfangirl’s Nya/Undyne design

firstfandomfangirl’s Lloyd/Frisk design

firstfandomfangirl’s Morro/Chara design

firstfandomfangirl’s Zane/Napstablook design

that-one-ninjago-blog’s Nya/Undyne design

cjwildstyle’s Ninjagotale poster

firstfandomfangirl’s Jay/Alphys birthday present to me

as-you-doodle’s Morro/Chara drawing

Morro/Chara three-way collab (me/firstfandomfangirl) (firstfandomfangirl/as-you-doodle) (as-you-doodle/me)

INSPIRATION

booping-noses’s designs

DUMB STUFF

Fallen down

Kai’s hair

Morro’s hair

Fite me bro

Upgrading Lolley

Guess I’ll die