#the power was passed onto him post morro's death

[thecheesyboi1315]

Master of wind! Nelson

[destinysbounty]

I like your Zane original programming theory you posted, yet by itself it doesn't explain why Zane's soul lingered when he was so ready and accepting of his death--you'd think he would move on! Personally I think it's because he was tied to an element--my theory is that elements cause souls to get stuck until they're passed on to a new master. Maybe it wasn't just obsession that put Morro in the Cursed Realm, and maybe he'll keep lingering until he passes his element to someone else...

Sorry for the delayed response! Theory-crafting is always a fun topic for me and I wanted to take my time with this post, but with the new semester starting this week I haven't had much time to sit down and give this topic its due process. But we're here now!

(To anyone curious, this is the post being referenced)

To start off, you're right! In the original post I do talk a lot about how it would be possible for a nindroid to linger after death, and not so much about the why. I admit, I had initially planned on addressing this as well, but every attempt to explain my thoughts on that felt too longwinded and ramble-y so I decided just to cut it out of the post altogether. So thank you for bringing it up and giving me the excuse to talk more about this!! That being said, this will be ramble-y bc I dont know how to articulate my thoughts on this in a coherent way, so buckle in.

In terms of why Zane's soul lingered/came back to life, I think there are three main possible theories to consider.

(Admittedly only the first theory is all that likely, but I'm emotionally attached to the other two and they also technically have a non-zero chance of being true so I'm gonna present them anyway. Let's just pretend I'm doing it to be thorough)

As you said, it's entirely possible that an individual's elemental power keeps them tethered to the realm of the living and won't let them go. This theory is very interesting from a worldbuilding standpoint, and it seems to have the most evidence to back it up, at least circumstantially. Not to mention that certain details throughout the series, as well as some comments from Tommy Andreasen, lowkey lead me to believe that elemental powers have some degree of sub-sentience to them. The thought of elemental powers refusing to let go of their masters is 👀 really interesting worldbuilding and I'd love to see where that goes. And it makes sense! It would explain why, even though Zane and Cryptor both died, Cryptor passed on to the afterlife while Zane didn't. Because Cryptor wasn't an elemental master, but Zane was. As well as explaining why the likes of Morro and Garmadon retained their elemental powers after death. The only things it doesn't explain are why Morro passed onto some form of afterlife while Zane didn't, and what mechanisms allowed the Overlord's spirit linger in a similar way despite not being an elemental master. Of course, the second one we can easily write off as the Overlord being like a manifestation of darkness and possibly an Oni, and therefore having some cosmic darkness powers that keep him around. And as for the first point about Morro, well, we don't know a lot about the Cursed Realm or even how the death/afterlife system works in this show. A comment from Wu in season 5 suggests that one enters the Cursed Realm by becoming cursed, but that in itself is a headache I'm not ready to unpack just yet. Anyway long story short, this theory makes a lot of sense and I think you're really on the money here!

One theory that answers the question of why Zane and the Overlord lingered in the same way, but people like Cryptor did not, is that perhaps it has something to do with Golden Power. Both were in direct contact with and overloaded with Golden Power, and got resurrected in a presumably similar fashion (from what we've seen anyway) - as opposed to Cryptor and Morro, who as far as we know both died but passed onto some form of afterlife. Any evidence to support this theory is purely circumstantial at the moment, but I'm also fond of how poetic it'd be. The same power Zane used to save his friends, the same power that killed him, is also the same power that won't let his soul pass on. He wrangled unfathomable, godly, golden strength to save the world, but at the cost of his own afterlife. He fought for his friends to find peace, but as a consequence he himself cannot find peace even in death. Can you imagine how unpleasant it must have been for him when the Golden Weapons came back in MotO? Like, even without the context of this theory. The last time he held Golden Power, it destroyed him. And now a Golden Weapon has been placed in his hands once more, and once more he has been tasked with using it to save the world. That's gotta mess you up. And it'd be even worse if the Golden Power is what kept his soul from passing on. Like, given his little dying-thoughts montage, we can tell he was ready to die, he was willing to pass on to the afterlife. He was at peace. But he didn't get that, because the world wasn't done with him. Because the Golden Power wouldn't let him go.

Maybe Zane didn't remain tethered to the realm of the living. Maybe he didn't linger at all. Maybe his soul did actually pass on - but he got pulled back. Maybe he met the FSM and had a similar encounter as Lloyd did in MotO, and was sent back down. I mean, if it's established that the FSM can talk to and resurrect people at his own will, then it's not outside the realm of possibility that he may have done the same to Zane. The biggest hole in this theory is that it's not as likely that Zane would've willingly gone back. On the one hand, Zane loves his friends and it's established that he's willing to sacrifice his own comfort for the sake of protecting others. So it's reasonable to assume that he would choose resurrection if given the opportunity. BUT...like you said, he was at peace with his death. He was happy. Content. Smiling at a life well lived. He had no intention of coming back. Not to mention that Zane doesn't strike me as the kind of person to rebuke the cycle of life - if it's his time to go, then it's his time to go, and he'd probably think it would be arrogant of him to claim an exception to a universal rule. His thinking being, what makes him better or more deserving of a second chance than others? So if he didn't want to come back, then what if the FSM brought him back without his consent? He wanted to stay dead, to be with his father, but the FSM was like 'lol nah' and then yeeted him back down to Ninjago. And yeah that's angsty, but I'd also like to consider the comedic potential of Zane just absolutely hating the FSM's guts because why won't god let him stay dead.

(I do have one more theory, but it involves major Crystalized spoilers so I won't share it. That being said, anyone who's seen episode 13 can probably guess where I'm going with this.)

So...yeah! You're probably right, and your theory makes a lot of sense, heck I even have a few WIPs where I explore that concept, but I just thought it'd be fun to explore all the other options for funsies as well.

Thanks for the ask! <3

[sayijo]

A/N: I’m being sucked into my own AU. So here’s something I managed to slap together. I’m gonna regret posting this so late at night at a time when I’m tired.

Summary: That scene in season 5 where Lloyd almost drowns but it’s my possessed!Cryptor AU

Words: 1.8k

Warnings: Kai swears a truck-ton.

He was drowning

He could feel as the cold liquid rushed around him, filling all the gashes that were decorated on his arms. His sides stung as the water lapped at them, causing him to wince, feeling tears sprang to his eyes from the pain.

His head was light, like it was hollow.

He was exhausted.

His eyes were fluttering, struggling to stay open while he simultaneously wished for them to close. Water occasionally washed over his face, causing him to gasp for air, forcefully expelling air from his nose.

It was quiet.

Just let it happen.

He could hear screaming and yelling, coupled with the sounds of combat, through the thick wall of silence. People were calling his name as the current of the river carried him further away. His eyes opened a small sliver and he stared up at the dark ceiling of the cavern. He allowed himself to lose himself in the cold embrace of the water, even though his body jerked occasionally, like there was a part of him that struggled for the surface.

What’s the point of them even saving you?

You never were a part of their team. What makes you think that you ever were? Pathetic fool. The world would be better off without you.

He looked down. Faded images of two people running along the edge of the river came into his mind. But it was like you were watching a video where the cameraman kept putting the lens cap back on. Foggy pieces of memory came back to him, barely managing to hold onto the images.

A blade to his throat, a cold arm holding his neck in a chokehold.

People talking.

A scream of pain from somewhere behind him.

There was kick to his back, forcing him off the ledge of the cliff.

And then he was falling. The wind rustled in his ears.

The impact with the water was painful. He could feel something inside his right leg snap and disconnect from the force.

“Shit! Cry you motherfucker! Wake up!” Came a voice from somewhere to his left, the audio cutting in and out as his head bobbed in and out of the water.

He could barely move.

It’s not like he wanted to, anyway.

He was finally getting rest.

He had gone through weeks where he wasn’t allowed to sleep a wink. Everytime he started to drift off, there would be a harsh kick to the side of his ribs, causing him to gasp in pain, curling in on himself as the sounds of laughing that rang out from above him. He pulled at his hair in stress, digging his fingers into his scalp.

And now, finally, he was allowed to close his eyes and drift off. Just to lose the sense of everything around him. The water was the softest thing that he had experienced, more comfortable than any mattress that he could’ve ever laid upon. The silence was the most blissful that he had experienced, him wishing that he could stay in it forever.

The sound of something rumbling came piercing through the muddled silence. It sounded like the engine of his motorcycle, but if you heard it from underwater.

Because he was underwater.

In a brief second that his head managed to surface, the volume of the sound maximized. The roar of the water grew louder, the current of the river picking up its pace.

“Aw, fuck.” He heard someone curse. The sounds of shoes against rock quickened up in pace, small rocks and pebbles being forced out of the way from their strides.

Waterfall.

Good.

Perhaps it would be quicker that way.

His eyelids were burning if he kept them open for too long. His eyes fluttered closed, and he could feel his soaked gi dragging him down. Water rushed past him, causing him to drift, the cold chilling him to the very core of his being.

He sank underneath the surface for a few seconds, the sounds of the cave becoming muffled. He sputtered out a cough as his face bobbed back up from the water. His arms and legs jerked, as his mind kicked itself into working order before he forced them still. He just wanted to sleep.

“He’s going to drown!”

“I can see that!”

“Then do something!”

“You do something!”

“I’m a goddamn ghost! I’m gonna die!”

“Use your powers!”

“In here? Are you crazy? Do you want the whole place to collapse?!”

“But I can’t swim!”

“Oh my First Sp— Cry! We’re gonna get you outta there! I promise!”

“There’s no need.” Cryptor whispered, the sound barely even escaping his lips, basically nonexistent against the roaring of the river. The river picked up its speed, the waves becoming more and more violent.

“Kai, you need to do something! He’s too weak to swim!”

“Shit. Okay okay!”

There was a crash in the water, like someone had dove in. Cryptor’s grip on his consciousness was barely even existent at this point, and he could slowly feel everything slip away into a blissful silence—

An arm looped underneath his left shoulder, and he was pulled to the surface. He coughed and he sputtered once he met fresh air, his eyelid far too heavy to open. He let out an involuntary shudder from the cold, curling up against the fire ninja in an effort to seek warmth.

“Shit. Okay. You’re okay. It’s okay.”

There was the sound of splashing, and then the red ninja had started attempting to make it back to the shore in desperate, frantic, violently pushing at the water with his free arm.

“Shit!! Cole? A little help here?” Panic was bleeding into Kai’s voice as the currents picked up their force, practically pushing them along. Kai attempted to run through the water with his legs, but the waves crashed against them as he tried to make it to shore.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” Cole hissed.

“Grab my hand!” The earth ninja’s voice came shrieking out once again.

“You’re too far off! I can’t get to you!”

“Well I can’t get to you either! Do something about it!”

A pause.

Cryptor struggled to muster up enough strength to talk. He was aware of the roar of the river growing louder and louder, the river picking up its speed and leaving Kai desperately trying to fight against it.

“....I’m sorry.” He whispered quietly. He was probably the reason they were unable to make it to shore. Kai could barely even swim and to top it all off, he had someone clinging onto him. If the nindroid stayed, there was a good chance that both of them could die.

He pushed himself away from the red ninja with the rest of his strength, aiming to lift the weight off Kai’s shoulders so that the fire ninja could make it back to shore by himself.

A hand immediately gripped the front of his gi, pulling him back towards the fire ninja, the nindroid collapsing against his chest.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Kai snarled, his tone laced with a thin film of worry.

“...you...need to—”

“If anyone’s gonna die for anyone, then it’s gonna be Morro!” Kai snapped, before he locked an arm around Cryptor’s torso, holding onto him as he reached his left arm towards Cole’s outstretched hand, both of them trying to reach one another. The nindroid weakly pushed against the fire ninja’s chest, but Kai’s hold tightened with each struggle.

“Reach more forward, Dirtclog!” Kai snarled, reaching as forward as much as he could.

“But I could fall in!”

“COLE!” Kai shrieked.

“Okay okay!” Cole stepped forward a bit, his toes right on the edge of the river. He leaned forward, knowing that one stumble would cause him to fall right to his death. Kai desperately flailed at Cole’s hand, trying to reach as forward as possible.

Cole gripped Kai’s wrist, before he took a large step backward. He pulled with all his might, watching as the two broke the surface.

The two collapsed onto the rough ground as Cole lost his footing and fell backwards on back, the air being knocked out of his lungs. Kai was coughing for air, shivering from the cold of the water that drenched his gi.

“Shit.” Kai grumbled as he pushed himself up, before taking a seat on the cold ground. The draft in the cave chilled him to the bone, causing his soaked clothes to feel even more frigid. His drenched hair stuck to the sides of his head, before he reached a hand up to brush the hair away from his mouth.

Kai scrambled to his feet, before he immediately came over to Cryptor’s side just as Zane, Jay, and Lloyd joined them. The fire ninja placed a hand on Cryptor’s back, helping the nindroid sit up. Cryptor’s breathing was shallow, barely nonexistent at this point. His arms and legs were limp, and the ninja would see black oil beginning to bleed out onto the cavern floor.

“What happened to Morro?” Cole asked.

“He got away.” Lloyd answered. He tossed a glance over his shoulder, looking at the tunnel that the ghost has disappeared down.

“Wake up, you dick.” Kai hissed, shaking Cryptor violently.

“Kai. Stop it. You are aggravating his injuries.” Zane advised, stepping forward from the group to halt the fire ninja. Kai didn’t even seem to sense him coming, as his shaking got more violent and rapid.

A grimace later, and Cryptor’s eye fluttered open. The dark red iris was barely even visible against the black void of his eye, but Kai could tell that it settled on him. Everyone held their breath as an agonizing pause passed by in silence.

“...Kai?”

“Oh my god, you son of a—” Kai didn’t even finish his sentence before he tackled the nindroid into a hug. He gripped Cryptor tightly, his arms wrapping around the ex-general’s torso, squeezing the life out of him.

“You dumb fuck!” Kai snapped, anger bleeding back into his tone, but Cryptor was too exhausted to even focus on his words. Even though the ninja might be being nice to him out of pity and tolerance, the hug was a nice gesture.

“You thought it was just fine and dandy for you to push yourself off?! Huh? I would’ve dove right after you off the side! Oh my First Spinjitzu Master, I still can't believe you let yourself get possessed by some edgy high school dropout. Unbe-fucking-lievable. Aren’t you going to say something?”

Cryptor let out a shuddering gasp, to weak to even reciprocate the hug. He shook from the cold, the stress, the fear. He was just so, so tired.

“Oh, shit. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so...aw, fuck. Okay. I’m sorry. Shhhhh. Breathe.”

And then everyone crowded around him. Hands were throw over his shoulders, forming a shield over the nindroid. All the sounds growing softer and quieter. He gasped softly, gently sobbing into whoever’s shoulder he had buried his face into.

“They don’t really care about you. All of this is a facade. You’ll never be considered a ‘member’ of the team.” Morro’s voice rang out from in his mind.

Regardless of what the truth was,

He was safe now.

And it was warm.

[sphor-art]

NINJAGO CURSED AU

oof here it is finally: a little background on my cursed au

its pretty long so im going to put it under a cut

Once upon a fucking time, a few months ago, my brain shat out this idea that basically went “what would happen if ninjago actually had real world physics”. A few minutes of thinking resulted in the answer “not good, probably death”. So knowing that, here’s an entire au based off of pain and suffering :)

Presenting: the NINJAGO CURSED AU

(disclaimer: some things in this au might change cause of shenanigans, shitposting and you guys sending in ideas. So this is just a kind of general outline)

>> the “story” starts with the sad loner with an undefined name (the cursed variant of the FSM). he lived in Ninjago (the country), with a oligarchy about as fair as the american voting system. The gov consisted of the ancestors of the elemental masters we all don't really know and kind of love. The voting system was kinda messed up cause not many people really wanted to go against someone that could obliterate you and your family in a split second. So yeah, the gov stayed with the original ems ruling over Ninjago, doing a.. mediocre job. Like most oligarchies, the people weren't very happy about the way things were going-- the “FSM” included. (lets just call him something easy like uh.. Jim.) Jim was special though-- he was super salty. Y’see Jim used to be part of the gov but was being an ass to the other ems, so they just booted him out of power and hoped he didn’t come back. Jim however, comes back anyways. Because Jim doesn't care about what the ems think is or is not possible.

Before that tho, old man Jimmy here needs to figure out a Scheme™ to get back at the other ems. And what idea he formulates was probably one of the worst ideas in Ninjago history (he doesn't know that yet but i don’t think he cares either). So what he plans: 1. Find a djinn; 2. Curse the other elemental masters because curses sound cool and stuff; 3. Profit? He didn’t really think it through.

So you have this old man with a terrible plan, possessing the aid of a being of really  powerful being, barging into the congress and rubbing his little lamp, screaming his little curses. A wonderful sight to behold, honestly. As we all can tell, the first step of this little plan is already.. slightly problematic. Take a wild guess what the heck happened after jimmy here wished for all the other EMs to be cursed. well. a lot of things happened. mostly bad.

First things first: jim didn’t specify exactly what kind of curse that these ems would get. So this djinn mclittle fuck just made being an elemental master a curse (so the ems that had the power now, and those in the future would all be cursed). Which btw kind of included himself. whoops? Secondly: you just destroyed the entire governing system you little shit. Either you have to step up, find someone to step up into a dictatorship rule, or just have Ninjago fall into anarchy. Of course you would deem yourself a dictator what kind of question is that?

>> timeskip, the original EMs are fucking DEAD. The curse is transferred to either the closest blood relative or a random unfortunate person. Mr jim here is still a little bitch, but somehow got laid and now has two kids who he passed his curse onto. You probably guessed it: its wu and garmadon. This old shit’s two less shitty sons.

Sometime after fuckhands mcjim decided came to power, and present day jim; he realized his mistake of full out cursing the ems cause now you have a handful of people causing natural disasters and shit. It's bad for reputation and economy. So jim goes out and hires a bunch of people (and snakes) to go find cursed people and bring them to him. Meanwhile, he shits out some propaganda targeting against the cursed folk to make them easier to find. Now here comes the question “what the fuck do you do with these captured ems?” good question because jim didn’t really know at the time. So he went for the best option he could think of: murder. Ok well.. Not murder murder, more of-- destroying the physical form of a person and containing their powers in this cool Crystal he found. This went well until he came to the realization that he could always save a few special ems and exploit their powers individually.  He set up a testing facility, working on not-so-ethical experiments on certain ems. I could get into the specifics on this stuff in another post or else this post gonna get even longer than it already gonna be.

So, now onto the garmabros. In this au, wu is way less of a bitch than in canon. Thankfully. While garmadon still kept the same world views as jim, allowing him to co-rule ninjago, wu didn’t agree with most of the things that his bro and dad thought were fine. Jim was a shitty dad so he kicked wu out (wow sounds familiar from stuff above huh? Jim don’t you ever learn from stuff that happened in the past?). Wu is pretty salty from that so he goes into seclusion and builds a temple for himself so he could learn how to control his curse of creation. He stays in there, doing meditations and writing fanfiction or something for a few years until one day, while going shopping for stuff, a huge storm hits. Seems dramatic right? Big plot is gonna happen thats why. u would think it was some sort of Big Evil but in reality its a random fucking fart gremlin getting beat up in an alleyway and forming a tornado. Oh wait thats morro. So wu was like “holy shit kid what the fuck” and took him in as a pupil, lowkey adopted him, and taught him how to control his curse. After some time with morro, wu remembered that there are still other ems out there that need help, and became an official Cryptid Hunter. (cryptids since the ems were so excluded from society with huge governmental manipulation that they basically existed as faceless creatures that most people hated.) 

after that, wu just went around tracking down other ems and tried to convince them to join him so they dont fucking die

thats basically it tbh, if you have questions about any of the ems just send in an ask

[piperchu]

Two Shades of Green (unfinished)

Finally, here it is! What I have of Two Shades of Green, the fourth chapter of my Day of the Departed rewrite. I think this is probably my favorite one, and the one I enjoyed writing the most. It’s actually the first completely original chapter in my DotD rewrite, and I’m quite proud of it. Go ahead and read!

Episode 4

Two Shades of Green

Morro and Lloyd were finding it very hard to live in the same establishment. Sometimes they would acknowledge one another’s presence, sometimes they would completely ignore each other. And other times they would be at each other’s throats.

It was three days after Morro joined, and he and Lloyd hadn’t fought all morning, which was a record. They basically ignored each other at breakfast, though.

After everyone finished eating, Sensei stood up. “I am going out to get a few bags of tea. I trust you all to be good while I am gone. Try to work in some training.”

“Yes Sensei,” everyone responded.

About a half an hour later, after Sensei had left, the Ninja went out onto the deck to train. They didn’t use their powers, deciding to give them a rest for today. Instead, they practiced with weapons. When they split into groups though, Kai and Nya were quick to pair up. The same happened with Jay and Zane.

Which left Lloyd with Morro. Neither of the two seemed very happy about this.

As training went on, Lloyd quickly learned that Morro had a very agressive fighting style. His moves with his sword were quick and seemed like they were driven more by anger.

“Morro, this is only training,” Lloyd reminded the ghost.

“Spoken like your father,” Morro scoffed.

Lloyd stopped fighting and took a step back. He narrowed his eyes at his new teammate. “Exactly what is that supposed to mean, Morro?”

The other Ninja paused their training. All eyes turned toward the the former enemies. They could almost feel the tension of the past few days coming to a climax.

“What do you think it means, Lloyd?” Morro snapped back.

For a moment, Lloyd did nothing but look at Morro with a neutral face. Then, all of a sudden, it twisted into a snarl. “I’m tired of taking your crap! This ends now!” he shouted. The green ninja created two balls of energy in his hands and threw them at Morro in pure fury. The ghost dodged the attack and summoned a gust of wind that knocked Lloyd down.

“Lloyd! Morro!” Zane tried to intervene. “Sensei wouldn’t want-”

“STAY OUT OF THIS!” the two ninja screamed at the nindroid. With that, the fight began.

Morro made the first move. He turned the breeze in the air into a powerful gale and sent it in Lloyd’s direction. Lloyd plunged his sword into the deck and held onto it in order stay standing. When the wind stopped, Lloyd took out the sword and pointed it at Morro.

“You came back saying you’ve changed. That you’d no longer be chasing after being the green ninja. But I haven’t seen a single change in you!” he accused Morro, and their two swords clashed and clanged.

“I’m tired of you all playing favorites!” Morro shot back. “Of you excluding me! You never trust me! I’m sick of it!”

“We don’t trust you because you haven’t given us a reason to!” Both ninja turned into their spinjitzu tornados, Lloyd’s a bright shade of green and Morro’s a darker one. The twisters crashed into each other and merged, forming a new tornado twice as large, and such a dark green it was almost black. The other ninja watched in terror as it began to rip up the boards on the deck. The sky darkened, and the Bounty groaned.

It may have gotten worse if Sensei had not returned at that very moment atop his dragon, looking furious.

“STOP!” he cried. Lloyd and Morro fell out of the destructive tornado and onto the deck. Sensei’s dragon roared and breathed out a mist that repaired the ship. The sky lightened again. All returned to normal. Sensei then canceled his dragon and approached the two ninja who were responsible. “Lloyd, I need you in my room, now,” he ordered.

“But Sensei, Morro-” Lloyd protested.

“Now.”

Lloyd fell silent and followed Sensei inside, but gave Morro a look as he passed the wind ninja.

Morro walked down the hall to Sensei’s room, where he’d been told by Kai to go. He slid open the door and saw the teacher sitting on the floor with some tea, waiting for him, but he was surprised to see a scowling Lloyd in there too.

“What’s he doing here?!” Morro burst.

“I’m glad you were able to make it, Morro,” Wu said calmly. “Please sit down.”

“I thought this was supposed to be a private talk!” the ghost continued to protest.

“You were mistaken. It is time for the two of you to settle your debts. Sit, please.”

Even though he was tempted to run out of the room, Morro slowly sulked over to a spot on the floor and sat down, making sure he was a good distance from the green ninja. Lloyd narrowed his eyes at him. He glared back.

If Sensei had noticed the silent exchange, he didn’t show it. “Now, my students,” he addressed them both, “Do you know what a Tornado of Chaos is?”

Both students were silent. Sensei took that as a sign for him to continue. “It is a spinjitzu tornado that is essentially the opposite of the Tornado of Creation. Instead of being driven by teamwork and trust, it is fueled by separation and hate. If it is strong enough, it can tear apart a whole building.” He took a sip of tea. “The Tornado of Chaos the two of you created by combining your spinjitzu wasn’t strong enough to do that, but it did some damage. Now, I want to hear what exactly happened between you two to create such a forbidden martial art. One at a time, please. Lloyd, you first.”

“Sure, Lloyd’s always first,” Morro grumbled.

Lloyd stood up. “Okay, I’ve had enough of your smart-”

“Lloyd,” Wu interrupted. His tone was still calm, but the sternness was there.

“Sorry, Sensei.” The green ninja sat back down.

“I know you two hate each other,” the teacher acknowledged, “but that cannot change the fact that you are now brothers. You must realize the fact that you must find peace with each other. You two have more in common than you think.”

“In common? What do we have in common?” Morro asked with disbelief.

“You both are strong-willed. You hold your values close to heart. You have strong opinions. And although your goals may be very different, you will work very hard towards them. Apart, you are capable of creating chaos. But united, your potential for greatness will be unlimited.”

Both Morro and Lloyd were silent for a moment. Finally Lloyd said, “Sensei, I’m not so sure about that. How can we be ‘great’ when sometimes we can’t stand being in the same room?”

“Have you tried working together on something, nephew?”

“Well… no.”

“Then how can you be so sure that you can never get along?” Lloyd remained silent. Wu took a sip of tea. “I am not asking you two to become best friends. I am asking you to find peace with one another. Lloyd, I want you to accept that Morro is now your brother. Morro, I want you to accept that Lloyd is your brother. I know you two can do it. You are both very capable students.” He took another sip of tea. “Which is why I am sending you two as a team to fight Pythor.”

“WHAT?!” both students cried in shock.

“Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. The two of you will be fighting Pythor together. I have complete faith in you. You are dismissed.”

“But Sensei! He possessed me!”

“He’ll be unbearable!”

“ENOUGH!” Sensei shouted. The two students winced and fell silent. They’d pushed Sensei past his breaking point. “This rivalry between you two must stop! It has gone on for too long! Find a way to work together or the two of you will be training all day, every day for a month! Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Sensei.”

“Yes, Sensei.”

It was nighttime by the time Lloyd and Morro had flown all the way to the Mountain of a Million Steps. The two canceled their dragons and landed at the mouth of the hole that served as the entrance to the caves. When they had lowered themselves down the rope and landed on the stone platform below, they removed their masks and looked around.

“Seems quiet,” Morro observed. “Do you think they left?”

“Not likely,” Lloyd answered. “The reports said that Pythor and the snakes he managed to convert were spotted coming here and hadn’t been seen leaving. They’ve got to be here.”

“This is an empty room! Where would they be?” Morro shot back impatiently as Lloyd just walked over to one of the paintings on the wall. “Are you even listening to me?”

Lloyd just looked back at Morro with a flat expression, then pressed a spot on the wall behind him with his elbow. Immediately a door slid open in the wall. Lloyd smirked at the ghost. “Having been dragged around Ninjago by the snakes when I was a kid, I kinda know a thing or two about all of their lairs. Let’s go.” With that, Lloyd led the way down the tunnel, with Morro sulking behind.

They eventually came to a large room that had steps leading down to the bottom. The two ninja peered over the edge at the snakes down below. Lloyd spotted Pythor and pointed him out to Morro.

“I know Lloyd well,” Pythor was telling his cronies. “He will surely come here to confront me.”

“I’m not ssssso sssssure, Pythor,” the other snake fretted. “He hassssssn’t come yet. It’sssss been three dayssssss and ssssstill we’ve got no sssssssign of him.”

“He will come!” Pythor shouted back and banged his staff against the ground. The other snake cowered in fear. “Now if you know what’s good for you, you’ll go back to your post now!” The minion yelped and fled to another part of the cavern.

“So they’re expecting us,” Morro whispered. “You think we should turn around and try again another time?”

“No, we’re already here!” Lloyd refused. “We might as well give it a shot!”

“But what if something goes wrong? We’re far outnumbered. And Pythor seems like he really wants to kill you.”

Lloyd gave Morro a meaningful glare. “You know very well that I’ve been in worse situations than death, Morro.”

“You think what I did to you was worse than death?! Come on!”

“When you’ve been through as much as I have, sometimes you wonder how it might feel to finally be away from all the pain for good.”

“You’re not the only one whose life has been less than pleasant.”

The two were quiet for a moment before Lloyd broke the silence. “Let’s just get this over with,” he muttered. “Now isn’t the time for this conversation.”

“Wait a second, where’d Pythor go?” Morro had just noticed that the white snake was gone. In fact, it seemed that while they were talking, the room had suddenly become empty.

“Crap, did they see us?” Lloyd whispered. He took out his sword and started quietly down the steps. Suddenly there was a rumbling sound beneath their feet.

Then the snakes appeared. It happened so fast, Morro was unable to help. One second, Lloyd was surrounded by constrictai, the next second they were all gone, having burrowed back into the floor with Lloyd.

“Hey! Stop!” Morro shouted down the hole, but he couldn’t see them anymore. At first Morro was too stunned to think. Then dread settled in. He couldn’t follow those snakes, so there was no chance of getting Lloyd back. If he came back to the Bounty without Lloyd, the others would blame him and he’d never be able to make it up. On the other hand, Morro had no idea where the snakes were taking Lloyd. The computer at the Bounty would probably be of help, but again, there was no way he could go back without the green ninja. For the first time in a long time, Morro had no idea what to do.

Well, staying here won’t do any good, he thought, and with a bit of guilt, he left back down the tunnel where they’d come. Once he was in the first room, he sat down on the platform to think. The only thing Morro could think of doing was calling the other ninja on his radio. They’d still blame him, but at least he wouldn’t have to face them yet. He took a deep breath and called in. “Morro to Destiny’s Bounty, do you copy?”

At first there was no answer. Then he heard Kai’s voice. Great. Of all the people to answer him, it had to be the one who was going to be the most upset.

“We hear you Morro. Did you capture Pythor?”

Morro hesitated. How was he supposed to say this? “No, we didn’t,” he began. Then he braced himself. “And, they took Lloyd.”

“WHAAAAT?!”

Morro pulled back from the device as Kai roared through the line. “How could you let this happen Morro? You two were supposed to work together!”

“I wasn’t trying to lose him!”

“Morro, what happened?” Great. Now Sensei was there. 

“He lost Lloyd!” Kai yelled.

“Stay where you are, Morro. We’ll pick you up and begin searching for Lloyd.”

Great. That was exactly what Morro didn’t want to happen. “No, Sensei. It’s my fault he’s gone. I’m going to find him, alone.”

“Morro! No! Don’t-” But Morro turned the device off. He had a ninja to find. And since it was the snakes who took him, he might know where to look...

This felt like the one hundredth time Lloyd had been locked up. At this point it was ridiculous. Why in Ninjago was it ALWAYS him who got captured? Sure, he’s the green Ninja, but you’d think the bad guys would have a different target at least once. This time, he was in a cell in Ourobouris, chained to the wall with vengestone chains. No point trying to break them with his powers.

Suddenly two Constrictai henchmen opened the door and unlocked his chains. Immediately they took hold of both his arms with iron grips. “Don’t try anything, greenie,” one warned, as he snapped vengestone cuffs on his wrists. With that, he was led out of the cell.

He was led through many dark hallways until they reached a doorway. When they went through it, Lloyd found himself outside in the arena. It was dusk. As soon as he was out in the open, there were cheers from the Serpentine henchmen in the stands. In the center of the arena was Pythor, who was looking particularly pleased with the situation. The Constrictai let him go and quickly left for the stands. As soon as they were gone, Lloyd made a break for it, but just before he reached the edge of the arena, spikes rose out of the ground up to the height of his chest, blocking his escape.

“You’re not leaving, Lloyd,” Pythor called over to him. “Tonight you and I battle for the last time! A Slither Pit fight for the ages!”

“Then let’s make it a fair fight!” Lloyd yelled back, turning to face his enemy. “Take off these chains!”

“Maybe you never knew this, but there are no rules in the Slither Pit. We don’t have to fight fair!” Pythor explained. The crowd laughed at Lloyd’s cluelessness. Lloyd narrowed his eyes. If Pythor wasn’t going to fight fair, fine. But the green ninja had an iron will and determination to match. He wasn’t backing down.

“Now let the fight begin!” Pythor announced.

Lloyd knew he had to get rid of the chains, fast. He looked around and saw the spikes. He pressed the links against the other side and pulled hard. Thankfully the link wasn’t very strong, and snapped in half. Now he could fight with both hands.

“Clever,” Pythor mused, “but the cuffs are still on you. No powers!”

“Then I’ll just have to do without them!” With that, Lloyd ran at Pythor. The anacondrai disappeared. Lloyd stopped and closed his eyes, trying to rely on his other senses. He thought he could hear something to the right. He gave a mighty kick in that direction, and his foot met the invisible snake. Pythor howled and abandoned that strategy. They continued to fight with their fists, until suddenly the Departed Serpentine staff was thrown to Pythor from the crowd. The anacondrai caught it.

“Oh dear, what shall you do now?” he sneered.

This was a turn in the tide. Pythor now had a weapon, and Lloyd was unarmed. The green ninja was forced to resort to dodging the swinging staff.

“Just think, Lloyd,” Pythor said, continuing his attacks, “at least you’ll get to see your father again, once this is over!”

“I don’t intend to see him for a while, Pythor,” Lloyd shot back, ducking a particularly powerful swing. He knew he couldn’t go on like this forever, though. He was beginning to get tired. Even worse, Pythor seemed to notice. His attacks became more vicious. Finally, Pythor succeeded in hitting Lloyd on the head.

The green ninja fell to the ground, clutching his head. The serpentine crowd cheered. Pythor approached the fallen ninja with a look of triumph. “You know,” he said, “If you had never released me, none of this would have happened in the first place. When you see your father, do tell him I said hello.”

But just as Pythor held the staff above his head for the killing blow, the wind suddenly picked up. It gained speed, and began to howl. Many snakes in the crowd lost balance and fell.

“What’s going on?” Pythor shouted. Just as he finished his question, the wind knocked the staff out of his hands. It flew through the air - and was caught by Morro.

“Guess I’m late for the party!” he snarked, pulling out his sword.

“You!” Pythor shouted above the gales. “I thought you were an enemy of the Ninja too!”

“Let’s just say I’m well known for my acting skills. Now back away from the green ninja, or you will wish you had.”

“Get him!” Pythor commanded.

Snakes flooded into the arena. Morro thought fast. He needed to cut Lloyd free from those cuffs. What was strong enough to break them?

Constrictai.

Morro turned to one of the black snakes and dove inside it. The snake shuddered as the ghost took control. Once Morro had adjusted himself to the body, he ran at the green Ninja. Lloyd tried to fend him off, apparently thinking he was just another snake. “Easy, Lloyd, It’s me!” Morro told him. Lloyd’s eyes widened as Morro grabbed the vengestone cuffs and squeezed them. Under the stong pressure, the cuffs broke. 

“I would have preferred you to go about that in a different way,” Lloyd said pointedly as Morro left the snake, who immediately ran away screaming.

“Good to see you too,” Morro responded in a disgruntled tone. “Now let’s beat these snakes.”

Note: A battle was supposed to ensue here, in the middle of which Lloyd gets hit with modified Venomari venom. This makes him think that he is Fritz Donnagan, and Morro is Commander Kiplin. After Morro and Lloyd win the battle, antics ensue, in which Lloyd is bumbling around hallucinating, exasperating Morro. Morro calls the Bounty and they are rescued by the other Ninja. We now pick up with Lloyd and Morro arriving back on the ship.

“Lloyd!” All the other Ninja ran toward the green ninja and hugged him.

“Ah, my crew! What have I missed?” Lloyd asked loudly.

Everyone looked at Lloyd, clearly confused by the green ninja’s behavior, and Morro realized he hadn’t told them about Lloyd’s state. “He was hit with a special Venomari venom and now he thinks he’s someone called Fritz Donnagan,” the ghost explained. “Any of you know who that is?”

Suddenly Jay’s eyes widened with understanding. He stepped forward and put an arm around Lloyd’s shoulders. “Captain! It’s great to see you’re back!”

“Thank you! Uh... what’s your name again?” Lloyd asked.

“I’m Doctor Stecks, remember?”

“Ah! Doctor!”

“Listen, Captain, you look a bit pale. Why don’t you rest for a bit? I’ll take you to your quarters.”

“Thank you, Doctor. I do feel a bit tired, now that I think of it.”

“Right then. Let’s go, Captain.” And with that, Jay led Lloyd back inside the ship, leaving most of the other Ninja staring after them with extremely confused looks. Only Nya seemed to look like she knew what had just taken place. 

“Uh, Nya?” Kai asked. “What just happened?”

“Comic book nerdiness,” she answered, shrugging like it was no big deal. “Come on, it’s late and I’m tired too.” With that, Zane, Nya, and Kai walked back inside. 

Morro was stunned. Then his eyebrows furrowed. His fists clenched. He’d just brought back their favorite ninja, and hadn’t even gotten a single ‘thank you.’ Was he invisible or something? Couldn’t they at least acknowledge the fact that he was there? 

“Thank you, Morro.”

Morro jumped at the sudden voice. He turned and saw Sensei sipping tea behind him. “Sorry, Sensei, I didn’t see you,” he apologized.

“That is quite alright, Morro. Did you learn something from this mission? Something about teamwork, perhaps?”

Morro lowered his head. “Yes, Sensei. You were right. I can’t do things alone. And Lloyd and I weren’t that bad working together. We have our differences, but when we actually looked past them and worked as a team, some pretty good action came out of it.”

“I am glad you have decided to move on, Morro. Thank you for bringing back Lloyd. I see you are taking this second chance seriously.”

“What about the others? They didn’t seem very grateful.”

“They were caught up in the moment. I will make sure that they thank you, though. I believe you have taken a great step toward gaining their trust.”

“Thank you, Sensei.”

It had been two days since Lloyd had recovered from the Venomari venom. Morro still hadn’t gotten a thank you, and he was getting kind of salty about that. He opened the bedroom door, in search of his sword for training. He thought he might have left it under his bed. But as he made his way over to the bed, he saw something lying on top of the covers. It was a box wrapped in green paper. There was an envelope lying on top of it. Written on it in green ink were three words.

Read this first.

Curious though he was as to what the box contained, he resisted the temptation to open the package and instead opened the envelope. He began to read.

I owe you for getting me out of Orobouris. My thank you present is in the box. I know you probably really want to open it, but hear me out first. Sensei once told me that there is no black and white, only many different shades of gray. I didn’t really know what he meant until now. We shouldn’t be thinking that one of us is right and the other one is wrong. We should instead focus on understanding each other.

I know you wanted to be the green ninja. I think you still do. I wish I could help you there. But I can’t just give you the title.

But there is something I can give you. You don’t have an official gi like us yet, and I doubt you want to keep wearing that ripped up one. Here’s one I thought you might like. I don’t use it anymore. It was my first one.

-Lloyd

Morro almost turned to open the box when he stopped and looked at the note again. He read the last line more carefully.

It was my first one.

His first one...

His first one?

No…

It couldn’t be…

Morro carefully unwrapped the box. Slowly he opened up the lid. His jaw dropped. His hunch was right.

Folded neatly inside the box was his childhood dream. It was just like when he first saw it. The whole suit was emerald green. The chest was covered with silver and black stars. The center was parted to reveal the white undershirt. The belt was a darker green with a silver buckle. Morro blinked a few times to ensure he wasn’t dreaming. He wasn’t.

Lloyd had given him the original green ninja suit.

Morro lifted the gi out of the box. He held it out in front of him to get a good look at the whole thing, but something fell out of it. He laid the gi carefully down on the bed beside him and bent down to pick it up. It was a small piece of paper with one last message.

There’s more than just one shade of green. You’re welcome.