CHAPTER THREE

A NINJA UNMASKED

"Sensei! We got the package, but we've got to ask you..."

Kai broke off just as he and Lloyd got into the bridge on the Bounty, where the other four ninja, the two Senseis, and Misako were gathered, watching the television screen that hung suspended above them. On it was displayed a reporter. It seemed that the two ninja hadn't been the first to tell the others about the strange questions.

"A spike in crime-fighting activity continues to rise in Ninjago City. So far there have been many reports of muggings and violence thwarted by the mysterious vigilante we've come to know as the 'shadow ninja,' as well as many burglaries. However, this unidentified hero has an unusual way of going about things. As one of those rescued from a kidnapping just this morning says—" here, the screen cut to a young teenage boy, who was standing next to a younger girl that looked like his sister.

"He just got there, knocked the men out, and then asked if I had a phone. When I said I did, he told me to call the police... and then he just left. The bad guys were all unconscious. But it's sort of weird. He saves people, and it's like he wants to let the cops get all the glory," the teen explained, speaking into the microphone held up to his face.

The announcer returned to the screen, and a moment later, a picture flashed up onto one corner. "One of the soon-to-be victims of gang violence managed to snap a photo of the mysterious benefactor before he left. From what we could see, the rumors are right—there are no identifiable features. It's like he really is a shadow."

Suddenly, Lloyd startled bolt upright. "Stop it! Pause the TV!" he cried, and Nya glanced at him, tapping the button. It froze, and the green ninja leaned a little closer to the screen. "Look, in that picture," he pointed. "That glow... I... I'd know that anywhere."

The others looked at him, puzzled, and Lloyd took a little breath. "It's Morro. It has to be... when he first... attacked me, he'd taken a shadow-form. I couldn't see what he actually looked like... it was a shadowy shape just like that." He then pointed to the bit of green glow. "That's a ghost weapon... I'd know it anywhere, I held those."

He gave a slight shiver, looking toward the floor. Sure... he'd forgiven Morro, but that didn't make the memories go away of how it had felt when the ghost possessed him. Garmadon frowned, taking a step toward his son and resting a hand on his shoulder. "Lloyd," he said quietly, almost warningly. "You don't think it is a danger, do you?"

Lloyd sighed, willingly accepting the touch and leaning into it a bit. "No... I don't... I really do think he changed back at Stiix... he hated you, and yet he almost died trying to get you out of the Cursed Realm. And he's... helping people. It's just... it's still..." he chewed on his bottom lip a little. "I'm not sure how I really feel about him yet."

Garmadon nodded. "That's perfectly alright." He gave Lloyd's shoulder a squeeze. "It will take time. Some things can only be healed through time."

Wu had been looking toward the television for a few moments, and then he turned back toward the ninja. "If it really is Morro, we must find him. He needs to not be alone any longer. It has been months since he disappeared... I fear for him. If he is to stay on the right path, he should not have to do it alone."

The other ninja hesitated, just slightly, but nodded in agreement, as did Garmadon.

"We'll go back to the city tonight and try to find him," Cole offered. "I'll try to grab him before he ghosts off, since he won't be able to just slip through my hands."

Wu gave a small smile. "Thank you," he dipped his head. Lloyd looked up.

"I'll go with you, Cole," he offered, but the ghost ninja shook his head.

"No... maybe it's better if you didn't. He might be more likely to try to run. Think you're out for revenge or something. I'll take Jay and Zane with me."

Lloyd frowned, but Garmadon nodded, looking toward him. "He does have a point, you know. You and Morro don't have the best history, and we're trying to get him back, not scare him off or make him feel intimidated."

"Yeah... I guess so. It sort of makes sense for me, Kai, and Nya to stay back then," the green ninja nodded.

Cole gave a little smirk, then beckoned. "Come on, guys... we've got to get ready to go. It would probably be better to get there before sunset. Our dragons will be less noticeable during the daylight."

-o-o-o-o-

It was a long journey from the monastery back to the city. Morro had headed back to the old structure to drop off a few things he'd found—some food he'd found newly discarded from a restaurant due to expiration, a shirt, and a few other odds and ends—and then quickly returned to the city for another night of work. He had a lot to make up for—he wasn't about to stop soon.

Night had already fallen by the time he reached the streets, though they were still alive with cars and passers-by, heading home from movies and various other sorts of entertainment that Morro knew little to nothing about. Once again having assumed his shadow-form, he kept his head low. Morro was from another era. He was as of yet still unused to the bright flashing lights and noise and chaos of the city. He made sure to remain intangible as several people walked through him on the city sidewalks.

He'd been back for some time, but he still felt so lost. Like he had nothing—like all he had left was his work in the city's streets. It was his only purpose...

Morro had realized he would never be the green ninja. It was... deeply upsetting. Sometimes he felt like jumping into the nearest lake, pond, fountain, or other liquid-holder. But telling himself that he'd have no chance to change his mind if he did that tended to chase those feelings of misery off.

Still, the master of wind felt completely alone in the world. While he'd always prided himself on his independence, now he felt as though it was a burden. As though he'd almost give anything to have some companion, someone to talk to, someone to tell him that he was making up for all of the horrible things he'd done.

A vehicle blared its horn not far from where he was walking and Morro startled, jolting his head up from the pavement and jumping a foot off of the ground. This was his punishment for musing, for letting his mind wander. A startling bark in his ear from some angry driver.

People were different now than they were when he was alive. It made him feel a little old—but it was so different that he felt less old, and more just lost in the midst of this.

Just as he began to think that it may be a bit of time before he found anything, he caught sight of a flicker in a nearby alley. Giving a small gasp, Morro jumped up onto the roof of a passing car and hopped from one to the other, landing on the sidewalk on the other side of the road.

At first glance, there was no one in the alley, nothing. Maybe it had been a false alarm and Morro hadn't really needed to worry about it at all. But wait! There was another flicker...

He darted forward. A cloaked figure was standing over the whimpering form of a young man. Morro swallowed. This didn't look like a gang member. There was something a bit more... sinister... about him. Still, he needed to be stopped. Morro leapt at the last moment, slamming his feet into the figure—only to find himself flying past as he dodged.

Yes, this was going to be a more difficult opponent. But not too difficult. Morro was one of the greatest fighters of all time, after all. He'd almost single-handedly defeated all of the ninja—and was still fairly confident he could take all of them on again, except for Nya with her powers.

Morro clenched his fist, summoning his daggers, and resumed the attack. The cloaked nemesis wasn't at all like anyone else he'd fought on the streets. He or she seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Luckily, Morro did as well. With a series of well-aimed kicks and cuts, he had almost confused them enough to land the final blow and knock them out.

And then, there was a clatter. Morro's attention turned toward the ground behind him. He caught a glimpse of a slightly glowing object on the ground, taking a brief moment to look at it... but that moment was all that his opponent needed to make his escape. When Morro looked back to continue the fight, he saw the lid of a manhole sliding closed as the cloaked fiend vanished beneath the city. Morro looked toward it and gave a shudder. He couldn't follow him down there. He hated caves... caves and passages and closed, dark spaces. He'd died, trapped in a cave. Besides that, there was most likely water in a city sewer, and worse. Morro couldn't risk that.

As he approached the figure on the ground, he picked up the glowing object—a small phial of a fluorescent, pale-green liquid—and tucked it into his pocket. What it was, he had no idea. He'd have to look at it later—maybe it could be useful.

Morro suddenly froze as he realized the young man wasn't moving. The ghosts eyes widened and he stepped toward him. Now, he left his shadow form in order to become tangible, and moved his hand to the side of the victim's throat. He waited a few seconds, fear jolting through him before he realized that he was a ghost—he wouldn't be able to feel a pulse.

"I'm sorry," he gave a quiet whisper, before plunging himself into the body of the poor man.

It only took a moment to realize that the apology wasn't necessary. There was no consciousness, no thoughts, no dreams, no hint of a life force. The body was as cold and yielding as any inanimate object Morro had ever possessed.

Quickly, the ghost drew back. There wasn't even the slightest of shivers from the form on the ground.

"No... no..." he muttered, sinking to his knees. "You can't... you can't be dead! You were just alive..." His voice cracked a bit. He'd never failed like this before. The young man had been alive and struggling just moments before- the fiend who had attacked him couldn't have had time to kill him, and there wasn't a single wound on the body! What had happened? Why was he dead?

Morro's form shook a bit, and he was near tears, not knowing what to do. He'd spent months doing this, working to save people, and he'd never had one die. He didn't know whether to somehow contact the police... how to explain what had happened. No one would trust him, they'd think he was the murderer. And that still left the question of how he'd died, and why that awful cloaked man had murdered him.

Dead... Morro had never actually possessed a dead body before. It had felt so strange... Morro wrapped his arms around himself, kneeling quietly beside the still form, staring down at it, hair hanging limply in front of his face. He felt a bit number than usual, a little shocked. Even though he'd already died, and spent forty-odd years surrounded by dead people, death in itself still came as a shock to the ghost. Seeing a corpse of someone who had just been alive and well moments before... Morro wasn't naturally a killer. He wasn't naturally comfortable with death. He still recalled how he'd disposed of the poor man he'd used to get to Lloyd... and how bad he'd felt about that. It was using that as a leverage that had allowed Lloyd to fight through his possession for a moment when he'd first fought Kai. Morro still hadn't forgiven himself for that. He hated being a killer. He hated that people feared him. And if they came upon this... they'd think he'd killed this poor boy.

Morro's hands shook. "P-please..." he stammered softly. "Please breathe... do something... be alive..."

But there was nothing.

And then, there was a voice from the end of the alley.

"Morro?"

The ghost startled, quickly jumping to his feet and whirling around. He still trembled a bit, he still felt numb and uneasy, and upon setting his gaze on his former enemies, he lost the ability to think rationally.

Someone must have seen him with the body and notified the ninja... now Cole, Jay, and Zane were coming to destroy him since people thought he was a murderer. Morro gave a startled cry and quickly turned to flee.

He only got about two steps before he felt a hand—it had to be Cole's, he could feel it—gripping his arm and pulling him to a stop.

"Morro! Stop running!"

Morro tried to pull away but when he did he felt his knees weaken, and he couldn't run. He backed against the wall, scrunching down so that his already small stature seemed even smaller. He pressed his hands against his face. "I didn't do it! I didn't kill him! I was trying to save him!" he yelped, and the sounds of approaching footsteps stopped.

"Kill who?"

Morro removed his hands from his eyes and pointed a shaky finger towards the still form on the ground. Zane quickly approached, and the others turned to follow. Morro tentatively took a step back from the wall, watching them with wide eyes.

Zane first felt his throat, and shook his head, and then pulled up the boy's sleeve, touching his wrist. It was then that they noticed a spidering of bright, slightly glowing green lacing its way across the underside of his arm.

"What's that?" Cole asked, pointing.

Zane frowned, peering at it. "I... do not know. It doesn't seem related to any medical condition in my database. You said he was attacked, Morro, and not by you?"

The ghost swallowed and quickly nodded. "Y-yeah... I was fighting... and... he was alive when I got here, but when I finished the fight... he was dead..." His voice shook, and the ninja frowned. They hadn't seen him so distraught before—they'd been occupied when he'd collapsed in Stiix.

Not quite sure what to do, or even whether to fully believe him, they shared glances with one another for a few seconds. Then they nodded, as though they actually were communicating with one another in their minds.

"Come on, Sensei Wu wants you to come back to the Bounty anyway," Jay told Morro. When the shocked ghost didn't so much as move, Cole put his hands on his shoulders, directing him forward as he formed his dragon.

Morro practically had to be pulled aboard, and only grabbed onto Cole's gi as they took off, nearly falling backwards. It was then that he caught a glimpse of the glow in his pocket. It was the same shade as the strange veins on the young man's arm. Were they... connected?

For a moment, he almost said something, but it choked off before he could even manage to get the words to leave his mouth. Morro didn't even know why, it was as though he could simply not speak. Besides that... he didn't know anything for certain. It could well be nothing. He'd just wait.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

To Be Continued...

REVIEW RESPONSES

TheAmberShadow - Thanks! And no problem, I'm just glad you're enjoying the series :)

Purplecatlover93 - Thank you so much! And yes, he was. It really wasn't that much of a secret... there are much bigger secrets in this story :3

FirstFandomFangirl - Noooo that would be too simple... Much, much worse things are in store for these children... mwahaha.

Anonymous7 - Thank you! And so sorry for the longer wait!

DemigodElfNinjaPony - Yes, he was the shadow ninja, but like I said earlier, I never really meant to keep that secret. But as soon as one is revealed, there's another few! Yay! amirite?