Chapter 4: Through the Looking Glass

This one was a bit harder for me to write, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm not sure if Morro really has an explicit backstory, so I kind of just had to write what I felt explained his character the most.

I was kind of lazy with deciding what his father's name would have been, so I'm interested to see if anyone can pick up on it.

Steampunk Wilson: Stiix is definitely robophobic. I'm glad that you enjoy my fighting scenes-it actually takes me a while to revise them. My rough drafts of fighting scenes aren't much more than "he threw a punch" or "she dodged." I really like to respond to reviews, so I'm always happy to see your reaction to a chapter!

RandomDragon2.0: It's bad, but I had way too much fun writing that scene where Kai gets punched in the stomach. Also, my main goal in having Nya accept her position early on is so that she can have more time building her role on the team. So, there's that to look forward to!

StoriesAreMagic: I feel like my favorite scenes with Wu aren't when he's being serious, but when he gets excited over random things. One of my favorites is in Twice Bitten, Once Shy when he yells "Ferris wheel!" and runs towards it. And yes, Zane will definitely have more of an arc because of the incident with the Stiix couple. I always found it irritating how the writers made Zane break down instead of bothering to write his character, especially in Possession. I also loved writing the scene with Misako and Nya. In a lot of the seasons I feel like Misako is just...there. She doesn't really make an effort to talk with the others on the team aside from Lloyd.

PrairieSkies: It actually took me a while to warm up to Ronin, but I absolutely love writing him now. It's nice to balance it out and have a blunt, sort of jerk character instead of having to write everyone being 100% good all the time. I'm really glad that you liked the Cole scene-I wanted to show that he really looks out for everyone.

Bansha and Soul Archer looked on uncomfortably as Morro tapped his hand. The room was dark, with only one candle in the center, masking their location.

Morro fiddled with the staff. As he had hoped, the staff had contained the three clues needed to get into the First Spinjitzu's Master's tomb. The first clue had been easy enough to interpret-he remembered Wu giving a lecture on it while he was at the monastery. But the second clue…

Morro pounded his hand on the armrest, causing the candle light to flicker. Bansha and Soul Archer flinched at his movement.

"What am I supposed to do with a picture of a sword in the clouds?" Morro held up the parchment that they had used to imprint the staff's messages on in their faces. "Is he trying to mock me?"

"Perhaps I can take a look," Bansha offered. She took the paper silently and studied it before laughing.

"What is it?" Morro asked impatiently, leaning forward.

Bansha held up the paper. "I lived in a small village on the mountains in my living years. The Wailing Alps, otherwise known as the highest peak in Ninjago. Every so often a portal would appear above us, permitting entry to the Cloud Kingdom. I know the territory in and out. It will give us a massive advantage."

"Cloud Kingdom…" Morro mused. "That's one of the Sixteen Realms."

Soul Archer's eyes flashed. "Not just any realm. I've heard that they hold a relic there on one of my trading routes. The sword is only heard of in legends, but those who possess it gain great power and status."

Morro smiled, easing back into his chair. The flame on the candle came to a place of stillness. "Gather everyone to prepare for a trip to the Wailing Alps. In the meantime I'll go to another village to secure my reputation as the Green Ninja. Executing the plan will be no problem from this point forward-Lloyd hasn't resisted my possession and the citizens are in a false sense of security."


Lloyd was in darkness. The only hints of the outside world came from Morro's voice overhead and the faint sound of the other warrior's comments. It seemed like they were preparing for something-he could hear the sound of things being packed and ghosts moving around. He waited for Morro to talk again, hugging his knees into his chest. Strangely enough, the worst part of the possession wasn't Morro talking to the citizens and acting like him, but the stretches of time when Morro wasn't doing anything. He would sometimes go for hours without any kind of sound in the blackness, mainly when Morro was sleeping or on some kind of mission and the emptiness would slowly start to creep into his mind.

Sometimes it would be enough to threaten him to give up. It seemed so much easier to just let Morro take control. The faces of his friends were fading and sometimes he forgot that this wasn't how always was and that he was Lloyd and that he was the one that was supposed to be in control.

The only thing that could drag him out of these thoughts was the sound of his friend's voices. When Morro confronted the ninja and the ninja responded, saying that they'll manage to free him Lloyd remembers who he is and wills himself to cling on. Just for a little longer and maybe they'll come.

Lloyd tries to put their names to memory. He doesn't want to forget them.

Mom…

Uncle Wu…

Cole…

Jay…

Zane…

Nya…

Kai…

Shame fills him as he remembers how Kai had tried to save him. But the feeling slowly turns to anger-why was Morro doing this?

Lloyd closed his eyes and tried to understand the master of wind's goal. Was he doing this for glory? To be the green ninja he always wanted to be?

Suddenly, a creak echoed in the darkness and Lloyd almost fell back. Opening his eyes he saw a large wooden door in front of him.

Lloyd regained his balance and rubbed his eyes. The door was still there.

Faintly, he could hear voices from the other side. Looking back to make sure that Morro wasn't watching Lloyd put his hand on the door.

The door opened and light burst through. Before he could pull back he felt himself being pulled into the light. He closed his eyes as he fell down for what seemed to be forever until Lloyd finally landed on the ground.

He slowly opened his eyes and found the sun basking over him. He felt his hand over the grass before inhaling deeply.

"I…I can talk," Lloyd said looking at his hands. "It almost feels like I have my body again…" Lloyd stood up and found that he was in a village with several homes lining the streets. Although the buildings were unfamiliar the land was unmistakably the same as New Ninjago City.

Watching the citizens walk and act normal made him shake his head. "This must be some sort of cruel joke by Morro."

"Hey, kid!"

Lloyd turned to see a shopkeeper walk to him, holding up a rolling pin. Lloyd raised his hands.

"Um, you're coming a little too-"

The shopkeeper didn't run into him, but instead, walked through him. Lloyd grabbed his stomach as the shopkeeper walked out and grabbed a boy's shoulder.

The boy turned around and Lloyd gasped. It was Morro, but at a younger age. Lloyd didn't want to admit it, but he looked so innocent. It was hard to see that he was the same person.

"Did you think that you'd get away with it?" The shopkeeper said gruffly. "I saw you take some of my apples."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about sir…"

"Open your bag. Let's see if that shows the truth more than that mouth of yours."

Morro's lip wobbled and Lloyd walked forward. Although he knew that the shopkeeper probably wouldn't hear him he felt compelled to help him.

"Hey, he's just a kid. I can pay for it if-"

"What do you think you're doing?" The shopkeeper interrupted, turning back to his cart where a girl was grabbing an apple. "Think that you could get away with it when I turned my back, huh?"

Morro scurried away as the shopkeeper turned. Lloyd turned from the scene and called after him. "Wait! Morro!"

Lloyd followed him into the alleyway until Morro came to a stop. Tucked between the two buildings there were a series of makeshift tents and other supplies littering the ground. Dozens of kids swarmed the area, playing games and digging through the garbage cans at the building's sides. An older kid sat on a garbage can, watching the others dig through. He looked up to see Morro run towards him and a smile crept onto his face. Lloyd felt a chill come over him as the kid opened his arms invitingly.

"Morro, I knew that I'd be expecting you soon. Let's see what we have here," He said, taking Morro's sack. He gestured to the kids at the garbage can. "They've been looking all morning but they haven't gotten anything to show for it. Let's see how you did."

"I managed to get some food," Morro explained as the leader opened the bag. "I know it's not much but-"

"You brought apples?"

The other kids in the group stopped what they were doing and echoed in laughter with the boy. His expression shifted to malice as he grabbed Morro's collar and pulled him into his face.

"I thought that were clear in our deal Morro. You get to join the Lost Boys if you do our scrub work. This," the boy said lazily, throwing the sack on the ground and crushing one of the apples with his foot, "Doesn't cut it."

"But I have nowhere else to go Leo," Morro pleaded. "Ever since dad died mom doesn't want to go to work anymore. I'm always so hungry-"

"We're all hungry Morro," Leo said. "Don't try to act like you have it any worse than us. Just for that you're getting a special job. I want you to get food from that monastery on the mountain tomorrow. The good stuff." Leo dropped Morro onto the ground. "Oh, and this time, don't bother on bringing any apples."

The Lost Boys laughed as Morro grabbed his bag and sat next to them at one of the fire pits. He shivered and tried to get closer, but the boy next to him shoved him off the log.

Morro crossed his arms as he stared up at the night sky. "Don't worry dad, I'll get food tomorrow…They won't know what hit them when I come back with more food than any of those idiots can find."

Slurring more stories to his father Morro eventually closed his eyes and rolled over onto a thin blanket.

Suddenly the night started to fade into daytime. The tents and fire pits disappeared and were replaced by a monastery overlooking Ninjago from its position on a mountain, with several hundred steps leading up to its doors.

Lloyd turned to find Morro and three other scrawny kids from the Lost Boys digging through the trashcan at the monastery's sides.

Lloyd breathed in wonder, remembering how the monastery had looked when he and Kai had gone. "It's almost a completely different place." Lloyd reached for the door, but fell back as a young man opened the door.

Lloyd grabbed his head and looked up. The man had light, short brown hair. But letting his eyes trail down Lloyd recognized the robes that the man wore and his eyes widened, realization dawning on his face. "U-uncle Wu?"

Seeing Wu at the door the Lost Boys scrambled to take a heap of garbage and started to run down the stairs. As one of the boys turned his bag hit Morro, knocking him into the garbage, before he scrambled to follow the others.

Morro hissed and pried his face out of the garbage, but his eyes grew at seeing Wu look at him. They continued to stare at one another until Wu offered his hand to Morro.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. And you don't have to look in the garbage for food. I would be more than willing to give some to you if you had only asked-"

Morro quickly dug himself out of the garbage and scurried down the stairs, ignoring Wu calling after him.

The scene faded into early spring. Admiring the cherry blossoms Wu hummed before setting a dish of food down at the monastery's steps. Wu paused, hearing footsteps, and hid himself behind one of the monastery's open doors when Morro came into sight.

Morro's stomach growled as soon as he landed his gaze on the food. He made sure that no one was watching before he hesitantly grabbed the dish. Before he knew it he was hurriedly digging into it and licking off the last crumbs.

"What am I doing?" Morro hissed, putting the dish down. "I don't have to take his pity."

Haughtily Morro ran down the steps. Wu peered out, grabbing the empty dish.

The same event happened the following days. The memories started to blur as they flashed by rapidly, making Lloyd's head hurt, but he tried his best to focus. He saw Morro taking the dish and grumbling, saying that the wouldn't take the dish the next day or that he would give to Leo, but eventually Morro started to take the hand-outs without a word, always heaving them down in fear that they wouldn't be there the next day.

The memories came to a halt and Lloyd grabbed his head to collect himself. Wearily he saw Morro walk up the monastery steps, but cower back at seeing the monastery doors open.

Morro looked around hesitantly before entering. Lloyd struggled to keep his balance as he followed Morro into the training area placed in the center ring of the monastery.

"You must keep your balance when fighting," Wu said, helping a student up before directing his attention to the other students. "That applies to all of you. You will gain your strength eventually. For now, accept where you are today and take pride in your progress."

Looking past his students Wu saw Morro hovering at the door. Wu smiled at him. "I'm glad you could make it. Everyone, this is your new student. He will be joining us for the remainder of the course."

Morro went to take a step forward, but at seeing Wu's kind expression, he flinched back. He huffed, crossing his arms and leaned back into the doorframe.

"Come," Wu said, ignoring Morro's stubbornness. "You don't want to miss lunch after the lesson, do you?"

Morro's eyes flicked upward. Eventually he joined the wave of students and seeing that they were following Wu's movements he lifted his arm with them and punched the air, giving out a short call.

After a few minutes Morro's movements easily outshined the others in his group, all of his strikes filled with such intensity and energy. Wu found himself stopping with the other students to watch his complete focus on the tasks given to him.

Morro opened his eyes and nearly fell back at seeing the students watching him. Red creeped on his neck and he gave his classmates an angry stare. "What do you think you're looking at?"

"That was excellent…" Wu stuttered before Morro finished his sentence sharply.

"Morro."

Wu gave him a gentle smile. "You'll do well here Morro. You have great potential."

Wu's words continued to echo as the scenes faded to Morro training viciously, striking down dummies with kicks and puffs of wind that shot from his hands. Morro struck down another dummy and smirked, standing over it.

"It seems that your time has come Overlord. Who knew that you'd be so pathetic when I had you down?" Grabbing the dummy Morro threw it across the dojo to a girl's feet.

The girl walked over the dummy and gave Morro a hesitant smile. "You've been out here all day. Don't you want to come in for lunch?"

"Do you think that I have time to waste with you? The green ninja has better things to do with his time," Morro said, returning to his training.

The girl huffed and crossed her arms. "You know Morro, sometimes I think that it'd be better to have the Overlord win rather than you. You've been cocky ever since you got your wind powers and you'd get even worse of an ego after saving the world." The girl's eyes softened as she saw Morro wince, although he tried to hide it. "You used to be so nice when you first came here."

At that moment the door opened and Morro puffed up his chest, fighting off his moment of regret.

"You have improved your power immensely in the past few weeks," Wu said, beckoning his arm forward. "It is time to decide your destiny."

The girl looked at Morro with annoyance and envy before she turned on her heel.

Wu led Morro in, Lloyd jumping in quickly before the door shut.

Morro's eyes widened at seeing the weapons, but he composed himself before walking up to them and closing his eyes.

Lloyd winced, seeing Wu's face fall as the weapons didn't react. "Yea, I thought so…"

Morro opened one eye. "Why isn't it working?"

Wu was silent before he finally responded. "The weapons are never wrong. Perhaps I was…incorrect in my selection."

Morro bent down, staring at the weapons intensely. "I know that I'm the green ninja! Don't just sit there-do something!"

"The weapons would have reacted," Wu said slowly. "But that doesn't mean that you don't have potential."

"I'll prove myself," Morro said, standing up. "I will return when I'm ready and then the weapons will react."

Morro went to walk out the door before Wu grabbed onto his sleeve.

"Morro, I know that I'm sounding harsh right now, but I don't want to give you any false impressions. No matter how hard you train you won't become the green ninja."

Morro's eyes shined with tears before he threw Wu's hand off. "You believed in me when I first came to the monastery. I'm just asking for to you believe in me a little longer. Goodbye Sensei."

As Morro closed the door the world started to fade away into darkness.

Lloyd slowly stood up and looked around. At first he thought that he was in the darkness again until he felt a drop of water fall on his head. Lloyd looked further down the dark cavern and saw the flicker of a campfire.

Morro was leaning over the flames. He was now a teenager, but he still wore the same robes Wu had given him, making them look awkwardly small on his body.

Lloyd saw that he was moving his lips and thought that he was talking to himself until he realized that Morro was looking up to the cave's ceiling.

Although he couldn't see night sky Morro continued to whisper quietly. Lloyd stepped forward and his foot accidentally went through the sack at Morro's side.

Peering into the bag Lloyd saw that it was full of scraps of food and empty water bottles.

"Wu can't ignore me this time dad. Since the grundle didn't work, I'll have to go even bigger...The First Spinjitzu Master's Tomb. They say that the crystal he used to travel across the different realms was buried with his body."

"It took me a while, but I managed to find the right place. The entrance collapsed on me when I came in, but it doesn't matter. As soon as find the crystal I can teleport out of here and go into one of the other realms."

Morro stood up and threw the sack around his shoulder. "I better get going though. I don't have much food left and I ran out of water this morning."

Morro took a piece of wood from the ground and lit it with the campfire. Walking forward to one of the cave's passageways Lloyd suddenly started to have a sinking feeling in his chest.

"Morro, wait."

Lloyd walked forward and tried to grab Morro's shoulder, but his hand simply went through him. Lloyd groaned and followed Morro anxiously, looking around the cave to make sure that nothing dangerous was there.

"Morro…Come on." Lloyd tried to grab Morro again when the light on the torch suddenly went out.

Seeming to come out of his dream-like trance Morro cursed and shook the torch before eventually throwing it down.

"Do you really think a little darkness is going to stop me?" Morro scoffed, looking at the top of the cavern. "I thought that you were the most powerful man in all of Ninjago. Some tomb this turned out to be."

Undeterred, Morro walked forward into the cavern. Lloyd took a step to follow him, but fell back as a geyser of flames shot up and lit the cavern with a shower of sparks.

Morro cursed, but continued forward, jumping to avoid the geysers of the gas.

Powerless to stop him Lloyd hung by the entrance as the cavern continued to light up. He sniffed the air as another geyser shot out gas, and immediately flinched.

"Is this…kethanol? But I thought that kethanol was-"

Morro screamed. A brilliant wall of fire and kethanol burned him. He shook wildly before falling down with a thud on the cavern floor, next to the pool of lava and gas in the middle.

The whole cave shook. Chunks from the ceiling started to fall down, one narrowly crushing Lloyd. Lloyd ran as they started to fall behind him. Behind him he could hear the echoes of voices rumbling through the cavern.

Lloyd slid to a stop as he came to the collapsed entrance.

As a slab fell next to him Lloyd jumped up the wall and started to climb up.

"Morro, I…I never expected you to hold the power of wind," Wu's voice echoed as Lloyd continued to climb. "Perhaps this means you are the one meant to destroy the lord of darkness. All of Ninjago will depend on you."

"You're nothing!" A woman's voice shrieked. "Why can't you do anything right? You're a lazy little kid, you know that? I slave away trying to get work, and all you do is screw around with your friends at the dumpster site. You're nothing like your father."

Lloyd reached the top of the cavern and punched the ceiling. As rocks started to fall Lloyd started to push them back, shooting beams of light into the cave.

"I know it's hard sometimes Morro," A man's voice said. "Your mother gets frustrated when we don't have everything. That's why you need to believe that in the future, times will get better. When I get up in the morning, I don't want to go to work. So you know what I tell myself? I say, Tom, you've got a wife and a kid to take care of. It may be boring work, but who knows? Maybe today I'll get a raise and things will get better. And it works every time."

"Every time?" Morro's voice responded.

"You're special Morro, remember that. You'll do great things in the future. Better than what either your mother or I have done in either of our lifetimes."

Lloyd pulled himself out of the cave. The voices washed out behind him as he scrambled on the top, the light blinding him.

Lloyd held out his hands in front of him and suddenly felt his hand hit a surface that felt like a doorknob.

Opening one eye Lloyd tightened his grip on the doorknob and opened the door before being sucked back into the darkness.

Lloyd fell back into the emptiness. As the door started to close he ran forward to stop it, but the door quickly closed on him and disappeared. Shaking, Lloyd fell back down.

"I didn't really need to see anymore anyway."

After a moment Lloyd grabbed his throat. "I can still talk." Lloyd looked up. "Morro?"

Just as he expected, Morro didn't respond.

Lloyd took a shuddering breath. "I…I understand why you're doing this Morro. I can't imagine what you've had to go through. But you need to listen to me. Being the green ninja isn't all about glory and fame or having the power of the all of the elements. It's a burden. I was still a kid when I aged up and yet everyone counted on me. And worst of all, I had to face my father to defeat the Overlord. I didn't even know if he was going to be okay when I used my golden power at him."

Lloyd paused, looking down. "What's the point in possessing me? To feel better about yourself and believe that you're stronger than me? The Overlord's already defeated-why would you care?"

Lloyd closed his eyes. "Unless…you're using it all as revenge. You don't care about defeating the Overlord…All you want is to be the green ninja when you destroy Ninjago in spite!"

Lloyd stood up. "I'm not just going to give up and let you use my body for your own revenge. I'm going to get out of here and see my friends again. I'll show you what I'm capable of."


After spiraling down from a building after defeating another ghost warrior Morro stood proudly in front of the crowd.

The crowd responded enthusiastically and Morro smirked before his face suddenly contorted into pain and he bent forward.

"I will…see you later. I suppose that saving Ninjago doesn't protect you from stomach pains."

Flashing a smile the citizens laughed as Morro walked past them. As soon as he rounded the corner he grabbed his stomach.

Bansha appeared in front of him. "What was possibly bad enough to drive you away before the plan could be finished?"

"Lloyd is…resisting my possession," Morro said, groaning. "I can't continue to hold him in."

Bansha waved the other ghosts forward. "Prepare the mech. We cannot allow the citizens to see Morro like this."

Morro knelt onto the ground, hacking as the ghosts hurriedly went to their tasks, with Bansha watching over the alleyway to make sure that no one had seen them.


"It was getting a bit dull in how easy it was to control you," Morro said.

Facing Lloyd on his chair Morro regained his confidence in his ghost form. The base was still illuminated by only a few candles to prevent Lloyd from discovering their location, although Morro had to admit that the scenery gave him a thrill when interrogating the green ninja.

Lloyd gripped the handles of the cage he was imprisoned in, but his grip was loose. "I will get out of here."

Morro stifled a yawn. "I already heard you the first time you know."

Lloyd flinched. "You could hear me?"

"It is my body after all when I possess you. I'm aware of what happens to it all times, especially when someone is prying into my memories."

"I didn't force you to show me your memories. You did that on your own." Lloyd took a breath as Morro stared down at him. "Because of that I know why you're doing this. But it doesn't make it right."

"Most villainy isn't considered right greenie."

"You're right, you're not a villain." Lloyd stared back with as much force. "You're still a teenager and you're letting your emotions get the best of you."

Morro threw his fist down on the cage. "I am not doing this because of teenager mood swings. I have been crafting this plan for years in the Cursed Realm. Do you really think that I haven't thought all parts of my plan through?"

Lloyd leaned forward. "Why were you looking for the First Spinjitzu Master's tomb? What are you after?"

Morro ignored him. "The plan continues no matter what you think about it. Your body is my vessel to take and use as I please. Your so-called friends can't do anything to stop me. I will make you accept your position." Morro turned to his army. "We're enacting the next phase of the plan sooner than originally planned. And for that I'll need my plaything."

Lloyd stayed firm at Morro's words. No matter what Morro did to get into his head, he wasn't going to give up and let Morro control him.

As the ghosts went to follow their orders, assembling parts for the plan, Lloyd willed himself to resist Morro whenever he tried to possess him, even if it hurt him in the process.