Hey, it's technically Saturday where I am! Wanted to go ahead and get this out before homework consumed my weekend :/
Special thanks to RobinLost, Crystal Cea, ABCSKW123-IX, tashared12, RandomDragon2.0, iNeedCoffiee, Peanut2196, Drawkill Vear, DraconisWinters, QueenoftheJordan, Star, Echo15, IAmFangirlingNow, Rina Hawaki, PrairieSkies, Breeze015, TheYellowNinja, SweetHeart114, and IDontHaveAName for reviewing! You guys are amazing! :D
Replies to guest reviews:
QueenoftheJordan: Haha, we'll see! ;D Thanks for reviewing!
Star: Jay, you self-conscious idiot XD Thank you so much for reviewing! :D
Echo15: For ninja, they are not very graceful XD Jay certainly needs some sense knocked into him -_-; Aw, your compliments are so, so, SO nice! You made my whole day! Thank you so much for reviewing! :D
IAmFangirlingNow: Haha, you are so nice! I'm glad you liked the green streak idea! I thought it was an interesting concept :D Yay, ninja moms! XD I am SOOOO happy you thought Jay's reaction was in character! That is one of my biggest concerns! Thank you so much for your review!
TheYellowNinja: Haha, it makes me so happy to know I broke your heart XD Jay certainly needs a confidence boost, but we'll see... ;D We'll see Gem this chapter! ;D Aw, thank you so much! A story is nothing if it can't convey emotion! Your reviews make me soooo happy! You'll never know how much I appreciate them!
IDontHaveAName: You know you're a fan when you compare reality to fiction rather than vice versa XD XD XD Aw, your review was so nice! Thank you so much for understanding about school (it's been really hard on me this semester :/) but PLEASE don't let that stop you from leaving a review! Honestly, this story and the reviews I get are really helping through this hard time I'm having (even if that makes me sound pathetic XD) I love replying to reviews! It doesn't take up too much time, so please no worries there! I'm so happy you like the subplots! I like to try to touch on everyone's character development a little bit, so I'm glad they keep you interested! :D I can totally see Jay going Darth Vader though XD Thank you so much for reviewing!
When the train finally grinded to a halt, they ambled out of it into an urban wasteland: it was all concrete and rundown buildings and broken windows and abandoned streets.
"I think we left it over here…," Lydia murmured to herself, walking toward what seemed to be a dilapidated auto repair shop with a garage door.
"Hey," Kai whispered at the back of the group so only Jay and Cole could hear him. "Am I the only one who thinks Lydia is kind of hot?"
Cole grinned. "Definitely not, bro. She's at least an eight. Maybe a nine."
"No!" Jay snapped, making both Cole and Kai recoil with the severity of the claim. "That's disgusting, guys!"
His brothers shared a look. "I know you like Nya and everything, Jay, but Lydia's not that bad," Kai argued, mildly shocked by Jay's outburst.
"And, don't think we didn't notice you cozying up to her in the train," Cole pointed out.
Jay swallowed, cursing himself for reacting that way when Cole and Kai couldn't possibly know why thinking of Lydia in a romantic way was utterly repulsive to him. "I mean… it's disgusting how you… objectify women like that. Rating them. I actually care about their intellect, not just their looks."
Kai rolled his eyes. "Geez, sorry I asked."
But, Jay noticed Cole still looking at him suspiciously and quickly hurried ahead before he could be questioned further.
Finally arriving at the garage, Lydia approached a keypad and entered a code. The garage door immediately started opening and inside was…
A minivan.
"Oh, c'mon!" Kai groaned. "What is it with the Departed Realm and lame vehicles?" He complained, referring to the school bus that had been stolen by Morro and so unceremoniously destroyed by the scorpion monster.
"It's all we could find that would fit all six of you," Lydia explained apologetically, already climbing into the driver's seat.
After a very intense series of games of Rock, Paper, Clamp, Nya victoriously claimed the passenger seat, Jay and Lloyd won the two middle seats, and Kai and Zane received the two window seats in the back with Cole in dead last between them.
"We've still got a ways to go," Lydia informed them as she guided the minivan out of the garage. "To make sure we're not followed, I've got to take a pretty roundabout way to get to the camp. Count on another hour or so."
After a sufficient amount of time had passed, Zane watched the scenery outside the window change as they passed out of the urban wasteland and into a rather peaceful prairie. He recalled from their last trek into the Departed Realm that the different environments were defined by completely illogical and rather impossible straight line boundaries: asphalt became grass instantly. When they were not under such dire circumstances, Zane thought it would be interesting to study the Departed Realm in more depth.
He supposed his father was probably doing so right at this very second. That or inventing. He wondered where Dr. Julien was at this very moment...
Zane was wrenched out of his musings when he felt a weight drop onto his shoulder. Looking down, he was surprised to see that Cole had fallen asleep, his head resting on the nindroid's shoulder.
Behind Cole, Zane could see Kai blinking at the sight, mirroring the nindroid's surprise.
"Did he seriously just fall asleep? Like right now?" He whispered, not wanting to wake his brother despite the peculiar timing of his slumber.
Zane frowned, studying Cole's face as best as he could at the odd angle. "Considering ghosts do not have to sleep in the first place, I find it rather concerning that Cole would fall asleep at such an inopportune time."
Kai scratched his head. "I mean, maybe he's just tired? We had kind of an exhausting morning." The red ninja shrugged, leaning back against his seat. "He'll be fine after he gets some sleep."
Zane hummed uncertainly, shifting his position to try to make Cole as comfortable as possible.
Lydia drove them confidently through grasslands, gently rolling hills and sparsely wooded areas, taking so many twisting turns and backtracking so many different times that even Zane couldn't keep track of their route. Eventually, though, she pulled up to a true forest, more populated with trees than the small groves they had passed through. She managed to park the minivan just inside the treeline so as to not be immediately visible to passersby, but all of them could see that travelling any further than that would be impossible.
"Okay, the rest of the way is on foot," Lydia sighed in exasperation. "Almost there!"
"Cole," Zane said softly, nudging the black ninja gently. "It's time to wake up."
Cole snorted, picking his head up off of Zane's shoulder slightly.. "Huh…?" He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Wait… I fell asleep?"
"Yep," Kai replied from Cole's left. "All of a sudden, too."
Cole furrowed his brow. "Weird…," is all he offered, unbuckling his seatbelt.
"Are you feeling alright, brother?" Zane asked, studying Cole carefully.
Cole nodded immediately, hopping out of the minivan. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."
The sun was quickly making its downward descent as Lydia led them through an equally as disorienting if short hike through the maze of trees, and finally they arrived at the Lost Soul encampment.
All six ninja couldn't help but balk. Dozens, maybe of hundreds of tents of various sizes and colors were packed into the rather large clearing in the woods. Ghosts of all ages, genders, colors drifted about, working or playing or talking to one another. They could smell food cooking, and someone was playing guitar in the distance, the subsequent applause indicating that the musician had at least a small audience. It had the feel of a small community all of its own, and they had to admit… it seemed rather peaceful. Quaint, in a way, a word they never thought they'd associate with Morro.
"You're telling me that Morro built all this?" Nya asked Lydia, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Yeah, of course!" Lydia responded cheerfully, picking her way down a narrow path between tents. "He's in charge of the whole thing."
"So, he's like a dictator?" Lloyd couldn't help but ask, unwanted thoughts pointing out to him that this place was dangerously close to a military base and these people were dangerously close to an army- or worse, a cult.
"Well, that's kind of an ugly word," Lydia said disapprovingly. "I mean, if you mean he makes all the decisions and stuff, sure. But, he's not cruel or anything. If you need proof, just look around. All his Lost Souls are passing up the chance to become human again because they trust him and don't want the bad guys to get their hands on him."
Lloyd pondered this and opened his mouth to speak- when two young boys suddenly dashed into his path, forcing him to skid to a halt.
"Ha, I told you it was really him!" The slightly bigger one bragged even as he continued to stare up at Lloyd in awe.
"Wow…," the smaller one whispered, ogling the legendary green gi. "Mr. Lloyd, I used to be you all the time when we played Ninja!"
"Wow, that's a huge honor!" Lloyd complimented, smiling fondly down at the two young fans, though it also saddened him slightly that they died at such a young age. "And, who do you play now?"
"I got to be Morro last time we played."
Lloyd's smile dimmed only slightly. "Oh."
The child ghost seemed to pick up on his disappointment and scrambled to continue. "I mean, not that you're not awesome! It's just that in our games, Morro always wins and I was tired of losing."
Lloyd blinked and struggled to keep a smile on his face, though it was incredibly harder hearing his team snickering at his expense behind him. "Oh… well, Morro's a good choice too."
"Alright you two, go on now," Lydia told the children kindly, shooing them away. "We've got business to take care of!"
"Bye, Mr. Lloyd!" The boy called, waving as he and his friend scampered off.
Lloyd let his smile drop as soon as the kids were out of sight and the other ninja released the laughter they were so valiantly trying to contain.
"Oh, ha ha, laugh it up," Lloyd grumbled, crossing his arms. "At least one of them actually plays me. I didn't hear either of them wanting to be any of you."
That shut them up.
The other ghosts watched them as they passed through the camp, some captivated, some wary, some outright distrustful, but no one else approached them. Lydia led them to what was approximately the center of the camp. She poked her head into the largest tent they had seen as of yet, then gestured for them to follow her inside.
"Mom!" Cole shouted as soon as he stepped into the slightly dimmer interior of the tent, spotting Corrine who was standing up to greet her son. He immediately rushed over to her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, which she reciprocated as best as she could, laughing with the joy of holding her child in her arms again.
Jay, where he would have been happy for Cole before, felt suddenly sad upon witnessing the display of affection. Glancing at Lydia, he saw her staring at the pair with a similar mix of emotions: touched but also… jealous?
"Ugh, finally!"
The other five unoccupied ninja turned to see Gem glaring at them in all her three and a half foot glory, tapping her foot impatiently. "Morro is in danger, and you just took your sweet time getting here, didn't you?"
Nya rolled her eyes. She thought it was safe to say that no one had missed the former slave mistress. "We came as quick as we could, Gem."
"I missed you so much," Corrine said to Cole as they finally parted from their embrace. "But, I told you not to come."
"What about Morro, Mom?" Cole asked gently, not wanting to quarrel with his mother so soon after reuniting. "Besides, this whole thing seems really serious. I mean, civil war? The bad guys becoming human again? Sounds like a job for ninja if you ask me."
"That's true, but it may not be quite as serious as we thought…," she claimed, pulling a neatly folded piece of paper out of her pocket. "We just got this message this morning."
Cocking his head in confusion, Cole unfolded the note and held it so his five teammates could crowd around him and read it over his shoulder. The writing was haphazard and barely legible in places, as if whoever wrote it was in a hurry.
Plan was worse than I expected. Took Yin Blade - makes ghost become human on night of Yin Yang Eclipse - seven days from now. Have to hide blade until then but will come back after. Stay hidden, bad guys can't know where you are. (Message delivered by someone who owes me = not traced.) Don't try to summon me - Vengestone.
Gem, sorry I broke my promise.
-M
Once everyone had finished reading and absorbing the information, Kai glanced over the page at Corrine. "And, this is not as serious as we thought because…?"
"No, this is great news!" Nya insisted, pointing at a line on the paper. "They can only use it to become human again on the night of the Yin Yang Eclipse. After it passes, there's nothing they can do!"
"So, we only have to keep the Yin Blade safe for one week," Lloyd finished thoughtfully, tapping his chin.
"Wait, seven days…," Jay gasped. "That's Day of the Departed! I totally forgot about it!"
"I have a question," Zane announced, glancing between Lydia and Corrine as if not sure who would be able to answer said question. "We travelled here to save Morro and prevent our enemies from regaining their mortality, but if Morro is nowhere to be found, he is not in need of saving and the Yin Blade is sufficiently protected."
"How dare you!" Gem shouted, rushing up to Zane and kicking him in the shin- then immediately grabbing her foot as it throbbed in pain. The nindroid blinked down at her, not hurt in the slightest by her "assault." "Morro did all of this for you and you don't even care! You have to-"
"Gem," Corrine said sharply. The little ghost pouted at the reprimand but obediently stopped talking.
"Morro is safe- for now," Lydia explained. "But, like I said, basically everyone in the Departed Realm is looking for him; it's only a matter of time before someone catches him and the Yin Blade." She hesitated, glancing at Corrine. "There's also one huge problem."
Corrine sighed, as if resigning herself to the fact that they were in fact in need of the ninja's assistance, as much as she didn't want to place her son in danger. "The Bone Keeper."
The six ninja grimaced at the memory of the ghost who had so cruelly peered into their minds and uncovered their deepest darkest secrets.
A ghost that also knew where every soul in the Departed Realm was at any given moment. Including Morro.
"We've met," Lloyd said curtly.
"The bad guys have avoided calling on his help until now, because the Bone Keeper is not someone you want to be indebted to," Corrine explained. "But, they're getting desperate. Sooner or later, they'll go to him, and then Morro's really in trouble."
"Why hasn't he already told them?" Jay asked. "I mean, doesn't he want to become human?"
"The Bone Keeper is a businessman," Lydia replied, bitterness staining her tone and surprising everyone present. "Nothing's free in the Departed Realm. He'll give them the information when they pay for it and not a moment before."
"Okay then, that's all we have to do!" Kai pointed out. "We get to the Bone Keeper first, get him to tell us where Morro is, then go find Morro and protect the Yin Blade. Simple."
"No!" Gem shouted, tugging on Kai's gi insistently. "Someone will have caught Morro by then! And what if Morro is on the other side of the world as the Bone Keeper? You'll never make it in time!"
"We don't have any idea where Morro is anyway," Kai argued, grabbing Gem's wrist and plucking her hand off his gi. "We can't just go on a wild goose chase."
"No, she does have a point," Lloyd mused. Gem stuck her tongue out at Kai, who made a face back at her. "The bad guys have the numbers. If we end up finding out where Morro is around the same time, they'll get there first no matter what."
The Green Ninja looked at each of his team members in turn. "We're going to have to split up."
"What?! No!" Jay protested, waving his arms back and forth. "Something bad always happens when we split up!"
"We'll go in teams," Lloyd offered, trying to placate the blue ninja. "Jay, you, Cole, and Zane will go to the Bone Keeper and try to figure out where Morro is. Kai, Nya, and I will follow his trail as best we can. Once you know his location, Zane will send his falcon to let us know, we'll meet up with Morro, and you guys follow as soon as you can."
Jay frowned. "But-"
Gem rushed forward, pushing on Jay's legs as hard as she could. The blue ninja didn't budge an inch. "What are you waiting for?! Go save Morro!"
"Gem, they can't go now," Corrine explained, tone exasperated. "It's already late. By the time everything's ready it will be night. They'll leave first thing in the morning."
Gem gasped in horror. "Tomorrow?!"
"Yes, tomorrow," Corrine replied steadfastly. Cole smirked, remembering himself being in Gem's place and hearing his mother use that same exact tone on numerous occasions. Then unbidden sadness welled up within him, because that time in his life had been unfairly cut short.
"But, hey, you guys must be starving! Dinner should be ready any second now," Lydia added, ushering them out of the tent.
The ninja filed out, curious if wary of whatever culinary masterpieces the Departed Realm had to offer, except for Cole who hung back a little. Gem stomped out next, broadcasting to everyone her discontent with the current situation. Cole stopped his mother before she could leave, and they were the only two people in the tent.
"What is it, baby?" Corrine asked softly.
Cole smiled faintly. "That thing that Morro wrote in the letter. 'Don't try to summon me- Vengestone.' What did he mean by that?"
"If a ghost is trapped in Vengestone, it's impossible to summon them," Corrine explained. "To safeguard against being summoned and trapped, Morro put some on himself."
Cole blinked, shocked. "He put Vengestone on himself? What about his powers?"
"He can't use them unless he takes it off. But, he won't need to if they can't find him."
Cole pondered this, thinking. "Would you guys… happen to have any?"
Corrine frowned. "Are you worried about getting summoned?"
Cole nodded, swallowing.
Corrine grabbed his hand and squeezed. "Sure, baby, we have some." She tilted her head back, scrutinizing her son carefully. "But, is that all that's bothering you?"
"Yeah," Cole replied a little too quickly, pulling her toward the entrance of the tent. "Just hungry is all."
"Hey, it's kind of pretty," Jay offered, referring to the black band of Vengestone Cole had placed around his wrist and was holding up to study. Usually used to entrap ghosts or elemental masters in the form of handcuffs, this resembled more of a bracelet.
The ninja were gathered on a picnic blanket by the campfire, listening to a few ghosts sing a song while they ate something that was probably meat but had a very chewy quality to it that they found it better not to question. The sun had set, and all the Lost Souls' ghostly bodies also indulging in the luxury of food were illuminated only by the moonlight and the fire in the center of the camp.
"No, it's not. It's ugly," Gem countered from where she was sulking nearby.
Cole rolled his eyes. "I don't care about fashion. No one can summon me as long as I'm wearing it. But, I also can't use my elemental or ghost powers, which means no super strength, no possessing things, no… phasing through stuff…," he trailed off, clenching his fist as if to test the solidity of it.
"You can always take it off in the event of an emergency," Lloyd pointed out, stabbing the 'meat' with a fork and cringing at the sponginess of it. "But, this was a great idea, Cole! I didn't even think about the Summoning Spell."
"Morro thought of it first," Gem snapped.
Nya groaned, rounding on the child ghost. "Ugh, what is your problem? You've been a brat from the moment we got here, and I haven't heard one word of gratitude from you."
Gem glared, puffing her cheeks out in her characteristic expression of anger. "My problem is that Morro broke his promise and left me and now you guys won't even go bring him back!"
"Morro breaking his promise?" Nya repeated incredulously. "That's really your biggest concern right now?"
"He said he'd be back in three days, and now he's gone off on some stupid mission that's going to get him hurt and left me here all bored and alone," Gem explained, crossing her arms.
Nya balked. "You do realize that Morro's actually doing something important right now, right? Or, did it never occur to you that there was something more important than you in the world?"
"Nya, Gem, perhaps we should…," Zane tried to intervene, noticing how heated the argument was quickly becoming.
"Nothing is more important to Morro than me," Gem growled, taking no heed of Zane's warning.
"And, what's most important to you? Morro? Or yourself?" Nya challenged, already knowing the answer.
Gem faltered but eventually said more quietly, "Morro."
"Really? Because love is about sacrifice, Gem, and I don't think you would sacrifice anything for anyone." Nya said matter-of-factly. "Even Morro."
Gem was trembling with anger as she scrambled to her feet. "You big meanie! You don't know anything about me! You don't know anything!" And with that, she stomped off, shooting death glares at anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in her line of sight.
"Perhaps you were a little harsh, Nya," Zane berated gently. "She is only a child after all."
Nya sighed in shame. "I guess I did kind of fly off the handle. She was just getting on my nerves so bad with all her whining…"
"No way, I'm with you, sis," Kai came to his sister's defense. "She's like a hundred years old or something so her being a kid is no excuse. Gem's still the same little brat we met in that castle, and it's time someone told her that."
"I thought Morro was going to reform her," Jay said, staring after the little ghost thoughtfully.
"He just spoiled her more," Lloyd concluded, finally giving up on trying to eat the mystery meat and setting his plate down. "Maybe he just wanted Gem's blind loyalty in case he ever needs to use her mind control abilities."
"It appears to me that Gem truly cares about Morro's wellbeing," Zane opined. "She was the one to summon Cole out of concern for him after all."
Jay scratched his head. "I don't know, we haven't seen them together since we left last time, so it's hard to tell. Cole, what do you think?"
Upon hearing no response, the other five ninja turned to see Cole staring into the fire with a wistful expression, eyes glazed over. Raising an eyebrow at his other teammates, Jay poked Cole in the back- which immediately caused the black ninja to jump about a foot in the air and turn toward the center of the group.
"Huh?" Cole asked.
Jay narrowed his eyes, studying his best friend suspiciously. "I asked what you thought of Nya and Gem's argument."
Cole stared back at Jay uncomprehendingly. "Nya and Gem had an argument?"
The other five ninja shared mildly alarmed glances. "Um, yeah, like just now," Kai replied. "You didn't hear Gem yelling?"
Cole blinked, dropping his gaze to his hands in wonder. "Oh, I guess not. In my own little world," he shrugged, pushing himself to his feet. "I'm going to hit the hay for tonight. Night, guys."
He waved as he left to find his mom to figure out the sleeping arrangements. The other ninja stared after him with nothing short of bewilderment.
"He's been doing that a lot lately," Nya observed, anxiety bleeding into her tone. "Spacing out. You think he's alright?"
"Cole has also been sleeping much more than usual," Zane offered. "I do not know if this is cause for concern, though."
"I think it's definitely cause for concern!" Jay whisper-yelled. "I mean, sleeping? For a long time? Sound familiar to anybody else?!"
"Jay, he's not going to go into the long sleep," Kai argued, rolling his eyes. "He has his whole soul and all his memories."
"You two just keep an eye on him, alright?" Lloyd mediated, leaning back on his palms. He sighed, "I hate not being there for him, but we have to split up. Just… watch out for him. Especially around the Bone Keeper."
Jay seemed unsatisfied but smiled slightly at Zane when the nindroid put a hand on his shoulder. "We will."
Hm, so what is up with Cole? And, with half the ninja off to the Bone Keeper's and the other half trying to track down Morro with old fashioned detective work, what could possibly go wrong? XD