AUTHOR'S NOTE: I apologize in advance for this chapter.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

SLITHER PIT

Morro was pulled through various tunnels, lit only by the lantern in Pythor's hand. The ghost was markedly indignant—Morro hated being dragged around by anyone, and this was no exception. Besides that, being angry at Pythor kept his mind off of other things—such as the fact that he'd soon be fighting the green ninja, who was most likely angry at him. And since it was a fight to the death, it would be Morro's death. The ghost knew that Lloyd would make sure he was gone. And Morro really wasn't looking forward to that.

Finally, though, there was no avoiding it. Pythor brought him to a large chamber. In the center, it was lit by several torches sticking into the ground. Morro could see the shadowy forms of several serpentine that were gathered around, milling about. As Morro approached, he caught sight of Lloyd. The green ninja seemed relatively unharmed—that was good, until Morro remembered that he'd be trying to kill him within a few minutes. Luckily enough, there didn't seem to be any weapons. Lloyd's fists probably couldn't do too much damage. Unfortunately, Morro had no idea what happened in a Slither Pit, nor did he know that Lloyd's vengestone chains would be removed in the fight.

Morro's were taken off before he stepped into the light, as the surrounding Serpentine began to chant "Slither pit! Slither pit!" In a rhythmic incantation. Morro shuddered a little bit. He tried to catch Lloyd's eye as he was pushed forward into the circle of light, but there was no time. Almost as soon as Morro entered, Lloyd's chains were undone and a gong sounded nearby.

The green ninja's attack came in an instant. Without waiting, Lloyd rushed across the short expanse of space, leaping toward Morro. The ghost's eyes went wide as he quickly became intangible, letting Lloyd fall through his body as he jumped back. He could always fight back... but no. Morro couldn't. He couldn't risk hurting Lloyd. Not after what he'd already done to him in the past. He clenched his fists tightly. He'd just have to use evasive tactics. Luckily, they were almost his specialty.

He had almost no time to think before a whirring ball of energy spun his way. Leaping upward, he managed to avoid it. He stretched his arms outward and then brought them close, whipping up a shield of wind to surround him and block Lloyd's attack. It didn't work when the green ninja charged again, but Morro darted to the side in time. "Stop!" he hissed, taking a brief tumble before jumping back to his feet. It was so tempting to take Lloyd down to try to knock some sense into him, but that wouldn't make any sense in the first place. It would only reinforce Lloyd's belief that Morro had organized this. The ghost prepared himself for another attack. He was barely ready for a slew of energy balls to come flying in his direction, followed by an intense beam that made Morro yelp and duck beneath it, doing his best to dart around, propelling himself with puffs of air up and over the area. He could barely stay that way, though. It seemed Lloyd was dead set on his elimination. Maybe someday the green ninja would get tired. It was doubtful though.

Morro avoided yet another attack, and then a beam of green energy grazed his arm. The ghost gave a little yelp, clutching it, and darting to the side. "Lloyd, just... just stop for a minute, please!" he cried.

"Why should I?" Lloyd shouted back. "You're not going to stall again... you tricked me once, I'm not letting you do it again!"

Pythor seemed to be getting impatient. "One weapon!" he shouted, and a rack with several blades descended from the ceiling. Morro quickly grabbed one. This shouldn't be too problematic. It was an instant after Morro had reached for his first weapon that he realized that wasn't the case at all. The weapons were made of deepstone. Lloyd picked up another sword, and made a charge at Morro, who brought up his own and swung it, knocking Lloyd's aside and effectively avoiding certain sudden death. Morro grit his teeth together.

"Lloyd. I'm not trying to trick you! Wouldn't I have already tried to kill you if I was going to do that?"

Lloyd paused just for a moment, and Morro almost thought he was going to relent. However, he attacked again. "I don't know what you're planning, but you're never threatening Ninjago again!"

Morro had had enough of this. But it seemed like he couldn't do anything to stop Lloyd. If nothing else, his sword helped in diverting Lloyd's elemental attacks, and he was good enough at using it to prevent dying from physical attacks. In only a few moments, though, Lloyd had landed some hits. Morro sported a few cuts. They weren't dangerous or bad, but they did slow him down a bit. That could be a problem, especially since Morro had no intention of dying that day.

Pythor simply grinned as he watched. The two were evenly matched, it seemed. But Lloyd would tire faster than Morro would, and with any luck the ghost's anger would be stirred and he'd finish Lloyd off by the time the green ninja had tired. So far, not much had happened, but that was still an entertainment. "Two weapons!" he called out. Morro reached for a second katana, but Lloyd took a shuriken from the rack. The ghost swallowed a little as it was thrown toward him. He dropped his swords, using the wind to divert its path and send it flying into the ceiling.

The roof began to shake and Pythor gave a horrified gasp, whipping his head around to face the two opponents, red eyes locking on a tense, wide-eyed Morro. "You fool!" the Serpentine hissed, furiously. Morro looked upward, and saw in the dim lighting a large stalactite beginning to fall from the ceiling. He spun around, and charged at Lloyd, catching him around the waist and shoving him out of the way. It crashed down, bits of rock flying out around him. Morro clenched a fist, whipping up a shield of wind that kept the bits from hitting him and Lloyd.

Once they'd stopped, Morro gripped Lloyd's shoulders, pinning him to the ground. The green ninja looked almost frightened to be in that position. Morro clenched his jaw. "I really didn't want to do this," he hissed quickly. The serpentine were still reeling from the dust. "But you've got to believe me. I'm a terrible liar and you know that! Pythor wants this, he wants us to fight, he wants me to kill you for revenge. I'm not going to do that. Don't listen to him!"

Lloyd stared back up at Morro with wide eyes, hesitating. Finally, he nodded. "O-okay... but if... if you're lying, I'll kill you. I promise."

"Sure, fine. But we can't let Pythor know we're not fighting, so we need to pretend to fight. Here..." he looked around, the dust was settling. "Fling me off of you."

The green ninja looked puzzled for only a moment before nodding in agreement and kicking upward. Morro let go, flying backwards, flipping in the air, and landing on his feet a bit away. He grunted, dusting himself off and glared across the arena at Lloyd. "Cut it out!" he snapped, charging forward. He created a whirling ball of wind and sent it in Lloyd's direction. The green ninja broke it up with a quick blast, and then they began to duel with their blades.

"Like training," Lloyd whispered, and Morro nodded. As a whole, it was rather impressive, and as both had a lot of experience they made it look pretty convincing. The Serpentine spectators seemed entertained for awhile. Lloyd continued to watch Morro suspiciously—he wasn't completely trusting of the ghost yet, not after everything, but he wouldn't kill Morro until something besides Pythor's words proved Morro wasn't innocent of this. That snake had always been a talented liar, after all. They continued fighting before Morro blew him backwards. Lloyd tumbled across the ground, then scrambled back up to his feet.

"Make it interesting," the green ninja muttered as he moved to attack Morro again, whispering it into the ghost's ear. "We don't want them to get bored."

Morro gave a small nod, and then launched himself upward, landing behind Lloyd and giving him a kick to his back. The green ninja retaliated with a slice of his sword toward Morro's leg, turning it slightly at the last moment so that it caught the flat side of the blade rather than the point. Morro hissed a pit, aiming for his ribs and giving a brief strike beneath them before tumbling back and regaining the katanas he'd lost in the fight. Once again, they began to fight with the blades. Without using their powers, the pair was quite evenly matched—Wu had been right. Morro's skills were too great, and Lloyd's power too strong for them to continue being sharpened by others. The two of them together was virtually the only way to further improve their combat skills.

And now that they'd reached an agreement, it definitely wasn't like Morro at all to hold back. He didn't, rather, he gave Lloyd a difficult time, alternating between his weapons and his powers. The green ninja was forced to do the same, and Morro could see he was beginning to tire. They were getting nowhere fast, and neither knew what would happen if they chose to stop fighting. At around the same time, both seemed to come to the same conclusion. Neither needed to speak—they'd been inside one another's heads, each had a good idea of how the other thought. All it took was a decided look and a brief aversion of their eyes towards Pythor, and both suddenly stopped moving, standing in the center of the pit.

For about half a second, they heard confused murmurs from the gathered Serpentine, and then they both turned to face Pythor, who at first looked shock, and then angry, angrier than he'd been thus far. "Oh, so Morro has turned traitor, hasn't he? Not very surprising," the Serpentine hissed.

Both ninja scowled, and Morro replied. "I never was this time, and you know that."

He and Lloyd lifted their hands, and fired their powers at once. But that brief moment of talking had given him time to prepare. Before the wind and energy hit the snake, he had already jumped off to one side, and with an evil grin he threw something. Next to Morro, Lloyd gave a sudden gasp, and sank down to his knees. Morro's eyes widened and he turned to the green ninja, who was slowly becoming paler and paler. In only a matter of seconds, he had fallen over onto his side.

"Mor-ro..." he muttered weakly. "D-don't... let him... win..." His eyes flickered shut.

It was then that Morro saw the dart. It had struck just under Lloyd's collarbone, pinning his white shirt against his skin. There was a spot of red where it struck... and a lacing of neon green slowly spidering up Lloyd's neck. Morro collapsed down next to him, falling to his knees. He knew that look, he knew the pallor, the sudden stiffness. Morro's hands were shaking hard as he reached out and touched Lloyd's shoulder. "No, no NO!" he cried, clenching his other hand into a fist. "You can't die! You're the green ninja! You can't!"

Why had it been Lloyd? Why hadn't it been Morro? At least Morro wouldn't have died like that... Morro looked over Lloyd's body for any sign of life, but there was nothing. Not even the slightest rise and fall of his chest, or any breath from his nostrils, or any flicker from his eyelashes. Morro couldn't believe it... Lloyd was gone. After everything the green ninja had survived, he was gone. Dead. The ghost felt his eyes burning as tears involuntarily came to his eyes. This whole thing was his fault. He'd gotten them trapped. And now Lloyd was dead, because of him. He'd ruined everything. First Wu, and now Lloyd.

Morro felt even more numb than usual as a Serpentine came behind him and pulled his arms behind his back, fastening his wrists in vengestone cuffs. Morro felt positively sick. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Lloyd's motionless body on the floor. He continued looking over his shoulder until long after Lloyd vanished from sight and he was pulled back into the dark tunnels.

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

To Be Continued...

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REVIEW RESPONSES

Zena1421 - Plz don't murder me...

FirstFandomFangirl - The ghosts will play a key part in the future, yes.

DemigodElfNinjaPony - You were excited to see what happens next, right?

Morro and More - And I bet you hate him the worst now, right?

Purplecatlover93 - Well... that was going to happen but... then this did :3

thearomanticninja - Be careful what you wish for...

AUTHOR's NOTE: Please don't stop reading! Also no hate because you'll regret it...