Well, this chapter is a bit of a weird one. I was writing Morro's thoughts, and then it evolved into a 4 1/4 page internal monolog. So yeah. I'll try to write the first of the RttCR one-shots today. :)

Review replies:

Angel: Don't worry, she'll show up soon. ;D Lloyd wants you to kill Tara, but I say no, I still have plans for her. ^ ^ Sorry, like Cole said, Garmadon's on the other side of the Cursed Realm. It'll be a few chapters. I tried looking up her theme song but I couldn't find it. :/ Oh well. I'll just listen to The Ghost Whip. ^ ^

Kairocksrainbow: Oh yeah. Kai's negotiating stinks, honestly. That scene makes me laugh so hard. Yep. But they still have a looooooooooooooooooong way to go. And they'll probably get attacked by evil ghosts along the way. Or evil Taras. Or evil authors. Y'never know. ^ ^

iluvninjagothenextstepgirl: I know! That's actually where I first saw Ninjago. :D Then I got hooked and watched the whole series and then I wrote this fanfiction. ^ ^

pufferpillargirl: Glad you liked it! :D

Welp, I'd ask Lloyd to type something here, but he's still asleep. At 12:30 PM. I should probably send someone to get him up, but he was out really late last night doing... something. Anyone reading this get a visit from a certain green-garbed ninja last night? Oh well. Hope you like the chappie!

Chapter 24

"Whoaaaa..." Ming's voice floated into the cave, catching the attention of the others, who were mostly still recovering from their turbulent ride through the portal. Jay hopped to his feet and ran out to join her, yelling back a moment later,

"Wow! We made it! The Cursed Realm looks so cool! Weird, but cool!" Lloyd jumped up and ran out, eager to see the place where his father was trapped. As he walked out, shielding his eyes from the sun, the first thing he saw was a land, a lot like Ninjago, but tinted a ghostly green. The sky was covered in a green haze that blocked most of the sun's rays from reaching the land below Ghosts floated freely through the air (close to the ground) and there appeared to be villages here and there. There was no sign of any sort of liquid.

"Wow, it's... dark." Cole said from behind the trio. Lloyd glanced over his shoulder to see the rest of the party standing behind him admiring the view. "Are those towns?"

"Ghost towns!" Jay cheered.

"Ghosts have towns." Morro told them, balancing Indigo in his arms. "We don't just sit around grumbling all day. We have houses and families."

"Can ghosts have kids?" Nya asked.

"I... don't think so. I've never seen any ghost children. We never age, either. Ghosts are immortal." Morro answered before falling silent, staring down at the land below.

"Well, do we have everything?" Lloyd asked after a few moments, glancing around at his teammates. "We should get going. No reason to stand around here, after all." Lloyd shrugged his backpack into a more comfortable position as Ming and Jay ran back to pick up their bags. As soon as they had returned, the party started off down the mountain trail.

ReturnToTheCursedRealm

Being paralyzed wasn't all that bad, Indigo decided. She didn't have to walk. She could just lie there in Morro's arms... being carried made her feel almost weightless. Sorta like swimming, and what she imagined flying must feel like. Could Morro fly, she wondered? Maybe, since he could control the wind. That would be so cool. Though, if he could, why were they walking down the mountain when they could just fly down? Probably normal elemental powers used up lots of energy, but hers made her get MORE energy because her powers were sucking energy. Indigo exhaled silently and closed her eyes. How was Morro carrying her, anyway? Didn't normal people go through ghosts? Maybe he could make himself solid at will. That would be a cool power to have, she thought with a smile. Being a ghost didn't seem to be half bad, really. You could go through almost anything, possess people and objects, be immortal, become solid or un-solid at will, scare people out of their wits... Indigo visualized Cole scaring Jay and smiled, too sleepy to laugh. Wait, sleepy? Why was she so tired? Must be Morro carrying her... she thought before sinking into a deep sleep.

ReturnToTheCursedRealm

Morro glanced down at Indigo, asleep in his arms. She looked cute when she was asleep. Innocent. Like when they were in that cave, the night after they first met Tara. He was glad of his insomnia that night, if he had been able to sleep then Indigo most likely wouldn't be in his arms right now. He shifted her slightly, keeping his eyes on the path ahead so he wouldn't trip on an unseen rock. Morro wasn't sure why he was so protective of the young girl. Maybe it was because of their similar childhoods, or... maybe it was because she needed someone to take care of her. Growing up, Morro had only had himself to rely on until he had met Sensei Wu. Indigo, from what he'd gathered, had only had Daggerclaws, and the cat looked pretty young, so he couldn't have been there for her entire life. She was a bit of a mystery, actually. With a childhood like that, it would make more sense for her to be suspicious and untrustful of them, but she had seemed completely trustful of them they day they met. He at least thought that she should be... not so cheerful. Maybe Daggerclaws had a bigger influence on her than he'd originally thought. Or maybe she hadn't been alone, maybe her parents or another guardian took care of her until she was old enough to take care of herself. He would have to ask her, just like he needed to ask her about swimming.

"Are we there yet?" Jay yelled boredly from ahead of him.

"Jay, we're still hundreds of feet up. Does it look like we're there yet?" Lloyd asked, slightly irritably.

"No?" the Ninja of Lightning guessed.

"Correct." Zane answered calmly. "Don't ask again."

Indigo shifted slightly. Was the paralysis wearing off? Morro hoped so. Though he enjoyed carrying her, his muscles were starting to burn from the strain. At least she was very light. Lighter than Lloyd. He thought back to the time the green ninja had fallen half-asleep while walking, and Morro had carried him to let him rest. Morro had never had a friend like Lloyd before. He had had Sensei Wu, but he was more like a father than a best friend. Lloyd was someone he could count on through think and thin. Morro unconsciously gripped Indigo tighter as he thought about how Tara had tried to sabotage their friendship by telling them lies about each other. He was glad she was gone. Suddenly, he remembered the odd scratches that Lloyd had told them about. Could that have been... Tara? Maybe Ming was wrong about her leaving. After all, stealing people's blood, like Lloyd had theorized about the scratches' origin, seemed like the exact thing that the backstabbing murderer would do. He'd have to start staying awake at night again. Of course, there were more dangers here than just Tara. The other ghosts, for example, wouldn't hesitate to attack them. They'd have to be very careful to stay hidden.

"Hey Morro." Morro blinked and looked up to see Kai walking beside him. "You look tired. Want me to take her for a while?" the fire ninja asked, gesturing to Indigo. Morro hesitated before nodding and carefully handing Indigo to Kai.

"...Thank you." Morro said after a few moments. Kai gave him a friendly smile before walking away to talk to Kayson. That was... odd. Morro knew that Kai didn't hate him anymore, but being nice to him? That definitely wasn't what he expected from the hotheaded fire ninja. Maybe the others really were warming up to him. Morro glanced off the side of the path, trying to gauge how much farther they had to go. He couldn't really tell, though, he had never climbed down the mountain before. When he had climbed this mountain it had taken him almost two days, but he wasn't moving constantly and wasn't in a hurry. The only reason he was climbing it at all was to jump off, just for fun. Ghosts couldn't die, after all, so he didn't have to worry about that. He had been planning to use his wind powers to cruise down, but he had found the portal and gone back to Ninjago instead. Then he'd been found by Lloyd and gone on this adventure. Being found, Morro had noticed, was a very good feeling. He'd been found three times, the first by Sensei Wu, the second when he gave his life to Christ, and the last when he was found by Lloyd. He hadn't thought about God for a long time, he had been consumed with thoughts of revenge on his Sensei. He had repented and repaired his relationship with his Father in heaven, though, since he had been befriended by Lloyd. God was his one friend who wouldn't die of old age... Morro hated to think of it, but being immortal had its drawbacks. Indigo, Kayson, Ming, and all the ninja except Cole and Zane would be dead after 100 years or so... it was just a matter of time. Morro cleared his head of those thoughts, determined to enjoy life now, instead of dwelling on the future. He would never have peace if he didn't.

Well that was a long... thingy. 4 1/4 PAGES LONG. I just didn't run out of things to say, soooo... yeah. It would've gone on longer, but I stopped it on purpose so I could save some stuff for later. I threw some random talking in there to break it up a bit.

MY BRAIN IS MESSED UP I was watching this Ninjago tribute on Youtube and it was so sad and I couldn't stop LAUGHING. Why was I laughing?! I even FELT sad! And I just watched it over and over and over again... That's the problem with being a nindroid. Emotion issues. If you want to watch it (it's awesome) look up "lego ninjago tribute by sensei garmadon". It's the top result.

Yeah, so, my headcanon is that all the good guys are christians. Because that's what I think is right. Sorry if you don't like it.

For some reason, I always think of Ming as like a mouse. Why? No idea.

Today on FFF's random dream thingy, last night I dreamed that the five ninja were captured by evil ghosts and locked in an underwater compound, and Garmadon and I had to rescue them. :3 Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance before I woke up. :P

Today's random short story:

FFF: Hi everyone!

The ninja, Morro, Indigo, and Tara: Hi!

FFF: I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine, Windy!

Windy: Hi!

Morro: Wait, why is your name Windy?

Windy: Because I have wind powers.

Morro: But I have wind powers.

Cole: Maybe you're secretly twins.

Lloyd: Probably not.

Windy: So, what do you guys do for fun?

Kai: Burn things up!

Jay: Build machines!

Nya: Build machines with Jay!

Jay: Yay!

Cole: Eat cake!

Zane: Calculate the value of pi!

Windy: What?

Zane: Pi. It is a math thing.

FFF: Yeah, I started writing this short little fanfic once where the ninja rebuilt Pixal, and they were doing it as a surprise for Zane, so they had to distract him somehow, so Cole told him to calculate the value of pi.

Windy: Oh.

FFF: Which reminds me, I should write that. None of you remember that.

Jay: Remember what?

Kai: Beats me.

Lloyd: I like playing video games! And eating pie.

Misako: I like making pie.

Indigo: I like... um... petting cats.

Morro: I like talking with Lloyd.

FFF: This short story is turning into a LONG story. Time to go!

Everyone: Bye!

FEEDBACK PLEASE: Does anyone LIKE Indigo? Does anyone care about her and Morro's relationship? PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

~FFF