this is a terrible chapter

it's also not proofread, so... yeet

im too tired for replies


"I mean, that's kinda an unconventional method of sneaking, but whatever works for you." Lydia said with a shrug, balancing on one foot with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Who said I was sneaking?" Morro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean… do you WANT the ninja to know you're here?"

"Honestly? I'm not afraid of them."

"I didn't ask if you were afraid of them."

"Just get in the building." Morro gave her a gentle shove towards the doorway of Ronin's shop, and Lloyd caught her arm as she stumbled. "Besides, I doubt the ninja will bother me when I have three hostages.

"You'd be surprised." Lydia shrugged, but grabbed Lloyd's arm and limped into the building. Morro's 'unconventional sneaking method' had been to not even try to hide their presence from the residents of Stiix, setting down their dragons in the middle of town and just blowing anyone who threatened them – or looked like they were going to threaten them – into the sea. Not exactly stealthy. Apparently Morro just didn't care.

As Lloyd lead her inside Ronin's shop, Lydia felt a kid-in-a-toy-store feeling come over her. There was so much JUNK here! And by 'junk', she meant, of course, random things she would love to have.

"Shiny." She whispered. Lloyd gave her a funny look.

"What?"

"Can I live here?" She asked, ignoring his question.

"Uh… you do live here, currently."

"Can I live here forever?"

"No? Why would you want to live here?"

"Look at all this cool stuff!" She turned in a slow circle, gesturing to all the random things lining the shelves. Lloyd frowned.

"Rusty weapons, a stolen trophy cup, some jars, a box of broken light bulbs… how is this enticing?"

"First off, that's interesting that you used the word 'enticing'. Secondly, how is it not?" Pulling away from him, Lydia hurried over to a shelf to examine a box of weapons. "Ooooh. Hey, what's this?" Behind the boc was a large jar, inside which was a… purple lizard? With sings. "Is this a dragon?" The creature stared at her, tongue lolling out of its mouth.

"I don't know. Let me see." Lloyd knelt next to her as she sat on the floor, frowning as he took the jar from her. "It looks like a dragon, alright. Why does Ronin have a random dragon?"

"I dunno." Lydia took the jar back. "Poor little thing. Trapped in a bottle. Can I keep it?"

"Uh… ask Morro?"

"Ask me what? What's that?" She glanced up to see Morro standing over here, and she held up the jar.

"Dragon. Can I keep it?"

"What are you going to feed it?"

"Fish?" She turned back to the dragon. "What do you eat?"

"Dragons don't talk." Morro muttered.

"Shut up, Morro, I know that." Lydia retorted without looking up. The ghost sighed and walked away. "Let's get you out of there." The brunette muttered, unscrewing the lid of the jar.

"Wait." Lloyd put a hand over hers to stop her. "Are you sure you want to release this random dragon into Ronin's pawn shop? What if it starts breathing fire or something?"

"It's purple. I don't think it's a fire dragon. And the poor little thing has been stuck in there for days at best. We should let it out." Lydia shook his hand off and took the lid off the jar, watching as the tiny dragon crawled out.

It immediately bit her and flew away.

"Yeah, heck you too." Lydia yelled after it as the purple dragon flew out the window. "Sheesh. That's gratitude for you."

"Are you okay?" Lloyd asked in concern, taking her hand to examine her bleeding finger.

"Nah. If it hurt you would know."

"Okay." Still, Lloyd scrutinized the tiny wounds on her finder for a moment before letting go of her hand. "That will probably stop bleeding in a minute."

"Probably." As Lydia turned back to the box of weapons, a hand grabbed her arm, and she looked up as Morro yanked her to her feet.

"Umm… do you need something?" She asked as he started to drag her away. "I'd like to remind you that I am injured, and maybe you shouldn't-"

"Stay." Morro barked, and she stopped, but he kept pulling her, which confused her until she glanced over her shoulder to see Lloyd halting about ten feet behind them. Moro pulled her all the way to the other end of the shop, then behind a tall shelf out of sight of the others. Now, finally, he stopped dragging her.

"So, uh-" Lydia started, but Morro interrupted.

"Do you like me or Lloyd better?" He asked bluntly. Lydia blinked.

"I've been asking myself that question for two and a half years."

"And… recent events haven't helped you decide?"

"Not… really." Look, Morro, I really don't want to pick favorites between you two. You're handsome and really strong and powerful, but you're capable of being gentle when you need to be, and Lloyd is cute and really sweet, and he lets me hang out with him and talk. You're both cool and I like you both."

"I talk." Morro crossed his arms.

"'Lydia, give me the next clue.'" She mimicked in a high pitched voice. "'What's this mean. What's that mean.' You don't talk, you… interrogate. You don't really just… chat." The ghost huffed.

"I was taught that idle chatter is a sign of laziness."

"Well, it can also be a way to bond."

"'Bond'." Morro muttered under his breath. "Well, I'd say he has an unfair advantage when it comes to 'bonding', because he has a crush on you." Lydia stared.

"What."

"He has a crush on you." Morro repeated, looking a bit smug. "He has for a long time. He was thinking about it when I possessed him. In fact-" Lydia heard a 'whzzz-thud', and looked up in surprise to see a knife embedded in the wall next to Morro's head.

"**** it Morro!" She heard Lloyd yell, and turned in surprise to see the blond standing about ten feet away, another knife in his hand. "You promised not to tell her!"

"Well, you were waiting too long to make your move." Morro crossed his arms. "I decided to speed things up a bit."

"I wasn't- I wasn't going to tell her!" Lloyd snapped, his face flushed red. "I knew she was already having trouble choosing between her feelings for you and wanting to go home, I didn't want to make it worse for her!" Lydia blinked, looking back and forth between Morro and Lloyd.

"So… so wait. When Morro kissed me, I immediately went to complain about it to… someone who has a crush on me?" They both nodded. "Well I'm a real hecking genius, aren't I?"

"You didn't know-" Lloyd started, but Morro interrupted.

"Yes, you immediately went to Lloyd. How is that not picking favorites?" Lydia blinked.

"Um… you want me to go to YOU complaining about something YOU did? Keep your instances in context when trying to use them for an argument."

"Yeah, that was a pretty lousy example." Lloyd agreed. Morro bristled.

"Shut up, or I'll throw the knife back at you." He snapped.

"Okay, but why do you care what I think of you?" Lydia interjected, putting her hands on her hips. "Like, Lloyd apparently has a crush on me-" It was getting increasingly harder to say that without becoming a flustered mess. "-but why do you give a heck? You're my captor." She paused. "Oh, please don't tell me you have a crush on me too. I don't want to be the subject of a love triangle."

"I don't." Morro hugged. "So you're in luck. Is it so shocking that maybe I just want you as a friend?" Lydia blinked.

"I don't think you really get how friends work."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Good friends are supposed to be selfless and generous. And nice to each other. You kidnapped me and locked me in a cave."

"Well, I actually really disliked you then."

"Fair enough. But you're still pretty rough and often harsh with me. Like, you just dragged me across the shop. While injured, no less." Morro scowled.

"Well, you-"

"And the thing you're doing right now, the glaring and the snapping. That's not how you treat friends." The ghost groaned.

"What about lecturing? Is that a friend thing? Because it seems like it's all you ever do!"

"Do you ever hear me lecturing Lloyd?" She crossed her arms. "You just deserve lecturing sometimes. Helps bring down your ego some." Morro bristled.

"I don't- you know what? Fine. I was going to wait until you were asleep to do this, but I think you deserve it now."

"Deserve wh-" Morro shoved her. Hard. She stumbled back against the wall with a yelp, and Lloyd yelled,

"Hey!" and ran down the hall towards them. As Lydia struggled back to her feet, Soul Archer stepped out from behind a shelf and slammed his bow into Lloyd's head. The blond let out a choked cry, crumpling to the ground.

"LLOYD!" Lydia screamed.

"We had a deal, remember?" Morro said coldly, stepping over to Lloyd and kneeling next to him, chaining his wrists together with vengestone. "You give me information, and I leave your boyfriend alone." Lydia only stared, bracing her hands on the wall behind her to keep from falling over. "Now that you've refused to fulfill your end of the deal, I will no longer fulfil mine." The brunette only barely heard him, staring at Lloyd on the ground. He wasn't moving.

"Oh, don't worry about him." Morro said with a laugh. "He's not hurt… yet." Picking up a figurine from the shelf next to her, Lydia hurled it at the wind master and ran. "You really think you can escape?" He called after her, sounding amused.

"I'm not trying to escape." She snapped back. She heard him laugh, then say something to probably Soul Archer. Likely sending him after her. She only needed a minute.

Turning the corner, she crashed straight into Sensei Garmadon, who caught her as she stumbled back.

"Lydia? What's going on? I heard you scream." He asked, sounding alarmed.

"You need to leave." She hissed in reply. "Right now. Run. Morro hurt Lloyd, he'll kill you."

"Lloyd?" His grip tightened on her shoulders. "If he's hurt, I need to be here for him."

"No! You won't be here for him if you're dead!" She snapped. "Get out of here! I'll distract them."

"But-"

"Please!" She begged, lowering her voice to a whisper. "I promised to keep Lloyd safe, but I couldn't. The best thing I can do now is try to protect you." His face hardened, but he nodded.

"You may not be able to protect him, but at least try to stay with him." He said quietly, then he let go of her and quickly walked away. Blinking back tears, Lydia looked at the shelves next to her, locating after a moment a box of aeroblades. Grabbing one, she limped back towards where Morro had Lloyd. On the way, she pushed a vase off a shelf, making it shatter into a million pieces as it hit the ground. People were more likely to chase loud noises. As soon as Morro came into her view, she flung the areoblade at him. He sidestepped.

"Really?" He smirked. "You think you can kill me? You have no training, you're injured, and…" He blew the aeroblade into a wall as it started to return. "You have no weapon." She grabbed another figurine off a shelf and threw it at him. It passed through him harmlessly. Noticing Soul Archer and Bansha coming up behind her, she kept throwing things at him. If their attention was on her, it wasn't on Garmadon.

"You are so angry." He remarked as his guards came up behind her and grabbed her by the arms, restraining her.

"Does that shock you so much?" She snapped back. He snorted.

"No. But the violence surprises me a little bit."

"Ha! Did you forget what you did to my 'boyfriend'?" She snapped, kicking Soul Archer in the leg. Bansha deserved better.

"Just chain her up somewhere. And find the old man for me." Morro ordered, walking away. Okay. She needed to stall more.

"Bansha, you're better than this." She hissed as they started to drag her away. "Why are you doing this?"

"Morro gives the orders." She replied quietly, but her words had the desired effect, as Soul Archer stopped and snapped,

"Don't try to turn us against each other! It won't work!"

"If it's not working, why are you so mad?" She taunted him. He backhanded her across the face.

"Hey!" Bansha snapped as Lydia reeled from the blow. "Don't fall prey to petty taunts. Let's just chain her to something and be done with it." The archer muttered something under her breath, but obeyed.

"No, fall prey to my petty taunts!" She kicked him again. He ignored her. That's the end of that, then. They dragged her over to a table, Bansha procuring a pair of vengestone cuffs – apparently they didn't have anything else – and chaining her to the table leg. As they walked away, Lydia leaned back against the table leg, squeezing her eyes shut tight against the pain in her head. She could only hope she'd given Garmadon enough time to get away.


Yeah. I actually hate this chapter. It goes all over the place.

See I had like... 6 or 7 different ideas for this chapter, and I was trying to decide what the heck kind of end result was going to happen, and... this is so cheesy. yikes.

at least randomdragon got their random dragon :')

~FFF

P.S. Please pray for me that I will be able to finish this stinkin essay