At long last: Lloyd vs the Zombie Apocalypse

Review replies:

NinjagoMLP: Glad you liked it!

Monile: Thank you!

Windy: He has some practice right now. And I honestly wouldn't be shocked if Kai was coaching him some...

Cuttlefishculler: No.

Guest 1: No.

Guest 2: No.

XxVallirenxX: Thank you! And yeah, shipping them would be just wrong. Which is why I despise the ship. Rant all you want, I do it all the time. :)

4nn4: Here you go! Sorry, this has been in the works for a while but I was trying to update TDR on a regular basis.

Little disappointed the last chapter got so few reviews. Oh well.


"Pythor?" Lloyd exclaimed in shock. "What are you doing here? In a haunted house, of all places!"

"I'm here because you are, old chum." The serpentine purred, slithering forward another foot.

"But – uh – why?"

"To settle a score, of course. You remember what I said the last time we saw each other, don't you?" The snake raised an eyebrow – or well, the equivalent of it. "That if anyone was going to take over Ninjago, it should be me? Do you really think I've given up on my plan for world conquest?"

"Uh, I was kinda hoping you would." The blond took a step back, and Morro's grip on his shoulder tightened.

"Unfortunately for you, you're not so lucky." Pythor grinned, his fangs glinting in the dim light.

"So, what's your deal? What do you want with us?" The green ninja asked, shifting into a fighting stance.

"Why, to destroy you, of course! Or at least capture you. Conquering a world always starts with the elimination of its protectors." He cast a disdainful look at Morro. "I suppose I'll have to get rid of your nursemaid first."

"He's not my nursemaid!" Lloyd snapped, his face burning slightly. "And don't count on it! We'll beat you easily!"

"Not when you're in my element." The snake man smirked. "I took control of the house from your friend. I control everything. I won't let you escape. I'm going to separate you, then kill or capture you. Either works, though frankly I'd rather take you captive. That way I can watch you bawl your eyes out while you watch me take over your world." Pythor gave Lloyd a cruel grin, and the blond boy shuddered.

"You won't win." He growled. "Even if you control our environment, we can still beat you. We'll lock you up, then bust out of here!"

"Hmm. Good luck with that." Abruptly, all the lights went out, and the room was plunged into darkness. Instantly, Lloyd charged an orb of light, but Pythor was gone.

"Crap." The blond muttered. "What do you think he can do? He can definitely use the trap doors to separate us, but not much else."

"He might be able to use the zombie as a weapon. It's a robot, right?"

"I think so."

"So it can club us with its arms. We'll have to watch out for that.

"What do we do? Try to follow him, hunt him down, or hole up somewhere?" Lloyd asked, glancing around the silent room.

"I think it's best to stay somewhere. He could just look at where we are and avoid us."

"Good point. Does here work?"

"I think so. It would be nice if we could find some rope or something, to tie ourselves together so we couldn't get separated, but I haven't seen any."

"We'll just have to hold onto each other, I guess." Lloyd grabbed his hand with his free one, and Morro gave him a squeeze.

"Let's get the doors closed, so no one can sneak up on us." The ghost instructed, and the blond nodded, letting his brother lead him around the room to each door and watching him close them as he held up the orb of light. Once he was finished, they backed into a corner together, sitting down and holding tight to each other's hands. For a while, nothing happened. Finally, Lloyd heard a footstep. Then another, and another. They were getting closer.

"Morro?" he whispered nervously.

"We can fight it off, whatever it is." Morro murmured in reply. Lloyd nodded, squeezing his hand tighter. The doorknob rattled, then turned, the door opening and fog pouring into the room. Great. A moment later, the zombie stepped into the room, eyes locking on the pair in the corner. A moment later, to Lloyd's shock, another zombie followed it in. Then another. And another.

"Uh oh." Lloyd whispered. "H-how many of them are there?"

"Not sure." Morro stood, pulling Lloyd up with him, as the zombies advanced towards them. "Throw some energy at them." Lloyd obeyed, charging an orb of energy and flinging it at the oncoming horde. The ones it hit flew back, slamming into the others and knocking almost all of them to the ground. "That worked well." The ghost remarked. Lloyd chuckled weakly.

"Yeah." Unfortunately, the creatures just got right back up. "Ho boy."

"We've gotta hold them off. Kai will get us out eventually." Morro stepped in front of him, throwing all the robots back. "Not hard."

"Yeah, but, they just keep coming!" Lloyd slammed them back against the back wall. "And they don't get tired, but we will!"

"Maybe we can disable them." Morro pushed them back again, slamming them as hard as he could against the wall in a crash of machinery. The lights in one's eyes went out, but they relit a moment later as the others got up. "Great. Let's just… focus on holding them back. We can take turns, and the other can rest in between. I'll go first." Lloyd nodded, sinking to his knees in the corner.

This went on for a long time. The zombies, of course, did not tire, and never stopped coming. Morro accidently let one too close and it took a swing at him, and he and Lloyd were both shocked to see that it hit him. Deepstone – or vengestone. Either way, not good. After about an hour, Lloyd didn't think he could go on much longer.

Then Morro dropped into the floor.

Lloyd whirled around, orb of energy he had been about to throw frozen in his hand, just in time to see Morro disappear. Oh no. Not again. A cold hand grabbed his arm, and he spun to see one of the zombies gripping his forearm. Instantly, he expanded the orb to create a shield around him, pushing it back. Morro was gone. Pythor would know where he was, he would get him and lock him up, just like he threatened to. He might hurt him…

Turning back to the zombies, Lloyd expanded his shield further, shoving them all against the walls. He couldn't do this with Morro here, but now… He kept pushing. Sparks flew from the creatures as they were crushed, some emitting dying screams. Finally, the wave of power went through them, the mangled machines falling into heaps on the ground.

Lloyd dropped to one knee, panting. That was hard. He hadn't used that much power in a long time, and he was already tired. After a minute, he straightened up again, not bothering to light another light as he strode through the room. He opened the door, gutting the zombie that waited outside without a second thought. He didn't have the luxury of being afraid. Not now. Not with Morro at stake.

Pythor was going to pay.

Haunting

"It's not going to work." Morro insisted, struggling a bit in his bonds. "Lloyd's not going to leave that room. He'll be too scared."

"Oh really? His fondness for you is no secret. And even if he does stay, my robots will eventually overpower him." Pythor smirked. "Either way, I win."

"Even if you do manage to capture him, it's still you and some cheap robots against all of Ninjago." Morro moved to fold his arms, but soon remember that his wrists were chained to the wall.

"Oh, I have other plans." Pythor smirked, then turned back to his monitors. Then he frowned. "Hmm. How odd."

"Huh?" Morro leaned to the side to see that half of the cameras had gone out. As he watched, one exploded in a flash of green light and stopped responding. Lloyd!

"Hmph. It appears the brat isn't as cowardly as you thought." Pythor side-eyed his prisoner. "Now shut up. You're only bait."

"I'm a person. And Lloyd's my friend, I won't shut up."

"Oh really?" The snake man held up a spray bottle filled with water, like what one would use to punish a naughty cat. "This is for you if you insist on being annoying." Morro shut up, but gave him a dirty look as soon as his back was turned. Now all but one of the cameras were out. As Morro watched, a dark figure appeared in the hallway. A flash of green lit up the screen, then there was nothing. The ghost snickered, and Pythor spun around to glare at him. "I said shut up!" He hissed, brandishing the spray bottle.

It was at that moment that the door slammed open.

"Did you just go around slamming open every door you came across in the hopes of making a dramatic entrance?" Pythor asked, raising an eyebrow as Lloyd stalked into the room.

"No. I just heard you yelling at Morro." The blond began to approach, but the serpentine held up the spray bottle threateningly.

"Try it, and I'll give your friend a slow and painful death." The pale snake smirked. "Your call, green ninja." Lloyd met Morro's eyes. There was no fear in the blond's expression, only rage. Almost imperceptivity, Morro shook his head. He was a ghost, he could always come back. Stop Pythor. Straightening up, Lloyd turned towards his adversary, hanging his head a bit. A sign of surrender. Before Morro could open his mouth to tell him to stop, though, Lloyd leapt forward and tackled the snake to the ground, grabbing the bottle and throwing it across the room.

"You dirty traitor!" he snapped, punching the serpentine in his long neck. "You're despicable! Capturing people and threatening to torture them if their friend – who, by the way, you trapped in a in a room full of zombies – doesn't give themselves up! Disgusting!" Pythor choked as Lloyd punched him again, flailing on the ground like a beached whale. Suddenly, his tail wrapped around Lloyd's middle, lifting him up and off of him. "Wh- hey!" Lloyd exclaimed as Pythor sat up, holding him at arm's length.

"Hmm. That was almost too easy." The blond tried to squirm free, but Pythor tightened his grip. "Ah-ah-ah, let's not have any of that." The snake slithered over to another set of cuffs on the wall, snapping the struggling teenager into them. As Pythor moved away, Lloyd shot a helpless glance at Morro. Now what?

"Now, first things first." The serpentine retrieved the spray bottle, turning to Morro. "To kill you."

"What? No!" Lloyd exclaimed. "You said- you said if I-"

"Gave yourself up I wouldn't kill him? Well, two things: You didn't give yourself up. You attacked me. Secondly, I never actually said I would spare him in exchange for you. I only said that if you didn't surrender I would kill him." The snake grinned. "So unfortunate when there are miscommunications in business deals."

"'Buisness'?! You're going to murder him!"

"Lloyd, it's okay." Morro spoke up. Pythor was making a bad move in killing him. He could just come back.

"Yes, calm down, brat. And you, ghost. Don't get your hopes up about returning. I have contacts in the Cursed Realm who will ensure you have an… extended stay." Morro's blood ran cold. Oh. "Well, say goodbye!" Pythor raise the bottle, and Morro flinched away, bracing himself.

Then the wall exploded.

Morro's eyes flew open in shock as the room filled with smoke, just in time to see Pythor vanish before his eyes. The next thing he knew, he heard shouts, and another figure appeared in front of him. Kai.

"Are you both alright?" The fire ninja asked in concern.

"Um… define 'alright'." Lloyd mumbled, shaking his head.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Good." Kai glanced around, then grabbed a set of keys off a table. "Let's get you two home.


Lloyd: 1. Zombies: 0.

This is not the end. I'll write an epilogue one of these days (feat. more fluff) and probably a nightmare oneshot to follow up. But I hope you enjoyed this update!

~FFF