Previously on AU Oneshots: Kai, Skylor, and Lloyd are in a doomsday cult.
Request: "Can you do an AU where Kai ended up going to the museum at the beginning of Possession and got possessed instead of Lloyd?"
Requested by: Fire Mango (guest)
Warnings: Character possession
Pairings: N/A
AU: Kai is possessed instead of Lloyd
A/N: Creative liberties were taken.
The Winds of Flame
"... Thank you, I'll let him know right away," Misako answered the person on the phone. Hanging up, she sighed.
"Is it a big order?" Nya asked, excited at the prospect of Steep Wisdom taking off. She grabbed a pencil and order form just in case.
Misako shot Wu a puzzled look. "It's the… police. There's been a break-in at the museum, and they need one of the Ninja to help."
"I'll go," Lloyd offered immediately, setting his stack of flyers down on the table.
Kai folded his arms. "Not so fast, Greenbean." He smiled at Misako and Wu. "I'll take it."
"I could go and spare you the trouble, Kai," Zane interjected politely.
Wu rolled his eyes, knowing that if he didn't step in now, everyone would start arguing over who would get to go and get out of having to pass out flyers.
"Well, maybe I-" Jay started, but was interrupted by Wu.
"Enough!" Wu shouted, quieting all his students in an instant. "Kai will go. Lloyd, you and Cole split his flyers, please."
Kai divided his flyers roughly and handed them to Lloyd and Cole. Lloyd frowned at Wu, but took the flyers anyway. Kai flipped his hood on and ran outside, summoning his dragon and flying off.
Nya watched her brother go, looking concerned before she glanced nervously at Lloyd. "Why do I feel like… we somehow dodged a bullet?"
"I dunno," Cole shrugged. "Probably deja vu."
"No," Lloyd interrupted. "I feel the same. Like somehow… something bad was going to happen to me, but now…"
Jay sighed. "Should we just get started instead of contemplating the existence of alternate timelines?"
Everyone collectively stopped talking to stare at him.
Jay sighed. "What I mean is, the sooner we're started, the sooner we're done, right? Heh."
The group collectively sighed but set out towards Ninjago City nonetheless.
Kai leapt off his dragon, doing a backflip as he landed on the oddly quiet museum's outside plaza. No one was in sight, and the whole place was covered in almost ridiculous amounts of yellow caution tape and a police barricade.
A police chief spotted Kai, looking up from his notes, and walked over next to a detective. "Thank goodness you're here."
"What happened, officer?" Kai asked as a detective joined them and the three of them made their way towards the museum. "Anything supernatural I should be prepared for?"
"Well," The Chief sighed heavily. "We don't exactly know. There was a break-in, but I'm sure you're aware of that. The night watchman had a scare, and he's been jittery and unresponsive since. Also, none of the museum staff have owned up to calling the ninja."
"That's odd, but not unusual," Kai answered with a shrug. "Can you introduce me to the night watchman? Maybe I can get something out of him."
The Chief sighed, looking relieved. "I was hoping you'd say that." He led Kai inside and past the massive museum fountain at the front. Kai spotted the museum curator talking to a pair of officers, trembling as he spoke.
"Oh, by the way, officer," Kai asked the Chief he was following. "What exactly was stolen?"
"That's just it," The detective with them jumped in. "It was the allied armor. Though fabled to be able to allow the wearer to conjure allies, it's powers are widely regarded as mythological. It's not very valuable, Cursed Realm, it wasn't even on display!"
"That's… odd," Kai lamented. "Has anyone been able to locate it?"
"No," The detective sighed. "It's just… gone. You're gonna have to talk to the night watchman."
As they approached the night watchman, Kai looked him over. He was older, in his fifties, wrapped in a thin felt blanket. He was gripping a mug of soothing Serene-tea (Kai recognized that smell anywhere (Wu always gave some to Lloyd whenever the Green Ninja had nightmares or panic attacks)) and was biting his lips and cheeks, constantly glancing around with haunted green eyes. He looked up as they approached.
Kai forced his shoulders down and took a deep breath, though anxiety was eating at him from the inside out. Spending several weeks with Master Chen, the king of insane, wasn't good for anyone's sanity. "Hello," He started. "I'm Kai, one of the Ninja, and I'm here to help you. I understand you were in a stressful situation last night. Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Though it didn't seem like it, Kai had a long history of comforting crying siblings, and with his 'popular kid' vibe, it made people around him often relax and open up.
The night watchman sighed, setting down his mug and pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders. Kai gently sat down beside him and nodded to the Police Chief and Detective to do the same. "Alright. Let's start with the basics. When does your shift start?"
"10:30," The watchman answered in a soft, nervous voice. "Why?"
Kai bit his lip. "Well, I need to know when your shift starts so I'll know whether or not there would be anyone else in the building."
The night watchman relaxed a bit. "Usually I'm the only one after 11. Dr. Saunders sometimes stays late, though. He has a project going on in the basement."
The detective scribbled down a couple notes. "I'll ask him." She told Kai, hopping up from her seat and heading across the museum's foyer.
The night watchman sighed. "I… don't like talking about this."
"I know," Kai answered. "But you're gonna have to tell me so we can solve this, okay?"
"Can I just show you what happened?" He asked, eyes pleading as he looked up from the table at Kai.
"What do you think?" Kai asked the police chief, who shrugged.
"I think it's safe if you're comfortable with it," He answered. "But take this." He pulled the radio off his belt and handed it over. "Just in case something happens, you can radio for backup."
Kai nodded and followed the night watchman down one of the long hallways. Their footsteps rang out against the marble floors and the watchman showed Kai the wing where the armor had been stolen.
"I was walking through here," The watchman clarified. "When I kept hearing noises."
"What kind of noises?" Kai asked as they entered what looked like a tiny storage closet. The chest that used to hold the allied armor was open and spilling the sand used to protect the chestplate all over the carpet.
"Like… footsteps," The guard answered. "It sounded like someone was walking across the roof. Then I heard a window shattered, and I followed the noise in here and…"
"The armor was missing," Kai concluded, examining the broken chest. "You know," He didn't look up from the box as he spoke. "Odd of a thief to only take one thing."
He spun around, dodging the hammer that the night watchman had lifted and was swinging wildly. Kai grabbed the radio from his belt and tried to turn it on, but he slipped and dropped it. Instead, he backed away from the crazed watchman, watching as his coat slid off to reveal an oxidizing copper breastplate over his chest.
"You stole it!?" Kai exclaimed, dodging another blow and grabbing a chisel laying on one of the tables to block the watchman's next swing.
"You're not exactly the ninja that I wanted," The watchman hissed, swinging again and only giving Kai a moment to block the blow. "Where is Wu's beloved Green Ninja anyway?"
"Like I'll tell you!" Kai snapped back, twisting around and kicking the watchman in the chest, sending him flying into a shelving unit against the far wall. He glared, regaining his footing and grabbing a display sword to shield himself.
The watchman groaned, but before he could get up, the entire shelving unit toppled over, burying the poor man in a flood of cabinets and papers. Kai approached cautiously, lifting the edge of a cabinet and looking down at the injured watchman. He placed the blade of the sword under the man's chin.
"Alright," Kai growled. "Playtime's over. Now talk."
A grey-green mist rose from the watchman's body and glided into a nearby painting of Master Chen. Kai blinked slowly, convinced he was seeing things.
The watchman groaned. "Ugh… someone was in my head. What's going on?"
The painting moved horrendously, like an old, deadly animation, beginning to laugh hysterically. Kai yanged his sword away from the watchman and speared the picture, slashing it in half. The paint and canvas peeled away, revealing nothing there.
Next, a golden statue of Skales writhed on its pedestal, turning his eyes towards Kai and the watchman with a horrendous scraping noise. Kai tightened his grip on the sword and stared it down.
"Your powersss are usssseless," The statue hissed, glinting its eyes at Kai. "You thhhhink you can hurt a ghosssst?"
"No," Kai retaliated, dodging the creature's golden tail as it lashed towards him. "But I'm not going to let you hurt Lloyd."
"Lloyd?" The ghost asked. "A sssssweet name. You'll never be able to protect him. I can possssssessss anythhhhhing!"
"Oh yeah?!" Kai shouted, kicking sand at the statue and preparing himself to fight. "If you're so big and powerful, how come you haven't possessed me?!"
The statue froze, and the dark black mist of a ghost floated out, carefully possessing the sand until it formed the shape of a boy no older than fourteen. He smiled. "You're not the ninja I want to possess."
"When he was in my head I saw his thoughts," The night watchman cried. "The world… the world will be cursed!"
Both Kai and the ghost ignored him. "Is that so?" Kai asked. "Are you sure it's because you don't want to fail?"
The ghost laughed. "You're a fool if you think I can't possess you. I am from the Cursed Realm. That's what we ghosts do! And why would you challenge me?"
Kai rolled his eyes, glancing at the watchman. "Get a load of this ghost. He wants to possess the Green Ninja but he won't even possess me!"
"Arrrrggggg," Morro growled. "That's enough! I will not have you making a fool of me or my abilities any longer!"
Kai grinned as Morro lunged forward snarling something along the lines of "I'll show you!"
And then there was a second presence in his head.
"Kai!"The watchman climbed up from the floor. "Are you alright?"
Kai tried to answer. He really did. But somehow his voice didn't obey him and his lips wouldn't move. Instead, he found his own voice saying aloud. "I'm alright. That ghost didn't know what he was talking about."
Kai panicked, his consciousness freaking out as he-no, his body- helped the watchman up and out towards the foyer of the museum. Strutting in, he grinned. "I do believe I've found the museum thief," He held up the watchman's arms, revealing the stolen armor.
Kai fought back. "As it turns out, your (help me) watchman was stealing this whole ( ghost has me) time."
The ghost in his body angrily covered his own words with angry snarls.
"Well, I think we know what happened here," The detective smiled, tapping her pencil on her clipboard. "Thank you, Fire Ninja."
The ghost tried to bow, but Kai fought back and it ended up coming out as an awkward nod. "Of course, Ma'am. Happy to HElp. (I'm trapped!)"
"What was that?" She asked as two cops cuffed the guard.
"Nothing," the ghost's voice answered as he dragged Kai's body towards the door.
As soon as they were outside, he smiled. "Now, where to find those little ninja friends of yours."
"You'll never find them," Kai was surprised at how easy it was to speak as he battled Morro's hold. "I won't let you."
Morro scoffed. "Please. You're powerless in my grasp. I can see where they are in your memories," He sighed. "Such a pretty little tea shop. Too bad it'll be destroyed when I get to it."
He laughed, and suddenly Kai felt more helpless than he'd ever felt in his entire life. But through the helplessness, one feeling shone through, tugging his heart and holding him close. He still had to protect them.
And no matter what happened, he was going to do just that.
A/N: Okay, this was an interesting request, but I somehow feel like it's not finished. Anyone interested in a part two where the other Ninja meet Possessed-Kai? Also, Kai/Morro's weird dialogue was partially based on Tiffany's possession by the Hiver in the Tiffany Aching Discworld books (they're really great, if you like fantasy, He's a great guy to check out).
Next time on AU Oneshots: Hanakhai AU!