Happy Memorial Day, y'all.

Review replies:

Zena: :))

Ebony: Well, uh... you're not wrong. :DD

Ninjachief: You are wrong. So far.

NinjagoMLP: If you thought that chapter was great, just wait till you see this one.

Amber: Well, it makes perfect sense. And wouldn't it be great for her to get a new body in canon?

Samantha: Of course he is.

Chapter 23

"Steady." Lloyd's father said as his son stumbled, clutching his arm for support. "I hear voices, we must be close." Sure enough, when the two turned the former, they found the rest of their allies, murmuring worriedly as they stood around Andreea and a figure lying facedown on the floor. Harry?

"Lloyd!" Someone tackle-hugged him from the side, and he fell, letting out a pained grunt as he hit the ground. "Sorry, sorry!" Jessica quickly apologized, getting off of him.

"It's okay." He gave her a pained smile.

"Still sorry. And, I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up. Gin was having me braid her hair." Lloyd shot a look at his sister, who shrugged.

"What?"

"…okay. What happened to Harry?" The blond asked as his girlfriend helped him sit up.

"Don't know yet. He screamed and we found him on the ground. I hope-" Jessica was cut off by a groan from the telepath, and all eyes turned to the boy on the floor as he lifted his head, pushing himself up onto his forearms and looking around at everyone.

"What happened? What's everyone doing here?"

"You screamed, and we found you on the ground." Andreea explained. "Do you remember why?"

"Uh… yeah." He pushed himself up onto his knees. "I… Morro appeared out of nowhere, and possessed me. He rifled through my memories for a bit, then left, picking me up and throwing me into the ground." Lloyd winced.

"I guess it was too much to hope that he had gotten killed by the water." Nya 1 shook her head. "Everyone, let's get to the meeting room and wait for him to make his move." The others murmured in agreement, Andreea and Jessica helping Harry and Lloyd to their feet before the group began to move towards the meeting room.

The next half hour passed very slowly.

The good guys sat around in the large meeting room, making small talk or just looking around tensely as the minutes ticked by. Tension in the room grew higher and higher, until Harry finally blurted,

"This is all your fault, Lloyd!" Both Lloyds turned to look at him in shock.

"…mine?" Lloyd 2 spoke up hesitantly.

"No, his!" The telepath pointed accusingly at Lloyd. "If you hadn't gone off after your stupid friends like that, your father wouldn't have gotten possessed trying to bail you out, and Morro wouldn't be here!"

"Hey, that's not fair!" Kai 1 shot back. "Lloyd and Bansha had a plan, they can't help it that they didn't account for a couple of people they didn't know existed!"

"And even if they didn't, Morro and Indigo are worth it!" Jessica chimed in.

"No they're not!" Harry snapped. "They're not worth risking the lives of everyone here!"

"If it's anyone's fault, it's yours, Harry." Gin growled. "You're a telepath. You should've noticed Garmadon was possessed." The psychic looked taken aback.

"I-"

"Not to mention," Jay 2 added. "If you had stopped Lloyd when you first found out about it, he never would have left. You could've stopped this at the beginning, but you didn't. That makes it your fault."

"I- I-" Harry stammered, then narrowed his eyes, growling under his breath. "I'm done with this!" Throwing his arms out to the sides, the telepath created a gale around him that sent everyone else in the room flying into the walls. Sitting up, dazed, Lloyd could only watch as Harry's body crumpled to the ground, and Morro's ghostly form floated up out of him. Of course, he was so stupid! Why hadn't he suspected that Morro had never left Harry's body? Harry was cranky, but not that cranky! The blond struggled to stand, but his limbs refused to obey him, frozen with panic and shock as Morro approached him.

"Stop right there!" One of the Coles tackled him, knocking the ghost king to the ground. "Nya, kill him!" The earth master yelled as Morro struggled. Nya 1 stepped forward, shooting a jet of water at the squirming ghost. At the last second, the wind master managed to free one hand, redirecting the water with a gust of wind and scattering it over Cole. The black ninja screamed as the spray burned him, curling up to shield his chest and allowing Morro to squirm free.

"Oh no!" Nya 1 exclaimed in a shrill voice, running to Cole's side as Morro stalked towards Lloyd again. The other Cole ran between them. Protectively holding his arms out to keep the ghost king from coming any closer. When Morro tried to shove him aside, Cole grabbed his wrist and threw him across the room. Nya 2 took a shot at him as well, but he blew it away once more.

"This is pointless!" Evil Morro hissed, getting to his feet. "Time to finish you off for good." Raising his hands, Morro picked up Lloyd's father and slammed him into the metal wall, denting it.

"Dad!" Lloyd exclaimed in shock. What was he doing? He knew he couldn't hurt him! Morro 2 threw him into the wall again, and this time he broke a hole, sending water gusting into the room. Oh. Oh. As Morro tried to smash him into the wall again, Lloyd's father stopped in midair, and Lloyd looked over in surprise to see the good Morro's hands raised as well, his powers opposing those of his double's. Evil Morro growled, then dropped Lloyd's father to the ground, grabbing a metal chair instead and slamming it into the walls. He was destroying the base. Water began to flow across the floor, and Indigo scrambled onto the table as the Nyas tried to push the water back out.

"Someone stop Morro!" Zane 2 yelled. Nya 1 tried to send the water in his direction, but he blew it back, burning Indigo and the other Cole. "Correction! Keep the water away from us!" A large crack stretched across the ceiling, and water began to pour through as the room broke in half. Both Nyas were struggling to not let the water hit them, creating a bubble of air around them. Evil Morro had air around him as well, no doubt some sort of shield created by wind. Finally, he decided he had done enough. Dropping the chair, Morro grabbed his double with a gust, dragging him closer before grabbing him by the hand, crushing his still-healing fingers and eliciting a scream from the wind master.

"You're coming with me." Morro 2 hissed, then shot up through the crack in the ceiling with him, a bubble of air around them as they shot towards the surface. No!

"Morro!" Lloyd screamed.

"The floor's coming apart!" Jay 1 yelled. "All ghosts need to possess someone so we can get safely to the surface!"

"But they're all injured!" Kai 2 yelled back.

"Get them on the table!" Nya 1 ordered. "We'll keep the area around it dry, and move it to the surface!" The others obeyed, taking the two Coles – Indigo was already on the table – and placing them next to her, not a moment too soon as the floor began to break. Lloyd felt arms scooping him up, and looked up to see his father above him. The next thing he knew, they were underwater.

TheDarknessReturn

"That was awful." Jessica muttered, trying to squeeze the water out of her hair.

"That was the third base we've lost..." Jay 2 mumbled miserably, sitting on the edge of the dock with his legs dangling over the edge. The group had managed to get safely up to the dock, one Nya taking the table with the ghosts up and the other helping the rest get up as fast as possible.

"And two Morros." Wu stood on the other side of the dock, staring off in the direction of Ninjago City,

"What are we going to do now?" Gin asked the question on everyone's minds. There was silence for a long time. Finally, Lloyd spoke.

"We take Stiix. Morro might've forced our hand, but we can still play it. The city's weak, it will be easy to take what's left of their defenders down."

"But we have no weapons or supplies. And the city's mostly collapsed. What good will it be?" Kai 2 asked.

"We can rebuild it!" Lloyd insisted. "And it's one of his biggest cities, it'll be a crushing blow for him to lose it!"

"Then let's start right now – show Morro that we can make a victory even in defeat." Cole 1 slammed his fist into his openhand, then winced. "Ow."

"Right." Lloyd 2 took charge. "Nya A, take the ghosts and make a shield of water around them, to catch any that goes in their direction. Nya B…" he smirked. "Let's drown this city."

*robotic voice* Oh wow. That was bad.

~FFF