doncha just love college

Review replies:

Ebony: Mira's plans are totally 100% foolproof.

NinjagoMLP: Just wait until next chapter.

Zena: It would be hard to stop them.

Nicktastic: And angry. Don't forget angry.

Emobilcipher: Good to hear it.

Entity: Yeahh I thought I was done with OCs but then a friend asked to put one in so I was just like "eh ill make it work" xD

Pastelninjamonile: I actually laughed so hard at your review

Samantha: Yep! I actually glanced at it then my eyes started doing funky things and I thought I was going blind. shrug

Windy: Since I already answered your review, remember a couple years ago when we would just have these looooong back and forth conversations about life and things and it would take like 30 minutes to do review replies? Ah, memories.

Lloyd sat listlessly against the wall in the hall outside his room, staring listlessly at the ceiling. He didn't dare enter his room – Morro was in there. He didn't want to have to face him after the mistake he'd made.

There had been no more talk of plans after Morro 2 had escaped. Everyone was too shocked to think of anything. Poor Mira had fainted after the ordeal, and was currently resting up in the medical bay.

Lloyd felt horrible. All of this was his fault. He had let his guard down, let Morro fool him into releasing him from his cell. He was the reason they had lost the Realm Crystal. Lost Indigo. All of this was clearly an elaborate plot, getting them to bring the Realm Crystal to their base so Morro could make a quick getaway. And they had fallen for it. He was such an idiot.

"Psst." A voice made him jump, and he looked back and forth for the source, which he was confused to see was not there. "What happened since I was last here?" To his shock, Indigo faded into view beside him, sitting cross-legged against the wall.

"Indigo?" He exclaimed in shock, but she clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Shh. There's a reason I'm sneaking around." She hussed. He nodded, and she uncovered his mouth.

"How did you escape?" he whispered in awe.

"Escape?" She raised an eyebrow.

"From Morro 2." He elaborated.

"What?" She sat up straight with a frown. "I wasn't captured. I hid."

"But… I saw you." He tilted his head.

"Explain."

"Uh, Morro 2 came into the meeting and grabbed the Realm Crystal, then grabbed you and vanished into a portal." He explained, still confused. She had been there. Hadn't she?

"Mira." The ghost girl muttered, propping her chin on her hand. "After you left, she went to Morro 2's room and attacked him before dragging him outside and throwing him off a bridge. Fortunately, his cuffs caught on a beam, so he didn't die. Unfortunately, he dislocated both his shoulders and broke both his wrists in the fall.

"I tried to confront Mira, but she evaded me, so I pulled Morro up. I didn't wanna take him back to the base with Mira here, so I took him to an alley." She tapped her finger on her chin as Lloyd stared. So he hadn't betrayed them! "She must've needed an excuse to have me not be there, since I ran off, so she made an illusion of me get captured by an illusion of him, who had an illusion of the Realm Crystal. Which means she must have it."

"Oh. But… he picked me up and threw me against the wall." The blond frowned. "How could an illusion do that?"

"I dunno. She probably just made you think you were getting thrown against the wall."

"I guess."

"Okay, come on. You've gotta come and help me with Morro 2. I don't entirely trust the person I left him with."

"Okay. Wait, who?"

"Some girl who showed up. She seemed fairly trustworthy."

"Ah… okay then. But, wait, we should tell our Morro that you're okay. He's really upset."

"Oh. Yeah. Where is he?"

"Just in here." Lloyd scrambled to his feet, opening the door as Indigo followed suit. Morro was curled up on his side on his bed, fast asleep. Stopping by the side of his bed, Lloyd moved to shake him away, but he was incorporeal. He glanced at Indigo, who stepped through him and grabbed her boyfriend's shoulder.

"Morro…" She said in a singsong voice. "Wake uuuup…" The ghost boy shifted, then looked up, tired eyes widening in shock.

"Indigo!" he rolled over on his back and reached up, pulling her into a hug. She pulled him up into a sitting position before pulling away, and he stammered, "How- how did you-"

"I was never captured. It was a trick." She explained. "Mira's been playing you all for fools."

"Oh." Morro sat up, rubbing his head. "What… where were you, then?"

"I'll explain on the way. Come on."

"Wait, where?"

"To check on your double, who Mira threw to his death."

"What?"

"I said I'd explain! Come on!" She grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet. "I'll lead you there, but I have to be invisible. I don't want Mira seeing me."

"O…kay." Lloyd watched as she turned invisible, still holding Morro's hands, then let go of one and lead him out of the room. The blond quickly followed, not wanting to lose them. He was much happier now than he had been a few minutes ago. Indigo was safe, Morro 2 wasn't a traitor, and he wasn't a huge failure. Mira was evil, but he preferred her betrayal to Morro's. Soon, they would have Mira locked up, Morro 2 healed, and the Realm Crystal recovered. Their plans would be back on track.

TheDarknessReturn

Morro awoke to soft humming.

His shoulders still ached, but the pain had gone down. Indigo – who must be the one humming – must have set them back in place. He shifted a bit, hoping the humming would lull him back to sleep. He had been having a good dream, of when he was a kid living with Sensei. Before he had heard the prophecy of the green ninja. Life had been so simple then. He shifted again, trying to get comfortable on the cold ground, then tried to drift off again. Unfortunately, just then, the humming stopped.

"Oh, you're awake." That wasn't Indigo's voice. It wasn't one he had ever heard before. Alarmed, he jerked up – only to whimper in pain and slump back down. "Did I startle you? Sorry." A hand touched his shoulder, but he flinched away. He managed to lift his head, blinking up at the person. It was a girl – or, a young woman, anyway.

"Who- who are you?" he stammered.

"I'm Nicole. Indigo told me to watch out for you while she got help." The girl explained.

"Oh." Morro lowered himself down again. "You're a… friend of hers?"

"Sort of. We kinda just met."

"Oh." And… Indigo trusted her? He curled up a bit.

"How did you get here?" Nicole asked out of the blue. "You used to rule the world. Now you're lying in an alley, half dead. What happened?" He was silent for a few moments, formulating his response.

"I was foolish." He said at last. "Foolish and stubborn. I came into the middle of the ninja's city and tried to kidnap Lloyd. I thought I was showing them that nowhere was safe. I got captured instead" He sighed. "And… Lloyd has been better to me than the Preeminent ever was. I know now that I was expendable. A pawn. Now I've been replaced, and… I don't really mind. Being Lloyd's friend is better than ruling the world." Nicole was silent for a few moments.

"Wow. I guess Lloyd is a pretty cool guy."

"I mean, he is. But I was never really happy as a tyrant. I thought I was. I thought I should be. After all, I had everything." He shrugged a little. "Of course, everyone hated me."

"There is that."

"That could've been why I was so reckless." He continued. "I wanted to impress. I wanted someone to be proud of me." He hesitated. "That's why I wanted to be the green ninja." He mumbled, almost to himself. "I wanted to prove that I, a common orphan, could be just as good as them. Better." He was quiet for a little while. Then he heard a voice.

"Good to see you're going some self-reflection. Might be good for you." He rolled over in surprise to see the other him standing at the end of the alley, and nearly panicked before realizing that he was accompanied by Indigo and Lloyd.

"You're back." He said, his voice clearly relieved. The blond quickly hurried forward, kneeling next to him to assess his injures.

"Your wrists are broken?" He asked.

"Yeah. And I think maybe my jaw too."

"Hmm." Lloyd scooped him up, then glanced at Nicole. "It's Nicole, right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Wanna join us?"

"Sure." The dark-haired girl shrugged an followed them as they headed out of the alley.

"Wait…" Morro spoke up. "W-where are we going?"

"Back to the base." The green ninja replied.

"But- but what about Mira?"

"Don't worry, we'll deal with her."

"O-okay…" Morro let himself be carried back to the base, almost dozing off but fear keeping him awake. They weren't bothered as he was brought inside, then left in a vacant bedroom with Nicole. The others were going to confront Mira. Though he wanted to stay awake until they got back, to see how it had gone, he soon found that without the threat of being attacked he couldn't hold his eyes open any longer, and drifted off to sleep.

Who here thinks I can develop a romance in under 20 chapters

~FFF