(I have to thank Jay for the title to this chapter. He said it as a joke at dinner once and it's a really good title for what was about to happen next.)
Since the Preeminent's invasion of Ninjago is such a big event, I'm not going to bother here acting like we actually managed to stop it from emerging. Morro's plan was too airtight. Morro made sure to put just enough between us and him that by the time that we got the chance to potentially stop him, it was too late anyways. That wasn't to say that we didn't try, but it means that when I think back on this I get angry that one of our best plans was one that failed badly. After awhile it just seems like we shouldn't make any plans at all given how few actually work.
I was still going in and out of being unconscious while on the Bounty. It was a long flight back to Steep Wisdom, meaning I had just enough time to actually get back up to a point I could fight again. Morro had actually taken good care of my body, which I know is because he needed it to be exactly as he wanted it whenever he needed it. Still, it was better than I could have been left in. Morro had just pushed my body to its limits physically and not like,, starved me. It was the best case scenario, the more I think about it.
When I was finally able to start moving around again, I was still in that state of being way too happy that I wasn't actually possessed like that anymore. I was able to feel things. Just running my hand against the bed felt…. It just felt way better than before. Thankfully I wasn't feeling things too hard, since that would have made everything to happen afterwards even harder than it already was. I was soon able to move around again and start talking with the other ninja.
I told them everything I knew about Morro. I told them about Morro's memories, about what he'd done to my head, about what his plans were that I got… I think I just kept talking. I kept talking and talking. None of them ever stopped me. I think they were just too happy to have me back, and I was too happy to have my friends back with me too. I think at some point I stopped talking about Morro and just talked about random things that had been going on inside my head. They still didn't stop me.
One thing that shocked me was actually seeing my mother with them. Mom never got involved in things like this. I mean, during both the Golden Master and Chen stuff, she stayed behind until the last possible minute. If I didn't know that she'd been trained by Wu and my dad, I would kinda understand that, but she knew how to fight and hold her own. It just meant that it was weird whenever she decided to come with us. Seeing her actually there felt good, though. It was just another person that I wanted to see after everything that happened.
The thing was, Morro didn't waste any time in his plan. I was still passed out when he went to Stiix and began his takeover using the Realm Crystal. I heard about it from the ninja watching the news when I was finally strong enough to climb the stairs again. In less than twenty minutes, Morro had unleashed enough ghosts to completely take over Stiix. I wasn't surprised he chose that place to do the plan either, since I already knew he had a base there in Ronin's old shop. Still, it went a long way in telling us that the Realm Crystal was both incredibly powerful, and dangerous. At that point, the Realm Crystal was just a tool that Morro had, and we had to stop it.
Zane told us that, through his analysis of the crystal, the energy inside the crystal likely derived from the FSM himself. That meant that the crystal would likely only be able to be destroyed by overloading it with power that was from the same source; that meant that my Green Power was the closest thing that we had to it. The theory was that I could pour my power into the crystal and eventually overload it into breaking. I've always wondered if maybe I had combined the crystal and my powers in different ways I could do new things with it. Maybe I'd get to go places other than the Sixteen Realms? It might be cool to see how that goes.
Now, this meant two things: that we would have to get me close enough to Morro to destroy the crystal, and that I had to face Morro again. To be honest, I didn't expect that it would work. Just from the footage, it looked like Morro had gotten an entire army to do his bidding for him. The Preeminent needed certain safeguards, I remember him saying in my head, and that was why he not only kept the SoS, but also made sure to surround Stiix with an army for the sole purpose of protecting her until she could come into Ninjago.
Now, the Preeminent itself is the Cursed Realm. The big monster that was inside Ninjago that you've all seen in the photos was the Cursed Realm itself. It's sort of like if you took the planet that Ninjago is on and instead thought of the planet like something else. Imagine that the planet we were on was actually a dragon. And then that dragon was sent into another realm. What I'm trying to say is that the Preeminent was a manifestation of the Cursed Realm, meaning once she got into Ninjago she'd be able to start cursing it to be just like her.
Obviously, we couldn't let that happen. When I saw Stiix swamped like that, I felt two things. The first was guilt. I felt guilty that I'd let this happen. I hadn't fought Morro hard enough, and I'd been so exhausted by the time that the ninja rescued me I let Morro get the Realm Crystal. In a way, everything that was happening to Stiix was all my fault. I was upset that I'd failed Ninjago again. It was just like the Golden Master. I'd failed to stop someone from taking something from me, though in this case it was more like I failed to stop them from getting something.
The other thing that I felt was anger. I wasn't angry at the situation, though. Normally I get angry because of something that happened meaning I failed. But, this time it wasn't like this. I wasn't angry that I'd failed to stop Morro, I was angry at Morro. I was angry at Morro because I knew that he was doing this to be the Green Ninja.
Morro had asked me why I was the Green Ninja. I didn't know what to say at first. At that point, I still didn't have the answer. It was eating at me, because I knew that the answer to that question was the reason Morro was doing all of this. I was angry that Morro thought that, somehow, hurting people like this was what it meant to be the Green Ninja. I knew that Morro didn't see himself as the villain here. I knew that he didn't even think that he was responsible for whatever was happening to the people! He was doing the Preeminent's bidding, and he didn't care because it meant he could get at his own goal. Morro wanting to be the Green Ninja was entirely separate from whatever the Preeminent wanted. They just happened to have their goals line up.
When we arrived back at Steep Wisdom, I knew that I had to answer that question. It'd been knocking around in my head, and I had to make it stop. I couldn't go and face Morro again knowing that he could rattle me. The way he'd possessed me the first time was by rattling me with my memories. I couldn't let that happen again. I refused to let Morro possess me again, and I wouldn't let him beat me. I had to do something to make sure whatever fight I went into with him was one that I knew I could handle.
That was when I sat down with Kai. As we were landing, I knew that once we geared up we wouldn't have time to stop and think. I needed my head sorted out before we started all of this. I told Kai that I needed him to answer something for me. He didn't get it at first, but I didn't care. I asked him why he thought that I was chosen to be the Green Ninja. Between the two of us, Kai had wanted to be the Green Ninja more than anyone. He wanted to take up the title, and yet for some reason destiny chose me. I didn't care what the people in Cloud Kingdom thought. I didn't care what destiny thought. I wanted to know why my friends thought I was their leader.
Kai's answer didn't even take him long to think of. I don't know why, but hearing it just… confused me. He told me that it was because I was his friend. When he rescued me from the lava, he felt that I was important. He said that he felt that between us, I was going to become someone important. And as I'd grown up, I'd become more than just an ally to Kai. I was his friend, his teammate… his brother. I was the Green Ninja… because I was their family.
That didn't make sense to me. How could he have known that? I don't think he did. I think Kai was telling me exactly what he felt now. He saw me as the Green Ninja because I was his family. I was someone that he'd fought beside, faced death beside and put everything on the line for. That meant that the two of us were closer than any normal team was. He also said if I asked any of the others, they'd say the same thing. I was more than the Green Ninja to them. I was family.
That wasn't exactly what I came to myself. But it was important. To me, that told me that no matter what happened, I was going to have my friends by my side. I was going to go and stop Morro not because I was some sort of Green Ninja, but because it was something I had to do. And I wasn't going to go and do that alone either. The others had saved me. They'd given up the Realm Crystal just to save me. To them, I was more important than whatever plan Morro had. As long as we had each other, we could go and stop them no matter what.
Maybe that hit home for me more because Morro had been spending all the time he could trying to tear me down inside my own head. Maybe it just hurt more because I was so tired from fighting that I needed to hear someone tell me that I wasn't alone anymore. I'd been giving it my all and getting nowhere because I was alone. And now… now I was going to go and fight again with people behind me. It was the same thing that got me to keep moving again when I first went to face my father on the Dark Island for real. The fact my friends were with me, the fact that they actually have saved me… it just meant a lot to me.
By the time we finished, the Bounty had landed back at Steep Wisdom, which we now learned had been sold. That's a big reason that I find the entire idea of Wu retiring at that point so weird. If he'd been serious about retiring, then he wouldn't have sold the shop. I get that he needed money, but Wu hadn't even had the place open for a month! I forgot about the shop just like I forgot about the school. It's almost like anything Wu tries to open just sort of dies after something happens. If Wu was serious about it, he should have at least had some plan in place for disaster happening…
That was also the first time that I'd seen Borg in months, too. Borg showed up saying that he'd usd the money from the sold shop to build us new vehicles. Well, everyone but me and Kai. Borg said he got too carried away making the other vehicles to make one for Kai, then told me he didn't think I was going to make it back. I was kinda upset that Borg didn't have faith in me. I'd gotten back from much worse, and Morro had never wanted me dead during all of that time until the very end. In fact, Morro specifically had reason to keep me alive. The way he said it made it sound like he thought I wasn't coming back at all. But it didn't matter, since we now had a way into Stiix.
This was also when I learned for the first time that Nya was training to become the Master of Water. I hate to say it, but the first thing that came to mind with me was that Chen's spell had apparently been missing two elements, since Morro was in the Cursed Realm and Nya didn't know about her powers yet. It was only after I thought that when it sank into me that Nya was training to stop being Samurai X now. I'm going to talk about Nya next chapter, since that's where it really gets important. (I'm really pushing off talking about things).
Nya came up with a plan that revolved around her. Morro was fixated on the Green Ninja, so we'd use that to our advantage. Apparently, aside from the obvious, Nya and I have very similar body types. That meant that once Nya put on my ninja suit with a bit of wraps, it was almost impossible to tell us apart. I don't know why, but that kinda made me a little embarrassed. I know that I'm not the biggest guy, but I never thought that a girl could pass for me. I guess, it just never really occurred to me? I wonder if that means I could pass for a girl…? Not that I'd ever try! I mean, unless a mission called for it, but, I wouldn't try that for real!
Uhm. So, the plan was pretty simple, really. The ninja would sneak into Stiix and lay low while Wu and Misako were captured to draw Morro's attention. Nya would use her disguise to draw away all the ghosts from Ronin's shop so I could sneak in and destroy the crystal. Of all the plans we've come up with, that one actually made a lot of sense. Morro would first be distracted with Wu, giving Wu a chance to make a final plea to Morro. Once Wu and Misako were captured, Morro would then be drawn to Nya and of course want to take me down. That was the perfect excuse for me to sneak in. Again, it was a great plan!
On the way over to Stiix, I was preparing myself mentally. I knew that if I faced Morro again, I couldn't let him possess me. From what I'd figured out by being possessed twice, if I was strong and kept my thoughts from wandering, I could keep him out. It was like keeping an annoying song out of your didn't end up trying to possess me, but he did try to rattle me, which is what I was planning for.
That evening, we began our plan. It felt different from any other time we'd been trying a plan before. This was us having to sneak into Morro's stronghold when he held all the cards. It wasn't like the Golden Master where we were literally breaking into the city, or anything like Chen. This was us having to actually be ninja and go up against someone that could easily crush us. We were at a massive disadvantage, and the clock was ticking. Morro was going to unleash the Preeminent when the crystal was ready, and at that point we had already lost.
When we got to Stiix, I hid under the supports and waited. The ghosts didn't dare get close to the water, so I just stayed quiet and waited by the water. I was there for hours. I was just waiting, waiting for someone to finally give me the signal. The entire time, I was thinking more. What Kai had told me about the Green Ninja, what Morro had told me in my head, what had happened the entire time that I was possessed, it was all going through my head. This was my chance to finally start fighting from the outside again. I could finally stop Morro. I could put an end to this, and I was going to be the one to do it.
The thing is, while I was preparing, there was one thing that I wasn't thinking of. It didn't occur to me at all while I was waiting. Morro had drawn my thoughts to being the Green Ninja for so long that I never even realized that there was someone in the Cursed Realm that I cared about. It was someone that Morro had even already taunted me with. I could have figured that out if I'd just stopped thinking about everything else. It was a card that Morro hadn't played to me yet, and it was going to cost me.
When Kai gave me the signal, that meant Nya had been spotted. I heard some ghost dragons above roaring, which told me I didn't have much time. I leapt up onto the platforms and made my way through Stiix. That was actually the first time I was there and aware of it, and I remember that it was probably one of the most nerve-wracking places I'd ever been. That was more so due to the ghosts everywhere, but it didn't help that Stiix was so… backwater. The entire place felt grimy and dirty, and more than once I thought I was gonna fall through the planks. I don't know how anybody stood living there, which seemed to explain why Ronin did.
Kai helped to guide me through Stiix. I could see the tower. There were ghosts everywhere. Jay came around the corner in his new car to suck some of them up, and Cole took out an entire group of them with his bike. Zane was leaping on the rooftops on his mech and making sure ghosts didn't get close enough to us. Eventually, Kai was forced to stay behind too. I had to keep going. I was getting closer and closer. Soon, I could hear the sound of Nya fighting. I was close. I rounded the corner to see Morro standing over Nya and getting ready to attack. That was when I drew his attention.
I didn't need to do that. In fact, if I had just snuck by all of that, I would have been able to complete the mission. But… I'd readied myself for that moment. This was the first time that the two of us were going to fight in person. This entire time, I'd been fighting Morro as just a voice inside of his head. Now, I was going to show him how strong I could be when the two of us were fighting for real. And Morro was ready to prove that he was the Green Ninja.
Before we started fighting, Morro had stolen my hood and claimed that meant that he was now the Green Ninja. He had the gi, and clearly that meant that he was stronger. He was stronger than me, and that he always had been. Him taking my gi and becoming the Green Ninja was his way of proving it. Morro didn't need to just be the Green Ninja, though. He needed to defeat me. He needed to prove to me that I was never going to be as strong as him. He needed to show me that I was weak to prove that he was strong. Destiny had chosen me, and now he had to defy destiny by defying me.
Morro ripped apart the entire tower with wind just to prove his point. He ripped it apart until only the room that the Realm Crystal was in was still whole. Everything else he was using to put distance between me and him. He wanted me to go to him. As I started to make the climb up to him, he wasn't letting up on trying to tear me down. I was weak because I needed others. He was inside my head and knew what I was afraid of. He knew I needed others. I needed them. Morro didn't need anybody. He'd taken the ninja down all on his own.
I kept climbing. I wasn't listening. I couldn't. I wasn't thinking much. I had told myself I wouldn't let Morro rattle me, and this was me proving it. I refused to show Morro what I was thinking. He was just going to try to stop me, so I wasn't listening. I even went as far as to do Airjitzu. I'd stolen all of the technique from his head, and that was the first time I'd ever managed to do it. I couldn't let Morro just keep doing that to me.
Everything that Morro had done was to undermine me. Morro wanted to prove that I wasn't worthy of my title. It didn't matter how hard I'd fought. I'd given up almost everything to be where I was. I'd given up my childhood, my family, and some chances at peace just to be able to be where I was. Morro didn't care. I could have given up everything and everyone and it wouldn't be enough for him. He hadn't fought the way I had. He hadn't pushed the way I had. I'd given everything to be the Green Ninja. I was worthy of the title. Destiny gave it to me, but I'd pushed to be it! It didn't' matter why I was the Green Ninja, I'd worked to make sure that I lived up to that title. I was the Green Ninja!
Morro threw me down. He blasted me right off the side and forced me to cling to a piece of floating wood. He leapt down and was ready to finish me off. He knew that if he did that, it was over. If he struck down the previous Green Ninja, somehow that made him it too. It would prove everything that Wu told him wrong, and everything he told me right. I couldn't fight back against him. No matter what I said in my head, when I was alone like this… I couldn't win.
That was when Ronin showed up. Ronin took every piece of coin he'd saved up and then dumped it right on top of Morro and the remains of his shop. He picked saving me, saving Ninjago, over saving himself. The coins were heavy enough they pushed the Realm Crystal back down to Stiix.
The action meant that I had a chance. What Morro said about me wasn't true. I had allies, family, and that meant that I had a chance. I could win as long as I had them beside me. I didn't waste the chance. I scrambled into the room and saw the Realm Crystal on the table. I reached out and grabbed hold of it. I could feel the raw power inside of it. It felt like I was holding a storm, all contained inside of one small crystal. It reminded me some of the Golden Power, and that meant Zane. As Morro was still catching up, I started to pour my power into the crystal to break it.
I heard Morro scream. I'd never heard Morro sound so desperate before. I turned around to see him staring at me, looking at me with a pleading look. Morro had never barely ever shown fear whenever he was in my head. Now, he was begging me to stop. In that moment, I felt a sense of victory. After everything that happened, Morro was finally the one that was begging me to stop. Finally, I had the chance to show Morro how strong I was. I told him exactly what I felt, that he couldn't have the crystal because the FSM never wanted any of us to have it. It was never meant to be used like this. And for those few seconds that Morro was at my mercy… I finally felt strong for the first time in weeks.
Then… Morro mentioned my father.
I've talked before about how there are moments I've hesitated and caused a lot of issues. All of this time, I'd been focused on what it meant to be the Green Ninja. I'd been fixated on what Morro had been telling me, manipulating me. I hadn't realized that my father was inside the Cursed Realm. It was a fact that I'd accepted. It was like how I accepted his death by moving forward. I'd come to agree with it, but not actually process it.
Morro figured that out. He'd already been in my head. I thought that I had a chance, but I didn't. Morro had just been waiting for the minute he needed to actually pull that trick on me. It was just like what Chen did, but this time by someone that knew me too well. All Morro had to do was mention that my father was in the Cursed Realm, waiting for me, and that if I did this then I'd never get to see him again. I had the chance to see him again.
...I knew that my dad wouldn't want me to hesitate. I knew that if he was in my position, he would do everything to keep Ninjago safe. I even told Morro that. But… it didn't matter. All this time I'd been pushing forward without trying to come to terms with what happened to him. I wasn't thinking about how my father was gone, I had just accepted it. And the fact I hadn't accepted him meant that I hesitated to destroy the crystal.
That was all that Morro needed. My hesitation caused the Preeminent to reach through the portal and drag me into the Cursed Realm. It happened so fast that all I could feel was a single ping of shame before it happened. The tentacle dragged me away, and Morro took hold of the crystal. The ninja watched as I was taken away. I'd failed them. I'd failed everyone.
The Preeminent had arrived, and I was about to be dragged into it. It was time for Ninjago to have its first encounter with another realm. The preamble had given way to the Preeminent.
Lloyd rubbed his hands together. Kai leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed as he listened to Lloyd. Lloyd looked around the room nervously, trying to think of something to say. Nothing seemed to come to mind, which left him just silently sitting there with Kai across from him.
"What's up?" Kai asked finally to break the silence, "You haven't asked if that was all good or not yet."
"Nothing," Lloyd sighed, "I just… I just kinda forgot how much Morro got to me. And… how it's my fault that everything with Stiix, happened that way. It's… it's just a lot, you know?"
"That wasn't your fault," Kai pointed out, "All of us were there. We could have found a way in and helped you. And we stopped him and saved everyone, so what's the problem?"
"We let an entire city get destroyed!" Lloyd protested, "I was holding the Realm Crystal! Morro was right there begging me not to! I could have ended all of it. We could have just, captured Morro right there! But… but I let him… I let my dad…"
Lloyd's words trailed off. He leaned forward, putting his forearms on his thighs to hold himself up. He shook his head a few times, trying to clear his thoughts. The more he did, however, the more he was letting himself tangle up in them. He felt tears welling up in his eyes, ones that he desperately tried to push away.
"I could have stopped him, Kai!" Lloyd got out, "I could have saved him. I got myself ready for anything Morro said to me, and somehow I let him just throw me off like that? It was the same way he got into my head! I did everything I could to get ready for him and he still made me freeze. I never had a chance to stop him if I was going to hesitate like that. Morro just knew exactly what to say, he was in my head, Kai. I couldn't beat him, even when I was…."
Kai reached out and wrapped his arm around Lloyd. Lloyd took in a breath as Kai pulled him in close into a side hug. He reached up with his other hand, and for a moment Lloyd closed his eyes to let Kai rub his head. Then Kai instead started rubbing his fist right into Lloyd's scalp, causing him to gasp and shake as Kai's hug turned into a grip.
"Come on, don't get so down on me!" Kai grinned, "You saved Ninjago, no need to be crying like this!"
Lloyd soon managed to worm his way out of Kai's grasp, and Kai didn't move to grab him again. Lloyd rubbed his now sore head and brushed his hair back into place while Kai sat back down. Lloyd looked at him in confusion, which only made Kai shrug.
"...I, I can't help but feel like it was my fault, Kai," Lloyd mumbled, "I didn't want Morro to… I don't know what I call it. Die again, I guess? I just wanted to show him that I was strong enough to be the Green Ninja. I never wanted him to be hurt."
"What happened with Morro happened though," Kai pointed out, "You didn't make Morro choose what he did. You just did what you had to do. Morro went down his own path, you went down yours. You gotta just worry about you, Lloyd."
Lloyd nodded his head softly. Kai, seeing that Lloyd wasn't going to budge like this, stood up again. Lloyd flinched, thinking Kai was about to noogie him again, but instead Kai grabbed his hand and yanked him up to his feet. Lloyd blinked in confusion, meeting Kai's confident smirk.
"Chin up, champ," Kai turned around and tugged him towards the door, "I asked Zane tonight if we could cook. You've been practicing, I think you're ready to make someone for everyone."
"W-What?" Lloyd stammered out, "W-Wait! Just because my last meal was good doesn't mean I can cook again!"
"Course it does," Kai pointed out, "Now come on, everyone is gonna get hungry soon. If you need something to take your mind off all this, this is it!"
Lloyd couldn't argue with Kai. Instead, he let Kai quickly drag him off to the kitchen, ready to test out a new skill he hadn't even thought he'd be testing yet. He was forced to leave behind the negative thoughts of the chapter as they instead turned to the nervous feeling of this new test of skill.