AN: Legitimately forgot it was Saturday for a minute, lol. Posting this real fast and then I've got hOmEwOrK.

Review Replies
2240713356: Oh, it's gonna mess up the timeline for sure. XD Yeeeaahhh, Skybound isn't happening in this fic, lol. I don't have time to deal with Nadakhan. Don't worry, I promise there will be some Jaya resolution. I would never leave those two hanging! ;)

Megaslamencex: Tbh, I haven't planned too far past season 7, lol. SoG is definitely going to be changed drastically, with Garmadon being free and everything, and I have a couple of other ideas to jazz things up... but I'm not going to give any spoilers. We'll get there when we get there. ;)
My favorite Ninja is Lloyd, and no, I can't say I have.

phetiamwantip: I'm glad you had a good week! Everybody's telling Kai to chill out, I'm just trying to stick by canon. XD Krux is definitely going to be caught off-guard, that's for sure.


Kai, Nya, and Sensei Wu were gone before most of the others even knew what was happening. It took me a minute to explain everything, but once I did, the whole shop was buzzing with excitement. Misako and Garmadon seemed to be looking forward to seeing their old friends, while the rest of the Ninja were happy on behalf of the Smith siblings. Though I was as anxious as the others about Ray and Maya's return, now that they were being taken care of, I found my thoughts turning again to Morro.

I debated what would be the best way to get through to him. Jumping straight to the point would only result in anger and defensiveness; I had learned that lesson with Nya. I needed to go slower with Morro; try to get to know him, and allow him to get to know me, before I made any attempt at coaxing him into the light. Most importantly, I wanted him to trust me and see me as an honest person, even if he didn't immediately see me as a friend.

I had been bringing the ghost regular meals, though he refused to eat them. I wasn't sure if it was pride, suspicion, or some combination of both. Whatever the case, I was undeterred. While planning for lunch, I decided to take things one step further. It took me some time to track down a deck of cards I was familiar with. I was honestly surprised to find a regular fifty-two pack at all. I supposed some things, at least, were multiversal. Thankfully, I had learned enough Ninjargon by now to identify between the numbers and letters on the cards.

Cole tried to make soup for lunch, but somehow ended up coating the stove in an indestructible black substance, so everyone made sandwiches instead. I volunteered to take food to Morro and Lloyd, who was guarding the ghost at the moment. I quickly put together a few sandwiches and stacked them on one plate before I grabbed the playing cards and hurried to the brig.

Stepping inside the room, I instantly noticed the tense atmosphere. Morro sat in his usual place against the wall, glaring daggers of pure hatred at Lloyd, who sat in the opposite corner fidgeting nervously. I suppressed a sigh. If it were up to me, I wouldn't put Lloyd in the same room as Morro until the ghost calmed down on the Green Ninja thing. Despite the rest of the team's reservations, Lloyd was adamant about not being treated differently simply because of Morro's grudge. Hence, with Sensei Wu and Garmadon's approval, he was put on rotation for guard duty with everyone else.

As soon as I walked in, Lloyd's expression melted into relief, and he stood quickly.

"He's been glaring at me the whole time," he murmured as he came over to grab his sandwich, his voice low enough that Morro couldn't hear, "And he won't stop making snide comments. It's getting on my nerves."

I fought a giggle as I whispered back, "Don't worry, I've got something that I think might help distract him."

The blond gave me a startled look, his sandwich halfway in his mouth, but I only winked before I strode over to Morro's cell.

"Hey," I said as Morro's eyes shifted from Lloyd to me, "Brought you lunch. I wasn't sure what kind of sandwich you liked, so I just made peanut butter and jelly. If you want something else, I can go back to the kitchen and make it."

I waited to see if the wind master might take me up on the offer, but he only scoffed and rolled his eyes. I shrugged before I took my own sandwich off the stack and slid the plate under the cell door. Lloyd came to stand behind me as I sat down in front of the bars cross-legged. Morro noticed and arched an eyebrow at me curiously.

"Wanna play cards?" I asked, brandishing the deck with a grin. The ghost gave another incredulous snort.

"Are you serious?" he asked, his tone half-bewildered, half-condescending. I nodded.

"Sure," I said casually, stuffing a piece of sandwich in my mouth as I dumped the cards out of the box and started shuffling them, "I thought you might be kinda bored, you know, sitting in an empty cell."

"Oh, sure," he snapped acidly, "And who put me there?"

I was surprised to find I wasn't intimidated by his icy glare as I rolled my eyes.

"Don't be dramatic," I said in the same, weary tone as if I was talking to my siblings, "Do you want to play or not?"

The ghost stared at me for a minute, his eyes narrowed searchingly. Finally, he let out a soft snort and slumped against the wall.

"Might as well," he muttered. A burst of ecstasy exploded in my chest; progress.

"Cool," I said, not even bothering to hide my grin. Turning to the boy next to me, I asked, "Lloyd, you wanna play?"

The blond stiffened, his eyes widening as he looked first at Morro, then at me. He didn't speak, but his face said it all; with him?!

Morro must have noticed the expression too, because he smirked as he pushed himself to his feet.

"What's the matter, Lloyd?" he taunted as he sauntered over to sit across from me on the other side of the bars, "Don't tell me the Green Ninja's afraid of playing cards against a powerless prisoner."

Lloyd frowned, looking peeved, but I only rolled my eyes again. Ignore him, I mouthed when the blond looked at me. The boy deflated, letting out an annoyed sigh, but he seemed to quickly shake it off.

"All right, sure," he said, sitting next to me. Another grin flashed across my face, and I felt giddy. I knew I shouldn't be getting this excited over a card game… but in my experience, it was a great way to bond. Perhaps a few games might loosen up the tension in the room.

"So what do you guys like to play?" I asked as I finished shuffling the cards, making sure to remove the Jokers. Lloyd hummed thoughtfully as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"We could play Go Fish," he suggested after he had chewed and swallowed.

"Really?" Morro sneered, "That's a child's game."

"I mean, technically you're, what, twelve?" I turned to Lloyd. The boy frowned.

"Um, I'm fourteen," He said, sounding slightly defensive.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized quickly. Half to myself, I added, "Guess I guesstimated the time frames wrong…"

"Wait," Morro's disgust melted briefly as he frowned in confusion, "How is that possible? You look at least a couple years older than fourteen."

Lloyd gave a small grin, "Let's just say I may have had a little accident with some Tomorrow's Tea a couple years back."

"My boy looks like an angsty teenager, but he's really nothing but a baby," I added solemnly. This time, both Morro and Lloyd looked at me with bewilderment. I managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds before I collapsed into giggles.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," I assured Lloyd, who looked like he wasn't sure whether to be concerned or affronted, "Morro, any ideas for card games?"

The ghost looked thoughtful for a minute before he said bluntly, "Poker."

"Of course!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air in mock exasperation, "Of course you of all people would have played Poker. Why am I not surprised?"

"I… don't know how to play Poker," Lloyd admitted tentatively. Morro seemed about to make some comment about that, but I quickly cut him off.

"Yeah, me neither," I said, "And don't we need chips for that?"

"Yeeaaahh, I don't think we have any Poker chips," Lloyd grimaced apologetically. At this final objection, Morro huffed and slouched, muttering something under his breath. I almost smiled at his grouchiness; it was kind of cute.

"What about Rummy?" I suggested, drawing both boys' attention, "You guys ever played?"

Lloyd shook his head ruefully, but Morro said, "Only the gambling version."

"Okay, well, we're not doing the gambling version," I responded, "Lloyd, I can teach you if you want. It sounds complicated at first, but it's pretty easy once you understand it."

"Uh… yeah, okay," the boy scooted closer, curiosity overcoming his aversion to Morro, "I'll give it a go."

"Cool." I started laying out the cards. "So the point of the game is to either get the most points or be the first one to get rid of all the cards in your hand. To do that, you can make either sets or runs. A set is when you have three or more cards of the same number; like this—"

I slipped three sixes out of the deck and laid them on the floor.

"Runs," I continued, "Are three or more cards of the same shape laid out in number order. Like this—"

I laid down a two, three, and four of hearts before I went on, "Tens, jacks, queens, and kings are worth ten points. Aces are worth fifteen points unless you put them at the beginning of a run," I demonstrated by slipping the ace of hearts next to the two, "Every other card is worth five. Does that make sense?"

"Simple enough for you, Lloyd?" Morro added mockingly.

"Stop that," I scolded without looking at him. Lloyd shot the ghost a dirty look, but nodded to me.

"Okay," I said, "So you need three cards in a set or run before you can play it, and you have to draw and discard on every turn. You can draw from both the discard pile and the regular stack."

"All right…" Lloyd said slowly, nodding as he watched me point out everything, "I think I got it. Anything else?"

"I can explain the rest while we play," I responded, already shuffling the deck again, "Morro, you get extra points if you can be nice."

"What?" Lloyd practically whined, giving me a disbelieving look. Morro grinned devilishly.

"How many extra points?"


AN: Hope you guys don't mind me indulging my inner gaming nerd for a minute. I love writing petty Morro. :)

Please please review!