Full Moon
Cole's rocky earth possession power thing couldn't have come at a better time, Jay decided. Because First Master, he was over climbing. And he could feel how unsteady his legs still were, even just standing.
Of course, he's powered through worse, but it wouldn't have been fun, and he wasn't entirely convinced that he wouldn't have collapsed, because wow that avalanche really took it out of him.
Jay could feel the rocks and boulders and dirt beneath him shifting and rushing in an uneven gait across the plateau leading up to the ascent- they were almost there.
He would have said something, maybe celebrated or complained or whatever, but he could barely hear himself think over the howling gale that practically froze his lips shut. Even hunkered behind the outcropping he was hugging for support atop Cole's golem, he could barely stay standing. How the ghost was managing to move without tripping or whatever got to remain some incredible mystery.
Almost to the Eye… then the Cloud Kingdom… he thought in a manner that could almost be considered bored. Or maybe he was just tired. Who knows? They had been climbing for the last twelve hours straight and then got buried by an avalanche. Guess that can really leave you drained.
Cole wasted no time when they reached the final aescent; the stone compiling his body reached out and snapped onto the mountain like a magnet as he took hold.
Seriously, Cole had been a machine on the mountain. Was it because he was in his element or whatever, or was he just tireless as a ghost? Not that Jay was picky. He was just glad to be alive at this point.
Kai tugged at his gi. Even as they lurched from ledge to ledge, Jay could see him panting. Altitude, maybe.
"You guys ready?" Kai asked between breaths. He was barely audible, even over their comms. "We got Morro's ghosts, and Nya destroyed his armor. Maybe we can free Lloyd right here and now."
Zane spoke up next. "Remember, that isn't the objective, though. We can't take undue risks right now."
"Kay, Mom…" Jay mumbled, pretty sure Zane couldn't hear it. Speaking of deafness, Cole also hadn't been giving any indication that he could hear them- maybe he couldn't while possessing rocks. It's not like rocks could hear.
One of the hand-like masses of stone buried itself in the snow on the peak- oh, ok. This was it. Ninja go time…! Jay swallowed hard and-
He nearly bit his tongue as a great force followed a flash of light from above. Right. The Samurai X suit. Because it wasn't hard enough fighting a ghost in the body of the Green Ninja. He also needed a mech.
Unfortunately, the outcropping Cole was gripping crumpled; Jay felt a pit in his stomach as he went weightless for a moment. He pushed off from Cole into the icy mountain- his hand scraped unpleasantly far without him finding a hold.
"Ghh! Ow!" he hissed as he suddenly landed on some rocks that had not been there before. Cole had dismantled his golem and forced it into the side of the mountain fast enough to catch them all. Jay could have sworn he saw a green wisp disappear into the peak.
"It'll pass over any minute!" Zane called with an urgency in his tone.
"Let's fly then!" Jay shot back. He crouched down. "Cy-clonnnn-do!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as he called for the cyclone to lift him up- his balance wavered a bit and his heart lurched when he felt himself wobble.
Nope, nope, shoulders up, back straight, he frantically tried. Sure enough, he felt his balance steady long enough for him to shoot over the peak. He released his Cyclon-do vortex with a final upward thrust that he turned into a flip.
Morro was already in the air- flying up in the Samurai X suit. Jay yelped and steadied himself in time to land on his feet with a backward stumble.
No no no, he's going to get to the Cloud Kingdom first!
Zane was next to land in the snow. Kai had, once again, switched the climbing near the top of the surface but was still pretty quick.
"What do we do?!" Cole shouted from beside him- Jay jumped back, right into Zane. Nya's suit was unstable in the air, wobbling and being thrown around- the winds were awful. Eventually, Morro must have deemed it too unsafe, because he jumped from it- the Airjitzu cyclone emitted a radioactive green glow until it vanished into the pitch black clouds. Meanwhile, the Samurai X suit went sailing off into the horizon.
Kai didn't hesitate. "We have to follow!" And even though he couldn't even make it up the cliff much less hundreds of feet in the air , he used his own Airjitzu and gave chase. Somehow, he seemed to be holding it.
"Let's… yeah, let's go!" Cole told them. That was enough for Zane to nod and follow Kai.
Jay found himself hesitating. What if he missed? What if they just got flung off the mountain? What if Morro killed them the moment they got to the magic kingdom on the other end of a blizzard?
Then he saw Cole try, and Jay remembered with a lurching pit in his stomach- Cole still hadn't mastered Airjitzu. He wobbled, and his form gave out just a few feet off the ground. Jay's hand flew to his mouth as his body briefly scattered and fell back to the snow, where it begrudgingly pulled itself back together.
"Cole! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine! Just go! We need as many people as possible to stop Morro!"
"Yeah, that includes you, Bricks-for-Brains!" Jay reached out a hand, Cole took it and pulled himself upright. "The trick is to hold yourself in an ascending pose, like when you first jump- you don't switch to a landing pose, and you'll hold it longer!"
They heard Zane over the comms. "Jay! Cole! There is not much t-" the voice cut out.
"Zane? Zane! Are you okay? Tell me you're in another dimension and not like, broken or dead or whatever!" Perhaps understandably, he didn't reply. Cole, meanwhile, tried again but the wind was just so strong and loud that Cole just couldn't hold himself solid or steady. Cole slammed his fist into the ground when he hit the snow.
"Dammit! Dammit! Jay, just go! I'm no good like this!"
"Wow, I didn't know you were a comedian and a rock climber in your spare time." Jay grabbed his wrist and tugged him to his feet. "Better idea: something really really stupid that could kill us both that might not kill us both."
Cole looked confused until Jay pulled the rope off Cole's body- for some reason, he didn't phase through it, not that he was complaining. He tossed one end to Cole and began tying the other around his waist, with less than a foot of slack between them.
"But I thought you said- Jay, that's crazy!"
"So is climbing the tallest mountain in Ninjago to fight a demigod ghost, and yet here we are , now tie that knot already! And don't slip out of it this time!" Jay said as fast as he possibly could, his hands barely obeying between the cold, the thick gloves, and the rope being annoyingly slippery.
Thank the Master that seemed to snap him out of it. This really wasn't the time nor place for inspiring pep talks.
"Jay, this is a really really bad idea," Cole repeated, as if he didn't already know that.
"Duly noted, now come on!" He held out his hand, and Cole took it. "On three! 3, 2- wait that's backwards." He tried to take a deep breath but that didn't really help. "1, 2, 3!"
They summoned their cyclones at the same time- now Jay wasn't sure what he was expecting. Maybe for them to spark against each other like two colliding tops. Or for nothing to happen at all. Still, he found himself surprised when only a single blue and orange cyclone swirled beneath them.
It wasn't steady. Perhaps that was to be expected. He felt Cole lock up, though he looked like he was about to blow right away. The rope pulled that as they flung themselves into the air. "Nope! Nope! Look at me, Cole! Look at me! Jump, keep it loose! But straighten your legs!"
Cole's strange-looking eyes were wide as saucers, but he adjusted his stance. Unfortunately, the wind was really throwing them off. Even with the extra stability, it was like trying to direct a crashing car that moved on the z-axis.
Just as Jay thought they were about to drop, he felt a shift in the gale- an upward tug. Cole looked up, having noticed it too. "Just a little more!" He said with newfound confidence. "Ghh…!"
He didn't look very well. Maybe it was their distance from the earth, maybe it was just that it was hard, but Cole was really struggling to hold himself together- certain parts of him flickered, getting mixed in with the energy swirling around them.
"Come on! You can do it!"
Cole squeezed his eyes shut and his posture faltered again, his form flickering more than ever. The rope that was keeping them together was really putting their knotwork to the rest. All of his energy seemed to be on maintaining himself, leaving Jay to try to correct their trajectory except they were losing balance and-
Light blinded him. The shock of it was enough for his own concentration to slip, and they tumbled out of the cyclone and landed on something soft. Jay groaned and put his palms over his eyes. "So are we dead or did we make it?"
"Why not both?" Cole replied with an equally morose voice. "Get off me, Zaptrap."
Jay realized he was literally lying half inside Cole, save the parts of him wearing Deepstone armor, which pinned the ghost down. Needless to say, he sat up and untied the stupid rope that somehow tangled around his leg. Then he, indeed, got off of Cole.
"What was that?" Kai asked- oh, Kai was there by the way. Wherever it was that they were. "Your Airjitzu- it looked…" he stared at the rope with a blank expression and finally did the math. "You guys did it together?"
Cole got to his feet and stretched. (Jay wondered if he did that out of habit or if it actually did help him relax) "Yeah! Jay, that was amazing!" He grabbed Jay by the shoulders. "Thank you!"
Despite everything, he couldn't help but feel a little pride. "Just returning the favor. Now where to?" Jay dusted himself off and suddenly realized how warm he was. The air here was humid , nothing like the dry, freezing summit they were on mere moments ago.
"That's an excellent question," Zane said. They all looked around- everything was enveloped in a thick, warm fog. Jay tugged at his jacket before ultimately deciding to take it off entirely. First Master, how had he moved before? Suddenly he felt so free, like he could walk on clouds without that stupid bulky hunk of fluff smothering him.
Speaking of clouds- Kai yelled stuff. "Are we… are we standing on clouds?!"
Oh, huh, it looked like they were. Honestly, it didn't look that much different from standing in snow. Just a bit wispier and not as cold.
Cole made a "huh," sound. "Guess we are."
Wait, aren't clouds water? Why isn't Cole hurt by them?
Then again, they were magic floor clouds.
Cole shook his head. "Come on, we need to move. Morro can't be far."
Oh yeah. He forgot about that and belated glanced at his surroundings, or lack thereof. It was just fog-slash-clouds-slash-whatever in all directions. "Okay but… in what direction?" He turned to Zane, but the Nindroid was wearing an expression that was just as puzzled.
"I'm not sure. I'm not detecting anything in the nearby area."
"Then we pick a direction and go," Cole decided, so at least he put an end to that before that could go in circles. Not that they'd know when they had- there was no markers of any kind indicating the massive vortex they had entered through.
They all followed at a brisk walk. They didn't have much time, but also, they didn't have much energy, and Jay really didn't feel like collapsing in the middle of a fight. They hadn't slept in well over half a day, and wow he was getting sick of all the late-nighters.
Or maybe it was an all-nighter, because eventually, the fog began to clear and sunlight shone through.
"Uh. Did we all take really long naps when we went through the storm?" Jay asked.
Zane shook his head. "We did not."
"Oh, cool, so we are dead. Glad we cleared that up."
"Hey! I think I see something!" Kai shouted as he squinted his eyes. They picked up the pace, jogging briskly through the weird cloud space. Also he was still wearing his jacket like some kind of heat-immune demon.
Until finally, finally , for the first time in what felt like eons , they saw something resembling civilization.
Jay's jaw nearly hit the floor. And not the cloud floor. The actual floor of Ninjago down below. Or whatever. Because somehow, despite knowing they were traveling to the Cloud Kingdom , it really didn't occur to him that it'd be so pretty.
Elegant was the first word Zane thought of. The Cloud Kingdom was elegant, with a peculiar mix of repetition and variation in its layout and architecture that left him marveling for several seconds.
The first thing that grabbed him was that the buildings were tall- white brick buildings both round and cylindrical towering above them on all sides. They had red trims, and their roofs were a sunset orange that shimmered like gold. The style was utterly consistent, but some of the brick sizes would vary between buildings, or one roof would stretch out further than another.
Their elevations varied too- not just the height at which they were built, but the height of their foundations. Each building stood on its own atop a mound of floating stone that was perfectly stationary and stable despite having no support structure. The background was a gradually fading pattern of these buildings stretching as far as the eye could see, and little floating boats carried what appeared to be monks from island to island. Trees peppered the scenery, from fir to coniferous to cherry blossoms and even fruit trees. Sparse, but adding life and color into the atmosphere. Some greenery had small islands for just its tiny ecosystem.
Incredible Pixal remarked- he could see a console readout in his periphery as she copied memories of the place to her easy-access storage. The architecture is most impressive and shows no sign of structural decay. Furthermore, the islands seem to be tailor-made for each building, and don't have any apparent power source holding them aloft
Cole whistled- an understated reaction, but more of an acknowledgement than Kai or Jay gave. They had fallen into silent staring. Perhaps a compliment in its own right. Zane paused when he felt the soft cloudlike ground transition to something smooth and firm- a stone bridge.
"Woah…" Kai sounded breathless, and Zane could understand that wholeheartedly. "This place is… it's huge."
"It's open," Jay added. He took a deep, slow breath. "I like it. Way better than avalanches. But uh… where do we go?"
"There's only one path, we can just ask someone along the way," Cole said with a shrug as he once again took the lead. Indeed, there was one long bridge across which they could cross. So, until there was some sign of Morro, it was their best option. Fortunately, they did not need to ask anyone for help, because a young child, no older than ten or eleven, ran up to them.
The child appeared male. His hair resembled Lloyd before he had been aged through the Tomorrow's Tea, except that it was a pasty brown instead of blonde. He wore a gray and white robe that was very clearly monastic in nature, and he had both a wide smile and wide eyes.
"H-hey! Kid!" Jay called as he ran their way. "Can you help us? We're-"
"The ninja!" he finished in an awestruck breath. "Master Jay Walker, Master Kai Smith, Master Zane Julien!" he bowed, quick yet formal. "It's an honor to meet you."
It seems like you're popular here
Evidently so, Zane thought, somewhat bewildered. "Please, formal titles are not-"
"And Master Cole Brookstone! You made it too! How?"
Cole's eyebrows shot up at the sudden address. "Uh, through the Blind Man's Eye on top of the Wailing Alps."
"And you made it up with your team! Incredible!"
Cole suddenly shifted his weight from one leg to another and crossed his arms- was he uncomfortable? He sounded indignant. "Hey, what do you mean by that?"
Something about the way the child spoke felt odd- he was eager and kind, but his vernacular, body language, and articulation felt well beyond what Zane had previously observed in children resembling his age. "Oh, my apologies. I meant nothing rude by it. I meant only that to carve such a path without the guiding hand of fate is no easy feat. My name is Nobu, and I am one of the Writers of Destiny."
"Kid, what are you talking about?" Kai asked with that abrupt and impatient bluntness of his. "Look, we just came for the Sword of Sanctuary and then we'll be out of your way. Can you take us to it?"
He shook his head, and Kai visibly deflated. "I cannot. Entry into the keep without the permission of the Head Writer is forbidden, but I can take you to him."
"Awesome, thank you, Nobu," Cole said as he relaxed the tension he held in his shoulders. "That'd be a big help."
Nobu laughed, quick and subdued. "It is hardly anything. You ninja were destined to encounter him one way or another as long as you made it this far. But to think I would be the one guiding you along that destiny is surreal, I must be honest." He led them down the path they were already walking. "It bears repeating that it truly is an honor to meet you."
"Wait a sec, how do you know who we are?" Jay asked.
"Everyone here knows of the ninja." He briefly paused, and gave Cole another bow. "And I must say, I am truly sorry for the fate that befell you in that accursed temple."
Cole looked uncomfortable again. "It wasn't your fault. Don't stress over it."
The monk's expression shifted into something more somber. "I certainly wish that it was our fault." His head snapped up. "But you don't know what I mean by that, of course. Come, the Head Writer can explain it all."
"He says, like a bunch of high school dropouts that have been fighting for their lives for fifteen hours straight are ready to deal with a lecture." Jay mumbled in their general direction.
"Actually, it has been fourteen hours and thirty-three minutes since you woke up; we only climbed for twelve hours and fourteen minutes. And Kai and I were never enrolled in high school, and therefore never-"
"I got it, Freezy-pop. Thanks."
Cole propped his hands behind his head as he walked, and leaned back towards Jay. "Lecture or avalanches, take your pick."
Jay stuck his tongue out. "I hate you."
Cole winked.
Kai, meanwhile, didn't look happy. "We don't have time for a sermon, we need to find Morro and Lloyd, so let's try to make this quick."
Nobu led them along the path they had already been walking. "Fortunately, the Blind Man's Eye has a way of bringing visitors right where they belong. The Head Writer works in the Primary Writing Hall just ahead."
"What about Morro?" Kai asked; he spun on his heel to look in every direction. "We were just behind him, but I don't see him anywhere."
The young monk frowned. "I'm afraid that ghosts are very… difficult for us to manage. That's why this entire ordeal began in the first place."
"Difficult how?" Jay asked, very unsubtly glancing at Cole, who still had his hands behind his head.
Nobu led them up to a particularly large and tall tower- it loomed overhead, even compared to the ones around it. Someone opened the door just as they reached the entrance. "I can answer that. Greetings, ninja. It's an honor to make your acquaintance."
The man, dressed in a white robe with a golden trim, was middle-aged and gray. He bowed to them.
"Are you the Head Writer?" Kai asked, tapping his foot. "We need the Sword of Sanctuary."
"And any information you may have on how we can stop Morro," Zane added.
The man nodded. "Yes, I'm Head Writer Fenwick." He turned to Nobu. "Thank you for bringing them here. You may return to your work."
Nobu nodded, and bowed to them a final time. "May fate be in your favor, Masters." He sidestepped Fenwick and headed inside the building. Fenwick held the door open for the rest of them to pass through. "Please, come with me. I can show you the way to the Sword of Sanctuary."
"Woah… this place is huge ," Jay said with unhidden reverence. "What is this?" And indeed, the building was large. The walls were fully covered in shelves for scrolls, from floor to ceiling, all using an organizational system that Zane couldn't parse at first glance.
"This is the Primary Writing Hall. It is where the most important destinies are written."
"Destiny?" Kai asked; it sounded nearly like a groan.
Fenwick nodded as he led them through the hall. "Yes. Such as the prophecy for the Green Ninja. It was decided that Master Lloyd Garmadon would become such in this very hall."
That gave everyone pause. Cole blinked once, twice. "You write the prophecies here?"
Fenwick nodded. "We write prophecies and fate alike for all the people of Ninjago."
A sense of weight fell over the group- they were silent for several seconds. "What do you mean by fate?" Zane decided to ask.
"Fate, as in that which is destined to pass. On both a large scale and a small scale. From what you will choose for breakfast to what major ambitions you will pursue in life."
This has startling implications for the notions of free will Pixal mused.
It was as if Fenwick could hear her. "Of course, your choices are still your own. We cannot make something pass that any given individual would not do."
Zane looked around the room- at the rows upon rows of desks surrounding the main walkway. There were dozens on that floor alone, each with a monk writing in a scroll. Or at least, a monk that presumably was supposed to write in the scroll. Currently, most of the monks were staring at their group. He could hear whispers that sounded awed.
Kai stopped walking; Zane saw him clench his fist. "Wait, so you guys decided that a nine-year-old would inherit the destiny of fighting his evil father?"
Cole's head whipped back to Fenwick. "And that Zane would have to die to stop the Overlord?"
"And that Garmadon would have to sacrifice himself to stop Chen? What about Cole?" Jay added with a furrowed brow.
Fenwick turned to face them with a somber expression. "Master Cole Brookstone is… another matter entirely. As for your other points, yes. We did write that it would be such."
Zane put a hand on Kai's shoulder, if only to stop him from causing a scene. He could feel the tension in the Master of Fire's shoulders. "Why?" he asked. "Surely, if you can write destiny, could you not write much easier solutions to these problems?"
The Head Writer sighed. "Destiny is a matter of balance. As we said, we cannot write that which has no way to pass. Instead, we guide fate into the most desirable outcome possible. For some to win, some have to lose. Who else in Ninjago might have been able to acquire the skills to fight Lord Garmadon? To meet the right people, make the right decisions, to lead to the correct conclusion? It's a precarious thing. Master Lloyd Garmadon was the best choice for the Green Ninja mantle. And to make that happen, Wu needed to seek out the inheritors of the Elements of Creation to guide him, who in turn needed to make the correct choices to end up joining him in the first place."
"Like some crazy dangerous house of cards," Jay said with a wrinkled nose. "I have a headache just thinking about it. Or maybe that's exhaustion. Or both."
The Head Writer gave them a wry smile. "Believe me, if we could write 'the Overlord stays on the Island of Darkness and never leaves,' and have that be true, we would have. "As for Master Garmadon and Master Zane Julien, there may indeed have been other solutions to that dilemma. However, there could have been far more casualties without the spell when fighting the Anacondrai warriors. In Master Zane Julien's case, he was the only one with the capacity to both defeat the Overlord and live to tell of it, even if it didn't appear that way at first."
It is true that I was able to repair myself. I shudder to think what I would have done if it had been one of the others in that situation.
Pixal sighed. Still, please try not to make a habit of it
I will try.
Kai rolled his shoulders and stepped away from Zane. "Okay, and what was that about Cole? And why can't you just destine us to trap Morro so we can deal with him? We'd be more than glad to."
"Yeah, Nobu said something about ghosts being 'difficult.' What's that mean?" Jay asked as he shifted his jacket from one arm to the other.
Fenwick looked over the shoulder of another young monk, perhaps just as some idle motion. "As I said. We write the fates of those that belong in Ninjago. Ghosts do not fall under that perview."
I do not like the implication of that statement.
Evidently, the others didn't either. Kai had that confrontational look about him again, and Jay tipped his chin back. Cole, however, looked unusually still. Not particularly upset , just still.
Fenwick kept talking, seemingly oblivious. "Those that would reject destiny, and reject their ends, are meant for the Cursed Realm. They are, in fact, a great danger to destiny itself should they manage to cross over."
Zane could detect a spike in Kai's heartbeat. "Wait just a moment- Cole isn't a danger to anyone!"
Cole put a hand on Kai's chest with a bit of a lopsided smile. "Cool it, Hothead. He's talking about Morro. I don't think it's a dig."
Fenwick nodded. "Correct. However, that does mean we were unable to stop Sensei Kodokuna Yang from cursing you, and you now operate outside our control. That's not to say you don't have a destiny, but it'd take the First Spinjitzu Master himself to see it."
Cole shrugged. "Never did like people telling me what to do."
Fenwick looked perturbed. And annoyed. "Neither did Master Morro. We never intended for him to escape the Cursed Realm. Ghosts are a threat to destiny and are meant to be kept far away from it."
Fenwick had already clarified that he wasn't speaking about Cole, but Zane still found the comment needlessly antagonistic. And clearly Kai did as well- he wasn't totally convinced the Master of Fire wasn't about to combust through sheer force of will.
"As it stands, you are meant to find the Sword of Sanctuary. Whether Master Morro interferes with that destiny, I cannot say."
"Where is Morro?" Cole asked. "He got here before us, yet nobody seems to know where he is."
Fenwick shook his head and led them to the other side of the hall. "We have not seen him, and as I said, ghosts are difficult. Master Lloyd Garmadon is having his fate continuously altered with Master Morro possessing him, so even he isn't a reliable source of information."
Cole grinned and elbowed Jay. "You hear that? Ghosts can be some kind of super ninja that even destiny itself can't track."
The head writer adopted that perturbed look again. "Which has proven quite troublesome. As we said, we do not know how this is going to end. I suggest you be careful, Master Cole Brookstone."
Zane grabbed Kai's wrist with enough force to stop him from doing something foolish. Cole just laughed. "Of course, of course. When am I not careful?"
"You climb mountains for fun!" Jay brought up, tugging at the rope still wrapped around Cole's chest.
"And I make sure to do so carefully!"
Jay threw his jacket at Cole; it passed right through, splaying on the ground for Jay to pick up. "Yuh-huh, self-proclaimed 'free-solo' master." Zane noticed a couple of the monks watching them with a variety of expressions- most of them more positive than Fenwick's mild annoyance. He even heard one chuckle.
"In any case," Fenwick said with a pointed tone, "we can take one of the ships to the Shrine of Sanctuary to get you the Sword. From there, the Blind Man's Eye should deposit you back near your ship."
It would seem he is in something of a hurry to be rid of you four
I suppose we cannot be beloved by everyone.
You have a way of bringing trouble wherever you go
It is difficult to argue with that assessment, Zane mused as Jay swiped a hand through Cole's face as he rejoined the group, only for a piece of his Deepstone armor to clip the ghost and send his head lolling backwards.
"Thanks, let's get to it, then," Kai said through a clenched jaw and barely subdued voice.
From there, the discussion lulled. The exit on the other end of the hall led to a small dock with a few of the flying sailboats. As they exited the hall, the sun glared in Zane's eyes. He held up a hand while his vision focused. "It was midnight when we crossed over to this realm. Why does it appear to be the middle of the day here?"
"The celestial bodies of this world move not on the accord of time; rather, they flow with the river of destiny," Fenwick replied. He stepped onto a boat and gestured for them to follow onto the little, floating vessel.
Jay yawned. "Wazzat mean?"
Fenwick sighed. "How to put this in terms you'll understand… Think of the second return of the Overlord. When Dr. Cyrus Borg gave you your new suits, it was dawn here. When you fought the Nindroids on the meteor, it was midday. When Master Zane Julien fought the Overlord, it was evening. His funeral took place at night."
He saw that Jay winced and tucked his chin into his jacket. Cole sighed and looked over the side of the boat at the sea of clouds below. It was more than a little awkward, Zane thought- he knew that it was not a time his brothers looked back on fondly, even though he himself had turned out okay in the end.
Kai, meanwhile, guffawed. "The position of the sun here is based on what we're doing all the way back in Ninjago?"
"Not always you, but a lot of fates revolve around your actions, remember. Master Morro's escape began a new day here. A day we do not know the end of." Fenwick pulled on some strings attached to the sail; the boat caught a gentle wind that tugged it away from the dock. It was surreal- it moved as if it were floating through water, and yet there were only clouds. He was glad that clouds didn't seem to hurt Cole.
"No pressure, huh…?" Jay said with a breathy laugh. "Wow, I mean, I knew the fate of Ninjago has rested on us once or twice, but wow."
Fenwick appeared disinterested. Cole hummed a tune in his echoing voice, only for him to stop when a new idea crossed his mind. "Wait, so you can't see ghosts' futures, does that mean the Sword of Sanctuary will be no good anyway at predicting moves or whatever?"
"The Sword of Sanctuary was forged by the First Spinjitzu Master. Even the likes of you cannot escape its scrutiny," he told the ghost.
Pixal spoke in his head again as Kai's heart rate picked back up and his eyes narrowed. He is either painfully oblivious, or impressively callous
I do not think he likes Cole.
Don't tell Kai Pixal said with the slightest hint of humor in her tone. The last thing he needs is to be on bad terms with someone that writes destiny
Somehow I suspect that Kai would manage to avert some petty demise through sheer force of will.
If anyone could, it would be Kai Pixal agreed.
It was an amusing enough thought to carry them the rest of the way to the tower.
Lloyd and Morro had a bit of a routine. Morro would override Lloyd's free will, forcing him into the back of his own mind where he could only watch as his own hands sought to destroy everything he loved.
And Lloyd would let him- he'd bide his time and build his power. He'd wait and watch and preserve his strength until some crucial moment where he'd reengage in the tug-of-war for his body. He'd fight back against Morro with everything he had, stall him sometimes by a minute- sometimes by seconds- sometimes not at all- until Morro finally overpowered him and beat him back down into the recesses of his own mind.
From there, he would once again wait.
This was another such moment of rest. Though calling it "restful" would be misleading, since that implied any sort of actual rest was happening. Perhaps limbo was a better word.
Lloyd was exhausted. The deep kind of exhaustion that makes it hard to think straight. Where every joint aches in protest and everything is just a bit too shaky. Where lights are a bit too bright and darks are a bit too dark.
Morro was almost completely detached from that. He possessed Lloyd's body like one controlled a machine- you can ignore warnings and errors and damage to the wiring as long as it still works. Then, when it got bad enough, reboot the thing to get it back into working order for a little bit longer.
That was to say, Lloyd was really running off the bare minimum- he got rest when his body was broken down enough that Morro could no longer ignore it. It wasn't sustainable, and they both knew it.
Alas, it wasn't like there was much Lloyd could do aside from dance their awful tango until something gave. That was fine. He decided it was, at least. Better for his mental health if it were fine.
And so, as Morro sneaked his way through the Cloud Kingdom, following the brief instructions of the nervous monk in the white and gold robes, Lloyd watched and waited. He knew the ninja couldn't have been far behind.
The building Fenwick had described was not even guarded, much to Lloyd's frustration. Seriously, if the Sword of Sanctuary was so powerful, why was it unguarded? The tallest, most important tower in the Cloud Kingdom, and the entrance wasn't even locked.
It pays to be feared, Greenhorn, Morro thought from within Lloyd's mind. If he could have scowled, he would.
A dozen half-baked retorts came to mind, but he opted to not entertain any of them. Instead of using his Airjitzu, Morro ascended the stairs on foot. Probably to preserve some energy and prolong Lloyd's body just completely giving out.
The room was surprisingly humble: it looked like a fairly normal monastery or temple room with pastel paper windows that let in just enough light to illuminate the Sword of Sanctuary.
For a magical sword that could see the future, it really didn't look all that special. Sure, it was golden, but so was Kai's old sword, and that one at least had a sick dragon pattern on it. This was just a boring, smooth sword with a sky blue guard and pommel.
Lloyd felt a grin on his cheeks, entirely too warped and wrong to be his own. Morro plucked the sword off its pedestal and stared into the blade.
Suddenly, an image flashed in his mind. Of the window behind them cracking open in a flash of blue. And a blur of red and white from the stairs.
Morro lurched backward just in time for Jay to come crashing through the window.
"Give us the Sword of Sanctuary!" he demanded, eyes narrow beneath his mask. "Or Lloyd! Or both, actually! Give us both! Though if we had to pick one, it'd be Lloyd!" He could hear Kai groan. And even Morro's cold vice grip on his soul couldn't smother the sheer warmth in Lloyd's chest. First Master, he loved them so much.
Another image flashed through Lloyd's mind- Zane throwing a large, black shuriken him, aimed at his right knee-
The vision came true a moment later. Morro was ready and lurched to the side with a gust of wind blowing the star off its course.
"It's over, Morro! We already sent your buddies back to the Cursed Realm! It's over!" Kai shouted, holding a sword up to Lloyd.
Ugh, so that's where those useless idiots have been, Morro groaned internally. "What are you going to do?" he asked with insufferable smugness. "Kill me?" He tilted his chin up to expose Lloyd's neck. "You can certainly try."
Kai was about to lunge.
Morro conjured a gust of wind and threw him back into Zane. Jay sidestepped and- he would strafe while Kai got back up- that path, too, was stopped as Morro whipped in a circle to create a spinning gust of wind keeping Jay in front of his opponent.
For what felt like hours, the fight was a stalemate- Morro and Lloyd could see every attack before it came, and those attacks were always non-lethal and lacking in the ferocity needed to power through supernatural foresight. The ghost possessing him dodged and weaved with the grace and dexterity of someone that has had entirely too many years to prepare for enacting his petty revenge.
However, Morro couldn't gain ground either. He had the power of wind, but in close quarters, his options were limited to knocking the ninja around and keeping them at arm's length- Lloyd heard himself yelp as one of Zane's shurikens grazed his shoulder when Morro fumbled a sidestep. The wound bled and it smoked a wispy green, as if Morro were leaking out of him.
Wasn't enough to stop him, obviously. That'd be too easy. And Lloyd wanted to fight him, but First Master, he was tired. So he had to leave that to the ninja. Morro took a leap back over the pedestal to avoid a swipe from Kai's sword aimed at his midsection. With his back against the tiny piece of cover, Morro made a huge waving gesture, as if he were saying "Come to me!" to the very wind. It obeyed, spurred on by Lloyd's own element.
A gale crashed through the windows, blowing the delicate paper to pieces and even causing the wood to splinter and buckle. He heard the three yell as Morro lunged to his feet and made a move for the window.
Where's Cole? Lloyd thought frantically as Morro leaped out, ready to make a break for it.
Dead, one hopes, Morro thought with cruel casualness.
Speak of the Overlord and he shall come. Because apparently, the answer was "on the roof."
The Sword of Sanctuary fed them another vision- of a flash of green and black from the roof above. They didn't have time to process it before Morro rolled to the side and out of the way.
"You're not getting away!" came Cole's voice- was that Cole? Why was it echoing? Morro jumped up from his roll with a gust of wind, sending Cole flying back, and-
Lloyd felt his heart seize. He felt ice in his veins. A fire burned in his lungs. A jolt shot through his spine, and his feet felt heavy as the earth.
Cole held a scythe, the same black metal as the others; Morro frantically created an Airjitzu cyclone, just in time to bound up to the roof before the blade could knock him back into the shrine.
Cole followed in his own Airjitzu cyclone- and that orange energy didn't do anything to hide the fact that he himself was green. A dark, earthy green radiated off him- his once-brown skin, visible through his mask, looked like it had been bleached stark white then hastily re-colored a musty green. His entire body- oh First Spinjitzu Master, it was see-through. As in, when he looked, Lloyd could see a temple in the distance, as though his body were some tinted, gaseous window. Mist danced all around him, compacting itself into Cole's shape.
With his hood up, the thing that stood out most were his eyes. They were dark now- the whites had gone murky green, almost black. The slightest hint of a more neon green iris served as a barely-visible outline for white pinpricks of pupils. Just like the eyes of the other ghosts.
Lloyd felt nauseous. The world spun around him. That was Cole in front of him, pointing a scythe at Morro with that same determined look in his wrong eyes.
"Give Lloyd back, Morro. You can't win!"
Lloyd felt- he felt a rush of euphoria so intense it made him want to vomit. Morro cackled , barely able to collect himself in time to about-face and blow Jay back just as he was about to grab the roof. Jay flew back off the tower with a scream, meanwhile Morro turned back to Cole, beaming like a child.
"Look at them, Lloyd! So determined to save you that they'll even die for it!" he taunted, and Lloyd felt a twisting agony in his chest.
So this is what that fool of a monk meant when he promised the Soul Archer that he'd help, Morro thought with a serrated viciousness. I must say, he really did come through.
A ghost. He was a ghost. Cole was a ghost. Cole was…
Cole was dead.
Many things flashed through Lloyd's mind. An attack from Kai that Morro sidestepped with a gust of wind acting as a stepping stool to push him back. A million possibilities for just how it happened. The thought of Cole melting in the rain into a screaming pile of agony. His father, banished to the Cursed Realm with the other evil ghosts.
"Lloyd has nothing to do with this, Morro!" Cole declared, because of course he wouldn't blame Lloyd, of course he'd act like nothing was wrong. Of course he'd still come for Lloyd, even though he'd lost his life. Cole lunged at Morro, only to be nearly flung from the tower. He latched onto the shingles and pulled himself up with a look of brief bewilderment.
"Little known fact," Morro said with a light voice, "Elemental powers still work on ghosts. So if you killed yourself to try and get back at me, I'm afraid that's no good, huh Lloyd?"
Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up!
Of course, that only egged Morro on as Cole recovered and launched himself at Morro again- unfortunately, Morro quite literally saw it coming and ended up using the scythe as a footstool with which to gain elevation and kick Cole back in time to also spin out of the way from one of Zane's shurikens. He ducked as it boomeranged back to the Nindroid, then used another gust of wind to force Zane and Kai off the roof again.
"And my attacks still hurt you! You can't even float, can you?! Some noble sacrifice! You killed yourself and it won't make a damn difference!"
At least, that's what Morro said. And the moment he thought it, Lloyd felt his heart drop somehow even further.
"Or, I suppose we could say Lloyd killed you, couldn't we?"
Cole, Cole , amazing, tough, invincible Cole held his blade back up, undaunted. "This was nobody's fault but your own, Morro!"
"Yeah!" called Kai as he pulled himself back onto the roof. "Don't listen to him Lloyd! He's trying to get inside your head! This isn't your fault! It's his!"
That's what they said , and on a logical level, it made sense, but all Lloyd could think about was how he stupidly got himself possessed in the first place, of how he hadn't stopped Morro from stealing the armor, of the Soul Archer's deal with Fenwick, and how Lloyd hadn't been strong enough and-
Cole was dead , and it felt an awful lot like his fault. He felt hot liquid running down his cheeks. Morro touched them, puzzled. Then of course, sadistically pleased. "Aw, I don't think he believes you."
The sword showed them another attack- all four at once. Morro avoided it with a gust of Airjitzu, sending him and Lloyd high into the sky.
Lloyd could feel Morro calling on his elemental dragon. On Lloyd's dragon. But he- he couldn't stop it, it was like his power was being sucked through a funnel, and suddenly there was a dragon beneath Morro, carrying him towards a vortex of clouds in the distance, funneling below the islands like a whirlpool- the way out of the Cloud Kingdom.
No, no, no! he thought frantically, because he couldn't leave Cole like that, at least not without apologizing.
You can say your sorries once your souls are together in the Cursed Realm, Morro cooed. Another fun fact, cursed ghosts don't go to the Departed Realm if they get destroyed.
Lloyd didn't have time to process that before another vision flashed through their mind- of an attack from… behind?
Morro stood up and let the wind guide his dragon- it took a leaping bound back onto its head to stop him from getting clipped by Cole's scythe. "Give me back my baby brother!" Cole screamed over the howling gale.
"How did you… urgh! Like it matters!" Morro commanded Lloyd's dragon to careen to the right- Cole lurched to the side, nearly falling off- he caught himself by digging his scythe into the side of Lloyd's dragon. The dragon wasn't alive, but it roared nonetheless as the weapon pierced its ethereal flesh.
"Lloyd! Listen to me!" Cole called as he flung himself back onto the dragon's back. He hunkered down as Morro slammed him with another gale. "This! This isn't because of you! This is Morro's fault! Don't blame yourself!"
Lloyd wasn't sure he could manage that- not blaming himself. But as Cole stood back up and pointed his scythe at Morro's neck, the Blind Man's Eye drawing closer, and a tower beneath them, Lloyd realized something else with crystal clarity.
Even if some of this was his fault, a lot of it was still Morro's fault, and framed like that- Lloyd felt something boiling inside him. He felt Morro, his cold, dead spirit boiling against his anger. The ghost winced, and for a brief moment, Lloyd stole control back, because he killed Cole, even more than Lloyd did.
"Cole…! I'm so…! I'm so sorry!" Was what he managed to get out.
No! Morro thought with an intense loathing that couldn't hold a damn candle to the hate Lloyd felt in his core.
He pried his own grip off the Sword of Sanctuary, Morro fighting for every finger. But he lost, and the Sword fell, landing on the shingles of one of the temples. Lloyd was vaguely aware of the other three ninja using Airjitzu to leap from island to island in an attempt to catch up without their powers.
"Lloyd! You don't have to be sorry! It's okay! It'll all be okay!"
And in a moment, his concentration waned, and Morro was the one back in control.
Morro scowled , and probably would have gone back for the Sword, except even he could feel Lloyd's pathetic reserves of energy waning. He looked back at Cole, who was a moment away from lunging again. "This isn't over , ghost! Enjoy your new master!"
Cole looked perplexed for a moment, and it was in that same moment that Morro told the dragon to roll, then to disappear- Cole went from a sideways lurch to falling towards another island. Lloyd couldn't see what happened, because Morro summoned another dragon to bridge the rest of the distance to the exit.
The winds started to pick up and tug them inward, towards the vortex. The dragon roared again as the light faded, and the wind screamed in Lloyd's ears. When it cleared, it was once again the middle of the night, and Lloyd could just make out a light from the Bounty in the distance- the Eye had moved, it would seem. Too far for the ship to catch. Morro flew off in the opposite direction, and Lloyd could feel his seething anger.
Because Morro had lost this one. Unambiguously. With the Azure Armor destroyed, he couldn't summon his allies back. He didn't have the Sword of Sanctuary to search for the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master. He had nothing.
You're alone Lloyd told him, with as much venom as he could muster.
I have you, Morro replied, emotions coiled tight into something that could burst at any moment. And I'll have more ghosts before long.
But the armor…
I don't need the armor, Greenhorn. There's one other place to go when you need a ghost. You have your beloved cursed brother to thank for reminding me.
Lloyd would have growled. He could feel Morro's brief moment of superiority lapse back into frustration as they flew towards the horizon in the dead of night.
You'll pay for this he thought. You're not going to win
And you'll pay for that little stunt you pulled back there, the ghost thought darkly. If he could, Lloyd would have cackled. He felt a rising hysteria in his chest.
Nothing you could do to me would be worse than what you've already done
We'll see about that.
Still, Lloyd was certain. He was absolutely certain. Cole was dead , and Morro was to blame, and now there was nothing that Morro could use as a punishment that would hurt more than that. In that small regard, Lloyd had won, he had robbed that fear of worse from Morro, wrest back that small bit of power.
It was something.
Cole fell through the ceiling and first two levels of the tower before the floor would finally catch him. He hit the ground with an "oof," more out of surprise than pain- seeing as there was none of the latter.
Dammit. Dammit! He had been so close! Maybe he could have stopped Morro if he hadn't lost focus, if-
"Cole, are you okay?!" Jay shrieked in his ear through the communicator. He winced and sat up, only to realize he was inside some poor monk's writing table. The kid stared at him with wide eyes, but it didn't look like he'd knocked anything out of place, so Cole just stood up and dusted himself off, useless as the gesture was. He mouthed a "sorry" before replying to Jay.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I fell into one of the towers. Where's Lloyd and Morro?"
"Just flew through the Eye," Kai replied, and Cole could practically feel heat radiating off him through the mic.
"And the sword?"
"I saw him drop it. I'm retrieving it now," Zane explained. His voice was cool and calm as always. "Let us remember that the Sword of Sanctuary was our reason for coming here. With his allies gone, and with the sword, Morro is now at a massive tactical disadvantage. This was not a failure, Cole."
It sure felt like a failure, watching his brother sob out an apology as he fought for his body. Maybe he should have stayed hidden- even if they hadn't gotten the sword, it was cruel that Lloyd had to live with the fate of what had happened to Cole. If Cole were in his position, and he saw that Lloyd had turned into a ghost trying to save him-
"Yeah, okay," was what he settled on saying. "Let's… just meet outside, then. We'll figure out…" he swallowed hard, his mouth somehow feeling too dry even though he couldn't feel at all. "We'll figure this out."
The entire room was staring at him with wide eyes, a large audience to his failure.
"Sorry again," he mumbled as he made his way to the stairs- he felt his nonexistent stomach churn.
An image of a seven-year-old flashed through his mind. One that stared out over a crowd, confident he could do the impossible when really, he was nothing but a failure and disappointment. Nothing but a failure, a runaway, and a screwup that couldn't even help himself enough for his quartet to trust him to be okay.
When he exited the building, the first one to hug him, surprisingly, was Zane. Although, Cole couldn't find it in himself to pull his form together. So Zane was relying on the spots where his Deepstone Armor caught against his stupid ghostly form to approximate the position of a hug. It was just so cold and empty, and not at all fair for Zane, but Cole couldn't muster much more at the moment.
"Cole, you did well," Zane said, as though he were a child that needed consoling. "We retrieved the sword, and soon, we will save Lloyd."
"How…?" Cole asked. The others stared at him. "Even if we stop his plan, whatever that is, and manage to beat him to the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master, and get our powers back, how are we ever going to get Lloyd back?"
"Hey, Zane's weapon hurt Morro!" Jay brought up. "I mean, most of Lloyd's injuries looked pretty fine- well, they were bad but they were normal. But when he was cut by the Deepstone, it looked all misty like you do! Maybe we can use it to pull Morro out of Lloyd somehow!"
"By killing Lloyd," Cole deadpanned.
"Nobody is killing Lloyd," Kai replied with a voice equal parts exhausted and concerned. "We'll figure something out like we always do."
"Like we did with Zane?" Cole spat without really meaning to. Kai and Jay winced. But he couldn't stop himself, it just kept going. "Like how we said we'd carry on, and how he'd never be forgotten, but we ended up splitting up anyway until Lloyd brought us back together?"
Zane made a sidestep and looked Cole in the eyes. "Cole. Lloyd is not gone. And Morro is not invincible. We have the sword-" he held up the Sword of Sanctuary to punctuate his statement. "And we will get our brother back. Much like how you got me back. It's going to be okay."
"Okay" was just… it was so hard to imagine. Even if everything magically worked out, Lloyd would still have been hurt by Morro. And Cole would still be a ghost. Still have a hard time just holding things. Still be a dead thing that his brothers had to blame themselves for that couldn't taste or feel or drink or go out in the rain. How was he supposed to protect his team when he couldn't even hold himself together?
And what about when the next threat came? Because First Spinjitzu Master, there definitely would be another threat. Which of them would be next on the chopping block, for Cole to fail to protect?
He'd thought he was getting better, down on that mountain, climbing with his team. But really, he was just looking away from the truth. He felt something inside of him crack.
They had to keep winning, over and over and over, they had to keep getting lucky, keep being good enough, keep not messing up- one small mistake, one stupid choice, one lucky break for evil, and they were dead. He was a ghost that couldn't do anything right and-
It's a h̶o̵p̸̚e̵l̶͛e̴̛s̶̾s̴ endeavor, isn't it, C̵͝ǒ̵̥l̵͋e̵?
It really did feel like one.
But before the weight of the thought could crush him entirely, he felt something else crush his jaw instead. He yelled as he was thrown backwards- he blinked several times before he could process what just happened- then he realized Jay was holding his nunchucks.
"Cole! Snap out of it! Don't go all misty on us!"
"I- wuh?" Cole looked down- sure enough, his hands were clearer, his body scattered.
"Look! It sucks that Lloyd is captured, and we all miss him! And yeah, this thing with you being a ghost is super weird! But we just climbed the tallest mountain in Ninjago!" He began to raise his voice as his words tumbled out. "You were the one to show us how to climb it! You think we could have figured that all out on our own?"
Kai huffed. "Hell no."
Jay nodded emphatically. "Hell no! You were the one to show us all those fancy moves! You were the one that encouraged me to practice my Cyclon-do before we reached the top! You caught me when I screwed up and almost fell! You caught me from the side of a mountain! As a ghost!" He gestured wildly, and Kai had to duck out of the way of his nunchucks.
"Yeah, but I couldn't even use my own Airjitzu without you," he replied. Jay laughed at that. "So what? We all need help from time-to-time! How many times do you all have to re-learn that before you guys can remember , I swear to the First Master you guys think you have to do everything alone!" Jay tapped his nunchuck against Cole's forehead, causing him to flinch. "Not to mention, oh master of self-blame, that you just used your Airjitzu to jump onto an energy dragon , which you then held onto long enough to reach Morro! We got the Sword of Sanctuary because of you, one-hundred-percent! No way it would have happened without you, Blockhead!"
Cole took a staggering step back and clutched his chest. "I just-"
Now Kai crossed his arms. "Listen to the Motormouth, or else he'll keep us here all day. Look, I want Lloyd back just as much as you do, but holy hell dude." He started counting off on his fingers. "It's not enough for you to lead us idiots up a mountain, to jump through a portal, to put up with that idiot Fenwick's bullshit, to fight a possessed Green Ninja, to jump onto a dragon made of pure energy , and to get the extremely important artifact from him, no, you also have to find a yet-undiscovered way to perform an in-flight exorcism? Go ahead and bring the First Master back from the dead while you're out there performing miracles."
Cole tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come. He felt a lot of emotions, all at once. Embarrassment. Sorrow. Regret. Fear. Relief.
Zane smiled at him, warm as the sun. "Come on, Brother. Let's go rest. You've done well."
"Hey! We all did well!" Jay protested.
"Did you jump onto an energy dragon?" Kai prodded, poking the Master of Lightning with the hilt of his sword. Jay pouted.
Despite himself, Cole laughed. "I… yeah, fine, I give up. Let's go. I'm not good at angsting anyway, that's Kai's job."
"And don't you forget it," his brother replied with an approving nod.
"Come on, then. Let's get out of here. I'm sick of Fenwick making passive-aggressive remarks about me," he joked.
Zane heaved a world-weary sigh. "As am I. Do you know how difficult it can be to restrain Kai when he's upset?"
"One punch," Kai muttered. "You couldn't let me get in one punch to teach him a lesson!"
"He's a middle aged monk and you're basically a walking meteoric impact ," Cole replied, drawing out the words for maximum emphasis. "One punch from you might actually kill him."
"Then don't insult the brother of the lethal meteoric impact!" Kai shouted indignantly with a flailing arm gesture that somehow ended with him sheathing his sword. "Anyway, let's hurry up and get out of here, I am about to pass out."
"Ditto!" Jay said. "Also, I think I lost my jacket."
"You'll just have to suck it up, then" Cole replied. "Unless you want to ask Fenwick where it fell when you launched yourself up the tower."
"I'll take the freezing temperatures and a warm bed, please."
"That's what I thought."
From there, they made their way to the Blind Man's Eye. Cole was pretty sure he didn't have adrenaline anymore, at least not in the traditional sense. And he wasn't smart enough to ponder what that meant for him on a scientific level. But still, he could track the level of adrenaline he should have been feeling solely in how it was visibly wearing off in his teammates.
Jay yawned, which very quickly spread to Kai. It had to be late back home. Like, so late that it was early , surely. And even if it weren't, Sensei would probably give them the chance to sleep longer than usual- he was a tough teacher, not a taskmaster. Even Zane looked like he was ready to power down for a week.
Cole didn't feel tired, not in the traditional sense, he just felt numb as always. But something in him felt… raw. And delicate. And he'd be lying if he said he didn't need a chance to rest and gather his thoughts after the outburst he just had. At the forefront of those thoughts, of course, was Lloyd.
Don't worry, Baby Bro… we're coming for you. Just hang on a little longer.
