Chapter Text
Working in the museum from the afternoon to late at night had been a mistake. For some reason, she ended up taking a ghost home with her. A ghost. His motives were questionable to say the least and he somehow managed to persuade her to steal a valuable artefact from the museum. If she ever got caught it would be the end of her. Her boss would immediately fire, she’d get no new job due to her criminal record, she wouldn’t be able to afford rent and would have to live on the street. This truly sucked.
Now, Nya was aware of her overthinking problem. She knew that she tended to be pessimistic when it came to anything regarding herself, but this time she had a valid reason for her string of thought.
She was rudely awoken by her roommate pounding on her door, telling her that her boss was calling for her again.
Her boss said she had to go back to the museum as soon as possible, because they suspected she stole an artefact from the museum. He also immediately took her side and told her to just go there and answer a couple of questions to clear her name.
Too bad she did actually steal something, but she wasn't about to admit that, so she changed into fresh clothes, scarfed down her breakfast which could now have been considered very early lunch and put up her shoulder length hair in a quick ponytail.
As she finally stepped back into her room she realised the one who was technically at fault was this strange ghost guy named Morro.
She regretted letting her emotions get the best of her. So what if he had a somehow tragic backstory and this whole proving himself resonated with Nya? He still made her steal for him and. And he was kinda weird. Who just stares out of a window for like eight hours?
Morro was weirdly insistent about coming along with her, even showing her his trick of being able to turn invisible to stay out of sight. She didn’t know why she was surprised by that, after all he was a ghost. Nya reluctantly let him accompany her as long as he actually stayed invisible and didn’t do anything she didn’t agree with.
At the museum the guard was already waiting for her with a stern expression giving her a lecture about stealing and the importance of history and why they needed to document it as best as they could.
At his desk Nya dutifully handed him her messenger bag from yesterday, ensuring the security guard that it was the same one and she hadn’t taken something out of or messed with it in any kind way since her last time in the museum. The guard looked at her warily, but there wasn’t much he could do except search her bag and probably interrogate her about what she did last night and if she noticed anything or anybody suspicious.
The guard started inspecting her bag, but Nya wasn’t worried. He was obviously not going to find anything in her messenger bag, but would that mean that they would continue investigating her? Would they search her home next? She couldn’t just keep up this lie forever. Maybe she should just shove it in Morro’s hands and send him away, that was probably the easiest and most sane thing to do.
She was pulled out of her thoughts as the security guard spoke up again, “Oh what do we have here?” Nya’s eyes widened, the guard was holding the Allied Armor of Azure while sending her a disapproving look. “I’m sorry young lady, but I have to report this to the police. You just stole a prized artefact.” He didn’t even give her any time to reply and just turned towards the vintage telephone on the other end of his desk.
Nya turned to her right where she assumed Morro was floating at that moment.“What’s it doing in my bag? I thought I told you to leave it in my room” Nya whispered angrily.
“I forgot,” he replied nonchalantly, “Don’t worry I can easily fix this.” Morro turned visible again and slowly floated towards the security guard, showing that he didn’t care at all if he was seen or not.
The guard looked and accidentally dropped the phone to the ground as he tried to back away in fear. One moment Morro was there and the next he was gone again. Nya thought for a second that he just turned invisible after scaring him a little. Unfortunately the truth wasn’t even close to that.
The security guard sluggishly stood up and wobbled for a second before he started laughing and then he looked her straight in the eyes while smirking, “I told you I’d fix it.”
Nya stood there stunned before immediately starting to berate him, “No wait, you said you wouldn’t possess anybody.”
“I don’t remember ever doing such a thing,” Nya gave him a disapproving look, “Whatever, all that matters is that I helped you keep your job. We’re even now.”
“No we’re not. As soon as you leave this guy’s body, he’ll remember everything and then my life is actually over,” she whined, but Morro’s back was already turned to her with the telephone speaker in his hand, calling for the back up of the green ninja.
This day was just getting worse and worse.
///
She heard him before she saw him. The green ninja was talking with two local police officers, next to them he looked rather short, shorter than she expected him to be. Wasn’t he the ultimate Spinjitzu master or something, the one who saves the world on a daily basis? He didn’t nearly look old enough to have been fighting Garmadon and all the other bad guys who pooped up in these recent years.
Suddenly his eyes snapped to her and he confidently marched towards her while the police officers next the entrance kept their distance. Nya quickly looked away. She knew what she had to do, but she felt bad about tricking the protector of the city even if it was for good reasons or well somewhat good reasons.
She heard someone clear their throat, Nya looked up to see the green ninja. He stared at her, but there wasn’t any sign of anger or disapprovement in his gaze. “So I heard you’re the one who last saw the security guard,” he started. His voice sounded young.
Not knowing what to say, she just nodded.
“What exactly happened? The man on the phone wasn’t really being detailed while recounting everything.”
The green ninja waited a little for her to answer, but when she didn’t respond he continued to talk, hoping she would feel comfortable enough to answer him, “I heard you took something yesterday and I am not about to judge you for that you probably had your reasons– Not that I am saying that stealing is okay you should definitely stop doing that– but back to point. You stole an artefact and you shouldn’t have.”
She took a deep breath, reluctantly admitting to her crimes, “I was called back today. Apparently I wasn’t sneaky enough. The guard on duty searched through my bag and found whatever the thing was that I stole. Then he just started freaking out and nothing I did helped calm him. So guess someone called you over.”
The ninja in front of her nodded thoughtfully. “Which artefact was it?”
“I think it was called the Allied Armor of Azure, but I am not sure. It just looked like it would sell for a lot and it’s been hard financially for my older brother and I, since our parents left. I just wanted to take some weight off his shoulders, I wouldn’t have touched that stupid armor thing if I knew this was going to be the outcome.” Nya felt a little bad for lying to him even if some parts of that story were true.
“Hey,” the ninja started, resting one hand on her shoulder in what she assumed should have been a comforting gesture, but it only made her feel even worse about herself, “I know what it is to grow up without parents, but trust me turning to crime is not the way.” The green ninja had a faraway look, like he was remembering something. Who led with telling a stranger that they had grown up without their parents? Kinda weird if you asked Nya, but she wasn’t going to say that to his face.
“Right… so I was told to show you the crime scene.”
“Uhm sure, lead the way uh-”
“Nya.”
“Just Nya is fine,” she answered awkwardly, not wanting to tell him her full name. As telling the person you’re going to trick with the help of a ghost your full name, so they could find you later, was definitely a bad idea.
“Oh well then you could call me-”
“Lloyd Garmadon, right?” he nodded dumbfounded, “Everyone knows you, you’re the green ninja, son of the evil Lord Garmadon and the one who saved this city countless of times.”
Lloyd tried not to flinch at the mention of his father. “Yeah that’s me,” he let out an awkward chuckle, “Well then what do you know about the Allied Armor of Azure?”
Nya walked ahead, making sure that the green ninja was following her before answering, “Not much, just that you can use it to summon anyone even if they are in another realm. Uh- that’s what the plague said at least.”
“Do you know what could have led to the security guard losing his composure? I assume you were fine when touching the armor, so touch could definitely not be it.” Lloyd kept looking around, trying to see if there was something else odd going on in the museum that could be linked to what was happening with the guard.
“No, not really. Maybe he saw something or maybe the armor reacts with some people? To be honest I am not sure.”
“That’s fine, I’m sure we’ll be able to find out what is going on,” he replied assuredly.
Nya opened the door to the exhibition room where the Allied Armor of Azure was previously displayed and walked in. It looked less scary in daylight than it did yesterday night when she stole it. “Well maybe it was the poor craftsmanship, the guard probably cut himself on one of those sharp metal fang thingies. Those are very questionable design choices. I come from a family of blacksmiths and let me tell you those sharp things at the chestplate are an injury risk.”
When she didn’t hear Lloyd respond she turned around to face him. He was standing in the middle of the room with a dumbfounded look on his face. “That was a joke,” Nya said, “I don't think that's the actual reason.”
Lloyd, however, was just opening and closing his mouth like a gaping fish. Whatever he wanted to say wouldn't leave his mouth.
“Is something the matter, green ninja- uh Lloyd?”
“Just Llyod and no,” apparently he had no problem with answering that question.
Nya waited patiently for him to regain his bearings and finally Lloyd spoke again, “Nya and you come from a family of blacksmiths?”
“Uhh, yes. I don't see how this is important right now though.”
“And how old are you, fourteen? Or maybe fifteen?”
“Like I said, I don't see how this is important right now.”
“I promise it is. Look if it'll make it any less weird, I'm fourteen. More or less,” he mumbled the last part.
Now it was Nya’s turn to look dumbfounded. Fourteen? He was younger than her! Sure, he looked and sounded young, but who would have guessed that the saviour of Ninjago was just a teenager. Nya always imagined them as grown adults. However, if their leader was this young, who knew how much younger the other four ninjas were?
“Recently turned fifteen,” she replied skeptically, justifying her actions in her head by telling herself revealing her age to him was totally not weird and okay since he was the green ninja, the cities saviour.
That seemed to be the right answer as he broke out into a huge smile. He stepped closer to her, “Okay… wow! I didn't expect that. Now I don't want this to come across as weird–”
“You already made it weird,” Nya interjected as she tried to back up as subtly as she could.
“Sorry, but do you know a guy called Ka-” he fell face first to the cold, hard marble floor before he could finish whatever he was trying to say.
It was the security guard or better said Morro possessing the security guard, who made Lloyd fall. Although that was apparently not enough for him, as Morro immediately tried to stomp his HEAD. Luckily, Lloyd managed to roll out of the way before his head made contact with the sole of the guard's boot.
The green ninja tried to reason with Morro, still believing that he was acting under the influence of the armor. Morro, however, just laughed, not listening to a word he said while continuing to fight him. By the time Nya processed what was happening, they had already tumbled out of the room in their fight. FSM this wasn’t the plan at all. Why was Morro always ‘improvising’ in the worst ways possible or by doing stuff Nya explicitly told him not to do? For example, possessing other people or attacking the green ninja.
He was a ghost, but Nya was alive and thus had to deal with all the consequences that come with aiding someone who was trying to hurt the city’s saviour.
She tried to follow them out of the room, but with a strong gust of wind the door slammed right in front of her face, making her stumble backwards. Damn it, it was definitely Morro’s doing. His way of telling her to back off.
However, that was not nearly enough to deter Nya. She slammed the door open and entered the hallway. She looked around both, but there was no trace of the boys. The only clue indicating that they were still in the building was the echoes of their fight. No wonder museums force you to be quiet, every little sound was being reflected by the walls.
Left with no other choice, Nya looked through every single room in her vicinity. They weren’t at the serpentine exhibition or not in the one with dinosaurs. She couldn’t find them in the room with all those old maps and the room with the paintings, which could only mean they were in the room where the security guard, when he wasn’t being possessed by Morro, searched her bag.
Nya quickly turned the corner and burst into where she expected to see Lloyd and Morro still battling it out. To her surprise there was no fight. Just Lloyd.
He was kneeling on the ground and softly shaking his head as he buried both of his hands in his wavy blond hair. Nya carefully approached him, unsure if he’d be fine with her near him as she was technically responsible for all of this. “Lloyd, are you okay?” she asked with her hand slightly outstretched but not truly touching him.
He didn’t respond, but he slowly stopped shaking his hand and his hands loosened the grip on his hair. “Lloyd?” She tried again, but just like last time she didn’t get an answer.
“Lloyd! Are you alright?” She got closer and put a hand on his shoulder. As soon as her palm made contact with his green gi, Lloyd’s shoulders began shaking. It took Nya a moment to realise that he was silently laughing, but before she could properly react, the green ninja’s hand flew up to her wrist, holding onto it in a bone crushing grip. She winced and tried to pull her hand away from him to no avail.
He laughed and laughed till he finally had enough and his laughter slowly died down. “Wow, I never thought the day would come where I’d be the green ninja,” he breathed out as he let go of her wrist to flex his joints. Something was wrong that didn’t sound like Lloyd, no, something was different about him. “Thanks for the help, kid.” He said as he laid a hand on her shoulder. It was gentler than when he gripped her wrist, but still with too much force to feel comfortable. Almost like he didn’t know how strong it was. Like this was the first time he was operating his body. She looked over Lloyd’s shoulder and saw the man Morro was possessing still on the ground, not moving.
Oh.
OH.
That’s when it hit her. Weird voice, using too much force when interacting with other stuff, and ‘I’d never thought I’d be the green ninja’. Morro was possessing Lloyd. This could never end well.
“Stop! You said it was a one time thing to get me out of trouble.The plan was to question Lloyd about Wu’s staff, maybe intimidate him. Not this, Get out of his body!” she yelled, trying to sound authoritative, but the slight crack in her voice prevented that.
“Well, have you ever thought that I might have lied to you?” Morro replied smugly, looking her straight in her eyes, silently challenging her to do something
She held his stare, trying to muster all of her courage. The two stood there staring at each other, Morro with a smug and mocking expression and Nya with her brows furrowed and the angriest look she could make. It felt like they stood there for minutes, but it was probably no more than ten seconds before the kid ran past him towards the main hall.
Morro let out a chuckle, shaking his head with amusement “What did I even expect?” he muttered to himself.
He went over to Nya’s messenger bag and collected the Allied Armor of Azure he had the kid steal for him last night. Morro put it on immediately, feeling the power of the armor surge through him. However, before he tried to call for his ghostly acquaintances, he stretched his fingers, well Lloyd’s Fingers, but this was his body now, and tried to concentrate on his elemental powers. A tingling sensation took over his body, a sensation he was well acquainted with. A light breeze entered his room and soon it was so strong that the wind managed to knock off some paintings and artefacts onto the floor.
He couldn’t help the laugh escaping his lips. This whole situation, being alive again was exhilarating. He had never felt this good in his entire life. But the best part was that he possessed the body of master Wu’s new student, the green ninja. The ninja master Wu said he could never be, but look at him now. Stronger than ever before, stronger than the green ninja Wu chose.
Oh, how he couldn’t wait to face his old master again. To make Wu watch as he uses his student’s body to rip out his late father’s damn staff out of his old hands. And then he’ll finally find the tomb of the first Spinjitzu and with it the Realm Crystal, giving him the ability to let the Preeminent enter Ninjago. He wanted the world to hurt like he did, he wanted everyone to feel the pain he did and he wanted them to know how miserable it was being stuck in the cursed realm.
He’d make everyone who wronged him regret it as soon as he got his hands on the Crystal.
With his newfound determination he let the wind die down and turned to leave this stuffy museum and find that pathetic tea shop his old master runs now. However, before he could even make a step in the direction of the exit, his face started to burn. It felt excruciating, so painful that he started to lose his hold over the green ninja’s body. The green ninja himself apparently didn’t feel any burning at all, which made Morro realise that it wasn’t an ordinary burn. No, it was so much worse.
Water. That damn kid didn’t run away from him, she brought water and sprayed it straight on his face, weakening his connection and forcing him out of the green ninja’s body, but Morro wouldn’t give up this fast. He fought back, trying to maintain control.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the kid move. Not wanting to take another risk, he let a strong gust of wind knock her down and pinned her with his foot on the sleeve of her shirt to collect his bearings, but as soon as he had done that all the fight in Lloyd left, letting him have free control over his body. Although his face still felt like it was on fire, he managed to suppress the pain and push through it.
“You,” Morro hissed, inching closer to her as she desperately tried to free her right hand from where he held it down with his boots.
“I’ll do it again!” she threatened. “Yesterday- Yesterday when I did the water moving thingy, it wasn’t a fluke! So what if you can control the wind? It's just a little air, I can do it too with water and I think we both know what you think about getting a little wet.” In all honesty Nya didn’t know how that happened yesterday, she assumed that there was still some liquid in her broken glass bottle which caused the illusion of water moving up and nearly wetting him, but Morro didn’t know. And who's to say that water isn’t an elemental power. If fire, earth and wind existed then water had to do too.
“Oh really? You were lucky, caught me off guard, but that won’t happen again. What will you do when I just blow all the water away next time?” asked mockingly, putting pressure on arm just for Lloyd to fight back for the control over his body, making Morro stumble backwards a little. Oh so the green ninja didn’t like it at all when he was hurting civilians, Morro thought to himself as he grimaced.
Taking advantage of him being distracted, Nya put her hands in the shallow pool of water she spilled while trying to wet Morro. It was too little water for her to gather in her hands for another water splash attack, but enough to spray him with a few drops. Maybe it’d distract him enough for Lloyd to regain control over his body.
Just like last time Morro hissed in pain as the water droplets made contact with his skin. To Nya’s surprise she hit him with more Water than expected, almost like there was water appearing out of thin air to assist her.
However, unfortunately for her that seemed to just anger Morro more as he sent another blast of wind in her direction making her lose her footing for a second time. “That is ENOUGH. Fine, I'll leave the green ninja’s body as soon as I get what I want. When I have the Wu’s staff and the Realm Crystal I won’t need this body anyways,” he gritted out.
“You mean it? So if I help you get it you’ll leave him alone?” Nya asked, still skeptical of him.
Morro glared at her, “You’d only get in the way. I don’t need your help, I can beat off the ninjas with my elemental powers alone. They’re just some kids in costumes to big for them ”
“No, you don’t even know where this Wu guy is! And they’ll immediately realise you’re not Lloyd, defeating you before you even get a chance to enter his tea shop. Admit it, you need me. And if you do just leave right now I’ll just warn the ninjas of you so they are prepared to swiftly take care of you.”
He stared at her for a long second before commanding her to get up and lead him to Wu’s new tea shop.
///
Behind the corner leading to Wu’s and the ninja’s new tea shop called Steep Wisdom, Nya and Morro, who was still possessing Lloyds body, were planning how to go forward with the whole ‘borrowing master Wu’s staff’ thing.
Nya was the first to speak up, “I’ll go in first. I’ll just take his staff when master Wu is distracted. And you’ll wait here for me. That way we can avoid an unnecessary confrontation.”
“Wu may look like an ordinary old man, but he certainly isn’t. I doubt you’d be able to even lay a finger on his staff.”
“What reason would he have to suspect me? I’ll just say I was curious about the staff, ask him for some team from the back and we go to get it for me I’ll just snatch it and run out.”
“This is a horrible plan,” Morro sighed.
Annoyed, Nya asked, “Well, do you have a better idea?” They glared at each other for a minute before the kid spoke up again, “That’s what I thought. Wait here until I get back.”
As he watched Nya entering the tea shop, he had just one thought, there was no way he was just gonna stand by. Wu had to know he was back and watch him best his new students. Morro just had to wait for the kid to cause a little chaos by attempting to steal the staff and then he'd strike.
A bell rang as Nya entered the tea shop and immediately an old voice called out, but it wasn't Wu unless Morro's Sensei was in reality a woman.
“Welcome to Steep Wisdom,” The woman, who looked like she was in her forties due to her gray hair, welcomed, “What do you need?”
“Just some tea,”
The woman- Misako, as her name tag read, laughed, “Well I sure hope so, this is a tea shop after all. Are you searching for a specific tea?”
Nya laughed awkwardly, trying to come up with an answer, but she didn't know a single thing about tea besides that it's basically hot leaf juice. She needed to stall until the chance of stealing Wu's staff represented itself. Fortunately, Misako cut in and showed her different teas and explained their benefits.
In the end Nya bought some Chamomile tea, since it apparently helped sleep, lowered stress, enhanced one's mood and had lots of other effects, which Nya couldn't be bothered to recount. Even after Misako’s lengthy explanation of teas, there was no sight of Wu.
The older woman must have sensed her disappointment, as she later asked Nya if she came here to meet the ninja. The assumption wasn't correct, but a good enough cover for her, so she just went along with it in hope of stalling even more time.
Nya said something along the lines of the blue one being her favourite ninja, since it is her favourite colour. Fortunately, that’s when the man of the hour decided to finally make his entrance.
“I am sure Jay would love to hear that a pretty young lady like you think of him so highly,” Wu’s bemused voice chimed in, as he made his way to the counter with his staff in hand, “Did you find what you were looking for, Miss?”
“Oh she won’t admit it, but she is actually here for the ninjas. She did buy some tea though,” Misako answered for her.
Nya laughed awkwardly while her face heated up from feeling embarrassed. However, Wu didn’t seem to care and laughed with her. The tea shop must have been doing really bad if they didn’t care about why people were visiting the shop. She knew she was their first customer, but now she did feel bad.
A bell rang and all three of them looked up to see a mother and daughter duo entering the shop. Misako excused herself to help the next customers, leaving Nya and Wu alone at the counter.
“There is no reason to feel embarrassed, dear. I was well aware that most of our customers were going to be there for the ninjas when I chose to open this shop. I even made the ninja advertise for the shop. I’m glad you at least bought something.”
“Well, Misako is a really good salesperson. I didn’t know tea could do all that.”
“Ah yes most people don’t. Over time knowledge about all traditions and skills get lost. Sadly the understanding of tea’s healing properties and special abilities were one of those things that were slowly forgotten,” he then continued to talk for the next few minutes about tea.
Wow, this guy was very passionate about tea or he really wanted Nya to make another purchase.
She was rescued by the shouts of some teenage boys just outside the store. Actually rescued was the wrong word, as those teenage boys were none other than the ninjas. Despite Wu’s kind insistence that she join him and meet the ninja, she excused herself to the bathroom and just darted behind the closest corner of the room. She didn’t have time to think if they even had a bathroom at the shop, but seeing as Wu didn’t stop her, the poor excuse she gave must have sounded at least somewhat believable.
Nya was seriously regretting this. The old man was using the staff to walk, so there wasn’t even a second where he left it out of sight and then there were the ninjas. With them back at the shop there was no way she could inconspicuously take the staff. Not to mention they would be able to catch her pretty quickly.
Maybe she should just ask for a cup of tea and try to pour it over Morro. That seemed easier than stealing the late first Spinjitzu Master’s staff.
From where she was hidden, Nya could hear the ninjas and Wu talking pretty well. It also helped that the boys were still shouting. Wu said something about a fan being too nervous to meet them, which explained why he let her off so easily. However, the boys interrupted him, yelling that their powers disappeared.
Huh, that oddly works in her favour.
But there were still too many of them. It it was just master Wu and Misako then Nya could easily outrun them, but with the four ninja it would be hard to get away.
A distraction would be good. Nya sat there with her back against the wall thinking about her next steps while her hair fluttered in the wind. Wait, wind inside a building?
It seemed like she wasn't the only one finding it strange, the ninjas just noticed it too. However, their attention was quickly focused on something else.
“Lloyd!” Nya heard the ninjas yell before the sounds of their hurried footsteps faded.
For what felt like the hundredth time today Nya cursed Morro out in her head. What was the point of making plans and agreeing to them if he wasn't going to follow them at all?
Before Nya could even begin to hope that nobody would notice Morro posing as the green ninja, Wu said he knew that wind. No wonder, he used to be Morro’s master back when he was alive. However, that also meant he knew it wasn’t Lloyd standing near the tea shop's entrance.
Nya had to act fast. Even if this wasn’t part of the plan, it was a much needed distraction. With the ninja gone and Wu’s attention elsewhere, this was the perfect time to sneakily take the staff. She swiftly left the corner she was hiding at just a few seconds prior.
“I'm back! Oh wow what's happening?” Horrible acting, but honestly she couldn't care less anymore.
Fortunately, Wu didn't seem to care. His eyes still glued on what was happening outside as he responded, “I'm afraid you just missed the ninjas. Misako, please use the business van to get our customers out of here.”
He threw the keys to Misako, who effortlessly caught them and ushered the mother and daughter out of the shop.
“Huh?” Nya asked elegantly.
Wu pointed outside where Morro was fighting all four ninjas at once and somehow still winning, “You must leave with Misako for your own good. It's not safe here right now.”
Okay, again not what she planned for, but it's fine, she could make it work. “Oh yeah. Sure. Let me help you get to the car then,” she moved to his right, ready to ‘aid’ him reaching the van quickly.
“Don't trouble yourself. I must stay, he is here for me after all.”
“Really? Cause to me it seems like he just wants to beat the ninjas to a pulp,” the ground shook and the sound of something crashing to the ground could be heard, “With all due respect, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to stay here.”
Wu raised a brow at her statement, “I might be old, but I'm not frail.”
“By the sounds of it, the ninjas aren't faring well at all. So, again, staying her is not a good idea.” Not waiting for a response she took his arm, the one with which he held the staff, and tried to drag him towards the exit. However, Wu wouldn't budge one bit.
“I know my students and I know that he won't stop until he gets what he wants and that is revenge against me. I can't let my students fight a battle that isn't theirs to fight.”
Nya could feel her frustration boil over. Why couldn't anything go her way for once? “Going assumptions is not very smart. You don't even know for sure if Morro is here for you.”
As soon as those words left her mouth, she knew she fucked up, however, she didn't expect to get thrown to the floor by a man who didn't look a day under a hundred. Maybe that was a little rude, but it was more rude to point a staff to her head like it was a sword or something.
“I never s–,” Nya didn't wait for him to finish what he was saying and just grabbed the end of his staff with both of her hands, pulling it towards her as hard as she could.
Unfortunately for her Wu was way stronger than he looked. He wasn't lying when he said he wasn't frail.
The staff flew out of their hands and clattered to the ground, revealing three symbols. By the shocked look on Wu's face he most likely didn’t know his staff could do that.
Wasting no time Nya scrambled to her feet and tried to reach the staff, but just as she was about to grab it the slammed open again. The wind that shortly followed made the staff roll away and multiple items of the shop fell off their places in the shelves.
“Morro,” Wu exclaimed, sounding a little emotional if Nya wasn't mistaken.
It wasn't hard to guess what would happen next with Morro around, probably another fight, which Nya didn't want to get involved with at all. So while all attention was still off her, she carefully made her way to the staff.
It had rolled to a nearly fallen shelf behind the counter. Before she picked up and dashed out through the side entrance, she spotted bamboo sticks hanging on the wall as decoration. That was awfully convenient, but Nya wasn't going to question it. She took off one of the bamboo sticks and placed it where the real staff was.
She left as quickly as possible after that with the staff in hand, only catching a glimpse of Morro staying at the entrance of the teashop looking angry before she left.
Outside Misako was waiting for her. “I was just about to go in and fetch you. Quick get in,” she ushered the younger girl into the car, “what about Wu?”
“He said he had to stay, something about not letting the ninjas fight his fights.”
Misako sighed, “Well we should hurry. They'll find another way to get away if it becomes too dangerous. Buckle up, dear.”
She barely had time to fasten her seat belt, before Misako stepped on the gas and drove them away from the tea shop.
///
That damned old man! He tricked him. He threw a useless bamboo staff at him and he fell for it.
They now had the three clues to the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master while he wasted his time and energy for nothing.
Morro had to find them. He had to search for the crash site of their flying ship. There was no way he was going empty handed today.
With his luck, his old master already figured out the first sentence and they were most likely planning on how to proceed.
There was no more time to be wasted.
Despite that, he found it hard to leave his place on the dirty ground. His knees and elbows were probably already stained from him throwing himself at the ground in frustration after finding out that the staff was a fake.
Morro heard footsteps approaching, which he immediately recognized as the kid’s. He didn’t pay her any mind though, not even when she stopped directly in front of him so close that he could make out the tips of her shoes from the corner of his eyes, instead he closed his eyes and tried to come up with a new plan before the ninja could get too far from him. With the staff being with them they could easily destroy it and get rid of the clues leading to the first Spinjitzu master’s tomb. Morro needed to act fast.
“Wow, so I guess the oh so great elemental master of wind really didn’t need my help to retrieve Wu’s staff,” Nya’s voice butted in, stopping his thought process. Morro just huffed and tried to concentrate again, but the kid wouldn’t let off. “So what did you do? Take them all on in a fight and beat them to the ground before they could react? Or did you use the ‘I got unfairly banished so now I absolutely have to react with violence to get my body back, cause talking it out is overrated’? I bet your ex master loved that one and just threw the staff to you, begging you to take it to regain your mortal body and live a life full a sunshines and rainb-”
“ENOUGH!” he yelled, losing control of his elemental powers for a second, which sent Nya stumbling to the ground. “I am not in the mood to get spotted by a chi-”
His eyes widened when he saw what she was holding. A staff and not just any staff but the one belonging to master Wu, the one with the location of the Realm Crystal. For a moment he just stared there, stunned by what he was seeing.
The kid smirked at him as she dangled the stuff in front of Morro. “In the chaos nobody saw me just taking it and replacing it with a simple decorative bamboo staff,” she explained, self satisfied with her sneakiness.
“By the way there was no need to go that far. I wouldn’t have found you if the ninjas’ flying ship wasn't as massive as it is. And Misako was heading the other direction so I had to argue with her to leave the car so close to the ‘danger’.”
Morro barely listened to her and quickly went to grab the staff as soon as she finished her explanation, just for Nya to pull out of his reach. “Nuh uh, you said you’d let Lloyd go after getting the staff.”
“I’ll let the green ninja go when I am sure that this is the real thing and not just some similar looking stick you picked from the ground.” He sent a strong gust of wind towards the staff making Nya lose the grip on it. Morro caught it before it could touch the ground and stood up.
“Hey, wait for me!” she spluttered trying to keep up with him, “Where are you going? You still have to hold up your end of the bargain.”
Morro stopped briefly, looking at her over his shoulders before sighing, “If you want to come along then hurry up. I won’t slow down for you and who knows maybe if I see what I like I’ll stop possessing this guy.”
“Really? I started doubting you if I am honest. I don’t know what I’d have done if you weren’t even considering letting Lloyd free. What changed your mind?”
“About Lloyd? I am a man of my word, so like I said I’ll gladly leave his body when I get to the Realm Crystal in tomb of-”
“Not that,” she interrupted, “you already said that much. I meant what changed your mind about letting me tag along?”
“Oh, well maybe you’re not as useless as I thought,” Nya’s face lit up, “And besides I heard something really interesting while fighting the ninja,” he murmured the last part to himself.
“What?”
“Nothing. Now come on before I leave you in the dust.” he called over his shoulder, and as he heard footsteps quickening to catch up to him, he didn’t look back.
///
He downed the drink the bartender gave him. It felt good to finally have a physical body again to be able to enjoy the little things in life. Morro saw the kid raising their brow at him to which he reassured her that he only drank tea. One of the downsides of possessing a kid. It’s not like he wanted an alcoholic drink, but it would be significantly harder to do some stuff just, because on the outside he looked like a fourteen year old boy.
“What are we doing here?” Nya asked.
“To quench my thirst,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Mind you I haven’t had anything to drink for years. Being a ghost makes all that impossible.”
“What about Lloyd? I thought you’d release him by now. Don’t tell me I have to dump this tea on you to get you out of his body.”
“Yeah, well about that. I don't think I can do it”
“What do you mean you can’t do it?”
“I can’t leave his body,” Morro answered nonchalantly while leaning against the bar table.
Nya just looked at him incredulously, pointing out that he had no problem with the museum’s security guard.
“This is different, since Lloyd is the green ninja and all. Well, it’s rather convenient as only a master of Spinjitzu can enter the tomb.”
“You’re right, that is really awfully convenient. Are you lying? I understand that you’re sick of being a ghost, but there has to be another way.”
Morro shrugged, casually saying “No I’m not lying, but even if I were there is nothing you could. I mean you could try drowning me in water, but who knows what that’ll actually do to this body when you forcefully remove the one in control.” He was obviously bluffing, but if he learned anything it’s that people nowadays have no idea about anything concerning ghosts, snakes and everything else.
The younger girl opened her mouth to retort, but closed it again, unsure of what to respond. Seems like the bluff actually worked. Just as he smirked in satisfaction, Nya piped in again. “What if I became a master of Spinjitzu?” She said that so seriously that Morro nearly thought she actually meant it. He burst out in laughter, cramping his stomach as he got side stitches from laughing too hard.
Looking back at the kid he realised that she was serious about it, which only made this situation funnier. After finally calming down and catching his breath he said, “You? A Spinjitzu master? Oh please if that’s the case then I am actually the green Ninja.”
She huffed looking away as her cheeks tinged pink from embarrassment. “What about you? I thought you were also one of Wu’s students, so surely he must have taught you all about it. So why can’t you just do it?”
“If it were that easy I wouldn’t have done the possessing thing in the first place. If you haven’t noticed it yet, kid, I am a ghost and ghosts can’t be masters of anything, since they’re dead. I’m sure that if I entered the tomb of the first Spinjitzu master in my normal form, I wouldn’t even get past the first challenge and before I die by accidentally tripping into a puddle.”
“You can float though?” She exclaimed. “Nevermind, well what I am hearing is that one just has to have a physical body and be able to use Spinjitzu, since it’s kinda in the name of it. So again why can’t I do it? Isn’t Spinjitzu just spinning really fast?”
Morro downed another class of tea before moving to the first table he saw, a billiard table which was still being used, not that he cared though. “You’ll never be a master of Spinjitzu if you think just spinning fast is all there is to it. It means ”
“Well then just teach me whatever it takes to be one and I’ll go retrieve the crystal you’re searching for. No need to keep the poor guy’s body.”
She followed him and watched as Morro let the staff fall to the table. Three symbols appeared on the dust of the table, none of them seemed familiar to her, but the recognition that lighted up in Morro’s eyes told her that it wasn’t necessary for her to decode or understand it. Though she couldn’t understand what he was seeing in them as two of the three symbols looked like basic drawings with no significant message.
“Spinjitzu is harder than it looks,” Morro replied, while ignoring the two angry men who were peeved with Morro interrupting their game, “I could try to teach you it, but I don’t think you’re fit for it.”
At that the kid’s whole demeanor changed.“Why? Is it because I am a girl?” She asked, annoyed as if he already said yes.
“No, because you lack the basic skills every ninja possesses,” Morro answered, still not acknowledging the two men and the angry crowd which started forming around them.
“And what are those skills, being able to fight? If that’s what you’re worried about then you have the wrong person. I grew up in a family of blacksmiths, I know how to use almost every weapon and not just theoretically.”
“That’s not all. You simplify everything way too much. Being a ninja is not just being a good fighter, you need to have other qualities too.”
“Like what?”
“Like being patient,” Morro gave her a look. “Or finding your inner balance and most importantly being aware of your surroundings,” with that he fully turned to her and stretched his arm out to send out windblast from his hands. Nya flinched, she belatedly realised that Morro wasn’t aiming for her but for the guy standing just a couple centimeters behind her. She didn’t even notice him approaching. “You can consider this as your first lesson on how to become a ninja”
“Get him!” One of the men yelled, before all hell broke out in the dingy bar.
Nya could barely react as an older guy pounced on her. He reeked of alcohol, based on the way he held himself and how he wasn’t able to walk in a straight line at all, he was most likely already wasted. So no real challenge, she thought as she kicked him as hard as could in the stomach, leading the drunken man to trip over his own two feet and take down the guy beside him as he fell to the ground. The loud thud the two guys made as the fell caused some of the men shifting their focus from Morro to her.
Ugh this wasn’t what she wanted at all. She didn’t attack the drunk, she was just defending herself. These guys had no right to get mad at her for that.
Nya quickly dove under the new guy who was wielding a cue stick, which he previously used to play billiard with, as a weapon. This only seemed to anger him more. He swiftly spun to face her again and swung his cue with all his might, but Nya skillfully dodged every swing of his. Until the new guy’s friend clamped both of his hands over her shoulder, pinning her in place.
She struggled trying to free herself from the big guy’s grip to no avail. Just as the cue of the other man was about to hit her, she ducked her head to the side, narrowly avoiding being hit straight in the face. Her captor wasn’t as lucky though and gasped in pain as the thin end of the cue stick connected with his chin. His grip on her shoulder weakened just for a second, but Nya wasted no time and kicked him in his shinbone. He let her go as he hopped on one leg, trying to relieve the pain in his right leg. Nya took that opportunity to lunge on the guy with the cue stick and wrestle it out of his hands.
With her newly acquired weapon Nya went on the offensive and knocked down the guy who tried to attack her.
She looked for Morro to see how he was handling himself and to her surprise he seemed to be enjoying himself. He laughed with a slight maniacal edge as he used his fists and elemental powers to fend off the men trying to take him down. It would have been more impressive if he actually tried to defend himself too, but he just took on most of the hits coming his way. Nya winced as a large dude punched him straight in the face, Morro, however, barely reacted and just threw him off balance with another blast of wind before stomping down on his face. She didn’t know who she should feel more sorry for, Lloyd who’d have to sport a big bruise or the guy whose nose was surely broken now.
Wow, Morro had a lot more issues than Nya thought.
That short moment of being distracted was enough time for the big guy who held her in place to gather his bearings and tackle her to the ground. She could feel the pain of the harsh fall reverberating through her whole body as she hit the ground head first. She just narrowly managed to roll out of the way as the big guy brought his foot to the ground. Most likely trying to give her the same treatment Morro did to one of his buddies.
Nya stood up fast which made the room spin for a second. She tried to somehow win the upper hand in the fight again, but the guy kept coming onto her and the terrible ache at the back of her head made it hard to properly concentrate. Her back colliding against the bar with no space to back off and dodge the big guys hit forced Nya to go on the offensive. She desperately tried to grab something from the high bar table behind her to defend herself as she kept her eyes locked on the big guy who was approaching her. Her hand gripped a firm, cylindrical object and hurled it at the man without really thinking about it.
She saw as the object hit him right in the middle of his brows and then bounced off him, falling straight to the ground. With a loud clang the object, which she now could identify as a normal drinking class, fell to the ground and broke to tiny pieces. The man soon followed and landed with his head on the broken glass shards.
Nya could only stare in horror as she realised what she did, paralyzed as an awful feeling of guilt and dread washed over her.
The temperature in the bar steadily dropped and at first she thought the coldness was only a trick her mind was playing on her until an otherworldly light caught her attention. She tore her eyes off the unconscious man on the ground and tried to find the cause for the strange light.
It was Morro who was using the armor she stole for him from the museum and as it looked like, he was calling for a ghost friend of his.
She took back her statement from before, this is what it looked like for all hell to break loose. The new guy was wild, ruthless and worst of all enjoying this way more than he should have. It was brutal, the guys couldn’t even defend themselves from him as it all just flew straight through the ghost.
This was bad. She had to do something about this, but what?
Suddenly she felt someone gripping her shoulder. She halfheartedly tried to shake them off just to be hauled to her feet. Nya looked up to see Morro was the one who was dragging her out of the bar.
“We are heading to the library of Domu,” he said without looking back at her.
“What?”
Morro drew the doors open and stepped outside while still pulling Nya along. “It’s where the scroll of Airjitzu is being held. That’s what the first symbol stands for.”
“Wait, wait! We can’t just leave,” she snatched her arm from Morro, “What’s with the ghost you called, he could seriously hurt the people inside of the bar. And- and we have to get help. I mean I just threw GLASS at a guy and then he just fell onto the sharp glass shards. He could be bleeding out right now. Or maybe he is already dead. First Spinjitzu master I just hurt someone like REALLY HURT someone. I-”
Slightly annoyed, Morro put a stop to her rambling, “I know. I saw it happen and so did the other people in the bar, and let me tell you they weren’t pleased with it at all. I did what I had to do. Those guys were pissed. So I summoned Wrayth to take care of them. You left me with no other choice.” A lie.
“I- but- What if that Wrayth guy seriously hurts them. Those guys can’t defend them.”
“He won’t,” another lie, “But even if it came to that, it’s not like those guys are completely innocent and undeserving of it. Remember they were the ones who started the fight and apparently they had no qualms about hurting a kid like you.”
“Yeah but-”
Morro sighed and his voice took on a gentler tone when he spoke next, “Look if it makes you feel better the guy you threw the glass at is alright. He was breathing just fine when I walked by him and it didn’t look like he was bleeding.” Another lie again, he didn’t pay the guy any attention, his focus laid on the vibrating drinks in the bar. The kid probably didn’t realise she was about to cause them to explode.
Nonetheless, the lie did make Nya feel slightly better about everything. Letting her calm down to the point of being able to control her quickened breath. After just a couple of seconds she could feel her breathing return to normal and the dread in her stomach dissipating slightly.
That’s when Wrayth decided to stroll out of the bar while whistling all happily. Nya gave him a dirty look which he ignored to walk or rather float up to Morro.
“All done, boss! What’s next?”
“Go and distract the ninjas. Waste their time while I’ll get the scroll of Airjitzu,” Morro commanded, “You can take one of these bikes. I don’t think they’ll need it right now.”
“Wait, that's property theft and what do you mean with ‘distract the ninjas’? I thought we only needed their master’s staff,” Nya interjected, but Wrayth paid her no mind and drove off with one of the bikes he modified with his powers.
Morro just shrugged his shoulders. “Calm down, we're just borrowing a bike and it’s the ninjas we’re talking about. I am sure they’re not happy about being robbed. Obviously they’ll try to get, so we have to create a distraction to momentarily get them off our case.”
“Wow, so you admit that taking Wu’s staff was theft and not this? What about the armor you said you just wanted to borrow, but it’s still here in your possession and not in the museum on display.”
“Ok so what about? Stealing isn’t even that big of a deal.”
“It’s just that I don’t want to steal a bike too.” Nya said exasperatedly.
Morro smiles smugly, “Who said anything about stealing? I have my own ride.”
“Weren’t you stuck in the Cursed Realm for like a million years or so? What do you mean you have your own- Oh. Holy- A DRAGON!? You have a dragon?”
“Every elemental has a dragon they can summon,” he said while gently petting his dragon.
“Does that mean-”
He sighed, getting on his dragon, “Let’s do that whole ‘questioning every single thing’ later. It’s quite tiring to explain the most obvious things.”
“For you maybe. Most of the people don’t know anything about all of this.”
Morro rolled his eyes, offering her his hand. “Whatever just get on, the sooner we get to the library of Domu the better. Unless you don’t want to do this thing anymore.”
Nya stared at his hand, hesitating only for a second before grasping it.