Work Text:
Mr. Frohicky sweeped along the training course outside the monastery. He hummed to himself as he tried not to think of the fact that all this precarious cleaning would probably be worth nothing once the ninja decided to train once more. He shuddered at the amount of broken wood and stone he would have to pick up tomorrow. Despite his worries, he hummed into the night, muttering lyrics to some random song.
It was only when he felt an unnatural chill that he froze in place, a shudder going up his spine. Almost as if a ghost was breathing down his neck.
He looked around the monastery grounds. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Everyone at the monastery had been a little wary and slightly on edge because of the search for Jay, but they were all trying to keep their calm. Including Mr. Frohicky.
He glanced up at the night sky, the many stars dappling the dark abyss above.
He shrugged and continued sweeping his broom along the stone of the monastery floor, brushing the unusual weather off as just a weird occurrence.
Then he felt a gust of wind. Cold, freezing wind that made him shiver even worse than before. Perhaps it was a storm? But there were no clouds, not even stormy ones. Ever since the Merge, all the seasons of the earth were kind of.. messed up. And it definitely wasn’t winter, so this cold wind didn’t make any sense at all.
“M-maybe it’s just Euphrasia..” The caretaker mumbled, trying to gain some hope out of his fleeting confidence.
He knew it couldn’t be Euphrasia, because, well, why would she send freezing winds toward the monastery? And besides, she was in the Cloud Kingdom. Not to say she couldn’t get down here, but..
Mr. Frohicky tried to gather his confidence and dared speak into his seemingly empty surroundings.
“Hello? Is anyone there..?” He yelled out, not noticing he was clutching his broom.
The winds got colder and more rough. Numerous leaves whipped around him. Mr. Frohicky’s grasp on his broom felt looser, not by choice, but as if someone was directly trying to snatch it away from him.
He heard some of the monastery’s wooden beams rattle from the force of the wind.
“C-come out and show yourself!” He yelled again.
His head whipped to the side as he heard a loud buzz from a nearby hanging lantern. It was now glowing an acidic green.
“What..?” Mr. Frohicky muttered to himself.
Suddenly, every light in the monastery turned a lime green. The winds were only getting stronger.
Mr. Frohicky gulped nervously as he hoped that this wasn’t one of the dastardly Forbidden Five coming to destroy the ninja in their sleep.
As if to knock him out of his worries, the wind just.. stopped. Multiple small objects clattered down onto the stone floor, out of the winds grasp. The lights were still green, however, which kept Mr. Frohicky wary.
Then, out of nowhere, the dust from Mr. Frohicky’s dustpan arose as if it were being given life.
He dropped his broom which fell onto the hard stone with a loud clatter. He backed up from the dustpan as dust swirled around the courtyard of the monastery.
“Euphrasia, if this is how you plan on commencing a fun joke, you are *certainly* wrong..”
The dust took form, swirling into the shape of a person no smaller than the ninja themselves. Hands seemingly appeared from the dust, then a torso, and then mid-length hair.
To say Mr. Frohicky was confused was downplaying his thoughts entirely.
And it certainly did not help when the rough winds picked up again, this time a lot more agressive. The lime-colored lanterns shook in the harsh breeze. Miscillaneous objects swirled around the monastery like they were in some sort of mini tornado.
“Who are you! W-what do you want from me?!”
A unexpected ghastly laugh came from the dust-figure. Mr. Frohicky was met with two green eyes staring directly into his. The figure lunged toward him, their grip surprisingly hard for someone made out of dust. It formed a mouth which contorted into a villainous smile.
Ohh.. calm down, frog legs..” The person said, it’s voice sounding like that of a males. “I only need one thing..”
Mr. Frohicky uncomfortably tried to shift his arms but the figures grasp was too tight, Mr. Frohicky too scared.
“Whoever you are- I know people that can do Spinjitsu!” He croaked out, trying to avoid the persons malicious gaze.
“It doesn’t matter what *they* know,” the figure spoke, laughing mid-sentance, “It’s what I need.”
“And that would be..?” Mr. Frohicky said wearily.
“YOU-”
*Thunk*
“Get off my friend you smokebomb!”
Sora, still dressed in her cat-themed pajamas, had thrown a stone at the figures head, hitting jackpot. The figure fell and landed onto the stone. In fact, the figure disappated altogether, dust floating back onto the floor.
“Mr. Frohicky, what happened?” Sora inquired, now walking calmly toward him. The defeat had been quite anticlimatic. “Was that Cinder?”
“I don’t know, Miss. Sora.” Mr. Frohicky answered, a lot less nervous. “I was peacefully cleaning until some high-level winds knocked me out of the mode and that *thing* formed in front of me.”
Sora frowned.
Well, that definitely couldn’tve been Cinder..” She muttered. “He would’ve used Shatterspin, and his smoke would’ve been clouding up our lungs by now.”
“Do you think we should awake the other ninja?”
“No.” She stated. “Not yet, atleast.”
Mr. Frohicky shrugged and began sweeping once more, now grumbling at how the secretive figure had made even more a mess than to begin with.
Sora wished Mr. Frohicky a good night as she walked back toward the monastery doors, quite dismissive of the event that just occured.
She froze.
“Wait, did you get new bulbs or something?”
Mr. Frohicky made an audible ‘hm’ and turned around.
The lights were still lime green.
“When the winds were whipping me, the lights turned green.” Mr. Frohicky stated. “Doesn’t seem like anything harmful. Best be on guard, though..”
“Mmmkayy…” Sora mumbled, too tired to investigate further. “Well, I’ll let you know if Zane starts glowing green or something, heh heh..”
She turned her head back toward her destination, the monastery doors.
*THWACK*
Out of nowhere, a green and black glowing ghost was atop her, holding her down with a double-bladed sword. She guessed the ghoul had lost the motivation for a sneak attack like it must’ve done with the whole dust-figure fiasco.
“Where’s Wu?!” It demanded.
The it, Sora realized, was a he. Wearing raggish green garments and displaying black hair with a singular green highlight, the ghost grit his teeth as he waited for an answer.
Sora was obviously overwhelmed, so she only really mumbled something in the ghouls face.
“Whuh- Wu- Lloyd’s master?!” She sputtered, wondering if Mr. Frohicky was about to take action.
“YES! What other sensei would I be talking abou-”
The ghost got hit with the end of Mr. Frohicky’s broom. His see-through head snapped to the side in response. Sora noticed his vunrebility and jerked herself out of the tight spot she was in.
“I’m so glad Lloyd sprung for the clearstone broom.” Mr. Frohicky said happily.
She stood up, and so did the ghost. She sent a quick thank you in Mr. Frohicky’s direction who nodded in return. They both assumed battle stances, albeit Mr. Frohicky’s was quite lacking.
A fight at 3: AM. Yay.
“Stop cutting me off you WEAKLINGS!” He spat out, rubbing his head where the broom had hit him.
“Look, toxic waste, let’s just settle this with a good old talk.” Sora said, biting her tongue. “Neither of us wanna battle at this late, amiright?”
The man rolled his eyes. Sora supposed her remark was dumb, he was a *ghost*, they pratically thrive at the night hours.
“Alright, cranberry, Just tell me where Wu is then I can dash outta this place.”
Sora huffed in response to his wit.
“I don’t know where you’ve been, but Master Wu is dead. *Long* been dead.”
The ghost looked at her with confusion.
“No he isn’t,” He said defiantly, “I would’ve known. I’m from- well, what’s left of it- The Cursed Realm- and the departed one. I would’ve seen him.”
Sora met his reaction with similar confusion. She was trying to think up of an answer to his statement when she was interrupted by an annoyed Lloyd bursting out of the door, also still in pajamas. He assumed fighting stance when he suddenly became dumbstruck.
“Who are y-”
Lloyd froze, and so did the ghost. Lloyd’s eyes grew wide and he partially covered his mouth with his hand in shock, standing straight as a ruler.
“..Morro..?”
“You know this nutjob?” Sora muttered in Lloyd’s direction.
Instead of replying, he walked slowly toward the ghost now known as ‘Morro’. Each step he took was wary, as if he was preparing to either fall over or break out into battle at any moment.
Morro, on the other hand, recoiled at the sight of Lloyd. His grip on his sword tightened and his ‘body’ tensed. His eyebrows furrowed in a mix of anger and worry. Sora couldn’t help but feel awkward in their ongoing interaction.
“Well well well,” Morro said, clenching his free hand into a fist. “if it isn’t the Green Ninja.”
Lloyd surprisingly winced at that.
“Are- are you still..”
Morro looked him up and down, sighing.
“Hate moves on.”
*Hate moves on?* Sora thought. *You are OBVIOUSLY resenting this dude.*
Sora looked back to the sight of Mr. Frohicky angrily muttering to himself about how abrupt the ninja can be as he swept up around the monastery.
*Great. I have no idea what’s going on.*
Lloyd managed a small smile to which Morro looked puzzled about.
“I had no idea The Departed Realm still existed..”
“It was already in shambles when..” He gave Lloyd a knowing look.
Lloyd frowned sadly. There was a moment of silence that Lloyd and Morro both seemed to somehow respect. Sora, on the other hand, took this weird silence as an oppertunity to speak up.
“Sorry, who is this guy?” Sora said rather irritably, glancing over at Lloyd.
Lloyd turned to look at Sora. He was smiling, but he looked tired. Which, of course, was pretty normal when one of his best friends was missing and the fact the Merge was still a thing. But this expression made him look more.. older. Like, older in a way he looked more knowing. Like as if he just met past in present.
Which he just did, but Sora had no clue of that right now.
“This, Sora, is Morro.” he breathed in a sharp breath, “An old enemy- but I’m pretty certain he’d be a friend.” He grinned toward Morro.
Morro grimaced and shook his head.
“Don’t you *ever* hold grudges?” He muttered a little too loudly. He sounded irritable- not furious, but irritable. A mix of long, *long* resentment but also a work-in-progress forgiveness. At least, that was what Sora read into it.
“Grudges?” Lloyd said, turning to face Morro who was now standing in between Sora and Lloyd. “Eh, maybe.”
“*Maybe?!”* Morro spat, his tired eyes suddenly fixated on Lloyd’s. His shoulders tensed up as if he was about to strike.
Lloyd chuckled. “As you said, hate does move on. It *has* been years, Morro.”
Morro struggled to find his words. “That- That should only apply to the villan, not the hero.”
“How selfish, I suppose you haven’t moved on after all.” Lloyd teased, mocking his own disappointment.
Was this brotherly or..??
“SELFISH?!” The ghost yelled. He looked a little too hurt at that. “You should feel hatred toward me. I did *terrible* things! I didn’t come here to become friends, I came here to ask a couple questions with Wu.”
Lloyd cocked his head to the side and bit his lip, as if he was trying to decipher a puzzle. “We can talk about past acts later, Morro.” He suddenly found a lot of interest in the monastery’s left wall. “ Master Wu’s… dead.”
Morro’s shoulders relaxed and he sported another frustrated look.
“No he isn’t. Pinkberry over here told me the same thing. I would’ve seen him come through the whack mix of the Departed and Cursed realm!”
Now it was Lloyd’s turn to look confused.
“Your telling me you-”
Lloyd processed this information.
“So.. if he’s not in the Departed or Cursed realm, he’s not.. dead?” Lloyd said curiously.
Morro rolled his eyes. “Yes. If that’s not obvious.”
Lloyd silently cursed at himself for not realizing if he looked for the Departed realm he could’ve just looked for Wu himself.
*Oh well*, he internally thought, *at least your old possesser found that out for you.*
“Wait, you said the *mix* of the Departed *and* Cursed realm?”
Morro sighed a little somberly. It was obvious he was trying to hide it, though. “Yeah. I mean, of course the two realms were already borderline collapsing and pretty mixed up after..” He gave Lloyd another knowing look. “Anyways, after that massive hurricane happened, the two legitimately just.. mixed together. Most of the Departed and Cursed refrain from differing themselves from each other now. Everyone’s dead, there isn’t much to separate from.”
“Woah..” Sora said, taking that in.
I mean, she’d never even seen a real ghost before, so Morro’s appearance was pretty jarring in the first place. But this new info? That was crazy! The more she thought about it, the cooler it got. Would it have been possible for this guy to have spoken to the First Spinjitsu Master then? Or maybe even her parents! The crazy fact that Sensei Wu might be alive according to this dudes information was insane too! And what was this guys deal with Lloyd? Wait- did this dude even know what the Merge was? Not to mention he was wearing a ninja gi-
Oh- Sora, I forgot you were here!” Lloyd said, startled by Sora’s mumbles.
Sora smiled awkwardly. “Yeah. Um. What’s happening? What’s your past with this dude?”
Lloyd scratched the back of his head and took a glance at Morro who was glaring at Sora.
“I’ll.. I’ll explain tomorrow. Right now, me and uh, Morro..” He said, gesturing toward him. “Are gonna sort out some stuff.”
Morro didn’t look happy at that. In fact, he looked downright furious. His firm grip on his sword never let go.
Sora frowned and crossed her arms. “What?! I found him first, I gotta be a witness to your banter!”
Lloyd grinned.
“Rest up, Sora.”
Sora sighed defeatedly and walked back into the monastery, sparing a couple glances toward the duo, Morro still giving her an angry glare. She didn’t know why, but it already seemed like he was going to be a handful. Although the ideas nipped at her brain, she was too tired to really push on and ask more questions. She needed sleep, and that was that. Besides, Lloyd was her teacher. She could save the mysterious ghost banter for tomorrow.
As she tried to go to sleep, she couldn’t help but trying to come up with some explanations from the ghost’s random appearance. Maybe he and Lloyd were cousins or something- or best friends! Well, didn’t Lloyd say he was a former enemy? So then.. maybe it was like, a friendship falling apart?
She couldn’t help but think of cool scenarios where the two fought side-by-side, and then maybe found this powerful monster or something, and uhh, maybe.. Morro fell in love with the monster and so did Lloyd. Which uhh.. led to.. him dying.. or.. something..
Before she knew it, she fell asleep.
Sora woke up to the loud clatter in the kitchen of the monastery. She jolted upward, almost falling off her bed in the process. Her tired state only recieved the sounds of Nya screaming and flames. A great mix.
She rubbed her eyes, quickly getting ready and in her normal clothing. Full-on fights weren’t too common in the monastery, espiecally ones that weren’t over training. And training wasn’t until lunch.
Hopping as she put on her left shoe, she opened the door to see Zane send up a wall of ice in the middle of the hallway. She almost crashed into him as she came out. Zane jittered backwards to let her through.
“W-woah!” She sputtered, “Zane, what’s going on?” She tried not to slip on the slices of ice below her feet.
He turned to her robotically and frowned, wincing as he heard more crashes from further away. Bits of his ice-wall cracked and fell to the floor with a pretty ‘clink’.
“We are currently facing a old enemy! One that you have yet to meet!”
“I don’t think meeting your old enemies are people I wanna meet.” Sora said, trying not to mumble as this much action this early in the morning wasn’t too welcome by her brain.
“His name is Morro, he is an evil ghoul that-”
Sora was about to interrupt that she saw this guy at like 3:AM last night when a sword stabbed through Zane’s ice-wall, a large gash forming in it. It hit the ice with a loud *thunk* and barely missed Zane’s head.
“GET OFF ME!” A voice shrieked from the kitchen. (epic ref?)
Ice flew everywhere. Sora was already dreading the beatdown she was going to get from Mr. Frohicky after all this.
“I saw that dude last night! He jumped on top of me and then started to talk to Lloyd, for some reason.”
She knew it was vague but it was all her barely awake brain could get out of her mouth.
Zane’s eyes grew wide, then returned to normal.
“I see,” He spoke, acting way calmer than the situation. “that makes sense why Lloyd was trying to defend this man.”
Sora heard a loud splash of water and a frenzied shriek combined with more screaming.
“He didn’t even hurt me? What are we fighting for?!” Sora yelled above the ruckus.
“He did not hurt you? How odd. I suppose it does make sense. Morro did not hurt us on the Day of the Departed.”
Sora looked at him, pretty much completely lost. If only Arin were here to witness this..
“I will put an end to this meaningless fighting, then.”
Zane tapped his chest a couple times before speaking, his voice amplified a bunch that it resembled a megaphone.
“EVERYONE STOP!”
Sora covered her ears. That nindroid could be *loud.*
The clatter immediately halted. Zane smiled as he kicked the sad remains of his ice-wall out of the way, revealing a tattered hallway and kitchen.
Nya was ankle-deep in water, still in a battle stance. Her ninja mask was absolutely soaked.
Kai was hanging off the light, balancing himself by the arches in the walls. He fell off after a couple minutes of silence.
Wyldfyre was just.. there. Eating a sandwich at the kitchen table and shaking her head.
Cole seemed like he had just come into the monastery, looking *very* concerned at the sight.
Lloyd was in front of Morro with his hands spread out, trying to protect him from the multiple ninja.
Morro was on top of the table with a terrified expression on his face. Sora realized his sword was the one that pierced through the ice-wall.
So, half the kitchen was flooded, parts of the walls were burning, and the whole place looked like a warzone.
Why wasn’t this surprising.
“Sora has told me Morro is not an enemy.” Zane said cheerfully, his voice amplifier toggle now off.
Nya looked at Sora confusedly. “What? You *know* Morro?!”
Sora shrugged. “I met him last night when he jumped me and Mr. Frohicky.” She wiped off a shard of ice from her shirt. “I know, like, nothing about him.”
“Does that *not* make him a villain? It sounds like he attacked you, all right!” Kai said with a groan as he steadied himself from his fall off the lights.
“I just got here, I see Morro.” Cole sighed, walking further into the room. “He helped us at the Day of the Departed, I never really saw him as *too* evil after that.”
“Exactly!” Lloyd said breathlessly. “Can you guys stop using every bit of power you have for a minute and let me explain?”
Nya un-battle stanced.
“Well, y’know Lloyd, when we see an enemy who possessed you multiple times, almost caused the destruction of the world, and we thought was dead, like, *fully* dead, we go into action mode. Kind of normal if you ask me.” Kai yelled across the room, smoothing out his tattered gi.
“Just tell me when I spray him with water.” Nya muttered under her breath.
Morro certainly looked like he was ready to leave.
“Look, you freaks,” Morro said, suddenly obtaining his mean composure again. “I came here to find someone, and unfortunately, he isn’t here.” He aggressively pushed Lloyd off the kitchen table, making him fall into the shallow pool of water below. “And then the green ninja decided it would be nice to *catch up.*” He finished with a ‘hmph’.
Lloyd made some coughing noises.
“Well, we haven’t seen you in years!” Lloyd spluttered, wiping water off his face. “Besides, you weren’t blasting us with wind this time.”
“Yet.” Kai said, annoyed.
Morro rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips rather sassily.
“I think the good question to be asked here is how do I *leave*?”
Your leaving?” Cole said, honestly surprised.
“Uh, yeah! All I got from this was an unfulfilled question and an interview with the master of lifelines!”
Wyldfyre chuckled, still eating her sandwich.
“Well, nobody knew you were ‘alive’. Can’t you stay just so we can ask you some questions?”
“To be fair, I am quite curious to what has happened. You were an interesting foe. Your existence revealed much about Sensei Wu’s past, and may help us find and recover him.”
“If he doesn’t try to stab us in the middle of the night, I’ll bite for him staying here.”
The ninja agreed unanimously that Morro should stay. Sora stood there taking this all in. She felt like a spectator on a *very* weird comedy show. Personally, she didn’t know the guy, but if he knew anything about getting Wu back, then keeping him here was definitely up there in priorities.
“W-when did I say I’d be staying here?!” Moro said angrily. “What would you dorks want with me anyways?”
“For you to leave.”
“Redemption!”
“Answers.”
“History!”
“Help.”
“A tutorial on your eyeshadow.”
Everyone slowly turned their head toward Sora, then turned quickly back to Morro.
He slid his hand down his ghostly face, sighing.
“I knew coming back here was a mistake..” He muttered.