Chapter Text
“Who are you, and what have you done with Lloyd?!”
Morro’s roar drew everyone’s attention, and next to the blond, Jay flinched and took a few steps back. “M-Morro? Wha-“
The man shot a lingering glare at the blue ninja, instantly shutting him up. When no one else tried to challenge him, he turned back to Lloyd, his fury somehow more fierce than before. “You tipped your hand with that final attack. Whenever Lloyd finally unlocks his element, it won’t have a physical manifestation. So I’ll ask again: who. Are. You?”
Murmurs questioning elements and what the older ninja was talking about buzzed through his teammates who had now gathered behind Morro.
Of course the moment he needed those steeled nerves was a moment too late. Nevertheless, Lloyd took a deep breath and somehow managed to hold eye contact with Morro. “My name is Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon. I…don’t exactly know how old I am because of the Tomorrow’s Tea incident, but I think I would technically be somewhere around your Lloyd’s age.” The words caught in his throat as the man slightly loosened his grip on the gi, and the blond averted his gaze while he struggled to articulate everything. “I-I promise I didn’t realize until after Garmadon smacked me into that wall, but… I’m not from this Ninjago. Back in my realm, in order to defeat the Oni, we had to make the Tornado of Creation; a dangerous spinjitzu technique that harnesses the power of creation itself.”
Chancing a look at Jay revealed the brunet staring wide-eyed at him, and Lloyd winced at his own words. “Jay, I-I think you were right. I think I did die,” he said as the other’s face went white, “because I met my grandfather—the First Spinjitzu Master. He told me that someone was dying in another world, and gave me a choice between staying with him or coming here and helping. Obviously, I chose here.”
The silence that followed was suffocating. A quick glance around revealed various intensities of shock on the ninjas’ faces; Jay looked ready to fall over, Zane seemed to be stuck in an endless error loop, the siblings had hints of sadness and horror to their surprise, and Cole just kind of stood there, detached from reality. Morro’s face still carried a scowl, but his eyes flashed with many different emotions that Lloyd couldn’t possibly hope to identify.
“Where’s Lloyd.”
The man’s voice came out much quieter than the blond was expecting, and he could feel the fist holding his uniform tighten and tremble as the green in Morro’s eyes was completely overtaken by silver-gray and a breeze started to weave itself through his hair. “WHERE’S LLOYD?! You expect me to believe that the First Spinjitzu Master himself sent you here, to what? Take his place?! What did you do with him? WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!?”
Lloyd’s eyes widened at the revelation, and if the heaviness in his stomach could go any lower, it would be on the floor right now. He’d figured they were supposed to be close, but for Morro to consider his Lloyd a brother… His heart shattered as his next words were choked out, burning through his throat like fire. “…I don’t know.”
The wind exploded through the warehouse, entering through the main doorway and swirling around the room—around Morro—causing the beginnings of a small tornado. “Liar! Why would he send you here and not even tell you how to help him???” The man let go of the black and green gi and shoved him backwards a few steps.
Lloyd threw his arms out in frustration as he regained his balance, his own anger beginning to rise. “I dunno! Being annoyingly cryptic seems to run in the family or something! What am I supposed to do, find his ghost and ask him?!”
A small shift in the atmosphere apparently gave Kai the courage to try an intervention. “Dude, stop it! Leave him alone!” He pushed toward Morro and reached out to grab him. In response, a burst of wind slammed into him and the brunet went tumbling across the floor, stopping only when he crashed into the earth mech on the other side of the room. Nya screamed his name and ran to check on her brother while the others struggled to stand through the miniature windstorm that was growing ever stronger.
“I’ll leave him alone when he finally decides to answer!” The man stalked closer to Lloyd, making him back up even more. His face was twisted with a fury that was very similar to the ghost’s, and the blond did his best to keep himself from shaking with his own fear and anger at the increasing parallels between the two Morros. He barely noticed when his element protectively wrapped around his frame, prepared to absorb damage like it had during the fight in Kryptarium.
The black and white ninjas tried following Kai’s efforts to intervene but the wind repelled them like a wall, keeping them from getting any closer. When they couldn’t break through physically, they tried to get Morro’s attention verbally.
“Calm down Morro! This isn’t you!”
“This course of action has little chance of a positive outcome, and I do not believe that is what you want!”
Morro hesitantly stopped his advance and studied Lloyd’s posture and expression. He must have seen something, because the storm around them lessened slightly and a hint of grief flickered into his scowl.
Then the two locked eyes, and Morro’s widened in realization.
The temperature in the room suddenly dropped several degrees and with it, Morro’s expression took on an icy sneer. “I see now. You died. You’re a ghost, and you’re lying through your teeth!” He lunged at the blond, who barely had time to duck and roll out of the way.
If Lloyd had been horrified before, it was nothing compared to the sickening feeling he got from hearing that. “W-WHAT?!?” He moved to dodge again but underestimated Morro’s wind-enhanced speed and the two went toppling to the ground, wrestling each other and taking turns dominating the fight. “I’m not a ghost! Get off-“ He caught the black-haired man off guard and rolled both of them over, grunting as he tried to use the leverage of the floor to stand up and push himself out of the strong grip. “-of me!”
His advantage was short-lived as the wind master turned the tables yet again, pinning the teen’s wrists to the floor. “Only after you stop possessing Lloyd!”
A bitter scoff escaped his lips before he could stop himself. “Real rich coming from you, since YOU were the one who possessed ME!”
Morro froze.
The storm abruptly stopped as more indecipherable emotions danced across the man’s face. Cole and Zane took the opportunity with the wind’s absence to rush forward and separate the two, the taller teen pinning Morro’s arms to his side while the nindroid stood as a shield in front of Lloyd. “Hey, chill! We’ll figure everything out somehow, but not like this!”
The contact brought the master of wind out of his shock and he struggled against the teen’s exceptionally strong grip for a bit before relenting and going still again. “You can let go of me now.”
Cole gave a tentative look to Lloyd, who slowly nodded, before releasing Morro. The man shook off the lingering arms and shoved a finger in the blond’s direction. “Don’t think this is over.” And with that, he stormed out of the warehouse and they heard the sound of his motorcycle driving away.
In the stillness of the aftermath, Jay fell to the floor, trembling. His mouth opened and closed voicelessly, and the air filled with Kai’s voice instead. “Okay, someone explain what in the world just happened?”
“It appears we just witnessed a family quarrel.” Zane’s cheesy smile was eerily absent, a blank stare that could pass as a look of shock or concern currently making its home on the nindroid’s face.
Cole rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “No duh, Sherlock. Pretty sure he’s talking about the weird wind powers and the…other stuff.” He paused, as if unsure how to continue. “…Lloyd?”
The blond clenched his fists and stared at the floor as he felt all eyes fall on him. “I never asked for this…” Frustration filled his voice as his breathing stayed heavy and labored. “I never asked for any of this!” He carefully lifted a hand in the air and watched green sparks crackle along his arm, leaving a faint green glow to mingle with the natural sunlight that was quickly dimming behind cloud cover. “Stupid ‘green ninja’ garbage, stupid prophecy, stupid destiny; what’s the point if I just royally mess up everything no matter where I am?” The strange glow disappeared and his hand limply dropped back to his side.
He looked up briefly at everyone, and before any of them could speak up he moved past them toward the warehouse door. “…sorry guys, I-I’ve gotta go…”
By the time they snapped out of their shock and started calling after him, he was already outside and speeding away from the base as fast as his legs would carry him.
He stumbled out of his gi and tossed it against the fence as he continued his escape.
He needed to get away. He needed space, he needed air, he needed…
He needed his family.
The blond climbed on top of a nearby building and kept moving, jumping from rooftop to rooftop while being mindful of the quickly changing weather. The wind had picked up significantly with a storm blowing in from the ocean, and Lloyd absentmindedly wondered if any of this was Morro’s doing. Eventually the rain began to fall and he took shelter under a random rooftop awning. With the strength of the wind, the storm blew the increasing deluge into his shoes and pants and waterlogged them.
He paid it no mind.
In fact, he didn’t even register it. He couldn’t feel anything except anger and guilt. Anger at the Oni, at his grandfather, at himself; guilt over his presence in this world and his lack of knowledge about his purpose here.
He closed his eyes and leaned his weight against the wall, letting the numbness envelop him like a veil of static.
What could he do? He was being sarcastic when he mentioned looking for the ghost of the First Spinjitzu Master, but honestly that might be more feasible than looking for a self-shaped needle in the haystack of Ninjago. And that was if he was even alive and still in this Ninjago!
…now there was a thought. If he was here, what if his doppelgänger was in his Ninjago? And if that was the case…
No.
Bad idea. Very bad idea.
But…
No! It’s stupid, there’s no backup, and there’s no guarantee she even actually knows where it is!
…there’s still a chance…
No!!!
Lloyd argued with himself for some time, working through the pros and cons of his half-baked spur-of-the-moment plan. Several times he thought about going back to the warehouse and roping the others into helping him, but unfortunately the idea had already taken root and the logical thoughts were easily drowned out by the impulsive ones.
And so, Mission: “Get Harumi to tell Lloyd where the Realm Crystal is so he can use it to find other Lloyd” began.
…he should probably find a better name for that.
Briefly bemoaning his terrible naming skills, he stepped out from under the awning and into the full fury of the storm. The wind and rain whipped around him and finished soaking his clothes, but he ignored it as best he could and, as much as it made his stomach twist, made his way toward the industrial district.
It took him some time to actually get there, but eventually he started seeing signs of past activity on the empty streets below. He slowed his rooftop jumping and finally stopped on a random building as he realized a very important flaw in the plan: he had no idea how big their territory stretched, meaning that he had no idea where to actually find Harumi. Frantically looking around, he caught sight of a large side door that had not been shut all the way and quickly made a beeline for it. Once inside the shelter of the factory building, he let out a sigh of relief as he looked around and saw no hostiles.
The good thing about heavy rain is that it covers a multitude of sounds. Unfortunately, it also makes things slick and slippery, and Lloyd had a hard time finding a way to climb into the rafters without sliding back down. Eventually though, he did make it up to a large enough beam that he could stop and rest on. The rain water still weighed him down, rolling off him and creating a puddle on the floor below. He peeled the sopping jacket off his skin and hung it on a protruding nail in the wall, bidding it a final farewell before heading off on the next leg of his journey.
The rafters led him to an air duct that he quickly crawled into right as someone entered the room below. Breathing a sigh of relief, he allowed himself a few moments to be still and watch the newcomer as they walked toward the entrance he came in at. They stopped at the partially open door and pulled out a walkie talkie, saying something that Lloyd couldn’t make out. He didn’t want to take the chance that it might be about someone getting in, so he took off deeper into the crawlspace.
He lost all sense of direction while inside the ducts, and he crawled around for what seemed like days through several different buildings before he finally spotted his target.
Peeking through the grating, he found Harumi in a small room with a cluttered desk, a cork board covered in papers and string, and a chalkboard that was in the process of being filled with diagrams. He couldn’t tell from his position what was on the boards or desk, but there was only one way to find out.
Carefully, he removed the vent cover and slipped through the hole into the room, his feet landing silently on the floor. Harumi had her back to him, making it a simple matter to sneak up on her, but as he got closer he realized once again that he hadn’t thought things through as well as he should have. He had no way of properly threatening her, let alone “encouraging” her to actually tell him what he needed to know. A quick riffle through his now-mostly-dry pockets revealed his only weapon to be his cell phone and he internally groaned. He’d have to hope that a bluff would work long enough to get the info and get out, because otherwise he was a dead man.
Clutching the phone in his left hand, Lloyd’s right shot out and clamped itself over the girl’s mouth while his elbow pinned her shoulder to his. She let out a muffled scream and clawed at his arm until he pressed a corner of the phone into the small of her back. When she stilled, he summoned his most villain-sounding voice and let it out in a low whisper. “I’m going to let go of your mouth now. Make any loud noises and it’s over.”
Harumi slowly nodded and he moved his hand from her mouth to her other shoulder, lightly pressing his arm against her neck to try and maintain the illusion of danger. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon, son of Garmadon, let alone on your own terms. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Tell me where to find the Realm Crystal.”
A snide laugh escaped the girl. “You? Looking for the Realm Crystal? And what would you do with it once you had it? You couldn’t possibly understand its purpose.”
Lloyd gave a bitter exhale. Believe me, I understand more about it than you think, he thought to himself. To Harumi, he said, “What I need it for is my own business. Just tell me where to start looking and I’ll let you go free.” His eyes then caught sight of the chalkboard in front of them and what he saw made his heart skip a beat. Schematics and notes on something called the Lost Realm filled much of the black surface, and a crude drawing of the Oni was smack dab in the center of it all.
“So you are trying to call the Oni…” His grip on her loosened before tightening again. “Why would you do this? Don’t you know how dangerous they are??”
Harumi squirmed slightly as his arm pressed harder on her neck. “I’ve done my research, and I don’t care!” Venom entered her voice as her tone lowered menacingly, and she suddenly snapped her fingers. “I have no attachment to a city that never cared about me.”
Without warning, Lloyd felt something sharp prick his upper arm and he yelped in pain, releasing his hold completely. His phone also slipped from his hand and clattered uselessly to the floor. He spun around to see Mr. E—who he hadn’t heard enter the room; was he already inside then?—placing an empty syringe into a storage compartment in his arm, and his now-unoccupied hand flew to the injection site. “What did you do?!”
However, the girl paid no attention to him as she picked up the device that had fallen beneath her feet. “The rumors are true.” She straightened and stalked toward Lloyd, forcing him backwards until he was against the wall and pressing the edge of his phone to his chest. “You’re a coward. You couldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a person.”
The blond’s heart rate increased as he realized that more gang members were slowly filtering into the room, cutting him off from the only door and forming a semicircle around him and Harumi. He could feel his element pulsing underneath his fingertips, and he abruptly crouched and slammed his hands on the ground, causing a shockwave of green energy to expand out and knock over the surrounding hostiles. Taking advantage of the opening, he sprinted through the door and out onto the raised catwalk.
His vision began to blur as he ran down the length of the walkway, and what he had thought was a stairway leading down turned out to be a dead end. A thin metal railing was all that stood between him and a two-story fall, and a tightness in his chest made itself known as he finally registered the extent of the trouble he’d gotten himself into.
Heaving for breath, he squinted down the hall at a black and white splotch that was getting closer by the second. His hands clumsily gripped the railing and he was in the process of psyching himself up to jump when his world unexpectedly t i l t e d. The sudden, intense dizziness nearly brought him to his knees, but his grasp on the bar tightened and kept him upright for the most part. Whatever he’d been injected with was doing its job well, no matter how hard he struggled to push past it.
He vaguely heard the thump of footsteps as he tried to breathe through the accompanying nausea, and a biting voice sounded close his ear. “You are much too valuable to the cause to be roaming free, Green Ninja.”
As his vision finally went dark and he crumpled to the floor, only one thought ran through his mind.
This was a very stupid idea.