https://youtu.be/WimtFW8z4LY

CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST | the golden orchestra

casper, the friendly ghost,
the friendliest ghost you know
though grown-ups might look at him with fright,
the children all love him so. 

he always says hello (hello!),
and he's really glad to meet-ya
wherever he may go,
he's kind to every living creature.

grown-ups don't understand
why children love him the most
but kids all know
that he loves them so, casper the friendly ghost.

this is a filler chapter built around a single joke i thought was funny written with a sleep deprived covid brain. i apologise for nothing. enjoy you scoundrels. 

After the exciting revelation that was their perhaps-permanent departure from everyone and everything they've ever loved, the Zenjago Ninja spent the rest of the day as anybody would: trying to connect their phones to the Wi-Fi of an alternate universe. Turns out, despite the parallels, the common and uncanny similarities between the realms of Ninjago and Zenjago, BorgTech was slightly different — different enough that:

"It won't fucking connect!" Morro shouted, seemingly ready to throw his phone at Harper's head. In fact, that was the exact course of action he proceeded with next, chucking the device at his sister without a moment nor word of warning.

"The fuck?!" They cried, snatching it from the air before it could give them a minor concussion. "This isn't my fault!"

Morro shrugged. "You're a robot, it's basically your fault."

"In what world does that make sense?" Zap interjected.

Harper glared at Morro. "Not this one, not Zenjago, and not any other realm in the cosmos." They tossed the phone back at him.

"How can I play Roblox without Wi-Fi?!" Morro caught it before he threw himself across the couch.

"That's your priority right now?" Cole raised an eyebrow as he reentered, now carrying a platter of cupcakes.

Morro lifted his head. "Uh, yeah... what else would it be?" He looked genuinely confused.

"Not your infinite banishment to a completely unknown, foreign realm?" Jay glanced up from Harper's phone, which he was currently attempting to jailbreak in hopes it might help. Lloyd elbowed him. "Ow!"

"That's one way to put it," mused Zap, retyping the given Wi-Fi password for the tenth time. "Are you sure you're typing in the password correctly? Maybe the tech can actually sync and we're overthinking it?"

"I doubt it," Nya, who was pouring over Ally's phone, looked up. "From what I can gather, there are some small but significant disparities in how our technology is designed. I don't think we're getting through this."

"I believe it will be difficult to so much as continue to power the electronic devices," Zane added. "From what I can determine upon simple visual analysis, the charging systems are different as well."

"Goody," Ally sighed. "I didn't even want my one hundred-day Duolingo streak anyway." She shoved her face into a pillow and screamed. Everybody ceased what they were doing to watch/listen to the girl loudly use up the entirety of her lung capacity (and then some) before setting the pillow back down. "Anyway guys," she began pleasantly, as though nothing had occurred at all, "what other fun news is in store for us today?"

Jay's forehead was creased with concern. "I can probably just whip up a charger compatible with the devices, they aren't too different." He eyed the phone, a spark of excitement lighting up his expression of curiosity and intellect. "I bet I could crack these and get them running with the signal here within the next few hours."

"Oh! That would be awesome!" Ally smiled, apparently going to pretend nothing had happened at all. The Z!Ninja hadn't batted an eyelid the entire time.

Kai lazily raised his right hand. "I know we did a massive Q&A like an hour ago, but can I ask a question?"

"Ask away," said Skylar with a hand flourish.

The (Ninjago-born) fire ninja cocked his head at the boy strewn across the ground, aggressively tapping at his phone."What the hell was the thing Morro did this morning? At the fight with the Preeminent?"

Zap furrowed her brows. "What thing?"

"Yeah!" Jay perked up. "His eyes went all crazy and his face looked super cool!"

"Ohhh," Zap nodded.

"I'm a ghost," the boy responded as though it was the most ordinary thing in the world. He neither looked up nor did his voice inflect in the slightest.

Cole choked on his cake. Jay's mouth fell open. Even Zane's eyebrows lifted.

Kai shifted closer. "Come again?"

Morro, who was adamant he could get the phone to work (and still unsuccessful in doing so), glanced up distractedly. "Ghost. Me."

Harper reached over and slapped him upside the head.

"Hey! Ow!"

"Maybe give some actual useful information."

"Huh?"

The red ninja looked back at everyone else, those from Ninjago dissecting Morro's every move as though it would give them answers. "Don't worry, he's a friendly ghost. Like Casper."

"What?!"

"Shut it, Casper," they kicked him lightly with their foot, "just show everyone what we mean."

Morro stood with a huff. "Don't call me 'Casper'."

Harper smirked. "Would you prefer 'Mr. Noms'?"

Morro flipped them off. "I hate you. This is why Sky is my favourite sibling."

"Just do the thing, Casper!" Skylar called.

"This is why Ally is my favourite." Morro sighed.

Zap opened their mouth. "What did I do?!"

"You'll probably call me 'Mr Noms' in a second as well. I'm saving time."

"Can we go back to the ghost thing?!" Jay exclaimed, practically vibrating with curiosity and excitement.

"Ha, yeah." Morro unclipped his bracelet from his wrist, flicking it at Harp's head. "Watch and learn, nerds." His sister scowled as the little band hit her square in the forehead.

And, just as he had the first time, Morro began to stare. Though he was technically looking at the wall, it was clear he saw far beyond it. His eyes stretched wider and his pupils faded entirely, making his eyes a pure, milky white. This was until fog crept across his eyeballs, turning the white to a swirling storm of darkness. Last time, it was here that Morro had snapped back to whichever reality the rest of them existed in—this time, he did not. Instead, the ninja watched as the rest of his body relaxed, including his neck, which caused his head to start to loll. With his eyes wide and muscles so relaxed, he looked... well... dead.

Jay glanced nervously at Kai. He shrugged in return. "Is he okay?" The lightning elemental whispered loudly at Zap, who nodded assuredly. Jay sat back, looking notably unassured.

And when Jay looked back, he almost screamed; Morro looked to be very very dead now. The darkness had begun to set into the rest of his body as well. His skin became more gaunt as shadows deepened across his body and emphasised where his bones were under the skin.

Jay swallowed thickly. This did not look good.

Such a thought was only worsened when the slightest tinge of green overcame the boy still standing in the centre of the living room. It too, deepened, turning Morro from a sickly grey to a dark green.

"Are you sure this is normal?!" Jay cried.

Nobody had time to respond, however, for Morro himself suddenly shook his head. Jay screamed. Morro looked up and grinned; the very picture of death. "See," he did a 360 degree turn on the spot. "I'm a ghost."

It was then that Jay realised that not only was he deathly green, but the boy had also turned the faintest bit transparent. "Holy shit," Jay breathed, eyes wide with awe.

Morro looked at Skylar. "Twenty-three point two five," she said, looking at her watch.

"Fuck," the now ghost sighed.

"Goddamn, Casper," Harper clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "You haven't been so slow in ages."

"Okay, look, I'm in an entirely new realm. It took me longer because I had to find the Departed Realm's and then find its energy." He looked around at the N!Ninja. "I promise I'm better than that when I'm in Zenjago. My fastest time is eight seconds!"

"Wasn't it like eight point nine-three?" Sky interrupted. "That's basically nine seconds."

"No."

"Yes."

Morro stuck out his transparent tongue at them. "The point is," he restarted, turning back to the other ninja, "I'm actually quite dead, and a ghost, and usually much better at becoming a ghost."

Nobody knew what to say. They all just stared at him, completely dumbfounded.

Harper bit back a laugh. "Like a bunch of stunned mullets, look at them," she grinned at Morro.

Kai looked up, making direct eye contact with the opposing fire elemental. "Stunned mullets?"

"Yeah," she continued. "Y'know, the fi–"

"Yeah, I know," he interrupted. "I'm just surprised you know." He didn't take his eyes off them, nor did they from him.

"I'm lost, doubly lost," Lloyd interjected.

"'Stunned mullet' is an expression originating from the old fishing villages of Ninjago, as it refers to the wide eyes and ajar mouth of a stunned fish—a mullet—after being caught," Zane explained. "It was then adopted into the lexicons of merchants who travelled into and from these villages. Hence, it has since found common usage in the village of Ignacia, considering its significant population of merchants."

"My father used to say it," Harper and Kai said at the exact same time. They didn't dare break eye contact, but surprise washed over their faces.

"Shit," Nya whispered. "That's insane."

"We're like the same people," said Morro.

"And yet we can't even connect to the Wi-Fi," said Ally, shattering whatever moment of awe had built up among the pairs of siblings.

Cole, still staring wide-eyed at Morro, nudged Zane beside him. "Is that..." he seemingly struggled to get the words out. "Is that what I looked like?"

The nindroid paused, considering his answer. "In some ways, indeed," he replied lightly. "You did resemble Morro's transparency and colour." Another pause. "However, I think it is fair to say that you appeared less..."

"Dead," Jay finished for him. "You didn't look like a walking, green, see-through, corpse." He smiled apologetically at Morro. "No offence."

"None taken!" The ghost replied, quite cheerily considering his appearance. "I've gotta ask now, though." Morro turned to Cole. "Were you also a ghost?"

"For a while, I was." The earth elemental nodded, somewhat tentatively. "But I didn't die, not like you at least."

Ally sat up, mouth gaping wide. "Morro, you died?!" Everyone stared confusedly at her, who remained feigning shock for a couple more moments before sitting back again. "I kid, obviously he died. Look at him."

"First Master," Harper pressed her head into her hands.

"If it's not too personal," Morro continued, ignoring their brief interruption. "How did you... not-die then?"

Cole took a bite of what must have been his third cupcake. He chewed and swallowed slowly before responding. "It's a bit of a long story-"

Kai snorted. "One way to put it."

"The simple answer is that I was in a very haunted temple on a mission, and I stayed longer than I should have, and I was turned into a ghost as punishment."

"Woah," Morro couldn't help but grin in awe at the sickness of that story. "That's so much cooler than anything I could say."

"What could you say?" Jay pressed. "How did you die then?"

Morro motioned to Harper, who tossed the little black bracelet back toward him. "I could say heaps of things," Morro twirled his hand, waving the question off. "I've died lots of times, technically." He finished reattaching the band around wrist.

"Huh?"

"This part is less fun," said Morro, nodding at the bracelet.

"Which part?" Kai asked.

"The going from super-cool-awesome-spooky-ghost-form to lame-annoying-human-form part," responded Morro. "I need to lie down." And that he did, right there, right on top of Harper who reactively went to smack him but just ended up pushing their hand into his arm.

"First Master, that is an awful experience every goddamn time," she shivered.

"Sorry," said a now slightly-less transparent and green Morro.

"You aren't." Harper attempted to shift him off them to no avail.

"Nope. Not one bit."

"You absolute bastard."

"Technically, you're both bastards," Zap pointed out.

"Don't you start as well."