December 21, 2023
ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ▬ 10055

CW: blood, injury, death (minor character death, discussion of previous death)

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"Hello, old man. What took you so long?"

The familiar voice immediately crossed Wu with irritation, frustration, and anger. Through his blurry vision, he saw a shadow of a dark figure looming over him, holding Wu's staff and three— three?— obsidian daggers.

Wu glared up at his brother.

Over several decades, Wu had watched his brother grow into his terrifying Oni side with the Great Devourer's dark influence. His features had become more pronounced as time progressed, and it seemed that Garmadon's humanity was nearly entirely hidden. Seen in how he now possessed four arms.

Lord Garmadon grinned darkly and swung at his brother with a dagger. "Speechless for once, hmm?" he taunted. He lunged forward and Wu barely twisted out of the way, sliding down the mountainside in his landing.

"I did not come here to fight you," Wu retorted. "I need your help!"

Garmadon mocked him. "Of course you do. Just like old times, isn't it?" He swung and knocked the hat off Wu's head. "Only needed to do your bidding."

"This has nothing to do with myself, Garmadon." Wu caught his hat and attacked, stealing his staff back. He landed on the mountainside, sliding down its rocky face. "For once, listen to me!"

His brother roared with laughter, taking a moment to pause and cackle before summoning another dagger. "Oh, I did listen to you, Wu. I listened to you for years, and look at where that's taken me."

"You willingly brought yourself to the Realm of Madness." Wu struck forward, knocking Garmadon back. "Do not blame me for the fate you brought upon yourself!"

"Oh, don't play dumb." He slashed at Wu, nicking the hem of his robes. "We both know I'm referring to my banishment from Zenjago. In case you have forgotten, that was your fault."

"You still escaped!"

"After a decade of meticulous planning. I molded the Skulkin army at my disposal and misled Samukai for years. I knew the power-hungry fool would betray me for the Golden Weapons, and that it would kill him. It was my only plausible ticket out of that miserable realm. And now you hunt me down to send me back?" He scoffed. "You never change, Wu."

Wu dodged his attacks. "Forget my former choices. The past is the past! I have not come to stop you— I came to warn you. Ally is in danger."

Garmadon stopped abruptly and drew back, glaring at the other. "Bringing up my daughter is a fine line between life and death, old fool. What sort of 'danger'?"

Wu gripped his staff tightly, watching his brother carefully. "The worst kind. She has unsealed the five Serpentine tombs—"

"Why would she do that?" Garmadon scoffed, crossing his lower arms. "Your teachings must have failed disastrously."

"I did not teach her. Ally did this to be like you and catch your attention; she believed that being 'evil' would make you proud and return for her." Wu notices an odd expression flicker across his brother's face. "Her plan may have just succeeded, with disastrous unintended consequences. The tribes have united to reawaken the Great Devourer."

"I never wanted her to be like me," he muttered. Then, "That's impossible. The snake that bit me as a child? It's locked in the Lost City of Ouroboros."

"The Serpentine have already unveiled it. We do not have long. For once, neither I nor my Ninja combined can save Zenjago. You are the only one powerful enough to defeat it. And I have thus come to you for your aid."

"Hm." Garmadon paused, tapping his chin in thought, as if considering the option presented to him. After a moment, his red gaze fixed onto Wu. "Now remind me why I should care? We share the equally powerful blood of our wretched father. You are no less capable of destroying the Devourer than I. Once again, a coward coming to me only when you need help, I see."

Wu set his jaw. "It is not cowardice. I have seen visions of the future. I... do not believe I will be around for much longer."

Garmadon snickered, saying something like 'Finally, good riddance' under his breath. Wu lunged to smack his brother on the head with his staff, and he easily dodged it.

"My Ninja are not yet prepared enough to take down a threat such as the Devourer." Wu glared at him; Garmadon pretended to ignore him, leaning with two hands on his hip and inspecting the nails on the others. "I fear that if we fail to protect Zenjago and the balance of good and evil is overturned, not only our realm fall, but so will our sister realms."

Garmadon's red eyes met Wu's, and a mildly irritated expression spread across the Dark Lord's face. "Did I give you the impression that I care? You must be mistaken. I could not care less if Zenjago thrives or falls— unless I am conquering it, of course.

"But I suppose I could lend a hand or four." He smiled coldly. "Zenjago is worth saving for my daughter."

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"I don't believe that you built that entire thing yourself." Skylar handed a cooled sword to Harper, who began sharpening the blade. "There's no way."

Morro looked up from the red-hot sword he was forging to stare the white Ninja dead in the eyes. "I'll show you my workshop, dead-ass. I actually did it. You guys just don't realize how long you're gone when you're on a mission or patrol."

"It just doesn't make sense," she muttered. "Where did you get all the materials?"

"That's a secret. Totally unrelated, but Zap's parents are so nice, and their junkyard has some really cool stuff there. Like, I bet I could make a bunch of Ghost vehicles with all the stuff they've got."

Harper inspected the sword in the afternoon light before returning to their work on it. "Ah, so you bribed them?"

"Excuse me, I didn't bribe nobody."

Skylar grumbled. "To be fair, with the reputation the Ghost Ninja has, most people would probably give him stuff for free."

"First Master. When you dismiss the incredulity of you sneaking out and risking your life without any backup-" the red Ninja gave her brother a look- "building such a powerful reputation singlehandedly is admittedly impressive."

He waved a hand dismissively. "Normal teenager things."

"It's even more impressive that you said nothing while we talked shit about the Ghost to your face," Skylar pointed out. Morro heaved a loud sigh and plunged the katana into the cooling water.

"No because you guys. It was so hard to pretend to not know anything, you don't understand," Morro whined. He stretched his arms and back, several pops sounding from his joints. "Which reminds me, um, I have been wondering about what you guys said before. Something about the Green Ninja. Do you think I'm the Green Ninja?"

"I mean, maybe," Skylar said, twisting the katana in the water. "The only way to tell is 'for your destiny to reveal itself', or whatever the prophecy-"

"Oh, of course it's a fucking prophecy!"

The Ninja had set up a temporary blacksmith's forge on the deck of the Bounty. New and old weapons needed to be sharp as ever for the battles to come, and thankfully, two of the five teenagers on deck had plenty of experience. They roped Skylar into helping them with their work, and she caught on quickly; their light chatter drifted over the ever-present weight of their situation.

On the bridge, Realm and Zap were tapping into Zenjago's network of sonar, sensors, and other technology, struggling to track down the Serpentine. It had been two weeks since escaping Ouroboros. Since then, the formerly Lost City had been empty, and not a single Serpentine sighting had been reported.

In the past few days, the Ninja had begun properly preparing for the worst. None of them admitted it, but with every passing day, they became less optimistic of their sensei's success.

Realm fully stepped into her role as team leader, and the pressure was steadily building. It felt that the entirety of Zenjago's fate was resting on her shoulders.

Perhaps it was.

"We've been searching for hours and we still haven't found anything," Zap said with a heavy sigh. Their braid had steadily unraveled over time, matching their distressed state. "With Ally's trackers no longer sending signals, we've completely lost her. Pythor probably destroyed them."

Realm shut her eyes. "First Master. I hate to admit it, but this feels hopeless."

"You don't think they—?"

"They wouldn't," the black Ninja snapped, then exhaled sharply. "They- they can't."

They couldn't hurt her, because she was valuable. Ally was leverage.

"There's got to be something." Realm toggled through the different sonar maps, scanning for any anomalies. "They're nowhere on the surface, and the few underground detectors seem to have found nothing."

Morro stomped into the bridge, startling both Zap and Realm. "I hate prophecies. And I need coffee," he stated flatly, beelining for the instant coffee maker. "Any luck with the maps today?"

"Nothing," Zap said dejectedly. "We took new sonar measurements today, but none of the sweeps showed any Serpentine activity." She stared at the screen. "But there's got to be something somewhere, I just know it."

The boy nodded. As his coffee brewed, he scanned the screen, then said, "You guys aren't looking at my maps? Wowwww. I see how it is."

"You have technology that can infer the density of the earth?" Realm asked skeptically.

"Yes," he said seriously.

The three stared at each other for a second, as that sank in.

Zap broke the silence. "Hang on, Morro. You're telling me you have critical data measuring devices and haven't told us about it until now?!"

"I mentioned it earlier, you guys just didn't hear!" Morro took a swig from his hot coffee before reaching for the console, clicking away, and connecting to his database. "Here. 'Underground topography map thingy from magnet-based sensor shit'. They reach pretty deep down."

Realm, still reeling from this discovery, numbly reached forward and activated the map layer in disbelief. Instantly revealed were caves and small tunnels under the Mountain of a Million Steps, outlined in a gradient indicating depth. In bright red were much larger tunnels. Five, to be exact, all winding directly into a huge cave, hollowed out underground.

"All the tombs have been interconnected," she realized. "It makes one massive underground fortress."

Zap swallowed nervously. "We've even been here before. They've been building, all this time, right under our noses."

Morro took another swig of coffee. "More like, under our feet."

"Clearly, the most protected area is here." Harper pointed to the largest cave; she and Skylar had joined the team on the bridge, and they too peered at the newfound map. "I can guarantee Ally and the staffs are held there. Pythor doesn't trust his troops enough to keep them far."

Skylar stepped up to the Bounty's wheel, punching in coordinates and setting the course. "Already on it. It says we'll be there by the next sunrise. Beyond that... what's the plan?"

The team paused for a moment, before Realm sighed, realizing that was her cue. "Right. I, um, may not have thought that far ahead yet."

"All we know is that the tribes' staffs are somehow needed to reawaken the Great Devourer, right?" Morro asked. "So to stop them, don't we just need to steal or destroy only one?"

Zap blinked in surprise. "That's brilliant! Why didn't we think of it sooner? It should be a simple mission."

"Right? I'm a genius."

"Admittedly, yes, it's a smart idea. But simple?" The red Ninja frowned. "By tradition, Serpentine generals carry their staff everywhere. Pythor knows we intend to stop him, so he undoubtedly has them protected as well. He will be expecting us. It's going to be extremely difficult to take back both a staff and Ally."

"We only have four of us, too," Realm pointed out. "Five with Morro's help, but even then, we haven't been able to train for missions together yet. It's a huge risk."

Zap laughed nervously. "What other choice do we have?"

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BREAKING NEWS: Lord Garmadon's Return

"I'm Gayle Gossip, and this is Zenjago TV News. I am here to interrupt your midnight broadcast with realm-shattering news, live from the air. A massive inter-realm portal has just been spotted opening over the Ninja's base, the Bounty!

"Two figures, suspected to be Ninja master Sensei Wu and none other than Lord Garmadon— yes you heard that right folks, the Dark Lord himself!—, have dropped from the eye of the portal and onto the ship. No malicious movements have been detected, and the Ninja have not sent out warning signals. Do not panic! I repeat, do not panic! This is a developing story. Stay tuned to ZGTV for more information. What is Lord Garmadon here for? Only time will tell."

Sensei Wu stared at his students, who were lined up against the rail on the Bounty's deck, looking like school children getting scolded.

"Are you going to behave now?" he asked in exasperation.

None of the Ninja said a word. Harper was glaring daggers at the Oni-like man behind Wu, while the others stared at the deck.

"You want me to believe that you willingly brought back the Dark Lord into Zenjago? Sounds like you're being threatened at knifepoint or something," Morro said. "And you want us to treat him like a guest? Are you insane?"

Wu sighed. "Yes, Morro. I intentionally retrieved my brother to aid us in taking down the Serpentine and the Great Devourer. This is a battle we cannot win alone."

The boy laughed harshly, turning to glare at their sensei. "I don't care. He fucking kidnapped me, repeatedly threatened to kill me, basically tortured and- and starved me—"

"Excuse me, I offered. It's not my fault you refused to eat Condensed Evil and lava rocks," Garmadon interrupted with a scowl. "My apologies. Did you expect the Underworld to carry burgers and fries?"

"Maybe I did!" Morro retorted. "You still fucking kidnapped me, though! Guys, are we just going to ignore that?"

In the middle of the night, Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon had crashed down onto the Bounty's deck. The Ninja first were relieved to see Wu's safe return— only to panic and attack the Dark Lord the second he stepped out from his younger brother's shadow. Instead of joining them like before, Wu stopped the fight and scolded the Ninja for their actions, much to their shock. 'Contradictory, much?' Skylar had remarked.

"'The past is the past'," Harper mocked their sensei. "Ah- sorry, Morro. We're going to have to ignore all of that trauma because apparently, he's on our side now."

Wu was about to reprimand the red Ninja when Zap pitched in, their voice high and panicked. "Yeah, yeah! Totally normal, right, guys? Four arms— no big deal! It's not like he's tried to steal our Golden Weapons, directly harm our team, and attempt to kill us countless times, and we're now expected to live with him! Oh wait, I forgot! He did do that, and that's exactly what Sensei wants!"

Garmadon's red eyes flicked to his brother's face as the Ninja angrily chattered. "This is tedious. You said they would take it well."

"I said no such thing."

"You most certainly did."

Wu ignored him and slammed his staff into the deck. "Enough!" he shouted.

"Yes, Sensei," the Ninja said flatly.

"For the last time, I am not here for your weapons," Garmadon snapped, casting an irritated look at Zap in particular. "I am only here because of my daughter, whom you all have carelessly lost and allowed to be captured by the Serpentine."

Wu shot his brother a look before addressing the Ninja. "From here on out, you will obey me and you will respect my brother."

"... Yes, Sensei."

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It had only been a day of living with Lord Garmadon, but the Ninja were tired of him. Eating 'condensed evil' (a strange jelly-like black matter that faintly smelled of ... mud?) which burned through their plates and utensils, materializing and throwing daggers randomly to scare them, stabbing swords into various tables and walls when he was bored, meditating in pure darkness with only his red eyes as light— the list was endless, and these were just the harmless things. The Ninja had begun making a list of grievances in their group chat, and it was growing extremely long.

This did not escape Wu for long. While Garmadon meditated in the guest room, the sensei brought the Ninja to the bridge. The sun was setting, turning the sky a deep purple, matching the new bruises the teenagers sported from the day's rigorous training.

"I am disappointed," he began.

"You always are," Morro scoffed. Skylar elbowed him in the ribs.

"I am disappointed in your rude attitude towards my brother, our guest." Wu made eye contact with the blond boy; he blew the green strand of hair from his eyes and glared back. "But I am more disappointed in myself. I should have spoken with the four—five—of you, before bringing him back."

Harper clicked her tongue, inspecting her nails. "Yeah, it was certainly a dick move."

Wu accepted the vulgar remark with a grimace. "I understand your reservations about working with him. I, too, have felt the same for years. I am ready to reconcile with him, at least to take down the threat of the Serpentine. As for you: I do not want you to forget. Forgiveness is your choice. Cooperation is all I ask."

"But you're still making us work with him," Zap pointed out, their tone growing anxious. "I don't think I'd feel comfortable doing that. Not that I'll protest, or anything, like—I know it isn't my choice—I'd just rather- um, prefer..."

Skylar put her hand on their shoulder, catching the blue Ninja's eye and flashing them a quick smile. "What Zap's trying to say is, we'd like to avoid working with him. He's hurt us a lot."

The bridge was quiet for a moment longer. A cold breeze swept through, ruffling the Ninja's hair and pajamas. Wu gazed out at the cloudy sky, which was turning a deep purple. He stroked his wispy beard for a moment, then sighed and turned to the team, weariness in his eyes. "I know he has hurt you. I've felt the same, long ago. We are as strong as our weakest link, and if your bond with an ally is strained, it endangers us all. I will not force you to work with him if none of you want to."

"We don't want to," Realm piped in. "No offense at all, but none of us are comfortable with that."

Wu nodded. "Then it is decided. At dawn, we will reach the Mountain of a Million Steps. You five will infiltrate the base with the intent of stealing and destroying at least one Serpentine General staff. Garmadon and I will stay on the Bounty as backup." The team heaved a not-so-discreet sigh of relief at this, and their sensei nodded solemnly. "If he chooses to betray me... I have bested him once, and I can do so again. You have nothing to fear."

"'Sleep well', Wu said. Bold assumption," Skylar muttered. "I keep thinking about all the ways the Serpentine are going to fucking maul me. First Master, I'm not ready for this."

"Don't say that, you're going to make my anxiety act up," Zap warned. After a second, they realized, "Wait, if Wu says 'early morning', he's going to be waking us up at three am, isn't he?"

Realm stifled a yawn. "Well- We have to warm up at some point, unfortunately."

"Someone please sedate me with a tranquilizer," Harper grumbled. "I want to pass out the second I touch my bed."

The team made it back to the room and collapsed into their bunks. The others' murmuring was soon replaced by steady breathing, and Morro realized he was the last one awake. Exhaustion pulled at his eyelids, but his mind was racing excitedly.

You five will infiltrate the base, Wu had said. Five.

Which meant the Ghost Ninja was finally, officially, part of the team.

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"If we die—"

"We are not going to die," Realm corrected sternly. She strapped the Scythe of Realms to her back and tucked a few extra blades under her gi. "We're going to get out alive and in one piece with a staff. Or two."

Morro tightened the visor over his eyes before side-eyeing the team leader. "Well, I was going to say, if we die, at least we'll look pretty fucking badass. Look at us!"

It was true. Morro's Ghost Ninja armor was intimidating (it was difficult for the others to remember their sarcastic little brother was behind the visor) and the team looked impressive, fully suited up with their newest armor, robes, and Golden Weapons. Still, Realm wore an indignant expression that made the blond giggle as he pulled his hood over his face. He stuck his hand out, watching the others expectantly. "Well? Hands in, team!"

The Ninja pulled on their hoods and stacked their hands in the center. "Ready to beat some snake ass?" Harper grinned. "On three. One, two—"

"Three!"

All five Ninja slammed their full weight against the bars, swinging the massive cage towards where the Golden Weapons were suspended in chains. Zap lunged against the bars, straining to reach their Nunchucks, and their fingertips just missed the chain.

"Fuck!" Morro snarled. "We were so close!"

Skylar slumped to the floor of the cage, splaying her limbs out and heaving a sigh. "Fuck me, man. It's hopeless."

Realm lightly kicked the white Ninja with the toe of her shoe. "Language, both of you."

"It is kind of hopeless," Morro retorted. "They've got our weapons and my mech, our comm links can't reach the Bounty from this deep underground, we don't have any of the staffs, and we haven't even seen Ally. And, to top it all off, we're locked in this giant ass cage suspended over a pit of poison that will dissolve us painfully and immediately the second Pythor gets bored and dunks us in. Fun, right?"

"Well, when you put it like that, it does seem hopeless."

Harper hissed. "Everyone shut up, please."

The Ninja were not in a good position. The five of them had been caught almost immediately; turns out, the entire base was trapped, and no matter how sneaky they were, the Serpentine were days and weeks of preparation ahead of them. They had been thrown into a massive birdcage-like prison cell suspended over the Serpentine's Slither Pit, which was built above a massive lake of corrosive poison.

All five Serpentine staffs glittered around Pythor's throne in the dim lighting. The Serpentine King was conferring with the other generals below, just outside the Ninja's earshot.

"They're talking about resurrecting the Devourer," Harper said suddenly.

Correction: the generals were out of earshot for all but Harper. Their practically superhuman hearing picked up on the conversation and they laid against the cage's floor, pressed against the bars, trying to get the closest they could.

"They have all the staffs but they don't know how to activate the shrine," she reported. "They're scared of experimenting in case there's defense mechanisms in place. Skalidor is saying she's worried about the Devourer's strength. Ironic. Fang-someone thinks all of Zenjago is going to get completely leveled. " She paused, listening, then sucked in a breath. "Ah, Pythor's pissed."

The purple snake below was angrily gesticulating, indistinct shouts echoing in the massive dome.

"He looks like a rat from up here," Realm whispered. "Look."

"No, you're kind of right," Skylar added, peering over the black Ninja's shoulder. "Like, I could squash him under my foot—"

Pythor's head snapped up to the cage, and the Ninja jumped out of sight. Harper remained pressed to the ground, listening intently, face a stony mask of concentration. Zap started to pace the perimeter of the cage, ever so slightly rocking the cage as they walked. "First Master, this went wrong in every possible way."

"So..." Skylar kept their voice a whisper. "Are we just waiting for them to kill us, then?"

A moment of excruciating silence.

"Well- no. I have... um. I have an idea."

The four teenagers turned to look at the Ghost Ninja. He looked silly, his visor plastered to his forehead and pushing his hair up in strange directions, but his expression was serious. He was fiddling with the stone bracelet on his wrist, spinning it and fiddling with the clasp; an anxious stim. Realm tilted her head curiously. "What is it?"

"It might not work."

"Pythor says he plans on dunking us in once the rest of the Serpentine get here," Harper called out. "We've got... he says thirty minutes."

"We're running out of time and ideas," Skylar pleaded. "Just tell us, we won't laugh."

Morro stood and flicked the green strand of hair out of his eyes. "I think I can get to our weapons and our mech. If I do that, what's the plan?"

"Harper and Realm are better fighters, so maybe they make a distraction while Zap and I go for the staffs," Skylar thought. "And you could look for Ally?"

"No, he'll have the mech. Swap it— I can look for the kid while Morro and Realm distract," Harper said. "I overheard Fang-someone mentioning Ally, so I generally know where she is imprisoned."

"That works," Realm said. The others nodded confirmation.

The red Ninja turned to Morro, worry seeping into her bones. "Morro, what are you planning? You better not fucking die."

His grey gaze found theirs and he smiled, almost sadly. "Oh, you won't have to worry about that. Uh- everyone actually- just promise me you won't freak out."

He adjusted his visor on his head and after a second of hesitation, kept his hood around his neck. He took a deep breath, shakily, then reached for the bracelet around his wrist. In one smooth click, it fell open and clattered to the floor.

At first, he didn't look any different. If anything, it only seemed like he turned a shade paler. Then his brow and cheekbones sharpened, and it became increasingly obvious: skin draining of color, features turned gaunt, shadows accentuating his skeleton, and a fog faded across his sunken eyes, turning them a pure milky white.

Morro looked dead.

Several gasps. Harper couldn't breathe.

In the drowning darkness, he glowed a faint green, and as he turned to face the Ninja, they realized they could see right through him. Morro watched the team's faces with his lifeless eyes and smiled mirthlessly. "I'm sorry," he said.

He backed up against the cage's bars. With a cheeky grin, the boy turned and jumped through them, phasing straight through the metal and falling.

Harper let out a strangled gasp and lunged forward, straining to see where Morro had fallen. They felt a tap on their shoulder and they turned; Morro, even more transparent than before, floated a foot above the floor. Slowly, everything clicked into place.

The Ghost Ninja.

Morro smirked at his sister, then floated- flew?- through the bars once more, his faint apparition easily reaching the chains that suspended the Golden Weapons and his mech from the ceiling. In the blink of an eye, he freed his mech and used its claws to tear open the Ninja's cage bars with an ear-shattering shriek.

Distantly, Pythor was screaming something. For a moment the Ninja forgot about their mission; they still gaped at Morro, eyes wide and faces pale with shock.

Morro was a ghost.

"What are you waiting for?" he yelled from the cockpit. "Hurry up, Pythor's already called for reinforcements!"

Skylar was the first to recover. She jumped off the cage's edge, landing on the mech's shoulder, and grabbed onto the chain holding her Shurikens. "Come on, Zap!" she called, jolting the blue Ninja into action, Realm following close behind. The Nunchucks of Lightning were soon freed, and so was the Scythe of Realms; the three Ninja used Spinjitzu to ease their fall, and judging by the screams of a Serpentine general, Realm had activated her vehicle below.

"Come on." She couldn't see it, but it sounded like Morro had rolled his eyes. He flexed the hand of his mech, beckoning for her to step on. "Ally's waiting for you, Harp. Serpentine soldiers are showing up, you idiot, do you want us to die?"

Us, he said, as if he wasn't already dead.

Harper grabbed the bracelet Morro had discarded and shoved it in their pocket before jumping onto his mech. They didn't look at him— they couldn't, not when they knew that underneath the armor, he looked like a corpse— and they grabbed the Sword of Fire and leaped into the fray below.

Morro is a ghost.

Her Spinjitzu hits the ground in a flash of fire. Amid the chaos, she stumbled towards the south tunnel, slashing at Serpentine warriors that got close. South must be correct. Pythor mentioned Ally's cell there.

Morro has died.

A Hypnobrai charged at her. She knocked them down easily with the Sword and pressed on down the wing. Harper isn't even wearing their hood; if they did, they felt like they would suffocate.

When did he die? How did he die?

More Serpentine emerge from the twisting labyrinth of the south wing and she cuts them all down. The acrid smell of burning flesh follows the red Ninja in her wake. Fury and grief and pain scorched in their eyes and at their heels. Something catches fire, and Harper cannot bring herself to look back.

Why didn't he tell me?

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Smoke.

Ally stirred from where she slumped against the bars of her cell. She rubbed the heel of her palms to her eyes and blinked, squinting against the dim lighting. Something flickered orange, glowing and radiating heat as it spread down the hall.

Oh. Fire.

It took a second to sink in. Fire was racing down the hallway into the sealed jail room, where Ally was trapped in a metal box.

This was not good.

"Hello?" she shrieked. Her voice bounced off the walls. "Let me out!"

The girl rattled her cell door and let out another yell. Skalidor had thrown her into the dusty jail, which was full of cells composed of dark metal bars. She was the only prisoner, and the Constrictai general hadn't spared her a glance as she threw her into the nearest and smallest one (a disgrace, really. No such way to treat a Garmadon). As she shook the bars, they clanged together in a horrifying cacophony, easily rising above the crackling of fire incinerating dust, yet no response came.

Maybe this was their sick plan. Was she going to be cooked alive? Ally would make for an awful meal. The Darkley's teachers liked to comment that she lacked decent meat on her bones no matter how much she ate.

"Don't roast me alive, I'm going to taste like shit," she hollered, worry creeping into her voice as the fire crawled closer. A wave of heat slammed into her, and she backed up in fear. It was approaching too fast for her comfort. Her heartbeat was picking up speed, and with every breath, she felt smoke burn in her lungs.

Fire licked at her shoes. She let out a scared whimper and scooted her feet further from the hall, watching it cast the cells in flickering warm light. Both the air and the metal bars blazed Ally's skin as she yanked on them, throwing her full weight against them. With the heat, they moved— only barely. Her hands tingled and she pulled again, feeling the heat burn her hands the longer she held the hot metal, feeling it sear and numb her fingers as she tugged on the bars fruitlessly.

They moved. She was not hallucinating, or going crazy. The bars were actually moving, they had to be.

Ally shrieked and stumbled backward. Her ankles were seared as flames caught her pant leg. It scorched her skin and climbed up her clothes. She screamed, swatted at it, and managed to put out the flame. Her skin smarted and she was sweating and her head spun with the intense heat and she was just so tired. Ally coughed on the smoke, taking a heaving gasp only to choke down more. Her eyes pricked with tears.

It sank in that she, Ally Garmadon, was going to die here.

Her vision swam as she gripped the burning bars once more, struggling to see through her watering eyes. Ally Garmadon does not die.

She pulled once, twice, and at the third yank, with ungodly strength, it gave out. Light flashed from her hands. Ally's vision was filled with lazer-green aftershocks and she groped blindly for the bars. She found the burning metal and gripped it tightly. It practically melted under her hands as she shoved it apart like putty, stumbling out of the cage— only to nearly trip and fall into the fire.

The flames were under her feet. She was walking in fire. She was burning. Her body was surrounded by flames and it hurt so fucking bad. Her shoes were melting her clothes were burning everything hurt she couldn't walk and her feet and ankles and legs were burning. Someone was screaming. She was screaming. She was burning—

And Ally was swept off her feet, above the fire into cool air. Something patted her down hastily and she was too exhausted to fight as she was hauled over someone's shoulder and whisked down the hall. Warm air blew through her hair and across her burning skin. Everything hurt.

She jolted awake. Someone was talking. She must have passed out. It was hard to hear over the fire and the base collapsing and Ally's stupid heart pounding in her ears. Curling blonde hair caught on her face, streaked with tears (when did she start crying?), and Ally tried to blink it out of her eyes. She was still in the arms of her rescuer. They were human, most likely. They gripped her tightly as they ran through the maze that is the Serpentine's base.

Ally realized the fire was gone.

Smoke lingered in the halls, and every gritty cough hurt, but she was away from the flames. Her ears rang. Slowly, she realized her rescuer was talking, their voice rough and panicked and wavering. They had an accent.

"I've got you!" they gasped, sharply turning a corner. "I've got you, Ally, just breathe. You're going to be okay."

It's Harper.

Ally was too exhausted to hold back the tears. She clutched onto them tighter and cried into their shoulder, feeling her lungs burn with every hiccuping sob. The red Ninja just gripped her tighter as they ran through the halls. "You're okay," they were repeating, almost having to shout over the battle and fire. "You're okay, Ally. I've got you. You're okay."

"They lied to me," she cried. "I can't- Harp, they locked me up, tried to- tried to burn me, I can't believe-"

"Shhh, you're okay, love. Breathe. We're almost out of here."

They stumbled into the cavern cast in sickening green light and Harper took another sharp turn, dodging a spear and striking down a Serpentine soldier all while holding Ally. They vaulted up a set of stairs and abruptly stopped in an empty corridor.

"She's okay, she's here, I found her," Harper was saying into her comm, voice shaking. Everything sounded far away and underwater. The red Ninja set her down— their hands were burning hot, nearly scalding through their gloves, and Ally jerked away from their touch. They noticed and quickly took their hands away. "Ally, you're okay now. I've got you. Your dad and Uncle Wu will be here any second now—"

The wall behind them exploded. Ally shrieked as Harper tackled her, shielding her from the rock and debris. Everything screamed with pain at the contact and she coughed violently, the wind knocked from her aching lungs.

Once the dust cleared, and Ally hesitantly peeked over Harper's shoulder at the intruders.

Wu stood in pearly white and gold robes, his bamboo staff scuffed and marked in Serpentine blood. He glared out at the battlefield, yet when he noticed them, his expression softened. Harper quickly got up, helping Ally to her feet and brushing dust from her shoulders, and then she saw him.

Her dad.

His skin was still as dark as the night sky, he wore his ribcage armor over a dark violet robe, and his bright red eyes glowed from behind his war helmet. He held a purple blade in each hand, yet they dissolved in thin air the second he saw Ally.

Harper released her from their grip and Ally had never jumped up faster. She barreled straight into his chest, despite the burns across her skin, the pain in her feet, and the stinging in her lungs; Ally hugged her dad like it was the end of the world, and sobbed.

With Ally safe with Garmadon and Wu, Harper jumped back into the fight. She was shaking horribly; from what, she couldn't say. There was too much.

"Everything's gone to shit," she had gasped out to Wu. "I don't- Sensei, everything went wrong, I'm so fucking scared, I almost killed Ally, and I just- I-"

He had put his hand on their shoulder and immediately, they stopped talking. "Breathe," he had ordered. When they did, he looked them in the eyes, and asked, "Are you okay?"

She didn't have an answer other than the tears pricking her eyes. Wu had then smacked her on the shoulder lightly with his staff. "Kick snake butt first, then cry," he said.

So they were doing just that. Kicking snake butt first.

The battlefield was a mess of carnage and chaos. The Slither Pit had been opened, leaving the acid lake fully exposed. The cave was cast in a blazing green glow from the lake and the stifling air smelled of sulfur, charred flesh, and smoke. Fallen Serpentine bodies were scattered across the cave. Embers of the flash fire glowed through the haze, shadows cutting through the light as their owners fought. There were screams and cries and curses with each death and injury as the battle raged on. On the ground floor, lightning erupted in a flash from the Nunchucks. The acid lake hissed as Serpentine fell in.

Harper quickly followed the flashes over to Zap, whose eyes welled with tears when she brandished the Sword and came back-to-back with them. They defeated the advancing group of Fangpyre just barely, not without casualties; Zap bit their lip bloody to not scream and attract attention when their right arm was slashed in a dying blow. Fleeing the scorched and stunned bodies, they ran into Wu again, who shoved them towards a small sliver of light beaming from above—the exit is that way, all the others are out, go—and so they ran.

Only after Harper helped Zap through the exit did they turn around, high out of reach from the smoke and stench of death, and they saw golden and violet Spinjitzu tornadoes flashing below in a battle with the four Serpentine generals. From the distance, she saw Garmadon lash out with an electric purple bolt from his bare hands that slammed one into the ground. He nearly decapitated another as he spun around, hands aflame and glowing violet, and a furious roar shook through the cavern and vibrated in their bones.

Harper didn't linger.

« 🐍 📜 ⛩️ 📜 🐍 »

When Skylar asked, "What happened?" Zap could not tell her.

The entire Ninja team was crowded in the medical bay, passing painkillers, gauze, and bandages between calloused hands as they tended to each other's wounds and their own. The infirmary was filled with exhausted silence as they worked, punctuated only by hisses of pain or the rip of medical tape.

Realm had broken the silence, forcing them all to talk, as she always did. Her voice was hoarse and she coughed while she recounted her perspective of events.

The staffs were juggled between Ninja and Serpentine like a violent game of hot potato in the first half of their attack. She, Morro, and Skylar had managed to hold onto all four staffs, holding their ground with Morro's mech at the Slither Pit— that is, until Pythor opened the pit, killing several dozen Serpentine warriors and Morro's mech in the process.

"I'm so fucking mad about that, dude. I spent ages on my mech and he just fucking vaporized it like it was nothing," the boy muttered. "But- yeah, I grabbed Realm and Sky right before they got dropped in and we flew out of there. We left the staffs behind and I lost track of Sky, like, right after that."

No one could quite recall how they escaped amidst the chaos. Getting out of the Mountain of a Million Steps was a miracle, especially with minor injuries; Zap's arm bore a nasty gash, Skylar's ankle was likely fractured, Realm reported significant rib bruising, and all five of them had certainly inhaled far too much smoke, but that was the worst of it.

Zap had taken the maximum dosage of painkillers before letting Skylar work on their arm, and it was paying off. They hardly flinched as the red-haired Ninja firmly wrapped Zap's arm in bandages and helped them peel off the shredded gi. She had asked what happened. Zap didn't know. Her eyes crinkled at the edges as if she were smiling, but her face was weary.

"At least you're okay," she replied and squeezed their hand. "We made it out alive."

Zap swallowed and barely nodded. Exhaustion rooted them to the bench and they could only distantly watch the others patch themselves up somberly.

They found their mind wandering to Ally, currently passed out in a nest of pillows on the cot. The girl had inhaled First Master knows how much smoke and was practically swaddled in bandages that covered the horrific burns across her skin. And then they thought of Morro, uncharacteristically silent and serious; less than a minute after clipping his bracelet back on, he removed his visor and armor and looked normal again, and refused to acknowledge anyone who mentioned otherwise. The Ninja came to steer clear of the subject, but Zap couldn't forget his gaunt face.

Morro avoided being alone with any of the Ninja for longer than thirty seconds. He saw the way they looked at him and the way they hesitated when there was a lull in conversation. They had questions.

And honestly? Morro didn't feel like answering them.

So he had been running around the Bounty all day doing odd chores, relocating every time he noticed someone sticking around too long. Nobody might have planned to ask about it, but he didn't risk it. He already planned to sleep after dinner and wake up before the sun, avoiding any instances where he could be cornered.

It was fool-proof. Except his sister was not a fool, and thus: his plan was not Harper-proof.

He was sweeping the deck, playing music from his phone and poorly singing along, when he turned around and slammed into a wall of red fabric.

"Ow," Harper said impassionately, and Morro jumped back. He glared at her, pretending he hadn't just been belting off-key to some song from a musical. He knew she was a Ninja, but First Master, her stealth scared him more often than not.

"I'm trying to clean here," he complained. When they didn't move, he jabbed, "You look shit in plain red. I liked your other set more."

"I did too," they muttered and leaned against the Bounty's mast. "You don't get to talk though, you're wearing Realm's spares and it makes you look like you're going to a funeral."

(Funeral. Morro's chest seized for a split second, but Harper didn't act any differently.)

The Ninja—which now included Morro, by some unspoken agreement between everyone—discarded their robes and armor that were burned, bloody, and torn beyond repair from the battle, leaving them all in plain robes for the time being. They had all despaired over the loss of their cool armor and gi's, the Smith siblings grieving them the loudest and the most.

He rolled the ankles up of the borrowed gi before straightening his posture and lifting his chin haughtily. "Yeah, a funeral for... for your fucking fashion taste. You look like a stop sign. Bitch."

"Rude. Are we not wearing the exact same thing just in different colors?"

"Yeah, different colors. They're not the same thing then," he corrected, grinning when Harper rolled their eyes.

No matter how much Morro bullied her, his sister didn't budge from her spot at the mast. She wasn't leaving, which meant she wanted to talk to him. Fuck.

Still, they bantered as they knew best, and he silently hoped she would forget it and move on.

"Your gi really brings out the color of your eyes."

"Your hair looks like shitty hay."

"Your new scar looks like you're crying blood."

"At least they make me look hot."

"No."

"Why are you sweeping when there's approximately five leaves on the Bounty? Just mop, maybe then you'll actually clean something."

Morro crossed his arms and pouted. "I am cleaning, thank you very much. And I don't like mopping. I hate that it's wet."

"Is that not the entire point of mopping?" they deadpanned.

"Well, yeah. But it still sucks."

Harper inspected her nails and clicked her tongue in disdain as Morro resumed his work. Admittedly, they were right in that the Bounty's deck had very few leaves and dust for him to sweep up, but he liked the way the broom ran along the grooves in the wood. He slowly made his way across the wide deck, moving the leaves into a little pile of leaves near his dustpan and patting it into a satisfying mound.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Morro froze, his heart stopped (had it ever re-started?) and his breath caught in his throat.

"Morro."

Panic spread hotly across his skin. A gust of wind blew across the Bounty, scattering his leaves into the breeze.

"Morro Smith, look at me."

His eyes locked on where the leaf pile used to be. If he kept staring, maybe he would melt into the wood below. Maybe the Vengestone bracelet would fall open and he could drift away on the breeze, emotions lost in the winds.

He didn't look at Harper.

They exhaled slowly, shakily. "Okay, then," they said quietly, and his gut twisted. "You don't have to."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled before he knew what he was apologizing for. Morro wanted nothing more than to yank that stupid bracelet off his wrist and not have to worry about the caged bird of a heart in his chest, struggling in fear.

Harper's hazel eyes bore into his, which were still cast on the ground. "What are you sorry for?"

"I don't know." He swallowed. "Dying."

His sister sucked in a sharp breath. He glanced at their face quickly and saw them blinking rapidly, jaw clenched, a drop of water—a tear—rolling down along their angry new scar. He quickly looked away.

To say he never thought about his death was a lie. For months after, Morro couldn't sleep for more than a few minutes at a time; any second of sleep was filled with flashbacks in vivid nightmares, and everything reminded him of the horrifying memories. He had isolated himself and dark rings grew under his eyes from sleepless nights, mimicking the skeletal features he held as a ghost. He forced himself to sleep after that.

He eventually gave a latch to the bracelet he had crudely molded from a broken shackle. The orange veins faded against the black and he could pretend it was nothing more than a fashion statement. Despite giving himself an opportunity for freedom, he kept it on and opted for pretending: that he didn't rely on Vengestone, that he wasn't a ghost, and that nothing had ever happened down in the Underworld.

For a year, he pretended that he was still alive.

Harper repeated her question, wavering this time. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I didn't know how to tell you" was all he managed to say.

"You've been— you didn't tell me for a whole fucking year." Their voice strengthened and the words started flowing faster. "That's how long it was since we first encountered Garmadon. And right after, you got that bracelet, dyed your hair, isolated yourself, and didn't eat or sleep. We all just thought it was from being captured, which I'm certain it was, but it was also because you- because you fucking-"

They took a heaving breath. Morro stayed silent, guilt eating away at his gut.

"You know I would have believed you and helped you, or at least been there for you. You know that, right?"

"I know," he said quietly. "I just didn't want to bother you."

"Bother me?" Harper straightened up and a familiar fiery glare landed on his face. "Bother me with what? Some small thing like my brother fucking dying?"

Saying it aloud made the year of fear and nightmares suddenly much, much more real.

Morro brushed his hair—the stupid green streak—out of his eyes and for the first time, met her gaze. Watery hazel eyes stared into weary grey ones, and suddenly he was swept up into a fierce hug. Strong arms held him tightly as if he were a child again, hugging his older sister over something truly trivial. Except her heart was still beating while his was not, and he had lied about it for a year.

He had come to terms with being dead. He really, truly, absolutely did, and he was fine with it. Yet he bit his cheek to not collapse into a snotty mess of tears when he felt Harper shake and sob into his shoulder. He didn't know how long they stood like that, hugging each other, blubbering, crying, desperately clinging to the lost hope that they were both still alive.

Harper pulled away, wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and sniffled loudly. "Fucking dammit," she muttered, congested. "I told myself I wasn't going to cry."

"Too late," Morro said, a smile failing to reach his eyes, and he quickly rubbed his tears from his face.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"No," he said quickly. He still didn't know what happened.

"That's okay."

They stood in silence punctuated by Harper's sniffling and Morro clearing his throat. After a moment, he said, "Was the whole Ghost Ninja name too obvious?"

"It was a bit on the nose. Is that why you dyed your hair green?"

He thought about how his hair was streaked with white after he came back. He wanted to tear it from the root, shave it away, anything to purge the stripe branding his revival until it regrew in the straw color it was meant to be. Morro dyed it green and nearly had a panic attack when the roots grew out white, so he dyed the streak again and again and again and again until he could believe that it had always been that way.

"Yeah," he lied. His sister made a noncommittal sound and diverted her gaze to the clouds— disappointment, he assumed, and he tried to lighten the mood. "It makes me a better Ninja than you."

Harper glanced over and raised an eyebrow. "Does not."

"Does too."

"Prove it then, bitch."

He grinned and ticked off a list on his fingers. "I can pass through solid things, I can go invisible, I probably can possess people, and nobody can hurt me. Unless it's water. Actually- wait- don't tell anyone I said that. Um. So that's four things you can't do, so fuck you. Being a ghost is useful."

Harper swallowed and her face fell slightly. "I don't need you to be useful, Morro. I needed you to be alive."

"Well-" he shrugged, extending his arms; he saw their eyes flick to the bracelet on his wrist. "You tried your best. But, the good news is, I really suck at staying dead."

"Yeah, you really do." First Master, Morro hoped she wouldn't turn the conversation depressing again. (Really, his efforts for humor went unappreciated in this household. Ship-hold? Bounty-hold?) After a moment, a smile crept across Harper's face. "I think that's a point for me being a better Ninja, if you think about it."

He gasped so loudly his throat felt raw and he punched her shoulder. "You're mean," he whined. "I'm not fucking talking to you ever again."

For the first time since the battle, his sister actually laughed.

« 🐍 📜 ⛩️ 📜 🐍 »

Ally woke up to her dad sitting in the corner of the infirmary, reading a book, of all things.

"Good morning, Ally," he said, nudging a steaming mug towards her. "Tea?"

She made a disgusted face and leaned away from the mug. Garmadon pursed his lips and said nothing.

They sat in awkward silence, with Garmadon thumbing the pages of his book and Ally staring at the bandages around her body. As she emerged from the grogginess of sleep, she noticed she felt much better; she grabbed a couple of squares of ambrosia from the side table and shoved it in her mouth before she was told off for taking too much.

She remembered the battle in fleeting images and shuddered at the memory of fire. She remembered Harper whisking her to safety and seeing her dad, Garmadon, join the battle. At that moment, Ally was overjoyed to see him.

But now? Now, she also remembered years of abandonment, and it was bitter on her tongue.

"Are you just going to ignore me?" Garmadon eventually said.

To prove his point, she didn't acknowledge it, and instead accused, "Why are you reading?"

"Oh, my apologies. I didn't know evil warlords aren't allowed to read anymore," he replied. Ally scowled.

"How are you not hurt at all from the fight?"

Her dad glanced over his ebony skin, crossing his lower set of arms. "Full of questions today, aren't you? I did get hurt, though not as much as the Serpentine Generals or your friends. I heal faster since my father is the First Spinjitzu Master."

"Does that mean I'll heal faster, since I'm his granddaughter?"

"With the aid of ambrosia? Certainly."

Ally picked at her bandages grumpily. "Well, this better all go away soon. These burns are so damn annoying, they're all fucking itchy."

Garmadon watched her carefully, then sighed, "Why do you choose to swear so much?"

Fuck was a good word, but that was not the reason. Ally hummed lightly. "They taught me that at Darkley's. You know— the school you fucking abandoned me at. Remember? Or maybe you don't. I don't know, you're kind of an asshole."

"Touché."

"I don't know what that means. Doesn't change the fact that you fucking left me behind."

He folded the corner of a page and creased the edge, not looking at her. (The fucking audacity.) "I didn't have a choice."

"Bullshit." Ally sat up straighter, anger building in her chest. "You're a grown-up and the fucking son of the First Spinjitzu Master, of course you have choices. You could have taken me with you, evil or not. I could be evil."

"Are you not sitting in the medical bay of a flying base belonging to the Ninja, the pinnacle of heroism and good?" he countered. His voice was horribly calm and Ally really, really wanted to punch him.

"Who says I still want to be evil? Maybe I want to be good now. They're my friends," she snapped before her own words sank in. "The Ninja are my friends and they're risking their lives to save Zenjago. What about you? All you know how to do is to destroy things and leave people behind."

He took a sip from the tea Ally had rejected with a grimace. "It's not so simple. Evil runs in my blood, Ally, you know this. Since the Devourer bit me-"

Ally slammed her hand onto the table. Her palm stung but she ignored it. "Shut up about the stupid fucking Devourer!" she yelled. "First Master, I can't believe I fucking- I can't believe I wanted to be like you!"

"I... am glad you are thinking for yourself now," Garmadon said, and if he was sad, Ally didn't give two flying fucks. "You have a choice that I never had. Because I was bitten, evil runs through my veins, and I will never be satisfied with the peace that comes with good. But you still have a choice, and if that choice may be to stop me one day... I suppose we have to follow our own destinies, and I respect your choice."

She fell back with a thump against the wall. "So that's it then? You're just never going to change? Maybe everyone is right. You're just a piece of shit using the Devourer to excuse everything you do."

Silence filled the room. Ally expected him to argue, to threaten her, to push back, but he just faltered and listened. She had seen her father fight and kill ruthlessly before. She heard the tales of Lord Garmadon plaguing Zenjago for ages. Yet he treated her so kindly that she could believe for a moment that he wasn't a seven-foot-tall man with four arms, midnight black skin, and red eyes that she inherited. He was acting like a normal father would to a normal daughter and it made her want to stab the wall.

"You don't actually care about me," she said flatly.

"Ally-"

She bared her teeth. "Stop it. Shut up. I know you don't care because if you did, you wouldn't have left me with Mom who just put me into Darkley's. You would have taken me with you on your stupid journey to some evil realm instead. I never would have met the Serpentine, I never would have been tricked by that- that fucking bitch Pythor, and we wouldn't be here. So really, this is all your fault! And you know what?" Ally's voice raised to almost shrill and she leaned as far forward as she could. "You know what? I used to care about you! But now I've realized you only do everything for yourself, since the Devourer bit you, like you always say. You're not gonna actually help us fight the Serpentine. You're just going to leave again, aren't you."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement, one that Garmadon didn't challenge. "I will help the Ninja take down the Serpentine. But after that, I am... afraid that I will indeed have to leave."

Of course. Even with her ranting, Ally had a shred of hope that he would change his mind, prove her wrong, and side with them. A childish hope.

"Then why don't you just leave now?"

He reached a hand out to touch her shoulder; she recoiled away from him, repulsed. "Ally, please—"

"No, really!" she shrieked. "Go back to whatever evil place you came from. We don't want your help, and we don't need you here. Maybe it would've been better if you hadn't come at all."

And Lord Garmadon, the Dark Lord, her fucking father, just sat there and accepted it. "Very well then. If... if that's the way you feel," he said quietly. Some emotion Ally didn't care for lined his face, and he gently set down the book and mug on the table. He picked up his skeletal armor, which rested by the door, and slipped it over his shoulders.

Garmadon cast one final glance over his shoulder, which Ally returned with a scowl. He smiled, all sharp teeth and something sad, then turned the corner. Just like that, he was gone once more, a shadow in the night.

Ally didn't know why she was so sad.

A few minutes later a head of dark hair poked around the doorframe. The black Ninja beamed, noticing she was awake, and entered the infirmary. "Hey, Ally, glad to see you're up! How are you feeling?" Realm asked, neatening the shelves of supplies. When she didn't reply, she tried for a different question. "How was it getting to talk to your dad again? You seemed pretty happy to see him earlier, I know it's been a while."

She didn't respond, staring blankly at the lump of her feet under the blankets.

Realm let Ally sit in silence as she worked to clean up the medical bay. She made her way to the bedside, grabbing the cooled mug and holding up the creased book. "Rebuilding Connections with Your Child," she read aloud and chuckled. "Interesting choice. I guess we don't have many options down here, though."

Ally felt something curl in her stomach uncomfortably. The Ninja leader clearly noticed but didn't push it. Eventually, she left the medical bay far nicer-looking than before, many of the loose eyesores put away, and moved on to the hallways. Ally thanked her in her head.

From upstairs, someone—Zap—called down the ladder. "Hey, Realm?"

"Yeah, what's up?" she called back. Ally craned her neck towards the door to eavesdrop better.

"Have you seen my USB drive for the save file? It isn't on my keys anymore. It's got all our map data and stuff and it's kind of... well. It's very important. I need it for the big screen on the bridge, since we're trying to figure out our next plans. Did you take it out?"

"Uhh, nope, sorry! Maybe someone else did?"

"No, I asked the others and they haven't seen it. I'm getting paranoid someone stole it somehow," they laughed nervously. Realm hummed in sympathy.

After a moment, they spoke again, significantly more panicked. "Um, Realm?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen Lord Garmadon anywhere?"