Chapter Text
Jay sent another charge to the dummy, watching as his usually-blue lightning sparked with gold. The more he used the creation aspect of his element, the easier it started to get. He’d talked with Kai about it when he’d gone to visit last week, and Kai had agreed. He’d also said the reason his fire hadn’t been doing what Jay’s lightning did was because he had purposefully hidden that strength.
“You’re getting good at that,” Nya commented, joining him in the small training field the tea shop had behind it.
Jay smiled, his heart picking up speed at just the sound of her voice. “Thanks. It’s Kai’s direction, though.”
She shook her head. “Kai wouldn’t be able to direct you from a prison cell if you didn’t have some affinity for it.”
His face flushed. “Thanks, Nya.” He blinked. “What’s up?”
She gestured back to the tea shop. “The senseis want all of you in the shop.”
Jay nodded, following her across the training field, through the garden, and into the tea shop. Sensei Wu was working at the counter, Garmadon moving some tea from the backroom. The others were already there. Wu looked up when the two of them walked in.
“Jay, Nya,” he greeted. “Great. I need your help.”
“With what?” Jay wondered.
Wu handed him a stack of fliers. “I need all of you to hand these out around town.”
Nya stepped away from him. “Zane and I are visiting Kai today, sensei.”
Wu blinked. “Oh. Yes, I forgot. Please let him know we’re missing him.”
Zane dipped his head. “Of course, sensei.”
Garmadon stepped forward. “And Lloyd, the museum called asking for you. Something about a break-in?”
Jay paused. ”Just him?”
“They said just one of you should be enough.”
That… didn’t feel right. “I could-”
“I’d like to take Jay with me, if that’s alright,” Lloyd proposed.
Cole shook his head, setting down the fliers he was holding. “I’m not handing out fliers by myself.”
Misako stepped out of the back. “I’ll help you, Cole. Sound good?”
Cole sighed. “I guess. Sure.” He gathered back up the stack, and Jay handed his off to Misako. He went with Lloyd to the parking lot in front of the tea shop and the two of them summoned their elemental dragons.
“What do you think they took?” Jay asked as they flew towards the museum.
“I don’t know,” Lloyd said. “It’s a museum, and we know there are a lot of different, priceless artifacts inside.”
They landed outside the police tape, tossing their hoods over their heads. Jay let Lloyd take the lead, following after his friend. He scanned the area around them as he walked, not seeing any evidence of a break-in. Maybe they entered the building from the roof? Maybe a back window, or the sewers? Jay’d seen the serpentine use those to steal from the museum before.
“Oh!” One of the officers on the sight gasped, spotting Lloyd. “It’s the Green Ninja!”
Lloyd ran up to them. “I got your call about the break-in?”
“Yeah,” the officer said. “The night watchman had quite the scare.” He gestured to an older man sitting in the lobby, a shock blanket draped over his shoulders and a cup of tea in his hands.
Lloyd went over to him.
“Did you call him?” The officer asked his friend.
“Uh, uh,” the other man said, shaking his head.
Jay tensed. “What do you mean? How did neither of you call us?”
They both shrugged, almost in sync.
“We didn’t make the call, man.”
Jay’s eyes blew wide, and he hurried after his friend and the night watchman.
They went into the archives, the watchman telling them that the thing the thieves took hadn’t even been on display. Which was weird, but not unheard of. That just meant whoever had broken in knew exactly what they’d been looking for.
“What was it?” Lloyd asked.
“It’s called the Allied Armor of Azure,” the watchman told them. “It’s said that its wearer can summon an ally from anywhere in the sixteen realms.” He gestured to a case that was hanging on the wall. Inside was a distinct impression of a chest plate, the velvet around where it’d been sitting dusty. It looked as if the case had been opened with a key, not broken, like-
The watchman tackled Lloyd.
Jay jumped, barely avoiding getting slammed into. “What the hell?”
The blanket fell off the watchman as Lloyd shoved him off, revealing the man to be wearing the chest plate. He picked up a mallet, advancing on Lloyd.
“So, you’re the one Wu chose to be the Green Ninja.”
Jay sparked electricity between his fingers. “Put the mallet down, sir.”
The man swung the mallet, barely missing Lloyd and hitting a stack of boxes instead. Jay sent a paralyzing voltage into the man’s body, pulling him and himself out of the way barely in time to avoid being crushed by the boxes falling.
“Lloyd!” Jay called.
“I’m okay,” Lloyd said, standing up from behind the collapsed pile.
Some sort of dark shadow thing floated out of the night watchman, a cold, manic laugh echoing around them. The watchman collapsed as the paralysis wore off, and he held his head. He looked up at Jay with wide eyes.
“You… You need to stop him,” he said right before he promptly passed out.
Jay looked back at Lloyd, who was facing some sort of… Oh, holy shit, that was a ghost. It possessed an old copper statue of one of the serpentine, using the tail to trap Lloyd. Jay wanted to help, but he wasn’t sure how. Copper conducted electricity really well, and he didn’t want to hurt Lloyd. Maybe… Maybe he could magnetize something else?
He glanced around him, finding a metal bookshelf. What he needed to do was increase the current so that the velocity moving through it outweighed the electric field. Jay could do that. Probably.
He passed a current into the shelf, and the statue started trembling. Its hollow eyes turned to Jay.
“You know,” the ghost said, “it was only supposed to be Mr. Savior here that answered the call.”
Jay increased the voltage. “We try not to go anywhere alone if we can help it.” The statue shot off its dias, dropping Lloyd, but the ghost remained. The shadow vanished into a pile of sand, taking the form of a boy about their age.
“What do you want?” Lloyd demanded. “You have the armor. Why are you still here?”
The ghost tilted his head. “Yeah, the armor’s nice and all, but I’m here for you.” He surged forward, and the shadow flooded into Lloyd.
Jay hated to admit it, but he froze. A ghost was trying to take over Lloyd’s body, and Jay didn’t know how to stop it. He didn’t know what to do.
Then, it was over. The strange, dead person inside Lloyd’s body stood, regarding Jay with cold, dead eyes.
Jay needed back up. He couldn’t take Lloyd (and he didn’t want to fight him). He reached for the pool of magic in his gut, the constant presence of the tracking spell a cold weight in his stomach. He hadn’t noticed it before Kai pointed it out, but now that he knew it was there, it was impossible to ignore. Jay yanked on it, and both he and Lloyd lit up bright, electric blue.
The ghost held out Lloyd’s hands in front of his face. “A tracking spell? How unexpected.”
Something in Jay tore, and his knees went out from under him. Lloyd stopped glowing, and Jay reached for the magic again, only to realize Lloyd wasn’t in the loop anymore.
“What did you do?” He demanded of the ghost.
The ghost grinned viciously, such a foreign expression on Lloyd’s face. A dark wind blew through the room as he laughed. “What? I can’t have you tracking my every move.” He raised his foot but paused.
“When you see Master Wu again, tell him I’m coming for him.” He kicked Jay in the head.
…
Jay woke up to Cole carrying him out of the museum. He tensed, sitting up in his friend’s arms.
“Easy, Jay,” Cole said softly.
Jay smacked his arm. “Put me down.”
Cole did as he was asked, and Jay started turning in a circle. Misako was there, as were Wu and Garmadon. Zane and Nya were just arriving, but Jay didn’t see any sign of Lloyd.
“Where’s Lloyd?”
Misako’s eyes widened. “We were hoping you could tell us.”
No. Oh, First Master, no.
“There was a ghost,” Jay whispered, horror settling deep in his bones. “He… He’d possessed the watchman and used him to lure Lloyd here. I… I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t stop him.”
“Jay, where’s Lloyd?” Garmadon asked, a hint of panic creeping into his voice.
Jay stared at the man. “He took him. The ghost took Lloyd.”
Wu stepped forward, eyebrows knitting together. “What ghost?”
“I don’t know.” Jay hated this. He hated not knowing who their enemy was or where his friend was. “But he… He seemed to know you.”
Wu blinked. “Me?”
Jay nodded. “He said… He told me to tell you that he’s coming for you. He knew about the Green Ninja legend and thought that you chose Lloyd, and he seemed rather peeved about it.” Jay thought back to the fight, and something else stood out to him. “I think he could control the wind.”
Wu’s eyes widened, his lips parting in shock and pain. The last time Jay had seen his sensei so grieved was when Kai had revealed he’d been raised by Master Chen.
Garmadon paled. “Wu…”
“I think I need a moment,” Wu said slowly, turning around and walking away.
The rest of them watched him leave, and then Jay turned his gaze to Garmadon.
“So, Sensei G, who’s the ghost?”
Garmadon shook his head. “I am uncertain, but… It may be that the ghost who has Lloyd is Wu’s first student. Morro. Master of Wind.”