Chapter Text
It was Morro to react first.
As Cole lunged towards the team, the strike of his scythe was halted by nine jingles. Morro must've been greatly fond of the half-music it made to keep holding onto the weapon.
Cole pulled back. He was starting to get rather annoyed with Morro and his constant insistence on inserting himself into Cole's business. He wasn't afraid of the ex-master of wind stopping his plans altogether, but that didn't mean he couldn't slow their progress significantly. As patient as Cole was, this plan called for him to fight the ninja team, and even his patience was wearing thin.
"Morro, stop!" Lloyd was next to step in, catching Cole's next strike while still managing to face Morro. "This isn't what we planned!"
"Yeah, well," Morro shot back, "that plan is stupid and clearly not working!"
Cole aimed at Lloyd again, who dodged his attack clumsily. Did the green ninja seriously not have a backup plan in case his little talk didn't work on the ghost of his teammate? Anger flared anew in Cole's chest. Has he not even considered that Cole might not be happy to agree to a truce?
He swung, and this time, his blade was met with Kai's. "I've tried to warn you, Cole," he growled. "We would've loved to take you back if you returned with us, but that doesn't mean I'll just stand by and watch as you hurt my brother."
Whatever depression had been haunting him had apparently dissipated, as his next strikes came with such fervent even Cole had trouble keeping up with them. That did give him an idea, though. At Kai's next thrust, he deliberately slowed his parry, allowing the black-sheened sword past his defenses — and past his skin.
In that instant, his theory about the fresh Deepstone coating had been confirmed.
Pain like he hadn't experienced in years exploded into his side, as the metal sunk into his rotten flesh, only stopped by the decaying bone underneath. For a moment, the white hot pain faltered his hold on his physical form, both a sign of weakness and a reflexive move of defense. But going incorporeal was not worth much against a Deepstone weapon. He could feel the blade slicing and squirming against his organs, cutting through his long dysfunctional lungs and grazing his diaphragm as old instincts had him hiccup at the pain. He forced himself not to flinch back; the animal within him screamed to step away, but the more human part knew that more movement brought more agony. He grit his teeth, hoping his discomfort wasn't showing, and looked up at Kai.
So much pain, but all of it worth it for the pure horror and disgust spreading across the fire ninja's face.
He yanked the sword out and stumbled back, looking like he might empty the contents of his stomach onto the sidewalk next. Cole followed shortly behind, ignoring the throb of the wound and the feeling of ectoplasm dripping down his side. "What makes you think I want to return to you?" he asked, letting all of his bitterness seep into the question. "Why would I ever want to go back to you, when all you do-" he gestured at his fresh wound- "is keep hurting me?"
Kai chewed on air, eyes stuck on the damage his own move had caused. Cole would've loved to allow the moment to steep, but Morro had different plans.
"Stop drooling and start actually fighting, Candlebrain!" he punctuated his strike against Cole. "We're never going to win if you keep quitting the moment you get too close to hurting him!"
For once, Cole found himself agreeing with Morro's sentiment.
Not the part about them overpowering him, of course. Upon first glance, it was easy to assume the ninja team had the advantage — they were outnumbering him one to twelve, after all, and with the new Deepstone coating on their weapons, Cole's main trick was rendered obsolete as well. But Cole knew he wasn't in any true danger. With a quick flick of his wrist, he ordered his ghosts to form a wall around the fight, ignoring the indignant complaints of the kids and their little dragon being locked out of battle once again. Cole wasn't like the ninja; he wasn't dragging innocent children into fights they had nothing to do with. The move also served as reassurance that, if the fight did get too out of control, he had an entire army at his disposal to step in if needed.
And besides, even if the ninja did manage to overpower him, what was the worst they could do to him? Send him to the Spectral Lands, where his base of operations were located and where he was going to return back to after this anyways?
No; Cole had every real advantage here. But he needed the ninja to think otherwise. For his plan to work, he required all of them engaged, preferably at once, in close combat.
With how things were progressing, his hopes of achieving that goal swiftly were decreasing by the second. Clearly, none of the ninja considered him a threat big enough to seriously address. Kai was still stunned and clumsy after his last tiny victory, and Lloyd's attacks didn't have his heart behind them. The rest of the team wasn't even trying to pretend to engage. Pixal watched their dance eagerly, ready for action, but refusing to leave Zane's side, who was still hesitant to give up on the idea that Cole could be persuaded into peace with words alone. Jay, on the other hand, seemed content letting the rest of the team exhaust themselves and the enemy before it was his time to step up.
Nya…
Nya just looked utterly lost.
Curse their soft little hearts and their endlessly high hopes in their ex-friend. Cole shrugged off another wave of attack with ease. Fine. If they couldn't think Cole to be a big enough threat on his own, he'll just have to find a different approach.
Raising his scythe in the air, he gestured for his soldiers to attack.
It wasn't the best change of plans, but it would have to do. He would've preferred the ninja to be fighting him — but watching their moves from afar was still better than watching them mill around, doing nothing.
And at least, this was proving rather effective. Jay snapped back to attention with a yelp, then begun sending lightning zaps left and right in that chaotic fashion of his. Once his common sense kicked in and he realized electricity had little effect on dead souls, he quickly adapted his technique to rely on his Deepstone-laced nunchucks.
Zane and Pixal, Cole was already somewhat familiar with. They immediately synced up their movements, just like Cole had expected them to, taking upon the onslaught of enemies with an absurd efficiency. Their calculated steps were both their strength and their demise; for as fast as they could comprise convoluted plans, they still lacked the intuition necessary for the chaos of the departed.
Kai and Lloyd weened themselves off Cole the moment the ghosts lunged at Nya, and Cole quickly saw why. Despite objectively being the greatest threat of them all, Nya's defenses were barely enough to keep herself safe, let alone defeat an entire army. She held her spear clumsily, waving it around like she had zero experience with the weapon. If not for the green and red ninjas coming to her aid, Cole wasn't sure he would've been fast enough to call the ghosts off before Nya was prematurely relieved of her soul.
That was something Cole wanted to take care of personally.
He couldn't muse Nya's fate for long, because Morro was all over him in an instant.
"Looks like it's just you and I again," he said, his nonchalant tone at odds with the violence of his swings. Then again, with how used to each other they've gotten, this battle wasn't much of an effort for either of them.
"I'd be remiss not to complain, though," he continued, "that we came all this way for you, and you won't even wait for me to unravel my monologue?"
Cole easily deflected the jinhuandao aimed at his throat. "I've heard your jabbering long enough in the Spectral Lands," he spat back coolly. "Ironic, how you keep telling everyone that talking won't solve this conflict, as if that wasn't the same tactic you tried to employ for years."
"Yeah, well, maybe that's exactly why I keep telling them. Because I know just how hard-headed you've become."
Cole suppressed a smile. Oh, I've been hard-headed way before I got to know you.
"I will admit, I'm a little impressed at the tricks you were trying to pull with them," Morro said, parrying and striking casually. "Making them feel bad about their actions? Using their own emotions and guilt to weaken them? Impressively below the belt, even for you. That thing you did with Zane was particularly outstanding."
Cole allowed himself a snort. "Is that what you think I'm doing? Weakening them with words?"
"Is it not?"
Metal struck wood as Morro's jinhuandao connected with the handle of Cole's scythe, and Cole took the opportunity to glance across the battlefield. His order to his soldiers stated that the ninja were not to be drained, so he wasn't scared of early deaths, yet the sight that greeted him was rather dire. The ninja were barely holding their ground, their defenses uncoordinated and splintered across the battlefield, as if they had forgotten they were a team and not individual fighters. They were holding off the ghosts, sure, but they were hardly making progress in taking back the Crossroads or even just getting to Cole himself.
It seemed as if, without their rock solid foundation, they had forgotten how to properly cooperate.
"It does make sense, then, why you didn't let me talk," Morro's words snapped him back to the threat in front of him. "You know your tricks wouldn't work on me."
Cole's bemused chuckle was genuine this time. "Oh really?"
Morro shrugged. "I'm not too keen on being weakened by a couple words."
With a sudden shift in patterns, Cole pulled away, throwing Morro off kilter just long enough for his next lunge to send Morro to the ground. Cole appeared on top of him, knocking the jinhuandao out of Morro's grasp and trapping the two of them in a struggle with only the handle of the scythe separating them.
"Or maybe," Cole hissed, "I didn't need to weaken you, because I already know all your weaknesses."
"Is that so?" Morro grunted, struggling with Cole's weight. He could've slipped away into the ground and out of Cole's trap at any moment, they both knew this, but apparently he was more interested in hearing whatever Cole had to reveal about his secret internal turmoils.
Cole leaned closer, until their faces were mere inches from one another. He could make out the individual strands of Morro's hair, the light tensing of his jaw as he grit his teeth in effort, every crinkle of skin as his face contorted into a mixture of boredom, annoyance, and mild curiosity. Even though there was no way for anyone to overhear him over the sounds of fighting, Cole still dropped his voice low. He wanted Morro to know these words were directed at him alone.
"You're a failure," he muttered. "Everything you ever try, you always fail. You weren't good enough for your parents, you weren't good enough for Master Wu, and you weren't good enough for the Preeminent. You never had the chance to be the green ninja, and now — you're not even the elemental master of the wind. You're nothing, Morro. You belong nowhere and would be missed by nobody. The world wouldn't even notice if you were gone. And I know you know this, too — why else be so obsessed with redeeming yourself and defeating me, if not for gaining a scrap of recognition by the universe, if not to make yourself feel like your existence weren't for nothing?"
The tiniest twitch of Morro's eye, too small to have been noticeable from any further distance. It was more than enough confirmation for Cole that he hit the bull's-eye.
"If it helps," he pressed on, "you did succeed in one thing. Without you keeping me company, I surely would've lost my mind trapped in the Spectral Lands. I guess I should be thankful for that."
At that, Morro finally phased into the pavement underneath. Cole rolled to his feet, ready for whatever Morro planned to throw at him. Morro appeared not a blink of an eye later, a couple steps away from Cole, safely out of reach, jinhuandao back in his hands. His eyes held a darkness Cole hadn't seen in him in a long, long while.
"You're wrong," Morro breathed hoarsely. "I was more than good enough — not my fault nobody wanted to notice my talents. In fact," he slipped into a fighting stance, "I am more than good enough to defeat you."
Cole expected the attack, but not the fervor with which it came. Morro swung his jinhuandao directly at him, no tricks, no games, and he barely had time to parry before the next blow came. Strike came after strike relentlessly, the rhythm not broken for a second, forcing Cole to back up in defense. The jingle of the nine rings became a constant noise, a change of tone in music to fit their new dance.
And for the first time since they begun said dance, Morro's attacks were actually serious. All it would take is one misstep on Cole's part, and Morro would not be granting him mercy, not this time. Morro's defensive words stood at direct opposition to this newfound ferocity, but that did not prove his method any less effective.
Not wanting the siege to end in his own humiliation, Cole opted for a more offensive approach. Sending Morro back to the Spectral Lands, just like for Cole, would've only been a hindrance, not true defeat — but it would've given Cole the necessary time to finish his plans off properly, without Morro intruding upon them.
Morro, however, did not seem keen on following Cole's wishes.
Instead of pausing to block Cole's advances, putting himself back on the defensive, he simply allowed Cole's pulsing white blade to reach him. Wounds glowed up against his flesh, once, twice, thrice, but he just kept coming, as if nothing had happened — or as if he didn't care. And with Cole wasting time on forcing a defense that never came, he had ample opportunity to worm his way into Cole's defenses and almost impale the earth elemental with one well-aimed blow.
Well, that's new, Cole thought as he barely dodged the attack. Morro paused to take a breather for a single second, showing off the wide array of scars and bruises he'd just earned. Cole didn't even have time to ponder how much pain he had to have been suppressing before Morro lunged again, slashing and striking and constantly on the move and simply ignoring every time Cole returned a blow.
For as painful as it seemed, Cole had to admit, it was an effective tactic. Usually you would expect your opponent to back down if you advanced upon them, but that back and forth was out the window when said opponent just didn't care to block. Both being ghosts, neither of them faced the threat of exhaustion, yet even after a couple seconds of putting up with Morro's constant waves of attacks, Cole distinctly noticed himself slowing down.
And Morro just kept coming, unstoppable like a river of fast-moving all-burning lava. They managed to dance a full circle around the square before Morro's first hit actually landed, a surface-level papercut compared to the strike Cole took earlier from Kai, but the sting was still enough to drag him into focus. Morro wasn't kidding around. He was going for the throat. And if Cole didn't change his tactics very soon, he was inevitably going to get what he wanted.
So, Cole attacked the only possible part of Morro he couldn't ignore. He stilled suddenly, allowing the other ghost within arms reach, and with a quick hook of the scythe's handle around the wrist, twisted the jinhuandao out of Morro's grasp.
The blade fell to the cobblestone with colorful jingling, and Cole immediately pulled a blanket of rocks over it to trap it there.
"You know, this is fun and all," Cole said, "but you really need to chill the fuck out."
He reexamined the fights all around. Not much has changed in balance there. The ninja were still holding on, but their energy reserves were running low. All this time, and against an enemy they genuinely wanted gone, and they still couldn't organize themselves into a proper formation?
How had they made it this far without Cole?
Morro glared at the sword sticking out from between the rocks for the single blink of an eye, before thrusting himself at Cole again. The yelp that Cole let out at the fist connecting with his chest was more of surprise than pain. "Hey! I said chill out!"
"Did you really think I've shown you all my tricks in the Spectral Lands?" Morro growled into his ear. Cole pushed him off reflexively, and Morro used the momentum to put distance between the two of them. When he came to a stop, he was holding some kind of rope, wrapped in ghostly glow, something with a metallic sheen tied to its end.
Cole raised an eyebrow. Where the heck did that come from?
Morro non-answered his question by spinning the rope in a convoluted pattern. With a quick flick, he aimed the metal end towards Cole. The weapon and its movement as it approached was so unfamiliar to Cole, the metal almost impaled him.
"You might've been a ghost a long time," Morro called, "but there's still plenty you have yet to learn."
A rope dart. Great. Cole had heard of them, but never actually seen one used in proper combat. Did Master Wu even know how to utilize one, or was this one of the many, many things Morro had to teach himself? Cole didn't have time to ponder, because the dart struck out again, and once again he found himself fleeing in the most undignified fashion.
The next attack caught him more prepared. As the spike approached, Cole sidestepped and wrapped his blade into the rope, yanking on it hard and shaving some of the distance Morro had put between them. Morro stumbled forward. Cole yanked again, and the rope broke against the sharp edge of his scythe. Not as sturdy as steel, huh?
But as he shook the rope off, the entire weapon vanished into fog. He snapped his head at Morro. He'd already returned to the safety of distance, and was, somehow, holding an intact rope dart within his hands.
Cole wanted to slap himself on the forehead. He'd seen this before — ghosts summoning weapons out of literal thin air. He just- never considered Morro could also do it.
In hindsight, that had been a dumb expectation.
Their battle shifted out of balance. The rope dart was more of a distance weapon than Cole's scythe, and he was far unprepared for it. Around him, his army sensed his balance being thrown, but with a dismissive gesture, he kept them at bay. This was a fight between him and Morro. If he failed, he was going to fail it on his own.
And indeed, within only a couple more trials, Morro managed to knock the scythe out of his grasp, and with the next pull, the rope was tied tightly around Cole's chest, pinning his arms to the side. A sharp tug and Cole fell to his knees. The contact with the ground would've hurt a living person, but the only thing hurt of Cole was his pride.
"You know, this was fun and all," Morro repeated Cole's words back at him, pulling the rope taut as he approached, "but I think it's time we put an end to this silly game of yours."
Around them, the ghosts backed off of the ninja, alert to Cole's every whim and ready to rip Morro apart. Still, Cole kept them away. I've got this.
"It's over, Cole," Morro continued. He was standing right above Cole now, with the rest of the ninja lining up behind him. The kids were still outside the ring of ghosts — Cole's backup plan had even less space for children. "You know you can't keep this up forever. It's the entire ninja team and me against you alone. It's time to admit your plan was a failure from the start."
"Bold words from someone who knows fully well death isn't true defeat," Cole said, wriggling against the tight binds. "So long as there's a next step to take, I haven't failed."
"Let's make sure you cannot take any more steps then, shall we?" Morro raised his free hand to the sky, and summoned a sword into his palm. How boring. Dealing the final blow with a plain sword.
"Morro, wait," Lloyd approached. It took everything in Cole not to groan as the green ninja knelt in front of him, exhaustion and longing filling his eyes. "Please. There- there has to be something we can do, to make it better. To make up for what we did to you. Please, just- can't we just try?"
Cole hoped his flat, unamused expression condensed all the pent-up hatred of the past years well enough for it to carry over. But Lloyd didn't flinch at it. He just kept staring, pulling his impressively persuasive puppy eye trick.
Sadly, these tricks no longer worked on Cole.
He lowered his head, chuckling. "I have to admit, Morro, you did catch me off guard here. Didn't know your friends from the Cursed Realm taught you anything actually useful, only how to brood and be a stuck-up idiot." He shifted around in his seat, toying with the edges of the ropes trapping him. "Remarkable work with this one, too. I've never seen someone be this unnecessarily fancy with a weapon before."
He looked up, then, ignoring Lloyd in front of him, and staring Morro directly in the eyes. "But, you know, you're not the only one who has secret powers up their sleeves."
He sunk into his mind, tugging on the thread wrapped around his subconscious. Yo, Eyeball!
< Do not call me that. >
He ignored the Preeminent's irritation. I need a little favor from you. Remember that trick you suggested and I told you it was creepy and that I will never do it? Yeah, I kinda wanna do it. Like, right now.
< What makes you think I will lend you my power, after you betrayed my trust and ran off on another mission without my permission? >
Because I have literally the entire ninja team in front of me and this would be the perfect opportunity to take them all out?
A moment of silence. But Cole already knew her answer.
< Fine. But I expect a large batch of souls in return. >
Oh, don't you worry about that.
Immediately, he could feel the changes. Strength, not the warmth of his elemental powers but a cold, brutal strength, filled his decaying muscles and cracked bones. His senses enhanced, his weariness dissipated, and the throbbing of his wound ceased. Something within him grew, something much larger than he could contain, something demanding to be let free.
Some of it must've already leaked out, if the horrified expressions of the ninja and Morro's hasty retreat were anything to go by.
The pressure in his ribcage increased, shifting towards his chest, his back. With a final scream of satisfaction, Cole threw his arms wide, ripping away the bonds that held him and allowing the thing within him to explode out.
Power like he's never experienced before surged through his veins. Despite possessing the skills for it, he was never much for floating — it tore him from the very source of his element — but now, he was rising, rising fast, the freedom of weightlessness piercing him to the bones with a delirious hunger for more. And yet, it was as if his feet had never left contact with the ground. In fact, as he glanced down to surveil the consequences of his transformation, he could pick out something connecting his incorporeal form to the cobblestone several feet below.
That something just wasn't his legs.
The frozen faces of his ex-teammates provided excellent mirrors, still Cole took the time to study himself. The energy buzzing in him stretched him beyond himself, though he had assumed the feeling to be metaphorical — the pressure on his back a symbolic need to stretch his bound wings. As it turned out, there was nothing metaphorical about his metamorphosis. Dozens of tentacles sprouted from his back, from between his shoulderblades, wriggling and waving in all directions as if possessing a mind of their own. One of them plummeted downwards, ending in a loose coil where it touched the ground, holding Cole steadily in the air.
He turned towards his front then, a smaller but no less disturbing change. Where torn shreds of gi and open wounds of rot alternated before, now awned a circular mouth of several rows of sharp teeth and a throat like a portal straight to the Cursed Realm. As Cole watched, the newformed hole in his chest clicked its teeth together, hungry for death and destruction.
Cole wondered if he could feel that hunger himself, would he be as calm about the transformation as he was now.
He wasn't hungry, though. No- he was ecstatic. The brutal coldness of this strength was like a drug for his sensation-deprived body, his dead nerves drinking up every icy spark. The coolness was contrasted by the high heat of the rage once again reigniting — the chanting in his head, KILL TORTURE MURDER PUNISH, had receded while he concentrated on not getting skewered by Morro, but was now regaining its lost momentum.
And despite the confusing chaos of sensations, Cole never felt more focused before.
Self-exploration done, he returned his attention to the colorful spots on the ground. He had the temptation to taunt them a little, especially Morro, but given the way they stood with their feet rooted to the ground, he found no need for such wasting of time. Finally, he was being seen for the threat he truly posed.
"I agree, Morro," he said, covering his giddy glee with a forced casualness. "It is time we put an end to this."
He reached forward with his tentacles. It was strange, controlling limbs that had only been a part of him for less than a minute, but he found himself getting used to them quickly. He moved slow, giving the ninja ample time to snap out of their stupor and dodge.
As strange as it felt, their awkwardness did come with its benefits. Cole was an exceptional dual wielder, and having one tentacle against each ninja reminded him of that skill — but even he had limits on how many ways he could split his attention. If they weren't so trapped within their own shock, the ninja no doubt would've been able to defeat him.
Even now, a wayward blade scraped a tentacle, chopping its tip off. The pain of the amputation should've been mind-melting — but Cole's mind was already too full with euphoria and rage. Flicking the tentacle like a particularly thick whip, he regrew the missing tip in an instant. If Morro could resummon his weapons, Cole might as well resummon his own limbs.
Speaking of Morro, he appeared the most shaken of them all. No doubt he recognized the likeness that Cole had taken up, and was putting the pieces together. With the realization that the Preeminent wasn't as gone as he had hoped, Morro dodged with more vigor than ever. His earlier certainty faded into the past, his moves noticeably less calculated and precise. He's afraid of touching the tentacles, Cole realized, as he dragged one of the limbs around Morro, guiding him in small circles like a child playing with a particularly interesting bug.
Finally, Morro broke. "NYA!" he called out desperately. "I think you've waited long enough with your final blow!"
"I- what?" Nya called back distractedly. Cole had her the least engaged, unsure whether she would be able to defend herself against anything serious. Her dance was sloppy, restrained by her guilt.
"Your water, genius!" Morro yelled, fervently aiming his rope dart at Cole, which he kept swatting away like an annoying fly. "For the love of the First Spinjitzu Master, just use your water on him already!"
This had Cole's attention snap to Nya. They both paused; Nya, to contemplate Morro's words, and Cole, to watch her next move eagerly.
Nya studied her hands, one empty, one holding her spear. She then slowly raised her head.
Their eyes met.
She wouldn't, Cole thought. She couldn't, not the last time we fought, and not this time-
She slipped the spear onto her back, and raised both her hands.
Cole's guts twisted.
He had every fighting advantage. He was bigger, faster, more powerful. Nya was slow — he had every opportunity to grab her before she could do anything, and chuck her half across the Crossroads.
But instead, all he could think of was the smell of stale tea in untouched cups, the sounds of a movie nobody was truly watching, the phantom touch of his brothers where they've tried to defend against his punches, and Nya's eyes, glowing blue, the water snaking around her and lunging at him, acid penetrating his skin and spreading through his veins, melting his very existence and dissolving the world, the last image Nya's own terrified face-
Nya closed her eyes, concentrating. Cole went still with terror.
For an eternal moment, nothing happened.
Then, Nya dropped her hands, and shook her head. "I- I can't," she choked out. The only water she managed to summon were the fresh tears in her eyes.
"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding m-" Morro couldn't finish the sentence before a tentacle attacked him again. Cole's freeze receded slowly, giving way to a relieved satisfaction. Of course she couldn't do it. None of them could defeat him. They were all weak and cowards. It's why Cole was here to take revenge upon them in the first place.
Perhaps the Preeminent was right. Perhaps he really was wasting time with convoluted plans that dragged out forever. Perhaps he really had been giving the ninja too many opportunities to stand up, too many chances to catch him off guard. Perhaps right now, as all the people he'd come to hate over all these years were gathered in front of him, was truly the time to end this, once and for all.
Morro must've picked up on the slight change of attitude, because his next rope dart finally weaved its way past Cole's defensive tentacles, wrapping around his torso and pulling him to the ground.
"Fine," Morro panted. "I guess I'll just have to do this the old fashioned way."
"Morro, NO!" Lloyd was right on his tail. The blade summoned in Morro's hand struck metal as the green ninja threw himself between the two ghosts. "You can't- AGH!"
Lloyd yelped as Cole wrapped a tentacle around him, squeezing him tight. He grinned wide. It would've been so easy to get it done with. So easy to squeeze just a bit harder. So easy to squeeze the life out of-
"Oh no you DON'T!" Morro launched after Lloyd. Cole expected him to try and hack away the tentacle, or maybe even a distraction before he headed straight for Cole. Instead, he reached out for Lloyd-
-and vanished inside him.
To Morro's credit, this did make Cole drop Lloyd out of sheer surprise.
Lloyd landed hard on his knees, catching himself with his hands at the last moment, and then remained standing on all fours as Morro's possession took hold. He panted heavily as his blonde locks turned dark, his skin dipping a sickly shade of green, a familiar green mist enveloping him as he breathed.
"LLOYD!" Kai sprinted towards him, abandoning his previous fight completely. He practically slid the last few feet before dropping to his knees himself, grabbing onto Lloyd's shoulders wildly. "Lloyd! I'm here! I'm-"
"Get. The fuck. Out." Lloyd spat out hoarsely. His body tensed and he groaned as he fought for control.
"Lloyd! Lloyd, it's okay, we're here, we're all here, we'll figure this out, it's going to be okay-"
If Morro had thought possessing Lloyd would somehow bring the ninja team a tactical advantage, he was dead (ha!) wrong. Zane, Pixal, and Nya all turned their backs on their tentacle enemies and raced to join Kai and Lloyd, apparently having forgotten about the real threat here. Not that they had much to worry for; Cole himself merely watched, amused, as they all collected around Lloyd, ignoring the literal monster hovering above them.
If he wanted to, he could've taken them out with one fell swoop.
Maybe, he reminded himself. Maybe he could've taken them out. Or maybe they could've pulled out another completely batshit trick from their asses, and Cole would be back to ground zero. No; there was a reason he was sticking to his plans, and that was because those plans worked.
"I think I've seen enough," he said, mostly to himself, knowing the ninja were probably not listening. He gestured for his army to gather up the collected souls. He cast one last look at the ninja at his feet, and his eyes met Nya's. Her gaze was filled with an agony Cole could relate to.
I'm sorry, he wanted to say. But truly, he was not.
With an easy dive, he and his ghost army vanished into the ground.
< You failed. >
Cole was leaning against the stone railing again, watching the new spirits taking their place among the rest of the milling souls. The intonation of those two words in his head was cold, but he could sense the rage radiating off of the Preeminent.
He allowed himself a casual smile. "Did I, now? I like to think everything went according to plan."
< Of course you did! > Despite it not being an audible noise, Cole's instincts urged him to cover his ears with how loud the Preeminent's yelling boomed in his head. < I have granted you the power to destroy the ninja once and for all, and you have failed to take down a single one of them! >
"And here I was thinking my mission was to bring you more soul juice," Cole retorted. He gestured around the cave. "I think I did a pretty great job at that."
< It was part of your goals! May I remind you, the only reason we are collecting soul energy in the first place is to… > she trailed off, as the realization sunk in. Cole grinned wider, mischievously. < You weren't even trying to kill them, were you? >
"Like I said. My goal was to collect more soul juice. Nothing less, nothing more."
Cole could practically feel the Preeminent charging up for an outburst.
< You…. how DARE you?! I grant you my very own powers, lend you my very own strength, and you dare use it to TRICK me?! How- >
"Oh, relax." Cole rolled his eye. For the embodiment of a realm, the Preeminent sure knew how to be dramatic. "Like I said, everything went according to plan. Me using a bit of your strength has played a key role in bringing us closer to victory."
< Is that so? > Frustration turned into mockery. < Tell me, how is "letting your enemy go free" bringing us any closer to triumph over said enemies, exactly? >
Cole gazed out into the cavern below, rolling over the events of the recent battle in his mind.
"Do you know why every plan to defeat the ninja, including yours, has failed thus far?" he asked suddenly.
The Preeminent wasn't happy to be reminded of that failure, and she didn't care to have the courtesy to hide her discontent. < No. Please enlighten me. >
"Because they always fail to take into account that the ninja are people." Cole ran his fingers over the tattered remains of his sleeve. "People with unique personalities. And the thing about people with unique personalities, is that they make decisions that align with those personalities, instead of decisions that make sense. It gives the feeling that they're pulling surprise tricks out of their asses at the very last second — when in reality, all one needs is a good look at their personalities, to predict those tricks from a mile away."
He was tracing the wound on his side now. This incorporeal form healed much faster than his old, corporeal one, but the wound still ached.
"Every time a villain tries to fight the ninja, they always come up with the same plan," he continued. "To barrel in full force against them, to catch them by surprise, and win before the ninja can realize what they are up against.
"The problem with that plan is that it has only one chance to work. If you don't catch the ninja the first time? The element of surprise, your only advantage, is gone. Now the only way to defeat them is to figure out their weaknesses- before they can figure out yours. It becomes a race to see who is better at studying who — and in my experience, very few villains are actually good at seeing the ninja in full."
< But you did catch them off guard, > the Preeminent argued. < You had them cornered, and yet you didn't even try to finish them off. >
"Another rookie mistake to make," Cole nodded. "It's easy to think a ninja is weak when trapped, but just like any other animal, the ninja are most dangerous when cornered. If there's one thing to be said about them, is that they can get extremely creative under pressure. It's when their most unexpected tricks are brought forth — the ones that, if you don't spend time to get to know them, you will have no chance of predicting. Could I have killed one of them? Sure. Maybe even two. But a single death is all it would've taken for them to become motivated, and after that, everything would've become much, much harder for us."
The Preeminent made no notes, opting to seethe in silence instead.
"No- now was not the time to act." Cole ignored her anger. "We are going to win like no other villain because I will do what no other villain had the patience for, and actually spend time to learn as much about the ninja as I can. What buttons they have, what each of them do, what to push and what to avoid. In exchange, I will allow them to learn a bit about me- but only the parts I want to show. I will paint them a picture of me that I want them to see, so that when the time comes, they will be completely unprepared to handle the real me."
He gestured to himself, to where the giant mouth in his chest used to be. "It's why I needed your powers. Now they will think, 'oh, I bet this is Cole at his most powerful, so we need to make plans to defeat that!' When in reality, you and I both know we pack a lot more than just one silly transformation."
He gestured to the collected souls now. The Preeminent still didn't reply, either not wanting to admit to Cole's genius or simply not wishing to dignify him with a response.
"And I did learn plenty about them during this fight," he finished off his little monologue. "I learned what they think of me, what they each think of themselves, of each other. I now know team morale is lower than ever, and that they will take any chance they can get to not fight me and subdue me in a peaceful manner. Of course, after this fight, those views will probably shift some — but given that I didn't actually kill any of them, with a little luck, I can keep up the image that there's still something left in me worth saving a bit longer."
< You certainly have me question your loyalties, > the Preeminent grunted. < You are veering way off track, Master of the Earth. You are not doing this in service of some greater plan — you are just doing this for your own satisfaction. >
"Aren't we both?" Cole shot back. "Isn't the whole purpose of revenge to fuel our own satisfaction? And before you object, I can assure you, this was in service of a greater plan. Me getting the fun of seeing the ninja so distressed doesn't negate that fact."
< And the children? How do they fit into this grand scheme of yours? >
Cole's hands curled into fists.
"This is not their fight," he replied quietly. "So I am leaving them out of it."
< So you are going soft on them, > the Preeminent concluded. < I knew you had weakness in you still, boy. >
"This is not their fight," Cole repeated with a stern darkness he hadn't shown even the ninja yet. "So they are being left out. And that's final. Understood?"
She certainly didn't feel like she wanted to agree, but Cole knew he had the upper hand. For all the power the collected souls lent her, the Preeminent was still weak, and still needed a vessel to carry out her bidding. And sure, Cole benefited a lot from partnering up with her, but if it came to that, it was still him who could walk away from their deal without much loss, and not her.
< Can't wait to see that decision biting you in the ass, > she just said coldly. < So, now what? You will keep toying with them, until you fully got them figured out? Even if it takes months, years, to understand them completely? Because then let me warn you: I don't have years. I'm growing impatient with your little games. >
"You have already waited years for this, just as I have," Cole snapped back. "I am just as eager to put an end to this as you are. But if we rush this, it'll be the same exact story as last time: someone will pull some last moment stunt, and we'll both be reduced to nothing, just another blip in their long list of villains defeated. And if you don't like how I'm doing things, you can always go and attack the ninja yourself."
Again, silence. They both knew the Preeminent didn't possess that kind of power — not yet.
< What's the next step in this grand plan of yours, then? > she finally said. < Throw a tea party and ask everyone for their favorite colors? >
"As tempting as that is, no." Once again Cole found himself rubbing his side. He ran through the scenes of the fight again, his mind lingering on Nya's pain-filled eyes as she lowered her hands. "It does give me an idea, though."
He'd gotten away scot-free from Nya this time, but who knew when she would finally regain her footing? Then, Cole's greatest weakness would be reintroduced to the equation. And he couldn't have that.
It was long due time he figured how to defend himself against water.