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~You're all on your own and you lost all your friends
You told yourself that it's not you, it's
them
You're one of a kind and no one understands
But those crybaby tears keep coming back again~

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"Tell me again why I agreed to do this?" Morro said, eyes tired from staring at the same blue sky, green fields and gray asphalt for an hour. He considered it a miracle that Lloyd had not decided on confiscating his watch too after depriving him of his phone. Morro simply couldn't bear not knowing the time.

"You're asking this now?" Lloyd said, briefly smiling at him. He propped up an elbow on the open window and kept one hand on the wheel. "You should've thought on that sixty minutes ago."

"Lately, I've been making bad decisions, number one being stuck in this car with you," Morro droned, picking at the crumbling leather of his seat. "So, I don't trust my judgement all that much."

Lloyd hummed. "Bummer."

Morro rolled his eyes. He was bored out of his skull and he hoped he could get Lloyd to argue with him at something. Even though, every banter he would have with the Green Ninja would invoke a headache, it would still be a lot more entertaining than watching trees and graffiti-covered road signs pass by his window.

Unfortunately, Lloyd would not budge.

Morro had counted nearly twenty insults that he had thrown at the blonde in the past hour to make him snap but Lloyd had stayed calm and rosy regardless. Either he was teasing Morro and making fun of him silently or he was temporarily going deaf every time Morro would berate him.

Either way, it was not helping Morro kill the time.

"Oh, hey," Lloyd suddenly spoke up. "We're supposed to be bonding. We can't keep sitting in silence like this."

Actually, not interacting with the Green Ninja seemed like a good idea.

"Let's ask each other questions about ourselves," Lloyd suggested, slowing the car to a cruise.

"Let's not," Morro replied but was ignored.

"You go first," Lloyd said, looking expectantly at him. "Ask anything you like."

"Why are you so weird?"

Lloyd pouted in thought for a second but was smirking before long. "What is weird? Someone who is different or someone who is different than you?"

The Master of Wind side-glanced at him, arching an eyebrow. "I thought we were supposed to give answers. Not counter-question."

Lloyd scoffed disappointedly. "I was quoting Master Wu."

Morro returned his gaze to the front, expression damp as always. "Copycat."

"Mood killer."

"Teacher's pet."

"Look who's talking."

Lloyd received a death glare and was smart enough to shut up. The two remained quiet for a few seconds before the blonde felt an urge to grin. "Okay, my turn!"

Morro groaned internally but didn't refuse. He couldn't care less either way but now even the road signs had become scarce and he wasn't planning on dying at the hands of boredom.

Lloyd bit the inner side of his cheek, thinking up a good query to ask. "What is the one thing that genuinely makes you happy?" he managed after a pause.

"Being away from you," came the effortless reply.

"Come on, I'm serious," Lloyd chuckled.

Morro shrugged. "So am I."

The Green Ninja shook his head, smiling. "Alright, what made you happy before you knew I existed?"

Morro gave him a look. "You've already asked me a question. It's my turn now."

"Hey! See? You're having fun," Lloyd exclaimed, nudging his passenger's arm with his elbow.

Morro began to say 'no' but his stomach decided to loudly inform the world of its woe at that moment. The wind master grew red in the face and Lloyd tried to hide his amusement.

The former sighed, patting his stomach. "I'm starving. I've had nothing since that drugged coffee you fed me in the morning," he stated, narrowing his eyes accusingly at the blonde. "And the mental stress your reverse road trip is pushing on me isn't helping matters either."

Morro waited for Lloyd to whip up a source of food from under the dashboard, or from below his seat. Heck, he would be grateful even if Lloyd pulled out a bowl of dumplings from thin air. But no food came into view.

"Lloyd?"

"Hm?"

"I said I'm hungry."

The blonde winced, making a face as he sheepishly turned to his passenger. "Uh, yeah. About that. You see, I . . . forgot to tell Ronin to pack something for us to eat."

Morro, who was hungry enough to chew on the leather that kept peeling off the car seats, pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let me get this straight. You are clever enough to plan ahead and render me helpless out here but you don't have the brains to pack food supplies. Is your plan to kill me with starvation?"

"I'm sorry," Lloyd whined. "I was so pumped up about your aerial smuggle, it slipped my mind."

Morro wasn't sure if it was all the medically unsafe training Lloyd did or if maybe his family issues were starting to affect him badly because, "That is a very disturbing thing to be pumped up about. Especially if it makes you neglect the importance of nutritional intake."

Lloyd tutted, eyes rolling to the roof of the car. "Look, do you want to eat or not?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then shut up, I'm trying to find a place."

It aggravated Morro's hunger even more after he pondered on how they were supposed to find anything in the middle of a lonely country highway. However, before this annoying detail could be expressed alongside a gracious serving of insults, the two spotted a sign up ahead.

Welcome to Matsunai

"Hey, it's Lilly's hometown!" Lloyd exclaimed in surprise and relief. He switched gears, speeding up and keeping an eye out for a turn in the road.

"Who's Lilly?" Morro asked, though he was grateful they were approaching civilization.

"Cole's mom," the blonde said easily.

Morro frowned. "But isn't she-"

"Yeah," Lloyd put in, swinging the car to the right and exiting the highway. "But it was Cole who brought us to Matsunai once. His mom's family lives here. You know, grandma, uncles, aunts, cousins-"

"Okay, I get it," Morro replied, wishing he'd appreciated the previous silence.

Lloyd tightened his grip on the wheel, eyes sparkling. "We should go visit them! They would love to-"

"No!" Morro spoke so suddenly, it even startled him. After getting a look from Lloyd, he cleared his throat and rephrased. "I mean, I don't think many people are too thrilled about me returning from the dead and I don't want to draw unnecessary attention."

Lloyd shrugged, showing no signs of picking up the tension in the wind master's voice. "Alright, suit yourself."

Morro was careful not to breathe a sigh of relief and looked forward to a good lunch.

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Good lunch seemed like an overstatement after Lloyd revealed he didn't have enough money to even afford a decent sandwich.

"Unless you can blow out money from someone's wallet using your powers, we can only get a basket of garlic bread and bottled water," Lloyd announced from behind the menu.

He lowered it to observe Morro's "I'm ready to kill you now" face and silently asked for his approval. When the latter didn't respond, Lloyd assumed garlic bread sounded like an excellent idea. So he ordered a basket.

"You have very thoroughly planned out our demise and covered it up with an excuse for a bonding road trip," Morro hissed, pulling up the hood of his jumper to conceal his distinctly marked hair. He didn't want people to know the ex-ghost who had released the Preeminent was sitting among them expecting greasy garlic bread.

"Will you stop calling my innocent idea a suicide mission?" Lloyd hissed back, fists clenched.

Morro wanted to introduce his face to the tabletop very painfully. "Lloyd, get a clue. We have no money for later use. Unless we get home by tonight, there's no way we can survive without food long enough. And what about fuel, huh? How will we handle that?"

"Ronin's a thief," Lloyd pointed out, rocking back and forth on his chair legs. "Money is the one thing I couldn't ask him to lend me. So, we're broke as heck."

"But-"

"Calmez vous," the blonde said, sticking his palms together in front of him to symbolise peace. "We'll figure something out."

"With your terrible plans, we'll only get in more trouble," Morro complained.

Lloyd sighed exasperatedly, running a hand over his forehead. "Stop being such a crybaby and relax."

Tim's Diner was quiet on this specific evening and the two had acquired a small booth by the long window that provided the view of the main street. The Morris Minor was visible just out of sight in the parking lot while the rest of the area was littered with other sedans and casual cars. Morro was confused when a beat up, defaced truck, scribbled with ugly illustrations and swear words pulled up near the diner.

A group of thuggish, rowdy men in torn leather jackets and piercings climbed out and began hooting and shouting at one another. Morro knew bad guys from experience but before he could gesture at Lloyd to take notice, the door to the diner flew open. The low murmur of the few customers died out as the thugs appeared in the doorway.

The two ninjas remained silent, waiting for trouble to occur. The sudden tension in the air drove the head clerk to scramble out of the back office to see what was going on. He stopped dead at the sight of the men. The leader of the group advanced forward, spreading out his arms as if giving a hug.

"Timmy, my man! How ya doin'"? the thug called out, stepping closer to the counter.

Now that the group was in plain view, Morro saw the baseball bats they were holding. The wood was dirty and ridden with black paint and tape. Nasty spikes pushed out from the heads of the bats, giving it an overall menacing look.

"I- I'm not Timmy," the young man at the counter stammered, trying to appear brave. "That's my grandfather. He's not here."

The thug leader smiled wickedly. "I see grandpoppy has the whole family in the business." A few of the men snickered while others sneered at the customers. "Your grandfather did us a little business too," continued the alpha. "Hand over the money, buddy."

The head clerk stiffened his stance, glaring at the men. "I owe you no money. Get out."

The leader chuckled, showing all of his stained teeth. "Now, come on, Timmy junior. You got all these nice people in here," he said, waving his arm at the customers. "You don't want to make a fool of yourself in front of them."

Morro saw Lloyd's hidden hand mildly sparking with green energy. Getting the hint, he intensified his hold on the air around him and stood ready.

The head clerk moved closer to the cash register, placing a hand on it protectively. "I think you did not understand. Leave before I call the cops."

In one swift move, the alpha thug grabbed the young man by the front of his button-up shirt. The sudden lunge made a few people cry out in horror. "Give me the money or else!" shouted the thug.

"Back off, you walking pile of dung!"

Morro glared at Lloyd, silently pleading at him to shut up. But the blonde had already gained the attention of the entire diner. The leader of the group turned around, eyes roaming through the seats.

"Who said that?" he demanded.

His gaze finally settled on Lloyd who had now stepped out of the booth. The thug laughed tauntingly as all of his cronies pulled out their respective bats. "What are you gonna do, kid? Throw spitballs at me?"

"Spitballs are too cliché, don't you think?" Lloyd smirked, voice harboring a challenging tone. He gave his hand a jerk and a sphere of green light erupted between his fingers. "Energy balls are more my style."

Everyone's faces lit up with hope. The thugs, however, looked surprised and tentative to attack. "It's the Green Ninja!" one of the men yelled.

The leader growled. "Get him!"

The gang charged but Lloyd acted fast and sent a man flying into the wall with a blast of his powers. Morro wanted to help him but the fear of being recognized was eating at him. Lloyd jumped onto the table next to them and hopped around the men, hitting a few guys from the back.

People screamed and hid under their tables as it rained thugs all over the place. Morro dodged as a particularly fat hoodlum landed a few inches from him. Lloyd jumped into the middle of the group and spun into his Spinjitzu. The green tornado sucked in the thugs like a vacuum cleaner before spitting them out all beaten and bruised.

The wall of green died down and Lloyd halted to a stop, analyzing the remaining number of enemies. He didn't notice the leader closing in on him from the behind, spiked bat raised over his head. Someone yelled and Lloyd turned back just as the man swung down his weapon.

Suddenly, the door of the diner burst open a second time and a blast of strong wind knocked the bat out of its owner's hand before it could harm Lloyd. Morro realized what he had done and was discovered by everyone with his arms outstretched and the hood off his head.

"Wait a minute!" the alpha bellowed, reaching for his disarmed bat. "You're that ghost guy from Stiix, aren't you?"

Courage slowly seeped into Morro's veins and he scowled. "I am not the ghost guy. I'm the Master of Wind!" With that, a gayle shot out of his hands and threw the man straight out the long window. He went smashing though the glass and crashed directly into his truck.

"Nice!" Lloyd cheered, coming to stand beside Morro. "But next time, jump into the fight sooner."

"A 'thank you' would've been appreciated," Morro shot back at the blonde who only shrugged with his not-so-innocent smile.

The next few minutes were a blur of punches, energy and wind. Some people saw the chance and ran for it through the open door. The leader emerged back onto the battlefield, pulling out two daggers from his belt. Morro snatched a stack of clean plates from a table and hurled them through the air like frisbees. A few thugs got hit in the head and the leader got treated with a porcelain dish straight to the face.

The distraction gave Lloyd the chance to blast him square in the chest. The man once again slid backwards to the door, jacket steaming. His wounded gang managed to haul him out of the diner and into their damaged truck. Morro let the wind slam the doors after them, smiling when a guy's leg got caught in between.

The truck drove away quickly, tyres screeching as it turned the corner. Lloyd and Morro were both breathing heavily, exhausted from the exertion. The hunger in Morro's stomach was reaching a level where it was almost unbearable and he hoped the garlic bread was ready.

The two winced when they saw the wreckage all around them. Tables and chairs were either cracked or overturned. Plates and dishes were smashed with debris and food littering the linoleum floor. The long window was non-existent and the walls had concerning cracks running down them.

They eventually caught sight of the head clerk rising from behind the counter and taking in all the damage done to his diner. Morro aimed to ignore the miniature fire thriving on a lamp shade while Lloyd cleared his throat and tried to appear nonchalant.

"So . . ." he began, swinging his arms back and forth uncertainly. Morro could tell his devious mind was already planning to bamboozle the clerk. "Since we just did some hero work for you, how about a little something extra with the garlic bread?"

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