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Chapter Text

Jay couldn't breathe.

He sat hunched over in a cold sweat trying to gasp air into his lungs and not throw up at the same time, but it never seemed to be enough. Nothing seemed to quell the sheer panic in his racing heart.

Outside his bubble of fear, he was vaguely aware of people approaching him, and one coming closer than the rest.

He didn't recognize Cole until he was sitting right beside him, his hand rubbing circles into his back.

"Jay, look at me," the newly made Earth Ninja said.

Still gasping for air, Jay turned as best he could to focus on Cole.

"It's okay, Jay," Cole said reassuringly. "You're okay, but you need to breathe. Can you do that for me?"

Jay tried to nod as best he could.

"Okay, deep breath in," said Cole.

Jay tried his best to follow his instructions.

"One, two, three, four, now let it out."

Jay exhaled heavily.

They continued like that for another few minutes with Cole counting and giving him reassurances the entire time.

When the panic finally faded, Jay looked around to take in his surroundings.

He was sitting in the pilot seat of his new mech in their secret warehouse with the Green Dragon mech parked on top of it.

It was more than clear what happened. During the most recent Garmadon fight, he'd had another panic attack and Lloyd had to catch him with his own mech before he crashed and carried him back here.

Jay let out a groan and slumped in his pilot seat. "I did it again," he said.

"You almost got shot out of the sky," said Cole firmly. "No one blames you for it."

"Yeah, if it were Kai he'd have wet his pants," Nya called up to them from where the rest of their team were standing just outside the mech, all looking like they wanted to come up but didn't want to crowd him.

"Would not!" Kai protested, but a sharp elbow in the ribs from his sister shut him up.

"Is there anything we can do, Jay?" asked Lloyd, who was still looking up at him in concern.

"Your heart rate is slowing down, but it is still higher than it should be," said Zane helpfully. "Would you like a cold beverage."

The thought of eating or drinking anything right now turned Jay's stomach. He clapped his hand over his mouth and shook his head.

Seeing this, Cole held out a hand to him. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

Jay accepted the hand, and they both climbed down into the warehouse. The Lightning Ninja then winced when he realized that Master Wu had been standing with their teammates too, and had seen the whole thing.

When they reached the ground, the Ninja Master began making his way over to them. Jay ducked his head, expecting to be scolded for losing his head once again when he was supposed to be fighting.

Instead, Master Wu reached out and placed a hand on Jay's shoulder. "Look at me, Jay," he said calmly.

Jay slowly raised his eyes to meet Master Wu's.

"Are you alright?" Wu asked seriously.

Jay faked a weak smile and nodded, but Master Wu saw right through it. "Please, be honest with me, Jay. How do you feel?"

"Like I want to either throw up or pass out," Jay admitted softly.

Master Wu nodded and steered him over to the couch in the warehouse where the team had recently taken to hanging out between training and fights. There was even some talk of bringing in a TV and video game system to make things more fun.

At Master Wu's direction, Jay sat down on the couch, the rest of the team came to join them with Cole and Nya sitting on either side of him, Kai perching on the arm of the couch, and Lloyd took a seat on the floor before him. Zane helpfully handed him a bucket in case his nausea acted up and then sat beside Lloyd.

"What do I do, Master Wu?" asked Jay, feeling pathetic as he hunched over the bucket. "I can't be a ninja if this keeps happening."

"Of course you can be a ninja," said Lloyd encouragingly.

Jay didn't agree. "Not like this," he said. "What if during my next panic attack you guys are too busy saving me that you can't stop Garmadon? What if someone gets hurt because I lose control and crash, or shoot something on accident? If this keeps up we're so going to lose one of these days, and it'll be all my fault."

"It won't be your fault, because we're not gonna lose," said Nya confidently.

However, Zane said, "Statistically speaking, our chances of failure are far higher when Jay is overcome by his anxiety."

"See!" said Jay, pointing at Zane.

"Not helping, Zane," hissed Lloyd in the nindroid's ear.

"But he's right," said Jay emphatically. "I can't do this. Just thinking about going out to fight again makes me feel…" he trailed off and held the bucket to his mouth, which made his feelings very clear.

"Is there any way you can get over it?" asked Kai.

Everyone turned to give him looks so dry the desert was jealous.

Realizing how that sounded, Kai quickly waved his hands and said, "Nonononono, I didn't mean 'get over it,' I meant, is there some way we can help you keep your head at least while you're in the air? So you can still fight with us without this happening all the time. You know, things like calming music, ways we can talk to you over the radio, something like that."

Cole rolled his eyes at the Fire Ninja's flailing, and said, "What he means is, we're a team. We want you with us. How can we help?"

Jay wouldn't look at them and kept his head low in the bucket.

Lloyd turned to his uncle. "Uncle Wu, do you know anything that could help Jay? Maybe one of your magic teas could work, I know you have a calming one."

"He has magic teas?" asked Nya, as she and the others looked surprised.

But Master Wu shook his head. "While Sereni-tea would calm his anxiety, it would also make him oblivious to the world around him, which when flying through the sky is just as dangerous. While I wish I could provide a simple solution, the fact of the matter is that there are things in this world with no quick fix. I'm afraid this is an obstacle Jay must overcome himself." He then pulled up his flute to play Eye of the Tiger.

Jay pulled his face up from the bucket and looked miserable. "There's nothing to overcome," he said, cutting the song off midway. "I can't do it! It's too much."

Master Wu put down his flute. "Perhaps you are right. Perhaps you are not ready for this." He turned to look at all of the assembled team, his face regretful. "All of you are young and inexperienced, and I did not wish to drag you into this."

"You didn't drag us into anything, Master Wu," said Kai.

"Yeah, you just offered to train us, we're the ones who decided to fight," agreed Nya.

"And build ourselves mechs to do it with," added Zane.

"All you did was give us the moves, and the space to make it happen," said Cole.

"We chose this, Uncle Wu," said Lloyd with a determined scowl. "We want to help fight my father."

Master Wu gave them a fond look. "And just as you have chosen to do so, you are also free to choose to stop." He turned to look at Jay. "If that is what you want, young Jay."

Jay felt like a complete heel for backing down when everyone else was determined. Especially in light of all their support. But the thought of getting shot at again by hoards of ocean-themed soldiers…

"I still want to help, but I can't fight!" he said. "I'd just bring everyone down."

"So, what, you want a way to help without fighting Garmadon?" asked Nya with a raised eyebrow. "Is there even a way to do that?"

Jay looked thoughtful for a moment, then his face lit up. "I could be your Guy in the Chair!"

"Our Guy in the Chair?" said Zane, confused.

"Like in the movies?" asked Kai.

"Yes!" said Jay, actually looking excited. "It's perfect! I can still help you guys out, while also staying far, far away from an army of fish-themed maniacs who want to kill me."

The rest of the Ninja Force exchanged glances, and Master Wu looked completely lost.

"You know that guy in movies that sits at a computer and feeds people information, that's what Jay wants to do," explained Cole when he saw Wu's confusion.

"I… see," said Wu with a small frown that made it clear he still didn't completely understand.

"You really want to do that, Jay?" asked Lloyd.

"Yeah," said Jay. "It seems like the best way I can do this."

Lloyd glanced at his uncle. "What do you think, Uncle Wu."

"As I said, it what you do is your choice," said Master Wu.

Jay pumped his fist in the air. "Yes! I need to start building a supercomputer!" He then turned and ran out of the warehouse. "I'm going to the junkyard!"

Lloyd perked up at that. Junkyards were a Master Builder's paradise. "I'm coming too," he said taking off after him.

"Me three!" called Nya, a step behind him, never one to turn down a chance to build.

The rest of the team exchanged glances. "We're not letting them go alone, are we?" asked Kai.

"Those three building nuts surrounded by piles of rusted and precariously stacked pieces of scrap? What could happen," said Cole dryly, already starting to get up.

The ideas those words conjured triggered Kai's protective instincts, and he took off after them. "Wait for me!"

"This sounds fun and educational," said Zane brightly as he wheeled behind them.

Cole chuckled to himself and followed them out at a more sedated pace.

Master Wu watched them go, fondly marveling at the exuberance of youth, before going to call his son, Morro, in hopes of having this strange teen thing explained to him.

In the days between that discussion and the next Garmadon attack, Jay worked tirelessly on that computer. He connected it to all of their mechs and took extra precautions to make sure it was unhackable. He practiced studying maps to find routes, hacking into traffic and security cameras so he would be able to hear and see everything. He was sure by the time the next attack happened, he would be ready.

And then the sirens sounded, and it was go-time.

At first, things went as they normally did. The second the sirens sounded, they all asked for a bathroom pass in order to slip down their locker chutes and save the city as the Secret Ninja Force.

Despite not having any intention to fight, Jay still donned his blue gi. It was a habit by now, and even if he wasn't fighting, he was still part of this team.

Sliding behind his computer, Jay brought it on and began speaking into his microphone. "Okay, mic check, can everyone hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Jay," said Lloyd as he flew out on his green dragon. "You ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," said Jay, feeling nervous. For all that he'd prepared and considered this a better solution, there was still so many things to take into account. What if he didn't type fast enough? What if the computer crashed? What if he gave the wrong advice? What if-

"You've got this, Jay," said Nya as her water-strider mech leaped out of the warehouse, as if able to sense the spiral his brain was going down.

The praise cut through the nervous thoughts and allowed Jay to force himself back on track. Glad Nya had already left, and wouldn't see him blush, he replied, "You too. You guys have got this." He then added under his breath, "Especially without me there to screw it up."

"I heard that," said Cole as he rolled out. "No blaming yourself."

"Right, sorry," said Jay, making a mental note to be more vigilant about his microphone.

Kai and Zane were the last ones out, and they paused long enough to give him a jaunty salute and a friendly wave respectively before taking off to join the battle.

Jay took a deep breath and began pulling up the camera feed of the attack. "Looks like Garmadon's doing what he usually does," he said as he studied the feed. "Sending his troops out from the water, and they're marching pretty much directly for Ninjago Tower."

"Any sign of my dad?" asked Lloyd.

"Nnnnnoooo," said Jay. "Looks like he hasn't surfaced with the rest yet."

"That's weird, usually he's leading the charge," said Kai.

"Knowing him, he's probably gearing up for a dramatic reveal," said Nya.

"Keep your eyes open, okay," said Lloyd to all of them.

Jay pulled up as many security camera feeds as he could to get visuals in every direction. "I'm on it."

After that things went smoothly. The Ninja Force was taking on Garmadon's grunts, and while there was no sign of the man himself, they were beating them back fairly well.

And Jay, well, Jay felt rather useless. For as cool as being the Guy in the Chair looked in movies, there really wasn't a lot he could actually do. None of the shark men were using anything he could hack, all his teammates knew their way around the city so well that they didn't need directions, and while he could give them a heads up on a sneak attack he knew he could have easily done that from his jet.

He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't help but feel he should be out there. Still, every time he glanced over at his jet he felt the fear in him rise up to overwhelm him once again.

Besides. While a bit rocky, his teammates seemed to be doing well for themselves fighting without him and were pushing Garmadon's forces back to the beach.

… Maybe they didn't need him after all.

After five minutes of them kicking butt and him barely having to do anything, Jay was ready to call it quits. He turned away from the computer screen to change back into his regular clothes and go back to school. At least he could be some use by providing alibis for where his friends were if any teachers asked.

He reached his backpack just as the screaming started.

He raced back to the computer and his eyes widened at the sight.

Garmadon had finally made his grand entrance, and it was atop a massive mech that looked both ridiculous and terrifying. It was huge and had long tentacles that spread out everywhere.

"Behold! My Leviathan Mech!" Lord Garmadon was shouting through his megaphone. "You all thought I was just into sharks, but I can branch out! How do you like me now, Ninja!"

To Jay's horror, he realized that all five of his friends' mechs were tangled within the tentacles, with them all trapped inside them. Garmadon's army wasn't being pushed back to the beach, they were leading them into a trap!

There was nothing he could do. Being a Guy in the Chair meant he could feed the others information, but nothing he had here could go against that thing.

He could only stare in horror as Garmadon seemed to have a great deal of fun shaking his friends' mechs like ragdolls. He saw Lloyd managed to slip free from his mech and try to run along it to get to Garmadon, only to once again be captured in another tentacle, and was then dragged over to look Garmadon in the face while the villain began a gloating monologue. If looks could kill, the evil warlord would be a smear on the mech from the glare his son (not that he knew it was his son) was giving him as the mech began making its way through the city to the tower.

Jay backed away from the computer in horror.

This was terrible! His friends were captured, Garmadon was about to win, and there was nothing he could do!

He then glanced over his shoulder at his jet.

Well, there was one thing he could do, but… that might just make things worse.

"... And that is why, on this glorious day, I will finally conquer Ninjago," said Garmadon smugly down to the scowling Green Ninja in front of him. Boy, did it feel good to rub his victory in this particular ninja's face. These new ninja warriors in mechs hadn't been around for long, but they'd quickly proven to be stubborn thorns in his side, especially the little green one here.

The Green Ninja rolled his eyes at him and would have undoubtedly said something defiant if the tentacle trapping around him wasn't clamped up to his nose.

"Admit it, you totally didn't see this coming, right?" said Garmadon gleefully. "You thought I was just gonna pop out in another shark, but hey, leviathans are cool too. The perfect way to catch the six of you."

The second he said that Garmadon paused and actually looked around at the mechs for the first time since capturing them.

"Wait, one, two, three…" he muttered, pointing at each of them as he counted under his breath. "Five? There are six of you, right? Where's the little blue plane that's always almost crashing?"

The Green Ninja's scowl only worsened at him, still unable to say anything, but clearly not liking this line of questioning.

"Did he finally crash for real, or just flown the coop?" asked Garmadon, seeing another way to pick at his helpless enemy. "That one always did seem like the weak link. I could always hear him screaming as he flew around, and not in the epic battle cry kinda way."

The Green Ninja was still glaring daggers at him, and he was starting to hear yells of protest and insults coming from the other captured mechs. Perfect, this was really getting under their skin.

"I guess it's just as well he's not here," Garmadon continued with a mocking shrug. "Better he save himself the embarrassment of being defeated by Lord G-"

A bolt of lightning cut him off mid-taunt, and Garmadon jumped back with a yelp as he was nearly fried by it, nearly falling off the top of his leviathan mech in the process.

The Green Ninja let out a muffled sound of surprise and delight as he looked up at the sky, and Garmadon followed his gaze.

"Speak of the devil," the warlord grumbled.

There, flying through the air, was the Blue Lightning Jet, and it was already curving around to take another shot.

As the jet's cannons began sparking as they readied another lightning shot, Garmadon shouted, "Oh no ya don't!" He yanked on his controls and the tentacle holding the Green Ninja was shifted so he was positioned in front of the warlord as a human shield.

Seeing this, the jet's cannons changed targets, and instead, the lightning blast struck Garmadon's army marching along behind them. Since they were all still wet from rising out of the sea, the bolt spread through them and knocked a good chunk out cold.

"Huh, note-to-self, fire the lead of the uniform division and have the new head make lightning-proof outfits," Garmadon muttered to himself as he looked down at his fried troops.

That was all he had time to ponder as he realized the jet was sending more lightning blasts to take out the rest of his troops.

"Hey, cut that out!" shouted Garmadon, and he grabbed his controls again and send the tentacles not holding the rest of the ninja after the jet.

The jet quickly spun out of the way and worked on weaving through their grasping clamps to avoid capture.

"Get back here you little-!" Garmadon grumbled as he sent the metal tentacles flying every which way to try and capture that one last ninja, but the little blue jet was fast, and if he wasn't careful to keep using the Green Ninja as a shield, it was quick to take shots at him whenever the way was clear.

It didn't help that the rest of the ninja nerds were cheering the blue one on, and shouting things to distract the warlord whenever they had a chance.

Then, just when Lord Garmadon thought he had the jet in his grasp, the tentacles controls sputtered and died.

"What! Oh, come on!" Garmadon said, yanking at the controls to get them moving, but they were jammed tight and wouldn't budge.

He looked over the side of his mech to try and find the source of the problem, and it quickly became clear. "Aww," he groaned, seeing the tentacles had been tied into knots while trying to chase down the Lightning Ninja. "Need to fire whoever designed this thing too," he grumbled.

At that moment, another burst of lightning shot at him, and Lord Garmadon was sent tumbling from his mech. He was caught by one of his own remaining forces in their plane and was quickly ferried back to his volcano. "YOU MAY HAVE WON THIS ROUND, BUT I'LL BE BACK!" he shouted at them as he left.

With Garmadon gone, Lloyd finally managed to wiggle free of the tentacle holding him and jumped to the controls to free the others from the other tentacles grasps.

The six mechs then took off to the thunderous fanfare of the watching civilians, cheering that they had once again saved the day.

Jay was able to land the jet himself this time, but when he practically dropped out of the cockpit he had to put his head between his legs and take deep breaths to avoid another panic attack.

Once again, he felt a comforting hand on his back, and when he was able to look up, he saw Cole smiling proudly down at him. "Take your time," he said. "You're the man of the hour."

Jay ducked his head back down and took a few more deep breaths before he felt calm enough to stand up straight.

Only to immediately be tackled in a Kai Hug™.

"Bro! That was so awesome!" the Fire Ninja crowed, practically carrying Jay over to the couch to plop him down. "You totally saved our butts out there!"

"He's right!" said Nya, popping up beside her brother, grinning widely. "That was so ninja!"

Jay flushed at her praise. "I didn't-" he started to say.

"Saved us is right," Lloyd joked patting Jay on the back. "If I had to listen to my dad gloat any longer I would have screamed. Great job, Jay!"

"But-" Jay tried again.

"You also almost single-handedly saved Ninjago," added Zane brightly. "You should be proud, Jay."

Jay just stared at them all with a flustered expression.

"Cool it, guys," said Cole, seeing he was getting overwhelmed. Still, the Earth Ninja shot him a grin. "You did good out there, Jay."

"More than good!" said Nya enthusiastically. "That was one of the bravest things I've ever seen. Especially in light of, well…"

Jay slumped slightly in his seat and glanced over at the computer he'd worked to build that had ultimately been rather useless. "I didn't feel very brave," he admitted. "I spent most of the time up there freaking out."

"Well done, students," said Master Wu, appearing out from behind Lloyd and making all of them jump at his sudden appearance.

"Master Wu!" the teenagers exclaimed in surprise.

Wu tipped his hat to them. "I was coming as quick as I could when I heard Garmadon had captured you. I am glad to see my help is no longer needed." Turning to address Jay, he said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the facing of it. There are times you will only find your True Potential when you do things even though they are hard."

Jay briefly wondered about the emphasis he put on the words 'True Potential', but only said, "But what if this is a one-time thing?" he asked. "What if next time, I-"

Master Wu placed a hand on Jay's shoulder to stop him. "I did say it would be hard, not easy," he said. "But it is a struggle worth overcoming if you are willing to do so."

Jay glanced over at his teammates, who were beaming at him, and then back at Master Wu, who was looking proud of his accomplishment that day.

Doing this would be hard, but…

"I'll do it," Jay said.

His team cheered.

In the coming years, it wasn't easy to manage both anxiety and fighting evil, but eventually, they found a way to make it work.

At least until the giant cat showed up, but then that's another story.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

8 Years Ago...

Master Wu really should have expected this reaction.

"What do you mean I gotta look after him?" came surly whine behind him.

The ninja master sighed and turned to face the source of the whining.

"Because neither I nor Koko are able to do it, and I told her you would," he said, already knowing this was not an answer that would go over well.

Sure enough, his thirteen-year-old newly adopted son was looking scandalized at his reasoning. "So you just went and volunteered me without my permission?" he asked.

"He is your cousin," Master Wu said firmly. "It is not too much to ask you to look after him for a few hours. I know for a fact you had no plans, and you haven't even interacted with him before now, Morro." He then rolled his eyes and added, "Besides, it is not volunteering. Koko has graciously offered to pay for your services."

The promise of money pacified the (barely a) teenager somewhat, but he still wouldn't back down that easily. "Why can't someone else do?" Morro asked just to be petulant.

Master Wu let out another sigh. "Sadly, because of Lloyd's… parentage, Koko has been unable to find anyone willing to do so. Not anyone she would trust with his safety, at least," he added with a grimace.

Morro frowned at that. He, like everyone else in Ninjago, had heard all the rumors about Lloyd Garmadon, son of Lord Garmadon. Since meeting and being adopted by Wu, he didn't put too much stock in them anymore. Wu was an okay guy (when he wasn't assigning jobs to him without permission), and if he was really the warlord's brother, then it was pretty clear genetics didn't amount to much on how evil someone was.

Still, the last thing he wanted to do was waste his Saturday looking after some eight-year-old brat.

Seeing his continued reluctance, Master Wu said, "Morro, doing this would be a great help for both myself and Koko. If you do it without complaints, then we will have whatever you want for dinner afterward."

Morro looked up with interest. "Even if what I want is nothing but pie and ice cream?" he asked testingly.

Having been an orphaned street rat for a good few years before now, he was still getting used to having daily steady meals. Master Wu had been determined to get him to a healthy weight and had been keeping him on a (admittedly good tasting) nutritious diet. Because of that, his amount of sweets had been rather restricted.

Wu chuckled at his request. "I know the best place to get a pie in Ninjago," he said. "But only if you do well."

Morro weighed his options, and let out a huff. "Okay. I'll watch the brat."

He then yelped as Master Wu tapped him on the head with his flute. "You can start by not calling him a brat," he said at his son's betrayed expression.

Morro only grumbled in reply.

Morro's first impression of his new cousin was, 'This kid's a total shrimp!'

The second thought he had was, 'This kid's a pathetic total shrimp.'

Why did people think he was the next ultimate evil again?

These thoughts didn't stop the little blond munchkin from looking up at him in wonder with big green eyes. Probably because he hadn't actually voiced them (Wu was eyeing him with flute in his hand, ready to bap him if he shot his mouth off).

"I didn't know I had a cousin," the midget said, his face breaking into a bright grin like this was fantastic news.

Morro only rolled his eyes.

Master Wu, however, chuckled at his words. "I adopted Morro recently. However, even if you are not tied by blood, we are still a family." Right on cue, he began playing a few notes of We are Family on his flute, causing Lloyd to clap his hands in delight and Morro to roll his eyes again, but his expression was amused.

Koko, who was way nicer than Morro had expected for being the former bride of an evil warlord, filled him in on everything he needed to know. Where the emergency numbers were, what Lloyd's schedule was (it was Saturday, so not much), and the do's and don'ts of what babysitting him would entail.

Then she and Wu left, Koko for her job-thing that made her need a babysitter in the first place, and Wu to stop whatever evil plot his brother had that the news had forecast that day.

With the adult supervision definitely gone, the two boys eyed each other as an awkward silence fell over them, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

Finally, Lloyd fidgeted and said, "So, uh, what do you want to do?" he asked his expression earnest.

Morro shrugged.

"We, uh, we have some board games," Lloyd offered, trying to find something for them to do. "Or some movies, or we can draw, I've got lots of crayons."

Not one of those things appealed to Morro. Board games were boring, it was there in the name. He didn't want to sit through any kiddie movies that Lloyd probably had, and drawing with crayons was for babies.

While he'd love to say all that to his little cousin, the promise of dessert for dinner kept his mouth shut. He barely knew this kid and had no idea if he'd tattle on him for doing anything Wu wouldn't like.

"I saw a playground a few blocks from here. Let's go there," he said instead, turning for the door. He didn't want to spend his entire time babysitting cramped in this tiny apartment.

Lloyd's expression grew troubled. "The one with the tire swing and the slide shaped like a dinosaur?" he asked.

Morro paused at the door and glanced back. "Yeah, what about it?" he asked.

Lloyd seemed to mull over something for a minute but then shook his head. "It's nothing," he said, moving to catch up with him. "Let's go."

Morro raised an eyebrow at that. If he didn't know better, he'd think the kid didn't want to go there. But if he didn't, why not say anything? Every kid his size he'd met before had been very vocal about all the things they didn't like. Lloyd keeping his mouth shut about not wanting something was… weird.

Figuring he'd imagined it he shrugged it off, and they made their way over to the small park. As they did, they passed a newly constructed pilates studio. Or, more likely, a newly rebuilt pilates studio that had been knocked down during a Garmadon attack.

Morro wrinkled his nose as they passed it. "Who would want to paint anything in that color?" he asked, taking in the sight of the garish fresh coat of vivid pink paint that covered the outside of it.

Lloyd looked over the studio and shrugged, but Morro didn't miss a flash of guilt that ran across his face at the sight of it.

What was with this kid? First, he doesn't want to go out, and now he's looking guilty over random buildings. What, did he tag it in the past or something? Morro was pretty sure he was way too young to be a budding graffiti artist.

They finally reached the park, and Morro made a beeline for the tire swing and sprawled across the top of it, kicking his legs slightly to make it swing and spin lazily in the air.

Seeing this, Lloyd came over looking like he wanted to join him, but Morro shook his head. "Sorry, no room," he said, sprawling even more across it to make his point.

Lloyd hesitated, and said, "But…"

"Go play on the slide or in the sandbox," said Morro, trying to get him out of his hair so he could pass the time in peace.

Lloyd opened and closed his mouth, looking like he wanted to protest, but instead meekly walked away.

'Yup, this kid is definitely a pathetic shrimp,' Morro thought to himself at his cousin's apparent lack of spine.

He watched the little guy wander through the mostly empty playground. He eyed the slide warily, before seeming to decide against going on it, and heading over to the sandbox. There was one kid already playing there, but at the sight of Lloyd approaching the kid stared at him wide-eyed and then bolted straight out of the entire playground.

Were all little kids this weird, or was Morro just attracting the strange ones today?

Lloyd seemed to slump at the sight of the kid running away, and sat himself down in the box to listlessly play with the sand.

Satisfied he wouldn't go anywhere any time soon, Morro pulled out a handheld game he'd snuck into his pocket when Wu wasn't looking and began to play. He made sure to glance up from the game on occasion to check on Lloyd, but for the most part, his attention was absorbed by the pixels and button-mashing.

One time when he looked up, he had to let out an impressed whistle. It seemed that Lloyd was actually a fairly creative little shrimp, having been able to mold the sand into a pretty decent dragon shape. It was lopsided, and not very scary looking, but Lloyd was looking proud of it nonetheless.

He apparently also heard Morro's whistle and sent him a beaming smile and waved for Morro to come to join him, only for it to shift into disappointment when Morro instead turned back to his game. He just continued to build his sand dragon without complaints.

Weird kid. Creative, but way too quiet.

Morro was just about to beat a difficult boss when a shout broke him out of his reverie and startled him so much he dropped the game to the ground.

Seeing his character die on the screen since he couldn't reach the ground from the tire swing to save it in time made him scowl in disappointment. He hopped off the swing to pick it up and glanced over at Lloyd just in time to see a foot collide with the dragon he was so proud of, and spray the sand in the little blond's face.

Blinking in surprise, Morro realized that his cousin was now surrounded by several kids, most of whom were bigger than him, and they did not look friendly. One of them was the kid who had run away at the sight of Lloyd, and he was watching and grinning as the others closed in him.

"Your dad knocked down my uncle's pilates studio again, freak," snarled the apparent ringleader of the group. "You gotta lot of nerve showing up here after that."

Lloyd whimpered as he scrubbed the sand out of his eyes and glanced in Morro's direction.

Morro only stared back, too stunned to move. Was this why he hadn't seemed to want to come here?

Before he could do something, shout at those kids to leave him alone, one of them made a grab for Lloyd.

Lloyd saw it coming and was off like a shot. He ducked between two of the bullies (because what could they be other than bullies) and bolted out of the park.

The bullies chased after him, shouting about what they were going to do when they caught him.

Morro let out a curse and took off after them as well. Wu would have his head if Lloyd got beat up on his watch. Not happening, there would be no tiny helpless squirts getting pounded when he was around.

As he and the others ran, Morro could add another descriptor to his ever-growing list of his cousin's traits. For such a little shrimp, he was fast!

Still, the thirteen-year-old noticed something Lloyd seemed to miss. While he was managing to keep out of reach of the bullies, there was one thing that couldn't be denied. The bullies were herding him! And from the looks of things, it was back towards the garish pilates studio the ringleader said his uncle owned.

Realizing this, Morro ducked down a side alley and up a fire escape to get to the studio on a shortcut he knew. One upside of living on these streets for so long was that he knew all the shortcuts, no matter how obscure they seemed.

He reached the studio roof just as the bullies seemed to corner Lloyd on the ground below. To his alarm, the brats were now arming themselves with some of the leftover construction material with the intent to beat him with it.

"We're gonna do to you what your dad did to this studio," said the ringleader as he held a heavy paint can over his head.

Morro scaled-down the scaffolding still on the side of the building and managed to jump between Lloyd and the ringleader just as he threw the can at the eight-year-old's head.

Reacting on instinct, Morro used a kick Wu had taught him to punt the can in midair, changing its direction enough that it didn't hit either of them.

That didn't stop the paint inside from arching out of the loose lid and splattering all across Morro's face and head.

"Morro!" cried Lloyd behind him, both in wonder at his sudden appearance, and worry at his actions.

And for good reason. Pain was ringing through his foot from the kick even though he was wearing fairly padded shoes. If that thing had hit Lloyd's head, it would have definitely caused a concussion or worse.

Still, he wasn't about to let these bullies see that. Wiping the paint off his face, Morro fixed them all with his meanest look. "Beat it, or I'll do to you what I did to that can!" he snarled.

The bullies turned to look at the paint can and saw a sizable dent in its thick metal side. Apparently, the idea of fighting a thirteen-year-old who could do that instead of a helpless eight-year-old was too much for them, and they scattered.

Once they were gone, Morro tried to take a step but buckled at the pain from his foot.

Immediately, a pair of small shoulders ducked under his arm, and he looked down to see Lloyd acting as a human crutch to take the pressure off it, practically taking Morro's entire weight onto himself.

There's another thing to add to the list. His little cousin was surprisingly strong for his size. Morro may still be scrawny from his former street rat life, but he was definitely heavier than most eight-year-olds could lift.

"Lean on me," Lloyd said, tears in his eyes from worry. "I'll get us home and we can fix your foot."

Morro did so, and the two started hobbling back towards Lloyd's apartment, dripping paint all the way.

As they went, Morro let out a pained chuckle and said, "You know, if Wu were here he'd totally play Lean on Me right now."

Lloyd let out a wet giggle as well. "If Uncle Wu were here, he'd bop us both on the head and tell us off us for getting hurt, then play the song."

Morro let out a guffaw at that.

Morro insisted on taking a shower before treating his foot. He wanted to get the paint off as quickly as he could before it fully dried.

Sadly, while he was able to get the paint off his skin, it left streaks of his hair stained with the color of the paint, and likely wouldn't wash out any time soon.

Unfortunately, his clothes were also ruined by the paint. Lloyd threw them into the wash in hopes of saving them, but Morro would have to spend the rest of his time until Wu picked him up in a too-big t-shirt and shorts that belonged to Koko.

When he limped out of the bathroom he was surprised to see a full first aid kit sitting out waiting for him on the coffee table in front of the couch.

Before he could ask about it, Lloyd was there, once again being a human crutch and leading him over to sit on the couch with his injured foot up. Then, Morro was mildly disturbed to see the tiny blond be a perfect nurse to him. Setting his foot in a simple splint to keep it from moving in a way that was painful, handing him some ibuprofen for the pain, and setting a timer to exactly fifteen minutes before wrapping his foot in a towel and placing an ice pack on it.

Seriously, what the heck? Most kids his age barely knew how to put on a bandaid, much less how to even find and use a first aid kit.

Morro was really tired of all these questions piling up and wanted answers.

"What the actual heck?" he asked, making Lloyd jump from where he'd been watching the timer like a hawk.

"Huh?" he asked in surprise.

"How do you know how to do this?" Morro said, gesturing towards his leg. "Why didn't you say anything when you didn't want to go to that park? Why didn't you speak up? Why didn't you fight back? Why were those kids even after you? Just-just what the heck?"

Lloyd looked a little confused about which question he should answer first.

Seeing his hesitation, Morro took a deep breath and started from the beginning. "Why didn't you just tell me you didn't want to go to the park?" he asked, knowing all of this could have been avoided if he'd spoken up.

Lloyd looked down at his hands in his lap. "Because you wanted to go," he said as if the answer was that simple.

"You could have said no," Morro argued back, despite knowing he might have still gone to the park even if Lloyd had said something. But if he'd argued, they might have gone to a different park instead or he'd have kept a closer eye on things. "Or you could have pushed when you wanted to sit on the swing with me. Those kids would have had a harder time getting you if you'd stuck by me."

"I just- you didn't want me there," Lloyd mumbled. "And I just wanted you to like me. I thought if I did what you said, maybe you would."

Morro frowned. Yeah, he hadn't been the most welcoming, but… "Thinking you had no spine made me dislike you even more," he said, making Lloyd wince at his harsh words. "You can't just let people walk all over you. That'll just get you taken advantage of, not make you any friends."

Lloyd looked up at him miserably. "But if I try hard enough, if I show everyone that I am good, then they'll like me, right?" he asked in a sort of desperate tone. "They'll see I'm not like Dad and be my friends. I can't do that if people think I'm mean."

Morro frowned at his words. This was some really screwed up logic that he couldn't even begin to unpack. "What do you mean 'like your dad'?" he asked.

Lloyd bit his lip. "I've seen him on TV. He's always yelling and telling people what to do. And everyone says since I'm his son, I gotta be evil just like him, but I'm not like him! I'm not!" he said, seeming desperate to convey this to Morro.

Suddenly things made a lot more sense, and Morro reached up to pinch his forehead. "That's why those kids were after you," he said. "'Cause of your dad?"

Lloyd nodded meekly, looking like he was waiting for Morro to tell him they were right.

"How often does this stuff happen? Them going after you like that?" Morro asked, growing concerned.

At that moment the timer dinged, and Lloyd hurried to take the ice off his foot, put it back in the freezer, and pack the first aid kit away to avoid answering.

Not that he needed to, his actions were answer enough. This happened a lot. Enough times that this tiny eight-year-old squirt knew how to treat injuries, most likely his own, like a professional. It was a skill that he could only learn from experience and more practice than Morro would like to think about.

A sick feeling began to form in his stomach. Just what had this kid been through to make him like this?

When Lloyd sat back down by his elevated foot again, Morro made sure he got his undivided attention. "Look, shrimp," he said in a tone that left no room for arguments. "I'm going to be honest with you. Out of everyone in this stupid city, no one is going to just suddenly like you."

Lloyd stared at him and looked like he was about to cry, but Morro continued regardless. The kid needed to hear this.

"It's nothing you did," he said. "People are just jerks, and they've already made up their mind to hate you. Trust me, no amount of being a nice little doormat will make them think otherwise."

Lloyd still looked distraught at his words. "B-But Kai and Nya are my friends!" he said desperately. "And their parents are nice too! They don't hate me!"

Morro paused at that. Well, that's good, at least he had some friends… unless they were just using him for his people-pleasing tendencies. He made a mental note to find out more about them later. "Okay, maybe a few people aren't as awful as the rest, but for the most part, no dice. They're gonna hate you, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Lloyd shrank in on himself at that. "So what am I supposed to do?" he asked. "Be a meanie like they all think I am?"

"Heck no!" said Morro, making him look up in surprise. "That's just what they're waiting for! For you to snap and prove them right. Then they'll have the perfect excuse to lock you up and throw away the key."

Now the little blond looked completely confused and one harsh word away from sobbing. "So what?" he asked. "If being nice is useless, and being mean is worse, what do I do?"

Morro sighed. When he put it like that, yeah, the kid did not have it easy. This was some kind of difficult balance thing with no clear answer.

"Look," he said. If there was one thing he needed to make clear to his cousin, it was this. "Standing up for yourself and telling people 'no' is not being mean. Yeah, people aren't gonna like you and try to beat you up, but that doesn't mean you should let them. You gotta find some way to defend yourself, or at least a better way to run away. You're fast, kid, but running fast isn't gonna get you out of every mess. And telling people when you don't wanna do something will keep them from walking all over you. Get some backbone!"

Lloyd stared at him. It was clear no one had ever told him this before, and he was absorbing every word out of Morro's mouth like a sponge. "How?" he asked.

That gave Morro pause. Oh yeah, the difficult balance thing with no easy answer. "I don't know. But we'll figure it out together, okay cuz? Promise." he said.

Lloyd's expression lit up, and he looked at his cousin like he'd just hung the moon. Then, while careful of his injury, he launched himself across the couch to hug the life out of Morro.

The look on the squirt's face and the hug that followed caused something inside Morro to melt into a massive pile of goo. No one had ever looked at him like that before, but he was pretty sure he just became Lloyd's hero.

And there was no way he was going to let the little guy down.

"'M sorry you got paint in your hair," Lloyd mumbled into his shoulder as he refused to let go.

Morro flicked his eyes up to the stained strands of hair that fell into his eyes. "It's fine," he said. "I bet I make it look good."

Lloyd giggled into his shoulder at his words.

When he finally pulled back, Morro said, "So, you said you had movies around here, right? Got anything scary?"

There was a flash of fear on his face, and for a second, Lloyd looked like he was going to reluctantly comply with his suggestion but then he shook his head. "Nope, we're not watching a scary movie. If you move at the scary parts it'll be bad for your foot. We're playing a board game instead."

While he still thought board games were boring, Morro couldn't help but grin at the blond's words. Nice to see he was already asserting himself. "Alright," he said. "Bring it on."

Morro quickly found himself eating those words about board games being boring. When played against Lloyd, they were anything but. The kid was a mini-board gaming beast!

"You sunk my battleship, again!" he groaned as he lost his fifth game in a row to the squirt. He then leaned over to look at Lloyd's side of the game board and had to ask, "How did you even squeeze your aircraft carrier there? Is that even legal?"

Lloyd grinned. "There's no rule against it," he said.

Morro groaned and flopped back on the couch. "How'd you get so good at these?" he asked.

"Me and mom have a lot of game nights," said Lloyd as he reset the pieces. "You gotta be really good to beat her."

Morro groaned again. No wonder he was so good! Wu had once told him the Lady IronDragon was an expert strategist. If she'd imparted even a small part of that skill onto Lloyd, then Morro had lost before he even tried.

… Not that he was supposed to know Koko was the Lady IronDragon, but he recognized her from Wu's old pictures.

Before Lloyd could kick his butt again, there was the scraping sound of a key unlocking the door, and in stepped Koko and Wu.

Lloyd lit up at the sight of his mother and rushed over to babble at her about how much fun they had.

Hearing this, Wu came over to congratulate his adopted son, only to frown at the sight of his head over the back of the couch. "What happened to you?" he asked.

"I'm trying out a new look," Morro replied flippantly, making Lloyd snicker.

It was then the two adults stepped around and saw Morro's foot still elevated in the splint.

Immediately, Koko's expression morphed into one of concern. "Oh, honey, what happened?" she asked, going over to examine it.

At Wu's stern look, Morro answered honestly this time. "We went to the park and some jerks threw a paint can," he admitted. "I stopped it with my foot."

Both adults' concern only grew at that, but after checking to make sure he had been treated correctly (which he had, thanks to Lloyd's unfortunately acquired nursing skills), Koko thanked him profusely, no doubt suspecting he'd been injured protecting Lloyd.

When the shock of what happened wore off and they determined he would be fine, Wu let out a soft chuckle and said, "Well, that certainly explains why your hair is pink."

"Excuse you, I rock this color!" Morro shot back, making Lloyd laugh again. He was starting to like the sound from the previously too-quiet kid.

Wu lent Morro his flute staff and helped him walk. Koko paid him the promised money for his services and even tried to give him extra for his help, but was declined. The two then bid their goodbyes and they left.

"Give Morro some of your magic healing tea when you get home, okay Uncle Wu!" called Lloyd after them just before they were out of earshot.

That, of course, sent that sick feeling to Morro's stomach again. He hadn't even realized Wu had healing teas, magical or otherwise, and he'd hate to think of what the kid had to go through to find out about them.

"That kid has it rough, doesn't he," said Morro softly.

Wu sighed wearily and nodded. "I'm afraid so," he said.

"Why doesn't anyone do something?" Morro demanded, knowing this wasn't right.

"Koko and I try our best," Wu replied. "We teach him all that we can, and he has two good friends who do their best to defend him as well, but even with the four of us, we can not be with him all the time."

"Can't you teach him to fight?" asked Morro. "Something to defend himself?"

"I fully intend to in a few years, but while I have taught him some basic self-defense, at the moment I fear he is far too young for more intense training," said Wu, though he looked like he wished it was otherwise.

"There has to be something!" Morro said, wracking his brain to come up with a way.

Just then, a thought occurred to him. A certain skill he'd picked up on the streets that had gotten him out of a bind more than once. He didn't exactly show it off since it was illegal in some places (though thankfully, not in Ninjago), but it might be just what Lloyd needed. He was certainly already smart and creative enough to handle it.

"I've got an idea!" he said, turning to Wu and explaining his plan.

He didn't think the ninja master had never looked more proud.

A few days later, Koko opened her front door to see a healed up Morro there, grinning eagerly and holding a crate of spare parts. "Is Lloyd home?" he asked.

Surprised but pleased, Koko nodded and let him in.

It seemed the two friends Lloyd had told Morro about were just leaving as he arrived. The thirteen-year-old eyed the pair of twins that were apparently his cousin's buddies, and they stared back at him with equal suspicion.

"So you're the cousin Lloyd keeps talking about," said the boy twin, Kai, in a surly tone.

Morro couldn't help the wicked grin that spread on his face when he heard the jealous tone in Kai's voice. Looks like he must be doing something right to get that. "Yup, and you must be his little friends he barely mentioned."

Oh, if looks could kill from the glare he got for that.

"Maybe we should stay a bit longer," Kai said slowly, clearly not liking the idea of Morro being around his best friend.

The girl twin, Nya, let out a regretful sigh. "We can't, Mom and Dad said we gotta go home now. Koko's here, he'll be okay." She then shot Morro a dirty look. "And if he's not, we know where you live."

Somehow, despite coming from a tiny girl in pigtails, that actually felt threatening, especially with her brother backing her up.

The twins reluctantly left, and Morro headed into Lloyd's broom closet of a bedroom.

His tiny cousin had been reading a comic on his bed when he came in and lit up at the sight of him. "Morro! You're back! Is your foot better now?"

Morro lifted up his formerly injured foot and gave it a shake to show it was all better. "Good as new," he said.

Lloyd grinned, but then paused as he noticed something. "Why is your hair still pink?" he asked, seeing the streak still in his hair.

Morro flipped his hair dramatically. "I told you I rock this color," he replied, making Lloyd giggle.

He then set the crate he was carrying on the bed, and Lloyd looked at it with interest.

"So I was thinking," Morro said. "And I might have found a way to help you protect yourself without coming off as a meanie."

Lloyd stared up at him with wide green eyes. "What?" he asked eagerly, looking like Christmas had come early. "What is it?"

Morro began pulling some parts out of the crate and before Lloyd's very eyes he pieced them together into the shape of a bird that could actually flap its little wings and hover over his hand.

"Tell me," he asked as Lloyd stared at the mechanical bird in wonder. "Have you ever heard of Master Building?"

The memory of the look of delight on Lloyd's face would still warm his heart for years to come.

Under Morro's tutelage, Lloyd took to Master Building like a fish to water and even taught his friends the skill as well. It was a talent Lloyd polished until it shined, and soon was making himself toys and makeshift vehicles like the best of them.

It culminated a few months later when out on a walk, Morro once again saw a bunch of bullies chase Lloyd into an alley.

Only for them to come screaming out in shock a second later when a dragon Master Built from things in the alley chased them out.

He'd never felt prouder.

Chapter Text

Despite being safe (if cramped) in Jay's parents' trailer, and far, far away from any body of water, sleep wouldn't come easy for Kai. Even without the motion of waves beneath him, there was just too much swimming in his head for him to settle down.

With a shudder, Kai got up and crept silently out of the trailer. Maybe some fresh air would clear his head.

He'd barely stepped outside the trailer when a hushed voice called out to him.

"What'cha doin' there, sonny?"

Kai turned around to see Ed, Jay's father, standing there holding some parts in his hands, looking like he'd gotten started repairing the carriage despite the darkness.

"I-Nothing," Kai said, trying to shrug it off. "Just… couldn't sleep."

Ed looked him over and took in the sight of the bags under his eyes and the slightly haunted look on his face. Seeing them, he put the parts down and dusted his hands off. "You look like you could use some hot chocolate," he said. "That might help ya drift off."

Kai looked hesitant.

Seeing that, Ed added, "You're gonna need all your strength tomorrow if you're gonna keep looking for Lloyd. Edna's gone to get fresh supplies so you kids can leave as soon as possible when it's daylight."

That sealed the deal for Kai, and he reluctantly trotted after Ed as they quietly slipped into the kitchen section of the trailer. Not that they needed to, the rest of the team was dead to the world from exhaustion.

As Kai yawned while waiting for the cocoa to boil, he wished he could join them. But every time the Red Ninja closed his eyes he could see himself vaulting forwards to bury his sword in that man's chest.

He shuddered again at the thought.

"Yeah, these desert nights can be pretty cold to folks who aren't used to them," said Ed as he handed Kai a mug, pretending not to guess what the shudder was actually for.

Kai accepted the mug and sipped at it slowly. "Does cocoa really work for helping you sleep?" he had to ask as Ed sat across from him with a cup of coffee to keep him up and working on fixing the carriage for them while they slept.

"Well, it sure worked on Jay when he was growing up," said Ed fondly as he took a swig of his own cup. "We used to always give him a cup after he had nightmares and it put him straight to sleep."

At any other time, Kai would have smirked and asked for stories to embarrass Jay with later on, but right now he wasn't in the mood. "I didn't have a nightmare," he admitted. "I haven't even slept yet."

"Well, that ain't good for your health," said Ed in concern. "You're a growing ninja and you need your rest."

Kai huffed a bit at his words and looked amused.

"Want to talk about it?" offered Ed, hoping that talking might help ease his mind.

Kai took another sip of cocoa and sighed before telling Ed about the last world they had been to before returning. About fighting pirates out on the open water who just kept coming no matter what they did.

"-And then I saw the captain standing over Zane and… Other Lloyd," he said, still reluctant to call Lloyd's counterpart by name, not liking the constant reminder they had failed in protecting their young charge. "He was going to stab them, so I tried to stop him." His face then fell. "Then the stupid boat shook and I misjudged my swing and stabbed the guy right through the chest."

Ed gasped slightly. "Oh, you poor boy," he said, realizing what was haunting Kai now.

Kai tried to shrug it off. "I-It wasn't as bad as it sounds," he said. "Turns out those pirates were under some curse that made them unkillable. One second there's a smelly pirate guy, then boom, gruesome undead skeleton with my sword in his chest. Zane had to freeze them all just to get them to stop attacking us so we could leave."

"Yes, that is fortunate," agreed Ed sympathetically. "Doesn't change the fact that you thought ya killed someone for a moment there. That's the sort of thing that would haunt any decent person."

Kai flinched.

Ed reached over to put his hand on Kai's shoulder. "But you didn't," he said. "Remember that, and remember you were saving your friends. The fact that you're upset about it at all only proves you are a decent person, and an honorable ninja to know life can't be taken for granted. Not to mention, if you hadn't done what ya did, Zane and Lloyd might not be snoring over there right now," he added, pointing across the trailer where the others were sleeping.

Kai looked over at both of them sleeping peacefully and looked slightly reassured. They were safe, and that's what was most important to him. And while the events would probably still haunt his dreams, he could reassure himself that he didn't kill the pirate captain. Curse or no curse, his sword only seemed to tickle the guy, but doing so had saved his friends. He didn't regret that part for a second.

Kai slowly finished his cocoa and handed the mug back to Ed. "Thanks, I needed that," he said with a massive yawn.

Ed took the mug back. "Get some sleep, sonny. You've got a big day tomorrow, but don't be afraid to come for more hot chocolate if you need it."

Kai gave a tired nod, trudged back to his sleeping bag, and finally drifted off to sleep.

His dreams were blissfully pirate free.

Chapter Text

Her name was Harumi, she was nine years old, and she could only sit in stunned silence as the judge read her verdict.

"Not guilty."

The very words turned her stomach and made the little girl want to scream in rage.

Not guilty? Not GUILTY!? How could they be so blind? How could they not see he was guilty? How could he not be given the worst of all punishments for what he had done?

But no, he had a slimy lawyer who found a tiny mistake in the police investigation which had led to the whole case unraveling. In the end, the only thing they had to go on was her words, and considering she hadn't been able to string two words together since it had happened, the few words she had written down were dismissed as the fabrication of a traumatized child.

Harumi turned her attention to glare at the man who had just been declared "Not Guilty," wanting nothing more than to rip out his throat.

He was grinning smugly as he was granted his freedom, looking like he hadn't a care in the world.

Despite the fact that he had murdered her parents.

Harumi would never forgive him.

Someday, somehow, he would pay!

Her name was Harumi, she was ten years old, and she ended up being adopted by the mayor.

It was a publicity stunt, and everyone knew it. Some shallow way of trying to 'make up' for failing to catch her parents' murderer. The mayor, while she was nice enough, was far too busy to actually take care of a child, and Harumi spent most of her time left alone with a random nanny or an utterly useless therapist.

She would never be able to replace Harumi's real parents.

The first few months of her new life left Harumi adrift in a fog of rage and loss. She never spoke a word, and could hear the staff of her new 'mother's' house often comment on how silent she was.

"She's a quiet one, the poor dear," they would say whenever they thought she was out of earshot.

Finally, after a year of silence, Harumi couldn't take it anymore.

That man had to pay and if the adults in her life wouldn't do anything, she would take matters into her own hands.

It took a few days to find him, but Harumi had always been good with technology. Posing as a jealous girlfriend, she posted the killer's photo onto a message board asking if anyone had seen him, and where he could be found. Thankfully, some helpful people gave her an address where he spent most of his time but warned her not to go there. 'It would be better to stay away,' they cautioned her. 'That man is dangerous.'

'So am I,' thought Harumi as she stole a knife from the kitchen.

Needing a disguise and somewhere to stow her knife, she pulled on an oversized hoodie and kept the hood low to hide her face. It was a bright cheerful thing with a cartoon mermaid on it that the old her would have loved, but now she felt it was childish and stupid.

Whatever. It would do the job.

She took a bus to the seedier part of town and followed the directions she'd been given to the killer's hideout.

No one was around the outside. No one saw the little girl in the mermaid hoodie, but it felt like the entire street was holding its breath.

This was it. She was going to do it. She was going to kill him.

She climbed the fire escape and found a broken window to slip inside.

Creeping through the building, she found him.

He was sitting and laughing in a large garage, surrounded by his thug friends. It didn't take a genius to tell they were in the car-stealing business from the tools and half taken apart cars scattered around.

As much as she'd love to gut all of them, she knew she couldn't pull it off. If she wanted the killer to die, she had to get him alone. It was the only way to be sure.

So she kept hidden and waited.

She didn't hide well enough.

"What the heck? What's a kid doing here?" said a voice behind her, and Harumi found herself being lifted into the air by her hood.

She shrieked in surprise, which only drew the attention of her parents' killer and the rest of his buddies.

"What have we here?" one of them sneered as they all made their way over to surround Harumi and her captor.

The killer's eyes studied her up and down before widening in recognition. "Hey! I know this brat. She's the kid of those cheapskates." His face took on a twisted smirk. "Or should I say, she was the kid of those cheapskates."

Something inside Harumi snapped!

With a scream like a banshee, she began thrashing and struggle against her captor's hold, trying desperately to reach the murderer to scratch his eyes out, to break his jaw, to make him suffer like she had even the slightest bit. She wanted to rip him to pieces!

But all her flailing did was shake the knife lose from her pocket and send it clattering to the floor.

Harumi froze and the room could not have been more silent as the thugs took in the sight of the weapon on the ground.

Reaching down to pick up the knife, the killer looked Harumi in the eyes and saw the murderous rage burning within them. "Soooo," he drawled. "That's what you're doing here."

He jerked his head to the man holding her, and Harumi found herself being carried through the garage to a wall of tools on one side. From there, she was hung by her hood on one of the hooks, leaving her to dangle helplessly as the man laughed at the sight of her.

"You know," said the murderer walking over to stand in front of her. "Thinking you can just come in and off me is mighty disrespectful."

He paused, waiting for Harumi to answer, but she said nothing and only glared at him.

"A quiet one, aren't you," he said. "It's rude not to reply when people are talking to you. Of course, I can't be too surprised. Your parents were mighty disrespectful too. Such a shame what happened to them."

Harumi spat in his face.

The other thugs let out laughs at the sight, and the killer reached up to wipe the saliva away with a furious scowl.

"Seems I have to teach you a lesson like I did your parents," said their murderer, raising the knife that Harumi had brought to kill him with. "Let's start with that pretty face of yours."

Her eyes widened as she caught sight of her own face reflected in the knife's blade.

Her name was Harumi, she was eleven years old, and she was scared!

But before the monster could bring the blade down, a wall suddenly exploded inward, shaking the entire building, and making all the men surrounding her freeze, their heads all snapping in the direction of the destruction.

Several dark silhouettes strode towards them through the cloud of dust. "Attention members of the So-Unimportant-They-Have-No-Name Carjacking Gang," said a deep voice over a megaphone. "As you may be aware, I am currently absorbing all crime rings into my evil empire until further notice. And no, you can't say 'no', otherwise, I'll be forced to…"

The speaker trailed off as the dust finally cleared, giving them a good view of the intruders. It was an entire army of people dressed in various sea creature costumes and carrying weapons.

At the head of the army was a figure Harumi had seen often on the news, but never before in person. He was a tall, imposing figure dressed in armor and a large horned helmet resting on his head. But the most striking feature about him was his four arms, three of which were carrying deadly weapons, while the fourth held a megaphone slack in his hand.

The terror of Ninjago. The fearsome, wicked warlord. The person who was always knocking down Harumi's favorite ice cream shop.

The evil Lord Garmadon.

As they stared at him in shock, his glowing red eyes flickered as they took in the sight before him as well. Several burly men, one of whom had a knife raised, looming over a trapped little girl. It was pretty clear what had been about to happen when he made his grand entrance.

The only question was, what was he going to do about it? He was evil… wasn't he?

Ever so slowly, Lord Garmadon brought the megaphone back to his lips. "You know on second thought," he said darkly. "Never mind. You don't get the option of joining me." He turned to his army. "ATTACK!"

"YES, SIR!" shouted the fish people, and they swarmed into the garage to attack the thugs.

The thugs, finally shaking off their surprise, did their best to fight back, but they were mostly unarmed and outnumbered. The fight didn't last long.

The only one who was armed, the killer with Harumi's knife, practically trembled as he stood with said knife held out in front of him as Lord Garmadon himself strode through the brawl to loom over him.

"B-but," the monster said as he stared up at the fearsome red eyes. "We wanted to join you. Why…?"

Lord Garmadon smacked the knife away, grabbed the man by the throat, and lifted him up so he was looking him dead in the eye. "Because evil or not, there are some lines you just don't cross," he snarled. "You don't. Attack. KIDS!"

With that, he slammed Harumi's parents' murderer into the ground so hard he left a person-shaped crater in the floor. The man let out a pained wheeze but did not get back up.

Lord Garmadon then turned to look over at Harumi. "Alright, kid," he said, reaching up to grab her hood. "Let's get you out of here."

Harumi once again found herself dangling by her hood as he carried her through the fight and out onto the street. But this time, she couldn't bring herself to care.

Lord Garmadon, the man she had always been told to fear, had not only just saved her life but had also done what no one else would do and had taken down the person she'd hated most in the world.

To that, all she could say was, "Thank you," she whispered.

In the back of her mind, she realized those were the first words she had spoken since her parents' death.

Not knowing the significance of it, Lord Garmadon shrugged it off as he plopped her on the ground outside. "Don't mention it, kid," he said with a grin. "You gonna be okay?"

Harumi stared back up at him with round eyes and nodded slowly.

"Great," said Lord Garmadon. "Glad I was able to step in in time. Like I said to that bozo. Being evil is all well and good, but hurting kids is a whole 'nother ball game. You just don't do it. EVER!"

He turned to head back into the fight and make sure that lesson was hammered in good and well.

"Thank you," Harumi said again, louder this time.

Lord Garmadon paused and glanced back at her. "It's no problem, kid," he said. "But if you really want to thank me, you can join my army in a few years once you're past the recruiting age."

He looked her up and down, and noticed the mermaid on her hoodie. "Ya know, we don't actually have any mermaid fighters in my army," he said. "Which is a real shame, because mermaids are awesome! Not as cool as sharks, but if you ever look up the old stories about them…" He gave a gleeful shudder. "Those things are bloodthirsty and terrifying."

Seeing her glance down at her hoodie with new interest, he grinned and said, "Let's see if you can live up to them." He then turned to rejoin his army with a casual call of, "Later."

As soon as he left he promptly forgot about the little girl in the mermaid hoodie. He had more important things to worry about, like conquering Ninjago and making sure there were no lowlives out there to rival him in that endeavor. Better to nip these troublemakers in the bud so they wouldn't become a problem later on.

"Later," Harumi called back as he disappeared into the building, and, after a little more fighting, fled with his army before the police could arrive on the scene. She then left as well so she wouldn't be caught and get into trouble.

Evil or not, that man was now her hero!

Things changed again after that.

The murderer of her parents was found by the authorities still in his crater surrounded by his beat-up friends in a garage full of stolen cars. He was both arrested and rushed to the hospital in one fell swoop.

To Harumi's delight, the damage done to his throat had rendered him mute, and it was likely he would never walk properly again either. He was now a prisoner in silence, just as she had been. It was almost poetic.

But Harumi wasn't silent anymore. Everyone was delighted to find her speaking again, and her useless therapist got all the credit for doing it. It was far from the truth, but Harumi kept her mouth shut about that fact.

With her recovered voice, Harumi started to learn how to use it to her advantage. She'd need to be good at that for the future. It was surprising how much could be accomplished with the right words, and she made sure to practice until her tongue ran pure silver.

She also developed a new fondness for all things mermaid. Toys, books, accessories, you name it, her bedroom looked like a beach paradise. Everyone thought it was cute, but she knew the truth. She looked up the old legends of mermaids and saw right away what Lord Garmadon had been talking about. The mermaids of old were nothing like they were portrayed in media today. They were terrifying to sailors. Beautiful, bloodthirsty temptresses who could lure any man below the waves where they would rip him to pieces. A worthy legend to live up to, that was for sure.

She even started making friends. Most of them were from an online fan club she created under the username Quiet1, but they all shared a common interest. All of them in some form or another appreciated Lord Garmadon and hoped to help him achieve his goals someday. Harumi herself was counting the days until she was old enough to be recruited, and was proud to be the appointed leader of her club.

She had a new lease on life. A new purpose to strive towards, and a goal she planned to one day achieve.

Her name was Harumi, she was sixteen years old, and she was the Quiet One who would loyally follow Lord Garmadon to the ends of the earth.

All hail her future emperor.

Chapter Text

For as much as he tried not to, Master Wu couldn't help his wince or hiss of pain as the gauze was wrapped around his ankle.

Immediately Lloyd froze in his wrapping, and his ten-year-old nephew looked at him in concern. "Is it too tight?" he asked.

Wu forced his discomfort away and gave the young boy a smile. "No, Lloyd, you're doing fine. It merely surprised me." And he was doing well. If he chose not to follow the family tradition of being a ninja, he would make an excellent nurse or even a doctor someday. Though he would have to somehow dispel the stigma his name gave him in order to succeed.

Wu had just gotten back to the Destiny's Bounty after that day's fight with his brother's had come to an end. It hadn't gone well, and while Wu had managed a victory, he had also sprained his ankle in the process. Fortunately, Morro and Lloyd had been there to help him patch it up.

"I told you it was a trap," his fifteen-year-old son as he came in carrying an ice pack and painkillers. "It was so obviously a trap, I can't believe you fell for it," Morro continued as he handed them to Wu.

Wu sighed and accepted them. "I could not stand by and allow my brother to do as he pleased," he said as he swallowed the pills, and placed the icepack on the gauze.

Morro rolled his eyes. "Who even cares if he graffities his own face onto some paintings in the museum. They're all just copies anyway. It's not like he'd be destroying the real ones."

"He didn't know that," said Lloyd with the same bitter look that he always had when his father was brought up. "And I'm pretty sure the museum workers cared." That would have to be another place for him to avoid for a few months until their ire died down, and even then they'd be giving him suspicious glares the second he walked through the door for the rest of his life. And there was supposed to be a field trip there next week too.

"Doesn't change the fact that Wu's down for the count over nothing important," Morro argued, still looking miffed.

"It is merely a minor sprain, Morro," Wu told him assuringly, knowing his son was only acting so volatile out of worry. "It will heal in a few weeks."

"And you think Garmadon will sit back and wait that long?" asked Morro in a snippy tone.

"I'm sure the Fuschia Ninja can hold him off until I am recovered," said Wu with a chuckle.

Morro made a face and gave his father the stink-eye.

"You mean that new pink guy who pops out and yells 'Surprise!' all the time?" asked Lloyd. "He's weird. Can he really keep my dad away that long?"

"Probably not," said Morro pointedly, glaring at Wu as he said it.

Wu let out another chuckle before a thought occurred to him. A little test he'd been considering for a while now, and this was as good an opportunity as ever. "Well," he said slowly. "I suppose there is one other option."

Both of the boys looked at him expectantly.

"Lloyd," Wu said, turning to his nephew. "Could you go get my magic healing tea? It's in the white box with the gold trim in the cabinet."

Lloyd immediately brightened and scurried away to fetch it.

Wu then turned to Morro, "Help me to the galley, Morro. I will need to prepare it."

Morro shot him a confused look as he helped Wu hobble to the galley. "But Wu, isn't the tea in that box your favorite white tea? The healing tea is locked in a hidden compartment in the pantry. It's not going to do anything."

Wu chuckled softly as they entered the galley and he sat down before his kettle. "You have been learning science in school, yes? Have you studied the Placebo Effect yet?"

From the look on his face, Morro's bewilderment only grew. But before he could answer, Lloyd came back in with the white box in hand.

"Thank you, Lloyd," said Wu as he took the box from him, and prepared the tea in his teapot. "This is my strongest healing tea. If I prepare it just right, my leg should be healed in a matter of days."

Lloyd's eyes widened and he watched fascinated as Wu continued preparing the tea, looking like he was committing the process to memory. Then Wu began sipping at it, he let out a satisfied sigh and said, "Yes, that feels better already."

"Wow!" breathed Lloyd, looking amazed. It was clear he believed every word.

Morro was still looking confused, but a look from Wu kept him quiet until Koko came to take her son home with her.

When they were finally gone, Morro walked in with his science book, and held it up as proof, having double-checked his facts to be sure. "Uh, Wu, isn't the Placebo Effect supposed to be used on the person taking the medicine to trick them into thinking it works, not the one giving it?" he asked.

Wu tilted his head back to finish the tea. "Normally, yes," he said, looking down at his ankle in consideration. "However, do you remember what I told you about Lloyd's abilities."

Morro's eyes widened. "You think he can use Green to heal you just because he believes the tea works like that?" he asked.

"Well, not for sure," admitted Wu. "Sadly, what little I know of the power of Green is not so clear cut, and unfortunately very vague. This is a bit of a test to see if it is possible. Now that the seeds have been sown, only time will tell."

Morro shook his head and cleaned up the tea supplies. Trust his father to come up with such a test.

Sure enough, Wu's ankle was fully healed within three days, and Lord Garmadon, expecting an easy win without him, was in for a heck of a surprise when he next tried to invade.

Chapter Text

If anyone asked, there was one thing Lloyd wouldn't change for the world, and that was his friends.

The first were Kai and Nya, who came as a package deal and basically inserted themselves into Lloyd's life in an unexpected but not unwelcome fashion.

Lloyd was seven-years-old and was at the park hoping to play on the playground while his mother was at work. Unfortunately for him, his father had made a failed attempt to attack the city earlier that day, leaving everyone tense and having less patience for the smaller Garmadon than usual.

As such, none of the parents at the playground intervened when three kids began chasing Lloyd around the playground with less than friendly intentions.

Lloyd tried to climb up a tree to get away from them, but one grabbed his leg and yanked him back to the ground, knocking the wind out of him in the process.

As Lloyd lay gasping on the ground, the other kids laughed and started throwing sand in at his face while yelling insults about his father.

Lloyd couldn't help but cry at the treatment, inciting more jeers from his tormentors.

Then, suddenly, there was a blur of cyan and shoved one of the bullies was to the ground before tackling another one. A second blur, this one red, pounced onto the back of another bully and began pulling his hair and didn't let go until the boy began crying for his mommy.

Then the red blur grabbed Lloyd's hand and they along with the cyan blur ran like crazy until the park was far out of sight.

Stopping in the shelter of a bus stop, Lloyd finally caught his breath and realized the two blurs were a boy and a girl his age, dressed identically in traditional clothing aside from the colors.

The girl in cyan with black hair in pigtails gave him a grin when she caught her own breath. "There, that'll show those jerks not to mess with you."

"Are you okay?" asked the boy in red, his messy brown hair sticking up in every direction. "You were crying."

"Why were they picking on you anyway?" asked the girl.

Lloyd, who'd never had anyone stand up for him before, was at a loss of how to answer. Shouldn't it be obvious? "Don't you know who I am?" he asked in a quiet tone.

"Nope," said the boy. "We just moved here from Ignacia."

"Why, are you famous?" asked the girl.

If they were from Ignacia, then that explained the traditional clothing. His uncle had some friends in that area, and from what he'd heard from him, that village was so remote it was like stepping back in time. While they might have heard of Garmadon, they would have no idea he had a son.

For a brief moment, Lloyd was tempted. They didn't know who he was. They didn't know who his father was. Maybe… maybe he could finally have some friends. Someone who hadn't had something smashed in one of his father's rampages. Someone who didn't automatically hate him and think he was evil for his last name. He could have friends!

Only… there's no way it would last. Someone would be more than happy to tattle on him.

And how mad would these two be if they found out he'd lied to them. That might hurt even worse than having no friends at all.

So instead, Lloyd hung his head and mumbled, "My name's Lloyd… Lord Garmadon is my dad."

There was a long pause after he said that, and the two kids stared at him in shock as they absorbed it.

"You're the son of that Meanie-Head?!" the girl burst out in surprise.

Thinking they must be regretting their choice to defend him now, Lloyd nodded meekly and gave a sniffle as he felt ready to cry again. "M' sorry," he muttered.

The two children looked at each other and seemed to hold a silent conversation.

Then, the boy in red started moving towards him, and Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut thinking he was about to jump on him like he did to the bully.

Instead, a pair of warm arms wrapped around him, and Lloyd's eyes snapped back open in shock.

This was… a hug! This was a hug better than his mom's hugs! He didn't think that was possible!

Still hugging him, the boy then turned to look at his sister (she must be his sister if they both came from Ignacia, right?). "Nya, he's all sad and stuff, and his dad totally sucks. Can we keep him?" he asked.

The girl, Nya, grinned. "I dunno, Kai," she said in a joking tone. "It's a lot of responsibility. You gotta feed him, and water him, and take him on walks. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Totally," said Kai. He then loosened his grip so that he was looking Lloyd in the face, and Lloyd blinked at him in bewilderment.

"My name's Kai, and this is my twin sister Nya," he said with a friendly grin. "Wanna be our friend?"

Lloyd stared back and struggled to find an answer. This had never happened before. This had to be a trap. No one but his mom and uncle had ever been this nice to him. "B-but everyone hates me!" he finally stammered out. It was a fact of life for him. "Y-you hate me too, don't you?"

Kai and Nya blinked and exchanged another glance at that.

Then Nya said, "You know what? We change our minds."

Lloyd's stomach dropped. He knew it was too good to be true.

Then, to his surprise, Kai tightened his hold again into another amazing hug. "We're gonna adopt you." (What?) "You're our little brother now." (WHAT?)

The twins promptly dragged him along and had him to give them a tour of the neighborhood, and all while asking him friendly questions about himself, as well as seeming to be intent on telling him their entire life story. The discussion didn't last long, however, as it quickly dissolved into games of tag or hide and seek or any other game that came to mind.

Lloyd felt like he'd been swept up by a pair of hurricanes just by being around them, but not in a bad way. It was actually the most fun he'd ever had just running around and playing with kids his own age. Even if this was a trick (because how could it not be), it was nice to pretend for at least one afternoon.

Their playtime ended at back at the playground with Kai and Nya dragging him towards a nice looking couple waiting off to the side who were probably their parents.

At the sight of them, Lloyd began pulling back. Even if on the off chance the twins really did like him, their parents might be a different story.

Kai stopped when he felt Lloyd trying to pull away, and he and his sister looked at him inquisitively.

"I… I need to go home now," Lloyd said softly.

Kai and Nya exchanged a glance.

"Yeah, we are going home, bro," Kai said tugging his arm gently towards the twins' parents.

"We're adopting you, remember?" said Nya, coming over to tug on his other hand.

Neither of them was pulling on him very hard or in a mean way, but Lloyd was still wary.

"I-I can't. I hafta go home," he stuttered.

The twins looked worried and didn't let go of his hand.

"No! We're rescuing you!" Nya declared. "You don't gotta go with him."

"Your meanie dad won't mess with you again," Kai promised. "We'll keep you safe."

Lloyd was bewildered for a moment before realizing they thought he lived with Lord Garmadon. They didn't know about his mom.

They thought they were saving him.

"I-I don't… I can't…" Lloyd tried to explain as he pulled his hands free.

Both Kai and Nya looked stricken.

"I don't live with my dad," Lloyd managed to say. "I don't know if he even knows I exist."

"Wait, do you live on the street?!" Nya cried.

And with that Kai was hugging him again, and this time Nya was too, both of them insisting that he come home with them.

Lloyd didn't know what to think. He'd thought for sure this was all some trick, but now… no way… this couldn't be real… could it?

The noise they were making drew a lot of attention and brought Kai and Nya's parents over to them. The twins' parents were beyond confused as to why their children were clinging to Lloyd Garmadon and why they were adamant on rescuing him and bringing him home.

Koko arrived on the scene a moment later, just as confused as they were as to what was happening, but worried that their parents would blame Lloyd for it. "I am so sorry," she said, trying to reach for Lloyd where he was mashed between the two twins. "I don't know what happened. He was supposed to go home after school."

"No, don't worry, he hasn't done anything wrong," the twins' father assured her, still looking bewildered.

"I'm pretty sure the kids have just gotten attached," added their mother who seemed bemused.

Seeing this strange red-haired woman reaching for their new friend startled Kai and Nya enough to stop their hysterics. "Who are you?" they asked in unison.

"I'm Lloyd's mom," said Koko kindly.

"I live with her!" Lloyd quickly said now that he could get a word in edgewise. "Not my dad! She's not evil like him!"

"Really?" Kai asked.

"You sure?" added Nya.

"Yes! Mom's great!" Lloyd said, making his mother smile warmly.

Kai and Nya stared up at Koko and then turned to look at each other.

"OOOoooooooh," they said together as understanding spread across their faces.

Things were cleared up quickly after that, but they still loved to call Lloyd 'little brother' or 'bro' after that in honor of their attempted adoption/rescue. It took several weeks of waiting for the other shoe to drop before Lloyd finally realized they were serious about liking him, but once it sunk in Lloyd had two of the best friends ever.

He never felt safer than when he was with them.

Jay, at first, didn't seem to want to be his friend.

They'd heard about Jay before they met him. He was new to their middle school and seemed to be having a hard time making friends. He'd made the mistake of admitting he'd moved to Ninjago City from a junkyard out in the Sea of Sand, and thanks to some less than savory stories from the ever-spinning rumor mill everyone was avoiding him, not wanting to be friends with the 'junkyard kid'.

Then, not long after he arrived there was an announcement for a go-kart contest. Contestants were challenged to build and race their own go-karts for a modest bit of prize money and bragging rights.

At first, Lloyd was going to team up with Nya and Kai, but after one of them questioned (none of them remember who said it) which was superior, Nya's brilliant engineering skills or Lloyd's mastery of Master Building, the contest turned into a competition between the two to see who could build a better go-kart.

Seeing Kai torn between the two of them, and not wanting to split up the twins, Lloyd insisted he work with his sister, thinking he could enter the contest solo.

No such luck. The people running the contest had an ax to grind against Lord Garmadon, and like most of the city, decided to take it out on his son. While Lloyd had no doubt that if anyone else had tried to ask they would allow it, the fact that it was him who did so made the contest runners announce loudly to all those who came to sign up that they would only accept teams of two or more, and since Kai and Nya had already turned in their paperwork it was too late for Lloyd to join their team. So if Lloyd wanted to compete, he'd need to at least find one person to work with him.

There was just one problem.

He was Lloyd freaking Garmadon, and the only two people in his age group who could stand him were already unavailable.

Despite the hopelessness of it all, Lloyd searched the gathered contestants, and politely asked if they wanted to team up, enduring all the fearful looks and rude retorts that it garnered with no success, after all… Who would want to team up with the villain's kid?

"Ew! Who would want to team up with the junkyard kid?" a voice sneered loudly.

Lloyd blinked at hearing words similar to the ones he was just thinking, but not directed at him.

He turned around to see new guy Jay looking defeated after a girl walked away from him laughing with her friends at his attempt to team up.

Looks like he wasn't the only one having a hard time. Maybe…

Taking a deep breath to gather his courage, Lloyd walked over and asked, "Hey, I, uh, I heard that. I don't have a partner, do you want to team up?"

For a moment, Jay perked up and turned to look at him with a hopeful smile.

Only for it to immediately shift into horror as he saw who was asking, his face turning pale beneath his freckles and his hands reaching up to grip his curly brown hair.

Hoping to reassure him, Lloyd opened his mouth to say something.

But before he could get a word out, Jay turned and bolted away as fast as his feet could carry him, the look of terror never leaving his face.

Now Lloyd was the one looking defeated. So much for that.

Kai and Nya dragged him out for ice cream to cheer him up, but it was looking like any chance he had at entering had just gone down the drain.

The next day at school, Kai and Nya assured him he should just build his own go-kart regardless. Even if he couldn't be in the race, he could still test his against the twins' to see whose was best.

While Lloyd agreed he would, the fact he was being excluded and rejected at every turn, while expected, still stung.

It was between classes when they heard the panicked calls from inside a locker.

"Hey! Is someone out there? Help! I'm stuck!" the voice from the locker called.

The trio exchanged a quick glance and then got to work. Despite knowing they likely wouldn't get any thanks for their efforts, they'd all had enough people try and sometimes succeed in shoving them in lockers to know it sucked royally.

Using Master Building, the three of them began taking the locker apart until the unfortunate soul inside came stumbling out and revealing it to be Jay, who immediately hunched over and began taking deep breaths to calm himself.

"Wow, thanks," Jay said when he could speak again. "I thought I'd be stuck in there for-"

He trailed off as he turned to look at his rescuers, and his expression almost mirrored what it had been the day before.

Ignoring Kai and Nya's indignation on his behalf (and them probably scaring Jay even further) Lloyd began putting the locker back together. "It's no problem," he muttered quietly.

His actions seemed to snap Jay out of his terrified stupor, and he watched Lloyd fit the locker door back into place. "Wait, is that Master Building?" he asked in surprise. "You're a Master Builder?"

"Sure is," said Kai in a tone that was both proud and protective.

"What's it to ya?" snapped Nya fiercely, not liking his reaction to Lloyd.

Jay, however, still seemed fascinated by this discovery. "Whoa, Master Building to get out of things, why didn't I ever think of that?"

Lloyd blinked in surprise to hear that. "Wait, you're a Master Builder too?" he asked.

Jay jumped and looked bashful. "Oh, uh, yeah. I-I used to live in a junkyard, b-but now I live in a garage. My parents taught me." He then winced as if expecting the same ridicule from them that he heard from everybody else.

"Whoa, that's so cool!" said Lloyd, knowing that a junkyard was one of the best places to get parts for building.

Jay jumped again, still looking nervous but also surprised at that reaction.

Seeing they were still scaring him, the trio turned to leave.

"Do you still want to team up?"

They froze and turned to look back at him, and even Jay looked startled at his own words.

While still cautious, Lloyd felt his face break into a huge grin. "Sure! Let's do it!"

It didn't take much time spent in Lloyd's presence for Jay to warm up to him and realize he wasn't what the rumors were saying he was. The contest runners looked like they'd swallowed a lemon when they returned to sign up. They didn't win (no way anyone would let them do so), but they had fun doing it.

And best of all, they got a friend out of it.

Zane actually sought him out in hopes of being friends.

They had been hanging out at a warehouse Jay's parents owned for their garage to practice Master Building one day when out of nowhere someone came marching through the door much to all of their surprise.

They were even more surprised when they got a good look at him. He was a tall, stiff-looking boy with white hair and strange blue eyes that looked like they were glowing. On the surface, he looked normal. There wasn't anything they could really pinpoint about his appearance, but something just felt… off.

"Whoa, Uncanny Valley," Jay whispered to the rest of them as he approached.

Upon seeing he had their attention, he gave them a wave. "Hello, fellow preteens," he said in an emotionless tone, even though he looked like he was already old enough to be a teenager.

"Uhh, hi?" replied Kai, though it came out more as a question.

"You, uh, you do know this is private property, right?" Jay asked nervously, pointing at a 'No Trespassers' sign. "My parents own this place, so it's not, you know, for public entrance."

The white-haired boy blinked at them, then followed Jay's finger to the sign. "Oh," he said, somehow sounding surprised and also monotonous at the same time. "I did not know that. I apologize."

"Why are you here?" asked Nya slowly, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. People didn't usually come to them unless they wanted to cause them trouble.

The boy seemed to scan all four of them with his eyes, before turning to look directly at Lloyd. "You are Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, correct?"

"Your middle name is Montgomery?" asked Jay with a small snicker despite his nervousness.

Kai elbowed him in the side and hissed, "Shhh. You're one to talk. Yours is way worse."

Jay paled beneath his freckles. "Mom told you, didn't she."

"Yup," said the twins in unison.

"Yes," Lloyd said loudly to draw their attention back to the matter at hand. "I'm Lloyd Garmadon. Is there… something you need?" he asked slowly, fully expecting the boy to begin an insult-filled rant about how his father had ruined something of his in his latest rampage.

The boy blinked at him, then with a completely straight face said, "I would like to be your friend."

There was a stunned silence that rang through the warehouse.

"Wait, what?" asked Lloyd in disbelief.

"I would like to be your friend," the boy repeated, just as serious as before. "Would you find that agreeable?"

Lloyd could only gape at him. No one had ever said that to him before. Jay had been hesitant and warmed up to him over time, and Nya and Kai had simply claimed him, almost no questions asked. No one had said they wanted to be his friend or given him the option of saying no.

Seeing as he was too stunned by the question, Nya stepped forward and asked, "Any particular reason why?"

The boy blinked his iridescent blue eyes. "I do not understand the question," he said.

"We mean, what's your angle?" asked Kai.

"Angle?" he asked, still seeming confused despite not expressing it well.

"Uh, well, you do know about Lloyd's reputation, right?" said Jay. "He's the son of a crazy evil warlord. Most people think he's just like him and run the other way. Usually screaming. No one is ever stupid enough to want to be friends with him. Well, except us."

Kai and Nya shot him an annoyed look, and Lloyd came out of his shock to sarcastically mutter, "Thanks, Jay."

Jay, realizing he'd implied Lloyd might be evil and the rest of them were stupid, shrank into his turtleneck with a mumbled apology.

"I am aware of such rumors," their visitor said, drawing their attention back to him. "But upon further investigation, I can find no record of them having any validity. All my research shows that Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon has had no contact with his villainous father since his parents' divorce, nor is there a record of him having any criminal offenses."

"Whoa, this guy did his homework," whispered Jay.

"As such," the boy continued. "I have come to the conclusion that the rumors about Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon being evil have no basis in reality. Therefore, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon would be a good person to be my friend."

The other four exchanged a glance at that leap in logic. Just because he came to the conclusion Lloyd wasn't evil, didn't mean he'd automatically make good friend material.

Still, someone knew he wasn't evil, and the thought of having a new friend was very tempting no matter how odd the person offering might be.

"Please stop saying my full name. Just call me Lloyd, that's fine," Lloyd said finally.

"But why would you want us as friends?" as friends Kai asked impulsively, not so subtly telling Zane the four of them were a package deal. "Don't you have your own friends?"

"Also," said Nya, her expression still suspicious, "even if the rumors aren't true, people think they are. Being with us will hurt your social standing. You sure you can handle that?"

"You'll get shoved in a lot of lockers for it," Jay said. "Like, a lot of lockers."

For the first time, the boy frowned and looked down at the floor. "I have no friends currently. And being friends with Lloyd will not hurt my social standings any more than being myself will. From the recent trend I've seen on TV, I find those like me are not… well-liked right now."

The friends looked bewildered at that answer. What did that mean? The only trend being shown on TV recently was a ton of robot apocalypse movie reruns.

"Lloyd," the boy said, honoring his request about his name. "Would you find being friends agreeable?"

Lloyd shared one more glance with his friends. They all gave shrugs and looks that said they'd follow his lead.

Turning back to the boy, Lloyd said, "Okay, uh, yeah. I find it agreeable."

"We find it agreeable," Nya agreed. "This group is all for one and one for all."

"Whether you like it or not," agreed Kai.

The boy's face absolutely lit up, and he beamed at them with a wide smile. "Wonderful!" he said, his voice somehow both enthusiastic and flat at the same time. "I have friends! This is the best day of my life!"

He looked like he was ready to do a happy dance right there in front of them when Jay tentatively asked, "Sooo, what's your name? You never said. I'm Jay, by the way."

"Kai/Nya," the twins said practically in unison, but just individual enough you could hear them clearly.

Their new friend actually froze in mid-motion as the question registered to him. He then grinned at them again. "I apologize. That was rude of me. I am Zane Julien. I am here to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

Well, okay then.

Zane being their friend took some getting used to, but while he was awkward and out of touch socially it quickly became clear that he was as loyal and helpful as they came, and they warmed up to him quickly.

When they eventually found out he was a nindroid so many things made a lot more sense.

No one could really pinpoint when Cole became part of their group. One day at lunch, Lloyd looked up and he was just… there. The five of them had always had a lunch table to themselves due to everyone else avoiding wherever they sat as if they thought Lord Garmadon himself would burst into the cafeteria to join them.

And yet there sat a boy none of them knew. Dark hair, muscular, and an expression like you could say anything to him and he just wouldn't care. He didn't speak to them, simply ate his lunch quietly while listening to music on his headphones. Not even the slightest glance was sent their way to acknowledge they were there.

Thinking he must not know which table he was sitting at, Lloyd kept quiet not wanting to deal with the confrontation and insults that would come with pointing it out.

It wasn't until later that day when he brought it up to his friends that they even realized he'd been there too. Zane reviewed his memories and told them all that the boy had actually been sitting with them for several days already, but not even he could pinpoint when it had started.

That was way too long for him to be sitting there by mistake.

However, since their visitor wasn't causing any problems and didn't seem to be looking to start a fight, so they decided to just let him be and observe for now.

The boy kept sitting with them at lunch without speaking a word, and they slowly got used to him being there. It was like an unspoken rule that they would share the space but not disturb each other.

Until one day when the boy sat at their table in a defeated slump. Unlike his usual devil-may-care expression, he was visibly a mess. There were bags under his eyes, and he was only scraping his food around his plate without eating any of it, his ever-present headphones clamped over his ears.

Kai, ever vigilant to others' distress, noticed this first and whispered it to the others so as not to be heard over the music. "He looks like he could really use a hug," Kai said softly, his expression indecisive. "But, I don't know… That might make things worse. We don't really know him."

They all glanced at the boy as subtly as they could (which really wasn't subtle at all). He didn't seem to even notice and continued scraping at the food on his plate with no appetite, and just looked so sad.

Well, if they didn't know him… maybe that should change.

But what if he hated them? What if this was a trick? What if he really had been sitting there on accident all this time, and they made him blow up in the cafeteria? He was bigger than them and he could probably snap them all like twigs.

… But he looked so sad!

Finally, Lloyd's bleeding heart gave out and he decided to bite the bullet when he tried (and failed) to casually ask, "So… what are you listening to?"

His friends all shot him looks that screamed, 'What the heck are you doing?' and Lloyd immediately hoped the boy hadn't heard him over the headphones.

No such luck.

The boy turned to slowly look at him and reached up to shove the headphones off of one ear to hear better. "ACDC," he said shortly. Not angrily or with disgust, just… shortly.

Feeling incredibly awkward, but knowing if he started this he might as well see it through, Lloyd said, "Oh cool, they do good stuff."

"Yeah," said the boy like that should be obvious.

"You listen to them a lot?" Lloyd asked.

"Yep," the boy replied, looking like he would continue to give one-word answers until Lloyd gave up.

Desperate to keep the conversation from trailing off into a painfully awkward silence, Lloyd said, "Nya likes them too. She listens to them when she's working on her bicycle."

Nya caught off guard at being singled out, said, "Of course I like them, bro. Everybody with two brain cells likes them."

That actually got a smirk out of the boy. "Darn right," he agreed.

Two words! Progress!

Seeming to feel it was safe enough to follow Lloyd's lead, Kai asked, "What else do you listen to?"

The boy seemed to now realize they weren't intending to let the conversation die, shifted slightly so he could face them more directly. "The Fold," he replied.

Immediately the entire table lit up.

"Oh, I love those guys!" Jay burst out. "I listen to them, like, all the time."

"The Weekend Whip is my jam," agreed Zane.

The boy raised an eyebrow, but there was now a hint of a smile on his face. "Mine too."

"Same," Lloyd agreed with a grin. "It's been my ringtone forever. Even my Uncle Wu likes it, he's been trying to figure out how to play it on his flute."

The boy looked at him in surprise. "The old guy who fights Garmadon? I didn't know he played the flute."

TWO FULL SENTENCES!

Grinning, Lloyd replied, "Yeah, that staff he always carries doubles as a flute. He plays it all the time. He tried to teach me once, but…"

"That is a day we all want to forget," said Nya playfully, prodding Lloyd in the ribs.

"My ears will never recover," Kai agreed dramatically, flopping over like he was dying.

"I wasn't that bad," Lloyd protested.

"Yes, you were," his friends replied in unison.

The boy let out a snort that might have been a laugh.

The conversation continued for the rest of lunch and in that time, they finally found out his name.

Cole.

By the time the bell rang they invited him to hang out with them after school, not really expecting him to show up. A single lunch conversation was one thing. Being seen in public with the 'Dork Squad'… that was a whole 'nother ball game.

To all of their surprise he actually showed. And from that moment forward, Cole was their friend.

Each of Lloyd's friends were people he had absolute faith in. He wouldn't trade any of them for the world.

Chapter Text

Kai had always been a hugger.

It started when he was a small child. He was always told hugs were a good thing. Something that never failed to make his parents smile when he came up and hugged their legs, or how people told him he was such a good brother when he hugged his sister.

He didn't realize how important hugs could be until his family moved to Ninjago City.

Lloyd

He first got a taste of how valued his hugs were when he and his sister tried to adopt the little blond they saw being bullied at the playground.

He was crying, and Kai didn't like how scared he looked. As if he were afraid Kai and Nya would start bullying him too now that they knew his name.

Kai didn't like that and reassured him the best way he could.

He hugged him. Hugs make everything better, right?

Well, it sure seemed to make Lloyd better, or at least, less afraid of him and Nya. He still seemed to have a hard time believing they liked him, but it was a start.

After that, Kai was determined to keep hugging Lloyd until he finally believed he and Nya were there to stay. There was no giving up their little bro now that they had him. And giving him hugs always seemed to reassure Lloyd that he was safe with them.

And then Lloyd finally seemed to believe it too.

It was that day he shyly stuttered out Kai, "Um… c-can I have a-a hug?"

Kai blinked in surprise and delight and was quick to oblige, happy to feel Lloyd hug him back tightly.

"Your hugs are the best ever," Lloyd mumbled to him bashfully, making Kai beam with pride.

"Definitely!" agreed Nya, who pounced on the both of them to get in on the hug, sending them all toppling to the ground in a pile of giggles.

And so Kai Hugs™ officially came to be. The best hugs in Ninjago and a title Kai wore in pride.

Jay

The first time they saw Jay have an anxiety attack, it was scary!

Their newest friend just seemed to shut down and be more scared than Kai had ever seen anyone be before as he sat curled up on the floor gasping for breath.

And while Lloyd knew how to patch up injuries, none of them knew how to talk a person through such an attack.

And so, at a loss of what to do, but desperate to help, Nya ran off to find a grown up, Lloyd sat in front of Jay and kept asking him how he could help, and trying to assure Jay he was okay while fighting his own panic.

And Kai? Kai did what always seemed to help Lloyd and Nya when they were scared.

He hugged Jay and tried to project every bit of warmth and protection he could into it.

Then, slowly, ever so slowly, Jay's panicked gasps evened out, his trembling stilled, and he cautiously uncurled from his rigid position to lean more into the hug.

By the time Nya returned with their mother hurrying behind her, Jay had mostly recovered from the ordeal but was still shaky as he explained his anxiety to them.

"Thanks for the hug," he told Kai towards the end of the explanation shyly. "It was really warm, and it helped a lot. Helped me ground myself, you know?"

Jay then yelped as he was yanked into another hug, this one joined by Nya and Lloyd.

That evening, all three of them did as much research as they could on how to help someone with anxiety so they could be prepared the next time it happened.

Even so, whenever Kai helped Jay through an attack, the hugs stayed.

Zane

It had come as a surprise to them to hear that Zane had never been to school before he met them.

Assuming he'd been homeschooled, Jay was quick to encourage him to keep at that rather than go to public school with them. Having done such when his family moved to the city, he knew better than most how jarring it was to go from homeschooling to actual school, and how much actual school sucked.

Nya had agreed, knowing Zane was a bullying magnet waiting to happen especially being friends with them and took great pleasure in telling him all the middle school horror stories she could think of, both true ones that had happened to them, and ones she made up just to scare him off.

Lloyd, however, was torn. On one hand, like the others, the horror of public school was not something he wanted to subject their naive new friend too for all the same reasons as Jay and Nya. On the other hand, having another friend alongside them to make the school hallways seem less out to get them was tempting. In the end, he was supportive but cautioned Zane of the downsides.

Kai point-blank told Zane it was a bad idea. If he could avoid school, he totally should. It sucked royally.

And yet, despite all their warnings to the contrary, Zane still insisted he go.

"Going to school is something normal kids do," he argued any time they tried to talk him out of it. "And I am a normal kid."

So despite their arguments to the contrary, Zane's first day of school was soon upon them.

To commemorate the day, they all met at his house to walk there with him despite it being a different route than they usually took and required them to wake up even earlier than usual.

Even so, the bright smile on Zane's face at the sight of them was well worth waking up way too early to be sane.

That smile quickly faded the closer they got to school, and they soon found Zane's steps slowing down until he was lagging at the back of their group, and came to a complete stop when the school actually came into view.

The rest of them stopped, to look back at him as Zane stared at the school ahead of them with trepidation, and seemed to be muttering something too quietly for them to hear.

Stepping closer, Kai heard what he was saying.

"I am a normal kid. I am a normal kid. I am a normal kid." Zane kept repeating again and again as if he was trying to convince himself of the fact.

Kai didn't hesitate to give him a hug.

Under his arms, Zane felt stiff and cold, even more so when he realized Kai was embracing him.

Looking down at Kai, he remarked, "You are hugging me."

"Yep, he does that," said Nya with a grin.

"Best hugs there are," added Lloyd.

"Is this something friends do often?" asked Zane, his expression curious.

"In this group, yeah," said Jay. It had honestly been surprising for him when he joined just how physically affectionate the other three were. But the longer he was with them, the more sense it made. Given how everyone else acted around them, if they weren't affectionate with each other then who would be?

Zane blinked as he processed this before smiling and returning Kai's hug… and nearly crushing the boy in the process.

"Don't worry buddy," Kai said as he rubbed his back and Zane apologized profusely for that. "We'll teach you how to hug properly."

Zane beamed at that.

They ended up being late to school after that.

Cole

When they integrated Cole into their group, he seemed the type who was too cool for hugs.

Not that anyone was actually too cool for hugs, but Kai got the sense he might not appreciate someone he didn't know too well giving him hugs out of the blue like the rest were used to.

Still, it didn't stop Kai from silently opening his arms to offer them, even if Cole just stared at him when he did so.

He'd convince him one of these days…

… He just didn't expect the day he did so was for such a sad thing.

Cole didn't talk about himself much. Most of what they'd been able to discern about him came from careful observation and comparing notes with the rest of the group.

It was Kai who always first noticed when something was bothering him. Having looked out for all of his friends for so long, it had become a sixth sense to him at this point.

Like the first day they had talked to him, Cole once again looked like a mess. Something was clearly eating at him, though he was keeping quiet about what.

Kai clued the others in, and they asked what was wrong, offering assurance, and giving kind words to encourage him to confide in them. Cole offered them a small smile for their efforts but didn't say what was wrong. The school day came to an end, and he was still silent about what was bothering him, though he seemed slightly cheered by their support.

It wasn't enough though. Whatever was bothering him was still weighing heavily on his mind, and it was clear to Kai he was miserable for it.

But this time, Cole wasn't a stranger anymore. Kai knew him better, not as well as he would like, but better than before.

So, once they left school and were out of sight of the other students, Kai hugged him.

Cole went stiff as a board under his arms and seemed to be in disbelief that he was doing that. He didn't push him away, so Kai kept hugging him.

"You're one of us now, bro," Kai said softly. "You don't have to deal with whatever's bugging you alone."

Cole remained silent, but eventually, his stiff form slumped over and his suppressed misery finally showed on his face.

Seeing this, the rest of their friends quickly joined the hug, surrounding Cole in hopes of giving him some comfort, and Zane for once managing to hug without crushing anyone.

Surrounded by them all, Cole finally whispered, "My mom's in the hospital."

They all just hugged him tighter.

Nya

Being twins, Kai and Nya didn't often fight.

Okay, that wasn't true. Kai and Nya often bickered like cats and dogs, just as any siblings did.

But real, serious fights didn't happen often, but when they did they were explosive!

Neither of them even remembered what they were fighting over anymore, just that they were furious at each other, and due to that, both were giving the other the silent treatment.

Nothing their parents said could get them to make up. Lloyd tried his hardest to play peacekeeper between them, but they were both too stubborn for even his attempts. The rest of their friend group tried to just stay out of their way, partly to give them space to calm down, and partly so as to not get caught up in the cold war they found themselves in.

It was beginning to look like their shared stubbornness would keep them from ever talking to each other.

But then, there was a Garmadon attack.

They were still new at being Ninja, and it was the first time any of them had tried to fight off an attack while not getting along.

Needless to say, it made things a lot more difficult than usual.

They were managing to hold their own against Garmadon's latest mech (apparently he'd seen the Sharknado movies from the spinning contraption of teeth he was now perched on).

But then the artificial cyclone picked up Nya's mech in its jaws and began spinning it around so fast parts began to fly off.

Hearing his sister scream over the radio had Kai burst into action. With a cry of "NYA!" he threw himself, mech and all, at Garmadon's Sharknado mech, attacking with a vengeance that took everyone by surprise, and managing to overwhelm the spinning mech through sheer force of rage.

Due to the combination of absolute brutality and the fact that all the spinning was making Lord Garmadon too dizzy to properly fight back, the warlord retreated rather quickly after that, allowing Kai to carry his sister's mech back to the warehouse uninhibited.

The second both mechs were back in the warehouse, Kai was bounding out of the driver's seat and grabbing his sister in a hug as she met him halfway in a tackle, babbling apologies for their fight, and for her to never scare him like that again.

Nya hugged him back and gave apologies of her own.

"I never realized how much I'd miss your hugs until I didn't get them anymore," she mumbled into his shoulder as he held her tightly.

"Same to your tackles," Kai replied.

Needless to say, their disagreement ended after that.

Chapter Text

1, Retribution for a Son

Lord Garmadon scowled as he forced his attention out at the battle in the sea, purposefully ignoring the other three presences on the dock.

Despite him clearly ignoring them, the three counterparts of the young ninja brats continued to stare at him regardless, questions pouring out of two of their mouths. Thankfully, the third, Cole's counterpart, looked like he didn't particularly care and kept silent.

He decided he hated Cole's counterpart the least.

Finally, that world's Destiny's Bounty flew down to land by the dock, allowing them to board.

The Ninja of Fire, Ice, and Earth all hurried on ahead of him. And as Garmadon stepped onboard, a red-headed woman came over to join them.

It took him a moment to recognize her. He'd only seen her briefly through his son's counterpart's phone the night before, and she currently looked very different from then. Her office clothes were gone, and in their place was gleaming armor and a spear held in her hands. In-person, he could see a slight resemblance between her and his beloved Misako, but it was clear that they were far more different than most counterparts, and not just in appearance.

Misako, while a capable fighter when necessary, had always been first and foremost a scholar. This woman, Koko, was very clearly a warrior through and through.

Still, she was Misako's counterpart nonetheless, and that demanded respect as he walked over to greet her.

"Misako," he said, feeling he hadn't been given permission to use her nickname yet. "I feel I must thank you for looking after my son these past few-"

He was cut off when she punched him in the face.

Cole stared, Zane clapped his hands to his cheeks and said, "Gasp!" and Kai's counterpart whipped out his phone, clearly recording what was happening.

Lord Garmadon already hated the fire counterpart the most.

His temper flaring at the unprovoked attack, he tried to retaliate, only for Koko to dodge and sweep his legs out from under him so he crashed onto the deck of the Bounty.

"Nya's going to love this," said Kai in an amazed whisper.

Before Lord Garmadon could get back up, the warrior woman had him pinned at spear point. "That was for starting a fire, and endangering Lloyd multiple times," she said, glaring balefully down at him.

She then removed her spear, and offered him a hand up, which he refused.

Seeing this, Koko retracted her hand, but still glowered at him. "Just talking to him, anyone can tell you mean the world to him. He deserves a father who he doesn't feel he needs to oppose at every moment," she said sternly, somehow looking more threatening than anything he'd ever seen before. "If you hurt him again, I. Will. End. You!"

"If you're quite finished," Lord Garmadon said, glaring back at her as he dusted himself off. "I believe we still need to save my son, rather than question my parenting skills."

Koko sent him one last baleful look, before turning back to wave to his brother's counterpart to fly them into battle.

As they lifted out of the ocean, Lord Garmadon was reminded of the threat this woman's son had made about them keeping his son from him, and adopting him into this world.

It was clearly a threat this woman would be more than willing to fulfill.

He didn't let it show on his face, but the possibility of it terrified him to his core.

When they saved Lloyd, would he even want to come back?

2, The General, the Reporter and the Cop

At the base of the TV Station, General #7, the rookie police officer who had previously been overseeing her community service, and Gayle Gossip watched in relief as all around them the mech's suddenly shut down and crashed onto the street.

"Oh, finally," said Gayle, grabbing the cracked but still functioning camera off the ground and shoved it into General #7's hands, while standing before it with her now very beat-up microphone as if she hadn't been using the device to brain any mechs who got close to her a minute ago.

"This is Gayle Gossip, reporting live from outside Ninjago's TV station," she said quickly before the camera could die. "The citizens of Ninjago can now sleep easy tonight, as it seems our Ninja Force has once again saved the day. Back to you, Robin."

General #7 stared at her, unsure of what to do, and Gayle pointed and said, "Hit the button there to stop recording."

"Oh, right," said General #7, hitting the indicated button.

The rookie officer, who had been prodding the downed mechs with his taser rod to make sure they weren't getting back up, turned to the two of them.

"So, uh, you two want to get a coffee or something?" he asked.

The two women turned to stare at him.

The officer flushed in embarrassment and pointed over at General #7. "I'm pretty sure no one could care less about her community service right now unless she causes a scene." And then he pointed at Gayle. "You just signed off on your story." He then gestured around them. "And look, we just fought a robot army together. I think we're entitled to a break to relax for a minute."

The women stared at him a bit longer, before General #7 burst out laughing. "Sure," she said. "I could use a coffee. Or maybe something stronger. It's been a heck of a day."

Gayle glanced at the now definitely dead camera still in General #7's hands, before shrugging and saying, "I'm not needed at the studio for a while either. I could get a cup."

"Great," said the officer, turning to start walking. "I know a nice place around the block, provided it didn't get smashed in the attack."

"What are your names, by the way?" asked Gayle as they followed after him. "I never got them."

"Ironically, my name is Nana," said General #7.

"I'm Jimmy," said the rookie officer, before glancing at the reporter. "And we all know who you are."

"As well you should," said Gayle proudly.

From that day forward, the three of them went on from that encounter as unlikely friends. Because there are just some things you can't go through without bonding.

Fighting off an army of evil mechs is one of them.

3, That Weirdo in Fuchsia

Six years before the movie...

Lloyd was being followed.

That wasn't unusual in and of itself, as it happened quite often. Usually, the culprits were bullies looking for an opportunity to try and beat him up when Kai, Nya, or Morro wasn't around.

But the ten-year-old knew it wasn't the case this time. Or at least, he didn't think it was. His attackers didn't usually follow him from the rooftops.

The person following him had had three occasions to try and jump him since he noticed them, but thus far hadn't. Whoever they were just kept following him from above. It was kinda creepy really.

Lloyd's focus was so set on his mysterious stalker that he wasn't watching where he was going, and he ended up crashing into someone.

Sadly, that someone happened to be one of his father's Shark Men trying to sneak around and set up for his father's next invasion attempt.

And he was not happy to have his cover blown.

The man in the shark costume snarled down at Lloyd and reached forward to grab him.

Only for a blur of pink to suddenly fly out of nowhere and kick him in the face. It took a moment for Lloyd to realize the person who had been following him had probably just saved him from getting kidnapped or worse.

The kick wasn't enough to take the Shark Man down, but the following punch to the gut sure did, giving Lloyd a chance to look at his stalker-turned-savior in bewilderment.

They were a ninja dressed all in pink, with a hood covering their face so Lloyd couldn't tell who they were.

Seeming to realize he was being stared at, the ninja in pink turned and gave him a wave.

For lack of a better thing to do, Lloyd waved back. He then opened his mouth to ask who he was and why he'd been following him, but before he could-

"SURPRISE!" the ninja yelled at the top of his lungs, startling Lloyd so much he barely had time to react when the ninja hefted the unconscious Shark Man onto his shoulder and vanished, probably to take him to the police.

Lloyd could only stare blankly at the space the ninja had been a moment ago. "What just happened?" he asked aloud to the now-empty street.

And that was how Lloyd Garmadon first met the Fuchsia Ninja.

What a weird guy.

Chapter Text

As it grew late, it was decided the ninja would split off and spend the night at their counterparts' homes, while the Garmadon families spent the night on the Bounty, with the exception of Lord Garmadon, who reluctantly returned to his volcano. With the day's events, authorities would be keeping a closer eye on him, and he did not want to be caught shirking house arrest.

And thus, Kai and Nya found themselves following Kai and Nya to their apartment to spend the night.

"So," said Red Nya conversationally as they walked. "Lloyd, Luh-Loyd that is, kept referring to you two as twins."

Cyan Nya and Buddy Kai exchanged glances and grinned. "Twins?" they said in perfect unison and mirroring each other's actions as well. "You mean you can't tell? I thought it was obvious. We're totally in sync."

"Or how-" Cyan started to say.

"-we finish-" continued Buddy.

"-each other's-" added Cyan.

"-sentences," finished Buddy.

"So, yeah, we are twins," they said in unison once again, striking a mirrored pose.

Spike Kai and Red Nya stared at them after they finished. "Practice that often?" asked Spike dryly.

"Once a week. Totally worth it," said Buddy with a proud grin. His expression then turned puzzled as he realized the implications of Red's initial question. "Wait, you two-"

"-aren't twins?" Cyan finished, equally surprised, and this time it wasn't practiced.

Spike and Red shook their heads. "I'm a few years older than her," Spike said.

"But I'm way more mature," said Red with a smirk, making her brother roll his eyes.

"Huh," said the twins in unison. They couldn't imagine themselves not being twins. Though, it looks like Lloyd wasn't the only ninja with a younger counterpart than him.

The rest of the journey to the twins' apartment was spent discussing how their dynamic with each other changed due to this difference, and laughing as each set of siblings tried to embarrass each other with childhood stories.

It wasn't until they had reached the door to the apartment that something occurred to Spike Kai, and he tugged Red Nya's arm to get her attention.

"I just thought of something," he whispered so their counterparts wouldn't hear over their race to see who could open the door first.

"What?" Red said back in an equally hushed tone.

"This is a nice place," her brother whispered. "If these guys spend half their time as ninja, the other half as high school students, and they don't live with Wu, then how could they afford it?"

Red Nya's eyes widened as she realized what he was implying.

Then, as if to confirm their suspicions, Buddy Kai got the door open and called into the apartment, "Mom! Dad! We're home!"

"And we brought company!" Cyan Nya added. "You're going to love this!"

The transdimensional siblings were floored.

Their parents were in there! Well, not their real parents, but still…

"Welcome home! Are you both alright?" came a feminine voice inside that had Spike Kai stiffen. It wasn't the same, not quite, but still, something about that voice felt like it had echoed right out of his childhood memories.

"I'm sure that would be the first thing they told us if they weren't, not that we have guests," said a masculine voice in amusement. The sound of it made Red Nya clutch at her brother's arm in anticipation. She had even fewer memories of their parents than he did, but the thought of meeting any sort of version of them gave her butterflies.

Suddenly, just taking those few steps into the apartment felt impossible.

Their counterparts realized they hadn't been followed inside, and peered back out to see the siblings frozen in the hallway, both white as sheets.

Exchanging a concerned look with his sister, Buddy Kai asked, "Uh, everything… okay? You two don't look so good."

"It's just," said Spike, fumbling to find the words to say. "In our world, our parents…"

"Yeah?" asked Cyan, worried for a moment their parents were evil in their dimension or something.

"They… they…" Spike tried to say, but before he could get the words out, a third figure appeared behind the twins in the doorway.

It was her! Their mother! She looked almost exactly like Spike Kai remembered her, only with her hair twisted up into a knot style his real mother had never worn and dressed in more modern clothing than she'd preferred.

But it was her!

The Maya of that world stared at them both in surprise, before seeming to realize who they were, and smiled fondly at them. "Hello, Kai, Nya," she said in a welcoming tone.

If anything, the sight of her had the visiting siblings go even paler, and it worsened even further when her husband appeared behind her. Like their mother, he was almost identical to their father, the only difference being his face was clean-shaven where their father had always had a mustache and goatee.

Seeing their distress, the entire family was quickly growing concerned.

"Is something wrong?" Ray asked, his expression worried.

Spike tried to get the words out again. "In our world, our parents…" he tried to say.

"They're gone," said Red softly, squeezing Spike's arm tightly. "They disappeared when I was three."

The twins gave horrified gasps, and Ray and Maya exchanged an entire silent conversation with one look.

Then, Maya stepped around her children and slowly approached their counterparts, making it clear she would stop the second they protested her approach.

They didn't.

Then, as if they were made of glass, Maya reached out and pulled them both into a gentle hug.

"You two haven't had it easy, have you," she whispered rhetorically into their ears. "I don't know what you've been through, but we're here for you if you want us to be."

The siblings melted into her embrace and clung to her with an air of desperation one could only have when being granted something they've wanted for so long but thought they would never have.

Ray carefully came over to join the hug, followed by both of his children, surrounding the orphaned siblings in a warm embrace and a promise of a family.

The six of them just stood there in a group hug for a long time after that, but none of them minded one bit.

Chapter Text

Two identical pairs of green eyes stared at each other from their seats on the couch in the recreation area of the Mech Hideout. Master Wu parked the Bounty in its usual spot at the dock for the night after the battle, and they were attempting to relax after the whole affair.

It was a strange and surprisingly kind of awkward experience. They'd both just gone through a whole adventure to find the other and heard all about the 'other Lloyd' from the counterparts of their friends, and to finally meet face to face…

Well, what do you really say to yourself? Especially after hearing about how great he is from everyone else (as well as plenty of embarrassing stories).

Finally, it was the smaller of the two who broke the silence first. "Thanks," he said softly.

Luh-Loyd straightened up slightly, surprised at his words. "Uh, no problem, but for what?" he asked.

"For that cup," Lil'Loyd said, glancing over at the safe built into the warehouse where they were temporarily storing the Holy Grail until they could find a better hiding place. "Kai said it was your idea to use it on Dad after that crazy lady attacked you. If you hadn't…"

He trailed off, and Luh-Loyd grimaced, knowing full well what would have been expected of the kid if they hadn't come across that cup.

"Also, Zane mentioned what you offered to do for me even if you hadn't gotten it, so… thanks," Lil'Loyd finally continued, sending his counterpart a grateful look. "No one's ever done something like that for me before."

"Saved your dad?" asked Luh-Loyd.

"Helped me without even knowing me or wanting anything from me," Lil'Loyd corrected, staring down at his lap.

Luh-Loyd winced at how jaded his counterpart's words sounded. Even if the kid wasn't shunned and bullied for being the second most hated person in Ninjago (first place going to his father), he still hadn't had any better of a life than he did. It was probably even worse with his stint of homelessness. At least he'd always had his mom by his side.

Scooching closer to him on the couch, Luh-Loyd carefully reached out to wrap an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders. Lil'Loyd startled at his actions but didn't push him away.

"It's weird, isn't it," Luh-Loyd said in understanding. "Getting help even when you think no one ever will give it. You're so used to no one caring, that when someone actually does help you keep waiting to find out what the catch is."

Lil'Loyd turned to look up at him with wide eyes, and Luh-Loyd chuckled. "There's no catch, promise," he assured him. "I really wanted to help. At least one of us should get a decent childhood."

Lil'Loyd nodded slowly and Luh-Loyd could tell he believed it. "Who helped you?" the younger asked curiously.

Luh-Loyd's expression grew nostalgic. "Kai and Nya," he said. "I was the same age you are when I first met them."

"What happened?" Lil'Loyd asked.

"Some jerks chased me up a tree and then pushed me out of it at the playground. After that, they were throwing sand in my eyes while they said stuff about my dad," Luh-Loyd said ruefully. "I got the wind knocked out of me in the fall and it hurt too much to get up and run away, so all I could do was sit there and take it."

Lil'Loyd winced. That sounded painful.

Luh-Loyd's smile then turned fond. "That's when Kai and Nya came running in. They didn't know who I was, but even when they found out all Kai saw was that I was crying, and Nya could never stand bullies. They both chased them off and declared me their new little brother. It took me forever to realize that it wasn't a trick and that they really wanted to be my friends."

Lil'Loyd smiled at the story, and let out a bitter chuckle. "I first met Kai and the others when I was trying to attack a village with prank snakes and steal all their candy. It didn't work, obviously. After that, I found and released the Serpentine and tried again."

"I heard about that," Luh-Loyd said. "Despite the whole attacking a village thing, I'm kind of glad you did it. Even if they've been causing trouble, trapping the Serpentine underground forever would be wrong, and the entire species can't all be bad. What they do with their freedom is on them, not you."

Lil'Loyd blinked. He hadn't thought of it that way. Being trapped underground forever did sound kind of extreme in hindsight. And while he'd been with the Hypnobri and Fangpyres after releasing them, they hadn't hurt him. Some of them had even been pretty nice to him, even if they didn't actually want him around. He did still regret releasing Pythor, though.

"They're different here," Luh-Loyd continued. "The Serpentine, that is. There was no war, and they see Mom as a hero for protecting them from Dad. That's actually how they met."

"Mom met Uncle Garm fighting for the Serpentine?" Lil'Loyd asked in surprise.

"Yup," said Luh-Loyd. "You should ask Dad for the whole story, he loves telling it. Mom always gets flustered at how much he compliments her, though." He then grinned at his younger counterpart. "You call her Mom too, huh?"

Lil'Loyd fidgeted. "Well, I don't have a mom, and… she wanted to adopt me. She wants me," he said as if he still couldn't believe that was possible. "I want to stay with Dad, but… she still wants to be my mom anyway."

"To be honest, when I heard that prophecy in your world, I wanted to adopt you too," Luh-Loyd said, making Lil'Loyd turn to stare at him again. "I even threatened your dad with it to keep him from attacking Ninjago while we found our way home." He grinned down at his little counterpart. "I wasn't lying when I told him I've always wanted a little brother."

Lil'Loyd stared at him, and once again looked like he couldn't believe someone wanted him.

Slowly, he said, "I… already have four big brothers (or I guess it's eight now), but… I guess one more couldn't hurt."

Luh-Loyd couldn't help the beaming smile that spread across his face, and he pulled the smaller ninja into a hug.

A moment later, they heard Koko call them back to the Bounty for dinner, and they hurried out of the warehouse to the docks.

It wasn't the most conventional family dynamic, but then again, when had their family ever been normal? It worked for them, and that was enough.

Chapter Text

"You are sure it is alright that I stay with you?" asked Zen Zane as they walked to his counterpart's house after the battle where they'd all met.

"Of course," said Pep Zane cheerfully. "Dad will be very happy you have come." His face then fell slightly. "Mom might be upset we did not call ahead to inform her of guests," he said, reaching to pull out his cell phone. "She thinks it is bad manners."

Zen paused at his words, an indecipherable expression on his face.

Seeing this, Pep froze right before hitting his mother's phone number and looked at him in concern. "Is something wrong?"

"Your mother and father?" asked Zen, looking like he was surprised to hear Pep had those.

Pep couldn't help but feel slightly defensive. "Yes," he said, his automated tone gaining a slight bite to it. "I am a normal teenager. Normal teenagers have a mom and a dad. While Mom can not move around very much, my dad is more than capable of our care in her stead."

Zen looked startled at this. "No, you misunderstand," he quickly said. "I was merely surprised your father is still…" his expression fell. "I'm sad to say my own father already passed away several years ago, and I'm afraid I never had a mother."

Now Pep felt horrible for jumping to conclusions. "That is terrible," he said, giving his counterpart the tightest hug he could. "I am here for you," he said, patting Zen on the back. "There, there."

Not for the first time, Zen Zane was glad he was a nindroid, as a hug like this would probably damage a human's spine. Still, his counterpart was too naively earnest not to be endearing.

Suddenly, Pep Zane's eyes widened in alarm. He pulled back from the hug and grabbed his counterpart's shoulders to look him dead in the eye, an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. "Wait, if you no longer have a mother or father, and you are here, then who is looking after Echo in your world?"

Zen looked at him in confusion. "Who is Echo?"

Pep Zane's blue LED eyes widened even further at his words, and without answering he hefted his counterpart over his shoulder, popped wheels out of the bottoms of his feet, and took off towards his home like a rocket, calling his mother to inform her of their coming guest as he did so.

Zen Zane wasn't sure what surprised him more. Being manhandled in such a way, or the fact that his counterpart seemed to be conversing with dial-up.

Needless to say, Zen Zane learned who Echo was very quickly.

The second they reached Pep Zane's house, the local nindroid set him down just as the front door was thrown open and a brown blur shot out it.

"Big Brother!" said the blur as it launched itself at Pep and knocked the both of them onto the sidewalk.

"I'm home!" said Pep in reply, not at all fazed by the fact he was now sprawled on the concrete.

"I saw your fight on the news!" said the blur, his tone as automated as Pep's, but in a higher more childlike pitch. "Dad had to mute it because of Garmadon, but you were very cool!"

"Yes, I am very cool," said Pep with a smile as he and the blur got back on their feet. "I am the Ice Ninja."

As they stood, Zen Zane finally got a good look at the bronze-colored figure.

It was another nindroid. Aside from being close to Lil'Loyd's age in appearance, he was almost identical to both of the Zanes. The biggest difference between them was that instead of white hair and white clothes, the little nindroid had light bronze-colored hair and was dressed in brown corduroy overalls. His eyes were also LEDs like Pep's but glowed a golden yellow instead of blue.

"Zen Zane," said Pep Zane brightly, turning the little nindroid to face him. "This is my little brother Echo. Say hello, Echo."

"Hello, Echo," Echo parroted, but otherwise looked up at Zen in confusion and innocent curiosity. "Are you our new brother?"

The question melted something within Zen. He suddenly understood Koko's reported desire to instantly adopt the Lloyd from his world. He inexplicably had the same feeling for both the nindroids before him.

But Echo wasn't the only one confused by the sight of him.

"Oh my," said a voice, drawing the three nindroids' attention back to the house.

If Zen Zane had a biological heart, it would have stopped at the sight.

The man standing in the doorway was clearly the counterpart of Dr. Julien, though appearing more as he had in Zen's earlier memories. His brown hair was already streaked with some white, but otherwise, he still had a youth to him that his father had lacked, and he was looking at Zen like he was a fascinating puzzle.

"I didn't build you," he said, circling Zen Zane with a puzzled expression. "And yet you're clearly the same design as my sons. Though, perhaps a bit outdated." He frowned slightly. "I'd ask if someone has been stealing my work, but I know that shouldn't be possible, it's far too encrypted. How do you exist?"

"I'm from a different dimension," said Zen Zane, still trying to process that a version of his forgotten and then remembered father now stood before him.

Dr. Julien's eyes lit up at that. "Are you really?" he asked.

Both Zanes nodded.

"Fascinating," said Dr. Julien, rubbing his chin, excited curiosity written across his face. "It was never my field of expertise, but I have always found the multiverse theory to be a very interesting concept." He chuckled. "Though, now I supposed the theory has been confirmed. Truly fascinating."

He then turned to beam at Zen Zane. "Won't you please come in?" he asked. "I have so many questions if you have the time. Or, do you need to return to your own world soon? Is there a time limit for your stay? How do you quantify it? Why did you come here? What method did you use to arrive here in the first place?"

"Ah, no, I don't leave until tomorrow," said Zen, feeling a bit overwhelmed. It was looking like his father's counterpart could possibly rival his Jay in the amount of talking he could do at a rapid pace.

"We're having a sleepover," said Pep brightly.

Echo lit up at that. Literally. "Hoorah! New friend! Sleepover!" he cheered, glowing like a lightbulb.

"Are you really?" asked Dr. Julien, looking excited as well. "Excellent! Shall we start it off with some tea and cookies?"

The family of three all looked over at Zen, waiting for his response.

Zen Zane's face broke into a smile. "I would love to," he said and followed them into the house.

Chapter Text

When Luh-Lloyd had told them all about their counterparts around the campfire, he had failed to get across just how quiet his was.

As it was, Cliff Cole was beginning to wonder if this was how his Jay usually felt when filling the air with endless chatter, because compared to DJ Cole, he was the chatty one of the two. It was definitely a new perspective he hadn't been in before.

When he said as much, his counterpart had snorted and finally said something. "There are worse people to be like."

Cliff grinned at that. "Fair enough, but don't tell him that. His head would swell like a hot air balloon."

DJ's frowned in bewilderment at that, but all he said was, "Huh?"

"What?" asked Cliff.

"Kind of different from my Jay," DJ replied. "One bit of praise and he gets flustered. Happy, but flustered."

Cliff snickered at that. "Especially if it's from Nya," he said knowingly.

"Well duh," said DJ, as if that were obvious. Which, it kind of was.

As he said, they turned a corner to go down a more residential street.

Almost immediately, they were surrounded by a pack of children in a variety of ages.

"Cole!"

"Are you okay?"

"Who's he?"

"Did you kick a lot of butt?"

"We saw the Green Dragon! Is the Green Ninja back to his real age again?"

"Aww, I wanted to play with little him!"

"Did you find that missing kid?"

"Why did Garmadon's robots attack again?"

"Susie bit me!"

"Tattle Tale!"

DJ Cole clapped his hands, and the sound caught the children's attention enough to quiet them down.

He then crouched down to their level, and pointing at each child who had spoken, he patiently answered each question in order, "I'm fine. He's my cousin. I kicked plenty of butt. Yes, Lloyd's back from his mission. You can still play with the little guy, that's a different kid, and yes, we found him. A scientist went crazy. Susie, don't bite your brother, you're not a shark, apologize."

Susie looked petulant, but reluctantly mumbled, "Sorry."

"And, Tommy," DJ turned to the boy who claimed to have been bitten. "Why did Susie bite you?"

Tommy, who had been looking smug at his sister getting scolded, but it quickly turned to a 'hand caught in the cookie jar' expression. "Uh, I don't know," he said, his tone making it obvious he was lying.

Susie looked furious, but DJ Cole put a hand on her shoulder and continued to stare Tommy down.

Tommy fidgeted under his gaze for a few moments. "I broke her doll," he admitted, hanging his head. He then turned to his sister. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Susie stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"Bring the doll to me tomorrow, I'll see if we can fix it," said DJ. "Now all of you get going, you'll be late for dinner."

The children all beamed at him and scattered off into their homes.

Cliff Cole, who'd been feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of kids that had been there, looked impressed. "Wow, you're really good with them," he said.

"I do a lot of babysitting around the neighborhood for extra cash," said DJ, pushing himself upright. "I know all of them pretty well."

"Impressive," said Cliff. "Aside from Lloyd, uh, Lil'Loyd, most little kids always seem to think I'm the worst."

"Good," said DJ as he began walking again, and his counterpart hurried to follow him. "It means you don't let them get away with anything."

Cliff tagged along behind his counterpart until he finally came to a stop in front of a building. "Home, sweet home," said DJ. "We live in an apartment at the top."

Cliff looked up to take in the sight of the building.

It was a theater.

Not a movie theater, a small, locally run playhouse type of theater with advertisements for upcoming plays, musicals, and concerts plastered along the walls, a schedule for rehearsals pasted on the door, and a ticket booth out front.

Cliff Cole shook his head and let out a sigh. "Why am I not surprised," he said in amusement. "My dad would love to live here if he could. It's hard enough just getting him to leave."

DJ frowned slightly at that. "Yours a workaholic too?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," said Cliff. "He'd sing and dance all day every day if he could, and kinda does that anyway."

DJ's frown deepened, but he didn't say why. Instead, he said, "It's a nice place to live. Rent is cheaper since Dad works here, and I have free range of the sound and music equipment. It's how I got into DJing."

"Cool," said Cliff as he followed him inside.

As they got to the apartment area above the theater, Cliff Cole was somewhat surprised his father's counterpart never showed up to greet them. Knowing his father, he'd be extremely dramatic with welcoming him and congratulating him on saving the day again, and a minor complaint of him not visiting more often.

"Dad should still be across town," said DJ, as if anticipating his question before he even asked it. "He had some meeting today about getting more instruments for a coming show, and the attack would have left him stuck there, but it'll be clearing up soon."

"How do you know he's okay?" asked Cliff, slightly concerned.

DJ waved his phone in the air. "He messaged me after the fight to let me know he was fine. I messaged him back, so he knows I'm okay and you're here."

Cliff Cole nodded as they made their way into the living room and kitchen area.

DJ gestured for him to take a seat on the couch as he made his way towards the kitchen, no doubt about to start making dinner.

Perking up at the sight, and suddenly very aware that there were no teammates around to rag on his cooking, Cliff started to say, "Hey, so, do you want any hel-"

"No," said DJ firmly, shooting him down hard and fast.

Cliff wilted. "Why not?" he whined.

DJ Cole seemed to realize how rude he'd sounded, and looked over at him to say, "Sorry. This stuff has to be prepared in a specific way, and I can't risk any mistakes. I'm not the best cook, but I can make things healthy and I learned out of necessity what not to do."

"Necessity?" asked Cliff, looking bewildered.

DJ frowned down at the food fixings in front of him. "You said your father sings and dances every day."

"Yeah," said Cliff, still not understanding where he was going with this.

"Well, my father wishes he had time to sing and dance every day, but he's usually too busy to do it," DJ replied. "While he and his quartet do perform in the theater downstairs on occasion, his main job is to be the manager of this place, and it keeps him really busy."

Cliff blinked in surprise. "But, why?" he asked. The idea of his father ever doing something that kept him too busy from his passion was mind-boggling. "Why would he work so hard?"

"To pay for my hospital bills," said a soft but strong voice behind them that had Cliff Cole freezing in place.

That voice!

It couldn't be!

He was too stunned to even turn around to see if it was who he thought it was.

But then DJ Cole confirmed it for him. "Mom," he said, putting down his dinner preparations to hurry to the owner of the voice. "You shouldn't be out of bed."

"Nonsense," the voice replied, still sounding soft and slightly muffled. "I'm feeling a lot better today. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Ever so slowly Cliff Cole turned to face the owner of the voice, and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

It was his mother! She wasn't like he remembered her, her longer dark hair in a loose braid over her shoulder, and she was looking far more ashen and frail than he'd ever seen of his own mother. A state that was not at all helped by the oxygen mask she wore over her nose and mouth and the machine attached that she was pulling alongside her. But it was her!

Gabriella Lilly Brookstone's dark eyes widened as she seemed to notice the resemblance between her son and this new boy (which was one of the strongest resemblances out of all the counterparts) in front of her. They then widened even further in alarm when the boy practically broke down in their living room at the sight of her.

DJ Cole carefully led her over to sit on the couch before moving to sit his counterpart on the other side of it by her. Cliff only seemed able to sit there silently with tears in his eyes and a dazed expression on his face.

DJ then took a seat in a nearby armchair. "Mom, this is my counterpart from that dimension Lloyd got sent to," he explained, having told his parents of what the current mess they were in had been.

Gabriella slowly reached out to the stricken boy who was an alternate version of her son, almost afraid that touching him might make him worse. "What's wrong?" she asked, hoping to comfort him in some way, and laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Cliff Cole let out a choked sound and leaned into her touch, but couldn't bring himself to answer.

"I-" said DJ Cole in his stead. "I don't know for sure, but from what he was saying… Dad has a lot more free time in his world," he stated slowly, not wanting to actually say what he'd concluded.

Gabriella's expression went slack beneath her oxygen mask. "I see," she said in understanding. "Then I've already died."

Cliff let out a sob, which was confirmation enough.

She gently reached out and pulled him into a hug next to her, her arms holding surprising strength despite her sickly appearance.

Cliff returned the hug. He knew this wasn't his actual mother. That his real mother had passed away before she could become this frail, but still… he'd thought he would never see her again in any fashion.

DJ Cole walked over to squeeze his counterpart's shoulder before moving to work on dinner as his mother continued to console him.

By the time that world's Lou Brookstone came breezing in with a dramatic declaration about how wonderful DJ was fighting that day, Cliff's tears had dried, and he couldn't stop grinning for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

"Huh," said Nick Jay when he saw where his counterpart lived. "Well, at least it's not a junkyard."

In front of him stood a modest Ma and Pop style garage and repair place not far from the docks. It was a bit run down, but not to the extent that it looked bad, and nothing a fresh coat of paint wouldn't fix. Within the open doors were several half-finished projects and cars, and the occasional misplaced tool lying around. It was charming in a rustic sort of way.

Freckles Jay gave a small smile next to him. "We did live in one when I was younger, but Mom and Dad thought living in the city would be better for me, so they rented it to some distant cousin and we moved here."

"Oh," said Nick thoughtfully. "I don't think anything will get my parents to give up the scrapyard. They love that place."

"They still do," said Freckles. "It's where we get most of our parts to fix stuff up. We just don't live out there anymore."

Freckles then led him inside and called out to his parents.

"Jay!" called a sweet voice, and his mother came bounding in to hug him.

"Welcome home, son," said his father, who came over to hug him as well. "You did good out there today."

Nick Jay surprised to see that unlike most other counterparts, the Ed and Edna of this world were almost identical to his own parents. The only difference was that their accents matched Freckles Jay's rather than what his parents had.

Ed spotted him first and gave him a friendly grin. "Well, hello there," he said. "Who might you be?"

Edna looked up at those words and seemed to notice the ninja gi he was wearing. "Oh my, Jay, dear, is he-?"

"My counterpart from Lil'Loyd's world, yup," said Freckles, waving for Nick to come closer. "Mom, Pop, meet Nick Jay. You can just call him Nick. Nick, my mom and pop."

"Nice to meet you, well, not really meet you, since you're, like, exactly like my parents, but hey, still a first meeting," Nick babbled, before stopping himself.

Ed and Edna chuckled good-naturedly.

Freckles then glanced at his parents and asked, "Is it okay if he spends the night?"

"Of course he can," said Ed, as if the idea of turning him away was preposterous.

"You're perfectly welcome here, Nick," said Edna. "Any Jay is."

Nick grinned at her. It was nice to see that even in another world, his parents never changed.

As they headed to the dining area to prepare dinner, Nick Jay heard his father's counterpart ask, "I suppose he's called Nick 'cause of his eyebrow?"

"Yeah, Lil'Loyd came up with it." Freckles Jay replied.

"Did he give you a nickname too?" Ed asked.

"Yeah…" said Freckles more reluctantly. "Freckles Jay."

"Aw, that's adorable!" cooed Edna, pinching her son's freckled cheeks.

"MOM!" groaned Freckles.

Nick followed at a more sedated pace, taking in the sight of the small but homey apartment.

There were modest and mostly homemade decorations scattered around, most of them seeming to have been made out of seashells. There were photographs all along the walls of various stages of Freckles' life. From tons of baby pictures all through his childhood. Including a fairly adorable one of him and a preteen Luh-Loyd grinning widely and standing in front of a seemingly sloppily built go-kart that they had no doubt Master Built together.

"That's how Lloyd and I met."

Nick jumped and let out a yelp, before spinning around to see his counterpart.

Freckles jolted as well and held up his hands in surprise. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized profusely. "I hate it when people do that to me. I'm so sorry I did that to you. Are you-"

"I'm fine," said Nick Jay, catching his breath and cutting off his counterpart's babble. "Don't worry about it." He glanced back at the picture and said, "This is when you met?"

"Yeah," said Freckles. "There was a go-kart competition just after my folks and I moved here." His expression turned rueful. "But I was having a hard time finding a partner, 'cause, you know, Junkyard Kid."

Nick winced. Despite never going to public school, he'd still suffered plenty of flack for his home growing up. "How'd that lead to you meeting Lloyd?" he asked.

Freckles then grinned fondly. "Lloyd heard me having trouble and he came over to offer to team up."

"And that's how you became friends?" asked Nick.

Freckles snorted. "Heck no," he said. "Do you have any idea what people used to say about Lloyd? Everyone used to be super convinced he was just as bad as his dad. When he asked, I ran for the hills."

"What?" asked Nick in surprise.

Freckles looked suitably ashamed. "Yeah, not my best moment. But after he helped me, I figured out pretty quick the rumors weren't true and we became friends soon after."

"Huh," said Nick, glancing at the photo. "Still better than how we met our Lloyd." He then launched into the tale of how Lil'Loyd released the Serpentine and used them to demand candy and treehouses, which had Freckles in stitches at how funny he told it.

Freckles then showed him more of the photos and told some of the stories behind them.

As they came to one particular one, Nick let out an excited shout. "No way! Is that Cliff Gordon? The movie star?" he said, pointing out a picture of Freckles next to the celebrity and a pretty woman with blond curls.

Freckles gave him a startled look and seemed confused by his reaction. "Uh, yes," he said slowly.

"Woah, it's so cool you got to meet him," said Nick. "I've seen a few of his movies, and Lil'Loyd's started getting me into Starfarer. Who's the lady with him? Is that his wife?"

Freckles was growing pale beneath his namesake. "Oh!" he said, seeming to realize something. "You-you don't know?"

Seeing the look on his face made Nick's excitement fade. "Know what?" he asked.

Freckles quickly shook his head. "Nothing."

"Nuh-uh, not buying it," said Nick. "What's got you so worked up?"

"Worked up? I'm not worked up," said Freckles, obviously lying.

Nick wasn't buying it. "Jay," he said slowly, using his real name for extra effect. "I know when I'm lying to myself. What's wrong? Is he actually a real jerk in person?"

"NO!" Freckles exclaimed. "No, he's-Cliff and Libber-they're not bad. They're nice, just… busy… too busy for me most of the time… But they try! They visit a lot!"

Now Nick was really confused. "No offense, but why would a famous movie star visit you?"

Freckles looked flustered and avoided his gaze.

"Jay!" Nick prompted.

Freckles jumped and blurted out, "I just- I don't think I should tell you! It-it could be different for your world. I mean, if your parents didn't tell you, then…"

"Tell me what? What is it about this guy that's got you so cagey?" asked Nick, growing exasperated, and gesturing at the offending picture.

"Boys, dinner time," said Ed, stepping over to where they were. He then saw the picture Nick was pointing towards. "Are you comparing your birth parents?" he asked, totally missing how Freckles was frantically waving at him to be quiet.

Nick Jay froze.

He felt like the world had just dropped out from beneath him, and he was floating in an empty blue void.

Birth parents?

He couldn't have heard that right.

There was no way he heard that right!

Ed and Edna were his real parents… weren't they?

Unbidden, he remembered what Sensei Wu had told them the day before. That elemental powers were passed down through families.

And neither of his parents had ever shown any sign of having the power of Lightning before him and had been just as surprised as he was when he discovered his powers. If they were his real parents, wouldn't they know about their lineage…

HOLY CATS! HE WAS ADOPTED!

No, no, no, that couldn't be true. Like Freckles said, maybe it was different for this world. Just because he was adopted, didn't mean it was the same for both of them… right?

Right?

The world slowly swam back into focus. He came to laying on the sofa, and he could see Edna leaning over him and wiping his face with a wet towel.

"He really didn't know?" she was asking Freckles and Ed, not noticing that Nick Jay had returned to his senses.

"No, I really didn't," Nick said lowly, drawing all of their attention to him.

"Are you okay?" asked Edna, looking worried. "You fainted right in our hallway?"

"Gave us quite a scare," added Ed, also looking concerned.

"I thought you were dead!" blurted out Freckles.

Nick slowly pushed himself upright, and Edna helped him when he wobbled dizzily. "Maybe you should stay lying down," she offered kindly.

"No, I-I need to know," Nick said. "How-? Why-?" He waved over at Freckles Jay, trying to convey the question his mouth refused to voice.

Ed and Edna exchanged glances. "You should really be asking your own parents this," said Ed. "Who knows what's the same and what's different between us."

"Before our Jay was born, an old friend of ours reached out to us," said Edna slowly. "Ed actually knew Cliff before his acting career took off, and used to teach him about fixing cars. Cliff and his wife, Libber, were set to have a baby, but for reasons they never disclosed, they felt they couldn't keep him. So they asked if we would be willing to adopt him."

"We said yes," said Ed, reaching over to wrap an arm around Freckles' shoulders. "Best decision we'd ever made."

Freckles flushed but smiled at his words.

"Cliff and Libber still visit whenever they can," Ed continued. "They're busy folk, and can't always be here, but they've never missed a birthday for our Jay, here, and they come when it matters."

Freckles nodded and turned to his counterpart. "But… that's just how things are in this world," he offered weakly. "It's entirely possible you're from a world where you're not adopted. Not that there's any problem with it."

"Y-Yeah," said Nick, trying to recover from his shock. "Totally. My parents can totally be my real parents. I mean, it's not the biggest difference between worlds, hehe… right?"

The local Walkers exchanged glances, unsure what to tell him.

"It's something you'll have to ask your own parents," Ed repeated. "Just know that if they're anything like us, adopted or not, they love you more than anything in all the worlds."

Nick Jay gave a weak grin and nodded at that. Given how similar the Ed and Edna of this world was to his own, that was one thing he didn't have a doubt about.

Still, the rest… the rest he would need to ask about.

Show Ninjago

The next day had them returning to Ed and Edna's scrapyard in their own Ninjago. They spent the first chunk of the day celebrating and telling the couple all about their adventure.

But in the midst of celebrating, Jay pulled his parents to the side.

"Uh, Mom, Dad," he said. "There's, um, there's something I need to ask you."

Seeing how nervous he was, his parents exchanged concerned glances. "What is it son?" asked Ed.

"Uh, well… you see…" Jay tried to say, but for once couldn't find the words. "In the other Ninjago, my counterpart, he… he was… Am I…"

"Are you what?" asked Edna, looking worried. "Is something wrong dear?"

Jay took a deep breath to steady himself, and said as quickly as possible, "AmIadopted?"

Ed and Edna stared at him in stunned silence.

"'Cause, uh, my counterpart told me he was adopted by you guys, and his birth parents are… not you, and… and it's driving me crazy!" Jay rambled. "Are you guys my real parents? You gotta be! That's just one of those pesky dimensional differences… But if you are, why didn't you know about my lightning powers? Those come from families, so, uh, you'd know about them. But-but…" he trailed off, waiting (hoping) for his parents to tell him that this was crazy, and he was definitely their kid.

Instead, Edna let out a soft, "Oh, Jay," and rushed over to hug him, Ed following after a second later. "We meant to tell you," she said softly.

For the second time in twenty-four hours, Jay felt his world fall out from under him. This wasn't the response he wanted.

"But, gee willikers," said Ed into his shoulder, as they both held him tight. "There was just no easy way to say it."

They pulled back from the hug and looked slightly guilty at him having to find out the way he did. "Ya see, son," said Ed. "It's not a difference between our worlds. You are adopted."

"You were left on our doorstep when you were just a baby," said Edna, reaching into a cupboard to pull out a note and key. "Along with this address and key." She handed them to him, before pulling him into another hug. "You were just so gosh darn cute!"

"And we gladly raised you on our own ever since," added Ed with a smile. His expression then fell and he sighed. "We're sorry, son. I hope this doesn't change anything."

He and Edna stood on either side of him, waiting for his response.

Jay took the key and note and slowly put them back in the cupboard. "I… think I know who they belong to," he said slowly, his head spinning as he absorbed this new information.

While it was slightly different circumstances, it was a similar story to how things happened in the other Ninjago. Thankfully, he'd had the night to think things over and compare notes with his counterpart to help figure his feelings out. He was still upset about it, but… these were his parents. He couldn't help but love them.

Jay then turned to his parents. "The other you said that adopted or no, it never stopped you from loving me…" he said to Ed. "That's true here too, right?"

"Of course it is!" Ed exclaimed.

"Never doubt that for a second," said Edna.

Jay gave them a weak smile and hugged them both.

They stayed like that until Nya came to find them a while later.

Chapter Text

Way out in the middle of the desert, miles, and miles from any civilization, stood six ninja all looking hot but determined to be there.

"So, we're all ready," said Lloyd, facing his team. "What test should we do first?"

"Distance would be the most useful one," offered Kai.

Nya nodded. "We know you can no longer boost our powers when you are in another world, but just how far away do you have to be for it to work?"

"It is logical to assume that at the very least your reach can affect us by the length of Ninjago City, as we have performed missions on opposite sides of it without issue," said Zane. "But how much further than that can you go?"

"I guess we'll find out," said Lloyd, climbing onto his dragon mech, and lifting off. "Kai, try to keep a constant stream of fire going and let me know if or when it goes out. Zane, monitor my distance."

"Can do, boss," said Kai, summoning a fireball into his hands.

"Activating the Green Dragon tracking app," said Zane, his eyes glowing brighter as he activated that feature.

With that, Lloyd took off and sent his dragon mech flying at full speed as far from his team as he could. He didn't want to leave his team in the hot sun for longer than he had to.

After a few minutes of flying, Zane let him know he had passed the equivalent of the length of Ninjago City, and that Kai was still going strong.

About twice that amount of time, Zane called again to inform him that Kai's powers were still strong but slowly beginning to dip.

Finally, Lloyd pulled his dragon mech to a halt when Zane told him Kai's powers had diminished roughly to the level they'd been while he was off-world.

"According to the tracking app," said Zane as Lloyd turned around to fly back at top speed. "You have traveled a little more than twice the length of Ninjago City."

"So distance is a factor, but considering we always work as a team, you're unlikely to be that far from us," said Cole.

"We should probably keep it a secret, though," said Jay. "Could you imagine what the bad guys would do if they thought they could get one over us by separating us?"

"I wasn't but I am now," said Kai dryly. "Thanks, Jay, I so needed that mental image."

"So keep the limit, and the fact that there even is a limit between us," said Lloyd over the radio.

"And keep you in the middle of the action on the off chance we do get separated by that much," added Nya in a semi-joking manner.

"Yeah, there's that," said Lloyd with a chuckle.

When Lloyd touched down back with his friends, he saw them all practically draped over Zane to beat the heat. Zane, for his part, didn't seem at all bothered by it, and was thrilled to help his friends, and was well used to being their jungle gym after all these years.

"What's next, bro?" asked Nya, reluctantly pulling herself off the nindroid.

"I guess we should probably see what your limits are with me boosting them," said Lloyd.

"Are there limits?" asked Jay curiously. "Master Wu made it sound like so long as you thought we could do it, then it was possible."

"He made it sound like our power output was equal to how much you care for us," said Cole.

"Which, bro," said Kai, going over to hug Lloyd in appreciation. "You love us that much?!"

Lloyd flushed, and it wasn't in any way from the desert heat. "Well, yeah," he said. "You guys have always been there for me, even when no one else would."

They all beamed at him.

Lloyd's face then fell, "But there are some limits, maybe not to your powers, but to how much you can handle at once," he said. "When I was with the other team, there was an attack on Ninjago City that nearly leveled it. To stop it, that other Cole, Cliff, he was able to lift and hold up the entire city on his own. "

They all stared at him in shock at hearing that.

"The whole city?" Jay squeaked in wonder.

"The whole city," Lloyd confirmed. "Sensei Garmadon and Sensei Wu both made it clear that there was no way he should have been able to do that, so at least part of it had to have been because of me."

"Whoa," breathed all of his teammates, and Cole was staring down at his hands in amazement, trying to imagine performing such a feat.

"Maybe I should have nicknamed him Atlas," the Earth Ninja mumbled, earning a few chuckles.

"The thing is," said Lloyd, his face serious. "Doing that really did a number on him. Cliff's muscles were shot, and it was only because Sensei Wu gave him magic healing tea he was even able to move and come with us to get here. Otherwise, it would have taken him weeks to recover."

Cole frowned thoughtfully. "That's right, he was really sore when he stayed over that night," he said. "He didn't give me details why just said it was an injury in the line of duty."

"Well, he wasn't lying," said Lloyd wryly. "The point is, we're only human (or nindroids). Just because you can use that much power, doesn't mean you should. If Cliff was anything to go by, your physical limits should still be there, and we can probably count the city as a limit for his and your strength, Cole."

"So it's not a limit of power, but a limit on how much of it our bodies can use without injury," said Zane, his expression contemplative.

"Exactly," said Lloyd. "I don't want you guys getting hurt."

"Well, that's why we're here," said Nya, rolling up her sleeves and eager to get started. "To figure things out."

"So, what, do we just blast out our powers until it starts to hurt?" asked Jay, looking like he'd rather not do it that way.

"More like, right before you feel it's about to hurt," said Kai, looking as eager as his twin.

"There's really not a better way?" asked Jay dubiously.

"Something like this is unprecedented," said Zane logically. "Not even the Elemental Masters before us had access to Green's boosting effects. Some trial and error to discover its limits is warranted."

"Plus," said Cole clapping Jay on the shoulder. "Since you're the only other one who has their True Potential so far, you're the strongest of all of us. You probably need to know your limit the most."

Jay paled beneath his freckles as he realized Cole was right. "Yeah," he said weakly. "I really don't want to fry myself."

"Okay, we'll take turns and figure this out together," said Lloyd. "You guys ready?"

"YEAH!" cheered his team, and immediately began arguing who would go first.

The sun was setting by the time they'd all felt they'd reached their limits and were ready to call it quits.

Needless to say, they were all impressed by each other's accomplishments. Cole was able to rattle the entire desert and Zane gave reports they had felt it all the way back in the city (though, fortunately, only as minor rumblings). Kai had sent out fire blasts the size of Meowthra that were so hot the desert air felt like a cool breeze when he stopped. Despite the dry climate, Nya was able to summon a lake's worth of water to her, and Zane made his own giant glacier despite the heat. And with Jay they actually had to run from cover from his lightning blasts striking every which way and making their hair stand on end from the static, it was only with Jay's fine control and concentration that none of them were struck.

However, since they were testing their absolute limit, there were consequences for using so much at once. Cole, like his counterpart, had sore muscles from his attempts, but thankfully not to the extent his counterpart had felt. Kai had to be stopped before he passed out from heat exhaustion, and his hands had minor burns, but they would heal quick enough after Lloyd patched them up. Nya had actually become dehydrated from using her powers and had to drink some of the water she'd summoned to recover. The cold from Zane's ice had nearly been too much for even his systems to handle, and he and Kai were now leaning against each other to warm up and cool off respectively. Jay, meanwhile, was both completely exhausted and jittery from his feats and was constantly shocking himself with residual static, his hair still standing on end.

But they all knew what their limit was, and knew not to go that far again, for their own sake as well as others. Hopefully, they would never need to go up against anything with that level of force, but if they did, they were ready.

As they loaded up onto their mechs to head home, Lloyd paused to glance one last time at their makeshift training grounds and had to stop and stare.

"Guys," he said, drawing his team's attention.

They all followed his gaze and stared in amazement as well.

Great cliffs had risen from the ground, and were covered in a glaze of smooth glass forged from molten sand that covered the entire area in a gleaming shine. Set on the glass was a crystal clear lake, it's unique bottom and lack of sediment making the water sparkle and look cleaner than any spring they'd seen before. The lake was kept cool by the massive crystalline glacier set alongside it, its massive size making it clear that even with the desert heat it would not melt for decades to come, and giving the entire area a pleasant chill. Scattered throughout the area, more glass was sprung up from the ground in twisting waves and coral-like sculptures that glittered in the dying light. With the setting sun bathing everything in its vivid pink, red, orange and purple colors, it only highlighted the beauty of the scene before them. What had once been a plain field of sand was now something almost magical to behold.

"We… made this?" Kai breathed as he realized the sight before him came from their elements.

"It would appear so," said Zane, blinking his eyes with the sound of a shutter click, making it clear he was photographing the scene into his databanks.

"So ninja!" Jay gasped in wonder.

"You can say that again," agreed Nya in amazement.

"So ninja!" Jay repeated, too stunned to realize that was rhetorical

Cole walked over to put a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. "We couldn't have done it without you," he said.

Their leader looked startled but grinned appreciatively.

They all sat atop their mechs and watched the sunset over their creation until it was almost too dark to make it out.

"Come on guys," said Lloyd, starting up his mech as the last of the light began to die. "Let's go home."

With a roar of engines, the mechs shot off across the desert for the city, their drivers feeling more content than they had in a long time.

Chapter Text

It had been a regular day in Ninjago. Or, at least, the new kind of regular that came about after an interdimensional mishap resulted in Lord Garmadon becoming Sensei Garmadon, and the time of peace that came after. There was still the occasional trouble with the Serpentine, but they seemed far less vicious than any previous attacks. If anything, the snakes seemed to be backing off.

"I'd blame your counterpart for that," said Sensei Garmadon as he and Lloyd walked down the streets of Ninjago City. The former evil lord had taken the day off from teaching at his new monastery and they were having a father-son day on the town.

"Why's that?" asked Lloyd, looking up at his father curiously.

"During his time here, we had to stop a Serpentine plot to level the entire city," Garmadon said. "As we did so, he happened to run across the newly crowned King Skales."

"He talked him into being good, didn't he," said Lloyd, not looking at all surprised. In the many visits between Ninjagos since the incident, he had come to know if there was one guarantee about his counterpart, it was his ability to connect with people.

"He was certainly starting to," said Garmadon with an amused grin. "If I had not intervened to retrieve the Mega Weapon from Skales, he may have actually succeeded."

Lloyd laughed. "I bet," he said. "If what everyone says is true, he can talk any monster into being his friend."

"Indeed," Garmadon agreed, having seen it first hand. "A useful skill to have, and one I know Wu approves of."

Lloyd laughed again.

Trying to live up to his decision to be a sensei, Garmadon had chosen a more educational destination for their outing than Lloyd would have liked. Then again, he was spending the day with his father, something a not too long ago he thought would never happen, so he didn't complain when they paid for tickets into the museum and began browsing the history exhibits.

"You know," Garmadon said conversationally as they stared up at the skeleton of an ancient beast now extinct. "If that whole mess with dimension-hopping hadn't happened, my next 'evil plot' would have been to bring one of these back to life to hunt down the Ninja."

A passerby shot him an odd look at hearing that and quickly shuffled away.

Lloyd, meanwhile, stared up at the Grundle skeleton in front of them and shuddered at the sight of its razor-sharp teeth. "I'm glad that didn't happen. Jay already complains enough about his run-in with dinosaurs."

Garmadon had to laugh at that. "Yes, I suppose he would have never forgiven me if that had happened."

"Probably not," said Lloyd with a cheeky grin. "Besides, knowing the Mega Weapon, it would have probably backfired on you anyway."

"I did choose my wishes rather poorly," Garmadon admitted. "There is, of course, that famous saying, be careful what you wish for."

"And you're the poster guy for it," said Lloyd, making his father chuckle again.

"Do you like history at all, Lloyd?" Garmadon asked as they walked away from the skeleton and into another part of the museum.

Lloyd frowned a bit. "Not really," he said. "It was always a snoozefest in school. The teacher was probably old enough to have lived through most of it, and had the most boring voice ever."

Garmadon hummed softly at his words. "That's a shame," he said. "Your mother always loved history."

Lloyd's face pinched in the way it always did when his birth mother was brought up, but kept silent. He had a mother in Koko in the other Ninjago, he didn't need the woman here who abandoned him. Still, he never said so out loud, knowing his father was still hoping to reunite with her.

They made their way through the rest of the museum making idle chatter about the exhibits and anything else that came to mind.

However, when they came to an exhibit about the history of piracy in Ninjago (something that made them both laugh, as they'd actually met some of the pirates on exhibit), there was a large interactive exhibit shaped like a pair of replica ships for kids to climb on and launch foam balls out of a cannon at each other. As it was, several other children roughly Lloyd's age were in the middle of a foam ball war, and one of them waved for the little Green Ninja to play with them.

Seeing his son looking eager to join in the game, Garmadon gave him permission to climb aboard, and soon Lloyd was manning his own toy cannon with the rest of them.

Smiling at the sight of his son having so much fun, Garmadon took a seat on a bench where he could keep an eye on him.

While he made sure to keep a careful watch on his son, the warlord-turned-pacifist couldn't help but allow his eyes to wander around the rest of the museum as he waited for him to finish his fun.

As he did so, he noticed someone passing by with their arms laden with so many books they could not see where they were going but was nonetheless fumbling with one hand along the wall trying to find a door into the museum's staff area. A door that was actually a few feet ahead of them, rather than where they were at.

Climbing back to his feet, Garmadon made his way over to the door. "The door is over here, I'll open it for you if you let me," he offered.

The person holding the books startled at his words, but a feminine voice called back. "Oh, thank you so much." She held out the key card in her (barely) free hand that she'd been trying to find the slot for, and Garmadon took it and swiped the door open for her.

"I really appreciate that," said the woman as she made her way past him, and Garmadon stepped aside so she could pass. "I couldn't leave any of these books lying out, but carrying them all at once was harder than anticipated."

"It was no trouble," said Garmadon politely as he watched the back of her gray-haired head walk into the office area and deposit the books on a nearby desk.

"Still, I'd like to thank you in some way," said the woman as she began organizing them on her desk, her back still to him. "Would you like a tour? I'm sure I could tell you everything about this museum with my eyes closed."

"That sounds lovely," said Garmadon politely. "My son is currently having some fun with the pirate ships, but once he is done we would love a tour if you don't mind waiting."

The woman visibly paused at his words, and Garmadon noticed her hands tremble slightly. "You have a son?" she asked in a tone that sounded forcibly calm. "That's… wonderful."

Garmadon frowned slightly in concern. "If you do not like children, you do not have to force yourself to accommodate us," he said, holding out the keycard still in his hands for her. "As I said, opening the door was no trouble."

The woman shook her head, causing the braid her hair was tied in to swing wildly. "No, no, it's not that," she said, her voice heavy with regret. "It's just… I have a son of my own, but… I haven't seen him in such a long time."

A slight suspicion began to bloom in his mind, but before Garmadon could say anything, a young voice piped up behind him. "Dad? What are you doing?"

Garmadon turned to see his son had returned from his game (and had been victorious, if his grin was anything to go by), and said, "Oh, I was just helping this nice lady with her books. She's offered to give us a tour of the museum. Doesn't that sound fun, Lloyd?"

Lloyd opened his mouth to reply, but before he could do so, there was a sharp gasp from inside the room.

They turned to see the woman whip around so fast her braid smacked her in the nose, and she stared at both of them with wide eyes.

Garmadon's own eyes widened in shock. "Misako!" he said, too stunned to say anything else.

"Garmadon!" she replied staring at him in wonder. Slowly she walked forward to cup his face in her hands, taking in his lack of red eyes or villainous smirk. "The venom! It's gone!" she exclaimed in realization. "How… How is this possible?"

Garmadon couldn't help the wide smile forming on his face. "Our son saved me," he said proudly, cupping her hands in his own. "I've been so worried about you, Misako."

However, at his words, said son let out a startled squeak, having them both turn and look at him.

Lloyd's eyes were darting between Garmadon and Misako, confusion etched on his face, but it was clear he had some inkling what was going on.

Hoping to clear up the confusion, Garmadon smiled down at his son and said, "Lloyd, I know you don't remember her much, but this is Misako. Your mother."

Lloyd sucked in his breath and turned his wide eyes to stare at Misako. "My-My mother," he stuttered out.

At the sight of him, Misako let out her own gasp, and she gave him a warm smile. "Lloyd," she said, crouching down and reaching out towards him. "My little boy. You're so much bigger than I remember."

Lloyd turned away. "Yeah, well, it's been a long time," he said coldly, backing away from her.

Despite that, Misako still smiled and looked happy to see him. "I didn't want us to meet like this. I have a reason why I've been away-" she tried to explain, but Lloyd cut her off.

"Well, I don't want to hear it!" Lloyd snapped, looking like he was about to cry. He then turned and bolted out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him.

Misako and Garmadon exchanged a glance before taking off after him.

"Lloyd! Wait! Please!" Misako called as they ran.

"Son! Come back!" Garmadon called as well.

But Lloyd didn't stop and used his small size to his advantage to squeeze through the crowds of museum patrons and take off out the door.

Once he was outside of the museum, he gave a sharp whistle to call the Ultra Dragon. By the time his mother and father made it to the museum entrance, they were just in time to see him on the back of his dragon and vanishing through a portal.

Misako stared at where he had disappeared in alarm. "What?" she asked. "Where did he go?"

Garmadon sighed. He really should have expected this to happen. He'd known about full well about Lloyd's resentment towards his birth mother, no matter how he'd tried to hide it. "I know where he's gone. Don't worry, he'll be perfectly safe."

"But…" Misako said, still looking confused, but not knowing if she had the right to ask.

"Come," said Garmadon, steering her towards a nearby cafe where they could sit and talk. "It is a long story. In short, it's safe to say our family has expanded in your absence, and Lloyd has gone to seek comfort with them."

Misako still looked confused but followed her husband to hear the full story.

Movie Ninjago

Koko hummed softly as she worked on making lunch for herself and Lloyd. It was a Saturday, so her son was allowed the first half of the day to relax before training an hour after lunch. As it was, he was lying on the couch and had his nose buried in a comic book series his younger counterpart had introduced him to.

Not expecting company, the knock on the door had them both look up in surprise.

"Lloyd, sweetie, could you get that?" Koko asked, her hands full with food preparations. She had been making dumplings for lunch, and her hands were messy from putting the meat inside the dough to steam.

"Sure, Mom," said Lloyd, putting his comic book down and heading for the door.

He looked through the peephole (they were a family of ninja, you could never be too careful), and saw no one. That meant they had either been ding-dong ditched or whoever was there was too short to be seen.

Suspecting the latter, Lloyd opened the door with a smile to greet his little brother warmly.

Only for his grin to instantly fade the moment he caught sight of his little counterpart's tear-streaked face.

"Lil'Loyd, what happened?" he asked crouching down to pick his little brother up and carry him inside.

Hearing that, Koko quickly cleaned her hands in the sink and hurried over to them as well, shutting the door behind them as she did so.

Taking Lil'Loyd over to the couch, the child was sat between them, and Koko rubbed soothing circles on his back.

At first, Lil'Loyd could do little more than huddle between them and sniffle as he tried to find his voice, but eventually, the whole story came pouring out.

"I don't know what to do," he finished, having cried himself out, but still cuddled between them. "She says she has a good reason, but… what could be good enough? Why did she leave me?"

"There is no reason good enough," said Koko, fighting to keep the coldness she felt out of her voice. "Whatever reason she has, leaving you at that awful school was wrong. Even if she has the best excuse for it in the world, she still hurt you, and you have every right to be upset about it."

"But still, if you want to hear her out, that is your choice. Letting her into your life is your choice too," Luh-Loyd assured him. "You don't have to decide right away, but we're here for you when you do."

Lil'Loyd let out a particularly wet sniffle and hugged them both.

Needless to say, he ended up staying for lunch. He also stayed for dinner and then breakfast the next day too.

The next day had the three of them climbing onto the back of the Ultra Dragon and taking off through the portal.

"You sure you want to do this?" asked Luh-Loyd as he sat between Lil'Loyd and their mom.

"I have to know," Lil'Loyd replied. "I have to know why she did it."

The Ultra Dragon flew down to land outside Steep Wisdom, Sensei Wu and Garmadon's combined tea shop and monastery.

Seeing them back had the ninja running out to greet them, and Lil'Loyd got both hugged and scolded for running off like that.

But all too soon, a soft cough caught their attention, and they turned to see Sensei Garmadon striding towards them.

Lil'Loyd immediately ran over to hug his father. "Sorry," he mumbled into his robes as he hugged him around the middle.

Garmadon's expression was fond as he reached down to ruffle his son's hair. "It's quite alright. I honestly should have expected your reaction."

Lil'Loyd slowly pulled back and glanced around. "Where's Misako?" he asked, not ready to call her 'mom' yet. He already had a mom, and he wasn't about to give her up for anything.

"I believe she is inside," said Garmadon, ushering them towards the monastery section of the building. "I have told her of our adventures and how I was cured, but I thought it best to wait to hear her story until you arrived."

Lil'Loyd nodded, and he and the teenagers followed the sensei into the building.

Koko moved to follow as well, but catching a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye had her dropping into a crouch and begin pretending to tie her shoe.

"You coming, Mom?" Lil'Loyd called to her from the doorway.

"Just a minute," Koko called back, still playing with the laces of her shoe without doing anything with them.

Luh-Loyd knew she was faking and sent her a look silently asking if he should stay behind. Koko subtly shook her head and he turned to enter the monastery, but she knew full well he would be ready to come racing back out the second he heard some sign of danger or she took too long.

With everyone else out of sight, Koko immediately straightened up and darted into the trees going down the hill from the monastery.

Catching up with what she saw, she jumped out of the bushes directly in the path of a woman who looked somewhat like herself only several years older.

"Misako, I presume," Koko said, her voice devoid of emotion.

The woman gave a startled gasp and stared at her in surprise. "Y-Yes," she said, clasping a hand to her chest to quiet her rapidly beating heart. Her expression then turned sad. "And I suppose you must be Koko."

Koko held her head high. "That's right," she said in what her ex-husband called her Warrior Queen voice.

There was a beat of silence as both women sized each other up.

"So," said Koko finally. "Where are you going? The monastery is back that way." She raised her hand to gesture in the opposite direction that Misako was headed.

Misako's face crumbled, and she turned so she wasn't looking at her counterpart. "I know," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Koko's expression had been cold before, but now it was downright fridged. "You're leaving him again?" she asked harshly, them both knowing exactly who 'him' was.

Misako winced at her tone but still looked away in shame. "He doesn't need me," she said in a regretful tone. "He never needed me. He has you."

"That doesn't mean he can't have you too," Koko snapped.

Misako flinched again. "He doesn't need a failure like me."

"You don't know what he needs!" Koko said angrily, storming closer to the other woman. "You don't know what he's been through! You don't know him!"

Misako looked pained at her words but remained silent.

Seeing this, Koko took a deep breath and let it out, before saying in a more even tone, "He doesn't even know why you left. Can't you give him that much?"

Misako slowly turned to face her, though her head was still bent in shame. "I left… to save him," she admitted slowly. "To save both of them."

Koko took a step back in surprise. "What?" she asked.

"I knew he would be the Green Ninja of the prophecy," Misako said softly. "Just like I knew my husband would be the Dark Lord. Ever since he was a little baby, I knew he would someday have to fight his father. That one of them would die at the hands of the other."

Koko stared at her.

"Then, Garmadon was cast into the Underworld, and I… I knew I was running out of time. That it would only be a precious few years before the prophecy came to fruition," Misako continued in a rush as if this had been something weighing on her chest for so long, and she was finally letting it out. "I couldn't let that happen! Those two were my whole world! I had to save them from their fate! There must have been something, some loophole buried in the past that could undo destiny! So I searched to find a way to protect them. I left Lloyd where I thought he would be safe. The Skulkin teaching at that school were under the control of my husband, they weren't supposed to…"

"Make him miserable and kick him out so he wandered helplessly on his own," Koko finished, earning another flinch from Misako. "Why didn't you leave him with Wu?"

Misako's mouth pinched together ruefully. "I didn't know if I could trust him," she admitted. "I doubted he would believe me about Lloyd, and he had just cast my husband, his own brother, into the Underworld. I admit I was foolish not to go to him for help, but at the time, grief and fear clouded my judgment." Her expression fell. "But that's no excuse."

"No, it isn't," agreed Koko. "So your reason for leaving was in hopes of protecting them?"

Misako's face crumbled even more. "Yes, and I failed to do even that," she said, sounding on the verge of tears. "All that time spent away, all those years wasted because, in the end, I didn't need to do anything. Your son and mine saved Garmadon from his fate themselves because of something I would have never been able to find in Ninjago. And I…" She broke off, unable to continue, and fell to her knees sobbing before her counterpart.

Koko studied the woman before her for a long moment. Then she sighed and moved to stand over her and offer her a handkerchief.

"I understand why you did it," the redhead said softly, making Misako blink at her in surprise as she took the handkerchief. "It was wrong and I don't condone it, and I still believe you should have called or written to him while you were gone, but I do understand it."

Misako stared up at her for a long moment, before uttering out a weak, "I did."

"What?" asked Koko in surprise.

"I… did write to him," Misako said in a voice so quiet Koko had to strain to hear it. "I couldn't always mail them at once due to being so far away, but I wrote to him every day and sent the letters when I could."

Koko's mind was reeling as she absorbed that information. Then as she realized what had happened, her expression turned to one of fury. "I am going to rip those skeletons to pieces!" she snarled, wishing she had her spear so she could go hunt them down and mount their heads on spikes.

Misako jerked back at her tone and looked almost fearful. "What?" she asked.

"Lloyd never got those letters!" Koko said, anger radiating off her in waves. "Those-Those boneheads must have kept them from him in their attempts to turn him evil! He thinks you abandoned him without a backward glance!"

Misako stared at her with wide eyes, before her expression took on a cold fury of its own. "Did they now," she said in a tone that was just as dangerous as Koko's.

Despite her rage, for the first time, Koko could see that the two of them were truly counterparts.

Knowing her skeleton hunt would have to wait until later, Koko took another deep breath to focus on the task at hand. "Back to Lloyd," she said, pulling Misako from her anger as well. "You did fail him. But if you leave him now, you will only continue to fail him, and he will never forgive you for it. Yes, he has me as a mother, but deep down he wants you in his life too. But only if you're willing to be there."

Koko gave the woman a stern look and held out her hand to help her back to her feet. "If you want to part of his life, take my hand and we'll go to him. You can tell him what you told me. He may not forgive you, but he'll, at last, understand why. He'll know you didn't abandon him because of something he did and forgiveness may come in time." Her expression then hardened. "Or, you can leave now, and I will never let you hurt him again."

Misako stared at her again, before slowly reaching out and grasping her hand. "I'm glad he has you," she said softly as Koko pulled her to her feet.

Koko gave a small smile. "I'm glad I have him too. Now let's go so he can have both of us."

With that, the two women turned and headed back to the monastery.

When Misako finally finished saying her piece, Lil'Loyd stared up at her from where he was sitting between Luh-Loyd and Garmadon. The rest of the ninja had been kicked out of listening due to this being a family matter, and Wu was making sure they didn't eavesdrop.

"You really wrote to me?" he asked in a tone holding a fragile hope.

"Every day," Misako insisted. "You and your father never left my thoughts. I'm so sorry, Lloyd."

Lil'Loyd stared at his feet as he processed this. "You're not… You're not going to leave again, are you?" he asked.

"Only if you want me to," said Misako sadly. "I understand if you never forgive me, but please, I want to be a part of your life."

Lil'Loyd slowly stood up and walked over to hug her around her middle. "I don't forgive you," he said softly. "But I don't want you to leave. Please don't."

Misako's eyes filled with tears, and she leaned down to embrace him tightly. "Then I'll never leave again," she promised.

Lil'Loyd hesitated and glanced over to where Garmadon, Luh-Loyd, and Koko were watching him proudly. "Are you okay if I call Koko Mom?" he asked.

Misako's face turned rueful. "I don't mind," she said. "Between the two of us, she has been the better mother. She deserves the honor more than me. I hope to one day earn my own title, but only if you want to."

Lil'Loyd nodded silently.

Misako squeezed him tightly, overjoyed to be given a second chance.

When the moment finished, Misako turned to her husband. "Now, Garmadon," she said in a deceptively sweet tone that did not match the level of malice she was somehow conveying. "I believe we have some skeletons to hunt down."

Catching her intention, Koko gave her own sweet smile. "And some mail in need of delivery," she said in a tone that matched Misako's.

The Lloyds and Garmadon looked like they didn't know if they should run for the hills or not, but self-preservation (and his own anger at their actions) had Garmadon saying a quick, "Yes, dear."

Pacifism or not, he was not getting in the way of this.

And thus their strange family grew one member more.

Chapter Text

Lil'Loyd could already hear the lecture he was going to get ringing in his head.

Don't wander off, stay with the group, don't you know it's dangerous for a kid to be off on their own? Those were the things he was sure to hear when he got back to his friends and family.

… If he got back to his friends and family.

As it was, he was running through the back alleys of the alternate Ninjago trying to keep away from a bunch of creeps on motorcycles.

Of all the people he had to run into in this world, it had to be Uncle Garm's crazy fan club!

It was only a little over a week since the initial fiasco. He had flown over on the Ultra Dragon to visit with his father chaperoning him. He hadn't meant to get lost. He'd just spotted a cool poster for a video game this world had and had gone to look at it, only when he tried to go back he couldn't see anyone he knew in the crowd.

Unfortunately, someone in the crowd had recognized him.

She was a tall woman with pale skin, tattoos, and a crew cut. And she was absolutely insane!

She'd given him a nasty grin and tried to snatch him up, but Lloyd had enough sense to bolt away from her before she could. If anything, this seemed to make her even more excited as she called up her motorcycle thug friends to come and help her chase him down.

From the things they were shouting back and forth to each other, Lloyd figured out who they were, and from what he'd heard from the others about the Sons of Garmadon Fan Club, he did not want to have any part of them.

However, they didn't seem to care what he wanted. They only were concerned with getting him to join their cause, and how it would reflect well on the local Garmadon's opinion of the club if his ex-wife's son was a part of them. Especially if they could successfully convert him to evil.

At least they'd finally dropped their theory that he was a de-aged Luh-Loyd. Though, now they were convinced (like half of Ninjago's populace) that Lil'Loyd was a clone of his counterpart instead. It was kind of annoying.

He was brought out of his musings when a motorcycle screeched to a stop in front of him, cutting off his way out of the alley. He tried to turn back and escape another way, but that was blocked off too by more crazy fan club members, and they were all closing in on him.

He was just about to use his powers to get away when a shout sounded above his head.

"SURPRISE!"

Lloyd and the psycho fans looked up to see a bright fuchsia blur leap down from the fire escape above and kick the crazy lady who started this mess in the face. He then backflipped to stand defensively between the blond and the encroaching biker fanboys.

The crazy lady, however, went down hard and was unconscious before even hitting the ground from the kick.

Lloyd could only stare in disbelief as a person standing before him in a vivid pink ninja gi. This must be the Fuchsia Ninja he heard about. That or one of the Zanes had washed their uniform with Kai's again.

Still, for all Lloyd had heard how weird the guy was, he was actually a pretty decent ninja, dispatching the biker psycho fans pretty quickly with martial arts.

The fuchsia-clad ninja then reached down to snatch Lloyd up, high-tailed it out of the alley and deposited the seven-year-old on a sidewalk near the main street a few blocks away.

It was only when the Fuchsia Ninja was putting him down that he seemed to register Lloyd's appearance and did a double-take. Lloyd could clearly see confusion in his eyes over his appearance, and no doubt saw the resemblance between him and his counterpart.

Hoping to help with the confusion, Lloyd opened his mouth to rattle off their explanation for the public, but the Fuchsia Ninja beat him to it.

"SURPRISE!" he shouted again, making Lloyd jump in, well, surprise, before bolting off down the street and vanishing down a nearby alley.

Lloyd could only stand there and stare after him as he went.

Huh, Luh-Loyd was right. That guy was really weird.

Just when he thought he was safe, the roar of a motorcycle coming up behind him had him tensing and preparing to bolt.

But before he could flee, the motorcycle stopped and a voice called out, "Lloyd?"

Hearing his name, Lloyd turned around slowly to take in the new arrival.

Sitting atop a dragon-shaped bike a few feet away, a young man pulled off his helmet and looked at Lloyd, his face a mixture of confusion and concern. He was dressed in typical leather biker clothes, but with a pink kerchief around his neck. He had thick eyebrows that seemed more angular than the Coles' were and had long black hair pulled back into a low loose ponytail with a pink streak running through it.

The only thing that kept Lloyd from running for the hills at the sight of this stranger was the motorcycle he rode. He was no expert, but the design sure looked like the kind his counterpart would Master Build, and Luh-Loyd didn't make bikes for just anyone.

Said stranger didn't seem to think he was a stranger, as he climbed off the bike and walked towards him, still looking concerned. But when Lloyd took a step back at his approach, he stopped in his tracks.

Crouching down so he was more equal in height with Lloyd, he said, "Come on, Shrimp, it's me," he said pointing at himself. "You know, Morro."

Lloyd kept silent and gave him a suspicious look.

This seemed to only to make the stranger's concern grow. "What happened to you?" he asked. "How did you get so small?"

Lloyd still gave no response, but it was clear whoever this Morro guy was, he thought he was his counterpart only shrunk.

Morro looked worried and slightly hurt at his continued silence. "You remember me, right?" he asked.

Lloyd shook his head honestly. He'd never seen this man before in his life, and if he had a counterpart in his world, he sure hadn't met him.

Seeing this, Morro stood up and pulled a cell phone out of his back pocket. "Look, I'll call Wu, and we can sort this out. You remember Wu, don't you?" he said, sounding really worried that Lloyd might say no about remembering Wu too.

Lloyd nodded.

Morro let out a sigh of relief to see that and hit a number on speed dial. He then turned the phone so that Lloyd could see it and set it on speaker. Wu's phone was an older model that didn't have video calls, but just hearing his voice might be convincing enough.

A minute later, the call was answered. "Master Wu's phone. Sorry, he can't come to it right now. Can I take a message?" said Luh-Loyd's voice over the speaker.

If anything, the sound of that made Morro even more confused. "Wait, Lloyd?" he asked into it.

"Morro?" said Luh-Loyd, sounding just as surprised, but also pleased to hear him. "Hey! What's up?"

Well, that confirmed this guy actually knew his counterpart and Wu. Maybe he was okay after all.

Morro glanced between Lil'Loyd and the phone several times, before looking embarrassed and holding the phone to his ear. "Nothing, cuz," he said. "I just found this lost kid who… never mind, it was a crazy thought, and I'm pretty sure I just came off as a creeper."

There was a beat of silence on the phone. "Does the kid look exactly like I did at seven?" Luh-Loyd asked a moment later.

"How should I know, I didn't meet you until you were eight," Morro replied in a joking tone.

"Morro!" Luh-Loyd groaned. "Answer the question."

Morro chuckled and said, "Yes, this kid's pretty much your spitting image." He then frowned. "Wait, do you know him?"

"We've been looking all over for him!" Luh-Loyd exclaimed through the phone. "Where are you? I'll be right there. Could you put him on?"

Morro rattled off the street they were on and held the phone out for Lil'Loyd. "It's for you," he said.

Lil'Loyd took it, and after confirming to his counterpart that he was okay, he got the first of what was sure to be many lectures about not wandering off. All the while, Morro hovered nearby and snickered at his expense.

A few minutes later, Luh-Loyd came jogging down the street. "Seriously, Lil'Loyd, don't wander off like that."

Morro blinked at the name in surprise, and Lil'Loyd gestured wildly at him and shot his counterpart a wide-eyed look that said, 'He's right there!'

Seeing Lil'Loyd's freaked out face, Luh-Loyd huffed a laugh and said, "Don't worry, it's fine. Morro's family, we were going to tell him anyway."

"Family?" Lil'Loyd asked in surprise.

Luh-Loyd nodded and pointed at the man. "Yeah, this is my Cousin Morro. Uncle Wu adopted him when I was eight," he said, putting extra emphasis on the number.

Lil'Loyd caught what he was hinting at. If their lives mirrored each other about this, then it was possible he wouldn't meet his world's Morro for another year or so.

Tired of them talking around him, Morro spoke up. "Soooo, does this mean those crazy rumors about you having a clone are true? 'Cause I'm pretty sure my friends have a bet riding on it," he said, looking bemused.

Both Lloyds rolled their eyes at the mention of the rumor. "No, he's not a clone, he's… a long story. One I probably shouldn't tell on a random street," Luh-Loyd said.

Morro raised an eyebrow at that but shrugged and gestured to his bike. "Shall we?" he asked, reaching into the seat compartment to pull out two helmets to toss to the blondes.

Luh-Loyd put the helmet on and helped Lil'Loyd's with his. "I already texted everyone, they'll meet us at the warehouse," he said as they climbed on the back behind Morro.

"Then that's where we'll go," said Morro. "Hang on."

And with that, they took off down the street.

At the warehouse and one explanation later, Morro sat on the couch with a stunned look on his face.

"Parallel worlds," said Morro slowly, looking between the two Lloyds. "Well, that's a new one."

The two counterparts exchanged glances and wry smiles, knowing he was right. With their lives, anything could happen.

"So, you don't know me yet?" Morro asked Lil'Loyd curiously.

"No, never seen you before," the little blond replied.

"He's seven," said Luh-Loyd with a shrug. "Like you said earlier, we didn't meet until I was eight."

Morro looked disappointed to hear they hadn't met his counterpart yet but then shrugged it off. "Well then, I'll have to make sure I make a good impression."

"By being a creeper? Yeah, great first impression," Lil'Loyd said in a sassy tone.

Morro blinked at him before his face broke into an amused grin. "Oh, I like you kid."

Lil'Loyd grinned. "Oh really?"

"Yup," said Morro. "Better than him when I first met him," he added jerking his head at Luh-Loyd.

"Hey!" squawked Luh-Loyd. "I wasn't that bad!"

Morro rolled his eyes, but his expression was fond. "You were a spineless doormat and a total shrimp," he said bluntly. "I had to save your butt from a concussion."

"Well, you were a grouch who was trying to be edgy and a sucky babysitter to boot," Luh-Loyd grumbled back. "And I'm the one who had to fix your smelly foot."

Morro threw back his head and laughed. Turning to Lil'Loyd, he said with a grin, "Fortunately for him, his spine eventually came in. Still a shrimp, though. Don't know what that says about your future growth."

Luh-Loyd groaned. "Seriously, still with that," he said. "I have grown you know. I'm not a shrimp anymore."

Morro stood up from the couch and very pointedly looked down at his cousin. "Not enough, Shrimp," he said with a smirk and reaching over to ruffle hair.

Lil'Loyd watched their antics in bemusement. It was clear they were fond of each other, and he was beginning to look forward to meeting Morro's counterpart.

It was then Kai came rushing in, the first to get back from the manhunt, and Lil'Loyd got his second lecture of the day along with a Kai Hug™.

Fortunately for him, Kai's lecture came to a swift halt when he caught sight of Morro standing by Luh-Loyd.

"Oh, Morro's back, great," he grumbled sarcastically, suddenly looking a lot more like his counterpart from Lil'Loyd's world.

Morro's grin shifted into a thinly veiled sneer. "Oh hey there, Pyro," he said. "Yeah, had a long weekend at college and thought I'd stop by to visit. Nice to see your eyebrows grew back."

Kai turned pink. The last time Morro had been in town was not long after they'd discovered their powers, and Kai had a rather embarrassing accident when experimenting with his. "Yeah, well, they did," he said. "By the way, Nya says hi, how did getting blasted by her feel?"

Morro winced slightly at the memory. During that same visit, he'd irritated Nya so much he ended up thoroughly soaked, and he liked water even less than Kai did. "Lovely," he said sarcastically. "You should try it sometime."

"I'll pass, thanks," Kai said dryly as the two continued to glare at each other.

Lil'Loyd stared between Kai and Morro in confusion, and Luh-Loyd let out an exasperated sigh. "Here we go again," he muttered. In a louder voice, he said, "Kai, Morro's the one who found Lil'Loyd. We were just filling him in on the whole multiverse thing."

Kai looked somewhat less irked by Morro's presence upon hearing that. "Didja tell him about the boosting thing yet?" he asked.

Before Morro could answer, Kai pressed on, eager to rub the new development in his face. "My bro here," he said going over to wrap a proud arm around Luh-Loyd's shoulder, "is able to boost our powers by a lot. Like, a lot a lot. You should see what I did to the desert after we figured it out. He's so cool."

Morro rolled his eyes at Kai. "Oh, you finally noticed?" he asked as if that should have been obvious from the start.

There was a beat of silence as they all stared at him.

"Wait, what?" asked Kai.

"You knew?" asked Luh-Loyd, looking equally surprised.

Morro rolled his eyes. "Shrimp, you were able to lift my scrawny butt when you were eight. A normal eight-year-old can't hold up a thirteen-year-old, much less carry them four blocks and up a couple flights of stairs to get home. Not to mention tons of other stuff I noticed over the years. If you're paying attention, it becomes pretty clear that whatever you believe about someone comes true."

Kai scowled at the implications he hadn't been paying enough attention to his best friend. "Wu told you, didn't he?" he deadpanned.

Morro startled with a caught expression, and he huffed and said, "He confirmed my suspicions," he said defensively.

"Yeah right, he so told you," argued Kai. It wouldn't be the first time Morro had been privy to something the Ninja Force didn't know by virtue of being Wu's ward.

The two glowered at each other like they'd start yelling any second.

Lil'Loyd looked up at his counterpart. "Are they always like this?" he asked.

Luh-Loyd looked resigned. "Unfortunately," he grumbled.

"Why?" Lil'Loyd asked. It was bewildering to see Buddy Kai act so confrontational.

Luh-Loyd rolled his eyes. "Something about proving who's the better big brother figure," he said in a tone saying that he'd long given up understanding them.

"Because I am!" both of the arguing pair snapped in unison, before glaring at each other once again.

Fortunately, before they could, the warehouse door opened again, and in walked Master Wu and Sensei Garmadon.

Seeing Kai and Morro once again at each other's throats, Master Wu took off his hat and tossed it through the air like a boomerang, smacking them both on the head before it returned to his hand.

"I certainly hope you are not arguing again," he said pointedly as he put his hat back onto his head.

"No, (Master) Wu," they both said, deliberately moving to different sides of the warehouse.

Master Wu knew they were lying, but decided to ignore it. "The rest of the Ninja Force has started their patrol of the city," he said to Luh-Loyd and Kai. "Perhaps it is best you two join them."

The two nodded and moved to change into their ninja gis.

Sensei Garmadon, however, was looking at Morro with a curious interest. "And who might you be?" he asked.

Morro had been studying him with a slightly disbelieving expression, Lil'Loyd had told him he'd come over with his father so this must be him, and he was no doubt taking in the stark difference between the Garmadons. At the question, he gave a cheeky grin and said, "I'm Morro, Wu's adopted son. You must be crazy Uncle Garmadon's counterpart, right? Wow, what a difference."

Sensei Garmadon tensed at that name, and recognition spread across his face along with something like pity.

Seeing this reaction, Master Wu turned to him in concern. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Lil'Loyd also looked on puzzled and the two Ninja Force members stepped out of the changing area in their gis to see what was wrong.

"Ah, no, it's just…" Sensei Garmadon said, looking like he was trying to find the words to break some bad news.

The rest of them exchanged glances. That couldn't be a good sign.

With a heavy sigh, Sensei Garmadon finally said, "I never had the chance to meet the Morro of our world. For us, Wu took him in several years ago, even before the Serpentine War. I was away from the monastery for training at the time, but Wu wrote to me about him in his letters."

Lil'Loyd's expression turned disappointed. "Aw, that means he's gotta be super old now," he said. He'd been looking forward to having a cousin close to his age.

The rest of them didn't miss the way Sensei Garmadon looked troubled at his words.

"What happened to him?" asked Luh-Loyd, glancing at his cousin in concern.

Morro himself looked like he was dreading the outcome.

"I'm afraid we don't know," said Sensei Garmadon regretfully. "I am not certain on the reasoning, it has always pained Wu too much to tell me it, but he and Morro had a disagreement which led to Morro running away. My brother attempted to give him a few days to calm down before searching for him, but by then he was nowhere to be found. He never heard from him again, and Wu has always feared that he might be…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

There was a heavy silence as they absorbed that information.

"Dude," Kai breathed, sending a sympathetic glance at Morro. He didn't like the guy but he never actually wanted anything bad to happen to him… well, not anything that bad.

Morro looked stricken at the news. "Oh, wow," he said, trying not to let it show how much this bothered him. "That's, uh, that's a lot."

"When did this happen? How old was he?" asked Master Wu as if worried the actions of that world would repeat themselves here.

"I do not know for certain," said Sensei Garmadon. "As far as I know, he was still a teenager when the events occurred, a rather young one at that."

"Well, that's… good, maybe," said Morro slowly, knowing 'good' wasn't really the right word for it. "I'm twenty-one, dodged that bullet. If I get mad at Wu, I'll just go back to college and complain about him on social media like most people do in the modern era."

Luh-Loyd was still sending his cousin worried glances, as was Wu.

"Perhaps you have," said Sensei Garmadon. "Hopefully, this, like many other things about this world, is different."

They lapsed into silence until a call over the ninja's radio from the rest of the Ninja Force asked if Kai and Luh-Loyd were joining them sometime this century.

Reluctantly, Luh-Loyd climbed onto his mech and flew out, but Morro could tell that after this he would be hovering for the rest of the visit.

Before climbing into his own mech, Kai grudgingly walked over to where Morro was still standing and working through the complex feelings that come when hearing another version of you might be dead.

"This is a one-time thing, and only because that was a nasty bomb that got dropped on you," the Fire Ninja said, making it clear he would not be doing this otherwise.

And then, to all of their surprise, he gave Morro a quick Kai Hug™.

He then was swift in letting go, jumping on his mech and rocketed out of the building as fast as it could go.

Morro stood frozen in shock, though now it was for a different reason.

"Best hug you ever got?" asked Lil'Loyd knowingly.

"Yes!" Morro groaned, knowing he couldn't compete with that. "Stupid, Spikey-Headed Pyro!"

Lil'Loyd snickered at his dismay. But, unfortunately for him, his amusement was short-lived as that was when he got lectures three and four from his father and Master Wu. And with Koko on her way over, there was still more to come.

Chapter Text

1, Who's Dareth?

Set right at the end of  The Grass is Always Greener.

"So you guys are rebuilding that place that was burning when I got here?" asked Luh-Loyd, looking up at the somewhat familiar building they had been working on when he suddenly arrived with Meowthra, much to all of their surprise.

Though, considering that Meowthra is a demon cat from another dimension, it should really be no surprise she could travel between them herself. She had to get to Luh-Loyd's Ninjago somehow.

"Yup, Dareth's Mojo Dojo," said Nya waving at the building.

"I train here when we're not training on the Bounty," said Lil'Loyd. "That's why Dad tried to burn it, to stop the prophecy."

"Well, he succeeded in that at least," said Kai. "Just not in the way he was thinking of."

"We were actually just telling the owner what that mess was about," said Cole.

Luh-Loyd blinked in surprise to hear that fact. "Weren't we going to keep the dimension jumping stuff a secret?" he asked.

"Yeah, but the owner's a friend," said Jay waving off the concern. "Besides, no one would believe him anyway."

Luh-Loyd glanced over at where Meowthra was giving a very petulant Ultra Dragon a bath. "I dunno, crazier stuff has happened."

The rest of them had to concede his point at that.

Fortunately, Dareth chose that moment to make his grand entrance. "So you must be the other Lloyd," he said, swaggering over to the group of ninja. "I'm sure you already know who I am."

Luh-Loyd looked surprised at that greeting, before saying, "Uh… no. Who are you?"

Dareth looked crushed to hear that, and Lil'Loyd snickered at the look on his face. It fell on Zane had to answer the question for him, "This is Dareth. He's our friend who owns this dojo."

The look on Luh-Loyd's face said he recognized the name, but before Dareth could get his hopes up again, the teenage Green Ninja said, "Oh right, Pep Zane found a trophy with your name on it after the switch. You guys forgot it when you left. I'll be sure to bring it back now that I know my cat can make the trip."

Dareth looked disappointed again but somewhat cheered up to hear he'd get his trophy back. "Well, thanks, I appreciate getting it back," he said. "But you really haven't heard of me at all?" he asked somewhat hopefully.

Luh-Loyd scrutinized the man. Given how his friend group extended only to his team and his family, there wasn't really anyone outside them he knew all that well. Did this guy ever blame him after a Garmadon attack?

"No," said Luh-Loyd, feeling relieved to say that. He had an unfortunately good memory when it came to people who'd yelled at him (or worse) for his dad in the past, which made things awkward when they now tried to approach him in a friendly manner. Fortunately, this man was never one of them. He'd definitely remember if a guy who looked like a chocolate Elvis yelled at him about sharks smashing his dojo.

Some of his relief must have leaked into his voice, which had them all look at him quizzically.

"Why are you saying it like that's a good thing?" asked Jay.

Luh-Loyd rubbed his arm. "Uh, it means Dad never trashed his place in my world," he said. "Or, if he did, he never blamed me for it."

Dareth blinked at that in puzzlement. "Why would other-me blame you for what your dad did? I don't even blame them for trashing my place, and them being here is the reason it got smashed and burned," he said, waving his hand at the local ninja. "I'm just glad they're helping fix it."

Luh-Loyd grinned hearing that. Now he was actually wanting to meet this guy's counterpart to see if he felt the same.

Then he realized he still had to answer the question, and his face fell a bit.

"Is it part of that 'everyone-used-to-hate-you' thing?" asked Lil'Loyd.

Luh-Loyd finally realized he was rubbing his arm again and stopped. "Uh, yeah," he admitted sheepishly. "People used to blame me when Dad smashed their stuff in his attacks. I wasn't exactly well-liked until it came out I was the Green Ninja."

Lil'Loyd snorted at that simplification. "Not well-liked?" he said. "They wrote a whole song about how much they hated you. On. Our. Birthday! It was popular!"

The local ninja and senseis were wondering if they should convince Luh-Loyd to stay in their world permanently.

"Well, good to know my counterpart has basic human decency," said Dareth, suddenly feeling glad Luh-Loyd had no idea who he was. "But too bad your world is lacking the awesomeness of the Brown Ninja," he added while striking a pose.

Luh-Loyd let out a small chuckle at that, he liked this guy. "I'll have to see about fixing that," he said.

2, Motormouths

"Ever get the feeling you've just created a monster?" asked Freckles Jay weakly.

"I believe that is the sensation I am feeling now, yes," Zen Zane replied.

"Are they even breathing?" asked Cliff Cole, starting to get worried.

"I am unable to tell," replied Pep Zane, who had been monitoring such in fascination.

It was Zen's idea initially. Upon finding out his counterpart's little brother was actually an adorable little chatterbox, he considered what would happen if he introduced him to the other chatterbox he knew.

He proposed the idea to Pep and Freckles, and they set about making the meeting happen.

And thus, the Zanes introduced Echo to Nick Jay just to see what would happen.

Cliff had only tagged along to see if someone could actually out talk Nick… He was starting to regret it now.

Unsurprisingly, the two friendly motormouths hit it off almost instantly and were thrilled to find someone who liked to talk just as much as they did.

As it was, they had now been talking for over three hours, and the speed of their voices had somehow steadily accelerated over that time, and they were now basically unintelligible to the four watching them, but seemed to understand each other just fine.

This might have continued on for all eternity, but Nick, at least, was human, and their discussion was brought to an abrupt halt when he suddenly swayed and nearly passed out.

Echo let out a very concerned cry at the sight of his new friend almost fainting in front of him, and the others rushed to his aid.

Turns out he had been talking so much he really had been neglecting to breathe.

Neither of those two was allowed to talk together without supervision after that.

3, Losing a Memory (Switch)

"You want me to modify you?" asked Dr. Julien, staring at his son's counterpart in surprise.

It had been a couple of weeks since he had met the nindroid affectionately nicknamed Zen Zane, and while the Ice Ninja of another world had grown quite close with their family, this request showed a level of trust he had not been expecting. This was not at all how he'd thought inviting him and his team over for tea would entail.

Zen glanced over his shoulder to make sure Pep Zane and Echo had not heard their father's question, but thankfully they were still preoccupied with introducing the other ninja to the intelligent computer who screeched in dial-up that nindroid brothers called Mom. He knew overtly speaking about their robotic nature tended to make Pep uncomfortable and defensive.

"Yes," he said once he was sure they hadn't been overheard. "There is a part of my system that I'd like to have removed if possible."

"But why?" asked Dr. Julien. What could he possibly want to be changed? While his parts were less advanced than what had been used to make his own sons, Zen was remarkably more lifelike than both of them combined. Not that that was a slight against his sons, they had simply not yet learned how to 'human' as well as Zen had.

Zen checked again to make sure his counterpart was sufficiently distracted and reached down to open up his chest plate and reveal the system of wires and switches inside it. He then pointed at one switch in particular.

Dr. Julien adjusted his glasses and leaned down to look at it. His heart sank as he read the label. "Memory?" he asked in bewilderment. "Why on Ninjago would my counterpart design you with a way to shut off your memory?"

"I do not know for certain," said Zen Zane. "And he is no longer there for me to ask. All I know is, he used this switch on his deathbed to save me from having to grieve him."

Zen then shut his panel, his face serious. "But I did not want to forget, nor do I ever want to lose my memory again. My first memories after he used that switch were… lonely. I was not aware of who or even what I was, only that I did not fit in anywhere. I truly do not know what would have happened to me if Sensei Wu had not found me. Even if I would not be aware of it, I do not wish to experience that again."

Dr. Julien hummed at his words and sat back in his chair. "I can understand that sentiment," he said. "And given your role as a ninja, there is also an element of danger due to having such a switch. Should your enemies discover it…"

The look Zen gave him made it clear he had thought of such a thing as well, and the worry it caused had undoubtedly kept him up at night.

Seeing this fear on a face nearly identical to his son's (and darn it if this boy wasn't becoming a third son to him already), Dr. Julien said, "Do you happen to have your original blueprints? While I suspect your build is quite similar to Pep's, I'll need to know all the specifics so that I don't make any mistakes. If that switch is truly connected to your memory, then one wrong move while removing it could cause the very thing you fear. We will need to be fully prepared."

Zen Zane's expression broke into a relieved smile upon hearing that. "Yes, I was able to recover my blueprints from my old home when I regained my memory. I will bring them to you on my next visit. Thank you so much," he said, sounding like a weight had been taken off his shoulders.

"Don't thank me until the job is done," said Dr. Julien, but despite that, he was smiling too.

He'd make sure he didn't fail.

Chapter Text

If there was one thing about having access to another dimension that Lord Garmadon took full advantage of, it was being able to go there to get out of his volcano without being caught violating his house arrest.

Hence why he had insisted on taking Luh-Loyd to the other Ninjago for a father-son fishing trip in his tacky shark-shaped fishing boat for Father's Day rather than risk being caught by the coast guard in their own world.

Of course, when Lil'Loyd heard about that, he begged his own father to let them come along, so that was two more in the boat.

It quickly became five on the boat when the local Kai had heard what they were planning, and insisted on coming along, despite clearly sharing his counterparts utter fear of water.

"Why?" asked Lord Garmadon in exasperation as Kai scrambled up to the crow's nest at the top of the shark fin of the boat (i.e. the farthest place he could be from the water while on the said boat).

"Why not?" said Kai, and refused to explain more.

Luh-Loyd seemed to know what he was doing and laughed at the sight. "Don't bother trying to talk him out of it," he said to Lil'Loyd when asked. "My Kai tried to do the same when he heard our plans. If he didn't already have plans with his own dad for today, he'd have come too. Even then, we had to distract him and ditch him on Meowthra to keep him from tagging along. It's his protective big brother tendencies."

Lil'Loyd snickered at that reasoning and the miserable picture Kai made while atop the crow's nest. Determined despite clearly wanting to be anywhere but there.

"Didn't Mr. Ray want to have Father's Day with you and Nya too?" the smaller Green Ninja called up to him, giving him a chance to back out and go to the other Ninjago.

Kai's face pinched slightly, and it wasn't from his discomfort. "He did," he admitted. "Nya's already on her way over there on Ultra. I was gonna go, but… it didn't feel right."

The Garmadon family exchanged glances, all hearing what the Master of Fire left unsaid. It didn't feel right for him to celebrate Father's Day with anyone but his own dad, not even a dimensional counterpart was quite the same.

"Well, you're welcome to join us, if you feel you must," Sensei Garmadon offered kindly, knowing there was no talking the stubborn Fire Ninja out of it.

"Thanks," Kai muttered and hunkered down in the crow's nest to be prepared for a miserable trip.

Just as they were about to depart, something caught Lil'Loyd's eye and he elbowed his counterpart to get his attention.

Luh-Loyd looked up and saw Zane watching them prepare to go from the Bounty, his expression wistful. It was clear that like Kai, Zane was wishing he could spend the holiday with his real father, and didn't feel right replacing him with the other Dr. Julien, no matter how much he genuinely liked him, Pep Zane and Echo.

A silent agreement passed between the two blondes, and Luh-Loyd waved his hand to get the attention of the nindroid. "Hey, Zane! There's room for one more!"

"Wanna come?" asked Lil'Loyd.

Behind them, Sensei Garmadon smiled proudly, Kai sighed in relief knowing Zane could make ice floats should anything happen to the boat, while Lord Garmadon let out a groan and muttered complaints about "Stupid hitchhikers keep multiplying," under his breath.

Zane, meanwhile, perked up at the offer and was quick to join them. "Thank you, if I won't be intruding, it does sound like a lot of fun."

"The more the merrier," said Luh-Loyd.

"It was supposed to be a father-son trip," Lord Garmadon grumbled, but no one paid him any mind. Once they were out on the open water, Luh-Loyd went over to have his father teach him how to do some random fishing technique, and the attention cheered up the former warlord.

Things went well for the next few hours. There was sufficient father-son bonding with the Garmadon family, and Zane seemed to be enjoying himself as well, his fellow blondes going out of their way to make sure he didn't feel like a third (or in this case, fifth?) wheel. With all the fish they'd managed to catch, the nindroid was eager to speculate what recipes he would cook them with.

The only one not happy was, of course, Kai. He was trying his hardest not to complain and ruin the fun for everyone else, but his discomfort was practically wafting down from the crow's nest, and they all couldn't help but feel bad for him.

Even Lord Garmadon.

"Why did you even come if you're afraid of water?" he asked rudely up to the Master of Fire in his poor attempt to show concern. They'd been having a dry spell on catching fish for a while, and he brought it up to pass the time.

"Gotta protect the Lloyds!" Kai called back.

There was a beat as everyone absorbed that.

"I'm sorry, what?" asked Sensei Garmadon, looking bewildered.

Kai rolled his eyes. "Well, one gets kidnapped at the drop of a hat."

"HEY!" shouted Lil'Loyd indignantly.

"And the other is a total monster magnet," added Kai matter of factly.

"I am not a-!" Luh-Loyd started to say.

But before he could even finish the statement, a mass of tentacles suddenly burst out of the water just beside their boat, and one of them snatched up Lil'Loyd.

"Told ya!" shouted Kai as he raced down the ladder towards the action, sending fireballs at various tentacles as he went.

Luh-Loyd was too busy trying to grab Lil'Loyd back to comment.

Despite the danger, Lord Garmadon grinned. "Now this is a fishing trip!" he cheered, pulling a massive sword seemingly out of nowhere, and attacking the tentacle clutching Lil'Loyd. The little blond tumbled free, and Kai and Luh-Loyd caught him before he hit the deck of the boat.

The tentacles, meanwhile, writhed at the attack and ducked back below the sea, their owner letting out an angry groaning sound from beneath the waves.

They all got ready in case the tentacle monster tried to attack again, but then the sound of laughter caught them by surprise.

All of a sudden, what looked like starfish with fangs started launching themselves out of the water and attacking the boat.

"Starteeth!" said Sensei Garmadon, using his staff to smack some away from the boat.

"What are starteeth?" asked Zane, following his example and batting the fish away.

"Misako has warned me of these things," Sensei Garmadon replied. "They are nasty creatures that devour ships. Do not let them on board."

"Coooool!" said Lord Garmadon with a wide grin, reminding them all of his love for vicious ocean life.

"Oh, great," groaned Kai, not liking the idea of their boat sinking due to some bitey fish.

"Perhaps I can dissuade them," said Zane, grabbing the railing of the boat and coating the hull with a layer of jagged ice to serve as both protection and cover any damage they may have caused.

The laughter quickly dissipated as the starteeth seemed to not like the cold, and left to find easier prey.

The tentacle monster was not so easily discouraged. As they all heard it's groaning cry again, they knew it would soon come back.

"Luh-Loyd now would be a really good time for you to do that monster tamer thing I heard so much about," Lil'Loyd said as the tentacles appeared again.

Luh-Loyd looked around at the tentacles, and the owner of them stared back from eyeballs set into the suction cups of one. Well, if it got them out of this mess without anyone, including the monster, getting hurt, he was all for it.

"It's a leviathan!" said Lord Garmadon, sounding even more excited as he finally recognized it. "Like that mech I had once! Remember, Luh-Loyd! Oh, you thought those star-things were bad, they got nothing on this bad boy! I've always wanted to have one of these around the volcano, but they'd out eat the sharks, so… Nah. Can't have my sharks starving to feed one."

"So they eat fish?" said Luh-Loyd, wondering if it could smell their catches and was just hungry.

"Eh, they should," said his father, not particularly caring that it might be interested in eating them.

As the tentacles surrounded the ship, and Luh-Loyd hurried to the fish freezer, grabbed out two of the biggest catches they'd gotten, carried them to the edge and offered them out, speaking in a calm tone and offering assurances the entire time.

The tentacle with the eyeballs blinked at him before slowly coming over to take the fish from his hands and tug them below the waves. The monster then let out a loud groan and reached up for more.

Feeding it another fish, Luh-Loyd carefully patted at some of the more curious tentacles and said, "I don't think it really wants to hurt us. It's just hungry."

"We have not caught any fish for some time before it found us," said Sensei Garmadon thoughtfully. "Perhaps these waters are avoided by them due to its presence. Aside from starteeth, due to being poisonous and inedible."

"Oh, that is awesome. The poison part, not the leviathan having nothing to eat part, that's a darn shame," said Lord Garmadon, and they could all tell he was going to look up if they had starteeth in his world as well.

"Then why doesn't it leave?" asked Kai, who was still hovering protectively over Lil'Loyd, not letting him close to any of the tentacles despite being much more docile now. "Swim away and find someplace with more fish."

Zane, who had been peering over the side, spotted a massive chain attached to one of its tentacles. "It can't!" he said in realization, pointing it out to the others. "Look! Someone has trapped it here. It can't leave, and must be starving."

They all hurried over to look and saw he was right.

Zane glanced at Luh-Loyd and asked, "Could you keep it calm for a few minutes?"

Luh-Loyd blinked in surprise but nodded. "Sure," he said, still patting at the tentacles. He then made to give it another fish, getting another happy sound in response.

Zane then walked over to Lord Garmadon and plucked his giant sword from his hands. "I'll need to borrow this," he said, and before the former warlord could protest, the nindroid dove over the side of the boat and into the water, following the chain beneath the waves.

The leviathan seemed agitated when it saw this, but Luh-Loyd gave it another fish and patted it's tentacles to calm it down.

"Don't give it all the fish," Lord Garmadon grumbled.

"We can catch more, Dad," said Luh-Loyd with a roll of his eyes.

A second later, the chained tentacle rose up out of the water and shook itself to show it had been cut free. Zane resurfaced not long after, and they pulled him back onto the boat.

"Thank you," he said, handing the sword back to Lord Garmadon.

The former warlord only grumbled in reply and hurried to dry it off. Swords could be very finicky when wet, and he didn't want it ruined.

Now free, the leviathan stayed long enough to pat both Luh-Loyd and Zane on the head in thanks, before it swam off to find better fishing waters.

"Well, that's our good deed for the day," said Luh-Loyd, waving as it left.

"But why was it here?" asked Lil'Loyd, coming to the side to watch it go. "Who chained it up in the first place?"

"I believe we're about to find out," said Sensei Garmadon, and they turned to see what he was looking at.

The boat was now drifting towards a large rock jutting out of the sea with a lighthouse set at the top of it.

"It's a prison," said Zane in surprise. "The leviathan must have been chained here to guard it."

"Well, we're about to find out who the guest of honor is," said Lord Garmadon, having finished drying his sword and was testing the boat's controls as they continued to drift to shore. "That ice shell you gave us jammed the rudder, and we can't steer for spit until it melts."

"My apologies," said Zane.

When the boat ran aground, they climbed off and made their way up the path to the lighthouse, curious to see just who had needed a leviathan to guard them, and why.

Despite the fact it was clearly not a pleasant place to be, Kai instantly perked up at being off the boat with solid ground beneath his feet. He still kept close to both Lloyds, however, set on their continued protection. For all they knew, some dangerous criminal had been banished out here, and they just freed their guard.

The rest of them seemed to follow that line of thinking as well, with them all being on guard for any sneak attacks. This led to Zane taking the front, Sensei Garmadon, Kai and Luh-Loyd hovering protectively around their smallest member in the middle, and Lord Garmadon taking the rear with his giant sword.

They finally made it to the front door of the lighthouse, and a security camera above the entrance twitched and zoomed in on them. Whoever it belonged to definitely knew they were there.

Zane stepped forward to knock on the door, and the rest of them held their breaths.

The instant before Zane could hit the wood the door suddenly burst open, giving them enough time to see a bespectacled old man standing in the opening before he grabbed Zane's hand and yanked him inside, slamming the door shut behind him and there was the sound of a lock sliding into place.

It all happened so fast, they could only blink in incomprehension for a split second, before Kai was banging at the door himself, demanding the man give his friend back before he burned the place down.

"Dr. Julien?" asked Luh-Loyd in surprise.

Kai stopped his banging and turned to look at him. "What?"

"That was Dr. Julien," said Luh-Loyd, having recognized him. "He's Zane's dad!"

"But I thought Zane's dad was supposed to be dead here?" said Lil'Loyd in bewilderment.

"And now we get to fight a zombie," said Lord Garmadon with a grin. "Best. Fishing. Trip. EVER!"

"How is it we are counterparts again?" said Sensei Garmadon, shaking his head with a groan.

Behind the door, they overheard Zane coming to the same conclusion they did. "You! But- but I saw you-"

"Yes, yes, I know Zane," said an elderly voice that probably belonged to Dr. Julien. For some reason, he sounded slightly panicked. "I'm glad you found your memory switch, and it's so wonderful to see you again! Now quick, come with me before they get in!"

"Why?" Zane asked, sounding utterly confused. "Why did you just lock out my friends? What are you-?"

"That man isn't your friend, Zane!" insisted Dr. Julien, and from the scrambling sounds they heard, it sounded like he was trying to drag Zane elsewhere. "That is Lord Garmadon! He is evil beyond comprehension!"

"He was," Zane confirmed. "But he is better now. Both of them are."

"What?" asked Dr. Julien, and it seemed Zane took advantage of his confusion to snag the key and reopen the door. Seeing his friends looking just as bewildered as he was, he stepped aside to let them come in.

Kai, the Lloyds, and Sensei Garmadon all were able to come in, but just before Lord Garmadon could, Dr. Julien rushed forwards to slam the door again.

"OW!" cried the interdimensional ex-villain as it closed in front of him. "THAT WAS MY FACE!" he yelled as he began banging on the door.

Dr. Julien then turned back to Zane, and insisted, "I do not know what that man has told you, Zane, but he lied! He's the reason I was trapped here! He's not your friend!"

Zane gasped and turned to look at Sensei Garmadon, knowing his father was actually talking about him rather than his counterpart.

Sensei Garmadon shook his head in denial, looking just as lost as he was. As far as he recalled, he had never ordered the imprisonment of the scientist. He ruefully realized that if he had, then he would have surely used it against the ninja in some way when he was evil.

"He's not really Zane's friend, but he is my dad, and that was rude," said Luh-Loyd, moving to open the door again.

"He's also not who you think he is," added Kai. "He's a real jerk, but he isn't the jerk who trapped you here. That was a different jerk."

"I heard that," grumbled Lord Garmadon with a glare as his son let him in.

Dr. Julien looked terrified at the sight of him, and once again tried to drag Zane away from him.

"Father, please, it is alright," insisted Zane, trying to calm him down.

"He's right, we're just on a fishing trip, no one here's gonna hurt you," said Lil'Loyd.

"Indeed," said Sensei Garmadon. "I do not know what past transgression I made that led to your imprisonment, but if it was so, then the fault lies with me, not him."

Dr. Julien seemed to realize for the first time how small Lil'Loyd was, and not exactly the type of person you bring along when attacking someone. He also couldn't seem to understand why Sensei Garmadon was taking the blame for the matter.

Seeing the scientist was still lost, Zane took him by the hand and led him up the lighthouse stairs. "Why don't we sit down so we can explain everything."

Taking a seat at a table at the top of the lighthouse, Dr. Julien explained how he survived past when Zane's memories were shut off and why he was trapped on this rock. Zane in turn (with a few introjections from Kai and the Lloyds, and several from Lord Garmadon) explain who the counterparts were, and how they came to be there, and how both Garmadons were not evil anymore.

After hearing his tale, Sensei Garmadon came to the realization the Skulkin must have abducted the inventor to build them weapons to overthrow him back when they were under his rule. With Samukai's defeat, there had been no one aware of his location to free him or the leviathan afterward.

Unfortunately, Dr. Julien wasn't buying it.

"Alternate dimensions?" he asked. "Preposterous. It's just a theory, and one with no way to prove it."

"It is true," Zane insisted. "The Lloyds and Garmadons are the same people, but different versions of them from alternate worlds."

Dr. Julien looked over at the two sets of counterparts skeptically. Belatedly, they all realized they weren't exactly the best sets of counterparts to give as examples. Despite their resemblance, the Lloyds had too much of an age gap between them to be mistaken for the same person, and with Sensei Garmadon cured he and Lord Garmadon couldn't look more different.

Seeing this, Zane reached into his pocket to pull out his phone and displayed the lock screen. "Perhaps this will provide better proof," he said. "This is of me and my own counterpart."

Dr. Julien took the phone and looked at it. His eyes then widened behind his glasses, and he took them off to clean them and looked again.

Curious, the others leaned over to see what the picture was of.

In it was Zen Zane and Pep Zane standing mirrored to each other in identical dabs, and in between the two of them stood Echo, grinning at the camera in a T pose.

Luh-Loyd couldn't help but give a snort at the sight. "Of course it's a meme," he said to himself. "Seriously, Zane?"

"I admit I did not get the joke, but he was quite insistent," said Zane with a shrug and a smile.

"We've got more pictures if you want more proof," offered Kai, pulling out his own phone

Dr. Julien, meanwhile, didn't seem to hear him and grew ashen. "The small one there," he said, still focusing on Zane's picture. "He is…"

Zane glanced down at it, and said, "Oh, that is my counterpart's little brother, Echo."

Dr. Julien paled even further. "I forgot him again!" he shouted and hurried down the stairs.

"Forgot who?" asked Zane, taking off after him, leaving the rest at the top of the lighthouse.

Dr. Julien merely raced back down the lighthouse stairs and pulled a lever to open a secret basement.

Seeing who was inside the room had Zane freeze in the doorway and stare.

Sitting patiently on a crate in the middle of a room full of spare parts was another nindroid. While the same design as Zane, he was bronze and lacked the skin covering that Zane had, and appeared to be rusting at a rapid pace from the moist ocean air.

"Is it safe?" asked the nindroid in a voice similar to Zanes, but in an echoing, slightly higher pitch.

Dr. Julien let out a sad sigh, and said, "Yes, I am so sorry. How long have you been hiding?"

"Three days," said the nindroid, not sounding at all upset about that fact. He then caught sight of Zane and looked like he wanted to run and hide.

"It's alright," said Dr. Julien. "He is safe too. We're safe."

The nindroid relaxed slightly, and turned to Zane and said, "Hello, I am Zane, built to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

Zane let out a chuckle, not resenting his father for building another nindroid to keep him company. The isolation couldn't have been kind to him. "Hello," he said in a friendly tone. "I am also Zane, the Master of Ice, and I was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves as well."

The bronze Zane's eyes widened. "You are the first Zane? Big Brother?" he said in realization, running over to hug Zane so hard he knocked them both to the floor.

While Zane had known from the start who this had to be, this just confirmed it. "It is nice to meet you, too," he said, helping the rusting nindroid back to his feet. "May I call you Echo?"

Echo Zane beamed.

"I'm sorry," said Dr. Julien, looking guilty. "I missed you so much, Zane. I built Z-Echo to keep me company while I was here." His face then fell even further. "But the tea Samukai used to revive me did not come without its consequences. I find I can not retain new memories beyond my temporary death without constant reminders. But with the leviathan constantly bearing down on us, I had to hide Echo so he would not be found, and then… I would forget he was there, sometimes for days at a time," he admitted, looking very distraught over that fact.

Echo moved over to pat Dr. Julien on the shoulder, showing he didn't hold it against him.

"It is alright, Father," said Zane, coming over to stand at his other shoulder. "I don't begrudge you wanting company. And now I have both my father back, and a new little brother. I couldn't be happier."

Dr. Julien smiled and pulled the three of them in a hug.

"Aww," they heard someone coo from above.

They glanced up to see the five clearly-eavesdropping other guests of the lighthouse scramble to get out of sight before they ruined the moment.

Dr. Julien chuckled at their antics. "What lively friends you have, Zane," he said. He glanced at the older nindroid curiously. "Those two are really from another world?" he asked, knowing there was no way Zane could have known about Echo otherwise.

"Yes, they are," said Zane to both. "They're all a bit strange, but they're a welcoming family that I'm happy to be part of, and I know they would want you both to be part of it too."

Echo looked eager and nodded rapidly.

Dr. Julien smiled and the three of them headed back up the stairs. "I think I'd like that."

Chapter Text

Red Nya frowned in concentration from where she was perched on a stepping stone, trying to keep the water in the bucket in front of her as she lifted it from the rushing river.

However, the water in the bucket immediately drained out of the hole in the bottom.

Red let out a growl of frustration.

She heard a giggle behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder to the source of the sound.

"I don't see why you're laughing, you're not doing much better," Red said.

Cyan Nya glanced down at her own bucket, and she reached down to make the water ripple and slowly fill it, but it took a ton of concentration and nowhere near the effortless flood she could make when her team leader was nearby.

Red gave her a pointed look.

"Still doing better than you," said Cyan just as pointedly as her bucket reached one-sixteenth full.

Red scowled in response.

The two had agreed to take an afternoon to practice their water powers by a river in Red Nya's world. They wanted to train without Luh-Loyd's influence making their power effortless and actually use their own abilities to make it work. Something both girls struggled with due to their current lack of True Potential. They were both hoping that doing so might give insight on what their obstacle to it could be.

So far though, it had just been an exercise in patience

Red glared down at her bucket as if it was its fault her powers weren't working.

Cyan snickered at the younger girl's surliness. "Come on, you have to learn how to use them," she said encouragingly. "You act like you've never had a hard time with something before."

"That's 'cause I haven't!" Red burst out.

Cyan did a doubletake and the water she'd managed to lift fell back out of the bucket. "Wait, really?"

"Well, nothing that wasn't worth doing," Red admitted with a frown.

Cyan shook her head at that response, seeing between the lines. "Meaning if you aren't good at it, then it's not worth doing."

Red's scowl deepened, not liking her logic getting holes poked in it. "What about you?" she retaliated. "You can't tell me you enjoy being bad at stuff?"

"Actually…" said Cyan slowly, making Red stare at her in disbelief.

"No way," said Red.

"I like the challenge," said Cyan with a shrug. "Not being good at something means it will be oh so much more satisfying when I do get good at it."

"Like what?" asked Red, looking curious, having never thought of it that way before.

"Like surfing," said Cyan with a grin at the memory.

"Surfing?" asked Red. "You were bad at surfing?"

"Yeah, crazy right, the Water Ninja being bad at something like that," said Cyan. "But way back before I knew about my powers, I sucked at it at the start. But I kept trying, partly because it looked cool and I wanted to do it, and partly because doing it freaked Kai out. Now, powers or no powers, I can surf in competitions. I've never won one, but I still get pretty far in."

"Huh," said Red, and turned back to her bucket and tried to fill it again with renewed vigor.

Still not a drop of water moved from the river, no matter how hard she tried, even as Cyan began refilling hers again at a snail's pace.

Finally, just when Red was looking like she was going to pop with frustration, Cyan said, "Why don't we call it a day."

Red was more than happy to do so, and chucked her bucket into the stream and ran across the stepping stones to shore with a shout of, "FREEDOM!"

Cyan laughed at her antics and hopped across the stones to retrieve Red's bucket before following her.

Unfortunately, the bucket had landed in the river and got caught under a rapid away from any of the stones, and Cyan reached for it as close as she could get, but couldn't quite grab it no matter how hard she strained.

Seeing this from the shore, Red called, "Need some help?" as she reluctantly hopped back on the stepping stones.

"No, I have it!" Cyan called back, shifting forwards on the closest rock to try and reach a little bit further.

She clearly didn't have it, and Red hopped a little closer. "You sure?" she asked as she made her way over the stepping stones.

"I've got it, no worries," Cyan insisted, not even looking back at Red as she leaned further and further over the rushing water trying to reach the bucket just out of reach.

"You're going to fall in," said Red in concern. With their powers weakened without Luh-Loyd there, if she fell in by the rapids she could hit her head and be swept away.

"I'm not going to fall in!" Cyan snapped.

Red looked at her startled, and Cyan seemed to realize what she'd done, and glanced back apologetically. "Sorry, but I've got it," she said, turning back to the stuck bucket and reached out again. "Just a little more…"

She shifted forwards a little more. She felt the bucket under her hand and scraped the side to find some purchase to pull it in. Not finding any, she leaned out a little more to get a better grip…

And slipped!

Cyan let out a yelp as she lost her balance and started to pitch forward towards the strong current.

At the last second, she felt a hand snag the back of her gi, and halt her descent so close to the water she could feel the stream splash at her face.

Red let out a grunt as she heaved Cyan back onto the rock, with Cyan managing to snag the bucket before she did so, sending it and them sprawling on the rock in a heap.

"Thanks," said Cyan as they got back up.

"You know you can ask for help," said Red as she brushed herself off. "You're less likely to get swept away that way.

Cyan cracked a grin. "I'll keep that in mind, but what's life without a little risk, huh?"

Red looked at her like she was crazy. "Let's just get out of here," she said finally. "I'm sick of this river."

"Sick of your own element," Cyan teased as they hopped along the rocks back to shore. "Not a good sign for the future."

"Oh, haha," said Red sarcastically. And the two dissolved into teasing banter as they headed away from the river and back towards home.

But in the back of their minds, both realized they had an inkling what each other's hinderance to their True Potential might be, even if they didn't see it in themselves.

Now they just had to wait until the other both realized it too.

Chapter Text

Dr. Indiana Jones was doing what he always did when between adventures.

Teaching Archeology 101 at Marshall College.

He was in the middle of a lecture on the factual aspects of Arthurian Legends when he noticed two boys in the back of the class that were not his students.

They were roughly the same age. Black hair that was on the shaggy side (though one had longer hair than the other and was the main difference between them), thick eyebrows, and strong builds. They looked too much alike to not be related. At the very least they were cousins, but from how they were close to identical, they were more likely brothers if not fraternal or even identical twins. But what stood out about them the most was that they were both too young to be college students.

It wasn't unheard of that overachieving high school students would sit in on lectures in hopes of better preparing their minds for when they were in college themselves, but these two didn't look the type, nor had they brought anything to take notes with.

There was just something about the two that set his teeth on edge. Most people would shrug it off as adolescents being odd, but given that his life was what it was… yeah, he had every right to be paranoid. Those two didn't belong, so why were they here?

Still, he didn't say anything. He had a class to teach, and if nothing else, he figured he could handle two teenagers if they caused trouble.

So despite the occasional glance in their direction, Indiana finished his lesson without incident. It wasn't until the students who were supposed to be there began filing out of the lecture hall that the two approached him.

"Um, Dr. Jones," asked the boy with slightly shorter hair. "We, uh, could we ask you a question."

Indiana regarded them with a keen eye for any hidden weapons. Seeing none, he replied, "That is what I'm here for. A large part of teaching is answering questions."

The boy who spoke grinned and shot the other a hopeful look. The other, longer-haired boy said nothing and kept his face nonchalant, but his stance betrayed his nervousness.

Not seeming bothered by his companion's silence, the first boy said, "I'm Cole. Er, Cliff Cole. Cliff is my first name. And this is my cousin DJ. We, uh, we wanted to know more about the Holy Grail."

DJ gave a small wave and nod, but still said nothing.

Indiana had to suppress a jerk at the mention of the grail. It hadn't been all that long ago he'd watched it tumble into the abyss with Elsa, only for Elsa to reappear later perfectly fine and no grail in sight.

"Why would you want to ask about that?" Indiana asked in a forced even tone.

DJ spoke up for the first time to remark dryly, "You mentioned it in your lecture."

So he had, but that couldn't be the only reason.

After staring them down a bit, Cliff finally relented and added, "Also, we looked it up, and you apparently are one of the people who's supposed to know the most about it, so if there's anyone to ask, it would be you."

That was also true. The only people who might possibly know more were his father, who was out of the country on vacation (after nearly dying in their adventure, he deserved one), and Elsa, who was in prison for being a Nazi.

"Well, there's not much more to tell you, boys," said Indiana. "The Holy Grail is often featured in King Arthur's stories as something he and his knights search for. Exactly who found the grail can differ between the century the version of the story was written or just which knight the author of the story liked best. But, supposedly, they found it and hid it away so only the worthy could find it."

Despite asking about it, both Cliff and DJ seemed uninterested in the brief history lesson.

"But what does it do?" asked DJ bluntly.

"Do?" asked Indiana, thrown off by the question.

DJ shrugged. "It's a cup a lot of people want, but why? What does it do?"

Indiana eyed him up and down. "Why do you want to know?" he asked.

"I'm thinking of writing a song," DJ replied without missing a beat. "I want my facts to be straight."

That was a lie, even if DJ didn't outwardly give any hint of dishonesty, Cliff's bewildered looks at that excuse gave it away.

Despite the lie, Indiana didn't see the harm in answering. "Well, the reason most wanted it was that it was supposedly the key to eternal life. It's miracle waters can heal any illness or injury and if drunk from regularly, can allow a person to live forever."

Cliff nodded along, looking interested, but DJ still seemed unsatisfied. "How long does it last?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" asked Indiana, once again thrown off by the line of questioning.

DJ nonchalant facade cracked as he frowned slightly. "Like, hypothetically," he said slowly, "if I had the grail and cured someone who was sick or poisoned, would they be cured for good or would the illness come back eventually?"

Cliff's eyes widened as if DJ's words caused something to occur to him.

Indiana pretended to think before answering the question. So that's why these boys were interested. They had someone, or possibly multiple someones, in their lives who was dying, and had taken the story of the grail as hope to save them, but were trying to be sure it would work first.

But they were just teenagers, and who knew where in the world the grail even was anymore. When Elsa had come to, it was clear that despite her survival without a scratch she must have hit her head at some point, as she'd spouted insane tales of boys in pajamas who were on fire without being burned and that could turn into tornados and claimed they had run off with the grail. Still, with the company she kept, it wasn't unlikely some unsavory characters had their hands on it now. If these kids went after the grail it would likely cost them their lives.

Brave as they were to seek it out, he couldn't let them die for it.

"Look, I'm going to be honest with you boys," said Indiana. "The grail is real. I've seen it. I saw it save my father from a gunshot wound, and then I saw it fall down a crevice of the temple it was hidden in and was likely crushed down there." Okay, he was lying a little bit about that last part.

The boys exchanged a glance at that.

"Could it have cured whoever you're 'hypothetically' talking about, probably, it cured everything," Indiana continued. "But it's gone now, and can't ever be tested. As for your question on how long it lasts, that's hard to say, as I never saw it tested as such. My father's gunshot wound hasn't returned, so maybe it would have worked permanently. However, when I found it, it was guarded by an actual Arthurian knight who had been taking it to stay alive and died when the temple collapsed, so we can't question him about it. Considering he had to continuously drink from the cup, it's possible it needs to be taken regularly, but at this point, there's simply no way to know for sure."

Cliff now seemed to have something like recognition in his eyes, and Indiana figured he must have connected him to some of the other tales about him. DJ, however, looked grim but determined. It looks like he hadn't put them off searching for it after all.

With a sigh, Indiana said, "Look, kids, I get you're trying to help someone, and that's noble of you both. But You're better off trying to help whoever it is another way. Take it from someone who knows, ancient mystical artifacts are way more trouble than they're worth."

Cliff let out a loud snort of laughter at that, and even DJ cracked a grin. "Yeah, no kidding," Cliff said in a tone that was just a little too knowing for Indiana's taste.

"Any other questions?" asked Indiana.

Both boys shook their heads. "No, that clears things up," said Cliff brightly. "Thanks, Dr. Jones."

"Yeah, thanks," muttered DJ more softly, but no less sincerely as they turned to leave.

Indiana took a seat at his desk to prepare for his next class, but as he glanced up at the boys before they left the room, he noticed something just before the door shut behind them.

Specifically, he noticed the back of Cliff's jacket.

A jacket bearing the image of what looked to be a dragon head made of rocks.

Exactly like one of the dragon symbols on the note pinned to Elsa when he found her without the grail.

Surging to his feet, Indiana Jones raced after the boys with a shout of, "WAIT!"

But by the time he burst out the door and searched the hall, the boys were gone.

As if they had vanished into thin air.

"So you're going to give it to Mo-er-your mom?" asked Cliff Cole as they climbed onto the back of the Ultra Dragon to leave that world.

"Yeah," said DJ Cole softly as he sat behind his counterpart. "And we can keep an eye on her and Sensei G to see if the symptoms come back. But if it can help her, even if she has to keep taking it, it'll be worth it to see her healthy again."

Cliff held Ultra's reins limply in his hands as he looked wistfully up into the sky. "Yeah," he muttered, undoubtedly wishing he'd had the grail sooner.

"You can call her mom, you know," added DJ, making Cliff jolt out of his thoughts. "She wouldn't mind. Or be like some of the others and call her Aunt Gabby."

"I know, but…" Cliff said, both wanting to call her mom, but not wanting to disrespect the memory of his own. "I'll… I'll think about it."

DJ shrugged. "No rush. Do what makes you happy."

Cliff gave him a small smile. "Well, right now what would make me happy is seeing her healthy again," he said, cracking the reins so Ultra would lift off. "Let's go give her that grail and do it."

DJ gave a determined nod in agreement, and they vanished through the portal.

Chapter Text

Kai was awoken to the familiar sound of a yardstick slapping the top of his desk and an irritated voice yelling, "WAKE UP!"

Kai's head snapped up and he did his best to look like he hadn't just been jolted awake. "I'm up! I wasn't even asleep! I never sleep!" he said automatically. It was an ingrained response by now as it was far from the first time he'd fallen asleep in class.

Kai then paused as something occurred to him.

Wait? Why was he in class? The last thing he remembered was going to bed last night. Had he been that out of it this morning that he couldn't even remember it?

Kai reached up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and paused when he caught sight of his sleeve.

Specifically, his pajama sleeve.

Oh no, did he seriously go to school in his pajamas? Unless it happened to be 'Pajama Day' at school, he was in for a humiliating day. Maybe he could change into his ninja gi or gym clothes after this class.

Still, it was weird he'd made it all the way to school without Nya or one of their friends catching him and pointing it out so he could change. Were they playing a joke on him?

Things got even weirder when he looked up from his desk and was bewildered to see Lord Garmadon standing in the place of the teacher, still holding a yardstick ready to whack the desk (or him) to make sure he was awake.

Seeing he was definitely up, Lord Garmadon moved back to the front of the classroom. "Well, now that everyone is paying attention, let's start the class."

Kai watched him, unsure of what to do. A quick glance around the room showed that the rest of the students were the former warlord's bored-looking generals all dressed in their various sea creature costumes.

This had to be a crazy dream, right?

Garmadon reached blackboard at the front of the room and pulled down a screen and started the projector.

"Okay, students, welcome to Bodyguarding 101," said Garmadon pointing at the screen with his yardstick (and not seeming to notice the powerpoint on it was upside-down). "The class where I whip you lazy bums into shape to better protect those who need it. Be ready to cry blood, sweat, and tears for it, losers. Anyone who wants out, say so now."

Okay, definitely a dream. This was some kind of weird not-quite-nightmare-but-bizarre-enough-to-be-unnerving dream. There was no way this was actually happening to him.

Well, given that it was a dream, Kai could do whatever he wanted, right? Such as turning Dream-Garmadon down in a way that irked him. There must be something he could do to rattle him in ways he couldn't in reality. He could have fun with this.

With that thought in mind, Kai opened his mouth to give a sassy comment as he declined to take the class. Probably something about Garmadon's usual stupid helmet, or how he seemed to actually be attempting to dress the part of a teacher complete with a graduation cap on his head, or if he really wanted him to blow his top, bring up how Wu was the better teacher of the two.

But just before any words left his lips, he froze.

Wait, what if this was a mistake? What if shooting his mouth off turned sour? Just because this wasn't a nightmare didn't mean it couldn't turn into one. Things were weird right now, but they weren't bad.

What if he made things worse?

Kai sighed and rested his head on his elbow. He wished Lloyd or Nya were in this dream. They'd know what to do.

Lord Garmadon seemed to take Kai's and the generals' silence as agreement, and said, "Good choice, I'd have fired anyone who said 'no'."

He then turned back to his powerpoint, and seemed to realize it was upside-down, and quickly righted it.

"Right, Bodyguarding 101," he said, clicking the powerpoint to the next slide. "First thing you need to know…"

To Kai's surprise, the lessons were actually useful. While often poorly phrased and littered with insults at the students, Garmadon actually seemed to know what he was talking about. Especially since it was clear the main goal of these bodyguarding lessons was to protect the Lloyds from danger. That was something Kai could get behind since his little bros needed all the help they could get. Dream or not, this was useful stuff.

So Kai spent his surprisingly long dream learning to identify suspicious characters, how to plan escape routes the moment he walked into a room, and (the one thing he didn't need to learn) to prioritize the one he was guarding over himself.

Also, getting to learn some new takedown moves while sparring against the generals wasn't so bad either.

Maybe this wasn't such a bad dream after all. Still weird, though.

Kai was paying attention to the last lesson of the day (which was how to detect poisons in food) when the door was suddenly kicked in, startling them all.

Standing in the doorway, looking worried sick, was Lloyd.

"Excellent destructive instincts, Luh-Loyd, but you do know that door was unlocked, right," said Garmadon, not looking too concerned Lloyd was there.

Lloyd didn't seem to hear him as he was too busy looking frantically around the classroom.

When his green eyes fell on Kai, his expression turned into an odd combination of relieved and irritated.

Then, taking a leaf out of Nya's book, Lloyd tackled Kai right out of his desk

"Kai! There you are! We've been looking all over for you!" Lloyd said while Kai lay dazed on the floor, he then shot his father a glare. "Dad! I told you! No kidnapping people!"

"I didn't kidnap him," Garmadon said dismissively. "He could leave any time he wanted. Well, I would have fired him as your friend and bodyguard if he did, but he was free to go."

Lloyd made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat and chest that almost sounded like growling.

Kai blinked as realization washed over him. "Wait, so this isn't a dream?"

The entire classroom stared at him at that. "You thought you were dreaming this whole time?" asked one of the generals.

"Seriously, Kai?" asked Lloyd in disbelief, getting off him and helping him to his feet. "You missed the entire day of school. How could you think it was a dream that long."

Kai gestured to himself. "Bro, I'm in my pajamas, in a class being taught by Garmadon, who's wearing a graduation cap like some kinda dork. How is any of that not something out of a weird cheese dream?"

Lloyd took a moment to glance around at the scene he'd walked in on. "Okay, good point, but you forgot to factor in that this is my dad we're talking about," he said.

Oh, that made a lot of sense. "Touché," Kai admitted.

Garmadon glanced up at his hat hearing that and quickly took it off, glaring at Kai as he did so. "You better not have been distracted just because you thought you were in dreamland, Fire Ninja," he said grumpily. "If you weren't paying attention I'll fire you anyway."

"Dad, you can't fire my friends," Lloyd protested in frustration.

"Also, I was totally paying attention," added Kai. "This is all good stuff to know."

Garmadon blinked in surprise, but then his face broke into a wide grin. "Hah! Take that Wu!" he shouted, punching a fist into the air. "I'm the better teacher!"

"I wouldn't say that," Kai started to say, but Garmadon didn't hear him.

"Teacher of the year! Whoo!" Garmadon cheered.

Lloyd sighed in exasperation and rubbed his arm. "Great, he's going to be bragging about this for weeks," he said in a resigned tone. "Got that to look forward to."

Kai gave him an apologetic shrug, and Lloyd began tugging him towards the door. "Come on," the blond said. "Everyone's worried, and Nya's going to tackle you into next week. I'll lend you a change of clothes and then we're outta here."

Kai lit up at the idea of finally getting out of his PJs, but before they left he paused. "Hold on a sec," he said, turning back to Garmadon. "Hey, I can't ditch school again, but is there any chance I can still take this class on weekends?"

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, well, except Garmadon, who looked like his ego had just been stoked again.

Seeing the looks, Kai shrugged. "What? I just said it's useful stuff." He then reached over to pull Lloyd into a headlock and ruffle his hair. "And no one's messing with my little bros while I'm around, and anything that helps with that is cool."

Lloyd flushed as he seemed to realize just what the class had been for, and Garmadon looked pleased. "I suppose the class schedule can be revised, Bodyguard #1," he said with a vicious grin.

Kai grimaced at the new nickname, and said, "Uh, let's just stick to Fire Ninja, okay," he said as he let Lloyd drag him away. "That way the bad guys don't know what to expect!"

"I like it!" Garmadon declared after them, before turning back to his generals, who had been mildly entertained by the events. "See!" he said, gesturing at Kai's retreating back. "That's the kind of work ethic I wanna see."

"Do you think he realizes he just complimented me?" Kai whispered to Lloyd as they headed to the Green Ninja's room in the volcano for when he spent the night.

"Nope, otherwise he'd take it back," said Lloyd, shaking his head in amusement. "I think you just became dad's favorite ninja aside from me. Just roll with it."

Kai let out a nervous chuckle at that.

Somehow he didn't think that was a good thing.

"Seriously, though, Kai," said Lloyd. "You could have left at any time, or told Dad off for kidnapping you. But you seemed willing to go along with whatever Dad said until I came in to say otherwise. Dream or not, you should have done something!"

Kai rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I know, I know, I just… I didn't know what was the right thing to do. If it was a dream, I didn't want to turn it into a nightmare, and even if it wasn't, well, what if I screwed up and turned your dad evil again or set off the volcano. I didn't want to make things worse."

Lloyd sighed. "Kai, you've really got to stop worrying about messing things up all the time. You need to learn how to stand up for yourself and take the initiative. You have good instincts, use them."

Kai just shrugged. "I'll think about it, but I'm pretty sure I like your instincts better."

"My instincts led me to unleash a demon cat on the general populace," Lloyd replied dryly as they finally reached his room. "Trust me, yours have gotta be way better than that."

But all Kai said was, "I'll think about it, bro."

The start of the next lesson had Lord Garmadon's eyebrow was twitching uncontrollably.

The source of the twitching was the two spiky-haired ninja standing before him.

Looks like his spot as 'Favorite Ninja Aside from Lloyd' didn't last long.

"Why is he here?" Garmadon asked in an irritated tone. "Invites only."

Spike Kai glared back at him with a petulant expression. "Trust me, this isn't exactly my idea of a fun weekend either."

Beside him, Buddy Kai gave a helpless shrug and explained, "I told Spike about your class and how good it was, and he wanted to check it out. I thought it was a good idea, since, ya know, I can't be in two places at once, much less two worlds. This way Lil'Loyd has a bodyguard in his world too."

Garmadon scowled. "Curse you, logic! I can't argue with that," he said.

Spike huffed. "Look," he said reluctantly. "We may not like each other, but if this lets me help Lloyd, I'm all for it."

"And, uh, if you teach him too, that proves you're a better teacher than both Wus and Sensei G, too," Buddy added, just to seal the deal.

Spike looked at him like he was nuts, but Buddy could see his argument win Garmadon over. "Ooooh, Garmadaddy likey," he said at the idea of being better than both versions of his brother and his own counterpart. Glancing at the two ninja, he said, "Alright, he's in. But if another Fire Ninja shows up, he's outta luck."

With that, the class started and both Kais participated.

No one was going to mess with their little bros.

Chapter Text

It had been a standard day in the Ninjago where a giant cat roamed. The Ninja from the other world had arrived on the Ultra Dragon for a visit, and for lack of anything better to do, they all were just hanging out at the mech warehouse and enjoying each other's company.

At least they were until a particular song began playing on the radio.

"It feels so right, I'm where I belong! 'Cause I found my place! I found my place!~"

The Ninja not from that world frowned at the voice over the radio. It sounded familiar, but they couldn't place it until-

"That's me, Double L-O-Y-D! My dad is bad but yeah we still family~"

As one, the interdimensional visitors turned to look over at Luh-Loyd. "Wait? Is that you?" asked Cliff Cole, pointing at the radio.

Luh-Loyd looked mortified and tried to hide himself under the hood of his hoodie. "Cole and Nya tricked me!" was the only thing he said by way of explanation.

The Ninja not from that dimension stared at him in bewilderment. Then, to their surprise, Buddy Kai, Pep Zane, and Freckles Jay were all nodding in agreement, DJ Cole shrugged indifferently, and Cyan Nya smirked unapologetically.

"Aw, bro, you had fun and you know it," Cyan teased, poking Luh-Loyd in the side.

"Yeah, as a group thing we did for a weekend," Luh-Loyd protested, tugging on the drawstrings of his hoodie to hide his face even more. "I didn't know you were going to broadcast it!"

Cyan just laughed at his embarrassment.

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" asked Spike Kai in confusion.

The Ninja Force exchanged glances before telling the story.

Two Weeks after the Movie

One of the biggest problems with their newfound fame and popularity is that the Ninja Force suddenly had a hard time finding a place to themselves. Before, if they wanted to hang out, they were free to do so in most public places. People would often glare at them or make snide comments, but there was nothing they could do to make them leave, so for the most part, they were ignored.

Now, though, not only were they welcomed almost any place they went, but they had absolutely no privacy. Everywhere they went, there were stares, whispers, and people crowding their personal space to take selfies with them.

As it was, the places they could just hang out and be normal teens became very limited, and usually just consisted of the warehouse and Bounty, the jungles outside the city, or one of their own homes.

As it was, that weekend the team decided to just hang out in the theater under Cole's apartment. There weren't any shows practicing or performing that day, and the large stage area and various rooms gave them more space to do whatever they wanted to do.

As it was, the team was poking around the prop room examining old costumes from the shows, and laughing whenever one of them tried on a particularly goofy outfit.

While Zane was making them laugh by wearing an extremely poofy opera ball gown and singing his best attempt at a ballad, Cole suddenly looked like he was reminded of something, and hurried up to his apartment.

When he came back, he was carrying several music sheets and held them out to Lloyd. "What do you think of these lyrics, they sound like you?"

Curiously, Lloyd took the sheets and read the lyrics written below the notes. His eyes then widened and he read through them again with incredulous eyes.

Lloyd then turned to Cole and asked, "Cole, did you write this?" he asked. "About me?"

Cole shrugged nonchalantly. "About all of us, but yeah, mostly about you," he said.

Lloyd's face broke into a beaming smile. "I love it!" he exclaimed. "And yeah, it sounds like me. It sounds like all of us."

Needless to say, this exchange drew the attention of the others, and they all gathered around to see. "What is it you are talking about?" asked Zane, still wearing the dress.

"Cole wrote a song about us!" Lloyd said waving the sheet music for them to see.

Hearing that, the others crowded even closer, eager to see the song. With some prompting, they were able to get Cole to hum the tune of the song while Lloyd did his best to sing along with the lyrics so they all could get a sense of what it sounded like.

"We need to make this song a thing," said Nya with a wide grin.

"Can we make this song a thing?" asked Jay dubiously. "Cole's the only one here with musical talent." He then thought for a moment, then amended, "Well, I guess Zane can play guitar, but could we make the song with just that?"

"Zane can play guitar?" Lloyd asked in surprise.

Zane smiled widely and grabbed a guitar prop and played a few seconds of song flawlessly. "Baby, I'm a rockstar," he said brightly, looking ridiculous in the outfit he was wearing.

"Bro, that wasn't rock n' roll," said Kai. "Still good though."

Cole frowned thoughtfully as he examined his song. "If we wanted to make this song for real, we could do it here," he said. "The Blackbox section of the theater has good sound and could work for recording, and there are all the instruments we would need in the orchestra pit. My dad wouldn't mind if we used them so long as we put them back."

"Awesome!" cheered Nya, ready to jump right in.

"You're still forgetting our lack of musical talent," pointed out Jay. "We'll probably need more than just a guitar and Cole's turntable, but most of us have never even picked up an instrument before. How are we supposed to do this?"

"Stop putting logic shaped holes in the awesomeness," complained Nya.

"Sorry," Jay muttered, hiding in his scarf.

"Well, part of it is singing," said Cole. "You don't need to know an instrument for that."

"Since you wrote the song in Lloyd's perspective, it would be logical he sings the vocals," said Zane helpfully.

Lloyd blinked at that. "Wait, don't I get a say in this?" he asked.

"No!" was the immediate response from the rest of the team.

"I also see there is a second person on vocals as well for the sections introducing him and the rest of us," said Zane, still studying the music.

"Dibs!" Kai called. Then he hesitated, and said, "Unless, you know, someone else is better for it. Up to you."

Cole thought a moment, then said, "Nah, you'd do fine."

Kai pumped his fist excitedly. "Yes!"

"Okay, and what about me and Nya?" asked Jay, not wanting to poke more logic holes, but wanting to take part in this as well. "What can we do?"

Nya opened her mouth, froze, and then shut it again as she had no answers. Jay had been right before about their lack of musical talent.

The entire team thought for a long moment.

Then Lloyd's eyes lit up when he thought of a solution. "Musicalitea!" he exclaimed, pounding his fist into his palm.

"What?" asked the rest of his friends in confusion.

"One of my uncle's magic teas," Lloyd explained. "Morro told me about it. If you drink it you can play an instrument without needing to learn for a little while."

The others perked up hearing that. "Think Master Wu would let us borrow some?" asked Nya.

"Uncle Wu? No," said Lloyd with a shake of his head. "But Morro showed me where it's hidden, and… What Uncle Wu doesn't know won't hurt us."

The collective Ninja Force shared a devious grin after that.

The rest of that weekend was a blur of fun, the six of them working together to bring Cole's song to life, and recording it for the sheer heck of it. They worked hard to put it together, might as well have something to remember it by. The fun only continued when Cole revealed he had other songs as well, all vaguely connected to them, and they took the time to record those too. By the time they parted ways Sunday evening, they practically had their own album made, and enough footage taken on their phones to make a music video if they felt so inclined.

Listening to the songs together at the end gave them all a sense of accomplishment. They did this.

But as they started heading home to get ready for school the next day, Nya hung back when she noticed Cole looking at the songs on his laptop thoughtfully.

"What's up?" she asked, moving over to see what was wrong.

Cole just nodded his head at the laptop. "It'd be a shame to keep this to ourselves," he said. "Mom and Dad always say that good music is made to be shared."

Nya's eyes lit up at that idea. "Do it!" she said eagerly.

Cole glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "You think the others will be okay with it?" he asked.

Nya seemed unphased by the question, and said, "I'll check," before walking slowly out to their leaving friends. When she reached the door, she called out in a voice too low for them to really hear her from how far they'd already walked away. "Hey guys!" she whisper-yelled. "Cole's gonna share the songs! Any objections say 'aye'!"

She then held a hand to her ear and waited a moment, before calling over to Cole, "I didn't hear any 'ayes'!"

Cole rolled his eyes, but it was good enough for him and he uploaded the songs onto the internet.

By the next morning, they were the hottest songs in Ninjago, and Found My Place, the first one Cole showed them, was the number one hit.

Wu made them practice spinjitzu for five hours straight as punishment for stealing his tea.

Present Day

"And that's why our songs are on the radio," DJ Coe concluded, nudging Cyan Nya good-naturedly.

"Totally worth it," Cyan said with a grin.

"So did you drink any Musicalitea?" asked Lil'Loyd to Luh-Loyd, who was looking like he was trying to vanish into his hoodie in embarrassment.

"No, only Nya and I took it," Freckles Jay responded when he saw Luh-Loyd wasn't going to answer.

Spike Kai snickered. "Wow, first the animal taming, and now singing too? You're like some princess from a fairy tale."

Buddy Kai barked a laugh at that as well. "Oh man. Lloyd the Disney Princess," he joked, getting more laughs from the Ninja Force, though their counterparts seemed a little confused what that meant ("Great movies. We will show you later," Pep Zane promised).

Luh-Loyd pulled off his hood and scowled at DJ and Cyan. "I blame you," he said petulantly.

Cyan just laughed, and DJ shrugged and said, "You're still helping me record another song next weekend, right?"

Luh-Loyd sighed, but gave a sulky, "Yes." He then glared. "Just don't put it on the internet this time."

Cyan only smirked in response. "No promises." She then turned to the dimensional visitors and added, "Wait 'til you see the music video."

Chapter Text

1 And the Rest is History

Misako didn't know how she got roped into tutoring in history.

Well, it did make a minuscule bit of sense. She was an archeologist after all.

She'd just always thought if she were to help someone, it would be her own son. Not his teenage counterpart.

… Not that her own son saw her as a mother. There were often times she wondered about her place in this family…

Misako shook herself to rid her head of that depressing thought and tried to focus on the positives. At least learning about the differences in the alternate Ninjago's history was fascinating.

"Now, who temporarily overthrew King Mambo the Fifth, and attempted to break the truce between humans and Serpentine?" she asked as she studied the history book in front of her.

Across the table from her, Luh-Loyd studied his notes from the class as he tried to remember the answer. "Uh, it began with an A, right? Ah-Ah… Aspin? No, Ashee. No that wasn't it…" he closed his green eyes and tried to remember the name. Then they snapped back open and he grinned, "Aspheera! That was it! She was some kind of witch, wasn't she."

"Yes, she was," said Misako with a smile. "Very good, Lloyd."

"Thanks, Aunt Missy," Luh-Loyd said, looking back down at his notes in preparation for the next question.

When it didn't come, he looked back up to see Misako's startled expression. "Aunt…?" she started to say, clearly surprised by the name.

Realizing what he'd said, Luh-Loyd looked flustered. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized quickly. "Should I not have said that? It's just… you're family, but you're not my mom you're her counterpart, so calling you her nickname would be weird, but… I won't call you that if you don't like it."

Misako's face broke into a warm smile. "No, no," she said. "I was just surprised. It would make me very happy if you called me that."

Lloyd gave her a relieved grin. "Okay, thanks, Aunt Missy."

Misako's smile widened, and she looked back at the book to ask the next question.

Perhaps she had a place in this family after all.

2 Misako and Lord Garmadon

"Hmm… Well, at least Koko will still be hot when she's old."

"Excuse me?!"

Whatever Misako had been expecting when she met her husband's counterpart, this was not it.

Said husband was standing next to her looking completely mortified.

"You're excused," said the black-skinned, four-armed man with gleaming red eyes and sharp teeth said, seeming to be completely oblivious to his own rude behavior.

Koko rolled her eyes and elbowed her ex in the stomach. "Garm, be nice," she scolded.

"Oof, what? It was a compliment," said Lord Garmadon cluelessly.

Sensei Garmadon let out a groan and pinched his brow.

Misako had to wonder if this was normal behavior for him. From everyone's unsurprised reactions, it might very well be. "It's nice to meet you," she said slowly, still unsure how to respond to that first comment (and feeling slightly insulted at being called old), but still trying to be polite. "You're… taller than I expected."

Lord Garmadon grinned at her words and leaned over so he could use his counterpart's head as an armrest, calling attention to how much taller he was than him. "Well, thank you," he said with a grin and flexing with one of his other arms. "I consider it physical proof of how I'm the superior counterpart."

Sensei Garmadon let out an undignified snort. "All that you prove is that you are a jabbering buffoon," he said, shoving Lord Garmadon's elbow off his head.

Lord Garmadon shot him a dirty look, and asked, "Who put a stick up your butt this morning?" Turning back to Misako, he said, "Let's ignore the grumpy midget. Wanna see my pet sharks, Missy?"

Before Misako could even reply, he grabbed both her and Koko by the hands and dragged them both towards his volcano, leaving Sensei Garmadon to hurry after them to avoid being left behind.

It was definitely not at all what she'd been expecting.

3 Princess Lloyd

Movie Ninjago

Lloyd was long regretting how his friends had drawn the conclusion that he was a Disney Princess. "Which I'm not!" he said sulkily as one of his teammates made the joke during training for the umpteenth time.

"Your mom's a warrior queen, bro," teased Kai.

"That's just what dad calls her, I'm not a princess," Lloyd protested.

Cole shrugged and looked amused. "If the glass slipper fits," he said. "Wear it."

"I'm nothing like them!" Lloyd insisted.

Zane's expression brightened hearing that, and his teammates recognized the look as him hearing a chance to meme. "Do you have magic hair?" he asked Lloyd.

"What?" asked Lloyd, turning to him in confusion, having not seen the look.

"He's totally got magic hair. His hair is ALWAYS so perfect and silky. I work so hard at trying to get it to look like that and it's. Just. Not. Possible!" said Nya with an evil grin.

"Magic hands?" continued Zane.

"No?" said Lloyd more as a question.

"Master Building," Jay whispered to correct him.

"Do animals talk to you?"

"Monsters do!" Kai said before Lloyd could respond, and getting a glare for it.

Zane was undeterred. "Were you poisoned?"

"No!" said Lloyd.

"I dunno, Cliff Cole's cooking seemed pretty poisonous, and you were too nice not to eat some," pointed out Jay.

"Cursed?"

"No!" Lloyd said in exasperation.

"Not for lack of trying for some people," Nya muttered.

"Kidnapped or enslaved?" asked Zane.

Lloyd opened his mouth to answer negatively, before thinking about it, and asking, "Does the thing with the Fired Generals count?"

"Yes!" his teammates replied.

"Do people assume all your problems got solved because a big, strong man showed up?" Zane asked finally.

Lloyd gave him a weird look. "You're not talking about my dad, right? Him showing up caused most of our problems"

"A lot of your problems did go away when he stopped attacking and was part of your life again," pointed out Cole, making the others nod in agreement.

Zane then cheerfully concluded, "He is a princess."

With that, Lloyd finally recognized the meme and smacked himself on the forehead. "I hate you all," he said in exasperation.

After ticking so many boxes, there was no way they'd ever let this go now.

4 Chalice of Life

Lou Brookstone could only stare gaping at his son and his counterpart at what he'd just heard. Next to him, Gabriella's hand was clenched tightly around his and her breathing was short despite her oxygen mask, betraying her own reaction to what had been said.

Before the two of them stood both their own son with a small cup of water held gently in his hand and the Cole from another world at his side, the two looking more identical than ever in their resolve.

"Is it true?" Lou choked out. "That cup can really-" he broke off, unable to finish the amazing thought.

"It's true," said DJ Cole firmly.

"There's no way we'd ever joke about that," Cliff Cole agreed, a shadow of grief in his face being a stark reminder of what happened to his own mother.

They were serious.

Gabriella stared at the cup, thousands of questions racing through her head. How did they find this cup? Did it really work as they said? Was it too good to be true? What would her doctors think? What would-

But one thought shone brighter than any other in her head.

She would be cured!

No more doctors. No more hospital stays. No more medical bills. No more scaring her family, and weighing them down with looming dread. No more of her beloved husband working himself to the bone to make ends meet and denying himself time for his own passion and skills to make sure she was cared for. No more of her selfless son juggling more responsibilities than should have ever been asked of him without complaint to give her comfort. No more fighting tooth and nail just to breathe!

All this rang in her head as she listened to Cliff's tale of how his team and the Lloyd of DJ's team found this miracle cup during their journey to find this world.

"... So then, Ultra managed to sniff them out under the earth, so I used my powers to open a crevice so we could pull them out. Then, after the fight with all the mechs, Lil'Loyd used it on his father and cured him of a poison in his system he'd had since forever, and the chalice worked," Cliff said as he finished his story.

"Then we have you, Lloyd, and Spike, was it, to thank for finding this," said Lou.

Cliff blinked in surprise. "Me?" he asked.

"It sounds like Lloyd and Spike would have remained trapped underground if you hadn't opened the way out," replied Lou gratefully, squeezing his wife's hand in his. "So from the deepest depths of our hearts, thank you."

Cliff looked flustered at the thanks, and muttered, "Rocky, uh, Ultra helped too. We wouldn't have found them without them."

"Then I will thank them as well," declared Lou resolutely.

DJ looked amused at the exchange, before getting back to business. "Still, just pulling a magic cup out of the ground that worked once isn't a guarantee," he added. "We went back to the world it's from and asked an expert archeologist there about it, and he confirmed it." He held out the chalice to his mother. "If you drink from this, you'll be cured."

Gabriella stared at him as that sank in, before slowly reaching out to him.

He handed her the cup, and she held it delicately as her husband graciously fumbled to reach for her oxygen mask, allowing Gabriella to take a deep breath before he removed it.

Then, carefully, Gabriella lifted the chalice to her lips and took a long drink.

And then she lowered the glass…

And breathed!

Chapter Text

Cliff Gordon looked down to study the envelope in his hand, then back up at the sign in front of him. Well, he was at the right address, no way this was a mistake or a joke.

Not that he'd really expected it to be such. There was no way anyone would even know of the significance of this place to him.

After all, for better or worse, this was the place where he'd left his son so many years ago.

The fact he'd gotten the letter at all was a great sign of its legitimacy. Normally, all fan mail was sent through his agent, and he only received the standout ones, but this one was mailed directly to his mansion, an address hidden from public record to allow him some privacy from fans and reporters. Very few knew of it, and even fewer sent him mail to that location. It had to be genuine.

And for some reason that terrified him.

He pulled a letter out of the envelope and read it for what must have been the thousandth time.

Dear Cliff Gordon

Hi, my name's Jay Walker. I'm the Blue Ninja and the Master of Lightning, and also a big fan of yours. Also, kind of an awkward thing, but I think I'm also your son. Well, biologically, anyway. I only found this out recently, and after a lot of thinking, I decided to reach out to you. Okay, my little brother (not actually my brother, but a good friend who's like a little brother) found out I was related to you and begged for an autograph, and I realized I don't even know who you are outside of a character in the movies. I don't know why you gave me up, but I'd like to meet you at least. If you want, you can come to one of our family dinners. We'd love to have you, but if you don't want to, that's okay too.

From

Jay

P.S. I wasn't kidding about my little brother wanting an autograph. Even if you don't want to come, could you please send one. You'd make me big brother of the year. His name is Lloyd, and he's a huge fan and got me into Starfarer in the first place. Thanks!

At the bottom of the letter was the date and time of the family dinner (as well as several later dates when the dinner would take place again in case the first one wasn't convenient for him), which led to the famous Cliff Gordon standing anxiously outside the junkyard over an hour early trying to work up the nerve to go in.

His watch said it was just the right time, but what if it was wrong? Should he have come early, or should he be fashionably late? Should he have replied to the letter to RSVP? Were they even expecting him, or could this end up being some cruel joke that someone had played on both of them? Too late he realized he probably should have brought some food with him to offer for the dinner. Maybe he should just leave after all. But what if by doing so he missed out on the chance of meeting his son forever? The letter said he wanted to meet him, but...

Cliff Gordon didn't know how long he spent hesitating in front of the scrapyard, but just as he felt his courage fail him and he turned to leave, a MASSIVE cat appeared out of thin air right in front of him and towered over him like a skyscraper.

He was too busy gaping up at the giant kitty and wondering if he should run that he almost didn't notice her crouch down to allow three people to slide off her back and into the sand.

"Oh, Cliff dear, you made it," came a bright accented voice, dragging his gaze away from the mammoth feline.

Cliff Gordon turned to see Edna Walker approaching him carrying a picnic basket, and followed by her husband and a boy with curly brown hair and freckles that resembled Jay from the pictures and articles he'd collected.

"E-Edna!" Cliff Gordon said in surprise. "I didn't think you'd remember me." He then cast another fearful glance at the cat. "Wha-What is that?"

"Uh, she's a cat, do you need to get your eyes checked?" asked the boy, reaching over to pet the giant animal and was rewarded by a loud purr.

"Jay," said Ed in a scolding tone.

The boy jumped and seemed to notice Cliff Gordon's freaked out expression. "Oh, don't worry," he said, realizing what he really meant. "Meowthra won't hurt you… probably. She did eat Lloyd's dad once, but she spit him back out a few minutes later and he was fine. Just don't throw weapons or pieces at her and you'll be okay." As he said that, the cat stood up and wandered away into the desert to play in the sand dunes.

However, Cliff Gordon was now slightly distracted by the name Ed had called the boy.

Jay? This wasn't Jay. There was a resemblance for sure, but the boy in front of him wasn't his… wasn't the Blue Ninja he had seen before.

Seeing how confused he looked, the boy (Jay?), Ed and Edna all exchanged glances. "Wait, Nick Jay hasn't told you yet?" asked Ed.

"I… haven't gone in," said Cliff Gordon weakly, wondering if he'd gotten the wrong scrapyard after all.

Only to be even more confused when Edna suddenly stepped out of the scrapyard behind him, despite the fact that there was already an Edna standing right in front of him who was identical to a T save for her clothes.

"Oh! Sally, Shore, Freckles, you made it," the second Edna said brightly, before turning her gaze to Cliff Gordon. "And you must be Cliff Gordon. Come in, come in," she said waving them all into the junkyard.

Now Cliff Gordon was even more confused. What kind of a name was Freckles? Why were there two Ednas? Where did that cat come from? What was going on here?

To make matters even more confusing, when they entered the yard they saw a second Ed and a boy that was definitely Jay setting up picnic tables in the yard for them to eat on.

"Jay!" called the second Edna as they approached. "Someone is here to see you."

"Poor dear seems as scared about this as you," added the first Edna cheerfully.

Definitely Jay looked up and froze at the sight of him, and Cliff Gordon saw his own nervousness mirrored back at him in his face.

"Uh, hi," Jay said awkwardly, looking like he was struggling to find something to say. "You came. That's great, I guess."

"Yes, I-yes. After I got your letter, it seemed appropriate," Cliff Gordon replied just as awkwardly.

There was a pause as they seemed unable to figure out what to say next, especially with both Eds, Ednas, and Freckles all staring at them.

Seeing this, the Ed who had been setting up tables took pity on them and said, "Well, Mr. Gordon, it would be swell if you helped Jay bring out the dishes from the trailer. If you don't mind, that is."

"Of course, and Cliff, if you please," Cliff Gordon said automatically. He was never one for formalities.

The two teenagers present exchanged wry looks, and Jay said, "Uh, we can't do that. Already know two other 'Cliffs'. Don't worry, we'll come up with your own nickname, otherwise, things will get confusing."

Cliff Gordon stared at them, glanced at the duplicates and the giant cat in the distance, and remarked dryly, "It's already rather confusing, to be honest."

The Walker family exchanged an amused look. "You have no idea," said Jay.

Despite one of the Eds giving Cliff Gordon and his son a chance to talk in private, both of them clearly felt too awkward to address the elephant in the room, and instead, Jay focused on explaining just why there were two sets of everyone outside, including himself.

Cliff Gordon exited the trailer with his arms laden with dishes and his head spinning. He felt like he had stepped into one of his own movies. It had alternate dimensions and giant monsters. All he needed was a ship and laser gun, and he'd worry he'd become Fritz Donnegan for real.

Though, considering what Jay had just told him, it was entirely possible that there was a world out there where he actually was Fritz Donnegan and wasn't that a mind-boggling thought. He'd have to ask about that later. Visiting such a place sounded quite fun, and definitely good practice to prepare him for his upcoming film. He had always prided himself on being a method actor, after all, and the first-hand experience would be invaluable.

When dinner was set, Cliff Gordon found himself at the head of a table that looked like it could be split down the middle. With both Jays sitting at each side of him, each set of counterparts was facing each other across the table and helping themselves to a delicious looking spread.

"So Jay told you all about Both Ninjagos, did he?" asked the Ed next to the Jay that was his son.

"Yes," said Cliff Gordon, still feeling overwhelmed. "And Jay mentioned something about nicknames?" he asked. At least with those, he'd be able to keep who he's talking to straight.

"Yeah, like my nickname is Nick," his son said, pointing up at his nicked eyebrow with his spoon.

"And mine's Freckles," said the other Jay pointing at his freckled cheeks that were lightly puffed from food.

"That's rather on the nose," said Cliff Gordon in amusement.

Both Jays exchanged amused looks at that. "The kid who gave us those names was seven, what do you expect," said Freckles.

Nick snickered. "Yeah, and he's the one who's stuck with the nickname Lil'Loyd for the rest of his days. He is never out-growing that."

"That the one who's a fan of mine?" asked Cliff Gordon as he took another bite of his dinner.

"The very same," said Nick. "Had to bribe him with a ton of sweets not to crash this dinner on his dragon."

Cliff Gordon choked on his meal at the mention of a seven-year-old owning a dragon. Surely he didn't mean the Ultra Dragon, the mighty four-headed beast that often aided the Ninja.

"As for the rest of us, we picked our nicknames by where we live," said the Ed next to Freckles, focusing him back on the conversation.

"Sure did," agreed the Edna next to him. "In our world, Ed and I live in Ninjago City, which is close to the beach. So we picked the names Sally and Shore."

It took a second for that sink in for Cliff Gordon, but when it did, he chuckled. "Sally sells seashells by the seashore," he recited.

"Exactly," agreed Sally brightly.

"And we picked our nicknames 'cause a something cute our Jay did when he was a baby," said the Edna from Cliff Gordon's world.

"Mom!" Nick groaned, looking embarrassed.

"Aw, but it was such a sweet little thing ya'd do, Jay," said the Ed next to him. Turning to Cliff he explained, "He had the darnest time sayin' the word 'desert' when he was a toddler. Got himself convinced it was 'dessert' and we couldn't convince him otherwise for years."

"Not that we tried too hard," agreed Edna. "It was so gosh darn cute."

"So we picked the names Custard and Cream," said Ed pointing to himself and his wife as he said each one. "'Cause we're the Ed n' Edna that live in the 'dessert'."

Nick looked embarrassed, and Freckles patted his hand across the table and muttered, "I know your pain."

Cliff Gordon chuckled at both the story and the Jays' reaction to them. But then his reaction fell slightly. "You said I would need a nickname as well," he said. "Does… that mean you've already met my counterpart?" he asked.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He knew it was his own choice that kept him out of Jay's life until this point. From his research, he'd been able to tell Jay was happy and following in his mother's footsteps, so he'd figured it was best he stay away. Still, he felt somewhat irked that Jay's first impression of him was stolen by some stranger sharing his face.

"Not… not in person," Nick said. "Yet, at least."

"He just eavesdropped on me when I called them a couple weeks back," added Freckles. "I was telling him and Libber about the multiverse thing."

Cliff Gordon did a double-take at the casual mention of his long-missing wife and felt a sharp pain in his heart hearing she was alive and well in the other world. It must have shown on his face, as Freckles seemed to realize this, and shrank into his scarf with a muttered apology.

To move on from the sensitive topic Freckles just stepped in, Nick quickly forged ahead. "One phone call's not enough to really make an impression on the guy," he chattered quickly. "But I will meet him eventually. We have these dinner get-togethers every other week so long as, you know, the world's not ending, and Freckles invited them to come when they're next in the city."

Cliff Gordon took a deep and tried to focus on the positives. He hadn't lost his chance to make a first impression. His son had invited him into his life. He wouldn't blow his chance to connect with him due to the ghosts of the past.

… Even if continuing to come to these dinners meant he would meet the alternate Libber at some point. Not unless he avoided the dinners she went to, which… he didn't want to do. That was going to be one ghost he'd soon have to face.

"You mentioned I would need a nickname," Cliff Gordon said, attempting to change the subject. "Does my counterpart have his yet?"

"Yeah, he does," said Freckles. "He was really eager when I told him. When I mentioned you were in movies in this Ninjago he decided to use the nickname, Telly."

"Telly?" asked Cliff Gordon, wondering where his counterpart came up with that, and how it was connected to his movies. Was his counterpart not an actor? That was a bizarre concept. He couldn't imagine doing anything but acting.

"Cliff, uh, Telly, is an actor like you," Freckles explained. (Well that was a relief.) "But unlike in this world, his Starfarer series is just that, a TV series. He's done a few movies outside the franchise, but he prefers to act for television, and, you know, Telly is another way of saying TV."

Well, that was certainly an interesting difference. Cliff Gordon certainly enjoyed making guest appearances on various TV shows, but the silver screen was his calling.

As he was pondering that, Nick spoke up. "Um," he said looking nervous. "Iiiii actually have a possible nickname for you 'cause of that. I mean, you don't have to take it if you don't want to, but… it's an idea."

His son had a nickname for him? That was wonderful! "I would love to hear it," he said eagerly. Then coughed and forced himself to dial it back. "Er, go ahead, please."

Nick still looked uneasy, but his counterpart gave him a thumbs-up, and Cream and Custard both gave him soft encouraging words.

"I was thinking… Flick," said Nick slowly with a nervous giggle. "'Cause, you know, another thing to call a movie is a flick."

Cliff Gordon could barely contain his smile. "I like it," he said, and Nick relaxed as well.

"Good, cause we already gave the name 'Cliff' to his Cole," said Freckles, cutting into the moment, and sparking a laugh from the other inhabitants of the table.

The next few hours were full of good food and a hurricane of chatter from both versions of the Walker family that Cliff 'Flick' Gordon could barely get a word in edgewise. Still, the whole experience was welcoming and left him in far better spirits than even the most high end of parties could boast.

And at the end of the night, Cliff 'Flick' Gordon made sure to give Jay two signed copies of the next Starfarer comic books (which weren't even in stores yet) for himself and the little brother figure he had mentioned.

From the enthusiastic thank you letter he got from the child along with an invitation to the next family dinner made it clear he secured Jay's place as 'brother of the year'.

Chapter Text

Lil'Loyd, Sensei Garmadon, Sensei Wu, and Misako stood waiting outside the monastery and tea shop.

Earlier that week, Koko had invited their side of the family to take part in their family game nights. It was decided that the event would take place in their world so they wouldn't have to deal with Lil'Loyd's fear of the volcano (the usual location for the game nights) or having to smuggle Lord Garmadon into the city and cram everyone into Koko and Luh-Loyds's small apartment.

So after sending most of the Wu's students off on a training mission (much to their dismay, having wanted to take part), the place was free for their game night.

With a loud, "Mrrrow!" Meowthra appeared on the hill coming up to their home, the other dimension's Garmadon family riding on her back all carrying board games. Once the passengers had slid off her back, Meowthra wandered away to explore the area (and probably scare the dickens out of some of the neighbors).

Lil'Loyd immediately ran over to greet them, and the adults followed at a more sedated pace.

Only for Sensei Wu to stop dead when he caught sight of a young man in biker clothing, a pink bandana, and a pink streak in his long tied-back hair.

Feeling the eyes on him, Morro glanced up and met his gaze, giving him a small wave and a pitying grin. It was still hard to believe what he'd heard happened to his counterpart.

But Sensei Wu just grew pale at the gesture and ducked his head so that his face could not be seen past his hat. "I'm sorry, I… I suddenly do not feel well," he said. "I think I will go lie down. The rest of you enjoy your night."

They all watched him go.

"Is he okay?" asked Morro in concern. It had been the sight of him that had caused that reaction.

"Guilt," said Sensei Garmadon, watching his brother vanish into his tea shop with an empathetic gaze. "I had informed him you were coming. He thought there had been enough time to heal, but in seeing you… Guilt is a persistent malady and one I know well. He will heal, eventually."

(They all pointedly ignored it when Lord Garmadon let out a soft cough that sounded a little too much like, "Wuss.")

"But, unfortunately, that is not tonight," agreed Misako, also looking after Sensei Wu sadly. Turning back to the newly arrived group, she said to Morro, "It's not your fault, and it is nice to finally meet you. My name is Misako."

Morro held out a hand for her to shake. "Morro. Hi, nice to meet you too, Aunt Missy."

Misako smiled at the nickname.

Koko and Luh-Loyd, who were eager to begin, stepped around the rest of them to head into the monastery with the games in their hands. "We'll put everything inside and get started setting up," Koko called over her shoulder as they went.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Morro softly said, "You know, it's not too late to follow your Wu's lead. Just get out of here and save yourselves."

Sensei Garmadon let out a startled, "Excuse me?"

"You don't know what you've invited into your home," said Morro like they were all about to die.

The local group stared at him flummoxed, and even more so when Master Wu began nodding in agreement.

Lord Garmadon let out a snort. "Yeah, they can run if they're cowards."

"There is nothing cowardly about knowing when one is beaten, Brother," said Master Wu sagely.

"Well, good thing I'm not beaten," said Lord Garmadon confidently. "This time I'm gonna win for sure."

Morro let out a very disbelieving snort at that. "Yeah, and Meowthra will fit inside Aunt Koko's apartment."

Lord Garmadon glowered at him, before mumbling under his breath to have his scientists whip something up.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" asked Lil'Loyd, who like the others was now very confused.

"Just that this night may prove more challenging than you expected." Said Master Wu with a chuckle. "While my sister-in-law may not have elemental powers, she is an expert strategist. It is a skill she's passed onto her son as well, and both can be very competitive. As such, the rest of us have found beating the two of them at such games difficult, to say the least."

Morro snorted again. "Try impossible," he said dryly. "At best we just play to see who can outlast each other, but in the end, it always comes down to those two."

"Not this time!" said Lord Garmadon, brimming with confidence. "This time, I'll be the one to win. Right, Lil'Loyd."

Lil'Loyd grinned. "Nuh-uh, I'm winning," he said.

"Oh yeah?" asked Lord Garmadon.

"Yeah!" said Lil'Loyd.

"We'll see about that!" said Lord Garmadon, and the two hurried in after Koko and Luh-Loyd, trading competitive barbs all the way.

"Needless to say, Uncle Garmadon is usually the first one out," said Morro blandly. "But he always comes running back for more."

"Somehow, that does not surprise me," said Sensei Garmadon, rolling his eyes.

Misako giggled into her hand. "This should be fun," she said.

Morro and Master Wu's warning quickly proved true. Both Koko and Luh-Loyd were forces to be reckoned with in any game they played.

They killed at Clue, decimated in Battleships, dominated Monopoly, somehow managed to apply strategy to Twister, and the less said about Candy Land the better, there were sure to be nightmares about it going forward.

The rest of the players, however, were also interesting.

To those who knew Lil'Loyd's skill at video games, it wasn't very surprising that he was actually managing to keep up with his counterpart and Koko, being pretty good at strategy himself. He was usually the last one standing before one of them took him out. It was clear the only thing holding him back was his lack of experience, but he was learning fast and lasting longer each time.

Misako was a more surprising competitor. She was smart and could play the games wells, but what really gave her an advantage was one simple thing. Luck. No matter what the game, Misako always seemed to get the best cards or dice rolls, and it kept her in the game longer than most, but luck alone can't win a game and the three strategists seemed to enjoy the challenge it gave.

Morro and Master Wu usually did pretty well but had a resigned air about them that they were well used to these sorts of games. Still, they were competitive with each other, each trying to get the other out first. They also took great pleasure in ganging up on Lord Garmadon to knock him out as soon as possible just to be entertained by his rants.

Sensei Garmadon could play as good as Morro and Wu. Having been the leader of several armies in the past had its merits no matter what those armies were used for. But even he couldn't take on the Lloyds and Koko. Every time he tried, he'd lose, though he consoled himself that at least he was doing better than his counterpart, speaking of which…

Lord Garmadon was the worst at the games. Half the time he didn't even seem to know what the rules were, and even if he did, he often ignored them in favor of doing something more 'fun' and got penalized for cheating. It didn't help anytime someone tried to explain the rules, they seemed to go in one ear and out the other unless Koko or one of the Lloyds explained it, but given his antics and lack of understanding was advantageous to them, they didn't always do so unless he was on one of their teams in a game. Lil'Loyd sometimes gave him the wrong rules entirely just to mess him up, to the amusement of everyone else. Needless to say, due to all of this, Lord Garmadon was always the first to lose, but being unwilling to admit defeat under any circumstances, he just kept coming back for more punishment.

The last game of the night was poker. No one was gambling, thank goodness, but it was still just as tense.

Misako looked down at her hand. A straight was in her cards, and if she recalled the rules of the game right, it was likely it could win her the game.

Then, next to her, Luh-Loyd let out a sigh. "Uh-oh," he said softly.

Glancing at him, Misako raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?" she whispered.

"Mom's got her 'Warrior Queen' face on," Luh-Loyd whispered back.

Misako glanced at her own counterpart, but couldn't see any difference from Koko's usual poker face. "Warrior Queen?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," said Luh-Loyd, fidgeting with his cards in apparent nervousness. "That's what Dad calls it. It's because she looks so royal when she does."

Misako glanced at Koko again. She still didn't see a difference from before, but if Luh-Loyd was worried then… Wait… Royal? Could she have a royal flush? That would definitely beat Misako's straight.

Sighing, but growing used to the feeling now, Misako put down her cards and said, "I fold."

This set off a chain reaction, causing her husband, Wu, and Morro to all promptly fold too. If lucky Misako and Luh-Loyd thought they were beaten, there was probably no hope for them. The only ones left in the game were Koko, her husband (who stubbornly refused to give up, even though it was clear from his face he had a terrible hand), and both Lloyds.

… Wait? Why was Luh-Loyd still in the game if he was so sure he would lose?

Koko showed her cards. "Two aces," she said, which was good, but nowhere near what she'd been expecting and Misako could have easily beaten it if she'd stayed in the game.

"I've got two tens and two sevens," said Lil'Loyd cheerfully, showing the cards he had that beat Koko, but still wouldn't have been beaten Misako's straight.

Lord Garmadon threw down his cards in disgust, revealing that he had basically nothing.

Luh-Loyd then grinned savagely. "Three Jacks, read them and weep," he said, showing his cards and winning the game.

"You tricked me!" Misako burst out in disbelief. If she'd stayed in the game she would have won. "I had a straight."

Luh-Loyd had the grace to look sheepish, but unapologetic. "Sorry, Aunt Missy," he said.

Master Wu sighed, Morro groaned and banged his head on the table, and Sensei Garmadon grumbled about 'Kids these days.'

Lord Garmadon, however, was looking at Luh-Loyd in shock. "You bluffed her?" he asked in surprise and delight.

Luh-Loyd flushed. "Uh, kinda," he said, rubbing his right arm.

Lord Garmadon's expression turned delighted, and he reached over to yank Luh-Loyd into a one-(lower)-armed hug while ruffling his hair with the upper arm on the same side. "That. Is. AWESOME!" he said, before turning to the rest and grinning proudly. "He's great, right? I taught him that."

"Really?" asked Lil'Loyd.

"Yep," said Lord Garmadon cheerfully. "You should have seen him before I took him under my wing. The kid couldn't bluff to save his life. Literally."

"DAD!" Luh-Loyd groaned, looking embarrassed.

"What? It's true," Lord Garmadon said smugly. "Remember when you had the Ultimate Weapon." He then spoke in a higher nasally voice. "I'm warning you Garmadon!" he mimicked in a tone that was both nervous and angry. "I'm the definition of chill! I will use this!" He then snorted and dropped the act. "You were shaking in your little ninja booties, there was no way you were actually going to fire it."

Luh-Loyd glowered at his father while the rest of the family snickered at that imitation. "I did fire it," he said in annoyance.

"Yep, and then summoned Meowthra and smashed half the city, I'm so proud," said Lord Garmadon, wiping away a fire tear, before turning back to the rest. "So, yeah, his bluffing sucked, but with combining his bluffing training with his bomb-defusing training worked wonders."

The amusement quickly dropped from Koko and Misako's faces. "Wait, what?" they both asked in alarm.

"I don't even want to know," said Sensei Garmadon, rubbing his temples.

"Cool!" Lil'Loyd said. "Can we combine it with mine?" he added, making the rest of the parents very worried.

"So that's what you were complaining about before," said Morro to Luh-Loyd, a previous conversation finally making sense.

Luh-Loyd just groaned and slumped onto the table.

Master Wu chuckled and took a sip of tea before reshuffling the cards and saying, "Anyone up for another round?"

And thus went another typical night for the Garmadon family.

Hopefully, Sensei Wu could join the fun next time.

Chapter Text

Cliff Cole couldn't help but pace back and forth in front of his front door.

DJ Cole, who stood a little behind him just waiting for his counterpart to ring the bell, raised an eyebrow at the sight. "So, are you finally going to tell me why you dragged me to a random house?"

Cliff Cole actually had to stop and stare at him for a minute before he remembered his counterpart lived above a theater in Ninjago City rather than a small house in a village just outside said city like his father did.

"Huh, oh, it's not random," he said, gesturing at the house behind him. "This is my old place before I ran away to become a ninja. Dad still lives here."

DJ looked up at the building with new interest. "Huh," he said. "So what's the holdup? Dad not like unexpected visitors in this dimension or something?"

"No… well, he prefers you ring the doorbell instead of knock because he likes how it sounds, but that's not the deal here," said Cliff.

"Then what is the deal?" asked DJ.

"Iiii… kinda still haven't told my dad about you, or anything about the other Ninjago, and I need you to be here to act as proof," Cliff admitted slowly and sheepishly.

DJ only raised an eyebrow. "Why?" he asked.

Cliff took a deep breath and sighed. "Well, the thing is… It's about Mo-er-Aunt Ga-um, your mom," he replied, still stumbling over what to call her. "I didn't tell him about any of it because then I'd have to tell him about… her."

DJ's eyes widened slightly as he realized what his counterpart was getting at. "Oh," he said.

"Yeah," Cliff agreed. "Oh."

It was more than clear what Cliff's hesitation stemmed from. In this world, his mother was dead and had been for years. Meanwhile, in DJ's world, she was very much alive.

And thanks to the Holy Grail curing her illness, she would likely stay alive for a good long time.

"I didn't tell him at first 'cause, well, your mom was still sick," Cliff explained, rubbing his shoulder uncomfortably. "I didn't want him to go through losing her again. But then with the grail, that's not a problem anymore."

"Can't believe it took us so long to realize we could use that," DJ muttered.

"I know, right," agreed Cliff. "But we did, and it worked, so now this is going to be an ongoing thing and… And my dad deserves to know about it."

"So then what are you so afraid of?" asked DJ.

Cliff stopped rubbing his shoulder and sighed. "See, the thing is… Mom's death really affected us both, and not in a good way. We fought a ton over stupid things. I was mad that he was going off to sing and dance all the time and was never home, and he was mad I wasn't following in his footsteps. It got so bad that we weren't even speaking to each other and I dropped out of school and ended up running away."

"To climb a mountain?" asked DJ, remembering him saying that before. It was what had given him his nickname after all.

"Heh, yeah," agreed Cliff. "And then I met Sensei Wu, trained to be a ninja, and kinda just avoided Dad until I couldn't any longer. We've only recently made up and have been trying to make things work again, and I don't… I don't know how he'll react to this."

DJ was silent for a moment as Cliff continued to fidget in before his own front door.

"Do you think he'd react badly?" he asked finally.

That gave Cliff Cole pause as he thought about it. "I don't… think so," he said slowly and unsurely. "He'd probably have to work himself up to actually seeing her, but I don't think it'd be bad, I guess."

DJ Cole nodded, and then reached over to ring the doorbell. 'Welcome~' it sang, and they both heard footsteps behind the door drawing closer.

Cliff yelped at the sound. "What did you do?!" he whisper-shouted.

"Uh, rang the bell," said DJ dryly. "It was obvious you weren't going to."

At that moment they heard the lock on the door slide open, and with another freaked out yelp, Cliff Cole darted around the corner of the house and out of sight.

DJ rolled his eyes at the sight and pointedly ignored Cliff's waving for him to join him in hiding.

The door swung open, and DJ was greeted to the sight of a man who looked remarkably like his father. But where his father's face had worry lines and his hair was gray-streaked from stress and overwork (something he wouldn't have to worry about so much with his mother cured), this version was more fresh-faced and dark-haired and looked ready to step on stage at any moment. It was an interesting difference, to say the least.

He was so caught up in taking in the differences that he almost didn't notice Lou giving him an odd look. "Son! You came to visit!" he said with a bright smile. "What on earth have you done with your hair?"

DJ smiled slightly at the question, then pointed in the direction of Cliff.

Lou followed his finger and Cliff Cole wasn't quick enough to duck around the corner before he was spotted.

Glancing at DJ again, Lou walked around the corner to see his son looking like he was trying to melt into the wall.

"Cole?" Lou said in confusion, glancing back at DJ then at his own son. "What's going on?"

Seeing the jig was up, Cliff pried himself off the side of the house and looked at his father sheepishly. "Uh, hey, Dad. I came to see you."

Lou raised an eyebrow and wasn't fooled. "If that's the case, why are you trying to hide, and who's your friend who looks just like you?"

Cliff and DJ exchanged a glance. "It's a long story, Dad," Cliff said, moving to stand next to his counterpart again. "To start, I'd like you to meet DJ Cole, he's my counterpart from another dimension."

"Sup," said DJ with a small wave.

Lou gaped at them like he wasn't sure if this was a joke or not.

Cliff grinned in a way he hoped looked honest. "As for the rest, well…"

Lou placed his now empty teacup, his head swimming as his son finished his story.

They had moved into the living room of his house to tell the full story, and boy howdy was it a heck of a story.

Alternate worlds? Magic grails? Giant cats? It was all crazy, even by Ninjago's standards.

And the most unbelievable thing of all, in this other world, Lilly was still alive!

It sounded like something out of a dream.

Lou let out a breathless chuckle at that thought, startling the two boys in front of him.

"And here I thought hearing you ran away to become a ninja and needed the Blade Cup to save the world would be the craziest thing you ever told me, Cole," Lou said with an overwhelmed smile. "I'm afraid you've topped yourself."

Cliff Cole let out a sheepish chuckled, and Lou turned his attention to DJ. "So, unlike my son, you actually like music."

DJ pulled up a record out of somewhere and span it on his finger. "My one true love," he said. "I like to DJ mostly, but I also write my own songs and my friends help me record them."

Cliff nodded, having heard some of them. "Yeah, and he's good at it too."

Lou's expression lit up. "WONDERFUL!" he declared dramatically. "I simply must hear some if you don't mind."

DJ chuckled, and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, and opened it to his original playlist. "Where do you want to start?" he asked holding it out to Lou.

Lou's eyes were shining with eagerness as he hit the first song, and he and DJ looked ready to spend the next few hours discussing music in depth.

Cliff had to laugh at the sight.

It looks like he was worrying over nothing.

Chapter Text

Lil'Loyd loved his multitude of big brothers, and two big sisters. Ever since he'd been taken in by them he'd known without a doubt he wasn't alone.

That didn't mean he didn't enjoy having friends his own age.

Tiny Echo

Pep Zane introducing Lil'Loyd to his little brother once the dimensional chaos settled was a no brainer. As a matter of fact, he was quite eager to do it. While Echo was amiable with everyone, and well-liked by his classmates, he'd yet to gain a solid group of friends like his big brother. Something Pep was hoping to change.

Lloyd seemed to be the perfect candidate for an instant friend. He was closer in size and age to Echo and had no issues with his nindroidness.

Which led to Lloyd staring in bewilderment as Echo chattered at him a mile a minute with more questions than he'd ever been asked before.

"Hi! Wow, you really do look like a small Lloyd. Is that why they call you Lil'Loyd? Big Brother says you have powers like him and not Big Lloyd. Can I see them? What element do you have? Is it Green like Big Lloyd? How is it different? You're from another world too, like Zen. That must be so cool! How do you get here from there? What's it like over there? Do you go to school? Is there a ninja school? Do you fight evil like Big Brother and Big Lloyd? Do you have your own Meowthra? What's your-" chattered Echo brightly, too fast for Lloyd to keep up

The little Green Ninja could only stare at him, unsure how to even begin answering all these questions and not even able to keep track of what questions were asked. It was now becoming very clear to him just why Echo and Nick Jay had become fast friends. No one else could follow this level of chattiness.

Finally, he reached out and poked Echo in the chest.

Echo stopped talking and looked at him confused. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Looking for the rewind button. I can't remember the first question," Lloyd half-joked as he poked Echo again. He'd really just wanted to get Echo's attention, but starting from the beginning would be nice too.

Echo blinked, then started glowing as he laughed. "I will try to go slower," he promised. "I just really want to know-"

Echo asked his questions at a more sedated pace, allowing Lloyd to actually answer them, and even ask his own questions to the small nindroid, as his endless curiosity was contagious.

By the end of the meeting, Pep Zane's mission had been a success. His little brother now had a steadfast friend.

Rusty Echo

Needless to say, Lloyd was thrilled when their fishing trip ended with them finding Zane's father and the counterpart of his friend.

However, he worried slightly that this new Echo wouldn't want to be his friend. He looked older, like Zane, and had been really quiet since they met him. It was really different from the endless babbling that Echo's counterpart was capable of. He also seemed very shy, never straying far from Dr. Julien or Zane and looking ready to duck out of sight at the slightest sound.

Well, if Lloyd wanted to be friends, it looks like he'd have to take the initiative.

"I'm gonna call you Rusty," he said, walking over to the rusting Nindroid.

The newly nicknamed Rusty Echo looked over at him in bewilderment. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"We've all got nicknames to tell us apart," Lloyd explained. "'Cause we've all got counterparts with the same name. Like, I'm Lil'Loyd and he's Luh-Loyd," he added, pointing at himself and then his own counterpart.

Echo glanced between the two of them as if he had no idea what to make of them.

"So I'm gonna call you Rusty and your counterpart can be Tiny," Lloyd continued. "'Cause you're all rusty, and your counterpart is shorter than I am."

Echo just stared at him silently, and Lloyd deflated a bit. "Or we can come up with something else if you want," he offered. "I just want to know what to call you so we can be friends."

Echo's expression brightened hearing that. "You want to be my friend?" he asked eagerly, finally looking less shy.

"Well, yeah," said Lloyd, like it should be obvious. "Why wouldn't I?"

Echo gave him a cheery but wistful smile. "I have never had a friend before. It was just me and Father in the tower, and he would never let me meet Taffy."

"Taffy?" asked Lloyd in confusion. Had they forgotten someone else at the tower?

"Yes, Taffy was the only one near enough to the lighthouse to visit," Echo replied. He then glanced out into the ocean. "I wonder where it is. It should have surfaced to see us leave. Though, it would have stopped us if it did."

It clicked in Lloyd's head what he was talking about, and he blurted out incredulously, "You named a giant, killer leviathan TAFFY?"

"Yes," said Echo innocently, not seeming to realize the ridiculousness of his statement. "Why? What would you have named it?"

Lloyd opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't think of anything at the moment because the name Taffy kept ringing in his head, and he had to concede Echo's point.

But with that ice breaker, the two were able to talk the entire boat ride back, and Lloyd came to the realization that despite his teenage appearance, Echo seemed mentally younger than Zane and closer in age to him.

And so another friendship was born.

Brad and Gene

When his father and his uncle worked together to open Steep Wisdom, a conjoined monastery and tea shop, to teach martial arts and sell, well, tea, the last thing Lloyd expected was for his old Darkley's school 'friends' to show up.

As it turns out, Darkley's Boarding School for Great Children had signed up at his father's monastery for lessons in hopes that Sensei Garmadon's peaceful ways would rub off on them. His father had agreed to take them on, as his own turn from evil to good gave him hopes of inspiring such a change in the next generation. Though without the need for a magic cup for them.

Lloyd wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, while it hadn't been obvious at first, being kicked out of Darkley's had been one of the best things to happen to him, as it lead him to where he was now, and he never wanted to go back. Inspiring the other students to give good a try was one thing, but it didn't fully absolve the past. He'd hated that school. However, on the other hand, this was the perfect opportunity to make peace with that past by getting the chance to show up his former classmates with superior fighting skills. With his head start, he was sure to get some form of payback.

That was his intention as he watched his former classmates step off the bus for classes at the monastery.

Still, he was pretty surprised when Brad and Gene spotted him and hurried over immediately.

"Uh, hi. What's up?" Lloyd said slowly when they approached, unsure what to make of them. While they had helped during the evil clones incident and agreed to try and turn over a new leaf, they'd still tricked him multiple times in the past.

"Cashing in a favor," said Brad with a smirk as he and Gene stood confidently before him.

"A favor?" asked Lloyd in confusion.

"Yeah," said Brad confidently. "I showed you the ropes when you first got to Darkley's, so now you've gotta do the same for me."

"Then why's Gene here?" asked Lloyd, glancing at the redhead.

Gene pushed his glasses further up his nose, and said snidely, "Because I'm smarter than Brad, and he'll need me for strategy."

Brad didn't even seem to realize he'd been insulted as he nodded in agreement.

Lloyd looked at them dubiously. He didn't think anything about his father's lessons needed explanation. Self-defense and martial arts lessons that were nonviolent, pretty straight forward. Still, he asked, "Okay, what do want to know?"

"What is your father's agenda?" asked Gene with a smirk. "This whole pacifism thing is just an act, right? Something to lower the Ninja's guard so that he can strike. What's his angle for that?"

Lloyd stared at him incredulously. "My dad- he's not-" he struggled to reply as he tried to wrap his head around Gene's claim. "Are you asking because you want to stop him or join him?" Lloyd burst out, because from the way Gene was talking…

"It depends on which side would be more… beneficial," said Gene with a smug look.

"Yeah, we don't side with losers," Brad agreed.

"Well, good thing there're no sides to take," Lloyd said, fighting laughter at Gene's crazy conspiracy theory. "Dad's not evil. See there was this magic… never mind. The Great Devourer's venom isn't in him anymore, so he's totally good. He's doing the pacifism stuff to make up for all the evil he did."

"Why does he want to make up for that?" asked Brad, looking scandalized.

"He feels bad about it," Lloyd replied.

Gene, however, seemed unconvinced. "A likely story," he said. "It seems he hasn't even told you about his evil plans. That's gotta sting."

"No it doesn't because there's no evil here," said Lloyd with a roll of his eyes. "Except Cole's cooking, that stuff's diabolical."

A hand suddenly came down from behind him to ruffle his hair. "I heard that," said Cole, looking both annoyed and amused, having no doubt overheard Gene's theory.

The Black Ninja ushered them into the monastery, as the class was about to start. It was his turn to be the teaching assistant in the lessons that day.

"Welcome students, old and new," said Sensei Garmadon with a friendly smile as the young children sat around on the tatami mats. "Today's lesson is the Art of the Silent Fist."

The Darkley's students all exchanged eager looks hearing that.

"What's that?" Brad whispered to Lloyd. "Some kind of secret killer attack?"

"Something like that," Lloyd muttered back with a smirk.

His grin was short-lived, as he felt a sharp whack on his head. "OW!" Lloyd yelped and turned to look up to see his father had bopped him on the head with his walking stick.

"Well, my son, so nice of you to volunteer," Sensei Garmadon said dryly. "Cole will be your sparring partner to demonstrate this technique."

Lloyd winced but got to his feet without complaint. He knew his father didn't tolerate students talking during his lesson. He ignored Brad and Gene's snickers at his misfortune as he took his position across from Cole on the mats, and they stood ready to begin.

"My son, you will attack, and Cole will use the Silent Fist," said Sensei Garmadon. His expression then softened, and he added, "But please, no powers. I happen to like my monastery, and you're quite aware of what Wu's reaction would be if you damage his tea shop."

"Yes, Sensei," said Cole and Lloyd as they squared off.

Sensei Garmadon tapped his walking stick to the ground and said, "Begin!"

With a yell, Lloyd ran at Cole and did his best to land a hit on him, but Cole dodged every blow.

"You see," said Sensei Garmadon when Lloyd stumbled as Cole dodged one of his attacks. "The key is balance. Let your opponent fight himself. Let the enemy tire himself out."

By the time he'd finished speaking, Lloyd was growing winded from his constant attacks, but Cole still had energy to spare, and it had nothing to do with their age difference.

"Finish," Sensei Garmadon said, allowing them to finish the demonstration.

The students clapped politely, though it was clear on some of their faces, especially Brad and Gene's, that they'd been hoping for something more exciting.

Seeing this, Sensei Garmadon chuckled. "I see some of you still need convincing. Come, get a partner and try it for yourself." He then frowned as he looked over the number of students. "I see we have an uneven number. Perhaps-"

"I'll spar with Brad and Gene, father!" Lloyd volunteered.

Sensei Garmadon smiled hearing that. "Thank you, my son. Though, be sure not to go easy on them simply because they are your friends. We are here to learn, after all."

Lloyd sent a dangerous smirk over at his former classmates. "Don't worry, I won't," he promised.

The two boys exchanged glances hearing that, looking like they were suddenly regretting laughing at Lloyd's expense.

They definitely regretted it even more five minutes later when they lay exhausted on the ground, and Lloyd was grinning over them, still ready to go.

"Still think my father's still evil," Lloyd taunted them.

"No," Gene admitted reluctantly between gasps for breath. "My observations of this lesson make it clear his turn to good was genuine."

"You, on the other hand," said Brad, jabbing his finger in Lloyd's direction. "Are definitely still a punk."

Lloyd blinked in surprise at hearing that and was even more thrown off when Brad and Gene grinned at him like that was a good thing.

"Nice to know you haven't lost your edge being a goodie-goodie," said Brad. "Was kinda worried about you for a while there."

"Really?" asked Lloyd, not expecting that.

"Hero or villain, you're a Darkley's kid," said Gene primly as he regained enough strength to stand back up. "And we Darkley's kids look after our own."

"Why'd'ya think we tried to give you an intervention before, dummy," added Brad.

Lloyd grinned hearing that.

Looks like his father having them as students was a good thing after all.

Nelson

There was a new student at the monastery.

Lloyd, Brad, and Gene watched as a new boy stood a little away from the rest of the class as his mother spoke to Sensei Garmadon and the Ninja about enrolling him.

"My Lil'Nelson is such a sweet boy," his mother was saying. "But he has a habit of being rather… accident prone." She pulled out her wallet and showed him several photos in it, each of Nelson wearing a cast in a different place.

"I… can see that," said Sensei Garmadon, not looking like he was sure how to respond to that. "How unfortunate."

"It is," Nelson's mom agreed. "That's why I'm signing him up for your lessons. Self-defense through pacifism sounds much safer for him. We don't want any more booboos."

Nelson's face turned red hearing that, especially when Brad started snickering at the mention of 'booboos'. "Mooom," he complained, shooting a look at the Ninja showing clear hero worship, and not wanting to be coddled in front of them.

"I just want you to be safe, sweetie," his mom replied, leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek, which only embarrassed him more.

Brad snickered louder, but Gene elbowed him in the gut to shut him up.

Needless to say, Nelson didn't get the coolest introduction to the class. Unfortunately, that seemed to make him think he needed to prove himself in order to make up for it. The next few days he went above and beyond in their exercises and lessons trying to show he was more than just an accident-prone mama's boy to the Ninja. So much so that Sensei Garmadon often had to tell him to slow down and stop him from being reckless.

It didn't help that Brad continued to tease him. It wasn't hurtful, just minor jabs in good fun, but they seemed to convince Nelson he needed to keep working to overcome them.

After one such tease, Lloyd had enough. "Seriously. Lay off the guy," he said to his friend. "It stopped being funny the first day."

Brad opened his mouth to protest, but Gene chose to agree with Lloyd. "He's right, teasing Nelson just cause he has a mom that loves him isn't cool. There's a lot of people who'd love to have that."

That was a loaded sentence, and it shut Brad up very quickly.

Lloyd, meanwhile, looked over at Gene. "You-?" he started to ask, but a quick shake of Brad's head told him all he needed to know.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop messing with the guy," Brad promised. "And for the record, I wasn't teasing him for his mom, I was teasing him because he got worked up so easy."

Gene and Lloyd had to agree to that.

However, even with Brad's teasing at an end, Nelson still seemed to think he had something to prove.

So when he overheard the Ninja mention missing some things from their old monastery that burned down, Nelson was quick to beg Lloyd to take them over there on Ultra and see if anything survived the fire.

Lloyd, however, was hesitant to go. It was kinda his fault the monastery burned down in the first place. However, he could tell Nelson was five seconds away from stealing Ultra Dragon and going over there himself if he disagreed, so off they went.

The burnt remains of the monastery hadn't exactly held up to the elements in their absence. All that remained were what looked like a charred and dilapidated outline of where the building once was. Lloyd didn't have much hope they'd find anything there that wasn't burnt to a crisp.

So, of course, Nelson found the one salvageable thing several feet down a cliff in a spot too tight for Ultra to reach. It was a small handheld game Lloyd recognized as Jay's that had managed to land in a crevice sheltered enough from the wind and rain that it still looked usable.

And Nelson was scaling down the cliff as best he could before Lloyd could stop him.

"Nelson, get back here," Lloyd shouted, reaching down to try and grab him, but he'd already climbed too far.

"It's okay, I've got it," Nelson called.

But Lloyd wasn't buying it. "This isn't another broken bone if you fall. This is a splat!"

Nelson had just reached the game and pocketed it, but hearing that, he glanced down and seemed to realize just how high he was and froze.

Lloyd stared down at him for a long moment, then said, "You're stuck, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah, kinda," Nelson replied, still frozen in place.

Lloyd let out a laugh, before standing up. "Hold on as tight as you can. I'll try not to shake things too much."

"Shake?" was all Nelson had time to ask before Lloyd channeled his control over the earth and stomped his foot.

The mountain trembled and cracks appeared in the cliffside, making perfect handholds for Nelson to climb.

"Whoa," Nelson gasped, before slowly climbing back up the mountain using his new handholds. He reached the top, and Lloyd helped him up. "I thought only the Black Ninja could do that?" he asked once his feet were on solid ground.

"Normally, yeah, but I'm the Green Ninja," Lloyd said proudly, holding ice in one hand, lightning in the other, and blowing a puff of fire from his mouth. "I'm special like that."

"Cool!" exclaimed Nelson, looking at him with the same admiration he usually reserved for the Ninja.

Lloyd grinned at the sight of it, but before he could say anything more, something blue and covered in a crackling light suddenly burst out of the wreckage of the monastery with a high-pitched screech.

Both boys yelled in fright at the unexpected attack and bolted for the Ultra Dragon.

It wasn't until they were in the air they looked down to see their attacker was just a chicken. Grant it, a blue chicken that was covered in lightning that squawked angrily after them, but a chicken nonetheless.

Lloyd and Nelson exchanged a glance, before nearly falling off the dragon laughing.

Jay was thrilled when Nelson returned him his old game, and if the overeager boy began spending more time with Lloyd and his friends, who was he to complain.

Terrors Together

The Ninja thought Sensei Wu was joking when he said they'd be up against Lloyd's young friend group for this training exercise.

"Are you serious, Sensei?" asked Cole.

"Very," said Sensei Wu sagely. "Your goal is to get from one end of this wood to the other, and Lloyd and his little friends will all do their best to stop you."

The Ninja exchanged dubious glances. "But they're just kids," said Kai.

"I dunno," said Jay, looking more hesitant than the rest. "Remember when those Darkley's boys locked us up with their teachers. Or when Lloyd reprogramed my training bot, not to mention him having all our powers combined. The kids got some skills."

"Not to mention, my father and his counterpart both built both the Echos with the ability to protect. They will not be pushovers," said Zane. But then he smiled. "However, they were not built to the same degree as me, so I should be able to handle my little brothers."

"Exactly," said Kai confidently. "We taught these kids everything they know. Nothing they can do will surprise us. This exercise will be a piece of cake."

Cole's head snapped up. "Cake?" he asked eagerly, only to realize Kai hadn't been literal. "Right," he said, regaining his composure. "We have this thing in the bag. Don't worry about it, Sensei."

Sensei Wu studied them thoughtfully. "It is good to have confidence, but underestimating one's enemy can mean the difference between victory and defeat."

The four teenagers exchanged a glance but didn't pay much mind to the words. It was just Sensei Wu being cryptic as ever.

With that, they started their trek into the forest.

For the first few steps into the woods were quiet. Almost too quiet.

"Think they chickened out?" asked Kai as he studied the trees around them, trying to spot any of their opponents hiding among them.

"Nah, those kids can be pretty fearless," said Cole.

Jay gulped. "They're probably setting up all kinds of booby traps for us."

Zane suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. "I do not believe they are setting up booby traps for us," he said.

"Why's that?" asked Jay as he and the others stopped next to him.

"Because it seems they already set them up beforehand," said Zane, just as the ground gave way beneath their weight.

The four fell into the hidden pit trap with yelps of shock before landing in a heap at the bottom.

Above their heads, they heard Lloyd whoop at their misfortune and give somebody a high five.

"Told you so," Jay groaned from the bottom of the pile.

"You couldn't warn us sooner, Zane?" Kai asked as he shoved Cole off of him.

Zane pretended not to hear him.

"Get back out," Wu called to them. "This training doesn't end until you reach your objective."

With disgruntled looks, the four of them climbed out of the pit trap to try again.

And promptly fell down another one.

Things only went downhill from there for the Ninja.

Brad seemed to be having fun as he jumped and hid in the trees like a squirrel and would drop unpleasant things like bugs or mud on them at any given opportunity, all while laughing his head off.

Tiny Echo had apparently seen a movie called Home Alone (much to Zane's dismay) and delighted in springing the recreated traps from the film on them, it was only because Zane had seen the movie too (and knew Pep Zane had done everything he could to prevent Tiny from seeing it) that they were able to avoid the more dangerous ones.

Nelson proved to be rather speedy on a bicycle, and would often come shooting out the trees at them, and using a long stick to knock them off their feet before they could react, and then shooting away with a yelled apology.

Rusty Echo took advantage of his earthy coloring and skill at hiding from sight to sneak up on them and judo flip whichever Ninja he could get fastest, before running straight up a tree to escape. He'd also take advantage of his detachable limbs to lower a hand from above to snatch their weapons away and throw them into the forest and force them to stop and search for them.

Lloyd was a nightmare to deal with. With his command of the elements, even if there wasn't a boobytrap there before, there could be one there now. Pitfalls were plentiful, smoke screens common, blinding lightning flashes were frequent and left them blinking spots out of their eyes, and they had all lost count of how many times their feet had frozen to the floor.

And throughout it all, they could hear Gene using his smarts to bark orders and direct everyone into the most ideal position to best mess with the Ninja at any given time. It was clear he was the mastermind of the whole operation, and to make matters worse, he seemed to be speaking in some kind of code, so they couldn't even guess what was to come.

Needless to say, the edge of the forest was more than a welcome sight by the end of it, and the four teenagers raced for it before anything else could happen.

When they stumbled out of the treeline, they saw Sensei Wu sitting there with a cup of tea and an amused expression on his face.

"Okay," Cole gasped as he struggled to catch his breath. "We get it. No underestimating your opponent, even if they are half your size."

"At least we managed to make it through," Kai said with a sigh of relief.

Zane looked around, and his face fell a the sight. "I… do not believe we did," he said.

The other three blinked and looked up to see that they were right back where they started.

Sensei Wu chuckled. "No, indeed you did not," he said. "Your goal was to reach the other side of the forest. Not come back from whence you came."

The four Ninja stared at him for a long moment, before collectively collapsing on the ground with a groan.

"Such a pity," said Sensei Wu airily over them as he continued to sip his tea. "You will have to attempt this exercise again another day, and another day, and another day until you manage to complete it. Defeating little children should not be so much of a challenge, hmm?"

The teenagers let out an even louder groan at that, and from within the treeline, they could hear the younger boys giggling.

"Little children," Jay scoffed. "More like Lil'Terrors."

The others all agreed, and from that moment on, the nickname stuck.

The Lil'Terrors were not to be underestimated.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago

When they rescued Dr. Julien and Echo from the tower, they quickly realized that having them live at Steep Wisdom with the rest of them wouldn't be a good idea. Echo was far too easily disassembled, and while none of the Ninja would harm him on purpose, there was just too much daily chaos at the combined tea shop and monastery to ensure his safety.

And while the hollow tree where Dr. Julien's former workshop once was still stood, it was decided they wouldn't move back there. For one thing, one poor encounter with a Treehorn could end badly for Echo or the doctor. And for another, it was deemed simply too far away for Zane to visit, as his duties as a ninja kept him living with the rest of his team at the monastery, and Dr. Julien wasn't about to make him choose between his family and his life's purpose.

And so, with the sale of a few of Dr. Julien's patents, he and Echo were able to move into a modest house to get a fresh start.

Needless to say, when the Julien Family's counterparts on the other Ninjago heard the news, they were both delighted to hear that Echo's counterpart existed and Zen Zane was no longer an orphan and insisted on having a housewarming party. Being very curious to meet the counterparts Zen had described, they agreed.

Zen Zane was busily cooking for them when he heard the doorbell ring.

Opening it, he was greeted by his counterpart grinning eagerly with his brother and father behind him.

"We are here," Pep Zane said cheerfully, living up to his nickname. "Sorry, but Mom could not come tonight, but she sends her regards."

Next to him, the small Echo looked equally as excited. "Where's the other me?" he asked, bouncing in place. "Is he here? Can I meet him? Can I? Can I? Can I?"

The little nindroid looked like he was ready to continue asking that question for eternity until Zen said yes. Fortunately, Zen chuckled in amusement and said, "Yes, he's here, although…" he trailed off and glanced back into the house. "My Echo is very shy. New people make him nervous, so he may be hiding right now."

The little Echo looked far from deterred. If anything, hearing that only made him more excited. "It's like a treasure hunt with a friend at the end!" he said eagerly, glowing like he often did when he was happy. With that, he darted in past Zen, determined to search the house.

"Don't overwhelm the poor boy when you find him, son!" the Dr. Julien standing behind Pep called after his son.

"I won't!" the little Echo called back, before skidding to a halt in front of a man who looked very much like an older version of his father.

The Dr. Julien of that world looked down at him in surprise, and let out a startled, "Oh my word?"

Echo looked back up at him with a beaming smile. "Hi!" he chirped in his automated voice. "I'm Echo. Lil'Loyd gave me the nickname Tiny Echo, so you can call me Tiny. I'm looking for the other me. Have you seen him? I really want to meet him."

The older Dr. Julien only stared at him in bewilderment.

Seeing this, Zen led his counterpart and his father's into the house and said, "Father, do you remember what I told you? About us having counterparts in a parallel world."

The older Dr. Julien frowned, then his confusion seemed to clear and he said, "Ah yes. They were coming to dinner. Or, I see they've already arrived."

Pep and his Dr. Julien exchanged glances. They'd been told about the other's memory problems, but seeing it in person was a different thing entirely.

"Yes, Father," said Zen patiently. "This is my counterpart, whom we call Pep Zane, as well as your own counterpart…" he paused, and then said, "Come to think of it, we haven't thought of a nickname for you yet," he said looking between the two Dr. Juliens.

Zen's Dr. Julien's face fell. "Oh dear," he said. "I'm afraid with my memory I won't remember any nickname you give me."

"Then you can keep your own name, and I'll just have the nickname," Pep's Dr. Julien offered kindly. He then thought a moment, before adding, "Let's see, I teach classes at Ninjago University while my sons are at school, so perhaps calling me Professor would not be remiss."

Pep nodded in agreement. "Yes, Morro has mentioned he enjoys your lessons. I believe it is why he does not antagonize me as much as the others," he said, making his father chuckle at that.

"Morro?" asked Zen curiously, having heard that name before mentioned by his Sensei Wu and Garmadon, but the pained expression Wu always had kept him from asking.

Pep opened his mouth to reply, but paused and instead asked, "Is something cooking?"

Zen jumped as he realized he'd left dinner cooking, and rushed away to save it before it burned.

Tiny, meanwhile, saw the discussion was over and wandered off to find his counterpart. His search led him to almost trip over a small toy-like robot that was tidying the house.

Seeing it, the little nindroid gave it a friendly grin and said, "Hi, I'm Tiny Echo. I'm looking for the other Echo. Do you know where he is? Can I meet him?"

The little robot studied him up and down, before turning around and wheeling away.

"Oh, you want me to follow you? Okay," said Tiny, and he scurried after the little bot.

The little robot led Tiny to a room that looked a lot like his father's workroom in his world, where he created all his gadgets and machines. The robot paused in front of a tarp covering something oddly shaped.

Something oddly shaped that was moving and trying to shoo the robot away with a whisper of, "No, Gizmo."

Found him!

Sitting down in front of the tarp, Tiny said, "Hi, I'm Echo, I'm here to protect those who can't protect themselves. Lil'Loyd likes to call me Tiny. You're Echo too, right? What's your nickname?"

There was silence for a long moment as Tiny sat patiently waiting for a response.

Finally, the tarp shifted so that one glass eye surrounded by a bronze-colored face peeked out. "... Rusty," the hidden nindroid replied. "He called me Rusty Echo."

Tiny lit up. "That's a great name!" he said.

The tarp shifted and a little more of Rusty peeked out. "Really?" he asked.

"Sure is!" said Tiny brightly. "It's really good. Do you like it? I like mine."

Rusty slowly lowered the tarp off his head, but he kept it wrapped around his shoulders. "I like it," he said softly. "I like yours too."

"Thanks," said Tiny. He then jumped to his feet and held out a hand to Rusty. "Want to be friends?"

Rusty slowly lowered the tarp fully off of him, and reached out to accept the hand. "Okay," he said with a shy smile.

Tiny tugged him to his feet, and then looked up at his counterpart in awe. "Wow, you're really tall!" he said.

Rusty Echo stared down at him in surprise. Then he couldn't help but laugh at the blunt statement.

It looked to be a good start to their friendship.

The dinner was going well until the subject of Zen Zane's memory switch was brought up.

If there was one thing Dr. Julien always seemed to remember despite his otherwise spotty memory, it was that Zen had allowed himself to be modified in his absence. Something he was not happy about.

"I just don't understand why you would want to change your design," said Dr. Julien, disappointment lacing his voice.

Zen let out a sigh that made it clear they had had this argument on several occasions, and he was embarrassed to have it with company over. "Father, I have told you many times. I had it removed because I do not want to lose my memory again. Forgetting my life and you once was terrible, forgetting everything and everyone now…" he shuddered. "I do not wish to even consider it."

Around them, the dimensional visitors listened awkwardly to the bickering two, and Rusty Echo picked at his food with a resigned expression.

"Zane, your design is perfect. There was no need to change it," argued Dr. Julien.

"I would have to disagree," Zen replied.

They looked like they would continue debating this for the rest of the dinner, but thankfully, Pep Zane cut in. "It sounds like normal teenage behavior to me."

All eyes turned to the blue-eyed nindroid.

"What do you mean by that, son?" asked Prof. Julien asked, hoping he had some insight to stop the argument.

Pep, who was looking exceedingly uncomfortable (too late Zen remembered he disliked discussing his own mechanical parts), said, "It is a normal teenage act of rebellion to modify one's body in some way. Especially in ways that their parents will not approve of. Usually through temporary acts like dying one's hair, or using more permanent methods such as getting a tattoo or piercing their skin in an eye-catching place. It is perfectly natural that Zen chose to make such a change."

Zen shot his counterpart a grateful look as Dr. Julien seemed to consider his words.

"I suppose from that perspective it does seem natural. I did build Zane to be as real as possible," said Dr. Julien, he then shot his oldest son a stern look. "However, I still do not like it, and I had better not hear of you making any further modifications without my consent, young man." He then sent a glance at Rusty, and added, "That goes for you too."

Rusty's joints squeaked as he gave a startled jump at the attention, but Zen was just glad his father was letting the matter go.

Pep, meanwhile, now had a contemplative expression on his face.

Seeing his son looking at his arms thoughtfully, Prof. Julien quickly said, "If you must do your own act of rebellion, I implore you not to get a tattoo, Zane," he said, sounding like he didn't know if he should be exasperated or amused.

"You can't tell me what to do, Dad," Pep replied, already looking ready to commit to his ideas of teenage rebellion.

"Your skin will have a bad reaction to the ink and you will likely break their needles," Prof. Julien replied without missing a beat, unoffended since he knew his son was just playing a role.

Pep paused at that information. "I will reconsider my options," he said.

"You should dye your hair!" said Tiny eagerly. "Dye it red, no green, no blue! Yeah, blue! It'll go with the ice!"

"But what shade of blue?" asked Pep, looking like he was actually considering it.

"I dunno, there are so many shades," said Tiny. "There's blue, periwinkle, forget-me-not, cyan, teal, aquamarine, indigo, royal blue, sea blue, sky blue, pale blue…"

Somehow the rest of dinner was spent discussing what color Pep should dye his hair as an act of teenage rebellion.

Privately, Zen wondered if it was really rebellion if Prof. Julien already knew and okayed it, but whatever made his counterpart happy.

"There's still one thing I'd like to ask if you don't mind," said Prof. Julien once the dinner had ended. The two of them had offered to wash the dishes while Pep and the Echos helped Zen put the final touches on dessert (they could both hear the sounds of the Echos awe at the cake, and Pep cheerfully asking for baking lessons in return for guitar lessons, to which Zen readily agreed).

"Feel free," said Dr. Julien amiably. "I'll do my best to answer, though I fear recent events may take me a moment to recall."

"No, no, it is something from your past you should remember. Merely something that I've wondered since Zen informed me of his early life," Prof. Julien said. He studied his counterpart curiously for a moment before voicing his question. "What could possibly have caused you to hide yourself away in isolation in the middle of a monster-filled forest for decades? What were you hiding from in that tree?"

Dr. Julien froze in mid-scrub and stared down at the plate he'd been washing.

"I mean no offense," Prof. Julien said quickly, putting down the drying towel and turning to face him. "I'm sure there must have been a reason for it, and you raised a wonderful son regardless, but I am puzzled as to what it could be. My Zane is a social butterfly. There is nothing he loves more than spending time with other people, especially his friends. I couldn't imagine keeping him from the world, even if the isolation was all he knew and wouldn't miss it. There must have been a reason. Was it the Skulkin who captured you? Or perhaps the Serpentine War I've heard mention of?"

With a sigh, Dr. Julien lowered the dish back into the soapy water and dried his hands with a towel.

"You must understand," he said slowly. "I am old. Very old. And have far more years on me than you." His expression turned sardonic. "Heh, I'm so old I shouldn't even be alive, and yet here I am."

Prof. Julien nodded. "It is the most notable difference between us."

Dr. Julien nodded solemnly. "And this difference likely had its consequences for us." His eyes took on a faraway expression. "When I was young, this world was very different. Technology as the world now knows it didn't exist, and science was rarely taught to the common man. I happened to be one of the lucky ones to be able to learn it and had the ambition to dream of creating more. All my machinery, everything I've ever built, I've had to construct by hand. I created wonders no one on Ninjago had ever seen before."

Dr. Julien's face turned bitter. "And as I'm sure you know when people see something entirely new, something they don't understand, they fear it."

Prof. Julien winced at those words. He'd had more than enough experience with that. Even in more modern times where the technology was common and the idea of robots was more than a fantasy, there were still those who feared them. One needed to look no further than the multitude of robot apocalypse movies to see why. It was part of the reason his son always went out of his way to hide his true nature and project the image of a normal human teenager, even if he didn't fully understand what that meant. And if things were rough for them in the present day, he couldn't imagine how it would have been decades before.

Dr. Julien looked like he had no need to imagine. He'd seen it for himself. "It was difficult," he said. "People looked at my inventions and declared them unnatural. If they gained the knowledge I wanted to create a person. To create a son..." He shuddered. "I had to leave. I couldn't raise Zane in such a place. They would have declared him a monster. So… I left. I hid. And I built and raised a son who I couldn't be more proud of. Both him and Echo have exceeded my expectations by miles."

Prof. Julien let out a chuckle at that. "It is easy to be proud of them. They're good kids and even better sons."

At that moment Tiny Echo darted in with Rusty Echo at his heels, both of them covered in smudges of frosting. "IT'S CAKE TIME!" shouted Tiny at top volume, before rushing back out.

Rusty hung back and said softly, "Please join us before Tiny eats it all. Pep has dared him to try, and Big Brother is trying to stop them." He then hurried after his counterpart.

Both doctors shared a laugh.

It was very easy to be proud.

Chapter Text

1, Bomb Bluffing Lessons

Lloyd wondered how his life had come to this.

"I-I am n-n-not holding a b-bomb," he stuttered as he held a pair of wire cutters and tried to disarm the ticking bomb on his lap.

His concentration was ruined by a voice to his left.

"Pfff, you call that convincing?" his father said, leaning over to rest one of his arms on top of Lloyd's head and leaned his weight on it. "I've heard mimes more convincing than that."

"Mimes don't talk," Lloyd protested.

"They do. You're just not dealing with them right," said his father cheerfully.

Lloyd did not want to know what he'd done to some poor mimes.

"Now try it again," said Garmadon. "And this time, really sell it to me that there's not a bomb in this room. Oh, and also cut that red wire without touching anything else so we don't get blasted to kingdom come."

With trembling hands, Lloyd did as he instructed and said quickly, "I am not holding a bomb!"

Lord Garmadon hummed consideringly. "Well, points for not stuttering, but if you say something that fast you sound guilty. You can't sound guilty, you need indignation. Like, how DARE they accuse you of having a bomb! Also, now cut the green wire- NO, NOT THAT GREEN WIRE!"

Lloyd quickly jerked the wire cutters away from that wire and quickly cut the other green one. "I am not holding a bomb," he said in his best indignant voice.

"Hmmm, better, but still sounds fake. Now cut the blue wire and try again."

Lloyd suppressed a groan and did as he said.

Finally, Lloyd managed to bluff well enough to satisfy his father (for now), and he cut the last wire to disarm the bomb.

His father laughed when Lloyd let out a massive sigh of relief as the timer stopped.

"Chill out, Luh-Loyd," Garmadon said as he ruffled his son's hair. "It's a fake. Like I'd let you disarm a real bomb on your first try."

At that exact moment a general in a jellyfish costume walked in and said, "Hey Boss, I've got that dud bomb you wanted!"

The two Garmadons stared blankly at the new bomb before their gazes slowly shifted to look at the gutted bomb still sitting innocently on Lloyd's lap.

The second it sank in what happened, without missing a beat, Garmadon turned to the general and said, "You're fired!"

The general seemed to recognize the tone of the former warlord's voice and made a hasty retreat, not wanting to become the exception to the 'no more firing people out of the volcano' rule.

The second the now-former general was gone, the father and son shared an awkward look.

Finally, Garmadon took the disarmed bomb off Lloyd's lap and gingerly placed it in a trash can.

"Koko must never hear about this," said Garmadon, his voice uncharacteristically serious. "I'm bribing you, Luh-Loyd. What do you want?"

Lloyd let out a strangled sort of laugh and slid out of his seat and onto the floor, too freaked at what just happened to even respond.

How was this his life?

2, Age is but a Number

"You're WHAT!"

The source of the shout, Lord Garmadon, had bolted up out of his seat and was staring at his counterpart in shock.

To be fair, half of the table was doing the same. The other half seemed confused by the extreme reaction.

It was another game night for the entire Garmadon family. This time, Sensei Wu managed to join them and was making an effort to interact with Morro like nothing was wrong despite still having his past with his counterpart weighing heavily on his conscience.

This lead to Sensei Wu often losing.

Badly.

Even Lord Garmadon was doing better than him (which was making him very pleased and insufferable).

Eventually, Sensei Garmadon had joked, "Honestly, Brother, over a thousand years of experience, and you are being beaten by children and a buffoon."

It was this comment that had caused Lord Garmadon to bellow the aforementioned question and was now glancing between the two senseis in shock.

"We're what?" asked Sensei Garmadon in confusion.

"You're how old?" Lord Garmadon asked, sounding like he was being strangled.

Sensei Garmadon and Sensei Wu exchanged glances and shrugged. "Honestly, I have lost count," said the older of the two. "Do you remember, Wu?"

"Time had barely gotten a name when we were born," said Wu in reply. "I do not remember either, but I believe it is somewhere over a thousand, give or take a century."

Lord Garmadon let out a choking sound, and his brother looked boggled at the thought.

"And I thought I was super, super old," said Master Wu in utter disbelief.

Misako, ever curious, asked, "Then how old are you?"

"I'm one hundred and seventy-four!" Lord Garmadon blurted out. "And Wu's only seven years younger than me!"

Morro let out an impressed whistle. "That's quite an age gap."

The Sensei brothers looked utterly surprised at that as well.

"I suppose that explains their lack of maturity," Sensei Garmadon muttered just loud enough for his brother to hear.

Sensei Wu chuckled in agreement. It hadn't escaped their notice how their counterparts tended to constantly bicker like toddlers.

"Lloyd, are you okay?" asked Koko, and they turned to see that she was asking both Lloyds, who had gone equally white in the face.

"That is so long," Lil'Loyd whimpered. "So long."

"We'll be fine," said Luh-Loyd, looking like he was trying to hold it together for the both of them. "We talked about it. We'll be fine."

Thankfully, Lord Garmadon was able to pull them out of their funk by doing what he always did. Shooting his mouth off.

"I KNEW IT!" he cheered, jumping onto the table and scattering their game (not that they were playing anymore anyway). "Didn't I tell you, Luh-Loyd! I will never die!"

"I wouldn't go that far," said Sensei Garmadon, but his counterpart was no longer listening, as he was now dancing on top of the table like a lunatic (it was the Dance of Doom, what did you expect).

Seeing this, Luh-Loyd managed to crack a smile and whisper to his little brother, "At least we'll have Dad and Uncle Wu with us too. Sounds like they've got a long way to go."

Lil'Loyd smiled and looked more assured.

They'd be alright.

3, Lost in Translation

Both the Ninja Force and their dimensional counterparts could only stare in bewilderment as Zen Zane, Pep Zane, Tiny Echo, and Rusty Echo all conversed oddly.

Specifically, an oddity named Machine learning Original Module.

Or as Pep Zane and Tiny Echo called her, Mom.

They weren't conversing with each other about Pep and Tiny's Mom. They were all talking to Pep and Tiny's Mom. Something utterly bewildering when the computer they were speaking to could only screech at them in dial-up noises.

"Uhhh, Zane?" asked Nick Jay. "Didn't you say before you couldn't understand her any more than we could?"

Zen turned to look at his very confused friends and replied, "Oh, that was just a misunderstanding. I simply needed to get used to her accent."

Rusty Echo nodded in agreement like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The collective human ninja exchanged bewildered glances and shrugged.

"If you say so," said Spike Kai.

Chapter Text

Making new friends just means there are more hugs to go around, and Buddy Kai was more than willing to give them out.

Lil'Loyd

It was just par for the course in the strangeness that was their lives that Kai found himself having a sleepover with a miniature alternate version of Lloyd.

It was weird, the kid was both so similar and so different from the Lloyd he knew. He was more sassy and confident than his Lloyd had been at that age. And unlike him, he seemed more willing to fight back at the world that seemed set against him.

But like Lloyd, the little guy still seemed to have rotten luck in life, and, much to Kai's appreciation, he saw the Fire Ninja as a beacon of safety when lost in a scary world.

Taking him to the twins' home that first night, Little Lloyd was starting to have a sugar crash after all the ice cream he'd eaten, and didn't have much energy to do more than give mumbled answers to questions, and drowsily allow them to help him get ready for bed, and soon enough, he was curled up fast asleep, looking far more at peace than he'd been earlier when he ran to him in tears at being someplace unknown.

Which was why it was alarming when Little Lloyd woke up with a frightened shout the next morning, jolting Kai awake as well.

The poor little kid was looking around wildly, clearly not seeing the bedroom for what it was, and seemed to be growing more panicked by the second.

"Whoa, hey little bro, it's okay," Kai quickly said, pulling the little boy into a gentle hug.

Like his Lloyd's first hug before him, Little Lloyd at first seemed so frozen in disbelief to be getting the embrace but soon melted into it.

"Kai?" he asked finally once he calmed down.

Kai had to wonder if he was asking for him, or for his counterpart from Little Lloyd's world.

"Yeah," he answered because whichever one he was asking for, he was Kai. "But also…"

Little Lloyd gave a little jerk in his arms, and Kai knew his memory of the previous day finally kicked in. "Oh, right… other world," he mumbled.

He could feel the disappointment that the previous day's events hadn't been a dream coming off the little blond in waves.

"We'll get you home, little bro. Promise, okay," Kai said.

Little Lloyd nodded slowly, and Kai couldn't tell how much he believed it.

Hoping to distract him from that, Kai squeezed him tighter.

"How do you feel about pancakes for breakfast?" he said, switching gears.

Little Lloyd immediately perked up hearing that. Looks like another similarity they have is their sweet tooth.

Hoping they also had a similar love for games, Kai pulled up a game on his phone to give to him and left to get started on the pancakes.

Hopefully, they could get him home soon.

Zen Zane

Kai was on top of the world as they watched the mechs Dr. Gary had programmed against them fall into the ocean, and couldn't stop giving victory hugs to whoever came within arms reach.

His teammates laughed it off as he did so. They knew the mechs going down must mean that the Lloyds and Kai's own counterpart must be safe and had beaten the bad guy.

Those not on his team were not as used to his hugs. Koko, who had received them more than others outside their friend group, laughed and hugged him back. Master Wu had accepted his hug with grace, and patted him on the back for it. Catching the still-evil alternate Lord Garmadon hug was a mistake. At first, he seemed too shocked at what was happening to respond, but then quickly shoved Kai away.

Oh well, his loss.

The hugs didn't stop when they landed at the volcano, and as they waited for their Lord Garmadon to figure out how to land the Green Dragon Mech, Kai rushed to give them to his sister and Jay as well.

Unfortunately, when he went to hug Jay, Nya targeted him for a tackle at the last second, and Kai found himself hugging Zane instead.

Though it took him a minute to realize it wasn't his Zane he was hugging, but he figured it out when a pair of dark eyes stared back at him in surprise instead of glowing blue.

Never one to apologize for hugs, Kai grinned at him and said, "Victory hug!" while lifting the heavy nindroid off the ground as best he could.

Alternate-Zane let out an "Oof!" at the hug, but didn't seem bothered by it.

"I see your Lloyd's description of you was accurate," Alternate-Zane said when his feet were set back on the ground.

Kai stepped back and looked curious. "Lloyd told you about me?" he asked.

"Yes," said Alternate-Zane. "He said you were the friendliest person he knows, and how you were generous with giving hugs."

Kai beamed, and just for that, Alternate-Zane got another hug.

Red Nya

Hearing their parents were missing-presumed dead in the other world was a cold shock for the twins.

But the reactions of their counterparts were too heartbreaking to not be genuine. The way they continued to give the twins' parents looks of wonder as if they couldn't believe they were there only cemented it.

Kai couldn't imagine living his life without them, and his heart went out to his counterpart who apparently had to raise Red Nya (who wasn't his twin and was younger than him, another bewildering thought) all on his own. Suddenly the differences between the two sets of counterparts made a lot more sense.

Speaking of Red, he saw her excuse herself to get some air. Spike Kai sent her a worried look but seemed reluctant to leave the sight of Ray and Maya. So after exchanging a look with his sister, Kai went after her in his place (his counterpart sent him a grateful look for doing so).

Stepping out onto a small fire escape attached to their apartment, Kai glanced over at Red staring out into space.

"Sorry it's not much of a view," Kai said conversationally to let her know he was there.

Despite that, Red jumped and glanced over at him, but didn't say anything.

"You doing okay?" Kai asked.

Red frowned and looked away from him.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I barely remember my own parents. Like I said, I was three when they…" she trailed off, looking slightly bitter. "I know your parents aren't the same as mine. But… you had them all this time… why…?"

Kai hugged her.

"It's okay to be jealous," he muttered to her. "But just know that going forward you can totally share our parents with us. We'll be quadruplets, who cares about our ages. My parents totally wanted you the moment they saw you."

Red didn't say anything, and if Kai felt tears soaking into his shirt, he didn't mention it either.

Spike Kai

Hearing about their encounter with a leviathan, Kai was kicking himself for not stowing away on the Lloyds and Garmadons' fishing trip, water or no water. Even if they did find Zen Zane's long lost father, the idea of his little bros being in danger like that was horrifying.

Thankfully, even if he didn't go, another Kai did.

And because of that, Spike Kai deserved a hug.

So Kai gave him one.

Spike was definitely surprised to get caught in a Kai Hug™, particularly because he was Kai.

"So this is what this feels like," Spike said thoughtfully when Kai finally pulled away.

"Thanks again for looking out for them," said Kai gratefully.

Spike shrugged modestly. "You'd do the same if they didn't ditch you."

Well, that was true.

"How do you do it?" asked Spike.

Kai looked at him in confusion. "Do what?"

"How do you hug so much?" asked Spike, looking slightly embarrassed. "It's not… cool, you know?"

Kai scoffed. "Okay, one, no one is ever too cool for hugs."

Spike snorted at that.

"Two," said Kai, ignoring his snort. "We were never going to be cool."

Spike looked at him in confusion.

Kai shrugged. "We were best friends with the kid everyone was convinced would be the next major supervillain. No one was ever going to think we were cool. The best we could hope for was 'not scary'."

Spike let out another snort, though this time it sounded more amused. "Hugs are pretty much the opposite of scary."

"And three," said Kai. "They needed them."

"Needed them?" asked Spike.

Kai nodded. "Having our lives be… what they are, hugs always helped the others feel safe. I could make them feel safe. If I can give them that I will, no matter how 'uncool' it is."

Spike laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Nice to know my counterpart's a sap," he said, but Kai could tell he approved.

Kai's only response was to stick his tongue out and say, "Takes one to know one."

Cliff Cole

Cliff Cole was stressed.

It wasn't obvious as Cliff seemed to be trying not to show his stress levels, and maintain the air of a strong leader.

Sensei Wu and Sensei Garmadon were working on the construction of their new combined monastery and tea shop, and as an exercise in leadership, had left directing the builders to Cliff.

At first, Cliff seemed to be managing rather well, but then people kept chiming in with their own ideas of what to add to the construction, or the builders would try to trick him into paying more by offering 'deals' for extra things to add. This left Cliff trying to please everyone while keeping the construction within the budget the Senseis had given him, and having to manage every detail was clearly getting to him.

This much was clear to Kai even though he only saw him when they visited each other.

So when he saw Cliff let out a frustrated groan over a stack of blueprints one visit to the Other Ninjago's Bounty, Kai knew he needed a hug.

So a hug is what he gave him.

Cliff looked at him startled but then relaxed seeing who it was. "Jeeze, Buddy, you and Kai are basically living hot water bottles."

"And you need a break, bro," said Kai, using the hug to start tugging him away from the blueprints. "Heck, I'm pretty sure you needed one a week ago, so it's way overdue."

Cliff tried to stand firm against it, "But I need to-" he tried to protest.

"Chill out and try and help me beat one of the Lloyds at video games," Kai said, cutting him off. "Like, now, before your head explodes from overwork."

The allure of spending time on video games instead of work was clearly very tempting, but as the responsible leader, Cliff had to at least argue against it one more time. "But-" he started to say, but Kai cut him off.

"Hey Lloyd!" he shouted out of the room to either of them while dragging Cliff along with him. "Cliff and I are totally going to beat you at video games!"

"You're on!" Lil'Loyd called back eagerly, and they could hear him setting up the game.

Kai then looked over at Cliff and said, "You're not going to leave me to go up against Lil'Loyd alone are you?" he asked. "With his gaming skills, he'd eat me for breakfast and then spit me out into a dumpster fire."

Cliff let out a sigh that made it clear he wasn't as disappointed as he was pretending to be and followed him out of the room.

Lil'Loyd still destroyed them both.

Nick Jay

Kai was grateful Nick Jay didn't pester him about who Red Nya saw in the Perfect Match machine. He wouldn't tell the guy, but if pressured he couldn't help but worry he'd let slip something that would implicate Cliff.

Still, he had to feel bad for the guy. Like his own sister, Red Nya was an awesome girl that any guy would be lucky to date. The fact that Nick had that and then lost it through no fault of his own had to sting, even if his reaction to the break up was way over the top.

So when he saw Nick packing up the Ultra Dragon to return to his world with Cliff, he tugged the guy into a hug.

Nick went stiff in his arms. "Whoa, they really are the best hugs!" he said in surprise, having heard of them from the others. "Why doesn't Kai do this more often?" he asked about his own Kai.

Kai grinned at that. "I know you came to my sister for advice," he said when he pulled back. "Whatever she told you, listen to it. She knows what she's talking about."

Nick scowled at that, making it clear whatever she'd told him wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"Just so you know, I'm rooting for Red to pick you when she's ready," Kai added, making Nick perk up and Cliff to look surprised.

"Really?" Nick asked.

Kai nodded. "It's her decision, of course. But a guy doesn't go as crazy as you are unless he really likes the girl."

Nick looked bewildered. "Uh, thanks… I think."

Kai snickered. "Just give it time, and know if you ever hurt Red or pressure her, I may not be first in line to pummel you, but I will launch whatever's left into the sun," he said with a completely straight face.

With another quick hug and a smile, he turned and left Nick standing frozen by the dragon.

Before he was out of earshot, he heard Nick say to Cliff, "I feel both comforted and terrified. How is that possible?"

Buddy Kai

When Koko sent word from Oruboros with the news both Lloyds and the Prince of the Serpentine had been kidnapped, Kai found himself beginning to panic.

How could this happen? The Serpentine city was supposed to be one of the most fortified there was. Who could have captured them? Was it whoever was behind the snake mech? Was it an enemy of the Serpentine after the prince and the Lloyds were just in the way? Or was it one of their enemies out for revenge and the prince was just a bonus? The city of Oruboros was so far away, by the time they reached it the kidnapper(s) would be long gone.

Why did this keep happening? Why Lloyd? Either of them?

A constant stream of these sorts of questions began running through Kai's head as his worry for both his little bros grew by the second like he was sinking deeper into an ocean of despair.

But before he was in over his head a pair of warm arms wrapped around him.

Kai looked up to see that Spike was giving him a hug.

"So this is what this feels like," Kai said softly, echoing what Spike had said before. It really was the best hug he'd ever gotten himself.

"Get your head in the game," Spike said firmly. "We can't get the Lloyds back if you freak out. They need us to save them."

Kai felt his urge to panic recede and be replaced by resolve. "Right," he said as Spike let him go. "We're gonna find them no matter where they are."

"And burn whoever took them to a crisp," added Spike with a determined grin.

Kai matched the grin with his own. "Well, that was a given."

Chapter Text

The Ultra Dragon shouldn't have come.

They had been feeling homesick for a while now, and with Little Lloyd's blessing, they had returned to their original world.

The First Realm.

At first, it had been wonderful. They saw their mother and leader, Firstborn, again, and were able to fly with their Thunder over the vast deserts of their home, and sleep in the caves of their youth.

But even with the Oni gone, this world was far more dangerous than when they had left it, as they were now finding out.

At first, the Ultra Dragon had been curious and pleased to see the pale ones. These strange people looked almost like the humans of Ninjago, and they hoped perhaps they would be friendly like them too.

They were wrong.

The pale ones were not friendly! The pale ones were fierce, and threatening, and carried weapons made from the bones of Ultra's fallen siblings. They came after Ultra on their smelly vehicles and made jeering shouts as they chased them down.

The pale ones were Dragon Hunters!

Above all, one thing was very clear. The hunters wanted to add the Ultra Dragon's bones to their collection of weapons and were willing to chase them to the ends of the First Realm to achieve this.

The Ultra Dragon began flying faster, attempting to open a portal and escape, but a sharp pain in their wing caused them to roar in agony.

Shard turned to look at the wing causing them pain and saw a chain wrapped tightly around it and pulling it taut. Even as they watched, more chains shot up to join it, wrapping around Ultra's other wing, legs and tail, and necks and burned in the way only Vengestone did.

The Ultra Dragon fell from the sky.

As they were dragged away by the jeering pale ones, they realized something.

They should have never left their Little Lloyd.

It seemed the hunters were intent on eating them.

At least that's what the Ultra Dragon understood from the way they were piling wood around them in the middle of their ramshackle village.

It seemed their coming death was the cause for celebration among the hunters. Many were happy and cheering as the woodpile grew larger.

Despite this, the Ultra Dragon would not take their death lying down. They struggled against the chains as best they could, Flame struggling the fiercest. But all their attempts to escape did was cause the chains to tighten and the dragon-bone weapons to bite into their scales.

They could sense other dragons hovering just out of sight of the village, worried for their safety. Despite wanting to escape, Ultra didn't wish them to risk harm by coming closer. The earth and fire dragons the hunters had already captured were looking on in defeat, knowing what fate would soon come to them.

A particularly ugly hunter with one arm, one leg, and a tall hat stepped before the rest while holding a torch ready to set the wood ablaze. Apparently he was the leader of the group. With a nasty grin, he turned to address his people with a self-important drawl. The crowd cheered at his words, and the captured dragons looked away in remorse.

When the leader was done, he raised the torch into the air and made to throw it.

The torch flew through the air.

The Ultra Dragon prepared for the worst.

At the very last second, there was an earth-trembling 'THUD' and a large fluffy paw swiped the torch out of the air.

The hunters began screaming in fright as the owner of the paw seemed to appear out of nowhere and crouched protectively over the four-headed dragon.

There, standing taller than any dragon and immune to all their weaknesses was the giant demon cat guardian of the other Ninjago.

Meowthra.

And she was furious!

Hissing and snarling at the hunters, she swiped her claws at any who dared come close. Not even the dragon-bone weapons biting into her paws and legs were enough to stop her attack.

Then, when she had an opening, she bent down to pick up the Ultra Dragon by the scruff of their four necks and bolted.

A moment later, they were in the other Ninjago and she carefully placed them down in her bed on the docks beside the warehouses.

Meowthra then let out a yowl that caused the bigger Lloyd who lived in that world to come rushing over. At the sight of them both, he stopped dead for a brief moment, before rushing to Ultra's side, worry coming off him in waves and asking questions neither of the world-traveling creatures could answer.

At his touch, Wisp nuzzled him in assurances they would be fine, and Rocky started trying to bite through the chains.

Seeing this, Lloyd rushed back into the warehouse only to come back a moment later with a sword. He started working on cutting them free so he could assess their injuries, speaking rapidly into a radio in his ear as he did so.

When Meowthra was satisfied they would be taken care of, she vanished.

Only to appear again a moment later with the chained up fire dragon that had been held captive in the village held in her jaws, the forge he had been chained to and forced to work still dragging behind him.

Meowthra placed the bewildered fire dragon down and vanished again, this time bringing back the earth dragon the hunters had been tormenting for sport and placed him in the bed next to the fire dragon.

She then curled around all three dragons and licked at the fire and earth dragons wounds while Lloyd finished cutting Ultra's chains free.

But when the Green Ninja of that world stepped closer to unchain the other two, they snarled and snapped at him as he tried to approach, disliking the way he smelled.

The Ultra Dragon snapped back in his defense, and Meowthra batted at them with her paw like she would misbehaving kittens.

Their defense of him startled both dragons enough to let Lloyd placed the sword down, and begin approaching them carefully. He spoke in a soft tone, and a calming sense of kindness and willingness to help wafted off him as he slowly coaxed the dragons into letting him come to them. It was only when they were comfortable with him that he retrieved his sword and proceeded to cut them free of their bindings.

Satisfied they were now safe, the Ultra Dragon lay their four heads down to rest, for once not begrudging Meowthra for her mothering them as she licked at their wounds as well.

It was that very mothering nature that had saved their life, after all.

"I don't know how to tell you any clearer, Dad," Lloyd said into his radio headset as he cut the chains off the dragons. "Meowthra brought the Ultra Dragon and two other dragons to the docks, and she and the dragons are all injured. I need you to send me whatever vets you've got (I know you have some on staff) and if you happen to have any scientists who study dragon biology, that might be helpful too. I'm also going to need some medical supplies in bulk. I'll work on patching them up with what I've got here in the meantime."

"Yeesh, what could be tough enough to hurt dragons and that lousy demon cat," said his father, sounding slightly impressed.

"Dad!" said Lloyd impatiently.

"Alright, alright, chill out, Luh-Loyd. I'll send some nerds over," said Garmadon. "I'll also text your mother, see if the Lady IronDragon knows anything about her namesake." He then paused as though he'd thought of something else. "Wait, what about that magic, healing cup you've got?"

"The Holy Grail is tiny, and these guys are huge," Lloyd explained, having already thought of this. "I've already called Cole to bring it over, but splashing it on all four of them is going to take forever. Better to patch them up as best we can along with it."

"Meh, sounds like a design flaw you should work on," said Garmadon dismissively. Of course he would criticize the miraculous healing chalice. "See you soon, son."

Lloyd rolled his eyes but was satisfied.

He then ran back to the warehouse for the first aid kit and whatever clean towels they had around, despite knowing there weren't nearly enough supplies inside the kit to cover three whole dragons and a giant kitty, but it was a start.

As he did, he pulled out the dimensional communicator Dr. Gary had created and pressed the button to call Cliff Cole. If Ultra looked this beat up, that might mean something bad had happened over on their world.

"Hello?" Cole answered.

"Hey, it's me," said Lloyd. "Are you guys okay? What happened to Ultra?"

There was a beat of silence. "Luh-Loyd? We're fine, what do you mean about Ultra?" asked Cole, his voice sounding confused and slightly worried.

"Meowthra just brought them here, and they're in bad shape," Lloyd replied, pinching the communicator between his shoulder and ear as he began working on the worst of the bleeding on Meowthra's paws.

There was a sharp intake of breath, and Cole said, "Will Rocky be okay?"

"They should be fine," said Lloyd, glancing over at the four-headed dragon. "It's just some cuts, but none of them are too deep, and they're feeling a bit weak after being tied up in Vengestone. Dad's sending some vets and supplies over as we speak, and our Cole will be here soon with the grail."

Cole let out a sigh that sounded one part relieved and one part frustrated. Lloyd could understand the feeling. With both their dimension traveling creatures injured, there would be no visits between worlds for a few days until they healed, and that meant there was no way for Cliff Cole and his team to come and check on their dragon.

"Lloyd told us Ultra was feeling homesick, and he let them take a vacation to whatever realm they came from. When they didn't come back for days we were beginning to get worried," he explained. "Whatever happened to them must have happened in that world."

"That explains the two other dragons Meowthra brought too," said Lloyd as he wrapped a towel around a bleeding cut on Ultra's thigh. "They're not as beat up as Ultra, but they were also chained up and have some nasty scars. Plus the fire one used to be attached to a forge, so someone was using these dragons for labor."

Cole let out an angry growl. "Well, whoever they are, they better hope they never run into me. I'll bury them for this," he said.

"Get in line," said Lloyd, having an up-close look at the abuse they suffered and was furious.

He then spotted one of his father's boats approaching and ended the call with a promise to keep Cole updated, and Cole said he'd break the news to the rest of his team. None of them were going to be happy about this either, and Lil'Loyd was sure to be devastated.

Little did the two Ninja know, Meowthra was already planning to make sure the hunters paid for what they nearly did.

No one messed with her kitten.

If they did not change their ways, the Dragon Hunters of the First Realm would soon become the hunted.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago

When Zane had told his world's Skales that they would need to talk sometime in the future about the Golden Master, he really should have set a time and place for them to meet and actually do that.

In light of not having that foresight, that left him and his team stumbling around through the dark sewer system trying to find where the Serpentine had hidden.

"Urgh, this stinks," Kai complained as he once again stepped in something he didn't want to know what it was.

"Literally," Jay agreed nasally through his pinched nose.

"They've gotta be around here somewhere," said Cole, squinting down the dark tunnels for any sign of snakes.

"This is where we met with Skales and his family last time," Zane said. "It stands to reason this is the best place to come across them again." He looked around the darkened tunnels with his new night vision, but saw nothing. "... Hopefully," he added.

Lloyd, who was sitting on Cole's shoulders to avoid walking through the muck and catching who knows what disease, grimaced and said, "And to think, Nya decided not to come."

When Nya had heard just where they were going to find the Serpentine, she'd suddenly remembered that she had a training session with Cyan Nya that day to try and find her True Potential and couldn't come.

"Lucky her," grumbled Kai, and the others all made their own sounds of agreement.

Finally, their flashlights caught a glint of scales in the distance as a Serpentine snuck around a corner.

"Hey!" Kai called out, rushing ahead and wanting this excursion to be over already.

The Serpentine, a Venomari, froze and gave the approaching Ninja a scathing glare.

"What do you want, sssurface dwellersss?" she hissed scathingly. "Looking to ssstart a fight?"

"We have an appointment with your king," said Cole calmly, not rising to the bait.

The Venomari blinked in bewilderment. "What?" she asked.

"Or rather, we have what could be the start of an appointment," Zane amended politely. "We have an agreement to at some point meet, but do not know the time and place. Do you know of some way we could arrange that."

The Venomari looked like she didn't know what to do with them, but seeing their lack of hostility, backed away and said, "Er, wait here for a moment. I'll asssk."

With that she darted away into the darkness, leaving the Ninja alone in the tunnels.

"What are the odds she's coming back with a bunch of friends to attack us?" asked Jay nervously.

"Fairly high, but Skales did seem sincere when he said he wished to repair human-Serpentine relations," replied Zane.

"And there's no way he would lie in front of Selma and Junior," added Lloyd.

"Sure you're not mixing him up with SJ's dad?" asked Kai dubiously, but careful not to go into specifics in case any hidden Serpentine were listening in. The youngest of their group had been spending a lot of time with the young Serpentine prince in the Other Ninjago as of late.

"Hey, I bossed Skales around and got kidnapped by him enough times to know him better than the rest of you," said Lloyd. "He's a jerk, but he wants what's best for his people. Starting another war isn't that."

"I guess it wouldn't make sense for him to turn on us now, either," added Jay with a shrug. "Especially after all the good press the Serpentine got for helping evacuate the city during the Nindroid invasion."

"I sure hope so," said Cole quietly. "If the Golden Master's actually a thing here we should know about it. And even if he's not, we should still hear this prophecy out in case someone like that Chen guy tries to make seem like it's coming true."

"All the same, we should probably attempt to discover if the other Chen Sensei Garmadon mentioned briefly would also attempt such a thing," suggested Zane.

"Wanna protect your girlfriend's dad, huh Zane," teased Kai.

Zane looked flustered but didn't deny it.

"If you're quite finished," came a voice behind them.

The Ninja all jumped and wheeled around to see Skales glaring at them with a deadpan expression.

"Took you long enough to come back," the Hypnobrai said bitingly, his arms crossed as he continued to glower at them.

"Aw, Skales, don't tell me you waited for us," said Kai in a tone just on the edge of mocking.

The following uncomfortable silence and the deepening glare made it very clear that he actually had.

Well, that was awkward.

"We greatly apologize, Skales," Zane said quickly once that sunk in. "We would have come, but we had to leave once the Nindroids were taken care of to aid some allies of ours who were in trouble."

"And after that, between healing from injuries, cleaning up from the battle, Zane's upgrades-" Cole listed off.

"And looking for Pythor so we can pummel him," Jay cut in, still holding a grudge against the wayward Anacondrai. He hadn't been seen since the end of the battle, but the Nindroids were still searching.

"Right," Cole agreed. "We didn't have a chance to come back before this, but we're here now and are ready to talk."

Skales gave them a long, measuring look, before letting out a reluctant sigh and saying, "Very well. Follow me sssurface dwellersss. It isss time you hear the tale of the Golden Massster." With that, he turned and slithered into the dark tunnels.

The Ninja exchanged a quick glance before following after him.

Skales led them deeper into the tunnels until the sewer system branched off into what looked like a more natural cave. Eventually, the cave opened up into a massive cavern with several catacombs of tunnels branching out of it, and several Serpentine milling around the center of what might as well be their village square.

"This where you set up shop?" Kai asked curiously, looking around at the snakes going about their daily lives.

"Well, yesss," Skales replied. "Thisss is a place we found while trying to collapssse Ninjago City. When that failed, it isss where we decided to ssstay. It'sss no Ouroborosss, but it'sss home."

They attracted several stares as they were led through the square. Many of the Serpentine shot them distrusting looks, others shied away fearfully, and some just looked on with curiosity. Those were the ones Lloyd smiled and waved at in a friendly manner, hoping to continue the peace attempts his counterpart had started.

He couldn't tell how well his attempts were doing, as the only reactions were more stares.

"Daddy!" came a high pitched voice from the crowd.

Skales stopped leading them to catch his son as he launched himself out to greet him. "Careful, ssson," he said, though his voice was fond. "I'm entertaining guestsss."

Skales Junior peeked past him, and his red eyes widened. "The Ninja!" he said in surprise.

Smiling at the sight of his friend's counterpart, Lloyd hopped down from Cole's shoulder and came closer. "Hi, my name's Lloyd. I'm the Green Ninja. Wanna be friends?" he asked quickly before Skales could stop him.

"Sure!" said Junior eagerly, a smile of innocent joy coming across his face at the idea of having a Ninja for a friend.

Skales looked completely lost on how to react to this. On one hand, he still wasn't fond of Lloyd or the Ninja in general. On the other hand, his son looked so happy and he couldn't say no without disappointing him.

"What're you doing here?" asked Junior curiously. "Are you moving down here too?"

"Your father agreed to tell us about the Golden Master, little one," said Zane, crouching down to better talk to the little Serpentine. "We are most curious about him."

Immediately, murmurs broke out among the crowd of Serpentine.

Junior himself gasped when he heard that and huddled closer to his father. "That ssstory isss ssscary!" he said.

"All the more reason to know it so it doesn't come true," said Cole firmly, speaking to the rest of the Serpentine as well as the child.

The murmurs among the Serpentine onlookers grew louder at that statement, and while most seemed approving or relieved hearing that, there were more than a few grumbles of "Finally!" or "Took them long enough." and most commonly, "SSStupid humansss."

Skales, while he still seemed conflicted at the idea of his son being friends with Lloyd of all people, waved for the Ninja to continue to follow him towards a campfire with several more children sitting around it with the leader of the Venomari, Acidicus.

Acidicus was a good storyteller. The children around the circle would gasp and cower as he described the end of days as predicted long ago. Even the Ninja weren't immune, though the tale he told was familiar, they still got caught up in his telling of it. Even Lloyd, who had heard it from Acidicus' own counterpart, found it fascinating to hear it again in a dramatic tone around the campfire. It was a far different experience from the worried but firm words he'd heard before in the Other Ninjago's Serpentine War Room.

When the tale was finished, there were some comments to be made.

"So, wait? The Serpentine War only happened because you guys were trying to warn us about all this?" asked Kai incredulously.

"Unfortunately, yesss," replied Acidicus. "While tensionsss between our racesss had been high for centuries beforehand, thisss wasss the event that pushed it over the edge."

"But… why?" asked Lloyd curiously. "All the history books tell us you did something really awful to start the war. Trying to tell everyone about some future super bad guy doesn't sound so bad."

Skales snorted derisively. "Of courssse it did. Hissstory booksss are written by the winnersss," he said dryly. "Why would the humansss admit their fault when we were all locked underground unable to share our ssside."

"But that's-" Lloyd started to say, but Zane put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

Jay had no such reservation. "Wow! That really sucks," he said, causing the others to shoot him annoyed glances for his bluntness.

"Indeed," said Skales, also unimpressed.

Cole, as the team's leader, felt he should say something. Standing up, he gave Skales a bow and said honestly, "While I know it doesn't make up for all those years, thank you very much for telling us now. Please know that we will do whatever it takes to stop this Golden Master if he ever does show up. For both humanity and Serpentine."

The children around the campfire applauded happily hearing that, and Skales shared a baffled look with Acidicus.

"I-" Skales fumbled with what to say. "Thank you," he finally settled on. "I sssuppose your track record with imposssible oddsss speaksss for itssself. If anyone can ssstop the Golden Massster, it may be you." He then shrugged. "Or we're all doomed, but then at leassst you tried."

"We'll do more than try," said Kai confidently.

"We will succeed," Zane promised.

A quiet cheer broke out among the hatchlings and many other nearby Serpentine joined in hearing that.

As Skales led them back out of the Serpentine tunnels, surrounded by a much lighter atmosphere than when they came in, he paused at the threshold before they could leave.

"SSSee that you keep that promissse, Ninja," he said, making it clear this wasn't a choice. "You will disssappoint a lot of children if you fail."

"Like you said, we haven't lost yet," Jay said optimistically.

"It won't happen," Lloyd said. "We won't let it."

Skales stared them down. It was one thing to say such things to please a crowd, it was another to make promises like that in private.

Seeing their conviction, he nodded once and turned away. "Good," was all he said as he slithered back out of sight.

Perhaps the world wouldn't be doomed after all…

Or maybe it was… While the Ninja have defeated every foe thus far, the Golden Master was something else entirely, and there was a first time for everything…

Only time will tell.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago

They all sat around the teapot, staring at in trepidation as it heated up on the small stove.

It was their entire family from both sides of the dimensional barrier. Both sets of Lloyds, Wus, Garmadons, and Misakos sat in Sensei Garmadon's monastery waiting on pins and needles for this magic tea to be ready.

As the teapot began rattling as the water came close to boiling, Lord Garmadon suddenly stood up. "Uh, you know what… I just remembered I have a-a thing I need to-" he struggled to say.

"Sit down, Garm," said Koko, not buying his excuses.

Lord Garmadon wilted at her words and slumped back into his seat. "Yes, dear."

Finally, the teapot whistled as the water boiled, and Sensei Wu set about fixing Mistaké's tea into eight separate cups.

Handing a cup to each of them, Sensei Wu said, "The Tea of Truth is ready."

They all eyed the teacups in their hands nervously.

"Do we really gotta do this?" Lord Garmadon groused.

"We all agreed," his counterpart said, though he was also looking at the concoction in his grip like it was going to bite him. "And if that mess with their version of Chen is any indication, we have held too much of the past back. There are too many secrets between us. Too much bad blood and misunderstandings. With this, we can clear the air and have there be no doubt of our honesty."

"And we've all promised that nothing said here will be held against each other afterward," added Luh-Loyd, who was looking into his teacup with an air of resignation.

There was a long minute of silence as they all stared at the rapidly cooling tea. It was the last chance any of them had to back out (which Morro had already done citing a big exam at his college as an excuse, not that any of them bought that, but Master Wu had let him off the hook), but despite their nervousness, none of them really wanted to. They all had things they wanted to get off their chests, and this was their family. If they could trust anyone with these things, it was them…

Right?

Lord Garmadon snorted and held his cup up into the air like it was a toast. "Down the hatch," he said, and dumped the entire contents into his mouth in one gulp.

His blasé attitude helped relieve some of the tension, and everyone else followed his example and drank the tea.

There was another beat of silence as they waited for some sign the tea's effects had taken place.

"Did it work?" asked Lil'Loyd, looking around at them.

Koko frowned thoughtfully, before turning to Luh-Loyd and saying, "Where did you put the candy you stole from my stash?"

"In a loose floorboard under my bed," Luh-Loyd blurted out, before clapping his hands over his mouth, making it clear he hadn't meant to say that.

"Top cabinet of the volcano kitchen," Lord Garmadon spouted out as well, making them wonder when he had the chance to steal from Koko's stash.

Koko rolled her eyes and shook her head in amusement. "It's working," she said.

"Low blow, Mom," Luh-Loyd muttered as he brought his hands down from his mouth.

"Stop stealing my sweets and I won't call you on it," said Koko, utterly unapologetic.

At that moment, Lil'Loyd, who looked like he was about to pop, stood up and emptied his pockets onto Koko's lap, dropping several candies for them all to see.

They all stared at him, before laughing at his antics.

"I live in a family of candy thieves," said Koko in exasperation as she handed the candies back to their smallest member, and he sat back down.

With that confirmation, they all eyed each other nervously again as the mirth died down. This was it. Do or die.

Master Wu, who had been mostly silent until that point, let out a sigh, and said, "I will go first. There is something I have wanted to say for a very long time, and I want to say it now that I'll be believed."

With that, Master Wu turned to his older brother and said, "Garmadon, Brother, I'm sorry. I am really, truly sorry."

They all stared at him. What did that mean?

"For what?" asked Lord Garmadon, eyeing him suspiciously.

"For my actions after your transformation," said Master Wu, looking regretful. "You came to me lost, confused, and needing my help, and I failed you."

"I didn't n-ne-nee-NnnnNNNn" Lord Garmadon attempted to say. He was trying to deny it, but the words refused to come out. Finally, he threw up his hands and snapped, "Okay, fine! I needed you! I'd just been bitten, poisoned, nearly died, went through the most painful experience of my life, and just when I managed to drag myself over to you, you attacked me 'cause I looked like an Oni!" He glowered at his brother with his burning red eyes. "You called me a monster!"

Master Wu bowed his head at his words. "I didn't realize it was you," he admitted. "I thought… some imposter had stolen you away and was making a poor attempt to take your place. I thought I was saving you. I did not see the truth until it was too late." He looked at his brother square in the eyes. "I have never regretted anything more. I am sorry, Brother."

Lord Garmadon was startled at his words and looked ready to deny them, but a glance at the teapot reminded him of their situation. So instead he just kept quiet and turned away, a contemplative look on his face.

Master Wu sighed again at this. "I do not expect you to forgive me," he continued. "I merely wanted you to believe me that I wish I could take back my actions that day. That I had been a better brother."

Lord Garmadon remained silent, but his expression wasn't as angry, so there was that.

There was a moment of silence as the rest of them absorbed what the two had said.

"Is that why you said you felt responsible for Dad attacking the city?" Luh-Loyd asked, drawing his uncle's attention to him.

"Yes," said Master Wu. "Perhaps if I hadn't rejected him, things might not have come to that."

Luh-Loyd nodded thoughtfully before his expression hardened in determination. "I used to hide my injuries a lot," he admitted.

Koko's head whipped over to look at him in alarm. "What?" she asked.

Everyone else looked at him with concern as well. Lil'Loyd in particular looked horrified for him.

Luh-Loyd fidgeted under her gaze. "Back when everyone hated me, the bullying was… worse than I let you see," he said slowly. "I didn't want you to worry, and I knew we couldn't afford the doctor all the time, so I treated them myself and covered them up. I'd… also sometimes steal Uncle Wu's magic healing teas if they were ever really bad. Kai, Nya, and the others helped and they tried to protect me from it, but they couldn't be with me all the time."

Koko was looking very pale at his words, and the rest of their family wasn't looking much better. "How bad is 'really bad'?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"Bad enough that nearly losing his arm is 'less painful and didn't last as long' as some other injuries," said Sensei Wu. At everyone's surprised looks, he explained, "My Zane informed me of your tale when telling me about what you'd been up to while trying to switch you boys back in that initial fiasco."

"When did he nearly lose an arm?!" Koko shrieked, and Misako had to reach over to comfort her.

Lil'Loyd let out a squeak and clutched his own arms. He'd thought DJ Cole had been exaggerating when he told him that. Being counterparts meant that some parts of their lives mirrored each other, and losing an arm was not something he wanted to experience.

Luh-Loyd glanced over at his father. "I thought you texted her?"

Lord Garmadon looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. "Yeah, but I didn't send it!"

"YOU KNEW!" Koko shrieked, rounding on her ex, who shrank away from her terrified. "When did this happen?!"

"During the Meowthra incident," Luh-Loyd admitted. "It happened when we were in the jungle. I fell and it got, yeah, but Dad fixed me up." He waved his right arm to show his mother that it was alright. "I'm okay, Mom. Really. Dad said it would be agony for a while, but it was fine as soon as he popped it back in. It just hurts sometimes when it rains."

All the adults exchanged glances at that. All of them being experienced fighters, they knew an injury like that should have been painful for a long time. For him to consider it 'fine' after being put back into place, his pain tolerance had to be unnervingly high, and you only get pain tolerance like that from continued exposure.

Koko did not look happy about that revelation and scooted closer to her son as if her presence would protect him from anything else.

"What else?" she asked in a forced calm tone.

Luh-Loyd grimaced. "Nothing the healing tea couldn't fix up in a couple of days," he admitted, not wanting to go into specifics while still being honest.

"Nephew," said Master Wu looking pained. "Please tell me you did not train while injured?"

Thankfully, Luh-Loyd shook his head. "No, those were the days I insisted on practicing my mech maneuvers instead of training. I know doing exercise while injured would only make things worse."

Master Wu let out a sigh of relief. He remembered those times and had sensed something was amiss with his nephew. He was grateful he had allowed him to go on his mech and hadn't insisted on his training, though he wished he'd been informed of the injuries as well.

Seeing his mother still looking horrified at his words, Luh-Loyd sent her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Mom. I didn't want you to worry."

"I'm your mother," Koko replied. "It's my job to worry." She then reached out to take his hand in hers and reassure herself it was really attached. "I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't have left."

"Left?" asked Misako in surprise. She'd thought she was the one who had left, it was the greatest contrast between them.

"Left Garm," Koko clarified, making her ex-husband's head snap around to stare at her. "I thought it would be best for Lloyd. That he'd get a normal life away from conquering cities and constant battles. That he'd be safe." Her expression turned rueful. "It didn't exactly work out that way, did it."

"I chose this, Mom," Luh-Loyd assured her. "Uncle Wu offered, but he wouldn't have made me do this if I didn't want to. I chose to be the Green Ninja."

"I know," said Koko, pulling him into a hug. "I know you did, and I'm so proud of you for it." Her face then fell. "But there were times when I wondered if it was worth it. Struggling to find a job and make ends meet, having people turn us away just for our names, not having a single friendly face anywhere before you met your friends, and to top it all off, the way the whole city blamed you for everything. The way they treated you…"

She trailed off and looked pained as she remembered all the years they'd struggled to have a life in the city. "There were so many days when I wanted to say, to heck with them all. To just take you back to Garm's volcano and let him do as he pleased to the city. If choosing evil was the price for your safety, I'd have gladly paid it."

Luh-Loyd hugged her back tightly.

"I should have changed," Lord Garmadon blurted out, making them turn to him. Seeing them look at him, he turned away looking ashamed. "I could have. I should have dropped the whole conquering overlord thing the moment you took Luh-Loyd and started to walk away, but… I didn't. I didn't know what happened to you two. I-I thought I was respecting your choice to leave, even if I hated it. I thought you'd be fine. I didn't even realize how much time had passed until…"

"You butt-dialed him," offered Lil'Loyd, who had heard this before, and was hoping to offer some levity.

It worked somewhat, as Lord Garmadon cracked a grin at his words. "Yeah, that." He then scratched the back of his neck and said to his ex-wife and son. "Sorry, I didn't know conquering the city would affect you two like that," his expression turned rueful. "Guess I did ruin your life without even being there."

"I forgave you for that, Dad," Luh-Loyd said. "You'll only ruin it if you leave again."

Lord Garmadon snorted. "Yeah, got no plans to ever do that. Not like either of you would let me anyway."

Koko and Luh-Loyd beamed at him.

Sensei Garmadon was staring down at his empty teacup, preparing himself for what he was about to say. "It is fortunate for you that you could even have a choice in the matter," he said slowly, a hint of jealousy in his tone. "Some of us were less fortunate. There are many things I have done in under the influence of the Devourer's venom that I am not proud of."

His counterpart raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm getting the feeling you're going to tell us one of them," he said bluntly.

Sensei Garmadon grimaced and looked away.

"Dad?" asked Lil'Loyd curiously.

Slowly, Sensei Garmadon turned to Misako, who began looking worried for what he would tell her.

"Misako," he said slowly. "Do you… remember that love letter you received from me?"

Sensei Wu frowned slightly at the question, but Misako perked up. "Of course!" she said, smiling at the memory. "Those words you wrote. It was the reason I fell in love with you."

Sensei Garmadon took her hand, shame written across his face. "That letter was not from me," he confessed. "It was… written by Wu."

Misako gasped and jerked away from him, her gaze darting back and forth between him and his brother.

Sensei Wu looked like his entire world had dropped out from under him. "How… how could you Brother!" he said, rage creeping into his voice.

Sensei Garmadon hung his head.

"Dad?" asked Lil'Loyd again, looking worried.

Sensei Wu actually stood up and started to storm over to him. "Of all the things-!" he snarled, almost too angry to speak.

Everyone else could only sit and stare at them, having never seen Wu, either of them, ever get this angry.

"Brother, don't let anger cloud your judgment," said Sensei Garmadon standing up to back away from him as it looked like Sensei Wu might actually hit him.

"Don't tell me what to do!" snapped Sensei Wu as his counterpart and Garmadon's both got to their feet to hold him back. "You're no- no-!" he looked like he was struggling to find an insult good enough.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Koko, making them all stop to stare at her. At their looks, she sent a pointed glance over to Misako, shifting all the attention onto her.

The gray-haired woman still looked lost at how she felt about this revelation. "Koko is right, please stop," she said. She then turned to her husband. "Garmadon, explain yourself," she said in a tone that left no room for argument.

Sensei Garmadon sighed. "It was when I was still training under Master Chen. The one in this world. He had intercepted the letter and showed it to me. I knew what was written would sway your heart, as they were the same as I felt, but could not properly convey into words. At my master's prompting and my own inability to resist the evil within, I signed the letter in my own name and sent it to you. "

He looked at his still seething brother. "I am sorry for what I did to you, Brother, but I do not regret my actions. I let my fear of losing Misako control me and it led me to hurting you. But if I had not done so, then Lloyd would not exist. I can never regret that."

Sensei Wu looked furious, but his brother's words drew all of their attention to the small child who was practically hiding in a hug between his counterpart and Koko at their shouting. Seeing his nephew peer out at him fearfully from within Luh-Loyd's arms, Sensei Wu forced himself to take a deep breath and sit back down, but it was clear he was still angry. The others sat back down as well, though they were ready to get back up again if another fight broke out.

"Wait, so you were dating both of them at once?" Lord Garmadon asked Misako, breaking through the tension in the air with his rude question.

Misako turning pink was answer enough. "I- It was flattering to have them both… For the longest time I couldn't choose," she admitted.

None of those from the other dimension looked like they really approved of that response.

Lord Garmadon began looking suspicious, and his Wu quickly said, "Brother, while I greatly respect Koko, I assure you I have never had feelings for her."

"And, no offense Wu, but I've never been attracted to you either," Koko added from where she was rubbing comforting circles into Lil'Loyd's back.

The suspicious expression faded. Still, he sent Sensei Wu and Misako a disapproving look, "You know, still pining after a married woman when you've had plenty of time to move on is kind of a jerk move," he said to Wu. "And if you married a guy, you shouldn't string any others along, that's just dirty," he added to Misako. His side of the dimensional family all looked like they agreed, though they didn't say it.

Sensei Wu sent him a sharp glare to tell him to shut up.

Misako winced a bit at his words and looked at her husband, who was still looking down in shame. "You said your feelings were the same as those in the letter?"

"Yes," Sensei Garmadon said. "My love for you, Misako, was as was written in that letter, but I have never been as good with words as Wu."

Sensei Wu actually growled at that.

"Misako?" asked Lil'Loyd, slowly pulling out of the protective hug between Koko and Luh-Loyd, but still looking scared. "Do you wish you hadn't married Dad? Do you… wish you hadn't had me?"

Misako looked like she actually had no idea what the answer was, and simply let the tea do the talking for her. "... I admit there have been… times I regretted marrying your father," she said slowly. "Sometimes I would wonder what would have happened if I had chosen Wu instead, or even someone else entirely. Or considered what I would do if Garmadon died in what seemed to be his destined battle or worse, killed you, and became an irredeemable monster. Those times were when the search for a way out of the prophecy seemed fruitless, and a life without the stress and worry of it all seemed… nicer. Easier. But those times didn't last. That letter… may have been what initially drew me to Garmadon, but it is not the reason that I stayed."

Her eyes widened behind her glasses as she seemed to come to that realization for herself even as she said it. "Yes," she breathed. "I chose Garmadon because of what I thought he wrote in that letter. But one letter alone is not why I stayed with him. It is not the only reason why I married him or why I stayed even as the venom took its toll. And it is not the sole reason I had his son." She turned to Lil'Loyd and smiled warmly at him. "If there is one thing I have never regretted, it's you, Lloyd. I've regretted not being there for you, but never your existence."

Lil'Loyd managed a small smile at that, looking slightly better about the mess, though he was clearly still worried for his parents.

Hoping to relieve some of his fears, Misako turned to her husband. "I am angry and hurt at what you did," she said. "And I know I will be for a while, but… I know you too well. If your feelings were false, I would have realized that letter never came from you long ago… I will forgive you eventually."

Sensei Garmadon stared at her in wonder, looking like half the weight on his shoulders was lifted, then he turned to his brother, his anger making up the other half.

Misako turned to him as well. "Wu, I'm sorry. Perhaps at one point we may have had something, and I won't deny that a part of me will always love you, but even with this news, I made my decision a long time ago. Please, I have to ask you to let me go."

Sensei Wu's anger was interrupted when he found himself the center of attention, all of them waiting to see what he would choose. He had poured his heart out in that letter. The idea that his brother, even under the venom's influence, had stolen those words for his own was painful. The thoughts of what could have been swam in his head, but he also had to confront the reality of their lives now.

He forced himself to take several deep meditative breaths, and said, "I do not regret Lloyd's existence either," he said slowly, not wanting his nephew to think he resented him. "For you, Misako, I will try. But forgiveness will be a long time coming."

Sensei Garmadon nodded, fully expecting that response. "I understand, Brother," he said sadly. "If you wish for me to move my monastery, or would prefer to relocate your tea shop elsewhere, then I will understand and help in any way I can."

That gave Sensei Wu pause. For as angry as he was, he didn't want… Or did he? He had spent so much time wanting his brother back, could he truly turn him away now that the venom was gone? But still, this was a betrayal the likes of which he'd never endured from him before. It was well within his rights to never speak to him again. Even with the forced honesty of the tea, he was unsure of what he wanted. Did he really want his brother to leave?

"I… don't… want that," he said finally. "As for anything else, I will think on the matter."

For some reason, that seemed to give his brother hope.

There was a long moment of silence as they recovered from that revelation.

"Any more bombshells anyone wants to drop?" asked Luh-Loyd, looking like he just wanted to break the tension.

"The reason I pull so many pranks is to test if people really want me around," Lil'Loyd offered. "If they think I'm too much trouble and are gonna dump me, they'd show it faster and I don't have to get attached."

A few of them cracked a smile at that, and Luh-Loyd ruffled his little brother's hair. "We all kinda figured that already," he said.

"Oh," said Lil'Loyd. "Then I got nothin'."

Lord Garmadon scratched his chin with one of his upper hands, and said, "Ya know, something that I've been wondering for a while…" He glanced over at Master Wu. "The Earth Ninja in our world… What are the odds he's related to us?"

That threw absolutely everyone off, breaking through the residual haze of anger like a baseball through a glass window.

"WHAT?!" they all shouted.

"Cole and us?" asked Luh-Loyd in bewilderment.

"Related?" asked Lil'Loyd, knowing if this was true them, then it could be true for his world too.

Even Master Wu looked bewildered at that question. "Why do you think that, Brother?" he asked.

Lord Garmadon threw his arms up in the air in exasperation. "Have you seen that kid? He looks just like I did back before the bite! You're the sentimental one, you've got pictures."

Master Wu frowned before his eyes widened in realization that he was right. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out his wallet and plucked a picture out of it.

Too surprised and curious to remain angry at each other and keep their distance, they all crowded around to look at the picture, jostling Master Wu's hat off in the process.

Sure enough, in the picture was a younger-looking Master Wu (though he still had a beard) standing next to a pre-bite Lord Garmadon. A pre-bite Garmadon that looked remarkably like DJ Cole with dark hair, thick eyebrows, and he even had his hair in a topknot like DJ wore when in ninja mode. The resemblance was uncanny, and not just on their side of the dimensional family.

"Now that I think about it," said Sensei Garmadon. "He also looks quite a bit like you did, Wu, when you were a teenager. Give him light hair, and you'd be nearly identical."

Sensei Wu was so surprised realizing he was right that he momentarily forgot his anger. "He… does," he agreed, and since the two Coles looked more alike than most counterparts, the same held true for their world as well.

"How is this possible?" asked Misako, looking more than a little confused.

"No idea," said Lord Garmadon, scratching his head. "The closest I can figure is, well, we were both teenagers once, way over a hundred years before Koko was even born. And, ya know, teenagers do dumb things."

His counterpart and both Wus were mortified at the implications, and both Lloyds had a combination of looking like they'd rather not think of their father or uncle doing something like that, and fascination at the possibility that the Coles were some kind of relation to them.

"I guess it's something we'll have to look into," said Koko.

Somehow, that made the meeting end on a lighter note. Or, at least a bewildered one.

However, both Coles were very confused as to why they all gave the two of them contemplative looks for a long while after.

Chapter Text

A Charmed Life

Movie Ninjago

Skylor couldn't believe this was happening.

This was happening!

To her!

Never in a million years did she think she'd ever, ever be granted the title of Charmer.

A Charmer!

Her!

And yet here she was! At an award ceremony! Waiting in the wings for her name to be called by the king of all Serpentine!

Pinch her, she was dreaming. With all her father had done to cause misery for the Serpentine people, she had never thought that she'd be granted such an honor.

None of the Ninja Force seemed to think it was strange. They'd gone out of their way to help the Serpentine, and their efforts had saved their people from the destruction Chen had tried to rage on them. While such a ceremonial show of appreciation to them wasn't something they'd expected (especially given how rarely the title was given out), but they weren't surprised either.

At least Pixal was just as surprised as Skylor was. Nice to know she wasn't the only one still unused to the hero treatment.

And now she was sitting right beside Skylor watching her fret about it all. The Ninja Force had already been called out for their part of the award ceremony, and the two girls were waiting for their own cue.

"It will be fine," said Pixal calmingly. "Why are you so nervous about this?"

"Because it shouldn't be happening!" Skylor burst out, startling some nearby Serpentine from their backstage duties.

Pixel blinked her optics, clearly not getting it. "Why wouldn't it?" she asked.

"Gee, I don't know," Skylor said with a sarcastic edge to her voice. "I was raised Chen, who's caused these people nothing but problems. I took the Ninja Force's powers without their permission to use against them. I sabotaged Lloyd's radio so he and Lil'Loyd couldn't call for help when they and the Serpentine prince were kidnapped. I helped my father kidnap your father-"

"Our father," Pixel cut in, reminding her very bluntly of Skylor's adoption.

"-Our father," Skylor amended, but still far from calm, "so he would be forced to build the very weapon that put these people in danger. I don't deserve this Pixal. I really don't."

Despite this fact being clear as day to Skylor, Pixal looked unconvinced.

"While that is correct, you failed to mention that a majority of those acts you did unwillingly and under duress," she said firmly. "You also neglected to remember that you also kept my secrets and protected me from Chen as best you could, changed sides when Kai asked you to, saved Nya from being experimented on by Clouse, flew into battle against Chen despite your fear, and risked your very life to stop him once and for all." Pixal gave her a smile. "These are the actions of a hero, Skylor."

Skylor frowned and looked away. Pixal didn't understand.

"Skylor," said Pixal, trying to catch her attention again.

Skylor still didn't look.

"Skylor."

She continued to pretend the wall was interesting.

"Skylor!"

Maybe the Serpentine would realize their mistake before they called her out there.

"Sister!"

Skylor jolted, and her head whipped around when she heard Pixal call her that.

Pixal smiled at her shocked expression. "Is that really such a surprise?" she asked. "My father did adopt you."

"Yeah, but, that doesn't mean…" Skylor started to say and then trailed off.

Pixal put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "It does if I chose to. As my father said before, he wants you to be part of our family, and I do too. You are a good person who deserves such, Skylor. The Serpentine can see that, and so do I. I hope you one day see it too."

Skylor flushed and didn't argue. "Alright, I'll try… Sister," she replied.

Pixal beamed.

Just then a Fangpyre rushed over to them. "The Ninja Force hasss finished their acceptance ssspeech. You ladiesss are up next."

Skylor swallowed hard, but Pixal took her hand and they made their way to the edge of the curtains, ready to step out on stage.

In the middle of the stage, standing before a podium and speaking out to the crowds of Serpentine watching, King Skales announced, "And now, for aiding the Ninja Force and risssking everything to sssave us all, I welcome the SSSamurai Sistersss!"

Skylor took Pixal's hand, and the silver girl gave her one last warm look before they both stepped out onto the stage together, where King Skales awarded them both the title of Charmer.

The Samurai Sisters stand strongest together.

Most Huggable

Movie Ninjago

Kai was despondent.

The rest of the Ninja Force could only watch as their usually gung-ho friend moped around their Warehouse with a kicked puppy expression etched onto his face.

Then, as one, they turned an accusing gaze onto the person who had caused such misery.

Pixal, for her part, looked apologetic and sheepish. "I did not wish to lie," she said to their unspoken scoldings.

"Seriously?" said Jay in disbelief. "You actually like that better?"

"I do," said Pixal with a nod.

"You do you, Sis," said Skylor, looking like she didn't know what to do.

Nya clicked her tongue and looked sympathetically at her brother. "Poor Kai."

Lloyd nodded in agreement. "He's crushed."

Zane had a frown on his face. "I am feeling very conflicted," he said. "On one hand, I am pleased with Pixal's enjoyment, but on the other, I am sorry for the blow to Kai's pride."

Kai let out a little whimper, and Cole walked over to pat him on the back. "There, there, buddy. We still like yours better."

Kai said nothing and just stared off into the distance morosely.

His perfect record was broken.

Shattered.

He'd never have one-hundred percent success again.

Who would have ever thought that someone would prefer Zane's too crushing hugs over a Kai Hug™?

But as it turned out, Pixal did.

Nicknames for Pixal

"Silver?"

"They're both silver, Kai. That's not different."

"Pixie?"

"Ehhh, that doesn't really fit."

"Oh, I know, Office Girl."

"She helped us take on an entire army, Pixal is far more than a mere office girl."

"Uh, how about Toga?"

"... Why?"

"Because she's wearing a toga thing, duh."

"It's really more of a tunic."

"But Tunic is a terrible nickname!"

"So is Toga!"

Pixal sighed as once again those around her dissolved into arguments. Borg Tower had never been this rowdy before when the Ninja would come to visit. Not that she minded, it was nice to have friends, but this squabble had been going on for close to an hour at this point.

Pixal did not understand why the Ninja were so insistent that she needed a nickname. Her counterpart already had a perfectly serviceable nickname to differentiate herself by. Her counterpart was 'Penny', meaning it was perfectly rational for herself to simply be 'Pixal'.

She said as much to her bickering companions.

Unfortunately, the Ninja didn't see it that way.

"It has become a tradition by this point," said Zane (Or Zen Zane, as his own counterpart was present. Pep Zane and Penny Pixal had come along with the Ninja's most recent visit for this very purpose.). "Whenever someone becomes aware of the parallel worlds and their counterpart is known and present, then a nickname is chosen to be certain which version we are talking about."

"Fortunately, I already have one handy," said Penny cheerfully, clearly finding the offered options amusing. "Even my sister has chosen a nickname, despite the Ninja not having met her counterpart. And I am sure we will come up with one for you as well."

As fascinating as it had been to meet her own counterpart, Pixal had to wonder about her sense of humor.

"What nickname did she pick?" asked Jay.

"Princess," replied Penny.

"Why?" asked Nya.

"Because she is a space princess," answered Pep and Penny in unison, as if that explained everything.

It did not.

"Could I not simply choose a name like the one you chose for yourself?" asked Pixal, cutting off most of the chatter. "An actual name rather than a character trait?"

The Ninja and Penny all exchanged glances. "Sure, if you want to," said Cole. "What name would you want?"

Pixal opened her mouth…

… Then shut it again as no name came to her. She had always been Pixal. She'd never considered getting another.

Seeing her indecision, they all stopped to ponder it a moment.

Suddenly, Pep's eyes lit up and he jumped to his feet. "I've got it!" he said, his voice excited despite sounding even more automated than Pixal's. "I know the perfect name that fits. It can mean helper or defender of mankind."

The Ninja and Pixals all looked at him with interest. "Well, spit it out, what's the name?" asked Nya.

Pep beamed and said, "Alexa."

Pixal thought the name over. "Alexa," she said, trying it out. "That's a pretty name." She then nodded. "I suppose it shall do."

The Ninja all nodded and congratulated her on picking a name.

Some of them noticed how Penny looked very amused the entire time, but she never explained why.

The answer didn't hit them until a week later at Freckles Jay's house and said Jay had groaned when he heard it.

"Only you would name your girlfriend's counterpart after a meme."

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

"I can't believe they ditched us!" Lil'Loyd groused as Luh-Loyd flew them through the desert. He was sitting behind his counterpart as they flew on his mech to the training grounds of Luh-Loyd's world.

"They didn't ditch us," Luh-Loyd tried to deny. "They needed to train, and see what they could do when I'm not around. It's important, especially since three of them just got their True Potentials."

Lil'Loyd leaned over so he could look up at his big brother's face. "You mean you don't feel ditched?" he asked skeptically.

Luh-Loyd opened his mouth to try and deny it, but Lil'Loyd gave him a pointed glare, and he shut it again. "Maybe a little," he admitted.

"Thought so," said Lil'Loyd.

"Hey, it's not for long," said Luh-Loyd, sounding like he was assuring himself along with Lil'Loyd. "Besides, haven't you always wanted to know what your limits are when boosted?" he asked.

Lil'Loyd had to concede that point. He had been curious too. They'd always meant to test it out but had never found the time before now.

Luh-Loyd gave an amused smile. "Well, now we're going to find out." He then spotted the training grounds out in the distance. "We're almost there," he said.

Lil'Loyd leaned over to see, and let out a gasp as it came into sight.

Their training ground looked as stunning as ever with its glass structures, lake, and glacier all gleaming in the desert sunlight.

"You guys made this?" Lil'Loyd asked in wonder.

"Yup. And your Kai and Zane added the cave and the icebergs when they came here," said Luh-Loyd. "I can't wait to see what you'll add to this place."

"Wow," Lil'Loyd breathed.

However, when they landed and it came time for Lil'Loyd to give his powers a shot, he was hesitant.

"What's wrong?" asked Luh-Loyd.

"What if I mess it up?" asked Lil'Loyd.

"That's why we're out here," said Luh-Loyd. "There's no one human or Serpentine around for miles, so no one will get caught in the crossfire if you go all out." He then gave Lil'Loyd a reassuring grin. "Don't worry. I'll be here to stop you if things go too far. And there's Vengestone in a pocket in my mech if I need to cut off the boost."

But Lil'Loyd shook his head. "That's not what I meant," he said. He then waved a hand at their surroundings. "This place," he said, "it's beautiful. What if I break it?"

Luh-Loyd smiled at that. His brother was a good kid. "If you do, then we'll just have to make a new one. One that's even better than this one, because you helped make it."

Lil'Loyd still looked unsure. "But… my powers are just good for blasting stuff. They're supposed to be used for fighting evil and junk. And all this stuff looks like it'll be easy to break," he protested eyeing the coral-like glass sculptures Jay's lightning had created.

"Actually, they're stronger than they look. We practice fighting out here all the time," replied Luh-Loyd.

Lil'Loyd remained silent and uncertain.

Seeing he needed more assurance, Luh-Loyd crouched down so he was looking Lil'Loyd in the eyes. "You know," he said, "thinking it over, our powers are more alike than we first thought."

Lil'Loyd looked up at him curiously.

"When I first realized what Green meant, I realized it was life," said Luh-Loyd. "Connection. Something that flows through all living things and brings them together, be it through friendship or family or something else."

"But what's that got to do with me?" asked Lil'Loyd.

Luh-Loyd took Lil'Loyd's hands in his. "Well, what do you think gives things life?" he asked.

Lil'Loyd looked down at his own hands as he saw what he was getting at. "Energy!" he said in realization.

"Exactly," said Luh-Loyd, his eyes glowing proudly. "You're just as connected to your ninja team as I am to mine. Maybe that's why you can use their elements along with your energy abilities. You're connected to them, and they make you stronger."

Lil'Loyd frowned. "But I can't use water," he said. "If it worked like that, wouldn't I be able to use Nya's water?"

Luh-Loyd raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever tried?" he asked.

That gave Lil'Loyd pause. No, actually, he had not.

"Well, let's try now," said Luh-Loyd. "Just give it everything you've got, but stop the moment it feels like it's going to hurt. We're finding your limit, not putting you in the hospital."

The older Green Ninja then straightened up and grinned down at his brother. "One thing I do know is that whatever you make is going to be amazing!"

Lil'Loyd looked down at his hands one more time, before matching his grin with his own. "You mean what we'll make."

He then cupped his hands together and summoned his usual energy ball. He then slowly let it expand bigger and bigger.

In his mind, he focused on what Luh-Loyd had just told him. Energy was connected to all things. All elements. He was connected to his friends. His Family. To fire, earth, lightning and ice… and maybe even water too. The faces of everyone he cared about flashed through his mind and how they'd helped him to become stronger.

His Green was Energy. And Energy gave Life!

The energy ball in his hands suddenly expanded to a massive size, and both of them had to squeeze their eyes shut to avoid being blinded by its light.

However, as Luh-Loyd brought his arm up to shield his eyes and snap them shut, he could have sworn he saw the briefest flash of gold mixed in among the green.

Then there was an almost concussive blast that blew both boys off their feet and knocked them out cold.

What must have been hours later, Luh-Loyd woke up to his ears ringing. He lay sprawled on the glass ground for a long moment, trying to remember what happened, before it all came back to him in a flash.

Instantly, he sat up and looked around for Lil'Loyd no matter how much the sudden movement made his head swim.

A second later he spotted him still unconscious on the ground a little ways away, and he scrambled over to him in a heartbeat.

Giving him a quick once over, it was clear Lil'Loyd was fine, even though he was still out like a light. Still, at Luh-Loyd's touch, he began to stir.

Sitting up ever so slowly, the younger boy clutched his throbbing head and looked exhausted. "What happened?" he asked.

"We, uh, might have gone a bit overboard on the first try," Luh-Loyd said weakly.

Lil'Loyd took a moment to process that before he jolted and looked up at Luh-Loyd in a panic. "Oh no!" he exclaimed. "Did I break it?"

It was then the two boys realized the sun had set while they were still unconscious…

So how was it they could still see each other clearly?

As that sank in, they ever so slowly turned their heads to look out at the training grounds.

Their jaws dropped at what they saw.

Everything was glowing! The crystal structures, water, ice, and glass were now gleaming in the evening air like someone had filled them with multi-colored Christmas lights and adding to the beauty of the place.

But that wasn't the most amazing part.

No, that was the creatures.

They weren't real creatures. No, they seemed to be some kind of golem-like amalgamations of the elements into animal form.

The lake was now splashing cheerfully as fish made out of water jumped from beneath the surface and swam around in circles. Penguins made of ice and snow slid happily along the glacier and icebergs, some even slipping into the water to chase the fish. Tortoises made of rocks moved slowly along the shore viewing everything with a serene gaze. Small sparking mice that seemed to be made from lightning scampered to and fro around the area, climbing the lightning sculptures and anywhere else they could. Little glowing fire salamanders crawled lazily around on the cliffs and huddled in groups within the cave, looking like campfires from a distance. And to top it all off, wisp-like cats and kittens that gleamed with the same energy that Lil'Loyd could create were exploring every inch of the training ground with curious golden eyes, and playfully chased any of the other animals they came across, though never doing them any harm.

"I told you it'd be amazing," Luh-Loyd said weakly, unable to fathom what he was truly seeing with his own two eyes.

Lil'Loyd could only gape in shock.

Finally, one of the energy kittens seemed to spot them and pranced over to sniff them curiously. Seeming to take a liking to Lil'Loyd, it rubbed its head against him fondly, finally starting to pull both of them from their daze.

"I… I did this?" Lil'Loyd asked as he gently picked up the kitten, who sizzled in his arms instead of purring. "We did this?"

"I- We must have," said Luh-Loyd, reaching out to pet the kitten, which batted his hand playfully. "When I said Green was life, I didn't realize it would be so literal," he added in amazement.

Lil'Loyd could only give an amazed, "Uh-huh," as he nodded in agreement.

Finally, after several minutes of staring to convince themselves that, yes, this was real, the two shared a grin.

"The others are never going to believe this!" they both said.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago

Mindroid the Nindroid wasn't exactly a top model of his kind. He was the 'youngest' of them all, being the last one made in Borg Tower before the necessary parts ran out. Because of that, too little metal and machinery had been put into him, leaving him short, hot-tempered, and only able to speak in Binary.

So, of course, all the other Nindroids laughed at him for it.

The jerks.

Stupid Cryptor! Stupid tall Nindroids! He'd show them!

Mindroid had plans. Big plans. Plans that would claim him the respect he deserves.

He was going to be the one to catch Pythor!

Pythor may have created them, but it was only for his own selfish means. He had then gleefully used the Nindroids as cannon fodder to overwhelm his enemies with sheer numbers. He didn't respect any of them and simply saw them as toy soldiers to throw around as he pleased, and had been very annoying while doing it.

Now the Nindroids roamed the deserts of Ninjago for any sign of their creator and most hated enemy. They were a tribe of nomads, never staying in one place for long, and always searching. Every Nindroid in their tribe hated Pythor. They would not rest until he was found.

Unfortunately, even with their infrared vision allowing them to see the snake when he was invisible, the slippery Anacondrai had escaped them.

For now, at least.

Because Mindroid was going to find him. Mindroid was going to-

"Do you always monologue to yourself?" a voice asked out of the blue.

Mindroid nearly fell off the rock he was perched on and wheeled around.

Several young faces, human, Serpentine, and Nindroid alike, looked back at him.

"Er-" Mindroid said, trying to save face.

Given that he knew Pythor had a grudge against the Ninja, particularly the green one looking at him now, he'd been scoping out their teashop and monastery for any signs of the snake attempting to get revenge. So far no sign of Pythor (all he'd seen was an argument between the two elderly owners), but it was irking him that he'd been caught by the residents.

"Is that what he's doing?" asked one of the humans in the group, a black-haired boy with flowers tucked in his shirt.

"Yeah, all I heard was weird static noises," added another boy with brown hair and his arm in a cast.

A red-haired boy and a young pair of Serpentine also voiced their agreement.

The Nindroid Mindroid now recognized as Echo (he'd been given an upgrade it seemed and was the one who had initially spoken), asked, "Really? You couldn't hear him?"

"I thought it was really clear," said a second Nindroid that Mindroid was happy to see was actually shorter than him (though, oddly, he looked very much like a miniature Echo). "He was talking all about how he was great and was gonna find Pythor so he can show the other Nindroids how great he is, and-"

"Oh, I get it, it was Binary," said the Green Ninja, cutting the mini-Echo off from his ramblings. "He speaks Binary like your mom does, Tiny."

"Well, yeah, I thought that was obvious," said the Nindroid who apparently had the unfortunate name of Tiny (Mindroid could sympathize).

"Only Nindroids understand Binary, Tiny. All people hear is noise," said the Green Ninja in amusement. He then thought a moment and added, "Except your dad. Your dad is cool like that."

Tiny beamed in pride. "Yes, yes he is."

"Binary?" asked a red-haired human with glasses. "As in computer language? I wasn't aware it could be spoken."

The young Hypnobrai Serpentine with a circlet's eyes widened. "Like a sssecret language? Cool!"

The other Serpentine, a young Fangpyre girl, wasn't paying attention to the conversation and instead was looking at Mindroid. "Uh, guysss," she said. "He'sss running away."

The rest of the children all turned back to Mindroid to see he was no longer there, and instead was running off into the trees.

"Hey! Wait!" shouted the Green Ninja, taking off after him.

"Hold on, Lloyd!" called Echo, as he and the rest followed close behind. "It could be a trap."

"Or it could be a new friend!" cheered Tiny.

Mindroid didn't look back and just kept running.

He didn't have time to deal with these children. He had a destiny to fulfill. Greatness to achieve. He had-

"Guys! He's monologuing again!"

He had to get away from these annoying brats.

"I heard that!"

"How rude!"

Mindroid the Nindroid was once again on the prowl. Rumors of a mysterious Serpentine being sighted in a rock quarry had been circulating in the local gossip for a week. He had to know if it was Pythor and if it was…

Then the Nindroids would see him as a hero!

They'd call him the Pythor Finder!

No, wait, that sounded stupid. They'd call him…

"Wow, you really do talk to yourself a lot."

Mindroid once again nearly fell off a rock hearing that.

Staring up at him was the Nindroid from last time, Tiny.

"Hi, I'm Tiny Echo," said Tiny. "What are you doing here? You said you were looking for Pythor. Is he here? What's so great about finding him. He's a total creep and kidnapped my friends. And my friend's dad. And my friend's brother's girlfriend's dad. He's a jerk. You should stay away from him so you don't catch his jerkiness."

Mindroid just stared at the little chatterbox as he kept going on and on with no sign of stopping. "And he says I talk a lot," Mindroid grumbled to himself.

"Did you say something?" asked Tiny, cutting off mid ramble.

Mindroid scowled. "Not to you."

"Then who are you talking to?" asked Tiny.

Mindroid didn't answer, not wanting to admit that it was himself. Especially after Tiny had pointed it out. "Why are you even here?" he asked instead.

"We're playing hide and trap," said Tiny, like this should be obvious.

"Hide and trap?" asked Mindroid, completely lost. Is this some weird human game.

"Yeah," said Tiny with a nod. "Like hide and seek, only instead of finding people you try to lead them into booby traps you've set up. If someone gets caught, that's a point to you."

Mindroid was starting to get the feeling that these children were insane.

Still, maybe he could pump them for information if Pythor was here. Then, maybe they'd do something useful other than just annoy him.

As he looked around, he could see the brown-haired boy, his arm still in a cast, creeping carefully around halfway up the rocky hill he and Tiny were standing at the base of.

Although, it seemed he wasn't being careful enough, as he triggered a tripwire causing a catapult to pelt him with water balloons.

Around the rest of the quarry, laughter rang out as the boy stumbled back into a large rock and wiped the water from his eyes.

Unfortunately, he stumbled into the wrong rock.

The boy froze as the rock he was leaning against suddenly tumbled away, unbalancing the entire top of the hill.

There was a moment where everyone froze as the rocks above them rattled as they started rolling down the hill towards them.

"NELSON!" shouted Tiny in worry for the boy above them who looked like a deer in the headlights as the rocks rumbled towards him.

Letting out an annoyed buzz, Mindroid bodily threw Tiny away then jumped up the hill (an easy feat for a Nindroid such as himself), grabbed the clumsy idiot (apparently named Nelson) by his shirt collar, and then activated a grappling gun in his wrist to hook on a nearby cliff and swing them both away.

The rocks spilled down the hill but eventually rolled to a stop without hurting anyone.

Mindroid threw Nelson none too gently to the ground a safe distance away. "Watch where you're going, idiot!" he snapped angrily, not happy he'd nearly been crushed alongside the kid and Tiny.

Nelson, clearly not understanding a word he said, beamed up at him. "Wow! That was so cool! Thanks for saving me! That would have been a lot of broken bones."

Mindroid just gave a frustrated growl.

Around them, more of Tiny and Nelson's friends were coming out of their hiding places after seeing those events.

"Nelson, are you okay?" asked Echo as they raced over.

"I'm fine, this Nindroid guy helped me," said Nelson.

"His name is Mindroid the Pythor Finder," said Tiny in a helpful tone.

"That's a dumb title," said the black-haired boy.

"Brad, don't be mean," scolded the Hypnobrai with a crown (it seemed the girl Fangpyre wasn't with them this time).

Mindroid just glared at Tiny.

"Is that why you're here?" asked the Green Ninja. "You're looking for Pythor?"

Knowing the human wouldn't understand him, Mindroid just gave a sharp nod.

"That's the Anacondrai that helped you take over our school and then left you for the Ninja, right Lloyd?" asked the red-haired boy.

"When you tied me and Gene together for over an hour," added Brad, pointing at the redhead and himself.

"Yeah, that's him," said the Green Ninja (Lloyd) with a wince. "Before I knew what a jerk he really is."

The Hypnobrai scowled and muttered something unpleasant about the Anacondrai to himself.

"SJ, don't be mean," said Brad in a teasing tone to the snake.

SJ just flicked his tongue at him.

"Why are you looking for Pythor?" asked Echo suspiciously, drawing them all back to the matter at hand.

"To destroy him!" said Mindroid emphatically. "His disrespect is an insult to all Nindroids."

Tiny and Echo nodded in agreement. "That is true," said Echo as Tiny translated for the rest. "But why would you think he was here."

"There have been rumors of Serpentine sightings in this area over the last week," Mindroid responded. "It must be him."

Once that response was translated, the children exchanged glances. "Uh, hate to disappoint you, Mindroid, but we've been setting up our traps here all week, and…" Lloyd pointed at SJ.

It took a moment for the meaning to sink in, and Mindroid cursed.

"Don't translate that," Echo told Tiny, making the non-Binary speakers curious.

"I don't get it," said Brad.

"Isn't it obvious," said Gene. "The 'Serpentine Sightings' were likely just talking about SJ. And maybe Poisinthia that one time she came with him."

"Ooooh," said all those who hadn't caught on before that.

Mindroid was already storming away, angry his afternoon had been wasted.

The Lil'Terrors watched him go.

"Soooo, we're adding him to the group, right?" said Nelson.

"Oh yeah," "Sure," and "Definitely," was the general response.

Only Rusty Echo seemed dubious. "I don't know, guys. He was one of Pythor's Nindroid army. I don't know if we can trust him."

"We'll just keep it casual for now," said Lloyd with a grin.

"I could make an algorithm to find information on Pythor's whereabouts," Gene said thoughtfully. "A bit of incentive for him to be friendlier."

SJ turned to Tiny Echo, "Lil'Loyd sssaid your dad speaksss that language he talksss in. Do you think he'll teach usss?"

Tiny beamed in pride. "Sure he would! Dad loves teaching."

As the boys made their plans, it was looking more and more like Mindroid would eventually become a Lil'Terror.

Whether he wanted to or not.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

Her name was Harumi, she was fifteen years old, and she was glued to her TV screen in her room in the Mayoral safety bunker with a bowl of popcorn in her lap.

These last few days had been both awesome and kind of a drag.

Awesome, because her hero, Lord Garmadon, had finally conquered the city with the help of a giant demon cat.

And a drag because despite his volcano now residing on the top of her home in Ninjago Tower, she hadn't been allowed up to meet him.

(Also, the before mentioned giant Demon Cat was running about and quickly destroying the city, but she didn't care too much about that. Ninjago citizens were very good at their evacuation procedures, so what's a few destroyed buildings.)

She'd tried to meet him. Oh boy did she try. She must have used every possible entrance to get to the top of the tower to join Lord Garmadon's victory party, only to be caught and turned away every time. She was too young to party, they'd said.

Well, at least it wasn't a total bust. She came across the Lady IronDragon also trying to sneak into the party during one of her attempts. Under the guise of 'helping' her, Harumi had nearly gotten into the party that time but was caught at the last second. However, she'd managed to strike up good regard with Lady IronDragon in that attempt, and being her 'friend' was sure to come in handy eventually.

Anyway, back to the TV screen. It seemed Lord Garmadon had gone on an epic quest to find weapons to defeat the giant cat so he could rule over Ninjago without it being totally destroyed. He was so cool.

Her faith in him did not falter as the weapons failed. At least, not until Garmadon got swallowed whole by the giant fuzzball.

Harumi screamed her head off at the sight.

But then, the Ninja Force arrived and the Green Ninja started walking slowly up to the cat and talking.

A lot of talking.

All of it really sappy stuff.

Oh, he also revealed himself as Lloyd Garmadon, Lord Garmadon's disappointment of a son. Just when Harumi thought he could sink no lower.

And then, much to Harumi's utter surprise, the mushy talking worked! The cat spat up Lord Garmadon and flopped over in defeat.

Maybe Lloyd Garmadon wasn't so ba-

NOPE! No, no, no, no!

She took it back! Lloyd Garmadon was awful! The worst of the worst! Utterly despicable!

He had just convinced Lord Garmadon to turn good.

Lord Garmadon!

GOOD!

It went against everything her lord stood for!

It was an outrage! It was- It was-

She couldn't even think of a word for it, it was so terrible.

Harumi let out another scream, this one of rage as she threw popcorn at her TV and proceeded to throw a temper tantrum. Sobbing into her bed even as her adoptive mother rushed in to find out what was happening.

It! Wasn't! FAIR!

Show Ninjago

On the TV screen, Gayle Gossip was interviewing Lord Garmadon… Or at least, someone everyone claimed to be Lord Garmadon.

"Yes, I suppose I look a bit different than I did the last you saw me," an elderly man said with an amused smile on his lips. The resemblance between himself and the small boy in his (only two) arms was striking. Given that the child in question was Lloyd Garmadon, Lord Garmadon's son, it gave more credence to his claim of identity.

"If you don't mind my asking, what happened to you?" asked Gayle Gossip, curiosity brimming out of her.

"My son happened," said Garmadon proudly, looking down at the boy in his arms. "With aid from the Red Ninja, Kai, and a nice young lad from out of town, erm," he trailed off as if trying to remember the boy's name.

"Gray," Lloyd supplied helpfully, a mischievous grin on his face.

The amusement seemed to be shared by Garmadon, as he nodded, and said, "Ah yes, Gray, that was it. The three of them helped me in a way I hadn't thought possible, and I am forever grateful for their efforts."

"And what does this mean for Ninjago?" asked Gayle. "Are you still seeking to conquer it?"

Lord Garmadon winced and shook his head. "No, I am happy to inform you that those days are over. I will no longer be a threat to Ninjago or any who lives in it. All I want now is to spend time with my family. Enough years have been wasted attempting a fruitless task."

Gayle looked relieved but skeptical. "Sir, no offense, but what guarantee do we have of that?"

"I can see how you would find it hard to believe," said Garmadon with his head bowed. When he raised his head again, he looked directly at the camera, his expression resolute. "So I'll say here and now, that I take an oath. An oath of pacifism. Never again will I touch another weapon. This I swear to you all."

In his arms, Lloyd grinned proudly.

"Wow," said Gayle, appearing convinced. "Then if world domination is no longer in your plans, what do you plan to do now?"

Garmadon looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, I have always wanted to try my hand at teach-"

'BAM!' 'CRUNCH!'

A knife shattered the TV screen as the one watching it couldn't take anymore.

Princess Harumi, the Jade Princess of Ninjago, the Quiet One, stood above the broken TV and yanked the knife out, only to stab into it again, fury apparent on her painted face.

Again, and again she stabbed it until nothing was left of the TV but broken wires and shattered glass.

Her anger sated, for now, she quickly hid the knife as she heard servants coming to investigate the noise. A minor malfunction. They would be easy to fool. And if not, she had her ways of silencing them.

But even as she put back on the mask of the demure princess, inside she was seething with rage.

How dare they!

How DARE they!

To reduce Lord Garmadon to… to THAT!

Harumi's eyes narrowed as she remembered the smug expression on Lloyd Garmadon's face.

He would pay!

Even if it was the last thing she'd do, someday, somehow, he would pay!

They all will!

Chapter Text

(Show Ninjago)

Day 1

My dearest Lloyd,

I only left you at your new school yesterday, and it already feels like far too long. Even as I am writing this, I realize you can't even read yet. I do hope one of the teachers or older students is nice enough to read this to you. Given the Skulkin working in the school are also under the control of your father, you should be well taken care of, and I'm sure I won't be gone long. I'm off to the Ancient Library of Domu to start my search. With all of the books and information they have, there's sure to be some clue to what I need to do.

I'll be back soon.

All my love,

Mother

Day 27,

My darling son,

As I said in yesterday's letter, the Library of Domu was full of information, but there is really so little of the Prophecy of the Green Ninja. This task may be more difficult than I originally thought. Not to worry, though, I will prevail (ask your teacher what that word means, sweetie, always keep learning). I know you are younger than the other students at that school, but I do hope you're learning and making friends. I'll be doing a bit more research at the library, then I'm off to the Golden Peaks. If the fires there were enough for the First Spinjitzu Master to create the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu, perhaps he left a clue as to the prophecy there. If there is, I'll be back for you before you know it.

Wish me luck.

All my love,

Mother

Day 75

My Baby Boy,

I'm back at the Library of Domu. I must have searched the entire Golden Peaks for clues, and while I did find some scrolls that provide details of what's to come, there is still nothing that tells me how to subvert destiny (remember, if you don't understand the words, ask your teacher for help, Lloyd). Still, I have more ideas to explore. With a little research at the library, I'll be back out again in no time, and once I'm done, I'll come and get you.

All my love,

Mother

Day 136

To the birthday boy,

It's your birthday today! Happy Birthday, Lloyd. Oh, I wish I could be there to see you. I do hope you like the gift that I enclose with this letter. You're five years old, that means you're a big boy now. If I haven't found the answers I'm looking for, I'll still be sure to try and come and visit for your next one. Not that that will be necessary, I'm sure I'll find something before then. I do hope you're having fun with your friends on your special day.

Happy Birthday, son.

All my love,

Mother

Day 256,

My sweet Lloyd,

I'll soon be heading to where it is believed the Spirit Coves are located. It is a place where dragons often migrate to undergo transformations, and it is believed to be easier for them to cross into other worlds from that location. It is not a place known for its knowledge, but your grandfather was friends with many dragons in his time, perhaps he left something behind I can use. I wish I could take you along. I know you've always loved dragons. Do you still sleep with Puff-Puff at night? I keep a picture of you as a baby sleeping on your father's lap cuddling that stuffed dragon in my journal. You were so cute when you were that small. I miss you and your father so much.

I will send pictures of the dragons if I see any.

All my love,

Mother

Day 365,

My darling Lloyd,

It wasn't until I wrote that number above that I realized that it has been an entire year since I left, and I am no closer to finding the answer. I am so sorry, Lloyd. I knew this quest would be hard, but I was unaware it would be this hard. Still, I can't give up. You're worth the time it takes to see it through. No matter what, I'll keep searching until I find the answers and we can come home again.

I won't give up,

All my love,

Mother

Day 501

To my darling birthday boy,

Happy sixth birthday, son! I am so, so sorry. I know I said I would try to reach you today, but that storm I told you about still has the dig site I am at flooded, and me and the other archeologists remain stranded here until the waters go down. I won't even be able to send this letter and your present until then as well. More than anything, I wish I could be there with you now, and I can only hope you'll forgive me when I return. Still, there may be a lead I can follow once the rain lets up, and then I could be back for good. I'll find a way, son, I promise.

Happy Birthday.

All my love,

Mother

Day 637

My Dear Son,

It only just occurred to me that I don't think I ever told you why I left. I'm not even sure if you're old enough to understand it. Please know, I never wanted to leave you. More than anything I wish I never had to. That I could have been there for your last two birthdays. That you, me, and your father could be together as a family. But for now, that is not possible. You see, son, your grandfather, the First Spinjitzu Master, was given a prophecy by the scribes of the Cloud Kingdom long ago. The prophecy says that your father will become a fierce dark lord, and threaten to destroy all of Ninjago and that he will be defeated by a great hero, the Green Ninja. That hero is you, Lloyd. If destiny goes as planned, you will be forced to fight your father in order to save all of Ninjago from his darkness or die trying. This is not a fate I would ever wish on you. Both of you. I left to search for a way to break destiny. To save you both from this battle, and make sure you are both safe. And when I succeed, we can be a family again. That is something I want more than anything in the world, Lloyd, never doubt that. I'm sorry it has taken so long, but I must be getting close.

I love you.

All my love,

Mother

Day, 731

My beloved Lloyd,

I'm sorry, baby, don't know what to do. It has been two years and a day, and I am still so far away from my goal. I've been so many places, and all I've found are scrolls that tell me what I already know. I'm growing tempted to find a dragon to take me to the Cloud Kingdom to demand answers out of the monks there. Well, I suppose I'm not quite that desperate yet, but it is getting close. There's still a temple in the mountains that I need to check first. They're supposed to have the answers to everything you seek. While that may be an exaggeration, it could have the answers I'm looking for.

I hope so.

All my love,

Mother

Day 804,

My sweet baby,

The temple was a hoax. I'm embarrassed to say I used the spinjitzu that your uncle taught me to air my grievances at being misled in such a way. I'm sorry, you're unlikely to hear from me for a few days, as I'm going to find a dragon to take me to the Cloud Kingdom. If answers are anywhere, they're sure to be there. Even if I have to treat the monks as I did the temple I just left. I'll still write every day and send all the letters once I'm back.

You'll hear from me soon.

All my love,

Mother

Day 866,

Lloyd!

Happy birthday, son! Now you're lucky seven. I'm sure you've noticed I haven't sent your present with this letter. That's because I will be giving it to you in person in a few weeks! My trip to the Cloud Kingdom may have been a success. It took some persuading, but the scribes finally gave me a scroll with a clue. It describes a Doomsday Clock that once activated would countdown to an unspeakable weapon. I know that does not sound like a good thing, and it isn't, but this is! The scroll says to activate the clock, your father must claim a helmet that is resting upon it. However, the scroll says nothing of what would happen if we were to put the helmet back! Doing so may stop the prophecy! This may be a long shot, and I must cross-check this scroll with the others I've collected in Ninjago City, but this has to be it! Once I'm done here, then my search will be ended!

I'll see you soon.

All my love,

Mother

Dear Darkley's Boarding School,

My name is Misako Garmadon, wife of Lord Garmadon. I recently received a letter that my son, Lloyd, is no longer a student at your school. Now I know you're supposed to be a school for evil and delinquency, but this is a lowbrow joke, even for you. Please do not try to frighten me, and make sure Lloyd gets his letters and is well-taken care for. I will be coming to pick him up soon, as I will no longer require your services. As mentioned before, my son is the heir to Lord Garmadon's legacy, and the master of all of the Skulkin working within your school as teachers. I do not think I have to tell you what his reaction will be should anything happen to his son.

Do not try to prank me again.

Misako Garmadon

Professor of Archeology and wife of the Dark Lord.

Lil'Loyd looked up after he finished reading that last letter. He hadn't had time to read all the letters yet, but the ones he had painted a pretty clear picture.

The sight of both Koko and Misako chasing several terrified Skulkin soldiers in circles, and smashing them into piles of bones was also pretty telling as well.

It had taken months to track down the Skulkin who had worked at Darkelys, but once they did, nothing stopped Misako and Koko from taking revenge.

Lil'Loyd swallowed a lump in his throat, as he once again looked at the letter that should have gotten to him on his seventh birthday. He had already been kicked out of Darkely's at that point and spent it picking fights with the Ninja using the Serpentine. Misako must have just been about to come and get him when they met her at the museum.

He couldn't deny it any longer.

Misako cared!

His conflicted expressions must have shown on his face, as a hand reached down to ruffle his hair. He looked up to see his father and Luh-Loyd looking down at him in concern. They had been standing guard over him while Koko and Misako were on a warpath. His Uncle Garm was there too, but he was currently too distracted by cheering the women on in their violence. Despite being the one who had heard where the Skulkin had been lurking, Sensei Wu had declined to come (though from the frosty look he'd sent his brother, it was clear why).

"Are you alright, son?" asked Sensei Garmadon softly.

Lil'Loyd sniffled but put on his best brave face. "I'll be okay," he muttered.

Luh-Loyd ruffled his hair again with a smile. "It's hard to find out they really did care," he said knowingly, casting a glance at his own father ("BREAK HIS LEGS! BREAK HIS LEGS, KOKO! YES! I LOVE THAT WOMAN!"). "But it's also nice too," he added. "To know you weren't unwanted."

Lil'Loyd managed a weak grin as once again his counterpart understood what he was going through implicitly. He then glanced back down at the letter, and reread how Misako always signed the letters.

All my love,

Mother

Maybe… that could work. Koko was Mom, and maybe Misako could be…

"Mo-Mother," Lil'Loyd called out.

Both women stopped, but from the way Koko turned to look at Misako, she knew Lil'Loyd wasn't addressing her.

Misako, on the other hand, looked completely floored, and barely seemed to notice the Skulkin trying feebly to crawl away from where it was trapped under her boot.

Lil'Loyd did his best to give her a cheeky grin, but it felt shaky at best. Still, he held up the last birthday letter and said, "Your letter says I was supposed to get a present. When was I going to get that, Mother?"

Misako burst into tears and raced over to hug him with all her strength, which considering she had just been breaking the bones of several skeletons, that was a lot.

It was worth waiting for.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

Freckles Jay blinked in surprise at his counterpart. "I'm sorry, what?" he asked.

Nick Jay took a deep breath and repeated himself. "Your electric shock trick in the desert. When Buddy's girlfriend was, ya know, and he, Pep, and you all worked together to give her CPR and shocks to help her. It was really cool (or at least, what I could hear was cool, I wasn't looking 'cause of his girlfriend's shirt), and, anyway, I was hoping you'd teach me to do that since it seems like a good thing to learn. Not that I ever want to use it, but given our lives… yeah, better safe than sorry."

Freckles blinked at the long-winded request. "You want me to teach you how to act as an AED."

"Yes!" said Nick. "Is that what they're called?"

"Automatic Electronic Defibrillator," said Freckles. "AED for short."

"That's the thing," said Nick. "So how'd you learn to be one? From what I could tell when you were doing it, it was a lot more controlled than just lightning hands." He crackled his own hands with lightning to prove his point.

"Practice," replied Freckles. "So much practice. No one really taught me how to do it, it was something I had to figure out for myself. And even with that, I'd hesitate to use it on someone without Zane, either of them, there to monitor the person's health. I got the idea to learn after we all got certified in first aid and CPR."

Nick nodded thoughtfully hearing that. "Huh, come to think of it, we should probably do that as well. Get certified, I mean."

"Yeah, it's a good thing to do when you're in the hero business," said Freckles with a nod. "I think Spike is already certified, though, my Kai said that was part of Bodyguard training last month." He then frowned. "Or, he's at least trained. I dunno how official learning it from an ex-warlord in another dimension counts in your world."

"Well, trained is what counts," said Nick cheerfully. "Now about that AED training…"

Freckles chuckled. "Get yourself certified first, then we'll talk."

Nick let out a disappointed huff but complied.

A week later, a newly certified Nick Jay was once again making his request to Freckles Jay.

"Good job," said Freckles Jay, leading him into the mech warehouse. "And good timing too, I just finished getting supplies yesterday."

"Supplies?" asked Nick curiously.

Freckles led him to a work table with a large box of light bulbs and a stopwatch on it. Picking up a light bulb, he held it eye level to Nick and asked, "When you took the certification class, do you remember how many volts the defibrillator uses to help someone?"

Nick opened his mouth to answer, paused, and then looked sheepish. "Oops," he said with a nervous chuckle. "I guess I should have paid more attention to that, since it's, you know, relevant."

Freckles shrugged. "Yeah, most people don't have to pay attention, since they can just trust the defibrillator to do its work. But knowing how much charge and for how long is crucial to getting this right," he said.

"So what's the answer?" asked Nick.

"A three-thousand-volt charge for .001 seconds," said Freckles.

"Yeesh," said Nick Jay. "That fast?"

"Yep," said Freckles. "It's just to jolt the heart but not fry it, so it has to be that fast."

"Uh-huh," said Nick with a nod. "What's that got to do with the light bulb?"

"We're going to start practicing with getting you to consistently release the three-thousand volts on command," Freckles said, handing the light bulb to him. "That's the amount of charge that can keep this light bulb shining for twenty-three seconds."

"Oooh," said Nick, his expression brightening. "I get it. So I practice on these."

"Yep," said Freckles. "Then, once you've got that down, we'll spar, I'll turn Cole's music on top volume, and you'll try to get that charge consistently again."

Nick frowned hearing that then the reason dawned on him. "Ohhh, good point. If I ever have to use this, it's probably not going to be in some nice, quiet warehouse. I gotta be able to do this even if I'm tired or distracted."

"Well, you might have a peaceful-ish setting if someone just has a heart attack," said Freckles with a shrug. "We do know a lot of old folks, and Mom and Dad aren't getting any younger."

Nick grimaced. "Thanks, Freckles. I so needed those worries in my head. Now I'm going to be worrying about my parents, and Sensei Wu, and Sensei Garmadon, and your versions of Wu and Garmadon, and-"

"Uh, actually, my Lloyd told me our Wu and Garmadon are, like, way younger than yours, so you might not need to worry about them, at least," offered Freckles sheepishly, knowing that he'd put his foot in his mouth again.

Nick shook his head, trying to dispel the worrisome thoughts. "That's better. Positive thinking is way better than negative," he said encouragingly. He then glanced at the large box of light bulbs Freckles had supplied. "Speaking of being negative, why'd you bring so many bulbs."

"Uh, in case you break any," said Freckles like this was obvious.

Nick laughed. "Please, I'm a pro at the ol' light bulb tri-" But even as he said that his casual waving of the light bulb already in his hand caused it to slip out of his grasp and shatter on the warehouse floor.

The two Jays stared down at it for a beat, then Nick Jay sighed. "Alright, fair point," he said.

Freckles offered him a grin and another bulb as they got started.

Several days of practice and light bulbs later, Nick Jay was ready for the next challenge.

"When you said you wanted to learn how to do this I put what I trained myself with back together," said Freckles Jay, leading him to a corner of the warehouse where a training dummy lay on the floor with wires connected to a small machine attached to it.

Freckles picked up the machine and showed it to him. "This is an electrometer I modified so you can practice on the dummy. It won't fry if you go overboard, and I added a timer to it so we know if you're fast enough."

"Right," said Nick, knowing that this was going to be a hard part. "'Cause keeping a light bulb going for twenty-three seconds is a lot different than zapping someone for .01 seconds."

".001 seconds," said Freckles, putting emphasis on the second zero.

"Even worse," said Nick, trying to sound optimistic and failing.

"Just think of it like a video game," offered Freckles encouragingly. "Like you need to beat a boss and gotta practice your reaction time."

The comparison seemed to calm Nick somewhat, and they got to practicing...

And practicing…

And practicing…

For weeks...

Each time Nick placed his hands where the defibrillator pads would be and got faster with every jolt.

Until finally…

"WOOO HOOOO!" a cheer erupted from their corner of the warehouse.

The rest of the Ninja Force, who had been lounging around that day, jumped at the loud sound and looked over to the source. Nick Jay had become such a frequent visitor in their Warehouse for his practice that they almost didn't notice him anymore.

An exhausted and spent Nick Jay stumbled over to the couch, grinning from ear to ear.

"I did it!" he said, his voice out of breath.

"Did what?" asked Kai.

"One-hundred shocks at the right speed and voltage in a row," Nick replied, sounding tired beyond belief. "I did it!"

He then collapsed face down on the couch and looked ready for a nap.

Freckles Jay followed after him, grinning proudly. "Great job," he said. "I hereby certify you as an emergency AED. Let's hope you never have to use it."

Nick pumped a fist in the air with a weak, "Yay!"

And then promptly passed out.

It was time well spent.

Chapter Text

Dating for Dummies

Movie Ninjago

Zane took a deep breath that he didn't need, and released it.

Today was the day.

Today he was finally going to ask Pixal out on a date.

They had been friends for months now, and Zane was now more sure than ever his initial reaction to her was correct. He had definitely fallen in love with her kindness and knowing her better had only caused those feelings to grow.

And so, he was going to ask her out. The timing was perfect. There was a school dance in a few days (barring any disasters), and everything normal teenage romcoms had told him said that asking a girl to a dance was the epitome of romance.

Now he just needed to ask her to the dance in the proper fashion.

Fortunately, the cheerleaders owed him a favor.

The students of Ninjago High School were left befuddled when they arrived at school that morning to the sight of Zane Julien standing in the middle of the front courtyard, with the entire cheerleading team standing sleepily behind him.

Even his own teammates didn't seem to understand what he was doing, as they arrived, and hung back to watch.

Zane didn't even seem to notice the stares, his eyes scanning the oncoming students, clearly looking for someone among them.

Finally, he spotted her.

"Pixal!" he said brightly, waving towards the silver girl as she arrived at school alongside Skylor.

Pixel looked over at him at the sound of her name, looking just as lost as the rest of them as to what was happening, and exchanged a confused glance with Skylor before coming closer.

Zane, grinning brightly, signaled the cheerleaders.

The entire school could only watch with their jaws dropped as the Ice Ninja broke into an entire song and dance number, complete with the cheerleaders as his backup dancers for the spectacle.

The song they were singing and dancing to? You're the One that I Want, making Zane's auto-tuned intentions very clear.

No one was quite sure if this was either the cheesiest or the most adorable thing they had ever seen. Both probably.

It was definitely something straight out of a movie.

However, it was Pixal's reaction that was most important, and she looked absolutely gleeful when she realized what was happening.

Then, to the entire school's surprise, Pixal joined the song and dance, clearly having never practiced it before, but managing to match Zane's every move.

"Those two were made for each other," said Nya fondly as she and the rest of the Ninja Force watched the two mechanical teens twirl around for their big finish.

"No one tell Nick," Jay said. "He might start taking notes."

The rest snickered at that but were in total agreement.

When the song finished, Zane had Pixal in a dip, and asked her loud enough for the whole school to hear, "Pixal Borg, would you find it agreeable to go to the Spring Fling with me?"

Pixal beamed. "I find that most agreeable," she said.

Zane cheered as he pulled her out of the dip and back to her feet, and the entire audience clapped and cheered for them, though more than a few boys were getting the stink-eye from their girlfriends for not asking them with such a romantic gesture.

As the crowd began to disperse for class, Skylor sauntered over to walk with Kai. "Those two watch way too many movies," she said fondly as they headed to class.

Kai snorted in amusement. "Yeah, but hey, whatever makes them happy," he said. He then looked sheepish. "Honestly, I'm a little jealous of Zane's boldness."

Skylor hummed in agreement. "So," she said casually. "I heard there's a dirt bike course just outside the west side of the city. How about you and me go for a spin this weekend."

Kai grinned. "Sure! That sounds-" he broke off, and his eyes widened. "Wait! Are you asking me on a-"

Skylor just grinned cheekily. "There's more than one way to be bold," she said as she went on to class.

Kai stopped dead in his tracks, his face gobsmacked as he watched her go.

Then he pumped his fist in the air and shouted, "I'VE GOT A DATE! WHOOO!" at the top of his lungs.

He was late to class after that, but he didn't care.

The rest of the day he and Skylor couldn't stop grinning.

As for Pixal and Zane, they continued to serenade each other for the rest of the week until the principal had to politely ask them to stop.

In the school at least.

Anywhere else was fair game.

Playdate Problems

Show Ninjago

Skales was at his wit's end.

Horror upon horrors, Lloyd Garmadon, the Green Ninja and bane of Skales' existence, had invited Skales' own son over to play.

And Skales Junior, poor, innocent, naive Junior, had agreed before Skales could say no.

Even worse, Selma had agreed as well (promising Skales a date night while their son had his fun, and while that did sound tempting, but...).

Now, Skales had until the playdate to gently convince his son that the Green Ninja was bad news, and he should change his mind and stay as far away from the kid as possible.

It wasn't working.

At all.

All he managed to do was clue his son in that he didn't want him going.

"Daddy, why don't you like Lloyd? He'sss nice," Junior finally asked as Skales Senior's discouragement became particularly blatant as they waited for the Green Ninja to arrive.

Skales froze, caught in the act, and unsure how to respond. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he replied, "Well, SSSon," he said. "The reassson I'm not fond of Lloyd isss due to his time leading our tribe."

"He led our tribe?" asked Junior, his eyes wide with awe. "That's ssso cool! I didn't know that!"

Skales scowled. It most certainly was not 'cool'. "It was back when SSSlithraa was the head general of the Hypnobrai. Lloyd managed to trick him into hypnotizing himssself with his reflection."

Junior let out a hissing giggle. "He did that?" he said. "That'sss really funny. How dumb do you have to be to hypnotize yourssself?"

"Pretty dumb," agreed Skales, rolling his eyes at the memory. "But he wasss in charge, and with him under Lloyd's thrall, we were forced to do his bidding."

"What'd he make you do?" asked Junior.

"Juvenile thingsss," Skales hissed. "He made usss attack a village that wasss mean to him sssimply to sssteal their candy."

Junior's eyes widened. "He did?"

Skales nodded. "Yesss, sssuch actionsss are beneath usss Nobel SSSerpen-"

"That's awesome!" said Junior. "I love human candy! Why don't we sssteal it more often."

Skales gaped at his son at that response. "I- we can't- SSStealing isss wrong!" he finally settled on.

"Oh," said Junior, disappointed.

Thinking his son was finally getting the picture, Skales continued to hammer the point home. "And then he had usss build him this ridiculousss treehoussse."

"A treehoussse?" asked Junior with wide red eyes.

Skales nodded. "Yesss, a massssive thing. He demanded it be filled with zip-linesss and booby trapsss."

Junior's eyes grew even bigger. "That. Soundsss. AWESSSOME!" he cheered, startling his father. "He soundsss like sssuch a cool leader! We should make him leader again!"

Skales stared down at him. This was not going as planned. He was supposed to be warning Junior off of Lloyd, not making him sound even more impressive.

After opening and closing his mouth like a fish for several seconds, trying to come up with a response, Skales finally blurted out, "But, SSSon, I'm the leader."

Junior nodded. "I know, Daddy, but Lloyd wasss such a cool one. He hasss great ideasss!"

Meaning Skales wasn't 'cool'...

Ouch!

Skales winced at the clearly unintentional blow to his ego. He scrambled for something to tell Junior to turn his opinion around (or say that he was a cool leader too), but before he could, Lloyd showed up.

The little Green Ninja smiled and waved as he ran up to them. "Hey, Junior. Ready to go?"

"Am I ever!" said Junior, more excited than ever for this playdate.

Lloyd beamed and the two ran off, trailed after by the Red Ninja, who was their acting chaperone.

Skales could only stand frozen where he'd been attempting to dissuade his son and utterly failed.

Then with a defeated sigh, he turned and headed off to find Selma.

Looks like he needed that date night after all.

Mending Mistakes

Movie Ninjago

Within his Volcano Lair, Lord Garmadon was smug.

No, Lord Garmadon was smugger than smug. He didn't remember ever feeling smugger in his entire life.

Sensei Garmadon was already regretting everything!

"So what you're saying," said Lord Garmadon, his smug, smug smirk taking up his entire face. "Is that you need my help to win back over your lady love."

Sensei Garmadon scowled. "Well, your assistance is not distinctly necessary, but an outsider's opinion would not be remiss. Misako is no longer as angry at me as she was, but there is still a distance between us I hope to overcome."

"And you plan to do that with an epic date that'll knock her socks off," said Lord Garmadon still grinning viciously. "And for that, you need the expert advice of yours truly."

Yup, Sensei Garmadon definitely regretted even opening his mouth.

"Perhaps this was a mistake," he said, backing away in hopes of preserving what remained of his dignity. Why did he think this was a good idea again? (Oh right, because the only other people closest to him were his brother whom he'd stolen the love of his life from, a gaggle of utterly clueless teenagers, and his child son who still thought girls had cooties.) "I will just meditate on-"

"NOPE!" shouted Lord Garmadon, surging forwards to snag him around the shoulders with one of his upper arms, and keeping him pinned in place with his lower ones. Gesturing grandly in the air with his remaining arm, he began steering his counterpart deeper into the volcano. "I'm invested now! No take-backsies!"

Forget opening his mouth, Sensei Garmadon was regretting even getting up that morning.

Oblivious to this, Lord Garmadon continued on, "So here's what I was thinking…"

Show Ninjago

Misako wasn't sure what to think when her husband turned up in a tux and invited her out on a picnic by a lake.

And now she felt like she was in a scene out of one of those romantic paintings where a man was rowing a rowboat while a woman sat across from him with a parasol.

Except she didn't have a parasol, but there was one nestled at her feet should she choose to use it.

The picnic had been serene, the food had been good, and Garmadon had been a perfect gentleman. It was honestly one of the best dates she'd been on in a long time.

Even so, Misako knew he was doing this out of guilt, and that fact hung heavy in the air.

The truth was, she wasn't mad about it anymore, but she was still disappointed. Getting the letter she thought had been from him had been one of her favorite memories of their relationship, one of the things that had kept her going in her years-long search for a cure. Finding out it was a lie sullied the memory of it in a way that she didn't know how to resolve.

Still, she was at a point where she was willing to try.

"What are we doing out here, Garmadon?" she asked. "I love you, but no amount of picnics is going to change what you did."

Garmadon stopped rowing and sighed. "I know," he said sadly. "As I said before, I do not regret it, but more than anything I wish I had won your heart in a different way. A better way. But…" he struggled to find what to say next, then gave her a sheepish look. "Wu is still better with words, but please know that I am willing to do anything to atone for my actions."

"And a romantic outing on a boat is part of that atonement?" asked Misako. The whole rowboat bit was slightly confusing to her. It was nice and cheesy, and romantic in a way that she didn't know Garmadon would ever do.

Garmadon flushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, the rowboat wasn't my idea, but it seemed like something you'd enjoy."

Misako blinked in confusion. "Wait, then whose idea was it?" she asked.

Her answer came not a second later when a jetski roared by with Lord Garmadon driving it at breakneck speeds, and Koko riding behind him cheering for him to go faster.

The jetski swerved close enough to the rowboat that a sharp turn had it spraying Misako's husband with water before tearing off across the lake.

A now soaking wet Sensei Garmadon glared after the couple as he wrung water out of his jacket. "I should have known," he grumbled.

Misako was fighting to keep her amusement at the situation off her face. Her husband was so proud. There was no way. Did he really? "Wait, you asked him for help?"

Garmadon's exasperated sigh was answer enough. "It seemed to be a good way to think outside the box," he muttered ruefully.

Misako couldn't contain it any longer and burst out laughing.

Garmadon looked at her, startled, but then it melted into a warm grin at the sight of her mirth. He hadn't seen her laugh like that in a long time. If it took swallowing his pride to see it, it was worth it.

He knew he still had much to make up for, but at that moment, he knew they were going to be okay.

And if Misako showed her forgiveness by shielding him with the parasol next time Lord Garmadon came shooting by, he was all the more grateful for it.

His advice had paid off after all.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago

Despite finding out about her water powers ages ago, Nya still was working on learning Spinjitzu.

She had to admit, she had been procrastinating in mastering it. Despite accepting that she was herself an Elemental Master, some part of her still shied away from the truth. Brushed the elements off as 'her brother's thing' while she had her own thing with her mech.

Still, if there was one thing their big battle against the Golden Master Mech had taught her, taught all of them, was that mechs can't solve everything. All of their mechs had been too big and clunky to reach that one little spot, and Skylor, the new friend she'd been talking about boys with only a few days before that, had then nearly died making up for that shortcoming.

That had been scary.

Still, even as her heart had been in her throat watching Skylor, she'd also been amazed at the level of athleticism she'd displayed getting up to the weak point.

Nya was no slouch when it came to being in shape, but she knew there was no way she could have done what Skylor did. It was unreal.

It made Nya want to be better.

And while Spinjitzu probably wouldn't have solved the Golden Master Mech problem, it would at least up her athleticism by leaps and bounds.

So here she was, practicing next to the river behind Steep Wisdom trying to master the tornado. Normally she'd be doing it inside Sensei Garmadon's dojo, but he and Sensei Wu had some kind of fight that morning (well, it was more Wu yelling at Garmadon than anything), and Sensei Garmadon had been using the space to stew in guilt-er-meditate ever since.

(Sensei Wu was no better. He'd been aggressively brewing tea all afternoon.)

(Neither of the Lloyds or Misakos would tell them why their Senseis were upset with each other, and the only answer they have gotten from Lord Garmadon was "There was a problem with their mail." Whatever that meant.)

Wait! Don't get distracted. Focus on Spinjitzu. She needed to work this out.

Or figure out her True Potential, she still was banging her head against the wall trying to figure that out. Given that three of the other world's Ninja and Skylor had all gotten theirs during the last adventure, she was starting to feel left out. It was really only herself, Lloyd, and DJ Cole that didn't have theirs yet.

She really didn't want to be last. Kai would never let her live it down.

Plus, getting her True Potential after a literal child like Lloyd would be pretty embarrassing.

It didn't help that she was pretty sure Cyan Nya knew what it was, but wasn't telling her. Every time she asked, Cyan would drop hints that only served to frustrate her further.

"Is a straight answer really too much to ask?" Nya asked aloud, voicing those frustrations.

"Straight answer to what?"

Nya jumped at the unexpected voice. Speak of the devil.

"What are you doing here?" Red Nya asked, turning to see her counterpart walking up to her.

Cyan shrugged. "I got a call you seemed upset about something, and was asked to come by and cheer you up."

Red blinked at her in confusion. What? Who would call Cyan all the way from the Other Ninjago to cheer her up instead of trying themself?

The answer came to her a second later. "Oh," she said as her shoulders slumped. "Jay called you… My Jay, that is."

Cyan gave her a sympathetic look. "Yeah," she said. "Said he'd come out himself, but he didn't want to make it awkward. You okay?"

Red let out a sigh. Jay was right, it would have been. Mostly because with her current frustration levels, Red had a strong suspicion that if he'd tried, she'd have snapped something at him that she'd later regret.

And he didn't deserve that. Once Jay was over his initial tantrum, he'd actually been very courteous about the situation, and was giving her the space she needed.

Not that she was any closer to figuring that out either.

Just another problem to add to her ever-growing pile.

Still, maybe she could actually ask her questions directly for at least one of them. "Yeah, I'm okay," she answered Cyan's question. Then asked her own. "I was wondering why you don't tell me what you think my True Potential is? I know you know."

"I wouldn't say 'know' so much as strongly suspect," Cyan replied, it was clear she'd somewhat expected the question.

Red gestured for her to go on. "Sooo…?" she said.

"You won't believe me," said Cyan firmly, looking like she knew Red wouldn't buy that, but had to say it anyway. "I wouldn't have believed anyone if they told me mine. If someone said asking for help was my block to my potential, then, well, it probably would have made me even worse, and way less likely to ask for help just to prove them wrong. It was only when I had to face it head-on that I got past it."

Red raised an eyebrow at her. "So, what? You're not telling me because you think it'll make me double down on the problem instead of fixing it?" she asked.

"Something like that," said Cyan with a shrug. "And besides, like I already said, what I have is just a guess. For all I know, telling you would just have you barking up the wrong tree."

Red scowled but knew she wasn't getting the answer out of Cyan. She was too protective, and would never do something she thought would be a detriment to Red.

"So I just have to figure it out for myself," said Red sourly. "Great."

"You'll get it, don't worry," said Cyan with a sympathetic smile.

Red grumbled unintelligibly under her breath but didn't argue.

They sat in silence for a while, just watching the waterfall.

"So," said Cyan, attempting to start the conversation again. "I walked through the tea shop to get here, and Sensei Wu was kinda-" she trailed off trying to find a way to describe the level of crankiness that had undoubtedly been pouring off him.

"Yeah. He's been like that all day. Apparently something Sensei Garmadon did ticked him off," said Red. "And Sensei Garmadon's been moping in his dojo all day because of it."

"They've been doing that a lot lately," said Cyan. "What happened between them?"

Red could only shrug and shake her head. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Cyan chuckled. "I'm sure they'll tell us eventually."

"Yeah," agreed Red. "I mean, they can't stay mad forever, right? I'm sure this will calm down soon."

Cyan froze, thinking of her own Wu and Garmadon who had been fighting pretty much constantly their entire lives. "Uh…" she said, not wanting to burst her counterpart's bubble.

Red just looked at her.

Quickly getting to her feet, Cyan held out a hand to Red. "We should probably get back to your training. You'll never figure out what your True Potential is if you don't keep trying."

Red groaned, but still took Cyan's hand and allowed herself to be pulled upwards. Loathed though she was to admit it, she was right.

At least sparring with Cyan the rest of the day would help her vent her frustrations.

Even if solving the root of those frustrations still seemed so far out of reach.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago

The daring Mindroid the Nindroid was once again on the prowl.

This time he was certain to find clues to Pythor's whereabouts.

It was odd that the reports were around the tea shop/monastery again since he'd already checked there. But this time he double-checked, and it definitely wasn't that annoying group of human children or their Serpentine friends. It has to be Pythor.

Speaking of annoying children…

"Did you really just say 'Speaking of annoying children' just to trail off right when we're about to talk to you?" asked Echo, looking unimpressed.

"So what if I did?" Mindroid snapped back.

"It's very rude," Echo replied.

Mindroid rolled his optics and didn't reply.

There weren't as many children this time. Just Echo, Brad, Gene, Nelson, and Lloyd who were there for their self-defense class. Tiny and the two Serpentine were nowhere to be seen.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" asked Lloyd.

Mindroid surveyed the area with his infrared vision, before stating at low volume, "Pythor has been seen nearby."

Echo frowned hearing that, then glanced at his friends. "How much of that did you get?" he asked.

The children exchanged looks. "I didn't get the first bit or the end, but he said something about 'have be see'," said Lloyd.

"Agreed," said Gene thoughtfully. "Though, given correct grammar, I believe a better translation would be someone or something 'has been seen', and likely the last word is 'here' or something similar due to Mindroid being, well, here."

"And from past experiences, I'd bet a rose bush that someone is Pythor," finished Brad.

Echo nodded at them with a grin, and Mindroid stared at them stunned.

"You understand Binary?" he asked in bewilderment. The humans had definitely not understood a word he'd said last time he'd seen them.

It took a second for them to understand that, but when he did Nelson replied, "Yeah, we've been learning. Can't speak it any good yet, but we've been learning to understand it."

"Why?" asked Mindroid. To his understanding, most humans didn't bother to learn the language of machines.

"So we can talk to you, duh," said Lloyd with a grin. "You seem cool."

Mindroid didn't know what to say to that. He, of course, knew that he was cool. He was the absolute coolest there was in all of Ninjago… He'd just never heard someone else say it before.

Out loud, at least, they were definitely thinking it, he just knew it.

"Anyway, about Pythor," said Lloyd, getting back to the original topic. "Why do you think he's here?"

"Do you think someone saw SJ and Poisinthia again?" asked Nelson curiously.

"Can't be," said Brad. "They haven't been able to visit in weeks. Some Serpentine thing that SJ has to do and he can't leave, and Poisinthia's there to keep him from getting bored."

"It's not them," said Mindroid, shaking his head. "I made sure this time. It's definitely him."

Another moment for them to work out what was said, then Echo asked, "But why? Why would he even come here?"

Gene's eyes widened, and he turned to look at Lloyd. "I think I may have a hunch."

The rest of them turned to look at Lloyd as well.

Lloyd blinked at the sudden attention, then the reason hit him too and he slumped. "Oh," he said dryly. "Great."

Gene, however, grinned wickedly. "It is great," he said. "I have a plan."

Hearing this the others leaned in to listen, leaving Mindroid out.

Well, fine, Mindroid didn't want to know their stupid plan anywa-

Nelson looked up from the huddle. "Come on. Get over here," he whispered, waving at an open spot next to him.

Oh! They did want to include him. Well... he might as well listen so he can make his own plans around it.

Once he joined their huddle circle, they all turned to Gene. "Here's what we're going to do," Gene said and explained his plan.

Mindroid's eyes lit up the more he heard.

He could work with this!

Pythor had once thought his lowest point came when he was trapped within a tomb with the rest of the Anacondrai, but even then, as his fellow Anacondrai dwindled down to one, he was determined to do whatever it took to survive.

Then he thought his lowest point would be when he was swallowed by the Great Devourer. That was a million times worse and more painful than being trapped in a tomb that he had never been happier to be thrown up in his life.

But now! Now Pythor wished he was back in the Great Devourer's gut. Somehow being burned by stomach acid was better than the constant paranoia and exhaustion he felt being constantly hunted by an army of his own creation.

Or rather, that android girl's creation. He wouldn't be surprised if she'd created them to be so determined just to spite him. He'd get her eventually. She was second on his list of revenge he was going to take.

But first, Pythor had to take care of his number one.

Maybe it was the exhaustion talking, but Pythor felt adamant that now was the perfect time to strike back against his enemies. They'd never see him coming! He would have his revenge and be out of there before anyone knew it.

Who would suspect he would be coming here to defeat his mortal enemy? No one! That's why it was perfect.

Besides, more than anything Pythor just wanted something to go right for him for a change.

And crushing that little whelp would be so satisfying.

So here Pythor was. Sneaking around Steep Wisdom waiting for the right moment to strike. It was taking a few days longer than he'd expected, but that's just because the rotten brat never seemed to be alone. Does he really have to be with his friends or family members or flying off on his dragon all the time? It was making him so hard to kill.

Then, his opportunity arose.

Lloyd was out by himself and wandering the woods by the river flowing past the teashop and out of sight of any who could help him.

Finally!

Pythor turned himself invisible and slipped silently after the boy, inching closer…

Closer…

Closer…

Until he loomed invisibly over Lloyd like a wraith ready to strike.

With lightning-fast reflexes, he reached out to snatch Lloyd and finish his work before he could even make a sound.

Only for the image of Lloyd to shutter like static and vanish.

Pythor froze with his arms still outstretched where Lloyd Garmadon's head had been a moment ago as what happened sank in.

A hologram!

A trap!

With a staticy warcry, a small Nindroid leaped out of the trees to land on the back of Pythor's head and cover his eyes. Pythor yelped and tried to shake it off, but the Nindroid was holding on too tight.

Several more warcries followed the first one, and Pythor yelped again as he felt himself being prodded by what felt like practice spears that jabbed into his sides and forced him to scramble away from them, only to be caught by another in that direction, and without being able to see, he never seemed to be able to smack his attackers away with his tail, and only got prodded harder for trying.

Too late Pythor realized that he was being herded before something caught around his tail, and with a final indignant squawk Pythor felt himself be yanked high off the ground to hang upside down from his tail by a snare.

The Nindroid finally toppled off of him when he was snagged and was looking up at him with a gleaming red eye and a self-satisfied stance.

To Pythor's utter rage, the very brat he'd been captured trying to kill walked over to stand beside the Nindroid with a mischievous smirk and clutching one of the spears, the rest of his little playmates joining him similarly armed.

"One Anacondrai, as promised," said the red-haired brat with glasses.

The Nindroid let out a series of whirs and static, which for some reason made all the other children laugh.

Suddenly, they all tensed and looked behind them.

To Pythor's mounting horror, he saw the glint of metal in the distance as three more Nindroids started making their way towards them, and from the way they'd picked up their pace, they had seen him too.

Beneath him, the little Nindroid preened, and the children all stepped back into the trees, clearly making it look like the Nindroid was his sole captor.

Him, Pythor, the last Anacondrai, being thought to have been taken out by a tiny hunk of scrap metal. Pythor seethed! This insult to his pride would not stand!

(He pointedly ignored the fact that actually being captured by children alongside the scrappy Nindroid wasn't much better.)

But with his (poorly thought out) plan for revenge being ruined, and his doom approaching by the second, there was little else Pythor could do except what he does best.

Start talking.

"You rotten little speck of scrap!" he shouted down at the short Nindroid, who tensed angrily at the insults and glared up at him. "I should have shut off the machine long before it spat out a waste of metal such as yourself!"

The Nindroid seethed but otherwise didn't react. Still, from the startled reactions from the other approaching machines, they could hear him as well.

"I don't know what I was thinking?" said Pythor. "Nindroids? Nothing but a bunch of useless junk-heaps that couldn't even defeat four teenagers and their child sidekick!"

Lloyd scowled at him from his hiding spot but didn't move.

"The only thing any of you ever accomplished was to abduct that scientist, and considering he had half a foot in the grave already, that's not saying much!"

The children in the bushes actually had to hold the White Ninja's brother back after hearing that, and the coming Nindroids were now approaching on stomping feet.

"Or should I even call you pathetic wastes 'Nindroids' in the first place? After all, you're not real Nindroids are you? You're really nothing but a bunch of useless, weak Office Bot-"

Pythor's tirade was cut off with a yelp and dodge as one of the approaching Nindroids got fed up with his insults and fired his laser eye at him. The laser sliced through the rope holding him up and he fell to the ground with a 'Thump!'

The small Nindroid buzzed in distress, but before he or anyone else could make a move to capture him again, Pythor dove into the nearby river and was swimming away as fast as his tail could take him.

From the shore of the river, Mindroid was hopping mad.

That stupid, immature, reckless Nindroid had cost him his catch. Pythor got away, and it was all Byte's (he thinks that's the Nindroid's name) fault.

He said as much as they raced alongside the river to catch their quarry, but he was already long gone.

Byte tried to make excuses, but from the glares of the other gathered Nindroids, none of them were buying it anymore than Mindroid was. No doubt Byte would be getting the worst jobs the tribe had to offer for the next month.

Sucks to be Byte.

Still, there were some positives.

"Who would have thought Mindroid would come so close to catching us Pythor?" asked another Nindroid named Rom as she led the way back to their camp.

"Not me," said the third named Drive.

"Never would see that coming," grumbled Byte

"I knew!" bragged Mindroid, taking in their impressed (because it was impressed, not surprise) tones.

"So you did," agreed Rom, having heard his monologues before. "Good work, short stack."

Mindroid preened.

"Let's see if you can do it again," said Drive with a laugh. "Now that would be impressive."

Mindroid froze in his tracks, and the other three walked on ahead of him.

Capture Pythor again? Of course, he would catch Pythor again. There wasn't a single doubt about that. All he'd needed this time was…

He paused at that thought and turned back to see the children all leave the bushes. He didn't want to admit it, but he owed getting this close to catching Pythor to them.

(The Lil'Terrors fought to hide their smirks as they caught that part of his monologue.)

"You will inform me immediately if you hear any news of Pythor again," Mindroid said, trying his best to sound commanding. "It would be logical to assume he might attempt to capture the Green Ninja again, and your assistance in apprehending him was… commendable."

"What was the last bit?" asked Nelson softly, having not fully understood.

"Tell him if we see Pythor again, since he might go after Lloyd, and he thought our plan to catch him was awesome," Echo replied with a grin.

"I didn't say 'awesome'!" Mindroid protested, but the others were all smiling like they didn't believe him. "Stupid humans! Just try to keep being useful to me."

With that the great Mindroid vanished into the night, leaving the humans (and Echo) baffled by his great feat of disappearance.

"He does know we can still see him, right?" asked Nelson softly as Mindroid ducked from tree to tree to try and hide from them as he left.

Mindroid apparently heard him, and activated his invisibility function to actually vanish and started running from the sound of his footsteps.

Echo's eyes glowed slightly as he scanned the area, then shrugged. "Yeah, he's gone," he said. Turning back to his friends, he added, "Alright, I admit it. He has Lil'Terror material."

"Told you!" said Lloyd with a grin.

"Wait 'til Tiny, SJ, and Poisinthia hear what they missed," said Gene. "Bet they'll wish they were here for it."

"That's a sucker's bet," said Brad with a laugh.

"They'll have another chance," said Lloyd. "If Pythor's still after us, it's only a matter of time before we see him again." He then grinned. "And next time, we'll be ready."

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

Cyrus Borg was frowning.

His newly adopted daughter, Skylor, stood before him, and he didn't like the carefully blank expression on her face.

His other daughter, Pixal, stood off to the side, looking between them worriedly.

Taking a deep breath, Borg asked in as non-threatening a tone as he could, "Skylor, may I ask why you thought it would be a good idea to take our latest hoverbike prototype for a joyride."

Skylor gave an impassive shrug. "You said you needed a test pilot and it sounded like fun," she said evenly.

"That's… not what I meant," said Borg. "I meant they were ready for crash-test dummies to be placed on them, not for human pilots just yet. You could have been hurt."

There was a flash in Skylor's eyes like this wasn't what she'd expected him to say.

A realization shot through Borg like a bolt of lightning.

This wasn't the first time Skylor had done something that he disapproved of. In fact, she'd seemed to be escalating as time went on.

At first, it was simply loud music when Borg was trying to work. Thinking it was a typical teenager thing, he'd gently asked her to turn down the music, which she'd do, only to turn up too loud again a few days later. Borg didn't think much of it and just reminded her every time.

Then it was staying out late. Borg knew Skylor was both an exceptionally skilled martial artist and a powerful Elemental Master to boot, so it wasn't the dangers of roaming a city after dark that troubled him (much), he was concerned for Skylor's sleep schedule and how it would affect her health and schoolwork. To compensate for that one night when Skylor looked exhausted after having stayed out until 4 A.M. and having stayed out similarly late the entire week, Borg had called the school to let them know she wouldn't be coming, turned off her alarm clock, and let her sleep the entire day. Skylor had seemed incredibly confused when she woke up hours later to Borg giving her a lecture on sleep and health. She didn't stay out too late again after that.

Perhaps because she then started skipping school. Not a terrible offense in a city with a well oiled online schooling system, but the fact she was saying she would go to school and then abscond to anywhere but Ninjago High was worrying. With some gentle prodding, he would be able to get answers about where she would go when not at school. Admittedly, he hadn't asked as many questions about why she was cutting class, assuming it had something to do with getting away from those ridiculous rumors about her being a space princess. He would simply remind her to do her online work, and ask that she tell him beforehand if she wouldn't go to class that day. Thankfully, a visit from a concerned pair of Ninja twins seemed to cure Skylor's need to avoid the school.

But now there was this, and it finally clicked for Cyrus Borg what she'd really been doing all this time.

"You're trying to get me to punish you, aren't you?" he said softly.

It wasn't a question that needed answering, but Skylor tensed at hearing it.

Borg sighed and pinched his brow. He should have seen this coming. Of course Skylor might try this. Her last (Two? Did Clouse count?) father figure hadn't left a stellar track record to start from. (If he ever had the opportunity to meet Chen or Clouse he would be sorely tempted to run them over with his wheelchair.)

At his and Pixal's gentle coaxing, Skylor was in therapy to come to terms with the abuse she had suffered her entire life at the hands of Chen, but Ninjago City wasn't built in a day, and Skylor was sure to have some fears she couldn't just talk away.

Such as fearing what her new father would do to punish her if she stepped out of line.

And as much as he wished she had just asked to find out, by angering him she could get an honest answer.

And now it fell to Borg to calm her fears. But how?

There was no way he would ever stoop to anything Chen or Clouse would have done to punish her, but he still needed this to be recognized as a punishment otherwise Skylor would still think he's being dishonest.

What should he do? Ground her? … In a tower full of the latest technology, yeah, that's a punishment.

Take away something? Like what? Skylor is already used to a spartan lifestyle thanks to her previous upbringing. While she likes things, she was clearly used to going without them for extended periods of time.

Borg thought about it some more, then an idea occurred to him. "Skylor, could you please get the green folder out of that cabinet?" he asked, gesturing to a nearby file cabinet.

Skylor raised an eyebrow but did as he asked.

Written on a neat tag at the top of the folder was the word 'Taxes'.

Before Skylor could even ask, Borg said, "Your punishment for your transgression is you will be doing Borg Industries taxes without a calculator."

Skylor stared at him, her mouth opening and closing several times as she processed her punishment. "Wait, what?" she asked in shock. "These are important. What if I do them wrong?"

"Pixal can look over your work when you are done. If there is a mistake, you must find and correct it yourself," said Borg firmly. "Any questions?"

Skylor blinked looking between him and the folder. She glanced at Pixal, who shrugged in response. Finally, upon seeing he was serious about this, she slowly walked to a nearby desk to get started.

It took her a month, three attempts, and a LOT of math, but she eventually got it.

There weren't any more rebellious outbursts after that.

Well… Not any intentional ones.

A few days later…

Borg looked up at a knock on the door to his office. "Come in!" he called.

Skylor opened the door and came in holding a stack of papers. "You were teaching me, weren't you?" she asked, sounding amused and exasperated at the same time.

Borg took the papers from her and realized they were the tax paperwork for the noodle restaurant Skylor had inherited from her father. Tax paperwork that, from what he could see, was done perfectly correct.

Handing it back to her, Borg said with a smile, "I believe punishing people with pain isn't productive. Better to learn from mistakes by learning something new."

"Well, I got plenty of practice," Skylor said, taking the papers back. "Though, doing taxes for a multi-million dollar company is a lot harder than for one little restaurant."

Borg just smiled. "Well, it wouldn't be much of a punishment if you enjoyed it."

"True enough," said Skylor as she turned to leave.

However, she paused at the door and looked back. "And… Cyrus?"

Borg, who'd been about to go back to his work, looked up at her.

Skylor gave him a small smile. "Thanks." And with a final smile, she left.

"Anytime, Skylor," Borg replied to her retreating back and turned back to his work.

Looks like he was doing the parenting thing right after all.

Chapter Text

Nick Jay hadn't realized just how much of his time was taken up by his relationship with Red Nya until they split.

Admittedly, not all of the time they spent together was relationship-based. They also spent a lot of time together building machines, arguing about coding, and just sharing their love of technology. Nya was the first person to 'get' his love of inventing outside his parents, and he now realized he'd taken that for granted. Not to mention all the other things they'd done together. He knew he needed to give her space to sort things out, but he lamented the loss of having someone to share his interests with.

His friends were sympathetic and did their best to help him fill the void. Zane took him with him to visit Dr. Julien so that Jay could talk machines with him, Kai and Lloyd both invited him to play video games when they thought he was being idle, and Cole was being the best friend Jay could ever hope for by dragging him out to get sweets and just listen to him when he was feeling melodramatic. But despite their best intentions, these were all things he'd once done with Nya, and while he appreciated his friends' efforts, it just wasn't the same.

He needed something new. Something that wasn't tied to his relationship with Nya.

But what?

Partially to try and find the answer, and partially just to get away from everything, Jay often found himself in the other Ninjago. While he and his team had become frequent visitors by this point, traveling there wasn't really something he and Nya had done together, so it was free of those constant reminders.

He'd been trying to find excuses to go over there when he could. His AED training with Freckles Jay had been great for that, and focusing on learning that new skill had been a great distraction for a time. Even now that he wasn't training with Freckles anymore, he still found himself flying over on Ultra when he felt the need.

Unfortunately, Freckles Jay and Luh-Loyd were both busy that day and Tiny Echo was off with the Lil'Terrors (probably causing havoc), and considering they were the three that Jay knew best in this world, it left him a little lost on his lonesome.

Thus, Nick Jay found himself sitting in a park not far from Freckles' house writing sad poetry in a notebook as he tried to think of what to do, and trying not to think of Nya.

He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't realize he had company until a shadow fell over him.

Looking up, he was surprised to see DJ Cole standing over him, cocking his head as if trying to read his poetry upside down.

"Uh, hey DJ?" said Jay slowly.

"Hey," said Cole shortly, still apparently trying to read Jay's (admittedly) chicken scratch handwriting.

"Uhhh, can I help you?" asked Jay slowly when the Earth Ninja didn't offer anything more after that. He admittedly had felt pretty awkward around this particular Cole after flying off the handle and accusing him of stealing his girlfriend several weeks ago in an (admittedly) poorly thought out move.

Cole was quiet like he hadn't heard him for a long moment, but just before Jay could ask again, he finally looked the Master of Lightning in the eye and said, "Can I see what you've written?"

Jay blinked at him while that request caught up to his brain. When it finally did, he held out his poetry filled notebook with a, "... Sure?"

The DJ took the book and turned it so he could read it properly, and Jay could see him mouthing the words of the poem silently to himself. Jay couldn't help but feel anxious about it even as he watched. Poetry was something that he dabbled in, but none of his friends had ever taken any interest in it, and while he'd occasionally write a poem for Nya, he'd never had the courage to share them, and Nya had never seemed to express an interest in poetry either. As such, Jay had always kept his poems to himself.

But this Cole did seem interested, and suddenly Jay was feeling very anxious if he thought it was any good or not. Writing for himself was one thing, sharing it with other people was something else entirely.

After seeming to read the poem five times to himself, Cole finally looked up from it and glanced at Jay. "You wrote this?" he asked.

"Er, yeah," said Jay with what he hoped was a nonchalant shrug. "It's a hobby."

It might have been Jay's imagination, but he could swear Cole's normally dry expression shifted to appear almost impressed.

The Earth Ninja then sat down next to Jay and reached into a backpack he'd had swung over his shoulders to pull out a laptop. Pulling up a music program on the computer, Cole said, "Listen to this," and used the program to play a soft melody.

Jay blinked, totally lost. "Okay," he said, wondering what this had to do with his amateur poetry. "That… that sounded nice."

Cole, seeming to notice his confusion, huffed, and gave a small smile. "Here," he said, "listen again."

Cole played the melody again, but this time softly sang the words of Jay's poem along with it.

Jay's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. The poem had matched the melody's beats and tone almost perfectly. In fact, with a few adjustments already springing to mind, it could fit the melody like nothing else.

"Whoa!" said Jay, impressed. "Did you make that just now?"

Cole shrugged. "Yeah. It kind of came to me while you were muttering your lines as you wrote them, but I wanted to take a closer look to be sure."

Jay flushed, not realizing he'd been saying his poem out loud as he wrote.

"I thought it was pretty good," said Cole, snapping him out of that. "With a little work, I could see myself making an entire song out of this." He glanced over at Jay with an eyebrow raised. "Would you want to do that?"

Jay stared at him. "What?"

Cole shrugged again. "Well, to make a whole song, it's going to need more lyrics. You got it started, want to finish it?"

"You really think it's good?" asked Jay. "No one else has ever liked my poetry. Well, aside from my parents. But they're my parents, they basically have to like what I do."

Cole smiled. "Well, you're no Robert Frost, but I think with more practice you could make a pretty good song lyricist. And even if it stinks, it'd still be fun to try." He thought a moment, then added, "My friends were never that interested in writing music with me either. They appreciate what I write myself, and are happy to help me play and record the songs once I've come up with them, but they never really tried to take part in the writing process. Music comes easy to me. Words… words are harder. It'd be nice to collaborate with someone else for a change."

Jay took the moment to digest that. He could definitely relate to having a hobby and no one to share it with. Working with someone else on his poetry sounded… nice.

The more Jay thought about it, the more a smile spread across his face. This was just what he needed. Something different. Something not connected to Nya that he could enjoy. Something fun to get him out of his slump, and if he could help DJ Cole along the way, all the better.

With a wide grin, he held out a hand to shake. "Then you've got yourself a partner, partner," Jay said. "We'll rock both worlds with what we come up with."

Cole blinked at his enthusiasm, but then smirked and shook his hand. "Sounds good to me." He then glanced back at the notebook. "So, got any other poems that you think might make good songs?"

"None of the Nya ones," said Jay immediately, only to turn red as he realized what he'd just said. Quickly snatching the book back, he rapidly flipped to a different page. "Th-This one might be good. I thought the rhythm was nice when I wrote it."

Cole thankfully made no comment on the Nya thing and leaned over to look at the poem.

After that, a very melodious friendship was born.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago

Sensei Wu sat in meditation on the roof of his tea shop.

His mind had been in much turmoil recently. There had been few times in his significantly long life that it had been this way, but it was certainly one of the worst.

The reason for this turmoil, however, was still hard to swallow.

His brother's callous actions that stole the heart of the woman he loved.

Sensei Wu frowned in his meditation as that thought crossed his mind.

In the grand scheme of things, stealing a letter and signing his own name to it wasn't the worst thing Garmadon had done. His brother had plenty of far more dangerous and destructive crimes to his name while under the influence of the Devourer's Venom. Actions that had wreaked havoc either in person or by proxy on the local populations, and had undoubtedly gotten people hurt or worse. It had been him that had studied under Chen in the darker arts. It had been him who had commanded the Skulkin to attack villages and the citizens living within them for his own whims. It was him who had stolen the Golden Weapons to forge his Mega Weapon and all the power it wrought. It was him who had led the Serpentine to cause even more chaos for Ninjago City in a desperate attempt to stop the prophecy. Stealing a girl's affections paled in comparison to all that.

And yet, that one small act of cruelty was the one that stung the most. Out of everything his brother had done, even when the evil had taken over completely and turned him against Wu, it didn't fill him with as much anger and rage as the truth of that letter had.

He'd thought he was over it. Accepted the fact that while he had fallen for Misako, she hadn't reciprocated. That fond of him though she was, she instead loved his brother as much as Garmadon loved her. Had even been somewhat happy that Garmadon had had her love, as having her in his life had seemed to push back the evil inside him for a few years longer than their father had predicted. Long enough to give Wu a nephew. A child all of them loved and were amazed by every day as he grew.

While his heart yearned for what it couldn't have, he was content. He had his family. It was enough.

But now it wasn't.

Now, hearing that that letter had been what won Misako's heart, all the resentment Wu had been forcing down came flooding to the surface with a vengeance.

Now he knew. He knew that there was a possibility that Misako could have chosen him instead. Would have chosen him if that letter had gone uninterrupted. She could have been his wife. He could have been the one to make her happy all these years. The squandered possibilities of what could have been were now right before his very eyes and he wished they had happened.

Now, logically, Wu knew it wasn't that simple. While the letter might have prompted Misako to choose him, it doesn't mean that would have remained her choice. That she wouldn't still have been drawn away to Garmadon instead. But he'd never know now, would he?

No, he wouldn't. And it was all his brother's fault.

Sensei Wu opened his eyes and sighed. His time up here was less meditation and more stewing in resentment, and that would do no good to anyone.

"Tea?" asked a voice to his right.

Sensei Wu turned and only years upon years of training kept him from falling off the roof when he saw his counterpart from the Other Ninjago sitting there and holding a teacup.

"I now see why that annoys my students so much," said Sensei Wu as he accepted the teacup from Master Wu.

Master Wu chuckled. "Maybe. But it certainly is fun."

"Very true," agreed Sensei Wu, happy for the distraction.

"Meditation not going well?" asked Master Wu knowingly.

Sensei Wu took a deep sip from his tea before answering. "No, I'm afraid it's not," he admitted with a sigh. "I find I can't clear my mind of my anger."

Master Wu hummed and sipped his own cup of tea, not needing further explanation. All those who were at the Tea of Truth incident were painfully aware of what happened.

Hoping to get a fresh perspective, Sensei Wu asked, "May I ask, have you ever been in a position similar to mine? Has there ever been anyone you loved, but utterly out of your reach."

Master Wu finished his tea before answering. "I have never found myself in your situation, specifically. As I said before, I never had an attraction to Koko. By the time I had the fortune to meet her in person, she was already so firmly 'my brother's girlfriend' in my mind, the idea of pursuing her was laughable. And even if we had both met her at the same time, as I presume you did, I do not know if I would be in that position even then. Koko, while a valued warrior, ally, and friend to me, is simply not my type."

Sensei Wu chuckled softly. That was understandable, Koko and Misako certainly were some of the more asymmetrical counterparts.

"If I may ask my own question," said Master Wu carefully. "My brother's counterpart and Misako have clearly been married for several years. Even longer than Lloyd has been alive." He looked his counterpart in the eye. "Why, after all that time, have you failed to move on?"

Sensei Wu opened his mouth to say something, but Master Wu cut him off. "Don't try to deny," he said. "Your actions around Misako, to say nothing of your extreme reaction to finding out the truth of how you lost her make it clear you still carry a torch for her even after so long. Why?"

Sensei Wu sighed into his teacup, he couldn't argue with that.

"I suppose… that would be the dragon in me," he said slowly. "Or, at least, that's the metaphor Mistaké always used to describe it. You have a Mistaké in your world, don't you?"

"Old, cranky, never lets me be the wisest one in the room," listed off Master Wu, each word describing Mistaké exactly. "Wonderful connoisseur of tea, and the oldest friend of Father's."

"Yes, that's her," said Sensei Wu with a nod. "When I was young, she'd say that like a dragon, I hoard the things I value. Keep them close and never let go."

Master Wu looked like everything suddenly made sense to him. "Oh, I do that too. That definitely explains my extensive collection of deadly weapons. I don't need all those weapons on the Bounty, and rarely actually use them, and yet I just keep collecting them."

Sensei Wu chuckled, realizing his counterpart's possession of the so-called 'Ultimate Weapon' suddenly made more sense. His face then sobered as he got back on track. "Unfortunately, what I value most is less physical objects, and more… people."

Master Wu frowned, that… that explained a lot. It explained not only his continued affections for Misako even long after that ship had sailed, but it also explained his continued aversion to Master Wu's son, Morro, and the sense of grief he still clearly felt for his own version of the boy, despite decades having gone by since his loss.

"Because of that, I find it painfully difficult to 'let go'," Sensei Wu continued, drawing his counterpart from his epiphany. "I honestly thought I had managed it with Misako, and I would never trade Lloyd for a chance to change things, but… the thought of what could have been…"

Master Wu sighed and nodded in agreement. "'What could have beens' are hard," he said sagely. "What if I had recognized my brother rather than push him away? What if I had been more public with my relation to Lord Garmadon and spared my nephew so much backlash? What if my son would have been happier with a more 'normal' family? These questions will likely haunt me for the rest of my life."

"I keep imagining the life I could have had. That we could have had," said Sensei Wu mournfully.

"But then where would that have left your brother?" asked Master Wu.

Sensei Wu was silent.

In all his imaginings, that was something he'd tried to avoid thinking about.

Without Misako to stay strong for, without Lloyd to protect, what would have happened to his brother? How far would the evil within him have taken him?

Sensei Wu didn't know. He didn't want to know, though years upon years of nightmares had long given him some bleak idea.

One thing was for sure, there would have been nothing holding him back. Without Lloyd to be the Green Ninja, there would have been no stopping him.

But now... now his brother was cured. He was free from the evil and was happy (or at least had been before this debacle). Things were better this way, so why did it still hurt?

Why couldn't he let go?

As if summoned by his thoughts, Sensei Garmadon and Misako chose that minute to exit the monastery half of the property. Neither of them saw the Wus on the roof, both seeming to be too caught up in each other to notice.

As Sensei Wu watched, his brother said something that made Misako laugh and slap him on the shoulder. Garmadon rubbed the spot and gave Misako a mock wounded expression that just made her laugh harder before kissing him on the cheek and linking her arm around his. Then, arm in arm, the two walked down the path to the closest town, smiling and chatting all the way.

For the first time, something registered to Sensei Wu. Something he'd always seen, but never fully sank in before now.

They were happy.

The brother he thought he'd never have a bond with again was telling jokes and smiling.

The woman he loved and lost was laughing with a noticeable skip in her step.

They were happy. And more importantly, they were happy together.

Because they were together.

And for them to be happy was all Sensei Wu had ever wanted for them.

Watching the couple walk away, Master Wu raised his flute to play 'Happier' after them. Hearing the song, the two turned and finally noticed them on the roof. Misako gave a friendly wave, as did Sensei Garmadon, though his expression dimmed with a flash of guilt at the sight of his brother.

For the first time since the reveal, Sensei Wu realized how much it stung to be the cause of his brother's shame. He had spent centuries wanting to have his brother back without the poison of evil hanging over them. Hurt though he was, the thought of losing him hurt even more.

Seeing Garmadon looking downcast, Misako's expression turned sympathetic and leaned over to give him another peck on the cheek, then tugged him along down the path.

She didn't even spare either Wu a backward glance, her attention solely focused on her husband.

Suddenly it all became clear.

"She never would have been mine, would she?" asked Sensei Wu slowly, the knowledge slowly settling in his gut.

Master Wu stopped playing his flute and turned to look at him. No judgment or questions, just silently waiting for him to talk.

Sensei Wu appreciated that.

"She loves him," he continued. "Even if I had gotten the letter to her untampered, she would have chosen him in the end. Just as Koko chose your brother in your Ninjago. It was destiny."

Master Wu could only nod solemnly. "Misako married Garmadon and had a son named Lloyd. For our worlds, this is the truth we must live with. Perhaps there is yet another Ninjago where you and she are together, but this is not that world."

Sensei Wu nodded watching Garmadon and Misako's retreating figures fade in the distance.

He was still hurt. Justifiably so, but-

"I need to let go, don't I," he said softly as he stared off in the distance where he'd last seen them.

"Yes," said Master Wu, pulling no punches. It was long past time for him to do so.

"They're happy together," Sensei Wu said.

"They'd be happier with you by their side," said Master Wu. "Supporting them and showing you care." Adding in a few notes of 'Stand by Me' on his flute.

Sensei Wu nodded, knowing he was right. It had been no secret the intense guilt Garmadon had been feeling since the reveal. And while he still felt betrayed by what he did, there was now a part of him, the part of him that had missed Garmadon after he succumbed to evil, that just wanted his brother back.

It was time to let go.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

8 years pre-movie.

A pleasant side effect of teaching Lloyd how to Master Build was the gifts.

Lloyd seemed to love making little toys and trinkets just to give them away to the people he was closest to.

Before long, everyone had a gift they treasured. Koko loved the birdhouse he gave her as one of his first successful builds. Master Wu kept the lopsided tea kettle Lloyd made in a place of honor in his china cabinet for years to come. Kai absolutely loved the toy sword Lloyd had made for him, and Nya was in tears when he gave her a little toy spider to replace one he'd accidentally broken of hers (despite her telling him multiple times she no longer blamed him for it).

But since Morro was the one who had taught Lloyd how to Master Build in the first place, he wanted the first gift he made for him to be special.

So when he surprised Morro one visit to the Bounty by holding out to him a carefully made dragon kite, needless to say, the thirteen-year-old was delighted.

"It looks awesome," Morro told Lloyd as he looked over the slightly messy, but were well-made for an eight-year-old kite decorated in black and pink colors to match his hair. "But why a dragon."

Lloyd flushed and looked at his feet at the praise. "'Cause dragons are cool," he said, not seeing any other reason necessary.

Morro let out a laugh at that. "True, I've seen a lot of things you make be dragon-shaped." He then grinned and added, "Must be your signature. All great Master Builders have a signature theme or vehicle. Nice to finally see yours."

Lloyd looked fascinated at that. "Really?" he asked. "What's yours?"

Morro grinned, and moved into the Bounty, and came back with a Master Built wind-up toy boat, which he held out for Lloyd to see.

"What do you think this can do when it's wound up?" he asked.

Lloyd glanced at the little propeller motor attached to the bottom. "Uh, it can drive itself?" he guessed.

Morro's grin widened, and he reached over to wind up the toy.

Immediately, a pair of wings shot out of the sides of the boat and used the propeller to fly backward through the air like an airplane.

Laughing at the gaping look on Lloyd's face, Morro explained, "I like for all my builds to do something unexpected. You think it does one thing, but then, surprise, it does something else."

"Cool!" Lloyd cheered, watching the boat-plane fly around the deck.

"I'll tell you what'll be even cooler," said Morro, catching the plane, and holding up the kite Lloyd had made. "This kite when it's flying."

Lloyd grinned excitedly, only for the excitement to quickly fall off his face as something occurred to him.

He knew there had been something he'd forgotten.

Seeing his expression fall, Morro asked, "What? What's wrong?"

"I-I forgot to check if the kite can fly," Lloyd said meekly, a worried look growing on his face.

Morro sighed at the sight. "You're thinking I'm going to hate it if it doesn't fly, and then hate you for making a dud, aren't you?" he said dryly.

Lloyd's startled expression was answer enough. "How did-?" he started to ask.

"'Cause I know you, Shrimp," said Morro, rolling his eyes. "You worry too much. Besides, figuring out if it can fly or not is more fun."

Lloyd's expression brightened. "Let's test it right now," he said eagerly.

Morro wanted to oblige, but one look up at the sails of the Bounty put a damper on that. "I'd love to, Shrimp," he said. "But it doesn't look like the wind is cooperating."

Lloyd glanced up, and his face fell again. "Oh," he said in disappointment, seeing the windless sails on the ship.

Morro was beginning to wonder if Lloyd ever got whiplash from how quickly his mood switched back and forth.

Wanting to put the smile back on his face (and hopefully keep it there this time), Morro jokingly said, "Aw, we've just gotta tell the weather who's boss."

Lloyd looked at him in confusion. "Tell it who's boss?" he echoed.

"Yeah," said Morro confidently. "We just gotta yell at it until it does what we say."

Lloyd's eyebrows raised until they were lost under his blond bangs. "That works?" he asked.

Probably not, but yelling at clouds would probably be silly enough to cheer him up anyway, so Morro said, "Sure it does. It always works when I do it."

The look of wonderment Lloyd gave Morro made it clear he believed every word.

Not wanting to disappoint, Morro stood up on the railing of the ship and yelled up at the sky. "HEY! STUPID WEATHER! GIVE US SOME WIND ALREADY!"

Lloyd let out a giggle, and Morro waved for him to join him on the side. "Go on, tell it who's boss," he said.

Giggling louder, Lloyd climbed up beside him and shouted, "Hehe, DUMB SKY! WE WANT WIND!"

"YEAH!" yelled Morro in agreement. "WE WANT WIND! WE WANT WIND!"

"WE WANT WIND! WE WANT WIND!" they both chanted at the top of their lungs, despite the sky staying the same as it was. "WE WANT WIND! WE WANT WIND!"

Wanting to give it a bit of oomph, Morro punched his fist holding the kite into the air, and bellowed louder than ever, "WE WANT WIND!"

To both of their surprise, a strong gust of wind burst from behind them yanking the kite out of Morro's hand and nearly causing both of them to fall over the side of the ship and into the ocean. It was only Morro managing to catch his balance grabbing Lloyd's shoulder that they managed to keep their footing, even then, Lloyd nearly fell over again snagging the kite's string before it blew away completely.

Lloyd kept a tight hold on the string and beamed up at him. "It worked!" he said brightly, happy that the kite was now flying well.

Morro, who was more than a little unnerved with the swim the two had almost taken, had yet to lower his fist as he was too busy looking down at the water below them nervously. "Uh, yeah, great," he said distractedly.

He took a step back and dropped down to the dock, lowering his arm so he could reach out to Lloyd, "Come on, let's get you down from there."

Lloyd reluctantly let himself be lifted off the edge of the ship, only to let out a yelp of dismay as the string in his hands began to dip as the wind vanished, and the kite began hurtling towards the sea.

Despite knowing he had no way to catch it, Morro still reached out to the falling kite. "No!" he said, willing it to stay in the air.

And then it did.

Another breeze blew through the sails of the ship and caught the kite just before it hit the water, sending the dragon swooping back into the sky.

Beside him, Lloyd let out a sigh of relief at the sight, but Morro stood frozen next to him, his mind racing.

It… it was almost like… the wind was coming from him!

Wanting to test the theory, Morro lowered his hand.

Immediately, the kite began to drop again.

Morro lifted his hand again, and the kite mirrored the action. Up and down, left and right, no matter what direction Morro pointed, the dragon followed it.

He was controlling the wind!

While he was outwardly calm, inside Morro was freaking out. How was this even possible? Wu had hinted at Lloyd having special powers, but not him!

Oblivious to this, Lloyd was content to watch the dragon kite swoop through the air in playful circles.

Thankfully, Morro managed to keep a lid on it until Lloyd had to go back home. So once the kite was reeled in, and the wind was allowed to die down, he and his mother were off the boat and out of sight.

Once they were gone, Morro bolted into the ship while bellowing "WUUUUUUU!" at the top of his lungs.

Wu, who had been meditating in his room, was startled out of it when his son burst in and began babbling incoherently at him.

"Morro, Morro," the ninja master said, raising a hand in hopes of calming him down so he could be understood. "Deep breaths."

"But-" Morro tried to protest, but Wu shook his head.

"Deep breaths," he said. "Breathe in…"

Morro had enough of his wits to look indignant, but followed his instructions and sucked in a breath.

"And out," said Wu.

Morro blew out the air so forcefully that Wu was knocked off his feet and his hat was sent flying around the room.

Wu stared up at his son in shock.

Morro stared back, too freaked out to enjoy rendering his father speechless for once. "I know you said Lloyd can make people stronger," he said weakly, "but can he give people superpowers too?"

Wu could only gape at him for a long moment, too surprised to speak, before he managed to choke out. "N-No… he can only enhance abilities one already has."

There was another beat of silence as those implications sank in.

"What?!" Morro croaked out, his voice cracking in disbelief.

"Morro," said Wu, slowly getting back to his feet, staring at the boy before him in disbelief. "You are… You are the Master of Wind."

"What?!" Morro repeated, in even greater disbelief. His mind raced through the elements Wu had told him about, and wind had never come up. "You didn't say that was an element before."

Wu let out a breathless laugh at his tone, placed his hat back on his head. "I did not know that element was still around," he explained. "The power of the elements is passed down through bloodlines, but wind, we thought the power of wind was lost decades ago. That the last Master who wielded it died with no apparent heirs to pass it on to." He stepped over and placed his hands on Morro's shoulders. "You, Morro, have a power that hasn't been seen in almost a century. I couldn't be more proud."

Morro's expression lit up, but then it fell as a thought occurred to him. "Did you know?" he asked.

"Know?" asked Wu in confusion.

"That I… that I could do this?" he said, looking down at his hands. "Is… that why you adopted me?"

Wu stared at him, before tugging him forwards and into a hug. "I had absolutely no idea," he said into his son's ear as Morro went stiff in his hold. "I simply thought that you would make an excellent son."

Morro's shoulders slumped in relief, and he returned the hug awkwardly.

It was great to hear he was special, and not just for his newly discovered powers.

Going forward, Lloyd quickly learned that yelling at the sky didn't really change the weather (though it did make for some funny outbursts), and the odd weather of that day was soon forgotten by him, and with it, any boost of power Morro was given.

But Morro never forgot, and that dragon kite was given a place of honor on top of the china cabinet that housed Wu's homemade teapot ever since.

It was the day the Master of Wind had been found again.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

The bottom of Ninjago Bay was always peaceful in a way that the surface could never accomplish. There was always something happening up there. Some sort of chaos going on with loud sounds and often involved someone running for their life. Under the oceans surrounding the city was nothing like that. It was calm and quiet amongst the fish, coral, and seaweed, broken only by the occasional whale song off in the distance.

Because of that, Lord Garmadon usually tried to avoid the place because it was really dang boring.

And yet here he was, tromping along the ocean floor in his old-fashioned diver suit kicking up the sandy bottom because this was important.

Really important.

Important enough he can get through the boring if it meant… well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Climbing along some rocks, Lord Garmadon looked over at the three Great Whites and sole Nurse Shark swimming alongside him on leashes. "Smell anything yet?" he called loudly so they could hear him outside his helmet.

The bigger sharks seemed to survey their surroundings for a long moment, before all three suddenly surged forwards, pulling Garmadon along by their leashes, and going 'NOM! NOM! NOM!' in the way most dogs would act when barking hysterically.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hey!" said Garmadon, letting go of the leashes so that the Great Whites could swim on ahead, but not so far that they were out of sight. "I'll take that as a yes," he muttered to the remaining Nurse Shark as he trudged after them at the only slow pace his diver's suit allowed.

The sharks were circling impatiently when he finally caught up to them, and he grinned widely at what he saw beneath them.

"Awesome!" he said enthusiastically. "Great find!"

The sharks all preened at the praise.

Nestled in the rocks was a large bed of oysters. Lord Garmadon surveyed them with a critical eye, then nodded.

"Alright, get sniffing," he barked at the Nurse Shark, pointing it in the direction of the oysters.

The smallest shark dutifully began circling the oyster bed, sniffing at each of them and plucking a choice few up to present to Garmadon.

Garmadon took one and pried it open and grinned at the sight of a large pearl sitting in the center. "Perfect," he said.

With that, he whistled sharply to the Great Whites, two of whom took off and returned shortly after carrying a large sack between them. The Nurse Shark made quick work gathering up more oysters and filling the sack to bursting.

"Alright, that's enough for now. To the volcano!" Garmadon said, striking an appropriately dramatic pose as he did so.

The sharks were off in a flash, with Garmadon moonwalking after them, a big grin on his face.

Everything was coming together, and soon his next big plan would be realized.

He couldn't wait to see it.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago

It was always a nice day when Zane could take time off from his Ninja duties to be with his family. Echo Zane always appreciated he was making up for lost time from when he was away from them.

He resolutely ignored the implications of why Zane's visits had been even more frequent of late.

As it was, he was helping Zane cook dinner in the kitchen just enjoying his presence.

"How have you been lately?" asked Zane as he stirred a pot of curry on the stove.

"Alright," Echo replied quietly, cleaning the rice to go with it.

Zane stopped stirring and turned to look at him. "Echo," he said. "Why did that sound like you're not actually alright."

Echo didn't answer, just let the rice continue running under the faucet.

Zane turned off the stove and moved over to place a hand on his little brother's shoulder. "Echo," he said. "You can tell me anything."

Echo stared at the running water for a long moment, before sighing and said, "There's nothing you can do to help," he said. "It's not his fault."

Zane immediately knew what he was talking about. "Father's been forgetting you even more now."

Echo grimaced at that understatement. "It's gotten to the point that if I'm not right in front of him he forgets me almost immediately. And even when he is looking at me, half the time he thinks that I am you."

Zane's face fell and he pulled Echo into a hug. "Oh, Echo. I'm sorry."

Echo clung to him, glad at least someone in this house remembered his name.

As Zane pulled back from the hug, he continued, "I know things are hard right now, especially with Father's memories, but I promise you, he does love you."

Echo nodded sullenly. "I know, but it… it doesn't feel like it sometimes. I just wish-"

But whatever Echo wished for went unsaid, as both Nindroids heard a loud thump in the next room.

Exchanging concerned glances, the two hurried out of the kitchen to see what caused it.

Only to immediately be alarmed when they saw their father collapsed on the floor.

"Father," yelled Zane as he rushed to his side, Echo only a step behind him.

When he reached the elderly man, he activated his health scanner, and his worry only grew. "His pulse is very weak!" he said to Echo urgently. "I will notify emergency services! Call DJ, we need the holy grail! Hurry!"

Dr. Julien coughed, his eyes dazed and his mouth opened to speak, but Echo didn't stay to hear what he said. He instead bolted for the other room where their dimensional communicators were located and cursed that he didn't have it on hand instead.

Grabbing the device, Echo fumbled to call DJ Cole, but felt he wasn't managing it fast enough, and pressed the emergency button instead.

Instantly, Zane's communicator buzzed and blared next to him, but Echo paid no attention to it, his eyes focused on the communicator in his hands, waiting for someone to pick up.

He was disappointed when MK answered first. While he liked his brother's new friend whom he'd met a few times, he was not who he needed to talk to right now. He wasn't even in the right world. "Who needs saving?" the Monkie Kid asked.

"My father," Echo replied. "I need DJ Cole! I need the grail!"

"Grail?" asked MK, but didn't get a chance to ask for clarification before more people began answering the call.

"What's happened?" asked Pep Zane, sounding frantic, having no doubt seen that it was Echo who sent the emergency message.

"Father's collapsed," said Echo quickly. "We need the grail, or Luh-Loyd, or something! Please hurry!"

DJ Cole, fortunately, was on the call by that point, and responded with a firm, "Got it, I'm heading for Meowthra now."

The rest of the Ninja on the call all were talking over each other trying to assure Echo it would be alright, but Echo barely heard them as he rushed back to Zane and their father.

But the second he re-entered the room, he stopped dead in his tracks and the communicator slipped from his fingers.

Zane, with his chest now open and Dr. Julien still clutched in his arms, could only look back at him with a devastated expression on his face.

The sirens of an ambulance rang out outside the house, but Echo already knew they were too late.

Their father was dead.

Rusty Echo wondered if his father gave him an autopilot feature when he and Zen Zane were updated.

It honestly felt like that was what was happening for him. The last few days had been a blur he could barely remember. He knew was there, walking, acting, and responding to questions, but barely of his own volition or thoughts.

Emergency services, Luh-Loyd, and the grail combined were not enough to revive his father. The EMTs were trained, Luh-Loyd's powers were great, and the grail was miraculous, but none of them could bring back what was already gone.

Because that's what his father was… gone.

And Echo… couldn't compute that.

He hadn't even been there when it happened! How could he not be there? How could his father be gone?

So he was on autopilot or at least something that felt close to it.

It felt like his mental functions didn't fully resurface until the funeral. He was dressed in mourning colors and sitting between his brother and Pep Zane (who was silently crying ice cubes), with Tiny Echo next to Pep curled up in his father's counterpart, Professor Julien's, lap listening to Sensei Wu give a eulogy.

A brief moment of panic struck him, and he turned to whisper to Zen Zane, "Am I supposed to speak?" he asked, having nothing prepared.

Zen looked at him and seemed relieved he was even talking again, and whispered back, "Not if you don't want to, no. I know these last few days have been hard for you. Whatever you choose, I'm sure Father would understand."

It was only then that it hit Rusty that days had passed that he'd been barely cognizant for.

Turning back to watch Sensei Wu talk, Rusty fiddled with his fingers and thought about it. Did he want to speak? He had no idea what he would even say. To him, it felt like only minutes ago the EMTs had pronounced his father dead. What even was there to say? It felt like there was too much and yet too little all at the same time.

Still, one thing Zen had just said rang hollow for him.

Father would understand.

Rusty Echo hated the bitter resentment he felt at those words, but couldn't help but want to scoff at them all the same.

How could Father understand someone he didn't even remember?

Even as he thought that he felt guilty.

He knew. He knew his father's memory troubles weren't his fault. He knew he didn't mean to forget him. He knew that he'd tried so hard to remember Echo. To remember he had two sons instead of one, but it was never enough.

And being constantly forgotten often made it feel like Echo wasn't enough. That he wasn't worth remembering like Zane was. Even when he knew that wasn't the case, the feelings still remained.

"I don't think I can," Rusty Echo muttered softly. He knew if he tried to say something now, it would likely be something he'd later regret.

Zen Zane placed a hand on his shoulder, and Pep Zane wrapped an arm around his other shoulder in silent support, even Tiny Echo crawled off his father's lap to sit in Rusty's instead.

Even with their comforting presence, Rusty must have slipped back into autopilot again after that, as the rest of the funeral passed in a blur. He knew Zen had spoken, along with a few other people, but he could barely register their words.

Autopilot again disengaged towards the end as he was looking down at his father's grave with Professor Julien standing next to him.

"A bit disconcerting," Prof. Julien said, which startled Rusty back into awareness.

"What?" the Nindroid asked, in confusion.

"Seeing a grave with your own name on it," said Prof. Julien softly, glancing around to make sure the few people at the funeral not aware of alternate dimensions couldn't hear (as far as they were concerned, Prof. Julien was Dr. Julien's nephew who lived far away). "Hopefully, there won't be a second one for me for a long time to come."

Rusty just looked at him, unsure what he could even say to that.

Prof. Julien coughed awkwardly into his hand, before turning to better face Rusty Echo. "In any case, there has been something I've been meaning to ask you, Rusty."

"You have?" asked Rusty, a little surprised. "What?"

"If it's not too much, do you mind if I inquired about your intended living situation going forward?" asked Prof. Julien.

Rusty froze. He hadn't even thought about that.

He did not want to stay at his house, that was for certain. Being completely alone in the house where his father had… He couldn't even stand to think of it.

He supposed that he could move in with his brother easily enough. Steep Wisdom had the room for it, and it would be good to be around other people, but something in him balked at the idea. He couldn't quite pinpoint why, he liked all the people living there, the Ninja were great, Lil'Loyd was one of his best friends, and, of course, Zane was there. But the times he'd come to visit or spend the night had always been a rush of chaotic energy. For all the tea shop and monastery touted peace and tranquility, the truth was the place was always anything but thanks to all the big personalities living within it, and while Echo could weather that chaos and even enjoy it in small doses, he wasn't so sure he would be comfortable living there full time.

But if he couldn't live alone, nor could he with his brother, where did that leave him?

Seeing Rusty didn't have an answer readily on hand, Prof. Julien spoke again, "I only ask, because I wanted to offer my home to you if you were willing. You're still quite young, too young to be on your own, and I'd feel better knowing that you were somewhere safe and stable. But only if you wanted to."

Rusty's head snapped around to stare at him for the offer. That- that sounded perfect. He'd stayed over at their house several times before for sleepovers. Prof. Julien was always an attentive and kind caretaker, M.O.M. was a constant presence in the house and ever willing to talk or give advice, Pep Zane and Tiny Echo were both full of energy and kept the atmosphere cheerful, but without the overwhelming chaos of Steep Wisdom.

But still, as great as it sounded, Rusty still hesitated. As much as he wanted to, he really should be with his brother right now, but…

"Can I… can I think about it?" Rusty asked finally.

"By all means," said Prof. Julien. "The offer has no expiration date. Do what you feel is best for you, Rusty. In trying times, it's really all you can do."

Rusty Echo nodded in thanks, and Prof. Julien sent one last unsettled glance at the grave, before heading over to where Pep Zane was currently crushing Buddy Kai in a hug in his grief in hopes of saving the latter from being squashed.

Rusty went back to staring at his father's grave, wondering what he was supposed to do now.

The sound of approaching footsteps had him look up to see Zen Zane coming towards him.

The two brothers stared down at the headstone.

"Are you alright?" Zane asked him, a slight awkwardness to his tone.

"As much as I can be," said Echo in reply, feeling just as awkward. Which was strange. He'd never felt awkward around his brother before.

"Good," said Zane. "That's good."

"You?" asked Echo.

Zane looked saddened, but said, "I'll be alright. It's just… hard."

Echo nodded. He understood that.

They stood in silence for a moment longer.

Then, Echo hesitantly voiced a question that had been bothering him.

"What… What were father's last words?" he asked softly. "It-it looked like he was trying to say something when I left. What was it?"

Next to him, Zane tensed. "I don't… I was too focused on trying to save his life. I'm sorry."

Echo frowned and looked at his brother. "You're lying."

"Nindroids don't lie," said Zane quickly.

"Well, you're not telling the truth," said Echo. "What were father's last words? Even if you weren't paying attention at the time, you should still be able to review your memories and find out."

Zane refused to look him in the eye. "I just… I don't want to tell you, Echo. You will be happier not knowing."

Echo stared at him blankly.

Happier not knowing?

Really?

He had been forgotten, mistaken for someone else, and left behind for his entire life, and now he couldn't even know his father's last words?

Something inside Echo snapped, and all the bitterness, resentment, and jealousy he'd been trying to keep contained came bubbling out.

"What do you mean happier not knowing?!" he found himself shouting.

Zane looked taken aback, but Echo was too angry to care.

"He was my father too!" Echo yelled. "Why won't you tell me?"

"You don't want to know it, Echo," Zane said back, glancing around at how people were turning to stare at them.

"Yes, I do!" Echo snapped back.

"No, you don't!" Zane said, shouting now too.

"Why won't you tell me?" Echo demanded. "Why can't I know what he said?"

"I- he- His last words weren't for you," Zane blurted out, and then looked like he'd said too much.

Echo's face fell hearing that, and his tone turned bitter. "But they were for you?" he asked.

Hearing this, Zane's face crumbled and he reached out for him, "Echo-" he tried to say.

"NO!" shouted Echo, stepping out of his reach. "It's always about you, isn't it? It's you Father remembered! It's you he always cared about! And it's you who got to be with him when he… when he…" Echo turned away, unable to say it. "It's always about you! All I've ever been is the replacement!"

"But I never wanted a replacement!" Zane shouted back.

Echo froze hearing that.

He wasn't wanted. His father forgot him and Zane didn't want him.

So what point was there for him to stay?

Zane looked like he wanted to take those words back immediately as he said them. "Echo," he said, "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I just meant-"

But Echo was done with listening and turned to rush away, only to run headlong into Prof. Julien.

"Are you boys alright?" he asked. "Why are you shouting?"

Rusty Echo refused to look at Zen Zane as he said, "Professor Julien. I thought about your offer. I'd be happy to come and live with you," he said in a forced calm tone.

"Echo!" Zen gasped behind him. "No, I didn't mean-"

"Stop!" Rusty said sharply, clapping his hands over his ears. Then his shoulders drooped as his anger began to fade and leave melancholy in its place. "Just stop."

"Echo," said Zen sadly.

"Please," said Rusty. "I need… I need some space. I can't be around you right now."

Zen looked like he wanted to protest, before sighing and knowing that would only start their fight all over again. "If that's what you want," he said solemnly. "But please know, I do want you, Echo."

Rusty didn't believe him.

Prof. Julien looked sadly between them, unsure what was going on but only knowing it was hurting them both.

Pep Zane and Tiny Echo then arrived on the scene and looked at them in confusion, before each hurried to comfort their counterparts as best they could. They were both delighted to hear Rusty had agreed to come live with them, and their enthusiasm finally brought a smile to his face.

It felt good to be wanted.

A few days after the funeral, Zane was slowly packing a box of his things that he'd kept in Dr. Julien's home for his visits, and trying to ignore the eerie silence of the house.

Dr. Julien had paid for the house in full and left it to Zane and Echo in his will. It was theirs now to do with what they wished. While living in the house wasn't needed as of right now, the Ninja had decided to keep it just in case. They had found themselves homeless before and they were not going to let it happen again if they could help it. Having a backup home/secret base (Jay's idea) seemed like a good investment.

Echo had already moved out the day before and had not spoken a word to Zane since the funeral.

While Zane could understand his anger, he couldn't help but feel a little abandoned by it (but was Echo abandoning him, or was he abandoning Echo by not trying harder, he couldn't tell).

Finishing packing, Zane lifted the box and turned to carry it out to where Cole was waiting with the car. Cole had come along in case Zane had needed help packing, but the Nindroid had insisted on doing it on his own.

As he made his way to the door, he passed the room where his father had d… where his father had passed.

Though he'd rather not ever look at that room again, Zane still felt his eyes drawn to the spot where it happened, and memories he'd rather forget flashed before his eyes...

Echo ran from the room to reach his communicator, leaving Zane behind to contact emergency services on his internal systems, and focusing on the things he'd learned after Jay had insisted they take First Aid and CPR training together after seeing it in action after defeating the Golden Master Mech. His father could survive this if he could just keep him alive until the grail arrived.

"Zane," his father said weakly as the Nindroid moved him into a position he could do chest compressions.

"Save your strength," Zane said. "Help is coming, just hang on."

Dr. Julien let out a laugh like Zane had said something funny. "Zane we live in the middle of the forest. There's no one around for miles."

Zane paused, realizing his father had forgotten everything, and thought they were once again back in his hollow tree home in the forest.

"No, we're not, Father," said Zane as he began chest compressions. "Help is coming, I promise."

His father didn't seem to believe him.

"You were always a good boy, Zane," said Dr. Julien fondly. "Trying to protect those who could not protect themselves. Just as I built you."

Zane continued chest compressions and tried to ignore how his father's words were beginning to sound like a goodbye.

"It's time you begin your next stage in life," Dr. Julien continued, weakly reaching up towards Zane's chest. "And the only reason I'm about to do this is because I love you."

Realizing where he had heard those words before, Zane watched horrified as his father opened the hatch in his chest and reached for where his Memory Switch used to be and turned off his Humor Switch instead.

Not realizing he'd hit the wrong switch, Dr. Julien smiled and said, "You were always the son I never had," he said as he faded away before Zane's eyes. "My… only… son…"

Zane's eyes widened as he realized- "No, not your only son! Echo! Father, don't forget Echo!" He said insistently, grabbing his father's hand and trying desperately to remind him of his little brother. To have them both in his thoughts.

But it was too late…

He was already gone.

Zane shuddered as he emerged from the memory.

As much as Echo had wanted to know their father's last words, it would hurt him greatly to know he'd been completely forgotten in their father's last moments. Or that if he hadn't had his Memory Switch removed, Zane, if only temporarily (because surely Echo or one of the others would have turned it back on) could have forgotten him too. Hearing that would break his heart.

Though, from the looks of things, his heart was already broken and possibly had been for some time. Zane wondered how he could have missed it.

He never wanted a replacement. He'd only ever wanted a brother.

Zane shook his head and walked out the front door to where Cole was waiting for him.

He'd make it up to Echo. He may want space right now, but as soon as he could, he'd make it up to him. He'd-

A flash of white in the corner of his eye cut through his thoughts, and he turned to see a large white shape dart across the sky. It was too far away to see clearly, but it looked like- "An ice dragon?" he muttered as he vaguely recognized the shape. It looked a bit like Shard had before combining into the Ultra Dragon.

"Did you say something, Zane?" asked Cole, looking concerned he had suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Zane looked at him, then back at the ice dragon that was still visible in the distance. "You don't see the dragon?" he asked.

Cole followed his gaze and squinted. "Dragon? What dragon?" he asked in honest confusion.

Zane looked at him, then back to the dragon, but it had vanished from sight. "Oh," he said. "It appears to have flown away."

"Uh-huh," said Cole skeptically. "Is this some prank?" he asked. "You know I'm not afraid of dragons anymore."

Zane turned back to him with a slightly teasing smile. "Not a prank, no. To be honest, I had forgotten you used to fear them."

"Well, I don't anymore," said Cole firmly as he climbed into the car's driver's seat. "Dragons are awesome, and Ultra is the best of the best. Now come on, I promised Rocky I'd feed him some liver and toads, and I can't feed him without feeding the rest too."

"Well, we certainly can't let our dragon go hungry," Zane agreed, placing his box of things in the trunk of the car, before climbing in next to Cole.

"No, we can't," said Cole as he started the car and drove away.

Zane continued to make light conversation with Cole for the rest of the drive home, trying to put recent events out of his mind.

But little did he know, that would not be the last he would see of the ice dragon.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

So apparently pirates had mechs now.

It seemed a crew of buccaneers had decided that the Ninja Force's rogues gallery needed a little more variety and had decided to attack the city with three massive mechs. Even so, Luh-Loyd had apparently heard of these guys before, as they were enemies of their counterparts too. Though the Captain Soto and his crew in the Other Ninjago didn't have a mech, much less three.

"Where did they even get these things?" yelled Jay as he shot at one of the mechs with his jet.

"I think they built them from sunken ships," said Lloyd as he used his Green Dragon mech to constrict another Pirate Mech like a python. As he took in the barnacles and algae clinging to what looked like the deck of an old steam liner that made up the mech's torso, he nodded to himself. "Yep, definitely a sunken ship."

"Well, for fighting us with busted old boats, they're surprisingly good at it," Nya admitted grudgingly as these three mechs were hard to take down. At least they were able to catch the mechs at the edge of the city instead of battling them in the middle.

It had been a very hectic week. In fact, the pirates were the fourth attack in as many days. First, it had been a riot caused by the Sons of Garmadon trying to encourage Lord Garmadon to turn evil again in the most destructive way they could think of. The second was the Skulkin, who could never learn their lesson and tried once again to take over. And the third was smaller, but a somehow more destructive incident with some of the Fired Former Generals relapsing and going on a revenge rampage while Lord Garmadon was doing community service work.

And now it was pirates taking a shot at Ninjago Tower, or in failing to do that, at least rob the city blind. Suffice to say, the Ninja Force was exhausted, and it showed. Their movements in the mechs weren't as precise, and they all clearly just wanted this to be over already!

So it wasn't really surprising that one of them made a mistake

Kai yelped as one of the Pirate mechs managed to side-swipe him into a building. Unable to catch himself, his mech collapsed to the ground with him still trapped inside.

"KAI!" shrieked Nya, who immediately began attacking the mechs with renewed viciousness. The rest of the team but Cole followed suit.

With the others distracting the pirates, Cole rolled his mech over to Kai's fallen one. Using his mech's giant arms, he carefully lifted the Fire Mech up so that Kai was visible within it, then stopped his turntables so they would remain locked in place. Quickly jumping out of the cockpit, he raced over to Kai.

Kai groaned as Cole approached, and reached up to rub his forehead with his right hand. "Someone get the number on that bus?" he asked woozily.

In spite of his worry for his friend, Cole smiled a little at those words. "It was way worse than a bus, man," he said, helping Kai up and checking him over for injuries, and putting his first aid training to the test. "You got hit by the whole Titanic."

Kai groaned again. "That explains the headache," he said, attempting to reach up with his other hand as well, only to yelp when he tried to move his left arm.

Immediately, all humor faded and Cole examined the arm. It was difficult to tell under the red of Kai's uniform, but he could still see a patch of it darkening with blood.

"I think you got yourself on something. We need to get your shirt off and bandage you up," he said.

Kai tried to move his arm again and winced, but the sound of battle was still ongoing around them. "We don't have time for that," he said, glancing worriedly at Nya, who was clobbering two mechs on her own in her fury. "Can't you just call the Holy Grail to you so you can patch me up quick?"

Cole frowned. It had been his idea to hide the Holy Grail with his earth powers. The chalice was currently buried miles under the city, and he used his powers to shift its position every few days to keep its location completely secret. But since it was his powers that put it there, he could also use them to call it to himself in moments if needed. The team had agreed that this had sounded like the best way to keep the incredibly powerful artifact someplace completely hidden while also letting them use it in emergencies. And with Kai hurt, and the mechs being chased a good distance away from them, it would be easy to summon it to his hand.

But Cole still hesitated. "It's too risky right now," he said. "We're in too much of a disaster zone."

Kai glanced at the three Pirate Mechs. All of them were being beaten back by the others and were no longer anywhere close to them. "What do you mean?" he asked. "They're way over there! We've gotta get over there and help them before the pirates get their second wind. Nya can't blitz them forever."

Cole looked reluctant. Maybe it was safe to-

At that moment, a large piece of debris from an adjacent building crashed down next to them, having been dislodged by the fight.

"I can't," Cole said, immediately hefting Kai over his shoulder (while still being mindful of his arm) and sprinting to even safer ground and being unusually chatty with his excuses. "It's too risky, one misplaced missile or debris and we could lose it. Plus, I don't have any water right now. Let's just patch you up in the meantime."

Kai grumbled but agreed. One quick bandaging later, they were both back in their mechs and returning to the fight, though Kai spent the rest of it hanging back to do long-range support due to his injured arm keeping him from driving properly.

When the pirates were finally beaten off, a combination of Lloyd's healing Green and a sip of water from the grail and Kai was good as new.

And that was the end of that.

A few days later...

It was one of the rare off days Cole got.

Well, not so rare anymore. With his mother cured of her illness, she was able to do more around their apartment and for the theater they lived above, which meant less for Cole to do as a result.

For so long, Gabriella Lilly Brookstone had been confined to bed, which meant Lou had to work extra hard to provide for their family, and Cole had been the one to pick up the slack for most domestic work and an extra hand in the theater. Now, he suddenly had a lot less to do and found himself kind of floundering in it. He was glad for Nick Jay's frequent visits to write songs together, as it had proven to be a good way to fill up his new free time.

Still, he wouldn't trade his mother's health for anything. It was truly a miracle the Holy Grail had cured her, and Cole hoped to everything her illness never came back.

As it was, Cole was laying in his room, meditating on what his True Potential could be, when he heard his mother cry out in pain followed by a loud 'CRASH!'

In an instant, Cole thrust his hand at the (thankfully) open window and the Holy Grail came flying in, having been launched from the ground outside into his hand.

The instant his fingers closed around the chalice, Cole bolted out of his room and into the kitchen, where he'd heard the crash emanating from.

He knew this would happen! Something happened to his mother! He had to save her! He had to-

He reached the kitchen, where he found his mother rubbing her toe ruefully next to the kitchen's island, a shattered plate on the floor next to her.

Seeing Cole, she sent him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, sweetie," she said apologetically. "I stubbed my toe and dropped a plate. I'm fine, don't worry."

Cole, not trusting his voice with his currently racing heartbeat, nodded, and slowly turned to walk back to his room.

Once there, he collapsed face down on his bed and let out a deep, weary sigh of relief.

She was safe. The crash hadn't been some sort of danger. And even if it wasn't, he had the grail so he could-

… Wait…

He'd hesitated to call the grail to help Kai in a sticky but de-escalating situation, yet had called it to him in an instant despite not knowing what would await him when he rushed to his mother's rescue. Why would-?

Oh!

Slowly, Cole turned his head and looked at the Holy Grail still clutched in his hand.

Oh…

That was his block for his True Potential…

It made sense. For so long Cole had feared the day he'd lose his mother. He still feared it, especially once he heard the worst had already happened in the Other Ninjago.

And Dr. Jones couldn't tell them if the chalice's power was permanent. What if she got sick again? What if it came back? What if something else happened? No way he was losing the one thing that could save her!

Cole knew what he needed to do to reach his True Potential…

And he just couldn't do it.

Without a word, he crept out of his apartment and buried the Holy Grail back into the earth until he needed it again.

He didn't need his True Potential.

It wasn't worth the cost.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

Freckles Jay wasn't jealous. No, he wasn't jealous at all.

So what if DJ Cole, his best friend, had started hanging out with Freckles' counterpart more lately. So what if DJ and Nick Jay were bonding over writing songs together during Cole's newly allotted free time. So what if those songs and Nick were a lot of what DJ would talk about when he and Freckles hung out together. So what. It was a good thing. His best friend finally had someone he could share his passion for music with. Someone to help him with what he struggled with. He was happy, Freckles was happy for him. So what if it wasn't him helping him do it, and the last time he tried was a disaster (though thankfully of the 'funny in hindsight' variety).

Not for the first time, Freckles cursed how he had all the poetic talents of a petrified orange. Dry, blunt, and unable to rhyme with anything.

So yeah, Freckles Jay was not jealous. Not jealous at all.

Okay, he was totally jealous, but he really meant the part where he was happy for DJ Cole. Music was something he loved and writing melodies was something he was great at, but Freckles knew he'd always struggled with the lyrics to go with them. That was where Nick came in. As it turned out, his counterpart was quite poetic. If he could help Cole do the things he loved, Freckles wasn't complaining.

He just wished there was something he could do to help too, or not feel like a third wheel when he tried.

So when he came into the mech warehouse and saw his Cole and Nick Jay pouring over a notebook off to the side of the room, he only sighed. Guess Nick got to him first. He'd need to find something else to do today instead.

The now-familiar sound of the Ultra Dragon landing behind him had Freckles looking up to see Cliff Cole hopping off the dragon and heading towards him. "Hey, Freckles. Is Jay here?"

"I'm right here," said Freckles as a joke. He was a Jay too after all.

"Haha," said Cliff, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. "I meant my Jay, Nick, is he here?"

"He's here," said Freckles, pointing into the warehouse. "He and my Cole are compiling their next masterpiece."

Cliff came to the door of the warehouse and followed his finger. "Ah, I can see that. Jay's got that look on his face he gets when he's in the zone."

"So's Cole," Freckles agreed with a nod. "And word of warning, don't bug my Cole when he's in the zone for nothing short of an emergency. It makes him lose his train of thought and messes with his composing, and he won't speak to you for a week afterward."

"Ouch," said Cliff with a chuckle. "My Jay would be the opposite. I'd never hear the end of how I made him lose his inspiration just as he was about to be struck with genius, or something dramatic like that."

Freckles snickered.

"Still, that's too bad," said Cliff with a disappointed frown. "I was going to ask Jay to be my hiking buddy."

"Hiking buddy?" asked Freckles, looking at him in interest.

"Yeah," said Cliff. "I found this new hiking trail online and wanted to try it out. There's a rock-climbing section up a sheer cliff that's supposed to have a great view. Everyone else is busy today, and it's not the safest trail to climb alone. Normally I'd go anyway, but my dad heard about the last time I did that, and got on me for not being safe enough."

Freckles Jay's eyes lit up in excitement as he heard Cliff describe the trail. "I can be your hiking buddy!" he volunteered eagerly.

Cliff looked down at him in surprise. "You can?" he said.

"Yes!" said Freckles. "It sounds like fun."

"You sure?" asked Cliff Cole skeptically, knowing Freckles' anxiety kept him from a lot of things. "It's not an easy trail, and it goes really high."

"Even better!" said Freckles, bouncing in excitement. "Just give me a chance to go home and get my climbing gear. I'll be right there."

Cliff watched him go in bewilderment. Of all the things he expected to happen today, this was not it. While they hadn't had the chance to hang out much (though now that he thought about it, they really should), Freckles had always struck him as the timid and cautious type. Being so excited to go on a potentially dangerous hike went against what he knew of him.

"He loves heights," said a voice behind him, and Cliff turned to see his counterpart had glanced up from his and Nick's work to look over at him. "It's one reason why his mech is a jet. His favorite way to come visit me at home is to scale the outside of the theater to my window. Take him with you. He'll have a blast." Then DJ turned back to Nick Jay and was absorbed in his music once again.

Cliff stared at his counterpart hearing that. He'd gone to DJ's home several times at this point to visit him and his mother (who he finally felt comfortable calling Aunt Gabby). He knew full well that the outside of DJ's window was little more than an old brick wall. If Freckles was able to scale that, then he most likely did have the climbing chops for this hike.

Whatever the case, he now had his hiking buddy, and he'd get to hang out more with Jay's counterpart. This should be fun.

Show Ninjago

Well, Cliff Cole would give Freckles Jay this, he came prepared.

The Lightning Ninja had come back to meet him outside the warehouse with a massive backpack full of climbing supplies and enough camping gear to last a week in the mountains and sheepishly admitted that he'd gotten so excited he forgot to ask about the hike's difficulty and what exactly he would need.

Cole had laughed and told him the difficulty level, and the two had sorted through his supplies to put what he actually needed in a smaller backpack, and left the rest in the warehouse to take back home later.

They then flew on the Ultra Dragon to the start of the trail and left the dragon to their own devices as they started out on it.

"So, you like hiking then?" Cliff Cole asked conversationally as they walked through the forest.

"When there's climbing involved, yes," Freckles Jay replied with a shrug. "If it's just walking through someplace it can get pretty boring and if there are any bugs around they will find me. Which reminds me-" he reached into his backpack and pulled out a can of bug spray, and quickly sprayed himself all over.

"Gotta avoid those creepy crawlies, huh?" said Cole in amusement.

Jay turned and gave him a flat look. "You laugh, but I once got chased by a big wasp and found two tarantulas on my back! TWO! Those things were the size of my head! Speaking of which, never go hiking with my Lloyd, I'm pretty sure he attracts them."

Cole snickered but had to admit the tarantulas sounded horrifying. "Given his growing pet collection, be glad that was all he attracted."

Jay shuddered at the thought that. "True. It was before he got his True Potential, so maybe the monster magnetism wasn't as strong then, but now… yeesh. The Kais will never let him go hiking again."

"That might be a good thing," said Cole. "Last time my Lloyd went hiking (if you can call it that) he unlocked the tombs of the Serpentine and tried to have them be his minions to take over the world."

Jay looked at him in interest. "Oh, this I've gotta hear," he said.

Cole spent the next portion of the hike telling Jay all about how they'd first met Lil'Loyd and went from being antagonized by the little wannabe-villain brat, to taking him in and coming to see him as their baby brother. In return, Jay told the story about how he met and befriended Luh-Loyd, Buddy Kai, and Cyan Nya, and shared tales of their early years and the start of the Secret Ninja Force.

When they got to the part of the hike with climbing, Cole had to admit he was impressed. "Were you a squirrel in a past life or something?" he asked as he watched Jay start climbing.

"Who knows?" Jay called back as he skittered up the cliff with ease. "Were you a gorilla?"

"Excuse you, I was definitely a bear," said Cole as he climbed up as well, but at a slightly slower pace than Jay.

Jay paused on a large ledge above Cole's head thoughtfully, and said, "Well, if the Lloyds' Elemental Animals are anything to go by, I'm a mouse and you're a tortoise."

Cole looked up at him with an eyebrow raised. He'd seen and been amazed by the animals the Lloyds had somehow created in their Training Ground on the other Ninjago some time ago, but, "Wait, you think those things represent us?"

Jay shrugged. "I dunno, maybe. I've spent more time there than you, and, well, they seem to have personalities that mirror ours. Half the lightning mice there are cautious but like climbing things, kinda like me, and the other half are always running around, and are super curious and squeaky like Nick."

Cole let out a laugh hearing that. "Squeaky, that's a good one. I'm gonna have to tell him that next time he talks too much." He then frowned. "But then how am I a tortoise? Tortoises don't climb."

"Actually, several species of tortoise love climbing, especially over rocks, and some even live in mountains," said Jay. "I saw a cute video on Chirp of a little one climbing a tree a few weeks ago. They're slow, but they can do it."

Cole finally reached the ledge Jay was perched on and pulled himself up to rest his elbows over the side and said, "Huh, I'm gonna have to reevaluate my opinion of tortoises. Apparently, they're cooler than I thought."

Jay nodded. "And like with the mice, the tortoises definitely act like you two. The ones like my Cole are really chill and like it when we play music as we train, and the ones I'm assuming are like you are always looking out for the other animals, and let them have piggyback rides. And all of them really love to eat."

"Hey!" squawked Cole as pulled himself the rest of the way up to sit next to Jay. "How do they even eat? They're made of rocks."

"By eating more rocks," said Jay with a shrug. "I don't know how it works either. I just know that if I get those polished stones you can buy in science stores, I can feed them to the tortoises and when I come back later their shells are all made out of rose quartz, or tiger's eye, or whatever I fed them before. It's weird, but it's cool."

"Cool!" Cole agreed. "I'll have to bring some next time I go."

"They will love you forever if you do," said Jay. "Just don't pretend you have something, but actually don't and are just pulling their leg. One of Lil'Loyd's Lil'Terror friends, I think his name was Brad, did that during a visit, and they still haven't forgiven him for it. He thought it was funny at first, but then the tortoises started being all friendly and nice and doing tricks for everybody but him, and now he's trying to figure out how to get back on their good side."

Cole nearly fell off the ledge laughing at that story, and Jay let out a yelp and reached out to steady him before he did.

"Careful!" Jay squawked in concern.

Cole smothered his giggles and steadied himself, patting Jay in the shoulder in thanks. "I see they got my spite," he said, still sounding amused. "You mess with my food, you've got an enemy for life."

"My Cole's the same," said Jay with a smile. "About his food, and about his mom. Say anything bad about her and he gives a shoulder so cold the arctic is jealous, and don't get me started about his glares. Terrifying."

Cole immediately stopped laughing.

Jay's smile faded too as he realized he'd once again put his foot in his mouth. "Oh, sorry, I- I'm so sorry," he said quickly.

"It's okay," said Cole with a sigh. "I'm glad… I'm glad he still has his mother to defend. I'm glad I got to meet her, even if she's not my mom. She's not Lilly Gabriella Brookstone, she's Gabriella Lilly. But even so, she's still… she's still her! And I'll definitely defend her too if anyone's dumb enough to insult Aunt Gabby in front of me."

Jay nodded solemnly. "I can't imagine what that's like," he said, staring down at his feet. "My mom's alive in both worlds, but Libber, my birth mom, apparently she's been missing in your world for years. Flick clearly finds talking about it painful, and Nick hasn't worked up the courage to ask yet, and I may not be the best at, er, you know, tact, but I know better than to poke that bear."

Cole nodded, knowing how sensitive a subject like that would be.

Jay's face fell. "But still, it's hard not to ask. And I know Cliff, uh, my birth dad Cliff Gordon, Telly, he's been super worried about it. What if what happened to your world's Libber happens to mine too? Libber may not be my mom-mom, but she's still family, she's still important, and not knowing… It's scary."

Cole grimaced, trying to imagine that. That someday, an unseen threat could swoop in and snatch up someone you love. "My world's Cliff Gordon knows about your birth mom, right? I'm sure if it was something she was in danger from, he'd tell her, wouldn't he? He wouldn't want it to happen again."

Jay nodded slowly. "Yeah, probably. I met him, he doesn't seem like the kind of jerk who'd keep quiet about that."

"See, there ya go," said Cole, clapping him on the shoulder before standing up, feeling like things had gotten too heavy for what was supposed to be a fun hike. "Now, come on. This cliff won't climb itself."

Jay cracked a small smile, and the two began climbing once again.

As they went, Cole spoke up, "I just have one question?"

"Yeah?" asked Jay.

Cole scowled as he paused and glanced over at Jay, "Who was dumb enough to insult Aunt Gabby? Because whoever they are, they deserve to face the wrath of two Coles."

Jay grinned and was more than happy to name names. The Coles weren't the only ones who could dish out spite.

When they finally reached the top of the cliff, they both had to stop and take in the view. It was a fantastic sight of the forest they'd just walked through stretching on for miles.

"Whoa," Cole said as they took in the trees below them.

"So ninja," agreed Jay, staring around with wide eyes.

Still, despite enjoying the view, Cole's stomach decided that was a good time to remind him of just how far they'd gone and how long it had been since he'd last eaten with a loud growl.

Jay smiled and reached for his backpack to pull out water bottles, granola bars, and a bag of trail mix. "I brought snacks," he offered shyly.

Cole looked at the offered snacks and grinned. "Awesome," he said, taking one of the granola bars and water bottles. "You thought of everything, huh."

"Like the boy scouts, a Ninja is always prepared," said Jay solemnly as he opened the bag of trail mix between them. "Also, you know, good to have provisions in case we get lost out here and have to ration it until we're found."

Cole paused and stared at him with his mouth full of granola. "I don't think these are enough for rations," he said.

"I know," said Jay, reaching back into his backpack and pulling out enough dried foods to last at least three days even with Cole's eating habits. "That's why I brought more."

"Sweet!" said Cole, helping himself to another granola bar. "I'm gonna have to bring you on all my climbs."

Jay lit up eagerly. "That would be great!" he said. "I can't wait to tell Nya!"

Hearing that, Cole glanced at him and noticed Jay was fiddling with an aquamarine necklace under his scarf. He'd seen the other boy had been wearing it ever since Lord Garmadon and Koko's wedding. Come to think of it, Cyan Nya had been wearing a bow in her hair since then too and wasn't Freckles Jay wearing a bowtie at the event and Cyan had been wearing jewelry…

"No way!" he exclaimed, startling Freckles Jay and making him spill some of the trail mix. Despite that, Cliff Cole was grinning widely, "You and Cyan?" he asked.

Jay turned scarlet and was now clutching the necklace to his chest like pearls. There was no need for Cole to elaborate on what he meant by 'him and Cyan'. "Uh, well, yeah," he said quietly. "We, um, we got together after the wedding."

"You finally confessed?" asked Cole with a grin, knowing Jay had been trying to work up the courage to do so for a long time.

Jay turned even redder. "... I proposed," he said in a barely audible voice.

Cole choked on his second granola bar, and Jay had to thump him on the back to clear his airways.

"You what?" he asked when his throat was clear again.

"It just slipped out!" Jay blurted out, his nerves sending him into a rapid word vomit. "She was talking about how wild the wedding was, and then I started thinking about me marrying her, and I just said it, and then she was hugging me, and we agreed we should probably date before getting married, but we wanted to mark the occasion so I gave her my bow tie, and she gave me her necklace, and-"

"Whoa, slow down," said Cole, holding up his hands to calm him down. "Breathe, Freckles!"

Jay stopped talking and took a deep breath.

"Nice to see you can babble as much as my Jay. Really, though, I'm happy for you," said Cole, patting him on the shoulder. "Why haven't you told the rest of us about this?"

Jay was fiddling with his necklace again. "We want to, but… well, Nick and Red."

Cole stared at him, knowing better than anyone what he was talking about.

While he was doing better and had resolved to wait, Nick Jay was still reeling from his breakup with Red Nya, and while he would undoubtedly be happy for Freckles and Cyan, it would also be a constant reminder to him of what he no longer had. Meanwhile, Red Nya, who was taking the time to figure out what she wanted, would feel pressured to make her decision before she was ready, which was the last thing she needed.

As much as Freckles and Cyan getting together was a good thing, them being open about it with their friends at this time would have consequences for Nick and Red. And the fact that they were keeping it quiet for their sake… "Thanks, Freckles," Cole said quietly.

Jay nodded and tucked his necklace back under his scarf. "We'll tell everyone eventually, but for now we just want to keep our relationship between us. To be honest, my Kai's the only other person who knows, though I think the rest of my team at least suspects it. My Cole keeps giving me this knowing look whenever me and Nya are together."

"Well, I can bet my team has no clue," said Cole. He then frowned. "Wait, why does Buddy know if you're not telling anyone? I know he's her brother, but he's not exactly the most subtle. I'm surprised he hasn't let it slip yet."

Jay turned red again, and admitted, "After we agreed to date, I wanted to do it properly and asked her family for permission to date her, and of course Kai was there. Nya threatened to set his bed adrift in the ocean with him still in it if he blabbed."

Cole snorted in amusement. Yeah, that would do it. "Don't worry," he said. "I won't tell anyone until you two are ready, and I appreciate you looking out for my best friend."

Jay nodded. "What are friends for?" he said.

Cole grinned back at him as they finished their snacks and began the climb back down.

Looks like no matter which world he came from, Jay would always be his friend.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago.

'Mindroid the Nindroid was loathed to admit it, but he needed help.'

'No, not help, information. Yes, that's it, he needs more information on how to find Pythor.'

'Thankfully, Mindroid knew exactly what event to go to get the information he sought. '

'It was a treacherous location, full of deception at every turn, and to get in, Mindroid would have to be in disguise.'

'But he would not let that stop him. He was Mindroid! Nothing would stand in his way to greatness!'

'And so, in preparation for the event, Mindroid searched until he was certain he found the perfect disguise, and when the time arrived he made his way to the entrance.'

'They would never suspect a thing.'

'In the courtyard of Steep Wisdom, the hostess of this meeting of malice looked up with a mouth dripping with venom as potent as her smile, and said-'

"Hey! You made it! Thanks so much for coming!" said Poisinthia the Fangpyre brightly from where she was dressed in a flowery bonnet and frilly dress and serving tea to a table full of the other reluctant Lil'Terrors.

Brad, wearing a way-too-big tuxedo jacket they'd stolen from Cole, leaned over and whispered to Gene, "Why are we doing this again? We just had a tea party last week."

"It was Poisinthia's turn to pick our activity again, and Nelson's mom jumped on us having these since it doesn't sound like an activity that would cause injuries," Gene muttered back as he tried to keep a large top hat from falling over his eyes.

Across the table from them, Nelson, who Poisinthia had somehow coaxed into wearing a flowery cardigan they'd found in Misako's room, fumbled with its too big sleeves and would have spilled the hot tea-kettle on himself if Rusty Echo hadn't snatched it quick enough.

Realizing he could have just gotten seriously burned, Nelson sent Rusty a sheepish but grateful grin. "Thanks."

"No problem," said Rusty. He then turned to face Mindroid. "I'm surprised you came."

Mindroid was just looking around as if paranoid someone would see him. Fair enough, Rusty wouldn't want to be seen in the oversized purple sequined jacket and large red hat pulled low over his face either. He looked like he belonged in that club of old ladies he'd see around town sometimes.

To be honest, with the exception of Rusty and Lil'Loyd (who had opted to re-wearing their suits from the wedding and therefore were the only ones in clothes that actually fit them) the rest of them didn't look much better. Tiny Echo was wearing a tacky blue suit jacket stolen from Nick Jay that was covered in cyan lightning bolts, and Posinthia had somehow convinced SJ to wear one of Red Nya's qipao.

While, admittedly, the activity wasn't as bad as the boys had thought it would be, and the snacks were really good, all of them were pretty bored at this point, and the tea party wasn't over yet. They could only gossip about their teenage friends and drink tea for so long.

Mindroid gave one last suspicious look around, before turning to look at them. "I come to this secret meeting seeking information on Pythor's whereabouts," he said.

That declaration gave everyone pause.

"SSSecret meeting?" asked SJ in confusion. "What sssecret meeting?"

Mindroid glanced around again as if searching for eavesdroppers, before leaning in and saying softly, "You don't fool me. I've seen you all. Coming in disguise and talking about all the important people of Ninjago. This is clearly a covert meeting to share information. I'm willing to peddle what I know in return for information on how to find Pythor."

The others all stared at him, then exchanged glances. Well, that was what technically they were doing, but a covert meeting of information marketing sounded a lot cooler to them than sharing gossip.

Suddenly this tea party was a lot more interesting.

Poisinthia, without missing a beat, grinned and passed Mindroid a cup of tea. "Congratulationsss. You've passssed the initiation. What information do you have to sssell?" she asked like this was always her intention for the day.

Mindroid's eyes lit up in hearing he was right before they narrowed again. "I can offer intel on what locations would be safe from Pythor," he offered enticingly. "Something I'm sure would be of interest to you, Green Ninja, given Pythor's desire for revenge against you."

Lloyd's eyes widened hearing that. "Got me there," he agreed. "Not having to worry about that creep trying something would be a load off my back."

Mindroid puffed up his chest, clearly pleased to know his information had value.

Tiny Echo looked around the table. "Does anyone know anything about how to find that jerk?" he asked curiously. "All I know is that the one who kidnapped both SJ and Lil'Loyd hasn't been seen since he also tried to kidnap Kai."

"He kidnapped Luh-Loyd!" Lloyd insisted.

"We jussst went along to sssave him," agreed SJ, and the two traded fist-bumps.

Mindroid assumed Tiny's odd phrasing was a means of keeping his information vague so eavesdropping intruders wouldn't know who he was referring to. Still, clearly, he had come to the right place for information. He hadn't even been aware Pythor had made an attempt on the Red Ninja's life.

"I've moved in with Tiny and haven't been around recently, so I don't know anything about where he could be," said Rusty, looking troubled and not wanting to expand on that. He then glanced at the two snake kids at the table. They all knew the two had snuck into the local Serpentine tunnels out of curiosity about how their people's counterparts lived. "What about you two? Do you know anything on the Serpentine side of things?"

"The SSSerpentine of all tribesss have been on the lookout for him sssince his betrayal," said Poisinthia, knowing it was true for both of their worlds. "If he ever triesss to come crawling back to usss he will be arresssted and entombed."

SJ nodded in agreement. "It would be the trial of the century," he said. "Everyone would hear about it, but ssso far no one hasss."

While Mindroid felt that was exactly what the treacherous snake deserved, he hoped he was able to catch Pythor before the Serpentine did. The Nindroids deserved their chance for revenge too, but maybe their tribes could give him to the Serpentine afterward.

"Well, he hasn't tried to kidnap me recently," said Lloyd thoughtfully. "But then, he hasn't really gotten the chance. I've been spending a lot of time over in Luh-Loyd, Tiny, and Rusty's city recently."

"I have ssseen you come to visssit usss more too," said SJ.

Lil'Loyd sighed. "Yeah, the Ninja here have all been kinda busy lately with hero stuff and the tea shop, so I go over there to hang out. And since I'm not around Pythor hasn't tried anything."

Feeling it was their turn, Brad and Gene shared a smug look, and Gene pulled out a tablet. "After our last encounter, I took it upon myself to track all possible sightings of Pythor on the internet. I have the record of it here."

"Hey!" squawked Brad indignantly at him for taking all the credit.

"Brad helped and brought snacks," Gene added.

Brad calmed down and looked satisfied.

Mindroid looked very interested in that tablet, but it wasn't a concrete lead. He'd learned the hard way that sightings on the internet could be a hoax or simply lead him to the wrong Serpentine. Not every average Ninjago civilian knew the difference between a bleached Anacondrai and a white Fangpyre.

Nelson had been frowning into his teacup like he was trying to remember something, before suddenly sitting up straight and fumbling to take off his cardigan and reach his phone in his pocket.

"What's up, Nelson?" asked Lil'Loyd, wondering what was wrong.

"I think I- Give me a sec, I need to ask my mom something," said Nelson, finally getting out his phone. Dialing his mother, he waited for her to pick up.

"Yes, what is it, Sweetie?" asked his mother when she answered. "Is the party over already? I thought you'd be playing for another hour."

"No, mom, we're still, uh, playing," said Nelson, despite this no longer exactly being the activity his mother thought he'd be doing. "I just wanted to ask, um, do you remember my doctor appointment the other day?"

"The one after you got hit on the head, or the one after you broke your thumb?" asked his mother.

"The one after I hit my head," said Nelson, grateful Luh-Loyd's super-strong healing teas had patched him up after those injuries. "I was really dizzy as we were leaving, but I could have sworn I saw something big and white crossing the road when we were driving back to the city. What was it?"

Mindroid sat up with interest. A possible sighting, and recent too. He focused all his attention on that and tried not to be distracted by the apparent serious injuries his frie-INFORMANT had sustained getting it.

"Oh, that thing, you saw it too?" said Nelson's Mom. "I was starting to think I hallucinated it. Yes, there was a big Serpentine in the road, I nearly hit him with the car. I think it might have been Fangpyre, but it was the oddest thing. When I looked back to see if he was okay I could swear I saw him disappear before my very eyes. I thought your little Fangpyre friend said she could turn other things into snakes, not vanishing without a trace."

Mindroid's optic's widened and Nelson put his hand over the phone's microphone to whisper to the Nindroid, "Do we have a deal?"

"Deal!" agreed Mindroid. "Tell me the location of the sighting and I will tell you what I know."

Nelson grinned at him, then took his hand off the phone. "Yeah, that's so weird, Mom," he said to his mother. "Where was that exactly? I'll tell SJ and Poisinthia and they can get their parents to help him out."

"That's nice of you, Sweetie," said Nelson's mother, and she rattled off the location she'd seen the vanishing Serpentine. After exchanging a few more pleasantries with his mother, Nelson hung up.

Mindroid was trying to keep a straight face, but he was visibly vibrating with excitement to rush off to follow up on this new lead, but before he could bolt, Gene held up a hand to stop him.

"Well," said Gene, adjusting the brim of his tophat up to look suave, "we kept our end of the bargain. What do you know about places that are safe from Pythor?"

"Yeah," agreed Brad. "With his invisibility powers, is any place really safe from Pythor? For all you know, he could sneak in anywhere."

"No, not anywhere," said Mindroid, feeling impatient, but knowing he had to keep up his end of the deal or else lose his informants. Even if he caught Pythor after this, he still may have use for them in the future. "It seems he's learned the hard way that no matter how invisible the coward makes himself, he is not safe anywhere in Ninjago City."

The other Lil'Terrors exchanged glances hearing that.

"All of Ninjago City?" asked Tiny curiously. "Why? What do you mean? How do you know about that?"

"It seems Cyrus Borg has not forgotten or forgiven his abduction by that wretched snake," said Mindroid, resolutely ignoring his part in that abduction (he was under programming, the blame fell only on the one giving orders, not the droids carrying them out). "Last month he created and sold a new security system to the public at a very low price. By this point, the entire city is now rigged with infrared security cameras that both protect the dwelling they're installed in, and are programmed to recognize Pythor and alert Borg and the authorities, and us Nindroids if that Anacondrai comes within twenty feet of any of them. I almost caught him the last few times he tried to enter the city, but he has gotten wise to it by now. As it stands, I only get hits from it if he wanders by a facility outside the city with that security system."

The Lil'Terrors all looked very interested to hear this. "I didn't know Borg did that," said Rusty. "Zane never said-" but he cut himself off with a frown at the mention of this brother and muttered something about not talking to him in a while.

"It doesssn't catch the other SSSerpentine, doesss it?" asked SJ, worried for his people's counterparts.

"No," said Mindroid. "Borg made sure it only would alert everyone if it detected an Anacondrai, and given Pythor is the last, any alerts are sure to be him."

"Why do you get alertsss from it?" asked Poisinthia curiously.

"All Nindroids were built by Borg Industries," said Mindroid. "Though we have since been shut out of the company's systems, the connection hasn't been severed completely. Borg knows our desire for revenge, and is aiding us accordingly."

"Huh, didn't expect that from him, but it sounds like it's been effective," said Gene thoughtfully.

Seeing how antsy and ready to go Mindroid was getting, Lloyd had mercy on him. "This information pleases me," he said. "You consider your end of the deal paid."

That was all Mindroid needed to hear, as he stood up, tossed aside his disguise, snatched up a handful of cookies for the road, and bolted in the direction of Nelson's intel.

The Lil'Terror's watched him go.

"Think he'll catch Pythor this time?" asked Nelson.

"Maybe," said Rusty. "I hope so."

"Hope he at least kicks butt even if he doesn't," said Lloyd ruefully.

"Here, here," agreed SJ. It may not be the same Pythor who kidnapped him, but from the sound of things, he was just as bad.

They lapsed into silence before they all exchanged a look.

"So, all in favor of tea parties being out, and super-secret information networks being in, say aye?" asked Gene with a smirk.

"Aye!" was the unanimous reply, everyone already thinking about how they could gather more information to share with each other. Given all of their wildly different backgrounds and homes, there was sure to be plenty they could pool together.

But then Brad looked down at the remaining cookies and tea mournfully. The food had been the best part of the tea parties. "But we can still keep the snacks, right?" he asked hopefully.

The others snickered at the question. "Of course we are," said Lloyd, picking up a cookie and munching on it. "Can't be a spy network on an empty stomach."

Thus the Lil'Terrors got a new hobby.

And no secret in any Ninjago was safe.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

Luh-Loyd bounced his foot in anticipation as he carried his electric kettle in one hand and a bag of healing tea in another.

DJ Cole arrived a few minutes later with a large thermos in hand. "Sorry," he said when he arrived. "My dad needed me to rearrange something in the theater. You ready?"

Lloyd took a deep breath, then let it out. "Yeah, I'm ready. You?"

Cole shook the thermos in his hands and a soft rattling sound could be heard inside along with the sloshing of liquid. "Ready," he said.

Lloyd nodded. "Then let's do this."

With that, the two boys walked into Ninjago City Hospital behind them.

The receptionist at the front desk looked up and her eyes widened at the sight of two of the city's heroes coming in. "Oh wow, you're-" she started to say, but then realized that they had just stepped into a hospital, and quickly changed gears. "Are you hurt? I don't recall there being an attack today?"

"No, no, we're fine," Lloyd said, slightly nervous. "It's just, uh, this was where Cole said volunteers go to sign up."

"It was when Mom came here for hospital visits," Cole said with a shrug, glad it had been long enough since that had happened that it could have changed.

The receptionist's eyes widened. "You want to volunteer?" she asked in surprise.

"Yep," said Cole.

"Yeah, we do," agreed Lloyd awkwardly. "Honestly, I've wanted to for a while, but… uh… Didn't think it'd go over well if the 'Son of Garmadon', you know, tried something like that."

Now it was the receptionist's turn to look awkward, no doubt realizing if Lloyd and Cole had come to volunteer before their identities were revealed, she likely wouldn't have believed them, and instead turned them away with extreme prejudice. Maybe even called the police for good measure, because who knew what nefarious deeds they were actually up to.

Coughing into her hand to regain her composure, she slapped on a friendly smile and said, "Well, we're happy to have you. What sort of volunteering would you like to do?"

Lloyd held up his electric kettle and Cole his thermos. "Well, I thought, you know, we could have tea and conversation with the patients. Help relieve the boredom of being here."

The receptionist's smile turned more genuine after hearing that. "That sounds wonderful," she said. "I'm sure several of them would appreciate it. Just give me a minute to message Big Nelson."

"Big Nelson?" said both Lloyd and Cole in unison, exchanging a look at the name.

The receptionist looked up from her phone and smiled at their confusion. "Our volunteer coordinator, he's here all the time. Trust me, the nickname is fitting."

Lloyd and Cole were just left wondering if the Nelson they were about to meet was in any way connected to a certain Lil'Terror.

They got their answer soon enough when a young man about Morro's age even bigger than Cole with brown hair, a purple volunteer shirt came over and smiled warmly at them. "Hey, I'm Nelson, you can call me Big Nelson, so you're the new-" He then trailed off as he got closer and recognized them and his eyes widened. "OH FSM! YOU'RE THE NINJA FORCE!" he shouted in what could only be described as a fanboy squeal.

Lloyd and Cole shared a knowing look.

Yep, that was Nelson alright.

Big Nelson realized what he'd just said and cleared his throat with an embarrassed flush on his face. "Uh, sorry," he said awkwardly. "It's just, uh, you're you, and you're awesome, and you're here, and I'm still talking… I'll shut up now."

The receptionist sent Big Nelson a teasing grin. "He's a huge fan of yours," she said, just in case it wasn't already abundantly clear.

Big Nelson shot her a look of utter betrayal.

The receptionist beamed back unapologetically and informed Big Nelson what they were here for.

Thankfully, hearing about what they were planning to do helped Big Nelson see past his fanboy worship and get them on track. "Sounds great," he said. "I can think of some kids in the children's ward who would love a tea party."

Lloyd perked up at that.

"Or, if you'd rather, you can talk to people one on one, I can think of a few who've been pretty lonely lately," continued Big Nelson thoughtfully.

Cole nodded hearing that. "Yeah, I think that would work best for me," he said, holding up his thermos.

After doing a little paperwork and talking things over, Big Nelson led them off for their tasks, and as Lloyd was led towards a playroom with several young children, he hoped his plan would work.

He and Cole hadn't been lying before that they had wanted to volunteer at the hospital for a while, but that wasn't the only reason they were here.

Upon realizing he'd apparently had the ability to heal people, and had been doing it for his friends and family for years through the use of healing tea, Lloyd wanted to use that power where it would do the most good. The only problem was, for his powers to affect people he needed to form a bond with them, and bonds go both ways. He had to care about the person he was healing and they had to like him back, otherwise, nothing would happen. Well, if he was using actual healing tea, something would still happen, but not as quickly or efficiently as when the power of Green was helping it along. If he wanted to heal hospital patients, he needed to get to know them first.

And since neither of the Kais would allow Lloyd to go anywhere on his own, Cole had offered to go with him and help as well. He'd even brought the Holy Grail along hidden in the cup section of his thermos to put it to good use. A fact that had initially surprised Lloyd, given how seriously Cole took his role as its protector, though in hindsight it really shouldn't have. Given that the Earth Ninja had spent his childhood with his mother in and out of hospitals, it made sense he would sympathize with other people in her former position and want to help.

"Besides, it's safe here," Cole had said when Lloyd asked. "Not even our bad guys are low enough to attack a hospital. All I have to do is keep it in sight and it'll be fine. Besides, it'll do more good here than spending its whole time buried underground."

Lloyd couldn't argue with that logic.

Still, old anxieties were buzzing in him as Big Nelson led him into the pediatric ward. What if the kids didn't like him? What if he couldn't bond with them enough to help them? What if they didn't like the tea? What if-?

As if sensing his anxieties, Cole stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Breathe, Lloyd," he said.

Lloyd sucked in a deep breath.

"And let it out," said Cole.

Lloyd exhaled with a big sigh.

"The kids are going to love you," Cole continued, uncharacteristically chatty to comfort him (likely a sign of his own nerves). "You're the Green Ninja and you have all the coolest pets, how could they not? And you're going to love all of them because you're a sucker for kids, and you're great with Lil'L-" he paused and glanced at Big Nelson before amending, "-Montgomery and his friends. You have nothing to worry about."

Lloyd cracked a grin at his friend and nodded. "Right, right, I know, I just- Despite how long it's been I'm still not used to people not hating me."

Cole smiled back at him. "Yeah, it's hard to unlearn. We'll get there."

Big Nelson coughed awkwardly. "Uh, I know it probably doesn't count for much saying it now, but, uh, I didn't hate you."

Lloyd looked at him in surprise. "You didn't?" he asked.

Big Nelson looked even more awkward. "To be honest, I thought Lord Garmadon having an evil son was an urban myth that parents made up to make sure their kids behaved or something, and the rest of the city just caught on and went with it."

Lloyd choked, and Cole barked a laugh. "Really?" the Earth Ninja had to ask.

Big Nelson rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, like, my folks showed me your picture and stuff, but to me, you just looked like some random kid they found to use in the story. Like, if you were this up-and-coming evil shouldn't you be, I don't know, wearing black, or a cape, or skeleton print or something? Plus, you were younger than me and tiny, how am I supposed to be scared of a kid littler than me? But my parents were always all, 'Be good or this evil kid will bite your ankles off' and I was just supposed to believe it. It sounded so fake. When you did the whole identity-reveal thing, I was honestly more surprised you actually exist."

Lloyd choked again, this time in laughter that Big Nelson's description fit his younger counterpart to a tee. "That's, uh, that's a new one," he said once he got a hold of himself again. "I think I like that explanation of my existence better than most," he said.

Cole was snickering too. "The others are going to get a kick out of this. They're gonna be calling you our local cryptid or something for months."

Lloyd shrugged. "I think I'd like that better than being a Disney Princess."

"Good point," said Cole. "I'll be sure to mention that."

"Noooo," Lloyd groaned, knowing the second Cole pointed out his preference, all he was going to hear was more princess jokes.

Big Nelson just watched them banter in amusement, glad to see both of them seemed to have gotten over their nerves.

The Green Ninja still froze like a deer in the headlights the second Nelson brought him into the pediatric ward.

The children there also went dead silent at the sight of him and looked up at him with wide eyes.

There was a long moment of silence as Lloyd and the kids had a stare-off. Big Nelson opened his mouth to try and break the ice, but Lloyd beat him to it by holding up his kettle and awkwardly asking, "Hi, uh, I'm Lloyd, the Green Ninja. Does, erm, does anyone want to have some tea with me?"

Immediately the pediatric ward exploded with noise as all the kids eagerly waved their hands in the air and shouted something along the lines of, "ME! ME! ME! ME! I WANT TO!"

Lloyd smiled in relief at their enthusiasm, and after getting him set up there, Big Nelson led Cole away to a quieter part of the hospital to meet an elderly patient who hadn't been visited in a while.

As Lloyd poured tea for the kids and learned all their names and stories, he felt hopeful.

This was going to work.

One week later…

It worked!

When Lloyd and Cole came to volunteer the next weekend, Big Nelson cheerfully informed them that the patients Cole had gone to had all checked out (no surprise there if they drank from the concealed grail), and that a vast majority of the ones Lloyd had had a tea party with were doing a lot better than before, many of which had checked out as well.

It was working!

His powers were helping people!

Lloyd was ecstatic!

He quickly became a staple at the hospital, first volunteering every Saturday, then Sundays too, and soon enough he was going over after school almost every day before training if there wasn't an attack he needed to fight off.

"And I thought I was the most eager volunteer here," Big Nelson said to Cole one time when he was there too. "But it's starting to look like Lloyd's after my crown."

Cole smiled back at him ruefully. "He likes helping people however he can," he admitted because it was true, and not mentioning that a large part of it was also from a lingering desperate need to prove he wasn't like his evil father. That he wasn't what everyone told him he was. That he was good. Even after so long of his identity being known and celebrated and Lord Garmadon giving up evil to even act as a hero on occasion, Lloyd still couldn't fully dispel that ingrained people-pleasing obsession from his childhood.

Cole also didn't mention how he was growing concerned about the bags starting to grow under Lloyd's eyes, or how tired he seemed during training or at school. They weren't signs he recognized, but he had a strong suspicion as to what they were. But he knew if he mentioned it to Lloyd, he'd just be waved off and told not to worry about it until something actually went wrong. Cole needed the big guns.

So the next day after school, he told the Smith Twins.

Naturally, Kai was very concerned to hear about it.

"What!" he shouted when he heard Cole's observations. "You think he's overusing his powers?!"

Cole nodded silently.

Nya, meanwhile, cupped her chin as she thought back through the last few weeks. "Yeah, I've noticed he's been off his game recently too, but I thought he might have just caught a bug. When I asked Zane for a health scan he said that if Lloyd was sick it wasn't serious enough to detect. But I don't think his scans can pick up on power drain."

Kai let out a loud groan and slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh come on! Lloyd knows our powers have limits. He was there when we tested them out."

"When we tested our limits," Cole pointed out, "we never really tried to test his."

"Isn't that what he's doing now?" asked Nya rhetorically. She then gave a resigned sigh. "And knowing him, even if he did know his limits, he'd blow past them anyway if it meant helping people."

Kai groaned again in frustration, before turning and storming off.

"Where are you going?" asked Nya.

"What do you think? Looks like my job as his bodyguard is expanding into saving Lloyd from himself," said Kai over his shoulder.

"No, I get that," said Nya. "That's not what I was asking."

"Hospital's that way," Cole added, pointing in the opposite direction from where Kai was going.

Kai immediately did a heel-turn and began walking in that direction. "I knew that," he insisted as he passed them. "I knew that."

Nya and Cole exchanged a brief amused grin, before following after him to make sure he actually made it to the hospital.

When they got there, Cole immediately realized that he should have brought up his concerns sooner. Or brought the grail with him, but he couldn't summon it now with so many people around.

Just as the hospital parking lot came into sight, a sense of unease hit them. Like a good mood was waning suddenly.

The second they entered the hospital, they were met by a frantic Big Nelson. "Oh, thank FSM you're here! Lloyd just collapsed outside the critical care wing, and the doctors don't know why!"

But the three ninja knew exactly why and rushed to their leader's side.

Lying on a hospital bed like the ones he'd been helping people get out of, Lloyd looked back at them woozily. "Hey, guys, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Gee, I don't know, my little bro just collapsed. Where else would I be?" said Kai, but his worry didn't give the words any bite.

Lloyd frowned. "But that just happened… How did you get here so fast."

Nya sighed and sat down on the hospital bed beside him. "Cole asked us to come. Do you know why you collapsed?" she asked.

Lloyd frowned, still looking confused. "No, the doctors wanted to check my blood sugar levels or something, but they were clueless too. Why? Do you know?"

Cole leaned in so only the ninja could hear and said quietly but bluntly, "You're overusing your powers."

"What? No, I…" Lloyd started to protest, only for him to actually think about it and realization dawned on his face. "Oh…"

"Yeah, Bro, Oh," said Kai, who sat down on the other side of the bed from Nya and pulled him into a Kai Hug™. Lloyd leaned into the hug as Cole sat down on the foot of the bed.

Only for the Green Ninja to suddenly pull out of the hug, and sit up ramrod straight. "Wait, did it…? Is Mr. Sato…?" he asked.

Big Nelson, who had been hovering by the door, and looking very lost to what they'd been talking about before, rubbed the back of his head ruefully. "I'm sorry, Lloyd," he said in a somber voice. "I'm afraid Mr. Sato wasn't able to pull through his surgery."

Lloyd looked devastated. "Oh no," he said in a barely audible voice.

Kai pulled him into the hug again and exchanged a glance with Nya and Cole. Looks like they knew what Lloyd had passed out from trying to do now.

"There was nothing they could do," Big Nelson explained as gently as he could. "He was in very bad shape when they brought him in." He then managed a weak smile and added, "He did ask the doctors to thank you for waiting with him for the surgery to begin. He appreciated you helping with his bandages and trying to cheer him up. You did a good thing, Lloyd."

"Not good enough," Lloyd mumbled too quietly for Nelson to hear.

Kai just hugged him tighter, and Nya and Cole joined the hug.

There was a lecture to be had and a lesson to be learned here, but not right now. Right now they needed to comfort their too-kind little brother as he came to terms with the fact that even with powers there would always be some people he just couldn't save.

Needless to say, after collapsing, Lloyd was banned from going to the hospital alone.

This fact was hammered home by the lecture he got from Kai and a second one from Nya (right after Kai's, just to make sure it sank in), then another one from Zane who was distraught to find out his health scan failed to pick up on his condition and tried to encourage Lloyd to take better care of himself, and then one from his mother who was frantic to hear Lloyd had been in the hospital as a patient, then yet another one from Spike Kai who pointed out he'd be a setting a bad example for Lil'Loyd by running himself into the ground. What followed after that was even more lectures from Morro, both of the Wus, Sensei Garmadon, and even one from his father for good measure (that one was the least effective of the bunch, but Lord Garmadon didn't want the other adults to out-parent him).

His volunteer hours were once again on the weekends with Cole, and occasionally the other Ninja joined in as well. Big Nelson and the hospital staff were given strict orders not to let him in unless there was at least one other friend (Ninja or otherwise) with him. The hospital staff, though confused, agreed, thinking Lloyd collapsed from overworking himself, though Big Nelson looked like he had other suspicions but wasn't going to say anything.

While Lloyd had argued against the restrictions at first (even with the endless line of lectures), eventually his team managed to convince him he'd been overdoing it. Especially once they pointed out that him passing out like that during a mission would be far too dangerous. And besides, even if he was just going on weekends, he was still doing a lot of good.

He was helping.

But was it enough?

As Saturday rolled around, and Lloyd once again entered the pediatric ward to be swarmed by bright smiles and eager children, several of whom looked far healthier than the last time he visited, he felt something warm inside him.

Yeah, it was enough.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

Red Nya grinned in anticipation as the Ultra Dragon flew her and her mech to the other Ninjago.

It was time for her weekly samurai mech training with the Samurai Sisters.

She was very proud that her Samurai Mech had spurred Skylor and Penny Pixal to take on their own armor to act as samurai in their world like she did in hers. It was just a nice feeling to be the inspiration for someone else.

The fact that she genuinely liked both girls was a plus too, and getting to ride Ultra was always fun.

Though, she did feel a little bad making Ultra fly her mech there and back every time. Maybe she should consider building a second one in the Other Ninjago or installing that dimension jumping tech Mei built into her new bike (both she and Cyan Nya were beyond jealous when they saw what she and the Lloyds had built, even if they were still perfecting it).

Before she could come to a decision, Ultra came into a landing on the top of Borg Tower and placed her mech down atop the roof.

"Thanks, Ultra," Nya said as she slid off their back. "You can go hang with the other Dragons now."

Ultra's heads let out a snort, before flying off towards the harbor, where most of the dragons prefer to roost under Meowthra's mothering gaze.

Leaving her mech on the roof, for now, Nya went to the elevator and pressed a doorbell Cyrus Borg had jokingly installed after the Ninja Force had arrived via the roof so many times.

An intercom set into the elevator buzzed, and a secretary's voice called, "Yes, who is it?"

"It's Ruby Smith," said Nya, giving the fake name she'd use on this Ninjago when 'Red' wouldn't cut it. "Here to visit Pixal and Skylor Borg."

The secretary hummed in acknowledgment. "Nice to see you again, Ruby. Sending the elevator now. It'll take you to their floor."

"Thanks," Nya called back as the elevator doors in front of her opened.

The elevator took her down to the apartment portion of the building, which the Borg family resided inside. She came in to see Pixal waiting for her already dressed in her samurai armor.

"Set to go already?" asked Nya in amusement.

"Yes, I am most eager to go out and prepared to kick some butt," said Pixal brightly.

Nya snickered, then glanced around, not seeing the other Samurai Sister. "Where's Skylor?"

"She will join us momentarily," said Pixal. "She is just a bit busy at the moment."

"Busy with what?" asked Nya.

"Busy feeding this spoiled noodle," said Skylor fondly walking past also in her armor with a python draped around her shoulders. "Chelsea knows I'm a sucker for her baby-doll eyes."

Chelsea the python just flicked her tongue and looked both pleased and full of mice as Skylor placed her back down into her tank. After Chen's imprisonment, Skylor had taken over caring for his pet snake, and she seemed much happier under the girl's care as opposed to her father's. Still…

"I'm honestly surprised Luh-Loyd didn't add her to his pet collection when he had the chance," said Nya jokingly. "Might be nice to finally have a pet he can actually fit in his bedroom."

"Oh, he offered, but I turned him down," Skylor replied with a grin. "Chelsea's the one part of my old family I actually liked. I'm keeping her. Still, I have an eager pet-sitter if I ever need one".

"He checked out numerous books from the library on the care and health of snakes should the need ever arise," added Pixal in amusement.

Nya laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"

With the snake situated, the three girls returned to the roof, and Pixal remotely opened a shed on the top, revealing two more samurai mechs much like Nyas. One in shining silver and lavender, the other in warm oranges and golds.

Before long, the three took to the air and began practicing maneuvers around the city.

"Hey, look! It's the Samurai Sisters!" called a kid on a balcony as they flew past, and several more people began crowding around to catch a glimpse of the three flying mechs.

Nya smiled and had her mech wave its hand towards the people, which made them cheer.

"Red, do their assumptions ever bother you?" asked Pixal as she flew next to Nya.

"Do what assumptions bother me?" asked Nya as she focused on flying again.

"That the majority of our Ninjago City believes you to be our third sister," said Pixal.

That gave Nya pause, as she hadn't really thought about it. "Does it bother you?" she asked back.

Skylor swooped over to fly alongside them as well. "Not really," she replied. "For one thing, it's easier on us. At the Ninja Force's suggestion, we've been keeping our identities secret for now, and having them think there's a third sister out there has kept people from realizing it's us under these helmets."

"Oh, so I'm just a good identity cover, huh?" Nya asked teasingly.

"No, we do not think that. Not at all. You are also an excellent teammate, wonderful friend, and an inspiring role model given that our mechs and fighting styles were adapted from you," said Pixal, seeming to miss the sarcasm.

Nya felt herself turning red under her helmet at the praise. "I- that was a joke, Pixal, but thanks."

"Ah, apologies, it is more difficult to pick up on sarcasm over the radio. I am better at discerning it with the added use of facial expressions," Pixal said. "Nevertheless, everything I said was true."

"Heck yeah, it is," agreed Skylor, doing a loopty-loop around them in agreement.

Nya nearly crashed into a billboard as she tried to control her blushing.

Fortunately for her, before she could stutter out some kind of response, the Sons of Garmadon decided to do a Flash Mob.

And their idea of a flash mob was a choreographed Dance of Doom routine chanting about how Lord Garmadon was their evil overlord that quickly devolved into a riot in the streets, making the civilians run for cover.

"Welp, cleanup on aisle six," said Skylor in her best customer service tone.

"Those guys are so weird. I'm glad Sensei Garmadon never got a cult," said Nya as she sent her mech swooping towards them.

"That you know of," replied Skylor in a spooky voice.

"Do not jinx her, Sister," said Pixal scoldingly, but she sounded amused.

"Yeah, well, now I know who to blame if one does show up," Nya said.

Fighting off the Sons of Garmadon wasn't difficult, but it was time-consuming and frustrating. None of the SoG seemed to be Master Builders, and therefore were not much of a threat when up against three mechs. Despite that, they were still spiteful, semi-crazy, and perfectly willing to cause as much destruction as possible while fighting back, making fighting them tedious.

"And one of them just set the building on fire," said Nya dryly as one SoG ran around using a lighter and a can of hairspray as a blow torch. "Great."

"You can use your powers to put it out, can't you?" asked Skylor as she was wrangling up a pair who were batting at her mech's feet with crowbars. They weren't really causing much damage, but the dents would be a pain to buff out.

Being in this Ninjago, and knowing Luh-Loyd's power would work for her, Nya reached out her hand towards a nearby fire hydrant to try and use her water powers with a call of, "On it!"

However, instead of the easy flow of water when Green was boosting her, Nya felt the barely-there trickles of how her powers usually felt instead.

Realizing what that meant, Nya stopped trying and asked, "Where's Luh-Loyd? I'm not feeling the Green."

"He and the Ninja Force are currently conducting training out in the desert. I have informed them of the situation, and they are prepared to come to our aid should the need arise, though I do not believe that they will be necessary," said Pixal as she caught an SoG member in mid-air after he tried jumping off a lamp post to attack her.

"And Skylor doesn't have Green in her arsenal?" asked Nya in frustration, flicking away another SoG trying to sneak attack her.

"Yeah, well, after my first experience with using Green, I've honestly avoided absorbing it," said Skylor, an audible wince in her voice. "Turns out I'm kinda too pessimistic to use it to its full power, and it actually makes me weaker because I keep thinking about everything that can go wrong. Not all of us have Lloyd's absolute faith and trust. Thankfully, one of the things Lloyd's Green boost lets me do is pick and choose which powers I hold on to and how long. Still, you should still be able to use your powers," she added. "Green makes it easier and stronger, but the power itself comes from you."

Nya scowled, knowing that's how things should be with her powers, but in her case, it just wasn't. But that's what her mech was for.

Instead of even trying to use her powers again, Nya stomped her mech over to the fire hydrant and kicked it over, allowing the water to come gushing out in a spout. She then used the foot of her mech to direct the water at the growing flames, causing them to thankfully fizzle out before they could do too much damage.

"That works too," said Skylor as she managed to grab the SoG who started the fire before she could slink off.

Soon enough, the Sons of Garmadon that hadn't managed to flee were loaded into cop cars, and the girls took to the skies once again.

"I'd say that made for a pretty good practical lesson, don't you think?" said Nya as they flew. "No better training than doing."

"Indeed," agreed Pixal. "I believe our reaction time and prevention of property damage is better than the last time we fought the Sons of Garmadon, and I can see ways we can continue to improve."

"And it was fun knocking them off their high horse," added Skylor. "Those guys are annoying."

"That too," Pixal agreed.

Nya hummed in agreement. She didn't even live in this dimension, and she still found the fan club/cult irritating when she had to encounter them.

"Still, you didn't answer the question before," said Skylor, going back to their conversation at the start. "Does it bother you, being mistaken for our sister?"

She'd almost forgotten about that. Nya took the time to mull over the question for a long minute before responding. "You know, when I first started as Samurai X, it was something for me to do to help out since I didn't think I had powers. I never thought I'd share it with anyone. Heck, Kai and the others didn't even know it was me for months (despite doing their darndest to figure it out). It was my girls-only hobby in a club full of boys, ya know."

"I get that. I had some secret hobbies like that too," said Skylor. "Stuck on an island full of crooks, I needed something for myself."

"Still, I am sorry we have intruded on your personal creation," said Pixal woefully. "Though I fear it may be too late to rebrand now."

Nya grinned a bit beneath her helmet. "You're not intruding," she assured her. "Remember, I didn't say it was just for me."

There was a moment of thoughtful silence as the other two girls thought back to what she said before. "Oh, I see, you said it was girls-only, and we are both girls as well."

"Exactly," said Nya brightly. Her smile then turned wicked. "Besides, dimensions aside, Buddy is still my brother and Pep will get there eventually, so we may actually become sisters, you know, eventually."

Now it was Skylor and Pixal's turn to struggle with their controls as they blushed.

Taking pity on them, Nya said airily, "So Skylor, what was your sanity-saving hobby?"

Pixal quickly jumped on the change in topic. "Yes, Sister. What was it you enjoyed doing while in a place of such misery."

Skylor let out a laugh at the blunt but accurate way of describing her childhood home. "Well, there wasn't much for me to do inside the mansion that Chen or Clouse didn't control, but outside was a different story. I spent a lot of time on the island's beaches growing up, and I got really good at making sandcastles. What about you, Pix? Got anything fun to share?"

"Oh yes, Zane and I have been taking ballroom dancing classes. It has been most enjoyable," said Pixal cheerfully.

"Awww~" Nya cooed after hearing that.

The three Samurai flew off laughing and bantering as they went, looking every bit like the sisters the city believed that they were.

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago

Luh-Loyd waved Meowthra off as she deposited him outside of Steep Wisdom.

It wasn't often he got to be one of the assistant teachers in Sensei Garmadon's lessons. With all the local Ninja to choose from, Sensei Garmadon usually had his pick of helping hands. However, on occasion, the stars would align in a way that left all of them too busy to help out (in this case, it was a stakeout), and Luh-Loyd was usually his first pick as a substitute.

Luh-Loyd always enjoyed it when it did happen. He loved working with the kids and knew how important it was to know how to defend yourself even as a child.

Also, it let him spend time with Sensei Garmadon, which was always a treat.

Despite how close their families had grown since they'd met, things between Luh-Loyd and Sensei Garmadon were fairly quiet. Both of them liked each other (or at least, Luh-Loyd hoped Sensei Garmadon liked him, nothing he'd done had said otherwise), but neither had any idea how to spend time together outside of Family Game Nights. At least, not without a ready-made excuse.

Which was a real shame, because Lloyd had the utmost respect for Sensei Garmadon.

Don't get him wrong, he loved his Dad, and was glad to finally have him in his life, but that didn't change those persistent lingering wishes. Wishes that his family hadn't split. That his father had tried to reach out during his childhood. That he'd given up evil sooner. As happy as Lloyd was to have him now, part of him still lamented the lost time.

So when he heard about this world's 'Lord Garmadon'. Who sent shadows and skeletons to check up on his son. Who was locked away and still broke out of the Underworld to come to his child's rescue. Who made a wish to avoid ever having to hurt him. Who, despite being literally poisoned with evil, clearly and blatantly loved and cared for his son… Truth be told, Luh-Loyd had been a bit jealous.

But it also made Luh-Loyd keenly aware of how much effort Sensei Garmadon had made for his son, and he had to admire that.

Lloyd kicked off his shoes as he entered Sensei Garmadon's monastery, the teacher in question looked up at his arrival. "You're early?" he said.

Lloyd shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. "I didn't have a lot of homework, and figured you could use help setting up."

Sensei Garmadon still stared at him in clear surprise.

Starting to feel he was intruding, Lloyd quickly added, "If you don't need me yet, I can go check in on Lil'Loyd. He, uh, he told me he was disappointed the others were all busy today too. I think he's been feeling left out recently."

Sensei Garmadon shook his head. "Oh no, it's not that. I'm merely surprised you're volunteering to help. The Ninja are good assistants, but I normally need to ask them to come to help me set up." He then winked at Lloyd and added, "Twice."

Lloyd snickered hearing that.

Sensei Garmadon then hummed thoughtfully, and said, "Although, you are correct about my son. However, he and his friends decided to have one of their tea parties today instead." The sensei shook his head in bemusement. "Not an activity I ever thought he'd take to. I can only assume he somehow inherited Wu's love of tea from my side of the family."

"To be fair, the magic ones can be really cool," said Lloyd. "Morro and I used to dig through the tea pantry when we were kids to find out what all of them could do. It drove Uncle Wu nuts."

Sensei Garmadon let out a chuckle. "Well, I suppose then this must be my son's version of that. I know my brother is providing their tea, and he wouldn't give them anything dangerous." He then waved Lloyd further into the dojo. "Come along then, I'll tell you of today's lesson as we prepare the mats. I imagine quite a few students will be falling over today, and they will need a soft landing."

(Art by Destinymanticor)

Lloyd grinned and hurried after him.

The lesson went well. As Sensei Garmadon had suspected, there were several falling children involved, but the mats cushioned their fall. And just in case, Lloyd was quick to give them a cup of healing tea to take care of any bruises.

When the class was over, and all the students had gone home, Luh-Loyd stayed to help clean up.

"Another thing I have to tell the Ninja to do twice," Sensei Garmadon remarked good-naturedly as they folded the mats and put them away. "And my son at least three times when it comes to his room."

Lloyd chuckled as he stacked the mats in a closet. "Yeah, uh, I've always been tidy. Or I tried to be. I never wanted to cause my mom more trouble, or, you know, get blamed for a mess the other kids made."

That caused Sensei Garmadon to pause and look at him, and his face fell. "Oh."

Lloyd winced, knowing he'd made things awkward. "Yeah," he said.

"Did people blame you for such things often?" asked Sensei Garmadon.

"Yeah," Lloyd said again with a sigh. "Basically any time the teachers didn't know who caused a problem, they'd just blame it on me. Because the son of Lord Garmadon has to be bad, right? Or they'd pin it on my friends if I wasn't there because they have to be evil to hang out with me."

Sensei Garmadon's frown deepened. "I can see that as a habit many other children would take advantage of."

Lloyd's silence was very telling.

Sensei Garmadon sighed, then said, "I've said it before, and I know I will likely keep saying it for the rest of my life, but Luh-Loyd, thank you."

Lloyd blinked at that change in direction and turned to look at Sensei Garmadon in bewilderment.

Seeing his lost expression, Sensei Garmadon smiled and elaborated, "Thank you for offering yourself in my son's place. Thank you for finding the grail. Thank you for sparing my son the childhood you've had."

Lloyd looked flustered at the gratitude. "Wha-I- it wasn't just me," he said. "Spike and Lil'Loyd helped."

"I know," said Sensei Garmadon. "And I will be thanking both of them again when I see them next. However, I will never not be grateful for the second chance your combined actions have given me."

Lloyd could only stare at him as Sensei Garmadon placed the last mat into the closet and shut the door. "In fact, having heard your story, I am actually even grateful now for Wu trapping me in the Underworld during my son's infancy. As while it kept me from him, it also greatly limited the evil endeavors I could accomplish that would color others' view of him and his own view of himself."

Lloyd bit his lip and looked away.

"And if you had not found the grail when you did, I can only imagine how my continued actions against the Ninja and Ninjago itself would have affected public opinion of my son in the years it would have taken for him to grow into the hero he was meant to be," Sensei Garmadon continued.

"He's already a hero," said Lloyd automatically.

"That he is," said Sensei Garmadon with a nod. "And I couldn't be more proud of him."

Lloyd glanced down and smiled.

"Just as I couldn't be more proud of you for helping him accomplish it," Sensei Garmadon added.

Lloyd's head snapped back up to stare at him in shock.

"So, I say again, thank you, Luh-Loyd," said Sensei Garmadon. He then smiled, and added, "Also, thank you for helping me here today. I do appreciate it."

Lloyd bit his lip before, before giving in to the urge to give his father's counterpart a hug.

Seemed the respect he felt was mutual after all.

Sensei Garmadon grunted in surprise to find himself with his arms full of the teenager, but he hugged him back.

"Thank you for being a good dad to him despite it all, Sensei Garmadon," Lloyd said into his shoulder. "He's lucky to have you."

"I'm the lucky one," said Sensei Garmadon, patting Lloyd on the back. Then, as Lloyd pulled back, he added thoughtfully, "You know, I have wondered. My wife told me she started being called 'Aunt Missy' from you."

Lloyd looked flustered once again. "Uh, yeah," he admitted while rubbing his arm, "it's what I called her in my head, and then one day it just slipped out."

Sensei Garmadon smiled, and asked, "I don't suppose you have a name like that for me, do you?"

Lloyd looked even more embarrassed, then muttered, "Uh, well, yeah. Uncle Don," he said quietly.

Sensei Garmadon smiled and reached over to ruffle Lloyd's hair. "I like it."

Lloyd beamed.

After that, even if the other Ninja were available, Sensei Garmadon tried to invite Luh-Loyd to help with his classes more often.

Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago, one-week post-movie...

DAY 1

It took a while to repair the city and adjust to the new normal of Lord Garmadon not attacking every other business day. Especially for the Secret (or not so much anymore) Ninja Force, whose entire everything had been turned on its head by those events. As such, it took a while for them to meet for their regular training, but after a week Master Wu insisted they all be there, as he had something to teach them. What that was, he wouldn't say, only that it was important and that they all had to stay over on the Destiny's Bounty for a week to learn it.

School had not yet reopened from getting totaled and wasn't set to for another week anyway, so there really wasn't a reason for them to turn it down.

The fact that Morro was there to help him with it really should have been their first warning.

His cat that ate the canary grin and Master Wu's thinly veiled amusement should have been their second warning.

But it was only after Master Wu insisted this was mandatory and made the teens promise to do it all the way through that it sunk in that they weren't going to like this new training exercise.

And they were right.

They stood in a row as Master Wu paced in front of them. "It has come to my attention after our last debacle that I have neglected an integral part of your ninja training. In the jungle, all of you proved incapable of blending in with the shadows or any other form of basic stealth. And with your secret identities now compromised, I'm afraid for some missions, you will need such skills to avoid being recognized."

Lloyd winced, knowing that he was the reason everyone and their goldfish knew their identities, and opened his mouth to take the blame for it.

Morro saw what he was about to do, and spoke up before he could. "Don't apologize," he said firmly.

Lloyd froze with his mouth still open, and the others all turned their heads to look at him.

Master Wu looked over at him as well, and his gaze softened. "I do not mean to imply that is a bad thing," he said quickly. "Quite the opposite, as I've noticed all your lives have improved since your identities became known."

The Ninja Force all muttered a confirmation of that, still reeling from the fact that, for the first time in their lives since befriending Lloyd, people were being nice to them. Lloyd especially was thrown off by it, as the general populace hadn't ever been nice to him his entire life. And it wasn't just because the people didn't realize who they were, literally everyone knew who they were now. Not being constantly antagonized by every person they came across was a new thing for sure, and they were all still feeling like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Seeing how thrown the teenagers were by the simple fact they were being treated with basic human decency had Master Wu and Morro trading a grimace. No teenagers should be this surprised by something like that, and they hated that it took this long for it to happen.

"No, your identities being known is not a problem," Master Wu continued. "The problem lies in your inability to hide yourselves from even someone as easily distractible as my brother in a jungle full of hiding spots."

"Yeah… that was our bad," said Jay sheepishly. "We sucked at hiding."

"Says you, I was totally concealed," said Kai, only to get a smack from Wu's flute for his interruption.

"All you did was bury your head in the sand," said his teacher dryly. "Every other part of you could be easily seen."

"He did what?" Morro asked, looking tickled pink (well, pinker than he normally was) at the mental image.

Kai only glowered at him.

Morro smirked back at the sight of it. "I'd be careful who I glare at if I were you, Pyro," he said smugly. "I'm helping Wu run these lessons, so I have a hand in how it goes for you."

Kai stopped glaring and shot a frantic look at Master Wu. "Wait, he can't do that, right?"

Master Wu only stroked his beard. "I believe the added challenge could prove beneficial to you, within reason," he said vaguely.

Kai groaned and Morro's grin widened, knowing that meant Master Wu would basically let Morro have free reign in making 'additions' to the lesson so long as it didn't put anyone in danger. And dying of embarrassment was not something their teacher considered a real threat.

"Face it," said Morro. "You're all in our Stealth Training Boot Camp now."

Kai looked ready to argue anyway, but Nya elbowed him in the gut to keep him from digging himself into a hole. "Okay, let's hear it," she said in a resigned tone. "What do you have for us first?"

"To start off," said Master Wu, spinning his flute in his hand for dramatic effect, "Hide and seek."

That threw the others off. "Hide and seek?" asked Cole.

"Oh boy," said Zane cheerfully. "I love hide and seek."

"Ninja hide and seek," said Morro with a grin. "Anywhere is fair game, so get creative. The better you do the less painful the next challenge is going to be for you, and stay hidden until Wu or I find you."

"And if you don't find us?" asked Lloyd optimistically.

His uncle only shot him an amused look and played a few notes of One Way or Another on his flute, making it clear that he and Morro finding them was inevitable.

Morro grinned at them deviously, and shouted, "GO!"

The six teens just stared at him oddly and didn't move.

Master Wu stopped playing his flute, and said, "You all fail."

"WHAT?" shouted the teens.

"But he didn't count down!" Jay protested.

"And you expect your enemies to count down for you?" asked Morro dryly. "When you need to hide, you hide."

Master Wu nodded in agreement. "And since all of you are tied in your failure, you will share in the punishment."

Morro grinned and began pulling out buckets of different colored mud, none of which smelled pleasant.

"The art of using natural camouflage," their teacher said.

The Ninja Force gulped in dread.

Camouflage practice ended up going long into the night, with them being made to learn everything they could cover themselves in to blend in with their surroundings. And I mean everything, though Master Wu made sure they'd had all their shots for some of them.

And so began what came to be known as Wu (and Morro)'s Stealth Training Boot Camp from Heck.

DAY 2

And so a pattern arose in their training. First was a round of Ninja Hide and Seek, followed by a lesson in stealth.

Let it be known that the Ninja Force learned from their mistakes and bolted the next time Morro said, "Go!".

It didn't help, Morro and Wu found all of them within two minutes and critiqued their poor hiding skills.

"Punishment today is..." said Master Wu as Morro pulled out a covered box.

The Ninja looked at it like it was about to bite them.

"... The art of moving without sound… " Master Wu continued dramatically.

"That doesn't sound so bad," said Lloyd.

"Yeah, I'm, like, super sneaky," said Kai eagerly, despite being the least subtle of them.

"... While wearing these," Master Wu finished with a nod to Morro.

With a flourish, Morro pulled the cover off the box, revealing it to be full of Christmas-themed lederhosen with large bells sewn along all the straps. They looked ridiculous and none of them could even fathom being able to move in them without the bells jingling.

Nya reached over to smack both Lloyd and Kai on the shoulders. "You jinxed it," she hissed.

"Suit up," said Morro, enjoying the horrified looks on their faces, not at all helped by Master Wu playing Jingle Bells on his flute.

Needless to say, it was a very noisy lesson until Zane figured out he could just freeze the bells silent, which wasn't quite what Master Wu was going for, but he got points for ingenuity.

The rest of the day was spent with them learning to be as silent as possible, punctuated by Morro throwing things at them (silently) whenever one of them made the tiniest of sounds.

The Ninja Force weathered it as best they could, but all of them were fed up when he even did it if they slept noisily.

Still, they couldn't deny it was a great way to quiet Cole's earth-shaking snores.

DAY 3

The lessons only got more ridiculous from there. The Ninja Force found themselves having to do everything from hide themselves in an empty room, to making their way through a very tight maze of dominos without knocking any over, to sneaking up on Wu and having to steal his hat from him at least for a second over the course of a week. At the very least, their hiding skills were improving by the day.

And all that was just for sneaking. Eventually, Master Wu and Morro felt it came time for them to learn about disguises too.

For that, Master Wu got permission from Cole's father to use the costumes in his theater.

"Of course, you can use them," said Lou Brookstone good-naturedly, leading them into the racks of costumes and props. He then turned to his son and added, "Going incognito is just another type of acting, son, just with far more improv than script. I'm sure you'll do marvelously."

The comparison seemed to help ease the tension in Cole, but the rest of them lacked the theater background to be comforted.

And of course, Master Wu had to twist the knife. "Morro will be the one choosing which types of disguises you will be wearing."

The Ninja Force looked over at Morro in dread. "This is going to be super embarrassing, isn't it?" asked Kai.

Morro barked a laugh. "OHHHH yeah it is," he said.

The teenagers all groaned.

Morro laughed harder at their reactions. "It's for your own good," he told them like they were little kids who didn't want to brush their teeth. "On some missions, you're going to need disguises, and those disguises won't always be glamorous or 'your style', or even look that good on you," he said with air quotes. "They'll have to be what your enemies won't expect you to wear, that way they won't see you coming until it's too late. The sooner you stamp out any embarrassment about that, the better and more convincing you'll be. "

"And what sorts of ensembles will our foes not be anticipating?" asked Zane curiously.

Morro's grin widened. "Welp, the bad guys will be expecting five guys and a girl coming after them, and you'll soon find gender can be quite blinding."

There was a heavy beat of silence as they absorbed that statement, then Jay let out a very squeaky, "... What?"

Of all the things expected to come out of Stealth Boot Camp, finding out both Lloyd and Kai could rock a dress was not one of them.

"Oh, that is so not fair!" said Nya, in a brunette wig and an identical dress to her twin, and yet somehow, despite looking awkward, he was still wearing it better.

Momentarily forgetting said awkwardness, Kai sent his sister a smug look, ran a hand through his for once gel-less hair, and struck a pose. "Jealous, Sis?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Nya, nodding past him. "Of Lloyd."

"Fair enough," agreed Kai with a nod and glanced over at the blond.

Lloyd, whose resemblance to his mother was only heightened by the green dress he was wearing, flushed. Though whether he was blushing from the compliments or from embarrassment was anyone's guess. It just ended up making him look prettier. He only turned steadily redder when Master Wu started playing Oh, Pretty Woman.

Jay, in his own ruffled blue dress, and his curls attempted to be pulled into short messy pigtails, looked around the dressing room. "Uh, where's Zane?" he asked.

Cole, next to him in a dark turtleneck, skirt, and headband, shrugged.

"Right here!" said a preppy voice, and they all turned to see one of the girls from their school cheerleading squad step out from behind the racks of clothes.

Everyone stared. "Uh… Zane?" asked Lloyd, wondering if that was really him or if one of the cheer squad had snuck in.

The cheerleader's form flickered to show Zane standing beneath a hologram. "I am a master of disguise," he said brightly.

"Cool," said Cole, and the others all voiced their agreement and slight jealousy he didn't have to wear awkward outfits.

Zane beamed, but that didn't last long as Morro's hand came down on his shoulder. "Neat trick, Tinman," he said. "But you shouldn't rely solely on that. Get changed," and he shoved the Nindroid back into the racks to find an actual disguise.

"Tough luck, Zane," Jay called after him.

"As for the rest of you," said Morro, turning to face the rest of them with a wicked grin and holding up a pair of stilettos. "Next up, learning to walk in heels."

All of the disguised ninja groaned.

They all soon found that while Kai's good looks in a dress were unexpected, his absolute inability to walk in heels could be seen coming from a mile away. It was decided if he ever had to play the part of a girl, flats were a must.

That didn't stop Morro from making him wear them for the rest of the day.

And run through an obstacle course with them with no dinner until they completed it...

Kai was dead last.

DAY 4

Another day, another set of disguises. This time it was facial hair.

Jay had to clap his hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter at the sight of Cole with a beard. "You look like a lumberjack," he said between snickers.

Cole stroked his beard and looked down at Jay with a massive handlebar mustache. "You just look ridiculous," he said.

Jay shrugged. "To be honest I think anyone would look silly with this." He then glanced over at Zane and frowned. "Why does Zane look like he's going to take over for Garmadon as our next big threat?"

Zane, who did look uncharacteristically sinister with a goatee, spun around slowly on a revolving chair with his fingers laced together before him. "Oh, so you have caught on to my clever ruse," he said, trying to sound malevolent and failing with his automated voice.

Cole huffed a laugh. "Well, at least you look the part."

"You just need a cat in your lap to finish the scene," agreed Jay.

Zane's eyes lit up at the idea. "Lloyd, may I borrow Meowthra?" he called over to their leader.

Lloyd, who somehow looked sillier than Jay in a far tamer mustache, snickered at the idea. "I think my cat's too big to sit on your lap."

"I don't know," said Kai, whose mustache didn't suit him at all. "I think it'd be a pretty terrifying villain to have a skyscraper-sized cat lounging around while you give an evil speech." He then glanced around, noticing one of them was missing. "Wait? Where's Nya?"

At that moment, Nya slid into view, her usual ponytail tied lower similar to how Morro wore his hair, her own mustache on her lips, and dressed like a male fashion model. "Come. Fly with me, gatinha!" she said with a suave accent and offered out her hand to Jay like she was asking him to run away with her, and looking every bit like a dreamboat as she did so.

Jay turned red and fainted on the spot, forcing Cole to catch him as he swooned.

"Inside Out, nice," said Zane brightly, recognizing the quote.

"Oh, that is not fair," said Kai, realizing she was pulling off the same mustache as him way better than he was.

"Jealous?" Nya asked smugly twirling her mustache, and Kai stuck his tongue out at her in response.

"You do know goofing around with facial hair isn't the lesson here, right?" asked Morro, who along with Master Wu had been mostly ignored up to that point.

The teens continued to ignore him, and Master Wu chuckled at his son's offended sputtering when he saw that.

DAY 5: 3 A.M.

They should have known Morro wouldn't take their disregarding him well.

He was petty like that.

Still, none of the Ninja Force was expecting him to yank them from their bunks on the Bounty in the middle of the night as payback. Well, he said it was still a totally planned part of training, but they all knew it was payback.

There was absolutely no reason they had to be faking recognition for weird (and pretty disgusting) exotic foods at 3 AM. Cole was really the only one pulling it off.

"Why are we doing this so late?" asked Nya, trying to keep herself from falling asleep on a platter of fairly rank-smelling cheese.

Morro grinned at him too wide to be sincere. "You're going to need the energy," he said ominously, trying to make them nervous.

It was working, at least in Jay's case. "Uh, energy for what?" he asked warily as he tried to eat something gray and unidentifiable without gagging.

Morro's grin only widened.

"Uncle Wu?" Lloyd hopefully. Though whether he was hoping for his uncle to tell them what was coming or that he'd intervene and let them go back to bed was hard to tell.

Master Wu just sipped his tea and said, "It is relevant to your training, so I'll allow it," he said.

"Allow what?" Kai asked, the uncertainty getting to him (that or the escargo he just ate was getting to him).

"Disguise practice to the extreme," said Morro, and didn't elaborate more than that.

They all stared at him.

"Sounds fun," said Zane brightly.

It was not fun.

They spent the next three hours being made to wear and convincingly act as all of the worst possible disguises imaginable. Everything from clowns to giant costume animals, to sanitation workers. Points were docked if they laughed at each other, and if they cringed or complained, it was a guarantee that their next disguise would be worse.

Master Wu and Morro went through the entire lesson straight-faced, but Jay swore up and down there were hidden cameras everywhere for them to laugh at later on. Something none of the other teens could prove but didn't doubt in the least.

Needless to say, they vowed to try not to anger Morro in their coming lessons.

Though how long that resolution would last would depend entirely on how cranky they were the next morning. And that Kai would break it first was no bet.

DAY 5 PROPER

Next up was makeup. Something only Nya and Cole had any experience in.

"Though, I'm really only good at theater makeup," said Cole as he worked to cover Kai's scar and make him look years older.

"What's the difference?" Kai asked. As far as he knew, makeup was makeup.

Cole held up a mirror for Kai to see, and when he looked into it he saw that the makeup on his face looked pretty clearly there, and his skin looked a little orange too. While he didn't really look like himself, as a disguise it likely wouldn't fool anyone.

"Exaggeration," Cole said in explanation. "Theater makeup needs to be seen even from the back row, and not make your skin shiny and pale under the spotlights. From a distance, it can look convincing, but when you see it up close it's pretty obvious."

Morro, who'd been observing his progress, stepped in at that time and began scrubbing Kai's face with a washcloth covered in makeup remover. "Well, Phones, you've got the starting foundation there-" he started to say.

"Haha!" Jay giggled at the makeup pun, making Zane's attempt to give him a fake scar turn squiggly.

"-Pun not intended," said Morro when he realized what Jay was laughing at. "We just need to practice so it looks convincing up close instead of from far away."

Lloyd cracked an eye open from where Nya was painting his face with eyeshadow. "How do you know all this stuff, anyway?" he asked curiously. "Uncle Wu may be setting up these lessons, but you've been the one doing most of the teaching."

Morro glanced around at all of them, seeing more curious looks pointed in his direction (except for Kai, who Morro still had his face smothered in the makeup cleaning cloth).

"He knows because everything he is teaching you, I taught him many years ago," said Master Wu from where he was observing their progress. "And in some ways, this is a lesson for him too, to see how much he has retained and improved since then."

Kai forced the cloth off his face and looked up at Morro. "Wait, you did this stuff too?" he asked.

Morro's face made it clear that he was having flashbacks to his own horror stories of stealth boot camp.

"Why?" asked Nya. As far as they knew, while Morro helped Wu with gathering information and running lessons, he was never in the line of fire.

Morro looked at her like that was a stupid question. "Why do you think, Wipe-Out?" he said. "Until recently, I was the son of one of the biggest obstacles to Uncle Garmadon's victory. No matter if I was in a Ninja suit or not, I was a target. A weakness. Especially when I was younger. Wu taught me this stuff as a matter of survival."

The Ninja Force exchanged glances, having never thought of that. Morro had always been older than them, bigger than them, and stronger than them. The idea of him being seen as weak had never crossed their minds.

Lloyd, especially, looked stricken. "But-but, no, Dad wouldn't-" he started to protest.

"No, Uncle Garmadon wouldn't have hurt me," Morro was quick to assure him. "Maybe kidnap me and try to tempt me to the dark side just to stick it to Wu, but he wouldn't hurt me. Pretty sure he's got a rule against hurting kids."

Master Wu nodded. "He does," he said grimly, clearly remembering something that made him angry. "His generals, on the other hand, are a different story."

All eyes snapped back to Morro hearing that.

"I'm fine, Shrimp," said Morro, reaching over to ruffle Lloyd's hair when he saw the worry in his eyes. "There were a few occasions where a general with more ambition than sense tried something, but I was always able to get away. These lessons were a big help with that."

The Ninja Force all stared down at their makeup kits with new appreciation.

Morro coughed awkwardly as he tried to get back into teaching mode. "Right, makeup, disguises. What you need is…"

The lesson continued on, but everyone felt a shift in the air as the teens paid closer attention than they had previously to what Morro was trying to tell them.

After that point, all of them began taking these lessons more seriously.

Morro still woke them up at 3 AM again for a pop quiz regardless.

DAY 6

Eventually, they were given a more hands-on challenge.

"While not every villain you will face will have an army at their disposal, a good few likely will," Master Wu explained as they looked at a rack of fish-general costumes and lab coats. "As such, being able to blend in with that army without getting caught could be vital for a mission."

"You want us to infiltrate the volcano?" asked Lloyd.

"Yes," said Master Wu. "For the entire day without my brother or any of those working there discovering you. If you are made to leave, you fail."

"Does Lord Garmadon know we will be taking part in this exercise?" asked Zane curiously.

Master Wu stroked his beard and shrugged. "Hard to say," he said. "I did send him a letter informing him you will be coming today as an extra challenge, but given his habit of tossing anything from me into the fire, I have no way to be certain if he read it or not."

The Ninja Force exchanged a glance and nodded. Yeah, that sounded like Lord Garmadon.

Morro, meanwhile, had a devious grin on his face, which could only mean trouble.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Kai decided to bite the bullet and said, "Alright, Morro, let's hear it."

Morro shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, the exercise is just spending the day in the volcano without Uncle G or the staff realizing you don't belong. I'm just offering up extra credit. Complete the extra challenge and you get to pick your own final exam."

"And if we don't complete the challenge?" asked Cole.

Morro's smirk widened. "Then I get to pick your final exam."

The Ninja Force all felt a cold chill go down their spine at that possibility.

"What is the extra challenge?" asked Zane.

Morro held up a stack of papers and handed one to each of them. "Stick this on Uncle Garmadon's back without getting caught or fired, and text me a picture to prove you did it."

The teens all looked at the papers they were handed.

Written in large bold letters in each of their signature colors were the words 'Kick Me!'

Jay stared down at his paper in horror. "We're all gonna die," he said.

Thankfully, Morro had mercy on them and gave them some tips to not get caught.

"Never look like you're lost. Even if you have no clue where you're going, try to look like you do anyway. If anyone asks who you are just rattle off any number you can think of, they don't keep track unless it's their own, and on the off chance you do say their number, just tell them that someone ahead of them got fired. Trust me, they'll believe it. Try to aim for a higher number, since those are the new recruits who haven't established themselves yet, but don't go higher than 200. And whatever you do, don't tell anyone your number is 7. General #7 has been #7 forever and they will know you're lying," Morro advised them as they made their way to the volcano in a sub he Master Built for the trip.

Lloyd stared at his cousin incredulously. "Wait, how do you know all this? How many times have you snuck over there?"

"Oh look, we're here," said Morro, ignoring the question, and kicking them out of the sub onto an empty dock in the volcano's interior. "Good luck. Don't get blasted out of the volcano."

"Wait, you didn't answer my question, and Dad promised not to do that anymore," Lloyd protested.

"Maybe not when you're around to see him do it. And as for your question, I'll just leave you to wonder," was Morro's reply with a smirk, before shutting his sub's hatch and sinking into the water, leaving the disguised Ninja Force to their own devices inside the lair of their recently retired nemesis.

"Stupid Morro," Kai grumbled as they saw him leave, and the others all mumbled their agreement.

"Hey!" called a voice from another dock, making them all jump. The six disguised teens wheeled around to see one of Lord Garmadon's generals giving them a dirty look. "You're not getting paid to stand around. Get to renovating, this volcano needs to be less evil and more businessy by Tuesday."

"Right, we are on it!" Lloyd called back, and the once again 'Secret' Ninja Force scattered to begin their infiltration of the volcano.

Surprisingly, by the end of the day, no one got caught, but it looked like none of them would accomplish Morro's extra task. Nya and Jay (who had disguised themselves as scientists) were stuck in the labs the entire time doing very boring paperwork. Kai got demoted and put on barnacle scrubbing duty for some of the aquatic mechs. Zane somehow got promoted for being such a diligent worker, but that kept him too busy to seek Garmadon out. Lloyd got personally fired by his father, who didn't recognize him and got very awkward and ducked away when 'General #143' gave him exceptionally sad kitty eyes and a quivering lip upon getting his pink slip. Lloyd remained distraught over this event for hours afterwards. Fortunately for him, some of the other generals took pity on him and took him to a breakroom and told him to take all the time he needed to compose himself, so despite being fired he managed to stay in the volcano for the remaining allotted time.

However, just when the Ninja Force started to make their excuses to reach the meeting place to be picked up by Morro, their phones buzzed.

Pulling them out, they were all shocked to see a slightly blurry picture of Lord Garmadon walking with his back to the camera and a 'Kick Me' sign written in black ink taped to his back.

'Mission Accomplished,' Cole texted all of them.

Though shocked Cole actually managed to accomplish this, they all had to beat a hasty retreat after that, because relinquishing evil or no, Lord Garmadon would not be happy to find that sign on his back later.

Funnily enough, it was Lloyd's fake persona of 'General #143' that was blamed for that event, and his disguised face was posted on a wall of shame as someone blacklisted from the volcano. Upon learning that the next time he visited the volcano as himself, Lloyd made his friends swear to never tell his father the truth.

(The fired General #143 was considered a hero for years to come by Lord Garmadon's overworked employees, especially ones who later got fired. All of them wished they had the guts to put a 'Kick Me' sign on Lord Garmadon.)

They weren't awakened at 3 AM this time. Morro said it was because they needed their rest for what was to come.

That did not inspire confidence, and somehow they got even less sleep.

DAY 7

Finally, there was nothing more Master Wu and Morro could teach them, and it came time for their final exam. Each of them were given a task they needed to sneak and/or disguise themselves without being found out.

Since Cole was the only one to stick his sign on Lord Garmadon, he got to choose his own task, and upon hearing their music teacher wasn't coming back when school reopened, he took it upon himself to fill in the position as a sub. A little bit of hacking help from Jay, and 'Mr. Dangerbuff' would be teaching them music for a day when school started the next day, and only the Ninja Force would know otherwise.

The rest of them had their tasks picked by Morro.

"Okay, Squeaky," he said to Jay, handing him a piece of paper. "Here's your challenge. There's this really snooty 'Explorer's Club' at this address, and they're super exclusive about who they let in. Your mission is to infiltrate their headquarters and bring back one of their relics they keep in that dusty old attic of theirs."

Jay looked up at the college student, scandalized. "You want me to steal?" he asked.

"Yes," said Morro bluntly.

"But-" Jay started to protest.

Morro held up a hand to cut him off, "Look, if stealing from a bunch of pretentious old farts is too much for you, you can just borrow it and mail it back to them later (their reactions to that would actually be pretty hilarious). But if you don't want another week of boot camp, you're stealing an artifact."

That shut Jay up. The last thing he wanted was to go through boot camp again.

Lloyd, however, knew his cousin's moods and was less intimidated. "What'd they do to you?" he asked. "That sounds kinda personal."

Morro huffed. "Let's just say they're a very opinionated bunch, and had a lot to say about how me, Tox, and Shade dress when we walked by their place not too long ago, and they told Neuro he should ditch 'riffraff' like us before we dragged him down to 'our level'," he said miffed for both his friends and his own sake.

All of the Ninja Force winced, knowing that those old men had definitely gained Morro's ire if that were true. Morro's pride and protective nature were two forces to be reckoned with, and it sounded like the men had ticked off both at once.

Morro shook himself to get out of his funk and turned to Zane, giving him his own paper. "As for you, Tinman, this is the address of a Sons of Garmadon hangout. Infiltrate there and try to find out what crazy stunt they're gearing up for. Word on the street is they didn't take Uncle Garmadon's turning good too well and are planning something to encourage him to go back to the Darkside."

Zane looked thrilled and used his holograms to make him look more like a typical Sons of Garmadon member. "Oh boy," he said, his bright tone not matching his biker punk appearance. "I get to be a spy! My life is now complete."

Morro smirked a little at his enthusiasm. "Just make sure to keep your cover so they don't end your life. You guys are the reason they're so upset, after all."

Cole frowned upon hearing that. "Wait, you're making him go alone?" he asked, and the others looked concerned as well.

Morro shrugged. "Well, Phones, I was going to have you go with him, but you're all set to be a music teacher now, soooo…"

Cole shot him a dirty look, then rolled his eyes. "You know what, I changed my mind. I'll go with Zane."

"Hooray!" cheered Zane, thrilled to hear that, and wrapped an arm around Cole's shoulders. "We will be partners in crime."

Morro grinned like he had planned that from the start. "Just try not to do any actual crime. I'm not bailing you out if you do."

"Bold of you to assume we'd be caught," said Cole with a smirk.

"That's the right attitude," Morro said. He then turned his attention to the last three. "And as for you. I've got a big job for the three of you..."

Lloyd, Kai, and Nya all gulped audibly hearing that.

Her name was Harumi, she was fifteen years old, and things had not been going well for her lately.

First, she hadn't been able to meet her idol when he took over her mother's tower after he finally defeated those annoying Ninja.

The second, was when Lord Garmadon got eaten by that stupid demon cat, only to be spat out proclaiming he was giving up evil and being good just because his stupid son (who was the freaking Green Ninja this whole time) guilted him into it.

And now she wasn't even able to join her fellow SoG members to plan how to fix this horrible turn of events (and FSM knew they'd all be lost without her directing the meeting) because her stupid adoptive mother thought it'd be good PR or something to sign her up for the Miss Ninjago Beauty Pageant.

Whatever, at least winning the pageant might help improve her mood.

Except she didn't win…

She didn't even get second!

No, she, the daughter of the mayor, Ninjago City's beloved princess, got third! Third! Robbed of the first place spot by an attractive blonde in a lime-green dress and hair chopsticks, and shunted from second by a brunette dressed in red and wearing flats.

To make matters worse, it was all documented on camera by a very handsome young man with a mustache and ponytail who was apparently their modeling agent and photographer, which was just all kinds of not fair.

But given the cameras were still rolling, Harumi could only grin and bear it as the blonde was given the crown and she was stuck with the bronze.

The second she was off stage she swore vengeance, only to find the blonde, brunette, and their manager had all vanished without a trace, which was just the cherry on top of Harumi's bad mood.

One day, somehow she would find them and make. Them. Pay!

As Lloyd drove back up to their secret mech warehouse to meet up with the others, he realized he wasn't embarrassed about having just won a beauty contest.

"Huh, Morro was right," said Lloyd.

Kai, who'd been admiring himself in the reflective surface of his medal, glanced over at him dubiously. "Right about what?" he asked.

"The quicker we get over our embarrassment about the disguises, the easier it is to keep them up," said Lloyd.

Kai froze as that seemed to occur to him too, and he realized he was actually proud of the silver medal in his hand.

Nya grinned as she pulled off her mustache. "And now we know who the fairest in the land is," she said. "Hail Beauty Queen Lloyd."

Lloyd smiled bashfully and fiddled with the crown still on his head.

They walked into the warehouse to see the others had returned as well.

Kai stopped dead when he caught sight of Jay. "Uh, Jay, what is that?"

Jay glanced down at the severed, mummified hand perched on his shoulder, and opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, Zane shoved a cup into his hands and gave him a pleading look. Unable to resist the LED puppy eyes, Jay sheepishly said, "A smoothie."

Zane beamed and the others rolled their eyes fondly. "Zane, what have we said about memes," said Cole.

Then, the mummified hand leaped off Jay's shoulder, snatched the cup away from him, put it onto its dismembered wrist, and scuttled away like a hermit crab.

Looking rather freaked out at the sight, Kai said again, "Seriously, though, what was that?"

"The artifact I stole from the Explorer's Clubhouse," said Jay. "They had it locked up in a box in their attic, and it practically begged me to take it away from there."

"Oh, poor thing," said Lloyd, looking sad for the hand.

Morro was grinning wickedly. "And I'm sure those explorers are going to flip when they realize it's gone."

"Is anyone else concerned about the fact we now apparently have a severed hand crawling around our warehouse somewhere?" asked Nya, peering under where the hand had gone and seeing nothing.

The walls gave a rattling sound like something skittering within them.

"Eh, I'm sure it's fine," said Morro, waving off her concern. He then turned to Cole and Zane. "How'd your mission go?"

"Pretty good," said Cole, still dressed like a biker punk with a mustache. "Since we looked the part, no one really gave us a second glance."

"We were not able to gain much intelligence, unfortunately," said Zane, who flickered off his holographic disguise. "It seems the leader of the Sons of Garmadon, Quiet1, was not able to attend until the very end and the meeting was quite unproductive in her absence."

"Best we could figure, they're planning some riot to show support for Lord G going back to evil, and it'll happen sometime next week," added Cole. He then glanced over at the two beauty pageant contestants. "Also, like we said, Quiet1 did call in at the very end. And for some reason, she put a hit out on you two."

Lloyd and Kai exchanged confused glances. "What, why?" they asked in unison.

Nya scowled. "She's probably jealous you're both prettier than she is," she said.

Lloyd looked concerned. "Wait, is there also a hit out on Harumi too?"

Cole frowned thoughtfully. "Surprisingly, no. The mayor's kid was left off the hit."

"That's weird, you'd think being the mayor's kid would be a better target than two random 'girls' even if we did beat her in the contest," said Kai.

Jay giggled nervously. "Maybe she doesn't think Harumi is competition," he said.

"So Quiet1 is prettier than Harumi, but not as pretty as Lloyd and Kai," said Cole. "That narrows it down."

No one saw Morro frown or Jay, Nya, and Zane exchange a knowing look.

"It's all just speculation," said Lloyd. "For all we know, Quiet1 just didn't like the answers we gave in the interview section."

"You did talk about how glad you were that Garmadon stopped being evil, and I said a lot of good stuff about the Ninja Force, so I could see how she'd take offense," Kai agreed.

"Either way, we have a winner," said Morro, moving over to ruffle Lloyd's hair and jostle his crown. "Good job, Shrimp."

Lloyd caught the crown before it fell off his head, and smiled.

"Indeed," said Master Wu, popping out of nowhere and startling all of them.

"Master Wu!" exclaimed the teenagers.

"Dang it, Wu, don't do that!" said Morro, for once just as surprised as the rest of them at his sudden appearance.

"You know, I thought with this training we'd finally learn how he does that," Jay grumbled.

Master Wu just smiled at them. "While all of you are now much better at stealth, there is always more to learn."

"Yeah," admitted Morro reluctantly. "Even I've not managed to reach the level of stealth Wu uses to troll people. I'll get there someday."

"I'm sure you will," said Master Wu, patting his son on the head slightly patronizingly, making Morro swat it away with an amused huff.

Master Wu then stood in front of his students. "Congratulations, Students," he said. "It seems you have achieved proficiency in the most fundamental of Ninja arts. Your ability to infiltrate places undetected will most certainly come in handy-" (As if on cue, the severed hand scuttled across the warehouse floor behind Master Wu.) "-in your future endeavors." He then played a few notes of 'We are the Champions' on his flute.

The Ninja Force watched the hand disappear underneath the giant armchair that housed Kai's mech, before turning their attention back to their teacher. "So does that mean we're done with this training?" asked Jay.

Master Wu stopped playing his flute and swung it so it was pointing directly at Jay, the end of it less than an inch from his nose. "No," he said sharply.

Jay jumped back with a yelp.

Addressing all of them, Master Wu continued. "As I said to Morro, there will always be more to learn, and I will be making sure you do not slack on the skills you've gained in this exercise."

"But…" Nya prompted, all of them sensing a 'but' coming on.

"But," Master Wu continued, "this is the end of the more 'intense' part of this training."

"Boot camp's over, kiddos," Morro agreed with a grin. "You did it."

The Ninja Force whooped and cheered that they made it through the training.

As he watched the teens group together to get out of their disguises and plan to go celebrate, Morro felt his smile slowly fade from his face. "You really think they're ready for whatever comes next?" he asked his adoptive father quietly so they wouldn't hear. "Stealth and disguise are great and all, but their anonymity was their greatest protection."

Master Wu let out a heavy sigh. "One can never be fully prepared for the futures they face. All we can do is give them the tools they need to give them their best chance. And besides, while the protection of their secret identities may be gone, I cannot deny the good that has come from their true faces being known. In some ways, they're more protected now than they ever were before."

Morro nodded, having to agree to that. The fact his cousin could walk down the street without half a dozen people threatening him for daring to be born was a miracle in and of itself.

"And whatever challenges they come to face, I will do all that I can to see them through it," Master Wu continued. "Just as I know you'll continue to watch over them however you can."

Morro's lips quirked back up into a smirk upon hearing that. "Count on it," he agreed. "They may have completed this training course, but I'm still better than they are by a mile."

Master Wu hummed in agreement.

Oblivious to this, the Ninja Force left the warehouse with smiles on their faces and a feeling of accomplishment.

Next time they needed to sneak past their enemies, they were going to be ready.