Archive of Our Own

Lloyd frowned, studying his reflection in the mirror. He had managed to get his hair bleached recently, covering up his evil dark locks. Next was a bit more difficult and hopefully, hopefully not too painful, he thought, prying open his mouth and getting a good look at the razor sharp fangs there. Holding the tool by his mouth steady, he leaned over the sink further, peering into his reflection—

“Lloyd? You okay? You’re gonna miss your first day of high school, y’know.” Koko calls, rapping on the bathroom door.

“Yeah! Yeah! Just a second mom!” Lloyd calls back, from where he’s hunched over the bathroom counter, file in his hands. His hands were trembling with nervousness, which was probably why he hadn’t made any progress at all yet.

“Lloyd?” There’s a banging on the door again, and he tenses up. “Lloyd, I will break this door down if i have too—“

Any shreds of willpower he had is gone now, Lloyd’s lost his resolve. Sighing, he sets down the file with a small clatter, turns from the mirror, and swings the door open. “Okay mom. I’ll… go get my shoes on.”

“Lloyd, what were you doing that took you so long?” Koko frowns, only growing more suspicious when he darts past her without responding. Looking back into the bathroom, she spots something, something no good, on the counter. “Now what were you doing with a file like this?”

He still doesn’t respond, frowning as he struggles with his tennis shoes.

“Lloyd?”

“Nothing.”

Koko doesn’t move, opting to lay on her parenting voice thick. “Don’t lie to me. Why—“

“Well, maybe — maybe I didn’t — wanttolooksoscaryanymore.” Lloyd mumbles.

“What?”

“I’m scary mom! It’s not just that I — I’m the son of an evil warlord, I—“ he takes a breath. “I have to look the part and scare all the other kids too.”

Koko’s at her son's side in an instant. “You, you were — your fangs, huh.”

Lloyd sniffles, answering her question for her.

“Lloyd, don’t do that, it’s going to — that’s just — well — y’know how I have orange hair?” She starts, stroking Lloyd’s head and pulling him into a hug.

Lloyd lets out a small chuckle. “No you don’t. The lady at the salon gave you—“

Koko squeezes him harder for a second. “Y’know how I have orange hair?”

“Yeah, yeah..” He says, long giving up on that particular truth.

“Well, some people think it’s weird. Or strange. But it’s a part of me, and I don’t want to change it — it makes me, me.” She smiles down at him. “And your fangs are what make you, you. Even if some people think it’s weird. Or strange, or scary — you just have to show them the real you.”

“You know that’s not the same, right?” Lloyd said.

Koko gasped in mock offense. “What? You don’t think my flaming orange hair is scary? I’m hurt.”

Lloyd laughed a little, purring a little more, which was enough to convince her. Releasing her son, she stood up. “Now are you ready for your first day of high school?”

Lloyd smiled slightly. “Sure, mom.”

Lloyd has no idea what they’re being loud about now, but he couldn’t really care. Jay’s shouting, Nya’s shouting back, Kai’s already thrown his controller, and Cole looks unreasonably smug holding his — if anything, Lloyd’s guessing that he won this round. It doesn’t really matter to him, he’s just happy to be here — he laughs and relaxes, leaning into the couch from where he’s sitting on the floor. Lloyd hasn’t felt this free in a long time, nothing to fret or worry about now, just him and his friends, hanging out, doing teen stuff! Like fighting over video games. It’s the dumb stuff that makes it worth it. It makes him feel all warm and fuzzy, forgive the overused phrase.

Lloyd doesn’t even realize he’s purring, falling into an unnatural old habit, until Jay jolts up from his position on the couch. “Wait. What was that?”

Lloyd panics. And with all panic, comes reasonable, well-thought decisions. He whips his fist to his chest to desperately stop it, and instead starts to break down coughing. More attention turns to him, but this is normal human stuff, Lloyd thinks with relief.

“You okay, Lloyd?” Cole asks.

Lloyd nods curtly. “Yup. All good.”

“What’s going on?” Kai calls, suddenly interested again after storming off.

Jay shrugs. “Some sort of rumbling noise? Like thunder.” 

“I believe that was purring.” Zane pipes up from across them, brightly. He plays a recording of it too, Lloyd cringes.

Nya frowns. “Huh. Weird. Did anyone smuggle any cats in here or something?”

There’s a round of shaking heads, and a tense silence. Lloyd sighs, and raises his hand. “Sorry guys, it was me.”

“You brought a cat into the warehouse?” Jay says.

“Uhh…”

Zane tilts his head. “I was not aware you had access to cats. Did you find one on your way here?”

“That’s not quite—“

“Yeah man, who’s your dealer? Your ah, cat dealer.” Nya smiles.

“No! I — it was uh. Me. Just me.” Lloyd’s voice gets smaller and smaller. He flashes an uneasy grin, forgetting to hide his fangs for once.

Nya’s eyes are wide. “Oh. Huh.”

“LLOYDS A CATBOY?” Kai’s still shouting, even though he’s hanging over the couch near everyone else now.

Lloyd flushes darker. “What? No! I — What?”

Nya pushes her brother away. “He’s not a catboy, flamebrain. He’s a Lloydboy.”

“Sorry guys it’s just… embarrassing.” Lloyd says, shrinking in self-consciously.

Cole laughs it off easily. “Don’t worry about it, green machine. We’re all weird.”

“You don’t need to be completely human, and that’s okay.” Zane adds quietly. 

“Yeah?” Lloyd agrees, his face lighting up again. “Yeah.”

The next time Lloyd catches himself purring, the rest of the team is quick to notice too, and they all scramble to lean onto him.

“Guys—!” he protests, struggling under the weight of five extra bodies.

“It’s like a combustion engine.” Zane says.

“Motorboat.” Jay adds.

“Good starting beat.” Cole offers.

“Shh, quiet down small cat man.” Kai grins, reaching out and patting Lloyd’s head.

Lloyd hisses back. “Next I’m going for your curtains.”

Kai’s still smug. “I’d like to see you try.”

Lloyd went to his Uncle Wu first, because he thought his mentor would be helpful. 

“Yes. Yes.” The old man says, deep in thought. Well, not too deep. “I have no idea how those got there.”

“What?” Lloyd cries, throwing his now-clawed hands in the air. In a recent development, thick and dark green, almost oni-black skin had begun to creep over his hands, and now razor sharp talons had replaced his fingernails. “Aren’t you supposed to know about this stuff? It’s like, mystic-y?”

Wu winces. “Yes. Well, I know about mostly mystic-y… tea. Would you like some?”

“Ugh! Thanks anyway.” Lloyd growls and stomps off.

Next he tries his dad’s volcano. Eugh, still not a pleasant thing to say, Lloyd thinks as he steps into the lobby. He asks the disinterested receptionist if he could see his dad, and they simply nod and patch him through, knowing better than to give Garmadon even the illusion of keeping him from his son. Lloyd thanks them and reminds himself to tell his dad about their kindness.

“So! Luh-Lloyd! What’s up?” Lord Garmadon shouts as Lloyd peeks into his office. It’s modern and chic and very much dominated by the lava feature behind him. The former warlord was sitting at a desk, leaning in an impossibly long ergonomic chair.

Lloyd chuckles. “It’s Lloyd, dad.”

“Of course!” Garmadon grins toothily. “Lloyd! What’s up!”

Lloyd steps in hesitantly, bringing his hands up to show them off. “Uh, these?”

Garmadon’s by his side in a flash. “Lloyd! Your claws are starting to grow in! I’m so proud. Now you can finally tear things apart with extreme violence!”

“Ahah. Yeah. Uh, is there anyway… they could, ah, not do that?”

“What? Why? They look perfectly fine. Killer.”

“I know, I know.” Lloyd rubs his arms self consciously, hoping no scales or anything are visible either. “It’s just — not what I want right now.”

Garmadon takes Lloyd’s claws in his own, inspecting them. “Impressive, impressive… Hey! Yours are more dragonlike than mine. Unfair.”

“Dragonlike?”

“Yeah. Like they’re mostly oni, but those talons? So, so dragon.”

“I’m part dragon too?” Lloyd gapes.

“Well yeah. ‘Course. Where do you think your uncle gets his holier than thou attitude from? All dragon, baby.” Garmadon gestured to himself. “I just happened to take after the cool side of the family.”

“Huh.” 

“Anyway Luh-Lloyd — Lloyd — don’t worry about it! You can use your shapeshifting and it’ll relax real easy.” 

Lloyd frowns. “Shapeshifting. Because I definitely know how to do that.”

“Pftt yeah. Any oni, and any half or quarter or whatever oni, worth their stuff knows how.” Garmadon sets his top arms out in front of him, palms forward. He then rolls his wrists slightly, taking deep and slow breaths. “Like this. In, out.”

Lloyd mimics the motion. “In, out.” But the claws stubbornly remain. He glances worriedly back.

“Relax. Oh, so tense. Do it again.”

Lloyd tries it a second, third, fourth, and now he’s back to his perfectly normal human hands. 

“There you go son. Now how’s that for dad of the year?” Lord Garmadon says cockily.

“Not even close.” Lloyd says, giving him a quick hug. “But thanks, dad.”

“No problem!” Before Lloyd can turn to leave, he stops him. “Those are gonna come out though. It’s better you let them out on your own then let stress do the job for you.”

Lloyd nods. “Of course. Oh! And don’t fire your receptionist.”

“Oh relax! You worry way too much.” As the younger Garmadon turns to leave, his dad calls out to him. “See you Friday?”

Lloyd grins over his shoulder. “See you Friday.”

The ninja still trained, because of course they did. With Lord Garmadon out of the way, plenty of smaller villains had rushed in to take his place, meaning the ninja still had to be on high alert, staying sharp for any dangers.

This meant regular sparring as well, as evident by Lloyd and Zane circling each other around the training mat.

Going up against Zane was always tricky for him, since Zane was A) a master strategist, and B) really, ridiculously good with ranged weapons. With only his dao, Lloyd had a much smaller skill set to draw from, but it wasn’t just versatility that defined their fights.

Today Zane was in a bow and arrow mood. He drew back the string, nocking an arrow, and released it, making the first move. Lloyd deflected it with his blade, only to be greeted with two more arrows, also narrowly dodged.

Lloyd kept running as arrows chased behind him, nipping at his heels. He just needed to get in close and personal, that’s why Zane insisted on fighting him all the time: the nindroid knew his weaknesses well. 

A feint here, another there, and Lloyd slides right by the bow, too fast for Zane to try and aim it again. He prepares his sword to knock it out of his hands, and—

Zane stomps his foot down by Lloyd, trying not to hurt him too badly, but enough to startle him into dropping his blade in an effort to roll away. Lloyd falls back, weaponless. 

Growling, he launches himself back at the nindroid. This isn’t the first time Lloyd’s resorted to hand combat in battle (or practice) before, but this time his claws are out — swinging with deadly accuracy and tearing the other ninja’s gi, whoops.

With the new unexpected hazard, Zane panics. He ducks down and swings a long leg out, maybe a little too hard, tripping up his opponent. Lloyd falls hard but pops up on all fours, before rearing up and flashing his claws out again.

His recovery is a little too late, because Zane’s already got another arrow ready, pointed at the Green Ninja’s chest. It’s not to hurt, the bow string is barely pulled and his aim isn’t focused, but the message is clear. Lloyd’s lost this round. 

They’re held there for a moment, both of their chests heaving, before Lloyd collapses first. He flops down on the mat in a criss-cross, panting and sweaty. “That was incredible, Zane! I almost had you.”

Zane is stationary. His eyes are analytical and narrowed. “You have… some—“

Confused, Lloyd followed Zane’s gaze to his hands. Well, his claws, at the moment. “Oh. Oh! Sorry Zane! I didn’t mean to scare you with them, I’ll put them away in a sec…”

“You did not scare me. It was just… unexpected.”

Lloyd shrugged haplessly. “Just some stuff from my dad’s side of the family, sorry.”

“…Is the tail too?”

“The WHAT?” Lloyd whips around, and oh. Great. He has one of those now. It’s long and whiplike, with thin green scales at the base and leathery oni skin covering the rest, as well as dark hair running along the spine and making a distinct tuft at the end. “Huh. I — what?”

Zane frowns. “This is new?”

“Well, yeah, the tail is.” Lloyd heaves tiredly. It helpfully whaps the mat a couple of times behind him. He sighs and flops down on the mat. “I so don’t need this right now.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Zane leans over his teammate, face set in concern.

Lloyd blows a raspberry. “No, no thanks. Maybe if I just stay here it’ll go away. I gotta — relax or something.”

It’s a well-known fact that Lloyd wears himself out. A combination of being Lloyd Garmadon — the most hated kid in school — and the Green Ninja — the overworked leader of a super secret ninja team — put a lot on any teen. It wasn’t an uncommon sight to see Lloyd curled up on the couch or any of their beanbags asleep. In fact, it’d be more strange if he wasn’t there.

A recent development was the fact that he seemed to be catching oni and dragon traits (they were not allowed to call it dragoni, unfortunately. Lloyd had shot it down as soon as Kai and Jay had suggested it.) He could hide them well enough during the day, but since he was most relaxed at the warehouse, he would lounge with his claws out, new tail swishing gently along the laminate flooring.

Since Jay and Kai had the Saturday night off, they’d been lucky enough to be assigned “elemental training” by Master Wu. Right now it just consisted of Kai lazily tossing fire between his hands, half trying to make it as hot as humanly possible, and Jay making taller and taller arcs with his lightning, seeing how far he could stretch it.

For each other’s safety, they were on opposite sides of the warehouse, but they still chatted aimlessly. Not too loud, since Lloyd was still passed out on the couch, but they needed to fill the silence with something. 

Kai was focusing on his fireball, watching with satisfaction as the core burned white-hot. Rolling it down his hands again, he’s keeping the warm glow consistent when—

There's a low rumbling noise, a brrrrrr that Kai’s starting to know well.

“Hey Lloyd,” He says without turning. “You good man?”

There’s no response except for the purring getting louder.

“Bro?” Kai whips around this time, to see Lloyd, not too far away. His gaze seems more distant than usual.

He moves closer, and Kai catches a glimpse of his eyes — pupils too wide, whites barely visible, focused on something bright in Kai’s hands.

He smothers a laugh. Catboy.

“Do you want it?” Kai holds his fireball up, making it as bright as he can. In response, Lloyd crouches, watching it with intent and swinging his tail from side to side restlessly. Kai savors the moment, for one, two, three. “Then! Go! Get it!”

Kai swings it low and releases, not unlike a bowling ball, and Lloyd darts after it with a speed that surprises him. As Lloyd scrambles after it like a man — no — an oni possessed on all fours, it slowly sputters and dies out, further and further away from its power source. The dragoni stamps at the spot on the floor the fireball made its final resting space, claws clicking unsatisfied on the laminate. Kai chuckles and Lloyd looks back at him for some sort of answer, only making the fire elemental laugh louder in response.

“Hey Jay!” Kai calls.

“Yeah?”

“What if you ah—“ he points towards Lloyd. “Used your lightning to make a laser pointer?”

Jay, having seen it all, smothers a laugh in his thick scarf. “It’s w-worth a shot. Hold on.”

Sometimes, Jay gets nervous. Well, all the time Jay got nervous. There was just a lot to be nervous about. His hands would shake unless he kept them busy, by pulling at his scarf or his jacket sleeve or at his curls — keeping them busy was how he got the energy out.

Now whenever he used his lightning, his hands still shook, but this time they were purposeful, somehow more controlled. Focusing stray sparks, Jay let a loose bolt of electricity arc off of his extended arm, and onto the warehouse wall.

It strikes true, and a half second afterwards, Lloyd’s somehow flung himself up, jumping and clawing at the spot it was before.

Kai wheezes a laugh beside Jay. “First Master—“

Jay grins, and loosens a couple more to strike around that area, most on the wall and floor, though one accidentally stretched up to the ceiling. Lloyd darts after every single one, somehow even faster than when he chased the fireball, trying and failing desperately to catch the lighting, even jumping up in an effort to unsuccessfully claw the one on the ceiling.

After that he falls to the ground with a hard oof. Jay hesitates, so Kai takes his chance again.

“Here oni oni oni,” He clicks his tongue a couple times, forming another flame in his hands. Not as hot as the last one, since he didn’t want to burn Jay, who had come to stand right beside him, but just as bright. It works in drawing Lloyd’s attention again. “Pspspspsp.”

Jay laughs as Lloyd slowly approaches. “No way.”

“Yes way.” Kai grins, stretching his hand full of fire towards the dragoni. “C’mon. You want the fire? Come get the fire.”

Drawing closer, the fire illuminates Lloyd’s face again, reflecting in his wide eyes. He stops for a second, all tense, ears flattened.

Then he surges forward at Kai, pressing himself against the Fire Ninja’s warmth. Unused to the extra weight, Kai stumbles and falls hard, but this doesn’t deter Lloyd. The younger boy rubs his face first against Kai’s shoulder, then chest, then face, savoring the heat.

Jay sits down criss-cross applesauce across from Kai, face shining with amusement in the fading light of the evening. “He and Meowthra are perfect for each other.”

“Tell me about it.” Kai said, immediately getting accidentally smacked with Lloyd’s tail shortly afterwards. Growling, he pushed the dragoni a little. “Ugh! Lloyd! Personal space!”

Lloyd offered a short mrap back, but soon he found a good spot, leaned up against Kai, head resting on his shoulder. He closed his eyes, seeming to have had enough excitement for the day.

“You think he’ll wake up from being catboy-ified soon?” Kai asked.

Jay giggled. “He would not appreciate being called that. B-but yeah? Hopefully?” Absentmindedly, he reached over to give Lloyd a good scratch behind the ears. Lloyd leaned into the touch, purring louder. “Ah. Kitty.”

They sat like that for a while. Kai gave up on his training, opting instead to scroll through his Twitter, liking all the tweets about the Fire Ninja he could find. Jay settled for trading tiny sparks in between his hands, trying to achieve better control of the wild energy buzzing under his fingers. Lloyd was still, except for his purrs and tail making gentle tamps on the floor.

After a while, nobody really caring to keep track of the time, Lloyd stirred. Stretching his arms out, he yawned wide, before shutting his mouth with an audible click. “Mhm. What’s up with you guys? Why are we on the floor?”

Kai reached up and gave Lloyd’s hair a ruffle. “Eh, nothing important, Lloydboy. Just some fun dragoni stuff.”

“Some fun what stuff? I thought we agreed that we weren’t gonna call it that.” Lloyd frowned.

“We didn’t agree. You just told us not to.” Jay piped in, smiling slightly.

“But — ughh.” Lloyd shook his head, as if he was trying to chase away the thoughts from it. “It wasn’t too bad, was it?”

“Nah, green machine. You just really liked bright lights and chasing after them and stuff. Like a cat.”

Kai grinned wickedly, inspiration hitting him. “Catboy.”

“Noooo.” Lloyd whined, leaning back into Kai again. “I’m not a catboy. I’m not a catboy. Please please please don’t make it real.”

Kai shrugged. “You did it to yourself, bro.”

Lloyd groaned.

“Wait. Wait. Lemme try something.” Jay said, hands shaking again. Kai drew his hand to his mouth, trying not to laugh too soon. Sparks danced down his arms, and a small bolt of lighting came out and struck the ground right in front of Kai and Lloyd.

Without thinking, Lloyd launched himself, lightning fast, towards the flash of bright light again. He then looked up, realized what had just happened, and groaned again. “Oh, come on!”

Jay and Kai couldn’t hold it back anymore, and burst out laughing. Lloyd looked especially unappreciative, but he couldn’t help smiling anyways.

Kai slapped Lloyd’s back. “We’re gonna get you so many laser pointers, dude.” 

Something about Lloyd had been off all day. He’d been trying to play it cool, but he was far too easy to read, at least to Cole.

This all culminated when they were walking to their next classes together, a brief meeting in the crowded halls that they had daily. Lloyd had refused Cole’s offer to share his music — not typical but certainly not that weird — and now, he had just stopped, eyes wide.

Cole frowned, stopping in front of him. “You good, man?”

Lloyd didn’t turn to look at him, but he mumbled some sort of affirmative that Cole couldn’t make out.

“Seriously. Do you need a bit of space…?” The earth elemental went and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

This startled a reaction out of Lloyd. He jumped, now suddenly aware of everything — the loud chatter, the people pushing past them, Cole’s firm arm holding onto him like a lifeline. He let out a frantic whine, drawing up claws — claws? — to try and maybe tug the pressure off of his shoulder, but he hesitated—

“C’mon. Lemme get you out of here.” Cole started to half guide, half drag the shorter student out of the hallway, slipping down a quieter one and then into an abandoned custodian’s closet. He dropped Lloyd down, then flicked the light switch by the door, illuminating the pair with weak light from a single source hanging from the ceiling. Not much, but better than complete darkness.

Turning back to Lloyd, he found the younger scrunched up, claws digging into his scalp past little nubs of green horns and eyes narrowed into slits. At some point he had stopped hiding his tail, the tip now twitching anxiously as it curled tightly over his feet.

“Lloyd. Lloyd!” Cole reached up and took Lloyd’s claws in his hands, pressing his thumbs down firmly on his palms in a motion he hoped was grounding. “What happened?”

“It’s — it was too much—“ He managed out.

“Too much?”

“Mhm.” Lloyd still wasn’t looking at Cole, but he wasn’t staring off into space anymore, now seemingly transfixed by his hands in Cole’s. “Can we.. take a minute, please?”

“Of course.”

Lloyd took a deep breath in, a long sigh out. A deep breath in, a long sigh out. A deep breath in — and he continued to slowly relax, shoulders no longer hunched and eyes widening to something that resembled normal for him. 

Last, Lloyd took his hands back, dropping them at his sides. “Thank you, Cole.”

“Anytime, green bean.” Cole shrugged. “Quiet spaces are top-tier.”

Lloyd then turned his attention to his claws. He started to do some sort of exercise with them, rolling his wrists and repeating something under his breath. After the second or fifth turn the claws shifted back into normal human hands.

“Nice magic.”

Lloyd smiled back. “Well, it’s not really — but thanks. Now about this—“ He turned his attention to his tail, thinking about disappearing it too, but honestly—

“Ugh. Y'know what? I’ll just hide it the low-tech way.” Lloyd grabbed the tip and shoved it under his hoodie, guiding it to wrap around his torso. “There. Normal human boy.”

Cole couldn’t help smirking at his less than reverent technique. “Just another flashy way for the half-human to hide?”

Lloyd laughed. “Now we should probably get to our classes before we’re really late, huh.”

“Probably.”

Every movie night was defined by who called dibs on the couch first. Kai, having the benefit of being loud and impulsive, had managed to score it for himself. 

He sat down proudly, inviting Cole and Zane over as well. The earth elemental sat in the middle, Kai on one side and Zane on the other — and they each snuck each other kisses while the sci-fi movie Lloyd picked out played.

Nya and Jay got the beanbags, which they didn’t seem to mind. They chatted quietly to themselves, stopping sometimes to loudly argue a scientific inaccuracy in the movie and throw popcorn at the screen.

Lloyd somehow seemed satisfied to be banished to the floor, even though there was a beanbag available. He laid flat on the floor on his stomach, watching the bright colors and laughing at every argument and dumb joke the rest of them made. At some point during the night he had fallen asleep, curled tightly into a ball. They had giggled, Jay had taken a picture, and then they fell asleep too, in even more embarrassing positions.

Nya blinked awake first, expecting gentle sunlight to be streaming in from the top of the warehouse but… it was still night. She was leaned back, and Jay was nestled against her shoulder in a way that was too cute, even if he was drooling a little. She took a glance around the darkness, wondering why the hell she had woken up, nothing was here… 

Oh. There it was. Ho-ly shit.

A shape was running around the warehouse in fast, loose circles on all fours, long tail whipping behind it. It startled Nya at first, then thoroughly confused her, then made her chuckle quietly to herself. It was 2 AM. It was 2 AM and Lloyd had the goddamn zoomies.

This slight noise drew the dragoni’s attention, and he bounced over. His voice was low, but he had a doofy smile and he bounced in place the whole time. His eyes were wide, pupils dilated like a cat’s. “Hey Nya. Hi Nya. Hi. Hi. Hi.”

“What has you up?” Nya whispered.

“Uhhh…” Lloyd turned around in place once, before continuing to bounce. “D-dunno. It’s just! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!”

“That’s not helpful.”

“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! It’s — woo!” Lloyd then launched himself off again, doing another lap or two. Nya couldn’t help laughing again, then remembering the story about the last time Lloyd had been like this, apparently, she wondered if—

“Hey, Jay.” She shook the boy beside her. “Hey. Hey. Jaaaay.”

“Huh! Whazzit?” He said, startling awake with a literal jolt — a tiny bolt of lightning flickered across his face. 

“Jay.”

“N-nya! Hi. What… what’s up?” Despite the fact that he had literally fallen asleep on top of her, Jay was somehow already nervous.

“Look. Look at Lloyd.” Nya said, pointing.

“Lloyd? What’s he—“ Jay cut himself off, muffling his laughter. “First Master! Catboy!”

“He’s got the zoomies!” Nya stage whispered to him. She then waved to the one in question, beckoning him over. “Lloyd!”

This drew his attention again, so he bounded over. Lloyd sat still this time, but his tail swept the floor every half second. “Hi! Hi Nya! Hi Jay!”

Jay couldn’t help smiling. “Hey Lloyd. Zoomies?”

“U-uh. Maybe! Maybe! Dunno. I just woke up, and—!” Lloyd crouched down and then pounced, hitting the beanbag right between them and jumping off again.

Jay yelped, Nya gasped, and Lloyd continued again, hitting the ground with a thump. This startled Kai awake, as evidenced by his gasp, and then in turn startled Zane awake, as evidenced by his activation chime. 

Jay and Nya stood up now, watching Lloyd continue — he had started to slow a little whenever he reached the part of the warehouse the teens were in, weaving around them carefully before jetting off again.

“What’s up?” Kai mumbled, coming to stand beside them. 

“Yes, what is up?” Zane echoed, mimicking Kai. “Good morning, Kai.”

The Fire Ninja grinned lazily in response, reaching up to give the nindroid a peck. “Good morning, babe.”

Zane’s system beeped, and he let out a little giggle. Then he seemed to catch a flickering of movement, turning to face it.

“What…” Kai followed his boyfriend’s gaze, and then proceeded to wheeze with laughter. “Holy shit. Holy shit. First Master.”

“Yeah.” Nya responded, grinning. “Lloyd zoomies.”

“Wait! Wait! Wait wait wait. You gotta, you gotta — use your powers!” Kai then broke down laughing before he could continue.

Nya frowned. “What?”

“Oh! Nya!” Jay’s eyes widened as he caught on, and he had a wobbly smile. “Okay! Okay! So get some water, right, and put little globs in a grid! I have an idea.”

As Nya focused on doing that, drawing a huge bubble of water from the sea nearby, Zane leaned over. “So these ‘zoomies’ are another inheritance from Lloyd’s dragon and oni heritage?”

“I’d guess so? Don’t know why they’re showing up now.” Jay shrugged.

“Maybe it’s because he’s not as stressed now?” The fire elemental tapped Zane’s forearm a couple of times. “Best to ask him.”

“Probably not right now but—“ Jay stopped himself when he noticed Nya had the water in position. “Okay! Just hold it there!”

Jay breathed out, and then he called sparks to his hands. Then he shot a bolt of lightning to a piece on the end, and quickly the blue electricity spread across the whole grid, lighting it in a crackling glow.

As the dragoni rounded, he suddenly stopped, transfixed by the lights. Then he began to jump at them, clawing the water in a sort of frenzied exhilaration. 

Jay and Kai started to laugh, Zane muffled some of his own, and Nya grinned, straining to keep the water up but thinking it was hilarious regardless.

“Higher! Raise it higher!”

Nya complied as Kai said, and the water rose a foot, causing Lloyd’s leaps to fall short. He growled and pressed himself to the ground, launching himself up, straining—

There’s a loud ripping sound, and Lloyd yelps and immediately curls inward in midair, falling to the ground with a thump.

This finally startled Cole awake, who soon came groggily to stand with the rest of the ninja.

“H-hey Lloyd? You good?” Jay called nervously.

There was a tired growl in response. 

Kai rushed over, and soon all the other ninja, and they leaned over their downed teammate to see what was the matter.

Lloyd was pushing himself up from being facedown on the ground again. His fangs were gritted in pain, his green eyes were still wide, but he still looked conscious. What was most noticeable, however, was two new appendages sprouting from his back, lime to pine green, flopping down on either side of him.

“Holy s-shit. Lloyd, you have wings.” Jay whispered.

Lloyd was still trying to recover, pushing blond hair out of his face. “What?”

“HOLY SHIT, LLOYD! YOU! HAVE! WINGS!” Jay repeated, no longer trying to be subtle and waving his arms in excitement.

Lloyd flopped down to the ground again, holding his head in his claws. “I am going to kill my grandfather.”

Early the next morning, when they return Lloyd to Koko, he’s a little different.

Not that she hadn’t caught onto the claws and tail, Garmadon has those too, and Lloyd didn't try very hard to hide them. The horns were a bit more unexpected, but they’re only small baby horns for now, something that Koko finds it easy to tease him about.

Lloyd shuffles in, waves goodbye to Cole and Jay, and then sits at the couch nervously. He has some sort of quilt thrown over his back, and he’s clutching it like a lifeline. “Hey mom! Uh, promise you won’t be mad?”

Koko frowned “Lloyd, what did you—“

“Promise! Please?”

She sighs. “Sure Lloyd, I promise.”

“Okay. Okay,” Lloyd takes a breath, steeling himself. He then slips off the heavy blanket, and two new things suddenly become very very visible, connected to his back — First Master, her son has wings now. “I just — couldn’t hide these. I’ll do it later, but—!”

“I — how?” Koko rushes in, resting her hands gently on them, feeling the hard scales on her son's shoulders and upper back that lead into the new appendages. He winces slightly as she touches them, but nothing more, sighing onto her. “Garm didn’t have these.”

Lloyd shrugs. “He did say that my claws were a bit more dragon than his… maybe…? I don’t know.”

Koko leans back, taking him in again. His too-sharp teeth, viciously hooked claws, nervously twitching tail, and now wings, awkwardly shuffling behind his back. She can’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry, Lloyd.” She pulls him back into a hug. “No matter how sharp your teeth are or how many more shirts you accidentally destroy, I still love you.”

Lloyd purrs, and he leans into Koko’s embrace, wrapping his tail and wings around her. “Thanks mom.”

Lloyd couldn’t get them to go away, so he stayed at home. He went to bed again, woke up again, ate breakfast with his mom, and then she kissed him goodbye as she hurried off to work. Lloyd took it upon himself to turn on a Fritz Donnegan marathon and collapse on the apartment’s couch, spreading his still-sore wings out as far as they could go. First Master was he exhausted. 

Around 10-ish, he had visitors.

At the first knock, Lloyd peered at the door from his position on the couch. At the second, he was slowly getting up, dragging the same quilt from the last night over himself. Third, he was trudging to the door, fourth, he sighed and rested a clawed hand on the doorknob, collecting himself. Fifth, why were they still knocking—?

Lloyd cracked it open so he could peer through. “What is it?”

Standing in the apartment’s hallway, awkwardly a foot apart, was both his dad and his uncle.

“Hi Luh-l — Lloyd!” Garmadon said conversationally, baring his teeth and crossing his claws in a way that would’ve terrified even the bravest of warriors.

Beside him, Uncle Wu nodded, stroking his beard in the wise old man way that he did. “Good morning, Lloyd.”

From his comfortable position behind the door, Lloyd peered tiredly at them. “…Why are you two here?”

“Kokes wanted me to check on you. Said something ‘bout how I’d understand,” Garmadon shrugged. “But I don’t know, she was real distracted, and avoided the question when I asked if you were finally considering becoming a warlord—“

“Your mother asked me to see how you were doing as well.” Wu cut his brother short.

Garmadon frowned. “Well—“

“Hey! I’m fine. As you can see. Now, if you guys need any help getting out of here, I know it’s a bit confusing but—“

“Lloyd. Do not lie to me.” Wu said sternly, in his teacher voice.

Lloyd frowned, closing the door a little more. “No, really—“ 

“Now kid,” Garmadon said, pushing it back open and startling Lloyd. “You look like sh — garbage. Let us do what your mom told us to do.”

“Wait! I—“ 

But the pair of brothers had already managed to force the door open, making Lloyd scramble back. 

Garmadon had to duck through the doorframe as he entered, whistling as he took in the apartment. “Nice place.”

“Yes. Now, let us have some tea, and talk about you, Lloyd.” 

Lloyd smiled anxiously and gripped his quilt tighter. “Sure. You two sit down on the couch, I’ll go get the kettle.” He needed some time to gather himself, how did they—

“No need, nephew. I brought some tea from home.” Wu suddenly took his staff and raised his favorite kettle out of seemingly nowhere.

“And it’s still hot?” Lloyd couldn’t help but shout. “Ugh, I’ll go get some cups—“

“No need.” The old man also produced three cups with frustratingly good close up magic. “Come, sit down with us.”

Lloyd frowned, but he sat on the end of the couch, and accepted a steaming teacup from his uncle. He took a sip angrily. It still tasted good. Dammit.

“So,” Wu started. “You are having difficulty with your dragon and oni blood, correct?”

Lloyd brought his tail up around him self-consciously. “Well, I guess.”

“Wait.” Garmadon downed his tea in one go, the monster. “You have a tail now?”

“Yes?”

“First Master, how could I miss out on that!” Garmadon moved in closer, bringing his tail up to compare. “Oh wow, you’re more green while I got kinda a purple thing going on, WAIT. Why is your tail fur dark. I thought you were blond?”

“…I bleach my hair? You didn’t know?”

“No! WHAT?” Garmadon slapped Lloyd on the back hard, startling the wings tucked tightly under the heavy blanket, something Lloyd rushed to fix. “More and more secrets, huh kid?”

Lloyd frowned, drawing his tail away from his father’s claws and settling it back in his lap. “Yeah. Sure.”

“And nephew. Hold still,” Wu brought his hands up to Lloyd’s face, brushing aside hair to find the small growths at his hairline. “Are these… horns?”

“Maybe? I don’t know, okay?”

“HUH? Move!” Garmadon shoved his brother out of the way to cup Lloyd’s face too, feeling at the nubs of horns. “Masters above! You are more dragon than I am! Think you’ll be able to breathe fire?” At Lloyd’s bewildered look, he laughed. “No, of course not. Your little friend can do that already, and not even every dragon could, it’s just a common trait in movies. Now, if you were—“

“Okay! Yeah! I get it.” Lloyd stood, setting his cup down. “Now, as you can see, I’m fine. Can you two leave now?”

Garmadon scoffed. “Fine kid. You want to sit at home all day, then be my—“

“Lloyd,” Wu interrupted, with intensity. “What are you hiding.”

“Huh?”

Wu moved closer. “You are hiding something from us. I would appreciate if you didn’t.”

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“Lloyd.”

“And if I was—“

“C’mon, kid.” Garmadon joined in now, trusting his brother’s instincts.

“—which I’m not—“

“Lloyd.”

“—then it’s not like I’d tell you!”

“Lloyd.”

“Lloyd.”

“Lloyd!”

“Lloyd.”

“UGH. WHAT?” He cried, tossing the quilt away as he flared his large wings up in frustration, cooped behind him no longer.

The two brothers leaned back as Lloyd’s impressive wingspan was revealed. Emerald green scales were thick on his shoulders and at the very base of his wings, transitioning to a darker pine green towards the tips, a color not unlike his claws. Stretched between the fingers was pale green skin that could’ve passed for a yellow or even golden in some lights. Lloyd’s wings were taller than him and flared out wide, likely that big to support his denser bones. 

“Holy shit.” Garmadon breathed out.

Wu had stood up. “Nephew—“

Lloyd sighed and flopped down, not trying to pin his wings back anymore. “I’m just a little tired…”

“THIS IS INCREDIBLE!” Garmadon couldn’t help but shout, jumping over to his son and shaking him with two sets of arms. “Can you imagine, Lloyd Garmadon, son of famous warlord Lord Garmadon, ruler of the skies?”

“No, dad—“

“Nephew. How long have these been here?”

“Since last night.”

“Then they are still fresh and new,” Wu ran a single finger over the scales, trailing down the wing for a short time. Then he stood up. “It is best we let you heal.”

“Yes?”

Garmadon punched his son’s shoulder, trying to make it as light as he could. “If my brother says so. He’s enough of a nerd to know this. See you soon, consider my offer.”

“Oh. Yes. O-of course.”

“Goodbye nephew.”

“Goodbye son!”

“Bye…!” Lloyd waved them off, and soon they were gone as quickly as they came. He heaved a sigh of relief. FSM, now his wings ached even more from flaring them up. He crawled back onto the couch, relaxing again.

At lunchtime, there was another knock at the door. Lloyd groaned when he got up, but he did the same, peering out into the hallway.

“Surprise!” came a shout back, the volume mostly made up by Kai. 

Lloyd couldn’t help but smile, opening the door so his friends could trail in. “Hey guys! What’re you doing here?”

“Uh, surprising you.” Cole said, immediately leaning against the wall.

Nya was last, shutting the door behind her. “Wanted to check up on you, last night was… a lot.”

“You could say that.” Lloyd chuckled, waving his wings a little.

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Kai said, holding up bags. “So we decided to check up on you. With lunch! Burgers!”

Lloyd gasped, clapping his hands together and thumping his tail excitedly. “Oh great, I’m starving! Thank you so much — c’mon, let’s eat in here!”

He led them to the living room part of their apartment, and sat down eagerly as the teens did as well. Kai began to take out separate orders for everyone, with two big communal fry bags in the middle.

“Fritz Donnegan?” Jay asked, tearing his wrapper apart.

“Yup.” Lloyd nodded, taking a bite of his own burger. “Thought I would, uh — treat myself. Yeah.”

“Treat. Yo’. Self.” Kai echoed.

Zane beeped. “That is a reference. It refers to the comedy series—“

“We got it, frosty.” Cole cut his boyfriend off, tapping his shoulder. 

The teens continued to chat, only half paying attention to the movies on screen. Jay and Lloyd made sure to draw everyone’s attention during the Most Important Scenes, which Nya then helpfully called them a bunch of nerds.

Zane kept on stealing weird glances at Lloyd as they continued to hang out, making the younger eventually sigh and ask: “What is it Zane?”

“What?” The nindroid startled.

“You keep on looking at me weird.”

“Oh! Oh.” Zane looked down, then back up at him with piercing blue eyes. “I — I have just been curious about your physiology.”

Lloyd raised his eyebrows. “My what—?”

“How different you are because of your dragon and oni traits?” He tried.

Lloyd continued to be confused, tilting his head to the side.

“Dude,” Cole cut in. “Zane just wants to check out your dragoni parts. Do a medical scan and all that.”

“Oh!” His eyes widened. “Uh, okay. Just, like, be gentle and all that stuff? And don’t call it dragoni, jeez.”

The ice elemental smiled as he sat down across from Lloyd. “Of course! This is all for scientific study — there’s little known about dragon hybrids, and little known about oni hybrids, even less about dragon and oni hybrids!” Zane took an unneeded breath. “It is all a little exciting to me, apologies.”

Lloyd shrugged good naturedly, as the nindroid fumbled around and pulled a clipboard, sheets of paper, and a fancy pen from nowhere.

“First,” Zane started, starting to write already. “What percentage of oni-slash-dragon blood do you possess?”

Lloyd tapped his claws together. “Uh. My Grandfather was half oni, half dragon… my dad was quarter of both, ish… so uh, I’m eighth? Eighth oni and eighth dragon. I think.”

“You think?” Zane prompted.

“Well, it’s not exactly accurate, dad’s way way oni. And I’m a bit more dragon than him, I think?” He shrugged. “It’s not an exact science.”

Zane didn’t look satisfied, but he pressed on. “Okay. First signs?”

“Uh, purring and stuff, definitely,” Lloyd was back to fiddling with his tail, tucked neatly in his lap. “I’ve always had fangs too — oh yeah! This is also weird, but my blood’s kinda purple-ish.”

Zane nodded, writing more. “Noticed that before.”

“Uh, then not much else until now. First claws, tail, and so on and so forth…”

“Horns?”

“Horns, I keep forgetting about those—“

“Okay then. Very good.” Zane set aside the clipboard and pen. “Would you mind if I investigated them?”

“Oh, uh,” Lloyd shuffled anxiously. “Not at all. Go ahead, iceman.”

The nindroid just nodded, first picking up Lloyd’s left claw, turning it over for a brief second while he made intense eye contact with it. Then he dropped it and repeated the same motion with the right, with mechanical precision.

“What are you…”

Zane immediately paused in his process to answer Lloyd’s hypothetical question. “I am doing 3d scans, for further study.”

“Huh. Okay.”

The nindroid continued — rubbing at Lloyd’s horns, prying his mouth open to get a good look at his fangs, pulling slightly at his tail. Then, Zane peered down at the dragoni again. “Would you mind spreading your wings? I know they might be sore, but just for a moment.”

Lloyd sighed and complied, stretching his wingspan out wide for the second time that day, trying not to wince as he strained against the new limbs.

Zane stood up and circled the boy, squinting at the wings, deep in thought. Then he crouched down near the back, in between the two. “I am going to investigate the muscles and such back here, alright?”

“Mhm.”

Lloyd winced a little at the nindroid’s always-cold hands, but he didn’t do much more than shudder, letting Zane trace the weird spot beneath his shoulders that now hosted wings.

“Fascinating.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Entirely new structures, generated almost instantly — are you sure the first appearance of anything back there was last night?”

“Uhm,” Lloyd flexed his wings again. “Yeah, I think so? Not that that spot wasn’t ever sore before but—“

“It’s been sore before?” Zane interrupted.

“Yes?”

“Huh.” There was a scratching sound, likely Zane scribbling more on his clipboard. “Thank you! We are done.”

Lloyd sighed. “Okay, great! Now back to — First Master, is this the Christmas Special?”

“Yup.” Came Jay’s reply.

“Oh. Oh! I love this one — Kai, scoot over—“

“No way, dude.” Kai shoved him back. “You’re just gonna hit me with your big-ass wings.”

“Wh — n-no I won’t!”

“Yes, you will.”

Lloyd shot him his best puppy eyes.

Kai remained unmoved. “Lose the wings. Then we’ll talk.”

“Fine.” Lloyd harrumphed. He turned and started on his breathing again — feeling his wings from the tip of the furthest finger to where they connected near his shoulder blades. They waved slowly as he focused, thinking thoughts about a wingless back, one without giant fuck-off appendages, one that his friends would let him sit with them with and—

Lloyd folded his wings, and very slowly, they disappeared back into his back. The scales on his back still remained, and there were still tiny bumps where the wings jutted out in the first place but there! Completely manageable friend.

Roadblock removed, Lloyd turned back to his friends and immediately flung himself into Kai’s lap.

Cole, beside Kai, startled. “Dude!”

“Not my fault your boyfriend is so warm.” Lloyd smiled back, stretching contentedly.

“You’re such a fucking catboy.” The fire elemental teased, ruffling his blond hair.

Lloyd started to purr, a quiet “am not” lost to the noise. 

Cole chuckled and leaned over, tossing Lloyd’s hair, something that the dragoni didn’t object to — instead leaning into the touch, eyes closed. “Can’t believe when I first met you I thought you’d be a super heroic baby. Turns out you’re also just a touch-starved kitty.”

“Mhm.” 

Cole’s hand started to wander down Lloyd’s face, from the top of his head to one of his ears until he reached a spot just under his chin and—

The Earth Ninja scratched it and almost instantly one of Lloyd’s legs started to kick up.

The rest of the group's reactions were automatic, some hiding their laughter better than others, from Zane’s desperately polite hidden fit of giggles to Nya’s loud guffaws. 

Cole’s hand drifted away, making Lloyd open his eyes and frown up at him. “Why’d you stop?”

“No reason, no reason,” He snickered, guiding his hand back to the spot underneath and starting to scratch again. 

Lloyd’s kicks started again, beating his paw against the floor in a steady rhythm, swishing his tail, and purring up a storm.

This might’ve been super weird, Cole thought, but honestly, better than facing down a whole shark army again. Or a giant cat. Or his dad. Honestly, a little shenanigans? No problem.

Lloyd’s kicks eventually slowed, and Cole took that as a sign to stop scratching. Lloyd pushed himself up and shifted, from laying on his back to his stomach, and moving so more than just his head spilled into Cole’s lap.

Cole took the hint and started to scratch at the nape of Lloyd’s neck, something he purred and stretched into. 

“Unfair. I get just the butt?” Kai grumbled, no real edge to his tone.

Lloyd murmured back, totally blissed out. “Cole gives better pets.”

“Absolutely,” The earth elemental grinned. “How does it feel to be replaced, firecracker?”

The Fire Ninja looked away and pouted, something that prompted Zane to approach and sit down next to him, rubbing his back.

“Do not worry,” The nindroid said. “We must be here for each other when our boyfriend leaves us for a ‘cat’, as you have phrased it.”

Cole scoffed. “Well! You try kicking him off!” He gestured to the dragoni in his lap.

Kai stuck his tongue out at him, and soon Zane mirrored him, less successfully.

“Lloyd, come on. My boyfriends are—“ Cole gave him an extra scritch behind the ears. “They’re gonna leave me behind. They’re gonna abandon me because of you and your need for scratches.”

Lloyd seemed undisturbed by Cole’s plea. Instead he simply said, “Reject boyfriends. Return to kitty.”

“Lloyd. Please?”

There was a brief moment where it looked like he might try and hold out, before he sighed and pushed himself off of Kai and Cole’s laps, getting all the way up and moving from the floor to the end of the couch. “You guys and your relationships,” Lloyd complained overdramatically. “Forgetting your dearest friend…”

Nya and Jay, sitting next to each other on the other end of the couch, flushed and sputtered. Each tried to form their own defensive response, only to be cut off by Kai.

“Alright, sure green bean. Let’s not forget you and your relationships. What about that lovely girl from your History class… What was it, Harumi?”

“Don’t remind me!” Lloyd groaned, hiding his face in his claws.

There was another round of laughter at his expense, this one lighthearted as well. Lloyd couldn’t help but laugh along with them. Damn he had good friends.

His mom was busy, meaning after school he went to his dad’s lair instead — initially Koko hadn’t given Lloyd keys in case he had his stolen, now she still hadn’t managed to get him a set, something something work. 

Lloyd was starting to become familiar with the volcano, luckily less dangerous now that it wasn’t a military base, setting his stuff down in his “break room” before heading down to the lower levels.

Waiting there, in the garages that once held deadly mechs and submarines, was a giant bed of sorts, and in that bed was a giant slumbering creature, capable of indescribable destruction.

“Meowthra!” Lloyd smiled, hopping up and into his pet’s bed, claws out to try and cling to the fabric.

The giant cat blinked awake, taking a couple of sniffs to register the intruder before recognizing it as Lloyd. Then, very gently, Meowthra took Lloyd up by the shirt scruff, dropping the teen in between its paws. The cat rubbed her cheek against Lloyd, even giving his hair a couple of rough licks with her sandpaper tongue.

Lloyd stroked her face. “Hey kitty. Hey kitty.” 

Meowthra calmed again, pulling Lloyd in close and closing her eyes to resume her catnap. The teen relaxed in her fur, beginning to purr. Everything was so soft and warm, and it wasn’t long before Lloyd’s eyelids grew heavy…

He didn’t even realize he’d fallen asleep until he heard his dad calling.

“Lloyd! Lloyd! Are you in here? LLOYD! I — FIRST MASTER GET OFF OF HIM—!”

Then a giant warm weight was lifted off of him, and Lloyd whined, curling in on himself. It was so cold, where was she—

“LLOYD! MOVE, YOU OVERGROWN FURBALL, ACK—“

There was a quiet thump, which reminded Lloyd that he should probably be getting up at some point — sitting up, he slowly stretched out, extending his claws, bending his back, and straightening his tail. He wiped his bleary eyes as he came to. “Hey, dad?”

Garmadon’s head popped up from somewhere further away in the cat bed. “Lloyd! You’re okay! Did she hurt you?”

Lloyd was still confused. “Did who hurt me?”

“Meowthra! The cat! She was about to crush you in your sleep—“

“She didn’t! I’m fine, dad.” He said, starting to get up very slowly.

Meowthra turned to him, checking on him now that he was awake, giving him a couple rounds over. As Garmadon approached she narrowed her eyes disapprovingly, but Lloyd rested a steady hand on her nose to assure her he would be okay.

“Okay, okay kid. You’re good. You’re fine.” His dad said, squishing Lloyd’s cheeks. “I literally had to check like, an hour back on the security cameras — almost fired a nerd out of a volcano—“

“Dad!” Lloyd shouted immediately, disapproval clear.

“Hey, I said almost!” Garmadon protested, raising one set of hands up. “You would’ve heard it. WAIT I’M STILL MAD AT YOU! I was worried sick! YOU PRACTICALLY DISAPPEARED!”

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to check up on Meowthra and before I knew it—“ He shrugged haplessly.

A sigh. “Son, you are way too soft on that cat. Best way to teach an animal some manners is through—!”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” Lloyd spoke up, frowning. “Because one of us tamed the cat and saved the city, and the other’s name is Garmadon.”

“UGH! DON’T REMIND ME.” The warlord said, rolling his eyes. “I’m calling dibs on the next citywide threat, okay?”

Lloyd smirked, raising his dark eyebrows. “Sure dad.”

Then Meowthra dipped her head in between them, making Lloyd chuckle and start petting her again, quick to give her chin scritches.

“Yeah, you helped save the city too, girl.” 

“WHAT?”

The younger Garmadon looked unbearably smug, and he leaned in even further into the cat. “I mean, you gotta have something to save the city from.”

There was more sputtering from the former warlord. “AND I DON’T COUNT?!”

Capture the flag, which was strictly done for Training Only and Never For Fun became a lot better after they gained superpowers.

Okay, so they were “technically” banned, but it was really just the most outright destructive powers, namely Kai, Cole, and Jay’s. Zane’s was less offensive, and the worst Nya would do would be leaving someone soaking wet.

Lloyd didn’t really have a power, so he was kind of exempt from that rule. Well, really he did — anyone could easily say that his was the power of friendship and anyone observant could say something about how he always seemed to enhance other people’s powers — but on the harsh, unforgiving battlefield of capture the flag, introspection and deep thought like that wasn’t given much of a place. 

Lloyd could do other stuff though. They all could. Not like any of these battle-ready teenagers were one trick ponies.

Cole, Kai, and Lloyd were on the red team, and Jay, Nya and Zane were blue. The two sides stare at each other, starting beside their respective flags.

Then Kai runs forward first and the rest of the ninja spring into action.

Immediately there’s a battle for the terrain — Zane shoots a fast coat of ice forward, and it almost reaches red’s side until Cole stomps down and shatters it, shifting the ground ever so slightly and making everyone else jump. 

Jay launches himself out of the blue pack with a burst of newly-discovered super speed, lighting sparking behind him, far more controlled than the first time he had tried. The ground shakes again, and Jay trips — not enough to fall, but enough to slow him down in his efforts to catch himself  — and now Lloyd’s run over to meet him, jumping in his path to keep him from going any further.

As Zane sends another frosty wave out and the earth elemental again puts another stop to it, the twins meet in the center of the field. Nya grins viciously, holding up fists of water, while Kai grimaces and then starts to dodge her attacks, catching her arms more than once and pulling them in different directions to try and pull her focus.

Kai’s losing ground steadily, and Lloyd isn’t doing so great either. The two share a quick look, before Kai glances over at Cole as well, trying to gain some kind of approval. Then, he takes a breath, turns back to Nya, and—

He exhales dark smoke, and it settles across the field, creating an effective and quite literal smokescreen. Nya backs away subconsciously, trying to compensate for the lack of visibility.

Jay tries to keep his eyes on Lloyd in front of them, but he catches Kai breathing out smoke out of the corner of his eye and now, shoot! The Green Ninja’s gone now, darting off in the direction of blue’s flag.

As always, instincts take over quickly, and now Lloyd’s pelting down the smoky field on all fours, riding the pure exhilaration of it all. He’s past Jay, it shouldn’t take much to get past Zane — there he is, duck and roll forward there, and—

Lloyd slips behind the nindroid, and just as he’s grabbing the flag, Zane shouts, and Lloyd’s hit with a wave of cold, First Master he was FREEZING, why’d they have to put the Ice Elemental on defense?

And the ground rumbles again and the dragoni breathes out a kind of laugh, before launching himself off again, blue’s flag clenched in between his teeth.

Nya yelps as suddenly, two green glows cut through the smoke — the only warning before Lloyd darts around her. Beside her Kai laughs, earning him a smack on the shoulder from his sister.

Cole spots him soon, and shouts “LLOYD!” stretching his arms out wide. With a new target, the dragoni launches himself into the Earth Ninja’s arms, getting blue’s flag to his team’s base and scoring a red team victory.

The earth elemental hugs Lloyd harder and he laughs, his long tail wagging a mile a minute. 

Jay comes over from nearby, and soon flops down in front of the two. “Man… Why’d you hafta,” there was a pause as he panted. “Go all dragoni like that — whew!”

Lloyd wriggled out of Cole’s grasp to stand over the lightning elemental and gloat, like he wasn’t exhausted either. “You’re just upset ‘cause you lost.”

“Of course we are!” Nya’s voice shouted, and the smoke cleared to reveal Kai, Nya and Zane coming over too. “I vote dragoni abilities be banned from capture the flag as well. All in favor?”

Nya raised her hand, as well as Jay and Zane. There was a moment, then Kai raised his too. 

Lloyd gasped. “E tu, Kai?”

“Man, y’know I barely got to do anything!” The fire elemental shrugged. “It was an auto win.”

“Then it is passed. After this, Lloyd will no longer be allowed to use his dragoni abilities in capture the flag.” Zane said, pleasantly.

Lloyd whined. “This is half-human discrimination.”