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Lloyd was so bored. He still wasn’t used to living in a flying ship with his goody-two-shoes uncle and his stupid ninja students, his sworn enemies. And some stupid girl, whoever she was. He’d heard she was the red ninja’s sister, the one he hated the most. Better stay away from her too, then.
The worst part was that Wu didn’t let him commit crimes anymore. Was he an idiot? He was Lloyd Garmadon! Son of Lord Garmadon! As soon as his father came to rescue him from his uncle’s captivity he’d destroy him!
But for now he had to keep listening to Wu yapping about “defeating your enemies by making them your friends” or some similar bullshit.
“So, as I’ve said before, Lloyd, you are not like your–”
“Can I go to the bathroom?” Lloyd asked, finally lifting his face off his hands, still crouched on the chair. Doesn’t this guy ever get bored?
Wu sighed. “Yes Lloyd, you may use the bathroom. But be quick.”
Lloyd’s face lightened up and he happily ran out of the room. He didn’t need to use the bathroom; he was just going to lock himself in there for the next ten minutes or so then blame it on diarrhoea or something. Everybody knew the black ninja’s cooking was awful anyways. He was surprised that nobody, including himself, threw up at the table.
On the way there he passed by the ninja’s room, from where he could hear the red ninja and his sister talking.
“You stink, Kai.” Lloyd snickered at that. What a loser.
“I’d be wearing perfume if you weren’t allergic to it!”
Lloyd smiled at Kai’s words and thought to himself. Allergic to perfume, huh? I think I’ve just found my next plan.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Kai standing right behind him.
“And just what are you doing here?” Lloyd jumped at those words and almost got a heart attack. Damn it.
He turned around to face Kai slowly before responding. “I was, uh… looking for the bathroom!”
Kai frowned and pointed at a door. “It’s right there! How stupid are you?”
“I’m not stupid, you’re stupid!” He blew raspberries at Kai.
Kai pushed Lloyd with all his force, and the little boy fell to the floor. “Go away!” With that, he shut the door.
Lloyd grumbled. Oh, now I’m definitely getting revenge.
***
By the time Wu’s long, boring lecture had finished the sun was going down.
“Time for dinner,” the old man said. Lloyd scrambled out of his seat and ran off with no explanation to his uncle.
He reached the ninja’s room once again and perked through the ajar door, thankful that no one was inside.
He rummaged through each ninja’s stuff, hopeful that one of them had perfume. Sadly, there was nothing of his interest. However, as soon as he was about to give up and leave, he saw a table in front of the beds with an alarm clock on top, and a drawer underneath.
Lloyd, hopeful, slowly crept towards the table and opened the drawer. It was full, mostly filled with random crap like baby pictures of what looked like the blue ninja and a letter addressed to “Cole Brookstone” from “Lou Brookstone”. And then there was a weird picture of some buff man wearing what looked like a green gi who Kai’s face was stuck on. Lloyd laughed at it. Let’s save this for later. He put the picture in his pocket and started rummaging.
He carefully moved the stuff around, and then he found something. It was a black, shiny bottle of perfume, with a label on it: For Jay only. Please do not use!
Sorry, Jay, whichever one of the ninja you are, Lloyd thought, as he picked it up and moved it around in his hands, observing it in awe when he heard footsteps coming in his direction. He gasped and hid the bottle under his hoodie, closed the drawer and ran towards the door. Unfortunately, as soon as he opened it he saw Kai once again, who greeted him with a frown.
“What are you doing here?” He fumed.
Lloyd smiled sheepishly and looked away, fumbling with his hands. “What are you doing here?” He retorted.
Kai snapped. “This is my room! Get out of here, you little brat! I belong here in the Bounty, unlike you!”
“I live here too, now!”
“No you don’t! You caused so much trouble and we’re cleaning up your mess! Why don’t you go back to your father, huh? At least someone there will actually love you!”
Lloyd went silent after that. His face almost turned as red as Kai’s clothes.
“What happened? Planning your trip to the Underworld?”
“Yeah, actually,” Lloyd lied. “I’ll tell my father about you and he’ll blast your head off!” With that, he ran off, not noticing how Kai rolled his eyes in disapproval.
“Not coming for dinner?” Wu called out for his nephew, unaware of the argument he just participated him, and was met with no response.
***
The next morning, Lloyd lied in his mattress angrily. Hopefully, if that stupid ninja would actually take his annual shower today, the plan would go in action.
He was jolted out of bed when the black ninja suddenly opened the door.
“Don’t you know how to knock?”
“Sorry. Aren’t you gonna eat breakfast?”
“What’s your problem?”
“Wu told me to ask you.”
“Fine then,” Lloyd said as he stood up and walked to the door, attempting to push the ninja out of his way, only to realise he was heavy as a boulder. Angry, he kept punching the teenager, who kept his expression neutral as he watched in amusement, but didn’t move an inch.
“Move!” Lloyd finally snapped.
“Should’ve just asked,” he replied quietly, then walked away.
Lloyd angrily stomped towards the dining room. He didn’t like how the black ninja invaded his privacy, but he was secretly grateful that he didn’t snap like Kai. The black ninja was his second favourite ninja for that reason, even though his cooking was poisonous. His favourite was the white one because he always minded his own business and never tried to interact with him. Then his third favourite– more like second worst, was the blue one. He always made stupid jokes and puns and had an annoying voice. Then the one he hated the most was Kai. So when he reunited with his father, he’d have him kill them in that order: Kai, then the blue ninja, then the black one, then the white one. He might even, very mercifully, spare the last two and only enslave them instead. Not sure about the girl and Wu, though. He’d think about that when he got to that point, if his father even wanted him around.
When he got to the dining room, Wu was there already, and so were the blue and white ninja, and the girl, and he already saw the black ninja earlier. All of them ignored Lloyd and kept having their discussions. Kai wasn’t there.
“Where’s Kai?” Lloyd asked.
“Taking a shower,” Wu responded. “Why?”
Lloyd froze in his spot. His plan needed to go into action, now.
“Hey, I’ve just gotta do something, okay? I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”
He ran back to his room and opened his drawer, where Jay’s perfume was. Then he dashed to the bathroom where Kai was taking a shower.
Okay, Lloyd, you have to be very quiet now, he told himself, and hesitantly opened the door.
He was met with the sound of flowing water, and Kai singing some random song that sounded like it was from the 60s. Lloyd used all his power to stop himself from laughing. If only he could record this. Luckily, Kai was showering behind a curtain, so neither of them could see each other.
On the wall was a peg where Kai’s clothes were hanging. Lloyd took out the bottle of perfume and pried off the lid, leaving it on the floor, then sprayed the liquid all over Kai’s clothes. Unfortunately, he heard the water stop flowing, which meant Kai was about to step out of the shower.
Lloyd closed the perfume bottle and crawled out just in time, hearing Kai come out of the tub as soon as he closed the door behind him.
“Lloyd?” Wu called out. “Your breakfast’s getting cold!”
“Coming!” He called back, putting the perfume in his hood again and heading towards the dining room.
This time, only the girl was left eating her breakfast. Upon seeing Lloyd she smiled and waved at him.
“Good morning, Lloyd!”
Lloyd was surprised at her cheerful attitude. She was the complete opposite of her brother. “Hello…” he paused, remembering that he didn’t know her name. He added learning everyone’s names to his to-do list and sat down to eat his pancakes.
It took a little longer than usual for Kai to show up at the table. Probably wasted his time on hair gel. But when he came, Lloyd couldn’t wait for his plan to go into action.
“Hey, Nya!” Nya. So that’s the girl’s name. The fire ninja sat on the chair next to his sister, and opposite to Lloyd. He glared at the son of his enemy in front of him. Lloyd just looked back at his plate and continued eating.
After less than a minute, Nya’s cheeks flushed and her breathing became irregular.
“Kai,” she gasped. “You smell really nice. Did you put on… something extra today?”
Kai raised an eyebrow. “Something extra?” He smelt his own clothes to see what she was talking about, and his eyes widened. “Holy shit! I thought it was my hair gel!” He jumped out of his seat and ran back a little, distancing himself from Nya. “I swear I didn’t put on perfume! I don’t even have any!”
“Well, my body clearly thinks otherwise.” Nya was tearing up now. That perfume has a really strong scent, Lloyd thought.
The look on Kai’s face was too much for Lloyd, especially after seeing the embarrassing picture of him and his singing in the bathroom. He burst out laughing on his chair, hard enough for him to fall off.
Nya stared at him in shock, and Kai was furious. “What’s so– wait, you did this? ”
Lloyd suddenly stopped laughing and his face turned red. “Uhhhhh…”
Kai wanted to hear no more. He jumped from the other side of the table and lunged for Lloyd.
Lloyd tried kicking the older teen off him but it was of no use. Kai picked him by the neck– and threw him across the room.
Lloyd hit the wall and he heard the sound of glass shattering and felt liquid trickling down his skin. It took him a moment to realise it wasn’t blood– but the perfume from the bottle he kept on the hood.
Within seconds all the perfume had spilled all around Lloyd who just lay there in shock, coughing at the strong scent. The odour spread throughout the entire room and suddenly Nya’s entire face was red and the tears wouldn’t stop coming.
“Nya, get out of here!” Kai said, still standing from where he threw Lloyd. The girl obeyed her brother’s orders, leaving him and Lloyd alone in the room.
“Look at what you did!” Kai yelled. “You almost murdered my sister! What did she ever do to you?”
“It was to get revenge on you!” Lloyd’s voice had the same amount of anger as Kai. “When I go back to my father I’ll murder you! ”
“I’ll murder you before you get to meet him! Then I’ll become the Green Ninja and kill him too!”
“Enough!” Wu interrupted, entering the room. “What’s going on? And what is that awful smell?”
“He almost murdered my sister!”
“He almost murdered me!”
“Both of you, come with me,” Wu replied calmly. “It’s clearly time we sort things out between you two. I’ll have Zane clean up this mess.”
Lloyd and Kai shot each other glares with that sentence.
***
“Lloyd, what’s your side of the story?”
Lloyd gave his uncle a death stare for a good ten seconds before speaking.
“You kidnapped me, then made me stay with my enemies! Kai must be your favourite student because he’s the worst! When my father rescues me from here I’ll have his head blasted off!”
“I see. And what makes you hate him so much?”
“He hung me on a pole! And then when I came here he treated me like a wild animal!”
“You are a wild animal!”
“It’s not your turn, Kai!” Wu turned back to Lloyd. “And why did Kai hang you on a pole?”
Lloyd’s face turned red. “Because… I tried to steal candy.”
Wu faced Kai. “Kai, I don’t think hanging a child on a pole is the best way to punish him for trying to steal candy.”
“He wasted our time, and he’s Garmadon’s son!”
“But he’s also my nephew”
“Did you see what he did? He deliberately sprayed perfume on my clothes to give Nya an allergic reaction!”
“Do you not think hanging someone on a pole is life-threatening, especially if they don’t have someone to rescue them?”
Kai was silent after that. He looked down in shame, unable to come up with a response.
Wu was satisfied with the lack of noise. “Lloyd, apologise to Kai.”
“No! I don’t want to!”
Wu then gave Lloyd a look that Kai had never seen before and the child’s demeanour suddenly changed. “I’m sorry I almost killed your sister.”
“And Kai, do you have anything to say?”
Kai, not wanting to get in any more trouble, sighed before speaking. “I’m sorry I hung you on a pole.”
“Good,” Wu said with satisfaction. “Now you two are brothers. And Lloyd, also apologise to Nya.” As soon as he said that, he left the room, leaving the other two behind.
“Brothers,” Kai scoffed. “Imagine that.”
“Fat chance,” Lloyd agreed.
“You still have to say sorry to Nya.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
***
Nya was surprisingly ready to forgive Lloyd after hearing his excuse.
“Well, Kai was acting like a jerk, and you’re just a little kid, so I’ll forgive you if you promise me you’ll be good from now on.”
Lloyd paused for a moment. “How about I only promise I’ll be good to you?”
Nya chuckled. “Fair enough…”
Shortly after, Nya excused herself to work on an invention or something, and Kai and Lloyd were left together once again.
“This still doesn’t make us brothers.”
“Of course not. My only biological sister is Nya, but the other ninja are all my real siblings too. You’re just a pain in the ass.”
“Well, Nya’s my sister too now.”
Kai gasped. “No she’s not!”
“I only respect my family members. Wu might be an exception though…”
That whole night was spent with Kai and Lloyd arguing over Nya, who insisted that if Lloyd wanted a sister, so be it.
And when Lloyd went to bed that night, he would hate to admit it but he couldn’t wait to fight more the next day. He was actually enjoying his time here.
***
“Hey, Lloyd, I found your old hoodie.”
The ninja were unpacking old boxes in the Destiny’s Bounty, about to move to the Temple of Airjitzu. Kai found a particularly old box, most of which was filled with Lloyd’s stuff.
The Green Ninja ran to Kai. “Oh, I forgot this thing existed. Not throwing it away anytime soon, though.”
“I wonder if there’s any rotten candy in there you put in years ago.”
Lloyd hummed, taking the hoodie into his own hands. “Let’s see…” he rummaged through the pockets and thankfully found nothing, except a piece of paper. As he took it out, he noticed how crumbled it had become since he put it in there, but a smile grew on his face in recognition. “Kai, look at this.”
Kai was mortified when Lloyd turned the paper. It was the edited photograph of himself wearing the Green Ninja’s gi. “Where did you find that?”
“Remember when I sprayed perfume on your clothes so Nya could get an allergic reaction? When I was looking for it in the drawer I found this too and kept it for later. Didn’t think about it after the whole tension between us died down.”
Kai laughed at the memory. “Remember when you threatened to kill me when you would reunite with Garmadon?”
“Well, I did almost kill you with the whole Morro situation.”
“But that was after I could’ve killed you thanks to Chen’s staff.”
“I guess we’re even, then.”
There was a beat of silence, before Kai remembered something. “Remember when Wu told us we were brothers and we both denied it?”
“Yeah,” Lloyd said, looking down at his hoodie again.
“We were so stupid.” Kai smiled, and Lloyd returned the favour.
“You were always there for me, Kai.”
“And I always will be.”
And with everything that had happened over the last few years, Lloyd knew Kai, his brother , was right.