Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey, green bean.” Kai said, coming up from behind the younger ninja-in-training. He ruffled his hair, much to the latter’s dismay.

“Ready for training today?” 

Lloyd let out a groan, but followed the red ninja off the Bounty and into the nearby forest. It was a rare weekend of no Garmadon attacks, so they could afford to leave the city, if only for a short while.

“So what are we focusing on today?” Lloyd asked as he was jumping across the boulders along the edge of the path. Granted, the others had to go on patrol just to be sure, but still. It wasn’t often they could leave the city at all.

“Well, we’ll do a bit of the usual balance and stretching and what not,” Kai started. “But then I was thinking we could have some fun.”

“Really!” Lloyd exclaimed, almost falling off the rock. His eyes were bright with excitement. 

“Yep.” Kai said, popping the ‘p.’ “You may be the destined savior of ninjago, but you’re still a kid.”

As they came into a clearing, Kai set down the bag he’d brought. Inside was some food and water, as well as a few other things.

“ And , since the others are on Garmadon Duty, we have almost the whole day.” Lloyd was practically vibrating at this point. Even though Kai was sharing his excitement, he couldn’t help but feel a little sad for the ninja-in-training.

Ever since Kai had( stupidly, oh so stupidly ) revealed Lloyd’s destiny, he had practically the entire world on his shoulders. Training, day in, day out, with usually only an hour to goof off and just be a kid. It…..it reminded Kai so much of his own childhood, or lack thereof. Taken away far too soon.

Kai clapped. “Well, let’s get started. The sooner we finish, the more time we’ll have.”

And shockingly, with Lloyd so motivated, he flew through training in record time. Four hours and a very tired Kai and Lloyd later, it was time. The sun had long since risen, being around midday. 

There in the middle of kickball, and Kai would’ve been lying if he said he was going easy on Lloyd. He was just so fast and small, Kai stood no chance.

“Hah! Got ya again!” Lloyd cried out as he made yet another goal. Kai laughed.

“That you did.” He ruffled Lloyd’s hair, giving the boy a bright smile. 

But then Kai felt a prickle on the back of his neck. The same kind that he got when he was being….. watched.

In a smooth movement Kai picked up Lloyd, much to his excitement, and spun him around. In the split seconds when he was spinning, just fast enough for the world to not blur too badly, he made out a single glowing yellow eye with a black slit in the darkness of the wood.

Venomari. And more importantly Garmadon.

“Lloyd.” Kai whispered as he placed him down. “When I say ‘go,’ I want you to run back to the Bounty as fast as you can. Don’t stop, no matter what.”

The young boy nodded, a look of slight confusion. He didn’t know what was happening, but he trusted Kai.

“How about we play a game of hide n seek?” He suggested aloud. “But don’t do too far, okay. We won’t want you getting lost.” With his back to the Venomari, he gave Lloyd a quick wink, just in case.

A look of slight fear flashed across Lloyd’s face, but it was quickly replaced by the same wide-eyed happiness he’d shown thus far.

“Got it!”

“Okay.” Kai almost comically turned around so he was looking almost directly at the Venomari. In fact, if he hadn’t been looking for someone he probably would’ve missed them completely. Their eyes blended in almost perfectly with the bright yellow flowers.

“Go!” He shouted, making a show of covering his eyes. “One! Two! Three!”

Behind him, he heard Lloyd bolt . Good.

“Four! Five! Six!”

In front of him he could hear the quiet footsteps of the Venomari.

“Seven! Eight! Nine!”

They were heading right for him.

“Ten!”

On the number, Kai ducked and rolled out of the way, just barely dodging a blast of Venomari venom. Not even a second later, he tackled the snake in it’s stomach and forced them back into the flowers.

Quickly, he straddled it, using his knees to pine down it’s arms with one hand firmly clamped around their mouth with the other around their neck.

For a few seconds the Venomari squirmed, spitting quite a bit of their venom on his hand(gross) before stopping and giving him a smug look.

Uh oh-

Before Kai even had a chance to finish the thought, he felt a sharp pinch on his neck. When removed his hand from the Venomari’s throat to feel it, he felt a blow dart.

“Crap.”

It was mere seconds before his limbs felt like jelly and he collapsed onto the snake. The Venomari easily shoved him off, standing up and brushing themselves off.

“Took you long enough!” The first one said. A second snake, also a Venomari, stepped into Kai’s very limited view.

“Well would you rather me not shoot him? Aiming’ssss hard. I don’t know why they didn’t assign Dendro or Asssp. They’re the bessst stinkin 'shots in the tribe.” The Venomari mumbled the last bit as they kicked a rock. Kai would have laughed if he wasn’t paralyzed. “Besidesss, the boss isn’t gonna be happy we didn’t get the green one.”

“Eh, at leasssst we got the red one. Wasssn’t he gripping for hourssss about how the red one sssstole his ssssson’s love?” The first Venomari knelt down next to Kai. “Isss that true? Did you sssteal the green one’s love?”

The second one gave him an incredulous look. “He’sss still awake?!? I could’ve sworn I used the right…..wait….wait, no I usssed to wrong one. My bad.” He said sheepishly.

The first one rolled their eyes. “It’ssss no wonder they ssssent the two of us on this mission. The tribe tricksssster and the tribe sssscrew up. It’s as if they wanted ussss to fail and kick ussss out.” They added sarcastically.

“Okay, I definitely got the right one thisss time.” The second Venomari said. Kai felt another prick, this time on his arm, and the world started quickly growing black.

“There we go! Now he’ssss definitely loosi- cons-nessss”

The world faded quicker, feeling as though cotton were being pressed on all his senses.

Hopefully Lloyd at least got back to the Bounty. It would suck if he didn’t.

When Kai woke up he was on his knees, with what seemed to be a bag covering his head. The overwhelming smell of herbs and the forest assaulted Kai’s nose, practically making his eyes water at the overpowering odor. Some sort of adhesive was keeping his mouth clamped shut and held fast when he tried to open it. Thick cuffs pinned his hands behind his back. Kai gave them a quick tug, disappointed when they barely moved a few centimeters before pulling taut.

“Hello, Kai.” Kai’s head snapped upward, eyes desperately searching behind the sack for something he couldn’t see.

Garmadon.

“I will admit, I wasn’t pleased that those useless snakes were unable to capture my son, but you are the next best thing” A warmth like nothing Kai had ever felt before got close. Far too close to his neck. It felt like the power of the Sword of Fire, but magnified a thousand fold. 

“It would be so easy to kill you right now. A simple tap and you’ll disappear, not even a body to be found by the ninja and my brother. A warning to stand against me.”

Kai felt his breathing start to grow shallow and quicken in pace. 

He could die. He could die . If he died, who would help Zane with chores when he tried to put too much on his plate? Who would quadruple check Jay’s blueprints when he wasn’t looking, checking for anything too dangerous or crazy? Who would check up on Cole to make sure he wasn’t staying up too late perfecting their latest plan to stop Garmadon? 

Who would….who would watch over his little siblings? 

Who would make sure Nya didn’t feel sidelined when they went on missions? Who would stop her from creating an impossible device that could get her hurt, or worse? Who would make sure Lloyd has time to just be a kid ? Who would let him snuggle in bed with them at night when he had nightmares?

“But,” The overwhelming power of the Mega Weapon left Kai’s throat. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Lloyd would be quite devastated to learn of your death.” Garmadon took a few steps back before seeming to pace. 

“However, I can’t just imprison you. You’re much too crafty, and lord knows these snakes are no match.” Kai could’ve sworn he heard some quiet angry hissing from behind, but Garmadon didn’t seem to notice.

“Aha. I know what to do.” Garmadon took a few more steps until he seemed to be a few feet in front of Kai.

“Mega Weapon.” Oh no. Oh First Master no!

“I wish for Kai to be sent to a place where he cannot leave, but cannot die, and where he won’t pose a threat to my plans.”

Nononononononononononono-

A scalding beam hit Kai straight in the chest, making him cry out behind the gag.

Then it was gone. And so was the quiet of wherever he had been. 

The faint sounds of the city sounded below him, and the bright lights shone through the bag. Kai tried lifting his hands again, finding the chain that had kept him bolted to the floor was gone.

Kai quickly rolled over and carefully worked his cuffed hands in front of him. He practically ripped off the bag, only to be blinded by the sight before him.

Ninjago City. Or, at least he thought it was Ninjago city. It was lit with every color of the rainbow, drowning out the stars above. The buildings all around him were the size of the tallest buildings in Ninjago City, but they didn’t even come close to the tower in the middle of the city.

Where in Ninjago was he?!?

Chapter Text

Why, why, why did he decide to walk home alone. It was a horrible idea, but Lloyd wanted to prove to the others he didn’t need constant guarding, he was their leader, he was supposed to be protecting them -

The stone of the building bumping into his back knocked him out of his thoughts.

Oh right. He should probably be paying more attention to the fact he was being cornered in an ally.

“H-heh, c’mon. L-let’s talk this out.” Lloyd stuttered to the figure in front of him. He absolutely hated how weak he felt without his mech and gi.

The figure didn’t speak, instead pulling out a knife that shone in the moonlight. Lloyd gulped.

“Th-that’s a nice l-looking knife you have there.” He stuttered. As terrified as he was, Lloyd had to admit, it was expertly crafted. From what he could see, the handle had an elegant plant-like pattern carved into it and beautiful engravings in the blade. It was unfortunate that such a beautiful weapon was being used against him.

“You like it?” The person asked, stepping closer and holding it up. “It’s my father’s.”

Ah. Lloyd knew pretty well where this conversation was going. He should’ve just kept his mouth shut.

“Or, rather it was, before Lord Garmadon’s last attack put him in the hospital.”

Yep. There it was.

“L-look, I’m sorry, I really am, but hurting me isn’t gonna help hi-” Lloyd let out a strangled yelp as the person’s hand shot up and grabbed his throat. His hands immediately flew up to try and relieve the pressure, but it didn’t budge. Dang, this person was strong.

“Oh I know that.” The blade flashed dangerously close to his stomach. “Doesn’t mean it won’t make me feel better.”

As Lloyd started squirming away from the blade, a figure in dark red dropped from the roofs, a few feet behind the person with the knife. The person whipped around to see what had just happened, but kept their hand firmly around Lloyd’s throat.

“I’d step away if I were you.”

The stranger was wearing some sort of armor like garb, with a maroon armor piece covering his upper chest and shoulders. There were small golden designs on it, as well as some gold shoulder pads. A belt looped twice around his waist, and tucked inside seemed to be some shurikens. A ninja hood was covering a majority of his face, and there was another gold decal about where his forehead was. The cloth underneath all the armor and covering most of his body was red.

His skin was a dark brown and eyes were a goldish brown and set in a harsh glare, anger clear for anyone to see. Through the eye hole, Lloyd could make out a long scar going through his right eye.

He reminded Lloyd a lot of Kai, except the scar was in the wrong spot, and he doubted Kai could ever look so angry. Or dangerous.

The stranger with the blade didn’t seem to be as intimidated as Lloyd, as they just scoffed.

“Who are you supposed to be?” 

The stranger in red’s glare let up for a split second, briefly looking surprised, but the glare was back a fraction of a second later.

“That doesn’t matter.” They said. “I’m giving you one last chance to put down the kid and leave.”

Now it was the person with the knife’s turn to look surprised. Heck, even Lloyd was surprised. How did this person not know who he was?

“You’re kidding right? Don’t you know who he is?!?” They exclaimed. The stranger looked unimpressed.

“Does it matter?” 

The knife stranger sputters.

“Of course it matters! Do you really think I’d just threaten any teenage boy?!?”

The red stranger looked even more unimpressed. “I mean….” He gestured to the scene before him.

The knife stranger let out a yell. “OF COURSE I WOULDN’T!” They looked ready to yell more, but instead they took a deep breath. “This boy is the son of the warlord who keeps attacking Ninjago City. He’s Lloyd Garmadon.”

Lloyd winced a little at all the venom in the person’s voice. He was used to it, but it still hurt a small part of him

The red stranger’s eyes widened exponentially. “He’s…...but that….” the stranger trailed off, eyes darting back and forth between Lloyd and the knife stranger, then to the ground. 

The stranger looked back up, his eyes now full of hatred and threatening and rage. If Lloyd weren’t already trapped, he would’ve tried and shied away. Forget Kai, Lloyd never knew anyone could look that angry…. Great. Now that he knew he was probably going to join in, and honestly the red stranger was much more terrifying,

“I am giving you one last chance.” He hissed, venom dripping from every word. “Leave now, or face the consequences.”

…..what? He…..he still wanted to help him? Even though he was the son of Garmdaon….maybe it was just because he wanted to be close to him. Save his son and get in the Dark Lord’s good graces….yeah. Yeah that made more sense.

The knife stranger snorted. “Oh please, what are you-”

The red stranger was a blur as he ran. In under a second, he was already descending upon the knife stranger. In the next second, the pressure was gone from Lloyd’s neck and the knife was on the other side of the alley. In the third, the now-knifeless stranger was thrown into the brick wall. In the fourth, Lloyd felt calloused but gentle hands grab his own as he was pulled out of the alley and to the fire escape. In the fifth and final second, he felt the curved roof of the building beneath him as the stranger dragged him away via the rooftop.

They ran for several minutes, and even with Lloyd’s ninja training he found it hard to keep up.

When they finally stopped, quite the distance from the alley, Lloyd was struggling for breath while the stranger didn’t even look mildly fatigued.

“Are you okay?” He asked, and Lloyd could’ve sworn there was genuine concern in his voice.

“Y-yeah….I’m…...I’m okay.” Lloyd said between pants. “Geez, how do…..how did you run….so far with….without getting…. tired ….”

“Training.” They answered curtly. An awkward silence set in, only broken by Lloyd’s panting which gradually slowed.

“Do you….” the stranger started. Lloyd looked up at him, confused. “Do you recognize me?”

“Uhhhhhhh,” Lloyd looked at the stranger closely. Nothing seemed to stick out, especially since most of his features were hidden by his armor(?). “Can’t say that I do. Sorry?”

A flash of hurt and sadness were visible in his eyes before it was gone. “Oh.”

The silence returned again, this time even more suffocating. Lloyd started fidgeting his hands, desperately trying to think of something to say. After all, maybe this person did actually care, and he really wanted to keep it that way.

“I suppose I’d better be going.” The red stranger suddenly said, taking a few steps toward the edge of the roof.

“Thank you.” Lloyd blurted. The strange looked back, slightly surprised. “For helping me.”

His eyes softened and it was clear he was smiling behind the mask. “It was nothing. I’m sure anyone would’ve.”

Lloyd shook his head and chuckled. “Yeah, I’m not so sure about that.”

The smile vanished and Lloyd internally panicked. Shoot, shoot, shoot, he shouldn’t have said that, he wasn’t sure what was wrong with the statement, but it was clearly not right-

The stranger walked back over to him and placed a shoulder on his shoulder. Lloyd fought back a flinch, but wasn’t completely successful. He slammed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable hitting or yelling.

But it never came.

After a few seconds, Lloyd hesitantly opened one eye. The stranger did seem to look angry…..instead he looked….sad. And worried.

He pulled Lloyd into a hug, tightly wrapping his arms around him in a protective embrace.

Lloyd awkwardly patted the red stranger on the back, not quite sure what to do. The only hugs he ever got were from his mom and Kai, and occasionally from the others. And well, his mom was his mom , and Kai was his best friend. And on top of that was the feelings from this hug. It was….almost longing. Like a hug between two people who had seen the other disappear and come back a fully changed person….

The stranger pulled away, the smile back on his face. “If you ever need any help, with anything at all, just holler and I’ll be there.”

He ran back to the roof edge, but just before he jumped off, Lloyd stopped him.

“Wait!” He looked back again. “What’s your name?”

The stranger thought for a second before answering. “Call me Shogun.”

And then he jumped.

Lloyd rushed over to the edge to see where he went, but found nothing. There wasn’t a red splat on the pavement or the telltale sound of footsteps on the surrounding roofs. Just vanished.

“Woah….” Lloyd said in awe. His moment of awe was interrupted by his phone ringing.

Pulling it out, he recognized the picture as Nya’s.

“Hello?” He asked.

“LLOYD!” Nya shouted. Lloyd pulled the phone away from his ear, wincing at the loud noise.

“WHY ARE YOU ON THE ROOFTOP OF AN APARTMENT COMPLEX!!!”

“I-” Lloyd started, but then realized something. “Wait, how do you know I’m on a roof?”

“NOT IMPORTANT! EXPLAIN!” Nya demanded.

“Uhhhhhh, well you see…..”

————————

Kai was pacing in the apartment. It had been three hours since the encounter, but he had too many thoughts rushing through his head and couldn’t relax.

He needed…..he needed to get his thoughts in order. Yeah. Yeah that would probably work. Jay always said that organizing his thoughts helped, separating what he knew and what he didn’t, things he needed to get done versus things he wanted to get done.

First off, he knew he was in Ninjago City. All the signs, plus that thug from earlier had all but confirmed it.

But he didn’t know why everything looked so different.

He also didn’t know why this entire apartment complex was abandoned. It wasn’t that bad and it wasn’t too far from the beach. Maybe the Garmadon attacks had something to do with it?

Well, at least it was a good place to crash. He didn’t need to pay rent, it was decently insulated, and it could work as a pretty solid home base. He just had to be careful that nobody saw him staying and to not use anything that made light near the windows. And to keep his belongings sparse, in case he needed to move in a hurry.

He looked at the small backpack of things he’d stolen. It had been years since he needed to steal, but without any cash or a job he didn’t have a choice. It hadn’t taken long to find the rhythm, but once he found it he slipped into it with ease, his ninja training definitely helping.

The backpack contained a change of civilian clothes, a toothbrush, a plastic water bottle, a water filter, and three granola bars. It was all he was able to snatch before the cashier got curious, but it was enough. For now.

He remembered seeing some help wanted signs in the window of the shop cross the street, so he’d probably need to check those out too.

Then there was….Lloyd.

Lloyd, who seemed to be Kai’s age.

Lloyd, who was almost killed in an alley and brushed it off as normal.

Lloyd, who didn’t recognize him and thought he was going to hurt him .

The last thought made him sick to his stomach.

The look of fear in his eyes as Kai had stepped toward him, the way he flinched away…..it broke Kai’s heart. 

Was this really what had happened in his absence? Would the others really have allowed it to happen? No, no they wouldn’t. But then that would mean that something happened to them. Perhaps it was Garmadon. The person had mentioned Garmadon attacking the city, so it was definitely possible. But then who was defending it? Certainly not the police, they didn’t have nearly enough fire power. Oh no, his family was-

Calm down. Back track. Your thoughts are getting ahead of you. What do you know?

He knew almost nothing.

Kai pulled out the folded picture from the inside of his gi. It was located right above his heart, the safest possible place. If he was attacked there….. well…. losing the picture would be the least of his worries.

He’d sworn to himself the night he saved Lloyd from the volcano and revealed his destiny that he would do everything in his power to protect his little brother. It didn’t matter the danger, he would be there. He would even give his life, if need be.

Kai pulled out the change of clothes and used it to pillow his head on the hardwood floor of the apartment, tiredness finally catching up to him.

Tonight, it was time to sleep.

Tomorrow? Some reconnaissance.

Chapter Text

Lloyd was bolting, as fast as his little legs could carry him, jumping over rocks and ducking under branches that got in his way. Kai’s counting was slowly growing more distant, but it wasn’t gone before he heard the sounds of someone getting tackled.

He ran faster.

Lloyd felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest. One second he was having the time of his life with Kai, the next he was telling Lloyd to run away. He didn’t know what was happening, and that scared him.

But he was the green ninja! He wasn’t supposed to be scared of anything. And he definitely wasn’t supposed to run away from a fight!

….but Kai looked really serious when he said to run. And Kai never ran either. Only if it was really really dangerous. And Lloyd trusted Kai. Kai was his big brother.

Lloyd all but threw open the door to The Bounty’s control room and bolted over to the controls, desperately searching for the button that controlled the communications.

When he finally found it, he hit it and the computer started ringing.

“C’mon, c’mon, pick up, pick up !” Lloyd said, bouncing from one foot to the other. Who knew how much time Kai had if he wasn’t already…

The call connected and pictures of the other three ninja, plus Nya and Wu, appeared. The ninja were riding Ultra while Nya was in her Samurai X armor with Wu sitting on the chair she added. 

“Hey guys, what’s-” Cole started talking, but Lloyd cut him off.

“Something’swrongmeandKaiwereplayingbutthenhetoldmetorunandKainevertellsmetorunandIdon’tknowwhat’swrongbutthenIheardfightingandIthinkKai’sindanger-“

“Woah, woah. Slow down, Lloyd. You’re talking faster than Jay on a caffeine rush.” Cole said, and in response, Lloyd heard Jay let out an offended “hey!”

“Kai’s in trouble!” Lloyd exclaimed.

“Wait, what!” Nya said back. “What happened?”

“I-I don’t know.” Lloyd started. “We were just play- er- training in the woods when he told me to run as fast as I could and back here.”

“Lloyd,” Uncle Wu started. “Do you remember seeing anything strange?”

“Umm.” Lloyd thought back. Everything seemed fine, but…. “I was getting this weird feeling.”

“Weird feeling?” Jay echoed. “What kind of weird feeling?”

“Like…” Lloyd struggled to explain. “Like how when someone stares at you and you get those chills? Kinda like that...sort of.”

“Hm.” Wu said. “Cole, Jay, Zane, head back to The Bounty . If Kai really is in danger, he’ll need help. If you need back up, call me and Nya.”

“Yes, Sensei.” The three ninja said.

“And Lloyd.” Wu continued. “Stay inside the Bounty. Do not leave until the others have arrived. You will lead them to where you and Kai were training, but, if there is any, will remain out of danger.”

Lloyd frowned. He was the green ninja! Surely he could handle it…...but then again….

Kai's face flashed again in his mind.

“Okay, Uncle.” he nodded. The call ended.

Hold on Kai. Help is on the way.

“So what are your guy’s thoughts?” Cole shouted. The wind was roaring all around the three ninja as Ultra flew over the desert. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t the best idea to park The Bounty so far away, but there wasn’t anything they could do about it now.

“About Lloyd’s call?” Zane asked.

“Obviously.” Jay responded. “I think this might be a prank.”

“Really?” Cole looked at him with an incredulous look. “I’m not so sure. Kid looked pretty scared.

Jay shrugged. “I’m just saying, this would be the perfect excuse to get us to help him win a game. We go in thinking someone’s in trouble, giving it our all, then BAM! We end up winning him hide’n’seek.”

“I am inclined to disagree with that theory.” Zane spoke, drawing the other two ninja’s attention. “From what I observed, Lloyd was clearly experiencing the physical symptoms of fear and worry.”

“Well, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out. The Bounty is right up ahead.” Cole pointed out, gesturing to the growing shape in the distance.

As soon as Ultra landed, Lloyd burst from the main room and practically jumped off the edge of the ship. Ultra just barely caught him with its tail, but the kid just jumped off from that too. At least it wasn’t as high up.

“Woah, slow down Lloyd, you’ll get hurt!” Cole exclaimed, quickly sliding down Ultra’s back to the ground, followed by Zane and Jay.

“This way!” he exclaimed, grabbing Cole’s arm and pulling him toward the forest. Even with Cole’s super strength, the kid pulled him around like a ragdoll, Jay and Zane still following. 

It didn’t take long for Lloyd to take them to where he wanted. It was practically picture-perfect, with the almost glowing green grass and the trees in almost a perfect ring. A few clusters of flowers were also scattered around, breaking up the various greens and browns with splashes of color, but most notable was the massive bush of yellow flowers with black centers. To be honest, the flowers reminded him of something, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Right here.” Lloyd stopped right in the middle of the clearing, turning around as he looked deeper into the forest.

“Lloyd, can you recall exactly what happened before Kai told you to run?” Zane asked.

“Well,” Lloyd walked a bit to the left. “We were playing a game of kickball…” Lloyd’s eyes widened once he realized what he’d just said. “I mean-”

“It’s fine, Lloyd.” Jay said, walking over to him. “I’m pretty sure we’ve all figured out at this point that Kai spends half of his training sessions with you playing or letting you rest.”

That was true. No one could miss the excitement in Lloyd’s eyes as he was handed off to Kai for their separate training lessons. At first, everyone thought it was just that Lloyd liked Kai more(which was probably true, too), but after a while, it became clear what was actually happening. And it wasn’t like Lloyd was falling behind in training, so there was really no reason to stop it.

“Alright….” Lloyd said hesitantly. He went back to acting out what happened earlier. “I scored a goal, Kai congratulated me and ruffled my hair….then he suddenly picked me up and spun me around.”

Lloyd suddenly started spinning, before stopping. He was facing the yellow flower bush.

“When Kai was putting me down, he whispered to me ‘when I say go, run back to The Bounty .’” Lloyd said. “He then said loudly that we should play hide’n’seek.”

“I CALLED IT!” Jay shouted. Lloyd looked confused at his sudden outburst while the other two just stared, unimpressed. The blue ninja laughed awkwardly at the staring. “Heh, sorry. Continue.”

“He then turned around, said go, and started counting. That’s when I started running...that way!” Lloyd pointed in the direction of The Bounty .

“Hm.” Zane started examining the scene again. “Kai had full control of the direction he was facing, and if he turned around in a full 180 degrees as you say, then he would be facing….” Zane mimicked what Kai supposedly did, facing the yellow flowered bush. “Here.”

Zane ran toward the bush, gently observing the flowers.

“Some of the stems have been bent unnaturally.” Zane noted. He walked around the bush to the back. “And even more are crushed here.”

“So what does it mean?” Jay asked.

“From what I’ve gathered, if there was an enemy, then there is a very high probability they were hiding right here.” Zane crouched down behind the flowers, almost completely disappearing from view. If he were wearing greens and yellows instead of white, he would’ve been impossible to spot.

“Alright, that explains what happened.” Cole started.

“What might’ve happened, we have no way of 100% certainty.” Zane imputed.

“Right, right. But we still don’t know where Kai is .” Jay started pacing. Cole couldn’t help but look at where Jay’s feet were. Right in his path was a weird shiny spot, just barely standing out against the bright green grass. Cole almost snicked, imagining Jay freaking out to a sudden wet spot…until he noticed it was directly in the path of the bush.

“Jay, stop moving .” he hissed, eyes wide. Jay froze.

“What is it?” he asked, not moving a muscle for once. Using some of the extra fabric on his gi, Cole patted the spot, soaking up the liquid.

“Zane, can you tell me what this is?” Cole asked, holding up the fabric. Zane looked long and hard and from Cole’s perspective, he could see minuscule glowing blue dots in his eyes as he analyzed it.

Zane sucked in a breath.

“Venomari venom.”

That’s what the flowers looked like. The eyes of a Venomari. And with their green and black scales, it would have blended in almost perfectly.

And the Venomari were working with Garmadon .

This was bad. This was very bad .

“There’s no way a single Venomri was able to take down Kai!” Jay suddenly said. It was easy to pick up on the worry in his voice. “Even if he was venomed, there’s no way he’d go down without a fight!”

“Guys….” Lloyd called out hesitantly. The three ninja’s gazes snapped to the younger ninja. He was a few paces behind Zane holding something in his hands.

Zane carefully grabbed it, doing the same analysis he’d done seconds before. He let out a small hum.

“I’m picking up trace amounts of venom from a snake known as the King Benumb Cobra. That species of snake is most well known for its poison, which is able to completely numb its victim’s limbs.”

Zane looked back at Lloyd. “Where did you find this, Lloyd?”

“Just in the grass.” Lloyd gestured behind him.

The ninja shared a look.

Cole placed a finger to the comm in his ear, hidden beneath the fabric of his gi.

“Sensei Wu? We might have a problem.”

Hallu wasn’t very good at most anything. He wasn’t good at hunting, his venom was pretty weak, he was constantly mixing up his poisons, and he was pretty sure his upper left eye was slowly failing.

Yet somehow he’d caught the red ninja . Someone even Lord Garmadon had difficulties capturing.

“Hurry up, ssssslowpoke. I wanna get to the base before the Green Ninja alertss the otherssss.”

Right, he didn’t do it completely on his own. He also had help from Koral.

“Why do I have to be the one to carry him?” He complained. “He’ssss heavy.”

The shorter Venomari let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of their face, just above where their nose slits were, something they seemed to pick up from either Garmadon or humans, both viable options. Koral always had a strange interest in the race that trapped them underground for years.

“Because firsssst off, you’re bigger and ssssstronger than I am.” They pointed out. “And ssssecondly, ssssomeone hasss to cover our trackssss.”

“Sssstill.” Hallu kicked a rogue rock in the path.

“Hallu, don’t make me pull out the eye. You know I’ll do it.” Koral threatened, lifting one hand to their eye patch.

“Okay! Okay, fine, I’ll sssstop complaining! Jusssst, please! Don’t pull out the eye!” Hallu squawked, trying to cover at least two of his eyes with his one free hand.

“Thought sssso.” Koral replied, their hand dropping back to their side.

Hallu gave them a half hearted glare. “You’re evil.”

Koral smiled. “And you’re a screw up, yet here we are.”

Hallu couldn’t help snicker a bit. Of all the members of the tribe, Koral was the only one who could call him that. It became sort of an inside joke between the two. “It’s ssssuper grosss though. Why don’t you let one of the healerssss check it out?”

Koral smirked. “Becausssse it’s awessssome. Imagine one day, I’m fighting the ninja, and BOOM! I lift my patch and they ssssee what’sss left of my eye. They get dissstracted, I take them down, and get in Acidicus’ssss good gracesss.” They paused. “Well... I guessss it’s Lord Garmadon’s gracessss now….and technically we just did.”

Hallu cast a glance at the unconscious ninja. Even asleep, he looked so….tense.

“I guessss you’re right. Huh.” Hallu said. It was kinda strange. Ever since they were hatchlings, Koral and Hallu had dreamed of being warriors, marching side by side with the General as they charged into battle, the screams of the human armies loud as they took their revenge….there was a lot less sneaking and poisoning and fighting...well, children in those dreams. Heck, now that he was thinking about it, the Red Ninja looked barely old enough to start training in the Tribe….but then again humans probably aged differently, plus different customs.

“Hey, would’ya look at that, we’re here.” Koral pointed out. Hallu’s four eyes snapped forward and they were right. The tunnel to the temporary stronghold was right in front of them, hidden by the natural growth of the forest.

The two wordlessly walked down the tunnel, Hallu in the front, dragging the ninja by his feet, Koral in the back, making sure they weren’t followed. As the tunnel started to branch off and connect to others, they slowly passed more and more Serpentine. Mostly Constrictai, some Fangpyre, and only a handful of Hypnobrai and Venomari. Every single one of them looked at the pair and their prize with wide eyed disbelief, especially the Venomari, one of which was none other than Dendro herself. Hallu took a bit of pride at the envy in her eyes, and he was pretty sure Koral did the same.

They soon arrived at Lord Garmadon’s quarters, to which Koral volunteered to tell the good news. Good. Garmadon honestly terrified Hallu.

A loud “WHAT?!?!” Sounded from the room, causing Hallu to jump. The Dark Lord threw open the door, Megaweapon in hand. Even being a few feet away didn’t stop its power from permeating him.

Lord Garmadon stared at the unconscious ninja, his usually stoic or unhappy face wide eyed with shock. It was…..weird.

“I can handle it from here.” Lord Garmadon said, snapping out of his stupor. With one of his hands, he swiftly picked the Red Ninja up off the ground and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of herbs.

“What about ussss?” Koral asked, crossing their arms. Hallu shot them a panicked look.

Garmadon looked at Koral, who stared straight back.

 “Of course.” He finally said. Hallu almost jumped. “We will discuss your reward later.”

He turned around and walked toward the lower levels, Red Ninja still unconscious.

Once Hallu was very certain Lord Garmadon was out of hearing range, he slapped Koral in the stomach. 

“What were you thinking?!?” He hissed. “You don’t just ssssay that!”

Koral crossed their arms. “Well, excusssse me for making sure we get the credit we dessserve.”

Hallu sighed. “Just….next time be more careful. Thisssss isn’t Acidicusss, or any of the other Generalsss. You have to be more careful.”

Koral waved their hands and rolled their eye. “Right, right, I know that.” A mischievous glimmer flashed. “Now, you wanna go brag to the otherssss?”

Hallu sighed again. “....yessss” he hesitantly said.

“Great!” Koral grabbed his hand and pulled him along. “And you worry too much. Besssides, maybe us capturing the Red Ninja will give usss a bit of leeway. We’ll be fine.”

“Sssomehow I think you jussst jinxed it.”

Chapter Text

Kai woke up before dawn, just like he always did, and quickly brushed his teeth, just like he always did.

He got dressed, ate a quick snack, and did some quick stretches, just like normal.

In fact, he was so in his routine, he almost forgot he wasn’t home.

Almost.

The floorboards didn’t creak the same way as The Bounty .

The Bounty didn’t have peeling wallpaper.

The Bounty didn’t smell like old paint and dust.

The Bounty was never this quiet. There was always the sounds of Jay’s video games, or Zane cooking, or the beep-boops of Nya telling the computer what to do(she smacked him over the head with a wrench when she heard him call it that), or Cole testing new weights, or Lloyd’s footsteps as he tried to find the hidden candy stashes.

The last one sent a knife through his heart as he remembered the event of last night.

Homesickness wasn’t an entirely foreign thing to Kai. 

He felt it during his first few days at the Monastery of Spinjitzu, but it was easily squashed underneath his worry and resolve to rescue Nya. And then when Monastery was burned down, it was a little harder to ignore, but it was quickly solved when Zane came back and showed them The Bounty .

But, both times, he had someone with him. This time, he had no one.

Kai shook his head, coming back to the present.

He didn’t have time for a pity party. He needed to help Lloyd.

Putting on the civilian clothes felt....strange. But, given he’d almost exclusively been wearing a gi for the past few months, it was expected.

The clothes were pretty simple and not too flashy. A solid grey t-shirt with a fire design right in the middle that started as red and slowly shifted to yellow then white as it got closer to the middle and a pair of blue jeans. He’d picked up a simple red zip-up hoodie, just in case, but opted to tie it around his waist. He’d also been able to get a pair of fingerless gloves, which were more to fill the empty space on his hands. Unfortunately, he’d been unable to get a pair of shoes, so he was stuck wearing his black tabi shoes. Eh, if anyone asked, he’d just say he was really into parkour(which wasn’t a lie. Going on parkour runs with the others was probably one of his favorite parts of being a ninja).

Once he was certain he looked like just another teen, he hid his supplies and gi in a hole in the ceiling, pocketed his commlink, put on his backpack, and left the apartment.

Hopefully, if the universe was feeling merciful, today would go according to plan.

The universe hated him.

Kai knew that was probably already true, especially considering everything he’d gone through in the past few days, but this was just getting ridiculous.

At first, things had gone according to plan. He’d headed back to the ally and found that not only was the person gone(good, that probably means they weren’t too hurt or someone came and got them), but they seemed to have left the knife behind. He ended up pocketing it.

And, by the time he got to the downtown area, some stores were starting to open, and one just so happened to be the store from yesterday, so now he had a good chance of a job interview sometime tomorrow.

And, he’d also been able to spot Lloyd (!!!) getting on a school bus, but something must’ve been wrong with it since it was leaning a lot to the left. So, naturally, he followed it. And, since he looked like a student, people let him past since they probably assumed he’d just missed the bus.

He was able to mostly keep up with the bus the whole way to the school, and no one looked twice as he passed by.

Things were going almost perfectly and he naively thought things would stay that way.

But then things started going wrong .

Apparently, his disguise was too convincing. As when the first bell rang, a teacher in the halls saw him sneaking around and assumed he was trying to skip class. When he tried to explain he didn’t go to the school, she didn’t even let him finish and tried grabbing him to bring to the principal's office. He started running, but then she started chasing, and boy she was fast .

Desperate to lose her, he ducked into a classroom, hoping she wouldn’t follow. Luckily, the teacher didn’t appear to be in the room yet, so the rowdy students didn’t seem to notice or care. Quickly scanning the room, he found there seemed to be only one empty seat, right next to a curly-headed kid with a scarf in the back. He seemed to be sketching something.

Bolting to the desk, Kai pulled up his hoodie and ducked his head, dropping the bag carefully on the floor.

The second bell sounded and the teacher entered(thankfully not the one who was chasing him).

“Hello, class.” The teacher said. The students mumbled ‘hello’s, but it was pretty quiet.

“Now, I know you’re all tired from the test last week,” Kai sensed a but.

“But, our class is behind, so we can’t take any easy days” Yep, there it was. The class let out a collective moan. Well, everyone except the kid next to him. Kai looked up a bit, now a bit more confident that the other teacher wasn’t going to come crashing in.

He had a mop of curly, brown hair that partially covered a pair of clever, dark blue eyes. Freckles were scattered on his cheeks and nose and the lower half of his face was covered by a tightly woven orange scarf. One end was tightly tucked inside while the other seemed to be fraying, almost as if someone had been picking at it. He was wearing a blue jacket with some light blue and orange triangles. He wore tan jeans and black sneakers. His backpack was decorated with colorful buttons and keychains, and there seemed to be something shiny and metallic poking out. He was sketching with practiced strokes, but from his angle, Kai couldn’t see what was being drawn.

“However!” The teacher said, snapping Kai’s gaze back to the front. “I will be allowing you to work in partner pairs for today’s work packet. And, if you finish early, you and your partner may socialize.” He then gestured to the pile of paper on the desk in the front. “Once you pick your partner, one of you will come up and get two packets. You may begin.”

All the kids started moving at once, shifting around in almost perfect sync. But the kid next to him didn’t move. He just seemed to bury himself further into his scarf.

A few seconds passed and Kai realized quickly that everyone else had found themselves a partner and were beginning the packet.

Everyone but him. And the kid.

Kai looked to the door. Now was the perfect time to leave. Everyone was busy with the packets, this teacher would probably just think he was going to the bathroom, and the other teacher would be teaching her class. It was perfect.

But then….he looked back to the kid who was still drawing. Nobody had picked him, no one even looked his way. Kai looked around and did a headcount. Including himself, there was an even number of students. He looked around again, and in the corner, he spied…. two groups of three?

What?

He looked back at the kid. Was this...was this normal? For the other students to just ignore him?

A rock set in Kai’s gut. He couldn’t just leave. Not yet. He didn’t know why, but he just couldn’t.

Kai looked at the clock. 8:15.

He still had time. Quite a lot of it, actually. Staying for one class wouldn’t hurt, right?

“Hey,” Kai started. The kid jumped, only now just noticing him. “I was wondering if you wanted to work together. Everyone else has a partner already.”

“O-oh.” The kid stuttered. “A-are you sure you don’t want to partner with someone else?”

Kai frowned and the kid flinched. “I-I’m mean not that I don’t want to work with you, b-but wouldn’t you rather w-work with someone else?”

Kai looked around the room, mostly for show, then back at the kid. “No. I’d rather work with you.”

The kid looked shocked and let out a small “oh.”

“I’ll go get the packets. Do you think you could push our desks together?” Kai gently asked. The kid hesitated for a second before nodding. Kai smiled.

The kid gave a tentative smile back.

But once Kai sat down and looked at the worksheet, he blanched.

He had no idea what the heck was on the paper.

It seemed to be math equations, but there were a lot of letters sprinkled in, and well as some other things he didn’t even know the names of.

Math wasn’t supposed to have letters…. right???

Curse his limited elementary education.

Kai’s panic only rose as he heard the paper next to him turn. He looked over and the kid was already done with the first sheet .

HOW?!?!?

Kai watched with unconcealed awe as the kid’s pencil danced across the page, equations and answers appearing at lightning speed and pretty soon, he was done with the second.

It wasn’t until he was done with the fifth that he realized Kai wasn’t following along.

“O-oh, I'm going too fast, aren’t I?” He said, wilting slightly. He put his pencil down and burrowed into his scarf, averting his gaze.

“N-no you’re not, it’s just…” Kai ran his fingers through his hair and looked at the paper. “You’re really smart. Like, really.”

“What?” The kid whispered.

“I can barely make any sense of this, but you’re already done with the fifth page! I mean, everyone else seems to be struggling on the second or third.” Kai gestured around and was true to his word. Most of the students’ had confused or annoyed looks on their faces and their pencils were moving at a much slower speed.

Kai laughed a bit. “I’m now wondering if it would be better for you to work alone. At least then, you wouldn’t have me slowing you down.”

“No!” The kid exclaimed. Kai looked shocked, easy smile falling away. The kid, realizing his outburst, blushed and looked away.

“I-I mean…” he started twisting the end of his scarf. “I-I’ve never had anyone willingly partner up with me before,”

Ah. So Kai’s earlier hunch was right.

“A-and I know it probably isn’t that important, but...but I like it.” He looked up. “I like working with you.”

Kai sat there stunned. This issue clearly ran a whole lot deeper than he expected.

The kid looked at Kai’s paper. “I-I could help you...if you want.” He offered.

Kai looked at his own paper, then back at the kid. “Are you sure?” He asked. Quickly realizing his wording, he continued. “I mean, like I said before, I’ll only slow you down.”

The kid nodded. “I-it’s the least I can do.” He scooted a little closer. “S-so, let’s start with the first one…”

And help he did. The kid didn’t ask questions when he had to explain variables, or negative powers, or slopes with graphing. He just broke it down into simple, easy to understand pieces and explained it. Slowly but surely, Kai was able to make his way through the worksheet. All of the groups finished much earlier than they did, but the kid didn’t seem to care that he was losing free time.

It took the entire class, but in the end, Kai was able to finish the worksheet.

The bell rang and kids started packing up, the kid and Kai included. They walked to the door together, but just as he was about to go down the hallway into the sea of students, Kai stopped him.

“Thanks. For helping me. You didn’t have to.” Kai thanked. The kid blushed.

“Y-your welcome.” He fidgeted with the scarf again. “Th-thank you for partnering with me.”

“It was no problem…” Kai trailed off…..shoot he didn’t even know this kid’s name. “I just realized I never got your name.”

The kid looked shocked. “Oh. W-well, it’s Jay. Jay Walker.”

What.

No that was impossible.

This….this couldn’t Jay. Jay was energetic and loud, always joking or sharing his newest ideas. He would never be this quiet, ever .

“I-is...is something wrong?” Not-Jay asked, looking a little scared.

“No, no of course not.” Kai replied, shoving down all those negative feelings. Not Real Jay or not, he helped him when he didn’t have to.

“Okay…” he sounded skeptical. “And, what’s your name?”

Kai thought for a second.

“Smith.” He finally answered. “Call me Smith.”

It wasn’t a lie, Smith was part of his name…..just not the first part.

Not-Jay gave a tiny, almost invisible smile. “W-well, I need to get going. See you later.”

“Yeah, right. See you later.” He waved. Not-Jay disappeared and Kai was left standing there, mind racing.

Jay Walker. That’s what he said his name was. And Kai highly doubted he was lying.

This, coupled with Lloyd suddenly being older……

What. Was. Happening.

Chapter Text

Kai spent the next few periods scouring the school for Lloyd, this time making sure he wasn’t caught. And after a few close calls with the same teacher from earlier(jeez, she was practically a ninja herself), it was lunch and he was no closer to finding Lloyd.

So now Kai was on the roof, definitely not sulking, and eating his second granola bar.

A few students had noticed him, one even asked if he could throw down a frisbee(which he did), but other than that he was mostly undisturbed.

It kinda sucked.

Oh well, at least it wasn’t as quiet as the apartment.

“Hello!”

Kai choked on his granola and whipped around, his hands reaching for nonexistent weapons. Once he realized, he opted for fists, granola falling to the ground.

“Oh!” the kid behind him raised his hands with an exaggerated shocked look on his face. “I did not mean to surprise you.”

Kai lowered his fists and looked over the kid. His white hair was sticking straight up and was cut cleanly across the top and cut close to the scalp on the sides of his head. He was wearing a dark blue sweater vest over a light blue flannel. The vest had some white patterns that sort of looked like little monsters with blue ovals in between them. He had white jeans with a black belt and white sneakers with black bottoms. But it was his face that stood out the most. His eyes were a bit too blue, and his smile was a bit too wide….he looked a lot like Zane.

“Sorry.” Kai apologized. “You startled me.”

“That was not my intention. My apologies,” he said. “My intentions were to threaten you.”

Kai stiffened. “I’m sorry, what?”

His eyes glowed a little brighter and his smile somehow grew. “Jay is very important to me and my friends. If you are trying to get close to him in order to harm him, I’ll make you regret your actions.” His tone was cherry, but that just made it all the more threatening. He was clearly prepared to go through with his threat.

“I don’t want to hurt Jay. I just saw he didn’t have a partner, we talked, and he helped me out. That’s all”

The kid squinted at him, leaning closer. Kai leaned away, suddenly very aware of how high up they were. He wouldn’t die or break any bones, but the fall would most certainly hurt.

He suddenly stood up straight, much too fast to be human, and smiled. “You do not seem to be lying,” he said. He held out his hand. “I am Zane Julien, it is nice to meet you Smith Unknown Last Name.”

Once is happenstance. Twice is a coincidence. Thrice means either the universe is bored and decided to mess with him or something’s up.

Kai carefully took his hand and shook it. Zane had a very strong grip. “Nice to meet you too…”

“What brings you to the rooftop?” Zane asked. Kai hesitated before answering.

“Well, I’m new and don’t really have a group. Jay’s the first person I’ve actually talked to, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea to ask to sit with him.” Kai carefully picked up his granola, which had luckily landed on the mostly wrapped side.

“And why not?” Zane asked. Kai shrugged.

“We just met today, and I didn’t want to impose.” Also not a lie. Jay seemed very anxious and still a little wary of him, but he also seemed like the kind of person who didn’t know how to turn someone down if directly asked.

“You’re reasoning is logical,” Zane said. An awkward silence ensued.

“So….I’m just gonna keep eating my granola.” Kai awkwardly said, going back to the ledge he was sitting on.

He sat for a few seconds and took a bite from his granola, which seemed to crunch a thousand times louder than it had before. He could practically feel Zane’s eyes on him.

Don’t look back, don’t look back, don’t look back-

A few more seconds passed before he finally looked back.

Zane was in the exact same position, not even blinking. It was much different from his Zane’s. His Zane’s stares on him were usually out of curiosity or intrigue, never out of suspicion or...whatever emotion that was.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be? Or friends to hang out with?” he asked. He hoped the words didn’t come out as harsh as he worried they did. 

“I can play some music in order to relieve the awkwardness of this situation!” The nindroid plopped down next to him and started playing what Kai could only describe as an electric polka. While remaining seated, he started doing parts of “the robot.”

Kai couldn’t help but snicker. It had been such a long time since Zane had acted even remotely close to like the one before him. “You’re weird, you know that.”

Zane's face went neutral and the music cut off abruptly. “I do not know what you're talking about. I am a normal human teen. There is nothing weird about me.”

Kai made a face. That was a lie. Even if he didn’t know what Zane really was, it was clear something was off.

Unless…..wait

If this really was Zane he was dealing with, specifically a younger version…..

The realization struck him like a hammer to the face.

Crapcrapcrapcrap that was such a wrong thing to say why did he say that he needed to fix this-

“You know, I have a friend kinda like you.” Kai started. Zane looked up, his blank mask hiding skepticism and a minuscule amount of curiosity. “He had a pretty bad case of amnesia for a while and spent his life trying to figure out who he was and what he was meant to do. When he found out who he actually was, he was shocked. And afraid.”

He remembered the horror and disbelief at his Zane’s realization he was a robot. 

“He looked so lost, as though this new information erased the person who he had come to be.”

I just don’t feel right….

“But, he figured it out, and became stronger because of it.” Kai looked Zane in the eyes. “Being weird isn’t bad. It just means you’re different. Everyone’s weird in their own ways.” Kai scanned the courtyard below them.

“Like that kid over there,” he pointed. “He’s playing a video game. That might be considered weird to the kid over there playing football, who might be weird to the girl talking with her friends, who might be considered weird to the kid by himself. Everyone’s different, and there is no real ‘normal.’ The world isn’t simple enough for that.”

Zane was never “normal.” And Kai loved his brother, every part of him. Even, no, especially because of all his quirks. It’s what made Zane...well, Zane.

“The best way to live is being yourself. With all your quirks and flaws and cracked pieces, because that’s who you are.” He looked Zane in the eyes. “No one in the world can be you, so be proud of it.”

Zane, the White Ninja, Master of Ice, Master Chef, teammate, friend, brother, the voice of reason and logic, nindroid , and protector of those who cannot protect themselves.

Zane stared back, an unreadable expression on his face. He seemed deep in thought while also struggling to find words. 

Kai internally cursed. Shoot, maybe he went a bit too philosophical on him-

“THERE YOU ARE!” Someone below exclaimed. 

Kai blanched. “Oh no…”

“GET DOWN HERE!”

“Shoot!” Kai scrambled, shoving the remains of his granola away. 

“DON’T RUN AWAY FROM ME!”

Jeez, that woman just didn’t give up !

“Okay Zane, I gotta go! Have a good rest of lunch!” Kai picked up his backpack and bolted, leaving Zane sitting there.

Smith was an enigma to Zane. After Jay had texted them about the boy who partnered with him, they were admittedly skeptical. It wasn’t often that someone attempted to be friends with them and 100% of the time they were attempting to get close to the group so they could humiliate or cause harm.

After that girl (Zane refrained from using stronger language after his father did a sweep of his systems that one time) claimed she loved Lloyd, they had all been on guard and extremely cautious about people seeking “friendship.”

One of the many precautions was Zane sweeping every corner of the internet for them.

And that’s what he tried to do.

It was a piece of metaphorical cake to hack into the school security system and get clear imaging of his face and rough body type. Even easier considering he was wandering around empty halls when he should’ve been in class and wasn’t wearing his baggy jacket.

But there was nothing.

No medical records, no social media, he wasn’t even registered in the school system. Even the city security cameras only had footage of him dating back to four days ago, and the only one that stood out was of him shoplifting(only the bare essentials, however, so it didn’t seem to be something he did on a whim).

So far his leading theory was he was a creation of Garmadon’s who wanted to get close to his son, possibly to turn him to his father’s side, but the evidence to that claim was weak and shaky at best. However, it was the only explanation, other than Smith just dropping out of the sky one day.

Zane had predicted hundreds of possible outcomes when he confronted the elusive “Smith,” if that was even his real name. 

But out of all of the possibilities, getting a pep talk and life advice wasn’t one of them.

Usually, when he used his “Creepy Puppet Mode” as he heard Lloyd call it, he usually got results of their true motives almost immediately. Smith’s reaction just gave him more questions.

He was scared, his heart rate elevated slightly, but didn’t back down. He reacted when Zane said his name but didn’t treat him like everyone else. Like a freak. He reacted with familiarity, but also as one would treat a stranger. And his words, there was clearly a deeper meaning behind them and about this mystery friend.

And he seemed to know, as in, know know . Either Zane was becoming painfully obvious, or he had inside information. 

But he tried to help him . He didn’t act like he wasn’t a person or someone who needed to be wary of. He treated him like someone who was…. just trying to figure out who he was and how he fit in the world.

The observation was frustratingly accurate and Zane didn’t know what to think about it.

“So how’d it go?” Nya asked, crouching near her motorcycle. A palate of paint was sitting next to her, as well as a variety of brushes.

“It went…..” Zane struggled for words, something he’d never experienced before. Having the entirety of the internet at his disposal left few moments such as this.

“Interestingly.” He finally settled on.

“Your thoughts?” She asked, putting down the brush. Zane thought. 

“I don’t know.”

Nya let out a quiet whistle. “Geez, he must be a real puzzle if you can’t figure him out.”

“That’s part of it.” He said, in the back of his head replaying what Smith had said.

“Zane, are you okay?” He snapped out of his thoughts, giving a smile.

“Of course I am!” 

Nya looked skeptical, before glaring. “Did he do something to you? Because if so-”

“No, no, fear not. He didn’t harm me.” Zane said.

“But he did do something .” Nya pointed out.

“Yes, but his intentions were not to harm me.”

“Hmmm.” Nya looked skeptical again. “Well, if we’re all going to check him out, me and Kai have next dibs.”

“Good luck!” Zane said. Nya snorted.

“Tell that to Smith. Hey, do you know when Cole’s coming back with Lloyd? I want his opinion on this.”

“Cole messaged he will be back shortly with Lloyd. He informed me another student is also at the principal's and got involved.”

Suddenly, his phone started ringing. Pulling it from his back pocket, he answered and held it up to his ear.

“Psst! Zane, are you there?” the person on the other end whispered.

“Hello, Lloyd!” Zane greeted.

“Hi, yeah, listen. I need your help.”

Chapter Text

The hallway outside the principal’s office was a pretty familiar place to Lloyd.

There were 33 white tiles and 15 colored ones, though the 15th was just a coffee stain no one cleaned up. There were five chairs, but you never wanted to take the second one on the left. It was the most uncomfortable and had uneven legs and if you weren’t careful, you could fall off.

The secretary didn’t pay much attention to you and most of the time had headphones and would listen to music. Well…. as long as you didn’t go near her candy jar. The second you were within arms reach her eyes practically bore into your soul to make sure you honored the “Take One” rule. The ceiling fan only worked half the time but didn’t really matter since the room always seemed to be the perfect temperature.

Usually, Lloyd was alone in the principals. It was yet another incentive for the students to remain well behaved, or at least to not get caught. ‘Don’t get in trouble or else you’ll be stuck with Lloyd Garmadon!’

The door to the main hallway was suddenly thrown open and a kid was roughly thrown in, just barely able to catch himself. Meanwhile standing in the doorway was a very angry-looking Mrs.Yamamoto.

“And you are going to stay here until the principal decides what to do with you!” She screeched. Just as the kid turned around she slammed the door.

The kid let out an annoyed huff and grumbled something under his breath before angrily marching over to the chairs and plopping himself down on the middle one. As is, the seat literally one open chair away from Lloyd.

Lloyd stared for a second before snapping his gaze back to the ground.

You could tell a lot about people by looking at their shoes, Lloyd had learned. Expensive tennis shoes and sneakers usually meant jock, paint splatters usually meant art student, etcetera etcetera.

But this kid seemed to be wearing black tabi, something he’d never seen before. Not even he or his team wore tabi, and especially not going to school. Maybe he did a lot of climbing? 

A few seconds passed in silence, only the occasional tapping of the secretary on the computer.

But then Lloyd felt his neck prickle. A different prickle than getting zapped with electricity, that’s for sure. It was like he could almost feel a looming presence behind him, waiting to pounce.

But that was ridiculous, his back was to the wall and he knew there was just a hallway there, no windows or anything.

Lloyd ignored the nagging feeling for a few seconds, but quickly realized it seemed like it wasn’t going away. 

Shoot, wait, didn’t Uncle Wu mention this as part of their ninja training? Something about….stealth and observation? Specifically the observation part.

Going against almost everything he’d learned about sitting in the Principal’s hallway, Lloyd looked up.

Very slowly and very carefully, Lloyd started scanning the room, keeping his head facing forward. And just as he got to the kid, they moved. It was such a subtle shift that Lloyd hadn’t been looking he would’ve missed it.

The kid had been looking at him.

Lloyd side-eyed him for a few seconds before the kid side-eyed him back.

Shoot, they noticed.

“Uh…” Lloyd started. He awkwardly waved his hand. “Hi?”

The kid froze and stared….before his eyes softened and he lightly smiled. “Hi.”

The two just stared at each other for a second before the kid continued. 

“I’m Smith,” he introduced. “What are you here for?”

Oh. So this was the kid who partnered with Jay.

“Oh, um.” Lloyd thought for a second, trying to remember what it was this time. Nowadays he usually sat in the office, pretended to pay attention, nodded along, and just accepted the punishment. No one would believe him so what was the point?

“I think a student said I stole something, but I can’t remember what.”

Smith hummed. “So, I take it you didn’t steal the thing.” 

Lloyd stared for a second.

Did….did he actually believe him?

“What about you?” Lloyd asked after a second, trying to keep the conversation afloat.

Smith paused and cast a glance at the secretary, but seeing their headphones on continued. “I was checking out the school when that teacher caught me. I tried to outrun her, but she caught me.” He shrugged. “It’s actually kinda funny, especially since I don’t even go here .”

“Wait, what?”

Smith chuckled. “I was in the halls when she saw me, and she wouldn’t listen when I tried to explain, so I tried to run.” He blew out a breath of air. “But jeez , she’s fast. I ducked into a classroom to hide but ended getting stuck. She found me again during lunch, then after 5th, which leads me to now.” He gestured to the room around them.

Lloyd couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. “Mrs.Yamamoto can be pretty dedicated.”

Smith laughed, but his face slowly shifted into an unhappy one. “Can’t say I’m looking forward to talking with the principal though. I mean, what am I even supposed to say? ‘Oh yeah, your teacher caught me sneaking around school grounds, and instead of coming clean I ran and pretended to be a student for the day. Sorry about that, and hey, do you think I’ll be allowed back?’” Smith scoffed before muttering: “First time back at a school in years and I’m going to get kicked out immediately.”

…..Lloyd didn’t quite know what to say about that.

“Lloyd Garmadon.” The door to the principal’s office opened. Lloyd sucked in a breath and stood up. He cast a look back to Smith before walking through the door.

He immediately noticed a second student inside, presumably the one who accused him. They seemed to be a senior, decently tall with a green hoodie and jeans. Short black hair framed their pale-ish face…..which now that he was looking….seemed sort of familiar….

Lloyd sucked in a breath.

The person from last night.

Oh no, this wasn’t going to go well.

“Lloyd.” The Principal spoke from behind his desk, clearly tired of this same old song and dance. “Mr.Write claims you stole something of his. Do you know what it is?”

Lloyd shook his head, focusing on the spot right next to the principal's head. “No I don’t, sir.”

“Mr.Write?”

Lloyd could practically feel the smirk he was giving. “It was my father’s knife. It has a rose carved into the hilt and vine patterns along the blade. I put it in my locker this morning, but when I checked after school, it was gone.”

Lloyd was too tired for this. Most of the time students came up with at least decent accusations with a couple of scraps of evidence. This kid was just playing association. I mean, c’mon! They’re already making up stories, would it really be that hard to make them at least a little believable-

“Pardon me for interrupting, but I think I can answer that.”

Lloyd and the student whipped around to look at the voice. 

Standing there, with his front half poking into the room and a glint in his eyes, was Smith

“Excuse me, but who are you?” The principal asked, looking slightly miffed and very confused.

“Smith,” he answered, fully stepping into the room. He took a few steps until he was right in front of the desk.

He opened his backpack and reached inside….pulling out the knife.

“Is this the missing knife?”

The three sat in shocked silence.

“.....yes.” the kid mumbled.

How did he have the knife? How did he have the knife?

“Excuse me, Mr.Smith, but how exactly did you get in possession of this knife?” the principal seemed to be thinking the same thing as he eyed the weapon.

“When I was walking to the market this morning before school I saw it in an alley. Thought it would be a shame to leave such a beautiful blade to be stolen.” 

Lloyd internally grinned at the gaping holes he’d just put in the kid’s story. And casting a quick look to the side, Lloyd could see the kid knew it too.

“And why , I must ask, did you think it would be a good idea to bring a knife on school grounds?”

“I didn’t have time to bring it home, and didn’t want to leave it somewhere where it could be stolen or damaged.”

He looked at the other student dead in the eyes.

“I honestly have no clue why it was in an alleyway.” Smith shrugged. “Do you?”

The other student froze. “....can’t say I do.”

“...I guess that clears that up….” the principal grumbled. “Lloyd…. you’re free to go.”

Lloyd barely suppressed his smile as he nodded, standing up and grabbing his backpack.

The other kid shoved him back as he stormed out of the room, huffing about his failed scheme to get Lloyd in trouble.

But just as Lloyd closed the door, he heard a “now for you. ”

Shoot.

Smith’s story flashed in his head and Lloyd looked back.

….he couldn’t just leave him like that. Especially after what he just did.

Lloyd quickly pulled out his phone, fumbling and almost dropping it as he did. He scanned his(laughably small) list of contacts and clicked the one he was looking for.

“C’mon, c’mon, pick up .” After an agonizing few seconds, Lloyd heard the telltale click of someone picking up.

“Psst! Zane, are you there?” he whispered, casting a glance at the secretary as he left the hallway.

“Hello, Lloyd!” Zane greeted.

“Hi, yeah, listen. I need your help.” He spoke a bit louder now that he was outside the room.

“What do you require?”

“Remember how Jay met that kid named Smith this morning?”

Zane paused for a second. “Yes, I met him during lunch.”

“Well, he just got me out of trouble, but now he needs help.” he heard Zane start talking, but cut him off. “I'll explain everything later, but right now I need you to register him in the school system, before he gets caught and kicked out.”

Lloyd waited for a few seconds, but there wasn’t any answer.

“Zane?”

“It’s done.” Zane suddenly said, making Lloyd slightly jump. “Smith Forge, sophomore, homeschooled his entire life. The rest of the information has been corrupted and requires it to be filled out again.”

Lloyd let out a breath of relief. “Thanks, Zane. You’re a lifesaver.”

“No problem!” he cheerfully responded. 

“Hey...Zane?” Lloyd started.

“Yes, Lloyd?”

“Could you...could you check the security cameras and tell me where Smith was this morning?”

Sure, Smith told them all, and he didn’t seem to be lying, but better safe than sorry.

“Of course.” there was a pause. “Hmm.”

“What is it?” Lloyd asked worriedly.

“I am unable to see where Smith’s place of residence is. The earliest I can see him is at 7:10 AM, where he is walking down 28th, but then he deviates into an alley. Then, he heads to the grocery store on 46th. He wanders around in no recognizable pattern, but at 7:40 AM he spots the school bus and chases after it, arriving at school 15 minutes later.”

“Wait, so he ran the whole way to school?” Lloyd asked.

“Yes, yes he did. And from what I can tell, he doesn’t take any breaks.” 

Wow. That’s pretty impressive.

“Do you need anything else?” Zane asked.

“No, thanks Zane.” Lloyd said.

“No problem.” and then he hung up.

So Smith wasn’t lying. He was walking to the store and he did just find it in the alley.

Lloyd found the smile from earlier tugging at his lips.

He didn’t get detention for something he didn’t do, Smith helped him , so far giving more evidence to his intentions and he didn’t seem to be faking it. Call him overly optimistic, but Lloyd had good feelings about Smith.

A couple of minutes later, a slightly stunned looking Smith walked out of the office. He took one look and Lloyd and chuckled.

“Why do I feel like you had something to do with that?”

“With what?” Lloyd asked innocently.

“My apologies Mr.Forge. I was unaware we were receiving a new transfer student. I understand how joining a new school can be stressful and will inform Mrs.Yamamoto of why you were wandering the halls during class. Here is your schedule and I will arrange for one of our students to show you around campus. Now, unfortunately your file seems to have been corrupted, so if you could fill it out at your earliest convenience that would be great. Have a good day.” Smith mimicked the principal and held up a small stack of papers. One seemed to be a schedule while the others were some empty forms. 

Lloyd could help but start laughing, which Smith joined in on.

“You’re lucky my dad was a blacksmith and I was able to explain why my parents named me ‘Smith Forge.’”

“Wait, really?” Lloyd couldn’t help but ask. Smith nodded. “Well, that’s convenient.”

“Sure is.”

The two walked in silence for a few seconds, Smith following Lloyd.

“Thank you.” He suddenly said. “I don’t know how you did it so fast, but thanks. It means a lot to me.”

Lloyd smiled back. “I could say the same to you. You saved me from who knows how many detentions.”

Once Lloyd was convicted, it was pretty hard, almost impossible really, to get out of trouble. The fact someone other than his friends or mom went out of their way to help him….it felt nice.

When they arrived in the parking lot, Lloyd spotted Cole leaning on one of the buildings, headphones in and nodding along to some music.

“See you tomorrow?” Smith asked. 

Lloyd smiled. “Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

Smith waved and walked into the crowded streets as Lloyd walked in the opposite direction toward Cole.

“So. How’d it go?” He asked, noticing Lloyd’s grin.

Lloyd cast a last glance at the crowd, but Smith was gone.

“It went amazing.”

Chapter Text

Despite everything that had happened the previous day, Kai was actually looking forward to going to school again. Granted, he was a little worried since, again, elementary limited education, but if his hunch was correct about Zane being the one who made his schedule, he should be okay.

His interview went off without a hitch, and now all he had to do was wait for a response, but until then it was stealing granola bars and other unnoticeable foods from the various stores around. Kai needed to be careful not to steal from the same store twice, in order to avoid suspicion.

And running to school was actually pretty fun, now that he knew where he was going. 

Today his first class was PE, which was awesome and would hopefully be a decent substitute for morning training. After that was a short break, then he needed to go to English, which he wasn’t looking forward to. Then there was something called “Tutorial” followed by lunch, then History, which Kai was a little worried for.

But, all in all, it seemed like today would be pretty good.

“Hey there, new kid! I’m Chen, the head cheerleader, and I’ll be showing you around!”

…...well there goes his good mood.

He looked like he came straight out of one of those cheesy high school movies Jay forced him to watch, with his perfectly combed brown hair and light blue varsity jacket with a yellow “NH” emblazoned on the upper left. He was wearing a pair of light blue jeans and very expensive looking sneakers.

Kai couldn’t explain it, but something about Chen seemed so….punchable.

“As an apology for the shenanigans yesterday, the principal said that you get the day off, sort of, and that I’m supposed to show you your classes and other places you’ll need to know here at our amazing school!” He gave a wide smile and a quick wink.

Kai gave a quiet nod.

“C’mon!” Chen gestured for him to follow and started walking. Kai let out a sigh and did so.

He really didn’t want to hang out with this kid, but it would be good to get a proper tour of the school.

Hopefully, crossing his fingers, this could be over with soon and he could go back to protecting Lloyd and figuring out what was happening.

Nya liked to think she was a decently reasonable person.

Overprotective? Yes. Reckless and a bit of an adrenaline junkie? Absolutely. But, at least decently reasonable. You didn’t get to be a member of the Secret Ninja Force by brute strength alone, you needed to be smart.

And right now that reasonability was telling her to absolutely throttle Smith.

Hearing Jay’s, and then Lloyd’s, story about Smith, she was the first to be suspicious. And right now, she was pretty right about her hunch.

She remembered coming to school, getting ready to give her version of the Friend Test when she’d seen him following Chen of all people, who seemed to be pretty friendly with him.

Yeah, no . Any friend of Chen was an enemy of Lloyd, and by extension an enemy of them all.

She luckily was able to slip away from math and had about 10 minutes before the teacher got too suspicious. Currently, with Zane’s help, she was scanning the halls.

He was the only one currently in on the situation, besides Cole and Kai, but they were stuck in class. No one wanted to be the ones to tell Jay and Lloyd, but they were making plans to do it after school. 

‘ If you take a left he should be there. ’ Read the text. She started speed walking a bit faster to where the hallway turned and-

There he was .

He was standing right outside the boy’s bathroom by himself. He was presumably waiting for Chen. Good.

Not that Nya wouldn’t have done it with Chen there, oh no. She would’ve loved nothing more to tear him a new one, but today her target was Smith.

“Hey!” 

His head snapped up immediately and looked at her. His expression briefly went to defensive before calming down into something more blank.

She bolted over to him and harshly poked his chest “I don’t care who you think you are or what you’re planning, but I’m never going to let you hurt them, got it!?!” She exclaimed.

Smith looked confused. “What are you talking about?”

Nya’s frown grew. So he was playing dumb then? Fine.

She crossed her arms. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe about how you’re leading on Jay and Lloyd?”

Smith now looked offended and something verging on angry. Good. More emotions made it easier to get confessions, especially accidental ones.

“Why would you say that?” He demanded, also crossing his arms and glaring right back.

Nya did have to give this kid something, he had guts.

“Hmmm, I'm not sure, maybe because of how you’re hanging out with Chen ?!?”

Smith looked confused for a split second but it was drowned underneath the angry look in his eyes.

“What does that have to do with anything?” He asked. Nya opened her mouth to answer, but he interrupted her. “Listen, I don’t even know who the heck you are, so why don’t you leave me alone. I’m already in a bad enough mood.”

Oh and if that didn’t get Nya’s blood boiling . Yeah, no she was not about to stop because he didn’t feel like it .

“Name’s Nya Smith.” She spat. “Don’t forget it.”

That got his attention. His gaze snapped up, anger completely gone and now just shock remaining.

“What.” He practically whispered. She didn’t let up her glare and instead uncrossed her arms.

“You heard me. Now honestly, I could care less with what you do.” She took a step closer. “But if you try to hurt my friends ? I will make. You. Pay .” She hissed. “Got it?”

Before he could even respond, she pivoted on her heel and marched back in the direction of her class. Once she rounded the corner, she pulled out her phone and shot a text to Zane.

‘ Thanks for the help, found him and gave him the message ’

Nya smiled a bit, but also hurt a bit. Contrary to popular belief, she didn’t like having to always be defensive and suspicious of other students. But, she was the Water Ninja. She was fluid and could be whatever her team needed her to be. And if they needed a protector, then who was she to deny them that.

Hopefully, just like all the others, Smith would back off and the danger would pass.

Kai couldn’t help but stare at where….where Nya stomped off to. 

He never seen her that angry before, and especially not directed at himself. But, he reminded himself, that wasn’t his Nya.

But at the same time….

“Sorry bout that!” Chen cheerfully said, walking out of the bathroom. “But when you gotta go, you go. Let’s continue the tour!”

Just just as Chen was about to go, Kai stopped him.

“Wait.” He said. Chen looked slightly surprised and gave that stupid smirk of his.

“He speaks! I was beginning to think you didn't know how.”

Ignoring the comment, Kai continued. “I was wonder about….about Lloyd and his friends.”

The effect of the name was instantaneous. His smirk changed to a harsh frown and his eyes narrowed into a glare.

“Oh, you mean the dork squad .” The venom in his voice was obvious to spot.

This…..didn’t give Kai good feelings.

“What….what do you mean?” He hesitantly asked.

“Ugh, Lloyd is the worst ! His dad is always attacking the city and destroying stuff. Just last week he destroyed the most popular coffee shop and it’s still under construction.” Chen complained. “And his friends are even worse . Jay’s a scaredy-cat cat and a smart alec, Zane’s a creepy weirdo, Cole always acts like he’s better than everyone else, Nya’s trying way too hard to be ‘cool’ and K…..hey you okay? You’re looking kinda pale.”

With every word, the pieces started falling into place.

He needed to get away. Now .

“‘M feeling a little dizzy. I think I’m gonna head to the nurse. I can get there myself.” He lied. Chen nodded, but then a dark smile started growing on his face.

“You know….after school today me and a couple of my friends were gonna play a bit of a prank . If you want in, meet me on the roof when the last bell rings, got it?”

Kai numbly nodded. He needed to go, he needed to go now .

Chen placed a hand on his shoulder and Kai fought every muscle to not flinch or flip him. 

“You’re a really cool kid, Smith. Can’t wait to see you at the top.”

And then Chen turned around and left, leaving Kai standing numbly in the hallway, his words echoing in his mind.

The words were bouncing around in his head, along with what….Nya said. The evidence was so glaringly obvious how could he miss it he was a ninja it was all just so-

“AAAAAAARGGG!”

Kai punched the wall in rage, the rough stone not even budging which only served to fuel his anger. So he punched it again. And again. And again and again and again.

In the end, it was his anger that gave out before his arms. Good thing, too. He didn’t have the supplies to fix himself up if he accidentally got injured.

Kai turned around and let his back slide down the wall, letting out a long, tired sigh, thankful that it was the middle of 4th period and he was at a less populated part of the school. Hopefully, there was a pretty good chance no one heard.

He felt so…..just so freaking tired . Tired of all the insanity, of all the craziness that couldn’t even be called that anymore given how much it happened.

He’d just wanted to spend some time with his baby brother, to give him a nice break after all the pressure being put on him, and for his troubles, he got drugged, captured, and sent seemingly to another timeline/universe/realm/ whatever .

He…..he missed home. He missed The Bounty and training before dawn. He missed the little things like Zane’s cooking and Jay’s inventing and Cole’s planning. Wu’s cryptic teachings and Lloyd’s pranks and Nya’s…..Nya’s everything. He missed his family so badly and they were right in front of him ….but at the same time, they seemed to be so far out of reach.

I don’t care who you think you are or what you’re planning, but I’m never going to let you hurt them, got it!?!

Her words hurt him so badly, so much more than she probably realized. He never ever wanted to hurt them, especially Lloyd. He’d rather die than let that happen.

But clearly, he wasn’t trying hard enough, he wasn’t good enough.

A familiar burning went to Kai’s eyes and he cursed, wiping away tears before they could spill.

He was better than this. He was a fully trained ninja. He’d gotten shot at, fallen off buildings, burned himself, and received more than his fair share of injuries, yet it was a few words of someone he(technically) barely knew that brought him so close to tears?

He took a deep breath. He felt the familiarity of the emotion shrinking until it was manageable, then carefully pushing it under.

He didn’t have time to deal with those emotions, he’d do it later. When exactly, he wasn’t sure, but right now he needed to make amends and fix this….somehow.

He never was a very good planner. That was always Cole and Nya’s thing.

But they weren’t here right now. He was all…. alone.

Kai brought his knees to his chest and buried his head in them.

He…..he didn’t know what to do. He was…..well, he was basically useless.

Useless…..just like when Nya was kidnapped, and later when Lloyd was.

Tucking his limbs in closer, Kai felt as though the world felt much heavier and the air much much thinner.

He couldn’t….he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe in, he couldn’t breathe out, the world was so quiet, way too quiet, he needed some noise, something, anything -

Out of nowhere, the sounds of fast footsteps burst through his bubble and Kai shot up with the start.

“Hey there, I’m…..are you okay?”

Kai looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, before finally locating it.

It was a boy, looking around his age peeking around the edge of the hallway corner. He had a white undershirt and a bright red zip-up jacket. He also had a long scar cutting through his right eye and a small white bandage above his left. His hair was spiked up, looking like some mix between a bunch of bananas and fire.

You know, now that Kai was paying attention to the details, he looked pretty similar to…..

Oh.

Oh no.

This…….This was going to be interesting.

Chapter Text

Kai was just wandering around the school grounds. Well, maybe not wandering. He was speed walking, but didn’t really have a destination planned. According to the group chat Nya had made with him, Zane and Cole she was planning on confronting Smith, and he wanted to be a part of it. Partially to make sure Nya didn’t go too far, but also just in case he needed to keep his sister safe.

But, he couldn’t exactly ask Zane for help, since a) he was helping Nya, and b) they didn’t know he was coming.  If they found out, they would just send him back to his class since “they could handle it.”

And while he trusted them with his life, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone play peacekeeper.

So yeah, he was wandering around the school when he suddenly heard someone yell. And it wasn’t a pained one, or scared. It was one of anger. Anger and frustration.

That...wasn’t promising.

He picked up the pace a bit, tracking it down to a pretty secluded part of the school by following the partly quiet thuds that Kai recognized as someone punching a hard surface, usually a wall.

Taking a deep breath, he poked his head around the corner.

“Hey there, I’m…” He started, trailing off as he got at a good look at the kid. He seemed to be Kai’s age and had really unruly, spiked brown hair and a long scar cutting through his left eye.

From the pictures Zane had shown them yesterday, he could easily see it was Smith.

Smith, who was sitting on the floor, slightly curled in on himself with his back to the wall, eyes glistening with unshed tears and breathing in an uneven pattern.

“Are you okay?” He asked him.

Smith stared at him, looking confused and….Kai wouldn’t say afraid but slightly adverse to him.

Suddenly, his breathing started picking up again and Kai found himself kneeling right by his side.

“Hey, hey. Look at me.” He gently started. “You need to breathe, okay? In and out, like this.”

He carefully touched him and, once it was clear he wasn’t adverse to the touch, carefully grabbed Smith’s hand and placed it on his own chest.

“In. And out.” He repeated the motion for almost a minute as Smith’s breath slowly evened out and became less erratic.

“Are you okay?” Kai asked again. He knew it was a stupid question, having a panic attack in a hallway was never a good sign, but it helped to hear it from the person themself.

“I….” he started, eyes darting around as he searched for an answer. “Who are you?”

Kai gave a gentle smile. “Call me Kai. You’re Smith, right?”

“I’m...I’m…..” he clearly looked hesitant and….almost a little lost. Finally, he nodded.

“Alright.” Kai said. “I’m not gonna pry, but is it okay if I sit here with you?”

The kid carefully nodded, seemingly calmer with that question, relaxed and slumped against the wall. Kai carefully let go of his hand and sat next to him.

Neither of them spoke, just sitting in calm silence.

Kai quickly cast a glance at his watch, eyes widening. 4th period ended in a minute.

He then cast a glance at Smith. His eyes had that distant look to them.

“Hey,” he carefully started. Smith snapped back to reality and looked at him. “4th period’s gonna end soon. The halls are gonna fill soon, but I know a quiet place we can stay until you’re ready to leave. What do you think?”

He thought for a second.

“Okay.” His voice was rough, but clear.

“Great.”

Kai carefully grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet, giving Smith a moment to balance himself before starting to carefully pull him down the hallway. He went at a brisk pace, but made sure he was going slow enough to be sure Smith wouldn’t need to run or jog to keep up.

At some point, he heard the bell ring and students started pouring out of the classrooms. He held Smith’s hand a bit tighter. Didn’t want to lose him to the crowds after all.

He seemed to understand and held on tighter too.

Pretty soon they arrived at their destination. The crowds were much thinner here, with most of the students already in class and the ones remaining running to try and make it on time.

“Hey Mr.Walker!” Kai greeted as he opened the door.

The older man was sorting through papers on his desk, but looked up with a smile.

“Hello there Kai. How have you been?” he cheerfully greeted, putting down the pen. Kai smiled. Mr.Walker’s cheerful demeanor never got old.

“Pretty good,” he answered. Kai gestured to Smith behind him. “Is it okay if we stay during tutorial?” 

Mr.Walker looked him over and Kai recognized him noticing the signs. “Of course. In fact, let me warm up some hot coco. You look like you might need it.”

Smith blushed a little. “Oh, that really isn’t necessary-” he started, but Mr.Walker waved him off.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was going to get some for myself anyway.” Mr.Walker stood up and moved to the small empty room attached to the classroom. No one really knew why it was there, but Mr.Walker turned it into a sort of tiny comfort storage room with blankets and snacks.

Kai noticed Smith staring at Mr.Walker as he left, but Kai mostly chalked it up to shock at his kindness. Kai sure was the first couple of times.

“While he’s setting up, why don’t we get settled.”

The classroom itself was pretty empty and clean with all the desks lined up in the usual way. There was a small stack of scrap paper in the back and a few drawings and little metal things students had made over the years, but other than that the room was mostly empty. Which made sense since all of the actual metal work was done in another classroom.

As the two sat down, Kai couldn’t help but notice Smith staring at him.

It was awkwardly silent for a few seconds, neither knowing quite what to say.

“So uh,” Kai started, trying his best to ignore the embarrassment at how awkward it was getting. He cleared his throat. “I heard you were hanging out with Chen this morning,” Smith scowled. “If you don’t mind me asking, why ?”

Smith let out a frustrated sigh. “I was just walking to school when I was stopped by him . Apparently, the principal wanted him to show me around the school. That’s it .”

Kai’s brain stopped for a second.

“So you…. weren’t hanging out with him willingly?”

Smith looked almost offended at the suggestion. 

Oh no.

“Of course not.” he scoffed. “For one thing, he wouldn’t. Stop. Talking. And not in a way like explaining things. He just kept bragging about his accomplishments and occasionally pointed out classrooms.”

Oh boy.

“So, um.” Kai started. “Did he….how do you feel about him?”

Smith growled .

“He’s a slimy, judgemental, plastic, antagonistic, arrogant, sON OF A-” with each word he was growing more and more angry until he was practically yelling.

“Woah, woah.” Kai said, trying to calm him down. Smith looked like he was about to punch the table. That was definitely one of the more…..aggressive reactions he’d seen, right up there next to Nya’s.

“It’s just….” He continued, the anger from his voice abruptly dissipating. “ All of the signs were there. And I was too stupid to see them. And now Nya hates me, Zane doesn’t trust me, and whatever trust I may have built up with Jay and Lloyd is as good as gone.”

He set his head on the desk, looking thoroughly defeated.

“I just wish for at least one day , things could go as I need them to. 24 hours is all I’m asking. Then, the universe can do whatever it wants.”

Kai stared in shock. Something about this felt so familiar….

The answer hit him like a bolt of lightning.

Lloyd.

Specifically, the day Harumi dumped and publicly humiliated him after it was clear he had no connection to Garmadon.

Lloyd had looked so small and defeated and endlessly tired . More tired than when they had to pull two all nighters in a row. Much too tired for a kid barely out of middle school.

And he was seeing that exact same exhaustion on Smith.

Then he had another horrible realization.

They’d all treated Smith just like everyone had treated them. With fear, and suspicion and no small amount of hostility on Nya’s part.

Everyone but Jay, Lloyd, and maybe Cole, but they hadn’t properly met yet, so who’s to say.

It felt…..bad. It made him feel icky and gooey on the inside, like black sludge was pooling in his stomach. It made him sick.

“....You’re not from around here, are you?” He eventually said. Smith let out a groan.

“Is it that obvious?” He asked, slightly tilting his head to Kai could see the corner of his eye.

“Eh, you could say that.” Kai shrugged. “So, if you’re not from Ninjago City, where are you from?”

Smith hesitated, clearly thinking about his answer.

“I’m from...a small town you’ve probably never heard of. I grew up there with my little sister, but we’ve moved around a bit in the past few months.”

“Really?” Kai asked, happy the conversation was going in a seemingly positive direction. “Where to?”

Kai would’ve sworn he saw Smith smile a bit.

“Well, after my sister ran into some trouble, this old guy came by and offered to teach me how to protect her, and doing it, I met my brothers. Not biological, but no less important and no less my family. Can’t imagine what I’d do without them.”

Kai knew what that was like. If something happened to the others he didn’t know what he would do.

“What are they like?”

Smith thought for a second.

“Well…...first there’s Brook. He’s super strong and is sort of our leader, in a sense. He’s the oldest and is our rock. He keeps us stable.” Smith started, a fond smile growing on his face. 

“Then, there’s Julien. He’s the smartest and is pretty much our voice of reason. He’s pretty chill and a really amazing cook. He had a pretty bad case of amnesia for a while, but later got his memories back when he found his childhood home.

“Next, we have Gordon. He loves inventing things and loves to talk. He’s also pretty good at video games.”

His smile faltered a little bit but he continued. “My sister...Phoenix is also really good at inventing. She made herself her own mech suit from scratch!” Smith puffed out his chest a bit with pride.

“How old is she?” Kai couldn’t help but ask.

“Thirteen.”

Kai stared. That was….that was pretty impressive. It took all six of them to build their mechs and even with Lloyd’s Master Building it took them a couple weeks with Sensei Wu’s help. The fact she did it alone….it was pretty cool.

Smith chuckled. “Yeah, that’s how we reacted too. In fact, we didn’t even know she had made it until a few weeks after.”

Smith’s smile fell a bit more. “Then….there’s Montgomery, Monty for short. He’s….boy where do I even begin. He used to be this kid who was always just giving us problems. Causing trouble in the nearby villages, stealing things, generally just being a nuisance. But then….one day the old guy I mentioned brought him aboard our ship, and we started seeing him. The real Monty.”

Smith let out a tired sigh. “I miss them. A lot.”

Kai looked at him with concern.

“It….it wasn’t just what Nya said that caused me to freak out.” he said, and Kai wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved or not. “It was just….what made everything crash down.”

He looked Kai in the eyes. “I don’t want to hurt Lloyd. Or Jay, or Zane or any of you.”

Kai stared back. “I believe you.” And he fully meant it, whether Smith believed it or not. 

Smith didn’t get a chance to respond, since Mr.Walker suddenly came back into the room, three mugs of hot chocolate balancing in his hands. 

The first one was a chipped lime green one with little painted gear patterns and “wurlds bestest dad” on it. Jay had made it for him on Father’s Day back when he was really young and Mr.Walker seemed to alway use it. His second mug was a soft pinkish-orange with flower petals and a campfire, which was Kai’s “assigned” mug. And the last one...was a soft brown one with red shading at the top and a strange dragon-looking emblem on one side.

No…..no way.

“Guess who’s got cocoa!” he exclaimed. From his spot, Kai could make out a small bit of whipped cream and some marshmallows poking out the top.

“Thank you, Mr.Walker.” Smith thanked, taking the brown mug from him. His eyes seemed to linger on the pattern before he gave it a sip. His eyes widened and he looked at it, just staring….until he took another, much longer, sip.

Kai couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, but quickly sobered.

“Hey, uh, I need to call the others and tell them where I am. I’ll be right back.” he told Smith, who nodded, looking absolutely enraptured by his hot cocoa.

Kai carefully stepped out of the class and pulled out his phone and called the first contact. It barely rang for a second before it was answered.

“Kai! Where are you, we’ve been waiting forever and-”

“Nya, you messed up. We all did.” he bluntly said. No use in tiptoeing around it.

“What do you mean?” 

“Smith.” he said. 

“Explain.”

“He wasn’t willingly hanging out with Chen.” Kai started. “The principal just had him showing him around.”

“And how do you know he wasn’t lying?” she asked back. Kai suppressed a groan.

“Because he had the same look Lloyd did when that happened. And I found him on the verge of a panic attack in the hallway.” The words were a bit more pointed than he anticipated, but sometimes Nya could be stubborn. In some cases, it could be good. But in others, not so much.

She was quiet for a few seconds, before a dull thump echoed on her end.

“Oh no.” he heard her mumble.

“Yeah, oh no.” he repeated.

“And I’m guessing you brought him to Mr.Walker?”

“Yep. He gave him the brown mug with the dragon.”

He heard her curse, and rightfully so. The Mug System was the ultimate judge of character from Mr.Walker. Even the most stoic of people weren’t immune to the results of the test. It was as if the metal shop teacher would see people’s souls to give them the right mug.

None of them had figured out the system, not even Jay, but what they did know was that the brown mug with the weird dragon was a very special mug. Whenever they asked Mr.Walker he always just said “I’m waiting for someone special for that one. It’s strange and different from the others, but strong. It needs someone like that.”

“You need to apologize.” He continued. “I’m not sure exactly what you said, but it seemed to hit him really close to the heart.”

“I’m on my way, Zane too.” Kai let out a small breath of relief. At least that would soon be out of the way.

“Alright, I’ll see you so-“

Out of nowhere, a loud alarm started blaring throughout the school.

Kai paled.

The Garmadon Alarm.

“HELLOOOOO NINJAGO CIT-AY!!!!”

Chapter Text

Kai almost dropped the mug Mr.Walker(or, Ed technically, but he wasn't that familiar with “this one” and it could help to differentiate the two) had given him as he jumped up from his seat. The heavenly liquid sloshed around precariously underneath the fluffy white deliciousness, but luckily he had drank enough that it didn’t spill.

The alarm was very loud, very annoying, and very much noticeable.

Mr.Walker quickly, but carefully, grabbed the mugs(including his own) and rushed back into the closet. A second later he came back out, but then grabbed the papers he was correcting and bolted back to the closet.

He was just about to close the door when he saw Kai just standing there.

“What are you waiting for?!? Quickly, inside!” Mr.Walked exclaimed, his gentle tone from earlier suddenly much more urgent and slightly panicked.

“Wait, what’s happening?!?” Kai demanded. “What’s that alarm?!?”

Mr.Walker looked shocked for a brief second. “It’s the Garmadon Alarm. He’s attacking the city!”

A chill went through Kai, remembering his last encounter with the warlord.

But then he realized.

“Wait, what about Kai!?!” It felt slightly strange referring to someone of the same name, but the urgency was still the same.

He had no idea of the ninja status of the others. Especially given how hated Lloyd seemed to be. If anything, it was more likely they were considered “dangerous vigilantes” or something horrible like that!

Not waiting for Mr.Walker to answer, Kai bolted into the hallway, looking around frantically. 

The other him was nowhere to be seen.

Oh nonononononononono.

Kai started bolting through the halls, desperately looking for any sign of the boy. He’d only known him for less than an hour, but Garmadon was no joke, and going off on his own would be…..very, very bad.

Just as he reached one of the windows, a blazing light caught his eye.

Stopping to look, Kai sucked in a breath.

Mechs. Thousands, upon thousands of mechs had descended upon the city, all of which were strangely aquatic themed.

It was...Kai couldn’t emphasize just how many there were. Sure he and his team had fought the Skulkin and later the Serpentine under Garmadon’s command, but even combined that was only a few hundred. Here….there were just so many more.

How was the city not under Garmadon’s control yet?!?

Steeling himself, Kai bolted out of the school.

He needed to help.

But he couldn't draw attention to himself.

He needed his gi.

But that was in his apartment.

Then he would run and get it.

From the front of the school, Kai could see a sea of people running toward buildings, crowding the streets as they tried to get to safety. So the streets weren’t an option.

His eyes slowly drifted to the buildings. Many seemed to have curved roofs, but even more were flat, and he was able to spot a fire escape nearby.

Bingo.

Slipping his way through the crowds, he quickly scaled the building and started bolting across the top. 

The hard rock thumped under his feet and the wind blew through his hair. The familiar rush of adrenaline filled his veins as mechs of all shapes and sizes were swarming all around, shooting at cars and buildings and people with lasers that seemed straight out of an action movie. Those that weren’t piloting mechs wielded guns, grappling hooks, serrated swords, bombs, harpoons, and spears, also weirdly aquatic themed. Now that Kai was closer to the center of the damage, there seemed to be even more enemies, with the streets practically flooded with the attackers and their destruction.

Kai made a mental note to thank Wu for all the harsh training. While it wasn’t fun at the time, it was definitely coming in handy. Even with the adrenaline, he doubted he could run this far without it.

As much as it pained him, Kai didn’t let himself stop to deal with the attackers. Usually, he wouldn’t have cared less, almost everyone in Ninjago knew who they were…..but this wasn’t his Ninjago. He didn’t know the people here, and they didn’t know him

He didn’t know if he could trust them.

Kai’s eyes widened when he finally spotted his apartment complex….and even more robots. Great.

Out of nowhere, a giant mech landed on the building. Kai skidded to a stop, just barely stopping and jumping back as it jumped in front of him. It let out a loud, metallic roar, its teeth flashing in the sun.

Its body was an oval shape with rows of razor sharp teeth that cut through the middle. A pair of “eyes” were positioned on the sides of it, along with a pair of fins, but they seemed mostly for aesthetic purposes rather than serving any purpose. A pair of tiny feet were keeping the mech up, and Kai couldn’t help but wonder how they were able to support its weight, let alone jump up what he guessed was 15 stories.

There was also a small missile holder on its underside, but it was thankfully empty(small mercies).

In all honesty, the thing looked like a windup toy, just much bigger and much more dangerous.

But it seemed the mech wasn’t his only new friend. 

A group of enemies clambered onto the roof, one even carefully landing from the sky with what looked like a jetpack disguised as an oxygen tank.

Kai was able to count six, which seemed like pretty good odds, but then he remembered the mech and that he didn’t have any weapons.

“What’re you going up ‘er, kid? Dontcha know the roofs are for ninja only ?” One of them demanded. 

He was wearing a helmet that seemed to mimic a shark, with his head poking through the mouth hole and fake teeth framing his face. But despite how ridiculous and childish the headpiece looked, the rest of the outfit Kai couldn’t help but admire. It was smooth and perfectly cut, not sagging anywhere, and was a shiny dark blue. It reminded Kai of some of the older suits he’d seen generals wearing in the history books. His chest was even decorated with a variety of ocean-themed medals and gold pieces, ranging from miniature anchors to starfish.

Well, if there was one thing Kai had to give this Garmadon(was that right??? He was still pretty confused about how this was working), he definitely had good taste.

Anyway, back to the enemy.

Looking over his face, he seemed almost...offended?

“Gonna ask you one more time, kid!” he exclaimed, drawing a serrated sword out of seemingly nowhere. “What. Are you doin’. On. The roof.”

The others seemed to follow his lead, drawing their own weapons. Kai was able to count a total of two swords, a grapple, a spear, a trident, and throwing stars that looked like starfish(again with the ocean theme). Luckily, none of them seemed to have guns.

“Decided it was the fastest way to get home.” he answered finally. He’d probably want to take down the swords first. He’d feel much more comfortable with weapons. Then he’d probably need to take down Spear and Trident. Grapple could be used to knock over the mech, but he needed to keep a close eye on Starfish, maybe try and grab their jetpack once this was all over.

“What ‘r you, crazy?” Sharkhead exclaimed.

“Nope.” Kai responded, popping the ‘p’ “Just new in town.”

And then he jumped into action.

Sharkhead hesitated in surprise, and that was long enough. Kai was immediately on him, throwing punches and dodging slashes. It took a few seconds before the others decided to join in, but it was more than enough time for Kai to disarm Sharkhead and take the sword as his own.

It was pretty well balanced and seemed to be made of a good, powerful metal. Wow , this Garmadon really stepped up with supplying his minions with decent weapons.

Spear and Trident tried to rush him, weapons poised forward, but Kai easily redirected the points. Other Sword tried to get him with his sword, but Kai easily kicked him in the face and stole the second sword. It seemed to be a sabre, with it’s much smoother and cleaner edge, a stark difference to the serrated one. 

Grapple tried to shoot his hook and tie Kai up, but he easily caught it between his two blades and spun into a familiar fiery tornado. Grapple soon found himself tied up with Spear and Trident and keeping with the momentum Kai hurled the three as hard as he could at the mech. Apparently the extra weight was all it needed to be knocked off balance since as soon as they collided with the thing with a loud clunk , all four started falling off the edge.

Kai smiled at his work when he felt something just barely brush past his arm.

Right, he forgot about Starfish.

He turned around and started bolting at him both swords poised to attack. Starfish raised his weapons, preparing to deflect.

But just at the last second, Kai jumped over him. Just as he was behind him, he slashed the bottom of the tank with the serrated sword. Just as Kai’s feet connected with the roof, he could barely make out an “uh oh” before the guy went flying . 

Kai turned around and realized he hadn’t taken care of Sharkhead. His hands were shaking and he was staring at Kai with wide eyes.

Kai smirked.

“Boo.” 

He let out a shriek and grabbed Other Sword before jumping off the building. A weird mech that vaguely resembled a jellyfish suddenly rose, and Kai could just barely make out the two flying away.

Checking to make sure Sharkhead and Other Sword were really gone and wouldn’t follow him, Kai gripped both swords and kept running.

He almost broke down the roof door but didn’t pay it much attention as he bolted down to the floor and room he was staying in.

Not wanting to waste any time, he just threw the gi over his school clothes, but not before taking off the gloves and hoodie. It felt….weird, but still much more natural than just the clothes.

He clipped the swords to the sheath on his back, not being able to suppress the smile as they just barely fit.

The ninja hood rested comfortably on his face and Kai let out a sigh of relief, but quickly snapped back to attention as he heard an explosion nearby.

Right, city under attack.

Bolting back up to the roof, Kai took in a deep breath….and jumped off the edge.

Keeping his eyes open, Kai grabbed the side of the flagpole, spinning to build momentum. Finally, he let go, shooting himself into the fray.

thump

“What the-?!?” 

His fighting became a dance as he tore through the ocean themed enemies. His movements became smooth and practiced and the enemies were mowed down by his attacks. Soon enough, he found the fiery sparks of his Spinjitzu tornado surrounding him once again as unsuspecting enemies found themselves sucked in.

A bright grin spread across his face the longer he was fighting. Gosh , he missed this.

“Who are you?” the question snapped him out of his blissful dance.

Turning his head, he saw a young kid hesitantly walking toward him. Now that he had snapped out of his daze, the city block was almost completely empty, save for the groaning enemies on the ground. Jeez, he got really far from his apartment.

He just gave the kid a smile. He was so small, probably only six or seven. “Call me Shogun.”

The kid’s eyes lit up. “You’re fiery spin thing!!! It was so cool!!” 

Kai chuckled. Wow, he really did miss this.

“Thanks, kid. You should probably go back to your parents, got it. Stay safe.” 

The kid nodded and ran back, but not before exclaiming “Kick Garmadon’s butt!”

And then he was back into the fray.

“Nya, how’s it looking?” Lloyd spoke into the comms. Another day, another Garmadon attack.

“Not that bad. Most of the grounders are still trying to get past Zane’s ice blockade and the fliers are being handled by you and Jay.” She replied. “But Cole said he saw a massive group heading for Downtown. Mind checking it out?”

“On it.” He responded. “Zane, if you’re sure the ice will hold I need you to come to Main Street.” 

Once he heard an “affirmative” Lloyd took off.

But as he found his way to Downtown, it was shockingly empty of Garmadon’s forces. The Jellyfish and Stingray Mechs in the area that weren’t trying to shoot him down were picking up defeated soldiers with Crab Mechs defending them.

Odd.

As he kept looking, Lloyd noticed a bit that seemed very out of the ordinary. It was a cluster of Jellyfish mechs, their chains all tangled. 

Eh, whatever. Maybe they just got too close to each other.

Launching a missile at them they exploded in a glorious fireball that Kai would be proud of.

Just as he was about to return to the other, something caught his eye.

A falling piece of red.

It wasn’t common to see that kind of red amongst Gamadon’s army. Usually, he stuck with orange for crabs not red, so that could only mean-

Lloyd sucked in a breath.

Civilian.

“Hang on!” He called, though he doubted they could hear him.

Lloyd was in a dive barely a second later.

They were falling fast, but his mech was faster. Just as they were about to collide with the ground, he manipulated the claws of his dragon to grab them, but still giving it a bit of leeway so they wouldn’t be too hurt. He heard a panicked squawk as Lloyd threw them up and spun the mech to catch them on the back.

“Are you-” Lloyd sucked in a breath as he cast a glance back.

Clinging to the back of his mech was Shogun .

“Yeah, I’m good.” he responded, looking up and not at all worried he probably would’ve died had Lloyd not caught him. “Thanks for the save.”

“No problem.” Lloyd quickly responded, looking back forward. Right, right, Lloyd had met Shogun, but the Green Ninja hadn’t. He couldn’t blow his cover. “So what brings you here? Ninjago City isn’t exactly a vacation spot.”

Shogun let out a bark. “On the contrary, I’ve heard the beach is great this time of year.” With impeccable balance he stood up and deflected a pair of laser blasts before dropping back down. His movements were so fluid and smooth Lloyd could’ve sworn he didn’t have bones.

“Heard the Garmalarm and found myself in the neighborhood. Thought you would appreciate the help.”

Lloyd cast a quick glance back before keeping his eyes focused on the dangers in front of him.

“Hang on!” He called. Less than a second later, he tucked his mech into a wide barrel roll and fired several of his own shots, each on landing their mark. The mechs he hit crashed to the ground in a fiery blaze.

Shogun let out a whoop. “You’re pretty good at this!” he complimented. “But can you do this ?” 

And then he jumped off.

Lloyd could’ve sworn he felt his stomach drop. He was just about to send his mech into a dive to catch him….when suddenly he turned into a flaming tornado.

W H A T?!?!?!

Tornado Shogun landed on a passing Jellyfish Mech and melted through the glass . The General inside let out a fearful shriek and abandoned ship, dropping out of the emergency hatch. Shogun grabbed ahold of the controls and sent the mech flying forward, lasers blazing and took out the next group of mechs.

He brought the mech in a loop over top Lloyd and jumped out of the hole he previously made, landing on the dragon mech just as the Jellyfish mech crashed into another, going up in a glorious fireball.

He smirked. Lloyd couldn’t help but laugh.

“That was awesome!” He complimented. “What was that?”

“Spinjitzu.”

“Really?!?” Lloyd exclaimed. Jeez, he and the others were missing out! Maybe they should start taking some of Uncle Wu’s lessons more seriously, because that looked awesome!

“Lloyd, how’s it looking?” He heard Kai ask through the comms. Lloyd panicked.

“It’s looking good, Red. Picked up a passenger on the way.” He put heavy emphasis on “passenger,” hoping the others would put two and two together. “His name’s Sh-” Lloyd almost slipped but just barely caught himself. 

The Green Ninja did not know Shogun, only Lloyd Garmadon did. 

“What’s your name?” He asked. Shogun looked confused for a split second.

“Shogun. You’re the Green Ninja, right?” He shot back. A general tried to land on the dragon but Shogun quickly knocked them off.

“Yep. Call me Green for short.” He responded. He turned his attention back to the comms. “His name’s Shogun and he took care of the Generals Downtown.”

“Really?” Kai responded. “Huh, well we’re cleaning up the rest of ‘em. Garmadon actually left without demanding a fight from you, and the rest seem to be following.”

“Great.” Lloyd responded. He turned back to Shogun. “Anywhere in particular you want me to drop you off?”

He shook his head. “Just drop me off on any old roof and I’ll be fine.”

Lloyd brought his dragon to the nearest intact building. Shogun hopped off and landed with ease. 

There was a pause. Gosh it was just like that night on the roof.

Well, this time he wasn’t going to wait for Shogun to leave. This time he was-

“Well, I should probably head back soon. So, see ya around?”

Dang it.

“Yeah, but uh,” Lloyd started. “If you don’t mind, I want you to meet the rest of my team. Meet me on this roof tonight?”

Shogun nodded. “I can make it. Can’t wait to meet them.”

Then he started bolting. For once, Lloyd didn’t worry as he jumped off the opposite edge. That was the third time he’d seen him jump off a seemingly impossible height, and every time he was fine. Why would this one be any different?

“Lloyd, we’re gonna be a little late back to base.” He heard Nya start. “You think you can handle yourself?”

Lloyd laughed. “I’ll be fine. I just gotta pick up my backpack from school. You don’t mind meeting me there?”

“Yeah, course.” She paused for a moment. “Besides, me and Zane need to do a….thing and school too.”

Lloyd raised a brow but didn’t push. If Nya wanted to explain she would.

“Got it. See you there.”

Chapter Text

Kai was starting to regret telling Lloyd to just drop him off on any old building. Granted, it probably would have revealed his identity, or very heavily hinted to it at least, but he couldn’t help but wish he’d thought ahead.

It had started with him heading back to the apartment. Roof hopping was the easiest way, but he needed to be very careful and watch out for the crumbling buildings and dodging construction crews.

He was mostly mulling over what had happened during the battle and couldn’t help but feel a little silly. Of course Lloyd and the others had secret identities, it just made sense. How else would they avoid the hassle of being harassed by the citizens?

Anyways, he'd arrived back at the apartment(which somehow hadn’t been hit during the attack despite being so close to the ocean), went up to his room….only to realize his backpack was still at school. 

His backpack , which contained the important papers he needed to fill out.

So now he had to run all the way back to the school, which was proving to be more difficult than it had that morning. The roofs weren’t an option since he’d very quickly gotten told off by one of the construction works who had also decided to tell all the other construction workers with his walkie talking to look out for a kid in a grey shirt who was “trying to be a ninja but was just going to get himself hurt.”

So now he was stuck walking, and dodging the craters and moving around the people in a timely manner was much more difficult than it looked. He didn’t allow himself to do any fancy moves since that would draw way too much attention, but it was so. Freaking. Slow .

And then there was the fact that he felt like he was missing something important and it was driving him nuts .

At least it couldn’t get worse-

“Smith! Wait up!”

…...you know what, he’s done thinking. At all. His head needs to be emptied of all thoughts because there’s no other way this could keep happening like that.

He turned around and internally cursed.

Nya and Zane. And he definitely couldn’t run now.

“Zane….Nya….” he greeted, carefully keeping his tone neutral. “What are you guys doing here?”

The two shared a quick look, and Kai predicted it was going to get really awkward.

“We are heading to the school.” Zane answered. The words were clunky and very obviously not the truth, but Kai didn’t press. He didn’t want to make them any more distrustful than they already were.

Instead, he nodded. “Me too.”

“Would you….” Nya started, and if Kai wasn’t mistaken, she sounded….nervous? “Would you mind if we join you?”

“Um….” he thought for a moment. It couldn’t have been more than a few hours since their confrontation in the hallway, and only about a day since the talk on the roof, right? There’s very little chance he blipped out of existence or something, so he couldn’t help but wonder what caused this sudden change in attitude?

Did something else….happen?

“Sure.” he finally answered. He honestly didn’t know what could have happened, and they didn’t seem like they wanted to cause trouble. If anything, they might know a faster way to the school.

The other two nodded and joined him, Nya on his right and Zane on her right. They were walking at a decent pace, but the silence was deafening. 

“So….what brings you here?” Nya asked him after a moment.

“Oh, um…Kai disappeared when the alarm went off and I tried to go find him. I got pretty far, actually.” He shrugged.

“You….you did?” Nya said in disbelief. Kai nodded.

“He was pretty nice to me, and I got worried when he just up and disappeared. When I figured he wasn’t at school anymore, I thought maybe he was somewhere in the city close by. When the attack ended, I started heading home, but realized I left my backpack at school.” Wow, he was getting pretty good at these half-truths.

“Well, Kai’s fine. He met up with us during the attack and after we….do that thing at school I’m going to head home.” She answered.

“Good.” he answered. “Good…..” 

Okay, so he wasn’t hurt during the fight. At least, probably not. He doubted Nya could explain if Kai was hurt in the fight, and they’ve probably had to lie in the past. On top of that, there was a chance he was hiding an injury-

Okay, so his status was still a maybe.

“Are….are Jay and Lloyd okay too?” he couldn’t help but ask. He wanted to ask about Cole and Wu too, but he had no way of knowing them in their eyes and that would be incredibly suspicious.

“Yeah. Yeah, they’re fine. Jay went home and Lloyd’s meeting us at the school.”

“Mh.” he responded. Good, so Jay was probably safe and Lloyd was-

At the school.

The school .

Chen was staying after school……

The prank .

Lloyd was at the school when Chen was planning the prank .

O h n o .

“So, um, Smith. I just wanted to say-”

“Oh no.” he said out loud. “LLOYD!!!!”

He barely registered the confused looks of Nya and Zane before he bolted . Screw not being suspicious, Lloyd could be in danger!

Luckily his panic and slight anger seemed to make its way onto his face and body language, if the way people practically jumped out of his way as he ran was anything to tell. Through the noise of the street, he could barely make out the calls and footsteps of Nya and Zane as they followed, trying to keep up but slowly falling behind.

It didn’t take long before he lost their noises to the crowd.

Just as he came to the school, luck for once seemed to be on his side as the light was red and the crosswalk signal had started. Bolting up the first set of stairs, Kai started trying to look for the blonde.

There he was!!!!

Lloyd was standing ever so innocently at the bottom of the second stairs that led into the building. From his distance, Kai could just barely see who he assumed was Chen and a few others, with smug faces as they were preparing to dump a bucket of something onto him.

Not on Kai’s watch.

With an extra burst of speed, Kai pressed onward.

There wouldn’t be any time for Lloyd to dodge it. If he shouted, he was more likely to freeze than run, especially considering what Kai had learned about Lloyd. 

Casting a quick glance up, he saw they were beginning to dump the container.

With only one idea left, Kai took a deep breath. This…..wasn’t going to be fun, but it was his last option.

Sorry, Lloyd.

As he reached Lloyd, he closed his eyes and slammed into him.

Lloyd let out a panicked squawk upon the contact, but actually held his ground decently well. While Lloyd was quickly sent to the ground, Kai was sent back a bit with the rebound.

Splash!

Kai immediately tensed. Whatever they dumped, it was cold and sticky and wet .

All around him, he could hear the murmurs and whispers of the students, as well as a few camera shutters. He could practically feel their stares tearing into him.

Very carefully, Kai lifted up his hands and wiped off the mystery substance from around his eyes and carefully opened them.

The first thing he saw was Lloyd, sprawled on his back on the steps, eyes wide and mouth gaped in shock and horror, it soon became clear why.

Kai hesitantly looked down at his chest only to find pure black. Rubbing the substance in his fingers, Kai realized he’d been completely drenched in black paint.

Oh joy .

“Smith are you alright, dude!?!” Chen exclaimed. He suddenly came bolting from the open school doors and running down the steps. How he got down here so fast Kai wasn’t sure. 

Kai looked at his thoroughly ruined clothes, then back at Chen, briefly glancing at the staring crowd and Lloyd, who was slowly inching away.

A small thought entered his head.

There…..there might be a way to spin this in his favor. Or at least the very least, against Chen.

He prayed that this would work, because if it didn’t he would just look stupid and possibly make him and Lloyd look even worse .

“Are you kidding me?” He asked, keeping his voice tight. “Are you actually serious?”

“What?” 

Kai spread out his arms. “I mean, I get I’m the new kid, but c’mon! I’ve only been here for two days !”

The whispers of the crowd started increasing as Chen started looking more panicked.

“I didn’t mean it, it was an accident! It was meant for-“

“So you mean that you telling me to meet you on the roof for a prank wasn’t true? That you just so happened to be perching above the same door I was going through? That you just so happened to dump the paint as I was walking through?” Kai crossed his arms, slightly shivering as he felt the cloth squish. 

“Yes?” He realized how bad that sounded as the whispers increased.

Chen was growing more pale and Kai caught more than a few skeptic looks pointed toward him.

“It was an accident, I swear! I didn’t see you-“

“I was sprinting from across the street! People were literally jumping out of the way!” Kai snarled, throwing up his hands. Okay, that part was admittedly on Chen, how the heck did he not notice?

“I didn’t even want to hang out with you, all I wanted was to get my backpack!!! But I came because it was the polite thing to do!!! ” Kai yelled, and he didn’t miss Chen’s flinch.

“Listen, how about I take you back to my place? We can clean you up and-”

Kai let out a genuine laugh. Okay, wow, this was way too easy. Did he really think that would work?

“No thanks, I’d rather not.” He narrowed his eyes in a harsh glare. “Excuse me for not trusting the guy who doused me in paint .” He spat, the venom from the words clear.

“I-“

“I’d recommend leaving before you dig yourself into an even deeper hole.” Kai warned.

Chen opened his mouth to try and defend himself, but noticed the crowd. He blushed a deep red before bolting off, closely followed by a pair of girls who were wearing pink and blue respectively and a small group of boys, probably fellow cheerleaders.

Realizing the conflict was over, the crowd started dispersing and Kai let himself release the act and relaxed. That went…. way better than he expected. If Chen had pointed out just how obviously he’d slammed into Lloyd it would’ve been over.

Speaking of which….

Kai turned to Lloyd who was almost off the stairs. Strangely though, he hadn’t stood up, he was still on his back.

Kai offered a hand. “Sorry about hitting you, it was the only plan I had to get you out of the way in time.”

Lloyd stared. Like, he stared . Mouth wide, eyes big as dinner plates and focused right at Kai and the hand he’d offered.

Kai glanced at his hand. His black, paint-coated hand that was still dripping a bit.

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Kai tried to brush off the paint, but it didn’t work very well. Most of the excess dripped to the ground and it took a few tries, but eventually, he got it so you could at least see parts of his skin in some places…..sort of.

Kai offered his hand a second time, and this time Lloyd took it, albeit very hesitantly. Kai pulled him to his feet with ease, slightly surprised at how light he was.

“Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you when I pushed you, did I?” He asked. Lloyd stared for a few more seconds before shaking his head.

“I‘m fine” 

Kai nodded. “Good.”

“Lloyd! Smith!” Fast-paced footsteps sounded behind him, but they abruptly came to a stop. 

Kai turned around. The two were staring at him wide-eyed and Nya seemed to be breathing hard from the run.

“What happened to you?” She asked.

Kai shrugged. “Paint prank from Chen.” 

“Oh.”

The four stood in silence. Lloyd kept looking between him and the other two, clearly noticing the strange tension between them.

“Hey, uh.” Nya started, staring off to the side. “My place is pretty close. If you want to come, you could wash off there.”

Now it was Kai’s turn to stare.

Okay, something definitely happened in between the hallway and the attack.

Kai looked down at his body. He didn’t have access to a washing machine or a shower, and by himself his best bet was to wash off in the ocean or river, although he felt like some people wouldn’t like the fact he was getting paint in the water. And Nya’s place was probably stocked with soap which he could use to clean his clothes instead of just throwing them out and stealing more…..

“That would be great.” He finally answered.

Getting to the Smith household, Kai could help but stare.

The house was huge . So much bigger than the forge and almost the size of the Bounty !

He couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.

Nya fished out some keys from her back pocket and unlocked the door.

“Hold on, let’s hose you down first.” Nya stopped Kai, gesturing to the side of the house. “Lloyd, Zane, you guys can head inside. Smith, with me.”

The two nodded. “We’ll let Kai know we’re here.” Lloyd offered boring heading through the front door. Zane seemed a bit more hesitant to leave than Lloyd, casting an extra glance before going inside.

“C’mon.” She beckoned for him to follow, which he did quietly. She easily unlocked a tall wooden side gate and walked in.

The side yard wasn’t anything special. A few trash cans and boxes, as well as a bike with cheesy flames painted on the slim metal leaning against one of the walls. There was a small faucet coming out of the wall with a long green hose attached.

“Hey, uh…..if you don’t mind me asking, are your parents home?” Kai asked. This could either go decently well, or very bad.

Nya shook her head. “Nah, they’re out of town. Their jobs make them travel around a lot so we don’t get to see them often.”

They still had their parents. They still had their parents .

Yeah they weren’t around much, but they were still there . They weren’t dead, or abandon them, or who knows what -

Nya grabbed the hose and Kai snapped out of his thoughts. Right, right, he had time to think of that later, right now he was covered in paint. He stood with his legs apart and arms out wide, preparing for the onslaught of water.

“Ready?” She asked. Kai nodded and slammed his eyes shut.

Hopefully it wouldn’t be that baaaaaaaaAAAAA OH FIRST MASTER THAT WAS COLD-

Kai tensed as the freezing water doused him. The pressure wasn’t insane, but it was definitely more than enough to wash off some of the paint.

Slowly, the clumpy paint was being washed off, replaced with the bone-chilling water.

“I’m gonna do your face.”

Kai held his breath, expecting it to take a while, but was thoroughly surprised when it only lasted a few seconds.

He opened his eyes, slightly confused.

“I didn’t think you’d like being sprayed in the face, so I just got off enough so it wouldn’t drip.” she answered, starting to coil up the hose.

“Okaaaayyyyyy then.” Kai answered. “So….I’m gonna head inside then….”

Kai started to turn around and walk to the front door when suddenly-

“I’m sorry!” Nya blurted.

Kai turned around and stared, slightly confused.

“It wasn’t okay for me to yell at you like that, especially since it was a misunderstanding.” She continued. 

Oh.

Oh .

“It’s fine, I-” Kai started, but she interrupted.

“No, it’s not okay! I was suspicious of you for no reason and hurt you! I-I treated you like everyone else treats Lloyd!!!” She looked off to the side in shame, cheeks burning.

Oh. So that’s the realization that brought about this apology.

Kai took a few steps toward her but remained at a respectable distance. “Nya, I don't blame you for the way you acted. But yes, you are right, it did hurt.” Nya flinched. “But I was never mad at you. You had every reason to think I was lying.”

Now Nya looked up, slightly confused.

“I’m not from here, and I had no idea what was going on here. To be honest, I’m still not completely sure. But from what I’ve learned, I’d say you reacted appropriately.”

He took another step and placed a hand on her shoulder. “And the fact you’re apologizing for your actions shows me you regret them, and that’s good enough for me.”

Nya was staring wide-eyed, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Is….is this the part where we make up hug or…..” Kai laughed.

“I mean,” he gestured at his still slightly paint-covered clothes and the fact he was dripping wet. “If you’d like a watery paint hug, be my guest, but I’d prefer to get clean first.”

Nya snickered before offering out her hand. “How about a handshake then?”

Kai gave a small smile back and took it.

Maybe things would work out after all.

Chapter Text

Lloyd was pretty excited, but also a bit nervous. After all, his team was finally going to meet the person who’d saved him those three nights ago! Granted they hadn’t taken it…..very well. He honestly thought Nya was going to go on a rampage, but he was almost 100 percent sure that the anger was directed at the kid and not Shogun.

And then there was when he’d assisted in today’s attack! The others hadn’t quite believed him when he told them what happened, but Zane was quick to pull up some security footage to back his claims. To say they were in awe was an understatement. Even Cole looked shocked!

And then there was Sensei Wu!

The way he looked at Shogun’s Spinjitzu, having Zane slow down and rewind the footage so many times as he tried to figure out the movements. He looked, if Lloyd dared to say it, rather impressed and muttered something about talking with him about it.

All in all, everyone seemed to be looking forward to meeting him.

…...now if only he’d show up.

Lloyd checked the clock in his mech’s HUD. 10:30. He’d been waiting for almost an hour, but Shogun was still a no show…..okay to be fair maybe he should’ve specified what time he would show up, that was on him.

Lloyd let out a sigh. At least it was a Friday and they wouldn’t have school tomorrow.

Only….the prospect of not having school didn’t make him as happy as it usually did.

And Lloyd had a pretty good idea why that was.

Smith.

Smith was a beautiful gust of fresh air in Lloyd’s life. Don't get him wrong, he absolutely loved his friends and being the Green Ninja, but something about there being another person out there who didn’t think he was a monster was…..honestly it was uplifting. Lloyd was pretty sure his friends felt the same, too.

And then there was what happened today, which completely threw Lloyd for a loop.

Yes, he was aware Smith didn’t hate him. Heck, there was the possibility Smith could even like him. 

But then……

But then he took the prank for him.

Lloyd was no stranger to pranks, especially ones that had lasting damages. Paint pranks were among the worst and most annoying.

But without hesitating Smith pushed him out of harm's way, and he paid the price. But instead of getting angry or sad, he used the situation. He turned the crowd against Chen and came out on top.

And then after, he apologized for knocking Lloyd down and helped him up, not even complaining about the paint he was doused in.

It was…..it was absolutely incredible.

But, as much as he hated to admit it, he did have some concerns. Nothing that made him worried about Smith, but things that made him worried for Smith.

Lloyd shivered at the memory.

Smith had stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and asked if Kai had any clothes he could borrow but….

He was absolutely covered in scars, ranging from clean slash marks to messy burns with the skin twisted and shiny. There were even a few strange marks that Zane said were like snake bites, but there weren’t any snakes with a bite that big(that they knew of).

They all stared, mostly in horror of the sheer number. Even Lloyd didn’t have that many. There were also a handful of fading bruises, but that was beside the point.

The question at the front of all their minds was ‘how did he get them’ and frankly it was very worrying.

But, no matter how much they asked, some more subtle than others, Smith refused to budge. He didn't say a peep about where they came from or what he’d experienced to get them, which didn’t help their nerves at all. That coupled with how he never seemed to talk about his family or homelife…..didn’t give them high hopes.

But, unfortunately without any other knowledge, they couldn’t do anything. Heck they didn’t even know what part of the city Smith lived in! Or if he even lived in the city at all!....okay maybe that was a stretch, there weren’t any towns close enough for Smith to reasonably make daily journeys on foot.

Actually…..now that Lloyd thought about it…..they really didn’t know anything about Smith. The only things they knew, which Kai had been nice enough to tell, were that he had 3 friends who were family, 2 younger siblings, and had lived on a boat with all them. And something about an old guy, but Kai didn’t really know much about him.

Maybe come Monday morning they could ask Smith to sit with them? Jay would have first period with him and they sit next to each other-

“Hey there.”

Lloyd jumped and very nearly almost fell off his mech.

He heard a soft chuckle. “You alright?”

Lloyd scrambled to get back upright. “Y-yep. Yep, I’m fine.” Even with the mask, Lloyd could make out a small smile on Shogun’s face. He was standing on the far end of the roof with the (presumably) stolen swords from earlier that day

Shogun nodded. “So…..how are we doing this? I expected your team was going to meet us here, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.” 

“Oh. Well, I was planning on bringing you back to our base. Master W-erm, our Master wants to meet you too, so we thought it would be the best way.”

Shogun nodded. “I see. Would you like me to follow or would you not mind if I hitched a ride with you?”

“Hop on.” Lloyd motioned. Shogun ran over immediately, but instead of just. Climbing on like Lloyd expected, he jumped up and did a quick flip before landing almost perfectly onto the dragon.

“Show off.” Lloyd jokingly said, not stopping the chuckle that bubbled up.

Shogun shrugged. “What can I say? I have a flare for the dramatics.”

Lloyd turned to the controls and sent a quick message to his team letting them know they were on their way. 

“Hold on.” he warned, but this time it was much calmer compared to when he said that same phrase earlier.

The dragon took off into the sky, cruising just above most of the buildings. The lights of the city shone brightly underneath while the softer light of the stars and moon sparkled above. It wasn’t the most clear of nights, but it just added to the sky’s beauty. The lights reflected off the whispers of the clouds, giving the sky a magical look.

Lloyd cast a quick glance behind him. Shogun was staring in awe at the beauty around him, eyes dancing all around the sky and to the city below.

“Enjoying the view?” Lloyd asked. Shogun slowly nodded, not even speaking. He didn’t say another word for the rest of the journey until they started nearing the ocean.

“So uh…” Strangely, he sounded a bit nervous and was eyeing the ocean. “Where exactly is your base?”

Lloyd shrugged it off. That worry probably came from how Garmadon’s forces always came from the water. “A warehouse by the docks. Don’t worry, we won’t be going over the ocean. And besides, Garmadon rarely attacks at night. He prefers his attacks to be in full view of everyone so they can ‘properly take in his villainy’ or something.”

Shogun nodded, seeming to calm down a bit. “I see.”

It was easy enough to land inside the warehouse, becoming practically second nature to Lloyd given how many times he’d needed to do it.

Everyone but Wu seemed to be gathered inside. Nya and Zane were going over attack plans, Jay was fiddling with a small piece of tech, and Cole and Kai were playing video games. Well...Kai was playing video games. Cole just seemed to be listening to the music.

They all took notice to their entrance and gathered in a loose half circle around Lloyd and Shogun.

“Shogun, this is my team.” Lloyd said, gesturing toward them. “Cyan is my second in command, White is our planner, Blue is our air support, and Black and Red are our heavy hitters and ground support. Everyone, this is Shogun.”

“Let’s keep this simple, Shogun.” Nya started, crossing her arms. “What are you doing in Ninjago City?”

Shogun chuckled. “Can’t a guy come and enjoy the city?” When Nya only glared more, his face grew serious.

He thought for a second. “In all honesty, I have no idea.”

Lloyd could practically hear Nya’s brain skid to a halt, and the confused stares from everyone else didn’t help.

“Let me start from the beginning.” Shogun offered, clearly sensing their confusion. “I was out with my little brother for some training when it happened. For the past few months, an…..enemy of ours had been rising in power, so we had started training him so if he was caught again, he would be ready to defend himself.

“But, they caught us off guard. I was able to get him away, but I was captured. They brought me back to their leader and….” Shogun trailed off.

“And?” Kai asked, gesturing for him to continue.

“And that’s when things get weird.” Shogun said, crossing his arms. “I’m gonna need you to trust me on this, but no hard feelings if you don’t. Heck, I’m still trying to believe it myself.”

When no one spoke up, Shogun took a deep breath and continued. “The Leader has the weapon called the Megaweapon. Now, I know the name sounds dumb, but trust me, it’s incredibly dangerous. If you can even wield it, it grants the power to create anything the user desires.”

A tension went through the room. If Shogun was telling the truth…..this enemy he was talking about could be a serious threat.

“He….he easily could’ve killed me. All he needed to do was simply tap me with it and I would’ve been dead.” It was barely noticeable, but Lloyd make out the slightest tremor in Shogun’s hands. “But he didn’t. Instead, he sent me, I quote ‘where I won’t pose a threat to his plans.’ I honestly don’t think he purposefully meant to send me here, probably something more along the lines of a mountaintop or the middle of the jungle.”

The others were nodding along. “So, you’re stuck here, pretty much.” Nya commented.

Shogun sighed. “Unfortunately, yes. Right now, the only way I think I’ll be able to get back is if the rest of my team get their hands on the Megaweapon and somehow use it to wish me back.”

“Have you tried contacting them?” Zane offered. Shogun nodded.

“Many, many times.” Shogun pulled a small black earpiece out of his pocket. “I don’t have the technical know how or tools to open this up, but was hoping maybe you would.”

“Blue, you up to it?” Nya asked. Jay jumped a bit at being called out, but hesitantly took a few steps to look at the device. Shogun held it up.

“Hmmm.” He started, taking the device into his hands. “I haven’t seen a communicator like this before. Where’d you get it?”

Shogun hesitated. “My….my sister made it. After an incident where we all got separated, she wanted to make sure we had an easy way to contact the B-” He cast a look around. “...base. She manages our HQ and tells us where we need to be.”

Jay nodded. “Well, if you don’t mind, I think I might be able to amplify the range.”

Shogun thought for a second, before carefully nodding. “That might work….” though he sounded a bit skeptical, but for what reason Lloyd couldn’t quite figure out.

Jay headed off to the Tech Corner, leaving the rest of them standing around.

“Oh and one more thing.” Shogun started. “I’d appreciate if you don’t try and figure out my identity. I know you definitely have the resources, but I’m sure you can understand why I’d like to keep it a secret.”

Lloyd nodded. “Of course.” He cast a quick glance at Zane.

They all knew why you needed a secret identity. Sure it helped with keeping those you cared about safe and keeping the paparazzi off your back, but there was one glaring thing that defined it for all of them. 

So the people you saved would let you help and wouldn’t hate you for something outside of your control.

“So….you said your Master wanted to meet me?” Shogun asked.

“That would be correct.”

They all jumped as Master Wu stepped out from behind the dragon mech. When and how he got back there without them seeing Lloyd had no idea, but he’d long since stopped questioning it.

“Master Wu!” They all exclaimed, sans Shogun. 

“So this is your Master?” He asked aloud. Master Wu nodded.

“Yes, and they are my pupils. You are Shogun, correct?” He nodded in return. “If you do not mind, I have some questions I’d like to ask you about your Spinjitzu.”

Shogun raised a brow. “What about it?”

“When did you learn it?”

Shogun stared for a second. “....from my Master.” 

Wu continued. “Well, your Spinjitzu is unlike any Spinjitzu I’ve seen.”

“What does that mean?”

“Observe.” 

Master Wu started moving. His arms were flowing around like water and Lloyd could swear he could see small golden sparks in the air.

All of the ninja leaned forward in anticipation. This was gonna be so cool! 

Master Wu was moving faster and faster, starting to turn in a circle. Then, out of nowhere, was a golden glow and then -

…...he presented his hands with a tiny golden tornado in them.

Lloyd was….a little unimpressed he wasn’t gonna lie. The golden tornado was only slightly larger than his fist and was a bright golden yellow with little sparks. Don’t get him wrong, it was still pretty cool that he had a tiny magic tornado in the palm of his hand …..but compared to what Shogun had done earlier it was a little….lackluster.

“What. Is that.” Shogun demanded, pointing at the tiny Spinjitzu tornado.

“This is Spinjitzu.” Shogun shook his head.

“No no no no no, this is Spinjitzu.” True to his word, in barely a second Shogun was back in the center of his own Spinjitzu tornado. Now that Lloyd was closer and he was holding still(sort of) Lloyd could feel the heat emanating from the tornado. Tiny sparks of fire flew in the air and had they been in the dark Lloyd would like to bet that it was giving off a decent amount of light.

After a few seconds, Shogun stopped spinning and was facing Master Wu. Master Wu’s eyes narrowed and he stroked his beard.

“I see.” Wu said. “Well it seems as though your Master has stumbled upon another form of Spinjitzu. Are there any others you know of who know this technique?”

Shogun nodded. “My Master, obviously, as well as three of my teammates. We’re also in the process of teaching my little brother, but he’s too young to do it properly.”

Master Wu leaned forward a bit. “And...are you the one doing the teaching?”

Shogun stared for a second. “You want me to teach you my Master’s Spinjitzu, don’t you.”

Wu let out a small chuckle. “I would appreciate that, yes.”

“Do you think you could teach us too?” Kai exclaimed.

Shogun thought for a second and looked around. “I suppose I could….but it isn’t gonna be easy.”

Master Wu nodded. “Naturally.”

“Alright then, guess it’s settled.” Shogun clapped.

“One more thing, however.” Master Wu interjected. “If you do not mind, I would like to test your training. You seem to be trained in the arts of the ninja and I would like to evaluate your skills.”

Shogun shrugged. “I don’t see why not.” Master Wu gave a soft smile.

“Then let us begin.”

Chapter Text

It had been a week since Kai had been captured and no one was taking it well.

They hadn’t realized just how much of an integral piece Kai had been of their team but right now it had been glaringly obvious.

Kai was always a stable figure for all of them, whether they consciously realized it or not. A brother, a teammate, and dangit Nya hated to admit it, but a parental figure .

Or, well the closest thing she(and seemingly the other ninja) had to one.

Kai was their pillar. Their support. He listened to when they needed help, steering them in the right direction while never explicitly giving the answer. He would train with them if they needed it, help figure out plans if they needed it, help with dinner, cleaning, everything . Everywhere they looked Kai had a piece in.

And he was gone.

Nya was finding herself filled with an emotion she couldn’t quite name. It was big and snarly like anger, but rained down on her like grief. It kept reminding her of how when she was captured by Garmadon Kai had trained himself to get her back, going as far as fighting an essentially unbeatable shadow in a volcano. All while she was chained up like some damsel in distress and could help at all .

Lloyd arguably took it hardest, which wasn’t much of a surprise. The poor kid had been there when it happened, had run away when it happened.

An immediate pause had been put on his training, but Nya wasn't quite sure whether that was a good thing or not. On one hand Lloyd was having time to properly relax again, it freed up all of them so they could spread out as much as possible to look for leads, and none of them had to feel the wrongness of filling Kai’s training spot.

On the other hand it made it clear just how helpless Lloyd was.

None of them dared let him off the Bounty and there was always someone watching him. After all, he was nearly taken too.

They couldn’t afford to lose another member of their team. They wouldn’t.

“WE FOUND SOMETHING!”

In an instant Jay threw open the door to the Bounty’s bridge, running inside. Zane and Cole were close behind him.

Nya jumped up from her hunched over form over the Bounty computers, eyes lighting up.

“What is it! What did you find!” Nya demanded.

“We were checking out the clearing again-” Jay started.

“-when Zane thought to look around the area a bit more-” Cole continued.

“-and we found tracks! ” Zane finished.

“You did!?!” Nya exclaimed. “Did you get pictures?”

Zane nodded. “I ran them through and they match with the evidence of two Venomari dragging something.”

“They were pretty washed away, but we were able to follow them to a hidden tunnel.” Cole added. “But we didn’t go in in case something happened.”

Nya nodded. “Good decision. Zane can you show me on the map?”

“On it.”

Hold on Kai, she swore to herself.

We’re coming.

It was very late at night. His pupils and Shogun had long since returned home and The Bounty was left as one of the few lights left by the docks.

The outside of the ship was a beautiful thing. Soft, dark wood without a single flaw and bright red paint to highlight the details. The graceful white sails carefully tucked away atop the mast. It was the picture perfect ship.

Unfortunately, the same could not currently be said for the inside.

Scrolls and books covered every open space in the cabin, ranging from history textbooks to ancient tomes to ancient scrolls written in long forgotten languages. Blank notebooks occasionally joined in the fray with multicolored notes filled with training exercises, plans, theories and everything else under the sun.

And sitting right in the center of all this chaos was one very confused old man.

Why was he confused? 

Because no matter how hard he searched he couldn’t find any mention of a full body Spinjitzu.

Because what else could it possibly be? Breaking down the moves had shown they were almost identical and they both clearly had the same outcome, just on a different scale.

But something about the two was just so fundamentally different and it was driving Wu up a wall .

Wu let out a tired sigh. It had been hours and he was no closer to finding an answer than he had when he started.

Wu cast a glance out the window. It was getting rather late and he would need to get up early in order to train his pupils and Shogun. 

Although….to be completely honest Shogun was leagues ahead of his pupils. If he was going to accept the invitation for more training tomorrow he would probably need to come up with a new training plan in order to keep his skills sharp.

Just as he started closing books, one in particular caught his eye.

The entire, recorded family tree of Elemental Masters.

It had been a pain to put together, going through many phases and edits and fixing what was just falsehoods and bragging and what was legitimate.

It was rather thick, but that made sense since he would need to keep track of all living family members in case something...happened to one of the holders before they could pass it on.

Wu isn’t ashamed to admit one of the reasons he chose Lloyd’s friends was because of their lineage. Not the only reason, mind you, but one of them (Jay was actually the one exempt from this, given the situation with his parents but it didn’t take long to figure out. After all, the scrolls did say that the four main elements of creation plus one other(water it seemed) would be drawn to protect the Green Ninja during his darkest days).

But then Shogun came and threw that for a loop.

Wu was positive he had done his research correctly. Ray definitely possessed the Fire Element, even if he did not unlock his true potential to fully use it’s capabilities. Whether he was aware of this fact or not was up for debate, but it was undeniable he had it and that in turn Kai would have it.

Yet somehow, some way , Shogun seemed to possess the very same element.

By all accounts it shouldn’t have been possible. After all, there can only be one Master at a time for each element, the only exception being identical twins in which the element would have a chance to split, but even then the element would go back to it’s un-split state for the next generation.

It was very unlikely that Ray and Maya had a third child, and even more unlikely that Fire had split. It was one of the more fickle elements from what Wu remembered.

But the way his Spinjitzu presented itself…

Much more research and watching was necessary, and testing would be required to see if he had unlocked his true potential or not.

Wu let out a tired sigh.

He was too old for this.

Garmadon was not a patient person.

I mean, can you blame him? He’s been trying to conquer Ninjago City for years , but was always stopped by that stupid buttface brother of his, and then when he thought he might have the upper hand, then he was stopped by those stupid ninja.

Not to mention his completely useless Generals. It was always so satisfying when he fired them, and took it whenever his General #1 or any others were being particularly useless. But, unfortunately he needed them. And it’s not that he could completely blame them. The ninja were stupidly annoying with their mechs and teamwork and friendship.

He can, however, fire them over losing to an unarmed, teenaged civilian.

“So let me get this straight.” He started. Generals 15, 27, 42, 56, 58, 73, and 96 stood to attention in front of him and the rest of his 94 generals sitting behind him. Each of them was looking more than a little terrified. Good.

“You had the kid surrounded, unarmed and alone , while you all were armed and with air support and a mech .” 42 and 73 winced, being the ones with the jetpack and mech control respectively. “And you still lost to them.”

General 15, being the highest ranking officer and slightly in front of the rest, nodded.

Garmadon barked out a laugh. 96 started laughing along with him, albeit hesitant and nervous.

Wrong answer.

A button press later, there was one less general.

“You had a mech! And jetpacks!” Garmadon exclaimed. He let out a tired sigh.

“And he managed to throw it off a building and knock you -” he pointed at 56. “Unconscious.”

“Could it maybe be that-” 42 started.

Two hits, two less generals.

“Maybe you should’ve heard 42 out. They had theories about-” 27 interjected.

Button.

73 glared at him. “Well excuse me, esteemed warlord , but I-”

Button.

“I think what he was trying to say was-” 58 started.

Button.

And then there was one.

Garmadon had to give him credit. 15 was doing a rather good job of keeping his nerve and holding his tongue. You didn’t survive to the teens in rankings by being stupid.

But, in the end if he could lose to a teenager then he probably wasn’t worth it.

But just as his hand hovered over the button-

“The kid was trained!” He blurted.

Garmadon stopped.

“He wasn’t no civilian, that’s for sure. He was too fast and confident to be one.” 15 continued. “And he knew this freaky spinning move. One second he was there the next there was a flaming tornado in our faces.”

Freaky spinning move? Flaming tornado? But that could only mean-

“Like this?” Garmadon presented his upper pair of hands, keeping one of his lower ones hovered over the button. Spinjitzu was practically second nature to him, the dark tornado hovering in a controlled state.

The general did a ‘so-so’ motion with his hands. “Sort ‘ah. Only it was orange and yellow and a lot bigger.”

“How much bigger?”

You could always tell how long someone had been practicing Spinjitzu by one of two things. Size and control. And Garmadon had been practicing since childhood, so if a teen had it bigger-

“Bigger than he was.”

Garmadon thought for a moment and removed his hand from above the button. The general just barely relaxed and Garmadon had to fight the urge to hit the button, if only to see his reaction.

“Did you get a look at his face?” he finally asked. The General nodded.

With his free lower hand he pointed to the door. “Go down to the science level. Tell them what they looked like.”

“Yes sir.” The General saluted and all but ran out of the room.

“The rest of you, dismissed. I need some time to think.” he commanded. The other generals quickly followed 15’s lead.

Fire tornado, huh?

Garmadon chuckled, only this time it was deep and menacing.

After all, if there was a Spinjitzu Master on the loose, the Elemental Master of Fire no less….well, he was always thinking of getting a Second in Command.

FireFighter has created a group chat

FireFighter added LadyWaterDragon, GreenBeanBoi, RollingStones, BlueJay, and Artificial_Ice-telligence

FireFighter renamed chat to Operation: What’s Up With Smith

FireFighter: I suppose you’ve wondered why I’ve gathered you all here

Chapter Text

GreenBeanBoi: I still can’t believe we’re doing this

LadyWaterDragon: Oh hush, you’re the one who suggested it to start with

GreenBeanBoi: As a joke!!!

FireFighter: Well too late, we’re doing it

GreenBeanBoi: I just feel a little bad y’know

GreenBeanBoi: I mean, Smith trusts us and we’re kinda going behind his back

RollingStones: Lloyd we understand you’re scared of losing his friendship, but it’ll be fine

FireFighter: Yeah what Cole said

FireFighter: Besides, if we are right and we don’t do anything it would be a lot worse

GreenBeanBoi: true….

Artificial_Ice-telligence: Smith has just entered the school premises 

FireFighter: PLACES EVERYONE

Things were going surprisingly okay for Smith(at some point, he wasn’t quite sure when he seemed to become Smith rather than Kai). It had been almost two weeks since he arrived in this alternate world and so far it had been pretty solid.

After clearing things up with Nya and Zane, he found himself almost immediately brought into their group with open arms. The weekend he spent with them was one of the happiest in his life, always with them by his side until the last possible minute. They joked with him, played with him, and more than once he forgot that he had only met them days ago.

It helped to patch the hole growing in his heart the longer he spent away.

They also helped him out with his classes, which was great. Jay was amazing at tutoring him in math and Zane was amazing at helping with his other subjects. It also helped that he shared his classes with at least one of them, save Metal Shop but Mr.Walker was in charge of that one so it was fine(history wasn’t that bad though, either. Strangely a lot of what he learned from the past and from fighting Garmadon and the Serpentine came in handy, which was nice).

Heck they even shared their lunches once they realized he didn’t have much beside his granola bars. They didn’t ask questions, though, which made him feel better about it. To be perfectly honest the fact he was able to eat everyday with one relatively square meal was a nice change from when he was in a similar situation when he was a kid. At least this time he had people to help.

But yeah, things were going well, Chen hadn’t bothered them in a while, and his grades were looking up.

But something was off today.

Not wrong, mind you. Everyone was acting like they usually did, helping with studies when they could, sharing lunch and joking. Everything seemed fine.

…..but at the same time it felt off.

Maybe it was the way they kept sharing looks. Maybe it was how they kept checking their phones. Maybe it was something else, but something was off.

He brushed it off for now. After all, he could handle it.

Right now, he needed to worry about his classes

BlueJay: Guys I think Smith knows somethings up

BlueJay: I swear I didn’t say anything all I did was help him with math but he kept giving me these looks and his focus seemed off I think he wanted to ask but didn’t say anything do you think its that he doesn't trust me

FireFighter: Jay calm down it’s fine

BlueJay: Sorry

RollingStones: No need to apologize, you did nothing wrong

RollingStones: Do you think he knows our plan?

RollingStones: And I mean really know

BlueJay: I don’t think so????

BlueJay: Like I said he just kept giving me these looks

BlueJay: Not bad looks but….

GreenBeanBoi: Should we keep going ahead with the plan?

LadyWaterDragon: Absolutely

Artificial_Ice-telligence: Of course

FireFighter: Yes

RollingStones: why not

GreenBeanBoi: Alrighty then

School was finally over and Smith was thoroughly convinced that he wasn’t just paranoid and that something was up. Everyone, even stoick quiet Cole, was a tad off.

“Hey, are you guys free to do a study group today? I’m having some troubles with biology and an extra hand would be amazing. ” Smith asked. Maybe he’d have a chance to ask them later.

Then something from earlier rippled through their faces. It was a look he recognized finally. Something that he saw on his Lloyd’s face often.

They were planning something.

“Sorry Smith, our parents finally got some free time and are calling us today.” Kai shrugged.

“I promised mom I’d clean the apartment before she got home.” Lloyd added.

“I- um. I uh, told my parents I would help them in the scrapyard today.” Jay meekly offered.

“My father requires assistance with his latest machines and I shall be unavailable for an undisclosed amount of time.” Zane too.

“I’m free.” Cole offered. His tone was even and his face was neutral but there was still that glint in his eyes.

Oh yeah, they were definitely planning something. Oh well, he’d play along.

“Great!” Smith exclaimed.

Cole nodded. “We can...head over to my house if that works.”

So they were trying to keep him in a single place where one of them could keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t get involved. Pretty smart, but they were still too obvious.

“That’s great. I don’t have to go home until 8, but if you need me out before then that works too.” 

Cole thought for a moment before shaking his head. “My dad won’t care.”

If Smith hadn’t been paying such close attention to the group he wouldn’t have noticed the slightly awkward shift. Still though, Cole was doing a remarkable job and had a very good straight face. Perhaps he could bring up to Wu about getting them more lessons about misdirection and deception.....

“Alright!” Kai clapped. “Well now that that’s been figured out, I guess we’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

They all exchanged goodbyes before he finally turned to Cole with a smile.

“Lead the way!”

FireFighter: See Jay it’s fine

FireFighter: he didn’t suspect a thing

BlueJay: you're right, but I still can’t help but feel like we’re missing something

GreenBeanBoi: well it’s too late to turn back now

LadyWaterDragon: Eyyyyy you’re finally coming around to our plan

GreenBeanBoi: *my plan

GreenBeanBoi: Let's just try to finish this quick, I wasn’t lying about needed to clean the apartment and I’d rather avoid mom’s ire

LadyWaterDragon: Fair

FireFighter: Yeah Koko is TERRIFYING when she gets mad

The walk was pretty awkward, Cole wasn’t going to lie. He’d never been the best with words and his friends always understood what he meant. After all, it had been years.

...but now Smith was a part of Friends now wasn’t he. If you had told Cole a month ago they would be getting a new addition to their friend group he would’ve thought they were joking. He wasn’t sure about the others but he had long since accepted the fact that they were going to be alone going forward. People either hated them or were too afraid of being hated to interact with them outside of necessity.

He was perfectly fine with it though. It was just another part of his life.

And then Smith came and threw that for a loop.

He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

Now, even though he didn’t say much, one of the things he prided himself in was reading people. It was almost a necessary skill but he was still proud nonetheless.

He saw the little extra pep in Jay’s step when Smith partnered with him in math. He saw the hope blooming in Lloyd’s eyes and smile when Smith got him out of detention. He saw how hesitant Nya and Zane were after their disaster only to be met with Smith’s earnest….his earnest everything.

But his eyes were clever too. They would dart around when he thought no one was looking, carefully steering Lloyd out of the way of pranks or feet meant to trip him up. And then there was how quickly seemed to be picking up what was taught to him. Although, it was a little weird at how behind he was is most subjects(strangely history was the only one exempt. If anything he seemed to be ahead if that pop quiz the other day was anything to say by).

There were the suspicions the others held about Smith’s home life, but Cole couldn’t help but feel like something else was at play.

“So do you….like music?” Cole internally cringed at how awkward the question was, but it was the best he could think of.

Smith thought for a second. “Sort of….”

When it was clear Cole wasn’t going to interject Smith continued. 

“Well, there used to be an old guitar my dad had that he taught me to play a bit.” He started. “But, that was pretty much all me and sister had in terms of music for a good long while. Phoenix once tried to fix up an old radio but it….sort of….exploded.”

“What do you mean ‘all you had in terms of music?’” Cole carefully asked, hoping his voice wasn’t too tense.

“We used to live pretty far out in the country, nearest town was about a mile and a half away and the nearest people were the rice plantation workers who would occasionally sell us rice.” He shrugged.

No music. No. Music. That sounded like a fate worse than death to Cole! How could they…..I mean it’s music, the thing that fills the empty silence, that can bring up your spirits from the darkest places. And Smith didn’t have that.

Oh no, that wouldn’t do.

Cole was already pulling out his phone and a pair of wireless earbuds.

“Uhhhhh, what are you doing?” Smith asked as Cole shoved one of the earbuds into his hand.

“I’m showing you what you’ve missed.”

Cole was quickly scrolling through his many, many playlists. Which one, which one? Calming didn’t seem like his style, but maybe something high energy. Fast paced, but still organized. Yeah that seemed like Smith’s style.

And with a single click music filled his head.

Smith stopped with a jerk, eyes widening. The song itself was nothing too complicated, but it definitely have layers, with the heavy beats of the drum to the high paced riffing of the guitar.

The wide eyed shock slowly morphed into a wide eyed smile.

“This is really great!” Smith exclaimed. Cole smiled.

Maybe he didn’t know much about Smith, but that seemed inconsequential to the pure joy emanating from him.

“Thanks, that’s one of my more recent songs.”

“You wrote this!?!”

RollingStones: Update about Smith - he and his sister grew up in the country far away from other people but with rice fields nearby

RollingStones: He also doesn’t know much about most music and media

FireFighter: what does that mean?

RollingStones: I asked him what genres of music he knew of and I quote

RollingStones: “There’s uh….I know there’s Pop. Gordon really likes Pop. Um….the kind with the old pianos? And I’m not sure what genre guitar would be but that might be one too.”

RollingStones: and don’t even get me started on movies and shows

RollingStones: when I asked why he didn’t know any of this he just said he never had the time, which is also partially concerning

LadyWaterDragon: alright movie night this weekend, our place, Jay bring your classics

BlueJay: you got it

RollingStones: I’m going to start slowly immersing him into music culture whether he likes it or not

FireFighter: I don’t think I’ve ever seen Cole this intense before

RollingStones: I asked him if he knew The Fold and he looked me dead in the eye and asked what was so important about a folded piece of paper

RollingStones: that is a crime against music

Artificial_Ice-telligence: and I wish to teach him about memes :D

GreenBeanBoi: Zane no

Artificial_Ice-telligence: Zane yes >:D

GreenBeanBoi: okay but shifting back to what we’re SUPPOSED to be doing

GreenBeanBoi: has anyone actually found anything

FireFighter: nada

LadyWaterDragon: nothing

BlueJay: no sorry

Artificial_Ice-telligence: unfortunately my attempts with the security cameras has proven unsuccessful 

Artificial_Ice-telligence: there aren’t any working cameras in that district so it was a thorough waste of time

Artificial_Ice-telligence: currently our best bet would be to follow Smith, but that would arise its own complications

GreenBeanBoi: for the last time we are not following him

GreenBeanBoi: we’re just going to have to keep looking, and if that doesn’t work then we’ll figure something else out

GreenBeanBoi: in the meantime, Cole keep him distracted

RollingStones: already on it

RollingStones: we just got to my house and I want to show him my vinyl collection

RollingStones: he looks excited

Chapter Text

Cole had a really nice house, that was for sure. It wasn’t as big as Kai and Nya’s place, but it was still big. If he was being completely honest it looked incredibly similar to his own Cole’s house(and if that didn’t send a pang through his heart).

But his room was where it was really special. 

Almost an entire wall was covered from floor to ceiling with various records, cds, and tapes. On a shelf nearby was a record player and a Walkman that seemed to be immaculately cared for without a speck of dust on them. There was a bed in the corner with a black blanket and a desk right next to it absolutely covered in papers, and a quick glance showed they were a mix of homework and unfinished music. The window nearby had it’s curtains wide open and from his spot Smith could make out some geodes and crystals sparkling in the light.

More than anything the room looked lived in. The sheets on the bed were bunched up, some of the vinyls were strewn on the floor by the shelf in a semicircle, some clothes were bunched up by a basket in the corner. It was so similar yet so different from Cole’s room on The Bounty.

Cole immediately started picking out some vinyls from the shelf.

“Alright, so I’ve got a few that would work well for some background noise while we work. You have any preference?”

Smith chuckled a bit. “Well I’m pretty sure we’ve established I know little to nothing in terms of music, so I’ll let the master decide.”

Cole nodded, pulling out one of the vinyls.

“This one’s one of my favorites, but let me know if you want to change it.”

But just as he was about to, a voice called out.

“Cole?”

Cole looked up and carefully put the vinyl down.

“Cole!” The voice called again, this time much closer. “Are you- ah! There you are.” 

The door to the room opened and a man was standing in the doorway. He had a white undershirt beneath a deep maroon vest with a small red bow tie around his neck. He wore a pair of dark brown slacks and shiny black shoes. A lighter brown coat was draped over one of his arms which was also holding a cane.  His graying hair was slicked over to the side and he had a nicely groomed moustache that curled up ever so slightly on the ends. He had an old, slightly weathered look that was only made more obvious with the wrinkles along his face.

From the corner of his eye he saw Cole subtly tense. Not enough for him to be worried for their safety but enough that it was clear Cole was uncomfortable. His eyes seemed to grow a bit harder, the small glint of happiness changing into something else. Something he hadn’t seen since….

Since they first visited Cole’s father when trying to get the Fangblade.

Oh.

Oh no.

This was…..going to be awkward.

“Don’t forget, you have dance later tonight. I’m going to be out, but dinner’s in the fridge.”

Cole nodded.

“Oh! I haven’t seen you before. What’s your name, young man?” Lou- er, Mr.Brookstone asked.

“Smith. Smith Forge. I’m a new friend of Cole’s from school.” He introduce. “I was having a hard time with some of the homework and Cole offered to help me study a bit. I hope that isn’t a problem.”

Mr.Brookstone waved a hand. “Oh, no, that's fine. It’s good to see Cole making more friends. You’ll just need to wrap it up before 6 as Cole here has a dance class.”

Smith made a sound of confirmation. “You got it.”

“Say, do you perhaps dance? Or have any experience?” Mr.Brookstone asked, slightly tilting his head.

“A little. Me and my friends once entered a competition and it was definitely...interesting. Definitely wasn’t expecting how it would go.” and wasn’t that the truth. Serpentine competing, Pythor being one of the judges, Cole unlocking his true potential by getting lighting equipment dropped on him and his dad. The whole thing was a trip from start to finish.

“Yeah, it was crazy. Other competitors tried to sabotage us, but Brook, really the only one of us with any prior dance experience, whipped out this awesome move. I think it was called the….Triple…. Tiger Sashay? I think that was it….” he muttered the last part to himself. That sounded right.

“Your friend performed the Triple Tiger Sashay!?! ” Mr.Brookstone exclaimed, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Oh, you simply must introduce me! The Triple Tiger Sashay hasn’t been successfully performed since it’s original creator passed away.”

Oh. Right, it was kinda a big deal. Huh, sometimes he forgot.

“I’ll uh, I’ll see if I can get in touch.”

Mr.Brookstone nodded, a wide grin on his face. “Well, I won’t be keeping you. Have fun, boys.” the door closed behind him with a click.

The two boys remained silent until his footsteps faded away, to which Cole let out a small, silent sigh of relief and relaxed a bit.

“So…..your dad seems... nice.” Smith was internally kicking himself at his wording.

A very awkward silence settled in.

“Alright, so are you ready to get started?” Cole said, back to the door and not-so-subtly hiding his expression. But just as he was about the place the record-

“Hey…” Smith found himself starting. “I know it’s really none of my business, but are you good?”

Cole stiffly nodded before returning to set up the record player.

“It’s fine . It’s just….no, nothing’s wrong, it’s fine, it’s fi-”

“Hey.” he started, placing a gentle hand on Cole’s arm. He still flinched a bit. “You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want, but know that nothing you tell me will leave this room.”

Cole hesitantly turned to meet his eyes. The dark brown was riddled with emotions in a swirling storm. Cole was the one to break the contact, gently putting down the record as to not damage it.

“As…” he started. “As I’m pretty sure you figured out, my dad likes dance. A lot. He was part of this group called the Royal Blacksmiths and they were really popular, but he got hurt and can’t go back to it.”

“Sometimes I think he’s trying to push me to follow in his footsteps, but I don’t want to . I like music more, but he still forces me to attend all these classes and it’s- He’s just-” he cuts off, desperately trying to find words.

Cole started pacing, arms gesturing around and voice getting more frantic. “I hate it. I hate all of it. I try to tell him I don’t want to dance but he just won’t listen! Everytime I try to bring it up he just gives me- gives me this look, like something’s wrong with me. And everytime I try to push it we end up yelling at each other!”

“And it’s not even that he’s like that always, it’s only when it comes to talking about dance! Any other time we talk he’ll act like nothing’s wrong but it still is. ”

“I hate it , but I don’t hate him .” Cole let out a deep sigh. “I just wish it could be simpler, you know? So then I could know how to feel.”

Smith found himself nodding. “Yeah, I do.”

Cole stared. Something about the words….they were heavier than when their therapist said it. Something about them…. it was personal.

Smith took a deep breath. Welp, no going back now.

“When I was seven, my parents just... disappeared one day.” Smith started. “Me and my sister were out playing and when we came home they were just gone. No note, no explanation, nothing. At first we thought they had just gone into town, but-” his voice broke a little, but he pressed on. “But they never returned.”

“Eventually I realized they...they weren’t coming back, so I started to try and fill that role. Working in the forge, going to the market for food, making sure Phe got to school and back, all of it I did. I needed to do. Phe tried to help out where she could but I never let her. She deserved more than that and I did my best to give it to her.” He smiled fondly, but soon it was replaced by a downcast look.

“Sometimes...sometimes I wonder if it was something we did. If they got tired of us and just left. But then I remember mom’s cooking, dad teaching me how to work the forge, comforting us during nightmares and thunderstorms, patching us up when we scraped our knees running around and it just.... it doesn’t make sense.”

He let out a sigh. “I wish I could know what happened to them. It would answer a lot of questions. Phoenix doesn’t really care too much, she was too young to really remember them but….”

Smith turned to Cole. “It’s just like you said. I hate it, the whole situation, I really do…. but no matter how I try and just can’t bring myself to hate them. ”

Cole thought for a second.

“If you could see them again, spend more time with them….what would you say?”

Smith laughed a little. “Well, obviously I’d ask where the heck they were, but after that…I’d spend time with them. I’d get to know them, see what they could teach me, and just...try to make up for lost time.”

He thought again. Right now he had the advantage of knowing at least the rough basis of Cole’s relationship with his father(hopefully). Lou was well meaning, and very obviously cared for his son…. but he seemed prone to getting wrapped up in his own little musical corner of the world. Right now that seemed to be the biggest crack in their relationship. He doubted he could fix it, but maybe he could lay the groundwork…..

“One of the hardest things about people is just how complicated they can be.” He continued. “Sometimes they can say or do things that hurt us and...just not realize it. And then we’ll get defensive if they keep pressing but then we’ll never find an answer. Communication is key. I can’t count the amount of times me and Phe argued over silly little things because we weren’t explaining things properly.”

Like why she couldn’t go on an expensive school trip. Or when he’d finally get some decent rest. Or why he tried to get her to spend so much time out of the forge so she could have a life ….unlike him…..

Smith shook his head. Now was not the time to get caught up in the past, Cole needed him right now.

“Now I’m not blaming you for your relationship, but have you ever told your dad exactly how you feel and why you don’t want to dance?”

Cole’s brow scrunched as he thought. He thought long and hard before slowly shaking his head. Smith smiled a bit and nudged his shoulder.

“Well that’s your first step. Find a good time and talk with him when you know you won’t be getting any interruptions. Talk it out, and compromise if you can, but communicate .”

Cole raised his hand to his chin and nodded thoughtfully. “That could definitely-” but then he froze. Then slowly, carefully, he raised his head to look Smith in the eyes.

Wait, shoot did he say something wrong? Maybe there was something detrimental he didn’t know about their relationship. Wait, no, stop, don’t be negative, maybe it’s something good, like realizing a plan. Right? Oh, jeez who was he kidding, his luck was already terrible it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to-

Then Cole laughed. It was quiet and quick, but undeniable a laugh.

“Is this just a thing you do?” he asked. “See people with problems and give them life advice?”

Smith found himself chuckling back and just shrugged. “What can I say, it’s a talent.”

Cole just shook his head with a smile on his face. “Now, why don’t we actually start working on that bio worksheet.”

RollingStones: okay so is it just me or is Smith really good at figuring out issues and giving advice

LadyWaterDragon: RIGHT?!?!?!

LadyWaterDragon: he crazy good and super calm about it

LadyWaterDragon: even after I yelled at him he still gave me good advice and didn’t even seem mad about it

GreenBeanBoi: you what

LadyWaterDragon: I’ll explain later

Artificial_Ice-telligence: he does seem to have a knack with knowing what to say

GreenBeanBoi: okay, that I can vouch for

FireFighter: what did he do for you?

RollingStones: he took one look at my relationship with my dad, got me to open up without prying, and gave me almost an entire plan on how to try and fix it, or at least make it better

RollingStones: it’s so simple but I really think it’ll work

BlueJay: that’s really good!!!

FireFighter: aside from this amazing thing, have you learned anything else?

RollingStones: alright so good news and bad news

RollingStones: Good news, out of respect for Smith’s privacy I’m not going to go into the details, but I can say I’m pretty confident he doesn’t have an abusive homelife

GreenBeanBoi: See, we were worrying over nothing

RollingStones: Bad news, that’s because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a homelife

Several people are typing…

Chapter Text

Lloyd let out a long breath, Cole’s messages bouncing around in his head. The explanation had been spotty and full of holes of context he wouldn’t give, but it made so much sense.

The sparse lunches, the way he’d been wearing the same clothes every day until Kai lent him some, why Zane couldn’t track him with the security cameras, his struggle with classes, all of it fell right into place with this new information.

And Lloyd hated it.

He hated how it took them this long for them to figure it out. He hated how they probably wouldn’t have figured it out on their own. He hated how there wasn’t much they could do right now to help him.

One of the things they’d quickly realized about Smith was that he was very private. While they’d gotten a few stories here and there about his life in the past, they knew almost nothing about him today. There was a pretty good chance that if he realized they knew he would either clamp up even more or just start avoiding them, and Lloyd wasn’t quite sure which was worse.

It hurt because at the end of the day, they’d only known Smith for less than two weeks. They didn’t have the same bond that had been forged through years of adversity and fighting alongside each other.

And, as much as it hurt to say it, they didn’t have the same trust.

So right now, all they could do was be there for him. Help him when he needed it until he trusted them enough to ask them for it. The only plan they had right now was to just keep doing what they had been doing. If he didn’t have lunch, they’d all pitch in, if he needed help with schoolwork, Zane and Jay were on it. Keep him out with them for as long as they could and if possible offer a….

….a place to stay.

Realization hit him like a truck.

When they said it they only meant like hangouts but maybe…..

“Hey….mom?” Lloyd started.

“Yeah sweetie, what is it?” Koko looked up from what she was doing on the table and smiled at him. 

“Do you...do you think I can have a friend over for a sleepover?” he asked hesitantly.

She smiled warmly. “Of course you can. At this point, they’re practically family.” She chuckled a bit, turning back to her papers. 

Lloyd shuffled his feet awkwardly. “It’s uh…. it’s actually someone different…. someone new. ”

Koko paused and slowly looked up. “Oh?”

“Y-yeah. You remember me telling you about Smith?”

She thought for a few seconds before carefully nodding. “I don’t see why not.”

Lloyd let out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he was holding. “Thanks, mom.”

Her warm smile was back. “Of course, kiddo.”

Lloyd took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. So far it had gone off without a hitch. Smith agreed to spend the night and was now patiently waiting as he fumbled with his keys to open the door.

Now all he had to do was introduce him to his mom.

“Mom, we’re home!” Lloyd called out as he opened the door.

“I’m in the kitchen sweetie!” She called back.

“Follow me.” he gestured to Smith, who did so without complaint.

“I take it this is Smith then?” She said, looking him over.

“Yes, and you’re Lloyd’s mom?” Smith asked, offering his hand to shake. Some emotion flitted across his eyes but Lloyd didn’t have time to recognize it.

“Yes, I am. Feel free to call me Koko. Lloyd has told me quite a bit about you.” She smiled back, taking his hand and shaking it. The same emotion flitted across her eyes as she met his.

They shook hands for an uncomfortably long amount of time, neither letting go or breaking eye contact.

“So….” Lloyd interrupted. “I was thinking of taking Smith to the park…. is that alright…?”

The mystery emotion disappeared in a flash, both turning to him and warmly smiling.

“Of course.”

“That sounds great.”

Lloyd let out a silent sigh of relief. “Cool.” The last thing he needed was for Smith and his mom to not get along. “You can just leave your bag here if you want.”

Smith nodded and carefully set it down on one of the dining table chairs.

However, just as he did, Lloyd could see his eyes flick back up to his mom, the same mystery emotion appearing for a second.

But, then it was gone, only proof of its existence in Lloyd’s memory. He smiled warmly when he looked back at Lloyd.

“Lead the way.”

The spot was nice and shady, slightly hidden from outside view by a hanging tree Lloyd didn’t know the name of. The low-hanging leaves were almost like curtains, hiding them away. The only spot the leaf curtain broke was by the water’s edge, but even then it was still low enough to hide them from outsiders. A forgotten bench was right in the middle of the spot, some moss and fungus growing on the edges and a little dull, but still mostly stable and offering a good view of the lake. The lake water was murky but cattails and lily pads poked out of the water, and every once in a while there would be a frog or duck nearby. In this little, tucked away part of the park Lloyd could enjoy the outdoors in peace.

It was only fitting to show it to Smith.

“Woah….” Smith said, looking around the spot.

“I know right?” Lloyd said, sitting down on the bench.

“How did you even find this place?” Smith asked in disbelief, sliding into the spot next to him.

“Well…..” Lloyd scratched the back of his head. “I may or may not have been thrown in the lake a few years back. It was around dusk-ish and was getting dark, so I swam as far away as I could to try and lose them. When I surfaced to the edge, I found this place.” Lloyd snickered a bit. “Though, it took me a few weeks to figure out how to get here without going in the water.”

Smith looked at him with something between disbelief and humor. “Wait wait wait, so you just…. swam to this spot?” Smith let loose a few laughs. “How did you explain that to your mom?”

Lloyd shrugged and chuckled. “I told her the truth, but I’ll admit she wasn’t the happiest about me coming home soaking wet and covered in pond scum every other day.”

Smith snorted. “I’d imagine.”

The two settled into a comfortable silence, watching the water and the small family of ducks that decided to pay them a visit.

It was so….peaceful. Between school, bullies, and Garmadon attacks moments like these were few and far between, but when they did happen it made everything feel so much better.

And now he had someone to share it with.

Don’t get him wrong, Lloyd adored his friends, but even he had to admit all of them, including himself, were practically trouble magnets. Almost anytime they all tried to just, calm down and relax without movies or music, just silence , something always interrupted them.

So being here, in the quiet, with someone else…it was nice.

In their little spot under the tree, the world seemed to freeze. For once, there weren't any Garmadon attacks or bullies or hatred. It was just the two of them, the bench, and the water.

It felt nice.

Lloyd hadn’t even realized he had closed his eyes until he opened them.

“Welcome back, Lloyd.” Smith said. Lloyd wiped his eyes, stifling a yawn and looking around.

“How long was I out?” Lloyd asked. 

“Eh, only about an hour or two.” Smith shrugged. “How do you feel, sleeping beauty?”

Lloyd thought. He felt….great actually. He honestly can’t remember the last time he slept so soundly, and on a park bench of all places.

“Pretty good, actually.” He answered. Smith smiled.

“Good. Looks like you needed it.”

Lloyd stretched, feeling his bones pop. “So do you want to head back to the apartment or…?”

From their little spot under the tree, the faint song of the ice cream man echoed. Smith sat up, almost childlike glee on his face.

Lloyd let out a small laugh. “Or, you can get us some ice cream.”

“Are you sure?” Smith asked, practically vibrating in his seat.

Lloyd smiled in return, handing him some money. “Yeah. Any flavor is fine for me.”

Smith scrunched his nose and tried to hand the money back but Lloyd waved it off. “I insist.” He thought for a moment before smiling. “Surprise me.”

Smith paused for a moment before he smirked, but it was different from the ones he would get from others. This one was playful and, dare he say it, fond.

“Prepare to have your mind blown!” Then he ran through the leaf curtain. He crossed the distance incredibly quickly, practically sprinting to get there and Lloyd couldn’t help but giggle a bit.

From his spot on the bench Lloyd, could see him animatedly talking to the ice cream man, pointing at the frozen treats behind the glass and the smile grew.

Maybe things would be okay for once-

B O O M ! ! ! ! 

wwwwwwwWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOO-

Well there goes that.

Jellyfish and Manta Ray Mechs were already starting to descend from the sky and Lloyd could make out some Crab Mechs in the distance.

Casting a glance back at Smith amidst the sea of fleeing people, looking around in alarm and shock, he felt a small part of him feel extraordinarily guilty.

Sorry Smith, but the safety of the city comes first. Stay safe.

Lloyd jumped up from the bench, bolting up toward the direction of Headquarters.

In his rush to leave, he didn’t notice Smith running a similar way.

Something was up. Lloyd could feel it.

Weaving through the mechs and shooting them down, he couldn’t help the bad feel crawling up his spine. Something about the way they were fighting, the way they were positioned…. something about it was off but Lloyd couldn’t pinpoint what.

“How’s it looking guys?” he spoke into the comm. Hopefully he was the only one who noticed it and was just being paranoid.

“All good over here. More mechs than usual in the eastern canals but nothing I can’t handle.” Nya said.

“Me and Cole are handling the west downtown area just fine.” Kai added.

“Mid downtown, clear.” Shogun imputed.

“Tower ground space is clear.” Zane informed.

“Tower air space defense is going well, too.” Jay meekly added.

“Looking great guys.” Lloyd praised. “Just keep it up. Anyone have eyes on Garmadon?”

Various no’s echoed through the channel. Lloyd frowned. It was extremely rare for Garmadon to not partake in attacks. That either meant he was somehow extremely injured at some point during or after their last battle(which in their years of fighting has only happened once , and that was because his mech shielding had failed and an entire building got dropped on him) or he was planning something, which was significantly worse.

“Hey, is anyone else getting the feeling like we’re missing something?” Shogun imputed. Through the comms he could make out the sounds of metal on metal and Generals shouting. “Their attack patterns aren’t making any sense. Why is he sending most of them to the eastern and western parts of the city and leaving only a few of the fliers to the tower instead of straight assault like he’s done every other time?”

“To invoke more fear?” Nya suggested.

“More damage?” Cole.

“Just. Because???” Kai.

Shogun hummed. “Well, whatever it is, I don’t like it. I’ll keep you updated in case I find anything else.”

“Got it. Good luck.” Lloyd offered, but now that Shogun had pointed it out it was practically blinding. There were far fewer mechs than usual and they were much more spread out. Usually the Secret Ninja Force was split into two, maybe three groups. Very rarely were they all split up.

But before he could dwell on the thought for long, dark blue movement caught the corner of his eye.

“Oh, guys I found him.” Lloyd said, steering his mech toward the warlord. He squinted a bit. “Huh, looks like he’s trying out a new weapon too.” Garmadon was in one of his usual shark mechs, only this one had a pair of launcher-looking devices he’d never seen before, which wasn’t too weird, Garmadon was always trying out new weapons to take them down. On the plus side, he probably didn’t know how to use it very well. On the downside, Lloyd wouldn’t know the usual tells the other weapons had.

What few mechs that were nearby came to start fighting them, but they were no match for Lloyd. Even the occasional shot from Garmadon’s new weapon did little to deter him. However, it was a tad odd that he seemed to be aiming for Lloyd himself instead of just the mech….

“GREEN STAY AWAY FROM GARMADON!!!” Shogun’s yell pierced through the fighting like a knife.

“What why?” he called back. “He’s mostly alone, I can take him just fine.”

“No you don’t understand!!! That weapon- it isn’t meant for takedowns, it’s meant for capture!”  

Lloyd’s blood ran cold.

“The troop movements- he was trying to split us up! You need to get out of there now!!!!”

In his moment of panic, in his moment of hesitation, Lloyd didn’t see the shot coming.

Shouts of “Green!” were cut off by the creaking of metal, static, and the familiar sound of a shield bubble activating.

Chapter Text

Smith could barely breathe as static permeated the comm. The other’s shouts landed on deaf ears.

The static reminded him so much of rushing water. Rushing water, roaring water, shrieking and leaping up at him, daring him to try and escape, to try and get back to where they stole him from.

Screaming then static, screaming then silence.

Screaming then nothing.

Alone, dark, quiet, alone, suffocating, alone, alone, alone-

A nearby explosion nearly knocked him over.

Pull yourself together, this is no time to have a breakdown, Lloyd was in danger.

“-nyone see where Green was headed?!?” as he started pulling himself back( back out of the water ) he could hear Nya yelling.

“Toward South Downtown.” Zane answered easily. 

“Right, does anyone have any openings?”

“I can’t, there are too many mechs doing hit and runs on the tower. Anytime I try to focus on one side more will start on the other.” Jay explained, sounding like he was about to cry.

“Similar situation with the lower tower.” Zane added. “My sheer strength is not enough to compensate for my lack of mobility.”

“Our side of downtown is decent, but I’m not sure which one of us would be best to head over.” Cole added.

Nya cursed. “I don’t know what Garmadon did but these new mechs in the canals are small but fast. I can’t get any. It feels like they’re chasing me around in circles.”

It was painfully obvious the hole Lloyd had left behind. He was their leader, their Green Ninja . Without him, they were left scrambling. (These ninja didn’t have his Cole, his Cole would never let them be leaderless like this but this wasn’t his Cole)

They needed someone to take charge. And Smith may not be suited for that but he was the best bet they had, if only because he had much more experience.

Right now their issue was they were all swarmed. They might have had the right environment but Garmadon’s forces were twisting them against them. What they needed was to move things around….

“What if I try and-” he started.

“Not now Shogun.” Nya interrupted. “We might need to try and reshuffle, but how? Any ideas?” Smith let out a small huff before trying again.

“That’s what I was going to suggest, so how about we try-”

“Shogun, not now. ” Nya interrupted again. Smith felt himself getting angry.

“I’m just saying what if-”

“Shogun!”

“Why won’t you listen! You’re asking for a plan and I have one!” he shouted.

“Shogun, we appreciate the help but frankly you aren’t part of the team and don’t know Garmadon. Just stay where you are and keep fighting them off and we’ll-”

Deep down, in a small part of himself he’d kept locked away since he sent Lloyd( his Lloyd, his small, sweet innocent Lloyd who deserved nothing the world threw at him ) running, Shogun felt something snap .

“LLOYD IS IN DANGER, NOW SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!”

Silence.

He barely let the words sink in for a few seconds before continuing.

“Jay, you can’t wait for the mechs to get close to you, you need to chase them. If you see any focusing on the tower take them out as fast as you can but you need to cover more ground. Nya, you need to herd the mechs out of the canals and toward the ocean, it’ll give you more space to work with and less chance of any getting away. Kai, stay where you are, Cole you need to start making your way up to Main Street and the tower base. Your mech has the mobility Zane’s doesn’t. Take the main road through Mid to make sure there aren’t any stragglers. Zane, I’m heading up toward you, get ready to head toward South Downtown when I get there.”

Silence. He could practically hear the thoughts running around in their head, but they didn’t have time for hesitation they needed to rescue Lloyd now ( Lloyd, alone captured, scared, being thrown into a volcano because they failed him, they couldn’t protect him but never again ).

“Look, I know you don’t trust me but right now we need to help Lloyd. I promise we can talk when this is all over.”

Silence again before…

“…we’re trusting you on this.” Nya said. “You heard him, let’s move.”

They didn’t speak, didn’t show any sign of acknowledgment, but Smith knew they were listening.

They would all do anything to protect Lloyd, even follow the orders of a stranger.

The next few minutes passed by in a blur. Any enemies who were unlucky enough to come across him found themselves dealt with quickly.

It felt like forever, but finally, Smith heard the tell-tale sounds of Zane’s Ice Tank. It came tearing around the corner, using a slight ice ramp so it could make the turn without slowing down.

Looking around, Smith quickly jumped on top of some debris to give himself some needed height before jumping onto the speeding vehicle.

He let out a small grunt as he landed, hands quickly finding bits in the armor he could safely grab hold of.

“What’s the plan?” Zane asked, not even acknowledging his new passenger.

“We need to get to Garmadon’s mech. From there I’m going to distract him while you find Lloyd and get him out. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to hold him off so be quick.”

“Affirmative.” 

The pair rode in silence for several minutes, only the sounds of crashing mechs breaking it. Several times Smith saw Jay flying overhead, chasing entire swarms of mechs. Good. It seemed like he followed his advice then.

“Zane-”

“I would appreciate it if you did not call me that.” Zane answered curtly. “There are many of Garmadon’s forces as well as civilians around. It is already dangerous that someone outside of our team is aware, we should do well to not increase that risk.”

Smith fought back a wince( remember this wasn’t his Zane no matter how much he wanted it to be, his Zane was far away, far where he didn’t know how to get to ).

“White.” he corrected. “I know what I’m about to say isn’t going to help my situation, but you need to use your abilities to the fullest. You know what I mean by that.”

From his spot on the mech, Smith could visibly see Zane freeze.

“…..I see.”

Smith nodded, but it felt redundant since Zane was clearly not looking at him.

At the speed they were going they would reach Garmadon in no time.

The mech was enormous, standing taller than most of the buildings in the immediate area. It was vaguely shark-shaped but with massive legs coming out the bottom and enormous blasters strapped to the sides. There was a small control platform where Garmadon presumably was, but it was mostly obscured by some kind of(organized?) chaos behind him. It was a mess of metal plates shining in the light, coiling around each other and wrapping tightly in something vaguely knot-shaped.

Chances are Lloyd was absolutely there.

“Z- White, the knot.” he pointed out.

“I have formulated a more specific plan, if you are interested.” Zane offered.

“Given my current plan is to just jump at that thing, I’ll take anything you’ve got.”

“Good.” Zane started clicking away at buttons inside. “My tank has a work-in-progress self-guiding system. If I give it a pre-programmed route it can follow it with ease while also allowing several self-given instructions, however, most test runs only allowed a few before it malfunctioned. If you can lead Garmadon to the blue building I will freeze him in place, activate the program, and rescue Lloyd.”

Smith nodded. “Got it.”

“I will give you as much a head start as I can, but be prepared.”

Smith furrowed his brow. “What do you mean headstar-”

And that was all the warning he was given.

Suddenly Smith found himself being hurled into the air, previously solid plating flaring out and launching him upward.

At the height of the throw, Smith stuck out his hand as far as he could, just barely grasping onto a window sill.

“Would’ve appreciated a bit more of a warning.” he grumbled under his breath, but slowly started clambering up the building. It was easy enough, as there were ample windows and loose bricks to cling to, and soon Smith found himself at the top.

Garmadon’s mech still stood tall over the building, but it made the mech seem slightly less imposing, which was a plus.

Down below, Zane was maneuvering his tank with a kind of practiced precision he’d grown to be familiar with when it came to the se ninja. The way they used their mechs not just like tools but also extensions of themselves…. it reminded him of Nya it was amazing.

It was almost funny watching Garmadon’s mech scramble, trying to catch him like a runaway toy race car.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a blink of white and gray swinging his way.

Almost perfectly timed, the tank then skidded to a halt, perfectly lining up Garmadon with the building.

With a single shot, enormous ice spikes erupted from behind the mech, relentlessly tearing into the mech. It stood no chance, being forced into the building with a deafening CRASH!!!!  

Smith raised an arm to protect his eyes from the flying debris, but through the clearing dust he would make out a tall figure.

“Ah yes, the elusive Shogun.” Garmadon(because who else would it be) greeted. His armor was black with midnight blue cloth going over his shoulders, seeming to fit his taller, four-armed state better than his counterpart. His helmet was much grander, having a pair of spike-like protrusions coming out the front with a small raised black orb in the center. It was quite the upgrade from the simple helmet with a bone in the middle Smith’s own Garmadon had. But other than the clothing he was practically a carbon copy. He had the same coal-black skin and glowing red eyes. With his wide grin, Smith could easily make out razor-sharp teeth.

“Garmadon.” he growled, drawing his swords. Behind him, he heard Zane approach and notch an arrow in his bow.

The man let out a cackle. “Good to see my reputation precedes me.

Smith, thoroughly done with Garmadon’s games, snarled. “Where’s L- Green?” He mentally cursed his slip up but kept his eyes on Garmadon.

“Oh don’t worry, he’s right here.” Garmadon clicked a small button on a remote. 

The giant metal knot shifted, slowly unraveling itself. Now that it was opening, Smith could tell it was made up of many tentacle-like things, but in the center of it was a massive bubble with-

Lloyd.

Lloyd, trapped inside the strange bubble device.

“It was honestly much easier than I thought, getting the twerp alone.”

Lloyd, surrounded by torn, broken pieces of his mech.

“I mean, really, did you not notice the change in tactics?”

Lloyd, who wasn’t moving.

“I swear you Ninja are getting dumber with every battle, but you don’t see me complaining!”

Lloyd, with a growing brown spot on his green headband.

“Now, to get your little friend all you need to do is-”

Smith.

Saw.

R E D.

Smith let out a cry of pure rage and bolted toward Garmadon, slashing down with one of the swords. Garmadon dodged at the last second, thinly veiled surprise covering his face.

“WHITE, GO!” He shouted, punctuating it with another slash at Garmadon. The space between the blade and black flesh was smaller this time, but still not enough.

The nindroid snapped out of his stupor and bolted toward the bubble device.

His blades became silver blurs, hungry for an opponent who just wouldn’t. Hold. Still.

He felt himself fall into the familiar rhythm of battle.

Slash. Dodge. Jump. Slash. Slash. Sidestep. Slash. Slash. Slash.

He felt the minuscule give of his blade reaching its target. A grin spread below his mask. Now he was making some progress.

But in his moment of distraction, he didn’t notice the black fist coming.

He let out a small ‘oof’ as it collided with his stomach, sending him flying back.

Smith got back on his feet in a second but held from charging. Instead, he crouched low, watching, waiting to see what Garmadon would do.

With one hand, Garmadon reached up to the cut on his cheek, half an inch below his left eye, fingers ghosting over the cut with a blank expression on his face. A small amount of purple blood was starting to bleed out, running down the cheek like a tear.

Then, he smiled.

Only this one wasn’t one of triumph, nor the odd playfulness he’d seen earlier.

This one was dangerous.

“You really are better than those ninja.” He spoke. Out of nowhere, he drew four curved swords.

“Very well then. Let’s dance. ”

Zane’s thought process could be compared to that of a train.

Fast, straightforward, and capable of carrying multiple things at once.

And with simple words, with simple names , Shogun brought it all to a screeching halt.

Zane felt himself go on autopilot as he left Shogun to deal with Garmadon.

How could he possibly know who they were? He had only interacted with them for the past week. It could possibly share the same reason why no matter how he searched he could not find any vigilante with his garb or skill set. It was impossible for him to be new to the scene, there were too many little qualities he possessed that only came from experience.

Could he be working with Garmadon?

That was definitely a possibility.

But that wouldn’t explain the sheer protective animosity Shogun had spoken with.

Perhaps it was a past partnership, something he wished to distance himself from. That would most certainly explain why he wished to keep his identity a secret.

He was also most likely human. He had all the standard limits a human had….or at least limits that could be explained with vigorous training.

Zane shook his head.

Focus. He needed to rescue Lloyd. Shogun could only keep Garmadon busy for so long. Even with their mechs, they could barely hold their own against Garmadon. Going head to head with him…..

As the bubble-shield tentacle came closer, Zane started scouring it for weak points. After what felt like hours but was barely milliseconds, Zane could feel his scanning program eyes find it. It was the smallest chink in its armor, something that would’ve been unperceivable to a human someone untrained.

His arrow sailed straight through the air almost too perfectly , burying itself amongst the wires and circuitry, sending sparks flying. The surrounding tentacles withdrew themselves, twitching violently while also revealing his prize.

The bubble flickered for a few moments, clearly trying to sustain itself but ultimately failing.

Zane jumped and caught Lloyd before he could fall into the mess of machinery below, holding him close before landing.

“Lloyd. Lloyd, can you hear me?” he asked, desperately trying to keep his voice level. He could not afford to panic right now.

Lloyd only let out a quiet groan in return, eyes remaining firmly shut.

Likely a concussion then, most likely ranging from moderate to severe. He’ll need to be taken off patrols and out of training until he can fully recover. An easy excuse could be he fell on a raised platform of some kind. The bleeding has mostly stopped, but pressure should be maintained on the wound until it can be properly treated-

Which as an explosion above his head reminded him, was definitely not here and not now.

Gently placing him in a fireman’s carry, Zane plotted out the course for his tank.

See he…..hadn’t exactly been lying to Shogun about the program. It was still a work in progress and had a limited number of orders he could give it….however it wasn’t quite pre- programmed and gave him quite the headache.

Blindly he jumped from the mech, allowing the brief feeling of weightlessness to overtake him before he plummeted like a stone.

And then he was surrounded by his mech.

After all, if he couldn’t trust his own abilities, then whos could he trust?

The familiarity of the hard seat, the blinking monitors all around him, the blue-tinted glass.

It was comforting.

But Zane didn’t allow himself to partake in it for long.

With a quick motion, he sat Lloyd down in the(much softer) seat behind his, buckling him in tight.

As soon as he was sure Lloyd was safely strapped in behind him Zane took off, firing his ice bridges as tall as he could go. The furthest he could get was the building just below and next to the one Garmadon’s mech had crashed into.

He landed and turned his attention to the fight, ready to jump out and assist at a moments notice when-

Zane couldn’t believe his eyes.

Shogun was going head to head with Garmadon in a one-on-one battle.

And holding his own.

It was nearly imperceivable, but it was undeniable.

The way they were fighting was practically a dance, the clashing of metal serving as their music. They were flowing like water, neither holding still for more than a millisecond before moving again, seemingly not held back by the laws of physics. Shogun was performing nearly impossible flips, sometimes using Garmadon’s swords as springboards. Garmadon meanwhile was exercising a speed Zane had never seen before.

It was terrifying, deadly, and by all means, should’ve been impossible-

And yet it was beautiful.

The way their steps fell in perfect sync, how every blow had a counter ready before it could land. The way the sparks were flying from clashing metal and Spinjitzu alike, the way their glowing eyes reflected-

Wait.

Glowing eyes?

Zane doubled back and his eyes widened.

Shogun’s eyes were glowing.

Shogun’s eyes were glowing.

Why were Shogun’s eyes glowing?

There was no logical explanation for his eyes glowing, but perhaps it was a side effect of his Spinjitzu? Or maybe something else? Could he be something else??? Something like him?

For a second they both knocked each other back and there was a good few feet between them.

Zane snapped out of his stupor. This was likely the only chance he would have to pull Shogun away. Questions could come later.

“SHOGUN, IT IS TIME TO GO!” He called out through his mech's speakers.

Shogun’s head snapped around so fast Zane thought he would have snapped his neck. His eyes were blazing with some emotion, but then immediately locked onto Lloyd’s unconscious form sitting behind him. He gave a quick decisive nod before bolting over to him.

“Let’s dance again, Shogun! I’ll be…” Garmadon gave a dark chuckle. “I’ll be waiting.”

But Shogun didn’t pay it any attention.

He just sheathed his swords and kept running.

Without any hesitation, he jumped from the roof to the mech, landing with barely a sound.

Zane took control immediately, steering the mech toward their base.

“Come in Nya, we have rescued Lloyd. I repeat, we have rescued Lloyd. We are heading back to base for medical treatment.”

“Got it. Garmadon’s forces seem to be retreating. Probably realized their mission was a bust. Gonna do one more lap then we’ll meet you there.” Nya responded.

“Affirmative.” the comm turned off with a click and Zane let himself relax the slightest amount.

They got Lloyd back. He was safe right behind him. They were going back to base to check and make sure he didn’t have anything worse than a mild concussion.

And it was all thanks to Shogun.

Zane was not blind to their flaws as a team, and admittedly one of them was their reliance on Lloyd for leadership. They were getting better, but none of them had the same talent for it that Lloyd had. 

And then Shogun stepped up with not only a plan, but a way to keep the city safe at the same time.

Zane cast a small glance up at Shogun clinging to the glass. His gaze had hardened, allowing no insight as to what he was feeling, but the amber had lost its glow.

He was going to figure this out, if it was the last thing he did.

….and perhaps he should hold on dismissing the not quite human options yet.

Chapter Text

The way back to the Ninja Base was filled with silence and Smith. Was. Panicking.

He was so stupid, letting his emotions get ahead of him. All because of some stupid memories memories he thought he buried, memories that almost got him killed again, he let it slip. All the secrets, all the preparation, gone because he couldn’t keep his stupid mouth shut!

And to top it all off, the heat from his Spinjitzu tornado hadn’t worn off. Usually the heat was comforting, but right now it was just distracting.

It was pressing up against his skin, just pleading to be let out. It was hot and annoying and it just wouldn’t go away.  

“Shogun.” Smith snapped out of his thoughts and looked down at Zane. He was holding Lloyd, who was still unconscious, and looking at him with what Smith could’ve sworn was the smallest amount of concern. “We’re here.”

He only nodded, jumping off the mech with ease and followed him in.

“Master Wu is out right now so I will need to tend to Lloyd’s wounds. Please wait here.” Zane requested. Smith could only nod mutely. Zane gave him one final glance before carrying Lloyd into the room and behind the door that served as their med bay.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there but at some point the various sounds of mechs docking themselves echoed throughout the base. Smith couldn’t bring himself to look behind him.

Lloyd would be fine, Lloyd would be okay, it was probably just a slight head wound, he was worrying over nothing, Zane would take care of him, stop freaking out it’ll all be okay-

From behind him Smith heard the familiar sound of a weapon being unsheathed and tensed.

Very carefully, very slowly, he turned around to see….

Nya was pointing her spear directly at his chest. It took all his strength to not let muscle memory take over and draw his swords to disarm her.

“Who are you?” She demanded, eyes set in a cold, hard glare. The remaining ninja were close behind her, all of them with distrustful looks. He tried not to think about how much it hurt because this wasn’t them stop freaking out you’re stronger than this

Smith breathed in.

“I can't tell you that.” He answered, carefully keeping his tone level.

She didn’t like that. Her glare hardened and she subtly moved her spear a bit closer.

“How do you know who we are?” She demanded again.

Smith took another breath.

“I can’t tell you that either.”

Nya scowled.

“Well, what can you tell us?”

Smith didn’t know what to say to that. What could he tell them? Well, by technicality he could tell them everything, but the chances of them believing him were slim to none.

“I….I don’t know.”

“And what does that mean?”

He didn't answer. He didn’t quite know what it meant either.

“Are you working with Garmadon? ”

His head snapped up, faint horror and anger plain through the mask. “No! Never!

“Then how did you know Garmadon was trying to capture Lloyd?!?”

“I was taking down one of the mechs when I overheard a General yelling into his comm that they weren’t able to herd ‘them’ to Garmadon. I don’t think he was talking about Lloyd specifically!” He exclaimed. It was sheer dumb luck he’d heard it over the din of the fighting.

“Then what’s been going on with you!?!” Nya yelled back. “You just show up out of the blue with no trace of where you’ve come from! Other cities stopped sending help years ago so why are you here??? ”

“I’m not associated with those other cities!” Smith found himself yelling back. “I already told you, I was fighting Garmadon when he wished me here!”

Smith froze.

Oh no.

For the briefest of moments Nya looked afraid, clearly remembering what he had told about the weapon, before the anger came back full force. “So this enemy was Garmadon!?! And you didn’t think to tell us?!?!”

“No! I-it isn’t like that!” He scrambled. “He- this one doesn’t have it and-”

Oh First Master that’s even worse-

“What does that mean ‘this one!?!?!’” Nya yelled.

“I DON’T KNOW!!!!” Smith yelled. “I DON’T KNOW AND I’VE SPENT THE LAST FEW WEEKS TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT!!!!”

The heat from earlier was coming back full force all throughout him and it only served to fuel his frustration.

“I was captured and you wanna know what? I thought I was going to die. He held the weapon to my neck and I thought he was going to do it!!!!” He screamed. “You haven’t seen what that weapon can do to those not powerful enough….the way they just disappear into a cloud of gold dust….I thought my family wouldn’t even have a body left to mourn!!!!!”

He felt himself stepping forward but couldn’t bring himself to care.

“And then he decides to wish me away!!! And I’m never going to be able to go home!!!!”

He let out a bark of laughter. “You wanna know what he wished?” He asked, leaning closer. He felt something press against his chest and saw Nya’s eyes widen.

“He wished for me to be sent to a place in which I can never leave.” He spat.

Now that he said it, the meaning seemed to finally sink in.

A place he can never leave.

The heat that had been building up throughout his body seemed to extinguish in an instant.

A place he can never leave.

His body slumped and he almost fell backward like a puppet with its strings cut.

“I can never go home.”

He felt cold.

A kind of cold that came right from his core, permeating every part of his body. The familiar flame that had ignited itself ever since he rescued Lloyd felt like it had been put out like a candle.

The only thing he could feel was the burning behind his eyes.

“Shogun?”

Everyone’s gaze snapped over to the figure standing in an open doorway.

It was Lloyd.

Lloyd, upright and awake with his hood back.

Lloyd, with bandages poking out from under with blonde hair.

The world flickered

Lloyd with his big, bright, soft red green eyes with pupils like a cats

Lloyd, wearing a green gi that was far too big and a responsibility even bigger

Lloyd, who had been hurt because of him because of him it was always him he was never enough he couldn’t protect him he was a failure-

Lloyd, looking at him, worried and almost scared as the heat from the volcano permeated them, but he couldn’t die, he wouldn’t let him he needed to protect his little brother it was his job

His job that he failed.

He needed to leave.

He needed to leave now.

He stumbled back, not breaking eye contact but he needed to, he needed to leave

So he turned and ran like a coward like a failure because that’s what he was he had a single job and he failed it

If he had stayed a moment longer, he might’ve noticed the end of Nya’s spear had been melted to a blunt tip.

When Lloyd started waking up, he immediately decided that the world was far too bright. And loud.

His head hurt. A lot.

Where was he anyway?

“Ah, Lloyd, you are awake. Good.”

Oh. Zane. Huh.

He was probably at home….or the base…..where was Uncle Wu then?

“Master Wu is currently out for more research and won’t return for a few hours.”

Oh, guess he said that aloud.

“Yes, you did.”

That one too.

Now that the headache had started to fade, the world seemed to get less splotchy. Above him he could make out the familiar far away roof of the base and the area smelled distinctly of disinfectant, so he was probably in the med bay. Turning his head, he saw Zane putting away some extra bandages into their cubby.

“What happened?” He groaned.

“You were temporarily captured by Garmadon. Shogun and I went to rescue you, however you were not completely unscathed. You have a small concussion and will need to rest for the next few weeks.”

“Oh. Is that it?” Lloyd asked.

Zane hesitated before speaking. “….not quite….”

Lloyd sat up. “Zane? What happened?”

Zane turned away.

“Zane?”

He didn’t speak.

Lloyd’s eyes went wide. “Is someone else hurt? Where are the others Zane, are they okay!?!”

Zane turned around quickly. “No, everyone is fine, do not alarm yourself.”

Lloyd let out a sigh of relief. “Good.” They sat in silence for a few seconds. “…then what’s wrong?”

“It…it has to do with Shogun.”

Lloyd frowned. Shogun? What could’ve happened? Last thing he remembered was….was Shogun warning him.

“He…..” Zane started again. “I don’t know how, by all means, it should be impossible, but….” He leveled his gaze with Lloyd’s. “He knows all of our identities, Lloyd.

Lloyd sucked in a quick breath.

“…what?”

Zane nodded solemnly. “If my predictions are correct, the others should be returning soon. And….given her reaction, I believe Nya will be wanting to… talk with Shogun.”

Oh. That….probably wasn’t going to go well.

“….am I cleared to leave?” Lloyd hesitantly asked. Zane thought for a second.

“Well…. yes, but only if you promise to not do anything too active. You need rest.”

“GotitZanethanks!”

Lloyd bolted from the bed and ran down the hallway, coming to a careful stop at the end.

Even pressing his ear against the door, the most Lloyd could make out was loud but muffled speech. Ever so gently, Lloyd cracked open the door and peered through.

Shogun and Nya were arguing. Nya seemed to be pointing her spear at him but Lloyd couldn’t see Shogun’s as his back was to Lloyd.

“-nd then he decides to wish me away!!! And I’m never going to be able to go home!!!!”

What? Sure he was only catching part of the conversation but what???

Shogun let out a bark of laughter. “You wanna know what he wished?” He took a step toward Nya. “He wished for me to be sent to a place in which I can never leave.”

Lloyd sucked in a quick breath.

Oh.

Oh no.

There was a moment of silence, Shogun was breathing hard before he just stopped . His body froze and Lloyd could practically hear the crashing of thoughts. Suddenly he slumped and stepped back.

“I can never go home.” He repeated. His voice was distant.

“Shogun?” He called out hesitantly, pushing open the door.

Everyone’s heads turned in his direction, but most notably was Shogun. His eyes were wide and staring directly at him and he looked….

He looked scared.

“I need to go.” He mumbled under his breath. He took a stuttering step back but didn’t break eye contact.

“Shogun wait-!” Lloyd started to take a step toward him but Shogun turned and bolted .

Lloyd tried to run after but Nya dropped her spear and held him back.

“Nya, let me go.” He demanded, squirming in her hold but she held fast.

“Lloyd, no.”

“Lloyd, yes! ”

“Lloyd, he knows who we are!” Nya shouted. 

“Which is exactly why we need to go after him! We need to find him and give him a chance to explain, Nya.” Lloyd pleaded. “He saved my life. At the very least he deserves to explain himself.”

“….fine.” She conceded, setting him down. “But you’re staying here.”

“What!?! No way, I’m coming.”

“Lloyd, you have sustained injuries from your capture, you need rest. ” Zane imputed. Lloyd lightly glared at him. Traitor.

“I’m fine, guys. You said it yourself, it's just a light concussion.” He argued.

“Yeah, but the keyword seems to be concussion .” Kai added.

Nya placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find him, Lloyd, and trust us, you’ll be the first to know.”

Lloyd didn’t answer her, instead keeping his eyes traced on the ground.

She sighed. “Alright, let’s head out.”

The group left swiftly, opting to leave their mechs. After all, it would just give unwanted attention and they were trying to be sneaky.

After a few minutes of standing alone, Lloyd found himself reaching a decision.

“You’re right.” He said to no one. He put his hood up, careful to not jostle the bandages.

“I will be the first to know.”

It was almost an hour later at which Lloyd finally found him. He was sitting atop an abandoned apartment that overlooked the ocean. Years ago it might’ve been a popular hotel, the ultimate vacation getaway. Now, nobody wanted housing anywhere near the ocean.

“Lloyd, where are you?” Nya asked in that voice she always used when she found him climbing the fridge to the cookie jar.

“Um.” He whispered, not quite having an excuse ready. “Out?”

“You said you would stay at the base!”

“ Technically I never agreed.” He whispered. “Listen, I’ve found Shogun.”

It was quiet for a few seconds. “I’ve triangulated your location, wait for us to-” Zane started.

“What, no! I’m going to try talking to him.” 

“Lloyd, no. It could be dangerous.” Cole added.

“Dangerous how?!?!?”

“Lloyd, just stay put. We’ll all talk with him together.”

“No, you listen! Right now, all of us would probably scare Shogun off. The whole reason he ran off in the first place was because you yelled at him!” He whisper-shouted. “You didn’t see the way he looked at me before he ran off. He looked….he looked afraid.”

They didn’t answer.

“So please guys. Let me handle this.”

There was more silence.

“….fine.” Nya finally spoke. “But we’re listening in.”

“Be careful, Lloyd.” Jay whispered.

“I will. I promise.”

Slowly, he crept forward onto the roof and took a deep breath. Now or never.

“….Shogun?” He hesitantly called.

He whipped around faster than Lloyd thought was possible. In one hand was a small piece of paper that was folded in a way that didn’t allow Lloyd to see its contents.

“Lloyd?” He spoke. His eyes were wide.

“Hey, Shogun.” Lloyd gave a small awkward wave.

“Lloyd!” Shogun stood up and took a few quick steps, hands gently checking him for any injuries. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt too badly, right? I saw the bandages and…” he trailed off. Lloyd waved off his concern.

“Y-yeah I’m fine, don’t worry. It was just a small concussion.”

He could’ve sworn he heard Kai whisper “still a concussion” but ignored it.

Shogun frowned. “A concussion? Are you sure you’re okay?”

Lloyd found himself smiling fondly. The way Shogun was fussing over him was almost like an older brother. “I told you, I’m fine. I just gotta take it easy for the next few days.”

Shogun nodded. “So….what are you here for?”

Lloyd winced a bit at the question. “Well….I came to find you.” He shrugged.

Shogun started a bit.

“I…..I heard what happened.” Lloyd finally admitted. Shogun stiffened. “With the identities.”

“Oh.”

“A-and I just wanted to ask….why did you run away?”

He was silent for a few seconds.

“I…I messed up Lloyd.” He finally admitted. “I messed up and you got hurt.”

Well….that wasn’t what Lloyd was expecting. “Shogun, that’s not your fault. You were on the other side of the city and-”

“N-no you don’t understand Lloyd it’s-!” Shogun started pacing.

“I’m the Red Ninja, Master of Fire, and it’s my destiny assigned job to protect the Green Ninja and I--” Shogun’s voice broke. He sat back down on the ledge. “I…I failed .” In that moment, with that single word , Shogun sounded completely and utterly defeated .

And Lloyd….Lloyd had no idea what to do with that. And judging by the silence in his ear the others had no idea either.

What was this big talk about destiny? Lloyd wasn’t a massive believer in all that “the future has been predetermined” stuff but the amount of finality Shogun spoke in…this was something Shogun knew .

Lloyd wasn’t good at advice. He could command and lead, but heart to hearts could be a bit…difficult. After all, he wasn’t-

Smith.

What would Smith do?

Lloyd took a deep breath and slowly sat down next to him. Here goes nothing.

“...you can’t protect someone forever.” He started carefully. “There’s just too many things outside your control. And sometimes, they’ll need to face certain things by themselves.”

Lloyd could’ve sworn he heard Shogun snort at that, but pushed on.

“But at the same time….you’re not alone. No matter what you think, or what’s led you to that conclusion, you’re not . You have Kai, Jay, Nya, Cole, Zane, and even Master Wu to help you out.” Lloyd chuckled. “They’d probably riot if something happened to me. I’m sure you saw how protective they can be today.”

Lloyd playfully nudged his shoulder. “It doesn’t make you weak to get help from others. If anything it makes you stronger, no matter what destiny says.”

“And besides.” Lloyd shrugged. “Sometimes, you need to make your own destiny. If you live on what others tell you, you’ll just find yourself stuck, never really being able to become who you’re meant to be.”

That was a lesson that took Lloyd a long time to learn, and to be honest he still sometimes struggled with it today.

“You have us. Plus, I’m not a complete pushover when it comes to a fight.”

Shogun seemed to ponder the words.

“I…” he started. Very slowly, very gently, Shogun looked up and-

And tears were flowing.

“I thought you died , Lloyd.” 

And if those words didn’t send a sword through his chest.

“I know it’s stupid but…but you were just gone. You were so limp in the bubble and I thought you were gone and-” whatever words he was going to say next was choked out by a stifled cry.

“I thought I was going to lose you too.”

And those words echoed to Lloyd. Those were words that came from someone who lost everything, someone who was beaten down over and over with no reprieve, someone who kept getting back up despite the pain.

They were words he recognized.

Lloyd looked at Shogun and saw himself.

He saw the way he was desperately trying to keep his walls from crumbling.

He saw the way he was desperately trying to keep a brave face.

All the courage, all the confidence…..just how much of it was a shield?

After a moment's hesitation, Lloyd carefully wrapped his arms around Shogun. He first tensed at the contact, not quite sure what to do, before gently snaking his arms around Lloyd and burying his head into Lloyd’s shoulder.

He let out a shuddering sigh, finally relaxing into the hug and squeezing him tighter.

Lloyd squeezed back.

He isn't quite sure how long they sat there, wrapped up in each other's arms, but it felt like both eternity and no time at all. Lloyd couldn’t help but be reminded of their first meeting on the rooftop.

Oh how far they’ve both come.

Lloyd took a deep breath. This next part wasn’t easy….but they needed answers.

“We want to help you, Shogun.” He started, carefully pulling away just enough to look at Shogun but not have to remove himself from the hug. “But we can’t if you don’t tell us what you know.”

Shogun’s breath hitched.

“We won’t press you, but we need to know if Ninjago City is in danger, either from Garmadon….or this mysterious enemy of yours.” Lloyd continued. “And if anything….bad comes from you telling us, know that we’ll stand by you and face it together. ”

He paused for a second, clearly deep in thought.

“I….” He averted his gaze, voice a little rough from crying. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me.”

“We will. ” Lloyd urged. 

Shogun took in a shaky breath….before nodding. “Okay. Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll explain everything I can.”

Lloyd smiled under the mask. “Thank you.”

Shogun chuckled. “Don’t thank me yet. But first let’s head back. I….didn’t quite leave under the best circumstances.”

Lloyd winced slightly, but started standing up. “Alright. C’mon, let’s-”

Suddenly Shogun tensed.

Lloyd’s brow furrowed. “Shogun? What’s wro-”

“MOVE!” He shouted, jumping to his feet, shoving Lloyd back…..just as mechanical tentacles grabbed hold of him.

“SHOGUN!” he screamed. From just below, a jellyfish mech rose but it looked….different. The top was the same but instead of the usual hooks hanging from it there were several tentacle things that looked almost exactly like the weapon on Garmadon’s mech used to capture him earlier, just scaled down.

Shogun’s eyes were wide as the bubble shield surrounded him, staring at Lloyd with undisguised horror. He desperately started looking around, trying to find a way out when his eyes locked with a loose piece of paper floating in the wind.

It was the paper he’d been so desperately holding onto.

He desperately started pointing at it, seeming to say something but it was muffled by the bubble.

Lloyd’s eyes hardened in understanding.

Drawing his sword and running forward, Lloyd took a deep breath.

And he jumped.

He reached out with all his might, and just as he thought it wasn’t enough, he felt the gentle fluttering of paper through his gloves.

With all he could, he twisted his body, reaching in the opposite direction and allowing his sword to bury itself in the stone of the building.

The effect was immediate, swinging him around so fast it made his head spin and he was only just able to stop himself from slamming into the building. He felt a bout of nausea upon impact, but it left rather quickly.

With a big swing, he threw himself back onto the roof, desperately looking for any hopes Shogun had escaped. His eyes finally landed on the jellyfish mech, which was little more than a dot in the distance, and Lloyd was forced to watch as it headed for Garmadon's Lair.

“Lloyd, what’s happening?!?” Nya yelled through the comm.

“T-there was another mech. It must’ve followed me. It captured Shogun and it-” Lloyd started rapidly explaining before gasping in realization. “Wait, I think he left us a clue.”

The paper! Lloyd scrambled to unfold it, being sure not to let the worn paper tear. Shogun was telling him to get it, so it was probably important. Maybe it was a map or something? A note? Well, whatever it was, hopefully it could shed some light on the situation-

Lloyd gasped.

The paper was not a map, or instructions, or anything of the sort. It instead was a photograph. There were three people in it, one girl and two boys, one a teenager and the other looking around 10. The girl was wearing a deep red dress with gold and white accents. She had short, black hair with red lipstick and on her right arm wore a golden bracelet with a large red gem and black carvings. The younger boy on the shoulders of the older one was wearing a black hoodie with messy, painted white lines that seemed to resemble ribs, though the hood was back and revealed short, slightly wavy blonde hair in a bowl cut.

And the older boy? It was Smith.

Only instead of his usual clothes, Smith was wearing Shogun's outfit, complete with some ninja stars and knives tucked into the belt. 

And the scene was perfect. The group seemed to have gone out for ice cream together, given the girl was holding a cup of tan ice cream and the little boy’s face was covered in chocolate ice cream. He was holding two cones, one with the aforementioned chocolate while the other had a red flavor and was being held down so Smith could eat some.

It was just so…. domestic. Smith looked the happiest Lloyd had ever seen, and the other two looked just as happy.

Was this….was this Smith’s family? Shoot, what did he say their names were….Monty and Phoenix? That sounded right.

But why would he be so desperate for Lloyd to get the photo? Sure sentimental value, but surely there was something else…..

“Lloyd? What’s wrong??? Did you figure anything out????”

Lloyd felt the pieces falling into place.

Garmadon had Shogun.

Shogun was Smith .

Garmadon had-

Lloyd felt his heart stop as realization hit him like a bus .

“Garmadon has Smith.”

Chapter Text

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN GARMADON HAS SMITH?!?” the others yelled in almost perfect tandem.

“Smith is Shogun, Garmadon just captured Shogun, ergo Garmadon has Smith.” Lloyd huffed, trying to catch his breath as he ran across the rooftops. “He dropped a photograph as he was being taken and it has his hood down.” And said photograph was tucked safely in his gi, right above his heart where it wouldn’t be in danger of flying away.

“What do we do?!?” Kai exclaimed. “I mean, Garmadon just captured Smith, we absolutely need to do something about it.”

Various noises of confirmation sounded, and why wouldn’t they agree. This was Smith for First Master’s sake. The one who helped them in school and at home, and apparently also helped them during training.

“However, we cannot just go in blind. We require a plan.” Zane imputed. “We will be no use to Smith if we get captured as well.”

“There’s also how Garmadon’s volcano is huge, and we don’t have the numbers or firepower to take on every single one of his Generals on their turf, especially since Lloyd’s mech is out of commission.” Nya added.

“THE TRACKERS!” Jay suddenly yelled.

“The what?” Lloyd would himself asking.

“Trackers! I put trackers in everyone's commlinks, mechs, and weapons! It’s how Nya knew where you were when you were on that roof a few weeks ago.” Jay exclaimed. “When Shogun gave me his communicator I put one in, just in case.”

Lloyd found himself smiling. “Amazing job, Jay. That’s going to be a massive help.”

“Well that solves that issue, now we just need an actual plan.” Nya added.

“Let’s do it at the base.” Cole imputed. “We don’t know if there are any more of Garmadon’s mechs out and about, and I’d rather not test that theory.”

Lloyd nodded, despite the fact Cole wouldn’t be able to see it. “Good idea Cole. I’ll meet you all back there.”

Hold on Smith, we’re coming for you.

Inside the bubble, Smith felt like he couldn’t breathe. The ocean endless, dark, cold, he’d drown if they dropped him stretched as far as he could see in all directions and Ninjago City was slowly becoming nothing more than a skyline.

He needed….he needed to breathe. Breathing was important, he needed to do it, but his lungs were moving on their own accord.

Think of something, anything, just not his current predicament.

His family? No, he was separated from them possibly forever .

His new friends? No, he was pretty sure all of them except Lloyd but not his Lloyd never his Lloyd hated him.

School??? No, the only good part was his friends, and see the previous issue.

What could he do, what could he do, he needed something, anything, just not-

Wait.

Maybe ignoring the situation wasn’t the way to go.

What did he know about the situation?

He was being captured by Garmadon. That much was obvious. It was definitely intentional, if the way the mech had been trying to stay hidden as it snuck up on him and Lloyd was anything to go by. 

Were they trying to capture Lloyd again? No, that didn't make sense, the mech left almost immediately when he’d been captured, so why-

We’re sorry sir, we haven’t been able to herd them over to you.

You really are better than those ninja.

Let’s dance again, Shogun! I’ll be…I’ll be waiting.

Shogun sucked in a breath he could breathe that was good keep thinking .

Him. He was the target the whole time. But why? For his spinjitzu maybe? Possibly, from what he could tell he was much further ahead than the others when it came to one on one combat. 

But they clearly want him alive . The new “weapon” was just a containment device, and a quick glance around revealed no hidden weapons.

And if they wanted him alive, they wouldn’t drop him in the ocean.

Smith felt his body relax a minuscule amount. At least that threat was gone. And breathing seemed to be a bit easier, so that was a plus.

The mech started slowing down, slightly shifting him in the bubble. Smith quickly braced himself the best he could and looked up. The mech was preparing to land and Smith didn’t even bother to stop the groan.

Of course. A volcano in the middle of the ocean . Only the two worst places in all of Ninjago combined into one monstrosity. Why couldn’t this Garmadon simply choose an underground base, or even a flying one like when the Bounty got stolen?

Well, at least he would be on solid land, more or less.

The shield bubble unceremoniously popped and dumped in on the ground, at which he was immediately surrounded and overwhelmed by Generals. Before he could even prepare himself he felt heavy chains clamp around his wrists and ankles and was barely able to catch a glimpse of black and orange metal before a blindfold was wrapped around his eyes. 

This was uncomfortably familiar.

They roughly pulled him to his feet, hands firmly holding his arms in place and pulled his swords from their sheaths. They then all but dragged him forward, not bothering to slow down as he practically tripped on the chains.

They came to a sudden stop, slightly jerking Smith forward.

Off to his left, he heard one of the Generals hit some kind of button before he was blasted with a wave of heat. It was incredibly warm, but not uncomfortably so and some golden light packed in from the edges of the blindfold. It reminded him of the forge, right down to the sooty smell and clanging of metals. The familiar memories of home outweighed the memories of the volcano, and Smith found his earlier panic starting to ebb. Oh, how Smith would have loved nothing more than to join in, working on his own projects.

However, the Generals didn’t give him any time to just stand there, roughly jerking him forward when he presumed the door finished opening. 

All too soon, the guards pulled him away from the sounds and smells, presumably taking him through some tunnels. He did his best to keep track, but quickly became lost to all the confusing turns and twists and lift rides.

Instead, he did his best to focus on what he could keep track of.

Based on the footsteps, there seemed to be three guards. One on either side grabbing his arms and pulling him along and one directly in front of him. The cuffs felt….odd. They didn’t feel like any metal Smith had worked with in the past, and by quickly running his fingers over it found several rather large patches with a different texture in the shape of cracks. Maybe it was a blend of metals? Well whatever it was, he’d need to get it off. Doing Spinjitzu while bound didn’t usually have good results.

“...is he really not going to say anything?” one of the guards whispered, the one at his left. Smith did his best not to react.

“Shhh, he’s right here. ” the one to his right whispered back. He felt one of their hands stretch behind him and seemingly smacked the one on the left. Though the sound it made sounded nothing like that, being more like a dull, slightly echoed thump like hitting glass.

“I know, I know, it’s just….I mean from how much Lord Garmadon wanted to capture him I thought he’d be a bit more….I d’know, interesting I guess.”

“So you’d rather him fight us then?”

“No!...yes? I don’t know, but I just wish I knew what made him so special.”

“You mean besides how Maxine, Lily, and Sam, plus who knows how many others, reported he turned into a fire tornado?” Smith could practically hear the eyebrow raise.

“I just wanna see it for myself, y’know?” Left spoke. Based on the shift in his arm, Smith guessed she shrugged. 

Right snorted. “I don’t know what you’re thinking. It’s better when things don’t happen. If stuff happens, that means attention, and attention means trouble. It’s best to just blend in with all the other extras. Think about Dave. If he hadn’t told Lord Garmadon about this new guy…” she shuddered. “No doubt, he would’ve gotten himself fired. ”

Smith had the sneaking suspicion being “fired” meant something more unusual than the norm. And considering they were in a volcano….

He heard a dark chuckle from the guard in front. “Oh please, reasons like that is exactly why you’ll never do anything of worth.” it was spoken with a peppy false excitement.

He felt Left shift. “C’mon, you don’t need to be so mean. It’s perfectly fine if she wants to stay under the radar.”

“Oh, of course it is! ” he said, not dropping the tone. “There’s nothing wrong with it, I'm just stating the obvious.”

Smith felt a small frown tug at his lips.

“I mean, really, if you didn’t want to be noticed, why not be a janitor instead? You’d probably be better at it.”

His fist clenched as he felt Right shift uncomfortably.

“And I mean, how dangerous could he really be if he assigned you two to come with?” He leaned in close to Smith, close enough he could feel his breath and patted his cheek.

Okay, that was it.

In a flash he slammed his head forward, cleanly nailing him in the head. He let out a cry but before giving him a chance to recover he jumped as high as he could and kicked outward, sending him flying back

Right and Left grabbed his arms in an iron grip and wrestled him back to the ground, but neither spoke.

Front seemed to have hit a wall because there was a loud clang! before he fell to the ground with a satisfying clunk.

For a few seconds, no one spoke. The ironclad grip on his arms loosened ever so slightly.

Finally, Left spoke. “Well….guess that’s why he was so interested.”

Smith couldn’t help but snicker. “Thank you, I’m flattered.” he cringed slightly at how rough it sounded.

“So you do talk.” Left said, luckily ignoring how his voice sounded.

He shrugged. “Yep.”

There was a bit more silence before: “Welp, let’s keep going then!” 

Smith found himself frowning a tad. “Shouldn’t we let someone know he’s…” he silently pointed where he assumed the guard’s body was. 

Right shrugged. “Eh, we could…. or we could take the very important prisoner where we’re supposed to.”

“Yeah! Besides, it’s his fault for getting too close when he knew the prisoner was dangerous.” Left piped in. “C’mon, let's go.”

Smith shrugged. “Why not.”

They walked for a bit more, though the two were notably a bit more gentle with him.

“So….” Left started. “Clearly you can handle yourself.”

“You could say that, sure,” he responded. “I mean, my sister would probably disagree, but-.”

Behind the blindfold his eyes widened. 

That was…..that was the first time he’d talked about his family in this new place just….because he could. The first time he’d mentioned the little jokes without it hurting him.

Huh.

Oh, wait shoot, Left was talking.

“-hy are you even here?”

“What?” he responded dumbly.

Right let out a soft chuckle. “She wants to know why you’re going with us so easily. I mean, you dealt with 52. Why not us?”

“Oh.” he said. “Well...to be perfectly honest, you would probably outnumber me. Plus I can’t see or run very well right now. Only reason I was able to get 52 was because he got close enough.”

“Yeah, we got that, but why did you get him? You didn’t have to do that.”

He shrugged. “You guys may be the bad guys, but he seemed like a bad person . There’s a difference.”

For a second the two didn’t respond.

Then Left laughed.

“I like you, Shogun.”

“Like me enough to let me go?”

Now it was Right’s turn to laugh. She patted his shoulder. “Sorry bud, not happening.”

Their laughter was infectious and he felt a smile starting to split across his face. “Can’t blame me for trying.”

“Oh, well look at that we’re here.” Right commented. There was a quiet boop before the humbling sound of a metal door being opened sounded.

The heat was much more intense here, yet still didn’t feel uncomfortable. The orange glow was back, however it was much brighter than when he was in that first room. And, if he strained his ears past the clinking of chains and footsteps, he could hear the faintest sound of bubbling.

They were definitely closer to the lava.

“Hmmmm.” Left started. “Hey, d’you think you can get that plating?”

“What do you... oh, I get it. Yeah sure.” She let go of his arm and walked away, though it was quickly replaced by Left’s other hand. 

“Great! Now let’s finish this up.”

Right returned pretty quickly and Smith soon lost track of who was doing what. At some point his hands were uncuffed, but quickly brought behind his back as a flat piece of metal was placed against his chest, starting just below his neck and ending just above his hips as spanning more than his shoulder width. A long chain was then being looped around him, pinning his arms to his sides.

“Now for the blindfold.” Left commented, removing the cloth with relative ease.

Smith closed his eyes at the sudden change in brightness, blinking away the blinding light until his eyes adjusted.

Left was standing right in front of him and he was finally able to get a good look at her.

She was just barely shorter than he was and was wearing a mostly misty blue, no sleeve bodysuit that changed to a light grey around the mid-thigh. She had darker grey knee and elbow pads along with black gloves and a belt with a pin in the colors light blue, light pink, white, then light pink again, then light blue again hooked on it. Around her stomach was another belt, this one a light blue, with four pouches tied to it, two on each side. There was a massive circle of glass covering her entire head with partially see-through patterns mimicking a jellyfish, with even some pink tendrils hanging from the bottom to sell the effect. There were also two big holes in the top which allowed her curly dark brown hair which was up in a pair of pigtail buns to poke out. Her skin was a rich umber and she had a roundish nose and lighter brown eyes which were accentuated by some winged eyeliner.

“There we go.” she smiled.

Looking off to the left, he was also able to finally get a look at Right who was by some kind of giant lever that looked straight out of a superhero movie.

She was much taller than Left and was wearing a similar bodysuit, only hers had long, light grey sleeves that went all the way to the gloves. There was also black shoulder armour that kept in place a battery pack and oxygen tank. The lower half of the bodysuit was mostly a similar grey to the sleeves sling with a stripe of blue and dark grey. There was also a thick stripe of black that was under the knee pads. Most notably, however, was the huge orange octopus covering almost her entire head. Only her blue eyes and the top of her nose were visible, along with some freckles dusting her pale skin. Around her belt she also had something that looked like a cartoon laser blaster, but he didn’t doubt that it would work. And though it was hard to see, the dark grey decoration seemed like it could be pressed like a button….wonder what that would do.

“Ready?” 

“Yep!” Left chirped back.

Right leaned on the lever and suddenly Smith found him being propelled backward and was suddenly very thankful for the metal plating. Had it been just chains, it probably would’ve been quite painful.

The chain swung a bit once it stopped and Smith found himself hanging directly over a massive pit of lava.

The heat was intense, but again, oddly not that bad. And being directly above it was a bit of a stretch, there was about a 40ish foot drop, but still.

“Now, we’ve gotta go, but I don’t think Garmadon will keep you hanging. ” Left gave him finger guns and winked. Right rolled her eyes, but he could make out the slightest smile in her eyes.

He wiggled a bit in the chains. Not bad, not bad, definitely not the worst he’s dealt with. He could work with this.

“Well, see you.” Right offered. The pair walked out, closing the enormous door behind him.

Despite his precarious scenario, Smith found himself growing sleepy. He’d calmed down a great deal since his initial capture, and all of the adrenaline keeping him awake was more or less gone, leaving only a slight sluggishness in its wake. The warmth of the volcano and slow spinning combined with the tiredness that was settling in from his earlier breakdown made it feel like weights were attached to his eyelids that were gradually getting heavier.

He let out a stifled yawn.

A nap didn’t seem so bad right about now.

He could escape when he woke up. He could feel the lock on his back, and in their mad scramble to grab him back when he first landed the Generals didn’t think to check him for any hidden knives, like the one hidden in his belt right next to his hand.

Besides, it wasn’t like anyone would be particularly worried about his capture.

Chapter Text

“We all know the plan?” Lloyd’s voice echoed slightly to Zane from the words being spoken both in the comms and right next to him.

Various sounds of confirmation spoke back.

“And you know to avoid fighting and major movements, Lloyd?” Zane spoke back.

“Of course, of course.” Lloyd responded, looking away.

“We’re gonna hold you to that Lloyd.” Kai spoke from his position piloting the Bounty.

“I know guys. It was the only way I could get you all to agree to let me come on the mission.”

“Dude, you’re concussed. Sorry if we’re gonna be worried.” Cole imputed, leaning on the doorway.

“Oh come on-”

Zane began to tune out their bickering, instead opting to watch the ocean beneath them. They had decided flying would be faster, as well as give them more mobility with maneuvering.

Below the waves, Zane could barely make out Nya’s mech but….something about her piloting wasn’t like it always was. It lacked the natural fluidity she always moved with.

Dialing his the comm frequency to a private channel, he checked that neither Lloyd, Cole, or Kai were close before he spoke.

“Nya, are you alright?” he asked. “Your piloting seems slightly off.”

There was a bit of silence. 

“Do not worry, this is a private channel.”

Another pause, then…

“I just….” she started. “I messed up. Bad. Again. With the same person.”

“When I apologized to Smith, I specifically mentioned how I was wrong in being suspicious and jumping to conclusions and how I would try to be better.” she continued. “Only then I went around and did the exact same thing to Shogun, who was the exact same person.”

“I was….I was scared when he started saying our names. I thought he had been leading us along or something.” 

Zane’s eyes widened.

That….that wasn’t something Nya would usually admit.

“But looking back, it makes sense. Lloyd said that he jumped in immediately to save him. If he knew Lloyd was the Green Ninja he probably would’ve just left him alone. Maybe he found out his identity by accident and just linked it to us!”

“This….this whole time he just wanted to protect Lloyd, just like us…just like me … and I got mad at him for that.”

“...Well, hindsight is always 20-20, as they say. It is easy to look back and see what we could have done better.” he started. He hesitated for a moment. 

“I….I will admit, I myself was rather cold to Smith after that revelation. I worried that he had less than innocent motives, but….” he thought back to Smith’s battle with Garmadon. “But seeing him fight Garmadon…..he’s just as dedicated as the rest of us.”

“I’m not going to say what you did wasn’t wrong, however I’m not going to make you feel any worse. You know what you did was wrong and want to make it right.”

Nya let out a soft laugh. “Have you and Lloyd been secretly learning from Smith how to give advice?”

“Unfortunately, no.” He shook his head. “However, after we rescue him, perhaps we could ask.”

“Right.” Her voice was stronger, more solid.

Because they will rescue Smith.

It’s the least they could do after what he did for them.

Garmadon’s plan was simple, yet genius.

Step 1: Capture Smith Forge, or rather Shogun as he was being called by the public. Admittedly, that one had a few hiccups, but everything went fine in the end, so that doesn't really matter.

Step 2: Leave him tied above a pit of lava for a few hours. Really show their power over him and how he was completely at their mercy. It’d make him a bit more agreeable when it came to the next step.

Step 3: Convince him to join his side. After all, the kid had only been fighting with the Ninja for a handful of weeks, tops. His loyalties would be easily swayed.

And now it was finally time for Step 3.

The sun had set hours ago but the volcano was still buzzing with life. Generals, mechanics, and scientists alike were traveling from place to place, some transporting weapons and tools, others heading for planning meetings and training.

As for Garmadon? He was heading down to see a certain prisoner.

People in the hallways quickly made way for him and his top three Generals as they made their way down. Gradually the traffic thinned as they went down to less frequented parts of the volcano.

Once they reached the door, General #3 walked off to the side to open it and they all filled in.

Garmadon didn’t stop the toothy smile that split across his face.

Why was he so happy?

Because Smith was hanging limp and defeated over the lava. He didn’t even try to look up when Garmadon walked through!

“Hello, Shogun….or should I say Smith Forge.” He greeted.

“You’re probably wondering why I’ve brought you here. Why I didn't kill you when I had the chance.” He asked.

“I have the numbers, the resources, the firepower , however the one thing I lack….. is competent leadership.” He turned to Smith. “That is where you come in.”

“I can’t be everywhere at once, nor can I command my entire army at once. But I heard of what you did once the Green Ninja was captured. You were able to command the Ninja, even the Cyan one after only fighting with them for a handful of weeks. Imagine what you could do if you had command of an entire army.”

“You have the skills, Smith, you just need the opportunity.” He smirked. “So what’ll it be?”

No response. Clearly he was thinking.

……only then the silence stretched on.

And on.

And on.

“....Smith? Buddy? I need an answer?” He tried again, but Smith didn’t move.

Then, while it was barely audible, Smith made the quietest of noises.

A snore.

Smith was asleep.

Smith was asleep, despite being held up and bound by chains over a pit of lava in the base of an enemy.

Garmadon honestly wasn’t sure if he should be offended or impressed.

“You!” he whipped around and pointed at his General #3. “Get me something to throw.”

“Yes Lord Garmadon.” they responded. They quickly turned around and ran to the door and disappeared.

A very awkward silence settled in.

Distantly Garmadon could hear the bubbling of lava.

One of the Generals coughed.

Far away the sound of an explosion echoed, probably from one of the nerds experimenting again.

…….oh Father this was awkward.

The door suddenly opened again with General #3 running in with a small box of parts ranging from small bolts to pieces of metal the size of his forearm…..as fun as it sounded, probably not the best idea to hit him with that one if he wanted to get Smith on his side.

Instead, he settled for one of the bigger bolts, around the size of his finger.

He coiled back to throw it……only for it to miss.

Grumbling, he picked out another bolt…..only to miss again.

It was three more misses before General #1 spoke.

“Um, Lord Garmadon, if I may….?”

It was another two misses before he muttered out a “ Fine. ”

He picked out a nut rather than a bolt about the size of a fingernail before putting the box down. He reared back in a similar way and threw……and it hit .

It hit around the top of his head and the force was enough to spin him a tad, but he slightly stirred.

The General quickly grabbed another nut and threw, this one hitting the side of his face.

He stirred again before finally letting out a yawn, stretching as much as he could in the confines of the chains. He looked down.

And stared.

A slow blink.

“Oh. Hey Garmadon. What d’you want?” He greeted. His voice was tired and slightly slurred, clearly shaking off the remains of his sleep.

Never, ever has Garmadon ever had such a mundane reaction before.

Right. Speech time again.

“Hello Shogun…… or rather should I say Smith Forge.”

He blinked again. “I….hi?” He had to crane his head to look as the chain was slowly spinning him more.

“You’re probably wondering-” Garmadon started, but Smith cut him off.

“Wait hold on….lemme come back around.” He wiggled a bit to spin the chain faster.

It was a few more awkward seconds before he was back facing the front.

“Right, sorry, continue.”

Garmadon let out a huff before continuing in again. “You’re probably wondering why I’ve brought you here. Why I didn't kill you when I had the chance.”

Smith shrugged a bit. “No, not really.”

Garmadon took a deep, tense breath. Remember, Smith was important and he couldn’t fire him, no matter how much he wanted to. Remember, he’s the Master of Fire and he has no idea who or where his family is. “What do you mean ‘not really’?”

“I mean, I figured it out on the way over. You’re interested in my Spinjitzu and skills. Wu was too. That’s how you know my identity too. Probably not the best decision on my part.”

“I-” He started before pressing his hand to his nose and taking in a deep breath. “How is it that you’re so calm right now?”

Smith shrugged again. “Compartmentalising. I’ll probably have a breakdown later once it completely sets in.”

“Kid…..that’s not healthy-” he started, but Shogun just shrugged again.

“Eh, I’ve gone through a lot of stuff. This is pretty average.”

“But that’s worse. You do see how that’s worse, right? You’ve just been kidnapped and held captive in a volcano. What have you gone through that’s worse???”

“Quite a lot actually. Besides, this isn’t my first time.” Smith paused for a second. “Well, technically I guess it is. The kidnapping and volcano were two different occasions.”

“ Kid.” he repeated. He thought he would be kidnapping a vigilante, not some teenager with trauma.

“Anyway, I’m guessing this is the part where you try and convince me to join you?” he asked.

Garmadon’s head snapped up. “So does that mean you’ve thought it over-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there, you burnt chicken nugget.” He cut off. “I’m not going to join you, and I never will. You’ve been attacking Ninjago City for years, you seem to literally fire your Generals, you hurt Green, and you’re a terrible father and husband. Why in First Master’s name would I ever want to join you?”

Garmadon frowned. “Alright, I won’t deny the first three, but the last one?”

“You don’t even know?” Smith scowled. “Everyone in the city hates Lloyd because of what you do.”

“No no, that’s not his name.” He interrupted. “L-L-O-Y-D. It’s Luh-Loyd. And besides, that’s stupid. I barely have contact with him, why would they hate him.”

“Because he’s done the unforgivable act of existing. Of being born. Of being your son. ” He spat the words like they were rotten. “They’re all so blinded by their hatred that none of them see how good of a person he is. How much he’s nothing like you.”

Ignoring the small sting from that comment, Garmadon pressed onward. “So why not get back at them? It’s clear they won’t change their minds, so why should you keep trying?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do!”

“But is it the right thing for you to do?”

Smith froze.

Gotcha.

“Why, out of everyone in the city, do you fight for them? I've seen the footage of how you and your little friend group are treated. The mistreatment, the insults, that kid’s stunt with the paint-” Smith tensed. “-all of it. And don’t say it’s because you’re one of the only ones who can. The Ninja Force, as annoying as they are, are only teenagers, and so are you. And what stops the city from reverse engineering my mechs to make some of their own? After all, only six mechs have been able to hold me off for this long. If the city funded enough of them, they’d be able to defeat me easily. So why is it they have children fight their battles for them?”

Smith’s eyes narrowed as he tried to think of a rebuttal.

“And let’s say they ever figure out who you are. Do you think they would feel bad for hurting Smith Forge, friend of Luh-loyd Garmadon…..or for hurting Shogun, Protector of the City?”

Smith didn’t respond.

“I’ll give you some time to think this over.” Garmadon said. He quickly turned around, closely followed by his Generals out of the door.

It closed with a slam behind them, leaving Smith alone to his thoughts.

Garmadon finally relaxed a bit. That was admittedly harder than he expected, but still all according to plan.

He frowned slightly. However….there was still the issue of what Smith had gone through. He couldn’t have been much older than Luh-loyd, and while at first his skills could be explained as training since he was young, there were…. darker implications.

He waved off the thoughts. He didn’t have time to think about that. Soon he’d have a new General and the city would be as good as-

B O O M ! ! ! ! !

All of the lights flickered and turned off just as the entire hallway shook, nearly throwing Garmadon and the Generals to the floor. It was black for a second before the red emergency lights powered on, quickly followed by an alarm.

“Warning: Emergency Power Activated. Flooding on Level 3, Level 4, Level 5. Lava Leakage on Level 5.” The warning systems spoke. “Warning: Emergency Power Activated. Flooding on Level 3, Level 4, Level 5. Lava Leakage on Level 5.”

“THIS IS GENERAL #5. THE VOLCANO IS UNDER ATTACK, I REPEAT THE VOLCANO IS UNDER ATTACK! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, THE NINJA ARE HERE!!! ”

With a simple motion, Garmadon jumped up from the floor and pulled out his comm.

“This is Garmadon, what’s it looking like General #4” He spoke quickly and curtly. Now was no time for games. In Ninjago City he could afford to mess around, he could always retreat. Not so much in his own home base.

“The Lightning Jet is circling around the volcano. That’s presumably the reason for the power outage on the West Side. I’m also getting reports of the Water Strider, as well as The Destiny’s Bounty, but I haven’t been able to confirm the second one.”

“What about the Ninja?”

“Confirmed reports of the Blue Ninja in the Jet, as well as the Cyan Ninja in the Strider and possibly the Red Ninja piloting the Bounty. No sign of the Green, White or Black Ninja.”

Garmadon narrowed his eyes. They were planning something that was obvious. The Ninja never attacked him at his volcano, and sure he captured Smith, but they wouldn’t know where he is……unless…..

He whipped around to General #2. “Did you check the prisoner for tracking devices?” He demanded.

Her silence was answer enough.

Garmadon ran back to the door and quickly opened it…… only to find nothing but a dangling chain left.

He raised the comm back to his mouth and started bolting down a different hallway to the command room. “The prisoner has escaped, keep on the lookout. We cannot allow the ninja to get him back-”

“Yeah, about that.” A voice from just in front of him spoke

Garmadon didn’t even have time to stop before a hammer was swung directly at his face and everything went black.

Chapter Text

The alarm was almost deafening as it echoed around the chamber, distorting and repeating over and over. The PA’s voice didn’t even sound like words anymore, just garbled sounds. And that wasn’t even including the cacophonous explosions that were so strong that they caused the chain to swing perilously.

But Smith kept climbing. He was incredibly lucky Garmadon didn’t think to look up, but given his track record, he didn’t want to push it any more than he had to.

Not pushing it at all would be preferable, but you couldn’t escape an enemy base swarming with enemies by playing it safe.

He wasn’t quite sure how long he was climbing for. Long enough for his arms to start aching from the strain. Long enough for him to be immensely grateful for his gloves. Long enough for the comforting heat of the lava to start to fade.

It didn’t stop the heat deep inside of him from fading though.

Finally, finally, he made it to the top of the chain. It was bolted to the wall of the volcano and unfortunately, not a part of the wall that was near a hallway or walkway like he thought.

Looking around, a small glint of metal caught his eye.

A vent.

It was only a few feet up and a little to the side.

He looked back to the stone. It was rough and coarse with massive cracks that were perfect for hand and footholds and a vent would be a good place to go. Given all the smoke and ash that came from the volcano, they would probably need a good and big air filtration and ventilation system. 

And well….it wasn’t like there was anywhere else for him to go.

He scaled the wall in seconds but took care to make sure the rock would support his weight.

Once he reached it, he carefully observed the vent and gave a sigh of relief that it wasn’t screwed or bolted in. Good, that would save him from needing to find another way out.

With one hand firmly gripping the rock, he carefully reached down to his belt with the other and pulled out one of the knives. He then wedged it underneath and with all his strength pulled down, popping the vent cover out with a clang.

Smith pointedly didn’t look down as it tumbled and forced the mental image of that being him out of his mind. He quickly hauled himself into the vent and let out a silent sigh of relief as he finally allowed his arms to rest.

But he only let himself lie for a handful of seconds before taking in his new surroundings. He was right about the ventilation system being big. While he wouldn’t be able to stand up, there was more than enough room for him to crawl without the risk of hitting the sides. From where he was, he could see the vents branching off at periodic points in all directions.

Quickly peering into one of the ones going down solidified his resolve to not fall down any. It seemed like quite the long fall, and it would definitely be a painful and noisy one.

After a bit of crawling and avoiding downward vents, he also found some vents that would peer into hallways.

Unfortunately, most of them had been completely crawling with Generals. At least they were too busy to notice him.

After the 8th one, he barely suppressed a growl of anger. He really didn’t want to have to fight, but at this point it seemed to be his only option. He couldn’t stay here forever, they would eventually figure out where he was and he definitely couldn’t take on a whole army….. but maybe he could take on a handful. 

He had his throwing knives, but he’d run out quickly and would stand a better chance in a fight if he had his swords. There were plenty of Generals running around, and he could probably find one or two who were on their own and-

Below him, he heard rapid footsteps slow down to a stop.

He froze and carefully peaked through the vent cover below him.

Two generals. Alone. Right below him.

Well speak of the Oni.

“Hold on, I think I heard something?” One of the Generals said, looking around.

Smith smirked.

People never did think to look up.

He dropped down right between them with ease, delivering a quick blow to the neck to the one in the front and kicking the other into the wall. They hit it with a crack and collapsed to the floor limp.

He was quick to check them for weapons but was rather disappointed to only find them both carrying guns. He….wasn’t the best shot per se, but worst case scenario he could use them as bludgeon weapons.

But this was…..it was so easy. Things never went this smoothly unless-

“Hey!” Someone from behind him shouted. Smith whipped around, only to see a group of Generals running down the hallway directly toward him, one of which was holding a walk-in talkie of sorts. “We have found the prisoner on Level 12, I repeat we have found the prisoner on Level 12.”

Yep. There it was.

In a flash he ran forward, zigzagging across the floor and using the small space to his advantage to avoid the few laser blasts sent his way, jumping off the walls and using platings and pipes sticking out as cover.

Eventually he got close enough to finally fight and that’s when the tables turned.

Despite this being new territory, Smith easily found himself on the high ground. He had a mobility the Generals lacked, and while they had much more firepower, it didn’t matter if they couldn’t hit him.

But no matter how many he knocked down, no matter how far he ran, more kept coming. Anytime he knocked one down, three were there to take their place. And to top it all off the few hits the Generals were able to land were beginning to add up.

But he couldn’t slow down. He couldn’t stop. If he stopped he’d get captured and if he got captured he’d be taken away from his family again.

His movements became blurs of limbs and Spinjitzu sparks, lighting up the hallway more than the emergency light could. 

Only when he came out of the tornado, he noticed the heat from earlier had returned. While it had been unnoticeable before, he could now feel it pulsing under his skin and all around him, angry, swirling, burning , just begging to be let out so it could blaze, burn, consume.

It only served to edge him on more.

Slowly he began losing himself to the battle. His thoughts became muddled and foggy, colors blurred and sounds became fuzzy. He began to rely on a deeper, almost primal part of himself for direction. A part that labeled everything that moved, everything that made noise, everything that was here, as an enemy.

A deeper part of him knew that what he was doing was dangerous, that this could get him killed, or worse get them killed.

But the shallower part of him didn’t care.

The part Garmadon helped shape.

It was quiet in their part of the volcano.

Well….okay that wasn’t completely true. There were still the occasional explosions and sounds of machinery, and also the semi-constant sounds of rocks and metal falling to pieces.

But the alarm finally stopped going off, and there weren’t any Generals around. However the emergency lights still bathed the empty hallways in red light.

In all honesty, Lloyd felt like he was in a horror movie.

“White, how much farther?” He hissed. They’d been all over this volcano, sometimes circling back to places they’d already been and several times being stopped by dead ends.

“I am uncertain. Smith’s tracker has been on the move for quite a while, but it seems as though he’s finally stopped. However, there is the possibility he’s dropped it.”

“I hope we find him soon. This place is giving me the creeps.” He commented, looking around.

Zane gasped. “The signal. It’s close. In fact, it should be just around this-”

But just as he turned the corner he froze.

“White? What’s-” Cole started but as he saw what Zane saw, his eyes widened and his grip around his hammer tightened.

“What is it?” Lloyd started as well, peaking around the corner.

And it felt like someone had doused him in cold water.

As far as the hallway went, all Lloyd could see were bodies.

And there at the end of the hallway, being the only one standing amidst all the( hopefully ) unconscious Generals, was Smith.

But he looked awful.

He was hunched over, breathing heavily enough for Lloyd to be able to see from the other side of the hallway. His knives were gone from his belt and instead he was loosely holding a pair of blasters in his hands. His gi was ripped in multiple places and the maroon armor piece was dented, the whole thing dirty with smoke and some bits having the burn marks that came with being shot by blasters. In the low lighting of the hallway, Lloyd was able to see the faintest shimmering of blood. 

But given all the Generals they’d seen….Lloyd wasn’t quite sure who it belonged to.

“Smith!” He could help but shout.

But then Smith turned toward them.

And his eyes were blazing.

Gone were the compassionate amber eyes of someone who was there for them, someone who understood them, someone who fought beside them.

Now, there were only burning hot infernos.

And he was running straight toward them.

“Green move!” Zane shouted, pulling him to the side just as Cole took his place to block Smith's attack.

Only Smith was much faster and easily avoided it, dealing a quick kick to his back and sending him to the ground. A second later he turned to Zane and threw both blasters, one hitting his arm which was trying to block while the other nailed him in the face.

And then he pounced on Lloyd.

The force sent Lloyd tumbling to the ground, but he was able to just barely grab onto Smith’s hands. Lloyd’s arms shook at the sheer pressure Smith was pushing onto him. And then even though he was wearing gloves his hands were so warm.

“White, shoot!” Cole shouted, suddenly yanking Smith off of Lloyd and throwing him clean across the hall.

Just as he hit the wall, Zane sent a barrage of arrows toward him, expertly pinning his clothing and trapping him against it. Smith started writhing, growling and hissing like a caged animal as he tried to escape but the arrows held strong and prevented him from getting the leverage he needed to free himself.

Grabbing his hand, Cole easily pulled Lloyd to his feet, but he could make out his heavier breathing from the force he just exerted. “We’re lucky the Generals wore him down. I’m not sure we would’ve been able to beat him otherwise.” He turned to Smith, who was still struggling.

Then Lloyd took a step toward him but felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Green, what are you doing?” Cole asked. It wasn’t demanding. Just curious.

“I wanna talk to him.” He answered honestly.

“….be careful, Green.” Cole said, but removed his hand.

Lloyd nodded and stepped forward.

“Smith.” He kept his voice calm and quiet, making eye contact. “Smith it’s us, remember.”

He only snarled in response, baring his teeth, but Lloyd didn’t flinch back.

“You’re safe right now Smith. There aren’t any more Generals. We aren’t going to hurt you.”

The glowing started to die down and he grew quiet.

Lloyd stepped closer.

“Smith, we’re here to help you. We’re going to take you home.” He affirmed. “I promise.”

Smith blinked a few times, the glowing dying out with each blink until they had finally returned to their regular amber. Smith shook his head like he was trying to shake something off.

When he finally stopped he squinted.

“Lloyd?” His voice was rough. “What’re you doing here?”

He smiled. “We’re here to get you out.”

Smith looked….confused?

“But…why? It’s dangerous here.”

Lloyd gripped his shoulders. “Because you’re our friend Smith. And we aren’t going to let Garmadon get you.”

Smith stared at him with a thinly veiled confusion that made Lloyd’s heart ache.

“This is all very nice, but we need to leave now. I am not sure how much longer the others will be able to distract Garmadon.” Zane imputed.

Lloyd nodded. “Got it.” Then quickly set to work pulling out the arrows. Distantly he noticed Zane staring, but brushed it off as him trying to figure out what just happened, which fair , Lloyd was still trying to figure it out himself.

It took only a few seconds, but once they were out, Smith tumbled forward. Lloyd was luckily able to catch him but almost buckled under the sudden weight.

“I uh.” Smith started, and Lloyd got the vague sense he was blushing under the mask. “I’m not sure if I can walk.”

“I got you.” Cole quickly said, lifting him off of Lloyd and onto his back. “You good?”

Smith nodded.

“Alright, let’s go.”

There was a surprising lack of Generals as they made their way through the hallways. Zane took up the front, closely followed by Cole and Smith, then with Lloyd bringing up the rear.

“Guess you dealt with most of them, Smith.” Lloyd joked, followed by an awkward chuckle.

Smith didn’t laugh.

In fact, it was so empty that they didn’t even find anyone until they got to the landing pad.

Unfortunately, that seemed to be where everyone was, armed to the teeth with weapons and blasters.

And double unfortunately, their entrance hadn’t gone unnoticed.

There was a moment of awkward silence as the two parties stared at each other.

The moment was then shattered as the Generals surged toward them, weapons raised and blasters firing.

The only thing they had on their side was the fact they were near the open air, which was one of the only reasons they even let Lloyd come.

“Wait, how are we getting off the volcano?” Smith shouted above the din. At some point he must have grabbed a sword from one of the Generals and was now doing his best to watch Cole’s back despite how exhausted he looked.

“This is how!” Lloyd responded.

And suddenly it felt like the world slowed down.

All the pieces that made up everything around them became clear for him to see, not-so-random numbers assigning themselves to each piece that he couldn’t explain if he tried.

And in his head he could see exactly how they would assemble.

A bit of mech here, a piece of volcano there, some weapons that and been thrown at them and then-

Just as everything timed back in, he found there was a small mech just large enough to fit four people sitting in front of them.

He loved Master Building.

“Go go go go go!” He shouted, pulling Zane and Cole onto the flying thing and quickly taking control, launching them into the sky, very pointedly ignoring the headache that just got much worse .

“Cyan, Blue, Red, we have Smith but we have Garmadon’s soldiers chasing us, we need help!” Zane shouted into the comms.

Lloyd heard various affirmations but kept his concentration on piloting. The ocean was passing in a blur and with every passing second they were getting closer to Ninjago City, closer to safety.

All they needed to do was get to the base, then they could get their mechs.

“I can see you guys. I’ll join you pretty soon with my mech and we can- GUYS LOOKOUT!” he heard Kai warn. Lloyd risked a look behind them and his eyes widened in fear at the missile incoming. It was moving too fast 

“ABANDON SHIP!” Lloyd shouted, grabbing the others and jumping off the mech.

Barely a second later the world went up in a bright fireball, breaking his grip on them and hurling all of them in every direction….

And they crashed into the ocean with an enormous Splash!

The ocean water was cold, a slightly foreign feeling to Zane. The water soaked his gi and skin, chilling him all the way to his circuits bones.

He quickly steadied himself and located “up,” swimming as fast as he could and took a deep breath as he surfaced not that he needed it .

His attention was immediately drawn to the buzzing swarm of Garmadon mechs flying above. He prepped to draw his bow because despite the fact he would stand no chance, he certainly wasn’t going down without a fight. 

An enormous splash sounded from behind him and Zane whipped around.

“GET AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS!” Kai yelled from inside his mech. The mech was up to its knees in the water and spraying fire at every mech that dared got close, scattering them like birds. Most of Garmadon’s mechs were able to dodge the flames but in the process were forced to pull back.

At first it seemed like they were going to attack again, after all as impressive as the display was, Kai couldn’t hold them all off and keep them safe at the same time, but Nya and Jay were rapidly approaching from behind and the mechs seemed to figure that out.

The swarm dispersed in a hurry, quickly realizing this was a lost battle and flying back to the volcano.

Zane let out a sigh of relief, putting his bow away and waved to Kai from the water, who waved back. He then turned around and headed back to shore, parking his mech on the(thankfully empty) beach and hoping out. Nya and Jay were quick to follow now that the threat was gone and hoped out beside him.

Swimming to shore was easy, and Zane was pleasantly surprised to see Lloyd and Cole close behind him(however it seemed Cole lost his hammer, which was a shame but not unexpected. It was undoubtedly heavy and likely difficult if not impossible to swim with).

“That was terrifying. I’d rather not do that again.” Jay commented. They all slightly laughed at the sentiment while also wholeheartedly agreeing.

“Guys.” Lloyd started, breaking the laughter. He was looking around. “Where’s Smith?” 

Zane felt his core heart stop because Lloyd was right. 

Smith was nowhere to be seen.

Nya didn’t wait another second before she bolted and dived into the water.

It was the best decision. She was by far the strongest swimmer and could hold her breath the longest.

But that didn’t stop Zane from wanting to jump in after her.

It was 17 seconds and 42.56 milliseconds later when she finally resurfaced with Smith.

He and Cole hauled both of them out of the water with relative ease and carried Smith back to the others.

“You guys found him!” Lloyd exclaimed, running over to them and crouching by Smith.

“Yes. Luckily Nya was able to get him out of the water-” Zane gave a quick scan look over Smith and he-

He wasn’t breathing.

He wasn’t breathing.

And he was cold.

Much colder than a living human should be.

The facts finally hit him all at once.

Smith hadn’t come up at all since they crashed into the water.

Lloyd mentioning his apprehension of the ocean when they flew over it.

A person could drown in less than 60 seconds.

Zane stopped.

“He’s-” he started, eyes wide in horror.

He was d̷̮̱̐̓͋è̸̼̱̓͑̕ą̷̥́̂d̵̦̝͆.

“Uh, guys he isn’t breathing!” Lloyd started. “Uh, CPR! That’s what you do after someone drowns right?!”

“We can’t.” He said.

“What!?! Why not?!?!”

Zane could only numbly shake his head, not taking his eyes off Smith. “That won’t work here.”

“No no no no no,” Lloyd started repeating. “Th-there’s gotta be something we can do!”

“Humans….can only last 10 minutes without oxygen.” He numbly said, staring at Smith’s corpse body. “And they can drown in under 60 seconds.”

“I-” His voice broke with static. “I wish I was wrong.”

He couldn’t be human, right? He was just hiding it just like Zane had , right?

Smith had been burning up at a temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit, 3 degrees higher than the highest ever recorded body temperature for a person, and somehow he had been conscious and alert.

There was no way he was human. It was impossible.

“Smith…..Smith please!” Lloyd cried again, shaking his side.

But he was.

“Smith!”

He was oh so very human.

“SMITH!”

Jay looked to be on the verge of a panic attack.

Kai looked somewhere in between trying to comfort the others and breaking down.

Cole's eyes were rooted on Smith, fists clenched and shaking, eyes speaking a thousand words.

Nya's eyes were shining with unshed tears as she was no doubt remembering her unsaid apologies.

And Zane felt empty.

Empty because he was wrong and it cost someone their life.

Empty because he lost a valued teammate.

Empty because he lost a valued friend.

He couldn’t bring himself to wipe the coolant tears from his face, not caring how they clouded his vision.

He silently chuckled to himself at the sight before him. It was an almost unnoticeable thing, a sad, quiet, personal thing.

Oh how much time they had wasted in the past few hours. Precious time that could’ve been spent together, making memories.

Could things have gone differently if they had handled things better?

If they finished their rescue plan earlier?

If he had finished cleaning up earlier and been able to intercede on Smith and Nya’s fight?

If he hadn’t been as cold when he revealed his knowledge or agreed to let him fight Garmadon alone?

But none of that mattered now. It didn’t matter how much time he spent thinking about it, because it was in the past and now unchangeable.

So why did it still hurt so much? Why was he plagued with these thoughts of ‘what ifs’ that he knew were illogical?

As something glimmered in his eyes, he finally rubbed the tears away. It seemed as though they were interfering with his vision.

After all, he could’ve sworn he saw golden sparkles.

Chapter Text

It was cold where he was.

Not the kind of cold that would bite at you in the middle of the night, or the kind that froze you to your core and made you want to curl up in your bed forever.

This was just cold. A simple chill that came with breezes in fall.

And it was dark. Everything around him was black and he could only make out two far away lights in the dark, one on each side of him.

One was a soft light, and reaching toward it he could feel a dim warmth that filled his body.

The other felt cold, with its dark light and murmuring sounds that sent sadness through his heart.

He had to pick one. He didn’t know how he knew. He just knew he needed to pick.

But just as he started moving toward the warm light….something tugged at his wrist.

It was a golden thread, glowing softly in the dark. It was wrapped very loosely around his wrist, but when he tried walking toward warm light it felt like it was trying to cut his hand off.

He tried grabbing the golden thread but his hand slipped through it.

He tried pulling again but this time it yanked him harshly in the direction of the cold light.

But then it yanked him again, pulling him closer and closer. Every step made him colder, made him sadder.

He didn’t like feeling that.

He was so close now, the cold was filling every bit of him, chilling him all the way to his core.

There was a voice saying a name. 

The string pulled his hand through the light.

And then he breathed.

When he woke up, his entire body throbbed. He could feel every scratch, every bruise, every ache and he was just so tired . He couldn’t remember a time he’d felt this awful. He wanted nothing more than to fall asleep forever.

He tried taking in a shallow breath but scrunched his face a bit under the hood. It was completely soaked, as was the rest of his gi, chilling him all the way to his bones.

There was also the overwhelming taste of seawater filling his mouth. 

But then he noticed something else.

Crying.

And it was really close.

Carefully opening his eyes, he noticed a lumpy figure above him.

A blonde haired, black and green clad figure.

Lloyd.

Lloyd was crying.

His eyes snapped open, shoving the aches and lingering tiredness to the back of his mind. He could deal with that later, but Lloyd could be hurt.

With a small groan, he braced himself and started sitting up.

Now he could also see the others were here staring wide eyed at him but he immediately zeroed in on Lloyd. He was the closest, sitting right next to him with still fresh tear tracks running down his face. His eyes were blown wide and he was staring Smith in the eyes with shock and….some other emotion he couldn’t quite place.

He gently reached out and wiped away the tear tracks with his hand.

“Lloyd?” He started, his voice rough. Lloyd jumped, almost as if he wasn’t expecting him to say anything. “Are you okay?”

Lloyd froze for a second…..before finally more tears started spilling out and he lunged forward, completely wrapping himself around Smith. After barely a moment’s hesitation, Smith in turn wrapped his arms around Lloyd, tucking his head under his chin and holding on tight. Given his half lying down position and the fact he was soaked and covered in sand made it a tad uncomfortable, but he didn’t mind.

But then he felt another pressure on his left…..then one on his right, a big one behind him, another on his front, and one slightly to the left-

Oh.

The others joined in the hug.

Huh.

Usually he was the one hugging.

It felt…..nice. And warm.

With a calm sigh he relaxed into the hug.

He isn’t sure how long they were in that hug, just that it lasted a while.

But finally, slowly and reluctantly, they started to peel off of him. Once they were all off, Lloyd and Cole grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet…..which might have been a slight mistake.

He swayed and nearly toppled over as they let go, his head swimming as he was quickly reminded of his injuries and fatigue. Luckily, the pair were quick to catch him, supporting him without much issue.

“It would be best for us to return to base. We are vulnerable here and from there we can check Smith for any more…..injuries.” Zane instructed.

Right. Yeah, that was smart. 

Lloyd nodded in agreement. “Right. Jay, Nya, Kai, take your mechs back to base. Me, Zane, Cole and Smith will meet you there.” He then turned to Cole. “Cole, can you carry Smith back?”

“No prob.”

Smith then found himself being gently passed over to Cole and onto his back, much like how he was carried back at the volcano.

And now that they weren’t in any danger…..it was actually really comfortable on Cole’s back. The steady rocking off his run, being so gentle as to not jostle him, a firm grip around his legs and keeping him close.

He felt….safe.

He must’ve started drifting off at some point because one second he blinked, and in the next was lying in a very clean room with Zane doing… something by a collection of drawers.

He felt a bit less tired, so he probably wasn’t out for too long. A quick glance down revealed he had been changed out of his gi and was instead in an oversized dark blue hoodie(based on the band logo it was probably Cole’s) and baggy pants. There was also a heater pointed right at him, giving off a soft orange glow and a quiet hum as it warmed him.

Beneath the clothes he could feel swaths of bandages and gauze wrapped around his torso, parts of his arms and legs, and some on the side of his face. Based on how they weren’t in too much pain, Zane probably gave him some painkillers.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Smith slowly turned his head up to see Zane had finished with whatever he was doing and was walking over to him with something in his hands.

“How long was I out?” He asked, slightly wincing at his voice. Zane held the thing out to him.

“Drink. You’re dehydrated.” He said. Oh, so it was a water bottle.

Lifting the bottle to his lips and sipping some, it finally hit him how dehydrated he was. He was half tempted to just chug the whole bottle, but a more rational part of him made him slow down, citing how he would just get sick if he did that. On the plus side, it was washing out the salty taste.

“As for your question, no more than half an hour. I have dressed all your wounds, but you’re going to have to avoid any strenuous motion for the next few days. I was required to give you stitches, and it should take 10 days before they should be healed enough to be removed.”

“I’ve also checked you over for pneumonia and other such things, but so far you seem fine. However I will be keeping a close eye on your condition to make sure nothing slips through.”

He then gestured to the heat lamp. “The heat lamp is because by the time we brought you to the med bay, your temperature was extremely low, even for someone who’d taken an ocean night swim. Jay offered to mend and clean your gi, and he’ll get it back to you in a few days.”

“Any questions?”

Smith was silent for a moment as he digested the information, setting the water bottle down.

“Just one.” He said. “Where are the others?”

Zane gestured to the door with his head. “They’re all waiting in the base. None of them wanted to leave without first making sure you were okay.”

“Could you call them in?” He asked. “I want to explain. Everything.”

Zane hesitated. “Are you certain? None of us will mind if you put off the explanation, especially considering your wounds.”

Smith smiled. “I appreciate the concern, but I promised I would, and I don’t plan on going back on my promise.”

Zane thought for a second before finally giving a small nod. “I see. I will bring them in.”

It was a bit of a tight fit and it suddenly made a lot more sense why they had been waiting outside. Cole wasn’t even fully in the room, instead being halfway through the doorway. The other four were trying their best to find comfortable spots in the room with varying levels of success.

They were all still in their gis, but their hoods were off and there were no weapons in sight. Lloyd still had bandages around his head and his hair was sticking up at odd angles trying to get around it.

“Whenever you’re ready, Smith. We’ll listen.” Lloyd said, giving him a small smile.

Smith took a deep breath.

“What I told you about my arrival here wasn’t a lie. Everything I told you was true….however I didn’t tell you everything.” He started.

This was it. There was no going back after this.

“In order to explain it, I’ll need to tell you quite a bit about myself. I suppose the best place to start would be with how my name….my first name, isn’t Smith.” He looked them in the eye.

“My name is Kai. Kai Smith.”

There was a noticeable reaction from them all, from widening eyes to standing up straighter, but they didn’t interrupt.

He pressed on.

“I used to work as a blacksmith in my hometown of Ignacia, until one day it was attacked by Garmadon. He was looking for a map that had been entrusted to my father years before. I did my best to try and fight him off but…” he let out a small chuckle. “Well, I was just a blacksmith with a sword and minimal armor. I was no match for his forces.”

The ninja grimaced.

“However, just when I thought I was going to get killed, an old man saved my life. However, in doing so, my sister, Nya, was captured.” He continued grimly. “I later learned that his name was Wu, and in order to get my sister back, he offered to train me. I, of course, jumped at the chance.”

He frowned. “I will admit, I’m not sure exactly how long I trained for. At least two weeks, but the days had begun to blur together at that point. However, everything changed one night when I met his three other students. People who I now see as my brothers.”

“Their names were Cole Brookstone, Jay Walker, and Zane Julien.”

“After an admittedly rough start, the four of us worked together to find the Four Golden Weapons, and used them to fight Garmadon…..however, he got away, and it wasn’t until a few months later that he made himself known.”

He frowned for a second. They probably didn’t need to know all the details about the Serpentine. After all, they weren’t that important for this story.

“…..okay I’m just going to skip over the next part, because it’s long and convoluted and would make this explanation at least 10 times longer, and really the only important part was meeting Lloyd, but basically we ended up needing to work with Garmadon.”

Seeing their faces, he quickly raised his hands before it could get worse. “I know, I know, I didn’t like it either. But, it was either work with Garmadon or let the city be destroyed.”

That calmed them down slightly and he continued.

“However….in the process Garmadon got his hands on the Golden Weapons, and combined them to make the Megaweapon. And well….you know the rest.”

Silence.

“My guess is that the Megaweapon knew that as long as I was in the same world, I would make things difficult for him. So, it sent me to a place where ‘my’ Garmadon didn’t even exist.”

Silence.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but this is the truth.” He finished, finally breaking eye contact with them and looking to the ground.

Finally, Nya moved.

“Smith….I’ll admit what you’ve told us is hard to believe.” Her face was stoic and her voice was calm.

“But you’ve had our backs at every opportunity, no matter what it was or what we did.” Nya gave a sad smile as she looked at him, holding her hand out. “I’ve spent enough time not trusting you. I think it’s about time you got some trust.” Behind her the others started nodding, determined looks in their eyes. “And we will be finding you a way back home. It’s the least we can do after everything you’ve done for us.”

For a second it felt like his breath was taken away.

They believed him.

They believed him.

A smile made his way across his face as he grabbed her hand and shook it.

Chapter Text

Koko had seen countless things in her years of being Lady Iron Dragon. Awful, horrible, heartbreaking things.

Yet there was one thing she could never get used to, one thing that she couldn’t shake off and put in a box to deal with later. And it was seeing a child hurt.

Especially her child.

Maybe it was the mother in her, but something made her gut clench at the mere thought of it.

So when Lloyd didn’t call or text her after the Garmadon attack…..she feared something happened.

When Lloyd didn’t answer his phone in the hours after the attack…..she feared the worst.

But what the worst was could vary.

Sometimes the worst was Lloyd getting hurt in an attack, through either a stray blaster shot or some debris.

Sometimes the worst was Lloyd getting attacked once it was over. Tensions always ran higher after attacks, and she also knew all too well how the city viewed them. She also knew it was only a matter of time someone took it too far.

Sometimes the worst was Garm finally taking interest in his son, taking him away while he was out and vulnerable.

Lloyd and his friend(could it have been Smith who hurt him?) had left for the park at 2:30 pm. The Garmadon Attack started at 4 and ended at 6, an hour before sunset. She’d tried calling Lloyd, then his friends, then their parents(none of whom had heard from their kids either) then Lloyd again, then the police(who, unfortunately and predictably, did nothing), then Wu, then Lloyd again.

She feared the worst.

But then, at 11:46 pm, her phone started to ring.

She scrambled to pull it out and nearly dropped it when she saw the caller ID.

Lloyd.

She answered it immediately.

“Lloyd! Are you okay? It’s been hours and you haven’t called and I thought…”

She didn’t quite know what she thought. Just that something awful had happened.

“I-I’m fine mom.” He finally said. “Sorry I haven’t been able to call you back, but things have….happened.”

“What kind of thing? Are you with the others? Are you hurt? Are they hurt?” She asked quickly.

“Um….well. I-I’ll explain what happens later but…u-um, mom? Do you….do you think I can have my friends sleepover too?”

He sounded worried and afraid and so tired who hurt him, who made her baby hurt because she wanted to make them pay.

Of course she said yes.

It was another twenty minutes before she heard a knock on the door.

And standing on the other side was her son.

There was a bandage wrapped around his head, his smile was tired and there were slight bags under his eyes, but other than that he seemed mostly fine.

He was safe.

She enveloped him in a massive hug, holding him close enough to feel his heartbeat.

Her son was safe. He was alive. He was here with her right now. 

She slowly pulled away but kept her hands on his shoulders.

“I’m fine, mom.” He said. 

“Okay. Okay.” She repeated, removing her hands but not before giving one more reassuring squeeze.

She gently stepped to the side and held the door open as they filed in, her eyes sliding across everyone, mentally cataloging their injuries.

Kai, he was sticking close to Lloyd and had a growing bruise on the left side of his face. Nya looked fine and while Jay was clinging to Zane like a lifeline, he looked fine as well. Zane seemed to have a few scratches…dents? She wasn’t completely sure of the terminology, but it was nothing major. Cole, he was okay too, and was carrying Smith who-

And as she looked she felt her heart drop.

This was why Lloyd was so scared over the phone.

Smith looked horrible. He was wearing what she recognized as Cole’s hoodie and pants instead of what he was wearing this morning, but where the sleeves ended she could make out bandages wrapped around bloodied knuckles and disappearing up his arm and under the sleeves. Purple bruises were blooming all over his face with only the stark white and slight red of a bandage breaking up the color. There were enormous bags under his closed eyes and his hands were connected very loosely around Cole’s neck, but his breathing wasn’t even enough for him to be asleep. She also recognized Cole’s headphones around his ears, possibly an attempt to help him sleep.

It was only through years of practice that she didn’t gasp or stare.

Her son might be safe…..but at what cost?

She shook off the creeping guilt. She could deal with her emotions later, right now she needed to make sure the kids were comfortable.

They all moved around in a practiced way, grabbing the blankets and pulling out the air mattress from the closet. 

Barely any words were spoken between them besides the occasional hushed whispers.

And that scared Koko.

The group was hardly ever quiet. There was always laughter or jokes filling the silence, to make the dark world they lived in just a little bit brighter, a little bit easier to live in.

Something happened. Something big. Something terrifying.

Something like with Harumi.

She shook the thought from her head immediately.

No.

She wouldn’t let it affect them like that again.

Not if she had anything to say about it

It was almost 3am and Koko still couldn’t sleep. 

At first she had tried simply lying in her bed, but in the silence her thoughts ran rampant. She’d already memorized every aspect of her room because of similar nights in the past so that wasn’t an option.

After an hour of spiraling thoughts that were gradually getting worse her son bleeding, her son crying, her son being stolen away, oh why did she take him away from Garm, at least he could keep them safe she finally sat up and went to her closet to pull out a familiar case.

It was very simple and unassuming, being a simple flat, wooden box. The only detail on the wood was a simple painted sigil on the bottom right corner. A black dragon head.

The inside wasn’t much nicer, just lined with a soft but worn fabric to keep the things inside in place.

And inside were her swords, her precious, beloved swords. The ones she’d had since her start as Lady Iron Dragon and the ones that many grew to associate with her.

And the only part of her past she couldn’t bring herself to part with. The rest of her things were stored in a safe house at the edge of the city which she hadn’t visited since she put them there.

And no matter how many times she polished them, it would never get old.

Reaching into a compartment in the box, she pulled out the cleaner and rag and got to work, losing herself to the motions she had perfected years ago.

She lost herself to the blade, thoughts becoming hazier with every pass she made. The outside world because no more, her difficulties and responsibilities becoming nothing. It was only her and her blades.

And it was over all too soon.

Her polishing definitely made a difference. The steel was shining like silver in the moonlight that found its way through her window.

She looked at the whetstone still in the box, then at the blades of her swords.

Could she?

She let out a tired sigh and put the swords back in.

No, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to risk waking up Lloyd or his friends. Sharpening her blades was best left to be done when no one was around. It could be rather loud.

But then she heard something.

Her ears pricked at the familiar sound. Something she hadn’t heard in a while but not long enough.

It was crying.

She let out a quiet sigh.

This was expected, honestly. Breakdowns weren’t that uncommon, and neither were nightmares. It was an upsetting fact of the lives they lived.

Soundlessly placing the swords back in the box, and the box back in the closet she gently opened her door and-

It was Smith. He had somehow managed to untangle himself from the center of the group and was now standing in the kitchen, hands clamped around his mouth trying to muffle his cries, tears spilling from his eyes. He had taken off Cole’s hoodie and was bare chested, revealing the sheer amount of injuries he had, but also the amount of scars he had.

His mid and upper right torso were pretty tightly wrapped with bandages and had the telltale bumps from gauze. Similarly, almost the entirety of his arms and hands were covered in the same way. Almost all of the remaining skin was littered with bruises to the point his skin was more purple than brown. But the bruising did little to hide the numerous scars ranging from slashes from a sword to improperly treated burns to Serpentine bites.

And he was having a breakdown in her kitchen. 

Well…..this could complicate things. 

She knew how to deal with the other kids.

With Kai and Jay, she usually needed to distract them, getting them to ramble about things they were making or theories they had.

Lloyd, Cole, and Zane usually needed her to just sit there with them, a quiet but affirming presence.

Nya needed someone to rant to, someone who could give good advice and take her secrets and weaknesses to the grave.

Smith…..Smith she didn’t know.

He also seemed to have a…. special kind of trauma. A kind she hadn’t seen since the end of the Serpentine War. Long before Smith would’ve been born.

And……well, there was also how they hadn’t met on the most amicable of terms.

But she couldn’t just do nothing.

With her shoulders squared she walked into the kitchen. Smith visibly tensed and his gaze snapped over to her glaring, almost challenging her.

But she didn’t go toward him. Instead, she went to the fridge and pulled out milk and chocolate syrup, then moved to the drawer with the pots and pans. Picking a small one, she backed away and moved to the stove.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Smith look at her in admittedly well disguised confusion, clearly thrown off by her movements.

It was a few moments before she moved again, going to the panty this time to get the marshmallows.

It also put her facing Smith.

He looked her over, not quite glaring anymore but still with blatant distrust in his eyes.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I’m hurt?” He probed.

She shrugged. “Only if you want to tell me.” 

She turned back to the stove, putting the marshmallows down and adding the milk.

“Would you like some hot chocolate?” She asked, not turning around but opening the cabinet holding the mugs.

“…..sure.” He hesitantly answered.

She nodded and grabbed a second mug.

The silence lasted all through the process. Smith didn’t speak a word as she mixed the chocolate syrup, waited for it to get to the right temperature, poured it into the mugs, and then added the marshmallows on top.

He didn’t speak when she put the mug in front of him.

He did drink it though, and seemed to enjoy it, which she counted as a win.

It wasn’t until Smith finished that he finally spoke.

“Why are you doing this?” He asked.

“Doing what?” She asked, lowering her mug.

He tensed, gesturing with his hands. “This. With me. Why are you being so nice?”

“I was making hot chocolate. And making more is easy so I-.”

“No no, not that.” He interrupted. “Just- why are you here?”

She raised a brow. “It’s my kitchen? And apartment? I couldn’t sleep?”

“Not that. ”

“Then what?”

“Just why do you-” he trailed off with a growl, making more motions with his hands.

“Why do I what?”

“Why do you care?!?” He finally yelled.

He slapped a hand over his mouth and their gazes snapped to the others, suddenly aware of his growing volume. Nya stirred for a few seconds, but much to their relief she settled quickly.

They waited a few seconds before daring to speak.

“I care because you’re Lloyd’s friend and because I…..I’ve seen things. People hurt. My son, hurt. And I know how much more damage it can do when they keep it hidden.” She finally admitted.

Smith’s eyes widened. 

“I-” Smith started, averting his eyes trained on the countertop. “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “It’s fine. I think we both made assumptions we shouldn't have.”

Smith silently nodded, thinking.

There was a stretch of silence before…

“I almost drowned.”

She looked up, but didn’t interrupt him. 

“During the attack, I got into a fight with the others. Lloyd got hurt and I stupidly ran off but…..then he came looking for me.” Smith’s eye’s stayed trained on the countertop.

“I-I was scared at first, that he was mad but…..but he wasn’t. He talked to me but……” his grip around the mug tightened. “But one of Garmadon’s mechs found us.”

He spat the words with enough venom that she thought he was trying to kill him with words alone.

But there was a growing tremor in his voice.

Smith continued.

“And it…..it tried to take Lloyd. ”

It felt like someone tried to steal all the air from her lungs.

Take Lloyd.

Garmadon had tried to take her son.

“L-lloyd was in danger, I couldn’t just not do anything, but-” the hand was back on his face, muffling another sob.

Koko quickly put down the mug.

“Smith?” She started, keeping her voice soft and calm. “Can I touch you?”

He squeezed his eyes shut tight and jerkily nodded.

Carefully, Koko wrapped herself around Smith, being gentle to avoid putting too much pressure on his wounds.

“I hate the water.” Smith whispered. “It’s so cold and unforgiving. It’ll pull you under if you’re not careful and I know they were trying to help but I- I can’t even swim and then it fell in and-” his voice cut off with another sob.

No wonder he was breaking down. A near death experience shook even the most hardened of warriors, and Smith was still a child.

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back with a shuddering sob.

“I miss my family.” He whispered. It was almost impossible to hear, but she heard it. “I just….I just want to go home. Not Ninjago City just…. home. ”

He said it with such desperation, such longing…..enough that it broke Koko’s heart.

This wasn’t a danger to Lloyd who was seeking to hurt him or his friends.

This was a boy, the same age as Lloyd who has his own scars and fears. A boy who had been put through trials beyond her comprehension. A boy…..a boy who just wanted to go home.

So she held him close. Because she may not know, or even understand, but if she could protect him from that, at least for a little bit, that would be enough.

She isn’t sure how long she held him for, but finally at long last his cries faded to quiet and he went limp in her hold.

He was asleep.

Hopefully it would be more restful this time.

It was relatively easy to lift him up so she brought him over to the living room where the others were still sleeping.

Kai was sprawled on the couch with Jay with Nya leaning on the side of it in one of the sleeping bags, and next to her in the other one was Zane by the window. Cole and Lloyd were on the air mattress, but there was a clear empty space between them where Smith had been.

Setting him down gently in the empty space right in between Lloyd and Cole, she pressed a small kiss to his forehead, just like she would Lloyd’s.

“Sleep tight.” She whispered, pulling the blanket over them. Lloyd stirred very briefly, just enough for her to fear she had woken him, but he simply grabbed onto Smith’s arm before settling.

She let out a quiet sigh before returning to the kitchen, quickly putting the ingredients away and putting the mugs in the sink to be cleaned in the morning. Finally, she headed back to her room.

On the nightstand her clock glowed, a bright green 5:07 in the darkness.

….but then another sound disturbed the silence.

Movement….and a window opening.

The only window within hearing distance that wasn’t her own was the one in the living room.

Where the children were.

It seemed like she wasn’t going to sleep just yet.

Chapter Text

It was cold this early in the morning. Frigid, even. The sun wasn’t even up and the stars were still out. Almost nobody was up.

Key word being almost.

“Zane, how much further is the place?” Nya hissed, her voice cutting through the silence like a knife.

Zane looked down at the device he was holding.

The trackers Jay made were.…special. They logged new coordinates every minute and were saved in a special file on the main computer. And since Jay placed the same tracker on Shogun, it only made sense it would also be logged.

Of course, before Zane would have never checked the files. Shogun requested they respect his identity, and had intended to respect his wishes….but now … circumstances have changed.

It was simply a matter of checking the trackers for the most visited locations for the longest amount of time. It helped immensely that Smith seemed to have a singular “home base” rather than constantly moving around, making the place he decided as his base all the easier to find.

According to Ninjago Maps, the coordinates led to a long since abandoned apartment building, and an old one too. It was built long before Lloyd was born, and thus long before any threat of Garmadon Attacks. It had been rather popular back in the day, with a gorgeous view of the ocean and its proximity to the beach. However, just like all the other locations by the beach, as soon as it became clear Garmadon attacks were going to be a regular occurrence, everyone moved closer inland, leaving the buildings behind to fall to ruin. The only reason the buildings hadn’t been torn down was because no construction companies would finish the job before being chased off in an attack. People finally stopped trying when they realized that at least with the buildings standing there was another set of walls between them and the ocean-

“Zane!” Nya none too gently nudged him, knocking him out of his thoughts.

Ah, right he needed to respond.

“We are almost there. Just a little longer.” He responded, looking down at the device displaying the map after all he was just a normal teen and normal teens needed to use things with their hands.

“Good.” Nya tugged her jacket closer. “This place is giving me the creeps.”

Zane could only hum in agreement.

It was almost like the broken buildings were glaring at them, mocking them. Whispering how it was their fault this place was in such a state, that if only they could be better at protecting the city that it wouldn’t be this way….

It was definitely some definition of the word creepy.

It was after several more minutes of walking and navigating that they finally reached the building, and it was then Zane finally looked up.

“Here we-….are.” The words died in his throat.

He….he had figured that it wouldn’t be the nicest of places, so close to the ocean and all but…he wasn’t quite expecting this.

The apartment building was, and this was being generous, in complete shambles. Broken windows, cracking paint, collapsed walls, this place was a textbook run down, abandoned location.

And Smith had been living here.

For 2 weeks.

At the absolute least.

Alone.

And none of them knew until today.

To say Zane felt more than a little guilty was…..an enormous understatement.

All the pieces were placed clearly in front of them….and yet they had put them together in the wrong way.

It hurt, he wasn’t going to lie.

“C’mon,” Nya nudged his shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts.

He nodded. “Right.”

After all, they weren’t done.

They still needed to fulfill the primary goal of Operation: What’s Up With Smith

Finding Smith’s home.

Breaking into the apartment was more than a simple task. The padlock was more rust than metal and was easily broken with a rock….but it didn’t even mean much when they tried to open the door only for the frame to snap and send it to the floor with a loud SLAM!

……they were off to a great start.

It….didn’t get much better from there. The inside of the building somehow looked worse than the outside. Without the moon, stars or even distant lights from the city to illuminate the inside it was almost impossible to see not if he used his night vision it wouldn’t, so Nya was forced to use her phone for light. 

But the minuscule light didn’t do the apartment any favors. The wood floors were broken and dusty, sending ominous creaks with every step. The musty wallpaper was peeling and revealed enormous cracks behind them. Glass and trash littered the floor, as well as dark stains that Zane didn’t even want to try and identify.

They didn’t even dare try the elevators. That was asking for things to go wrong.

Luckily most of the stairs were easily accessible, and they weren’t too broken.

They had to climb 9 flights of stairs before they reached the level the tracer said Shogun had spent most of his time, and from the outside the room looked exactly like all the others. And, while the paint was very chipped, he could just barely make out the number 921.

Opening the door was…..a shockingly difficult task. The door only opened a crack, but through it Zane was able to count a total of three extra locks plus the remains of what appeared to be some kind of dresser in the way. 

After several attempts of trying to move the locks free, and only succeeding with one of them, the pair eventually decided they’d have to brute force it…..hopefully Smith wouldn’t be coming back, because he probably wouldn’t be very happy. 

The room was easily the cleanest one they’d come across. It was still dusty with peeling wallpaper and a partially broken window(plus the mess made by the now very broken door and dresser), but at the same time it was also….nicer.

There was a semi neat pile of worn and torn blankets in the corner which seemed to serve as a bed. In another corner there was a book, some papers, and a pencil, and looking closer Zane recognized it as the assigned reading and analysis sheet that had been assigned in English.

But other than that….the room was empty. 

It was quiet and dark….it was no place for someone like Smith.

Smith who was supportive of them at every turn.

Smith who was kind and bright and protective and all things good.

Smith…..who deserved so much better, so much more than being separated from his family and home, who deserved a normal life and a chance to get an education and not need to worry about life or death because he was just a teen for First Master’s sake-

“So this is where you two went.”

Both he and Nya visibly jumped, heads snapping behind them…..only to see Koko.

…..WHAT?

He didn’t hear her coming…..how the heck did he not hear her coming?!? The floorboards and doors creaked, they had used all of their training to travel here unnoticed and he was almost 100% certain she had gone to her room to sleep before they left! There was also how his senses were much more sensitive than a regular persons.

His disbelief must’ve been visible because Koko shrugged and continued. “You left the doors you entered through…. open and I was able to sneak through while you were making noise.”

That…..only answered some of his questions and was honestly terrifying that they didn’t notice.

“So, what exactly is so important about this place that you felt the need to sneak out?”

Both of them winced.

How could they possibly explain this?!? He and Nya had neglected to come up with any possible lies to explain their absence because they didn’t think anyone would notice. There was the truth but that-

That was…..

Then it hit him.

That….that could work in their favor.

Their original plan Lloyd had thought up was to have several sleepovers, but even he admitted that was only a temporary solution. Once they learned he was Shogun, they were thinking of asking Wu if he could stay in the base…..but this option was infinitely better.

And then there was Koko and Smith’s conversation….this could work.

(He ignored the stab of guilt he felt. He hadn’t meant to be awake, he hadn’t meant to listen in…..)

“I can explain,” Zane started, ignoring the side eye Nya was giving him. “It started a few days ago with Smith.”

Koko’s expression shifted, but the emotion was something he couldn’t quite pin.

“Smith had been exhibiting some…. concerning behavior.” He winced at his words and in the corner of his eyes he noticed Nya mutter what sounded like “ that’s an understatement.”

Koko’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of concerning?”

Zane gulped. He’d never been bothered by Koko’s attention before but now….he severely hoped that he would never find himself on her bad side. 

“The lunches he brought were sparse…he struggled greatly in his classes……and because of certain circumstances we saw his scars and fresh bruises.” He admitted. “We had avoided doing so out of privacy before but after the events of last night….I….may have….hacked some security cameras to find his home…..and, well…..”

“This is Smith’s home.” Koko finished. Her face was blank and her voice was flat, but it was the same kind of blank and flat that happened whenever Lloyd couldn’t hide his injuries.

It was a dangerous but protective blank and flat.

And it was exactly what he needed.

Nya’s eyes widened a minuscule amount, likely figuring out what he was trying to do.

“Yeah, it is.” She confirmed. “We wanted to check it out for ourselves but now that we have…..we aren’t quite sure what to do.”

“This is why Lloyd wanted to invite Smith over for a sleepover.” It was more a statement than a question, but Nya nodded anyway.

“Do the others know you’re here now?” Koko asked.

“They don’t.” Zane admitted. “The plan had been originally for Cole to keep Smith busy while we searched, but we hit several dead ends. The sleepover was partially to give us more time, but also ensuring Smith was still….safe. We….admittedly didn’t think much further beyond that.”

Several emotions flickered through Koko’s eyes before finally they softened.

“It’s amazing that you wanted to help Smith.” She started. “But in the future, you don’t need to do it alone. You could tell me, or Mr and Mrs.Walker, or Dr.Julien. What you were doing could’ve been very dangerous, and we would’ve done everything we could to help.”

“And…what about now?” Nya asked.

Koko just smiled. “I’ll take care of it.Trust me.”

And Zane did. Utterly and completely.

Because Koko was an incredibly capable woman, and First Master help anyone who stood in her way.

“Now, why don’t we head back home and-“ Koko continued, but she was cut off.

“Wait!” Nya started, taking a half step toward her.

“Yes Nya?” 

“I-” Nya started again, breaking eye contact with her.

There was the slightest tremor in her hands.

But Koko was patient, waiting for her to speak.

“I messed up….with Smith.” She admitted, and Zane got the faintest feeling he wasn’t supposed to be here for this conversation.

“I said and did some really bad things and I….I apologized and I think he forgave me but….but I still feel so awful. He shouldn’t have forgiven me so easily, but he did and I just-!…..I don’t know what to do. How do I fix things?” Nya quietly asked, and Zane repressed the urge to gasp aloud. 

Nya was never this vulnerable. With anyone. Ever. Not unless they dragged her true feelings out kicking and screaming or things were really going wrong.

But based on Koko’s careful nod and look…..maybe that wasn’t quite so true.

“Whether or not he forgives you is something entirely up to Smith. You can’t decide that for him.” Koko started. “And….well there isn’t any way to fix what you’ve done. You can’t change the decisions you made or take back the words you’ve said….”

Nya flinched.

“But you can change the future.” Koko continued, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You can learn from your mistakes and do better because of it . After all, a lost fight is only a complete loss if you learn nothing from it.”

Nya looked at her with wide eyes. The same eyes, Zane observed, whenever she would talk about Lady Iron Dragon. (A look all of the members of the Secret Ninja Force(including Smith) were very familiar with he might add)

Koko smiled.

“Now, it’s still very early, and I haven’t slept at all, so how about we head back to the apartment before your friends wake up and panic.”

Nya reached a decision on the way back.

While Lady Iron Dragon always was and always would be her #1 hero and role model....Koko was a pretty close #2.

8:31am

LadyWaterDragon: since we’re being honest about everything

Artificial_Ice-telligence: and since a certain Anxious Boi upgraded a certain Trauma Boi’s gear

FireFighter added SmithForge to Operation: What’s Up With Smith

FireFighter changed SmithForge’s name to TraumaBoi

TraumaBoi: I am not a Trauma Boi

FireFighter: Smith

FireFighter: Buddy

FireFighter: That’s like saying Jay doesn’t have anxiety

BlueJay: he’s right

TraumaBoi: this is bullyism

TaumaBoi: (Zane did I do it right)

Artificial_Ice-telligence: I’m so proud :’D

LadyWaterDragon: huh so you were serious about the memes

Artificial_Ice-telligence: Nya I’m always serious about memes

GreenBeanBoi: that makes zero sense

TraumaBoi: I’d say the lessons are coming along well. Yesterday I learned what a “yeet” was

FireFighter: FJDBFJDBF A YEET IM-

GreenBeanBoi: welcome to chaos, you can never escape

LadyWaterDragon: you know you love us

GreenBeanBoi: sigh

GreenBeanBoi: you’re right

TraumaBoi: you know this explains so much, like how you were all on your phones so much

GreenBeanBoi: ….you noticed?

TraumaBoi: You all are many things, but being subtle is not one of them

GreenBeanBoi: I feel like I should be offended but you’re not wrong

TraumaBoi: Actually, how did you guess sneak into Garmadon’s base by the way?

Artificial_Ice-telligence: Jay figured out how to track your communicator and most of the Generals were called out to deal with Nya, Jay and Kai. You drew the rest of them away

TraumaBoi: what about Garmadon?

Artificial_Ice-telligence: Vibe Checked by Cole :D

RollingStones: felt good

RollingStones: too bad I lost my hammer to the ocean

RollingStones: would’ve had Jay make a frame for it

GreenBeanBoi: kinda jealous ngl

GreenBeanBoi: I too wish I could be lost to the ocean

TraumaBoi: ….Lloyd no

RollingStones: Lloyd’s self deprecating humor aside

GreenBeanBoi: it’s not self deprecating if it’s right

TraumaBoi: I don’t think that’s how it works

RollingStones: I’d like to ask, are you okay with us calling you Smith

TraumaBoi: oh yeah it’s cool

TraumaBoi: I’ve actually gotten used to it plus it saves confusion

RolingStones: noted

FireFighter: speaking of which

FireFighter: since we figured out the whole What’s Up With Smith

FireFighter: I think a name change is in order

FireFighter: Allow me to tell yall my newest plan

FireFighter changed chatroom name to Operation: Arson for Mothman

LadyWaterDragon: No

LadyWaterDragon changed chatroom name to Operation: No Arson And No Cryptids

FireFighter changed chatroom name to Operation: But It’d Be Fun

LadyWaterDragon changed chatroom name to Operation: You Already Almost Burn Down The City Daily With Your Mech, You’ve Lost Fire Privileges

LadyWaterDragon changed chatroom name to Operation: And Then There’s All The Times I’ve Had To Cover For You When You Go On “Cryptid Hunts”

FireFighter changed chatroom name to Operation: Oh C'mon It Was ONE TIME

LadyWaterDragon changed chatroom name to Operation: We All Know That’s A Lie

GreenBeanBoi changed chatroom name to Operation: We’ve Been Over This, Stop Using The Chat Name To Talk

FireFighter: Well you’re no fun

FireFighter: Also who gave you mod powers???

Artificial_Ice-telligence: I did because Lloyd is the one who usually possesses our shared braincell

FireFighter: Can’t argue with that

FireFighter changed chatroom name to Operation: INSERT CHAT NAME HERE

FireFighter changed GreenBeanBoi’s name to OurCollectiveBraincell

OurCollectiveBraincell: there are seven of us

OurCollectiveBraincell: we save the city on a bi-daily basis

OurCollectiveBraincell: and yet there is only one braincell, and I have to force you guys to use it

OurCollectiveBraincell: how is that even possible

Artificial_Ice-telligence: the economy is in shambles

OurCollectiveBraincell: just like my mental state

TraumaBoi: so my apartment and mental state

OurCollectiveBraincell: Smith

TraumaBoi: Lloyd

LadyWaterDragon: Smith

Artifillal_Ice-telligence: Smith

FireFighter: Smith

RollingStones: Smith

BlueJay: Smith

TraumaBoi: hey why are you all ganging up on ME

FireFighter: Lloyd is always like this

LadyWaterDragon: we can at least curb yours

TraumaBoi: Lloyd I thought you were supposed to be shy

OurCollectiveBraincell: you’d be surprised how much confidence one can get when they aren’t talking face to face with someone

TraumaBoi: fine fine

TraumaBoi: my EX apartment 

TraumaBoi: actually that reminds me

TraumaBoi: Koko’s gonna be taking me there in a few hours to get my stuff to bring here so

TraumaBoi: Nya and Zane thank you for what you did, but next time you could’ve just asked me to show you where I was staying during the whole explanation

LadyWaterDragon: how did you know?

Artificial_Ice-telligence: my apologies about the door

TraumaBoi: No

TraumaBoi: I just had a hunch which you confirmed

TraumaBoi: …..wait what about my door

LadyWaterDragon: ….

Artificial_Ice-telligence: …..

Artificial_Ice-telligence changed TraumaBoi’s nickname to Kai#2FireBoogaloo

FireFighter: JFDHGBJHFGB

Kai#2FireBoogaloo: …..

Kai#2FireBoogaloo: I know you’re changing the subject, but Kai could you give me nicknaming rights

Kai#2FireBoogaloo: because I have the perfect nickname idea and I’m honestly surprised Zane hasn’t done it already

FireFighter: you know what

FireFighter: this seems chaotic

FireFighter: why not

Kai#2FireBoogaloo: perfect

Kai#2FireBoogaloo changed Artificial_Ice-telligence's nickname to IceIceBaby

IceIceBaby: I

FireFighter: SJRBGHJRTBGJ THAT’S EVEN BETTER-

RollingStones: I see my music sharing is being put to good use

OurCollectiveBraincell: I can’t believe it

OurCollectiveBraincell: someone out-memed Zane

LadyWaterDragon: should I be getting ready for the apocalypse?

BlueJay: Smith I think you broke Zane

Kai#2FireBoogaloo: sorry not sorry

IceIceBaby: HOW DID I MISS THAT

10:24

Kai#2FireBoogaloo has sent an image

Kai#2FireBoogaloo: I TAKE BACK MY SORRY WHAT THE HELL DID YOU GUYS DO TO MY DOOR?!?

Chapter Text

Cole took a deep breath.

It was finally time. 

It had been a month. A month of relentless training, a month of preparing and planning, a month of honing their skills to their fullest.

A month since Kai had been captured.

A month of hoping they weren’t too late.

This wasn’t like with the Great Devourer. They couldn’t afford to fall short. They couldn’t afford to not be good enough. Because this time there wasn’t a Garmadon with a Megaweapon to save them or a-

Or a brilliant, stubborn, incredible Kai to come up with an entire plan for them.

Cole had pretended it didn’t hurt. Kai didn’t do anything wrong, not at all, he was perfect, but Cole was supposed to be the leader. He was supposed to come up with the plans but he’d fallen short when they needed him and everyone almost paid the price for it. He needed to be better.

They only had one shot at this.

And they couldn’t fail.

They wouldn’t.

“Cole.”

Cole looked up to see Jay standing in the doorway, but he looked different than he usually did. Gone were the bright blue and shining silver of his gi, leaving in its place a dark, muted brown that was almost black. It looked a lot like his original gi actually, the ones from when it was just him, Cole, and Zane. Back when days were simpler. 

It was also bulkier in certain places in which Jay had stored all his gadgets. Cole and Zane also had a few, but not nearly as many. Two bits of metal that were visible on his wrists, a pair of gauntlets that went up to his mid-forearm that shot a knockout agent, among other things. They were painted over in a matte color similar to his gi in order to keep them from standing out, and it was pretty successful if Cole had anything to say about it.

They were to “give them a taste of their own medicine,” in Nya’s own words.

“Nya finished checking the rest of the gear. We’re ready to go.” Jay said.

Cole nodded and walked out. It was weird hearing Jay talk so little, but this last month had seen changes in all of them. Compared to trying to get Nya to actually take care of herself and coming up with plans it was really nothing more than a footnote.

He hated this new normal.

He wished they could go back to how things used to be, with Jay constantly jabbering about everything and anything, Zane’s cooking nights with everyone that reminded him of his own family when he was smaller, Nya’s experiments with tech and constantly trying to make the Samurai Suit better, Lloyd’s pranks and training with the kid-

And now they couldn’t. Because they were missing an integral piece.

Jay barely talked anymore.

Zane hadn’t even stepped into the kitchen. Or his own room for that matter. Cole was pretty sure he hadn't slept either.

The Samurai Suit had remained untouched and was beginning to collect dust.

Lloyd was barely seen.

But things were going to be better. Things would be able to go back to normal.

All they had to do was complete this one mission.

Zane was waiting for them on the deck. Nya and Wu were already in the control room to monitor them from there. They were ready.

“For Kai.” Zane said, breaking the silence.

They wouldn’t fail.

“For Kai.” Jay repeated, running a hand over his gauntlets.

They would bring him back.

Cole pulled his gi hood over his face. “For Kai.”

They had to.

It had been nearly an hour since they’d made it into Garmadon’s base.

And they hadn’t found anything.

Nothing.

Zip.

Nada.

They had split up upon entering, to cover more ground, but that didn’t seem to give them an edge. They’d checked every room, every level, every corner of this First Master forsaken maze, but there was. No. Kai.

While poking around they hadn’t found any other exits besides the first one they’d found, which they’d been using cameras to see who came and went. Poor design choice on Garmadon’s part, but that also meant that Kai had to be here. They never saw him escaping, nor was he ever brought out, but all of them had already checked the holding cells and the medical area, so where else could he be?!?

He ignored the stray thoughts that suggested another possibility because Kai wasn’t dead, it was impossible and stupid and Kai wouldn’t let that happen, he wouldn't leave them.

“I’m gonna do another look around my floor, then I’ll meet up with you guys.” he whispered into the comm, ignoring the fact he’d already checked this section three times.

“Affirmative.” Zane responded. There was a bit of silence before: “.....stay safe.”

And Jay almost laughed. But he didn’t, because he was in the middle of enemy territory and that would very likely give him away.

So he simply smiled, even though Zane couldn’t see it.

“…-nd I’m just saying there’s no way they did it!”

In an instant Jay pressed himself deeper into his hiding spot, holding his breath as a pair of Serpentine walked right by him. It was a very angry looking Venomari and a very done looking Hypnobrai.

“There’s no way, no possible way! It’s just-” The Venomari made a frustrated sound that sounded like a mix between a growl and a hiss.

“Well clearly they did.” The Hypnobrai snapped. “And would you give it a rest, Dendro?!? It’s been a month.”

Ooooo, gossip.

“Yeah, yeah I know, but something’s fishy.” The Venomari, probably Dendro, continued, completely oblivious to the Hypnobrai’s eye roll. “There’s no way those two rejects captured the Red Ninja. ”

…..no.

No way that just happened.

There is no possible way that out of all the Serpentine in this place, he’d managed to eavesdrop on the one conversation that had the information he needed.

Yet somehow.

Some way.

It happened.

…..maybe the universe had decided to throw them a bone for once.

“Is it really that hard to believe that they did?” The Hypnobrai asked. “I mean, seriously what have they done that makes this so unbelievable?”

“Oh where do I even start.” Dendro continued. “Hallu is as blind as a bat and his aim and reading more than show it, and Koral is more stubborn than swamp roots and refuses to hang out with anyone else. Honestly, if they didn’t insist on hanging around that useless idiot, they wouldn’t be nearly as bad, but if you bad talk Hallu around Koral then they’ll attack you! A huge overreaction in my opinion, it’s not like what’s being said isn’t true.”

….wow Dendro was a jerk, wasn’t she. Like, yeah Jay was pissed at the two Venomari but jeez.

At least he had the kidnapper's names so….yay?

The Hypnobrai seemed to share his mild discomfort and let out an awkward laugh, pointedly looking away from Dendro.

“Well, I need to get going, heh….Hypnobrai stuff and all…..” he awkwardly said. It was a painfully obvious lie to Jay, but Dendro didn’t seem to notice and just waved him off as he scurried down a different tunnel.

And now Dendro was alone.

Well…..at least as far as she knew.

And she seemed to know this Hallu and Koral pretty well…..perhaps he could drop down for a chat.

After all, he had four canisters of the knockout liquid for when he was done, and it seemed there were only two targets he needed to get.

Plus, he’d been dying to test out his new voice modulator.

“Guys I might’ve found a lead on Kai.” Jay’s voice echoed through the comm, nearly causing Zane to drop from his hiding spot and onto the Serpentine below.

“I overheard a pair of Serpentine talking about the two Venomari who kidnapped him.” He continued. “I’ve got names and rough descriptions too. Hallu and Koral, first one is big, has a lot of scars, and wears a backpack, second one is small, angry, and has an eye patch. They’re almost always seen together, so look out for Venomari pairs.”

A lead.

A good, solid lead.

A lead that brought them one step closer to getting Kai back.

Under normal circumstances, Zane would have wondered how Jay got the information. But now he didn’t even give it a second thought.

“I’ll prepare a holding cell.” Nya’s voice was quick and clipped, disappearing as soon as she came.

“And we’ll start looking for the snakes.” Cole added. “I haven’t seen any that looked like that. I’ve barely seen any Venomari at all in my section. What about you, Zane?”

“Hmm.” He quickly looked through his memories. It was a relatively simple task, the tribes were all very distinctive. The real issue was the specifics. That one had all their eyes, that one was alone, those two were together but the big one didn’t have a backpack, that one-

There.

It was barely out of the corner of his vision, but it was definitely a pair of Venomari. And it wasn’t that long ago so they would likely still be nearby.

“I am not completely certain, but I have a possible match. I will inform you if it is correct.”

Based on his memory, the Venomari had been walking down this hallway, opposite of the direction he had originally been heading. While there were a few rooms, it was a deadend that way. A quick look around the rooms revealed nothing, so where…..?

But then he saw it.

A crack in the rock

An entrance.

At first glance, it just looked just like a bigger than average crack in the rock, just barely big enough for someone to fit through. If Zane hadn’t been looking he might’ve missed it.

However, once you got past it, it was open and empty. The cavern was small and tucked out of the way, lit by a few beams of light coming from a few cracks leading to the outside. Given the size of the room, it was enough for the center to be lit but left the area by the walls shrouded in shadow.

And inside, the two Serpentine were standing right in the middle of it. There was no cover for them to hide behind and no obstacles to get in the way of Jay’s shot.

It was perfect.

It reminded him of the clearing where Kai was taken.

“I have located them.” He whispered into the comms. “Follow my tracker here. The entry is partially hidden in a crack in the rocks. I will update you if they move.”

Two calls of affirmation echoed through the comms, and Zane prepared himself.

Only they didn’t move.

They didn’t leave.

They just sat and talked. Occasionally “Hallu” would pull something out of his backpack to share, but that was it.

They were completely unaware that anything was wrong.

Just like Lloyd and Kai, who just wanted to play and have fun but had it ruined.

Finally, from his spot on the ceiling Zane was just barely able to make out subtle movement in the shadows.

His brothers were here, and Zane found himself smiling. 

Cole remained by the exit, likely to keep watch, while Jay crept closer until he was just below Zane.

“Let’s hope this works.” He could barely make out Jay’s whisper as he lined up the smaller Venomari’s neck in the center of the crosshairs.

He shared the sentiment.

And then he fired.

It was silent, swift, could’ve been made lethal, a darker, angrier part of him whispered , and the Venomari was quick to collapse. Almost immediately after the shot he heard the almost impossible to hear click of the gauntlet reloading and Jay fired another shot at the bigger one.

They didn’t even have time to realize something was wrong.

Zane wasn’t sure if that made him feel pleased or slightly sick.

All three of them dropped to the floor with barely a sound and, after a quick signal from Cole confirming no one was coming, stepped out of the shadows closer to the bodies.

“Thank you Nya.” Zane heard Cole murmur as he picked up the empty sedative containers and tucked them away. They wouldn’t want to make the same mistake the snakes did, now would they.

“Think the big guy saw us?” Jay asked. A valid question, “Hallu” had been facing “Koral” when they’d been shot, but their goal had since changed.

“It is likely, but irrelevant.” Zane answered. “If we were filling out our original mission it would have been an issue, but the plans changed.” 

“Right.” Jay replied.

Now that they were closer, the Serpentine were….a lot bigger than Zane first thought. “Hallu” was as tall as he was but with Cole’s build, making him bigger than both of them. “Koral” was very different, both thinner and shorter, but still taller than Jay and likely only an inch or two shorter than Cole.

“Jay, can you lead us to the exit?” He asked, hauling the smaller Venomari onto his back and tying them there with some of the extra rope Nya insisted on packing. 

“You got it.” Jay quickly pulled up the digital map on the gauntlets. They were coming in rather useful. Perhaps after all this was over, he would ask Jay and Nya if they could make more for other missions. “I’ve got a route to the exit. It’ll be a bit of a walk, but from what I recorded they weren’t being used very much and the sedative lasts a few hours so we won’t need to worry about our new friends waking up. The big guy’s probably gonna wake up sooner though…”

Cole heaved “Hallu” onto his back, barely bothered by the weight of the massive Serpentine. “Lead the way.”

Jay nodded and quietly crept back into the shadows, trusting his brothers would be behind him.

And in a second, they left, almost as if they were never there in the first place.

These Serpentine would have the answers they needed.

They wouldn’t fail.

Whatever it would take for them not to.

It was a sound that stirred Koral from the darkness. Only one, but it was enough. They always were a light sleeper. They couldn’t move yet, though.

The sound continued.

But everything felt….weird. Something that felt like….cloth? Sort of? Whatever it was, it was wrapped around various parts of them, tangling them up.

Did they sleepwalk again? They didn’t remember going to bed…..actually the last thing they remember was…..

Hallu was talking about something. And then he’d looked….scared. Then a pinch on their neck.

A sliver of fear slipped through but they quickly stamped it down.

Nothing was wrong, they were overreacting. It was just someone from the tribe, probably Dendro wanting to test her aim again. They were safe and in a few minutes, they’d be able to move again. Nothing was wrong.

“Koral?” 

They took a deep breath, forcing their breathing to slow down. See, Hallu was here. He sounded not that far away, things were fine, Hallu would make things better.

Only with that thought could they finally open their eyes.

And immediately wished they hadn’t.

The room was nothing like anywhere that they would use to describe the word home. The walls weren’t soft, packed dirt and roots or worn and dug stone. Instead, the walls and floor were unfamiliar wooden planks with a single window with barely any light coming through. It looked boarded up from the outside.

And Hallu…..oh Hallu.

Hallu was bound on the other side of the room, hands pulled far enough behind him that Koral couldn’t even see them. There was also a piece of cloth tied around his mouth, but it seemed to function less as a gag and more as something to keep him from using his venom.

Hallu was crying, still wet tears running down his face.

And now that Koral could see it, suddenly all the strange feelings around them became crystal clear.

The rope tying their arms and tail to their sides.

The cloth around their claws.

The gag around their mouth.

All of their defenses were rendered useless.

Helpless.

Vulnerable.

Weak.

The fear came back with the force of a tsunami, crushing any sense of rationality into oblivion.

They wanted desperately to curl up in a ball but they couldn’t move, shouldn’t move, can’t make a sound because then they’ll draw Its attention and they needed to be silent, small, silent silent silent-

“Koral.” 

And then a voice cut through their panic like a knife only to plunge itself straight through their heart.

Koral’s eyes snapped over to Hallu in an instant, unable to press down the second wave of fear that washed over him. Didn’t he understand, they needed to be quiet, there was danger, drawing attention was bad bad bad, so dangerous-

“Koral, can you move?” His voice was quieter, shakey, almost a whisper, better than before but still loud, loud, loud, he was going to draw It’s attention.

The smallest part of their brain remembered something from their younger years. When it started getting bad and they couldn’t move, even if they wanted to, which they didn’t because that would make sound and sound was bad.

They blinked once.

“Okay. I can’t get to you, I’m sorry, but would you like me to be quiet or keep talking?”

They hated sounds, sounds were dangerous….. but if some sounds filled the silence then more sounds wouldn’t be as bad.

They blinked twice.

He nodded. “S-so I don’t know if you remember, but on the way back from the city, the one with the flower shop? Well-”

Minutes passed filled with Hallu’s mindless chatter. He talked of everything, and with every passing second Koral could feel the weight on their lungs getting lighter. The room seemed a tad less dark, a tad less terrifying, and slowly other sounds returned to their ears.

It sounded less empty. Less alone.

It didn’t erase the wobble in his voice, the shine to his eyes, the drying tear tracks.

But it made things easier.

So Koral finally opened their mouth behind the bag.

And spoke.

“Where the hell are we?”

Maybe it was because of how tense the situation was. Maybe it was because he was happy Koral was able to talk. Maybe it was because of the absurdity and bluntness of Koral’s chosen words that were just so…. Koral.

But Hallu laughed a bit.

“I-” his words were cut off by another set of giggles but…..but this new bout felt different.

Off.

And that….well it didn’t scare Koral, but it definitely made them very uncomfortable.

Hallu was never like this.

“I think we were kidnapped.”

“By who?” Koral found themselves immediately asking.

“Who else?” Hallu asked. 

Ah.

“The ninja figured it out then.” they could only mutter. 

Hallu nodded with another snicker. “How the turns have tabled.”

Koral could only give him a look. He was acting so….. off. They were captured by someone who probably wanted angry vengeance because they kidnapped one of their own and likely wouldn’t be rescued. Why wasn’t Hallu….freaking out?

“Hallu….” Koral started. “Are…are you okay?”

“No, not in the slightest.”

……not much Koral could say to that in all honesty.

“But, at least you’re calm, so I can panic now.” Hallu said, his voice started to gain a pitched edge to it.

That….that just made Koral more concerned. Hallu’s never acted like this before, never been afraid enough before for him to have this reaction.

It’s always been panicked rambles or terrified silence…..never this bluntness.

Koral didn’t know what to do.

“What are we even doing?” Hallu continued, punctuating it with a short, dry laugh.

“What?”

“I-” Hallu took a deep breath. “I said: what are we even doing? Why are we doing this?”

His voice was slowly bleeding into something more bitter.

Koral frowned in confusion. “Why we kidnapped the Red Ninja? Because that’s what was commanded of us in order to fulfill our duties as warriors-?”

“But WHY!?!” 

Koral’s eye widened. They could count on one hand the amount of times Hallu had raised his voice in their lives

Koral could count on one finger the amount of times it had been directed at them.

“Why are we fighting the humans!?! We lost the war, they won it, so why are we still fighting in it!?!” He continued. “Most of the humans who fought in it aren’t even alive anymore!!! WE WEREN’T EVEN ALIVE!!!!! THE ONLY REASON THE HUMANS ARE FIGHTING US IS BECAUSE THE HYPNOBRAI ATTACKED THAT DEVOURER DAMNED VILLAGE!!!!”

Hallu’s breathing was more strained now, his chest heaving. Fresh tears were starting to spill down his face. His anger was melting away into something different, something more vulnerable.

And Koral…..didn’t have a response.

Because Hallu was right. They had lost the war, long before they were even born. 

Koral could remember the human’s reaction when they took part in their first raid with the tribe. The running, the screaming…..at the time they’d been proud, but now……

From the human’s perspective, a long gone threat had suddenly attacked again over a lost war most didn’t even remember.

That…..that made Koral feel a bit sick, in all honesty.

And at the same time it flipped everything they knew about the world on its head.

Ever since they’d been a hatchling, they’d always wanted to be a warrior. To fight.

And Koral wasn’t stupid, they knew the main reason Hallu wanted to be a warrior as well was so the two could stay together and as an excuse to go out into the world.

But that was why Hallu wanted to be a warrior.

So…..why was Koral a warrior?

To help their tribe and win the war? But the war had already been lost.

To be with Hallu? But there were almost an infinite amount of options that were easier and safer.

To be respected? As if, they had permanently set themselves in a negative view from the tribe. The only ones who didn’t dislike them, openly or otherwise, were Acidicus because he had to be impartial to everyone in the tribe and Asp, the Venomari who taught everyone in their age group.

So…..why?

……

“…..you’re right.” They finally responded, looking Hallu in the eye. “What are we doing?”

Chapter Text

So. Um. Not quite sure how to say this so I’m just going to be blunt. Recently writer’s block has been kicking my ass so SPBNR is going to be put on a hiatus. I am not discontinuing it, just taking a bit of a break to recharge and maybe dabble in some other projects to get my writer juices flowing. I will be returning to it sometime in June, so sit tight until then

Chapter Text

Smith took a deep breath.

It had been a month since he’d been sent to this world.

A month of familiar faces, fumbling with his new life and trying to get home.

He’d looked through all of Wu’s scrolls and books, plus the Magic History section of the library and museum, but the closest he could find was the existence of Realms. Wu said he would look out for any possible answers, he’d even left the city every few days to find more….. but nothing yet.

And that wasn’t even touching the possible problems the “never leave” aspect of the wish could bring up.

So now, he was stuck and almost completely reliant on his family back home to find a way to get him back.

It hadn’t been all bad though. Spending time with this realm’s ninja was nice, especially now that everything was cleared up. High school was an…. interesting experience, and with help from the squad he was beginning to catch up. Except with history. More often than not he was the one helping them.

And that led him to his current position, doing the second most important thing he could do in this realm.

Making Lloyd his birthday gift.

He’d spent the better part of a week working on it, with some help from Mr.Walker. Under normal circumstances it would’ve taken maybe a few days, but this wasn’t normal circumstances. He’d heard from the others how…. awful Lloyd’s birthday usually was, so his gift needed to be perfect.

And it was finally finished.

It was sitting innocently in its box, wrapped in shiny, beautiful green paper and a shimmering gold bow. 

Now all he had to do was give it to him.

Right.

Give Lloyd.

The gift.

That he made.

For him.

For his birthday.

…..oh jeez.

He’s never actually given any of his works to people as gifts. Sure, he’d done it to keep the shop in business and food on the table, but he’d always been told what to make. Cookware, weapons, armor, all of it was easy because he’d known what the person wanted.

But this? He was basically going in completely blind.

…….would Lloyd even like it-

“Hey, no insulting anything made in the workshop allowed.”

Smith jumped slightly.

“How’d you know?” He sheepishly asked.

“I’m a teacher. Trust me, I’ve seen my fair share of students not happy with their pieces.” Mr.Walker smiled, handing him a mug of hot chocolate. “I’m sure Lloyd is going to love it.”  

Smith took a deep breath. “Right. Yep. Definitely.”

Lloyd would like it….. probably.

He took a long sip.

This…. this would be fine. After all, the worst thing he could do was not like it. Lloyd was too…. well, polite to do anything worse.

Right?

“Well, I’d better get going.” He said, sliding the gift into one of the pockets of his backpack before slinging it across his shoulder. “I wanna see if I can meet Lloyd before the bell.” 

“Good luck.” Mr.Walker responded. “Just be sure to be back in time for class.”

“I will.” He set the mug on the counter. “And do you think you could keep that somewhere? I’d like to finish it later.”

Mr.Walker gave a warm nod and carefully picked it up.

He honestly really liked the mug that Mr.Walker had “given” him. The colors were nice and the design was pretty cool. It was a little weird how it looked almost exactly like Flame though…..

Eh, it was probably just a coincidence.

Or the universe just deciding to mess with him again.

It was easy making his way to the group’s collective lockers, partially because there were so few people who hung around there. When he rounded the corner he was pleasantly greeted by everyone already there…… along with Nya…… on her motorcycle…… in the hallway.

Well alright then.

“Hey guys!” he greeted. “Happy birthday Lloyd!”

Lloyd gave him a smile which, while tired, was nothing short of genuine. “Smith! Thanks.”

They shared a quick hug, but he noticed Lloyd was being really gentle. As they pulled apart Smith gave him a playful eye roll.

“I’m not that fragile, Lloyd.” He nudged him.

Lloyd gave a small chuckle. “I know, I know. Doesn’t hurt to be careful.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” 

Okay. He could do this.

Focus.

Lloyd would love it, you just have to give him the dang thing.

“Anyways, there’s something I wanted to-”

“Hey everyone, look!” A familiar and grating voice yelled. “It’s Garma-dork and the Dorksquad.”

Really? Really?!? Just as he got the courage to give Lloyd his gift.

“You wanna hear our new cheer?” Chen taunted.

Oh for First Master’s sake it was Lloyd’s birthday!

“L-L-O-Y-D, his dad is bad and so is he, boo Lloyd! Boo Lloyd!”

……you can’t stab civilian teens, you can’t stab civilian teens, you cAN’T STAB CIVILIAN TEENS-

“BOO LLOYD!” Chen gave a final yell with a glare and words dipped in poison.

…..okay, is it possible he could make an exception?

No! 

No. 

No, he couldn’t, because that would just cause more problems for Lloyd and the others. 

As tempting as it was, no.

But Lloyd, First Master bless his soul because he did nothing to deserve any of this, simply gave a pained smile to the trio before them.

“Great chant.” he said, audibly and visibly uncomfortable. “I’ll bet you’ve got a number one hit on your hands.”

Smith was honestly 3 seconds away from getting out the knife he had hidden in his backpack. He said he wouldn't hurt them, not that he wouldn’t….. persuade them to leave the group alone for the rest of the day-

The 5 minute warning bell rang.

“Shoot!” Lloyd said, quickly closing his locker and picking up his backpack. “Sorry Smith, you’ll have to tell me what you wanted later, I’ve gotta go!”

And then he was gone.

Smith let out a slightly annoyed huff and glared at the now retreating backs of the cheerleaders.

This was fine. This just slightly delayed things. 

He had the entire rest of the day, plus after school since they were living together now(which he still had a hard time believing).

He just…. needed to wait for the right moment.

But the right moment never came

He tried several times throughout the day. But something would always interrupt him.

Every. Single. Time.

Trying to give it to him in the middle of a passing period? He couldn’t find Lloyd.

During lunch? Some jerks tried to booby trap their lunch table with an exploding cake and they had to spend most of the lunch period cleaning up while trying to find a new spot.

His last shot before school let out was during Social Studies, his last class for the day which he coincidentally shared with all the others.

The kid who had been sitting next to Lloyd had also been more than happy to swap with him, and while Smith would’ve liked to punch him for hating Lloyd, he’d taken the seat without complaint.

It was a little difficult to pull off while sitting in the front row, but it was still possible.

“…psst. Lloyd.” He whispered, slightly leaning toward Lloyd while the teacher’s back was turned.

Lloyd slightly side-eyed him but stayed quiet.

“I-”

And then the freaking Garmalarm started to go off.

The students around them started to clamor, the energy in the room raising considerably as the students talked amongst themselves.

“Oh no, it’s Garmadon!” the teacher exclaimed(he honestly couldn’t be bothered to remember her name). “You know what to do. Duck and cover!”

Okay, this was the first time since he’d been here that an attack happened while he was in the middle of a class. He knew the others had a way of doing it, but how-?

At that exact second, all six of them jumped up from their seats saying at various volumes: “Can I have a bathroom pass?”

……

“I think you mean ‘ may I?’ ‘May I have a bathroom pass?’” The teacher corrected. 

That seriously couldn’t be what she was focusing on, right? This was incredibly suspicious, to say the least.

“….you know what, do whatever you want.”

…..Smith wasn’t sure if he wanted to be upset at the sheer lack of care this teacher had for their group, or relief since this made it way easier to help the city.

They all tore out of the classroom and down the hallways before he had time to question it.

The second they landed in the warehouse, everyone bolted to their respective mechs, climbing up to them with practiced ease and calling out their call signs as they finished preparing. It had taken several attempts before Smith had gotten used to the locker chute, but eventually he got the hang of it.

They had even given him his own locker to keep his gear in! Of course, they’d confiscated it pretty quickly because he refused to “rest” and “take care of himself,” but now that he was pretty healed…..

But when he opened it, he found it was still empty.

“Guys?” he called out. “Where’s my suit?”

“Smith, you’re still on monitor duty.”

Smith let out a groan. “Oh c’mon, Lloyd! It’s been two weeks, I’m fine! Where’s my suit?!?”

“On the contrary.” Zane interrupted. “We only removed your stitches yesterday, and you have only been resting for a third of that time, and I use ‘resting’ very loosely.”

Smith winced a bit. “Well, I can’t let myself get rusty. Can you just tell me where my suit is?”

“There’s ‘not getting rusty’ and then there’s ‘parkouring around the mechs in the base.’” Red commented.

“The city is in danger!!!!”

“Your health is in danger.” Now Cyan was joining in.

“Just tell me where my suit is guys!!! This is talking about the greater good!”

“Greater good? This is your body. It is the greatest GOOD you’re ever going to get!” Cole said, and Smith could practically hear the eyebrow raise. “Besides, we’ve been able to handle Garmadon for years, a few more days of you on the bench won’t destroy the city.”

“Fine, fine, monitor duty, I get it.” He grumbled, shutting the locker with a tad more force than necessary.

“Alright, let's go!” Lloyd called out, and then they were off, either through the giant sliding doors or the massive ceiling opening.

And he was left behind. Inside. Alone.

He sighed and made his way to his station.

The “monitor room” wasn’t even a full room. It was actually the gaming corner which had been repurposed to show the feed of security cameras all around the city(of which there were….. a concerning amount of them, if Smith was being perfectly honest. Guess this “Octan” was a thorough bunch). Mostly he just helped direct everyone to where there were too many mechs and gave them a heads up on when Garmadon appeared. There was a couch and a few bean bags to sit on, as well as a gaming controller and a keyboard Jay had dug up which controlled the whole thing. There was even a small minifridge with snacks in it.

It was incredibly, horribly, boring.

He wanted to be out there fighting with them, not cooped up in the warehouse! Sure this was better than them making sure he stayed out of the fights entirely, but still!!!!

How the heck did Phe manage to do this? No wonder she created the Samurai X Suit, he was honestly tempted to do the same. First thing he was doing when he got home was apologizing for sidelining her and then taking her on the best patrol of her life.

With a sigh he threw his backpack into one of the chairs and turned the whole thing on. The cameras changed rapidly as he scrolled through them, his eyes darting just as quick to the 16 sections on screen and cataloging everything he could.

Cole was making shockwaves, Jay was zapping the fliers, Zane was freezing the mechs, Nya was drowning some Generals, Kai was nearly setting a city block on fire, Lloyd was-

Huh. The falling bus thing was new. Garmadon hadn’t done that before.

Eh, no issue, Lloyd dealt with it easily.

It made him smile but also broke his heart that the only time they could be loved by the city was when they wore a mask.

It was strange. Guiding them from behind a screen, having eyes in places they couldn’t but unable to cover those places himself.

He couldn’t wait to be back in the field.

But for now, he’d have to wait.

And it wasn’t all bad. He got to watch Garmadon getting his butt kicked from multiple angles and got to see the others in action even more.

Lloyd was even about to fight Garmadon.

Maybe there was still room for today to be better after all.

Chapter Text

“…..so, Lloyd.” Smith started, getting up from his bean bag. “That was….. a lot.”

“N-nah, not really, I mean-”

“Dude, that was a lot.” Kai interrupted. “You were not ‘totes profesh’ like you said.”

“It was not a vibe, Lloyd.” Zane offered solemnly.

“What you said hit hard.” Nya added.

“With the missiles, right? I’ve been doing some experimenting and-”

“No, no, not the missiles. The- the other stuff.”

“Yeah, but what exact other stuff are you referring to? Because I was- I was just-”

“You were kinda emotional.” Jay shyly said.

“And vulnerable.” Cole added.

Lloyd let out an awkward laugh, turning his back to Smith to look at them fully. “Emotions and vulnerability were the last thing on my mind, believe me.”

Sure Lloyd. Sure.

.....but it was also his birthday, so they could let him drop it just this once.

From behind Lloyd, he made eye contact with the others and made a vague hand swipe around his neck. At the last second he shook his head as well, just to make sure they got the message.

Nya frowned, but shrugged. “Whatever you say Green Bean.”

“So, what’s the plan for the rest of today? How do you guys usually celebrate?” Smith asked, shifting the conversation. Aside from the obvious reason of changing the subject, he was also genuinely curious. The only birthdays he’d experienced were small quiet affairs between him and Phoenix, and he hadn’t celebrated one with the guys yet.

“Well,” Nya began. “Usually we hang out here or me and Kai’s place and just kinda…. mess around? We don’t have many traditions, we just do whatever feels right that year.”

“Like a couple years ago, we spent the whole day building whatever we could because Master Wu taught Lloyd how to Master Build.” Kai jumped in. “And then there was last year where we had a Water War.” 

Cole let out a soft chuckle. “I remember that. Jay made an illegal super soaker and nearly knocked us all off the docks and into the ocean. He won easily after that.”

“It wasn’t that easy, I was just luck-”

“Jay, buddy, zap trap, our skrungly scrimblo.” Zane interrupted. “You mopped the floor with us. It was amazing and also the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen.”

A small wave of laughter rose upon Jay burying himself in his scarf, cheeks flushed red.

“That’s how we beat Garmadon, we just arm ourselves with Jay’s soakers and go in guns blazing!” Lloyd added, and the laughter only surged.

And Smith smiled.

These kids had too much on their shoulders. They deserved to laugh like this more often.

Suddenly Cole perked up, his eyes slightly widening. “Hey you guys hear that flute music?” 

…….there was only one person who played flute music all the way out here-

“MASTER WU!” The others connected the pieces as well and bolted to the open warehouse door. The Bounty was landing on the water as graceful as ever, and-

“Hello, students.”

“JESUS CHRISTMAS CHRIST-!”

…..okay he’d admit it, he did jump when Wu appeared, BUT IN HIS DEFENSE Wu appeared out of nowhere.

“....wait what’s a ‘christmas?’” Nya looked at him with a weird expression.

“A fever dream I very much wish I could forget, that’s what.” Was his only response. He wasn’t elaborating more than he had to on that one.

Stupid Venomari with their freaky gingerbread people and creepy elves.

“How was your trip?” Cole interrupted.

“It was a deep, spiritual journey. It took me to depths inside myself which I never knew existed.” he offered sagely.

Cole playfully smirked. “Yeah, I can tell. Your tan line is looking pretty nice….”

“Don’t judge me!”

A small round of giggles went around. Wu simply rolled his eyes with a poorly disguised laugh before turning to Lloyd.

“Happy birthday, nephew.” Wu smiled, giving him a warm nod. “16 is an important number. Only two more and then you’ll become an adult.”

Lloyd made an exaggerated shiver. “Oof, don’t remind me. Being an adult sounds terrifying.”

Smith…. admittedly didn’t get that aspect of it. For him turning 18 wouldn’t change much, it would just mean he wouldn’t have to keep on the downlow about certain things, and he’d also be able to be Phoenix’s legal guardian. He already had practice with “adult things” so if anything turning 18 would just make things easier.

“However, the future aside, it is time I give you your gift.”

All the ninja perked up at that. Kai leaned over to Smith and whispered “Wu always gives the wildest gifts, so you’re in for a treat.”

“However, this gift also can be applied to your friends as well.” Wu continued. “I’ve spent the last few months pondering it, and I believe that you all are now old enough to bear this responsibility. It is something your parents have passed onto you, whether they are aware of it or not, and I believe it is time for you to learn of this part of your heritage.”

“It will not be easy to master. It is a path lined with difficulty, personal growth, and has taken those before you years to learn and use. You cannot escape what I am about to tell you, but it is up to you on whether or not you wish to pursue it.” Wu paused for a moment to let his words sink in before he continued. “Your call signs were not chosen at random. Your abilities, your elements, are all part of the reason I chose you to fight against Garmadon. And once you unlock your True Potential, this power will be at your fingertips.”

“Like the prophecy from my Ninjago?” Smith asked. He’d always thought the element assignment thing was a bit strange. Sure, he understood why his Wu would assign and train them with weapons mirroring the Golden Weapons, but this universe didn’t seem to have them….. or at least, they didn’t use them. Plus, there were only four Weapons, not six.

The True Potential thing was familiar at least.

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Wu nodded his head.

He stepped forward, setting his staff on the ground.

“Nya.” he began, moving his hands and arms in a way that vaguely reminded Smith of his Spinjitzu demonstration but slightly different. “You can create water…. on your own.”

And suddenly a floating bubble of water appeared before them. It was crystal clear and gave off a slightly blue glow, the edges of the buddle ever so slightly rippling.

What.

“And Kai, fire.” He flipped around to Kai, and suddenly there was a spark and a flash and small roaring blaze that Smith could feel the heat emanating from.

What.

And he went from person to person, with Jay he summoned blue crackling sparks along his arms, with Cole he shook the ground like an earthquake with a single punch, with Zane his fist became covered with small spikes of ice crystal, the chilled air wafting off it like smoke.

W H A T

They had- they had powers??? Actual, real, not-weapon-given, honest to First Master powers???? Which they could access outside the True Potential??????

W-

HOW????? HIS WU HAD NEVER MENTIONED ANYTHING AT ALL LIKE THIS! DID THAT MEAN THEY DIDN’T HAVE POWERS??? WAS IT A REALM EXCLUSIVE THING??????

“And uh- what about me, what am I?” Lloyd stepped forward, wiggling with anticipation and a grin pulling at his face.

“Lloyd.” Wu nodded. “Yours is the most important Element of them all.”

“Okay, hit me with it!”

Huh, so even without the Green Ninja Prophecy Lloyd was still special. Interesting.

“Your elemental power is…..”

Energ-

“Greeeen.”

And Smith…… let out a sound somewhere in between a snort and a choke, because that was nothing at all like he was expecting.

Lloyd seemed just as equally confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Greeeen.” Wu repeated, like that was going to make it make any more sense.

Because just….. Green? Seriously??? What the heck was the power of green?

Lloyd blinked.

“Okay so…. just to recap.” Lloyd started. “Fire, Ice, Water, Earth, Lightning , aaaaaand…..” 

“Greeeen.”

“I don’t think that’s an element though.”

Smith had to agree with Lloyd on this one, this made…. No sense. Admittedly he was still wrapping his head around water being an element, as far as his Wu told them it was only Fire, Earth, Ice and Lightning, but at least Water made more sense than a color.

Was Green…… I don’t know, maybe a different name for Energy? Monty’s Energy orb things were glowing green after all.

“Lloyd-” Wu started, but he was cut off.

“Can I be gold?”

“No.”

“Wind isn’t taken, what about Wind?”

“That would be your cousin.”

“Yeah but is he really using it?”

“Yes, he is.”

Wait since when did Lloyd have a cousin-?

“Earth, Green, and Fire. Rolls right off the tongue.”

“Lloyd.”

“Could I be… the Element of Surprise~!”

“No. That’s the Fuschia Ninja.”

And Wu just. Gestured to the side and out of nowhere someone in a fuchsia colored gi popped out of nowhere with some jazz hands and slipped away into thin air.

…..oh okay so they weren’t going to comment on that? Cool, cool, got it, honestly it was pretty tame compared to everything else-

“There are so many elements left, so it feels kinda purposeful that I don’t have one.” Lloyd continued.

Wu sighed. “Lloyd, come with me for some Mentor Talk. The rest of you, practice Spinjitzu with Smith for the next few hours.”

There were a couple groans and moans, but slowly shuffled into position.

Smith couldn’t help a grin at that. 

Even when he couldn’t join, Spinjitzu practice was always a blast.  

“Kai look out for the-!”

“Dummy, yeah I see it!”

“Jump up, kick back, wHIP AROUND AND- HECK WATCH OUT!!!!!”

“AH-! Zane watch where you’re firing that thing!”

Smith let out a quiet snort.

Okay he did have to give Master Wu credit where credit was due. As difficult as it was to pull off, watching the training course was absolutely hilarious.

It was doubly hilarious considering how skilled they were with their mechs. He supposed it made sense, but it was wild that the teens who protected a city from an entire army on almost a daily basis would struggle with a simple obstacle course.

……okay actually no he took that back, this obstacle course was anything but simple.

It had been easy enough to construct with Jay and Lloyd’s help. Smith practically had the thing branded into a portion of his memory and recreating it had only taken a couple days with the hard part just being finding the right materials to make it. It made him feel…. really nostalgic all things considered. Sure in his realm they’d done their best to recreate it on the Bounty, but it wasn’t the same. They’d had to move things around to make it fit and shrink things down so they wouldn’t hit their heads on the ceiling.

But here, in this little nook off to the side of the Ninja Force Base he could recreate it exactly the way it had been in the Monastery. The only real difference was at their insistence of laying down some mats to cushion any falling.

“You’re getting closer!” he shouted. And he wasn’t lying, they had been getting better over the last couple weeks.

“You still haven’t explained how this teaches us Spinjitzu.” Nya pointed out, leaning on her wooden trident. (Wu had given him a wooden sword, it felt only fair that they had at least had their weapons too).

Smith shrugged. “It’ll make sense when you figure it out. This is how I was taught, plus it’s good practice.”

Also he….. didn’t actually know how to show them otherwise, but they didn’t need to know that.

“What do you think Master Wu meant about that True Potential stuff?” he overheard Jay question. “The ‘Elemental Master’ stuff is cool but… what does it mean?”

“Oh, that I can actually explain that.” Smith perked up. While he wasn’t sure about how it tied into their powers, he did have a good amount of experience when it came to this topic. “It’s essentially some kind of emotional or psychological barrier that’s holding you back.”

Cole frowned a bit. “Elaborate?”

“Okay, uh.” He thought for a moment. Oh jeez, who’s did he explain? Julien’s would be difficult to explain without making Zane uncomfortable…. he had no idea about Jay and Nya’s relationship here….. Brook’s would probably be a bit of a sore spot for Cole….. 

Welp, his own it was then.

“I’m…. not super proud of mine.” he began, a frown of displeasure pulling at his face. “But long story short, I really wanted to be the Green Ninja. It means something different back home, and I wanted it bad. I…. I’ll admit I did some things I’m not proud of.”

“....Smith you don’t have to share this if it makes you uncomfortable. We can always ask Master Wu to explain it later.” Kai looked at him with concern written all over his face, but Smith waved it off.

“Nah, it’s fine. I've grown since then, and I’m not ashamed to admit I messed up back then.” Smith shrugged. “Long story short, me and Monty got dropped into a volcano and I had to make a choice between saving him and claiming the destiny I thought was mine. I finally realized that what I was doing wasn’t healthy, for me or anyone else, and realized that my destiny wasn’t to become the Green Ninja, but to instead become his protector.”

There was a long stretch of silence.

“....we have to be dropped into a volcano?!?” Jay squeaked.

“NO! No no no,” he quickly corrected. “Yes these kinds of big emotional changes can happen in stressful situations but not always! You just…. you just gotta figure things out on your own. No one can tell you what exactly is the thing keeping you from your True Potential, and only you can take the steps to unlock it.”

He felt his eyes drift upward in thought, only to notice the color had faded from blue to the beginnings of an orange. Wow it was already this late? He really lost track of the time, the sun was already setting.

“Well, I think it’s almost time for me to head back.” he said, standing up from the crate he’d been using as a chair. “You guys keep practicing, I’m gonna talk to Wu about something then I’ll be off with Lloyd.”

And maybe he could finally give Lloyd his gift.

Various sounds of farewells sounded over the sounds of machinery.

But as he slid back into the main warehouse, movement from outside caught his eye.

A form parkouring off The Bounty and down the docks away from the warehouse.

Lloyd.

“Wait. Wait, LLOYD!” He yelled out bolting to the entrance, but he either didn’t hear him or was ignoring him( he tried not to think about how much the second option hurt ). “I WANTED TO-! give you your…. gift.”

He sighed. 

Wu turned around, having noticed him running out. He walked over with a small consoling nod. “Be patient. The time will come soon.”

“I just wish it would come sooner.” Smith frowned. Maybe he could beat Lloyd to the apartment and give the gift then?

“Smith…. There are a few things I would like to bring to your attention. I intended to talk to you when I arrived, but my talk with Lloyd took longer than I was anticipating” he continued, placing a hand on his shoulder and gesturing to the Bounty.

Smith sighed. He’d been expecting this.

Might as well get this over with.

Chapter Text

He followed Wu’s lead, very pointedly ignoring the bubble of anxiety in his chest as he stepped on the deck of the ship and out of earshot of the others. He could hear the water lapping at the sides of the Bounty barely a few feet beneath them and tried his best not to think about how only a few slabs of wood and some nails were keeping them afloat.

He was only partially successful.

He was doing this for a reason, he reminded himself. You’re fine, the Bounty has survived a lot so its counterpart is probably the same.

It wasn’t that he specifically wanted to keep things secret from the others but….. he just didn’t want to get their spirits down with Wu’s news, that’s all.

“You didn’t find anything. Did you.”

They both knew it, time and time again when Wu thought there was a possible lead and came back. It wasn’t even a question anymore. 

And yet, Wu always answered him anyway.

“I did not.” He responded. “However, I recently got word that two old friends of mine returned from a trip outside the city. They’re both curators at a museum, so there’s a possibility they could know something.”

And yet, no matter how many failures and dead ends there were, Wu refused to give up.

It was…. nice. That he cared this much. That he was putting this much effort into finding him a way home when he had nothing to gain from it.

But to his surprise, Wu continued.

“However, that is not everything I wished to share with you.” There was a look in his eyes. It was somber and more subdued than usual, even when compared to the other times they had this conversation. “When I was doing my research I ended up looking through some older notes about Elemental Masters. They’ve been involved in countless magical and supernatural events, so I’d thought I could find something pertaining to realm travel. As I have told you, I did not succeed in my goal…. but I did find something else.”

He paused for a moment, collecting himself. His grip on his staff tightened before he leveled his gaze with Smith’s own. “I believe I found the cause of the…. incident on the volcano.”

Smith sucked in a breath.

He didn't remember much of his apparent rampage in Garmadon’s lair, but from what little he’d heard from the other’s….. it didn’t paint a pretty picture.

It honestly frightened him more that he didn’t remember. That he’d just lost control like that. One second things had been fine and then the next…….

“Well? What was it?” Smith asked.

“Before I tell you, I wish to clarify something.” Wu said. “Your Lloyd, Monty if I’m remembering correctly, is capable of using the four Elements of Creation, and you are incapable of using Fire despite having unlocked your True Potential, correct?”

“....yeah?”

Wu sighed. “That’s what I was worried about.”

What?

“I have a theory. It’s nothing concrete as I am unsure of the nature of Elemental Masters in your realm, if they even exist.” he continued. “But, there have been numerous cases throughout history of a Master having their Element taken from them. Based on what I’ve found, there were even a few cases where the element was given to another person, not unlike what I believe has been done with your ‘Green Ninja Prophecy.’ However, an Element can never truly be stolen. Not permanently at least.”

“Okay….” Smith drawled, a slight edge to his voice. He didn’t like where this was going. “And what does that mean for me?”

“Every element is very closely intertwined with their Master’s emotion, and each one has different emotions which can empower or weaken it. For example, the Element of Fire gains power with passion, anger, and love.” Wu explained. “But because your body is so used to having the element inside of you, it will still attempt the reaction….. only it cannot. So the reaction continues to build and build with no proper outlet until it becomes uncontrollable.”

“What, so I’m a ticking time bomb?”

He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, and to his horror Wu didn’t refute it, merely wincing and averting his gaze.

“By technicality…. that would appear to be the case.” Wu said. “There are outside variables as well. Normally it takes much, much longer for it to reach the level you experienced. You should’ve had years before it got this bad. Yours was only triggered early because of your proximity to the volcano alongside the residual emotions from the argument you had with the others on top of the immense amount of stress you’ve been put under. Currently, as long as you avoid any places with intense flames or lava, you should be fine.”

Smith felt numb. “But it’s going to get worse.”

Wu sighed. “......there are only two cures for Element Withdrawal that I could find, not including the use of a special kind of metal to suppress the symptoms, but it seemed to have several long term consequences. The first is the ‘easy’ one, and that is for the element to be returned to the Master or to be in close proximity to whatever or who ever has the element. For obvious reasons…. that isn’t an option right now.”

“And the second?”

Wu looked at him with some indecipherable emotion on his face. “You need to reconnect yourself with your element.”

Smith stared. “.......what?”

“As I mentioned before, an Element can never truly be stolen.” he continued. “The connection is merely disrupted and inaccessible, making it seem like it has been removed. If you can manage to reconnect with it, the symptoms will gradually decrease.”

“But I’ve never had my powers before!” he blurted. “The only magical ability I’ve ever used was when I used the Sword of Fire back home. How am I supposed to reconnect with something I’ve never had?!?”

“Therein lies the problem with the second solution.” Wu said with a frown and another sign. 

……so 

So the only guaranteed fix was getting home.

……….

…..oh First Master he was a ticking time bomb and he had no idea how long it would take to get back.

Wu said it wasn’t bad yet, but that was the keyword wasn’t it. Yet. For all he knew it could take years to get back, and he didn’t know how long things would take, oh First Master he’d already melted Nya’s spear and nearly killed Lloyd, Cole and Zane he was already a threat-

“How long do I have?” he asked. “Before I…..”

Before I become too dangerous. Before I pose a threat to their lives. Before I need to be locked away to keep everyone safe.

“I am not certain. There are too many variables in play. It could be anywhere from 6 months to 6 years. It all depends on how things go.” Wu leveled his gaze with Smith’s own. “But you still have time, Smith. This is not unfixable nor is it permanent, even if it gets to an unmanageable level. There is still much we can do and much time left to do it.”

Smith took a shaky breath.

Breathe.

If. That was the important word here.

He only had to worry if it got to be that bad . There was still a lot of time left before he was a real danger.

Wu would’ve done something if he was a threat right now. He would’ve told him that so he could separate himself from the others.

He needed to trust Wu’s judgment right now.

“Thanks Master Wu.” he forced a small smile. It was the least he could do, no matter how strained it felt. “Anyways, I probably gotta go. It’s getting late.” he said.

Koko hadn’t set a curfew for him but he didn’t want to push it. Or worry her for that matter.

Wu gave him a nod, a small glint of worry in his eyes. “Have a good night.”

Koko wasn’t back yet.

Lloyd wasn’t either.

When he opened the door to the apartment he was met with empty silence.

It was just him for right now it seemed.

He huffed, staring at the green gift that was still in his hands. He’d left the base so quickly that he hadn’t even thought to put it away

This….. this was fine. It was fine, it was fine, it was fine.

He…. he just needed to wait for Lloyd to get back. Yeah, that’s all he needed to do. Any second, Lloyd would walk through the door, and then he could finally give him his gift.

So he waited.

And waited.

And waited and waited and waited.

It was agony being alone with nothing but his thoughts, but he couldn’t leave to go looking. He needed to wait here for when they came back, if he was out and they came back they wouldn’t know, he needed to be here waiting waiting waiting-

After half an hour of waiting Smith busied himself with cleaning the apartment. It was the least he could do for the hospitality they’d shown him, and Koko had been adamant that he wasn’t to help her with cooking or dishes. 

So cleaning it was.

It was easy to find the cleaning supplies, tucked away in a partially cluttered hallway closet. They had all the standard stuff, so he got to work. He wiped down the counters, swept the floor, made his bed, made Lloyd’s bed( he didn’t dare go into Koko’s room she hadn’t told him it was okay he didn’t want to press boundaries ), wiped the counters again-

But Lloyd never came home.

Koko didn’t either.

It was just Smith.

Alone.

They would come home. 

They had to come home.

Eventually they would….. right?

He wasn’t alone, they weren’t gone, Lloyd would come back and Koko would too, they aren’t gone for good so stop freaking out over nothing you stupid, pathetic idiot, you’ve know then for barely a month, you need to stop acting like a clingy baby you’re better than that this isn’t the first time you’ve been left alone you can’t blame them for wanting to leave look at yourself you’re dangerous so stop freaking out-

Who knew a single day could cause so many problems. He’d only hoped that this could’ve made it the slightest but better but now….

A small glint caught his eye.

The gift he’d wanted to give.

Just sitting there on the counter. All by itself.

It felt so small as he picked it up with one hand. The ends were a little squished and the bow was crooked and there were even a couple scratches on the paper from when he wasn’t careful enough and-

……

Oh who was he kidding, Lloyd probably wouldn’t even want the gift. It wasn’t even that good and would probably only serve as a reminder of the complete dumpster fire that happened today.

The flimsy paper box crumbled slightly in his hands as his fists clenched.

Today was the worst.

He stormed over to the kitchen and pulled out the garbage can from under the sink with much more force than necessary and prepared to dump the gift in, with its shiny green paper that this morning he thought looked cool but now just looked tacky-

And yet …… 

As he held it over the trash can, he couldn’t bring himself to drop it in.

His hands held the slightest tremor to them, but his fingers remained firmly clamped around the gift no matter how much he willed them to let go.

With a frustrated sigh, he put the garbage bin back, though this time much gentler. Didn’t want to risk breaking it…. Koko didn’t deserve that.

Koko didn’t deserve having to deal with him.

He looked back at the gift. 

So what to do with it?

The others were completely out of the question. They’d know immediately and would just tell Lloyd about it.

Mr.Walker would probably like it….. but that would be difficult to explain since he very explicitly told him he was making it for Lloyd. And if he gave it to Mrs.Walker, Mr.Walker would probably see it.

Mr.Brookstone or Dr.Julien? No he wasn’t very familiar with them, and a gift like this would be weird at best and suspicious at worst. From passing conversations he knew Zane had a little brother, and that he was a huge fan of the ninja, but there was the glaring issue of how to give it to the kid since he had no idea where the heck Zane lived.

Wu….? No, he was smart. He’d probably figure out what it was and who it was for.

Koko??? No, that was even worse. While it would seem innocent enough, Lloyd would definitely see it and that was worse than just giving it to him outright.

And he couldn’t throw it away…. so what to do with it?

Smith looked up and around the apartment….. before the hallway closet caught his eye.

He looked back at the gift, then the closest, before walking forward and opening the door.

It was pretty spacious inside with a bit of clutter, but there was also an empty space at the bottom where the blow up bed was supposed to be.

He looked back at the gift.

…..surely no one would notice a small, innocent green box in the corner of a closet, right?

Leaning down, he gently deposited the box in between a stack of wood and a pile of dusty books with writing he couldn’t read on the cover. It stuck out a bit with its bright colors and shininess but with the shadows was practically unnoticeable unless you looked closely, and let’s be real, who looks closely at the bottom of a closet?

He gently shut the door, letting the latch close with a quiet click, sealing the gift away in darkness.

Lloyd would never see it…..

But Lloyd didn’t need to see it.

After all, everything was fine.

Even if the stinging behind his eyes said otherwise.

He needed-

He needed to do something with his hands.

He needed to stay busy, to keep cleaning, there wasn’t a forge but he needed to do something, keep his hands moving, to not think, to keep moving, thinking too much left him useless he couldn’t be useless there was no one here to pick up the slack he was alone he needed to handle it by himself he couldn’t leave Nya alone he had to be here had to do things to help her to let her grow up slowly not like he did he couldn’t afford to he had to step up had to-

“SMITH!”

CRASH!

Before he even realized what he was doing Smith was kneeling on the floor picking up the pieces of whatever had broken…….

Only for some warm hands to gently cup his own.

He blinked.

He hadn’t realized the world had begun to fade around him until it snapped back to an almost painful clarity. The kitchen lights were so bright and the floor was hard and cold and his skin had an uncomfortable buzz to it and-

A heavy weight set itself on his shoulders.

He blinked again.

He was on the couch now, a big, thick and most importantly heavy blanket draped over his shoulders.

……..what?

When……. when had he moved?

“Smith?”

His gaze snapped to the side…….. and it was Koko.

Deep down a tidal wave of pure euphoria hit. She was here she was here, she was home and with him and here, a voice that sounded far too young practically sang in the back corner of his head.

And there was a first aid kit next to her.

His eyes widened and his gaze snapped back to her. 

“Are you okay?” he blurted, eyes immediately scanning her form.

She looked….. a bit tired, but overall still healthy. No bandages, no bruises, not even looking a bit roughed up. Her work clothes were still neat and tired, just a tad rumpled in places from use.

So why……

“I’m fine, Smith.” she said, her voice warm and soft. She was slightly smiling, but there was a worried furrow in her brow. “I- …..Smith, the first aid wasn’t for me.”

Smith stared.

On one hand, that was good. That was great, actually. It meant Koko was fine and safe and okay.

But on the other…..

And it was at that moment Smith finally noticed the dull ache in his palms and fingers.

“When I got home, I accidentally startled you.” Koko gently explained. “A plate broke and you tried picking it up but cut your hands.”

Ah.

Looking down, he saw fresh white bandages swathing his hands. The bangaging was surprisingly well done, fully covering and protecting his hands while also still allowing a good amount of movement for his fingers and thumbs.

“I sent you and Lloyd a text about how I’d be staying a bit later, but I don’t think you got it.” Koko continued, completely oblivious to his internal turmoil.

And in her words, Smith felt his face grow warm.

He distantly recalled the phone Koko had gotten him. Apparently it was an old model, a little flip phone she’d found at the bottom of a drawer which Jay had upgraded, but he’d loved the scuffed thing and its little red case because he’d never been able to have a phone before. Sure he had a comm link, but a phone was different.

Koko had given him it and Jay had fixed it with the express purpose of being able to contact her and his friends. That if he ever got in danger during a Garmadon attack or some other kind of danger he’d be able to tell someone.

It was sitting safely in an accessible but still protected pocket of his backpack.

And he’d forgotten all about it.

“Sorry.” he mumbled, ducking his head.

“It’s okay.” she repeated.

A stretch of silence filled the room, only broken by the sound of rustling medical supplies as Koko closed the kit. As she did Smith felt his eyes drifting. His memories felt…… hazy. The room was pretty clean, and he knew he’d done some tidying but he didn’t remember doing nearly enough to get things this clean.

What time was it anyways? There was a wall clock somewhere in the living room so maybe-

His eyes widened as his eyes finally found it.

…….

An hour.

It had been an hour.

He’d lost an hour.

He…… what??? An hour????? It hadn’t felt like an hour, heck it had barely felt like 15 minutes.

Did……

Did he get lost again?

But he hadn’t gotten lost like that in years. He thought he got a handle on it ages ago, why was it coming back now?!?

Smith wasn’t sure if Koko finished faster or slower than he expected. Everything still felt soupy, even with his eyes watching the second hand tick around the clock’s face, and he wasn’t sure if he could trust himself to guess the time, especially if his brain started to get lost again.