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Chapter Text

Movie Ninjago

Spike Kai kept his distance from Princess, AKA Samurai A as she interacted with his sister. He knew tagging along with Red Nya for her mech maneuver training would be a bad idea. The last thing he wanted to admit to his counterpart was that he didn't share his taste in girls. Goths weren't his thing.

Though he did wonder why Princess had never removed her samurai helmet when they got to the warehouse. Or why some of the others were snickering at him whenever he looked at her.

He was brought back into the conversation when Cyan Nya spoke up. "Still, the bad guys are going to clue in about it eventually and figure out how to compensate," she said thoughtfully, pulling off her ninja mask and adjusting the bow she'd recently taken to wearing in her hair. "We're going to need to be ready when they do."

Buddy Kai grinned at his twin sister as he put his weapons and gear away in his storage locker. "Aw, don't worry about it, Sis. We've got this. What's the worst that could happen?"

Everyone turned to stare at Buddy.

Buddy grimaced, realizing he just invoked Murphy's Law. "Yeah, yeah, I know. The universe is probably going to prove me wrong in three… two…"

Before he could even reach one, a portal opened up underneath Spike Kai's feet, and he yelped as he fell through it.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the spot Spike had just been.

Buddy turned pale and clapped his hands over his mouth. "What have I done?" he asked in dread.

Immediately, the entire warehouse erupted into a panic.

Monkie Kid Universe

Spike Kai landed hard on the stone floor of a cave and was immediately slammed into the wall by a long Serpentine tail.

Before he could recover, a hand gripped him by the throat and slammed him into the wall a second time, and he was outraged to see the face of Pythor sneering down at him. It may not be his Pythor, but for his past actions, he held both of the vile snakes with equal contempt.

"Hmm, you're not who I was aiming for," Pythor said, eyeing him up and down. "No matter. You'll still do nicely."

Quickly realizing his fire powers weren't working, Kai managed to pull free his sword and swung it at the Serpentine, making Pythor yelp and vanish and Kai standing ready to fight when he struck again.

In the end, Pythor did manage to overpower him and knock him out, but he had to put much more effort into it than he'd expected to.

Waking up in someone else's bed, in someone else's clothes, and with everyone calling him someone else's name was not something Kai wanted to see when he came to.

It didn't take long to piece together what Pythor's apparent plan was. Fortunately, this MK person's friends were nice.

Unfortunately, they were utterly clueless that he wasn't their friend and Kai's terrible charades skills were not helping clear things up.

After trying to write the situation down for them didn't work, Kai quickly got fed up with trying and failing to signal who he was, and gave them something he was sure they wouldn't misinterpret.

By lighting his hands on fire and scowling at them.

MK's friends' jaws dropped.

"Is this a Monkey power I wasn't aware of?" asked Pigsy, turning to Tang for answers.

A Monkey what?

"W-While the Monkey King is known to be fireproof, a-a-actually being able to control fire himself is not one of his p-powers unless he had a weapon s-specifically for doing so," Tang stuttered out looking bewildered. "Powers like that are more akin to-"

Kai suddenly had Mei grabbing his face to look him dead in the eye like she was trying to stare right into his soul. "RED SON?" she shouted as if Kai were far away rather than right in front of her. "IS THAT YOU IN THERE?"

What the heck?

Kai quickly pushed Mei's hands away and glared at her for agitating his injuries.

That was a mistake.

"Yep," said Mei, nodding her head as if his actions confirmed her theory. "That's Red Son alright."

Then she, Tang, and Pigsy promptly began freaking out and dogpiled on him.

When the Monkey King got a frantic call from his student that someone had kidnapped him and left an imposter in his place, he'd rushed back expecting trouble.

He was not expecting to find MK's friends to have said imposter tied up in bedsheets in a bathtub soaking wet from the shower pouring on him and looking indignant as Tang, Pigsy, and Mei were pouring over books of arcane magic.

"Hey, Monkey King," said Mei cheerfully when he came bursting in through the window. "We're trying to figure out how to exorcise Red Son from MK's body."

The imposter shot her a dirty look and shook his head as he tried to tell her something, but all that came out was a series of angry wheezes.

"Yes, yes, I know, I'm a lowly peasant," said Mei, patting him on the head patronizingly. "You'll thank us for this later, Red."

From what little Monkey King could read from the imposter's lips, his response was something more akin to, 'That's not what I said!'

Apparently, he couldn't talk. Well, that made interrogating him more complicated.

Still, Monkey King could only stare blankly at the scene before him. "Why is he tied up in the bathtub?" he asked.

"He kept trying to run away, and the water is to keep him from burning things," said Tang as if that explained everything.

It didn't, and the imposter had smoke pouring out of his ears from frustration.

Huh, maybe it was Red Son.

No, a quick flash of his golden vision made it clear it wasn't. This was someone new.

"That's not MK's body," Monkey King said. "And it's not Red Son either. The real MK contacted me, and said he was strung up in a cave somewhere."

MK's friends' heads all swiveled to stare at him, and the imposter let out a sigh of relief. 'I TOLD you so!' he very clearly mouthed at the others.

"Then who is he?" asked Pigsy, looking totally lost now.

The imposter seemed to try to tell them, but no words came out.

Tang snapped his fingers like he'd thought of something, and hurried into MK's bedroom. He then returned with MK's sketchbook and opened it to a series of symbols.

"Before we realized he wasn't MK, he tried to write this out for us," Tang explained as he handed the book to the Monkey King. "I don't suppose you can read it?"

Monkey King took the book and his eyes scanned the message. Wow, was that a blast from the past. He hadn't seen this writing in centuries. From what he could make out it said…

"Apparently his name is Kay, or is it Kai, one of those, and MK was taken by someone named Pither or something, my knowledge of this language is rusty," The Monkey King said.

Kay-or-Kai looked incredibly relieved.

"How do we know this kid isn't working for Pither?" asked Pigsy suspiciously.

Kay-or-Kai's look of relief vanished, and he looked at Pigsy like he'd just insulted his grandmother.

"Because he calls Pither a series of things I won't say aloud with a lady present," said Monkey King humorously.

Mei snorted hearing that. "So he's cool?" she asked.

"He's cool," Monkey King confirmed.

"Cool," said Mei and she moved to untie Kai-or-Kay from the sopping wet bedsheets. "Sorry about that," she told him.

Kay-or-Kai just shot her a dirty look.

And, of course, that was exactly when Sandy finally arrived with the magic tea.

"Your friends are insane," was the first thing Kai said when he saw MK.

MK, clearly not expecting that, stared at him. "What?" he asked.

"I show them fire, and the first thing they think is I'm you possessed by someone named Red Son," said Kai dryly as he moved to untie the other boy. "Who thinks that?"

"Well, to be fair, Pythor did claim he messed with my head, and Red Son is a demon, even if he's not that kind of demon," MK said to defend his friends.

Kai paused in the middle of his untying. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, Pythor wanted to keep them distracted so he could sell me to Spider Queen," explained MK, which wasn't what Kai wanted clarity for, but still-

"What?" Kai asked incredulously.

MK sighed. "I know, right," he said "This isn't the first time I've been kidnapped, but this was probably the scariest. Demons have kind of been after me ever since I got my powers."

"WHAT?" Kai said, gaping and already drawing parallels to his Lloyd just hearing that.

As much as he wasn't enjoying this world, Nya wouldn't mind if he brought home a new brother from it, right?

The second Meowtha arrived, Spike Kai found himself pinned in a Kai Hug™ by Buddy Kai.

"I'm so sorry!" he shouted. "I should have never tempted the universe!"

Spike let out a dry laugh and hugged him back. "Lesson learned," he agreed. "Especially since Pythor was actually aiming for you."

"He what?" shouted both Nyas in outrage.

"We're glad you're safe," said Princess, still wearing her samurai helmet. She then caught sight of Tang and asked in bewilderment, "Wait, my dad can walk here?"

"What?" said Tang in shock.

Spike sighed. "Let's just go. These people are crazy," he said, saying the last bit in a quieter tone so the locals wouldn't hear. Unfortunately, MK had turned down his offer to leave this world for a saner one.

Apparently, Monkey King still heard him and thought it would be amusing to prolong his suffering. "Wait, hold on a minute," he called, then pointed at Lloyd. "You, blond kid!"

Lloyd stared at him and pointed at himself in bewilderment.

"You look familiar. Do you know this guy?" Monkey King asked, and then shapeshifted himself into an old man with a long white braid and a straw hat.

Lloyd's jaw dropped. "You knew my grandfather!?" he shouted.

"Your grandfather? I didn't even know he had kids," said Monkey King, shifting back into himself with a bright smile. "What are their names?"

Spike Kai groaned. They might be there for a while. Although hearing Wu might be named after this guy was hilarious.

If he were being honest, these people really weren't as bad as he was making them out to be, but he was still very annoyed at their attempts to exorcise him. They were just trying to protect their friend, and that was something he could relate to.

He still caught a cold from being tied up in the shower, though. 

Chapter Text

Show Ninjago.

MK was practically leaning over the side of the carriage as it sailed through the air. Trying to take in everything he was seeing.

He was in a totally different world and he didn't want to miss a second of it.

The fact that he was leaning out the window of a carriage being pulled by a four-headed dragon was just extra cool.

Apparently, he leaned over a little too far, as a hand grabbed him by the back of the jacket and tugged him back before he slipped.

"Careful there," said the big guy dressed in black that had been introduced to him as Cliff Cole. "Don't want you going overboard."

MK grinned at him. "Sorry, it's just I'm in a whole new world. This is so cool!"

"Yeah," agreed a guy in blue called Nick Jay. "Dimensional travel is all well and good until a dinosaur tries to eat you."

MK's head snapped around. "Dinosaurs try to eat you here?"

"No, different world," said Nick (MK mostly just called them by their nicknames not to get them mixed up.

MK turned to Kai (or, he should probably start calling him Buddy now to be fair to the second Kai next to him).

Guessing the question before MK could ask, Buddy quickly said, "Not my world, either."

"Let's just say trying to find each other's worlds wasn't the smoothest ride," said Cliff.

"Understatement of the century," Spike Kai said dryly.

MK could tell there was a story there and resolved to ask about it later.

The dragon finally came to a landing in front of a monastery or was it a tea shop, whatever it was, it seemed to have a training course set in front of it, and the Ninja disembarked with MK in tow.

In front of the section of the building that looked more like a monastery stood two elderly men and a small blond kid. The old men were each holding a staff, and the kid was running up to them eagerly.

"So you're the new Kai?" asked the kid when he reached them, looking up at MK with open curiosity.

MK looked down at him, and said, "Uh, maybe? We never got a solid answer on that. Though, MK is just a nickname."

"It is?" said the kid. He looked like he was just about to ask what his full name was, but the two elderly men came over before he could.

"So you're the young man who wishes to learn spinjitzu," said the one without a beard.

"Uh, yes," said MK, wondering who they were.

Seeing that, Buddy grinned and said, "This is Sensei Wu, Sensei Garmadon, and Sensei G's son, Lil'Loyd."

MK's eyes lit up with recognition. "Oh," he said, turning to Sensei Wu. "You're the one who's named after Monkey King."

Sensei Wu blinked at that declaration. "Excuse me?"

The Ninja snickered, and Buddy explained, "His world has this powerful immortal monkey that apparently met the First Spinjitzu Master way back before you two were born. He says Wu was named after him."

Sensei Garmadon covered his mouth to hide a smile, and Sensei Wu looked befuddled. "The monkey's name is Wu?" he asked.

"Wukong," said MK. "Sun Wukong. He's very insistent you were named for him, sir."

Sensei Wu looked like he didn't believe it for a second, Lil'Loyd snickered at the look on his face, and Sensei Garmadon chuckled. "It would be best to keep that information secret from my own counterpart," the latter said in amusement. "If he knew he'd become quite insufferable."

"People keep saying that, I don't get it," said MK. "Who wouldn't want to be named after Monkey King. He's the coolest ever."

Buddy just laughed and patted MK on the back. "Because he's not famous here," he said. "Doesn't have as much of an impact."

MK muttered something about having his Monkey King biography get published here when he finished it.

Feeling they were getting off track, Sensei Wu gave a pointed cough into his hand. "Now, about spinjitzu, you wish to learn?" he said, bringing them all back to why MK had come to this world.

"Oh, right, yes please," said MK eagerly.

"And why do you wish to learn it?" asked Sensei Garmadon.

Getting the sense he was being tested, MK fumbled for the correct answer. "Oh, well, you see…" he said, but couldn't think of an answer good enough except the honest one. He pulled his staff out of his ear and held it out for them to see (and somehow missed their gobsmacked expressions at how he carried his staff and its sudden appearance). "Ever since I got this staff, I was chosen to protect my home. To protect my friends from demons out to take over or steal this staff for its power." He then frowned. "But I'm not strong enough. There've been too many close calls, and those I'm up against are planning something big. I need to be strong enough to face it."

The two senseis exchanged a look hearing that.

"You wish to use this power to protect others," said Sensei Garmadon. "A noble goal."

MK looked sheepish at the praise.

"Spinjitzu," said Sensei Wu, "Was invented by our father. It can be used in a number of ways, to fight, to defend, to create, and to destroy. It, along with the four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu are what he used to create this entire world. If one has an elemental power, their spinjitzu is enhanced by that element, but even those without one can harness it."

"Such as my wife, Misako," said Sensei Garmadon. "Though neither a fighter nor an elemental master, she has long learned and mastered the art of spinjitzu."

With that, Sensei Garmadon jumped into his own spinjitzu tornado and sent several nearby training dummies flying.

MK looked fascinated. "So, I can learn this?" he asked eagerly.

"We shall see," said Sensei Wu, moving to sit at the steps of his monastery and pulling out a teapot. "If you wish to learn spinjitzu, you must run this obstacle course before I can finish my cup of tea."

Knowing just how fast Wu could drink that tea, Spike Kai said a quick, "Ready, set, go!" and gave MK a shove to get him going.

MK, used to some spontaneous lessons from his time with the Monkey King, took off for the obstacle course with impressive speed. With his current training level, he almost made it through the course, before being hit by the dummy and falling off.

Sensei Wu let out a loud slurp as he finished the last of his tea, before putting the cup down and saying, "Today you failed. You may try again tomorrow."

"What?" MK yelped, looking upset, and the Ninja snickered.

Sensei Garmadon rolled his eyes and explained because he knew his brother wasn't going to. "This training course is designed to teach you the motions you'll need to perform spinjitzu, and my brother's 'tea timer' will teach you the speed at which you will need to complete them."

"Yeah," piped up Nick. "You just gotta keep doing it until the moves become instinct."

Sensei Wu sent them all a dirty look as he gathered up his tea supplies. "You take all the fun out of teaching," he said.

"And you have far too much fun being the mysterious old mentor," said Sensei Garmadon in reply. "But sometimes it is better to tell your students why they're doing what they're doing. Especially for students who are not used to your methods"

"Yeah," agreed Spike. "You're lucky I was so desperate to save Nya, otherwise I would have ditched your lessons after I failed the first one because you didn't tell me what I was supposed to do."

Sensei Wu huffed. "If I told you everything you'd never think for yourself."

"At least it's better than Master Wu," said Buddy, jokingly. "He once faked his death just to hammer in a lesson."

"Don't give him ideas," said Sensei Garmadon as Sensei Wu looked thoughtful hearing that.

Some of the irritation left MK's face as he watched the conversation unfold. Seeing the point in the exercise, he sighed in relief. "Yeah, Monkey King tried the mysterious boring task that teaches you something cool without telling me before, and I got so frustrated I went and got a second mentor who turned out to be evil and was sucking my powers out of me."

There was a beat of silence as everyone absorbed that information.

"Wait? What?" asked Buddy, looking concerned at the blasé way MK had just said that.

"Yeah," said MK rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "He seemed cool and was teaching me what seemed like good moves, but really he just wanted to absorb my powers and fight Monkey King. Word of advice, if you see a guy who looks like Monkey King but with black fur, that's the Six-Eared Macaque, and you might want to avoid him."

Everyone stared at him except for Lil'Loyd, who was nodding like he could relate. "I get it, it's like how Pythor pretended to be my friend so he could steal the map to the Serpentine tombs. I thought he was cool, but really he was a jerk."

"Exactly," said MK, not knowing the full story, but it sounded similar enough to his interactions with Macaque.

The Kais shared a concerned glance hearing that.

Sensei Garmadon coughed awkwardly, unsure how to continue with that conversation, and instead changed the subject. "Lloyd, why don't you run through the course to show MK how it is meant to be done."

"Sure, Dad," said Lil'Loyd, and he cheerfully ran to the course and started jumping through it like it was easy.

MK, while a little put out to be shown up by a child, narrowed his eyes in determination. "Can I go again?" he asked after seeing Lloyd complete it and burst into a small green tornado.

Sensei Garmadon gestured for him to do so. "How would you intend to learn if you do not practice?"

"My testing you is once a day," agreed Sensei Wu. "You, however, may train as much as you wish."

MK nodded in thanks, before turning to Lil'Loyd. "Could you please show me how you did that again?"

Lil'Loyd beamed at being asked and hurried to show off. Buddy followed after him to go through after him. "It might be better if you see how someone more your size does it," he called in explanation.

MK watched closely as the two of them went through the motions, and came out spinning. He then tried again, attempting to copy what he saw them do, only to get knocked over by one of the spinning weapons mechanics. He tried again several times, with Sensei Garmadon and the Ninja all yelling out tips, but by the end of the day still hadn't managed to get all the way through.

"Don't worry, you'll get it," said Nick encouragingly as they loaded him into the Ultra Dragon's carriage to head back to his world. "Soon it'll be just, over the planks, dodge the swords, here comes the dummy!"

"If it helps, you're doing way better than I did on my first tries," added Spike. "I couldn't even make it past the first obstacle."

"Yeah, and Kai probably learned it fastest out of all of us," added Cliff.

"I was highly motivated," said Spike with a shrug.

"You said to save Red Nya, right?" said Buddy, who apparently hadn't heard this story before, looked at his counterpart in confusion. "Save Red from what?" he asked in concern.

Spike sent Sensei Garmadon a dry look, and he responded with an apologetic wince. "I'm afraid in my evil days I, er, kidnapped her to gain the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu," he admitted awkwardly.

MK's head snapped around to look at the kindly old Sensei. "Wait, you were evil?" he asked, but he'd been so nice and helped him with the lesson.

"Not anymore," Zane was quick to assure him.

"Poisoned with a venom that turned one evil at a young age," Sensei Garmadon admitted. "I've since been cured of the ailment, but during my affliction, I did many things I'm not proud of."

"Understatement," said Spike.

MK got the sense he was missing a LOT there but figured he'd get the full story in time. From the looks of things, he'd be having a lot of Spinjitzu classes in the future.

Monkie Kid Universe

The next time they picked up MK for spinjitzu class, it was Luh-Loyd, Buddy, and Cyan fetching him on Meowthra.

MK asked him to pick him up from Flower Fruit Mountain to avoid sending the city into a panic at the sight of the giant cat again, no matter how much the Ninja from Buddy's world assured him they'd get used to it quickly. Thankfully, MK persuaded them, saying he needed to go there anyway to check up on the monkeys for the Monkey King (which was true), and they agreed to the meeting place.

Leaving Flower Fruit Mountain turned out to take longer than expected. Luh-Loyd fell hard for the monkeys at first sight, and they were instantly smitten with him too.

"I love all of them!" declared Luh-Loyd, his eyes shining as he cradled a baby monkey in his arms. The baby monkey was happily hugging him back, and several more climbed all over him in fascination. The blond didn't seem to mind and looked like he might never leave.

MK wasn't sure if he should feel jealous or not. It had taken a while for the monkeys on Flower Fruit Mountain to warm up to him, and he was the Monkie Kid.

Cyan Nya laughed at his expression. "Don't worry, he's not stealing your throne," she assured him. "Because of his powers animals tend to adore him. Which comes in handy, because he's also a monster magnet, and we'd have been eaten a long time ago if he couldn't win them over just by existing."

MK watched as Luh-Loyd started disappearing under all the monkeys clamoring for his attention. "Uh, what exactly are his powers?" he asked. From what he understood, his was supposed to be different from the variety of elements and green energy blasts Lil'Loyd had, but he hadn't heard exactly what they were yet.

Buddy and Cyan exchanged wicked grins, before saying in unison, "Green."

MK turned to look at them, wondering if they were messing with him.

Seeing this, Buddy laughed. "For real, that's the official name of his powers. What that means is a little convoluted, and we're still learning the extent of both his and Lil'Loyd's powers because their skills are pretty varied. They're both, like, crazy powerful, but in different ways."

MK frowned slightly but then nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that. Monkey King has so many powers, I don't know if I remember all of them either. I've read all his stories so many times, but every time I read it again I see another power I forgot about and need to try to learn."

Buddy and Cyan looked curious hearing that. "Uh, like what?" asked Cyan.

"Well, apparently the first power he ever used when he was born was his laser eyes," said MK thoughtfully. "Apparently they shined so brightly they scared the Jade Emperor all the way in the Celestial Realm. I also haven't quite managed shape-shifting yet. I can change my size no problem, but I still look like me. Monkey King also, apparently, has this giant Kaiju form, and I've not been able to do anything like that yet."

Buddy and Cyan exchanged another glance, identical expressions of surprise on their faces.

"Sounds like you're pretty powerful too," said Buddy.

MK blushed at the praise.

Cyan then turned to the Luh-Loyd-sized lump of monkeys and yelled, "Time to go, Lloyd! We're gonna be late!"

"Do we have to?" Luh-Loyd called back from under all the monkeys, sounding very reluctant to leave.

"Come on, Bro, we gotta get MK to his lesson at some point!" said Buddy.

Luh-Loyd sighed in disappointment and started pulling away from all the monkeys, who seemed devastated to see him leave. It was only when Luh-Loyd promised to visit again, and MK assured them all he was welcome back that they let the blond go back to his giant cat.

Only to find said giant cat grooming several more monkeys like kittens and just as reluctant to leave them as Luh-Loyd was.

Needless to say, MK was late for his lesson, but from the several very cute photos he took on his phone, he couldn't say he minded. Even if he still didn't manage to spinjitzu by the end of that lesson either.

After seeing the pictures, Mei insisted on being at the mountain the next time Luh-Loyd visited.

Show Ninjago

Another day, another spinjitzu lesson. It had been going on long enough that MK could now make it through the obstacle course with relative ease, he still hadn't yet managed to do it fast enough to finish before Sensei Wu drank his tea.

While the lack of success stung, his disappointment in himself was tempered by the fact that it gave him more time to hang out with the Ninja. He'd been right before, he did like these guys, and it was great to learn more about them.

Or not so great as he heard what Buddy had gone through growing up as Luh-Loyd's best friend during a break from practicing. It was just him, the Kais, the Lloyds, Red Nya, and Mei today. Sensei Garmadon and Sensei Wu were having tea nearby while they talked.

"That's horrible!" he exclaimed after seeing the 'Boo Lloyd' music video offered as proof of their treatment by the general populace for most of their lives.

"You said it," agreed Mei, who had tagged along for this lesson, and had been comparing sword moves with the Kais, Red Nya, and Luh-Loyd, and was considering getting formal training from them. They'd clearly already wormed their way into her heart by this point, as she looked ready to rip the cheerleaders in the video to shreds.

Luh-Loyd and Buddy exchanged long-suffering glances. "It's over now," said Luh-Loyd, wanting to move on. "They don't do that anymore since they found out we'd been saving them all this time and Dad stopped trying to take over at least once a week."

"Please tell me you at least got some payback," snapped Mei.

"Not nearly enough," grumbled Lil'Loyd, who'd been forbidden from pranking their former tormentors in retribution.

Buddy thought for a moment, "Well, a lot of people at school apologized after, and our grades were suddenly a lot better."

"Mom got a promotion and raise at her work," added Luh-Loyd. "And anyone who tries to start something with us now has our fans to deal with."

"That's it?" asked Red Nya.

MK and Mei shared a grimace with the local Ninja. That didn't sound like nearly enough.

"Still, it sucks you were blamed because of your dad," said MK. "I get it. A lot of demons either try to fight or kidnap me because they have some beef with Monkey King, and think they can hurt him through me."

Mei growled deep in her chest knowing that was the truth, and not noticing how both Lloyds turned to stare at her upon hearing that.

"Wait, they do?" asked Spike in surprise.

"Oh yeah," said MK. "I told you about Macaque before, but Demon Bull King and his family also have a grudge against him for sealing DBK under a mountain, and fighting against them in the Journey to the West. Jin and Yin think they can get notoriety if they can be the ones to bring down Monkey King's successor, and-" he cut himself off as his vision flashed black and blue as he remembered her deep in the sewers with Spider Queen, and he shuddered. Lady Bone Demon clearly hated Monkey King too and was perfectly willing to hurt him through MK.

The Ninja around him looked worried at that reaction, and Mei placed a hand on his shoulder in concern. "MK?" she asked.

MK shook himself to get Lady Bone Demon out of his head and faked a grin. "I'm fine," he assured her.

Mei didn't look like she believed him for a second.

The Ninja clearly didn't either.

The Kais suddenly seemed to come to a realization, as Spike slapped his forehead and said, "You know what this means right?" he asked his counterpart.

Buddy buried his face in his hands and groaned. "Oh yeah, I know what it means."

Everyone else turned to look at them in confusion.

Spike and Buddy looked MK up and down, then turned to each other and nodded. "He's not a Kai," they said in unison. "He's a Lloyd!"

There was a beat as everyone stared at the two of them, then turned to look at the Lloyds and MK.

"Yeah, that explains a lot," said Red Nya, nodding in agreement.

"Hey!" squawked Lil'Loyd, and Luh-Loyd sighed and patted MK's shoulder, knowing what he was now in for. MK just looked confused.

"What do you mean he's a Lloyd?" asked Mei curiously.

"He checks all the boxes," said Spike. "Frequently kidnapped."

"Overpowered and yet still too nice for his own good," added Buddy.

"And targeted for that power by every jerk around," said Spike.

"Unfair expectations due to a father figure," said Buddy.

"And Little Brother material," Spike concluded.

MK blinked at that last one, "Uh, Spike, I'm pretty sure I'm older than you. How can I be a little brother?"

"You have massive little brother energy," said Buddy matter-of-factly.

Mei giggled and nodded. "He's got a point there," she said, ruffling MK's hair.

Lil'Loyd watched the interaction, and asked, "Wait, does that mean Mei is his Kai?"

Everybody froze and turned to look at Mei with new scrutiny.

Mei just smiled back at them, eager to hear their verdict.

Finally, Lil'Loyd shrugged, and said, "I think she's kind of a Kai-Nya combo."

Luh-Loyd nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can see that. Protective and daring."

"Sounds about right," MK had to agree.

Mei grinned. "Nice," she said, trading a fist bump with Nya.

Red Nya grinned back wickedly. "So does that mean Mei gets bodyguarding lessons too?"

Mei's head snapped around with interest, the Kais looked contemplative, the Lloyds groaned, and MK looked more lost than ever. "Wait, bodyguard lessons?" the Monkie Kid said.

"We could," said Spike thoughtfully, "But Lord G said he wasn't letting in more Kais after me."

"Aw, but now I want to," said Mei in disappointment. "Think how much more butt I could kick."

Luh-Loyd heaved a sigh. "Well, if you really want to, I think I have an idea on how to get you in the class."

Everyone leaned in to listen.

Movie Ninjago

Lord Garmadon scowled down at MK at the start of his bodyguarding class and shook his head. "No, No, No, No, Nooope! I said it when I took in this one," Garmadon said, jerking a thumb with another hand at Spike Kai. "If any more of you spiky-haired hotheads showed up, you're not getting any lessons from me!"

MK looked disappointed, and Mei was looking around in fascination. "Woah, this place is really a volcano?" she said. "Awesome!"

"Thank you," said Lord Garmadon with a grin. "Nice to see some people appreciate quality lair location."

Luh-Loyd tried to get them back to the matter at hand. "Come on, Dad. You have room, could you please let MK in," he asked pleadingly, giving his father his best sad kitten eyes.

"Yeah, please!" said MK, giving his best puppy-dog eyes to Lord Garmadon too. His alongside Luh-Loyd's were a powerful combination.

The Kais shook their heads in amusement seeing that. How could they ever consider MK anything but a Lloyd.

Lord Garmadon's gaze softened slightly at his son's request but stood firm. "Nope, no can do. I'm a man of my word." He then glanced to the side and muttered, "Plus, Wu bet me I'd cave to anything Luh-Loyd asks me."

MK drooped in disappointment. "Aw, that sucks," he said.

Luh-Loyd reached over to pat him on the shoulder comfortingly.

"Can I have your class?" asked Mei eagerly. "You seem really smart and qualified, and you've got a totally cool volcano, and your sharks are amazing, and you've got an awesome hat."

Lord Garmadon turned to her and grinned again. "Flattery will get you everywhere, girlie, and you're not a spiky hot-head or a ninja, so come on in."

Mei grinned and flashed her friends a thumbs up and darted into the classroom, and Lord Garmadon slammed it shut behind her.

The second the door closed, both MK and Luh-Loyd stopped pretending to be disappointed. "Whoa, that actually worked," said MK in surprise. He'd been skeptical of Luh-Loyd's plan to get Mei into the bodyguarding class, but it paid off.

"I told you," said Luh-Loyd with a sheepish smile. "My dad can be a little predictable."

"Awesome," said MK.

There was a beat as he and Luh-Loyd stood by the door and contemplated what they'd just accomplished.

"Do you get the feeling we've just made a mistake?" asked MK slowly.

"Putting your perky chaotic friend under the tutelage of my morally questionable chaotic dad?" asked Luh-Loyd dryly. "Yeah, nothing but good things can come from this."

MK gulped. "The Kais will rein them in, right?" he asked.

Luh-Loyd just looked at him.

"Right?" asked MK.

Inside the classroom, Lord Garmadon was grinning as he turned on the projector. "Now, students, for today's class, how to completely eviscerate your enemies. Especially those trying to hurt the one you're guarding," he said with a cackle.

The Kais leaned forwards in interest, and Mei felt a grin spread across her face. This will definitely come in handy.

Back in the Monkie Kid Universe, several demons felt a chill run down their spine.

Show Ninjago

MK glowered at the spinjitzu course. After all that practice, today was the day he was finally going to get it. He could feel it in his bones.

The others seemed to know it too, as both teams of Ninja and Mei were gathered on the edge of the course to watch. Even Pigsy, Tang, and Sandy were there to watch this time, and he couldn't let them down.

Sensei Wu readied himself with his teapot. "Ready," he called.

MK tensed and shifted into the starting position.

"Begin!" called Sensei Wu as he poured his tea.

MK bolted. It was just like Nick had said, over the planks, dodge the swords, here comes the dummy, and…

Sensei Wu still hadn't finished his tea, and when MK finished the course he was spinning.

The onlookers oohed and awwed at his tornado. Red with golden bands the same colors as his staff gleamed in the sunlight.

When MK slowed to a stop, he stumbled a bit and fell to the ground, but that did little to curb his enthusiasm, as he sat up immediately with a loud whoop. "I DID IT!" he cheered.

His audience immediately surged over to congratulate him, and MK found himself in the center of them all ruffling his hair, patting him on the back, and cheering that his hard work had all paid off. He then found himself lifted up onto the Coles's shoulders as they carried him into the tea shop for a celebration.

MK laughed as he had to duck to keep from knocking his head on the doorway when they entered.

He was glad he'd finally learned the move, but he was even more glad about the new friends he'd made in the process.

Chapter Text

Monkie Kid Universe

One thing Pigsy appreciated after that whole debacle where MK was kidnapped by that snake was he got a new loyal customer out of it.

He'd apparently impressed Buddy Kai with his cooking, and the young Ninja often swung by for a bowl of noodles whenever he had the time to do odd jobs around the city to earn enough local currency to pay for it.

His dedication to making sure he could pay to get his meals was something Pigsy could appreciate. Especially when certain people couldn't be bothered to pay even when they had the local money in hand.

(More than once he'd seen Tang try to tempt Kai to join him in freeloading, and Pigsy's reaction to those attempts was more than enough to scare Kai into never complying.)

So yeah, Pigsy knew Kai enjoyed his noodles and was flattered when he brought his girlfriend, Skylor, with him one day to have a bowl. He'd never thought of his restaurant as a date spot, but customers were customers, and the two seemed good together.

What he was not expecting was when Skylor finished her bowl, she immediately went up to the counter and had a request.

"Teach me," she said earnestly.

Pigsy stared at her. "What?" he asked in surprise.

"Kai told me your cooking was amazing, and he was right," she said. "It's leagues better than what I can do. Please, teach me."

Pigsy, sensing a long discussion coming on, turned off his stove so he could give her his full attention. "Why do you want to learn?" he asked.

Skylor bit her lip, and replied, "I have my own noodle restaurant in my Ninjago. I inherited it from my father. Our food is good, but yours is better, and… after what happened to my father, I've been looking to change things up."

Pigsy raised his eyebrow at her. "And why should I share my recipes, passed down through generations of my family and worked to perfection, with you?"

"Because my restaurant is no competition to yours, being in another world and all," she said. She then leaned in and said, "And then you can honestly say your noodles are the best in two worlds."

Tempting, but Pigsy still wasn't convinced, and his face said as much.

Skylor met his gaze and stayed determined.

Behind her back, Kai was looking at Pigsy with a hopeful expression, knowing what this meant for his girlfriend.

Seeing these earnest expressions, Pigsy huffed a sigh and pinched his brow as he felt his resolve beginning to crumble. "What's in it for me?" he asked.

"I'll pay for my lessons in labor," she offered.

"Wait what?" asked MK as he came in to pick up deliveries, worried she was out for his job.

"In the kitchen," Skylor quickly assured him.

"Oh, that's okay then," said MK as he took his deliveries and headed back out to his tuk-tuk.

Pigsy looked down at his stove and thought hard for a long moment, before quickly finishing up what he was cooking and clearing his dishes. "Get back here," he told Skylor. "Let me see if you're worth the effort."

Skylor perked up hearing this and grinned, and Kai pumped his fist behind her.

Under Pigsy's eagle-eyed watch, Skylor navigated the kitchen and began putting together one of her own recipes. He paid close attention to how she handled the stove and knives and made certain everything fell under safety standards. How she apparently knew her recipes by heart, and only needed to consult him for the location of ingredients. At the care and focus she put into her cooking to make sure it came out the best it could be while still moving at a speed that could peddle quality food even during a lunch rush.

Pigsy felt himself smiling despite himself as he watched her work. Here was someone who appreciated the fine art of cooking.

Finally, Skylor finished her recipe and presented Pigsy with a plate of puffy potstickers. A popular dish at her restaurant.

Pigsy scrutinized the dish with his eyes, taking in the folds of the dumplings and the brown finish of a well-cooked potsticker, before plucking one up with his chopsticks and popping it in his mouth.

Skylor and Kai waited with bated breath as Pigsy slowly chewed the potsticker and then swallowed. He then hummed to himself thoughtfully, before turning to look at Skylor. "You're good, kid," he said. "But I'm not about to share my recipes with you."

"Oh," said Skylor, slumping in disappointment, and Kai wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"But," Pigsy continued, making her head shoot back up. "I wouldn't be opposed to helping you improve the recipes you've already got. You want me to give you some cooking tutoring, I think we can work a schedule out."

Skylor's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and Kai whooped and spun her around the restaurant in delight, making her laugh.

"Thank you," she said once she extracted herself from her boyfriend. "I really appreciate the opportunity."

Pigsy grunted and tried to look like it wasn't a big deal. "Far be it for me to not encourage talent," he said. "Now let's talk hours."

Skylor only grinned and pulled out her schedule.

When Tang came in later and tried to pilfer the remaining potstickers, Pigsy threatened to take his hand off if he touched them. Those were for him, and he hadn't been exaggerating when he said Skylor had talent. They were darn good potstickers.

After that, Skylor became a staple of Pigsy's Noodles on weekends, going over the foods she made for Chen's Noodles, and working out how to improve them while she helped around the kitchen, and occasionally cooked one of her dishes for Pigsy to try.

Buddy Kai also became an even more frequent visitor as a result to support her, and often got roped into taste-testing her cooking, a job Tang was very jealous of. He'd yet to be able to charm Skylor into giving him free food, despite knowing that he apparently resembled her father.

"I don't see why he gets to sample free foods and I don't," Tang grumbled as he watched Kai try out the dim sum Skylor had just made and hum in appreciation. "I'd be happy to taste test for you, Pigsy."

"I don't need a taste tester. These are Skylor's dishes, not mine," said Pigsy. "And Kai's not doing it for free either."

Seeing Tang look confused to hear that, Kai swallowed his dim sum and said, "I wash dishes and take out the garbage every time I try something for them."

"See," said Pigsy, pointing at Kai. "He earns his keep, unlike some people."

Tang, as usual, didn't look at all put out by Pigsy's words. "Oh, Pigsy, I earn my keep as well."

"With what?" asked Pigsy.

Tang opened his mouth, and Pigsy immediately held up a hand before he could even start, "And do not say wisdom. I've told you a million times, wisdom doesn't pay the rent."

"And yet it holds far more value than most monetary gain," said Tang, swooning like this was some kind of tragedy.

The two continued to bicker back and forth, and Pigsy was so caught up in arguing he didn't even notice Tang managed to snag his usual order from him without paying as he always did.

MK came in as they squabbled. "Oh, their five o'clock argument is on schedule," he said, before turning to Skylor. "Do I have any more orders to deliver?"

"Just a few right now. I'll grab them," Skylor replied, heading to where they were stored.

Kai just watched the adults bicker as he finished the last of his dim sum. "They sound like an old married couple. Pretty sure my parents have had arguments like this."

"I know right," agreed MK in amusement. "They've always been like this as far as I've known them."

Skylor giggled as she came back with the deliveries. "I know what you mean. My father and Clouse used to have arguments like that too."

"Clouse?" asked MK, missing the way Kai grimaced at the mention of the two of them.

"My father's right-hand man," said Skylor.

The mention of that caught Pigsy's attention, and he looked over from arguing with Tang. "Oh, did he take you in after your father passed away?" he asked.

Kai looked horrified at the very idea of Clouse getting custody of her, and Skylor made a face in disgust. "Absolutely not!" she said. She then realized what Pigsy had asked. "Wait, passed awa- OH, oh, you thought- my bad," she rambled.

Pigsy frowned in confusion. "What?" he asked.

Skylor traded a desperate look with Kai. "Her dad's not dead," her boyfriend said when he saw how much she didn't want to say it herself. "He's in prison."

That got everyone's attention, and Skylor turned and pretended to have a lot more focus on her cooking, trusting Kai to explain things.

"Prison!" exclaimed Pigsy. "For what?"

Kai bit his lip, and said slowly, "Sooo, remember when I said Pythor was banished from our world for teaming up with a madman trying to destroy his people? Yeaaaaaahhhh, that was him. Skylor's the one who took him down, without her, we'd have been toast. The Serpentine then had him entombed in a cell for the rest of his life."

Pigsy sent a look at Skylor's back that was both impressed and horrified.

"Dare I ask about the other one you mentioned? Clouse?" asked Tang.

"Also serving a life sentence in jail for a laundry list of reasons," said Kai darkly. "And they can both rot in there."

"Agreed," said Skylor, still not looking at them.

MK whistled. "Woah," he said. "That's terrible."

"That's an understatement, kid," agreed Pigsy. "Now get on those deliveries before they go cold."

MK quickly jumped to attention and hurried back to his tuk-tuk. "On it," he called as he went. "Glad you're away from them, Skylor."

Skylor finally looked up hearing that and smiled after the Monkie Kid.

Pigsy, meanwhile, rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "So… I guess that's what you meant by wanting to change things at your restaurant," he said slowly.

"Yeah," said Skylor with a sigh. "While the restaurant was mostly free from his shadier influences, having it still be so connected to him after everything he's done just feels… wrong. I've been trying to change it. Make it more my own. These lessons have been great for that."

Pigsy nodded like he understood that. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he reached up into one of his shelves and pulled out a cookbook.

Holding it out to Skylor, he said, "Well, to help out with that more, how about you choose one recipe to add in."

Skylor whipped around, her eyes wide as she realized what Pigsy was offering. "You- but you said- But those are your recipes!"

"Eh, you've earned it, kid," said Pigsy, trying to make it seem like no big deal.

But Skylor was still gaping. "No, I can't just take your recipes. They're from your family. Your tradition!"

"And they're mine to do with as I please, and I'm offering one to you," said Pigsy gruffly.

Skylor stared at him for a long moment, then beamed. "Tell you what, we'll make it a trade. You can use one of my recipes for one of yours."

"Done," said Pigsy, happy to have an excuse to make things 'fair'. "I wouldn't mind adding those puffy potstickers of yours to my menu."

"You're on," said Skylor as she came over to get a closer look at Pigsy's cookbook.

Tang watched them work fondly. "Uh oh," he said quietly to Kai so the cooks wouldn't hear. "Looks like he's adopted another one."

Kai glanced over at him, and Tang grinned. "He's always been looking out for MK and Mei as if they were his own kids, and soon he'll be asking if Skylor wants him to get the adoption papers."

Kai laughed, knowing he and Nya tended to do similar things. There was a reason they called all their friends 'Bro' (though Cyan Nya never called Freckles Jay 'bro') or 'Sis' in the Pixals and Red Nya's case, with MK and Mei being the most recent additions to those titles. "Unfortunately, Dr. Borg beat him to the punch," he said.

"And he treats her well?" asked Tang seriously.

"Very," said Kai. "We checked, and Pixal (Skylor's new sister) vouched for him. She told me herself that she's been way happier being Skylor Borg than she ever was being Skylor Chen."

Tang nodded. "Good."

Skylor and Pigsy only continued to pour over the cookbook oblivious.

Movie Ninjago

When it came time for Skylor to make her changes at Chen's Noodle House, the most prominent being changing the name to Amber Noodle House as well as adding what she'd learned from Pigsy to the menu, with Pigsy's Noodle Soup being the new highlight, it all ended up spiraling into a whole event.

Amber Noodle House, where the food is out of this world.

So, being one of the main reasons those changes happened, of course Pigsy was invited to attend. Tang insisted he come as well (because noodles!), and MK, Mei, and Sandy ended up coming too.

The pig and river demons ended up getting a few weird looks from some of the other patrons, but given that other people in attendance were some of Lord Garmadon's generals in full fish costumes, and some Serpentine kids had come by as well, they were hardly the weirdest people there (though they were definitely more fuel on the 'Skylor is an alien princess' fire).

Skylor was practically glowing with pride as she led the Monkie Kid Crew to a table specifically for her friends and family in the packed restaurant. "Thanks so much for coming," she said.

"It's nothing," said Pigsy. "Nice to see your hard work pay off."

"We're here for you," Tang agreed. "And, of course, we're definitely here for the food."

Skylor grinned at him. "Looking to start mooching off me too, Tang?" she asked in amusement.

Tang clapped a hand over his heart as if insulted. "Why, I never!" he said.

"Yes," said everyone else.

Skylor laughed. "Don't worry," she said to Tang. "Just this once, it's on the house."

Tang looked like Christmas had come early.

The look quickly was replaced by one of shock when they finally arrived at their table, and he saw who was sitting at one end in a motorized chair.

Feeling eyes on him, Dr. Cyrus Borg looked up from his appetizer and met eyes with Tang. "Oh my," he said.

Penny Pixal, sitting next to him, took a leaf out of her boyfriend's book, clapped her hands against her cheeks, and said, "Gasp."

Skylor grinned as she went over to kiss her adopted father on the cheek. "Hey, Dad, Sis, these are the people I told you about."

DAD?

They'd all heard Skylor say her new father and Tang resembled each other, but it was another thing to see it in person.

"I can see that," Borg said good-naturedly. "And I see you weren't exaggerating with the resemblance either. MK certainly does look a great deal like the Kais."

Everyone blinked as he said that, expecting him to comment on Tang instead, then snickered as it broke the ice as everyone took their seats.

Good food and interesting company always made for the best of meals.

Chapter Text

Monkie Kid Universe

"All dragons can WHAT!?" came a loud shout that shook Flower Fruit Mountain.

MK, Luh-Loyd, Lil'Loyd, and all the nearby monkeys all froze from what they were doing to turn and stare at the source of the shout.

Mei, on the other hand, was looking between Luh-Loyd and a fire dragon that Meowthra had long adopted that he'd ridden to that world on.

Seeing the looks, Luh-Loyd finally repeated what he had just said, "All dragons can travel between worlds. Pepper here gave me a ride to come to visit since Meowthra didn't feel like coming today. She recently rescued another couple of dragons from a different realm and wants to look out for them."

"All of them?" asked MK in surprise, glancing at Mei.

"Yeah, all of them," said Luh-Loyd, looking lost on what had them so confused.

"Why are you so surprised, you already knew that," added Lil'Loyd, who was sitting atop the Ultra Dragon. Pointing down to said dragon below him, he added, "You've seen Ultra do it tons."

"I thought that was just Ultra! I mean, they're not exactly your standard dragon," Mei exclaimed, gesturing at Ultra's four heads. "I thought that was a cool extra power they had."

Ultra looked like they didn't know if they were being insulted or not, and Pepper the fire dragon blew smoke in amusement.

"No, all dragons have that power," said Lil'Loyd. "It's common knowledge."

"But I don't have that power!" Mei shouted.

Now it was the Lloyds turn to look at her in shock. "Wait, what?" they both asked.

MK looked between his three green-dressed friends and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess we never really mentioned it, but Mei's a dragon. She's descended from a long line of dragons. It's why she can summon that green dragon avatar when she uses her sword or when she's on her bike."

The Lloyds stared at Mei, then glanced between her and Pepper and Ultra.

Seeing their confusion, Mei explained, "Back in the day most demons and dragons on this world had the ability to shape-shift. My ancestors shape-shifted into human form as humanity began gaining power, and over the generations, we kinda… forgot how to turn back, but our powers always still reflect our true nature."

She then took out the Jade Dragon Blade and held it aloft over her head, and channeled her power into it. Despite it being a sunny day, the sky flashed with lightning, and her massive green dragon avatar appeared coiling around her.

"Whoa!" gasped Luh-Loyd in awe.

"Awesome!" shouted Lil'Loyd.

Mei lowered her sword and grinned at their amazement. "Thanks," she then pouted, "But if jumping worlds is supposed to be something inherent to dragons, then I guess my ancestors forgot that along with how to change forms, because my parents sure never told me that was a thing."

"I never heard about it in any stories either," agreed MK, flipping through his Monkey King Biography to double-check.

"Well, it might be tied to the whole shape-shifting thing," Luh-Loyd said thoughtfully. "You'd probably need your dragon form in order to fly fast enough to reach the necessary speeds to open portals."

"Oh," said Mei in disappointment, and MK patted her on the shoulder.

But Lil'Loyd's eyes lit up as something occurred to him. "Skulkin!" he shouted out of the blue.

Mei and MK looked at him in confusion, and Luh-Loyd immediately tensed and jumped into a fighting position, expecting an attack.

Soon realizing Lil'Loyd wasn't shouting a warning of an enemy, Luh-Loyd looked at his younger counterpart. "Skulkin?" he asked. "What about the Skulkin?"

"What are Skulkin?" asked MK.

"A skeleton army," said Lil'Loyd in his spookiest voice. "Dead warriors unable to come to terms with their death now cursed to fight in the Underworld forevermore."

MK actually paled at that description.

(If Lady Bone Demon ever found a place like that…)

But the others were more focused on Lil'Loyd to notice. "So why bring them up?" questioned Mei.

"Because," said Lil'Loyd. "Even though they can't fly, they can still move between worlds 'cause of their vehicles."

That got everyone's attention.

"That's right," said Luh-Loyd, snapping his fingers. "They got their hands on some trucks and motorcycles that could open portals. It's how they escaped the Underworld in the first place."

"Motorcycles, huh," said Mei, now very interested. "Tell me more."

MK shook his head to clear his frightening thoughts, and said, "Yeah. Those sound awesome!"

Luh-Loyd's hands were twitching, eager to start building. "It does sound like a fun project," he agreed.

Lil'Loyd grinned wickedly. "Then let's go track down some boneheads and find out how they did it."

Underworld (Show Ninjago Version)

After scouring both Ninjagos and being unable to find femur or phalanges of the Skulkin, they ended up having to go straight to the source.

The Underworld.

At the knowledge of where they were going next, MK had to bow out of the quest (the last time he met a skeleton creature didn't go so well), leaving Luh-Loyd, Lil'Loyd, and Mei to travel there themselves.

"Good thing the Kais aren't here," said Lil'Loyd as they climbed onto Ultra and Pepper to go there. "They'd flip if they knew where we were headed."

"Eh, we agreed I'm their equivalent, so I'll protect you," said Mei cheekily.

"But the fact you're letting us go in the first place shows why you're also kinda too Nya to be fully Kai," said Luh-Loyd, knowing they were all in for the lecture of a lifetime if anyone responsible found out.

Mei only grinned and brandished her sword. "Onwards!" she crowed, and the two more dragonic dragons flew through a portal to the Underworld.

Once they got there, it didn't take long for Lil'Loyd to run into some familiar faces.

"Hiya, Teach!" Lil'Loyd said brightly to his former Darkley's School teachers, popping out from behind a boulder to spook Kruncha and Nuckal.

Both skeletons screamed in terror and clung to each other at the very sight of him.

Feeling that reaction was a bit extreme for Lil'Loyd's little jumpscare, Mei leaned over and whispered, "What's with them?" to Luh-Loyd.

"Long story," said Luh-Loyd. "Short version, they stole Lil'Loyd's mail from his mother for years to make him think she abandoned him in an attempt to turn him evil. Our moms found out and, well-"

"THAT'S ALL THE LETTERS! WE SWEAR! WE'LL NEVER STEAL AGAIN!" Kruncha shrieked.

"PLEASE DON'T SEND THE DEMON WOMEN AFTER US AGAIN! MY BONES ONLY JUST MENDED! PLEASE!" Nuckal wailed.

"Whoa," said Mei, wondering what the Lloyds' mothers had done to scare them so badly (and wondering if she could learn it too).

Though his past as a wannabe villain was long behind him, Lil'Loyd always enjoyed the chance to play the part again when it came up, especially when those he did it against deserved it. As such, he pretended to mull the Skulkin's pleading over with an air of supremacy. "Hmm, I don't know. Maybe I will, maybe I won't," he said. "My moms are still pretty ticked about what you did."

"Please, we'll do anything!" Nuckal begged.

"Anything?" asked Lil'Loyd sinisterly.

"Name your price, Demon Spawn!" Kruncha spat.

Lil'Loyd scowled as his energy powers sparked around him and behind him, Luh-Loyd's eyes flashed at the insult. Mei's head snapped around to look between them as both blonds started growling deep in their chest, and her eyes widened in realization.

"With 'Demon Spawn' as a term of endearment!" Nuckal said quickly upon seeing that reaction.

"Hmmm," said Lil'Loyd, pretending to think about it. "Well, my brother and I wanna know how your cars and stuff can move between worlds. You show us how it works and I won't tell my moms on you."

"Done," said Kruncha and Nuckal in unison.

Lil'Loyd grinned and Luh-Loyd and Mei shared a high-five behind him.

The two Skulkin led the visitors to a garage where more frightened skeletons explained exactly how their vehicles worked and how they built them. While most of the technical jargon flew over Lil'Loyd's head, Mei and Luh-Loyd soaked it up like a sponge and were clearly itching to get started making their own.

The Skulkin all shared a simultaneous sigh of relief when they climbed back on their dragons to leave the dark and dreary world behind.

At least this time the Ninja's visit was far less chaotic than previous ones.

Monkie Kid Universe

Luh-Loyd and Mei were bound and determined to make the bike to end all bikes. A bike that could jump dimensions. Lil'Loyd, while not able to help with building it, was more than willing to throw in his two cents on its aesthetics to make sure the bike looked as awesome as it would be to ride it, and with all three of them working together, it was a lot of fun.

"It's like we're reclaiming part of our heritage," Mei remarked as she and Luh-Loyd put together a test bike. "We were born to jump worlds, and now we can."

Something about the way she said that gave the boys pause.

"We?" asked Luh-Loyd in confusion, pushing himself out from under the bike on a roller board.

"What do you mean?" asked Lil'Loyd from where he was perched on the motorcycle's seat.

"Well, yeah," said Mei as she worked on the engine, smiling like she was in on a joke. "Don't think I didn't catch on that you two are dragons too. You can't fool me."

There was a long pause after that causal declaration, and Mei looked up to see the two boys staring at her with identical comically wide green eyes.

"We're-" Lil'Loyd started to say.

"-What?" Luh-Loyd finished for him.

Mei frowned as she glanced between the two of them. "Oh, wait, you didn't know?" she asked.

The blonds exchanged a look that held a whole conversation before Luh-Loyd sighed and pushed himself to his feet. "To be honest… we don't know what we are," he admitted, fidgeting uncomfortably. "We just know we're not entirely human. There are just too many things about us that we've noticed."

"Our grandfathers were basically a god, and you take classes with his dad," said Lil'Loyd, pointing at his counterpart. "Mine used to look about the same as him when he was evil. And both he and Uncle Wu are, like, suuuuuuper old. Normal people aren't still alive when they were born 'before time had a name'."

Mei nodded. "Yeah, dragons can live pretty long," she said.

"You really think we're part dragon?" asked Luh-Loyd curiously.

Mei squinted at both of them, studying them up and down before she shrugged. "Hmmm, hard to really tell. At the very least, you two are mostly human," she said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "And if your Dads' four-armed looks are anything to go by, maybe something else too. Lord G looks a little too demony to be a coincidence, and something about it sets my teeth on edge. But there's definitely some dragon in you guys too. I can tell because the dragon traits I've seen in you are ones I have too."

Lil'Loyd's eyes widened. "Like the growling!" he exclaimed. "I thought I heard you growl like we can when MK was talking about people being jerks to him."

"Exactly," said Mei brightly. "That's what was the final clue for me to figure it out. The rest was just stuff I noticed that suddenly made sense. Your aura, the flashing eyes, the protective instincts, the desire to create, they're all traits of dragons." Her eyes then lit up. "Hey! Maybe we're related! Like waaaaaay back, but still!"

Luh-Loyd and Lil'Loyd looked excited at the idea as well. "That would be awesome!" said Luh-Loyd.

"Guess she can join the Coles as our maybe cousins," said Lil'Loyd jokingly.

"The Coles?" asked Mei curiously.

The Lloyds exchanged an amused grin. "That's another long story..." said Luh-Loyd as he prepared to tell it as they worked together to build the bike.

Finally, the motorcycle was ready.

Mei sat in its saddle, practically vibrating in anticipation.

The Lloyds sat atop Meowthra with Lil'Loyd holding a dimensional communicator, and Luh-Loyd carrying a thermos of healing tea just in case.

"Ready?" Luh-Loyd called into the dimensional communicator so they could stay in contact. Lil'Loyd was holding it on speakerphone between him and Luh-Loyd so they could both hear.

Mei, who had managed to stick her comm. in her helmet to keep her hands free, replied, "Born ready!"

"On your mark, get set, GO!" shouted Lil'Loyd, nearly falling off Meowthra in his enthusiasm. Luh-Loyd dropped his thermos and barely managed to grab him while catching and balancing the tea thermos on his foot.

Mei revved her engine, and the motorcycle took off like a shot. Her green dragon aura formed around her as she went, making her look just like a dragon flying low across the ground.

From Meowthra's head, the boys watched along with the cat as Mei's speed picked up and a vortex appeared before her, which she shot through without missing a beat.

"IT WORKED!" Lil'Loyd cheered, and this time he did fall off Meowthra's head, but she was quick to catch him by his hood.

Luh-Loyd sighed in relief when he saw his little brother get caught before turning his attention back to his dimension comm. Lil'Loyd had tossed to him as he fell. "Mei, are you okay? Where are you?" he asked.

"Guys! It totally worked! I'm somewhere else now!" came Mei's excited reply.

Lil'Loyd managed to climb back to the top of Meowthra's head and shared a high five with Luh-Loyd. "Did you get to Ninjago like you wanted to?" asked the younger Green Ninja.

"Uhhhh, no clue," Mei said. "I'm driving down what looks like the main street of an abandoned theme park, and- OH MY GODS! APATOSAURUS!"

The Lloyds exchanged a concerned glance as they heard the screech of Mei's brakes over the comm. and her gasping in amazement.

"Oh wow, guys, guys, guys, guys!" she squealed. "There's freaking dinosaurs here! Actual real-life dinosaurs! This is so cool!"

Luh-Loyd's eyes lit up in recognition. "Dinosaurs?" he asked. "You said you were in an abandoned theme park. Look around, can you see anything that says 'Jurassic Park' on it?"

"Um, let me check, there's a gift shop over there," said Mei. There was the sound of her walking then rustling through items before she spoke again. "Yes! Well, kinda. The t-shirts here all say Jurassic World, not Jurassic Park."

Luh-Loyd raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" he asked. "They tried again?"

Lil'Loyd looked at him questioningly, and Mei let out a confused sound through the comm.

"I've been there before," Luh-Loyd explained. "Remember how Nick Jay keeps mentioning nearly getting eaten by dinosaurs when jumping worlds."

Lil'Loyd's eyes widened as he connected the dots, and Mei let out an, "Oooooh," as even she'd heard the story by now. "Guess we're gonna need to work on our aim on this thing," she said. "As cool as this is, it's probably better I go where I want to instead of random worlds."

"Hang tight, we'll come get you," said Luh-Loyd as Meowthra began getting to her feet beneath him. "And keep your eyes open. Last time me and the Ninja were there we were chased by velociraptors and a T-Rex. The raptors weren't at all friendly, and I don't know how the T-Rex will react to you without me there as a buffer."

Lil'Loyd sent him an amused look. "You tamed the T-Rex?" he asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer.

Luh-Loyd just shrugged. "She was hurt. I had to do something."

Lil'Loyd only shook his head in amusement as Meowthra broke into a trot before vanishing from that world.

Underworld (Show Version)

In the Underworld, the Skulkin were going about their daily lives, when all of a sudden, a Traveler's Tea portal opened up, making several skeletons stop and stare.

"Oh, don't tell me it's the Ninja again," groaned Wyplash.

But instead of colorful Ninja, a young girl stepped through the portal and looked around curiously.

But the Skulkin used to teach at a school full of evil children and knew better than anyone not to take an innocent-looking kid at face value.

"What do you want?" asked Kruncha rudely.

The girl turned to look at him as her hair flashed white, her eyes glowed, and an oppressive aura began wafting off her like fog. The Skulkin screamed as wisps of the fog shot into them, possessing them and making their eyes glow blue as well.

Surrounded by screams, the girl just smiled.

The Underworld had a new queen.

Chapter Text

Jurassic Park World, just after the last chapter…

When Lil'Loyd and Luh-Loyd's surroundings came back into focus, Meowthra was padding down the main street to where Mei had parked her new motorcycle. The dragon girl in question was now wearing the Jurassic World t-shirt she found over her biker jumpsuit and was gleefully petting a baby apatosaurus that was about as tall as she was.

"Look at the baby!" she squealed as they arrived. "It's so cute!"

She needn't say more, as Luh-Loyd was instantly off Meowthra and hurrying over to pet it too. He loved babies of all kinds.

"Sap!" Lil'Loyd called after him.

Luh-Loyd glanced back over his shoulder as he reached Mei and the apatosaurus and called back. "You saying you don't want to pet the baby?"

"I didn't say that," said Lil'Loyd as he slid down off Meowthra and headed over to them.

"That's what I thought," said Luh-Loyd, gently stroking the baby dinosaur's neck as Lil'Loyd hurried over to join them. The dinosaur, for its part, seemed thrilled by the attention and pats.

Mei laughed and stepped back to not crowd the baby, only to find her back hitting something big and soft.

Mei looked up to see Meowthra peering down at her, before leaning down and licking her hair and purring.

"This is the greatest day of my entire life," Mei said gleefully.

Luh-Loyd laughed, knowing what was happening. "She saw your dragon avatar, and now she's adopting you," he said. "She adopts all dragons."

"There is no escape," said Lil'Loyd in a dead-serious tone despite his own grin.

"Best! Day! Ever!" Mei repeated emphatically.

Their conversation was cut short, however, when the sound of pounding footsteps caught their attention and they tensed. Luh-Loyd had said that this world was where he and the Ninja had been attacked by velociraptors, and the sound of something running towards them probably wasn't a good thing.

But then again, the footsteps didn't sound like claws, but rather it sounded more like sneakered feet, but with how abandoned everything was, how could there be someone with sneakers around?

The answer came a second later when a dark-skinned boy with curly hair came running around the corner. He was young, between Lil'Loyd and Luh-Loyd in age, and was dressed in a dirty white t-shirt with a tooth necklace around his neck, and he was staring at all of them like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Though, given that Luh-Loyd and Lil'Loyd still petting the baby apatosaurus, and Mei in her souvenir shirt was getting groomed by Meowthra, they probably made a pretty weird sight.

The boy seemed to think so, as he said, "I'm dreaming."

The three dragon kids exchanged glances. "Uh, no, you're not," Lil'Loyd called to him.

Mei, taking in the kid's rumpled state and the clearly abandoned area they were in, asked, "Hey, are you okay? What's your name? Are your parents around?"

The kid let out a half-crazed laugh like that was a dumb question. "My name is Darius, and I have been trapped on this island since the park went down, so…"

Luh-Loyd's eyes widened hearing that. "By yourself?" he asked, both alarmed and impressed. He'd barely lasted a night on this island, and he'd had an entire team of ninja with him backing him up.

"No, my friends are here too," said Darius. "We were in this camp separate from the rest of the park and we were left behind when people evacuated, and… it's a long story."

"Ouch," said Lil'Loyd. "The adults in charge of you must have sucked."

Darius couldn't really refute that. "How did you get here?" he asked instead. "Because we really could use a way off this island."

Mei pointed at her new motorcycle. "Magic bike," she said, then pointed upwards at Meowthra who was still licking her hair, "Magic kitty."

Darius looked up at Meowthra like he didn't know what to even think of her. "Okay, cloning dinosaurs is one thing, but why would anyone create a giant cat?" His eyes then narrowed, and he asked, "Are you with Mantah Corp?"

Mei let out a gasp as if offended and turned to hug Meowthra's nose. "Who wouldn't want a giant kitty?" she asked.

Luh-Loyd however, exchanged a confused look with his counterpart. "What's Mantah Corp?" he asked.

Darius gave him a look like he didn't believe he didn't actually know.

"We're not from around here," said Lil'Loyd with a cheeky grin.

"I'm from China!" Mei said helpfully.

Darius still looked suspicious. "So you're not here to steal secrets of how to make dinosaurs?" he asked.

Luh-Loyd immediately shook his head. "Absolutely not," he said. "I'd actually rather avoid knowing that. The last thing I need is my dad figuring out how to make a megalodon."

"And you're not here to hunt dinosaurs either, right?" asked Darius.

All three dressed in green gave him wide-eyed looks of horror at the very thought.

"Who'd want to do something like that?" asked Lil'Loyd, hugging the baby apatosaurus around the neck protectively.

That reaction seemed to make Darius finally believe them as he sighed in relief. "You'd be surprised," he said. "There were these two hunters, Mitch and Tiff, and… never mind. Can you please give my friends and I a lift off the island?"

Luh-Loyd nodded. "Sure, just need to figure out how to do that, since Meowthra doesn't go over water, and-" he was cut off when Meowthra finished grooming Mei, and started padding away "Wait, Meowthra, where are you-" but before he could finish his question, she vanished from the world.

Darius stared at the spot she'd just been with a wide-eyed look of bewilderment. "You sure I'm not dreaming?" he asked weakly.

"Nah," said Mei, moving over to pat him on the back. "Our lives are just really super weird."

"Where do you think she went? Meowthra wouldn't just leave us here," said Lil'Loyd with a frown. Sure, they could always try to leave on Mei's bike, but with no way to choose which world they were going to, it was a shot in the dark if they got somewhere familiar.

"I think she went to get help," said Luh-Loyd, not too worried. "Someone who can help us get Darius across the ocean… Or she was hungry and went to get food. Or take a nap or something. She's a cat, it's hard to tell sometimes and she does what she wants. She'll come back when she feels like it."

Darius looked skeptical but then waved for them to follow him. "Well, if you think that she'll be back, then we should get out of here. This is T-Rex territory."

"She's here?" asked Luh-Loyd excitedly.

Darius looked at him strangely, clearly wondering why Luh-Loyd was excited to see a giant man-eating dinosaur.

Lil'Loyd grinned. "He's met the T-Rex before. They're buds."

Darius looked like he didn't believe him.

"If it makes you feel better to leave, we can go somewhere else," offered Mei.

Darius gave her a thankful smile and led them out of the theme park and into the jungle.

When they reached Camp Cretaceous, which was a collapsed treehouse turned fort that Darius and his friends had built in the woods, they were met with even more disbelieving looks than Darius had given them before.

"Oh Wow," said a girl with a southern accent and short black hair. "People!"

"How did they get here?" asked another girl in ripped athletic clothes and a ponytail.

"Better question," said a tall boy with black hair and expensive-looking sunglasses. "Can they get us home?"

A brown-haired boy who looked like the wildest of the bunch looked at them suspiciously from atop an ankylosaur. "Are you sure they're not another Mitch and Tiff?" he asked, pointing at them with a spear.

"Pretty sure," said Darius. "They seem cool.

"Is that a phone?!" asked a girl with dyed pink hair, zeroing in on where Mei was holding her dimensional comm. "Are you streaming this?!"

"Yep!" said Mei cheerfully turning it so she could see the livestream going on the screen. "Say hi!"

"Why are you streaming?" asked Luh-Loyd as he pushed Mei's motorcycle up against the fort.

"'Cause this place is cool," said Mei with a shrug. "Also just in case Meowthra doesn't come back, and everyone knows where we are." She then paused and glanced at her phone screen and winced. "Ooooh, Spike Kai just tuned in. He says you two are in SO much trouble, and I'm getting my Kai privileges suspended for a month."

Both Lloyds grimaced, knowing they were in for an earful when they got home. "Just a month?" asked Lil'Loyd, surprised she only got that much.

"He heard from MK what we were building and figured coming here was kind of an accident," said Mei.

The pink-haired girl, however, was still focused on Mei's comm. "You actually have a signal out here?" she asked, looking like a starving man presented with a three-course meal. "Can, uh, can I borrow that? I'm Brooklyn, you might have heard of me online. My followers are probably all thinking I'm dead by now… along with everyone else."

Lil'Loyd felt his own comm. begin buzzing in his pocket, and knew it was likely his Kai or his parents calling to lecture him, so he quickly handed the device to Brooklyn. "Here, you can borrow mine," he said.

Brooklyn beamed at him and quickly used it to log on and start streaming. "Hello, Brooklanders! I've always wanted to say this, but I lived, b-"

Whatever she was about to say was quickly cut off as Luh-Loyd shouted, "Language!" and clapped his hands over Lil'Loyd's ears to keep him from hearing it as he glared disapprovingly at Brooklyn.

Brooklyn looked sheepish at what she nearly said, and quickly amended, "-boys and girls! We're still trapped on Isla Nublar, but we just got the news we'll be off this island soon." She paused and glanced at Luh-Loyd. "We'll be off the island soon, right?"

"Sure, as soon as our ride comes back we can go," said Mei, she then glanced down at her own Livestream, and added, "MK explained everything, and Cliff Cole and Cyan Nya are trying to find Ultra or Taffy to give us a lift."

Despite having no idea who Ultra or Taffy were, all of the other campers let out heavy sighs of relief to hear that.

As Brooklyn continued to recount her adventures to the camera, Darius introduced them to the rest. "These are Sammy (short-haired girl), Yasmina (ponytail girl), Kenji (tall boy), and Ben (wild boy)."

"And this is Bumpy," said Wild Boy Ben, gesturing to the ankylosaur.

The ankylosaur let out a loud groan in greeting.

"Guys, these are…" Darius started to say, but trailed off, realizing he'd never asked their names.

"I'm Mei!" said Mei cheerfully, "And they're both named Lloyd. We call them Luh-Loyd and Lil'Loyd to tell them apart."

Kenji let out a loud snort at the nicknames. "Really?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Luh-Loyd said with a sigh. "Blame my dad. He came up with them."

"And no one ever let it go," Lil'Loyd grumbled.

Mei looked down at a comment on her livestream, and said, "Pep Zane says 'Get T-rekt'."

"Thanks, Zane," said both Lloyds with identical dry expressions while looking into Mei's camera.

Just then the ground shook with the approaching footsteps of something big, and Bumpy let out a loud cry.

Ben seemed to know what that meant. "Something's coming!" he called.

The campers all hurried to hide in their shelter, and at some prompting, Mei took Lil'Loyd in too for safety.

Luh-Loyd, however, stayed where he was no matter how the teenagers hissed for him to take cover.

Soon enough, the T-Rex stepped through the trees, her eyes locked on the green-wearing teen.

Luh-Loyd beamed up at her. "Hey! Good to see you again," he said, and he walked straight up to the massive carnivore.

The campers all screamed in horror as the T-Rex leaned down towards him, opened her mouth, and…

… Licked him?

Luh-Loyd laughed and reached up to hug the T-Rex's nose, and the T-Rex let out a rumble of delight.

The campers all gaped at him, and Lil'Loyd and Mei snickered at the looks on their faces.

"He's a monster magnet," explained Lil'Loyd. "Thankfully, all creatures absolutely love him as soon as they meet him."

"This is so cute," Mei cooed, still streaming.

The campers stared at them like they were crazy, but couldn't deny what they were seeing with their own eyes. The T-Rex that had tried on multiple occasions to eat them was now licking and making happy rumbling noises like an excited puppy as the blond teen cooed over her.

Remembering her injury the last time he was here, Luh-Loyd moved around to look at her leg where Ultra had burned her and saw all that was left was scar tissue, however, to his dismay, there were also some fresh gashes like she'd recently been in a fight.

"Oh no, what happened?" he said, examining the cuts.

"What's wrong?" called Darius, still too cautious to come out of the fort, but his curiosity was starting to get the better of him.

"Looks like she's been in a fight recently," said Luh-Loyd, thinking of how best to treat her. "Tea," he muttered to himself heading back over to Mei's bike where he stored his thermos. "Tea, tea, tea."

"Must have been one of Dr. Wu's experiments," said Brooklyn, still streaming the entire thing too.

"Experiments?" asked Lil'Loyd curiously.

"Crazy hybrid dino," said Kenji, like that explained everything.

"The scientists here were trying to make new dinosaurs," Sammy elaborated. "But they were unstable and got loose."

"And started attacking everything in sight," added Yasmina darkly.

"Yeesh," said Mei, before glancing at her comm. "And that is why you don't play mad scientist, kids." She then sent a mock glare at the camera. "I'm talking to you, Red Son." She then grinned as she got a very outraged series of comments. Nice to know he watched her streams.

Luh-Loyd, meanwhile, grabbed the thermos of healing tea he'd had on hand when testing the bike, and headed back to the T-Rex, coaxing her to open her mouth and drink some.

Darius, it seemed, could no longer contain his curiosity, and began creeping closer. "What's that you're giving her?" he asked.

"Healing tea," Luh-Loyd replied, wetting a handkerchief with the tea and dabbing it on her injuries as well. "My uncle's recipe. It helps with injuries."

The T-Rex didn't seem to like the taste, but swallowed it and nuzzled Luh-Loyd again.

Kenji, seeing this, let out a groan. "Urgh, why couldn't we have had this guy with us from the beginning. We'd have so much less to worry about if Rexy wasn't always trying to eat us."

"Trying to eat you?" Luh-Loyd asked, glancing back at them, before looking at the T-Rex sternly. "No, no, you shouldn't eat people."

The T-Rex growled indignantly.

"Yes, I know people make easy prey, but there's also a lot of them and they carry grudges," Luh-Loyd scolded. "You hurt enough people and they'll put you down like that poor shark in Jaws."

The T-Rex looked like it didn't believe him.

"Wait, what about the shark in Jaws?" asked Lil'Loyd. "My dad said it was a comedy."

"Jaws? A comedy?" asked Yasmina incredulously.

Luh-Loyd looked back at his counterpart sadly. "It dies at the end, the poor thing."

Lil'Loyd looked heartbroken, and Mei had to giggle at the campers' bewilderment.

"And you guys think I'm weird," said Ben.

"You are weird," said Kenji bluntly. "They're just weirder."

"Thanks," said Mei brightly, taking it as a compliment.

Yasmina sighed. "Okay, but this is about all the weirdness I can take. Can we please get off this island now?"

At that moment, the familiar feeling of heavy footfalls of something even bigger than the T-Rex was approaching, and Lil'Loyd glanced in the direction of the source and grinned. "Sure, but just to warn you, it's about to get even weirder."

The campers were almost afraid to look, except for Darius, who had already seen Meowthra, and turned, only to gasp at what was accompanying her.

Meowthra padded towards them proudly while carrying the Ultra Dragon by the scruff of their necks, and flitting through the trees behind the giant cat were even more dragons of all kinds of elements.

The campers could only gape.

Ultra Dragon, however, caught sight of the T-Rex and clearly remembering their last encounter, gave a warning growl.

The T-Rex growled back but didn't look willing to pick a fight with so many other dragons around, so she nuzzled Luh-Loyd one final time and then made her leave.

"Bye Rexy!" Luh-Loyd called after her, glad to have heard Kenji say her name. "I'll visit again soon!" He then turned his attention to the dragons as Mei and Lil'Loyd also came over to greet them, but the campers still kept a safe distance away.

"This is our ride home?" Sammy gasped in awe.

"Looks like it," agreed Mei. "The dragons should be able to fly us to the mainland no problem."

"You're sure they're not with Mantah Corp?" Brooklyn asked Darius.

"Again, what is Mantah Corp?" asked Lil'Loyd as he tried to convince Meowthra to let his dragon go. Even after adopting so many, it was clear the Ultra Dragon was still her favorite kitten.

"If you're not with Mantah Corp, how did you get these… things?" asked Ben suspiciously.

"Dragons," said Mei, not liking him calling them (and by extension her and the Lloyds) 'things'. "They're dragons. Isn't it obvious?"

"To be honest, I don't know where they come from," said Luh-Loyd, stroking a wind dragon on the nose. "Meowthra finds them and keeps bringing them home if they're injured and my friends and I patch them up. After that, they're free to leave, but most of them just stick around."

"And how did you get Meowthra?" asked Yasmina.

Luh-Loyd looked sheepish. "Oh, she's a demon. I accidentally summoned her by trying to unleash a giant super-weapon on my then-evil father."

The campers just stared at him.

"It's true," said Lil'Loyd, and Mei nodded to confirm it having heard the story before.

Darius sighed. It was far more likely that a scientist from InGen or Mantah Corp had been experimenting with cat DNA, and one of their products got loose and was adopted by Luh-Loyd. Similar could be said for the so-called 'dragons', but it was clear none of the three kids in green were aware of that. He whispered this theory to the other campers, and they all looked like the world made sense again.

"So," Luh-Loyd called to them, unaware of their theories. "Ready to go?"

The campers exchanged glances.

"I call the red one!" Brooklyn said, racing over to the fire dragon.

"That's Pepper," Luh-Loyd said as Brooklyn reached the dragon in question.

Brooklyn just grinned and tossed the phone to Luh-Loyd and asked him to film her as she reenacted a scene from How to Train Your Dragon. Pepper sniffed her hand, before letting her pet him.

Seeing this, the other campers followed behind, curious though some more cautious than others.

Darius came over to the wind dragon (Breezy) muttering to himself as he tried to figure out what dinosaur DNA built her.

Kenji confidently strode up to a flashy-looking lighting dragon (Cracker-Jack) who promptly stole his sunglasses and let himself be chased around playfully.

Sammy was immediately cooing over a form dragon (Ms. Match) who had chosen a cuter appearance today.

"Do all of them have cutesy names?" asked Yasmina as she cautiously approached a speed dragon.

Lil'Loyd snickered. "Blame him," he said, pointing to his counterpart. "Everything he names is cutesy."

Luh-Loyd looked offended. "Is not!"

Yasmina didn't look convinced. "Oh yeah, what's this one's name?" she asked, pointing to the speed dragon.

"Zippy," said Luh-Loyd, seeing nothing wrong with it.

"Awww," Mei and Sammy immediately cooed.

Luh-Loyd shut up after that.

However, Ben hung back from the rest of them. "You know what, you guys go. I've been thinking about it for a long time, and I've decided I'm gonna stay with Bumpy."

Needless to say, that announcement did not go over well, and all the campers immediately crowded around him to try and convince him otherwise, but Ben was steadfast in not leaving behind his ankylosaur.

So, Mei offered an alternate solution. "Why don't we just bring her with us?"

That threw all the campers off.

"We can do that?" asked Ben hopefully.

Lil'Loyd shrugged, seeing nothing wrong with it. "I mean, if I can have the Ultra Dragon, and Luh-Loyd can have Meowthra and Taffy-"

"Taffy?" asked Brooklyn in amusement.

"My pet leviathan," said Luh-Loyd. "And I did not name that one, Rusty did."

"-Then why can't you have a pet dinosaur," Lil'Loyd concluded, ignoring the interruption. "Especially since that's one of the plant-eating ones, right?"

Ben looks so hopeful hearing that, so Sammy offered, "She can live on my family's farm. Lots of space, and I'm sure the cows will like her."

"And InGen so owes us after just leaving us here for months," added Brooklyn, looking directly at her camera and smiling with a razor edge as she said that. "I'm sure they can part with one ankylosaur. Especially after everything we found while stuck here."

Lil'Loyd, Luh-Loyd, and Mei exchanged confused glances, but the rest of the campers were completely aware of how real that threat was.

"So, I guess it's settled," said Darius. "Bumpy's coming with us."

Ben looked thrilled, and Luh-Loyd knew just the dragon for the job. "Slab! Come here, Slab!" he called to a massive earth dragon.

"Slab? That's not as cute," said Mei, a little confused.

"I didn't name him," said Luh-Loyd. "I found it written on the chains he was tangled in when Meowthra rescued him. He doesn't answer to anything else."

Slab came over and eyed Bumpy, who eyed him back warily.

"Come on, Bumpy," said Ben encouragingly, rubbing his hand along her horns. "It'll be fine. He's not going to eat you." He then frowned and turned to the dragon kids. "He's not going to eat her, right?"

"Slab prefers the giant rats Meowthra catches," said Luh-Loyd.

The campers looked like they didn't know what to think of that, and Ben shrugged it off and coaxed Bumpy closer to Slab before climbing atop the large earth dragon. With one passenger secured, Slab began to beat his wings to lift off the ground and picked up Bumpy in his claws before taking to the sky. Bumpy let out a cry of alarm but didn't struggle too much.

Taking that as their cue, the other dragons began to lift off the ground with the campers on their backs. The Lloyds and Mei climbed aboard the Ultra Dragon to follow them, and with her work there done, Meowthra picked up Mei's dimension-jumping bike in her mouth and vanished from the world.

"So, where are we going?" asked Lil'Loyd.

Kenji leaned off Cracker-Jack to point out over the horizon. "Well, Costa Rica is about a hundred-twenty miles thataway, and from there we can contact our parents, and they can take it from- whoa!" He then had to cling to the dragon tighter as he and the rest of the Thunder began flying in the direction he indicated.

The other campers whooped and cheered as they finally left the island behind.

As he watched Jurassic Park (or, World now) begin to fade into the distance, Luh-Loyd frowned at the sight.

"Something wrong?" asked Mei, seeing his expression.

"Did Dad teach you eruption warning signs in his bodyguard lessons yet?" Luh-Loyd asked instead of replying.

"Yeah, he tacked it on to my first lesson when he realized I didn't know it. Why do you-ohhh…" Mei said before trailing off and following Luh-Loyd's gaze. "Yeah, that's a problem.

Between the two of them, Lil'Loyd tensed. "Wait? We were on a volcano that whole time?" he asked. "And you didn't tell me?!" Volcanoes still freaked him out.

"Sorry, I honestly forgot it was a volcanic island," Luh-Loyd replied sheepishly. "Last time I was here, it was dark, and I had other things to worry about so I didn't really register it beyond that it wasn't Dad's volcano."

Lil'Loyd gave him the stink-eye but accepted the apology. "What were you saying about warning signs?" he asked nervously.

Mei glanced back in the direction of the island even though it had faded from view. "The volcano was smoking," she said. "That doesn't mean there will be an eruption soon, but it is a sign there could be one. We'd have to ask the campers if they noticed any other signs to be sure."

"Either way, I'll probably try to keep an eye on this world," said Luh-Loyd. "If that volcano does erupt, the dinosaurs will have nowhere to go."

Lil'Loyd cracked a grin hearing that. "Gotta save those monsters, huh," he said, not expecting anything less.

"Well I can't just leave them to die," said Luh-Loyd, scandalized by the very idea. He then looked thoughtful, and added, "I'd just need to think of a place to put them…"

Mei and Lil'Loyd exchanged a smirk hearing that.

If Luh-Loyd added all those dinosaurs to his pets on top of the monsters and dragons he'd have quite the menagerie.

Or a chaotic mess.

Either way, it'd be a sight to see.