Into Battle!
AN: AU in the Lego Ninjago Universe. I don't own Ninjago! Enjoy!
It had been six months since Garmadon and Koko added the little bundle of joy to their life, that they named Lloyd. They were living in a little house that Garmadon had built when Koko had become pregnant. They were a happy little family.
"Garm?"
The warlord was fast asleep.
"Garm!" Koko's voice finally reached his ears.
Garmadon opened his eyes slowly to see his wife leaning over him. His son was in her arms.
"Dada!" he squealed in delight.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked, sleepily.
"I was wondering if you could watch Lloyd a for a while. I need to go into the village and get a few things," Koko asked.
"Yeah, sure!" Garmadon answered, sitting up in bed. Koko handed their son to him with a smile.
"Thanks. I won't be gone too long," she said. "He may get hungry soon, and if he gets too fussy, he likes being in the baby carrier," Koko finished.
Garmadon was lifting Lloyd into the air and making him laugh. "Don't worry, Koks. We'll be fine, won't we, Luh-loyd?" he grinned at his son.
Lloyd babbled excitedly at him.
Koko smiled at them. "Okay, see you later."
"So, Luh-loyd, whadda say we get some breakfast?" Garmadon asked his infant son.
Lloyd garbled a few words at him in reply.
Garmadon got up and carried Lloyd out into the kitchen to see what he could come up with to eat. He decided to make some toast, as that would be the easiest.
Lloyd was still on formula, and was just starting on solid foods, like baby cereal, along with strained fruit and veggies.
After eating his toast, the warlord went about preparing a bottle for his son. He had seen Koko do it enough times that he knew how to do it himself now.
Lloyd happily watched his father and squealed in delight. He loved his bottle.
Garmadon grinned at his son. He enjoyed feeding him and did so whenever he could.
"Here you go, champ!" He said, cradling Lloyd and holding the bottle up to his son's mouth.
Lloyd took the bottle eagerly and put one little hand on his dad's, which melted the warlord's heart. He may be an evil warlord bent on domination, but he had a huge soft spot when it came to his son.
When Lloyd was finished, Garmadon held him up to his shoulder to burp him. It didn't take long.
"Great one, son!" Garmadon praised, as he held Lloyd in front of him. Lloyd giggled.
Koko had told him that Lloyd would probably start crawling soon. He was now able to sit up by himself for just a few minutes. Garmadon couldn't wait for Lloyd to start being more active. He had grand plans for his son.
Lloyd put his fingers in his mouth. His first tooth was coming in and the second one was just starting to emerge, which caused the little tike to drool and sometimes be fussy.
Koko didn't want Lloyd to suck his fingers and had gotten some teething rings for him.
Garmadon grabbed one from the fridge and gave it to his son, who began to bite it happily. He then sat down with him on the floor to give him some playtime.
"Okay, son. Where's daddy?" He asked in a sing song voice, while hiding his face. Lloyd looked at his father's covered face. Then… "Here I am!"
Lloyd laughed when he saw his father's face. This was of his favorite games. Garmadon did this a few times before moving onto something else.
"Hey, check this out, Luh-loyd." Taking some toy cups, Garmadon stacked a few and let Lloyd knock them down. "You have great conquering instincts, son!" he laughed.
Lloyd tried to imitate his father's laugh, which made the warlord grin. He loved it when Lloyd did that. He picked up his son and held him high and lifted him up and down. Lloyd squealed in delight and clapped his little hands together-a new skill he was just learning.
Garmadon then put Lloyd on the floor on his back. He kicked his arms and legs wildly. It didn't take long for the baby to roll over on his stomach and grabbing a nearby toy, he put it in his mouth. At this stage, Lloyd mouthed everything, so the couple made sure they always had safe things around for him to chew on.
Garmadon enjoyed watching his son. It was great to see him so interactive now.
After a while, Lloyd was starting to get tired and fussy, and Garmadon knew it was time for his son's nap.
"I wore you out, didn't I?" the warlord asked, as he picked him up and carried him into his room. He remembered to change his diaper, and thankfully, it was only wet (changing Lloyd's explosions were never fun). He laid Lloyd in his crib and went back out into the main room.
Garmadon knew Lloyd took about 1-2 hour nap in the morning, so he had some downtime. No doubt Koko would gone for good while, as the closest village was a good distance away and who knew what all she was getting.
Much to his wife's displeasure, Garmadon still had his skeleton army that did raids and other various conquering things for him. She had asked him many times when he would just give that up. He would always make some kind of non-committal answer, which frustrated her.
The warlord would sometimes join his army on a raid, but since having Lloyd, he didn't go out as much as he used to. Koko didn't like it when he did, and he didn't have as much time anymore. He still wanted to conquer and had recently set his sights on something bigger, like a large city for his son's future.
In his spare time, Garmadon had started writing a book called Ninjellence. He wanted to have all his greatest slick, dark ninja moves, and greatest conquering skills written down.
He worked on it for about an hour when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.
Who on earth?
He went to the door and opened it, seeing one of his generals.
"How many times I have told you not to come here?" Garmadon snapped at him, picking him up by his neck. "Koko would kill me if she saw you here!"
He had told his army generals not to come to the little house, because it angered Koko. He had been on the receiving end of her anger, and it wasn't pleasant. Ideally, Garmadon liked his army to be in a wide perimeter around where they were staying, but not too close. He usually went out to them if he needed to give them orders.
The general felt afraid for his life. He knew the risk of coming straight to the house.
"I-I'm s-sorry, Lord Garmadon," he stuttered. "But there's a rival army that's invaded close by, and they've gotten past our sentry's."
"What?!" Garmadon yelled. "How could you let that happen? Failure is not an option—"
"WAHHH!"
The warlord's rant was cut off by the sound of his son crying from the other room. The noise must have woken him up. This was all the general's fault and he would be sure to deal with him most severely later.
"You just woke up my son!" Garmadon snarled, while the general cowered in fear. "Gather the army, I'll be out shortly. Now get out my sight!" He then threw the general and slammed the door.
Lloyd's crying was getting louder and more frantic. Garmadon rushed into the room and picked up his crying son.
"Hey, it's okay, Luh-loyd. Daddy's here," he said in a soothing voice, trying to calm the baby down. He bounced him up and down in an effort to quiet him.
Lloyd was just too worked up and wouldn't stop crying. The warlord thought for a minute. He didn't have much time before the invading army showed up. He then remembered that Koko said Lloyd liked to be in the baby carrier when he was really fussy.
Garmadon carried his son out to the main room to find the baby carrier.
"Where is it, where is it?" He asked, feeling a bit frantic. He would sometimes get flustered when Lloyd was crying.
He finally spotted it in the corner. "Ah, there it is." He carefully put Lloyd inside and quickly threw on his war armor and donned his helmet.
"Okay, Luh-loyd, daddy's gotta go to work and chase off some invaders. You can see your ol' man in action!" Garmadon told his son with a smirk, as he put on the baby carrier, strapped to his front. He then carefully grabbed his four swords and put them in their sheaths.
Lloyd started to calm a bit.
The warlord charged out the house and headed off to find his army, which should be close by now.
When Garmadon found his general, who had gathered his army, he assessed the situation.
The general was surprised that his leader had his baby son strapped to his front.
"Ah, sir? Are you taking your son into the battle?" he asked.
"Of course I am! It's not like I can leave him alone," Garmadon answered.
"But isn't that dangerous?"
"Just do what I ordered and don't worry about it. He'll be fine," the warlord said, dismissively.
The general shrugged and went off to tell the others Garmadon's orders.
"Okay, son, get ready for some action! Your daddy's gonna kick some butt!" Garmadon told Lloyd, who babbled excitedly at him.
He soon joined in the fray as the battle begun.
It was an intense battle. The warlord was driven though. No one invaded his territory. He would protect what was his-especially when it came to his wife and son. The mere fact that anyone would dare come near his family…it made Garmadon's blood boil and he fought with a tremendous ferocity.
Lloyd was happy in the carrier, watching his father's steel blades clash and clang, sparks and people flying. He giggled and squealed whenever Garmadon would make a flashy move and take someone out. He was, of course, quite careful in how he swung his swords, so they wouldn't get close to his son.
In one move, the warlord leapt over someone high in the air, did a backflip and took the solider out by surprise, all the while Lloyd squealing in delight.
"You like that huh, Luh-loyd?" Garmadon asked with a smirk after he landed carefully. "Watch this!" He performed another move where he reverse kicked another person, sending him flying.
"Whadda ya think of that, son?" the warlord asked him with a wide, toothy grin. Lloyd squealed happily in response, as if he was cheering his father on.
Just then, a soldier attacked him, lunging forward with his sword. Garmadon saw him last minute and jumped back, but it came really close to hitting his son.
With a deep growl, Garmadon angrily kicked him backwards. He took his sword in the process and tossed it away. He then dealt him several blows with his own swords, which took the soldier out.
Checking to make sure no one else would surprise attack him, Garmadon checked on Lloyd to make sure it was okay. Fortunately, he was, but that was too close. It was time to finish this.
Finally, Garmadon's army was victorious and the rival army was driven off, with heavy losses.
After taking care of the general that had failed him, he gave instructions to his newly promoted general.
"Keep several men on the perimeter to make sure they don't come back," the warlord told him. "And triple the watch! I don't want this to happen again, or your life is forfeit!"
"Y-yes, Lord Garmadon," he answered and left quickly, fearful of the dark lord's wrath.
When he left, Garmadon looked down at his son, who seemed quite content. "I tell you, Luh-loyd, it's really hard to find competent soldiers these days." Lloyd babbled at him. "Yeah, let's go home."
The pair made their way back to the little house.
"Garm, you're back! I was worried when I couldn't find—" Koko trailed off when she saw Garmadon in his full armor and Lloyd in the baby carrier on his front.
"Uh…hey Koko," Garmadon greeted nervously, not sure how he was going to explain this.
Lloyd babbled happily at seeing his mother.
Koko took in her husband's disheveled appearance and noticed that that he was armed.
"Where have you been?" she asked in a no-nonsense tone.
"I can explain," the warlord said quickly, "there was an invading army and I had to drive them off."
"You took our son into a battle?!" Koko yelled, making Garmadon wince. She could be really loud when she wanted to be. "Garm, what were you thinking?!"
"Well, I couldn't leave him here by himself, he was fussy, so I put him the carrier. I kept him safe!" Garmadon defended. There was only one close call, after all.
Koko marched up to her husband and got Lloyd out of the carrier, holding him close. He squealed at her.
"I don't want this to ever happen again, Garm! Do you hear me?" Koko ranted, pointing a finger into his chest.
Garmadon cowered slightly. When she got angry like this, it was best to just agree with her. Koko had changed a lot since they had Lloyd. He understood that she wanted what was best for their son, but he still aspired that he would become a warlord like himself.
"Yeah, okay, Koks," he answered with resignation.
This was one battle he knew he couldn't win.
THE END
AN: Thanks to bare-nok's great picture of Garmadon carrying Lloyd in a baby carrier out in battle and marmardoesart idea that Garm would take Lloyd to work in a baby carrier that inspired me to write this little story.