Chapter 9: Show Ninjago

Between Jay and Nya's engineering skills and Lloyd's Master Building, the carriage was coming along at record speed.

It probably would have come along even faster, but between the three of them, they kept coming up with creative additions to give it.

"No, build it like this. That way you can use it as a blunt weapon if you need to."

"Why are you adding ejector seats?"

"Why not add ejector seats?"

"Should we put missiles here?"

"Of course! We should put missiles everywhere."

"Why are you putting that there?"

"Because it's Cole's seat, hehe."

"Oh… help me do the same to Kai's."

"How is that possibly going to work?"

"Master Builder secret. It'll work. Trust me."

"Whose bright idea was it to put a flame thrower here?"

"... Mine… It's a dragon head, okay."

"What's with all the dragons anyway?"

"It's my signature. All Master Builders have a signature theme or vehicle. This is mine."

"Cool, but do we really need twenty cup holders?"

In short, the three were quickly shaping up to be fast friends. Nothing brought people together like a shared interest.

While he had come over to learn about Master Building too, Zane was mostly content to stand back and let the three work, only stepping in when they tried to do something really outlandish and out of hand.

Jay's parents had also wandered off after Lloyd's initial lesson, making cheerful comments about the ingenuity of young people. They occasionally brought out tea and snacks or chatted with Sensei Wu as the day wore on.

Cole and Kai, meanwhile, were getting bored.

"How much longer is this gonna take?" Kai asked impatiently after a couple of hours. "We really need to get Lloyd back as soon as we can."

The three builders looked up from where they were adding automated landing gear to the underside of the carriage, before exchanging glances and shrugging.

"Not too long actually," Jay said, staring in wonder at the sight of the almost completed carriage. He had been so in the zone he hadn't even realized they were almost done.

"Wow," Nya said, feeling the same way. "Normally something like this would take me a week to make."

"The wonders of Master Building and teamwork," said Lloyd with a pleased grin.

"Speaking of teamwork," Sensei Wu said from where he'd been sipping tea. "The six of you should work on yours. If you are planning to confront my brother, much less travel through other worlds, you will need to be able to rely on each other."

No one missed the pointed glance he sent Kai's way when he said that. The Master of Fire just huffed but didn't disagree.

"So how do you want us to do this?" asked Zane. "Sparring or teamwork building?"

"Sparring in smaller groups to start," said Master Wu. "It would be best to know what each other is capable of before attempting to work as a unit."

"Ninja team battles," said Kai thoughtfully, a smirk growing across his face. "I like it."

"I'm up for it," said Lloyd as he moved away from the carriage and into a more open area.

"No holding back either," said Cole to the green-clad ninja as he moved to follow him. "We need to see what you're really capable of."

That gave the others pause before anticipation started setting in. They had thought they'd need to wait a good few more years to see the full might of the Legendary Green Ninja in action, but if this Lloyd had already grown into his powers…

"Fine by me," said Lloyd. "But only if you do the same."

Kai grinned viciously. "Count on it."

"Lloyd's on my team!" Jay called eagerly before turning to his girlfriend. "You coming, Nya?"

"And miss out on showing you boys what a samurai can do? No way!" said Nya, running to grab her armor and sword.

"I guess that makes the three of us against the three of you," said Zane, gesturing to himself, Cole and Kai.

Once Nya was back, the six of them spread out into a wide circle, each eyeing each other in anticipation.

"Begin!" called Master Wu.

Lloyd immediately went on the defensive as Kai came rushing at him swinging his sword. From the corner of his eye, he saw Cole and Jay square off on his left, and Nya go after Zane on his right.

He dodged another sword strike before flipping over to a discarded hubcap lying in the sand. Using it as a makeshift shield to block the third strike, he then kicked his foot upwards and into Kai's ribs.

Kai let out a grunt but continued his assault, his blade flashing in the desert sun, but Lloyd blocked every blow and attacked with or around the hub every chance he could while ready to dodge the second he saw a hint of fire.

In his peripheral vision, Lloyd noticed Nya had lost her sword against Zane and was now struggling without a weapon.

Thinking quickly, instead of blocking Kai's next strike, Lloyd turned the hubcap so that the sword went through one of the decorative spaces. Surprised at this turn of events, the red ninja was unprepared when the hubcap span sharply and wrenched the sword out of his hands and into the Green Ninja's.

"Nya! Catch!" Lloyd said, tossing the stolen sword over to her.

Though surprised, Nya caught the blade and immediately began fighting Zane with renewed vigor.

Her brother, meanwhile, was furious about being disarmed, and Lloyd had to leap to safety to avoid his fiery spinjitzu tornado.

His jump landed him close enough to Jay and Cole's fight that with a quick word had the two switching opponents, with Jay combating Kai's tornado with his own, and Lloyd using his hubcap to block a blow from Cole's scythe.

With Cole's superior strength, the hubcap shield wasn't as effective as it had been against Kai, but Lloyd had planned for that. Subtly, he led Cole over to a large pile of tires until he was in just the right position.

Before Cole could decipher the smirk he gave him, Lloyd flung the hubcap at the pile of tires, using his own spinjitzu to give the throw an extra boost of strength, and then jumped clear.

The Master of Earth quickly found himself trapped under a pile of black rubber, with one falling so perfectly that it landed around his shoulders and pinned his arms to his sides.

Lloyd grinned at the scowl on his face, before turning to see Jay manage to overpower Kai in their spinjitzu battle. The two of them hurried to Nya's side, and even though she already had Zane on the ropes, between the three of them the battle was over in minutes.

"And finish," said Sensei Wu once Zane was no longer able to fight.

Kai groaned from where he'd landed after Jay had knocked him flat. "Have you been doing extra training?" he asked the Master of Lightning as he sat up and rubbed his head. "I swear you couldn't hit that hard last time we sparred."

Jay preened. "No more than you," he said. "I guess I'm just that good."

"You have improved significantly as well, Nya," said Zane, being a good sport.

Nya beamed. "Thanks."

"That's nice and all, but could someone get me out of here?" asked a still trapped Cole.

While the others hurried over to help, Sensei Wu studied Lloyd thoughtfully. "I am curious, young ninja," he said. "After saying you would all go 'all out' you did not once use your elemental powers."

Lloyd, not fully realizing the ninja master was addressing him, turned to the other ninja with a small frown. "He's right. Why didn't you guys hit me with your elements?" he asked.

"Samurai, remember, not an Elemental Master," said Nya with a shrug.

"As for us, we haven't been able to use our elements fully since Lord Garmadon stole our Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu," said Zane.

"We can use our powers for spinjitzu, but not much else," added Cole.

"You got your powers from magic weapons?" Lloyd asked, feeling a wave of nostalgia hit him.

"Yeah, we did. What's your excuse?" asked Kai, grumpy at being beat. "Why didn't you use your powers?"

Lloyd gave them all a very confused look. "I… don't have any."

That gave them all pause, and they stared at him in incomprehension.

"But you're the Green Ninja!" Jay exclaimed.

Lloyd's confusion only grew. "Yeah? So? Green's symbolic, not an element. You guys and my team all get to be the Fire Ninja, Earth Ninja, Ice Ninja… you get the idea. Me, I wear green, therefore I am the green ninja. There's nothing really special about me," he said, though it was clear from the expression on his face he wished he did have some kind of special power.

The rest could only stare at him. So much of their training recently had been to hone the skills of the Green Ninja. The keeper of a legendary power far greater than their own. To hear in another world it was the exact opposite was mind-boggling.

"No element at all?" Cole asked just to be clear.

Lloyd shrugged helplessly. "Not even the element of surprise. That's the Fushia Ninja."

"SURPRISE!"

At that exact moment, a ninja in a vivid pink gi burst out of the pile of tires next to Cole. Before any of them could react, he then vanished as though he'd never been there in the first place.

Everyone had to take a moment to internalize what they had just seen.

Lloyd coughed awkwardly. "I, uh, I guess this world has one of him too."

"Who even was that?!" Jay scrambled to say, and all Lloyd could do was give another shrug.

"No idea," Lloyd replied. "He just pops out randomly and yells 'Surprise!' It's weird. He's weird."

"Back on track," said Kai, shaking head and getting back to the matter at hand. "You're serious? You really don't have any powers at all?"

Lloyd shook his head with a sigh. "Master Wu always told me that my special skill was my ability to connect with people and forge bonds. Like how I'm the one who brought my friends together as a team so that we're stronger as a unit. I like it, it's useful, and it's how I reconnected with my dad, but it's nothing really powerful or special."

It finally sunk in for them that he was serious.

"I would have to disagree in that regard," said Sensei Wu kindly, though he too still looked surprised at this turn of events. "While it may not be as flashy as an elemental ability, it is undoubtedly a valuable skill to have, and one you will need if your plan for Lord Garmadon is to succeed."

At that moment, Edna stuck her head out of the trailer and called, "Kids! You've got a call over on your ship. Seems Lord Garmadon is attacking over in the city again."

The ninja and sole samurai exchanged glances at that.

"I guess we're about to find out," said Lloyd, and he hurried on ahead towards the Bounty.

The others trailed after him warily.

"A powerless Green Ninja," said Jay, still unable to fathom the concept. "We're sooooo Hooped!"


A/N Since Jakie Chan choreographed the fights in the Ninjago Movie, I tried to incorporate some of his fighting styles into Lloyd. My best memories of that old Jackie Chan Adventures show had him using random objects and his environment as weapons to fight with, making for some pretty fun to watch fights. I hopefully did some of that here, but I'm not a fight choreographer, so eh.

I couldn't resist adding the Fushia Ninja there. It was too perfect not to.

As always, a massive thanks to Kay Hau for beta reading this. Check out her fics if you have the time.

Next time, Lloyd begins to adjust to his new environment in the way he knows best and sees just how much his counterpart means to this world.