This was really happening. Kind of late for doubts, but the clock on the wall said we only had ten minutes left of the last class of the day, and then it'd be sleepover time!
Oh, wow. Oh, crap. There were so many things that could go wrong! Yes, yesterday I'd explained that they didn't have to worry about the lava - it was set to a permanent slow flow to prevent any explosions, and the walls were specially lined around all the livable areas so they wouldn't get too hot. And I'm sure the sharks won't be a problem - heck, they're practically my dad's dogs, for all he uses them as ammo occasionally. They seem to enjoy their 'outings', oddly enough, and always somehow make their way back.
But Dad! Oh, man! Yeah, I don't think Dad will go evil warlord and fire any of my friends, but he probably WILL be totally embarrassing! What if he breaks out the photo albums?! Or starts telling baby stories?!
What if he tries to teach them his so-called Dance of Doom? It's really just him dancing to whatever song is playing. And he's not that great a dancer. He got like one dance move. Which is ridiculous, considering I know he's got some serious spinjitzu skills and could easily throw in some flips, spins, and tumbling if he wanted to.
He doesn't want to.
No. Nope. Not gonna worry about this. My dad's gonna be cool and respect my boundaries and... who am I kidding?
Oh well. At least they won't be afraid of him for long. If they even are now? They've been a little strangely complacent about the Lord Garmadon issue from the beginning. I never did ask about that. Kind of afraid to, to be honest.
Just like I still haven't asked where they disappeared to yesterday. They'd all been dripping in sweat and triumphant at the ice cream shop, talking about the battle and the Ninja's mechs and - oh!
Mech club! Duh! Now I feel stupid, but happily relieved. They really hadn't ditched me. They went off to spy on the fight 'cause they're all mech nerds. And probably didn't invite me 'cause they know my dad's invasions are kind of a tricky subject for me. They'd been trying to be considerate, not to exclude me.
No wonder Cole had been so upset to see me targeted by bullies! He'd probably felt guilty, since they'd hadn't really meant to leave me alone. I should let them know that it's cool, and they were right. I really don't want to see my dad's fights. I want to be as far away as possible, and my dad wants it that way too. It's bad enough seeing the highlights on TV.
Or I can just not mention it. Yeah. I'll go with that.
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
The volcano. Was. Epic!
Nya couldn't remember ever having so much fun! Getting to ride in the shark mech had been a blast, even though there were no weapons on Lloyd's. Then, once they'd docked in Lloyd's. Private. Workshop! He'd shown them his Green Dragon mech, which was every bit as awesome as they'd all expected from his sketches. Her little bro was a genius!
They would've played in there for hours, and surely would be going back down to the workshop later to take his Green Dragon for a spin (he only took it out after the sun set, so people wouldn't freak out), but Lloyd asked if they wanted to see the aquarium he'd mentioned earlier and oh. First. Spinjitzu. Master. It was way more awesome than the Ninjago City National Aquarium - which was supposedly the largest and most beautiful in all of Ninjago!
Lloyd had really been underselling the aquarium! It was open to the ocean for one, and all manners of sea creatures passed in and out freely, which they could watch from either above or below, whichever they preferred. There was a lush natural reef all around the volcano - which one of Garmadon's oceanologist interns explained wasn't really unusual. Except for the fact that this volcano was fully inhabitable.
And the sharks all knew Lloyd personally! There was this beach like area above the shark enclosures - more like shark hotel and spa, Nya thought - which he went out on, completely casually and only bothering to take off his shoes and socks. And suddenly three giant great white sharks were circling him and brushing against him, rolling over as best they could so he could rub their tummies and making this weird "nom" sound that Nya was sure was not natural!
"Come on over!" called out Lloyd. "This is Garfield, Maude, and Donatello - they're the top sharks around here."
The others, despite their earlier eagerness, didn't quite have Lloyd's confidence. Surprisingly, Jay was the first to cave to this insane temptation. He shrugged, kicked off his own shoes and socks, and hopped over the barrier onto the beach with Lloyd, who eagerly introduced him to Gar, Ma, and Don. And yes, that had been deliberate, though Lloyd seemed strangely insistent that the sharks had been the ones to choose their own names. How did that work?
Anyway, after seeing Jay hadn't been eaten or dismembered, everyone but Kai had quickly joined. As only Nya knew, it actually wasn't the sharks, but the water that had Kai leery. The enclosure was deep, like over fifty feet deep, and Kai had always been scared of water. Though their dad hated water too, so maybe it was just a fire thing?
After a few minutes, more sharks of all types started crowding around, begging for attention, which Lloyd eagerly gave them. Most of them had names, though a few were apparently new or just visiting. Quite a few were small enough to swim or hop up to where Kai stood a little sadly at the barrier, close enough for her actual bro to reach over and pet. He beamed and Nya let out a quick sigh of relief. He didn't miss out after all!
Nya secretly thought Lloyd and his dad were part shark god or something, but wisely kept that idea to herself. It seemed the sort of thing that might upset her honorary little bro. But, seriously, there was no way this type of shark behavior was as natural as he was making it out to be. And Lloyd certainly should not be able to communicate with them like he so obviously was. He even asked them questions and nodded at their "nom nom nom" replies!
They also visited the dolphins and crabs and jellyfish and a bunch of other special enclosures, but as nice as those were, they had nothing on the sharks.
But the best part of all was seeing Lloyd so happy, introducing his new friends to his closest companions.
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
Cole was in love with the Garmadon's theatre room! It was seriously awesome! Well, yeah, Lloyd had told them his dad had a theatre room, and he'd figured it would be cool. Huge TV, luxurious recliners, the rich people works!
He had not expected it to be as large as an actual theatre! And he certainly hadn't been expecting the orchestra pit (his dad went through a phase, was how Lloyd explained it), an actual stage, curtains, and the latest in surround sound and high def technology! They could even watch in 3D! The seats were as comfortable as the best massage chairs on market, and could actually transform like mechs into an immersive ride like at Mega Monster World!
Apparently Lloyd had made them himself, and they only knew that because Zane had asked where they'd purchased such a thing, as he couldn't find them anywhere on the Internet. Lloyd blushed and self-consciously claimed he just had a lot of free time in middle school.
Cole was going to get a headache from how often he was rolling his eyes at Lloyd's attempts to downplay his genius. Everyone here knew the amount of work involved in something like that. The physics alone should've made such a thing near impossible.
But, seriously. Movie theater, actual theatre, and amusement park ride, all in one! If he hadn't decided long ago to be Lloyd's friend, he'd be worrying about his motives at this point!
He turned slightly to glance at the little green bean, who was happily showing Jay how to program the ride sequence for the chairs. Lloyd already had some pre-programmed settings for the Star Farer movies they were planning to marathon, and Jay was excitedly asking if the chairs could be individually 'piloted'.
Nah. This was all cool, but he'd be friends with Lloyd even if the dude lived in a crummy little apartment and couldn't fix a toaster.
He wandered over to help Kai and Nya with the soda dispensers and popcorn machine at the snack bar, while Zane enjoyed himself sorting the candy everyone had brought into six identical bowls.
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
Zane knew this would be an entertaining and most informative dinner from the second they spilled out of the elevator into the surprisingly normal kitchen and living room. Garmadon was waiting for them with pizza. And a bomb, which he casually chucked at Lloyd.
Before the others could even start to freak out, Lloyd caught the classic hissing ball and snuffed out the lit wick. He sighed at their looks of shock.
"Chill, guys. One of the first things my dad taught me was how to defuse a bomb."
"One of the second things!" corrected Garmadon, catching the bomb that Lloyd tossed back to him and storing it in the cabinet above the sink. Apparently that's where bombs go. "The first thing was how to catch the bomb! Very important!"
"Then the third must be how to throw the bomb," contributed Zane to this fascinating discussion. "Has Lloyd reached the fourth logical step in this progression and learned to make a bomb?"
The other Ninja were giving him weird looks, but Garmadon looked impressed and Lloyd just looked embarrassed.
"You're a smart one, bright eyes! I've been trying to work on step four, but he keeps ducking out on me!"
"Lloyd," began Zane in his lecture-voice. "Learning to make a bomb could be critical to your future career path! You should listen to your father and learn all you can from him about explosives."
For some reason, Kai grabbed him and covered his mouth. Jay immediately changed the subject with a cheerful, "Pizza! What types do we got, Lloyd? Mr. Garmadon?"
It was a good thing none of them were vegetarian, because Garmadon clearly identified as a carnivore. They had pepperoni, pepperoni and sausage, pepperoni and sausage and bacon, and pepperoni and sausage and bacon and ham. It made logical sense, considering Garmadon's teeth.
Zane casually wondered if Lloyd would let him study his teeth later. See if they were in any way sharper or stronger than the average human's.
As Zane ate a slice of pepperoni and sausage, offering the sausage pieces to a delighted Falcon, he studied the kitchen. It was fairly normal in size, about fifteen by twenty feet with an island that could seat three. A small table that could seat four was between the kitchen area and living room area, just behind the island.
It was well equipped as well. Double oven, gas stovetop (was that not dangerous in an active volcano?), double basin kitchen sink, separate fridge and freezer. He spied the usual appliances: toaster, blender, rice cooker, coffee maker, crock pot. The pots, pans, glasses, dishes, and flatware all seemed to be neatly tucked away in the cabinets.
Then Zane's eyes fell on the knives in the special rack at the end, right above a large chopping block, and complete with a sharpener on the side. He liked knives. Shurikens were his favorite weapons, but daggers were a close second.
Falcon spotted the knives and gave a short cheerful cry, leaping up and flapping towards them. Of course, Falcon had his own rather selfish reasons for loving knives.
An impatient screech, and his pet flew back to him, landing on his head and tugging at his hair impatiently.
"My apologies," Zane explained to his puzzled friends and host. "Falcon is quite fond of sushi."
"I've got a bit of everything in the fridge, and there's always rice in the steamer," commented Garmadon lazily. "Go on, make the bird happy."
"We have a bamboo sushi mat, wasabi, ginger, cucumber, radish, eggs, tuna, crab..." began Lloyd, getting up to gather tools and ingredients for his friend. "What else might you need, Zane?"
With Garmadon's permission, they cleared the kitchen island and laid out everything Zane needed to make a few pretty sashimi dishes for Falcon, including some
vegetables to carve into rosettes and the like.
Somehow it turned into some sort of show, with everyone cheering and eating and calling out requests. The ching! Swish! Chonk! Of the flying blades echoed through the room, and Falcon screeched in delight.
Zane smiled, well satisfied with the pleasure of his companions. This sleepover was a wonderful idea, truly, and all due to his new friend, Lloyd.
The best part was hearing all about Lloyd's childhood from Garmadon himself, though for the life of him he had no idea what Lloyd found so embarrassing. Was it not normal for babies to run around naked and bring strange pets home?
And he rather liked the Dance of Doom. It was fun, and you could literally do it to any song! Plus it made all his friends laugh, which was always a bonus in Zane's book. He filed it between the chicken dance and the electric slide.
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
The mechs were cool, and the aquarium was really fun. The theatre was neat, and dinner was surprisingly comfortable. But Kai's favorite part so far was Lloyd's bedroom.
Kai always loved seeing people's bedrooms. Nya said it was 'cause he was creepy, but he just liked what they could tell you about people. Their favorite books, animals, sports, comic books, video games. Even their favorite color.
And, wow, Lloyd's favorite color was definitely green. Green bed, green carpet, even most of his tops and sweaters.
He also apparently adored the Ninja. Why else would he have scale models of their mechs, and their comic books, and the video game? There were also several hand drawings of the previous generation, several years old from the looks of the paper. The handwriting was much larger and sloppier, too. For some reason, though they were carefully stored flat in plastic sleeves, they were covered in dust. And, oddly, all face down.
Kai also found an extremely well-thumbed copy of "Ninjanuity", by Master Wu. Not only were the pages dog eared and worn with overuse, the margins were stuffed with handwritten notes and favorite points had been highlighted. Now that had made his mouth drop open, having spent hours with Nya and the others and not having understood... really anything.
Lloyd's notes, in the familiar block handwriting he used in his sketchbook, were actually extremely helpful and insightful, explaining and extrapolating on the metaphors used, applying them to real situations and ways of thinking.
Dude, Lloyd should just write his own book using these notes! It'd be so much more useful than Master Wu's!
"Oh, that's my uncle's book," said Lloyd casually, coming back into the room after his shower. The others had all gone already. "It's pretty good. You interested in spinjitzu?"
Kai chuckled. "You could say that. I do want to learn."
"I could help you, give you some pointers. My dad's been teaching me long as I can remember, and 'Ninjanuity' is a great reference. My dad has a book too, but, well, it's not very good."
Lloyd reached over and pulled down an all black book that still looked pristine. 'Ninjelligence', and wow that's a lot of one star reviews the publisher actually bothered to print on the back.
"Honestly, I don't recommend it," Lloyd whispered. "Not just 'cause it's about dark ninja arts, supposedly anyway, but more because it just flat out makes no sense. Here, listen," he flipped it open randomly and chose a passage. "The secret to mastering the Dance of Doom is finding a dance and a doom. Once you find your inner dance, you can bring doom upon whoever and whatever you want until the cows come home! I've found that imagining the color purple and thinking about sharks to be the key to inspiring a worthy doom."
Kai gave up trying to keep a straight face and started laughing. Lloyd joined him, shaking his head and replacing his father's book.
"You want to borrow it?" offered Lloyd, gesturing to Wu's book in Kai's hands. The book he obviously treasured and studied constantly.
"I'd be terrified of losing it," admitted Kai, handing the book back. "How about I get my own?" Since he already had one, heh. "And if you would let me copy your notes?"
"Sure!" exclaimed Lloyd happily, setting Wu's book back on the shelf. "Now let's go see what the others are up to."
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
Jay's favorite part of every sleepover always comes down to one thing - the crazy honest conversations when everyone's had too much sugar and caffeine coupled with being exhausted from playing so hard.
Lloyd especially was awesome on a sugar high. It was sort of like watching a bear cub - you didn't dare cuddle because mama (or in his case, daddy) had to be somewhere close, but dang! So cute!
"Having friends is awesome!" said adorable bear cub cheered happily, literally spinning in a circle before plopping down on his enormous bed. It was so huge, the guys would all have fit easily - but they were at the age where that was weird, so they were gonna sleep on the floor. The plush, richly carpeted floor. Nya was supposed to sleep in the guest room, which all the Ninja secretly suspected was for Lloyd's mom but had never been used. Kai had a bet going with Jay that she would just fall asleep wherever she was around 2am instead.
"Like, you guys are the best ever! I can't believe this is my life! I don't deserve any of you!"
Whoa, whoa, whoa. And Jay was going to hit the brakes on that, right there!
Jay plopped down next to Lloyd on the stupidly fuzzy green blanket and gave him a teasing shove. "You totally deserve friends, Lloyd! And dude, we're not perfect - just not idiots."
Lloyd gave him a blank, confused look. And that just would not do.
"Here, I'll prove you're awesome," said Jay. "Scientifically! We start with our hypothesis - Lloyd is awesome!"
"So this is an experiment?" asked Nya, lounging on one of the two armchairs in the room. Apparently Lloyd liked to curl up while he read, because they were positioned near his bookcases.
"Yep! Well, more a list of evidence. Help me out guys! I'll start - Lloyd gets crap every day, but he's never once responded in turn!" At Lloyd's frown, he tackled his friend and started tickling him. Only once that infectious giggle was back did he let up. "Seriously, Lloyd! Do you have any idea how hard it is for the rest of us to shut up when people are being total jerks?"
"What's more, your language and vocabulary are impeccable!" commended Zane sincerely from where he was browsing through Lloyd's bookshelves. "I have never heard you swear or curse."
"Green bean's also a total genius," added Cole from his position on the floor, relaxing into the soft carpet. "Kid, your dragon is flat out incredible. We're all mech nerds - we KNOW how hard that must've been to build."
"Plus, you could easily spinjitzu any of those bullies' butts, but you never have!" jumped in Kai, who was over by the couch flipping through video games. The others all darted startled looks at him - they weren't supposed to know that! He waved them off with a, "He told me earlier when I found this book 'Ninjanuity' on his shelf. His dad's been teaching him forever, so he must be great at it!"
"Little bro - you talk to sharks! Nuff said," was Nya's contribution. "Oh, and you're totes adorable. Those morons are blind."
Lloyd actually groaned and grabbed a pillow to hide his blushing face. "C'mon, guys! You've only known me, like, not even a week!" his muffled voice whined through the fabric.
"In conclusion!" declared Jay, stealing the pillow and jumping up on the bed so Lloyd couldn't snatch it back. "Lloyd Garmadon is an overall nice guy and an awesome friend! He's kind and smart and unselfish and maybe we're the ones that don't deserve him! But hey, the thing about being friends," he plopped back down and grabbed Lloyd's hand, pulling him upright so he could see all of them. That they were sincere. "It's not about deserving. It's about accepting." He rubbed a hand quickly over his scarf and leaned over to zap Lloyd with the static. Score! He'd zapped everyone by Nya tonight! "I'm a nerd, Zane's a dork, Cole's a bum-"
"Hey!"
"-Kai's a hothead, and Nya's vicious. With all that, the son of Garmadon fits right in!"
They were all glaring at him now, which only made Jay crack up. After a second, they all started chuckling, then gave in to full blown laughter. A few more seconds and they'd all tackled Jay. The next few minutes were just full on roughhousing.
Jay wouldn't have it any other way.
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
Author's Notes: Special thanks to Sunny Lighter, who's basically my beta for this story (though all actual editing is mine – not her fault if I miss anything)! She's been looking over this and future chapters with me, helping me work out some tricky plot and character points.
Also thanks to both Sunny Lighter, Carrie2Sky, and everyone else for all their sleepover ideas! I ended up not really using them, at this time anyway, but they certainly helped keep the ideas coming!
