Stirring

Lloyd watched unhappily as the Shark Army celebrated Garmadon's victory of conquering the city. When the volcano was brought over, it tipped precariously over the edge of the Tower, but thankfully, it balanced itself out. There was loud music, decorative lights hung from a string, a dance floor with multi colored lights, and a juice bar. There was also a pool that generals were diving into. At the entrance to the volcano was a big sign that read, 'You did it!' The victory cake had blue ocean colored frosting, decorated with sharks, dolphins and sea urchins. Lloyd couldn't imagine what it would taste like.

Some generals were doing the conga line as they walked past Garmadon, who was wearing a party hat on one of his horns that was on his helmet. Lloyd thought it looked ridiculous, but he kept his thoughts to himself. To add insult to injury, the warlord strapped party hat to his head. The teen supposed it was to add to his humiliation and defeat and with being cuffed, he couldn't take it off.

"Whadda think, Green Ninja?" Garmadon asked the teen after snapping Lloyd's picture with the hat and posting it on his social media page, #Garmadon defeats Green Ninja and then showing it to him.

Lloyd turned away. He didn't want to satisfy the warlord with an answer. It would only encourage the egotistical warlord.

"Aw, what, nothing heroic to say to me?" the warlord jeered. When Lloyd still didn't answer, he continued. "You're a real downer at a party, kid. Maybe I ought to just string you up in place of my conquering flag."

Just then, a woman came up to the pair. She was wearing a unique costume that consisted of fins.

"Excuse me, sir. But the Generals you sent to your brother completed their mission. The Bounty has been destroyed and there is no sign of Wu."

Lloyd perked his head up at this. Oh no! Wu is gone?

Garmadon rubbed his top two hands together. "Excellent. What about the Ninja brats?"

"They were last seen retreating," the woman general reported. Lloyd's face fell. That was it. He was stuck here.

The warlord grinned wickedly. "They're smarter than I gave them credit for. And if they do try anything heroic," he turned to give Lloyd a pointed look, "we have our leverage."

"Yes, sir. Is there anything else?"

Garmadon thought for a minute. "My ex, Koko, have you found her?"

Ex? Lloyd wondered about that.

"Not yet, sir. But we'll search the whole city from top to bottom!" the female general promised. Suddenly, there was a loud commotion coming from the back of the volcano entrance.

"You're not on the list!"

Lloyd peered around Garmadon and saw a woman with fiery red hair, pulled back in a ponytail with what looked like chopsticks. The woman slammed down the squid looking General's clipboard. Apparently, she had a temper to match her hair color.

"Hey! That's my clipboard!" the man protested.

"Oh look! Here she is now, sir!" the female general smiled as she saw Koko.

Garmadon roughly shoved Lloyd behind him and held him with two of his arms as the red head boldly approached. With his remaining free arms, he quickly grabbed a nearby general and took his party hat and placed it on his other horn, giving the woman a playful smirk.

"Hey, Koko! Glad you could make it to the party. Quite on the chain, isn't it?" Garmadon greeted.

Lloyd was struggling to get out of Garmadon's grip. Why was he hiding him anyway? And how did Garmadon know this woman?

"Wipe that smile off your face, Garmadon," Koko snapped.

"Same old Kokes," Garmadon mused. "It just kills you to see me having any fun, doesn't it?"

Lloyd listened to the conversation. They seem to know each other well, he thought. There seems to be some kind of history between them too, and not good either. Wait! Didn't Garmadon mention something about an ex named Koko? Did that mean…?

"Look, Garm, I came here about Lloyd," Koko started. Lloyd's eyes widened at this. Uh oh.

"What about him?" Garmadon asked nonchalantly, giving Lloyd a discrete kick to keep him quiet.

"What do you mean, what about him? His face was all over the TV with you! And he's the Green Ninja! Did you know about that?" she demanded.

"Of course not! Apparently, he's good at fooling us both," Garmadon scoffed.

Koko glared. "Where is he? What have you done with him?" She yelled, grabbing Garmadon by the front of his cape, and throwing him off balance. Lloyd used this chance to get out of the warlord's grip.

"Nothing, really. He's not our son anyway, so it doesn't matter," Garmadon told her with a wide grin.

"Are you serious right now, Garm? I think I know my own son when I see him!"

"You'd be surprised," Garmadon muttered under his breath.

"What did you just say?" Koko asked.

Lloyd decided to come around at this point and make his presence known. "Um, excuse me. He's talking about me."

Koko turned and looked at Lloyd, who was still cuffed. "Lloyd!" She gasped in alarm. The former warrior then turned back to Garmadon. "I can't believe you'd stoop this low, Garmadon! Let him go this instant!" Her voice was like steel.

"Wait, um, Koko, wasn't it?" Lloyd intervened between the two. He got the sense that this woman could do some major bodily harm to Garmadon, not that he could blame her.

Koko turned to face Lloyd, letting go of Garmadon who almost fell in the pool behind them. "Oh my goodness! Did he do something to make you lose your memories? I'm your mother!"

Lloyd blinked, taken aback. This woman was so different from his own mother, so much younger, and had much more...fire to her personality. But he knew he looked almost identical to this realm's Lloyd. How to explain this to her?

"I know I look just like your son, Lloyd, but I can assure you, I'm not him. I'm from another realm," Lloyd started.

"Another realm?" Koko asked, still not quite believing this youth wasn't her son.

Lloyd took a deep breath and started from the beginning and told his whole story, leading up to the present time, while Koko listened intently. Garmadon, having made a recovery, was now standing by idly, not really caring, while sipping a drink that he snatched from a passing general.

"I didn't know such a thing was possible," Koko finally said after Lloyd finished.

"It surprised me too," the teen admitted. "In my world, the only way to travel between realms was with the realm crystal. And I didn't come here that way. I still don't know exactly how I got here, but it seems that your Lloyd is in my realm."

"How do we get him back?" Koko asked, worry evident in her voice.

"I've been thinking about a theory," Lloyd began. "In my Ninjago, there's a realm called the Cloud Kingdom. The people there can write your destiny and change it. I've been wondering if someone there had something to do with me and your Lloyd swapping places. I know this all sounds crazy, but it kind of makes the most sense. The problem is, the only way to reach this realm is to go to the Wailing Alps, through the Blind Man's Eye. If there was any way to get to that realm from here, then we might be able to straighten this whole mess out. I could go back to my world, and your Lloyd could come here. But I don't know if there is a tall enough mountain in this Ninjago that be equivalent?"

"That would be The Impossible to Climb Mountains," Garmadon suddenly interjected. "And I'm not just sayin' that 'cuz some traveler fell off one time. It's 'cuz no one has ever climbed to the top and lived to tell about it."

Lloyd swallowed hard. "If that's the highest mountains, then we have to try."

"What do you mean, 'we'?" Garmadon snorted. "You're the one who needs to get back to wherever you came from."

"How could say that, Garmadon?" Koko turned on the warlord. "He may not be your actual son, but if you cared anything about our son, you'd help him." Garmadon was silent at this. Koko fumed. "Well, I'm not going to stand around here doing nothing. I'm going to find a way to make sure my son gets home, even without your help!" She stormed off the tower deck and out of the volcano.

As Garmadon watched her go, his thoughts turned inward. Was it guilt that he felt? He walked over to ledge of Ninjago Tower and looked out over the city; the one he had wanted to conquer for sixteen years. And now...he had it all...but...he shook his head. He didn't want to admit that his conquest seemed a bit empty.

Lloyd had watched the exchange with trepidation. Clearly, Koko was a force to be reckoned with. He slowly made his way over to Garmadon, and stared out at the skyline, which was still foreign to him. He didn't know to say. For what seemed like an eternity, the two stood silent, both deep in thought.

Finally, Lloyd decided that maybe the direct approach was best.

"What happened between you and Koko?" the teen asked. He wasn't sure if the warlord would even answer him. A minute passed, and Garmadon sighed.

"Too much," he answered slowly.

"Did it have to do with your son?"

The warlord frowned; his eyes lost in another time. "Yeah, it did. You see, Koko and I met on the battlefield. She was the most awesome Ninja warrior I had ever seen. We fought on opposite sides, but when our eyes met, sparks flew. We were a true power couple and I thought we were going to conquer the world together."

"Then what pulled you apart?" Lloyd asked quietly.

"One day we came upon Ninjago. La-loyd was just a baby. I told Koko that I wanted to build our son's future on the ashes of this fine city. But it was in that moment that she decided that the life of conquering warlord wasn't the life she wanted for our son, and she left with him. I could have changed...but I didn't," Garmadon finished, regret evident in his tone.

Lloyd was silent for a minute, processing what he had heard. Would that be why the warlord had wanted to conquer Ninjago? And then the story of how Garmadon and Koko got together; such a different story from his own parents meeting and getting together. Yet, he also knew the pain of abandonment.

"You could change now. It's not too late. You can help me to get back...and to get your son back. We can do it together."

"If I couldn't change then, what makes you think I can change now?" the warlord answered, with a hint of bitterness.

Lloyd frowned. "Your wife is willing to go to The Impossible to Climb Mountains and risk her life to get your son back! Forget about me, but think about other people besides yourself. Your family is a stake here!"

Garmadon slowly turned and faced the teen, his red eyes glowing and piercing right through him. Lloyd shuddered. Maybe he had gone too far?

The warlord reached out one of his four arms towards Lloyd. The teen closed his eyes, anticipating a blow or something worse, like pushing him off the tower to his death. He heard a click and opened his eyes. Much to his surprise, the warlord just undid his cuffs.

"You have a lot of guts, kid. Okay, I'll go. But don't say I didn't warn you."

AN: Oh boy! An adventure with Garmadon. How will that go? You'll find out next showLloyd chapter. By the way, we are so honored that we reached over 100 reviews! Thank you so very much! You all are the best!