Hello again y'all. This one is a request by Leb.
Review replies:
Angel: "You're the Overlord... give us a reason NOT to hate you." lol. Got it. Never mess with Percy. Or Thomas. Or Lloyd. Or Nicole. *backs slowly away from blue cat lady*And Ghoultar DID hurt him, sooo... by the way, can I borrow Nicole? I need her to attack one of KRR's OCs for telling me to "go to hell".
Ghost Queen: Whatever. I'll ship my ships, and you ship yours. *shrugs*
Petal: I think the rocks damaged his common sense... *cough* NU DON'T FORGET COOKIES! :c (Morro: These "cookie" things taste good...)
Maid of Evil: What other kinds of fork are there? Food fork. I hope no one licks him... o.o
KRR: I'm glad you like them. Indigo feels unappreciated. Thanks for the brownies. ^ ^ Ghost, Jay... such an idiot. As for my age, you're half a year off. xD Heh. I don't get what age has to do with anything either, me. As for Jake, tell him to come meet Angel Star Ninja's friend, Nicole, so she can beat him up. Or maybe I should just throw a table at him. Speaking of tables, how's Kayson doing? Give him a cookie for me.
Samantha: Okie dokie. Well thanks. :) Morro doesn't know what it is either, so Bansha is going to explain it to him next part. She meant the water.
Windy: Thanks for the feedback on Forgotten. ;) I think the rocks that fell on him damaged his common sense. Whoops. :c As for Jay, I don't think getting smacked with a pan would help, unfortunately. He'd still be a nut. xD He does need it, though. I'm sorry about your ex-friend. :( Ally told me recently that she wanted to die because she didn't think her life meant anything. I told her that it did mean something, it made my life better. The same goes for you. I love talking to you and I hope your life gets better. I pray for you every day, as often as I can. Your ex-friend reminds me of A, the girl I mentioned a while back. She was my best friend, now we barely talk once in six months. Talking with you and my other online friends helps, though. :) Currently I feel kinda sad, because I'm worried about you and Ally. But I doubt I feel as bad as you or her. My friend's name is Mackenna, she's my email friend/pen pal. It's hard to trust God when he doesn't seem to be helping you, it's true. I wish I could hear his voice, like my dad can. But sometimes God does something just to let me know he's watching. I was praying for a cat about a year ago and asked for a rainbow to be a sign if God was going to bring me one. About a month after I prayed that, a rainbow appeared after a storm. I was wondering if it had anything to do with my prayer, and another one appeared. So, two. I was still unsure, and then another appeared. And another. Four rainbows. I think that was a "yes". About a month after that, I saw a cat I didn't know in our backyard. It ran away, but we've seen it twice since. I hope I can befriend it eventually. I will continue to pray that you will get an email address. I hope you had a good day. Love you. ;)
Leb: A dictator... best job ever. xD And yes, Forgotten is getting quite long. I think I'll publish it separately, since it's not a one-shot anymore.
What Matters Most - Rated K - Family
Summary: Garmadon and Lloyd go to a party and find something they don't expect.
Takes place: A month or two after RttCR
What Matters Most
Garmadon stood at a street corner on the sidewalk, watching the traffic zip by. The city looked a lot now like it did when he was still "Lord" Garmadon. Before the Overlord's attack that nearly destroyed the city. The grey-haired man glanced at the sky, observing the vast expanse of clear blue. Lloyd was supposed to meet him here any minute. The two had been invited to the reopening of "Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo", which was in less than fifteen minutes. Lloyd had better hurry. Just then, Garmadon heard a shout and turned to see a neon green element dragon streaking through the sky above the city. As it neared him, it angled downward sharple, its wing nearly grazing a building, before vanishing about ten feet above the ground. A figure dressed in green dropped to the sidewalk, doing a somersault to neutralize the downwards momentum before straightening up beside his father, who was watching with mild intrest.
"Nice entrance." he complimented as Lloyd smoothed his windblown hair down with a grin.
"Thanks. I think I might've attracted the attention of some fangirls, though." the blond teen glanced over his shoulder at a small group of girls across the street, who were staring at him with wide eyes. One of them waved when Lloyd looked at them, and another fainted to the ground. The green ninja chuckled nervously as he turned back to Garmadon. "Well, we should get going. Wouldn't want to be late!" Garmadon raised an eyebrow.
"You've faces serpentine, stone warriors, nindroids, anacondri, a ghost army, and even the Overlord, and you're afraid of some fangirls?" he asked with a teasing smile.
"I can't vaporize fangirls with an energy blast." Lloyd shrugged. "They're more dangerous."
"Fair enough." Garmadon agreed. "Like you said, we don't want to be late." Lloyd nodded and the two started off down the sidewalk. It wasn't long before they turned a corner and Dareth's dojo came into view. Lloyd stopped walking as they approached the building, a soft smile spreading across his face.
"It looks just like it used to." he murmured. "Before it was destroyed when the Overlord attacked. That was where I trained to be the green ninja, back when I was a goofy little kid." he turned to Garmadon with a grin. "I attacked a punching bag with a broom once. It knocked me over." Garmadon chuckled.
"I wish I could have spent more time with you then." he sighed sadly. "Instead of spending all my time taking over the world."
"That's the Great Devourer's fault, not yours." Lloyd smiled. "Guess you'll just have to spend more time with me now, huh?"
"I suppose I will." Garmadon nodded. Just then, the Mojo Dojo's front door opened and a boy in a grey gi poked his head out. His eyes widened at the sight of Lloyd and his father, and he ducked back inside. The two on the sidewalk heard him yelling for Dareth. "Shall we?" Garmadon asked. Lloyd nodded and the pair walked up to the door. Lloyd lifted his hand to knock, but didn't get a chance as Dareth opened the door in front of them, saying,
"Welcome! You're just in time!" the brown ninja stepped back out of the way and Lloyd walked inside, Garmadon right behind him. The two found themselves in a semi-large room with various training equipment here and there, There was a long table on one end of the room with food that Garmadon recognized as being from Mister Chen's. Skylor, along with a few random people that he didn't know, were standing around talking.
"Wow." Lloyd spoke up. "It looks just like it used to. Except... is that the Helmet of Darkness?" the green ninjago pointed at an elaborate, black helmet that hung over a doorway with a curtain in it.
"Sure is." Dareth nodded. "The Stone Army did most of the restoration work on the place. They did all the heavy lifting. Heheheh. Literally." the brown ninja pulled a comb out of her pocket and flicked an unruly strand of hair back into place. "The Brown Ninja can't be bothered to do such mundane jobs, ya know?"
"But is that really a good place for it? The helmet?" Garmadon frowned. "It would be a disaster if control of the stone army fell into the wrong hands."
"Oh yeah, good point." Dareth scratched his chin. "Say, would you mind sticking it in the basement for me? I can't exactly leave my dojo during the grand opening."
"Uh... sure." Lloyd shrugged hesitantly.
"Thanks! Basement door's right over there." Dareth pointed to a door on the far side of the room before walking over to the table and helping himself to a fortune cookie. Lloyd walked over to the doorway with the helmet over it and jumped up to reach it, grabbing it off the hook it hung from before he fell back down. He and Garmadon then walked over to the basement door and opened it, revealing a rickety staircase that led down into pitch blackness. The two stared at it for a few moments before Garmadon shrugged and headed down the stairs. Lloyd followed, pulling the door shut behind them and plunging the room into inky darkness.
WhatMattersMost
Garmadon cautiously made his way down the stairs, which creaked at every step.
"Wow. Dark down here." Lloyd remarked from higher up, his voice echoing off the walls and down the stairs.
"You're not scared, are you?" Garmadon asked with a teasing smile that he knew his son couldn't see.
"Pfft, don't be silly. I'm the green ninja." a pause. "Would be handy to have some light, though." Garmadon blinked as the stairwell lit up with green light, that he knew came from an orb in his son's hand.
"That's better." the former dark lord said, peering down the stairs into the darkness below. "These are long stairs." he pointed down the stairwell at the bottom, which he could barely see.
"Yeah." Lloyd replied. The two picked their way slowly down the old wooden stairs. When they reached the bottom, Lloyd lifted the orb in his hand to reveal rows and rows of motionless stone warriors. "...are they... awake?" the blond ninja broke the silence, taking a hesitant step towards one of the warriors. It blinked and its eyes fixed on Lloyd, who jumped, startled.
"Apparently so." Garmadon remarked, clasping his hands behind his back. "Don't worry, I doubt they'll attack as long as we have the helmet."
"They attacked when nobody had the helmet." Lloyd pointed out. "So what happens when we put it down?"
"Hopefully nothing bad." Garmadon walked past Lloyd and they edged past the warriors, passing by the large army and soon arriving at the back of the room, where a bunch of boxes lay on the floor. Seeing one large enough for the helmet to fit in easily, Garmadon took the helmet from Lloyd and set it inside, setting the box's wooden lid on top.
"Well, let's go." Lloyd said, casting a glance at the army. "These guys are staring to creep me out." Garmadon nodded and the two walked back across the large room. "Dareth sure had a big basement." Lloyd commented, glancing around. "Wonder what sort of stuff he keeps down here."
"Besides the stone army? Probably more fake trophies." they both chuckled at that." Garmadon started up the long stairs again with Lloyd behind him, but stopped abruptly about halfway up at a crash and a startled shout from Lloyd. The older man turned around to see... nothing. Lloyd's light was gone. "Lloyd?" he called into the darkness. "Where are you?"
"Don't go down the stairs!" Lloyd's voice seemed to be coming from below him. "The stairs broke underneath me, there's a big hole there. Hang on." A moment later, green light shone up from a hole in the stairs a step away. Garmadon cautiously leaned over the edge to see Lloyd lying on the floor about ten feet below him, propping his upper body up with one hand and holding up the light with the other as he looked up.
"Are you alright?" Garmadon called down. At Lloyd's nod, he asked, "Have you been putting on weight?"
"Huh?"
"The stairs broke under your weight, but not mine."
"It's all muscle." Lloyd flexed his arms and Garmadon rolled his eyes. "I'd be careful. The-" the stairs crumbled without warning and Garmadon plummeted ten feet to the floor below, hitting the ground with a smack. "-stairs probably aren't very sturdy. You okay?" Garmadon heard Lloyd finish as he sat up, shaking his head.
"I'm fine." he accepted Lloyd's outstretched hand and was pulled to his feet.
"What is this place?" Lloyd lifted the orb of light above his head to reveal a small, stone room. Something glimmered in the corner and Lloyd took a step towards it. "What's that?"
"I don't know. It could be anything. I doubt anyone has been in this room for years." Garmadon replied. Lloyd knelt on one knee next to the object, holding his light beside it. It was some sort of box, covered in layers of dust and cobwebs that Lloyd brushed away, revealing a perfect cube that shone brightly in the green light.
"It looks like... gold." he said in awe.
"I think it's a box." Garmadon spoke up. Lloyd pried at the lid of the box for a few moments with his free hand before getting a grip on it and pushing it off, letting it clatter to the floor. He then reached inside and pulled out a small cross, gold and embedded with rubies.
"This looks ancient." Lloyd broke the silence. "Gold, jewels. Like offerings at a temple." the blond teenager grinned. "Heh, Mom would love this."
"She will. We can show her just as soon as we get out of these... stairs."
"Well, I can get out with Airjitzu, but I don't know how you can. Maybe Dareth has a ladder or something." Lloyd stood up and looked at the hold they had fallen through. "Trapped in Dareth's basement. Not the way I thought I'd die." Garmadon rolled his eyes at his son's obvious acting.
"Like you said, you can get out." the older man reminded him. "Go find a ladder or something."
"I don't want to leave you here in the dark." Lloyd frowned.
"Ah, I'll be fine." Garmadon waved him towards the gap in the ceiling. "Go get something to get me and these treasures out of here." After a moment, Lloyd nodded.
"If you say so." he said before walking underneath the hole and spinning into a green vortex. He shot up through the hole and landed on the stairs, which creaked ominously under his weight. Garmadon heard his son run up the stairs quickly to avoid falling through again. The green light faded away until it was gone and the room was engulfed in blackness.
WhatMattersMost
A few moments after Lloyd left, Garmadon sat down next to the wall. No point in standing around in the dark. He blinked a few times experimentally, observing that it almost seemed darker when his eyes were open than when they were closed. It must be a trick of the light. Or, rather, the lack of it. He thought the darkness might unnerve him (though of course he didn't tell Lloyd that) due to the months he spent imprisoned in the Cursed Realm, but it didn't bother him. Misako would be happy to see the artifacts they had found. But, now that he thought about it, she would be happier to see him and Lloyd home safe. She had lost them both enough times that it was logical that she worried about them every time they left the monastery. It wasn't that she thought they couldn't take care of themselves. Or, wait, maybe it was. Garmadon chuckled as he reflected on the past few years. In spite of all the battles, the hardships, and the trials their family had suffered over the past few years, they were as close as ever, if not closer. They had stuck together through thick and thin. Because, Garmadon thought as he heard the basement door open, that was what matters most.
"Trapped in Dareth's basement. Not the way I thought I'd die." is my favorite line. And in case you're curious, Garmadon did get out of there.
Sorry this is late. I was held up by A BATTLE WITH MY SWORN ENEMY
WRITER'S BLOCK
In other news, I'm planning on starting the sequel for RttCR sometime late this month, earlier if I can. But I need a title. And plot ideas. A basic summary of the plot is that the Overlord is back, and he is allied with Soul Archer and Master Chen in an all-out attempt to take over the world. Near the beginning, Kai will be infected with Dark Matter, turning him evil like the Overlord did with Jay, Zane, and Cole in the battle between him and Lloyd at the end of Season 2. So, if anyone has any ideas for major plot points or just little bits, please let me know. ;)
Me: *writing this*
Ally: *throws papers* WHO CARES ABOUT WHICH NUMBER IS ON WHICH SIDE OF THE DIE I DON'T CARE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH
Me: o.o Ally, I'm trying to write.
Ally: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH
Visualization schoolwork.
~FFF