Sorry this is late. I was at Youth Group again last night. We had pizza, though, so I wasn't drugged. :D Anyway, I got a couple one-shots out. Not requests from anyone here, though. But keep an eye on that, 'cause I'll be writing a lot of those over the next few days.
Review repliezzz:
Angel: I'll get Wind Rider out eventually. I've planned the plot out in my head, so I should be able to write it soon. :) I actually totally forgot about the kite one... *facepalm* thanks for reminding me. ^ ^' Odd, you act like you ship Mordigo. Meh. I liked this story about ZaneXNya and I totally don't ship them, so... yeah. I will be writing lots of one-shots over the next few days, since I've finished writing this story on paper.
KRR: Aww. Poor you. :( Hope you feel better. Agh! Kai! Don't read that stuff! It'll give you nightmares! Trust me, I know... XP O.O Jesus was in your mini story? :D I want to hug him. ^ ^ Cole4life... xD
Chapter 51
Lloyd let his dragon vanish and he and his father rolled onto the grass. Lloyd lay on his back and stared up at the sky, panting heavily.
"That was close." Indigo remarked from where she was sitting on her purple dragon.
"No kidding." Jay replied, muffled due to him lying facedown on the ground. Lloyd stared at the wispy clouds floating across the blue sky. They were back in Ninjago. His father was back in Ninjago. Well, the technically were as soon as they went through the portal, but they didn't have time to celebrate because they were about to get fried by lava. His father's thoughts seemed to be following a similar course, as he sighed deeply and said,
"It's good to be back." Lloyd turned his head to see his father lying on his back in the grass with his arms outstretched and his eyes close, a contented smile on his face. Lloyd smiled too. He had missed seeing his father smile.
"Are we just going to lie on the ground all day, or what?" Tara asked boredly.
"Shut your piehole, Tara." Cole replied. "We just got out of an erupting volcano. Give us a break." Tara grumbled quietly, but shut up. Lloyd closed his eyes, feeling incredibly tired all of a sudden. He lay there for a few moments, enjoying the heat of the sun on his face, before he slipped into an unexpected slumber.
ReturnToTheCursedRealm
Garmadon opened his eyes and sat up. As much as he would like to lie here for hours, they needed to get home. He turned to his left to see Lloyd lying limply on the grass, his chest rising and falling steadily. Asleep. His son must be more tired than he was. Garmadon glanced around to see most of the others lying on the ground as well. Cole and Gin were having a heated argument about whether pie or cake was better, and Kai and Jay were watching with interest. Nya was laughing at them. Indigo and Morro were lying on the ground together, talking quietly enough that he couldn't hear them, and Clouse was leaning against a tree with his hands clasped behind his back in their usual position. Tara and Ming were having a friendly conversation and Kayson was once again listening to music. How did he get his iPod out so fast? Odd. Alex had his legs crossed and appeared to be meditating. Garmadon turned back to his sleeping son and ran a hand through his soft, blond hair. It would be a little while until they left, since they would have to either wake Lloyd up or wait for him to wake up on his own. Besides, Cole and Gin's argument didn't look like it would end anytime soon. Sometimes Garmadon wished that he, Misako, and Lloyd were just a normal family. That they wouldn't have to deal with nindroids and ghosts and Anacondri and anything else that threatened Ninjago. That the worst things they would have to battle were illnesses, or depression. But, Destiny had made it like this. And it was impossible to change it, so they might as well accept it. Lloyd shifted slightly in his sleep and Garmadon stroked his hair again. He enjoyed watching his son sleep. He had missed almost all of Lloyd's childhood, due to his banishment to the Underworld and Tomorrow's Tea, and, now that Lloyd was the green ninja, he rarely saw him in such an innocent and vulnerable state. Just then, Lloyd opened his eyes, blinking tiredly in the sun.
"What... did I fall asleep?" he murmured.
"Yep." Garmadon looked over his shoulder to see Jessica sitting behind him. "And... you look cute when you're asleep." she blushed.
"Um... thanks." Lloyd blushed too. Garmadon chuckled softly.
"Oh back off." Andreea snapped from a few feet away.
"We're not dating in this universe, remember?" Lloyd said, turning to the pink kunoichi. "Wait until you get back to your own."
"Sure! Whatever you say, Lloyd!" Andreea chirped. Lloyd blinked in confusion at her sudden change in mood, but shook it off.
"Hey! Fancy meeting you here!" a familiar voice said brightly. Garmadon turned around to see none other than Techi and Damien standing under a nearby tree.
"Wait, what are you doing here?" Lloyd asked, surprised. "I thought you were still in the Cursed Realm."
"Nah. After that Chen guy married Damien and I-"
"Chen married you?!" Jessica asked in shock.
"Sure. He's a Sensei, isn't he?" Techi shrugged. "Anyway. After he married us, Damien and I flew to the top of the mountain on my elemental dragon and went-"
"You have an elemental dragon?!" Lloyd interrupted.
"Yes! I'm the Elemental Master of Technology! Stop interrupting!" Techi frowned at the blond boy before continuing her story. "Anyway, we went through the portal and ran around the mountain for a few hours before finding the exit just as the ground began to shake. We're been wandering around this area ever since. We were about to fly back to Limong when we bumped into you guys. Wanna ride back with us, Ming?" Ming blinked at the sound of her name and turned around to face them.
"What?"
"Techi wanted to know if you want to ride with us back to Limong." Damien clarified.
"Um... no thanks. I want to see how this adventure ends." Ming shook her head with a smile.
"Whatever floats your boat." Techi shrugged. "Come on, husband dear!" A neon green and blue dragon appeared and the two hopped on, taking off into the sky a moment later. Garmadon watched them fly away for a few moments before turning back to Lloyd and saying,
"We should get going too. I would like to get home today." Lloyd looked at the midmorning sun and nodded.
"Come on, guys." he said, getting to his feet. "Cole, Gin, stop fighting."
"Pie! Pie! P- huh?" Gin looked over. "Oh. Whatever." she shrugged and walked over to Ming so they could board Alex's dragon. "Pie." she whispered to Cole one last time.
"Cake." he whispered back as he summoned his earth dragon. Lloyd rolled his eyes at them before turning back to Garmadon.
"Hey Dad, do you have an elemental dragon? Sensei does."
"I do." Garmadon replied after a moment.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"I wanted you to learn how to summon yours yourself. I did give you a hint, though. Remember?" Garmadon recalled the time Chen had thrown them out of a plane, sending them plummeting towards the island below, with one less parachute than they needed. Lloyd had given him the last one, taking his advice and controlling his fear in order to summon his dragon for the first time.
"Yeah, I remember." Lloyd nodded. "What does your dragon look like?" he asked, holding out a hand.
"Black and gold." Garmadon replied, taking the offered hand and pulling himself to his feet. "If it's alright with you, I'd rather ride with you on your dragon than summon my own. You're much stronger than I am at the moment."
"Sure." Lloyd materialized his glowing, green dragon and he and Garmadon climbed aboard.
"Hey Lloyd, why didn't we ride on our dragons on the way here?" Kai called from his fire dragon.
"No idea." Lloyd shrugged. "I guess we just forgot." with that, he took off, the rest of the flock following him.
ReturnToTheCursedRealm
Just as the sun was going down that day, the flock of dragons landed in the courtyard of Garmadon's monastery.
"You live here now?" Garmadon asked as the dragons vanished and he and Lloyd landed on their feet.
"Yeah. Sensei's training some kids, like you used to do, and he didn't think you'd mind." Lloyd replied.
"I don't." Just then, the door opened and Anna ran out, shrieking. She ran up to the ninja and hid behind Zane.
"Help! Tellen got a bucket of rotten tomatoes and is throwing them at ev- hold it." she stepped away from Zane and gave him and the others a weird look. "Aren't you guys supposed to be in an adventure? And who are you weird people?" she asked, turning to Tara.
"Um..." Lloyd started, but was interrupted by a rotten tomato flying past him and landing on Tara, who exclaimed in disgust. Tellen ran out the front door with another tomato, flinging it before he realized what was going on. It flew through Cole and fell harmlessly on the grass.
"Tellen! We talked abaout this! No throwing tomatoes, rotten or otherwise!" Kai scolded.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. SENSEI! THE NINJA ARE BACK!" the younger boy yelled into the monastery. He glanced at them again before adding. "AND A BUNCH OF WEIRD PEOPLE!"
"How come we're weird people?" Gin asked.
"...they're a bit crazy." Cole coughed. Lloyd was about to speak when Misako appeared in the doorway. Her eyes widened and she ran towards them, almost stumbling in her haste, and wrapped her arms around Garmadon as tightly as she could. He hugged her back, closing his eyes and resting his head on her hair.
"Gently." he murmured as she squeezed him tight. "I'm still not fully healed from my captivity." she only smiled in response. This touching scene was interrupted when another rotten tomato flew by, hitting Kai squarely in the forehead.
"TELLEN!" the fire ninja shouted, sending Tellen shrieking into the monastery as he chased him. Garmadon and Misako laughed, still hugging.
"Ah, I missed you so much." Garmadon said, opening his eyes.
"The feeling's mutual." she replied. "Lloyd, come here." Lloyd walked over obediently and she pulled him into the hug as well. "I missed you too."
"As did I." the three looked up to see Sensei Wu standing there. "Good to have you both back." he said with a smile, setting his hands on Garmadon and Lloyd's shoulders. Garmadon set a hand on his shoulder as well and smiled back.
"It's good to be home." a tomato flew towards his head and he ducked just in time. "Even if we are being bombarded by flying tomatoes." he added. The rest of his family laughed at that.
"So... who are all these?" Misako turned to Kayson, Clouse, Indigo, and the others, who were standing with the ninja (excluding Kai because he was chasing Tellen).
"Let's go inside." Garmadon said. "We can do introductions there." Misako nodded and the Garmadon family walked towards the monastery, miraculously avoiding the flying tomatoes. Lloyd smiled as they walked inside, the others following. They were home. His family was back together.
...And then he got hit by a tomato.
Lloyd: No I didn't.
FFF: Shush! Remember this, aspiring fanfiction writers. You can't have a good reunion scene unless someone's throwing tomatoes.
Garmadon: But when Lloyd and I were reunited there were no tomatoes.
FFF: ...oh yeah. Hmm. Well, then I guess that wasn't a good reunion scene.
Lloyd: But the reviewers loved it!
FFF: True. Well, I guess the tomato rule only applies when the students are around.
Tellen: You mean us?
FFF: Gack! Watch out for tomatoes!
Kai: Tellen, get out of here. Ahem. Got any questions for us, FFF?
FFF: Yep. One from Samantha Rutledge. It's for all the ninja. "Can you describe the villain of your nightmares?"
Zane: Of course. Most of my nightmares are either being killed by the Overlord or trapped by Master Chen.
Kai: I don't usually have nightmares, but when I do they're either about Morro or demons.
Jay: Slime deer, and occasionally getting eaten by the Great Devourer.
Cole: My nightmares are always about Yang's haunted temple.
Lloyd: Either Morro or the Overlord...
Morro: I'm sorry.
Lloyd: I know.
Nya: Do I count as a ninja?
FFF: Sure.
Nya: I have nightmares about getting captured by Skulkin, when I have nightmares at all. I usually end up beating them up in the end, though.
Darreth: Do I count as a ninja?
FFF: No. Bye!
~FFF
