Lil'Terrors

Lil'Loyd loved his multitude of big brothers, and two big sisters. Ever since he'd been taken in by them he'd known without a doubt he wasn't alone.

That didn't mean he didn't enjoy having friends his own age.

Tiny Echo

Pep Zane introducing Lil'Loyd to his little brother once the dimensional chaos settled was a no brainer. As a matter of fact, he was quite eager to do it. While Echo was amiable with everyone, and well-liked by his classmates, he'd yet to gain a solid group of friends like his big brother. Something Pep was hoping to change.

Lloyd seemed to be the perfect candidate for an instant friend. He was closer in size and age to Echo and had no issues with his nindroidness.

Which led to Lloyd staring in bewilderment as Echo chattered at him a mile a minute with more questions than he'd ever been asked before.

"Hi! Wow, you really do look like a small Lloyd. Is that why they call you Lil'Loyd? Big Brother says you have powers like him and not Big Lloyd. Can I see them? What element do you have? Is it Green like Big Lloyd? How is it different? You're from another world too, like Zen. That must be so cool! How do you get here from there? What's it like over there? Do you go to school? Is there a ninja school? Do you fight evil like Big Brother and Big Lloyd? Do you have your own Meowthra? What's your-" chattered Echo brightly, too fast for Lloyd to keep up

The little Green Ninja could only stare at him, unsure how to even begin answering all these questions and not even able to keep track of what questions were asked. It was now becoming very clear to him just why Echo and Nick Jay had become fast friends. No one else could follow this level of chattiness.

Finally, he reached out and poked Echo in the chest.

Echo stopped talking and looked at him confused. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Looking for the rewind button. I can't remember the first question," Lloyd half-joked as he poked Echo again. He'd really just wanted to get Echo's attention, but starting from the beginning would be nice too.

Echo blinked, then started glowing as he laughed. "I will try to go slower," he promised. "I just really want to know-"

Echo asked his questions at a more sedated pace, allowing Lloyd to actually answer them, and even ask his own questions to the small nindroid, as his endless curiosity was contagious.

By the end of the meeting, Pep Zane's mission had been a success. His little brother now had a steadfast friend.

Rusty Echo

Needless to say, Lloyd was thrilled when their fishing trip ended with them finding Zane's father and the counterpart of his friend.

However, he worried slightly that this new Echo wouldn't want to be his friend. He looked older, like Zane, and had been really quiet since they met him. It was really different from the endless babbling that Echo's counterpart was capable of. He also seemed very shy, never straying far from Dr. Julien or Zane and looking ready to duck out of sight at the slightest sound.

Well, if Lloyd wanted to be friends, it looks like he'd have to take the initiative.

"I'm gonna call you Rusty," he said, walking over to the rusting Nindroid.

The newly nicknamed Rusty Echo looked over at him in bewilderment. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"We've all got nicknames to tell us apart," Lloyd explained. "'Cause we've all got counterparts with the same name. Like, I'm Lil'Loyd and he's Luh-Loyd," he added, pointing at himself and then his own counterpart.

Echo glanced between the two of them as if he had no idea what to make of them.

"So I'm gonna call you Rusty and your counterpart can be Tiny," Lloyd continued. "'Cause you're all rusty, and your counterpart is shorter than I am."

Echo just stared at him silently, and Lloyd deflated a bit. "Or we can come up with something else if you want," he offered. "I just want to know what to call you so we can be friends."

Echo's expression brightened hearing that. "You want to be my friend?" he asked eagerly, finally looking less shy.

"Well, yeah," said Lloyd, like it should be obvious. "Why wouldn't I?"

Echo gave him a cheery but wistful smile. "I have never had a friend before. It was just me and Father in the tower, and he would never let me meet Taffy."

"Taffy?" asked Lloyd in confusion. Had they forgotten someone else at the tower?

"Yes, Taffy was the only one near enough to the lighthouse to visit," Echo replied. He then glanced out into the ocean. "I wonder where it is. It should have surfaced to see us leave. Though, it would have stopped us if it did."

It clicked in Lloyd's head what he was talking about, and he blurted out incredulously, "You named a giant, killer leviathan TAFFY?"

"Yes," said Echo innocently, not seeming to realize the ridiculousness of his statement. "Why? What would you have named it?"

Lloyd opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't think of anything at the moment because the name Taffy kept ringing in his head, and he had to concede Echo's point.

But with that ice breaker, the two were able to talk the entire boat ride back, and Lloyd came to the realization that despite his teenage appearance, Echo seemed mentally younger than Zane and closer in age to him.

And so another friendship was born.

Brad and Gene

When his father and his uncle worked together to open Steep Wisdom, a conjoined monastery and tea shop, to teach martial arts and sell, well, tea, the last thing Lloyd expected was for his old Darkley's school 'friends' to show up.

As it turns out, Darkley's Boarding School for Great Children had signed up at his father's monastery for lessons in hopes that Sensei Garmadon's peaceful ways would rub off on them. His father had agreed to take them on, as his own turn from evil to good gave him hopes of inspiring such a change in the next generation. Though without the need for a magic cup for them.

Lloyd wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, while it hadn't been obvious at first, being kicked out of Darkley's had been one of the best things to happen to him, as it lead him to where he was now, and he never wanted to go back. Inspiring the other students to give good a try was one thing, but it didn't fully absolve the past. He'd hated that school. However, on the other hand, this was the perfect opportunity to make peace with that past by getting the chance to show up his former classmates with superior fighting skills. With his head start, he was sure to get some form of payback.

That was his intention as he watched his former classmates step off the bus for classes at the monastery.

Still, he was pretty surprised when Brad and Gene spotted him and hurried over immediately.

"Uh, hi. What's up?" Lloyd said slowly when they approached, unsure what to make of them. While they had helped during the evil clones incident and agreed to try and turn over a new leaf, they'd still tricked him multiple times in the past.

"Cashing in a favor," said Brad with a smirk as he and Gene stood confidently before him.

"A favor?" asked Lloyd in confusion.

"Yeah," said Brad confidently. "I showed you the ropes when you first got to Darkley's, so now you've gotta do the same for me."

"Then why's Gene here?" asked Lloyd, glancing at the redhead.

Gene pushed his glasses further up his nose, and said snidely, "Because I'm smarter than Brad, and he'll need me for strategy."

Brad didn't even seem to realize he'd been insulted as he nodded in agreement.

Lloyd looked at them dubiously. He didn't think anything about his father's lessons needed explanation. Self-defense and martial arts lessons that were nonviolent, pretty straight forward. Still, he asked, "Okay, what do want to know?"

"What is your father's agenda?" asked Gene with a smirk. "This whole pacifism thing is just an act, right? Something to lower the Ninja's guard so that he can strike. What's his angle for that?"

Lloyd stared at him incredulously. "My dad- he's not-" he struggled to reply as he tried to wrap his head around Gene's claim. "Are you asking because you want to stop him or join him?" Lloyd burst out, because from the way Gene was talking…

"It depends on which side would be more… beneficial," said Gene with a smug look.

"Yeah, we don't side with losers," Brad agreed.

"Well, good thing there're no sides to take," Lloyd said, fighting laughter at Gene's crazy conspiracy theory. "Dad's not evil. See there was this magic… never mind. The Great Devourer's venom isn't in him anymore, so he's totally good. He's doing the pacifism stuff to make up for all the evil he did."

"Why does he want to make up for that?" asked Brad, looking scandalized.

"He feels bad about it," Lloyd replied.

Gene, however, seemed unconvinced. "A likely story," he said. "It seems he hasn't even told you about his evil plans. That's gotta sting."

"No it doesn't because there's no evil here," said Lloyd with a roll of his eyes. "Except Cole's cooking, that stuff's diabolical."

A hand suddenly came down from behind him to ruffle his hair. "I heard that," said Cole, looking both annoyed and amused, having no doubt overheard Gene's theory.

The Black Ninja ushered them into the monastery, as the class was about to start. It was his turn to be the teaching assistant in the lessons that day.

"Welcome students, old and new," said Sensei Garmadon with a friendly smile as the young children sat around on the tatami mats. "Today's lesson is the Art of the Silent Fist."

The Darkley's students all exchanged eager looks hearing that.

"What's that?" Brad whispered to Lloyd. "Some kind of secret killer attack?"

"Something like that," Lloyd muttered back with a smirk.

His grin was short-lived, as he felt a sharp whack on his head. "OW!" Lloyd yelped and turned to look up to see his father had bopped him on the head with his walking stick.

"Well, my son, so nice of you to volunteer," Sensei Garmadon said dryly. "Cole will be your sparring partner to demonstrate this technique."

Lloyd winced but got to his feet without complaint. He knew his father didn't tolerate students talking during his lesson. He ignored Brad and Gene's snickers at his misfortune as he took his position across from Cole on the mats, and they stood ready to begin.

"My son, you will attack, and Cole will use the Silent Fist," said Sensei Garmadon. His expression then softened, and he added, "But please, no powers. I happen to like my monastery, and you're quite aware of what Wu's reaction would be if you damage his tea shop."

"Yes, Sensei," said Cole and Lloyd as they squared off.

Sensei Garmadon tapped his walking stick to the ground and said, "Begin!"

With a yell, Lloyd ran at Cole and did his best to land a hit on him, but Cole dodged every blow.

"You see," said Sensei Garmadon when Lloyd stumbled as Cole dodged one of his attacks. "The key is balance. Let your opponent fight himself. Let the enemy tire himself out."

By the time he'd finished speaking, Lloyd was growing winded from his constant attacks, but Cole still had energy to spare, and it had nothing to do with their age difference.

"Finish," Sensei Garmadon said, allowing them to finish the demonstration.

The students clapped politely, though it was clear on some of their faces, especially Brad and Gene's, that they'd been hoping for something more exciting.

Seeing this, Sensei Garmadon chuckled. "I see some of you still need convincing. Come, get a partner and try it for yourself." He then frowned as he looked over the number of students. "I see we have an uneven number. Perhaps-"

"I'll spar with Brad and Gene, father!" Lloyd volunteered.

Sensei Garmadon smiled hearing that. "Thank you, my son. Though, be sure not to go easy on them simply because they are your friends. We are here to learn, after all."

Lloyd sent a dangerous smirk over at his former classmates. "Don't worry, I won't," he promised.

The two boys exchanged glances hearing that, looking like they were suddenly regretting laughing at Lloyd's expense.

They definitely regretted it even more five minutes later when they lay exhausted on the ground, and Lloyd was grinning over them, still ready to go.

"Still think my father's still evil," Lloyd taunted them.

"No," Gene admitted reluctantly between gasps for breath. "My observations of this lesson make it clear his turn to good was genuine."

"You, on the other hand," said Brad, jabbing his finger in Lloyd's direction. "Are definitely still a punk."

Lloyd blinked in surprise at hearing that and was even more thrown off when Brad and Gene grinned at him like that was a good thing.

"Nice to know you haven't lost your edge being a goodie-goodie," said Brad. "Was kinda worried about you for a while there."

"Really?" asked Lloyd, not expecting that.

"Hero or villain, you're a Darkley's kid," said Gene primly as he regained enough strength to stand back up. "And we Darkley's kids look after our own."

"Why'd'ya think we tried to give you an intervention before, dummy," added Brad.

Lloyd grinned hearing that.

Looks like his father having them as students was a good thing after all.

Nelson

There was a new student at the monastery.

Lloyd, Brad, and Gene watched as a new boy stood a little away from the rest of the class as his mother spoke to Sensei Garmadon and the Ninja about enrolling him.

"My Lil'Nelson is such a sweet boy," his mother was saying. "But he has a habit of being rather… accident prone." She pulled out her wallet and showed him several photos in it, each of Nelson wearing a cast in a different place.

"I… can see that," said Sensei Garmadon, not looking like he was sure how to respond to that. "How unfortunate."

"It is," Nelson's mom agreed. "That's why I'm signing him up for your lessons. Self-defense through pacifism sounds much safer for him. We don't want any more booboos."

Nelson's face turned red hearing that, especially when Brad started snickering at the mention of 'booboos'. "Mooom," he complained, shooting a look at the Ninja showing clear hero worship, and not wanting to be coddled in front of them.

"I just want you to be safe, sweetie," his mom replied, leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek, which only embarrassed him more.

Brad snickered louder, but Gene elbowed him in the gut to shut him up.

Needless to say, Nelson didn't get the coolest introduction to the class. Unfortunately, that seemed to make him think he needed to prove himself in order to make up for it. The next few days he went above and beyond in their exercises and lessons trying to show he was more than just an accident-prone mama's boy to the Ninja. So much so that Sensei Garmadon often had to tell him to slow down and stop him from being reckless.

It didn't help that Brad continued to tease him. It wasn't hurtful, just minor jabs in good fun, but they seemed to convince Nelson he needed to keep working to overcome them.

After one such tease, Lloyd had enough. "Seriously. Lay off the guy," he said to his friend. "It stopped being funny the first day."

Brad opened his mouth to protest, but Gene chose to agree with Lloyd. "He's right, teasing Nelson just cause he has a mom that loves him isn't cool. There's a lot of people who'd love to have that."

That was a loaded sentence, and it shut Brad up very quickly.

Lloyd, meanwhile, looked over at Gene. "You-?" he started to ask, but a quick shake of Brad's head told him all he needed to know.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop messing with the guy," Brad promised. "And for the record, I wasn't teasing him for his mom, I was teasing him because he got worked up so easy."

Gene and Lloyd had to agree to that.

However, even with Brad's teasing at an end, Nelson still seemed to think he had something to prove.

So when he overheard the Ninja mention missing some things from their old monastery that burned down, Nelson was quick to beg Lloyd to take them over there on Ultra and see if anything survived the fire.

Lloyd, however, was hesitant to go. It was kinda his fault the monastery burned down in the first place. However, he could tell Nelson was five seconds away from stealing Ultra Dragon and going over there himself if he disagreed, so off they went.

The burnt remains of the monastery hadn't exactly held up to the elements in their absence. All that remained were what looked like a charred and dilapidated outline of where the building once was. Lloyd didn't have much hope they'd find anything there that wasn't burnt to a crisp.

So, of course, Nelson found the one salvageable thing several feet down a cliff in a spot too tight for Ultra to reach. It was a small handheld game Lloyd recognized as Jay's that had managed to land in a crevice sheltered enough from the wind and rain that it still looked usable.

And Nelson was scaling down the cliff as best he could before Lloyd could stop him.

"Nelson, get back here," Lloyd shouted, reaching down to try and grab him, but he'd already climbed too far.

"It's okay, I've got it," Nelson called.

But Lloyd wasn't buying it. "This isn't another broken bone if you fall. This is a splat!"

Nelson had just reached the game and pocketed it, but hearing that, he glanced down and seemed to realize just how high he was and froze.

Lloyd stared down at him for a long moment, then said, "You're stuck, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah, kinda," Nelson replied, still frozen in place.

Lloyd let out a laugh, before standing up. "Hold on as tight as you can. I'll try not to shake things too much."

"Shake?" was all Nelson had time to ask before Lloyd channeled his control over the earth and stomped his foot.

The mountain trembled and cracks appeared in the cliffside, making perfect handholds for Nelson to climb.

"Whoa," Nelson gasped, before slowly climbing back up the mountain using his new handholds. He reached the top, and Lloyd helped him up. "I thought only the Black Ninja could do that?" he asked once his feet were on solid ground.

"Normally, yeah, but I'm the Green Ninja," Lloyd said proudly, holding ice in one hand, lightning in the other, and blowing a puff of fire from his mouth. "I'm special like that."

"Cool!" exclaimed Nelson, looking at him with the same admiration he usually reserved for the Ninja.

Lloyd grinned at the sight of it, but before he could say anything more, something blue and covered in a crackling light suddenly burst out of the wreckage of the monastery with a high-pitched screech.

Both boys yelled in fright at the unexpected attack and bolted for the Ultra Dragon.

It wasn't until they were in the air they looked down to see their attacker was just a chicken. Grant it, a blue chicken that was covered in lightning that squawked angrily after them, but a chicken nonetheless.

Lloyd and Nelson exchanged a glance, before nearly falling off the dragon laughing.

Jay was thrilled when Nelson returned him his old game, and if the overeager boy began spending more time with Lloyd and his friends, who was he to complain.

Terrors Together

The Ninja thought Sensei Wu was joking when he said they'd be up against Lloyd's young friend group for this training exercise.

"Are you serious, Sensei?" asked Cole.

"Very," said Sensei Wu sagely. "Your goal is to get from one end of this wood to the other, and Lloyd and his little friends will all do their best to stop you."

The Ninja exchanged dubious glances. "But they're just kids," said Kai.

"I dunno," said Jay, looking more hesitant than the rest. "Remember when those Darkley's boys locked us up with their teachers. Or when Lloyd reprogramed my training bot, not to mention him having all our powers combined. The kids got some skills."

"Not to mention, my father and his counterpart both built both the Echos with the ability to protect. They will not be pushovers," said Zane. But then he smiled. "However, they were not built to the same degree as me, so I should be able to handle my little brothers."

"Exactly," said Kai confidently. "We taught these kids everything they know. Nothing they can do will surprise us. This exercise will be a piece of cake."

Cole's head snapped up. "Cake?" he asked eagerly, only to realize Kai hadn't been literal. "Right," he said, regaining his composure. "We have this thing in the bag. Don't worry about it, Sensei."

Sensei Wu studied them thoughtfully. "It is good to have confidence, but underestimating one's enemy can mean the difference between victory and defeat."

The four teenagers exchanged a glance but didn't pay much mind to the words. It was just Sensei Wu being cryptic as ever.

With that, they started their trek into the forest.

For the first few steps into the woods were quiet. Almost too quiet.

"Think they chickened out?" asked Kai as he studied the trees around them, trying to spot any of their opponents hiding among them.

"Nah, those kids can be pretty fearless," said Cole.

Jay gulped. "They're probably setting up all kinds of booby traps for us."

Zane suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. "I do not believe they are setting up booby traps for us," he said.

"Why's that?" asked Jay as he and the others stopped next to him.

"Because it seems they already set them up beforehand," said Zane, just as the ground gave way beneath their weight.

The four fell into the hidden pit trap with yelps of shock before landing in a heap at the bottom.

Above their heads, they heard Lloyd whoop at their misfortune and give somebody a high five.

"Told you so," Jay groaned from the bottom of the pile.

"You couldn't warn us sooner, Zane?" Kai asked as he shoved Cole off of him.

Zane pretended not to hear him.

"Get back out," Wu called to them. "This training doesn't end until you reach your objective."

With disgruntled looks, the four of them climbed out of the pit trap to try again.

And promptly fell down another one.

Things only went downhill from there for the Ninja.

Brad seemed to be having fun as he jumped and hid in the trees like a squirrel and would drop unpleasant things like bugs or mud on them at any given opportunity, all while laughing his head off.

Tiny Echo had apparently seen a movie called Home Alone (much to Zane's dismay) and delighted in springing the recreated traps from the film on them, it was only because Zane had seen the movie too (and knew Pep Zane had done everything he could to prevent Tiny from seeing it) that they were able to avoid the more dangerous ones.

Nelson proved to be rather speedy on a bicycle, and would often come shooting out the trees at them, and using a long stick to knock them off their feet before they could react, and then shooting away with a yelled apology.

Rusty Echo took advantage of his earthy coloring and skill at hiding from sight to sneak up on them and judo flip whichever Ninja he could get fastest, before running straight up a tree to escape. He'd also take advantage of his detachable limbs to lower a hand from above to snatch their weapons away and throw them into the forest and force them to stop and search for them.

Lloyd was a nightmare to deal with. With his command of the elements, even if there wasn't a boobytrap there before, there could be one there now. Pitfalls were plentiful, smoke screens common, blinding lightning flashes were frequent and left them blinking spots out of their eyes, and they had all lost count of how many times their feet had frozen to the floor.

And throughout it all, they could hear Gene using his smarts to bark orders and direct everyone into the most ideal position to best mess with the Ninja at any given time. It was clear he was the mastermind of the whole operation, and to make matters worse, he seemed to be speaking in some kind of code, so they couldn't even guess what was to come.

Needless to say, the edge of the forest was more than a welcome sight by the end of it, and the four teenagers raced for it before anything else could happen.

When they stumbled out of the treeline, they saw Sensei Wu sitting there with a cup of tea and an amused expression on his face.

"Okay," Cole gasped as he struggled to catch his breath. "We get it. No underestimating your opponent, even if they are half your size."

"At least we managed to make it through," Kai said with a sigh of relief.

Zane looked around, and his face fell a the sight. "I… do not believe we did," he said.

The other three blinked and looked up to see that they were right back where they started.

Sensei Wu chuckled. "No, indeed you did not," he said. "Your goal was to reach the other side of the forest. Not come back from whence you came."

The four Ninja stared at him for a long moment, before collectively collapsing on the ground with a groan.

"Such a pity," said Sensei Wu airily over them as he continued to sip his tea. "You will have to attempt this exercise again another day, and another day, and another day until you manage to complete it. Defeating little children should not be so much of a challenge, hmm?"

The teenagers let out an even louder groan at that, and from within the treeline, they could hear the younger boys giggling.

"Little children," Jay scoffed. "More like Lil'Terrors."

The others all agreed, and from that moment on, the nickname stuck.

The Lil'Terrors were not to be underestimated.

IMPORTANT NOTE! I and some other authors have been having difficulty getting PMs through email as usual. I'm sure that feature will be fixed soon, but if you leave a comment on this fic and want to see my reply, check your PM folder on this site instead of email.

ALSO IMPORTANT! Along with the Greener's Pasture's chapter next Tuesday I will begin posting the chapters of the sequel fic for The Grass is Always Greener. The new fic will be called, In Need of Polish and will begin taking over the bi-weekly posting slot Greener Pastures has. I'll probably still post some Greener Pastures oneshots while I'm at it, but not as frequently. I'll post the summary for the fic along with the next chapter on Friday.

A/N Well, Lil'Loyd got to stay a kid in this universe, so that means he gets a chance to be a kid. And among the things that come from getting to being a kid is friends. It'd be great to let Lil'Loyd just be able to play around with some kids his own age, even if he is also part of the Ninja. But of course, the kids he happens to make friends with all happen to be pretty competent in their own right and aren't ones to be underestimated. Now we get to see the nicknames for the Echos to tell them apart. Tiny Echo is thrilled to have so many friends now. Rusty Echo may look like a teenager, but he's definitely a lot younger than Zen Zane, so mentally he's closer in age to both Lil'Loyd and Tiny Echo. Brad and Gene are basically a dynamic duo. Brad often acts as the loyal minion to Gene's evil genius, but they're both loyal to their friends. I couldn't not add Nelson. It'll be fun to see the 'Purple Ninja' meet his hero before he becomes that. He'll honestly be the one who gets the rest of them int he most trouble due to being so gung ho about rushing into danger. Luckily the others are there to watch his back. When these six work together they're way more than the Ninja can handle.

Show: Lil'Loyd, Rusty Echo, Pep Zane, Sensei Garmadon

Movie: Luh-Loyd, Tiny Echo, Zen Zane

Massive thanks to Kay Hau again for beta reading and helping to plan this chapter. A lot of the ideas for all of them came from her, and we've discussed giving Lil'Loyd his own little friend group for a long time. Lots more to come with them involved thanks to all we talked about. Calling the Leviathan Taffy was her idea as well.

Next Time: Dr. Julien and Rusty Echo move into a new house after escaping the lighthouse. There's no way their counterparts will let them go without a housewarming party.