~~ Ch45:Fri3, Gold ~~
Garmadon was very proud of the breakfast he'd made for his family. He'd gone all out and gotten up early to make crepes with Lloyd's favorite berry-cheese custard filling. Berry sauce and extra berries to top it off, and sausages - for protein! Lloyd was a growing boy and needed all the protein he could get! Maybe he should make some bacon and eggs too...
"What smells so wonderful?" asked Koko, coming off the elevator, then exclaiming in delight. "Oh, Garm! It looks amazing! You decorated the table and everything!"
Garmadon preened in delight at his wife's praise. The elevator dinged again and he eagerly looked over to see his son's reaction to his labors.
"Sure, Kai! I can be there in fifteen! Have you heard from Zane yet? Really? Ah, man. Poor Echo. I hope things get better soon. Yeah. What?! No way! That's awesome!" Lloyd chattered away on his cell to Minion No.1, then his eyes fell on the table.
He pulled the cell away for a moment to say, "Wow! Thanks, Dad!", before promptly returning the phone to his ear. He held it with his shoulder while he quickly served himself and rushed through the business of eating, occasionally making comments or laughing at things Garmadon couldn't hear.
Lloyd was there and gone with a casual "Thanks, Dad! See you later! Bye, Mom!" before Garmadon could get a word in edgewise, still on his phone.
Koko looked like she was about to call him back, slightly offended at the unintentional snubbing, but Garmadon set a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"It's ok, Kokes. Our boy's growing up so fast - gotta let them spread their wings, you know?"
Then he pressed a button on his own phone. "No.1!" he barked. "Lloyd's on the move! Lose him and I'll have your head! And I don't mean the crab helmet!"
With a content smile, he returned to breakfast. Koko blinked.
"Yes, you allow him so much freedom, Garmadon," she commented, waiting for her husband to catch the sarcasm.
Garmadon beamed in pleasure at his wife's further praise. What a perfect morning!
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
"It is time, Lloyd," spoke my uncle, firm and sage-like. That must be his sensei voice.
My friends and I turned to look at him from where we were hanging around the couch in the Warehouse. Jay and Cole were going head to head in a racing game, and the rest of us were choosing sides and either cheering or booing to judge their performances. Or we had been, rather.
At Uncle Wu's words, Jay paused the game. In the sudden quiet, it was up to me to ask the obvious.
"Time for what, Uncle?"
Wu had been holding an arm behind his back, and he pulled it around to reveal a scroll. That scroll. The Green Ninja prophecy.
I could feel all my friends staring, and had probably lost of a couple shades of color in my face, going by the slight wooziness that hit me.
Oh. That's right. I have Green now. I can reveal that last secret message.
"Um, maybe we should wait for Zane?" I mumbled, even as Jay turned off the video game console and we all made room for my uncle, their sensei, to lay the scroll out over the coffee table in front of the couch. "And my mom - yeah, shouldn't my mom be here for this?"
Kai set a hand on my shoulder, his eyes seeking mine out. They locked, and crap. Was it really that obvious that I was stalling? And that, at the same time, I clearly didn't expect my stalling to work?
"It'll be ok, bro," comforted Kai.
"We're with you all the way," confirmed Nya. Cole and Jay nodded in agreement.
I took a deep, shuddery breath and raised a hand. It was visibly shaking. How embarrassing, but glaring at it didn't help. Not even Green helped my nerves, as the sparks swirled to life around first my fingers, then my hand, then began to travel up my arm. I fisted my hand, narrowing my eyes, and the sparks traveled back down to my hand and began forming a glowing orb. There we go. I lowered it over the scroll, just as my friends had with their own powers last week.
Was it really just last week? It seemed like this prophecy had been hanging over my head for ages. Well, in a way it has. Since it's the reason my mom left.
The Green glow bathed the ancient scroll, and one by one all the previous secret messages appeared around my friends' figures.
Do not lose hope. All become one. Anything is possible. Regain what was lost. Copy the mirror.
Finally the last ancient Ninjagian character appeared over my own figure.
Gold.
My portrait seemed to blur before reforming. This time with myself dressed in a bright yellow gi - or was it still me? The figure had its hood up and seemed to radiate light, and even was kind of hard to look straight at. But I was pretty sure this portrait showed someone with golden eyes, not my own green.
How was this supposed to help any? What could it possibly mean?
There was a loud clatter, and we all jumped and looked over to see Uncle Wu had collapsed, his flute/staff the harsh sound as it had slipped from his shaking hands.
Cole and Jay were almost immediately at his side, and tried to help him up and to the couch. He brushed them off, turning eyes on me that...
What was that? Horror? Respect? Disbelief? Awe?
"I need to meditate on this," was all Wu said, voice oddly blank. Kai had retrieved his staff for him, and he snatched it without a word as he practically ran out of the room.
"Well," I managed to choke out. "That makes me feel so much better about the future."
Jay tried to laugh at my not so funny joke. I tried to grin. Kai, Cole, and Nya didn't even try.
"Hey guys, I think there's still more!" shouted Nya, a little unnecessarily with us all right here.
My hand was still glowing, and when I raised it back over the scroll I immediately saw what she meant. The five figures surrounding the now golden figure had changed too, but were still blurry.
Nya carefully held out a hand and formed Water around it. Kai quickly joined her with his Fire. And then Jay with his Lightning and Cole with his Earth. Each element made the figures a little sharper, but it was still too indistinct to make out.
"Huh, I guess we really do need Zane," I concluded, feeling a bit relieved. The mystery wasn't solved. I didn't need to know everything yet, which I liked to believe meant there was still plenty of time before I'd have to figure out how to save my dad.
If I really could save my dad. Or if I'd have to stop him, by any means necessary. No, no, it wouldn't come to that. Surely. Maybe the picture wasn't even of me, though that felt odd at this point. Unless I was supposed to find him (or her), or free him, or heal him or something?
But why did a Gold Ninja freak Uncle Wu out so much?
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
"I hurried here as fast as I could, Wu," said Koko, having just ran into Wu's meditation room on the Destiny's Bounty. The room was thick with incense and she coughed, waving a hand in front of her face.
Wu blinked a few times, but more as if coming out of a nightmare than the usual peaceful way he drifted back from his meditations.
"You texted that Lloyd revealed the last secret message?"
"Gold."
Koko frowned, and sat down cross-legged facing her brother-in-law. Wu would explain, usually, if you just gave him a minute or two.
When he didn't, Koko tried to draw him out with what she knew from her travels and research.
"Gold. The First Spinjitzu Master's power. The power of a true balance of Darkness and Light, Creation and Destruction. All elemental powers are descended from Gold."
She stopped again, waiting for Wu to either correct her or continue on his own. He didn't.
"The power that spun Ninjago into being," she finished. That was all she knew. He'd have to continue from here.
Wu took a long, deep breath in. Then a long, deep breath out. "Garmadon and I have long suspected that our father didn't have to die. He should have been immortal, with his power. He chose to move on, for reasons known only to himself. His last words were that the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master would finish his work. He always spoke in riddles, so I just figured it was some obscure way of telling us to work together or something."
He looked up and met Koko's eyes. "When Lloyd used his Green on the scroll, the character for Gold appeared above his portrait. And his portrait itself changed to show a Gold Ninja. Lloyd is meant to become the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master."
Koko stared for a long moment. "Are you telling me my son will become a god?" Her voice was blank as she struggled to keep the disbelief out.
"Perhaps not, but he shall wield the power of one," concluded Wu. "A power beyond my own or Garmadon's. The power to make or break realms."
Koko shook her head, the idea refusing to compute. "Lloyd isn't even sixteen! You can't just give him the power to warp reality! Green is already nearly too much for him! And how is Gold supposed to save my husband! You said the First Spinjitzu Master himself was helpless against the venom!"
"Helpless to save, but not..."
Koko froze, then glared hotly. But not at Wu. The conclusion made sense, for all she hated Wu for coming back to it.
"But not to destroy," she finished. "You're back to thinking Lloyd will have to kill Garmadon to stop him."
She got to her feet. "I refuse to believe that. I'm going to go have Lloyd show me this message, search for an alternate meaning."
Wu didn't move. Only closed his eyes and seemed to sink back into meditation.
Koko couldn't quite leave it at that.
"Do not lose hope. All become one. Anything is possible. Regain what was lost. Copy the mirror," she quoted from memory. Wu didn't seem to hear her, but she knew he had.
"Don't lose hope, Wu," she repeated gently, and left the room.
~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~
Author's Notes: And there we have it! Perhaps not terribly original, but I've been planning for Lloyd to become the Green Ninja, and indeed even the Gold Ninja, from the very beginning. The question is, is it really Gold that will save Ninjago in the end?
Any guesses as to what the last tiny bit of the prophecy is? I wouldn't be surprised if you guys figured it out, as all the pieces are there already, and I'm not the best at secrets.
As for Lloyd being SUCH a teenager in the first scene - lol! I couldn't resist! Please remember this is a teenager who has never had friends before, so there was never a need for Garmadon to teach him phone etiquette. Plus a bit of a reminder that Garmadon and Lloyd don't have the most balanced parent-child relationship. Don't worry, Koko will set Lloyd straight sooner rather than later on that faux pas.
A huge thank you, as always, to my amazing beta Sunny Lighter! We've had many a long discussion over Lloyd's powers, the prophecy, and the ultimate outcome of this story! Special thanks also to Watcher321, Black' Victor Cachat, Silvermags, and Carrie2sky, who I've probably spoiled a bit too much to, but who have given me some amazing feedback and ideas back!
