THIS IS IT, GUYS. The last chapter. So sorry for the longer wait! I really thought I'd be able to get this out faster, given the cliffhanger and all.
Just before we wrap this up, I want to thank all of you so much for the attention you've given this story. And I especially want to thank everyone who's contributed to it! I've gotten advice from so many people that had a massive impact on this fic, from solving plot obstacles to keeping me vigilant about plot holes. The story wouldn't be what it was without you!
I hope the finale hits right. I do have a small idea for an epilogue in mind, too. I'm not super big on "several years later" epilogues, but I could do one if you guys wanted to see one. Lemme know!
Thanks again to everyone!
Final disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago as a city, as an intellectual property, or as any kind of trademark. Not the characters, not the original storyline, not nothin'. But they haven't given me a cease-and-desist order yet, so!
Thalassa: That's exactly why I'm worried! I don't want to give people false hope, that's what I was mad at the movie for.
We'll see about the Season 9-ness of it. XP
I'm a teeny bit annoyed with myself, the movie (and thus this fic) took place in 2017 but Crab Rave didn't come out till 2018. But don't tell anyone. ;P
Lloyd was always lowkey the enemy! Garmadon's enemy is anyone who isn't currently being useful to him.
Thanks for the review!
ForeverFictional: Thanks for the review! I did have plans to find Zane a better place to stay if Ms. Sweetie had kicked him out, to be fair. ^_^'' And yep, Jaya!
Arbosh: Well, that's very kind of you; glad to hear the story's been good for you, too. :)
Eh, it's not too scary posting on FFN, people here are 99.99% positive and generally only review if they have nice things to say. If there was a tougher crowd I'm not entirely sure I would be posting. :P
I do worry about that a little. I mean, that's the entire reason I was mad at the movie, I think it would give kids in a similar situation completely unrealistic false hope. I don't want to be doing the same thing myself, the problem just is I'm not too sure at which point it becomes unrealistic. Glad it made you feel better, though . . .
JustRandom: No you're not laaaaaate, you're fine! No worries. ^_^
You can be salty about Movie Zane all you want, he deserves the entire Dead Sea's salt reserves. XP
Nonono, I promise, the last chapter of "Father Always Liked You Best" was not to spite you! I already had that story idea planned out, it just coincided unfortunately. ^_^''
I hope you mean it when you say you like crying, otherwise I'll feel pretty guilty. :P
They are intermittently cute, yes. I hear ya. XP
Ah man, no, I don't want Disney to hire me, they're close enough to a monopoly already without taking up fanfiction too. XP
Please, I wouldn't want good spelling at the cost of you missing class! And besides, your spelling was fine anyway. :)
Thanks much for the review! Yours are always really fun to read. ^_^
Bookgirl21: Yep! Thanks for the review!
KillerNinja: WE SHALL SEE. :3 Thanks for the review!
Bookkeeper2004: Hey, thanks!
Guest: You make a good point! They're that wildly different.
"Guys!" Kai was half-screaming over the radio. "Lloyd is down! He's down! Garmadon has him!"
The others broke from their various skirmishes with Garmadon's henchmen, horrified.
"Well, do something!" shouted Nya.
"I can't! If I make a move Garmadon's gonna crush him!"
"We're on our way. What's he doing?"
"I dunno, he's got him on a building, he's like talking or something—"
Lloyd was gingerly clambering to his feet, conscious that several writhing arms from Garmadon's mech were still trained on him. He cast a despairing glance to his downed dragon mech.
"Ah ah ah . . . " Noticing his gaze, Garmadon tightened the mech's grip on the dragon, till metal groaned ominously. "No zigzagging around my head today, Luh-loyd. You and me are gonna have a nice little father-son talk."
"I'd really rather not," mumbled Lloyd.
"Well, too bad, 'cos we're doing it anyway!"
Lloyd gritted his teeth, forcing himself not to look around nervously. Besides the obvious immediate danger, he was also wondering if any news crews or random citizens were filming this. It'd take all of ten minutes for this to be twisted into "Lloyd Garmadon Conniving with Evil Warlord Father."
"Why are you attacking the city again, Dad?" he finally said. "You gave that up."
"Mehhhhhhh." Garmadon rolled his eyes. "It got too boring to stand anymore. I mean, what kinda life even is that? Just sitting around on your duff all day, nobody screaming, nobody fearing you, nobody to dominate. What's even the point?"
"Wonder how the rest of us stand it," muttered Lloyd.
"But this?" Garmadon swept one arm out towards the city. "Luh-loyd. Take a good look at this."
Against his better judgment Lloyd looked. He felt a chill wash over him. As far as the eye could see, the city was swarming with Garmadon's forces. Sharks roiled in the streets. Armies of crabs scuttled up the sides of buildings. Generals in mechs swooped around corners, barking laser fire after panicked citizens. Even as Lloyd watched, a mother trying to flee with her son succumbed to a wave of robotic barracudas.
"It's magnificent, isn't it?" said Garmadon. "This is what true power is like, Luh-loyd. Beautiful."
"You're sick," Lloyd managed.
"Hey, hey. Watch it," said Garmadon, leaning on one elbow superciliously. "Don't make me reconsider my offer."
"I don't want anything you could—"
"Because I'm so generous," continued Garmadon, as if Lloyd hadn't spoken, "I'll repeat the offer I made you before. Look at this, Luh-loyd. All of this could be yours. All of it . . . just join me. I still need a competent General Number One."
It was a few seconds before Lloyd could get words out.
"Are you kidding me?" he finally gritted. "Not a chance!"
The other ninja had all gathered around the city square by now, watching in dismay as Lloyd and Garmadon faced off yet again. This time, though, only one of them was armed.
And he was very armed. Jay feinted his jet towards the mech, but one of the tentacles whipped up and swatted him away, without even any input from Garmadon. He was still focusing intently on Lloyd.
"You don't know what you're throwing away, son," he said, ominously calm. "This is the biggest opportunity you'll ever have in your life."
"Opportunity for what?" Lloyd tried desperately to keep his own voice level. He remembered the blinding white-hot rage on the last day he'd faced his father like this, carrying the Ultimate Weapon. He was terrified history would repeat itself. "What would I even do as your General Number One? Help you hurt people?"
"Pah!" Garmadon reared his mech back slightly. "Life is all about hurting people, Luh-loyd. Have you seen the way this city treats you? You act like I'm some kind of sicko for wanting a little mayhem, but believe me—you hand any one of these people a mech and some generals, and they'd make me look like Mother Theresa. The only difference between me and these 'innocent' citizens is that I have the brains and ambition to actually make the mayhem happen."
"That's not true!" Lloyd's voice wavered.
"Luh-loyd?" Garmadon's voice took on a voice of mocking sympathy. "Be realistic. You're the abnormal one here."
"Sh-shut up . . . "
"Oh, please. The heroic Green Ninja! The city's savior!" Garmadon rolled his eyes. "Man up for once in your life and admit it, kid. You only took on this ninja gig so you could feel better than everyone else. You're a good guy, helping all these people even when they were so mean to you! So noble! You're a saint!" His voice dropped to a harsh scrape. "Ditch the act, Luh-loyd. You're as bloodthirsty as any one of us, and you don't have to keep tearing yourself apart trying to prove otherwise. Join me."
Lloyd's fists were clenched by his sides, shaking slightly. He squeezed his eyes shut, visibly struggling not to lash out.
"Guys, we need to do something, we need to do something right now—" Kai's voice was full of panic.
Jay abruptly swung his lightning jet into a violent turn and more-or-less crashlanded atop a building. While his teammates minus Lloyd stared after him, he tossed open the cockpit, pulled out the handheld mike, and turned on his mech's external PA speakers.
"HEY!"
It was quite possible a few windows cracked. Now everyone was staring up at him. He must have been running on some kind of illegally concentrated adrenaline, because he didn't even seem to notice. He sucked in his breath noisily.
"Bayyyy-by SHARK doo doo d-doo-doo-doo, ba-by SHARK doo doo d-doo-doo-doo, ba-by SHARK doo doo d-doo-doo-doo, ba-by SHARK!"
Two lines into the song, Kai and Nya exploded into a joint howl of "WHOOOOOOOOO!" that tapered off into peals of laughter. Then they both started to sing as well. Nya scrambled her mech up the side of the skyscraper to join Jay, while Kai began to put his mech through the motions that went with the song. As Garmadon, Lloyd, the minions, and pretty much everyone else looked around in confusion, Zane started to sing as well. He and Kai flapped their arms at Cole and gave him significant looks. Cole groaned soulfully, holding his head.
"Why are you guys DOING this to me?"
Still, he was grinning behind his mask as he pulled out an aux cord and began pumping an instrumental of The Baby Shark Song through his mech's speakers. The others began singing even louder to compete with the deafening bass-boosted notes.
It was a bizarre spectacle, even in a city used to the bizarre. Garmadon was still staring with his mouth open, trying to comprehend what was taking place here. Lloyd was swiveling to look from one friend to another, looking kind of pained but still fighting back a growing smile. A lot of Ninjago City's citizens were also slowly transitioning from confusion to bewildered smiles. One by one, people started to join into the song.
Garmadon leaned out of the cockpit, his head snapping back and forth as he realized that more and more people were starting to sing a song making fun of his army. His minions were standing around flabbergasted, unsure what to do as people started to groove around and sing at them instead of screaming and running away.
Pretty soon the entire population within earshot was singing, and you could hear the tune spreading down streets in every direction. The city was wild with it. Jay and Nya were dancing each other around on the rooftop. Kai had succeeded in keeling his mech over. Lloyd had his face in his hands and was half-laughing half-sobbing.
You could see Garmadon's blood pressure rocketing upwards. He turned to bellow at his minions to stop gawping and attack without mercy, only to find that most of them were throwing off their costumes in humiliation. A few of them were starting to laugh themselves, though. A former General Number Four was jokingly waltzing with a hot-dog vendor.
Garmadon's blood pressure bumped up a bunch of extra notches. With a primal snarl of rage, he lurched his mech around, prepared to raze this city to the ground and murder every last bastard who dared to laugh at him. In the process he let go of Lloyd's dragon mech, which immediately rolled and bounded up into the air like an eager dog to its master. Lloyd leaped into the cockpit and swerved into Garmadon's path.
"You wanna hurt this city, you go through me first, Dad."
"You." Garmadon's voice was like glass grinding to powder. "You organized this."
Lloyd glanced over his shoulder at the continuing Baby-Shark street party.
"Heh. I wish."
"You—you insect." The entirety of Garmadon's city-leveling rage was now focused on Lloyd. The holes in his ego were starting to leak faster than he could tear anyone down to repair them. "You pathetic little fool!"
One of the mech's tentacles lashed out, slamming Lloyd's dragon to the ground again. Lloyd went sprawling into the street. Garmadon's mech lurched, towering over him, and from high above Garmadon's glittering eyes fixed upon him.
"You think you mean anything?" he hissed, as Lloyd struggled to his feet again. "You think you're so smart? You're nothing! Not to me, not to anyone else! You think anyone would even care you existed if you didn't have me to fight? Me to make you look like a hero? You built up your own pathetic little reputation off opposing me, and now you think you actually matter. Well, news flash, you don't! You were born a weak, useless, brainless little sack of flesh, and after all these years that's still what you are. And out of the goodness of my heart I tried to make you into something, I tried to believe you were something more than worthless; but if this is the repayment I get, then you can stay the way you are. Worthless."
For a moment the scene seemed to go quiet. Lloyd kept his head down, his shoulders heaving, while his friends waited in silence. After a second Lloyd sucked in his breath.
"So that's how you feel when I'm not stroking your ego, huh?" He blew the breath back out and looked up, wearing a strange watered-down smile. "You know what, Dad? That's okay. You don't have to love me."
Garmadon's eyes narrowed fractionally, but he didn't reply right away. He seemed to be debating whether he should be offended or not.
He never got the chance to choose. Lloyd's smile flickered suddenly, and his eyes went distant. All at once he convulsed and doubled over, gasping; his friends started forward even from their considerable distance, panicking.
Before anyone could even start to get close, Lloyd abruptly flung back his head again and vanished in a searing globe of green light. It flashed violently, leaving a magenta imprint lingering in everyone's vision, then morphed into a towering pillar of green energy, sparking out of sight into the sky. At the bottom Lloyd's outline was faintly visible, flaring with streamers of paler green.
"What's happening?!" yelped Kai, clutching onto Cole's arm.
"Garmadon's killing him!" screeched Jay, from atop the skyscraper.
If that was true, Garmadon himself seemed pretty shocked about it. He had one arm up to shield his eyes from the close-range light, but was still squinting over it in disbelief, trying to understand why his son and rival had suddenly gone atomic.
"No, look! He's okay, he's okay!" Nya shook Jay's shoulder, pointing down below. The pillar of light had dwindled away by now, and Lloyd was still standing, wrapped in a green aura. His hair was whipping like he was in a hurricane, and his connection to the pavement seemed more casual than normal gravity would allow, but he was clear-eyed and upright.
"Garmadon isn't hurting him . . . " said Zane. "This is his True Potential!"
"He's Green!" whooped Kai.
"Uh, guys?" Cole was looking down at his hands. They were glowing a murky orange; actually his whole body was. One by one the others realized the same thing was happening to them; they were all glowing with a brightness equal to Lloyd's green aura.
"Guys, is this happening to you too?" Jay's voice rustled from the radio of Kai's downed mech.
"The glowing?" said Kai. "Yeah! It feels like . . . "
"Like our True Potentials!" Nya cut in over the radio. "Remember?"
"Didn't Lloyd say his element connected ours?" said Zane. "His True Potential must be linked to ours as well!"
"Does that mean he has our elements too?" said Cole.
"Then that means . . . " Kai bounced up eagerly. "Quick everyone, send him your powers!"
In hindsight a warning would probably have been good, but luckily Lloyd's senses were heightened thanks to this bizarre new experience. When he saw the flares of colorful light shooting up around him, he easily swung back onto one foot and caught the streamers of fire and ice whirling his way. Looping them around himself, he pulled in water, earth, lightning. Each element spun around him in a glowing ring, crackling with elemental energy, while Lloyd stood at the center with stunned, joyful eyes, effortlessly controlling five elements at once.
Then all at once they seemed to suck into him. The colored rings vanished; the green aura flared and began to die.
"Guys—" Kai's voice barely had time to drop into concern before Lloyd's eyes widened again. Then he basically exploded. Sheets of elemental energy burst off him in every direction, a billowing sphere of fire, water, earth, lightning, and ice. Everyone in sight of the explosion threw themselves down or shielded their heads, but the elements passed over them harmlessly. Instead they flooded down the streets in every direction, short-circuiting mechs, singeing Garmadon's banners. Sea creatures scattered before them, while some hapless crabs were left flipped onto their backs, legs flailing.
The wave of energy passed. Slowly the ninja and citizens began to pick themselves up. Garmadon stirred in his mech—despite the scale of the elemental display, the protective gem had still absorbed everything coming the mech's way. Before Garmadon had a chance to be smug, however, he realized he wasn't entirely unaffected—his mech was completely surrounded by walls of thick ice. Lloyd perched at the lip of the frozen crater, peering down at him and still sizzling with green light.
"You think this will hold me?!" snapped Garmadon. He drew back one of the mech's tentacles, prepared to lash out at his ice prison, when—
"Mrowwww?"
Apparently Lloyd's light show had attracted some attention of the giant fluffy kaiju variety. Meowthra stood gingerly at the outskirts of the city, her pupils blown wide, and surveyed the blocks upon blocks strewn with the very freshest of seafood. Her tongue slithered around her chops.
"Oh boy—" began Jay, and then Meowthra was already bounding into the city, growling with excitement as she began to gulp down mouthfuls of crab and fish.
"Hey!" shrieked Garmadon, hammering his mech's arms against the ice wall. "Knock that off! You pestilential furball!"
Meowthra's head jerked up at the noise, her ears twitching and a crab dangling from her chin. Curious, she picked her way over to the ice prison. Lloyd hastened to get out of the way as Meowthra approached and sniffed curiously.
"Hey." Garmadon's entire mech cowered back now. "Get away, you!"
Growling again, Meowthra tried to stick her head into the top of the ice cage. Evidently, whatever had possessed her to eat Garmadon once was still in effect; most likely his prolonged contact with sharks made him smell of fish. When she couldn't quite reach the mech she tried to stick her paw inside instead, upon which Garmadon lasered it. Meowthra gave an enraged yowl and began to bat wildly around inside the ice cage, determined to kill this zappy little morsel.
Lloyd hopped onto his dragon and left the mech-versus-kaiju arena. He touched down near Kai, Cole, and Zane, and hopped down to meet them, shedding the last few streamers of green as his element powered down. He gave his friends a shellshocked smile, still giddy with adrenaline.
"Lloyd!" Kai crushed him in a hug. "That was amazing!"
"You were amazing!" called Nya over the radio.
"Aw, guys." Lloyd hugged back, laughing.
"You were very fortunate," said Zane gravely. "If your True Potential had not activated at that moment, I fully expect Garmadon would have killed you."
"Yeah, about that!" Lloyd disentangled himself from Kai and gave everyone a sweeping glare. "The heck kind of idea was that? You guys know how my dad reacts when you diss him. And you thought it was a good idea to get the whole city to make fun of him, while he was fully armed?"
He glared extra-hard at the radio.
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" said Jay, probably sensing the glare.
"We got caught up in the moment," said Nya.
"And you gotta admit it was awesome," said Kai.
"You put the whole city in danger!" retorted Lloyd.
He glared even more significantly. His friends groaned.
"Fine, so we're as bad as you are. Whaddayawant, another apology?"
"Yeah actually, let's get one more." Lloyd folded his arms.
Kai and Cole exchanged weary looks, but after a moment Kai heaved a deep sigh.
"Fine, fine. We're—"
He broke off when Lloyd started to laugh.
"I'm kidding!" He tackled Kai in a hug. "Awwwwww, you'd do that for me?"
"Jerk." Kai was caught between irritation and laughing himself. "You taught him this, Nya!"
"Okay, okay, okay." Lloyd shook off Kai's attempted headlock, still chuckling. "Guys, come on. We're not done here. Garmadon's army might be down, and—" he winced and glanced over his shoulder at the sound of yowling and metal smashing "—and maybe his mech too. But if my dad's come back now, he's gonna keep coming back again and again. This time, we've gotta take him out of commission for good."
"How, though?" said Jay. "Even all our elements at once didn't touch him!"
"Well." Lloyd looked back again, to where Meowthra and the squid mech were now full-on dueling. "I can think of something elements probably would destroy."
His gaze drifted out across the harbor. The others followed it, fixing on Garmadon's volcano lair, smoldering above the water's surface.
"House call?" Kai was starting to grin.
"Don't think anyone's gonna be home." Lloyd grinned back. "Feeling up to it?"
"All riiiiiight!"
Lloyd bounded back to his dragon mech and flicked on the radio.
"Okay, we have three mechs that can cross water, everyone take a passenger. Kai, Cole, Zane, pick a friend."
"Dibs on the dragon!" Kai was already scurrying.
"We'll come down and get you guys!" Nya called. "Don't leave without us, Lloyd!"
The dragon mech launched into a flourishing spiral, twirling geysers of green flame from its mouth, then came to rest above the city, waiting.
"Let's go! I've never seen the inside of Garmadon's lair before!" Jay was already heading for his jet.
"Wait!" Nya grabbed his wrist. He turned back, his eyes already widening. The urgency of the situation suddenly dropped away.
"About earlier," said Nya quietly. "You know. Was I wrong?"
Jay swallowed, trying to form words.
"No. You were right. I . . . "
"Guys?" Cole's voice cut through Jay's radio. "What's taking ya?"
Nya and Jay glanced to the radio simultaneously, thrown; then, realizing their time was short, they turned back and hastily ducked into a kiss.
"Guys? Hello?" Cole was still on the radio, oblivious. "Annnnybody?"
"Leave 'em, you guys." That was Lloyd's voice now, sounding amused. Apparently his dragon mech was high enough for him to get some idea of what was going on.
Nya pulled back, hazy-eyed and a little breathless.
"First time?" she whispered.
"Y-yeah," breathed Jay.
"Huh." Nya considered, then shrugged. "Beginner's luck." Then, catching Jay's stricken look, she grinned ruefully and added, "for both of us."
Jay gave her a giddy smile.
About a minute later, the team was finally on their way across the harbor to Garmadon's lair. Cole was with Jay in the lightning jet, while Zane rode with Nya in the water strider, leaping eagerly through the choppy harbor water.
"All right everyone, once we get there, we're gonna have to stay focused!" Lloyd called over the radio. "Get ready for a . . . Jay."
The lightning jet turned an exuberant barrel roll over the dragon mech, twirling off in some random direction.
"Jay!" Lloyd shouted after him, while Kai cracked up behind him.
"For Pete's sake," said Lloyd reproachfully, trying not to smile as the jet finally fell back into formation. "Get it together guys! Once we start attacking Garmadon's base he may come back, so we're not gonna have much time. We need to do as much damage as possible!"
"Attacking Garmadon's base is actually an excellent idea," said Zane, above the splashing of the mech. "And not only because we are striking at the source of the problem! I have performed some research on the legality of Garmadon's attacks on Ninjago City."
Nya snorted.
"You had to do research to figure out that was illegal?"
"Actually, it is perfectly legal!" said Zane.
"What?!"
"Haven't you ever wondered why Garmadon never faces any kind of legal consequences for his assaults?" said Zane. "He is exploiting a loophole. The laws of Ninjago state, as long as someone is a property-owning citizen, any army they amass technically belongs to Ninjago. Hence, any action taken by this army is neither an act of war nor of domestic insurrection. Everything Garmadon has ever done technically counts as collateral damage by Ninjago's own armed forces."
"What," said Cole at length.
"That is the stupidest law ever," agreed Nya. "What the heck? Why didn't they just change the laws years ago?"
"Does Garmadon have his generals on the legislative council or something?" joked Kai.
"I am not sure," said Zane. "I'm going through the council minutes right now, and there appears to be a consistent faction of citizens who always push for the laws to be maintained. A certain Jolly Fishe, Felonious Crabbe, Bartholomew Cuda—" He broke off and looked puzzled when he realized the others were laughing. After a moment's thought he chuckled. "Ohhhhh. I get it."
"So, that explains a lot," said Cole. "But how much damage would we have to do to make it technically not count as property anymore?"
"A lot," said Lloyd, as they touched down on the shores of the volcano. "Probably more than we can actually pull off."
The others followed his gaze up the tarry flank of the volcano—it was so much bigger up close—and didn't argue.
"But honestly?" said Lloyd, cracking his knuckles. "I'd be happy just to do enough damage that he never builds a mech again. You guys ready to become teenage vandals?"
"And all for a good cause," grinned Nya.
"I just wish I had a black leather jacket," said Zane wistfully. "And shades."
It took them all of twenty seconds to batter down a side door and come charging in. The interior of the volcano was somehow even more foreboding than the exterior: yawning caverns and passageways plastered with rusting siding, echoing with the distant groans of machinery and dripping of water. It reeked of brine, fish, and sulfur.
"Ew." Nya coughed. "If I lived here more than a day I think I'd turn evil!"
"Split up, guys!" said Lloyd, then cringed at the deafening echo amplification of his voice. "Let's see what those elements can do!"
The hallways burst into multicolored light as the teens scattered, whooping. Soon the din became absolutely overpowering. They zigzagged through the base's multiple levels, crisscrossing and nearly crashing into each other, blowing up heavy machinery, scrapping with the occasional minion who had been left behind to mind the fort.
"I found the brain trust!" called Kai over his shoulder. He waved his hands at the trembling collection of scientists, the leader of which was timidly brandishing a three-ring binder. "Woah woah, hey! We're the good guys, we're not gonna hurtcha. Just get outta here!"
He stepped back and waved cheerfully as the scientists stampeded out the door. Then he dashed on to wreak some more havoc.
"Look out belowwwwwww!" hollered Jay, as he and Zane loosened a crane from its fastenings and sent it crashing down into the seawater at the volcano's base. Cole ducked the massive wave that washed up into the first-floor hallways, then stepped out and craned his neck to shout up through the volcano's central cavern.
"Everyone off the scaffoldings? I'm bringing 'em down!"
When the others shouted affirmation, he planted his feet wide and spread out his hands, getting a feel for the surrounding rock. A moment's intense concentration, and then the base of the volcano began to gently ripple. The vibration grew, until suddenly the entire mountain was swaying, with a rumbling that seemed to rise from the very center of the earth. Metal howled as it twisted, rocks dislodged from the ceiling and walls. Then all at once the scaffolding plastered up the sides of the cavern snapped free, crumbling down with a sound like a car crash between giants. Most of the others threw themselves down and covered their ears for all they were worth.
As soon as the noise died down, Jay scrambled up and poked his head over the edge.
"You okay, Cole?"
"Never better!" Cole whooped from below.
"Guys!" wailed Kai from another hallway. "There's a whole other wing over here, this place is MASSIVE!"
"Just keep doing what you can, guys, you're doing great!" called Lloyd.
"I found his weird conference meeting throne room place, come see!" said Nya. "And help me trash it!"
Lloyd and Kai were nearby, so they darted over. Nya was already drawing up seawater to dump on the lava floor, and the room was thick with steam. Lloyd and Kai got to work shredding Garmadon's banners off the walls and smashing his general-firing device. The adrenaline of destruction had them well and truly carried away by now; they were all having the time of their lives.
"Hey, here's a hall!" called Lloyd. "I think it's some kind of testing and development wing!"
Kai and Nya dashed after him, throwing open doors in the hallway to make sure there was nothing worth destroying around here. All at once, though, Lloyd came up short. The electric whine of his powers abruptly cut out, and the atmosphere changed enough that Kai and Nya stopped too.
"Lloyd?" said Kai. Hesitantly he and Nya came over to see what had stopped their teammate.
"Woah," breathed Nya.
On a dissection table lay the carcass of an enormous bird. Even in the dim volcano light, its feathers glowed a brilliant red. Its neck was stretched out, and its head was twisted at an unnatural angle, its eyes empty. A gory hole was gauged into its forehead, fringed with blood and raw bone.
"What is it?" whispered Kai. He snuck a glance to the Green Ninja, who still hadn't moved. "Lloyd? . . . "
Lloyd was measuring his breaths, his eyes roving over the remains of the Valka. His fists twitched at his sides.
"Lloyd? . . . " Nya sounded appropriately worried. "Talk to us, pal."
Lloyd licked his lips and dragged his voice up out of his lungs.
"Get everyone out of here."
His tone didn't leave room for questions. Kai and Nya looked at each other and bolted.
"Hey guys, get moving!" Kai hollered over the radio. "Time to get this volcano evacuated!"
The five of them pinballed through the hallways, shouting the warning for any lingering henchmen to get out. A small regatta of motorboats and submersibles spilled from the volcano's shores, while those who couldn't find any more vessels swarmed onto the ninjas' mechs. Kai took the dragon, sensing that even the outdoors wouldn't be safe. They came to rest a kilometer out from the volcano, checking if everyone was a safe distance away.
"Okay buddy," said Kai over the radio. "You've got the green light." He paused, then chuckled. "Huh, 'green light.' Whaddaya know, that fi—"
He was interrupted by a WHOOM that hit the ribs as hard as the ears, and a pillar of searing green light exploding from the volcano's mouth. Everyone yelled in shock, but there was no chance of hearing anyone. When the noise died out Zane's panic siren was going off like a car alarm after a thunderclap.
Meanwhile the light only kept spreading. The green turned so bright it was white, while writhing strands of emerald light began to spill down the volcano's side, like strange electronic lava.
"Is he gonna be okay?" shouted Jay.
"Not much we can do if he isn't!" said Nya grimly. She flinched as the heat coming off the volcano became uncomfortably intense. "Let's get back to the city! If Lloyd knows what he's doing, he's gonna be fine."
They joined the small scudding fleet of escaping generals and scientists, heading for the city docks. There they found only more chaos: Meowthra had by now finished her battle with Garmadon, and was prowling through the streets wolfing down seafood. This clearly wasn't going to end until she made herself sick.
Meanwhile, Garmadon was raging in circles among the shredded remains of his mech.
"You're all going to pay! You hear me?! When I'm through with this city, it'll be a streak of charcoal on the ground—" He came up short suddenly, distracted by something moving. It was one of his battle crabs, flipped upside-down by its heavy armor, its legs flailing. Snarling, Garmadon wrested out a broken hydraulic piston and drew it back, prepared to smash in the creature's vulnerable underbelly.
His arm was still over his head when a hand snatched his wrist, halting the swing.
"Leave the poor thing alone," said Koko.
Garmadon wrenched free and turned on her, seething. Koko's eyes were hard. She had a bleeding slash across one cheek and one shoulder of her work blouse was torn open, revealing an asphalt burn underneath. Apparently she'd been helping handle Garmadon's army.
"Well, what are you going to do?" she said. "Bite my head off, like you did our son's?"
She smirked, unsurprised, when Garmadon drew back the piston with a trembling hand, deciding to use it on her instead. Her muscles were already subtly primed to evade and counterstrike.
"I would reconsider, brother." Now Wu was here too. He leaned casually on the railing of the Bounty, which he had brought down to street level. "And call off your tunas, would you please? If they don't stop rampaging in the city park I expect you will be charged with an act of war."
"You know you can't touch me with that," sneered Garmadon. "My army and anything I choose to do with it is more legal than whatever your vigilante ninjas are doing. I'm a citizen of Ninjago. I own property."
Koko cocked an eyebrow.
"What property? . . . "
Garmadon looked at her as if she was stupid, then turned to gesture at his volcano. He was just in time to see a billowing streamer of green light puff lazily up over the water's surface, then descend, wiping away the last remains of his volcanic island. The light spread out flat over the water's surface afterwards, making it clear there was absolutely nothing left.
"What . . . " Garmadon managed.
At that point the shockwave hit. Even at this distance it swept through the city swaying lampposts, setting off car alarms, sending dogs into a panic.
"Where's Lloyd? Get Lloyd!" Nya shouted above the receding grumbles. Kai swung the dragon mech around and shot off, trailing green sparks.
Within five minutes he was back, now with a soaking-wet Lloyd riding shotgun. The dragon landed clumsily and Lloyd slid off, stumbling. The others swarmed him anxiously.
"Are you okay?"
"That was amazing!"
"You didn't burn yourself out or something, did ya?!"
Lloyd shook his head wearily and leaned on Cole's arm, still catching his breath.
"The city . . . " he said hoarsely.
"It's gonna be okay." Nya glanced over her shoulder. Meowthra had wandered off to the edge of the shopping district and was making alarming gagging noises. There were plenty of buildings crushed or with chunks knocked out. Nya winced.
"Well . . . you know. The usual Garmadon-attack stuff." She gave Lloyd a bracing smile. "We'll rebuild, just like always."
"And we won't have to rebuild again," said Jay. "This is it. We defeated Garmadon for good."
Lloyd blew out a long, tired breath, his legs suddenly seeming to give out. Cole eased him down to the asphalt, and the others sat down with him, quiet. Somehow, despite the monumental nature of the occasion, nobody felt like noisy celebrating. Kai draped an arm over Lloyd's shoulders, and they looked out over the city for a while, still riddled with rubble and the occasional stray sea creature.
"What are we going to do now?" said Zane at length. "Without Garmadon to fight, will we stop being ninja?"
"Man, that'll be boring," said Cole.
"I don't know, I might like a rest," said Jay. "Just be a teenager. Go on dates. Focus on grades. You know."
"And besides," said Nya. "With Garmadon out of the way, somebody else will probably just come along to take his place."
"This city is always going to need ninja," agreed Kai. "Count on it."
Lloyd smiled tiredly, turning over his palm and summoning a small fizzing dome of green light. Within the green energy he could feel the others' powers mixing, like tapping into each of their heartbeats. They were all still here, connected.
"Whatever they try throw at us," he said, "we'll be ready."
A few days later, the teens were helping with the continuing repairs on the city.
"Where to next?" said Nya, dusting off her hands and looking with satisfaction at a newly-restored storefront.
"How about the museum?" said Jay. "I heard it's still pretty bad."
"Ergh. Dr. Saunders must be throwing a fit," said Nya, grimacing. "You remember those field trips back in middle school? He was nuts."
They headed further downtown towards the heavily-damaged museum. Along the way they passed a different gang of teenagers, lugging paint cans and hoarsely singing "Baby Shark." A couple of Lloyd's friends waved and shouted along for a few bars as they passed. Lloyd himself kept his head down, looking a little pained.
"What?" said Nya, noticing. "Do not tell me you feel sorry for him."
"I mean, it just seems a little . . . excessive," said Lloyd. "It's all over the city."
"Yeah, isn't it great?" said Kai. "I heard there was already a trap remix heading for number one on the radio and everything."
Cole coughed and went pink. The others pretended not to notice.
"That's definitely excessive," mumbled Lloyd.
"Oh, please," said Nya. "Because you totally didn't have to deal with insulting songs about you becoming radio hits."
"When you were just a kid," agreed Jay.
"And had done literally nothing wrong," said Kai.
"Especially not repeated destruction of private and public property, disturbing of the peace, gross violations of workplace ethics, and manslaughter," said Zane. "Honestly, having to deal with public mockery is lenient. My conscience is entirely clean."
"Like the driven snow," grinned Cole.
"Oh, how lovely. Thank you."
"Ugh . . ." Lloyd forced a rueful smile. "Yeah, yeah, just . . . I know how it feels, y'know? I can't help it."
"Ya bleeding heart." Nya jostled him playfully as they headed into the museum.
The curator was indeed having a meltdown. His hysteria might have been the reason the museum was still in such bad shape, most other people had apparently been scared off. The teens tried to placate him as best they could, and got right to work tidying up rubble and carefully salvaging artifacts. Luckily, most of the museum's contents themselves seemed to be undamaged.
"Woah, guys!" yelped Kai suddenly. "They've got the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon!"
"They put it here?!" The others rushed over to see. Sure enough, the various pieces of the ill-fated UUW were scattered amongst the debris on the museum floor.
"I guess it's all right, since the pieces don't work for anyone but us," said Kai, picking up his own fire talisman. He smiled fondly as it burst into bright red light in his hand, coating his arm in ghostly flames.
"And they're all still here," said Jay, sweeping his eyes over the five remaining scattered pieces. After a second his brows knit. "Waaaaaaait . . . guys."
The others followed his gaze, which was bouncing back and forth between Lloyd's inert Green component and the other four. One by one they all made a similar realization: the other pieces were fanned out around the Green one, roughly corresponding to four of the five holes in the piece.
"We're idiots!" Nya dove for the Green component and shoved it into Lloyd's hands. It didn't react, as before. "How did we not see this?!"
She snatched up her own talisman, which immediately glowed a deep blue. She stuck the base into one of the holes on the Green piece, and it settled with a flawless, deeply satisfying click! For good measure, it didn't stop glowing, even when Nya let go of it.
"Five pieces, five holes!" Kai came over with his own component, fastening it across from Nya's. Lloyd was looking down at the still-glowing artifact with a mixture of horror and dawning joy.
"And you're the element of connection." Cole, Jay, and Zane were fetching their own pieces too. "Okay, yeah. We are idiots."
Jay clipped his piece on last. For a second nothing happened; then the Green connector piece burst to life, its light rivaling the five elements attached to it. Lloyd once again went up in a searing green glow.
"It works!" The others whooped, while Lloyd laughed breathlessly, his hair whipping around his face and scattering green sparks.
"It's so light," he said giddily. "Like, as soon as it lit up it got a ton lighter." He laughed. "Um, the other kind of lighter."
"It looks incredible," said Cole, watching with satisfaction as each of the elements took its turn pulsing brighter. The colored lights shifted gently, like one of those fiber-optic novelty lamps.
"And here we all thought you had the worst element," said Zane. He looked bemused when Nya smacked his arm. "What? We did. He thought so himself."
"I did," conceded Lloyd, laughing.
"And now look, you basically have all of ours," said Jay.
"I don't think I really have them." Lloyd let his gaze drift over the five glittering components. Despite its intensity, the light was easy on the eyes. "I just share them. They're your powers, and I just channel them. I couldn't have this power if it weren't for all of you."
"Well geez, that's sappy." Nya scoffed. After the others had looked at her for a few moments she snorted in concession. "Yeah, yeah, and also pretty sweet. Fine."
Lloyd disengaged one arm from the artifact and did his best to reciprocate as the others swept in to hug him. They all lit up with their respective elemental glows as soon as they came in contact with him; the end result was probably visible from outer space.
"Well," said Kai, after they had all admired the UUW a while more. "I guess we'd better take this thing apart again before Dr. Saunders catches us messing with his artifacts."
"Are we gonna tell anyone?" said Nya.
"Meh. Maybe?" Kai pried at his fire talisman, then looked bemused. He tugged again, harder. "Uh-oh. I think the choice might be out of our hands, guys . . . "
They tried each of the five elements; they tried making Lloyd let go of it; they had Cole try his luck; they even resorted to a three-on-three tug-of-war. None of the elemental pieces would budge from the connector.
"Can't you just, like . . . mentally disengage them or something?" said Jay.
"Uh . . . " Lloyd looked over the UUW bewilderedly. "Not that I know of."
They all exchanged uneasy glances for a moment, wondering how Dr. Saunders would react to their permanently reconfiguring what must have been one of his most prized exhibits.
"Mayyyyyyyybe let's just . . . leave it," said Lloyd, carefully easing the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon onto the stand that used to hold his Green connector. The glow cut out, mercifully, but the elemental pieces remained attached. The teens exchanged sheepish looks again.
"Maybe let's go clean up a different part of the museum," said Jay.
"Yeah," said Kai. "And if anyone brings this up, we know nothing."
They crept out of the room, shutting the door behind them. The museum wing fell silent, empty and still except for thick swirls of dust in the air. A stray sunbeam fell through the window and caught the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon, scattering the room with flecks of multicolored light.