This is a gift fic for my awesome beta reader, Kay Hau. It takes place in her My Dad is Bad but still Family! fic and is set any time after Chapter 29. Major thanks to her for helping so much with my own fic.

My Own Minions

There was something odd going on today. Lord Garmadon couldn't put any of his twenty fingers on it, but there was.

It was a weekend, so he had allowed Luh-Loyd to have another sleepover at the volcano.

Still, there was something different with Luh-Loyd and his minions this time around.

But what?

He knew it had to be something. Luh-Loyd had that look on his face. The one where he was trying very hard not to laugh because he had set up a prank to fool his old man and didn't want to ruin it, not knowing that his barely contained glee had already done so.

There were other clues too. Like how every now and then one of the minions would snicker like they were in on the joke. Or a passing general or scientist would do a double-take before laughing their heads off and continuing on their way.

The fact that they seemed to be laughing at the kids and not at Garmadon was the only thing that saved them from being launched out of a volcano, Koko or no Koko. It was reminding him far too much of the time some idiot thought it'd be funny to stick a 'Kick-Me' sign on his back. He still had no idea who had done it and had fired several possible suspects. To this day, everyone in the volcano swore it was the 'pink jinx' that cursed their halls that did it, though no one would give him a straight answer about what that even was.

Ridiculous, this volcano was a malevolent evil lair, if there were any curses on it, they wouldn't involve the color pink. That is probably the least threatening color there is.

Anyway, back to Luh-Loyd's prank. He'd checked his back twice to see if there was another sign, but that wasn't the case this time.

Garmadon scrutinized his surroundings. Nothing seemed out of place. Luh-Loyd and his minions had thought it would be hilarious to make baking soda volcanoes inside the volcano and were trying to see who could make the coolest looking one for him and Koko to judge. They were almost done and were just waiting for Koko to get in there to set them off.

So far Luh-Loyd and the roboty minion were doing the best (in his unbiased opinion) with a sinister-looking skull-shaped volcano that the minion had somehow smuggled dry ice inside to give it an eerie fog to surround the base, and Luh-Loyd used green Christmas lights in the mouth and eye sockets to make it look extra creepy.

The second place one went to the only female minion of the group and the freckled one who was so clearly in love with her, as they'd made one that looked like her brother's head, which was sure to look hilarious when it blew.

From the way the spiky-haired minion was glaring at his sister, he was not at all amused and had to keep being elbowed by his partner (the biggest minion) to get back to work. If they were going for size to pick the winner, then those two would win hands down with how theirs towered over the others. It was sure to make a mess of the ceiling, and Garmadon couldn't wait to see the horrified faces of the cleaning staff.

As much fun as making things that go BOOM was, he couldn't let that distract him. Clearly from Luh-Loyd's expression and the way passersby laughed it was something obvious, but what is it?

Well, it was almost time to set the volcanoes off, so he better find it quick or it might blow up in his face. Literally.

"Luh-Loyd," he said in his most authoritative dad-voice, "did you mess with the amount of vinegar? Or the baking soda?"

Luh-Loyd let out a snort but shook his head.

Not that then, okay…

"Slime in the volcano?"

"Nope?" said Luh-Loyd.

"Fireworks?"

"Way too dangerous. No."

"Spoilsport. Uhhh, mentos and coke to make everything sticky."

"Nuh-uh, but I'll keep that in mind next time."

"Is it going to spew pink? You know the nerds here are weirdly paranoid about that stupid color."

"No, Dad," said Luh-Loyd in amusement. Seeing his minions look confused, he explained quickly, "Most people in the volcano think that color is unlucky for some reason. Dad got fed up and just banned the color."

"A ban I am extending to the rest of Ninjago once I take it over," said Garmadon proudly.

He then realized he was getting off track, and glared at Luh-Loyd suspiciously. "Wait, no trying to distract me. What did you do?"

"Me?" said Luh-Loyd, the picture of wide-eyed innocence. "I haven't done anything."

"Uh-huh," said Garmadon skeptically. "Don't believe it."

"It's true, I haven't done anything," Luh-Loyd repeated, putting extra emphasis on the 'I'.

All of his minions snickered.

Realizing what he was implying, Garmadon turned his scrutiny on the minions. So it was something they did! What was it?

Some of Luh-Loyd's minions fidgeted under his gaze while others held firm. None of them told him anything, however.

He was still trying to glare them into submission when Koko finally entered the room and had to stop and stare.

"Lloyd," she said slowly, blinking like she couldn't understand what she was seeing. "Why are your friends dressed like Minions?"

Garmadon gave his lovely wife a confused look. "What are you talking about, Koks? They're already his minions."

All of the said minions were giggling uncontrollably now, and Luh-Loyd had to bury his face in his hands to muffle his laughter.

Koko gave him a look of fond exasperation. "I meant they're dressed like literal Minions. Like in that movie you love."

Garmadon blinked and turned back to look at the minions again, and for the first time noticed they were all wearing yellow t-shirts with blue overalls and goggles that the Minions iconically wore.

"Huh," he said as that registered. "I hadn't noticed."

That seemed like the last straw, and the teenagers all fell over laughing.

Between giggles, Luh-Loyd managed to say, "Dad always calls them my minions. They, hehe, they wanted to dress the part."

Suddenly it all made sense.

Garmadon beamed at his son proudly. "Excellent!" he said rushing over to sweep his son up in a four-armed hug. "It's so wonderful you already have such loyal minions. You're going to do so much evil someday. It'll be great."

Said minions only laughed louder at that, and even Koko was giggling now.

It took a long time for them to calm down to have their volcano contest, but Garmadon couldn't be prouder.

Also, in his and Koko's totally unbiased opinion, Luh-Loyd totally won.

A/N I wrote this because I always thought it was funny that Garmadon called Lloyd's friends his minions in My Dad is Bad but still Family! It would be hilarious for them to dress as actual Minions as a joke. Kay Hau and I had fun speculating that if it exists in-universe, then Garmadon would probably love the Despicable Me movies, but it still took him a while to catch onto the joke. He knew there was A joke, just not what it was. Also, them making volcano models during a sleepover at the volcano was something Kay Hau and I discussed for those chapters of her fic, but was unfortunately cut due to not being able to fit it in. Well, now we have it here.

Again, thanks to Kay Hau for all the help with my own fics, and check out her fics as they're really good.