~~Ch37:Tue3, Meowthra, Babysitter~~

The fight was not going well.

Well, not for Wu. Garmadon was doing great. If anything, he was getting stronger as the fight continued on, whereas Wu seemed to be flagging.

Koko had been standing off to the side, wringing her hands as her mind raced. Feeling more helpless than when she had been a child, as the two brothers exchanged blows that could blast a hole through a concrete wall, forget what it would do to a human.

And Wu was losing, with Garmadon no closer to regaining any semblance of self-control.

She had to do something! But what?! She couldn't get anywhere near them, and Garm was still deaf to her voice.

Anywhere near... She needed a weapon. A ranged weapon. Something that would give even Garmadon pause.

Remembering Wu's collection, she charged for the little storage room in his dojo. The same place she had found little Lloyd on that terrible night she wished she could forget.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

Wu hated fighting Garmadon when his brother was serious. Or, rather, when his brother was flat out lost in the venom that poisoned his mind and body.

Normally, Wu got a kick out of fighting, and usually beating, his big brother. The exchange of blows at speeds simply beyond the reach of anyone else. The ridiculously juvenile insults, increasingly bizarre weapons and off the wall strategies. It was fun!

Once the elemental powers came out, though, all fun was gone. This was no longer a test of skill. No longer any thrill of besting big brother. Only a desperation to survive until Garmadon came to his senses. And a dread that this time, this time, he wasn't going to make it.

Often, Wu wondered what his brother's powers would've been like without the taint of Great Devourer venom. Certainly their father's Gold, which he described to his sons as a blending of Creation and Destruction, had never crackled with malevolence. Had never forced others to their knees in sheer overwhelming terror.

And it was getting stronger. As it always did every time they clashed like this. Destruction fed off the clashes of power and show of strength, energizing and boosting Garmadon as time went on.

In contrast, Wu's Creation sapped at his strength. The one power able to negate Destruction had that single crippling weakness. The true reason Wu hated to use it in battle, especially against his brother.

Wu had complained to his father often about this. Yeah, it was cool to be able to use any of the five main elements, but who wanted a power that practically guaranteed a loss in any prolonged fight?

The First Spinjitzu Master had simply explained that all things must exist in balance. Creation must balance Destruction. Where one is strong, the other must be weak. Creation used power from within to create something new, Destruction took power from without and in doing so destroyed something already existing. It was not a matter of Good and Evil or Weak and Strong, but rather two halves of a whole, both equally important. Would you willingly give up one of your legs because you preferred one over the other?

It did make sense. And what it boiled down to was that Creation was not meant for fighting, which was by nature destructive. But pacifism had never been an option. Especially not once his brother was bitten. Especially once their father died and he alone could stand against his brother in his deepest moments of insanity.

But he always knew, not even very deep down, that one day he would lose. His brother would kill him, and in doing so would become an unstoppable monster.

Perhaps Gerald had been the one in the right. Perhaps they were out of time.

Perhaps Wu could no longer be their only hope, but Lloyd. The Green Ninja.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

"Stop right now or I fire!" screamed an all too familiar voice.

If not for the threat, Garmadon would've again dismissed it, as he had every cry for an explanation, for him to calm down, for them to work together to find and rescue their son.

But there was no reason for a threat. Garmadon was winning. He had his pathetic excuse for a little brother on his last legs. In a matter of minutes he would gain the upper hand and -

Koko was aiming the Ultimate Weapon at him.

Garmadon froze. His wife. The mother of his son. Was aiming the most powerful weapon in their world straight at him, eyes dark with determination, hand placed over the activation button.

"Misako!" shouted Wu in alarm. "You don't know what that does! Put it down before you kill us all!"

His wife. Koko. Aiming at him with one of their father's relics.

Garmadon's chest burned in betrayal. Was she not on his side? Did she not care anymore? Was she choosing Wu over him? Did she not understand that he had to do this, he had to save their son, that the Ninja were always in the way and...

A flaming tear slipped from one of his wide, staring lava eyes.

Koko's own eyes widened in hope. "Garm?"

She lowered the weapon, and Garmadon, Wu, and all the surrounding troops and generals let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Garm, Wu did not take Lloyd. If anything, he'll help us find him. This fight is meaningless. Do you really want your brother dead?"

Garmadon groaned, rubbing his aching head as her words sunk in. As he realized they made sense. As it hit him that he'd once again allowed the venom free reign and had almost done something unforgivable.

"No," Garmadon grunted, barely above a whisper. "He's a butt, and I hate him, but not... not that kind of hate..."

Punch in the face hate, sure. He'd even happily throw him off a bridge if he had enough reason to believe Wu'd survive the fall. But not... not... He'd almost...

Realizing the fight was truly over, Koko gave a relieved smile and stepped forward to go give her poor husband a much needed hug.

And slipped on a golf ball.

As if in slow motion, the huge Ultimate Weapon flew from her arms and crashed to the deck, landing just so against a box so as to press down the activation button. With it aimed straight at Garmadon's chest.

Garmadon shrieked. "I'M DEAD I'M DEAD I'M DEAD I'M DEAD I'M DEAD! MY WIFE KILLED ME AND I'M..."

Everyone stared in slowly subsiding shock at the red dot on Garmadon's chest, right over his heart. And nothing happened.

"I'm... perfectly fine?" Garmadon laughed in relief, hopping over to the 'weapon'. He lifted it up and spun it around to examine it more closely. The beam danced over the surrounding buildings. "Is this just a giant laser pointer?"

"Turn it off!" shouted Wu in a panic. "Before it summons -"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"- Meowthra..."

As one, they all stared up at the giant monster cat, easily a head taller than all the surrounding buildings. She swished her massive tail and eyed them like a particularly interesting collection of toys.

"Bad Ultimate Weapon!" scolded Garmadon, slamming the weapon to the deck and smashing it to pieces.

Wu sighed. And there went their best bet for luring the beast outside the city.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

Many miles off the coast of Ninjago, a great gust of wind blasted a small blue jet, sending it tumbling. Zane quickly wrestled the mech back onto course and glanced back towards the city, only for his jaw to drop open at the absolutely massive cat clearly visible even from here. The beast must be hundreds of feet tall!

FSM! What was that thing?! What on Ninjago had Garmadon done now?!

He had to go back! The others needed...

Lloyd. They needed Lloyd. Or this would just get worse and worse.

Zane closed his eyes and whispered apologies to his team for not being there. He would just have to trust them to protect the city until he and Lloyd could return.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

Gerald and I had decided to skip powering down for now and had moved on to seeing if I could enhance other elements.

The simple answer is yes!

The longer answer probably doesn't need words - you only need look out over the winter wonderland, complete with ice castle where there once was a lighthouse, to really grasp what Green could do!

Something Zane was doing right now. He'd touched down with the jet about two minutes ago and had just been standing there staring for the past minute, so I'd come over to him instead.

"Hey, Zane!" I greeted excitedly. "We've been waiting for you! Gerald said you'd bring the jet, which would be way faster than his sub! What do you think of our castle? Isn't it great!"

Zane slowly turned to stare at me, ice blue eyes wide in worry and something else. Alarm? Fear?

Nah, why would he be feeling anything like that?

"I love the snow!" I continued on happily, sure he would come around any moment to how awesome everything was. "The castle is beautiful and all, but snow coats everything and is just soft and fluffy and fun!"

"You're green," stated Zane, sounding a little stunned.

"Yep!" I cheered, holding up my hands and letting my powers dance. "I'm Green! And it's awesome!"

Zane's eyes widened in unmistakable terror and he lunged, tackling me to the thankfully snow-covered ground, taking my pulse, studying my eyes, holding his cold hands against my forehead and cheeks, checking over my neck and scalp for who knows what.

"What did he do to you?!" demanded Zane. "Did he hurt you?! Are you high?! Where is he?!"

A giggle slipped out with the absolute worst timing. I blame my dad for teaching me that panicking people are hilarious.

(Seriously, he sometimes sends his sharks out with video cameras on their heads just to watch beachgoers freak out on seeing them.)

I held up a sparking finger, trying extra hard to stifle the giggles faced with my friend's panic. "One at a time! We unlocked Green, nope, maybe, and in the castle packing."

"Maybe?!" demanded Zane, totally channeling his predecessor. I tried to hold back another giggle at the sight and was only partially successful. I grabbed him as he made to get up, probably to storm over to Gerald and who knows what!

"He didn't drug me or anything! But yes, I've been a little, um, extra happy? I guess you could call it high? Since we unlocked Green. It's nothing bad! Just, um, something like this?"

I sat up and held my hands, with Green still happily dancing around them, towards Zane in offering. He frowned at me - actually frowned! But after a moment's hesitance he reached forward, setting his palms on top of mine.

Not wanting to overwhelm him after his previous panic, I let just a little bit of Green go to Zane, just a small boost. Just to let him feel a hint of that optimistic buzz and steady warmth that assured everything was fine and would work out in the end.

Well, plus the more literal boost to his energy and power levels, which from Zane's jolt and the icing over of his hands, definitely threw him off guard. A smile of wonder played at his lips and in his eyes, but sadly died pretty quick when we heard the castle/lighthouse's door open and close.

Gerald was whistling and easily carrying the chest with the golden weapons and who knew what else. It really should've been too heavy, but that's a Green boost for ya!

Zane got between us and flung out his arms protectively. Ice stalagmites shot out of the ground between us, sharply angled towards Gerald.

Gerald's Green-enhanced good mood took a dive and he frowned - but he wasn't angry or irritated. Those eyes were worried. Sad.

He set down the chest and held up his arms in surrender. "It wasn't like that, Zane. I promise."

Zane still had his hands flung out, and when I began standing up he shot me a glare that warned me to stay where I was safely behind him.

"Wasn't like what?" I asked, confused.

"Like when he kidnapped ME to give me powers!" almost spat Zane.

"I did no such thing!" Gerald defended himself sharply. "I had full permission of both your father and yourself! And we didn't even know if it would work!"

"I certainly never agreed to any of that! Certainly not to be, to be pinned down and, and to have Ice just flood through and slice into every part of me!"

"You did agree! And how was I to know you'd start developing feeling and complex emotion halfway through?! It was working! I couldn't just stop - who knows what that would have done! It would probably have killed us both!"

"It hurt!" shouted Zane. "It hurt and I was scared and you had just shown up one day out of the blue and Father GAVE me to you, I didn't know what for -!"

Gerald suddenly looked horrified. "You didn't... It was your idea! Fifteen years ago, when you were watching the brats and asked - so rudely too, by the way! - when I was going to have one, because Ice would disappear without an heir -!"

Zane opened his mouth to retort, then froze, looking bewildered. He glanced back at me, then turned his focus back to his predecessor. "I am chronologically only ten years old."

Gerald's eyes widened, then narrowed as a series of realizations came together in his mind. "Dr. Julien mentioned you'd been reset, and I foolishly assumed he'd restored your memories since. Open your chest."

Zane folded both arms over his chest plate protectively and stepped backwards. He looked really scared. "I, I'm not ten years old?"

"You are sixteen, same as the rest of the current Ninja. Dr. Julien built you to protect and care for the next generation while their parents were out fighting. Do you want your memories back or not?"

I tugged on Zane's hand and he plopped down next to me in the snow. I hugged him and the ice stalagmites melted away. Even then though, he hugged himself tightly to shield his front panel.

"I don't want your hands anywhere near my insides. Never again."

Gerald looked hurt, but held up his hands again and stepped backwards. "Fine. I'll tell you how to do it yourself. You have a memory switch. Look through your blueprints - I'm sure you have a digital file stored in your hard-drive. It's labeled MRMD1-Backup and is directly connected to your neural drive, probably right behind where your current memory files are stored."

Zane's eyes glowed for a second, then a loading bar popped up for just a second where his face normally was, and then terrified eyes turned to me. Those eyes said it all - Gerald had been telling the truth. Zane had found the backup memory drive.

"I'll be right here," I promised him, squeezing his left hand. He hesitated, then nodded. Quickly, as if scared of backing out, he flipped open his front panel, reached in, and turned on a switch hidden pretty deep in the back.

His eyes widened, flickering rapidly between white, red, blue, black, and green. He was like that for nearly two minutes before his eyes shifted back to his normal ice blue and he slumped. I caught him before he collapsed, pulling him into my lap and gently shutting the panel.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

(Past)

Zane sat on the ground, baby Lloyd sleeping in his arms. Little Jay and Cole we're playing with toy cars at his feet, and the twins Kai and Nya were having some sort of baby argument over their coloring book. Apparently Kai wanted to color everything red and Nya was having none of that.

"So you don't have a baby for me to protect?" asked Zane innocently.

The Ice Ninja, sitting stiffly on the couch behind the nindroid and toddlers, scowled and looked away. "No," he grunted irritably.

"But who will become the next Ice Ninja? You're already old, much older than the other Ninja! Won't Ice be lost forever if you don't reproduce?"

Gerald just glared at the oblivious nindroid. There was no point in correcting the robot, but it didn't mean the comments didn't sting. At Zane's wide-eyed earnest expression, he caved after a minute.

"I will not be having children. There... there will be no Ice Ninja after me."

"Why not me?"

Ice blinked, stunned at this turn in the conversation. "Excuse me?"

"That would be awesome! I love ice! And then I could be with Lloyd, Jay, Cole, Kai, and Nya forever! I would have the power to truly fulfill my purpose to protect those who cannot protect themselves! What do you think? I promise I'll be a great student!"

"I don't even know if that's possible, Zane!" And how was he having this conversation with a walking computer?!

"The other Ninja are always calling you a robot behind your back-" And Gerald would be having words with those not so little brats! "- and I kind of AM a robot, so we've totally got lots and lots in common! We're smart and logical and kind and can see the big picture instead of getting bogged down in how people feel about everything!"

Gerald blinked. "You think I'm kind?"

"No one else is helping me watch the kids," replied Zane easily, gesturing towards the kitchen where all the other adult heroes were gathered, chatting and talking and laughing. "You're different, like I'm different. So I should be your successor. Easy!"

Gerald's face was like stone, and he could do nothing but stare at his hands folded tightly in his lap. Kindness was far from the reason he wasn't with the others, but as for being different...

"You would make a good Ice Ninja," he confessed to Zane.

Zane beamed back. Lloyd started to wake up and began fussing. The nindroid quickly began hushing and cuddling him. The other babies crowded around, also wanting cuddles.

"Better than me," whispered Gerald.

But Zane heard and smiled, not understanding what Gerald had really meant. Only taking it as a compliment. "But of course! I am a nindroid!"

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

(Present)

After Zane passed out, Gerald helped me carry him inside. It was surprisingly easy to strengthen myself enough with Green to carry my nindroid friend up to Gerald's apartment and set him on the cot. I sat down next to him and quickly dozed off, only waking hours later when he began to stir.

Zane blinked open his eyes and I let out a sigh of relief. He stood up, and strangely ruffled my hair and kissed my forehead before turning back to Gerald. He'd been passed out about three hours, but Gerald had insisted this was normal for this sort of memory reboot. (He had apparently deeply studied and even memorized Zane's blueprints prior to attempting to transfer Ice.)

Gerald had been fretting like anything, pacing back and forth, mumbling about how he hadn't known, and why hadn't Dr. Julien restored Zane's memories earlier, and things along those lines. Instead of being excited at seeing Zane wake up, he actually looked slightly afraid.

Zane bowed. "I apologize, Master Gerald. It was my idea, and I have been holding an entirely unfounded grudge against you for all these years."

Gerald looked exceedingly uncomfortable. "No, no. I should have insisted on talking about the procedure with you in advance, made sure you knew what you were getting into. That I wouldn't be able to stop once we started. I tried to hurry things along when you started acting weird, but I suppose the damage had already been done."

"It would not have made a difference. I still would have cheerfully accepted, oblivious to any negative consequences." Zane sighed, looking upwards then closing his eyes. "It was not until after my father created Echo that I realized quite how... naive... I had been, before you gave me Ice. It wasn't until midway, when I began to feel pain, when it began to occur to me that I didn't know you and Father had just given me to you and you were hurting me, that I..." He looked back over to Gerald. "I hurt you too, didn't I. When I fought back against the Ice. When I cried that I wanted to go home."

Gerald looked away. "It was a mess. I am... sorry."

"Me too," said Zane, closing his eyes. "I remember. Libber gave up Jay. Koko left and Garmadon stopped bringing over Lloyd. Kai and Nya were taken far away by Ray and Maya. Sarah said she didn't need me for Cole. I had lost my purpose. I couldn't deal, couldn't function, couldn't express myself to Father. He thought I was malfunctioning and decided to reset me. I didn't fight him, didn't correct him. I... didn't care. But it is good to remember now, to be able to interpret what I had felt at the time. Thank you, Gerald."

The elderly elemental master looked away, but I could tell he was happy with the reconciliation.

Zane looked back at me. "Lloyd, your Green has-"

"That was beautiful!" I burst out happily. "It's so wonderful that you two were able to get everything out in the open like that!"

"And now it's back," sighed Gerald. "Oh well. We'll keep working on that."

"I'm afraid we have no time," added Zane, heading for the stairs and gesturing for us to follow quickly. "Garmadon was on a rampage this morning, and somehow that led to the unleashing of a monster on the city! We have to get Lloyd back, now!"

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

Author's Notes: And there we have it, everyone! Zane used to be the robot babysitter to the baby Ninja, but had his memory wiped after everyone split off. Also, not to be forgotten - Meowthra has arrived! What do you guys think?

Special thanks as always to Sunny Lighter for all her help on this chapter! I believe it was her idea about Garmadon strapping video cameras to his sharks' heads to tape beachgoers freaking out! She also gave me a LOT of advice about how to balance the argument between Zane and Gerald so that neither comes off as a bad guy, but to show that it was a terrible misunderstanding. Oh, and that KOKO is the one that set off the Ultimate Weapon by slipping on a golf ball, lol!