~~ Ch39:Wed3, Excuses Excuses ~~

"Seriously, Dad? You can put me down now!"

He had picked me up in a tight, four-armed hug about three minutes ago, since I climbed down from Meowthra, and showed no sign of letting go any time soon.

"Nope! Not until you tell me who kidnapped you!"

Whoops. I quickly rushed into my first prepared excuse.

"I told you, Dad! I just forgot to leave a note!"

"Not buying it!"

Prepared excuse two!

"Seriously! I was just in my lab! Working on, on an evil invention!"

Dad tilted his head, narrowing his eyes much too shrewdly at me. "Normally that would work, but I searched your lab. And your tracker was either disabled or blocked."

Three! Three!

"I disabled the tracker! What kind of evil genius has a tracker on them all the time?"

"Then why didn't you take your shark mech? OR your Green Dragon? Those don't have trackers, though that's a good idea come to think of it, and you couldn't have gotten far on foot. Plus, why is it working now?"

"Uhhhh..."

Crap! Four! I need a four!

"And where's Minion No.3? The monotone one? All the others I saw in passing, usually pretending to be Ninja but SO obviously just playing dress-up, couldn't even get hoods that fit, so I figured that one went after you! He'll tell me the real story!"

He might too! Zane, no! I had to hurry before he showed up!

"Yes! Yes! Zane rescued me, ok! I had already escaped the, the..." Well, why not? He deserves to be thrown under the bus! "That blasted Serpentine Pythor! I didn't want to tell you because I was so embarrassed! But I punched him right in the face and got away! Then Zane, he stole the Lightning Ninja's jet for me! Flew out to the desert and scooped me right up! He found me, uh, just 'cause he's really really smart!"

"Serpentine!" hissed Dad, and whoops!

"Just Pythor! Just Pythor!"

"Your first first minion? The one you dumped because he turned out to be a jerk?"

"Yes!" At least as far as my dad knew anyway!

There was a long silence. Everyone had gathered around by now and was staring at us.

"I'll buy that one! And I'll have to give Minion No.3 a shark mech as a present! Maybe a shark jet of his own! What a good minion!"

"Yes! Yes!" I cheered. Success! Score! And Green exploded around me in swirls and sparks.

Dad had been about to set me down, and now he stared in shock.

Oh, crap. Excuse five!

"That's an, uh, evil... taser... energy weapon... I've been working on. Heh."

I glanced to the side. Kai had covered his face, trying not to give anything away. Nya and Jay's mouths had dropped open. Cole looked mostly unflappable, but his eyes were wider than usual. Mom was definitely tense, waiting for Dad to figure out the Green Ninja thing. Which really should've been pretty obvious, with my friends standing around in their gis, just with their hoods down.

"Awesome!" praised Dad. "My son has branched into weapons development! Congratulations!"

I felt Green flicker happily at that, which really should have been a dead giveaway, but whatever!

"You really need to get a hold of that thing, though! Nice touch, making the energy weapon your favorite color!"

Gotta love my dad! "Yep, I thought so! Can I go play with my friends now?"

Dad laughed and finally set me down. "Sure thing! Have fun with your minions, and text me what you feel like for dinner!" He set off back in the direction of the volcano, skipping and whistling. I'm not sure if that's just him, relief that I was ok, or a tiny bit of a boost from Green. But he's happy, so it's all good!

Haha! Off scot free! Even with over half my excuses off the top of my head!

Mom's hands fell on my shoulders from behind. "Don't think you're getting off that easy, young man."

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

Garmadon snagged General No.1 as they turned the corner out of La-Loyd's sight.

"Find this Pythor worm for me," ordered Garmadon coldly. "I want him alive."

"Already on it, sir."

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

"It was awful!" despaired Jay overdramatically. Well, normally it would be over dramatic. Just now, while watching the news showing clips of Meowthra's rampage (which looked an awful lot like a kitty innocently playing with a child's toys from this angle), it was maybe the right amount of dramatic.

"First your father's going psycho, then Meowthra appears out of nowhere, then I find out ZANE STOLE MY JET and I had to use the ICE MECH which I HATED!"

"What is wrong with my mech?" demanded Zane, actually sounding a little upset as he dropped down from where he'd parked the Lightning Jet in its usual spot in the Warehouse. On my request, he'd left the roof open for poor Meowthra. I was vaguely aware of Jay retorting something about not being able to connect his brain to the weapon and guidance systems, but was much too distracted to give it any real attention.

Such a good girl! Sitting there and waiting for me, looking all sad and sweet and cute!

"A-hem!" went Jay loudly, and I realized I once again had a completely inappropriate grin on my face as I gazed up at my new beautiful kitty!

"Don't mind that," Zane commented with a sigh, before clarifying for the others. "He's apparently been high since he unlocked his powers."

"For the last time! I'm not high!" I huffed. Meowthra chose that moment to lean down as far as she could and lick my hair, making it stick straight up. I couldn't help giggling hysterically, which of course sent my powers into overdrive and swirling around me, totally not helping my point.

When I got control of my breathing again, my friends and mom were all giving me doubtful, worried looks. They'd all backed up about three steps, too.

"Ok! Ok, maybe a tiny bit of an, like, maybe an extra good mood, that's all!" I tried to defend myself. "And for goodness' sake, it's not contagious! I'm not sick, and it's not gonna hurt any of you!"

They all gave me even more doubtful looks, which I suppose had merit considering most out-of-control elements actually were kind of dangerous to get too close to.

I huffed, probably pouting a little despite my efforts to keep a reasonably straight face. This was ridiculous! "Zaaane!" I pleaded, holding out my hand, palm up and lit up with swirling, sparking Green.

He actually chuckled, taking pity on me, and came and set his own hand on mine.

Instantly, Zane starting trying to muffle his own delighted laughter as beautiful frost patterns spread out from his feet. He waved his free hand, and with a swirl of ice blue power, the walls were decorated in icicles and starbursts of frost, and the floor coated in about two inches of snow.

"What do you know," he laughed. "I understand how you went a little overboard before."

Zane withdrew his hand, and with a stifled giggle I used my Green to shape some of the snow into little ice dragons and phoenixes, lions and sharks, and lastly, of course, a regular cat sized Meowthra.

"Isn't this a little OP?" gasped Kai. "How can you possibly have this kind of control? I mean, you couldn't have had your powers more than a day!"

"And how DID you unlock them anyway? And what do they actually DO?" demanded Nya.

"My turn, my turn!" excitedly shouted Jay, running forward to grab my hand, which I'd held out to him happily at his reaction.

"HOLD EVERYTHING!" ordered my mother. "Ice is fine, but we do NOT need Lightning exploding in here! Nor any of the other elements!"

Jay tucked his arms behind him, embarrassed. I folded my own arms, sulking a little. I wanted to see what Green could do for Lightning. And Water, Fire, and Earth too!

Uncle Wu was nodding. "We still have little to no concept of what Green is capable of. Experimentation is necessary, of course, but should be undertaken with care. Also, more importantly Lloyd, where have you been and how did your powers get unlocked?"

I opened my mouth to reply, eyes glancing over to Zane, then to the jet, and realizing Gerald was nowhere to be seen. And remembering his casual comment about Wu killing him if he found out he'd stolen the weapons. I was fine throwing Pythor under the bus. But not Gerald.

I had been quiet for too long. Any comment at this point would be taken as a lie. I licked my lips and felt my powers start to dim.

"Can't we, um, just be happy that I have them? That I'm, like, officially a Ninja now, powers and all! And they're so cool! I can do pretty much anything with them!"

To demonstrate, and add to my attempt to change the subject, I summoned a huge ball of power to my hands, glowing like something out of a sci-fi movie, and let it float slowly and majestically up above our heads, where it gave a flash.

Then Meowthra ate it. In one bite. And began purring up a storm.

That was unexpected. But she seems perfectly fine. Purrfectly, lol, as Zane would put it!

Cole was the first to start laughing, followed by Zane and then the rest of my friends. Uncle Wu and Mom just stared at Meowthra in shock, and of course Gerald was in hiding somewhere.

"This is so cool!" blurted out Jay. "The next time your Dad invades, ka-boom! He won't know what hit him!"

Huh? I felt my powers fizzle out.

"No, no, I'm going to be saving my Dad. Not, not -"

"So you can cure him now?! Dude, that's awesome!" praised Kai.

"No, I, I can't..."

The room was spinning a little.

"Then what's the plan? I mean, your Dad went INSANE when you were gone! Like, we legit thought he was gonna murder Master Wu!" added Jay, so not helping.

As if to back up Jay's comment, I glanced back over at the tv, now showing a clip of... of a version of my Dad I'd NEVER seen before. A monster cloaked in purple fire, wanton destruction in his wake, grabbing even his minions if they were in his way and tossing them aside like unwanted toys. As I watched, he literally threw back his head and roared, fangs on full display, red lava eyes blazing and merciless.

"...Dad?" barely escaped my lips, a breathless gasp.

Oh. Crap. I'm going to faint again.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

"How is he?" Koko softly asked Zane, who was running some sort of medical scan on her son. Instead of his face, a screen showed a bunch of numbers and squiggly lines that really only would make sense to someone with medical training.

Lloyd was out like a light, but thankfully Zane had caught him on the way down and quickly began his tests.

After a minute, Zane's face switched back to normal, his expression confused but not too worried.

"He'll be fine. It's strange though. I know he slept and ate - I was there, even! If anything he slept too much. But all my scans seems to indicate he's in desperate need of sleep, and food when he wakes up.

Koko rose a hand to her lips, obviously remembering something. After a moment, she looked around at the gathered Ninja and her brother-in-law and visibly decided to trust them.

"It's his powers. Remember Wu, you said Green could also be translated as Energy? I think it drains him. His, his numbers from the hospital were similar."

"That explains all the sleeping," commented Zane sadly. He looked over the indoor winter he'd created inside the Warehouse and his guilt was thick enough to cut with a knife.

"He would've just done something else to show off," Nya tried to comfort her new friend. "And he'll get a hold on it. It didn't really hit until we brought up... brought up Garmadon. So it was probably kind of emotional too."

"He said he's going to save Garmadon," began Kai.

"But also that he can't cure him," added Jay awkwardly. "Doesn't that just leave us with fighting him? Or does he expect to talk his dad out of destroying Ninjago?"

Wu was studying Zane more than Lloyd. "What do his powers involve, Zane? It would seem the two of you did some experimentation of your own on your way back from wherever the two of you disappeared too."

Zane nodded, stroking Lloyd's hair. "On it's own, it seems to be simply raw energy. Similar to Jay's Lightning, but more... malleable? He said he could charge a battery, and at the same time he played with it in every shape and form from tiny sparks and glowing orbs to fireworks and swirls. I believe he can use it to heal, though he said he wouldn't be able to cure Garmadon. And the boost, of course. When in contact with an elemental master, he appears to be able to boost our powers exponentially. And on his own he can even manipulate any of our elements, though not to the extent of any of us over our own. And..."

He stared down at his friend's innocent sleeping face. Pale in his exhaustion.

"He said he can complete Echo. Make him human. As much as me, anyway."

Everyone looked at each other, not sure whether to be excited, shocked, or something else entirely.

"You keep saying 'he said'," commented Wu. "Do you mean Lloyd already knows what he can and can't do? With zero training?"

"Well, he clearly doesn't know his limits," huffed Zane. "And he struggles to hold it back. But yes, he seems to have an instinctive knowledge of what he can and can't do with it."

"Can he really fix Echo?" whispered Jay in awe. "I... I honestly didn't think it was possible. Since we don't even know how you became hu... sorry. Forgot."

Zane chuckled. Silly Jay. "You no longer need to dance around the subject. I've come to acknowledge that I am a Nindroid, a robot with a human heart, and there is no shame in that."

Jay's smile lit up brilliantly and he rushed forward to give Zane a hug around the shoulders. Cole nodded proudly. Kai and Nya were too worried about Lloyd to realize the impact of Zane's words.

"Shall I take Lloyd home for now?" asked Koko. Zane nodded and helped lift her son up into her arms. She seemed surprised at how much her son weighed, so Cole took him from her and nodded for her to lead the way.

Meowthra mr-owed in complaint and lowered herself to her haunches.

"He's fine," Nya tried to comfort the beast. "We're just taking him home."

"And I don't think you'll fit in the volcano," commented Kai. "Or can even get across the water to it."

Koko frowned thoughtfully, then stepped forward. Meowthra tried to get lower and shook her head as if gesturing to her back.

"I think she's offering us a ride," commented Koko, sounding just as surprised as everyone else looked at her words.

"RIDE the monster who destroyed a quarter of the city?!" exploded Jay.

Meowthra gave a little mew, and suddenly looked just as adorable as Lloyd insisted she was.

"I'm first!" Jay shouted, running forward and climbing up. Zane followed, and between him and Cole they gently managed to get Lloyd up without too much jostling.

Soon everyone was on Meowthra's back, but instead of directing them back towards the little cove with Lloyd's shark mech, Koko directed the giant kitty towards the forest.

"I've got an idea," was her only explanation.

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

Author's Note: As always, major thanks to Sunny Lighter for all her help with this and upcoming chapters! Hope you all enjoyed, and next up should be Lloyd using his Green on Echo.