Chapter 1: Cruel-Tea

Show Ninjago

If there was one advantage of knowing your dimensional counterparts, it would be getting a heads up on who the bad guys are.

Luh-Loyd and his Ninja had never heard of Captain Soto and his crew of pirates before meeting their dimensional counterparts, but upon hearing tales of their villainy they were well prepared when their version of the pirates started trying to claim the seas and pillaging Ninjago.

Likewise, Lil'Loyd and his friends had never heard of the Sons of Garmadon or the Golden Master before their dimensional travels, but while the former does not seem to be a thing in their world (yet, with how Sensei Garmadon had been aiding the Ninja in saving Ninjago, it wouldn't be too out there for him to get a hopefully less psychotic fan club), according to the Serpentine the Golden Master was apparently a very real threat they might need to watch out for.

In order to do that, they made it a priority to keep an eye on the man who tried to be the Golden Master's counterpart.

Master Chen.

Cole was devastated to learn that the man who ran his favorite noodle empire might possibly be evil, but after doing their research and pumping Sensei Garmadon for more information, it became clear the Chen who owned Chen's Noodles was definitely the man in question.

Fortunately, Chen himself had apparently long been banished from Ninjago to live out his days on an island far out to sea for his crimes in the Serpentine War.

Unfortunately, due to their interactions with Lord Garmadon on the Other Ninjago, they knew how easy flaunting one's house arrest could really be.

And so, to keep an eye on a potential threat, it was decided they would stake out the restaurants for signs of illegal activity.

"You just want to have an excuse to eat out, don't you," said Jay dryly when Cole first proposed that plan.

Cole scoffed and looked offended. "Excuse you, I'll have you know I am making these plans for the good of Ninjago."

"And for the good of your stomach," said Zane with a grin.

"Yeah, getting to eat at your favorite restaurant a bunch doesn't hurt either," said Kai, also not buying it.

"I-well- It's the best way to observe them up close and personal," Cole said defensively.

The rest of his team shared a knowing look but didn't hassle him too much afterward aside from the occasional joke. The truth was, they all enjoyed these 'stakeouts', the food really was good (though after his own dimensional kidnapping adventure, Buddy Kai was claiming he'd had better, and his girlfriend had learned to replicate it).

However, months had passed since they started frequenting Chen's restaurants with nothing to show for it aside from tasty noodles and disappointment when they removed the puffy potstickers from the menu.

Then, one fine day at Steep Wisdom, Lloyd asked to come with them.

"Absolutely not," said Kai immediately as he and the others stood in their driveway and prepared to go.

"Aw, why not?" Lloyd whined like the small child he was.

"Because it's dangerous," said Kai, as if this should be obvious. "One version of this guy already kidnapped you. Do you really want to give another one a chance to try it?"

"He kidnapped Luh-Loyd," Lloyd protested, still standing by this fact. "I was there to rescue him."

"That still resulted in you getting trapped on his island home with no way to contact us or the Ninja Force," said Zane, trying to be reasonable.

"And you had to be saved by Taffy," added Jay, thinking of the leviathan.

Lloyd huffed. "Yeah," he said, "But that's just 'cause he had Pythor helping him. Our Pythor wouldn't even think of showing his face in Ninjago City again. Mr. Borg's got the whole place wired with infrared cameras to find him."

There was a beat of silence as the Ninja stared at him.

"Uh, how exactly do you know that?" asked Cole.

"Not even Pixal has informed me about that," added Zane, thinking over previous conversations with his girlfriend.

"Mindroid told me," said Lloyd with a shrug, and not going into detail. "He worked it out during one of his Pythor hunts. If he shows up anywhere near Ninjago City, everyone would know about it."

Kai nodded, filing that information away with interest. But still… "Even if the city is safe for you from snakes, or at least that particular snake, that still doesn't mean it's safe for you from Chen."

"It's a restaurant!" said Lloyd, growing frustrated. "He wouldn't get me there. You guys would all be there, and if he tried anything he'd get a bunch of real bad Yowl reviews."

Jay at least nodded in agreement. "There's that. Nothing says poor customer service like attacking the customers."

"Right!" said Lloyd, eagerly jumping on this hint of leeway. "And me being there will totally help your cover! Who's gonna expect people to bring a kid on a stakeout."

"It would be unexpected," said Zane, looking like he was coming around to it. "As would your actual skill, should they attempt anything."

"And his Darkley's Education could help us notice any shady deals we miss," added Jay, looking the most on board with it.

Lloyd beamed, then turned his attention to the two who he still needed to convince.

Cole and Kai exchanged a look. Even if the munchkin had somewhat convinced Zane and Jay, they all knew it was the two of them who would have the final say as the team leader and Lloyd's self-imposed (and trained) bodyguard/big brother figure respectively.

Finally, Cole let out a weary sigh, and said, "Okay, you can come."

"YES!" Lloyd cheered, jumping up and down cheerfully.

"But!" Kai said before he could get too excited. "You're staying by me the whole time, and if anything happens, you are on crowd evacuation duty, we'll handle the fighting."

Lloyd deflated. "But I can blast them just as good as you can," he complained.

"Doesn't matter, I'm not letting that jerk and his creepy scientist try to kidnap you again," said Kai firmly.

"Actually, Sensei Garmadon says that in our world Clouse is some form of wizard with dark magic," corrected Zane.

"Whatever," said Kai, waving his hand at Zane dismissively. "So he'd turn Lloyd into a frog instead of dissecting him, that's not much better."

Jay chuckled and ruffled Lloyd's hair teasingly. "I don't know, I think the warts would be an improvement."

The look Lloyd sent Jay was withering, but with his size and his hair sticking up in every direction, he looked more like a grumpy kitten than any kind of threat.

Jay, as always, looked utterly unabashed (but made a mental note to keep an eye out for Lloyd's sure-to-be-coming prank in retaliation).

"That's the deal, take it or leave it," said Kai bluntly.

Lloyd still looked disappointed to be left out of any butt-kicking, but still readily agreed, and they all climbed into the car to drive to the restaurant.

The ride to the restaurant was mostly unremarkable, as was getting tables and ordering their drinks. To avoid suspicion, rather than be in one big group, they broke off into smaller groups and entered the restaurant at different times in an attempt to hide the fact that they came together and that they were the city's heroes. So far none of the restaurant's workers had said anything about them being the Ninja, but it was up in the air if they knew or not. On one hand, the Ninja were rather famous. On the other hand, credit for their hard work can and had been given to others in the past leaving their identities somewhat obscured (something Jay was forever irked by).

As it was, Jay and Cole were at one booth in the back chatting animatedly, Zane had a seat at the rotating bar, and was examining every dish that went past with scrutiny before selecting any, And Kai and Lloyd found themselves sitting in another booth by the rotating bar, helping themselves to whatever looked good as it passed.

"So," said Kai conversationally as he selected a plate of dumplings off the bar, "wanna tell me the real reason you wanted to come."

Lloyd froze with chopsticks full of rice halfway to his mouth. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said before chomping down on it in hopes that having his mouth full would help him avoid the conversation.

"Yeah, not buying it," said Kai, looking amused at his attempt. "Tonight might be the first time you've actually asked, but you've been hinting you wanted to come on these trips for weeks. What gives? Eating the take-out we bring home not enough for you and you want it hot?" he asked.

"Maybe it is," said Lloyd haughty between bites. "Cole always steals some of it even after eating here."

Hearing that, Kai scowled. "Urgh, I knew it," he muttered under his breath and shot Cole a dirty look across the restaurant. The bags of take-out always did seem lighter after he carried them.

Cole, catching sight of his look, blinked back in confusion as he helped himself to a big platter of noodles.

Kai rolled his eyes and turned back to Lloyd. "Still, don't change the subject," he said. "That can't be the only reason."

Seeing there was no getting out of this, Lloyd slowly swallowed his food and put down his chopsticks. "I just… wanna help out more," Lloyd said quietly.

"What do you mean? You help out plenty," said Kai. "We wouldn't have been able to beat the Nindroids without you, and you're the one who saved your dad from being, you know, evil forever."

Lloyd shrugged. "Yeah, but saving Dad was destiny stuff, and the only reason you needed me to stop the Nindroids is because Pixal made my powers the off button. You guys get to do all kinds of stuff like going on patrols and beating up criminals, and, ya know, hero stuff. You never let me help with any of that."

"Yeah, doing that is called being responsible," said Kai. "It'd be a pretty lousy thing to do to drag a kid into hero work any more than we have to. And we never liked doing it even when we did have to."

Lloyd looked disappointed to hear that.

Realizing how that might sound, Kai quickly added, "It's not that we don't want you around. We do. We just don't want you in danger. We're happy to hang out with you outside of hero business."

Lloyd sighed glumly. "With what time?" he asked.

Kai opened his mouth to respond.

Then shut it again as he actually thought about the question.

The truth was, even without an imminent crisis, he and the other Ninja were usually pretty busy. There were the aforementioned patrols and bad guy busting, working shifts in Sensei Wu's teashop, being teaching assistants in Sensei Garmadon's defense classes, and then training with either Sensei to keep in shape as Ninja. Really, the only time Kai could think where he and the others consistently hung out with Lloyd was during the little Green Ninja's own personal training, which (given his age and his destiny being completed) was a lot less than it used to be.

In other words, the time they'd spent with Lloyd had been greatly reduced in recent months. No wonder he was trying to be included in Ninja work.

Kai winced as all this occurred to him. "Sorry, kid," he said apologetically. "I hadn't realized we'd been so busy."

Lloyd prodded his rice. "It's okay, I know you've got a lot to do," he said. "And it's not like I've been alone or anything. Me and the Lil'Terrors hang out tons, and I can always fly over to Luh-Loyd's place to spend time with the Ninja Force, or go play video games with Mei and MK if I need to. It's just… I miss hanging out with you guys too."

"I get that," said Kai. "Now that I'm thinking about it, I've missed hanging around with you too. Feels like I haven't been destroyed in video games in forever," he added as a joke.

It worked, and Lloyd smirked up at him. "You're out of practice," he said. "I'd cream you in a second."

"Oh, you think so, do you?" asked Kai teasingly. "We'll just have to find out when we get home then."

"Yeah!" Lloyd cheered.

They returned to their meal in lighter spirits, not that it lasted long as just as Kai was about to eat one of his dumplings, he saw Jay waving frantically to him while trying and failing to be subtle. Seeing he had their attention, Jay pointed towards the door to the restaurant.

Kai followed his gaze and saw that three men in punk clothing, sunglasses, and snake tattoos had entered and were bearing down on the old man at the register.

"Looks like something's finally happening," said Lloyd excitedly.

"Pretty sure that's not a good thing," said Kai as the thugs took all the money from the register and threw the person manning it onto the rotating bar to laugh as the food ran into his head. Turning his attention back to Lloyd, the Master of Fire said, "Stay low and go out the back. Lead other patrons and workers out if you can."

Lloyd looked disappointed at being left out of the action, but knew getting people to safety was important too, so he nodded.

With that, Kai stood up from their booth and made his way towards the troublemakers. Jay, Cole, and Zane were already on their way over as well.

Angry at the waste of perfectly good food, Cole spoke first. "Excuse me," he said. "It's not polite to touch someone else's food."

"I'd listen to him if I were you," Kai quipped. "You wouldn't like him when he's hangry."

The leader of the punks, a man with a mohawk, a glass eye, and a thermos clipped to his belt, didn't seem to like that and threw a punch at Cole.

Cole, still having his chopsticks in his hand from eating, caught the punch between them and shoved the man back making his thermos rattle at his side.

The rest of the Ninja watched in amusement as Cole continued to use the chopsticks to block every blow the man sent at them while Lloyd took the opportunity to sneak the other restaurant patrons out the back door through the kitchen.

Finally, the glass-eyed man had enough and waved to his two flunkies to attack.

Kai fended off one of them by jumping onto the rotating bar and kicking dishes at his head.

The other went after Jay and Zane, and with two against one, he was not doing well.

"Stop wasting food, Kai!" shouted Cole who was still fending off the glass-eyed leader, though he quickly changed his tune when the food started flying in his direction, and he was able to catch and eat it along with fighting.

The glass-eyed man, not liking his opponent's apparent distraction while fighting him, smacked the chopsticks out of his hand. Cole scowled in response and tossed him through the air so his face landed in a bowl of noodles.

Kai managed to kick his opponent down, and Jay and Zane finished their fight with relative ease.

Apparently sick of getting their butts handed to them, the three goons decided to cut their losses and escape out the back exit.

Kai paled when he saw them go. "That's where Lloyd is!" he shouted to the others and bolted after them.

The other three shared an alarmed look and followed close behind him.

They just hoped they weren't too late.

Lloyd sat kicking his legs aimlessly on the fire escape outside the restaurant. The rest of the restaurant patrons had all gone home as soon as he'd gotten them out, and while a few offered to stay with him, Lloyd had declined. He didn't think the three thugs in the restaurant would give his big brothers much trouble, and they were sure to come back for him soon enough.

Sure enough, Lloyd heard the sound of footsteps coming towards the back door, and thinking it was the Ninja, he jumped down to greet them.

Only for the three thugs to come running out instead.

Seeing the little kid in a skeleton hoodie standing in the alley, the thugs sneered down at him, clearly not seeing him as a threat.

In response, Lloyd immediately lit up his hands with green energy and glared at them, daring them to try anything.

Seeing the supposedly helpless little kid wasn't so helpless after all, the three immediately raised their hands in surrender and began edging around him towards the main roads.

Satisfied they knew who they were messing with, Lloyd let them go but didn't stop the glow of his hands for an instant.

So confident was he, that he didn't notice the leader of the thugs reaching for the thermos on his belt.

At that moment, the sound of more footsteps coming from the restaurant distracted Lloyd, and he turned toward the source.

That was all the glass-eyed man needed, and he quickly uncapped the thermos and threw the contents over the child, making Lloyd cry out as what felt like hot tea spilled over him and a fog began filling the alley.

The sound only pushed Kai to run faster, and he burst out the door and into the alley just in time to see the fog spread.

"Lloyd!" Kai shouted into the mist, trying to make out his little brother in the haze.

"K-Kai!" Lloyd called back from the middle of the cloud, but something sounded slightly off about his voice.

Cole, Jay, and Zane finally caught up to Kai, and joined him in slowly making their way through the fog, trying to find their youngest brother.

When it finally began to clear, the thugs were gone and they were surprised to see a familiar teenager with long blond hair standing in the alleyway in front of them.

Recognizing him through the bleary haze, Jay hurried over to him. "Hey, Luh-Loyd, when'd you get here?" he asked in a friendly tone. "Have you seen Lil'Loyd? He ran out here somewhere."

The older version of Lloyd could only open and close his mouth like a fish at Jay, then stare down at his hands as if he'd never seen them before.

Seeing the freaked-out expression on his face, Cole let out a groan, "Oh, don't tell me you two got switched again," he said, reaching for his dimensional communicator. "Nya's got the Ultra Dragon over on the Other Ninjago for training, we'll switch you both back in a jiff."

Zane, however, was frowning at the scene. "Wait, I sense something is off," he said, but could not put his finger on it.

Kai, ever vigilant about Lloyd (no matter which one it was), was the first to notice that 'Luh-Loyd' was wearing the exact same outfit that Lil'Loyd had been wearing before. And while both blonds had a preference for hoodies, Luh-Loyd never had the fondness for anything like the hand-painted skeleton hoodie Lil'Loyd loved so much, and yet here he was wearing one just like it.

The more Kai looked, the more other things began to stand out to him. Like how his blond hair was a little too short, the face was a little too round, a little too young, and the eyebrows pinched with fear were thinner and darker than the ones on Luh-Loyd's face.

"Uh, guys," said Kai, as he got closer to the blond, a deep sinking feeling growing in his gut. "That's not Luh-Loyd."

The other three Ninja all turned to look at him in bewilderment, only to freeze when the blond spoke up and Lil'Loyd's voice spilled out of his lips. "No," he said. "I'm not."

Frightened green eyes turned their attention to Kai, and a suddenly teenage Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon said in a small panicked voice, "Kai, guys, what's happening to me?"

A/N *Ducks to hide torches and pitchforks*. Yeah, sorry, I went there. I needed a reason for the Ninja to go to Chen's Island since Zane's not captured. Something for him to hold hostage to make them part of his tournament despite the fact Sensei Garmadon would obviously be against them getting involved... and give a valid reason for Lil'Loyd to compete in it as well since Chen's spell clearly needed him too, and no way his parents would let him anywhere near the island unless Chen did something to force their hand. Fighting in a dangerous tournament as a teenager is one thing. Having a small child do it is another entirely, and the other contestants might catch on that 'Hey, Chen is a bad guy' quicker if he tried to force that. But if the Ninja come accusing Chen of aging Lloyd up, they'd more likely than not come off as crazy depending on how much the other fighters know about magic teas, and thus more likely to listen to Chen. However, I have done my best to keep it vague how much time has passed since the start of my series, and his aged-up age is still younger than it became in the show, but more on that later. Suffice to say, the Ninja are not going to stand for this, and are going to do their best to get Lloyd back to his proper age. Kai especially is going to do his darndest to fix this any way he can.

Big thanks to Kay Hau for beta reading this chapter, and helping me plan this story out WAAAAAAAAAY back when I was still writing The Grass is Always Greener, and speculating where the story could go after it was done. I always appreciate the help.

Check out my Tumblr for pictures from my fics. Let me know if there is a scene or character you want me to draw.

Next Time: Red Nya is training with DJ Cole in the other Ninjago when they get a frantic call.