*Finished proofreading Hang Onto Hope, For it's the Last Thing We Have*
Well that was fun, who knew cartoons from your childhood could be so entertaining. And now that I don't feel like my teeth are ripping my mouth apart, let's get back to my long awaiting multi-chapter fic
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Wait, when did I start writing this?

So yeah I still can't get Ninjago out of my head and stuff on it is ridiculously easy to write when you catch it at the right time. Like seriously, you blink and there's 2,000 words just suddenly in your drafts.
I don't want it to go to waste, so here's another one I guess.

Quick side note: the ninja already have their elemental powers, because chaos and also I kinda forgot they weren't supposed to have them. The personalities will be a bit of a mix between the movie and show, but I'll try to keep them mostly from the movie.

Most people would say that the best friends are the ones you can tell anything, the ones you can take off your masks around and just be yourself, and they will still accept you just as you are.

For the green ninja, it was the exact opposite. His best - and only - friends were the ones he always wore a mask around.

That was also the only reason they even were his friends.

Because when your real identity is Lloyd Garmadon, the son of evil Lord Garmadon, the crazy warlord who attacks the city more often than it rains, finding people that accept you just as you are becomes nearly impossible. When you're Lloyd Garmadon, wearing a mask is as close as you can get to having a normal life. When you're Lloyd Garmadon, the only way to have friends is to not be Lloyd Garmadon.

And the Secret Ninja Force gave him that opportunity.

The ninja collectively decided to keep their identities secret the very day his uncle Wu first brought them together, six students he trained separately until that fateful night 18 months ago, when Black and Red accidentally crossed paths in the middle of a training mission and nearly killed each other in the ensuing battle.

They all wore their hoods on their first meeting, despite Wu saying nothing on the subject of secret identities, and they were happy to keep them on. Lloyd suspected his new teammates too had burdens they would rather leave in their civilian life.

Master Wu didn't protest, only saying their identities will be revealed once destiny sees it fit to do so. Still, Lloyd was pretty sure he saw a mischievous twinkle in his eyes whenever the old master watched them interact. It made him wonder whether Black and Red's meeting was truly accidental.

In the past year, ninja life had become a bright light in Lloyd's otherwise dark life. He would push through the hell that was school only because he knew that afterwards he had a few hours of training, laughing, and playing with his friends (friends!), the name Garmadon no longer a weight on his shoulders. More often than not, he'd be the first to arrive to their warehouse base and the last to leave, and his mom could not be happier when he excitedly told her (a highly edited version of) what he'd been doing. Rinse and repeat and that was his life, save the occasional Garmadon attack.

Speaking of which.

Green came out of his daydream just in time to plant his knee in the groin of a crab general, who was trying to impale him with a sushi themed sword. As the man doubled over in pain, Green effortlessly flipped him over his shoulder and off the roof they were fighting on, immediately moving on to the next enemy.

All around him the other ninja were engaged in fights of their own, some on the same roof, others a few houses away.

The battle had dragged on for several hours and it was evident that both sides were getting tired. The fighting was so sluggish by now that even the normally skittish Blue was chatting away about the last comic he read, which he only did whenever he was feeling relaxed.

Green was actually slowly starting to recognise the comic he was describing.

"...and once he collected all of the pieces, the whole thing just-"

"Hang on, are you talking about the last issue of Starfarer? I've been trying to get my hands on it since it came out, but it's almost impossible to find!"

Even though he was almost a full block away, Green could almost see the lightning ninja blush.

"He he, well, y-you can say that I know someone very-"

"Blue, above you!"

Blue yelped and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a barrage of explosive rice balls. The ninja groaned as a fleet of jellyfish mechs flew over them, dropping a fresh batch of enemies on their head for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.

"Doesn't Garmadon ever run out of these guys?!" Cyan groaned as she slid back into full battle mode, "Look out for the sharks!"

"What shar- OUCH! Get it off! Get it off!"

"Please hold while I detach this unidentified species of the Chondrichthyes class from you."

"The chorowha- Crabs! So many crabs!"

"Oh nononono please!"*splat* "Nooooo! Not sashimi, I hate sashimi!"

And just like that the comms descended back into their usual fighting chaos.

Green was just in the process of dispatching one of the jellyfish mechs when he felt the lower strap of his hood loosen. It was nothing more than a minuscule shift, but it was enough to nearly give him a heart attack. No longer caring about playing the good guy, he grabbed a discarded shell spear and hurled it into the mech's engine, causing it to spin out of control.

Making sure no one was looking, he reached up and tugged at the treacherous fabric, tightening it so much it nearly hurt.

It's alright. he kept telling himself, You're alright, no one saw, everything's alright. Keep your head in the game, Lloyd Green.

But that momentary distraction was enough. The shark general who was piloting the mech, jumped out as it flailed through the air and landed right on top of him. The ninja let out a surprised squawk and tried to fight back, but it was too late. In the next second he was held in the air by the scruff of his neck like an unruly cat.

The others were still immersed in their own fights, when Green's startled yell carried over the comms. It didn't take long for all of them to converge on his location.

Quickly understanding the situation, they surrounded the shark general, who now had his sword on Green's neck. Said ninja could almost taste the hate radiating through the air. And for once it wasn't directed at him.

"One more step and your precious leader will be a head shorter," the shark general growled when Red shifted in their direction, and Green felt the blade, shaped somewhat like a fish bone, press against the fabric on his neck.

The other ninja literally froze in place, sending murderous glares at his captor, but they didn't dare to try anything in case they wouldn't be fast enough.

"Now, be good ninjas and put your weapons down. I'm sure Lord Garmadon is eager to meet this little green menace, and you wouldn't want him to go alone, would you?"

The ninja hesitated, but when the general's hold on their leader tightened, they reluctantly did as he said. With a smirk, he gestured for them to throw the weapons off the roof, which they begrudgingly did.

Hearing the weapons hit the ground below, Green slumped in defeat. He could feel the concerned gazes of his teammates shift to him, so he briefly looked up... and winked. Their faces morphed into surprise as he slumped again, dropping his head as much as he could... and slammed it back, right into the general's face. He heard a satisfying crunch, and the man dropped his sword with a pained cry, hands flying up to his now broken nose. That gave Green ample time to jump out of his reach and into the safety of his team.

In seconds, Red and Cyan descended on the general like hungry vultures, while the others flocked protectively around their leader. When the two finally pulled back, the general was unconscious, but White still covered him in ice for good measure.

"Green, are you ok?" five voices asked in different volumes as their owners crowded him.

"I swear if that sentient crab stick hurt you..." Red growled, fire crackling around his clenched fists.

"Guys, guys, relax. I'm fine," Green assured them, hand ghosting over his neck. Not even the fabric was cut.

Red still pulled him into a mandatory hug, which he gladly accepted. Red's hugs weren't something you would willingly forfeit.

Just then, approaching police sirens cut through the air. Before long the street below was transformed into a kaleidoscope of red and blue lights, and moments later the roof was flooded with police officers. They only stopped for a second to survey the scene, before moving to handcuff the downed generals. This was far from their first rodeo, by now some of them knew the ninja better than their actual coworkers.

One such officer stepped forward, giving them a salute and a wink, "Thanks for the help, guys. We weren't expecting an attack so early in the morning, so it took a while to get everyone together. It's good to know the city has at least some heroes that never sleep."

"All in a day's work, Simon" Lloyd responded, inwardly sighing at the mention of sleep, "How's you wife and kid?"

"Aww, you remembered. They're doing better now, Lu even said her first word! Jessica doesn't want to admit it, but that's only because it was papa instead of mama."

The officer, Simon, continued rambling until they reached the bottom floor (they didn't have the heart to tell him they didn't actually need to use the stairs).

"You know, I admire you ninjas' dedication. I can't even tie my shoes right if I have to get up before 7, and you guys have been at this since, what, 5 o'clock?"

"4:39 to be exact. Although Red only arrived at 5:47," White specified in a cheerful tone.

Red threw his hands up, "I was mentally preparing, ok?! I can be pretty cranky in the morning, and you do not want to see me cranky."

Simon chuckled as he watched the ninja bicker among themselves. He often wondered how many people got the chance to watch the great protectors of Ninjago act like the teenagers they were.

"Boy, Garmadon sure doesn't give you lot a break, huh? Must be tough."

"Eh, you get used to it," Black waved dismissively, his signature headphones placed over his hood.

"Speaking of Garmadon, has anyone seen him? He wasn't in the middle of the battle like he usually is."

Simon frowned, only now realising the warlord's absence.

"For better or worse, no. And with the remains of the attackers already fleeing back to the volcano, I doubt he'll show up at all this time."

Green frowned. That wasn't at all like the Garmadon they knew. He never missed a chance to fight and throw bad puns around, even if the battle was obviously lost, and yet it had happened multiple times in the past few days. Now that he thought about it, the attacks were also becoming much more frequent, happening almost every day for the past week, even if they were much smaller in scale. The forces also didn't attack all at once like usual, instead they kept pouring in in smaller numbers, stretching the battles for hours.

Something fishy was going on, and it wasn't just Garmadon's weird new obsession with sea life.

He was just about to bring it up with his team, when-

"8 o'clock. We're off duty everyone!" a young officer called from one of the cars.

"Wait, 8 o'clock? Oh shoot, I'm so late!" Green yelped, his voice echoed by Blue. The other four didn't react as loudly, but there was visible urgency in their movements as they scrambled for their discarded weapons.

After a few weeks together, they decided to include their age in the short list of things they actually revealed from their ordinary lives; It turned out Green and Cyan were roughly the same age, with Black a bit over a year older, and the other three spread in between within few months intervals. This meant that all of them were currently in high school, and the revelation startled Green. He really didn't want his friends to find out who he was, and school was about the worst place for that to happen.

Seeing his panic, White reminded him that there were around 2,000 schools in Ninjago city with over 600 students in Ninjago High alone. Even if they did go to the same school, the chance they'd meet was pretty slim, and the chance they'd recognise each other even slimmer.

That however didn't change the fact that they were all currently late for their first class.

"I'll see you guys later!" Green yelled into the comm, earning a few pained shouts and a cheerful "Goodbye, Green. Have a good day!" from White.

He took to the roofs, his teammates soon doing the same in other directions, and before long, he was well on his way to school. A few people cheered and waved at him as he passed by and Green enjoyed it as long as he could, before he would once again become the center of everyone's hate.

A few blocks away from his school, he slipped into the only unblocked window of a building that had been under construction longer than he was alive. He'd been using it as kind of an outpost, where he could change when he was going to the warehouse from school, or whenever they had morning missions like today.

Slipping out of his gi, he took out a pair of jeans, a green hoodie, and a plain white shirt from a dusty cabinet he was using as closet. Seeing that those were the last clothes he stored there, he made a mental note to bring new ones after school.

Throwing on the change of clothes and grabbing the spare backpack he left there, he stuffed his gi inside the cabinet and once again took off, this time actually using the streets instead of the roofs.

He got to school shortly before the bell rang, and just barely made it to his locker when the halls flooded with students. Trying to blend in as much as possible, he opened it and started stuffing his textbooks inside the bag. He thanked his past self for deciding to start leaving them at school, otherwise missing the first period wouldn't be the only thing he was going to get in trouble for.

But even as he stifled a yawn, he was almost glad Garmadon attacked so outrageously early, instead of his usual afternoon raid. Now the adrenaline from the fight and the memory of the concern of his team made it somewhat easier to ignore the hate-filled stares and whispers.

He just had to brave through it until he could go back to being the green ninja. It was nothing more than his usual school day.

Until, of course, it wasn't.

Now, being the son of Lord Garmadon, and just being a high school student in general, Lloyd had seen and experienced his fair share of weird things in the hallways. However even he had yet to be nearly run over by a motorcycle while trying to get to class, which was actually quite surprising considering what he did in his spare time.

So when a brightly painted motorcycle missed him by mere inches, Lloyd wasn't exactly sure how to react. Even less so when a girl in a blue shirt and black jacket, who was apparently the owner of said motorcycle, practically threw a boy off the back set and straight into the row of lockers.

"Hey, what was that for?!" the boy yelled over the roar of the motorcycle as he struggled to get up.

"For getting up so late. Again. You really need to learn some responsibility, bro."

"But you're just as late as I am!" the boy snapped back. The girl apparently deemed him unworthy of a response and raced off deeper inside the school, the angry yells of the staff already echoing after her.

The whole ordeal left Lloyd so confused that he didn't notice the person approaching him until he was directly next to him.

"Uh, excuse me?"

"Uh hah?" Lloyd scrambled back, instinctively tensing up for a beating.

It was the boy who was thrown off the motorcycle. He was wearing a white undershirt with a red jacket and pants, and his hair looked like he dumped a full container of hair gel on it. But the most notable thing for Lloyd was the long scar across the right side of his face. He couldn't shake the feeling he'd seen it before.

"I think you're blocking my locker," the boy pointed out when Lloyd didn't move.

"O-oh. Sorry..."

Lloyd shuffled to the side, absolutely dumbfounded when the boy only gave him a smile, before throwing open the locker and staring inside. He paused for a second, and his brows scrunched up before he let out a soft "Oh".

"Heh, I forgot. New school, no stuff in locker," he said and proceeded to slam the door shut again, turning to Lloyd with the most You know how it goes look he'd ever seen.

"Sooo, you wouldn't happen to have a spare social study textbook on you, would you?"

Lloyd, still wondering whether this was some elaborate plan to embarrass him, shook his head hesitantly, "Well... no, but... I guess you can borrow my non-spare one."

He was prepared for a lot, but not for the boy to look at him like his new savior.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Uh yeah... I'm getting in trouble for missing my first class anyways, one more thing won't make it much worse."

"No way, you too? Guess Garmadon's attacks just make good background noise, I just couldn't wa-wake..." Lloyd stared as the boy produced the longest, widest yawn he'd seen since he and Red had to pull two all-nighter in a row.

"So, can I really borrow your textbook then? I can give it back to you at lunch."

Lloyd just wordlessly handed him the correct book, half expecting him to tear it up and start laughing.

"Thanks, kid, you're a lifesaver!" the boy said before dashing off, leaving a dumbfounded Lloyd in his wake.

But just after a few steps, he stopped again. After looking around for a bit, he pulled something out of his pocket, looked at it, then at the doors around him, and back to his hand. Then he turned back to Lloyd with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Actually, do you think you could show me where classroom 204 is? Me and my sis are kinda new here," he said, waving the thing in his hand in front of Lloyd. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a crumpled class schedule.

Lloyd's brain short circuited, and he just stared at him with a deer-in-the-headlights look. Someone actually wanted his help? And not as a joke? Was he still dreaming? He should check whether Garmadon wasn't contemplating turning good.

The boy however took his silence as a sign of reluctance and his smile faded a bit.

"I mean, if you don't have time..."

Lloyd finally snapped out of his daze, "No! I don't... What I mean is... wouldn't you rather have someone else show you around?"

Now the boy was the one looking confused.

"Why? Are you that bad at directions?"

"Well... no, but..." Don't you know who I am? Don't you hate me?

"Great! Then let's get going before we miss the second period too," the kid grinned.

Lloyd hesitated only for a second before nodding and leading him towards the right class. Either this was a very elaborate prank, or this kid really didn't know who he was, and Lloyd was going to prolong that ignorance as long as he could.

All around, the other students were staring at the two of them with surprise and growing disdain, but the boy didn't even seem to notice.

"Thanks for this, dude. You're really saving my life here. The name's Kai by the way."

"Oh uh, I'm... Lloyd," Lloyd squeezed out, gauging Kai's reaction. To his surprise, he only smiled wider.

"Oh cool, I had a friend called Lloyd back at the orphanage, but he moved away shortly after Garmadon started attacking. I always wondered why."

Lloyd thought he had a pretty good idea why, but before he could muster up the courage to say anything, they reached classroom 204. He actually had to grab Kai's jacket to get him to stop with how lost the other boy was in telling him all about the orphanage he grew up in.

"Thanks again for the help! See ya around, kid," Kai waved before entering the classroom.

"Y-yeah... see you," Lloyd answered weakly, still quite stunned from the interaction.

That shock lasted even as he entered his own classroom, only realising the bell already rang when the teacher started yelling at him.

In his confusion, he didn't really feel the stares of his classmates. He braved the teacher's berating without actually hearing any of it, and when he finally sat down, he had no problem ignoring the crumpled pieces of paper that bounced off his back. The interaction with Kai kept replaying in his head, and he found himself having the slightest sliver of hope. Hope that maybe, Kai could become his very first friend without a mask.

It was about twenty minutes later when he was called to the board.

That didn't happen as much as in his other classes, where the teachers constantly tried to make him embarrass himself.

That was because while he was average in everything else, usually he was surprisingly good at math, much to his classmates' and teacher's dismay. It was like strategy with his team; just a matter of putting the numbers in the right places and use the right strategy to get the result he wanted. That was something White had taught him.

But to properly strategize, you need to know the battlefield and the kind of enemy you'd be fighting, so that you can use the right tactic. And now it seemed the teacher thrust Lloyd in the middle of a battle he'd never seen before.

He was set to fail and his classmates knew it. Great, all he needed was insults about his academic skills to be added to the bunch.

He gritted his teeth, mentally steeling himself, and opened his mouth to admit his loss.

WEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOWWWWWW

The sharp wail of the attack siren cut through the air, drowning out his words, and for the first time in his life, Lloyd was actually glad to hear it. Despite the usual "Thanks, Lloyd!" that echoed through the classroom, he made a small fist pump. Now not only was he going to ditch the rest of the school day, he was also going to spend the time with his most favorite people in the world. Granted, they were going to be fighting for their lives (again), but anything was better than this.

He was about to ask to be excused, when the entire building shook. And it wasn't the usual Garmadon-has-a-giant-new-mech shaking. This was a Garmadon-has-a-giant-new-mech-and-is-dancing-on-your-roof shaking. Lloyd actually felt his chair jump a little with the next tremor.

"HELLOOOO NINJAGO CIT-AAAAY!"

He felt like someone had just yelled through a megaphone right into his ear, and judging by the pained cries around him, his classmates had similar opinions.

A part of him mentally apologized to his teammates for subjecting them to the same torture an hour prior, but he had no time dwell on it. Because judging by the volume and direction the amplified sound was coming from, Garmadon was close. In fact, he could very well be sitting right outside the window.

He turned his head and his jaw dropped. Garmadon was in fact sitting right outside the window. Him and an enormous shark mech with equally enormous speakers, and rows of soldiers in various ocean themed costumes forming up to block their escape, and seriously what was up with this obsession with sea life?

"That's right, your new overlord is back, baby! And he goes by the name ooooof-" Lloyd rolled his eyes and tried to cover his ears as best as he could as Garmadon (he refused to call him father), went through his usual What's my name?! routine.

"Now I'm sure you're all wondering what ingenious diabolical plan I cooked up today, and I must say, it's really ingenious and really really diabolical. I'm sure your ninja are going to love it. Oh and with this totally unintended mention of the ninja, I would like to give them a little message."

Garmadon turned away from the school, at least slightly reducing the abuse on Lloyd's ears, and started yelling towards the streets.

"With this school - it is a school, right? Ok, - With this school now under my control, I'm the one holding all the cards. I'm going to give you ninja one chance to surrender. If you refuse, well I'm running out of generals to fire, so I can always use the students as practice ammo. And since I'm such a benevolent tyrant, I suppose the lucky ones can join my army. And really, isn't that so much better than school? Well, once you forget the whole gruesome training and mandatory shark tattoo, it's a reward, really."

Lloyd growled as he watched Garmadon pace around on the head of his mech, acting like he wasn't just threatening to take an entire school to a military boot camp.

"Now that I think about it, maybe I should threaten you with not being accepted into my army. I'll have to run this through my marketing team - after I reassemble it because I'm firing the old one. The clock is ticking, ninjnerds!"

Garmadon's yelling finally stopped.

Chaos ensued.

Well that's it, hope you liked it. Next chapter should be out within a week or two, with the others coming in the same intervals.

See ya in the next one