Tables Turned

AN: Beta'd by Sunny Lighter

Lloyd Garmadon had just kicked the Ultimate Weapon out of his father's hands, where it smashed to pieces far below Ninjago Tower. "I wish you weren't my father," the blonde sneered.

Garmadon was shocked and that was saying something, since it took a lot to shock him. Of all the things his son could have said to him, he wasn't expecting that. Why would he say something like that? It was weird and on top of that, he was still reeling from the fact that Lloyd was the Green Ninja-his sworn enemy.

Lloyd looked away from his father and then down below. He saw his way of escape and was about to jump off the tower, when he felt a hand grab the back of his gi, pulling him back off the ledge and flipping him around, making him come face to face with his father.

"Whoa! Where do you think you're going?" he asked. "Don't you realize how high up we are?"

"W-what? Of course I do! I'm a ninja! Let me go!" Lloyd demanded, trying to get out of his father's grasp. He wasn't counting on his father being so fast to actually stop him. He shouldn't have turned his back on him. Number one rule of being a ninja. He wasn't doing anything right today.

"I don't think so. You're totally going into a time out for even thinking about doing something crazy like that, and then we're going to have a long talk about your attitude," Garmadon told Lloyd, throwing him over his shoulder with a hard 'thump.'

"Oomph!" Lloyd grunted as his stomach landed on his father's shoulder, only being able to stare at the ground. "Are you crazy?! How old do you think I am?" Lloyd spat, trying to free himself. "Put me down!"

Garmadon ignored his son's struggles and holding him tightly, carried him back to where his Generals were watching the whole exchange with wide eyes. "What are you all staring at? You have work to do, so get on with it!"

The Generals scrambled away as fast as they could.

"You can't do this!" Lloyd protested, feeling humiliated, as the pair made their way inside the volcano.

"I most certainly can, son. A nice time out will help you to calm down and think straight. You must be really tired and that's why you're acting like this," Garmadon told him.

"What? No! That's not it at all!" the blonde protested, as they entered some very large room that had a desk, chair and giant fireplace.

"A long sit in my super secret volcano office ought to help you calm down," Garmadon said, ignoring his son's protest as he sat him down in the chair.

Lloyd's face burned with embarrassment and anger. "How many times do I have to tell you, dad, I'm sixteen, not six!"

Garmadon continued to ignore him and pulled out his phone and snapped a picture.

"What are you doing, what are you doing right now?" Lloyd wanted to know.

"You'll find out...maybe," was Garmdon's only answer.

Back on the docks, the five remaining had carefully made their way back to the docks after barely surviving their encounter with a giant cat. Boy, were they going to have words with Lloyd when they saw him. They were surprised when they came upon what was left of the Bounty, which was now floating in pieces in the water and no sign of Lloyd.

"Where do you think Lloyd is?" Kai wondered. "Shouldn't he have made his way back?"

"I haven't seen him since he went after Garmadon," Jay answered.

"I can't believe he used the Ultimate Weapon. Now there's a giant cat destroying the city," Nya complained. Cole and Zane nodded their agreement.

"I know he messed up guys, but he could be in trouble. This is where we always meet up," Kai replied, starting to feel uneasy.

"You have a point, Kai," Cole put in and then asked, "What about Master Wu?"

"Hello, students!" Wu popped out from behind them, surprising them all.

"Master Wu!" They all chorused. "You're alive!"

"Duh, of course I am. I'm a Ninja Master! If I was going to die, it would be to teach you all a lesson." Looking around, the bearded ninja didn't see his nephew.

"Where's Lloyd?" he asked.

"We don't know," Zane answered.

"We haven't seen him since our mechs got wrecked by the giant cat," Jay explained.

Master Wu stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Hmm. It's not like him to just disappear, especially after something like this. He unknowingly unleashed Meowthra."

"Meowthra?" the ninja asked.

"Yes. She's a fluffy toed demon. She won't stop her reign of terror until all of Ninjago becomes her personal litter box," Wu explained.

"What'll we do then?" Nya asked.

"We should try to find Lloyd first," Wu answered. "Spread out and see if you can find anything. Then we'll deal with Meowthra."

"Ninja go!" The four ninja split up.

Wu looked up at Ninjago Tower, where Garmadon had placed his volcano. It was still somehow smoking. He had a theory...he just hoped he was wrong.

After giving Lloyd what he thought was a sufficient time out (he wasn't sure how long they were supposed to be) Garmadon had decided to put his son in one of his spare rooms, which he had locked, of course. He couldn't have him getting the way of his plans and he really needed to straighten the boy out. He clearly had a lot of issues. The warlord's phone buzzed as he was walking towards where Lloyd was being kept and pulled it out to check it.

"Oh my goodness, this is too much!" He laughed. Earlier, he had posted a picture of Lloyd in his lair to his Chirp account that read, "Just found out my son is my mortal enemy and summoned a giant demon cat. He is so grounded right now. #I'msuchagoodparent." It has since gone viral. There were some troll responses too, but eh, whatever.

Garmadon slammed open the door, after unlocking it, to see that his son hadn't moved from his position since he left him.

"Are we feeling better now?" the warlord asked, coming up to Lloyd and pinching his cheek.

"No," Lloyd answered, annoyed, pulling his face away.

"That's too bad, because I'm feeling great! You want to know why?"

"No."

Garmadon continued as if Lloyd hadn't spoken. "Because, I have finally conquered Ninjago, the Green Ninja is no longer a threat, and the Ninja force is no more." There was a definite smugness in his voice.

Lloyd's green eyes went wide as he looked up at his father. His friends! "You..you...don't mean…?" he couldn't bring himself to say it. Could his friends have not survived the giant cat? He had no way of really knowing. But they just had to be alive, they had to be! He would never forgive himself otherwise. He was so desperate to stop his father, he just didn't think about the consequences.

"My Generals haven't found them, so you know…use your imagination," Garmadon trailed off, confirming Lloyd's worst fears.

"They're not dead!" the blonde shouted trying to convince himself as much as Garmadon. "They can't be…" he continued softly.

"Either way, they're not a threat to me anymore, and since I have you, there's no one left to stop me from ruling Ninjago forever," Garmadon continued boasting.

Lloyd never felt so helpless and hopeless. Sure, it was bad being the son of Garmadon; the bullying, the hatred, but knowing that his friends may not have survived because of him...and then there was uncle Wu. Surely, he made it, right? Last he saw him, he was fighting off Garmadon's Generals. Maybe he went into hiding-he surely hoped so. And then there was his mom..was she safe? He didn't know if he could face her after all of this...if he ever saw her again. He closed his eyes. He didn't NOT want to cry in front of father, and give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to him.

Opening his eyes, and mustering as much courage as he could, Lloyd spoke up. "Is that all you came in here for?" he asked snarkily. "I'd rather be alone."

"Tsk, such disrespect. Do you need your mouth washed out with soap?"

"W-what?"

"Cuz I totally will if you keep that up," Garmadon told his son.

Lloyd shuddered. He wouldn't, would he? Then again, Garmadon had shown him that he was capable of treating him like some naughty little kid.

"And we still need to discuss the whole, 'I wish you weren't father thing.'"

"You have no idea what I've been through because of you," he answered with a touch of anger, turning away from Garmadon.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" the warlord asked. Did all kids have this much angst? Or maybe it was just unique to his son.

"Everyone in the city hates the son of Garmadon," Lloyd answered.

"Hates you? That makes no sense. Do you want my Generals to go and beat them up?"

"NO!" Lloyd yelled. "That will just make things worse and confirm everyone's worst fears about me."

"I could shoot them out of my volcano. That would solve all your problems," Garmadon suggested. "It's how I roll."

"Yeah, blowing stuff up and never putting it back together is what you're best at, isn't it?" Lloyd answered with sarcasm.

"That's it. I've had enough of this sassy mouth of yours, Luh-loyd," Garmadon said, and grabbing Lloyd by the arm, he took him over to where there was a sink. Taking some soap, he shoved it into his son's mouth and scrubbed it around a bit before taking it out again.

Lloyd sputtered and coughed. "A-are you... insane?"

"That's what parents do to their kids when they're sassy," Garmadon explained.

"About several decades ago," Lloyd mumbled under his breath. Thankfully, his father didn't hear him.

"That reminds me of another thing; What were you thinking about wanting to jump off of the roof? Do you know how dangerous that could have been?"

"Did you forget that I'm a ninja?" Lloyd sighed. Talking to his father was becoming very exhausting. "I do that kind of stuff all the time."

"Not anymore, you won't. You're staying right here where I can keep my eye on you. No more playing the Green Ninja for you."

Lloyd ground his teeth. "Playing? Is that what you think I was doing?"

"Of course. I don't know why my son would be doing otherwise."

"Seriously? Why do you think I became the Green Ninja?"

"My dumb brother Wu, probably put you up to it," Garmadon answered, "just to annoy me."

Partially true-though not for the reasons his father thought. "You don't know me at all," Lloyd answered, disappointed.

"Well, that's all going to change now, Luh-loyd, cuz we're going to be spending lots of time together."

"Oh, joy," Lloyd muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I heard that," Garmadon said, narrowing his eyes. "Do you need more soap?"

"N-no," Lloyd answered quickly, his cheeks burning.

"That's what I thought. You just sit tight and think about your life choices. I'll be back to check on you later."

Garmadon started to walk to the door, when Lloyd suddenly thought of something. "Wait!" the warlord stopped and turned around to face him. "That giant cat is still destroying the city. You can't rule Ninjago as long as she's here."

Garmadon waved him off. "I'll deal with that in my own way. How hard can getting rid of a giant cat be?"

"Harder than you think," Lloyd mumbled, but his father didn't seem to hear him and he left, slamming the door once more and leaving the blonde to his thoughts.

AN: Huge thanks to Sunny Lighter. She helped me a ton with this story! She came up with the idea to have Garmadon treat Lloyd like a little kid having timeouts, and having Lloyd's mouth washed out with soap. As you may recall in the movie, Garmadon had no idea how old Lloyd was, and he counted to three when he was in the cage in the jungle thinking that was supposed to work with kids. So, he's in the mindset that Lloyd is like 6 or younger. She and Kay Hau also came up with the idea that Garmadon likes to use social media-"Chirp" is all theirs. Updates will be weekly.