AN: Beta'd by Sunny Lighter

The remaining Ninja and Wu made their way towards Meowthra. She was still wrecking things and if they didn't stop her soon, there wouldn't be anything left to save of the city.

"I'm going to try to knock that cat off balance with an earthquake," Cole said. He punched a fist into the ground sending a shockwave towards Meowthra. It shook her only a little bit. "Man, she's tough."

"I will try freezing the ground under her," said Zane as he proceeded to produce an ice stream. Meowthra, being a cat, was still able to keep her balance with her claws. But she started to get annoyed, as her tail was twitching back and forth.

"Hopefully, a blast of lightning will do the trick!" Jay said, as he shot out some lighting. All it did was make her angier as she turned towards the ninja, her eyes narrowing and going into stalking mode.

"Uh, guys?" Jay called. "Nothing is working and she's coming right towards us!"

"It would seem we made things worse," Zane pointed out.

"Hmm...I really thought your elements would work," Master Wu said, rubbing his beard. Meowthra took a swipe at the group with her giant paw, which they barely avoided. "For now, let's retreat and rethink our strategy!"

They all nodded and hastily ran away from the giant cat, getting out of her sight. Being really angry, Meowthra started destroying everything in her path.

Lloyd was still trying to fight off whatever sleeping drug that Garmadon had given him and without realizing it, slumped against Kai and fell asleep.

Kai looked down in surprise as he felt the blonde snoring lightly against his shoulder. It was kind of endearing as well.

"All right, you kids. You have not been following the rules," Garmadon interrupted loudly, as he slammed open the door, waking Lloyd with a start.

"I'm betting that you two," he pointed at Kai and Nya, "are convincing Luh-loyd to go along with you, so you are going to be separated."

"Dad, no! They didn't do anything!" Lloyd protested.

"I know you'd defend them, Luh-loyd, but they are a very bad influence on you," Garmadon answered. Turning to one of the General's nearby, he said, "take these two to the childproof room that I was saving for Luh-loyd."

"Yes sir!" he replied, grabbing Kai and Nya by the arm and dragging them out of the room.

"Dad, that's not fair!" Lloyd complained, not realizing how childish he sounded.

"Oh, Luh-loyd, I know what's best for you," Garmadon told him in a patronizing way. He then proceeded to pick Lloyd up off his chair and, sitting down at the desk, placed his son on his lap.

Lloyd's face turned a bright red. Would this humiliation ever end?

Kai and Nya had been trying unsuccessfully to get out of the child proof room they found themselves in.

"I can't believed I'm being thwarted by some dumb, child lock!" he yelled in frustration, as he tried to break the lock on the door for the upteenth time.

"I know. But these are some pretty good locks," Nya observed. "This one is a magnetic lock that can only be opened with a key from the other side. And on top of that, he put a child proof latch on the outside of the door, along with the doorknob cover that won't come off easily."

"How do you know so much about this stuff?" Kai asked as he went back to fiddling the lock. There had to be a way to open it.

"I did some babysitting," Nya answered. "We're pretty stuck in here, I'm afraid."

Kai finally slid down the door in defeat. "We can't just give up. Meowthra's still destroying the city and we don't do something soon…"

"I know. Our only hope is that Lloyd can get through to Garmadon somehow."

"What is Garmadon's deal anyway? Treating us like little kids?" Kai asked.

"I have no idea. It's not what I was expecting for sure. It's like he's stuck in time or something," Nya answered.

"Smile, Ninja!" a General called as he snapped a picture of Kai and Nya. He posted the picture on his own Chirp account with the #picoftheday, and #Ninjadefeatedbychildlock.

"I have a bad feeling about that," Kai sighed, as Nya nodded in agreement.

"Look here, Luh-loyd, I want to show you something," Garmadon told his son, who was still perched on his lap.

"What?" the blonde answered in a bored tone. He didn't think whatever it was would be anything good, so he was surprised when Garmadon opened up a photo album on the desk in front of him.

"These are all your baby pictures," Garmadon explained as he turned the pages. "Those were the days. All the crying, no walking or talking. And you were bald with no teeth."

"That's what babies are like," Lloyd answered dryly. As the pages turned, there was a nice family picture of Garm, Koko and Lloyd. They looked so happy. What had happened?

"Oh, I still have this too!" the warlord gushed as he pulled open a desk drawer and showed Lloyd a baby bottle. "This was your favorite."

"You kept my baby bottle?" Lloyd asked, raising a brow.

"Of course! Didn't know if I might need it again."

Lloyd shook his head. His dad did seem to care about him, in his own unusual way. And he had kept these things for a reason all this time. "Dad, what happened? Why did you leave us?" It was a question that Lloyd had been wondering all his life.

Garmadon sighed as he closed the album and put the bottle on the table. "It's complicated."

"I'd like to know," Lloyd told him.

The warlord took a deep breath and proceeded to tell his son the whole story of how Koko and he met on the battlefield and it was love at first fight. It wasn't long after that, that Lloyd came along. Then they came upon Ninjago and Garmadon told Koko that he had wanted to build their son's future on the ashes of that fine city. But the life of a conquering warlord wasn't the life that Koko had wanted for their son, and she left with Lloyd.

"Before I knew it, she was gone. And you were gone," Garmadon finished telling his tale. "I could have changed...but I didn't. Your mom was the best. She expected the best from me, and only wanted the best for you. I never should have let you go."

Lloyd reflected on this. It explained a lot. He felt sad about the whole thing. Still, it showed that his father did care at least on some level even if he had a strange way of showing it.

"My whole life being the son of Garmadon was that I was judged unfairly."

"Luh-loyd, that makes no sense. You're like 6, right?" Garmadon interrupted.

"Dad, I'm sixteen. Look at this picture and compare it to my baby picture," Lloyd pulled out his phone and held it up to his baby picture. "See the difference? I'm in high school now."

"Gosh, has it really been that long?" The warlord marveled. "It just seems like yesterday when you've lived as long as I have."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I just wish you could have seen everything that I've been through, but you weren't there. And we can't get that time back," Lloyd answered sadly.

Something stirred in Garmadon when he heard this. It just didn't settle right with him. "We could work together to get rid of Meowthra and then rule Ninjago together. Then we can make up for all that lost time."

"Dad, I don't want to rule Ninjago," Lloyd told him. "But we can start with working together on dealing with Meowthra."

Garmadon seemed to consider this. "I don't know what went wrong with your warlord instincts, Luh-loyd, but we can try it your way."

"Great!" Lloyd smiled. Then he asked, "Um, dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I get down now?"

"Oh! Sure."

Lloyd got off his father's lap. "So, uh. How do we deal with Meowthra?"

"I meant to get my nerds on it after you were captured...but ah...I got distracted. I'm sure they can come up with something effective, or they'll be fired. And there will be nothing left of Ninjago for me to rule," Garmadon stated matter-of-factly.

"Dad," Lloyd scolded the warlord lightly.

"I...mean...well...that is...it's hard to change, Luh-loyd," he admitted, twiddling his hands together.

"I know," Lloyd assured him. "We'll do it together." Then he remembered something. "Will you let my friends go?"

Garmadon thought about it. "I suppose the ninja nerds could be helpful in getting rid of Meowthra."

"Thanks, dad," Lloyd smiled. "Let's go."

Kai was about ready to pull his hair out when he heard noises at the door. "Does that sound like someone opening the door?" he asked Nya, hopefully.

"I think so," Nya answered. The siblings stood back a little from the door, ready to pounce and make their escape if they could.

"Guys! You're alright!" Lloyd cried as he saw his friends. Garmadon was standing beside Lloyd after unlocking the door. He was still not totally happy with this arrangement.

"Please don't tell me Garmadon has something worse in mind for us?" Kai complained.

"Don't tempt me, ninja," Garmadon growled. "That can easily be arranged."

Kai looked nervous.

"No, you won't, dad," Lloyd put in forcefully, in case his dad had second thoughts. "He's agreed to let us go, so we can stop Meowthra together," the blonde explained, motioning for Kai and Nya to follow him out.

"Really? You mean, he's going to work with us? That's a switch," Kai commented.

"Don't think it's a party for me," Garmdaon put in. "We have a common goal, that's all."

"Don't listen to him," Lloyd whispered to the siblings. "I think I can convince him to come around once the cat's gone."

"I sure hope so," Nya answered, giving the warlord a worried glance. "Are you sure we can trust him?" she added in a whisper.

"I think so," Lloyd whispered back. "We had a little bit of a breakthrough." Nya didn't look convinced and neither did Kai.

"Enough with the whispering," Garmadon grumbled. "If you're gonna say something, speak up!"

"We need to regroup with the others," Lloyd said out loud. Kai and Nya nodded in agreement. He asked, "Dad, do you have a way we can find Master Wu and the others quickly?"

Garmadon laughed. "You're kidding, right? I have this whole city under surveillance in my Garmadon Information Technology area."

All three teens gave Garmadon a strange look. "What? How do you think I hacked the news and all the screens in Ninjago?" He led them to the GIT room and ordered his nerds to find his stupid brother Wu.

"We found him, sir. He's with the other brightly colored Ninja near the docks."

"Excellent! I'm going to enjoy knocking some sense into him," Garmadon grinned, rubbing his hands gleefully together.

"Dad," Lloyd told him, "remember, we're working together…" No response. "On the same side."

"Fiiiiiiiine," Garmadon answered. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

Meanwhile, back on the docks, Cole, Zane, Jay and Wu were on the Bounty, trying to figure out their next move, when Cole realized something.

"Shouldn't Kai and Nya be back by now with Lloyd?" he wondered.

"Yeah, it's been a long time," Jay agreed. "I can't believe we forgot about them. We're terrible friends."

"You are correct," Zane said.

"Well, something must have happened to them," Cole said, as the others nodded.

"Hmm...we were so focused on Meowthra...I didn't realize how long they had been gone," Wu answered.

"Should we all go look for them? With our powers, we should be able to take down Garmadon," Cole said, confidently.

"Oh? Is that so?" a low, gruff and familiar voice said from behind them. They turned around to look.

"Garmadon," they all said at once, taking a defensive fighting stance.

"The one and only," the warlord said, looking casually down at his hand.

"Where's Lloyd?" Wu asked.

"And Kai and Nya?" Cole joined in.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Garmadon asked, giving them a nasty, toothy grin.

"Guys!" another familiar voice sounded from behind Garmadon. The green ninja, a.k.a Lloyd Garmadon came out from behind his father.

"Lloyd!" the ninja chorused.

"Way to ruin the moment, Luh-loyd," Garmadon grumbled, folding his arms.

"Kai and Nya are here too," the blonde went on, not hearing what his father had said.

The siblings also came out from behind Garmadon. "Hey, guys!"

"What's going on? Did you capture Garmadon?" Jay asked.

"Ha! As if!" Garmadon scoffed. "More like the other way around!"

"I'm confused," Cole said, as Zane nodded.

"It's a long story," Lloyd told them. "But we've come to an agreement to work together on getting rid of Meowthra."

"I don't trust him," Wu spoke up.

"The feeling's mutual, brother," Garmadon snapped back.

"Can we please just put our differences aside for now?" Lloyd asked. "We need to work together, remember?"

Garmadon huffed, but followed his son and other Ninja onto the Bounty.

"Guess what guys?" Cole said. "We can use our elemental powers!"

"What?" Kai and Nya asked at the same time. "How?"

"Master Wu taught us!" Jay explained.

"He was going to take us on a needless journey," Zane added.

"Can we unlock ours?" Kai asked, as Nya nodded eagerly.

"Yes," Wu answered. "I will teach you."

"That's so great for you guys," Lloyd answered a little dejectedly. "I'm just green."

"Which basically means, you got nothing," Garmadon said bluntly.

"Lloyd's power is not something you can see," Wu answered cryptically. "In time, he will learn what is special about green."

"Sure, he will," Garmadon said. "'Oh look, I'm Master Wu and I'm going to teach you something totally boring!'" He mocked his brother. The ninja chuckled, but then went silent as Wu glared at them.

"You need a lesson in how to shut your face!" he retorted.

Garmadon pulled his son to the side. "Look Luh-loyd, I can teach you something useful-like how to use the seven deadly butterflies of Shaolin," Garmadon told him in a low voice so Wu wouldn't hear him.

"Uh…"

"You don't get to be a warlord without knowing a thing or two about the Ninja arts. Especially the dark ninja arts."

"Dad...I-"

"I can teach you all of my sick, dark, ninja ways," Garmadon went on, cutting his son off and putting one arm around his shoulder and steering him away from the group. "Like the buzz kill, the miso slap or the chainsaw chop."

"Um...thanks, dad, but I'd really like to know more practical stuff, like how to throw and catch, since I never had a dad to teach me," Lloyd answered, honestly.

"Oh, yeah, I noticed that you can't throw to save your life," Garmadon said bluntly.

"Right. I also don't know how to shave, tie a tie, or ride a bike," Lloyd added, with a touch of resentment.

"Really? I know how to do all of those things," Garmadon told him. "Though I'm surprised that that my dumb brother didn't bother to teach you anything," he added, loud enough for Wu to hear.

"He at least taught me how to be a ninja," Lloyd pointed out.

"Granted. But I could teach you all of those things, Luh-loyd and more. Like how to diffuse a bomb, and the 'dance of doom,'" Garmadon told him. "And I wrote the book on Ninjelligence." He pulled it out from somewhere behind him and showed it to Lloyd. It had #1best seller on it.

"You're not teaching him anything," Wu interrupted, appearing out of nowhere. "I'm his uncle and Ninja master."

Garmadon scoffed. "I'm his father and a ninja warrior. I rank way higher than you. I can teach him whatever I want."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Wu answered.

"Bring it!" Garmadon challenged. "I'll beat you right here!"

"Guys!" Lloyd interrupted both of them, coming between them and putting his hands out in a placating gesture. "We don't have time for this. We need to save the city. We need to work together!"

"I would have liked to watch them fight," Kai told the others who nodded in agreement. They had all watched the heated exchange with interest.

Zane's eyes glitched for a moment as he picked up something important. "There is something in the news that we should tune into," he said.

The group walked over to the big monitor on the Bounty and tuned into the news.

"This is Gayle Gossip, reporting to you live from downtown Ninjago. Why am I still here, when most citizens have evacuated? Because I'm dedicated to my job of bringing you the news, no matter what. Anyway, as you can see from behind me, this giant cat has succeeded in destroying most of our fair city. Currently, she seems to be guarding a building that is a fish factory that she knocked over." Someone came up and told Gayle something.

"This just in folks. Apparently, there is a woman trapped there. The building collapsed and fell on her as she was trying to help some people escape. Ninja force, if you're out there, we could use your help." The camera zoomed in to show that it was Koko that was trapped in the building.

"Mom!"

"Koko!"

Lloyd and Garmadon said at the same time.

"We've got to help her!"

"Agreed. No cat will stop me from getting to my wife," Garmadon vowed. "Nerds!" he called into his communicator. "Meet me in downtown Ninjago by the fish factory with whatever you came up with to stop a giant cat."

"Yes sir."

"And it better work...or else!"

AN: This is a LONG chapter, but I couldn't find a good place to break it up. This will be wrapping up in the next chapter as I didn't plan on it being very long, but I do have a few bonus chapters to write after this, so you can look forward to that. Thanks again to Sunny Lighter, my beta and who came up with the line that Wu said about Meowthra that he thought using the Ninja's powers would work. She also came with the idea of Kai and Nya being put in a child proof room. I did some research on child locks and decided that Garmadon would go overboard and use them all! She also gave me the idea of how Lloyd and Garmadon could start bridging the gap between them and having to rescue Koko. While it may seem a bit fast for Lloyd and Garmadon to work together, I figured Garmadon had to snap out of his little kid treatment as some point and the story's not meant to be that long, so there you go. Until next time, thanks for reading!