AN: Beta'd by Sunny Lighter

When they arrived at the fish factory, they saw that Gayle was right. Meowthra was guarding the fish factory, pacing back and forth. Koko was somewhere inside, but they'd have to draw the cat away to go and look for her.

Garmadon's nerds arrived as well. "Here's what we have, sir. We have a water cannon, since cats hate water, a machine that makes loud noises and last but not least, a giant ball of yarn. We'll have to see how she reacts to each to know what will work."

"I can create water," Nya interjected. "We don't need a cannon." Master Wu had given Kai and Nya a crash course before they left and surprisingly, the siblings picked up their elements really fast.

"But we don't want to make her really angry," Jay said. "We tried using our elements on her earlier, and it just made things worse."

"That is correct," Zane said.

Lloyd thought for a minute. "Then let's try the giant ball of yarn. I have an idea."

"You heard my son, nerds. Get ready to launch the ball of yarn," Garmadon commanded.

"Yes sir!"

Lloyd turned to his dad. "Once Meowthra is distracted, you go in for mom and get her out of there."

"What are you going to be doing?" Garmadon asked.

"Using my power of green, I hope," Lloyd answered.

Garmadon hesitated. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he had an uneasy feeling. "Are you sure about, Luh-loyd? This sounds dangerous. I'm not sure you're old enough for this kind of thing."

"Dad, I'll be fine. I'm a ninja, remember?" Lloyd told him.

"Yeah, but this is a giant cat that's destroyed most of Ninjago. No one has been able to stop her and…and…I…" Garmadon couldn't finish his sentence.

Lloyd thought maybe he was slipping back into treating him like a kid again. He knew his intentions were good though-he wanted to keep him safe and he was acting like a real dad should.

He faced his dad. "Dad, I appreciate that you want to keep me safe. But trust me, I can do this. I have a good feeling about it…And we need to help mom."

Garmadon seemed to snap out of it at the mention of Koko. "You're right, Luh-loyd. Okay, then."

Lloyd smiled. "Thanks, dad. Watch for my signal." To the rest of the Ninja, he said, "Guys, you can be my backup if something goes wrong."

"What do you mean, 'if something goes wrong?'" Kai asked. He did not want Lloyd to put himself in ANY unnecessary danger if he could help it.

"You'll have to trust me."

The Generals launched the yarn, and it landed near Meowthra and she stared at it curiously. Then she began to bat it around and play with it like a normal cat would.

"Perfect! Just as I thought," Lloyd said. "I'm going in."

"Good kitty, nice kitty," he started talking to Meowthra in a very low tone. "You don't mean any real harm, do you?" He kept coming closer and signaled behind his back for Garmadon to make his move. The warlord used his warrior skills to move undetected, as Lloyd kept the cat distracted. He had to hand it to his son, he seemed to be doing well with the cat. Impressive.

The Ninja and Master Wu watched with trepidation and fascination as Lloyd continued to move towards the giant cat. He could almost reach out and touch her. She was lying down now, playing with the ball of yarn between her paws. "That's a good girl. You were just scared. I know. It's okay now." He reached out and touched Meowthra on the nose. She started purring.

Garmadon, meanwhile, made his way inside the fallen building. He was looking frantically for Koko.

"Kokes? Where are you?" he called.

"G-garm? Is that you?" a weak, but familiar voice answered back.

"Kokes!" Garmadon spotted her on the far side of the room, trapped under a heavy desk. "I'll have you out of there in no time!" he said, lifting the desk off of her foot.

She slowly moved away and winced as she tried to stand.

"Are you okay?" the warlord asked, after putting the desk down.

"I may have broken my foot," she answered. "How did you find me?"

"Gayle Gossip was reporting what happened on the news. What were you doing here?"

"Helping people escape from the giant cat," Koko answered. "Had to do my part."

"Same 'ol Kokes," Garmadon smiled. "Always thinking about others." He helped her up and she put an arm around his neck for support.

"How are you going to get past the cat?" she asked as they made their way to the door.

"Don't worry," he told her with a toothy grin. "Luh-loyd has that covered."

"Lloyd?! He's out there with that creature, alone?"

"Kokes, it's okay. I was worried at first too, but it's like he has her under control. Anyway he's the Green Ninja, after all."

"He's what?" Koko asked, confused.

"Oh, uh, I guess you didn't know that," Garmadon answered sheepishly.

"No, I didn't. But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he took after us."

"I guess it was destiny," Garmadon agreed. "I only recently found out myself."

When the couple came out, they saw that their son had things well in hand. He was petting the cat, who was now lying on her side, as he talked to her quietly. It was amazing that he had her under his complete control. Was that the power of Green, or something else?

The other ninja had slowly approached when Lloyd told them it was okay, and they were petting the cat too. Even Wu was petting her. Incredible. Her son never ceased to amaze her.

"Lloyd!" Koko called when she spotted her son.

"Mom! You're okay!" Lloyd answered, and came running over.

"More or less. Might have broken something," she answered. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Thanks, mom. Look, uh, I'm really sorry about the whole Green Ninja thing."

"It's okay, honey. I'm just glad you're safe. And it's in your blood," she smiled.

Lloyd grinned back, relieved on a number of levels.

"Luh-loyd, do you have some kind of weird power over creatures?" Garmadon asked.

"I don't know. I just kind of talked to her and it's like we came to an understanding," Lloyd answered. "I can't explain it."

"Well, with that kind of power, I could totally rule Ninjago and no one would stop me. Having a giant cat at my disposal would be totally awesome!"

"Dad, no! I'm not going to help you that way. Look, this is your chance to change. You could be a hero."

"No one would see me as a hero, Luh-loyd. And that's not who I am," Garmadon answered. "If I couldn't change then, what makes you think I can change now?"

"Because, you'll have us to help you, right mom?" Lloyd looked over to his mom, hopefully.

Koko seemed to consider it. She had been touched that Garmadon himself had come to get her out. He did care in his own way. It was probably why he wanted to conquer Ninjago so badly. She could tell that he and Lloyd had bonded in some way during this process too. Maybe there was hope for her husband.

"Yes, we will help you, Garm," Koko answered.

"Really? You'd do that?" the warlord asked.

She nodded. "It will take time, but I'm willing to try."

"Wow! Well, I guess I can try too," the warlord answered.

Lloyd smiled at his parents. This was what he always wanted. For his family to be reunited. It all made sense to him now, what uncle Wu was talking about with the power of green.

Wu came over to Lloyd. "Uncle Wu. I think I know why you wanted me to be the Green Ninja," Lloyd told him.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. Green brings life. And it connects all living things together. Like the Ninja, and my family."

"Some powers are the ones you cannot see," We agreed. "But those are the most important powers of all."

Lloyd nodded and turned to his dad. There was something that he needed to say to him too.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"So...um...I just want to say that I forgive you...and I'm sorry when I said, 'I wish you weren't my father.' I didn't really mean it." There he said it.

"Really?" Garmadon asked, turning to look at Lloyd directly.

"Really. What I should have said was, I wish we didn't fight all the time. And, I wish that I could have spent more time with you," Lloyd went on, feeling all the pent up emotions, his eyes tearing up a bit. "But you weren't there...and...I just...I...need my dad. I need my dad," he choked out the last words, wiping his eyes.

This brought up emotions in Garmadon that he thought had long since been buried. One flame tear ran down the black skin on his face.

"Dad?" Lloyd asked. "Are you crying?"

"No. I'm just allergic to the cat, that's all," Garmadon said, as he broke down, crying tears of fire.

Lloyd came over and gave him a hug. He smiled when Garmadon returned the hug. He knew they were going to be ok. It would be a bumpy road for sure, but they would get through it together.

"Hate to ruin the moment," Cole said loudly, "but what do we do with the cat? We can't just leave her here."

Lloyd let go of his dad. "I think I have a perfect spot for her."

Meowthra was led by Lloyd into the forest, where she wouldn't do any damage, but could enjoy herself. He told her she could visit and he would visit her. She seemed to understand and took off, frolicking in her new home. He shook his head, amused, and headed back to where his friends were waiting.

"We may have another problem," Jay started nervously.

"What do you mean?" Lloyd asked.

"Check your phone."

Lloyd frowned but pulled out his phone. On his notifications page, he had tons of messages. "What's all this?"

"Garmadon posted on his Chirp account about your capture, who you really are and how you released Meowthra," Jay explained. "And now you're a viral sensation."

"And that's not all," Kai added. "One of his generals posted a picture of Nya and I with the caption #Ninjadefeatedbychildlock."

"Basically, your identities are no longer secret and your reputations are shot," Zane said helpfully.

Lloyd sighed. "Well, I guess the truth would have come out sooner or later. There's one more thing I need to do then."

When all the citizens had been brought back to Ninjago, Lloyd apologized to them all that he had accidentally summoned a giant cat. He promised as the Green Ninja that he would do his best to help rebuild the city and protect it. Everyone seemed pretty accepting. Though it would be really interesting to see what school would be like when he returned. Kai and Nya were dreading it because of the Chirp post. How would they live that down? Lloyd told them that people would soon forget about it.

Garmadon volunteered his tech and army to help with the rebuilding too, which the mayor had agreed to. (It had taken some convincing on the Ninja's part to assure the mayor that it was safe to come back). Unfortunately, once the army arrived, the warlord got tempted and started ordering them to conquer Ninjago again.

The mayor was not happy.

"I thought you told me your father had changed," she told Lloyd, aka the Green Ninja and he and the other ninja were watching Garmadon try to take over the city again, as people were fleeing in terror.

"He has, but it's complicated. I can talk him down, don't worry!" Lloyd assured the mayor. He turned to the others. "You guys drive the army back, I'll talk to my dad."

"Ninja go!"

Lloyd flew his dragon mech (he had it repaired after Garmadon knocked it off the top of the Tower) and landed near where his dad was giving orders.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Lloyd asked.

"What does it look like?" the warlord retorted.

"You said you'd change, dad. You can't conquer the city anymore, remember? I assured the mayor you wouldn't do this again."

"Well, I couldn't help myself, Luh-loyd," he answered. "It was too good an opportunity to pass up."

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Dad, you told mom and I that you'd change."

"Try was more like it," Garmadon interjected.

The blonde sighed. "Dad, please. Don't ruin everything again. You have mom and me now, you don't need to do this anymore. Stop for our sake." Lloyd gave his dad the sparkle eyes.

"That thing with the eyes...how do you make them do that? Arg…I can't resist….oh fine!" He called his army to stop attacking and instead go back to helping out with the rebuilding.

"Wish he's make up his mind," one General complained.

"I can fire you out of my volcano, you know!" Garmadon called out, after overhearing.

Lloyd raised an eyebrow at his dad. "What?" he asked, not seeing the problem.

"If you want people to start trusting you, you have to show them you're different now," Lloyd told him.

"I know, I know. It's hard. I just want to conquer something," Garmadon admitted.

Lloyd smiled. "I've got just the thing for you." His father was intrigued.

"Oh no, you're not going to get me this time, Luh-loyd!"

"Wanna bet?"

The ninja heard loud, raised voices coming from inside the warehouse. Was Lloyd in trouble? Was Garmadon trying to capture him again? They didn't completely trust him yet. The ninja peeked inside only to find Lloyd and Garmadon sitting on the couch, like a normal father and son, punching the game controller buttons as hard as they could. It's a wonder the controllers didn't break under the pressure.

It was a strange sight for the Ninja.

"I won't let you!" Garmadon yelled.

The others came over to see that the pair was playing Super Smash brothers and they were currently neck and neck. The score was tied and both of them were fighting to win. Garmadon had picked up the game pretty fast, and they were even as far as the number of games won.

This was the tie breaker.

"Oh, I love this game!" Kai gushed, jumping on the couch and accidentally, bumping Garmadon, who then got knocked off the stage by Lloyd.

"What? Not fair!" Garmadon complained. "He made me lose!" He pointed to the Fire Ninja accusingly.

"Can I play winner?" Kai asked.

"No."

"Sure."

Garmadon and Lloyd said at the same time.

"Dad, come on. Everyone should have a chance."

"Fine," Garmadon folded his arms, sulking as Kai picked up the controller. Then he added, "But I get to play the hot head." He grabbed the controller from Lloyd before the blonde could say anything. Everyone came over to watch, fascinated by the warlord doing something as ordinary as playing video games.

"Just to warn you, I'm pretty good at this game," Kai told the warlord.

"Hmph, we'll see about that," Garmadon answered as they started up a new game.

Lloyd just smiled, as he watched his dad battle it out with Kai (the hot head won much to Garmadon's dismay). It was nice to see his father put his conquering and competitive skills to better use than on Ninjago. Now that Garmadon had gotten a taste for video games, he wanted to play them all and beat every single one of them. So he came over a lot to the warehouse to play. He later installed his own gaming system with all the bells and whistles. He even invented his own conquering Ninjago game that was 3D. It seemed to help control his conquering urges...mostly.

Gradually, over time, Garmadon began to change. He and Koko were starting to spend more time together. Koko opened a school and began to teach the former generals some good life skills.

Garmadon also taught Lloyd some very important things, like how to throw and catch, diffuse a bomb (he didn't tell Koko because she wouldn't approve) and how to tame sharks.

"You never know when taming a shark might come in handy," he had told Lloyd.

He had moved his volcano back to its proper spot in the ocean. It was better for the sharks in the end, and the mayor wanted it off the roof of Ninjago tower.

While it did take a little time for the kids at school to accept that Lloyd Garmadon was the Green Ninja, they started treating Lloyd a lot better, though he did get some razing for bringing the cat to Ninjago, as did Kai and Nya(for their defeat by a child lock), but Lloyd was right, they soon forgot about it when the next viral sensation happened.

Lloyd, Koko and Garmadon were doing life together, learning how to be a family, one day at a time.

AN: Whelp, that's the end! Thanks for reading, favoriting and reviewing. Thanks again to my beta, Sunny Lighter. I couldn't have finished this without her encouragement and input. She was a huge help in coming with some great ideas for this. I highly recommend you check out her Ninjago stories. I give credit to Kay Hau for Garmadon having his own gaming system-in her story My Dad is Bad but still family. I also credit her and Sunny Lighter for Lloyd's animal magnetism. It was Kay Hau who came up with that, and Sunny drew it out too in her fics. There will be bonus scenes that I will be adding to this story. Not sure how many as of yet, but there are a couple planned out. I'll try to get the first one out next Friday. Until next time!