Chapter 13: Reception
Movie Ninjago
Thankfully, the reception was held in a different secret location than the wedding, so it wasn't trashed by the SoG.
Still, everyone was impressed that Omakase could fit that many people. Still, the sushi was to die for, and Lord Garmadon had refused to have the reception anywhere else.
"He just wants to sit at this table now that they're married again," Luh-Loyd stage whispered to his extended family and pointed at the G+K heart carved into said table.
"Awww," cooed both Morro and Lil'Loyd teasingly.
"That's so cute," Misako agreed with complete honesty.
"You're dang right! We're adorable," said Lord Garmadon, utterly unashamed, having not let go of Koko's hand since the end of the ceremony.
Koko smiled and ran her hand over the carving. "We made this so long ago. I'm surprised they still have it."
"Pfft, like they'd dare get rid of it," said Lord Garmadon.
"He's right," said the sushi chef as he brought their food to them. "This table is my lucky charm. So long as it's in the restaurant it never gets destroyed in an attack."
Lord Garmadon grinned.
"Implying it was destroyed a few times when the table was out of the restaurant," said Sensei Gamradon thoughtfully.
Lord Garmadon froze and the sushi chef laughed nervously. "No, why would I ever do that?" said the chef. "Now please excuse me, I have more sushi to serve." And with that, the chef hurried away.
Lord Garmadon, meanwhile, looked like he was trying to remember if he'd ever smashed this restaurant during his evil days, and if so how often. At least until Koko kissed him on the cheek, causing his face to fall into a dopey grin, and conversation at the table turned to the battle they'd just fought.
"I didn't see you during the battle at the beach, Morro," said Sensei Wu as he ate his sushi. "You and your friend excused yourselves before the attack started. Did you evacuate with the other guests?"
"Not really," said Morro, helping himself to a spicy tuna roll. "I noticed the ship we came on was causing a blindspot between us and the city and went to go check. It's how the SoG managed to sneak up on us. We got in a scuffle with some of them by the surf when we saw them coming. After that, we were stuck by the ship trying to keep some of them from sabotaging it, and, ya know, stranding us all out there."
The rest of the table looked surprised to hear that. They hadn't even thought about what the SoG could do to their ferry. But Master Wu didn't seem surprised. "Yes, I caught glimpses of that as I fought." He then frowned at Morro. "I also noticed you take a hard blow. How are you feeling?"
Morro waved off his father's concern. "I'm fine, Wu. It just winded me. The jerk got me when I was distracted, but Shade and I got him back."
Sensei Wu breathed a sigh of relief hearing that. "I am glad you were unharmed. When I couldn't see you I was concerned."
Morro sent his father's counterpart a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, my father taught me too well to be taken down by those chumps, and Shade had my back."
"I am glad," Sensei Wu said.
The rest of the family grinned that the air of awkwardness and regret between the two seemed gone for good, and the dinner conversation continued on pleasantly, mostly recounting their favorite parts of the wedding battle.
Then, after most of the food was eaten, it was time for Luh-Loyd's best man speech.
Clearing his throat awkwardly and tapping a fork against his glass, Luh-Loyd stood up and tried to ignore the fact he had the eyes of everyone else on him. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he began his speech. "Growing up, for the longest time I never understood what my mom could have possibly ever seen in my dad that would make her marry him," he said with an air of exasperation.
Several people laughed hearing that, and Lord Garmadon gave his son an affronted look. "HEY!" he squawked.
Luh-Loyd sent his father an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Dad, but you were still evil then, and I was… yeah, I wasn't too thrilled about that." He paused as there was another smattering of laughter at those words. Lord Garmadon still looked grumpy, but Koko was giggling into her hand.
When it died down, Luh-Loyd smiled, looked to his parents, and continued, "But now… now that we're a family again, now that I've actually seen you two together, I finally get it. You two understand each other and support each other like no one else. Even when your ideas or goals oppose each other you're honest about who you are and let the other be as well. The respect, admiration, and just the love you have for each other is amazing and I'm really, really happy to see you get to come back together." He then grinned and added cheekily, "Also, there isn't a more kick-butt battle couple out there in any universe."
"Here! Here!" someone called from the audience, and everyone else cheered in agreement.
Finishing off his speech, Luh-Loyd raised his glass and said, "To my mom and dad!"
"To Koko and Garmadon!" said everyone else in a toast.
When Luh-Loyd sat back down he was immediately pulled into a hug by both his parents, who couldn't stop beaming at him.
When food ended it was time to throw the bouquet, and most of the young girls and single women at the party gathered around.
Luh-Loyd caught sight of Poisinthia waving at him as she hurried past to join them. He waved back and tried to ignore the snickers Lil'Loyd and Morro sent his way. It looked like her crush on him was still going strong.
Nick Jay was making his way over to join the bouquet hopefuls (having gotten permission from Koko to participate) when he caught sight of Red Nya hanging back, deliberately steering clear of the group.
"You coming, Nya?" Nick asked, doing his best to sound casual.
Red jumped a little at his question and avoided his eyes. "Yeah, no," she said, also trying to sound casual. "I just… I don't think I'm ready for something like that yet. Better to let the flowers get caught by someone who will appreciate them."
Nick Jay glanced between her and the crowd of girls waiting for Koko to throw the bouquet. Then he let out a sigh and deliberately sat back down to watch.
Red looked at him in surprise. "You're not going?" she asked, knowing he'd been looking forward to it.
"Eh, I changed my mind," said Nick Jay with a shrug. "It's not the right time."
Red stared at him for a moment before smiling. "Thanks, Jay," she said.
Nick smiled back, then watched eagerly as Koko held the flowers over her head and turned around so her back was to the hopefuls. She then blindly tossed the flowers into the air and they flew towards the crowd.
Several girls jumped up to try and catch it, eager to be the lucky recipient, but the bouquet could only be caught by one, and they sailed into the hands of Cyan Nya.
People clapped as Cyan held the bouquet up in victory, and the girl very deliberately turned to look over at Freckles Jay and sent him a wink.
Freckles promptly turned red and fainted into DJ Cole's arms, earning a laugh from those watching.
"Lucky them," said Nick wistfully but there was no resentment in his tone as he watched Cyan hurry over to make sure his counterpart was okay.
Red thought about how her counterpart already knew her feelings and was content to wait for them to come to fruition, and had to agree. "Yeah," she said. "Lucky them."
The first dance of the newlyweds started soon after that. Once all the traditional dances were out of the way, people started mingling.
Such as the other dimension's Ninja walking over to where Morro was chatting with his friends.
Seeing the Ninja approach, the group quieted and looked at them curiously. "What's up?" asked Morro.
"We just wanted to say thanks for the help with the fight earlier," said Cliff Cole. "You guys were pretty cool."
Griffin grinned and adjusted his sunglasses. "Of course we're cool," he said cockily.
Karlof elbowed him in the gut, and said, "What Griffin means is, we were happy to help," he said with a friendly smile. "Those SoG are bad news, yeah, but dummies."
"And freaking weak too," said Tox, looking like she hadn't at all been impressed by their attempted attack.
Lil'Loyd grinned up at her. "I saw you hitting those guys with a chair! It was great. Also, your dress is really cool. I like the pink skulls."
Tox blinked in surprise at the compliments and turned away in an attempt to the blush spreading across her cheeks at it. "Yeah, whatever kid," she said, but it was clear to everyone that she was pleased.
"What's your name?" asked Lil'Loyd curiously.
"Right, introductions, knew I forgot something," said Morro, clapping his hands together. "These are my friends, roommates, and just the people I seem to be stuck with."
"We're stuck with you, not the other way around," snarked Shade.
Morro shot him a look and started with him. "Mr. Personality here is Shade, the flashy one with shades is Griffin, the boring one with shades is Paleman-"
"Hey!" snapped Paleman, while Griffin pushed his sunglasses up his nose and didn't deny his flashiness.
"-The friendly one is Karlof, the grumpy one is Tox, and most of you already know Neuro," Morro finished, ignoring the protest. He then turned to his friends, and said, "Guys, these are Squirt, Hothead, Drizzle, Babbler, Mr. Robato, and Sweettooth."
The other-dimensional Ninja all blinked, flummoxed at the nicknames, but Lil'Loyd was used to it by now. "He gives almost everyone nicknames," he said to the others. "There's no getting rid of them."
"Having put up with him for years, I can confirm that. He still calls me Brainiac all the time," said Neuro, and his friends nodded in agreement.
"Why mess with perfection?" said Morro, utterly unashamed.
Everyone else just shot him dirty looks.
"I'm starting to see why Buddy complains about you so much," grumbled Spike Kai.
"Pyro's got a big mouth and no taste," Morro said.
Spike opened his mouth, probably to defend his counterpart, but it immediately snapped shut when he saw the counterpart in question coming towards them with his date on his arm. "Oh, uh, I think I hear Sensei Wu calling me, later," he said and beat a hasty retreat.
Everyone stared after him as he disappeared into the crowd. "That was odd," said Karlof.
"He's been avoiding me all night," said Buddy Kai as he and Skylor approached. "Did something happen? Did I do something wrong?" he asked the rest of the other-dimensional ninja in concern.
Red Nya sighed and rolled her eyes. "No, trust us, it's not you. He's just being dumb."
"That's too bad," said Skylor peering after him. "I wanted to finally meet him."
Zen Zane and Cliff Cole exchanged amused glances. The latter then leaned in like he was about to tell a secret. "Well, the thing is…" Cliff started to say, and the rest huddled in to hear it as Cliff explained the conclusion he and Zen had come to.
Once he was finished, Buddy looked miffed for his girlfriend's sake, but Skylor threw her head back and laughed out loud.
"Oh, I can't wait until you guys find my counterpart then," she said with a wicked grin. "This is going to be hilarious."
Buddy side-eyed his girlfriend. "You're gonna keep dressing goth and going by Princess until that happens just to mess with him, aren't you," he said, sounding amused.
"You know me so well," said Skylor.
Buddy snickered at his counterpart's expense. "Well, I can't he say doesn't deserve it."
Gayle Gossip was beaming as she hung up the phone with her boss.
Nana and Jimmy who were by her at the bar shared an amused look. "Good review of your footage?" asked Nana.
"All my coworkers are so jealous. Wedding of the decade material and I'm the one who covered it," Gayle confirmed. "Though, on a side note, I need a new cameraman again."
"The one you brought did bail pretty quickly," agreed Jimmy, who had stuck by Gayle's side throughout the fight. When her cameraman ran for the hills at the sight of the oncoming SoG, Gayle had stayed and did the camera work herself, though Jimmy had often had to act as a cameraman when she felt she needed to be on screen. By this point, he was long used to it and had learned to fight off threats with just his legs all while keeping the camera steady.
"Just lasting a week with me is considered a bragging right," said Gayle, sounding both exasperated and amused.
"Heh, people say the same about being a general in the single digits," agreed Nana with a laugh.
"How have you lasted so long?" Jimmy asked her curiously.
"I just let General #8 pass me to General #6 whenever #1 gets fired," said Nana. "I like being #7. It matches my name."
"And it got you the cushy job of officiating the wedding," said Gayle with a grin. "You got a lot of screen time from me."
Nana barked a laugh. "I wouldn't call that headache cushy, but, hey, we got through it and I'm not fired. Win-win."
"You got through it," said Jimmy with a grimace. "I'm going to have so much paperwork tomorrow. Between giving my statements on the events of the wedding, opening investigations into the Sons of Garmadon's attack, and making sure that mech gets impounded again, it's going to be a nightmare."
Gayle and Nana exchanged a grimace. "Ouch," said Nana. "One good thing about my job. No paperwork."
"Yeah, paperwork sucks," agreed Gayle, patting Jimmy on the back. "But at least you can have fun tonight."
Jimmy sighed and raised his glass. "I'll drink to that," he agreed.
The three friends shared a toast to having fun, at least for tonight.
Tomorrow it was back to business as usual in their absolutely chaotic lives.
Her name was Harumi, she was sixteen years old, and it took her longer than she would admit to gather her courage and approach her evil idol.
But finally, she mustered up enough bravery and made her way over to where the couple was taking a break from dancing.
Lady IronDragon's expression lit up when she saw her coming. "Oh, Harumi," she said brightly. "I'm so glad you could come."
Harumi had to force herself to keep up her friendly facade around the woman who helped ruin her plans. "Hi, Koko. Thank you so much for inviting me," she said sweetly.
Lady IronDragon smiled again before turning to her husband, "Garm, this is Harumi."
"Huh, who?" asked Lord Garmadon, looking bewildered.
"The mayor's daughter," said Lady IronDragon with a sigh.
"Oh," said Lord Garmadon before turning his eyes on Harumi. "Hey, kid, thanks for coming."
Being addressed by her idol was almost too much for her. "It's me who should be thanking you," said Harumi, now having to use her perfect act to keep the fangirl in her from exploding out. "Thank you so much for saving me before."
The newlyweds blinked in surprise hearing that. "Huh?" was Lord Garmadon's eloquent response.
"He saved you?" asked Lady IronDragon, equally surprised.
"During the fight, when that brute had me by the back of my clothes," Harumi explained with stars in her eyes. "You made him let me go so I could get away. Thank you."
And she meant it with all her heart. Especially since this gratitude was not only for her most recent rescue but the first one as well. Even if nothing else had gone right on this night, she could at least finally thank him for saving her all those years ago.
Lady IronDragon looked at her husband, impressed. Meanwhile, Lord Garmadon scratched his head in what Harumi assumed was confusion over which of the times he'd saved her.
(In actuality, Garmadon was trying to remember when he'd ever seen this kid before, much less rescued her.)
"Uh, sure, no problem, kid," Lord Garmadon finally said. His eyes caught on her mermaid accessory. "Hey, nice hair clip. Mermaids are cool, am I right? You've got good taste."
Harumi, startled at this compliment from her evil hero, felt her princess facade crack as she blushed and blurted out a loud and flustered, "THANKS! THEY'RE VICIOUS OCEAN PREDATORS!"
The newlyweds both stared at her.
Harumi slowly felt herself turning scarlet at her outburst and began hoping the ground would swallow her whole.
Thankfully, she was saved from further mortification, by a hand reaching out to her and its owner saying, "May I have this dance?"
Harumi spun around to see Gene standing there hopefully, and quickly accepted his hand. "Sure," she squeaked, trying to hide her red face.
As they pulled away, they heard Lord Garmadon recover his wits and say, "Ha! Told you, Kokes! She gets it!"
"I suppose," was Lady IronDragon's still startled reply.
Once they were far enough away, Gene looked at her sheepishly and said, "You don't actually have to dance with me, I just knew you needed a quick exit."
Harumi took a deep breath to steady herself. Once she felt calmer, she sent Gene a smirk and said, "Well, you did help save me too, so I'll allow it."
Gene beamed, but before they could move to the dance floor, Brad suddenly appeared at their side. "Hey! What about me? I helped too!" he said, pointing at himself.
Harumi rolled her eyes at his antics. "I'll buy you a rose bush," she said dryly, knowing that would make him happy.
Brad's eyes lit up and he pumped his fist in the air. "Alright!"
Harumi and Gene exchanged an amused look and she allowed him to take her to the dance floor.
"So, what are you going to do next?" Gene asked as the two slowly danced to the current song, and was careful to keep his voice low so no one else could hear. "Lady IronDragon's not leaving the picture anytime soon, and neither are their sons. Where do you go from here?"
"Well, I'm not giving up, I'll tell you that much," Harumi said determinedly. She then scowled. "Still, SoG membership is going to take a hit from this. A good few members were only there for their infatuation with Lord Garmadon. With him no longer 'available' they might move on to someone new."
"Oh, that's too bad," said Gene as he spun her around.
Harumi huffed a sigh. "To be honest, it might be to our benefit in the long run," she admitted. "Those lovestruck fools could be flighty and annoying. This way I can weed them out, and retain those truly loyal to our cause, and we'll be stronger than ever going forward."
"Going forward to what?" asked Gene curiously.
Harumi suddenly took the lead of their dance and yanked Gene down into a dip. "Oh, now that would be telling," she said with a smirk.
Gene grinned back. "It's going to be epic, isn't it?" he said, already excited.
Harumi's smirk only grew as she pulled him up from the dip. "I wouldn't settle for anything less."
Over by the punch bowl, Cyan Nya noticed something interesting.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing," she whispered to Freckles Jay and Pep Zane, who were also getting a drink next to her.
The boys followed her gaze and saw that Morro had separated from his friends and was eyeing a certain mayor's daughter with suspicion.
Freckles Jay blinked as he realized what he was that could mean. "Do you think he knows?" he asked.
"Knows about what?" asked Pep Zane, not making the connection.
"Knows that thing we know about, well, you know," Freckles explained, jerking his head in Harumi's direction.
Pep blinked his optics a few times before he finally caught on to what they were saying. "Oh!" he said. "That thing. Yes, it is possible he may suspect so."
"Well, there's one way to know for sure," said Cyan, gulping down her punch and crushing the empty plastic cup against the table. "C'mon."
The boys hurried after her as Cyan took determined steps towards Morro.
Morro noticed them approaching and raised an eyebrow. "What's up, Wipe-Out?" he said.
"I can't help but notice you giving the mayor's daughter the evil eye," said Cyan Nya in a casual tone, but Freckles and Pep's curious expressions ruined the effect.
Morro's eyebrow raised even higher, and he looked impressed. "So I take it you know about her little hobby too, huh?"
Freckles Jay grimaced. "Unfortunately," he said, twisting his bowtie in his hands.
"How'd you work it out?" asked Morro, curiously.
"Found out in a Nya Test," said Cyan with a shrug. "Harumi was sniffing around Lloyd a couple years back, and asking a few too many questions about his dad for our liking, so I did some research before she could get too close."
"By research, she means she had me hack her computer," said Freckles with a shudder. "The SoG have disturbing minds."
"Tell me about it," said Morro.
"How did you come to discover her?" asked Pep Zane.
Morro gave a casual shrug. "I snooped," he said but didn't elaborate further. Instead, he asked, "Does Lloyd know?"
"No, we knew it'd freak him out, and at the time she was a harmless, if creepy, fangirl," admitted Cyan, fiddling with her aquamarine necklace. "I just told Lloyd she failed the test, and he took my word for it and tried to avoid her."
"It's just the three of us right now who knows, but the evidence is on our computer if the others ever bothered to look," said Freckles.
Morro nodded. "Makes sense. Easier to keep an eye on her the fewer people who know."
"Indeed," said Pep. "We have been monitoring her activities closely. She does not suspect a thing." He then grinned brightly. "I get to be a spy."
Morro again looked impressed. "Not bad," he said. "So what are you going to do about her now?"
The three Ninja frowned and glanced in the direction of Harumi. "Not sure," admitted Cyan Nya. "On one hand, this whole deal shows she's willing to go to some pretty big extremes to get what she wants."
"But if we try to expose her, we don't really think the city as a whole will believe it," said Freckles Jay. "Hacking her computer wasn't exactly, you know, legal, so we can't use that as evidence, and so many people believe she's this sweet innocent girl, and we all know how hard it is to get them to change their mind about someone, even when they're clearly wrong."
Morro grimaced. He was right, of course. Harumi was in a position similar to Luh-Loyd's old one with the city. But where everyone had been determined to hate him, they were all equally determined to love her. And like with Lloyd, it was likely only her publicly outing herself could convince them otherwise.
"Unless when you were 'snooping' did you find better evidence to convince people?" asked Pep hopefully.
"Unfortunately, no," said Morro with a sigh. "It would be my word against hers. And when given the option to choose between a biker punk and the city's princess, who do you think people will believe?"
Cyan scowled. "So we're at a stalemate."
"For now," Morro agreed but didn't look happy about it.
"But when she attempts to do evil again, we will be ready," said Pep, looking determined.
"Yeah," said Cyan and Freckles, equally resolved.
Morro smirked. "I'll leave you heroes to it then," he said.
At least the future seemed to be in good hands.
As typical of a Garmadon party, the festivities lasted long into the night.
But every party has its end, and as things began winding down and guests slowly began to leave, Lord Garmadon found himself once again slumped in his seat at the dinner table, running one of his hands over the G+K heart carved into it.
Sitting next to him and leaning against his shoulder was Koko, just as tired as he was from all the partying. A few seats away both of the Lloyds sat curled up against each other, having fallen asleep nearly an hour before and looking frankly adorable. Sensei Garmadon and Misako were indulging on the last of the wedding cake next to the sleeping kids, and the Wus and Morro were talking quietly over a pot of tea.
"So, what do you think?" Koko suddenly asked in a quiet voice.
Startled, Lord Garmadon turned to look down at her. "Huh?" he asked.
Koko, still leaning against him, tilted her head to look up at him. "How does it feel to be married again?" she asked.
Lord Garmadon grinned and wrapped two of his arms around her. "Pretty good, actually," he said. He then glanced at their family surrounding them and had to add, "Even better than last time, honestly."
Koko sent a fond look at her sons and nodded. "We have the best family," she said.
"Yeah they're pretty great," Lord Garmadon admitted. "'Cept maybe Wu."
Koko snorted in amusement and lightly smacked his arm. "At least you said 'maybe' this time."
Lord Garmadon blinked, not having realized he let that slip. "Don't tell him," he hissed urgently.
Koko giggled again, but mimed locking her mouth and throwing away the key.
Lord Garmadon's expression could only be described as lovesick after she did that. "That was one heck of a wedding," he said.
"Par for the course for us, but still wild," Koko agreed. "But I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Me neither," Lord Garmadon agreed. He took a moment to gaze at his beautiful bride, then said, "I love you."
Koko smiled and leaned up to give him a peck on the lips. "I love you too," she said.
And for the night, everything felt perfect.
A/N There's the reception. This chapter is longer than the rest in the story, but it had to be to tie up the last loose ends. As I've said in a few review replies, this is not the last we'll see of the movie version of Harumi. She is definitely a Saturday Morning 'You haven't seen the last of me!' kind of villain and we'll see her plotting again in a future story. Still, she got to talk to her idol and get rid of the lovestruck fans, so she's satisfied for now. Still, it was fun to have all these characters intermingling and talking to each other. I wonder how the Show Ninja meeting Morro's friend group will impact them when the Tournament of Elements rolls around. Guess you'll have to see in the next main story in the series (which is in progress, I'm working on chapter 12 right now). Also, I hope the part towards the end with Movie Nya, Jay, and Zane answers the question I got a lot in this fic. Yes, Pep Zane is Snake Jaguar. It's his internet handle he's using to spy on the SoG with the help of Cyan Nya and Freckles Jay. Luh-Loyd, Buddy Kai, and DJ Cole aren't aware of it, but they'll tell them if they ever need to. Right now, the fact they know and Harumi doesn't is to their advantage. Anywho, I hope you liked my take on Lord Garmadon and Koko getting back together ^_~
Two other announcements: First of all, alongside the Epilogue next week I will start uploading a short crossover of my Ninjago AU with the show Monkie Kid. It's only five chapters long and completed, and I had fun writing it. Also the characters from Monkie Kid might make cameos or feature more incoming stories, I haven't quite decided yet. I really enjoyed writing it, as Monkie Kid is a large part of what saved this fic from going on Hiatus for who knows how long. It's not Ninjago, it had a similar enough vibe that it reignited my interest in the series after feeling burned out for a few months, partially because I wanted to write the coming crossover, and would have to finish this story in order to do it. The first season is on Amazon, and I highly recommend it. The coming crossover will be titled More Fun than a Barrel of Monkies.
Second announcement: I have had a Tumblr for 10 years and have barely used it but kinda want to utilize it more. I also want more drawing practice and have a cookie tin full of gel pens I like to doodle with. So, I'm offering to try to draw characters or scenes from my The Grass is Always Greener AU fics for practice. Just ask in the review, or send me a PM here or on Tumblr. There's already a couple of examples on there suggested by Carrie2sky. So if you want to see Koko's wedding dress, the Lloyds in tuxes, Harumi's mermaid dress, or how my vision of Movie Morro looks in general, go check it out. Go to sunnylighter dot tumblr dot com
As always, massive thanks to Kay Hau for beta reading and contributing ideas to this story. I think the ideas of Cyan Nya catching the bouquet and her Nya Test being how she found out about Harumi either came from her or she helped hammer out the details. I think she helped come up with Harumi's fangirl outburst, which was too funny not to use. I am always very grateful for her help.
Next Time: Tradition dictates she who catches the bouquet is next down the aisle...