(Movieverse)
The citizens of Ninjago City were in shock. Garmadon had seemingly vanished for several days, no attacks, no threats to the city, nothing. It was as if he'd just… disappeared. So the citizens of Ninjago did the only thing they could do. Watch the news and pray Garmadon never came back. Unfortunately…
"Breaking News! Garmadon's back!" Robin Roberts cried.
"Eating sushi at Omakase no less," Michael Strahan added.
The camera switched to footage of the warlord demanding sushi from the unfortunate shop owner, before switching back to the two news anchors.
"And, he's announced that he's going to make up for lost time by attacking Ninjago with something bigger and badder than ever before!" Michael cried.
The camera switched over to Garmadon's volcano, where smoke billowed out the top of the cone ominously. Sharks churned in the water nearby, snapping their jaws. Although, some of them could be seen wearing party hats for reasons unknown.
"Let's just hope the ninja can save us this time," Robin said.
—
"So Garmadon's suddenly back now," Kai commented over the comm as they made their way over after hearing about the attack on the city. "I wonder where he's been all this time?"
"Yeah, it was so quiet," Jay said.
"And boring," Nya added.
"Guess he's not as predictable as we thought," Cole said.
"Well, he probably just wanted to give us a false sense of security. With my dad, anything is possible," Lloyd put in.
"This is true," Zane added.
"All right guys, time for the usual. Cole and Kai and Zane, take downtown, Nya water, Jay air. I'm going after Garmadon," Lloyd directed.
They all agreed and went off to their separate locations to fight off the Shark Army.
Turns out, bigger and badder than ever before was just Garmadon's shark mech with new shark launchers and reinforced armor that was more resistant to missiles. Lloyd attacked it with everything he had. Unfortunately, his missiles just bounced off the armor, having no impact whatsoever.
When Garmadon saw the Green Ninja's missiles did nothing, he said, "Ha! What do you think of my new mech?"
Exasperated, and not wanting to answer that question, Lloyd instead asked, "Why haven't you been attacking the city for days, and now you finally show up?"
Garmadon raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"Why are you attacking Ninjago again after taking a break for so long? It was all over the news," Lloyd clarified.
"Oh that. I got totally distracted by my fan club president. She was really crazy, and I should know!" Garmadon answered shaking his head at the memory.
Lloyd frowned. Since when did Garmadon have a fan club? He decided to ask the warlord a question he had been wondering for a while now. "Why do you want to conquer Ninjago so badly?"
"Because there's something very, very special here," he answered, putting his arm up dramatically to his chest. "I'm going to let the walls down for a second, Green Ninja…Waaait a minute." He paused. He remembered something important. "Didn't I just have this exact conversation with you?"
Lloyd frowned from under his mask. "No. I would have remembered that."
The other Ninja, having finished their fight, went to join Lloyd, and were surprised to see Garmadon at a standstill staring at their leader. What was going on?
Garmadon shook his head. "I know I did." He looked at the Green Ninja's gi carefully. It looked familiar. "You changed your gi...you finally got the colors right."
Lloyd blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about? This is what I've always worn."
"No, it isn't. When I last saw you, you were wearing some cheap imitation of the Green Ninja's gi, and you did some strange party trick that blew up my cannon. The Ninja brainwashed you into thinking you are the Green Ninja, Luh-loyd." Garmadon's eyes narrowed. "I know it's you." He had gotten really focused on conquering Ninjago, but seeing the Green Ninja again and in the correct gi, made him remember their last encounter.
Lloyd's eyes widened and his heart all but stopped in his chest, even as he tried to recover.
"W-what? That's crazy talk. My name's not Luh-loyd. It's… uh, a secret, but definitely not Luh-loyd. What kind of crazy name is that anyway?" He laughed nervously.
Nya facepalmed. She loved her little bro, but he was a terrible liar.
"Yeah!" Kai called, trying to defend his brother. "His name's really… Floyd?"
All the ninja groaned. There was no way even Garmadon could fall for that.
"Nice try, Fire Ninja, but your lies won't work on me." Garmadon sneered, taking his eyes off Lloyd to glance at the ninja. "Why are you guys in mechs anyways? Not that I'm complaining or anything, but isn't it just easier to take me out with your powers like you did last time?"
The Ninja all looked at each other with confusion. They didn't have powers. Did Garmadon hit his head or something?
"What are you talking about?" Kai demanded, but the warlord ignored the ninja and resumed his staring contest with Lloyd. It was almost like he was trying to burn a hole through Lloyd's ninja mask to see if he could make out his son underneath. His gaze was so intense, Lloyd began to squirm in his seat.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" he finally burst out.
"Well, how do you like it?" Garmadon retorted.
"He does have a valid point," Zane put in.
"You do kinda stare at him a lot," Jay added.
"Yeah, no offense bro, but it's a bit obsessive," Nya said. Even Cole nodded in his mech.
"Thank you!" Garmadon grinned, happy he wasn't the only one who thought the Green Ninja was being a weirdo when he stared at him. He turned his attention back to Lloyd. "Look, Luh-loyd, enough with pretending to be the Green Ninja. It didn't work before, and it won't work now," he said with finality.
The other Ninja looked at each other for help as to what to do. How did Garmadon find out the truth? They worked so hard to keep it a secret.
"I don't know what you're talking about. We've never had this conversation before," Lloyd answered defensively. "Is this part of your big scheme, to throw me off or something?"
Garmadon snorted. "Hardly. There are plenty of ways to do that, if I really wanted to."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd demanded.
"Now look, Luh-loyd," Garmadon continued, not answering his question, "I know the Ninja have brainwashed you, but you need to face the truth that you are NOT the Green Ninja once and for all."
Lloyd growled. He didn't know what was wrong with his dad, but this was insane! Before he knew what he was doing, he ripped off his mask and said, "I'm not brainwashed, Dad. I am the Green Ninja and I have been for a while now."
That line. Didn't Lloyd tell him that before too? With that whole business at that prison with fan club girl? Garmadon finally connected all the pieces together. "So then you really were the Green Ninja when I was talking to you earlier?"
Lloyd frowned. "If you're referring to the 'butt dial', then yes."
"No, no," Garmadon answered, shaking his head. "I was literally having this same conversation that seemed like just a few hours ago, and then I suddenly ended up at Omakase… Which means..."
Lloyd looked at the others, who shrugged in return. "Omakase is not the name of that place. It just means…" but he trailed off at Garmadon's look.
Garmadon was staring at Lloyd like he had grown two heads. "Then...that means...Oh my gosh...I was really...and you were...I don't believe it! You...you're…really..." he couldn't finish. He was starting to get a headache.
Lloyd flew his mech over towards the warlord. Something was clearly wrong with Garmadon. "Ah, look, Dad, clearly something happened to you. Why don't we call a truce for today? I'll take you back to the volcano. Maybe someone can check you out, make sure you're okay."
Garmadon nodded, not really understanding what Lloyd was telling him. He had too many thoughts racing through his head, the most pressing of which, what was he going to do now? The warlord shook his head and resolved to think about it later. Like, after a hot shower, large dinner, and a long nap later.
Meanwhile, Lloyd told the others to clean up, while he took his dad back home. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next, and he had a lot of questions about all of this, but now, he was glad not to be fighting his dad for once.
(Show verse)
Lloyd and the other Ninja stared at the spot where Garmadon and Harumi had disappeared just a few minutes ago.
"Do you think it worked?" Jay asked.
"I think so," Lloyd answered. "He's not here anymore. I just hope he ended up back where he came from. It's strange to think that there's different Garmadon out there than the father I knew." He looked around at the city and sighed. There would be a lot of cleaning up to do, again.
Kai came up and laid a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'm sure this was hard for you."
Lloyd looked at him and gave a lopsided smile. "A bit. A part of me wanted to see my father again, but not the way Harumi was trying to do it."
"Speaking of Harumi, I wonder where she ended up?" Cole asked.
"Who knows?" Nya answered. "I hope wherever it was, it's far away from here."
They all laughed at that. If they only knew…
(Movie verse)
Lloyd decided to stay with Garmadon in the volcano to make sure he was okay. He wasn't sure why he was doing it, but something nagged at him to do so. Whatever had happened clearly took its toll. Medically, everything checked out, much to Garmadon's annoyance of insisting that he was fine in the first place.
Sitting down in the kitchen, father and son ate their first meal together.
"I'm telling you, Luh-loyd," Garmadon was saying between bites of food, "I was in this other dimension or something, where this other you (I swear he looked just like you) was pretending to be the Green Ninja, except that the gi was all wrong and he did some weird stuff with green energy, (which I figured was just some kind of trick), so I figured that the Ninja brats had brainwashed you. Then there was this fan club called the Sons of Garmadon, with this crazy fangirl as the president who kept wanting me to do her bidding, which you know, no one tells me what to do, but she wanted me to kill you, if you could believe it." Garmadon snorted. "As if. Then, I was just about to conquer Ninjago, when you and your friends showed up. We had the same conversation you and I had just a little while ago and then they dumped tea on me and I ended up in Omakase. All this time...I never imagined you would actually be the Green Ninja—my sworn enemy."
Lloyd listened to his dad's story quietly, not that he could get a word in edgewise if he wanted to. He wasn't sure if he actually believed what Garmadon said really happened or if it was all just some crazy dream. Although it seemed like, in his own strange way, his father might actually care about him. However, it was hard to wrap his head around another universe existing with weird counterparts to each other. But he couldn't escape the fact that Ninjago wasn't attacked for several days, which was not like his dad at all. On top of that, his birthday wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. It was still pretty hard to believe though.
"That's quite a story, Dad," the teen finally answered. "Must have a shock for you when you realized that I was the Green Ninja all along."
"That is the understatement of the year," Garmadon said, with his mouth full.
"Yeah, well, it's a long story," Lloyd answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"You think that's long? I've got some really long stories that I can tell you about your mother and I," the warlord said in a proud tone.
"Really? I'd like that," Lloyd grinned. This was WAY better than fighting each other.
"Okay, it all started when I was pillaging a peaceful village…"
AN: Remember to check your PM folder on this site to read my review replies! Hope you enjoyed the ending! Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows. A special thanks to Sunny Lighter, who not only beta'd for this, but gave me SO many ideas that changed the way this story went, and she was a HUGE help! EMPFangirl02 also wrote various part of this, so I thank her as well. I couldn't have done this without them. Please check out their stories if you can. There will also be several bonus scenes that go along with this story that I plan to start posting next week, so stick around for those. Sunny Lighter inspired me with all her wonderful ideas, so bonus scenes were created as a result. Also, I have fanart for this story done by Dinogaby of Deviant Art. Check out my profile to see how to view that-it's hilarious!