A/N: Made a couple changes to this chapter, since I watched the episode again and realized that Wu didn't come in the mech with Nya. Too mainstream for a ninja master, I guess.
It was late afternoon, the sun still bright but low and casting faint shadows across the beach, and the work was almost done when Nya came running from the Bounty.
"The falcon sent us a visual," she said urgently. "Looks like Misako and the boys need some help out there."
Lloyd tried not to panic and immediately started ratcheting the tires on faster. They'd just been working on a liquid cement patch for a small puncture in one of the tire walls—he had to hope it would hold up for another battle.
"Are they in danger?" Dr. Julien asked. There was a slight panic in his voice.
"They'll be able to hold out on their own for a little while," answered Nya, "but I think they'd appreciate the backup."
At that, the doc exhaled and seemed to relax. "I can have her ready in ten minutes," he said.
Jumping on top of the vehicle and grabbing a wrench, Nya replied, "Make it five."
"With you on board?" The doc climbed up beside her, toolkit in hand, and he wore a shaky grin in spite of the situation. "Not a doubt in my mind."
Lloyd allowed himself a grim little smile.
Sure enough, Lloyd hadn't finished counting to three hundred before the repairs were finished—or at least the mech was in fighting order. Lloyd jumped down from the open cockpit to land on the sand beside Nya.
"Who's giving them grief?" he asked her, perfectly serious. "The Stone Army again?"
She shook her head, a sad look in her eyes. "No. Your father."
Lloyd felt his expression go dark as he stared at his shoes. Then he lifted his head to wish her, "Good luck."
"You too," she said, hopped into the driver's seat, and pressed the button to shut the cabin roof.
Lloyd stepped back to give the mech room. The engine grumbled and roared to life before the enormous tires rolled past Lloyd and Dr. Julien, and the mech coasted out of their little cove. Lloyd watched it leave over the surface of the beach in the distance.
He felt he should have been helping. He should have been there. But he knew better than to come face to face with his father so soon. Lloyd had all the power in Ninjago, and still his hands were tied.
The old doc had quietly come to his side while Lloyd was standing there, and he placed a thin, wrinkled hand on his shoulder. Lloyd knew that Julien was offering a sympathetic look, but he didn't dare look at it. His father had his friends in danger and he couldn't help—all he needed was for someone to offer sympathy and he might just break down.
Lloyd didn't say thank you, or even acknowledge the doc. He just turned his back on Nya and trudged off to the Bounty, and felt the old man's hand fall off his shoulder.
The readout from the falcon's eye cameras was broadcasted on the big screen in the Bridge, and Lloyd had been glued to it for the past ten minutes. Wu had called Nya through the ship's computers not five minutes earlier and agreed to meet the others at the clock, so it was just Lloyd by himself in the Bridge now.
He couldn't help but feel anxious as he watched the mech, full of his friends, make progress through the woods, but he didn't dare pace the Bridge or take his eyes off the screen in case he missed something. This was too important to mess up.
"Come on, guys," he whispered to himself. "Just a little further to the clock. Just a little more."
Dr. Julien joined him, shutting the door to the deck behind him. "How are we looking?" he asked.
"The driller mech is staying ahead—just barely." Lloyd sighed. "I hope they make it. If they can return the helmet, the final battle will end without hurting my father. It will all be over."
Dr. Julien was quiet for a while. There was a sad look on his face. Finally, he turned to Lloyd and asked, "Did you know him?"
"A little," Lloyd said with a shrug. "He dropped by the Bounty once."
Dr. Julien gave Lloyd a look that he couldn't read, and then turned away and bit his lower lip.
Lloyd didn't know how to respond to that. So he just kept talking. "He might not have been there for me much, but he's still my dad. I don't want to hurt him or..." He winced. He didn't want to think about that. "I just don't want to hurt him. If I can avoid it."
Dr. Julien nodded, but didn't say anything else. He looked back up at the screen. "Looks like they're losing them," he remarked.
"Good." Lloyd let out the breath he was holding and let himself grin at the doc.
Dr. Julien returned the look with a smile. He almost said something when something else leaped onto the screen, startling them both. A black, green, and red four-armed mech surged through the forest, and in its cockpit, a black-skinned man, cackling madly, with red eyes and four arms.
Dr. Julien staggered back.
"Oh, no," whispered Lloyd, his heart dropping into his stomach.
"What?" cried Julien. "Wh-? Who is that in the cockpit?"
Lloyd set his jaw. "That's him."
They watched the battle unfold for the next few minutes, as the drill mech got tossed around like a toy. Garmadon got the upper hand, pinning Lloyd's friends and family inside the mech.
"No!" Lloyd cried, horrified. Then he ran for the door after stammering, "I-I've got to get out there."
"I thought you didn't want this fight!" Julien called after him, sounding supremely worried, and that was enough to stop Lloyd in his tracks.
"I don't!" He stopped and turned to Julien. "Trust me, I don't. But maybe I can stop him without hurting him. Maybe I can save them all, maybe I—" He shook his head, frustrated, and let out a growl. "My friends are in danger, and I'm the only one who can help. That's what I have to focus on. I have to go! Please."
The doc stared at him for a second, gave a quick nod, and looked up at the coordinates in the corner of the screen. "Looks like it's a straight-shot run to the west," he said. He turned back to Lloyd, and the care in the blue eyes behind the glasses almost took Lloyd's breath away.
"Be safe," said Dr. Julien.
"Thanks." Lloyd wanted to stay, and he did for a second, but then he did what he had to and ran out the door.
tbc...
A/N: So uhhhhhhhh yeah Dr. Julien for best dad. Also, the action is starting to pick up, so hold on tight!
Reviews are when your friends and family are not in mortal danger.