Chapter Text
“You want me to what ?”
Lloyd stared at the five people across from him in shock, staring at them like they were crazy, or had a death wish. Honestly Lloyd could go for either. He trailed his gaze over to the old man that sat in front of him, who was nodding to confirm what he had said earlier
“These are your new teammates, and as such I want you to train them.” Wu stood beside the five newcomers, simply stroking his beard and nodding to himself, allowing Lloyd to register whether his uncle was joking or not.
“But I’m doing fine on my own Master! The Yellow Ninja never had a team!” Lloyd didn’t mean to raise his voice, he was more frustrated that Wu had randomly sprung it on him out of nowhere instead of letting him actually prepare for this.
“And the Yellow Ninja failed.” Wu spoke with venom, yet it felt watered down by guilt and sorrow. Lloyd still flinched at his Uncle’s tone of voice, before losing his head in apology
Lloyd had been working under the mantle of the Green Ninja ever since he was fourteen, replacing the Yellow Ninja who disappeared shortly after The Preeminent attack. He was offered the position by his uncle, who had been training him since he was seven, so Lloyd would turn into a hero. His uncle confessed he was worried the hate of the world would turn his nephew into a villain, so he trained him to fight for good before the world could make him fight for evil.
He had been doing fine on his own, more than fine actually. Just recently he had saved a building from falling on top of a bunch of civilians, then used said building to push his fathers forces back. It was a complete victory with few fatal wounds, to the point Lloyd proudly proclaimed to his uncle that he was one of the best the world had to offer, just behind the Yellow Ninja.
He barely missed the solemn look on his uncle’s face, or the way he had looked at Lloyd dancing and cheering like he was missing something.
Later that day, Lloyd had been summoned to the warehouse by his uncle, the older warning Lloyd to show up in his gi before he entered, mask up and everything. He didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing, or whether there was an assignment he missed, anything of that sort. But instead when he entered he was met with five people he hadn’t seen before in different coloured gi’s, ones Lloyd recognized from being inside his Uncle’s home, the Bounty.
Immediately Lloyd assumed the worst, that these five had taken his uncle and snatched the gi’s to conceal their identity from Lloyd. Did it make much sense? No not really, but it was the best idea Lloyd had on why five random people were just standing there in the middle of the warehouse. So as soon as he registered that the intruders were there, he got down into a fighting stance, prepared to deal with the intruders, but he got stopped by his uncle’s hand on his shoulder.
It was when he had calmed down did Wu even bother to explain why the other five were there, and that only sent Lloyd reeling when he connected the dots on what his uncle was saying through his weird cryptic metaphors.
‘ Because he can’t be bothered to speak normally .’ Lloyd rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, looking at the group ahead of him. Each of them had been assigned a colour, ones Lloyd couldn’t really understand.
There were the basic ones, Red, Blue, Black and White, but there was also Cyan, slash grey maybe?? Lloyd couldn’t ever tell, and Wu refused to tell him. He was more confused on why they were even here. Then Lloyd finished his deciphering of Wu’s creepy old man words, and just whipped his head around to look at Wu, then the five ninjas in front of him
“You want me to what ?”
Which is how we ended up here.
Lloyd just groaned at the thought of having to train five completely new ninjas. He was more annoyed at the thought of them knowing who he was. He looked at each of them, and they all seemed older, so he was the youngest there, and there was the, oh you know,
The fact that he was Lloyd fucking Garmadon
“Master, I just can’t see this working out, especially with who I am.” Lloyd looked back at his uncle, the anger slowly disappearing from his voice, just so he didn’t say anything out of anger again. He watched as his uncle nodded and stroked his beard, before preparing to speak again.
“One’s identity has not to be revealed until the team can be trusted. You will not know your teammates outside of their gi.” Wu opened one eye, just in time to see Lloyd look either relieved or exasperated, one of the two.
“Master, are you sure this is a good idea? You know I don’t question many of your decisions, but having teammates who I don’t even know seems a little wild.” He crossed his arms and looked again at the five, who were just standing there awkwardly while Lloyd and Wu did their little argument. He felt the guilt from making them witness this lay deep in his heart, but he just shook it off in favour of questioning Wu and all the decisions he’s ever made
“We have had this conversation-“
“ They were in here while I wasn’t??? ”
“-and came to the conclusion that to build trust within the team, you will not know each others civilian identities.”
Lloyd just groaned and covered his face, rubbing at it before hearing what his uncle had to say
“For the better of the team, none of your identities will be known to each other. Except for two of you, but that is due to circumstance.” Wu shrugged it off and watched as Lloyd looked at the five to see who it was, and he just barely caught Red and Cyan looking at each other. He made sure he stored that for later
“Now! As of right now you will all be a team! And typically I would have some team exercises built in, but seeing as though the explanation took much longer than I was intending,” Wu looked at Green with a strict look “I will allow you all to wait until tomorrow to start training. For now, you all can do icebreakers! I’m going to meditate, get to know each other!” Lloyd watched as Wu disappeared in a puff of smoke, rolling his eyes at his uncles antics.
“Okay. Well then.” Lloyd started. He just groaned and punched the bridge of his nose before shaking his head
“Sorry about that, I just hadn’t been told beforehand. I had no idea this was happening.” Lloyd looked up at the five people in front of him. He frowned and looked at each of them, trying to grab their personalities
“Cyan and Red, you’re the ones who know each other right?” He looked at the two of them and watched them both stiffen up, before the red one relaxed and rub the back of his neck
“Yes. She is my sister. It was so awkward we only figured it out because we went to the same building.” Red explained, laughing a little
“ You guys have been here - you know what, that sounds like Wu.” Lloyd groaned and turned around, starting to pace
“He wants me to train you, I have no idea how to do that! I’m not even ready for a team! Uggghh I wish I had known earlier!” Lloyd just slumped and rubbed at his eyes. He was going to need so much coffee soon, he just had a feeling
Lloyd just took a deep breath and turned back over to the people he was probably hurting just from his complaints. He felt guilty seeing their expressions and just decided to suck it up
“Alright, well I guess we do icebreakers. You can call me Green, you will not know anything else, just out of personal preference. But I suppose I could say my age.” Lloyd thought for a bit before he looked up at the others, wondering if his hunch was right
“How many of you are above the age of fifteen?” Lloyd watched as each of their hands went up, and he could only groan very loudly in response
“Hold on, does that mean our leader is a fifteen year old?” Red once again spoke up, looking at the others who seemed to have connected the dots as well, each of them nodding
“But the Green Ninja has been on the field for a year at least! Does that mean you were fourteen when you started? Who sends a fourteen year old to battle?!” This time, it was the Blue one talking, at least that was easy to figure out, Lloyd noted how expressive the Blue one was
“I’ve been training under Master Wu since I was at least seven years old, I could’ve been sent in at thirteen.” Lloyd shrugged, missing the looks of surprise on each of their faces, each frowning in concern
“How many of you guys are above the age of eighteen?” Lloyd watched as none of them raised their hands, but looked between themselves curiously to see if anyone else would. He felt himself relax a little realizing they all weren’t adults
“Wait Red, is your sister older or younger?” Blue peaked over to look at the two of them, watching as Red snickered.
“I’m technically older by two minutes.” Red boasted, putting his hand on his chest in a show of pride, one that made Lloyd roll his eyes
Cyan simply nodded sadly, as if she was disappointed by what Red just admitted to the rest of the team
Lloyd looked over at Black and White, noting how they each didnt say a thing despite the others getting into a conversation, he even flinched when he realised Black was staring at him. He took his gaze away and refocused on the other three who had all started talking and getting along surprisingly rather well.
To say Lloyd was stressed was an understatement. He was supposed to be in charge of five people, each of them older than him, and he was supposed to hide that he was the most hated person in the city. No pressure right? Well that stress must’ve been obvious enough that someone noticed, because Lloyd could barely make out a voice through the static of his ears telling him to breathe
Lloyd grew confused, because of course he was breathing
Until he realised that no, he was not breathing
Lloyd gasped and coughed, holding onto his chest as he took deep breaths, trying to keep in time with the person in front of him, who was guiding him on his breathing. He could barely start hearing someone counting in front of him, before he realised it was a breathing pattern
Someone was calming him down.
Lloyd looked up once his breathing got normal enough, and in front of him he saw the White Ninja, who was looking at him with his piercing blue eyes.
‘ Jesus they look like they'd glow in the dark.’ Lloyd thought, just staring at the ninja in front of him, asking if Lloyd was alright. He could barely register the question, instead just staring at the White Ninja, until he realised he was staring
Lloyd just nodded and sighed, looking at the White Ninja with a look he hoped showed how thankful he was. He didn't even realise he had stopped breathing, and based on the other sounds in the room, it sounded like no one else had noticed either. He looked at the other confused, but immediately forgot about it when the White Ninja stood up
‘ HOLY FUCK HES TALL.’ Lloyd just looked at White in surprise, shocked to see how tall this guy was considering he was only 1-2 years younger than the guy in front of him. He was surprised to say the least. The tallest guy he had ever seen was the Student Council President but even that guy didn’t seem to have White’s height. Or maybe it was perspective? Either way he didn’t want to think about it
White went back to the others who seemed to have calmed down when White started talking to Lloyd, each of them looked between themselves realising they were causing their leader to freak out. Lloyd just shook his head
“Anyways, uh.. well what are your specialties? Wu gave you each weapons didn’t he?” Lloyd asked, wincing at how weak his voice sounded. He coughed to cover it up, smiling nervously under his mask
“I have a sword.” Red unsheathes the sword, showing it off for others to marvel at. Red looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it. Lloyd assumed it was something personal
“I use a trident.” Cyan pulled out said trident. It looked very similar to Red’s sword, like the two were made by the same blacksmith. Lloyd just nodded, assuming it was a sibling thing. He didn’t know, he was an only kid.
“I use a scythe.” Black pulled out his weapon, making Lloyd’s jaw drop. A fucking scythe?? That was cool as hell! He could feel himself get giddy at the idea of seeing it in action even just a smidge
“I was assigned two shurikens.” White held up the two shirikens that were previously sitting on his back. Lloyd noted how the design didn’t match Red or Cyan’s
“And I use nunchucks!” Blue showed off the nunchucks, swinging them around before it hit him in the back of the head. He only whines and complained as Red laughed at him
Lloyd simply nodded and unsheathed his katanas, spinning them around. “Alright, have you guys seen your mechs?”
Lloyd watched as each of the ninjas gained a look of confusion, then shook their head. Lloyd groaned as he wondered how much was going to be him teaching, vs how much Master Wu was going to be teaching. He guided each of the ninjas to the hanger, where all of the mechs sat there rotting away.
“These are your mechs. You will clean and repair them with time, and when that’s done you will be able to use them against Garmadon. Until then, combat training and smaller jobs. Garmadon will be left to me.” Lloyd turned around to face them, only to see three of them already gone. He looked around and saw each of them practically jumping in joy over the mechs. He looked back to Red and Black, watching as they both shrugged.
Lloyd groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, again.
He had a feeling this wasn’t going to go in his favour, like, at all.
———
Lloyd was finally able to leave once everyone else was gone. He was thankful to each of them for patience with him but was also very, very tired of them.
It wasn’t like they were complete noobs, Wu had definitely trained them at least, but they still weren’t completely on his scale.
Red kept getting too overconfident and wouldn’t look around,
“Red! Pay attention! Just because you hit the enemy doesn’t mean they’re done!” Lloyd called across the training room, he was standing with the rest of the team as they watched Red do the course
“I’m doing just fine! Don’t you see me win-“ he got cut off when a swinging punching bag hit his face, the rest of the team behind Lloyd made their own versions of “oof”, and all Lloyd could do was shake his head
Cyan was too stiff, persisting in technique anyone could spot from a mile away,
“Cyan you need to loosen up! Your form is too stiff!” Lloyd sighed and watched Cyan try and do the same course. Red was off to the side with an ice pack over top of his mask, cheering on his sister
“Maybe your form is too stiff!” She yelled at Lloyd, only for her to get distracted and fall off the moving platforms. Lloyd once again groaned loudly
White was too still but in the opposite. He was fantastic when it came to technique, but horrible when it came to executing said technique on a person,
“White you have to attack!” Lloyd crossed his arms, watching White attack one of the training dummies. Or, he would be, if White would actually hit the damn thing. White, as it turned out, was a pacifist at heart, and refused to hurt anything.
“But I cannot! Attacking without talking leads to disaster!” And because of whites refusal to attack, White could not complete the course.
Black was able to take and deal heavy hits, but was unable to dodge due to that,
“Black you have to be lighter on your feet! Too heavy!” Lloyd watched as Black struggled to stay balanced on top of the poles, he was too wobbly and shaky, barely making it from one to the other
“I’m trying!” Black tried to jump to the pole across from him, but he promptly missed the pole and landed face first on the floor
And Blue was too nervous to do anything, always hesitating before he could do anything.
“Blue come on man! Just go do it! Follow your instincts!” Lloyd rubbed his throat, at this point it was getting sore from him yelling at his teammates. He watched Blue even hesitate on starting the course, let alone complete anything needed. So it was inevitable that Blue failed
“Sorry!” Blue called back out, and the ninja turned around just in time to see Lloyd smack his hand to his face
It was safe to say it was a complete disaster.
And Initially, he wanted to head straight home, say goodnight to his mom, then pass out like no one had ever seen before, but before he could even register, his feet were moving towards a very specific alley
He emerged on the other side right next to a simple ghostly themed cafe that at this point seemed to stay open just for him. He was half convinced the owner had his schedule and kept it open just for him at this point. It was basically the dead of night and yet it was still open.
When he walked in the door, he noticed two things
One, the owner, still at the counter scrubbing the same cup over and over again, and two, Lloyd’s order, already prepared to go.
He smiled thankfully and went up to the counter, pulling out his wallet. “Tough day, you get a tip.”
The owner just laughed and placed down the cup, walking over to Lloyd and the cash register. “I’m sure you’ve memorised how much you owe by now?”
Lloyd simply nodded and handed the adult cash, before he took his order, smiling happily at the muffin and the coffee, warm in his hands. Though he had a feeling it was decaf
“Something happen today at school?” The owner leaned on the counter, arms crossed and propping him up.
“No actually, new kids joined my after school project, and my teacher is making me teach them cause he’s “busy” and, “needs to meditate”, like what type of excuse is that?” Lloyd huffed, sipping his coffee angrily in his hands. He watched as the owner simply hummed and nodded in solace
“I get that man, teaching newbies is rough.” The owner simply shrugged his shoulders and looked at Lloyd with a curious look in his eyes
“Why did they bother joining? They’re willing to sacrifice their rep?” Lloyd could only sigh and shake his head no. Of course no one was willing to do that
“The teacher is making us all wear these mask things so we don’t know who each other are. It’s so weird, cause like I’m definitely the youngest there, so I have to teach sixteen to seventeen year olds things I’ve been doing since I was seven! They’re never gonna respect me!” Lloyd groaned and shoved the muffin in his mouth, hoping the blueberry goodness will cheer him up. He watched as the owner simply shrugged again, not sure what to do
“I mean, the teacher clearly trusts you at least. But if you’re so disturbed by it you should bring it up. A reluctant teacher isn’t a good one after all.” The owner sat up properly, stretching out his back. Lloyd just mumbled into his muffin, hurrying to chew and eat it before he choked.
“Who knows anymore, I’m just scared I’m gonna teach them wrong y'know?” Lloyd looked at the owner who simply nodded
“Yeah of course man. Everyone’s scared of messing up. You just gotta persist through that fear.” Lloyd looked at his muffin and nodded. He looked back up at the owner and smiled at him
“Thanks for the pep talk Morro.” Lloyd watched Morro laugh and shrug again
“Hey man, I have the amazing ability to make both drinks and food, why not add pep talker to that list?” Morro simply flashed Lloyd a grin, making the younger roll his eyes
“Yeah yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow Morro! If I’m not dead from teaching the newbies first.” He grumbled, turning around just as Morro laughed
“Who knows Lloyd, maybe if they want to be your friends with a mask, they might want to be your friends under the masks. Give them a chance hm?” Morro leaned over the counter, watching as Lloyd walked to the door. Lloyd mimicked Morro’s famous “wave everything off” and walked out the door, listening as Morro’s laugh echoed out behind him
Lloyd stared at the muffin and coffee in his hands. He quickly downed the hot coffee, regretted it, and started on his trek back home
Morro’s words laid heavy in his mind. Would they really want to be friends if they knew who he was? What if they only hated him more cause he tricked them into being friends with him?
He looked up at the starry sky, humming in contemplation. Maybe he would get lucky with these guys? Lord knows his last friends at his elementary school were not good people, and that’s with knowing who he was!
Lloyd shook his head and sighed, nodding to himself that he would never, and he meant never, under any circumstances, let them see who he was under his mask
Even if they all revealed their faces, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t take that chance.
He was startled out of his thoughts by a phone call. He quickly grabbed his phone from his pocket and winced when he saw who was on the other line. He quickly answered and retreated from the alley
The Green Ninja didn’t have a curfew
Lloyd Garmadon, unfortunately, did.