As Someone Who Recently Finished Season 9 (Hunted) May I Just Add That Jay Canonically Went Insane During

As someone who recently finished season 9 (Hunted) may I just add that Jay canonically went insane during the first week in the First Realm? The wiki straight up says he ‘temporarily lost his sanity’ - that CANNOT be healthy! Dude was in denial (the kind where you say you’re ‘going with the flow’ and ‘accepting reality’ when really you did a 360 and are right back at denial) and disassociation for a concerning amount of time. 

He and Kai both use denial as a coping mechanism; Jay with saying the situation is fine, Kai with saying he’s fine. And I wouldn’t put it past the others to start saying that too because they know everybody else has a lot on their plate and don’t want to ‘burden them’.

Just... please, get them some therapy. They’re gonna need it based on the spoilers I’ve seen for the later seasons

The Ninja and Their Traumas

Kai:

Kai has abandonment issues. They mostly stem from when his parents disappeared, but they’ve also been compounded over the years; first by Zane’s death, then by how easily the whole team seemed to drift apart after.

He’s also got some pretty damming body-image issues. Like, he always made sure that Nya had enough to eat growing up, often to his own detriment. So he’s gotten good at making it look like he’s getting enough food himself, despite spending years consuming >~10 meals per week.

Kai’s also extremely insecure about how he’s perceived. He’s spent so much of his life keeping up appearances for the sake of keeping him and Nya safe, that the very idea of anyone thinking he can’t handle something sends him spiraling into a panic attack.

Because of how isolated he was growing up, he craves physical touch, but he also hates the very idea of needing anything, so he never acts on his needs…at least, not consciously.

Nya: 

Like Kai, she’s very anxious about resources such as food, but she’s not as bad as him.

Nya hates the idea of having to depend on someone else, mostly because of how much suffering she watched Kai put himself through just to make sure that she would have enough.

The one thing that she does do is take the time to give Kai a hug and close physical contact whenever she can. She knows that he needs actual contact, and hates that he never voices his needs.It hurts even more that she knows that she can’t actually call him out on this, because he will absolutely shut down if she does.

She also can’t talk to Zane about his father without having an anxiety attack! Her and Jay had talked about telling him about Echo, but the way he practically worships his father, and with the number of personal traumas Zane’s gone through since have them constantly putting it off…

Cole:

The boy has performance anxiety. I mean, yeah; his parents loved him, but they pushed him a little too hard to become a performer, so now whenever he’s put on the spot where he has to play a part, he freezes up.

He loves to dance, but doing that in front of others sends him into a spiral of self doubt and angst!

Ever since he was turned into a ghost, he’s become increasingly scared of water. I mean, it was lethal before, but now that it’s safe, he’s even more afraid of what will happen the next time he dies!

His mother loved to cook before she got sick, though his father was a terrible cook. The one thing he remembers the most was her cakes, so whenever he sees one, he can’t help but think of Lily.

The boy is TOUCH STARVED! He spent waaaay too long as a ghost, and thus, not able to touch anyone. Now that he’s human again, he can’t help but touch the others subconsciously.

Jay:

Out of all of the ninja, he was probably the most well-adjusted at the beginning.

But falling in love, constantly being the damsel in distress, discovering he was adopted and nearly loosing the Nya to poison have left him with some pretty stubborn PTSD.

Like, he still won’t even say the word “wish” and visibly flinches whenever anyone says it.

He’s argued with Nya multiple times about telling Zane about Echo, but every time they get ready to talk to him, something comes up and takes precedent.

Zane:

He has a love/hate relationship with his late-father. It’s like, he gets why he did all of those things to him with his memory switch, but he still can’t help but feel a little hurt and abandoned.

He considers the ninja and Bounty his family and home, mainly because that was were he really became who he is today. So any threat to them makes sets him on edge.

Zane is absolutely terrified of losing his identity, especially with how easily he was easily he was manipulated in season 11.

Lloyd:

OH BOI! Does he have abandonment issues!

I mean, he went through so much abuse at Darkley’s, but then he got bullied by the Ninja right after he left!

Then he was outed as the “Chosen One™” and forced to fight his dad!

Then he sacrificed his childhood and aged himself up just to save his adopted family!

It’s obvious who he turned to and decided to take after the most when it comes to all of the ninja and how he deals with his trauma (*cough*Kai*cough*) but he still knows that he has them when he needs them!

A Tiny Spark Leads to a Roaring Flame (But Flames Can Always be Doused by Water)

Heeyyyyy so y’all know the Reverse Thanos Snap AU for SPBNR? Basically everyone but Smith/S!Kai gets sent to the M!verse. Everyone. The entire population of S!verse Ninjago City & a few surrounding areas. Except poor Smith. Essentially it happens because S!Garmadon tries to send Smith to a place where he can't mess with his plans, and ends up sending everyone away from Smith to take him out of the equation. 

The second part to this AU is that the S!Ninja end up searching for Kai in the chaos and grab the Red Ninja before jetting out of there with the Bounty. Except... they didn’t grab Smith (who’s still home), but rather Red (M!Kai).

Red thinks the S!Ninja are babysitter clones created by Garmadon after he somehow turned Lloyd younger without his memories & is trying to raise him to be his new General #1. With this in mind, he pretends to be S!Kai, and waits for the moment he can rescue Lloyd.

What would happen in the S!Ninja discovered his deception/their mistake of grabbing a wrong Kai and mistake Red for a recreated Aki (aka Bizarro Evil Clone Kai) before he could enact his plan?

Well, this is that idea. (Title inspired by how a crack AU spiralled into a beautiful angst-fest)

Enjoy. :3

-----*-----

Red was going to get Lloyd out of here tonight. 

Away from these Not-Friends made by Garmadon to emulate the Ninjaforce. Away from this flying ship built to emulate Master Wu's ship, so familiar and yet so off. Away from this false reality and back to the real everything where they could hopefully get his memories back and his age back and everything back to the way it was before the city descended into chaos.

He just had to... bide his time. Be patient. 

FSM, he was bad at being patient. 

His hands itched to grab Lloyd and run now, but he was horribly outnumbered and without his mech. No matter how badly he wanted to, he couldn't rush this. If he did, he would make everything worse. Like he always did.

But fate- or rather, Lloyd- had other plans.

The little version of his younger brother- yes, they were roughly the same age normally, shut up, Lloyd was still his younger brother- had been... eying him weird all morning. Not like Not-Jay and Not-Cole and Not-Zane, but like Not-Nya. Like he actually knew instead of suspected. These babysitter clones seemed to think he was the Not-Kai, and if that was the opportunity the universe was going to give him, then by the flames of the departed world was he going to skip this chance to save Lloyd.

Currently he stood on the deck of the ship as they parked in the sky a few meters above the docks on the outskirts of the city. It wasn't the docks with the Bounty warehouse, curse his luck, but it wasn't the endless sky or the empty ocean (though it was still too close to that murky, haunting water for his liking. Water was his sister's domain for a reason). At least he could sneak Lloyd off in the cover of night, maybe find someone in the city who wouldn't recognize the Son of Garmadon this way and would be willing to help them hide until they could make it back to the real ninja.

"Kai," Not-Zane spoke suddenly next to him. 

Red would never get used to the way his voice... lacked the same effect the real Zane's had. The effect that Kai and the rest of his team had assured their friend over and over was unique, special, but in a good way. To embrace it. That it wasn't noticeable, but when it was, that it was so Zane that his friends didn't care that it was different. 

This 'Zane' sounded much too different than his own. He hadn't recognized Kai's tested line of 'road work ahead' when they passed one of the many construction signs littering the city (even more so since the chaos happened a week ago), and instead had responded with 'a great deal of work to fix in the city'. 

Seriously, Garmadon, do better research on your clones.

Not-Zane was also much too... calm. Too 'wise' compared to the wild teen that was Zane. And he walked without heelies or whatever Zane used to slide around like a boss, though he was still silent. And that meant, like now, he snuck up on Red fairly often- and Red was training to be a Ninja, so that took serious talent. 

"Kai," Not-Zane said again, and Red finally broke his gaze from where he'd been staring over the railing, planning tonight's escape route. "Lunch has been made for over an hour. Are you alright?"

Red forced his brightest smile. "Course I'm alright! Just trying to figure out what happened, as usual."

Why Lloyd was suddenly like, 8, and without his memories. Why the Not-Friends were on this Not-Ship and had mistaken him for Not-Kai. Why the city was in a state of disarray and chaos. 

Not-Zane studied him, then turned to give the city a sad look. "I'm not sure myself. My scanners can't seem to figure out what is happening. It is as if... blocked by some force."

Red winced, then expertly disguised the move by leaning against the rail. Zane never would use 'my scanners', despite how often Red and the others assured him it was okay. Yet another reason why this wasn't his friend.

"You know Ninjago City," Red said with a weak laugh. "Always one crisis or another. Always those annoying Garmadon Attacks"

This seemed to satisfy Not-Zane, who nodded thoughtfully. "This event definitely seems to have Garmadon's hand in the mess."

He patted Red on the back. "Well, don't worry yourself ragged, Kai. Come in for lunch soon, alright? We have training for Lloyd later."

Ah, right. Training. AKA what Red assumed was how Garmadon was planning to shape this impressionable version of his friend into his new General #1.  

"I'm ready for training now, Zane!"

Speaking of Lloyd- 

The little gremlin came up from the hull with the rest of the Not-Ninja. Red hated when the entire group was together; it was way more difficult to act as Not-Kai around them, especially around Not-Nya. 

For starters, Not-Jay had a notch in his eyebrow that the real Jay never had. He was missing the iconic freckles, and the scarf, and the fluffy hair, though you could always say it was just a wardrobe change. What you couldn't change was the personality differences. This couldn’t be Jay. Jay was anxious and quiet, his jokes (while plentiful) said more timidly and his newest ideas shared with hesitance that only shrank after years of encouragement. He would never be this loud, ever. 

Not-Cole was the leader, probably because Lloyd was so young. But even then, in Red's team, Nya would probably take second-command. Cole was their sturdy support, yes, but he was chill, laid-back. Ready to follow and support his friends to the ends of the earth with his tunes and occasional sarcastic wit, but not lead. Not like Not-Cole, who was more serious and commanding and didn't. listen. to. music. Red hadn't spotted a single record or boombox in the room in the hull. That was a tragic oversight on Garmadon's part. The members of his research team should be Fired.

And then there was Not-Nya. Who wore a dress with confidence that his sister would love but never publicly wear. Who had short hair- Nya had tried that style once, and decided it itched around her neck too much- and jewelry, and a giant flying Samurai mech suit. His sister had the Water Strider Mech, and Not-Nya had a flying combat suit. Sure. Close enough. Personality-wise they were similar. 

Similar at first glance. Nya was fluid and adaptable to whatever role she needed filling. She was spunky, and as fiery as him when it came to tempers, though she knew how to keep hers in check (she had to, right? No one called her hot-headed and impulsive and reckless and blamed her temper for mistakes or damage or whatever the news comments liked to say about the Fire Mech). Not-Nya was also adaptable and independent-minded, but she seemed more rigid. More doing her own thing. 

Point was, everyone wasn't actually his friends, despite how much they tried to prove they were. And they kept acting like he was this Not-Kai, who was just as hot-headed but apparently more mature and training-oriented and basically the better, cooler (or hotter, perhaps, for the fire theme of the red ninja) him, since his acting never seemed to fully convince them. Trying to impersonate a standard he couldn't seem to reach, some legendary hero he wasn't- er, wasn't yet! Yeah! He just needed to prove himself, be better, and he'd be fine. Just... fine. Yeah.

Mini-Lloyd (Red was tempted to call him L'ilyod in his head, but that felt wrong somehow, like he was infringing on some kind of copyright law) stared at him like a goddamn falcon, and he wasn't talking about the bird that circled the ship. He had this bowl-cut Red would tease him about endlessly after all this was over- seriously, how had Mr. Fabulous Hair started with this mess? Garmadon probably didn't even have hair, so there was no way the guy knew how to style it, and it was very evident based on Mini-Lloyd's hairdo. 

Red noticed that all of them were staring, actually. Despite his relaxed rest against the rails, his fingers behind his back clutched the cool bar with a dull shake. He didn't notice how the metal seemed to glow red under his touch. 

"Training, right, we should get onto that," Red tried. "What do you want to start with, Lloyd?" 

"How about a little game?" Lloyd asked with complete innocence. "What we were playing last week before we got interrupted."

Oh sh!t. 

"I-I don't know, shouldn't we start with stretches? Or how about some sparring, that's always more fun than a game!"

"But I wanted to continue our game..." Mini Lloyd said, and FSM's sake, he couldn't deal with that pouting look.

Okay. Okay, don't panic. Think logically. What kind of game would an 8-year-old Lloyd like to play with him? Something physical, so no board games- he liked to test his mettle against Zane on those, and sometimes he would almost not-lose. Logic puzzles also fell more on Jay's area. Trivia, especially music trivia, was a bubble between the anxious motormouth and Cole. Video games fell on team building, and wouldn't classify as a training warmup.

"Well," Red said, taking a hopeful stab in the dark. "There's not too much space on the deck for... tag..."

Lloyd nodded, looking satisfied. The Not-Ninja looked- well, their expressions were hard to read because of how different it was compared to his friends. But Red was a master of deception (well, fire, but eh, technicalities), and he had them fooled, and he just had to keep it up until nightfall so he could rescue Lloyd and explain in a safe location-

"HE'S NOT KAI!"

Orrrrr improvise. Okay, yep, he could improvise. 

Red lunged forward and grabbed Mini Lloyd's wrist from where he had his hand extended in an accusatory point. He ducked under Not-Jay's attempts to grab him- fast, but not as fast as his Jay, his Jay who could disappear from an awkward social interaction in the span of a flickering lightbulb- and dragged his younger brother with him as he vaulted over the railing. Not-Zane almost managed to yank him back onto the Not-ship, but his icy grip caught only empty air as Red pulled Lloyd into a tight hold and ducked.

He hit the dock below with a stumble, rolling back onto his feet and taking off with a very stubborn green ninja in tow. It took all his strength to drag Lloyd (kicking and screaming like he was being kidnapped or something when Red was just trying to rescue him, for FSM's sake. Lloyd didn't know that, but he could still try to be at least a little more considerate.)

The wooden docks creaked and shuddered underfoot and Red grimaced; whoever rebuilt them after the latest Garmadon attack had shredded them like newspaper clearly hadn't wasted any unnecessary change. It certainly didn't help that Lloyd packed quite the punch for someone so small. Red definitely would come out of this with bruised shins and arms from where Mini Lloyd tried to push him away, but it would be worth it to keep his teammate, his younger brother, safe.

Then green filled his vision and broke his hold on Lloyd's wrist, sending him skidding across the dock planks as he was sent flying. When he finally rolled to a stop, neck and shoulder stinging from where the blast had caught him (no burns, just jitters like he'd been shocked), he had to take a few seconds to re-orient himself. Did the Not-Ship have cannons or something? What hit him from behind, so close it could have hit Lloyd?

Lloyd. Was Lloyd okay?

Red pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the bleeding scrapes on his hands and legs from where he'd gotten banged up by the splintered docks. His gaze, sharp and frantic, searched for signs of green. The warning of more blasts, the flash of the fabric of a gi, anything.

He spotted his brother in the arms of Not-Cole. No, no, no-

And suddenly Not-Nya was there, given a boost by Not-Jay. Her grip was as if she were wearing the robotic mech suit, harsh and powerful and near in-human. She threw Red back to the dock floor as her face twisted with the fury of a storming ocean. A resounding crack rang out over the harbour.

Red couldn't tell if it came from the planks under him or his own shoulder.

She pinned him to the wood, barking accusations and threats in his face faster than Not-Jay could talk. Red blinked through a haze of pain, trying to focus on her face and words. She was missing the beauty mark on her face, he noticed. Yet another tell she wasn't his sister.

"-scar on the wrong side-" And it was hard to hear again over the ringing in his ears. He tried to throw her off, get back to Lloyd, anything, but he was-

Useless. 

Her hands suddenly got in his face, slamming his left cheek to the wood. She was close- close to his face, close to his eye, close to his scar- pushing and prying as she tried to do something. Red picked up in his struggling, his attempts to free himself turning to desperate shoves and wild clawing like a trapped animal. He wouldn't let this creation of Garmadon's finish the job that teen had started all those years ago. 

"Or better yet, he needs to shut his damn mouth."

The flash of a knife. His vision half-blurry. Blood- so much blood- and a lasting scar.

"-contacts-" "-red-" "-struggling-" "-we know what he- it- is already-" "-not the real Kai-" "-wish-" "-Garmadon-"

He had to get away. Get Lloyd away from them now.

In one surge of strength- and yep, his shoulder definitely wasn't okay after that move, as if he'd ripped it not just from its socket but from its very attachment to his body- he knocked Not-Nya aside. If he could’ve seen through the red haze, he might have noticed red embers dancing around his fingertips as his desperation and fear tapped into something deep in his soul.

He tried to shoot to his feet, tried to run for Lloyd (held so tight in Not-Cole's grip, surely they were hurting him, he couldn't let that happen-). He roared, "LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!", but before he could take another step through Not-Jay and Not-Zane in his path, the docks gave one last ominous shudder  before deciding it had finally had enough.

The planks crumbled underfoot like charred firewood in a crackling campfire, and Red was sent tumbling into the frigid ocean water below.

Don’t you mean the warmest because lava-

But seriously thank youuuuuuu it’s all because of the amazingness of Same People But Not Really (anyone who stumbled upon this by accident GO READ THE FIC IT’S AWESOME and anyone who already knows it GO READ IT AGAIN).

And I’ve got plans for more spoofs and fics, coming out... TBA lol. Next one I’m planning is either ‘Slip of the Tongue II: Electric Boogaloo’, ‘How To Take the Angst out of Chapter 17′, or ‘The Great Camping Incident, AKA Why To Never Take Smith Camping Again’.

Lava Fall

* A sort of AU(?) for Same People But Not Really by @kittydemon9000 based on this idea

Spoilers(?) comes sometime after the latest chapter update alSO OKAY I KNOW I SAID I MIGHT WRITE IT LATER BUT APPARENTLY LATER WAS 5 MINUTES SHUSH SPBNR IS GOOD AND MAKES ME FEEL CREATIVE

———–

Shogun found himself in a rather precarious position. 

As in, tied to a chain, dangling over lava just like Nya back in the Fire Temple.

Garmadon (or at least, this version of him) gloated. “I asked you to join me! Yet you refuse! You’re as stubborn as my buttface of a brother.”

Despite the childish insults, Shogun knew better than to underestimate the dark lord. Instead, he levered the villain with a burning glare. “Let me go, or face the consequences.”

Garmadon smiled- a cruel, wretched thing, honestly- and placed two of his hands on a lever. “Let you go? That can be arranged.”

The lava seemed to draw closer lava that surrounded Lloyd’s cage, surrounded the metal floor and sucked at the bars, as the Fangblade plummeted and Kai lunged forward not for the weapon but for his little brother, too late, he was too late, too unworthy, too much of a failure-

Shogun’s face was the definition of a furious snarl, but before he could spit out a barrage of insults so stinging it could have melted Garmadon’s helmet, one of the doors to the cavern burst open and the Ninja Force came raining in.

“Smith!” Lloyd not his Lloyd but still neither should be near a volcano not after- shouted, green hood pulled over his face. “Hold on!”

Ninja met sea-themed generals in combat, and Kai had never felt so helpless. Well, that was a lie, he just hated feeling this helpless. He could only hang there and watch the battle unfold until it was suddenly halted by Garmadon lowering the chain a smidge.

Silence fell over the cavern.

“So-” Garmadon stretched the word out, savouring the attention. “You surrender, or he drops.”

Shogun had enough. Smith had enough. Kai had enough. With the fury of a thousand suns, he spat out, “Do it, coward.”

An even bigger silence somehow filled the cavern. The Ninja Force and generals alike looked on with horror, the former with fear for their friend, the latter recognizing a phrase that would immediately get any of them fired if they dared utter it.

Even Garmadon blinked. Then his cruel smirk returned. “So be it.”

And with that, the chain plunged Shogun Smith Kai into the lava.

—

Lloyd didn’t know what to do.

Smith had dropped into their lives one seemingly uneventful day, and he’d stuck to them ever since. He’d been the best addition to their friend group they could’ve ever hoped for.

And now he’d been dropped, literally, back out of their lives.

“SMITH!”

The shout came from six people at once, six ninjas scrambling to the lava’s edge where the chain vanished below the bubbling orange surface. Kai, who managed to get closest, dropped to his knees right by the lava shore.

“He… he can’t be gone.” His voice was hollow, un-Kai-like. It reminded Lloyd of how lost Shogun sounded. “He can’t be.”

“…sensors indicate 0% chance of survival…” came Zane’s voice, grief-struck cold and crackling with static. “But… I wish I was wrong.”

Nya had an expression seeped with horror and guilt. “The last thing I ever said to him-…”

Cole stood silent, though his eyes spoke volumes over the turmoil he felt.

Jay was close to a bad panic attack.

And Lloyd… Lloyd couldn’t think. Smith was gone.

And it was his father’s fault.

Lloyd growled, slowly turning to face Garmadon with eyes blazing green and gold. The move caught even the dark lord off guard.

But before Lloyd could move, before he could open his mouth to speak, the lava exploded.

Everyone scrambled back as the geyser of lava swallowed the remains of the dangling metal chain whole. No one, not even Kai himself, noticed that a couple drops landed on his skin without burning him.

And suddenly Lloyd couldn’t breathe.

Because striding out of the lava, completely fine as if he’d merely taken a plunge into the pond in the park, was Smith.

What. The. F-

Smith, reaching land, shook himself off. Droplets of lava hit the rocky floor. Not even his clothes looked singed. The only chance, honestly, was that his stormy expression somehow managed to look even more murderous toward Garmadon. He raised his hand toward Garmadon.

His fist erupted into flames.

WHAT. THE. F-

“So-” Smith drew out the word like it was an inside joke between him and the dark lord. “You asked me to join you. I refused. I asked you to let me go. I’d count that as refusing. So-” The flame grew bigger.

“It’s time you face the consequences.”

Well this is a solid mood

i stole this from twitter

OOF that’s a mood, this with any piece of writing (fics and original pieces)

The Start of Smith Shark-Pup Forge

I LIVE!!!! And for my grand return to Tumblr, may I present... This fic for the SPBNR Sharp-Pup AU :3

Enjoy

---*--- Kai was going to kill Garmadon, revive him with his own stupid Mega Weapon, and kill him again.

That is, he would, if he could just get out of this bag-

Seriously, how had the Mega Weapon transformed the bag previously stuffed over his head into a bag that covered his entire body? And why was he struggling so much to get it off, it was just a cloth bag, it shouldn’t be this hard-

In a fit of frustration, he bit into the fabric and was pleasantly surprised when it shredded and he was able to worm his way out of the hole.

He gaped at the sight around him. Ninjago City. Or, at least he thought it was Ninjago city. It was lit with every colour of the rainbow, drowning out the stars above. But that wasn’t the part that threw him off.

It was how big everything was.

The smallest buildings around him were the size of the tallest buildings in Ninjago City, but they didn’t even come close to the tower in the middle of the city. Kai nearly got dizzy looking at it, and he wasn’t even standing close to it. 

Heck, just the night lamppost was taller than any lamppost he’d seen before. And that alley dumpster- it was taller than him! Taller… by a lot. A weird amount, actually.

…

So either everything was so much taller than normal in this weird Not-Quite-Ninjago-City, or… 

Or he was smaller than normal. A lot smaller.

His question was quickly confirmed when he tried to stand, only to overbalance and fall forward on his paws.

Paws. Not hands.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE FSM-

Kai stared at his hands (or lack thereof), and finally got a good look at himself.

Oh. Oh no. Oh nonononnononono, what- 

What was he, some kind of shark… puppy… mix? Pinkish red splotches on small, smooth scales secretly rough as sandpaper, mostly blue with an underbelly of white, a fin spiked up on the top of his head with smaller fins spiked like his hair, and a red collar. A collar. Like he was nothing more than a common house-pet.

Kai growled, then balked at how weird that felt. He ran his tongue over sharpened teeth; definitely some kind of Shark… Pup… thing.

He would ask why, but the answer was ‘The Universe was fucking with him, as always’. 

“H-heh, c’mon. L-let’s talk this out.”

Kai’s head snapped up. The voice sounded familiar in a way, though he couldn’t quite place it. Still, they sounded panicked. Scared. 

His instincts were firing at him.

Stumbling over his paws, Kai immediately fell face-first (snout-first?) into a puddle of mud. When he stood, shaking the dirt from his eyes, he fumbled over to a dumpster and tripped over an open garbage bag. Ewwww… just his stupid luck.

“Th-that’s a nice l-looking knife you have there.”

Kai shook off the garbage and bounded down the street, growing more confident with every step. His movements were fuelled by fire, little sparks and melted paw prints in the asphalt trailing in his wake. Someone was in trouble. A knife. An alleyway. His problems could wait.

“You like it?” A different voice. “It’s my father’s.”

Kai growled again, picking up the pace. The conversation seemed so close, but because of his small size (and general lack of control over his new form, despite getting better at it as adrenaline and protectiveness shoved him forward), the empty street took forever to cross. The streetlamp flickered overhead, casting his shadow across the alley.

“Or, rather it was, before Lord Garmadon’s last attack put him in the hospital.”

That almost threw Kai off balance, but he quickly corrected his movement before he could go skittering into the storm drain- the way he was right now, he might actually slip in- and kept running.

“L-look, I’m sorry, I really am, but hurting me isn’t gonna help hi-” 

A strangled yelp. Kai felt hot fire building in his throat, smoke slipping through his clenched teeth. Almost… there…!

“Oh I know that. Doesn’t mean it won’t make me feel better.”

Kai skittered into the alleyway, snarling. A person holding a knife whipped around to see what had just happened but kept their hand firmly around the throat of a teen in a green hoodie. With mud covering many of his spots, the darkness of night covering the rest, and patches of garbage visible in the splotches of moonlight, he surely was quite the sight even without his new shark pup form. 

Despite the smoke curling out of Kai’s mouth (if the people could even see it in the dim alleyway), the stranger with the knife didn’t seem to be intimidated. They merely laughed. “What, brought your little puppy with you? Your stupid sea dog?”  

As the green teen squirmed, knife flashing too close to their skin, what little patience Kai had evaporated. A jet of fire burst from his mouth. It roared across the alleyway, licking at the walls and charging toward the stranger. 

The stranger screamed and dropped the knife, blocking the fire with their arms. The flames washed over the green teen without burning them. Kai was across the alley by the time the flames flickered away, leaping at the stranger and biting their leg. 

“MOTHERF-“

Kai leapt away from the stranger as they hopped on one foot in pain, finally crashing into the far wall. Ignoring them, Kai grabbed the edge of the green teen’s pant leg (the closest thing he could reach from the ground) and dragged him toward the alleyway exist,

Together they ran for several minutes through the streets away from the alley, until Kai’s stubby little legs outweighed his ninja training stamina. He tumbled as he missed a step, rolling several feet before coming to a whining stop on his back. Ouch, his feet hurt. No, that was right… paws. 

The questions of where was he, what was he, how did he get back to his family and form crashed back into him, tearing at his mind and threatening to strangle his lungs. He buried the feelings down but they kept rising back up, bubbling under his skin and grabbing at his chest, his heart, his head, his thoughts. Stop it, get a hold of yourself, figure out the situation first-

Someone scooped him up. Kai let out a startled noise, weakly pawing at fabric until he realized it was just the green-wearing teen. He calmed a little (just a little; he didn’t like getting picked up, and certainly not by someone this much taller than him at the moment), and finally got a good look at the kid. 

Dear FSM, it was like looking at an older Lloyd. Fix his hair, change his eye colour, and boom, it was like staring at a mirror of the future. Kai could see Lloyd looking like this teen, and it wasn’t just the green hoodie. 

“So, um, hi there…” The teen said. Kai stared at him. “Thank you. For saving me, I mean. Nobody else would have done that. Figures; I’m about to get stabbed and the only one willing to help is a stray shark pup-“

The teen noticed his collar. “Or, not a stray. Let’s see-“

Kai squirmed a little as the teen grabbed the tag on his collar, but the grip, despite being firm, was incredibly soft and gentle. 

The teen flipped the charred name tag; it must have gotten burnt in the alleyway. “All I can make out is Smith… is that your name?”  

Smith? No, his name was Kai. His last name was Smith. But there wasn’t exactly a way he could communicate that right now…

The teen was annoyingly yet understandably oblivious to Kai’s struggles. They ducked their head, the ground suddenly very interesting. “My name’s Lloyd… Lloyd Garmadon.”

No, he couldn’t be Lloyd. Lloyd was, for starters, short. And younger. And- and-

And didn’t get nearly killed in an alleyway by a stranger seeking revenge for something Garmadon didn’t. There was no way the others would let that happen, even with Kai’s disappearance. Cole wouldn’t. Zane wouldn’t. Jay wouldn’t. Nya wouldn’t. Sensei Wu wouldn’t. And yet…

Was… Was this Lloyd after all? Had he’d travelled into the future, landing in this strange form? He stared into Lloyd’s eyes, desperately trying to convey who he was. But Lloyd just looked at him with stinging unfamiliarity, a wariness in his eyes that broke Kai’s heart and tore the pieces to shreds. 

The teen- Lloyd- put Kai back down. “So, uh, in case you didn’t know who I was, you can run now…”

Kai stayed put.

The teen blinked. “Oh, uh, I guess… well, it probably wouldn’t matter to you, huh? Besides, my father-“ the word was said with venom- “Likes sharks, so I guess that means they like me.”

After a moment of thinking, Kai head-butted Lloyd’s leg to mimic how he would give his younger brother one-armed hugs. Lloyd smiled a little; his first smile of the night. “So, uh, Smith, got anywhere to go? I better get home, my mom’ll be worried…”

MOM??? 

Kai filed that away into the ‘freak out about it later’ folder in his brain, right next to ‘repressed feelings’. He stuck close to Lloyd; the chances of running into him in the city while stuck in this form would be impossible, and there was no way he was letting his brother out of sight after the knife incident. 

Lloyd scooped him up again. “Well, uh, I guess if you insist… No promises Mom will let me keep you, but you can stay at my house for the night I guess. I’ve never seen a shark pup that can breathe fire…”

Came with the territory of being the Master of Fire, apparently. Kai scanned the streets for dangers as Lloyd started down the sidewalk. No matter what, he was determined to protect his not-so-much-younger-right-now younger brother in this strange city.

And nothing, not even his strange new form, could stop him.