#sub lloyd garmadon

[all-gummed-up-inside]

can we get sum lloyd smut up in here pretty please *insert super cute begging face* like maybe him getting clingy after missinf u for long time. Like he's gone away saving the world for the 100th time and when he comes back he misses readrr soo much he just cannot expresses himself with his words so he expresses himself with sex (and endd up overstimmin himself AND READER)

Gn reader pretty pls and thank you for your tim i understnd how messyily i am explanen this 😭

(let's gloss over how I haven't posted in actual months) (this can be read as pre! or post!dragons rising Lloyd but was written with pre! in mind)

1.5K words

my goodness! he'd be so needy after being away from you for too goddamn long. I'd always start so soft and cuddly, Lloyd wanting to be so so so close to you and bask in your presence for as long as he can before he's called away again.

It truly doesn't take long before he starts getting more antsy, more wiggly, subtly grinding his crotch against yours in seek of just a little more friction than normal. Unnoticeable at first really, seems more like he's just adjusting himself to be more comfy.

Soft muffled whines and whimpers soon fall from his lips the longer he keeps it up. glossy green eyes soon searching for yours, soft pleads leaving the blonde as he begs in hushed whispers if he could just 'please stick it in! he'll be such a good boy! he promises!'

and be a good boy he will! shallow desperate thrusts that leave Lloyd absolutely drunk off the feeling of you wrapped around him! It has him cumming buckets with how pent-up he's been after not seeing you for so so long! Lloyd can't help himself but dump load after load into you, so much so that it has him crying and shaking from overstimming himself so much! he can't help it! you just feel so good and are so nice to him all the time! Lloyd doesn't even wanna pull out once it's all done and over with, wanting to stay inside you for as long as possible until you finally decide that the both of you should really clean up.

[arolloyd]

ok veryyyy random hc but movieverse Cole owns posters of every single band in existence. Doesn’t even matter if he likes the band or not he still keeps them for no reason. He also got Lloyd into rock, and Lloyd gets most of the posters of his favourite band from Cole

[universesrising]

OH STARS OH NO WAIT YOU’RE RIGHT

It was nice knowing you Luhloyd

[master-jarrus]

Ninjago Star Wars Au species list

I will not debate anyone over these

Starting up:

Jay, half human, half twi'lek, his mother is the twi'lek. When he was born he was shipped to the Huts on Tatooine but his little carriage pod dropped and was picked up by Jawas. He has mechanical wings he made himself and specializes in marketing for the Jawas because he's adorable

Force sensitive

Ed and Edna: Jawas who find Jay are the main ones who raise him but I'm fairly certain jawas take the whole village approach.

Cole: Togurta. Togurta's are very strong and agile but people always seem surprised when they actually show case their strength. This seemed very fitting for Cole.

Force sensitive

Kai and Nya: human nautolan hybrids but it has been so long since the nautolan was introduced they don't have many traits other than large dark eyes and Nya is able to breathe under water. (They don't know its nautolan, which is kit fistos species for those who don't know)

Force sensitive

Nya is stronger in the force but she uses chants to help her focus (like the og dathomirian witches)

Zane: zane is a kyber crystal powering a droid. He more specifically the crystal then the body because kyber crystals are sentient

Force sensitive

Pixal: same deal as zane but her crystal faced torture (from the mining process) zane heals her later but she still struggles (fun fact ahsoka's kyber crystals were corrupted and tortured but she rescued and healed them and that is why they are white)

Force sensitive can only manipulate it through the dark side

Garmadon and Wu: Diathim (also referred to as angels) and part zabrak (i went back and forth on that because beskalisks have four arms but then I drew it and just fit well for them) angels are considered the most beautiful creatures while zebraks tend to be considered evil. Both are capable of good and evil.

Very force sensitive

Garmadon isn't strictly a sith. More of just acts as he sees is needed. He does tend to use the dark side a lot though

Garmadon is missing his lower wings and has mutated arms with cyber supports

Misako: Chiss, intellectual tend to try to logic their emotions away (think a blue spock) the Diathim have prophecies. She wanted to study them. She and Garmadon fall in love

Lloyd: Diathim, zabrak and chiss. Very tall. Blue skin, red eyes, has all of his wings but also has a set of lower arms that do not have cyber supports.

Force sensitive, just dripping midiclorians to the point he boosts the sensitivity of those he is around

Struggles with acting in anger and will accidentally hurt his lightsabers original kyber crystals that he will wear on a necklace and pours into whenever he meditates

Rei: human, mandalorian black smith

Force sensitive

Maya: human nautolan hybrid also unaware of the nautolan she just thinks it's the force she is trained like the og dathomirian witches

Force sensitive

Lily: Togruta

Force sensitive

Lou: Togruta dancer and singer, gets paid for it

Harumi: human, not force sensitive but will later inject midiclorians to try be able to use the force and will become dependent on them

Cyrus: human, tries to create kyber crystal droids like zane but the mining process corrupted all of them including the prosthetics he tried to make that were powered by crystals. He chooses to be wheel chair bound after the incident but he is ambulatory with regular prosthetics he just finds it exhausting

Morro: zabrak, becomes a malevolent ghost but will later settle down into a regular force ghost who follows wu around

Force sensitive

Serpentine: sub species of hutt. Made them native to dathomir and the moons

Let me know who else you want to know

You will for sure get art of Garmadon. We will see about the others

[blazeymc]

I'm rewatching all of Ninjago and I've reached Seabound

omg Benthomaar is a lil baby

Kalmaar has sunken the Ninja's sub and Trimaar is all like "Kalmaar did you sink another ship" and Kalmaar says no and Bentho says "I told you he didn't do it, father. Sometimes ships just sink. It's quite sad"

aw he sad bcs ships just sink sometimes omg i love him

He absolutely loves Kalmaar even though Kalmaar hates him

I totally believe that if he was in Sons of Garmadon, he would trust Harumi even more than Lloyd did

And Lloyd was fricken in love with her

Speaking of Lloyd, I discovered DeepSeaEnergyShipping (Bentho/Llloyd) and I ship it now but I also ship GreenStorm (Lloyd/Morro) so I'm gonna do what I did the last time I discovered a new ship but already shipped one of them with someone else

CycloneEnergyShipping (Morro/Lloyd/Bentho) has joined BlackOpalShipping (Jay/Cole/Geo) among my piecing together of two existing ships

[elemom]

my hcs for the ninja’s splatoon mains bc why not

Kai: Splatana Wiper. Kai’s weapon of choice is generally a sword, and I feel like he’d be a frontliner with an aggressive playstyle (which the vanilla wiper is great for)

Cole: Hydra Splatling. This was a hard choice, but I decided to make him a backliner for that good ol Team Balance. It’s a slow and heavy but incredibly strong weapon, with one of the highest DPS counts in the game, and the booyah bomb just feels right for cole.

Jay: Dapple Dualies Nouveau. I knew from the get go that he should have dualies and a general “quick” frontliner kit. Dapples are great for that, with incredible mobility and a combo of high damage and a quick fire rate.

Zane: Reef-Lux 450. this choice is biased. i’m a flux main and zane is my favorite BUT IN MY DEFENSE he did use a bow once!!! And the sleek and modern look of the reef lux fits his aesthetic!! Also, tenta missiles are fitting as the little HUD thingy feels robotty. Most importantly though, coming from a reef lux main: We die a lot! /j

Lloyd: Splattershot/Hero Shot. It’s the most Main Character weapon in the game! Not just that, but it’s currently dominating the meta. Strongest ninja, strongest weapon. I think that makes sense. Also I think lloyd deserves to pull out a big ass bazooka after all he’s been through.

Nya: Bloblobber Deco. Firstly, a bloblobber shoots bubble projectiles, fitting for the master of water. It also has Kraken, which is a mythological sea creature and thus fits in with Nya’s theming.

BONUS:

Pixal: E-Liter 4K Scope. I think a sniper weapon works well for Pixal, and the shiny design of the e-liter fits her vibe imo. Ink mines are perfect for her as a “preparation” sub, and wave breaker acts as a way to track the enemy team. Scoped variety because I think it’s cool.

Wu: Woe, Bamboozler be upon ye. I dont think i need to explain this one.

Garmadon: Gold Dynamo Roller. Garmadon 🤝 Splatoon players: waiting forever for the golden weapon

[jinxed-ninjago]

I love this part of Ninjago's soundtrack.

One of the reasons I think Jay Vincent and Michael Kramer are musical geniuses is because you feel the emotional beats in Ninjago's music without having to watch the relevant scene. This specific track is what plays when Zane reactivates his memory switch and protects Jay, Kai, and Cole from the treehorns. I don't even like Dr. Julien and I still get emotional just listening to this lol.

This goes for most of the music in Ninjago; Morro's leitmotif is inspired by Danse Macabre for example.

Another good example of this ("this" meaning mood shifting throughout a single track) is Built to Protect, which started as Zane's death theme in Rebooted, and has been used multiple times afterward; most recently (that I remember) it was used in this scene, which made it hurt more than if they'd used literally any other track:

(Nya got her own theme.)

In this specific scene it cuts right before the part that tends to really impact people emotionally, but it still gets the point across: Jay just sacrificed his life to recharge the sub so he, Zane, Pixal, and Lloyd could save Nya and Maya.

Built to Protect was also used in Sons of Garmadon (specifically, episode 5, Dead Man's Squall) when Zane's fight with Mr. E was what opened the episode, and it plays over the intro; the sting that signals Zane's death in Rebooted is what closes the intro in Dead Man's Squall. Its use in Sons of Garmadon specifically is chilling. Built to Protect is basically Ninjago's sacrifice theme and considering it's called Built to Protect, I think it says a lot about the ninja's attitudes.

I also think it's notable that different parts of it are used for different vibes. When you're looking at Zane's memories, that part of the track just hurts; it's Zane accepting that he's going to die. In Dead Man's Squall, it's chilling, because Zane didn't have a chance to accept anything; Mr. E left him for dead, and as a trap for the other ninja to find and bring onto the Bounty.

I'm actually tempted to make a compilation of every time Built to Protect is used in Ninjago. It's not used willy-nilly like other parts of the soundtrack. It's only used under very specific circumstances which is why it hits so hard when it is used.

I'll stop this specific analysis there, but there is SO much I could analyze about the production aspects of Ninjago (soundtrack, camera angles, etc). For what Ninjago is (that being a kids show used to market a product) it is incredibly well done (and yes this extends to Dragons Rising).

[ashleestarz]

I have aome questions about Kaiya Lazyrith

1. Does Kaiya have a elemental power?

2. If they do what elemental power does they have?

3. How powerful is that elemental power?

4. What is the lore of the elemental power?

5. And just in general How powerful is Kaiya in terms of the Ninja? (-Lloyd)

6. How powerful is Kaiya in terms of Garmadon and Wu? And even Mystake?

7. What species is Kaiya?

8. What is Kaiya's pronouns?

When I tell you it’s been a while since I’ve had a thought about her, luckily I have notes, so! ↴

1. Yes she has a elemental power

2. Her element is chaos

3. I can’t really scale the power? I mean it’s very offensive / barely for defense but not much to write home about.

4. The lore of the power is that it’s a tangent of the overlords, he wanted to make an elemental warrior to fight in the battle of good and evil. The power eventually stuck to someone after the final battle ended and continued with a lineage leading to Kaiya.

5. Uh she wouldn’t beat Lloyd, her powers since a piece of the overlords kinda rivals it. She’s maybe like Cole strong? In power ofc

6. She couldn’t beat Wu or Garmadon and that’s a fact. Both are wise and have years and she isn’t skilled with her powers at allll. She could maybe beat mystake in a fair training battle.

7. Kaiya is human! She isn’t a mix or sub species of any kind. I mean unless you want to count that she is from shintaro as anything.

8. Kaiya uses She/Her and They/Them pronouns!

[terribleninjagoaus]

Conman Wu au

We’ve really turned Wendell, Misako, and Morro into deep cut from splatoon 3 and I’m here for it

I think they should get to sing the Ninjago equivalent of the Calamari Inkantation

In the final battle from season 2 it’s just Wendell, the actual Wu, and Misako prepping to sing the Ninjagan Incantation. Dr.Julian mana the sound equipment

They ride in on a cyberneticaly enhanced Granny Grundle who causes mild mayhem to distract the corrupted citizens and stone army away

The real Wu subs in singing Morro’s role

Somehow it partially cures people of the overlord’s corruption enough to stay distracted by the song like the calamari inkantation

It causes the stone army to turn on the overlord as well

I’m using man on the internet’s lyrics for the calamari inkantation

Link to the English cover of the calamari inkantation in question https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bKRD3fA5qiU

[Granny Grundle is rushing around distracting and taking out the numerous corrupted Ninjagan citizens and stone army so Lloyd and the ninja can stop the overlord. Misako, Wu, and Wendell are standing above the stone army on a hastily made stage while Dr.Julian finishes setting up the sound equipment.]

Misako/Wendell/Wu: Now we must be strong, together we will sing this song.

And you can sing along

Misako: Misako

Wendell: Wendell

Wu: Wu

Misako/Wendell/Wu: We're one, two, three, and you make seven

So sing harmony and together we shall see! Where we belong!

Overlord: WHAT’S THIS? WHERE’S MY MUSIC?

Misako: Lloyd and Ninja!

Wendell: Can you hear our song?

Dr.Julian: Radio override activated!

Garmadon’s thoughts: That heavenly melody... It's the one and only SHADOW STEALERS!

[Misako, Wu, and Wendell begin to sing. Wendell begins to strum his shamisen with enthusiasm while Dr.Julian works the turntable.]

Misako/Wendell/Wu: So long we tried

And finally we see victory

Before the blood has dried

Together we play, This Ninjago Incantation!

And together we will turn the tide

And this song we sing

Forever in our hearts will ring

To every Ninjagan!

We'll save the day

We stand united, come what may

So go on your way

With your hope, you can do anything

And now we must be strong

Together we will sing this song

And you can sing along

Misako: Misako!

Wendell: Wendell!

Wu: Wu!

Misako/Wendell/Wu: We're one, two, three, and you make seven!

So sing harmony

And together we shall see

Where we belong

So long we tried

But we stay fresh, we end all the rest

Leave them electrified

Together we play

This Ninjagan Incantation

And together we will turn the tide

And the song we sing

Forever in our hearts will ring

To every Ninjagan

And come what may

They'll never ever take away

Our bright shining day

'Cause we know we can do anything

And now we must be strong

Together we will sing this song

And you can sing along!

Misako: Misako!

Wendell: Wendell!

Wu: Wu!

Misako/Wendell/Wu: We're one, two, three, and you make 7

So sing harmony

And together we shall see

Where we belong!

[ As the incantation finishes the overlord has been defeated. Lloyd and the ultra dragon land in front of the tired trio. Granny Grundle lays down and slumbers.]

In rebooted Misako has to wake Wendell up from the overlord’s brainwashing/cybernetics so we get the two singing their own version of tidal rush

Wendell is singing the bomb rush blush while Misako sings Tide goes out

This soon leads to Wu and Garmadon shooting Wendell with a special tea designed to sober people up it’s called yin yang tea.

Nya is the one driving the unholy mech combo of stage and combat machine

Wendell: MY HEAD!

Misako: The Yin-Yang Tea is working!

[Misako takes out a Speaker and holds it dramatically while Wendell is sobering up from the tea.]

Misako: Wendell! Remember! That heavenly melody!

Wendell: The one and only... I... I remember...

[Wendell soon makes a running jump towards Misako shedding all of his implants in a bright silver light. He lands next to Misako returned to normal.]

Wendell: YEAH!

Garmadon: THE SHADOW STEALERS ARE BACK!

[Wendell and Misako start to dance together and sing as the ninja battle the overlord.]

.

[starrbuggie]

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT ONE OF MY NINJAGO AUS/FANSEASONS, SO THATS WHAT YOU GET!!

Its either called

Ninjago: The Untold Path

or

Ninjago: Inspirited

So the main characters in this are

-Morro!! A former ghost, Revived via...well he doesnt know...but hes alive? (He/They)

-Ampu, Cursed dragonkin and Sorcerer (OC) (They/He)

-Bael, Cursed dragon (OC) (He/Him)

-Sparrow, serpent formling (OC) (He/They)

-Bow, Sunviper serpentine (OC) (She/They)

-Boreas, Ice Source dragonkin (OC) (They/He/She+Neo)

(Not mentioned in this post)

-Arin (Kinda?), Lloyds student, at least he was? (He/They)

-Echo and the Fae, a group from one of the realms. (OC)

Our story starts about a month after the merge, Ampu is running their parents bakery after they disapeared. They, at this point, are still a human, though they know a little magic from a small time that they were really intrested in it. They, while hiking, they found a Cursed realm dragon and a skinny teen passed out in a clearing. though suspicious they try and wake them up and patch them up.

Morro has no clue how he was revived, but he does remember the flight away, he had grabbed a dragon and left. from where? he doesnt know. Why was the dragon there, and so willing for a stranger to ride it? He doesn't know.

As Ampu helps them back to health (Or so they thinks >:3) they gain a strong friendship with Morro, and Bael teaches them Dragonkin magic and Ampu eventually sees the changes starting.

A little preface: Dragonkin are a dual creation species, meaning you can either be born as one or turned into one. Dragonkin can present in multiple ways, ranging from fully human to fully dragon, and some can pick and choose. Mutation is extremely painful, due to your bones actually having to change.

However as time goes on Bael does not seem to be getting any better, eventually passing on and gifting his power to Ampu, speeding up his mutation.

So Sparrow is a wandering ronin from the Neverrealm, offering their services to anyone who needs protection. The headwear/cape they got during their choosing was stolen from them long ago. During their trek through the merged realms they have been likened to a hypnobrai many a time. Their wandering has lead to releasing the Sunvipers and taking on their current client, Bow, which throughout their travels they have gained a brother-like bond with.

Bow is traveling to learn more about the world and is very exited about all the cool clothes!

Both of them stumble upon Ampu's bakery and decide to settle down for a bit, taking on part time jobs there.

Ampu's magic capibilities are still growing and without a teacher they are really struggling! so they leave the Bakery in Morro and Bow's hands while Sparrow and Ampu set off to find a teacher.

Boreas is a Source Dragonkin. This sub-species of dragonkin were created directly by the Source Dragons to make sure that elemental powers and magic were regulated correctly, they were ageless and immortal but not invincible. Within the First realm they were taken on as leaders and for a small while worked as advisors for the FSM. Boreas eventually helped the FSM to balance and create the other realms. When Wu and Garmadon were born he worked as a caretaker and teacher. (theres alot more but i cannot be bothered to type it out)

Ampu asks Boreas to train them, so for a month they stayed there and trained with them, eventually traveling back with them and slowly moving into the town.

(This isn't all I have, but this is long- so this is what your getting. in short, there's some Morro character building, people from the cursed realm escapes, Sensei Garmadon makes an appearance, Ampu goes through more pain and Arin runs away and lives around the group for a while while figuring out some feelings about his training with Lloyd.)

[dragons-hoard-of-fandoms]

Happy birthday to our favorite green bean. <3

[all-gummed-up-inside]

so glad you’re taking requests again!!!

would you be interested in writing some subby hc’s for Lloyd from ninjago?

A/N: combined with another request! This is for you, bondage anon who’s been waiting a year

WC:201

Too much of a people pleaser to be a brat imo… he’ll be mouthy at most but nothing more. On the same note tho, I’d like to think he’d be more of a brat if he is super close to you, or at least more willing to disobey rules.

I think he’d have a mommy/daddy kink, cannot tell me otherwise. He’d be the guy who’s balls deep in his s/o whining and crying about how badly he needs to cum and asking his mommy if he has permission to cum yet!!! And I’m right abt it because I said so

Rope bunny, rope bunny, rope bunny, he wants to be tied up and overstimed until he’s crying, he does so much, all the time, please let him have this, he just wants to be a little stupid boy for you! Tie his hands up behind his head and play with his chest as his leaky dick throbs with want, maybe add a vibrating cockring too, make him really have to earn permission to cum…

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

Tell me I lie I will fite you lol

[calypsolemon]

honestly, even for a gag in the movie, lloyd being subject to that level of humiliation and abuse is really fucked and it’s only made worse by the fact that he’s vilified for like,,, being desperate to defend himself from the source of his pain and suffering, especially when said source has shown zero regard for him and has tried to kill him many times prior

[swampythesweetsketch]

Am I thinking of a Ninjago/Pokémon AU again?

And I really going through with giving Cole a Froslass as a partner from his many travels?

Am I making Lloyd's reasons for theft being to feed an abandoned Eevee farm?

Yeah.

So in this Ninjago, the FSM is Arceus. Wu and Garmadon are Dialga and Palkia in disguise; The Overlord being Giratina when the FSM casted out his own darkness to create Ninjago.

Pokemon and Humans have been side by side since the realm's creation. And with their alliance, over time certain humans have been granted powers.

Elemental masters of this AU work within the Type limitations of Pokemon. The main five being their set types with sub types while the lesser powers are commonly single types.

Cole is Earth-type, sub Ghost

Jay is Electric-type, sub Flying

Zane is Ice-type, sub Phychic

Kai is Fire-type, sub Steel

Lloyd is Dragon-type, sub Normal

Nya is Water-type, and later sub Ice

During their early years, the Ninja have gained unlikely partners that they've met through travel or trading or other.

Cole's main partner is a Froslass.

He captured her when he was trekking a mountain suffering from massive temperature rises and found her casing herself in her own ice to survive. She was very angry at him at first, but grew more tame as he intentionally sought out colder locations to release her. When he did find her a suitable home in Birchwood's mountain range, she refused to leave him by that point.

Jay's main partner is a Houndoom.

A scraggly Houndour pup that the Walkers first adopted to keep some other security around the Junkyard. But as Jay grew up as a baby, the Houndour grew attached to the baby and evolved when Jay was 10. Even though he's a older pokemon, Jay can't think of a sweeter friend to travel with.

Zane's main partner is a Yellow Flower Floette.

During his early travels as an amnesiac, Flotette was a curious pokemon that approached him when he was making flowers crowns for a town festival. It was the only source of income for Zane and he was careful not to take more than he needed and attracted the whole field of wild pokemon. Though as Zane left, Floette followed him into town where he sold the crowns. She left with him the final night of the festival and the two had a traveling flower crown business ever since.

Kai's starter is a Pidgey.

The nasty bird was found half-drowned in one of Four Weapons' rain barrels after Kai shooed off a group of Littens. The Pidgey was annoying as hell, but Kai was certain to nurse it with Nya's help. When it was back to full health, Kai was exasperated to find the bird pokemon was back and nested above his shop's sign. He grew used to their presence and stopped trying to get rid of it and feeds it during dinner.

Nya's starter is a Combee.

During her childhood in Ignacia, a swarm of Combee and their Vespiquen were becoming too territorial and for the safety of the village, fire type pokemon were used to cast them farther away but in the midst of battle, a clutch of eggs were left behind. The village chose to distribute the eggs to farmers that could use the combees for pollination assistance and Kai nabbed one of the extra eggs a farmer client of his had. Nya was gifted the egg for her 9th birthday and the busybee has been Nya's lifelong friend.

Lloyd's main partner is Eevee... and Eevee. Then Eevee. Another Eevee. Eevee. There's more Eevee-

When Lloyd was still in Darkley's, one of the few benefits to learning there was the vast amount of rare pokemon that were given as partners for exam battles. Lloyd was the black sheep of the school and was always given caretaking duties. But Lloyd loved it cause he got to spend time with the baby pokemon that rotated through the school. When a shipment of Eevee eggs came in, Lloyd was again being put on the burner for his less than evil ways. And as a last FU- stole all the Eevee eggs he was assigned to care for and ran away from the school. He has at ten Eevees and he will stab anyone that tries to take them.

[lloydskywalkers]

this is probably like...150 percent nOT what you were looking for when you asked this, but i can only write so much Garmadad Angst per month, and i’m saving the rest for angst week :’( also two paragraphs into this i remembered Bragi mentioning that Garmadon is able to shapeshift into about anything he wants, and my brain seized on that and ran a little too wild, so the result is!! probably crack, but i had fun with it :’D

Garmadon means to leave the boy in peace. Truly, he does, because leaving the boy in peace means that Garmadon gets peace, as he won’t have anyone to go hurling accusations at him with pathetically teary eyes at any given moment. It also means he doesn’t have to deal with the infuriating mess of…feelings…that always seem to go hand in hand with the boy. If Garmadon had any sense, he’d head as far from the boy as he possibly can and forget about him entirely, and everyone’s life would be vastly improved on the whole.

If Garmadon had any sense. And if those infuriating, truly hellish feelings ever stopped making an appearance whenever Garmadon’s thoughts drifted to the boy, which was unfortunately…often.

Infuriating, truly.

Perhaps Garmadon isn’t as sensible as he’d like to think he is, but he’s not selfless, either. So instead of sparing the boy’s peace any thought, perhaps he directs his efforts to tracking the boy down. And perhaps, instead of trying to banish the boy from his brain, he mentally marks where the boy tends to show up outside his brother’s ugly monastery. Perhaps he begins to use his Oni-given shifting abilities to blend in rather than stand out, for the sole purpose of tailing the boy. It’s only for Garmadon’s selfish reasons.

Because — because this is a selfish errand, of course. If Garmadon can’t have any peace, then the boy doesn’t get any either. It’s clean-cut reasoning, no sentiment behind it.

He doesn’t want to be caught, however, under any circumstances. The idea of having to explain himself — or worse, endure the boy’s annoying yelling again — is almost enough to turn Garmadon away entirely. But the pathetic, disgusting need to figure out what the boy’s supposed to be to him has taken control now, so Garmadon throws caution to the wind.

Well, not entirely. He’s not a shapeshifter for nothing. He simply…needs to figure out how to use that to his advantage, first. He’s been using his favored form — a hulking, dark wolf with teeth that could tear a human in half. Garmadon’s been quite satisfied with it, as any tiny human he’s run into flees screaming at the sight, but he’s beginning to think the form is not, perhaps, the best one for tailing the boy. He’s trying to be inconspicuous, and that’s rather difficult when the red ninja charges him with his hands on fire in a misguided attempt to keep him from tearing the Green Ninja’s throat out.

Which is not Garmadon’s intent, obviously, but the fire ninja doesn’t know that, and it’s not as if Garmadon wants to admit what his real intent is. Tearing the boy’s throat out is at least a less humiliating endeavor to pretend he’s on.

Instead of snapping the red ninja up like a pint-sized snack, then, Garmadon begins to study the boy. After carefully observing him, and evading several more of the red ninja’s attempts to charbroil his demonic werewolf form, Garmadon comes to a conclusion. There is, undoubtedly, one form he can take that will not only throw off any suspicion, but ensnare the boy entirely to his whims.

To his dismay, the issue with this is that the boy has terrible taste.

**************

He tests his theory somewhere in the middle of his fourth week of observing stalking his boy. His new form is irritating, to say the least, as he’s only able to reach up to the humans’ kneecaps in it, but it does come in handy for slipping in and out of small spaces. He’s able to get much closer to the boy than he ever has before, practically trailing his heels through the open marketplace in the small village he’s in today.

What a fool, Garmadon thinks to himself, as the boy leans over with his hands braced on his knees, putting him eye level with the bright-eyed child who’s rambling at him. It’d be so easy to kill him right now, Garmadon could manage it in his sleep. He’s practically in danger of falling asleep as it is, listening to the boy blabber on to the child.

Blah blah blah, I bet you’d make an amazing ninja, blah blah blah, what utter sentimental garbage, Garmadon thinks haughtily. The boy is clearly lying through his teeth. This child would make a sub-par ninja at best, if he survived that long. Or perhaps his boy is looking to recruit cannon fodder, Garmadon muses. At any rate—

“Oh hey, a kitty!”

Garmadon’s eyes snap up to find the child’s stubby finger pointed directly at him. Before he can flee, the boy turns around as well, bright green eyes widening as they fix on him. For a moment, Garmadon fears the boy’s seen straight through him—

Then his lips curve into a smile, and he crouches down lower to offer a hand.  “Hey, kitty,” the boy’s voice is disgustingly soft and gentle as he addresses him. “What are you doing out here all alone?”

Of course, Garmadon laughs to himself. The boy’s ensnared immediately, just as he’d thought. Ever the fool, his boy.

“You don’t have a collar or anything…are you homeless? I wonder if…”

What an idiot. Garmadon would be smirking if he could, relishing in how utterly oblivious the boy is. Honestly, what a—

“—and it’s been getting pretty cold out at night lately, so I think I can get away with bringing you home.”

—wait.

That’s all the warning Garmadon gets before the boy’s hands close around his middle, neatly scooping him up and trapping him firmly in his arms. Garmadon has a moment or two of sheer disbelief — of sheer fury, that this boy’s dared to handle him as such—

Before Garmadon remembers that he’s taken the form of a fluffy, scruffy cat, designed perfectly to capture his boy’s pathetic heart, and realizes he probably has no one to blame for this but himself.

**************

The boy is so revoltingly cheerful as he kidnaps Garmadon, he almost debates shifting into a bug and letting the boy step on him, just to put him out of his misery. It’d be more tolerable if the boy would talk about anything useful, but instead he’s just chattering away happily, like yanking some mangy cat off the street is the best thing that’s ever happened in his poor, miserable existence. On one hand, it’s a drastic change from the surly, angry way the boy normally glares at Garmadon, so at least there’s variety. On the other hand, Garmadon would almost rather the boy shout what a terrible person he is than deal with his infuriatingly sunny disposition.

He puts up with it until the boy gets him halfway up the steps of the monastery, at which point Garmadon finally remembers he’s got claws in this form — but by then it’s too late. The boy’s already gotten him this far, and Garmadon resigns himself to his fate as he’s taken inside his brother’s monastery, and immediately greeted by the rest of his irritating little ninja minions.

“Took you long enough, green machine, we almost ate without y— tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

“Um…it’s not what you think it is?” The boy seems entirely unapologetic as he ducks beneath the black ninja’s arm, darting behind the others.

The black ninja groans, and the water ninja speaks up instead. “What is this, the third time this month? Lloyd, you know what Sensei’s said.”

For a moment, Garmadon has a brief burst of hope that his brother has, in a roundabout way, done him a favor for once.

“Aw, c’mon,” the boy says, and Garmadon resists the urge to yowl as he clutches him tighter against his chest. It’s a tempting position, admittedly, as the boy’s neck is right there, nice and exposed. But Garmadon can also see the red ninja eyeing him from across the room, and he does prefer to be un-cooked.

“It’s cold out, and he was wandering all alone by himself!” the boy continues, his eyes plaintive. “I couldn’t just leave him.”

“You could’ve taken it to the shelter,” the blue ninja points out. The boy glares at him.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, Jay.”

“You should be so lucky as to get my opinion.”

“I suppose a night wouldn’t hurt,” the white ninja finally speaks up, rubbing his temple. Garmadon spots the silver-haired nindroid girl behind him, utterly unconcerned with the situation as she taps at her phone. Garmadon decides he likes her best.

“I dunno, Lloyd,” the red ninja mutters, stalking over and glaring at the boy’s hands. “I mean, look, it basically tore your fingers to shreds! And you want to keep it?”

“I’m sure it was just scared,” the boy huffs, casually dabbing at one of the weeping cuts Garmadon managed to score along his hand with the edge of his gi. Garmadon wishes he could snort in this form. Scared. As if his boy is even remotely frightening.

“It’ll just be one night,” the boy continues, fixing the red ninja with his eyes. “Just one little night. Please?”

The red ninja’s expression contorts, and he heaves a sigh. “Yeah, sure. ‘One night’. Haven’t heard that one eighty times before.”

“I mean it this time,” the boy says, patting the red ninja on the shoulder as he triumphantly hauls Garmadon deeper into the monastery with him. To Garmadon’s despair, he catches the look on the red ninja’s face as he goes, that clearly says the boy is lying.

Well, this is a predicament, Garmadon muses. Looking at things pragmatically, though, he did want to get closer to the boy. And this way, he’ll at least have an excellent view into the ongoings of his brothers’ students’ lives. Not that he’s particularly interested, as all they’ve done so far is overcook two separate pots of rice and accidentally set a dishtowel on fire, but there could be…something, of use, for him to spy on eventually.

Or maybe not, Garmadon thinks in despair, as the blue ninja mistakenly zaps the toaster into oblivion, the black one yelping at him as the white one wearily puts out the ensuing fire.  

With a tiny sigh, Garmadon instead watches as his boy sticks brightly-colored bandaids across the half-healing cuts on his hands, without the slightest damper to his sunny expression. He curls up on himself in disappointment. The boy is tougher to crack than he’d expected. Perhaps he should simply resign himself to enduring the next day or so. It can’t be that difficult to tolerate the boy until he’s free.

“I think I’m gonna call him Marbles, for now.”

Never mind. Garmadon’s going to kill him within the night.

**************

The boy survives the night, but only by the slimmest margin of Garmadon’s mercy. Most of this generosity is due to the passable bed the boy makes up for him, as opposed to dragging him into the ninja’s shared room. Had that been the case, Garmadon would have murdered all of them, but fate stayed her hand this time.

This doesn’t answer why Garmadon stays the next two nights as well, however. He tells himself it’s simply because he’s gathering what information he can about the ninja, observing their moves and uncovering their weaknesses. This excuse would probably hold more weight if Garmadon hadn’t napped straight through their practices, and if the only weakness he’s uncovered is that half the ninja can’t cook to save their lives. His boy can, as the food he sneaks Garmadon at least isn’t toxic. Of course, Garmadon’s also currently a cat, which could explain a thing or two, but he isn’t complaining. Yet.

All things considered, though, there’s really no excuse for why Garmadon hasn’t made his escape yet. He ponders this as he slips out the monastery doors late that night, shrugging off his cat form with a grimace, stretching his arms in mild discomfort. Holding a form this long isn’t painful, exactly — and holding the form of a cat is child’s play — but it does get uncomfortable after a while. Garmadon’s just stretching his lower right arm out, scowling as he does, when he hears a quiet intake of breath from behind him.

“Oh.”

Garmadon whirls around, only to come face to face with the nindroid girl, her green eyes wide and glowing in the darkness.

Ah, Garmadon thinks. This could pose a problem.

He stares back at her, momentarily lost. He’s taken a liking to the girl — Pixie, or something, he hasn’t cares much for their names. She’s quieter than the others, and a good deal more perceptive. She also knows how to keep to her own business, a valued trait Garmadon finds painfully lacking in this realm. Unfortunately, she also appears to be quite smart, given the way her eyes narrow on him.

He finally clears his throat, scrambling for anything that will free him from this mess. “Good evening,” he manages. “I was just — leaving, that’s all. Yes, leaving.”

The girl’s silvery hair glints in the moonlight as she tilts her head. “You know, I should tell Lloyd about you.”

Garmadon freezes, panic clouding his brain. A pang of regret sparks in him. Perhaps he’ll have to kill her after all.

“But,” she continues, her eyes gleaming. “Then I would have to deal with the fallout.”

Garmadon feels a flicker of hope.

“Also, by my calculations, it will be vastly more amusing to watch it all unfold,” the girl nods. “Very well. I will keep your secret.”

Well. That went better than he expected. He knew he liked the girl for a reason. Garmadon gives a sharp nod of thanks, and makes to hastily flee the scene before the girl’s voice stops him.

“Oh, and Lord Garmadon?”

There’s a flicker of some odd emotion at the title she’s given him, but Garmadon brushes it off, turning to meet her gaze.

“Hurt them and I’ll end you, of course.” Her voice grows glacial in the span of seconds, and Garmadon, warlord of infinite power and destruction, begins to think he might fear for his life.

“Duly noted,” he swallows.

The girl nods to herself, seemingly satisfied. She pauses, as if considering something, then speaks up again. “Not that I’ve said anything to you,” she says, carefully. “But Lloyd likes to sit out by the pond in the evenings, with the fish.”

Garmadon has no idea where the sudden rush of heat to his face comes from, but he most certainly does not appreciate it. He scowls at her. “Who’s Lloyd?” he snaps.

The girl gives a tiny, quiet sigh. “Someday,” she mutters to herself. “Someday, one of you will see sense.”

**************

Garmadon has no intention of taking the nindroid girl’s advice. He tells himself this, even as he snakes around the boy’s legs near the monastery pond that evening, eyeing him shrewdly. The boy appears a good deal more unguarded than he’s been, dangling his bare feet off the little bridge’s edge as he watches the fish swim. He brightens when he catches sight of Garmadon, making an odd clicking sound with his tongue as he gently pets the back of his head.

Garmadon forces himself to remember that he’s brought this on himself.  

“Sneaking around again, huh?” the boy murmurs. Garmadon stiffens, caught off-guard. The boy’s expression is still relaxed and unguarded, though, so he must be rambling for the sake of talking again.

His boy is an odd one, Garmadon thinks, watching as he tosses tiny food flakes to the goldfish swimming lazily below them.

“I don’t blame you,” the boy continues. “It’s a nice evening to be out. Nothing’s on fire, this time.”

Garmadon doesn’t even want to know.

“I know you probably think I’m hiding again,” the boy sighs. “That’s what Kai’s been saying. But I’m not, really. I just — needed some space, you know? Last mission wasn’t…it wasn’t great.”

Garmadon’s head perks up in interest, his eyes gleaming. So the boy wants to spill information about their missions, does he? This is turning out better than he’d hoped.

Yes, Garmadon thinks gleefully, as the boy rambles on. Tell me all your secrets, you stupid boy. Tell me how I can finally defeat you entirely.

“I mean, it definitely could’ve been worse, like that one time with all the gasoline cans, but still…”

By the end of the hour, all Garmadon’s gathered is that the boy talks entirely too much. He’s apparently self-conscious of the way his eyes change color, but what is Garmadon supposed to do with that one? Make fun of him until his soul is crushed? Unlikely. The boy’s like an elusive bug, attempting to crush him doesn’t end well.

He also learns that the boy cares a good deal about his team, which Garmadon already knows. Everything else is just meaningless chatter, as Garmadon could care less about whatever girl’s left him with residual trauma this time. He does, however, also learn that the boy loves the little goldfish, which he can work with.

“—and I don’t want it to sound like I’m complaining! I’m not, really, but…but it’d just be nice to get a break every once in a while, you know?” The boy trails off with a sigh, scratching absently at one of his ears. Garmadon ignores him, eyeing the fish the boy’s just tossed an extra flake to and preparing to strike the blow.

The boy hums contently. “You know, you’re really not such a bad c— Marbles no, not the goldfish!”

It’s a close battle, but the boy manages to snatch him up before his jaws can close around the fish. Garmadon ends up dragged soaking wet from the koi pond by an equally soaking boy, his blond hair plastered all over his forehead as he scowls, wringing the edge of his gi out with one hand and firmly hauling Garmadon inside with the other. It’s a humiliating picture, he’s sure, but the satisfaction of hearing the boy yelp when Garmadon snatches his towel and runs helps slightly.

**************

Garmadon plans on leaving that night. He does, truly — all he’s gotten for his trouble so far is vague amusement from how idiotic his brother’s students can be, which, while entertaining, is far from useful. There’s nothing keeping him here but the infuriating mess of emotions he feels toward to the boy, like there’s some cursed connection between them, and Garmadon’s not supposed to be acknowledging the existence of that in the first place. So he makes a promise to himself to leave the monastery tonight and never look back. And he’s preparing to do just that, except he makes the fatal mistake of checking on the boy one last time.

He only means to sneer in his direction once more — or as best a cat can sneer — but instead he freezes, watching the boy sniffle quietly in his sleep.

Ah. He’s crying again. Garmadon frowns at the scene. The boy does seem to cry in his sleep quite often, doesn’t he. What does he even have to be crying about, anyways? Except perhaps the time Garmadon put him in a coma, but that was so long ago, surely the boy must’ve gotten over it by now. And granted, there was that time the boy seemed to die for a moment, but he’s clearly still alive, isn’t he?

It could, of course, just be that the boy’s crying about his friends — Garmadon doesn’t understand it, but like he’s seen, the boy cares an awful lot for them. And from what he remembers, the boy’s supposedly lost a few of them…twice now, was it? It’s not like Garmadon keeps up with them, but he knows the boy got them back. Really, he’s got nothing to be crying about at all, Garmadon thinks, haughtily.

The boy’s expression scrunches up in distress, looking the picture of misery where he’s half-tangled in blankets. This sparks an entirely foreign emotion in Garmadon’s cold soul, which he decides must be another level of disappointment in the boy. That doesn’t sound right, of course, because Garmadon is familiar with disappointment, and this emotion isn’t it,  but—

Well, he’s not going to try and figure out what else it could be.

The boy sniffles miserably again, and Garmadon huffs in irritation. Digging his claws into the boy’s bedding, he hauls his cursedly tiny body onto the bed and gingerly picks his way across the tangled blankets, pausing to stare at the boy. Hm. Still crying. He ought to wake up sometime soon, Garmadon thinks, expression furrowing in concern. What if the boy’s so hopelessly pathetic that he cries enough to drown himself in his sleep? Garmadon can’t have that. They’ve still got unfinished business, and the boy can’t be killed by tears when Garmadon’s the only one with the right to that honor.  

Deciding he has no other option, Garmadon pads his way onto the boy’s chest, leans over his face, and licks him on the nose.

The boy’s eyes snap open wide in alarm. He gives a muffled shriek, vaulting backwards as he flails wildly in panic. Garmadon is sent flying, but he’s awarded a perfect view of the way the boy accidentally slams into his own bedpost and goes sprawling to the floor.

Oh, but he wishes he could cackle properly in this form.

It takes the better part of an hour for the boy to convince his friends that he’s not being murdered in his sleep. It takes another half hour to convince them that he’s not in any overwhelming distress, and an additional quarter hour to convince the red ninja that he’s not lying. By the time the boy manages to get them back asleep enough for him to sneak out to the monastery rooftop, Garmadon is fully regretting not having left when he could. At least the open road would have been quiet enough to sleep on.

“Sorry about all that,” the boy apologizes, as he gently sets Garmadon down next to him on the roof. Garmadon sniffs haughtily. As if he’d accept any apology from the boy.

“I don’t normally react like that,” the boy continues, his voice soft and rasping. “Tonight was just — I mean, I don’t normally have nightmares like that.”

Garmadon may not know how the boy’s mind functions, but he knows when the boy is lying. The boy seems to realize it too, pulling his knees to his chest and crossing his arms over them, propping his chin up dejectedly. He’s quiet for a moment, and Garmadon yawns, tail drifting lazily over the rooftop where he sits beside the boy.

After a while, the boy shifts, sitting cross-legged instead as his hands play anxiously with the edge of his nightshirt.

“I guess I just—” The boy cuts off, taking a sharp breath before starting back up again.

“I thought they’d stop, you know?” he mumbles. “Once I got far enough. I mean, I can’t — I can’t have nightmares about it forever, right?”

The boy’s voice cracks in desperation, and he swallows thickly. “If it was — if it was just her, I could maybe — but it’s him, too, and I—”

The boy buries his face in his hands, his shoulders shuddering. Despite his better judgement, Garmadon pads quietly up to him, carefully placing his head atop the boy’s knee. The boy gives a shuddery exhale, pulling his hands from his face. He gives Garmadon a watery smile, reaching a gentle hand toward him again.

“Anyways, I’m sorry I knocked you off the bed. You’re a good listener, for a cat,” the boy says quietly, stroking behind his ear. Garmadon resists making a face.

Stupid boy. Stupid boy and his pathetic emotions, making Garmadon feel like he should stay. He really ought to make sure the boy hasn’t taken up witchcraft as a part time hobby. That would explain things, at least. It would certainly make more sense than Garmadon caring for his boy, or some ridiculous nonsense like that.

…the boy. Not his boy, that would be—

Well, actually, Garmadon muses. That doesn’t sound entirely off. Perhaps, in time, he might—

No, no, no. Before Garmadon can lose his mind entirely, he straightens up, opens his jaws, and snaps down tightly on the boy’s finger.

The boy barely even flinches, giving a weary sigh as he tugs Garmadon away instead, pressing his finger against the edge of his nightshirt. Oh, Garmadon despises him.

**************

“I do, odd robot girl, I truly despise him,” Garmadon gestures furiously, when he’s back in his normal form again. The nindroid girl watches him with blank, unblinking green eyes. “I don’t understand the slightest thing about him. How did I lose to this boy?”

“He’s a decent fighter, when he tries,” the girl shrugs.

Garmadon glares at her. “That isn’t my problem!” he hisses. “I don’t know why I’m still here.”

The girl eyes him, carefully. “Then leave.”

Garmadon opens his mouth, then shuts it tightly. He crosses all four arms, trying to find a response that won’t make him sound foolish. The girl snorts, rolling her eyes.

“Here’s an idea,” she says. “How about, instead of stalking your estranged son in the form of a domestic house pet, you have a normal conversation with him instead. As yourself.”

Garmadon scoffs. “That’s the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard,” he sneers. “If he sees me walking up with a sword he’ll attack me immediately.”

The nindroid rolls her eyes again, which Garmadon would take severe offense to if she wasn’t in a position to blow his cover at any moment. “Then don’t bring a sword?”

“You make no sense,” Garmadon frowns. “What am I supposed to fight him with, then?”

The girl blinks at him, long and slow, then pinches the bridge of her nose. “FSM, help me,” she murmurs.

“And even if I get past that, what am I supposed to say to him, anyways?” Garmadon demands. “I put him in a coma once, should I just gloss over that?”

“Perhaps avoid bringing it up quite as much, if you know what’s good for you,” she clips tightly. She sighs, seemingly steadying herself. “I’ve heard they make cards.”

Garmadon tilts his head. “For putting someone in a coma?”

The girl looks as if she’d like to put herself in a coma. Or him, Garmadon can’t quite tell.

“…maybe a cake, instead?”

Perhaps they’d both be better off in a coma, Garmadon thinks despairingly.

“I can’t go on like this,” he finally says. “I can’t live the rest of my life as the boy’s cat. I’d sooner end myself. If I’m going to…confront him, I have to abandon this form."

“You can’t just disappear,” the nindroid girl tells him, sternly. “You’ll break Lloyd’s heart.”

“If I continue to remain in this form, I’m going to break a lot more than that,” Garmadon retorts.

The girl sighs, rubbing her temples briefly. “Aright, fine. I am going to have a friend,” she says. “That suddenly is in desperate, longing need of a cat. This request will coincidentally come right as Sensei Wu sends the ninja out on a week-long mission. Lloyd will be disappointed, but common sense should ensure that he does not break his heart over the loss.”

She pauses, her eyebrows furrowing. “I hope.”

“Very well, then,” Garmadon nods. “I will conveniently disappear, and decide the best course of action for exchanging words with the boy. And I will…consider leaving my sword behind.”

“FSM help me,” the girl mutters again. Garmadon takes that as distinct approval for his plan, and begins to make his escape, basking in the relief of leaving his ridiculous cat form behind.

Hm. He pauses. His boy will be quite disappointed to find his cat vanished. He’ll probably shed more useless tears over it, actually. Not that Garmadon feels any guilt over that, but he does feel an uncomfortable kind of twist in his gut, that might vaguely resemble regret.

He turns back to the girl, hesitating. She looks at him curiously. “Make sure the boy doesn’t drown himself in his sleep,” Garmadon tells her. “He tends to cry a lot.”

The girl’s mouth falls open, and she blinks rapidly. “I — alright.”

Garmadon nods to himself, satisfied. Now, he can take his leave in peace. He has a conversation to plan.

**************

In the end, Garmadon has no earthly idea why he’s taking some nindroid’s advice. It’s terrible advice, really, and yet here he is, on his brother’s monastery doorstep, without even an apology cake in hand.

So he didn’t take her advice entirely, perhaps. He’s not in his cat form, at least. No, this time he’s determined to confront the boy face to face, and no longer being shorter than the boy will greatly improve matters.

Steeling himself, Garmadon knocks gingerly on the monastery door, feeling rather foolish. Smashing the doors in with a blast of purple power would be much more to his liking, but he suspects that might not be the best way to approach the boy. Not unless he’s looking to get yelled at, again.

The quiet sound of footsteps echoes from beyond the walls, and the doors finally swing open. Garmadon is met with the familiar features of his boy, now properly half his height, where he belongs. Excellent, Garmadon thinks. This will make things much simpler.

“Ah, good,” he greets him. “It’s you.”

The boy looks as if he's been frozen on the spot. He stares at Garmadon with his mouth half-open, his hand paused on the door handle. Garmadon frowns at him.

“Is something wrong with your face?” Come to think of it, the boy’s eyes do look terribly wide. Perhaps he’s been poisoned? Garmadon wouldn’t doubt it, with how careless the boy can be.

The boy makes a strangled sound, and his hand falls limply from the doorknob. “I-I-you—” He cuts off, shaking his head and blinking, as if Garmadon is a mirage. “You’re…here. You’re here?”

“Yes,” Garmadon’s frown deepens. “Obviously.”

The boy stares at him for another beat, before jerking himself back into motion. “Oh, r-right,” he stammers, knitting his hands together anxiously. He looks half as if he wants to run for his sword, and half as if he wants to run himself through with his sword. “You, uh, can I…was there something? You needed? Is something wrong?”

The boy’s expression suddenly dissolves into panic. “Wait, they’re not back, are they?” he asks frantically. “The Oni? Because I thought we—”

“What? No, the Oni aren’t back, don’t be ridiculous,” Garmadon rolls his eyes. “You’re as dramatic as your uncle.”

“I, um, okay.” The boy looks frustrated with himself. Garmadon figures he has reason to, with how his mouth seems to be malfunctioning. Normally the boy is much better at stringing words together. Garmadon dismisses the concern, speaking up again.

“You’re also very annoying,” he tells him, bluntly.

The boy blinks, looking taken aback. Garmadon continues before he can form a retort. “See, I should’ve just killed you, and then you wouldn’t be so annoying, but the thing is, I don’t really want to kill you.”

The boy gives an odd, choking cough. Garmadon hopes he hasn’t actually been poisoned, as it’s looking more likely by the second. He decides to hurry on with his point, just in case.

“Yes, it’s quite irritating. Do you have any idea why that might be?”

“Why you — why you don’t…want to kill me?”

“No, weren’t you listening?” Garmadon snaps. He pauses, considering. “Well, yes, that too. But what I meant was if you knew why I feel like I’m connected to you.”

“Con-connected,” the boy repeats, slowly. Something painfully hopeful bursts across his expression, before he violently wrestles it back to careful caution. “You…feel connected, to me?”

“That’s what I just said,” Garmadon huffs. “Are you sure you’re listening? It seems like you aren’t.”

“No, I am, I just—” The boy rubs a hand across his face, looking slightly dizzy. “I, um. Okay,  connected. Well, I mean,” the boy swallows, staring intently at the ground. “I wa—am, kind of, your son.” The last bit comes out in a whisper, and Garmadon barely catches it. He pauses, mulling that over.

“Yes, you’re right,” Garmadon admits. “I do suppose that could have something to do with it.”

The boy makes another strangled sound, as if his brain has broken. Perhaps it’s not poison, and he’s taken too many hits to the head again? If that’s the case, Garmadon should probably come back later, when the boy can think straight. Or at least form a full sentence.

“Well, this has been very enlightening,” he remarks, brusquely. “I’ll be leaving now.”

“O-oh,” the boy’s expression falls.

“Yes, I’ve had a long week,” Garmadon continues. “We will have to continue our conversation another time.”

The boy’s eyes go wide, his mouth falling open. It’s becoming a common expression on him, Garmadon observes. “W-we will?”

Garmadon nods. “Within the next week or two, at latest.”

The boy’s making that strangled sound again. Garmadon really should be on his way, so the boy can fix whatever’s gone wrong with him. “Goodbye, then,” he says shortly, before stalking away. He gets about three steps down before that odd feeling hits him again, and Garmadon hesitates, warring with himself. He finally sighs, turning back around.

“Oh, and boy,” he calls. “Go to bed earlier. Or at least stop waiting until you’re asleep to cry. It can be dangerous, you know.”

The boy makes a wheezing sound, like he’s been punched, and his eyes all but leave his head with how wide they are. Garmadon returns to making his way down the steps, confident in the knowledge that he has, at least, imparted some wisdom.

He does glance back one last time at the boy, and immediately has to bite back a laugh. The boy opens his mouth once, fails to make any sound, then slumps back against the door frame, sinking to the doorstep with his head in his hands, staring blankly at the ground like it’s hit him in the face with a shovel.

“Hey Lloyd, did you find out who was at the do — woah, Lloyd, are you okay?!”

Garmadon doesn’t restrain the laugh this time, shaking his head. Ah, he might be a soft-hearted fool, but his boy is quite the amusing one.