#like wu or garmadon or lloyd and the other ninja. but i always see people regarding koko as a completely different character

[guplia]

My eighth fic for @badthingshappenbingo!

Fandom: Ninjago

Trope: Enemy Turned Caretaker

Inspired by this fic

Also available on AO3!

Fatherless

Kai collapsed on his bed the night Lloyd defeated the Overlord and his father. Who knew Garmadon would come back drained of all the evil in his blood? Kai was happy for him and his family. Lloyd, who thought he would never see his mother and only bring his father back by becoming evil himself mere months ago, now had both his parents, and his uncle, who were all very good people. Kai would hate to admit it though, but it made him feel… kind of jealous.

Out of the ninja team, Kai and Zane related more to each other because they never knew their parents. Jay would visit both of his own sometimes, and Cole had recently made amends with his father, though he never spoke of his mother. But later Zane reunited with his father too. Kai was happy for him, but now he was alone again. There was still Lloyd, though. He had his mother and his uncle, but not his father. But here Garmadon was today, alive and well.

He tried to sleep it off. At least he had Nya. In the end, all the ninja had their biological family, and that was enough for everyone. Right?

***

His thoughts got worse as time passed on. 

Today, Kai and the others were helping to rebuild a house that had been destroyed in the final battle. He was talking to the other ninja and Garmadon when Lloyd told his father something he didn’t understand, and they started laughing. It was an inside joke. Just two weeks ago, Lloyd was trying to kill this guy. And now they’re laughing with each other like old friends, like soulmates. 

Kai didn’t realise he was staring at them for so long until Nya tapped his shoulder. “You okay there? You seem a little distant from the rest of us.”

Kai shook his head frantically. “I do? Everything’s fine! I’m just a little overwhelmed from the Final Battle, isn’t everyone?” He chuckled nervously.

Nya raised an eyebrow, clearly sceptical of Kai, but shrugged it off and carried on with her work.

That night, Kai had a horrible nightmare. Garmadon was evil again, and Lloyd was hugging Kai for protection.

“I thought you were my father!” Lloyd screamed. “I thought you loved me!”

Garmadon smiled wickedly. “I have no son.” He moved his arm forward to grab Lloyd but Kai pushed his arm back.

“You dare interfere with our battle?” Garmadon yelled. He suddenly grabbed Kai's neck and lifted him off the floor. Lloyd was crying in contrast to Garmadon's laughs. 

Kai woke up, drenched in sweat, which was ironic considering his body temperature was always above normal, being the master of fire and all.

He recalled how Lloyd and Garmadon were laughing with each other just that afternoon, and the thought of Garmadon secretly still being evil made his stomach churn. But he had no proof that the guy who was once his enemy is still his enemy. So he went back to sleep, silently hoping that he would have a better dream, if any.

***

About a couple weeks later, Jay's parents had come to visit their son. Dr. Julien had fallen quite ill so Zane was taking care of him elsewhere. Cole's dad was going to pick him up to take him somewhere too. 

Kai ate his breakfast with Cole and Nya, none of them saying anything. Cole had the decency not to talk about whatever his father had planned for the two of them in front of the siblings who hadn't seen their parents in over a decade. 

Kai was wondering where Lloyd had gone, but he reckoned that he was probably out with his parents too. 

Or maybe just his father, because Wu and Misako were outside in the garden talking about scrolls and prophecies and their past or some other shit. 

Kai walked to his room and curled up on his bed, having vivid thoughts of his parents. They were looking at him, smiling.

The only thing that stopped tears from coming out of his eyes was the sound of someone knocking on the door. 

“Come in!” Kai said, wiping his eyes to make sure that they were completely dry. The door opened, revealing his sister.

“Sensei Garmadon's asking us if we want to go for a ride around Ninjago City. We'll even make a few stops here and there.”

Kai's eyes widened. “He wants to take us for a trip? But why?”

“I don't know. Just take it or leave it, I guess.”

“Are you going?”

“Yeah. I don't really have anything to do here anyways.”

“Then I'll go too.” Kai wanted to trust Garmadon, but months of trying to defeat him couldn't go ignored. Or the fact that he literally kidnapped Nya once. He needed to convince himself that this was not the same Garmadon. This was a better Garmadon, one that chose to be on the good side.

He got out of the room with Nya, where they saw Lloyd and his father. 

“Kai!” Garmadon said gleefully. “Have you decided to join us too?”

“Sure,” he smiled. “Thanks for inviting us.”

“It's nothing. I figured you and Nya would be left alone here, and it's not like Misako and Wu are very fun people, are they?”

The Smith siblings chuckled a bit, not really having a response to that question. There was no need to disrespect the wife and brother of the person who just invited them for a trip around Ninjago.

“We'll be taking the bus, which should take us about five minutes to get to. Just grab whatever you need, maybe use the bathroom, and then we'll leave!”

A while later, the four of them were at the bus station. Kai stayed close to Nya, but kept a distance from Lloyd and Garmadon, not wanting to get into their personal business. The bus ride was quite similar. 

They looked out of the window, before the bus stopped at the mall.

“We're just here to grab some food,” Garmadon assured them. “unless there's something else you two want?”

“No thanks,” they both said in unison. 

Once everyone had ordered their food, Garmadon paid for all of it, despite Kai and Nya's insistence that they pay for it instead. It made Kai feel a little guilty.

When they had reached the next bus, and ate their food, Kai and Nya weren't sure of where they were heading. The fire ninja hoped it wasn't a theme park, because his stomach was beginning to hurt. Maybe the food wasn't so good. Garmadon broke the silence.

“Since Lloyd was so brave for being the Golden Ninja and defeating me, I let him choose the treat. So today, we're going on a cruise ship!”

Those words brought a smile to Nya's face but Kai's expression was drenched in horror. He wasn't the biggest fan of water, and while he could tolerate it on a normal day, he was already sick enough right now.

“Are you okay, Kai?” Garmadon asked.

“You don't look so good,” Lloyd chimed in.

“Yeah, yeah… I'm fine.” He faked a smile.

As soon as they got off the bus, Nya spoke up. “Can Kai and I… have a moment to ourselves please?” She asked politely.

“Sure.”

She pulled Kai away from the Garmadons, making sure they couldn't hear them. “What is wrong with you? Why's your attitude suddenly gotten worse?” 

“Nya, I feel sick. I don't think the food was very clean. And you know how I don't really like water, right?” Nya's expression changed upon hearing what her brother said.

“Well, we're obviously not going to ruin Lloyd's trip! Just man up and let's go! You're a ninja for crying out loud!”

Kai didn't want to argue. On the ship a few minutes later, he couldn't stop looking at the sea. The trip hadn't even started yet, but the ship was still shaking and it made Kai sick. He started vomiting heavily. Nya came rushing behind him.

“Kai! Are you okay!”

“I can't do this,” he said between heaves. “It's too scary! I'm getting off. You should go without me.”

“That'll make me look horrible! You know what, we both won't go on the cruise trip. Well let Lloyd and his dad go alone.”

They walked towards the other two, who were on the other side of the ship. “Kai and I need to go,” Nya said. “but we hope you enjoy your trip!”

“Why? What's wrong?” Lloyd asked, puzzled.

“Kai's just feeling–”

“I'm a bit seasick. And I probably ate something bad,” he interrupted. “But I don't want to ruin your trip. I'll just wait here.”

Garmadon gave an understanding look. “That's okay. We can go back home now.”

“W-what?” Kai stammered. “No way! Those tickets must've been expensive!”

“It's not that much!” Lloyd said. “Besides, the tickets are valid for six months. I can go anytime I want to.”

“But you really wanted to go–”

“Your opinion matters too, Kai,” Garmadon interrupted. “It matters just as much as Nya's, and Lloyd’s.”

“You may not see me as a father figure,” he said. “But you're just like my children to me. You treated Lloyd like your brother, and for that I am forever grateful. I wasn't really sure how to show it to you two, so I brought you both to come along with Lloyd and I.” he paused. “But if it makes you feel uncomfortable you can tell me.”

As he spoke, memories flashed through Kai's mind. How he lost his parents at such a young age. How all the other ninja knew their parents. Then he remembered how protective Garmadon was as his son, even when he was evil. He cared for him more than anything else in the world. And now he's of equal importance.

It brought tears to his eyes. He tried to stop them but they kept flowing, like the blood from a fresh wound. He turned around to hide his face from the others but it was already too late.

“You okay there, Kai?” Garmadon asked.

“Yeah,” he rasped. “Sorry, I'm being such a baby–”

“You're not being a baby, Kai.” Lloyd interrupted. “It's okay to have feelings. That's what makes us human.” He ran to Kai and hugged him, with Nya and Garmadon following suit.

He kept sobbing until he suddenly pushed the other three away.

“Kai! What was that for?” Nya said, annoyed by her brother.

Kai leaned over the railing and started throwing up all over again. It wouldn't stop this time.

“There, there,” Garmadon said, patting his back. “I think we should go home now. You're clearly seasick.”

***

Back home, Garmadon gave Kai some anti nausea medication while he rested in bed. The food had brought the worst out of him and now he had a fever.

That night Kai finally accepted the fact that Garmadon was no longer evil as he took care of him.

“You don't need to do anything, you know.” Kai said as he shivered in bed. “I can take care of myself.”

“Well, I'm not going to do nothing while you suffer,” was Garmadon's response as he placed a cool cloth on Kai's forehead. “besides, you can barely stand up.”

Kai thought for a moment, before speaking again. “I'm sorry for ruining your trip.”

“Again, Kai, there's nothing to apologise for.” Garmadon said as he stood up. “We're family.” He got up and turned off the lights. “Goodnight, Kai.”

“Goodnight.”

***

Years later, as Kai looked at Lloyd's fragile body, unsure of if he'll even survive, he was in complete denial that the man who once called himself as both of their father, had almost killed Lloyd after saying: “I have no son.”

[emerald-cloud23]

what if koko from the movie is actually called misako but because she's seemingly much younger than show misako she goes by koko because she prefers being called that?

[frostystorm12]

Ethereal AU ~ Lloyd

oh god the quality is bothering me so much

this is quite funny to me when people say these Ninjago characters are like their OCs- well, let me go on a tangent. Lloyd (Arnau) is pretty much my oc LMAO

I was gonna go into my corruption AU, which slides right into my Ethereal AU. So for the full picture, let me start with this. A good person to start explaining with is Lloyd!

So Lloyd's real name is "Arnau". It's the biological name of his elemental soul. In this universe, all fields of nature can reincarnate - so every original Elemental Master is the embodiment of their natural element. Unlike the others, Lloyd's always been called by this name, Arnau, as it became his legal name because Wu told Misako about it. (These biological names are also used by the ninja during missions, but it is seen as disrespectful to use in other regards.)

These names help the ninja connect with their elements.

Garmadon and Wu are embodiments, deities of Darkness and Light. They have no parents in this AU, and aren't biological brothers, though they see each other as such. Garmadon evolved from the Oni realm, while Wu evolved from the Dragon realm. They were adopted by the FSM.

So technically, Lloyd was born half-human and half-oni, though, to protect Lloyd from Corruption, Wu used his powers to give a part of himself to Lloyd, giving him Dragon blood.

Niko is just Lloyd's pet raccoon, lol. He found him in the jungle. (A not-so-great place to find a raccoon.)

ANOTHER MAJOR THING FOR THIS AU: Lloyd never aged from that potion. He is canonically a year younger than Nya, and three years younger than the rest of the Ninja. When releasing the Serpentine, Lloyd was old enough to know what he was doing, but too young to understand the consequences of his actions - hence making him a redeemed-ish Anti-Hero?

Despite this, the ninja still see Lloyd as their little brother :)

[naofaun]

i see people asking what morro's appeal to the fandom is, and after some thought, i think i realised what it is.

it's the tragedy of his entire story, from start to finish. the helplessness of it all, the grief, the longing, the parts of your past that haunt you forever (ghost pun not intended).

you look at morro and you don't see the big scary monster that the writers painted him as. you see a boy, a child, who spent his entire life pursuing one single goal that was just barely out of reach. you see a child who died for that goal suffocated in toxic fumes, who lost his home and family and safety for that goal.

we don't know why he was cursed. but as if he hadn't been through enough agony, as if the world hadn't broken this child enough, he wound up in a realm flooded with evil. his mind couldn't handle the trauma of what happened. as if he wasn't fixated enough, his desire became stronger.

he wanted nothing more than to prove himself.

you can see it in the way he talks and acts. he doesn't care about taking over. he doesn't care about the preeminent's goals. if anything, dying in that cave on that night made him all the more determined to prove himself worthy.

he had so much anger, so much terrible sadness in him that he didn't know what to do with it. he had to blame someone. the only person he could reasonably reflect his agony onto was sensei wu, the only man to ever help him.

he came back to ninjago years and years later. the person who got the green gi was no more than a little boy, who had never been trained like he was. who never spent years and years of his life pursuing this goal, dedicating everything to it. hell, he didn't even want it?

even his defeat was tragic. you can see him panicking, doing everything he can to escape destiny. destiny will always wrap its chains around him once more though, because he was finally dragged down to the depths. once more, he would fail his goal. once more, he would watch everything he dedicated himself to simply fade away before his very eyes.

he could have saved himself. he could have taken wu's hand, dragged himself onto that dragon and started a new life.

but he didn't want to. i love the “morro takes wu’s hand and redeems himself” aus as much as the next person, but he didn't want to. he made the active decision to shove the crystal in wu's hand and let death take him once more.

because in the end, he'd lost so much that living wasn't worth it anymore. his goal was never going to be achievable. he was never going to be truly happy. he never learned how to stop and appreciate life, how to love himself and reach his true sense of self like the rest of the ninja.

he died before he could reach his true potential, guys. that dragon was not his, it was lloyd’s. he died before he even got the chance.

unlike the ninjago villains both before and after him, morro has genuine emotion and life to his story. he's not bad for the sake of being bad. he's not just another enemy for lloyd garmadon to defeat. he's a kid who got in over his head, who wasted away trying to break free of his own fate. and he failed.

if anyone reading this has seen day of the departed, then you know morro came back only long enough to warn sensei wu of what was coming for him. the other villains immediately picked up their weapons and scurried off to cause mayhem for the sake of it, but morro was different. he changed. he let go of his grief and accepted his role in the world.

he helped the ninja despite his prior hatred for them (although i truly believe it was jealousy fueled by insecurity and grief, not hatred). sure, he taunted wu a little at first, but you could tell that it was nothing more than a little fun. he was a boy again, he was okay again. there was no reason for him to hurt anyone. he's moved on.

no one knows what happened to him in the departed realm, or why he healed and the other villains didn't. i don't think i want to know, though. it doesn't matter. all that matters is the fact that he's better now.

so, yes. unlike the other ninjago villains, morro’s story is so painfully and breathtakingly human. he has emotion and development that no other antagonist like him got to have. or at least, it certainly didn't feel as raw as his did.

[kindaasrikal]

I FINISHED MY ZANE DRAWING

He was originally not gonna have pants cause i didnt find it weird since he is still a metal man, but then i realised others might take it a bit weirdly so i had to quickly add pants 😭

ANYWAYS BACKGROUND:

Zane is known to sacrifice himself for those he cares about, and it shows how deeply protective he is of his team/family. In an AU, if that protectiveness got a bit too strong…mixed a bit too much with his care…he becomes secretly obsessive. He stalks the ninja when away from him and is constantly keeping tabs on them, his relationship with them is similar to canon, but he always makes sure to know where they are and their health. None of the ninja, including Pixal and Wu, have any idea of this going on, and they never will.

He watched over the ninja (plus Pixal and Wu) in a little area in his room, and watches memories and current events they’re going through daily. His love for them all is platonic (romantic for Pixal), and as much as he is aware that watching-stalking- his family is not normal nor okay, he does it since he only ever ensures he knows what they are doing at all times, and that isn’t too bad, right?

(Wrong, its still bad, Zane just worried and cares too much to bring himself to stop)

In this AU, if his team were to find out, i feel like they’d be concerned but accepting. Like bro it’s ZANE, they trust him more than anyone. They put limits to it and rules, but other than that they let him keep doing it. In fact, this allows them to freely do the possibly stalker-ish activities they do freely.

Kai says that sometimes he tracks or follows then when he’s worried.

Nya bugged everyone’s gi with recording and tracking devices. She listens to conversations sometimes if shes suspicious (read: worried).

Jay has books on all of the ninja, and the notes are deeply personal and downright creepy.

Cole hunts down everyone one of team mates might’ve met or known, acts like he accidentally bumped into them, and slowly weeds information out of them related to them as a person and their intentions. If they’re a close friend to his teammate/s, he gets information out about their interactions of conversations.

Lloyd follows everyone. Whilst Kai probably jumps from buildings, and leaves after knowing it’s ok (most of the time), Lloyd follows on ground with a disguise. He learns the others interests and picks then up himself to bond with them, not realising that picking up the exact same comic jay just touched and hugging it whilst thinking Jay would love him if he got this and read it is kinda creepy.

Pixal bugs all of their tech, she knows every location, every conversation, and has many recordings. She never checks them though. What she does do is read their conversations through text, she likes gathering information about the ones she loves, and likes the drama that pops up sometimes.

Wu is normal, he’s like an overbearing dad who just interrogates his team with gentle words and they spill. Either that or he already knows, by guessing.

And because i need to add Morro to everything, Wu is overbearing because of not knowing everything Morro does because if he did he might’ve been able to prevent what happens.

And when Morro was younger, he used to hide behind corners and watch people, never letting them know he’s there. He never followed them, but if he’s already there and he sees you, he’s watching you in a corner until either has to leave or you do.

But thats child Morro, ghost (cursed realm) Morro pulls a Zane and watches people, so does Garmadon in the departed realm.

BUT RESURRECTED MORRO?

Yeah, he’s the only normal one. After everything he just became tame and couldn’t care anymore. He was a bit freaked out when Lloyd comes up to him two weeks later and says “you rlly like reading about horror stories, right?” Because they both have been avoiding each other and only had five normal conversations, and not a single one was casual, so how the heck did Lloyd know that.

Anyways that was fun :>

[thecatundertheladder]

So with my Fsm lives au (which you can find here) I've decided the logistics of Wu and Garmadon and how Fsm might appear to them.

Basically a few decades (?) before Lloyd is born the Fsm disappears completely from Ninjago. Prior to this they tell Wu and Garmadon that he has something to take care of and as a result won't be overly available to talk to them or meet in person. Wu and Garmadon then don't see or hear from them until Lloyd is born where he makes a brief appearance to meet baby Lloyd, after which they fuck off again.

Now Wu and Garmadon don't see this as concerning at all. I mean they're immortal beings, a few decades isn't all that long to them (and I hc that the Fsm has really poor time management when it comes to other people so Wu and Garmadon are probably used to this sort of thing).

Fast forward to Garmadon getting banished and Fsm is trying to his best to not interfere with his children seemingly fighting to the death (they know that can't and won't kill each other, I mean he knew something like this was going to happen after all, but those are his babies! why do they have to let this happen) so when Garmadon gets banished to the underworld he's immediately relieved because it means they've stopped fighting.

(Later as they start to think over the implications of Garmadon getting banished he has a panic attack because there's no way this guy doesn't have anxiety)

After the fight he goes down to the underworld to find Garmadon unconscious and heavily injured from the fall and the lightning strike. Fsm stabilises garmadon, triggering a partial transformation into his Oni side, and then immediately fucks off again because 'oh shit the prophecy's beginning'

(Garmadon is vaguely aware that someone healed him after he fell. He has his suspicions as to who but nothing is ever confirmed)

Later when Wu's wallowing in sadness Fsm goes around and cleans the monastery and puts meals out for Wu to eat and generally helps him out but since Garmadon's banishment to the underworld was prophesised they can't really talk to Wu about it and comfort him. But Wu is aware that he is there and they'll talk about random things together.

He does, however, leave again once Wu shows signs of being able to take care of himself again.

Fsm starts showing up and talking to Wu again soon after he finds Cole, but it's never to comment on what might be coming next or even about how his student's training is going (that doesn't stop Wu from bragging about their accomplishments though), it's always inane stuff like 'Mystake's making me go therapy Wu can you believe it' or 'Kai fell in a ditch while trying to impress a girl. No I'm not stalking them Wu I'm just making sure they're safe'.

The ninja can't see them full stop though.

But the point of this long winded post was that Wu, being slightly less involved in the prophecy is fully aware that his father is just kind of there sometimes, but Garmadon, who is a key player, is not (he does have some suspicions however).

[alienpersonnn]

I have a few ninjago hc so imma just share 'em here

When kai was little he would steal from other people for food and/or money and he'd get into a lot of trouble most of the time

On one of jays birthdays, his parents gave him a pair of goggles, they were hand made but they were actually really good and durable. Jay still keeps them and whenever he wants to make something he'd always use those goggles until it got really rusty (he still keeps them tho)

Nelson is the postmans grandson. Idk why i came up with that but oh well

The postman is fully aware that he's in a show and that the ninjas are the main characters, hence why he broke the 4th wall by saying "see you in the next season" (he was just doing it for fun since he doesn't really get to show up screen often)

The ninjas always asks zane to make ice of their drinks and at some point zane was tired of it and froze the entire glass

You can cook stuff on kais skin

Lloyd, master wu and garmadon have naturally pointy ears cuz of the oni blood. The ninjas think they looked like elves especially when lloyd grew out his hair

Kai's really good at styling hair cuz he had to raise nya; He really enjoyed styling his sisters hair until she wanted to cut it. When nya grew out her hair again kai would scold her for not taking care of it cuz it would always be a tangled mess. He would also take care of lloyds hair sometimes

Cole likes gardening and would sometimes talk about plants with zane and how to take care of them

Jay plays rhythm games! Like phigros, arcea, lanota, over rapid, etc etc. He got lloyd to play them too so sometimes they'd compete with each other by playing the same song and seeing who's score is higher

Zane is a willwood fan, his favorite album is the normal album and his favorite song is willard

Kai wears merch of himself

That's all i have rn, i might come up with more so yee

[jamjuice04]

Sooo saw the one where Lloyd get's wrecked by his dad and uncle

And the saw the last bit where Lloyd was like "what about the others?"

Soo are we getting a prt two

ideas:

Kai still has trust issues w/ some ppl. SG fins out

So does Cole after the whole thing where his father neglected him. SG finds out.

Ohohohohooh thank you for feeding the Garmadad side of my brain!! I hope this answers both asks ^^

Kai was… quieter around him, Garmadon noticed. He was quieter around Wu as well, but not to the same extent. With Wu, it seemed to be more out of respect. With him, well, he wasn’t exactly unused to people looking at him and seeing a warlord. But to have one of his students look at him that way… it left a bad taste in his mouth.

He couldn’t blame the boy, of course. Kai was still a child, and he’d been even younger when Garmadon had ordered his Skulkins to kidnap his little sister. The boy was fiercely protective, like him, and may still be holding a grudge or just lingering suspicion. Perhaps that was why he wanted to build trust with Kai so badly. He reminded him of himself.

Lost in thought, Garmadon’s feet carried him to the training room. It was already occupied by Kai, interestingly enough. It was usually around the time of day the ninja trained on their own. He watched the Fire Ninja slam an elbow into one of the hanging bags, whirling around to hit it before it could swing back.

“Good form,” Garmadon said, setting his staff to the side. He could see areas where Kai needed improvement, but opening with something critical usually hurt more than it helped. Kai nodded an acknowledgment and then went back to training.

“I’d like to talk to you when you have a moment,” Garmadon said.

He saw Kai’s brow furrow slightly, but he hit the bag a few more times and then stepped away from it. “Sure. What’s up?”

There was no use in mincing words. “You don’t trust me.”

Kai’s lips twisted slightly, and he scrutinized Garmadon. “I trust you not to kill us. It’s not really personal, just…”

“You don’t need to explain,” Garmadon said. “I understand. But if you’re open to it, I’d like to build some trust with you.”

“Good luck with that,” Kai snorted. “Trust falls are stupid. Outside of combat, I don’t think there are any activities that could force trust to be formed. And if you put us into a fight to try and accomplish that, it’ll just backfire.”

“It’s not about forcing it,” Garmadon assured him. “But if you insist. It’s not something I learned training along side Wu. I learned this exercise from a different part of my life. It’s a little more hands on, and there’s always a chance for you to turn the tables.”

“Turn the tables?” Kai asked, raising an eyebrow. “Alright, fine. I’ll hear you out.”

“It’s a game of sorts,” Garmadon said. “You stay still for… hm, thirty seconds? And if you can do that, you win something.”

“Win what?” Kai asked, intrigued.

“Your choice.”

The Fire Ninja stroked his chin, thinking. “You have to do my chores for a week. No, a month.”

Of course. Garmadon rolled his eyes fondly. “Fair enough. Ready to begin?”

“Try me,” Kai grinned.

Garmadon took the first ten or so seconds to stroll around Kai, eyeing him for weaknesses. The boy was clearly tensing for a fight, which left quite a few vital spots closed off. But not many could hide every weakness. He poked a finger into Kai’s flanks, wiggling until he jumped away.

The Fire Ninja rubbed his back, eyes narrowing slightly. “What was that?”

“You losing the game,” Garmadon said, grinning slightly. “Would you like to try again?”

“What, so it’s some kind of stupid- I don’t know, tickle game?” Kai blustered.

“It’s a form of trust building,” Garmadon said, shrugging.

“Or trust breaking,” Kai said. “What if I hate being tickled?”

“Then you don’t have to play,” Garmadon said gently. “I won’t force you. This is not meant to be unpleasant.”

Kai visibly wrestled with his ego and his competitive streak. One on hand, it felt beyond wrong to expose such a stupid weakness to Garmadon. On the other hand, no chores for a month…

“Fine,” Kai groused, folding his arms. “Do your worst.”

Circling around behind Kai seemed like a good way to make him feel like he was being attacked, so Garmadon decided to stay where he could see him. He stepped up to the boy, and began worming his fingers under Kai’s arms. The Fire Ninja immediately began to fidget, grin spreading across his face. This was a bad spot, if he had a guess.

The second Kai moved enough to warrant a loss, he tried to kick at Garmadon’s hands. He blocked it, stepping out of range. “Too much?”

“No- I mean- it’s not fair,” Kai said, folding his arms. “I think it should be something more like… if I can beat you I win, not if I can’t move.”

“I’m alright with that,” Garmadon said. Kai lunged again, aiming a spinning kick at his head.

“Ah, a fighter.” Garmadon ducked past a punch, batting Kai’s wrist away and jabbing him in the side. “Very good offense, Kai.”

“Hey!” Kai tried to dart behind him, but Garmadon spun just as fast and caught his hands before he could return the pokes. Kai wrenched free, and they continued to spar until the Fire Ninja grew tired of his dodging and tried to knock him over. Garmadon caught him under the shoulder and widened his stance, keeping his footing. But Kai managed to wriggle his fingers into his ribs, and he jumped back with a snort.

“I am telling all the guys about this,” Kai grinned. “No more sunrise exercise.”

“You will not,” Garmadon said, and grabbed his arm to pull him into a hold where he could easily tickle him. Kai wriggled, kicking and trying to free his arms, but snickers were beginning to escape him.

When Garmadon’s fingers began to climb his ribs, Kai began to laugh, trying to bring his arms down. “Nohoho fahahair!”

“Older brother to older brother, I believe it’s perfectly fair,” Garmadon said. “Don’t try and tell me you haven’t done the same to Nya.”

“AhahahaHAHA NOHOHO!” Kai tried to drop out of his arms when his fingers dug into his underarms.

“So you haven’t tickled her?” Garmadon asked. He clawed gently at Kai’s sides, deciding to save that for later and give the boy his arms back.

“I hahahave, buhuhut I’m nihihice!”

“Are you?” Garmadon asked, arching an eyebrow. “Mischievous younger siblings are fun to knock down a peg.”

“Truhuhue,” Kai giggled, trying to fold his arms down so he couldn’t access his underarms, but it was hard to do when he was also trying to stop his hands.

“Speaking of, Wu and I are a bit concerned about you all,” Garmadon said. “Lloyd’s tolerance to this is a bit low.”

“Good to know,” Kai snickered, sliding onto the floor. “Next time he tries to steal from my candy stash I know what to do.” He put a foot in Garmadon’s stomach to push him back.

“You misunderstand. This is a test,” Garmadon grinned. He grabbed Kai’s leg and lifted him off the ground, digging a hand into his underarms.

“You said this was a gahahame nohohohOHOHO!”

“And you are currently not scoring well,” Garmadon continued. “Mm, better than Lloyd I suppose. Still, for someone with a little sister like Nya, I honestly expected you to at least resist more.”

Kai kicked at him with his free leg, twisting and trying to shake his hand out of his underarm. “NAHAHAHA PUHUT MEHE DOHOHOWN!”

“No,” Garmadon said warmly. “But I suppose you might be getting dizzy from being upside down. Of course, your training is supposed to help with that? Have you not been training?” He set the Fire Ninja gently on the floor, leaning over him to worm a second hand under his arms. Kai near shrieked, turning onto his stomach. Garmadon merely slotted his hands into his underarms from behind and wiggled his fingers.

“IHIHIT TIHICKLES!” Kai cackled, wrapping his arms around himself. Even if he flipped onto his side, he couldn’t escape his sensei’s hands.

“That’s a shame,” Garmadon said. “I’m sorry I can’t help with that. Well, I could, but if you recall, I’m evil.”

“Ihihit shohoHOHOWS!” Kai thrashed, near squealing when Garmadon vibrated his fingers between his upper ribs. “STAHAHAP!”

Immediately, Garmadon sat back on his heels and released him. He gave the boy a few seconds to recover. “Still breathing?”

Breathless, Kai gave him a thumbs up, rolling onto his back.

“Do you need water?”

“I’m the Fire Ninja, I never need water,” Kai declared. “…but maybe just this once.”

Garmadon gave him a surprisingly gentle smile and got to his feet. He left, and Kai had a few minutes alone to try and catch his breath. He couldn’t seem to stop grinning so hard it hurt. When had he ever been tickled by anyone other than Nya? By his parents? Luckily, Garmadon returned before his mind could go down that route. His sensei tossed him one of the water bottles they usually had for workouts. Kai uncorked it with his teeth and drank, watching Garmadon do the same.

“If you go after anyone else, you have to tell me so I can watch,” Kai said. He still sounded winded.

“Can do,” Garmadon chuckled. “I don’t suppose you’re up for a sparring match?”

“No way,” Kai said, jumping to his feet. “That definitely counts as training today. I’m gonna go hang with Nya. And she’ll back me up, by the way.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Garmadon said, smiling. “Have a good rest of your day, Kai.”

“You too, Sensei G,” Kai grumbled. But he was in a significantly better mood than he’d started the morning in. Maybe that “game” wasn’t such a bad thing.

[breathlessmorro]

Okay I am loving your takes so much while I am not a huge fan of Misako and Wu what you said made me think about a few things I'm still not a fan of them buuuut I don't think I dislike Misako as much and I also agreed with your take with the whole Nya Cole Jay thing anyways that's besides the point!!! How would Wu and the rest of the family Garmadon Misako & Lloyd react to Morro liking Kai?

Thank you for saying that, I greatly appreciate it! I get that Wusako isn't everyone's cup of tea, so no worries fam! I haven't been able to really explain my "takes" on a lot of the canon ships before, so it's nice to know my thoughts are being well received lol

NOW AS FOR THE DESTINYSHIPPING MOTHERFUCKERS -

Okay if you're a regular on my blog you probably know I have a million different ways that Destiny can become canon. Beyond that, there's a mullion different ways Morro actually joins the team in the first place. Morro takes Wu's hand. Morro comes back on the day of the Departed. Morro never actually leaves Wu's monastery (but we're ignoring that one for the sake of Destiny)

It's no secret that Kai probably hates Morro the most. He was the most relentless when it came to fighting him, trying to get Lloyd back, et cetera. Even during the Day of the Departed, he's the only one other than Lloyd who actually addresses him, ready to fight. So naturally, when setting up Destiny as a couple, you need to get over that barrier.

Morro joining the team under any circumstances is weird. One, he and Lloyd obviously aren't going to get along. Two, he might not even want to be a ninja. Three, he may not even fit into the group at all. Because of the way the characters are written, I think that if Wu gave Morro the chance of redemption, and Morro actually took it, the team would accept it and him. They stood down when Wu told them to, so it's not unrealistic that they'd trust him - after some protesting - that Morro wouldn't hurt them.

Except for Kai. Kai didn't trust Garmadon in season one, and that was Lloyd's father. Why would he ever trust Morro? Eventually everyone moves past not trusting Morro, if only because they're so annoyed by him and Kai fighting all the time. Even Lloyd I think would want Kai to give Morro a chance. It wouldn't be until either they're united against a common enemy, or until they're forced to see each other beyond their surface level traits, that they'd even be friends. However, I think that the second both Kai and Morro get past their animosity, they're bound to get together. Completely inseparable.

As for the reactions? WELL BABY LET ME TELL YOU -

Wu: He's extremely grateful that they've stopped fighting. Wu will never stop seeing Morro as a son either, so he's happy that he's giving himself the chance to be truly happy with someone. Of course, he gives Kai the stereotypical threat of "you hurt my son I hurt your face" but he's very supportive

Garmadon: Depending on which Garmadon we're talking about here. Evil Garmadon couldn't care less, he's not involved with their teenage shenanigans. Good Garmadon, however, would be concerned. I think he'd want to treat with Morro with respect, given that he's Wu's adopted child, but Morro still hurt his baby. He's always going to be biased against him. Not that Kai is Garmadon's favorite or anything, but he's still a little protective. Regardless, he doesn't voice his concerns to either of them, instead showing support, even if he's skeptical of their pairing.

Misako: I feel like she'd be in the same boat as Wu - relieved that they're not fighting, and that they're both happy. Misako isn't super close with either boy, so she's not as protective, but they're both part of her family, and she's always glad to see people overcoming their differences.

Lloyd: Now Lloyd is the trickiest, because he can either be their biggest cheerleader, or their biggest opposer. It depends on whether or not Lloyd's actually forgiven Morro, how he'll react. If he has, then sure enough he was right with Wu, trying to encourage Kai to stop picking fights, and was glad to find out they actually care about each other. If he hasn't forgiven Morro, however, then it's gonna be all too easy for him to get reasonably upset. Kai is supposed to be his brother - to protect him, and he goes and starts kissing the ghost that forced him to fight his friends??? Lloyd would get bitter fast in that case, and though he'd try to keep his feelings out of the fight, he'd slip up occasionally, and until he resolved things with both Kai and Morro, it would cost the team a lot. Lloyd's understanding and kindness is underestimated a lot; he tries to see the best in even the worst of people, and if you make an effort to do the right thing, he'll notice it. That being said, this is still the same kid who opened three serpentine tombs because he couldn't have some candy. Lloyd's ability to hold a grudge is strong, even turning him against his father at one point, but in the end he always comes around when he realizes the cost of his anger and acting on it isn't worth the consequences

[pepmint-art]

May we have some badguyshipping headcanons? And maybe learn Wu’s reaction to seeing his son date former(current??) bad guys?

Wait… Did Harumi try pulling what she did to Lloyd on canon on Morro? And she dragged Echo along with her?

IT'S LORE TIME, BABY~

ninjas' team and lloyd (who did not want to be there) met harumi (and echo) in line with canonical events and it was a love at first sight, but only for morro. harumi had other plans, in which she ignors and doesn't acknowledge his existence while having a typical teen girls' crush on older guy who, reasonably had many reasons to try and run away from them. and we goes like that till crystalized.

and to explain a little more, harumi doesn't hate lloyd in here. while the team and garmadon were dealing with great devourer in season 2, lloyd knew he couldn't do much as he's not a fighter, he can't use his powers intentionally (he does it accidentaly in the end but still), he would go for a sure death, so he did all he could and helped escorting people out from the danger zone and he actually rescued little harumi. garmadon was a hero, he saved ninjago, but lloyd was her hero. she litteraly wanted to reunite son and father in season 8, but it all went wrong and we have exactly same shit going on as in oni trilogy.

harumi is obsessed with lloyd in the end understanding that he's old and she's a god damn weirdo (girl, leave him alone, he has a puppy and boyfriend and HE'S TOO OLD FOR YOU), morro has multiply mental breakdowns and grows up to accept that he can't make someone love him, love will come by itself to him (give me cute cousins moment with lloyd being intelligent for the first time in his life), and echo is happy to be there (he deserves all the hugs)

and than, no one knows why or how, things happened AND BOOM they're in love.

for the headcanons:

-their love aroused over my chemical romance and my little pony

that's all. the rest is just FACTS and facts only.

echo is a true romantic. for him love always wins. for him, there always his partners to love. he's neat.

also them getting to have their teen years as a couple is what i live for. even if only a little, it still works. were they drinking heavily? no, it was a capri sun. were they smoking? no, they're too cool and poor for this. were they doing crack. yes.

morro is bi. bi himself. and two bad bitches he pulled out by being autistic.

like, rumi and echo are walking fushion icons, baddest of the bad bitches, they slay while doing crimes, charming and deadly beautiful/handsome

and wu is surprisingly supportive :)

and really competitive with misako. they hate each other so badly. trans woman that destroyed his (also trans, but he forgets about this. he actually refused to remember he ever had a sister in his life, because he didn't, it never happened, life is a simulation and everyone made it up) brother (not really, actually made him really happy) and garmadon was never the same

oh, and one more thing

in dragons rising, they are divorced

I DON'T BELIEVE IN THE HAPPY ENDING FOR THEM

[memory-redacted]

Lloyd Garmadon

Gender

Intersex he/they/she

They may look and sound mainly like a boy but everyone has always noticed they can look very feminine at times almost like they could be a girl. They were born with a uterus and have periods like a girl. A lot of the ways that their body has grown like their muscles almost resemble how a girls body is though they try to hide it.

Ever since their time at school they have been uncomfortable talking about their gender. They went to an all boy school, and when the other kids figured out they where intersex they were heavily bullied for being "part girl." The kids were extremely misogynistic towards them. After that though they wanted to experiment with their more feminine side they never felt like they could. They asked their parents and uncle Wu to not tell the other ninja and to just say they were a boy. Their friends and everyone they went to school with also know.

After Harumi and Sally discovered their music and figured out about their online persona they told them. They were both extremely supportive and helped them experiment with their more feminine side and self expression.

Species

Dragon, oni, human

They have golden horns, fangs, furry ears, and a tail with a fur tip. They have can have wings but they perfer to hide them due to them getting in the way. Depending on their emotions their oni and dragon features can pop up on their own. If they are extremely relaxed their ears might pop up, and if their excited then their tail might pop out wagging furiously. If their angry their fangs and horns migh show, and if their uncomfortable or scared their wings might pop up to cover them.

Everyone knows they can have these features, just not how hard it is for them to control them at times. Just like with their gender Harumi and Sally help them express these sides of them. They feel more themselves when they are in this form, but are still too uncomfortable to show it off.

Mental health and dark magic TW-mental health, self harm, and suicidal thoughts

Great Devourer venom

(I always found it weird that the venom that flowed through Garmadon's veins didn't transfer to Lloyd so...)

Lloyd has bipolar and schizophrenia symptoms due to the venom that transferred to them. They can dissociate from reality and watch through their eyes as they do something and have thoughts that they shouldn't or don't want to about hurting others. This often makes them scared of themself and is the reason why they tend to be quiet. They also tend to isolate themself and hurt themself in the fear of hurting others. They think that hurting themself will lower their desire to hurt others and that they shouldn't be alive in fear that they might not be able to stop themself one day.

Though they have gotten better at controlling it since they were younger they are still scared of what happened back then. They almost killed their friends multiple times. One time them and Brad were racing up a tree and right as Brad got to the top they dissociated. They ended up breaking the branch from underneath him and he fell. He could have died if he landed wrong, but luckily he just broke his arm. Lloyd still fears what could have happened and still wont forgive themself to this day.

Depression and PTSD

They still feel the shame of the abandonment of both of their parents when they were younger though they have forgiven both of their parents. They forgive Misako less than they do Garmadon. They have formed a bit of a more distant relationship with their mother since she still isn't really there. With their dad on the other hand they can see that he is trying and is thankful for his efforts. Though at times he can be jumpy and tense with him, they have mostly fully forgiven him for everything. Garmadon knows about them trying to experiment with their self expression and is extremly supportive along with Vinny.

He tends to have a lot of nightmares about loosing people. Especially his parents. He also has nightmares having to do with the bullying they resived back in school. After these they tend to start working themself extremely hard at training or having really bad body image. They often feel like they have to be the best all the time due to being the leader of the ninja. They don't like taking breaks though they get forced into them by their friends and family.

I'll probably put some more in a drawn out character sheet later, but this is just easier to type out. I'll link to the character sheet when I have it done. Sometimes I feel like I'm putting way too much effort into this au but i am constantly day dreaming about it and its really fun for me lol.

Edit- Sexuallity

Cannot belive i forgot to say they are demisexual pansexual. T-T

[weekend-whip]

Ninjago Fic Rec Week: Day 7

Prompts: Gen / Team Fics! (IIIIITS THE GRAND FINALEEEEEE)

lloyd garmadon makes kai smith cry on his birthday- Has been recc'ed a couple times but *I* just read it and now *I* have to rec it too! The brotherly dynamic between the two already has me by the throat, but then both of their perspectives on birthdays just really helps drive the point home!! So pleased to have this fic shown to me!

Aftermaths: Lloyd and Kai post-MotO and oof they both go through it emotionally

Visionary- A fic jam-PACKED with introspective and dynamics with the main six, consisting of Lloyd getting a glimpse of what the other's went through prior to becoming ninja (and other hardships), while the other five use their experiences to help Lloyd move forward with his own troubles. That's...literally the barest I can break this fic down into, but there's soooo many emotions and moments and perspective and AAAAAA

An Endless Light: Made ME weep, man. WEEP I SAY. An immortal Lloyd just loves his family, man. AND GODDD THE ENDINGGGGG

the L-word: FIVE TIMES THE NINJA TELL LLOYD THEY LOVE HIM (and the one time he says it back) THE FOUND FAMILY VIBES ARE STRONG WITH THIS ONE!!! PLATONIC USAGES OF I LOVE YOU *throws flowers petals* LET THE PEOPLE LOVE OUT LOUD!!

The Sun Rises Every Single Night: TIME TRAVEL FIC of Lloyd contending with holy crap how much things have CHANGED but also, despite everything, he is still himself. Kind of a character study, but all entertaining and wholesome ;w;

Time Marches On: A fic that is lamentably not finished, but the chapter that IS there is a wonderful reflection by Wu on how his students have changed (I like time-reflective fics, I suppose) punctuated with a heart-wrenching conversation with Lloyd, which is something I will always love to see~ (but pls if for nothing else the Wu+Lloyd convo is so GOOD *rolls around*)

Thank You, For Giving Me Wings: Or, Five Times the Ninja accidentally called Wu 'Dad' (and the one time one of them didn't on purpose). Oh look, another time-reflective piece about Wu and the Ninja, but this time by me! And could be finished if the Nya chapter didn't give me such a writer's block on how to phrase what I want to saaaay *wails* Anywaaaay, lot of Wu and lots of family emotions and lots of the ninja being vulnerable and soft in their "father's" presence ;w;)/

Some Burn Hot, Some Burn Cold: A story about Lloyd, Elemental Powers, and the effects both those things can have on the ninja's emotions. Everyone's got a role to play in this one, though the parts with Cole and Lloyd hit me the hardest, man. Also may or may not have been my inspiration for Elemental Outbursts ;P

All I Want For Christmas is You: If I had a nickel for every time I recc'ed a Christmas fic in the middle of July, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's (about to) happen twice (aka Lloyd experiences Christmas for the first time and attempts to hide that fact and the ninja simply love him very very very much in the process).

All I'm Asking For- And last but most certainly not least, my other very favorite Ninjago fic ever, the masterpiece that inspired me to get back into writing to begin with ;w;

Kind of a (Christmas-y) AU the diverts from MotO but doesn't necessarily contradict it either, my mere meager description just cannot do it the justice it deserves! Everyone gets some form of closure after all these years of fighting to just be okay, even if for a little while, all sprinkled with marvelous character moments and interactions and holiday shenanigans that are guaranteed to warm your heart at one point or another. A great pick me up to dive back into year round regardless (as I do)

(this fic is technically and obviously about everyone, but the way it starts and ends with Cole's perspective on his team............ *bursts into tears* something about it just feels so perfectly right in a way I still can't manage to explain. But know I hold this fic so very near and dear to my heart and you should too <3)

And that is it! Woot, didn't think I'd make it every day, but turns out I read a lot more than I think! Shoutout to @21st-century-ninja for putting this all together!!

[jinxed-ninjago]

Ninjago Characters But I Assign Them D&D Classes, Alignments, and Races* Because Why Not: Redone and Categorized By Canon/Loosely Canon Group

*how many of these are going to make sense considering the ninja have canon parents? read on and find out, I can tell you right now Lloyd's definitely doesn't

The Upply (come on I have to start with Ninjago's local D&D crew on a post where I specifically assign Ninjago characters D&D classes, alignments, and races)

Plundar - Chaotic good tabaxi rogue. I've mentioned Plundar being a tabaxi in my mind a few times lol

Fungus - True neutral half-elf sorcerer. No specific reason for Fungus being a half-elf, but I've been obsessed with Honor Among Thieves so I wouldn't be surprised if that influenced it lol

Korgran - Chaotic good barbarian. I'm leaning towards half-orc for his race but I'm not entirely sure tbh

The Ninja

Jay - Chaotic neutral wood elf bard. Can't explain why I chose wood elf but I definitely see him being a elf of some sort and a bard.

Cole - Chaotic good human fighter. I also think Cole could fit into the barbarian class, but I'm leaning more towards him being in the fighter class. Not entirely sure why.

Kai - Chaotic neutral dragonborn sorcerer. It just makes sense to me, idk

Zane - Lawful good half-elf paladin. ZANE WILL ALWAYS BE A PALADIN IN MY MIND AND YOU CAN FIGHT ME (also I know most people would probably make him a warforged because he's a robot but here's me disagreeing because I like the idea of Zane being elvish in nature, and him being a half-elf still provides some of the outsider-ness of him being a robot in the original show, due to how half-elves are treated by humans and elves alike within the universe of D&D)

Lloyd - Chaotic good dragonborn rogue. I will not elaborate on Lloyd being a rogue because I don't know how to lmao

Nya - Chaotic neutral dragonborn barbarian. I don't need to explain why I gave her the barbarian class

The Ninja's Allies

Wu - Lawful good human wizard. Iykyk

Garmadon - Chaotic neutral tiefling rogue. Initially I was gonna say his alignment would be chaotic evil, but I wouldn't say he's ever really evil tbh, even in seasons 8 and 9 (I'm not analyzing that right now, go away)

Misako - Neutral good human ranger. Idk either lol

Dareth - Chaotic good dwarf monk. Look, it just makes sense, let's move on lol

Ronin - Chaotic neutral human rogue. Ronin being a chaotic neutral rogue is basically canon, I'm just adding a D&D race *shrug*

Pixal - Neutral good half-elf fighter. It just makes sense lol

Okino - Neutral good human ranger. Don't really know how to explain myself on this one

Mystake - Chaotic good tiefling druid. TRUST ME HERE LOL

My brain decided to stop working after I came up with Mystake so I might come up with more later, but for now, Ninjago characters but I have assigned them D&D classes, races, and alignments 😌

Also, feel free to let me know your opinions on these. Have O P I N I O N S on what race a chose for a specific character, or have a solid idea for what race Korgran should be? Let me know in the notes, I love hearing what other people have to say on my posts like this :D

[senseiwu]

As a Garmadon fan, seeing some of these people talk about Wu and Misako is fucking insane. Like, I’ve always been pretty indifferent to the two of them, not because of anything they’ve done, more just because I don’t find them all that interesting (to me). But damn I do not think they deserve some of the hate they get. People get fucking unhinged going on rants about how they’re bad people or whatever when all of their evidence is just twisting the truth or making shit out to be worse than what actually happened? Like, yes, Misako left lloyd in a boarding school for bad boys, do I think that was a mistake? Uh, probably. Perhaps a different school would have been a better choice, but whatever. She had Lloyd’s best interests at heart when she did so. It was not out of malice or anything but people just. Don’t get that. It’s so stupid. Anyway. Point of this: keep up the good work. Stand up for those two little Lego people, and don’t let the morons out there get to you. They are stupid and it shows

You wanna talk about unhinged?

A few years ago, back when Tumblr group chats were a thing, we had a lil one of Wu fans, cause it was nice to talk about him without getting crap. One day, we were talking about how depressing all the hate in the tags was, and a few of us made posts asking people to calm it down just a bit.

Some people thought this was hilarious and started posting more stuff, and some even sending awful asks.

Like bro??? Over a lego????

I just freaking hate seeing things get twisted, and my favourite characters getting painted as the villains in nearly every scenario, when it's just.... not true

Yeah, leaving Lloyd at Darkley's wasn't the best move, but we literally know nothing about Misako's situation at the time, other than Garmadon was succumbing to the venom or was already in the Underworld, and she knew Lloyd would be the Green Ninja. That's IT. We don't know if she HAD other options.

Also, it's really weird when people compare taking your kid to a BOARDING SCHOOL to leaving them at an orphanage???? Those are two different things???

And I wish people would stop saying she left him to "go exploring" or stuff like that.... she left him to research the prophecy. To find out all she could, maybe even stop it.

And since coming back into Lloyd's life, she's been there constantly.

Plus. She's an ARCHAEOLOGIST. That's so bloody cool.

I don't know where I was going with this but thank you for your message. I hope you're having a nice day.

Here is a Misako and Lloyd hug :)

[xdxenon]

My thoughts on Dragons Rising (Spoilers)

At first I was very skeptical about dragons rising replacing the ninja with a bunch of new characters. It happens in a lot of shows I used to like and it never feels the same. However, I have grown to love them just as much. They're all just younger versions of the ninja, and they're starting to realize that.

First there's Wyldfyre and Kai. Aside from basically having the same power, (I'm still saying heat and fire are almost the same, idc that some cans burned and some melted) wyldfyre is very unpredictable with a more showy style of fighting and huge love for pranks. She also has a very hot temper, and thinks she's in charge. At first they're always at each other's throats fighting and yelling until Kai finally realizes that she's just like he was when he was younger. Did we really think we would ever see Kai, KAI???, of all people teaching meditation? I don't think so. And they're duo is absolutely deadly. We saw that armory explosion. I'm so excited for more WyldKai duo (Not a ship name, just a duo name) Aside from all the fighting, which lets be honest is bound to happen any time Kai is in the room, they are perfect partners and any time you need an explosion, they'll be there.

Sora and Nya fit as well. Tech savvy? Check. Trying to prove they're strong enough without their parents? Check. They both also struggled to find their true potential. Both had different specific problems, but in comparison to the other ninja, it was the hardest for Nya, and that might be true for sora as well as she's still reliant on Ryu for her power. Another big thing for Nya was being the "Girl Ninja", and I think that might come up in conversation with those two if Sora ever feels powerless. They would also make some absolute killer mechs and vehicles working together. With Nya's experience and intelligence, along with Soras intelligence and Powers? So many possibilities for kick ass rides and kick ass Lego sets (unfortunately at a price that kicks my wallets ass.) Nya also having Sora there is definitely helping distract her from Jay's absence. She still absolutely misses him, but having someone like herself around is definitely good for her.

Then, there's Lloyd and Arin. If these too match up just as well as the others, I'm quite scared about what Arin might have coming. The absolute amount of trauma that Lloyd went through throughout this entire thing is absolute absurd. And Arin is just finding out that Lloyd is the grandson of God himself. But I feel that Lloyd having a pupil is very good for him. He never got a childhood, literally having his child body taken from him by the aging potion, and he had to spend what short one he did fighting against the embodiment of evil inside of his father, multiple times. And if Arin is to follow in his footsteps, I don't even want to imagine what he's eventually going to have to go up against. Im hoping we can see some of father Lloyd peak through. Maybe him being the father and mentor he always wanted Garmadon to be but wasn't. And I wholeheartedly believe that Lloyd will be a good teacher. He doesn't have thousands of years of experience, but he's definitely been through the ringer. (And if Arin falls in love with a princess and Lloyd tries to talk him out of it I will lose my shit)

All of the ninja are now realizing just what Master Wu had to go through in order to train them all. They've learned and grown from his teaching tremendously yes, but now they're watching and teaching younger versions of themselves and relearning what they were like back then. I can't wait for the 6 million times Arin, Sora, or Wyldfyre make a mistake and say they don't deserve to be a ninja, and they all get to look at each other and laugh, and tell almost too many stories of all the times they've let the entire city get destroyed, died, been resurrected, destroyed realms, and all the fun quirky little traumatic world ending shit that they went through at their age. I'm glad that Dragons Rising still focusses on the ninja and they truly have just moved on to a different stage in their life by being teachers and mentors to the new generation, instead of just being cast aside as "Legends' and nothing more.

[akiyamastar]

This is a bit out there. But just wanted to say a thought I had about Ninjago (as a whole) while watching Crystallized, and why I care about the show so much.

The main criticism I've seen towards Ninjago often has to do with how it "drags out," with antagonist after antagonist. However, that's what makes it special. And honestly, I'm glad Ninjago has lasted for so long.

What I love about Ninjago is that it puts so much emphasis on there always being brightness and darkness, good and evil, creation and destruction, yin and yang. Just as there's always some new enemy, there's always the endurance to fight that new one, just like the last. Even when there's loss involved, even if it means the "team of heroes" is split apart and changes over time, maybe even being pitted against each other, it's how it works. It's the natural state of things to always erupt in conflict, but it's also the natural state of things to settle back to normal, acquiring peace once more.

The idea of brightness and darkness being a necessity is integrated into literally every aspect of the plot. The fact that Ninjago is split into two. How there's constant conflict between two sides since the beginning of time: the dragons and the onis, the masters of creation and destruction with Wu and Garmadon, even minor skirmishes with other characters and not being able to see past each other's differences. There's always a new villain for the ninja to face, not only with consistent antagonists to match the protagonists, but even darkness within the protagonists themselves. To the point that they might even become antagonists, even if temporarily.

Kai's internalized envy at not having become the green ninja coming out when holding Chen's staff, Zane becoming everything he feared -- a cold, emotionless robot -- when becoming corrupted by the scrolls during his time as the Ice Emperor, Lloyd confronting his own darkness and worries of becoming his father in Crystallized... and I'm sure there have been many more explorations of this same theme. It's what I like about Ninjago. The protagonists themselves aren't above understanding darkness, nor are antagonists unable to be redeemed and understand how to be good: both of them make up a person. It's accepted: the dark along with the light. Both are needed.

I think it shows an important theme about life as a whole. You can't really box people into being good or bad in the first place. People have always been composed of both. And that's okay.