Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In a flash of bright light, the citizens of Ninjago City are seated in one of the largest cinemas they have ever seen. Parents working their jobs look frantically before settling their eyes on their families beside them.

Screams ring out as citizens realise they’re unable to move from their seats.

“WHATS GOING ON?!”

“IS THIS ANOTHER GARMADON ATTACK?”

Chen, on the other hand, is scowling, muttering under his breath, “Garmadork has something to do with this, I know it…” His cousin Skylor smacks him over the head for that, eyes shifting away when Chen Sr. looks at them suspiciously.

“What’s the meaning of this?!” A horrifyingly familiar voice came from the back of the room as Garmadon tries to stand. The four-armed maniac grins as screams fill the room, looking to the side to see the rest of his own family.

(He doesn’t seem to register that the screams are because he doesn’t know how they got here; he would be gloating if he did. The same thought was going through everyone’s head, ‘Is there a new villain we should be worrying about?’)

‘Wu isn’t here...’ Garmadon thought happily, not wanting to see his brother after yet another humiliating defeat at the hands of the Ninja earlier that day...

Before anyone can speak, though, other than the screams of civilians, the cinema screen lights up, displaying words for them to see.

‘Citizens of Ninjago!‘

“What am I, a pile of mud?” Garmadon scowls, glaring as the screen rewrites itself. Whoever has decided to bring them here rapidly backspacing and retyping, as if it were a PowerPoint presentation.

His generals, wherever they are in the audience, don’t bother speaking up. Their coworkers at their day jobs don’t know they work for the man, so getting compromised now would be a major setback.

‘Citizens of Ninjago and Lord Garmadon!‘

He nods at the change, seemingly not noticing the gaping looks.

‘You are all here to watch the day-to-day life of Lord Garmadon and his son!’

Groans and boos scatter through the audience at the thought of the youngest Garmadon, making the Oni confused; he can understand the crowds fear towards him, but what was so wrong with his son that they would react like this? He shares a look with Koko, whom he hasn’t physically talked to since their son was two, who understands this kind of thing much better than him and looks very pissed off by the reactions. Now that’s an anger he hasn’t seen in a while.

Looking to her left, their son looks distraught, almost curling in on himself as he stares at the words on the screen, eyes shifting from green to a bright, lava red. ‘Is this how the secret will be revealed? It wouldn’t show that, right? It has to be lying; it has to- ‘

His thoughts are cut off as a hand takes his shoulder.

Lloyds eyes track the hand back to his father who is looking at him with... worry? His eyes find his mother's, and they share a look, hers essentially saying, ‘Go with it honey, it’s a chance to connect with your father, I know it’s weird, and I’m freaked out as well, but weirder things have happened, trust me.’ How Lloyd figured out that that was what that look meant will forever be a mystery.

So, he trusts her, and grabs his father’s hand (which is a lot warmer than he thought it would be, perks of being an oni living in a volcano, he guesses).

“I’m fine, Dad...” Lloyd feels weird saying that, but it’s a good kind of weird. He thinks it is, at least, but now he has to not slip up and call him by his name like he’s been doing all these years. Garmadon nods, looks at his mother, and suddenly he’s sat between them without having a chance to blink.

(The people of Ninjago are too busy freaking out about their situation, lamenting over the fact that they’re about to waste their time looking at the villainous ways of Lord Garmadon and his son, to realise the Garmadon family were allowed out of their seats)

Lloyd glares at his mother, knowing that she did this on purpose and demanding she explain, momentarily forgetting about the screen. How does he know it was her? Because Lloyd knows his dad would not be subtle about being able to move from their seats- ‘Hey wait, how did-‘

Koko just waves her son's glare away, happy that his eyes are turning back to green for the moment, “It's either this or me and your father argue the entire time because I do not want his arm around me whenever he wants to reach over to you.” He tries not to blanch when she implies the simple affection might happen again and is just throwing him to the metaphorical wolves-

Aaand back to the family drama. Finally, something his poor teenage brain can deal with.

A loud crash sounds throughout the room, silencing the people who were yelling. Why yell when the thing that brought you here is probably some divine entity capable of transporting the whole city into a cinema? Lloyd had no idea.

‘This is non-negotiable. Teenagers, at least those of Ninjago High School, your lives will be shown the most, as it will show your day-to-day lives.’

Murmurs rise through the crowd as the cinema screen goes black before the scene begins.

Lloyd gulps, gripping the armrests, trying to prepare for any judgment the people are sure to give him.

‘…5…4…3…2…1…’

Chapter Text

The ‘episode’ begins with a wide pan shot of Ninjago City from the water before it moves closer to the city, weaving through its streets and traffic during the early morning hours. Shades of orange, pink and yellow decorate skyscrapers and apartments as the camera flies past, the morning train chugging along on an overhead street bridge connecting from one station to another.

Despite the situation, people look on in awe at this new view of their city. No one had seen a view like that from the waters other than fishermen and Garmadon’s army at the volcano. Some even smile, seeing the beauty of the city they live in gives them a nostalgic view of life before Garmadon and the frequent invasions.

Said man sneezes a few times, gaining weird looks from his family.

It pans towards an apartment building that almost looks undisturbed if not for the filled clotheslines and air conditioning units currently in use before it pans into a kitchen where Koko is making waffles. Ninjago News is playing in the background, ‘-inja save the city once again! Now here’s Kayden with the weather- ‘

Aaaand now the mood is ruined as the people are reminded as to why they are here, though a few of the kids in the crowd nod approvingly at the waffles.

Garmadon groans, “Oh come on, really?! That news station is a total rip, it only ever talks about how ‘amazing’ the ninja are!” He says amazing in very, very heavy quotations.

Lloyd groans and places his head in his hands, ‘This is going to be a long day.’

In Lloyd’s room, Starfarer posters litter the walls, the comics on the bookshelf and floor. There is notably a lot of green in the room, from the carpet to the beanbag in the corner; not too rough on the eyes, but enough to be noticeable. There is a corkboard of pictures and notes on the wall beside the window, the bed opposite it, where our protagonist sleeps soundly.

People look at the room in interest. What? Just because they hate him doesn’t mean they don’t wonder about his life! Honestly, they thought the room would be more… evil? Certainly with less green, knowing his father's disdain for the Green Ninja.

Garmadon is also looking at the room in awe, seeing how homey it is. He doesn’t comment on the colour; he lives in a volcano, for FSM's sake! He isn’t going to judge his son for liking the colour green. No matter his disdain for the one who wears the colour.

“Awee!” Comes a shout from the right of the room, towards the middle of the rows, hard to tell when the whole city is here, “You pinned our group picture in the center!”

Lloyd flushes, “Jay!”

He regrets helping his fellow introvert come out of his shell; why can’t they go back to nerding about Starfarer together and teasing Jay for his crush on Nya?

But, true to his word, there was a group photo in the middle of the corkboard, but the audience could only see different coloured blobs.

“Lloyd! Breakfast!” Koko shouts from the kitchen, making her son groan as he stands, wearing a grey shirt with green flannel pants. Hair sticks all over the place as he rushes to find his clothes. Eventually, he finds some clothes as the screen returns to the kitchen.

Now, the Son of Garmadon is wearing black jeans, green sneakers, and a white-to-green gradient shirt with his favourite green hoodie, desperately trying to tie his hair before giving up.

Koko is putting Syrup on her waffles as Lloyd walks in. He scoops some ice cream onto his waffle pile before pouring on so much syrup that the waffles were practically soaked through.

“… What… the fuck?” Chen finally speaks, almost afraid in some sense, because how could Garmadork still be alive if that is what he eats for breakfast?

“Lloyd, you broke him!” Cole shouts gleefully, their friends laughing at the shocked silence.

If anything, Lloyd blushes more, “Shut up!”

It worsens as his father laughs beside him, though much more evilly, but is still very amused.

Garmadon knows this hunger well. He and Wu went through the same thing when they were younger! Oni biology needs energy, same with dragon biology (though dragon biology needs carbs rather than sugar).

“Morning, Mom, thank you, Mom!” He says before digging in and eating his nightmare of a waffle stack in only a few bites.

Garmadon’s laughter gets louder. Lloyd prays for his sanity.

With one final bite, he picks up his bag and heads for the door. After a reminder to ‘Duck and Cover’ whenever the next attack happens and an embarrassing kiss on the forehead, Lloyd leaves the apartment and heads to the bus stop.

The teenagers in the crowd laugh at that, much more cruel than they would if it were anyone else. ‘Garmadorks mom is so LAME!’ goes through the heads of nearly every teenager there.

Koko frowns, not liking the laughs since she knows how cruel teenagers can be, even despite her son not knowing that she knew how they were.

She doesn’t hear the evil laughter fading, nor does she see the scowl on Garmadons face.

Walking down the street, people avoid him as much as possible, some even stepping onto the road or swerving their cars away in anger just at the sight of him. Lloyd sighs, barely arriving at the bus on time and gets on, the bus notably leaning to one side as it drives off.

A pan to the inside of the bus shows all of the teenagers on one side of the bus, leaving half of it empty with only Lloyd sitting there, all of them scowling at him. He just sighs, clearly a regular occurrence in the morning, and plugs his earbuds in, turning the volume all the way up.

“What the fuck is this?!” Garmadon shouts startling everyone who forgot he was there and berating themselves for forgetting about the literal warlord trapped in there with them.

“W-well, uh- “ A brave student, Tammie, answers uncertainly, “Yo-you didn’t know..?”

A sharp growl, “…Know. What.” It isn’t a question.

Now it's Lloyd's turn to look at him in confusion, ‘Does he really not know?’

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” A girl in the back-middle rows spits out angrily, her brother leaning back in his chair lazily beside her as their parents try to shush them, “Most of the people in the city blame Lloyd for every attack you do.”

Neither of them flinch as the warlord's angry gaze comes over them, but there’s a noticeable curiosity in his eyes, “Most people?”

Lloyd groans, muttering beside his father, “It was a mistake making friends here… should’ve stayed at Darkleys..”

The brother grins, getting up from his chair with a casual swagger (The other people in the room try to stand, only to realise again that they can’t leave their chairs) and walks over to the back of the room, a much shorter walk than for those closer to the front, ignoring his parent's protests, “The names Kai, though Lloyd usually reminds me that I’m maybe his older brother.” Lloyd glares at him, and he just laughs, ruffling his hair, “The one who spoke earlier is my younger sister, Nya.”

“Yo.” She cackles as her brothers jump in surprise, having not heard or seen her get up and walk over to them.

Garmadon’s glare lessens, ‘At least La-loyd has friends..’

An area above them sends down a ladder with a note, clearly written by his uncle if the chicken scratch is any indicator,

NEPHEW,

I FEAR THAT THIS MAY SHOW YOUR IDENTITIES TO THE CITY,

HOWEVER, I HAVE REQUESTED A SAFE PLACE,

AND HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE ROOM ABOVE YOU.

NINJA AND TRUSTED FRIENDS MAY SIT HERE TOGETHER.

SIGNED,

SENSEI WU

‘Uncle, you are a man of mystery, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew who put us here.’

He snorts and pulls out his phone, handing the note to Nya as their absolute dumbass of a brother somehow gets Garmadon into a conversation about their swords and what materials are better or worse. Garmadon looks immersed in the conversation, and Lloyd is terrified of what will happen if they’re left alone together, texting everyone faster so he can focus on separating the two.

The warlord is genuinely surprised that a citizen from Ninjago of all places has so much knowledge of swords! (And he is friends with his son?! He may have a new general by the end of the first hour here if the pleasantries keep going. His son has good taste in the people he surrounds himself with, truly.)

Five more people stand in the crowd, each from different rows. An audible groan comes as a sixth stands as well. Garmadon notes that the sixth is his dear nephew Morro, much to his delight. They always got along swimmingly, sharing a hate for his brother, Wu. Some of the other people’s families(?) try to pull them back down, only to probably get shoved away, much to the outrage of the rest of the city (who still find themselves stuck to their seats).

He’s liking his son's friends more and more already.

Lloyd stands up and waves them over before turning back to his father, who… “Why are you explaining the differences between metals?”

“Not just any metals, oh dearest baby brother,” Kai gets him in a headlock and roughly rubs his head (much to his annoyance), “We’re trying to figure out if the metal would hold if we were to melt a gun and make it a sword!”

Morro grabs his ear and tugs him away, saving Lloyd and his hair from an unfortunate fate, “Dad, these are Zane, Cole, Jay, Pixal and Skylor!” Lloyd helpfully points to each of them as the Smith siblings and Morro head upstairs, “Guys, my dad.” The glare Lloyd sends is murderous, in a please-don’t-start-anything-Kai-was-enough kind of way.

“Affirmative!” Zane says, standing stock still and reminding the warlord of those possessed dolls you see in movies. This kid should really invest in brown contacts. The others pass their own greetings, though the one in blue was stuttering, despite the confidence he heard earlier, and heads up the ladder.

Garmadon looks at it in confusion, having not seen it before now, then looks at Koko who is smiling at the antics, but no less confused than he is. The citizens of Ninjago aren’t faring any better, still shouting in outrage as they try to free themselves from their seats.

Before another thing can be said (other than the crowd raging below about how the kids should be back with their families (some of whom are, admittedly, not all that ok with them being friends with Garmadon’s son)), the screen starts playing again.

The scene skips to the bus pulling in at the school and everyone rushing out quickly as Lloyd sighs, being left to get off alone. Stepping off the bus, the doors quickly shut behind him as the driver speeds off in fear, whispers are heard all around as people point at him with mean glares.

He walks up the steps, careful to avoid tripping on skateboards that definitely weren’t there before, as an arm wraps around his shoulders.

The arm is without a sleeve, proudly showing the person’s muscles and darker skin; the same person has a black sleeveless shirt with orange stitching, black cargo pants and some hiking boots. His black hair is tied into a messy bun, and he wears headphones on his shoulders.

“Hey Cole,” Lloyd gets out as his friend drags him towards their lockers, ignoring the stares as people part away from them. Cole casually hands him an orange hair tie, the same as his own, to tie back his blonde locks.

Lou Brookstone looks appalled at his sons appearance, having never seen him in such clothes before. A Brookstone is meant to dress proper, and Lou has never sent his son to school without him looking like a true Royal Blacksmith. Just where did his son keep these clothes?

(Dr. Julien sneezes all of a sudden, thanking Edna for the tissue she offers him)

Garmadon frowns. He should’ve been happy that his son is feared like he is and be happy that people are (until this point) afraid of bothering him. Seeing it happen, though, is...

He feels oddly hollow.

Cole ruffles his hair, much to his annoyance, “C’mon, Green Machine, the others are waiting!”

Everyone looks confused at the nickname.

Somewhere above them, the blonde groans dramatically about it, squirming away when that same arm from the screen ruffles his hair.

Surely enough, people are there. A brunette with spiked hair and a scar over his eye stands next to a girl in a high ponytail. They both wear leather jackets, though one is crimson and the other black with water and flame designs on the backs.

The brunet wears black jeans, black sneakers, a white tank top proudly displaying his scarred arms, and the crimson jacket around his waist. The girl in the ponytail wears light blue jeans, combat boots and a black sleeveless shirt that fades upwards into the blue. Her black leather jacket is on over top.

Their parents nod their heads at the styles, admittedly looking sheepish when people around the room look for an explanation for the scars; whispers popping up:

“How did he get those scars?!”

“With scars like that, you’d think he fought Garmadon at every invasion..”

Ray coughs into his hand, speaking loud enough that most could hear him, “He wanted to try his hand at blacksmithing when he was a kid..” The people consider that answer, deeming it as acceptable, since the family is well known for its blacksmithing business.

(Somewhere above, a brunette sneezes.)

Garmadon nods approvingly; if his soon-to-be general (because he just has to be, with his weapons knowledge) dedicated his time to knowing all he can about swords since such a young age- not just swords but OTHER weapons too?

‘Oh my Me, my son has good taste in friends..’

“Hey, Lloyd!” Kai waves cheerfully, then yelps as his sister elbows his stomach.

“How ya been, kid?” Nya looks him over with a critical eye before her brother can stop her.

“Nya, you are barely older than me-!” Lloyd argues, “Besides, Cole grabbed me right at the entrance!” Said teen gives a thumbs up in reply, still draped over the blonde’s shoulders without a care in the world.

From up in their area, which is full of beanbags and blankets that were colour-coded for each ninja (Pix, Morro and Skylor sharing the red, green and icy-blue ones, respectively), Lloyd groans.

“You good kid?” Jay asks, taking an ice pop (made by Zane) out of his mouth. Why their powers still work here is a mystery but none of them are complaining.

“I believe that the cause of this stress,” Pix states, “Is the fact that he has not told his mother what our classmates do on the day-to-day.” Lloyd faceplants into his beanbag with a sigh and Skylor just pats his head.

(No, he does not purr, Kai, shut up.)

“Hello Friends!” Says Zane, his hair perfectly cut and perfectly straight. He wears a casual white button-up with a blue vest over top; it has small pins decorating it (a falcon, some gears and an ice cube). He also wears loose-fitting black jeans and blue sneakers.

Before anyone can say anything, he turns to Kai, “Pixal and Skylor are looking for you, Kai.”

Kai nods and rushes off, shouting back a “Thanks, Zane!” before disappearing into a crowd of students.

The other three sweat drop at this.

“Is- Is that even the right direction..” Lloyd asks, getting a cheery “Nope!” from Zane.

The crowd laughs, some rudely remarking about how stupid he must be to just run off like that, only to immediately get hit over the head by someone.

What can I say? Kai’s popularity exceeds being friends with Lloyd, the scarred teen being the only one treated like normal despite hanging out with the ‘Dork Squad’, as NHS refers to them.

Koko just shakes her head at the antics. ‘Teenagers...’

From the direction Kai ran to, a boy with auburn curls rushes over. He wears a blue jacket over a black shirt and faded blue jeans. He wears beat-up old sneakers, a red-orange scarf and fingerless gloves.

“S- sorry I’m late!” Jay stammers out, trying to stop panting from the run over, “Dad needed some help setting things up in the workshop, and Pix wasn’t there yet and-“

“Chill, Jay,” Cole finally lets go of Lloyd and heads to his locker, “This ain't homeroom Motormouth; I can smell the gas fumes from here.” He makes a show of covering his nose and ‘wafting away the smoke.’

“I told you to stop calling me that!” He argues, and Lloyd heads over to his own locker because he does not want to get between them in a petty argument again.

Many of the teens look surprised at the wimpy, scaredy-cat Jay getting into a petty argument over a nickname.

They then start wondering about what someone does to be nicknamed ‘Motormouth.’

Above, those same two ninja argue about it again, only stopping when Morro’s wind pushes them back into their beanbags.

Opening his locker, we see pictures of the friend group stuck to the door by fridge magnets. Some of the pictures are covered; the only one that can be seen is of the same group photo that was seen back in his room, still just some vaguely coloured blobs. Some of the magnets are shown; one is of a blue teapot, another is of a purple snake, and there’s even a cartoon ghost.

Up in the loft area, the rest of the group awe at the ghost, causing the cousins to blush. They had to stop Morro from suffocating himself in embarrassment; he gave Lloyd that magnet after finally getting over his rivalry with the kid.

Below, most people don’t get the reference, not understanding the flow of the magnet choices. Most just deem it as reminders of his evilness, remembering the old saying ‘never trust a snake.’

Lloyd glances at his schedule to see what classes he has and grabs all the books he needs for the day, stuffing them into his book bag.

“Does Kai have his stuff?” He asks, closing his locker and seeing that the guys have stopped arguing and we’re now also getting their stuff.

“Knowing him, probably not.” Nya sighs, opening her brother’s locker and grabbing his stuff. The layout is the same as Lloyds, but the magnets shown are of some swords and a motorbike.

“Awe, what? Can Kai really not grab his own things?” Chen mocks, gaining laughs from his squad; other students start arguing that he is in a rush.

Ray and Maya sigh, knowing about their son and his forgetfulness when in the moment.

Once the bell rings, they see Kai rushing over and see the moment he realizes they have his stuff.

“Thanks sis…” He smiles sheepishly, taking his stuff and going with Cole to their homeroom. From there, they split up, with Zane and Jay going to their separate homerooms, Nya following Lloyd before splitting off to her own class.

With a sigh, Lloyd opens the door with his foot, quickly bringing it back as a bucket of water falls to the ground, and the class sighs in disappointment.

“…What.”

Garmadon startles at the sheer venom in her voice, especially over a school prank of all things. He only remembers this tone from when the Skulkin Army tried to fight them on their wedding day.

If bones could cry, they would have flooded the land.

The teenagers just awkwardly stare at each other and shuffle in their seats, and he does not feel bad for them.

The teacher barely looks up, her glasses looking more like goggles, and tells him his schedule and homeroom changed before she starts doing roll call.

Koko is utterly furious and befuddled at the sheer unprofessionalism of which this woman, a teacher, treats a student who could have been soaking wet and probably doesn’t have the time to prepare for a switched schedule-

…Does he?

If so, then how often does this happen? Why wouldn’t he tell her? Why hasn’t the school told her?

Lloyd sighs, happy that the bookbag is waterproof, however some water had splashed onto his books, and goes down the corridor to room 308. He knocks three times, and Skylor comes out, the class probably having assumed it was Kai (it was their knock, after all, Kai just taught it to him).

She’s wearing a purple tank top that proudly shows off her tan and muscles. Her red hair is tied into a ponytail, exposing the shaved hair underneath. She wears dark purple cargo pants that are tucked into black boots.

Several students blush, with Chen even turning to one of his cheerleaders, Brittany, with a glare, saying ‘That’s my cousin, what the hell, Bri.’

“Hey Sky…” He waves awkwardly, water forming a puddle under his book bag as more drops come off of it. She just sighs, grabs his wrist and brings him to her locker.

Inside is subjects organized by relevance and how much she needs to pass each class, with math being at the bottom of the book stack. The locker door is spray-painted to look like a jade blade, with a punching bag hanging from the shelf holding her books. Skylor ignores all of these and picks up a backpack hidden behind the punching bag, labelled ‘Abrupt Schedule Change’ and gives it to him.

“Just give it back after class, Dork,” She ruffles his hair and laughs at his dismay, then heads back to her homeroom.

Chen Sr. looks outraged, muttering about, “how indecent… that boy… stuff in her locker!”

Chen Jr. is in a similar state of disgust; he didn’t even know his cousin was friends with the Dorksquad, and now he knows where he gets those dry school supplies so quickly!

Lloyd rushes to the bathroom and changes the items in his book bag, finding a hidden gem that he does not remember putting in the bag when he gave it to Skylor. It’s a black tank top with rib designs, a green ‘6’ on the right side of the chest, and a matching pair of fingerless gloves.

The screen fades to black before showing Lloyd in the new items, his green hoodie tied around his waist. He looks up and panics at seeing the time. He quickly puts the rest of the stuff into his book bag and rushes off to class, barely making it before the bell rings.

Garmadon smiles, the outfit reminding him of the scarce photos Koko used to send of their son, titled ‘Does this look like a future warlord to you?’ and a six-year-old Lloyd in a skeleton hoodie much too big for him.

Koko stifles a laugh, remembering the time Lloyd had looked up to his father and wanted to be just like him. Not so much anymore, but Lloyd still cares about Garmadon, even she can see it behind all that teen angst.

They are oblivious to the scoffs and mutters of ‘A freak… just like his father…’ coming from the crowd. The same crowd who see Lloyd in this outfit and believe that the boy is finally showing his true colours; that he’s just like his father in every way, not just with the pointed ears and sharp teeth.

The screen fades to black again before showing the full cafeteria, with a timestamp of ‘12:15 PM’ in the bottom left corner, before rapidly moving outside.

Our lovely group of protagonists sit at a table together under a tree, seemingly waiting for someone. Skylor is notably not present, and in the background she can be seen playing football with her teammates.

“Hello everyone!” Pixal walks over, completing our ensemble of problematic characters. Her hair is tied into a bun and almost completely white, with small blue streaks throughout it framing her sharp face. She is wearing a light purple sweater, black leggings, and purple Converse.

“Pixal!” Shouts almost the entire table, making the people who are hanging out outside flinch from the sound.

Chen deadpans at Brittany, who was staring at the Pix on screen with goo-goo eyes, “Seriously, Bri? Seriously?”

She groans, freckled hands running through her hair, hating that whatever being brought them here placed her next to her ever-so teasing best friend, “But- but women…”

“Bri…” He keeps deadpanning at her.

“I can’t help the fact that I’m gay, Chen!” She all but whines, very quietly though, motioning to her family beside her.

He sighs and decides to leave this for later because her parents are right there, and this is a conversation to be kept from those homophobic assholes.

And their classmates say he isn’t nice…

She comes bearing snacks, a whole box full of sweet and savory treats, and they all dig in, all conversation halted while they eat. The only time someone talks is to ask for a snack that one of them can’t reach, like a weird teenage hivemind.

To the adults, who have not seen this, they are disturbed.

The parents of the group, however, have never seen their kids eat like this and vow to talk to them later because what the hell.

The teens, however? Just sigh, knowing that the teachers always blamed the football and track teams for the mess, not believing them when they (rightfully, for once) say that it was Lloyd’s fault.

Up in the loft, Skylor playfully glares at them. She and her team were constantly forced to clean up the mess they left behind, not that the football team didn’t deserve it after all they’ve done to help Chen is bullying the ninja, but Skylor would prefer not being dragged into it too.

Morro, on the other hand, is slightly disturbed, “You guys eat like that in public? I thought you just did it at the café to annoy me, why is eating like that you’re default setting?” They have the decency to look guilty, especially since their eating habits have caused Morro to take many a double shift to make it up to the owner.

While the group eats, the camera pans over to Cole and Lloyd, who are fighting over the sweets like no tomorrow.

“I sat here first, so I get first dibs on Pixals noms!” Lloyd argues, trying to pull the packet of gummy bears from Cole, and putting up a decent fight.

“Yeah, well I’m older!” Cole shoots back, his other hand pushing against Lloyds face to try and weaken the boys grip. Lloyds eyes flash red for a moment, before returning to that lovely unnatural green that they usually are.

This gets laughs from the crowd, with some of the middle schoolers even picking sides on who they think will win (and getting reprimanded if they pick Lloyds side).

Alternatively, a few of the teens get confused at the word, some even repeating ‘Noms..’ with a snicker.

Brad, however, groans when he realises Lloyd picked up on that part of Darkleys slang when he spent the week with them (it was a simple mix up, really; the bus drivers assumed he was enrolled at Darkleys and drove him there instead. The only reason Koko found out was because NHS called her about Lloyd not attending the first week of school).

“But Cole, I’m but a growing boy,” Lloyd whined, twisting his arm to shove his own hand in Coles face. Before they can go further, a hand snatches the candy from their hands, making them turn to find Jay opening and downing the entire packet.

The two teens blink at him for a while, before jumping the blue teen with a war cry, wrestling in the grass while Jay begs for mercy.

Above, the blue ninja sends a small static shock at the two, still mad that they jumped him in the middle of the school day, “I hope you two know I still blame you for the bruise I got the next day!”

Cole sputters, “It was Saturday the next day, and we had training the whole weekend! You were going to get bruised regardless!” He shoves Jays face away, for no reason but to be petty. Lloyd nods beside him, agreeing with the earth ninja.

The screen fades to black, before returning to the hallway, the timestamp in the corner reading ‘3:15PM’.

Our lovely protagonists are walking through emptying hallways, bags slung over their shoulders as they walk into the metalwork room. The machinery is stopped and multiple incomplete works are strewn throughout the classroom. Metal shavings litter every surface, and simple schematics of the latest class project is written on the board at the back of the room.

From a door on the other side of the room, a man with greying hair wearing overalls walks towards the group with a smile, “Heya kiddo’s, how was today?”