Chapter 1

It was just another day in Ninjago City. The streets were buzzing, the air was crisp, and Lord Garmadon was fighting against the ninja with his Serpentine army.

With their winning the NinjaBall Run saving Dareth's dojo financially, it seems Lord Garmadon had decided to simply burn the place to the ground himself. Anything to keep the Prophecy of the Green Ninja from coming true. His son couldn't train if his dojo was nothing but smoldering ashes. Between that and the sabotage he had done to the training equipment on the Bounty, Lloyd's training was sure to be delayed for a long while.

He'd heard the mutinous comments from some Serpentine that if he had had the foresight to sabotage the equipment, then he should have simply torched the dojo in the first place to save them from the shenanigans of the race only days ago. Those Serpentine quickly learned to keep their mouths shut the hard way. As such, if they thought simply burning the place down was so easy, they could do it themselves while he observed from the side, not doing a thing to help.

Unfortunately for them, the evening they'd gone to burn the dojo down happened to be one where the ninja had stayed late in the day to give Lloyd extra training. As such, they weren't particularly happy to see their enemy's attempt at arson and jumped out to stop them. Burning the place down was quickly becoming a more difficult task than anticipated.

And thus, it was four ninjas vs. an army of torch-wielding snakes. Unsurprisingly, giving all their experience fighting the Serpentine before, the ninja were winning.

Kai was literally in his element. "You dumb snakes think you can beat me using fire?" he asked as he spinjitzued around to knock several snakes that had gotten too close clear across the street.

"I do not believe it matters what they chose to use," said Zane as he did similar to three more who were trying to sneak up on them. "We would still defeat them either way."

"Could you guys focus!" Cole called as he bodily threw one snake to knock over several others like bowling pins. "I'd rather not explain to Dareth why we let there be burn marks on his dojo on top of the damage from last time Garmadon went after this place."

He gestured at the tarped-over hole in the wall that was still there from when a construction crew tried to tear the place down. The contractor set to fix it wouldn't be there to do so for another few days, though planks of wood and other building supplies were already piled around the hole and ready to be used when they came.

"Relax, Cole," said Jay cheerfully, smacking a burning stick out of his opponent's hands with his nunchucks. "We've got this!"

It truly seemed they did have the battle handled. Despite this, Dareth was still relocating his fake trophy collection and roped Lloyd into helping him.

"Almost got them," said Dareth as he and Lloyd hurried to pile the dojo owner's pride and joys into a wheelbarrow to carry them out.

"Why do you even have a wheelbarrow?" Lloyd asked as he lugged a particularly heavy trophy into it. "We live in a city, and you don't look like you're into gardening."

Dareth paused from where he was balancing the last five awards in his arms and shot the ninja-in-training a grin. "Easy, little buddy. I keep it here for this exact scenario."

"You have a wheelbarrow just in case Serpentine ever show up to wreck the place and stop some super important prophecy?" Lloyd asked dubiously.

"Sure I do," said Dareth, piling his load onto the top. "You don't?"

Lloyd stared back at him, unsure if he was serious or not.

Just then, a particularly loud crash from outside the dojo made them both jump. "Time to go!" Dareth declared, grabbing the wheelbarrow handle with one hand and Lloyd's arm with the other, and racing them towards the exit.

As they ran, the wheelbarrow in front of Dareth wobbled precariously. It was meant to be pushed with two hands, but the self-proclaimed Brown Ninja knew he'd kiss his chances of a hero goodbye if he didn't make sure the kid got out safely. No matter how much if physically hurt him to hear his precious trophies clank and scratch against each other.

Still, with the way the wheelbarrow wobbled too and fro, it was inevitable one of the phony awards would fall out, and lo and behold, one did.

Both Lloyd and Dareth paused and winced as a cylindrical trophy fell out of the wheelbarrow with a clatter and rolled across the floor a far corner of the dojo.

Not even waiting to hear what the other had to say, Lloyd said, "I'll get it," and pulled free from Dareth's grip to run over and grab the trophy.

"Wait, little dude!" Dareth called after him. But whether he was going to tell him to leave the trophy of just to hurry up would remain unknown, as right at that moment they heard a yell of "Heads Up!" from Jay outside.

Both looked over just in time to see one of the Serpentine's torches fly through the tarp on the wall and into the dojo. It landed on a pile of wooden planks that were set to repair the hole and the flames began spreading quickly.

"Lloyd!" Dareth called, shoving the wheelbarrow away from himself, but before he could reach him, the sight of Lloyd was completely blocked off by a wall of smoke.

He still tried to pick his way through to where he'd seen the Green Ninja last, but before he could reach him, Jay burst in through the hole and grabbed him.

"No time for your trophies!" he said urgently, pulling Dareth away. "We've gotta go!"

"Wait!" Dareth yelled, but Jay dragged him out of the building faster than he could react. Still, as he was pulled out of the now burning building, he yelled for the whole street to hear.

"Lloyd's still in there!"

The entire battle froze at those words, and everyone looked at the dojo owner in horror.

"Lloyd!" said Garmadon, turning to face the blaze with an alarmed expression.

Kai, who had frozen with his fist less than an inch away from a Serpentine's snout, shoved the snake away and immediately ran for to the building. "I've got him."

But the second he reached the hole, the flames caused the already damaged wall collapse down, blocking his way in.

"Lloyd!" the ninja all cried, and hurried to the closest door of the building to get in and reach him.

Fear of their lord's wrath had the Serpentine scrambling to help put out the fire as well, with several rushing to the nearest fire hydrant to get water and douse the flames.

Garmadon could only watch in horror as the flames steadily grew, knowing any second they could consume his young son. This wasn't supposed to happen. Lloyd wasn't supposed to be here so late. He wasn't supposed to get caught in the crossfire of this scheme. He should have been safe on the reclaimed Destiny's Bounty. Why didn't he check to see if his son was here before insisting on starting the fire? If the ninja were here, then surely he wouldn't be far behind.

Garmadon gripped the Mega Weapon in his hands so tightly it almost snapped in two, but the sight of it gave him an idea. In his annoyance at the Serpentine's comment, he hadn't used it yet today. With the correct wish, he could save his son.

But what about the next time Lloyd got caught in the crossfire of his plans. How many more times would the evil in his veins do harm to the one person he cared about in this entire world? How many times more would he be in danger before the prophecy was finally complete? Even then, he never wanted the prophecy to be completed. He never wanted to fight his son, and he hoped his son never wanted to fight him too.

If only…

Lord Garmadon raised his head as an epiphany came to him. Raising the Mega Weapon into the air, he said, "Mega Weapon! I wish my son lived in a world where we did not have to fight each other!"

The weapon glowed a brilliant gold, before a beam shot from it, blasting a second hole in the dojo's wall and causing the flames to flicker wildly as it blew past. The beam of light vanished inside the building and a second later all the windows of the dojo glowed with a pulse of golden light. A shockwave then burst out of it, putting the rest of the fire out completely.

The ninja, who had been fighting to break down the door, seized the opportunity to run towards the new hole and rescue their trapped friend.

Only for a figure to burst out of the hole before they could reach it.

The gathered ninja and Serpentine could only stare at the new figure. Not that he paid them any mind, as he hurriedly batted at his still smoking clothes to stifle the embers still clinging to them.

Once he seemed to be content he was no longer on fire, the figure looked around in confusion, giving all a chance to take in his appearance.

It was a teenage boy roughly the same age as the ninja with blond hair a little longer than Cole's and vivid green eyes that stared around at them all in bewilderment. The clothing he had been working so desperately to put out was a ninja gi that was mostly black with green accents scattered throughout it. He was no one any of them had seen before, and yet, he almost looked like…

The boy caught sight of Lord Garmadon standing a ways off with the Mega Weapon still raised into the air, having forgotten to bring his arm down in shock at the results of his wish. The two locked eyes for a moment, before the boy began looking around again more frantically, taking in the sights of the Serpentine around him, some of whom were still holding torches. The ninja who, while staring at the newcomer, were standing ready to fight should any of the snakes make a wrong move. To Dareth, who was cowering behind the ninja for protection, and then back at the smoldering building he had just jumped out of.

The boy then turned back to face Lord Garmadon with an expression like the warlord had just kicked his puppy into oncoming traffic. "Dad!" he said, his voice cracking in a heartbroken tone. "You promised!"

The entire street was dead silent as everyone absorbed what the boy had just said. At what he had just called Garmadon.

Lord Garmadon broke the silence first, finally bringing his arm back down so fast the Mega Weapon clattered to the pavement.

"Son!?"

A/N I blame both Savannah-the-Caracal and Kay Hau for this fic. Savannah for getting me into Ninjago in the first place through their reboot of my Turtle Loops fic, and especially Kay Hau for being a massive inspiration and help in writing this. They're both awesome!

I love fics where they cross over the movie and the show, and I've read a good few of them. But I noticed it was always a dynamic where Show Lloyd came off as the older and more experienced one compared to Movie Lloyd. That started a plot bunny in my head thinking about 'What if it was the opposite, and such a crossover happened while Lloyd was still a kid?' However, that plot bunny didn't go anywhere until I read and reviewed one of Kay Hau's awesome Ninjago fics (check them out, they're really good), and our messaging back and forth helped me develop this idea into an actual story.

Massive thanks again to Kay Hau for beta reading this fic and helping it since it's conception. Updates on Fridays, and I hope you all enjoy.