Better odds await the faint of heart

I've got a new disaster to start!

And it's called Lloydille! AKA PhysicsShipping; still my very favorite Ninjago pairing next to Ronya. XD

This story was requested by guest reviewer Angel Star Ninja—sorry, it may not be quiiiiiiite what you had in mind—but an EDM concert is like a really huge dance party, no? Sorta?

Anyway, thanks for giving me the nudge to actually write something for this pairing, Angel! I had SO much fun I can't even tell you. This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it got out of hand and hit several chapters instead. XP

Hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Crack shipping, general goofiness, some action/violence, messed-up romance, little flirting, no kissu. This is Lloyd we're dealin' with.

Oh, and #GetYourFixOfSolidColeHere.

"Move!" insisted Jay, attempting to overcome static friction. It turned out that the soles of Lloyd's feet were wonderful sources of static friction. He wasn't budging.

"Come on, we're almost done cleaning up here. Chamille's going to be heading home soon, and then you'll miss your chance!"

"What chance?" demanded Lloyd, leaning his full weight backwards to counterbalance Jay's full weight trying to shove him forwards. To his dismay, his feet started to slide slowly but steadily, no matter how much he dug in his heels.

"You have to talk to her! Settle everything out after the whole Thunderblades fiasco, you know? You said you liked her."

"Never have I ever said that I liked her!"

"You said she had a nice laugh."

"So does the Overlord, depending on your preferences!" Lloyd yelped and fell backwards as Jay suddenly stopped pushing altogether.

"Kiddo." Jay regarded the prone Green Ninja sternly, arms folded. "I'm serious."

"Look," said Lloyd, sitting up. "Just because I noticed her does not mean I like her. If you gave me a peanut for every girl Kai noticed, I'd be running an elephant farm by now." He brushed himself off and regarded Jay wearily. The lightning ninja still looked adamant.

"Well, if it'll get you off my case," sighed Lloyd, pushing himself to his feet. "But only for good sportsmanship!"

"Just get going." Jay made a shooing motion.

Lloyd headed over, nursing mixed feelings about the situation. On one hand, he did feel like he owed the Master of Form at least a little bit of an apology—she'd been rough with him during the Thunderblades race, but he'd been rough with her too. And then he'd won everyone over to his side and gotten her tossed into the Factory, which from what he heard was not a fun place.

On the other hand, he still had the bruises from that high-speed brawl disguised as rollerskating, and at least most of them had been entirely unnecessary. Not to mention a good few dents to his ego, and the knowledge that—if she had been the one to win—she would have had no regrets at all.

Also, girls. He was not well-versed in them.

It was with poorly-disguised reluctance, therefore, that he sidled closer to the Master of Form and caught her eye. She gave him an unreadable look, tossed aside the scrap metal she'd been dragging, and brushed off her hands.

"Your friend's a dork," she said glumly, nodding towards Jay.

Wow. First sentence in the conversation and they were in perfect agreement. That was promising.

"So, what's the message?" She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, arms folded. Lloyd shrugged.

"Nothing specific. I, uh, I guess—"

"'Nothing specific'?" interrupted Chamille. "Wait. This isn't about the Tournament?"

"Oh, that." Lloyd rocked back on his heels, wondering whether he wanted to change the subject badly enough to venture an apology. "Uhh . . . are you still mad about that?"

"Are you?"

". . . Kinda."

"Mutual, Minty."

For a while they both stood there with folded arms, surveying the ground.

"Are we done?" asked Chamille, tilting her head. Lloyd found himself studying her eyes, looking for something special, but found they were pretty unremarkable as eyes went. Wasn't sure what he'd been expecting.

"Is your hair really purple?" he blurted at last.

It was only much later that he learned you weren't supposed to ask girls about their natural color, but luckily Chamille seemed used to the question.

"Nuh-uh. I dyed it purple with powdered drink mix."

" . . . Why? . . . "

Chamille looked around uneasily to see if anyone was listening, then grabbed Lloyd's arm and yanked him within whispering distance.

"'Cos it's a sign! Nobody else can know this, but I'm actually from the future and I've come back to save the past from a horrible catastrophe. I know it sounds crazy, but you've gotta believe me!"

"Really?" asked Lloyd, bewildered.

"I wish," sighed Chamille, letting go of his arm. "I'm a fifteen-year-old from North Ninjago whose parents think I've been at my grandma's all this time, and whose grandma thinks I've been at band camp, and all of them are going to kill me when they find out about this." She surveyed the Corridor of Elders gloomily. "Come to think, maybe I'll stay away from home a little longer."

So that was their first meeting. Chamille did stick around for a while, and she and Lloyd ocasionally ran into each other afterwards and spent a little time in each others' company—long enough for them to question each others' sanity, insult each others' music tastes, nearly come to fisticuffs twice, and develop an even more thorough distaste for each other.

Somehow it didn't dissuade either of them from enjoying it every time. They became good friends, after a rather violent fashion.

"This looks like the real deal," said Nya grimly, ending the communicator call and turning to the others. "There have been multiple threats received that a bomb will be planted at this year's Magic Imbroglio Carnival."

"Magic . . . What?" Kai looked like he was undecided between complimenting Nya on her vocabulary and warning her to watch her language.

"The Magic Imbroglio Carnival. It's a three-day concert devoted entirely to electronic music. Draws in huge crowds of . . . well, rather crazy people." Nya chuckled, but sobered quickly. "But seriously. You all know how dangerous a bomb could be in such a huge crowd, or even the threat of a bomb. The concert authorities want all of us to head down there to make sure the bomb does not get planted."

"Can't we catch the perpetrators beforehand?" asked Cole, already socking a fist into his palm.

"We can definitely try," agreed Nya. "But if worst comes to worst, we're going to have to be ready to go down there, look for any suspicious behavior, and take down any threats. The authorities have arranged 'twin passes' for six people."

"Twin passes?"

"Basically tickets for two people each. The concert authorities were very specific about wanting us to work in pairs—they say the concert is much too loud and chaotic for a single person to stay on-track, and any more than two people working together would attract attention. So it's pair work only."

"So . . . we have to get dates?" It could not be said Jay sounded reluctant about this.

"Not necessarily dates," said Nya. "To quote the guy I spoke with, 'bring a date, bring a friend, bring your grandma for all I care; just make sure you have a partner.' And before you get too excited, this is going to be work, you know!"

"I know, I know." Jay's enthusiasm did not seem at all dampened. Nya eyed the ceiling ironically, but smiled.

"Okay, so the Carnival is the day after tomorrow—"

"What?!"

"Yeah, so you'd better partner up fast. The concert authorities will want to brief us too, so we'll have to meet them sometime today. Does anyone have any questions?"

"I have one." Zane raised his hand shyly.

"Yes?"

"What is electronic music? . . . "

"It's . . . " Nya hesitated. "Well, you'll find out soon enough."