And A Continuation Of This! Tw/the Lego Ninjago Movie Arm Scene

And a continuation of this! Tw/the Lego Ninjago Movie Arm Scene

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Red's first thought when he first woke up was 'Wow, that's a bright light in my face'. 

His second was 'Holy FSM, that hurts so bad'.

His third was ‘I'm cold.'

The third was particularly concerning, because Red did not get cold. He didn't walk outside in winter without a jacket (because snow was wet and icky and made his skin feel weird), but he also didn't shiver when standing in an ice rink (do not ask him to skate. Him and ice skates did not mix). Even after he'd slipped while jumping over stones in a river one summer, he'd scrambled out soaked but not as cold as now. 

...no, he had not looked like a cat trying to scramble out of a bathtub, shut up.

This time, however... this time he couldn't stop shaking. Violent shivers wracked his whole body, disrupting various bandages (and stitches in his face, he could feel it like an old itch, an unforgettable feeling from when he'd gotten his famous scar) and generally causing discomfort and pain. His arm felt numb, yet... loose. The oddest comparison of a frayed fishing line flashed across his mind, where the hook barely stayed clinging on.

White and blue light flooded his vision when he opened his eyes and he winced, trying to blink through it. It felt like someone shining a flashlight directly in his eyes. 

As he shuffled and shivered, he realized he was tied to a chair. The ropes- no, more like chains- weren't cutting into his skin, but they weren't loose either. His arms were thankfully only pinned to his sides inside of pulled behind him, but his legs were bound rather fiercely to keep him from running away even if he got his arms free. 

A scarf was wrapped around his neck, a mercy to the shivering, and he glanced down to see if it was orange. To no surprise, it wasn't (what was he thinking, there's no way his Not-Friends would have Jay's scarf, and if they did, he'd be a million times more concerned than he already was because that meant his real friends were hurt or worse), but soft regardless.

The bright light grabbed his focus again and he shied away, trying to see. The shock of missing his mask was duller than before, but it still struck him all the same as the heat from the bulb warmed his cheek. He was missing his wet gi too, swapped for a similar gi but different. So the Not-Friends knew who he was- 

Wait. They'd been calling him Kai all week. While he had his mask on. They'd known the whole time.

He really was an idiot.

An overwhelming fear pressed down on his chest: that if they knew his identity, then they might know his friend's true identities- and why shouldn't they, if there was a Not-Nya and a Not-Cole and a Not-Zane and a Not-Jay. They knew.

He had to double-check the scarf colour. Nope. Still yellow. Or- or was that just the lightbulb? What if... what if...

The violent shivers were more than just from the cold.

"Hey. We know you're awake." 

Red startled, squinting under the light. "W-Wh-h-o...?"

The light moved, thankfully not blinding him as much, and he caught sight of Not-Cole and Not-Zane sitting in front of him. His first thought, instead of panic, was again at how weird Not-Cole looked without the headband. The hair was so different. Not-Zane looked similar to Zane, but for him it was his eyes that were wrong, nothing like the bright arctic blue LED pupils of his friend. 

"Kai Smith," Not-Zane said, his tone neutral. Much too neutral.

"Otherwise known as the Doppelgänger in the Red Suit," Not-Cole added. In front of him was a cup of some steaming drink- tea, maybe, or hot cocoa.

Not-Zane tilted the light again. "We would like some information regarding who you work for, 'Kai'."

Red clammed up immediately, stubbornness and determination locking his jaw shut despite the clatter of his teeth from the ocean shivers.

The ocean-

No, no, shove it away. Worry about it later. He needed to focus. He would not give up any information about Master Wu or the other ninja. No matter what happened, he wasn't spilling a word.

Not-Cole pushed the drink toward him. "We have a cup of hot tea that could warm you up."

The 'if you want to talk' was heavily implied. 

Red remained silent. Don't get him wrong, the temptation of warmth was nearly overpowering. It felt as though the chills of the oc- the unnamed  had seeped into his very soul, like a wave trying to douse a candle held in a fragile bubble of glass. 

He knew the shivers were a good sign; it meant he was warm enough that his body kept shivering. 

Despite the offer, Red refused. He stared at the ground- they were inside the dull of the ship, probably- and didn't spare a peep.

"Look," Not- Cole said, and suddenly he was a lot closer. His tight frown held agitation and defensiveness, but his eyes help flickers of concern. "We just want to know who you are and why you tried to kidnap Lloyd."

"K-Kai-i S-Sm-mit-th-h," was the only answer Red gave them, the answer they already knew. 

The answer didn't seem to satisfy the two Not-Friends. Not-Cole put one hand on Red's shoulder- FSM's sake, did this guy rock-climb or something up literal mountains? He was built, and it was honestly a little intimidating up close. 

"I don't think he's gonna tell us," Not-Cole said, turning to look at Not-Zane. "Not like this."

Not-Zane stood and joined Not-Cole on Red's other side, holding the lamp in his hands now. "It is concerning... Aside from the possibility he is still disoriented from hypothermia, which does not appear to be the case as his temperature is steadily starting to recover, he seems uncooperative. His heart rate spiked at our approach and upon first waking up, but has not changed at our words. The light hasn't found any contacts, but we can't be certain, nor do we know if the wish has improved since our first encounter. It was strong enough to separate us from the real Kai. We must be prepared for any outcome."

The real Kai? They meant Not-Kai... the supposed 'perfect version' of Red he'd been trying to impersonate for a week.

Red flinched as Not-Zane pinched his cheek suddenly. "Colour is starting to return. Blood flow is returning to normal despite not moving as much. Good. The cut from the docks is clean and stitched, and seems to have stopped bleeding. Injury wise-"

Red turned his head sharply, ignoring the dull buzzing around his neck as he did (from where he'd taken that strange green energy-like blast), and bit Not-Zane's hand.

Ow. Ow, ow, he was an idiot, Not-Zane was still made of metal- skin-like metal, yes, but still metal. Anything past the softer material layer hurt his teeth.

Still, Not-Zane yanked his hand back. His tone turned a little clipped, more on the side of caution and slight hostility like earlier. "Attitude-wise, some similarities with the doubles."

"Hey," Not-Cole almost barked out. "We're trying to help you. Stop making things so difficult."

Red, of course, continued making things difficult. 

When Not-Cole got too close to his face again- too close, too close, way too close- he bared his teeth in warning. It felt... weird, fighting these people(?) who looked like his friends, but weren't. But he had to find and protect Lloyd, had to figure out how much the Not-Friends knew about his friends- his family.

Now it was Not-Cole's turn to tip closer on the hostility scale. "Zane, this guy starting to remind you of the other double? I felt bad for him before, worried even, but now I'm starting to get a little annoyed. What if they've done something with our Kai?"

Ironic, considering Red was sitting there worried they'd done something to his friends.

The room was starting to get warm. 

More thoughts of the ocean crept at the corners of his mind and he mentally shoved them away. At the same time, he physically tried to shove Not-Cole and Not-Zane away.

Red stopped shivering.

"Please, we just want to know where our friend is," Not-Zane said gently, though Red guessed it was forced. It felt forced- sounded forced- tasted forced.

That- was odd... an odd description...

Everything was getting warmer. 

"I don't- I don't know," Red spat out, blinking as his head started feeling woozy. 

Cole- no, wait, wrong hairstyle, he... it was missing something, right? What... right. The hairband. Not-Cole leaned in closer until they were face to face. His eyes had gone back to concern, and honestly the constant back and forth between worry and hostilely was sending Red's mind spinning. "Whoa, stay with us. You fell into the water and I had to pull you out."

Right, right, Cole had saved his life. 

Zane stared at him with fluorescent blue eyes- right? "Temperatures are rising at an abnormally high rate... Chances of fever are increasing. Cole, perhaps it would be wise to reassess our assessment-" 

Red tasted iron in his mouth and realized sometime during that statement he had bit his tongue. Weird. He didn't feel it. What he did feel was a clash in his chest, like his insides were both frozen and on fire at the same time, and the frozen bits were fighting the flaming bits. He didn't like how the warmth was turning to hot- was this what burning felt like?- but he had the strangest sense it was better than the cold in his system, more natural. Like something was trying to help him fight off... what was it again? Hypo... something...

Zane suddenly had his arms around him. There was the sound of air escaping vents, a tiny bit of steam in the air, and suddenly everything felt cold again. No, no, the heat was good, bring it back-

Wait. No, don't do that. The ice inside was gone- at least, he hoped- and he could think a little clearer.

Clear enough that he realized Not-Zane held him in a tight grip. Sure, it was something akin to a hug, but it was also a hold. A hold he very much wanted to break out of, so he started to struggle.

And suddenly Not-Cole was there, and damn, the guy must have an insane workout routine because his hold was just as strong as the guy secretly made of metal next to him. 

Didn't stop Red from kicking up a fuss, headbutting and flailing and biting and shouting. The two Not-Friends had him in a pretty strong grip, but he could feel the chains on his arms start to soften like putty. It took a wiggle, a sharp turn, and-

Suddenly his arms were freed. He fought against the two, swinging and punching and clawing and aiming for eyes and joints and anything he could reach, just get him out of there, he had to find Lloyd, find the others-

Not-Cole grabbed one arm and twisted it to the side as Not-Zane grabbed his other arm. And the arm that Not-Cole grabbed... it burned. The next yell out of his mouth wasn't a warning, or threat, or question, but instead just a pure yelp of pain. He pulled, and Not-Cole pulled back, saying something about '-hey bud, just calm down-'  that Red couldn't understand.

It hit him how dangerous this was. Here he was, captured, interrogated, no mask, no mech, no friends. This never happened before in a Garmadon Attack. None of them had ever been... captured like these. Of course, there had been terrifying moments- crashed mechs, broken communicators, interrupted signals, getting cornered. But they'd always still had the mask, had the knowledge that the others were close.

Red didn't even know if Lloyd was safe. All he had was the words of these Not-Friends who, while nice, were also hostile as he showed hostility back. Perhaps there was some way to deescalate the tension, just talk it out and figure out what was going on, but Red didn't have the energy to figure out what was blocking their communication. Maybe they could have talked it out. Maybe they really could've talked it out.

But now was not that moment, because a terrible ripping sensation, like tearing a piece of fabric down a seam, filled his shoulder. His arm gave a horrible, squelching pop, and suddenly the tug-o-war tension between him and Not-Cole snapped like a piece of string. The pain in his arm stopped. Stopped in such a nauseating way that it felt even worse than when it had been caught between him and Not-Cole.

The action in the room froze at once. Red slowly turned his head to see-

Where his left arm had connected to his body was just a hole. A circular hole, impossibly smooth. The scarf around it stained orange as small patches of red and yellow mixed. Wasn’t there something about an orange scarf? He couldn’t remember right now. All he could think was that Not-Cole held the rest of his detached arm.

Not-Cole held the rest of his detached arm.

Red laughed once, a hiccuped laugh he'd heard once from Jay over the comms after a particularly bad battle where his plane had crashed into the side of a building. 

Then he laughed again, more fake, like Zane when he was truly hurt and trying to hide it under the guise of being a 'normal human teen'. An icy underline, a desperate subtly to it.

Then came a silent shuttered laugh, the kind Cole did when he was scared for the group, almost missable except for a shaking of the shoulders. The kind that almost stopped the records from spinning.

And finally the laughter bubbled over like a flooding stream, a tumble head of heels in a series of rapids. Nya, trying to cover her pain with the roaring of a waterfall.

It slowed down to a strangled laugh, Lloyd trying to find an unfunny joke funny, trying to lessen the impact of words and insults and shoves and bruises. 

His arm was off. Detached. Un-socketed. 

Plain clean off.

A Tiny Spark Leads to a Roaring Flame (But Flames Can Always be Doused by Water)

Heeyyyyy so y’all know the Reverse Thanos Snap AU for SPBNR? Basically everyone but Smith/S!Kai gets sent to the M!verse. Everyone. The entire population of S!verse Ninjago City & a few surrounding areas. Except poor Smith. Essentially it happens because S!Garmadon tries to send Smith to a place where he can’t mess with his plans, and ends up sending everyone away from Smith to take him out of the equation. 

The second part to this AU is that the S!Ninja end up searching for Kai in the chaos and grab the Red Ninja before jetting out of there with the Bounty. Except… they didn’t grab Smith (who’s still home), but rather Red (M!Kai).

Red thinks the S!Ninja are babysitter clones created by Garmadon after he somehow turned Lloyd younger without his memories & is trying to raise him to be his new General #1. With this in mind, he pretends to be S!Kai, and waits for the moment he can rescue Lloyd.

What would happen in the S!Ninja discovered his deception/their mistake of grabbing a wrong Kai and mistake Red for a recreated Aki (aka Bizarro Evil Clone Kai) before he could enact his plan?

Well, this is that idea. (Title inspired by how a crack AU spiralled into a beautiful angst-fest)

Enjoy. :3

—–*—–

Red was going to get Lloyd out of here tonight. 

Away from these Not-Friends made by Garmadon to emulate the Ninjaforce. Away from this flying ship built to emulate Master Wu’s ship, so familiar and yet so off. Away from this false reality and back to the real everything where they could hopefully get his memories back and his age back and everything back to the way it was before the city descended into chaos.

He just had to… bide his time. Be patient. 

FSM, he was bad at being patient. 

His hands itched to grab Lloyd and run now, but he was horribly outnumbered and without his mech. No matter how badly he wanted to, he couldn’t rush this. If he did, he would make everything worse. Like he always did.

But fate- or rather, Lloyd- had other plans.

The little version of his younger brother- yes, they were roughly the same age normally, shut up, Lloyd was still his younger brother- had been… eying him weird all morning. Not like Not-Jay and Not-Cole and Not-Zane, but like Not-Nya. Like he actually knew instead of suspected. These babysitter clones seemed to think he was the Not-Kai, and if that was the opportunity the universe was going to give him, then by the flames of the departed world was he going to skip this chance to save Lloyd.

Currently he stood on the deck of the ship as they parked in the sky a few meters above the docks on the outskirts of the city. It wasn’t the docks with the Bounty warehouse, curse his luck, but it wasn’t the endless sky or the empty ocean (though it was still too close to that murky, haunting water for his liking. Water was his sister’s domain for a reason). At least he could sneak Lloyd off in the cover of night, maybe find someone in the city who wouldn’t recognize the Son of Garmadon this way and would be willing to help them hide until they could make it back to the real ninja.

“Kai,” Not-Zane spoke suddenly next to him. 

Red would never get used to the way his voice… lacked the same effect the real Zane’s had. The effect that Kai and the rest of his team had assured their friend over and over was unique, special, but in a good way. To embrace it. That it wasn’t noticeable, but when it was, that it was so Zane that his friends didn’t care that it was different. 

This ‘Zane’ sounded much too different than his own. He hadn’t recognized Kai’s tested line of ‘road work ahead’ when they passed one of the many construction signs littering the city (even more so since the chaos happened a week ago), and instead had responded with 'a great deal of work to fix in the city’. 

Seriously, Garmadon, do better research on your clones.

Not-Zane was also much too… calm. Too 'wise’ compared to the wild teen that was Zane. And he walked without heelies or whatever Zane used to slide around like a boss, though he was still silent. And that meant, like now, he snuck up on Red fairly often- and Red was training to be a Ninja, so that took serious talent. 

“Kai,” Not-Zane said again, and Red finally broke his gaze from where he’d been staring over the railing, planning tonight’s escape route. “Lunch has been made for over an hour. Are you alright?”

Red forced his brightest smile. “Course I’m alright! Just trying to figure out what happened, as usual.”

Why Lloyd was suddenly like, 8, and without his memories. Why the Not-Friends were on this Not-Ship and had mistaken him for Not-Kai. Why the city was in a state of disarray and chaos. 

Not-Zane studied him, then turned to give the city a sad look. “I’m not sure myself. My scanners can’t seem to figure out what is happening. It is as if… blocked by some force.”

Red winced, then expertly disguised the move by leaning against the rail. Zane never would use 'my scanners’, despite how often Red and the others assured him it was okay. Yet another reason why this wasn’t his friend.

“You know Ninjago City,” Red said with a weak laugh. “Always one crisis or another. Always those annoying Garmadon Attacks”

This seemed to satisfy Not-Zane, who nodded thoughtfully. “This event definitely seems to have Garmadon’s hand in the mess.”

He patted Red on the back. “Well, don’t worry yourself ragged, Kai. Come in for lunch soon, alright? We have training for Lloyd later.”

Ah, right. Training. AKA what Red assumed was how Garmadon was planning to shape this impressionable version of his friend into his new General #1.  

“I’m ready for training now, Zane!”

Speaking of Lloyd- 

The little gremlin came up from the hull with the rest of the Not-Ninja. Red hated when the entire group was together; it was way more difficult to act as Not-Kai around them, especially around Not-Nya. 

For starters, Not-Jay had a notch in his eyebrow that the real Jay never had. He was missing the iconic freckles, and the scarf, and the fluffy hair, though you could always say it was just a wardrobe change. What you couldn’t change was the personality differences. This couldn’t be Jay. Jay was anxious and quiet, his jokes (while plentiful) said more timidly and his newest ideas shared with hesitance that only shrank after years of encouragement. He would never be this loud, ever. 

Not-Cole was the leader, probably because Lloyd was so young. But even then, in Red’s team, Nya would probably take second-command. Cole was their sturdy support, yes, but he was chill, laid-back. Ready to follow and support his friends to the ends of the earth with his tunes and occasional sarcastic wit, but not lead. Not like Not-Cole, who was more serious and commanding and didn’t. listen. to. music. Red hadn’t spotted a single record or boombox in the room in the hull. That was a tragic oversight on Garmadon’s part. The members of his research team should be Fired.

And then there was Not-Nya. Who wore a dress with confidence that his sister would love but never publicly wear. Who had short hair- Nya had tried that style once, and decided it itched around her neck too much- and jewelry, and a giant flying Samurai mech suit. His sister had the Water Strider Mech, and Not-Nya had a flying combat suit. Sure. Close enough. Personality-wise they were similar. 

Similar at first glance. Nya was fluid and adaptable to whatever role she needed filling. She was spunky, and as fiery as him when it came to tempers, though she knew how to keep hers in check (she had to, right? No one called her hot-headed and impulsive and reckless and blamed her temper for mistakes or damage or whatever the news comments liked to say about the Fire Mech). Not-Nya was also adaptable and independent-minded, but she seemed more rigid. More doing her own thing. 

Point was, everyone wasn’t actually his friends, despite how much they tried to prove they were. And they kept acting like he was this Not-Kai, who was just as hot-headed but apparently more mature and training-oriented and basically the better, cooler (or hotter, perhaps, for the fire theme of the red ninja) him, since his acting never seemed to fully convince them. Trying to impersonate a standard he couldn’t seem to reach, some legendary hero he wasn’t- er, wasn’t yet! Yeah! He just needed to prove himself, be better, and he’d be fine. Just… fine. Yeah.

Mini-Lloyd (Red was tempted to call him L'ilyod in his head, but that felt wrong somehow, like he was infringing on some kind of copyright law) stared at him like a goddamn falcon, and he wasn’t talking about the bird that circled the ship. He had this bowl-cut Red would tease him about endlessly after all this was over- seriously, how had Mr. Fabulous Hair started with this mess? Garmadon probably didn’t even have hair, so there was no way the guy knew how to style it, and it was very evident based on Mini-Lloyd’s hairdo. 

Red noticed that all of them were staring, actually. Despite his relaxed rest against the rails, his fingers behind his back clutched the cool bar with a dull shake. He didn’t notice how the metal seemed to glow red under his touch. 

“Training, right, we should get onto that,” Red tried. “What do you want to start with, Lloyd?“ 

"How about a little game?” Lloyd asked with complete innocence. “What we were playing last week before we got interrupted.”

Oh sh!t. 

“I-I don’t know, shouldn’t we start with stretches? Or how about some sparring, that’s always more fun than a game!”

“But I wanted to continue our game…” Mini Lloyd said, and FSM’s sake, he couldn’t deal with that pouting look.

Okay. Okay, don’t panic. Think logically. What kind of game would an 8-year-old Lloyd like to play with him? Something physical, so no board games- he liked to test his mettle against Zane on those, and sometimes he would almost not-lose. Logic puzzles also fell more on Jay’s area. Trivia, especially music trivia, was a bubble between the anxious motormouth and Cole. Video games fell on team building, and wouldn’t classify as a training warmup.

“Well,” Red said, taking a hopeful stab in the dark. “There’s not too much space on the deck for… tag…”

Lloyd nodded, looking satisfied. The Not-Ninja looked- well, their expressions were hard to read because of how different it was compared to his friends. But Red was a master of deception (well, fire, but eh, technicalities), and he had them fooled, and he just had to keep it up until nightfall so he could rescue Lloyd and explain in a safe location-

“HE’S NOT KAI!”

Orrrrr improvise. Okay, yep, he could improvise. 

Red lunged forward and grabbed Mini Lloyd’s wrist from where he had his hand extended in an accusatory point. He ducked under Not-Jay’s attempts to grab him- fast, but not as fast as his Jay, his Jay who could disappear from an awkward social interaction in the span of a flickering lightbulb- and dragged his younger brother with him as he vaulted over the railing. Not-Zane almost managed to yank him back onto the Not-ship, but his icy grip caught only empty air as Red pulled Lloyd into a tight hold and ducked.

He hit the dock below with a stumble, rolling back onto his feet and taking off with a very stubborn green ninja in tow. It took all his strength to drag Lloyd (kicking and screaming like he was being kidnapped or something when Red was just trying to rescue him, for FSM’s sake. Lloyd didn’t know that, but he could still try to be at least a little more considerate.)

The wooden docks creaked and shuddered underfoot and Red grimaced; whoever rebuilt them after the latest Garmadon attack had shredded them like newspaper clearly hadn’t wasted any unnecessary change. It certainly didn’t help that Lloyd packed quite the punch for someone so small. Red definitely would come out of this with bruised shins and arms from where Mini Lloyd tried to push him away, but it would be worth it to keep his teammate, his younger brother, safe.

Then green filled his vision and broke his hold on Lloyd’s wrist, sending him skidding across the dock planks as he was sent flying. When he finally rolled to a stop, neck and shoulder stinging from where the blast had caught him (no burns, just jitters like he’d been shocked), he had to take a few seconds to re-orient himself. Did the Not-Ship have cannons or something? What hit him from behind, so close it could have hit Lloyd?

Lloyd. Was Lloyd okay?

Red pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the bleeding scrapes on his hands and legs from where he’d gotten banged up by the splintered docks. His gaze, sharp and frantic, searched for signs of green. The warning of more blasts, the flash of the fabric of a gi, anything.

He spotted his brother in the arms of Not-Cole. No, no, no-

And suddenly Not-Nya was there, given a boost by Not-Jay. Her grip was as if she were wearing the robotic mech suit, harsh and powerful and near in-human. She threw Red back to the dock floor as her face twisted with the fury of a storming ocean. A resounding crack rang out over the harbour.

Red couldn’t tell if it came from the planks under him or his own shoulder.

She pinned him to the wood, barking accusations and threats in his face faster than Not-Jay could talk. Red blinked through a haze of pain, trying to focus on her face and words. She was missing the beauty mark on her face, he noticed. Yet another tell she wasn’t his sister.

“-scar on the wrong side-” And it was hard to hear again over the ringing in his ears. He tried to throw her off, get back to Lloyd, anything, but he was-

Useless. 

Her hands suddenly got in his face, slamming his left cheek to the wood. She was close- close to his face, close to his eye, close to his scar- pushing and prying as she tried to do something. Red picked up in his struggling, his attempts to free himself turning to desperate shoves and wild clawing like a trapped animal. He wouldn’t let this creation of Garmadon’s finish the job that teen had started all those years ago. 

“Or better yet, he needs to shut his damn mouth.”

The flash of a knife. His vision half-blurry. Blood- so much blood- and a lasting scar.

“-contacts-” “-red-” “-struggling-” “-we know what he- it- is already-” “-not the real Kai-” “-wish-” “-Garmadon-”

He had to get away. Get Lloyd away from them now.

In one surge of strength- and yep, his shoulder definitely wasn’t okay after that move, as if he’d ripped it not just from its socket but from its very attachment to his body- he knocked Not-Nya aside. If he could’ve seen through the red haze, he might have noticed red embers dancing around his fingertips as his desperation and fear tapped into something deep in his soul.

He tried to shoot to his feet, tried to run for Lloyd (held so tight in Not-Cole’s grip, surely they were hurting him, he couldn’t let that happen-). He roared, “LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!”, but before he could take another step through Not-Jay and Not-Zane in his path, the docks gave one last ominous shudder  before deciding it had finally had enough.

The planks crumbled underfoot like charred firewood in a crackling campfire, and Red was sent tumbling into the frigid ocean water below.

:D Glad you liked it!

The Beginning of Heatstroke, aka Red’s Villain Origin

* crashes down from the ceiling * I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED ONE OF MY 5+ CURRENT WRITING PROJECTS! BEHOLD, A WRITTEN VERSION OF THE ‘Red’s Villain Origin AU’, also known as RVO / Heatstroke AU

To summarize the AU for SPBNR for those that don’t now it: 

“Who’d be the biggest conspiracy theorist out of the M!Ninja? The one who drinks 5 hour energy at 3am and spits off the craziest theories and then actually gets it right but nobody gives the theory any merit because the rest of the theories are too crazy?”

The answer: Red / M!Kai

Red: Okay hear me out: Smith is actually an alternative version of one of us sent here from another dimension.

The other M!Ninja: You’re just saying that because Smith’s cool and you want him to be your counterpart

Based on the M!ninja making red cork boards trying to figure out ‘What Is Up With Smith’: Red gets increasingly accurate and nobody will believe him (all pre shogun reveal) and he eventually snaps and takes up a secret villain persona to fight Shogun like 'if they won’t believe me I’ll do it myself’ and it gets awkward when he accidentally does too much damage and catches not only Shogun’s attention like planned, but also the rest of the Ninjaforce, and now he has to keep his own identity a secret

So, without further ado, I present… Heatstroke

————

Red blamed the 5-hour energy coffee blend at 3:00am for this.

It was no surprise that between ‘Operation: What’s Going on with Smith’ & the sudden appearance of Shogun that the resident Bounty red-stringed ‘joke’ cork-board doubled in size and seriousness. It also was no surprise that Red had a corner all to himself and that his theories were… in the words of the others, ‘wildly inaccurate and implausible’.

But this time, he was sure he’d gotten it right.

Smith is Shogun sent here from another continent/planet/dimension with the goal of protecting Ninjago City.

The latest string of laughs and scoffs at his theory was the last straw. He’d show them. He’d prove it!

Which was why he was currently standing on the roof of a noodle house, awkwardly adjusting the spare motorcycle helmet he’d ‘borrowed’ from Nya and painted black and orangey-yellow (red had seemed too obvious). He’d exchanged his Ninjaforce outfit for a soot-burned cross between a bomber jacket and a leather jacket. Down his back jutted a row of flames like the spines of a monster, courtesy of one of Nya & Jay’s unfinished inventions Red had modified- surely nothing bad would come of that!

For tonight, the Red Ninja was off-duty. For tonight, it was Heatstroke’s turn.

He fiddled with one of the weapons he’d ‘lent out’ from Master Wu. It resembled a small arm canon, like a smaller version of the Ultimate Weapon. The plaque under its post had read ‘Elemental Focuser’, which, in cryptic Wu speak, probably translated to ‘you can use an elemental power like something out of Avatar: The Last Airbender’. So far he’d only figured out how to activate a focused jet of fire. Well, at least it was on brand. He hoped it would help him catch Shogun’s attention so he could unmask him.

He’d tried confronting Smith at school, of course. But there were only so many ways of saying ‘are you the new vigilante helping the ninjas’, and Smith has a genuine talent for dancing around the topic. Red could confront him with the name Shogun to get a proper reaction, but that would mean explaining how he knew the name and outing himself as the Red Ninja.

So fake villainy really was the only way.

His plan was to use the Elemental Focuser to cause some minor petty damage, just enough to attract the new vigilante. Perhaps set a trash can on fire, block an alleyway with rocks (if he figured out how to change the setting from fire to earth), small things that could easily be repaired.

Of course, plans were never actually stuck to. One way or another, something was always improvised.

Red’s improvisation just happened to involve him accidentally setting the entire alleyway on fire.

He’d only been aiming for one dumpster, honest! And maybe he’d spotted a couple fliers for a SoG meeting on the ground and happened to burn those too. And a newspaper article blaming Lloyd for the recent Garmadon attack, again. And an article about those ‘Damn Ninja Menaces’ by a S. Sonah Sameson. And-

Okay, so maybe Red had aimed the fire at a few small targets. But just a few! And with good reason and good care, but…

Well, fire liked to burn. Give it enough kindle and it’ll continue to grow, stretching like reaching branches towards each other to join in a massive bonfire. 

So now the entire alleyway was on fire, and Red was panicking. 

He’d luckily chosen an abandoned part of town near the beaches where Shogun sightings seemed most frequent, but with the stupid Elemental Focuser not switching from fire mode to water mode or ice mode or something that didn’t have the potential to burn Ninjago City to the ground, Red had no way of stopping the flames.

And more flames meant more destruction which meant a bigger audience.

Which was why his previously muted comm suddenly flared to life, the only warning Red had before Nya’s water strider mech slid around the corner.

Red scrambled onto a roof as the mech drove past, spraying water at the bonfire to dose it. His sigh of relief was just as quickly dosed as Lloyd’s voice came over the comms; “Status, Grey?”

“Flames are out,” Nya replied. “Pursing the joker that set it ablaze.”

Uh oh. Red took off across the roof, leaping from building to building. Tiles creaked, pebbled and dust scattering underfoot. The sounds of the mech’s engine roaring behind him echoed through alleyways below to create the illusion the mech was everywhere at once. 

As the chase grew on, more mechs started to join in. Red ducked into a narrow avenue to avoid Zane’s tank, then under a cafe overhang to throw off Jay and Lloyd. His heart hammered in his chest and he groaned, filling the inside of the motorcycle helmet with steam. Saying this was going ‘bad’ would be the understatement of the century. 

What had he been thinking? Oh wait: he hadn’t. Seriously? ‘Oh I’ll just pretend to be a villain real quick, that should get Shogun’s attention and not the attention of literally my entire team of fellow ninjas!’ Stupid, impulsive, this was why everyone was always calling the red ninja the ‘hothead’ when he really tried not to be- Lloyd’s voice over the comms snapped him from his thoughts. “I can’t catch them! It’s like they know our every move!”

Red winced as he climbed up a banister and leapt from balcony to balcony. Sorry, Lloyd. 

He didn’t miss how the others asked Nya where Red was. And how she made up excuses the others bought so easily- granted, he’d told those excuses to his sister before setting his plan into motion, but still, ouch. They acted like he was simply being at best too busy and at worst lazy and selfish.

He just wanted them to know the truth! Why couldn’t they at least try to believe him when-

Of course, that was when Shogun dropped out of the sky and tackled him.

Red shouted with surprise as he tumbled down from the second floor, slamming into a few softer bags of garbage to break his fall before rolling and slamming into the unforgiving concrete. A crack formed in his vision as the visor of his motorbike helmet smacked into the concrete ground. One of the fire jets on his back sputtered and sparked, sending a thin wisp of smoke into the air.

Shogun pinned his wrists to the ground and growled. “Who are you?”

Red tried to break free, agony turning his muscles and bones to fire with the movement after his fall, but the vigilante was too strong. Damn, how often did this guy train?

“Who am I?” Red said, a nervous tinge to his voice. He quickly smoothed it over with faked confidence. “Who are you? Who are all of us, really?”

Shogun narrowed his eyes behind his hood. “Did Garmadon send you? Or someone else?”

Red sputtered. Really, the nerve! Garmadon? The thought turned his insides to disgusting mud. “Nobody sent me!”

“Then why are you here?” Shogun spat.

“Why am I here?” Why was he here again? Oh right, the bright idea on how to reveal that Shogun was Smith. “It’s, uh… a valid reason! That I don’t have to tell you!” He tried for a villainous laugh. Stay in character, don’t blow your cover, you got this!

Shogun was unimpressed. “Nearly burning down my home was a valid reason?”

“Well, I wasn’t trying to set everything on- wait, WHAT?” Uh oh. “You LIVE here?”

Now it was Shogun’s turn to look uncomfortable, though the expression was quickly wiped from his face. “Nothing wrong with this district.” 

Red nodded. “‘Course not. Uh, sorry about that… wasn’t my intention, I swear.”

Shoot, he could hear Jay’s jet getting closer. He had to get out of here, but Shogun, annoyingly, didn’t seem to be in the mood to simply let him go. “Then what is your intention?”

“Well, for starters, it’s getting out of here. This really isn’t going to plan and I’d rather just be home right now, or even inventing a time machine like in that book ‘Hands of Time’ to slap my past self in the face for even thinking about this stupid idea in the first place-“

Jay wasn’t the only one that could ramble under pressure, it seemed.

Shogun leaned closer. “What idea?”

Red shrugged as best he could with how he was pinned to the ground. “Well, for starters, I just wanted to prove to my friends that you’re Smith, and things just kinda escalated from-”

The words were out of his mouth before he realized what he said. 

Shogun lurched back, letting go of him. His eyes betrayed a kaleidoscope of emotions; surprise, worry, suspicious, hurt, fear, realization. 

“…Kai?”

Well, f!ck.

“I-“

Red was about to badly attempt to bullsh!t his way out of his identity reveal before it suddenly dawned on him that Shogun had not denied his theory. 

Which meant Shogun was Smith.

And it also meant Smith instantly recognized him as Kai, which, considering his disguise, was aptly concerning. Sure, he was the first one in his group of friends people would think to do something this extreme but give him some credit! Zane was a regular detective, he’d do the same if it meant answers! Or, well, at least something similar. And Nya could be an adrenaline seeker. And Lloyd- well, maybe not Lloyd. Or Jay, either. Cole had his head just enough on his shoulders that he probably wouldn’t do this either.

But come on, instantly guessing it?

Well, at least Smith/Shogun didn’t know Kai was the Red Ninja. That would be a catastrophe.

Right. Back to the current catastrophe at hand.

Shogun- Smith- still had a look as if he’d been slapped, and Red hated it. He hadn’t meant to hurt his friend. Shogun… Shogun hadn’t wanted them to find out his identity. And then Red had gone and done it, just to prove that he could be the smart one, or a leader, or the protector so they didn’t get hurt, or literally anything but just the ‘hotheaded one’. 

…And he’d done it in the most hotheaded, impulsive way possible.

He really was an idiot.

The cracked helmet hid the look on his face, a twisted mess of distraught and shame. But it didn’t help hide how he took stumbled to his feet and away from Smith, nervous that any second he’d spill another mistake and mess up again, like how he always freaking messed up on everything. Don’t pick this fight, interject there instead, no, not there, idiot, there, FMS why are you so useless-

Focus, focus.

Lloyd’s voice, sharp in the intercom and full of static from his tumble, snapped him from his thoughts. “Anyone got eyes on the arsonist?”

Red caught Smith’s eye as he raised his hand to his own communicator. He was so screwed, so busted, so doomed… Smith would report it, and the others would know, and they’d think he was just messing around in an alleyway with some stolen devices and weapons out of curiosity or rage, - and-

“None yet, still looking.”

…What?

Smith stared at him, gaze searching. He looked shaken, more so than Red- who’d just taken a fall from a second story, mind you, it was a miracle he wasn’t more injured than a couple small scrapes and some future bruises-, yet everything from the set of his jaw to the softening of his furrowed brows suggested a change in emotions. Well, not quite change; more like repress and replace.

“You wanted to prove yourself, didn’t you.”

Red flushed, hand instinctually clamping into a tight fist at his side. The still-working fire jets on his back ignited without him pressing any buttons; faulty activation from the fall or something. 

Palms up and hands raised, Smith silently asked to defuse the situation. “Didn’t mean it as an insult. This wasn’t about venting some anger, was it.”

Red’s lack of response only confirmed it. Smith continued. “I won’t say anything about this if you don’t tell anyone my identity. Deal? I know finding it out was important to you, but-“

“Deal,” Red interrupted. Guilt ate away at his core, like a wave of water dousing a candle. “Smith, I-“ He swallowed hard and stared at the alley floor. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… to…”

Smith’s hand was suddenly on his shoulder and he flinched before relaxing as Smith didn’t move further, nor did the grip tighten. “I’m a little hurt, you’re right. But I’m not mad. And I won’t tell the others, so you can relax. But you better get out of here and get yourself an alibi. We can talk at school or something.”

Wow, he was handling this rather calmly. Red was struck by the sudden memory of- what did Jay call the word? Right. Compartmentalizing. That… wasn’t healthy. But at the roar of Lloyd’s mech somewhere nearby, he didn’t comment further. Instead, he shot Smith a grateful nod and ran down the alley, sticking to the shadows and blind spots of the flying mechs and the tight alleyways where the land mechs couldn’t reach him. 

When he got home, miraculously without further incident (though Shogun leading the others on a wild goose chase over the comms certainly helped there), he ditched the outfit in a bag hidden beneath a loose floorboard in the shed. He’d return the weapon to Master Wu’s ship later, and… well, hope Nya never searched for the missing supplies. There wasn’t a way of fixing it without involving her or Jay, and neither was an option.

Heatstroke was back off duty, and so was the Red Ninja.

For now, he could just be Kai Smith. And there wasn’t any issue with that.

…

Right?

—————

yooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

THIS IS AMAZING REHJJGFHDESFXJVZ

and ah yes, good ol trauma and compartmentalizing, we love to see it

The Start of Smith Shark-Pup Forge

I LIVE!!!! And for my grand return to Tumblr, may I present... This fic for the SPBNR Sharp-Pup AU :3

Enjoy

---*--- Kai was going to kill Garmadon, revive him with his own stupid Mega Weapon, and kill him again.

That is, he would, if he could just get out of this bag-

Seriously, how had the Mega Weapon transformed the bag previously stuffed over his head into a bag that covered his entire body? And why was he struggling so much to get it off, it was just a cloth bag, it shouldn’t be this hard-

In a fit of frustration, he bit into the fabric and was pleasantly surprised when it shredded and he was able to worm his way out of the hole.

He gaped at the sight around him. Ninjago City. Or, at least he thought it was Ninjago city. It was lit with every colour of the rainbow, drowning out the stars above. But that wasn’t the part that threw him off.

It was how big everything was.

The smallest buildings around him were the size of the tallest buildings in Ninjago City, but they didn’t even come close to the tower in the middle of the city. Kai nearly got dizzy looking at it, and he wasn’t even standing close to it. 

Heck, just the night lamppost was taller than any lamppost he’d seen before. And that alley dumpster- it was taller than him! Taller… by a lot. A weird amount, actually.

…

So either everything was so much taller than normal in this weird Not-Quite-Ninjago-City, or… 

Or he was smaller than normal. A lot smaller.

His question was quickly confirmed when he tried to stand, only to overbalance and fall forward on his paws.

Paws. Not hands.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE FSM-

Kai stared at his hands (or lack thereof), and finally got a good look at himself.

Oh. Oh no. Oh nonononnononono, what- 

What was he, some kind of shark… puppy… mix? Pinkish red splotches on small, smooth scales secretly rough as sandpaper, mostly blue with an underbelly of white, a fin spiked up on the top of his head with smaller fins spiked like his hair, and a red collar. A collar. Like he was nothing more than a common house-pet.

Kai growled, then balked at how weird that felt. He ran his tongue over sharpened teeth; definitely some kind of Shark… Pup… thing.

He would ask why, but the answer was ‘The Universe was fucking with him, as always’. 

“H-heh, c’mon. L-let’s talk this out.”

Kai’s head snapped up. The voice sounded familiar in a way, though he couldn’t quite place it. Still, they sounded panicked. Scared. 

His instincts were firing at him.

Stumbling over his paws, Kai immediately fell face-first (snout-first?) into a puddle of mud. When he stood, shaking the dirt from his eyes, he fumbled over to a dumpster and tripped over an open garbage bag. Ewwww… just his stupid luck.

“Th-that’s a nice l-looking knife you have there.”

Kai shook off the garbage and bounded down the street, growing more confident with every step. His movements were fuelled by fire, little sparks and melted paw prints in the asphalt trailing in his wake. Someone was in trouble. A knife. An alleyway. His problems could wait.

“You like it?” A different voice. “It’s my father’s.”

Kai growled again, picking up the pace. The conversation seemed so close, but because of his small size (and general lack of control over his new form, despite getting better at it as adrenaline and protectiveness shoved him forward), the empty street took forever to cross. The streetlamp flickered overhead, casting his shadow across the alley.

“Or, rather it was, before Lord Garmadon’s last attack put him in the hospital.”

That almost threw Kai off balance, but he quickly corrected his movement before he could go skittering into the storm drain- the way he was right now, he might actually slip in- and kept running.

“L-look, I’m sorry, I really am, but hurting me isn’t gonna help hi-” 

A strangled yelp. Kai felt hot fire building in his throat, smoke slipping through his clenched teeth. Almost… there…!

“Oh I know that. Doesn’t mean it won’t make me feel better.”

Kai skittered into the alleyway, snarling. A person holding a knife whipped around to see what had just happened but kept their hand firmly around the throat of a teen in a green hoodie. With mud covering many of his spots, the darkness of night covering the rest, and patches of garbage visible in the splotches of moonlight, he surely was quite the sight even without his new shark pup form. 

Despite the smoke curling out of Kai’s mouth (if the people could even see it in the dim alleyway), the stranger with the knife didn’t seem to be intimidated. They merely laughed. “What, brought your little puppy with you? Your stupid sea dog?”  

As the green teen squirmed, knife flashing too close to their skin, what little patience Kai had evaporated. A jet of fire burst from his mouth. It roared across the alleyway, licking at the walls and charging toward the stranger. 

The stranger screamed and dropped the knife, blocking the fire with their arms. The flames washed over the green teen without burning them. Kai was across the alley by the time the flames flickered away, leaping at the stranger and biting their leg. 

“MOTHERF-“

Kai leapt away from the stranger as they hopped on one foot in pain, finally crashing into the far wall. Ignoring them, Kai grabbed the edge of the green teen’s pant leg (the closest thing he could reach from the ground) and dragged him toward the alleyway exist,

Together they ran for several minutes through the streets away from the alley, until Kai’s stubby little legs outweighed his ninja training stamina. He tumbled as he missed a step, rolling several feet before coming to a whining stop on his back. Ouch, his feet hurt. No, that was right… paws. 

The questions of where was he, what was he, how did he get back to his family and form crashed back into him, tearing at his mind and threatening to strangle his lungs. He buried the feelings down but they kept rising back up, bubbling under his skin and grabbing at his chest, his heart, his head, his thoughts. Stop it, get a hold of yourself, figure out the situation first-

Someone scooped him up. Kai let out a startled noise, weakly pawing at fabric until he realized it was just the green-wearing teen. He calmed a little (just a little; he didn’t like getting picked up, and certainly not by someone this much taller than him at the moment), and finally got a good look at the kid. 

Dear FSM, it was like looking at an older Lloyd. Fix his hair, change his eye colour, and boom, it was like staring at a mirror of the future. Kai could see Lloyd looking like this teen, and it wasn’t just the green hoodie. 

“So, um, hi there…” The teen said. Kai stared at him. “Thank you. For saving me, I mean. Nobody else would have done that. Figures; I’m about to get stabbed and the only one willing to help is a stray shark pup-“

The teen noticed his collar. “Or, not a stray. Let’s see-“

Kai squirmed a little as the teen grabbed the tag on his collar, but the grip, despite being firm, was incredibly soft and gentle. 

The teen flipped the charred name tag; it must have gotten burnt in the alleyway. “All I can make out is Smith… is that your name?”  

Smith? No, his name was Kai. His last name was Smith. But there wasn’t exactly a way he could communicate that right now…

The teen was annoyingly yet understandably oblivious to Kai’s struggles. They ducked their head, the ground suddenly very interesting. “My name’s Lloyd… Lloyd Garmadon.”

No, he couldn’t be Lloyd. Lloyd was, for starters, short. And younger. And- and-

And didn’t get nearly killed in an alleyway by a stranger seeking revenge for something Garmadon didn’t. There was no way the others would let that happen, even with Kai’s disappearance. Cole wouldn’t. Zane wouldn’t. Jay wouldn’t. Nya wouldn’t. Sensei Wu wouldn’t. And yet…

Was… Was this Lloyd after all? Had he’d travelled into the future, landing in this strange form? He stared into Lloyd’s eyes, desperately trying to convey who he was. But Lloyd just looked at him with stinging unfamiliarity, a wariness in his eyes that broke Kai’s heart and tore the pieces to shreds. 

The teen- Lloyd- put Kai back down. “So, uh, in case you didn’t know who I was, you can run now…”

Kai stayed put.

The teen blinked. “Oh, uh, I guess… well, it probably wouldn’t matter to you, huh? Besides, my father-“ the word was said with venom- “Likes sharks, so I guess that means they like me.”

After a moment of thinking, Kai head-butted Lloyd’s leg to mimic how he would give his younger brother one-armed hugs. Lloyd smiled a little; his first smile of the night. “So, uh, Smith, got anywhere to go? I better get home, my mom’ll be worried…”

MOM??? 

Kai filed that away into the ‘freak out about it later’ folder in his brain, right next to ‘repressed feelings’. He stuck close to Lloyd; the chances of running into him in the city while stuck in this form would be impossible, and there was no way he was letting his brother out of sight after the knife incident. 

Lloyd scooped him up again. “Well, uh, I guess if you insist… No promises Mom will let me keep you, but you can stay at my house for the night I guess. I’ve never seen a shark pup that can breathe fire…”

Came with the territory of being the Master of Fire, apparently. Kai scanned the streets for dangers as Lloyd started down the sidewalk. No matter what, he was determined to protect his not-so-much-younger-right-now younger brother in this strange city.

And nothing, not even his strange new form, could stop him.

All three let’s gooOOOOOOOO

reblog if you’re asexual, support asexual people or really really want a crossbow for literally no reason.

Well this is a solid mood

i stole this from twitter

Sparkler!

Pining Chen

@kittydemon9000 - I finally got around to posting it! If I continue this maybe I’ll post it on Ao3.

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