Garmadon Oneshots! Of Many Flavours And Forms

Suspicions and Stories A Plenty • Post Crystallised

Even after all that had happened with the Overlord, the crystal army, and the end of Ninjago for the umpteenth time, Lloyd still couldn't bring himself to trust Garmadon. How could anyone blame the green saviour, his own father had hurt him? Besides, Lloyd always found himself being let down by his dad, it always ended with disappointment.
Unfortunately, Lloyd was right to have his suspicions.

It was a bright day, the morning was fresh and the air was new, half of Ninjago was already awake and the rest was probably just having a last snooze before their natural ways of life. However, Lloyd had caught a glimpse of his beloved father fairly sneakily leaving the monastery and hurriedly, and perhaps even desperately, abandoning the ninja crew yet again.

Now Lloyd was spying upon Garmadon from bushes, trees, rocks, anything to ensure he didn't lose his father who was practically running to avoid being caught. The event took a turn when a large group of rustling came from nearby making Garmadon take off at the speed of light. It didn't take very long for Lloyd to recognise the few voices.

"Guys! What are doing, I thought you were busy" Lloyd groaned, parting the bushes to reveal very scuffed-up Kai, Jay and Cole, Zane and Nya came from behind a tree shaking their heads. "We saw your dad and worried, we didn't want you thinking he was leaving again so we followed him...but here you are," Jay answered for the whole team who stood in awkward silence for about 0.5 seconds before they all seemed to remember the problem at hand.

Suddenly, they all jumped up and broke off into a sprint, hiding in the shadows the best they could whilst coloured like skittles. They did gain on the former dark lord, even then it was only because he had slowed to a quick-paced walk. The forestry around the oni had changed to be more open now, seemingly getting thinner as it parted to reveal a beautiful lake that glistened in the light of the setting sun.
       Garmadon stopped for a second, the ninja held their breath and waited. They remained in their uncomfortable positions for about a minute before Garmadon began to move again, speed-walking down the mud path and back into the forest.

Their walk stretched on, the sun now resting behind the orange and pink clouds while the sky turned into a burnt umber. The former dark lord didn't rest nor did his quick pace deter when he saw a village.
The village was bathed in the sunsets gorgeous lightning, signs of production stopping as everyone stopped repairing the broken exterior wall.

A moment had passed when Garmadon trudged down the hill, his steps leaving dusty prints in the dry sandy, dirt, dust billowing from behind and catching the light as it flew into the air. The ninja were admittedly stumped on how to stalk Garmadon further so had to pause their actions and watch from the top of the hill.

Luckily for the ninja, the village wasn't too far from the raised earth they rested on, you could make out people and larger objects just not faces and small objects.
Now, unfortunately this allowed Lloyd to watch his father as a small child ran up to Garmadon and wrapped her arms around him, he rubbed her head in response. It was painfully easy for the team to picture Garmadon smiling. (He was)

Our beloved ninja were baffled, not one person that had seen Garmadon upon his arrival were frightened- no one, especially not the kid that was far to happy to embrace the once evil oni.

Against their better judgement, the group instantly charged towards Garmadon to protect the village from the conqueror.
However, the surprises didn't end their.

"Garmadon watch out!" The young girl yelled and at the same time, a tall man with a long, red beard holding a blacksmithing hammer, a young woman with brown hair wheilding a bow and a shorter man in a straw hat with a rake charged towards the ninja. Garmadon stood between the fight, seemingly unsure about the situation.
But before anyone could make any blows, two elder looking men with long, pale-grey hair that was tied up ran into the centre of the conflict, one screaming "Wait!" while the other looked petrified.