Music to the Max

6 - "I Got a Name"

The ninja set off again, continuing to follow the trail that Master Wu had led them on before. Jay, Kai, Cole, and Nya were carrying Garmadon's cage at the four different corners, leaving Lloyd, Leah, Skylor, and Zane free. They were still navigating their way through the jungle by dusk. The entire journey Garmadon had been talking non-stop.

"You know what's funny?" Garmadon was saying now. "I had Luh-Lloyd when I was 158 years old." They all wowed and oohed, everyone but Lloyd and Leah, and then Nya frowned. "Wait a minute, you're 174?"

"Yes."

Cole joined in, "Master Wu says he's 167, and he's your younger brother?"

"He's my younger brother, correct."

"How's that possible? You look much... younger."

"Thank you."

"Yeah," Jay looked up at the evil warlord, genuinely interested, "Do you moisturize?"

"Yes, that's when I got the upper hand on Master Wu."

"'Upper hands'."

"Yeah, upper hands."

Kai then raised his hand, striking Garmadon with a question, "How'd you gain two arms?"

Jay winced, "Oh, don't put it like that."

Nya shook her head, "I don't know if that's the best way to say it."

The Fire Ninja shrugged, not knowing his mistake, "Well, he's got four arms!"

"You know," Garmadon nodded to Kai, "A lot of people don't ask me about it. So, I'm glad he's comfortable asking. Lloyd's never asked me once about my arms, have you, Lloyd?" When he got no response from his son he continued. "I was bit by a snake." The ninja all whispered their doubts. Jay asked, "So, the snake had a bunch of arms?" Kai shook his head, "They don't have arms." "Do you mean a spider?" the Lightning Ninja tried again.

"Oh, no, I was bit by a snake, and the snake had been bitten by a spider, and then the snake bit me."

Lloyd threw his hands up into the air, "Are you guys actually buying any of this?"

"How else would you explain it, Luh-Lloyd? You weren't there."

"So," Jay hesitated before continuing, "When the two extra arms started growing were you like, 'yes this is awesome', or were you like, 'oh no'?"

"No, at first, I was totally freaked out and sometimes I get self-conscious about it."

Silence drifted through them and Leah was thankful for it. She hadn't removed her hood since they'd met Garmadon, not wanting to know that his daughter, too, was a ninja. She and Lloyd were walking together ahead of the group. Garmadon then started talking again. "Hey, who's your silent friend in the purple gi? I haven't heard them talk even once. If you want us to stop talking about my arms because you're not comfortable with it, we can stop, Silent Ninja."

I Got a Name started just like that on her IPod and she smiled slightly. Her IPod seemed like a real, living creature sometimes. Leah didn't answer Garmadon, instead choosing to ignore him. Garmadon huffed in annoyance. Serves him right. Jay then cleared his throat, "Hey, uh, Garmadon, can I ask you another question?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"It's about the arms. Um, can you shake your own hand?"

"Look!" the 174-year-old man started shaking his own hands, the ones on the right and the ones on the left. "Check it out, ninja." They all started laughing and Jay beamed, "He's his own best friend!"