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Lloyd had known their mission was destined to fail the minute Master Wu was separated from the team of ninjas. They weren't strong enough without him. It was like people said - wannabe teenagers and meddling kids, pretending to be strong and tough.
He certainly didn't feel very tough now. Garmadon's ex-employees terrified him. They all shared the horrible idea he fought so hard at home; the idea that he was nothing more than his father's son. Another minion of Garmadon's creation. Another gift to God's volcano.
The very same volcano shone behind the crab-like woman in front of Lloyd now, illuminating her horrifically. The Green ninja panted and pleaded, heart pounding in his chest.
She spoke but Lloyd couldn't hear her words over his own heavy breathing. She grew closer and closer, pincing forward and pointing at Lloyd and then the volcano. He couldn't be put in there. He couldn't. He backed away as fast as he could, begging she wouldn't kill him. Begging she'd see he's not Garmadon. He's just a boy, please. Please!
His team must have heard his desperate cries; Garmadon and the team leaped up from the tall grass, swinging and snarling at Lloyd's attacker. She was knocked to the side with a clatter, likely unconscious, but not before she managed to get a swing and the team's beloved green ninja.
She had missed all his vital organs by a long shot, only managing to hit what felt like his shoulder. His team comforted him, warning him not to look, but he wasn't stupid. He couldn't ignore the looks they all gave each other, the glances the gave his arm where she'd swiped at him.
Lloyd looked down at his arm hesitantly, knowing he shouldn't. He felt queasy, heart still pounding in his ears. He couldn't resist.
It was hard to see with only the obnoxious volcano for light, but it didn't stop the Green Ninja seeing the hole. That giant, gaping hole into him. Null and void. Empty and black.
Where he once felt queasy, Lloyd now felt nauseous, screaming and turning around to throw up on the grass. Bitter yellow bile surrounded him within seconds as he heaved desperately, almost choking on the lumps of food he'd swallowed only a few hours ago.
Heave, gasp for breath. Heave, gasp for breath. This kept going and kept going, violently heaving and gasping and plummeting more puke into the floor, almost choking as he coughed it out.
When he'd finally stopped, he managed to turn back to where he'd been lying wounded on the floor beforehand, throat sore with stomach acid singing his throat. His dad- Garmadon, he meant - was ordering the other ninjas to find Lloyd's lost limb for him.
Lloyd was faint and thirsty, mouth burnt and stomach cramping as he panted. He could see the piles of bile seeping out through the grass, glistening in yellow and brown. He didn't mind that the other ninjas had left him; Lloyd only minded when Garmadon went to leave and search too, leaving him alone. He didn't want to be alone like this.
"No, Dad! I need you right now! I need you to do something!" He cried, too desperate and too frightened to pretend that his dad didn't matter.
Garmadon looked almost as nauseous as Lloyd felt, openly gagging and staring at his empty socket. "W-we'll find it," he stammered awkwardly.
The Green ninja was sweating profusely on the floor, more bile burning at his throat and threatening to pour out. His snake-spider father tried to take both their minds off of it, holding up various things the teen could have instead of an arm if their luck didn't pull through.
Turns out having Garmadon pull out things that could replace a gap in your flesh is not as good at saving you from being sick as you might think. Especially when one of those things was a real human leg. Fully flesh. Just lying around, rotting, covered in maggots. Just like your arm could be.
That could be his arm, after all. That could be Lloyd's arm wasting away right now. Layers and layers of skin, his own skin, peeling off like wallpaper as maggots wormed and writhed and ate their way through him, down to the bone.
Lloyd was sick again, with even more sweat and sourness this time. His skin was now in a hot rush from the volcanic fumes and his own vomiting. He felt so ill. Were ninjas meant to feel like this?
As he finished gagging and gasping for the second time, his friend Jay sprinted back, looking simultaneously relieved and disgusted. Lloyd squinted, swallowing and struggling to stay conscious, and saw his own hand.
It wasn't as bad as he'd thought, at least. No maggots. Sleeve still intact. He could see it shining under the light of the employees' volcano, more so than Jay's own skin was beneath it.
Of all the things Lloyd had experienced, this had to be the hardest. His father approached him with the flesh stick - having snatched it from Jay - and braced himself for putting it back in, bone sticking out like snapped plastic.
Lloyd trembled even more so than he had earlier, more than when he'd been threatened with the volcano, even more than when he'd vomited. He eyed his father warily.
"Okay, I'm gonna, gonna pop that arm back into place," Garmadon assured himself of his next move, four arms clenching Lloyd's singular arm, red eyes staring into the gaping hole of veins and empty chest cavity where arm was meant to be.
"I-it's only gonna hurt for a minute, right?" Lloyd hated the idea of his arm popping back into place. Sections of bone popping and clicking together. Clumps of flesh popping and bursting to connect.
Garmadon looked at him incredulously, as if his son was talking absolute gibberish. "Hurt for a second?! No," he exclaimed, "it's going to be agony for a while. Who told you that misinformation?"
The Green ninja grimaced, gritting his teeth and telling his guardian to just do it. They settled on count of three and Lloyd steadied himself for the pain, looking away and closing his eyes.
The agony his father had spoken about was no joke - now that his hollow socket had been filled, his skin had to heal around it, veins had to re-connext, flesh had to reform. It felt impossible and for Lloyd, impossible felt agonisingly painful.
The skin still had an unnatural shine, uppermost layer of cells glistening more than it should under the light of the lava. It looked like grease when the ninja finally turned his head back and he brushed his fully functioning hand against it.
He couldn't feel it, of course - the forgotten arm still hadn't connected properly, leaving Lloyd with only one functioning arm still - but he thought he felt something odd with his other hand. He pinched down harder and looked closer at his arm, squinting down intensely.
His skin looked almost glossy, patchy even, peeling away in shards here and there. Decomposition had set in slightly, one of the ninjas explained, and the skin on his arm would come off gently if he wasn't careful.
It might change when it fully connected to his arm, they said. He barely heard them over the throbbing pain, pain from his arm, pain from his bile-filled throat, pain from the exhaustion he had from heaving up all his guts.
Garmadon stood, beaming proudly as if he was awaiting praise from Lloyd, acting more as if he were the child and Lloyd the parent than the other way around. Him and the other ninjas encouraged them to keep going, that they should escape this volcano quickly to continue their quest and find the Ultimate Ultimate weapon.
Lloyd wanted to agree. He wanted to stand up like the rest of them, help get them to the end, be a true ninja like Master Wu. He really, really wanted to. He just felt so weak and sick, stomach cramps and wobbling legs stopping him from going on.
Jay came forward to give him a helping hand up and the green ninja took it, forcing himself upwards by gripping his friend's hand. His heart raced and he felt woozy for a second, faces of his team fading in and out. He couldn't focus on them, any of them. He couldn't go on.
He ended up collapsing into Jay's arms, too exhausted to continue. Whrn he woke up, they had carried him some of the way and suggested he help build a cart when he fully came to. He agreed gratefully and they continued the journey.