Candy! 🍬🍭🍬🍭

Prompt: "My name isn't even Jimmy!"

Again, this happens in the Movie universe.

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"Hey, watch it!" I yelled as a group of boys pushed past me causing my books to fall on the floor. Hearing my voice, they skidded to halt. Their head, Jordan, squinted at me, mischief sparking in his eyes.

"Or what?" he stated, coming over to me, a challenging tone in his voice and a smirk on his lips. His cronies snickered behind him, advancing towards me as well. "You're gonna go crying to your mommy, huh, Jimmy?"

I wasn't a very intimidating person so I couldn't do anything but hope that a teacher would come walking down the hall and save me from getting humiliated by Jordan and his gang.

Fortunately for me, the bell rang. As its metallic ringing filled the halls, kids began grabbing their stuff and started traipsing to their respective classrooms. Which meant Jordan had to scram.

"I'll deal with you later, Jimmy," he muttered before tugging on his jacket to show he meant business. As he and his posse disappeared around the corner, I dropped down on my knees and began picking up my books.

"Jerks," I muttered, stuffing my english essay into my assignment file. "My name isn't even Jimmy. It's Jay."

Jordan Kinney was the biggest bully in the seventh grade and all the dorks and nerds (apparently those were my categories) despised and feared him at the same time. He looked like a twelve year-old kid but he was actually a doberman in a leather jacket and worn out Nikes.

I finally gathered up all my stuff and was about to go to my locker when suddenly a hand caught me by the shoulder. Like I said, I wasn't very intimidating. I was the exact opposite so this gave me a little bit of a jump scare.

"Whoa, relax," came a voice from behind. Turning around, I saw a boy about my age with bright green eyes and light blonde hair, smiling at me like I was his best friend or something.

I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly, a nervous grin on my freckled face. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a bit jumpy."

"You're the new kid, right?" the guy asked, taking his hand out of his jumper pocket momentarily to point at me.

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Not really. I've been in this school for two months now so that doesn't technically make me new."

He stared at me for a minute before raising his hands as if he was surrendering. "Oh, sorry," he said, his friendly smile returning. "We're not in many classes together so I don't see you much. It's hard to notice you when you have that thing nearly covering your face."

I realized he was pointing at the orange scarf I was wearing around my neck. I loosened it a little, chuckling nervously. "My mother knitted it herself so I wear it for her."

"Mama's boy, huh?" he asked and my smile immediately dropped. Did he think of me as a dorky loser too now?

"I'm one too," he continued, leaning against a locker and folding his arms. "I really can't be anything else considering the fact that my dad went away when I was a baby."

"You're Lloyd Garmadon," I spoke up to which he nodded rather slowly. Oh great! I was already not popular and hanging around with the most hated kid in the entire school was not going to win me any friends. But still. At least he was talking to me like I was a normal person and not a dumb, low lying creature.

"I'm Jay Walker," I announced as he shook my hand. "I do a little inventing, I dabble in model building, a touch of cooking, a little poetry. I love video games and comic books not to mention science fiction and karate movies and cats and . . ." I trailed off as I saw Lloyd give me a blank look.

After an awkward silence, I muttered, "Did I mention that I talk a lot?"

Lloyd grinned before placing an arm around my shoulder and leading me down the hall. "I think I figured that out on my own."

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I couldn't believe it. Finally someone thought of me as a friend enough to invite me to their house on a sleepover. Well, it was actually an apartment and that "someone" was none other than Lloyd Garmadon.

I was desperate for company at school so I decided it wouldn't be that bad an idea to befriend the "demon spawn". Lloyd seemed pretty cool and I immediately regretted having thought about being an even bigger loser if I hung out with him. It turned out, I was his first official friend since the second grade.

I even discovered the fact that he loved martial arts more than anyone I've met (even more than me). Being a fan of karate since I could remember, I admired how he knew the names of all the stances and the different types of weapons and all that. It was almost like . . . he did that kinda stuff.

My parents were so happy I had finally made a friend, they didn't even hesitate to say yes when I told them of the sleepover. When I arrived at Lloyd's apartment, I was ushered in by a cheery woman with carrot coloured hair which turned out to be Lloyd's mom. All I can say is that I had the best time ever.

We played more than ten rounds of Fist to Face on his TV, sneaked a few spoons of the cake batter his mom had made, binged a few episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, ding-dong ditched nearly all the apartments in the building (Lloyd was exceedingly fast when it came to run), rocked out to the Weekend Whip and even doodled on all of Jordan's pictures in the yearbook.

Finally it was time for bed (according to his mom) and Lloyd went to the small storage room to bring a spare mattress for me to sleep on.

I was just pulling out my blue pj's from my overnight bag while Lloyd brushed his teeth in the bathroom when his mom entered and smiled at me.

"Thank you, Jay," she whispered, sitting down on the edge of Lloyd's bed.

"For . . . what?" I asked nervously. I wasn't very good at talking to my friends' parents unless they were there with me.

"For being his friend," she responded. I paused, not knowing how to answer that. I had a vague idea of why she was thanking me for such a simple gesture as being one's friend and I agreed with myself that my mom would've said the same thing to Lloyd about me.

"I haven't seen him so happy in a long time," she continued, not noticing my awkward silence. I fiddled with the buttons of my pajama shirt, forcing myself to give her a grateful smile. "Thanks," I muttered sheepishly.

"You're welcome here anytime you want, dear," she offered as she got up to leave. She walked over to Lloyd's laundry basket and pulled out all the clothing articles inside, bundling them into her arms.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for these two. I thought my life as a nerdy, friendless dork was miserable when clearly it was far better than what Lloyd was living. Initially, I had planned to be oblivious to the complicated relationship Lloyd and his mom had with Garmadon.

But when that warlord of a man attacked your city everyday and resulted in the reason your new best friend was ridiculed for, it was hard to even pretend that you didn't know what was going on.

I didn't know what drove me to say it but I blurted it out anyway. "I'm sorry for . . . everything that's . . . happening." The woman stopped in her tracks and turned to face me.

A smile worked its way on her lips. "Oh, don't be. We're quite happy with life, really." I could sense the amount of effort with which she spoke the lie. No way could one be happy like this. She then raised a finger to her lips. "We should probably stop talking about this," she whispered. "I think Lloyd's coming."

She was right. As soon as she left, Lloyd emerged from the bathroom, all ready for bed. I gave him a quick high-five before taking up my toiletries and going to the bathroom. In that short moment of realization, I decided to be the best friend I could ever be to Lloyd. He needed it.

Honestly, I wanted to fight for Ninjago City. I wanted to stand up against Garmadon and his shark generals and put an end to their daily habit of terrorizing innocent people. I know I don't look like the type of guy that would go rushing into a battle at will but you know what they say. Never judge a book by its cover.

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I scratched my brown curls in confusion as I trudged up to the harbour where I could make out a ship anchored on the edge of a walk board.

As a guy who was handy with the screwdriver, I always scrutinized a structure when I saw one. Likewise, I took in the masts and sails of the ship, wondering at how the criss-crossing ropes held them together. It wasn't as big as a pirate ship or anything. However, I was mystified by the rocket boosters in the back.

I had no idea why Lloyd called me to meet him here. There was no one around and I certainly didn't want to end up trespassing on restricted areas. I fished out my phone from my jeans pocket and dialed Lloyd's number.

He picked up on the third ring, his voice dripping with excitement. "Hey, Jay! Where you at?"

Where was I at? Didn't he tell me to rendezvous here? "I'm at the place where you told me to come but there's nothing here apart from a weird ship called the Destiny's Bounty," I replied, squinting at the name displayed on the ship's starboard side.

"Great, you're here!" he exclaimed, exceedingly happy for some reason. "What are you waiting for? Come on board!"

"Aboard the ship?!" I nearly yelled in surprise.

"Duh," his voice came from the end. "What else would I mean by that? Oh wait– let me lower the gangplank."

As if by magic, the gangplank of the ship in front of me, extended outwards from the deck and connected with the edge of the walk board. I heard the call disconnect and I reluctantly and very timidly made my way over to the sea vessel.

Even the though the ship was stationery, the gentle way it rocked in the wind still made me seasick as I walked onto the deck. I stopped short as I saw Lloyd coming out of the bridge with a wide grin, wearing a green and black . . . wait– was that a gi?

"Welcome aboard the Destiny's Bounty!" he announced cheerfully, arms outstretched as he waved them around at the ship. I only stared at him, my mouth opened in total shock.

"What is going on?" I inquired, freaking out a little. "Where did this ship come from? And why are you wearing that?"

Lloyd grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look into his eyes. "Would you believe me if I told you that I'm training to be a ninja and my uncle is a martial artist and this ship actually flies and we're recruiting you to help bring Garmadon to justice?" he muttered in one breath.

Wait a minute! He was recruiting me to bring Garmadon to justice. Garmadon?! I remained quiet out of shock and stood still, staring at Lloyd like a lifeless dummy. When it looked like Lloyd was going to be concerned and would want to check my pulse to see I hadn't gone into a coma while still standing, I opened my mouth in a short scream.

Lloyd jumped, stepping back from me. I, however, pointed accusingly at him. "That explains everything!" I hollered maniacally. "Why you know so much about this ninja stuff, why you have such good reflexes or why you're always talking about taking your father down!"

"Yes," Lloyd tried to say as I stopped my rant. "I know it's hard to believe but this is all for a good cause."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I protested, my tone suggesting that I was offended – which I was. "I thought we were friends."

"We are!" he piped up. "I was just waiting for the right time. When you told me you wanted to stand up to Garmadon and fight for Ninjago, I knew that you were ready. Though only mentally; not physically."

"Maybe I did say that," I began, "but that was just adrenaline speaking, bro. I wasn't actually planning to do it. I'm just twelve!"

"But you can still do great things," a voice spoke. I gaped in surprise as I saw a very, very, very, very, old man emerging from below deck.

"Jay," Lloyd said, guiding me over to him. "Meet my uncle, Master Wu."

"He looks like your great, great grandfather," I whispered in his ear so as to not offend his uncle.

"Yeah, I know."

"Come with me, Lightning Ninja," Wu said, gesturing at me to follow him. Lightning Ninja? Was that me? Lloyd smiled at me comfortingly, pushing me forwards.

"Lloyd," the man addressed his nephew, "Why don't you start working on reeling in the Smith siblings?"

"Yes, Master Wu."

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I don't know how Wu won me over with his inspiring, metaphorical speeches but he finally succeeded in convincing me to join him.

I hoped that I wouldn't regret my decision later on but as I stood on the Bounty's deck with one hand over my chest and the other raised in the air, repeating the oath after Master Wu (and also looking super cool in my new blue ninja suit), I felt a feeling of great pride and dignity.

"I, Jay Walker, being of sound mind and body, swear to protect Ninjago City with my life. To always stand up to the bad and protect what's good till the evil has all but vanquished or till the day I breathe my last. I pledge to never disclose my identity as a secret ninja to anyone until such time where it may be necessary."

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