Lego Monkie Kid/Lego Ninjago Crossover - Kai is Mk Reincarnated
Okay so, my lego rabbit hole has now extended from Ninjago into LMK, and of course I have explore the concept of crossovers between the two, and I've notice a pattern between Kai and Mk, either Kai being a lost Spicynoodles baby (which also makes way too much sense), or their related in some why/mistaken for each other. And then I saw the freaken season five finally of LMK, and thought...what if Mk did die there and was reborn as Kai?
So, here's the shower thoughts that spawned from that late night realization. I'm calling it! The Burnt Noodles au!
Mk fulfils his destiny, sacrificing himself to the Pillar, the cycle is saved or at least that's what he's lead to believe, though he wishes he got to say a better goodbye to his family, he's at peace knowing they are safe. Nothing could be done for him however, Nuwa in return for his sacrifice gives Mk a choice, an eternity of peace underneath her care, or to be reborn as a mortal. Mk knows what will happen if he makes the first choice, his friends will some how get wind of where he is and end up getting hurt trying to save him. As painful as it is to admit, they will be better off without him getting them in trouble.
Mk chooses to be reborn. A new life, a new name, a new destiny. One he hoped he had a say in.
Mk wakes up in the three year old body of Kai Smith, he didn't expect to have the memories of his past life, but he's not angry at that fact. Not much he can do about it as a toddler. So, he just tries to live his new life. He has parents this time round, his origins not some puzzle for him to solve, just simply fact. Ray and Maya are sweet as pie too. They live in an apartment above his new father's forge (Heh, he has fifth dad now, Mk should've started a club with t-shirts), and while not exactly a noodle shop the work of a blacksmith is still really cool. Mk was honestly surprised that Ray let him sit on his lap as he worked on a very shiny sword for a customer, well until Mom came downstairs and yelled at Dad for letting their toddler son so close to the forge.
That was another strange thing, for all the good in Mk's previous life, he had never had a mom before. Nuwa might count, but she never did any of the mom things that Maya seemed to love to do with Mk. Maya would read books to him, sing lullabies, let Mk help her in the kitchen, and let Mk cling to her whenever nightmares become too much. Though, it takes Mk a few months to realize that he might not be the apple of Maya's and Ray's eyes alone forever. One day they sit him down and explain he's going to have a baby sister, and well, Mk is ecstatic.
Mk meets Nya when she's a tiny little loaf wrapped in a blue blanket, with a sprout of black fuzz on her head. She's lumpy, sleepy, and cries like she's dying whenever she's hungry, but Mk is obsessed. This is his baby sister, nothing is ever going to happen to her not one Mk's watch. He does notice the resemblance between Nya and Mei, and part of him is regretful. He didn't protect Mei like he should've, just standing by as his best friend was dragged into more and more of his messes. That won't happen with Nya, he won't let it.
Ray and Maya vanish one day, Mk doesn't know how or why. Some part of himself is angry, how could they do this Nya, but another part of him is suspicious. Why would two loving parents just leave with out warning? Didn't matter at the time. Mk is left alone as a small child once again, only this time their isn't a friend noodle chef to help him, and Nya is even smaller. Mk has to protect her. So, he starts to work the shop, it's hard, and he gets burned a lot, but after asking the previous village smithy (the retired one before Ray) for a little help, he can make enough to care for Nya with the help of his neighbors. It's hard, but Mk is fine with it, Nya is safe, thriving in school and that's all that matters.
Mk, or well, he's started just calling himself by Kai at this point. Mk is dead, Kai is his own person. Distant from his previous life, letting this new one bloom into it's own. He's accepted that. Kai is fourteen when Nya is kidnapped by the Garmadon's forces. Initially, he wants nothing to do with the heroes of this life. There was no Monkey King, or brotherhood, or pilgrims, in this world. Ninjago is a different realm from the last one, (Kai realized that when he was little and had to explain a picture of Monkey King to his new parents, and how they thought the picture was actually of Kai's imaginary friend), but what it id have were the Elemental Ninja. A team of ninja with elemental powers who vowed to protect the lands from threats. Never a night passed when Ray or Maya didn't tell Kai stories about their adventures. He like the stories, but he wanted them to stay as stories, because deep down, he knows that those stories don't tell the listener about how hard and dangerous those adventures really are. So, no, Kai wanted nothing to do with the ninja.
But Nya was kidnapped, and Kai had no staff or magic, only a old guy with an honestly impressive beard who offers Kai the chance to become a Ninja and save his sister. Kai doesn't hesitate.
Master Wu, at least in terms of teaching, is better then Monkey King at the whole mentor thing. Not like this guy was telling Kai everything he needs to know, yeah that was not happening, both the beard and the monkey are basically the same on secret keeping, but Wu was definitely better at training schedules and lesson plans. He's taught people before, and knows what he's teaching. Looking back on it, Kai was now pretty sure Monkey King was winging it at least those first couple months. He refuses to fight with a staff, instead learning swords play, because Ray made swords and called them cool.
Getting the title of the "fire ninja" and the red gi, makes Kai want to apologize to Red Son for stealing his esthetic and laugh at the irony of it. He could practically hear the fire demon throw a tantrum over it.
Having classmates is also different, but Kai doesn't really appreciate Wu's other students until after Nya's rescued. However, despite being initially guarded, he has to admit that he's missed having friends to joke and play video games with. Cole is steady and reliable, honestly he feels like the big brother that neither Kai nor Mk ever had, and his appreciation for food reminds him of Tang. Jay is loud and jokey (and other then the whole new level of a protective streak that he had unlocked in Kai when he expressed interest in Nya), but deep down it's clear that he cares about his fellow ninja, building and fixing things around the monastery to help out. Zane was...weird. Not in a bad way, just different and Kai sort got that, Mk was weird too.
It's Lloyd that changes everything however.
When the prophecy of the Green Ninja is discovered, Kai just assumes it's him because heaven forbid he ever get to live a normal average life! He always has to be the hero, but one some level he hopes its him, so that no one else he cares about has to carry that heavy gi.
Then the golden weapons glow for Lloyd, this little kid that has been a pain in Kai's side since the first day he showed up, is this life's prophesied hero. Destined to fight and defeat his own father, and he's not even half the age Mk was when he picked up Monkey king's staff. It's not fair. Not in any way. So, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to keep Lloyd safe. He can't stop destiny, but he could make it a little more bearable. Like when Pisgy made Mk's favorite noodles after a bad nightmare, Like Mei would remind Mk to take breaks and drag him out to arcades or watch a movie, like when Sandy invited Mk over to help with the boat but made him play with the cats the whole visit. Like when Tang bought him new art supplies claiming it was 'on-sale'. Like when Monkey King stopped the sparing drills to play a game of what was basically hide-and-seek after a hard day.
Mk, Kai, wasn't the baby of the family anymore. Hasn't been since Nya was born, and now he had a little brother too. He lets Lloyd crawl into bed after nightmares, he sneaks little bags of candy to the kid, and wraps the kids injuries when he pushes training too hard. The incident with Tomorrow's Tea hurts, because Lloyd hasn't even completed his training yet, and destiny has already started taking from him.
Years pass, the family is broken down and rebuilt again ten times over. They lose people, find them again. Fight back evil only for it to come back swinging. Kai loves it, though hard and painful, he knows he can't run away from it (he's ashamed of the time he tried too, leaving Lloyd alone). So, he just fights on to protect the people he loves.
Speaking of love, Skylor was interesting. Kai can't remember Mk ever having a crush on anyone, but maybe romantic interests change depending on what life your living? Either way, Kai was thrown into this world of romance without any sort of instruction manual, so he wasn't very good at it. He peeked on her through the paintings, he forgot to call her, and sometimes could not read the room. However, she was patient and after the whole Crystal King thing, Kai managed to actually take her out properly. Ray and Maya loved her (oh wait that's right, Mk wasn't abandoned for a higher purpose this time! His parents left to protect him, so brownie points?!), and some part of him wondered if his other dads would approve. Pigsy would love either love or hate the fact that she ran a noodle shop (Tang would love it). Kai wasn't sure about Monkey King, he was about as oblivious to romance as Mk was. There was also the whole thing about him basically crushing on a girl version of Red Son with cooking skills, but that was a break down for another life time.
When the Merge happens, everything changes yet again.
(and here's where I'm pulling in some details from my own NDR au, my Fic, "Crying Cranberries" especially, you only need to know that Kai found Wyldfyre in the Land of Monsters and adopted her, and he lost an eye to the monster lands).
At first it's awful Kai is trapped in a hell scape of monsters and death, he wants to go home, he wants his family, be it past or present. The fight is endless and it leaves a mark, taking out his left eye. Then in the chaos and madness he finds a little girl, a little girl who is so bright, so passionate, and really naive. She's not dumb, that's for certain, but she doesn't understand how badly this world can hurt you back, doesn't matter how strong you are. It's not a lesson that Kai will let her learn the hard way, at least if he can teach it too her. He never understood what it was like to have someone look at you like you're their whole world, Nya once had but he was a kid too then. Now he knows better, and though ti terrifies him, Kai is proud to be Wyldfyre's dad.
By this point, Mk is nothing but a memory. Kai is here, alive and happy. The world wont' stop attacking his family, but they hold on to each other. Mk had that, but Mk didn't get to fall in love, Mk didn't have baby siblings, Mk didn't get to come full circule and have kids of his own. Kai did. Though, just when life feels stable it throws you a curve ball, and with the Merged Lands were shifting, a 17th realm, one kept under wraps by the FSM himself, was about to crash with the rest of the world.
Let's back up, and flip the mirror, to see what happened outside of that pillar.
Short answer: everyone and everything is a mess!
After the world seemed to stabilize, there's like a day or two were no one speaks to each other, just not trusting themselves to not lash out, or unable to do anything. Wukong is practically catatonic, not even the little monkeys can get him to react, he just lies where he's left clutching onto the head band that fell off Mk during their fight. Macaque was the one who dragged the king home, and is sticking close despite his own grief. Pigsy has thrown himself into his work, and while productive, is not taking care of himself, too angry to face anyone but Tang yet. Mei is similar, throwing herself into her training so she won't lose another friend. Sandy is probably coping the best with his grief, though he is buried underneath a mountain of therapy cats every night.
Tang eventually pulls himself together enough to plan a memorial, Mk deserved one at least. With Macaque's help (once more Wukong is still a glorified throw rug at this point) he makes it happen on Flower Fruit mountain. Everyone, even Red Son {with a gift from his parents} and Nezha, is in attendance. No one speaks, just put flowers and pictures on Mk's grave, and try not to lose it on each other, because they are all blaming themself equally. Then the sky splits open all over again, and there's no pillar to save them.
They manage to take cover in the mountain caves, but things are weird when they creep back out. The Flaming mountains are gone, Flower Fruit Mountian is on a península now connecting to some weird garden like forest. Megaopolis is patchy, parts of it missing or replaced with something strange and unfamiliar. For the most part, their homes are semi alright. Pigsy's restaurante is alright, just has a tree growing around it. Red Son phones his parents and their alright, their fortress is half underwater, but their alright. Mei can't get through to her parents, and their house is missing too. There's also a strange monastery on Flower Fruit Mountain that no one remembers being built. Even Heaven is confused as to what the heck just happened, and why they suddenly have a collection of equally pompous super dragons as next door neighbors.
In some twisted way, this new dramatic world shift snaps everyone out of their wrecked state and they start trying to figure out what that storm was. Thankfully the answer is pretty easily found one the internet is back up and running. To everyone shock, their were sixteen other realms that none of them knew about and now their realm had merged with the other sixteen. Tang is thrown in a whirlwind of research trying to catch up on all the changes the merge brought to megaopolis, and their realm, and he stumbles upon something called a "Summoning Lost Soul Spell". The spell itself was meant to bring something called a departed soul back to a realm of the living, and while he's trying to move on, and he knows the others are too. He still shows them the spell. With the merge the concept of death was completely re-written, Ghost and Skulkin were now viable for the dead to become after their lives ended.
Pigsy: Just what are you saying Tang?
Tang: I'm saying we could bring Mk back.
Some of the gang, like Macaque and Red Son are more hesitent to go through with it since this spell is not of known origin, but I think we all know the choice they make.
Let's jump back to Kai. At this point the blood moon as past and he's trapped in the never space with Bonzle. Which if you excluded the whole being trapped with four evil elemental warlords, actually the place more confusing then threatening. Nothing like the land of monsters. Not that Kai wanted any reminders of that place. They've settled in for a moment, a little corner, when a bright yellow seal appears underneath kai, recongizes this magic but doesn't believe it. A portal opens and bonzle is dragged with kai as they were spat out in a heap, and Kai comes face to face with friends from a life lost too short.
Wukong knows it Mk, the moment the body tumbles into the mountain dust. The kid looked different, missing his head band, covered in scars, but gold vision doesn't lie, this is the same soul. This is Mk. Tears are shed and a group hug commences, only Mk remains frozen not reacting. The months in NeverSpace have taken their toll add on the stress of this reunion...
Panic ensues as Tang, Pigsy, Wukong, Sandy and Mei all rush Kai back to Monkey King's hut for medical treatment, Macaque and Red Son ready to follow when a voice calls out from the ground. Bonzle is laying there, her skeleton broke apart after Kai fell on her.
"Uh? Mind giving me a hand? I'm afraid I've been dismembered." - Bonzle, in most chilled out tone ever.
Bonzle thanks them afterwards, introduces herself and asks what they wanted with her almost brother-in-law? Macaque and Red Son are confused by this, Mk didn't have any siblings nor was he married, not to their knowledge least, and upon asking to explain what she meant...
"Oh, well, you see my brother is engaged to his brother, but not married yet...so I guess I'm not his sister-in-law...yet? yeah, it's kind of complicated even for us" - Bonzle.
(sorry guys, I'm a firm fan of "Wine Aunt Bonzle", so she's Geo's adopted sister in this)
Kai is set up on Wukong's couch under and over two mounds of pillows and blankets, when they finally arrive at the hut, Mei, Mo and Wukong watching vigil, with Tang, Sandy and pigsy prepping lunch, Mk's favorite. Bonzle is finally noticed by the rest of the group she sets things straight to best of her limited information. She tells them that the guy on the couch is Kai, a red ninja, and not whoever they thought he was. Which, they don't really believe, but Bonzle just shrugs at their denial she might be missing something after all, they weren't the closest of the ninja. She asks how they knew to get her and Kai out of NeverSpace , which leads to a whole conversation about the half-dimension being an inescapable prison of never ending stone and a lack of physics, and everyone wrongly assumes that Kai/Mk was put in that place due to being the harbinger of chaos, and that Mk was going by a different name to keep his identity secret.
Tang asks why Bonzle was in there, and completely unfazed she explains that she wasn't a prisoner, she was just a key who got stuck on the wrong side. Kai stirs before she can answer.
Being greeted by faces from a faded life buried deep in his memories, is not the most comforting way to come too. Mei jumps on him again, crying happy tears, but at this point it doesn't feel like a hug from his best friend anymore. He's been Kai longer then he had been Mk, and while he does still care for Mei, she's more like a from a dream then someone he used to spend days together with. Pigsy is next, asking if he's alright in that same gruff fatherly tone he used after a big fight, and it makes Kai's stomach sink, like he's not the person who this warm loving tone is meant for. Wukong comes in for an embrace next and that's too much. Kai leaps away, looking to Bonzle asking if this was all real.
Wukong sees his successor, his kid in every way but blood, older scarred, with eyes wide like he was seeing ghosts, time has passed for Mk, more then the two weeks since the pillar and later the storm. That much was plain, but he still knows this kid. He assures Mk it's real, that whatever happened after the pillar is over, he's home, they got him back, he's safe. Only for Kai to look him dead in the eyes, shake his head and say...
"My name is Kai Smith, I'm the Red Ninja, a protector of Ninjago, Master of Fire and...Mk's reincarnation. I'm sorry but your student is dead."
Various stages of denial and grief wash over the crowd, wanting to know just how much Kai remembers, and eventually Sandy tells them to wait until they were at the dinning table because dinner was almost ready any they can have a calmer qna in a minute.
While eating, Kai slowly explains what went down with Nuwa, what she offered him, and how he knew that if Mk stayed alive they would all put themselves in danger in order to save them and at the time he couldn't allow it, so he gave in to destiny. Died and was reborn into another realm away from Heaven's gaze and destiny, Kai isn't sure why he kept all of Mk's memories, but he wasn't the kid anymore. He knows that hurts them, and he's sorry, but at the time it felt like his only choice and he doesn't regret it. He doesn't regret letting Mk die.
"So, any questions?" - Kai
Pigsy can't believe what he's hearing, but at the same time he does. This boy shares a face with his son, but their something different in his eyes (well eye). A hardness that burned, where Mk's innocence and nativity once sparkled. When he had seen a few more years on Kai face, baby fat fully melted away from his cheeks and jaw sharpened, he had assumed that Mk simply had been away for longer then they had missed him. Maybe a a few weeks was worth a few years where ever his son ended up. Now it was so much worse. Mk had lived an entire life without them.
Pigsy asks if Kai is happy.
Kai smiles, that Mk smile just more mature, and it's all Pigsy needs. Yeah, he is happy.
Red Son breaks first, because something in his speech was bothering him, "What's this whole 'master of Fire' title?"
Kai explains, going from who his new bio-parents were to the history of the elemental alliance and how it was a generational force of elemental ninjas formed to protect Ninjago. Which leads to explanation about the 16 realms and Ninjago's place among them. Which leads to the conversation of how Kai and Bonzle are going to get back there, much to many of them's discomfort.
"Do you really need to go back?" - Wukong.
"When I became the Red Ninja I made a vow to both my realm and my family to protect them and I will be keeping it. Especially with Ninjago's state at the moment, ever since the Merge it hasn't been exactly stable." - Kai
Que explanation on the Merge and Tang mentions how it sounded a lot like that storm that happened recently. Kai hones in on this and askes questions, how, when and what, and the exact times. The time of the Merge hitting LMK world, corresponded with the blood moon ritual that free the forbidden five, best Bonzle could figure is that the excess dimensional magic from the ritual allowed a 17, possibly unstable realm enough of a opening to join up with the Merge Lands.
"how would you know that?" -Tang
"I'm actually an extremely powerful 1000s year magic spell that gained consciousness and took on the form of a physical being, and my mother is kind of the top sorceress in mysterism, so i know a thing or two about magic." -Bonzle.
Kai ask to see how much has changed and Macaque walks them all out to where the land mass connected to FFM is and while Kai doesn't recognize off the bat but he knows that is from another realm. The fact that they seemed to be on the same dimensional plain only, is relieving for everyone. For Kai and Bonzle because this makes getting home a lot easier. And everyone else because they can hopefully stay in contact with Kai.
I'm not entirely sure what happeneds next, but some points are that
FFM is now linked to the Mother Garden and Zant-tanz comes over with gift baskets, wanting to greet the new neighbors and warn them that security was going to be beefed up for a while, but not to worry about it. It's not war prep, only an investigation into internal smuggling rings that need to shut down. He also informs Kai about the tournament and how he was kicked out. Kai is very disappointed he doesn't get to compete, but at least he knows his family is safe.
at some point Wyldfyre is brought up, and holy shit Kai is a such a Dad.
the monastery at the foot of FFM is brought up, and Kai and Bonzle know this mean's portal gate!
They end up in the city of temples just as Nokt and Roz start their attack.
NO idea were this goes next. Hope ya'll enjoy.!
