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5:00 AM
Kai’s presence tends to bring Lloyd comfort—admittedly more than the rest of the ninja—hearing the words of encouragement when Lloyd messes up on something, the gentle hand caressing his back when he starts crying during training, or the way his hair is ruffled when Kai’s proud of him.
Right now though—Kai’s the last person he wants to see. “Wake up kiddo, you gotta get ready.”
Lloyd groans, pulling the covers over his head, “I’m still sore from yesterday.” He whines.
Last night he had a particularly hard training session with Kai when he fell from his perched position while he was meditating and hurt his leg pretty badly—it wasn’t twisted or anything, but it still aches. “I know, and I’m sorry, but you need to train. There’ll be time to rest after…” Kai trails off, which invites Lloyd to pull off the sheets for a second, watching his older brother’s face carefully.
He looks a little tired too—which makes Lloyd feel better about being so groggy—he has noticeably dark bags under his eyes and he still hasn’t gelled his hair, it’s at his shoulders now. “After I defeat my father, I know,” Lloyd mumbles, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “You can say it, I’m not stupid.”
“Hey, I never said that,” Kai furrows his brows, crossing his arms over his chest, “it’s just not something any of us need to be reminded of.” Kai says quietly.
Lloyd nods, not necessarily in understanding, but to drop the subject quicker, the last thing he wanted to wake up to was the reminder of why he’s doing all of this—why he’s up when the sun’s not even out yet.
Kai must sense Lloyd’s apprehension—not just for the day of relentless training, but the conversation, because he does his best to give a smile, “hey, I’ll go easier on you today, and I’ll take you to that comic book store you like this weekend. How does that sound?”
Lloyd scrunches his nose, it’s a nice proposition, and there’s a Starfarer comic he really wants, but his bed is so comfortable, and the exposed arm that’s being hit by the cold air makes him shrink into his mattress further. “Okay.” He says begrudgingly, pouting.
“Cool, I’ll meet you in the kitchen, Wu made pancakes.”
5:15 AM
Lloyd’s gi is warm on his skin, the fabric feels softer than usual and it feels a little looser on him, he wonders if he shrunk.
Kai had put it in the dryer for a few minutes to coax him into getting ready (“I have your gi, and it’s waarm!”), and considering he’s standing in the middle of the kitchen, standing on his tippy toes watching Wu cook, it unfortunately worked. “Good morning nephew, how did you sleep?” The smell of the pancakes is enough to completely wake him up (and his stomach, too).
“Good, still sore though.” He kicks his leg forward and winces when it stings. Lloyd’s not sure how well training’s going to go with his minor injury, but it’s not something he hasn’t done before.
“I am sorry to hear,” Wu says, flipping a pancake, his eyebrows furrow, “I will make you tea, I have a feeling it will help.”
“Tea? How’s tea going to help?” Lloyd crosses his arms over his chest, he hates the taste of tea, it’s always bitter and Uncle Wu never lets him add any sugar.
But he chuckles, starting a pot of water, “you’ll see.”
Lloyd notices Kai enter the kitchen, with his now gelled hair, and he looks more awake than before. “Ready for training today?” Kai asks, ruffling Lloyd’s hair.
He whines, Lloyd hates when the ninja do that—he’s not a kid anymore. He’s The Green Ninja, he’s not supposed to get noogies from his (older) teammates. “Not really.” He admits, rubbing his arm.
Kai glances at Wu and motions for Lloyd to follow him to the table, which is far enough that Wu wouldn’t be able to hear their conversation. When they sit, Kai leans forward, “I promised I’d go easier on you today, and hey, maybe we can take a small break.” He whispers, rubbing Lloyd’s back.
Lloyd nods, but it doesn’t offer him much comfort considering what comes afterwards. “Thanks.”
“Oh, good morning Kai, I did not see you,” Wu says, walking in with plates in his hands.
“Mornin’ Sensei, how’d you sleep?”
“I slept rather well,” he answers, placing the plates of food on the table and going back to bring a cup of tea for Lloyd, “how did you sleep, Kai?”
“Good.” He chirps, digging into his food.
Lloyd picks at his own food, chasing a piece of egg around with his fork. He eyes the pancakes, but he knows Uncle Wu won’t let him get any until he finishes something on his plate, but thinking about what the day holds doesn’t necessarily make him eager to scarf down anything—especially eggs. He forces a few pieces down his throat anyway, swallowing thickly when the texture of the food almost makes him gag.
He sighs, looking at the steaming hot cup next to him, the smell alone is enough to deter him from drinking it, he already knows it’s going to be gross. “Drink your tea, Lloyd.” Wu says from across the table, as if reading his mind, settling in with his own cup and serving of food.
“It’s still hot!” Lloyd whines.
“Sip with caution.” Wu states, taking a sip from his own cup with ease—must be an old person thing.
Lloyd groans, blowing on his cup and taking a tentative slurp. Not surprisingly—he burns himself. He sticks out his tongue in pain and in disgust, it tastes awful. “Uncle Wu!” Lloyd cries.
“Sip with caution.” He repeats.
Lloyd grumbles, turning his attention back to his food. He huffs, attempting to cut his bacon with his fork. “Buddy, you can’t cut it with that,” Kai says from next to him, leaning forward and mincing the bacon into smaller pieces with his knife.
“Thanks.” Lloyd mumbles softly.
Once he finishes eating, he pushes the—somewhat empty—plate forward, “Uncle Wu, can I please have pancakes now?”
Wu looks over and hums, “yes, that’s fine, Kai, please serve him a plate.” Kai, in the middle of shoving a whole bacon piece in his mouth, freezes, nodding and dropping his fork to wipe his hands on his pants.
Kai looks over at him, smiling, “c’mon, I think there’s leftover whipped cream from yesterday.” Zane had made some when he baked cream puffs (which are already all gone), and last time Lloyd had checked there was still a full container of whipped cream (Zane didn’t measure wrong, he assumed making extra would be beneficial).
He bounces on his heels excitedly as Kai plates up pancakes for the both of them, three for Kai and three for Lloyd. “Do you want syrup? We also have peanut butter, condensed milk-“
Lloyd ponders the question for a second, watching Kai get syrup and whipped cream for himself, then he gasps, “can I have condensed milk, whipped cream and sprinkles?”
Kai wrinkles his nose but he nods anyway, adding Lloyd’s desired toppings and handing him the plate. Besides Kai, none of the ninja really let him have sugar, on occasion, obviously, but having this for breakfast would only fly with Kai around. “Here you go, I gave you a lot of pancakes so don’t eat them all.”
Lloyd snickers, running off to the table.
6:00 AM
Lloyd’s still a little full from how many pancakes he scarfed down, and admittedly he could’ve eaten more eggs and bacon—instead of three whole pancakes covered in sugar—but once the sweet smell of the dough and sugar from his plate filled his nostrils, he couldn’t help himself.
“Stretching time!”
Lloyd half-hums, half-groans, normally stretching is his favorite out of the training he does with Kai, and it’s tamer than what he has to do afterwards, so it’s not too bad if he can relieve the tightness in his limbs that he wakes up with.
Again—normally.
Today, when Kai asks him to stretch his legs he stalls, fidgeting with his sleeves, he’s been hesitant to even walk on his leg since he woke up. “C’mon, just try it, if it hurts we can do different ones.” Kai encourages.
Lloyd sighs, slowly leaning over to one side to stretch his injured leg (he knows not listening to Kai will just make everything worse), he’s mildly surprised when he doesn’t feel anything, no pain, no soreness. He wonders if all teas have properties like this. Or if it’s just placebo, which he’d believe more. “How does it feel?” Kai asks, watching him with furrowed brows.
“Good, it-it feels good.” He mumbles, giving him his signature toothy smile.
Kai lets out a small breath, “that’s good, kiddo.” Kiddo. Lloyd hates that too. He’s destined to be the leader of the group and he’s being called “kiddo”?
He stretches his arms, neck, torso, and his ankles (which he used to find unnecessary until yesterday). Lloyd sighs in relief when his limbs feel more flexible and loose, and there’s a new wave of energy that wasn’t there before. “Ready for rotational exercises?” Kai asks. Lloyd nods slowly. “Okay, let’s work on your punches today, sounds good?”
“Yeah.” Lloyd smiles, flapping the sleeves of his gi. It’s the most exciting out of his list of exercises (the spinning ones are his least favorite—and don’t even get him started on Cole’s pirouettes), he feels like a real ninja when he gets to practice his moves.
“Okay, get in position,” Kai says, his voice becoming firm. Lloyd puts his arms up and gets into an upright stance.
Kai fixes Lloyd’s arms by pushing his elbows upwards, then using his sword to move his feet further apart, making Lloyd groan, “this is a perfect stance!” He says, pouting.
“Now it is!” Kai pats his shoulder, then steps back a bit, “alright, swing.”
So he does, he swings at the air with one of his fists and then the other, repeating the motion. The point of his rotation exercises—from what Kai has told him—is to work on his core, and to make sure he’s plenty strong for Spinjitzu, which is apparently really important.
Plus the punches double for actual training.
Kai counts each one, though Lloyd puts a little less effort in each swing, and his arms start getting sore after 50. “Lloyd, c’mon, I know you can do better than that.” Kai frowns at him.
Lloyd drops his arms, whining, “I thought you said you’d go easier on me today.”
“I am! Yesterday I made you do 300 crunches!” Lloyd shudders at the memory, his stomach still aches. Kai walks over, his gaze softening—pity, it’s how they all look at him nowadays. “Would you rather do more of this or balance exercises?”
Neither option sounds all that great, as much as he likes the punches, he’d prefer to be in bed with his warm pillows and sheets, curled up against one of his plushies. “Punches.” Lloyd finally answers, putting his fists up again.
Kai smirks, “let’s see if you can do 200, tough guy.” He ruffles his hair and Lloyd whines, puffing out his cheeks.
He swings until he loses count, making sure he’s putting his all in every punch. He feels it in his biceps and his torso as he twists his body over and over.
Sweat starts to bead at his forehead, and his arms begin throbbing once he passes 150. Kai watches his form with interest, making a small noise whenever Lloyd leans too far forward or messes up his form.
“Don’t lose your composure,” Kai reminds him, “but you’re doing good.” Lloyd pouts, but he takes the words to heart. He tries his best to follow Kai's advice, but every once in a while he catches Kai making a face when he knows he did it wrong.
And they end up doing balance exercises anyway, but not as many as they usually do, and at the end of the session Lloyd earns a head pat.
“Good job, next time we’ll be doing a lot more balance exercises though,” Lloyd groans loudly, “but hey, you earned that comic.” He smiles.
8:00 AM
“Do you remember all of your essentials this time?”
Lloyd looks up from rummaging through his bag, checking to make sure he has everything, nodding and zipping it up.
Last time he—unfortunately, much too late—told Zane in the middle of their walk that he was thirsty and neither of them could do anything about it, since Zane’s a nindroid he, of course wouldn’t pack any water, and Lloyd forgot his water bottle on the ship.
This time though, Zane watches Lloyd pack everything he might need carefully, then takes the bag and slings it over his own shoulders. “Ready to go, Lloyd?”
He wants to groan, but he gives a tight lipped smile and nods, “I think so.” He doesn't particularly like this part of the day. While he likes being with Zane since he relates to him in a lot of ways, the hike is a less-than favorable hangout spot for Lloyd.
Zane hums and leads them to the rope ladder that’s hanging off the Bounty, “watch your step, Lloyd.”
“Yes, Zane.” He grumbles, following suit.
The bounty had been floating idly by a mountain, it’s a different one that Lloyd isn’t used to, the last few ones they’ve done had a smoother trail—this one’s rocky and uneven.
On the last step, he hesitates. And as if on cue, Zane says, “it's okay, Lloyd, you can jump, I’ll catch you.”
He lets go, shutting his eyes until he feels the familiar cold hands on his hips, wrapping his arms around Zane’s neck as his feet slowly kiss the ground. “Thanks.” He mumbles.
“Of course,” Zane chirps, letting him go. He turns his gaze to the trail in front of them, “we shall hike to the very top of the mountain, since it is rather small it should take us approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes at top speed, and then we will come back here where the ship will be stationed. Is that okay?”
Not really, he wants to say, but nods stiffly. “I’m ready, I think."
As if being able to read the hesitation, Zane places a reassuring hand on Lloyd’s shoulder, "just try your best, if you get lost just call out for me, okay?" Lloyd nods, and without another word, Zane takes off.
He starts off quickly, Lloyd barely has time to react before he starts running too, but he can barely catch up to the nindroid. No surprise there.
Anytime Lloyd loses sight of him he’s innately reminded he needs to go faster. The aching in his legs, the sweat collecting on his forehead and the harsh breaths he’s taking—it doesn’t matter.
Catch up to Zane.
He used to lose him all the time, despite the fact Zane says to call out for him, sometimes he’s so far ahead Lloyd’s voice doesn’t reach him, but he’s determined not to get too far today.
The trail, despite being annoyingly rocky and not without its obstacles, is easier than he expected. Lloyd’s not sure if it’s because he’s already grown (somewhat) accustomed to keeping up with Zane’s endurance or because the trail is actually doable. Either way, he’s thankful when the run is over. Or at least halfway.
He finds Zane waiting patiently by the top of the mountain, standing by a tree and smiling warmly at Lloyd. “You did it!”
Lloyd can’t help but smile back proudly.
“Please, rest for a little bit, we managed to finish the trail in an hour and fifteen minutes,” Zane takes off the backpack and gives him a canteen and a granola bar he packed. “Would you like some?”
Lloyd nods through ragged breaths, placing his hands on his knees, “thanks.”
“Of course.”
He takes one last big breath and chugs most of the water, then a big bite of the granola bar. It’s crunchy, and it’s his favorite flavor. Lloyd, admittedly, doesn’t remember packing it.
They sit in silence while Lloyd hydrates and takes a small eating break, then Zane pipes up, “how are you feeling? Do you think you can do another one?”
“Mm-hm, plus it’s going down, it’ll be easier.”
Zane gives a small smile, “actually, because of the shape of the trail it should be around the same, despite the rocky texture it has somewhat of an even ground.”
Lloyd groans, which earns him a small giggle from next to him. Then, a thought occurs to him, “Zane?”
“Yes, Lloyd?”
“Do you like these hikes?”
Zane doesn’t pause to answer, “I do, I think it is nice to be out in nature, do you not agree?”
“I do, I think,” he mumbles, “but I get sweaty and stuff, and I don't like the way it feels." Lloyd murmurs.
Zane hums, "would you like an ice pack? I can make you one."
"It's okay, we're almost done."
Zane nods, and once his break is up, he runs to finish the other leg of the hike.
Maybe it’s because he’s so over it and he just wants to finish, or he got a little reckless, but when he has to jump over a rock, he doesn’t do it high enough.
He trips on it, landing face first on the ground. Whining loudly. “Ow!”
Lloyd brings himself to a sitting position, his cheeks and knees beginning to sting. He wipes the dirt off of his face and moans. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry—
He hears footsteps before he can get up, and then Zane’s kneeling in front of him. “Lloyd, what happened? Are you okay?” But he's already pulling out the first aid kit from the backpack.
“I tripped ‘n fell.” He mumbles, looking at his hands.
“That’s okay, it happens,” Zane smiles reassuringly, taking out a disinfectant spray, alcohol, band aids and clean towels. “This may hurt a bit, okay?”
Lloyd nods as Zane wipes his face and bloody knees with the cloth he dipped in the rubbing alcohol. Lloyd whines despite how gentle he's trying to be.
Then he uses a different wipe with the disinfectant on it to wipe the cuts one last time. “Would you like dinosaurs, stars, or cars on your bandaids, Lloyd?”
“Can I have all three?” He asks shyly.
“Of course,” Zane nods, taking them out of the packaging and sticking them gently on Lloyd’s knees and cheeks. “there we go, how do you feel?”
“Better, thanks, Zane,” Lloyd smiles, “do I have to finish the trail?” He frowns.
Zane gives a sympathetic look, “yes, Lloyd I’m sorry, but I’ll be right next to you this time.”
“Okay!”
The rest of the run—fast-walk really—Zane makes sure to keep his speed at the same as Lloyd’s, which makes him feel a lot safer, and although Zane says otherwise, it is easier than going up the mountain.
11:00 AM
Lloyd wrings his hands together, watching Cole carefully.
This is his least favorite.
Lloyd likes Cole, he really likes Cole, he admires his leadership skills, his humor and how kind he is. How, despite the amount of times Lloyd’s messed up the ballet positions, Cole’s never gotten mad at him once.
But Lloyd might jump off the ship if he has to do another Grand Jeté. “Okay! Ballet positions, Lloyd!”
Lloyd groans. As Cole counts to five, Lloyd moves his feet and arms into position, he goes through the motions and earns a satisfied nod from Cole.
“Good!” He says, “now remember how we were learning the Grand Jeté last time?”
Lloyd frowns, nodding.
“Today we’re going to put the Chasse and the Grand Jeté together,” Lloyd groans dramatically. “I know, I know you don’t like them, but it’ll help with your training a lot, green machine.”
He crosses his arms, “but I’m so bad at it!”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, you’re improving a lot! You remember all the ballet positions now, and your Chasse looked really good last time.” Cole moves towards Lloyd, getting close enough to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Thanks.” He mumbles.
“Now, c’mon, let me show you what they look like together.” Lloyd nods stiffly, watching him carefully.
Cole goes through the motions slowly, explaining each and every movement he makes with his legs and his arms, then he puts all the moves together, his feet chasing each other as he leaps. He looks at Lloyd expectantly, who suddenly feels small under his gaze.
He takes a deep breath, stepping back a bit before clumsily doing a Chasse then a less than perfect Grand Jeté. Lloyd whines, “that sucked!”
“No it didn’t! That was really good for your first time, do it again, this time try to aim a little higher and keep your legs straight.” Cole smiles and it sounds like he genuinely means it.
Lloyd’s shoulders relax a little as he tries it again, taking Cole’s advice into account. “Better! Now remember to keep your upper body straight when you Chasse, don’t slouch.”
“Oh, sorry.” Lloyd mumbles.
“Don’t worry, when I was in ballet I was a lot worse,” Lloyd tilts his head curiously, up until then, he had imagined Cole to be one of the best in his class, but then again he admittedly doesn't know as much about Cole as he does the others, “the only reason I got better was because my mom did ballet, and I wanted to impress her and make her proud, but she said anything I did made her proud.” He shrugs, a wistful look over his face.
"But you're really good at it, aren't you?"
Cole winces, "sort of, I mean, I know the fundamentals and.. and a lot of things, but compared to my dad and all the other people at Marty's, I'm not that good," he shrugs, "it gets the job done, you know? I can use these sort of things in battle and it-it’s nice, it helps a lot.”
"For what it's worth," Lloyd starts, staring at the wooden floors as he feels the gentle rock of the ship, "I think you're one of the best dancers ever."
He hears a snort, and when he looks up, Cole is laughing, doubled over holding a hand over his face. When he notices Lloyd's glare, he clears his throat, "sorry, it's-that's nice of you, Lloyd, I appreciate it, it's just not something I've ever heard from anyone before, so, thanks," Lloyd doesn’t really know what to say, and before he could open his mouth again, Cole smiles, “anyway, do a few more, I know you can jump a little higher.”
Lloyd smiles, suddenly determined.
He does a couple more, taking Cole's advice into account, earning a high five when he does it right. “You can keep practicing them till lunch, or pirouettes, we’ll be working on those more next time.”
Lloyd groans.
12:00 PM
“How was ballet class?” Kai asks from across the table. It doesn’t sound insulting, he sounds genuinely curious.
“Good, I think,” Lloyd answers, it isn’t the worst class he’s had with Cole before, he didn’t cry this time so he takes that as a win, “my legs hurt.” Then again, that’s most likely from the entire day, not just from earlier.
Kai snorts, then Jay pipes up to no one in particular, “who’s cooking today?”
Cole, next to Jay, mumbles, “don’t look at me” (no one was).
Nya, who sits down across from Jay, answers, “Zane again, he’s making dumplings.”
Lloyd brightens, his favorite.
It’s no secret Lloyd loves dumplings, he briefly wonders if Zane feels bad about the whole tripping-over-the-rock thing, even if it wasn’t his fault. Either way, he appreciates the gesture. “Yum, I love Zane’s dumplings.” Kai rubs his stomach dreamily.
They all dissolve into different conversations as Lloyd kicks his feet absentmindedly, fidgeting with his chopsticks. “Hey, kiddo,” Nya says from next to him, “how are you doing today?”
He smiles as she brushes a piece of hair out of his face, he wouldn’t admit it, but when Nya does it, it makes him feel good—loved. “Good, how are you?” Lloyd hadn’t seen her at all today.
“I’m great, thank you for asking, Lloyd,” she grins, “have the boys been easy on you?”
He doesn’t really understand why, but they have, Kai let him choose what types of exercises to do, the second-half of the hike with Zane was practically a leisure walk, and ballet class with Cole wasn’t too bad either. “Yeah, they have.” He chirps, just as Zane comes in with a big serving of dumplings.
“I have another plate of them, but please, dig in.” Zane says.
Lloyd waits patiently until the rest of them grab some, watching the food slowly disappear until he’s looking at an empty plate.
He pouts until he sees two dumplings being slid on his own plate. Lloyd looks over at Nya, “grabbed some for ya’, the boys are animals.” They both giggle.
“Thanks, Nya.” He smiles through a mouthful.
He’s hungry enough for another dumpling once he finishes, and when Zane brings the next plate of them he grabs one out of the stack.
Once Zane’s finished everything in the kitchen he sits on the other side of Lloyd. “Hello, Lloyd, how is the food?”
“Really good, thank you for making dumplings.”
“Of course, I know you in particular enjoy them.” He answers, resting his chin on his palm as he watches the rest of the ninja dig in.
“By the way,” Lloyd starts, gaining Zane’s attention, talking with a mouthful, “I hope you don’t feel bad about earlier, it was my fault for being so clumsy.”
Zane smiles softly, “it was not your fault, things happen, but I do hope the dumplings helped with your mood, even just a little.”
Lloyd grins, swallowing his food, “they did.”
1:00 PM
“What’s this one?”
Lloyd points at the scroll at the bottom of the shelf, it’s older and browning, it looks like if you touched it, it would fall apart. “Ah, that’s nothing you need to worry about right now, pay attention.” Wu says.
Lloyd pouts, but turns his attention back to the scroll in front of them. It’s a Spinjitzu scroll, Uncle Wu says it’ll be good that he understands the specifics of it before actually attempting. Plus it’s good for Lloyd to know about all of the scholars that resided in Ninjago—that part Lloyd’s not sure about. “Uncle, can I have a snack?”
Wu furrows his eyebrows, “snack? Lloyd, didn’t you just eat?”
Uncle Wu hums, “I can brew us some tea, if you’d like.” Lloyd groans dramatically.
“Fine.” He grumbles.
“Okay, please continue reading.” Lloyd nods wordlessly.
When he hears his steps retreating, he takes out the Fritz Donnegan comic book he stashed under his Uncle’s desk, just in case he had a second like this to read. Fritz had just found out the colony ship that he came across is transporting weapons for one of the villains.
He flips through the pages excitedly, burying his nose in the book.
Fritz is just about to fight the captain of the ship—“That doesn’t look like the scrolls I told you to read.”
Lloyd yelps, dropping the comic book to see Uncle Wu standing by the doorway with two cups of tea. “Sorry.” Lloyd mumbles, picking up the forgotten scroll, but he doesn’t miss his uncle’s chuckle.
3:15 PM
Lloyd’s head is still swimming with all the different types of information shoved into it, he was so wrapped into it that when Uncle Wu took him to the training courtyard he didn’t think much of it, he forgot what comes afterwards.
Then, when Lloyd sees the familiar box by the sculpture he groans. “Rooster chasing?” He mumbles.
“Yes, and please, try and catch them in a timely manner this time.”
“Them? There’s usually only one rooster.”
“Usually.” Wu mumbles, sitting by the steps and sipping his tea. When Lloyd unveils the box, two roosters escape, immediately beginning to run in different directions. “Please catch both of them and put them in the box.”
Lloyd groans. One in itself is hard to catch, but two?
He puffs out his cheeks, beginning to run in the direction of the one of the roosters who’s running a little slower. He manages to grab a feather—a few times.
Lloyd ups his speed and chases only one of them at first, trying to cut it off in the direction it runs, but a rooster is a lot smarter than that.
It takes him two hours opposed to his usual one to catch both of the roosters, by the time he’s done his limbs ache and he’s just about ready to give up with the way his lungs are burning and he almost kicks the box the roosters are in out of pure spite. “Good job, next time I expect both of them to be caught in the hour, now, spinning exercises.”
Lloyd whines.
6:00 PM
The off-duty ninja that happened to be free today, is Jay.
Lloyd hates to say he’s kind of glad, Jay typically goes easy on him since his lightning powers tend to hurt pretty badly if he accidentally uses them, which is hard for him to control a lot of the times, but that means Lloyd can be as rough as he wants to be.
Lloyd doesn’t particularly have a lot of control of his own powers, but he at least knows how to fight—somewhat.
Jay’s eyebrows are usually knitted tightly, biting his bottom lip, and “let me know if I’m hurting you or you want to stop, okay?” Is something he says every time before they spar.
If Lloyd doesn’t want to fight him, they don’t have to, if he wants to take a break they can.
Maybe he’s taking advantage of Jay’s kindness a little bit, but who wouldn’t?
Cole never goes easy on him, if Lloyd gets distracted for even a second he’s suddenly on his back on the floor. Not to mention during their sessions, Cole’s usually yelling about ballet techniques and to use them to his opponent’s advantage.
Kai is similar in the way he doesn’t go easy on him either, but he usually adjusts his moves to ones Lloyd recognizes—even if Kai’s obviously much better at them. Zane is similar in that way too, his moves are more calculated and he adjusts his settings to an easier level with Lloyd, but he doesn’t let him just win.
With Jay, however, it’s easy to tell he’s holding himself back, too scared, like he’s fighting a little bird. Lloyd would be more offended if he couldn’t use it to his advantage.
There’s a different aura about him today though, he’s not as nervous as he usually is, his hands are firmly at his sides and he’s not avoiding Lloyd’s eyes. “Ready, Lloyd?”
Lloyd nods hesitantly, “do we have to fight for a long time?” He tries to give his best puppy dog eyes, for a split second he can see a flash of guilt mist over Jay’s facial features, but it disappears just as fast.
“Sorry, Wu says I have to stop being so soft, s-so I’m going to use my powers today, okay? Just try your best.” Jay sighs, putting up his fists.
Lloyd gulps, taking a deep breath and putting his arms up too.
Jay doesn’t hold back this time. Throwing a gust of lightning in Lloyd’s direction.
Thankfully, Lloyd’s good at defense and blocking, he’s quick on his feet, moving to the side and huffing out a breath of relief. He charges at Jay, almost immediately getting blocked with his arms. He grunts, trying to kick Jay, but he easily blocks his foot with his own.
Then, a shock of electricity runs through Lloyd, it knocks him to the ground so hard it knocks the wind out of him, he whines. “Shit!” Jay curses under his breath, still caught by his sparring partner. “Sorry, Lloyd!”
He hears footsteps rushing over and then Jay’s face blocks the sunlight, he moans and closes his eyes.
“Oh, my god! Did I kill Lloyd?” He didn’t close his eyes on purpose, actually, the change in the sunlight in his eyes to the shadow was a bit jarring, and made him dizzy, but he’s otherwise fine, and the shock didn’t hurt too bad, he can tell Jay’s still holding back.
He smirks, kicking Jay backwards without a warning, earning him an “oof!”—And a flying bluejay.
6:30 PM
When Lloyd sits down, he sighs, the relief of sitting after sparring and running around is nice, he doesn’t even mind how flat and hard the seats are today. “How was sparring with Jay? Did he go easy on you today?” Kai mumbles from next to him, eyeing the small cut on Lloyd’s face and the forming bruise on his cheek.
Lloyd shakes his head, “he said Wu told him to stop being easy on me, so he used his powers today.” He answers honestly, shrugging.
Kai furrows his eyebrows, frowning and turning to Jay who just arrived and is sitting across the table. “Jay! We’re not supposed to use our powers when we spar with Lloyd!”
Jay looks like a deer caught in headlights, and it doesn’t help that the rest of the ninja are mirroring expressions similar to Kai’s. “What? No one told me that!”
“That was the first thing Wu said when he explained it to us, bolt for brains!” Cole pipes up, hitting him upside the head.
“Ow!” Jay exclaims, glaring at Cole.
“Lloyd can’t even control his powers, what were you thinking?!” Kai exclaims, one hand on Lloyd’s back, the other on the table.
Before Jay says anything else, Uncle Wu walks in. “Enough you two,” he says, effectively shutting them up, “Kai, do not be so hard on him, remember what we practiced, Jay, please do not use your powers next time—when I said be harder on him I meant with your moves, not your element.”
Jay and Kai spot matching pouts.
Uncle Wu cooked dinner, it was a simple noodle dish and rather thankfully, another tea to help with Lloyd’s energy as it was already mostly depleted by then. For a while, as they eat it’s mostly quiet, even Cole hasn’t decided to chime in and try and alleviate the tenseness in the air.
Lloyd huffs, the silence choking him, “the noodles are really good, uncle.”
“Thank you, Lloyd.” He says, blowing on the steaming broth.
Everyone chimes in with their own compliments afterwards, and they fall into simple conversation afterwards, Lloyd, as always keeps quiet, eating his food.
As much as he likes the ninja, it’s still intimidating to talk to them. He feels so young compared to them sometimes, even if he has the most burden over his shoulders. As he’s lost in thought, stirring the noodles in his bowl, he sees a piece of beef being placed in his bowl. When he looks over, he notices it came from Kai. “You gotta eat a lot kiddo, grow big and strong like us.”
Lloyd gives a toothy grin in response.
7:45 PM
“I don’t see the point in obstacle courses.” Lloyd mumbles, kicking the ground with his foot.
Kai snorts, “you’d be surprised, the obstacle course is how I mastered Spinjitzu.”
Lloyd groans loudly, “I know, you say that all the time, but I still don’t see how!”
There’s a knit in his eyebrows that wasn’t there before, he sighs softly, “just trust me, Lloyd.”
He huffs out his cheeks in response, “but,” then he moans, messing up his own hair, “nevermind.”
“What is it?” Kai asks, watching the obstacle course begin to move.
“I just,” he feels his bottom lip wobble, “I do this everyday and I’m not getting any better, so, what’s the point? I’m never going to be able to defeat my dad like this.” He keeps his gaze directed to the ground, red covering his cheeks.
He feels a calloused hand on his shoulder, but he doesn’t look up, “you are getting better, whether you realize it or not, Cole told me your pirouettes are getting better, Zane told me you complain a lot less on your hikes, you aren’t taking as long to catch those stupid roosters,” he mutters the last part, shaking his head, “my point is, you’re improving everyday, and you started training way earlier than any of us did, it’s understandable you’re not progressing as fast as we did, and for what it’s worth, you’re getting the hang of it faster than any of us did.”
It’s silent for a second, Lloyd starts sniffling, wiping his nose on his sleeve and before he can look up Kai’s already kneeling in front of him, “sorry.” Lloyd mumbles, trying to avoid his eye as much as possible.
“Don’t be, it’s okay to cry,” he says softly, “I cried a lot my first few days here, I would get so frustrated that I couldn’t do it, and I missed Nya so much,” Kai frowns, “cry as much as you need to, we’re here for you green bean.”
Lloyd tackles him into a hug, almost toppling the both of them over.
9:00 PM
“Fritz Donnegan! We have to abandon ship! It’s too dangerous!” One figure says in a deep voice. “I’m cowering in fear!” The other figure says in a higher voice.
“Fear? Fear isn’t a word where I come from.” Lloyd voices, using his Fritz Donnegan figurine to move on the spaceship, “everyone! Get on the emergency rockets! I’ll take care of the bad guy!”
Jay moves all the people off the ship, making taking off noises with his mouth as Lloyd begins fighting the bad guy trying to take over the spacecraft.
“Take this!” Lloyd says, punching him to the ground. He huffs out a breath of relief, trying to take back the control panel but, suddenly, the spaceship begins shaking. “Oh no! It’s falling nose first onto Earth! I’ll never make it!”
“Fritz! I’m still here, let’s escape together!” Fritz gasps, looking at the door, running towards his friend, getting on the escape pod.
They make it, just as the spacecraft explodes behind them.
“Another successful mission for Fritz Donnegan?” A voice startles both Jay and Lloyd, who are sitting on the floor by the couch, they look up to see Zane having entered the room.
“Yep!” Lloyd answers, grinning.
Zane hums, patting his head, “please remember you will have to take a bath in a little bit.”
Lloyd’s smile fades, he groans, “do I have to?”
“Unfortunately, you must.” Zane answers, “I will see you at 9:30 for your bedtime story.” Lloyd nods, watching him leave.
“Sorry again, by the way.” Jay suddenly says when Zane’s gone.
Lloyd tilts his head, “for what?”
“For hurting you earlier.”
“Oh, it’s okay, I’m used to it,” he mumbles, starting to clean up, “it’s not a big deal.”
“It doesn’t make it okay, Lloyd,” Jay says, helping wordlessly, “if you get hurt it’s okay to tell us if it’s too much, if we’re pushing too hard.”
“Okay.” He mumbles softly, “I’ll tell you next time.”
9:30 PM
“What story would you like tonight?”
Lloyd ponders on the question, he stares up at his ceiling as he thinks, becoming distracted by the chirps of the crickets outside and his reflection on his window. “I dunno.” He murmurs.
“Is there something on your mind, Lloyd?” Zane asks, sweeping his hand over Lloyd’s forehead to move his bangs out of his eyes.
“Sort of,” he mumbles, snuggling further into his pillow. “Tired.”
“Would you like to talk more about it?”
“Not really, I think I just want the bedtime story.” Zane frowns, but nods.
“There are many in my database if you-”
“I don’t want any of those.” Lloyd interrupts softly. Zane tilts his head curiously. “I want the story of how you guys became a team.”
Zane chuckles, “but I am sure you’ve heard this story before, haven’t you?”
Lloyd pouts, “sort of, not really, I heard it from Uncle Wu, but not any of you guys. Can I hear it again?”
Zane smiles. “Of course.”
So, he does, Zane describes his day, having to drop in on Kai and defeat him was his–and the rest of the team’s–goal. He recalls how bad at fighting they all used to be, and how apprehensive they were to a new member, they had all been friends before, Kai was all of a sudden thrust into their team, and was no one they were used to.
As Zane becomes more animated, getting more excited as he recounts all of the different stories he shares with the ninja, Lloyd feels his eyelids drooping, every few seconds he feels his eyelids fall close, then open back up when he wakes himself up.
Eventually, the lights turn off and he feels a kiss on his forehead.