Dragon Masters of Spinjitzu

Part 4: All Alone

Song Inspiration: Just Breathe

Artist: Jonny Diaz

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"Wait, if Lloyd made the wish, then how exactly are we going to make him reverse it?" Sora asked, looking between Cole and Arin. "He doesn't have his memories right? How the heck can he even..."

Cole let out a groan before rubbing his temple. "I have no idea. The book doesn't give any instructions on if the user loses their memories."

Silence fell between the trio. The complication of their situation settled in the air, and it weighed on them like a thick fog.

Suddenly, Arin's face brightened. "Maybe there's a way we can remind him of who he is?" Sora and Cole stared at the orange ninja before glancing at each other. Arin bit his lip from the too long of pause. "I mean, it might work, but of course, it probably isn't possible--"

"No, no, you have a point, Arin," Cole said with a smile.

"It's definitely worth a try," Sora said while placing a hand on her friend's shoulder, causing the orange ninja to grin. The tech master then started tapping her chin. "It'll be hard, though. We have no idea if we can even jog any part of Lloyd's memories, and we might just scare him away if we start telling him stuff."

"Which is why we'll have to be subtle about it. We can't come on too strong either since Lloyd doesn't trust ninja at this age," Cole explained.

Arin crossed his arms, raising a brow towards the earth ninja. "Yeah, and from what he told me, it might be for a good reason. Apparently, you guys hung him up by a store sign just because he was demanding candy?" he asked with a frown. 

Sora's eyebrows flew up from this information. She looked over at the earth master as well. "Wait, you guys did what?"

Cole replied to the teen's claim with a sigh. He glanced to his right as he recalled the old memory that he'd nearly forgotten. "It was a long time ago. It was definitely not one of our brightest moments," he said before shaking his head. "We saw Lloyd as just some evil brat, so we thought he deserved the punishment, but as much as we thought he was annoying, we didn't realize how much growing up we had to do ourselves."

Arin dropped his disapproving stance and cast his gaze to the floor. He couldn't really judge the older ninja, especially with something that happened so long ago. Arin's made plenty of mistakes too, and it wouldn't be fair to put his heroes on a higher standard when they were his age. 

"Trust me, we all made up eventually, and Lloyd definitely got us back for that incident by pranking us when he first moved in," Cole said with a chuckle. A smile then formed over Arin's cheeks. The earth master was right, the ninja team did all seem to act like one big family now.

A new thought then dawned on the orange ninja. He recalled the way his mentor watched everyone at dinner the night before. That bittersweet grimace was something Arin was used to making himself when he thought about his own parents. Arin looked back up at the others with newfound clarity.

"Do you think Lloyd wished for his family back?" Cole's brow furrowed from the statement, and Arin seemed to shy away from his thought while he avoided the earth ninja's stare. He didn't want to overstep and bring up something personal. "I mean... I don't know much about Lloyd's parents, but it seemed like you guys have been his family for most of his life. Do... Do you think he was wishing for you guys to all be with him?"

"What are you talking about, Arin? Most of the ninja are already here with him," Sora reminded him with a curious gaze.

"Yeah, but it may not be the same as it was before." Arin shook his head at the thought. "What I'm saying is that we all lost things during the merge," the teen paused, taking a slow breath. "I lost my parents, my home. My whole life was uprooted, and our whole realm changed permanently. It would be a lot on anyone... Even on the legendary Green Ninja."