"Why is everyone still here?" Lloyd muttered, tired and slightly annoyed.
"What did he say?" Blue whispered, asking Black what Lloyd said. "Did you hear it?"
"Students, please take Red inside the inner room and watch him there," Wu stated.
"Yes, Sensei."
"Son," Garmadon said, walking up slowly to the teen crouched in the corner, "It's been a long night."
Garmadon couldn't tell what expression Lloyd was making, but he felt his son was either too tired or couldn't care less. Even though the hood Lloyd had on was not so large, there seemed to be a shadow cast on the boy's face preventing anyone from seeing it.
"...Are you finally leaving? Or can I finally leave?" Lloyd said louder than before, slight annoyance hinted in his voice.
"The first one... We had planned to discuss an issue with you before leaving, but this seems like a lot for one night."
Wu turned to leave for the inner room where the ninjas were, with Garmadon following behind.
"Goodbye," Misako said, "You'll uphold our agreement, right?"
Ten minutes later, the ninjas had all left with the ninjas and Misako, leaving Lloyd alone in the room. A small trail of dark essence ran all the way from Lloyd's feet to the light switch, turning the entire room dark.
" . . . "
"They're still all as I remember. . . "
It was painful, right? Seeing the people you loved after so long and having to act cold to them, can make even a big man like me heartbroken.
"Saying stuff like that still doesn't work on me. Stop talking."
Maybe not before, but then we had nothing to talk about. Things have changed. Don't you think?
"..."
You can't ignore me, forever, boy!! We're stuck in the one place you are most disadvantaged!! I will conquer Ninjago, final-!!!
"Shut it!"
" - "
~X~x~X~x~X~
The next day at NCHS was a busy day for Cole and Jay as they hurried to get the work for the E-club done in time. Kai was with his sister, Nya, stuck at afterschool cleaning while Zane was running an errand for the club.
Split, Splat
Cole immediately turned his attention to the sound of something dripping. He had been looking through a few documents when he suddenly heard the noise.
"Jay, did you hear something?"
"Huh?"
"Did y-"
"Oh, no, no, I didn't hear anything," His voice sounded like he had something in his nose.
Cole looked over at his friend, but Jay's head turned away.
"Jay, don't tell me you had another nosebleed?"
"Don't worry, Cole, it's fine."
"The more you say that, the more worrying it is."
Jay sighed and turned to face Cole, his nose plugged with tissue. "I've gotten used to it at this point. It's all good."
"What do you mean it's all good?!" Cole's face screamed horrified as he stared at Jay being calm. "It can be classified as all good when you're healthy! Why are you adapting to the situation?!"
"Any better ideas?" Jay scowled. "SD has no idea what's wrong with me and I'd rather not keep pestering him since there's this whole thing with his nephew."
"SD?" Cole looked puzzled.
"You know,"
Cole shook his head, still confused.
"Come on, SD? S-Dub? S Double-U???"
"What are you getting at?!"
"*groan*" Jay lowered his voice, "Sensei Wu?"
"Oh." Cole suddenly felt a bit dumb.
Jay rolled his eyes.
"Well, how was I supposed to know? Anyway, that's not the point. You need a permanent fix for whatever it is you have. We need to let SD know the height of the situation."
Jay groaned.
"Jay, what if this thing... you know... crrrrr..." Cole motioned with his hand moving swiftly across his neck.
Jay groaned even more, the calm expression he was trying to keep on slowly fading into one of anxiety.
"Is this about the nosebleeds?" Zane said, interrupting. He looked over at Cole who answered with a nod and then to Jay at the other side of the room.
"I have an idea," Zane said. "But it would mean sneaking into The Port."
"That kind of idea might get us into some trouble," Zane continued, walking over to Jay, "But if my hunch is right, we might find out the reason behind this."
"Cole, do you still have that ointment your dad gave you for your but-?"
Cole threw a book at Zane before he could finish his statement. Zane, of course, dodged.
"What have I said about saying things like that?!" Cole said in a hushed tone, his face red from embarrassment. "How'd you even know about that!!!"
"You have butt ointment?!" Jay laughed.
"Stop laughing!!!"
~X~x~X~x~X~
It was 5 pm in Ninjago City and Blue, White, and Black had successfully snuck into The Port.
"Remind me why we didn't wait for nightfall?" Black whispered as they walked into the building.
"Because if we did," White answered, "We might bump into Sensei."
"And then we'd probably end up in trouble," Blue stated.
"Okay, but what are we doing here exactly? All we know is you have a hunch." Black said, a sigh escaping his lips.
"That's right, I never explained my plan," White realized.
"So, what is it? Did you see a book or something? What did you need my ointment for?"
"Yeah, his butt cream," Blue whispered, snickering.
"Ugh, not again," Black groaned.
"The ointment for Black's behind is for something else. What we are here for lies with Sensei's nephew."
"Can we stop talking about my butt, please?!" Black sighed.
"Yup, this way."
Black and Blue looked unsure of the situation but followed after White still.
They passed the bookshelf/elevator, the dark hallway and then arrived at the door to the room.
"We're here," Blue gulped.
"What if the Overlord is there?" Black also gulped.
"I'm sure it's fine!" White said optimistically.
White opened the elevator-like- door to the room and walked in. The two others followed after.
The room was empty except for a large shadow sitting by the wall.
"Is that him?" Black asked.
"I don't sense a form of life from it," White answered. "I can't sense anything from the room."
"He escaped?!" Blue asked. He walked inside and looked around.
"If you spot him, don't get too close to him," Black warned. "We might have to add throwing up to the list of issues."
"Right," Blue answered.
They soon heard footsteps come from inside a room they didn't notice was there.
"I'm... so... tired..."
"Who's voice is that?" Black asked in a quiet voice.
"That's Lloyd!" Blue whispered staring at his teammate in shock. "Don't you remember what he sounds like? Like, at all?!"
"Blue is correct," White confirmed, "Also, shh!"
Lloyd stepped out of the room, a towel lying on top of his hair that dripped water relentlessly onto the bathrobe he wore. He quickly walked into another room and came out almost immediately, a set of clothes in hand. A dark shadow similar to the one punching the wall grabbed the clothes from him.
"Now is not the time for this. I'm very exhausted. Give it back."
Lloyd moved to get his clothes back from the shadow but it had the clothes in a tight grip. Lloyd glared at the shadow in annoyance.
"What's going on?" Black asked.
"I'm as confused as you," White said.
"Me too," Blue added.
The shadow immediately disappears and the clothes dropped on the floor. Lloyd sighed and picked them up before returning to the room he was in before.
"That was..." White looked at the room, confused.
"Weird?" Blue asked.
"Very weird," Black agreed.
A moment later, Lloyd returned dressed with some bread in his hand, a piece being chewed in his mouth. He sat on the floor in a corner and closed his eyes, still eating the bread.
"What is going on?" Black asked. "Why is he eating bread like that?"
"What's wrong with how I eat bread?"
The three stayed still, realizing they'd been caught.
"There's no use hiding. You're not even that good at it."
"Well, excuse me," Black said, coming out from where he hid. "I'll have you know we passed Sensei Wu's Stealth 101."
Blue and White came out as well. Lloyd peeped open an eye to see the three of them. He then yawned.
"So, what do you want? Seeing as you're here without either of your Senseis and friends, make it quick."