So, you're probably wondering why this entry and the last are titled Hungry. The truth is, I'm hungry right now. See, I was banned from stepping into the kitchen, and since no one is around and there aren't any leftovers, I'm stuck without anything to eat. But we'll get to why I was banned soon.
So, Thursday ended with me being scolded by an elementary school teacher and then laughed at by TDL. Despite that, I was pretty satisfied with how the day turned out. The only unsettling thing was that people mistook TDL for being my cousin. Cue the facepalm.
Honestly, however, I would've made the same mistake.
Basically, Uncle Wu has a cloaking tea that makes someone appear differently (I can't believe he didn't tell me he had that). It so happens that he turned out like a dark-haired version of me but with (somewhat) handsome features and longer legs (that's why people thought he was my cousin). Moving on, here's Friday.
Friday was traumatizing.
It started when I was heading out for school.
"Uncle Wu, I'm ready," I called out. No one answered. I walked over to the dining and found a stranger in the house. I immediately went defensive.
"Who are you? How did you get in?"
The person charged at me, ready to punch. I barely avoided it. If not for those afternoons of being taught how to fight, I would've been knocked out. Thanks, Uncle Wu.
I retreated to the far end of the living room. The person, now standing where I stood, had a wide grin on his face. He picked up Uncle Wu's staff resting against the wall and charged at me again. He moved to strike me with the bamboo, but I moved away, barely avoiding it.
I could only think of three things while I was avoiding being hit. One, who was this person? Two, how do I get out of there? And three, where were Uncle Wu and TDL?!
"You know, you're pretty good at dodging for a 16-year-old," The person said. "Why don't you fight back?"
The voice was cold and dark. I got chills running down my spine when he spoke.
"What? Cat got your tongue?" He asked with an evil grin. At that point, I had suffered a few hits. My stamina was running out, and Uncle Wu and TDL were nowhere to be found. I decided to take the fight outside since it was getting uncomfortable being beaten up in an enclosed space. At least, the outside has many places to hide.
"Why don't you give up?" The person said. He paused his attacking, though his grin widened all the more. His face screamed scary. "If you get on your two knees and beg, I might consider ending this spar."
The person began to corner me. I was soon backed against a window, which was lucky. What's luckier? It was open.
"I'd rather lose, honestly," I said, leaping onto the window sill.
"Have it your way then. However, that's a long way down."
He charged at me once again, and I lept off. This would be the second (or is it the third?) time I would be jumping off the highest floor of this volcano building. How am I still alive? Yeah, I don't know either.
That was the most exciting a Thursday at seven in the morning has ever been. Not exciting in a good way. I never want to do that again.
The person didn't come after me immediately, thankfully. I grabbed a ledge on the volcano, although I almost died. What was I thinking attempting such again? I pulled myself up and surveyed the area. Suddenly, I heard a thud.
"Did you think you could escape me?"
"What do you want?" I wasn't expecting him to catch up so fast. Usually, people who seem as experienced as him would think twice before doing what I did and was about to do again. Or maybe he's so experienced that the jump was nothing for him.
"To have some fun," He immediately lunged at me, aiming my uncle's staff at my face. I did the only thing I could think of. Jump.
It worked before. Maybe it would work again. That's what I thought to myself at that time. I felt myself stop in midair.
"Hey, do you want to kill yourself?!" The person said, sounding almost concerned. He had a hand grabbing my shirt.
I stayed still for a moment, feeling very confused. All of a sudden, strange memories flooded into my mind. I could feel myself struggling to move away from something. It was like my collar was being pulled, and I could barely breathe. I felt myself saying something, but I couldn't hear it.
"What are you doing?!" I freaked out. I gripped his arm without thinking and flipped myself, aiming for a kick to his face. He dodged and let go of me. My mind was panicked, but I couldn't understand why I was like that. I still don't. More memories flooded my head, but I couldn't get any of them clearly.
"What's wrong with you? Ready to surrender?"
I quickly regained my composure. I looked around for any means of escape. I was left with two options:
1. Climb the volcano. It wasn't a bad idea, but the situation wasn't right. I'd be too slow, and anything could happen to my clothes. I still had to get to school.
2. Jump. This was a terrible idea, but if pulled off correctly, I could escape.
"Don't even think about jumping again."
"Are you going to stop trying to kill me if I don't?"
No answer. Can you believe this guy?
Anyway, I took a step back. I looked at my Borg Watch for the time. Thirty minutes to get to school.
"Tell you what? Let's suspend things for today." I suggested, "We can always continue this later. Better yet, why fight me? I'm sure there are a lot of people stronger than me."
"Surrender, and then I'll consider it."
"Well, I-"
"Do it on your knees," The person said with an evil grin and a condescending voice.
Well, there was no way I was doing that then. I was weighing my options earlier but once the person told me to kneel, the option to surrender was out the window and into the incinerator.
I definitely wasn't planning on quitting, especially since I'd have to do it in the most degrading way possible.
"No, thank you," I leaped off the ledge.
"Hey!" The guy tried to grab me but was a second too late. I landed on another ledge and continued down the volcano like that. The person didn't follow after immediately, but I could tell he would soon jump down.
I was finally at the bottom. I looked around for Uncle Wu's boat but it wasn't docked at its usual spot. Did he actually leave without me? How do I get to school then?
I was confused but quickly realized I had no time. I had to get to school on time for the test, and I had to do that before the stranger caught up. Fortunately, I remembered TDL had boats docked on the island. Unfortunately, those were on the other side of the island.
"What to do?" I wondered out loud. Swimming was out of the question. I decided to take one of TDL's boats since I had no other options.
"Lloyd Garmadon~," The person said in a dark singsong voice. "Where are you~?"
The stranger was close to catching up. I ran as fast as I could but was soon out of stamina. The person, on the other hand, seemed to have bucketloads.
"Luh-Lloyd! What are you doing here?!"
I was finally at the docks after 10 minutes of running. I ran into TDL.
"Oh, nothing," I said, out of breath and exhausted. "Just some madman chasing me."
"Madman? Who are you referring to?"
I fell face down on the beach floor, my energy depleted.
"Hey, that's dirty."
"Give me a minute to catch my breath."
"All you're going to catch is sand in your clothes."
TDL pulled me to my feet, though I was reluctant to stand.
"What happened?"
Beep Beep Beep
That was my reminder that I had 20 minutes till my test started.
"I'll explain everything later," I told TDL in between breaths, "I'm running late, and I think Uncle Wu left without me."
Long story short, TDL offered me a ride to school. I got there barely on time.
Fortunately, that was the only traumatizing thing about Friday. The rest of the day was okay. Plus, I got to hang out with Kai and the others.
It was at the park after school. I told them all about what happened in the morning.
"So that's why you were running late this morning," Jay said.
"Wait, did you really jump from the top of a volcano?" Zane asked. "Why is your house now at the top of a volcano? Is that safe?"
"Jump is a bit too strong of a word. Maybe hopped from ledge to ledge?"
"Of course, it's safe," Cole said. "I've read magazines about that volcano. They say it hasn't erupted ever since the great battle between the First Spinjitzu Master and the Overlord that took place on that island!"
"Overlord?" Kai scoffed. "Isn't that from a story mothers tell their children to stop them from being naughty?"
"The Overlord is real, Kai," Zane stated.
"Come on, that story is thousands of years old," Kai argued. "Lloyd, did your uncle ever say anything about the Overlord?"
"I think I heard the name from his mouth a few times," I scratched my head as I tried to remember. "There was a time when I was a kid when my uncle mentioned the Overlord. He was talking with a group of adults about it. I don't remember the conversation, though."
"What did the adults look like?!" Nya asked curiously. "Do you remember?"
"Hmm... not really,"
"Well, guess what else I heard about that volcano," Cole said with a smile. "They say that's where the Dark Lord's secret base is."
"Seriously?" I asked, acting clueless, "I've never bumped into him, though."
"Okay, but how scary would that be? Living right on top of the Dark Lord's base."
It's not that scary when you get used to it. Although, there are the occasional shark people who glare when they see me.
"Check me out!" Jay called out from the park bench he stood on. He proceeded to do a hero pose.
"Jay! What are you doing?!" Cole said, laughing hysterically.
"Quick, take a picture!" Kai said, joining in the laughter.
"What? No! No pictures!" Jay cried out as he quickly got down.
"Why were you up there in the first place?" I asked.
"Well, the End of Year school event is coming up, and they've chosen superhero as the theme."
"End of year event?" Zane asked. "Isn't it only October?"
"Well, they're talking about it now, so we get to prepare early! I'm thinking of going as a ninja!" Jay was holding Zane by the shoulders and shaking him back and forth in excitement.
"Isn't going as a ninja a bit too much?" Nya asked, giving Jay a bit of a side-eye. Not sure why, though.
"Why even go for the event?" I asked.
"Why wouldn't you go?" Kai asked. "It's a party! Everyone loves partying!"
"Not everyone, Kai," Cole said, "I, for instance, dislike parties. I'm only there for the lights, music, and cake."
"Yeah, Cole's right," Jay said, agreeing with Cole, "Parties are loud and uncomfortable. Plus, they take hours to end."
"B- but guys!" Kai exclaimed. "What of, you know, the thrill of mingling with people?! Or dancing? Or wearing an amazing outfit? Or styling your hair?"
"That's just you, bro," Nya said, laughing, "The only good thing about parties is the food."
"I was expecting that from Cole," Jay whispered to Zane.
"Me too," Zane whispered back.
"What?! I also like food!" Nya defended. "Don't you all like food?"
"Well, yes..." Jay replied, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.
"I think they meant it in the sense that Cole loves food the most between all of us," I told Nya.
"That is true. I do love food." Cole agreed.
"Forget food!" Kai blurted out. "I can't believe you guys don't like parties! There's so much to look forward to!"
"Not completely true," Jay said, "But this year's end-of-year party will be awesome because it's superhero-themed. Everyone can dress up as their favorite hero."
"In that case, won't everyone be dressed as a ninja since they are the most popular? Why would you want to dress up as one?" Zane asked. He gave Jay a look, though it felt like Jay wasn't picking up on it. Do they not want Jay dressed up as a ninja? I hope it's not because I said I don't like ninjas.
No, that could never be it. Perhaps they don't want him to be mistaken for a real ninja.
Yeah, that makes more sense.
"Zane's right. It would be so weird pulling up to the party in the same outfit as someone else." Kai shrugged. "Everyone knows you come in an original superhero design."
"That's not exactly the point I was getting to..." Zane told Kai.
"Well, I like the ninja, so I'll be there as a ninja. Even if it's weird." Jay responded adamantly.
"Anyway, Lloyd, you have to be there!" Jay continued as he turned his attention to me. "Do you need help finding a costume? Or making one?"
"Sorry, Jay," I said, "As cool as it sounds, I'd much rather spend that time napping in my room."
-Or maybe trying to sneak into TDL's funhouse of a room.
"Plus," I added, "I don't want to accidentally lose my temper and ruin the vibe."
The park suddenly fell silent. I think I shouldn't have mentioned my anger situation.
"Uh... never mind me, what will you guys be wearing that night?" I said nervously as I tried to change the subject. "Even though it's still two months away. have you figured out what superhero you'll go as?"
Right then, I unexpectedly got a phone call. The phone that appeared and reappeared in my pocket was vibrating loud enough for the others to hear.
"One minute," I told the five of them before taking a few steps back. I picked up the phone and looked at the screen.
Boldly written on the screen were the words, "Greatest uncle of all time". Using my quick thinking, I guessed that this might be TDL. Everyone knows that "greatest" is not enough to describe Uncle Wu.
"Hello... ?"
"What took you so long?!"
"Huh?!"
"Why didn't you pick up the phone quickly?"
"...what do you want?"
"Your mom's back, so we're having dinner. Also, we'll be continuing with Operation Fil-ha."
"Wait?! What??!!" I gasped.
"Well, bye!"
"Hey, wait!"
TDL had cut the call and I was left staring at the object in my hand. I couldn't call him back since I didn't know how to do it exactly and I was still processing what I heard.
"Hey, Lloyd!" I heard Nya call out as she walked over to me. "It's getting late, so we were thinking of going our separate ways. Are you taking the bus?"
"Oh... er... no... actually, yes... hmm..."
I wasn't sure if I wanted to go home after what TDL told me. It's not like I had a choice, but I didn't think I was ready to talk to my mother. Time has passed, so I've slowly accepted her staying with me (even though not that much time has actually passed). I guess the words to describe how I felt would be anxious and slightly embarrassed. Anxious because what if I get overwhelmed and try to kill her again? Slightly embarrassed because when I look back on everything I've done... well... you know...
I also don't want to do Operation Fil-ha. I don't even remember the whole point of it...
"Well, you still have some time to think about it, so it's fine," Nya told me. "Jay and Cole will ride together with Zane and his dad, who'll drop them off at their places, while Kai and I will be taking the bus home. You could follow any of us."
"No, no. It's cool. Thanks for the offer." I finally said. "I think I'll walk home. It's not too far from here."
It's not that I didn't want to take a ride in Zane's dad's amazing futuristic-looking car (which I did once during the break and it was awesome!), or follow the siblings on the bus (which, although not as cool as Zane's dad's car, is not a bad experience).
The truth is... I wanted to stall for time and get to that dinner late. Yes... uncle Wu would not be happy, BUT I wasn't ready to meet her.
I still am not. I'm at the warehouse where the ninjas hide their large robot vehicles in writing in this journal.
Yes, that's right. I've been at this warehouse since Friday. Crazy, I know.