Your POV
Age: 16
You sat on the bench against the wall at the side of the room. It was Kai's turn to train Lloyd. He wore oven mittens while Lloyd practiced punching them. Cole, Zane, and Jay was behind them near the door, watching. Cole was wearing a pot on his head, Zane had a pink pillow tied to his stomach like a human punching bag, and Jay was holding a wooden spoon nearly the size of his head.
"Good, keep it up." Kai was saying.
"Ha! Fists of fury! Unh! You can't even see 'em move, I'm so fast! Ha!" Lloyd said brightly as he was training.
You were half-reading a book, half-watching Lloyd train.
"Save the gloating. It can only be used against you by your enemy." Kai replied with a little grin, lowering his hands a bit.
"Oh, please. I'm ready to face whatever you throw at me." Lloyd sent a strong kick Kai's way, and Kai just got his hands in front of him. The kick sent the fire ninja to his butt on the floor.
"Whoa, grasshopper. You're not even ready to face my pinky toe." Kai wiggles his left foot for emphasis.
"I see the student has become the teacher. You will learn fast, Lloyd, with lessons from the five ninja." Wu remarked. He was sitting behind Lloyd a few meters back, drinking tea (of course he was).
"Great, now that lesson is over, how about some target practice..." Cole smirked. "...on Kai?"
Kai's expression went worried again at his name. You couldn't stop yourself from forming a little smile at his face, but he just gave you a nervous glance.
"You'll each get your turn, but first, I don't want you to be late for your next lesson with Nya." Sensei reminded Lloyd.
"Aww, but when will I learn Spinjitzu?" Lloyd whined in that kind of toddler-not-getting-what-they-want voice.
"Patience. It will only be unlocked when the key is ready to be found." Wu sighs.
"Mmgph." Lloyd grumbled, slumping as he left the room to Nya.
Kai walks to the other three ninja, and you stand up.
"Ha, sound familiar?" Cole teased Kai.
"I wasn't that whiny." Kai said in defense.
"No, you were worse." Zane grins. Jay lets out a chuckle.
"Hehe. Guys, I know we're trying to prepare Lloyd for the future, but it's hard to give him the best training in these conditions." Jay gestured to the room.
"Jay's right. I miss the Destiny's Bounty. Too bad it's gone." Cole added.
You didn't really want to intrude on their nostalgic memory flashback kinda moment, but luckily Sensei Wu spoke up.
"Hmm. I see your point. Perhaps we could find somewhere else to aid his journey."
---
You decided to go out now. Sure, the ninja can handle Lloyd's training by themselves. You had your fair share of it when they refused to let you gather rent for the previous apartment.
You were wearing normal civilian wear, just some dark pants and a black t-shirt tucked into the hem of your pants. It wasn't too cold today, and there was no more Devourer slime, so civilians didn't have a reason to be outside unless they're doing whatever they usually do.
It feels nice, enjoying life without the heavy pressure of saving the city from deadly threats.
You pass by a couple businesses, but one of them catches the corner of your eye.
'Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo.' Actually, there was no apostrophe. It was 'Grand Sensei Dareths Mojo Dojo.'
Now, this was pretty lucky to come across by.
You enter it. Hopefully, you could bargain a deal to let Lloyd train here.
After passing through a curtain of beads, you see a man in a brown gi. He looks a bit in his mid-30s. He was in the room, alone, polishing a trophy. Beside him, a stand of more trophies stood.
"Helloooo..." You said softly, not wanting to startle him. It still did, anyway. He dropped the trophy, but you saved it before it touched the ground with a sheet of Silver underneath it.
"Oh, um, hello, welcome to my dojo." Assuming he was Sensei Dareth, you removed your powers from the ground. You wait for him to recover from the subtle surprise.
"I am Grand Sensei Dareth, a karate master of animal fighting styles." Dareth introduced himself, giving you a goofy beaming smile. "Did you need something from my Dareth-ing dojo?"
"My name's Y/n, and yes, I have someone in training that would miserably need a good space for it, and this dojo seems to be a great place." You said in a friendly way, ignoring the pun he put in with his name. You're sort of used to the ninjas' puns by now.
"Well, you've come to the right place. My dojo is great, especially with all of my trophies." Dareth gestures to the trophy shelf. You really couldn't tell if they were real or not.
"Cool, so my friend can train here?" You ask hopefully.
"I'll think about it. Only the greatest karate masters have walked this ground, and training young masters isn't easy." Dareth hummed.
'Well, you can say that last part again.' You muttered in your head.
"Thank you, I guess." You shrug. "I'll be back soon."
"No problem." Dareth smiles again.
---
You walk out of the dojo and begin walking on the street before stopping abruptly. A bus stops in front of you and the doors open.
"This is where Lloyd is going to train?" Cole walks out first, looking at Dareth's dojo with doubt.
"Hehe, it's better than our dumpy apartment." Jay smirks at Cole.
"... what're you guys doing here?"
"Y/n! You're here!" Lloyd hears you first and brightens up. A small smile forms on your face.
"Oh, hi Y/n! We're here for Lloyd, ya know, his training." Kai shrugs.
"What are you doing here?" Cole asks, walking to you.
"I was just walking around the city, and I also became interested in this dojo for Lloyd." You watch the bus drive away. "How'd you get bus tokens?"
"Sensei." Kai sighs.
"Make sense."
"C'mon, guys." Cole opens the door to the dojo and goes in.
"Wait, I already spoke to-"
"Welcome to Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo. I am Grand Sensei Dareth, and I Dareth you to join my dojo. Heeya!"
"Here we go again." You facepalm. The ninja all sigh.
Dareth leads the ninja into the main dojo training area.
"Face the wall of karate trophies. If you look closely, my name is on all of them. That is because I am a highly skilled karate machine." Dareth shows off his trophy shelf, to which the ninja began to become impatient.
"Look, Dareth, we're wondering if we could share your dojo. You see, we've been put in charge of training this little guy to become the greatest ninja in all of Ninjago." Kai puts his hand on Lloyd's shoulder. Dareth looks at the kid.
"Not possible, for I am the greatest in the land. How many trophies do you have?"
"You've gotta be kidding me." You grumble at Dareth's sudden attitude. Maybe he was nicer to you because you looked like a normal person, whereas the ninja are in their gis. You lean on Jay's shoulder, crossing your arms.
"Look, pal, we're the guys that just saved the city from that giant snake." Jay says, trying to ignore you.
"Ha! Am I looking at Lord Garmadon? Because unless I'm stupid, and I'm not, Lord Garmadon destroyed the Devourer." Dareth glares at the ninja.
"Hehe. That's been a huge misunderstanding. Actually, we were the ones who dest-"
"I'll let you train here but only on one condition. You can defeat me. If you succeed, we will share the dojo. Unh! That's right. I, Grand Sensei Dareth, master of all animal fighting styles, challenge one of you to a battle. I know the tiger. Rawrr. The python. *Hiss*. Penguin. Awk, awk!"
You watch Kai knock him to the ground with Spinjitzu.
"How did you-"
"You may know animals, but we know Spinjitzu." Kai grinned.
"You can train in my dojo anytime."
---
"So, what were you really doing before?" Kai was standing beside you, leaning against the wall. His arms and ankles were crossed. Right now, it was Jay's, Cole's, and Zane's turn to train Lloyd.
"Just walking around Ninjago City." You said nonchalantly, sitting with you back against the wall.
"You must be light on your feet." Jay was saying to Lloyd.
"When you strike with your fists, concentrate. You may be small, but you're strong." Cole said.
Lloyd punches the wooden boards. A loud rumble shook the whole room, like a small earthquake. You steady yourself before you could fall over. Everyone around Lloyd kinda flew back.
"That was the power of the Staff of Quakes. And you did it without the Golden Weapon!" Jay said, excited.
"That must be why you have the potential to be the greatest ninja. You can harness all of the Elemental Powers." Zane said, making Lloyd a bit confused.
"Really? Cool."
"With this power, you must be careful. You must control it before it controls you." Wu said. He was, as usual, sitting on the side of the room and drinking tea.
"I have to admit, not bad for a kid. But instead of ten boards, how about fifty? Stack 'em, boys." Dareth smirks. Two of his students, Jeffy and Phil, began stacking a bunch of wooden boards on top of two cinder blocks.
"And perhaps if I, Grand Sensei Dareth, can break through them all, you will allow me to join your team and become..." Dareht flips his hood on. "... the Brown Ninja."
"The Brown Ninja? You gotta be joking!" Jay stifles a snicker.
Zane and Kai exchange an amused glance.
"Sorry, pal. Club's already full." Cole said.
"Okay, okay. Then maybe this demonstration of my superhuman strength may persuade you. Jeffy, Phil, are we ready?"
His two students bowed. "Yes, Grand Sensei Dareth."
'If I had any students, I'd just get them to call me Y/n.' You thought for the future.
"Observe. I call upon the greatest animal to give me strength, the Dragon. Heeyah!" Dareth smacks his hand on the planks in a karate-chop way. The boards didn't even move. A split-second later, he let out a scream of pain.
You merely let out a snort of amusement while everyone else laughed (except for Jeffy and Phil ofc).
"Oh, man. Ow!" Jay giggles.
---