Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was known among the ninja that Cole was a very private person. He rarely talked about his childhood, and usually kept to himself if there was a problem. Considering that majority of his early years consisted of him doing something that he didn’t want to do, the ninja learned to leave certain topics alone. Despite having known the black ninja for almost two years, his teammates knew very little about him. He never told them when his birthday was, and his exact age was unknown(though most of them believed that he was around 17 or 18).

Still, the other ninja knew that they could count on Cole when there was a problem, whether it be a dastardly crook or an argument between them. And they hoped that he knew that he could count on them when there was a problem.

But a few days ago, Cole started acting...different. He started spending more time away from the rest of them than with them. Sure, he would still show up to train, but the minute training was done, he would disappear for hours at a time. He had also started eating less, which was alarming considering his normally voracious appetite. Even worse, his temper was starting to rival Kai’s, which was highly unusual for the second most-patient ninja(Zane has “most patient” ninja).

The other ninjas had tried their hardest to figure out what was bothering their leader, but with little success. Cole could be really stubborn when he wanted to be, and refused to tell anyone what was wrong.

Things finally came to a breaking point late one Friday night. After a particularly lackluster performance from the black ninja, Kai paused the game and fixed Cole with a glare. “Alright,” He said. “What’s eating you, Brookstone?”

“Yeah,” Jay piped up, concern all over his freckled face. “You usually do much better than this.”

Cole let out a sigh and shrugged. “Sorry guys,” he mumbled. “Guess I’m just not feeling it today…”

“You haven’t been ‘feeling it’ for the past three days,” Lloyd retorted, also concerned.

Cole shrugged again, putting aside his controller. “Maybe I should turn in early tonight.”

“You have been going to bed 1.57 hours earlier for the past four days on average,” Zane said. “This is not normal for you Cole. Tell us, is there something wrong?”

Cole scowled and turned away from his teammates. “It’s nothing, guys,” he reassured them. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine, Cole,” Jay protested. “You’ve been avoiding us almost all week!”

“You have not eaten much this week either,” Zane added.

“You passed up on dessert last night, and Zane made your favorite, marble cake!” Lloyd exclaimed.

Cole winced, but stayed firm. “Guys, it’s nothing,” he insisted.

“It’s not nothing Cole!” Kai exclaimed, fed up. “You’re not you! Whatever is bugging you, it’s having an impact on you! Just tell us what’s wrong!”

“I’m. Fine,” Cole growled through gritted teeth, standing up. “I’m going to bed,” he declared, storming towards the bedroom.

Kai grabbed the black ninja’s arm, stopping Cole. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell us what’s wrong, Cole!” The red ninja said.

Cole scowled even further. “Leave me alone, Kai,” he hissed.

“Just tell us what’s wrong, Cole!” Kai replied.

“There’s nothing wrong!”
“Yes there is!”
“It’s none of your business!”
“Ah hah! So you admit that there’s something going on!”

A strangled scream of frustration made its way out of the black ninja’s throat. “Just—Just Leave me alone!” He yelled, ripping his arm from Kai’s grasp and racing towards the bedroom.

“Cole, Wait!” Jay exclaimed, jumping up. “Why won’t you tell us what’s wrong? Don’t you trust us?!”

Cole froze. There was a beat of silence, in which nobody moved.

Then, the black ninja turned his head to look back over his shoulder. His grey eyes, usually warm and friendly, had dulled and lost most of their warmth.
“Of course I trust you guys,” he replied, his voice sounding like it was on the edge of cracking. “But this...this is something that you guys can’t understand nor can you help me with it.” He turned his head away. “So just...leave it be.”

The black ninja made his way back to the bedroom. This time, nobody stopped him.

No one noticed the silhouette that was silently watching the exchange. The shadowed figure seemed to bow its head in thought before slowly rising up again.

Then, it silently vanished.
~~~
“You want me to do what?”
“...”
“Look. I get that you want to help him, but is this really the right way to go about it?”
“...”
“...okay, if you’re sure. *sigh* When should I be ready?”
“...”
“Tomorrow night? Okay, I can make it work.”
“...”
“Hey, like I said, I want to help him as much as you do. Besides...this might actually be fun.”
“...”
“Heh, don’t worry. They won’t know what hit them.”
~~~~
The next day was miserable for all of the ninjas. They all had to get up early for training, which put most of them in a bad mood for most of the morning. To make matters worse, Cole barely spoke to anybody, only saying something if it was absolutely necessary.

Things didn’t get much better after training was done for the day. Cole left after picking at his lunch, mumbling something about going for a walk in the woods. He returned two hours later in a somewhat somber mood, not even acknowledging his teammates before locking himself in the bedroom. His teammates tried to get him to open up, but the black ninja stubbornly remained mute.

It was a pretty bad day for everyone, so most of them were excited to hear the alarms go off towards the evening. It was a good excuse to punch something or someone.

“Okay,” Kai said, pulling on his red ninja hood. “Who or what are we dealing with?”

Lloyd tapped on a few keys on the big computer in the bridge. “Looks like it’s just one crook causing a disturbance in downtown.”

“Nice! Looks like this’ll be a piece of cake guys!” Jay chirped.

“Yes, I believe we shall be able to apprehend this villain in no time,” Zane added.

There was a slight pause, in which everyone waited for their leader to start their rallying cry. But a quick glance showed that the black ninja was staring out the window, lost in thought.

“Oi! Snap out of it Brookstone!” Kai exclaimed.

Cole jumped a little, startled. “Huh, what? O-oh, right, let’s uh, do the whip guys,” He mumbled, trying to conjure up some fake cheer with little success.

His teammates exchanged a look, unsure of what to do. Finally, Lloyd sighed and said in a louder voice, “Yeah, c’mon guys! Let’s do the whip!”

“Ninjaaaaaaago!”
~~~~
It didn’t take long for the ninja to spot the crook. Especially considering that he threw a water bomb at Kai.

“Ugh, where is he?” The red ninja had muttered not five minutes before he was attacked. “Lloyd are you sure this is the right place?”

Lloyd scanned his surroundings, frowning as he didn’t immediately spot their adversary. “Yeah, I’m sure this is the right place,” he replied.

“Maybe he got bored and went home,” Jay quipped.

“Come on Jay,” Cole quietly scolded. “Be serious. He’s probably around here somewhere, and if we’re not careful he could catch us off guard.”

The second the words left Cole’s mouth, something small and black sailed past his head and came into contact with Kai’s face. The thing burst and water gushed out, soaking the red ninja.

The red ninja sputtered as he tried to recover from the attack. “What the heck?!” He cried out, wiped the water from his eyes.

“Up there!” Zane called, pointing up the side of a nearby building.

Standing on the roof of the building was a person wearing all black clothing. Around his waist was a belt holding was looked to be an assortment of small bombs. None of the ninja could make out the person’s face, since it was completely covered by a plain black mask.

The crook made a taunting gesture before he turned and ran, jumping into the roof of a nearby building.

“After him!” Cole commanded.

“Way ahead of you,” Kai shot back, already climbing up to the roof of the building before chasing after the crook, Jay not to far behind him.

The crook managed to stay a good distance ahead of the blue and red ninja, but that distance was soon closing. Grabbing a small bomb from his belt, the crook threw it at the ninja. It hit the ground next
to Jay, and burst open, white smoke pouring out and obscuring Jay’s vision for a few moments.

“Jay!” Kai exclaimed, turning his head slightly to make sure that his friend was okay. This allowed the crook to grab another bomb and throw it at the red ninja. A green, viscous slime burst open from the
bomb, covering Kai from the waist down.

“Ewww, What the—!” Kai tried to move his legs only to find out that the slime prevented him from going so.

“Kai!” Jay exclaimed, finally getting out of the smoke cloud he was in.

“Ugh, I’m fine!” Kai said, waving the blue ninja’s concern off. “Just go, he’s getting away!”

Jay nodded once before going back to running after the crook.

The chase went on, the crook trying to keep the blue ninja off of his tail by throwing more smoke bombs, but Jay managed to dodge them. Out of the corner of his eye, Jay could make out two streaks of color also chasing the crook—one green, the other white. Lloyd and Zane. A quick glance behind him saw that Cole was not far behind.

The crook tried to flee, but Lloyd and Zane quickly overtook him, blocking his escape. Jay and Cole helped surround the crook before he could take off in another direction.

“Alright, who ever you are! Drop your weapons and come with us peacefully, or things might get ugly!” Cole commanded.

“We have you surrounded,” Zane added. “It would be logical if you surrender now.”

The crook slowly turned around in a small circle, seemingly assessing the four ninja. He seemed to pause for a moment when he saw Cole but before he could think on it further, the crook suddenly straightened up.

Cole’s eyes widened when he caught sight of something in the crook’s hand. “Guys, watch out!” He called out.

He was a second too late.

The crook threw the bomb at his feet and there was a sudden brilliant flash of light. The four ninja cried out as they were all blinded by the light.

Cole turned around blindly, trying to blink out the dark spots in his vision. “Wh—Where did he go?!” He asked out loud, desperately trying to see.

Suddenly, the black ninja heard the sound of another bomb going off really close to him. A strange smell permeated the air, making Cole cough as he tried to figure out what was wrong. He stumbled, and then fell onto his back, his legs feeling like limp noodles.

Cole felt exhausted. He hadn’t been sleeping well this past week despite going to bed early, and that strangely sweet smell in the air made sleep seem so inviting. Maybe a quick nap won’t hurt, he decided, closing his eyes.

The last thing he felt before he fell asleep was an odd tingling throughout his body.
~~~
Kai was in a really bad mood. First some punk decided to throw a water bomb at his head and the a slime bomb that left his legs trapped for a good five minutes and stained his ninja suit. Thank goodness it didn’t smell…

He was hoping to get a good punch in by the time he had caught up with the rest of his teammates, only to be surprised and slightly disappointed when he saw most of his teammates walking around in a daze and no crook to be seen.

“What happened?!” Kai asked.

“Ugh, He threw a flash bomb at us,” Jay grumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

“Hang on, I think my vision is coming back!” Lloyd said...only to walk right into Zane. “Ow. Never mind.”

Kai sighed. “So I’m assuming none of you saw where he went.

“Negative,” Zane replied. “By the time my optical sensors recalibrated, he was long gone.

Kai groaned in annoyance. “Alright, I guess we’ll have to head back to the Bounty and wait for him to show his face again,” he grumbled. “Whatcha think, Cole?....Cole?”

The red ninja did a quick head count and came up one short. “Hey, where’s Cole?!”

“He was here when the crook threw that bomb at us,” Lloyd said.

“Cole?!” Zane called out, waiting to hear a reply. There was nothing.

“COLE WHERE ARE YOU?!” Jay shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth.

After a beat of silence Kai was about to call out for his leader again when a quiet voice piped up, “I’m here.”

Jay spun around. “Cole, is that you?! Where are you?”

“I’m right here,” Cole called out. Kai frowned. There was something up with Cole’s voice. It sounded...squeaky, like the black ninja had been inhaling helium. Plus, it sounded like Cole was slightly slurring
his words—“right” sounded more like “white”.

“Cole?” The red ninja called out, trying to figure out where the black ninja was. “Can you tell us where you are? I can’t see you!”

There was an annoyed huff. “I’m right behind you, Flamehead,” Cole replied.

Kai turned around...only to see nothing. He looked to his left and his right. Still nothing.

Then he looked down.

Kai felt his jaw drop and his eyes bug out. “Cole?!” He exclaimed.

Cole huffed and glared at him. “Duh,” he replied. “Who else would I be?” He then cocked his head to the side. “Huh. Kai, when did you get so big?”

“Ummm…” Kai scrambled for an answer. “Uh, Cole, I don’t know exactly how to put this but…”

That’s when Jay let out a little shriek. “Cole! You’re tiny!”

Chapter Text

“What?!” Cole exclaimed, looking down at himself.

“Ohmigosh guys, COLE SHRUNK!!” Jay screamed.

“He didn’t shrink Jay,” Kai said, crouching down so that he was eye-level with his now really short leader. “I think...I think he somehow got turned into a kid!”

“WHAT?!” The other four exclaimed.

“Oh, COME ON!” Cole shouted in his squeaky voice. “Not again!”

“How did that happen?!” Jay shouted. “Lloyd, did your dad turn evil again and somehow recreate the Mega Weapon?”

Lloyd scowled and smacked Jay. “No Jay, he didn’t become evil again and he didn’t recreate the Mega Weapon.”

“Well then, how do you explain this?!” Jay exclaimed, picking up Cole and practically shoving him into Lloyd’s face. “This doesn’t happen naturally!”

Cole struggled in Jay’s grip. “Put me down!” He demanded, fixing his blue teammate with a glare.

It didn’t have the effect he wanted.

Jay took one look at Cole’s face—with his deep grey eyes looking too big on his little face—and made a sound that resembled a dying vacuum cleaner. “Awwwww, you’re so adorable!” He squealed, hugging the black ninja.

“Jaaaaaaay, lemme go!” Cole complained, wiggling and squirming.

Kai snickered at the scene before him. He had to admit, it was pretty cute(not that he’d ever say that out loud). Deciding to let the two of them be for now, Kai turned towards his other teammates. “Does anybody have any idea on how this happened?” He asked.

Zane shook his head. “I’ve expanded all of my logical parameters, but nothing is coming up,” he said, holding his head. “This...this does not compute!”

Kai flinched backwards as a spray of sparks came from Zane’s left eye. “Hey, hey, don’t hurt yourself Frosty,” he said. “We’ll figure this out.”

“Maybe my dad or uncle will know what happened and how to fix this,” Lloyd piped up.

“That is a possible solution,” Zane replied.

Kai nodded. “Okay, let’s head back to the Bounty and see if any of them can help us,” He said, turning back towards Jay, who was still hugging Cole. “Jay come on, we’re heading back.”

“Okay!” Jay chirped. “Hang on Cole, I’ll get us down in a jiff!”

“Jay, put me down!” Cole complained. “I can get down by myself!”

“Nuh uh, no way,” Kai immediately denied. “We’re too high up, there’s no way you’re going down by yourself. If you fall, it won’t end well.”

Cole pouted, which drew another “Awwwww” from Jay. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But the minute we’re on the ground, I want Jay to let go of me.”

“That I can deal with,” Kai replied, already starting to climb down. “Come on, let’s go.”

~~~~

Ten minutes later and the ninja ran into a problem.

Jay, very reluctantly, stayed true to his word and set Cole down on the ground so that he could walk. Then, all five of them set out for home.

However, what probably could have taken a few minutes took much longer since they all had wait for Cole to catch up. The black ninja’s much shorter legs meant that he had to take three steps for every one the others took. And more often than not, he fell behind and had to run in order to catch up.

After the fifth time this happened, Kai let out a little huff. “This is getting ridiculous,” he muttered underneath his breath.

“*huff huff* I hate…*huff* being a kid,” Cole panted as he caught to them, breathing heavily. “Stupid short legs…”

Lloyd sighed. “At this rate, it’ll take forever to get back to the Bounty.”

Cole sighed and sat down. “Just...just give me a sec...I’ll be okay…” he said breathlessly.

Zane hummed in thought. “Perhaps it would be easier if one of us were to carry you,” he said.

“Oh, oh! Pick me, pick me!” Jay exclaimed, jumping up and down. “I’ll carry him!”

“No!”

Everyone froze and looked down at their leader. Cole’s cheeks had turned bright pink and his eyes were big with fear and...sadness?

But as quickly as the emotion came, it vanished as Cole ducked his head and stared at the ground. “I don’t want any of you to carry me,” he said as fiercely as he could. “Come on, let’s just get to the ship,
it’s getting late.”

Cole quickly stood up and started walking again, albeit faster than he had before. His four teammates exchanged looks, shared a collective sigh, and followed him.

~~~~

Cole sighed as he was forced to run after his teammates—again. “Can this day get any worse?” He mumbled.

He should have known better than to say that. For not even two seconds later, his foot caught on something and he tripped and fell.

“Ow!” He cried out. He started to sit up, hissing in pain when he saw that he had a few small scratches on his hands. Thankfully, they weren’t bleeding, but they still hurt.

Cole growled in frustration. This is the absolute WORST! He declared internally. Why did this have to happen to me?! Especially now of all times!

A pang of sorrow struck Cole’s heart but he pushed it back, trying to ignore the stinging in his eyes. No, not now! He scolded himself. I won’t cry, I won’t cry!

So caught up in his little battle, Cole didn’t notice that his team had noticed that he had fallen behind...until a pair of arms gently and carefully picked him up.

“Hey!” Cole yelped, snapping out of his trance and kicking at the person who had picked him up. “Let me go!”

“Calm down, Cole,” he heard Kai say reassuringly. “It’s just me.”

Cole didn’t stop his struggling. “Kai, put me down! I can walk!”

“It’s getting late, and you’re obviously getting tired,” Kai replied, turning Cole around so that he could look him in the eye. “So, I’ll give you a choice: we can either do this the easy way and I give you a ride on my back, or we do this the hard way and I carry you home slung over my shoulder. Take your pick.”

Cole scowled at the red ninja, but Kai seemed to be immune to his glare. Defeated, Cole let out a sigh and mumbled, “Fiiiiiiine. But this is a one time thing!”

“I’m glad we reached an agreement,” Kai replied, putting Cole down before turning around so that the young black ninja could climb onto his back. “C’mon, climb on.”

Cole frowned but complied, gently climbing onto Kai’s back and looping his arms around the red ninja’s neck. Kai gently hooked his arms underneath Cole’s legs and stood up. “Ready?” He asked, glancing at Cole over his shoulder.

Cole blushed and buried his face into Kai’s shoulder. “Just go,” he grumbled.

Kai chuckled lightly and started walking, the rest of the team not far behind.

Cole eventually stopped hiding his face in favor of resting his chin on Kai’s shoulder. The red ninja didn’t seem to mind, only giving the ninja-turned-kid a sideways glance and a small, fond smile.

I wonder if he’s done this before with Nya, Cole wondered, adjusting his grip to make sure that he wasn’t accidentally choking Kai. The black ninja couldn’t remember the last time he had someone carry him like this. Probably not since...since…

Cole inhaled slowly, holding his breath for a few seconds before letting it out. Don’t think about it, he told himself. Thinking about it makes you sad, and you can’t worry your friends…

“Cole?”

“Hm?” Cole blinked out of his little trance and saw that Zane was looking at him.

“Are you alright?” The white ninja asked.

Cole opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when a big yawn shook his entire body.

“Awww, someone’s sleepy,” Jay cooed.

“Not tired,” Cole instantly denied, fighting the urge to rub at his eyes. He let out another, smaller yawn.

“It’s okay if you want to take a quick power nap, Cole,” Kai said. “I won’t let you fall.”

Cole shook his head, gently resting his right cheek on Kai’s shoulder. “Not tired,” he repeated, but his eyelids were already drooping.

He heard Kai laugh before the red ninja said, “Take a rest, buddy. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

I know, Cole wanted to say.

But he was already asleep.

~~~~~

Kai sighed in relief as he finally spotted the hull of the Bounty just ahead of him. “Made it,” he mumbled. Turning slightly towards his teammates, the red ninja asked, “Hey guys, is Cole still asleep?”

Lloyd peeked at Kai’s right shoulder and grinned. “Yeah,” he replied. “Poor guy’s drooling all over you.”

Kai grimaced at the thought of having to clean spit off of his ninja gi, but quickly shrugged it off. “Eh, it’s okay. It’s not that big a deal.”

Lloyd blinked. “Wow. That’s not at all how I’d thought you’d react.”

Kai snorted. “Lemme guess: you’d thought I’d freak out and cause a huge fuss, right?”

Lloyd blushed slightly and ran a hand threw his hair. “Maybe…”

Kai smirked. “Perks of having a little sister,” he replied. “You sort of become resistant to that sort of thing. Doesn’t make it any less gross, but you kind of get used to it.”

Lloyd smiled and laughed a little. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” he said. “You look so...I don’t know, natural I guess, carrying Cole like that.”

Kai’s smirk molded itself into a small smile. “I used to carry Nya like this when we were younger,” he explained, carefully adjusting his grip on Cole. The now-young ninja didn’t wake up, instead
murmuring something softly and clutching onto Kai tighter.

“Awwwww, he looks so cute~” Jay softly cooed.

Lloyd rolled his eyes. “I swear, Jay, if you “awwww” one more time, I will drop kick you off the ship.”

Jay pouted. “I can’t help it!” he complained. “I mean, look at him! He’s so cute as a little kid!”

“Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, how old is Cole? Like, right now, I mean,” Kai asked.

“Hmmm,” Zane hummed in thought as he examined a sleeping Cole. “Based on my observations, I would say that Cole is currently between the ages of 5 and 7.”

“Wow, ya think he’s that young?” Jay asked, shocked. “I don’t think we were that young that one time we got turned into kids.”

Zane shrugged. “It is just a guess, I am not entirely sure.”

“Wow,” Jay breathed, his blue eyes sparkling. “Do you know what this means?!”

“That our leader is currently too young to even consider driving?” Kai sarcastically asked.

“No! Technically, this means that I’m finally older than Cole!”

Kai and Zane groaned and Lloyd facepalmed. “That’s it, I’m drop kicking you off the ship.” Lloyd declared.

“What, why?!” Jay protested.

“In case you haven’t noticed, some mysterious figure has turned Cole into a child, we have no idea on how it happened, nor do we know how to reverse it...and you’re excited that you’re actually older than him?!” Lloyd exclaimed.

“Shhh, keep your voice down, you’ll wake Cole up!” Kai hissed, taking a quick peek at said ninja to see if he had woken up. But the ninja-turned-kid was still soundly asleep.

“Sorry,” both Lloyd and Jay mumbled.

Kai shook his head. “Let’s just get inside and see if Sensei knows how to fix this.”

~~~~

They found their teacher meditating in his room. His back was towards them and the scent of incense was strong in the air.

Lloyd entered the room first with everyone else filing in after him. They all lined up in a line and bowed respectfully, though Kai had to forgo clasping his hands together lest he drop his precious cargo.

“Uncle,” Lloyd greeted simply and respectfully.

Sensei Wu didn’t turn around but he did lift his head up slightly. “Nephew,” he replied, not turning around. “Did you apprehend the criminal?”

Lloyd bit his lip nervously. “N-no, he managed to get away,” the young Golden Master admitted quietly.

There was a beat of silence. “I see…”

Zane let out a small cough. “There is a slight problem, Sensei,” he added. “Before our adversary escaped, he managed to...well, um…”

“He somehow managed to turn Cole into a kid!” Jay interrupted.

“Shhh!” Kai shushed him.

Jay’s eyes widened as he remembered that Cole was still sleeping and quickly lowered his voice. “Sorry,” he apologized.

Sensei bowed his head. “I see,” he said simply, smoothly standing up to face his pupils. “And where is he?”

“Kai’s carrying him,” Lloyd answered. “Poor guy fell asleep almost instantly.”

Sensei hummed in thought as he quickly looked over Cole. Noticing everyone else’s worried look, he quickly reassured them, “do not worry my students. Cole’s transformation is reversible. Some
Tomorrow’s Tea should cure him.”

Lloyd’s eyes brightened in recognition. “That’s the same stuff that I used on the Grundle, right?”

Sensei nodded. “Indeed. I shall make a trip to Mystake’s tea shop tomorrow morning. But for now, I believe that you should follow your teammates example and get some rest.”

Kai smiled. “Sounds like a plan,” he replied, already feeling tired from the day.

The others agreed and after saying their goodnights to Sensei, they made their way to their shared bedroom. Lloyd didn’t even bother showering. After quickly changing to pjs via Spinjitzu, he promptly flopped face first into his bed and fell asleep five seconds later.

Jay followed the green ninja’s example, but he chirped out a “goodnight guys!” from his top bunk before he went to sleep. Zane opted to take a quick shower, grabbing his pajamas before heading to the bathroom.

Kai walked up to the bottom bunk that Cole normally slept. He sat down on the edge of the bed and carefully lay the sleeping kid-ninja down, gently unhooking Cole’s arms from around his neck. Cole whimpered in his sleep and unconsciously reached out for Kai. Thinking quickly, the red ninja grabbed one of the pillows from his bed and gave it to Cole. The black ninja’s brow furrowed for a second before relaxing. Cole cuddled with the pillow and sighed happily in his sleep, a little smile just barely visible.

Kai smiled fondly, instantly reminded of his childhood when he had witnessed Nya doing the same thing multiple times. Letting some of his brotherly instincts take over, the red ninja carefully pulled a blanket over Cole, and took a moment to gently sweep Cole’s raven-black bangs out of his face. “Night pal,” he whispered. “Sleep well. Hopefully we can get you back to normal tomorrow.”

Exhausted, Kai barely had enough energy to Spinjitzu into his pjs and climb up to his bunk before his eyes closed and he started to fall asleep.

His last thought before he completely succumbed to sleep was I hope Sensei can get that Tomorrow’s Tea…

Chapter Text

When Cole woke up early the next morning, his first thought was, dang that was a weird dream.

Yawning big and wide, he slowly sat up and stretched, careful that he didn’t accidentally hit the bottom of Jay’s bunk too hard…

...wait a minute…

Cole looked up with a start, realizing that even with his arms fully stretched, he was nowhere near touching Jay’s bunk bed. He stared at his tiny arms and hands before groaning and flopping onto his back.

“Dangit, I wasn’t dreaming,” he mumbled, cringing as he heard his now high-pitched voice. As if my voice always cracking wasn’t bad enough…

Sighing, he looked around the room. Kai and Lloyd were still sleeping and judging from the light snoring above him so was Jay. Zane’s bed was vacant, however. That’s right, it’s his turn to make breakfast, Cole remembered.

Rubbing his stomach in slight hunger, the ninja-turned-kid slid out of his bed and left the bedroom, thankful that the door was already opened. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to open it if it wasn’t.

As he headed towards the kitchen and dining area, Cole couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous about how Zane would react to seeing him. I hope he doesn’t do anything embarrassing, he silently prayed, tugging at his bangs and chewing absently at his lip.

Inside the kitchen, Cole could see that Zane was busy preparing breakfast, darting from the stove to the countertop where he was mixing something in a large bowl.

“Morning Zane,” Cole greeted.

Zane looked up from mixing and smiled as he saw the young black ninja. “Good morning Cole. Did you sleep well?”

Cole nodded. “Mmmhmm.” Chewing a little bit on his lip, he asked, “Whatcha making?”

“Some pancakes and sausage, as well as plenty of fresh fruit,” The nindroid replied, chuckling as he glanced at Cole. “Hungry, I presume?”

“Yup!” Cole replied, biting more at his lip to keep his mind off of the delicious food being prepared.

Zane let out a laugh. “Then I should probably hurry,” he said, his eyes twinkling with mirth. “Before you try and eat the rest of your clothing.”

“Huh?” At that moment, Cole realized that he actually wasn’t chewing on his lip. Instead, he had unconsciously started chewing on the end of his right sleeve. Blushing furiously, the black ninja quickly spat it out and rubbed the wet spot against his pants. “I thought I had kicked that habit a long time ago…” he muttered, glaring at his traitorous arm.

Zane cocked his head curiously. “You used to do that?” he asked.

Cole shuffled his feet nervously. “Y-yeah, I did it a lot when I was younger, especially if I was nervous,” he admitted. “My Dad said it was because I was kinda a nervous eater.”

Zane smiled. “I suppose that would make sense, though I would have never suspected that you were a nervous eater.”

Cole shrugged. “Kinda grew out of it, I guess…” Wishing to change the topic, he quickly asked, “Is breakfast almost ready?”

Zane chuckled. “Almost. Why don’t you take a seat in the dining room while you wait?” he suggested kindly.

Cole nodded in agreement. “Kay,” he replied, walking out the kitchen towards the dining table.

It was here that Cole faced his first challenge: getting in a chair. He was no longer tall enough to simply just pull out the chair and sit down. Frowning, Cole tried climbing onto the seat but he ended up slipping off and falling on his butt. Growling slightly in frustration, he got back up and tried again. This time he was successful and managed to get onto the chair. Pleased with himself, Cole quickly turned himself so that he faced the table...only to come across another problem.

He was too short. Only the top part of his head cleared the table.

“Oh, COME ON!” Cole complained loudly, his voice going to a pitch that seriously made him consider never talking again.

Zane poked his head from the kitchen. “Cole? Is everything alright?”

Cole cringed but quickly answered, “Yeah, I’m just...frustrated. I don’t like being a kid.”

“Ah. Well, fear not my friend. Sensei left this morning to get the Tomorrow’s Tea, so hopefully you will be back to normal soon.”

“Thank goodness,” Cole sighed in relief, slumping in the chair. “I don’t wanna stay like this much longer. I’ll go nuts! Or I’ll die of embarrassment.”

“I do not believe that you will die of embarrassment, as that would be impossible.”

Just as Zane said that, in walked a rather chipper Jay. “What would be impossible?” He asked.

Cole blanched and slowly tried move out of the room.

Zane betrayed him though. “Cole believes that he will die of embarrassment if he is not turned back to normal soon.”

Jay’s eyes brightened at the mention of his now younger teammate. “Cole’s in here? Where?!” He exclaimed looking around, just in time to see a mop of black hair disappear underneath the table.

Cole desperately wanted to find a hole in which to bury himself in until Jay left. But unfortunately, the table would have to do. He was just glad that Zane had put on the long white table cloth so hopefully Jay wouldn’t spot him right away.

“Hmm, that’s odd,” He heard Zane say. “Cole was here a second ago. Perhaps he left to wake up the others?”

Please take the bait, please take the bait, Cole prayed.

“Huh. Guess I must have missed him,” Jay replied. “I’ll just go back to the bedroom and look for him.”

Yes! Cole nearly shouted with joy but managed to keep it to a victorious smile. He could avoid his blue teammate embarrassing him for a little while longer!

Cole hunkered down for a few seconds, waiting for Jay to walk out of the room. Any second now…wait, what was that sound? And why did it sound so close to him?

Suddenly, the edge of the table cloth was lifted up and a freckled face popped up right in front of Cole’s. “Boo!”

Cole was ashamed to admit that he screamed at an unbelievably high pitch.

“What the heck, Jay?!” He demanded, trying to calm down his racing heart. “You—you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Jay was too busy laughing to answer him, which for some odd reason made Cole feel a little hurt. He tried to hide the hurt from his expression, but to his horror his eyes were starting to sting from suppressed tears.

“Cole?!” Suddenly, the kid ninja found himself being dragged from underneath the table and being smushed against something blue. “Omigosh, please don’t cry, I didn’t mean to make you cry! I just wanted to give you a little scare, I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

“I’m not crying!” Cole protested, managing to look up at Jay. “You just...just made me jump a little.” He tried to get out of Jay’s embrace, but when he couldn’t settled for a glare. “You can let me go, I’m fine.”

“Nuh Uh,” Jay replied, hugging Cole tighter. “Not until you accept my apology hug.”

Cole squirmed. “Zaaaaane, come tell Jay to let go of me!” He cried out.

“You heard Jay, Cole,” Zane said back. “Just accept his apology hug.”

“Traitor!” Cole declared, trying to wiggle out of the blue ninja’s grasp. Defeated, the black ninja pouted and quickly wrapped his arms around the blue ninja. “There. Ya happy now?” He grumbled.

Jay beamed. “Very!” He chirped.

“Good,” Cole said. “Now let go of me.”

“Hmmmm…nope!” Jay replied, smoothly standing up with Cole still in his arms.

“JAY!” Cole complained, struggling. “Put me down!”

“Awww, but why?” Jay asked, hugging Cole a little tighter. “I’ve never had a little brother before, and you’re just so adorable as a kid!”

Cole blushed. “I’m not adorable!” he protested, glaring at the blue ninja.

The glare just made Jay “awwwww” and poke Cole on the nose. “You look so cute when you scrunch up your face like that~”

Cole’s face turned an even brighter shade of pink. He (gently) thumped his forehead against Jay’s shoulder. “Someone please save me,” he whined softly.

He heard footsteps coming towards the dining room and he let out a small sigh. Thank the Spinjitzu Master…

That relief quickly faded when he heard a distinctly feminine voice say, “Good morning, Jay—...um, Jay? Why are you holding a little kid?”

Someone please kill me, Cole begged.

Chapter Text

Jay’s face brightened as he realized who had greeted him. “Morning Nya!” He replied. “Oh! And this little guy is Cole!”

“I’m not little!” Cole protested, glaring up at the blue ninja. 

He really had to stop doing that though, since all it did was make Jay’s smile grow even wider and make Nya “awwww”. “You’re so cute, Cole,” the female samurai cooed, stepping over and ruffling Cole’s hair.

Cole crossed his arms and pouted. “I’m not cute,” he denied. “I’m a ninja, I’m awesome.”

Nya laughed and ruffled his hair more. “Whatever you say,” she replied, quickly kissing Jay on the cheek before sitting down at the dining table. 

Jay grinned at his girlfriend, and Cole used the distraction to wiggle out of the blue ninja’s arms. He quickly made his way back to his chair, and mentally cheered when he managed to get in it on the first try. 

Then he remembered that he was still too short to even see over the table. 

“Crud,” he muttered, slumping in his chair.

Nya laughed. “Having a little trouble down there, Cole?” she teased lightly.

Cole scowled. “It’s not my fault!” he said. “This chair’s too short!”

“You sure it’s the chair who’s too short?” Jay joined in on the teasing. 

“You can’t talk, Jay! You’re the shortest out of all of us!” Cole shot back. Normally, this was a very true fact. While Cole wasn’t quite as tall as Zane or Kai, he was still a few inches taller than the blue ninja...normally. 

“Not anymore~” Jay sing-songed, looking down at his leader, who just barely was level with his waist.

Cole pouted and crossed his arms. “Just wait until I get older again, Zaptrap,” he threatened. “Then you’ll really be in for it.”

“I’m quivering with fear,” Jay replied cheekily, ruffling Cole’s hair. “I’ll be right back, I’ll get something to help you.”

The blue ninja left and came back a few minutes later, holding three couch cushions in his arms. “Here Cole, try sitting on these,” He said.

Cole got out of the chair and grabbed on of the cushions from Jay. He placed it on the seat of his chair and scrambled onto it. The cushion helped some, but he still couldn’t see over the table.

“I think you might need another one, Cole,” Nya suggested, giggling slightly at Cole’s obvious frustration.

Cole sighed and held out his hands. “Jay, gimme another pillow.” A brief pause. “Please.”

“No problem,” Jay chirped, giving Cole another cushion. Cole got off his chair and stacked the pillow on top of the other one. He tried to get on the chair, but accidentally slipped and fell off. Glaring at the chair, Cole tried again only to achieve the same result.

Nya covered her mouth with her hands to hide her smile. Jay laughed and teasingly asked, “having a little trouble there, Cole?”

Cole growled as he failed to get on the chair for a third time. “This chair’s being mean!” He declared, crossing his arms and lightly kicking at the chair. “Stupid chair…”

Jay laughed a little more before gently picking up the kid ninja and seating him in the chair before Cole could protest. Cole’s cheeks flared pink, but he managed to mumble out a “Thank you”.

Lloyd walked into the dining room in that moment, wearing a green t-shirt and grey sweatpants. His golden-blond hair was messier than usual and…

“Lloyd,” Cole said, his eyes wide. “Your hair’s on fire.”

Instead of panicking, Lloyd scowled and batted out the small fire that threatened to grow. “Remind me to never try to wake up Kai,” he grumbled, taking a seat opposite of Jay, who was sitting in between Cole and Nya.

“Oooooh, yeah. That’s a bad idea,” Nya replied, wincing.

“Now ya tell me,” Lloyd groaned, banging his head on the table. 

“How many times do I have to say ‘I’m sorry’!” Kai exclaimed, storming into the room and glaring at the green ninja.

“Until I decide to forgive you,” Lloyd replied, rubbing a hand through his hair and cringing as he pulled out some that was burnt. “Did ya have throw a fireball at my head?”

“I thought you were an enemy!” Kai threw up his hands in frustration. “I thought you were trying kidnap me or kill me!”

“Keep telling yourself that, man.”

At that moment, Zane walked in, both arms laden with pancakes, bacon, and fresh fruit. “Breakfast is served,” he stated, placing the plates on the table.

“Finally! I’m starving!” Jay exclaimed, grabbing a plate with blueberry pancakes and piling them into his own plate.

Everyone soon followed his example. After selecting three chocolate chip pancakes, Cole reached for the bacon and some fresh banana slices. Suddenly, the ninja-turned-kid was struck by an idea. It was really childish, but a part of him was all for it. 

Before he could stop himself, Cole had taken three banana slices and placed them on top of one of his pancakes, making it so that they formed two eyes and a nose. A slice of bacon soon created a smile and Cole found himself smiling back at his breakfast. 

“Awwww, look at that! Cole made a face in his pancakes!” Jay exclaimed, smirking.

Cole blushed and instantly wished that he was his normal age and size so that he could pummel the blue ninja. 

Thankfully, Kai came to his rescue. “Heh, not bad Brookstone,” he commented. “It just needs one little thing.”

The red ninja reached over, grabbed a bottle of maple syrup and drizzled some over Cole’s pancakes, making it look like the pancake had hair. “There we go,” Kai said, giving Cole a grin. “Now it looks perfect.” 

Cole stared at the red ninja slack jawed for a few seconds. It was sort of out-of-character for Kai, who rarely showed off this side of him for fear of “ruining his image”. But the black ninja had to admit, it was kinda...nice. A little odd, but nice.

But he could think about the sudden appearance of Kai’s nicer side later. Right now, there was a stack of smiling pancakes with his name on it.

Chapter Text

“So guys,” Jay asked, leaning back in his chair and absently rubbing his full stomach. “What should we do until Sensei comes back with the Tomorrow’s Tea?”

Almost everyone had eaten their fill, and were in various poses of relaxation. The only one who was still eating was Cole, who was finishing his third stack of pancakes, his large appetite returning and apparently transferring to suit his smaller form.

“Ah tho we err s’po t’ tray,” Cole attempted to speak through a mouthful of pancakes, with limited success. 

“Finish chewing your food before speaking Cole,” Zane gently scolded.

Cole quickly swallowed before repeating his statement. “I thought we were supposed to train…”

Kai snorted. “I think you’re a little bit too young to be training, Brookstone,” he replied.

“Yeah!” Jay piped up. “Remember the last time we were turned into kids? Kai tried to do Spinjitzu but ended up being out of control. And you’re even younger than he was!”

Cole scowled. “Just because I can’t do Spinjitzu doesn’t mean that I can’t train!” He insisted. “I can just train with my weapon!”

“Cole, you may be stronger than an average guy, but there’s no way that you can even lift up your scythe. Much less fight with it,” Kai said. “That thing has to be, like, three times your size.”

“Plus, you are much too young to be training with real weapons,” Zane added. “You could hurt yourself.”

“No I wouldn’t!” Cole protested. “I’m not Lloyd when he was younger!”

“Hey!” Lloyd cried indignantly. “I wasn’t that bad!”

“Yes you were,” Jay, Kai, and Cole groaned in unison.

“That may be,” Zane stated, trying to hide a smile. “But my point still stands. You are younger than Lloyd was back then and it would be unwise to let you train with a weapon.”

“That’s not fair!” Cole shouted, glaring at his older teammate.

“Zane’s right, Cole,” Kai said. “You’re too young to train with us.”

Cole threw his fork down on his plate. “This is so unfair!” He exclaimed, quickly slipping out of his chair and stomping out of the room. “Just because I’m currently a kid doesn’t mean that I can’t be a ninja! I’m gonna take a walk in the woods until you guys stop being such jerks!”

“Cole, come back!” Kai cried out. He jumped out of his chair and tried to grab the annoyed black ninja. But Cole saw the grab coming and dodged it, taking off faster than most of them thought possible.

“Cole!” Kai exclaimed, chasing after his now-younger teammate, everyone else soon following.

Despite all of the ninja’s efforts, Cole proved to be rather tricky to catch. Five minutes after the chase had started, they had lost sight of him.

~~~

Once Cole was certain that he wasn’t being followed, he allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. Admittedly, storming off like that was kind of childish, but Cole was still kind of upset that he wasn’t allowed to train with his team just because he had been turned into a child.

“It’s not fair,” he muttered as he walked, absently kicking at a pinecone. “Just because I’m currently a kid doesn’t mean that I am one. I’m still the leader, I’m still the second most mature person and...aaaaand I’m talking to myself.”

Cole shook his head and sighed. He wasn’t here to be thinking about the jerks that was his team. He was here to relax and take in the wonderful world that was a forest.

And, not that he would admit it, to blow off some steam before returning to the Bounty.

For the first few minutes, Cole simply just wandered through the forest, opening up all of his sense to the wilderness around him. He inhaled the fresh scent that came with being in the woods and listened to the chattering of critters in the trees and the singing of birds in the air. He already feel himself become calmer the longer he stayed in the forest.

Eventually, Cole spotted a nice tall oak tree that was practically begging to be climbed. Feeling that little giddy feeling that he always got whenever he saw a perfect climbing tree, Cole jogged over to the tree. However, he was very dismayed when he discovered that most of the branches were way too high up for him to grab. He couldn’t reach even the lowest branch, not even when he jumped with all of his might. A quick look around and Cole saw that most of the trees in the forest were similar--their branches were too high up for him.

Cole’s face fell with disappointment as he realized this, then scrunched up in anger. “This isn’t FAIR!” he cried out, kicking at the tree he was trying to climb. He howled when his big toe throbbed with pain and he hopped up and down until the pain faded. The ninja-turned-kid sat down hard and pulled his knees close to his chest, burying his face in his lap.

“This isn’t fair…” he whimpered, trying to stop the tears gathered in his eyes from falling. He mostly succeeded, but a few stray tears still made their way down his cheeks.

Cole stood up and slowly started walking, no longer finding comfort in the nature that surrounded him.

He wandered aimlessly for a good fifteen minutes, lost in his somber thoughts, only to be startled out of his funk when his foot slipped out from under him and he ended up falling.

Cole tumbled down a small hill and came to a rest near the banks of a creek, his left foot actually dipping into the cold waters of the brook before Cole pulled it out.

Cole groaned as he stood up, wincing when he noticed that most of his ninja suit was now covered in dirt and mud. He could even feel it on his face and in his hair. As if my misery wasn’t already bad enough, he thought, kicking at a rock.

The rock skipped off of the waters of the creek once before sinking. 

Somewhat impressed, Cole bent down and searched the bank for another rock. He found one that was almost as big as his hand and really flat. Tossing it in his hand for a second, Cole drew his arm back before whipping it forward. The stone flew out of his hand and skipped three times before it lost momentum and sank underneath the water. 

Cole felt a smile tug at his lips. It wasn’t climbing a tree, but it was still fun.

The young black ninja dropped to his knees, not caring that his pants were getting more mud on them. He needed more rocks to skip.

Chapter Text

Skip, skip, skip, skipskipskip splash!

“Hah! New record!” Cole exclaimed, jumping up in excitement.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been skipping rocks in the creek, but he didn’t really care. He was having a blast, trying to see how many times he could skip a stone across the surface of the water before it sank. It was surprisingly fun.

But now, he was having a hard time finding good skipping rocks. Plus, the knees of his pants were covered with wet mud. 

I should probably head back, Cole thought, staring at the calm waters of the brook. The others are probably worried about me.

The thought of his teammates, however, sent a small surge of anger through Cole. Well, they kind of deserve it for treating me like a kid!

Almost the instant he had that thought, Cole regretted thinking it. He really couldn’t blame his friends, heck if this had happened to one of the others he’d probably act the same way. 

“Ugh,” he groaned, rubbing at his temples. “Being a kid is making me act like one…”

The sound of a bird calling out made the ninja-turned kid look up. Scanning the tops of the trees, Cole soon spotted the bird that had made the sound...a very familiar bird.

Cole scowled at the black falcon that stared back at him with golden eyes. “If Zane sent you, tell him to mind his own business,” he said, glaring at the bird.

Zane’s falcon simply cocked its head to the side, as if it was confused.

“Don’t give me that look,” Cole replied. “I know you can understand me. You can understand Zane just fine.”

The falcon just blinked at him.

Cole rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he grumbled, turning around and walking away from the robotic bird. “Just leave me alone.”

He walked maybe five feet away before the falcon called out and flew near him, brushing his nose with its wing before perching in a little tree.

Cole let out a little sneeze as the falcon’s wing tickled his nose. “I said “leave me alone”, not “come follow me”,” he complained, glaring at the bird. “Go on, shoo! Take a hike!”

He waved his arms around, hoping to maybe to convince the bird to fly away. But the falcon just tilted its head to side and let out a soft caw! 

Cole thought it looked amused at his actions. 

That made him dislike it even more.

“I said leave. Me. Alone!” He growled, turning around and storming off in the opposite direction. 

It was silent for a few moments and Cole sighed as he believed that the falcon had finally gotten the hint and had flown off. 

Then the robotic bird flew in front of him, and Cole felt his agitation nearly hit the roof.

“AGH! Why can’t you take a hint, ya stupid bird!” he yelled, glaring at the falcon.

The falcon just looked at him. Cole was tempted to find the nearest object and throw it at the bird.

Then, the falcon did something that surprised the young black ninja.

The robotic bird slowly started circling around him before swooping right at him. Acting on an instinct, Cole quickly threw up his arm, allowing the falcon to land gently on his shoulder. 

The falcon made an odd cooing noise before gently pulling at Cole’s bangs with its beak. Cole couldn’t help but giggle. “Okay, okay, I get it, you’re sorry,” he laughed, gently petting the falcon on its head. “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

The falcon seemed pleased with Cole’s apology—that, or it liked the fact that Cole was petting it. It let Cole scratch its head for a few more seconds before it took off into the sky, calling out to the young black ninja.

Cole let out a little laugh. “Okay, I’ll follow you,” he called back, jogging in the same direction as the falcon. “Just don’t tell Zane where you’re taking me.”

~~~~

Zane’s falcon kept a nice pace that Cole was able to follow as it guided him out of the forest. Cole instantly knew that he was heading in the direction of the Bounty but he allowed the falcon to lead him to the ship anyways. As fun as playing in the woods had been, he was getting kinda tired and really wanted a hot shower to get rid of all the mud.

And maybe some lunch. He was starving.

When the little ninja could see the ship, he slowed down and called out to the falcon, “Hey, I know that you are Zane’s, but can you please not tell him and the others that I’m back yet? I kinda want some more time to myself.” And so that none of them can embarrass me more, went unsaid but the falcon seemed to understand him since it flew back into the woods.

No one was training on the deck so sneaking into the ship was easy at first for Cole. He crept through the entrance and snuck his way towards the bedroom. It was fairly easy until he got to the rec room. Zane was sitting on the couch reading a book, though thankfully his back was towards Cole. All Cole had to do was sneak past him and he’d be home free.

Cole quietly and carefully tip-toed his way across the room, taking peeks at his older teammate to make sure that he hadn’t been seen or heard. But Zane kept his focus on his book, the only audible sound being him turning a page. 

Almost there, almost there, Cole mentally chanted. Just a few more steps and…

“And where, do you think you’re going?” Zane suddenly asked, not even turning around.

“AH!” Cole shrieked, jumping in the air. “Zane, what the—how’d you—DON’T DO THAT!”

Zane’s lips twitched but he managed to hold back a smile. “I apologize for frightening you, Cole,” he said, standing up and setting his book down. “But you should know better than to try and sneak by me. Especially after what happened this morning.”

“Not my fault you guys were being jerks,” Cole grouched before wincing and adding, “Though...I’m sorry for running away like that.”

Zane smiled. “Apology accepted,” he replied. “And I am sorry for making feel upset enough to run away this morning.”

Cole smiled back. “It’s okay.” He then frowned as a thought came to him. “Though you didn’t have to send the falcon after me. I knew my way back.”

Zane’s smile grew slightly sheepish. “Actually, my feathered friend found you by accident,” he admitted. “Though I did use my Falcon Vision to ensure that you were safe.”

“Oh,” Cole replied, now feeling kind of bad for yelling at the falcon. 

Zane chuckled at the guilty expression on Cole’s face. “Do not feel bad, it would be easy to assume that I sent the falcon.”

Cole smiled and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head...only to cringe as he felt the dried mud in his hair. “Er, I should probably shower and get all of this mud off,” he said. Suddenly, his stomach let out a low rumble that made Zane laugh and Cole blush. “And maybe eat something…” the black ninja muttered.

Zane shook his head in amusement. “There are some sandwiches in the kitchen,” he said, gesturing for Cole to follow him. “Come, I will help you get lunch.”

Cole grinned at the prospect of getting food in his empty stomach. “Sounds like a plan,” he cheered, walking after Zane. Excited and feeling the slightest bit childish, the little ninja quickly sprinted in the direction of the kitchen. “Race ya to the kitchen!”

He heard Zane laugh and start to run after him. “You cannot win this race, my friend!” the Ninja of Ice declared. 

He was proven wrong a minute later when Cole got to the kitchen first.

Though Cole had the sneaking suspicion that Zane let him win.

Chapter Text

Despite what some people may think, Cole was not obsessed with food. 

He could, however, appreciate how much better he felt when his stomach was full.

Cole sighed contently as he leaned back a little in his chair. Two halves of a PB&J sandwich, one cup of juice, and some apple slices were enough to satisfy his hunger. All I need now is a hot shower and I’ll be golden, he thought.

At that moment, Zane walked into the dining hall. After helping make Cole some lunch and explaining that the others had gone out on a grocery run before Cole had gotten back home, the white ninja had left the room. What he was doing, Cole had no idea. He was a little too preoccupied with filling his empty stomach to ask. 

“Where’d you go?” he decided to ask now.

“I drew a bath for you while you were eating,” Zane explained, smiling at his now-much-younger-than-normal leader. 

Cole felt his cheeks heat up in a light blush. “You didn’t have to do that,” he said, getting out of his chair. “I could have just taken a shower…”

“I figured that, considering your shorter stature, it would be much easier for you if you were to bathe in the tub than stand up and take a shower,” Zane replied. “Plus, I read that it is advisable to wait until a child is at least eight years old before allowing them to bathe alone.”

Cole blushed even further. “ZANE! Nuh uh! Not happening! Just because I’m five years old physically does not mean that I need someone watching me while I bath. That’s--that’s just so creepy !” he protested, shuddering at the thought.

Zane’s brow furrowed slightly in worry. “But if something were to happen to you?” he asked.

“What could happen to me? I’m just taking a bath!”

“You could slip underneath the water and drown; you could slip and hit your head and seriously hurt yourself; you could slip and hit your head and drown; you could--!”

“Okay, okay!” Cole quickly interjected, seeing that Zane was getting more and more worked up the further he listed the dangers of him bathing without supervision. “A lot of things could happen.” The little ninja bit his lip as he tried to think of a solution. “How about...you wait outside the door while I take a bath? That way, if something happens--not saying that anything would, just being hypothetical here-- if something were to happen, you would be really close by and you can hear if something is wrong. That sound good?”

Zane frowned but nodded his head. “Very well,” he said. 

Cole breathed a sigh of relief. “Great, glad we worked that out,” he replied, walking towards the bathroom. “Come on, let’s go.”

~~~~

When Cole stepped into the bathroom, he was stunned by the amount of effort Zane put into making sure that he had a proper bath. 

The white ninja had filled the tub with warm water, complete with plenty of foamy bubbles. Cole’s shampoo and conditioner had been thoughtfully placed so that Cole could reach them easily and a clean washcloth and towel were nearby. 

“Wow,” Cole breathed. 

“Is this to your liking?” Zane asked.

“Dude, you kidding me? This is awesome!” Cole exclaimed, a giddy smile creeping into his face. “I haven’t had a bubble bath since...gosh, I can’t even remember!”

Zane smiled at Cole’s obvious excitement. “I am glad that you approve.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cole said, gently shoving the white ninja towards the door. “Now shoo, so I can get in.”

“Alright, alright,” Zane chuckled, stepping outside and closing the door. “Just hand me your dirty clothes when you take them off so that I can wash them. And remember—!”

“—you’re right outside if I need anything, I know, I know,” Cole groaned, sticking out his tongue. “Now shoo!”

Zane laughed one more time before fully closing the door, giving Cole some much needed privacy. Eager to get in the tub, Cole started ripping off his clothes.

...or, at least, he tried to. 

The belts that held up the pants of his ninja gi were tied in small intricate knots that were hard for Cole to undo. He would worry at one knot for two minutes before it finally came undone, only to have to turn around and repeat the process with another one. He felt relieved when he finally managed to loosen his pants enough to kick them off...only to groan as he remembered that he still had to undo the belts and straps on his shirt.

“You know what?? Forget this,” Cole grumbled, foregoing undoing the knots on his top. Instead, he grabbed the bottom of his ninja gi top and started to pull it up and over his head. He knew that he was practically asking to get more dirt and mud on his face and his hair, but he was tired and really wanted a bath. 

He really should have loosened the belts, though.

Because just as Cole pulled his shirt up just enough so that it covered his face and most of his head, it got stuck.

Cole’s stomach dropped. “Oh no,” he breathed. “Nononono..."

He tried to pull the shirt off, but his arms were in an awkward position, making this nearly impossible for the little ninja. 

“Come on,” he growled softly, twisting this way and that trying to get the shirt off. “Get off, get off!”

He heard a knock on the door. “Cole? Is everything alright?” Zane’s voice came through the door. “Do you require assistance?”

Cole’s cheeks heated up at the mere thought of Zane finding him in this predicament. “No! I-I’m okay!” he called back, walking in what he believed was the direction of the door. “I-I just--!”

At that moment, Cole felt his feet get tangled up in what was probably his discarded pants. With a small yelp, the black ninja tripped and fell, landing on his back.

“Cole?!” Zane exclaimed, and Cole felt himself blush furiously as he heard the door open and Zane step inside. “Are you alright?”

No, I’m dying from embarrassment, Cole thought, struggling even more to get himself unstuck. “Y-yeah,” he said instead. “My shirt is just giving me some trouble.”

“Oh,” he heard Zane sigh in relief. “Do you need help getting it off?”

“No!” Cole instantly shouted. “I can get it off myself! I just gotta…”

Cole grunted as he tried once again to get the stubborn shirt off, but this was difficult since he was still on his back. The little ninja tried to sit up, but his now-child body lacked the strength to sit up with his arms trapped. Each try resulted in him being just shy of sitting up, only to lose strength at the last second and land on his back again.

Cole swore he heard Zane snicker. “Are you certain that you do not need help?” the nindroid asked, a tinge of laughter coloring his voice.

“Yes!” Cole insisted. “I can do this, you don’t need to help me!”

Giving up on trying to sit up, Cole instead rolled onto his stomach and drew his knees in close before pushing off the ground. He managed to get into a kneeling position, which made him give off a little cheer. “Hah, finally! Now I can get it off!” 

He twisted and tugged at his shirt, trying to pull it off, but the stubborn shirt stayed stuck, which made Cole very frustrated. “Why. Won’t. You. Come. Off?!” he growled, emphasizing each word with a fierce tug. 

The shirt remained stuck.

Cole groaned and sat down heavily. “Okay, I think I might need some help…” he mumbled, feeling like his entire face was burning up.

Zane laughed, which made Cole’s face burn even more. “Alright, here I come,” the white ninja said.

Cole impatiently waited for his older teammate to tug off the shirt...only to yelp and jump when he felt something cold touch his sides. “Zane, your hands are freezing! ” he complained.

“Sorry,” Zane apologized. “I probably should have warned you.”

“Gee, ya think?” Cole muttered. He flinched when he felt Zane’s hands ghost by his sides again, but he managed not to jump. Zane’s hands helped make the opening at the bottom of Cole’s top big enough that the little ninja was finally able to slip out.

Cole sighed in relief. “Whew, finally got that stupid thing off.”

“It might have been easier to get off if you had loosened up the straps,” Zane commented, picking up Cole’s gi off the floor.

“Yeah, maybe…” At that moment, Cole remembered that Zane was still in the bathroom...and Cole was only wearing a pair of underwear.

The dying blush on Cole’s cheeks returned with a vengeance. “Okay, thank you for your help but can you please get out?!” The black ninja squeaked, pushing Zane towards the door.

“You are certain that you do not require any more assistance?” Zane asked, even as he allowed himself to be shoved towards the door. 

“Yes! I’m fine! Now please get out!” Cole exclaimed, shoving Zane outside the the bathroom and slamming the door. “By the First Spinjitzu Master, why me?” Cole moaned, his face burning up again.

He desperately hoped that Sensei could get that Tomorrow’s Tea soon. He didn’t think he could stand to be any more embarrassed.

Cole let out a huge sigh and turned his attention back to the tub. He could worry about being embarrassed later. Right now, he really wanted to feel relaxed and get all of this mud off.

Chapter Text

Cole decided that when he got older, he should take more bubble baths. Because this was awesome.

Cole sighed in content as he relaxed in the tub, loving how good it felt to relax in the warm water. Considering that he was living with, and therefore sharing a bathroom with four other people, he rarely got the chance to take as long as he liked getting clean(Kai always got grumpy whenever someone took a long time in the bathroom, despite the fact that he took forever just to get his hair right). 

The little ninja considered getting out, since he had finished scrubbing the mud off of his body and had washed his hair (though he was unsure of how successful he was—it was surprisingly hard to wash his hair now…), but decided that he could stay in for a little bit longer. Because dang, taking a bubble bath was awesome…

Cole looked up as he heard a knock on the door. “Cole? May I enter?” he heard Zane ask. 

Cole bit his lip but answered, “Yeah, sure. Just as long as you promise not to look!”

Zane chuckled lightly as he entered the bathroom, a small bundle of clothes in his hands. “Do not worry, my friend,” the nindroid reassured Cole. “I am just dropping off some clean clothing for you to put on when you are done.”

Cole waded through the water to the edge of the tub, making sure that only his head and the top of his shoulders breached the surface. “Is my gi already clean?” he asked, trying to take a peek at the clothes.

Zane shook his head. “It is still being washed, so I borrowed some of Lloyd’s old clothing from before he became older. They may be a little large on you, but I figured it would fit better than anything of yours,” he explained.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Cole admitted. “Thanks Zane. I’ll be out in a minute, so I’ll be able to put them on.”

Zane peeked at Cole over his shoulder, and frowned slightly. “Have you washed your hair yet, Cole?”

Cole squeaked and hid behind some bubbles. “Zaaaaane, you promised not to look!” he complained.

“My apologies, I didn't mean to look. Though, you have not answered my question.”

“Yes, I did wash my hair! Can you please stop looking now?!”

“Cole, your hair is still dirty.”

“It is?! Awwwww, man!” Cole groaned. “Can’t I just leave it? I don’t feel like trying to wash it again, it was hard enough the first time!”

“I do not think that would be a good idea, Cole,” Zane chided gently. 

Cole groaned again. “I don’t wanna wash it again though…” he whined softly. 

Zane hummed. “If you want,” he suggested. “I could probably wash your hair for you.”

Cole felt his cheeks heat up. As if him having to help me take off my shirt wasn’t bad enough! “N-no! I can do it myself!” he immediately said, already reaching for the shampoo, only for his hand to tip it over and make it fall on the floor.

“Are you certain?” Zane asked, walking over and picking up the shampoo bottle. “You did mention that you had a hard time washing it before.”

Cole sank into the water until it was to his chin, trying to will away his blush. “I can do it,” he muttered sulkily.

“Well, think of it this way: you can either try to do it again and possibly not get out all of the dirt and have to do it a third time. Or, you can allow me to wash it for you, therefore ensuring that it gets clean,” the nindroid said before shrugging. “Though, it is your choice.”

Cole groaned. “I hate when you sound logical,” he grumbled, sinking even further underneath the water. 

Zane cocked his head to the side. “Does that mean you wish for me to assist you?”

Cole didn’t say anything, but he did slowly nod his head. Why does stuff like this keep happening to me? He internally moaned. I swear when I get big again, I’m going to find whoever did this to me and make him suffer the same fate. Let’s see how he likes being treated like a kid!

So immersed in his plot for revenge, Cole didn’t realize that Zane had kneeled by the tub and was ready to begin until the nindroid said to him, “I need to rewet your hair, Cole. Can you please close your eyes?”

Cole pouted slightly but complied, squeezing his eyes shut. He shivered when he felt Zane pour water over his head, causing Cole’s bangs to stick to his forehead. The little ninja shook his head a little and wiped the water from his eyes.

He heard Zane squirt some shampoo into his hand before the nindroid gently placed his hands on top of Cole’s head. “I am about to start,” Zane told Cole.

Cole took in a deep breath and let out slowly. “Okay,” he mumbled softly before squeezing his eyes shut. 

He felt Zane’s fingers begin to move and bit his lip, feeling more embarrassed and awkward than he ever thought was possible. But slowly, as Zane carefully and gently worked the shampoo into Cole’s hair, the little ninja found himself relaxing and unconsciously leaning into the touch. The unexpected side effect of having his scalp massaged while Zane washed his hair made Cole feel...secure, in a way. And it felt nice. Cole let out a little sigh and closed his eyes, relishing in the feeling.

He heard Zane laugh a little. “You know,” the white ninja said quietly. “It is rather odd seeing you this small.”

“‘m not little,” Cole protested, though there was no heat behind his words. 

“I am inclined to disagree, my friend.”

“It’s not my fault, blame genetics. Plus I haven’t hit my growth spurt yet.”

“Did you ever hit your growth spurt?”

“Hey!” Cole protested, turning to face Zane. “Yes I did, I’m taller than Jay!”

“Need I remind you that Jay is the shortest person on our team.”

“....” Cole splashed Zane. “You suck.”

“Am I wrong though?” Zane laughed as he wiped the water from his face. “Okay, I need to rinse out your hair. Close your eyes.”

Cole dutifully shut his eyes while Zane rinsed the shampoo from his hair. “You’re pretty good at this,” the little ninja said.

“Thank you,” Zane replied.

There was a small silence before Cole abruptly asked, “Were you built tall Zane?”

Zane blinked. “Pardon?”

“Like, you’re what, 6’1? Were you built like that, or as you got older, did your dad built you up taller?”

Zane froze(no pun intended), and Cole instantly regretted asking the question. Idiot, his dad literally just died last month! Why did you bring it up?! He berated himself. 

“I-I’m sorry Zane,” Cole quickly apologized. “I-I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry.”

Zane’s expression was unreadable, and Cole quickly turned his head away, sure that he had upset and possibly even angered the white ninja. 

But after a few seconds, Zane let out a little sigh and quietly said, “it is alright Cole. You were just curious.”

“I still shouldn’t have asked…” Cole mumbled. 

It was silent for a few more seconds and just as Cole considered apologizing again, Zane started talking. “To answer your question Cole, I was built this tall. My...my father thought it would be better like that.”

Cole peeked at Zane over his shoulder. “Really?”

Zane smiled sadly. “Yes,” he replied, chuckling slightly. “Though when I was first built, it was hard adjusting to my height. I tripped constantly.”

Cole snickered slightly at the image. “Over what?” he laughed.

“My feet, mostly.” Zane shook his head. “I still do not understand how I did that.”

At that, Cole burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it, the idea of the ice ninja--who was normally rather graceful and steady on his feet--constantly falling because he tripped on his feet was too hilarious.

To Zane’s credit, he let Cole have his giggle fit, only once saying, “It wasn’t that funny…” with a smile on his face. 

Finally, Cole managed to calm down a little. “Hehehe, I...I’m good,” he wheezed slightly, still laughing a little bit. “S-sorry.”

“Do not apologize,” Zane replied. “My father found it funny too. He would always make sure that I hadn’t hurt myself, but the minute he thought I wasn’t looking, he would start to laugh.” Zane let out a huff and shook his head, more than a hint of sorrow and nostalgia in his expression. 

Cole frowned. “...you must miss him a lot…” he said softly.

“...yes,” Zane replied, turning his gaze away. “I do.” The nindroid shut his eyes for a few seconds before sighing and reopening them. “It is hard, but I’ve been trying to….focus on the memories I have of him with me, instead of focusing on how he is...not currently with me.”

Cole felt his heart go out to his teammate...along with a small pang of jealousy. He quickly shoved that jealousy down before saying, “You know something Zane? You’re pretty strong.”

Zane blinked down at his little leader. “I am? In what way?”

“You just...you just are!” Cole tried to explain. “I...I don’t know how to explain it. I guess...some people might still be locked in their rooms grieving about someone they’ve lost and here you are, really missing your dad but still...I dunno, living. Still going on being you . I  just…” Cole glanced away, feeling slightly embarrassed from rambling. “I just think that you’re really strong…” he mumbled.

The Ninja of Ice let his lips curl into a smile, and he gently squeezed Cole’s shoulder. “Thank you, Cole.”

Cole looked over his shoulder and grinned. “No problem, Frosty,” he replied.

Zane chuckled and shook his head. “Alright, well your hair is clean. I believe that it is time for you to come out of the tub.”

“Awwww, but I don’t wanna~” Cole whined, pouting slightly. Admittedly, his fingers were becoming wrinkled from being in the water for so long, but the little ninja still wanted to relax in the bathtub a little longer.

“Cole, I really think that it’s time to come out.” Zane gently insisted.

Cole, in a bout of childish defiance, stuck his tongue out at his older teammate. “Make me.”

Zane quirked an eyebrow but smirked. “Very well, if you wish,” the white ninja replied.

Cole squeaked and moved to the side as Zane reached for him. “Zane, what the heck?” He sputtered.

“You will not get out on your own, therefore I decided to assist you.”

“I can get out! Just get out of the bathroom and I’ll come out!”

“And if I leave, will you be out right away?”

“...”

“Precisely why I decided to assist you.”

“You’ll never take me alive!” Cole declared, dodging another one of Zane’s grabs and splashing the white ninja for good measure.

“Cole, just come out.” 

“Never!”

Despite the tub being rather small, Cole managed to evade his enemy(for that was what Zane had become in his eyes—an enemy who was trying to deprive him of his relaxation) for quite awhile. Zane was slowly becoming more drenched by Cole splashing at him, so he should hopefully give up soon.

Ducking underneath Zane’s latest attempt to apprehend him, Cole took in a deep breath before closing his eyes and diving underneath the water. Now to wait for him to leave, he thought, feeling triumphant for evading his older teammate.

Cole waited for what felt like forever before he finally came up for air. Wiping the water from his eyes, the black ninja quickly scanned the bathroom for his enemy, making sure that only his head was above the water. He let out a little cheer when he saw no sign of Zane.

“Ha, ha! Take that Zane!” Cole quietly shouted, sitting up fully.

Suddenly, the little ninja felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. Before he could react, however, something white and fluffy was wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides and covering his face. “Gotcha,” he heard Zane laugh.

Cole squirmed. “Cheater!” He yelped, trying to wiggle free from his captor. 

Zane laughed and carefully lifted Cole up and out of the tub. “There were no rules set, so how could I have cheated?” He teased, making sure that the towel he had used to grab his teammate was secure.

Cole pouted. “You’re mean, Zane.”

The nindroid chuckled as he set about drying off Cole. The little ninja protested this vehemently, squirming and wiggling while complaining loudly. But Zane kept a firm but gentle grasp on the black ninja, so Cole finally admitted defeat and waited for Zane to be done.

He didn’t have to wait long. After vigorously rubbing the top of Cole’s head to make sure that his hair was decently dry, Zane finally let go. “There we go,” he said.

Cole fumbled with towel for a second before he managed to poke his head out. “I still think you cheated,” he grumbled, mock-glaring at his older teammate. 

Zane just smiled at him. “There were no rules.”

Cole scowled and stuck his tongue out at the nindroid. Zane laughed and shook his head, making his way out of the door to give Cole some privacy.

Taking a few extra minutes to make sure that he was completely dry, Cole quickly put on the clothes that Zane had provided him. Lloyd’s old t-shirt and pants were slightly too big for Cole’s five-year-old body, but they were comfortable so the black ninja decided not to complain about it too much. 

It was slightly difficult to get on the shirt, not so much because it was too big, but because Cole was feeling really tired. After being in the water for so long, his limbs felt really heavy and his eyelids started drooping. Cole considered it a miracle that he managed to get on the shirt and stumble out of the bathroom.

After that, everything was a bit of a blur. He vaguely remembered walking to where Zane was standing in the hall and sitting on the floor next to him, suddenly too tired to even entertain the thought of walking. He thought he remembered Zane picking him up and starting to walk somewhere. He was about to ask where Zane was taking him but ultimately decided that he didn’t care and closed his eyes.

It didn’t take him long to drift off to sleep.

Chapter Text

When Cole woke up from his impromptu nap, he was lying in his bed with the blankets tangled around his legs and drool trickling out of the corner of his mouth and onto his pillow.

Groaning, Cole sat up and stretched, wiping the drool from his cheek. It took him a few minutes to convince his brain to wake up, and a few more minutes to remember what had caused him to be so sleepy. 

Cole groaned again and buried his face in his pillow. “I hate being a kid,” he whined, his voice muffled by the pillow. I really hope Sensei got that tea…

Deciding not to wait any longer, Cole kicked off his blankets and got out of the bed. He walked out of the bedroom and down the hall, occasionally tripping over the baggy ends of his pants(thankfully, he didn’t faceplant).

Hearing loud voices coming from the game room area, Cole made his way over there. He poked his head into the room and noticed that at some point while he was napping, the others had come back. Now Kai, Jay, and Lloyd were in the middle of an intense game of Mario Kart. And, from the sounds of it, someone had just sent a blue shell after Kai.

“Come on, go faster ya stupid car!” The red ninja shouted, furiously tilting his controller side-to-side.

“Kai, lower your voice,” Zane scolded. “You risk the chance of waking up Cole. And yelling is pointless since you cannot avoid the blue shell.”

“Can it Frosty! I didn’t ask for a backseat driver!” Kai snapped back, only curse as his kart was hit by the blue shell. “Gosh dang it!!! Now I’m in third!”

“Haha, sucks to be you, Kai,” Lloyd teased, lightly elbowing the red ninja. “Now watch as I throw this green shell at first place.”

“Ha! Green shells suck, Lloyd!” Jay jeered as he raced to the finish line. “There’s no way you can hit me!”

Just then, a green shell hit Jay’s cart, causing it (and Jay)to flip.

“You were saying?” Lloyd said smugly as he crossed the finish line. “Oh yeah. Who’s the best at Mario Kart? This guy, that’s who.”

“Shut up,” Jay groaned, slumping. “And I was so close…”

“Rematch! I demand a rematch!” Kai exclaimed. “I refuse to take this lying down!”

“Are you sure about that?” Lloyd asked, smirking. “You haven’t done very well in the past three races.”

“That’s cause the random one was biased, you intentionally chose your favorite course, and Jay’s choice sucked.”

“Hey!” Jay protested. “What was wrong with my choice?!”

“Rainbow Road, Jay. You chose freaking Rainbow Road !”

“Cause it’s fun!”

“I fell off a dozen times!!! ”

“Well, then it’s a good thing you didn’t choose it huh?”

Kai let out a frustrated scream and tackled Jay to the ground. “Take that back!” He growled.

“Never!” Jay declared, squirming out of Kai’s grasp long enough to grab a pillow and smack the red ninja with it.

Zane facepalmed while Lloyd laughed. “Fight, fight, fight!” the green ninja chanted. 

A small part of Cole wanted to join in on the chanting, but the leader part of him took over after a few moments. “Okay guys, break it up,” he commanded.

The fight continued, however, which made Cole frowned. “Guys,” he insisted, speaking a little louder. “Knock it off.”

Nobody heard him. Cole scrunched up his face in frustration. Why won’t they listen to me?! He thought. This just like...like…

Cole felt his body freeze. His heart started pounding and he started breathing faster. He suddenly wasn’t in the game room, he wasn’t even on the Bounty anymore. He was in his bedroom, back at his old house. He was sitting on the floor, curled up in a little ball his hands over his ears. But it wasn’t enough,  it was never enough. He could the arguments, the fighting. It was muffled, but it was still clear enough and loud enough for him to hear. He could hear everything--the mean words, the naughty words that his dad told him to never ever repeat, yet he always said them when he was like this. 

“Stop it,” he whispered, curling up tighter. “Stop fighting…”

For a second, the arguing seemed to die down. Cole felt a tiny flutter of hope as he uncurled slightly. Maybe they finally stopped fighting…

But the arguing continued. It wasn’t quite as loud but it was still there. Cole curled back up. Why wouldn’t they stop fighting? Why were they even fighting.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it,” he chanted softly, squeezing his eyes shut. “Please, stop it.”

They didn’t stop, of course they didn’t. They never stopped, not unless they noticed that he was listening or in the room with them. And even then, the peace only lasted for a few hours, a day if he was lucky, before the arguing returned with a vengeance. 

“Please,” Cole whispered, feeling the tears that he had desperately tried to prevent from falling slide down his cheeks. “Please, just stop.”

The arguing didn’t stop...but now, he thought he heard other voices. They were muffled, but somehow much easier to understand. Someone...someone was saying his name. 

“It’s okay, Cole,” the voice was saying. “We’re not fighting anymore.”

Cole’s shoulders began to shake. “You’re lying,” he whispered. Because that’s what his dad always said. “That was our last fight, Cole.” or “we’ll never fight again, son.” But he lied, heliedheliedhelied…

“Cole,” the voice said. “C’mon pal, I’d never lie to you.”

‘Pal’? His dad never called him that. It was always ‘Son’ or ‘Cole’ or sometimes even ‘sport’. But ‘pal’?

“Cole,” the voice insisted. “Look at me.”

Cole blinked, and his bedroom faded away. He looked up, and Kai’s face-- his worried face--looked down at him. “K-Kai?” the black ninja stuttered, his voice cracking slightly.

Kai breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. Are you okay?” the red ninja asked gently.

“I--I…” Cole sniffled and he abruptly realized two things: one, Kai was hugging him. Two, Cole was crying. 

A small part of him wanted to return Kai’s hug(because seriously, when does Kai ever hug anyone besides Nya?) and let it all out. But the bigger part of him, the part of him that was, dare he say, afraid, made Cole shove the red ninja away and quickly stand up. “I’m fine,” he said firmly, rubbing at his eyes.

He saw Kai scowl out of the corner of his eye while he heard Lloyd scoff and say, “Dude, you are absolutely not fine.”

“You looked like you were having a panic attack!” Jay fretted.

“Cole,” Kai said, his voice gentle but firm. “What happened?”

You guys were fighting and you wouldn’t stop even when I asked you to, and I might have accidentally remembered a part of my past that I’d rather not remember. “Nothing happened, guys,” Cole insisted. 

“That was not ‘nothing’ Cole,” Zane said sharply, narrowing his eyes at the little ninja. “You were muttering about someone lying to you and yet here you are doing the same.” the nindroid’s voice softened. “We are worried about you, Cole.”

“Yeah,” Jay agreed, kneeling down next to Cole and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “And we really just want to know what made you upset.”

Cole stared at the floor, unsure of what to do now. He wanted to tell his teammates, but...something held him back. Before he could decide whether to fib or to just run away, he heard a door open up in the distance. “I’m home!” Sensei’s wizened voice declared.

Cole instantly perked up. Finally! Now I don’t have to be a little kid anymore! He mentally cheered.

He wiggled out of Jay’s grasp and raced towards where Sensei was. “C’mon guys!” he called back without stopping. “Hurry up, I wanna see if Sensei’s got that Tomorrow’s Tea!”

He turned back around and kept sprinting. Had he looked back, he might have noticed the looks his teammates exchanged before collectively sighing and following him. 

~~~~

Sensei was waiting for them in the dining room, sitting down at the head of the table while sipping a cup of tea from his ever-present teapot.

Cole skidded to a stop as he entered the room...which turned out to be a bad idea when Jay, who had caught up to the little ninja first, couldn’t stop in time and ended up tripping over Cole. 

Which led to Cole getting squished as Jay fell on top of him.

Which led to Kai tripping over Jay’s outstretched leg and falling on top of them. 

Which led to Lloyd tripping over Kai’s leg and falling on top of the pile. 

Which led to Zane...calmly walking in and avoiding the pileup altogether. “Good evening, Sensei,” he politely greeted their teacher.

Meanwhile, the other four ninja were trying to disentangle themselves from their pileup. “Jay!” Cole squeakily complained. “Get your butt outta my face!”

“Tell Kai to get off my back!” Jay snapped back.

“I would gladly move, when Lloyd freaking gets off my leg!” Kai growled.

“I can’t! Someone’s on my arm!” 

“Well hurry up and figure out who it is! My leg’s going numb!”

“At least you’re not getting squished by Jay’s fat butt!” 

“Hey! My butt is not fat!”

“Sure it’s not….”

“Quiet Lloyd.”

“ WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GET OFF?! ”

Zane sighed and facepalmed. Sensei Wu just chuckled and got out of his chair. He walked up to the ninja, and thoughtfully hummed. 

Then he poked his bamboo staff where the middle of the pile.

Just like that, the four ninja got distangled. Cole sucked in a huge breath of air. “Whoo, finally! I can breathe again!”

“Owwww, pins and needles,” Kai complained, standing up and taking careful steps in order to work out the numbness in his leg.

“Thanks Uncle,” Lloyd said, slowly sitting up and rubbing his sore arm. 

“You are welcome, nephew,” Sensei replied. “Though this might have been avoided had you all not been running. Tell me, what was the rush about?”

Cole, reminded of his mission, quickly stood up and raced to stand in front of his teacher. “Did you get the tea Sensei?” he asked, not even bothering to contain his excitement. “Can I finally go back to being a teen?”

Nobody noticed how Sensei’s lips twitched ever so slightly before dipping into a frown. He sighed sadly and shook his head. “I am afraid that you will have to remain this way for a little while longer, Cole.” 

Cole froze, his eyes going wide as it felt like his entire world just stopped. “What?!”

“You must understand, pupils, that Tomorrow’s Tea is very rare and very complicated to make,” Sensei explained calmly. “And unfortunately, Mystake has not had the time nor the resources to make the tea since we purchased the last of it not too long ago.”

“How long until she can make the tea, Sensei?” Zane asked. 

Sensei let out another sigh. “At best, she might be able to have some in stock in about a week. At worst...it’ll be a month before she has some.”

“A MONTH?!” Cole screamed, absolutely horrified. “I have to be a kid for a whole month?! ”

“Well, look on the bright side,” Jay piped up. “It could be worse.”

“ THAT’S NOT HELPING! I DON’T WANNA BE A KID FOR ANOTHER MONTH!” Cole practically wailed. 

“Try not to worry, Cole,” Zane tried to soothe his distressed teammate. “Sensei also said that Mystake might have the tea done within a week.”

“Yeah!” Lloyd added. “Besides, being a kid isn’t that bad!”

Cole didn’t know why that set him off. Maybe because being a kid was that bad; maybe because he was still reeling from the fact that he had to potentially wait a month before he could get turned back into his normal age; maybe it was because of his mini panic attack earlier in the game room. But all of it was too much for the black ninja and his childish instincts decided to take over.

Cole sat down hard on the floor and immediately started bawling.

Chapter Text

Most of the ninja thought they knew how Cole was going to react when they found out that he would have to remain a kid for a little longer. They thought that he would either take it stoically, rant about it for a few minutes before calming down, or storm off and sulk in the bedroom for a few hours.

None of them expected Cole to actually start crying. 

As such, chaos ensued.

“Oh my gosh, Cole!” Jay screamed, kneeling down next to his crying leader and giving him a hug. “Shhh, it’s okay, don’t cry, please don’t cry!”

Jay’s words should have been soothing, but his hysterical tone just made Cole start to wail louder. 

Lloyd cringed and covered his ears. “Jeez, Cole! I think my eardrums just burst!”

“Lloyd!” Zane scolded. “You cannot say things like that, you will make it worse!” Another ear-piercing wail from Cole came then. “See?!”

“Well, excuuuuuse me if I don’t want to be deaf!” Lloyd retorted, glaring at the white ninja. “Besides, I don’t know how to calm him down! I don’t have any experience with kids!”

“You could at least try!”

“Jay tried, and look what happened!”

“Well, I at least attempted to help, Lloyd!” Jay snapped.

“STOP ARGUING!” Kai suddenly shouted, making everyone flinch. “You guys are making it worse!”

Indeed, Cole had started sobbing even harder. His hands were covering his ears and he was almost hyperventilating. 

“W-well, what do we do?!” Jay asked, looking somewhat frantic. Zane and Lloyd also looked unsure of what to do. 

Kai took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Here,” he said softly, kneeling down near Jay. “let me hold him.”

Jay, confused, nonetheless transferred the little ninja in his arms to Kai. Cole was too distressed to even start to complain. He just kept on crying.

“Hey,” Kai said softly, gently hugging his younger teammate and rubbing his back. “It’s okay Cole, it’s okay. Shhh, I know you’re upset, but there’s no need to cry. Shhh, it’s okay, I’m here. Jay’s here, Zane and Lloyd are here. We’re not gonna let anything happen to you. Shhh, it’s okay, shhh.”

Jay, Zane, and Lloyd all watched, shocked, as Kai continued to soothe Cole. And...it was working. Cole’s wails decreased in volume and eventually stopped altogether. His hysterical sobbing turned into little sniffles and he even started cuddling closer to Kai, burying his face in Kai’s chest. 

Kai let him, continuing to say soothing words and rubbing Cole’s back. When at last Cole’s crying seemed to have stopped, the red ninja peered down at him. “You okay now?” he asked gently.

Cole sniffled but nodded his head. “Don’ wanna be a kid,” he mumbled into Kai’s shirt.

Kai smiled sadly. “I know, buddy. But it won’t be for forever,” he replied. “We’ll get you that Tomorrow’s Tea soon, I promise.”

Cole let out a little hiccup and just squeezed Kai’s middle tighter. “Don’ wanna wait. Wanna be big now.”

“Heh, I think we all wanted that when we were that age,” Kai laughed a little. “But hey, like I said: it won’t be forever before you’re your normal age again. A week will be gone before you know it.”

“I guess…” Cole muttered sulkily.

Kai, seeing how Cole was still slightly upset, decided to try Older Brother Trick #2: if your younger sibling is still upset after you’ve talked to them, try getting them to laugh. 

And Kai knew just how he was going to get Cole to laugh.

“Aw, c’mon Cole, don’t be a grumpy pants,” he said teasingly.

Cole just grumbled something back at him.

Kai let out an exaggerated sigh. “Alright Cole. I’ve tried to make you feel better, but it would seem that words are getting me nowhere. Just know that I’m doing this because I hate seeing you upset.”

Not giving Cole too much time to contemplate his words, the red ninja quickly put his hands on Cole’s stomach and wiggled his fingers.

Cole let out a little shriek before he burst into giggles. “Hehehehehe, CUT IT OUT KAI!” he screamed, trying to get out of Kai’s grasp.

Kai didn’t let him escape. Instead, the red ninja held Cole close to him with one arm while he used his free hand to tickle Cole’s tummy. “Not until I’ve tickled the grumpiness out of you!” Kai sing-songed, smirking.

“NOHOHOHOHOHO!” Cole squealed, laughing uncontrollably. “HEHEHEHELP MEHEHEHEHE!”

Nobody came to Cole’s aid. Jay and Lloyd both started laughing while Zane just grinned widely at the scene. 

Kai continued his tickle torture for a few minutes, making sure to target Cole’s extremely ticklish stomach. Cole howled with laughter and begged Kai to stop, but the red ninja ignored him.

It was only until Cole was clearly out of breath that Kai finally stopped. He still held the black ninja close to him but he let him catch his breath. “Feel better, Cole?” he asked when the little ninja managed to breathe normally again.

Cole let out a few stray giggles before gasping out, “You….suck…”

“I’ll take that as ‘yes Kai, I’m feeling much better. Thank you so much, where would I be without you?’,” Kai teased, ruffling Cole’s hair. “To which I’ll reply with, you are very welcome.”

Cole glared and stuck his tongue out at the red ninja. Kai just laughed and ruffled Cole’s hair some more.

“Quit that!” Cole complained, trying to straighten his now-messy hair. But he was smiling, so Kai considered it a victory. 

Suddenly, a low grumble was heard. Everyone looked up, alarmed. “What was that?” Jay asked.

Cole blushed slightly. “Er, is there anything to eat for dinner? I’m kinda hungry…”

Kai snickered. “Well, at least something is still the same,” he laughed, gently poking Cole’s stomach.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Cole demanded.

“Nothing,” Kai said, ruffling Cole’s hair before standing up. “C’mon. Let’s see what’s for dinner.”

Cole opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted when his stomach let out another rumble. “Fiiiine. But this discussion isn’t over!” He decided.

~~~~

After a quick dinner consisting of leftovers from yesterday, Jay challenged Lloyd’s current status as “the ultimate Mario Kart player”. Lloyd agreed to a rematch, and Kai was quick to join them. Then, Cole meekly asked if he could play too. One look at the little ninja’s face, with his big grey eyes seemingly growing ever so slightly bigger, and all of the ninja agreed that not only could Cole play, he could choose the first track.

This made Cole cheer happily, and make everyone else sigh with relief. 

Nobody wanted a repeat of Cole crying. Ever.

So, after everyone was done with dinner, the ninja filed into the game room in order to play.

“Which course are you going to choose, Cole?” Zane asked once the racers had selected their characters and karts.

“Hmm,” Cole hummed as he studied the courses on the TV.

“Pick Rainbow Road!” Jay piped up.

“No, that’s the hardest one! Pick Bowser’s Castle!” Kai interjected. “That one’s fun!”

“No, choose Thwomp Ruins!” Lloyd chimed in.

Cole stuck out his tongue as he flicked over all of the courses. Finally, he settled on a course. “Let’s do this one!” He said.

Jay groaned. “Grumble Volcano. Great. Guess who’s gonna get hit by a fireball at least five times?”

“At least you don’t constantly fall off the track,” Lloyd grumbled as well.

“Ah, c’mon guys, this course is fun!” Kai argued.

“That’s because you usually win whenever we do this course, Kai,” Jay pointed out.

“And your point?”

“...”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Guuuuuys, please stop arguing,” Cole complained, pouting ever so slightly. 

Zane fixed the others with a look, and Jay, Lloyd, and Kai had the decency to look abashed. “Sorry, Cole,” Jay apologized, Kai and Lloyd not far behind him.

Cole shrugged and smiled slightly. “It’s okay, guys. I...I just don’t like it when people fight,” he mumbled, blushing slightly before quickly shaking his head. “C-Come on, let’s start this race!”

“You all are going down!” Jay declared, smirking. 

“In your dreams,” Kai said, focusing intensely on the screen.

Everyone held their breaths as the countdown began. 3...2...1...Go!

All four racers shot out from the starting line. Jay quickly took the lead, with Kai hot on his tail. Cole and Lloyd took 3rd and 4th respectively. 

“Everyone call out your items!” Jay exclaimed as everyone received an Item Block.

“Green shell!” Lloyd called out. 

“Banana peel!” Kai chimed in.

“Fire Flower!” Cole piped up.

“Coin…” Jay sighed dejectedly. “Darn, I was hoping for at least a green shell.”

“Wish granted,” Lloyd snickered, letting Luigi throw a green shell right at Jay’s kart. Poor Shy Guy’s kart spun out of control and off the track. 

“AGH!” Jay screamed. “Screw you, Lloyd!”

“What? You wanted a green shell,” Lloyd laughed as he quickly took the lead.

“Outta the way losers,” Kai butted in, leaning over and bumping Lloyd just as Mario bumped into Luigi and take the lead. Mario dropped his banana peel, which caused Luigi’s kart to spin out of control. “Haha! First place!” Kai crowed...only to squawk in indignation as Metal Mario came out of nowhere and threw three successive fireballs at his kart.

“Well done, Cole,” Zane praised.

Cole gave a goofy grin. “Thanks!” he chirped happily, quickly mashing all of the buttons on his controller. 

“Ugh, just you wait! I will regain the lead!” Kai declared, zooming after Cole’s kart. 

Lap 1 ended with Cole in 1st, Lloyd in 2nd, Jay in 3rd, and Kai in 4th. The red ninja was decidedly unhappy with this. “Come on, give me something good,” he chanted as he got another Item Block.

“Banana peel!” ~Cole

“Mushroom!” ~Lloyd

“Red shell!” ~Jay

“Come on, something good, something good,” Kai chanted, hoping for a good item. “...YES! Three mushrooms!”

“WHAT?!” Jay cried out.

“Oh, come on! That’s not fair!” Lloyd complained.

“Too bad, so sad,” Kai smirked, using all of the mushrooms to give Mario a big speed boost. This easily put him in the lead, and had the added bonus of knocking Luigi off the side of the track and bumping Shy Guy directly into a fireball. Shy Guy threw his red shell, but it ended up hitting Metal Mario instead of actual Mario.

“Jay!” Cole complained.

“Sorry, I was aiming for Kai!”

Lap 2 ended with Kai in 1st, Jay in 2nd, Cole in 3rd, and Lloyd in 4th. “Final Lap people!” Lloyd exclaimed. 

“I’ve got a Banana peel!” Kai declared.

“I’ve got a green shell!” Jay exclaimed.

“Cole has a green shell as well,” Zane added.

“Mushroom!” Lloyd declared.

It was intense final lap. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place changed frequently, but nobody could get to Kai. The red ninja made this very well known due to his bragging.

“Haha! Finish line is in sight!” Kai declared. “Ooh, victory is so sweet!”

“You know, Kai,” Zane said. “It is unwise to celebrate a victory that is not yet yours.”

“Pffft, nobody can touch me!” 

“Are you so certain?”

“Yes. I am. Because unless someone has a blue shell, there’s no way for them to get by me!”

Just as Kai said this, he heard the tell-tale sound of a blue shell approaching. Suddenly, Mario’s Kart was caught in an explosion caused by the shell. “What?!” Kai screeched as his Kart spun out of control, allowing everyone else to cross the finish line before him. “Who had a blue shell and didn’t tell anyone?!”

“Not me!” Both Jay and Lloyd instantly denied.

Kai frowned in annoyance. “Well it wasn’t me, so it had to have been one of you!”

“I swear, I didn’t have a blue shell!” Jay exclaimed, Lloyd rapidly nodding his head. 

“Well if it wasn’t one of you, then who—“ Kai paused as he heard a certain ninja snicker. “COLE!”

“Yes, Kai?” The little ninja asked, blinking up innocently at his older teammate.

“You...you…” Kai struggled to think of something to say that would be okay to say to a five-year-old without hurting Cole’s feelings.

“Whatever is the matter Kai?” Zane asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Yeah!” Cole added, giggling. “You look like you’re choking on something.”

“You CHEATER!” Kai accused.

“I didn’t cheat!” 

“You’re supposed to call out when you have an item!”

“But I did!”

“He has a point,” Jay chimed in. “Zane did say that Cole…”

A short pause, in which everyone went over what Jay had said and Cole struggled to contain his laughter.

Then, Kai exploded.

“WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK?!” He screeched, chucking the nearest object—a couch cushion—at the ninja of ice. “YOU SNEAKY LITTLE—AGH!”

“That was rather uncalled for, Kai,” Zane chided, removing the pillow from his face. “After all, I did nothing wrong.”

“You said that Cole had a freaking green shell!” Kai accused.

“Did I?” Zane furrowed his brow as he thought. “Hmmm, my apologies, I must have made a mistake.”

“You’re a freaking nindroid with freaking gadgets all over your body! HOW COULD YOU HAVE MADE A MISTAKE?!”

“I guess even nindroids are prone to errors,” Cole intoned wisely, still looking like the picture of innocence...except for the wide grin on his face.

“I am terribly sorry that my mistake has cost you the race,” Zane apologized, looking rather sorrowful. “But this could have been avoided had you simply paid more attention. After all, you could have seen what item young Cole had received had you simply looked at the TV screen.”

Kai took in three deep breaths. “Excuse me for a minute.”

The red ninja left the room. Ten seconds later, and everyone jumped as they heard Kai screaming, though what he was actually saying was a mystery.

Cole fell off the couch laughing while Zane tried--and failed--to hide a smile. Lloyd shook his head. “You two are such trolls,” the green ninja said.

“I have no idea what makes you say that, Lloyd,” Zane replied, eyes twinkling mischievously.

Kai came back a little bit later, his face red. Cole stopped laughing and tried his best to regain his innocent look.

Kai weakly glared at him. “Rematch,” he simply stated.

Cole grinned. “You’re on!”

“And you better call out the correct item this time, you little cheat.”

Chapter Text

The ninja ended up playing Mario Kart for hours. Courses were selected, characters and karts switched, rematches declared. It was awesome, especially considering that Cole was actively participating, something that he hadn’t done in the past week or so. 

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Eventually, Zane announced that it was just past nine at night, and he suggested that it might be a good idea for Cole to go to bed. Cole protested, claiming that he wasn’t tired. 

Five minutes later saw the little ninja passed out on the couch, unconsciously cuddling with Kai.

Kai threatened to set Jay on fire when the blue ninja tried to take a picture. 

Jay still took a picture, albeit when the red ninja wasn’t looking.

After letting Cole snooze on the couch for a few more minutes, there was a unanimous decision that everyone should follow his example and turn in for the night. Kai ended up carrying Cole to the bedroom since the little ninja refused to wake up, instead cuddling with Kai even more. 

Jay discreetly took another picture of Kai wryly smiling down at the sleeping ninja in his arms.

Kai saw him do it, but decided against saying anything. 

Because even he had to admit(in his head, never aloud) that it was a cute scene. 

~~~~

The next morning, after everyone had woken up and eaten breakfast, Kai abruptly announced, “Hey guys, once you’re done eating, go put on some street clothes.”

“Why?” Cole asked, cocking his head to the side. 

“Because, if you are going to have to be a kid for a little bit longer, than you need some better clothes than your gi and Lloyd’s old stuff,” Kai clarified.

“It might also be a good idea to purchase a new pair of shoes,” Zane added.

“And toys!” Jay piped up. “We should get him lots of toys too!”

“Who’s the five-year-old in this situation, again?” Lloyd snickered. 

Cole rolled his eyes. “I’m not actually five, you guys.”

“We know,” Zane interjected before an argument could begin. “But nevertheless, I concur with Kai: I believe a short shopping excursion is in order.”

Cole sighed heavily. “Fiiiine, but you guys had better not do anything too embarrassing! Especially you, Jay! Otherwise, I’ll kick all your butts when I’m a teen again!”

Kai patted the little ninja’s head. “Don’t worry, Short Stuff. We’ll keep Jay in check.”

“Hey!” Jay cried while Cole protested, “I’m not short!”

“Course you are not, Cole.” Zane chimed in.

Cole perked up. “See?! I’m not short!”

“...you are merely fun-sized,” Zane finished.

Both Lloyd and Jay fell out of their chairs laughing. Cole weakly glared at the white ninja. “...I don’t like you sometimes, Zane.”

Zane just smiled back at his younger teammate.

~~~~

Twenty minutes saw the ninja dressed in jeans and hoodies that matched their elemental color standing just inside the Ninjago City Mall. Cole was the only one wearing his gi, since it was the only thing that actually fit him. Everyone decided that as long as none of them revealed that they were the actual ninja, then things should be okay. Besides, a lot of young kids(and even some grown adults) paraded around in ninja costumes during the day.

“Alright,” Kai said, holding up a list. “First things first, let’s get you some clothes that actually fit, Cole.”

Cole nodded. “Kay,” he said.

Zane looked cautiously at the decent-sized crowd inside the mall and quickly grabbed Cole’s left hand. When the little ninja protested, Zane explained, “Given your current age and height, it would be rather easy for us to lose sight of you in this crowd. Therefore, I recommend that you stay close to at least one of us.”

Cole pouted, but couldn’t argue against the nindroid’s logic. “Fiiine. But I’m not holding Jay’s hand!”

“Hey!” Jay cried indignantly, pouting. “What’s wrong with holding my hand?!”

“Because if I let you hold my hand, you might take advantage of that and try and carry me,” Cole replied. “And I assure you, if you even attempt to pick me up without my permission, I will kick you while screaming at the top of my lungs.”

Everyone flinched as they remembered the decibel that Cole had reached when he was crying last night. “Okay, okay!” Jay quickly conceded, holding up his hands in surrender. “I won’t carry you without asking first. Happy?”

“Very,” Cole smirked. “I’m glad that we reached an agreement.”

“Well, since that’s settled, let’s get going, guys,” Kai said. “The sooner we can get all of the stuff we need, the sooner we can leave.”

And with that, the ninja began their quest for things for Cole in the perilous mall.

~~~~

The first stop on the ninja’s shopping excursion was a small store that just sold clothes for kids. The ninja quickly made their way to the boys section of the store and started looking for clothes for Cole.

“Hey Cole,” Kai called out, holding up a black t-shirt with white music notes on it. “Do you like this one?”

Cole cocked his head to the side, studying the shirt. “Yeah,” he said, nodding his head. “That one’s nice.”

“Cool, we’ll have you try it on then,” the red ninja replied. 

“Hey Cole!” Lloyd shouted, holding up some pajamas. “What about this?”

Cole scowled. “No.”

“Awww, come on! These look nice!”

“I’m not wearing a onesie, Lloyd!”

“It’s not that bad, I’m sure you’ve worn some when you were a kid before! These things were comfy !”

“Y-you can’t prove that!” Cole sputtered, cheeks turning pink. “Just get me a pair of pajamas that aren’t onesies!”

“Fine, fine,” Lloyd grumbled, putting down the pajamas in his hand. “Party pooper.” He sifted through the shelves before holding up a pair of black pajama pants with a matching orange pajama shirt with short sleeves. “Do these work?”

“Yeah, those are much better!” Cole said, nodding his head.

Lloyd walked over to where Cole and Kai were standing, the pajamas in his hand. “Is there anything else we need here?” the green ninja asked.

“Well, I think we still need a few more shirts, Jay’s looking for pants, and I sent Zane to look for some undies for Cole.”

“Didja have to phrase it like that?” Cole complained. 

“Aw, don’t worry about that, man.” Kai replied flippantly. “We’re all guys.”

“That doesn’t make it any less embarrassing…” Cole grumbled.

“Hey, it’s better than having to hide any new clothes before anyone else could see them,” Lloyd chimed in.

“Why would you do that?” Cole asked.

“Have you ever had itch powder in your underwear before?”

Both Cole and Kai blanched. “That sounds terrible ,” the red ninja shuddered.

Lloyd shrugged. “Well, it happened. Gene was the absolute worst sometimes.”

Cole frowned. “Wasn’t that the same kid who put fire ants in your bed?”

“No, no, that was Brad. Gene was the kid with glasses and a high-pitched nerdy voice who tried to take over Darkley’s.”

“Oh.”

At that moment, Zane came back holding two packages. “I have procured some undergarments for Cole,” the nindroid announced. “I hope this is enough.”

Cole facepalmed, blushing slightly, while Kai looked over the two packages that Zane had. “Yeah, that should be good for now,” the red ninja decided. “Now we need to wait for Jay to get here with some pants and we should be good here.”

Cole frowned. “What’s taking Jay so long, I wonder?”

Just then, Jay suddenly appeared, holding several articles clothing. “Here, I’ve got some stuff for Cole, but I have to go now, tell Nya that I’ll always love her!” he babbled out very, very quickly, shoving the clothes at the closest ninja--a very confused Lloyd--before sprinting out of the store at top speed.

Everyone blinked in confusion. “Um,” Lloyd said. “What the heck?”

Suddenly, a high pitched squeal reached the ninja’s ears. They all ducked behind shelves and racks of clothing...just in time to avoid a huge stampede of young teen girls running in the same direction as Jay had gone.

The ninja hid behind the shelves for a few minutes, allowing the stampede to pass them by, before emerging. “Ugh,” Lloyd groaned, shuddering. “I hate fangirls. They’re annoying.”

“While I like having fans admire my awesomeness,” Kai chimed in, glancing warily about. “Some people just take it way too far.”

“Do you think we should go help out Jay?” Zane asked. 

Kai bit his lip as he thought. On one hand, Jay could probably use some help in evading the fangirls. But on the other hand, it would be difficult to help him considering that one of them was only five years old. Still…

“Okay, Zane. You go out and help Jay. Lloyd and I will stay with Cole and get the rest of the stuff,” Kai finally said. “We can all meet up at the food court in...an hour maybe?”

Zane nodded his head. “Very well, I will try my best to make sure Jay and I make the rendezvous.” the nindroid smiled wryly. “Wish me luck.”

“Luck,” Lloyd quipped as the white ninja gave the underwear in his hands to Kai before jogging out of the shop. 

“Come on, guys,” Kai said, walking towards the checkout area where a line was already forming. “Let’s buy this stuff so that we can move on. The line isn’t getting any shorter.” 

Cole squirmed. “Ummm, Kai?”

Kai looked back at the little ninja. “Yeah, Cole?”

“I...I kinda have to go…”

Lloyd furrowed his brow. “Go? Go where?”

Cole blushed and squirmed even more. “I mean, I have to go…”

Both Kai and Lloyd were confused...until Kai noticed how Cole was crossing his legs and wiggling from side-to-side. Then, the red ninja knew what Cole wanted. 

“Yo, Lloyd?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m gonna give you a choice: you can either wait in line and get these clothes for Cole. OR, you can take him and go find a bathroom.”

“Ugh, those choices suck.”

“Well, it’s one or the other, man. Choose.”

“Um, guys? Not to be pushy, but can you please hurry up?!” Cole whined, wiggling even more. 

“Can’t you just hold it until we’re done?!” Lloyd asked.

“I’m trying! I don’t think I can hold it much longer!”

“Tick, tock, Lloyd. Choose, or I’ll choose for you.”

Lloyd looked between the long line and his squirming younger leader. Long line filled with annoying people. Young leader who was currently being annoying.

The green ninja groaned. “I hate my life.”

~~~~

Lloyd impatiently tapped his foot as he waited for Cole to be done. He carefully leaned against the sinks and sighed. “How did my life find me in this situation?” he grumbled quietly. 

To be totally honest, Lloyd felt really awkward about this situation. The first time the ninja had been turned into kids, the green ninja was ecstatic. He thought it was a bit of poetic justice--now they could understand what it was like to be too young to do certain stuff! Sure, it only lasted a few hours, but it was amazing.

But now, with Cole being five years old and the only one who was young...Lloyd wasn’t sure what to do. As far as he was concerned, kids that young were only entertaining to a point before they became whiny, over-needy brats who dragged away everyone’s attention. 

...okay, that thought made him sound like he was jealous of Cole. Which he totally wasn’t. Why in the world would he, Lloyd freaking Garmadon, the freaking green ninja and Ultimate Spinjitzu Master, be jealous?! That’d be like Kai proclaiming that he hated hair gel. In other words, so completely unlikely that it might as well not be a possibility. 

So yeah, Lloyd wasn’t jealous.

The sound of a toilet flushing broke Lloyd out of his thoughts. One of the stalls swung open and Cole walked out.

“You good now?” Lloyd asked.

“Mmmhmm,” Cole nodded, walking over to the sinks. “Lemme just wash my hands and we can go.”

“Finally,” Lloyd said underneath his breath. “Okay, just hurry up so we can meet up with the others,” he said aloud.

“Kay.”

Cole quickly but thoroughly washed his hands, with Lloyd (im)patiently waiting for him. Once Cole’s hands were washed and dried, the duo made their way out of the bathroom. 

“Okay, let’s get to the shoe shop and meet up with Kai,” Lloyd decided, turning and walking to the right. “Keep close Cole.”

“Okay!” Cole shouted, jogging up to Lloyd’s side. 

The mall was starting to become more crowded as it was later in the day. Lloyd weaved his way through the crowd, wanting to get to the store as quickly as possible. He really didn’t want to be the babysitter much longer. And even though he was starting to dislike how much Kai seemed to melt around Cole, the red ninja was really good at the whole babysitting thing.

“Lloyd! Over here!”

Speak of the devil. Lloyd scanned his surroundings and found Kai waving in front of a nearby shoe store. Grinning in relief, Lloyd jogged through the crowd, accidentally bumping into a few people, before skidding to a halt next to the red ninja. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Kai greeted, smirking. “You find a bathroom fast enough?”

Lloyd rolled his eyes. “Yes, we did, ye of little faith.”

Kai laughed. “Alright, alright. Let’s get in here so that we can get out. Sounds like a plan, Cole?” he said.

Cole didn’t reply.

“Cole?” Kai called out, his voice starting to become tinged with worry. “Cole?!”

The little ninja still didn’t reply and he was nowhere to be seen. Now severely worried, the red ninja spun to face Lloyd. “Where’s Cole?!” he demanded.

“I-I don’t know!” Lloyd sputtered. “We came straight here from the bathroom!”

“Was he beside you?” Kai asked. “Did you hold his hand?”

“No, why would I--?!” Lloyd blinked as he suddenly remembered what Zane had mentioned earlier. “Aw, son of a--!”

Chapter Text

Five minutes of trying to weave through a crowd of people was enough time for Cole to come to the conclusion that he was completely lost. 

In hindsight, it wasn’t completely his fault. If Lloyd had just slowed down and made sure that he didn’t get too ahead of the little ninja, then this wouldn’t have happened!

And now, he had no idea where he was, no idea where anyone was, and he was stuck in a five-year-old body with a height befitting a five-year-old.

Cole aptly summed up his situation with two simple words.

“This. Sucks.”

The little ninja groaned as he wandered aimlessly through the mall, trying his best not to get stepped on by the crowd of people surrounding him. “I hate being a kid,” Cole complained for what felt like the hundredth time. “I hate being this short, and I hate having really short legs, and I hate not being able to catch up to everyone else...you know what? Screw it, I just hate my life in general.”

Cole let out a sigh. “Okay, Cole, focus. How are you going to find your team and/or let them find you?”

Stay in one place and hope that the others find him? But that might take forever though. Wander around the mall and hope to stumble upon on of them? Slightly better, but the chances of him finding his friends was still kinda slim. Ugh, what was he supposed to do?

Cole groaned again and pouted. “This really, really sucks,” he complained again. Sighing heavily, the little ninja looked around and tried to see where exactly he was. Let’s see...there’s a coffee store there...a pretzel stand over there...oh, there’s a sign saying the food court is to the right...wait a minute, didn’t Kai tell Zane that we were going to meet up with him and Jay there?

Cole grinned and started walking in the direction of the food court. His teammates might not be there now, but they would be there eventually. He could wait.

...and then he’ll get revenge on Lloyd for making him get lost. 

~~~~

Jay was going to die. 

Admittedly, he was very disappointed with this realization. He would have preferred living to an old age(with Nya by his side, of course) or dying heroically in battle. 

He did not want to die via rabid fangirl attack while cowering behind some kiddie rides.

“Where is he?!” one of said rabid fangirls exclaimed. 

“I, like, don’t even see him!” another called back, sounding frustrated.

“Ugh! And I like, totes wanted to ask him to go on a date with me!” yet another complained.

“But Jaya is my OTP!” someone exclaimed.

Jay whimpered as he hid behind a pair of rocking horses, warily watching the mob of squabbling fangirls who were now debating about his love life. What the heck is an OTP? He wondered. And what do they mean when they say ‘I ship Bruise’?

“OMG!” someone suddenly shouted in a high-pitched voice. “I think I saw him go that way!” 

“Seriously?!”

“Oh wow, where?!”

“I, like, so call dibs on asking him out first!”

“Not if I ask him first!”

“I ship Jaya!”

“Nuh uh, Bruise all the way!”

“Plasma for life!”

“Techno is awesome!”

Jay held his breath as the mob’s noise decreased in volume. He prayed that meant that they were moving away from his position, but kept hidden just in case. 

Eventually, the chatter of the fangirls died down and then completely vanished altogether. Jay made to come out of his hiding spot, but froze when a pair of shoes appeared before him. He relaxed, however, when Zane’s voice called, “It is safe to come out, Jay.”

Jay breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out. “Thanks, Zane,” he said, stretching. “Man! Those fangirls were persistent!”

“Indeed they were,” the white ninja agreed. “They managed to chase you to the other side of the mall.”

“I know, right?! They were weird! Like, the heck does “I ship Jaya” mean?!”

The question was rhetorical, but Zane still answered. “I do believe that ‘Jaya’ is a combination of your name and Nya’s, and that the person believes that the two of you are romantically compatible. And they refer to that relationship as simply a ‘ship’.” 

Jay stared. “How and when did you figure that out?”

His older teammate shrugged. “I was not doing anything one day a few weeks ago and decided to peruse the internet…”

“AKA, you were bored and decided looked stuff up online.”

Zane’s face revealed nothing, but he did lightly flick at Jay’s shoulder. “As I was saying, I was looking on the internet when I came across a...very interesting website that explained the term to me.”

“Oooh, what was the website?”

Zane actually grimaced. “I’d...rather not tell you. The things on that website were...hmmm, I will just say that I had a severe desire to wipe my memory banks clean when I was finished looking at it.” 

“Oh, c’mon, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

“Do you wish to know what “Greenflame” shipping” is?”

“Sure.”

Zane leaned over and whispered into Jay’s ear. The blue ninja listened intently...only to pale and jump away. “Nuh uh!” he gasped, staring at the nindroid with an expression of horror and disgust. “Really?!”

Zane raised an eyebrow. “My funny switch is not on at the moment.”

Jay choked on air for a few moments. “Gah! Brain bleach! I need brain bleach!” the blue ninja screamed, rubbing frantically at his eyes.

“There is no such thing as ‘brain bleach’, Jay,” Zane sighed, then muttered underneath his breath, “Unfortunately…”

“Ugh,” Jay groaned. “That was an image that I didn’t need. So, what you’re telling me is that there are actually people who ship Greenflame.”

“Correct,” Zane replied. 

“And Greenflame is--and please correct me if I’m wrong--a romantic pairing between Lloyd and--” At that moment, Jay let out a little gasp and exclaimed, “Cole?!”

Zane frowned. “Actually, it is a pairing between Lloyd and Kai. If it were Lloyd and Cole, then the pairing would be--!”

“Lalalalala, I don’t want to hear that!” Jay interrupted. “But that’s not what I was talking about! Look, I think I saw Cole!”

Zane looked to where Jay was pointed and saw a little kid wearing a black ninja gi duck in and out of the crowd towards the food court. “Are you certain that it’s Cole, Jay?”   

“One way to find out,” Jay said, making his way over to where the kid was. “Oi, Cole! Over here!”

The little ninja’s head perked up and warm grey eyes made contact with sparkling blue. “Jay!” Cole exclaimed, waving his hands.

Jay and Zane soon caught up with their teammate. “What are you doing here, Cole?” Zane asked, kneeling down next to Cole. “You are supposed to be with Kai and Lloyd.”

“It’s not my fault!” Cole said. “I had to use the bathroom and Lloyd was walking too fast and I couldn’t keep up, so I got lost.”

“Oooooh snap,” Jay hissed. “Kai’s soooo not gonna be happy about that.”

Cole huffed, crossing his arms. “ I’m not happy,” he declared, pouting and glaring at the floor. “Stupid short legs…”

Zane shook his head. “This is why I suggested that one of us holds your hand,” he said. 

“Isn’t there another option?” Cole whined. “I don’t wanna have to hold someone’s hand for so long. It’s humiliating!”

“Well, it’s not too bad,” Jay tried to cheer the little ninja up. “I’m sure there’s a bunch of embarrassing stuff you did when you were a kid and didn’t get too much flack for it.”

Something flashed in Cole’s eyes for the briefest of moments before he scowled and returned his attention to the floor. “Not. Helping.” He bit out.

Zane and Jay both shared a look, having noticed Cole’s rather abrupt mood swing. Not for the first time, Jay sorely wished that his leader would just open up a little bit more and tell them what was wrong. And he knew that something was wrong, despite all of Cole’s protests. While the black ninja had almost mastered hiding his expression behind a serious mask, his now-much younger face made it obvious that he was trying to hide how he really felt. So it was easy to see that something was bugging Cole, even if he wouldn’t say what it was.

But until Cole decided to open up, Jay would just have to wait.

That didn’t stop him from squishing Cole into a big hug.

“Ack! Jay, lemme go!” Cole complained, wriggling. “Zane, help me! I’m being squished by a blue monster!” 

“Jay is not a monster Cole,” Zane replied, snickering slightly.

“Yes he is! He’s a blue monster who squeezes the life out of people!” Cole insisted.

“Well, if that’s the case, then he isn’t doing a good job. Therefore I believe you shall be fine.”

“Jerk!”

“Awww, admit it, Cole,” Jay teased. “Underneath that tough exterior, you’re a big teddy bear who likes cuddles.”

“N-no I’m not!” Cole exclaimed, cheeks turning red. “Shut up!”

Jay did not ‘shut up’. Instead, he hugged Cole tighter and started teasing him even more. “Awwww. Does wittle Cole not wanna cuddle with big brother Jay? Is that a wittle frown on Cole’s wittle face?” he cooed.

 “Quit that!” Cole shouted, blushing even further. “I’m not a baby!”

Jay laughed and almost continued teasing him, but was stopped when his cell phone went off. Seeing that it was Kai, Jay quickly answered it. “Hey Kai--!”

“Jay! Oh my gosh, please tell me that you got away from those fangirls! Because we have a really bad situation!”

“Cole got lost,” Jay deadpanned.

“COLE GOT LOST--! Wait, how’d you know that?!”

“Cause he’s right next me,” the blue ninja replied, smirking. “Relax, he’s fine.”

Kai didn’t reply. All Jay heard was a loud thud on the other end. “Er, Kai? You okay, bro?”

Kai still didn’t reply, but Lloyd’s voice came through a few seconds later. “Um, I think Kai’s gonna need a minute before he can talk again.”

“What happened?”

“He dropped his phone and is now leaning against a wall. He was super worried, man.”

“Heh, yeah, I can imagine. Well, when Kai recovers, tell him that we’ll meet him in the food court.”

“ Gotcha. See ya in a few.”

“Bye!” Jay chirped before ending the call. 

“Well?” Cole asked.

“They’ll meet us in the food court in a few minutes. Kai nearly collapsed when I told him that you were safe.”

“He must have been really worried,” Zane commented.

“He didn’t have to be,” Cole mumbled, shuffling his feet. “I can take care of myself.”

“Suuuuuure. Because a five-year-old dressed as a ninja is totally threatening. I’m practically wetting my pants in terror at the thought,” Jay said sarcastically, ruffling Cole’s hair.

“Quit that!” the little ninja complained, glaring at the blue ninja while he tried to fix his hair.

“Alright, you two,” Zane interrupted before Jay could start teasing Cole again. “That’s enough. Why don’t we head down to the food court and wait for Kai and Lloyd to meet up with us?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Jay chirped. 

“Soo are you gonna let go of me now?” Cole asked hopefully, wiggling in Jay’s loose grasp.

Jay pouted. “Awwwww, do I have to?”

“My legs aren’t broken, I can walk!” Cole insisted.

“But if you do walk, you’d have to hold someone’s hand,” Jay argued. “Plus, your feet might get tired.”

Cole scowled but was clearly thinking over Jay’s words. 

“C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Jay encouraged. 

Cole thought about it for a little while longer. Jay waited, impatiently bouncing on the balls of his feet. Finally, Cole sighed and said, “Alright, fine. You can carry me.”

Jay beamed. “YES!” he shouted, already reaching to pick up the little ninja.

Cole backed up. “Ah, ah, ah! You can carry me. But, I get to decide how you carry me and how long you can carry me. When I say that I want to be put down, you have to put me down. No questions asked, and no complaining.”

Jay quickly nodded his head, too excited that Cole had finally allowed the blue ninja to carry him to care too much about all the rules. “Deal!”

Cole smirked, and Jay suddenly felt slightly nervous. What have I just agreed to? The blue ninja wondered.

Chapter Text

Kai was giving him a lecture.

Lloyd knew that he was currently being lectured, but after saying “I’m sorry” a hundred times and having Kai rant at him for ten minutes straight, the green ninja had completely given up and had tuned out the lecture he was receiving. 

Would he get in trouble for this later? Mmmm, maybe. But for right now, he didn’t care.

It wasn’t his fault that he had lost sight of Cole!...okay, it wasn’t totally his fault. Cole could have shouted or yelled or said something that would have let him know that the little ninja had fallen behind. Lloyd would have stopped and waited for him!

But noooo, Lloyd had to be the one to take the blame while Cole would probably get nothing, just because he was currently only five.

It. Wasn’t. Fair.

And he knew that life wasn’t fair--heck he’s even said that ‘fair wasn’t a word where he came from’ on one occasion. But it didn’t have to be so unfair at times. At least let Cole have a little scolding or something!

And no, Lloyd was not jealous of Cole.

“.....oyd….Lloyd….LLOYD!”

“Huh?” Lloyd snapped out of his little funk and looked around at his surroundings.

Kai glared at him. “You weren’t even paying attention, were you?” the red ninja accused. 

“Sorry,” Lloyd apologized, not feeling very sorry. “Zoned out for a bit.”

“Like you zoned out while you were walking with Cole?” 

Lloyd scowled. “How many times do I have to say that it was an accident and that I’m sorry ?!” he snapped back. “Besides, Cole’s not technically five, he can take care of himself.”

“His body is still that of a kid’s, Lloyd,” Kai argued. “If someone were to try and take him, there wouldn’t be that much that he could do to fend them off!” The red ninja sighed heavily before grumbling, “Look, let’s just talk about this later. For right now, let’s meet up with the others.”

“Fine by me,” Lloyd grunted.

For the next few minutes, the pair walked in silence. The mall was bustling with shoppers darting to and fro among the many outlets. As they got closer to the food court, the crowds got slightly smaller, which made sense considering it was still a little too early for it to be lunchtime.

“Do you see them?” Kai asked, scanning the tables for their friends.

Lloyd looked around for a few seconds before he spotted Zane standing at a table nearby. “Over there,” he told Kai, pointing. 

Kai nodded and started walking over to the white ninja. “Hey Zane!” he called out.

Zane looked at them and smiled. “Greetings,” he called back, waving back.

“Where’s Cole?” Kai asked quickly, not immediately seeing the little ninja.

Zane chuckled and said, “He and Jay are waiting in line for a smoothie. They should be back soon--ah, never mind. There they are.”

Lloyd looked up and spotted Jay...and immediately had to hold back his laughter.

Because here came Jay, walking towards them with what looked like a blueberry smoothie of some kind, with Cole on his shoulders, also sipping at a smoothie.

“Hey guys!” Jay chirped as he made his way over to the others. Cole just waved from his little perch.

Kai’s shoulders sagged in relief at seeing Cole safe. “Hey,” he said back. 

Lloyd, meanwhile, couldn’t help himself from teasing the little ninja. “So, looks like you finally caved and let Jay carry you, Cole.”

Cole, surprisingly, just shrugged. “It’s actually kinda nice,” he said, pausing to take another sip of his smoothie. “I almost feel like I’m tall again.”

“Pffft, when were you ever tall?” Jay teased, twisting his head to grin cheekily at Cole.

Cole (gently) tugged at Jay’s hair. “Hush, you. You’re smaller than me...normally.”

Jay laughed but decided against retorting. Instead, he asked, “Soooooo, now what? Do we go back to shopping or…”

Kai ran a hand through his head. “Well, I guess since we’re here, we could probably grab some lunch before going back to shopping,” he suggested. 

“Yay!” Cole cheered. “I think I saw a place that had orange chicken while Jay and I were getting smoothies.”

Jay snorted. “You and your orange chicken, man.”

“What? Orange chicken is awesome!” Cole defended himself. “How is me liking orange chicken any different from you liking chow mein? Or Zane liking,” here, the little ninja shuddered and stuck out his tongue in disgust. “Sushi. Bleh.”

Zane frowned. “Whatever is the matter with sushi?” he asked. “I find it to be quite delicious.”

Jay, Cole, and Lloyd gagged. “Dude, you’re literally eating raw fish,” Lloyd complained. “Fish is meant to be cooked and then eaten.” 

“The fish that is in sushi is perfectly fine to eat raw,” Zane argued. “As long as it is prepared properly it is completely safe to consume.”

“It’s still gross,” Cole said, blowing a raspberry. “I wouldn’t ever eat sushi. It’s gross.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Ignoring the fact that sushi is really good and you all need to have your tastebuds checked out, let’s grab some lunch before this place gets too crowded.”

“Our taste buds are just fine, thank you very much!” Jay replied even as he made his way over to one of the food booths. “You and Zane need to have yours checked out!”

“Yeah!” Cole agreed, nodding his head rapidly. 

Lloyd rolled his eyes and followed them.

Hey, at least Kai was too distracted to lecture him now.

~~~~

The rest of the shopping excursion went without too many other shenanigans. Cole and Jay almost started a food fight in the food court, but Kai and Zane were able to stop them before it escalated any further. Other than that, the little ninja was surprisingly cooperative with the rest of the shopping. When the five of them finally walked out of the mall, Cole had changed out of his ninja gi and into a new pair of jeans, the black t-shirt with the music notes, and a new pair of black-and-silver tennis shoes. 

At first, Cole insisted that he was perfectly able to walk back to the Bounty on his own. But about halfway through the journey back, Kai had to pick up the tired out and slightly cranky little ninja and carry him the rest of the way home.

“Alright,” the red ninja announced as soon as he and the others made it onto their ship. “Nap time for all ninja currently under the age of eight.”

“I’m not tired!” Cole protested from his spot on Kai’s back. “I’m not actually five, I don’t need a nap!”

The little ninja’s claim was invalidated when he let out a big yawn. Zane and Kai chuckled while Jay let out a little ‘awww’.

“It’s the middle of the day, you’ve been walking around the mall since this morning, and you ate lunch not too long ago,” Kai said, grinning at his younger leader. “That, my friend, is a recipe for a nap.”

Cole glared at Kai, but couldn’t argue due to another big yawn. Kai chuckled and walked towards the bedroom, everyone else piling in after him.

“I’m not tired, Kai,” Cole told him when Kai entered the bedroom. “I won’t fall asleep.”

“That’s what they all say,” Kai replied, gently placing the little ninja onto his bed. “And eventually, they all fall asleep anyways.”

“Well, I’m not going to,” Cole declared, sitting up in the bed and folding his arms. “I’m wide awake and I don’t need a nap!”

“You’ll feel much better after a nap, Cole,” Kai insisted. “I promise.”

“Not tired,” the little ninja declared stubbornly.

Kai sighed and sat at the end of Cole’s bed. “C’mon Cole, I know that you’re tired. You could use a nap.”

Cole pouted and grumbled, “I don’t want a nap…”

“Well, you need one.”

“Not tired.”

“Well, what helps you fall asleep?” Kai asked. “Music? Lullaby? Bedtime story?”

Cole blushed and looked away. “It-it doesn’t matter because I’m not going to fall asleep!” He stammered.

Kai sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This is going to be difficult, he thought. He knew that before this moment, but he had hoped that Cole would be less stubborn and more open to taking a nap.

No luck.

“Hey Cole!” Jay chirped, sapphire eyes sparkling. “I’ve got something that might help you fall asleep!” 

“And what’s that?” Cole asked, looking rather skeptical. 

Jay grinned, and it was at that moment that Kai saw that he was hiding something behind his back. “Weeeeeell, while you and Kai were getting new shoes, I saw something in a nearby store that I thought you might like.”

The blue ninja brought out what he was hiding and held it out to the little ninja. Kai had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

Cole was not amused. “Seriously, Jay?!” he squeaked, blushing. 

Jay just grinned and waved the arm of the stuffed panda bear in his hands. “ Hi there Cole!” he said in a high-pitched voice. “My name is Bamboo! Can we be friends?!”

Cole covered his face with his hands. “Why am I friends with you?” he whined.

“It is not that bad of an idea, Cole,” Zane chimed in, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Many small children around the age that you are sleep with a toy that they treasure.”

“Did you?” Lloyd snickered, not really expecting an answer.

 To everyone’s surprise and amusement, Zane actually looked embarrassed. “I’d….rather not say,” the nindroid said sheepishly, avoiding eye contact. 

“Oooooooh, you totally did!” Jay exclaimed. “See Cole? Even Zane slept with a stuffed animal during his childhood!”

“Except that I already experienced my childhood,” Cole argued. “And I don’t want that--that thing . I’m not tired, I’m not sleepy, and I. Don’t. Need. A nap!”

“Oooookay,” Kai quickly interjected, seeing the beginnings of a temper-tantrum brewing. “Cole, how about this: let’s have a little contest. If you can stay in that bed and do something quiet for twenty minutes without falling asleep, then I won’t force you to have a nap. If you fall asleep at anytime during the twenty minutes, even if it’s only for a minute, then you have to take a nap. Deal?”

“Hmmmm….deal!” Cole decided, grinning. “Hope you’re ready to lose, because I’m not tired at all!”

“Of course you’re not,” Kai replied neutrally, pulling out his mp3 player and a deck of cards. “How about we play a card game while I play some music?”

Cole groaned. “But card games are boooooooring!” he complained. “Zane always wins or I always lose!”

Kai shrugged. “Well, if you’d rather do something else, like, say, take a quick power nap, then…”

Cole scowled and held out his hands. “Give me some cards, let’s play.”

Kai smirked. “I knew that you’d see things my way.” He pulled out the playing cards and started to shuffle them. “Who’s up for a round of Go Fish?”

~~~~~

“Jay, do you have any threes?”

“Nope! Go fish!”

“Darn it,” Lloyd grumbled as he took a card from the rapidly dwindling pile.

“Zane,” Jay asked. “Got any….queens?”

“Sorry, Jay. But you must go fish.”

“Dang it!”

“Kai, do you possess any kings?”

“I swear that you’re cheating somehow, Zane,” Kai grumbled as he handed over the three kings in his hand.

“How can I cheat at Go Fish?” Zane asked, placing the four kings in his hand down next to him, next to the other cards that he had won.

“I don’t know, you just do!” Kai exclaimed, letting out an angry huff. “I can see why you don’t like playing cards with us, Cole….Cole?”

Kai glanced over his shoulder where Cole was sitting. The little ninja was holding up all of his cards in one hand while he rested his chin on the other one. His eyelids were drooping and he looked well on his way to falling asleep.

When Kai called out to him, Cole shook his head and blinked fiercely. “H-huh? Is it my turn?” he asked drowsily, yawning throughout his entire sentence.

Kai chuckled and gently took Cole’s cards from him. “I think that it’s naptime for you,” he laughed.

“Don’ wanna,” Cole complained, even as he allowed Kai to lie him back in his bed.

“You’re tired, Cole,” Kai said gently, tucking the blankets around the little ninja. “Just lie back and take a quick power nap.” Acting on an instinct, he grabbed the stuffed panda that Jay had bought and offered it to the little ninja. “You’ll feel better, trust me.”

It was probably a testament to how tired Cole actually was that he actually took the panda from Kai and brought it underneath the covers with him, hugging the toy close to him. “Fine…” he murmured, turning onto his side and burying his face in his pillow. “But only for a few minutes…”

Kai chuckled again, gently patting Cole’s shoulder. “Of course, pal. Sleep tight.”

“Don’ let the bedbugs bite…” Cole slurred as his eyelids closed. A few seconds later and the little ninja had drifted off to sleep.

“Awwwww,” Jay cooed. “I love having a little brother. He’s just so cute!”

“Indeed,” Zane agreed, smiling. “I’d even go so far as to say that turning into a kid has had a good effect on Cole. He is eating more, and, while at times he is frustrated with his situation, he seems happier than he had a few weeks ago.”

“Shhh!” Kai shushed them. “Let’s continue this conversation elsewhere, before we accidentally wake Cole up.” Then, casting the sleeping ninja a smile, Kai added, “Though, you guys are right. It’s nice seeing him happy.”

There was a murmur of consensus among the ninja as they exited the bedroom, leaving their adoptive brother alone to sleep.

Though Jay did manage to sneak in a picture of a sleeping Cole cuddling the stuffed panda, a tiny smile on his face. 

Chapter Text

It was a beautiful afternoon, almost evening, and Lou Brookstone was worried.

Now, as the father of a certain Ninja of Earth, whose line of work usually entailed him to run head-first into danger, Lou felt that he was allowed to worry from time to time. It wasn’t easy for him to cope with the fact that his son wasn’t off at one of the most prestigious dance schools in Ninjago, safely learning how to be a better dancer. But he managed to cope with it, and seeing as how most of the danger was over with that Overlord guy defeated, Lou allowed himself to worry a little less about his son.

But then, a few days ago, on the day when he received Cole’s weekly call, his son never called. Lou had patiently waited to see if maybe Cole had forgotten and would call him the next day. But Cole never called. Instead, Lou had received a call from his son’s sensei. He had reassured Lou that Cole was alright, but had a run-in with a criminal that had left him unharmed, but...changed. Wu had then gone on to say that Lou was free to visit his son and his friends, but to be prepared for a bit of a shock. The old sensei had also warned Lou against saying anything about his and Cole’s private life. Apparently there were a few things that his son had kept hidden from his friends and wasn’t entirely eager to share. Lou had a good idea what exactly his son was hiding, but decided that he shouldn’t interfere.

It was his son’s way of coping, after all.

Which brought him to his current situation: on the deck of the Destiny’s Bounty, knocking at the door and praying that someone could tell him what had happened to Cole.

Lou waited for a few moments after the first knock. When the door didn’t open, he knocked again, worry growing.

A muffled, “Coming!” sounded through the wooden door. Seconds later, a young lad wearing green opened the door and looked at him with surprise. “O-oh. Hey there, Mr. Brookstone.”

“Hello there, Lloyd,” Lou greeted, smiling. “And please, none of that ‘Mr. Brookstone’ stuff. It makes me feel old. Just Lou is fine.”

“O-oh. Okay then. C-can I help you, Mr. Brook--er, Lou?” Lloyd asked.

He looked nervous, Lou observed. Though as to why, the mustachioed-man had no idea. 

“Actually, yes,” Lou said. “Cole hasn’t called me for his usual update and I was wondering if he was home. And,” he added. “If he’s okay.”

“Ooooh. Yeaaaaaah, he’s fine,” Lloyd mumbled, looking even more nervous.

Lou took notice. “Are you certain?” he asked, narrowing his eyes some.

“Uhhh, yeah, sure! Totally. He’s fine,” Lloyd replied, an obviously fake grin plastered onto his face. “Completely 100% fine. Okay, well, maybe 99.9% fine, but he’s not hurt or anything!”

“Young man,” Lou said sternly in his ‘no-nonsense’ tone. “Where. Is. My son?”

Lloyd quailed underneath his gaze. “Uh, one sec,” he mumbled before closing the door slightly and shouting, “KAI! I NEED SOME HELP HERE!”

Lou raised an eyebrow. That eyebrow got raised even higher when Kai’s voice shouted back, “If it’s a rabid fangirl again, you’re on your own, man!”

The red ninja soon came into sight. “Alright, Lloyd. What did you need help with--...oh. Crud.”

Lou wasn’t paying any attention to Kai.

He was paying attention to the little boy sitting atop the red ninja’s shoulder. Said little boy was staring right back at him, warm grey eyes wide with surprise.

“Cole?!”

“DAD?!”

~~~~~

After finishing their game of Go Fish (Zane won, to the surprise of absolutely no one), the ninja decided to retire to the rec room. Jay, Kai, and Lloyd started up a game of Smash Bros while Zane read a book.

Two hours later, Cole walked into the room, rubbing at his eye tiredly. His hair was all messed-up and, to everyone’s amusement, he was carrying the panda plushie underneath his arm.

“Hey Cole,” Kai greeted, looking away from the game for a second. “How was your nap?”

Cole yawned before replying. “It was nice,” he said, smiling sheepishly. “You were right, I do feel better.”

“That’s good. See? Told you,” Kai said smugly, grinning.

“Yeah, yeah,” Cole rolled his eyes as he made his way to the couch, squeezing in-between Zane and Kai. “Who’s winning?” he asked, turning towards the TV.

“At the moment? I’ve got three lives left, Lloyd has two--”

“Make that one,” the green ninja muttered, scowling.

“Lloyd has one,” Kai amended. “And Jay still has two.”

“Pikachu is the best!” Jay declared.

“Psssh, please. If anyone’s the best, it’s Link,” Lloyd argued.

“You’re both wrong, Ike and Charizard are clearly the best,” Kai chimed in. 

“Guys, stop arguing,” Cole groaned. Then, grinning cheekily, he added, “But you’re all wrong. Marth is the best!”

Jay and Lloyd both groaned while Kai cried out, “Objection! Ike is obviously better than Marth in Smash Bros! Heck, I’m better than Marth!”

“But Marth’s moves are better than Ike’s,” Cole argued. “Plus, he’s probably a better swordsman than you.”

Kai gasped. “Take that back.”

“Hmmmmm...nope!” 

“Oh, that’s it,” Kai declared, pausing the game. “C’mere, you!”

Cole squeaked and tried to hide behind Zane. “Zane, protect me!”

Zane rolled his eyes and stood up. “Please leave me out of this,” he asked, not looking up from his book.

“Traitor!” Cole cried, only to yelp and roll off the couch when Kai made a grab at him.

“I’m gonna getcha, Cole!” Kai sing-songed, chasing after the little ninja.

“Never!” Cole declared, childishly sticking his tongue out at the red ninja.

Everyone paused when they heard the sound of someone knocking on the door. “I’ll get it,” Lloyd said, standing up and making his way towards the door.

Kai took advantage of the situation and grabbed Cole while he was distracted. “Gotcha!”

Cole shrieked and flailed. “Kai lemme go!”

Kai adjusted his grip on the little ninja so that he could give Cole a noogie. “Not until you take it back!”

“Nyahahahaha! Kai, quit it!” 

“Take it back~!”

“Never!”

Jay laughed as Kai continued to give Cole a noogie. Zane rolled his eyes again, but hid a smile behind his book.

The shenanigans ended when Lloyd shouted, “KAI! I NEED SOME HELP HERE!”

“Oh boy,” Kai muttered as he swung Cole up onto his shoulders and made his way towards the front door. “If it’s a rabid fangirl again,” he yelled to Lloyd. “you’re on your own, man!”

 It didn’t take long for Kai and Cole to make it to the front door. Lloyd was holding the door halfway open and looked positively terrified.

Concerned, Kai walked up to the front door and said, “Alright, Lloyd. What did you need help with--...oh,” he trailed off when he saw who, exactly, was at the front door. “Crud.”

Lou Brookstone stared at Kai in shock...or, more accurately, the little person sitting on Kai’s shoulders.

“Cole?!”

“DAD?!”

~~~~

Cole desperately wanted this to be a dream.

He wanted this to be one big, terrible dream. He wasn’t actually a little kid, and his dad wasn’t currently standing at the front door, and his dad wasn’t actually seeing him as a little kid again…

But a discreet pinch to his arm revealed the horrifying truth: Cole was completely awake.

So this was actually happening.

“S-son?!” his dad gasped, chocolate-brown eyes still wide with shock. “Is...is that actually you?”

Feeling his cheeks heat up in embarrassment, Cole looked away and mumbled, “Yes…”

He waited for the huge blowout, in which his dad would shout and yell and panic…

But none of those things happened.

The corner of his dad’s lips twitched and he brought up his hand to cover his mouth.

Cole saw it, and instantly felt a pit form in his stomach. “Dad~,” he pleaded. “Don’t do it.”

That turned out to be the last straw for his dad.

Lou threw his head back, and burst out laughing.

Cole groaned as his dad laughed long and hard. “Kai,” he whined. “Please kill me…”

“Sorry, Cole,” Kai laughed, not sounding very sorry at all. “No can do.”

“Meanie,” Cole told him before turning towards his dad. “Dad, it’s not that funny! Stop laughing!”

His dad seemed to calm down some, his laughter dying down and turning into small chuckles. “I-I’m sorry, son,” he gasped. “I-I just wasn’t expecting... this. Your sensei called and told me that you had a run-in with a crook that left you ‘changed’, but...I wasn’t expecting this .”

Cole blushed even more and he hid his face in Kai’s hair.

Kai chuckled. “Yeah, none of us were expecting this,” he said, smiling. “But it hasn’t been all bad.” He opened the door a little bit more. “Wanna come in and hear all about it?”

“Kai!” Cole protested.

“Why thank you, young man,” Lou said, walking into the ship. “I would love to hear about the situation that my son has gotten into.”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Cole exclaimed. “I didn’t ask to be turned into a kid! This crook had this bomb-thingy that did this,” he gestured to his tiny body. “To me! I don’t even know why he had something like that!”

“Perhaps he knew how cute you were when you were this age,” his dad suggested, ruffling Cole’s hair. “Ah, I remember those days. I think you got your first pair of dance shoes when you were this age.”

“Daaaaad~”

“Awww, what kind of dance shoes were they?” Kai asked.

“Tap shoes,” Cole answered, wiggling his foot. “I got my first pair when I was five.”

“He kept trying to dance in mine,” Lou added, smiling fondly. “So I decided to get him a pair that actually fit his feet. The look of joy when he unboxed them, ah, that’s something I’ll never forget.”

“I didn’t know that you liked dancing Cole,” Lloyd said.

Cole blushed slightly. “I-I don’t,” he mumbled. “I mean, it’s fun sometimes and I like tap dancing occasionally, it’s just not something that I want to do everyday.”

He fiddled nervously with his fingers, wondering what his dad would say to that. While he was on good terms with his father ever since he had reached his True Potential, there were still a few rocky parts in their relationship.

But his dad merely smiled and ruffled his hair playfully. “I wanted a dancer, but got a ninja instead,” he said. “And I couldn’t be prouder.”

Cole blushed even more but smiled. “Thanks Dad,” he said. Then, acting on an impulse, he reached out towards his dad. Lou smiled even more, and gently plucked him from Kai’s shoulders, hugging him close.

Cole wrapped his arms around his dad’s neck and sighed happily, feeling warm and safe in his dad’s arms. Inhaling the sweet, clean, familiar scent of his dad’s favorite cologne was like taking a trip down memory lane, when he was actually five years old and his dad would pick him up and swing him around, pretending to dance with him.

The sound of a camera shutter going off made Cole jump and twist his head to the side. At some point, Jay and Zane had walked into the room and Jay was holding up his phone, taking pictures. “This is so cute!” He cooed as he snapped more pictures.

Cole blushed and hid his face in his dad’s chest. “Jay, I hate you so much,” he hissed.

Lou chuckled, carefully adjusting his hold on Cole. “Relax son. There is nothing wrong with a few pictures.”

“There is if Jay’s taking them!” Cole protested. “He’ll use them as blackmail!”

 “Do not fret Cole,” Zane told him. “I will make sure that Jay does not use the pictures as blackmail.”

“Awww, c’mon Zane!” Jay complained, pouting. “You’re no fun!”

“Thank you Zane,” Cole said, smiling at the white ninja.

Zane smiled back. “You are very welcome, Cole.” 

“Now that we have that settled,” Lou chimed in. “Why don’t we all find a place to sit and you can all tell me what you have been up to.”

“De we have to?” Cole whined. 

“Don’t worry, Cole,” Kai told him, ruffling his hair. “We won’t embarrass you...too much.”

“Gee, thanks Kai,” Cole grumbled, sticking out his tongue at the red ninja.

~~~~~

After everyone had moved to the big table in the dining room (with Cole sitting in his dad’s lap), the ninja proceeded to tell Lou all of the events that had transpired. There was much teasing, but it was all in good fun and Cole managed to keep his embarrassment to a minimum. In turn, Lou shared about how he and the other Royal Blacksmiths had gotten together a few times in the past week to practice for a concert that they were doing next month. He dropped hints that Cole was more than welcome to join them onstage, but Cole politely declined the offer. 

Hours passed, and eventually, Lou announced that it was time for him to head back to his house. He declined the offer to stay for dinner, stating that he had another rehearsal later that night. 

“Before I go,” Lou said before the good-byes could be said. “Cole, can I talk you? Privately?”

Suddenly nervous, Cole nevertheless nodded his head. “Sure, Dad.” He glanced at his teammates and thankfully Zane caught the subtle hint.

“Jay,” The white ninja suddenly spoke up. “Would you like to assist me in teaching the others how to play the Hat Game?”

Jay’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! C’mon guys, this’ll be fun!” he exclaimed, racing out the dining room towards the game room.

“Somehow, I feel like I’m going to be very frustrated by the end of this game,” Kai grumbled as he and Lloyd followed the blue ninja, Zane right behind them.

Once Lou and Cole were alone, Lou looked at the little ninja in his lap. “How’re doing, son?” he asked gently.

Cole shrugged. “Okay, I guess,” he replied. “I wish that I wasn’t a little kid, but I’ve been managing.”

Lou smiled sadly and turned Cole so that he faced him. “That’s not what I’m talking about,” he said. “And I think you know that.”

Cole’s eyes widened and his expression fell. “Oh,” he said softly, turning away slightly from his dad. “I...I’m okay.”

“Are you?” Lou asked, gently cupping Cole’s face and lifting it up so that he could look his son in the eye. “Are you really okay?”

Cole bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will away the tears that threatened to come out. “I’m fine,” he replied, calmly, firmly. “I’ll be okay.”

Lou could see the strong face that his son was desperately trying to maintain. Had he’d been his normal, teenager self, he might have succeeded in appearing normal. But his now-child body couldn’t quite hide the signs that he was faking it. His tiny shoulders shook slightly and the blank mask that he had on his face would crack every so often. 

“You know son,” Lou said slowly. “It might be better if you talk to someone about this--”

Cole’s eyes hardened. “I’m not going to a shrink,” he hissed.

Lou frowned. “I wasn’t talking about going to a therapist,” he said sternly, stressing the word ‘therapist’. “Though that might not be a bad idea. I was talking about someone you feel close to. Maybe your friends?” he suggested.

Cole frowned and shook his head. “They wouldn’t understand…”

“How would you know that?”

“Because I do!” the little ninja exclaimed. “If they found out...if I told them…”

Seeing that his son was on the verge of tears, Lou decided that he had pushed too hard. “I’m sorry, Cole,” he whispered, gently hugging his son close. “I shouldn’t have pushed. It’s just….I know how you get around this time of year. I just want to make sure that you’re okay.”

Cole sniffled and buried his face in his dad’s chest. A few tears slid down his cheeks. “I miss her…” he whimpered.

Lou didn’t need any clarification on who ‘her’ was. His own eyes shone with unshed tears and he hugged Cole closer. “I know son,” he whispered, rubbing Cole’s back soothingly. “I do too.”

“Even though you two fought a lot?” Cole hiccupped, fists tightening around his dad’s clothes as he remembered those arguments, those loud, mean, constant arguments….

His thoughts stuttered some when he felt Lou gently kiss the top of his head. “Even then,” his dad whispered. 

For a while, the two sat there, hugging each other close and sharing a small moment of grief. Eventually, Cole broke away and sat up in his dad’s lap, rubbing at his eyes. Lou watched sadly as the stone mask from before slipped over his son’s face, making Cole’s expression stoic. The only crack in the mask was deep within his eyes, where a small hint of sadness still lurked within the warm grey. 

Lou didn’t comment on it. Instead, he smiled fondly and ruffled his son’s hair. “You know, maybe I should find the crook that did this to you and ask him how he did it,” he said teasingly. “I can’t remember the last time that I was able to hold you like this.”

“Daaaaaaad~” Cole complained, but a smile started tugging at his lips. The little ninja reached out and hugged his dad one last time, which Lou gladly returned. “Love you,” Cole murmured.

Lou smiled widely and he hugged Cole a little tighter. “I love you too, son,” he replied. 

Cole gave his dad one last squeeze before he let go. “Wanna go say good-bye to the others before you go?” he asked.

Lou smiled and nodded. “Lead the way, son.”

Cole grinned and slid out of his dad’s lap. “C’mon,” he said, grabbing his dad’s hand and pulling him towards the game room. “They’re this way.”

Lou laughed and followed his eager son. Two minutes later, the duo entered the game room and saw that the ninja were in the middle of a heated argument.

“THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!” Kai screeched. “How can Jay have the hat if Lloyd gave the hat to me?!”

Zane shrugged. “I cannot tell you how the game works, Kai,” the nindroid responded. “That would be cheating.”

“Gah! This game is frustrating!” Lloyd complained. 

“Try again!” Jay encouraged before clearing his throat. “Now, I bought a hat and gave it to Nya, who put it on but the wind blew it away. Kai picked up the hat and gave it to Cole, who put it on his bed. Who has the hat?”

Lou laughed. “I remember this game,” he said, startling the players. “I used to always struggle with it before I figured it out.”

“Can you tell us how this game works then?!” Lloyd asked hopefully.

Lou smiled and shook his head. “Now where’s the fun in that?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.

“Dang it!” Lloyd shouted. 

“Guess!” Jay said, grinning.

“Does Cole have the hat?” Kai asked.

“Nope!”

“Does the bed have the hat?” Lloyd guessed.

“Nope!” Jay giggled.

“Does Zane have the hat?” Kai asked.

“Engh, wrong!” 

Cole giggled. “My dad has the hat,” he laughed. 

“Cole is right!” Zane said.

“WHAT?!” Kai and Lloyd exclaimed.

“He wasn’t even in the story!” Lloyd protested. “How could he have the hat?!”

Cole shrugged. “I dunno,” he replied. “I just guessed.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed. “Alright, wise guy. Let’s see if you can guess the right answer again.”

“You’re on!” 

Lou cleared his throat, gaining everyone’s attention. “While I would love to join in, I really must be going.”

“Awwww, c’mon Dad!” Cole whined. “Just one game? Pleeeeeeeease?”

Lou at his son, who was giving him his best impression of a puppy dog, and sighed. “Alright, one game,” he conceded.

“Yay!” Cole exclaimed. “Can I do the story?”

“Go right ahead,” Zane said.

“Awesome! So, Zane had a hat but his falcon took it and gave it to Sensei, but Jay’s robot accidentally took it and put it on Lloyd’s bed. Lloyd grabbed the hat and gave it to Kai. Who has the hat?”

“Kai does!” Lloyd answered.

“Nope!” 

“GOSH DANG IT!!!!”

Chapter Text

The ninja spent the rest of the evening playing The Hat Game. Kai eventually caught onto how the game was played, but Lloyd couldn’t quite figure it out. There was much laughter and even more screams of frustration.

Cole’s dad had left after the first game, though not without hugging his son and reminding him to keep in touch. Cole looked a little upset after his dad left, but he quickly shook it off so no one really questioned it.

After dinner, the ninja enjoyed a small Super Smash Bros tournament with Kai and Cole winning most of the matches.

This came to an end, however, when Cole started to get sleepy. Despite his protests, the little ninja was soon escorted to bed by Zane and read a bedtime story.

The only reason that Cole didn’t protest the bedtime story was that Zane promised to read him a Percy Jackson book. Zane did amazing voice impressions of the Percy Jackson characters.

“Alright,” Zane suddenly announced, placing a bookmark in between the pages of the book. “That’s enough for tonight.”

“Awww, c’mon Zane!” Cole exclaimed, pouting. “One more chapter! You’re at the really good part!”

“Cole, you’ve read The Lightning Thief over a dozen times. Surely you know what’s going to happen next.”

“Yeah, but that’s not the point!” Cole protested. “You can’t just stop right there!”

Zane chuckled and tucked the blankets around his younger teammate. “I will read you more tomorrow night if you wish,” he promised.

Cole groaned. “Fiiiiiiine. Just as long as you promise to do the voices.”

Zane laughed. “I promise.” He gently ruffled Cole’s hair and stood up. “Good night, brother.”

“Night,” Cole murmured as he cuddled underneath the blankets. 

It didn’t take him long to fall asleep.

~~~~

It was dark all around him. Cold, scary darkness.

Cole shivered and hugged himself, not liking the heavy darkness surrounding him. “H-Hello?” he called out hesitantly. “Is...is anyone there?”

Nobody answered him. Biting his lip, Cole started walking forward, trying to see if he could get out of this darkness.

“Hello?” He called out again as he walked. “Is there anyone else here?”

“....Cole?”

The little ninja looked up sharply when he heard his name being called. “Hello? Who’s there? How do you know my name?” he called back.

“Cole!” the voice called out to him. “Over here, sweetie!”

Cole’s eyes widened. He looked around and….there. Just ahead, the darkness had receded into a lighter grey. And standing in the grey area was a person….a very familiar person.

But no….it couldn’t be...she was gone….and yet….

“....Mom?” 

The figure waved. “Cole! C’mon sweetie what are you waiting for?”

Tears started stinging at Cole’s eyes. He took a step forward, and then another. Soon, he was sprinting at full tilt towards the figure. “I’m coming Mommy!” he called out. “I’m coming!”

His mom was here….she was here, she didn’t break her promise, shewashereshewashereshewashere….

So absorbed in racing towards his mother, Cole never noticed how the darkness had receded to a dark, menacing grey, nor did he notice how clouds had appeared and thunder rumbled.

He noticed that something was wrong when he felt something drip onto his head. The little ninja looked up and gasped at the enormous storm clouds that had appeared above him. Rain started pouring from the heavens, completely soaking Cole. 

No….no….nononono….

“Cole!” his mother’s voice made the little ninja jump. “Hold on, sweetie, I’ll come over there!”

Cole’s eyes widened. “No, Mom!” he screamed as he whirled around. “Stay over there!”

It happened too fast. Suddenly, Cole heard the squealing of tires losing traction against the ground. He heard his mother cry out out before there was a sickening thump.

“MOMMY!!!!”

~~~~

Cole gasped as he shot straight up in his bed. Sweat dripped down his forehead and his whole body shook.

“...it was a dream,” he whispered. “I was dreaming.”

A sudden clap of thunder made the little ninja jump and almost made him scream. Looking out the window in the bedroom, Cole saw that the sky outside was dark and cloudy. He heard raindrops beat a pattern while thunder rumbled in the distance.

The little ninja shivered and hugged the blankets close to him. He hated thunderstorms.

For the next few minutes, Cole desperately tried to calm himself down enough so that he could fall back asleep. But the nightmare had left him shaken and the storm outside just made matters worse.

“It’s just a stupid dream,” he told himself, trying to ignore the thunderstorm. “It’s just a dream, it’s okay, it’s just a dream…”

Cole squeaked when the thunder rumbled once again. He clutched his blankets tighter, but it didn’t really help much. For a brief, childish moment, he considered waking up one of his teammates and asking them if they could help calm him down, but quickly shook it off. He was a big boy, he wasn’t actually five! If he asked one of his teammates, he would have to endure even more teasing, and he couldn’t allow that.

Eventually, Cole decided that he would just have to handle the situation by himself. He wrapped his blankets around him tight and even searched for that silly panda plush that he had strangely grown attached to. But when he looked for it, he couldn’t find.

Cole facepalmed. “Right, I left it on the couch,” he muttered. He tried to make do without it, but his pillow unfortunately turned out to be a poor substitute for the little stuffed animal.

Sighing, Cole wiggled out of his bed and slowly made his way out of the bedroom, checking behind him to make sure that none of his teammates had awakened before he left. He crept down the dark hallway, jumping every time he saw a flash of lightning or heard the deep rumble of thunder.

Eventually, he made to the game room. He immediately spotted his panda plushie and quickly snatched it, hugging it close. 

“Okay,” he muttered to himself. “Now to get back to the bedroom…”

CRACK!

Cole screamed as an extremely loud clap of thunder sounded. Not thinking, he dove for the closest cover--Kai’s favorite red blanket that he had haphazardly thrown onto the couch. The little ninja threw the blanket over him and huddled underneath it, hugging the panda plush to his chest.

“It’s just thunder, Cole,” he chanted to himself. “It’s just thunder, it won’t hurt you, it’s not like that night, it’s just thunder--!”

Another loud clap thunder sounded and Cole screamed again.

~~~~

Lloyd was startled awake by the sound of thunder.

The green ninja had no idea why that had woken him up. He was normally a pretty deep sleeper, but for some reason the thunderstorm raging outside had jolted him out of a deep slumber.

Lloyd groaned as he stared the ceiling. “Might as well get some water,” he mumbled, slowly getting out of his bed.

To be honest, thunderstorms made Lloyd uneasy. They didn’t scare him per se, but they reminded him too much of the final battle between him and the Overlord. All the darkness and the lightning…

Lloyd jumped when he heard a loud crack of thunder. He jumped again when he heard someone scream.

His instincts screamed ‘intruder’ and Lloyd quickly Spinjitzued into his ninja suit. He used his Golden Power to lit up his surroundings and quickly but quietly walked in the direction that he’d heard the scream.

Lloyd walked into the game room and blinked when he didn’t see anyone in the room. “What the…” he muttered.

Another clap of thunder sounded and Lloyd jumped when he heard the scream again. Narrowing his eyes, the green ninja noticed movement coming from the couch, a small lump underneath Kai’s red blanket. Cautiously, Lloyd crept up to the couch, making sure to be silent. Quickly, he grabbed a corner of the blanket and lifted it up.

Lloyd’s eyes widened as he saw who was under the blanket. “Cole?!”

Cole squeaked when Lloyd took the blanket off of him. “O-oh!” he exclaimed. “Uh, h-hi Lloyd.”

A flash of irritation coursed through the green ninja. “What are you doing?” he demanded. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”

Cole fidgeted. “Couldn’t sleep,” he muttered.

Lloyd groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright, come on,” he grumbled. “Let’s get you back into bed--!”

CRACK!

Cole screamed when another thunderclap sounded and threw the blanket back over himself. 

Lloyd looked at him, stunned. “Cole,” he said slowly. “Are...you you afraid of the--!”

“I’m not scared!” Cole interrupted, poking his head out from under the blanket in order to glare at Lloyd. 

Lloyd rolled his eyes. “Riiiight, because hiding underneath a blanket and screaming every time there’s thunder is totally what someone does when they’re not scared.”

Cole glared even more at him. “If you’re just going to be a jerk, then just leave already!”

Lloyd’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not being a jerk,” he growled. “If anything, you’re being a brat!”

“Well, now you know how we felt when you were first here!” Cole shot back.

“At least I didn’t steal everyone’s attention!”

“You sound like you’re jealous!”

“I’m not jealous!”

“Selfish jerk!”

“Spoiled brat!”

CRACK!

“AHHH!” Cole shrieked and ducked underneath the blanket again.

Lloyd stared at the quivering form for a while, cooling down from his annoyance and feeling slightly bad. Sighing, he reached out and gently touched the small lump in the red blanket. “Cole…”

“Go away!” 

“Cole, look, I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you a brat.” Lloyd huffed and sat down on the couch on the opposite side of Cole. “Guess I am slightly jealous….”

He heard Cole shift underneath the blanket. “Why?” the little ninja asked.

Lloyd snorted. “I dunno. I guess...everyone is bending over backwards for you after you got turned into a little kid. You’ve gotten toys and new clothes and everyone wants to pick you up and carry you around…” Lloyd sighed and hugged his knees to his chest. “I never got that when I was your age.”

“Oh,” Cole said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Lloyd replied. 

Another crack of thunder sounded, making both of them jump, though Cole didn’t scream this time. “I hate thunderstorms…” the little ninja whined from underneath the blanket.

“Honestly, same,” Lloyd replied, shivering. “They remind me too much of the Final Battle…”

“Really?” Cole asked.

“Heh, yeah,” Lloyd replied. 

There was a beat of silence before Cole quietly said, “I...I lost someone important during a thunderstorm…”

Lloyd’s head snapped to the little ninja, who had come out slightly from the blanket. “Cole…”

Cole sniffled and rubbed at his eyes. “There was a drunk driver coming from around the corner. The...the rain made his car slip out of control. My--the person important to me was crossing the street when that happened.” The little ninja curled up into a ball. “They died later in the hospital.”

“Oh Cole…” Lloyd reached over and hugged him. “I...I know that it doesn’t really help but….I’m sorry.”

Cole sniffled and hugged Lloyd back. “It’s okay,” he said shakily. “It happened years ago. I’m okay.”

“Are you?”

Cole took a moment to respond. “I-I had a nightmare about it tonight,” he mumbled. “That’s why I came here.”

Lloyd bit his bottom lip. “W-well, if you want to talk about it….”

Cole shook his head, but hugged Lloyd tighter. “Can...can we just stay like this for a little longer?”

A small smile tugged at Lloyd’s lips. “Of course,” he replied, hugging the little ninja closer.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before Cole pulled away. “Thank you,” he whispered, rubbing at his eyes.

“What are brothers for?” Lloyd replied, ruffling Cole’s hair. “Heh, feels kinda weird being the older brother though.”

Cole laughed. “I’m not that much older than you, Lloyd.”

“Well, you’re what, Kai’s age? And Kai’s seventeen so...”

Cole’s brow furrowed. “I’m not seventeen…”

“You’re not?” Lloyd blinked. “Oh, are you eighteen then?”

Cole’s mouth twitched. “No.”

“Nineteen?”

Cole shook his head, smiling. “Nope.”

“Twenty? Oh gosh, please don’t say you’re actually twenty-one,” Lloyd gasped. “Because dang, then you’d be an adult and much older than everyone else and---!”

Cole burst out laughing, clutching at his stomach. “I-I’m definitely not twenty-one, Lloyd!” he said in between laughs.

“Then...how old are you?”

Cole stopped laughing and suddenly looked nervous. “I….”

“Come on, Cole! We don’t even know when your birthday is! At least tell me how old you are!” Lloyd implored.

Cole chewed his lip. “...promise not to tell anyone else?” he finally asked.

Lloyd crossed his heart. “Promise.”

Fidgeting slightly, Cole quietly murmured, “I’m turning sixteen this spring…”

Lloyd nodded...then gaped when Cole’s words registered. “You’re only fifteen?!”

“Shhhh, keep your voice down!” Cole shushed him. 

Lloyd stared at him in disbelief. Here he thought that Cole was so much older than him when he was actually the same age as he was(physically anyways)! 

“...wow,” the green ninja breathed. “I-I can’t believe that you’re only fifteen.”

Cole huffed and rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe that you almost thought that I was twenty-one.”

Lloyd blushed. “Eh, touché.” He blinked. “Wait a minute, does that mean Jay is older than you?!”

“You can’t tell him!” Cole told him. “I’ll never hear the end of it if he finds out.”

Lloyd laughed as he held up his hands in surrender. “Don’t worry, man. My lips are sealed.”

“Good.”

“So….when’s your birthday?”

“Nope.”

“Aw c’mon man!”

“I already told you how old I am!”

“Well, I’m technically also fifteen and my birthday is also in spring. So unless I know when your birthday is, I could possibly be older than you~”

Cole groaned. “You suck, Lloyd.”

Lloyd grinned. “Sooooo…”

“...April 22.”

“...seriously?”

“Don’t laugh.”

“But you’re born—“

“I know.”

“And you’re the—“

“I know.”

“And your name—“

“Don’t laugh!”

Lloyd tried to hold it in, but a few snickers escaped. 

“Lloyd!” Cole complained, blushing.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Lloyd wheezed as he tried to hold in his laughter. “But dude, you’re born on freaking Earth Day . I think I’m perfectly justified in finding that highly amusing.”

Cole groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Aaaaand that’s why I never told anyone. They always make fun of me.”

“Hey, I’m not trying to mean,” Lloyd gently elbowed Cole. “I think it’s kinda cool to have your birthday on a holiday.” His lips twitched. “Even if it’s Earth Day.”

Cole groaned again. “You can’t tell anyone about this. I’ll never live it down.”

Lloyd pretended to zip his lips shut. “I won’t say anything. I promise.”

“Good,” Cole grinned before suddenly letting out a huge yawn.

Lloyd chuckled even as he yawned as well. “Welp, it’s late, and I’m tired,” he announced, standing up and offering his hand to Cole. “You ready?”

Cole nodded and took Lloyd’s hand, his panda plushie in his other. “Ready.”

The duo walked back to the bedroom. Outside, the thunderstorm had calmed down though there was the occasional rumble of thunder. Neither Lloyd or Cole paid attention to it, though.

Once inside the bedroom, Cole walked over to his bottom bunk, but didn’t get in it. While he didn’t feel scared of the thunderstorm anymore, he still remembered his dream vividly and even the mere thought of it made his hands start to shake some.

He heard Lloyd sigh and assumed that the green ninja had gotten into his bed. So imagine Cole’s surprise when he heard Lloyd say, “Alright, c’mere,” and felt arms gently lift him up and carry him to Lloyd’s bed.

Lloyd gently placed Cole on the right side of his bed before crawling into the left side of it. “Just don’t hog the blankets,” he muttered through a yawn.

Cole blinked, confused, before it finally hit him. Feeling slightly embarrassed, Cole nonetheless crawled underneath the blankets and got comfortable. 

It was quiet for a few minutes, save for a few rumbles of thunder. “Lloyd?” Cole’s quiet voice suddenly piped.

“Yeah?” Lloyd asked sleepily.

“...Thank you.”

Lloyd grinned before resting his head on his pillow. “Night Cole,” he muttered as he shut his eyes.

Cole smiled and also closed his eyes. “Night Lloyd.”

Feeling safe and secure thanks to his brother-in-all-but-blood, Cole spent the rest of the night in a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

When Kai woke up that morning, it was still raining outside, but it was a calm drizzle rather than a raging thunderstorm.

The red ninja slowly sat up in his bed and yawned, stretching his back. Hearing some quiet giggles, Kai peered down and blinked when he saw Jay and Zane crowded around Lloyd’s bed.

“What’s going on?” he asked, climbing down from the top bunk. 

“Shhh!” Jay shushed him, snapping pictures on his phone. “Come look!”

Curious, Kai squeezed in between his two teammates and looked at Lloyd’s bed. A big, fond smile tugged at his lips.

Lloyd was sprawled on his back, blankets tangled around him and a thin trail of drool trickling out of his mouth. Next to him, with his panda plushie under one arm while his head rested on the green ninja’s chest was Cole. The little ninja had cuddled close to Lloyd, who had an arm draped almost protectively over Cole’s shoulders.

“When did this happen?” Kai whispered.

Zane shrugged. “Probably sometime last night,” he answered, smiling. “They were like this when I woke up.”

“This is too cute!” Jay quietly squealed, taking a few more pictures. 

Unfortunately, Jay was a little too loud and Lloyd woke up with a snort. His emerald green eyes blinked slowly as he slowly became aware of his surroundings. Yawning, he wiped the drool off his face and started to sit up, only to freeze when he saw his teammates staring at him. “What?” He demanded.

Kai snickered and pointed at the still-sleeping Cole. Lloyd looked at the little ninja current snuggled up against him and blushed. “We had trouble sleeping last night,” he mumbled. “Cole had a nightmare...

Kai shrugged. “Figured. Nya used to always want to cuddle with me after she had a nightmare. It helped her fall back asleep.” 

“Did he tell you what the nightmare was about?” Zane asked.

Lloyd frowned. “It was...kinda personal. I’m not sure if he’d like it if I told you.”

At that moment, Cole shifted in his sleep, cuddling closer to Lloyd. The green ninja smiled and gently poked Cole. “Rise and shine, Cole~”

Cole moaned and pulled the sheets over his head. “Five more minutes…” he whined.

Lloyd gently shook Cole’s shoulder. “C’mon Cole. Time for breakfast.”

Cole groaned and slid out of the bed, yawning and rubbing at his eye. 

Kai laughed. “Morning, sleepyhead,” he greeted.

“Morning,” Cole yawned, still looking half-asleep. “What’s for breakfast?”

“I can make French Toast!” Jay chirped.

Cole perked up. “With the cinnamon swirl?” he asked, excitedly.

“Of course!”

“Yay!” 

Everyone laughed as Cole cheered. Not that they could blame him for being excited. Jay’s Cinnamon Swirl French Toast was legendary , almost as good as anything Zane made.

Almost.

~~~~~

One very delicious breakfast later and one semi-fight in which Cole and Jay fought over the last piece of French Toast(Zane made them split it evenly), Kai announced that it was time to train.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Nya asked, looking out the window. “It’s still raining some.”

“Pssssh, please,” Kai waved a hand flippantly. “We’re ninja, a little rain isn’t going to stop us.”

Nya frowned. “Alright, just be careful. Don’t need any of you slipping and hurting yourself.”

“Can I join?” Cole asked.

“Actually Cole,” Nya suddenly piped up, before history repeated itself. “I was going to let you help me make some cookies today.”

“Cookies?!” Everyone excluding Zane exclaimed.

“Can I help?” Jay asked.

“Me too!” Lloyd added.

Nya laughed. “Sorry boys,” she said, standing up. “But I believe that you have training.”

“Awwwwww,” Jay and Lloyd moaned, disappointed.

Nya laughed again. “Come on, Cole,” she said over her shoulder. “Let’s go see what ingredients we have.”

“Okay!” Cole said, racing to the kitchen.

“Don’t let Cole contaminate anything!” Lloyd called out teasingly.

“Hey! My cooking is not that bad!” Cole shouted back. 

“Yes it is!” Jay heckled.

Nya rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to them,” she told Cole. “Come on, what kind of cookies do you want to make?”

“Hmmmm,” Cole hummed as he searched around the kitchen, opening the fridge and the surrounding cupboards. “Oh! What about peanut butter cookies?”

“Mmmmm, that sounds like a good idea,” Nya complimented, laughing when Cole had to jump in order to get the peanut butter jar down. “And I have the perfect recipe in mind.”

Nya got out one big bowl and one little bowl, along with several different measuring cups and spoons. She told Cole to measure out the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and to sift it into the smaller bowl. While the little ninja did that, Nya measured out the sugar, peanut butter, regular butter, and eggs and creamed them together in the big bowl. 

“Ready to stir in the flour?” she asked Cole once she was done.

Cole nodded. “Ready!”

Nya poured in the flour mixture into the big bowl and handed Cole a wooden spoon so that he could stir it in. It got a little tricky to stir after a while, so Nya helped him some. 

“I love baking,” Cole sighed happily.

“Heh, me too,” Nya replied. “I--hey! No eating the batter!”

She lightly smacked Cole’s hand away from the bowl. “Awww, but that’s the best part,” Cole whined.

Nya rolled her eyes. “You’ll make yourself sick eating the raw dough like that.”

“But it’s soooo good!” Cole went to sneak some of the dough again, only for Nya to catch him and gently smack his hand away.

“You can lick the spoon when we’re done if you want,” Nya offered.

“Yay!” Cole cheered.

Nya laughed and shook her head. “You’re just like Kai was when we were young. He was forever trying to sneak little samples of whatever food Mom or Dad was making. Once, he ate so much raw cookie dough that he ended up with a stomach ache.”

Cole laughed. “Yeah, that was me. I liked cookies, but my favorite part was licking the cake batter off of the spoon.” His eyes grew a little sad. “My...my mom made the best cake.”

Nya glanced at the little ninja, stunned that he had mentioned his mother. “Really?” she asked cautiously, not sure if Cole would answer.

Cole nodded. “Yeah, she made this really awesome eggnog cake for the holidays,” he said wistfully. “She let me help bake once for Christmas. I still remember the recipe...well, almost all of it. There’s this one ingredient that I can never remember, and it’s not on the recipe card that she used.”

“Do you remember anything about this mystery ingredient?”

Cole made a face. “It tasted yucky.”

Nya laughed. “Yucky how?”

Cole shrugged. “Dunno. Mom only let me taste a little bit of it. It was this brown liquid thing.” He stuck out his tongue in disgust. “It was gross.”

“Hmmm, maybe it was vanilla?” Nya guessed.

Cole shrugged. “Maybe…is the batter done yet?”

Noticing the quick subject change, Nya let it go and replied, “Yeah, it’s done. Can you get me the saran wrap please?”

Cole nodded and brought out the tube of plastic wrap, which Nya used it to cover the big bowl. “Now, we put it the fridge for an hour,” she said, doing just that. 

“An hour?” Cole groaned. “That long?”

“Don’t worry, Cole,” Nya reassured him. “The time will fly by, you’ll see.”

Cole pouted. “It better…”

Nya smiled and ruffled Cole’s hair. “Do you want to watch the others train?” she suggested.

Cole perked up. “Really?”

“Just as long as you stay close to me and far away from them,” she instructed. “And no getting anywhere near a weapon. Deal?” 

Cole nodded. “Deal!” he said, grinning.

Nya smiled. “C’mon, let’s go find an umbrella. I think it’s still raining....”

~~~~~

Cole huddled underneath the blue umbrella that Nya was holding, watching his teammates train. Kai and Lloyd were training with katanas while Jay and Zane practiced hand-to-hand combat. The little ninja wished that he could join in, but stayed next to Nya.

Despite the fact that it was still drizzling, none of the ninja seemed to care much. At one point, when Zane had pinned Jay down, the blue ninja had splashed some water from a nearby puddle at the white ninja, temporarily blinding him and allowing Jay to get back to his feet.

Cole sighed as he watched his brothers train and have fun. He sorely wished that he was his teenaged self again, so that he could train too. Though, it was a little too wet for his taste. It reminded him too much of what had happened that one day….

Cole shook his head, trying to banish the pit forming in his stomach. Relax, he told himself. It’ll be fine. It’s not thunderstorming anymore, we’re perfectly safe here. Nothing’s gonna happen.

“Haha!” Cole snapped out of his little daze when he heard Lloyd laugh. “Give it up, Kai! It’s obvious that I’m a better swordsman than you now!” the green ninja bragged as he took a swipe at Kai.

“Oooh, those are fighting words, Lloyd!” Kai shot back as he parried Lloyd’s attack. “Everyone knows that I’m the best!”

Nya sighed  and rolled her eyes. “Boys,” she muttered.

“Be careful, guys!” Cole called out. 

Sparks flew as Kai and Lloyd continued to spar. With a battle cry, Kai lunged with his katana. Lloyd, unprepared, held up his sword in an awkward position. The flat of Kai’s blade hit Lloyd’s gloved hand, causing the green ninja to let go of his sword. The katana spun through the air until it sunk into the wood of the ship’s mast, a seven or eight feet above them.

Kai held the point of his katana close to Lloyd’s throat. “Dead,” the red ninja declared.

Lloyd groaned. “Fine, you win.” He then frowned. “Though my katana’s stuck now…”

“Relax, I’ve got it,” Kai replied, sheathing his own katana and making his way to the mast. 

“Be careful Kai!” Nya called out, worried.

“Don’t worry sis!” Kai called back, already beginning to climb up the mast to the sword. “I’ll be careful--whoa!” the red ninja cried out as he slid down the mast some. “Slippery…”

“Please be careful Kai,” Cole said softly. 

Everyone watched with bated breath as the red ninja slowly climbed his way up to where the sword was stuck in the mast. 

“Almost...there…” Kai whispered as he reached up for the katana. “Almost…”

There was a sudden and unexpected clap of thunder followed by a sudden onslaught of heavy rain, which made everyone jump. Unprepared, Kai lost his grip on the mast and flailed, trying to not fall.

Cole gasped as he watched his brother begin to slip. The world began to move in slow motion. The little ninja didn’t even realize that he had stepped out from underneath the umbrella, barely felt the rain soak his hair and clothes. All he could do was watch as his brother finally lose his grip and fall, while he mentally screamed No, not again! Nononono!

There was a dull thump, followed by a sharp snap! Several sharp gasps were heard, along with a loud howl of pain.

But nothing was louder or shriller than Cole’s scream. 

“KAI!!!!!!!”

Chapter Text

Cole didn’t notice when he moved. One minute he was near Nya, watching in frozen horror as Kai fell from the mast onto his left shoulder.

The next moment he was next to the red ninja, shaking his good shoulder and frantically asking him if he was okay.

“Agh, I-I’m okay Cole,” Kai said through gritted teeth. “I just took a little--OW!” he cried out when Zane came over and touched his left shoulder. “Watch it, Zane!”

“My apologizes. I was just trying to see how bad it is,” the white ninja explained, frowning. “And, judging by how painful it is and how disfigured it looks, I believe that you dislocated your shoulder.”

“Will he be okay?!” Cole asked.

Zane smiled reassuringly at the little ninja. “Do not fret, Cole. Kai will be fine.” The nindroid’s smile fell after a while. “Though, we will have to take him to the hospital—“

“WHAT?!” Cole exclaimed. “I thought you said that he’ll be okay, why do we have to go to the hospital?!”

“A doctor needs to reset Kai’s shoulder Cole,” Zane explained.

“Can’t you do it?” Cole asked, gaze pleading. “Why do we have to go to the hospital?”

“Cole, it would be beyond dangerous for me to attempt to fix Kai’s shoulder without the proper training,” Zane replied, frowning. “He needs a doctor.” The white ninja then looked Cole in the eye. “Why are you so adamant about not going to the hospital, Cole?”

Cole’s eyes widened. “N-nothing!” He stammered. “I mean, I-I…” the little ninja looked away from the white ninja, unable to say anything.

Kai, face screwed up in pain, nonetheless managed a shaky smile. “H-hey, chin up, Cole,” he said. “This is just a simple fix. I mean, it’s not like I’m gonna die or anything. It’s just a hurt shoulder.”

The red ninja looked at Cole, hoping to see Cole looking a little reassured.

So he was more than a little surprised, and concerned, when he saw Cole look at him with fear in his eyes, face pale.

~~~~

It took the ninja a while to get to the hospital, and it seemed to take even longer before a doctor was able to see Kai. During that time, Cole refused to leave the red ninja’s side, instead clinging

 to Kai and sometimes burying his face in the red ninja’s shirt. Everyone questioned the little ninja’s behavior, but any attempt to extract an explanation was met with stubborn muteness.

Finally, a doctor came in and began asking Kai a series of questions: How old he was (“17,” he replied); how bad was the pain on a scale from 1 to 10 (“1.” “Kai!” “Fine, 8.5.”); how did this happen (“He was being an idiot,” Nya supplied. “Love you too, sis,” Kai grumbled); and if he could move his arm any (“Nope,” the red ninja squeaked through gritted teeth).

“Well,” the doctor sighed as he finished his brief examination. “It definitely looks like a dislocated shoulder. We’ll have to take an X-ray just to make sure that nothing is broken.” 

Kai nodded. “Sounds good.” He then looked down at the little ninja still clinging to him. “Cole, you can let go now.”

Cole’s grip on Kai’s shirt tightened and he buried his face in Kai’s chest, shaking his head.

“Cole, c’mon, you have to let go,” Kai said gently. “I’m pretty sure that the doctor can’t take an X-ray with you in the way.” He gave Cole a hug with his good arm. “I’ll be back soon, don’t worry.”

Cole looked up at him, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “You have to come back,” he whispered quietly but firmly. “The second they take the X-ray, you have to come back.”

Confused, Kai nonetheless gave Cole a reassuring smile and ruffled his hair. “Promise.”

Reluctantly, the little ninja let go of Kai, watching him as the red ninja followed a nurse to the X-ray room. Jay silently offered Cole a hug, which he almost desperately accepted, clinging to the blue ninja as hard as he had to Kai.

It only took a few minutes for Kai to return. Cole immediately latched onto him, asking him if he was okay. 

“Easy Cole,” Kai chuckled, gently ruffling the little ninja’s hair. “I’m okay. Well, for now. The doctor’s still have to determine if there’s something else wrong with my arm.” 

Cole just kept clinging to Kai. “I hate hospitals…” he whimpered.

“Heh, me too,” Kai replied. “It shouldn’t be long though…”

~~~~

It was a few more hours before two doctors came to the room where the ninja were. “Well,” one said, holding up an X-ray film. “Good news is that it looks like there isn’t anything wrong with your arm besides the dislocation. Looks like we just need to pop your shoulder into place.”

“That’s where I come in,” the other doctor stated, cracking her knuckles and smirking. “You. Lie down on the bed.”

Gulping, Kai lied down on the bed, Cole still snuggled up against him. The doctor smiled gently and patted Cole’s head. “Sorry, kiddo, but you’re gonna have to move so I can fix your brother’s shoulder.”

Pouting, Cole nonetheless moved and slipped off of the hospital bed. Smiling, the doctor then gently grabbed the top of Kai’s injured arm. “You might want to leave the room,” she said to everyone else. “Don’t think the kid wants to watch me slip this shoulder back into place.”

“No!” Cole quickly said, quickly shaking his head. “I want to stay!”

“Are you certain, Cole?” Zane asked, gently placing his hands on Cole’s shoulders. “It will not be pleasant.”

“I’m sure,” Cole said firmly.

The female doctor shrugged. “If you say so. Alrighty everyone. I’m gonna do this on three. One…”

Kai squeezed his eyes shut. 

“Two….”

Everyone held their breath.

The female doctor sighed. “Okay, you people are way too tense,” she grumbled.

Kai opened his eyes, annoyed. “Oh come on! You can’t just do something like--!”

The doctor moved. There was a sharp crack! that made everyone flinch. Zane automatically covered Cole’s eyes. “ That,” Kai squeaked, his voice an octave higher than normal. “What was that for?!”

“Less painful if the patient is distracted,” the doctor explained. “Now, let’s find you a sling…”

There was a quiet popping sound and Kai yelped. The doctor frowned and checked Kai’s shoulder. “Ugh, it dislocated again,” she muttered. “Must have torn the ligaments and the labrum…”

“What does that mean?” Cole asked, prying Zane’s hand away from his eyes. “Do you have to pop Kai’s shoulder back into place again?”

Kai flinched. “Please say no.”

The doctor sighed. “Unfortunately, if I try and pop it back into place, it’ll just dislocate again.” She turned to Kai. “You, my friend, need surgery.”

“WHAT?!” everyone exclaimed.

“Relax,” the doctor said, holding up her hands in a calming way. “It’s just a simple procedure. You’ll be in and out in no time.”

“I’ll go book an OR,” the other doctor said, walking out of the room.

“In the meantime,” the female doctor said, stretching and also walking out the room. “I’ll go find some nurses to prep you for the surgery. Might as well make yourself comfortable.”

Kai groaned as the doctors left. “This. Sucks,” he declared, wincing as his shoulder throbbed in pain. 

Cole quickly attached himself to Kai’s side, burying his face in the red ninja’s shirt. “Do you have to get this surgery?” he asked quietly. 

“Cole, you heard what the doctor said,” Zane said gently. “If Kai does not have this surgery, his shoulder will not heal properly.”

“Yeah!” Jay piped up. “Plus, it’ll be quick! You’ll barely realize that he’s been gone.”

“Don’t worry Cole,” Kai said, smirking confidently. “I’m a tough guy. I can survive one little surgery.”

Cole didn’t say anything. He just squeezed Kai’s middle tighter. 

A group of nurses came by a few minutes later. “Alright,” one of them said cheerily. “It’s time to get Kai ready for his big surgery.” She turned to face everyone else. “This might take a while, so feel free to go grab some food. He’ll be in good hands.”

Seeing how it was already afternoon and nobody had eaten anything since breakfast, almost everyone decided to take the nurse’s advice and started to leave, though not without wishing Kai good luck.

Cole, however, refused to leave Kai’s side.

“Cole,” Kai said gently. “It’s time for you to go.”

Cole shook his head and gripped Kai’s middle tighter.

“Cole,” Zane tried next, gently placing a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “It’s time to go.”

“No,” Cole whispered, shaking his head again.

The little ninja knew that he needed to go, that Kai really needed this surgery if his arm was to get better. But all he could think about was the last time he had been in a hospital and how he had waited and waited, smelling that awful, terrible scent of disinfectant and hoping, praying that she would be okay because she promised, shepromisedshepromisedshepromised, but then that doctor came by with that solemn look in his eyes and him that they did everything they could but it was too much and she would never come back, she was gone, sheliedshepromisedshewasgonegonegone….

People were shaking him, telling him that he had to go, but Cole just tightened his grip on Kai’s shirt. He wasn’t going to let go, he couldn’t lose another family member, hecouldn’thecouldn’thecouldn’t!

But then, to his horror, someone started prying his hands apart.

“No!” he screamed, trying to keep his grip. “No, NO! I WON’T LEAVE, DON’T MAKE ME LEAVE! NO!”

He knew that he had to leave, but he was so scared . What if Kai didn’t make it? What if something went wrong during the surgery? Kai said that he would be okay, that he would survive, but so did she, and sheliedshe’sgoneshelied….

“Cole, COLE!”

Cole flinched when he heard Kai yell, but he didn’t let go of Kai’s shirt. “Cole,” the red ninja said more gently. “Look at me.”

Cole buried his face in Kai’s chest, unable to look Kai in the face. Tears slid down his cheeks while his shoulders hitched in little sobs. He felt more than heard the red ninja sigh. Fingers gently cupped the little ninja’s chin and lifted it up. Tearful grey eyes met worried hazel ones.

“Don’t go,” Cole croaked, his voice cracking. “Please...don’t go…”

“I have to,” Kai whispered. 

Cole sniffled and a few more tears slipped out of his eyes. “But...but what if you d-d-don’t come back?”

Lloyd suddenly gasped, his green eyes wide and a look of understanding passing over his face. Kai looked at him, confused. Seeing this, the green ninja quickly walked over and whispered in Kai’s ear.

“He lost someone important to him in a hospital,” Lloyd whispered. “He had a nightmare about it last night. This is probably hitting way too close to home for him.”

Kai’s mouth formed a little ‘o’ and he looked at the crying ninja clinging to him. “Oh Cole,” he whispered, gently hugging the little ninja closer to him with his good arm. “I’m not going to die,” he quietly told him. 

“You don’t know that,” Cole said back, stifling a sob.

“Cole, look at me,” Kai said, getting close enough to let his forehead touch Cole’s and their eyes made contact. “I. Am. Not. Going. To. Die. If I even so much as see a light, I’m sprinting in the opposite direction. This little surgery isn’t going to kill me. I’ll be fine, I swear.” He dropped his fierce tone and replaced it with a calmer, more soothing one. “I know you’re scared out of your mind, but this isn’t going to be a repeat of the past. You have to believe that I’m going to be okay. Can you do that for me? Can you be brave for me?”

“I...I…”

“You can do it,” Kai said. “I believe in you. You can be brave. C’mon, say it with me: ‘Kai is not going to die’.”

“K-Kai...isn’t gonna die…” Cole whispered softly.

“Again.”

“Kai...i-isn’t going to die….”

“I’m not going to die,” the red ninja said fiercely. “I’ll be back before you know it.” He gently place his good hand on top of Cole’s head. “But in order for me to get to this surgery, you’re gonna have to let go.”

Cole bit his lip and looked at where he was gripping Kai’s shirt. Slowly, reluctantly, the little ninja let go of his death grip, though not without one final squeeze. “P-please come back,” he whispered tearfully.”

Kai smiled at him. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

Cole sniffed and let go, rubbing at his eyes. Jay came over and carefully picked him up. “We’ll see you after the surgery, bro,” he said to Kai, smiling. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of Cole.”

Kai smiled back. “See ya guys on the flip side,” he said, waving goodbye with his good arm.

“Bye Kai,” Lloyd said.

“We shall see you soon,” Zane added.

“See you soon, big brother,” Nya said.

Cole, secure in Jay’s arms, briefly looked up and stared at the red ninja. He slowly waved his hand, quietly saying, “Bye, Kai.”

“Bye Cole,” Kai replied back, equally soft. “Be brave.”

Cole nodded before lowering his hand and burying his face in Jay’s chest. The blue ninja gently rubbed Cole’s back as he left the room, murmuring soothing words in the little ninja’s ear. Cole barely listened, too consumed in his worry and fear.

He has to be okay. Kai won't die, he'll be fine, hewon’tdiehewon’tdiehewon’t die…

Chapter Text

It was a long, long wait.

The food offered at the hospital was bland so nobody ate much. Cole at first refused to eat anything, but after much coaxing by his teammates, the little ninja finally consumed some food.

After the rather dismal lunch, everyone retreated to the waiting area. There, they settled down and waited for Kai to get out of surgery. Zane picked up a scientific magazine and began to read it, though he would occasionally glance up at a nearby clock. Nya began pacing up and down the room,  occasionally sitting down for a few minutes before sighing and going back to pacing. Lloyd idly watched a program on a nearby TV, his mind far away. Jay held Cole, hugging the little ninja close to him while soothingly rubbing his back. He tried to get Cole to laugh or even smile by telling a few jokes or making silly faces, but the little ninja’s face remained twisted into a worried frown. 

The hours ticked by slowly. The longer they waited, the more anxious Cole became. He could hear the rain tapping out a rapid staccato rhythm on the roof while thunder quietly rumbled in the distance. It reminded too much of that one night, all those years ago…

Cole fiercely shook his head. Stop that, he told himself. Kai’s gonna be fine, you have to be brave, he’s going to make it, this isn’t like that one time, it won’t be like that…

 Movement out of the corner made Cole look up. A doctor wearing scrubs entered the waiting room, a serious look on his face. At first, Cole thought he was here for someone else...until he looked over and started making his way towards them.

Cole’s heart plummeted. No….no….

“Are you lot waiting for a Kai Smith?” the doctor asked once he reached them.

“We are,” Zane asked, putting down his magazine.

“Is my brother okay?” Nya asked, pausing in her pacing.

The serious look on the doctor’s face didn’t fade and Cole felt his heart rate start to pick up. No, no, no.

“Well, there was more damage than what we first expected…”

No, no, nononono…

“But, Kai should make a full recovery,” the doctor finished, a small smile appearing on his face.

There was a great sigh of relief and even a few cheers. “Thank goodness,” Nya gasped, sinking into a nearby chair. “That idiot is soooo gonna get it for worrying me.”

Cole remained frozen in Jay’s lap, still comprehending the doctor’s words. 

Kai’s….alive? He’s okay?

The little ninja looked at the doctor’s face, searching for any signs of deception. But there was none to be found.

Kai’s….alive. He’s alive. He’salivehe’salivehe’sokay…

“Can we go up to see him?” Lloyd asked.

The doctor nodded. “Just keep in mind that he’ll be sort of groggy from the anesthesia and the painkillers so talk quietly.”

The ninja nodded their consent and followed the doctor out of the waiting area, Jay carrying Cole.

The little ninja held his breath as the doctor led the way to Kai’s room. He prepared himself just in case this was all some big joke or dream and Kai was either still in surgery or...or not around anymore…

But when the doctor opened the door to a room and Cole caught sight of Kai resting in a bed, his injured arm in a sling but his eyes open, the doubt went away and was replaced with pure, unadulterated relief.

“KAI!” the little ninja screamed, almost leaping out of a surprised Jay’s arms. He wiggled and squirmed as the blue ninja quickly set him down. The minute his feet hit the floor, he sprinted to the side of Kai’s bed and leapt onto it.

Kai let out a little ‘oof’ as Cole practically landed on top of him. “Hey,” he said, smiling and gently hugging Cole with his good arm. “Told you I’d be back.”

“Y-You’re okay,” Cole whispered, tears streaming down his face. “You’re okay, you’re okay…”

“Course I am,” Kai whispered back. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Cole buried his face in Kai’s chest, silently crying. Kai soothingly rubbed his back, whispering, “shhhh, it’s okay, Cole. It’s okay, I’m here, everyone else is here, we’re not going anywhere. Shhh, it’s okay…”

Everyone else circled around the hospital bed. Jay, Zane and Lloyd all verbally expressed their relief that Kai was okay while Nya scolded her older brother for A) scaring her B) scaring Cole C) scaring everyone else D) being an idiot E) thinking it was a good idea to climb the mast while it was raining F) following through with the idiotic plan to climb the mast while it was raining and thus fall and hurt himself…..Jay had to calm her down before she continued the list, but she got her point across.

“I swear, if you ever do anything that idiotic again, I will never forgive you,” Nya ended her rant, pointing her finger directly in her brother’s face. “And you better not even think of moving that shoulder until it’s properly healed, otherwise I’ll tie you to the bed.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kai grumbled, pouting. “Geez, you act like you’re the older one somedays, sis.”

“One of us has to,” Nya shot back. “Especially when you act like an idiot.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “Love you too, sis,” he grumbled good naturedly. 

Nya smiled at Kai, then frowned as she looked at the little ninja cuddled against him. “Cole, are you okay?” she asked softly.

Cole sniffled and nodded his head, face still buried in Kai’s chest.

Kai sighed heavily. “Cole,” he said softly. “I know that you probably don’t want to, but...I think now is a good time to tell us what’s bothering you.”

Cole didn’t say anything, instead cuddling closer to the red ninja. Not hearing any denial, Kai continued, “Cole, I think that I speak for everyone else when I say that we are worried about you. Not just today, but for a while now. You’ve been acting differently for the past few weeks before you got turned into a kid. You were distancing yourself from everyone else. And don’t forget a few days ago when you had that mini panic attack. There’s something going on, and we want to know what it is.” Gently cupping his hand underneath Cole’s chin, Kai lifted up the little ninja face so that he could look him in the eye. “We want to help you, Cole. But we can’t do that if we don’t know what’s wrong.”

Cole bit his lip, trying to look away. “I-It’s…”

A small spark of anger burned inside of Kai. “It’s not nothing Cole!” he exclaimed, frowning. “It’s something. You can’t just bury it down deep and try and act like it doesn’t bother you! Not only does it not work, it’s unhealthy!”

“Why won’t you talk with us, Cole?” Zane asked, concerned. “We just wish to help you.”

“We hate seeing you like this!” Jay added. “You’re upset and you won’t tell us what’s making you upset.”

Cole’s shoulders started to shake. “You can’t help me,” he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut and desperately holding back tears. 

“How do you know that?” Lloyd shot back. “You don’t know that we can’t help you. If you’d just talk about it, then maybe we could help you.” His voice softened. “You talked to me about your nightmare last night and I managed to help you, right? So let us help you right now.”

For a long time, Cole was silent. Everyone else patiently waited to see if the little ninja would say something, anything. 

Finally, right when they were sure that Cole wasn’t going to speak, the little ninja mumbled something so quietly that none of them could hear it properly.

“What was that, Cole?” Kai asked gently.

Cole hid his face in Kai’s side again, but spoke up a little louder. “Anniversary….it’s tomorrow…”

“Anniversary?” Nya asked, confused. “What anniversary?”

The answer came, so soft that they nearly missed it. “....the day my mommy left….”

Everyone gasped and shared a shocked look. If there was one thing that Cole rarely, if ever, talked about, it was his mom. And while they were curious, after more than a few discussions about parents gone slightly awry, the ninja had made an unspoken vow to never ask about anyone’s parents. So to hear Cole talking about his mom…

“...left?” Jay finally asked. “What do you mean, ‘left’?”

Cole sniffled. “S-she left me and my dad…” he whispered, his voice cracking. “I was only six.”

Kai’s heart broke at the tearful confession. “Oh, Cole,” he said softly, hugging the little ninja with his good arm. “I-I’m sorry…”

Cole let out a little hiccup. “She and Dad used to argue a lot,” he softly said. “I-I hated it. I used to hide in my bedroom to try and escape, b-but I could always hear them. They argued so much.” He swallowed thickly. “Then...one day, she said that she’s had enough. S-she hugged me goodbye and p-promised to visit me. Then...she left.” He squeezed Kai’s middle tight. “And she never came back.”

“Never?” Jay gasped.

“N-never,” Cole quietly sobbed. “She sent me letters and cards for my birthday, b-but she never came to visit. S-she promised to come and visit me, but she never did!”

Everyone’s heart broke when Cole started to sob. He tried to stifle them, but a few escaped, along with a few tears. They thought that the story was over, that they had reached the conclusion.

So imagine their surprise when Cole quietly said, “Then...then she left me again.”

“Again?” Kai asked.

“I-I was eleven,” Cole stammered, shifting so that he could look up at everyone. “D-dad and I were out in Ninjago City.” His nose wrinkled. “He w-was signing me up for Marty Oppenheimer. It had started to storm by the time we walked out of the place where we had to sign up.” Cole’s eyes glazed over, as if he were far away. “I happened to look across the street….and there she was.”

“Your mom?” Kai asked.

Cole nodded. “She saw us. She looked surprised at first, but then she smiled, really big and wide, and waved. Dad and I waved back.” A strangled, bitter laugh escaped from Cole’s lips. “I was so happy, but also so angry. I didn’t understand why she had left and never came back.” Another bitter laugh. “I still don’t. She promised me that she would visit me, but she didn’t. She promised.”

The amount of bitterness and anger in his voice indicated that Cole hadn’t really forgiven his mom about that. 

“What happened next?” Zane finally spoke up. 

Cole’s shoulders started to shake again and he squeezed his eyes shut. “S-She started to walk over towards us. T-The street light was red and she was using the crosswalk. S-she was maybe halfway across when this car came racing out of nowhere.” Tears started to spill out of his eyes and Cole buried his face in Kai’s shirt again.  “T-The driver was drunk, a-and...and…” Cole let out a sob. “...he didn’t stop. H-he didn’t even slow down.”

Everyone in the room gasped, and a look of understanding flashed across Lloyd and Kai’s faces. “The person important to you…” Lloyd muttered softly.

“Oh god, Cole,” Kai whispered. 

Cole stifled another sob. “D-dad and I got to ride in the ambulance with her. She--she was still awake. Barely though. Dad tried to cover my eyes but, I still saw.” Another sob escaped him. “Mom grabbed my hand and squeezed it. She-she said that she was sorry that she hadn’t visited and that she promised to t-take me out for ice cream and bake me a cake once she was better. She-she promised that she would be okay…”

But she wasn’t, went unsaid but heavily implied. “Cole,” Jay whispered, for once speechless. 

Kai hugged the little ninja as tight as he could with one arm. “I’m so sorry, Cole,” he said. “And, I know that it doesn’t make things any better, but...I’m sorry.”

Cole hiccupped, obviously trying to reign in his emotions. “I-It’s okay,” he stammered, rubbing at his eyes furiously. “It was a long time ago…”

“That doesn’t mean that it hurts any less, sweetie,” Nya said, gently rubbing the top of Cole’s head. “Just because something happened a long time ago doesn’t mean that you can’t still be sad about it.”

Cole scowled. “B-But I’m a big boy now,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t feel this sad. I shouldn’t cry like this…”

“Who said big boys don’t cry?” Kai demanded.

Cole hid his face in Kai’s shirt again. “The boys at the Marty Oppenheimer,” he said quietly. “They--I was c-crying in the shower and they overheard me. They started making fun of me, calling me a ‘crybaby’ and telling me to grow up.” Cole took a few, shuddering breaths. “So, I grew up. I stopped crying and got over it.” His voice broke again. “A-at least I tried to. But then...something happens. I see or hear or even smell something that reminds me of Mom and...and...I dunno. All of a sudden it’s all I can think about.” Cole sniffled. “A few weeks ago, I was walking around the forest w-when I saw a forget-me-not.” He stifled a sob. “T-Those are my mommy’s favorite flowers. T-Then I realized that the anniversary was coming up and-and…”

Cole’s grip tightened on Kai’s shirt and he hid his face even more. Kai could only just hear the little ninja quietly chanting, “Don’t cry, don’t cry, you’re a big boy, don’t cry....”

“Is that the reason you have been avoiding us, Cole?” Zane asked gently.

Cole nodded. “D-Didn’t wanna worry you guys,” he said softly, hiccupping slightly. “Used to handling this on my own. Walkin’ in the woods calms me down….”

“That’s good and all, but Cole,” Kai gently said, cupping the little ninja’s chin again and raising up so that he could look him in the eye. “You don’t have to handle this by yourself anymore. We’re here. We can help you through this.”

“You do not have to suffer alone, Cole,” Zane added, gently combing Cole’s hair with his fingers. “It may seem awkward at first, but it does help to grieve with someone that you are close to.” A small smile appeared on the nindroid’s face. “How do you think I managed to cope with my father’s death?”

Cole’s eyes widened and he ducked his head. “B-But…”

“No buts,” Kai interrupted. “Cole, listen. We all care about you, you’re our brother after all. And yes, we might tease you about somethings, but we would never tease you about something like this. You’re dealing with your mother leaving you not once, but twice. That’s no laughing matter. You deserve the chance to grieve in peace.”

Cole bit his lip, eyes shining with unshed tears. “I-I…” he shook his head, clenching his fists and squeezing his eyes shut.

Smiling sadly, Kai hugged the little ninja closer to him. “It’s okay, Cole,” he whispered. “You can let go now. You are so amazing, having to put on this strong face for so long. But you can let go of it now. You’re in a safe place, and you’re surrounded by your family. You don’t have to fake a smile for us. We’re not gonna judge you, or think any less of you. We’re here to support you and give you a shoulder to cry on. So it’s okay. You can let go now. Just let it all out.”

That did it.

Cole’s face scrunched up and his breaths started getting faster and faster. He closed his eyes...and then started crying. 

Everyone’s heart broke when Cole started sobbing. Kai hugged the little ninja close to him, murmuring, “It’s okay, Cole. Let it all out, it’s okay. Shhh, it’s alright, just let it all out…” 

Zane and Nya took turns running their hands through Cole’s hair while Jay soothingly rubbed the little ninja’s back. Lloyd left and came back with a big box of tissues, silently drying the tears coming down Cole’s cheeks as the little ninja sobbed and sobbed. Occasionally, Cole’s sobs would die down and it seemed that he was calming down, only for the sobs to come back full force. But nobody said anything about it. They just continued to soothe the little ninja as best as they could as he grieved.

At last, after several minutes, Cole slowly stopped crying. He collapsed onto the bed next to Kai, hiccupping. Lloyd silently offered him a tissue, which he used to wipe away the remaining tears. “S-Sorry,” the little ninja murmured. “I-I normally don’t cry that much…”

“Don’t apologize, Cole,” Kai gently told him. “It’s perfectly alright. Sometimes, when we miss someone like that, a good cry is exactly what we need. It helps.”

Cole sniffled and rubbed his eyes. “I-I still miss Mommy,” he whispered before smiling slightly. “Though, not as much anymore.”

“Told you,” Kai said, smiling back. 

Cole hugged the red ninja’s middle. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “All of you. Thank you.”

“Awww, you’re welcome Cole!” Jay exclaimed, gently ruffling the little ninja’s hair.

“We are always glad to help our brother,” Zane added, grinning.

“What Zane said,” Lloyd said, smiling. “We’re always here for you, Cole.”

Cole cuddled close to Kai, smiling a little. “You guys are the best,” he said sleepily, stifling a yawn.

Kai chuckled and gently rubbed Cole’s back. “Take a rest, Cole,” he suggested. “You’ve had a long day.”

The little ninja didn’t protest. He simply snuggled closer to Kai and closed his eyes with a tired sigh. A few seconds later, Cole was fast asleep.

“Poor guy,” Nya softly whispered, running her hand through Cole’s hair. “I can’t believe he was suffering so much and didn’t even say anything.”

“That’s Cole for ya,” Jay replied. “Always the rock for everyone to anchor themselves to whenever they need to, but too stubborn to admit when he needs help.”

“I am just glad that he finally told us what was wrong,” Zane said, rubbing Cole’s back. “Now, we can be there for him and help him.”

“Shhhhh,” Kai quietly shushed. “Let’s discuss this later, poor Cole’s exhausted. He needs some rest.”

Everyone made themselves as comfortable as they could in the small room, pulling up chairs and surrounding Kai’s hospital bed.

Meanwhile, Cole peacefully slept on, surrounded by the people that he considered family.

Chapter Text

The ninja ended up spending the night in the hospital. In the morning, the doctors released Kai, warning him that he had to keep the sling on and that he couldn’t move his shoulder too much until it healed. This meant no training or fighting crime, which made Kai a little disappointed, but a glare from Nya swiftly stifled most of his complaints.

Once they were on the Bounty, the ninja set about making Kai comfortable. Jay and Lloyd brought out pillows and blankets from the bedroom and set them on the couch in the game room. Zane went to the kitchen to make some spicy sushi for Kai and noodles for everyone else for lunch. Nya went to assist Zane, while also finishing the peanut butter cookies that she and Cole had started making the day before.

Speaking of the little ninja, he kept close to Kai. The two of them made themselves comfortable on the couch, Kai hugging Cole close to him with his uninjured arm. The two of them sat quietly on the couch together, watching a random tv show that they didn’t care about. Sometimes, Cole would quietly start talking about some of the things he remembered about his mom--the way she always wore her hair in a braid, how she loved nature and would take him out for walks in the nearby park, how her laugh was infectious and made him smile and laugh too. Kai listened to the little ninja, nodding and occasionally adding things that his mom did that was similar to what Cole’s mom did. A few times, Cole would start to cry and would mumble, “I miss her so much…” During these times, Kai would hug Cole tighter, whispering, “I know Cole, I know. It’s okay, shhh, just let it out…”

Around noon, everyone else piled into the game room, Zane and Nya carrying trays filled with food. They ate lunch in the room, keeping a careful eye on Cole. But, despite the fact that he still missed his mom, Cole managed to eat most of his lunch. He even let Jay snap a few selfies with him on the blue ninja’s phone. Jay also included Zane in the photos, though the nindroid was less enthusiastic about it.

As he finished his food, however, the little ninja suddenly felt...weird. It felt like his skin was tingling and he scratched at his arm, trying to make the tingly feeling go away. 

“Cole?” Kai asked, noticing. “You okay?”

“Feel weird,” Cole mumbled, still scratching his arm. “My skin feels tingly.”

Zane put a hand on Cole’s forehead. “You do not have a fever,” the nindroid announced, frowning. “Perhaps you have a rash?”

Cole shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll go get the itch cream—AH!”

The tingly feeling suddenly grew stronger, startling Cole. He tumbled off the couch, landing on the ground tangled in the blankets. He heard his teammates call his name, and he struggled to get out. But the tingly feeling just grew stronger until all Cole could do was squeeze his eyes shut and pray for it to stop soon. 

Just as soon as it started, the tingly sensation stopped, leaving Cole gasping underneath the blankets. His limbs felt strange, like someone had pulled at his arms and legs. 

“Cole!” he heard Kai call him. “Are you alright?”

Struggling, Cole managed to escape the blanket trapping him and sat up, rubbing his head. “Yeah,” he answered. “I still feel weird though…”

Cole blinked, stunned. His voice...it was no longer squeaky! Bringing his hands up to his face, Cole let out a cheer when he saw that they were no longer tiny. “I’m big again!” he cheered. “I’m not a kid anymore!”

“Awwww man!” Jay complained, pouting. “I’m not older than you anymore!”

Lloyd coughed, but gave Cole an innocent look when the black ninja glared at him. “Good to have you back, Cole,” the green ninja said. 

“Though, how are you back?” Kai asked, confused. “You didn’t drink any Tomorrow’s Tea.”

“Perhaps whatever had turned Cole into a kid wears off after a certain amount of time,” Zane hypothesized. 

“Thank goodness for that,” Cole sighed, flopping onto the floor. “I’m glad I’m a teen again.”

Kai chuckled. “Glad you’re back to normal, Cole.”

“Me too,” Cole groaned, smiling slightly. 

The sound of a phone ringing startled everyone. “I’ll get it,” Cole immediately said, standing up...only to yelp and fall when his legs refused to support his weight. 

Everyone laughed at Cole’s tumble. “I shall get the phone,” Zane chuckled, making his way to the kitchen, where the main phone for the Bounty was.

“Looks like your body isn’t used to being a teen yet, Cole,” Kai teased as Jay helped the black ninja stand.

“It feels like my limbs are made out of taffy,” Cole grumbled as he managed a shaky step. 

Lloyd snorted. “Now you know how I felt when I got turned into a teen,” he said.

“I’ll never make fun of you tripping ever again,” Cole vowed as he finally managed to take a step forward without Jay’s help. 

Zane walked back into the room then. “Cole,” he said, holding up the phone. “It’s your father.”

Cole carefully took the phone. “Hello?”

“Cole!” His dad’s voice exclaimed. “ Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me, Dad,” Cole laughed slightly. “I’m back to normal.”

“That’s wonderful son! Though I will miss being able to hold you in my lap.”

“Daaaaaaad~”

Everyone smiled as they watched Cole converse with his father. Judging by the numerous “uh-huhs” and “don’t worry, Dad we’re good”, Cole’s dad was just calling to check up on his son.

After a few minutes, however, his dad said something that made Cole’s happy face fall. None of the others could make out what Lou had said, but they watched as Cole’s mood turned somber and his answers grew quieter. The only thing they could make out was Cole quietly saying, “when are you going….mind if I….okay, what should I wear? Do I….okay Dad, see ya soon...love you.”

Cole brought the phone away from his ear and sighed, ending the call.

“You okay, Cole?” Kai asked, sitting up on the couch.

Cole exhaled heavily. “No,” he said quietly, almost reluctantly. “Not really…”

“What happened, Cole?” Nya asked.

Cole sighed again, biting at his lip. “...my dad’s going to go visit my mom’s….he’s gonna go visit my mom. And, I’m gonna go with him.”

Everyone exchanged worried looks at the announcement. “...are you sure you’re okay to go?” Jay finally asked.

Cole bit his lip harder, jerkily shrugging his shoulders. “I….I honestly dunno,” he mumbled, looking away. “I want to go, but at the same time….I dunno…”

Lloyd shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Well...would it make you feel better if we came with you?”

Cole looked up at them, grey eyes wide and in a rare state of vulnerability. “You—you guys would come with me?” he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

“Only if you want us to, Cole,” Zane said gently, smiling encouragingly at his brother.

Cole shyly nodded. “Y-Yeah,” he said softly. “I’d like it if you guys came.”

Kai smiled, standing up. “We’re here for you, Cole.”

Cole smiled; a small, but honest smile. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. That smile said volumes.

~~~~

During the next two hours, the ninja got ready to accompany Cole and his dad. Zane, Nya, and Kai laid out all of the ninja’s fancier outfits while Jay and Lloyd went with Cole to collect some flowers for Cole to take along. Once that was done, everyone changed and fixed up their hair, ready to go.

“Quit pulling at your collar, Lloyd,” Kai scolded as they walked down to the Ninjago City Cemetery, where they were going to meet with Cole’s dad.

“Quit pulling at your collar, Lloyd,” Kai scolded as they walked down to the Ninjago City Cemetery, where they were going to meet with Cole’s dad.

“It’s too tight,” Lloyd complained, tugging at the collar of his dark green dress shirt. 

“Just be glad that you’re not wearing a tie,” Jay told him. “Those things are the worst.”

“If the collar is too tight, Lloyd,” Zane said, adjusting his sweater vest. “Then undo the top button. But don’t undo anymore than that.”

“Thank you,” Lloyd gasped as he quickly did just that. “I was gonna suffocate otherwise.”

Nya chuckled, sneakily lacing her fingers through Jay’s when Kai wasn’t looking. “I doubt you would suffocate, Lloyd. At least guys can get away with wearing no heels.” She made a face. “Those things stink.”

Lloyd blinked. “But, you’re not wearing heels, Nya…”

“And I’m glad for it,” Nya declared, smiling happily at her black ballerina flats. 

Cole chuckled as he listened to his friends bicker and banter with each other. He didn’t join in, instead burying his nose in the small bouquet of lilies and forget-me-nots in his hand. The sweet scent of the flowers brought a few tears to his eyes, reminding him of his mom.

A hand on his shoulder had Cole looking up. Kai looked back at him, silently asking Are you okay?

Cole shrugged but managed a small smile. Not really, but I’ll be okay.

“Hey guys!” Jay chirped, pointing. “We’re here!”

Sure enough, when Cole looked up, he could make out the entrance to the cemetery just ahead. Standing near the entrance was his dad, wearing his usual formal attire though he was also wearing a tasteful fedora. He also had a bouquet of lilies in his hands.

“Son!” Lou called out, walking up to Cole and giving him a hug. “I’m so glad you came!”

Cole smiled and hugged his dad. “Hey Dad,” he replied.

Lou pulled back and smiled at Cole’s friends. “And I see that you brought along company,” he said, nodding his head in greeting.

Cole nodded. “Y-yeah. I-I hope that’s okay,” he mumbled sheepishly, looking away and twiddling his thumbs.

Lou patted Cole on the back. “It’s perfectly alright son!” he reassured, smiling at Cole to show him that it really was alright. “I’m always happy to have a few tagalongs.”

 Cole looked up at his dad, warm grey meeting chocolate brown. While there was some sorrow in his dad’s eyes, what was most prominent was relief and even a little pride. I’m glad that you finally trusted your friends enough to tell them the truth, his dad seemed to be silently saying. 

The silent message made Cole smile and hug his dad again. Lou hugged him back for a few seconds before pulling back. The sadness in his eyes had come to the forefront. “Are you ready?” he asked softly.

Cole swallowed thickly, but a quick glance behind at his friends steeled his resolve. “Ready,” he replied quietly. Then, looking over his shoulder, he called out to his friends. “C’mon guys. W-We’re ready.”

Kai smiled and walked up to Cole, gently squeezing the black ninja’s shoulders. “We’re right behind you,” he said softly. 

Cole smiled and nodded, before turning and entering the cemetery with his dad. His friends followed them at a respectful distance, their conversations hushed. 

The group walked through the cemetery for a few minutes before Lou led them up a small hill and stopped. “Here she is,” he said quietly.

Cole’s shoulders stiffened and he bit his lip when he saw the gravesite. Underneath a small cherry blossom tree rested a square tombstone cut from pink granite. From where he was, Cole could see the flowers cut into the face of the stone, and could just make out the words written on it: his mom’s name (Lilly), her birthday and the day she died (June 18-April 2; she was only in her thirties…), and the words ‘Loving Mother, Wife, & Friend’; all written in a fancy cursive font.

Cole felt his stomach flip-flop and he unconsciously tightened his grip on the flowers in his hands. Lou, noticing, gently touched Cole’s shoulder. “You okay, son?”

“I-I don’t know what to do,” Cole whispered frantically. “I haven’t been here since—it’s been so long—what do I do?”

Lou smiled gently. “Just talk,” he quietly said. “Just talk to her. Tell her about being a ninja. Tell her about all of the adventures that you and your friends have gone on. Just talk to her.”

Cole gulped and slowly nodded. “O-Okay…”

With his dad gently guiding him and his friends not too far behind, Cole soon found himself kneeling down in front of his mother’s gravestone, gently resting his bouquet of flowers against the stone.

“Um,” Cole nervously bit his lip and frantically tried to think of something to say. “H-Hey, Mom. Been a while since I’d seen you last. You...you doing okay in heaven? Or, wherever you ended up going.”

Cole let out a shaky sigh. “Look, Mom, I-I haven’t completely forgiven you for what you did.” He let out a short, bitter laugh. “I don’t think that I ever will. I mean, you left me and Dad not once but twice. I can kinda forgive you for the second one—that one really wasn’t your fault—but you could have at least visited me once when you left the first time. I was six, Mom. Six!!”

Cole had to take a few breaths before he was calm enough to continue. “But you didn’t,” He said hoarsely. “And I doubt that I’ll ever find out the reason why.” He then slowly smiled, small and bittersweet. “But despite all that, I still miss you, Mom. I-I know it’s been a long time but…” Cole wiped his eyes. “I still love you. And I still miss you.”

Lou soothingly rubbed Cole’s back. “You’d be really proud of him, Lilly,” he said softly. “He’s grown into a wonderful young man. He’s kind, responsible, and a hero. You’d be proud of him.”

Cole turned to his dad, a few rebellious tears slipping out of the corners of his eyes. “You think so, Dad?”

“I know so,” Lou replied, smiling even as his own eyes shone with unshed tears. “I sure am.”

The young teen hugged his dad, more tears streaming down his cheeks. Lou gladly returned the hug, his own tears cascading down his face.

Cole’s friends sat a short distance away, watching the scene. Nya dabbed at her eyes, reminded of the many times she and her brother had done the same thing with their parents. Kai, noticing, gently wrapped his good arm around Nya’s shoulders. His sister turned her head and smiled at him, grateful for the silent comfort.

Zane also wiped at his suddenly damp eyes, reminded of his father as he watched the scene before him. I miss you, Father, he silently said. I hope that you are happy, wherever you are.

Jay and Lloyd just sat quietly, feeling sad yet proud of their brother. 

And, standing a great distance away, hidden behind the shadows of some trees, a figure watched the scene with a feeling of accomplishment.

Then, it vanished.

~~~~~

Later that night, when most of the other occupants of the Bounty were fast asleep, Sensei Wu stood at the bow of the ship, looking up at the moon. 

The sound of footsteps behind him made Sensei turn his head slightly to the side. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips when he saw who it was. “Ah, I was wondering when you were going to show up,” he said by way of greeting, turning to fully face his guest.

The criminal who had attacked his students and even turned one of them into a child silently looked back at him through a pure black mask.

Sensei’s smile merely grew wider. “You have nothing to fear,” he told the crook. “My pupils are fast asleep and are not about to wake up anytime soon. You can take off your mask.”

The crook’s shoulders visibly sagged as they reached up to pull off the mask.

“Whew,” a familiar, feminine voice breathed, relief evident in her voice. “That thing was getting stuffy. Remind me again why I chose to wear it?”

“You told me it was the only thing that you could come up with in such a short amount of time,” Sensei replied.

“Eh, that was sort of a rhetorical question, but thanks.”

“You are most welcome.” Sensei smiled even bigger. “You did a remarkable job, young Nya.”

The disguised samurai shrugged. “I didn’t really do that much,” she replied. “I just threw some bombs around—which was actually kinda fun. Man, Kai looked so mad when I threw that water bomb at him.”

“You did what I told you to do,” Sensei argued gently. “You helped Cole when he seriously needed help. And you also kept a secret.”

Nya laughed. “Yeah, you have no idea how hard it was to act surprised when I first saw him. Gotta say though, Cole was adorable as a little kid.”

Sensei chuckled. “Yes, he was. Still, you deserve some kind of reward for all that you’ve done.”

“A reward huh?” Nya tapped her chin in thought. “Hmmmm, can’t really think of anything right now. Mind if I come back to you on that one?”

“Of course, take as much time as you need.”

Nya smiled. “Thanks Sensei.”

“You are most welcome, young one.”

Chapter Text

Months had passed since Cole had been turned into a little kid and the black ninja was doing fine. Great, even. Telling his teammates about his mom had turned out to be one of the best decisions that he’d ever made. They helped him work out the grief without it being weird or pushy. Zane would come out with him on early morning walks in the woods, usually not talking a lot, but offering Cole some silent comfort. And, when he did talk, he offered sound and wise advice without sounding judgmental, something that Cole really appreciated.

Kai and Nya were there whenever Cole felt like reminiscing about the past—he and Nya would compare how similar their moms were and what they missed most about them while Kai was there to provide a distraction along with a little dose of tough love(though Cole knew that was just how Kai cared. The fire ninja wasn’t the biggest fan of mushy-gushy stuff).

Even Jay and Lloyd helped him out. The two would often be there whenever Cole felt a little emotional and couldn’t hide it any longer—Jay with a hug and a witty joke that would make Cole laugh; Lloyd with some words of empathy and understanding.

All in all, Cole felt better than he had in a long, long time.

Then spring came around, and Cole suddenly wasn’t fifteen anymore.

Cole woke up on April 22nd with a feeling of dread pooling in his stomach. The dread has been there since about a week ago, when Jay had made an off handed joke about Cole being excited that Earth Day was coming up. The black ninja had to reassure himself that no one except Lloyd knew that his birthday just so happened to be on that same day.

No one, especially Jay, could know that Cole was born on Earth Day. He’d never hear the end of it.

So, when Cole woke up as a sixteen-year-old, he didn’t shout for joy or even act excited.

Instead, he slowly got out of bed and made his way to the dining room for breakfast, where everyone else was waiting.

“Good morning, Cole!” Jay chirped.

“Morning,” Cole yawned, stretching a little bit. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Zane’s making pancakes,” Lloyd replied, grinning. “He should be done soon.”

“Correction,” Zane suddenly said, coming out of the kitchen carrying a bunch of plates in his arms. “I am done now. Good morning, Cole!”

“Morning, Zane,” Cole greeted, practically drooling at the sweet scent of freshly made pancakes. “Mmmm, that smells sooo good.”

“I can almost guarantee that they taste even better,” Zane chuckled, setting the plates on the table. “Breakfast is served.”

Cole didn’t hesitate to inhale his favorite breakfast food, though the others weren’t too far behind him. Kai swiped a piece of his bacon when he thought Cole wasn’t looking, but Cole got revenge by stealing one of the red ninja’s pancakes. 

Once breakfast was over, Jay turned to Cole and asked, “Sooo, what are you planning on doing today, Cole?”

Cole shrugged. “Not much. I was just planning on taking a walk in the forest.” His warm grey eyes lit up. “There’s a tree that I want to climb. It has one of the best views ever!”

Kai laughed. “Tree hugger,” He said teasingly.

“You’re just jealous that you can’t climb a tree as well as I can,” Cole retorted, sticking his tongue out at the red ninja.

Kai glared and stuck his own tongue back at Cole.

“Boys,” Nya grumbled, rolling her eyes. 

“Excuse me, I. Am a man!” Kai declared.

“You’re still a teen, brother-dear. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

While Kai sulked about the fact that he wasn’t technically a man yet, Cole just laughed and stood up from the table. “Well, I’m gonna go change and then I’m gone,” he announced. “Anyone want to come with me?”

“Eh, I’ll go,” Lloyd said, standing up as well. “I could use the fresh air.”

“Sweet, let’s go.”

“Have fun, you two!” Kai called after them.

“Be careful!” Zane added. “And come back in time for lunch!”

“We will,” Lloyd replied over his shoulder.

Had Cole been paying attention, he might have seen Lloyd also wink meaningfully at his other friends, or might have seen Kai, Nya, Zane, and Jay exchange excited looks.

~~~~

“Wow,” Lloyd softly exclaimed as he took in the view. “You weren’t kidding. I feel like I can see all of Ninjago from up here.”

Cole smirked. “Told ya,” he said smugly.

The two ninja were currently sitting at the top of the tree that Cole had mentioned earlier at breakfast, enjoying the view. The tree that they were in towered over almost all the other trees and offered not only a bird’s eye view of the forest but one could also see the outskirts of Ninjago City.

All in all, it was a very nice view.

“Soooo,” Lloyd slowly said after a few minutes of silence had passed. “What’s it like being sixteen?”

Cole huffed. “Oh gosh, I was kinda hoping that you’d forget about that,” he snorted.

“Why would I ever forget about that?” Lloyd asked. “I mean, dude. Your birthday is today. Don’t you want to celebrate?”

“Need I remind you that besides you, no one else knows that today’s my birthday?”

“You could always tell them.”

“No, absolutely not. Jay would never let me live it down.”

“Aw, c’mon Cole! You can’t be miserable on your sweet sixteen!”

“Who says I’m miserable?” Cole carefully leaned back against the trunk of the tree and sighed happily. “I get to be surrounded by nature today; I had pancakes for breakfast; and I’ll have some time to myself later this afternoon. I am definitely not miserable.”

“But don’t you want a party or something? I mean, it doesn’t have to be extravagant or anything, but a small party would be cool, yeah?”

Cole shrugged. “Sure, I guess. But again, no one besides you know when my birthday is.” He suddenly shot Lloyd a look. “You’re not planning something behind my back are you?”

“What, no!” Lloyd denied, shaking his head.

“You sure? You’re not planning on dragging me to the arcade and have everyone scare the crap outta me there because you planned a surprise party behind my back, are you?”

Lloyd laughed. “I’m not dragging you to the arcade, I promise.”

“Good,” Cole told him. “Because otherwise, I’d have to tickle you to death.”

Lloyd gasped at him. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me, Golden Boy.”

Lloyd stuck his tongue out at Cole. “You’re mean.”

Cole laughed. “You started it, I’m just finishing it.”

Lloyd rolled his eyes and playfully punched Cole’s shoulder. “Seriously though. Happy birthday, Cole.”

Cole smiled. “Thanks Lloyd.”

~~~~

Cole and Lloyd spent a little while longer in the woods, chatting and bantering in the treetops. After a while they climbed down and started heading back to the Bounty . Lloyd started a race, calling out, “Last one to the ship is a rotten ninja!” before bolting forwards. Cole, after taking a second to shout, “CHEATER!” took off after him. 

Lloyd was much faster than Cole was, so by the time Cole made onto the deck of the ship, Lloyd had already disappeared inside. Rolling his eyes and panting slightly, Cole opened the door and walked inside. “Okay, Lloyd,” he called out. “You win!”

Lloyd didn’t reply. Cole’s eyes narrowed when he saw how dark it was inside the Bounty . “Hello?” He called out, cautiously dropping into a fighting stance. “Is anyone here?”

There wasn’t an answer, but Cole could just make out some stifled giggling coming from the dining room. “Lloyd, if you’re trying to pull a prank, it’s not funny.”

Grumbling, Cole carefully picked his way through the dark towards the dining room and turned on the light.

...and then nearly died from a heart attack when multiple people yelled “SURPRISE!!!”

“Holy First Spinjitzu Master!” Cole swore, jumping back and placing a hand over his heart. “W-What the heck?!”

He heard Kai and Lloyd laugh right before a blue blur rushed over and captured him in a hug. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE!” Jay squealed.

Cole paled. “What?!”

Jay backed up a little bit, beaming (absently, Cole noticed that the blue ninja was wearing a blue party hat). “Well, we’ve known each other for, what, three years now? And we’ve never celebrated your birthday ever! So, we were all thinking ‘hey, we should totally celebrate your birthday sometime’. But we don’t know when your birthday is so we had to choose a day to celebrate it. Then Lloyd suddenly says ‘hey, let’s celebrate it on Earth Day.’ Cause, ya know, you’re the earth ninja. And we were like, ‘oh wow, that’s an awesome idea!’ So, we spent the last two weeks planning this surprise party for you!” Jay finally took a moment to breath. “So, whaddya think?!”

“Hmm?” Cole stopped giving Lloyd a death glare(and he didn’t even look ashamed, the little punk!) in order to face Jay. “O-Oh. What do I think?”

Jay nodded. “Yeah!”

Cole slowly took in his surroundings—black and orange streamers and balloons decorated the small room while a big homemade banner declared ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE!!!’ in all caps (there was even a little Chibi Cole in the corner). The table was laden with food and candy and there were even presents stacked on the end of it.

A smile tugged on the corner of Cole’s lips. “This,” He said, grinning. “Is the best surprise party ever.”

“Woohoo!” Jay cheered, pumping his fist in the air. “Let’s celebrate!”

~~~~

The celebration turned out to be a big video game tournament. But they let Cole choose all of the games, so the black ninja was able to crush everyone at Just Dance (and yes, Cole absolutely slayed at Just Dance , it was the only game he was actually good at). 

They also played common party games but with a new twist, like Pin the Beard on Sensei Wu(despite how fun the game was, Cole had no idea how Sensei allowed Jay to make that game). 

They also played Twister, which was...hilarious, to say the least(Nya had to stop Kai from trying to dislocate his shoulder to try and reach a spot and at one point the ninja were so twisted up in a knot that it was impossible to tell which limb belonged to whom).

Finally, when all of the ninja were exhausted from the games, they gathered around the dining table and watched as Cole opened his presents. Kai had given him a picture that he had drawn of him, and it was so detailed that Cole knew that it had to have taken the red ninja ages to get right. Jay had given him a new Ipod, which had already had all of his favorite songs downloaded. Zane had given him a small box filled with samples of different kinds of cakes, though he warned against eating them all in one sitting (Cole still sampled the triple chocolate sample--it was great). Nya had given him a homemade coupon book which had coupons such as ‘1 Free Ride in the Samurai Suit’, ‘1 Free ‘Get-Out-Of-Trouble’ Card’, and, his favorite, ‘1 Free Pass to Hit Kai Over the Head For Being an Idiot’. Lloyd had gifted him with the soundtrack albums to a couple of his favorite musicals.

“Wow, guys,” Cole laughed once he had put his gifts away and the ninja started eating lunch(Zane had made orange chicken and rice). “This has been awesome! Thank you!”

“And it’s not over yet!” Kai proclaimed, reaching into his hoodie pocket and pulling out six tickets. “We got tickets to the new Avengers movie!”

Cole’s eyes bugged out. “Whoa, what?! I thought those things sold out ages ago!”

“The manager at the movie theater owed us a favor,” Kai shrugged. “Remember when we stopped those rogue Serpentine from raiding the concession stand at the movie theater a few weeks ago?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Cole grinned. “But sweet! I can’t wait!”

“In the meantime,” Zane stood up, smiling. “Anyone want cake?”

Cole’s eyes lit up. “Cake?!”

Jay laughed. “Well, duh! What birthday party isn’t complete without birthday cake?”

Zane brought out a double layer cake decorated with orange frosting, with six lit candles and a small plastic dragon on top. Lloyd coughed meaningfully before he started singing the “Happy Birthday’ song, with everyone joining him. Cole blushed but smiled happily. Once the song was finished, Cole blew out the candles and cut himself a piece of the cake...only to have Kai steal it and slam it into his face. Everyone burst out laughing, and Cole, after wiping the frosting out of his eyes, shrugged and flung some frosting at the red ninja, smirking when the red ninja shrieked “watch the hair!” and fell out of his chair. 

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “I’ll get it,” Cole said, getting up and walking to the front door.

When he opened the door, however, there was no one there. Before he could question it more, he heard someone singing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song. Looking around the corner, Cole smiled when he saw his dad standing to the side of the door. 

Once he was done with the song, Lou smiled and hugged his son. “Happy Birthday, son!” he said, smiling.

Cole smiled and hugged his dad back. “Thanks Dad.”

“How are you doing, Cole?” Lou asked. “Having a good day?”

“It’s been great! The others put together a surprise party for me,” Cole told him, affectionately rolling his eyes. “They decided that since I’m the earth ninja, that it’s totally okay to celebrate my birthday on Earth Day.”

Lou cocked his head to the side. “So, I’m assuming…”

“That I haven’t told them when my birthday is? No, I haven’t,” Cole said.

Lou sighed and shook his head. “Well, I suppose that’s your choice.” His smile returned. “How is it going? The party I mean.”

“It’s fun,” Cole replied, walking back inside and gesturing for his dad to follow him. “We were just about to eat the cake.”

“That explains the frosting on your face,” Lou chuckled, wiping some frosting off of Cole’s cheek.

“Yeah, well. Kai’s immature for his age and he decided to shove my face into my piece of cake.”

“You are not that much younger than him, you know,” Lou told him.

“He’s eighteen,” Cole groaned.

“And you’re sixteen. I don’t see your point,” Lou retorted, smirking.

Cole rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but I act a whole lot more mature than him.”

Lou smiled and ruffled his son’s hair. “That you do.”

“Daaaaad~” Cole complained, straightening his hair.

The two walked into the dining room...only to stop when they that everyone was staring at them. Jay’s jaw has hanging loose and Lloyd looked like he was trying not to laugh.

Cole frowned. “What?” 

Kai finally managed to get his jaw working. “Y-You’re only sixteen?” he gasped.

Cole froze, realizing that his friends had overheard his conversation with his dad. Well, no use lying. “Uh, m-maybe?”

Everyone stared at him more...well, except for Lloyd, who was silently laughing. “How...when did you turn sixteen?” Zane asked.

“Uhhhhhh….” Cole bit his lip nervously. “Earlier this morning, I guess…”

Everyone gasped….except for Lloyd, who was bent over double trying to stifle his laughter. “You just turned sixteen?” Jay gasped. “ Today ?!”

Cole blushed but nodded.

Jay seemed like he was having a mental meltdown. “But-how-what-but you--” The blue ninja grabbed Cole by the shoulders and started to shake him. “YOU JUST TURNED SIXTEEN TODAY AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ANYONE?!?!?!”

“Qqqqquit ssssssshakinnnng meeeee Jaaaaaaaay!” Cole complained, pushing the blue ninja away from him. “And...yeah…”

Lloyd finally lost it, falling on the floor laughing. Cole glared at him. “Knock it off, Lloyd.”

Kai’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute…” he turned to face the laughing green ninja. “Did you know about this?!”

“Y-Yeah,” Lloyd panted through his laughter. “I promised Cole that I wouldn’t tell anyone though.”

“But, but you did tell us!” Jay accused.

“I never said that Cole’s birthday was today, now did I?” Lloyd replied, smirking. “I just suggested that today would be a cool day to celebrate his birthday.”

“But still!” Jay turned back to Cole. “WHY DID YOU NEVER TELL US THAT TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY, AND THAT YOU’RE SIXTEEN?!”

“Because I knew that you would freak out like this,” Cole replied, rolling his eyes. “It’s not that important, anyways.”

“‘Not important’?! Dude, it’s your sweet sixteen!” Kai exclaimed. “You’ve gotta want to celebrate that!”

“Wait a minute, I just realized something!” Jay gasped. “I’M OLDER THAN COLE!!! I’VE BEEN OLDER THAN HIM THIS WHOLE TIME!!!”

“Congratulations, we’re so happy for you.” Cole muttered sarcastically. 

“How did we miss this?” Zane shook his head. 

“Is that why your voice cracks so much?” Kai asked.

Cole blushed. “My voice does not crack!” he spluttered...his voice cracking.

Everyone laughed, even his dad. “At least his voice isn’t breaking as much as it used to,” Lou chuckled. “Ah, I remember when it first broke. He freaked out so much, it took me several minutes in order to calm him down.”

“Dad!” Cole protested, blushing even more.

His teammates laughed even harder. “Oh gosh,” Lloyd gasped, clutching his stomach. “That’s funny. I can’t breath.”

Cole turned away, cheeks a vibrant red. Kai, noticing, came up and playfully punched Cole’s arm. “Hey, relax Cole. We’re just teasing you, ya know. We don’t mean any harm.”

“I know,” Cole groaned. “It’s still embarrassing.”

“Well, next time, don’t keep your age a secret.”

Cole rolled his eyes but smiled slightly. “Will do.”

Kai smirked back. “Seriously, though. Happy actual birthday, man.”

Cole smiled. “Thanks, Kai.”

“Wait, wait!” Jay suddenly exclaimed. “If you’re younger than me, how come you’re taller than me?! And how come you have better abs than me?!”

Cole snorted. “Dude, that’s what’s getting you? Me being younger and being taller?”

“You forgot about being in better shape,” Kai loudly whispered. 

“It’s not fair!” Jay complained. “I should be taller! And I should have an awesome set of abs!”

“You could just do some more intense core work, Jay,” Zane said. “If you want, I can look up some ways to strengthen your core muscles and help you.”

“Thanks Zane, but that’s not the same.” 

Everyone laughed at Jay’s obvious disgruntlement. Cole smiled and felt extremely happy. Best. Birthday. Ever.

The End.