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The ninja were spread across Ninjago, each taking on their own little missions in different villages and towns. Morro had been sent to a small village known for it's lush nearby forests to take care of something for them.
Rumors spread around the village of a 'monster' with the horns of an Oni, and the tail of a Dragon. No one had truly seen it in full light, which meant there were a lot of arguments about what it actually looked like, but one thing everyone could agree on was it's vibrant green eyes that glowed in the dark.
Of course, these were the descriptions their 'protector' had to use to find the creature and dispose of it for stealing and ransacking the village on multiple occasions. Granted, no one had actually seen it ransack anywhere, just run off with food from now broken fruit stands or tipped over bins.
So, their dubbed 'monster hunter', Morro, set off into the forest near by, intent on finding the creature and either capturing it and bringing it to the village for them to decide what to do with it or getting rid of it then and there. It all depended on how easy the thing was to catch and if it attacked him or not.
Every little sound made him grip his bow tighter, even the wind rustling leaves above his head put him on edge. They had dealt with a lot of things while being a ninja, but this was a little out of his realm. He wasn't exactly used to being blatantly told to kill something just because it was stealing food and destroying property, and he was subconsciously hoping it wouldn't have to come to that. They had dealt with Oni before, and as much as it was easier to use creation to get rid of them, this creature didn't sound like an actual Oni, just that it had horns that the villagers thought looked similar to one.
As far as they were aware, Dragons were harmless unless under stress. Every dragon he had ever met had been like a dog, just happy to even be around a human and probably wouldn't dare steal without it being a silly trick to mess with their favourite human without consequences. But this 'monster' wasn't described like a dragon, and some had even mentioned that it ran on two legs, like a human. That thought alone upset the ninja, the idea that this was just a human that had no other way of getting food. A human that could entirely be part Oni or Dragon.
The first spinjitsu master had been both, so why couldn't other people?
Morro's head whipped around at the sound of a twig snapping, catching a glimpse of the end of a golden tail, but it wasn't scaled, it seemed to be covered in fur, matted and coated in mud but fur nonetheless.
So he ran in the direction they thought it went, as it definitely didn't belong to any animal native to these forests. Gripping his bow tightly, preparing to grab an arrow with his other hand if needed. Leaves and twigs crunching below them, scaring off birds and other animals nearby. Following the blurs of golden blonde in front of them, getting the wind to help corner it, creating strong wind barriers that it would have to be stupid to try to go through if it wanted to stay unharmed.
They caught up to the creature, as it ran into a tree, confusing itself for long enough for Morro to corner it in a mix of strong winds and the trees around them.
Morro's heart sank as the so called 'monster' turned, putting up it's defenses.
The 'monster' was a human, possibly a weird hybrid between a human and something else, but that didn't matter. It had shoulder length dirty and matted golden blonde hair that matched the fur on it's tail, with two dark horns pointed on the top of it's head. Two almost neon green eyes stared at him, full of fear, clawed hands on show ready to attack if it needed to.
He could see it's ribs through the tears in the shirt it was wearing, if anything this 'monster' was just a terrified teenage boy. Morro knew that if he had even taken one wrong turn as a child that he could've ended up like the shaking 'creature' in front of him, he himself had already been homeless once and he wouldn't wish that upon anyone.
He threw his bow on the ground a few feet away, taking note of where it was as to pick it up later, changing his body language to be less of a threat.
The 'monster', slowly moved towards the ground, still desperately trying to keep his fighting stance, but was obviously tired and weak. His huffing was loud and shaky, and his eyes were twitching, keeping them open and staring at Morro, making sure to capture every tiny movement he made in case he needed to flee or attack, not that he had any strength to.
The taller sighed, sitting on the grassy dirt floor of the forest, looking at the boy covered in mud in front of him.
"I give up. You win." He started, taking his eyes away from him and glancing around the trees, the wind barriers dying down around them both. The 'monster' tilted his head, confused, struggling to comprehend what he was saying.
"Just don't go back to that village, they're setting up traps and the like. You don't deserve to get caught up in that."
There was suddenly a loud thud, Morro turned back to the 'creature' that was now on the ground, still with his glowing eyes trained on the ninja, exhausted from running on little energy.
Morro stood up, leaving their bow in the grass, reaching for his little satchel that contained his lunch and throwing it towards the dragon boy. He flinched as the bag hit the ground in front of him, terrified of the possibility that it was an attack but that thought quickly went away as the scent of food filled his nose.
Glancing up at the ninja, reading their face to make sure he was allowed to take the bag. They gave him a little nod, sitting down against a tree near him, careful to keep their distance. He watched as the boy sat up and tore into his bag, immediately scarfing down anything edible he had in there, studying the blonde's abnormal features and spotting his injuries here and there. He mostly had little scrapes and bruises, clearly from slipping or falling in the forest, but one injury stood out, a large semi-fresh gash running down the side of his calf to his ankle.
They couldn't figure out what could've caused an injury like that, nor how he could've even run with it. It didn't look like it had happened that day, as it had clearly started to heal by itself. It looked like it needed stitches, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to do that while the boy was still terrified of them, even if they did have a first aid kit on hand.
"Do you have a name?" Morro asked, not wanting to continue referring to the 'creature' as.. well the 'creature' to themselves. Watching as the boys tail swished, looking at him with his vibrant eyes again, figuring out what the ninja had said.
"L-oy d." his voice scratchy as he struggled to pronounce the letters, quite clearly having rarely, if ever, used his voice. Morro nodded, accepting the answer even if they couldn't tell what the boy had actually said.
Morro's eyes went back to the injury on the boy's leg, concerned about it potentially being infected. Lloyd followed their gaze, his pointed ears drooping down at the site of the wound, snapping his head back to continue raiding Morro's bag for any more scraps of food. The taller moved closer to the boy, keeping an eye on him for any sign that he was uncomfortable with them getting closer.
The blonde flinched, staring at Morro as he was now only about three feet away from him, but they didn't stop moving, just slowed down. Lloyd's eyes snapped to the quiver full of arrows on Morro's back, terrified that the ninja was going to try to hurt him. Morro stopped, removed their quiver, the spare dagger they had in their holster and threw them to the side, discarding them in the grass.
"No more weapons. See?" Morro held up his empty hands to the blonde, and turned a little to show that he had nothing else on him. Lloyd relaxed a little, but was still on edge. "Can I just check that wound? It looks painful." They said, trying to keep their voice soft as to not startle the terrified boy in front of him.
Lloyd nodded, not understanding a word, but their tone said enough, watching their every movement. They reached over to the satchel they had thrown to him earlier, rummaging through it and pulling out a little box full of rolled up bandages and disinfectant wipes. He didn't have any needle and thread on hand, but just cleaning and wrapping the wound would have to do. They set the box down, opening it and pulling out a few wipes, gently cleaning around the wound first, just to make sure Lloyd was okay with being touched.
And he was, a little, he was shaking a little due to the unfamiliar feeling, until Morro accidentally wiped across an open part of the wound.
The dragon boy hissed, flinching away from the dark haired boy, fear filling his green eyes again. He had moved back into a more defensive position, even though he probably couldn't even stand anymore, his claws prepared to swipe if Morro dared to even blink wrong. Morro stopped, pulling his hand away, studying the blonde's face, their own showing concern for him.
"It needs cleaning, it'll heal faster if it's wrapped up." They breathed, looking into Lloyd's scared green eyes, he was confused and could barely understand what Morro was saying, only being eased by the tone of their voice. "I know it hurts, but please let me help."
With that, Lloyd gave in, letting Morro clean the injury, tensing and hissing every time they put a little too much pressure on it. They whispered a simple "Relax.." in the hopes that it would calm him down even a little. He had to use quite a few of the disinfectant wipes, mostly to clean up dirt on his skin rather than the wound itself.
They thought about calling one of the others and asking them to bring the Bounty to move the boy onto and give him proper medical care for his injuries, food and clothes. But they knew that he would freak out if more people surrounded him. It was a miracle enough that Morro was even able to convince him to let him clean and dress his worst wound.
When it finally came to wrapping the wound, however, Lloyd was not happy. Morro was trying to wrap it tightly so that it would heal quicker, but it was hurting Lloyd to the point where he was instinctively swiping at and trying to pull his leg away from them.
Morro was pointlessly fighting to keep Lloyd's leg in place as he bandaged it, getting more frustrated by the second. Eventually giving up and taking a second to calm down as to not get mad at Lloyd. It wasn't his fault, really, he was just in pain. They picked up their satchel again, trying to find something to distract Lloyd from the pain. A quiet crinkling noise made the blonde's head tilt, Morro caught the motion in the corner of his eye and pulled out the thing that made that noise.
A mini pack of mixed candies. Morro had been given it by one of the children in the village, as a thank you for his work as a ninja. Lloyd's eyes went wide, pupils dilating at the sound of the packet, not actually knowing what was inside it.
"I thought you had already taken everything that was edible in here." They mumbled, reading through the information on the packet before handing it to the blonde.
He looked confused, proceeding to just squeeze and crinkle the packet for the fun noise it made. "That's not- give it here." Morro mumbled, taking the candies off him and opening the bag. Handing it back to him after taking one out for themselves as they prepared to try dressing the wound again. They weren't exactly a fan of candy, but he wouldn't turn it down or say no if offered, he just wouldn't eat loads of it. Lloyd, on the other hand, had eaten one and immediately got addicted.
Lloyd was barely even tasting each candy as he stuffed them into his mouth, looking like a cat on catnip. At least it distracted him enough for Morro to be able to wrap the bandages around his leg easily.
Finally done with helping out with the village's 'monster's predicament, Morro stood up, glancing around to spot his bow, quiver and dagger. They couldn't really leave the boy by himself in his condition. He gathered up his things while figuring out what to do with him.
They could take him back to the monastery, but how would they even get him there? He seems like the type that would be terrified of anything that made any kind of loud noise, and an airship isn't exactly quiet. Morro came here on his motorbike and that wouldn't be safe to take him on even if he wasn't afraid. It felt like a death sentence for the boy if they just left him here, but there wasn't a way to get him somewhere else safely without potentially traumatizing him further.
Unfortunately, and as much as they really did not want to, they had to call the others for their opinions on what to do. Maybe Morro would be able to coax him onto the bounty or something. But that could be thought about later, for now he was going to head back to the village and say that they dealt with the issue, and get some new clothes for the boy at the very least. They would just have to hope that he didn't try to wander off by himself while injured.
Lloyd watched them leave, making a sad whine in hopes that he would stay, but he just continued walking. They had intentionally left their bag with the blonde, so that he had an excuse to come back.