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Ever since Master Wu went missing in the Merge, Lloyd has tried his best to emulate his uncle in every practice.
Every. Single. One.
From cleaning the monastery to meditating on Wu’s carpet, Lloyd adopted every action of Wu’s he can remember.
Even caring for his pet.
The chicken, commonly referred to as “AUGGGGH! It’s here!”, “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”, “that demon”, and, Kai’s personal favorite, “the essence of evil reincarnated into the body of a plump bird”, is Master Wu’s dear pet. More than that, the chicken is Master Wu’s favorite method of torture. Whenever the old man gets an inkling of his students being lazy, he unleashes the bird on them.
And it torments them. For weeks.
Now, at first, Lloyd didn’t know if the chicken survived the Merge. After all, he couldn’t find it anywhere. Not that he wanted to find it, of course. He just didn’t happen to see it when he was looking through Wu’s old scrolls for information about the Merge.
And that was just fine with him.
Of course, all good things have to end.
One fateful morning when he sent Arin and Sora to train in the courtyard, he poured himself a bowl of cereal, went to use the restroom, and nearly crapped his pants.
It was sitting in his cereal! The dirty bird! Lloyd would’ve strangled it had he not been so surprised to see his uncle’s pet return. Here it was, unscathed, looking at Lloyd with an empty expression in its black, beady little eyes.
Lloyd held up a hand in a little wave.
“Hi, chicken.”
The chicken flared its feathers, rising from the cereal, sending crumbs falling from its body. It bristled, sending blue bolts of electricity through its feathers. It released a guttural shriek and charged at Lloyd.
Thankfully, Lloyd had experience. Lots of experience.
Lloyd lunged for the trash. With the grace of a cheetah, he withdrew a Chen’s Noodle House leftover box and trapped the chicken. It squirmed inside, screaming bloody murder. But Lloyd was triumphant. He entered the courtyard, brandishing the box to the heavens. Arin and Sora paused their training.
“I have done it!”
“What, Master Lloyd?”
“The hardest test a ninja can face.” The green ninja glowered at the sky. “Look at me, uncle. I did it. I'm not lazy. You can come back now.”
But Wu did not answer.
Years passed. More of the ninja return. And Lloyd…
Lloyd begrudgingly took care of the chicken.
Every single morning he fed the darn thing and gave it water. It only took a year for the demon bird to stop attacking him every time it saw him. It took four more years for it to cluck in thanks.
Never once did it let Lloyd pet it. So, naturally, Lloyd was beginning to believe that Master Wu was the only one who it loved.
Until Pixal returned.
The second Pixal walked into the monastery, the chicken appeared. Not only did it appear, but it let out a great squawk and charged at her.
Lloyd was certain that Pix was going to get severely hurt and have to be repaired. However, he was not expecting the chicken to leap into her arms and coo, rubbing its head against her neck while she giggled and rubbed its head.
“Oh, my lady. You missed me, didn’t you?” To Lloyd’s horror, Pixal leaned down and pressed a kiss against the chicken’s forehead. The chicken chirped happily, then climbed up her shoulder to perch on her head. The chicken then nestled itself into Pixal’s hair, closing its eyes in content.
“What. The. Heck?!?”
Five years. Five. Frickin. YEARS of taking care of this stupid thing and it ignores him and goes right to Pixal.
“Lloyd, are you alright?” Lloyd jolted out of his thoughts. Pixal frowned at him.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Lloyd shoved his hands into his pockets and quickly left the courtyard so Pixal cannot see him fume. It’s not her fault that it likes her.
For the next week, the chicken followed Pixal wherever she went. And whenever a ninja tried to talk to her or—First Master forbid—hug her, the chicken would lunge, screaming and would not cease its attack until Pixal gathered it in her arms and whispered kind words to it.
It was impossible. Utterly impossible. So that is why when Lloyd heard that Zane and Pixal were going on vacation, a thought invaded his consciousness and wouldn’t stop nagging at him until he voiced it to Pixal.
“Yo, Pix…” Lloyd approached the nindroid as she was checking Roby's balloon for its stability right after he returned from Egalt’s passing.
“Hello, Lloyd.” She gave him a big smile that’s impossible not to return.
“I was wondering if you could take the chicken on your vacation.” Pixal paused.
“That sounds nice.” She had such a genuine, warm expression on her face that Lloyd’s anger boiled.
“Nice? NICE?! How can you deal with the darn thing?!” Pixal jumped, her eyes widening. “It’s such a brat! It screams at you even when you give it food and then years pass and it ignores you!"
“Oh, Lloyd.” Pixal’s face softens. “Please do not be offended. Peony has a difficult time trusting people. She and her ancestors were hunted by monks and ninja. She has an inherited aversion to humans. It takes her a long time to learn to trust people.”
“But it trusted you in an instant!” Pixal shook her head.
“No, it took me several months to gain her trust."
“Several months?! Pix, that’s like saying you learned spinjitzu in a day.” Pixal blinked. Then Lloyd groaned, slapping his face with his palm. Pixal had managed to perform spinjitzu with Zane after seconds of trying back when they fought the nindroid army in Ed and Edna’s Junkyard. Who was he kidding?
“Ugggh,” Lloyd groaned. “Okay the point is that this darn bird is crazy and I’ve been stuck with it for years. Can you please take it with you?”
“Of course, my friend.” Lloyd sighed.
“Thank you.”
“I wonder…” Pixal started as he walked away. “Did you ever call her by her name?”
“I didn’t even know it had one…” The chicken bristled in Pixal’s arms. It shot Lloyd a sharp look.
“Something to work on, then.” Pixal smiled, stroking the chicken’s feathers. It nestled back into her arms, closing its eyes.