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Nya probably should have been more worried when they found Lloyd on the training course that morning. The kids had frantically woken her up, shouting about how Lloyd was “dead” and they needed to help.
Instead of finding Lloyd dead as the kids had said, all they found was a sleeping Lloyd, waking up from what seemed to be a luxurious nap.
Now, hearing her phone buzz at 3 in the morning, for FSM’s sake, she almost didn’t pick up.
But something inside of her knew that this was going to be important.
“Nya, Nya!” Arin’s voice boomed into the speaker, and Nya immediately turned down her phone’s volume. She groaned, rubbing at her tired eyes.
“Oh, shoot! I forgot you were asleep-” The sounds of arguing and the phone being handed to someone else came through the speakers.
“Nya,” this time it was Sora’s voice, “So, we were tracking down this thief-”
“You were what?!” Nya interrupted, raising her eyebrows in shock.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re terrible students, whatever! So, when we were chasing the thieves, Lloyd came, and we started fighting, and this elemental master of smoke came and started fighting us!”
Nya’s eyebrows furrowed. Ash? Why would Ash fight against the ninja?
Upon not hearing a response from Nya, Sora decided to continue. “So, while we were fighting them, these warriors pulled out these super weird wolf masks, and put them on!”
Nya frowned. “And.. that’s worrisome? Why?”
“Well, the elemental master of smoke, I’m pretty sure his name was Cinder, used this gong and they used some sort of spinjitzu I think?! It was so weird- but anyways, after we tried to fight them and lost, because that weird spinjitzu stopped us, Lloyd started panicking, and then he passed out-”
“Lloyd passed out?!” Now Nya was on her feet, putting on her gi while remaining on the phone with Sora.
“That’s not the point! When Lloyd woke up, he started shouting about a ‘blood moon’ and now he’s having a panic attack!”
“Where are you?” Nya immediately asked, throwing on her boots.
“Um..” The distinct sound of whispering could be heard from the phone. “By an antique shop in the Crossroads!”
Nya nodded. “Okay, I’m on my way. Try to calm Lloyd down!”
“Errr… That’s proving to be more difficult than we thought..”
“Just do your best!” Nya quickly ended the call, finally ready to leave. When she stepped out her bedroom door, however, Kai stood in front of her, hands on his hips.
“Where ya goin’ sis?” Kai questioned, clad in red pajamas with his signature logo on them.
“Well…” Nya didn’t know whether to lie or tell the truth. She opted for the truth, since Kai would definitely know she was lying.
“Listen, the kids are at the Crossroads with Lloyd. They said he was having a panic attack, so if you’re coming, we need to leave now.”
Kai’s expression went from confused to worried in the few seconds that Nya spoke.
“Wait, let me get my gi on!” He quickly ran off, leaving Nya to wait for the eternity that it took for him to get dressed. When Kai came back, she gave him an exasperated look before they ran to get in a car.
After an eternity of driving in silence, the two siblings found the younger ninja. They immediately hopped out of the vehicle, worry on their faces as they hurried over to the kids.
Kai spoke first. “Where’s Lloyd?”
Sora bit her lip, nudging Arin. “He’s, uh, over there.. Be careful, though.”
Kai nodded, walking over to where Arin had pointed.
Nya remained where she was, hands on her hips.
“Are you kids okay?” She asked first, her eyes softening at the children.
Arin pursed his lips. “I.. I guess… It’s just, we’ve never seen Lloyd like.. like this, y’know?”
Nya nodded. These poor kids had no idea how bad things could get.
“Sora? Are you okay?” She turned her gaze to the girl, who looked absolutely heartbroken.
Sora put her head in her hands. “This is all my fault..”
Nya shook her head, putting her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“It’s not your fault, Sora. You didn’t know..”
Sora looked up at Nya, tears in her green eyes. “But Nya, this happened because we decided to find that thief, and Lloyd found us and now..” Sora broke off.
“Oh, Sora.. It’s not your fault that you wanted to help find a thief, and it’s not your fault that Lloyd came. Lloyd wanted to make sure you were safe.”
At the next moment, Kai walked over, his arm slung over a pale blonde ninja clad in green.
Lloyd’s head was turned downwards, either from embarrassment or exhaustion, Nya did not know.
“Okay,” Kai spoke, looking down at the kid he was keeping upright, “let’s get going, shall we?”
Nya looked from Lloyd to Kai, raising an eyebrow to the red ninja.
Kai nodded, a signal that probably meant Lloyd would be okay.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Nya guided Sora and Arin to her car.
When they arrived back at the monastery, it was about the time that Zane would be getting up.
Sure enough, when they walked in, Zane stood waiting for them by the monastery gates.
“Where have you been?” The nindroid questioned, his expression filled with confusion.
Nya hummed. “We had an… interesting evening.”
At that moment, Kai had walked in, Lloyd practically being dragged in by the red ninja.
Zane’s eyes widened. “What happened?!” He said whilst helping Kai take the green ninja to the steps near the door of the monastery.
Nya turned to Arin and Sora, who were standing awkwardly by the gates.
“Uhm, well…” Sora started telling the story about how Kreel had sent a letter saying something of hers was stolen, and how it had led to Lloyd’s panic attack.
“He said that the ‘blood moon’ was coming, or something- it was.. so weird.” The trainee finished her sentence, picking at her nails.
“Thank you for telling us, Sora.” Nya put an arm around the girl.
“Lloyd, how are you feeling?” The ninja all looked over to Zane, who was speaking to a slightly dazed Lloyd.
“I’m fine, just.. a little tired.” The green ninja responded, biting his lip.
“My scanners indicate that you are under extreme fatigue.. more extreme than when you passed out in the living room.”
“Since he what?!” Nya pursed her lips at Zane, who shrugged sheepishly.
“Lloyd, you aren’t telling us something. What is the blood moon?” Lloyd’s expression darkened when Zane spoke the last two words of his question.
“Lloyd..” Nya ran a hand through her ponytail, “please, tell us what’s going on.. We can help you!”
And then it all came spilling out. Lloyd explained how he had started having visions, and hadn’t slept in a long time. He talked about the blood moon and the wolf masked warriors, freezing occasionally when about to say something relating to the ninja themselves.
By the end of his story, all of the ninja were staring at him.
Lloyd froze. “Uh.. that’s.. all, I guess..” he bit his lip.
“What. The. Actual. Hell.” Kai’s hair had started smoking.
“Oh, first master-” Nya sighed, exasperated. “Kai, you're smoking again.”
Kai shook his head. “Oh- shoot, sorry.”
She turned back to Lloyd, her expression crestfallen.
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
The man in green froze, before timidly responding..
“I thought it didn’t matter.. that they were just dreams.. I mean, you all have so much on your plates, I didn’t want to stack that on too.”
Nya pursed her lips.
“Lloyd.. we care for you. These visions are serious too. I’m just sad that you didn’t tell us sooner.”
Lloyd dipped his head in shame.
Kai stepped forward, ruffling the green ninja’s hair.
“Kid, you know we don’t care how much we have stacked on our plates. If you’re hurting, physically or mentally.. You can tell us.”
Tears sprang up in Lloyd’s eyes, and Nya was quick to hug him.
“This will all end soon, Lloyd. I promise.”