Chapter Text
He’s running.
It’s all he can do, really. Not when he’s out in the city where there aren’t many welcoming places to let him hide. He could settle for alleyways, but that would either end with him being chased on whatever rooftop he climbs up to, or cornered and having to brace himself enough to carry bruises and broken pride the rest of his journey home. If he survives, that is…
So he runs, pushing past people who sneer and yell after him. Pushing himself until his lungs feel like they’re choking for air and his legs are burning.
He just wanted a nice day out with his friends! A day out in the park, maybe get ice cream and generally goof around like the teenagers they were. Not get chased out of the public park (again) to avoid being a public punching bag or thrown into whatever river or pond was nearby (again).
“GET BACK HERE!” A voice boomed behind him, the sound of several footsteps stomping after him in their chase.
“GET THE FUCK BACK HERE LLOYD! ” Another voice yelled, spitting his name with such vitriol Lloyd could feel the venom licking at his heels.
He tried to run faster, push himself further.
He was the green ninja! He fought thugs and ocean-themed villains bi-weekly! Sure he was usually in his mech for most of that time, but still! He trained (almost) every day and managed to keep up with even Jay ! He should be able to outrun these guys in and out of uniform!
So what if he’s falling over his own feet, shoving past hateful civilians and trying not to trip over his shoelaces?
“STOP RUNNING FREAK!”
He wasn’t sure when he fell. Only that one moment he was running as fast as his legs would carry, and the next he was on the ground, backside sore and feeling like he ran into a brick wall.
“Woah!” A voice exclaimed in front of him, hand reaching down, “You okay?”
Looking up with watery eyes, Lloyd stared at the stranger in front of him-- towering over him. He felt like he was looking up at a giant. Dark hair fell loose around his face, black locks falling over shoulders and only a portion managing to stay up in a messy ponytail. His clothes were large and baggy, looking as if they were taken from the donation bins at homeless shelters or the closest Lifeline, but were somewhat decent. Baggy pants, black t-shirt and a large jacket over top - it was decent for something out of the dollar bin.
Even so, it couldn’t hide the broad and large figure, whatever dark skin there was revealing scars and muscle. There was a big-ass scar on his face, carved from his forehead across and down the side of his cheek, framing brown eyes that looked down on him in… shock? Surprise? Concern? Either way, he looked vaguely familiar and the sudden concern was enough to have Lloyd staring. He looked… He looked really, really familiar.
The man was still reaching a hand down to him.
It took him a moment, but Lloyd eventually managed to remember the man asked a question and began to stutter for a response, mouth opening and closing with broken sounds falling through chapped lips.
“I-- Uhm--”
“THERE HE IS!” A voice shouted, footsteps rapidly approaching and making Lloyd jolt, scrambling to get back on his feet with a panic. He ignored the stranger’s hand.
Right. Getting chased.
A quick glance over his shoulder told him everything he already knew - 2 men and a woman running towards them, or more specifically him, with a mix of thundering expressions and cruel glee.
He should be running right now. But between them and the stranger, Lloyd felt rooted to the spot.
What was it Zane talked about yesterday? About there being more responses than fight and flight?
Whatever it was, Lloyd definitely felt like running, but he wasn’t , for whatever god-awful reason.
Suddenly, enough to shock him out of staring at his impending doom, a rough but surprisingly gentle hand landed on his shoulder. Glancing up fearfully, Lloyd was struck with confusion when he saw angry eyes, commonly reserved for him, were glaring at the approaching group.
It was with even more shock that Lloyd felt himself get pulled back and behind the man, the stranger taking enough of a careful step forward to practically hide him.
“Stay behind me.” The stranger said, somehow managing to stand even taller now that he wasn’t hunching.
Lloyd, feeling himself bluescreen, stayed put.
It wasn’t long before his pursuers stopped in front of the man, footsteps slowing with haggard breaths to match.
“What are you doing?” One of them asked, panting for air.
Barely leaning out from behind him, Lloyd glanced between the three people and up to the stranger. He was frowning at them, glaring.
“What are you doing?” He shot, eyes narrowing.
The group seemed taken aback by this, looking at each other with confusion.
“Uhm,” The woman began with a chuckle, “Chasing Lloyd? Obviously.”
“Why?” The dark stranger asked.
“To rough him up, duh.” She answered with a cruel smirk, rolling her eyes.
“Why?”
“Because he deserves it?” The third answered, a bit more nervously than his friends.
The stranger narrowed his eyes, arms coming to cross over his chest as he leered down.
“Why?”
“Because he’s Lloyd Garmadon! ” The man in front snapped, looking at the other as though he were crazy.
Lloyd, though flinching at the venom, gaped at the man he hid behind.
The man didn’t so much as flinch as he spoke, “And?”
“And? And?! He’s Lord Garmadon’s kid! Hello? Evil warlord who keeps trying to take over the city? Him!” The man practically spat, arms gesturing around almost widely.
The man continued to glower, frown somehow deepening further.
“So, you three, three adults, are chasing after a kid to beat him up? In broad daylight?”
The woman took a small step forward, eyes snapping between the stranger and Lloyd who flinched back. Without realising, he had a grip on the man’s black jacket, the feeling of worn out fleece rubbing against his fingers.
“Not to beat him up, silly! Just rough him a little. Snot-nosed brat deserves that much for the shit his dad pulls.” She practically crooned, gazing at Lloyd with a predatory grin.
The stranger didn’t respond. He only continued to watch the group, carefully taking a step to the side to block the woman’s view of Lloyd. He couldn’t see it clearly with the broad shoulders and baggy clothes, but he could feel the man tensing slightly. His breathing came out deep and controlled, but his shoulders were stiff, tensing as though waiting for something to happen.
The stranger eyed the group, brown eyes flicking person to person and sizing them up.
Eventually, he spoke, an angry furrow of his brow and a slight tilt to the head making the group tense themselves,
“And you just so happened to have weapons on you too, huh? Gonna put those knives you have to use?”
Behind him, Lloyd somehow tensed even further, body frozen still as panic swarmed his entire body with an icy grip.
Knives? These guys were going to hurt him with actual knives?! Sure, he was used to getting hurt from blades, his experience of fighting guys with swords and daggers giving him a good idea of what to expect and how to handle them, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed the feeling of metal cutting or stabbing into him!
He didn’t see - couldn’t see - but the group were frozen, wide eyed in shock and hands unconsciously reaching to pockets and belts.
One of the men, the nervous one, stuttered out a response,
“Knives? We don’t-- I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He trailed off with an awkward laugh, the others joining, but the man’s expression didn’t so much as twitch.
“Look,” He eventually said, almost sighing, “I’m gonna give you a chance here. So take your asses and walk away.”
The woman glared at him, puffing out her chest in challenge, “Or what? You gonna call the brats daddy? Have him destroy the city ahead of schedule?”
The man took a small step forward, careful to not be far from Lloyd’s shaking grip, but it was enough to do the job. The ground practically shook around them, rattling the group to their bones and stumbling back from him in surprise and fear.
The man glowered, face shadowed by hair, but eyes almost seeming to burn gold in vitriol.
“Or you’ll wish that Garmadon was around instead of me.”
Thankfully, that was enough to get the group to back off, stuttering half-baked threats and insults as they ran off, their tails between their legs.
Lloyd and the man continued to stand there, frozen in place until the man seemed to finally relax. His entire body loosened, almost slumping forward. From behind him, Lloyd watched as he rubbed a hand to the back of his neck as if to massage whatever tension was left.
“Geez, what is wrong with people?” Lloyd heard the man mutter, that anger gone entirely from his tone and replaced with exasperation.
When the man turned around, a question on his lips, he froze at the sight of wide green eyes staring at him in shock, a single hand still attached to his jacket and so much smaller than he ever remembered seeing him.
Carefully, with as reassuring smile as he could muster, the man tilted his head down at him,
“You okay there, Greenie?”
The teen stared at him a moment longer, them standing in an almost awkward silence until the blond finally spoke,
“Greenie?”
The man shrugged. Only barely and with one shoulder, but it was enough for Lloyd to drop his hand immediately and wring them together.
“You’re wearing green.” The man stated matter-of-factly.
The two continued to stand in silence, in the middle of the gravel pathway as people walked past, a few casting odd looks their way.
All the while, Lloyd’s mind was screaming with a million thoughts at once.
This man, this stranger , helped him. He realised he was Lloyd Garmadon, but he didn’t step aside to let those people hurt him. He protected him. No hesitation. No flinching or disgust at his name. No swatting him away and pushing him to the ground with a sneer. None of that.
And looking up at him now, sun shining down in a way that didn’t shadow his face, Lloyd stared wide eyed at the almost nervous smile the man was giving him. There was concern there, eyebrows pinched and brown eyes almost impossibly soft, Lloyd felt something warm fight away that breath-taking chill Lloyd felt only moments prior.
It reminded him of the looks his friends sometimes gave. The look Kai gave after an encounter with Chen. The look Cole gave after a particularly hard battle. The look his mum gave.
“You--”
“Say--”
They both spoke at the same time, surprised at themselves and each other. And to further add to Lloyd’s shock of all shocks, the man just gave a short chuckle, hooked nose scrunching slightly with an easy smile. As if this were normal for him.
It certainly wasn’t for Lloyd.
“Sorry!” Lloyd quickly apologised, suddenly nervous, “You go first.”
The man, sobering enough he wasn’t laughing at their attempt of a conversation, looked down at him with an easier smile,
“I was gonna ask if you had somewhere to be?”
“Oh!”
He did. He was going to meet up with the gang at one of their usual spots - the one by the pond where a new family of ducks were swimming around.
Glancing down at his old and slightly cracked watch, Lloyd felt his panic rise again.
He was supposed to meet up with them half an hour ago! FSM, they’re probably worried about him!
…Was he really getting chased for that long? Half an hour across Ninjago City Park?
“Shit!” Lloyd exclaimed, momentarily forgetting the stranger, “Shit! I was supposed to meet up with my friends!”
“Easy there, kid,” The man said, hands held up in a reassuring manner, “You can probably still meet up with them. Shoot ‘em a text or something?”
“Right, right…”
When he pulled out his phone, Lloyd felt himself wince.
A shit ton of notifications littered his cracked screen. Text messages, phone calls, more text messages.
When he read the most recent one, a text from Zane saying they were going to search for him, Lloyd quickly swiped to the group chat.
In the time it took him to message his friends, explaining what happened, promising he was fine, that he was still in the park, the stranger didn’t leave. He just stood there, picking at lint from his clothes and glaring back at any disgruntled passerby. When he caught Lloyd looking, he gave him that same smile that had the teen feeling like everything would be fine.
“Everything good?” The man asked, nodding at the phone in Lloyd’s hand.
The teen nodded, pocketing the phone after shooting a final text,
“I’m going to go meet up with them now that they don’t have to put out the search party.” He tried to joke. He knew they would do that if he didn’t let them know he was okay, no doubt willing to have Jay fly around in his jet if that’s what it took. Like they don’t have the tracking app on his phone anyway.
“Thanks for the help. I-- I really appreciate it.” Lloyd said, a sheepish smile on his face as he lightly kicked the ground, “I should get going.”
The man looked at him a moment longer, eyes trailing over different parts of his person in contemplation before straightening himself some.
“Want me to come with?” He asked, “In case those guys come back?”
…He was dreaming, right? This had to be a dream.
Why else would a stranger not only save him from a trip to the makeshift med bay at the warehouse, but offer to walk him to his friends, to protect him?
Was this a prank? Some sick joke where he’s just wanting to get him alone to do who knows what?
Or is this some weird way to get to his dad? He didn’t want to think about it, but there were some people who definitely tried getting close to Lloyd just to get to his dad (and be sorely disappointed when it doesn’t work out the way they wanted). It wouldn’t surprise him, really.
He should probably say no.
That he was fine to go on his own. If all else fails, he could just leave the park and meet up with his friends somewhere else. Hide in the shadows to avoid detection and all that.
After all, he was a stranger. ‘Stranger danger’, right?
Even with these thoughts running out his head, his mouth moved on his own,
“Sure.”
The man, who was silent and waiting for his answer, beamed at him, flashing pearly teeth in a grin.
“Then lead the way, Greenie!”
His friends usually were the only ones who called him that. But he didn’t mind the stranger saying it either. It felt right, for some reason.
With a nod, the two began to make their way down the path, moving to the side so they weren’t in peoples' way and walking along the route Lloyd took initially to get away. All the while, the man walked easily beside him, footsteps somehow soft along the gravel as he did. Occasionally, Lloyd would notice how his eyes would flick to and from different points around them, keeping a careful watch as though expecting someone or something to jump out.
It’s the same look his friends sometimes had in school, usually so they could help him avoid being shoved against lockers or tripped in the cafeteria.
The pair were silent as they walked, crossing over small bridges and creaks and passing stone gardens, but it wasn’t awkward.
Even so, Lloyd felt like he should say something beyond just a thank you.
“So,” He began somewhat awkwardly, the man immediately turning his attention to him, “You’re not from around here, are you?”
The man blinked down at him, as though surprised he was caught before changing to a sheepish smile.
“That obvious, huh?” He responded, calloused hands pushing hair out of his face, only for his bangs to fall down again.
“I mean, kinda? You look like you’ve never seen a park before.” Lloyd shrugged.
“I’ve seen them. Just not this one.” The man said before muttering to himself, “It looks different.”
Lloyd wondered what he meant by that, but chose not to question it. The stranger’s voice was quiet at the end there, so he figured it wasn’t something he was even meant to hear.
“So, where are you from then?” Lloyd asked instead, hands in the pocket of hoodie but still fiddling together.
The stranger was silent beside him, almost eerily so, before saying a little quietly,
“Out of town.”
Lloyd nodded, and the air turned awkward.
“ Great.” Lloyd thought, “You meet someone willing to tolerate your presence, and you fuck it up. Great job, Lloyd.”
And things seemed to have been going well too. But as they approached a quieter part of the park, crossing another small bridge as water flowed from beneath them, Lloyd suddenly wished he could turn back time to at least stop himself from a minute-ago from poking too much.
The man paused, Lloyd only noticing a few steps ahead. Turning back, he saw him staring out over the bridge. The view wasn’t necessarily amazing, but the area above their heads were clear of leaves and opened up to the light blue sky and towering skyline.
Lloyd stood in place as he watched the man watch the sky. Some birds flew about, a few coming to land on the railing near the stranger before taking off again.
He looked… odd.
Not odd in a bad, foreboding way. But in a way that had Lloyd wondering more about the stranger he’ll probably never see again.
Where was he from? Why did he look out at the world like that? Like a man lost in an unfamiliar land? His face looked serene, but his eyes seemed to almost glaze over as he stared off, ignorant of the people walking by and of the green-eyed teenager analysing him.
When Lloyd was about to say something, though he wasn’t entirely sure what, the man suddenly spoke, breaking the silence again.
“If you could,” He began, still staring off, “What animals would you mix together?”
That caught Lloyd off guard, the blond blinking at him before responding with a confused, “What?”
“What animals would you mix together?” The man turned to him, the odd look gone in exchange for an almost cheeky smile, “My go to is a bear and goose. Can you imagine how funny they’d look? Horrifying, sure, but I’d at least be laughing my ass off before it’d kill me.”
Lloyd stared at him a moment longer before a chuckle broke out of him. He walked over to stand beside him by the railing, looking over the water and spotting a frog jumping off some lilypads.
“I guess…” His face scrunched up in thought, “A penguin and a lion.”
“Yeah?” The man chuckled, “How come?”
“Dunno,” Lloyd shrugged, “I like them and it’d be kinda funny. I mean, would it be like, a lion shaped penguin? Would it keep the flippers? Or like, a penguin shaped lion? How would that even work? I’m pretty sure penguins are small. Like chihuahua’s, so...”
“I thought penguins were like, 2 metres tall?”
“Metre and a half. And those are emperor penguins.” Lloyd corrected, “I’m thinking of those small ones that look like grumpy old men with giant eyebrows.”
At that, the stranger laughed, loud and bright, and pulled a smile from Lloyd. He couldn’t help but laugh too.
It took them a few minutes to move from that spot, but they didn’t stop playing their little game, exchanging animal pairings and laughing over the logistics of how they would work. Dragonflies and hummingbirds, pandas and birds, frogs and tigers (Lloyd’s favourite). They kept going on and on, sometimes arguing how one weird creature is obviously superior to the others until they made it to the spot.
Lloyd just noticed in time to see his group of friends, a few sitting under a familiar tree and others pacing back and forth, spotting him and immediately sprinting forward.
Lloyd, as much as he loved his friends, didn’t want to be at the bottom of a dog-pile. But before he could, the man took a step back and gently pushed him forward with a mischievous smile.
The teen tossed him a mock glare in betrayal just as he was tackled into a crushing hug, the familiar sensation of arms coming to wrap around him in a constricting net of limbs. He felt his feet leave the floor as he was held up, the pressure somehow increasing with each second.
“Okay-OKAY! Love you guys too! But can you please let go now? I can hardly breathe!” Distantly, he could hear a quiet snicker in the background, but didn’t dwell on it as he took grateful gulps of air, feet firmly on the ground and now only one set of hands on his shoulders.
Looking up, Lloyd was face to face with Kai, the brunette’s expression a familiarly worried frown.
“Dude!” He exclaimed, shaking him, “Where were you?! You said you’d only take 10 minutes! It’s been almost 20!”
“Seriously, Lloyd,” Another one of his friends, Cole, piped up, “We got worried you were kidnapped on your way back or something.”
“Sorry! Sorry,” Lloyd apologised, lightly patting Kai’s arm in what he hoped was slightly comforting, “I got caught up.” He finished, nodding over toward the man who was still standing a few feet away, his eyes staring slightly wide at the group.
Protectively, Kai pulled Lloyd behind him, the rest of his friends coming to surround him in a circle. Nya joined to stand beside her brother, Jay coming to cling onto Lloyd’s arm, and Zane and Cole stood behind him.
“Who the fuck are you?” Kai asked, ignoring manners to instead glare at the man. The others stared at him with caution, Nya eyeing him up and down.
Behind them, Lloyd groaned, but his pleas for them to calm down went ignored.
The man blinked for a moment, as though surprised, before straightening himself slightly. Sure, Lloyd’s friends weren’t all short - Zane and Cole easily beating the others by a head - but compared to the stranger, they really felt like kids. Funny, considering he looked only a few inches taller than Zane, if he had to guess.
“I’m--” The man paused for a second, glancing amongst the group before continuing, “Rocky.”
“Rocky?” Cole asked, a thick eyebrow raised in suspicion. Even Lloyd was looking at the man-- Rocky, a bit confused. Well, more so than the others who continued to glare.
It was obviously a fake name. Who in the Cursed Realm names their kid ‘Rocky’?
Even so, Lloyd wanted to give the guy a benefit of the doubt. He obviously had his reasons to have a different name, if the way he looked alone was any indication.
“Yep.” Rocky responded, nodding as though affirming himself of the name, “Rocky Dangerbuff’s the name.”
“Right…” Nya hummed with clear suspicion.
“And what do you want with Lloyd?” She questioned, eyes narrowing and hand moving to a pocket Lloyd knows is hiding a small taser. Oh boy.
Rocky looked at her confused, “Want with-- I don’t want anything with him. Just wanted to make sure he was safe and those guys weren’t going to show up again.”
“Right…”
Without it really meaning to, or maybe they did, a stare down commenced between his friends and Rocky, the group glaring his way and the man looking unbothered, if not, only slightly confused. As they did, Lloyd glancing back and forth, he couldn’t help but linger a bit on the similarities between Rocky and Cole.
Of course there were differences, but there were enough similarities to have him double-taking. The long black hair, their eyes, noses, hell, even their sizes and body shapes were vaguely similar - though Cole was obviously smaller in comparison.
It was uncanny. Lloyd could be told the guy was some long lost relative of Cole’s, and he probably wouldn’t deny it.
He thinks Rocky noticed it too, his eyes looking at Cole a bit more closely than the rest, but neither said anything on it.
Instead, Lloyd shoved his way out of the group to stand between them, cutting off the staring contest.
“Guys!” He exclaimed, “It’s fine! He’s telling the truth.” He defended with a light huff.
“He is?”
“I literally told you over text.”
“Well, yeah. But you didn’t say he was gonna show up with you too.” Kai argued back, still glaring at the stranger.
“Well, he did. ‘Cause he’s nice.” Lloyd said, looking over his shoulder to give a small smile to Rocky.
He gave one back.
“Lloyd,” Nya spoke up, “You can’t just trust every person who’s nice to you.”
“Yeah, duh. But he saved me from getting a trip to the wareh-hospital!” Lloyd quickly corrected, earning a raised brow from Rocky but nothing more.
“Kids got a point,” He said, “You’re just lucky I’m not some evil homicidal maniac.”
“You sure look like one, though.” Lloyd heard someone mumble.
Rocky seemed to as well as he just shrugged again, “Yeah, well, life isn’t exactly going great at the moment.”
“I’ll say…” Lloyd thought, frowning at the clothes Rocky was wearing. They clearly weren’t his, what with how ill-fitting they were. Baggy in most areas while tight in others. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was hiding granola bars or empty cans in some of the pockets.
As if spotting Lloyd’s concern, which he probably did, Rocky waved him off and gave a gentle pat to his shoulder. It was a quick movement, but the friendliness of it had Lloyd wishing the hand stayed.
“Well,” Rocky said, giving a warm smile to the less than welcoming group, “I did my job, so I’m gonna jet. Got stuff to do and it looks like things are fine here.”
Turning to Lloyd with the smile that seemed to grow a touch wider, a bit more sincere, Rocky stepped away,
“See you around, Greenie.” He said with a playful wink.
Lloyd couldn’t stop the chuckle when he did, “See you around.”
With that, Rocky gave him a final glance and the group a simple nod before walking away. The group watched him go until he disappeared from view. They were silent for a moment, just staring off in the direction he left, some with frowns on their faces, but relaxing now that he was gone.
“That was weird, right?”
“Nya!”
“What?! It was!” She argued, already making her way back to their spot, sitting on the grassy floor and against the tree.
“She’s got a point, Lloyd.” Kai agreed, moving to join her, “Seemed nice, but you gotta admit something was weird about him.”
“You think he’s like, part of some gang or something?” Jay asked, hands picking at his orange scarf, nervous blue eyes darting to where the man left and back, “I mean, with how he looked and all…”
“Are you seriously judging him on how he looked right now? Seriously?” Lloyd deadpanned, eventually joining the group, Cole and Zane following quietly behind.
“I’m not-- I was just wondering. I mean, he had a pretty big scar and- and stuff…” Jay nervously trailed off.
“Leave him alone, Lloyd. He’s got reason to worry.” Kai defended, throwing an arm around the freckled ginger and pulling him to his side.
“I know. Still… Can we maybe just… leave it on a good note? A guy was nice enough to make sure I was safe. That’s better than about half of the city.”
“Even so,” Zane cut in. He sat perfectly as usual, legs folded under him as he scrolled on his phone. They all knew that was more of a formality. He hardly needed a phone with… everything. Though he guessed whatever he was thinking was shown on the screen as Cole leaned over to look, chin resting on the other’s shoulder,
“There is something odd about the man. He looked at each of us strangely, and his name was the same as the character Cole makes in all of his games.” Zane continued, simply handing the phone to his friend before turning to the rest of the group.
“Maybe Cole isn’t as original as he thought?” Lloyd tried.
“Hey!” The noirette exclaimed.
It was a moot point. They all knew it. Even Lloyd could admit it was strange. Unless the character of Cole’s save file on Prime Empire came to life somehow to look like a guy down on his luck, but there was no way that was possible.
“Oh yeah, because the name ‘Rocky Dangerbuff’ is so common.” Nya deadpanned, hands folded behind her head as she looked at the boys, “Find anything?”
“Negative.” Zane answered, canting his head with a small frown, “His name only brings up what we already know, and there is nothing to find with facial recognition. No records, no photographs. As though he just appeared one day. There is some security footage of him wandering around parts of the city and shoplifting from a corner store, but nothing else. ”
The group were silent at that, the image of the stranger playing in their heads.
At the very least, he was someone to keep an eye out for. Just in case.
“Well,” Cole said, scrolling through Zane’s phone as he leaned back, “We probably won’t see him ever again anyway.”
That was the thing, though…
Lloyd wanted to see him again. There was just something about him that he wanted to know more about…
Oh well, they were probably right.
What was the chance they’d ever cross paths again anyway? Practically zero, right?
-----
Back in his ‘apartment’, door creaking shut behind him, Cole was quick to take off the outer-layer of clothes so he was just in his gi before falling on the old, almost definitely mouldy couch.
He couldn’t remember the last time he wore his gi under civilian clothes, but he was certainly reminded of how uncomfortable it was. Especially with the summer weather. He missed being able to just wear his gi everywhere, but beggars can’t be choosers and he needed to keep a low profile. He could only hope autumn wasn’t too far away.
“First Spinjitzu Master…” He groaned, hand coming up to shield his eyes from the light.
Well. The light coming from the cheap plastic camping light he nicked from the corner store. Surprisingly easy when the cashier is more concerned with their level of Candy Crush than whatever was bulging in Cole’s pants.
Much like the teens scattered around the city, Cole’s mind was running a mile a minute.
And why wouldn’t it? He found the younger? alternate? different versions of his friends. Hell, he just saw and (briefly) spoke to a very different version of himself! Even he could see the kid was him - the black hair, large stature, the way he stood protectively by his friends just daring whoever they were faced to try something with him there…
It was uncanny. Obviously they looked different, but the kid definitely looked close to almost identical to how he looked when he was younger. Or however young the kid was. How young they all were.
He remembers just how small they were. Sure, they weren’t too much younger than when he first became a ninja, and a few of them were already his height, but they were just… smaller than he remembered he and his friends being. Softer, somehow.
Kai and Nya weren’t as underweight as when he first met them. Jay looked softer with his curls sitting freely and freckles exposed instead of being hidden under layers of makeup. And Lloyd… Well, he looked around as Cole remembered. A bit on the skinnier side, but he wanted to imagine that was just him being lean. That maybe they all were just starting out their training as ninja.
Because what else would they be?
Unless… they weren’t ninja? But then what became of Master Wu? Who was dealing with Garmadon? Did the city have some army to take care of him?
Either way, Cole couldn’t stick around for long. He needed to get home. He needed to leave.
And if he couldn’t meet with Master Wu for help, what other choice did he have then?
Rolling onto his side and ignoring the ominous creak from the ratty couch, Cole turned off the camping light and stared off into the room. The building was abandoned, but he couldn’t really afford anyone finding him. It would just have to do until it wasn’t anymore. Even though there were a dozen more like this one… At least the view was nice.
And hey! He found a few places that looked to be hiring! Maybe if he's lucky, he won't have to resort to digging through the trash for food anytime soon! He’d need to get himself nicer clothes somehow, but it was something!
So far, hopes were (semi) high. He’ll continue trying to find his way back home and hopefully not get pneumonia in the process!
How hard can that be?