𝙇𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙙'𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙨

Chapter 6: Bad Dog

    "So, what are we looking for again?" Jay sighs. The group are trekking through the woodland. Roots and shrubbery trip them up 
    "Master Wu wanted us to find this hideout thing. Apparently these thieves have stolen a lot of priceless stuff." Nya explains, leading besides Lloyd. Kai is remaining painfully quiet, which doesn't calm the swarm of Lloyd's thoughts
    "I've detected significant vibrations in the ground. Be wary, we may be ambushed." Zane comments. He's guarding the back of the group, tailing Kai.
   "Who goes through all that effort to steal a bunch of stuff and dump it in the woods?" Cole's brow furrows as he says it. Jay pushes back plants as he passes them, only for the outstretching arms of shrubbery to smack Cole in the face afterwards. "Jay! Careful." He grumbles.

     Lloyd felt even less willing to attend this mission when he heard Master Wu advise that they stick together. At least if they split up he wouldn't have to be around Kai. The fire ninja is letting off an ominous presence, and Lloyd can't figure out what he's meant to do now. He hasn't cried today, and he wants to keep it that way. But with the mood he's in, if they end up needing to fight, he may curl up in a ball and sob. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to express his upset to Sensei, and sit this one out, but he wants to prove he's strong, and capable, and that dumb, tiny things like this don't bother him. He's the green ninja. His job is to be okay all of the time. Nya nudges his shoulder. "Hey, I was going to make cookies later, do you want to help me out? We're both very aware baking isn't my strong suit, but hey, that doesn't mean I should give up." She chuckles. Her eyelashes are very long - a trait of her appearance that Lloyd had noticed ever since their first meeting.

    "Cookies?" Lloyd repeats, wringing his hands. Baking with big sister Nya does sound fun... "I'm not good at it either though, we'll just make a huge mess." He shows her a half smile, and nudges her back. Really, he wants to hold her hand. He wants to climb a tree, and play wolves with her. Lloyd rubs his eyes. Stop thinking about that. This isn't the time, especially not in front of everyone on a mission. That was what Kai was nagging about in the first place. Nya shrugs, and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.
  "Huge mess? Who cares? Lloyd, maybe I just want to hang out with you." She says. And he pauses, watching her walk on - the rest of the group walk on. Spend time with him. He didn't think anyone could want something like that from him.
   The group reaches a glade. The trees part, and there's a campsite revealed in the middle. A number of tents sit undisturbed, crates of jewels glimmering and burning in the sunlight. "I'm pretty sure we found it." Jay murmurs smugly. Kai bonks him on the head.
  "No way, really?" He rolls his eyes. Zane scans the tents.
  "We must find the leader, and apprehend them. Equally important, is the amulet of the rattlesnake - it's extremely valuable." He explains. Everyone pulls their masks on. Lloyd shuffles about, making his way to the front.

    "Oh, great, this thing isn't cursed or something, right?" Cole already looks exhausted. Zane shakes his head.
  "Not to my knowledge." And now's the part where Lloyd has to formulate a plan. The group stay hidden. The sun sparks through gaps between the leaves, and reflects in everyone's eyes. They're staring at Lloyd expectantly. It's planning time.

    "Oh, this thing's magical." Jay purrs, holding up the amulet. The jewel swings back and forth, a perfect, mesmerising teal shimmer on it. Lloyd takes it from him, and places it in a small bag attached to his belt. Jay's the last person who should be keeping a hold of something so precious.
    "It is, now we have to get out of here." The pair walk out of the tent, into the clearing. Kai and Zane have the leader thief tied up on the grass. It's just a crusty looking old guy, with layers of silver jewellery, and scraggly black hair. Lloyd crouches down by his head, and puts on his best intimidating face - one he had to practice countless times in the mirror to get just right. It definitely doesn't help his ego when the villains snigger at it, though. Oddly enough, there was no crew accompanying the man. "Why'd you steal this?" He asks, deepening his voice as much as he can. The man's eyes glower back at him.
   "Simply, because I wanted to, dear." He spits out. And a petrifying howling erupts around the glade. Caught off guard, Lloyd stands back up, and twirls around. The rest of the team lock their eyes on the surrounding shrubbery, and mass of green, and bramble.

    "Oh, shit." Kai whines. "It's wolves, isn't it?" He steps back, brushing against Lloyd. And perhaps it was the fear, bouncing between them all, but Lloyd hugs himself against his brother's body. People are one thing, animals with sharp teeth, who are unable to be reasoned with, are another. Cole lets out a gasp, as more than eight flashes of grey to black pierce the glade. A thunder of paws breaks the silence, and calamity begins. Lloyd's motionless for a second. Nya's taken on two at once, and Zane's ice doesn't appear to keep them still for very long. These aren't regular wolves at all. Lloyd finds that, when one growls, and snarls him up against a tree. He draws his sword, its monstrously large, yellow teeth clamping around the blade. His heart smashes in his ribcage, as the creature gnashes and slobbers over the sheen of his sword. He propels it backwards, into Cole. The earth ninja has had enough already, and sweeps the dog off its feet, and tosses it into a tree. Lloyd stands there, giving him a "Did you actually just do that?" look for a moment, before re-entering the battle.
   "Why'd we have to fight a crazy wolf man?!" Jay groans, beating one of the creatures badly enough for it to retreat into the grove, whimpering. Adrenaline is stuffing up Lloyd's body, and he swoops in to help Nya. So much for not having a crew - this guy had a whole entourage of evil puppies.

     It took a while, but when the last of the dogs had gone scattering out of the glade, everyone finally allowed their guard to drop. Jay checked in with Nya, Cole with Zane. Lloyd checked on everyone, searching for wounds. The worst damage had been dealt to Kai, who had a reddened bite mark upon his shoulder, and a cut on his temple. The mysterious wolf tamer was handed over to the police, and everyone sat in the control room, cleaning up cuts and grazes.
Lloyd bites his tongue. The antibacterial stings the cut across his palm. They'd given in the amulet, and shown the police the hideout, so it was a success, but that didn't take away from his fuzzy head feeling. Now, it was worse. The track record of Lloyd regressing after acquiring injuries, is tragic, to the point of having a fifty fifty coin flip. It doesn't matter whether he's emotionally or physically vulnerable, his littlespace finds a way to come creeping out. Nya's shadow falls upon Lloyd, and she sits in front of him. Her dark, black, storm sea hair curls around her shoulders, and the shape of her face. She holds a pack of ice to his sore cheek. "This should help." She mutters, giving him a smile. Lloyd's eyes dive away from her. Big sister nursing him? If he thinks about it too much he'll...

    "That was quite the mission, wasn't it? I wasn't expecting to tackle wolves today." Nya comments, more to herself than Lloyd. She places her palm on his knee, as she leans closer, dabbing a cut on his chin with a shark patterned handkerchief. Lloyd places his hand on hers, and squeezes it. She pauses, and tries to catch his eye. "Lloyd, are you feeling okay?" Jay places a mug of tea by her side, and gets comfy on the mat with them.
   "Is something going on with Lloyd?" His brow furrows. He has a plaster on three of his fingers. Kai wasn't in the room. But did Lloyd want him to be? He was still upset with all his brother had said, but at the same time, there was nothing he wanted more than his reassurance - for Kai to tangle him up in his arms, and kiss his head, and tell him it was okay to be a worthless, idiot of a crybaby. Nya takes the icepack away from his face, and sighs.
   "Lloyd, hey, sweetheart, why are you crying?"

+ Nya doodle :)