Querencia

S2 E8: The Stone Warrior*

Everything seemed normal enough after the ninja's trip to the past. So normal that they took Lloyd's training to the next level, each ninja planning on spending one day a week with Lloyd to teach him what they know. Unfortunately, those plans were waylaid when all five ninja were hit with pounding headaches as the timeline finally righted itself.

While their memories remained largely the same, they now had the memories of fighting off the Skulkin who snuck into the Monastery and of their Golden Weapons disappearing before reappearing back in the Monastery itself. [M/n] had the strangest memories, mostly from the time when he saw his past self pacing in the hallway.

They helped make sense of his odd behavior at the time - strange voices whispering into his mind about hunting the perpetrator down. Khèlai was the only reason he managed to keep himself from leaving, the shapeshifter being a voice of reason. Without a voice.

When they were finally able to get back on their feet, the group spent a day practicing hand and feet toughening to prepare Lloyd for whatever style Sensei Wu would choose for him. Of course, they also spent the day debating what style they believed he would teach Lloyd: Zane and Kai believed Wu would choose the Imperial Falcon style, Cole believed he would learn the Imperial Lion with him, and Jay believed he would learn the Imperial Python. [M/n], of course, already knew due to a late discussion he and Wu had once had before the time travel incident, so he kept his mouth shut. Even when they pestered, he refused to tell them the style, which was the Black Crane.

After training late into the night, later than normal after so many days off, the ninja had seen fit to try and sleep in a while longer.

However, the blaring alarm clock shut that dream down and startled them all awake.

Cole shot up and smacked his head onto the bottom of Jay's bunk, startling the blue ninja badly enough that he fell out of bed and onto the floor with a loud yelp. Kai flung a pillow at the alarm in the hopes of turning it off or breaking it, but instead knocked it onto the gramophone, amplifying the noise instead. [M/n] buried his face deeper into his own pillows, ears ringing while Lloyd groaned, hiding in his own pillows. Zane remained the only one bothered, having found out recently that he could turn off his own hearing.

Freeing his head, [M/n] hissed, "Καταστρέψτε το." Lloyd, fed up, sat up and sent a small blast of energy that destroyed the alarm and the gramophone, shutting it up much to everyone's relief. "Thank you, Lloyd." (Destroy it.)

"Thanks, Lloyd."

"Oh, thank FSM."

"Finally."

"Is it Wednesday already?" Lloyd asked, the barest hint of a whine in his voice. He barely had the energy to swing his legs off the bed, still sore from the day before, allowing his head to drop into his hands.

"Sunrise exercise. I hate sunrise exercise," Jay complained, climbing off the floor.

Wu entered the room with a miniature gong, ringing it. His oldest student peered over the edge of his bed to glare at his teacher, growling at the ringing in his ears. "Ah. Good morning, morning, morning! Up, up. It's a new day, students. Before we begin sunrise exercise, I noticed the dragons made another mess outside. It looks like a two-person job, hehe."

Giggling to himself, Wu retreated, leaving them to figure out who would be assigned to clean up.

"Uh, what was that, Sensei?"

"Did I hear an SOS call come in?"

"I sense I need to be somewhere else."

Jay hopped around the room, struggling to get into his pants, "Lloyd, haha. I'm sure you got this, heh."