Tw: alcohol intoxication
Everything was hands on the morning after Lloyd got back home.
"Alright, team," the leader said, voice firm and commanding even at five in the morning. Kai was still teetering on his feet and leaning against Zane, not yet awake. "Morning patrol. Jay and Kai, you take upper east. Nya, Zane, you take parkside. Cole and I will take downtown. Comm the team if you see anything suspicious. Let's get em' early."
Nya yawned into her sleeve.
"Then we can have a nice, relaxing afternoon?" she asked, her tired voice hopeful. Lloyd sent her a baffled look.
"Of course not," he answered with a curt shake of his head. "In the afternoon we're visiting the ancient tomb that had recently been unearthed. There's weird sounds coming from it and they want us to check it out."
"We have morning patrol and a mission this afternoon?" Cole whined. "Lloyd, we need time to rest. We're ninja, not machines."
"Aside from Zane," Jay unhelpfully murmured. Zane opened his mouth to retaliate.
"We can't slack," Lloyd snipped at his team. "People depend on us. Now, c'mon, we should get to patrol before our villain of the week makes their move."
Lloyd strode from the dojo, sliding his mask down over his face and leaving behind a weary team. The sun had barely risen, and yet the rest felt drained already.
"Uuughhhhh," Jay groaned as he dramatically slumped against Kai. "I hate it when Y/n's not here. He always gets so serious and boring."
Kai patted Jay's curly hair with his palm while stifling a loud yawn. The team sluggishly followed after Lloyd's brisk march, severely lacking his stern energy.
"Welcome to the next three years of our lives," the fire master declared. He raised his brows as an idea popped into his head. "You think Y/n would be mad if we kidnapped her?"
Nya sent her brother a baffled glare.
"Yes?" She replied as if the answer should've been obvious. Which, in favour of her case, it was.
"Nah," Cole answered with a shake of his head. "She'd love to be home. I say we pick her up right now."
"What, no," Nya insisted with eyes narrowed in incredulity. "You can't just- she literally only left yesterday."
"Exactly!" Jay chimed forlornly, turning to drop his chin on his girlfriend's shoulder with a mighty pout. "And look how terrible our lives are already. You think we can survive this for three years?"
Nya sent a disgruntled look towards Zane. The smartest, the most composed, the proverbial rock of the team; the one that held all the braincells. The working ones, at least. She willed him for assistance.
"We have a low chance of sneaking away from Lloyd without him noticing," Zane declared to the team solemnly. "But that is a risk I am willing to take."
"Zane, please," Nya groaned. The nindroid just gave a helpless shrug in return.
"Do not attempt anything that may tamper with the durability of your team's trust."
The team started, whipping around in surprise to face the old Sensei who stood at the dojo's entrance. Garmadon's voice was distant and thoughtful, but his eyes were blank. It was almost as if his body was in the material realm, yet his mind was detached, in an entirely new plane of existence.
"It may be your only strength one day," he finished.
He walked away, pace slow. Jay sent a confused look to Nya.
"That was..."
"Weird," Kai finished Jay's audible thought. Zane nodded in agreement. "He's been kind of... off? For a while, now."
"Might be worth mentioning to Wu," Nya murmured. She blinked and was back in main hoe mode. "Do you think Lloyd's realised that we haven't followed him yet?"
"He's probably daydreaming about Y/n again," Kai snorted. He patted the hilt of his sheathed katana for good luck before starting off after the team leader.
"We better get going," Cole agreed, following after Kai.
"Wait, so we're not kidnapping Y/n?" Jay asked. When no response came from the team, he dropped his head back with a grumble. "Ugh, this is so lame."
