The Butterfly Effect (2020)

twenty-eight

  The morning after Princsss Harumi's outside excursion was brilliant and sunny, which prompted Lloyd to organise a training session.

"Why do we have to train?" Jay groaned as they stepped out onto the courtyard. The early morning sun blinded him right in the eyes and he looked ready to drop asleep. "Aren't we meant to be patrolling?"
"It's less likely that the palace would be broken into during broad daylight," Lloyd answered as he swept his katana expertly in front of him, testing the weight. "And I need you all to be in top shape for when when face the SOG. They're good fighters and already have one mask, we can't let them get away with another."
"SOG," Nya tiredly chuckled. "That's a funny word. SOG. SOG."
Jay giggled. "It sounds weird."
Lloyd sent his team a defeated expression. While he understood that sleeping in shifts left them sluggish in the morning, he still expected a little more urgency than this. It's not as if an incredibly powerful artefact of dark magic was at risk of falling into the wrong hands, or anything.
Kai yawned. Despite Lloyd's urgency, feet were still being dragged and eyes rubbed.
"Hopefully they don't attack now," he muttered. They wouldn't be able to put up a fight against a leaf at the state they were in.

After Lloyd directed a quick warm-up session, the team split off to spar.
"Can we talk about the name of the gang?" Jay piped up as he swung his nunchucks towards Kai, who was now desperate to evade it after a mighty thwack to his hip. "'Sons of Garmadon.' Are they trying to put out a message or something?"
"I don't know," Lloyd grunted as he versed Cole, eyeing the earth master warily. He was the only one who could rival the green ninja's brute strength, and that made him dangerous to be on the opposite side of.
"Are they talking about old Garmadon or new Garm?" Kai asked. "'Cause you'd think followers of new Garmadon would be like, monks or something."
"Kind of weird to follow someone who was defeated," Nya murmured. "How does it feel to have a bunch of self-proclaimed adopted siblings, Lloyd? They don't seem to be in the business of following in the family's footsteps, though."
"Imagine their faces if they found out that the actual son of Garmadon was the green ninja," Cole snickered.
Lloyd rolled his eyes with a small smile. It quickly dropped when he recalled the night before, and his stomach did an uneasy twist upon remembering Hutchin's last look back at Lloyd before leading the princess back to the palace.

"I should tell you guys about what happened last night," Lloyd said. Jay shot up.
"Oh, yeah!" the lightning master buzzed. "Hutchins returned with the princess really late last night. The entire palace was in uproar, it was crazy! What happened?"
Lloyd shook his head in exasperation, because only the Jade Palace would have this much drama so early on in their mission, and recounted word-for-word what entailed during the princess' escape.

"... and the weirdest thing," Lloyd puffed as he dodged Cole's hammer. "Was that he thought we were on a date or something."
"I dunno, man," Cole said as he slung the hammer over his shoulder when Lloyd leapt back. The sound of metal striking metal filled the palace's courtyard. "Moonlit walks on the canal, sharing food? I may not like the guy, but I get where he's coming from."
"What do you mean?"
"He's saying that it sounds a lot like a date!" Kai called across the yard. The accusation made Lloyd pull himself up sharply and send a frustrated expression. All of this was really starting to piss him off.
"It was not a date!" he insisted. If he cared less for his dignity as leader, he would've gone as far as to stomp his foot in defiance.
"A date; a social or romantic engagement, often involving a meal or an intimate setting," Zane piped up from where he was sparring against Nya.
"You can't argue with a nindroid!" Jay laughed.
"Except I can," Lloyd interjected with an irritated scowl. "There was nothing romantic about it! We were just talking."
"Dates can be just talking," Cole piped up as he swung his hammer toward Lloyd who deflected it with his blade. "Sometimes my dates with Nomes are just talking."