I don't own these characters.

Of all the people to notice that Lloyd was feeling down, it had to be Ronin.

Say what you will about the mercenary/assassin, but he has a lot of people skills. Maybe that's how he got to become such a great thief.

But… a treasure hunt?

"I hid the clues all over Ninjago City. You are to split up in teams of two. Kai, Cole, Lloyd and Dareth are to pick a name out of the hat. That name is the person you are to be on a team with." Ronin was so pleased with himself.

Lloyd got to pick out his card first. Then Cole, then Kai, then Dareth.

"Who did you get?" Ronin asked.

"I got Zane," Kai answered. Cole got Nya. Dareth got Misako (she wanted to play too, for some reason). Lloyd got Jay. This was already going to be a lot of fun.

The bowels of the city is filled with worms.

Kai & Zane

"This is awkward," Kai mused as he got in the car with Zane. The nindroid nodded in agreement.

"I agree."

"Where do you think the bowels are?" Kai asked.

Zane gestured to his mid-section. "Right around here."

"I mean, of the city," Kai responded. "Worms…"

"Perhaps the underground city?" Zane asked. "Snakes can be worms."

The two ninjas left the ship to head to the underground city.

Jay & Lloyd

"Aren't you disappointed that you're stuck with me instead of Nya or Cole?" Lloyd asked as Jay drove the car to the underground tunnels where the Serpentine lived these days.

"Have you ever been in a steel cage with a rabid wolverine?" Jay asked. Lloyd shook his head. "Well, that's what it's like being on a team with Nya. I feel sorry for Cole, because he'll be ripped to shreds, and don't you dare tell Nya that I said that. Ever."

The younger ninja stared at Jay with wide green eyes. "Yikes."

Jay took a left, and the quietness in the car soon became awkward. "We don't hang out much, do we?"

Lloyd nodded. "Other than comic books, we don't have much to talk about and even then, we don't hang out much."

"Okay, let's bond now. Tell me about yourself."

Lloyd hummed. "Okay. I like comic books, candy and Martial Arts. But you already know that. Uh… I don't know what else there is."

Jay banged his head against the steering wheel, which caused the horn to go off. "This is going to be a long day."

Cole & Nya

"FASTER! FASTER! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS? IT MEANS MORE FAST!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Cole was doing his best to keep up with Nya and to get her to stop yelling in his ear. Maybe this was why Jay didn't protest when he got Lloyd and Cole got Nya.

"FASTER!"

"We can't move, there's traffic!"

"Then we should run!"

Before Cole could even protest, Nya was out of the car and running alongside the traffic. He could see Jay's car (which the Blue Ninja built himself) far ahead of the line. Nya slammed her boyfriend's car, which led to the car rising up and flying away. The traffic started moving again, which meant that Nya had to do the walk of shame back to Cole's car.

"I don't suppose your car can do that?" Nya asked as she climbed back in. Cole shook his head and Nya sighed.

"This is going to be a long day." Cole couldn't help but agree.

Just not out loud.

Dareth & Misako

Misako didn't know all of the ninjas, but she saw most of them on TV. Except for this guy who called himself the Brown Ninja.

His name was Dareth, if she remembered correctly. She never rode in a convertible before, and it felt strange. She was hoping she would get Lloyd. She didn't know any of the others well enough for this to NOT be awkward.

And then Dareth opened his mouth. "Say, I can't help but notice that Lloyd is blond like the old man was while you and his dad both had dark hair. How's that possible?"

She slapped Dareth in the face.

"Sorry."

Some other people asked her the same question back when Lloyd was born. Garmadon didn't seem to mind it and it was just as well, since she didn't mess around with Wu. Her husband apparently was an "unaffected carrier" of an Albinism gene, which, unfortunately, affected Lloyd. Wu was affected too. It was just a simple hereditary mutation.

Suddenly Nya ran past them, from Cole's car behind them, to Jay's car, which was in front of them. She slammed the roof of the car, yelling at Jay, who was freaking out at the sight of his girlfriend attacking his car.

"Poor Jay," Dareth mused.

The car in front of them suddenly tucked its wheels underneath itself, and the car lifted itself up into the sky, which left Nya standing alone in the road as her boyfriend left with his flying car. Misako didn't even know he had a flying car. How did that happen?

"Just so you know, I was trying to ease into the whole "Your son is Albino" thing," Dareth said once Jay and Lloyd were out of sight. "But also, his eyes are a weird colour. Why are they green? Most people have blue eyes."

Misako shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe his powers."

"That makes sense, actually. On Chen's island, there was this guy with grey skin and this invisible guy who is always invisible and this girl with greenish skin and this guy who tastes like metal if you lick him."

"What? You licked a man?"

"…a bit of a coppery aftertaste."

Misako decided that Dareth was a very strange man.