NCHS
By Secret Dancer
Chapter 2: First Day and First Dream
Lloyd examined his schedule to find he had Geometry first. His head sank, he was terrible at math. He trudged to class with faux confidence in his ability. Numbers got all jumbled in his head and the formulas would be switched or flipped. Let's just say that math is his enemy and he's never understood it. Being a foster kid, he never stuck around long enough to get a proper tutor.
He got to class two minutes before passing period was over. Inside he saw Kai and Flame sitting towards the window where bright sunlight was hitting them. Lloyd shuffled to where they were to see if there was assigned seating or not. It turns out that there wasn't and so Lloyd picked a seat in the back where he'd be ignored by other students.
The class flew by slowly for Lloyd as he was struggling with taking notes and asking questions to clarify. They received their homework and then the bell rang for the next class. Lloyd searched for his next class and found it was Biology.
It was there that he found Cole and Rocky in his class as lab partners. Lloyd was paired with a strange boy named Acidicus. He had sharp jagged teeth and bad breath that could melt through anything like acid. Lloyd made sure to distance himself and do most of the talking. Acidicus was dressed in dark green and had bands with bone spikes.
"Good morning students! Today, we'll be taking cheek swabs and examining them under a microscope. The school board doesn't want us doing anything extreme since the blood typing accident last year. They almost closed down the school for heavens sake. Anyway, work with your partners to focus the cells and try to find the cell wall and nucleus. Boring yes, but can't argue with the Board of Education." The elderly man greeted. He looked to be related to Professor Wu in some way.
Lloyd noticed that the man looked to be past his due date but held a youthfulness he only saw in Professor Wu. The teacher had a braided grey ponytail and wore a straw hat. He was dressed in a black kimono with white sleeves. On the back a golden dragon was imprinted in the middle. Lloyd knew two things, respect this teacher and do not get on his bad side.
When Acidicus swabbed his cheek and placed it on the slide, a small sizzling noise was heard. Lloyd looked under the microscope to find the slide melting. The glass plate was melting because of his partners spit. That is some serious bad breath, Lloyd thought.Acidicus merely chuckled at the discovery and then licked a pencil only to have the same effect.
"Can I offer you a mint?" Lloyd asked while secretly increasing his distance.
"No." The teen responded in a huff.
Lloyd looked at the slide again and it was melting through the microscope now. He looked back at his partner and suddenly wished for his elective to come sooner.
When class ended…..
"Mr. Montgomery, may I have a word with you?" The teacher-Professor Garmadon- asked when Lloyd was gathering his things. The class was out the door in no time.
"There is something about you that reminds me of my grandson. I knew him only a short time."
"What happened to him?"
"I don't know. My daughter-in-law had to give him up. He could be anywhere."
"Are you related to Professor Wu?" Lloyd asked since the question had been bugging him the entire time.
"I should hope so, he's my youngest son. You are dismissed."
Lloyd continued to his first elective which was Gym. It was there he met up with the rest of his new group. There was also Acidicus and a few other strange boys hanging with the lab partner. Lloyd didn't have a uniform like the others but Shard lent him a spare one but it was loose.
"Alright peons, line up for warm up!" Coach Garmadon instructed with a dark voice. He-like Mr. Overlord- was also creepy and gave the feeling of repulsion.
Coach Garmadon was dressed in black and dark purple. He was the perfect man to be a P.E teacher since he had the strength and endurance. Yet something about his dark brown hair that was graying, and his dark brown eyes was familiar to Lloyd. Right, he must be Professor Wu's older brother and the son of Professor Garmadon. Hence the last name.
"We're having our physical tests today. I hope you trained hard. I expect better results than the last failures." Garmadon spat.
"And the AC is out as well as the fountain being broken." He added sharply. A series of groans emerged.
"For that, drop and give me thirty!"
"So kid, how's your first day going?" Cole asked between push-ups. He got them done in a matter of seconds but continued to do more.
"Great. Thanks. For. Asking." Lloyd said in between painful push-ups.
"How'd. You. Do. That. So. Fast?"
"I've won the award for Most Athletic Student since middle school." Cole explained. He was on about sixty-seventy when Lloyd and several others were finished.
"Okay, test time! Line up!" Garmadon instructed and Lloyd followed with the others.
They went outside to the track and ran the mile. Again Cole was the first finished but continued jogging with Lloyd. Rocky, Shard, Flame, and Wisp were tied at second place. Lloyd didn't know when the others finished but one thing he did know was that he was out of shape. After running just a mile he wanted to lie on the ground and just wait there.
They lined up after everyone was complete and went back inside. It was time for the push-up, sit-up test. Then came the pull-up test, followed by the reflexes, agility, endurance, etc. Even Cole was exhausted and if the most athletic student was exhausted, the rest of the students would probably be dead.
Riiiinnnngggg! The students got their second wind and rushed into the locker rooms to shower and change for lunch which was hamburgers or hot dogs.
"Why is this hot dog green?" Lloyd asked nervously. Jay gave it a weird look before taking it away and throwing it into the trash can from where they sat.
"Nice arm!" Zane commented. He'd brought his lunch from home that he made himself along with bringing Shard lunch as well.
When Zane first went to school with Shard, his albino friend had no money for school lunch and didn't bring any himself since he was so poor. Zane brought it upon himself to make two lunches in the morning. One for Shard and one for himself.
"I try." Jay shrugged.
"Thank you again Shard for letting me borrow your spare uniform." Lloyd said to the albino teen next to him.
"It's no problem."
"So, how'd you guys meet?"
"Well, if it weren't for homeroom with Professor Wu then I don't think we'd of ever became friends." Cole began with the story.
"See, Rocky and I were testing our limits. We went rock climbing on the highest and most difficult mountain in Ninjago. Nobody had ever climbed to the top. We were originally against each other but when we saw how much we were alike we became best friends."
"How does that relate to homeroom?"
"Just listen to the rest of the story."
"Wisp and I are neighbors who take the same interests. We were testing inventions together growing up and have been best friends." Jay told his part.
"Shard and I became companions since we were testing ourselves. We lived in a relatively cold region and it was there we discovered we were immune to it. We began to push the boundaries together and eventually became inseparable." Zane added.
"Flame and I met when he asked out my sister. We got into a fight and neither of us was gaining the upper hand. Finally we just gave up and shook hands. Been hanging out ever since." Kai continued.
"Then the school year began. We were all in homeroom with Professor Wu and that's where we noticed how we'd all had similar stories. It was then at lunch we began talking. Then came after school when we'd hang out. Our friendship expanded from there." Shard, Rocky, Flame, and Wisp each spoke a sentence.
"Why are you guys called by Flame, Wisp, Rocky, and Shard?" Lloyd asked. It was another question that had been on his mind.
"Well I'm red and Kai said I looked like a scrawny flame. The name just stuck and so that's what I go by."
"I chose my nickname." Wisp responded simply.
"It was when we were rock climbing. I kept kicking rocks down at Cole. He'd yell 'Rocky, slow down!' or 'Rocky, knock it off.' Then when we became friends I was used to the name and it acts as my real name."
"My real name is Shard."
"Off that topic. What'd you think about Coach Garmadon?" Kai asked before glancing at the date on the chocolate milk carton on his tray. He shrugged and began to chug it.
"He's very…strict. " Lloyd chose his words wisely. There just wasn't one to match the coach.
"Well, everybody hates him and he doesn't get a paycheck. He's always been grumpy and selfish. Why he has this job, we don't know." Kai replied before crumbling the carton and going to throw the tray away.
"It's time for us to leave for our next class." Zane pointed out after glancing at the clock that hung on the wall.
"Oh right." The guys muttered before throwing their trays away and following Zane out of the cafeteria.
Next I've got History. I always liked that class. I wonder who the teacher is going to be. I hope it's someone awesome like Professor Wu or Professor Garmadon. Not scary like Coach Garmadon or Mr. Overlord. Cole and Rocky are ahead of me, they must be in there too. Oh, they went into a different class. I guess I'm alone.
Students were already in their seats and Lloyd didn't know any of them. There were a few strange boys and girls that seemed to match Acidicus. Lloyd noticed that certain ones wore the same color and they held similar appearances and demeanors. And they all hung around together by that colored group. It was weird. Lloyd asked around for an empty seat and when he found one he got settled.
Moments later the teacher came in. She had grey braided hair and friendly brown eyes. She was dressed in a tan shirt with a green ascot. She wore brown pants too and glasses.
"I'm Misako. Do not call me Mrs. Misako. Just Misako." She introduced simply. Lloyd liked her already.
When Misako's class ended, Lloyd had to go to his Advanced English class. His teacher would be Mr. Samukai. When he got to class, the teacher was already there at his desk. Lloyd was the first to arrive. Mr. Samukai was another one of those creepy teachers. He was very bony and pale, like a skeleton. What's with this school and hiring freaky teachers?
When Mr. Samukai's class was over it was time for seminar. Lloyd was going to stay in the library after school for the after school homework help. He moved down the hallways to the outside where a single trailer rested. He checked the map again before walking in. He sighed in relief when he was in the right place.
"You must be Mr. Montgomery. I am retired Captain Soto. You may call me Mr. Soto." The male teacher stated. He had an accent that sounded pirate like.
"Captain? What kind of captain?"
"Pirate captain. I owned a ship called Destiny's Bounty. Quite a beauty, she was."
"Mr. Soto, what exactly is seminar?"
"At this school it's where you can fill out a pass to go to another class for any questions you may have about an assignment, visit the library to check out a book, or even just do your homework here so you have more free time at home. You do get a grade however, just for how you spend your time."
"Oh okay." And with that, Lloyd went to his seat and began to work on his homework, saving math for the library later.
Linebreak
Zane and Shard were at Robotics Club instead of seminar. The teacher had a doctorate degree in robotics and engineering. Dr. Julien was in fact Zane's father. In Robotics Club, Zane was working on a project for the science fair, a robotic Falcon companion. Shard was crafting the arm of a robot he was putting together as a defender bot dubbed The Juggernaut.
Jay and Wisp went to Engineering class instead of seminar. Jay's parents were the teachers there.
"Jay, it's been so long since we saw you." Edna squealed while hugging her son in front of the entire class.
"Moooom! You saw me this morning!" Jay whined, feeling embarrassed.
During a slideshow a sudden picture of Jay in a bubblebath when he was little popped up. Jay facepalmed.
"Oh look, wasn't Jay so cute as a baby?"
"Class, mom, class!" Jay reminded her through the laughs. The slideshow was over in a few minutes.
"Nya, could you hit the lights please?" Ed asked while he was digging through tools in his toolbox.
Jay looked over to see who Nya was and he couldn't help but stare. She was one beautiful girl. Black short hair, lovely amber eyes, tall. She was dressed in a red kimono and Jay only saw her. Then he was elbowed by someone. Wisp.
"Dude, quit staring. That's Kai's sister." Wisp whispered.
"She is? Oh, I don't have a shot with her if she's Kai's sister." Jay muttered sadly. He glanced at the girl as she was returning to her seat.
Cole and Rocky were at their own seminar class and after school they had football practice. Whenever they had a game the boys would all show up to cheer the two on. Rocky was the quarterback and Cole was the lineman. The team had only lost one game the entire year because of the old quarterback and lineman, Pythor and Skales. Now the old and new players have a rivalry.
Kai and Flame were at their blacksmithing class and would have their samurai training class tomorrow in its place. They rotate days since the classes are taught by the same instructor, Professor Wu.
"Kai, your metal is loud and heavy. Useful to slow one down but, useless in the art of stealth. All the tools of a samurai but nothing for a ninja."
"A ninja won't win the Samurai Games, old ma- er Professor." Kai answered back. The professor was used to that behavior from Kai and he simply ignored it.
"I wasn't speaking about the games."
Linebreak
When school ended, Lloyd went to the library to work on his math homework where help was. The other boys went home-excluding Cole and Rocky. Zane and Shard began their homework. Jay and Wisp went out to anywhere except Jay's place. Kai and Flame went to go eat a second lunch at Darkley's Bad Burgers since the school's was inedible.
The librarian was dressed in all brown. He had brown hair and eyes and carried a laidback and calm attitude. His voice was strange as well but he seemed slightly lonely or Lloyd thought he did.
"I am Grand Librarian Dareth and I dareth you to read one hundred books this year." He said to each student that walked in.
"I'm at thirty so far Dareth." A black haired and circle glasses boy said.
"All these awards are from when I was in school and I read the most books." Dareth said, his arm outlining the awards on the wall.
"Hey nerd, that's where I sit." A voice said behind Lloyd who was stuck on his fifth geometry question.
"I thought it was free seating. Couldn't you sit somewhere else?" Lloyd asked coolly. He didn't want a fight on his first day.
"No. That's where I sit. That is where I shall sit. You can move the easy way, or I can dump you out the hard way."
"Gene, are you causing trouble again? I told you if you did that one more time that I'd-" Dareth began.
"No it's okay, Dareth. He was just asking me the answer to question 2. I was going to move over to the other table since I was having such luck at this spot." Lloyd answered knowing that it didn't make much sense.
"That totally makes sense." Dareth said before walking back to gloat to the other students.
"I didn't need your help." The boy named Gene said grouchily. Lloyd was packing up his stuff.
"I know. But I gave it to you." Lloyd answered simply before placing it all in his backpack and leaving.
When he got to his foster house, his foster parents were out. Lloyd finished his homework and then went to get a shower to reflect on his first day at NCHS.
So on my first day I made some awesome friends, met weird teachers, saw some teachers who felt familiar, and got threatened by a mean boy. But this morning I was shoved in a locker and my stuff was stolen. I learned a lot about my friends but I know more than meets the eye when it comes to them. We have the rest of the school year, I'm sure I'll learn a lot about them.
He reached for the shampoo and found the foster parents only had one bottle. The last family he had had an unlimited supply of like fifty billion bottles. Lloyd squeezed some in his hand and began to clean his blonde locks. He waited for the substance to sink in and so he read the label on the bottle. He wanted to know what these parents were having him use.
Warning, if you are below the age of eighteen do not use. May cause head rash or severe dandruff.
"What! Now you tell me?" He whined before quickly rinsing the black gel off and scrubbing hard with his fingers to remove it.
"No, no, no, no, no!"
"Aww man…" He groaned before ignoring the hair and washing the rest of him.
When he got out of the shower he went to bed. He needed to wake early to catch the bus. Lloyd's foster parents weren't home yet and it was almost midnight. He had been lying awake and thinking about living in Jamanakai when he drifted into sleep.
"All this time I was focused on being the Green Ninja. When all this time I should have been focused on protecting him." Kai said looking to him.
Lloyd looked around as golden weapons were placed around him and a green light shined.
"The battle of brother versus brother has now expanded to father versus son." Professor Wu stated sadly.
"I…have to fight my father now?" Lloyd asked and hoped it wasn't so.
"We'll be with you Lloyd. All the way." Cole assured him.
"Thanks guys."
The scene changed to one of a man. He was pitch black skinned and wore armor and had glowing red eyes that Lloyd couldn't forget. His helmet had a bone on the top. What scared Lloyd the most was that the man had four arms. And yet, while he'd never seen this man before Lloyd knew him. He was his father.
"Dad?" Lloyd asked.
"Lloyd? I'm sorry I can't be with you. It was the snakebite. It turned me evil. And now you must fight me."
"Father, I'm sorry. I didn't know!" Lloyd said, his voice younger.
"It's okay Lloyd. You can be whatever you want to be. I understand. Just know, that we'll have to fight one day and when we do, I'm sorry."
"Dad!" Lloyd shouted as his father began to slip back and away from him. Lloyd began to chase after his father but he was never fast enough.
"DAD!" He screamed.
The world began spinning into a black vortex and the floor fell beneath Lloyd's feet. He fell from the heights into a bottomless pit. The walls were white but the floor and ceiling were black and endless.
A golden dragon appeared from nowhere and wrapped around the trapped boy. The two merged together and Lloyd became the dragon. They were one in the same. The dragon flew through the wall and emerged in a field of light. Lloyd was cast out of the dragon and the golden beast flew away.
"Grandpa?" Lloyd asked and the dragon turned its head and winked before returning to the heavens of where it came from.