Hey everyone! I managed to write this little nugget for you. XD Sorry it's short, but I hope you enjoy it anyways!
5 a.m. came too quickly for Sam. She had set her alarm for 4:55, just to make sure that she'd be in the training room on time. She wanted to make a good impression on Lloyd. After all, he was the one who was going to be training her.
Careful not to wake Nya up, she quickly shut off her alarm, and, using what willpower she had, she dragged herself out of bed, threw her sweats on, and hastily made her way to the training room.
To her surprise, Lloyd was already there, dressed in his ninja suit.
When he saw her walk into the room, the green ninja winked at her.
"You showed up on time," he said.
"Yeah," she said, putting her hair up in a ponytail. She knew that the green ninja had probably been testing her to see if she was serious about learning Spinjitzu, which she was. She wouldn't have been up at 5 if she wasn't.
Lloyd's face suddenly turned serious. "Alright, if you're gonna learn Spinjitzu, you need to get in shape," he said authoritatively. "Spinjitzu's about being light on your feet and staying balanced, all while keeping your focus."
Sam nodded. "Got it." Sam wasn't the most unhealthy person, since she did play tennis every so often, however, she was nowhere near to being fit.
"Alright then, now we got that settled," Lloyd said, his mouth breaking into a tiny smirk, "Let the real fun begin."
They first started out with stretches, which would help prevent her from pulling a muscle when she did the more vigorous workouts. It also made Sam realize that not only was she not in shape, but she also wasn't the most flexible either.
Next, Lloyd had her work on her core muscles, such as her abs. He even made her do handstands, in which she had to lean against the wall for, since wasn't yet strong enough to do it without assistance. He had to pin her ankles to the wall a couple times to keep her from falling.
He wasn't going to try to have her do flips or anything too aerobic today, since he was afraid she might hurt herself. And it would be kind of a problem if Sam showed up at the breakfast table, limping or showing any other signs of injury.
While Lloyd was patient and wanted her to work at her own pace, Sam was harder on herself. She was starting to become frustrated that she couldn't seem to do much athletically, even though she had played tennis. Although, in tennis, you didn't need to be a gymnast in order to be successful.
Despite Lloyd's words of encouragement, she felt inadequate.
"Don't worry Sam, you'll get it," Lloyd reassured her.
Currently, Sam was holding a plank position on the floor of the training room.
She hadn't been on the ground for a minute, and she could already feel her muscles trembling in order to hold herself up.
The blonde girl grunted in response. The only thing she was aware of was the soreness in her arms and shoulders from the exercises she had been doing.
Finally, she couldn't take the ache in her arms any longer, and collapsed onto the ground.
Lloyd chuckled, trying to lighten the air a bit. "Hehe, that was pretty good," he said. He outstretched a hand to help pull her up.
When she was back on her feet, the girl subconsciously rubbed her sore upper arm. Maybe learning Spinjitzu was going to be harder than she had previously thought.
Lloyd glanced at the clock in the training room and saw that it was almost six o' clock in the morning.
"We better call it a day," he said. "The others'll be up soon."
Sam looked at the clock as well and sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Lloyd turned to her. "Same time tomorrow, then?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, sounds good." Although, in her mind, she was already having doubts about the whole thing.
"Cool," the green ninja said. "I probably should get back to my room before the others wake up."
"Same."
And with that, Sam followed Lloyd out of the training room, and the two headed to their respective bedrooms.
Before she went inside her own room, Sam gave the green ninja one last glance before he disappeared into the ninjas' room.
At this point, it seemed impossible that she'd ever learn Spinjitzu. But it wasn't like her to give up so easily. She just had to keep the faith that if she continued her training with Lloyd, she'd get it.
Still exhausted from her training session with the green ninja, Sam went about her daily morning routine as usual, and then headed to the kitchen. When she entered the room, the ninja were already there, eating breakfast.
"Hey Sam," Cole greeted her as he took a bite of his cereal. "Want some Frosted Oats?" The earth ninja pushed the box towards her while she retrieved a bowl from the kitchen cabinet.
"We were kinda hoping you'd make breakfast today, Sam," Jay said. "But we didn't wanna bother you, since you've seemed to be pretty wiped out lately."
Sam chuckled. "No, it's fine. I could make breakfast for you guys sometime, if you want." She was trying to appear as normal as possible, but on the inside, she could feel herself becoming increasingly anxious. She felt like the rest of the ninja could see right through her.
She glanced at Lloyd, who wore the same disinterested look that he had had since she had arrived on the Bounty. Either he didn't seem to care enough to be concerned about the ninja finding out, or he was a very good actor.
"So, Sam," Kai said, turning to her. "I was wondering if you wanted to come grocery shopping with me. I promised Sensei I'd do the grocery shopping from now on." To be honest, he didn't want to brave the grocery store alone.
Forgetting about Lloyd for a moment, Sam smiled, thinking of when she and Kai had first met at the grocery store. He had been so funny about the toilet paper and everything. It had been very clear that he didn't do the grocery shopping often, so it didn't surprise her that he wanted a companion.
"Sure," she said. "Do you wanna meet there after my internship?"
The red ninja nodded, a grin spreading across his face. "Sure."
Just like every morning, Sam finished up her breakfast and went to her internship. Though today, she was reminded of the training session she had endured this morning due to the persistent soreness in her arms. She hoped that eventually, the exhaustion she felt from her training would lessen. But little did she know that her journey to learning Spinjitzu was far from over.