Cole had to catch himself before he slammed the door shut. He didn't want to wake everybody up, just one person. It was one-thirty in the morning. He made his way to the bedrooms and opened the first door on the left. Both Lloyds groaned when he flipped the light on. Cole grabbed his Lloyd's arm and yanked him up.
"Go back to sleep," Cole whispered to Alt-Lloyd as he turned the light off and closed the door.
"Ow! Cole!" Lloyd hissed. He struggled to keep up with Cole, who had almost lifted him off the ground.
Cole dragged Lloyd down the hall and into the living room. He threw Lloyd onto the couch, which yelped before throwing Lloyd onto the ground. Kai turned on the lamp next to the couch and sat up, glaring at Cole. He was stretched out with his feet on the coffee table. Skylor was next to him stretched out on the rest of the couch.
"Sorry, Kai. Didn't know you were there," Cole said.
"What now?" Skylor yawned as she sat up.
"I don't know," Kai grumbled.
Lloyd slowly sat up and looked at Cole. Cole had his arms crossed.
"What do you want that can't wait until morning?" Lloyd said.
"I want to know about the court case," Cole demanded.
"Court case? What court case? I don't know anything about a court case. Why would I know anything about a court case? There's no court case," Lloyd said in a squeaky voice.
"The one where ninjitsu is going to be illegal," Cole said.
"What?" Kai asked, more awake now. He sat up straighter.
Skylor tried to sneak off, but Kai grabbed her arm.
"Oh. That court case," Lloyd said.
"Yeah. I was having dinner with my dad, Nikki, and her parents. Her mom asked me how it was going, and I had no clue what she was talking about," Cole explained.
"Did you know about this?" Kai asked Skylor.
"I was going to wait until after you were settled before I told you," Skylor admitted.
Cole and Kai glared at Lloyd.
"Right after you guys disappeared, Morgan's scumbag lawyer convinced some lawmakers that what we do is wrong. I've been trying to deal with that, but with Krux and Acronix running around and Hermes being Hermes, it was hard to juggle everything," Lloyd admitted.
"When were you going to tell us this?" Kai asked.
"Tomorrow? Maybe? I didn't want to worry you guys right after you got back."
"Too late."
"How do we fight it?" Cole asked.
"Your kind-of-sort-of uncle said to get a good defense lawyer. The problem is we don't have any money and your dad doesn't want to pay for one," Lloyd said.
"Of course not."
"But maybe you can talk to him and change his mind?"
"There is no changing his mind on this. I'll call my grandfather in the morning."
"Hermes?" Kai asked.
"Heck no. Other grandfather," Cole said.
"Speaking of Hermes, I do need you to talk to him," Lloyd said.
"About what?"
"I am ninety-nine percent positive he has the Time Blades. He won't admit it and we need them back."
"How did he get the Time Blades?" Kai asked.
"I have no idea."
"Fine. I'll speak to him later. I'm going to bed." Cole started towards his bedroom.
"The other Cole is in your bed," Kai said.
Cole turned around and walked towards the front door.
"Where are you going?" Lloyd asked.
"To find somewhere to sleep." Cole slammed the door behind him, shaking the entire monastery.
"What are you doing up?" Kai asked.
Everyone turned and saw Alt-Lloyd staring at them from around the corner.
"I was wondering what was going on. Is he alright?" Alt-Lloyd asked.
"Yeah, he's just tired. He'll probably sleep in his Earth Driller or on the Bounty."
"Hopefully not the Driller," Lloyd said.
"Did you take the Driller out?" Kai asked.
"Your counterparts stole it. I just drove it back."
"Are they even old enough to drive?" Skylor asked as she put her shoes on.
"Cole has his license. The rest of us have our permits," Alt-Lloyd explained.
"Where are you going?" Kai asked.
"Home. I have work tomorrow and clearly, I'm not going to get sleep here. I'll see you later." Skylor kissed Kai and left.
The next morning, Cole didn't show up at the breakfast table. No one thought much of it until Alt-Cole walked into the room alone.
"Is Cole still asleep? I heard him get in late last night," Misako asked as she put pancakes on plates for everyone.
"No, he's not in there," Alt-Cole said.
"I'll go get him," Lloyd yawned.
"You okay?" Jay asked.
"Yeah. Cole woke me up to yell at me a bit, then he went to go sleep on the Bounty. At least, I hope he's on the Bounty."
"Why was he yelling at you?" Nya asked.
"Because we're being sued," Kai said.
"What? Why? And how do you know this?'
"Because Cole yelled at Lloyd in the living room and Skylor confirmed it."
"Morgen's scumbag lawyer is trying to make ninjutsu illegal. He says we aren't accountable to anyone and we do more harm than good," Lloyd said. Before they could question him further, he got up and walked out the front door, and made his way to the elevator. Jay, Nya, and Kai followed him. They boarded the large ship and started towards the sleeping quarters, but found Cole asleep on the pull-out couch in the living room still in his clothes from yesterday.
"Cole, wake up." Jay shook Cole's shoulder.
Cole moaned but sat up. He blinked at the group.
"Morning, sunshine," Kai said.
"Eh," Cole said. He stretched his arms out.
"Sleep well?"
"No. Why am I awake?"
"Breakfast," Lloyd said.
"Oh." Cole got up and started to pull the bedding off the couch. Lloyd helped him put it back in the closet while Kai and Jay put the bed back into the couch. Once they were sure everything was put away, they decided to go back up to the monastery. As they walked through the hanger, Cole saw the Earth Driller and stopped. Lloyd followed Cole's gaze.
"Oh, right. Your counterparts stole the Earth Driller and took it to Hiroshi's Labyrinth. I drove it back. I didn't see any obvious damage on it, but I guess you can ask Nya to look over it," Lloyd said.
Cole glared at him.
"I mean, I'll ask Nya to look over it. How did you even know?"
"You didn't put the seat back, shortie," Cole said.
"They took it to Hiroshi's Labyrinth? Why?" Kai asked.
"To get the Realm Crystal. And for the record, I'm not short. You're just freakishly tall," Lloyd said.
"Please, you're shorter than me," Jay said.
"Yeah, Nya might be taller than you," Kai said.
"Nya is not taller than me!" Lloyd said as they got into the elevator.
"I'm not so sure. I know Nya comes up to about here on me." Jay put his hand at his shoulder.
"I'm not that short!"
"So you admit you are short," Kai said.
"No! I'm not short! And Nya is not taller than me!"
"I guess we'll find out."
The elevator opened and the group headed back into the monastery. Everyone else was eating breakfast.
"Good morning," Wu said.
"Morning, Sensei," Cole, Kai, and Jay said.
"I trust you all slept well?"
Cole and Kai looked at each other.
"Lloyd, have our guests finished their laps yet?" Wu asked.
"Not yet. They made it to nineteen," Lloyd said.
"After breakfast, they will finish."
The alt-ninja groaned.
"And you five will do ten laps with them," Wu said.
"Oh, come on! Why?" Jay whined.
"Because someone woke me up last night when he slammed the door shut." Wu looked at Cole.
"I'm pretty sure that was Skylor. I saw her here last night on the couch with Kai, but I haven't seen her here this morning," Cole said.
"Yeah, she left in the middle of the night last night. Said she had to get some sleep before work and too many people kept coming in and waking us up," Kai said.
"Because I'm sure you didn't do any training at all in the other world," Wu said.
"We trained," Nya said.
"Yeah. We were in the middle of training when the earthquake hit," Jay added.
"We even did our Sunrise Stretches," Cole said.
"You got up at sunrise and did your Sunrise Stretches?" Wu asked. He raised an eyebrow.
The five ninja all nodded their heads.
"But you did-" Alt-Lloyd stopped talking when Kai's hand covered his mouth.
"Yes, Sensei, we did our Sunrise Stretches at sunrise," Kai said.
"Then you will do your laps because I said so." Wu poured syrup over his pancakes and ignored everyone's objections.
As soon as breakfast was over, everyone went outside. It took the ninja a little over an hour to complete their ten laps. They lost count of the number of times they passed the alt-ninja. Once they were done, Kai grabbed Nya and Lloyd and made them stand back-to-back.
"What are you doing?" Nya asked.
"Lloyd insists he's taller than you," Kai said.
"He is taller than me. Everyone is taller than me."
"Eh… It's close. What do you think?"
Jay and Cole looked closely.
"It's hard to tell with Nya's hair," Cole said.
Jay took a nunchuck and placed it on top of Nya's head and slid it over until it hit Lloyd's head. Lloyd was at most an inch and a half taller.
"I told you I was taller than Nya," Lloyd grumbled.
"Yeah, but you're still short." Cole placed his arm on Lloyd's head to use it as an armrest.