Challenge: Somebody go's with Dareth to the mall.
Lloyd squirmed on the seat of the bus, wishing his legs were long enough for his feet to touch the floor. He knew pretty much all eight-year-olds were this short, but he really wished he could hurry up and grow a little faster.
He resented the older ninjas' freedom. They got to go out on a cool mission and everything, but him? Nooooooo, he was too little, he had to stay behind and get baby-sat by Dareth, no less. Worse, the Brown Ninja had declared that today was his shopping day, and had dragged Lloyd along with him. Lloyd did not enjoy being seen with the kooky man in public; even as he snuck a glance across the bus now, he saw Dareth bragging about his ninja prowess to a bored-looking lady.
Lloyd quickly looked away and slid down in his seat. Maybe nobody would figure out he and Dareth were together.
Once they reached the mall (to Lloyd's chagrin, Dareth insisted on holding his hand), the shopping began in earnest. Dareth wandered around looking at knickknacks for the dojo, considering new uniforms for his students, and spending an hour in a salon shop pondering hair-care products. Not only was Lloyd bored to tears, he was constantly embarrassed by Dareth's flamboyant behavior.
"Dareth," hissed the half-pint ninja, trying to ignore a gaggle of teenaged girls staring their way. "Can we just walk?"
"This is walking, young green one!" replied Dareth, continuing to strut like a colicky rooster. "You've got to walk with pride, my friend! Watch and learn."
Lloyd groaned and hung his head, trying to block out the teenagers giggling behind him. Passing by a toy store, he snuck an envious glance at the children wandering through the aisles with their parents, squealing and pointing out toys. Why couldn't he just have a normal life with a normal family, like them?
Then Dareth decided to go back and look for new uniforms again. When he insisted that Lloyd model the suits for him, it was nearly the last straw; Lloyd was almost ready to cry for real as he doggedly tried on suit after suit, each more ridiculous than the last.
"You're looking a bit droopy, young Lloyd," said Dareth as they finally left the uniform store—with, obviously, the most hideous uniforms they had available. "You must be getting hungry!"
Lloyd tried to mumble that he wasn't really hungry at all, but Dareth was already sweeping towards the food court. He was loaded down with bags of uniforms and fancy Elvis shampoo, so he was no longer holding Lloyd's hand, but the youngster sighed deeply and followed him anyway.
Within seconds, though, they encountered a large cluster of shoppers. Lloyd dodged nimbly around strollers and shopping bags, trying not to get in people's way; by the time the crowd passed, he found he was alone.
"Dareth?" He turned around in a slow circle. "Dareth? . . . "
No sign of the bag-laden sensei.
Now, most eight-year-olds would have panicked in this situation. They would probably have run around frantically and eventually been picked up by a security guard and taken to the lost children center, teary and frightened.
Not Lloyd, though. He had wandered all alone in the barren wilderness of Ninjago, tangling with killer snakes; walking through a mall alone—or even home alone, if it came to that—would be a laughing matter.
In fact, far from panicking, Lloyd stood amidst the bustle of shoppers and slowly began to grin.
He had the most glorious time. He didn't have much pocket money, only a little that Kai had once given him for arcade games, and he sensibly decided to save it for bus fare home. Still, he didn't need money to have fun. He spent all the time he wanted in the toy store, watched with fascination as a tattoo artist inked a snarling shark onto a man's shoulder, browsed a youth clothing store giggling over all the smart-alecky T-shirts, and made friends with a group of schoolkids who let him try out their hoverboard.
It was more than an hour later that Dareth tracked him down. He gave a whoop and descended on the green ninja in a maelstrom of shopping bags.
"Oh, little buddy! Thank goodness I found you!" He squished the small ninja in a hug.
"Mmph!" spluttered Lloyd through a faceful of ice cream. He had caved and spent his bus money on a large Blizzard.
"Oh, you must have been so frightened," yammered Dareth, setting him down. "Don't worry, your old pal Dareth is here now! Everything's okay."
"Uhhh . . . yeah! Thanks," said Lloyd gamely.
Lloyd's good luck wasn't quite over yet. Dareth was so convinced that being lost must have been a terrifying ordeal that he offered to buy Lloyd a toy from the toy store to make him feel better. Lloyd returned home full of ice cream and clutching a stuffed shark. He was so happy he didn't even care when Dareth told everyone on the bus about their mall trip, in dramatic and embarrassing detail.
When they got home, the other ninja had returned from their mission. Lloyd surreptitiously put his shark away in his bed before heading down to say hi.
"Heya half-pint." Cole ruffled his hair. "You guys went out?"
"Yep. Dareth took me to the mall," said Lloyd. "Clothes shopping and stuff."
"Awww, man." Kai grimaced. "Sorry you had to go through that, buddy."
"Ah, it's okay." Lloyd looked up at him with a cheesy grin. "It wasn't so bad."