Jay sighed as he threw his overnight bag onto the bed in one of the spare rooms at Zane's home. The sun was beginning to set and everyone was getting ready to head into the den. Nya was at Lloyd's house with Master Wu and Misako as usual. Pixal and Harumi were still at the reunion at Ed and Edna's insistence. Jay had only been to Zane's for a full moon two other times before now. But that was because there was usually something wrong with his at the junkyard.
Jay wished that he could stay and watch the fireworks with his family.
He used to love the blue ones when he was a kid before his instincts grew stronger as he grew older. But he knew it was impossible due to the full moon and his wolf's fear of fire. It was moments like these that Jay hated being a werewolf. A few of his relatives were upset that Jay wasn't staying for the night. Thankfully they had come up with the excuse that they had lots of studying to catch up on. His family still weren't happy, but they knew that his education had to come first.
He had promised to see them all off in the morning.
Most of his relatives were staying at inns, hotels, and motels around the city while some were camping at the junkyard. All afternoon Unagami had been telling his father and grandmother all about the stray dogs and cats Jay, Ed, and Edna kept at the junkyard. Milton and his mother were a little worried about this, especially with young children running around. So were a few other relatives who had brought their children to this reunion. Jay's parents quickly covered it up, however, by saying that there had been hardly any strays recently.
That and with how many people there are around here and the fireworks later it was highly that there would be any around for a while.
"Hey, Jay! You planning on transforming in your bedroom?!" Cole shouted up and Jay gasped when he realized that it was nearly an hour from the moon rise.
"Coming!" He called back down before putting his phone on charge and rushing down to the basement, hoping for a peaceful full moon in the forest with his friends...
As Nya was packing away her overnight bag in their guest room, Lloyd went into his room to get his pajamas ready for the morning. He groaned in frustration when he saw that his mother had been back into his room and had sorted through the college applications. She had already sorted through them out from the ones she thought were best for Lloyd to the ones she thought were the worst. Lloyd knew she meant well, but it was very irritating for him to deal with.
He was already stressed enough with the upcoming exams to worry about the pile of papers on his desk.
That and he knew he had to be careful when picking a college. He couldn't just go anywhere he wanted, He had to find one with a course that caught his interest and he had to find a cheap college. His mother and uncle didn't have a lot of money and it was very unlikely that he would get a scholarship. He knew Misako told him not to worry about that stuff, but he couldn't help but think about it. The blond teen considered getting a part-time job or something after school to pay for college.
Unfortunately, he knew that he didn't have enough time to make enough money for college placement.
But it might help his mother out with the enormous payments if he decided to go to college. Before he wander anymore, however, there was a light knocking on his door. A quick sniff of the air told him that it was only their house guest.
"Hey, Lloyd, you ok?" Nya asked as she poked her head into his room. Her eyes caught the pile of college applications and she frowned. "You still haven't filled these out yet?" She asked as she flipped through the papers.
"Don't you start too, I get enough of that from Mom." He growled, catching Nya off-guard.
"Alright! Who spat in your cereal?!" She snapped and Lloyd gulped when he realized his mistake.
"I'm sorry, it's just that my Mom won't stop going on and on about those applications and it's driving me crazy!" He exclaimed, hoping that Nya didn't kill him.
"Uh, I hate to break this to you, but all parents are like that Lloyd, I know for a fact mine are." She shrugged but at Lloyd's disbelieving look she continued. "Jay and I sent our applications for Westview Institute almost two weeks ago and Kai sent his for East Shores College last week, Mom and Dad wouldn't let us relax until they saw us send the applications off." She explained with a chuckle at the memory. This did catch Lloyd off guard for a moment.
He had thought that it was just his mother being pushy and stubborn about this, but maybe he was wrong about that.
"Nya! Lloyd! Hurry up, it's almost time!" Misako called up to the teens from the kitchen. They looked at the alarm clock beside Lloyd's bed and saw that they had over twenty minutes before the moonrise. Nya gave her friend a smile, which Lloyd reluctantly returned, and the pair headed down to the basement for the transformation...
Unagami quietly sighed in boredom as he toss and turned in his sleeping bag. His father and grandmother were fast asleep in their sleeping bags and Milton was lightly snoring. But the young boy couldn't sleep. He didn't know why he couldn't sleep though. After all those activities for the reunion, Unagami was exhausted, but for some reason, he just couldn't sleep. He tried everything from counting sheep and having a warm drink, but nothing worked.
At first, he thought it might be some leftover excitement from the fireworks.
But he dismissed that thought quickly. The fireworks had been set off over an hour ago as the sun was starting to set, and they had only set off a few. Harumi had brought more than they had needed so Ed and Edna said that they would save them for a special occasion. All of a sudden, Unagami felt like that he needed the restroom. With a quiet groan, the boy climbed out of the sleeping bag and left the RV to use one of the porta-potties nearby.
After he had finished washing up he was ready to try and get some sleep again.
Suddenly he heard a low howl echo through the junkyard coming from the depths of the nearby forest. Thinking it was a dog, he remembered what Jay said about strays and what his teacher said about how fireworks could scare animals. He immediately felt guilty and worried for those poor animals. They didn't have a safe home to sleep in and they probably think their next meal would be out of a trash can. With that thought in mind, the young boy grabbed his backpack and started packing everything he thought he might need.
He would find that poor stray dog and bring them to the den in the junkyard.
Then they can get a good night's rest and a meal in the morning before Ed and Edna called the rescue shelter to take them away. Knowing that Ed and Edna would be asleep and Jay was away, Unagami snuck into their trailer to gather the necessary supplies he thought he would need. He packed a bottle of water, a few leftover snacks for him and the strays, a small knife from their kitchen, his raincoat a lighter and matches, and a can of insect repellent.
As he was getting ready to leave, his eyes caught the dog toy he had taken from Jay's den.
Unagami knew that if he was going to find that poor stray he would need something to lure them in. He carefully picked up the toy and stuffed it into his bag, grateful that it didn't squeak and wake them up. After the boy double-checked that everyone was still asleep, he readjusted his backpack and took off towards the forest...
Jay casually stretched his stiff muscles as he waited down in Zane's basement for the moon to fully rise. As he waited, he looked around at his friends. Kai and Cole were cuddled up on a chewed-up couch and Morro was staring intently at the bowls of meat. Zane was standing around like Jay, waiting for the transformation to start and Dr. Julien was making sure all the locks on the gate were properly locked. He didn't want to risk the door opening and their inner wolves being set loose inside the house.
All of a sudden, an all too familiar feeling filled the six werewolves and their bodies began to change.
As soon as the transformation was over, Jay shivered and shook off his clothes after the transformation was complete. When he gathered his senses again, the ginger wolf looked around at his friends. Morro was already digging into the bowls of meat. Dr. Julien had to snap and growl at him so there would be some food left for the rest of them. After he was told off, Morro quickly went with Zane out into the forest with his tail between his legs. Cole and Kai were yipping and barking excitedly as they circled each other and licked each other's faces.
All of a sudden Cole grabbed an old chew rope and Kai started chasing him around the den for it before they ran out into the forest.
Jay gave Zane's father one last look as the old werewolf curled up to sleep before he too ran out to join the others. Thanks to his enhanced senses, Jay could smell and hear the others nearby. Morro was running around, enjoying his freedom, and he could Zane perched on a boulder, relaxing in the full moon's rays. Cole had abandoned the rope toy and he and Kai were still playing with each other. They were both barking and howling so much that Jay might have been worried that someone would hear if most of the nearby houses weren't fast asleep.
As the night continued Jay started to play with his friends, stalking and pouncing on each other.
It could have stayed like that all night if Jay's enhanced hearing hadn't have picked up on something. He looked at the others and saw that they had all gone stiff like statues. He knew that they had heard it too. None of them had to make any noises before the five werewolves took off running. The thing they had heard was a very familiar scream of a child...
Lloyd knew that it was a bad idea to go into a full moon transformation in a bad mood like he was now. With the full moon intensifying his instincts, transforming in a foul mood was a toxic pattern that could cause long-term damage. Zane's father once told the teens that if they transformed angry, their brains would put that experience into their long-term memory while their human side was mostly sleeping. This could cause those negative feelings to hold a lasting impression and make them more intense.
But Lloyd knew that there was no time now to sort through these feelings before the transformation started.
He could already feel the all too familiar tingle running throughout his body and he could tell his family and Nya could feel it too. Before he even had another second to think, they had all suddenly transformed into their wolves. Master Wu was the first to move and he lay in a corner to sleep. Misako and Nya were walking around the den, sniffing the bits of furniture and trying to entertain themselves with the few toys scattered around the basement.
They didn't have as much as Zane did, but to be fair fewer werewolves were staying in the Garmadon den.
Lloyd let out a yawn and he tried to think of something to do. Just then his hearing picked up an all too familiar clanking sound coming from the basement door that led outside. The blond wolf walked over to it and saw that someone had forgotten to lock it properly and it was clattering open and close with the evening wind. Even though he knew it was wrong, Lloyd's instincts took over and he had this sudden, primal urge to be out there and running free.
He started jumping up and head-butting the door, trying to get it open and escape.
The others saw what he was doing and the girls started to copy him. Master Wu seemed to be the only one who hadn't given in to his instincts yet and he tried to pull Lloyd away by the tail. This caused all of Misako's maternal instincts to kick in and she immediately lunged at her brother-in-law, snarling and snapping at the white wolf. They snarled, barked, and howled at each other so loudly it could have awoken the dead. But even with the loud noise filling the basement, the two teens didn't bat an eye at it and continued trying to escape.
While the two adult werewolves continued to fight, Lloyd and Nya kept hitting the doors and each time it stayed open a little longer.
All of a sudden, Lloyd shot up and before he knew it he was outside beside the house. His sudden escape caused the basement doors to snap shut and locking his family and Nya back inside the basement. He could hear Nya's whines from the basement, but he couldn't find it in him to care. With a loud, happy howl, Lloyd took off into the forest, enjoying the feeling of the cool night air flowing through his thick fur. He was enjoying himself so much that he was almost caught off guard when he caught Jay's scent nearby.
He knew he was near to the junkyard, but he could have sworn that Jay was spending the full moon at Zane's with the others.
But then he smelled something else. Something that made him angry and caused him to growl. There was a human with Jay's scent. To Lloyd, his mind flashed back to when Kai and Cole were telling them about their experience with Iron Baron and he quickly assumed that Jay had been captured by a human. Baring his razor-sharp teeth, Lloyd took off running toward the scent and got there within a minute, and tackled the human to the forest ground.
He was so blinded by his rage and his instincts that he failed to take in the small size of the human.
Or the shrill, child-like scream that shattered the silence of the forest. Or the fact that Jay, who he thought was captured by this human, was nowhere to be seen. All he seemed to register was some kind of item the human was holding falling to the ground. In his wild brain, Lloyd thought it was a weapon like a large gun. He was about to rip out this stranger's throat when something suddenly slammed into him and threw him off his human captive.
The blond wolf quickly recovered from this and was prepared to fight but then he froze.
Standing before him, blocking his path, was Cole, Kai, and Morro. All three were snarling and standing firm, looking ready to tear Lloyd to shreds. He looked past the trio and he saw Jay and Zane sniffing and licking the trembling human's face. The feral mist started to fade from Lloyd's mind and he was horrified to see that he had attacked Jay's cousin, Unagami. The thing Lloyd thought was a weapon was one of the chew toys from Jay's den back at the junkyard.
When Unagami finally realized that he wasn't dead, he slowly got to his feet with shaking knees.
He looked at the group of wolves before he took off back towards the junkyard, scaring like bloody murder the entire way. Lloyd was struggling to process what just happened, but the others wouldn't give the time. Before he could do anything, Cole suddenly bite Lloyd's ear and started dragging him back to Zane's den while Kai snapped at his back legs to get him to move. Zane and Morro kept growling at him the whole way back. Jay was the most stoic of the lot of them as he walked ahead of the group and didn't even glance at Lloyd.
Lloyd whimpered in shame as his other ear flattened against his skull and his tail tucked in between his legs.
All he could do was pray to every God and Goddess he could think of that his entire pack didn't destroy him for this...
"YOU STUPID, STUPID BOY! I COULD KILL YOU!" Master Wu shouted at his nephew he was cowering on the couch at their home. As soon as the sun rose and they returned to their human form, Zane and Cole had rushed to cover the forest entrance to the den. Jay had left and headed straight to the junkyard to check on Unagami. Zane's father is called Misako and Master Wu. Then he had driven the teens down to the Garmadon household where Lloyd's family and Nya were waiting for them.
They were all shocked when they were told what had happened.
Misako was sat next to her son, trying to comprehend what she had just been told. Master Wu's only reaction to this was nothing but anger. Nya was just relieved that Lloyd hadn't seriously injured anyone. Kai, Morro, and Nya were awkwardly shuffling about with Dr. Julien in the kitchen as they made breakfast for everyone. This was a very serious incident as not only had Lloyd attacked a regular human, it was a human child and it was Jay's relative.
After they were sure no one would find the den, Zane and Cole drove to Lloyd's house.
Morro and Zane had texted their respective girlfriends to let them know what happened. Both Pixal and Harumi offered their support and help if anything needed to be covered up. It paid to have girlfriends who had hundreds of dollars to spare.
"I'M SORRY, OK?! I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING! YOU KNOW HOW POWERFUL THE FULL MOON IS!" Lloyd argued, but this just added fuel to the already raging fire in his uncle.
"DON'T YOU DARE USE THAT AS AN EXCUSE LLOYD! YES, YOUR MOTHER AND I HAVE LOST CONTROL BUT WE HAVE NEVER ATTACKED A CHILD!" Master Wu bellowed louder than any of the teens had ever heard from the old man. "I EXPECT THIS SORT OF THING FROM MORRO, OR MAYBE EVEN KAI, BUT NOT YOU!"
"Hey! What do you mean by that!?" Kai snapped at Master Wu's accusation, helped by Morro's insulted glare. Even Cole, Lloyd, Nya, Zane, Dr. Julien, and Misako were stunned but the oldest werewolf's harsh words.
"Y-You both know what I mean!" He stammered, trying to recover from this.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Misako suddenly shouted before another fight could break out. "We will all wait here until Jay or his parents contact us with news about Unagami's current state and when we know this then we can think of what to do next." She ordered the pack, who reluctantly all nodded their heads.
"I'm so sorry; I'm so, so, so sorry, guys," Lloyd mumbled as he buried his face in his hands, unable to look anyone in the eye. After an hour of more shouting and waiting, Jay finally called Nya to let her know what was happening. When Unagami ran back into the junkyard he had woken everyone up. When he told his dad what happened, Ed and Edna tried to dismiss this as Unagami seeing scary shadows. But when he showed the adults the claw marks Lloyd had made, there was no doubt that the boy had been attacked by some kind of animal.
Despite Ed and Edna's protest, Milton had immediately called the police and demanded they find those stray dogs and shoot them dead.
To some, that might seem like an overreaction, but to others and especially the parents understood it. Children were smaller, faster, and more excitable than adults, leaving them more vulnerable to dog attacks. Vicious dogs posed a serious threat to the health and safety of children. Milton had instructed Unagami how to deal with strange dogs the same way he told him to deal with strange people. Unfortunately, teaching children not to approach strange dogs can not prevent a dog from approaching a child.
Not only that, but some children were too small to understand their parents' instructions.
Everyone knew that dog attacks could cause serious injuries to a child. If injured by a dog, they knew that they had to call animal control immediately after seeking medical attention. It was also a good idea to file a police report. But what made it hard was the fact that everyone believed that these canines were strays. Most dog owners were sometimes defensive about their pets. They shouldn't try to approach the owner of an unknown dog in person, especially if the parent was forced to injure the animal to fend off its attack.
If Unagami was wounded in the attack, Milton would have sought legal advice immediately.
He believed that allowing a vicious dog to roam free was a serious crime. Not only that but the owner may be responsible for some of the medical bills or other damages. Unfortunately, because they all thought that they were strays there wasn't anyone to be held accountable. Another problem for Milton was the fact that these dogs had seemingly vanished into thin air. Even with most of the Walker family and a group of police officers searching the forest for these animals, there was no sign of them anywhere.
Nevertheless, the police assured the Dyers that they wouldn't give up searching.
If there was a group of stray dogs out there, attacking children, then it was a severe security risk. Jay had even commented that the commissioner might enforce a temporary curfew for those who lived close to the forest. It didn't seem the police had found the entrance to the den, but they knew that they would have to be extremely careful for the next few weeks. When Nya sent Jay a text to ask how Unagami was, he said the boy would be alright.
Unagami was shaken up by what happened, but he should be fine with time.
The only good thing that seemed to come out of this was that Unagami would think twice before going out into the forest at night. He might have been attacked by an even more dangerous animal and gotten seriously hurt, or worse. God forbid he had run into some creep in those woods. His dad and his grandmother made sure to scream that into Unagami after the police were finished with him. Jay's last text told them that most of his relatives, including the Dyer family, had returned to their homes.
He doubted that many people would come to the next reunion.
Nya had suggested that Jay come to Lloyd's house to talk, but he declined. He secretly told his girlfriend that he wasn't ready to see Lloyd yet and that he wanted to spend time with his parents. Nya reassured him that she understood and lied to the others, saying that his parents had grounded him. No one questioned it and one by one they all went home and left Lloyd at the mercy of his family. When the others were gone left, Master Wu ordered Lloyd to go to his room.
Even from his bedroom, Lloyd could hear Misako and Master Wu arguing and he turned on his headphones to try and drown it out.
After half an hour, Misako knocked on his door and stepped into the room. She smiled at him and took a seat next to him on the bed.
"Lloyd, your uncle and I have been talking and we've decided that it might be good for you to go away for a while." She said and Lloyd suddenly felt cold.
"W-What!?"
"I've already called your school and they are giving you a week off; I thought it would be a good idea to go and check out these colleges you might like." She explained, and Lloyd relaxed slightly, relieved that they weren't trying to send him away forever. He thought about it for a moment and this made sense. Not only would he get some space from this city and the drama, but he would get to see these colleges up close and personal. This might even help him make up his mind about whether he wanted to go to college or not.
"Alright, let's go then."...
NEXT CHAPTER: When Ninjago High is threatened with closure, Nya's actions lead to disaster...