Well guys, this is it. This is the last chapter of Tiny Troubles. *wipes away a tear* I can't believe that we've made it this far. Thanks to everyone who read this story and encouraged me to write more. I couldn't have done it without you! :D

Also, a quick shoutout to Alex-Fierro17 for drawing--I mean finding  the picture that Jay took of Cole sleeping with his panda plushie. Thanks, Alex! :)

~~~~~~~

Months had passed since Cole had been turned into a little kid and the black ninja was doing fine. Great even. Telling his teammates about his mom had turned out to be one of the best decisions that he'd ever made. They helped him work out the grief without it being weird or pushy. Zane would come out with him on early morning walks in the woods, usually not talking a lot, but offering Cole some silent comfort. And, when he did talk, he offered sound and wise advice without sounding judgmental, something that Cole really appreciated.

Kai and Nya were there whenever Cole felt like reminiscing about the past—he and Nya would compare how similar their moms were and what they missed most about them while Kai was there to provide a distraction along with a little dose of tough love(though Cole knew that was just how Kai cared. The fire ninja wasn't the biggest fan of mushy-gushy stuff).

Even Jay and Lloyd helped him out. The two would often be there whenever Cole felt a little emotional and couldn't hide it any longer—Jay with a hug and a witty joke that would make Cole laugh; Lloyd with some words of empathy and understanding.

All in all, Cole felt better than he had in a long, long time.

Then spring came around, and Cole suddenly wasn't fifteen anymore.

Cole woke up on April 22nd with a feeling of dread pooling in his stomach. The dread has been there since about a week ago, when Jay had made an off handed joke about Cole being excited that Earth Day was coming up. The black ninja had to reassure himself that no one except Lloyd knew that his birthday just so happened to be on that same day.

No one, especially Jay, could know that Cole was born on Earth Day. He'd never hear the end of it.

So, when Cole woke up as a sixteen-year-old, he didn't shout for joy or even act excited.

Instead, he slowly got out of bed and made his way to the dining room for breakfast, where everyone else was waiting.

"Good morning, Cole!" Jay chirped.

"Morning," Cole yawned, stretching a little bit. "What's for breakfast?"

"Zane's making pancakes," Lloyd replied, grinning. "He should be done soon."

"Correction," Zane suddenly said, coming out of the kitchen carrying a bunch of plates in his arms. "I am done now. Good morning, Cole!"

"Morning, Zane," Cole greeted, practically drooling at the sweet scent of freshly made pancakes. "Mmmm, that smells sooo good."

"I can almost guarantee that they taste even better," Zane chuckled setting the plates on the table. "Breakfast is served."

Cole didn't hesitate to inhale his favorite breakfast food, though the others weren't too far behind him. Kai swiped a piece of his bacon when he thought Cole wasn't looking, but Cole got revenge by stealing one of the red ninja's pancakes.

Once breakfast was over, Jay turned to Cole and asked, "Sooo, what are you planning on doing today, Cole?"

Cole shrugged. "Not much. I was just planning on taking a walk in the forest." His warm grey eyes lit up. "There's a tree that I want to climb. It has one of the best views ever!"

Kai laughed. "Tree hugger," He said teasingly.

"You're just jealous that you can't climb a tree as well as I can," Cole retorted, sticking his tongue out at the red ninja.

Kai glared and stuck his own tongue back at Cole.

"Boys," Nya grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me, I. Am a man!" Kai declared.

"You're still a teen, brother-dear. Don't get ahead of yourself."

While Kai sulked about the fact that he wasn't technically a man yet, Cole just laughed and stood up from the table. "Well, I'm gonna go change and then I'm gone," he announced. "Anyone want to come with me?"

"Eh, I'll go," Lloyd said, standing up as well. "I could use the fresh air."

"Sweet, let's go."

"Have fun, you two!" Kai called after them.

"Be careful!" Zane added. "And come back in time for lunch!"

"We will," Lloyd replied over his shoulder.

Had Cole been paying attention, he might have seen Lloyd also wink meaningfully at his other friends, or might have seen Kai, Nya, Zane, and Jay exchange excited looks.

~~~~

"Wow," Lloyd softly exclaimed as he took in the view. "You weren't kidding. I feel like I can see all of Ninjago from up here."

Cole smirked. "Told ya," he said smugly.

The two ninja were currently sitting at the top of the tree that Cole had mentioned earlier at breakfast, enjoying the view. The tree that they were in towered over almost all the other trees and offered not only a bird's eye view of the forest but one could also see the outskirts of Ninjago City.

All in all, it was a very nice view.

"Soooo," Lloyd slowly said after a few minutes of silence had passed. "What's it like being sixteen?"

Cole huffed. "Oh gosh, I was kinda hoping that you'd forget about that," he snorted.

"Why would I ever forget about that?" Lloyd asked. "I mean, dude. Your birthday is today. Don't you want to celebrate?"

"Need I remind you that besides you, no one else knows that today's my birthday?"

"You could always tell them."

"No, absolutely not. Jay would never let me live it down."

"Aw, c'mon Cole! You can't be miserable on your sweet sixteen!"

"Who says I'm miserable?" Cole carefully leaned back against the trunk of the tree and sighed happily. "I get to be surrounded by nature today; I had pancakes for breakfast; and I'll have some time to myself later this afternoon. I am definitely not miserable."

"But don't you want a party or something? I mean, it doesn't have to be extravagant or anything, but a small party would be cool, yeah?"

Cole shrugged. "Sure, I guess. But again, no one besides you know when my birthday is." He suddenly shot Lloyd a look. "You're not planning something behind my back are you?"

"What, no!" Lloyd denied, shaking his head.

"You sure? You're not planning on dragging me to the arcade and have everyone scare the crap outta me there because you planned a surprise party behind my back, are you?"

Lloyd laughed. "I'm not dragging you to the arcade, I promise."

"Good," Cole told him. "Because otherwise, I'd have to tickle you to death."

Lloyd gasped at him. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me, Golden Boy."

Lloyd stuck his tongue out at Cole. "You're mean."

Cole laughed. "You started it, I'm just finishing it."

Lloyd rolled his eyes and playfully punched Cole's shoulder. "Seriously though. Happy birthday, Cole."

Cole smiled. "Thanks Lloyd."

~~~~

Cole and Lloyd spent a little while longer in the woods, chatting and bantering in the treetops. After a while they climbed down and started heading back to the Bounty. Lloyd started a race, calling out, "Last one to the ship is a rotten ninja!" before bolting forwards. Cole, after taking a second to shout, "CHEATER!" took off after him.

Lloyd was much faster than Cole was, so by the time Cole made onto the deck of the ship, Lloyd had already disappeared inside. Rolling his eyes and panting slightly, Cole opened the door and walked inside. "Okay, Lloyd," he called out. "You win!"

Lloyd didn't reply. Cole's eyes narrowed when he saw how dark it was inside the Bounty. "Hello?" He called out, cautiously dropping into a fighting stance. "Is anyone here?"

There wasn't an answer, but Cole could just make out some stifled giggling coming from the dining room. "Lloyd, if you're trying to pull a prank, it's not funny."

Grumbling, Cole carefully picked his way through the dark towards the dining room and turned on the light.

...and then nearly died from a heart attack when multiple people yelled "SURPRISE!!!"

"Holy First Spinjitzu Master!" Cole swore, jumping back and placing a hand over his heart. "W-What the heck?!"

He heard Kai and Lloyd laugh right before a blue blur rushed over and captured him in a hug. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE!" Jay squealed.

Cole paled. "What?!"

Jay backed up a little bit, beaming(absently, Cole noticed that the blue ninja was wearing a blue party hat). "Well, we've known each other for, what, three years now? And we've never celebrated your birthday ever! So, we were all thinking 'hey, we should totally celebrate your birthday sometime'. But we don't know when your birthday is so we had to choose a day to celebrate it. Then Lloyd suddenly says 'hey, let's celebrate it on Earth Day.' Cause, ya know, you're the earth ninja. And we were like, 'oh wow, that's an awesome idea!' So, we spent the last two weeks planning this surprise party for you!" Jay finally took a moment to breath. "So, whaddya think?!"

"Hmm?" Cole stopped giving Lloyd a death glare(and he didn't even look ashamed, the little punk!) in order to face Jay. "O-Oh. What do I think?"

Jay nodded. "Yeah!"

Cole slowly took in his surroundings—black and orange streamers and balloons decorated the small room while a big homemade banner declared 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE!!!' in all caps(there was even a little Chibi Cole in the corner). The table was laden with food and candy and there were even presents stacked on the end of it.

A smile tugged on the corner of Cole's lips. "This," He said, grinning. "Is the best surprise party ever."

"Woohoo!" Jay cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "Let's celebrate!"

~~~~

The celebration turned out to be a big video game tournament. But they let Cole choose all of the games, so the black ninja was able to crush everyone at Just Dance(and yes, Cole absolutely slayed at Just Dance, it was the only game he was actually good at).

They also played common party games but with a new twist, like Pin the Beard on Sensei Wu(despite how fun the game was, Cole had no idea how Sensei allowed Jay to make that game).

They also played Twister, which was...hilarious, to say the least(Nya had to stop Kai from trying to dislocate his shoulder to try and reach a spot and at one point the ninja were so twisted up in a knot that it was impossible to tell which limb belonged to whom).

Finally, when all of the ninja were exhausted from the games, they gathered around the dining table and watched as Cole opened his presents. Kai had given him a picture that he had drawn of him, and it was so detailed that Cole knew that it had to have taken the red ninja ages to get right. Jay had given him a new Ipod, which had already had all of his favorite songs downloaded. Zane had given him a small box filled with samples of different kinds of cakes, though he warned against eating them all in one sitting(Cole still sampled the triple chocolate sample--it was great). Nya had given him a homemade coupon book which had coupons such as '1 Free Ride in the Samurai Suit', '1 Free 'Get-Out-Of-Trouble' Card', and, his favorite, '1 Free Pass to Hit Kai Over the Head For Being an Idiot'. Lloyd had gifted him with the soundtrack albums to a couple of his favorite musicals.

"Wow, guys," Cole laughed once he had put his gifts away and the ninja started eating lunch(Zane had made orange chicken and rice). "This has been awesome! Thank you!"

"And it's not over yet!" Kai proclaimed, reaching into his hoodie pocket and pulling out six tickets. "We got tickets to the new Avengers movie!"

Cole's eyes bugged out. "Whoa, what?! I thought those things sold out ages ago!"

"The manager at the movie theater owed us a favor," Kai shrugged. "Remember when we stopped those rogue Serpentine from raiding the concession stand at the movie theater a few weeks ago?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Cole grinned. "But sweet! I can't wait!"

"In the meantime," Zane stood up, smiling. "Anyone want cake?"

Cole's eyes lit up. "Cake?!"

Jay laughed. "Well, duh! What birthday party isn't complete without birthday cake?"

Zane brought out a double layer marble cake decorated with orange frosting, with six lit candles and a small plastic dragon on top. Lloyd coughed meaningfully before he started singing the "Happy Birthday' song, with everyone joining him. Cole blushed but smiled happily. Once the song was finished, Cole blew out the candles and cut himself a piece of the cake...only to have Kai steal it and slam it into his face. Everyone burst out laughing, and Cole, after wiping the frosting out of his eyes, shrugged and flung some frosting at the red ninja, smirking when the red ninja shrieked "watch the hair!" and fell out of his chair.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," Cole said, getting up and walking to the front door.

When he opened the door, however, there was no one there. Before he could question it more, he heard someone singing the 'Happy Birthday' song. Looking around the corner, Cole smiled when he saw his dad standing to the side of the door.

Once he was done with the song, Lou smiled and hugged his son. "Happy Birthday, son!" he said, smiling.

Cole smiled and hugged his dad back. "Thanks Dad."

"How are you doing, Cole?" Lou aksed. "Having a good day?"

"It's been great! The others put together a surprise party for me," Cole told him, affectionately rolling his eyes. "They decided that since I'm the earth ninja, that it's totally okay to celebrate my birthday on Earth Day."

Lou cocked his head to the side. "So, I'm assuming..."

"That I haven't told them when my birthday is? No, I haven't," Cole said.

Lou sighed and shook his head. "Well, I suppose that's your choice." His smile returned. "How is it going? The party I mean."

"It's fun," Cole replied, walking back inside and gesturing for his dad to follow him. "We were just about to eat the cake."

"That explains the frosting on your face," Lou chuckled, wiping some frosting off of Cole's cheek.

"Yeah, well. Kai's immature for his age and he decided to shove my face into my piece of cake."

"You are not that much younger than him, you know," Lou told him.

"He's eighteen," Cole groaned.

"And you're sixteen. I don't see your point," Lou retorted, smirking.

Cole rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but I act a whole lot more mature than him."

Lou smiled and ruffled his son's hair. "That you do."

"Daaaaad~" Cole complained, straightening his hair.

The two walked into the dining room...only to stop when they that everyone was staring at them. Jay's jaw has hanging loose and Lloyd looked like he was trying not to laugh.

Cole frowned. "What?"

Kai finally managed to get his jaw working. "Y-You're only sixteen?" he gasped.

Cole froze, realizing that his friends had overheard his conversation with his dad. Well, no use lying. "Uh, m-maybe?"

Everyone stared at him more...well, except for Lloyd, who was silently laughing. "How...when did you turn sixteen?" Zane asked.

"Uhhhhhh...." Cole bit his lip nervously. "Earlier this morning, I guess..."

Everyone gasped....except for Lloyd, who was bent over double trying to stifle his laughter. "You just turned sixteen?" Jay gasped. "Today?!"

Cole blushed but nodded.

Jay seemed like he was having a mental meltdown. "But-how-what-but you--" The blue ninja grabbed Cole by the shoulders and started to shake him. "YOU JUST TURNED SIXTEEN TODAY AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ANYONE?!?!?!"

"Qqqqquit ssssssshakinnnng meeeee Jaaaaaaaay!" Cole complained, pushing the blue ninja away from him. "And...yeah..."

Lloyd finally lost it, falling on the floor laughing. Cole glared at him. "Knock it off, Lloyd."

Kai's eyes widened. "Wait a minute..." he turned to face the laughing green ninja. "Did you know about this?!"

"Y-Yeah," Lloyd panted through his laughter. "I promised Cole that I wouldn't tell anyone though."

"But, but you did tell us!" Jay accused.

"I never said that Cole's birthday was today, now did I?" Lloyd replied, smirking. "I just suggested that today would be a cool day to celebrate his birthday."

"But still!" Jay turned back to Cole. "WHY DID YOU NEVER TELL US THAT TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY, AND THAT YOU'RE SIXTEEN?!"

"Because I knew that you would freak out like this," Cole replied, rolling his eyes. "It's not that important, anyways."

"'Not important'?! Dude, it's your sweet sixteen!" Kai exclaimed. "You've gotta want to celebrate that!"

"Wait a minute, I just realized something!" Jay gasped. "I'M OLDER THAN COLE!!! I'VE BEEN OLDER THAN HIM THIS WHOLE TIME!!!"

"Congratulations, we're so happy for you." Cole muttered sarcastically.

"How did we miss this?" Zane shook his head.

"Is that why your voice cracks so much?" Kai asked.

Cole blushed. "My voice does not crack!" he spluttered...his voice cracking.

Everyone laughed, even his dad. "At least his voice isn't breaking as much as it used to," Lou chuckled. "Ah, I remember when it first broke. He freaked out so much, it took me several minutes in order to calm him down."

"Dad!" Cole protested, blushing even more.

His teammates laughed even harder. "Oh gosh," Lloyd gasped, clutching his stomach. "That's funny. I can't breath."

Cole turned away, cheeks a vibrant red. Kai, noticing, came up and playfully punched Cole's arm. "Hey, relax Cole. We're just teasing you, ya know. We don't mean any harm."

"I know," Cole groaned. "It's still embarrassing."

"Well, next time, don't keep your age a secret."

Cole rolled his eyes but smiled slightly. "Will do."

Kai smirked back. "Seriously, though. Happy actual birthday, man."

Cole smiled. "Thanks, Kai."

"Wait, wait!" Jay suddenly exclaimed. "If you're younger than me, how come you're taller than me?! And how come you have better abs than me?!"

Cole snorted. "Dude, that's what's getting you? Me being younger yet being taller?"

"You forgot about being in better shape," Kai loudly whispered.

"It's not fair!" Jay complained. "I should be taller! And I should have an awesome set of abs!"

"You could just do some more intense core work, Jay," Zane said. "If you want, I can look up some ways to strengthen your core muscles and help you."

"Thanks Zane, but that's not the same."

Everyone laughed at Jay's obvious disgruntlement. Cole smiled and felt extremely happy. Best. Birthday. Ever.

The End.