It was known among the ninja that Cole was a very private person. He rarely talked about his childhood, and usually kept to himself if there was a problem. Considering that majority of his early years consisted of him doing something that he didn't want to do, the ninja learned to leave certain topics alone. Despite having known the black ninja for almost two years, his teammates knew very little about him. He never told them when his birthday was, and his exact age was unknown(though most of them believed that he was around 17 or 18).

Still, the other ninja knew that they could count on Cole when there was a problem, whether it be a dastardly crook or an argument between them. And they hoped that he knew that he could count on them when there was a problem.

But a few days ago, Cole started acting...different. He started spending more time away from the rest of them than with them. Sure, he would still show up to train, but the minute training was done, he would disappear for hours at a time. He had also started eating less, which was alarming considering his normally voracious appetite. Even worse, his temper was starting to rival Kai's, which was highly unusual for the second most-patient ninja(Zane has "most patient" ninja).

The other ninja had tried their hardest to figure out what was bothering their leader, but with little success. Cole could be really stubborn when he wanted to be, and refused to tell anyone what was wrong.

Things finally came to a breaking point late one Friday night. After a particularly lackluster performance from the black ninja, Kai paused the game and fixed Cole with a glare. "Alright," He said. "What's eating you, Brookstone?"

"Yeah," Jay piped up, concern all over his freckled face. "You usually do much better than this."

Cole let out a sigh and shrugged. "Sorry guys," he mumbled. "Guess I'm just not feeling it today..."

"You haven't been 'feeling it' for the past three days," Lloyd retorted, also concerned.

Cole shrugged again, putting aside his controller. "Maybe I should turn in early tonight."

"You have been going to bed 1.57 hours earlier for the past four days on average," Zane said. "This is not normal for you Cole. Tell us, is there something wrong?"

Cole scowled and turned away from his teammates. "It's nothing, guys," he reassured them. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine, Cole," Jay protested. "You've been avoiding us almost all week!"

"You have not eaten much this week either," Zane added.

"You passed up on dessert last night, and Zane made your favorite, marble cake!" Lloyd exclaimed.

Cole winced, but stayed firm. "Guys, it's nothing," he insisted.

"It's not nothing Cole!" Kai exclaimed, fed up. "You're not you! Whatever is bugging you, it's having an impact on you! Just tell us what's wrong!"

"I'm. Fine," Cole growled through gritted teeth, standing up. "I'm going to bed," he declared, storming towards the bedroom.

Kai grabbed the black ninja's arm, stopping Cole. "You're not going anywhere until you tell us what's wrong, Cole!" The red ninja said.

Cole scowled even further. "Leave me alone, Kai," he hissed.

"Just tell us what's wrong, Cole!" Kai replied.

"There's nothing wrong!"

"Yes there is!"

"It's none of your business!"

"Ah hah! So you admit that there's something going on!"

A strangled scream of frustration made its way out of the black ninja's throat. "Just—Just Leave me alone!" He yelled, ripping his arm from Kai's grasp and racing towards the bedroom.

"Cole, Wait!" Jay exclaimed, jumping up. "Why won't you tell us what's wrong? Don't you trust us?!"

Cole froze. There was a beat of silence, in which nobody moved.

Then, the black ninja turned his head to look back over his shoulder. His grey eyes, usually warm and friendly, had dulled and lost most of their warmth.

"Of course I trust you guys," he replied, his voice sounding like it was on the edge of cracking. "But this...this is something that you guys can't understand nor can you help me with it." He turned his head away. "So just...leave it be."

The black ninja made his way back to the bedroom. This time, nobody stopped him.

No one noticed the silhouette that was silently watching the exchange. The shadowed figure seemed to bow its head in thought before slowly rising up again.

Then, it silently vanished.

~~~

"You want me to do what?"

"..."

"Look. I get that you want to help him, but is this really the right way to go about it?"

"..."

"...okay, if you're sure. *sigh* When should I be ready?"

"..."

"Tomorrow night? Okay, I can make it work."

"..."

"Hey, like I said, I want to help him as much as you do. Besides...this might actually be fun."

"..."

"Heh, don't worry. They won't know what hit them."

~~~~

The next day was miserable for all of the ninja. They all had to get up early for training, which put most of them in a bad mood for most of the morning. To make matters worse, Cole barely spoke to anybody, only saying something if it was absolutely necessary.

Things didn't get much better after training was done for the day. Cole left after picking at his lunch, mumbling something about going for a walk in the woods. He returned two hours later in a somewhat somber mood, not even acknowledging his teammates before locking himself in the bedroom. His teammates tried to get him to open up, but the black ninja stubbornly remained mute.

It was a pretty bad day for everyone, so most of them were excited to hear the alarms go off towards the evening. It was a good excuse to punch something or someone.

"Okay," Kai said, pulling on his red ninja hood. "Who or what are we dealing with?"

Lloyd tapped on a few keys on the big computer in the bridge. "Looks like it's just one crook causing a disturbance in downtown."

"Nice! Looks like this'll be a piece of cake guys!" Jay chirped.

"Yes, I believe we shall be able to apprehend this villain in no time," Zane added.

There was a slight pause, in which everyone waited for their leader to start their rallying cry. But a quick glance showed that the black ninja was staring out the window, lost in thought.

"Oi! Snap out of it Brookstone!" Kai exclaimed.

Cole jumped a little, startled. "Huh, what? O-oh, right, let's uh, do the whip guys," He mumbled, trying to conjure up some fake cheer with little success.

His teammates exchanged a look, unsure of what to do. Finally, Lloyd sighed and said in a louder voice, "Yeah, c'mon guys! Let's do the whip!"

"Ninjaaaaaaago!"

~~~~

It didn't take long for the ninja to spot the crook. Especially considering that he threw a water bomb at Kai.

"Ugh, where is he?" The red ninja had muttered not five minutes before he was attacked. "Lloyd are you sure this is the right place?"

Lloyd scanned his surroundings, frowning as he didn't immediately spot their adversary. "Yeah, I'm sure this is the right place," he replied.

"Maybe he got bored and went home," Jay quipped.

"Come on Jay," Cole quietly scolded. "Be serious. He's probably around here somewhere, and if we're not careful he could catch us off guard."

The second the words left Cole's mouth, something small and black sailed past his head and came into contact with Kai's face. The thing burst and water gushed out, soaking the red ninja.

The red ninja sputtered as he tried to recover from the attack. "What the heck?!" He cried out, wiped the water from his eyes.

"Up there!" Zane called, pointing up the side of a nearby building.

Standing on the roof of the building was a person wearing all black clothing. Around his waist was a belt holding was looked to be an assortment of small bombs. None of the ninja could make out the person's face, since it was completely covered by a plain black mask.

The crook made a taunting gesture before he turned and ran, jumping into the roof of a nearby building.

"After him!" Cole commanded.

"Way ahead of you," Kai shot back, already climbing up to the roof of the building before chasing after the crook, Jay not to far behind him.

The crook managed to stay a good distance ahead of the blue and red ninja, but that distance was soon closing. Grabbing a small bomb from his belt, the crook threw it at the ninja. It hit the ground next to Jay, and burst open, white smoke pouring out and obscuring Jay's vision for a few moments.

"Jay!" Kai exclaimed, turning his head slightly to make sure that his friend was okay. This allowed the crook to grab another bomb and throw it at the red ninja. A green, viscous slime burst open from the bomb, covering Kai from the waist down.

"Ewww, What the—!" Kai tried to move his legs only to find out that the slime prevented him from going so.

"Kai!" Jay exclaimed, finally getting out of the smoke cloud he was in.

"Ugh, I'm fine!" Kai said, waving the blue ninja's concern off. "Just go, he's getting away!"

Jay nodded once before going back to running after the crook.

The chase went on, the crook trying to keep the blue ninja off of his tail by throwing more smoke bombs, but Jay managed to dodge them. Out of the corner of his eye, Jay could make out two streaks of color also chasing the crook—one green, the other white. Lloyd and Zane. A quick glance behind him saw that Cole was not far behind.

The crook tried to flee, but Lloyd and Zane quickly overtook him, blocking his escape. Jay and Cole helped surround the crook before he could take off in another direction.

"Alright, who ever you are! Drop your weapons and come with us peacefully, or things might get ugly!" Cole commanded.

"We have you surrounded," Zane added. "It would be logical if you surrender now."

The crook slowly turned around in a small circle, seemingly assessing the four ninja. He seemed to pause for a moment when he saw Cole but before he could think on it further, the crook suddenly straightened up.

Cole's eyes widened when he caught sight of something in the crook's hand. "Guys, watch out!" He called out.

He was a second too late.

The crook threw the bomb at his feet and there was a sudden brilliant flash of light. The four ninja cried out as they were all blinded by the light.

Cole turned around blindly, trying to blink out the dark spots in his vision. "Wh—Where did he go?!" He asked out loud, desperately trying to see.

Suddenly, the black ninja heard the sound of another bomb going off really close to him. A strange smell permeated the air, making Cole cough as he tried to figure out what was wrong. He stumbled, and then fell onto his back, his legs feeling like limp noodles.

Cole felt exhausted. He hadn't been sleeping well this past week despite going to bed early, and that strangely sweet smell in the air made sleep seem so inviting. Maybe a quick nap won't hurt, he decided, closing his eyes.

The last thing he felt before he fell asleep was an odd tingling throughout his body.

~~~

Kai was in a really bad mood. First some punk decided to throw a water bomb at his head and the a slime bomb that left his legs trapped for a good five minutes and stained his ninja suit. Thank goodness it didn't smell...

He was hoping to get a good punch in by the time he had caught up with the rest of his teammates, only to be surprised and slightly disappointed when he saw most of his teammates walking around in a daze and no crook to be seen.

"What happened?!" Kai asked.

"Ugh, He threw a flash bomb at us," Jay grumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

"Hang on, I think my vision is coming back!" Lloyd said...only to walk right into Zane. "Ow. Never mind."

Kai sighed. "So I'm assuming none of you saw where he went.

"Negative," Zane replied. "By the time my optical sensors recalibrated, he was long gone.

Kai groaned in annoyance. "Alright, I guess we'll have to head back to the Bounty and wait for him to show his face again," he grumbled. "Whatcha think, Cole?....Cole?"

The red ninja did a quick head count and came up one short. "Hey, where's Cole?!"

"He was here when the crook threw that bomb at us," Lloyd said.

"Cole?!" Zane called out, waiting to hear a reply. There was nothing.

"COLE WHERE ARE YOU?!" Jay shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth.

After a beat of silence Kai was about to call out for his leader again when a quiet voice piped up, "I'm here."

Jay spun around. "Cole, is that you?! Where are you?"

"I'm right here," Cole called out. Kai frowned. There was something up with Cole's voice. It sounded...squeaky, like the black ninja had been inhaling helium. Plus, it sounded like Cole was slightly slurring his words—"right" sounded more like "white".

"Cole?" The red ninja called out, trying to figure out where the black ninja was. "Can you tell us where you are? I can't see you!"

There was an annoyed huff. "I'm right behind you, Flamehead," Cole replied.

Kai turned around...only to see nothing. He looked to his left and his right. Still nothing.

Then he looked down.

Kai felt his jaw drop and his eyes bug out. "Cole?!" He exclaimed.

Cole huffed and glared at him. "Duh," he replied. "Who else would I be?" He then cocked his head to the side. "Huh. Kai, when did you get so big?"

"Ummm..." Kai scrambled for an answer. "Uh, Cole, I don't know exactly how to put this but..."

That's when Jay let out a little shriek. "Cole! You're tiny!"

~~~~
Hello people, and welcome to Tiny Troubles, in which Cole is mysteriously turned into a little kid.

This is just something I wrote because I was bored and I figured, "Hey, might as well let you guys read it". So, I'm posting the first part that I had written just to see if anyone likes it and is interested in reading more. So, tell me what you guys think! :D