Previously on Tiny Troubles...

Kai weakly glared at him. "Rematch," he simply stated.

Cole grinned. "You're on!"

"And you better call out the correct item this time, you little cheat."

~~~~

Part 11

The ninja ended up playing Mario Kart for hours. Courses were selected, characters and karts switched, rematches declared. It was awesome, especially considering that Cole was actively participating, something that he hadn't done in the past week or so.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Eventually, Zane announced that it was just past nine at night, and he suggested that it might be a good idea for Cole to go to bed. Cole protested, claiming that he wasn't tired.

Five minutes later saw the little ninja passed out on the couch, unconsciously cuddling with Kai.

Kai threatened to set Jay on fire when the blue ninja tried to take a picture.

Jay still took a picture, albeit when the red ninja wasn't looking.

After letting Cole snooze on the couch for a few more minutes, there was a unanimous decision that everyone should follow his example and turn in for the night. Kai ended up carrying Cole to the bedroom since the little ninja refused to wake up, instead cuddling with Kai even more.

Jay discreetly took another picture of Kai wryly smiling down at the sleeping ninja in his arms.

Kai saw him do it, but decided against saying anything.

Because even he had to admit(in his head, never aloud) that it was a cute scene.

~~~~

The next morning, after everyone had woken up and eaten breakfast, Kai abruptly announced, "Hey guys, once you're done eating, go put on some street clothes."

"Why?" Cole asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Because, if you are going to have to be a kid for a little bit longer, than you need some better clothes than your gi and Lloyd's old stuff," Kai clarified.

"It might also be a good idea to purchase a new pair of shoes," Zane added.

"And toys!" Jay piped up. "We should get him lots of toys too!"

"Who's the five-year-old in this situation, again?" Lloyd snickered.

Cole rolled his eyes. "I'm not actually five, you guys."

"We know," Zane interjected before an argument could begin. "But nevertheless, I concur with Kai: I believe a short shopping excursion is in order."

Cole sighed heavily. "Fiiiine, but you guys had better not do anything too embarrassing! Especially you, Jay! Otherwise, I'll kick all your butts when I'm a teen again!"

Kai patted the little ninja's head. "Don't worry, Short Stuff. We'll keep Jay in check."

"Hey!" Jay cried while Cole protested, "I'm not short!"

"Course you are not, Cole." Zane chimed in.

Cole perked up. "See?! I'm not short!"

"...you are merely fun-sized," Zane finished.

Both Lloyd and Jay fell out of their chairs laughing. Cole weakly glared at the white ninja. "...I don't like you sometimes, Zane."

Zane just smiled back at his younger teammate.

~~~~

Twenty minutes saw the ninja dressed in jeans and hoodies that matched their elemental color standing just inside the Ninjago City Mall. Cole was the only one wearing his gi, since it was the only thing that actually fit him. Everyone decided that as long as none of them revealed that they were the actual ninja, then things should be okay. Besides, a lot of young kids(and even some grown adults) paraded around in ninja costumes during the day.

"Alright," Kai said, holding up a list. "First things first, let's get you some clothes that actually fit, Cole."

Cole nodded. "Kay," he said.

Zane looked cautiously at the decent-sized crowd inside the mall and quickly grabbed Cole's left hand. When the little ninja protested, Zane explained, "Given your current age and height, it would be rather easy for us to lose sight of you in this crowd. Therefore, I recommend that you stay close to at least one of us."

Cole pouted, but couldn't argue against the nindroid's logic. "Fiiine. But I'm not holding Jay's hand!"

"Hey!" Jay cried indignantly, pouting. "What's wrong with holding my hand?!"

"Because if I let you hold my hand, you might take advantage of that and try and carry me," Cole replied. "And I assure you, if you even attempt to pick me up without my permission, I will kick you while screaming at the top of my lungs."

Everyone flinched as they remembered the decibel that Cole had reached when he was crying last night. "Okay, okay!" Jay quickly conceded, holding up his hands in surrender. "I won't carry you without asking first. Happy?"

"Very," Cole smirked. "I'm glad that we reached an agreement."

"Well, since that's settled, let's get going, guys," Kai said. "The sooner we can get all of the stuff we need, the sooner we can leave."

And with that, the ninja began their quest for things for Cole in the perilous mall.

~~~~

The first stop on the ninja's shopping excursion was a small store that just sold clothes for kids. The ninja quickly made their way to the boys section of the store and started looking for clothes for Cole.

"Hey Cole," Kai called out, holding up a black t-shirt with white music notes on it. "Do you like this one?"

Cole cocked his head to the side, studying the shirt. "Yeah," he said, nodding his head. "That one's nice."

"Cool, we'll have you try it on then," the red ninja replied.

"Hey Cole!" Lloyd shouted, holding up some pajamas. "What about this?"

Cole scowled. "No."

"Awww, come on! These look nice!"

"I'm not wearing a onesie, Lloyd!"

"It's not that bad, I'm sure you've worn some when you were a kid before! These things were comfy!"

"Y-you can't prove that!" Cole sputtered, cheeks turning pink. "Just get me a pair of pajamas that aren't onesies!"

"Fine, fine," Lloyd grumbled, putting down the pajamas in his hand. "Party pooper." He sifted through the shelves before holding up a pair of black pajama pants with a matching orange pajama shirt with short sleeves. "Do these work?"

"Yeah, those are much better!" Cole said, nodding his head.

Lloyd walked over to where Cole and Kai were standing, the pajamas in his hand. "Is there anything else we need here?" the green ninja asked.

"Well, I think we still need a few more shirts, Jay's looking for pants, and I sent Zane to look for some undies for Cole."

"Didja have to phrase it like that?" Cole complained.

"Aw, don't worry about that, man." Kai replied flippantly. "We're all guys."

"That doesn't make it any less embarrassing..." Cole grumbled.

"Hey, it's better than having to hide any new clothes before anyone else could see them," Lloyd chimed in.

"Why would you do that?" Cole asked.

"Have you ever had itch powder in your underwear before?"

Both Cole and Kai blanched. "That sounds terrible," the red ninja shuddered.

Lloyd shrugged. "Well, it happened. Gene was the absolute worst sometimes."

Cole frowned. "Wasn't that the same kid who put fire ants in your bed?"

"No, no, that was Brad. Gene was the kid with glasses and a high-pitched nerdy voice who tried to take over Darkley's."

"Oh."

At that moment, Zane came back holding two packages. "I have procured some undergarments for Cole," the nindroid announced. "I hope this is enough."

Cole facepalmed, blushing slightly, while Kai looked over the two packages that Zane had. "Yeah, that should be good for now," the red ninja decided. "Now we need to wait for Jay to get here with some pants and we should be good here."

Cole frowned. "What's taking Jay so long, I wonder?"

Just then, Jay suddenly appeared, holding several articles clothing. "Here, I've got some stuff for Cole, but I have to go now, tell Nya that I'll always love her!" he babbled out very, very quickly, shoving the clothes at the closest ninja--a very confused Lloyd--before sprinting out of the store at top speed.

Everyone blinked in confusion. "Um," Lloyd said. "What the heck?"

Suddenly, a high pitched squeal reached the ninja's ears. They all ducked behind shelves and racks of clothing...just in time to avoid a huge stampede of young teen girls running in the same direction as Jay had gone.

The ninja hid behind the shelves for a few minutes, allowing the stampede to pass them by, before emerging. "Ugh," Lloyd groaned, shuddering. "I hate fangirls. They're annoying."

"While I like having fans admire my awesomeness," Kai chimed in, glancing warily about. "Some people just take it way too far."

"Do you think we should go help out Jay?" Zane asked.

Kai bit his lip as he thought. On one hand, Jay could probably use some help in evading the fangirls. But on the other hand, it would be difficult to help him considering that one of them was only five years old. Still...

"Okay, Zane. You go out and help Jay. Lloyd and I will stay with Cole and get the rest of the stuff," Kai finally said. "We can all meet up at the food court in...an hour maybe?"

Zane nodded his head. "Very well, I will try my best to make sure Jay and I make the rendezvous." the nindroid smiled wryly. "Wish me luck."

"Luck," Lloyd quipped as the white ninja gave the underwear in his hands to Kai before jogging out of the shop.

"Come on, guys," Kai said, walking towards the checkout area where a line was already forming. "Let's buy this stuff so that we can move on. The line isn't getting any shorter."

Cole squirmed. "Ummm, Kai?"

Kai looked back at the little ninja. "Yeah, Cole?"

"I...I kinda have to go..."

Lloyd furrowed his brow. "Go? Go where?"

Cole blushed and squirmed even more. "I mean, I have to go..."

Both Kai and Lloyd were confused...until Kai noticed how Cole was crossing his legs and wiggling from side-to-side. Then, the red ninja knew what Cole wanted.

"Yo, Lloyd?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna give you a choice: you can either wait in line and get these clothes for Cole. OR, you can take him and go find a bathroom."

"Ugh, those choices suck."

"Well, it's one or the other, man. Choose."

"Um, guys? Not to be pushy, but can you please hurry up?!" Cole whined, wiggling even more.

"Can't you just hold it until we're done?!" Lloyd asked.

"I'm trying! I don't think I can hold it much longer!"

"Tick, tock, Lloyd. Choose, or I'll choose for you."

Lloyd looked between the long line and his squirming younger leader. Long line filled with annoying people. Young leader who was currently being annoying.

The green ninja groaned. "I hate my life."

~~~~

Lloyd impatiently tapped his foot as he waited for Cole to be done. He carefully leaned against the sinks and sighed. "How did my life find me in this situation?" he grumbled quietly.

To be totally honest, Lloyd felt really awkward about this situation. The first time the ninja had been turned into kids, the green ninja was ecstatic. He thought it was a bit of poetic justice--now they could understand what it was like to be too young to do certain stuff! Sure, it only lasted a few hours, but it was amazing.

But now, with Cole being five years old and the only one who was young...Lloyd wasn't sure what to do. As far as he was concerned, kids that young were only entertaining to a point before they became whiny, over-needy brats who dragged away everyone's attention.

...okay, that thought made him sound like he was jealous of Cole. Which he totally wasn't. Why in the world would he, Lloyd freaking Garmadon, the freaking green ninja and Ultimate Spinjitzu Master, be jealous?! That'd be like Kai proclaiming that he hated hair gel. In other words, so completely unlikely that it might as well not be a possibility.

So yeah, Lloyd wasn't jealous.

The sound of a toilet flushing broke Lloyd out of his thoughts. One of the stalls swung open and Cole walked out.

"You good now?" Lloyd asked.

"Mmmhmm," Cole nodded, walking over to the sinks. "Lemme just wash my hands and we can go."

"Finally," Lloyd said underneath his breath. "Okay, just hurry up so we can meet up with the others," he said aloud.

"Kay."

Cole quickly but thoroughly washed his hands, with Lloyd (im)patiently waiting for him. Once Cole's hands were washed and dried, the duo made their way out of the bathroom.

"Okay, let's get to the shoe shop and meet up with Kai," Lloyd decided, turning and walking to the right. "Keep close Cole."

"Okay!" Cole shouted, jogging up to Lloyd's side.

The mall was starting to become more crowded as it was later in the day. Lloyd weaved his way through the crowd, wanting to get to the store as quickly as possible. He really didn't want to be the babysitter much longer. And even though he was starting to dislike how much Kai seemed to melt around Cole, the red ninja was really good at the whole babysitting thing.

"Lloyd! Over here!"

Speak of the devil. Lloyd scanned his surroundings and found Kai waving in front of a nearby shoe store. Grinning in relief, Lloyd jogged through the crowd, accidentally bumping into a few people, before skidding to a halt next to the red ninja. "Hey."

"Hey," Kai greeted, smirking. "You find a bathroom fast enough?"

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Yes, we did, ye of little faith."

Kai laughed. "Alright, alright. Let's get in here so that we can get out. Sounds like a plan, Cole?" he said.

Cole didn't reply.

"Cole?" Kai called out, his voice starting to become tinged with worry. "Cole?!"

The little ninja still didn't reply and he was nowhere to be seen. Now severely worried, the red ninja spun to face Lloyd. "Where's Cole?!" he demanded.

"I-I don't know!" Lloyd sputtered. "We came straight here from the bathroom!"

"Was he beside you?" Kai asked. "Did you hold his hand?"

"No, why would I--?!" Lloyd blinked as he suddenly remembered what Zane had mentioned earlier. "Aw, son of a--!"

----

Uh-oh, Cole's lost in the mall. Will the ninja be able to find him???? 

Also, bad Lloyd! You're not supposed to be using that kind of language! XD