....I'm updating on a Monday. WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!? XD

But seriously. I just had a really big test Friday, a really big test today, and two more during this week. But hey, I survived the first two so I DESERVE TO CELEBRATE!!! So, you guys get an update of Tiny Troubles. :D

Also, quick warning for this chapter: there is a scene in which I kinda poke fun at the stereotypical  fangirl. In no way do I actually think that fangirls act or talk like how I have written them talking and acting. I don't want to offend anyone, this is just me poking some fun(because let's be honest, we've all acted like these fangirls at some point)

~~~~~~

Previously on Tiny Troubles... 

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--!"

Part 12

Five minutes of trying to weave through a crowd of people was enough time for Cole to come to the conclusion that he was completely lost.

In hindsight, it wasn't completely his fault. If Lloyd had just slowed down and made sure that he didn't get too ahead of the little ninja, then this wouldn't have happened!

And now, he had no idea where he was, no idea where anyone was, and he was stuck in a five-year-old body with a height befitting a five-year-old.

Cole aptly summed up his situation with two simple words.

"This. Sucks."

The little ninja groaned as he wandered aimlessly through the mall, trying his best not to get stepped on by the crowd of people surrounding him. "I hate being a kid," Cole complained for what felt like the hundredth time. "I hate being this short, and I hate having really short legs, and I hate not being able to catch up to everyone else...you know what? Screw it, I just hate my life in general."

Cole let out a sigh. "Okay, Cole, focus. How are you going to find your team and/or let them find you?"

Stay in one place and hope that the others find him? But that might take forever though. Wander around the mall and hope to stumble upon on of them? Slightly better, but the chances of him finding his friends was still kinda slim. Ugh, what was he supposed to do?

Cole groaned again and pouted. "This really, really sucks," he complained again. Sighing heavily, the little ninja looked around and tried to see where exactly he was. Let's see...there's a coffee store there...a pretzel stand over there...oh, there's a sign saying the food court is to the right...wait a minute, didn't Kai tell Zane that we were going to meet up with him and Jay there?

Cole grinned and started walking in the direction of the food court. His teammates might not be there now, but they would be there eventually. He could wait.

...and then he'll get revenge on Lloyd for making him get lost.

~~~~

Jay was going to die.

Admittedly, he was very disappointed with this realization. He would have preferred living to an old age(with Nya by his side, of course) or dying heroically in battle.

He did not want to die via rabid fangirl attack while cowering behind some kiddie rides.

"Where is he?!" one of said rabid fangirls exclaimed.

"I, like, don't even see him!" another called back, sounding frustrated.

"Ugh! And I like, totes wanted to ask him to go on a date with me!" yet another complained.

"But Jaya is my OTP!" someone exclaimed.

Jay whimpered as he hid behind a pair of rocking horses, warily watching the mob of squabbling fangirls who were now debating about his love life. What the heck is an OTP? He wondered. And what do they mean when they say 'I ship Bruise'?

"OMG!" someone suddenly shouted in a high-pitched voice. "I think I saw him go that way!"

"Seriously?!"

"Oh wow, where?!"

"I, like, so call dibs on asking him out first!"

"Not if I ask him first!"

"I ship Jaya!"

"Nuh uh, Bruise all the way!"

"Plasma for life!"

"Techno is awesome!"

Jay held his breath as the mob's noise decreased in volume. He prayed that meant that they were moving away from his position, but kept hidden just in case.

Eventually, the chatter of the fangirls died down and then completely vanished altogether. Jay made to come out of his hiding spot, but froze when a pair of shoes appeared before him. He relaxed, however, when Zane's voice called, "It is safe to come out, Jay."

Jay breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out. "Thanks, Zane," he said, stretching. "Man! Those fangirls were persistent!"

"Indeed they were," the white ninja agreed. "They managed to chase you to the other side of the mall."

"I know, right?! They were weird! Like, the heck does "I ship Jaya" mean?!"

The question was rhetorical, but Zane still answered. "I do believe that 'Jaya' is a combination of your name and Nya's, and that the person believes that the two of you are romantically compatible. And they refer to that relationship as simply a 'ship'."

Jay stared. "How and when did you figure that out?"

His older teammate shrugged. "I was not doing anything one day a few weeks ago and decided to peruse the internet..."

"In otherwards, you were bored and decided looked stuff up online."

Zane's face revealed nothing, but he did lightly flick at Jay's shoulder. "As I was saying, I was looking on the internet when I came across a...very interesting website that explained the term to me."

"Oooh, what was the website?"

Zane actually grimaced. "I'd...rather not tell you. The things on that website were...hmmm, I will just say that I had a severe desire to wipe my memory banks clean when I was finished looking at it."

"Oh, c'mon, I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"Do you wish to know what "Greenflame" shipping" is?"

"Sure."

Zane leaned over and whispered into Jay's ear. The blue ninja listened intently...only to pale and jump away. "Nuh uh!" he gasped, staring at the nindroid with an expression of horror and disgust. "Really?!"

Zane raised an eyebrow. "My funny switch is not on at the moment."

Jay choked on air for a few moments. "Gah! Brain bleach! I need brain bleach!" the blue ninja screamed, rubbing frantically at his eyes.

"There is no such thing as 'brain bleach', Jay," Zane sighed, then muttered underneath his breath, "Unfortunately..."

"Ugh," Jay groaned. "That was an image that I didn't need. So, what you're telling me is that there are actually people who ship Greenflame."

"Correct," Zane replied.

"And Greenflame is--and please correct me if I'm wrong--a romantic pairing between Lloyd and--" At that moment, Jay let out a little gasp and exclaimed, "Cole?!"

Zane frowned. "Actually, it is a pairing between Lloyd and Kai. If it were Lloyd and Cole, then the pairing would be--!"

"Lalalalala, I don't want to hear that!" Jay interrupted. "But that's not what I was talking about! Look, I think I saw Cole!"

Zane looked to where Jay was pointed and saw a little kid wearing a black ninja gi duck in and out of the crowd towards the food court. "Are you certain that it's Cole, Jay?"

"One way to find out," Jay said, making his way over to where the kid was. "Oi, Cole! Over here!"

The little ninja's head perked up and warm grey eyes made contact with sparkling blue. "Jay!" Cole exclaimed, waving his hands.

Jay and Zane soon caught up with their teammate. "What are you doing here, Cole?" Zane asked, kneeling down next to Cole. "You are supposed to be with Kai and Lloyd."

"It's not my fault!" Cole said. "I had to use the bathroom and Lloyd was walking too fast and I couldn't keep up, so I got lost."

"Oooooh snap," Jay hissed. "Kai's soooo not gonna be happy about that."

Cole huffed, crossing his arms. "I'm not happy," he declared, pouting and glaring at the floor. "Stupid short legs..."

Zane shook his head. "This is why I suggested that one of us holds your hand," he said.

"Isn't there another option?" Cole whined. "I don't wanna have to hold someone's hand for so long. It's humiliating!"

"Well, it's not too bad," Jay tried to cheer the little ninja up. "I'm sure there's a bunch of embarrassing stuff you did when you were a kid and didn't get too much flack for it."

Something flashed in Cole's eyes for the briefest of moments before he scowled and returned his attention to the floor. "Not. Helping." He bit out.

Zane and Jay both shared a look, having noticed Cole's rather abrupt mood swing. Not for the first time, Jay sorely wished that his leader would just open up a little bit more and tell them what was wrong. And he knew that something was wrong, despite all of Cole's protests. While the black ninja had almost mastered hiding his expression behind a serious mask, his now-much younger face made it obvious that he was trying to hide how he really felt. So it was easy to see that something was bugging Cole, even if he wouldn't say what it was.

But until Cole decided to open up, Jay would just have to wait.

That didn't stop him from squishing Cole into a big hug.

"Ack! Jay, lemme go!" Cole complained, wriggling. "Zane, help me! I'm being squished by a blue monster!"

"Jay is not a monster Cole," Zane replied, snickering slightly.

"Yes he is! He's a blue monster who squeezes the life out of people!" Cole insisted.

"Well, if that's the case, then he isn't doing a good job. Therefore I believe you shall be fine."

"Jerk!"

"Awww, admit it, Cole," Jay teased. "Underneath that tough exterior, you're a big teddy bear who likes cuddles."

"N-no I'm not!" Cole exclaimed, cheeks turning red. "Shut up!"

Jay did not 'shut up'. Instead, he hugged Cole tighter and started teasing him even more. "Awwww. Does wittle Cole not wanna cuddle with big brother Jay? Is that a wittle frown on Cole's wittle face?" he cooed.

"Quit that!" Cole shouted, blushing even further. "I'm not a baby!"

Jay laughed and almost continued teasing him, but was stopped when his cell phone went off. Seeing that it was Kai, Jay quickly answered it. "Hey Kai--!"

"Jay! Oh my gosh, please tell me that you got away from those fangirls! Because we have a really bad situation!"

"Cole got lost," Jay deadpanned.

"COLE GOT LOST--! Wait, how'd you know that?!"

"Cause he's right next me," the blue ninja replied, smirking. "Relax, he's fine."

Kai didn't reply. All Jay heard was a loud thud on the other end. "Er, Kai? You okay, bro?"

Kai still didn't reply, but Lloyd's voice came through a few seconds later. "Um, I think Kai's gonna need a minute before he can talk again."

"What happened?"

"He dropped his phone and is now leaning against a wall. He was super worried, man."

"Heh, yeah, I can imagine. Well, when Kai recovers, tell him that we'll meet him in the food court."

"Gotcha. See ya in a few."

"Bye!" Jay chirped before ending the call.

"Well?" Cole asked.

"They'll meet us in the food court in a few minutes. Kai nearly collapsed when I told him that you were safe."

"He must have been really worried," Zane commented.

"He didn't have to be," Cole mumbled, shuffling his feet. "I can take care of myself."

"Suuuuuure. Because a five-year-old dressed as a ninja is totally threatening. I'm practically wetting my pants in terror at the thought," Jay said sarcastically, ruffling Cole's hair.

"Quit that!" the little ninja complained, glaring at the blue ninja while he tried to fix his hair.

"Alright, you two," Zane interrupted before Jay could start teasing Cole again. "That's enough. Why don't we head down to the food court and wait for Kai and Lloyd to meet up with us?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Jay chirped.

"Soo are you gonna let go of me now?" Cole asked hopefully, wiggling in Jay's loose grasp.

Jay pouted. "Awwwww, do I have to?"

"My legs aren't broken, I can walk!" Cole insisted.

"But if you do walk, you'd have to hold someone's hand," Jay argued. "Plus, your feet might get tired."

Cole scowled but was clearly thinking over Jay's words.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Jay encouraged.

Cole thought about it for a little while longer. Jay waited, impatiently bouncing on the balls of his feet. Finally, Cole sighed and said, "Alright, fine. You can carry me."

Jay beamed. "YES!" he shouted, already reaching to pick up the little ninja.

Cole backed up. "Ah, ah, ah! You can carry me. But, I get to decide how you carry me and how long you can carry me. When I say that I want to be put down, you have to put me down. No questions asked, and no complaining."

Jay quickly nodded his head, too excited that Cole had finally allowed the blue ninja to carry him to care too much about all the rules. "Deal!"

Cole smirked, and Jay suddenly felt slightly nervous. What have I just agreed to? The blue ninja wondered.

----

Ahhhh, that was fun. :D

Now to study math.... :(