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“I call pushing the cart!” Lloyd yells excitedly, bounding happily towards the area where all the shopping carts are lined up as soon as they enter the store, the other four ninja and one samurai right on his tail to ensure he doesn’t cause any more damage that the store hasn’t already taken in lieu of the Great Devourer’s attack.
“Are you even tall enough see over that thing, green bean?” Kai asks him with a smile as he stretches out his sore limbs. Lloyd responds by giving Kai an offended scowl and sticks his tongue out in the fire ninja’s direction.
They were here on a supply run, having just saved the city from the Great Devourer a week prior and Cole’s dad being kind enough to let them stay at his house temporarily, the least they could do was offer to go grocery shopping. They had all come out mostly unscathed, (thankfully), with the exception of a few cuts and bruises and maybe a concussion or two, but that doesn’t mean they all weren’t still immensely exhausted.
“Just pray to the First Master he doesn’t hit anybody,” Nya says fondly, rolling her eyes.
“I’ll watch him,” Jay volunteers, sighing, helping Lloyd yank one of the carts free from the line of them once he sees the younger struggling.
“I don’t think that makes us feel any better, Zaptrap,” Kai smirks in Jay’s direction. Jay throws up the finger behind him in response to Kai’s remark, carful to make sure Lloyd doesn’t see the gesture. Kai makes an offended face and Nya snorts.
“I think it would be wise to split up since this list is extensive,” Zane suggests coolly. “Cole, if you don’t mind, you could help me with the first aid supplies as we are dangerously low on bandages and pain killers. Kai and Nya, you two handle the toiletries, and Jay and Lloyd can take care of the food. Meet back here in twenty minutes?”
“Are you sure you want Lloyd and Jay together?” Cole raises an eyebrow after making a saluting gesture, leaning on Zane’s shoulder and taking a peak at the list. “That’s like a recipe for disaster.”
“Oh, come on, seriously?!” Jay groans as he helps Lloyd climb into the basket. “Give me some credit here?”
“Sounds good, Zane,” Nya interrupts, giving a placating kiss to Jay’s cheek to quell the argument before they make a scene. Lloyd makes a gagging noise.
Jay kisses Nya back, takes a picture of Zane’s list, then refocuses his attention on the small green ninja sitting in the basket. “C’mon, kid. We got frozen dinners to find.”
Jay and Lloyd go off towards the freezer section at a concerning speed, already almost hitting some poor middle aged man leaving one of the aisles on the way.
“Ten bucks they get us kicked out,” Cole offers, handing Kai the list so he can take a picture as well.
Zane sighs dejectedly, “Statistically speaking, that outcome is most probable.”
The remaining four ninja split up to accomplish their portion of the shopping trip, Nya telling Kai that she’ll grab her feminine hygiene products while Kai takes care of everyone else’s. Once Nya has what she needs, she heads back to find Kai and no more than ten minutes after they all split up, Nya hears Jay’s tell-tale screeching and Lloyd’s impression of an evil laugh, and suddenly the two plus the shopping cart are coming straight toward her, looking like they have no intentions of stopping.
“Really, you two?!” Nya scolds haphazardly as she rolls her eyes, moving out of the way just in time, and her hand shoots out with impressive reflexes to grab ahold of the cart carrying Jay and Lloyd that came barreling down the aisle, almost knocking her over. “We leave you alone for ten minutes.”
“Hey, we’re being careful!” Jay argues with his vibrant blue eyes, doing his best impression of a sad puppy. “We just saved the city for FSM’s sake, we deserve to let loose a little!!”
And then Lloyd jumps in with his own set of puppy eyes, and Nya is no match for her pseudo little brother’s sad little traumatic childhood eyes.
She can’t stop herself from smirking, “If you guys get kicked out, I’m pretending I don’t know you.”
“Hey, I want in. That looks fun!” Kai says as soon as he comes back from grabbing his share of their items, a horrendous amount of hair gel along with everything else. He deposits his items on top of Lloyd for him to hold in the basket and then hops on the front of the cart. “Hop on, Nya! It’ll be faster.”
Jay gives her a sheepish grin, Nya rolls her eyes again, yet she still joins the chaos, stepping on one side and holding on tight. Jay gives them all a downright mischievous grin and then pushes them all down the rest of the aisle, Lloyd and Kai proclaiming their glee as they gain speed.
“Let’s find Zane and Cole!” Lloyd laughs after whooping gleefully. “I bet we all fit!!”
Nya can’t help but giggle as they go flying through the store, haphazardly shouting apologies at the other customers they speed past. After five minutes and nearly running over six people, they find Cole and Zane near the back of the store.
Cole nearly doubles over laughing when he sees them coming, and Zane looks amused, if not somewhat impressed to see the four of them hanging onto the cart. Jay manages to maneuver the cart straight to them, and with Kai’s help, they park perfectly parallel in front of the remaining two ninja.
“Fancy meeting you guys here,” Jay says suavely, a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Hop on, guys!” Lloyd says excitedly.
Jay frowns. “Yeah, there’s no way I can push you three plus Zane and Cole!”
Cole simply shrugs as if that’s his cue and motions for Jay to move. “C’mon, Frosty,” Cole sighs, picking up a sputtering Jay and placing him in the cart next to Lloyd as he grumbles. “How bad can this be?”
Zane raises an eyebrow, but he chuckles nonetheless. “I do not think you want the answer to that.” But he climbs on the open space anyway, just in time for Cole to get a running start and using his super strength to propel them forward.
Jay and Lloyd cheer with glee, Nya and Kai can’t help but laugh as the force of the push causes their hair to fly everywhere, Zane smiles happily, helping Cole propel them forward with his foot. Cole rounds the corner and gives one big final push and hops on the cart as well.
“I think we’re going to fast?!” Kai shouts, turning around to see a huge display of stacked cans right in their path.
Nya’s eyes widen, “Slow down slow down slow down!!”
“Brakes, Cole! Brakes!!!”
“It’s a shopping cart, Jay, there are no brakes?!”
But it’s already too late.
They all scream in unison just before crashing into the six foot stack of canned tomato soup, ruining the display and sending each other flying every which way.
A chorus of groans come from each ninja and samurai, just as other customers and employees crowd around to see the mess of teenagers and soup on the ground.
“I did warn that you would not want statistics,” Zane says with a hint of smugness in his tone.
“All in favor of not telling Wu?” Cole groans from under Jay.
Several more groans and affirmative answers from the five of them are said just as a passing employee calls for a manger on his radio exasperatedly.
—
Lloyd smiles fondly at the picture taken selfie-style from Kai’s phone of them sprawled on the ground of the store with an angry manager in the background, hundreds of cans of soup scattered around them, on the wall that was taken so long ago, nostalgia making his chest tighten and his eyes water slightly. “Yeah, so that’s how we got banned from every QuickiMart on the east side, and why I only order groceries online now,” he finished the story sheepishly, turning around to face Arin and Sora sitting crisscrossed at his feet, giggling with disbelief.
“Wow,” Sora chuckles, adjusting her headphones, “I’ve spent the last five years hearing Arin gush about all your heroic adventures. Can’t say I’ve heard any about you being banned from chain grocers, though.”
“Heh,” Lloyd huffs an amused laugh. “Not one of my greatest, or proudest, moments, but it’s still fun to look back on. That was, FSM, like thirteen years ago actually?”
“Woah, really?!” Arin’s eyes light up with excitement. “That’s so cool, Lloyd! It’s so weird to hear stories like that about your heroes, I mean, I was too young to even remember the Great Devourer. Now I find out you guys were terrorizing minimum wage employees at the same time, too?” He laughs, eyes wide with amusement.
Lloyd’s brow furrows in confusion, a puzzled look adorning his expression, before realization kicks in. “Wow. Never thought I’d be the one saying this but, I feel so old.”
Sora raises an eyebrow, “Uh, Lloyd? You do realize that timeline doesn’t add up, right? You said you were eight at the time? How old did you say you were now?”
Lloyd laughs nervously, ruffling both Arin and Sora’s hair as he walks past them. “Uh, yeah, that’s a whole other story. Just do yourself a favor and don’t think about it too hard.”