After S3. Birthdays are always good. Even when they are not what we imagined them to be.
"Dad, dad!" Lloyd shouted when he saw Sensei Garmadon in the hallway.
"Why are you shouting, son?" Sensei turned around and looked at him curiously.
"Do you know that tomorrow is Mom's birthday?!" Lloyd, full of energy, reached Sensei Garmadon.
"Of course I know." Sensei Garmadon smiled gently.
"Do you remember how ninja and I made a surprise for you?" Lloyd proudly asked."Well, we are planning something similar for tomorrow..."
"Wait, wait." Sensei Garmadon shook his head. "Wu and I told you no big celebrations."
"But just the ninjas and..."
"No, Lloyd." Sensei Garmadon cut him off. "We agreed that the ninjas are not coming here tomorrow."
"Why?!" Lloyd asked angrily. "They were here for your birthday and for mine; we went to theirs..."
"Lloyd," Sensei Garmadon sighed and put a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. "I already told you that your mother doesn't like celebrating birthdays with a lot of people..."
"She liked it at your birthday," Lloyd frowned. "At least I think so."
"Not at her own birthday..." Sensei Garmadon insisted.
"Why?" It wasn't clear to Lloyd.
"You will have to ask her." Sensei Garmadon ruffled Lloyd's hair.
"Are we going on a picnic?" Lloyd asked, and Sensei Garmadon nodded silently.
"And can ninja afterwards..." "Lloyd," Sensei Garmadon sighed wearily.
"Did you not hear that you are making too much focus on you and ninja?"
"Well..." Lloyd scratched his head.
"You have a lot of your own birthdays." Sensei Garmadon gently hugged Lloyd. "But now respect you mother's wish,it's her birthday afterall."
"Okay, dad." Lloyd smiled. "If you really think mom will like it."
"It's nice when your birthday falls on a Sunday, isn't it?" Sensei Garmadon laughed as he and Misako prepared things for the picnic.
"It really is," Misako sighed. "I don't have to see certain people from work. I'm with you and Lloyd, of course."
"Happy birthday, mom!" Lloyd cheerfully flew into Misako's arms.
"Thank you, sweetheart." Misako smiled at Lloyd and kissed him on the forehead.
"Are we leaving soon?" Lloyd looked curiously at the things around.
"Just let me finish packing a few more things," Sensei Garmadon said.
"It's nice here," Misako said, looking at the nature around her. "And quiet. Peaceful and quiet."
"Can I ask you something, mom?" Lloyd looked at Misako.
"Yes?" Misako looked at him curiously.
Sensei Garmadon shot Lloyd a glare and he decided to change the question.
"Are you enjoying it here so far?"
"Yes," Misako said, placing her hand on Lloyd's shoulder. "It hasn't been this nice for me in a long time."
"Me neither," Lloyd quietly said, resting his head on her shoulder.
"We should go out like this more often." Sensei Garmadon suggested.
"I'm in!" Lloyd exclaimed. "Less training and more picnics."
"Haha." Sensei Garmadon laughed. "That part about less training is out of the question."
Misako laughed too. She looked at the messages, mostly from ninjas who wished her a happy birthday but also something else.
"What is it?" Sensei Garmadon gently asked Misako when he saw her frowning.
"You know how rarely we get to go out like this because of training and... complications with my job," Misako said quietly. Sensei Garmadon’s expression darkened.
"What’s happening?" Lloyd looked worriedly at his parents.
"I have to urgently go to work." Misako sighed and stood up.
"But it's your birthday!" Lloyd protested.
"Unfortunately, that's not how it works..." Misako said sadly.
"When will you be back?" Sensei Garmadon asked.
"I don’t know," Misako shrugged.
"Once you're back, we can celebrate later, can't we?" Lloyd asked.
"Of course we can, Lloyd," Misako said and hugged him.
"Wow, that took a long time at work," Sensei Garmadon said, wrapping his arm around Misako's shoulders as she came home.
"Don’t tell me anything..." Misako darkened before his eyes.
"Listen..." Sensei Garmadon tried to say something, but Kai interrupted him.
"Happy birthday, Misako!"
"Thank you." Misako looked at him confusedly. She thought the ninjas weren't going to come.
"I know that you dislike having big celebrations on your birthday. But we thought we could at least all eat cake together. After all, we're family. Nothing big like, for example, Garmadon's birthday. Can we?" Kai finished his speech and looked at Misako tense.
"Of course we can, let’s go." Misako smiled at that.
"I had to let them go" Sensei Wu apologized to Misako and hugged her."Happy birthday."
"Don't worry, I'm glad they're here as long as there aren't big celebrations like Garmadon's birthday."Misako laughed and smiled.
"Do you want to tell us why you didn't want a big celebration?" Cole asked curiously while they ate the cake.
"I just think I'm getting older," Misako tried to dodge the question.
"Oh come on, Misako." Nya insisted. "Now you've got us interested."
"Okay then." Misako sighed and put down her fork. "I was about your age when I celebrated my birthday with about eight people. Some of your parents were there too. Mostly we all relaxed and were full of sugar."
"Everyone is full of sugar on their birthday," Jay pointed out.
"Yes, but listen further." Misako continued in a serious tone. "Since there were no parents, we decided to go and party around.
We did all sorts of ridiculous things, like for example just calling around numbers and teasing them...
Some people even stole things we had on us and the police got involved."
"Oh my God." Nya exclaimed, speechless.
"Basically, we dealt with that for a while, and from then on, I got disgusted by birthdays..."
"You heard her, be careful what you do," Sensei Wu told the ninjas. "Even the smallest thoughtless joke can turn into a problem."
"But they are responsible," Misako smiled. "Especially with their powers."
"We are, and we will be," Lloyd said and hugged Misako again. "Happy birthday, mom, once again."