"We're... we're kids!" Kai shouted.

The group of ninja babies all ripped off their masks, jumping back and staring at each other with loud screams. They couldn't have been more than seven years old.

"Oh, this is so bad!" Jay cried. "This is so bad on so many levels!"

Scarlett patted her body to make sure she wasn't in a nightmare. She gasped when feeling the lack of curves on her hips and rear. But when her hands slid to her chest, as flat as a pancake, she screamed again.

"Oh, it's impossible. We must be dreaming!" Cole desperately glanced at the robot. "Zane, tell me we're dreaming!"

"Nindroids don't dream! Perhaps Garmadon succeeded in turning back the clock..." the baby bot tried explaining. "But instead of reviving the Grundle, it only affected us!"

"Yeah, but nindroids don't turn into kids!" Jay slapped his arm and backed him into the wall. "Explain that, genius."

"I've extended my logic parameters, but nothing is coming up... this does not compute!"

His right eye twitched with electricity.

Cole tried staying calm as he walked past the team. "Okay, fine. I get it. We're all in this together."

It didn't last very long. "Oh, but I can't be a kid again! I hated being a kid! You can't drive, nobody listens to you..."

He nearly lost his shit at the final realization. "Oh my god... bedtimes!"

"My boobs... they're gone..." Scarlett muttered in disappointment. "My ass too. But my boobs..."

"What, did you expect to be triple D's as a kid?" Kai asked.

She whipped her head to the side. "How the fuck do you know what size my boobs are?"

"Don't ask questions."

"Guys, focus." Jay began to pace back and forth. "I told Nya we'd meet back at the Bounty. I'm sure Sensei will know what to do."

That's when sirens were heard from a short distance away. The car pulled up rather quickly, almost smushing the kiddies.

The first cop with a hat chortled as he exited the passenger seat. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? Looks like we caught our culprits to the museum heist. Who would've thought it was just a bunch of brats? What have y'all got on, Apple Dumpling Gang? Pajamas?"

That made the both of them obnoxiously laugh.

"These aren't pajamas!" Jay aggressively pointed a finger at them. "We're Ninja!"

"Yeah, yeah, and I'm Santa Claus."

"No, it's true!" Scarlett cried. "I'm Scarlett Dragonfire! And these are the other ninjas!"

The second cop with a mustache looked at his partner before back at the mini model. "Uh, well, you see, hun... the Scarlett Dragonfire we know is a little more tall, and a little more, how do I say it... mature. Lots of little girls like you want to be her, but you gotta wait until you grow a bit."

She grabbed her hair and scrunched it in irritation. "This is why I need my boobs back!"

Kai opted to spin into his red, fiery tornado. But it was sloppy and knocked his friends on top of the police car.

He was surprised at being the only one on his feet. "Our spinjitzu doesn't work. We're too small!"

"Easy, kiddo!" the mustache cop warned as he picked Cole up by the back of his gi, placing him on the ground. "You're coming with us to the precinct."

As he grabbed onto Kai next, the little ninja tried his charm; which didn't work too well for obvious reasons. "Look, ha-ha. Uh, officers. This has been a great misunderstanding. My friends here and I are simply trying to help out!"

"Hey, you can tell all the stories you want when we return to the museum tomorrow to explain why you stole this."

"But we didn't steal it—!"

"Zip it."

The four boys were sort of just thrown in the backseat.

"You have the right to remain silent."

They had a little more sympathy for Scarlett, but not nearly as much to keep her out of the car.

The cop with the hat just sat her on top of the ninja in red. "You look like you like the rowdy ones."

The two officers went back to sit in the front seats. "Ha. Kids."

The baby model simply rested her head on his chest. "Well, he'd be right about that I guess."

Kai wrapped his arms around her with a grin. "Cool."

Jay leaned over. "I'd call that cute if we weren't supposed to be grown ass adults."

¤ ¤

Back on the Bounty, everyone began to worry. The sun was shining, and the heroes hadn't returned for hours.

Lloyd didn't seem to be concerned, though. He read one of his older comics with a smile, glad he wasn't being forced to train for the day.

Nya sighed. "They should be back by now."

Red leaned over the edge next to her. "Does this usually happen?"

"No. On missions such as this one, they return in hours," Wu replied with a solemn frown. "I fear something horrible has happened to them."

After a minute of silence, he turned around. He pretended he didn't see his nephew reading what he wasn't supposed to. "Lloyd, you're in charge of the Bounty while Nya and I have a look around town."

The child picked up the actual training book as if he wasn't caught. "Uh, yeah! Sure thing."

He excitedly glanced back at his comic once the sensei walked away.

"Red," Wu walked up to the magic user, "you'll be in charge of Lloyd. Train with him a bit. It'll be good for you, too."

The man slowly nodded. "Uh, yeah. No problem."

The two groups bid each other goodbye. Lloyd and Red stared at each other for a hot minute.

The latter walked up to the child, squatting to be level with him. "If you let me nap for an hour, I will tell Wu that we were training the entire time." He held out his pinky.

Lloyd grinned, twining his own with Red's. "Deal."

¤ ¤

At the same time inside one of the museum rooms, the mini ninjas got on their knees and bowed.

"We're sorry for stealing."

However, Zane was still on his feet, confused. "But we didn't. I don't understand."

"Shh." Kai cut him off real quick. "The quicker we get out of here, the faster we can figure out how to return our bodies back to normal."

That turned a lightbulb on inside his robotic brain and he collapsed. "I'm sorry for stealing too."

The museum owner had his arms crossed, yet sincerely smiled. "Thank you, little children, for returning the sarcophagus. You did the right thing. But what about the bones?"

Jay was the first one up. "Uh, what bones? We didn't steal any bones."

"The Grundle bones."

"The... Grundle bones?"

And there was no lie spoken. Right in front of their eyes, where Garmadon reversed the clock the night before, stood the empty perch of the fossilized beast.

Jay frantically waved his hands. "They're gone!"

"Shut the fuck up," Scarlett whispered. "There's no way."

"You don't think..."

"It just walked out of here," Kai finished.

Their entire conversation were little whispers. To the adults, it was kind of cute how the five huddled together so closely, unaware that they were talking about one of the biggest dangers to have ever roamed the land.

Zane silently sighed. "Theoretically, it is possible that if Garmadon successfully reversed the years on us, he reversed the years on the Grundle and brought it back to life!"

The babies gasped among themselves. Jay was the first to try and convince the three authorities in the room.

"You guys have to believe us! The Grundle's been brought back to life, and it's on the loose! Its sole existence is to hunt ninja, and as long as we're here, everyone's at risk!"

They got a kick out of that. The three professionally laughed before the cops tossed the children onto a bench.

The one with the mustache still chuckled. "Well, we'll keep a good lookout for anything that goes bump in the night, okay? Now, you five sit still until we call your parents to come pick you up."

"Funny. They'll be in for a surprise," the ninja in scarlet mumbled.

"We gotta get out of here," Cole whispered, "like now."

Coincidentally, a bunch of schoolchildren were on an educational field trip. They all followed the principal with cute, tiny backpacks on. And each one of them was sure to have an extra pair of clothes on them.

"Follow my lead, guys," Kai whispered with a grin.

The five silently took after the group of children just as the cops confusedly turned around, discovering their baby culprits were gone.

Each ninja snuck their hand into a backpack. Zane did it twice, knowing damn well Scarlett was nowhere near as swift yet.

And it worked.

Kai slid into a red hoodie and dark brown khakis. Cole had a purple star line crewneck and black sweats. Jay wore a blue long-sleeve butterfly tee with blue jeans, and Zane wore a sweater with the number 13 on it with white sweatpants as well. Scarlett almost wasn't able to slide into her sleeveless blue and yellow basketball jersey and black tights.

Cole blinked in her direction. "I think I was supposed to have that shirt."

She frowned. "Yeah, no kidding. I wanted the star one."

They all blended in with the other children just fine.

Jay groaned. "This is so humiliating."

Zane leaned toward him. "I'm afraid if we can't use our spinjitzu, we'll be no match for the Grundle."

"And I just learned it, too," Scarlett complained under her breath.

Kai placed his hands on the two boys' shoulders. "We have to get back to the Bounty."

When the school principal walked out of the building, the five mini ninjas hustled out like there was no tomorrow.

Worried, he shouted, "Where are you going? Come back!" But they never did.

He was about to continue after them, but a loud thump startled him and the children. "What was that? Hello? Is anyone here?"

In seconds, an enormous, red beast appeared from above with green acid dripping from its sharp teeth.

"A monster!"

The principal ran back inside with the children while the revived Grundle hopped down from the rooftop, roaring loudly. Citizens ran away screaming as the dinosaur hustled into the wild. Unfortunately, it was very fast.

The ninjas just missed it.

¤ ¤

On the Bounty, Lloyd happily played video games in the Bridge. A telephone was right next to him.

He struggled to pick it up without pausing the game. Once he was about to fall off the chair, he let the phone do so instead and just left it hanging on the cord.

"Destiny's Bounty."

"Lloyd! It's Jay! Let me talk to Sensei!"

The child still didn't pause the game despite the surprising news. "Jay? Where are you? Why haven't you returned? Sensei's out looking for you."

"Ugh. Apparently you need parental permission to take the bus and we can't seem to get out of the city!"

This confused him. "Uh... what?"

"Never mind, it's a bit complicated. Just meet us at Buddy's Pizza in ten minutes. And bring our weapons."

"Weapons..." Lloyd leaned forward a little more, intrigued. What the hell was going on?

But he ended up falling right over, the remote flying over his head in the process. He heard the phone click, signaling the end of the conversation.

Lazily from the floor, he shouted, "Red! Wake up, we gotta go get some pizza!"

¤ ¤

It took a little over ten minutes, but eventually the pair were in front of the city pizzeria.

Red looked through the glass doors, finding nothing but playing children. He sighed. "Of all the places to meet... this seems a little..."

"Weird of them," Lloyd finished. "I mean, I'm not complaining, as long as they're paying for my slice."

The curly haired man held the four weapons in the air with his magic. He didn't even need to move the rest of his body.

"Uh, don't you think you're gonna have some unwanted attention with that?" the little ninja asked.

He didn't believe so. "You think?"

They walked in anyway. As suspected, some of the kids and even adults immediately turned to Red, amazed and confused on how metal weapons were both floating and allowed in the establishment.

Lloyd waved them off. "Nothing to see here! Carry on." He glanced up at his partner. "I told you."

The magic wielder only blinked. "I don't see a problem."

"Dude, you are so unaware."

"Psst, Lloyd! Red!"

At the call, the two turned to the right. They found the five ninjas, but assuming they were just children, started to walk off.

Except Red did a double take, quickly recognizing one of them. "Scarlett?"

That made Lloyd stop. "Scarlett?"

She sat on one end of the booth, waving to the two. "Hi, guys!"

The older man stood in shock. Completely distracted, his magic dissipated and the weapons dropped on the floor on top of each other.

"It's us," Kai insisted, pointing to himself and the others. "I'm Kai. Take a good look."

They did just that. Red remained speechless, while Lloyd was the opposite. He let out a surprised shout.

"Woah! You're all... small!"

The other kids whipped their heads around for a second time that day.

"Lloyd, please!" Scarlett whispered. "Lower your voice."

Finally getting his voice back, Red asked, "How did this happen?"

"Garmadon's Mega Weapon," the young fire ninja answered. "Not only did he turn us into kids, but unleashed a creature whose sole purpose is to hunt down Ninja!"

Cole banged his fist on the table with a frown. "Typical Garmadon."

"And now, every time we try to tell someone, they won't believe us 'cuz we're kids!" Jay whined.

As he picked up the weapons, Lloyd genuinely laughed to himself.

If Kai wasn't his size he would have beat him. "What's so funny?"

"Well. I guess you now know what it feels like to be treated differently."

Almost cockily, the green hero tossed the weapons on the table.

Zane frowned. "Look, this is serious! If we don't turn big so that we can use our spinjitzu, we don't stand a chance against the Grundle."

"What about me? I know spinjitzu."

"Yeah, but you don't know the Grundle," the little fire master countered. "We all need to be at full strength. What we need to do first is find someone who might know more about how to defeat one of these things."

Red looked toward his baby-fied sister. "Your powers don't work?"

She tried forming a flame in between her palms, but only a spout jumped. It was futile.

She sighed.

While they all spoke, the blonde child found himself staring ahead of him. In the booth behind the other five sat a little kid reading the comic he had tried to get his hands on.

Cole smacked him on the shoulder. "Lloyd, focus!"

He was unfazed, instead deviously smirking. "I am. I think I know just the guy."

¤ ¤

And so while Lloyd leading the group throughout the city, Red trailed behind them like the responsible adult he was. Citizens walking past assumed him to be the parent.

Somehow, no one thought to question the weapons hanging on their backs.

"Oh, what cute children you have! And so young," a woman had said to him, gushing.

Instead of denying it, the man simply smiled. "Thank you. This is the first time they've been on their best behavior."

"Dude, what?" Jay uttered. "This is so wack."

Scarlett, being the spoiled little kid she was, hung her arms around his shoulders. If she was going to remain a child, she might as well make the most of it.

"It's not nice to lie, Red," she told him.

"Do you want to know something funny?"

"What?"

"I don't really care."

Lloyd stopped in front of a comic store by the name of Doomsday Comix. "Wow. You sure are evil."

Nevertheless, he proudly pushed the door open.

The ninjas were left with jaws dropped. They couldn't fathom the idea of Lloyd being a child yet again.

"You brought us to a comic book store!?" Cole complained.

"Trust me." The leading ninja brought the rest further into the store. "If there's anyone who knows how to defeat a monster that doesn't exist, I know just the person to talk to."

Kai was fed up and dragged him back by the shoulder. "We're not gonna pick up your stupid comic, Lloyd! This is serious business."

Scarlett glared down at him from her brother's shoulders. "Can you stop it? You're being so mean to him."

Adding to said serious business, Jay gasped as he picked up a comic. "Look! A first edition Daffy Dale! I used to love that nut growing up!"

He began to laugh, but it slowly died down once he realized his friends were staring strangely at him. "Ahem. So juvenile."

Lloyd ended up shoving the main four toward the register, knowing Red was behind him.

"Everyone, meet Rufus McCallister, aka Mother Doomsday!"

The man had long, brown hair slickly tied back in a low ponytail. He had a short beard and thin eyebrows, wearing a shirt that read exactly that: his nickname.

"Well if it isn't Lloyd 'Hemorrhoid' Garmadon! Sorry if you came to pick up the latest Starfarer. I'm all sold out."

"S, sold out!? Wah!"

For that one, short moment, the blonde couldn't contain himself. The other children looked at him, confused.

Scarlett blinked, unable to take one thing off her mind. "No, hold on. The name?"

Lloyd somehow managed to compose himself again. "Oh, uh, actually Mother Doomsday, we need help."

"Well color me intrigued."

"Seriously, guys. The nickname? No one's gonna ask why he called Lloyd hemorrhoid?" Scarlett looked at her friends. "Like, actually?"

Red figured it was time to put her down. "That's enough from you."

"We have a problem..." Lloyd began, "there's a Grundle on the loose, and we need to know how to deal with it."

"Ah," Mother Doomsday leaned forward in slight excitement. "A theoretical question."

"... yeah, theoretical. Can you help?"

As if the answer couldn't have been more obvious, he slowly lowered the round chair that had been very high up. They discovered that the man was actually of below average height when he hopped off and walked in front of the team.

"Dromaeosaurid Theropod Grundalychus. Whoo. Although extinct, there have been a plethora of film, television, and comics exploring the mythology around the primordial predator. Supposedly, they always get their prey."

As he spoke, he lifted a comic book with the exact picture of the red beast.

They all were intrigued at his knowledge as a simple comic store owner.

"Sounds like he knows his stuff," Kai whispered in awe.

But Lloyd pushed right past the little ninjas, getting straight to the point. "Can it be stopped?"

"First thing you need to know: is its thick shell-like hide is invincible to swords, scythes, nunchucks, and throwing stars. So your cheap imitations will do nothing to slow him down."

Cole's shoulders slumped. "Swell."

"Second of all, it's nocturnal, and will only hunt at night."

"Oh, good!" Jay sighed in relief. "It's still daylight, so we can relax for a bit."

When the owner stared at him with lifted eyebrows, he nervously giggled.

"Ah, I meant theoretically."

The elder continued to explain. "And the only way to defeat it is with light." He put the comic back. "Like a vampire, with enough of it, it could potentially destroy him."

The team followed him to a glass panel against the wall, holding four little swords that looked like lightsabers.

"If I had my weapons of choice, may I recommend the Illumisword?"

When he opened the glass door, the others smiled.

"These are authentic replicas that would come in handy were you to live long enough to actually face a Grundle. And if swords are your thing, maybe I can interest you in an authentic Ninja Gi, signed by the very Ninja that saved the city."

In another glass panel on the other side of the store stood the red, blue, white, and black suits of the original four ninjas. The boys kind of just stared, wondering two things. Either if he was lying about the quality or if that it was authentic, how did he get them?

"Truthfully, I'm still working on getting the Scarlet Ninja's. Hopefully she responds to that letter I sent out a couple of weeks ago." Mother Doomsday leaned toward Red to whisper, "If you ever get a chance to meet her, don't tell her I said that."

Scarlett herself blinked. "Huh... with all this Garmadon bullshit going on, I never had a chance to read any of them! Now I know."

The magic wielder sort of smiled. "Ah... you won't believe this..."

Kai stepped forward in an attempt to grab one of the little blades of light. "Uh, we'll just take the light swords."

But the brown-haired man grabbed his wrist before he could. "Not so fast! This Starfarer combo pack can only be won in the Fritz Donnegan trivia battle royale."

He pointed to the small huddle of children their age next to the suits, who were all in costumes.

Lloyd confidently grinned.

"Do you have what it takes to be the best?"

Jay placed a hand on the green ninja's shoulder. This is something they all knew he had high knowledge on. "You can do this, Lloyd!"

He didn't need to be told twice. "Sign me up!"