Stakeout - a Ninjago Short Story

The door slammed wide open and Kai stood there, his hair looking less spiky.

"What's up?" Jay asked, hands under his head as he rested on his bunk - the top one.

"What's up?" Kai closed the door behind him and collapsed onto Cole's bunk - the bunk below Jay's. "Dude! Someone took my hair gel… and then they just greased it all over my extra clothes!"

"Ah pffhhhhh, what? That's the lamest trick ever -" Kai glared at Jay from below. "You think I did it" Jay asked with wide blue eyes. His mouth twisted and he sat up on the bed, jumping off.

Kai followed Jay out the door. "Well obviously, yeah."

"Come on, I couldn't have done it. At least, to you that is. Someone's been stealing my box of batteries! And I need them if I want to play video games!" Jay stumbled into the Bridge and he spotted Zane sitting at the table, staring at the cover of a book.

Zane lifted his arm and opened the panel, inputting something into his arm. Once he was finished, he turned to look to Kai and Jay. "Someone has been stealing your things? I too have lost an item. My oil can. If I do not get it back in time, my gears may very well lock up more often than usual."

The two ninja nodded and they took a seat with Zane at the table.

"You think you might know who took our stuff?"

"Perhaps, Lloyd?" Zane suggested.

"The kid's too busy reading comics. No way would he have been stealing my hair gel."

Everyone went deep into thought. Then, suddenly, a light bulb went off above Jay's head and it clicked.

"None of us have checked with Cole yet!"

He quickly stood up and ran out onto the deck, finding Cole, not training, but hitting the rail with his scythe instead. Jay stared immobile.

Talk about taking your anger out.

Cole gave the rails a few more hits with the blade and then pinned his scythe upward, leaning against it. He began to breath heavily, his brows furrowed in.

"Did you take it?"

Jay's fingers tingled. "Uhhh, what was it exactly that was taken?"

"My workbook - I mean sketchbook!" He turned around, a hint of relief in his eyes. Jay blinked.

"Noooooo?"

Kai then knocked into Jay and gripped the blue ninja for support. He peered over Jay's shoulder and looked to Cole.

"You too? We need to find this thief."

Another idea popped into Jay's head and he whipped around, a spark in his wide eyes. "I got it! Stakeout!"

Cole shook his head, letting his scythe fall carelessly to the ground. "A stakeout? You want us to stay up till night falls and hope to catch the thief then?"

Jay nodded with excitement. "It'll be fun! And we'll split into pairs. Although, one of us will be alone. Kai, you can night watch with Lloyd - whenever the little brat comes around. And I can stay up on guard duty with Cole!"

Kai shrugged. "Sounds pretty ideal. Looks like Zane will be out at it alone?" Another nod.

Jay wrapped an arm around Cole's neck and pulled him down a bit. "This is gonna be so fun!"

Slowly pulling away, Cole let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, okay, so, Jay and I will take the deck. Kai, you and Lloyd take the Bridge and the kitchen. And Zane will take the hallway to the rooms."

The fire ninja pumped his fist. "Then it's settled. Let the stakeout begin!"

"Soon... soon, Kai," Jay added.


Kai looked through the circular door window and at the jar of gel sitting in the dresser by the picture frame. He pursed his lips, wanting to drop at the thought of using his last jar of gel for bait.

The green ninja put a hand on Kai's arm and turned him around. "Stay on the lookout," he told Kai, pulling over his large hood for the fun of it.

"Yeah, let's get to the important stuff," he moved his flashlight up and down the hallway, "Alright then, let's head to the Bridge, Zane should get here any minute now. ." Kai led Lloyd towards the kitchen and he quickly flashed his light. Once he was done with that he opened the sliding doors to the main room.

Lloyd pulled out his flashlight and flicked it on too. He gazed around the room as silence drowned in. It was eerie when you search a room that's pitch black with a single flashlight. He moved his arm until he accidentally shone the light in Kai's eyes, as Kai did the same to him.

They stumbled backwards.

"Agh! Really?!" Kai scoffed, rubbing his eyes.

The boy shrugged and gave Kai a cocky grin. "Oops."

Kai slowly walked up to the door to the deck and peeked through the windows, seeing Jay make a fool of himself in the middle of the night.

Cole pinched in between his eyes and sighed. He flickered the light at Jay three times, on and off.

"Jay, what the heck are you doing?"

"Spinnin', moving my legs…" He inched closer to the frustrated black ninja, "Dancin'..."

Cole snatched the flashlight from Jay's noodle arms and hopped onto the rail. "Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, don't let your guard down," Cole told Jay, shining the flashlights at the wooden floorboards.

He always admired Jay's optimism and how lame his jokes were. He'd known Jay since Sensei Wu first brought him to the Monastery. But most times - a lot of times - he hoped that Jay would keep his blabbering mouth shut and just focus for once. The kid was into way to many video games, and had a love for junk food, while he was into cake and sweets. Cole turned around to find Jay had stopped his dance.

"Are you focused now?" He asked Jay.

The Blue Ninja took the flashlight from Cole's hand and looked at Cole with a cocky grin.

"Depends what you think."