Ahaha, really didn't plan this out, did we? I totally had no time at all to write. And I wasted my whole day of free time watching anime… excellent work on my part there.

Lock

Spring cleaning. Always an important time on the Bounty, especially considering the shared tendency to pile up useless junk. The spare room, in particular, was cramped this year. That was where the ninja were spending the most time.

"Kai, why is your blood hoodie in here?"

"Hm?" Kai looked up from inspecting an old box of snowglobes to stare at Jay, who had his arm outstretched and was pinching a dark mahogany heap of fabric with two fingers. The fire ninja sat still for a moment before lunging up and taking the zippered hoodie. "Oh, so that's where it went!" He stared at it for a moment before he registered what Jay said. "Hey, I said it so many times before and I'll say it again: it does not look like blood!"

"It so does!"

Cole's head peeked in the doorway. "What are you guys talking about? You're supposed to be cleaning up."

"Yes, mom!" Kai and Jay said in unison, before smirking to each other. Cole sighed and headed back down the hallway to the boys' room, shaking his head. Sharing one last look of success, Kai and Jay went back to cleaning.

Not long after, however, Kai found an odd-looking chest tucked away between old weapons and, he shuddered just at the thought, strings of Christmas lights. It was locked with a simple padlock, but Kai had never educated himself on how to pick a lock, saying it was 'useless if he could chest burn it right off!' He began to regret that decision.

"Hey, BlueJay," Kai called to the lightning master at the other end of the room. He got a 'hmph!' in response, meaning that Jay had heard the nickname and did not approve. "Do you have the key to this chest?"

"I don't have any keys, Mockingbird."

"Jay, just come over here and look."

Groaning, Jay stood and made his way around boxes on the floor to Kai, who was still inspecting the chest. With one look, Jay seemed to panic ever so slightly, before calming once again. Kai looked at him suspiciously out of the corner of his eye but said nothing. "I'm not sure," Jay said. "I don't know what could be in there."

"Do you think it could have anything to do with this?" Kai held up a small, cylindrical object with five dials around it. There were multiple letters written on the dials.

Jay quickly snatched the object from Kai's hands. "Whoa, is this a cryptex?" Jay turned it over in his hands, examining it from every angle. "This is so cool! What do you think the password is?"

"Whoa, hold up." Kai took the cryptex back from Jay's hands. "I don't even know what this thing is."

"It's a cryptex." Jay started. "A while back a writer made the term for one of his works. It traditionally is used to contain another clue for a quest. I think it could have something to do with the chest." Jay paused a moment before continuing. "You won't be able to figure out the password, though."

"Why not?"

"I don't think you're smart enough."

It was exactly one punch later when Jay apologized.

"Look, guys," Cole's voice echoed from the hallway, "I thought I told you guys to get to work."

"But Cole!" Jay yelled back, "We found a cryptex!"

It must have been 1.7 seconds later before Cole was holding the cryptex and was going through the same steps Jay was. "This is super nerdy," he spoke softly. "When did you make this, Jay?"

"Never," Jay spoke quickly. "I've never even seen one in person before."

"Suuure," Kai said skeptically. "Like this totally isn't a thing that you would make in your free time."

Jay crossed his arms as Zane walked into the room. "Am I missing something?"

"Nope." Jay replied quickly.

"Wait wait wait," Kai smirked. "Zane, you're good at problem-solving, right?" Jay's eyes grew wide with shock as Zane sat down beside Kai.

"Correct. It appears you have a cryptex." Zane observed. Kai nodded. "Let me take note of the letters on the dials." Kai handed the cryptex over to Zane as Cole made some wild guesses.

"Nerdy."

"I looked at the letters, Cole, and I'm pretty sure that there wasn't an 'n' on the first dial."

"Dorky."

"There wasn't a 'd' either."

Jay snickered. Kai glared at him. "Shut up."

"Sheep."

Kai turned his head to glare at Cole this time. "Okay, now you're just being ridiculous-"

"Actually," Zane interuppted, "That could be a possibility. Everything works."

"Oh." Kai paused for a moment. "Well, in that case, go for it!"

Zane spun the dials for a few seconds while Jay's face slowly turned red. An audible 'click' echoed throughout the room a few moments later. Zane opened the cryptex and shook out a small key. Kai quickly snatched it from his hand and rushed over to the opened it and immideately began laughing.

"Oh my gosh, Jay, are these yours?"

The rest of the ninja team peered into the trunk and burst out in laughter, save Jay, who now looked as though he could blend in with a family of tomatoes. "Holy crap, Jay." Cole spoke in between giggles. "How many stuffies did you own?"

It was true: the trunk was crammed full of everything from tiger plushes to teddy bears. "Bu-I-You-" Jay sputtered, before finally saying, "You weren't supposed to see this!" He stormed out of the room, still blushing beet red.

This was a moment that the ninja team could never afford to forget.