Hello! Welcome back! I'm so sorry for the wait you all had to endure. I was on vacation for a sleepaway camp and was unable to update. I'll be better about letting you all know hopefully next time. Other than that, hope you enjoy the chapter!

Quick shoutout to MR.D0VE for yet another review. Thank you so much!

Alrighty, here's chapter 10!

The mystery of Kara and the stolen water crystal felt like a burden to Chase as he walked home. He couldn't understand why Kara was acting so strange, but all this time she was just a normal school girl talking to her mom?

Chase finally accepted that maybe he was going crazy with desperation for something exciting to do. These days, life was boring, even with school.

Since none of the ninja had arrived to pick him up, he assumed they were too busy to, so he started to walk home. But without Jay's cool lightning bike, it'd be a while before he reached his destination.

He shoved all of his doubtful thoughts about his friend and his worries about the water crystal out of his mind and chose to focus on the road ahead.

OooooooooooO

Nya was positive that the theft of the water crystal was associated with this security camera that was unknowingly installed in her room being covered.

She immediately ran out of her room in search of the other ninja. She found them all taking a break in the kitchen.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips and changing her expression to a frown.

The other ninja all looked at her with innocent expressions. "Just…taking a break?" Jay offered squeakily.

Normally, Nya would scold them about their laziness. But she had game-changing news, so at the moment, they're apathy didn't bother her.

Her face changed into excitement as she began to tell them. They all turned towards her in identical excitement.

"I have a clue that might help us with finding the water crystal," she said enthusiastically.

All of their faces brightened in an instant.

"What is it?" Jay asked, the eagerness evident in his voice.

"I'll need Zane's help to check, but I found a security camera in my room."

"What?" All of the ninja said at once.

"Yeah, it was, like, randomly installed." Nya shrugged. "But it was covered when I found it, which meant someone was doing something he didn't want anyone else to see. Like stealing, perhaps." Everyone was nodding, but Kai was looking down, a crimson blush visible on his face.

He cleared his throat. "I, um, sort of…installed that camera?" Kai said nervously.

"Why?" Nya asked.

"Just in case anything bad ever happened, you know?" Nya sighed and rolled her eyes. Just Kai being an overprotective older brother. "But hey, it came in handy, didn't it?" he said in his defense.

"Yeah, I guess so." She shrugged it off. Then she turned to Zane. "So, mind taking a look at that camera?"

OooooooooooO

The wind was stronger now, much to Chase's disappointment. Getting home on his own was going to be harder than he thought, especially since he was still figuring out the way.

All of the streets in Ninjago City looked the same, which was not helpful. He wound up in the center of the massive city with no directions whatsoever.

Being lost in a big city scared him, but to an extent, he was used to it, having been an orphan for eight years of his life.

It was almost rush hour, so the streets were busy and packed, which caused Chase anxiety. He found an empty bench to sit on and decided to think about Kara. He wouldn't ever admit it to her, but despite his growing feeling of suspicion for her, he began to feel something more personal.

To him, it was just a small crush, and he hoped it'd stay that way. But those feelings would eventually become more potentially dangerous, if not tamed and caged.

He didn't know what it was. Was it her smile? Her long, soft hair? Her nice demeanor? Or was it something else, something deeper?

These thoughts occupied him for so long that he nearly forgot about trying to return to the bounty. It was almost sunset, so surely the ninja were looking for him.

Or maybe not. They're mission was clearly very important. More important than him?

The thought saddened him, so he switched his mindset and convinced himself that the ninja were out looking for him at this very moment.

But they never came. They never turned the corners of Ninjago City. Every single time he heard a motorcycle, he'd perk up in the hopes that Jay's lightning bike had come around the corner in search of him.

But then Chase realized that he himself wasn't trying to find his way home. He was just sitting on a bench, hoping the others would find him instead of him finding them.

With that thought as his motivation, he got up, swinging his backpack around his shoulder in the process, and walked down the crowded sidewalk ahead.

OooooooooooO

The six ninja crowded around the computer used for tracking security footage.

Zane had unlocked it and was currently scrolling through the security footage. It was a long bit, and no details could be missed, so the ninja had been staring at the screen for fifteen whole minutes.

When the time frame showed the approximated time of the theft, Zane slowed it down. As expected a cloth covered the screen.

After being hunched and focused for over fifteen minutes, Lloyd stood up. "Wait, does it show who put the cloth over the camera?" he asked.

"Let me check," Zane replied, scrolling back a few minutes with his metal face screwed in concentration. Unfortunately, the thief put the cloth over the camera without showing his body or his face, but then again, who would be so stupid as to show themselves on camera in the midst of stealing something?

A loud, unified sigh was heard from all the ninja, who were now feeling hopeless. The theft seemed to be taking a long time, but they wouldn't know because the camera was covered.

After nearly everyone was on the verge of falling asleep, something caught their attention. It wasn't much at all, but a faint yet audible grunt could be heard through the footage.

Everyone looked at each other, confused but excited. "Wait, Zane, rewind," Kai requested, making a circular motion with his hand. Zane obliged, and this time, the ninja listened more carefully.

"It's…a man…I think. It sounds like an older dude," Cole concluded. Everyone nodded in agreement, but knowing that the stealer was a man was not very helpful.

Then Lloyd perked up. "I recognize that grunt." The ninjas' heads whirled towards him.

"I mean, I recognize him from when I was a kid. It's one of my dad's soldiers." The ninjas' faces registered realization.

"That means this is Garmadon's doing, which means we have to go to his…hideout, I guess?" Jay chimed in.

Lloyd grinned. "Let's start tonight."

That was chapter 10, I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry it's a bit short. I should be rewarding you with a long chapter for your patience, and I was going to, for the record, but I just found a good ending and decided to stop it here. Hope you don't mind :). Anyways, it would be greatly appreciated if you could review, your feedback would be helpful as always. Thanks again for reading and have a wonderful day!

zaraduck :)