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The monastery alarm went off at precisely 5:07 a.m.
Red lights flashed. Sirens wailed.
Cole sat up in bed, already chewing. “Is this a drill?”
“No drills,” Zane said calmly, already dressed. “Sensei Wu has activated the Emergency Protocol.”
Kai burst out of his room. “WHAT’S ON FIRE?”
Wu appeared at the top of the stairs, serene as ever.
“My teapot,” he said gravely. “Is missing.”
Silence.
Jay blinked. “Like… missing missing?”
Wu nodded. “The special one.”
Nya crossed her arms. “The blue one?”
“The blue one,” Wu confirmed.
Kai groaned. “You woke us up for tea?”
Wu smiled. “You misunderstand. I woke you up for balance.”
Within minutes, the ninja were in full investigation mode.
Nya had commandeered the situation immediately. “Okay. No one panic. Jay, you’re with me. Kai—no fire, rule seventeen.”
“I didn’t even—”
“No fire.”
Cole wandered into the kitchen. “If it helps, I didn’t eat it.”
“Cole,” Lloyd said solemnly, “this teapot symbolizes harmony.”
Cole opened the fridge. “Cool. There’s leftover noodles.”
Zane scanned the monastery. “No signs of forced entry.”
Pixal checked the security logs. “No intruders. However, Sensei Wu was last seen carrying the teapot at 5:42 a.m.”
Everyone turned slowly toward Wu.
Wu sipped from a different cup. “Curious.”
Jay gasped. “What if it walked away?”
Nya rubbed her temples. “Jay.”
“I’m just saying! Tea does weird stuff here!”
Lloyd stepped forward. “Perhaps this is a test. A lesson in awareness.”
“Lloyd,” Nya said, “please do not give a speech to us right now.”
Lloyd paused. “…Too late.”
Kai was poking around the courtyard. “What if it rolled under something?”
A small flame flared to light the shadows.
“KAI.”
“It’s a tiny fire!”
"RULE SEVENTEEN!"
The hedge immediately caught fire.
Nya shoved a bucket of water at him. “OUT.”
After an hour of searching, tensions were high.
Jay was stress-cleaning.
Cole was on snack number three.
Lloyd was preparing a closing statement “just in case.”
Wu watched them all, nodding thoughtfully.
Finally, Zane stopped.
“Sensei,” he said slowly, “may I ask a question?”
Wu smiled. “Of course.”
“Is it possible,” Zane continued, “that you simply misplaced the teapot?”
Wu stroked his beard. “…Perhaps.”
Nya stared at him. “Sensei.”
Wu walked calmly to the windowsill.
Reached behind a plant.
Picked up the teapot.
“Oh,” he said pleasantly. “Here it is.”
No one spoke.
Jay made a small, broken sound. “We nearly burned the monastery down.”
Wu poured himself tea. “And yet—you worked together.”
Kai pointed at the scorch marks. “THIS was the lesson?”
Wu sipped. “Yes.”
Nya exhaled slowly. “Next time, Sensei—label the lesson.”
Wu smiled. “That would ruin the surprise.”
Cole raised his bowl. “Emergency over?”
Wu nodded.
Cole went back to eating.