Ninjago Stories Part Two

Water problems

Five year old Mia toddled over to her mom, who was on her computer. " Mooooooom, something's wrong with the bathtub and Jay is tryna hold it all together."

Rose Walker, current elemental master of wind, picked her daughter up and booped her nose. " Did you try to find daddy?"

" Daddy's trying to fix it but got really drenched."

Rose blinked. "...Of course he did."

She closed her laptop with a soft sigh and stood up, Mia now perched on her hip like a pink-and-blue wind gremlin.

"Okay, baby girl," Rose said, brushing Mia's hair back. "What exactly is wrong with the bathtub?"

"It's angry."

"...Angry?"

Mia nodded solemnly. "It made this growly noise, and then water came out everywhere. Like, everywhere everywhere."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Did Jay touch the plumbing again?"

Mia blinked. "He said 'I saw Dad do this once, how hard can it be?'"

Rose winced. "Yup. That'll do it."

By the time they got to the bathroom, Rose was greeted by the sight of her husband soaked head-to-toe, holding a monkey wrench with an expression of betrayal on his face. A small geyser was spewing from the tub. Jay—ten years old and clearly panicking—was hugging a towel around the faucet like it was going to help.

"It's not working," Jay wailed. "I said sorry to the pipes, and it's still mad at me!"

Rose exhaled through her nose, handed Mia a dry towel, and calmly turned off the water valve behind the wall. The geyser sputtered and died.

Jay blinked. "...There was a switch?"

Rose patted his head. "There's always a switch. Rule number one of plumbing: don't assume you're smarter than the bathtub."

Mia tilted her head. "What's rule number two?"

Rose gave her a grin. "Leave the wrenching to your mom."

Then James, still soaked from the tub disaster, slowly turned his head toward the hallway as a very ominous gurgling echoed through the house.

"...Why can I hear a gusher?" he asked flatly.

Rose's face went pale. Jay looked guilty.

Mia raised her hand. "Um. I mighta flushed a sock."

Rose blinked. "What do you mean, you flushed a sock?"

Mia gave the most innocent smile known to mankind. "I wanted to see if it could swim."

At that exact moment, a wet splat echoed from upstairs, followed by a distant gush and the unmistakable sound of water hitting floorboards.

James groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me that was the cat knocking over his water bowl."

A second later—

KRSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Water came pouring down from the ceiling vent directly above the kitchen.

Then—

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMM!
The sink faucet exploded off like a rocket.

Jay dove for cover. Mia squealed and clapped. "IT'S A WATER PARTY!"

Rose calmly handed James a mop.

James took it slowly, looked at the handle, and muttered, "I'm going to cry."

Rose sighed. "Jay, towels. Mia, no more aquatic sock experiments. James—"

"I know. 'Leave the wrenching to your mom,'" he grumbled.

Mia beamed. "See? Everyone learns something today!"

Jay nodded solemnly. "Especially the toilet."

A few hours later...

The house was quiet.

Too quiet.

Jay tiptoed past the hallway, towel around his neck, trying to avoid eye contact with the very suspicious-looking vent above the living room couch. He peeked around the corner into the bathroom, where Mia stood with her shoes off, ankle-deep in... well...

"...Mia," he said flatly, "why is there a pool in here?"

She shrugged. "It wanted to stay. I didn't wanna be mean."

Jay blinked. "It's... it's water, not a house guest! It's not supposed to stay!"

Mia tilted her head. "It's not hurting anyone."

"The tile's floating off the floor!"

"I thought that was feature-y. Like... spa vibes!"

Jay facepalmed hard. "Okay. Okay, we're not telling Mom or Dad."

Mia gasped. "We're not?"

"Nope. We fix it. Ourselves. Quietly. Without making it worse."

Mia grinned. "Like the last time we 'fixed' something?"

Jay flinched. "...No. Better. This time we don't set anything on fire."

Mia clapped. "Yay! Improvement!"

Jay reached for the mop. "Okay. Let's drain the bathroom. Quietly. Before Mom finds out and starts summoning tornadoes."

Mia nodded, then paused. "...What about the duck?"

Jay froze. "What duck."

Mia pointed to the far corner of the bathroom.

A rubber duck was floating by.

Only it quacked.

"...That's not one of ours," Jay whispered.

They both stared.

The duck blinked.

Mia whispered, "Jay... I think it's alive."

Jay very seriously whispered back, "Okay. New plan. Evacuate."