Before we start-
⚠️Trigger Warning ⚠️

This What If contains blood, sickness, and death

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(Starts from "Power Overdrive")

"Hope you younglings don't mind if I give you a little test?" Acronix laughed as the dragon spat out elemental energy at them. They all dodged and shot back in retaliation. Vinny and Nelson stood cornered in the back; watching the fight. Nelson had his eyes glued to the battle; studying the ninja's every moment. Vinny turned away from the kid and started coughing violently into his hands. When he pulled them back, they were spotted with blood. Vinny sighed as he wiped them off and turned to Nelson. He was still glued to the action. Oh, how long Vinny wanted to break the news to him, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Vinny was dying. He knew he was. He knew for weeks that his time here with everyone was limited. It couldn't be more than a couple days now. As the ninja fought, Acronix found himself impressed with their skills. A little too impressed. They were good. Plan ruining level good. He scoffed at the ninja as he nodded and started to gallop off.

Kai gave chase. "Hey! Just were do you think you're going buster!?"

The other ninja ran after. Nelson was so engaged in the fight that he too began to follow them. The camera man yelled for Nelson to come back as he fell to the ground in a coughing fit. The boy stopped in his tracks and spun around to see his brother kneeling on the asphalt. You know what? Ninja fan-boying could wait! He had a friend to look after. Nelson knelt beside Vinny, rubbing his cold back and leaning into him.
"Shhhh... it's alright. I'm here."

The ex camera man shuddered from cold. "T- thank you buddy... I a- appreciate it."

The kid got his older friend inside and up to his bedroom. It was an old office space, much like the other rooms, except this was different. This was Vinny's office from before the apocalypse. It still had some of his old belongings in there, including his comics, some figures, and his backup camera. The one he'd been using to broadcast during the attack from Doom was long gone now. He'd dropped it, and the rest was history. The wyverns most likely trampled it to a hundred thousand pieces.

Nelson sat Vinny on the bed, draping the blanket over his skeletal frame. Vinny hadn't been looking good for a long while now, but this time he somehow looked worse. The only thing Nelson could really do was just sit with him. Just be there.

About an hour later, the ninja returned to the News Tower. They looked a little banged up from their fight with Acronix, but that was about it. Dareth greeted them at the door asking if everything was alright and especially what was going on with the mystery survivor. Kai plopped down on a couch in the lobby with a sigh.
"We don't really know. He got away." The red ninja crossed his arms; clearly annoyed. "All we know is that he's an elemental master and a total jerk."

Jay stood further back, covering himself mostly in his slate blue cloak. "Are Vinny and Nelson alright? They accidentally got a little caught up in the stand off in the parking lot."

Dareth's expression darkened. "Vinny... isn't doing to well right now... I don't want to say anything, but I don't know how much time he has left."

The ninja all collectively shifted to expressions of great concern. This news was horrible, but considering his condition, it wasn't unexpected. They just hoped it would have came much later as opposed to sooner.
"Do you think I'd be wise for us to stay here then. Just in case-.. you know."

Dareth nodded. "Yeah, that’d probably be smart." With that, he turned to walk away. The brown ninja clearly wasn't doing too well himself, none of them were after hearing about Vinny. It fell extra hard on Dareth though seeing as he was technically the leader of the survivors in the NGTV News Tower. Both Antonia and Dwayne were already buried in the backyard, he'd absolutely break down if someone else had to join them. The ninja all patently sat in the main lobby for a while until Clutch Powers walked down the stairs and gave them all a look that sent a shiver down their spines. Not good. The group rushed up to Vinny's room to find him on the bed breathing shakily. Nelson was to the right of the bed cuddling into his chest while Dareth sat on a stool at the other side rubbing his arm gently. Cole took a step back. He didn't like this. He'd seen a similar scene at the hospital as a kid and he didn't like to remember it. Seeing Nelson crying into Vinny quietly made everything so much worse too. Nya, Zane and Lloyd stepped forward first. "Hey buddy..." Lloyd whispered. "It's gonna be alright."
The ex camera man glanced up at Lloyd with exhausted eyes. He knew that was a lie. They both did.. Everyone took turns talking to him softly, doing something, anything to comfort him. After a while he stopped really responding and started looking more and more tired.

"It’s alright Vinny... you don't need to stay awake.. I know you're tired." Nelson sobbed. "You get to say hi to Antonia and Dwayne again.. please tell them that I said hello too."

Dareth couldn't keep looking, he just couldn't. Turning away, he looked around the room at everyone there. Quickly though, he noticed something was missing- someone was missing- Gayle. OK, that made him mad. Was she seriously going to keep her little fight with Vinny, that happened over a year ago, from coming to say goodbye?! Alright, you know what? Fine. He gave up with her honestly. Let her be that way. Clutch Powers took a deep breath and stood next to Vinny's bed. He was almost holding himself like he was uncomfortable or fearing he'd shatter into a million pieces if he let go.
"Ahh.. um." The explorers throat felt like it was being strangled as he tried to speak. "I.. I don't know if Dwayne wants to hear anything from me or if he's mad, but can you at least let him know that I miss him?.. and.. and I..." Clutch choked on a sob. "I.. I'll miss you Vinny. I'll miss you every day.... I already kinda do."

"We love you Vinny." Nya chimed in. "We all love you now and always will. Don't ever forget that."

Vinny's eyes were barely open, but a few tears started rolling down his face.

Kai nodded. "All of us are here bud. It's gonna be alright."

Dareth closed his eyes and let out a little sigh. Not all of them. After a few more people telling him everything they felt they needed to say, a noise came from the hallway. They turned to see Gayle run into view on the other side of the doorframe. She looked like she had ran to get there, but looked ashamed of it. "Please tell me I'm not to late..." she panted. Once everyone confirmed she'd made it, they let her through and she knelt down to get to Vinny's eye level.
"Vinny, look, I know we've been... on shaky ground recently, and I...... I'm so sorry." She broke. "I should've never said anything about what I said. It's all my fault and I.. I don't expect you to forgive me. But I am sorry. I don't hate you. I've never hated you.. I love you Vinny. Your the greatest camera man and friend I could've ever had."

Wow. Gayle Gossip apologized?! Even more impressive, she didn't blame anyone else for her mistakes. Dareth never thought he'd see the day, honestly. But with that, Vinny gave a slight smile and faded away. He was gone.
Everyone stayed in the room and payed their respects. Not long after, he was buried next to Antonia and Dwayne.

Life, and the events of the Abandoned AU would now be altered completely... all because of one action.

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Following this, the Time Twins had to figure out a different way to kill the ninja. Without Vinny to sneak back in to gather information, and eventually go down the revenge path that led to him killing Jason, a lot changed. Vinny wasn't there to fight Mr E, so a Acronix had to. Acronix won but by actually beating E, not by being persistent. With Vinny not there to kill him, Jason grabbed Fugitive aka Miles, bringing him back into the base where they both nearly got crushed upon its collapse. However, they both live on. Because Jason lives, there was no reason for them to play hero to cheer Miles up. So the team wouldn't have gotten closer. There wouldn't be a big finale fight between Gayle and Vinny. Acronix would have stayed fairly evil towards the end, not getting upset at Krux for killing Vinny and allowing the ninja to attack while they were in a distracted mindset. If anything, the Time Twins probably would have won.

All because ONE man died