Ronin’s secret base: 3 weeks after the apocalypse started-


Jay, covered in bandages and braces, lay irritated on the bed Ronin had placed him in weeks earlier. He stared up at the ceiling he had been stuck staring at for what felt like ages now. Jay turned his head to look at Ronin walking back and forth in the hallway; only visible when he walked by the open door. The blue ninja wondered why any of this was even happening. Why had Ronin saved him? Why couldn’t he remember what happened after he fell off the tower and saw him? Was he truly trapped in a pitch black void this whole time? Was Doom’s assault a coincidence, or was there something more to this attack on the world than he thought? He racked his brain, desperately trying to remember what happened before the nightmare beast fell from the sky and essentially murdered everything. Then something terrible struck his memory. The creature that did this… what him and the ninja started calling “Doom”…. He had seen it before.
An image depicting it at least. It was on a tapestry hanging on the wall of a room that made his back ache just thinking about.

It was on the tapestry depicting the realm of Djinjago on the wall of Nadakhan’s cabin room. But what terrified him most was the fact that there were several in the image.

THERE WERE MULTIPLE OF DOOM.

And if one could do so much damage that continents could break apart and crash into each other, the unimaginable horror that would be more… Jay felt like he was about to throw up just considering the image. He hadn’t seen all that Doom had done up close or in person yet, considering he’s currently bedridden, but Ronin had. Jay’s raspy voice broke through the silence of the room as he called out for Ronin. The thief peaked into the room.

“What’s up kid? You doing alright?”

“Ronin? Out there… Outside this base, I mean…. How bad is it?”

The master thief paused for a moment, considering carefully what to reply with. He started trying to avoid the question by asking if Jay needed something to drink, but the ninja repeated the question more firmly.

“Not good, ok kid? Everything’s destroyed. EveryONE is destroyed. I went out to collect resources the other day and I found 4 dead bodies. All of them were people just trying to evaluate the city. Just every day, average people were minding their own business one minute, and then being a wyverns snack the next. It’s hell on earth out there right now, alright? Consider yourself lucky to be just relaxing in bed all day. Cause out there……” Ronin trailed off as he seemed to realize something. “Never mind.” He closed his eyes tightly, like whatever was going through his head was painful to think about, as he turned and walked away.

Ok… well based on what just happened, Jay gathered one thing. Doom had started the apocalypse. With that being said, Jay also concluded the reason for it happening. It was his fault. HE made the wish to reset time. Meaning that what ever happened when that was done must have altered the time-line in a more drastic way than anyone could have ever imagined.

“And it’s all my fault…” His eyes filled with tears as he stared up at a specific spot on the ceiling again.

*******************************
Present day-

Cole and Miles loomed over Jay as he slept. Miles commented on how much the blue ninja seemed to sleep.
Cole sighed. “Yeah, well, he’s been through a lot.”

Miles nodded. “Yeah. I saw how many scars he had on his arms and legs. That must have hurt real bad.”

The earth ninja fell silent for a moment before looking back at Miles with a smile. “So! We waking him up or what?”

“With pleasure!” Miles jumped closer to him and spread out his arms like wings, again revealing the non- functional flying squirrel style ones on his shirt. He energetically jumped in the air and posed, balancing one leg.

“MY HEROIC CRY FILLS THE NIGHT!!” He then proceeded to make an unreasonably loud dove call, which appeared to scare Jay awake. Cole burst out laughing as he fell backwards onto the floor. Jay almost looked offended as he stared at both of the boys laughing at him. He was drenched in a cold sweat. Before either could stop laughing, a jolt of lightning shot out of an angered Jay and shocked them. The sudden attack was accompanied by the blue ninja yelling at Miles to get out of the room. In a panic, he rushed out and closed the door behind him like he was instructed. Cole looked at his friend in shock. “What was that about?!”

“Cole… There’s something I need to tell you.” Jay said it like it was urgent, so Cole’s expression turned serious as he questioned what was wrong.
“I don’t know how to tell you… but….”

The two brothers eyes locked. “I did this.”

“What? Did what?”

“EVERYTHING!!! Doom, the thousands of deaths, the whole reason we’re in this mess in the first place!! It was me! OK?! I CAN’T HIDE IT ANYMORE!!! I CAUSED THE APOCALYPSE!.... But I swear it was on accident!! The alternative was you all dying and me being forced to play Scrap n Tap till I DIED- AND….” He said it in typical Jay freak out fashion, which he hadn’t really done recently. Cole looked arguably confused and a bit disturbed by what he just said, but Jay having a good old-fashioned freak out made him crack a slight smile. It was still funny how high his voice seemed to go; even now that he was grown up. The lightning ninja sat there crying and essentially hyperventilating after not taking any breaths in between the rant. Cole smiled and did what he had always done when Jay panicked this hard. He sat closer to him and called his name softly to get his frantic friend to look at him.

“Hey there buddy… Why don’t you take a deep breath and calm down for a second. Alright?” He said it in a soft and calm voice.

Irritated, but complacent, Jay closed his eyes and took a deep breath; then let it out slowly.

The earth ninja chuckled. “See? Better….! Now. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Jay didn’t really feel like explaining the whole Nadakhan situation to anyone ever, so he decided to attempt to change the subject slightly. Cause if anything, he was SERIOUSLY regretting bringing anything up.

“Um… Something happened while you guys… Ahhh. Weren’t around. I saw a picture of another realm called Djinjago. The picture had 4 separate depictions of Doom on it. That means there’s more out there somewhere.”

“Well…. As concerning as that sounds, I don’t see how this has anything to do with you. So what if you saw a picture of it? That doesn’t mean you started this.”

Jay wanted so desperately to explain himself, but again, explaining the situation would be so much more complicated than just holding in guilt. Besides, he’d been hanging on for over four years now, he can keep his mouth shut for longer. So, like the guilty liar he felt like, he agreed with Cole. Saying that he must have just had a bad dream about something, because now that he thought about it, the scene “couldn’t have possibly been real.”

‘Ow. Lying just made it worse…’

Cole chuckled as he headed out of the room, motioning for Jay to follow. “Come on, we’ve got a buttery, warm breakfast to meet!”

The blue ninja pulled off a convincing enough fake smile and followed. As fake as it was though, he refused to eat the previous day, so a warm breakfast really did sound wonderful.

     **************************

Meanwhile, the Time Twins, Vinny, and Harumi were on Tick and Tock; flying toward the source of the sent of elemental powers. Acronix and Vinny flew on one dragon, while Krux and Harumi flew on the other. The quiet one peered down at the ground below. “There’s a village up ahead. We should check to see if there’s any evidence that they were there.”

“Wonderful thinking Princess.” Krux complimented her idea respectfully.
Vinny asked why he had referred to her as a princess just then.

“Oh. Well I am. Um… sorta. I mean, my adopted parents were the Emperor and Empress. They’re gone now though, so my royalty position is mostly still alive though being head of the SOG.” Vinny stared at her in awe as the dragons landed and the riders jumped off. He was relatively normal before the apocalypse, so being an average citizen that he was, he didn’t know how to process what she just said. It was too much for his poor head that already had a migraine. Vinny chose to shake it off though and push on. As they walked through the town, Acronix became increasingly freaked out. The abandoned houses and eerie silence of the town mixed with the freshly fallen snow made the sight notably creepier than probably should have been. There wasn’t any wind either, which made the silence even more deafening. The only thing that could be heard was the crunching of the snow under their feet. Harumi looked through a window to see if anything was in there, only to find a skeleton hanging out on the couch.

‘Ew.’ She thought.

Vinny walked into a busted open doorframe and was immediately scared into lunging backwards.

“What?! Did you find something!??” Acronix ran toward Vinny and looked into the house he was supposedly scared by. He too, let out an “eep!” when he saw it. Krux walked by them both and knelt down beside the source of the fear. A skeleton. It was curled up closely to a long dead fire and was covered by a blanket. The twin rolled his eyes as he stood up and kicked the skull, causing it to roll toward Vinny and Acronix. The younger brother looked at his sibling almost discussed. “Why would you do that!?...”

“Psht. Not like he can feel it anymore.”

Harumi looked down at it. “By the looks of it, the poor guy froze to death. If they were a female I’d wonder if that was our lost scout.”

Vinny shot her an utterly confused look.

“Oh! During the first year of this-
We sent a young woman into the city to see what she could find, but she never came back. A shame too, we saved her from death and everything. Of course that was my idea, Ultra Violet wanted to put her out of her misery. Um… slowly.”

The other three all simultaneously took a step back. Krux cleared his throat and suggested they’d continue to fly towards the ninja. The others agreed and off they went.

     *************************

Zane sat on a table while Cyrus inspected his internal mechanics. His chest door was open so the inventor could take a good look at him.
“Hm… Despite all those years of damage, harsh conditions, and you being generally un-maintained, you appear to be in perfect working order. Your father was truly a brilliant man.”

Zane smiled as Cyrus closed him back up. “Yes! He certainly was amazing.” Zane’s face went from smiling to sadness a few moments after finishing the sentence.

Mr. Borg looked at him with compassion. “You miss him dearly, don’t you?”

Zane nodded. “Yes. But that is not currently what I am being troubled by. During this whole time, I have witnessed my family and friends suffer. I have seen them grow very  weak from hunger, cry when they bleed, and barely hang on in the frigid cold. But me… I never suffer with them. I understand that this is due to me being a nindroid, but I can’t help but feel bad.”

Cyrus stroked Zane’s cold, metal arm. “You’re a wonderful being my boy. You have a heart and soul unlike any AI I’ve ever witnessed. I understand that it must be challenging to watch your friends go through all of that while you remain unharmed, but you must understand that, like it or not, you’re not human. And in a way, that’s probably one of the only reasons they’re still alive.”

Zane cracked a small grin. “Really?”

“Of course! Nya was telling me all about what you’ve been through yesterday. And funny enough, you came up a whole lot. She kept saying that in many situations where everyone would start to lose hope, you would be the only one with enough strength to pull them through. And every time, you would.”

Zane smiled. “Well, I suppose there ARE some advantages to not being susceptible to things like hunger or illness...”

Just then, Pixal came bursting through the door. “I apologize for the interruption, but there’s an immanent threat looming outside the house!”

Zane jumped up and ran to her in urgency. “THREAT?!”

The female nindroid nodded. “It appears to be two elemental dragons.”

Zane’s heart dropped. “Oh no…”
He quietly whispered to himself, then ran to meet up with his fellow teammates. They all had gotten changed into their normal outfits again, and were standing by the door, ready to go and confront the threat. When Zane joined them, an irritated Jay turned to him. “The Time Twins found us!!!! We lead them right to us!”

Above, Vinny, Harumi, and the Time Twins watched as Tick and Tock motioned toward the house; signaling that the ninja were in there. Vinny chuckled rather intimidatingly as he slowly walked towards the front door.

“Oh, ninja! We know you’re hiding in there!...” his seemingly joking tone immediately snapped to bitter fury. “Get your trader ass out here so we can kill you!!!”

Nelson, from the base, heard Vinny’s shout and clung to Gayle, who was standing next to him. “He found us!” he cried. Gayle looked down at the crying child, and then back up at the ninja about to leave the base.

“Wait!”

The ninja all paused to look back at her.

“Please, what ever you do, don’t tell them we’re down here… if they find out….” She looked back down at Nelson as he looked up at her with tears in his eyes. The ninja understood what the reporter meant and agreed to not say a word about them. As they ascended the stairs leading up from the basement, Kai turned back to them. “Don’t worry, you’ll be alright. In fact, we’ll just tell them you already died! They can’t kill what’s already dead!” he winked to demonstrate that the statement was made as a joke. Then he turned and followed the group into the house above. Vinny and the others waited for the slightest movement or noise to be made, but there was none. Harumi turned and questioned if the dragons actually knew what they were doing. Acronix looked almost offended by the statement as he absorbed Tock back into him. “Of course they know what they’re doing!”

Just as they were all distracted, the ninja burst through the front door.
Krux looked around at each one and looked rather disappointed. “Oh… All of you lived? Even Mr. Torch survived that fire? Well that’s no fun.”
Kai’s fists ignited as his anger did. Then the entire team froze. Cole stared at what he saw in bewilderment. “V- Vinny!? But.. But you’re..?!”

The ex camera man chuckled diabolically. “Yes, well we all make mistakes……. NOW! NOW IS THE TIME FOR REVENGE! So I advise you stay still so I can kill you faster.”

“REVENGE?! For what? Keeping you alive and safe all this time?!? You’re welcome by the way.” Lloyd called out.

Vinny snarled. “Yah, what ever. You know, you talk like you’re so perfect. But what help were you when Dwayne died? Or Antonia? And now everyone else!!!? Tell me where they are now!”

Kai was dealing with processing too many emotions to remember that his sentence earlier was a joke and he just blurted out- “They’re gone! They all died in the fire!”
The rest of the gang turned and gave Kai the ‘What is wrong with you?!’ look. Vinny stood there stunned for a moment before drawing his swords and lunging at them. Everyone just barely dodged and drew their own weapons. Harumi cracked a devious smile and ran into the fight that was beginning to break out. She and Lloyd’s swords crashed together as he blocked her incoming attack. His eyes met with hers as he parried and sent her stumbling back. “Who… are you?”

“The name’s Harumi. Commander and Empress of the SOG. But you can call me your downfall.” She went in for a second blow, but Lloyd Spinjitzued out of the way and jump-kicked her from the back. Meanwhile, Kai, and the others were taking on the Time Twins and Vinny. The vengeful ex camera man attacked with absolutely no mercy, but the ninja tried their hardest not to hurt him too badly. On the dark side or not, he was still their friend. Acronix fought with Zane and Nya, while Krux was fighting Jay and Cole with Tick. Cole smashed his fists into the ground, causing the road beneath the mighty dragon to splinter upwards and pierce it through the stomach. It briefly disappeared, causing Krux to fall downwards into the jagged rocks. His right arm was cut by the edges as he crashed to the ground. He almost immediately re-conjured Tick and the dragon reared up behind him, staring deep into the ninja’s eyes. The man picked himself back up, holding his bleeding arm and smiling creepily. “Good night.” He whispered. In an instant, Tick lunged forward and grabbed Cole in its mouth while head-butting Jay to the side. The earth ninja yelled out in pain as the dragon thrashed him around and finally flung him into Jay. The blue ninja cried out when his friend was tossed on top of him and instinctually let out a massive discharge of electricity, which honestly hurt them both even more. Vinny and Kai fought back and forth while they both yelled at each other.

“HOW COULD YOU LET SUCH AN INNOCENT CHILD DIE!!?”

“I told you! It wasn’t my fault! I didn’t do anything!!”

“That’s.. the.. PROBLEM!!!”
The camera man lunged at him, but Kai kicked Vinny back. He shook it off and tried to jab Kai in the heart with absolute full force. “JUST… DIE!!” The red ninja was only an inch away from not dodging in time, and retaliated by flame-punching him in the gut. Vinny stumbled backwards and dropped his swords to be able to grab at the point of impact. “OW!! WHAT THE HELL?!!!”

“Sorry dude. I didn’t want to have to go that far, but you’re not giving me much of a choice here.”

“Oh, a choice? Just like how you CHOSE to let everyone die in that horrible fire?!”

Ok… Kai was SERIOUSLY REGRETTING bringing up that they died…

In the base, Jason was blocking a desperate Miles from getting out to join the fight. “For the last time, no! I can’t let you go out there and get hurt! I love you too much for me to let you die!”

“But Jason, I’m not a baby anymore! I’m older now! And I’m Fugidove: Superhero of the Apocalypse! Protector of all in need. And the ninja sound like they need my help!”

“For The First Spinjitzu Master’s sake!!! YOU ARE NOT A SUPERHERO!”

“Yes I am! And I’m gonna prove it right now!” with that, he managed to shove his brother aside and run up the stairs. Jason called out for him to please stop, but he didn’t. When he got to the front door, he saw a battered Lloyd get thrown into the house’s front wall and crash into the snowbank below. The Dragon Krux was riding was going to kill them if he didn’t do something! Miles slipped on his goggles and spread open his “wings.” He came rushing over to Vinny and Kai in an attempt to help, but was easily compromised by the ex camera man’s reflexes. Kai yelled out for Miles to get up and go back inside, and while he was distracted, Vinny delivered a massive blow to his chest.

“What you didn’t know, was that the Time Twins didn’t only heal me, but made me STRONGER!”

With the attack, the ninja froze as the pain shockwave flooded over him. As that happened, Krux used Tick to blast him through the house wall. Miles watched in terror as he witnessed him crashing through the wall and onto the rotting wood floorboards inside. Miles waited for a tense moment awaiting the hero to get up and continue fighting, but he didn’t move at all. Vinny turned to Miles. “Oh, of course… the ninja are dragging other innocent, suffering people into their problems now. Pro tip bud, run away while you still can.”

Miles was frozen there, just watching the ninja get beaten up. “N- no. I can’t just let you kill them! I’m a superhero! My heroic cry fills the night!” the dove themed hero wannabe punched Vinny in the face and started making his bird call. Vinny wasn’t exactly happy with that, and ran to pick up his previously dropped sword. He could only find one, seeing as the other was already lost to the old snow and the stuff that was now beginning to fall. He whipped around and attempted to jab him. Lloyd looked up just in time to see it happen.

“NOOO!” He screamed out as the sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out. Vinny’s eyes grew wide as he walked back in shock. Miles, who had his eyes shut tight, slowly opened them. They flooded with tears the moment they did. “No…” he whispered.

Jason stood in front of his brother; shielding him.

He coughed as he fell to the ground, and Miles screamed his name. Jason took the blow for Miles, and was bleeding.

“Jason! No, no, no, no, no!!! This can’t be happening! Y- YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME!”

His dying brother held his hand firmly and smiled. “I love you.”

Miles ripped his goggles off and threw himself into a hug with his brother. “I love you more…”

As Jason’s grip loosened, and smile began fading, he nestled into Miles.
“Heh, yeh? Well.. I… I love you… most……”

The little brother collapsed next to him and burst into tears. “Jason…… I’m sorry…………….”

Krux, Acronix, Vinny, and Harumi all paused for a moment to watch before taking advantage of the ninja being distracted. Krux noticed the snowfall, and that Pixal and Cyrus had just come out of the basement to see what happened. He gave Tick a specific number of pats on a specific part of his neck to give him a silent command. The dragon took a deep breath and shot a megabeam into the house and basement entrance. The entire thing exploded as the beast flew above and began to destroy all the other houses as well. Nya ran towards Harumi to strike her down to avenge her brothers, but the quiet one was faster. She kicked her back into the burning rubble of the house. She watched as part of the roof fell and seemed to crush the girl. Zane panicked as he tried calling out to Jay and Cole who had been previously thrown around even more by the dragon. They were both tossed into a snowbank where they haven’t moved from since. Zane felt his body starting to glitch out and shut down, but he was determined to get to his friends. With him being the last ninja supposedly still alive, Harumi decided to finally finish the job. The nindroid was only feet away from reaching Jay and Cole when he felt a burst of pain shoot through his waist. He looked behind him to see Harumi with two katakanas in her hands. And she was smiling. That couldn’t be good… and sure enough, it wasn’t. He could no longer feel his lower half. His vision glitched until it went black and he fell over into the snow.
Vinny stared at the fallen ninja, beginning to feel kind of bad. But he shook the feeling off as he turned to the others. “We.. We did it.”

“Sure did bud!” Said Acronix as he slapped Vinny in the back in a congratulative manner.

Krux turned to the burning building. “Wait. We’ve landed in more luck than that. We might not be following my original plan anymore, but I suppose we could still use some aspects of it.”

The others looked at each other utterly confused. Tick used its talons to break through the rubble and grab something. The others couldn’t tell what it was, but were admittedly curious. The villains mounted the dragons and flew away from scene; taking the stolen something with them. They returned to the city victorious, but the ninja and their friends…….

well………..

they weren’t exactly that lucky.