Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The world fell apart exactly a decade ago. 

Those who are old and frail failed to have survived the new world and died in the first wave. 

Those who survived, are suffering the tenth wave. Each year, exactly on June 10th, the world stops and the sound of dropped air bombs crash and explode. What lies inside corrupts and crawls into people's lungs, filling them with pure evil and rotting them from the inside out. Their skin rots purple and they constantly throw up this black liquid that does no good if digested. 

They are called The Overlord's spawn, mindless creatures filled with evil. And therefore; killed by those surviving.

Or throwing them into the pit that separates the Overlords main residency and the lower life forms. 

Today was the day the bombs dropped.

"Shit shit- everyone in! We've got an hour before they drop!!" People scurried into their homes and hand made bunkers several feet under the ground, connected by tunnels that ultimately lead to a huge underground bunker for all the low level residents. 

"Thank you young man," The young man in question was twenty-eight year old Kai Smith. Ninth wave survivor and about to be tenth wave because there was no way he was going to become a mindless evil puppet for the Overlord and his grimmy evil hands. 

"Kai! I've got three more kids!" Kai watched as their muscles dropped off another pair of kids. "Thank you Cole! Hurry up, we're half way filled by Zane's calculations," Cole was their muscles, he was strong, bulky, and tall than many of them. He was burnt from the sun, and he never truly seems to catch a weightlifting break. 

"Kai, we need light again!" Kai ushered the kids down the stairs hidden inside a home they were using to bring the people to the main bunker. Kai lifted his hand and let it ignite, Jay appeared and put a torch above the fire and soon he held a lit torch. "Thanks! Hurry up, Lloyd says he's nearly done in his section," Kai nodded before running back up the stairs and quickly glancing around to catch sight of any stragglers that didn't get the message. 

With no one in sight, Kai slammed the door closed and barricaded it with several objects, he grabbed a unlit torch and lit it before he went down the steps and closed it over his head. 

The tunnels were cramped and humid but with cooperation there was thousands of people safe and sound. Cole and Lloyd were getting the last few before heading down and securing the bunker entrances and hunkering down here for the next two days until the smoke of the bombs dispersed entirely and it was safe to breath above ground again. 

Kai stayed stationed at the last bunker entrance, waiting for Lloyd and Cole with the last few residents.

The minutes ticked by. 

The minutes flashed as Lloyd and Cole carried and dragged the last few people to the last open bunker latch. 

"We've got five!!" Cole exclaimed.

"We can make it." Lloyd whispered out as he held onto the two children latched onto him like koalas. He was sixteen, strong, tall, and extremely good at running. Cole and Lloyd were the only ones allowed to run around when the ten minute mark hit.

Three minutes left. 

"Left and then right!" Lloyd followed the directions and let out a breathy laugh when he saw the last lit torch in the street. It began to flicker and suddenly the ground let out a trembling boom.

There was a loud horn that paused and went off three timre before it stopped. 

Both ninjas watched as the very first bomb dropped from the sky. It was on the other side of their part of the city, but as it landed they still felt the harsh tremble and saw the smoke expel.

"Shit- Lloyd go go!" Lloyd did just that. He ran as hard as his legs pushed and he nearly slipped as he took a sharp left and ran into the house, he dropped the kids as gently as he could and yelled at them to go and don't look back. They did, and Lloyd began to grab stuff to push against the door. 

Cole ran in and slammed the door as he held three kids and dragged a teenager. Lloyd pushed with all his strenght and his heart raced as the sounds and earth shaking explosions sounder nearer and nearer. 

"Hurry your ass up!" Lloyd felt a tinge of relief when he realized Kai was stationed at the bunker entrance with a lit torch.

He must have waited for them. 

"Go!" The next explosions sounded right on the street they were on and within seconds there was black smoke curling under the door. 

They were too late...

"Stand the fuck up!" He was dragged to his feet and shoved down the stairs. The bunker door slammed and Cole grunted with extension as the earth shifted and blocked the entrance entirely. 

That was one more bunker entrance lost...

"Go! This isn't over!" The three remaining ninja ran. They ran until all they could see was the dim hope of their survival; the bunker they had built when the first wave landed and over %75 of Ninjago City itself was wiped. Their numbers dwindled witch each year and each wave, but after the bunker was fully built, everyone had a chance of surviving if they knew where to go.

When they reached the huge open space, Cole turned and stretched his arms out, stomping and settling his foot into the ground before pushing the air together and working the earth to create a natural door and seal. With one last push, Cole managed to close their entrance and escape for the next two days. They would be safe down here as long as everyone did their part.

Lloyd fell onto his rear, tired and breathing hard from the adrenaline and the run. Kai let out a breathy chuckle as he leaned on his knees and breathed in hard and heavy.

They made it.

"Hey, we've got a few injured and I need another set of hands, come down to the med bay once one of you three are finished taking a breather!" Mystake, one of the few elder people who survived the very first wave and has been striving. She walked off and Lloyd stood up, dusting himself up and swallowing the lump in his throat. 

"I'll go, I got some scratches on my knees I need to fix." Lloyd walked off, taking the earth made steps down to the lower floor where the med bay was located. He glanced around, seeing many of their last years residents were still here. He noticed the fewer numbers too, but the ones who die within the year are usually sick young ones or elderly who couldn't survive the terrible conditions.

Lloyd entered the med bay, glancing around and finding Mystake in the back making some type of healing tea with who knew what. 

"I'm here, is there any special patients who need any of my help?" Mystake hummed, gesturing over to some little boy who looked around twelve, frail, and shockingly normal looking.

"Just drink this and rest your hand on the boys shoulder, your power should be able to give him enough energy to heal. Again, I do warn that you take breaks, we don't want you to lose your power now," Mystake handed him the tea and Lloyd drank it as he made his way over to the boy. He smiled and introduced himself, explaining what he'd do and he stayed there for the entire night until the next morning.

In this modern day society. The ones who live up top with the Overlord are the villains, a whole decade ago, the villains decided it was the best idea to join together and finally for once throw back the ninja and their stupid heroic society lovers. 

Lloyd has been around seven when the world began to rot, and the ninja had been simple teenagers. Now most of them were near their thirties or already there. 

Zane was the oldest, there went Cole, Jay, Kai, and then Lloyd. 

When Lloyd was found by the ninja he had been eleven and nearly died in the fourth wave. Kai had saved him, and then Lloyd trained to also become a ninja. He wanted to help and save people just as much as the other ninja did. 

"Mister green ninja...?" Lloyd opened his eyes, glancing up to see the little boy looking healthier but still hurt. 

"Yeah? Do you need something?" The boy shook his head. 

"Can you tell me the story of the water ninja...? Please?" Lloyd blinked before he smiled softly and hummed. 

"She got her name because of long ago, way before the wave, she had mastered her power and went around Ninjago helping those without water. She was a hero, but once the second wave hit, she sacrificed herself and fought off the smoke as hard as she could... until she inhaled the smallest amount. It took a whole week before she became to rot away and corrupt..." Lloyd continued with his story, retelling about how amazing she was and how from afar he had seen her achievements.

"People say she roams The Pit... but I like to think she roams the Overlords city, alive and as healthy as a corrupted person can be." There was a loud crash and screams, Lloyd flinched, lifting his hand from the bots shoulder and letting the misty green attached to his hand dissolve. 

"Stay put, you're all safest in the med bay!" Lloyd called out as he ran out, the crash had been loud and had shook the ground.

What Lloyd saw when he left the med bay area was one of their worst nightmares. 

The rock wall that sealed them in was cracked, it was a huge crack and this is the first time something like this happens. Lloyd looked around, seeing Cole already at the cracked wall and holding it together, physically digging his fingers into the rock and holding both pieces together. Preventing any of the smoke, they all knew, was awaiting on the other side. It's barely been a day, and the smoke needs at least twenty four more hours to disperse and leave entire. 

"Everyone into the medbay! Go go!" Lloyd rushed until he caught sight of Jay and Zane working with their cameras and searching for what had happened. What could have caused the wall to crack for the first time in less than a decade.

They've never failed before... they can't fail now. 

"We need to get the people away!" Lloyd watched as Kai ushered the people put the med bay and up the winding path that led to the main ground floor and as high up as their huge dome bunker reached the top. The very top was where people slept. 

Lloyd helped people with the disability to not walk due to injuries and quickly carried two at a time as he followed the crowd. He continued until Kai got the last kid.

"The wall is cracking!" Cole exclaimed in terror as the wall continued to crack, the spots where his fingers dug into the wall has dragged as if the wall was being ripped open and whatever was on the other side was forcing itself in. 

"We don't have a way out!" Jay said as he pulled at his hair, sparks of electricity sparking through his hair. 

They don't have a way out... 

They don't-...

Oh first master. Is this where they all die...?

"Shit!-" The Ninja collectively watched as Cole was thrown away from the wall and into the other side of the huge room. His back hit the earth and he fell, Zane caught him with an ice slide and Cole was officially unconscious. 

The wall ripped open and the curling black smoke fell from the broken entrance. Within minutes the bunker would be filled and they'd all be dead. Their resistance would die, and the world would truly end. 

"Ooh, and I never thought there was any more alive! Look at that," A snake. A white. Snake. Slithered into sight and he wore a mask, his patterns were white and purple, and he looked nearly too long even without the end of his tail in sight. 

"Shut it. We were told to bring the green one, boss said he's... special." Two more people appeared, and Lloyd glanced and caught sight of Kai's wide eyed expression and Jay's heartbroken one. 

A man with a mechanic arm and a tophat appeared. Beside him and the snake was a girl with hair pulled into a ponytail, she didn't wear a mask, because her skin was already the color of rot and her eyes glowed a deep shade of purple. Her expression was angry, and what she wore resembled the Gi the ninja currently wore but in black and plated with body armor. 

"Nya...?" Kai whispered in disbelief, and Lloyd connected several dots. 

Two stranger and the long lost water ninja were the ones here to end them. 

"We must hurry! Wake Cole!" Jay nodded and quickly rushed over and began slapping and shaking Cole. Zane seemed to be the only one to move without struggle or shock, so he spoke. 

"How did you find this place?" The snake guy cackled and it was awful, Lloyd felt shivers run down his body and he realized what had been previously said.. 

"Kai- Kai, they said they needed the green one... I'm green!" Lloyd whispered in a panic, Kai shifted to stand closer and in front of Lloyd. 

Both knew Lloyd could handle himself. 

"Oh, just some heat signatures here and there. The Overlord has frown quite tired of seeing the humans run around and hide like little moles every year, so he decided to send some exterminators down!" The snake made jazz hands, before gesturing to the corrupted Nya.

"And even allowed us to bring some back up. I do say, she's been highly trained, since she doesn't need human needs all she's been doing was train, train, train. She's practically unstoppable now." Nya lifted her hand, and there was a long string of water that appeared behind her, snaking into springs and suddenly separating intl five long tendrils. Each one aimed at each present ninja. 

"We need distractions." Kai and Zane glanced at each other and they moved before the villains could say any more words. 

There was fighting all at once, the black smoke seeped into the room and slowly filled the bottom later, blocking the sight of ground. 

"Help me get him up!" Jay grunted as he hoisted one of Cole's arms across his shoulders and dragging the other up. Lloyd helped and the two dragged the slowly waking Cole up the long way to the very top where the civilians and humans resided. 

It felt like hours but it was only minutes until Cole fully woke up and he began to shift the earth and move it, creating a separate tunnel for the innocents to leave and get out. To escape the smoke and live to see yet another day.

"I'll help Zane and Kai, you two be ready to book it!" Jay raced back down to the fight. 

Lloyd was held back by Cole. He might have been unconscious but he seemed to have heard enough because he told Lloyd that giving them what they wanted would only lessen the good guys odds...

The fight lasted ten whole minutes.

Only two of the three fighting ninja made it back up.

Zane says Jay had his chest pierced by frozen ice controlled by Nya, before he inhaled the smoke and began to rot. 

They won. But at what cost. 

Chapter Text

The Rot Plotline (Draft 1; unfinished)

Backstory: The Rot, or better yet corruption is a smoke dark as black and as cold as freezing temperatures. Once inhaled it can corrupt someone and make their skin look like it's rotting, their eyes turn white, and their mouths hang open constantly while drooling black substance(the physical manifestation of The Rot.)

There is no cure. (Nah, jk, Lloyd's power combined with the evil Overlord's power can potentially heal a corrupted one.)

The Overlord created The Rot when he realized his subjects didn't listen to his commands. So he instilled fear in them, it started with public executions live streamed, poor innocents forced to inhale The Rot and forced to change on live. People got scared and many obeyed, but at some point people stopped obeying and the Overlord decided to just get rid of them all and start anew. 

Plot or important points(not in chronicle order)

•One of the ninja dies(Nya or Jay)

•One or more ninja are severely injured/killed

•Lloyd is kidnapped(why not)

•Arin and Sora come in at some point and follow in the ninjas(current alive) and help save Lloyd from the Overlord 

•Lloyd is torture (why not, again)

•Lloyd is drained of nearly all his power and left in a coma for like 3 days before he wakes and is just as weak

•The Overlord begins to destroy the people who are left(possible detailed scenes of dying people.?)

•The Ninja that are left along with Arin and Sora have fled to the far mountains surrounding Ninjago City and rest there

•The good guys never win(oh shit plot twist! No good guys winning today)

Ninjas powers/explained:

Nya: Can control water, can freeze water and melt ice. (Corrupted)

Zane: Can create ice with the water molecules present in the air[useless for dry climates] (healthy/due to unhuman parts can therefore not be corrupted)

Cole: Can move the earth like Top Beifong from ATLA, his uses are limited because he hasn't truly reached tje potential to the way he moves the earth (Healthy bc I like him too much)

Jay: Creates static energy by rubbing his hands, and can summon electricity from the air if cloudy enough or has enough static stored up (healthy~corrupted)

Kai: Creates flames with a flick of a wrist, his fire weakens during the nights and grows during sunrises. He's also really naturally hot and a personal heating pad (healthy bc I like him)

Lloyd: Has the power to drag stored up energy inside him and release it in green balls and create force fields or shields, too much use and he might kill himself. (Healthy bc he's the main character moment, I also like him) ex; can heal or stimulate the healing gene by drinking one of Mystake's 'special' teas and touch the person he wants to heal. It drains him and his power, so too much can ultimately kill him too!

I gave up on the idea. Was going for a type of Maze Runner theme but totally gave up. 

I really loved this idea but I guess big projects must wait. I also had no actual idea how to start something like this so there was my fail, I silly dived in and had no actual idea or thought as to how to plan this out.