Warning: slight mention of blood and underage drinking.

Ninjago was once ruled by the tyrant, Lord Garmadon. He ruled over Ninjago with an iron fist and he killed a lot of people. A resistance rose up against him and managed to kill the dictator. Unfortunately, the government that replaced him wasn't much better.

The current emperor and empress only really care about the wealthy people in Ninjago. They get invited to all the parties and get gifts from the royal family. The rest of us are left to fend for ourselves. Anybody who tries to speak out against this new government was either arrested or killed. Anytime the government killed someone, they made it look like an "accident."

This is how life has been for years. There has never been any hope to get things changed.

"Come on, guys! We have to finish this before the cops get here!" a boy whisper-yelled at his two friends and they were spray painting over a mural. He was wearing a blue beanie, a blue hoodie, jeans, and blue sneakers. The two boys he was with were wearing similar outfits, except one wore green and the other wore black. All of their outfits looked old and worn-out.

"We're working as fast as we can, Jay!" the boy in green, Lloyd, said.

"The look on the emperor and empress's face is gonna be priceless.  If only we could see them," the boy in black, Cole, said.

They finished up and took a step back to admire their work. It was a mural of the royal family: the emperor, the empress, and their daughter. The three boys spray painted words like "murderers" and "dictators" all over it. Vandalizing murals that the government had put all over Ninjago City is something that the three boys enjoyed doing. Of course, they only did it at night when it would be harder to see them.

All of a sudden, they started hearing sirens coming closer. They looked at each other and nodded before they ran off in different directions.

Cole ran to the left and noticed a few cops chasing him on foot. He ran through some stands people set up to try to make some money, knocking a few things over and making a huge mess out of the area in the process of trying to run. He yelled the occassional "sorry" to some of them. Luckily for him, the mess he made managed to cut himself off from the cops which left him an opening to escape.

Lloyd ran to the right and noticed a couple of cop cars chasing him down and he knew how much of a disadvantage he had running on foot. He found a bike that someone parked next to a building. "I'm sorry to whoever owns this bike, but right now, I need it more," he said out loud to no one in particular before grabbing the bike and taking off with it. He was still at a disadvantage, but at least he had wheels now. He started making a bunch of random turns at every intersection he came across to try to lose them. He managed to confuse one after a few times which caused that car to turn the wrong direction, but was having trouble shaking the other car. He finally got lucky at one intersection where a car didn't listen to the pull over if you hear a siren rule and crashed right into them. Lloyd laughed to himself as he managed to get away.

Jay ran straight and was being chased by cops on foot, but also knew there were some cops in their cars trying to cut him off. He ran through some stands with people selling stuff much like Cole did, but he didn't cause as much of a mess as Cole. Although, he might've taken a couple things without paying. Including an apple that he bit into while running. He continued running until he went into an alley. He got cornered by all of the cops who were chasing him. He looked around and then jumped onto a dumpster to help him jump over a wall while the cops started shooting at him. One bullet did manage to scrape his right arm causing him to bleed a bit, but other than that, he managed to get back up and continue running. Luckily, he lost all the cops that were chasing him.

Jay met back up with his friends at an old abandoned warehouse that they live in. He walked in and took the stairs up to the second floor where he saw them both there waiting for him.

"We were wondering what was taking you so long," Cole said.

"I almost got caught," Jay answered him.

Lloyd noticed how Jay's arm was bleeding. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah. A bullet scraped me when they started shooting."

Lloyd started grabbing the first aid kit that they had to bandage up Jay's arm.

"Woah! They started shooting at you?!" Cole exclaimed shocked. "They actually tried to kill you?!"

"Yeah," Jay said and then winced when Lloyd started cleaning the wound.

"Sorry!" Lloyd said quickly.

"It's fine." He allowed Lloyd to finish bandaging him up before he continued. "On the bright side, I got us some food." Jay held up a loaf of bread he stole while he was running. It wasn't much, but it was better than eating nothing. The only way for them to eat was for them to steal food.

"Great find, Jay!" Cole said as they split up the loaf of bread between the three of them.

They were three teenage boys who had to look after each other. Jay and Cole are both 16 and Lloyd is 14. They all have different reasons for ending up where they currently are.

Jay was abandoned as a baby by his birth parents. Luckily, an elderly couple found him and took him in. The couple also happened to be very vocal about their disliking of the government. They hated Lord Garmadon's reign and hoped that things would get better after the resistance killed him, but it didn't and they spoke out against the emperor and empress that replaced him. That's what got them killed. They both died when their home was "accidently" set on fire when Jay was 5. He had to learn to live on the streets after that. He had to learn to steal to survive and he found the warehouse to give him some shelter.

Lloyd knows that his father was the tyrant known as Lord Garmadon, but he never knew his father since the resistance killed him when Lloyd was just a baby. When the emperor and empress took over, his mother and uncle spoke out against them. Sure, his mother didn't agree with the stuff her husband did, but she managed to stop him from doing things that were even worse. His mother couldn't be silent with Ninjago's new rulers, so she started speaking out with her brother-in-law which resulted in them both being arrested. That happened when Lloyd was 9. He found Jay shortly after that and he's now been living with Jay in the warehouse for about 5 years.

Cole's mother died when he was 12. She was very sick. She happened to also be vocal against Lord Garmadon and then the emperor and empress. After his mother died, his father started supporting the emperor and empress which is something that Cole couldn't agree with. He never saw eye to eye with his father anymore. When he was 13, he ran away from home and came across Jay and Lloyd. He's been with them for the past 3 years.

After they were done eating the bread, Cole took out the alcohol. They knew they were technically too young to drink, but it helped them to relax a bit after an intense police chase. They had stolen a few bottles of wine a while back and kept it for nights like tonight. Cole poured three glasses and brought them over to where Jay and Lloyd were sitting in their makeshift living room. All the furniture they had was thrown away by people, so it was dirty and some of it was a little broken. Jay and Lloyd took their glasses from Cole and they all started drinking.

When Jay was done with his, he put the glass down on the table and got up. "I think I'm gonna call it a night," he said as he started walking to his room. Since the warehouse is so big, they all have separate rooms.

"Night Jay," Lloyd and Cole said and continued drinking their drinks.

"You think we'll hear screaming tonight?" Cole asked Lloyd.

"It's the anniversary of his adopted parents' death," Lloyd responded. "He always has nightmares on this specific night."

Cole nodded.

"The worse part is that if the emperor and empress ever do get thrown out of the government, I could get my mother and uncle back, you could try to make up with your father, but Jay doesn't have any family left. We're the closest thing to a family he's got."

"If that ever happens, neither of us can forget about him," Cole said. "One of us needs to take him in with our family."

"Agreed."

Jay was laying down on his bed and looking up at the ceiling. He was holding a picture of himself with his adopted parents. They all looked so happy in that picture. Now, Jay can't remember the last time he has had a genuine smile on his face.  He always tries to put on a fake smile with Lloyd and Cole.  He doesn't want them to know how much pain he has inside him.  He remembers what his adopted parents taught him. They taught him to not be afraid to speak out against what is wrong in the world. He has been going around spray painting murals because of how much he despises the emperor and empress, but he wants to do more. He wants to expose them for the people they are. He wants to expose all the times they've murdered people. He doesn't know if Lloyd and Cole will be onboard with that, but he can't just vandalize murals anymore. He needs to try to really make a difference.

A/N: I'm trying out this new story. I really liked the plot that I came up with. Don't worry, you'll meet the others in the next chapter. For this story, I wrote multiple chapters before publishing anything which is not something I normally do. I will be posting a new chapter every Wednesday for now.

What did you guys think of the first chapter?

I hope you enjoyed!