Beyond: Dark Future

**Beyond: Dark Future** is a 2048 animated movie, part of one of the many shared universe of the Beyond Franchise which has run from 2018 to the present day. It takes place in between the events of Season 37: The Final Incursion and Season 38: Crossroads. The film covers a liberation mission, lead by Jason C. Walker, to free a reality in the Negative Multiverse that is under the control of Samara Yokotawaru's Dark Order. The mascot, focus, and main character of the story is Jason as he must confront his own inner demons as he works to reverse the damage done to the reality. Negative Jason serves as the main antagonist while the Dark Order Loyalists and Shadow Forgers serve as the villainous factions. This movie has a runtime of 142 minutes and serves as the first movie to be released as part of the Beyond Franchise's canon.

## Overview

A quest for the answers he seeks! It's only been a year since the triumphant but also tragic end to the Power Wars, and since then Jason Walker has been doing soul-searching and solo missions to find answers to some of his own long-running questions. His quest brings him to Kronos's Time Keeper Colonies where the two consult about a possible mission the lightning demigod could partake in. Samara Yokotawaru's Generals have sent their agents into an alternate timeline where Shadow Convergence succeeded and the world was taken over by the Shadow Forger occupation. Kronos and his council send Jason to take both factions out as they must deal with some problems of their own. As Jason ventures into the dark timeline set thirty years in the future, he finds that things have gone horribly wrong for the timeline. Within a world ruled by his enemies, Jason must evade the loyalists and their allies if he wishes to find any remaining heroes in this timeline. As he finds them, he learns that an alternate version of himself may have also played a role in the capture of this timeline and why its become the way it is. Can Jason find a way to save this timeline and from both his and its oppressors? Will he overcome his inner demons and accept what can't be done? What happened to his alternate self? The answers both the audience and protagonist seek lay in wait in this dark future...

## Plot

### Part One - Arrival

Lightning strikes as rain falls down upon the Ninjago City Bay Memorial. Standing in the shadow of Kate Smith's part of the statue is Jason, still feeling responsible for her lack of options in her final moments. As he lets the rain hit his face, Keith ascends the low staircase leading up to the statue's plaque and joins his side. The two reminisce upon their time with her before Keith urges Jason to get out of the rain and consider attending the team's dinner party. Although resistant at first, Jason lets go of his sorrow and takes Sabrina to the restaurant which Brad has rented out for the night. After an hour and a half of enjoying his time with his family, he takes Sabrina to the International Ninja Academy where they sit and have their own little chat. Worried about her mother as her father passed away recently, Sabrina ponders on what she should do alongside Alessia to care for their mother while respecting their family's will. Comforted that she has confided in him for the solution to this problem, Jason gives his honest opinion about it which more than delights Sabrina. The two kiss under the gateway of the Academy's garden courtyard with moonlight shining down upon them. Interrupting their intimate embrace, Viper Z brings a holovid message for Jason from the MPC concerning an incident with a cell of Dark Order Loyalists being captured and brought in for interrogation by the Time Keepers. Upon thanking Viper Z for passing on the message, Jason and Sabrina continue on with their evening by settling down for the night at the Walker Estate.

Burdened with the premonition that the Dark Order is expanding their hold upon different timelines and realities throughout the cosmos, Jason travels to the Time Colonies to question Kronos on what he knows about the activities of the evil organization. As he arrives, he finds that some new faces, that would be unwelcome in the MPC, are now a part of Kronos's Time Keeper Corps. However, he pushes these concerns aside as Kronos explains the existence of the Negative Multiverse and how the Dark Order has maintained such ease in conquering its reality. After a debate and heeding several warnings, Jason sets out in the Storm Phoenix for the rift entrance where he finds a large graveyard of ships that were unable to enter due to unknown complications. After realizing that it's because of a curse power the Dark Order embedded in the fiber of the rift, Jason uses his new abilities to phase the ship through the dense matter and break through. After his success, Jason discovers a negative version of Earth-21 and arrives upon that reality to find that things have barely changed. This is contradicted when he enters the city.

### Part Two - Fallen City

After his arrival, Jason ventures into the city where he finds that the government's laws have changed due to the Dark Order's influence upon the reality. He wanders around the city's community to find that they mistake him for some villain which prompts him to cut his hair and hide his scar. This makes him look like one of the Police Force's generals and forces him to play along with the role and discover the treacherous acts being committed by the authorities upon the public. Jumping to a logical conclusion that he is not one of them, a cop approaches him to confront him before taking him to the side to tell him who he really is. The cop reveals himself as a former BDC Squad Captain by the name of Johnathan Majors and tells Jason of how he joined the force to get close to the men upstairs; the Dark Order's agents and puppets had become the Feudal Council's replacement. When a riot lead by a biker gang ensues, Jason uses the oppurtunity to escape after taking a comlink from John to contact him later. He gets far through an alleyway as he prepares to find a sewer entrance but is taken out by a masked figure using some kind of device to target his nerves.

However, he doesn't stay unconscious for long as he wakes up rather quickly and a fight unfolds between him and the masked figure, who is revealed to be Brooklyn in disguise. After a tense moment that is resolved by the two, Brooklyn rushes Jason to the Resistance Hideout when the Police Force's chase on the biker gangs reaches their neck of the city. During their escape from the surface, Jason asks about why she doesn't have Cody with her and she explains that things have changed for the worse. When she says this, the two watch from safe cover as a Silent Legion Unit bombards the biker gang before being forced to continue into the shadows of the city's lower levels where the police dare not set foot.

As the riot dies down and some bikers are caught and put into police custody, Johnathan Majors returns to Police HQ where he reports the results of the Silent Legion's air strike. Conflicted as he leaves the briefing only to see burn victims get dragged away into prison vans, Johnathan drives home to his apartment where he greets his wife and daughter before locking himself in his office to await contact with the Jason he knows isn't of this universe.

In Borg Tower's top floor, the Feudal Council replacements sit in front of a transmission from The Spider detailing of the arrival of an outer from another reality. Concerned that one man was able to sneak past their satellites, they deploy their best officers to find out where he went.

### Part Three - Survivors

As they narrowly escape a squad of undercover police officers, the two finally slip into a pipe system that leads to the isolated Resistance base. Brooklyn introduces Jason to the Resistance of their reality but tensions begin to rise as the members, comprised of Vincent, Digital, Viper Z and many other familar faces, mistake him for their earth's Jason who has supposedly fallen to the darkness. After giving an explanation of what went different in his reality, Jason gets them to realize that he is good as their leader, who is an aged Lucas, arrives on the scene to ensure that he is still pure. Shortly after a moment of catching up, Lucas decides its time they told their story and why exactly the public eye fears Jason and his power. Before allowing Lucas to proceed, Jason calls upon John to meet with them at Mount Ninja ruins in a few hours. Excited that he may finally get the chance to raid Borg Tower's upper floor and drive out the pretenders, John agrees to the terms before equipping himself.

Elsewhere, Kronos worries for Jason's safety of being in enemy territory as the Time Keepers fend off against a group of Time Pirates. Borg reluctantly contacts an old ally to assist Jason as soon as possible.

### Part Four - Living Long Enough to Betray Yourself

Like positive Earth-21's Lucas, this reality's Lucas had a vision during his fight with the Jade Empress that showed Jason turning evil due to certain circumstances. When Lucas tried to warn him, the Shadow Forgers came around and Sabrina never showed up due to being killed by Landon and Jason was never stopped from murdering Jigen which thrusted him into darkness. Landon also succeeded in killing Keith which caused Jason to go rage mode and kill Landon before he could cause any more harm. Unbeknownst to Jason, the Shadow Forgers would genocide a third of the population and Shadow Convergence would succeed, causing the Ninja Force and their allies to either die or endure the madness by hiding out for many years. After most of the team was executed by Loyalists, Samara's top ranking generals would condition Jason to believe that the Dark Order was good and reversed Shadow Convergence by using their powers. This process would make Jason the greatest threat to the entire reality and make him the ultimate villain. This revelation would stun the regular Jason whom Lucas would tell the story to and cause him to run off towards Mount Ninja. But as he arrived there, he would find that nothing was left as the secondary Arsenals had been crashed into the mountain. Vincent, Brooklyn and some of the others would catch up to Jason and mourn their losses with him as he makes a promise to do what he does best and help them free their reality.

Eventually, Johnathan and his ex-agents would arrive and explain their motives to the group before joining them in the trek back to the city's undergrounds. Along the way, they encounter the cops looking for Jason and take them out before interrogating them and learning that the jig is up.

### Part Five - A Spark of Hope

When they return from the ruins of Mount Ninja, the group arrives back at the base to find that Lucas has miraculously gotten out of his wheelchair and regained the ability to stand. Brooklyn does a check-up and and finds that his healing factor kicked back in due to his fear being broken by the feeling that this Jason can give them a chance of bringing down the Dark Order's occupation. While they make their plan of attack, the negative Jason arrives at Borg Tower where the loyalists inform him of recent events. He ignores their announcements as he sense the presence of the other Jason and tells the loyalists to mobilize the Shadow Forgers as they have one final execution spree to go on. He then goes to the Spiritual Plain where he's imprisoned his remnant of Supaku and taunts him with his threats and plans. Meanwhile, Jason and the Resistance set out to gather the others in opposition of the current circumstances to join them in their final mission. After gathering a large fighting force to gain control of Borg Tower and get a hand on their advanced weaponry, the Resistance sets out to free the earth from the Dark Order's hold.

### Part Six - Resistance

Jason watches as Lucas gives a speech to the Resistance and their allies as they rally near Borg Tower to begin their assault. Vincent and Brooklyn rush to the shipyards and impound with a squad of former Black Delta OPs to free the Collasal Ice Mech from its chains in order to help them bring down the loyalist ships. Jason and Lucas help lead the main attack until they turn their focus to the Arsenal and seek to gain control of it. The two clash with a group of loyalists using their powers granted to them by their Kyojin Beasts and are eventually able to wipe out the group and force the Arsenal into the Endless Sea where Digital gains control of it. After their success, the two head back for the main battle when all of the sudden Lucas is shot out of the sky by a ray of lightning. As he freefalls towards the city, Jason tries to catch him while Digital battles a virus placed in the Arsenal's system. As that happens, Vincent is able to connect his consciousness to the mech's interface and begin his fight with the collasal beast projections.

With their forces distracted by the attacks on multiple fronts, the Feudal Council is left with a limited amount of protection giving Viper Z and Johnathan the chance they need to charge in, guns blazing, and reach the top floor. Viper Z continues battling the guards as John faces down the council before taking them out on his own. He spares one and questions her upon where this reality's Jason is. Before she can answer, a projectile blows up the entire top floor; killing her, Viper Z and the guards. John miraculously survives the surprise attack before fowarding the data from the council's computer to Brooklyn and Vincent. As he readies to scale down the building, he calls his wife and bids her and his daughter with a promise that he'll make it home safe. His promise is proved to be broken as a hooded figure cuts the cable he's using, letting him fall to his death. The hooded figure is revealed to be a man who looks similar to Kai Smith but is obviously a variant of him. As he falls to his death, John prays that everything goes right from this point on before hitting the ground. Seeing that his work is done, the Kai variant vanishes in the smoke after stepping over Viper's skull-themed helmet.

### Part Seven - Light & Dark

After his crash into the NGTV News Tower's roof, Lucas is found by Jason who discovers that the green ninja lost an arm in the attack. As Jason attempts to use his kama's healing power to stop the bleeding, Negative Jason taunts him from the shadows as a dark cloud begins to envelop around the tower. After realizing that he has little time left, Lucas gives a message to Jason to pass on to regular Earth-21's Lucas and thanks him for helping him find hope again. After Lucas breathes his last breath, Jason pushes aside his sorrow and decides to confront his alternate, evil self in a deadly duel. As he readies for a coming attack, his alternate self is revealed as he steps out of the shadows, revealing that he has indeed lost himself.

Back on the battlefield, Vincent and Brooklyn begin scaling Borg Tower in the mech but are held back due to the sudden appearance of Lillian Garmadon who has been transformed into a terrifying cyborg by the Dark Order's engineers. Kyle Doran is also revealed to be half-alive in cyborg form as the two battle him and Lillian. With help from a band of Black Delta Corps veterans, Brooke is able to take down Lillian and trap her in a mental state that immobilizes her. Vincent's mech is destroyed before he is able to break Kyle free from the control of the Dark Order and stabilize him as he begins to decline. Cutting back to that rooftop, Jason and Negative Jason have a tense conversation their views of justice before engaging in the duel that will rock the world around them as they begin turning up the intensity.

### Part Eight - Broken Heroes

Jason and Negative Jason's battle draws out across the various locations and realms of negative Earth-21 as the two fight for their own views on what their purposes are. But, as they continue to use their crazy powerful techniques to wreak hell upon each other, the realms around them begin to destabilize, causing Jason to change his course of attack. As he tries to rectify his errors, Negative Jason uses the same move he used on Lucas in an attempt to kill the good version of himself but the blast is redirected and takes out an entire Loyalist cruiser that is spectating their battle. The ship crashes into the Dead's End and the two resume their battle. Negative Jason throws Jason through a large gathering of the First Realm's people, killing them all from the shockwave. Seeing that his dark self is in no position to be reasoned with, Jason throttles him out of the realm.

After many hours of clashing back and forth, the two begin to lose their stamina as they collapse in the Valley of Elders back in Ninjago. After stealing some of Jason's power, Negative Jason attempts to use his most deadly jitzu to vanquish him but half the blast is absorbed by Jason who gains Final Form. After attaining the form, Jason uses his connection to Brooklyn's mind to restore Negative Jason's memories. After realizing what he has done, the other Jason gives Jason a warning before impaling himself upon his blade and dying in front of him. After seeing that the realms are collapsing due to the effects of their battle, Jason falls upon his knees and prepares to die with them until a cloaked figure appears to prompt Jason that he has done what he could. Although he knows this doesn't change the fact that his arrival caused the chain of events, he listens to the woman's words and accompanies her as they walk through the valley to where her ship is docked.

### Part Nine - Accepting Circumstances

The cloaked figure reveals herself as Libber Gordon who was sent by Borg to help Jason get off the reality before it all went wrong. After giving some light on her backstory, Jason is stunned by her news as she prepares the Storm Phoenix for takeoff. Now that the Dark Order's fleet is closing in upon their location, Libber watches as Jason apologizes to the Resistance for not being able to save their reality. The Resistance thanks him for his help and return to the city to spend their final hour with their loved ones. When Jason refuses to leave them like they are, Libber takes matters into her own hands and renders him unconscious in his weakened state and sends the Storm Phoenix off the reality. As she sees her spies get him through the rift, Libber reports back to the Dark Order saying that negative Earth-21 is gone and Jason is dead.

Upon finding him, Borg's allies help get Jason to the colonies where the medical team does the best they can to treat his injuries, including a missing arm. Kronos's best doctor offers to restore it but Jason declines his offer in saying he won't need it for a while. After accepting that the Negative Multiverse may be next to impossible to protect, Kronos and his council relieve Jason of any worries about that section of the cosmos. As Jason gets some rest, his family and friends from the Ninja Force come to check in on him. He passes along the message to Lucas who takes it lightly and ensures him that everything will be okay. While he looks at his friends, Jason's kama allows him to see the spirits of his mother, father, cousin and other fallen comrades watch over him from behind them. Sabrina comforts him before letting him get some sleep, allowing Supaku and the relieved Jason to have a chat about the inevitable return of the Dark Order in their multiverse. With the matter of the Negative Multiverse dismissed, Kronos and Borg turn their attention to finding a team capable of stopping a rogue Time Keeper who has seized control of several timelines.

### Epilogue

In a distant section of space, the Dark Order's scientists work on Jason's blood with one of their supervisors watching menacingly. One guard spectates as some of the chemical experts demonstrate how the kama has allowed this new specimen to react. This guard is revealed to be a clone of Liberty being used as Samara's vessel. From the shadows of a catwalk above the experiment, Libber Gordon looks down upon the guard with a look of pity on her face. She is joined by Landon who assures her that the Dark Order's reckoning is nearing closer and closer by the day.

## Cast

### Heroes

#### Earth-21 Ninja Force

* Jason C. Walker -
* Lucas W. Garmadon -
* Vincent Roberts -
* Alessia Carrow -
* Sabrina Carrow -
* Brad Williams -
* Chad Williams -

#### Time Keepers

* Kronos -
* Sirius Borg -

#### Kyojin Beasts

* Supaku -
* Magnus -
* Hyozan -
* Blade -

#### Negative Earth-21 Resistance

* Lucas D. Garmadon -
* Vincent Roberts -
* Brooklyn Tomasu -
* Viper Z -

### Villains

#### Dark Order

* Samara Yokotawaru -
* General Reiss -
* Chamille -
* Navy Shadow/Libber Gordon -

#### Shadow Forgers

* Negative Jason -
* Lillian Garmadon -

## Sets

* 73043 Brooklyn's Battle Bike
* 73044 Time Keeper Starfighter
* 73045 NCPD Police Gunship Chase
* 73046 Negative Stormbringer Dragon Battle
* 73047 Resistance Battlewagon
* 73048 Dark Order Flagship