Somewhere in Japan...
She slowly takes the long sword out and holds it up to the light, admiring the dark silver steel shining. Looking at her reflection in the sword and closing her eyes, she swings the sword as a ninja would, graceful and slow. Then, quickly and quietly she walks through the house, stopping at her father's door.
"Natasha, is that you?" a meek voice calls from within.
"Yes, sir," she replies.
"Come in, come in my daughter."
Slowly she opens the door and steps inside. She walks over to the bed where her father lies, and kneeling before him, she holds out the sword to him.
"Your sword sir."
He takes it and says, "Natasha, I have seen you practicing your ninja skills in the garden at night and I think you would make afine ninja. I have decided that youshall be my successor as a ninja, who may someday become the best. I am near death and so, I pass my sword and all my responsibilities on to you. Can you accept this responsibility?"
Feeling slightly overjoyed, she replies, "Yes sir, I will try my hardest."
"Then, Natasha, you will now be known to others as Subzero," he says handing the sword to her and with one last breath, he passes away into the land of endless dreams…
Somewhere in Africa…
Overhead an array of birds fill the sky with their many brilliant colors, while below a tiger hunts a zebra. Slowly and steadily he creeps toward his prey and just as he is about to pounce, he drops dead. In a tree, not far from the dead tiger, a man sits in the branches. In his hand he holds a small hollowed out bamboo piece. He jumps out of the tree and runs over to the tiger. In the tiger's fur, there lies a poison dart. The man smiles in satisfaction, he isimproving everyday.
Somewhere in South America…
Two men sit near a crystal clear lake, one stands up, the older one with snow-white hair and a wise look. Raising his arms, he chants something and suddenly out of the water rises a figure of a dragon created from the water's very essence. It rises further and further out of the water until it suddenly bursts and settles back to its original form. The other man stands and closes his eyes, raises his arms, and the wind starts to pick up causing the very leaves to tremble. The man lowers his arms and the wind dies down. The men look at each other, nod, and sit back down again, appearing to meditate.
Somewhere in North America…
Samantha walks through the forest. She kneels down from time to time picking up bits and pieces of plants and flowers for medicine, dyes, and a hundred other uses. Coming upon a tree trunk, she sits down. A squirrel in a tree next to her, comes down to sit near her. She takes a nut out of her pocket and gives it to him. Then, she takes out of piece of cheese andslice of breadto eat. After her lunch, she continues walking alongto her small cottage in the woods.
Somewhere in Japan…
There is one sumo wrestler who is the most aggressive of all and his name is, Daniel. He fears nothing, but only those who are a threat to him. Those who are a threat to him remain few. He trains for the day when he can become the greatest sumo wrestler of all. His only friend is a lady named Natasha.
Somewhere in Asia…
The ancient temptress awakens from an unearthly sleep. She walks over to the window and throws open the shutters. Everything seems quiet this morning, a little too quiet. She reaches out with her mind and for some odd reason, can not detect one living creature.
"Where are they all," she thinks to herself.
Then she feels it, a chill all the way to her inner self. What is it?
Then a sound comes to her, as if, the earth itself is opening up.
"No," she thinks, "It's happening."
"It is time," she says.
Back in Japan…
Natasha and Daniel are walking down the street, when suddenly Natasha stops.
"Hey look," she says pointing at a poster hanging on a fence, "this might be fun."
The poster says "Come one and all. Join in the greatest fight of the century! Sign up in groups of five. Everyone is welcome."
"Yeah sure, I'm up for that," Daniel responds.
"Well, let's find a group when we go to sign up," Natasha suggests.
"Sounds good to me," Daniel replies.
Meanwhile in another part of the world, Andrew returns to his village with the dead tiger. His family greets him with greatanticipation. He skins the tiger and cooks it, feeding his family. Now they also have a tiger skin blanket to keep them warm on cool nights. While they eat, a man comes running into the village. The man wants anyone who would be willing to participate in the "Fight of the Century". Andrew, feeling great joy, decides he will join, but only if someone will care for his family while he is gone. This is the moment he has been waiting for his entire life.
Meanwhile, Jonathan was talking with his teacher and mentor, the elder Zansafar. While meditating, Zansafar awoke and told Jonathan that there was to be a "Great Fight" taking place, one which would determine the protection or destruction of this world.
"I will go and fight master," Jonathan replies.
"And so you shall," Zansafar says, "and you shall save us as well."
A prophetic dream came to Samantha in the night, telling her to go and save the world in an awesome fight. Taking the dream seriously, the next morning she prepared to walk the many miles to town. Unprepared as to what she might find there…
It is a beautiful day in the harbor; people await the ship with great anticipation. The seagulls fly around calling out their silly songs and men and women of all sizes and ages stand around with luggage. Finally, Samantha can see the smoke from the ship arriving from South America.
From the deck of the ship, Jonathan could see hordes of people waiting to board. One woman stands out in his mind, a small one with long brown hair and green eyes. She is wearing the green cloak of a forest ranger and she carries very little with her. As she climbs aboard, he approaches her.
"Hello," he says extending his hand, "my name is Jonathan and you are?"
"My name is Samantha," she says shaking his hand, "nice to meet you."
"You don't seem like a fighter to me," he replies.
"I was called to come," she says looking him in the eye, seeming slightly stubborn, "besides who are you to judge who is a fighter and who is not?"
"I simply stated my opinion," he replies chuckling, "don't be angry with me."
She looks at him with his short black hair and deep blue eyes; he seems to be like a boy only looking for fun and games. Yet, she enjoys his jovial nature and so she decides to remain near his side. Besides this, he is pleasant company.
Days go by and both she and Jonathan become friends. They talk about everything from the weather to magic and healing. They share ideas and knowledge. Soon they will be arriving in Japan where the fight will take place.
Meanwhile, Andrew starts off for Japan as well. His means of travel with several others are small fishing boats. He waves goodbye to his family and knows he will miss them severely. Once they get to Asia, they trade supplies for their journey to Japan. At the same time, Samantha and Jonathan arrive at the port. The three of them board a bus. Andrew, who sits near Samantha and Jonathan, remains silent while they chat on and on. After more days of travel over dusty roads, they arrive in a small city in Japan. There are mobs of people everywhere, chatting and laughing and signing up in groups. Jonathan and Samantha sit down and breathe in the fresh air. Soon another man and woman join them.
"Hello," Jonathan asks, "who are you?"
"My name is Natasha and this is my friend Daniel," replies the woman with long black hair and striking blue eyes.
"My name is Jonathan and this is Samantha," Jonathan says waving his hand at Samantha.
"Shall we sign up together?" Natasha asks, "We don't know anyone else."
"Sure, what a great idea!" Samantha replies, "Only we need one more person."
"Maybe, we'll meet someone near the sign up area," Jonathan suggests.
"Yes, I'm sure we will," Samantha adds.
The four of them head over to where people are lined up to sign up. As they approach the sheet, a man is seen sitting alone near Natasha.
"Let's ask that man over there if he will join our group," she says.
They approach the man and ask him if he will join them. The man, who tells them his name is Andrew, says that he will sign up with them. After they all sign up and after everyone is ready, a small boy takes them to a room where they will sleep.
"Come to the feast tonight and then sleep well," the boy says, "the feast starts at precisely 8:00pm." With that he turns around and leaves.
Looking around themselves, they see that the room is quite luxurious. They get ready for dinner. Natasha waltzes out wearing a sleek black dress with a slit over one leg, a low cut neck and a single strap around the neck. Samantha comes out wearing a white, lacy, strapless dress. The men wear nice dress suits.
The dinner is quite formal; there is much to eat as well. After dinner, everyone goes back to their rooms, except for Natasha and Jonathan who take a walk together. They are walking along, when suddenly they see a flickering light and hear talking.
Approaching the lighted window, they see inside a small room, a very large man who is eating loads of food with many slave girls around him wearing chains around their ankles and one wrist, as well as tight almost non-existent clothing.
"I tell you that we should send our fighters to our 'guests' rooms in the night," says the big fat man.
"Your majesty, you know the rules and we can't do that," a tall regal looking man replies, "you know what Empress Chastity would say."
"Ah, yes…Empress Chastity. I would like very much to be with her," he says laughing a deep grunting laugh.
Natasha steps backwards and a stone accidentally falls right into the beasts lap.
"Guards, quickly, up at the window," he bellows.
Natasha and Jonathan start to run, but the guards catch up to them.
Natasha rips off her dress, much to the complete surprise of Jonathan. Underneath she is wearing a warrior's outfit. In fact, he swears he remembers it from somewhere. She pulls out a long sword and leaps in the air, kicking one of the guards right in the chest. He falls backwards groaning. She lands and slices her sword through the air, cutting off the heads of two guards. Then, she heads for the fourth and kicks him in the nuts. He falls backwards screaming in pain. Jonathan stands there with his mouth open.
"Come on," she says to him, "let's go…Now!"
They run back to their room and slam the door shut.
The morning arrives and everyone meets outside near the fighting grounds, dressed and ready to fight. Out of the door, opposite the crowd, comes a big fat man, the same one Natasha and Jonathan saw the night before.
"Welcome one and all," he says, "Today one of the greatest fights will take place." With that, a woman in black wearing a hood steps up behind him.
"Empress Chastity has agreed with me for this fight to occur," he continues, "But let me make clear to you, exactly what this fight will mean. If I win this fight, your world will become my world," he says with a sinister laugh putting his arm around the Empress and holding a red glowing ball in his other hand, "And the Empress and all her people will belong to me." With that two servants brought forth thrones and both the man and the Empress sit down in them.
"Because the Empress has agreed with me that she will not join in the fight, I will be retaining her until after the fighting each day," he says and with that her wrists and ankles are bound to the throne with steel clamps. The Empress holds her head high, nevertheless. "I am Emperor Nelix," he sneers, "Now let the games begin!"
One by one the fighters try and fail against Nelix's fighters. They are both quick and emotionless. Soon it was Natasha's turn, she approaches the grounds and a fighter in black approaches her. She looks into his eyes, showing no fear. As she advances, he tries to kick her in the chest, but misses and she grabs him, throwing him to the ground. Then, she waits for him to get back up. When he does, he approaches her for the second time. She does a flip and lands behind him, grabbing him around his throat. She trips him and pulls him to the ground. Then, she twists his head and watches it go slack. As she leaves the ring, she glares right in the eyes of Nelix.