NOTE: I DO NOT OWN MK OR ANYTHING IN THIS FIC.
Greetings, I welcome you to this piece of data hosted by FF.net. You obviously are here for entertainment, as I sit here, typing this with my can of mountain dew, I begin weaving a great tale, the story of a man, killed in his prime, by a sworn enemy, his family and close ones all brutally murdered, his undying hate and thirst for vengeance so great that not even the gates of the underworld could contain it, through an unholy deal, this soul was free to leave the nether realm, but at a costly price, in times of great rage or anger, his true form would manifest, one that is most terrible and inhuman, he'd also lose much of the memory of the loved ones he had. He readily agreed and began his quest to avenge his friends, family, and himself. This a tale of action, drama, humor, and will tell the tale of Scorpion and ultimately expose the man behind the mask.
It was a cold, gloomy night, the wind blew gently as the shabby looking ship sailed out of the harbor. Groups of people were huddled together in groups some small, some large, many people also kept to themselves, Scorpion was one of those people, he kept to himself, his arms folded as he leaned against the cabin of the boat. Since he had returned to realm of the living, he had minimized interaction with the mortals. He felt a slight tinge of sadness, remembering his friends, though cloudy memories, the rapture and content feeling was still present. Among the others, he was yet to spot his target, and for such an important tournament, none of the fighters had a noticeably unique aura about them. Say for several fighters. One was an American. Scorpion scoffed, he had encountered American businessmen, such as those seeking his "services" while he was alive, many were overconfident, and thought they owned the world, this man was no exception, he had an aura that was unbearably confident and arrogant, though it somehow lacked assurance, a sign that this man's is a high ranking figure in society that yearned for respect, this very much was a huge weakness. Another aura was that of one with motives similar to his, revenge, it came from another American, this one a woman with blond hair and quite beautiful. Scorpion had heard all the ideals, women cannot fight, they are to remain home, care for children, he himself never really quite bought that, during the his life, he had encountered many deadly female assassins and opponents, granted they all fell to his skill, many had nearly defeated him. Though the aura was stubborn, and could not admit when it was humiliated or needed help, another trait similar to him. Then the next aura, was tainted with evil, and a lack of honor. That immediately sickened him, though he had killed without remorse, honor was an important ideal to him, the source was horribly different, with a strange plate and artificial diamond eye on his face. The final Aura, was from an oriental man, he had a tattoo on his arm, it was a crest, he was of the White Lotus Society, a sect of the Shaolin Monks. The man had a pure aura, honorable, just, and full of drive, determination, and concentration, the sign of a true warrior. The thing that bother him was, he was yet to find his killer, in the back of his mind, he was afraid that he had been killed prior to the tournament. One of the others fighters approached him. It was one of the powerful forces, the evil one.
"You look like a shady figure, mate tell me, looking to take out the big guy?" Scorpion merely grunted. This apparently struck a nerve with the fighter.
"Oh, to stupid to answer a question eh?" The man jeered.
"It is not my response but your question that is stupid," Scorpion grunted. The man chuckled
"I'll remember that should we fight each other," he turned to leave but not more than two steps another of the auras flared up.
"Kano!" It was the woman. Her appearance caused some pleasure and anger in Kano. He turned to face her and smirked.
"Hello Baby," Kano mused "Did you miss me?" He smirked and made a kissing action towards her. He was womanizer too, Scorpion was beginning to really dislike this man. The girl pointed at Scorpion
"Who the hell's this? A lackey of yours?" the woman had clearly had a previous encounter with him.
"Well of course not, this bloke seems pretty stupid to me, don't say much, and you know me baby, I prefer to hang around with more sophisticated types," Kano grinned darkly
"Like your partner," He chuckled silently and made a slit throat gesture across his neck. That particular action had some apparent role in their past, this was obvious considering the woman leapt form easily 10 feet away and pinned him against the wall with her fist cocked. This had offended Kano, as he was called by the woman, his response was slightly different than the laid-back joker previously seen.
"Off me bitch!" Kano backhanded the woman, which had some force behind it, she dove to the floor, Kano darted off turning sharply at the corner and out of sight. The woman hopped up and was quick to pursue him. Scorpion felt rather awkward afterwards incidents like that were really what drove him to go out of his way to avoid people during his quest for revenge, since becoming a spectre he'd felt out of place with humans, probably because he had not seen or felt happiness in such a long time. The only joy came from his cloudy memories of his family. The rest of the trip was uneventful for the most part. Scorpion was beginning to believe that his killer had not shown up but decided to stay considering the fact that this was his only lead. After many hours the old ship groaned as it slid into the dock. He decided that leaving last was the best plan, he could get a better view of the leaving people. As Scorpion left a voice echoed from the ship.
"Hanzo Hishashi…" The voice was evil, dark, yet intelligent, wise not a good combination. Scorpion, spun around immediately.
"Where did you learn that name!?" Scorpion wasn't surprised, it was a thin old man, he was balding and had a long beard pure white. He had long bony hands and fingers. Yet he did not answer, he just smirked darkly and stroked his bear. This was beginning to upset the specter.
"How do you know that name!" No response.
"ANSWER ME!!" Scorpion had lost control, he rushed the old man and grabbed him by the scruff of his robes. The old man was still smiling.
"You wouldn't hit an old man, would you?" That infuriated him, he raised his fist to strike, the old man scowled. At that instant, something felt different, Scorpion felt strange, there was a tingling sensation all over his body, that was followed by becoming light headed he loosened, his grip and stumbled backwards, then pain, horrible pain, like his skin was being torn right off the bone, He hadn't felt such pain before, it felt like when his soul was ripped from his body by the demons of the nether realm. Scorpion fell to his knees in a heaping mess like that of a wounded predator. He was in immense pain, he began to cry out in pain, a green aura had covered the specter's body, it was ripping away at his life force, he could feel his strength, it wasn't gone, but very much loose, if this sorcerer wanted, he could rip the ninja's life away with the flick of a wrist. The sorcerer face remained void of emotion,
"Now listen to me Hanzo…" he began,
"STOP CALLING ME THA…Auuugh!" the pain flared up again,
"Silence! I know why you are here, and yes your killer is on this island. I will give you a chance to face him but I have a request of you first…"
"I don't need your help you old bastard!" Scorpion looked at his captor a scowl on his face.
"YOUR IMPUDENCE IS TRYING ME PATIENCE!" The sorcerer growled, he swung his foot back and hit Scorpion square in the jaw, knocking the dead warrior onto his back, he strode over to the downed ninja and stomped his foot into his chest, Scorpion roared in pain.
"You will listen to me. I am Shang, Tsung, the great sorcerer and master of this island! Now do as I say or lose your soul!" Scorpion would have responded most rudely but his body was incredibly strained.
"Good, now listen very carefully, I will allow you to face your killer, in fact I believe you are ignorant of his name, they call him Sub-Zero…but that is not important, you may face him if you promise me use of your soul someday, perhaps now, perhaps later, but you must promise me that and you'll get your chance for vengeance.
"…Fine" Shang Tsung grinned
"good boy! Now before I free you from this spell, I think its best to "incapacitate" you so as you don't betray me…" the old man pulled his hands back and began chanting a curse, a ball of flame began to form and a skull took shape, pulling back, Tsung threw the skull directly at Scorpion, the skull shrieked loudly as it tore through the air, exploding into thousands of embers as it crashed into Scorpion's head, knocking him out instantly.
Meanwhile…
Liu Kang was nervous, it had been years since he left the mountains that he was raised in, and this was the farthest he been from home, the only people he'd actually talked to were Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. Prior to the landing of the boat, the trio had been united by Raiden, the god of thunder. He had explained that the three of them were three out of six competing fighters that had the potential to win the tournament and one of them had to win. Liu Kang had seen the other three, one that Kano man, Sonya was after him, the other were Ninjas. He didn't know much about them.
"Hey Thunder guy…" Johnny Cage spoke suddenly Raiden looked at the movie star and frowned.
"I prefer to be called Raiden, well what is it?" Raiden was obviously a little shaken by the lack of respect Sonya and Johnny had given him, considering he was a god and used to worship and much praise and respect whenever he took on the form of a human. Johnny grinned and scratched his head, something that would become a sign that Johnny was nervous or upset.
"Yeah well, you saw that ninja yellow guy didn't you?" Johnny paused and shook his head, "he almost didn't seem human, his eyes were milky white no pupils or anything, it was really creepy he seemed…dead!" the famous actor was quite shaken by the mysterious Ninja's presence. The thunder god's thick eyebrows shot up in surprise that such a question was asked. Raiden sighed,
"I know little about this mysterious warrior, but he has a dark past," Raiden's face became dark and grim, "You see this warrior was once a member of a clan of ninja, called the Shirai Ryu. He was possibly their best ninja, the strongest fighter, their most cunning thief, the craftiest spy, a ruthless assassin. However, a pretty normal mission turned out to be his last, he was killed in battle by a Lin Kuei warrior, who is also in this tournament, he is called Sub-Zero, the fight was long but Sub-Zero has an uncanny ability to freeze objects…which include people, using this to his advantage, he slew him and left on his way. Though only speculation, I believe that is his motive for entering the tourname-" Raiden was cut off by Liu Kang "Wasn't this he killed by Sub-Zero?" Raiden nodded grimly "Yes, he is a specter, and has been given hellish powers, which should put him on par with Sub-Zero's freezing abilities. Sonya scowled
"I refuse to believe that, dead people don't just come back from the hell, it's impossible!" Johnny blankly starred at her.
"You realize your talking to the god of thunder?" Johnny stated simply. Sonya grunted, and crossed her arms and walked away. Liu Kang ran his hands through his hair and sighed deeply, it was gonna be a loooooooooong tournament…
Meanwhile with our (anti)-hero…
Scorpion eyes opened slowly. He was sore all over, he sat and quickly got to his feet, his body wasn't very willing to cooperate though, his knees buckled as he fell to the dirty ground, it was very similar to that of a small fawn hobbling about during its first steps. Scorpion, rested for a moment before walking along the dirt path. The island was very exotic, like that of a forest or a jungle. A tropical gem… Scorpion approached what appeared to be a large cave, above it read a sign: FIGHTER DORMS Scorpion smirked, he was tired. To his surprise several fighters were still checking in, they were receiving skeleton keys from a large burly guard. Scorpion approached the guard. The large man looked at him puzzled,
"Name?"
"…Scorpion" The guard looked through a rack of keys before tossing a large yellow skeleton key to the specter. Scorpion found his room and unlocked the door. The room was very simple. A bed, a candle with several spares, and a bookcase filled with various books. On the door was a bulletin which read:
TOURNAMENT OPENER
THE ARENA OPENS AT SUNRISE
ALL FIGHTERS WISHING TO COMPETE MUST ARRIVE BY NOON
RULES WILL BE EXPLAINED
COME READY TO BATTLE.
Scorpion grinned darkly, this was excellent, the sooner he could finish his target, the sooner he could rest again. Scorpion wasted no time, and quickly fell asleep on his bed. The specter awoke, early in the morning , all night he was teased by dreams of torturing the Sub-Zero, in his dream, the assassin was impaled on a spike and was being ripped to pieces by vultures. Truly dark but a deserving punishment for the bastard. As Scorpion left the his room, he noticed many of the other warriors were also preparing to leave for the tournament grounds. Various guards had escorted the warriors to the arena, where formal battles were fought, many of the Shaolin Monks viewing the tournament also stayed here. The first fight apparently between a monk named Liu Kang, Scorpion saw him on the boat, his opponent was a black man with long dreadlocks. Shang Tsung was sitting in a chair near the arena to view the fight. A soldier rang a bell and the fight began. Liu Kang bowed, and the fight began, the warrior charged and swung with his fist, Liu Kang quickly swung out his foot, kicking the fighter in the ribs and followed up with a spin kick knocking the warrior on his back. He sprung up and leapt high into the air at the monk, Liu Kang leapt up, and swung his fist as hard as he could, the warrior, caught Kang's fist and twisted his arm, the monk yelp and was slamming into the ground. The fighter was still hanging on and was ravaging Liu Kang beating him senseless, Liu Kang was pinned and looked like he was finished…however, this was no normal monk…Liu Kang swung his foot up and kicked the fighter in the back of the head, who rolled off the Shaolin warrior, he sprung to his feet and screamed a horrible battle cry, his opponent was dazed, and stumbled up only to see nothing in his favor. Liu Kang had ran forward and let loose a high pitched battle cry as he tore through the air like a torpedo, the monk had his foot forward and with all his might thrust it into his opponent's face, a crunch of bone and flesh was heard, the fighter literally flew through the air landing at least ten yards away. Liu Kang landed on his back. He slowly got to his feet and sighed.
'Whoever this guy is, he's good…" though Scorpion. Kang was now breathing heavily and holding the his lower lip, which had been torn open by the other fighters barrage of punches. His opponent however, was still flat on his back. Shang Tsung smiled lightly and slowly turned to look at Liu Kang.
"Excellent work Liu Kang…you've killed him," Liu Kang's eyes widened, but quickly returned to normal. He stepped off the ring and went to the two Americans. He looked quite upset. Numerous fights occurred, none that irregular, but each of those three fighters, the monk, the woman, and the American were all dominating, what really surprised him was the American was not afraid to fight dirty, during his fight a sumo wrestler had his legs open as ready to strike, the American quickly went into the splits and punched him in the groin, which shocked him, so much for honor. As night set in, Shang Tsung addressed the fighters
"Excellent work, warriors," He had a small smirk on his face, and a strange twinkle in his eye. "Of the 200 fighters that entered the tournament now 20 of you remain, you will advance to the final round. The rules will alter greatly from this point, my island is now you battle ground, fighters of my choice will randomly challenge you… I wish you all the best of luck, and the remaining four will battle to face the great prince Goro… and the winner of that bout will face myself." The old man placed his hand on his chest to acknowledge himself. This brought up a murmur from the crowd. Scorpion grunted, figured, he'd have to find the Lin Kuei! Scorpion stormed off and began scouting the island.
Some hours later…
Shang Tsung rested in his chambers…smiling contently. Everything was going as planned, soon Goro would slay the remaining earth warriors and he could report this to his master and then attain the wealth he was promised. He heard a knock at the door.
"Come in," The sorcerer said. The door opened and standing there was a tall man, very muscular, with ice blue eyes, wearing a ninja garb with navy blue cloth armor. It was Sub-Zero. He looked at Shang Tsung,
"When will I be paid?" Shang Tsung groaned.
"I told you, not until all of the targets are dead…" The ice ninja's brow furrowed.
"Then give a chance for battle, I yearn to spill blood!" Sub-Zero laughed darkly.
"Very well, but first I have a request of you… prove yourself to me." Shang Tsung said calmly. This truly angered the assassin, he had a powerful ego, which was damaged easily.
"I've slain GODS!! What more do I need to prove to a lowly magic user such-"
"Does the name Shirai Ryu sound familiar?" Sub-Zero stop in mid sentence. He spoke with utter disbelief,
"Don't be crazy, our battle with them ended years ago." the ice ninja's mask hid a scowl.
"Well it appears that death has not stopped this warrior," The soul stealer said this simply, as if discussing the weather or any normal topic. The ninja stared dumbly, very shocked, and even though he didn't want to, he was beginning to believe this crazy old man.
"Go to the pit, you'll find him there…"
"How do you know this old man?"
"Let's just say I "heard" him." The Sorcerer's eyes twinkled as he stared blankly to the east….
At the pit…
Night had fallen, and Scorpion was nearly complete, he had almost circled the entire island when a voice broke the gentle silence of night.
"Well I'll be damned…" The voice mocked, "The old man was right…" The specter turned to see the owner of the voice, a Lin Kuei…the man he had been searching for…his family's murder
"YOU!" Scorpion spat. The Ninja scowled, and raised his nose in disgust, he was leaning against a pillar that supported the stone bridge.
"I Remember you… the fool that was sent to get that scroll," The ice warrior said coldly. Scorpion was losing control little by little
"YOU FOUL BASTARD!! I WILL DRAG YOU INTO THE DEPTHS OF HELL MYSELF!!" Scorpion was no longer in control and was merely shouting what he intended.
"Hmph…you're just as weak as before, you have no control over yourself. I'll kill you easily…"
"Like my family!?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"You know perfectly well!"
"No I don't."
"Yes! You and your bastard brethren slew my family and clan!"
"Nonsense, I killed you, but that sorcerer slew your pathetic family…"
"STOP LYING I WILL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!!!"
"Pft…a weakling like you beat me? HAHAHA!!" Sub-Zero was laughing loudly and uncontrollably. Scorpion had now lost ALL control, and something odd was happening, Sub-Zero stopped laughing, Scorpion, was beginning to heat up uncontrollably, the Lin Kuei could feel the fiery heat emitting from the specter from where he stood. The Specter's eyes also flared a blood red, it was time for Mortal Kombat… Sub-Zero entered a fighting Stance. Scorpion charged. Sub-Zero swung his fist forward at the specter, Scorpion in fluid motion ducked under the punch still running, and spun on his heel, punching the ninja in the back of the head. Sub-Zero stumbled forward but spun quickly and let a kick fly at Scorpion, the impact sent the specter stumbling backwards, now keeping mind that these ninjas are battling on a bridge, Scorpion regained his stance leapt at the ice warrior, he balled his hands together, and swung the bottom of his hands against Sub-Zero's jaw, the ninja slid forward on his back, Scorpion hit the ground in a hand spring and sprung backwards, assuming the fighting stance. Sub-Zero was on his feet again, and very angry. The two charged at each other, throwing punches, kicks, and exchanging blows in a violent collision, Sub-Zero caught Scorpion's foot in an attempted kick and pushed forward, attempting to throw the specter, Scorpion did a complete back-flip and freed his foot, using the other foot he landed a devastating blow under the Lin Kuei's jaw. The force was incredible, Sub-Zero did a complete back-flip, landing on his stomach. Sub-Zero sprung up and assumed an odd stance, his feet were spread far apart, and he crouched, the ice ninja pushed forward, he flew forward at breakneck speed, the ice warrior crashed into Scorpion's leg's and flew right under him, Scorpion was airborne, and crashed into the ground, which was oddly cold. He was on ice. He turned and saw Sub-Zero, who was laughing wickedly.
"You may be stronger! But you're still a normal human!!!" Sub-Zero jeered "I can manipulate the elements!! You'll never win!!" Sub-Zero roared. Scorpion glared at him darkly.
"Wrong…" Scorpion vanished. Sub-Zero immediately stopped and broke into a defensive position,
"Where'd you go!" Sub-Zero was alarmed by the Specter's vanishing.
"BEHIND YOU!!" Scorpion shouted, he brought his elbow into the small of Sub-Zero's back, Sub-Zero shouted in pain stumbling forward trying to hold the wound. Scorpion growled angrily and let loose a spin kick the sent the ice ninja spinning to the ground. Sub-Zero was now truly angry.
"You think you're so powerful!!!!" Sub-Zero had sounded completely alarmed and frightened. "Well you're forgetting this!" Sub-Zero pulled his hands back and a blue aura encased his hands and a what sound a blizzard began to erupt! Scorpion's eyes widened and he leapt out of the way…
Or tried. Sub-Zero fired the ice blast, a shining ray of kori burst fourth, and lanced into Scorpion. The ice beam blasted Scorpion into a large pillar at the end of the bridge, the pillar collapsed onto the specter. The rubble began to shake as a was pushed off, the figure slowly stood up and Scorpion hobbled out. He was bleeding over and his masked ripped to shreds, now showing his face, a great dishonor to a ninja.
"Fool! You've lost you mask," Sub-Zero said darkly "And that's not all…" Scorpion could not feel his right arm…he looked and was in shock, his entire right forearm was Frozen solid. Sub-Zero scowled
"You aren't even a worthy foe anymore, leapt off this pit and spare yourself a humiliating death." Sub-Zero stated. Scorpion began laughing darkly.
"Fool…" Sub-Zero eyes widened.
"You've lost your mind specter!" Sub-Zero stammered.
"WRONG!" Scorpion flung his arm forward and the ice was shattered as a large spear blade whirled through the air, it buried itself right into Sub-Zero's chest, who let loose a blood curdling scream, which was music to the Specter's ears. Scorpion pulled tightly on the rope.
"GET OVER HERE!!" Sub-zero was flung forward and right into Scorpion's hands. Scorpion had an insane look of intense rage and hatred
"WELL NOW!!! THE SHOES'S ON THE OTHER FOOT!" Scorpion boomed, his voice no longer sounded human, it was inhuman, demonic, terrifying to the Ninja. Sub-Zero was slightly delirious from blood loss and was spitting up large portions of blood.
"S-Spare me…" Sub-Zero managed to choke out between heaving blood up.
"SPARE YOU!?!?!?" Scorpion's face began to distort and his skin began to literally melt off. Sub-Zero's eyes widened and he quickly increased his struggle, the ninja's face had melted away, leaving a horrible flaming Skull, Scorpion voice now had no humanity in it at all, it boomed and echoed.
"DID YOU SPARE ME!? MY FAMILY!? MY CLAN!!" He roared and spewed out a huge burst of Flames, the flames seared and scattered onto Sub-Zero's face and upper torso, he shrieked horribly. Scorpion laughed with delight!
"YES!! SUFFER!! NOW WHY DON'T YOU SEE WHAT'S AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CLIFF!?" Scorpion raised the flaming Ninja above his head and slammed flung him with all his might down into the pit. There the Ninja could be seen impaled on a spike, burning brightly. The flame around Scorpion's skull flickered away and Scorpion sighed, He was at peace… With his goal complete Scorpion no longer needed to be in this world, the specter's body faded away into ashes with happy memories of his family on his mind…
FIN
Well that's it for now! Look for the next chapter of this epic to detail Scorpion's actions in the second Mortal Kombat. LATER!!!
Greetings, I welcome you to this piece of data hosted by FF.net. You obviously are here for entertainment, as I sit here, typing this with my can of mountain dew, I begin weaving a great tale, the story of a man, killed in his prime, by a sworn enemy, his family and close ones all brutally murdered, his undying hate and thirst for vengeance so great that not even the gates of the underworld could contain it, through an unholy deal, this soul was free to leave the nether realm, but at a costly price, in times of great rage or anger, his true form would manifest, one that is most terrible and inhuman, he'd also lose much of the memory of the loved ones he had. He readily agreed and began his quest to avenge his friends, family, and himself. This a tale of action, drama, humor, and will tell the tale of Scorpion and ultimately expose the man behind the mask.
It was a cold, gloomy night, the wind blew gently as the shabby looking ship sailed out of the harbor. Groups of people were huddled together in groups some small, some large, many people also kept to themselves, Scorpion was one of those people, he kept to himself, his arms folded as he leaned against the cabin of the boat. Since he had returned to realm of the living, he had minimized interaction with the mortals. He felt a slight tinge of sadness, remembering his friends, though cloudy memories, the rapture and content feeling was still present. Among the others, he was yet to spot his target, and for such an important tournament, none of the fighters had a noticeably unique aura about them. Say for several fighters. One was an American. Scorpion scoffed, he had encountered American businessmen, such as those seeking his "services" while he was alive, many were overconfident, and thought they owned the world, this man was no exception, he had an aura that was unbearably confident and arrogant, though it somehow lacked assurance, a sign that this man's is a high ranking figure in society that yearned for respect, this very much was a huge weakness. Another aura was that of one with motives similar to his, revenge, it came from another American, this one a woman with blond hair and quite beautiful. Scorpion had heard all the ideals, women cannot fight, they are to remain home, care for children, he himself never really quite bought that, during the his life, he had encountered many deadly female assassins and opponents, granted they all fell to his skill, many had nearly defeated him. Though the aura was stubborn, and could not admit when it was humiliated or needed help, another trait similar to him. Then the next aura, was tainted with evil, and a lack of honor. That immediately sickened him, though he had killed without remorse, honor was an important ideal to him, the source was horribly different, with a strange plate and artificial diamond eye on his face. The final Aura, was from an oriental man, he had a tattoo on his arm, it was a crest, he was of the White Lotus Society, a sect of the Shaolin Monks. The man had a pure aura, honorable, just, and full of drive, determination, and concentration, the sign of a true warrior. The thing that bother him was, he was yet to find his killer, in the back of his mind, he was afraid that he had been killed prior to the tournament. One of the others fighters approached him. It was one of the powerful forces, the evil one.
"You look like a shady figure, mate tell me, looking to take out the big guy?" Scorpion merely grunted. This apparently struck a nerve with the fighter.
"Oh, to stupid to answer a question eh?" The man jeered.
"It is not my response but your question that is stupid," Scorpion grunted. The man chuckled
"I'll remember that should we fight each other," he turned to leave but not more than two steps another of the auras flared up.
"Kano!" It was the woman. Her appearance caused some pleasure and anger in Kano. He turned to face her and smirked.
"Hello Baby," Kano mused "Did you miss me?" He smirked and made a kissing action towards her. He was womanizer too, Scorpion was beginning to really dislike this man. The girl pointed at Scorpion
"Who the hell's this? A lackey of yours?" the woman had clearly had a previous encounter with him.
"Well of course not, this bloke seems pretty stupid to me, don't say much, and you know me baby, I prefer to hang around with more sophisticated types," Kano grinned darkly
"Like your partner," He chuckled silently and made a slit throat gesture across his neck. That particular action had some apparent role in their past, this was obvious considering the woman leapt form easily 10 feet away and pinned him against the wall with her fist cocked. This had offended Kano, as he was called by the woman, his response was slightly different than the laid-back joker previously seen.
"Off me bitch!" Kano backhanded the woman, which had some force behind it, she dove to the floor, Kano darted off turning sharply at the corner and out of sight. The woman hopped up and was quick to pursue him. Scorpion felt rather awkward afterwards incidents like that were really what drove him to go out of his way to avoid people during his quest for revenge, since becoming a spectre he'd felt out of place with humans, probably because he had not seen or felt happiness in such a long time. The only joy came from his cloudy memories of his family. The rest of the trip was uneventful for the most part. Scorpion was beginning to believe that his killer had not shown up but decided to stay considering the fact that this was his only lead. After many hours the old ship groaned as it slid into the dock. He decided that leaving last was the best plan, he could get a better view of the leaving people. As Scorpion left a voice echoed from the ship.
"Hanzo Hishashi…" The voice was evil, dark, yet intelligent, wise not a good combination. Scorpion, spun around immediately.
"Where did you learn that name!?" Scorpion wasn't surprised, it was a thin old man, he was balding and had a long beard pure white. He had long bony hands and fingers. Yet he did not answer, he just smirked darkly and stroked his bear. This was beginning to upset the specter.
"How do you know that name!" No response.
"ANSWER ME!!" Scorpion had lost control, he rushed the old man and grabbed him by the scruff of his robes. The old man was still smiling.
"You wouldn't hit an old man, would you?" That infuriated him, he raised his fist to strike, the old man scowled. At that instant, something felt different, Scorpion felt strange, there was a tingling sensation all over his body, that was followed by becoming light headed he loosened, his grip and stumbled backwards, then pain, horrible pain, like his skin was being torn right off the bone, He hadn't felt such pain before, it felt like when his soul was ripped from his body by the demons of the nether realm. Scorpion fell to his knees in a heaping mess like that of a wounded predator. He was in immense pain, he began to cry out in pain, a green aura had covered the specter's body, it was ripping away at his life force, he could feel his strength, it wasn't gone, but very much loose, if this sorcerer wanted, he could rip the ninja's life away with the flick of a wrist. The sorcerer face remained void of emotion,
"Now listen to me Hanzo…" he began,
"STOP CALLING ME THA…Auuugh!" the pain flared up again,
"Silence! I know why you are here, and yes your killer is on this island. I will give you a chance to face him but I have a request of you first…"
"I don't need your help you old bastard!" Scorpion looked at his captor a scowl on his face.
"YOUR IMPUDENCE IS TRYING ME PATIENCE!" The sorcerer growled, he swung his foot back and hit Scorpion square in the jaw, knocking the dead warrior onto his back, he strode over to the downed ninja and stomped his foot into his chest, Scorpion roared in pain.
"You will listen to me. I am Shang, Tsung, the great sorcerer and master of this island! Now do as I say or lose your soul!" Scorpion would have responded most rudely but his body was incredibly strained.
"Good, now listen very carefully, I will allow you to face your killer, in fact I believe you are ignorant of his name, they call him Sub-Zero…but that is not important, you may face him if you promise me use of your soul someday, perhaps now, perhaps later, but you must promise me that and you'll get your chance for vengeance.
"…Fine" Shang Tsung grinned
"good boy! Now before I free you from this spell, I think its best to "incapacitate" you so as you don't betray me…" the old man pulled his hands back and began chanting a curse, a ball of flame began to form and a skull took shape, pulling back, Tsung threw the skull directly at Scorpion, the skull shrieked loudly as it tore through the air, exploding into thousands of embers as it crashed into Scorpion's head, knocking him out instantly.
Meanwhile…
Liu Kang was nervous, it had been years since he left the mountains that he was raised in, and this was the farthest he been from home, the only people he'd actually talked to were Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. Prior to the landing of the boat, the trio had been united by Raiden, the god of thunder. He had explained that the three of them were three out of six competing fighters that had the potential to win the tournament and one of them had to win. Liu Kang had seen the other three, one that Kano man, Sonya was after him, the other were Ninjas. He didn't know much about them.
"Hey Thunder guy…" Johnny Cage spoke suddenly Raiden looked at the movie star and frowned.
"I prefer to be called Raiden, well what is it?" Raiden was obviously a little shaken by the lack of respect Sonya and Johnny had given him, considering he was a god and used to worship and much praise and respect whenever he took on the form of a human. Johnny grinned and scratched his head, something that would become a sign that Johnny was nervous or upset.
"Yeah well, you saw that ninja yellow guy didn't you?" Johnny paused and shook his head, "he almost didn't seem human, his eyes were milky white no pupils or anything, it was really creepy he seemed…dead!" the famous actor was quite shaken by the mysterious Ninja's presence. The thunder god's thick eyebrows shot up in surprise that such a question was asked. Raiden sighed,
"I know little about this mysterious warrior, but he has a dark past," Raiden's face became dark and grim, "You see this warrior was once a member of a clan of ninja, called the Shirai Ryu. He was possibly their best ninja, the strongest fighter, their most cunning thief, the craftiest spy, a ruthless assassin. However, a pretty normal mission turned out to be his last, he was killed in battle by a Lin Kuei warrior, who is also in this tournament, he is called Sub-Zero, the fight was long but Sub-Zero has an uncanny ability to freeze objects…which include people, using this to his advantage, he slew him and left on his way. Though only speculation, I believe that is his motive for entering the tourname-" Raiden was cut off by Liu Kang "Wasn't this he killed by Sub-Zero?" Raiden nodded grimly "Yes, he is a specter, and has been given hellish powers, which should put him on par with Sub-Zero's freezing abilities. Sonya scowled
"I refuse to believe that, dead people don't just come back from the hell, it's impossible!" Johnny blankly starred at her.
"You realize your talking to the god of thunder?" Johnny stated simply. Sonya grunted, and crossed her arms and walked away. Liu Kang ran his hands through his hair and sighed deeply, it was gonna be a loooooooooong tournament…
Meanwhile with our (anti)-hero…
Scorpion eyes opened slowly. He was sore all over, he sat and quickly got to his feet, his body wasn't very willing to cooperate though, his knees buckled as he fell to the dirty ground, it was very similar to that of a small fawn hobbling about during its first steps. Scorpion, rested for a moment before walking along the dirt path. The island was very exotic, like that of a forest or a jungle. A tropical gem… Scorpion approached what appeared to be a large cave, above it read a sign: FIGHTER DORMS Scorpion smirked, he was tired. To his surprise several fighters were still checking in, they were receiving skeleton keys from a large burly guard. Scorpion approached the guard. The large man looked at him puzzled,
"Name?"
"…Scorpion" The guard looked through a rack of keys before tossing a large yellow skeleton key to the specter. Scorpion found his room and unlocked the door. The room was very simple. A bed, a candle with several spares, and a bookcase filled with various books. On the door was a bulletin which read:
TOURNAMENT OPENER
THE ARENA OPENS AT SUNRISE
ALL FIGHTERS WISHING TO COMPETE MUST ARRIVE BY NOON
RULES WILL BE EXPLAINED
COME READY TO BATTLE.
Scorpion grinned darkly, this was excellent, the sooner he could finish his target, the sooner he could rest again. Scorpion wasted no time, and quickly fell asleep on his bed. The specter awoke, early in the morning , all night he was teased by dreams of torturing the Sub-Zero, in his dream, the assassin was impaled on a spike and was being ripped to pieces by vultures. Truly dark but a deserving punishment for the bastard. As Scorpion left the his room, he noticed many of the other warriors were also preparing to leave for the tournament grounds. Various guards had escorted the warriors to the arena, where formal battles were fought, many of the Shaolin Monks viewing the tournament also stayed here. The first fight apparently between a monk named Liu Kang, Scorpion saw him on the boat, his opponent was a black man with long dreadlocks. Shang Tsung was sitting in a chair near the arena to view the fight. A soldier rang a bell and the fight began. Liu Kang bowed, and the fight began, the warrior charged and swung with his fist, Liu Kang quickly swung out his foot, kicking the fighter in the ribs and followed up with a spin kick knocking the warrior on his back. He sprung up and leapt high into the air at the monk, Liu Kang leapt up, and swung his fist as hard as he could, the warrior, caught Kang's fist and twisted his arm, the monk yelp and was slamming into the ground. The fighter was still hanging on and was ravaging Liu Kang beating him senseless, Liu Kang was pinned and looked like he was finished…however, this was no normal monk…Liu Kang swung his foot up and kicked the fighter in the back of the head, who rolled off the Shaolin warrior, he sprung to his feet and screamed a horrible battle cry, his opponent was dazed, and stumbled up only to see nothing in his favor. Liu Kang had ran forward and let loose a high pitched battle cry as he tore through the air like a torpedo, the monk had his foot forward and with all his might thrust it into his opponent's face, a crunch of bone and flesh was heard, the fighter literally flew through the air landing at least ten yards away. Liu Kang landed on his back. He slowly got to his feet and sighed.
'Whoever this guy is, he's good…" though Scorpion. Kang was now breathing heavily and holding the his lower lip, which had been torn open by the other fighters barrage of punches. His opponent however, was still flat on his back. Shang Tsung smiled lightly and slowly turned to look at Liu Kang.
"Excellent work Liu Kang…you've killed him," Liu Kang's eyes widened, but quickly returned to normal. He stepped off the ring and went to the two Americans. He looked quite upset. Numerous fights occurred, none that irregular, but each of those three fighters, the monk, the woman, and the American were all dominating, what really surprised him was the American was not afraid to fight dirty, during his fight a sumo wrestler had his legs open as ready to strike, the American quickly went into the splits and punched him in the groin, which shocked him, so much for honor. As night set in, Shang Tsung addressed the fighters
"Excellent work, warriors," He had a small smirk on his face, and a strange twinkle in his eye. "Of the 200 fighters that entered the tournament now 20 of you remain, you will advance to the final round. The rules will alter greatly from this point, my island is now you battle ground, fighters of my choice will randomly challenge you… I wish you all the best of luck, and the remaining four will battle to face the great prince Goro… and the winner of that bout will face myself." The old man placed his hand on his chest to acknowledge himself. This brought up a murmur from the crowd. Scorpion grunted, figured, he'd have to find the Lin Kuei! Scorpion stormed off and began scouting the island.
Some hours later…
Shang Tsung rested in his chambers…smiling contently. Everything was going as planned, soon Goro would slay the remaining earth warriors and he could report this to his master and then attain the wealth he was promised. He heard a knock at the door.
"Come in," The sorcerer said. The door opened and standing there was a tall man, very muscular, with ice blue eyes, wearing a ninja garb with navy blue cloth armor. It was Sub-Zero. He looked at Shang Tsung,
"When will I be paid?" Shang Tsung groaned.
"I told you, not until all of the targets are dead…" The ice ninja's brow furrowed.
"Then give a chance for battle, I yearn to spill blood!" Sub-Zero laughed darkly.
"Very well, but first I have a request of you… prove yourself to me." Shang Tsung said calmly. This truly angered the assassin, he had a powerful ego, which was damaged easily.
"I've slain GODS!! What more do I need to prove to a lowly magic user such-"
"Does the name Shirai Ryu sound familiar?" Sub-Zero stop in mid sentence. He spoke with utter disbelief,
"Don't be crazy, our battle with them ended years ago." the ice ninja's mask hid a scowl.
"Well it appears that death has not stopped this warrior," The soul stealer said this simply, as if discussing the weather or any normal topic. The ninja stared dumbly, very shocked, and even though he didn't want to, he was beginning to believe this crazy old man.
"Go to the pit, you'll find him there…"
"How do you know this old man?"
"Let's just say I "heard" him." The Sorcerer's eyes twinkled as he stared blankly to the east….
At the pit…
Night had fallen, and Scorpion was nearly complete, he had almost circled the entire island when a voice broke the gentle silence of night.
"Well I'll be damned…" The voice mocked, "The old man was right…" The specter turned to see the owner of the voice, a Lin Kuei…the man he had been searching for…his family's murder
"YOU!" Scorpion spat. The Ninja scowled, and raised his nose in disgust, he was leaning against a pillar that supported the stone bridge.
"I Remember you… the fool that was sent to get that scroll," The ice warrior said coldly. Scorpion was losing control little by little
"YOU FOUL BASTARD!! I WILL DRAG YOU INTO THE DEPTHS OF HELL MYSELF!!" Scorpion was no longer in control and was merely shouting what he intended.
"Hmph…you're just as weak as before, you have no control over yourself. I'll kill you easily…"
"Like my family!?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"You know perfectly well!"
"No I don't."
"Yes! You and your bastard brethren slew my family and clan!"
"Nonsense, I killed you, but that sorcerer slew your pathetic family…"
"STOP LYING I WILL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!!!"
"Pft…a weakling like you beat me? HAHAHA!!" Sub-Zero was laughing loudly and uncontrollably. Scorpion had now lost ALL control, and something odd was happening, Sub-Zero stopped laughing, Scorpion, was beginning to heat up uncontrollably, the Lin Kuei could feel the fiery heat emitting from the specter from where he stood. The Specter's eyes also flared a blood red, it was time for Mortal Kombat… Sub-Zero entered a fighting Stance. Scorpion charged. Sub-Zero swung his fist forward at the specter, Scorpion in fluid motion ducked under the punch still running, and spun on his heel, punching the ninja in the back of the head. Sub-Zero stumbled forward but spun quickly and let a kick fly at Scorpion, the impact sent the specter stumbling backwards, now keeping mind that these ninjas are battling on a bridge, Scorpion regained his stance leapt at the ice warrior, he balled his hands together, and swung the bottom of his hands against Sub-Zero's jaw, the ninja slid forward on his back, Scorpion hit the ground in a hand spring and sprung backwards, assuming the fighting stance. Sub-Zero was on his feet again, and very angry. The two charged at each other, throwing punches, kicks, and exchanging blows in a violent collision, Sub-Zero caught Scorpion's foot in an attempted kick and pushed forward, attempting to throw the specter, Scorpion did a complete back-flip and freed his foot, using the other foot he landed a devastating blow under the Lin Kuei's jaw. The force was incredible, Sub-Zero did a complete back-flip, landing on his stomach. Sub-Zero sprung up and assumed an odd stance, his feet were spread far apart, and he crouched, the ice ninja pushed forward, he flew forward at breakneck speed, the ice warrior crashed into Scorpion's leg's and flew right under him, Scorpion was airborne, and crashed into the ground, which was oddly cold. He was on ice. He turned and saw Sub-Zero, who was laughing wickedly.
"You may be stronger! But you're still a normal human!!!" Sub-Zero jeered "I can manipulate the elements!! You'll never win!!" Sub-Zero roared. Scorpion glared at him darkly.
"Wrong…" Scorpion vanished. Sub-Zero immediately stopped and broke into a defensive position,
"Where'd you go!" Sub-Zero was alarmed by the Specter's vanishing.
"BEHIND YOU!!" Scorpion shouted, he brought his elbow into the small of Sub-Zero's back, Sub-Zero shouted in pain stumbling forward trying to hold the wound. Scorpion growled angrily and let loose a spin kick the sent the ice ninja spinning to the ground. Sub-Zero was now truly angry.
"You think you're so powerful!!!!" Sub-Zero had sounded completely alarmed and frightened. "Well you're forgetting this!" Sub-Zero pulled his hands back and a blue aura encased his hands and a what sound a blizzard began to erupt! Scorpion's eyes widened and he leapt out of the way…
Or tried. Sub-Zero fired the ice blast, a shining ray of kori burst fourth, and lanced into Scorpion. The ice beam blasted Scorpion into a large pillar at the end of the bridge, the pillar collapsed onto the specter. The rubble began to shake as a was pushed off, the figure slowly stood up and Scorpion hobbled out. He was bleeding over and his masked ripped to shreds, now showing his face, a great dishonor to a ninja.
"Fool! You've lost you mask," Sub-Zero said darkly "And that's not all…" Scorpion could not feel his right arm…he looked and was in shock, his entire right forearm was Frozen solid. Sub-Zero scowled
"You aren't even a worthy foe anymore, leapt off this pit and spare yourself a humiliating death." Sub-Zero stated. Scorpion began laughing darkly.
"Fool…" Sub-Zero eyes widened.
"You've lost your mind specter!" Sub-Zero stammered.
"WRONG!" Scorpion flung his arm forward and the ice was shattered as a large spear blade whirled through the air, it buried itself right into Sub-Zero's chest, who let loose a blood curdling scream, which was music to the Specter's ears. Scorpion pulled tightly on the rope.
"GET OVER HERE!!" Sub-zero was flung forward and right into Scorpion's hands. Scorpion had an insane look of intense rage and hatred
"WELL NOW!!! THE SHOES'S ON THE OTHER FOOT!" Scorpion boomed, his voice no longer sounded human, it was inhuman, demonic, terrifying to the Ninja. Sub-Zero was slightly delirious from blood loss and was spitting up large portions of blood.
"S-Spare me…" Sub-Zero managed to choke out between heaving blood up.
"SPARE YOU!?!?!?" Scorpion's face began to distort and his skin began to literally melt off. Sub-Zero's eyes widened and he quickly increased his struggle, the ninja's face had melted away, leaving a horrible flaming Skull, Scorpion voice now had no humanity in it at all, it boomed and echoed.
"DID YOU SPARE ME!? MY FAMILY!? MY CLAN!!" He roared and spewed out a huge burst of Flames, the flames seared and scattered onto Sub-Zero's face and upper torso, he shrieked horribly. Scorpion laughed with delight!
"YES!! SUFFER!! NOW WHY DON'T YOU SEE WHAT'S AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CLIFF!?" Scorpion raised the flaming Ninja above his head and slammed flung him with all his might down into the pit. There the Ninja could be seen impaled on a spike, burning brightly. The flame around Scorpion's skull flickered away and Scorpion sighed, He was at peace… With his goal complete Scorpion no longer needed to be in this world, the specter's body faded away into ashes with happy memories of his family on his mind…
FIN
Well that's it for now! Look for the next chapter of this epic to detail Scorpion's actions in the second Mortal Kombat. LATER!!!