Chapter 9: Round 1 – IV

Ichigo rolled away from another crushing blow from his gigantic opponent. Yammy cursed and rubbed his bruised fist. "Stop running you little punk! Just stand still and let me crush you!"

"No thanks fatso!" Ichigo taunted, crouching in a corner beside one of the cells. The stench was overpowering but he kept his cool and focused on the big brute.

"Shut up you little rat! Come and fight me!"

"No, I think you need the exercise." Ichigo smirked.

"Gragh! You damn brat! I'll kill you!" Yammy charged blindly and seemed to prepare for a shoulder barge. If he hit his target then Ichigo would be ground into the wall and turn into a gory soup. Yammy roared like a wild animal as he raced towards the cornered boy.

When he was only a few steps away Ichigo jumped into the air, kicking off of the wall and reaching one of the dangling meat hooks. The momentum allowed him to swing up high over Yammy's head, leaving the wild man to slam into the wall with full force.

"Dammit!" Yammy roared. "Get back here!" He jumped up and extended one of his large hands, ready to catch the bright haired boy.

Ichigo carefully climbed up the chain out of reach. He then used his legs to yank the

meat hook up into the palm of Yammy's oversized hand. The giant cried out in agony as the hook sank through his flesh and erupted from the other side.

Yammy used his other hand to try and grab the young boy who was still climbing up towards the ceiling. Yammy's erratic behaviour was merely making the wound in his palm bigger and bigger.

"I'll kill you! Get down here!"

Ichigo reached the ceiling and slid up onto a beam supporting the roof. There was a small crevice in which he was able to snake through and hide, pressing his back against the stone roof and keeping his eyes on Yammy who was now trying to climb the chain to catch him.

It did not last long and the chain snapped, leaving Yammy to drop a short distance to the ground. He cursed and yanked the chain out of his hand, accidentally making the wound far worse in the process and rendering the hand unusable. He stared at it and then scowled at the hiding boy.

"It's time to catch the rat!" Yammy swung the chain around his head like a lasso and grinned menacingly. "Run from this smart-ass! Ha ha ha!"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed and he tried to worm his way out of the gap but instead found himself stuck. He panicked and writhed around frantically, hyperventilating as he did so.

Yammy relished in his fear. "That's it! Be frightened! Because when I get you down I'm going to tear your little body to pieces!"

Ichigo wasn't listening, far too preoccupied with his failing escape. In his rabid thrashing he cut himself on a dislodged splinter. It cut deep and he cried out in agony. The pain caused him to have a brief spasm which aided him in crawling out of the gap.

The only problem was that now he was dangling from the beam with no way down. If he were to get down without breaking bones he would need to use another dangling hook which dangled twenty metres away on the other end of the beam.

Ichigo hurriedly shimmied across the ledge, intermittently glancing down to check on his opponent.

Yammy rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'm tired of swinging this damn chain. Let's finish this!" With a grunt of effort he hurled the chain and bloodied meat hook straight to Ichigo.

Ichigo cried out in alarm and stared at the hook soaring towards him. Yammy's aim was dead on. In seconds it would hit him and pierce his stomach making it easy to throw him down to the hard ground and kill him.

Ichigo had to act fast. In the blink of an eye he made his decision. He did all he could do.

He dropped.


Urahara faced off against another elusive wise-man. This warrior had not appeared in the preliminary contest yet here he was, a contestant all the same. He wore a wide rice hat and simplistic robes. He looked more like a farmer than anything else, yet there was an overwhelmingly powerful presence about him.

"Kisuke Urahara." The farmer uttered softly, yet his voice carried as if he had shouted the words. His eyes were blank, though the whites were frequently disrupted by bright blue light as if a thunderstorm was raging within them. Lightning crackled around his body.

Urahara glanced cautiously at him. "Just who are you?"

The farmer bowed. "I am Raiden, the god of thunder."

Kisuke frowned. "A god? Then how am I supposed to defeat you?"

"Do not worry. I too fight for Earthrealm's sake. We are both on the same side." Raiden looked around cautiously before continuing. "I have terrible news. I needed to tell you, as you are the only on form Earthrealm who can lead our forces."

"I'm sorry but I have no intention of leading an army of unlucky earth warriors to certain death. You can pass the torch back onto yourself if you truly are the god of thunder."

Raiden sighed. "I cannot do that I'm afraid. I need to be defeated here so that I may save Earthrealm."

Ukitake remained silent but his inquisitive stare was enough of a request for answers. Raiden once again checked around for intruders before speaking.

"Shao Khan has been waiting to strike Earthrealm for centuries. He has not succeeded in taking it before but he now believes he can. Do you have any idea why?" Raiden waited for a response.

"I'm afraid I can't see the future. You have me, what is the answer?"

"I ma not certain of the details but Shao Khan is planning something. Word is he has formed an alliance with other powerful lords and that alone is cause for concern but most troubling of all is their absence from this tournament. If he had such powerful allies he would put them into the tournament to gain advantage, yet not one of them is here." Raiden seemed rather concerned but Urahara saw little to be worried about.

"Maybe he is anticipating being defeated again. If he really is so unsuccessful as to lose for centuries of tournaments then maybe he is trying to build a great army for the next tournament." Urahara seemed pleased with his theory.

Raiden however was not convinced. "Then why hold this tournament?"

Now Kisuke was stumped.

Raiden frowned. "I'm afraid he is planning something terrible. I wish to investigate further but Shao Khan drafted me into this tournament because he foresaw my intervention. That is why I need you to 'defeat' me."

"Well I do want to survive at least the first round. I guess I can accept your help. What must I do?"

"Nothing. Shao Khan has always counted on fighters being far too eager to engage in Kombat. Since the fighters are volunteers cowards and conscientious objectors are never encountered. As such Shao Khan does not monitor the majority of the matches."

"So we can just walk away?" Urahara asked.

"Exactly. But..." Raiden formed a large ball of sizzling electricity in the palm of his hand and shot it off into the wall beside him. It formed a large crater and forced a giant stone pillar to crumbled and fall. He then did the same to several other points in the room. "We must still make it look like a war zone. Fighters surviving unscathed are not rare, but a battle without any evidence is impossible. Shao Khan may not be wise, but he is no fool either. We still have to be careful."

Raiden approached the door and glanced over his shoulder. "Kisuke Urahara, I wish you good luck in Mortal Kombat. May you and your comrades survive to see peace." With that he disappeared.


On his way back to the main hall Aizen passed a corpse. It belonged to one of his Espada, number three, Halibel. Her blonde hair was streaked with dried blood and she lay face down in a congealing scarlet puddle.

Aizen gazed down almost sympathetically before whispering, "How pathetic. A fighter of her calibre falling to such a weak opponent. But I am happy...I never got to thank that girl for giving me the Hogyoku..."

He moved on, proceeding to the hall. He noticed a thin trail of red droplets laid out before him. A smile crept up on his face. "I look forward to meeting you again, Miss Kuchiki."


Within a high tech laboratory two pulsating lights flashed at various points around the room. They were the oscillating laser blades wielded by the two cybernetic ninja, Sektor and Cyrax.

The two foes had held a long-lasting hatred for each other. Despite both being bred for the same purpose they aligned with differing sides. One chose Shao Khan as a leader while the other looked to Earthrealm's brave fighters as comrades.

Sektor, the red cyborg faced off against his familiar foe, Cyrax, who adorned bright yellow armour. The two stood out in the damaged laboratory. All the equipment had been destroyed in their feud.

Sektor's chest cavity opened to allow a missile to shoot forth. Cyrax hurled an oversized grenade with inhuman precision. The two explosives met in the centre of the room and exploded outwards, showering the two robotic warriors with broken glass and shards of steel.

They both moved out of the swirling cloud of smoke and proceeded to hack at each other with their pulse blades. Each blade glowed with the same colour of their wielder's armour. The two both had mechanical precision, making them evenly matched.

They continued to cross blades for some time until it was time to go all out. Sektor once again shot a missile form his chest and Cyrax hurled his pulse blade like a dart. It cleaved through the missile and passed through the resulting fireball towards Sektor.

The red cybrorg stepped aside and caught the flying weapon with a third mechanical arm which extended from his shoulder. With the pulse blade in it's literally vice-like grip it then returned the favour and threw it back again.

Cyrax. Dived out of the way and shot off a glowing ball of green light. It soon formed a net which entangled around Sektor. As he struggled to escape the yellow robot appeared behind him and lifted him from the ground. He then leapt high into the air before slamming down hard, using his foe as a cushion for his own fall.

Sektor cursed in what turned out to be a series of mechanical noises. He pushed himself up and punched Cyrax hard in the face. The two threw fists like tow human fighters, though their punches connected with superhuman force, managing to dent their armour when they hit.

The two fought on with everything they had but Sektor seized the upper hand when he used his third arm again. This time it grabbed a hold of Cyrax and threw him across the room. Before he could regain his bearings Sektor had teleported over to him and threw a heavy uppercut.

Cyrax clambered back to his feet in time to witness a missile soaring towards him. He had no time to react and the explosion brought the laboratory down, even making the ceiling cave in.

Sektor made an odd noise which coming from a human would have been a triumphant laugh and then walked away.


Ichigo let go of the ceiling and plummeted far down to the ground. Yammy chuckled excitedly and let go of the chain, instead racing towards the falling combatant. He caught Ichigo in his one good hand and laughed insanely. His fingers closed tight around Ichigo's smaller frame, crushing the life out of him.

Ichigo closed his eyes and grit his teeth. His vision was getting blurry now and a headache unlike anything he had ever experienced hit him like a speeding truck. His head rolled back as he barely remained conscious. Black splotches were appearing in his vision as Yammy clenched tighter and tighter until he could hear bones creaking.

"Ha! Not so tough now are ya? I only had to catch you and you're already dead! Ha ha ha!"

Ichigo's eyes half opened and he stared dazedly into the eyes of his opponent. There was something else he could see, but he was unsure what it was. It was curved and shaded a dull red colour, almost like rust. It was dropping from the ceiling. He tried to concentrate but he blacked out for the briefest of moments before opening his eyes again, only this time things were different.

The object landed on Yammy's head, smashing his skull and forcing an eruption of brain matter and blood. Yammy relinquished his grip and Ichigo was dropped to the ground where he lay still for a moment before his consciousness fully returned.

When he was able, he crawled over and stared at the deceased fighter. The meat-hook he had thrown had hit the roof but only just barely. It hung in place for only a few minutes while Yammy was toying with his victim, but with every passing second it slipped loose until it finally fell down on Yammy's bare skull.

Ichigo felt sick just looking at the abominable mess and so he quickly made his way out, limping up the giant staircase to return to the main hall.

With that final execution, the first round of Mortal Kombat was over.