Mortal Kombat: Vengeance

by Red Fox Tail

John Mathews returns from active duty and is looking forward to spending time with his baby brother but after one bad situation that leads to another he finds that his life and his little brother's are being threatened by forces he thought were only stories told to scare the superstitious.

11. Chapter 11

Firstly I must apologize for being away for so long after I promised I was back. But I have a good reason. I Could tell you the long story of how George Washington sent Robot Zombie Monkey ninjas to murder me and how I barely escaped with my life but I don't want to so enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 11 Punishment

The group followed Kung Lao into the forest and met the rest of the fighters and children at a stage and they gathered on one half of it. Sonya looked around with a worried look on her face. "Are you alright, Lieutenant?" asked Kai noticing her worry. "I thought I'd meet John here too... I figured he would want to see this..." "I haven't seen Master Bo Rai' Cho either... perhaps they went for a walk together?" "Maybe..." said Sonya looking over to see Liu Kang talking to Raiden. "Raiden, how could this be allowed? Earthrealm won Mortal Kombat three times now, how could the elder gods allow this to happen yet again?" "Because this time it is not Outworld threatening Earthrealm." Explained Raiden. "Not Outworld? But who else has reason to endanger Earthrealm?" "Shinnok and the Netherrealm." "But why would he be after Earthrealm and wouldn't he need to win ten consecutive tournaments, not just one?" "Before Shinnok there was another leader if the Netherrealm, he won nine tournaments, and then Shinnok killed him, took his place as ruler, and put the tenth tournament on hold, until the time was right." Raiden then turned to face the Shaolin warrior. "He must not win, he is more powerful than even me, he is an elder god damned to hell, if he wins this tournament, he will be freed, and we will not only have a literal hell on earth, we won't be able to stop Shinnok, we must win." Just then a bright light shone brightly and what looked like a meteor, dropped from the sky and headed straight for the ring. It crash landed at the head of the stage before any of the fighters had time to move. When their vision returned to the fighters saw that they were no longer in the forest but in what looked like a cave with fire starting from what looked like the stones themselves. "Lord Raiden, is this the Netherrealm?" asked Kung Lao. "Yes, it is." asked Raiden standing up again. "This reminds me of the time I was shooting a movie in a northern cave, and something went wrong with my pyrotechnics," Johnny Cage started. "One of my stuntmen was hospitalized." "Why couldn't it have been you?..." mumbled Jax. Liu Kang stood up and looked at the head of the stage he saw an elderly man in red robes, and another middle aged man in gray robes, and between them was the Necromancer, Quan-Chi in shackles that appeared to be made of light. Blizzard's attention was focused on the other end of the stage. Among the large group of fighters his sister stood out to him. Her face said she was angry at him, but her eyes gave her away. In her cerulean eyes he saw nothing but a painful sadness. Hurt seeing his sister in pain, he turned his head to the front of the stage and saw Quan-Chi on his knees in shackles, even though he was incapable of doing anything to him, the stare that Quan-Chi gave him alone, sent a cold shiver up his spine. Just then the Elder god in red spoke up, "As you are all aware, we are here to serve justice on the Netherrealm Necromancer, Quan-Chi, for his actions of late," Sub-Zero and Smoke glared at Quan-Chi praying that he would get the death penalty for what happened to Fox. "Firstly, for sending his fighters, against Earthrealm's before the tournament, we have decided to strip him of him of his immortality, for the remainder of the tournament and we also forbid him to participate in the tournament." as soon as the man in Red finished speaking, there was an awkward silence. Everyone stared blankly at the stage. The man in Red turned his head toward the other man. He continued to stand tall, facing forward, very dignified. "Fujin." he said, the man turned his head toward the elder god. "Yes, Kojin?" Kojin simply held out his palm, silently telling him, *it's your turn.* "Oh! Right, sorry." he then stepped in front of Quan-Chi. Raiden smirked and Himivat chuckled at this. Fujin then raised both of his palms and placed them both on Quan-Chi's bone white skull. A whirlwind appeared around them and Quan-Chi stared screaming as Fujin's arms started to glow. Smoke smirked at the sight of Quan-Chi in pain. As Quan-Chi screamed his skin started to lose its bone white colour and started actually looking like skin. When Fujin let go of his head, his arms stopped glowing and, the whirlwind disappeared and Quan-Chi fell on all fours. Fujin then released his shackles, returned to his original spot, and said, "Secondly, for costing you the life of one of your fighters, Fox from the Lin-Kuei clan of assassins, we are giving one of you fighters from Earthrealm, the opportunity to fight him without his immortality." Smoke immediately started walking toward the stage, but before he even got close Jax raised his metallic arm and said, "I'll do it." Smoke snapped his head toward Jax and said "What?!" "Then it's decided, Jackson Briggs, will face Quan-Chi in Mortal Kombat." said Kojin. "NO!" Smoke shouted and ran toward Jax, but was stopped by Stryker's chest. "HE'S MINE TO FINISH!" "Smoke!" started, Stryker. Jax started walking toward the stage. "HE'S MINE!" "RELAX!" shouted Stryker. Smoke turned his head to face Stryker. "Listen to me man, you are in not in the right mind to be fighting." "You listen to me, I'm ready to do all kinds of damage to him." "That's exactly my point, you are focused on nothing but revenge, you are blind with rage, you will fight blindly and you will lose. Trust me when I say this man, you are really not in the right mind to be fighting right now, just sit this one out." Smoke looked over and saw Jax step onto the stage. "Kick his ass Jax!" shouted Smoke. As soon Jax stepped up onto the stage, four torches at the edges of the stage ignited, and Quan-Chi stood up, and said. "I admire your bravery major Briggs, but even without my immortality you are no match for me." "What you did cost a kid his life, that's not something I take lightly. I've seen a dozen people who do what you did in my line of duty, and every one I've met I'd now six feet under." "Raiden, and Shinnok I'm going to ask you to join me at my side now." Raiden walked onto the stage, and an ethereal man appeared beside the two gods. Everyone recognized this man from before, when he and Quan-Chi challenged Earthrealm. Kojin turned to Raiden and said, "As I understand it Raiden, one of your conditions to this tournament was that it must be a sealed god tournament." "So take my hand Raiden." said the ethereal elder god. "Do not recite the rules of Mortal Kombat to me Shinnok." Raiden shouted at Shinnok, extending his hand. "I'm not the one who broke them." Shinnok took hold of Raiden's hand, they closed their eyes and they both shot their heads up in unison, and when they brought their heads back down and opened their eyes, they didn't have their white colour but an electric yellow colour to them. "The pre-tournament match will now begin." The gods said in unison. Shinnok turned his head and said "The Netherrealm, Necromancer, Quan-Chi." Raiden turned his head in the opposite direction and said "Earthrealm special forces Major, Jackson Briggs." The gods then faced the front, and said "Fight!" Without warning, Quan-Chi threw a green skull at Jax. Jax saw it at the last moment and ducked out of the way at the last possible second. Quan-Chi went airborne and attempted to stomp on Jax, he rolled out of the way and got, back to his feet. "You are faster than I anticipated," said Quan-Chi. Jax jumped at the Necromancer and he shoved a mechanical, steel covered fist right into his bottom jaw (Feeling the bone break) sending him backward and airborne. "Yeah!" Shouted Smoke, throwing his fist into the air. Quan-Chi landed on his chest, and his legs flopped to the ground behind him. Quan-Chi, slowly picked himself up, and blood drooled out of his mouth. Quan-Chi's wrists began to glow a skeletal arm emerged from the ground with a spear in his hand. Quan-Chi grabbed the spear and threw it and Jax. Jax moved out of the way and Quan-Chi ran at him and dropkicked him in the gut. Jax went airborne and landed on his back. Quan-Chi waved his hands and said strange words and two broadswords appeared out of thin air. He grabbed them both, and raced toward him. He then swung at him with one if the broadswords, Jax jumped out of the way and got back to his feet. Again and again Quan-Chi swung at Jax and he dodged the swings one after the other. Jax dropped low and swung his massive leg at Quan-Chi's shins, tripping him and Jax used this opportunity to create some distance between him and the Necromancer. With the distance made, Jax raised his fist as with all of the strength he could muster he slammed his fist into the ground as hard as he could, creating ripples in the earth, sending Quan-Chi airborne again. While airborne, Jax threw his fist back and threw a ball of purple energy hitting Quan-Chi before he completed his fall back to the stage. Quan-Chi lifted his head weakly and stared at Jax with bloodshot eyes. "That's a warning, surrender now." Jax said glaring at Quan-Chi. Quan-Chi growled, picked up one of his broadswords, screamed at him, and raced at him filled with pure rage, and swung at Jax. Jax raised his arm and blocked the sword with his metal arm and a loud *Pang* filled the air. Jax then used his free arm to punch Quan-Chi in the ribs, then in the cheekbone just below his eye, knocking him to the ground yet again. Jax then stomped over to his side, lifted his leg and stomped on the small of his back with all of his might, shattering vertebrae beneath him. Quan-Chi howled in pain. Jax lifted his foot and kicked him in the ribs flipping him over. He then lifted his arm again and slammed his fist into his chest ramming his xiphoid and sternum into his heart and multiple ribs into his lungs. On the other end of the stage, Milleena let out an ear piercing shriek. "Jax wins." both Raiden and Shinnok said in unison. "Fatality." Cheers and shouts of congratulations came from Earthrealm's side as Jax walked off the stage and joined his friends. Raiden, let go of Shinnok's hand, and their eyes returned to their milky white colour. Raiden turned to face Shinnok and said, "If you are trying to intimidate us Shinnok, you aren't getting off to a good start." "Quan-Chi isn't the only one I have fighting for me, don't get too confident just yet." Shinnok respond and disappeared. Raiden then walked over to his group. He saw Sub-Zero, Smoke, and Blizzard bowing to Jax. Jax then turned toward Raiden. "You fought well, Major Briggs, for now you have earned a rest." With that Raiden, raised his hand into the air, and engulfed his arm and his group in lightning, and they left the hellish, landscape.