Chapter Twenty-Four
Outworld, Former Tournament Grounds
After what seemed like a very long flight, the transporter known as the Dragonfly finally landed at a port. Ermac and Siegfried immediately got off, stepping onto solid ground. They found themselves on top of a small hill. Upon peering towards the bottom, Siegfried realized that he was staring down at the place that once served as the host of The Blood Tournament…
The first thing he immediately noticed was the large pile of rubble, remembering the building that was once called The Palace. It was the place where the warriors of the tournament would rest during the night and where they would eat their meals when they weren't participating.
It was the second time since it's destruction that Siegfried had seen this place, and he almost forgot about the amount of devastation left behind. Most disturbing of all was the countless corpses that still laid where they died over six months ago. Many of them have already reached the most advanced stages of decomposition, and Siegfried knew that the environment would eventually cause their remains to disintegrate, leaving nothing behind.
Siegfried could only imagine what had transpired here that faithful morning. He had blacked out the night before, not knowing anything about this for a long while. When he stumbled here, he had thought that he was responsible for what happened, knowing that every time he had blacked out, destruction and death was left behind.
But the blackouts no longer happened, and Siegfried highly believed that he was free from Soul Edge's curse that held on to him for so long.
The Keisei native then happened to turn to his left, noting an interesting structure. He noticed a circled-like structure amongst what looked to be multiple ones, but all of them were mostly destroyed.
"What's this?" he asked Ermac after some silence.
Ermac seemed to study the broken structure before replying. "They're portals. Each one lead to their own realm."
Siegfried particularly stared at the one structure that was still intact. "Is there any way we can activate it?"
The enigma looked around for a moment to find the podium that controlled the portals. It was completely pulverized.
"Even if we could," he replied. "We need an assistance of a God to activate them. These kinds of portals are only controlled by the Gods." He looked up towards the bright purple sky. "It seems as though they were destroyed during the battle."
"What do we do from here?" Siegfried asked.
"If it's still active, there's another portal about over an hour's walk from here," Ermac mentioned. "It's near the palace that belonged to Shang Tsung."
Ermac began to walk forward down the hill with Siegfried following right behind him. "He had his own palace?" Siegfried asked curiously. He couldn't imagine one of Shao Kahn's minions having their own place.
"The sorcerer was the Emperor's most valuable ally," Ermac explained. "Unlike the others, he had been given more privileges, especially with his involvement in the Mortal Kombat tournaments. That's another story we'll explain another day. The palace was nothing more than a place for him to keep his harem as far as we knew."
"What happened to his harem after he was… taken care of?" Siegfried asked.
"We tried to help them the best we could," Ermac replied. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to save all of them. Many of them were captured hundreds of years ago with their youth retained by the gems which controlled their free will. Some had taken their own lives, believing that there was nothing left for them. Since this had happened before Shao Kahn emerged, we were able to send some of them back to their respective realm, where they can start their lives anew. Once we were done, we destroyed the palace. After that task was completed, we found ourselves in Lei Chen and, until now, have been there ever since.
"As you know, we desire to atone for our sins for serving under the Emperor, and helping those women was our first task. We will continue to atone, perhaps for the remainder of our existence."
A thought came to Ermac as they reached the bottom of the hill, walking around the rubble of what was once The Palace. "You mentioned attending this tournament. What was your experience during that time?"
Siegfried let out a quiet sigh. "If you mean the important things… I'm not even sure myself. I managed to make it to the seventh round, the last one before the final, but I lost to someone named Jin."
"We assume that he was the one who faced Ivy in the end," Ermac reminded him. "We were in hiding at the time, but in Lei Chen, we were told the entire story of that afternoon."
"I couldn't tell you what transpired," Siegfried mentioned. "I was… dealing with my curse."
"How did you become cursed?" Ermac asked.
The young man took another sigh before making the decision to tell the enigma his story…
"It all started because I had gone insane," Siegfried began, deciding not to tell Ermac the most painful part of the story that included his father's death by his own hands. "This… event… which I was the cause of… I found myself wanting to blame it on something else, and that ended up being Soul Edge. It's an infamous weapon in Keisei, sought out by many warriors, and I would end up being one of them. I was just an adolescent then.
"I went to a castle in my country called Ostrheinsburg because I heard a rumor that the nobleman who resided there had possession of Soul Edge. I served with his knights, reaching ranks faster than any other who served him. One night, there was a riot, and I seized the opportunity to take the nobleman down, which I did, and took his sword… but it turned out to be false information…. I killed the man for nothing.
"So for many weeks after that, I continued my search for the sword. The more time passed, the more insane I became. I couldn't possibly explain how it made me like this…
"Finally, I found myself near a beach. I found the sword laying next to a corpse of a pirate. I went to reach for it, but the corpse suddenly burst into flames and attacked me, and I soon fought against this demon… from what I gathered later, he was rumored to be called Inferno. It was a long battle, but I managed to defeat it, and my own sword was shattered during the final blow. In the end, only myself and the blade remained.
"The moment I took that sword into my hand, an energy emerged from me, soon shooting into the sky and spreading itself amongst my realm. It's energy had caused death and destruction upon many places, and to this day, The Evil Seed is considered one of the most deadly events in Keisei's history.
"I heard the sword's voice… it wanted to make a deal with me. I would help in restoring it's power in exchange for undoing the… event that I caused. Instead, the power consumed me, and eventually, those who faced me called me The Azure Knight, or… Nightmare.
"There's… much more to the story, but I prefer to stop there. But let's just say, during my deal with Soul Edge, I became aware of it's evil nature, and I've now fully accepted the event which lead me to that path."
"How long ago did that first event take place?" Ermac asked him once he knew that Siegfried finished his story.
Siegfried seemed to give this a thought before answering. "I was sixteen when this all began, naïve and arrogant. I'm twenty-three now. It's hard to believe it's been over seven years since it all began."
He turned to Ermac. "You had mentioned about Shao Kahn facing two demons at the end of the tournament."
Ermac nodded. "We're unsure of what became of them, however."
"I… I think with that curse of mine, one of those demons was me. Ever since I came to Lei Chen, I realized that those blackouts I've had whenever Nightmare awakened… I've yet to have one. It was said that Shao Kahn obtained new found power after facing those two demons. If that's the case… then he has Soul Edge in his possession. Whether it's controlling him or not is the question, but from the way things sound right now, it seems like the Emperor has control. I don't know how he could do it if that's the case."
"He always had hidden a few surprises up his sleeve," Ermac mentioned. "Barely any of his own minions knew of his reason to have the tournament up until the end of the final round.
"Let's move on," Ermac continued. "We must continue our hunt for the portals in order to help the civilians of Lei Chen. That's the most important thing right now."
Siegfried nodded in reply, knowing that he was right. However, he now found himself a bit unsettled, especially with the thought of where the essence of Soul Edge most likely ended up… and there was also the memory of holding the head of his dead father after killing him…
Over a year ago…
Cammy looked up in anger as the large black military plane disappeared within the fog up in the evening sky. Just moments ago, she found herself thrown off the plane. She thought her life was about to end, but the heavy blanket of snow below had softened the fall.
Despite her body feeling stunned from the fall, she felt anger more than anything. Cammy had attempted to save her 'sisters,' also know as the twelve dolls who served as Bison's bodyguards… just like she once was…
When Cammy was thrown out of the plane, she was pushed out along with the stretcher that held one of the dolls, Juni. The stretcher was on it's side, buried partially in the snow with Juni still barely alive…
Still, to know that the other eleven dolls were about to be used as guinea pigs, more than likely to die once they were through with… it made Cammy's blood boil to no end.
The person who pushed her out… she would never forget her… that maniacal laugh and that glowing left eye…
"I'll never forgive you," Cammy whispered. "I swear."
London, England
"Hello? Earth to Cammy!" Lita called out as she waved a hand in front of her comrade's face. Then, seeing that Cammy was still daydreaming, Lita lightly tapped the side of her face.
Cammy blinked a few times upon feeling that, and she immediately turned to Lita. Lita stared at her oddly. "What happened? One minute, we were reviewing our files, then you suddenly went into a trance."
Cammy looked down at the files in front of her on the table, which she knew were records of those sheltered here in the MI-6 headquarters. She had been finished with reading through them a while ago.
Cammy raised an eyebrow at Lita. "I was waiting for you to be finished."
"Juni and I have been finished for the last two minutes," Lita mentioned. "We thought you were still reading, but then we realized you were just staring into space."
Cammy turned to Juni, who chuckled a little at Lita's remark. Cammy had to smile at that, knowing that Juni rarely laughed like that. She had mostly been reserved ever since she was rescued from Shadaloo's clutches.
After the fall, they were both later picked up by Wagner with his air force jet. He had stayed behind during this particular operation, only being called upon by Guile, who had received a minor injury not long before, to pick them up. They returned to the closest air force base, where Juni was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital. Juni was in the hospital for two months after that event.
"Sadly," Lita began to say, becoming serious. "Mr. Calton passed away from his injuries this morning. I think it was more from a broken heart, knowing that his wife of fifty years died during the invasion."
Juni sighed. "Poor Mr. Calton. He was such a sweet, old man."
Lita nodded. "And once again, we have to move on. The best we can do for him now is to make sure he receives the proper burial he deserves."
"There's something else I should mention too," Cammy said. "I was talking to the General, and they are already making plans in case Outworld invades again."
"It hasn't even been a week yet," said Lita, shaking her head a little.
"I guess it's better to prepare now than later," mentioned Juni.
"She's right," Cammy agreed. "The higher ups of MI-6 want to be more prepared. They felt that preparations weren't enough a few days ago."
"So then-" Lita began, but she was cut off at the sound of the room's door opening.
The three women looked up, and were quickly surprised to see who had just walked in - Nina Williams. The Irish woman had begun getting out of bed more often since yesterday, though her arm was still in a sling, receiving a wrist injury during the invasion.
It was Cammy who decided to speak first. "How's the wrist?"
Nina shrugged. "Don't know… I haven't tried to take the cast off yet."
"What brings you here?" asked Lita.
Nina leaned herself back against the door. "Well, your General told me you were here. I assume he knew of our… association since he was too willing to share that information." She smirked. "Though I would've found out for myself anyway."
"For security reasons, I told him you had attended the Blood Tournament with us," Cammy mentioned. "That way, he knew that we knew you. I also told him, once you recover from your injury, that you could assist us."
Nina's smirk faded. "What makes you think I want to help?"
"Because something tells me you want to survive this chaos just as much as the rest of us. I don't expect you to admit anything, but since Lita and I know that you were one of Raiden and Rose's chosen ones-"
"I'd rather not discuss those times again," Nina warned with a small growl.
Cammy and Lita stared at each other for a moment, a bit baffled by Nina's response. Apparently, for whatever reason, Nina resented the idea that she had been one of the chosen ones during the tournament.
Deciding to move on, Cammy continued. "Well, you don'thave to help, but MI-6 has a goal to help out the survivors as best as possible in preparation for another invasion. You and I both know that Outworld will come back for us."
In a way, I hope they do, Nina found herself thinking. Then I can finally get my hands on that sister of mine…
"What do you want me to do?" Nina finally asked.
"Just share whatever combat knowledge you're willing to share to the civilians."
Nina thought about this for a moment. "Well, I'm not willing to share my fighting style… but I guess I can show them how to use different guns. Besides, it'll ease my boredom for a little while."
"That sounds good," Lita said, ignoring Nina's last sentence. "We'll let the General know about it, and we'll have you ready once your wrist recovers."
That's when the door opened again. Since Nina was still leaning against it, she found herself pushed forward a bit, and she quickly caught herself before falling. She whirled around to see who dared push her, only to see Steve Fox coming in.
Steve realized she had hit someone with the door and saw the Irish woman standing there. "Um… sorry about that, I didn't see you there," he said sheepishly. Nina only folded her arms and stared in reply.
"So Cammy," Steve began. "Are you ready to get lunch?"
"I'll be ready in a minute," Cammy replied. "But I must warn you, 'lunch' is probably going to be a ready-to-eat meal. Food is starting to get a little scarce and we're trying to save them for the civilians."
Steve sighed a little. "Hopefully, it tastes okay."
During that conversation, no one had noticed Nina slipping out the door, who decided not to stick around any longer. Thinking of Steve, she had not forgotten about her assignment to assassinate him. Even though she was aware that she wouldn't get her money for his death right away, Nina knew that, when the right time came, she would… take care of him…
Rocky Mountains, USA
Sitting around the campfire, the group consisting of Cyrax, Ken, Paul, Marshall, Wagner, Juli, Kenshi, Alex, Julia, Jane, and Amy were eating ready-to-eat meals for lunch. Sagat was stationed outside the fort, keeping guard in case any intruders tried to come closer to their hideout.
"This stuff is disgusting…" Paul grumbled as he forced himself to eat his meal. He turned his attention to Marshall. "Of all the things you did this morning, you just HAD to drop all the eggs on the floor…"
"It wasn't my fault you left a wet rag on the floor for me to slip on!" Marshall cried out.
Paul pointed a tiny plastic spoon at his friend's face. "You make it sound like I did it on purpose!"
"Settle down you two," cut in Julia. "The last thing we want is to argue during lunch, even if it isn't exactly a gourmet meal."
Marshall sighed. "You're right."
Cyrax decided to cut in. "Since we're all together…" He pressed a button on his arm, activating a program within his technology. "Wagner worked out all of our guard duty schedule. I know Sagat is on duty right now, but as soon as 2pm hits…" He turned to Paul. "Phoenix, you're shift begins from 2pm to 4pm."
"For real?" Paul asked. "At least I don't get the graveyard shift. Plus I get to sleep in late."
"Any way," Cyrax continued. "Marshall, your shift is after Paul's from 4pm to 6pm. For everyone, I recommend relieving the person before you from their duty at least a couple of minutes early."
"Sounds good," agreed Juli.
"Alex, your shift is from 6pm to 8pm. Sagat will have his shift from 8pm to 10pm. Kenshi and I have volunteered to cover the entire night shift. I'll be covering from 10pm to 2am. Kenshi will cover from 2am to 6am. Juli will cover from 6am to 8am. Wagner will follow from 8am to 10am. Ken, you cover from 10am to 12pm. And Julia, you guard from 12pm to 2pm."
"Sounds good," said Julia.
"If others show up later on, like Cody for example," began Wagner. "There will be slight changes to the schedule and those affected will be notified."
"Any questions?" asked Cyrax. There was a brief silence before he spoke again. "Good."
Julia began to speak. "While we're all together, I have a suggestion to make."
"What would that be?" asked Alex.
"I think hunting is in order. Since I noticed a couple of you aren't fond of ready-to-eat meals…" She stared at Paul as she said that. "I think it's one of our best options."
"Aren't animals in hibernation around this time?" asked Juli.
"Not all of them," Julia replied. "Tree squirrels don't hibernate, and my previous research tells me they're plenty around here."
"Fun…" Wagner sighed, not looking forward to eating squirrels.
"There's deer too, though during the winter, they'll stay closer to their home. There's also ducks as well."
"That sounds better," said Marshall. "Too bad we don't have the ingredients to make Peking duck. I could go for one right now."
"Suddenly, that sounds good right now," said Paul.
"I could eat a whole Buffalo myself," mentioned Julia.
"Just give me a nice, big, juicy cheeseburger and I'll be happy," said Wagner.
"With French fries!" quipped Amy.
"And a chocolate milkshake," added Jane.
Ken spoke up for the first time since lunch began. "I wouldn't mind some Thai food myself, especially khao man kai. Heck, I could eat some umeboshi… and I hate umeboshi!"
"I just want something hot and spicy, or at least something drenched in sriracha," mentioned Alex. "Just anything to help keep the chill off."
Kenshi slightly shook his head after hearing this. "You all act like you haven't eaten that stuff in ages. We haven't even been here a week yet."
"That's because we realized it's going to be a long time before we're going to taste them again," replied Marshall.
"I'm sure there's something you like that you know you won't have for a while," mentioned Paul.
There was a few beats of silence before Kenshi sighed in reply. "Well… I haven't actually had this since I left Japan… we call it unagi."
Wagner stared at him with a horrified look, realizing what he meant. "Of all the things to crave for, you want eel?!"
"Oh, it's not that bad," said Julia. "It actually tastes like chicken, only really tender."
"I heard snake tastes like chicken too," mentioned Alex.
"That's true," Julia nodded. She turned her attention back to everyone else. "One other thing about hunting. If you guys are willing, I can teach you how to skin the animals, but if you're not comfortable with it, I can do it."
"Um… I think we'll let that be your job," said Jane.
Almost everyone else nodded in agreement. Julia sighed at this. "All right, if you all insist."
"Hey, I have a story for you all," Paul suddenly said. "It happened to Marshall and I on our way over here…"
As everyone's attention turned to Paul, Julia looked over to Ken, seeing that he was now keeping his focus on his meal. She gave him a little smile.
"How are you holding up?" she asked him.
Ken forced a small smile. "The best I can," he replied. "I've… been trying to keep myself busy with helping out and training. It's not easy…"
Unsure of how to reply, Julia gave him a soft pat on the shoulder. They then focused their attention on whatever Paul was talking about.
Keisei, Unknown Area
Moments ago, the Black Dragon clan had entered a small village, intending on spreading chaos as they usually did. Each villager received a pendant not meant to control them, but to make them realize the ways of chaos. The Black Dragon had succeeded once the last villager received the pendant. This was much to Havik's delight.
The followers stood before Havik, who stood in front of his clan, including Kabal, Tira, and Bryan. "My new followers… you have now embraced the ways of chaos! I am Havik, your cleric. You may wish to seek guidance from me, but do not expect any form of order and control. It is your new nature to spread the chaos through you home as well as the remainder of this realm you call Keisei. There are no codes, there are no contracts, and there will not be a single soul who will control your own free will. You may choose to follow me, you may choose not to, so long that you do not seek to control those who decide on their choices. I am not your master, but I may be considered your guardian or your adviser, nothing more…"
As Havik spoke, Bryan found himself not paying too much attention, not caring about the current situation. To ease his boredom, he searched the surrounding area, using his night vision to scan anyone who may come too close to the secluded village.
He did this for a few minutes before, to his slight surprise, he spotted two figures hiding within the trees. By the way they were squatting on the thick branches, he knew that they were spies.
Taking the opportunity to take care of them, Bryan sneaked away from the group and began to quietly head towards where the possible spies were. He made sure to be careful not to make any noise.
Soon, he was able to get closer to the tree where the spies where, thus getting a better look at them. He saw their outfits… and smirked menacingly.
Manji Clan.
Slowly, Bryan unsheathed the katana that belonged to Yoshimitsu, realizing that this was his first chance to take down his clan members.
As the two spies continued to stare at the large group in the village, Bryan jumped up towards them from behind. Using the sword, he quickly cuts off the head of one of them, catching the other by surprise. Before Bryan had the chance to kill the second one, he rapidly gets out of the way, jumping back down to the ground. As Bryan landed a few feet away, the second clan member took out his own sword, ready to fight and avenge his fallen comrade.
The moment the clan member saw the sword Bryan held in his hand, he became horrified as he instantly recognized it.
"Master Yoshimitsu's sword…" he uttered. He angrily clutched the hilt of his own sword. "What have you done to Master Yoshimitsu?!" he demanded in rage.
Deciding to add more agony, Bryan laughed maniacally. "Do you really want to know?"
That was enough. In a battle cry, the Manji clan member jumped forward, ready for a fight. He swung down his blade, which Bryan immediately blocked with the katana. From there, the two swords clashed together with each movement, the sound of steel hitting steel being heard around them. Both fighters attempted to outsmart the other, but just as soon, their opponent would note this and would block the attempt.
Neither one of them was sure how long the fight lasted before they found themselves leaning their swords against the other in order to overcome the other. Bryan smirked as he noted his opponent's face was covered in a light bead of sweat.
"What's wrong?" Bryan asked him in a mocking tone. "Getting tired already?"
The Manji Clan fighter glared at him. "Even if I don't survive this fight, the rest of the clan will come after you! I swear it!"
"Save your breath!" Bryan suggested before giving him a powerful knee blow to the abdomen. The hit was hard enough to cause the clan member to keel over in pain, giving Bryan the opportunity to swing down the blade one last time, decapitating the clan member.
Once he was down, Bryan looked down at the sword, immediately noting it's glowing green color that surrounding the blade. It was almost as though it was satisfied with the killing.
Now if only it could be useful enough to get me back to Earth, Bryan thought to himself. Deciding to return to where the Black Dragon was, he began heading back to the small village.
Unknown to him, however, another Manji clan member had witnessed most of what just transpired. It was bad enough that he had watched two of his comrades die at the hands of a maniac… but knowing that they were killed by their own leader's weapon was what truly horrified him.
He wondered what became of Yoshimitsu and how his comrades' killer obtained it. They had originally arrived here to spy on the Black Dragon clan. Seeing the direction the killer was heading towards, he realized that he, too, was a member.
With Yoshimitsu's sword in their hands, the Black Dragon are more of a threat than ever…
As much as he wanted to take care of things, he knew that warning his other clan members was much more important. Yoshimitsu would have wanted that.
Once the killer was out of sight, he jumped through the trees and began the three-hour long journey back to Chili-san.
Outworld, Near Shang Tsung's Former Palace
After over an hour of walking, Ermac realized that, any minute now, he and the Keisei native, Siegfried, would reach the portal that he knew would take them to Earth. Two questions still lingered in his mind at this point; was the portal still activated? And if it was, was it safe enough to enter Earth?
Ever since the two left the grounds that once hosted The Blood Tournament, it had been quiet between the two with Ermac mostly navigating their surroundings. As for Siegfried, ever since they ended their last conversation, he found himself preoccupied with his thoughts.
For the first time since he could remember, Siegfried thought of his father, who was a knight himself. The older man had taught his son everything he needed to know about swordsmanship, hoping that someday, much like himself, the young boy would protect his country.
As a young adolescent, Siegfried's father had bid his wife and son farewell as he was leaving for a crusade for an undetermined period of time. Without a father to guide him in the right path, Siegfried began to socialize with an edgy clan of kids around his age, soon becoming leader of their own clan they called Schwarzwind.
In a misguided act of national pride, the teens would kill any knights who broke away from the crusade. They would not only take their valuable possessions, but they felt that, by killing them, they would rid of those they felt were too cowardly for their country to live.
Then, one night, as a large cloud above covered a full, bright moon, they went after a small group of men, weary from a recent battle. They barely had the chance to retaliate as the young boys began attacking them, killing them when their chance came. It was like any other killing… or so Siegfried thought at the time…
Seven Years Ago, Holy Roman Empire, Keisei…
"Hey Siegfried!" one of his friends called out after the killing was finished. "Is that the commander you just decapitated?"
Brushing back his short, blonde hair with his fingers, Siegfried looked down at the figure he killed. The insignia on the man's arm indeed marked him as the commander of the crusade.
"Yeah…" Siegfried replied as he began to bend over to pick up the man's head by his hair. "What do you know…"
"Man, for a commander, what a coward!" another friend of his called out as he began stealing some gold from another dead man's pockets. "You'd think he would have been a better role model. Oh well, I'd say good riddance."
As he spoke, there was a break in the clouds, and the full moon's light began to shine through. As the light shone on the severed head Siegfried held in his hands, his eyes soon widened at the pair of eyes that stared right back at him…
Eyes that belonged to his own father!
Immediately, Siegfried dropped the head and let out a loud, blood curdling scream that scared his friends out of their wits. They looked at him with confusion, and all of them dared not to move out of fear.
Siegfried swore that something in his mind made him snap at that very moment. Seconds after dropping his father's head, he quickly turned his back on his clan and began running towards the nearby forest, his screams echoing into the night. It would be a long time before he would stop running…
… Siegfried quickly shook the memory out of his head, feeling slightly sick from thinking about that night. Suddenly, he wished that he was back in Lei Chen. At least, when he was there, helping the citizens there kept his mind occupied from ugly memories.
Then, he got himself back to reality as Ermac quickly stopped in his tracks. Siegfried looked over at him. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing's wrong," Ermac replied as he pointed a finger towards a certain area. Siegfried followed where he was pointing, and he felt a bit of relief come over him as he spotted what looked like a portal, glowing a green color, indicating that it lead to Earth, about ten yards away from where they were standing.
"Now the question is whether or not Earth was invaded," Ermac mentioned. "Unfortunately, we can't just walk in and find out. Unless you knew what portals to look for on Earth, or are lucky enough to be a sorcerer or a deity, it's possibly that it would take a long time to get back to Outworld, and at this time of crisis, we can't risk that."
"I see," Siegfried said. "So, I assume we go back to Lei Chen and let them know."
"It's all we can do," Ermac replied. "Also, it's best that we briefly inspect it. We want to know how much energy it has to determine how much longer they will stay open. These are usually powered up by the sorcerers and deities and they usually last for months before they have to be reactivated."
The two began walking towards the structure. "I'm going to guess that this was Shang Tsung's own portal since it was close to his palace," Siegfried guessed.
"It's very likely," Ermac nodded in agreement.
The two allies soon reached the portal. Lifting up a single hand, Ermac used his own powers to determine the strength of the portal. It only took a moment before Ermac brought his hand down.
"There's enough power, but it won't last," Ermac replied. "We believe it will last at least another month."
"That's plenty of time if we get going," Siegfried said.
As they talked, unknown to them, two shadowed figures began to approach, both intending to depart for Earth. The bigger of the two immediately sensed a strong energy within one of them, realizing that they were perhaps powerful enough to stop him if given the chance. Deciding to… take care of it so that they wouldn't have the chance to challenge him, he began approaching the two.
It wasn't long before Ermac immediately sensed a presence from behind him. Siegfried noticed the perplexed look in the enigma's green eyes, and he realized that something wasn't right.
Before the Keisei native could say anything, Ermac quickly spoke, a hint of warning in his voice. "Behind you."
Siegfried rapidly whirled around, only to be quickly met with a glowing red hand to his throat. He stared up at the person, his eyes widened upon looking at a demon-like being. His empty eyes glowed a whitish-red color, and his white hair was down in an high, loose ponytail.
Siegfried clenched his teeth as he tried to pry the demon's hands off his throat. "What the hell… are you?" he growled.
"It doesn't matter boy, only know that I, Shin Akuma, only fight the strong." With that, he tossed Siegfried to the side with enough strength to send him flying a few yards away before hitting head first against a tree, soon tumbling into the ground. The blow didn't knock him out, but it did leave him severely dizzy.
Shin Akuma turned to the small figure who was with him, a young woman. "Dark Sakura, enter the portal and take your leave. This won't take long."
Knowing this, Ermac attempted to immobilize the young girl with his telekinetic powers in order to stop her from leaving, but he barely got his hand up before Shin Akuma attacked him with a fireball that emerged from his hands. The fireball hit Ermac square in the chest, sending him flying back a few feet before crashing into the ground. This gave Dark Sakura the time to jump through the portal to Earth, soon disappearing from sight.
Ermac looked up at the demon, sensing great evil within him. "Why do you attack us?" he asked.
Shin Akuma narrowed his eyes at him. "I sensed a power within one of you, and I soon realized that it was you. I challenge you to a fight. A being with power such as yours is more than worthy to face someone like me. Besides, it's been many weeks since I last fought a potential warrior. Do you accept?"
Ermac got himself back on his feet as the demon spoke. Once Shin Akuma asked his question, Ermac replied by shooting a green energy ball from his hand towards his opponent. Realizing that the enigma's anwser was yes, Shin Akuma began teleporting towards him, ready to take on his first challenge in months.
Kerala, India
For the past few days, Dhalsim had kept himself busy by helping the pirate, Ruby Heart, fix up the flying ship that was damaged during the invasion of the Outworld Forces. His main objective had been to patch up the holes while Ruby Heart worked on the more complicated propeller, which was bent.
The work was hard, but it had kept him occupied. He knew that this was important as it would serve as the fastest way for him to begin his journey to find the four chosen ones, the universe's only hope for survival.
He kept most of his emotions to himself from Ruby Heart, but whenever he wasn't occupied, he thought of his family and friends often. The other night, standing alone at the place which was now their grave, he made a promise to them… a promise not to seek revenge, knowing that it would only bring misery in the end, but rather fight against the Outworld Forces so that no other soul in this universe would suffer as much as they had.
Only then would he find peace for himself…
"Dhalsim!" Ruby Heart called out, breaking him away from his work. Dhalsim looked down from where he stood, seeing the young woman just beginning to sit on one of the boulders that served as a place of rest. A small fire was burning to not only keep them warm, but to also use for cooking their meals. Dhalsim was able to faintly smell the food that she had cook, but it was a scent not familiar to him.
"Lunch is ready!" Ruby Heart called out again.
Placing a hammer down, Dhalsim straightened himself up, briefly wiping a small bead of sweat that had developed on his forehead. Realizing how famished he was, he decided to join Ruby Heart for lunch, walking down the small hill where the ship rested to join with her.
"What did you make?" Dhalsim asked her as he sat down on the boulder next to her.
Ruby Heart passed him a wooden plate which contained his meal. "Nothing special. Just some sliced grapefruit and a rabbit I caught this morning."
Dhalsim frowned a little. "I appreciate you making this, though I'm afraid I won't be eating the rabbit."
Ruby Heart took a bite of her grapefruit before speaking. "You don't like rabbit?"
"It's not just that," Dhalsim began to explain. "I'm a vegetarian."
"Oh, I see," Ruby Heart nodded, now understanding. "If I had known, I wouldn't have made this. However, it does explain why you only served fruits and vegetables for our meals, not that I minded or anything."
"Do not worry about it, and I will not condone you for your choice to eat meat."
"Out of curiosity, why don't you eat meat?"
Dhalsim replied. "It's a part of my religion. However, even if that wasn't the case, I think I would still chose to be a vegetarian. I do eat dairy products on occasion, but they were very scarce in our village, so I rarely have the chance to consume them."
"I see." Deciding to change the subject, Ruby Heart pointed a finger to the propeller which was sitting a few yards away. "Right now, I'm trying to saw that thing in half. With the proper equipment and a good amount of heat, I'll be able to put it back together once I have it straightened out. It's still going to be a long progress. How's the patching?"
"Still in progress," Dhalsim answered. "I may need more wood, but I'll worry about that tomorrow morning."
Ruby Heart had to smirk a little. "I told you you'll need more than five trees."
Dhalsim sighed a little. "I know. I had hoped to keep it to a minimum, but the damage to your ship was worse than I realized."
"With what you have planned in your mind to seek out those chosen ones, I think it'll be worth it later on."
"I hope you're right… which reminds me…" Dhalsim turned his head to her. "I had a dream last night relating to the chosen ones."
Ruby Heart stared at him with interest. "What about?"
"Well…" He slowly placed the wooden plate down next to him before continuing. "I saw them in their own colored lights again… lights that represent their inner energy. But something different happened this time. This time, I found myself sending them away."
"Sending them where?" Ruby Heart asked.
Dhalsim shook his head a little. "I'm not sure. Very briefly, however, before the dream ended, I looked towards the direction I sent them off to… and there in a distance was a tall building, but it was too dark to make out exactly what kind of building it is. The other thing I don't understand… why exactly was I sending them away?"
Ruby Heart gave this a thought for a moment. "Maybe you were guiding them to their destiny. With your knowledge of the legend of Ano Sentaku Bou, perhaps maybe you serve as some sort of guardian for the chosen ones."
"Maybe," Dhalsim said. "But unfortunately, in a time like this, I cannot make assumptions. All I can do is keep my visions in mind for they will reveal their true meaning as time goes on."
"Hopefully not at the last minute."
"… I hope not either."
The two soon fell silent for the remainder of their meal, sinking into their own thoughts.
Lee Dynasty, Keisei
"Sorry I'm late," Hwang announced as he entered a small dining room at the Coast Guard headquarters.
"Not a problem," Maxi replied. "So far, we only ordered some drinks. Hope you don't mind having some water for the time being."
Hwang shrugged as he seated himself in the empty chair at the end of the rectangular table. "Not at all."
In the room, Hwang and Maxi, along with Kilik, Xianghua, and Sophitia, sat in wooden chairs with small feathered pillows for comfort. The wooden table in front of them was set up and ready to receive the meals being served by the workers there. The room was big enough to serve the five of them, the two large windows partially covered by red curtains, and the large brown and beige stripped rug underneath them served as a decorative touch along with a few, fresh green plants that covered each corner of the room.
"Is something bothering you?" asked Xianghua, who noticed the worried look on the guardsman's face.
Hwang sighed a little. "As a matter of fact, a couple of things are. Master Han-myeong suddenly fell ill earlier today."
"That's terrible," said Sophitia with a frown.
"I know… I believe part of it is his worry over Mi-na. Plus, it didn't help over the fact that one of his students ran away during the night last night."
"What's that all about if you don't mind me asking?" asked Maxi.
"Well… his name is Yun-seong. He was brought to the dojang as an orphan. Very good student from what I heard. He's challenged me to a duel before, but with everything that's been going on the last couple of years, I've had to decline his challenge. He's realized that now at least."
"Does anyone know why he ran away?" asked Kilik.
"From what I was told, I guess there was a small group of deities somewhere southeast from here, somewhere out of the country, that he wanted to help protect. He had requested to leave, but was denied, especially since he had done this not long ago, taking one of the dojang's ancient swords along with him. I guess, last night, he found his opportunity. I'm not sure why he wants to protect them, but one of his companions at the dojang believes that it has something to do with a girl he met during his last travels."
"If that's the case," said Maxi. "Then all I have to say is… people tend to do crazy things for love… again, if that's the case."
That couldn't be more true, Xianghua suddenly thought in her mind. Realizing what she just thought, she quickly shook her head, trying to get the sentence out of my head. Xianghua, don't be silly at a time like this!
"Well, some of the guards have been sent out to get him," Hwang continued. "But… that's not the reason why I'm late. I just got out of a meeting. We're planning to send out some of our men out to sea in the morning."
"Are they going to investigate whether or not the portals exist out there?" asked Kilik.
Hwang nodded. "Indeed they are. Also-"
His sentence was suddenly cut off as the door to the room opened. The five of them looked over to see who had entered, suddenly coming face to face with members of the Manji Clan.
The one leading the group spoke up. "I'm sorry to barge in like this, Hwang," he apologized. "But this is important."
Hwang immediately stood up, facing the leader of the group. "Akio… is something wrong?"
"Yes… there's something very wrong," Akio replied grimly.
"Don't tell me the invasion's happening in Keisei already!" called out Sophitia, feeling worried already.
"I assure you that it has nothing to do with the Outworld Forces," Akio replied. He turned his attention back to Hwang. "Do you remember our investigation on those group of rebels three hours from here? The Black Dragon?"
Hwang nodded. "You mentioned sending a few spies to keep an eye on them." He turned to his friends to explain. "They're a group who have been causing trouble in the area surrounding us. We considered them a threat to our security."
"I'm afraid the situation with them has become worse." Akio sighed. "One of my spies witnessed two of his comrades die at the hands of a Black Dragon member. And the worst of it… he used the very sword that belongs to our leader, Yoshimitsu."
Hwang's eyes widened at the news. "What?"
Akio nodded, letting him know that what he just heard was right. "We don't understand it ourselves. We don't know how this killer obtained the sword. Worse, we don't know of Yoshimitsu's fate, whether the sword was simply stolen from him, or whether he perished in the Earth invasion.
"This sword… it's been amongst our clan for centuries. It gives great power to it's wielder, and it has served us greatly. To see it at the hands of a lunatic, who uses it to kill our clan members, is a great insult to us. Many of us will proceed to assist you and your military. We will continue to honor Yoshimitsu by continuing our mission to stop the tyranny of Outworld. In other words, we will not abandon you. At the same time, I will be sending some of my warriors to retrieve the sword and kill the thief who stole it. It's the only way to restore honor to our clan."
"You do what you think is best," Hwang said. "Just make sure they keep the Black Dragon away from Chili-san. The last thing we need for them to do is jeopardize our plans against the incoming invasion."
"I couldn't agree with you more," Akio replied.
As they continued to talk, Xianghua found herself turning to Kilik. "It seems like Hwang is facing one bad thing after another. I wonder if it's a sign of a much worse omen to come."
Kilik placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Try not to worry about that. The only thing we can do is to make the best of our situation."
Xianghua sighed. "I hope you're right…"
Outworld, Near Shang Tsung's Former Palace
A green energy ball projected forward from Ermac's hand, shooting towards his opponent, Shin Akuma. Shin Akuma immediately teleported himself to his right, avoiding the projectile by a few inches. Still teleporting, Shin Akuma quickly brought himself towards Ermac before he attempted to deliver a punch to his face. Ermac saw the move and immediately blocked it with his forearm.
For a moment, Ermac found himself on defense as Shin Akuma threw various punches at him in rapid speed. The enigma quickly realized that the demon was possibly going to be more than a match for him.
Moments ago, Shin Akuma showed up with Dark Sakura near the portal which would lead them to Earth. They had already spent a few days searching for an open green portal, which he knew would lead them to Earth. The two finally found it, but Shin Akuma had spotted Ermac and Siegfried close by. He sensed one of them with strong powers, enough to where he knew that that they would prove to be a good challenge. In the meantime, he sent Dark Sakura through the portal.
Once he got Siegfried out of the way, who was still suffering from dizzy spells after being knocked into a tree, Shin Akuma realized that it was Ermac who had the strong power within him. The demon wanted to see what he was capable of.
Besides, he hadn't had a good challenge since facing both the ninja spectre Scorpion and the Emperor Shao Kahn back during The Blood Tournament.
As Ermac continued to block, Shin Akuma eventually found an opening, and he quickly delivered a palm strike to Ermac's chin. The enigma was forced to stumble back, but he managed to keep his balance.
Shin Akuma jumped forward, but Ermac quickly used his telekinesis to levitate himself into the air. The maneuver caught Shin Akuma in a bit of surprise, not expecting his opponent to do that. Either way, he grinned as he slowly started to like where this fight was going.
The demon jumped up into the air. He lifted one leg out and began spinning himself rapidly, performing a hurricane kick. Ermac quickly pulled himself back, avoiding the attack. Once Shin Akuma stopped himself from spinning, the enigma flew forward, a fist drawn back and ready to fight some more.
Shin Akuma now found himself on defense as Ermac delivered his own attacks at him. It didn't take long for Ermac to break through the demon's blocks, managing to strike his fist into his face. Shin Akuma staggered back, still airborne, giving Ermac the chance to hurl forward and striking him once more with a roundhouse kick. This knocked Shin Akuma back down towards the ground, but he managed to catch himself by somersaulting backwards, soon landing down by his feet.
The demon looked up just in time to see his opponent quickly coming down towards him with one foot pointed diagonally towards him. He quickly rolled forward, avoiding the kick. He straightened himself up and turned to face him just in time to block another punch from the enigma.
Once again, Ermac found himself on offense with Shin Akuma blocking each of his moves. It only lasted a few seconds before Ermac broke through the demon's defenses, hitting his face with a double palm strike. Shin Akuma barely shook the pain off when Ermac managed to grab both sides of his face before quickly slamming his face into his knee. The move made Shin Akuma stagger back a little, but to Ermac's surprise, he rapidly recovered from the pain as though he was only slapped.
Shin Akuma suddenly jumped up into the air, quickly extending both his hands as he shot out two dark purple projectiles from each palm. Ermac managed to dodge away from the first one, but the second projectile ended up hitting him, the force sending him flying back a few feet before crashing into the grass.
As Ermac got himself back up, Shin Akuma began to teleport forward to get himself closer. Once he was, he attempted a high kick to his face. Seeing the move in time, Ermac evaded the it by leaning back, the foot missing him by inches. The enigma straightened himself back up as his opponent jumped up, delivering another kick. Once again, Ermac was forced to move back.
Shin Akuma attempted a spin kick as he fell back down to land, which Ermac quickly blocked with his hand. Finding an opening, the demon crouched lower and performed a sweep kick, catching the enigma by the ankles, tripping him.
"Is that all you've got?" Shin Akuma asked as he got himself back on his feet.
Narrowing his eyes, Ermac quickly lifted a hand, which glowed in a green color. Before Shin Akuma knew it, he suddenly found himself being lifted a few feet into the air. Ermac took a moment to get himself back up on his feet before pulling his arm down, slamming Shin Akuma down to the floor with his telekinesis.
Once he knew he had the will to move again, Shin Akuma quickly rolled forward, getting himself closer to Ermac once more. Ermac attempted a back kick, but Shin Akuma managed to jump to the side. With his enemy now open, he used his elbow to deliver another blow, smashing it into his face. Ermac staggered back in a bit of pain from the hit, giving Shin Akuma the chance to another jump kick, hitting him in the chest, then following that with a punch square in the chest.
While attempting a roundhouse, Ermac managed to get himself to focus in time to block the move. Getting himself on offense once more, he threw in some more maneuvers, which were promptly blocked. It only lasted a couple of seconds before Ermac landed a palm strike to Shin Akuma's stomach, then following with a punch under the chin, the force sending his enemy into the air.
Shin Akuma caught himself mid-air, somersaulting in the air before landing safely on the ground. He barely touched his feet onto the ground before shooting out another purple projectile towards Ermac. Ermac had shot out his own green projectile, the two energies quickly exploding into nothing as they collided.
As the projectiles dispersed, Shin Akuma once again jumped forward as he delivered another hurricane kick. This time, he managed to hit Ermac multiple times in the face before landing back on the ground. As Ermac stumbled back, he delivered an uppercut under his chin, sending him flying up with him. Ermac found himself crashing onto his back as the demon landing safely once more.
Ermac found himself struggling a bit to get himself back up. Shin Akuma noted this, finding himself disappointed that his opponent was beginning to show small signs of weakness already.
Seeing this, he decided to end this battle.
Shin Akuma teleported towards Ermac, who just barely got onto his two feet again before he suddenly felt a large hand wrap around his throat. Before he had the time to react, the enigma suddenly found himself being hurled forward with such a force that he would leave a dent in the large tree he would crash into. Pain quickly coursed through his body as he collided into the tree, his back taking most of the force, before he fell face first into the ground.
Ermac sensed the demon approaching as he tried to get himself back up once more. He turned his head towards the direction his opponent came from, seeing his entire body surrounded by a red aura.
"Prepare to meet your maker," Shin Akuma's menacing voice announced to him.
Before the demon had the chance to move, he suddenly felt another presence coming up to him from behind. He narrowed his eyes, suddenly remembering the human he tossed to the side a few minutes ago…
Quickly, he teleported to the side as a large sword swiped down onto the spot where he had just stood. Shin Akuma turned towards the direction where the attacker was, noticing Siegfried standing on his own feet, his two hands clutching the hilt of his large sword.
Shin Akuma sneered at him. "Only fools would even think to bring a weapon to battle."
Siegfried narrowed his blue eyes at him. "Why? Are you afraid to face someone with a weapon in their hand?"
Shin Akuma snorted at this. "Fool."
Quickly, the demon teleported towards Siegfried, who attempted to once again swing his sword at him, but he only ended up missing him. Seeing the younger man opened, Shin Akuma delivered an uppercut, sending Siegfried flying up diagonally into the air. The demon then jumped up and delivered a few kicks on Siegfried before punching him with enough force to send him crashing down.
The light humming noise of the portal reached Siegfried's ears, and he realized that he was a couple of feet away from the structure. Seeing Shin Akuma aiming his foot at him as he fell back down to Earth, Siegfried barely rolled out of the way, forcing Shin Akuma to miss. Siegfried then got himself back up, swinging his sword at the demon with all his might…
… Shin Akuma ended up jumping back to avoid a swing from Siegfried's sword, hurling himself into the portal towards Earth. And instead of slicing through the demon, the sword ended up slicing right through the portal! A shattering noise reached Siegfried's ears as though he had smashed the swords through a wall of glass.
For a moment, the young man cursed himself over the fact that the demon managed to escape. Then, within a split second, Siegfried could only look in shock as he noted the shattered stone pieces falling to the ground.
"No…" Siegfried uttered as he fell on one knee, realizing what he had just done. He found himself looking wide-eyed at the shards of stone that, moments ago, served as the one possible hope for the citizens of Lei Chen to escape.
"Do not blame yourself for this," he heard Ermac's echoed voice speak a few feet behind him.
Siegfried sighed. "I should've been more careful."
"There are other portals to search for besides this one," Ermac reminded him. "Even if they don't lead to Earth."
Siegfried slowly got himself up, but he continued to stare at the shattered stones. "What if this portal had been the only one that remained in Outworld?"
"Let's hope that's not the case. But if it is, don't blame yourself. You were merely defending us from that demon and nothing more. And if we don't find an open portal after today, then we will have to find other means to escape from Outworld. In the meantime, we must continue on."
Siegfried nodded. Though he still felt guilty for accidentally shattering the portal, he knew that there was nothing else he could do about it. Indeed, they had to keep going.
"We'll camp here for the night to recover," Ermac suggested. "In the morning, we'll continue our journey."
Siegfried slowly nodded in agreement. "Yeah… that sounds good."
From there, the two of them began to set up camp as the sun above slowly began to set behind the tall, distant mountains.