Somewhere in the audience, Balrog and Vega are sitting on beach chairs. On orders of M. Bison, the two were tasked with retrieving the Sphere of Wonders and bringing it back to him. Unfortunately, that may be all but impossible since they won't be able to participate in the tournament.

"This is bullshit!" Balrog complained. "Why the hell are we even still here? We don't even get to fight in this stupid thing!"

"Patience, my misguided friend," Vega coaxed. "We'll find a way to complete our mission. In fact, we could even be able to turn this situation to our advantage."

Balrog thought it over, then ultimately agreed with his coworker. "Eh, you got a point," he said. "Even if we're not fightin' in this thing, we could still try and come up with somethin' to make off with that Sphere."

"Yes," Vega replied. "But for now, we sit on the sidelines and wait for our chance to strike."

A portal emerged from in front of the arena, and a man with long flowing black hair in emperor attire walked from that portal. His name is Liu Kang. "Greetings," Liu Kang said in an echoing voice. "I am Liu Kang, ruler of the Netherrealm. I will be one of the MCs here in this tournament. And now without further ado, the next match shall feature Jackie Bellus..."

After John kissed Jackie on the cheek, she walked onto the arena with a smile on his face.

"...vs Minerva, Lightsworn Maiden."

"You can do this, Minerva," Felis encouraged, "I know you can."

"Thanks," Minerva replied before walking onto the arena across from Jackie. "You are the clown-faced killer's protege, I presume," Minerva said to Jackie.

"Actually, I'm his girlfriend," Jackie shot back. "And I'm sure Johnny's gonna love it when I put some holes in you."

"BEGIN!" Liu Kang announced. Minerva activated a Magician's Circle, giving her access to her magical powers on the mortal plane. Jackie, acting bored, gave out a fake yawn as if to taunt her. Minerva shot a bolt of light towards her, only for Jackie to cartwheel out of the way of it. She then got out a thermos full of a raw blood shake, tossed it into the air, and used her pistol to fire bullets at some of Minerva's light pellets. When she was finished, the caught the thermos, opened it, and drank some of the now shaken blood shake.

"Mmm, delicious," Jackie quipped before a bolt of light knocked it out of her hand. After that, Jackie got angry. She dashed towards Minerva, blindly swinging her fists. Minerva coated herself in a light barrier as Jackie attacked, leading to Minerva disappearing. As Jackie looked confused, Minerva reappeared behind her and performed a short ranged light blast, knocking Jackie on her stomach. However, she was able to get back on her feet.

"This won't end well for you, Bellus," Minerva said before sending out an owl to fly towards Jackie. Without a care, Jackie got out her pistol and fired at the owl, the owl falling down shortly after, newly dead. As Minerva stood, shocked and surprised, Jackie shot her in one of her kneecaps, causing her to sit on her bottom to hold her wounded knee. Jackie then walked towards her to kick her in the face, knocking her to the floor and unable to get back up.

"Winner: Jackie Bellus." Liu Kang announced. This was followed by a "WOOOO!" from John. "Right... now finish her."

"Glad to." Jackie said before placing a bare foot on Minerva's neck. She then aimed her gun at Minerva's forehead. Minerva, teary-eyed, closed her eyes and succumbed to her fate. However, in a worse case scenario, no bullet came out of the gun. This surprised everybody, including John, Jackie, and even Minerva.

Jackie tried to fire many more times before ultimately giving up. "Damnit!" she shouted. "Out of ammo." Upset, she walked back to the audience. Elsewhere, Felis and Wulf exhaled in relief.

John hugged Jackie in order to calm her down. "There, there, dear," John coaxed. "I probably should've told you to reload your gun. But hey, at least you won."

"Yeah," Jackie said with a frown. "It would've been more fun to kill that bitch."

"She's not important right now. What is is that we need to find a way to get the Sphere of Wonders before everyone else, and I know just the perfect plan..."

to be continued...