Awakening

Kitana observes her surroundings. Her mother stood behind her while Shao Kahn stood beside her. Chan, Li Mei, and Kung Jin were the closest to her, but she still didn't wish to bring harm to them—not after they protected her all this time. She frowned as she stared into Chan's eyes. The deep lonely feeling her sister would tell her about started to resonate with her. She promised to make everything right, but she didn't understand what her sister truly wanted. Not until she saw those eyes. She could see a reflection of herself. Chan might believe he knows what's best for her, but it didn't mean he knew what she wanted.

Sindel's attention was on her daughter. She could see that she was troubled by her friends' decision to stand against her. She knew her daughter wasn't as heartless as Raja chalked her up to be. It was just as Anomaly had done to her years ago. She couldn't bare seeing her daughter go through the same scrutiny.

"Boy!" she shouted. "Chan is it? Do you plan to kill my daughter after this?" Chan stood firmly, ignoring her question. She looks around at Kung Jin, Kung Lao, Lui Kang, Kotal, and D'Vorah. "You would stand here as Edenia's allies and kill my only child?"

"Some of us no longer have family because of your child," Raja responded.

"Edenia is no more!" Kotal retorted. "Under her, Outworld would be no more if restored."

"Mother…"

"It's not fair to you. Everyone is turning against you," she responded.

"Is this not who we are? Monsters who've harmed the ones that reside in our homeland?"

"The truth is deeper than that, Kitana. Something I hope to tell you about after this," she responded.

"Kotal Kahn," Raja whispered, "Shao Kahn is yours. D'Vorah you take care of—"

"This one is not equipped to handle combat against Shao Kahn nor Sindel and shall remain here. Support would be a better method."

"I knew you'd say that. It's probably best we stay clear of those two. I'll let Kitana's allies deal with her."

"Ferra-Torr take out old boss!" Ferra shouted.

"You would stand no chance creature. Stay put," Raja commanded.

"You no boss of we Rah Rah!" Ferra shouted as Torr roared in response.

Kotal starts to get memories of his father being killed once more. He looked up to the castle and saw Kitana, seemingly distraught by the sight of his dead father. Behind her stood Shao Kahn with his hand placed firmly on her shoulder. The memory sends the Osh'Tekk into a fit of rage as he runs to the trio. Kitana raises her fans up and prepares to face Kotal Kahn. Sindel turns her attention to Chan, Li Mei, and Kung Jin who were close by. She screams as they start to move closer to Kitana. However, her voice bounces back her way as her vision darkened. Shao Kahn's golden aura was the only thing keeping some light in the structure they were both trapped in.

On the outside of the enclosed structure was Li Mei holding her hands together as her magical aura that surrounded it began to wane. Kitana had knocked Kotal to the ground, but Kung Jin and Chan were able to overpower her. The walls that encased the emperor and former queen rumbled before one of the walls crumbled to the ground. Sindel flew out of the opening while Shao Kahn walked through it. Li Mei defends herself against Sindel's attacks, but they prove to be a lot stronger than she expected, catching her off guard. She uses a reverse cartwheel kick that misses Sindel, who uses her hair to grab Li Mei's foot. She whips her head towards the mouth of a nearby living tree. Raja quickly darts towards her and catches her before she gets eaten by the tree.

"Glad you're on my side this time," she commented.

"I should let you get eaten, but my respect for the Earthrealmers wouldn't allow me to stand by," Raja responded. Li Mei grinned as Raja dropped her to her feet. Raja bites her tongue and spits her blood shaped like nails towards Sindel. The queen lets out a quick shriek to deflect them before walking towards her. Chan uses a roundhouse kick to her back to stop her. She immediately realizes that she wasn't as close to Kitana as she was before. She was still occupied with Kung Jin while Kotal beckoned for Shao Kahn.

Lui Kang and Kung Lao jump from atop of the structure and engage with Shao Kahn once more. Fire shrouded Lui Kang's hands while a considerable amount of Chi flowed through Kung Lao's hands. While they remain focused on Shao Kahn, Kotal pulls out the Outworld Kamidogu dagger once owned by his father and began cutting his chest. He speaks a chant that causes a totem to rise from the ground. It glowed green and channeled its energy to Kotal. A second totem rises below it and channels its aura to Kotal as well. A third totem shrouded in red aura rises below both and Channel's its energy towards everyone. However, the energy soon severs its connection with them and sends its energy to Kotal. He begins to embrace that power that surged inside of him, training his attention directly at Shao Kahn. He marches to the emperor as Lui Kang and Kung Lao moves away from the former emperor.

Shao Kahn laughs before summoning his hammer and swinging it towards the Osh'Tekk. He batters his ribcage, but suddenly takes a blow to the face which knocks him back. Kotal's ribs slowly healed with each blow he was able to land on the emperor. His strength was clear to everyone as he made progress by knocking the emperor off his feet. He pulls out his Macuahuitl and slams it into the Emperor's neck before sliding it back and forwards. To his surprise, along with everyone else's, the blades were not sawing through his neck. The emperor roared in laughter as he watched Kotal uses all his might to try and slice him open.

Sindel easily bests Chan in her fight as well as Raja, who chose to join him. The two continued to use the portals combined with Raja's speed to outmaneuver the woman, but Sindel's cunning movement outmatched their tactics. She danced around them both, knocking them to the ground over and over. She whips her hair to knock them both down one last time before flipping back a few feet away from them.

"Onpa Ochitsuku!" Sindel begins to hum a different tune. One that starts to make her foes slow down drastically in both movement and speech. D'Vorah's quick thinking forces the hive to become more active. Her hearing was reduced to nothing more than a horde of buzzing insects flying around her body. She points her index finger towards Kotal's left shoulder blade.

"This one did not plan to wake you so soon my child," she said. The insect inside of Kotal blocked his hearing in a similar fashion. Takeda also begins to hear the lullaby but uses his telekinesis to cleanse his mind of the hymn. He tries to strain his mind a bit more to send a message to D'Vorah but struggles to pinpoint which of the hive is her. She peeks at the tree harboring the three kids and notices that Takeda was not being affected by the lullaby either.

As she watches Kotal continue to face Shao Kahn, she decides to join the fray and face Sindel and Kitana alone. Although she could use Takeda's help, she makes no effort in beckoning him to join her. The spider-like legs on her back raises her above her foes as poisonous venom shrouds them.

"I will not let you win, Edenians," she threatened. She spits a poisonous projectile between the women, splitting them away from one another. Many of her bees flew towards them, but they proved to be useless as they fell to the sound of Sindel's lullaby. D'Vorah tries to keep Kitana at a distance while focusing on Sindel. A little of her attention was also on Kotal as he continued to hold his own against Shao Kahn. She would become distracted each time he glanced her way, thinking on his doubts of her earlier. Her fear was not what held her back, but the opportunity of his acknowledgement was more than necessary for her success in this fight.

Kitana uses her fans to pick off a few of D'Vorah's legs before attempting to sweep her away with a whirlwind. However, D'Vorah plants her legs into the ground below while Kitana's Whirlwind sweeps Sindel off her feet instead. She swipes at the queen, but Kitana quickly slices her last tendon off at the last minute. She catches her mother before she could fall and raises her to her feet.

"You alright, mother?" she asked. The effects of Sindel's hymn started to fade as she stopped humming the tune. She reverted to a more familiar tune as the notes wrapped around her hand. The purple aura formed into a strong ball of energy.

"Onpa Dangan!" Sindel stretches her hand towards D'Vorah and blasts a chunk of her shoulder. The left arm falls off in the process. Sindel's ears pick up the rapid thumping of heavy footsteps coming from her left ear. As she turns around, Jacqui's bionic fist slams into her face. Sindel's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she falls to the ground. D'Vorah was stunned after her life had flashed before her eyes. She didn't expect the children to be on their side. Especially not after she attempted to inject her larva into them.

Shao Kahn kicks Kotal to the ground before turning his attention to Jacqui. He raises his free hand above his shoulder, summoning a green energy. His mends it into the form of a spear and throws it towards her. Cassie quickly slides in front of the spear with her arms wide open. A thick green aura surrounded her body like the golden aura surrounding his. Everyone was intrigued by the fact that Shao Kahn's spear had minimal effect on her body, though it does cause her to stumble a little. Jacqui reached for her and kept her on her feet. They smile at one another.

"I can't believe it actually worked," Cassie stated.

"You could've died, Cassandra. Are you nuts?" Chan shouted. She seemed confused by his anger.

"Don't worry about him," Kung Jin added, "I'll explain everything later, but thanks for the assist showoff."

"How did she use such a technique?" Kitana whispered to herself. "There's only one other person I know who could form the green halo, and it certainly isn't an Earthrealmer."

Kitana points her finger toward the two women. Shao Kahn's footsteps started to cause small tremors to the surface as he angrily stomps towards Cassie and Jacqui. Kitana's ears tingle. She turns her back and swipes her fans across the front of her. The blades catch onto a pair of pulse blades held by Takeda. He uses them to deflect her fans, losing his blades in return. He pulls out a thinner, longer pulse blade in the style of a katana as he quickly steps past Kitana. Kotal immediately grabs ahold of the princess and tosses her away from the young swordsman.

Shao Kahn hears Kitana's moan as she slams onto the ground and turns his attention back to her. Takeda raises his blade in the air across his right shoulder and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath and releases it through his nose. His left foot moves forward by one foot while his right moves half a foot back. With one vertical swing of the blade, Takeda finds himself standing back-to-back with Shao Kahn. Blood falls to the ground as it drips from Shao Kahn's chest. The crimson scar on his chest caught everyone by surprise, except Cassie & Jacqui. Kitana's mouth hung wide. Kotal seemed distraught yet relieved. Takeda swings his sword towards the ground to cool off the heat protruding from his blade.

"He actually injured Shao Kahn?" D'Vorah question.

"Of course, he did." Jacqui responded. "His attack would kill anyone else."

"The Wanotori Ikkoku, or in this case the Ichi Wanotori Ikkoku. My teacher used this move once before and I've been training with him to learn it ever since. It could be taught to anyone, but it's not easy to master it. If I was even twice as experienced with it, I could've cut Kitana down as well."

"Count yourselves lucky. It was meant to be used on the vampire to save our parents' friends…friends," Cassie stated. "Actually, our whole plan was meant for you guys, but then everyone reduced our foes to three making the plan a lot easier."

Shao Kahn turned his head back to the warrior. The intimidating aura peering down on him froze him in place. It was probably best that the Emperor had not looked him in the eye before he used his technique. Also, probably the reason it did nothing more than scar him. Cassie rushed to him, but Lui Kang jumped in her way and stopped her.

"Whatever power you had is fading," he told her. "Try and stop the princess first."

"Seems like the others have her taken care of. And we've taken out the mother," Cassie boasted. Lui Kang looked beside Jacqui where Sindel was lying down and noticed she was gone.

"She's not there," Lui Kang mocked.

Cassie whipped her head toward where she laid and frantically searched around for her. Shao Kahn raises his hammer in the air preparing to strike Takeda. Kotal runs behind him only to be met with a fan in his back by Kitana, who raised herself up during the commotion. She runs toward her father only to be stopped by Li Mei. She prepares to fight her, but Li Mei catches her off guard with a fake out kick. Kitana smirks before grabbing her leg and flipping her on her back. Chan runs through a portal and appears beside Takeda to push him out of the way. Raja flew towards him and pulled him back before Kahn's hammer could land on him. Torr grabs both of Shao Kahn's hands while Ferra jumps on his back and starts stabbing him with her claw blades. Shao Kahn slams his guarded head against Torr's knocking him back. Takeda uses his whip to pull Ferra from the Kahn's shoulders before he could grab her. Suddenly screams shook the area around them. Everyone looks up to the sky as Sindel floats and stares angrily at everyone.

"This has gone on long enough!" she shouted. She inhales strong enough for most to hear her over the growls of the trees in the forest. As she started to exhale her voice, she is struck down by a golden bolt of lightning. Her body crashes into the ground below, causing a huge shockwave distracting everyone involved in the battle. Kotal falls to his knees exhausted by the aftereffects of the blood code. D'Vorah runs up to him and sprinkles a few of her larvae onto his wounds. More of her children continued to regenerate her missing limbs at the same time. She and Raja wrapped the Osh'Tekk's arms around their shoulders and carried him away from the area.

Kitana and Chan stare at the fallen queen's body in awe. Chan turns his attention to Shao Kahn, who stood above him with his hammer in hand. As the smoke began to clear, another warrior stood over Sindel. Suddenly, a compact ring of fire appeared from the smoke and accelerated towards Chan. Upon impact, the projectile causes a big fiery explosion. Shao Kahn is heard yelling in pain as the attack incinerated his body. Chan stood frozen by fear. The warrior ran to Chan and swept him off his feet. They signaled the others to follow suit, which they do.

Kitana yells for everyone to come back, but her voice was muffled by the loud crackling of the fire still burning through Shao Kahn's flesh. She clenched her fists and stomped over and over, but no one listened to anything she was yelling. She waves her fans towards Shao Kahn hoping the gust of wind would douse the flames. Though they were no longer on Shao Kahn, they started to affect the forestry. She uses the wind from her fans to sling mud around the area to help rid of the rest of the flames. Sindel arose from the crater where she had been struck down. Kitana runs over to her to help her to her feet.

"That golden aura. Could it be?" Kitana asked. Her mother sighed and nodded. She turned to Shao Kahn as he was breathing heavily after barely surviving the warrior's attack.

"Kitana, we shouldn't have let them get away. If they make it to the castle, you may have more enemies then you could bargain for," Sindel stated.

"I know mother, I know." Kitana rested her chin on her thumb, nibbled on her index finger, and closed her eyes. The Tarkatan had already tried to oppose her rule once before. She had caused anguish to the people of Sun Do as well as the Centaurs. Goro, Sheeva, and Kintaro were still the only remaining members of their race. No matter how desperate she was to kill Kotal Kahn, she couldn't bear to sacrifice their race's future for her sake. However, they were the only ones she knew would help. If only she knew the secret to resurrecting the dead, but she would not resort to such unless it was in the way she resurrected Shao Kahn. "I've found a solution," she exclaimed. "It's a long shot, but it should be very much possible."

"What is it dear?" Sindel coddled.

"Shao Kahn will take them all on by himself," she began. Sindel raised her eyebrow. "He will be more than capable to holding off our enemies while you and I separate Ko'otal and Anomaly from the pack. I'll handle him while you handle her."

"Do not call her by that name, Kitana," Sindel demanded. "She goes by another."

As Chan and company reach the outside of the fortress, the warrior tells everyone to go while they speak with Chan. Lui Kang was reluctant to allow the woman to be alone with his younger brother. Kung Lao placed his hand on the Shaolin's shoulder. Lui Kang nods.

"We must head for the castle. That's where she would return," Kotal stated.

"Wouldn't that be a bad idea seeing how she rules this realm?" Li Mei asked.

"Would you fight for her after what she did?" Kotal asked. Everyone slowly looked at Kotal and tilted their heads.

"To be fair to Ko'otal, the circumstances at that time were much different. Even if Chan were to try and defend her now, I would not be able to join his side in good conscience. Not after Shao Kahn's resurrection," she clarified. Everyone relaxed and Kotal sighed.

"Then the castle it is. I'll leave it up you all to rally as many supporters as possible. We'll need all the help we can get against them."

"Raiden and Fujin would serve no use here. And it would be unwise for us to call our other backup for this fight," Lui Kang stated.

"I'll warn Earthrealm of a possible threat to prepare them…in case we don't win that is," Cassie stated.

"Less talking, more running. We're short on time," Raja announced before flying away. Everyone decided to go where they felt needed. Li Mei rushed for Sun Do. The Special Forces trainees headed for the castle along with D'Vorah, Lui Kang, and Kung Lao. Ferra and Torr followed Kotal who headed for his now destroyed campsite where Mileena was killed. Chan remained alone with the warrior at the entrance of the Living Forest.

"Is there a reason you stopped me?" Chan asked.

"I know you felt my presence as I felt yours," she responded. "Do you have the marks? The marks of Light and Darkness?" she asked. Chan nodded. Anomaly smiled and shook her head. "No matter what happens in this fight, do not allow yourself to perish. I need you for the war that comes after," she responded.

"What war?" he asked.

"You need not worry so soon, Earthrealmer. Until this matter is settled, we won't be able to win."

"Who are you anyway?" Chan asked. The woman smiled. "It may not mean much to you, but they call me Anomaly. I would recommend you not tell anyone yet. I'm not…popular in this realm."

"That name is familiar," Chan pondered.

"If you trust in me, I will trust in you. You've had the visions. You know what the future holds," she responded.

"That future ended 15 years ago. The visions never came to pass," he stated.

"That is not true, as I still see the same vision. The day of Armageddon."

End of Chapter 27

(Upcoming—Hearts)