Crisis in Outworld
Civil unrest travels throughout Outworld as news of Kitana and Mileena's disappearance spreads a week after their fight in the throne room. Mileena's loyal followers sent out search parties to find and retrieve the empress. Zero sends a few to find and assassinate Empress Kitana. Many of the Tarkatans wonder if following Kitana's orders without Mileena's presence was the right call.
The citizens of Sun Do demand answers for why the Representative was assassinated. It wasn't like she had anything against either empress. Her allegiance was to Outworld, not its ruler. Even Kitana should know this. Surely Shao Kahn has told her the stories of Onaga's rule. If the people of Sun Do revolt, Outworld would no sooner become an archaic civilization as it was decades ago.
Rain is in Earthrealm completing a bounty. In truth, many of Outworld's bounty hunters have been busy dealing with different bounties created by the Empresses over the past few weeks. The one known as the Collector has been searching for many ancient relics over the past few centuries and his research has rewarded him well as of recently. The rewards for these bounties must be special seeing how dangerous they are. There is a reason you can count the number of completed bounties on one hand. Rain's bounty in particular puts him at an advantage over other prospects due to his ability to manipulate water and lightning. But compared to the one he hunts; he is nothing more than a tadpole.
The city of Lei Chen denied all requests to be involved in Outworld's affairs as it was now under control of the realm of Seido. However, Hotaru did state that Seido would have to take action to claim all of Outworld if order is not established within a month's time. Knowing the wordplay of Seido's higher ups, it's safe to say they may act in less than a week's time. It doesn't help knowing the fact that a member of Seido's senate is personally meeting with Bo Rai Cho.
Some have whispered rumors of the Moroi finding the location of the orbs that lead to their home world. They have been said to get favor from the Lava Priest in exchange for help in resurrecting the Dragon King. Whether they've returned or not is unknown as of now. However, rumors also say that a warrior coated in fire had been roaming Outworld for days now.
"Which means the time is nigh," Anomaly finished. She sat with Eva as the two conversed with one another while watching the sparring match in the village of Makeba.
Chan mugs Raja as their eyes locked onto one another. Raja seemed joyful when she arrived. The feeling changed once she realized Chan was working for the opposite side. No one expected an Earthrealmer to step foot in Outworld after their tournament victory. Especially not one deemed the champion of Earthrealm…or rather former champion of Earthrealm. Kitana is the primary target, not Chan. Li Mei's presence was overshadowed by the prominence of the strongest warriors in all the realms.
"Love the new feet," Chan commented as his eyes darted towards Raja's feet. "I wish I could have given you a diamond anklet after…you know." Puzzled, Raja shook her head—unaware the Earthrealmer's sarcasm.
"If this is you threatening me to apologize for sending your brother after you, I fully understand," Raja stated.
"This is the brother of Lui Kang?" D'Vorah questioned.
"Who else would be able to stand a sliver of a chance against someone like Sindel?" Kitana retorted. "If you know who he is then you might want to reevaluate the situation."
"We will not allow him to fall to your deception, princess Kitana. It is not him who we were after. It was you," Sindel responded. She reached for her daughter's hair only for Chan to grab her wrist. Sindel's eyes jumped as she staired at his hand gripping her skin tightly. Kung Lao raised an eyebrow while Lui Kang smiled.
"Chan," Raja pled. He looked at her before tossing Sindel's hand away.
"I know why you're doing this," he stated. "That doesn't mean I will allow it."
"We don't have to be en—
"You dishonor the dead. You've resurrected my family and forced them to attack me?"
"I did not raise the dead to spite anyone, Champion." Raja confirmed.
"Pitting my mother and lover against me is not out of spite, Moroi?" Kitana shouted. Raja frowned.
"We all have names Princess. I would suggest you only address me by name."
"Chan, we all know who the common denominator in this situation is. The princess you know is lost," Li Mei whispered.
"If you would rather be against us, I won't blame you Li Mei, but I will not stand down," he spoke. Kitana was mesmerized by the bold look on his face. She had never seen him so confident since his match against Rain. Li Mei sighed and shook her head. She remained beside him and he nodded. Kotal steps forward and placed his arm in front of Raja. She was dumbfounded by his act. He spoke before she could respond.
"Champion of Earthrealm," He began, "the throne is the true enemy. Kitana sits on that throne. Therefore, Kitana is our enemy. Knowing this, you would still stand by her?" Raja pushed down on Kotal's arm and guided him behind her.
"Nitara chose ten different warriors across the realms to resurrect using her blood ritual. However, her disappearance only allowed me to bring four of them back to life. They weren't the first choices, but they were the best for the job," she responded. Chan waved his hand across his hair and cocked his head to the side.
"Six people came with you," Chan stated.
"Ah, these three are very much on their first life," Raja chuckled as she opened her arms. "Lui Kang, Kung Lao, and Sindel on the other hand…well you know this much already," she smirked as she relaxed her arms.
"Then the fourth must be close by," Kitana commented. However, Raja shook her head.
"If they were, they would be here now. I have yet to know who it is. There was no way I would miss out on the chance of resurrecting Lui Kang & Kung Lao. Sindel was more of a surprise than anything as I never should have been able to find her body in Earthrealm."
"Why would she…father, of course," Kitana whispered.
"Speaking of your father," Raja begin as she caught Kitana off guard, "he was another choice, but his soul was nowhere to be found."
"So that's who she meant," Chan whispered as he remembers Knightwolf's final words that fateful night.
"We Moroi have very great hearing. There's no need to whisper," Raja stated. D'Vorah coughed into her fist as she stared at the woman. "Right, we're wasting a lot of time chatting aren't we," Raja stated.
"Wait," Chan said, "you still haven't told us who the fourth person is."
"We do not know," Kotal confirmed. "We've had many candidates, but we failed to act."
"This one simply suggested resurrecting Quan Chi or Lord Onaga, but they found these options to be quite problematic," D'Vorah stated
"We wanted big teeth resurrected. But Flap-Flap Big Boss too late," Ferra stated as Torr huffed. Raja swung her head towards the pair. She then looked back at Kitana, who dropped her fans. Chan's mouth hung down. Li Mei's body trembled as she replayed the nickname in her head.
"Er…we also wanted—"
"That's enough!" Chan interrupted as he slammed his foot on the ground between them.
"I shall take care of Kitana. You can hold the Earthrealm Champion off until I'm finished," Kotal stated. "Nitara was to resurrect you both once you've been killed. Once my new contract with Raja is complete, I shall resurrect you both as well as your friend Jade," he told her.
"No," Sindel responded. They turned their attention to her. "She is my daughter. If anyone must stop her…it must be me."
"No mother! You will not be the one to die at my hands. I know the truth," Kitana shouted with tears flowing from her eyes. She pulled out a photo from before. The photo of Kotal hugging Mileena. Bi Han could also be seen in the background of the picture. Chan's eyes jumped. "Ko'otal, you will die by my hands as my sister died by yours!"
"Consider this an honorable death," he responded.
Sindel engaged in combat against her daughter and was surprised at how careful Kitana was with her attacks. Chan tries to defend her, but is immediately interrupted by Lui Kang's fire ball, which narrowly misses him. He decides to instead face his older brother to keep him away from Kitana. Li Mei stares at Kung Lao who simply shakes his head.
"You don't have to worry about me, Kung Lao. I've trained with Bo Rai Cho as well," she said.
"Training won't be enough."
Lui Kang deflects his brother's fist with the palm of his hand and powers his own fists with fire. He flattens his hand and points it towards Chan's chest. Kitana notices and immediately tackles Chan to the ground. Lui Kang's fist immediately goes over the pair before Li Mei swiftly uses a reverse roundhouse kick to Lui Kang's head. Li Mei slowly lowered her foot and exhaled as he fell on his back. Before she could prepare herself, she heard the harsh sound of a buzzsaw. She raises her arms and defense and steps away from its path. The blade from the hat rips above the surface of her skin, narrowly reaching the deep white meat. Li Mei yelps.
Kitana rose from the ground and looked at her mother to face her once more. Kung Lao ran to the princess and engaged in combat against both her and Li Mei. The two did the best they could, but Li Mei's injury proved to be a liability in the fight. She used a spin kick while Kung Lao was distracted. As he turned to Li Mei, Kitana summoned a gust of wind to carry the shaolin away from their position and towards Sindel. The queen leaped away and used the high pitch in her voice to force the whirlwind to dissipate.
Li Mei hears the buzzing sound of the hat again as it comes towards her. Lui Kang jumps to his feet and grabs Kung Lao's hat. Kitana closes her fans and thrusts them towards him. She forces herself to stop as the tips of the fans landed on Lui Kang's chest. Everyone seemed surprised by her action except Lui Kang and Raja. He smiles and swings the hat diagonally across Kitana's chest. Kitana's arms slump down and her fans fall to the floor. Her body followed soon after as she landed on her face. The dread in the eyes of Sindel, Li Mei, and Chan did not go unnoticed. Chan rose and kneeled beside Kitana. Lui Kang stepped back a few feet while keeping his eyes trained on Chan.
"Princess Kitana…" Chan muttered. A hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up to his former Shaolin Brethren, Kung Jin.
"You gonna kneel to your brother all your life?" Kung Jin mocked. Chan smiled and stood to his feet.
"Of course not," he responded. Chan then looked at Kung Lao, who had no emotional response to the appearance of his cousin.
"Jin, still avoiding the temple?" he asked rhetorically.
"I have new friends now," he replied. "I heard the situation in Outworld was ugly, but…"
"This one will feast on your organs, child," D'Vorah responded. Kung Jin slammed the bottom of his staff on the ground.
"Chan Kang, Li Mei, we have a job to do," he commanded.
"When did you become a leader?" Li Mei muttered.
"I'm not. Chan is," he confirmed. Chan looked at him and nodded.
(End of Chapter 24)
(Upcoming—Shaolin Monks)