The next morning everyone went to the airport to pick up their friends.
With the villains attacking parks separately, they were necessary for this mission.
Finn noticed Amanda and Jess shaking with excitement. He knew it had been years since they saw their best friend Mattie.
And he hasn't seen Dillard in a while either. After all, he was three years younger than him because when he came back to life, he was the same age as when he died.
Nevertheless, both were willing to help in the fight.
Soon enough the plane landed and a few minutes later everyone saw Mattie and Dillard walking towards them.
Jess and Amanda ran up and hugged Mattie while Dillard and Finn hugged as well.
"It's great to see you man," Finn said.
"God it just feels so weird with you being taller than me," Dillard joked.
"Don't forget older," Maybeck joked as well.
"I hear the situation is bad," said Dillard.
"I'm afraid so," said Philby. "But don't worry, once we minimize the amount of parks needed to explore to eight you both are free to go home."
"Not a chance," said Mattie. "I'm staying the whole time. If the world is in danger truly, then count me in all the way through."
"Me too," said Dillard.
"Well...very well then," said Finn. "Let's get to the limo."
The gang decided they would do the same Spencer did for them when they first got here. Show them around the parks and get them familiar with the surroundings.
Jess and Amanda took Mattie off on their own as way to reconnect and catch up on life as friends. Finn and Dillard decided to do the same, leaving Spencer, Maybeck, Willa, Philby, and Charlene to simply go through the park and on rides and attractions.
Dillard and Finn wandered through the multiple parks, catching up and playing tons of video games too.
"Man, I have missed this," said Finn. "You and I hanging out like the good old days."
"You mean before I was dead?" asked Dillard. "No offense."
"None taken," said Finn. "And not just then. Back even before I became a Kingdom Keeper."
"You ever think back to then and wonder what would've happened if you didn't sign up to be a DHI?" asked Dillard. "Or didn't get the job?"
"Well, if that happened, I probably would've never begun a relationship with Amanda," Finn said. "I would've never become friends with Philby and Charlene and everyone else. And probably most importantly, I would've never saved the world from both Chernabog and Hollingsworth."
He looked at Dillard, still unable to get used to the fact that he was same age when he died, despite it being years ago.
"And yes I know if I didn't join, you would've never died most likely," said Finn.
"You know what, it's okay," said Dillard. "My death was a sacrifice needed to be made for you to become a hero and save the world. And I accept that."
Finn smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder as they finished the video game they were playing to explore the parks more.
They ended up in Capcom Kingdom where suddenly a noise on the loudspeaker startled them.
"ATTENTION FOLKS!" an announcer said. "THE NEXT REAL LIFE MORTAL KOMBAT TOURNAMNET IS BEGINNING SOON! FOR THIS SHOW, IT SHALL FEATURE MORTAL KOMBAT X. FOR ALL THOSE WHO WANT TO WATCH, GET YOUR SEATS. AND FOR ANY PAIRS WHO WISH TO TAKE PART IN THE FIGHT, PLEASE SIGN UP NOW!"
"Wait a minute," said Dillard. "Does that mean we're just watching people play Mortal Kombat?"
"Not play," said Finn. "Fight! As in get Mortal Kombat abilities and powers and fight in front of tons of people!"
"Oh my god we have to do it!" yelled Dillard. "Let's go sign up!"
"Are you sure you want to fight me?" asked Finn.
"Hey remember, you can't kill me twice," joked Dillard.
Finn laughed and they both ran up to sign up to be fighters.
Recognizing Finn as a Kingdom Keeper, the entire crowd let him and Dillard cut in front of them all as a token of appreciation, so they were the first fighters to sign up and fight.
After signing up they were escorted into a special room with computers where they got to choose the powers of three different Mortal Kombat characters.
Finn chose his signature characters from Mortal Kombat X, which were Johnny Cage, Kano, and Scorpion. Dillard wanting to "crush" Finn chose Shinnok, Quan Chi, and Raiden.
After the moves were downloaded to their Gametopia avatars, they headed towards another room where both of them were required to stand on platforms apart from each other, while other players waited in the other room for their turns.
Suddenly Mortal Kombat music started playing and Finn and Dillard were raised up into the arena, filled with screaming and cheering people and designed like a colosseum sand field, with corpses and different debris and things around for decoration, or to use during fights.
"ALL PEOPLE!" said a voice on the loudspeaker that replicated the announcer from the games. "WHO'S READY FOR OUR NEXT FIGHT!?"
Everyone began cheering loudly.
"FIRST OFF! WE HAVE TWO SPECIAL GUESTS!" the announcer yelled. "TWO KINGDOM KEEPERS HAILING FROM DISNEY WORLD IN FLORIDA! LAWRENCE FINNEGAN "FINN" WHITMAN AND DILLARD COLE!"
Everyone screamed out loudly in excitement. Finn could even hear girls screaming that they loved him and wanted him to sign either their autograph books, shirts, foreheads, and even some wanted him to sign their breasts.
He felt like he needed to wear something that yelled, I have a girlfriend so hands off.
But he pushed those thoughts aside as a countdown clock began.
"BEST TWO OUT OF THREE WINS IS THE WINNER!" the announcer yelled. "ARE YOU ALL READY!?"
The entire crowd cheered and Finn and Dillard got into fighting poses.
Once the clock reached zero, the signature quote, "FIGHT!" was yelled, and Finn and Dillard charged at one another.
Finn shot Kano's laser from his one eye and Dillard held up his hands to block it. He then ran ahead and began punching Finn and then grabbed him and threw on the ground.
Finn quickly recovered and Dillard shot lightning from his hands but Finn did a backflip, to his own surprise, and dodged.
He then began throwing green fireballs, hitting Dillard repeatedly and causing him damage.
Dillard recovered and hit Finn repeatedly before hitting him with magic pillars the appeared from underneath him and threw him in the air repeatedly.
Finn once again recovered, and holding out his hand he yelled, "GET OVER HERE!", and shot Scorpion's chain that stabbed Dillard right in the stomach and allowed Finn to drag him right to him and slam him against the wall.
The crowd cheered loudly.
"Hey Dill! You okay!?" Finn yelled concerned for his friend.
"Yeah..." Dillard sighed. "It's not real pain remember?"
"Oh yeah," said Finn. "Then take this!"
Finn teleported behind Dillard through fire and prepared to strike him with Kano's blade, but Dillard suddenly summoned a green portal grabbed Finn and threw him onto the ground before he could hit him.
He then lunged at Finn with electricity in his hands, flying the both of them entirely across the field until Dillard threw Finn into the wall and shocked him once more with lightning, depleting Finn's health.
"DILLARD COLE WINS!" the announcer yelled, showing one point on Dillard one the big screen and causing the crowd to cheer, except for the Finn fangirls.
Finn recovered and prepared for Round 2.
"That was good," said Finn. "But now it's time to get serious."
"Bring it on," said Dillard.
"ROUND 2! FIGHT!" the announcer yelled.
Dillard summoned Shinnok's weapon and slashed at Finn, but Finn blocked it with Scorpion's swords.
"Hey no fair!" yelled Dillard. "You can't block sword attacks with swords in MK!"
"This is real life however," said Finn with a smirk. "And I'm sure Scorpion can't do this in MK either!"
Finn fired multiple blasts with his laser eye, hitting Dillard repeatedly until he started blocking.
Finn then began throwing a barrage of Johnny Cage fireballs at Dillard, who was losing strength on his block.
Dillard managed to find and opening and used Quan Chi's power to hypnotize Finn into coming towards him, and then he used Raiden's lightning to shock him again.
Finn recovered, and just in the nick of time saw Dillard open another portal and try to grab him, but Finn dodged and yelled, "GET OVER HERE!" again a shot his spear into the portal which impaled Dillard from the other side.
"Not fair!" Dillard gasped and whined, and then Finn pulled him through the portal and began slamming him into everything he could find.
And then he pulled him towards him and finished him off with a Johnny Cage combo that ended with a split, depleting Dillard's health.
"FINN WHITMAN WINS!" yelled the announcer, giving the point to Finn.
The crowd went wild again and Finn bowed.
"Okay Whitman," Dillard growled. "Playtime is over!"
Dillard summoned a Shinnok amulet and used it on himself. Finn gasped as suddenly Dillard began to morph until his body looked just like Corrupted Shinnok.
"What the shit!?" Finn gasped. "Can he do that!?"
"YES HE CAN!" yelled the announcer. "ROUND THREE! FIGHT!"
Finn quickly charged at Dillard but Dillard opened a portal underneath him and Finn fell through.
He came out right at Dillard who electric punched him into another portal he made.
Finn kept repeatedly getting punched into portal after portal, and then Dillard shot magic right into every one of them, hitting Finn and quickly draining his health.
But even with his health depleting, Finn would not give up!
He shot his spear into two different portals, and they both came out impaling Dillard's knees. He fell on the ground and then Finn grabbed both chains and engulfed them in flames, which went straight back to Dillard and began burning him until he's legs were charred and he couldn't move.
The portals vanished and Finn retracted the spears and stared at Dillard who looked up.
"Uh oh," Dillard gasped.
Finn charged ahead and proceeded to hit Dillard with a barrage of Johnny Cage combos. He couldn't move because of his legs and couldn't find an opening to make a portal.
Finn then took Kano's knives and drove one right into his back, one into his front, and finally one right into his face, fully depleting all his health.
Dillard staggered for a second and then fell back onto the ground. The knives disappeared and Dillard returned back to normal.
"FATALITY!" the announcer yelled. "WINNER...FINN WHITMAN!"
Everyone cheered out loudly as Finn threw up his hands in victory.
He then walked over to Dillard and held out his hand, and Dillard took it.
"Good game man," he said.
"Damn right," said Dillard.
The two walked off towards the exit, as the announcer thanked them for an amazing show.
Finn ended up getting some prizes for winning. As he walked out, he was wearing Johnny Cage's sunglasses, had a replica of Scorpion's spear chain wrapped around his arm, and held a 12-inch action figure of Kano.
The two also found the other Keepers waiting outside the arena for them.
"We saw the show," said Maybeck. "Fucking badass!"
"So that's Mortal Kombat," said Charlene. "Very bloody and painful."
"You're not hurt are you babe?" Amanda asked Finn.
"No, it wasn't real pain, just virtual," said Finn.
"Unfortunately, that won't be the case tonight," said Philby. "Whatever the villains have in store for us can't be good."
"But now we are prepared and ready," said Finn. "The fate of the world rests on all ten of us now. So, let's go get ready for it!"
Everyone cheered and headed towards the exit.
Finn knew it was going to be difficult, but now with the ten of them, it would be just a bit easier.
YES! YES! YES! I know! I am a terrible person and I have not updated since last year! The truth is this most likely is my last fanfiction. I have slowly lost interest and I think passion in writing them, but I promised myself I would finish this story no matter what. I have just been in like developmental hell or suffered writer's block. But I swear, I will try to finish this story before 2022 ends. I swear it.
See you next update! Review please dearies!
From your favorite Fanguy,
Jacob/Hades/Rumpelstiltskin/Sonicphantom47