Chapter Twenty-Five: Loyalty

Mileena charged at Smoke and Jade with a sai in each hand. Jade pushed Tomas out of the way as she blocked Mileena's weapons with her pole.

"Stay out of this, Smoke! She is mine!"

"We should fight together. We can defeat Mileena quicker and find the others so we can rescue Kitana!"

Jade deflected another attack from her opponent and then fell back to Smoke.

"This is a matter of honor. This abomination dares to claim that she is royalty. That she is worthy of the title of princess and Kitana is not. I cannot let that stand."

A huge spark flew towards Smoke and Jade's heads and they quickly dodged the projectile. It then headed to Mileena, who used one of her sais to cut through the projectile. The spark dispersed in the air into small particles of light.

"Your Highness!"

Sprinting across the beach, Baraka had his arm blades extended and ready to cut through any mass of flesh that got in his way. His eyes quickly landed on Jade.

"You will pay for your treachery, Edenian."

"Aw. Did someone forget to give you a treat, dog?"

The tarkatan growled and stomped towards Jade, but Smoke blocked his path.

"Your fight will be with me, tarkatan."

"This matter does not concern you, Earthrealmer. Stay out of it."

"I am afraid I cannot."

Tomas then glanced back at Jade.

"I will take care of the tarkatan. Do what you will with Mileena."

Jade nodded and scowled at Kitana's clone. Mileena was not at all intimidated by the Edenian. In fact, she was excited for the oncoming battle.

"So, shall we dance, Jade?"

"With pleasure."

The two women charged at each other and their weapons clashed. That was Smoke and Baraka's cue to begin their own battle.

"You will regret getting in my way, ninja."

"We shall see."

With a roar, Baraka charged at Tomas with his blades. Smoke dodged and blocked the tarkatan's barrage of attacks. When an opening appeared, the ninja pulled a kunai knife from his boot and slashed it across Baraka's chest. The wound was not deep, but it was enough to make the tarkatan fall back. Baraka looked angrily at his wound.

"How dare you!?"

Enraged, Baraka sent a wave of sparks from his blades, all of which Tomas avoided by cut through them with his knife. As the last spark dissipated before Smoke, temporarily blinding the ninja, Baraka rushed to him and thrusted a blade at his face. At the last second, Tomas tilted his head just enough so he would not be decapitated, but the blade still made a cut across his cheek. The ninja's mask was broken yet again, just when Raiden was kind enough to fix it after his fight with Sektor.

Baraka did not waste anytime and swung another blade at Tomas' head. The ninja ducked under the blade and countered with a punch to Baraka's gut. The tarkatan doubled over and before he could recover, Smoke created a smoke bomb that exploded against Baraka's chest. The explosion had way more force than the ninja had intended, but it did the job. Baraka was sent flying and he landed harshly on the ground. Fortunately, the sand cushioned his fall.

Baraka used his blades to hoist himself up from the ground, but he immediately fell back down. The pain that coursed through his body was so overwhelming that the tarkatan felt as though he was going to pass out. His rage and determination were the only things keeping him conscious. Baraka sneered at Tomas as the ninja approached him.

"Do not think you have won, Earthrealmer. Even if you defeat me, others will come after you. Your efforts are futile."

"Think what will, but I will continue to fight until my dying breath. Shao Kahn will not have his way."

"You dare say that about the emperor!?"

With the last bit of strength he had, Baraka again slashed his blade at Smoke. The ninja morphed into smoke just before the blade could reach him and reappeared behind the tarkatan. Smoke then wrapped his arms around Baraka and performed a German suplex. As the tarkatan tried to lift himself from the sand, Tomas turns around and kicks Baraka right in his face. Baraka flips backwards and lands on his back. The tarkatan was finally knocked out.

Now that Baraka was down, Smoke's attention was drawn to Jade's fight with Mileena. The Edenian was struggling to keep up with Mileena's attacks. They were so erratic and fast that Jade was having a hard time avoiding the clone's strikes. Mileena noticed this and it made her want to laugh even more.

"What is wrong, Jade? Do not tell me you are giving up already!"

Mileena then rolled herself into a ball and rolled into Jade's legs causing her to lose her balance. She fell hard on her side. Jade used her pole to pull herself back to her feet.

"Do not worry, Jade."

Jade thrusted her weapon into the sand and leaned against it while holding her injured side. Mileena walked towards the Edenian, giggling like a child.

"When I see my sister again at her execution, I will tell her how much fun it was to kill you!"

Mileena raised one of her sais above Jade's head and prepared to land a finishing blow. Just as the sai was coming down upon her, Jade reached for behind her and pulled out what appeared to be a boomerang. She threw the projectile by Mileena's head and while the clone was distracted by the boomerang, a green aura surrounded Jade giving her incredible speed. She rushed behind Mileena and Jade thrusted the end of her pole to the back of her opponent's skull. The effect was immediate and Mileena dropped to the ground unconscious. Jade towered over Mileena's body and scowled.

"I am more of a sister to Kitana than you."

Her boomerang returned to her shortly and the Edenian caught it just as it was an inch away from her face. Jade hissed at the pain in her side and looked down to see a huge bruise forming on it.

"Are you alright?"

The Edenian gasped when she realized that Smoke was right behind her. She had been so busy with her injury that she did not sense Tomas' presence. Sloppy. Jade regained her composure and tried her best not to show that she was in pain.

"I am fine. You need not worry about me."

Smoke simply nodded, but he could not help but stare at the bruise on Jade's side. The longer he looked at it, the more Tomas wanted to go over to Mileena and finish her off himself. But why?

"We must continue on."

Jade's voice pulled Smoke from his thoughts and looked up at her.

"Yes. We should go before any one else shows up."

"Hopefully will run into one of your comrades and they will have Raiden with them."

"He is here."

Smoke and Jade turned around and saw lightning crashing into the ground on the other side of the beach. From it, Raiden, Sub-zero, Johnny Cage, and two other people Tomas did not recognize. Looking at their attire, Smoke assumed they were monks. Jade started to walk forwards to meet the thunder god and Tomas quickly followed. One of the monks was walking a lot faster than the rest of the group and he did not look happy.

"Kitana turns away from Shao Kahn so you attack her rather than join her!?"

The monk was pointing at Mileena's body. Smoke and Jade were confused, but they soon realized that the monk must have thought the clone was really Kitana. Jade held up her hand and tried to explain.

"Wait, this is not…!"

"Liu Kang, stop! That is not Kitana!"

Raiden held his other warriors back as he to convince the monk that the woman in pink was not the princess. Liu Kang, however, was not listening to the god and he continued to walk. Tomas knew Jade was weak from her fight with Mileena, so as the monk approached them, the ninja stepped in front of Jade to keep Liu Kang's attention on him.

"I know she bears quite the resemblance to the princess, but I swear to you, she is not…"

"Lies! Do you take me for a fool, ninja?"

"We can prove it. Look."

Smoke slowly bent down beside Mileena's body and reached for her mask. If what Jade said was true about how the clone was created, then one important detail would stick out. Tomas took of Mileena's mask and small gasps escaped from him, Jade, and Liu Kang. A huge mouth filled with sharp, elongated teeth was revealed. The mouth of a tarkatan.

"I do not know whether you have seen Kitana with out her mask or not, but I am sure she looks nothing like this."

Liu Kang was speechless as he looked at Mileena. How could he have confused that with Kitana?

"…What is that?"

"A clone of Kitana. Shang Tsung has been making replicas of the princess using tarkatan blood."

Jade stepped from behind Smoke.

"And Shao Kahn was behind it all."

Liu Kang felt embarrassed and guilty for his behavior earlier. He bowed before Smoke and Jade apologetically.

"Forgive me. I should have listened to you instead of jumping to conclusions."

Raiden came forward and stood beside Liu Kang. Tomas left Jade to speak with the thunder god and he went to check on Sub-zero. The cryomancer stood with Johnny Cage and the other monk, but surprisingly, Smoke did not see Cyrax.

"Where is Cyrax, Sub-zero?"

"Raiden sent him to the Special Forces base. Sonya agreed to look after Cyrax as a favor to me. But enough about that, where have you been!?"

Johnny nodded while adjusting his shades.

"Yeah, and what are you doing with HER?"

The actor pointed at Jade.

"I thought she was a bad guy. Bad girl, I mean."

Tomas shrugged.

"She is a friend of Kitana and now that the princess has turned against her father, she will be executed."

"Executed!? You mean the that evil douchebag is going to kill his own daughter!?"

"That is what Jade told me. Kitana asked her to find Raiden and ask for his help, so when we crossed paths, Jade asked me to assist her and that is how we ended up here."

The monk beside Cage finally spoke up.

"Do you know where she is now?"

"In the Tower of Shao Kahn's fortress."

The monk nodded. He then extended his hand to Smoke.

"I am Kung Lao. I apologize for my cousin's accusations earlier. He will not admit it, but I believe Liu Kang has feelings for Kitana."

That explains Liu Kang's reaction before. Tomas took Kung Lao's hand and shook it.

"I am Smoke."

"Smoke…pleasure to meet you."

Tomas nodded. He turned back to Sub-zero, who was still waiting for an answer for his question earlier. Smoke sighed.

"It is a long story, my friend. I will tell you another time, but now we should worry about Kitana."

The four men heard shouting from Liu Kang and they looked over to see the Shaolin monk and Raiden arguing. They decided they should see what was going on. As they approached, Raiden was speaking.

"I am not pleased with this outcome either, Liu Kang. But there is no time. We must return to the tournament."

"But you are responsible for her capture! You persuaded her to turn against Shao Kahn!"

Kung Lao stopped beside his cousin and looked at Raiden.

"Smoke told us what is going on. We should go to the Tower."

"Apparently, that would not be wise."

Liu Kang glanced at Raiden indicating that the thunder god was the problem. Kung Lao felt he should come up with a solution before this argument escalated.

"Lord Raiden, we can free Kitana as others fight in our stead, and join you thereafter."

Raiden thought about it for a moment and then nodded his head to Kung Lao.

"Very well."

The monks nod to each other and as Kung Lao walks away, Liu Kang looks at Raiden in disdain before following his cousin. Raiden watches the two go and Kung Lao shouts something back to the god.

"We will meet you at the Coliseum."

Once the two monks leave, Raiden turns back to Jade.

"Will you be joining us, Jade? I know you cannot participate in the tournament on Earthrealm's behalf, but I am sure you do not want to return to Shao Kahn."

"Yes, and I would be honored to join you and your champions, but there is something I must do first."

"May I ask what it is you must do?"

"I am going to destroy the Flesh Pits."

Everyone but Smoke was surprised by Jade's answer. He stepped up to her.

"That is where Milerna was created, right?"

"Right. I have never ventured into Shang Tsung's lab myself, but I know more of those tarkatan clones lie within its depths. They need to be disposed of."

"Then let me help you."

Raiden grabbed Tomas' shoulder.

"Smoke, you will be of much more use in the tournament."

"We will not be long, Lord Raiden. With my powers, we will easily reduce the Flesh Pits to ashes."

Raiden was losing warriors one by one and it was starting to irritate him. But he knew that Smoke and Jade were right. They really did not need those clones running around.

"…Alright. But please, hurry."

Tomas nodded and looked back at Kuai. The cryomancer was confused, but Sub-zero knew by now that he should not question Smoke's actions. So, he simply nodded and told his friend to be careful.

"And you better make it to the Coliseum. Understand?"

"Understood."

Smoke then ran off with Jade behind him and they made their way to the Flesh Pits.