A dark anger burned in Shibai. How dare that creature get the better of her! She was a warrior, bred for kombat with the blood of Kitana herself in her veins. Yet she was soundly defeated, her escape only possible through the aid of another.
When several guards accosted her as she ran from the dead pool, she vented her rage on them. Two would live, albeit with missing limbs, while another two lay in pieces in her wake. She also took one of their spears, having unintentionally left her previous one behind.
She chuckled dryly. She tore through the guards with such ease yet she could not best a slimy reptile. Then again, these guards seemed more for show than actual security, their technique almost non-existent and their flesh too tender against Shibai's strength.
If Shibai was going to survive on her own, she needed to hone her skills. At least she had a new technique, hopefully the first of many, but all the techniques in the world meant nothing if she was lost in the underground maze again!
It seemed that the pathways actually changed while occupants traveled inside as there was no logical structure to the palace chambers. Somehow, Shibai had traveled from the Flesh Pits to that dead pool to an armory where the air burned and smelled of iron and sweat. The chamber was vast, almost as cavernous as the Flesh Pits, with laborers and slaves working the various smithing tools within the forge. Fortunately, no one raised an alarm when they saw Shibai; evidently they were conditioned to work under pain of death. Further along the armory were enormous presses that crashed down onto plates of white hot steel, imprinting Shao Kahn's coat of arms onto them.
One wall was lined end to end with racks of weapons; swords, spears, axes, daggers, so on and so forth. The other wall bore armors of various sizes and degrees of protection, and it was this wall that caught Shibai's attention.
Sweat beaded on Shibai's skin as she slowed to a walk. Once she had left the stinking acidic dead pool, she realized the Saurian had left a scent after all. She had no intention of tracking the damn thing but at least she would recognize its stink if it tried to sneak up on her again. As she did not smell the creature, she felt reasonably safe.
Solid plate armor would offer the best defense but after lifting the breastplate, Shibai determined the weight would hinder her movement. She needed a balance between defense and mobility, as her simple guard tunic and trousers were at best for her own decency. Perhaps full armor was unnecessary. She really just needed something for her head and arms at the moment, given the injuries received from the Saurian. And her feet, which stung at the embers from the nearby metalworkers. Damn those guards for not having the same shoe size as her!
With that in mind, she perused the helmets stacked atop the armor displays. Simple, crude, blocked her vision, looked ugly... Ah! She plucked up a helmet in the same design as that of Shao Kahn, but without the horns and skull mask. It was even small enough to fit Shibai's head comfortably. How convenient! She tied her hair in a quick bun, tied a cloth around her head, and donned the helmet.
She looked herself over in the reflection of a nearby breastplate and nodded in approval. Now for arm and feet protection, which were easy enough to acquire as the rest of the armor beneath the helmet were also in her size. Perhaps these were meant for Kitana? Or perhaps they were meant for Shibai had Shang Tsung approved of her.
With no small amount of smug satisfaction, Shibai took the bracers and boots. Standing tall in her semi-new outfit, she admired herself in the breastplate reflection. The guard tunic's red color paired nicely with the black sash and faded dark blue of her trousers and matching boots. The steel arm bracers came with a pair of dark red gloves, and the helmet completed the ensemble with its red flanges.
"You!"
"Can't get a moment's peace around here..." Shibai rolled her eyes as she turned to face whoever interrupted her moment. It was a Tarkatan flanked by two more of his kind. "Hiya, fellas."
The lead Tarkatan, whom she decided to nickname 'Gnash', stepped forward and revealed his arm blades. "You dare trespass here?"
Irritated and now full of confidence, Shibai folded her arms across her chest. "No, I'm a new guard who lost her way."
"We saw you steal that armor off the rack!"
"And you did nothing to stop me?"
The two flanking Tarkatans, hereby titled 'Jaws' and 'Yawn', chuckled at their leader. His composure now completely ruined, Gnash sputtered, "You are a thief! The sentence for this is death!"
"If you want this back," she said, shifting into a kombat stance, "come and claim it."
The three Tarkatans rushed her, and for a moment her vision turned red just as it had when she was first attacked in the Flesh Pits. She blinked it away and focused in time to duck under two very sharp arm blades. Spear in hand, she swept the feet from under Jaws and kicked Yawn in the gut.
Shibai's guard down, Gnash stabbed at her. His blow glanced off her arm bracer and she retaliated with a firm knee to his nose. The momentum flung him back, leaving Shibai some breathing room as she dueled the two other Tarkatans. They flanked her sides, slashing and swiping with blind fury as she defended with her spear and superior agility.
However, she could not keep defending forever, a point proven when an attack slipped past her and grazed her leg. Hissing in pain, Shibai utilized her new wind push technique, forcing Jaws away and throwing Shibai herself into Yawn.
His balance offset, Yawn tumbled to the floor and left himself open to a brutal elbow to the temple. Shibai made to finish him but had to roll away from Gnash and Jaws' simultaneous charges. As can be expected, the two collided with each other. Gnash's blades pierced right through Jaws' chest and killed him instantly.
Roaring, Gnash kicked the carcass off and searched for Shibai. "You will die for this, mongrel!"
"I'm aquiver with anticipation," she said from behind him. He spun on his heel and her fist met his jaw, the force of the blow knocking out several of his teeth. Grinning with cruel mirth, Shibai swung again, this time hitting Gnash in the jugular. Something cracked, his eyes went wide, and he clutched at his throat. "Ooh, do I take your breath away?" She giggled and watched as the poor helpless vermin dropped to his knees. He made pathetic gasps and gurgles as his eyes rolled up into his head. "I know, I know, I leave you speechless."
Yet... she felt pity for him. He was only doing his duty as a guard, violent though it was. Did he truly deserve a painful death like that?
Damn it, why bother feeling such weak feelings?! He attacked her, it was only right that she retaliate!
Shibai growled between her teeth. This same argument again? Kill, spare, kill, spare... Well, spare as in kill him quickly. He was already dead, he just had to fall over.
With a grouchy sigh, she took Gnash's head in her hands and twisted. His neck snapped and his body crumpled to the floor, his eyes lifeless and blank. She reached down for her spear and glanced at the spot where Yawn lay... but he was not there.
A boot smashed into her cheek and knocked her to the floor. She rolled away, dodging Yawn's manic stabs at the ground, but she made the mistake of stopping. He trapped her neck between his blades and pressed down. The blunt edges of his blades pushed against her windpipe and she realized he intended to suffocate her to death like this.
Shibai grabbed at his arms but his strength outmatched hers. His head was just out of reach of her swipes. She needed to breathe, her lungs already burning from lack of air. She reached out for something, anything, and just as her vision blurred, her fingers tapped some random dropped tool.
Grasping the tool with all her strength, Shibai swung up. The tool was a smithing hammer, a fact that proved most advantageous as it crashed into the side of Yawn's head. He collapsed to the floor, freeing Shibai from his blades. She gasped and coughed, the effort straining her injured neck. Yawn had yet to stand but the blow only disoriented him. One of them was going to recover first, and Shibai preferred that it be her.
Climbing to her feet, Shibai took deep, slow breaths. At least he had not clutched her neck like that Saurian, so she did not need as much time to catch her breath. A cold, dark hatred burned in her heart. "Try to choke me, will you?" She clubbed him in the head once more, leaving a sizable dent in his skull, yet he still lived. That was perfectly fine with her.
Yawn barely struggled as Shibai grabbed him by the boot and dragged him through the armory. Blood dribbled from the wounds in his head, leaving a dark red trail behind him. Even the sweltering heat from the nearby molten metal did little to shake him from his stupor, but Shibai had no intention of letting him sleep it off.
SMASH!
The crushing force of the metal stamper jolted Yawn awake, his head mere inches from where the stamper fell.
"How do I get out of here?" Shibai demanded, hoisting Yawn to his knees.
"I..." Blinking away the severe dizziness, Yawn looked Shibai in the eye. "I will not answer to you, filthy whore!"
"So be it." Shibai kicked his sternum and knocked him flat on his back. One of his arms landed above his head, right on top of a fresh sheet of raw metal.
SMASH!
Yawn howled as his arm snapped off beneath the stamper, leaving a cauterized stump just above the elbow. Shibai pulled him up again and grabbed the stump, twisting its scorched flesh. Yawn kicked and screamed but he could not shake Shibai's grip.
"How do I get out of here?"
Yawn shook his head wildly from side to side. "I would rather die!"
"Fair enough." Shibai shoved him over and held his head just above the metal plates as the smasher lifted back up. "At least you died with honor."
Yawn stared in abject horror at his pending doom. Was he really willing to die for this? "W-wait, I'll tell you! I'll talk!"
SMASH!
Shibai yanked him out just before the smasher fell. "Well?"
"W-where do you want to go?"
"Good question. Where is the sorcerer Shang Tsung?"
"Earthrealm! He is hosting the final Mortal Kombat tournament against Earth's warriors."
Shibai felt a dull sense of familiarity with the custom, perhaps a leftover of one of Shang Tsung's teachings during Shibai's incubation. "How do I get there?"
"The portal! You'll find it in Shao Kahn's throne room, but you'll never make it past the guards."
"We'll see."
SMASH!
"How do I get to the throne room?" she asked.
Yawn whimpered, his eyes darting from the smasher to Shibai. "I... you can get there by going up a staircase near the exit of this chamber! The throne room is at the top of the palace, just keep going up!"
"Just keep going up?"
"Just keep going up!"
SMASH!
Yawn flinched as the smasher came down once again. He looked up at Shibai with pleading eyes. "Please, I told you all I know! Let me go!"
"You want my advice?" she asked, though she did not expect an answer. She clutched his throat and lifted him to his knees. "You shouldn't buckle so badly under pressure." With a vicious yell, she hurled him onto the molten metal plates. He bounced across them to the far wall and fell directly onto the burning hot metal. Howling and screaming at the searing pain, Yawn made a mad crawl for safety. He was so close to the edge, he was almost there!
"Nakara!"
SMASH!
Shibai cackled at the sight of his corpse smushed to just blood and bits of charred tissue.
Was she insane? Probably, but that was hilarious. And she successfully won a battle with her own skills! She examined the hammer, hefting it and judging its weight and balance. It was cumbersome, granted, but it served as a useful backup weapon. With a shrug she fit the hammer to her tunic sash, traded her old spear for a nicer and sharper one, and headed for the staircase at the far end of the armory chamber.
Author's Note: That was NOT Baraka she just fought. By this time, every named character who was in the tournament at the beginning of MK9 is there now, including Baraka and Reptile. The tournament still has not started yet, as I like to think Shang Tsung and his minions use the time to set everything up; guards, traps, catering, etc. Also, that is totally the armory/forge arena from Mortal Kombat: Armageddon because yes.