Chapter II

The Lin Kuei

Fight scene and some of the later scenes by Mr. Nose. Final scene and major editing by Japs.

 The light flashed around the dimly lit room, bouncing off the dozens of pot vases littered around the sides of the large chamber. Loud voices were heard from the centre of the room. It was the bustle of an audience. Many figures had gathered around large arena that would soon host a great battle. The battle was of two combatants competing for the title Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei after a tournament that had lasted for months. The end of this gruelling season was almost upon them. Many members of the clan of deadly assassins lined up around the sides of the fight arena waiting for the battle to commence. They were beginning to get inpatient, shouting taunts and curses and thumping their hands on the large stone ring.

 Suddenly a voice boomed, loud enough to be over the ravings of the ninjas that stopped almost instantly.

 "Silence!"

 The voice echoed around the room. A couple of ninjas looked at the floor beneath them as tongues of mist trailed around their legs, wrapping like vines but flowing together like a gray river. The smoke seemed to have a life of its own as it slowly seeped onto the battle arena; the ninjas looked closely as it began to form the shape of a person. It came together and the figure was revealed, the ninja Smoke stood before the anxious crowd. Smoke was a champion amongst the Lin Kuei, and his suit was gray in variation to the typical white suits that trainees wore. He had been more than willing to take the role of announcing and beginning the match. Smoke was always one to help out where he could. He raised his right hand into the air as he began to speak.

 "My friends and brothers, we are gathered here on this day to witness the final battle in this, the tournament for the title of Grandmaster. The challengers have been whittled down to only the very best, and now our seventh Grandmaster will be chosen here, today, in our tournament finale. Our first fighter is one who has long trained amongst us, and with great rewards. I present to you, brothers: Sektor!"

The surrounding assassins remained silent as a red-clad ninja stepped out of the crowd onto the arena. Sektor walked up to Smoke's side and turned to face the same direction he was.

 "This will not only be a fight," Smoke announced, "of honour but a fight for the great Lin Kuei amulet of power!"  He held up in the air a silver amulet with a dragon engraved into it. Suddenly there was a cold sharp breeze and the amulet was turned into ice. From the opposite side of the arena another ninja appeared followed by a small trail of mist. This masked ninja slowly walked onto the arena and revealed himself to the two who stood in the arena. He wore a blue variation of the suit. Sub-zero walked up to Smoke and Sektor, his arms were like ice and his face showed a large red scar down the right side of it. The amulet's ice coating melted slowly as he approached.

Smoke waved his hand towards him. "The challenger, one who is fresh amongst our numbers, but posses a skill that has not been seen since the death of one of our finest warriors. The brother of the great Sub-Zero."

 The newcomer walked over to face Sektor; they looked at each other dead in the eyes, tension was clear.

 "Good luck, Sub-Zero" said Sektor in a cocky voice.

 "My name is Tandra.," said the challenger. "There is no way I could ever be compared to my brother's skill."

 The two fighters backed away from each other to the opposite sides of the arena. A shadowy figure then walked slowly out onto the platform next to smoke. This was another of the masters of the Lin Kuei; one of the more skilled ninjas obeyed his strict orders, without question.

"May the more skilled of these two promising contenders prove himself before us today."

 The two contenders stood firmly in their fighting stance. The Lin Kuei master and Smoke cleared off the stage, joining the crowd to watch.

 "Fight!" commanded the leader. It began.

 Sektor began with a powerful punch aiming for Tandra's head. Tandra quickly anticipated the attack, he side stepped the punch and elbowed Sektor in the stomach. Sektor recoiled in a burst of pain; Tandra stood waiting for his next attack his arms were ready for blocking. Sektor ran forward heading for Tandra, and without warning he placed his right foot on Tandra's knee quickly jumping over his head. Whilst in mid air Sektor kicked Tandra in the back of his head with his left foot, causing him to fall face first onto the dusty arena floor. Tandra lifted his head off the floor; he stood up leaving a small blood splatter behind him.

"What you gonna do, ice man?" Sektor taunted.

Tandra's eyes got narrower as the rage built up inside him, and they began to give off a misty smoke. He opened his cold hands and started to concentrate his power.  Suddenly he fired a spray of liquid ice onto the floor below Sektor. The affect was that he began to stumble and slip towards Tandra. Sektor feared what awaited him.

Time almost slowed. As Sektor drew closer, Tandra got down on one knee and readied his hand for a powerful uppercut. There was nothing Sektor could do. Tandra used a icy uppercut to knock Sektor off his feet. Sektor was thrown into the air and landed on his back, spitting up blood as he breathed out sharply. He attempted to raise a hand for a signal, but failed to find the strength in himself.

The fight was over. 

 The raging crowd shouted in delight as Tandra threw down his enemy. Tandra picked up the amulet of power; he held it tightly in his hands. It was his forever. The defeated Sektor looked up at his face. He saw the happiness. This happiness was not right for a Lin Kuei. Sektor shook in rage; deep inside anger was about to erupt.

 The grey ninja Smoke and the Lin Kuei leader walked onto the arena once again to congratulate Tandra. The leader took Tandra's hand and raised it high up into the air.

 "The victor!" announced the leader. He was proud of the young warrior.

 Suddenly there was a great blast of noise as Sektor shouted out in anger. The red ninja stood up, trickles of blood oozed from his nose and mouth. His glare was focused to the young one who had defeated him so humiliatingly.

 "You- you're no warrior! You're a fake! Without those... that ice power you'd be nothing!"

 The Lin Kuei leader reacted to his ravings quickly.

 "Enough! A great soldier has defeated you honourably. You came far, and no doubt if you trained hard enough and got rid of that compressed rage you'd succeed in the future. Until then, go and train until you are wise enough to win a fight."

 The leader had spoken. No warrior could go against his word. Sektor hung his head in shame as he left the stage.

 The assassins's went back to their barracks and training facilities, talking amongst themselves of the fight and, even if it was over quickly, it had been a fantastic win. Smoke clapped his hand on Tandra's back with a smile, seen in the eyes because of the mask hiding his lower face.

 "Congratulations, great fight," Smoke said in his noble tone, then ducking his head and lowering his voice to avoid listening ears, "you kicked his ass."

 The two Lin Kuei started to laugh and chat as they went to their barracks, receiving many bows and pleasant words from their fellow Lin Kuei. Tandra and Smoke stayed close to each other. They were good friends they trusted each other with their lives. They trained together since they first met and could overcome any adversary together. Or so it seemed.

 In a private chamber of the Lin Kuei temple Tandra and Smoke sparred and trained. Smoke was teaching Tandra some impressive kicks to immobilize an enemy when another ninja walked into the room without waiting for any acknowledgement. He was wearing a bright yellow Lin Kuei suit, which meant he was higher than a trainee, but it still gave him no right to just walk in like that. He had a dark complexion.

 "We were training," Smoke snorted, his eyes following the Lin Kuei carefully. "What gives you the right to just barge on in?"

 "The fact I know you, as experienced fighters, will understand how it feels to try and train along side the trainees." Without another word the yellow ninja starting working a punch bag. Tandra looked him over a few times.

 "Cy-... Cyrax? Is that you?"

 The intruder stopped punching the bag and turned to face the two, he removed his mask and revealed his face. Tandra smiled. "It is you!"

 Cyrax blinked, staring at Tandra and after a while he broke into a smile.  "Tandra! I haven't seen you since you were a kid!" Cyrax gave a long and hearty laugh from deep inside of him.

 "Still am a kid," Tandra muttered. "Compared to my big bro I'm nothing but an amateur." Smoke wrapped an arm around his friend and shook him.

 "This 'kid' just won himself the title of Lin Kuei Grandmaster! Don't put yourself down all the time, Tandra. You spend all your time in your brother's shadow. Come out and bask in glory for once. I couldn't do that if I tried. There's no way I could match you." Smoke released Tandra and held his hand out to Cyrax. "They call me Smoke. Pleased to meet you."

 "Same to you too," said Cyrax, gripping the young Lin Kuei's hand and shaking it once firmly. The three of them talked amongst themselves, Cyrax telling Smoke tales of when Tandra was a boy, and Smoke with more recent events including an exaggerated version of the defeat of Sektor, which included Tandra pulling away from the medics dragging him off the arena to give a him a devastating seven-move combo. Tandra denied it all, and told Cyrax that he wasn't as good as that, but Smoke's farfetched tale of the final bout distracted Tandra from the permanent downcast of an older brother's success.

 After a good few hours training, the three made their way back to their quarters. Fewer people were around now. They passed two of the experienced Lin Kuei, one with an orange variation of the suit and one with a deep teal suit. All the trainees were no doubt in meditation now, or the sparing facilities. Smoke ran his fingers along the stone wall while they walked.

 "Lin Kuei Grandmaster!" Cyrax said in disbelief, shaking his head. "I wouldn't have believed it hearing it from anyone else but you, Tandra. You've done a lot of growing up since I saw you last, kid."

 Tandra nodded but remained silent.

 "You know, back when—" Cyrax began, but Smoke interrupted him with a whelp of pain. His un-gloved finger was cut. He had his head close to the wall.

 "Look at that," he said. Tandra gave the wall a closer inspection. There, in the middle, was a keyhole without even a sign of a door around it.

 "What do you make of that?" Tandra asked.

 "I say it's a hidden chamber," said Cyrax. Smoke grinned.

 "I say we open it."

 "We can't," said Cyrax. "For one thing, we need a key."

 "We have a walking lock pick in our midst." Smoke chuckled, pushing Tandra closer to the lock. "Freeze it."

 "I can't, Smoke. I'm a Grandmaster now. I can't go around breaking into places I'm not meant to be."

 "You're right," Smoke admitted. "You are a Grandmaster. You can go anywhere in this temple. What's stopping you?"

 Tandra opened his mouth to speak several times, all failing. He stammered once or twice, almost uttering a word, but eventually gave up with reluctance Putting out his open right palm a blue aura around his forearm was produced. Cracking was heard from inside the keyhole. Tandra screwed his face up in a mix of concentration and pain. Then a small round bar of ice appeared out of the keyhole, splitting in two and joining together in a circle. Tandra let go of his breath.

 "I tell you, if we get caught, I'm kicking your ass back to the hole you crawled out of." Cyrax muttered to Smoke. Smoke gave a short bark of a laugh, but was unsure weather it had been a joke or not.

 "That," Tandra said, pointing to the key loop, "that took some effort." He then wrapped his hand around the key and slowly turned it. Suddenly the wall rumbled, and lines appeared where there were no lines before, into the shape of a door big enough to let the average man enter if he ducked.

 Smoke put his hand on the segment of the wall and gave it a little push. It opened slightly. He turned to Cyrax and Tandra, and then pushed the door fully open. A wall of smoke met him, pouring into his nostrils and open eyes, gagging and choking on it.

 "How ironic," Cyrax muttered, passing Smoke into the chamber. Tandra followed, and Smoke stumbled after.

 The room was big. The usual crunch of stone underfoot turned into the clang of metal. The room was entirely metal from what could be seen. It was dark, with the only light from behind them, from the temple. There was a red light to their right, and red letters painted under it.

 "What the hell is this?" Smoke asked.

 "Read the sign," Tandra replied with panic in his voice.

" CG15 – Automation"

 Raiden stepped out into the centre of the disk imbedded into the floor decorated with the dragon symbol. The light was non-existent here, apart from the shaft that shone on the disk, but it was without an origin. His footsteps echoed off walls that didn't seem to exist in this void. He kept his head low. He had no need to speak – they knew already.

 "You have come to us for guidance, not to be judged."

 "Elder gods, I am sorry for—"

 "Not to be judged, Raiden. We are aware of the fourth realm's creation. We have no power there. Quan Chi has begun forging the void into his own creation. You were responsible for the creation of this realm, be it—"

 "Elder gods, I—"

 "Be it an accident or not. And for that reason it is you who is assigned the task of assembling the best fighters Earth realm can offer."

 "Fighters? What for?"

 "With this much power in his hands, Quan Chi will not simply settle back as if this realm is a new homestead. He will proclaim war, Raiden. At this moment he is planning to assemble an army."

 Raiden's mouth hung open in shock. "The armies of Earth realm will be nothing compared to anything that sorcerer can conjure up."

 "That much is true. But you have seen the tournaments. You know of amazingly skilled mortals who have won the tournament. You alone could pull together a group of combatants worthy of standing up to Quan Chi."

 Raiden nodded. He needed to say no more. He turned and left.