An Important Note from the Author:

Hey all, listen, no matter what you say u have to admit . . . the recent chapters aren't as great as you thought it would be right? Well, truth is that I wasn't really in the story these past days. So, from now on, I will write 1 big chapter once a week! You will see the update each Sunday from now on. This way, it'll give me a lot of time to write the chapters and I promise you it will be big ones. Long chapters and hopefully exiting ones. But I think its up to you to decide that . . . so whaddya say?

~heres chapter 10

CHAPTER X:

"Am I supposed to eat this?" The whining voice of Johnny Cage swam the room as he continued to complain about one thing to the other. The kitchen or cache, the six chosen combatants were taking shelter was fogged by the smell of corn soup and boiled potatoes. Relaxed as they were, the fighters were enjoying their current 'reunion' so to speak. But the actual 'reunion' was still ahead to come, and they had no idea of how many old faces they were going to meet. Kung Lao knew better, he wasn't laughing or arguing or hardly even eating, what he found on the crypt beneath the Nether ship would spawn his dreams for the rest of the journey. He had discovered The Great Dragon King's dead body. He had discovered something to fear.

"If you don't wanna eat it jus DON'T!" Jax' voice responded with him waving the metal spatula at the actor.

"But I'm hungry!" Kung could hear Johnny complain for the 67th time at the table, he almost counted.

"Well then should I prepare you a traditional lip-smacking, jaw-breaking knuckle-sandwich?" finally this shut the damn actor up, and hopefully it will keep him that way until they reach the island . . . or wherever their destination was held. The ship was controlled by some kind of spell, it was sailing by itself and no-one was sure where they were heading.

Kung's eyes went back to the note he had received earlier when he first boarded the ship. 'The journey there will be a long one, a guide will test you whom you thought was ' no one''.

"A guide will test you whom you thought was no one" Those words kept on whispering in Kung's deepest brains. Could that guide be the Dragon King? Or could there be someone else here who was more powerful? Only Raiden could answer his questions.

The dreams he had the coffin he discovered, all relates to a dragon. The myth, the Dragon King, the Dragon EGG. Could it finally have hatched, after all these centuries?

"Kung? You alright?" Kenshi's voice spoke out from the opposite corner of the table, the concern reflecting his face.

"Huh? Yea, I'm ah . . . I'm ok." Kung lied. He wasn't ok, he was scared, deadly scared.

Still arguing with Johnny in the background, The major of the OIA Jax, had his shadow marked across the floor. The fire from the fireplace was the main object of light for Jax, so his shadow went the furthest on the room. A strange shadow, one that does not belong to Jax, emerged from his . . . and started creeping towards the table to commit its unholy agendas. Unnoticed by the chosen members, the only person who saw this creature of doom, was Nein Lee.

He had been quite for a long while, compared to the other 4 members who were frequently talking and arguing, instead, the teenager was laughing and having a good time with his new 'friends'. All that changed the minute Nein's eyes noted Noob Saibot. All his life he had seen movies and played games, but a shadow moving without a host in real life was something he didn't thought he would see. He wanted to scream in fear, but as Lee's mouth opened, only a small cry escaped. A small baby-like cry and his index finger cocking towards the shadow.

Jax was busy arguing with Johnny. Sonya and Kenshi were listening to the two men argue, and Kung had his mind set on the scroll. No one was noticing Nein's fear.

"Guys!" Finally Lee's voice let him speak, but his tone was not like his, it was so thin and whispery. Not even an ant could hear him. But Kenshi did. "What?" He spoke at the sudden sensing the movement of another life in that very room.

"Noob Saibot," Kung Lao informed as his gaze followed Nein's feared one. He saw Liu Kang fight this monster years ago. How could it have returned was beyond Kung's experience. Standing, the monk got up from the table and left it to face the immortal shadow. It started running away as soon as Kung came near it. "No!" he screamed to see Saibot melt into another shadow behind the door, vanishing from view.

"No!" Kung screamed again, all this actions shattered the room in silence, "No! No!"

"What was that thing?" a heavily breathing Lee sat down as his voice turned into a normal tone.

"Noob Saibot, 'the creature of doom' he was a spy for an elder god years ago."

"Shinnok?" this time, Sonya Blade spoke out. She knew the answer well too much.

"Exactly." That word shook all of the mortals that occupied this room. Shinnok was a fallen Elder God. And he nearly took control of Earth Realm if hadn't been for the chosen fighter Liu Kang, all those years ago. All those years ago in Mortal Kombat, the forth tournament. Their souls were so much at stake that even they hadn't the slightest clue. And only 4 more days were left until they would have the opportunity to battle for their soul and the thousand other souls that lived in a beautiful realm called Earth. They had to stay together. They had to reach Shang Tsung's lost island once again. They had to fight in Mortals Kombat.

Half way across the world on another cold and misty night, the small boat led by the three Lin Kuei members was drawing closer and closer into its chosen destination. The Grand Master, Sub-zero was taking his nap on one end of the boat, under the shade, which prevented him from getting wet by any rain or any light. On the middle, Smoke lit a fire for his and Frost's warming. The fog made it unclear to see what lied ahead. And the chill in the air prevented Smoke from staying alive without the warmth of the flame.

The three had agreed to take turns on rowing the boat, the first 4 hours were led by Sub-zero, giving Smoke the time he needed to sleep and recharge his body. The next four hours were now Smoke's to row, and for some reason the youngest clan member Frost, denied to sleep at night. Subzero didn't care much, he was still angry with the young girl, and Smoke couldn't order her to do anything. He was only a beginner trainer and was only training 7-to-11 year olds. So he kept on doing his part of the deal, and kept on rowing. From his end he could see Frost taking care of her sifu. She gave him an extra blanket for warmth and an extra pillow for comfort. She really cared about the old master. Frost placed her daggers on one side, near where her black-ninja costume was placed, and sat next to Smoke, in front of the burning fire.

"You care about him don't you?" Mark asked the female Lin Kuei. His gaze hadn't moved slightly from the Grandmaster.

"Um hmm," Her nod was enough to answer his question . . . but the next one he was about to ask was something he knew could sadden the rest of the journey. "Then why did you try to steal the medallion?" and he had to know the real reason.

"I . . . I . . . don't know! It's like, as if something was . . . controlling me! It was like, I mean . . . even you would want that thing right?"

"I wouldn't try to take it from Master Zhong. I would fight for it."

"Exactly! But . . . guess the stealing thing runs in the family."

"Your family?" This time, he really needed to know. The first time Frost came into the Lin Kuei was unknown, she just joined the tournament and went on to fight in Mortal Kombat with Subzero. He never really talked to her before.

"Yes, my . . . ah . . . my family. see, did you ever heard of a group called the 'Red Dragon'?" Her answering came with a smile, "Yes I heard of them." of course he heard of it. The Red Dragon was the Lin Kuei's arch rival clan, next to the deceased Black Dragon.

"Yeah, well, my father was a member of that clan . . . but he betrayed them and went on to join the Black Dragon later on." The Black Dragon . . . again a familiar names, again a smile forming in his lips.

"His . . . sigh his name was . . . Kano." That wasn't a name Mark heard of before. Kano, although was an archenemy to Subzero, neither Smoke nor Frost knew about it.

"What about your family?" She asked, dropping her story at that name.

"Mine? Nah . . . I . . . I don't know about them much. All I know is that my father, the original Smoke, left me with Master Zhong. I was only 9-months old when he passed away. So I guess Master Zhong is the only 'family' I got." Smoke returned to his rowing, he never knew what really happened to his mother. He never saw her.

Smiling, the girl leaned back on the food-storage behind them and pulled the blanket she bought with her. "How much time do have left?" She questioned, yawning with the heat from the fire. She seemed tired, very tired.

"I think, maybe another day or two." Mark informed, looking at the young girl closing her eyes.

"Good . . ." she yawned once more, "Wake me up when we get there."

"Hey! What happened to your turn at rowing? That's due 2 hours!"

"I have to row too?"

"Yes, we had an agreement."

"Ah, no. Actually Sifu made the agreement! I just stood around pretending that I don't exist!"

"Your Sifu said the three of us! And that means the Three Of Us!"

"Ha, ha, take it easy! I was only joking."

"Yeah me too. No go ahead, I can cover for you. You look tired."

"Hmm . . .thanks but I'm not gonna let you take that away from me. I'll . . . yawn . . . " and just like that, she fell asleep. She couldn't even complete her full sentence.

She seemed really nice to Smoke, and he thought that how can a nice girl like Frost try to steal something from his master? But even Smoke had more to discover, for the daughter of Kano, isn't supposed to be a person whom you can trust.

~@~

As the night swore to be the deadliest of all nights, the six chosen fighters were left to sleep on this stormy night. Rain and thunder had engulfed the sky outside, a good thing that they found the cache to shelter. Some leaned across the stairs with their bags as pillows, others like Kenshi, Kung Lao and Nein Lee rested on the floor. Johnny and Sonya were the only ones not sleeping, instead. They were sitting at the table and drinking tea and sodas, again, found on the large storage box. Johnny had the excuse that a celebrity like himself didn't need to rot on the floor like a rat, and Sonya decided stay awake and do some calculation on her missions, rather than just lay on a small room like that. And of course, they needed someone to guard in case of the mutant Baraka or that shadow creature.

Every now-and-then Nein Lee would jump awake in fear that an Elder God might swallow him alive. The fire on the fireplace was still lit, and Kung Lao being the one closest to the fire, was only seeing nightmares.

'"You Can't Run from me Shang!" Liu Kang was screaming at the Sorcerer. Standing right in the middle of the Whu Shi Academy grounds in the midst of a fight. "I don't need to run!" the demon hissed at Kang. And his ally Qun-Chi made a distraction and shot a burning skull towards the Shaolin Monk's back. From a distance, Kung Lao was seeing all this happen. He could hear his friend and brother scream with pain. the following horrific action, cracked open Liu Kang's neck. As he fell – dead and soulless.

"Why Kung? Why didn't you save me? Why didn't you stop them before they could kill me?!" Liu Kang's dead body begged from the ground, "Why didn't you SAVE ME?" "Bow to Me! Bow to the DRAGON KING!"'

"NO!" He literally screamed, jumping awake from his nightmare. He couldn't bear to see that again . . . not again. Liu's death had always cursed Kung through the years. He kept on thinking that in someway, it was his fault that Liu died.

"Kung?" Johnny asked from the table. He and Sonya were frozen to hear the sudden scream. And just when they were getting cozy. "Kung are you alright?" Gen. Blade finished. But the only answer the two got was a slow head noting 'no'. "We're beyond alright my friend," Kung's shaking voice informed, his breathing so heavy and rapid, " . . . beyond alright."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sonya's concerned voice demanded. Johnny was way too shaken to ask that question.

"Remember Liu?"

"Yeah,"
"He's back."

TBC

A/N: I am SO sorry about the late and short update! I know that my story isn't the best of all MK stories, and that its not getting so cool as you might have thought. But I am trying to do my best! I can't get on the PC more than 2 hours a day. My folks wont let me! I have this headache thing, so if u kindly enough to please wait 1 week for each update? please? I am a kid y'know. I'll try my best to do better. From now on, u will see an update each Sunday. 1 big hell of an update! thanks for reviewing. So what do u say? And also, what do u think about the story? Am I getting better or getting worse? Is the story getting better or worse? Lemme know! Thankz again. U guys rock.