Chapter 3
Ronin considered himself a tolerant man, but suddenly his patience evaporated at the intrusion of this strange man in the dojo, a place that was almost like another home to him, and being challenged to a fight. With almost no advance warning he sprung at the strangely dressed intruder and threw a low uppercut to the gut, high punch to the face, right round kick to the head and a spinning side kick to the upper chest. Raiden's eyes widened at the speed at which the mortal came at him and was unable to block anything. Each attack connected thus sending Raiden into the wall. Losing his balance, Raiden fell forward to his knees and looked up at Ronin. Raiden dug deep into his memories to find the last time he had been hit by a mortal let alone toppled by one.
He got back to his feet and said: "Excellent hits, mortal. Not since the first winner of Mortal Kombat, Kung Lao have I felt such clean technique and solid power. Now, try again." Ronin was surprised at this turn of events. His best combination would have knocked out anyone else or at least drawn blood, but whoever this man was, he was far from unconscious. Ronin moved in again with a different combination this time. A one-two punch with a spinning double kick. But this time, Raiden absorbed the blows and countered with his own attacks which Ronin barely blocked. This continued for a time when Ronin finally understood that whoever this man was, he would not be beaten. Ronin finally stood straight and said: "Enough!" Bowing in a show of respect, Ronin said: "You have fought well and I am honored but it is clear that I cannot defeat you. Therefore, I yield this match to you sir."
Raiden dropped his fighting stance as well and returning the show of respect with his own version, that of the right fist covered by the left hand with a nod of his head said: "You show wisdom as well as strength, mortal and I salute you for that. My name is Raiden. I am the God of Thunder and Protector of the Realm of Earth."
Ronin considered this information for a moment and like the focus dial on a camera, everything became clear. During his studies, Ronin had encountered numerous references to a Thunder god by the name of Raiden and even a reference to a special tournament called Mortal Kombat. Even without that knowledge, now that he focused on Raiden for a moment, Ronin felt the sheer power emanating from him and felt the truth in his statement. Bowing once again, Ronin tried what little Chinese he knew and said: "How may I be of service Lord Raiden?" Raiden tried to hide a smirk but failed and said: "Please use English. While I appreciate the effort, your accent is atrocious." Ronin, caught off guard by this statement, burst out laughing and said: "My apologies Lord Raiden. What can I do for you?"
Raiden's hands poured electricity as he covered himself in lightning. When the flashing subsided and Ronin could open his eyes again, he saw that Raiden's clothes changed to that of a conservative suit and tie and said: "Come with me and I'll explain." Later, sitting in the back booth of a local restaurant, Ronin listened to Raiden as he explained: "I want you to take my place and ascend to the heavens as the new God of Thunder, and Protector of the Realm of Earth. Yours is but one of many realms and it is time that new energy oversee things." Raiden's voice held a wavering as if he had aged centuries in a few seconds as he said: "I have held this office for more millennia than there is recorded history for, but now, I needto retire."
Ronin listened and said: "Why me sir? I'm not anyone of importance. I have no religion to speak of; I've never even been to China. How can I possibly even be considered?" Raiden said: "That humility you just displayed is the main reason I believe you would be a good choice. I'm not sure I can even pretend humility anymore. In my arrogance, I thought I would see any threat coming and stop it in time. I was wrong and it cost me the life of a good friend. A man by the name of Liu Kang. While it is true that every man chooses his own destiny, I should have been watching after Liu that day. I could have ensured that the fight that cost him his life had been a fair one but I was too late."
Raiden then went on to explain about Mortal Kombat, how once a generation, the best fighters of the realm in question, in this case, Earth Realm, came together in one place and fought for the fate of their world. Liu Kang had won the tournament that had stopped the invasion of Earth Realm in its tracks, and kept winning, until the Deadly Alliance had formed. After he was done, Ronin sat back and contemplated all he had been told. Ronin said: "Let me think on it, okay?" Raiden smiled and said: "Take all the time you want. It is a big decision to make and I can understand the need to think on it."
The next morning Ronin left for his vacation house in the forests near his hometown and proceeded to meditate and train and think. Slowly, things started to make more and more sense about his life up to now. He began to understand why he felt so empty, why every attempt he had made to settle down and start a family of his own had failed. He weighed the pros and cons of taking the office when the choice was nearly taken out of his hands during his stay.
That morning dawned like any other, clear blue sky, bright sun. It would be a pleasantly warm day Ronin thought to himself as he made preparations for an early morning walk. He wore his karate gi and black belt that morning as he grabbed his walking stick from its storage nook by the door and walked out. He only went a short way as he saw two people walking towards him. One appeared to be a middle-aged Chinese man with a mane of jet black hair on his head and an equally black mustache and beard combination. He was wearing an elegant Chinese p'ao robe with a mandarin hat on his head and slippers that could only be described as "royal", while his companion appeared to be a six foot tall dinosaur!
Instantly, Ronin knew they were here for him, and not in a friendly way. The Chinese man said; "Finish him quickly Reptile. Pay me my tribute!" The dinosaurian said: "Yesss, Massster."
The one called Reptile curled into a ball and flew towards Ronin in an attempt to take him to the ground as Ronin quickly sidestepped the attack and threw a vertical punch into the curled ball form. Reptile screeched in pain as the punch connected in what would be the kidney on a human as the ball form was thrown to the side. Reptile landed on the groundand stood upin his fighting stance. Ronin set his walking stick to the side and took his own fighting stance. He saw the stance that Reptile had taken and said: "Hun-gar if I'm not mistaken, strong form but weak to small focused attacks." Reptile looked at the human in surprise and said: "How do you know thissss, human?" Ronin said: "I've been warned of you and your master over there but unlike him, I learned my martial art the old fashioned way, I practiced it instead of stealing it from a fallen warrior."
The insult to his master achieved its end as Reptile, angry now, rushed in to rip the human limb from limb. Ronin stepped in with an uppercut to the long jaw of the dinosaurian assassin and another vertical punch this time to the sternum. Reptile's jaw snapped shut as the small, focused vertical punch caused him to pause as the shock of the punch stopped him from breathing for just a second. In the moment of motionlessness, Ronin stepped behind Reptile and stood on his tail as he launched a vicious series of punches to either side of his spine. Reptile screeched again as Ronin finished with an axe kick to the unprotected collarbone. Reptile succeeded in pulling his tail loose causing Ronin to fall to the ground but Ronin was expecting that and broke his fall perfectly, causing no damage at all to himself and getting back to his feet.
Reptile turned around and spat green blood to the side before changing fighting styles. Ronin looking on and said: "Now you fight using the Crab style. Interesting but don't you know that the natural predator of the crab is the octopus?" To prove his point, Ronin changed fighting styles as well into a hybrid of the Chinese forms of Tai Chi Chuan and Sticky Hands. With both of his hands waving up and down, Ronin almost looked like an octopus as he moved in on Reptile and proceeded to use both open and closed hand strikes all over Reptile's body, finishing with a spinning heel kick that blasted Reptile's head and sent him to the ground.
As Reptile shakily got back to his feet, there was fear in his eyes this time. He drew his Kirahashi blade and proceeded to stance as Ronin picked up his walking stick and held it over his head in a neutral position to allow a strike or block and faced off to Reptile waiting for the dinosaurian to attack.
For the entire duration of the fight, Shang Tsung watched the two kombatants. He actually admired, slightly, the mortal's ability at fending off the assassin. He thought to himself: "Maybe it was wasted effort to take Reptile's mind and bend it to my will. This mortal will need watching if he survives Reptile's kirahashi blade."
Reptile came in with a sideways strike that would have decapitated Ronin had it connected but Ronin's staff blocked the attack with only the slightest of marks on the wood. Reptile exclaimed: "How can ssssimple wood sssstop my blade!" Ronin remarked: "Japanese oak. One of the strongest woods in the Earth Realm." Ronin then went on the counterattack using attacks from all eight directions of the compass. Swept up in the moment of kombat, Ronin barely noticed the sudden concentration of ki energy in his abdomen. When the final blow disarmed Reptile's bleeding and barely standing form, Shang Tsung called out in a voice that carried the length of the clearing: "FINISH HIM!"
Ronin cast his staff aside as he cupped both hands to his waist and focused all his ki into the space between his palms and stepped forward smashing both palms into Reptile's abdomen. The blow sent the dinosaurian flying backwards to land at his master's feet. Shang Tsung looked down to his vanquished warrior and said in a voice dripping with disgust: "Pathetic worm. YOUR SOUL . . . IS MINE!"
From all around there came a low moaning sound that gave Ronin chills up and down his spine as he heard Reptile say: "No Masssster, pleasssse!" The plea for mercy fell on deaf ears as Shang Tsung held his hand over Reptile's near motionless form. The hand began to glow as a translucent shape started to be withdrawn from the body on the ground and Ronin saw his first soul being stolen. Horrified and fascinated at the same time, he stood still as the mist that was Reptile's soul was ripped from the body at Shang Tsung's feet. The soul stuff was condensed into a ball in the sorcerer's hand as he held it to his mouth and swallowed it whole.He looked up to Ronin and said: "Flawless victory . . . fatality." The sorcerer turned away, folded his hands behind him and walked into a portal that opened in front of him.