"He's not here," Amilee whispered. She glanced down the long hall again, nothing.

They had snuck into Onaga's mountain lair, taking a back entrance.

"I know," Sub-Zero replied, "It seems we have come all this way for no reason."

"Kitana isn't here either," Cherin said, walking faster to catch up with them, "Either she escaped, or worse..."

Ermac shook his head, "No, we still sense her presence in this realm. She is alive."

Suddenly Li Mei stopped, running into Amilee.

"What?" Amilee asked, irritated.

Li Mei extended an arm, gesturing to another, darker hallway.

"Look," she said, "Someone is down there."

Amilee made her way down the corridor first, followed by the others. Crouched on the ground they found a woman dressed in white, white a strange hat that seemed so big it might swallow her.

"Who are you?" the Lin Kuei demanded. The woman jumped at the sound of his voice, apparently she hadn't noticed them. She stood up, adjusting her oversized hat.

"Where is Onaga?" Scorpion asked bluntly.

The woman in white shrugged, "That is what I am trying to figure out. Who are you?"

"We asked you first," Amilee said.

"My name is Ashra, I am also searching for the Dragon King."

Briefly, Sub-Zero told her their story.

"You look familiar, I have seen you somewhere before" Scorpion said. As always his voice carried a hint of suspicion.

"Yes," Ashra replied, "In the Netherealm. I remember you as well."

Scorpion's eyes widened, as if he had just remembered something important.

"You once worked for Quan Chi," he said, his voice had become low and deadly.

Ashra nodded, "I did, but not by choice. My sisters and I were forced to serve him. I disobeyed his orders once...he sent my own sisters to slay me..."

She seemed to be talking to herself more than them.

"How did you manage to escape that realm?" Maria asked.

Ashra smirked, pulling something from her robes. She held it aloft for all to see.

"This is Kriss," she said.

What little light there was in the hallway reflected off of the strangely curved sword.

"I discovered it in the depths of the Netherealm," she continued, "It seemed that every time I slew a demon with this sword, my soul was purified. I continued to dispose of the demons until finally the Netherealm could not contain me."

"There's something you might want to know," Cherin said.

Ashra looked up from the sword, "Yes?"

"Quan Chi is helping us," Cherin told her, "Supposedly."

Ashra's eyes gleamed, and a small smile played upon her lips.

"Eventually," she said, sliding the Kriss back into her robes, "He will betray you."

Maria sighed, "That's a chance we have to take I'm afraid."

"I think we should go back to Earthrealm," Amilee said, "Raiden needs to know about the kamidogu."

"What about Ashlynn and Jay?" Cherin asked.

"They're on their own now," Amilee replied distantly, "We have to get back to the portal."

"Maybe we will meet again," Ashra said as the group turned to leave, "Hopefully by then Onaga will have been destroyed." With that, she vanished in a cloud of shimmering white smoke.

Jay opened his eyes. His eyelids felt heavy, and it was a struggled to keep them open. Looking around, he found himself in a bare, dimly lit room. The door opened, flooding his eyes with light. He squeezed them shut again, trying to rid himself of the headache he had just received. When he could finally open them again, he found himself staring at a stranger. He seemed to be some sort of ninja, but from what clan Jay couldn't tell. He wore robes the color of a midnight sky.

"Who are you?" Jay asked, his voice raspy.

"Noob Saibot."

Jay was a bit surprised, he had expected the man to refuse to reveal his name.

"Where am I?" he asked, noticing his hands were chained to the wall behind him.

"I am not obligated to tell you that," Noob Saibot replied, leaning on the doorframe.

"Why not?" Jay sighed, he didn't feel up to this.

"I was told to keep you locked up," Noob said, "And that is what I have done. I am only following orders."

"All right," Jay said through clenched teeth, "Could you at least give me an idea as to where I am?"

He wasn't expecting the ninja to answer this question either, but he had to try.

"No," Noob said, "That would be against my orders."

"Who's orders?"

"I cannot tell you that either."

"Is there anything you can tell me!" Jay snapped, sick of this little game.

"I can tell you one thing," Noob answered, "You can expect to be here for a while."

The man in black left, leaving Jay alone and confused. After a while his mind wandered to Ashlynn, he wondered if she was alright.

Ashlynn followed behind the sorcerer, keeping her eyes glued to the rocky ground. After a while he turned.

"Stop thinking about Jay Yung," he instructed simply.

Ashlynn looked up sharply, "Leave me alone. That's none of your business anyway."

Immediately she regretted saying that. The sorcerer's hand collided with the side of her head, sending her to the ground.

"Do not give me orders! I would think you would have learned better by now, stand up."

She stood shakily, messaging her throbbing face.

"I thought you said we were looking for the others," she said, trying to avoid looking at him.

"I lied," he answered, "Now come, the sun is going down."

For the first time Ashlynn noticed a small patch of trees in the distance. She followed Quan Chi to the small forest, plopping angrily down on the ground when he announced they would stop here for the night.

"Go to sleep," the sorcerer ordered, not looking at her.

"You can't just order me to..."

Suddenly Ashlynn fell over, fast asleep.

The next morning...

Ashlynn sat on the ground, head in her hands. She opened her eyes and jumped a little out of surprise. The sorcerer was no more than a foot from her.

"You are still thinking about him," he said, "And it will only slow us down."

Ashlynn was becoming frustrated with trying to figure out why he cared so much what she thought about. She started in on a smart remark, but changed her mind, remembering the previous day.

"Please, just leave me alone."

"I will not leave you alone until you forget him. Erase him from your mind."

"Why does it matter so much to you whether or not I think about him?" Ashlynn asked.

The sorcerer smiled, sending a shiver of fear down her spine.

"Because I own you," he said.

Ashlynn stood, no longer caring if she made him angry.

"No matter what you say," she hissed, "I won't forget about him...and you don't own me!"

"You are wrong about that," he replied, standing as well.

"You do not own me!" Ashlynn cried. She tried to dart away through the trees, but Quan Chi was too quick. He caught her wrist, twisting it painfully.

"You will obey me," he said, angrily throwing her to the ground.

"Have you forgotten last year already," Ashlynn asked, afraid to stand up again, "I almost defeated you!"

Quan Chi chuckled, "You almost defeated me? Trust me, one day your overconfidence will get you killed. In fact, as soon as I am ruler of the realms, you will be the first to die."

"Why not just kill me now?"

"Because you still owe me a favor..."

Ashlynn sighed, "And you still haven't told me what that is."

"You will know soon enough," he said, "Now come."

Jax and Sonya had been wandering around in circles for hours, lost.

"Man," Jax said, wiping sweat from his forehead, "Where the hell are we?"

Sonya didn't reply, she was busy staring at something in the distance.

"Look," she said, "People."

Up ahead they could see a small group, but the Outworld sun was bright. It blinded them from making out the figures clearly. Sonya walked ahead of Jax, trying to shield her eyes. Suddenly she stopped.

"What?" Jax asked.

Sonya turned, a look of horror on her face. She looked back at the group, then quickly pulled her partner behind a large cluster of rocks.

"Tarkata," she said.

"Tar what?" The word meant nothing to Jax.

"Tarkata are these half demon things with big blades built into their arms," she replied.

Jax's eyes widened.

"Uh yeah," Sonya said, "That's why we're hiding behind these rocks."

"I ain't gettin anywhere near those things," Jax mumbled.

"Shhh Jax."

Sonya took a chance and peaked out from the rocks. She sighed in relief, seeing that the Tarkata were moving away. Suddenly, without warning, Jax let out what had to be one of the loudest sneezes Sonya had ever heard, or maybe it was just the circumstance they were in.

"Damn you Jax!" she yelled, covering her own mouth quickly. It was too late however. The Tarkata had turned, and were now making their way toward the boulders.

"Jax..." Sonya sighed.

"When you gotta sneeze you gotta sneeze," he said, "Those things are comin' over here!"

Sure enough, the Tarkata round the corner and in a matter of seconds both Jax and Sonya have blades pointed at their throats.

"Who are you?" asked one of the hideous monsters.

"Man you better get that thing away from me," Jax said.

"Answer the question human!"

Sonya knew they didn't have a choice.

"We're from Earthrealm," she told them.

"Aha," another warrior snorted, "You are opponents of Onaga!"

"May we kill them now?" another asked him.

"No," he replied, "We will take them back to the camp, Baraka will know what to do with them."

With that the two humans were seized by the arms.

"This is the second time I've been dragged off like this," Jax muttered, "Only y'all got big ass blades and stuff."

"Silence human!"

Sub-Zero and the others had just come through a portal to Earthrealm, they now found themselves standing in the middle of a grassy field. Raiden stood a few feet away, a worried expression on his normally stoic face.

"We have some information," Amilee said.

"Wait," the thunder god interrupted her, "Where are the others? Ashlynn and Jay are not still in the Netherealm?"

"No," Cherin said a bit sadly, "They found Quan Chi."

"Then were are they?" he asked.

"Something happened to Ashlynn," Amilee told him, "A spell or something."

"Quan Chi took her to find some herb thingy," Cherin said, "But anyway, they left and Jay followed a while after."

"We have not seen them since," Ermac chimed in.

"That is not good," Raiden mused, almost to himself, "We will need everyone...Tell me about this information you have found."

"Quan Chi said to weaken Onaga, we need to find the...um...what were they called? The uh...kamidogu, that's it. He said we have to destroy them," Amilee told him.

"I see," the thunder god said, "Find the others, and head back to Dragon Mountain."

Cherin sighed, "That means we have to go searching for them."

"Good luck," Raiden said, giving them his usual words of comfort, then he vanished.

"I think we should split up to make things simpler," Sub-Zero said, "Amilee and I will search for the others, the rest of you should head back to the mountain and wait for us there."

"All right," Cherin said, "We'll meet you there."