With the guard walls of the temple, the ruin of the island was less severe. Johnny slowly tracked the statues of previous champions and noted which ones looked destroyed by nature, and others by war. One in particular had several marks that looked like it had been struck by a hammer. Fine dust at its feet mixed with shards and rocks. He tried to piece together in his head who these champions might have been, but there was no face to look into and no shard of stone to piece together accurately.

Even Scorpion wasn't among them. The current champion of Mortal Kombat.

He was startled, but kept his glance on the statues as a voice broke his concentration and the silent steps approached.

"The tallest would have been the Great Kung Lao." Johnny Cage turned to find Sub-Zero beside him. Hands behind his back, face still covered by the linen and hood. He was about to comment on the look, but with the chill in the air, realized he may have been the dumb one to wear so little as a white cotton shirt, black jeans, and boots given to him by the Black Dragon.

"Where's the freak?" Johnny noted that all seven were in ruin.

"Scorpion is not a true champion of Mortal Kombat." Sub-Zero added, "he defeated the challenger of the last tournament fifty years ago, but Mortal Kombat itself has been more of a tradition broken and handed down throughout the era, than a true battle for the realms."

"A paper champion."

"For lack of a better word, yes." Sub-Zero nodded, then turned Johnny to him, and pierced through those deep black shades into the eyes he had so perturbed hours ago. "What do you seek?"

He wanted to tell the man to fuck off. He wanted to do so many things. All the anger and frustration, the tension and disruption in his life had been built up and pulled taut like a war bow that he had a harder time being around people than even himself.

He could feel the chill in the air expand and the temperature drop further. He realized that the cold wasn't the air itself, but Sub-Zero. On the boat, any of the Lin Kuei that had approached him after having met with their leader. This man emanated the very essence of the arctic, and through that icy stare, he dared not piss him off.

"I want the world to see me again. To know who I am and that I am who I say I am." Johnny replied.

"Who are you?" Sub-Zero pressed.

"I'm Johnny Cage. I'm an actor, I'm a fighter, and a legend." He pushed back, "who are you?"

Sub-Zero let out a cold breath that chilled Cage's spine as the linen wrap around his face was unraveled and and set over his shoulder. For the first time, Cage could see more than just the cold blue eyes, but a face. A person.

"Bi-Han, of Edenia, and Sub-Zero of the Lin Kuei."

"What kind of title is that?" Cage prodded, he had never heard of either until recent. His ignorance amused Sub-Zero, but the stoic assassin wouldn't show it.

"A legend."

"Then why aren't you among these ruins?"

"Because of Scorpion."

Johnny had to think about this. He had only seen the revenant once or twice, and usually didn't stray far from Quan Chi. He didn't see him as any major threat, but he also wasn't fully sure what a revenant was.

"How do you defeat him?"

"You don't." Sub-Zero shook his head, and Johnny could see the gears turn and added to them with his own ideas. Neither spoke of them, but Sub-Zero offered a different concept, "you evolve instead."

"The robots?"

"The Cyber Initiative." Sub-Zero titled it. "This island is ruins. The past is over and impassive seems pathetic now. It is time to move into the 90s with the rest of the world and meet the future head on."

"That's very progressive of you." Cage wasn't sure what to say.

"This tournament," he pointed to the middle statue, the one with the most damage, "someone is going to replace The Great Kung Lao."

"I thought you said it doesn't matter?"

"It does now." He backed away from Cage as he spoke. He turned left toward another presence, Quan Chi, and with a nod to the host of the tournament, took three steps back before he departed completely.

"The night is young, Mr. Cage, but you should rest." He could see Johnny's frustration like an aura around the man. "Tomorrow morning, the tournament begins."

"Is this why you brought me here?" He motioned to the statues.

"You tell me." Quan Chi dissipated in a green mist. His words an echo within Cage's mind.