Yeah, Fallout has taken up most of my time for this one. Fasnacht Day and I'm trying to get as much as I can. Luckily I was able to finish this chapter last night, but had to do a few touch ups. Enjoy!

"Oh no!"

The trio had finally arrived at Khameleon's treetop home, only to find it ransacked. Smashed vases and ruined medical supplies littered the floors, and there were blood splatters everywhere. A corpse of a Outworlder man was covering some sort of chest, as if to protect it. On the corpse's back was dozens of arrows and daggers. Khameleon looks very upset as she and Rei help Raiden in.

"They ruined my home!" She says in sorrow, "Those beasts!"

"Damn, they tore up the place." Rei looks around, getting Raiden to the bed so he could sit down. Raiden gives her a thankful nod as he straightens out his injured leg, groaning a bit.

Khameleon was picking through the ruined supplies, looking for something salvageable while Rei gets the vase shards up from the floor to toss out of the hut. After a few minutes, Khameleon sighs in defeat.

"All of it's ruined… Nothing can be used, not even my extra healing salves… I can't help with your leg, Raiden…" She apologizes.

Raiden shook his head. "It is alright, Khameleon. I can manage. However…" He looks over at the corpse covering something.

"What is under that body?"

Rei sees it too, going over to it. Khameleon joins her, and the two throw the body off of whatever it was covering. It was an unopened crate along with a bloodied note written in a language Rei couldn't understand, but Khameleon could as she picks it up, reading it aloud.

"This is the last crate of supplies we can send, the Emperor and his Tarkatan forces of gotten wind of our new trade route, and we can't risk anymore of our messengers' lives. If they know of this trade route, everyone in the Treetops is in mortal danger. If any of the survivors are wanting refuge, they must come to Sun Do immediately. We have the Siren to protect us now. Anyone that stays will perish at the Emperor's hand. - Li Mei"

"T-That explains the guards and why everything looks ransacked…" Khameleon says, tossing the note aside to open the crate. In it was some fruit and cooked meat that was still fresh, along with medical supplies. The freshness of the food made her more pale than she already was.

This all happened recently.

"Hey, you ok?" Rei asks her, noticing her expression, "What's in the crate?"

"I-I…" She shook her head, closing the crate up and picking it up.

"We can't stay here. I know why those guards were here now, and more may be on the way if we don't leave now." She says, "I know Raiden is a God and you're probably one too from the looks of it, but he's injured and I'm not risking anything."

"What? We just got here!" Rei says, Raiden looking confused as well.

"The food in this crate is still fresh, which meant this destruction happened recently. There may be more guards on the way, and we can't risk staying here." The Saurian answers, "We need to get to Sun Do. I have enough Koins to get us some rooms at the inn there for the night. I can treat Raiden's knee there."

"Fair enough. I do not want to abuse my powers here." Raiden nods.

"But you have Mom's amulet." Rei notes, "You're powered up here instead of being weakened."

"I prefer hand to hand kombat over use of my powers most of the time." Raiden gets up, growling in pain as he had to use his injured leg to do so. Rei goes over to help him stay up and get the weight off his bad leg. Raiden looks at her curiously.

"I can fly you know."

"Flying everywhere is the lazy way. Plus we need to follow Kammie so she can lead us out of here."

"Kammie?"

"Khameleon."

Raiden just blinks. Khameleon giggles at her new nickname.

It took awhile for them to leave the treetops and get out of the forest due to Raiden's injury. Despite him protesting that he could just fly there, Rei wasn't having it, making him accept her help. Khameleon thought it was rather funny, giggling the entire time. Currently, there are walking down a road towards a village on the coastline, a bit of fog in the air.

"We're almost at Sun Do, my friends!" Khameleon beams, "We can finally treat your leg and get some proper rest."

"Took long enough." Rei says, still holding Raiden up, "Raiden's a fucking lead weight on my shoulder."

"You were the one who insisted to assist me despite my protesting, so kindly suffer." Raiden shot back at her, Rei almost letting him go then and there. He zaps her in response, Rei yelping loudly.

"Play nice, children!" Khameleon says as she heard it.

"We are not children!" Both deities corrected, Khameleon laughing.

"Then stop acting like it!"

"I'm trying to rest here!" Bi-Han was heard yelling from Rei's gem, Rei smacking it in response, getting a surprised yelp from him back in return. She just grins in response.

"Khameleon!"

The Saurian looks up ahead to see someone waving at her from the village gates. It was woman in purple, smiling. Khameleon looks happy.

"Li Mei!" She rushes over,setting the crate down and giving the woman a hug happily. Raiden and Rei just blink, slowly joining them.

"I was getting worried that you perished in the Treetop Massacre. Only a few people managed to escape." Li Mei explains. She sees Raiden and Rei behind her, along with Raiden's injured leg.

"Sup." Rei waves, "Ain't polite to stare."

"Raiden? Is that you?" Li Mei asks, Raiden nodding.

"Yes, it is I. I am assuming the outfit threw you off?"

"Yes. Never seen you dress in such a way."

"It is a long story…"

Khameleon picks up the crate again, turning to Li Mei. "Where's the inn again? It's been so long since I've been here."

"It's over this way, let me take you to it." Li Mei offers, urging them to follow her. Bi-Han comes out of Rei's gem, grumbling quietly in Chinese as he decides to make Raiden's hat his perch. Raiden is greeted by some of the villagers, the Thunder God giving them nods of acknowledgement as he passed by. Rei is rather curious of why any Outworlder would acknowledge Raiden positively, but that got answered by Corliss.

"Seems like Raiden's got supporters here in Outworld too. Go figure. Then again, Bo Rai Cho, an ally of his, is from Outworld. Possible good reputation by association?" Corliss muses, Rei rolling her eyes in response. They are approaching a large building, writing on a sign above it that Rei couldn't understand either, but by the looks of it, this was indeed the Inn. Li Mei had went in first, but before Khameleon, Rei, and Raiden could go in.

"Raiden!"

Raiden turns to see Liu Kang running up to him, Kung Lao following with Jin. Raiden looks happy to see the two monks alright, but at the sight of Jin, one of his eyes twitched. Rei didn't see this, however.

"Hello, it is a welcome sight to see you and Kung Lao unharmed." he says with a smile.

"Too bad Raiden took an arrow to the knee." Rei says, "Kammie got it healed the best she could, but he's not gonna be able to put any weight on it until we get back to Mom and the others."

"Who is Kammie?" Kung Lao asks, Jin staying close to him.

"Me!" Khameleon says with a wave, "I'm Khameleon, but Rei calls me Kammie for short."

Kung Lao and Liu Kang greet her with a bow. Jin runs up to Raiden.

"Uncle Raiden is hurt?" He asks, seeing the makeshift bandage on Raiden's leg. Raiden nods, picking him up to hold him.

"Yes, but I will be fine, little one." He assures with a kind smile before it takes a 180 when he looks at the two monks with a glare.

"Why, for the love of the Elder Gods, is Jin here in Outworld?" He asks through gritted teeth, Rei and Khameleon stepping away at the tone of his voice. Kung Lao looks defensive.

"You rather I leave him with my aunt and uncle, who couldn't even protect him from the Tarkata horde that took most of the other monks?" He asks. "I feel he would be safer with me and Liu Kang. Liu Kang's practically a Fire God with those gauntlets!"

"No, he's a living nuke with those gauntlets. Anything in the Dragon's Fire category in Purgatory is part of the Destruction Archetype of the Fire Element. Be thankful Mom didn't give him the matching spellbook." Rei corrects, "We would all be fucked if he had access to it."

"Now I kind of want it." Liu Kang jokes, Rei glaring at him.

"Dream on, dummy."

"Are you two needing a place to stay for the night too?" Khameleon asks, "I can get you rooms here if you like?"

Kung Lao and Liu Kang look at each other and nod.

"That would be lovely. Plus we wish to hear of your little adventure so far." Liu Kang says with a nod. Jin looks happy, hugging Raiden, who smiles back at the boy's innocence.

"And I would like to keep an eye on Kung Jin for the night." He adds, "I know most everyone in Sun Do is friendly, but I refuse to take chances."

"Aww~" Rei cooes, "Raiden has a Papa Wolf side~"

"You don't know the half of it." Liu Kang grins, "Raiden raised me and Kung Lao. He's practically our father."

"They're your kids? Oooh! Raiden, you gotta tell me stories!" Rei clapped her hands, looking eager to hear stories of Raiden raising the two monks. Corliss is heard chuckling at this.

"You gonna tell him about your boy too, Rei?" She asks, but Rei doesn't answer or seem to acknowledge her.

Raiden beams with pride and joy at both comments. Rei sees this and her smile grows more. Raiden was too cute when he is happy. Li Mei exits from the Inn, curious as to what was going on outside.

"Is everything alright out here?" She asks. Upon noticing three new additions to the group, one being a child, she chuckles.

"More friends?" She added, Raiden nodding.

"More like my sons and nephew."

After a few minutes of talking with the Inn owner, Li Mei and Khameleon managed to get them all very good rooms in the inn, possibly the more expensive ones. It most likely was due to Raiden being a God and Jin being with them, but no one really knew. The group was currently in Raiden's room, Khameleon using the supplies from the crate to tend to his knee. Jin was playing with a toy Li Mei had given him, the boy enjoying himself.

"Doesn't seem like it hit any major bones or arteries, so you're super lucky!" Khameleon tells Raiden, who nods.

"That is great news." He smiles.

"How did this happen?" Liu Kang asks, ignoring as Rei was behind him, starting to braid his hair.

"I was shot with an arrow." Raiden says, "We were heading to Khameleon's treetop hut and got ambushed."

"It was more painful watching her push it all the way through." Rei adds, using a brush made of shadows to start parting Liu Kang's hair, "I can't even bear watching someone doing it."

"Squeamish, much?" Kung Lao jokes, Rei glaring at him while Liu Kang chuckles. Raiden chuckles as well, watching Khameleon clean the wound thoroughly before using a healing salve on it and wrapping his knee in a new bandage.

"There. Try not to move it too much, ok?" Khameleon advises, "The salve should take effect soon, it's a secret mixture my father taught me long ago."

Raiden nods, Khameleon gathering the supplies and putting them into a shoulder bag Li Mei gave her earlier. That made Rei remember her backpack, using her free hand to grab it.

"Hey Liu, can you look into this for me?" Rei asks him, "I gotta focus on making your hair pretty~"

Liu Kang nods, taking it from her. Bi-Han flutters to sit on his shoulder as he opens the backpack, a burst of confetti coming out it, along with a scroll, startling everyone. Liu Kang just blinks, speechless as Kung Lao picks up the scroll. Rei just rolls her eyes.

"Typical of Mom to do that."

"What does the scroll say?" Raiden asks, curious. Kung Lao opens the scroll, looking confused.

"I can't read it. It's in some strange language…" He turns it around to show the contents of the scroll, which were bullet pointed things written in a strange language. Rei blinks.

"That's Asalian, I'll translate." Rei says, taking a second to look it over. Everyone waits patiently, Liu Kang reaching into the bag and feeling something round with the texture of sand within. Slowly, he pulls the item out in question: a red and black orb that resembled a bath bomb, but the red swirls on it glowed with a strange energy. He tilts his head, confused.

"What is this…?" He asks, Rei looking up from the scroll, she gasps and snatches it from his hand.

"BODY TIME!" She yells before slamming it on the ground, an explosion of red and black smoke enveloping the room. There was a lot of coughing for a bit until it dissipated, Rei grinning as she stares at something.

"What the hell was that for?" Liu Kang asks.

"Hi new person!" Jin waves where Rei was staring. All heads turn to that direction, Kung Lao and Liu Kang both looking shocked.

"Sub-Zero?!" Both yell.

Now standing up in the middle of the room was a dazed Bi-Han, now an Asali like Rei. His eyes were black and dark blue, and he was in the clothes he had died in. He nearly fell to the ground, but caught himself. He looks just as startled the monks as he notices he does have a humanoid body again, but seems confused when he sees his now white skin.

"Remind me to thank Mom for that later. That was a Instametamorpher Orb!" Rei giggles, "Instantly lets Spectrites skip the incubation process and be reborn as an Asali immediately! They are extremely rare to have in my realm."

"I…. w-what…?" Bi-Han goes over to a nearby mirror to look himself over. Rei gets up and walks over to him.

"Hmm, Dark Blue and Black Code." She says, Bi-Han looking at her weirdly.

"What?"

"Oh! In Purgatory, we have Color Codes. It dictates what color our eyes, hair, navel gem, and blood color will be. Your Color Code is Dark Blue and Black."

Bi-Han removes his cowl and mask, revealing that he had rather long hair that was kept in a pony tail and a beard. His beard was solid black, but his hair had a dark blue skunk stripe going through it. He looks rather intrigued.

"O-Oh… Do I still have my powers in this form as well?" He asks. Before Rei could answer, she was hit with an ice ball, flash freezing her. All but Raiden laugh at that, Raiden just smiling a bit while shaking his head. Bi-Han looks proud of himself.

"Now that is very good to know."

After Rei was thawed up and recovered from the sudden flash freezing, the the group was now outside on the beach close to the village around a large fire that Li Mei had got burning. It was night time now, and torches and lanterns lit up the area. Many villagers were still out and about, some that were nearby talking about the village protector and why they weren't back yet.

"Who is this village everyone keeps talking about?" Khameleon asks Li Mei, who was watching the waves nearby, "And who is this Siren you wrote about in the letter?"

Li Mei doesn't turn to her as she answers, "A few months ago, there was a Siren that came to our village seeking shelter from Shao Kahn. Apparently they had angered the Khan somehow and now they're wanted. In exchange for shelter, he keeps our village safe from the Tarkatan Forces. But… he's known to be rather lazy, and tends to wander off when he's born."

"Wait, aren't Sirens supposed to be female only?" Bi-Han asks. Li Mei just shrugs.

"Apparently, he was a first from what he tells us. He's half-Edenian, half-Siren." She responds. When she was about to speak again, she sees the Siren in question coming down onto the beach. It was the man in pink again, and he is greeted by the villagers happily. Li Mei waves to get his attention, the man seeing this and coming over.

"Welcome back, we were starting to get worried."

"Ah, you all shouldn't worry about me. I can handle myself." the man speaks, "I had a hell of a day…"

"We have new friends of Earthrealm." Li Mei points to the group. The man sees them, waving.

"Hello, Earthrealmers. Name's Lyrika." He introduced himself, "Resident Siren and the first male one born ever."

"Henlo." Rei greets, Raiden looking at her weirdly for her rather strange greeting, as did Khameleon, but neither question it, assuming it was just how Asali say hello.

"Hi pink guy!" Jin greeted happily, Kung Kao chuckling at Jin's friendliness.

"Raiden, right?" Lyrika asks, looking at Raiden's direction, "Heard about ya during my travels. Apparently you're super important or something."

"Have you not heard of me?" Raiden looks slightly annoyed. Everyone in Outworld had to hear of him at one point during the whole Mortal Kombat tournament fiasco. Lyrika shrugs.

"Not really. I never bothered with learning about other realms or politics. I prefer entertaining others." He answers, "Stress free and don't have to worry about getting my head cut off by some psychotic princess."

"Oooh, an exotic dancer basically?" Rei asks, very interested. Lyrika chuckles a bit at such a comparison.

"You could say that." He stretches a bit, "I just like to entertain the villagers here. They give me refuge, after all. Anyways…" He turns back to Raiden, head tilted.

"Heard around the grapevine you're on some sort of mission. Mind if I be nosy and ask what it is? Probably can lend a hand or something if it involves getting the Emperor off my back."

"Why would you wish to know? I barely know you." Raiden says, looking annoyed. Lyrika didn't back down.

"Cause I know Outworld like the back of my hand and know a lot of the more secret tombs and krypts Shao Kahn has his treasures and stuff sealed in. I loot them and sell the stuff for Koins." He answers without missing a beat.

"Wait, do you know where the Soul Tombs are?" Rei asks, cutting Raiden off before he can speak again, "My mom sent me and Raiden on a mission to blow the place up."

"You're going to blow up the Soul Tombs?" Khameleon gasps, "But why?"

Rei and Raiden both shrug. Bi-Han was too busy entertaining Jin by creating snowflakes to hear that, Jin loving being able to play with snow this early. Kung Lao and Liu Kang look just as confused as her.

"We don't even know why she wants to blow them up, and we weren't sent on that mission." Kung Lao answers, "We got sent to save our elders that were taken from our realm to here to be held hostage."

Lyrika looks deep in thought, humming a bit. "I do actually, but going there is quite risky. There's guards and traps everywhere, and I heard rumors that there's maybe Hellbeasts deep within, but I can't confirm that. Never really got too deep in there. Mainly just stayed on the upper levels to loot gold and rare artifacts."

"We can hold our own." Raiden assures, "There is nothing two Gods cannot handle."

"Two Gods?" Lyrika asks, looking around, "I don't see any other Gods here."

"HELLO?!" Rei shouts, pointing to herself and the amulet she had. Lyrika raises a brow.

"You're a God? Wearing that?"

He barely dodges Rei's shadow needles that was thrown at him in response. Kung Lao seems to perk up as he remembers something, turning to the Asali.

"Hey Rei, what was on that scroll?"

Rei gasps as she remembers, getting it out. All turn to her as she opens it up, showing them the contents of it. "This scroll has spells on it, very powerful ones at that. Most of the Dark Element. The three spells on it are Shadow Mimic, Shadow Plague, and Dark Vision. Shadow Mimic..." Rei reaches down, and literally grabs a chunk of Raiden's shadow out, Raiden shuddering in discomfort at the sudden feeling of something being taken from him. She absorbs it into her own, and within seconds, her body is crackling with purplish-black electricity.

"...lets me use the powers of others by snatching a piece of their shadow." She says, making a current of electricity between her hands, "However, it's converted to be both Dark and whatever Element it originally was. It only lasts for a few hours though, so it's not permanent. " She gives Raiden a good jolt, the Thunder God yelping in shock and the others chuckling at that.

"A-At least next time, ask!" Raiden glares at her, Rei just blowing a rasp in his direction.

"Dark Vision is simple." She goes over to Liu Kang, making him close his eyes. He does as told, and Rei just taps both of them gently with a glowing hand. "Open them and tell me what you see."

Liu Kang opens his eyes, and he suddenly can see everything around him, including the places not lit up by torches and fires, as if it was daytime still. He looks amazed. "Everything is so clear! I see everything!"

"Dark Vision pretty much is self explanatory: lets anyone not of the Dark element see in the dark as if it was daytime. Very handy and lasts as long as needed." She grins.

"That explains why my vision got so much better." Bi-Han spoke up, Rei grinning.

"Guess we now know your Element Classes too: Ice/Dark." She notes, Bi-Han tilting his head for a second.

"What?"

"I'll explain that later. It's a mouthful, but for a short version: you can use powers and magic from both the Ice and Dark Elements." Rei says, Bi-Han still looking confused but just shrugging and going with it, returning to making miniature snowmen with Jin.

"Well, can't you give us all Dark Vision then? It would be very helpful." Khameleon asks, "We would be able to see enemies coming despite the darkness. They wouldn't be able to hide from us anymore!"

"I could, but ya gotta ask nicely." Rei smirks. Raiden has taken the scroll now and looking at it. The way the Asalian language was written looked very elegant, and seemed to have very loose connections with how the Enochian language was written. It intrigued him quite a bit. Rei snatches it back from him, startling him a bit.

"Now... I would show off the last spell, but... it's too dangerous." Rei explains, "Shadow Plague is... how to say it... let's just say Shadow Plague has nothing to do with sickness or disease and more to do with mind control..."

"Sounds fun." Lyrika chuckles, "I can mind control people too, but I gotta sing without my veil on to do it."

Rei shook her head. "Yours isn't on the scale that Shadow Plague can achieve. Shadow Plague can go global if left unchecked. While I can do it, I refuse to do so. And no, I'm not teaching it to you, Bi-Han."

The former Lin Kuei snaps his fingers in disappointment, everyone laughing at that. Rei just smiles, holding a glowing hand up and giving the peace sign.

"So, who wants Dark Vision?"

After some more time outside and getting Dark Vision from Rei, everyone had went back into the inn for the night to get some much needed rest. Raiden was still awake, testing the limits of his newfound Dark Vision by looking out the window and into the distance. He could see many things, such as birds flying and creatures of the night out on the prowl, hunting for their next meal. He could see the lit up city of Lei Chen in the distance as well, being able to identify some buildings. And since as far as he knew that that was permanent, no one will be getting away from him anytime soon.

Knocking on his door made him turn his attention away from the window and to it. "Come in." He says loud enough for whoever was on the other side to hear it, but also quiet enough to not disturb the other tenants. The door is opened, and in walks Rei, carrying the backpack with her.

"Hey there, didn't think you would still be up." She says, shutting the door behind her, "Just wanted to see how you're enjoying the Dark Vision."

"Very well. I can see Lei Chen from here." Raiden answers, turning back to look out the window. Rei joins him, looking out the direction he was looking at.

"That one place in the distance with the walls and huge palace? That's Lei Chen?"

"Yes."

"Cool."

Raiden chuckles. "I thank you for this little gift. It will make exploring dark areas much better. You did say it lasts as long as needed, right?"

"Yeah, Dark Vision is a permanent spell." Rei confirms with a nod, "It's one of the rare ones that don't take much magic to use at all either. Only way to get rid of it is to use the spell again. It's super handy!"

"That is very good to know." Raiden nods. Rei just grins before zapping him again, making him yelp, "Stop that!"

"Why? It's fun watching you react to your powers being used against you." The Asali says with a sweet, but devious smile. Raiden rolls his eyes. At least it was temporary as she stated earlier. He glances at the backpack in her hand.

"Is there more stuff in there we don't know of yet?"

"Yeah, figured I'd see what else was in it besides the scroll and that orb. Still heavy."

She goes over and sits on the bed, opening the bag up and peering into it. First thing she pulls out was the bomb Azriel gave them, setting it aside. Raiden immediately goes to hold it, not risking it becoming active if it hit the floor. She reaches into it, feeling around until she felt something, blinking.

"Two things: firstly, this seems to be one of those endless holding bags." She says, Raiden looking very curious.

"How so?"

"Cause number two is this." She pulls out a full sized bostaff from it, Raiden now looking more surprised than curious now. The staff looked like something he would use due to the design of it. Rei looks it over.

"Not exactly something I would use. I prefer explosive or bladed weapons over staffs... This might be meant for you." She gives it to Raiden, the Thunder God looking it over himself. He twirls it around with flawless execution, trying to get a good feel of it. Rei looks impressed by the display, clapping quietly and giggling. Raiden looks very pleased with the results.

"It feels nice in my hand and it isn't too heavy. This might be meant for me as you say." He confirms, setting it against the wall. Rei reaches in again, digging around. After a few minutes, she finds something, and immediately, she somehow got paler than she already was. Raiden sees this, and looks worried.

"Are you ok?" He asks, concerned. Rei shook her head, gulping.

"I wish I was..." she slowly pulls out a full sized scythe made of thorns, bones, and barbed wire. It looked very deadly, the blade looking sharp enough to cut through anything with ease. The aura it gave off unnerved both of them, Rei looking very nervous as she held it.

"T-The Soul Taker..."