Outworld- Main Arena
When Takeda got up bright and early this morning, he didn't expect the seats of the arena to be filled so quickly by spectators. Last night, before everyone retired to their rooms after the opening ceremony, Raiden revealed that Takeda would be the first to fight. He wasn't nervous though, he was a little excited. His father had entered a tournament before he was born, although he was quickly eliminated by the elder Sub-Zero. Plus he had the support of Master Hasashi and Jacqui. Now on the arena, Takeda was finishing up with his stretches when the aforementioned pair made their way towards him.
"How are you feeling?" Jacqui asks, kissing him on the cheek.
"I feel really good," He admits, hopping from foot to foot. "I'm not that worried."
"Just remember your training, Takeda," Hanzo reminds him. Takeda nods and bows in respect. A bell is heard and the crowd begins to cheer as Kotal Khan enters the arena with his warriors, Takeda taking the time to look at each of them. He wouldn't mind avoiding Ferra/Torr for the first round. Or that Shokan, Jek'al. Not that he was afraid or anything, but he figured Hanzo and the others would probably want to take them on.
"Takeda Takahashi!" Kotal Kahn calls out, his voice filling the entire arena as the outworlders grow silent. "Your opponent this day will be Li Mei! Protector of her people!" The crowd begins to cheer again, particularly a small section Takeda assumes are people from her village. Li Mei, covered in purple armor, steps into the arena with a proud head. Takeda is checking his whips when he feels Jacqui squeeze his shoulder.
"You got this," She says, before leaving with Hanzo. He watches as they make their way to Raiden and his new bodyguard, Skarlet, who's sitting next to Sonya Blade and Frost. Takeda cracks his neck and steps onto the arena square, making his way towards Li Mei. Not going to lie, he wasn't expecting all the booing. He wasn't used to being seen as a bad guy. The pair began to circle each other, hands raised in striking position. Takeda tried to get a read on her but couldn't hear anything, almost as if he was being blocked.
"You can give up trying to read my mind," Li Mei says suddenly. "My helmet is enchanted by sorcery that prevents telepathy." Takeda shook his head, that's probably why Kotal Khan put her against him in the first place.
"So this is the thanks we get after helping you and your people during the civil war?" He asks, in a mocking tone.
"Had I known Special Forces was going to team up with Raiden to destroy our realm, I would never have subjected my people to your aid." She says. He wishes he can make her understand that him and Hanzo were there to make sure Raiden DIDN'T destroy her realm, but she had her mind set and blocked. Then, in the blink of a eye, she took out her sword and swiped at the him. He manages to dodge her swings but takes a high kick straight to the chin which makes his entire head spin. He falls to his knees and Li Mei prepares to deliver a strong elbow.
"MOVE, TAKEDA!" Sonya yells. Takeda snaps out of his haze and rolls away from the attack. He had the opportunity to hit her but hesitates.
"What are you doing?" Jacqui demands.
"I can't hit a girl!" He confesses. He knows it's silly but the only time he squared off with women was when he trained with Cassie and Jacqui, and in Cassie's case he didn't really see her as a delicate female. Distracted, Takeda did not see Li Mei's fists coming, or her kicks, or when she wrapped her hands around his head and brought him down to her knee. He falls hard on to the ground.
"That girl is kicking your ass!" Jacqui yells. "Take her down!" Takeda groans as he tries to get up, Li Mei's sword slashing against his thigh. He yells out in pain before he whips his foot around, tripping Li Mei as he puts a bit of distance between them.
"Her helmet, Takeda!" Master Hasashi points out. He throws both of his whips and knocks the helmet off her head.
Shit, He hears her think, making him smile inside. She jumps to her feet and rushes him, but nothing she does comes as a surprise anymore. Hearing almost every movement as she thinks it, the tide quickly turns as Takeda delivers two powerful punches to Li Mei's ribs. He continues to land blow after blow on her, feeling a little bad but knowing it would be nothing to what Jacqui would if he lost. He kicks her into the air and latches his whips on her. With a hard tug she brought down to his boot, knocking her directly to the ground. Li Mei is shaking as she tries to get up but eventually crumbles on the floor. The arena is full of boos, except for the cheers of his Earthrealm citizens. Kotal Khan looks extremely displeased but stands up any way.
"The winner is Takeda Takahashi."
Earthrealm-New York City
Claude knew that this mission his father had given him and his team was an important one as soon as it was revealed Sub-Zero would be his target. Now that ninja assassin of ice seemed to have acquired the help of Special Forces. The three soldiers seemed to be about his age, and it was hard to ignore the blonde with the sunglasses and cocky grin. Cassandra Cage. His father talked about her during their training...although he never mentioned she was cute. They tracked the group all the way out to New York City, easily staying in the shadows with the help of Opal and her mind control. Now they were perched up on a roof looking down on a run down building hosting a club their targets went into. After some time waiting, Piezo walks up to him.
"We just got a signal," He warns. "Kano's trying to reach us."
"Hand it over," Claude says. Piezo sighs and gives him the communication device. As soon as Special Forces got thrown into the mix, Piezo wanted to call it in, but Claude chose not to. He didn't want his father thinking they couldn't handle three lousy soldiers. He steps away from the edge of the roof so that his voice doesn't travel in the alley.
"It's been twelve hours," Kano tells him. "What's your report."
"We've tracked Sub-Zero all the way to New York City," Claude tells him, glancing at Piezo. "He's being assisted by Special Forces, specifically Cassandra Cage and her team."
"Ah, hell!" Kano murmurs. "Do you need backup."
"Of course not," Claude smirks.
"That's what I want to hear," Kano says proudly. "Any sight on who he's after?"
"We have our suspects," Claude says, using his binoculars to peek at the three figures in rags from through the window. "Two females and a male."
"That-" Piezo hisses, pointing at the giant woman in the middle. "Is no woman." The trio were able to see her finish her last opponent before she took Sub-Zero and the others into a more secluded area.
"Men and their fragile masculinity," Opal says, rolling her eyes. Claude can't help but laugh.
"We're just waiting for the ninja to confirm who's our target before we seize them," He tells Kano.
"Great," his father says. "Make sure to keep the target alive! I can give two shits about the others!" His father's voice disconnected and Claude knew he turned off the signal. He hands the device back to Piezo before returning to his original post. His binoculars quickly find the figure of Cassie Cage.
Things were going to get very interesting.
Earthrealm- Lost Kid's Treehouse
After revealing to Orithia that he was her uncle, she lead him and the other's to main building where her and the other Lost Kids stayed at. There he learned that she, along with Alkaia and Kaiyo, were the oldest of the group and helped take responsibility of over eighty abandoned children. It was touching, to see them work together to help provide a life for these kids, something he's sure Bi-Han would be proud of, if he was still alive and human. The trio then left Sub-Zero and Cassie's team in one of the empty studio rooms as they went to go check on the kids.
"When were you planning on telling us you were an uncle?" Cassie accuses. Sub-Zero ignored her. She didn't need to know the details of the mission, all she had to do was help him find his missing family.
"Yeah and why are you barely rescuing her from a life of poverty?" Austin adds. Sub-Zero lets out a sigh, it looks like they weren't planning on dropping this anytime soon.
"It's a long story," He says. "I've just discovered the truth myself."
"Is that why you went to go see Sareena?" Cassie asks. When he nods his head her face contorts to more confusion. "But why? What would she know?"
"She knew everything," He reveals. "Sareena was her mother."
"Wait," Kung Jin cuts in. "The demon Sareena?" The shaolin isn't outraged, in fact it appears he's realized something as he looks at the door Orithia and the others just walked through.
"Was?" Cassie repeats, her voice softer now. "What happened to Sareena?"
"She was slain by my brother," He answers. "Under the orders of Liu Kang."
"Shit," Cassie hisses. "You gonna tell her?" As soon as she asks the door opens and in walks Orithia, Alkaia, and Kaiyo. The trio separates, immediately alerting Sub-Zero and the others. He turns to Orithia, who's closest to him.
"What's going on?" he demands. The tall woman shrugs her shoulders.
"Sorry, old man," she says. "But you got the wrong girl. They told me you control ice, I can't do that." Sub-Zero narrows his eyes at Kaiyo.
"You told me she was the one I was looking for!" He tells him. The male in the mask laughs, taking out his claw hammers.
"I could have sworn I said 'maybe' in that statement," He says, examining one of his hammers. "Guess I forgot."
"What's with the hostility?" Cassie asks, taking a defensive stance towards Alkaia as the other female takes a practice swing of her bat.
"No hostility," she replies. "We just think you've outworn your stay here and we'd like you to leave."
"We're not going anywhere," Kung Jin blurts out. "Because we've found what we're looking for." Sub-Zero saw a flicker of worry flash through Orithia's eyes before hidden away by her poker face.
"You've been mistaken," she says, threat evident in her voice.
"We'll see about that!" He yells. In a blur he shoots an arrow directly at Kaiyo's face. Sub-Zero reaches out to stop him but isn't fast enough to stop the arrow to zoom towards the boy, until it freezes in the air. They all stare dumbstruck as Kaiyo's freezing breath stops the arrow inches from his face. Kung Jin smirks. "I knew there was something off about you. You're wearing a mask to hide the markings on your face, the markings of a demon." Sub-Zero's eyes widen as he curses himself for not seeing it before. Not only would Bi-Han's son be half cryomancer, he'd be half demon as the son of Sareena. Kaiyo rolls his eyes before he removes his mask from his face, revealing the same tattoo-like markings similar to Sareena's.
"What if I didn't stop that arrow, asshole?" He asks. Kung Jin looks like he's about to reply but then ice forms under Kaiyo's feet as he skates towards the male and slams his shoulder into him. Sub-Zero is about to help him when he feels a fist connect with his face, a spike slicing his cheek open. He falls back from Orithia's attack to see that Alkaia has already knocked out Austin with her bat and is squaring off with Cassie. He looks up at Orithia, who circles him.
"Why are you doing this?" Sub-Zero demands. "Isn't it obvious I'm someone from his past!"
"It doesn't matter that you can make ice like Kaiyo can," She tells him. "The sorceress that brought him here said not to trust anyone who comes looking for him."
"If he stays here, he'll die," He warns. Kaiyo is half of the prophecy connected to Raiden and if the god found that out, all the lives here would be in danger.
"No," She replies. "You will!" She hurdles forward with a strong bicycle kick, Sub-Zero's head taking a hit from her first heel before he could block the second one with his forearm. He grabs her foot and twists it but she uses the twist to her advantage to smack the side of his face with her free foot. He hits the ground hard, seeing that Cassie and Kung Jin aren't doing so well with their opponents either. Despite being raised in this city their whole lives, these young adults have been able to train themselves well, making them more of a threat than he'd ever imagined. Still. they'd stand no chance against Raiden and he couldn't lose the only family he had still alive. He kip flips back up, just in enough time to block a spiked knee to the gut. Before Orithia can respond with her spiked knuckles, Sub-Zero has already flipped away, his ice clone in his place.
"What the-" She asks, confused, but he doesn't let her finish. Taking a deep inhale he freezes the ground under her feet, the ice traveling up until it captures Orithia's entire body. It isn't fatal, it's the same technique he uses on Frost when she would lose her temper. The ice would thaw before the hour is up.
"NO!" Alkaia screams, rushing him with her bat. Cassie quickly tackles her before they both start rolling on the ground for dominance. He turns his attention to his nephew, who gives the final blow to Jin's chin with his hammer before the other passes out.
"Kaiyo, stop this," He says. "I can help you. With your powers."
"I don't need your help, dude," He responds. "I've been perfectly fine without it my whole life." Before Sub-Zero can try again, Kaiyo throws one of his hammers at him before rushing him with an ice slide. Sub-Zero ducks to avoid the hammer and raises a spike of ice of his own to throw Kaiyo off. Kaiyo is quick, though, and hooks the claw of his hammer on the spike to whip around and slam his two feet against Kuai's chest. He flies back, hitting the ground hard but he rolls quickly to his feet as he observes Kaiyo approaching him. The younger male manipulated the ice in a way similar to the ice skaters he'd watch when he looked after Cassie one time in Cage's house. Kaiyo grabs his other hammer and leaps into the air, twisting rapidly so the claws of his hammer ripped into Sub-Zero's arms as he lifted them to protect himself. He yells in agony but launches a strong ball of ice of his own, hitting the male directly in the chest. Kaiyo hits the ground hard but quickly gets up. He's strong but too stubborn to relent on his attacks long enough to analyze his opponent.
"Rushing into a fight with a stranger is dangerous," He warns. Kaiyo smirks.
"Just saying that because I knocked you on your ass," He replies, running at him. Sub-Zero kicks one of the hammers out of the way and twists his arm so Kaiyo drops to the ground. Kaiyo screams in pain and frustration as he tries to break free but its useless.
"You have so much potential, Kaiyo," Sub-Zero urges. "Let me help you!" He looks down at the other in disappointment as he grins.
"Go fuck yourself," he says before whistling with his index finger and thumb in his mouth. Right on cue several young children of all ages appeared through windows and doors, each with a variety of weapons. Distracted, Kuai Laing feels Kaiyo break free before he gets a strong kick to the gut. He falls to his knees and soon several of the older kids have guns pointed at him. He hears Kaiyo laugh as he looks at each child's face.
"They've all killed before, by the way," His nephew warns him. "So don't give them a reason." Hanzo hears Cassie struggling to see that she's also being detained while Alkaia works on the ice trapping Orithia. Kung Jin is starting to wake up when the kids approach him.
"What's happening?" He asks, rubbing his jaw.
"Well we gave you the opportunity to leave," Kaiyo says. "So now you're just going to be our prisoners."
Outworld-Kotal Khan's Chambers
As the first night of the tournament comes to a close, Kotal Khan's fears have not lessen. Takeda Takahashi showed excellent battle performance for Li Mei and had Outworld's fate not be risked by the outcome, he would have recognized the male's strength publicly. Now Raiden was one step closer to victory and the annihilation of Outworld. Hopefully his remaining warriors would be enough. Queen Sheeva assured him Jek'al was more than enough to win the tournament but he has yet to see the Shokan in action. And although he trusted Ferra/Torr, Black, and Reptile with his life, they've each been defeated by Earthrealm warriors in the past. As he reaches his chambers, he let's out a long sigh. He needed to forget his worries and trust in the Elder Gods. He's about to enter his chamber when a camouflaged hand covers his mouth.
"It is me, Kotal," Reptile's voice speaks into his ear. "Servants believe they saw two intruders near your bed chamber's windows, I've come to investigate." Kotal Khan narrows his eyes but nods.
"Where are Ferra/Torr? Erron Black?" He asks.
"I told Ferra/Torr to keep an eye on Raiden and his Earthrealm warriors and sent Black to get the palace guards on standby," His spy explains. "If the servant's suspicions are true I'll send Black a signal."
"Very well," Kotal says. "I shall investigate with you."
"Emperor, I must protest-"
"Two intruders could very well stop you from alerting Erron Black," Khan interrupts. "Besides, it is me they will be expecting." Reptile sighs but nods his head anyway. Still invisible, Reptile stays behind Kotal as he enters his chambers. Everything seems to be fine until he realizes the room's lighting has been strategically altered. As he walks to the center of the room, his hands quickly ball into fists when he suddenly hears a familiar buzzing.
"Emperor!"Reptile yells, shoving Kotal out of the way of several angry insects as D'vorrah and Kurtis Stryker emerge from the shadows.
"So good to see you emperor," D'vorrah greets, grinning. Kotal Khan glares at his once most trusted adviser. D'vorrah was the first real betrayal he felt as Emperor of Outworld. His gaze goes to her to the revenant in a Eathrealm police force outfit.
"You serve Liu Kang now?" he asks, although it's more of a declaration.
"Shinnok was weak," D'vorrah says. "This one now serves a stronger purpose."
"You've come to kill me?" Again, another declaration.
"Indeed," She confirms.
"Not while I breath, traitor!" Reptile yells, lunging at the insect woman and tackling her to the ground. Kotal Khan steps to help when a sharp pain of electricity begins to tighten his entire body. He looks down to find the source, two wires connected to Stryker's gun. He rips them out, breathing heavily as he and the revenant circle each other.
"You dare challenge me?" He demands.
"Our king needs you dead," Stryker tells him, throwing a high kick in Kotal's direction. It's predictable and Kotal Khan manages to side step it before slamming his fist into the man's jaw. He grabs his uniform and hurls him across the room, his body slamming in between D'vorrah and an unconscious Reptile. D'vorrah hisses and lunges at him, but Kotal Khan has had many years observing her fighting style. He easily dodges every attack before slamming the top of his head into her face, satisfied with the green blood the spurts out of her nose. Her wing shoots out to stab him but he manages to grab it, twisting it before yanking her forward and kicking her chest.
"It seems your king forgot who he was trying to eliminate," He says, almost insulted that Liu Kang would even think Stryker and D'vorrah were enough for him. "You will die for your treachery, D'vorrah."
"This one will see tomorrow's light just yet!" She grunts, releasing another cloud of bugs. These are not as lethal, but succeed in making Kotal Khan stumble backwards long enough for D'vorrah to grab Stryker and fly out the window. Just then Erron Black and the palace guards bust in his chambers, two guards quickly running to Reptile's aid. Black is quickly by his side.
"Should I go after them?" He asks, loading his gun. Kotal Kahn stares out the window for a few moments before finally shaking his head.
"Keep this quiet," He says. If Raiden finds out that he was almost assassinated, it could boost his ego that the emperor was not at his strongest mentally. Better to act like nothing went wrong and focus on the tournament. "Just tend to Reptile and make sure double the guards are posted on the grounds."
"You got it, boss." Erron leads the guards out of his chamber, a few of them carrying Reptile. As his chambers go quiet, Kotal Khan continues to look out the window D'vorrah fled through. It seems like the assassination attempt was too easy...almost as if Stryker and D'vorrah were meant to fail after all.