Alright guys, here we are in the realm of Edenia where Shinnok's forces invade the peaceful realm to suit their evil needs. The events that follow are under the influence of one of my favorite Mortal Kombat fanfic authors, XiahouDun84. His story, Kitana: Redemption, was one of my main influences on creating this fic to begin with. If you've read his fic, then you will see certain aspects of this chapter that are connected to his fic. So in all fareness, XiahouDun84, this one's for you! Enjoy!
Chapter 14: Invasion
The realm of Edenia was a peaceful realm, enticed with lush vegetation and Greek-like structures. Being that the realm had only been recently restored to its original form, its defenses were weak. Princess Kitana had plans to strengthen Edenia's forces by forming a truce between the two Outworld races, the Shokans and the Centaurians.
Such a truce would have to wait, for an Edenian refugee sought an audience with the Royal Edenian Family. According to the refugee, Tanya, her father was once an ambassador of the Edenian people during Shao Kahn's rule over Outworld. Tanya came to Edenia on behalf of her father to bring in refugees from the realm of Chaos. Queen Sindel agreed to take in the refugees and to give them sanctuary.
Kitana sat in her seat next to her mother's throne. The throne room was massive and contained a portal used to travel the realms. Tanya stood in front of the portal and awaited the order to open the doorway to the realms. Queen Sindel gave Tanya permission and Tanya activated the giant device. Moments later, several men clad in black cloaks and hoods entered the throne room through the portal. To Kitana's horror, one of the men removed the hood from his head, revealing the pale face of Quan Chi.
Kitana immediately stood from her seat and shouted at Tanya. "What have you done?"
Tanya smirked at Kitana and said, "I'm truly sorry, my Lady. But I'm afraid business is business. Quan Chi and Lord Shinnok will decide your fate now."
Two more hooded figures revealed themselves to the Royal Edenian Family. It was Scorpion and General Reiko, clad in a maroon over mantle and spiked shoulder plates and wrist guards. He had jet black hair that matched in color of his tattoos over his eyes.
Kitana stared into the dead eyes of Scorpion astounded. "Scorpion," shouted Kitana. "Liu Kang told me what you did for the warriors of Earth Realm. Why do you betray us now?"
Scorpion could not look at Kitana. Guilt and disgust filled his undead soul. "I have no choice," was all he said before he gestured his men to attack. The hooded figures removed their cloaks and attacked the royal guards and attendants. General Reiko pursued Queen Sindel along with Quan Chi. Reiko was a silent fighter, but also a ruthless killer. He hacked away at any that stood in his path with his spiked club.
Scorpion's purpose in this invasion was to capture Princess Kitana. As Kitana ran towards Sindel to come to her aid, Scorpion leapt in front of her and stood in her path. She stopped dead in her tracks and drew out her two Razor Fans. Scorpion slowly drew out his Kunai and waited for Kitana to strike.
Kitana spent much of her years training to be Shao Kahn's greatest assassin, and being that she was over ten thousand years old she had learned much. Her movements involved the whole of her body, making her strikes much more effective. She quickly swung her fans at Scorpion in horizontal slices, but she was not fast enough to get through Scorpion's defenses. Scorpion parried her slices with his Kunai and countered with a roundhouse kick. To the Spectre's surprise, Kitana managed to duck under the kick and counter with a spinning foot sweep. She wasted no time in thrusting her fans into the chest of Scorpion before he had a chance to get up.
Blood oozed from the wounds, but Scorpion was able to shove Kitana off of him and spring to his feet. Kitana performed a back hand spring and stood in the fighter's stance of the martial art known as Ba Gua. Scorpion removed the fans from his chest and threw them elsewhere. Kitana charged Scorpion and leapt in the air, performing a move she called the Pretty Kick in which she alternated her legs with multiple mid air kicks. Scorpion sustained the damage from the kicks and staggered back a few steps as she landed on her feet. As Kitana ran towards the Spectre once more, Scorpion responded with his flaming back flip maneuver and connected his feet with Kitana's chin, knocking her down. Scorpion walked towards the princess but was overcome by a surprise foot sweep. With Scorpion on the ground once more, Kitana sprung to her feet and performed handsprings towards her fans and retrieved them.
Scorpion stood from the ground and charged Kitana head on. Suddenly, he was lifted in the air by sonic waves generated from Kitana's spinning fans. Kitana then performed one of her own trademark moves, in which she leapt high in the air and flew towards Scorpion with her fist extended outward. The punch connected with Scorpion's chest and sent him several feet back. Kitana finished the combo by throwing one of her fans at Scorpion before he landed on his back. The fan was thrown in a spinning motion and sliced Scorpion's chest numerous times before he finally landed hard on his back.
To Kitana's surprise, Scorpion quickly recovered from the attack and sprung himself up to his feet once more. Kitana charged at Scorpion with her fan drawn. Scorpion stopped her pursuit with a leg kick, followed by a spinning foot sweep. Though the sweep connected with her ankle, Kitana managed to recover from the attack by performing a cartwheel flip. She then executed a kicking combo that started from his legs to his chest and ended with his face. Scorpion blocked the final kick and performed a powerful right hook, one that Kitana wisely ducked under rather than trying to block it. She then sliced at Scorpion's shoulder with her fan and continued the combo with an uppercut to the Spectre's chin, followed by an elbow strike to the chest and a knee strike to the face. She ended the combo with a well placed spinning roundhouse kick and sent Scorpion spinning in the air.
Before Scorpion landed on the ground, he suddenly disappeared from sight. Kitana tried to focus on helping her mother, Sindel, but was overcome by the flying fist of Scorpion. The blow sent her to her knees but she quickly recovered to her feet. She tried to once again run towards her mother, who was being attacked by Reiko and Quan Chi, but Kitana was stopped by a wall of fire. She stopped in time to keep from getting burned from the flames, but she was sent to her knees once more by a kick to the back of her leg. Scorpion then grabbed her wrist and placed it on her back as he used his other arm to wrap it around her neck.
Kitana struggled to free herself from Scorpion's grasp, but it was no use. The Hellspawn Spectre's strength was too much for the Edenian Princess. She reached for her mother with her free hand and shouted her name, horrified by the sight of Sindel pounded unconscious by Reiko and Quan Chi while the Edenian guards were slaughtered by Tarkatan reinforcements.
"Forgive me, princess," whispered Scorpion as he reached for his Kunai. He then struck the back of Kitana's head with the hilt of his weapon, knocking her out instantly. Once her body went limp, he gently placed her on the floor and stood over her, making sure that none of her guards would try to rescue her.
Minutes later, the battle was over. Shinnok's forces were successful in claiming the Edenian palace as well as the Royal Family's capture. Princess Kitana and Queen Sindel were placed in the prison cells of the palace along with Kitana's good friend, Jade. With the palace under Shinnok's control, the fallen Elder God and Quan Chi gathered their generals to the throne room.
Scorpion took notice to the other generals, most of which he knew from his past experiences in the tournaments. Reptile was among them, along with Baraka of the Tarkatan Horde. Mileena, Kitana's twin 'sister' stood next to Tanya while Reiko stood next to someone Scorpion had never met, a Netherealm Wraith by the name of Noob Saibot. For some reason, Scorpion kept a lot of his attention on the Wraith. He could not find the reason why, but he felt as if he had known Noob Saibot before. He kept his suspicions to himself for the moment as Quan Chi spoke to the generals.
"You have done well, my generals," said Quan Chi. "With the realm of Edenia in our grasp, we will have the resources need to conquer any other realm that dares challenges us. Report to your posts and await Lord Shinnok's summons."
The generals followed their instructions accordingly. Scorpion, however, was hesitant in leaving. He was filled with shame over the actions he took. Though his vengeance was the essence of his being, he once again became the very thing he was set out to destroy. He was responsible for the deaths of many innocent people in Edenia. Scorpion left the throne room with his guilt ridden thoughts as Shinnok sat on the throne of Queen Sindel while Quan Chi took the throne of Kitana, pleased with their dishonorable campaign.
Poor Scorpion, forced to fullfill the dreaded tasks of Quan Chi. What will happen next? Will Scorpion come to his senses and forget his need for revenge and do the right thing? Or will he continue to serve the bidding of Quan Chi and destroy Earth Realm's greatest warriors? Time will tell ladies and gentlemen. See ya next chapter!