CHAPTER 4: RAIMUNDO PEDROSA

Samurai Jack, Walter Wolf, and a number of the other Kombatants awaited the return of Barnyard Dawg and Steelbeak. Appearing from the flames was Barnyard Dawg—alone, by himself, his mask now replaced over his skeletal head—holding out the charred skull and spine of Steelbeak for all to see.

Amongst all who were present, Walter smirked with evil satisfaction, Samurai Jack looked troubled, Hannibal was angered, and Raimundo stared at the skull in disbelief.

Ron, now only wearing his black and blue pants and gold surname buckle with his first name (fake) tattooed to his chest, winced. "Ouch."

(ENTER SLOW MOTION)

Barnyard Dawg dropped his enemy's skull, and once it hit the floor, Steelbeak's skull and spine crumbled to dust, his metal beak being the only thing intact.

(EXIT SLOW MOTION)

Distraught, Barnyard Dawg yelled as flames surrounded him before he disappeared back to the NetherRealm.

As Walter and the other Kombatants took their leave, only Samurai Jack and Raimundo Pedrosa stayed behind, both of them walking over to and looking down at the remains of Steelbeak's crumbled skull.

"Despite my efforts," said the Thunder God, "my vision has come to pass. An unfortunate end—he once defended Earthrealm from the NetherRealm armies of Pitch and Freak-Show."

While he and Samurai Jack were still looking down, Raimundo glared at the thought of the Shirai Ryu ninja responsible for his colleague's death before declaring, "Barnyard Dawg will pay for his crime!"

Samurai Jack, now that he and the Lin Kuei assassin were eye-to-eye with each other, articulated, "Steelbeak's fate is his own doing."

"His own doing!?" angrily inquired Raimundo.

"The Lin Kuei have a history of making ruinous choices. . . ."

Raimundo irately turned around and started walking away, dismissing the Thunder God's statement on the Lin Kuei.

"Such as the Cyber Initiative!" pointed out Samurai Jack (but didn't yell it out).

Stopping cold in his tracks, Raimundo stood in place for a moment before turning around to face the Thunder God, now more infuriated as he thought about the Cyber Initiative. ". . . I am among those who speak out against the Grand Master's plan. Surgically transform the Lin Kuei into . . . glorified robots? It kills our intuition, our instincts."

"Did you speak out against the Lin Kuei's participation in the tournament?"

The yellow-and-black-clad warrior looked humbled when Samurai Jack pointed that out. "We were invited by Walter Wolf."

Folding his arms across his chest, it was now the Thunder God's turn to glower at Raimundo. "He pays you to kill Earthrealm warriors. Betraying your own Realm?" Samurai Jack shook his head in disappointment. "I expect better, even from an assassin."

Raimundo scowled back. "My loyalty is to the Grand Master." Turning around, the Lin Kuei warrior headed out of Walter's palace again.

But he stopped as Samurai Jack responded, "Victory for Walter means the end of Earthrealm. And the Lin Kuei."

Raimundo stood motionless as he let that last part sink in, but after a few seconds, he walked off and out of Walter's palace.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Dag was listening in on their conversation. Watching Raimundo walk off to complete his assignment from the Lin Kuei, the Tarkatan general quietly let out an eerie, gargling snarl before walking away elsewhere.

As Raimundo was walking across the pit that Ron, Kim, and Yosemite Sam had their skirmish from last night, the Lin Kuei warrior stopped, for he felt a presence behind him. Turning around, he stared at Dag and female Shokan warrior Ms. Mucus walking towards him.

"What are you doing?" asked Raimundo to both of Aku's servants. "I'm not here to fight you. I'm assigned to kill Ron Stoppable."

While she and Dag still walked over to the assassin, Ms. Mucus snorted. "Walter no longer has need of you."

"What do you mean?"

Motioning Dag to stop for a moment with either right hand, Ms. Mucus continued walking a bit closer to the assassin before getting into a fighting stance. "He is terminating your agreement. And you!"

After several minutes of fighting and blocking punches, not to mention one account of narrowly dodging Ms. Mucus' jump stomp, Raimundo unleashed his energy net from his armband. As the four-armed warrior struggled in the net, the Lin Kuei assassin took out one of his bombs and pounded her head down between her shoulders two times before smashing the glass orb against her, the explosion propelling her up in the air and forward before she landed on her backside. As her head popped out from between her shoulders, she had a dazed, dumb-looking smirk on her face with her tongue lolled out and a crooked tusk before a welt grew out from under her wig.

After Ms. Mucus fell back unconsciously, Raimundo looked down at her. "I need to have a talk with your master."

"Rawr!" barked Dag as he ran towards the Lin Kuei assassin, ready to use his blades for purposes that need naught be mentioned. "This fight is not over!"

Raimundo had a shrewd half-smile on his face and a raised eyebrow with a brief chuckle in his voice. "You mean to finish me? You couldn't even stop the actor."

With his buzz saw, Raimundo blocked Dag's blades for a minute before shoving him away. Infuriated, Aku's general charged at the warrior; the latter dropped one of his bombs and teleported in the nick of time as Dag swung his blade at Raimundo. With blind fury, Dag's eyes darted left to right, wondering where the warrior went, unaware that the Lin Kuei assassin was behind him; also unbeknownst to the Tarkatan general was that Raimundo's bomb was between his feet before it was too late as it exploded and propelled him upward. Taking out another bomb, Raimundo waited for Dag to come down before swinging his arm around and sending the Tarkatan back up in the air before jumping up, kicking the general in the back, and sending him head first into the ground.

Bounding back on his feet, Raimundo chuckled before folding his arms across his chest and smiling down slyly at an incapacitated Dag. "Now the fight is over."

After a brief moment, Raimundo frowned, thinking deeply before articulating to himself. "Walter has turned on me. I need to find out why."

Pushing the gates open that led to Walter's outdoor arena, Raimundo entered and saw Hannibal Roy Bean and Walter conversing before the yellow-and-black-clad warrior turned his gaze over to Samurai Jack, the Thunder God giving a single nod to him.

Getting the message, Raimundo walked up to the two villains. "Hannibal," he interrupted, "we need to talk. Our host tried to have me killed."

Walter glared at the yellow-and-black-clad assassin, but spoke coolly. "You were speaking with the Thunder God. Your indiscretion has jeopardized my plan."

"Raimundo is Lin Kuei—" assured Hannibal to Walter—"he will complete his task."

"We shall see." Walter turned around and focused on the other Kombatants. "The next match will be Raimundo Pedrosa versus Ron Stoppable!"

Standing next to Kim and Boog, Ron pointed at himself. "What, me?" The actor then shrugged his shoulders before smirking. "All right."

With Raimundo already standing in his spot, and Walter floating on his green disk-like cloud back to his chair, the cocky actor walked up to face his opponent. "Not everyone gets to rumble with a celebrity."

Overhearing Ron, a frowning Raimundo shifted his eyes to the readers and raised an eyebrow, silently asking the readers if they were taking the actor serious at all.

"Ready for your beat-down, sunshine?" Ron taunted, to which a silently-fuming Raimundo didn't respond at all—just stood in place in stone-cold seriousness, his glare just as icy. Nonetheless, it never bothered the cocky actor at all as he swung around his arm, his hand clenched into a fist. "Here it comes!"

Just as soon as Ron stopped talking, though, Raimundo threw a bomb right at the actor's feet and exploded, sending a screaming freaked-out Ron up into the air.

As the scene paused, Ron lifted up his shades and asked the readers, "How the heck did I get into such a predicament!?"

As the scene continued playing, Ron fell back to earth face-first. The actor slowly picked himself up, clutching his head, before Raimundo teleported himself closer to the former and spun around low, knocking him off his feet and onto his back.

"That should pipe you down!" declared Raimundo before grabbing Ron by the throat and picking him up.

"Finish him!" shouted Walter as Raimundo reared a fist back, ready to give the gagging actor the final blow. However, the yellow-and-black-clad assassin paused, his gaze moving towards Samurai Jack, who shook his head.

Getting the message, Raimundo declared, "I won't kill him!" Letting go of the actor's neck and setting him back down on his feet, the warrior walked out of the arena. An infuriated Walter grinded his teeth as his face viciously turned an ominous shade of red, while the Thunder God nodded his head. With Samurai Jack and Ron conversing to themselves from behind him, a scowling Hannibal watched Raimundo take his leave.

"You were commanded to kill Ron Stoppable. You disobeyed." Hannibal and Raimundo were in the courtyard, arguing over the yellow-and-black-clad warrior's actions from earlier.

"I eliminated him from the tournament—" reasoned Raimundo—"he didn't need to die."

But the red-and-black-clad Lin Kuei assassin wasn't a bit persuaded. "You have broken your oath."

"I used my judgment."

"The Cyber Initiative will eliminate insubordination."

"We're not machines, Hannibal!" snapped Raimundo. "I chose to serve the Lin Kuei, but I will not surrender my free will!"

Hannibal was the first to attack as he had fired off a missile, but Raimundo managed to dodge in time by teleporting behind the Grand Master's son and delivering the same blow he performed on Ms. Mucus from earlier (although Hannibal's head didn't get hammered between his shoulders). However, that wasn't enough to stop the red-and-black-clad assassin as he teleported as well. Knowing Hannibal's sneak attacks, Raimundo anticipated that the Grand Master's son would deliver a punch as he emerged from the ground. After teleporting away from Hannibal, Raimundo threw a bomb at him and sent the Grand Master's son flying for only a moment before Raimundo unleashed an energy net, snaring Hannibal before the yellow-and-black-clad assassin performed the same finishing move he established on Dag, finally rendering his enemy unable to fight.

Raimundo watched as the Grand Master's son picked himself up halfway before saying, "Tell the Grand Master I am finished."

Hannibal looked up and glared at the warrior. "No one leaves the Lin Kuei."

Raimundo then kicked the red-and-black-clad assassin in the face, knocking him out, before leaving the courtyard.

As nighttime fell, Raimundo Pedrosa was miles away from Walter's palace, planning on what to do with his life outside the Lin Kuei, not to mention how to escape them, for what Hannibal Roy Bean told him was true: no one would leave the Lin Kuei without being terminated by their former brethren. The yellow-and-black-clad warrior knew very well that his former Lin Kuei brethren would hunt him down and kill him, so that meant he would need to seek refuge, a sanctuary to hide away from them.

But his train of thought was interrupted as five gray-colored Cyborgs, led by a single red Cyborg, appeared out of thin air and surrounded him. "The Cyber Initiative. . . . Hannibal?"

"Yes, Raimundo," said the red Cyborg in a half-robotic-sounding voice, "it is me, Hannibal. The Lin Kuei has undergone the Cyber Initiative. Now it's your turn."

"No!" shouted Raimundo before the yellow-and-black-clad warrior crouched into his fighting stance. "I will not give up my humanity and free will! Not now, not ever!"

Raimundo fought back the five gray Cyborgs as Hannibal watched from the background. Even though he had put up a good fight, Raimundo was no match for such adversaries for they didn't back down and soon overpowered him. Two of the lackey Cyborgs held the struggling warrior by the arms, the latter still not wanting to give up.

Hannibal came over and delivered a punch to Raimundo's face before speaking, "There's no use in resisting, Raimundo. You never stood a chance against us." The Grand Master's son then threw in another punch on his enemy.

A trickle of blood running from either side of his mouth and either eye now blackened with a bruise, Raimundo craned his neck upward and scowled. "Kill me, why don't you, Hannibal! I would rather die as a human than live as a Cyborg!"

"As much as I would like to arrange it," said Hannibal, "my father and I see you as a benefit to the Lin Kuei, once you've undergone the Cyber Initiative."

"Never."

"You have no choice, Raimundo Pedrosa."

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" shouted Raimundo as he, Hannibal, and the latter's minions teleported off of the island.

So, what do you think of the last part of the chapter I made up? I thought that it would, in a sense, explain what might have happened to Cyrax in the original MK9 storyline and do him justice as far as his alignment to the MK heroes would be concerned. But aside from that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter—for there's still more to come.