Chapter Sixteen
The next day, everyone gather into all the arenas on the island to watch more matches take place once again. After today, only three more days would follow before the end of the first of eight rounds in the tournament.
In the indoor arena, Xianghua stood where she was within the audience as she watched match after match for what seemed like a while. Today, she was scheduled for her match. Kilik and Maxi were going to fight today as well, but as of now, they were off at the courtyard where their matches would take place. She had hoped that they would show up to see her match, but as more time passed, she began to have the feeling that it wasn't going to happen. She felt disappointed, but she wasn't going to let that bother her. She had to focus on winning today.
Soon, the match that was currently going ended. I hope I'm up next, the Keisei native thought with a sigh.
Once the arena was completely cleared out, the Shadow Priest stood up and announced the next fighter. "Alora!"
A young, blonde haired woman stepped into the arena. She had a sword in her right hand and wore a laced blue battle dress. Xianghua admired the attire Alora wore, wondering why she would wear such a beautiful dress to a match.
Soon, Alora's opponent was announced. "Xianghua!"
Xianghua smiled a little bit as she stepped into the ring. At least she would make sure not to get the dress ruined.
Alora looked at Xianghua as she approached the middle of the ring. "That's such a nice outfit you're wearing. Where did you get it from?"
Xianghua was a bit surprised to hear that from Alora. After all, she was only wearing a simple outfit containing red slippers, maroon colored shorts, a matching qipao shirt with gold trims at the biceps as well as white flowers on the stomach area, and her only accessories were a pair of blue and red bracelets, one on each arm. However, she decided to answer back. "My home in Keisei. I love the dress that you're wearing."
Alora smiled a bit as she got into a fighting stance. "It's from my home in Lagol. Now, let's try not to ruin our clothes, shall we?"
Xianghua nodded and got into her own fighting stance.
"Begin!" the Shadow Priest called out. Both Xianghua and Alora stood there, the both of them wondering who was going to start up the match first.
After another brief moment, Xianghua decided to get moving. She ran over to her opponent and swung her sword at her. Immediately, Alora blocked with her own sword. The two then exchanged moves, both of them switching their offense and defense.
As they fought, Xianghua noticed that Alora barely moved her feet and slightly wondered why her opponent was doing such a thing. The young Keisei native stepped back a bit then, wondering if Alora would step forward to continue her attacks.
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck down just next to Xianghua. "AAH!" she cried out while jumping back. Immediately after, she looked over at Alora. Her sword had been raised in the air and small electric sparks surrounded the blade.
Xianghua's brown eyes widened a bit. "What the…" she started to say.
Alora grinned a bit. "Oh, you were wondering where that came from, right? Well, I guess I forgot to mention that my sword is also a magic wand."
"Oh really?" Xianghua said getting back into her fighting stance.
"Yes," Alora answered with a cheeky grin. "Being a sorceress has it's benefits."
Looks like I'll have to be prepared for anything, Xianghua thought with a quiet sigh. After the thought, the young woman ran towards her opponent again. She jabbed her sword at her, but Alora immediately blocked. Once again, the two exchanged moves, the sound of steel hitting against steal heard all around the arena.
As the fight continued on, Xianghua was able to hear a soft, feminine voice within her mind. Cut your path through an uncertain future…
Mother… Xianghua thought. She didn't know why the quote came to her now as she continued to fight. However, she was well aware that these were the last words her mother said to her before she passed away from illness ten years ago. Perhaps it was a sign that her mother was with her now and whether she lost today or not, she was proud of her daughter.
However, Xianghua wasn't about to lose, even if Alora was a powerful sorceress. Her only plan for now is to avoid her magical attacks and use all of her momentum until she was able to tire Alora out. As a matter of fact, the Keisei native began to wondered how long it actually would take before she was able to tire Alora out.
Alora took a step back then. She managed to push Xianghua's sword to the side with her own. Immediately, a light blue energy formed around the weapon. Alora quickly pointed the weapon down and a layer of ice formed under Xianghua's feet.
Xianghua was surprised to suddenly find her feet sliding from underneath her. Using the muscles in her legs, the young woman managed to stop herself from slipping any further. Then she wondered how she was going to get out of that situation when she noticed Alora beginning to thrust her sword towards her, aiming for her left shoulder.
Not wanting her own blood drawn from her body right now, Xianghua took a small step forward and let herself slip on the ice below her and she fell back into the ground. She used her elbows to keep the back of her head from smacking against the ground. Once Xianghua landed, pain quickly shot up and down through her small framed body.
"Owe!" she cried out. Xianghua looked up then just in time to see Alora bringing her sword down towards her. "Yipe!" she cried out quickly rolling out of the way. Alora ended up stabbing into the ice causing it to shatter into countless, sharp pieces.
Xianghua got herself on her feet, ignoring the increasing pain in her elbows. The light blue energy that surrounded Alora's sword quickly changed into a fiery red with a tint of orange. A smirk appeared on the sorceress' face.
Oh great, the Keisei woman thought not looking forward to what was now in store for her.
"It's has gotten a bit chilly in here," Alora said. "How about I warm the ring up, shall we?"
Alora thrust her sword in the air and small fireballs emerged out of the tip of the blade. They each flew towards the end of the ring and surrounded Alora and Xianghua one by once until it completed a circle of fire. The audience watching seemed quite impressed and they clapped in union after the task was completed.
It has suddenly grown hot and Xianghua felt a few beads of sweat on her forehead. She began to realize that the heat will get her tired sooner than she hoped. She quickly shook her head and prepared for Alora's next attack.
The fiery red aura continued to float around Alora's sword. She then brought it back a little bit, then shot it forward. A small ball of flames came out of the sword and began speeding it's way towards Xianghua. Xianghua thought all was good as she took a few steps to the side. However, as soon as she did that, the flames slightly turned and began heading back towards her again.
Uh oh, Xianghua thought. She realized that this was a trailing fire, one that won't stop following it's target until it makes contact. Xianghua began running and dodging around from the fire.
At one point, she was about a foot away from Alora, though she didn't realize it at that point. She faced the fire and when it was less than a foot away, Xianghua dodged away from it's path again. As the element attempted to turn, it ended up hitting Alora. Xianghua watched as Alora went flying a few feet across the ring as the flames dispersed.
Alora let out a shriek until she landed hard on the ground. Xianghua stood up, expecting her opponent to stand up once she recovered. Instead, Alora let out a few soft, painful moans before slipping into unconsciousness.
"Winner: Xianghua!" the Shadow Priest called out. People clapped in union again for her victory.
However, Xianghua was very disappointed with the match. To her, Alora had the match and it was inevitable that she was going to be the winner of the two. Instead, luck was behind the Keisei native, but Xianghua just couldn't help the feeling that weighed on her. She even noticed that parts of Alora's once-beautiful dressed not had burn marks on them. It made her a bit more sad, knowing the feeling of having your favorite outfit ruined.
As she quietly stepped out of the ring, she looked around at the audience. She sighed to herself, realizing that neither Kilik or Maxi managed to show up on time…
Beach Arena
"Sonya Blade!" the Shadow Priest called out.
Sonya immediately tightened her short, black fighting gloves and looked over at her friends. "Looks like I'm up," she said.
"Good luck Captain," said Guile.
"Kick whoever's butt you're going to kick!" said Ginzu with a grin.
Sonya nodded and began walking to the middle of the ring. The ground was all nothing but sand, which was a bit of a relief considering that the ground of the other arenas were a bit harder depending on the materials. As she walked through the sand, some of the particles were picked up by her black combat boots, slightly flying in the air before quickly falling back down to the ground.
She reached the middle and looked over at the Shadow Priest who stood in front of the large throne that was used for it's comfort during the matches that lasted through the day. It then called out her opponent. "LBJ!"'
What kind of name is that? Sonya thought raising an eyebrow. She then spotted a tall man in black tight pants and a black cowboy hat just taking off his jacket. Next to him, a midget man in a business suit took his jacket for him. "Go get 'em boss!" he said, his raspy, high-pitched voice ringing in Sonya's ears.
Only nodding, LBJ also gave the midget his hat, then stepped into the ring. He slightly looked up and down at his blonde opponent. "Hello little lady. Don't be thinking that just because you're a woman that I won't take it easy on you."
Sonya immediately got into her fighting stance, choosing to use her Tae Kwan Do fighting style. "Don't worry about it. I can handle much more than you think."
LBJ laughed at the comment and got into his fighting stance. "Good because I like a girl who can handle a lot." He winked at her then.
Sonya rolled her eyes in response. Great, I'm going to be fighting a pervert.
"Begin!" the Shadow Priest called out.
Neither combatants wasted no time after the call. They both sprinted towards each other and immediately delivered punches at each other. However, their forearms ended up connecting instead. Then, LBJ immediately used his other arm to throw another punch at Sonya, but she ended up blocking the move.
This continued like this with Sonya on defense and LBJ on offense. Sonya admitted to herself that her large opponent was pretty strong. Whenever he threw a punch, her own blocks were pushed back, always just a few millimeters away from her face. However, she had the feeling that he was rather all muscle and no brains, at least she hoped. She was going to have to use her own wits to win this match if she wanted to get into round two of the tournament.
Just behind LBJ, Sonya was able to hear the screeching sound of the midget cheering for his boss. By the blank look on his face, she figured that he must've grown used to the annoying voice at his point.
Suddenly, Sonya felt a kick to her stomach, the wind quickly knocked out of her. She cursed herself then because she had expected her opponent to throw only punches at her since that was what he had been doing since the round began. He then brought his elbow down and hit Sonya on the small of her back. She let out a short scream as she collapsed on her stomach and into the sand.
LBJ grinned sadistically then, having the satisfaction that he now had his opponent under this thumb. He began to believe then that he was indeed going to win this match. He began to lift his foot up, but then Sonya rolled a few feet away from him, realizing that she was vulnerable of his attacks. Once she was out of the way, she sat herself up.
The large man walked over to her them. He was about to kick her again when suddenly, Sonya performed an on-ground somersault. She then brought her hands out, placed then on the ground, and pushed the rest of her body up. The blond Lieutenant then used her long legs to wrap them around LBJ's neck. Finally, with all of her strength, she brought him forward and managed to flip him behind her, sending him flying a few feet.
As Sonya got back on her two feet, LBJ landed hard on his back letting out a small 'oof.' Once he realized that he didn't fall into unconsciousness, he growled to himself, then got himself back up. He turned around to see his female opponent staring back at him with her blue eyes, waiting for him to recover.
"Why you little-" he started to say. LBJ ended up not finishing his sentence and began running back towards Sonya with a small battle cry. Once he was close enough, Sonya stepped aside and let him pass. LBJ was a bit confused at first, but before he could turn around, Sonya kicked him in the back. LBJ stumbled a few feet forward, but managed to regain his balance without falling into the ground once again.
"Don't let her fool you boss!" the midget cried out from the sidelines.
LBJ growled a bit. "Could you shut up for once, Jones?!" he yelled out. And for the first time since the match began, Jones kept his mouth shut. LBJ then turned his attention back to Sonya. "You're going to pay for your foolishness!"
Sonya rolled her eyes again. "Oh please, you're the real fool in his fight."
That angered LBJ and he immediately ran over to his opponent. Sonya smirked and quickly put both of her hands out. Her hands glowed in a pink aura at first. Unfortunately for her opponent, he hadn't noticed right away, at least until a large, pink, ring-like energy projected out of her hands. Four more followed the first ring and they all shot out and hit their target.
Once again, LBJ was flown back from the force. This time, out of the ring. Sonya was a bit surprised at this, not realizing that they were that close to the edge of the ring. No matter, it meant that she won this match.
"Winner: Sonya!" the Shadow Priest called out. Everyone clapped as Sonya stepped out of the ring. As she did, she noticed Jones running over to LBJ, then began fanning him with the cowboy hat as LBJ laid on the ground in a daze.
"You're gonna be all right boss," the midget said.
"Just shut up," LBJ mumbled.
Sonya sighed, glad that it was over, and approached Guile. "Well, I won."
"Congratulations," Ginzu said with a thumb's up.
Guile patted Sonya's shoulder. "It was fun, but Ginzu and I should be getting back to the cave. There's some things that we needed to catch up on."
"All right," Sonya answered. "If you don't mind, I'm going to watch a match or two, then I'll catch up with you all."
"We'll see you then," Guile said. Then he and Ginzu made their way out of the ground. Once they were out of sight, Sonya faced the empty ring, prepared to watch the next match.
The Shadow Priest finally spoke then. "Li Mei!"
Sonya saw Li Mei step into the ring, obviously excited that she was finally called up. She sort of knew her as the girl who constantly talked in run-on sentences. She was also the girl who happened to bump into Alex and became a 'chosen one' in the tournament. Sonya became curious then, wondering what kind of fighting skills Li Mei possessed.
Li Mei's opponent was called out then. "Toxik!"
Immediately, a young woman stepped into the ring. Her hair was dyed pinkish-red, her lips covered with black lipstick. Her outfit consisted of a black tank top, a small hot pink vest, black short shorts, mid-thigh black boots, and a black golfer's hat with the rim pulled forward.
Toxik walked over to Li Mei. She managed to cover space between them and gave her a stare down, expecting Li Mei to do the same thing. Instead, Li Mei smiled. "Hi there, I really like your eyes," she said looked at her opponent's green eyes.
A small smirk crept up on Toxik's face and she slightly licked her lips. "I'm so going to have fun beating you up, little girl."
Then, just as the Shadow Priest called for the match to begin, Toxik managed to quickly turn Li Mei around and got her in a headlock. Li Mei was a bit surprised by this and struggled to get out of the hold. However, Toxik had a strong grip and getting out of it was going to be hard.
"Having fun now?" Toxik asked sadistically as Li Mei continued to struggle. "Because I know I am."
After a few more moments, Toxik finally released Li Mei from her grip, forcing the young woman to stumble a bit. Toxik then decided to give Li Mei some humiliation by giving her a quick spank. Whistling could be heard from the men watching the match.
Shock came over Li Mei before she turned to face her opponent. She then let out a growl. "That wasn't nice!" From there, Li Mei attempted to throw a punch.
However, Toxik suddenly moved sideways before she kicked the back of Li Mei's shin, sending the poor girl flying back with a small cry of surprise. Toxik then grabbed one of Li Mei's legs and got it in an ankle lock.
Shocking pain suddenly hit Li Mei and she began screaming for mercy as she struggled to get out of yet another submission lock. A sadistic grin came over Toxik as she received the satisfaction of inflicting her opponent with as much pain as possible.
"Give it up!" Toxik called out to her. "I'm going to win this!"
Li Mei stopped screaming then, suddenly filled with determination. "I don't think so!" she called back. She put one of her hands out in front of her. To Toxik's surprise, a ball of purple sparkling energy burst out of her hand. A trail of small lights fell from behind it, disappearing before it would hit the ground.
Toxik didn't have time to react and was hit by the projectile. With a surprise-like cry, Toxik flew a few feet back before landing in the sand. Once she did, the pink-haired woman rolled a few more feet before coming to a stop. By then, Li Mei was back up on her two feet, much more prepared to fight her opponent this time. Toxik too got back on her feet after a few moments of recovering.
"So," Toxik said with another grin. She reached to her side to a leather pouch that was on her hip. She grabbed a hit and pulled out a black paddle. "You want to play rough now?"
Not caring what was going to happen next, Li Mei sprinted over to her opponent. Once she was close enough, Toxik swung the paddle in hopes of hitting her opponent. To her surprise, Li Mei managed to dodge the attacks.
"I'll show you who's tough!" the young woman called out. She then jumped forward and managed to tackle Toxik to the ground. The both of them threw punches at one another and pulled at each other's hair a few times. In the meantime, they rolled around in hopes of dominating the other.
Then, to their surprise, they found themselves rolling out of the ring. "CRAP!" they cried out. When they landed, Toxik was on her back and Li Mei was on top of her with a single foot still in the ring.
Immediately, the Shadow Priest stood up. "The winner of this match is Li Mei. Both feet must be out of the ring for a ring-out to occur."
"WHAT?!" Toxik screamed out, a hint of rage shown in her voice. Li Mei quickly pulled herself off of her opponent and stood up.
"You heard him, I won," Li Mei said.
"I will not accept defeat, not by someone like you!" Toxik attempted to jump back into the ring to attack Li Mei. Luckily, the people near her saw this coming and immediately grabbed Toxik and pulled her back.
"LET ME GO!" the pink-haired woman demanded. However, no one listened. She was in too much anger and had to stay far from Li Mei.
Once everything was calm, Sonya stepped into the ring and jogged over to Li Mei. "You all right?"
To her surprise, Li Mei smiled. "Yeah, I had a good time, especially since I won."
"That's good to hear," Sonya continued with a sigh of relief. "Come on, let's go back to the cave, I'll make us some of Julia's tea."
"Great!" Li Mei cried out as the two of them made their way out of the beach arena. "Hey, aren't you from Earth because I've always wanted to visit and everything-"
Sonya had to shake her head in amusement as Li Mei continued her run-on sentences.
Courtyard
"Damn it!" Ashrah cried out. After receiving a kick to the back, the former demon of the Netherealm fell forward, cursing under her breath more for letting herself be open for an attack.
Ashrah looked over at her opponent who went by the name Zena. She was an android from the realm of Lagol as far as the former huntress figured. The metal on her was of black and green including what was supposed to be eyes. The only other thing that distinguished her from the other androids was her long blonde hair, which was pulled back in a high ponytail.
"Come on…" Ashrah mumbled as she managed to get back on her feet. She stood in her fighting stance, ready for more. It had only been two minutes since the fight began, but Ashrah had the feeling that this one was going to last a while. Zena wasn't exactly the fastest opponent, but she was definitely a strong one.
The two had a bit of a stare down from where they were, waiting for the other to make the next move. Finally, Ashrah decided to be the first to make a move and ran towards her. Once she reached her, the two exchanged a few punches and kicks until Ashrah managed to kick her in the abdomen, forcing the android to stumble back a bit. Because parts of her were made of metal, Ashrah's foot immediately began to throb, but she ignored it, not wanting it to take her attention away from the fight.
Once Zena was able to regain her balance, she immediately put an arm out, her hand sinking into a dark hole that formed at the wrist. Ashrah didn't know what to expect until a loud BOOM!was heard. The former demon narrowly dodge the missile that was fired at her. It flew out of the ring (forcing some of the audience to duck out of the way), and then exploded against a wall.
Ashrah ran over to Zena during that time. However, Zena was ready and attacked her with more rounds of punches and kicks with her opponent on defense.
The exchange went on for some time before Ashrah pulled back, her right hand covered in a glowing white light. She quickly pointed upward and a ball of light shot out into the air with glitter trailing behind it. The light flew up until it was directly above Zena, then quickly shot back down. However, Zena managed to see the attack and quickly dodged out of the way.
Ashrah figured that would happened and she had another light projectile ready to go. While Zena was still distracted, Ashrah shot the projectile straight at her and by the time Zena saw it coming, she was already hit. The light burst, causing everyone watching to briefly be temporary blind.
When the light cleared, Ashrah was a bit surprised to see that Zena was malfunctioning, electric sparks surrounding the rapidly shaking android. This last for a few moments until the shaking and electric sparks finally halt. The lights that were previously on Zena were now off and smoke fizzled from different places. Ashrah wondered if this counted as a death in the match, knowing full well that she would be disqualified from the tournament if that was the case.
The Shadow Priest running the matches in the courtyard stood up then. "As an android, Zena is capable of being fixed after malfunctions and does not count as a death in the match. Therefore, Ashrah gets the win."
Everyone clapped as Ashrah sighed of relief. Without any more acknowledgment, the former demon start to depart from the courtyard and out of the area.
Late that night, Underground Lair
The matches in all the other locations were long finished and only those in the Underground Lair were left for the night. Shao Kahn continued to watch these battles from his balcony in hopes of finding more recruits for his army. In the meantime, it was also the place to test the fighting skills of his current warriors.
The Emperor was now watching a match between his new recruit Quan Chi and a Earth druid by the name of Gar. He wore a red traditional male Japanese kimono, black slippers and bore short white hair and a full beard. He may have been an elder, but Shao Kahn was able to sense great power within the druid.
Quan Chi and Gar fought hand-to-hand for some time after Shang Tsung called the fight to begin. As it continued on, Shao Kahn was starting to grow a bit bored. It was starting to become another generic fight and the Emperor admitted to himself that he was ready to cut his throat out. However, it would soon turn out that the two combatants were merely saving their true potentials for later.
Gar pulled back from his opponent and lifted both of his arms up into the air. From mid-air, two swords appeared in his hands and once they were fully developed, Gar immediately attacked. However, Quan Chi was prepared and he quickly drew out his double broadswords. The two quickly exchanged moves before pulling back and getting into stances. Once then, the audience clapped in unison, impressed by their actions in the ring.
After a moment, they continued to exchange sword moves, the sounds of them hitting each other heard around the room. Then, to Quan Chi's surprise, Gar managed to put full force on his swords and managed to knock the sorcerer's weapons right out of his hands.
You fool, Quan Chi thought, narrowing his eyes at his opponent. While Gar pulled back from his last move, Quan Chi jumped up and performed a double kick to Gar's torso, forcing him to drop his weapons as well. Once they were released, both swords dispersed into thin air. They once again exchanged more hand-to-hand fighting, this time in a much faster pace.
After a while of this, Gar jumped back once again. He his hands in front of him and began spinning them over the other in a fast rhythm. He was able to collect energy from the environment around him with small, bright red lights appearing and drawing to his hands. A ball of red energy grew bigger and bigger around his hands and once he was ready, he shot the energy at his opponent.
Because of the time it took for the energy ball to develop, Quan Chi was able to find the time to dodge out of the way of the speeding projectile. As he did, green energy formed in his hands and once he was fully out of the way of Gar's projectile, Quan Chi shot out his own projectile.
Gar became horrified by the green projectile that was coming after him. It was in the shape of a grinning skull, it's black beady eyes glaring at him in such a sadistic way that it sent chills up the druid's spine.
Before he was able to get out of the way after the short daze, Gar was hit by the skull and the force pushed him back to the edge of the ring. The skull projectile had stung into Gar's body and tremendously weakened him. Normally, one would only lay there and take the pain, but because Gar was an elder, he fell into unconsciousness, much to Quan Chi's pleasure.
"Winner: Quan Chi!" Shang Tsung announced. The audience immediately applauded the sorcerer as he left the ring.
He's not as bad as I thought, Shao Kahn thought as Quan Chi disappeared into the crowd. The sorcerer wielded useful and unique powers, at least that's what it seemed during the match. It indeed was a good idea to recruit him into my army.
Soon the next two fighters were announced. First was an Edenia native by the name of Mars. He dressed in a green gi, walked barefooted, and his short, auburn hair was sleeked back neatly. Once he was in the ring, he threw a couple of punches and kicks in the air to warm up.
The next fighter was then announced. Shao Kahn mentally nodded in approval as one of his Generals of his army stepped into the ring. It was the very loyal General by the name of Reptile. He wore a traditional Chinese ninja outfit. It was mostly black with dark green and gold trimmings around his chest and mask area, the mask being in a bit of shreds Green scaly skin appeared in open parts of the mask revealing why he was called Reptile. His yellow eyes also glared at Mars.
Mars stared back at him as well. He felt a bit awkward by the fact that he would be fighting this creature. Then again, he has seen uglier fighters than him since the tournament began. Without keeping their eyes off of each other, the two got into their battle stances.
"Begin!" Shang Tsung called out.
Immediately, Reptile and Mars went after each other and exchanged punches and kicks at one another. For a while, they were quite even, but slowly, Reptile started to get the upper hand and soon he was in control of the fight.
Then, the Emperor's General stepped back, crouched to the ground, and quickly rolled over. Mars was caught in surprise and he fell forward. Once he was on the ground, Reptile was able to get up with quick speed. He walked over to his opponent and then rapidly stepped on his opponent with his foot. Mars growled in pain, trying to grab a hold of Reptile's leg, but it was no use. The only thing Mars could do was roll out of the way, which was what he did.
Mars laid on the ground for a moment before getting back up on his feet. He then turned around to face his opponent. Instead, he was met with something unexpected… a glob of green acid sprayed in the Edenian's face. Though he didn't see it, Reptile had taken his mask off, revealing more of his face, and spit acid from his mouth.
Mars screamed in agony as the acid burned his skin. He was also blinded by the acid and he wondered if he'll be permanently be like this for the rest of his life. Because of it, he decided to forfeit the fight, knowing that he couldn't fight any longer in this condition.
However, Reptile decided that for him. With a quick kick, Reptile managed to kick Mars, forcing him to stumble out of the ring. Immediately his allies rushed over to him, helped him up, and quickly got out of the lair with Mars still screaming from the burns.
Shang Tsung smirked with amusement as he stood up. "Winner: Reptile!"
Reptile placed his mask back over his head, giving him the human-like look once again. The audience wasn't sure whether to applaud or not after the incident with Mars. Soon, they all started to slowly clap in union.
Shao Kahn smirked to himself as his General left the ring with satisfaction. Good. It would seem as though everything is going well so far in this tournament…