Chapter Thirty-Two

Once again, the morning sun rose over the mountains of Outworld, bringing in the first source of light for the day. The participants of The Blood Tournament were beginning to wake up to start off their day with whatever they were planning to do.

In the cave, Ryu had just sat up on his bed only a few minutes after he woke up. He stretched his arms out before getting himself out of bed and began getting ready for his day.

Normally, he would be training himself once he was ready. However, he would change his routine today. This was because, last night, he and Julia made plans to spend the day together. They planed to do some meditating before lunch. Then, as Julia suggested, they would take a walk through the forest since Julia hasn't had the chance to see the area since they arrived here.

As he began getting into his day clothes, he thought about his deceased master Gouken and his murderer Akuma. It has been some time since he thought about the two. When he received the invitation to the tournament, he had hoped that Akuma would be there. Though he has constantly sensed a dark presence lurking around during meditation, Ryu wasn't about to immediately conclude that the dark presence is Akuma himself. The dark presence could've been from anyone in the tournament.

Besides, for all he knew, Akuma was mostly likely not here at all.

Just as he finished getting his red headband on, Ryu snapped out of his thought when he heard a female voice call out, "Knock knock!"

Ryu turned his head towards the closed curtains. "Come in."

The curtain was pulled aside and Mika walked in. "Good morning Ryu, how are you today?"

"I'm all right," Ryu replied. "I just woke up not that long ago."

"Same here. If I remember correctly, Rose mentioned that no one in the cave has a match today. So I'm expecting more people than usual to stick around the cave grounds. By the way, I won my match yesterday."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you," Mika smiled. "Did you have your match yet?"

"I'm scheduled for my match tomorrow afternoon at the Indoor Arena."

"Cool, I'll be there!" Mika then paused for a moment before proceeding. "Say, I'm not doing anything at the moment. Why don't we go to the palace for lunch, then train for a bit afterward."

Ryu smirked a bit. "I look forward to it."

Mika smiled more. "Great. I'll see you at the main palace at noon. See you then."

She then left the room. However, not even a second passed when the curtain was pulled aside again. This time, Ken walked in the room with what was probably the hugest grin Ryu had ever seen.

Ryu sighed a bit, suspicious of his friend's grin. "What now?" he asked.

"It's funny," Ken said. "Back in high school, I used to always accidentally schedule two dates with girls at the same time. I didn't think you'd be the kind to do the same thing."

Ryu raised an eyebrow. "What do you-"

It suddenly hit the Japanese fighter like a brick hitting him upside the head. He placed a hand over his face in embarrassment. "Oh great… I made plans with Julia last night and now I just made plans for Mika for the same time!"

Ken patted his best friend on the shoulder. "Just relax. Like I said, I've been in these situations in high school plenty of times. I happen to have just the perfect plan so that you can spend time with both girls."

Ryu glared at the blond man. He had the feeling that it was not going to be good. However, he didn't want to hurt either girl's feelings.

"I'm afraid to know… however, I'm willing to go along with it, for now."

"Great!" Ken exclaimed. "So here's what we'll do…"

Main Palace Grounds

"It's been a while since we had breakfast here," said Lita as she and Cammy reached the palace grounds.

"That's because we sleep in a lot," Cammy reminded her friend as she rubbed her eyes. "Much to my dismay…"

Lita couldn't help but grin. "Ooooh that's right," she said sarcastically. "Is that why Wolfman and Guile keep bragging about it everyday?"

Cammy laughed a little at her friend's sarcasm. She then looked around the area for a moment. There weren't that many people around, most likely because the tournament was going on at the moment and most of the people were either watching or participating.

She then turned back to Lita. "So why did you wake me up just to have breakfast?"

Lita shrugged. "Well it's because I couldn't sleep this morning, and then my stomach began to growl. Since we didn't have much food left in the cave, I figured you and I might as well come here."

Cammy yawned during that. Once her mouth closed, she rubbed her eyes again. "Well this is going to be the last time I do this. I'm the worst at getting up early and-"

However, Lita didn't hear the rest of what Cammy said. It was during that moment that she recognized Jin Kazama not too far from them. She hadn't really seem him since she and Cammy went to the hot springs a while back and Lita made fun of her about him. He was standing by a fountain and was looking up at the statue above the water as though he was admiring it.

Lita then realized that she and Cammy were just about to pass him…and an idea came to her.

Cammy was still talking when they were just beginning to pass Jin. At that second, Lita stepped to her left and bumped right into Cammy.

"Oops!" Lita called out.

Cammy suddenly found herself stumbling sideways and before she knew it, unknown to her during that moment, she slammed right into Jin. Jin was caught by surprise himself. He was busy looking at the statue and never saw Cammy coming. Instinctively, he held on to her arms as the two stumbled back a few feet before finally coming to a halt.

"I, I'm so sorry, I-" Cammy began to say. She stopped talking then when she looked up and recognized Jin, who had a surprised look on his face as he looked at her. At that moment, Cammy suddenly found her face burning hot… again.

First I accidentally saw him naked, now this!Cammy thought frantically.

She was so going to kill Lita once this was over.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment. During that time, Cammy took a step back, realizing that they were close to hugging each other. Jin placed his arms on either side of him once she did that.

It was then that Jin spoke. "So, um… we've been seeing each other a lot lately."

Cammy couldn't help but smile at the remark then. She only heard him say one word since the tournament began and this was the first time she was truly hearing his voice. He had a light Japanese accent as he spoke, one which Cammy seemed to like already.

"Yes we have been," the Delta Red member replied. She then decided to start a real conversation. "So how has the tournament been treating you?"

"Well," Jin answered. "I just won this round yesterday."

"Congratulations. Unfortunately, I just lost this round."

"Sorry to hear that. But what really matters is that you did your best."

Cammy nodded. "Yes, that's true." She then looked up at him. "Say, did you have breakfast yet?"

Jin shook his head. "No, I just arrived here."

"Great because I just arrived here too. You don't mind sitting with me, do you?"

Jin smirked a little. "I don't mind at all."

Jin and Cammy soon began their walk towards the palace. As they did, Cammy spoke again. "I'll admit… if the food here wasn't free, I'd pay the tab."

Jin smirked more. "That's very kind of you. And if that was the case, I'd say no and I would pay the tab instead."

Cammy laughed at the comment.

During this, Lita watched the two of them head off from a bench next to the fountain. A smirk came over her face. It would seem that Cammy had forgotten about her. However, just for this (and the fact that she instigated this meeting in the first place), she didn't mind at all.

Forest Area

Not too far from the cave, Kenshi and Alex walked through the forest area. Their plan for that morning was a sparring session. Both had made it to the next round of the tournament and Kenshi wanted to take the time to do some training.

Alex couldn't sleep this morning and when she saw her friend beginning to head out, she had asked him if he wanted to spar with her. Though Kenshi prefers to train alone, he decided that sparring wouldn't hurt this time around.

"I normally train not too far from the hot springs," Kenshi mentioned to her. "Not too many people go to that area, so no one will bother us."

"That's good to know," Alex replied. "And besides, I get the feeling that you're going to kick me to the ground a lot during this sparring session."

Kenshi couldn't help but smirk a bit. As cocky as it seemed, he knew she was, well... correct. "And what makes you think that?" he asked anyway.

Alex eyed him. "Don't play innocent with me. I bet you've been training since before you were able to walk. Me, I knew nothing about combat until I joined the military and that was after college. And the only weapons I know how to use are guns. Oh, and I'm not telekinetic or have any other 'special' powers. So… that's why I know you'll kick me to the ground."

"Well… I won't use my katana against you if you don't want me to."

Even though Kenshi couldn't see it, Alex spat her tongue out at him anyway. "Very funny. Well, the bright side of this sparring session is that this is not a real match."

A thought came to Alex then and she decided to change the subject. "So I wonder," she began. "You mentioned that you've been traveling about since you were fifteen, roaming mostly Japan to challenge the greatest swordsmen. What made you join Special Forces of all things?"

Kenshi frowned a bit. Indeed he had his reason, one which he never revealed to anyone, even after all these years. However, he didn't want to reveal his reason to join Special Forces, not just yet.

"It's a long story," the swordsman replied after a while. "Perhaps we'll talk about it another time."

Alex was a little disappointed by that answer, but nevertheless, she respected his wishes. "All right."

It was at that moment that Kenshi suddenly stopped in his tracks. He put his arm out in front of Alex in order to get her to stop walking as well. She stopped just a few inches from his arm, then looked at him in confusion.

"What's up?" she asked.

Kenshi drew his katana from it's scabbard behind his back. "I sense something strange… just stay where you are."

"No problem," Alex said as she took out her gun from its holster.

Keeping his sword in front of him, Kenshi took a few slow steps forward. The only sound that was heard was the cracking leaves that Kenshi stepped on. Alex stood there quietly as she wondered what exactly he sensed.

Kenshi took a few more steps when a figure suddenly popped out from behind a tree. The sudden movement made Alex jump back a bit in surprise.

The figure immediately shot out a green orb-like projectile at Kenshi, who immediately swung his sword at the projectile, making it flying in another direction. The projectile eventually hit a tree.

Alex looked at the attacker and immediately recognized the black and orange outfit the person wore. It was the man who had helped her when he knocked Tanya out unconscious a while ago.

"Wait!" she called out trying to get both Kenshi and the man's attention.

However, neither one of them heard her. Both of them quickly put their hand out. Kenshi's hand glowed a light blue as the man's hand glowed green. It would seem that they both possessed telekinetic powers… because then the both of them found themselves flying back as they both were hit by each other's invisible attacks. Both flew a few feet back before hitting a tree.

Alex took the opportunity to intervene at that moment. She immediately ran over to Kenshi, who was just beginning to get himself back on his feet.

"Stop!" she demanded. "This is the man who helped me a while back when I was attacked. Sonya and I told you about it at the last group meeting we had."

The man had got back on his feet himself. He was ready for perform another attack when he recognized Alex and immediately stopped himself.

"Why did you attack?" Kenshi asked him.

The person spoke as though he had multiple voices. "We… we're after another enemy and we had thought that you were the one we were hunting."

Alex looked around a bit. The man had said 'we' but it seemed that he was the only one around.

Kenshi had noticed the same thing. "Why do you say 'we' when you are the only one here?"

"We are Ermac," he answered. "We are an entity composed of thousands of souls fused to what we are now."

Ermac turned his attention to Alex as he proceeded. "When you were attacked by Tanya, we were originally working with her. As a matter of fact, we work for Shao Kahn. However, we no longer wish to serve him. We once believed in him, believed in his plans. However, with Chishio No Me in his hands, we no longer trust him. We do not know what he plans, but we know that it won't be good. He's been good about keeping the initial plan under wraps."

"Come with us then," Alex suggested. "We're not too-"

"Hold on a minute," Kenshi quickly said, cutting her off. "How do I know that you won't just betray us?"

"If we wanted to betray you," Ermac answered. "We would've never told you that we were working with Shao Kahn, would we?"

Kenshi sighed a bit. It made sense because if he did want to betray them in any way, why would he suddenly mention the Emperor?

"However," Ermac continued. "We are bound to Shao Kahn. As long as Shang Tsung is alive, we are bound to the Emperor until then."

Shang Tsung… the name immediately caught Kenshi's attention. "You want us to kill him?"

"More like defeating him in a fight. However, if you so desire to kill the sorcerer, then be our guest."

Kenshi's grip on the hilt of the katana tightened. "I'd be honored to slay him."

Alex looked at her friend afterward. She had noticed that, at first, he didn't seem much interested in Ermac. However, upon hearing Shang Tsung's name, the swordsman acted as though his previous suspicion didn't happen.

There was something going on and she had the feeling that whatever it was, he wasn't going to mention anything about it.

Main Palace

It was about one o'clock in the after when Ryu and Mika were leaving the main palace and began heading back towards the forest ahead of them. Thanks to Ken, Ryu was able to work things out. Since Mika wanted to meet for lunch, he decided that it was best to meet up with Julia at four o'clock. This way, he would get four hours with Mika and it was just enough time to eat and train.

Neither girl knew about it either.

"That was a good lunch," said Mika. "They served some great sandwiches today."

"They sure did," Ryu replied as he patted his full stomach.

Mika smiled as she saw him do this. She admitted to herself that they definitely had quite an appetite. Both had lost count of how many sandwiches they had before they got full.

"So," Mika continued. "For our training session today, I want to use the tire again. It's great for warning up. Have you ever tried it?"

Ryu rubbed the back of his neck. "Not really…"

"It's fun. You should give it a try. You're in great shape so I'm sure running with a heavy tire tied to you would be nothing."

"We'll see about that."

"Then after that," Mika proceeded. "We'll do some stretches. Then after that, we'll do the real training session. That definitely sounds like great training, don't you think?"

"Um, sure," Ryu replied, unsure about it. He didn't mind hard physical training… heck training and fighting was his life. However, he wasn't sure if training with a tire was exactly something he wanted to do. He never used any equipment to train.

Might as well give it a try, he thought.

Unknown to either of them, Julia Chang had spotted the both of them about twenty feet away. She was on her way to have lunch when she noticed them and stopped in her tracks. For a moment, she thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her and she even adjusted her glasses just to make sure.

Julia saw the big smile on Mika's face as she and Ryu talked to each other. Ryu talked to her as though he was talking to any other person. Even so, she couldn't help but feel just a little bit jealous.

No, she wasn't jealous of Mika. She was jealous by the fact that Ryu had postponed their plans for this. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad… had he told her that he was hanging out with Mika.

Julia then noticed that the two of them were getting closer to where she was standing. Not wanting to be notice, Julia stepped away and out of sight.

Beach Area, Not Far From The Cave

It was now mid-afternoon as Yang headed towards the beach area. He had just finished helping his sister Yin with cleaning the dishes and his hands became dirty in the process. Being that the water at the beach area was the only source of water they had (not counting the hot springs which, obviously, was meant for taking baths), this was where they went to clean their hands.

It was a five minute walk to there and Yang felt like it was taking longer than that. Eventually though, he reached the area, much to his relief. He then saw a figure on their knees right in front of the water.

Yang recognized the thick blond hair and realized that it was Maki, who was cleaning her own hands as well. The young man felt his heart flutter a bit upon seeing her. His crush on her was still there. They've hung out since arriving here in Outworld, but they never actual had any alone time since either Maki was with her friends or Yang was with his own friends or siblings.

Yang came over to Maki and got on his knees. Maki heard him rustle about and turned her head to him. "Hey Yang," she said with a warm smile.

"Hey Maki," Yang replied. "Some tournament this has been, huh?"

"Yeah," Maki shrugged. "Ever since I lost, the only time I've been going there was when I was cheering on for anyone I knew. Other than that and hanging out with the girls, things have been a bit dull around here." Though she didn't mention it, she had been feeling down ever since Ibuki's death. She didn't want to mention it to Yang because she didn't want to break into tears.

"You're telling me," Yang replied. "Since I lost, aside from the different environment, things seem more like at home. Yin and Yun keep bickering at each other and they always want me to take one of their sides."

Maki laughed a little. "That's family for you."

"I'll admit… since Yin lost the tournament, I feel a bit better about losing now. Not that I didn't want Yin to go far or anything. It's strange when your little sister, who used to be such a shy, quiet person, suddenly becomes such a great fighter that you wonder if you've trained enough."

Maki wasn't sure how to comment on it. She figured that there seemed to be a bit of competition amongst the Lee siblings, the three of them competing to see who was the better fighter.

"Well," Maki finally said after a brief pause. "Since we both lost the tournament, it looks like we're in for the long haul."

Yang laughed. "That's true. We're still in round three too. If I remember correctly, this thing is going to round eight so it's definitely going to be a while."

"Let's enjoy it while it lasts."

Maki and Yang found themselves looking at each other when Maki spoke. Yang didn't know what made him do it, but before he realized it, he found himself claiming Maki's lips with his own. Though Maki was caught by surprise, Yang was even more surprised that he made this move. Thoughts rushed through his mind. Does she see him the way he does? If not, would this jeopardize their friendship?

Not long after these thoughts, his fears were put aside when Maki leaned herself closer to Yang and wrapped her arms around him, letting herself sink deeper into the kiss. Feeling more relaxed, Yang wrapped his arms around her as well.

They stayed like this for some time before Maki pulled away and a smile spread across her face. Yang opened his eyes to see this and he too smiled.

Maki couldn't help but giggle a little like a child. "If I knew you liked me to begin with, I would've kissed you sooner."

Yang laughed a little too as he got himself to his feet. "Come on, let's get back to the cave. We'll go to the palace for dinner in a couple of hours if you like."

He put his hand out and Maki took it, pulling herself up to her own feet. "That'll be great," she said.

Still holding hands, the two began walking back towards the cave.

Campfire

"Well it was nice meeting you," said Wagner as he looked at the new recruit Raven. "Too bad we didn't meet yesterday evening."

Raven nodded at the younger man. "Nice meeting you too," he said. He then got himself up and walked away. Once he did, Sonya scooted herself over to where Raven was previously sitting.

Sonya had just introduced Wagner to Raven. Unfortunately for Wagner, he came down with nausea yesterday evening most likely from the fish he ate at the palace. Because of that, he had missed the group meeting that was conducted in the forest, where they were introduced to Raven. Their situations were explained and Raven agreed to stay in the cave with them for the remainder of his stay. Raiden and Rose believed he had a pure heart and soul and so became the newest chosen one.

"He seems like the workaholic type," Wagner mentioned as he placed some twigs in the burning fire. He then grinned at her mischievously. "Sounds like the perfect guy for you Sonya."

Sonya playfully nudged him with her elbow. "Ha ha, very funny. Have you been eying any girls around here lately?"

"Not really. I just got out of a relationship a month before coming here. As much as we care about each other, we realized that a love relationship wasn't for us. We're still friends, just like we were before."

"I see," Sonya said, tucking her shoulder length blond hair behind her ear. "So hey, how's your search going?"

Wagner sighed as he thought about his sister Lisa. Though he had been keeping his eyes out everywhere he went, he found no sign of her.

"Not so great," the young man replied. "Especially since I don't have any leads. We don't even know if any former Shadaloo soldiers are even here. Honestly though, I've been keeping my eye out, but I'm not really sure where to really begin."

"Have you been checking the main palace?" Sonya asked.

"With so many people there, definitely. However, I look there everyday and find nothing."

"With no leads for you as of now, just continue keeping a sharp eye out," Sonya suggested. "There's still plenty of time before the tournament's over."

Wagner nodded. "I know. Then again, for all I know, she may not even be here at all. If she is, she'd obviously be with a former Shadaloo soldier." He then proceeded to crack his knuckles. "When I find them, the first thing I'm going to do it break the guy's neck."

Sonya said nothing as she stared into the campfire. She'd seen many of her comrades seek revenge for any reason. She just hoped, for Wagner's sake, that he doesn't get himself in a big mess.

In The Cave

Four o'clock came around. Mika had departed a half hour before and Ryu waited around until it was time to get Julia from her room, where she told him to meet her when he changed plans.

Once they met up, Ryu immediately could tell that something was bothering Julia. He asked her if everything was all right, but Julia had waved a hand and told him everything was fine.

They headed out of the cave and into the forest. They only walked for five minutes until they found a comfortable spot. They sat across each other, leaning against a tree and began to meditate.

However, it only lasted for ten minutes. Ryu knew that Julia seemed distracted and couldn't get herself to meditate properly. Once the ten minutes passed, Ryu suggested that they go for the walk they planned. Julia agreed so they got up and began walking through the forest, staying on the trail in the process.

They were silent for some time before Ryu spoke. "Julia… people like Ken consider me a hermit, but that doesn't mean that I can't tell if something's bothering someone."

Julia sighed to herself when he said this. Perhaps it was best to tell him what was bothering her.

"I saw you and Mika leaving the palace together earlier," she said. "If you had told me that's what you planned, I'd encourage it so long that we hung out later or earlier. I don't mind if you hang out with someone else. Why didn't you tell me about this to begin with?"

Ryu sighed to himself, feeling awful about the situation. "If I had known that you didn't mind, I would've told you. I didn't want to hurt your feelings since I planned to spend the day with you first. I didn't want to hurt either of your feelings. I apologize for this, it won't happen again."

Julia nodded. "Just remember for next time." She forgave him, but she still felt disappointed. Ryu did make plans with her first after all. If he made plans with Mika first, that was a different story.

"Let's go back," Julia suddenly said. "I'm feeling tired."

"All right," Ryu replied as they turned around and headed back towards the cave.

At that moment, Ryu not only cursed himself, but also cursed mentally at Ken. Never again will he take any of his women advice. The whole 'hang-out-with-both-girls-and-don't-tell-either-of-them-because-they'll-get-mad' thing was not worth it in the very least.

Not Too Far In the Forest

After some training, Matrik decided to head back to the cave for the day. As she did, she thought about the past events since coming to the tournament.

The main reason she was here was because of her former master Sektor. If she wasn't sure of who she really was, if she didn't have any Tekunin members hunting her down, she would've never really bothered with this tournament. Instead, she would've gone into seclusion. She believed that Sektor knew who she really was before becoming a cyborg. Once she does find that information, he was a good as dead, literally.

So, once she heard the rumor that Sektor was heading to the tournament, she made the trip to Hong Kong where the boats to the tournament were departing from. She had worn a dark cloak to conceal her cyborg features so that she didn't draw any attention from anyone.

There, she recognized, from her data, her former's clan rival… the Lin Kuei Grandmaster Sub-Zero. She knew that one of his missions was to take down the Tekunin and knew that he was a good ally. It took a little convincing, having to tackle him down and all. Once Sub-Zero realized that they had the same goal, he was willing to team up with her… so long that she kept her word.

When they arrived at the cave, Matrik gave Sub-Zero further information about the Tekunin. What they do, what they've planned, but the most valuable information of them all was where they were located. The location was deep within the mountains of northern Japan. This information was indeed useful for Sub-Zero. The moment they return to Earthrealm, he would make plans with the Lin Kuei to travel to Japan and destroy the Tekunin once and for all.

Since then, they've gone their separate ways, at least for now. Matrik had spent all this time searching for Sektor and trained her mind and body for the tournament as well. She wasn't expecting to find Sektor anywhere in this Outworld, at least until near the end of the tournament.

However, that wasn't the case when an incident occurred three days ago. She saw the wraith Noob Saibot and the cyborg Smoke, who had many similarities to herself, in the forests. She followed them and discovered Sektor working with the both of them.

That was all Matrik needed. She had discovered Sektor's current hideout. Since then, she hadn't told a soul of her discovery. She knew that everyone else in the cave wanted to help with this. However, Matrik believed that this particular situation wasn't essential to their actual mission. From what she saw, Sektor was only working with Smoke and Noob, no one else.

The only other person she was going to talk to about this was Sub-Zero. However, she had not seen him around in the last three days. She knew that he was still about, training and meditating in order to prepare himself for his own matches. The next time she saw him, she planned to tell him her discovery.

As Matrik continued to walk through the forest, a figure suddenly jumped at her in surprise. The figure managed to tackle her to the ground, but she immediately kicked the person off of her. She noted the heavy weight as she did so.

She got back on her feet, as did the figure. The female cyborg got a better look at her attacker and immediately recognized Smoke, much to her surprise. Clearly, they'd been hunting her down since she discovered their hideout.

Not wasting anymore time, Smoke ran towards Matrik and soon the two found themselves in combat. Smoke began by throwing a handful of punches at Matrik, who retaliated by performing some punch and kick combos.

The two continued fighting for some time. During that, Matrik realized that the both of them had very similar fighting styles. Her hunch about him was correct… he was definitely built from the same technology that made her and Sektor. Where he came from, she wasn't sure.

At one point, Smoke sank into the ground and Matrik knew what was coming. She took a few steps away as Smoke came out of the ground and did an uppercut, completely missing her.

As he came back down, Matrik put her right foot out, a small saw extending out from the bottom of the foot. When he was close enough, Matrik performed a few kicks with that foot. All missed him except for the last one, which cut one of the outer wires on his arm.

Immediately, electricity surrounded Smoke and he backed away from Matrik as he began to malfunction. He then turned around and began running off as though he was in a rush. Matrik went after him, but eventually lost him amongst the trees.

Hopefully, he got the message to stay away from her. Without any other thought, she headed back to the cave area.

Matrik soon reached the cave grounds… and it so happened that the first person she saw was Sub-Zero, who seemed to be heading into the forest as well. Immediately, she went over to him.

"It's been a while," said Sub-Zero. "I haven't found any traces of Sektor since we got here. Have you?"

"Yes, I have," Matrik replied. "As a matter of fact, I found his hideout a couple of days ago. It seems that he planning something. What it is, I'm not sure about. All I know is that he has gained two allies from the deal. One is an undead figure named Noob Saibot. The other is another cyborg, a gray one named Smoke."

The name immediately caught Sub-Zero's attention. "Smoke? …Are you sure?"

"I'm very sure."

Sub-Zero's blue eyes widened a bit in surprise. He was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Smoke… I thought he was killed the last time we were here…"

"You know him?" Matrik asked curiously.

"Know him?" Sub-Zero answered. "He was my best friend. We were both members of what I call 'the old Lin Kuei.' Things were fine in the clan… until they began to make their members into cyborgs for reasons I'll never know. I do know that Sektor had volunteered himself for this and he was actually the first person to become a souless cyborg. Smoke and I wanted nothing to do with it. We both believed that it was a fate worse than death. We escaped the clan and though I managed to get out of there completely, Smoke wasn't so lucky. He was captured and turned him into what you saw of him now. As a matter of fact, he was sent out to kill me. The last time I saw him, it was right here in Outworld. I had managed to help him realize that he still had a soul. However, we ended up separating and I had not seen him since. I presumed he was dead… but now I know that he's still alive."

After telling the story, Sub-Zero brought up another subject. "You said that you found Sektor's location."

"Yes," Matrik replied.

"Good. We'll take the next couple of days to plan things out. I wish to head out tomorrow, but I have a match to attend to."

"I have my match in two days," Matrik mentioned.

Sub-Zero nodded. "All right. For now, our main motive will be to rescue Smoke. We'll take care of Sektor and the wraith after the tournament. As much as I want to take care of them now, it's best to heed Raiden's words to not get into real conflict with anyone outside the cave."

Matrik nodded in agreement. "Follow me. At least let me you show you the location."

She then began to walk back towards the forest and Sub-Zero followed her.