Chapter Fifty-Four

The Next Day, Last Day of Round Six

Cave

"Oh Kilik!" Xianghua called out as she stood by the curtain that lead to her friend's room. "Are you in there?"

Inside the room, Kilik was sitting on his bed as he cleaned his staff with a dry washcloth. He head snapped up a bit upon hearing his name being called and he instantly recognized Xianghua's voice.

"Yeah I'm here," Kilik replied. "Come on in."

Xianghua pulled the curtain aside and walked into Kilik's room. "Good morning. Cleaning your staff again?" she asked with a bit of cheerfulness in her voice.

Kilik smirked at her. "Yeah. I kept forgetting to do this and I happened to remember as soon as I woke up this morning." He took a moment to rub the cloth on the staff for a moment before looking back up at Xianghua. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than a few days ago," Xianghua replied with a sigh as she recalled her encounter with Vega at the main palace a while ago. "I still have nightmares every once in a while, but I am grateful that nothing worse happened to me."

"Yeah," Kilik agreed with a small nod. "And I'm glad that Maxi and Mi-na got to that room when they did."

Xianghua decided to change the subject then. "Well, um, I'm pretty hungry. Do you want to go to breakfast in a little bit? I was going to ask Maxi, Mi-na, and Hwang if they wanted to go with us as well, but they had already went down to the palace."

"That sounds nice," Kilik said. "Unfortunately, I've made plans already, plus I already had some fruit."

"I see… what kind of plans do you have for today?"

Before Kilik could answer, a female voice was heard from behind. "Are you ready to head out?" she asked.

Xianghua quickly turned around to see Jade, who stood just outside the room. The two greeted each other as Kilik stood up from his bed. "I'm just about ready," he said.

"Great," Jade said. "I suggest we do our training session at the beach near here. With the air being more chilly at this time, not many people will be there."

"That's good to know. Let's head out." Kilik then turned to Xianghua. "I'll catch up with you later, Xianghua." He then began heading out as he followed Jade.

"Bye…" Xianghua said before letting out a small sigh. Unknown to her as she slightly looked down at the ground, Jade quickly turned her head, mainly to see Kilik behind her. As she began turning her head forward, she caught a glimpse of Xianghua and frowned a bit upon seeing the disappointing look in her eyes. She wasn't sure exactly what to make of it, but she decided to take note of it just in case.

Xianghua stood where she was until she could no longer hear the footsteps from either Kilik or Jade. Still feeling hungry, she made the decision to head to the lounge room and have some fruit. As she began heading out, she realized that another person heading in the same direction Kilik and Jade had went and the two quickly stopped themselves from bumping into each other. Xianghua looked up to notice Mika.

Mika smiled almost immediately upon seeing her. "Good morning Xianghua," she said cheerfully.

Xianghua managed to get herself to smirk at her. "Good morning Mika," she replied.

The young wrestler frowned a bit upon hearing what sounded like the feeling of disappointment in Xianghua's voice. "Hey, is something the matter?" she asked with curiosity.

"Nothing really," Xianghua said with a shrug. She then looked around the empty hall of the cave before proceeding. "You see… I have this 'friend'…"

Mika tried not to smirk, knowing that Xianghua was going to talk about herself. "Go on."

Xianghua sighed a little before continuing. "Well… my friend, um, she's having a bit of a problem. You see, she's had her eye out for this guy who is her friend for quite sometime and she realized that he had his eyes on someone else. I, eh, she is trying to get over him, but can't seem to do so."

"I see," Mika replied. She took a moment to try to think of what to say before continuing. "Well, I'm really not sure what to say. The only thing I can think of is that your friend should try to talk to her crush before it's too late. Have her tell him how she feels. If he only sees her as just a friend and really likes the other girl, the only other thing to do is move on."

Xianghua smirked. "Thanks-eh… I'm sure my friend will be thankful for your advice."

"Well tell your friend 'you're welcome,'" Mika replied with a smile. "Say, I was about to get something to eat. Do you want to come to breakfast with me?"

"Sure," Xianghua said. "I was just going to have some fruit, but having breakfast at the palace sounds a bit better."

"Great," Mika replied. "I hope they're serving some good stuff today."

"They always serve good stuff," Xianghua mentioned as the two began heading out of the cave.

Not too long after they left, Alex Walker emerged from her room after she got herself ready for the day. After closing the curtain to her room behind her, she briefly looked down at her wrist. Although there were still some scratches on them, the burns that were there days ago have since recovered and no longer hurt her. The aching feeling she had all over her body after waking up from her day-long sleep have since ceased as well.

A few days ago, Rose had finally sat down with her and told her what had really happened to her. She had gone missing after she lost her match during round four of the tournament and was found in a dungeons by Kenshi the next evening and woke up twenty-four hours later. The scars on her back were evidence that she was whipped multiple times and the burns on her wrists were from being hung by ropes during her ordeal. Rose had suppressed the memories of her torture from her mind so that it didn't have any emotional effect on her. Rose needed her to focus on their mission.

Alex wasn't happy by the fact that her mind was tampered with. However, she quickly forgave Rose afterward because it was indeed for the best. Who would want to always remember such a trauma anyway?

And considering how the memories were 'suppressed,' she did wonder on more than one occasion if something in the future will trigger them and bring them back to the surface...

Alex sighed to herself after the thought, deciding to try to forget about it, though it obviously wouldn't be that easy. The very thought of the fact that she knew she had been tortured still haunted her and it was something she rarely spoke about to anyone.

Sighing again, Alex began walking down the quiet halls of the cave, only going down a few rooms before stopping in front of one of the curtains. She heard rustling from behind the curtain and knew that Kenshi was in his room. She pulled the curtain aside and walked in and she saw him standing there, adjusting his black finger-cut gloves. He was fully dressed for the day with the exception of his katana, which laid on top of his bed.

"Preparing for your match today?" Alex asked.

Kenshi turned his head to her upon hearing her voice. "Yeah. I'm going to do some training for a bit to better prepare myself. Did you eat anything?"

"Not yet," Alex replied. "I was going to go down to the palace with Sonya, Guile, and Wolfman in a little bit. How about you?"

"I already had some fruit that was in the lounge," Kenshi answered. "After my training, we could go back down to the palace to have a quick lunch before the match."

A thought came to Alex. "Come to think of it… Jin Kazama has a match today too and you two are the only ones left in the cave who are still in the tournament. You don't think you two will be facing each other today do you?"

"We've been told that there will be four of us having a match today so the chances of us facing each other is fifty/fifty. Jin and I have talked about that possibility last night. If it happens, there isn't much we can really do, we have to go on with it. The one who wins the match will have to carry the mission out."

"So in other words, we have to hope for the best?"

"Pretty much." After adjusting his gloves, Kenshi picked up his sword from his bed and began adjusting the buckles on the scabbard. He then continued. "Alex, do you remember what I had you do during my last match?"

Alex sighed a little. "Yes, you had me hide behind some people so that the host of the tournament didn't see me." She then frowned a bit. "You want me to do it again?"

Kenshi nodded in reply.

"…The match is at the Courtyard, right?"

"As it will be for the remainder of the tournament," Kenshi reminded her.

In her mind, she made the connection. His reason for his request was to simply hide herself from the match's host. Shang Tsung happened to be the host during the last round and everyone in the tournament knew that he always hosted the matches in the Courtyard. Unless Shang Tsung had the day off (which she doubted considering how close the final round was), it was obvious that Kenshi wanted her to hide from Shang Tsung and not just any host.

Alex walked over to the edge of the bed in the room and sat down before looking up at Kenshi. "You never explained why you have me doing this. Does it have something to do with Shang Tsung?"

Though he stayed silent, Kenshi walked over to her and sat down next to her on the bed. He had the feeling that she was eventually going to make the connection so there was no use in holding back his reason from her.

"It's a known fact that Shang Tsung had or is working for Shao Kahn according to reports," he began. "After I found you in the dungeons, Rose and Raiden talked to me about what happened. I brought up where I found you and they came to believe that it may be Shao Kahn's fortress. If that was true and if Shang Tsung does work for him, then he may end up recognizing you in the audience, if he had anything to do with what happened to you. It's more of a precaution, but I don't want to take any chances."

After explaining this, Alex reached for his hand and took it into hers. "I understand now, though I kind of wish you told me sooner."

"I only withheld this from you because, when I first requested you to do this, you weren't aware of what happened to you."

Alex smirked a little. "Then again, the subject hasn't really come up in a while. Too much going around here lately."

"That's true," Kenshi agreed.

In a way, he was finally glad to tell Alex the reason for his unusual request. However, what he told her was only part of the reason why he didn't want Shang Tsung to see her. He still didn't want to reveal his long ago encounter with the sorcerer, the very man who caused the loss of his sight, and the one who tricked him into releasing the souls of his ancestors. Kenshi had lost the very few people he knew in his life and the last thing he needed was for Shang Tsung to find out about Alex.

Somewhere Outside The Tournament Grounds

For a while, it was as though Nina Williams was surrounded by nothing more than darkness. Her mind felt as thought it was spinning all around and it took her a while to finally open her eyes slowly. The darkness disappeared and at first she was only about to see blur. She slowly opened and closed her eyes trying to get rid of the blur and it took her a while before she finally did. Her mind felt sore as she tried to figure out exactly where she was. After a while, she realized that she was looking at the leaves, obviously attached to the trees around her.

Where am I? she thought to herself. She blinked a couple of more times before she decided to attempt to sit up. She had barely moved when she felt a sharp pain going up and down her body, forcing her to clench her teeth and wince in pain before falling back.

"I'm glad to know you're finally awake," a male voice suddenly said nearby.

Nina blinked again before turning her head towards the voice. Sitting across from her was Raven, who was sitting up with her legs resting straight out and his hands rested behind him to give him support. For a moment, Nina attempted to recollect her thoughts despite the headache that suddenly came to her.

"Wh… what happened?" she asked him.

Raven sighed a little. "To be honest, I can't remember much myself. I guess with all the torture we dealt with for the past few days, you can't really remember much aside from what we endured." He then stared at her. "But one thing's for sure… we were rescued about twelve hours ago."

While he talked, Nina forced herself to sit up, ignore the pain that coursed through her, sighing of relief once she was finally up. She then looked down at her arms and noticed some bandages, guessing that they were injured and that the rescuer took care of them. "Who… rescued us?"

"He hasn't told me much, but he had introduced himself as Yoshimitsu," Raven replied. "Right now he's out to get us some food."

Nina knew the name almost right away. Yoshimitsu had been a participant of the past King of Iron Fist tournaments on Earth. Other than what she called an 'odd' appearance, she knew nothing more about him.

At that moment, someone emerged from behind the tall trees. Raven and Nina turned to see Yoshimitsu, who was carrying a bag and a bucket with steam coming out of it in either of his hands.

Yoshimitsu reached the two and placed the bag and bucket down before turning to Nina. "I see that you're awake Nina," he said to her. "You were quite injured from your ordeal. As a matter of fact, I wasn't sure if you would make it through the night, but I'm glad to know that I was wrong."

Nina kept silent as the odd man unzipped the bag and took out some food which was wrapped in napkins, giving one to her and another to Raven. "I suggest we hide out here for a while. We are far from the tournament grounds and it's least likely that someone will find us out here."

Silence fell over the three as Raven and Nina unwrapped the napkins and saw that they both received sandwiches. Neither of them cared what kind of sandwich it was as they quickly bit into them, eating them quicker than they ever had in their lives. Once they finished them, Yoshimitsu each gave them a cup of warm water from the bucket and they both drank them down as well.

Afterwards, Raven placed his cup down before looking up at Yoshimitsu. "We have been staying at another location within the tournament grounds. The reason for it is to mainly hide from any of Shao Kahn's enemies."

"Even so, it's still not safe to return there for now," Yoshimitsu suggested.

"Our allies there will be wondering where we are," Nina said.

"Yes, but things have been more tight now that the tournament is close to the end," Yoshimitsu mentioned. "I was… investigating Shao Kahn's fortress searching for some… information when I found you two in the dungeons. Is there a reason why you were captured?"

"We were investigating the fortress as well under orders from our superiors," Raven answered. "Unfortunately, we were both caught a few nights ago."

Nina then had a thought as she looked up at Yoshimitsu. "Were you investigating Chishio No Me?"

Yoshimitsu was silent for a moment before speaking. "That'll be a discussion for another time. Right now, the two of you need rest. In the meantime, I'll be out to collect some firewood to make a fire."

From there, Yoshimitsu took his brief leave. Once he was far away, Nina turned to Raven. "So he's having us stay out here for a few nights? …Should we attempt to make a break for it?"

"As much as I would want to," Raven began. "It's risky not only for us, but also for those in the cave as well if any of Shao Kahn's minions happen to see us. Right now, it is best to hide out here, at least until we recover from our injuries."

Nina nodded then as she fell silent, intending on saying nothing more for the remainder of the day.

Cave Grounds

While walking, Kitana looked around the area that she was in as she stayed within the cave grounds. The area was filled with smaller trees with the beach not too far away and the walls made of boulders nearby which formed the cave she was now staying in. Being in the cave wasn't exactly what she called luxury, but it had brought a much more peaceful environment than at the main palace. If it wasn't for the purple sky above, this would've been nearly like her home Edenia.

She wondered how Edenia was holding up. Originally, it was just going to be her with Jade accompanying her here. Her mother Sindel had insisted to go as well and put one of their leading knights in charge of everything until their return.

I just hope that everything is good, she thought to herself.

As she continued her stroll, she noticed two people sparring near the beach area just passed the trees. Curiosity got to her so she decided to walk a few feet forward to get a better look at the two who were sparring together. Immediately, she recognized Jade as she was briefly on offense before being forced to switch on defense. Kitana looked at her sparring partner and saw a young man, who wielded a staff as his weapon. She couldn't remember his name, but she did recognize him as Jade's opponent during the fourth round of the tournament.

The thought alone made Kitana frown a bit as she thought about Siegfried. The moment realized she was thinking about him, she mentally slapped herself. Even despite the kiss they shared not long ago, she didn't want to think about him at the moment.

"Long time so see," a female voice said near her. Kitana turned to the voice and immediately recognized Sonya Blade, her long-time ally. It was because of Sonya and the other Earthrealm fighters that Edenia was free from Shao Kahn's tyranny, something she had been always grateful for.

"Yes, it has been quite some time," Kitana replied. "What have you been up to?"

"Well I just got back from breakfast," Sonya answered. She then smiled at the Princess. "I was quite surprised to learn that you two were here. Seems that we never had that moment to run into each other."

"Indeed, but I am happy to join with all of you again."

That's when Sonya turned her head and noticed that Jade was sparring with one of the young men from the cave. "I see Jade is doing well herself."

"She has," Kitana said. "It seems now that she's enjoying herself here."

Sonya couldn't help but smile as a thought came to her. "And what about you? Are you seeing anyone?"

An image of Siegfried entered Kitana's mind once again and she quickly pushed it away. "As of now, I still remain single. I'm still saddened over Liu Kang's death, but I've been doing much better."

Sonya frowned upon hearing the name of her deceased ally. "Yeah… we were all shocked when Raiden told us what happened. But know that he's watching over us now and we much continue to protect our realms. He would've wanted this."

"Yes, he would have," Kitana agreed.

From there, the two fell silent as they found themselves watching the spar that was taking place in front of them.

A Few Hours Later, Beach Area

"Once again a nice lunch," said Ryu after finishing off the meal that he was eating. "You're quite a good cook."

Julia couldn't help but chuckle a little. "They're just sandwiches."

"But either way you made them," Ryu said.

Sitting at the beach area, the two decided to have a picnic there, not wanting to deal with the crowd the main palace had to offer. They sat down on a blanket over the beach's sands and with them was a basket that carried the food Julia had made for them.

"It's such a nice afternoon," Julia said as she looked on at the view before them.

"It is," Ryu agreed.

"Hard to believe that we only have about a week left of the tournament… and then we go home."

"As long as everything goes according to plan," he reminded her.

"That's true," Julia said. She then sighed a little. "I wonder though… you and I both live in different places on Earth… what do you think will happen to us?"

Ryu fell silent, not expecting that sort of question. As a matter of fact, he never thought about what would happen to them upon their return to Earth, especially considering how long they've been to Outworld up to this point.

"Well," he began to say. "Since I'm a traveler, I guess I could go stay with you for a bit once we return."

Julia smiled. "That sounds nice. I have my own studio apartment so it'll be a good place to kick back. Then… maybe perhaps after a week or two I can come with you to Japan before I begin my third year in college."

"That sounds nice," Ryu agreed. "Perhaps that's what we'll do." Then a thought came to him. "Say… do you think you'll find out anything about your mother before we leave here?"

Julia shrugged a little. "I'm not quite so sure at this point. But even if I don't find out anything here, I'm sure I will at another time. Either the person who sent me the letter either was pulling a prank or they somehow couldn't make it."

"Like we said," Ryu began. "There's only another week left here. Perhaps you'll end up finding something out at the last minute."

"Perhaps," Julia said as she continued looking out at the view before her.

Inside the Cave

It was mostly quiet as Cammy walked through the halls of the cave. Her mind was clear from any thoughts so it was easy for her to hear a small commotion from behind one of the curtains. As she got closer to the commotion, she realized that it was coming from Wagner's room.

Wonder what he's up to? she asked herself. Quietly, she stepped over towards his room. After gently pulling the curtain aside a bit, she peaked into the room and saw Wagner sitting on the floor in a circle with Ken and Cody. In her hands were a batch of playing cards.

"What are you guys playing?" she asked out loud. All three guys turned their heads and noticed Cammy peaking into the room.

"Go fish," replied Cody.

"Of all things?" Cammy said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well we played just about every card game we know by now," said Ken.

"May I watch?"

"Sure," Wagner said. "And maybe you can join us when we're done."

"Sounds good to me," Cammy agreed as she walked into the room and sat in between Wagner and Cody.

"So where's Jin?" asked Ken has he looked over at his cards.

"He's out training for his match," Cammy replied.

"How are you two anyway?" questioned Wagner.

Cammy found herself trying to hide the smirk that attempted to come over her lips. The thought what happened with Jin a couple of nights ago at the hot springs came over her mind. "Everything's wonderful," she managed to say.

"I'm curious to know," Ken began to ask. "What's going to happen to you two when we all return to Earth."

The young woman raised her eyebrow again. "What's with all the questions?"

"Hey, we're just curious," mentioned Wagner. Then he grinned. "After all… you were curious about what the three of us were doing."

Cammy playfully pushed Wagner in the arm. "That's not the same thing though!"

"Technically it is, but with different situations," mentioned Cody.

"Anyway," she jumped in. "Jin and I have talked about it and have figured out what we're going to do…"

"Get married?" Wagner cut in jokingly.

"…I'm so going to strangle you," Cammy growled which caused Wagner to chuckle. She then continued. "As I was saying, Jin decided to stay with me in England for two weeks so that we could have more time to figure things out. After all, he mentioned that he's never been to England before."

"England's a nice place so he'll have a good time," Wagner mentioned. "Then again, the locals say otherwise..."

"I know one thing though," Ken cut in. "I can't wait to get home to Eliza and Mel. Since I've lost the tournament, I've been thinking about that cruise we're planning more and more everyday."

"I'm not in too much of a hurry to go home," said Cody. "I have this feeling that my ex-girlfriend Jessica is going to ring my neck."

"Why so?" asked Cammy.

"Well… to make a long story short, I kind of left our hotel without letting her know where I was going…"

"…You did have someone let her know, right?" asked Ken.

"Of course! I'd be even more stupid if I didn't do that."

"Makes me glad I'm a single guy," mentioned Wagner.

Cammy couldn't help but grin, deciding to pay him back for his 'are you and Jin getting married' type question. "What about Sonya?"

Wagner looked up at her in a bit of surprise, not expecting to be asked that question. He took a moment to swallow before replying. "We're just friends. Besides, she's better off with other guys than I am."

"Now don't put yourself down like that," said Cody. "And by the way… do you have a ten?"

"Go fish."

"Damn!"

Shao Kahn's Fortress

Throughout most of the afternoon, Ivy Valentine strolled down the halls of the fortress, keeping her eye out on anything suspicious. Hours ago upon going on duty for the day, Shao Kahn had ordered her to patrol the fortress along with some of the other minions.

Up until this morning, Ivy wasn't aware of the events that took place late last night which had caused an outcry. An invader had entered the fortress and the moment he was discovered, he went on a killing spree, killing many of the guards who were on duty that night. Not only had he freed the two prisoners in the dungeon and escaped with them, but he had also managed to eliminate the monster Berserk.

Once she heard of Berserk's death, Ivy didn't feel any remorse. She had always felt that he was a useless creature and seemed to serve only to place fear amongst the prisoners and torture them whenever they were in his large cell. In a way to her, she couldn't help but shout in her mind, 'good riddance!'

Obviously, Shao Kahn became paranoid after last night. He believed that the intruder was after Chishio No Me. If the tournament close to the end, it was no surprise that those who had lost the tournament had gone delusional, taking risks in an attempt to steal the medallion for themselves.

I should've assumed that sort of thing was to be expected, she thought to herself.

Another thing that grinded her gears were the guards themselves. Nearly each and every one of them were useless. She figured that their only purpose was to stand in between their enemies and Shao Kahn's minions. Even so, they were still useless as they always seemed to die off in high numbers.

As she continued walking through the darkened hall, Ivy suddenly noticed a shadow nearby, standing in front of one of the doors. She slowly made her way over to the shadow, expecting it to be a guard. However, the closer she was, the more she realized that there were two shadows instead of one… and both shadows were intertwined in what looked like a passionate intimacy. This convinced her surely upon hearing their heavy breathing.

Unaware of who they were, Ivy decided to get their attention. "What are you two doing?" she called out.

Immediately, both figures jumped and quickly pulled away from each other as they stumbled into the light, revealing them to be Baraka and Mileena. Baraka stood where he was, staring at Ivy while Mileena quickly placed her veil back over her face to conceal her teeth.

Ivy stared back at the two, admitting to be a bit surprised that these two shared a passion for each other. By their reaction to her voice, it was obvious that they were going about this behind Shao Kahn's back.

"How long has this been going on?" she asked.

Normally, Mileena would have told Ivy to back off and to leave them be. However, she knew that the Emperor seemed to have a bit of a liking to the woman from Keisei. Even if Mileena was considered a daughter to Shao Kahn, she knew that he would choose Ivy's side… that's how loyal she was to him.

"A while…" was all Mileena said.

"I see," Ivy said as she continued to eye the two of them. After a while, a smirk came over her face. "That's cute. And I assume this is all behind the Emperor's back?"

Baraka's eyes narrowed in anger. "And I assume you plan to tell Shao Kahn of this?"

"…Actually I don't." Ivy watched as the two became a bit surprised by her answer. She continued. "There is nothing wrong with romance on the side. However, do not let it cloud your judgment, especially during your missions." She then turned around and began walking away. As she did, she spoke once more. "I'll keep your secret. However, if I hear one word of any sort of… betrayal of the Emperor, I will personally make sure that he knows of this."

Baraka and Mileena could only stare at each other as Ivy disappeared into the darkness of the fortress.

Courtyard

A large crowd had gathered around the tournament ring as they awaited the two matches that were to take place today. Raiden watched from a hill so that he wasn't seen by anyone associated with Shao Kahn. He admitted that he hasn't watched that many matches since coming here to Outworld. However, he felt that it was important to come on this particular day…especially considering that the only two chosen ones left in the tournament would be attending the last day of round six.

As he continued watching, Rose came up to him from behind. "How long before they begin?" she asked.

Raiden turned to the soul psychic as she sat down next to him. "Shang Tsung hasn't arrived yet, but I assume that it will start soon."

"I see," Rose said. She looked down at the ring below the tall hill. "Well… it's a fifty/fifty chance… all we do is hope for the best."

"Indeed," Raiden agreed. A smirk came over him. "I am happy to say… many of our chosen ones have chosen to attend today."

"That's good," Rose said. The two continued looking down at the courtyard as they waited for the first of the two matches to begin.

Meanwhile, everyone in the ring waited for the match to begin. Soon enough, Shang Tsung arrived at this throne accompanied by two Shadow Priests who glided on either side of him.

"Greetings!" he called out. "Welcome to the last day of Round Six of The Blood Tournament! Today, four of our contestants will be participating. Therefore, two matches will be taking place today to determine who will be in Round Seven, which will begin in two days."

As he continued speaking, Siegfried looked over at the empty ring in front of him. He was one of the four participants of today's match. As mentioned, it was the last day of round six and at this point, he felt very close to claiming the tournament prize. He had hoped to win this so that he could finally lift the curse that was placed upon him.

On the other side of the ring, Kenshi stood a few feet from the edge of the ring, completely prepared and ready to fight. He was surrounded by his allies and Alex, who stood behind him as he requested. Briefly, he thought about Chishio No Me. He was never entirely sure what he wanted to do with the medallion if he won the tournament. Sometimes, he had thoughts of using it to lift the curse that was responsible for his blindness, but he wasn't sure if that was what he wanted just yet.

Nearby, Jin adjusted his short silver gauntlets that were over his long finger-cut gloves as he awaited for the first match to be announced. Chishio No Me came to his mind and thoughts of lifting his devil gene curse with it's power made him more determined to move on to the next round.

"And now," Shang Tsung continued. "The first of the two matches shall begin!"

All was silent as everyone waited for the sorcerer to announce the first of the two fighters for the upcoming match. Shang Tsung decided to wait a moment in order to build suspense. Soon, he finally announced the first fighter…

"Jin Kazama!"

Jin stretched his fingers out a bit upon hearing his name being called. Cammy, who stood next to him, whispered, "Good luck" to him. Jin nodded in reply before he made his way to the ring. The audience watched as he made his way to the middle of the ring before stopping as he awaited for the announcement of his opponent.

Everyone once again waited. Shang Tsung let the pause linger, this time a bit longer than previously. He was amused by the fact that only he knew who Jin's opponent was. As he let the pause linger, he stared at the one participant who was attending the tournament today as well. After a while, he turned his head to the right and stared at Kenshi for a while, who seemed to stare back at him despite being blind. Then, he turned his head to the left and stared at Siegfried. Siegfried looked up at the sorcerer and noted the small smirk that was on his face.

Perhaps I'm next, he thought.

Finally, the sorcerer opened his mouth and a name came out…

"Kenshi!"

It was what Raiden and Rose's chosen ones had feared. They all had hoped that the only two chosen ones left in the tournament would not face each other until at least the next round. However, it was not meant to be. Whoever was to win this match would have to carry on the mission alone and fight through the final two rounds in order to obtain the medallion.

To Kenshi, it was no surprise to him. He had the feeling all along that he would end up facing Jin in this round. After hearing his name being called, his adjusted his black finger-cut gloves for a moment before making his way to the ring (once he moved, Alex moved herself so that she was behind a tall person next to them).

Jin looked on as Kenshi approached, eventually stopping a few feet away from him. Neither one of them said anything, especially since they had already talked about the possibility of this situation, which was now happening.

However, Jin said one thing as he got himself into a fighting stance. "May the best win."

Kenshi nodded in reply before getting himself in his own fighting stance.

Once the two were ready, Shang Tsung sat down at his throne. "Begin!" he called out.

Seconds later, Jin decided to make the first move as he slightly slid his foot forward before running towards Kenshi. Once he was close enough, he began attacking with punches from different directions, forcing Kenshi to get himself on defense, blocking with his arms and ducking under Jin's fists a few times. Eventually, Kenshi sensed an opened and jabbed his hand into Jin's abdomen. Despite the pain that suddenly hit him, Jin quickly managed to block a few incoming punches. Now he found himself on defense with Kenshi on offense.

After a while of exchanging punches and blocks, Kenshi managed to perform two forward kicks at Jin's midsection, causing him to rear back. Before Jin knew it, Kenshi managed to grab Jin by the shoulder before letting himself fall back, throwing Jin over him and sending him flying a few feet back before landing on the ground.

Both men got up at the same time and began running towards each other again. As they did, Jin quickly jumped up and lifted up a leg, performing a spinning kick as he flew forward. Kenshi managed to back away before being hit and soon Jin was forced to land back on the ground.

Kenshi quickly covered the distance between them again and the two were back in their hand-to-hand combat. They exchanged some punches before Jin managed to get himself on full offense. Once he did, he managed to break through Kenshi's blocks by landing a couple of jabs at his mid-section. He then attempted a punch to the face, which Kenshi blocked, but then he followed it with a hard kick to the mid-section, forcing the swordsman to stumble back a bit.

As Kenshi recovered, Jin attempted to jump after him again. This time, Kenshi lifted a hand, his head suddenly surrounded by a light blue aura. Then both his hands along with Jin glowed in the same colored aura. Kenshi then raised his arm more, causing Jin to be lifted in the air as well. Jin was caught by surprise as he let out a short grunt as he found himself in the air. Then Kenshi turned his arm so that his palm was facing downward. He quickly brought his arm down, causing Jin to be slammed to the ground before finally being released from the telekinetic hold.

The blind swordsman waited for a moment so that Jin got himself back on his feet. Once that happened, they both ran after each other. Jin managed to get himself on the offense first. He managed to perform a high punch, which was blocked, following it with a mid-punch, which connected. As Kenshi was distracted from the attack, Jin took the opportunity to perform a side kick, causing his opponent to stumble sideways.

Kenshi almost found himself falling to the floor, but was able to gain his footing before that happened. Once he did, his body was surrounded by the light blue aura again and he performed a double roundhouse in the air. Despite being a few feet away, Jin still felt the affect of the kicks. After the second one, he was knocked to the floor.

Jin shook his head quickly after the attack. He's a good fighter, he thought to himself. He then rolled himself back before getting on his feet again.

From there, the two men circled each other briefly as they waited for the other to make the next attack. This time, it was Kenshi who jumped forward and delivered a few punches and kicks, forcing Jin to once again block.

However, Kenshi managed to break through the block with a couple of punches before performing an uppercut, sending Jin flying in the air. Luckily, the younger man was able to regain himself as he got himself in a backward somersault before landing safely on both of his feet.

Once he completely regained himself, Jin ran over to Kenshi again and the two exchanged a few more punches. At one point, Jin managed to grab a hold of Kenshi's right arm before attempting to use his foot to trip him. However, the older man caught this and managed to jump over his foot before performing a backward somersault. With that, he twisted Jin's arm so that now he was in control of the fight.

Quickly, Kenshi brought one arm around Jin's neck while placing the other behind his leg before jumping up and doing a backward somersault before landing face down on the ground. Jin let out a short cry upon impact as a shot of pain ran through his torso. After landing, Kenshi quickly got himself back on his feet and once again waited for Jin to get back on his feet.

Jin struggled a bit to get back on his feet. Once he finally did, he took a deep sigh before running back towards Kenshi once again. The two exchanged more punches and kicks for a while. Then, Jin managed to grab Kenshi's right arm again. This time, he succeeded when he swung his leg across his face, sending Kenshi flying sideways and to the floor.

This time, it was Jin who waited for Kenshi to get himself back up. While he waited, he charged up some energy into his hands, causing a red aura to appear around them. Soon Kenshi was back up and he ran over towards Jin. After a few blocks, Jin managed to punch Kenshi a couple of times before finally delivering a powerful kick, which cased some red electricity to surround his leg. The kick was powerful enough that it forced Kenshi to flying some feet back.

The moment he ended up crashing into a group of people, he knew that he had lost the tournament…

Moment later, Shang Tsung stood from his throne. "Winner: Jin Kazama!"

Kenshi had managed to sit himself up after stumbling to the ground. He sighed to himself as the fact that he had just lost a match completely sunk in. Perhaps he loss would've been better had he not lost in front of his enemy. Despite that, it was a good match. Since he met Jin, he always knew that the young man had potential and today, he proved just that.

The blind swordsman managed to get himself back up and turned his head over at Jin's direction. Jin looked over at him as well from a few feet away, still standing in the ring. After a moment, Kenshi gave him a single nod, a sign to his opponent that he did well. Jin returned the gesture before the older man took his leave.

Jin stood there for another moment as thoughts played in his mind, sighing to himself as he realized what his win in this match meant… he was now the only one of Raiden and Rose's chosen ones left in the tournament. He was now fully responsible in getting himself to that final round and winning that medallion.

From this point forward, the chosen ones were now depending on him in winning the tournament…

Unknown Location

In the third hideout since coming to Outworld, Noob Saibot stood in the middle of the hollow room with his arms folding. Around him were a couple of scrap metal that survived the destruction of the last hideout. Other than that, there was nothing more.

He wasn't sure (nor he cared) how long he stood there before Sektor showed up with more scrap metal, dropping them were the others were. "That's all that's left," he said. He then stared at Noob. "With you lackey gone, there is not much to do anymore is there?"

"Not quite," Noob replied as he unfolded his arms. "Yes, our plans to create our own army seems to be foiled. Just because Sub-Zero, Ashrah, and Matrik managed to infiltrate our last two hideouts, doesn't mean we can't do the same."

"What are you getting at?" Sektor asked.

"…For a while, I've been coming up with a 'last resort' plan," Noob replied. "I've figured that they would have their hands on Smoke eventually. However, what they don't know is that I've known all along where they have been hiding."

The Tekunin leader stared at the Netherrealm wraith. "You have failed to bring this up during our initial plans."

"I have always planned to reveal their location to you. However, upon inspection, I came to realize that they have been linked with more alliances than expected… there are over thirty of them at their location. Normally, you and I could take on a handful of them fine, but it would be foolish to just ambush them without a proper plan."

"I see," Sektor said.

"However," Noob continued. "With our new fusion technique, we are more powerful combined. With that, we have a better chance of handling the fools. Our objective… kill Sub-Zero, Ashrah, and Matrik at any cost and kill anyone who gets in our way. When we reach Smoke, we'll deactivate him and then return him here. We will arrive there and attack tomorrow night when they least expect it."

"Our fusion will indeed be of assistance," Sektor said as he agreed with the plan. "Now… where is the location."

Noob's white eyes seemed to glow as his shadow-like form darkened. "They are located in a cave south from here, a twenty minute walk from the main palace."

Sektor's only reply to that was a single nod as he began to look forward to their ambush.