Chapter Sixty-Five
Main Palace
In his room, Yoshimitsu sat on the floor with his legs crossed while meditating. All was silent in the room, which was exactly what he wanted right now.
For a while, Yoshimitsu's mind was completely clear from any thoughts. He mainly concentrated on his slow, rhythmic breathing so that he stayed as content as he was since he sat down.
Soon, thoughts on the last twelve hours came to his mind. He had hoped that Jin would have won the tournament as he was the only one of the two final participants still in the competition at the time. Yoshimitsu was never able to get into contact with Ivy, who ended up emerging the victor.
The night before the final day of the tournament, Yoshimitsu was able to get information on all the reservations in this palace. He wasn't surprised when he couldn't find Ivy's name on the list.
He had the feeling that she was definitely working for Outworld's Emperor, the one who had been in possession of the medallion since The Blood Tournament began. Even if he was wrong, he was still going to once again infiltrate the fortress and find the medallion. He will not leave Outworld until either he leaves with the artifact or until he finds a possible clue of it's new whereabouts.
He would have to see.
For another five minutes, Yoshimitsu continued to meditate quietly. Then, unexpectedly, a couple of white flashes quickly passed his vision despite his eyes being closed. Yoshimitsu sat still, waiting to see what his visions will bring to him.
A few more white flashes passed, coming to him in fast rate. Soon he was able to notice an item in between the quick flashes. After a few more, he instantly recognized it…
Chishio No Me.
Yoshimitsu continued to wait, wondering what was to come next…
Soon, the flashes stopped and the medallion in his vision disappeared. Another vision comes to him, one that he never expected…
What looked like a big battle was taking place. He recognized the area being from Outworld despite the blood red sky above. He continued watching, trying to figure out what this could mean…
That was, until he was able to recognize some of the tournament participants.
Quickly, Yoshimitsu snapped his eyes open, getting rid of the vision. He felt slightly out of breath from the surprise vision.
A dark feeling suddenly came over him. The thought of recognizing some of the participants in the vision forced him to rise to his feet and quickly made his way to the balcony in his room. He pushed the double doors open with force and walked to the edge of the balcony.
The dark feeling was worse than it was when he was inside. The air suddenly felt different as well, something he couldn't describe. And despite the sun above, the area seemed darker than normal.
Yoshimitsu began to realize that his vision was a desperate warning…
It looks to be that no one will be heading home anytime soon…
Shao Kahn's Fortress
It seems that everywhere I go… Soul Edge follows me…
Tears stained Ivy Valentine's face as she hung her head down, her chin-length hair dangling over her eyes. She sat on the floor with her back leaning against her own bed. Every once in a while, she would look over at the medallion which laid a foot away from her. And each time she did glance at it, it was as though the eye stared right back, mocking her.
A few inches away was a red shard, a piece of an infamous sword known as Soul Edge. The shard matched the red tear that had been placed on the medallion and both glowed a bit in unison.
Ever since the day Ivy began seeking out Soul Edge (and eventually finding out the truth about it), it was as though she was cursed to be associated with the powerful artifact for eternity… that was unless…
The weapon was known to use a person as it's 'host body' whenever they touched the hilt. It was lucky for Ivy to learn of this before she even touched the sword. However, learning the truth about Soul Edge came with a price…
It had happened four years ago, just after her snake sword was given it's power. She had been on a journey to search for Soul Edge when she ran into the Azure knight Nightmare. He had been the one to give life to her sword and because of it, she agreed to help him in a ceremony to help summon souls for him. Souls were what he needed to make him more powerful.
Up to this point, she had no idea that Nightmare possessed Soul Edge.
It didn't take too long before Ivy began to feel guilty about taking the lives of innocent people. She had tried escaping one night when Astaroth, another who was part of the ceremony, caught up with her. He had revealed to her that Nightmare was the one who had Soul Edge all along and that the only reason he let her join him was because the sword had told her to keep her close. Just in case anything happened, then she would be it's spare host.
Ivy refused to believe this and the two fought. Astaroth had nearly defeated her when three unknown people intervened and began fighting the golem. He sent some minions after her, but she defeated them easily.
Afterward, she decided to ask Nightmare about it, but before she could speak to him, a young ninja by the name of Taki confronted her. Ivy, having been frustrated to begin with, tried to fight her, but was easily defeated. From there, Taki had told her more than the truth and she could never forget her words…
Soul Edge's energy… I can feel it within your sword. It seems as though Nightmare has fused some of Soul Edge's essence into your sword. Not only that, but I can sense the same evil aura surrounding your entire being. It's just like the last person I ran into, the previous owner of Soul Edge… Cervantes de Leon…
It wasn't exactly her words as Ivy had asked many questions that day. At that time, she was already aware that the man Taki mentioned, Cervantes, was her own father. Not only was her own sword evil, but so was her own blood. So long as Soul Edge was still existing, so was this curse.
The truth had shaken her up to the point where she placed herself in isolation for four years until she was able to find renewed confidence. Since then, she's had the drive to destroy Soul Edge and everything connected to it.
That included Cervantes… and eventually, herself.
After thinking through her thoughts for quite sometime, the tears stopped and Ivy lifted her head up a bit. She then took a deep breath and mustered up the strength to get herself on her feet, using her own bed as a support.
Ivy then stared down at the medallion again for a moment before taking her foot and kicking it away from her. The artifact slid across the ground until it stopped in the middle of the room. Once it came to a halt, Ivy picked up her sword, which had rested on her bed.
"To think that I came for this thing just to destroy Soul Edge once and for all," Ivy said bitterly. "…Only to find out that I was only chasing a part of the cursed sword this whole time!"
A thought came to her then. Ivy wondered if Shao Kahn knew the truth about Chishio No Me… but if he did, wouldn't he have told her about it?
Either way, when she was done with the medallion, it would no longer exist… it was a part of Soul Edge after all.
"It's time to end this!" Ivy said as she raised her sword above her head as she got ready to strike it down on the medallion…
Forest
"I can't wait until we get on the ships," said Li Mei. "Then I'll finally be away from this realm for good."
"It'll just be another six hours from now," replied Alex.
For the last forty-five minutes, the two of them walked around the forest area between the cave grounds and the main palace. Alex had the idea of collecting some fruit for the trip home and invited Li Mei to come with her. Li Mei agreed to it, "so long that we don't separate." They didn't collect that many fruit, but they planned to walk around for another fifteen minutes before returning back to the cave.
The two were silent for some time as they continued strolling through the forest. Soon, Li Mei spoke. "So what is Earthrealm like?" she asked.
Alex looked up at the purple sky for a moment. "Well… the sky is actually a light blue, but the trees are kind of the same as the ones here. Technology is very different from there, that's for sure."
"So I remember hearing," Li Mei said. She then suddenly pointed out in front of her. "Look over there… there are few more berries in that bush."
"Oh good," Alex said. "I was hoping we'd at least find something before we went back to the cave."
The two women walked over to the bush and began picking the large berries, examining them before placing them in their baskets. As they did, a thought came to Alex and she glanced over at Li Mei.
"I hope you don't mind me asking," the Special Forces agent began to ask. "Do you have family?"
Li Mei sighed a little. "I did… at one time. My parents died when I was young and for a long time, it had been only my older brother and I under the care of our grandfather. They... both died not too long ago."
Alex frowned a bit. "I'm sorry to hear that Li Mei."
"Looks like we got all the berries from this bush," Li Mei suddenly said, obviously wanting to change the subject. "Let's go look for more."
"Um, sure," Alex replied. "We have another ten-"
Alex was suddenly cut off by the sound of a snapping twig. She quickly turned her head to the noise and briefly looked around her surroundings. The only thing that moved were the branches on the trees which were swaying in the quiet wind.
Li Mei noted Alex glancing around. "Um," she started to ask, feeling a bit uneasy. "What's wrong?"
Alex shook her head slightly. "Nothing. I think it was just my mind playing games."
"Don't you hate that?" the Outworld native asked with a small laugh. "Especially when-"
"Look out!" Alex suddenly called out and she grabbed Li Mei and pushed her to the floor, landing next to her as well.
"Ah!" Li Mei called out as she looked up. "What the-"
That's when a few small steel darts whizzed by the spot where their heads had been seconds ago, all of them eventually hitting the trees. Li Mei then darted her eyes over to where the small weapons came from… and gasped upon seeing a few tarkatans coming towards, them, their blades out and ready to taste some blood.
"Just great," Li Mei said as she began to get up along with Alex. "What do you think they want from us?"
"I don't know," Alex said unsurely. "But there's no way in hell I'm going to get kidnapped again!"
"If that's their intention to begin with! But I have a feeling that's not the case!"
Suddenly then, a tarkatan jumped over at them. In a startled state, Li Mei quickly brought her hand out in his direction and a purple sparkling projectile shot out and hit the tarkatan, knocking him to the floor.
Meanwhile, Alex was suddenly grabbed from behind by another tarkatan. Her eyes widened upon seeing a close-up of the mutant's blades. Then, in a desperation to get out of his grip, she elbowed him in the face, knocking him back away from her (and knocking some of his teeth out in a process). Alex then rapidly turned around while performing a spin kick, knocking the tarkatan further away from her.
Then, another tarkatan jumped towards her. When he was close enough, she performed a backward flip and manage to catch him under his chin with her foot, knocking him back. After getting back on her feet, another tarkatan reached her, but she quickly kicked it away.
Meanwhile, Li Mei just finished performing a cartwheel kick, knocking a tarkatan into a tree hard enough to render it unconscious. Another mutant went after her. Li Mei flew forward, her feet off the ground, and performed multiple punches at the tarkatan before sending it flying into another of its kind.
"Li Mei!" Alex called out from a few feet away. At this point, they managed to take down all the tarkatans, though some of them were just beginning to get themselves back up.
Li Mei quickly turned to her. "What?"
"Don't you think these guys are a little… too easy to beat?"
The Outworld native frowned upon this realization. "Yeah… they were, weren't they?"
That's when Li Mei noticed someone behind a tree. The person hadn't noticed her as they were looking in another direction. Li Mei maneuvered herself a bit to get a better look and she gasped upon recognizing their face.
"Shang Tsung!" she called out.
Shang Tsung turned his head to the young woman and smirked as he emerged from his hiding place. He then looked over at the tarkatans. "Leave now! You are no longer of any use at this time!"
"Yes master," one tarkatan said as he and the others began to leave, save for the ones who were unconscious.
By then, Alex joined up with Li Mei, a bit surprised to see the sorcerer here as well.
"I assume you ladies are surprised to see me," Shang Tsung said to them. "I admit, I was surprised to see you both here together. I was expected to see one or the other, but this is more of a convenient after all."
"What do you want with us?!" Li Mei demanded.
"It's quite simple my dear," the sorcerer answered. "I want you two to join with me."
Alex rolled her eyes a little. "And let me guess… if we don't, we die, right?"
Shang Tsung laughed. "No, not at all. You two have much use for me and it would be a shame to see either of you die. So, on the contrary, if you choose not to join me, then I have no choice but to use force."
"You bastard!" Li Mei cried out. "We won't let that happen!" At that moment, she began sprinting over towards the sorcerer.
"NO!" Alex yelled. To her dismay, her word never reached Li Mei as she jumped towards him. Shang Tsung quickly put a hand out and a fireball emerged and knocked Li Mei back into the nearest tree before sliding back to the ground.
"Li Mei!" Alex called out as she ran over to her friend. Li Mei herself was still awake, but struggled to sit herself up. Alex began to help her sit up.
"Impressive," Shang Tsung said with a bit of sarcasm. "But I'm afraid that will do you no good."
The two young women looked over at the sorcerer. They were both silent as the same thought came to their minds… even if they tried to fight him, they knew that, unless a miracle came along, that they had no chance in beating the sadistic sorcerer…
But they just had to try…
Cave Grounds
"The mission was definitely a disappointment," said Wolfman. "But the bright side is that we do have some information about the medallion."
"So then at least we have something to report to our superiors," finished McCoy.
The two of them, along with Guile, walked around the cave grounds, mainly to get some fresh air, as they talked about their now-failed mission.
Guile sighed a little. "Well, at least we leave today… and at least this morning has gone without any incidents so far."
"Let's hope it stays that way," Wolfman said.
At that moment, the three of them noticed Kenshi coming to their direction. They guessed that he was just coming back from some training.
"Good morning," Guile said to him.
"Morning," the blind swordsman simply replied.
A thought came to Wolfman then. "Oh yes… Kenshi, I just want to let you know that Alex went out to collect some fruit and Li Mei went along with her. They left about less than an hour ago, so they should be back soon enough. Alex wanted to tell you, but you were already gone by the time she woke up this morning."
Kenshi simply nodded in reply.
A sudden thought came to Guile then. You know… I don't think I've seen Cammy all morning…
"Colonel!" a female voice suddenly cried out in what seemed like desperation.
The four men turned their heads and they soon noticed Lita Luwanda running over towards them. It took them another second to realize that her face were stained with tears.
"Lita?" questioned McCoy.
Soon Lita caught up to them and Wolfman looked at her with concern. "Luwanda, what's wrong? Where's Ginzu?"
"He's dead!" Lita cried out frantically. "A fucking bloody guard killed him! I don't even know why he did it! All I know is that I fucking killed him right after and-"
Wolfman placed his hands on her shoulders. "Get a hold of yourself soldier," he said as calmly as he could despite just losing one of his teammates. He waited until Lita took her time to take some deep breaths before continuing. "Where is his body?"
"About ten minutes from here," Lita replied, her voice shaking. She then noticed something from the corner of her eye. She moved her head a bit to get a better look and gasped upon seeing what it was. "This can't get any worse…"
Wolfman turned around to see what she was looking at. By then, Guile, Kenshi, and McCoy were running in that direction. Ahead of them, Wagner was walking towards them. In his arms was Sonya, who seemed to be not moving.
Guile was the first to reach him. "Is she all right?" he asked. Wagner immediately looked up at his surrogate father. Upon seeing the grim look in his eyes, Guile frowned, realizing that they had lost yet another ally.
After a moment of silence, Guile turned his head to McCoy. "Get her to the cave." McCoy nodded as he took Sonya' lifeless body in his arms from Wagner and began heading back to the cave.
Wagner took a deep breath before speaking. "It was Kira. Sonya mentioned that the two fought right before she…"
"Ginzu's dead too…" said Wolfman as he and Lita approached the group.
"What?!" Wagner called out, his eyes widened.
"Two of our allies died within an hour," said Kenshi. "Either it's coincidence or something's going on."
"I don't know," said Guile. "But I realized that I haven't seen Cammy all morning either."
Lita looked over at the Colonel. "You don't think something happened to her too, do you?"
"I hope not," replied Wagner.
Wolfman then looked over at Lita. "You said a guard killed Ginzu?"
Lita nodded. "He just came up to him and stabbed him from behind…"
"Something is fishy," said Guile. "…A guard just killing at random doesn't seem to make sense."
"You don't think some killing spree is going down right now, do you?" asked Wagner. "I mean, don't those guards work for the Emperor or something."
"He may be right," said Wolfman. "If that's the case, then we're going to have to gather everyone right-" At that moment, his eyes suddenly widened in horror as a realization came to him. "My God… Li Mei and Alex are still in the forest!"
Immediately after that was said, no one in the group wasted another moment and began sprinting into the forest in the direction towards the main palace. After a minute, they began to spread themselves apart in hopes of better finding their two allies.
"I just hope… they didn't go… too far…" said Guile in between breaths.
"They said they…wouldn't," replied Wolfman.
They ran for another five minutes before they finally heard a loud shriek not too far from them. The group soon began running in the direction where the scream came from and within two minutes, the group saw a figure standing a few yards away. They ran a bit closer before stopping once they recognized who it was.
"Is that Shang Tsung?" asked Lita.
Indeed it was the sorcerer… and over each of his shoulders were Li Mei and Alex, both who were now unconscious.
Shang Tsung smirked at them. "It's good to see you all arrive to try to fight me… however, I'm afraid it isn't the best time to do so at the moment."
Quickly, Kenshi drew out his sword and began stepping towards the sorcerer. "Let them go!" he demanded with rage.
The smirk on Shang Tsung's face grew even more bigger upon recognizing the swordsman. "I'm afraid that won't be happening." With that, the sorcerer quickly placed his hand out and a large fireball shot out. It landed on the ground just in front of them, causing it to explode. The energy's force knocked the five back a few feet before landing on the ground, giving the sorcerer a chance to open up a portal and disappear through it with Li Mei and Alex in tow.
The group soon recovered from the blast and stood themselves up. "Damn it!" cried out Wolfman. "That cheap bastard…"
"I knew something fishy was going on..." said Guile.
"First Ginzu and Sonya are dead, now Li Mei and Alex are captured," mentioned Lita.
"This just gets better by the minute," said Wagner.
Guile happened to look over to his left and saw Kenshi beginning to walk away. "Kenshi!" he called out. "Where are you going?"
"To find them," the swordsman replied as he continued walking. "You guys go and warn the others about the possible threat."
"You're not going by yourself!" Guile yelled out as he ran over to catch up with him.
"He brought them to Shao Kahn's Fortress," Kenshi mentioned. "I've been there before."
"I believe you," Guile said. "But this is not something you should be doing alone. Especially with someone as powerful as Shang Tsung is-"
"This isn't the first time I met him… the first time was over a decade ago. I'm fully aware of how powerful he is." Kenshi emphasized his point by slightly tugging onto his red blindfold, which covered his eyes.
Guile was silent for a moment, surprised by what he had just learned. "He… blinded you?"
"Surprisingly he never intended to blind me," Kenshi replied. "His true intention was to consume the souls of my ancestors and I plan to free them from his grasps." He then quietly sighed before proceeding. "Now he has Alex… when I reach him, I'm going to make sure he burns in hell for an eternity."
Guile nodded, now understanding where he was coming from. "At least let me come with you for this reason… there could be a chance that the girls could be separated. If that was the case, if we end up finding either of them, one of us could get her out of there while the other looks for the other girl."
Kenshi was silent for a moment before nodding. "Let's not waste any more time."
Guile then turned his head to Wolfman, Wagner, and Lita. "Get back to the cave and warn the others about the situation."
"Right," Wolfman said.
He and Lita began to head back. Wagner hung back for a moment, looking over at Guile. Guile nodded to him. "Everything will be fine, kid."
Wagner nodded back at him before he began following Wolfman and Lita.
Cave
In his room, Ken Masters looked over a picture which contained himself along with his wife Eliza and his young son Mel. He smirked to himself at the thought of seeing them again very soon.
They were the number one reason he was looking forward to going home. He imagined them waiting for him at the dock in San Francisco, smiling and waving at him as he stepped off the ship which had led him here to Outworld in the first place.
It definitely won't be long before that comes true, he thought to himself.
Ken then thought about the cruise he promised his wife they would go on prior to his departure. They would probably end up cruising around Hawaii or Alaska…he would have to see.
Soon, he placed the picture in his bag before closing it. As he did, he heard a female voice calling out his name.
Ken turned his head to the curtain, recognizing the voice. "Come in Julia."
The curtain to his room opened and Julia walked in. Ken noted her outfit… her denim jacket that matched her jeans over a white shirt, brown finger cut gloves, white cowboy boots, her hair done in two braids, and her red-rimmed glasses over her dark eyes. It was the same outfit she wore the day he met at the café in San Francisco just before they boarded the ship.
The difference was that Julia seemed more confident when he first met her. This time, she seemed bothered.
"Hey," Ken said straightened himself up. "Is everything okay?"
Julia sighed a little. "I don't know… Ken, have you seen Ryu?"
Ken shook his head a little. "Not since last night."
"I thought that he had gone to train," Julia said. "But I don't know… he seems to be gone for quite a while…"
"Ryu can train for a long period of time," Ken mentioned. "And I would expect him to… since he hardly has anything to pack." He followed the last comment with a small laugh.
Julia smirked a little, somehow feeling a bit assured by Ken's answer. "Yeah… you may be right… I mean, I was hoping to talk to him before we departed for Earth… you know… after…"
"I see," Ken said. "Try not to worry about it. I'm sure he'll be back soon."
Julia nodded. "He probably will. If you see him, let me know." With that, she turned on her heel and left the room, closing the curtain behind her on the way out.
Ken sighed a little. Poor Julia… the last few days have been pretty tough on her… He then stretched himself out a bit before sitting back down on his bed. Ryu… you better return soon so that the two of you can talk this out… though I have a feeling it may not be so easy…
Forest
"Cammy! Cammy! Please wake up! Cammy!"
Cammy heard voices as she attempted to open her eyes. For a while, all she was able to see was complete blur. She also blinked a few times before she was able to see clearly. As she did, she continued to hear a male voice calling out for her.
Jin? she asked herself.
Soon, her eyes were open and she found herself look up at a person's face. After another second, she instantly recognized Wagner's face as he looked down at her with concern.
"Cammy! Are you okay?"
"…Huh?" Cammy mumbled as she looked at his surroundings. She was surprised to be surrounded by trees.
Why am I outside? she asked herself.
That's when she remembered… Cammy had been walking with Jin during the evening…from there, she couldn't remember anything else that happened.
Quickly, Cammy sat herself up. "Jin!" she cried out. She felt a headache rapidly come to her and she held her head in surprise. She blinked a couple of times after.
"Jin's not here," said Wolfman.
Cammy began to look around with confusion as Wagner and Lita helped her up. "I was with him… we were walking through here… I don't know what happened…"
"You have a nasty bump on the back of your head," mentioned Lita. "You were knocked out pretty good."
"Come to think of it," said Wagner. "I don't think I saw Jin all morning…"
Lita looked at Wolfman nervously. "I'm quite sure Jin wouldn't just leave her here…"
Wolfman nodded. "All these events are definitely not coincidence. First with Ginzu and Sonya dead, then with Li Mei and Alex being kidnapped, then finding Cammy out here, and now Jin is missing too."
Cammy gasped with horror. "Ginzu and Sonya are dead?!"
Wolfman sadly nodded. "We'll explain everything on the way back to the cave. We have to warn the others about this before anyone else gets hurt."
"Let's head out then," Wagner suggested.
From there, the four of them, with Wagner and Lita helping Cammy walk a bit, began to quickly head back to the cave
Cave
There's… a dark feeling amongst this realm… Rose thought to herself as he looked over her crystal ball. Much more than normal…
This morning after cleaning up, Rose decided to look at her crystal ball since she hasn't done so in a while. She swore that ever since she sat down that the energy around her seemed dark and gloomy… a feeling that she never liked at all whenever she used her crystal ball.
Hopefully it is just from the environment, the soul psychic thought.
At that moment, the curtain to the lounge room opened and Raiden walked in. "Rose," he said. "…Something's not right."
Rose opened her eyes. "You have the dark feeling too, don't you?"
Raiden nodded. "I don't know what to think of it. Outworld was always a strange realm, but today seems… different."
Rose had an idea then. She brought up two hands, which were surrounded by purple aura. Soon, two cards appeared in either hand and she placed them down on the table. She and Raiden looked over at the cards… one card contained the Grim Reaper… the other contained a picture of broken buildings.
The psychic's eyes widened. "Death and destruction… I've feared this…"
"Something's going to happen," Raiden said. "We must gather our chosen ones inside and prepare ourselves for anything."
"Right," Rose agreed as she stood up.
She and Raiden left the lounge room, paced themselves through the cave, and stepped outside. The moment they did, they met up with Cammy, Wagner, Lita, and Wolfman.
"Raiden, Rose!" Wolfman called out. "Something is-"
He then stopped himself upon seeing the grim look on both of the leaders' faces. The wind seemed to suddenly pick up as the trees around them swayed more violently. Everyone happened to look up at the sky at that moment, just in time to see the purple sky of Outworld turn a blood red color.
"My God…" whispered Lita.
"It's just like in Nightwolf's vision," said Wagner.
Seconds later, they were able to hear a large group of footsteps in the distance.
Rose shivered upon hearing this. "We're too late…"
Raiden frowned. "It seems that Shao Kahn had his own plan all along…"