Chapter Sixty-Eight
Near The Palace Grounds…
Not too long ago, Heihachi Mishima had been relaxing at the Outworld docks while awaiting for his transportation back home. He had expected to be doing so for most of the day. Instead however, he now found himself in an intense match up against his own son, Kazuya Mishima.
The two fought for some time before stopping for a moment. They stood only a few feet away from each other as they stared down at one another. As they waited for the other to attack, the Mishima's were able to hear the large battle in the background, which was taking place less than a mile away from them.
Kazuya narrowed his eyes at his father, the redness in his left eye glowing a bit, indicating his Devil gene. Then, a half smirk came over his face. "What's the matter old man? Are you getting tired already?"
Heihachi sneered a little. "Not quite. I'm just getting warmed up!" Immediately after saying that, the older man jumped forward and attempted a flying kick in which Kazuya immediately moved out of the way from.
As Heihachi began to pass him, Kazuya lifted up his leg and performed a spin kick, hitting Heihachi in the back and sent him flying forward. However, Heihachi managed to catch himself and somersaulted forward once on the ground. Afterward, he got himself back on his feet.
Upon turning back around, Kazuya was already running towards him, ready to deliver more attacks. As soon as he jabbed his fist forward, Heihachi immediately blocked it with his arm. The older man then lifted his foot to perform a forward kick which Kazuya quickly backed away from. Then the younger man pulled his arm back before jabbing it rapidly at Heihachi, his arm surrounded by red electricity. Heihachi just barely managed to move his head away before receiving the impact.
From there, Heihachi attempted a karate chop at Kazuya's face, but the younger man managed to back away again. This gave him enough room to jump forward and attempt to perform a scissor kick. However, Heihachi saw this coming and managed to grab Kazuya's foot before flipping him, causing Kazuya to land hard on his side.
After the crash landing, Kazuya attempted to get himself back up on his feet. However, his father managed to get behind him and wrap his arms around his neck, forcing him in a lock hold. The younger fighter now found himself struggling against the older man's grip.
"You should be lucky that you haven't been killed up to this point," Heihachi said to him.
At this point, Kazuya attempted to regain some momentum in his system. "You won't be so lucky when I kill you. And when I do take your life, you'll find yourself begging for mercy!"
Kazuya finally managed to grab Heihachi and, using all of his strength, managed to flip him over his shoulder, sending Heihachi crashing into the ground. Kazuya stood himself up and attempted to stomp his foot down on the older man's stomach.
Just before he could, Heihachi grabbed Kazuya's foot again and pushed him back. Kazuya nearly lost his balance, but managed to regain himself. This distraction gave Heihachi the chance to get himself back up again.
From there, the father and son charged at one another again to continue their battle…
Nearby…
"Damn it!" cried out a relieved Cassandra as she barely took down a guard with her sword.
The young woman wasn't able to even guess how long she had been fighting as she found herself a bit out of breath. It was a while ago that she had ended up separating from her friends during the fray.
Cassandra frowned to herself a bit upon thinking of this. I really hope they're okay… she thought.
Just before she could step forward, another guard managed to grab her from behind, forcing her to let out a short shriek in surprise. Out of impulse, she used her shield to bash the guard on the side of his head. The blow was hard enough to render him out cold.
At that point, another guard charged after her with his own sword out. Cassandra stood in her place, ready to fight. Soon, he reached her and the two briefly engaged in a sword duel, their swords colliding with one another.
After what felt like a minute, Cassandra went to lift her foot up to kick the guard away. However, he managed to use his free hand to grab on to her ankle. Before Cassandra was able to react, the guard managed to spin himself in a full circle, taking her with him before releasing her. Cassandra let out a scream as she found herself flying passed the fighters around her. Eventually, she found herself crashing into another person and the both of them ended up crashing into a tree before landing on the ground.
"Owe…" Cassandra yelped after the impact. She then felt the person she crashed into and she suddenly found herself holding her breath.
I really hope that's someone on my side…she hoped.
Cassandra then looked up and let out a sigh of relief upon recognizing Paul Phoenix. He seemed dazed for a moment after the impact, but he seemed okay as he shook it off.
Paul looked over at Cassandra. "Where did you come from?" he asked for the hell of it.
The young woman began to get herself up. "Well I was-" she began to say. She was suddenly cut off as she tried to stand on her right foot and quickly felt a sharp pain hit her, causing her to collapse back to the ground.
"Ah! My ankle!" she found herself crying out. She didn't understand how she ended up with an injured ankle, but she ended up guessing that it was sometime between the time the guard had grabbed her ankle and the moment she fell back to the ground.
Without saying anything, Paul bent down to her and briefly examined her ankle. Upon touching it, Cassandra found herself wincing in a bit of pain. "Owe that hurts," she hissed.
"It doesn't feel broken," Paul said to her, ignoring her last words. "Most likely it's sprained."
Briefly, the Judo fighter found himself looking over at the battle in front of him. He still had a lot of fight in him and he was willing to continue with helping out. However, with one of the chosen ones injured, he felt that he should at least help her get to the portals.
"Come on," he said to her. "I'm taking you to the portals."
Cassandra looked up at him in shock. "I'm not leaving yet! Not until this is over."
Ignoring her protests, Paul lifted her from the ground before throwing her over his shoulder. "First off, I don't think you'd be able to keep fighting with that ankle. Second, with that injury, there's a likely chance that you'll be dead when it's all over… so take this chance while you can."
Also ignoring him, Cassandra attempted to protest, wanting to be left behind. However, once Paul started walking, Cassandra ended up giving up. The only reason she wanted to stay to begin with was because she wanted to leave Outworld knowing that her friends would be okay.
She eventually realized that if they were with her now, they would had encourage her to leave in her condition…
Not Too Far…
"Dankukyaku!" Dan Hibiki yelled out as he performed a flying kick, knocking down a guard to the ground.
Upon landing back on his feet, two guards attempted to gang up on him, coming from either side of him. However, Dan managed to step out of the way, causing the two guards to smash into each other. Before sliding to the ground, the pink-clad man kicked the two away with a double jump kick.
Ever since Nightwolf's death not too long ago, Dan felt more adrenaline within him. It was the first time that he didn't worry about goofing off and making mistakes. This time, he was able to get himself to focus on the fight at hand.
Just a couple of feet away from Dan, Hwang had just taken down a guard after a brief fight with him. Eventually, the two noticed one another. They hardly knew each other, but both knew that the other was one of Raiden and Rose's chosen ones.
"How are you holding up?" Dan asked him.
At that moment, Hwang jumped up over Dan. The pink-clad man was confused by the action at first. That was until Hwang can down just behind him, cutting down a Tarkatan that had attempted to kill Dan from behind. Dan quickly turned around afterwards and saw the cut up Tarkatan dead on the ground and Hwang standing over it as he held on to his blood sword.
Hwang looked at Dan. "All right… I think," he replied.
Right after he said that, Hwang was suddenly grabbed by the neck from behind, the surprise forcing him to drop his sword. Dan's eyes widened in shock as he watched Hwang being lifted up from the ground… but was even more shocked as he saw that the Shokan Sheeva was the told holding Hwang by the throat.
Sheeva grinned as Hwang struggled to free himself from her hold. "Time to meet your demise!" she said sadistically.
As she was distracted, Dan took the opportunity to run forward and ram himself into Sheeva's abdomen. Sheeva suddenly felt some air rush out of her lungs, the attack causing her to let go of Hwang. The Keisei native landed back on the ground with a thud and found himself gasping for air, grabbing on to his sword in the process.
After catching her breath, Sheeva looked down at Dan as anger rushed over her. "You'll regret that!" she growled.
Although intimidated by her, Dan was willing to fight her. Quickly, the Shokan jumped up high in the air. Then, as she came back down, she found herself directly over Dan in an attempt to stomp him into the ground. However, Dan, managed to see this coming and quickly rolled out of the way before the impact and Sheeva only landed on dirt.
At that point, Hwang was back up on his feet and while Sheeva recovered from her jumped, he charged after her. Once he reached her, he was able to perform a double axe kick, which connected.
The kicks has stunned Sheeva for a moment. However, when Hwang attempted to perform a back hand chop, she managed to grab his wrist before it connected. She then pushed him back a bit before shooting all four arms out, shooting out a projectile. The energy managed to hit Hwang with enough force to fly him back a few feet.
This gave Dan the chance to jump back into the fight. He attempted to perform a scissor kick, but Sheeva managed to move out of the way before being hit. After recovering, Dan threw a few punches at her, which she managed to block as well.
Eventually, Dan realized that he wasn't going to get anywhere with his punches and kicks, at least not against someone like Sheeva. He managed to pull himself back and briefly concentrated on collecting some energy into his hands.
However, he only had a few seconds before Sheeva began charging after him. At that moment, Dan shot his arm out.
"Gadouken!" he called out as a blue projectile ejected from his hand, shooting forward until it hit Sheeva. The force of the impact was able to at least knock her off her feet.
By then, Hwang was already back on his feet and stood next to Dan. "Nice hit," he said to him.
"Thanks," Dan replied, feeling good about himself.
However, that didn't last long as Sheeva quickly stood herself back up. Anger was written all over her face as she stared at the two. A few seconds later, she raised all four of her fists in the air and let out a loud roar.
"Oh boy," Dan found himself saying.
"Hey," Hwang replied. "We were able to hold our own for a bit there. I'm sure if we work together, we can take her down."
Dan nodded, feeling more confident. "Yeah, you're right."
However, at that moment, a few other Shokans came by Sheeva's side as though replying to her roar. All had the same menacing look on their faces as her.
Both Dan and Hwang's eyes widened in shock.
"Um… I thinking fighting tarkatans is better than this," Dan exclaimed.
"Agreed!" Hwang answered.
From there, the two attempted to get away from the Shokans as they began chasing them down.
On The Other Side Of The Battle...
For some time, Wagner fought countless guards. During that time, he helped out his fellow allies or vice versa whenever the time came. As he continued fighting, he realized that both Sonya and Ginzu's deaths seemed to prelude to this very moment.
As he continued fighting, Wagner noticed three guards coming after him. In retaliation, Wagner drew his arm back before swinging it from his hip over to his opposite. In the middle of the swing, a yellow disc-like projectile shot out from his arm.
"Ultra Disc!" he shouted. Quickly, the projectile managed to knock down all three guards.
"Got ya!" he called out. He then turned around to see if any other enemy would come after him. It was at that moment, about ten feet away, that he recognized someone he never expected to see up to this point in his time in Outworld…
Up ahead, Vega slaughtered yet another one of his 'unfortunate' opponents. He then happened to turn his head in time to see Wagner. A grin came over his lips underneath his mask. Of all people, he had hoped that he would see Wagner during this battle.
Anger and rage came over Wagner's face, especially after thinking over the fate of his sister. "Where's Lisa?!" he yelled out to him.
Vega stared at the young man in amusement. "I'm afraid to say that she's not around at the moment… but before I take your life, I must say that I've really enjoyed having her around… as my personal puppet."
Now he was pissed. In retaliation, Wagner quickly ran over to the mad man. When he reached him, he quickly performed an axe kick, which Vega blocked with his right arm in time. Vega then retaliated by attempting to slash Wagner with his claw, but the younger fighter managed to pull back before receiving any cuts.
From there, Vega continued slashing his claws out as though in a berserk frame of mind, forcing Wagner to pull back as much as he could. In the meantime, he was hoping to find an opening so that he could get a hit.
Eventually, Vega got close enough to where he was able to perform a spin kick, which connected at Wagner's stomach. As the sergeant was distracted, the matador whipped his claws, leaving deep scratch marks on his chest, causing Wagner to hiss in surprise and pull back even more afterward.
Vega let out a high-pitched laugh as he noted the blood seeping through Wagner's shirt. "Soon enough, while I taste my victory, you will agonize in defeat!"
Wagner clenched his teeth as he tried to ignore the pain in his chest. "Never! You'll pay for what you did to my sister!"
The younger man then ran forward, covering the distance between the two. He attempted to deliver some punches, which Vega managed to block with success. When an opening came, Vega kicked his foot forward, landing his heel on Wagner's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to rear back a few feet.
This gave Vega enough room to somersault forward. He then attempted to jab his claws out, but Wagner saw this in time. He lifted up his own foot and kicked the same way Vega just did moments… only this time, on his face.
Vega fell on his back after the impact. The porcelain mask on his face didn't break, but he knew the impact on the kick was going to leave bruises on his face. Upon realizing this, he suddenly found himself in a berserk frame of mind and quickly stood himself up.
"You kicked my beautiful face!" he screamed out. "Now you shall die!"
Wagner stood there, not feeling a bit amused by Vega's reaction to being kicked in the face. He stood in his place as Vega charged after him, welcoming whatever attack he had on him next.
However, just a few feet before Vega could reach him, he was suddenly kicked in the side of the head. The impact was hard enough to send him flying a few feet sideways, letting out a small yelp in surprise.
Wagner raised an eyebrow as he wasn't expected someone else to attack the matador. He looked over to see who was responsible for the kick. Upon seeing them, he recognized the Keisei native and fellow chosen one, Maxi!
After performing the kick, Maxi swung his nunchakus a bit, feeling pumped up. A while ago, Kilik and his friends had encouraged him to get out of Outworld and return to Keisei while he had the chance. Maxi, who was still feeling sores in his body, had tried, but kept finding himself fighting guards who kept going after him. However, he had just noticed Vega and decided to abandon his original plan just to be sure that Vega doesn't make it out of this realm alive.
"Come on!" Maxi exclaimed to him. "Get yourself up so that you can pay for what you did to Xianghua!"
Now Wagner understood Maxi's motivations. He heard a while ago that Xianghua had been attacked earlier during the tournament, but he never learned the person responsible for the attack, at least until now.
Vega slowly got himself back up while both Maxi and Wagner watched. Soon enough, the matador was on his feet again and looked over at Maxi, his icy blue eyes colder than ever.
"You will pay for you insolence!" Vega declared. He raised his claw up as he exchanged glances between Maxi and Wagner. "I'm going to enjoy killing the both of you!"
The Spanish ninja charged after them as Maxi and Wagner did the same towards them, all of them prepared for their two on one fight.
Portals
After barely making their way through, Paul and Cassandra finally reached the portals. They had come from the side so Raiden, who was currently fighting a tarkatan, didn't notice them right away.
"So many portals," Cassandra said as she looked over at them. "Which one do we go through?"
"I don't think it matters," Paul guessed. "Just go through any one of them and we'll be able to get back home."
Cassandra nodded. "I know I was a bit of a brat before, but thanks for bringing me up here."
"No problem," Paul replied. "Let's head home."
Cassandra decided to go to the closest portal, which happened to be the green one. Although her ankle was still hurting her, she was still able to walk, though she was forced to limp.
Sophitia… I'm coming home, she thought to herself.
Cassandra was just beginning to go through the portal when Raiden finally killed off the Tarkatan he was fighting. Afterward, he turned his head and gasped upon seeing Cassandra walking through the portal with Paul behind her.
"NO!" Raiden called out as he quickly teleported over there.
However, by the time the Thunder God got to them, Cassandra had already walked through the portal. Paul was the only one standing there, a bit surprised by Raiden's sudden reaction.
"What's wrong?" Paul asked him.
Raiden sighed a little. "I know that the two of you were trying to get out of here…however, there's one problem. These portals don't just lead to any realm. They are all linked to only one individual realm. The one Cassandra went through lead to Earth… however, she's actually from Keisei."
Paul found himself rubbing the back of his neck suddenly upon realizing the mistake. "Um… oops" was all he could say at the moment. "Should I try to get her back here?"
"Unfortunately, once you're through the portals, there's no going back."
"Damn," Paul muttered.
"Don't worry yourself," Raiden said. "I'll take care of things later."
"All right," Paul answered feeling a bit better about the situation. "Um… thanks for everything."
Raiden nodded. "You're welcome. Now get yourself home."
Paul nodded a bit. He briefly stared at the Earthrealm portal for a moment before stepping over the circled structure and walked through the portal which would return him home.
Once Paul disappeared, Raiden let out another exhale. "Looks like I got myself some work after this is over."
Afterward, the Thunder God resumed his position to protect the portals from the Emperor's forces.
Near The Palace Grounds
Kicking forward, Lita Luwanda managed to knock back a guard that attempted to take her down. She then took a second to catch her breath before she noticed another guard coming after her.
The young woman waited until the guard was close enough before performing a flip kick, knocking the guard up in the air. She then got back on her feet and just before the guard landed back on the ground, she quickly executed a spin kick, knocking him away from her.
"That takes care of you," Lita muttered under her breath. At that moment, she happened to look forward and noticed her fellow Delta Red teammate McCoy fighting off a couple of guards with ease. That was until she noticed a man dressed in an orange shirt, blue jeans, and a blue samurai kabuto with a mask come up to him. He wielded a pair of juttes holding on in each hand.
McCoy had noticed the new intruder known as Sodom and the two quickly engaged in combat. As the two exchanged moves, Lita noted that although McCoy was slightly bigger than his opponent, Sodom was able to hold his own with ease.
Lita decided to try go and help McCoy. They were only a few yards away so it didn't take long for her to get to them. However, Sodom ended up noticing her before hand and when she was close enough, he backhanded her right in the face. The force of the hit was hard enough to knock her down on to her back.
"Ahh!" she cried out as she hit the ground.
"Lita, stay back!" McCoy ordered her as he landed a punch into Sodom's stomach.
From there, Sodom and McCoy continued fighting as Lita struggled to get herself back on her feet. However, by the time that she was finally able to do so, when she turned to the fight, she was only able to watch as Sodom, finding a wide opening after kicking McCoy, took one of his juttes and left behind a deep gash in McCoy's throat.
"NOOO!" Lita screamed out in terror as she saw her comrade receiving the wound.
After receiving the gash, McCoy fell forward on to his knees as blood began to drip out. Having no further need to fight him, Sodom ran off to continue with the battle.
Lita ran over to McCoy and kneeled down next to him, holding up his large frame as he began to fall forward again. She bit her lip as she heard him trying to breathe, but only hear a small gurgling noise.
"Stay with me Matt," Lita said to him. "We've already lost Ginzu, we can't lose you either…"
McCoy tried to say something to her, but he wasn't able to speak. A few seconds later, he fell forward as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Afterward, he no longer moved.
Lita didn't need to check his vital signs to know that another one of her Delta Red comrades was dead. She felt the tears stain her face as she lied McCoy down on the ground before slowly standing herself up. Just like with Ginzu, mourning for McCoy would have to wait until this combat was over.
A second after standing herself up, Lita noticed Sodom about forty feet away from her fighting off someone who she didn't know but knew they were on her side. Slowly, she pulled out her large sword which was in it's scabbard behind her.
"You're dead!" she growled just before she began making her way towards Sodom. However, she was only about to run a few feet before a stray projectile hurled itself into her, the force sending her flying back a few yards away.
After landing, Lita glanced up to try to find Sodom again. Much to her dismay, she lost sight of him…
Nearby…
For a while, Hwang fought his way around as he attempted to look for Mina. Not too long ago, he was fighting alongside Dan Hibiki against the Shokan Sheeva… at least until they were nearly ganged up by a bunch of others that were of her race.
Luckily, the two of them managed to lose sight of the Shokans and they resumed with the combat at hand. Eventually, the two of them ended up separating during the continuing fray.
About ten minutes after separating, Hwang found himself killing off yet another guard when he heard a familiar voice calling out his name. Hwang turned his head to the voice and sighed of relief when he noticed Mi-na a few yards away. Next to her were both Kilik and Xianghua.
Quickly, Hwang ran over to them. "Where have you been?" Mi-na asked him, sounding a bit worried.
That was when Hwang realized something. "Where's Maxi?" he asked.
"He was too weary to keep fighting so he went to the portals," replied Xianghua.
"Listen," Mi-na began to say. "As much as I want to continue to fight, I'm starting to think that this is a losing fight. We're able to take down guards, but everyone else is much more stronger than them."
"We never had the time to prepare for this," Kilik mentioned.
Hwang sighed a little. "I want to help out too… but this may be our only chance to escape and fight another day. Anything could happen at any second."
"He's right," Xianghua agreed. "Let's get back to Keisei while we can."
From there, the four of them began making their way over to the portals. A few times on the way, their enemies attacked them, forcing them to fight against them. Luckily, they were able to take them down and continue running towards the portals.
It was about twenty minutes before they finally reached the top of the hill. They noticed Raiden standing in front of the structures along with several of Shao Kahn's forces lying unconscious next to his feet.
Raiden had long noticed the four making their way over here. He pointed to the silver portal. "That portal will lead you all home."
"Thank you Raiden," said Kilik. The Thunder God replied with a nod.
Kilik, Xianghua, and Hwang began heading to the portal. Mi-na, however, felt hesitant for a moment. She thought about how she ended up here to begin with. Mi-na had originaly escaped her home because she wanted to avoid marrying a man who seems to be a real scum despite being a rich farmer.
Mi-na's father was oblivious of the rumors about the way he treated the last woman he was with and going through with the arranged marriage was the last thing she wanted to do.
Her three friends were just reaching for the portal when Hwang turned his head and noticed his childhood friend standing a few feet away from the portal. He was confused as to why she was just standing there… but then remembered.
An idea came to him.
Hwang turned back to Kilik and Xianghua. "Hang on," he told them, his voice stopping the two from walking. He then jogged his way to Mi-na, stopping just in front of her.
"If you don't feel you're ready to go back," Hwang began to say. "Leave for another realm. I'll explain the situation to master . I'll try to convince him that this isn't a good idea."
Mi-na looked up at him with a bit of confusion. "Isn't that a bit irrational?"
Hwang sighed a bit. "I know, but I think that if you end up going back for right now, master may not even listen to either of us."
Mi-na found herself frowning. "Why don't you come with me then?"
Hwang also frowned. "I wish I could, but I can't right now. However, I'll try to find you when the right time comes. In the end though, it's your choice."
Mina nodded. She thought through this for a minute before turning her head to Raiden, who had listened to the whole conversation.
"I suggest going to Earth," Raiden said as he pointed at the green portal. "I'm the protector of that realm so I'll try to help with the situation."
Mi-na took a deep breath. "Guess it's Earth then."
Hwang nodded. "We'll meet again soon."
In reply, Mi-na embraced her friend. Hwang wrapped his arms around her as well and the two shared a brief hug before Mi-na pulled back. Without saying anymore, she began heading over to the Earthrealm portal as Hwang and their allies watched.
Upon reaching the portal, Mi-na briefly looked over at Hwang one last time. Afterward, she faced the portal before walking through it, disappearing through it.
Hwang stood where he was for another moment before walking to where Kilik and Xianghua stood. "Let's go."
With that, the three of them walked through the portal, now returning to Keisei.
Near The Palace Grounds
After fighting off a guard, Julia Chang was able to get a small breather. That was until another guard came after her. Immediately, she performed a roundhouse kick, stunning the guard for a moment before landing a punch to his head, getting him out of her way.
By then, she could feel herself becoming more weary by the minute. Julia had been fighting for as long as she could remember ever since she and the other chosen ones jumped into the fray.
She had two reasons for joining the fight… to defend themselves of course, but also in hopes of finding Ryu. Despite the current rift between them, Julia started to feel some anxiety upon learning that Ryu hasn't been seen or heard from since last night. Even though she was still angry for what he had done to her mother, she realized that he was only defending himself at the time. She only wished that the situation was handled differently.
If only I had the chance to tell him this… Julia said to herself in her mind.
As she thought of this, Julia was suddenly tackled down to the ground, letting out a small yelp in surprise as she landed on her back. The attacker then got himself up, but before she could do the same, the attacker quickly pinned her down with his foot. Julia looked up and gasped upon realizing that it was a tarkatan that was pinning her down.
The young woman attempted to push him off of her, but he only proved to be too strong for her. Her eyes then widened in horror as a single blade slid out of his arm. He then raised it above her. At that moment, Julia began to realize that she was about to meet her end.
Just make it quick… she begged as she stared at the tip of the sharp blade.
However, before the tarkatan had the chance to make the final blow, Julia suddenly heard someone yell, "Flying Peach!" before seeing Mika fly backwards into the tarkatan. The impact forced the tarkatan to released Julia from his pin, freeing her, before flying a few more feet away. When he landed, someone on their side saw him and quickly stabbed him with a sword, ending his life.
Slowly, Julia and Mika got themselves back on their own feet. For a moment, the two stared at each other as thoughts of their rivalry during the tournament passed their minds… a silly rivalry at that as they both realized.
A small smile came over Julia's lips. "Thanks," she said.
Mika smirked at her. "My pleasure." She then looked over at the portal. "Do you want to try to get out of here?"
"I don't want to leave yet," Julia replied. "At least not until I know what happened to Ryu."
Mika frowned a little. "He would want you to get out of here."
"I know," Julia nodded. "But what if he doesn't make it out of here? I don't think I'd be able to live with myself then."
Mika nodded as well as she understood. "Good luck."
"You too."
Afterward, the two former rivals went their separate ways.
Not Too Far…
Jumping up in the air, Vega looked down at the two men fighting him, Wagner and Maxi. He smirked at his handy work as they both had received gashes from his now-bloody claws. Soon, he began free falling back down. Wagner and Maxi stood where they were, ready for any of his attacks.
Vega quickly somersaulted himself so that he was diving down towards them. Soon, he reached them, but the both of them managed to get themselves out of the way. When he was closer to the ground, Vega set himself up so that he was able to land safely.
Quickly, Wagner shot out yet another Ultra Disc. Vega quickly jumped over it, bringing himself closer to the sergeant before kicking him in the face, knocking him back a few feet.
After Vega landed, Maxi took the opportunity to attack next. He managed to land a few nunchaku moves on Vega's back, leaving behind some whip lashes. Once the matador was able to regain himself, he used his right arm and back Maxi away from him, sending him flying away.
By then, despite a bloody nose, Wagner jumped back into a fray, landing in a jump kick at Vega's chest, causing the taller man to stagger back. Wagner then followed up with a punch before delivering two elbow jabs.
After receiving the blows, Vega jumped away to give himself some brief time to recuperate. He jumped around for a moment, bouncing off some nearby trees before performing a flying kick which landed on Wagner's chest. The force of the blow caused the young man to flying back away from him yet again.
At that point, Maxi was back on his feet. He felt himself starting to get dizzy, but he tried to shake it off. I'm not done with you yet! he declared in his mind.
With all the strength he had in him, Maxi quickly performed a double kick. However, Vega was able to get himself out of the way before being hit. Maxi then attempted an elbow jab, but Vega blocked it with his right hand. He then used his left arm to lash his claw, leave a gash on Maxi's face.
Maxi gritted his teeth in pain as he reared away from his opponent after receiving the wounds. Afterward, Vega began swinging his claws like a mad man. This forced Maxi to move further back. By then, however, he was beginning to lose blood, which made his dizziness much worse.
Eventually, Vega left another gash on Maxi's chest, his own blood splattering onto his white jacket. Now even more weakened, Maxi fell back into the ground.
"Damn it…" he muttered under his breath.
A sadistic laugh escaped Vega as he stood over Maxi. "Enjoy your defeat because you'll be dead momentarily! One down, one to go!"
Behind him, Wagner had just finally got himself back up. By the way things were looking, he knew that Vega was about to kill off Maxi, who was struggling to move away from Vega while on the ground. Feeling anger within him, Wagner's right arm filled with yellow electricity as he prepared to shoot out another projectile at his enemy.
However, before he could, a loud BAM! was heard, catching Wagner off guard for just a second. Immediately following that, Vega suddenly flew a couple of feet away from where he had just stood. After landing on the ground, Vega was completely still…
Wagner then realized what that noise was… it was a gunshot.
"Who the…" Wagner muttered, but he soon found his answer. Walking forward from his right was Nina Williams, who held a smoking gun in her right hand as she looked down at Vega with no emotions in her eyes.
Once he gathered what just happened, Wagner walked over to Nina. "What was that about?" he asked her feeling confused.
Nina didn't answer his question right away. Instead, she placed her gun back in it's Hollister before bending down to Vega's lifeless form. She then took the opportunity to remove the bloody claw from his hand and placed it in a pouch before standing up.
"He was the reason I came here to begin with," Nina began to explain. "I was assigned to assassinate him for his crimes."
"So you know about… Viper?" Wagner ended up asking her.
Nina looked over at him. "I've seen her… I was told not to harm her. Why do you care?"
"Because she's my sister."
Nina only stared at Wagner for a moment before turning around and ran back into the battle around them.
So is she really here or not? he asked himself. That's all I want to know…
After shaking his head, Wagner turned his head and saw Maxi trying to get himself back up. Immediately, the sergeant ran over to him and began to help him up.
"Damn him," Maxi uttered a bit. "At least… he's dead now…"
"Yeah," Wagner agreed as he threw Maxi's arm over his own shoulders in order to keep him up. "Come on… I'll take you to the portals."
Maxi nodded. Now that Vega was taken care of, he was now ready to get himself back to Keisei.
From there, the two men began walking away. Unknown to them, however, Vega's eyes quickly snapped open once he realized that they were far enough. He had been hit by the bullet, but it only managed to lodge into his shoulder blade.
Fools, he thought. They haven't seen the last of me!
About Two Hours North, Near Shao Kahn's Fortress
A while ago, the demon Akuma emerged from the Wastelands after the sky above turned blood red. He immediately knew that something big was going down and he was able to sense that there was some action taking place at the tournament grounds.
If there was a large battle going on, then Akuma definitely wanted to join the fray as an opportunity to engage more opponents. Ever since his match with Ryu last night, he had done nothing more than crave more fighting… since last time, he was feeling rather disappointed over it.
He believed that his next battle would make up for it.
After some time of walking, Akuma was able to see Shao Kahn's fortress not too far from him. Only last night did he awaken in there after being in a deep slumber along with the ninja spectre Scorpion. Whatever reason for it was no matter to him… especially now since his escape.
Soon, the wind picked up and Akuma was able to sense a dark chi nearby. The demon stopped himself to get himself to sense the chi better. It wasn't long before he was able to recognize it.
You've returned for more I see… he thought with a small smirk.
That's when Akuma heard a whiz-like sound coming towards him from behind. He waited until the right moment before quickly turning around and catching a rope in his hand. At the end of the rope was the familiar spear.
On the other end, Scorpion stood a few yards away. He showed no emotion in his transparent eyes, even when Akuma managed to catch his spear with his own bare hands.
The two demons stared at each other for a moment before Scorpion quickly retracted his spear. After letting go, Akuma quickly shot out a hand and a blue projectile shot out. It sped it's way towards Scorpion, but the ninja spectre quickly teleported away before being hit. He then reappeared behind Akuma and attempted to kick him. However, Akuma had predicted that he would do this and flipped forward out of the way. He then straightened himself out before turning around to face his opponent.
Once again, Akuma and Scorpion stared at each other as they waited for the other to make the next move. The long-awaited battle between the Ansatuken demon and the Ninja spectre had finally begun…