Disclaimer: I own nothing that is not mine. The creepy old lady belongs to hikosmymanfriend/TheRedFredDeadDude. She has given me full permission to use this character.

Chapter Two

"Hey, let's go in here," Ella said to her sister. Emma turned and looked at the building that Ella was indicating. It was dark inside and kind of eerie looking.

"I don't know Ella. It's kinda creepy looking," Emma said. Ella gave her a look before walking into the pawn shop. Rolling her eyes, Emma followed her sister into the store. It was Saturday and they'd gone to town to go looking through the many pawn shops and antique stores that were there. So far they hadn't found anything interesting and this was the last store they'd come to. The inside of the pawn shop was dimly lit and the walls were covered with shelves that had dozens of figurines and other trinkets on them. Glass display cases sat on either side of the main isle, illuminating jewelry and other valuables.

"Is anyone here," Emma called out. Their only answer was the creaking of the wooden floor under the weight of their steps.

"Guess no one's around," Emma said as Ella walked off to look at something.

"Hey Emma, come look at this." Emma walked over to her sister to see what she was looking at.

"Aww, they're so cute," she said as she picked up a key chain with a little action figure of Sub-Zero hanging on the end. Looking over she saw Ella had picked up the key chain of Ermac.

"I have to buy this now, you know," she said to Ella. They were so caught up in what they were doing that they failed to notice a figure come up behind them.

"Welcome," a creepy voice said behind them. Both girls jumped a foot in the air and spun around to see a short little woman with white hair that was tied back in a bun. Her small form was accented with a white blouse and a pair of black dress pants. Ignoring the girls shocked looks at not hearing her sneak up on them, she indicated to the key chains they were holding.

"You like," she asked. She had an Asian accent, but the girls couldn't place it. They smiled, recovering from their shock.

"Well, yeah," Emma said in a somewhat uncertain voice.

"You want buy," the lady asked. Emma looked at Ella.

"Are you gonna buy that one," she asked her. Ella looked at the Ermac key chain in her hand before looking back at Emma.

"I guess. It's too cute not to buy."

Emma held up the key chain of Sub-Zero. "You know I'm getting this," she said. They followed the lady up to the counter.

"We'll have to tell Tori about the Scorpion key chain," Ella said to her sister. "You know she'll want it."

The old lady stopped what she was doing and looked at them. "You have friend want that," she asked, indicating towards the Scorpion key chain that still hung on the wall.

"Well, yeah," they answered.

A smile lit up the woman's features. "Oh! Then you get for friend as gift!"

"Well we would, but we don't have enough money," Emma said, a little embarrassed.

The woman laughed. "Oh, no worry about money. I give you all three free."

"Really," they asked in disbelief.

"Yes, yes. Go on and give to friend. It good for you, and her too." So the twins ended up leaving the store with an extra key chain in hand.

"So when are we gonna give this to her?" Ella asked.

"How about today?"

A rather slender girl sat on her bed reading. Her dark brown eyes were accented with gold eye shadow and black eyeliner, and they glistened behind her small red glasses. Her dark brown hair was heavily layered and reached just past her shoulders, and her forehead was obscured by her bangs. Hearing her phone ring, she reached over and picked it up.

"Hello."

"Hey Tori! Are you doing anything," Emma asked her.

"Nope."

"Do you want to come over? We've got something to show you."

"Sure!"

"Okay. We're in town so we'll come get you," Emma said before hanging up. Getting off her bed, Tori changed from her around-the-yard clothes into a pair of jeans and a sleeveless top. She slipped on her shoes before heading out of her room.

"I'm headed to Emma's," she said as she passed by her mom.

"Don't be out too late."

"I won't."

Meeting the twins down at the end of her driveway, Tori climbed into the backseat of their car and they headed for their house. Since Ella was driving, Emma did most of the talking.

"We went shopping today at the pawn shops in town and we found some really awesome stuff," she said as she showed Tori the Sub-Zero and Ermac key chains.

"And we got you something too," Ella said from the driver's seat. Emma handed a small bag back to Tori. Opening it, she pulled out the key chain of Scorpion.

"Oh, it's so cute," she exclaimed as she looked it over. "It's awesome. Thank you."

"We found it in a shop that was run by this creepy old lady. When she found out we didn't have enough money to get that for you she gave us all three for free!"

"That doesn't happen very often," Tori said, still examining the key chain. The rest of the ride was spent talking about random stuff. When they got to the twins home they spent their time playing Mortal Kombat and making up silly banter between the characters. Before she knew it, it was time for Tori to go home.

After the twins had dropped her off, Tori started the long walk from the gate, at the end of her driveway, to her house. By this time it was night, and the full moon illuminated the field around her. She had gotten maybe a foot away from the gate when she heard a noise that broke away from the regular sounds of the night. Turning, she looked behind her at the woods across the road. There was no one. That was funny, she could have sworn she heard the sound of gravel crunching under a boot behind her, but it must have been her imagination.

'I'm too paranoid,' she thought as she turned back around—and found herself facing a wall of black. Looking up, she saw that it wasn't a wall but a man. He wore a long black cloak with a hood pulled up to obscure all but the bottom of his face. With lightning fast speed he clamped his hand over her mouth, cutting off the scream she'd been about to let loose.

"Don't even think of screaming," he said before looking her over. "So, you're one of Raiden's chosen warriors. Not quite what I expected, but still a threat to our plan." He pulled a dagger from beneath his cloak with his free hand and raised it to her throat. "Seems a shame I have to kill you. You would have made a wonderful—" His words were cut off as someone drove a kitana through his chest, killing him instantly. Tori had been knocked to the ground and sat there, watching in shock as the man's body fell over. The minute the body touched the ground it disappeared. A voice broke her out of her trance.

"He was so weak he didn't deserve to be an assassin." Tori looked up in time to see her 'savior' fling the blood off his sword before replacing it in the sheath strapped across his back. She didn't need to ask who he was. She already knew.

"Scorpion!" He turned and looked down at her before disappearing in a burst of fire.

Author's Note: Enjoy!