In the shadows outside of the castle, two figures stood watching the movement of the future thunder god and Earthrealm's champion. Quan Chi glared at the two, using every ounce of his control from going in there and slashing them to pieces.

"Don't do anything that will get you killed." Shang said calmly. "I may not trust you, but I'm not gonna do this alone."

Quan Chi scoffed at him, "We should have killed him in the forest when we had the chance!"

"We can't dwell on it now. He's protected by the Earthrealm fighters and we have to find a way to separate them. With all eight of them together plus Raiden, we can't take them out alone."

"What about Shinnok and the emperor?"

"What about them? We can't reveal ourselves to them. We don't even know whose side they are on right now."

The tattooed sorcerer sighed. "You're right. We'll have to stay out of sight from them as well, just in case they have heard of us."

Shang suddenly grinned, "I do have a plan on how to at least weaken them a bit." He started walking back toward the forest. "We need to hurry. The Earthrealm fools will most likely start searching for us tomorrow."

Quan Chi nodded and began to follow him, but not before sparring one more glare toward the castle. All in good time. He thought. The sorcerer couldn't help but smirk as he thought about how easy it will be to take over Earthrealm without those worthless protectors to block his every plan.

Liu continued to follow silently behind Raiden as he was led to the dining hall where the others were waiting. He hadn't said anything else about him helping with his training or what the training was even for, and with how much on guard Raiden seemed to look, he wasn't going to push it.

They continued to walk to a long corridor, lit only by the torches hanging on the walls until they came upon another set of wooden double doors. Raiden pulled them open and walked inside, followed by Liu. The dining hall was more brightly lit then the previous parts of the castle. There were tall stained glass windows on the far wall and standing beneath them was a line of servants, each of them wearing a long hooded cloak and their heads bowed, so it was impossible to see their faces.

In the center of the room was a long ornately decorated table covered in different foods and drink. Shinnok sat at the head of the table while everyone else sat around him. Raiden silently walked over to the table and took a seat besides his brother and beckoned Liu to do the same.

Shinnok was the first to speak. "I didn't get the chance earlier to introduce myself properly. I am Shinnok, the current ruler of Outworld." He gestured to Shao Kahn and Raiden. "And you've met my sons, Raiden and Shao Kahn."

Shao Kahn turned his icy glare to each of fighters before stared curiously at Liu. "I have never seen any of you before and none of you look like you come from this realm. Where exactly are all of you from?"

"Sonya, Jax, Sub-Zero, Kenshi, Kung Lao, and I come from Earthrealm and Jade and Kitana are from Edenia." Liu explained.

Shao Kahn smirked at the mention of Edenia and looked at Kitana, "Very interesting realm. I've been there, and have been very interested in it since my visit. It is very beautiful and supposedly has a beautiful queen to go along with it."

Raiden glanced at the two Edenians and noticed how uncomfortable they both appeared to be, especially Kitana, and decided it was best to change the subject. "Brother, I'm sure that there are other things for us to talk about than any of your foolish prospects for future conquests."

Shao Kahn glared at his brother and growled, "You're the foolish one! Even after all of these years you still don't understand anything. How do you think we gained this castle and all the riches the came along with it? You'll never have a chance at become father's successor if you remain like this."

"Have you ever thought that I don't want to become father's successor?" Raiden replied calmly.

Just as Shao was about to reply, Shinnok silenced them both. "That's enough! From both of you! You can settle whatever issues you have with each other in three days during your fight, but you will not do it now." He glanced at the Earthrealm fighters, "Raiden, show your guests to their rooms."

"You're allowing them to stay here father?"

"Yes." He hissed, "Now go before I change my mind. I would like to have a word with your brother in private."

Raiden ushered the fighters out of the room and and Shinnok locked the doors behind him before turning to Kahn. "I told you to make a truce with your brother. We don't need any problems out of him."

"But father! he-"

Shinnok silenced him. "I do not care. There will be a time and place for this. Right now he needs to be kept in the dark and after the final trial is over we can put our plan into action. It is only when Raiden is out of the way that we can take the realms for ourselves." He glanced at the door for a moment. "I have a job for you son."

"What is it?"

"Find out everything you can about those fighters Raiden brought here. I don't trust them. They seem to be a bit attached to him. I want to know why."

Kahn nodded. "Of course father. I'll began looking right away."

Raiden had quickly led them from the dining hall and down another more darker corridor. It was dimly lit with torches and and at various points there were guards posted outside of certain doors. After walking for a few more moments, Raiden stopped in front of a door. He opened it to reveal a small room with a window, two beds and a small table. "All of your rooms will be down this hall. Now Kitana and Jade this will be your room."

He moved farther down the hall and opened another door. "Since there are an odd number of women, you will have your own room Sonya." He continued to move down the hall and showed the other fighters their rooms until it was only him and Liu left together.

"What about me?" Liu asked.

Raiden continued walking until he stopped at another door. "If you don't mind, you will be sharing with me. Is that all right?"

"It's no problem."

"Good. I was hoping we could talk a bit more. I still have some things I wish to tell you. It might make my earlier request a bit easier to understand."

When Raiden walked into this room, Liu could see that it was larger and more lavish than the other ones. There was a wardrobe in the corner and on the wall beside it was a weapons rack where his staff and a few more weapons hung. A desk sat against a wall covered in papers and other various things. There were a few windows on the far wall and a small amount of light came in, giving the room a slight glow. In the center of the room there was a large bed, covered in dark red blankets.

Raiden sat on the bed. "I hope you don't mind sharing a bed. It was the best I could do on short notice. Please come sit." He gestured to the space beside him and Liu sat down.

"I guess I should explain." He paused in thought for a moment before continuing. "It's time for the three trials to choose my father's successor. The first two, a test of courage and a test of will, have been completed by both my brother and I. The final trial, a test of strength, is a fight between the both of us."

"I understand why you need my help." Liu definitely did. Shao Kahn was an extremely strong opponent, and while he had no doubt that Raiden could beat him, he knew he would need some help. "I'll do whatever I can to help you."

Raiden smiled, a sight that Liu thought he would never see. "Thank you Liu. I cannot explain to you how much this means to me." Looking at Raiden smiling like that, Liu couldn't help but smile back. This Raiden was so much different than the one he knew and he to admit he was enjoying the difference.

Then a thought occurred to Liu and he looked at him seriously. "Is that why you wouldn't say anything in front of the guards? You didn't want your brother and father to find out?"

Raiden's smile dropped and his eyes grew angry,"Exactly. I couldn't begin to think of what my father would do if he found out I was receiving any help. I personally couldn't care less, but I wouldn't want the one helping me to be punished. He's probably already suspicious about all of you."

Liu patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry about me. My friends and I can handle Shinnok and Kahn just fine. Now get some rest. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow."

He waited until he was sure Raiden was sound asleep before slipping out of the room. Liu made his way back to the library where Raiden had brought them earlier to find the others already waiting.

"What took you so long?" Kung Lao asked.

"Raiden just fell asleep. I couldn't have him asking questions about where I was going."

Kitana looked at him thoughtfully, "It's still hard to believe that this Raiden will become the one we know. They're just so different."

"I know." He said softly before turning to the others. "What's the plan for tomorrow? We have only three days to find them."

"How do you figure that?" Sub-Zero asked.

"Remember Raiden told us about the three trials that he bestowed him his powers. Well Raiden just told me that the final trial is a fight between him and Shao Kahn, and as we all heard at dinner, it will take place in three days." Liu explained.

Kung Lao nodded. "The deadly alliance doesn't know this, so we might have an advantage over them for right now. We need to split up and start searching for them."

"Jade, Kenshi, and I can search the living forest." Kitana offered. "They have to be staying somewhere. Outworld is so different from our time, that they may have decided to stay in a familiar place."

"All right. Jax, Sub-Zero and I will check the nearby villages. The two of them don't exactly blend in, even in Outworld. Someone might be able to give us a clue or at least point us in the right direction." Kung Lao turned back to Liu. "I take it you'll be staying here then?"

"Yes. He asked me to help train him for his fight and we need someone here to guard him anyway. I think he trusts me. I might be able to get him to tell me more about Shinnok and Kahn because of what happened at dinner and with what Raiden told me, we might have to watch out for them as well."

"I'll stay behind too." Sonya said. "I'm with Liu. After tonight I trust those two even less than I did before. Maybe I could get something out of Kahn."

"All right. Both of you stay on guard tomorrow. Now we should get back to our rooms before any guards come in here." Liu said. Everyone nodded and left the room, each of them going their separate ways and trying not to attract any attention.

Liu walked back into Raiden's room, trying not to wake up the other man. Liu was a bit uncomfortable sharing a bed with his future teacher, but soon got over it. He knew he had bigger and more important things to worry about. Liu slipped into bed beside him and watched him for a moment.

"I promised I wouldn't let you die and I plan on keeping that promise no matter what." He whispered softly before falling into a light sleep.