"But why?" Jay had used emphasis on the last word, and could tell it was getting on the spectres nerves. The blond man been following the dead man for a week(Seriously! A-week-!), and finally had managed to get the hellspawn to give in to his request. They had continued moving(at Scorpions insistence), not staying in the forest where it was mildly safe.
Instead, Scorpion trekked along out of the forest, coming to a small expanse of desert. And right there at the in-between of the forest with its multitude of trees and shade(and seemingly harmless safety) and the desert with its sun, sand, no water, and heat. And sun. Scorpion didn't go any further. Instead, Jay was told to stay put, or not to leave or some other reason the spectre could think of. This however, did not stop the ninja from freely coming and going of his own accord.
Finally, by weeks end, Jay's patience wore out, and one could only put up with so much. The creatures that were being killed and eaten he wasn't even sure if they -should- be eatien. Some looked like regular rabbits, squirrels, and things but the others looked like they had been bred in some kind of laboratory. It seemed okay by this point, but what had annoyed Jay above all else was that Scorpion refused to take him to the undead ninjas old home. Then, Scorpion finally gave in, at the end. Course, Jay had to force that situation so it wasn't exactly a victory.
The tattooed blond had finally just started walking away when the spectre returned. Scorpion burst into flame before reappearing in front of Jay, questioning, "Where are you going? You need to stay here." The latter part sounded more like an order.
Jay just brushed Scorpion off, saying, "It's been days and you haven't let me go anywhere or do anything. I offered to help you and you give me no reason as to why we haven't left. If you're done wasting my time I think I'll just go find that group that tried to kill me. Maybe they would at least be willing to listen to me."
Scorpion narrowed his silk-white eyes at Jay before shaking his head, "Why do you insist on going there? There are too many memories buried there. I do not want you defiling that land."
The former blinked before actually taking offense, waving his arms wildly about before jabbing a forefinger in Scorpions direction, "I have been trying to get you to take me there so I can see if there are any clues about. You know, investigating?" Scorpion stood stock-still so Jay continued, "If it truly was Sub-Zero there then I'll be able to sniff him out."
Scorpion just shook his head before explaining, "Quan Chi has shown me that it was Sub-Zero all along. Or rather, both he and his brother. Both Lin Kuei bastards who shall both be dead before long."
Jay stared briefly before asking, almost curiously, "How long ago did Quan Chi show you proof?"
Scorpion replied without skipping a beat, "In the first tournament. I ended the elder Sub-Zero, but the younger one bested me in the second tournament. I am waiting for my moment to enact vengeance on him as well."
Jay stared, almost dully before shaking his head, "And you trusted Quan Chi? Just like that?"
Scorpion remained silent, standing motionless, so Jay folded his arms and squinted his eyes at Scorpion but did not speak.
Finally, Scorpion replied, "I have an arrangement with Quan Chi. He will restore my clan to me once I have ended Sub-Zero."
"If you trust Quan Chi like I did, even though it was brief, you may find yourself down in that lava pit like I was."
Scorpion, once more, had nothing to say. Jay sighed before admitting, "Look, I just don't want to see you getting hurt. You were the first person here to help me when I needed it, so I'm trying to return the favor, okay?" Scorpion blinked once before nodding, if a bit unsure.
Jay gave a nod in return before asking one more time, "Now, will you please take me to the home of the Shirai Ryu?"
That had been yesterday.
Scorpion appeared in a burst of flames in front of Jay, his demeanor suggesting he was willing to do anything other than what they were about to do. Jay tapped a finger to his chin before suggesting to Scorpion, "Look, if you're not wanting to go in there then you can just drop us outside. I'll go in, sniff out clues and come back. That work for you?"
The spectre's eyes narrowed at Jay, at which the man assumed that he was about to be strangled. He probably wasn't that far from the truth but Scorpion seemed to exert control since the yellow-clad ninja jabbed a finger at Jay this time, saying, "I am going with you, end of story."
Jay stared at Scorpion as the spectre turned around, watching the dead man's movements before hearing something unexpected: "Am I worthy enough to return?"
Slowly a finger raised, as if wanting to ask a question when Scorpion turned around, "Let us go. It is time I return and pay my respects to the fallen." Jays hand dropped to his side before nodding, "Okay."
Scorpion moved to the front of Jay, then turned to face the blond male, and that's when Jay noticed: Scorpion was a few inches taller. Jay was right at 6'0(5'11, but what others didn't know...), so when Scorpion stood all of one foot across Jay couldn't help but notice the difference. He tried to ignore the thought, but it manifested and gave way to another thought, though this one did seem valid.
"Wait, do I put my hands on you to make this work, or what?"
Scorpion said nothing, simply placing both of his hands on Jay's shoulders before both of them disappeared through the flames. Jay was secretly disappointed, but what could you do?
Moments later they had arrived. Jay, having never visited Japan before, was instantly looking all around, observing the trees, flowers, the dirt road they were standing in the middle of, the river that was flowing right beside them, and even the dam that was further upriver.
Scorpion let go of Jays shoulders but Jay didn't take notice, his head still swinging back and forth as he said, "Nice place. I should come visit sometime."
The taller male would just point his forefinger at Jay's face, "We are here for a reason. Do not forget you are the one who wanted to bring me here."
The shorter man focused his attention on Scorpion before moving a hand to close Scorpions hand into itself. He was surprised he even was allotted that, but he did pat Scorpions hand a few times as he nodded, "I haven't forgotten. I've never been here before, though. Can't resist seeing the sights!" He'd then let go of Scorpions hand, feeling that aside from Scorpion feeling like a heater it was best to just let the spectre be.
Jay swung around to see that while they were on a dirt road, they were in a new forest! Possibly having relative safety. Didn't matter as the forest itself seemed to be rather thin, and the trees were dying, unlike the last forest which was full on green. It was almost sad. This thought made the blond frown before looking back to Scorpion, "Okay! How do we get there?"
Scorpion would just tilt his head as if to say 'Follow me' before walking down a brief stretch of the dirt road. Eventually the road itself came to a split, at which Scorpion turned to the right. Jay followed for what felt like an hour before finally coming upon a wooden gate. From this side everything looked fine. His traveling companion, however, had become noticeably tense. The gate itself looked fairly new, and in good condition, looking similar to one of the fortress gates in the Middle Ages where the logs were planted in the ground side by side yet the tip pointing up was very sharp.
The gate was closed, so Jay scratched his head, "Guess walking in the front door isn't an option."
Scorpion just stood silent, which eventually cause Jay to look at the undead ninja, "Hey, are you okay? I can still go inside by myself, if you want? I promise not to disturb anything."
The ninja finally looked to Jay, before replying, "No. I need to go in there. I need to-" His sentence was cut off, but it sounded like the man's voice had cracked. Jay moved to stand in front of Scorpion before asking, "You sure you okay, buddy?"
The response given was a hard slam into his shoulder as the spectre walked past, purposefully bumping his shoulder into the short mans, "I'm fine. Now get moving!"
The blonde gripped where the pain was, even as it was already subsiding before following Scorpion. Without warning Scorpion disappeared into flames, not even so much as a 'Meet me on the other side'. Jay now frowned at Scorpions thoughtlessness before just giving up. "Whatever." He'd then move to stand in front of the gate, surveying what surrounded the gate specifically. Well, the good part was that the gate did have a sort of operating system(crank-wheel something or 'nother), but the bad part was that it was on the other side. The gate itself was steel so there was no way Jay would be able to break it down. Sighing he then tried seeing if there was any way possible to climb up, and after observing for about ten minutes he noticed he would be able to do just that.
First, Jay started climbing the gate, from the gate he shimmied over to an overhanging ledge, scooting along before raising himself up to another ledge. This one too he climbed up on, hoisting himself over before dropping to the floor. Standing up and stretching his back first, before moving to the opposite side of the main gate, Jay then saw what was probably nothing short of a nightmare for Scorpion.
Buildings, houses, homes that had been destroyed by fire. Bones littered the ground every few feet, some looked like they had been holding hands.
There was nothing to say, even though he half-assumed Scorpion was already over on this side. However, there was no sign of the yellow-clad spectre. The town itself seemed to have been well-guarded at one point, as the actual gate extended for quite a ways, forming a circle around the small town. Looking to his left, a skeleton in tattered rags, hints of old yellow on the rags, lay where it was likely the skeletons last resting place. Jay then hefted himself over the railing and dropped down towards the ground, landing the some twenty foot drop with ease. He was about to walk forward when he heard something land nearby. Turning around he first notice that the gate was not one, but two.
Second, two robots the size of men on the opposite side of the gates. One was red, the other yellow and they appeared not to have noticed Jay just yet. That was always subject to change, but he could hear the two units communicating back and forth, though it sounded like the red one was in charge. "Seek out the target, capture but do not exterminate. He is wanted alive."
The yellow unit responded, "Understood." That was all Jay needed. Without double-guessing himself he did a one-eighty and took off running, but the yellow unit was already onto him. He looked back in time to see the yellow unit fire(not throw, -fire-) a net right at the running man. The blond jumped to the side before resuming his running, and right as he was coming upon the closest building the ground in front of him exploded in a series of brilliant green, right before an impact on his jaw sent him flying back.
Gripping his jaw, and getting rather annoyed at this point, a breeze wafted through the air. At the worst possible time Jay caught various scents that lingered throughout the air. Most were old, very old, actually. So much blood had been spilt here, but the one thing he noticed most of all, was that he caught no scent of Sub-Zero, at all. Nothing, not a drop.
He was dragged out of this odd, yet peaceful moment by a familiar voice which was shouting:
"GET OVER HERE!"
A glance between the red and yellow units, which were almost right on top of Jay, showed the red unit being stabbed through the shoulder by a small spear attached to a chain. Then the red unit was yanked backwards, away from where Jay and the yellow unit were. Jay looked up to where the yellow unit was before sweeping his legs out, and tripping the yellow robot(man?). Surprisingly, it worked! Jay was not sticking around though, as he had already made it to his feet and was running. Even though the scents were old he could see how they were playing out in his mind's eye. Shouts and screams, the sounds of slaughter as life was taken without necessity.
Then, a more recent scent wafted across the air. It had been here long ago, but this one was familiar. Wait. Jay hadn't paid attention to if the yellow tin man was back, but instead jogged forward, even as he heard the sound of Scorpion fighting the red machine. Eventually, a small house was approached, a small one bedroom, which was half-burned down but what was inside was even worse. In the corner was a small skeleton, having held what appeared to be a small carefully wrapped bundle.
The tattooed man didn't bother going near, already able to guess what was once inside. This scene played out in his mind's eye too, the woman cowering in the corner with her child. 'Sub-Zero' slowly entering. He didn't bother trying to see further, instead focusing more on the fake Sub-Zero that stood there. He had caught that scent before. Why couldn't he recognize it? That was when he noticed that the fake Sub-Zero was... shimmering?
On closer inspection he noticed that something was off. "Wait, is that magic?" The question was more directed to himself, since he was still the only one there, but that was when the image started fading, revealing the real culprit at a slow, almost agonizing pace. Slowly, the culprits body was seen followed by the face that he had seen back on his first day in this crazy new world.
Staring at the white-skinned male Jay surmised the situation with one word: "Fuck."
He knew who had done it. All this time and Scorpion had no clue. His traveling companion needed to be told, and as if on cue there was a small explosion off to the South.
Least the general direction of where Scorpion was, was now known. Jay turned around, ready to hunt down his friend(?) before the yellow unit sent copious amounts of electricity surging through his body. Oh, how Jay hated electricity right now.
It didn't render the caught off-guard man unconscious but it did lock him up. Unable to move, and only able to grunt at the yellow robot man, who was now busy keying away at his data pad on his left arm before looking down to Jay, "The Grandmaster would like a word with you."
Light seemed to surround the both of them as he heard Scorpion again shout: "GET OVER HERE!"
He caught a last glimpse of Scorpion, spear locked dead on for Jay, but by then Jay was being whisked away to who knows where.
*A/N*: Edited, updated for errors and grammar.