Chapter 9: Beginning of the 2nd Tournament
The second tournament is about to start in Shao Kahn's coliseum. Citizens of Outworld, Outworlders, Tarkatans, Osh-Tekk, Centaurs, Shokan and others have all gathered to watch and cheer for Outworld's warriors. Shao Kahn hosts the tournament.
"Outworld! Let the first match begin! D'Vorah. Take your place." Shao Kahn said.
"This One will please the master." D'Vorah said before she walks onto the field.
"Liu Kang. Choose your fighter." Shao Kahn said.
Liu Kang said nothing and looks at Johnny Cage. "You're first, Johnny. Do not disappoint us."
"Ha. I don't fear bugs. A shame I forgot my bug spray and fly swatter." Johnny joked, making Sonya snicker.
"Hey." Sonya gets his attention. Johnny turns to her and she kisses him. "Don't you die out there. If you do, I'll beat the shit out of you."
"No promises, Sonya. For us." Johnny nods and smiles before he walks up to the field to face D'Vorah.
"Your threats are as humorous as your existence. This one will enjoy devouring you." D'Vorah said.
D'Vorah swings her pincers at Johnny, who dodged all of them before he punches a punch across the face followed by a back kick and a round kick. D'Vorah quickly recovers and does a punch to the stomach and kick to the chest. Johnny gets back up, only to be launched to the air by something coming from the ground and D'Vorah grabs him with her pincer and throws him to the ground again, breaking a couple of his ribs. Johnny charges in, dodges a stab to the face and does three kicks to the face and a green shadow backflip kick to the chin, sending D'Vorah flying. She brings out her wings and recovers. D'Vorah flies in quick and grabs Johnny by the throat and slams him into a wall, slightly cracking his skull.
Johnny tries to get out of her grip, but D'Vorah starts bringing out insects from her hands. Johnny sees one of her pincers exposed and grabs it while uppercutting her, rips her pincer off and thrusts it through D'Vorah's left shoulder, causing her pain and her shoulder to break as blue blood spills. D'Vorah takes a few steps back and is a bit dazed. Johnny suddenly stops what he is doing and starts mimicking a mime from his Ninja Mime movies. The others are confused at what Johnny is doing as Sonya silently face palms. D'Vorah, while confused, starts running towards Johnny to throw a flying kick. Johnny grabbed her foot at the last second and parries it away, grabs her wounded shoulder, punches her three times in the face, shoulder bashes her backwards. D'Vorah sends insects flying out of her chest and towards Johnny, but he flip jumps out of the way and does a strong Shadow Kick to the chest, greatly cracking her chest and energy breaking it. D'Vorah is sent down, defeated.
"Here's Johnny, Bug Bitch!" Johnny exclaimed. The civilians of Outworld boo at Johnny as he smiles and gives D'Vorah two middle fingers for what she did to him back in the Old Era.
Johnny returns to the heroes, completely satisfied with his win over D'Vorah.
"I don't know about y'all but I feel better. That was for what happened the Sky Temple." Johnny said.
"You mean the part where you looked like shit and Shokans were shitting on you? Yup, that's the one." Sonya joked.
"Hey! Not in front of them." Johnny said, very annoyed.
"I can't help it, I'm sorry." Sonya lied. She likes to embarrass Johnny whenever she can since they got together and such. Kung Lao wonders what they are referring to.
"The next match will begin now." Shao Kahn said. "Baraka. You are up."
Baraka sharpens his own blades as he steps up. Jax smirks, cracks his own neck, wanting a punching bag for his new arms.
"I got the motherfucker with the teeth." Jax smirks as he steps up. "Damn you are one ugly some of a bitch."
"But those metal arms are about to be ripped off by my blades right before I cut your heart out!" Baraka said.
"Yeah. You do that." Jax sarcastically said before they fight.
Baraka swings a blade from his hand, only for Jax to catch it and punch Baraka right across the face. Jax then does a kick to the leg, a punch to the forehead and knees him in the chest before slamming a fist down on him, sending Baraka down to the ground face first. Baraka nearly bites Jax in the foot, but he steps back as Baraka gets up and tries to thrust his blades into Jax's stomach multiple times, but Jax blocks it and Baraka jumps to bite his shoulder, but he instead feels pain from his own jaws. Baraka yells in pain as Jax smiles. Jax then does a kick and a heat punch to the face, sending Baraka back as his jaw cracks.
Baraka fires sparks from his blades, which Jax blocks, only to be met with a knee strike and a kick to the chest. Baraka swings his blade upward at Jax's chest, cutting it a little before punching both his chest and stomach, sending him back. Baraka then comes in and spins in place with his blades out, cutting his chest some more, which worries Sonya and Johnny. Jax gestures to the cuts on his chest, but thankfully they're not too deep. Baraka comes in with a low kick followed by a swing from a blade. But Jax once again dodges and punches his head to the ground and gives him three more punches. Jax pulls Baraka back up and and jumps and slams both fists down on his head, cracking his skull and sends a strong punch to his chest, cracking it greatly as blood comes out as Baraka is sent flying backwards as he is defeated.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Jax mockingly asked.
The crowd once more boos at Baraka's defeat. The tarkatans are left very offended at what Jax just did to Baraka. Alex, who's been watching the tournament so far, cheers for Jax and Johnny.
"The next match. Behold. The blood mage of Outworld. Trained personally by yours truly. Master of blood magic. Drains the blood of her victims and makes them scream. I present to you: Skarlet!" Shao Kahn announced.
Skarlet steps forward and bows before her master and his crowd as they cheer at her appearance. Skarlet smirks as she takes the battlefield.
"I remember that son of a bitch. For what she did to Cassie and Jacqui." Sonya whispered in anger.
"You'll hate her now. But not only that, she also nearly drained all of Alex's blood and tried to bring him to Kronika." Johnny tells her. This only makes her more pissed off.
"Okay. It's official: she's dead." Sonya was about to step up, but Raiden stopped her.
"No. Your battle is with someone else. Trust me. I will take her on." Raiden said as he is the next warrior of Earthrealm to step up and they take their positions.
"I can smell blood from miles away. Your blood smells blessed. Like you were a god. I've had better blood, but yours will be satisfying." Skarlet said, smiling.
"Your obsession for hunger will not get you any further, Skarlet. You will die of thirst before Shao Kahn will even merge the realms." Raiden said.
"I'll have all the blood for eternity once my master achieves his ultimate goals." Skarlet said as they fight.
Watching through the hourglass, Alex couldn't help but feel a bit angry, remembering when Skarlet stole nearly all of his blood and stabbed him in his limbs. Thankfully, Jade was there to save him and she and Geras were forced to retreat.
"I hope you put that bitch in her place, Raiden." Alex said.
Skarlet throws two blood daggers at Raiden, but he dodges and sends a palm strike to her chin before doing some roundhouse kicks to the right shoulder and on top of her head. He does another palm strike to her chest and her left shoulder and her face before grabbing her head and throwing her down, back first. Skarlet summons a blood tentacle from the ground to grab Raiden, but he rolls backwards to avoid it, but two grab his feet to keep him in place. Skarlet comes forward and takes a blood dagger, swings it upward at Raiden's left shoulder and thrusts it down onto that same shoulder, cracking it and blood comes out. Skarlet then knees Raiden in the chest as she does a strike to the collarbone, a swing kick at his right shoulder and then uppercuts him in the chin, sending Raiden back.
Raiden lands on his back but gets back up. Skarlet this time uses more tentacles to trap his forearms. Skarlet was fixing to stab him in the stomach, but he backflip kicks her right in the chin, cracking it and sending Skarlet back, causing the tentacles to disappear. Raiden then approaches her, but Skarlet recovers, does a punch to the right shoulder, across the face and a chop strike to the stomach and a kick to the chest, cracking it and sending Raiden back. Raiden regains his footing as he begins to counter. Raiden charges and does an uppercut to the face, the stomach and does a low kick to Skarlet's left leg, breaking it entirely. Raiden does a back kick to Skarlet's head, nearly breaking her skull, grabs her by her shoulders and knees her spine, nearly breaking it as well as Skarlet falls forward, defeated.
"You will taste eternal defeat." Raiden said to her before he walks away. Liu Kang still can't help but feel concerned for Raiden's safety.
"Excellent fighting, Raiden." Liu Kang compliments him.
"Thank you, Lord Liu Kang. After all, I trained for millennia before I became aware of your existence." Raiden whispered. They're trying to make sure no enemy overhears their private conversations.
"Sonya Blade." Shang Tsung said, getting her attention. "I have a gift for you."
"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't want any shit from you." Sonya said.
"Please, allow me. You will thank me later." Shang Tsung points two fingers behind Sonya. She sees someone walking out into the field. She grunts in anger, recognizing who it is. Much to her surprise, and even Kitana's surprise, it is Kabal. He is much younger. He has long, black hair and is still muscular.
"Hello, Blade. Did you miss me?" Kabal asked.
"You. You're with the Black Dragon again, aren't you?" Sonya glares at him.
"Hell yeah. Better than being left to rot on the streets. You thought you could break us that easily? Well you can think again." Kabal said as he sped to the field. Sonya takes her position to the field and is ready to fight.
Liu Kang was rather reluctant on what to do with Kabal. He was an ally against Shao Kahn before his death by Sindel and became a revenant. And his past self teaming up with Kano again and given his past crimes, he in the end decided against restoring his memories. But a part of him still feels like he might be redeemed one day. Just maybe.
Sonya fires her energy rings at Kabal, but he gets out his hook swords and slices them away. Kabal uses his speed to charge into Sonya and push her backwards. She brings out her batons and was ready to fight back. Sonya and Kabal switch between offense and defense with their respective weapons. They were almost even until Kabal kicks her in the chin, speeds around her and elbows her in the chin and trips her as he pins her with his hook swords to her throat.
"Want me to slow down a little?" Kabal mockingly asked.
Sonya grits her teeth as she shoots him in the stomach with her gauntlets, blasting him off of her. She gets back up. Kabal sped up to her as he swings the batons out of her hands, missed a couple of swings but backhands her across the face before uppercutting her and kicking her in the forehead. He then punches her in the stomach followed by a kick to the chest and right knee, forcing Sonya down as Kabal wraps his hook swords around Sonya and throws her forward, sending her down back first, cracking her spin and right shoulder a little.
Sonya rolls backwards while kicking him in the face and recovers. Kabal stumbles, allowing Sonya to shoot the hook swords out of his hands, forcing him to fight barehanded too. Sonya charges in and punches him in the left shoulder, right rib cage, a knee to the stomach and tosses a stun bomb in the air, electrocuting Kabal as Sonya does a punch to the chest and an elbow strike to the chin. Sonya then does a kick to the chin and the forehead as she does four punches to the chest and rib cages and grabs his neck and throws him down and stomps on his face, cracking it. Then finally, Sonya does three kicks to the forehead and an eagle kick to the top of his head, sending him down and cracking his skull some more as part of his face is covered in blood. Kabal lays in the ground defeated.
"How about you take a nap once I'm done with you." Sonya said. He lifts Kabal by his hair and holds him by the throat.
"Sonya, don't!" Johnny tries to warn her.
"Finish him." Shao Kahn said.
"I'm only asking you this one time. What are Kano's plans with Shao Kahn? Who has he recruited to his damn club." Sonya said.
"Like hell I'll tell you military dumbasses. Good luck catching me next time." Kabal said. He turns a knob on his gear on his left hip and tear gas comes spewing out from his backing gear, forcing Sonya to back up and cover her eyes as they nearly sting her. Kabal smirks and makes his escape.
"God damn it!" Sonya yelled in anger. Shang Tsung smiles, liking the way she's angry most of the time.
"At ease, Sonya. Like I said. You will get your chance with the Black Dragon. Soon." Liu Kang reminds her.
Sonya scoffs. She has been told about Kano's death at the hands of her younger self during the time war, but is disappointed she didn't get to see it or do it herself. Sonya hopes to kill him again one day or bring him to justice. As long as she made him pay for what he has done. Sonya walks away from the field.
"Now it is time for the last match for the day. Now witness the strongest centaurian that has ever lived among Outworld. Has been one of my most reliable fighters for thousands of years. His name is Motaro!" Shao Kahn said. One of the big gates open as Motaro comes out, snarling and roaring.
Liu Kang turns to Nightwolf and nods to him. Nightwolf nods back, knowing what he has to do. Nightwolf enters the field to face Motaro once again.
"The Matoka warrior. I see bravery. A good trait, but you are also foolish to think you are capable of facing me. Centurians have been the superior race for so long since we served under Shao Kahn's rule. And they will run wild and stomp on the human race for satisfaction once my master gains his goals. After that, the Shokan race will be next." Motaro said before they fight.
Motaro fires an energy projectile from his pointy tail, but Nightwolf uses his tomahawk weapons to slice them in half before charging at him. Motaro swings his tail at Nightwolf, in which he ducks it and swings it at his left rib cage, cutting his waist a little before uppercutting him in the jaw. Nightwolf jumps to kick him in the face, then punches him in the chest two times and swings his tomahawk at his chest, cutting it a little as well. He was about to jump and swing it onto his shoulder, but Motaro grabs his wrist, punches Nightwolf to the ground. He was about to stomp him, but Nightwolf rolls out of the way, only for Motaro to teleport behind him as he delivers a punch to the face and chest and turns around and does two kicks to the forehead with his back legs. Nightwolf is sent backwards and lands on his back.
Nightwolf gets back up and gives Motaro a kick and elbow strike to the chest and a punch to the face, but Motaro barely stumbles as he quickly catches Nightwolf's arm, twists it and headbutts him backwards and punches his left shoulder, cracking it and causing bad pain. Motaro swings his tail at his feet. Nightwolf jumps, only to be hit in the chest by strong kicks to the chest, cracking his chest greatly. He sent backwards before he gets back up. He spits up blood and knows he has to turn this around.
Nightwolf charges back in and Motaro does another tail sweep attack. Nightwolf once again dodges and this time, bends backwards from the kicks before shoulder bashing him backwards and swinging his tomahawk down onto his back left leg, breaking it completely. Nightwolf faces Motaro face to face, and then slices his stomach open, slams both of his tomahawk weapons down onto his collarbones, breaking them completely as he shoulder bashes him so hard his chest breaks as well as some rib cages.
"Finish him." Shao Kahn tells Nightwolf.
Nightwolf slams his tomahawk onto Motaro's head, steps back and uses his other tomahawk weapon and slices Motaro's head off and it falls off his shoulders with the tomahawk still attached. Nightwolf holds it up in victory as Motaro's dead body falls over.
"Enough!" Shao Kahn announces with a rather annoyed voice in his tone, having had five of his champions be defeated, with Motaro now killed. One of his most powerful warriors is finished for good.
"Let us retire for the day. Guards. Escort the champions to their chambers. Remember. They are not to be harmed outside the tournament." Shao Kahn said. He walks up to what remains of Motaro's body and growls in anger. "Useless."
The heroes of Earthrealm are being escorted back to their chambers. Johnny looks back at his remains and makes a comment.
"Boy. I really hate to be that guy right now. Guess this means we're winning right now." Johnny said. Jax smirks, satisfied that they're making good progress so far.
Note: I thought I'd have Johnny fight D'Vorah to make up for him losing to her in Battle of the Realms. Honestly, I didn't like how that fight turned out since I thought he was nerfed. Then again, most of the fights in that movie weren't very good. I hope you guys liked the first fatality of the tournament. Until next time.