Lone Tark 1

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13 Years Later

Emperor Shao Khan ruled Outworld with an iron fist. Anyone who opposed his rule would basically be burying themselves. As the years went on Shao's Rule has went uncontested, no one was able to dethrone the ruthless Ruler. All his opponents had perished with little effort and all his enemies were smart enough to just flee. When Shao felt like a threat didn't need his attention, he would just send his lackeys to deal with the problem. And as history would have it, every ruler will meet his end. And Shao Khan was no exception to that.

The news of Shao Khan Assassination had spread through Outworld like wildfire. Of course the news didn't reach Commander Baraka who was having a hard time with the task that was given to him. It was supposed to be a simple take over, terrorize the people of Lei Chen until their leader gave in and followed Shao demands. The tarkatans did not expect to run into an obstacle upon their arrival to the city. A large fleet of Seidan soldiers blocked off the outer walls of the city, preventing the horde of tarkata from entering.

Baraka had to order his men to hold off for a moment, to assess the situation. Setting up camp in the northern woods outside of the city. It was his first time encountering the Seidan soldiers, natives of Orderrealm. The scouts he sent ahead of time never reported anything of the sort. Which means the Seidan's must have arrived earlier today and the people of Lei Chen were safe…for now.

"Do we send for reinforcements?" Abasi asked. Now Twenty-eight years old, an almost exact look alike of his father Baraka. Except he was an elite tarkata, the ones that grew to be almost 7 feet tall. His armor colors were all red and black, unlike the usual tarkata armor the others wore. He also wore a necklace that had an assortment of teeth that ranged from human to shokan, all of them from opponents he has killed in combat. A true tarkatan warrior that fought his way to second in command and Baraka couldn't be more proud of his eldest son.

"No, we do not send anything to the emperor." Baraka looked to the sky, it was going to be night soon and his men were getting restless. A direct attack now would prove useless and Baraka did not like waiting on reinforcements. "It's obvious that they prepared themselves for a fight or else they wouldn't have called for outside help."

"Let's set fire to the city." Another tarkatan says. Baraka just waved him off before saying.

"This is no village that can easily be burned down with torches." He looked over at Abasi before looking around at the others standing around him. "Where's Millikan?" he asked looking back at Abasi who shrugged. "Find him, now!"

"Yes father." Abasi bowed and quickly walked off in search of his brother.

"One hundred and twenty four soldiers…odd number of troops." Millikan was convening with a scout that he sent himself. Not that the scouts his father sent were any good, he just preferred to send one that he trained himself. "And you said they were covered in armor, from head to toe?"

"Most of them wore helmets, the armor is something I never seen before. It almost looks useless…the colors are bright and easily breakable." The scout replied. Millikan shook his head before snickering. He could hear Abasi heavy footsteps in the grass, never one for stealth. "They have spears as well."

"That's all I need to know, Asante Chuma." Millikan turned around to face his brother. Unlike Abasi, Millikan stopped growing at 6"5 which was sort of in the middle of the regular and elite tarkata. There was no denying the fact that all the male tarkata looked alike, facial wise. The brothers could almost pass as twins if it wasn't for the height difference. And Millikan having a bit more muscle then his older sibling. Another distinguishable feature that Millikan had was his half head of hair. Despite his father protest, Millikan decided to keep his hair. Letting it grow out for almost a year and a half, it had grown just several inches pass his shoulders. To keep it from getting tangled, Mileena his own mother had taken it upon herself to do his hair. She braided his hair which ended up becoming dreadlocks, something Millikan ended up liking in the end. It also made some of the other male tarkata jealous because it was a well-known fact that male tarkata were born hairless. Baraka just hated it but he couldn't do anything about it without Mileena coddling him.

Other than the hair, Millikan wore the traditional tarkatan soldier uniform. Grey chest armor and black pants. Sometimes he would wear dark purple pants and a black chest armor. The only thing Baraka didn't complain about was the earring in his left ear, jewelry was ok with tarkatans as long as it didn't get in the way. Millikan was definitely the unique looking tarkatan of the horde.

"Let me guess, father wants to see me?" Millikan already knew the answer to the question but asked anyway.

"I told him we should call for reinforcements but you know how that goes." Abasi scoffed looking at the other tarkata standing about. "What do you think, since you always like to read instead of training? Have you read anything about them?"

"Yet I still kick your ass brother." Millikan steps back as Abasi tried to shove him. "I do remember reading something about order realm but that…was dated centuries ago. And from what Chuma has told me, they don't sound like the ones I read about." Still that wouldn't change the fact that their father would most likely send them to fight. "I think our best bet is to attack at night, just as the sun goes down."

"An ambush then." Abasi almost sounded excited about the idea. Millikan just shrugs and nods towards the direction of their father who seemed too got tired of waiting for them to come back.

"I see you two have a plan." Baraka walked over to his sons and stood between them.

"Millikan says we should attack at night." Abasi pointed out. Baraka tilted his head in thought before he nods.

"Then I suppose you will be leading the attack then Abasi."

"I be honored." Abasi crossed his left arm over his chest and bowed. Millikan just frowned before looking to the ground.

"Millikan you will lead the rear, take out the leftovers." Baraka noticed Millikan looking to the ground. "Head up boy."

"It was my idea, I should lead."

"You lead when I deem you are ready to lead." Baraka patted his shoulder. "Your day will come, now get your men ready. We have a couple hours before the sunset."

"Yes father." Millikan knew this was the end of that discussion. Just bows his head and walks off. 10 years of participating in raids and battles, Millikan was always left in the rear while Abasi took the lead. Baraka would always make Millikan plan the attacks and make Abasi execute them. When will it be Millikan turn to lead? Though Millikan had the feeling his mother had something to with it. Now was not the time to think about leading, Millikan had job to do.

The night hadn't come fast enough for Abasi, who was itching for a fight. Walking ahead of the horde as he trudged across the grass field that separated him and the unsuspecting guardsmen. It seemed some of the guardsmen had went into the city, only leaving around twenty outside of the gate. Easy pickings, Abasi thought as he gave the signal to attack.

"TARKATA!" One of the guardsmen shouted out as soon as they got near. The sound of metal hitting metal, snarls and growls. The guards seemed to be outnumbered by the horde, which seemed to grow as more tarkata entered the fray. Baraka and Millikan was watching from a distance with the rest of the horde. Seeing Abasi and his men take out the Seidan's with a bit of trouble as they tried to fight back with their long spears. They were definitely caught off guard as the tarkata used the darkness of the night was to their advantage.

Millikan was wondering where the rest of the Seidan's were. The gates should have opened by now? Looking up at the top of the wall he noticed several figures standing there with bows aimed downward. Millikan reached over and smacked Baraka shoulder making the elder tark snarl at him.

"What?" Baraka looked in to where Millikan was pointing and noticed the seidan on the wall. Shooting off arrows at the tarkata down below, each arrow impaling the heads of unsuspecting tarks. "GURA!" Baraka roared out and the rest of the tarkatan horde ran out to the battle field.

"Guard me while I get to the wall." Millikan says as he ran around the field. Three tarks following after him. He managed to make it to the wall without being attacked by the Seidan's below. And it seemed the ones on the wall were unaware of his presence as well. The wall was made of stone, the edges were hollow enough for him to grab onto as he scaled the wall. He reached the top without being noticed, making sure to look over the side. Eyes widened as he spotted a giant fleet of seidans on the other side. Looked like a swarm of humanoid beetles standing side by side.

That's more then 124, Chuma

Of course his scout wouldn't be able to count them all seeing as he told him to look at the ones outside of the gate. This was going to be a problem in the long run. He needed to get to his father and tell him about the others. First he needed to take out the archers on the wall. Climbing onto the wall, Millikan extends his left arm-blade and disappears in puff of dark purple smoke. He appears behind the closest Seidan and slices off his head in a swift swipe of his blade. The other archers on the wall noticed there comrade body fall over the wall and aimed there arrows at Millikan.

Millikan teleports just as a wave of arrows flies right through the smoke he left in his path. One by one Millikan was stabbing and slicing off the heads of the archers with ease. There were a total of ten and all of them had fallen over except one that dropped his bow and jumped down to the other side. Millikan stood on the wall and looked over to the battle field, seeing the horde getting the upper hand once more. His brother had an arrow in his shoulder but that did not slow him down as he was knocking back their opponents spear and stabbing them.

The wall rumbled beneath Millikan making him crouch down to steady himself. The gate opened up and the fleet of Seidan soldiers came flooding onto the battle field. Now they were evenly matched in numbers…so much for having the advantage. Extending his other arm-blade, Millikan jumps down off the wall and lands on one the seidan shoulders, his body folding backwards with a loud snap of the spine. He ducked as the sharp of end a spear went pass his head. Glaring at the owner of the weapon with a snarl before jumping forward with a hard kick to the Seidan abdomen knocking him back.

Before the Seidan could catch his balance, Millikan grabs hold of the spear and pulls it towards him. The Seidan stumbled forward and was met with a hard fist to the face. His helmet made a loud ding, his head lurching back so far that his neck snapped, killing him on the spot. Millikan throws the spear to the side and went onto to the next soldier, taking him out as well. He was cutting through the soldiers, trying to find his father or brother on the field. There was so much going on in the battle that he didn't have time to actually look as he fought off the Seidan's.

The tarkata were starting to dwindle in numbers and Millikan wasn't sure if they were going to be able to get out of this battle alive. The sound of his kin roaring in defeat caught his attention. Millikan looks to his left to see a soldier lopping off the heads of tarkata with a naginata. The way he moved, so fluent and precise showed he was no stranger to battle. He was slightly taller than the others and he had two red flags on his back with symbols on them. Millikan could only assume that was the seidan commander. Take out the commander, there would be a possibility that the soldiers would retreat.

Millikan ran towards the flagged seidan just as he cut off another tarks head. Millikan waited til the seidan swung his weapon and teleports out of sight. He appears behind him with his left arm raised, ready to cut the seidan down. It wasn't as simple as the seidan seem to sense him coming and side flipped out of the way. Millikan ended up stabbing the dirt, head snapping to the right as he growled. He quickly pulled his arm-blade out of the dirt and jumped back to his feet. The seidan seemed to be eyeing him now, though he couldn't tell due to the helmet he wore. The only indication was the slight tilt of his head and the way he twirled his naginata around before shoving the end into the ground.

"Kusimama." Millikan called out, stopping two tarkata from attacking the flagged seidan. "I got this one." He waved them off. The tarkata just looked at each other before running off to fight the other soldiers. The flagged seidan removes his hand from his weapon and reaches up to remove his helmet, dropping it the ground below. Millikan squinted as he took a good look at the seidan face. He looked human except his eyes were all white, just like his unkempt shoulder length hair.

"Are you the leader of this army?" the man spoke, his voice loud and direct.

"I am the Son of Commander Baraka." Millikan replied. "And you are?"

"Commander Hotaru of the seidan guard. You seem to be different than the other tarkata. And if you have any sense you will go tell your father to call off his men and go back to which you came from."

Millikan looked around the battlefield, the Seidan's and the other tarkata were evenly matched. He looks at Hotaru with a grimace before extending his arm-blades. Running to his father to tell him that would just bring shame. The corner of Hotaru lip twitched as he quickly grabs hold of his weapon, so much for being different. At least he gets a challenge out of this, he was starting to get bored of killing the tarkata so easily.

Millikan was the first to strike, rushing forward. Hotaru twirled his naginata once before swinging it to the left, aiming for Millikan head. Millikan ducks and swipes his right arm blade across Hotaru chest plate, the tip of his blade connecting with the armor causing it to spark. Hotaru manage to pull back just as the blade pass his chin. Grunting as he smacked the back of Millikan head with the middle part of his weapon. Stumbling forward from the blow to the head, Millikan growled as Hotaru brings up his right knee and connects with his nose knocking him back up.

"Agh." Millikan steps back and reaches up to touch his nose. He looks at his hand to see blood, a busted bloody nose. He looked at Hotaru who seemed to be waiting for his next move. Holding his weapon behind him, the long blade pointed to the ground. Millikan let out a roar as rushed towards Hotaru but this time he slides and goes for a leg sweep. Hotaru easily hops over the leg and counters with a sharp kick to Millikan chest.

Millikan took the blow and counters with a backwards swipe of his right arm-blade. The pained hiss was a rewarding sound to Millikan as he saw Hotaru jump back. Standing up straight, he noticed the fresh blood on the tip of his right arm-blade. Looking at Hotaru to see a fresh graze across his mid-section, a clean cut right through the spandex. Now it was Hotaru turn to go for the attack and this had caught him completely off guard.

Hotaru slid towards him, a trail of hot lava left near his feet. Millikan jumped to the left as Hotaru tried to jab the end of his spear into Millikan mid-section. There was no time to contemplate what just happened as Millikan had to jump back as Hotaru swung his naginata at him.

"Shit." Millikan hissed as the sharp end of the naginata cut clean across his tunic, slightly nicking his abdomen. Snapping his teeth, Millikan retracted his arm-blades and grabs hold of the wooden part of the naginata and pulls it toward him. He leans back and head-butts Hotaru but it seemed the seidan had a tough skull because his grip was still tight on his weapon. Millikan decides to use his teeth, snapping at Hotaru face, inches from biting his nose.

Hotaru lets go with his right hand and grabs hold of the right side of Millikan face.

"…Ah…AAHHHHH" Millikan roar could be heard for miles. The right side of Millikan face felt like it had suddenly caught fire. He roared in pain and throws a left hook at Hotaru knocking him back. Millikan stumbles back, and teleports away from Hotaru. He ended up standing just a few feet away and runs off, heading towards the woods.

"Millikan." The sound of his father calling after him was ignored. The burning pain on the side of his face was too much, it was the worst feeling ever and it felt like his face was starting to melt. He needed some water, something to ease the pain. He was stumbling across the battle field, dodging and knocking back any soldiers that came near him. He could hear his father calling for a retreat. Yes, this was not a battle they could win today.

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