"How many climate suits are you taking?" Jin asked.
"Just two," Takeda said, "but they're not the military's. They're my Shirai Ryu ninja suits. I'm wearing the white one for heat, and packing the thick black one for cold." He rolled the black one up and stuffed it firmly into the bottom of his tiny pack. He added, "General Blade said to pack for deserts, but you never know. We could end up in a frozen tundra."
"That's true," Jin nodded. "I guess I'll pack a couple layers, too, for under my vest."
"Just make sure they don't take up a whole lot of room in your bag. We still need room for extra weapons, food-"
"I know, I know." Jin shrugged. "If worst comes to worst we can always ditch what we don't need."
"I'd rather not have to ditch stuff."
Jin shot him a look. Okay? "Then pack what you want."
Takeda decided to ignore the quip. He refused to be annoyed before this mission. All four of them were probably high-strung as it was, and he knew he'd only make it worse if he added to it. He let a thick silence cloud in the air like humidity while he dug through his clothing drawers. Okay, so he had both his suits, what else? Under Armor, warm and cold. Once he found each he tossed the warm gear on his bed next to the suit and folded the cold gear nice and neat, noting out of the corner of his eyes how Jin messily shoved everything into his bag. It was only about the size of a plastic bag - if he didn't fold everything up, he wouldn't have enough room for his portion of their supplies, and if they didn't have enough room for all their supplies then they wouldn't be able to take everything they needed, and if they couldn't take everything they needed they may run into an emergency, and if they ran into an emergency without supplies then they wouldn't be prepared-
. . . Geez. He really was high-strung.
He moved to his closet and pulled his chest plate out with the shoulder pads and leather gauntlets already attached by the whips, throwing them on the bed as well. His whips' wheels were already secured to the back and the ropes were already fed through the gauntlets, he'd just have to slip them on his arms when he dressed. He tossed four extra wheels and some tools in his pack in case he needed to replace them out in the field. Set out his greaves and shoe guards. What else, shoulder guards? Already attached to his suit. Any extra armor would only take up unnecessary space, so he decided to only bring the set he'd wear.
"Hope it doesn't get too damaged to use. God, stop it!" he yelled at himself. "You're literally going to be fine!" He wondered if Jin was at all as nervous as he was, or if he was thinking any of the same things. Takeda checked his peripheral again, but to his frustration, Jin didn't look nervous at all. His brow was set in thought as he went through his mental checklist. Otherwise, nothing. Takeda gently scanned his mind, seeing if he could pick anything up.
" . . . keeping all my chakrams on me. I can make extra arrows if I have to."
"You might not be able to," Takeda answered aloud. "What if there's no wood or whatever?"
Jin glared at him. "Shaolin arrows are made from a special wood. Which I have."
Takeda snorted. "You just carry a hunk of wood around-" He caught Jin's glare and stopped himself.
"Yes. And stay out of my head!"
"Sorry." Scarf on the bed, gloves on the bed, headband on the bed, and he decided he was ready to dress.
He left his compression shorts on, but changed his tank top for the Under Armor. Pulling it on over his head, he made sure it laid completely flat against his chest and back. He grabbed his white body suit next and unzipped it the whole way, stepping into it. Almost immediately his feet got stuck in the skin-tight legs, so he had to sit down to pull them through. He could tell he wasn't focused. He could tell he was scared. Really, really scared of this mission. He felt like he was watching himself from someone else's point of view. Like it wasn't really him about to leave on the most dangerous mission of his life. He would wake up and be safe. And Jacqui would be safe. And as he sat, he felt hyperaware of the silence and his surroundings. Hyperaware of his breathing and his body. He felt like he could see every stitch in his suit. He felt like he could hear the stuff in Jin's pack settle. He felt odd, like he wasn't moving of his own volition. Like he had to tell his arms and fingers to move - grab the pant leg. Curl your fingers around it. Open it up. Slide your foot through. Grab the other. Repeat.
It wasn't real.
And yet, every time he blinked, he still woke up in that person's body and watched them get dressed.
Before he pulled his arms through his suit, he inched back on his bed and sat cross-legged, closing his eyes for some meditative breathing. He felt the cool air, taking a few shallow breaths first to root himself in his surroundings and the feeling of the room and the air. As soon as he felt ready he pulled in a slow, deep breath. Imagining it rushing into his lungs, filling fully, all the way down to his belly button. He imagined his ribs expanding, his chest opening up. Grounding him. Air rushing through his nose, down his throat, into his lungs. Relaxing. He took ten deep breaths, then opened his eyes.
Already, he felt better. A little less heavy, a little more clear of mind. He shimmied off his bed and shook it out, going limb-by-limb until he felt completely relaxed.
"You okay?" Jin asked. It startled Takeda a bit. He forgot anyone else was in the room.
"Yup!" he said brightly, and he meant it. "I just needed to calm down a bit. This mission's stressing me out." He grabbed the pair of white leather gloves off the bed and stretched them on, hoping Jin would react somehow to what he said. Either a, 'Me too,' or, a condescending chuckle. Something. He didn't. Takeda fed his arms through the suit and through his whip gauntlets, but he had to undo the buckles to position them right. With only one arm he couldn't get them clasped again. "Hey, Jin, help me out," he said, crossing the room. "Zip me up, and buckle these up for me."
Jin did as he was told without a fight, and once his suit and gauntlets were on and comfortable, he pulled his sandals and guards on, and strapped up his greaves. Stepped into his body armor and made sure the cup was positioned comfortably before snapping all the buckles into place. He let his whips out to make sure they were working, and once he felt good, he gently wound the scarf around his neck, and tied the headband around his hair.
"Ready to go?" Jin asked.
"Yeah. Lemme just . . . extra clothes, extra shoes, extra equipment . . . " he mumbled, going through his checklist. " . . . Mask," he decided. He grabbed it from his drawer and tossed it into his pack. "Hm . . . I think I'm good. We'll get provisions and hygiene stuff from General Blade. You good, Jin?"
"Yup."
"Alright." He walked out of the room with the dreadful but familiar feeling that he was forgetting something, but he knew he wasn't. "Did you pack cold gear?" he asked Jin.
"Yes."
"Extra weapons?"
"Yes."
"Extra . . . underwear?"
Jin smirked. "Yes, mom."
"Good." The two of them waited outside of Cassie and Jacqui's room until they were done. Takeda decided to double check with the two of them.
"Jacqui," he thought, projecting it for her.
"I can hear you."
"Make sure you pack cold gear just in case. And extra clothes and weapons and clips-"
"Yeah, yeah, we're already on top of it. Thanks, mom," Cassie sent to him. The door opened up, and the two of them shuffled out, carrying their half-empty packs on their backs. "Mom texted me. She's in the mess hall with our extra food and stuff. She said once we pick that stuff up we're good to go whenever." As she spoke she pushed her way to the front and led the group. They followed behind, and the four of them trudged along in silence. Takeda wondered if they were thinking about the mission as much as he was. Or if Jacqui was thinking about her father. If they were worried about finding them dead, dying themselves?
General Blade didn't have a whole lot to say either when they made it to the mess hall. She had their supplies split into four even piles, enough for their small packs. "Don't forget to ration," she told them. "Eat for survival right from the get-go. You're there for a week, remember? Before you go M.I.A. Here're your comm devices. Maps of the surrounding areas. Map paper to draw one of the area if your devices don't work. GPS and ground coordinates. Compasses. I have full confidence in you guys."
They were silent while they packed. Every clink of the cans or rustle of the pack seemed to hang dead in the air. Once they were all packed, General Blade led them to the recon tent.
Fujin was already there. He had his arms crossed, and his finger on his chin in contemplation. Once he saw them, he dropped his quizzical look. "Cassandra. Is your team ready?" he asked, straightening his shoulders to them once he saw them. She looked down the line and met eyes with each of them. At their nod, she nodded as well.
"Yes."
General Blade stepped forward. "Remember: protect yourselves, and protect each other. Anticipate the worst, hope for the best. And for the love of god, someone watch the rear!" Cassie and Jin chuckled at the reference. She grabbed Cassie and hugged her close. "Good luck," she said, eyeing her at arm's length.
"Thanks," Cassie said. "See you in a week, mom."
"Ready?" Fujin asked. Cassie stepped back with the rest of them and nodded. "Take each other's hand, and mine," he said, holding his hand out to Jacqui. As soon as they were all ready Fujin looked up, and the wind picked up around them. Swirling and swirling and swirling, picking up the dust and dirt around them in a small tornado. It seemed to suck the air straight from Takeda's lungs, and he shut his eyes tight against it. There was a moment of weightlessness. The ground disappeared from his feet and he had to resist the urge to flail. The others let out a gasp of surprise as well, and Jacqui's hand started to crush his. The blackness behind his eyes seemed to grow thicker, deeper, and then his feet were on solid ground.
He opened his eyes and saw white. White everywhere.
Snow.
The flurries fell thick around them, covering the dead trees and bushes. The wind whistled around them, and Takeda was glad he packed warm gear. He impulsively crossed his arms, huddling in on himself for warmth, but the biting chill never ripped through his layers. He bent down, picking up a handful of snow that glowed in a patch of moonlight, and grunted in surprise. It was lukewarm.
"Uuuh, guys? The snow's not cold."
"Neither is the breeze," Fujin said distantly. "It's . . . unnerving. Raiden!" he yelled. "Raiden! Can you hear me?"
Takeda took stock of their surroundings. It looked like they were in a small courtyard. There were stone pillars around them, fenced in by wrought-iron. Lit torches atop some of the stone, adding a pale and haunting yellow light to the natural white light of the moon. Dead tree branches and overgrown shrubs everywhere, it looked like it hadn't been touched in years, let alone a few weeks ago by Raiden and the others.
"Are those . . . graves?" Cassie asked. Takeda followed her gaze, tracing the wrought-iron fence around them. In the middle of their small courtyard were three tombs lining the fence. Two on either side of a gate directly across from them, and one looming almost directly in front of them. Cassie walked straight up to the first one.
"Don't touch anything," Fujin warned her.
Either she didn't hear, or didn't care. She brushed snow away from the inscription, tracing it with her fingers once it was clear. "Hm," she frowned. "I can't read it."
"This is as far as I dare go," Fujin said, backing away from the grave, and from the four of them. "I must leave you. I wish you good fortune. I will return here in a week to collect you. If you are not there, I will assume the worst." Without another word, the tornado picked up around him, and when it settled, he was gone.
"See ya," Jin muttered.
Takeda's curiosity spurred him forward, and he took his first steps in the area, making his own footprints in the fresh snow. Already it felt wrong, like he wasn't meant to be there, defiling the stillness. He crouched behind Cassie with Jacqui and Jin.
"Someone you know, Cass?" Jin joked.
Cassie chuckled. "Just checking to see how old these are. The writing's a little worn, but still readable. I just can't understand the language."
"I recognize the symbols as being from an Outworld language. Which makes sense considering the bust resembles Shao Khan. Let's check out the other two," he said, crossing the small courtyard to the gravesite on the left. The sculpted skeleton wore a black hooded robe and held a book out in front of it. Jin knelt and looked for the same writing. "I can't even find it on this one."
"It's on that little gate-thing in the front," Jacqui said, pointing to an archway sculpted into the base. Jin brushed some snow away from it.
" . . . It looks a little older than the other one. It's in an Outworld language, too."
While they inspected it, Takeda looked at the third. The skeleton sat on a high-backed chair. It's bone forehead was sculpted into furrowed eyebrows, and with the grin it looked sinister. Like it was staring knowingly at Takeda. He shuddered and turned away, desperate to remove himself from the skull's line of sight. He still felt its eye sockets on his back, even as he huddled a little closer to Jacqui than usual. A tightness seemed to ball up in his stomach. Rolling and twisting on itself. He shouldn't be there. He wanted to curl up into that ball and just disappear. The skeleton wouldn't stop staring at him.
"Feel how soft this dirt is," Jin said, scooping up a wet handful. "Fresh, you think?" he asked.
"Probably just the snow making it moist," he suggested. What else could it be? rang in his mind like an alarm bell, desperate to send the rest of him into chaos. He quickly banished the thought, hoping he didn't accidentally project it for someone to read.
"Hey," Cassie said, "Let's check our devices." She shrugged her pack off her shoulder and opened it up, digging for her comm device. Takeda pulled his as well, hitting the small button on the side to bring it to life. It refused to respond.
"Geez, mine won't even turn on!" Jacqui said.
Takeda shrugged. "Me either."
"Me either," Cassie said, gently smacking it into her palm. "Woah! And look at the compass!" She held it out for the four of them to see. The needle spun in all different directions, around and around and around the center. The digital clock on the side ran wild as well, continuously counting up the seconds and minutes wildly. "Fuck . . . " she breathed. She discarded the two of them into the snow and dug into a pouch on her belt for cell phone. Her lock screen lit up, but the clock on it ran rampant too.
Cassie quickly unlocked it and punched in General Blade's number. The four of them watched, waiting to see if the cell phone would even dial. It only took a few seconds for Cassie to shake her head. "Didn't even ring," she said. "So, no comm, no cell phones, what else?" She pulled a hand-held walkie-talkie out of another pouch.
"Man, that's old school," Jacqui said.
Cassie shrugged. "We figured we may as well try it." She flipped to a channel. "General Blade, this is Sergeant Cage. Do you copy? Sergeant Cage to General Blade, do you copy?" Cassie flipped to a new channel. "Cage to Blade, do you copy?"
"We're not even getting static," Jin said.
"Shh!" New channel. "Sergeant Cage to General Blade, do you copy?"
"Don't even bother," Jin said. "There's no static-"
"Jin, shut up," Cassie warned. She went through each individual channel before discarding the walkie talkie as well. "Okay, well we're officially screwed on the technology front."
Jacqui shrugged. "I mean, it's nothing we weren't expecting, right? General Blade said our devices wouldn't work. I wouldn't throw those away, though. She wanted us to do a sweep and find if there was an area where they do work."
"We don't know how big the area is, though," Cassie countered. "That could take days off our mission if it ends up being large."
"It's a graveyard!" Jin said. He threw his arms out, spinning around to gesture to the entire courtyard. "How big could it be?"
Cassie leveled a glare at him. "Let's find out," she said defiantly, practically stomping towards the black wrought-iron gate. Upon closer inspection, Takeda saw it had the Mortal Kombat dragon on it. It sat a small ways into a narrow stone corridor, and as she left the soft glow of the torches, the darkness seemed to swallow her up. A burst of fear wormed its way into his heart, and before he could check it, a rogue, stomach-churning fear that she would be eaten alive by the darkness propelled him forward. He walked until he had her back in his sights, childishly afraid that she would be gone forever if someone didn't keep her in their field of vision.
This place gave him the creeps. He felt like he was being watched.
Cassie pressed her entire body up to the bars, and jammed her face between two of them. "It looks like . . . open area. Like a straight path that just goes back. I can't see the other side. It's too dark over there." Jin walked up behind her, and dug into his pack until he emerged with a flashlight. He pointed it between the bars, but it didn't reach any farther than Cassie's vision. The darkness was too intense.
"Help me push this open," he said. He clamped the flashlight between his teeth and threw his shoulder into the gate to force it open. The rusted, rotten hinges screamed in protest, and Takeda chafed at the harsh sound as it echoed through every inch of wherever they were. He didn't know where those inches could be, but he was sure they heard it. Cassie was about to barrel into the other one before he stopped her.
"Don't! We only need one gate open, right?" She stared at him, then shrugged.
"You twitchy, Tak?"
" . . . Yeah," he muttered. He quickly scanned her mind to see if she was at all, but unfortunately, she had a block set up around her psyche. Either she was scared too and didn't want him to know, or she was subconsciously guarded against the whole world. Jin and Cassie forged their path ahead, and Takeda stayed and waited for Jacqui to squeeze through the fence.
"You okay?"
"Yeah!" she said brightly, but when she looked up at him, he could see it in her eyes. She was disconcerted with the area too. He gave her hand a little squeeze, happy for her company. Just knowing he wasn't alone was a bit of a relief to him. The two of them followed Cassie and Jin into the new area, and what they saw froze them.
What Cassie thought was an open area was actually a straight path, through the middle of row after row of tombstones. Most of them were old, extremely old, crumbling under the duress of perpetual weathering. The grey, dead trees and wild bushes that sprang up randomly had even tilted and uprooted a few. Thick, tendril-like vines crept up the stone barrier enclosing the area, but even some of the stone was cracked and falling away. The path forward seemed to stretch into eternity, and the only thing Takeda could see at the end was a gaping maw of darkness. An arc like a portal, sucking in the rest of the darkness, with the exception of two yellow torches somewhere in the far right corner.
Takeda wanted to go back there, but not without someone else. Everywhere he looked there were skeletons, dragons, skulls and empty sockets staring, staring. He shouldn't be there. He was disrupting their silence. He was disturbing their hallowed space, reserved for them to do what they will. And he was afraid if he went back there alone, they would grab onto him and drag him away.
The ball in his stomach rolled bigger. The urge to run tickled his nerves.
"Holy shit," Cassie breathed, looking around. "Who are all these people? Kombatants?"
Jin wormed his way between a tree and another stone on their right and went straight up to a headstone with a dragon coiled around it. "Maybe victors are buried here?" Jin paused. "Wait, yeah! Gotta be. Because the losers forfeit their souls. And look. This is the symbol for the Mortal Kombat tournament, isn't it?" He checked the name. "This one's in Chinese! Qi- . . . Qiàng . . . Zāi . . . Qiàng Zāilǐ - no way!"
"What?"
"This man was a Shaolin! A fourth generation Shaolin! This grave dates back to the Yuan dynasty, from 1271 through 1368. This could be 700 years old."
"How can you tell?" Takeda asked.
"Okay, so Shaolin have a naming thing when we're initiated. It's based off this poem that Abbot Xueting Fuyu wrote - he was a really important guy in unifying a specific style of Kung Fu that we now know as 'Shaolin technique'," he said, airquoting. "Anyway, each generation of initiates is numbered, and there's a name that corresponds with their number. Zi corresponds to the 4th generation for this guy. That's how I know. We take our family name, so mine would be Kung, right? Then our generation number name, then our first name. So since I'm a 37th generation Shaolin, my number name is Ti. Then stick it all together. Kung Ti Jin. The Shaolin have to memorize the poem and the numbers."
"That's kind of awesome," Cassie admitted. "How come we never called you that?"
Jin shook his head dismissively. "Everybody knows Kung Lao and Liu Kang, and they never used their Shaolin names. I was just following in their footsteps, really. Here's another dragon!" he yelled, sprinting to the back left corner.
"Be careful, Jin!" Takeda yelled. The whole time they talked, he inspected the soil. It was way too fresh for his tastes. And it was only so soft in front of the graves. How could a 700 year old grave have fresh dirt?
He signed, standing from his crouch. He spun around and came face to face with Jacqui. He knew it was Jacqui. But the pale moonlight cast deep shadows over her cheeks and made her look . . .
"Geez!" he yelled. "Scared me."
"Sorry. What are you frowning about?"
"The dirt's kinda bothering me. It's too soft. The snow should've settled over these graves by now. You don't think that's odd?"
"This guy's name was Jin, too!" Jin announced like an overexcited child. "Wǔ Hǎi Jìn!"
"A little," Jacqui began, shrugging. "But the dirt's still flat on the top - Cool, Jin! - if something were trying to get in, or out," she said, staring hard at him, "they'd have to be pretty meticulous to get the dirt as perfect as when they first got there."
"I don't know. It makes me uneasy."
"I won't lie, me too. But think about it. Whatever you're implying's just not possible."
He looked over her shoulder and stared at the dirt again. " . . . I'm not implying anything," he said carefully. "And I'm not trying to sound all paranoid, or anything. It's not like I'm suggesting they suddenly woke up and felt compelled to see the light of day."
"That's not what-"
"Just forget it. Let's keep looking around." He walked up to a stone, shaped like a tall lantern. His feet sunk into the wet ground and he had to practically straddle the dry dirt on either side. Inspecting the tombstone, the skulls sat positioned around the top, and sculpted hands reached up the base as if to claw at whatever was at the top. Takeda shuddered despite himself. Was no one else feeling creeped out? "This place gives me the creeps! Anyone see any Shirai Ryu?"
"I don't see any military," Cassie said, picking amongst the stones.
Jin shook his head. "You wouldn't. The tournament's once every 500 years, and the last tournament was, what, 20 years ago? Nightwolf, and your parents were the first Americans."
"Really?!" Cassie asked, eyebrows raising.
"Yeah! You didn't know that?"
"I mean, I knew my mom and dad were badass, but I didn't know they were that badass!"
Takeda took to the stone wall and followed along the right side from where they entered, noting huge chunks of rock that had fallen in from the rocky crags that stretched higher and higher above them as he drew further back. But they looked . . . odd. Insubstantial. Like they were fake. He drew closer and closer to the torches, and as moonlight morphed into yellow light, he knew why they looked odd. The entrance to the cave opened like a labyrinth in front of him. Covered in spider webs.
Huge spider webs. Inch-thick spider webs.
"Uuuuh, Jacqui? C'mere."