"I cannot believe this!" Said Mileena in frustration. "How could father ask for us to do this?" She complained. "Doesn't he know how busy we are? We basically run this realm for him."
"Calm down, Sister." Said Kitana calmly as she opened a book. "Father simply wishes that this job is done, and after so long you cannot blame him for wanting us to personally oversee the tournament."
"He wants us to compete." Stated Mileena. "If the job was just to oversee then I wouldn't even care. I mean, What if one of us is hurt? or worse?"
"You know earthrealm hasn't produced any champions of note since Kung Lao. This will likely be over in a couple days and we may only need to fight once or twice each. " Kitana replied simply as she didn't take her eyes from the book.
"You don't believe Goro will fight in the tournament?" Mileena questioned.
"He hasn't fought in at least the last four with earthrealm if I'm not mistaken. Earthrealm can't supply too many competitive fighters. Humans live such short lives after all." Kitana explained.
"Still….." began Mileena. "Kung Lao and his friends managed to win a tournament, with Kung Lao even defeating Shang Tsung. His allies were also very skilled. What were their names?"
"Taja, Siro, and Tomas are the ones who participated alongside Kung Lao. They were very impressive fighters; each of them better than anyone earthrealm has sent in generations." Kitana finished.
Mileena smirked. "I'd almost forgotten how close you had become with Kung Lao after his victory in the tournament. Maybe this time I'll find a nice shaolin boy for myself. I had heard Raiden is considering his descendant, who is also named Kung Lao, strangely enough. He could be nice" Stated Mileena.
"If you'd do some research." Began Kitana as she threw her book to Mileena. "You'd know that Kung Lao isn't going to compete. Shang Tsung has provided plenty of information on earthrealm fighting styles, weapons, and even some info on our current batch of opponents. Including the shaolin representative, Liu Kang."
"That scum actually managed to scout earth's fighters without being struck down by Raiden? Father is probably happy."
"Happy is relative. He'll be overjoyed once we've won the tournament." Reminded Kitana.
"I'm sure, but for now I have plans." Said Mileena before throwing the book back at Kitana. "I won't stop you from burying yourself into Shang Tsung's notes if that's how you want to spend your time, but I'm gonna have some fun with however much time we have before the tournament."
"Father wants us to be prepared." Stated Kitana.
"What? Our daily training exercises aren't enough?" Asked Mileena sarcastically. Kitana scowled. "Relax Sister, I'll study later, but for now I'm going out." She finished before taking her leave.
Now alone, Kitana cracked the book back open and began studying each of the passages on earth realms many nations, and how they often fight. Shang Tsung had noted that this has been a problem for Raiden over the years with strong warriors killing one another in pointless battle; making it harder for Raiden to find champions. This was a strange concept for Kitana as the outworld was united under Shao Kahn. Sure there was conflict, but Shao Kahn never once struggled to find suitable champions. He even created warriors using magic in his free time.
Next Kitana looked into earth realms weaponry and how it could impact the tournament. When the great Kung Lao had fought, earthrealm was still using blades and bows. Now earthrealm fighters had plenty of high tech gear for battle. The most prominent being firearms. Kitana was not oblivious to guns as Erron Black had carried a pair of revolvers, but she wasn't aware of how dangerous these weapons could be. Certain guns fired dozens of shots in mere seconds while others could hit targets from extreme distances and others could fire exploding rounds. Kitana suddenly felt grateful that she'd decided to do her reading. Some of the human weapons were very dangerous, especially if you're unprepared to fight against them. Mileena would surely regret it if she chose to skip studying.
The final section covered all known fighters participating for earthrealm. Raiden was allotted sixty four warriors from earthrealm to fight for him. Outworld was also allowed sixty four with the exceptions being Goro and Shang Tsung. Both the challenging realm, Outworld, and the defending realm, Earthrealm, were able to recruit other realms to send fighters on their behalf. Fighters recruited from other realms didn't take from the slots either realm had. For Outworld this had been a huge advantage as they'd recruited the black dragon, Lin Kuei, and various other mercenaries from earthrealm as well as turning to the netherrealm for support. Shang Tsung had managed to double his forces while staying in accordance with the mortal kombat rules. Meanwhile, Earthrealm had very few allies to turn to if any at all. The Order realm was preoccupied with their own civil war, and the chaos realm was far from trustworthy. Some of the smaller realms may send fighters to assist Raiden, but they likely have few notable warriors. This left Raiden with only those he could recruit from his realm.
First was Sub Zero who Kitana had heard of before. The Cryomancer and his ally Aqua had already been famous throughout the realms for stopping Shinnoks return. Outworld and its ruler Shao Kahn held no love for Shinnok, but of course this made him an enemy of the netherrealm who allied with Outworld for the tournament. Quan Chi and his goons would likely enjoy killing the assassin, but Shang Tsung's notes made it clear that he would not die easily. Raiden had selected Bi Han to represent earth as its champion which was surprising because he'd normally chosen that generation's shaolin to hold that title. Of course the title meant nothing until they'd won a tournament, but it did make him a target. As an assassin of the Lin Kuei clan, Bi Han would be wise to any attempts on his life. Kitana had met some that held the mantle of Sub Zero generations before, and if Bi Han was anything like them, she would stay clear.
Next was Nightwolf. Nightwolf was yet another mantle. The title wasn't passed on, but instead the Nightwolf was chosen by the great spirit. Grey Cloud was the current Nightwolf, and according to Shang Tsung, he had an abnormally powerful connection to said spirit. This allowed him to summon energy, weapons, or spirits to help him in battle. Another fighter he'd wanted them to be careful around. Kitana was beginning to doubt how easy this tournament would be.
Kenshi probably had the most fascinating entry. His history with Shang Tsung made the sorcerer's notes particularly interesting to Kitana who had a strong disdain for the sorcerer herself. That was where their similarities ceased, However, as Kenshi was fueled by vengeance. He was blind, but somehow managed to sense what was happening around him. Shang Tsung noted that Kenshi had increased his other four senses when his sight was taken. Yet, this wasn't how the swordsman had another way to fight. His sword, Sento, contained a soul that guided the fighter. Supposedly the sword granted him a form of sight, but also helped him unlock several other abilities such as telekinesis, telepathy, increased stamina, and more.
Over a hundred other entries filled the book. However, since Raiden was only permitted so many, she wouldn't waste her time on every entry and instead would only study the most important fighters for now. Kitana skipped names like Kabal, Art Lean, Sonya Blade, and Aqua, not knowing which of them would actually participate. The next two entries she bothered to stop on were Kung Lao and Liu Kang. Each of the shaolin were competing for Raidens favor last Shang Tsung had checked in. According to the sorcerer these two were both fierce warriors hungry for battle. Kung Lao was the direct descendant to the great Kung Lao, and presumably the only one remaining. He was fast, strong, smart, and utilized a razor rimmed hat in battle. Liu Kang was also considered a serious threat. The slightly younger monk had become a skilled pyromancer and channeled his energy for some enhanced speed. Both had completed their shaolin training and could perform acrobatic feats that most humans thought impossible, so Shang Tsung warned that whichever participated was meant to be taken seriously. However, he was particularly worried about Liu Kang.
Of those five only four could compete as the shaolin had a tradition of only sending one fighter per tournament for reasons she didn't pretend to understand. These were the fighters Tsung believed to be the most dangerous of the lot, but he wasn't always right in his assumptions. It was more than possible that Shang Tsung underestimated some of these warriors or that he'd just flat out missed some. Kitana would happily accept any free information, but didn't count on it to defeat her enemies. She had rarely been defeated by humans with the exceptions being Kung Lao and only a few of his allies from so very long ago. Given she hadn't participated in a mortal kombat tournament in several generations. Since Goro had entered the tournament the humans had grown weaker with each tournament. Even with a few fighters that actually seemed to stick out, earthrealm would likely be crushed in the tournament before their realm was merged with Outworld.
Of course Billions of earth realmers would die in the process. Kitana knew this, and she wasn't happy about it, but those who did survive would be allowed to live in Outworld. A realm united under Shao Kahn and free of the elder gods dabbling. Was that not worth the sacrifice? To Kitana and most of outworld Shao Kahn merely wanted to unite the realms free of the elder gods. Shao Kahn was a hero, a warrior, and a man of honor. To those of earthrealm he was a savage, a conqueror, bent on destruction.
Kitana knew her father was simply doing what was best for the humans even if they'd hate him for it. It was similar with the Tarkatans who'd had their realm absorbed by Outworld a few thousand years before. Their numbers were severely reduced during the merging of realms, and the survivors rebelled against Shao Kahn. The fighting further reduced their numbers, but after the dust settled and they accepted their place in Outworld, the tarkatans began to prosper as their race reached numbers they never thought possible in this much bigger realm.
So while Kitana wasn't threatened by the humans, and she didn't question her fathers motivations, she did wonder if this was the best use of her time. Shao Kahn had few advisors he trusted as much as his own daughters. Of course that was precisely why he was sending them as the emperor had little trust for Shang Tsung even though they'd been working together for quite some time. Yet, this meant Shao Kahn would have few to turn to if he needed something important while they were gone. On top of that Kitana had her own responsibilities here in Outworld. Now she would need to find someone to oversee them for her. Obviously Kitana hoped only to be gone for a short time, but these tournaments have the potential to last weeks. Kitana sure hoped not.
"Just a few days…" She sighed to herself as she closed the book.