One seemingly normal day, the two rivals similarly coloured uniforms, Sub-Zero and Scorpion, fought as usual in one of the many arenas in front of a crowd of spectators, grunting and huffing with every hit, punch, and kick. Just then, one such punch that Scorpion delivered right against Sub-Zero was much harder than normal, hard enough to put Sub-Zero in that familiar state of dizziness.
"FINISH HIM!" A deep voice in the air called and commanded.
However, Scorpion soon laid down his hand and refused. "No, this man has fought with honour", he said. "I done enough". Scorpion gave one last look to the still dizzy Sub-Zero before walking away in silence.
With him out of the arena, seconds ticked by, minutes, hours even, and the crowd stared at the lone swaying body of Sub-Zero with awkwardness with the occasional cough to break the silence. Soon realising that the fight wouldn't be continued, the crowd members soon left their seats one by one. Almost another hour went by, and the day was already reaching its afternoon.
Soon enough, someone else entered the arena, an orange-haired woman with a light-purple headband bu otherwise dressed in very much an identical garb like Sub-Zero. "Hey honey, I'm here to pick you up", the woman said. "So how was the tournament?" She asked, only to be replied with silence by the still dizzy Sub-Zero. "Honey? Honey?" She continued asking before suddenly gasping and realising what may've happened with him. Frantically, she pulled out her phone and tapped in the emergency dial, waiting only a few seconds before she got an answer. "Hello, I need to report an emergency. It's my husband, he's stuck in dizziness! Get me an ambulance, please!"
A while had passed before the still-dizzy body of Sub-Zero was eventually delivered via ambulance to a local hospital, where he laid on a bed, still spinning and swaying his head around while hooked up to a heart-monitoring electrocardiogram machine that still pinged and bleeped, indicating he would still be alive, to an extent. Observing all this, the doctor let out a deep sigh before walking out the door, where Sub-Zero's wife sat in a chair and waited.
"Doctor? Please tell me something..." The wife stood up and begged. "Is he gonna be okay?"
"I'm sorry, ma'am", the Doctor bared the bad news. "But I'm afraid there's no cure for this level of dizziness he's in. He may never fight in a tournament again".
"Will he ever wake up?" The wife nearly teared up.
"I don't know, it's hard to say", the Doctor answered. "We'll have to wait and see. Only time will tell".
And time did certainly tell and show the never-changing condition of Sub-Zero, still laying in that bed, and still swaying that head of his around in silent dizziness. The days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, and the months turned into a whole year, and still Sub-Zero remained dizzy and unresponsive. The occasional old friend or rival would turn up to visit, offering a few words and gifts of sentiment. In some way perhaps, Sub-Zero might've heard such words, but with this state of endless dizziness, he would never be able to speak, taste, or even move beyond the constant spinning of his head.
"Doctor, it's been a whole year and he's still in that condition?" The wife of Sub-Zero cried in disbelief.
"This dizziness is no doubt worse than any other case I seen before in my entire career", the doctor empathised. "It would seem that... Sub-Zero will be a coma for the rest of his life", he revealed. "He'll never speak, walk, eat, or even live again".
"Oh my god", the wife nearly broke down upon hearing such a revelation. "There's gotta be something, anything we can do for him?"
"There's only one thing we, or you, can do for him", the comforting doctor offered. "You can... end his misery". He then pointed at the plug to the machine keeping Sub-Zero alive enough.
The wife gasped once she quickly realised what this means. "Y-You sure?"
"It's the only way left", the doctor confirmed. "
"I'm sorry, honey", the wife said to the unconscious body of her late husband. "I thought you would survive it. I thought if you could survive getting torched, impaled, or having your spine ripped out, you could survive this as well, but..." "I can't let you live like this... Please forgive me".
"No..." A familiar male voice spoke from seemingly out of nowhere, causing Sub-Zero's wife and the doctor to look behind them to see the person standing by the open door. It was Scorpion, the man responsible for all this. "Let me do it. I put him in this state, and it's only fair that I put him out of it".
"Very well", the doctor sighed. "Go ahead and take your time".
Scorpion then walked over and kneeled next to the bed of the still-comatose Sub-Zero, hanging down his head with shame and letting out a forlorn sigh before looking back up at him again.
"Sub", Scorpion spoke up again, pausing to sigh yet again. "When we last fought, I thought I'd maintain your honour and mine by sparing you, but I soon realised that I only brought dishonour to both of us, our friends, and our families. Deep down, you're like a brother to me, I mean we wear very similar costumes of opposite colours and both our names begin with an S. But regardless, regardless, I was the one who put you in this state, and it only fits that I should be the one to help take you out of it".
He then looked over at the plug itself, knowing exactly what to do, before moving over and reaching for it. Once he had a good enough grip of it with his fingers, Scorpion swiftly pulled out the plug with ease, instantly ending the life support for Sub-Zero as the electrocardiogram monitoring his heart soon flatlined, the constant swaying of his head had finally ceased as he now laid limp against the bed and pillow, and the rhythmic pings of the machines that at least indicated that he was still alive to some degree were now replaced by a long sustained beep that seemed to go on endlessly in the shocking silence. Sub-Zero had finally passed.
His now widowed wife watched on with absolutely silent shock and horror before she broke down into quiet sobs, burying her face into utter grief and mourning. Even the doctor looked on with regret.
"It's okay, it's okay", Scorpion hugged and embraced Sub-Zero's widow, attempting to comfort her. "He's safe now. He's in a place where he can no longer have to suffer anymore".
Then suddenly... "SCORPION WINS!" That familiar deep voice in the air spoke up and caught everyone completely off-guard. "FATALITY!"
"Woah, what the fu-!" Scorpion exclaimed before he looked up to see the word of 'FATALITY' in bold red floating right above his head. "Oh, I forgot it still does that".
The End!