"Excellency." Kollector cautiously tapped Shao Kahn's arm that lay flat on one of his thrones armrests with an overgrown nail.
"Kollector." Kahn turned to see his favourite General, Reiko and his new champion, Kintaro stood behind the hunched Naknadan. "Good work."
"Who still opposes you, emperor?" Reiko asked as he glanced at the group of Earthrealmers that stood with Raiden.
"The actor and the shaolin." Kahn informed with annoyance. Shao pointed to Liu Kang. "Deal with him, Reiko."
"As you wish." Reiko complied, equipping himself with a spiked club.
Next, Kahn made his demands public to his audience. "Liu Kang will now face General Reiko!"
"You'll kneel before Shao Kahn." Reiko promised to Liu as he dragged his club through the sand.
"And Johnny Cage will be facing Kintaro!" Kahn added.
"Who?" Cage asked with worry.
"Me." The tiger striped Shokan revealed.
"FIGHT!"
Kintaro immediately bodied Johnny. He slammed the actor into the ground and began dragging him face first across the sand, bringing Cage closer to the coliseum's surrounding wall. Once his victim was close enough, Kintaro began repeatedly slamming Johnny into the wall with such ferocity that members of the crowd's front row toppled into the arena from the vibrations.
Meanwhile, Liu Kang was putting up a fight against Reiko. The general was attacking Liu Kang with heavy attacks, trying to smash the Shaolin's skull in with his club. This was unsuccessful as Liu was agile enough to dodge each attempt of a blow, hitting back with a counter as he usually did.
"You frustrate me, monk." Reiko admitted. He then tried for another blow. He missed and was kicked to the floor.
"Your frustration clouds your focus." Liu pointed out humbly. He waited for Reiko to get to his feet before continuing to fight him, which was a respectful gesture that he had learnt during his battle with Goro.
"Do not dare lecture me!" Reiko had only been angered further. Instead of going for another heavy blow, Reiko swung lightly to the ankles of Liu Kang. This attack was successful in shutting down Liu's offense and the monk collapsed to the floor, clutching his injured leg.
Reiko went to target the ankle again but was tripped over by Liu's healthier leg. Reiko face planted the sand, giving Liu Kang a moment to hobble back to a standing state. Reiko also recovered and ran into a barrage of flaming fists. Once the attack ceased, Reiko collapsed again, falling backwards, unconscious.
"I have obtained victory, Shao Kahn." He announced as Kintaro threw Johnny Cage to the side of Liu, also signalling his victory.
"Then our next fight happens right now." Shao Kahn decided after seeing Liu Kang in his partially crippled state. "Liu Kang versus..."
A buzzing noise Interrupted the emperor, a shadow then overcame him. Shao Kahn looked up, it was a helicopter, and from this helicopter leapt a psychotic man wielding a flamethrower.
"No Face!" Kano recognized his partner in crime.
"Here to get you out, boss." No Face confirmed. He began quickly melting the chains as Shao Kahn slowly walked over.
"You dare interrupt me?!" Kahn yelled.
No Face didn't even acknowledge Kahn's presence as he broke off the first chain, quickly moving to the next.
"Don't ignore me!" Kahn grabbed No Face and threw him like a tennis ball all the way back into the helicopter.
With Kano's now freer movement with one chain no longer intact to him, he could aim his cybernetic eye towards the remaining chain and blast it off. A rope then was hoisted down from the helicopter by Tremor, Kano grabbed it and then Tremor began pulling it up. Unfortunately, Kahn grabbed Kano's leg as he was being raised up, beginning to drag him down. Kano shot his cybernetic eye at Kahn's chest which the emperor didn't even mind the burning pain, laughing throughout the process. It was only when Tremor dashed a boulder towards Shao Kahn that he let go.
"You will not escape alive!" Kahn promised, summoning his wrath hammer as Kano was finally dragged into the helicopter.
"Cheers mate." Kano thanked Tremor as he took Tremor's offering hand and was pulled to his feet.
"You're welcome, Kano." No Face muttered.
"Shut up." Tremor sighed.
Kano poked his head into the cockpit. "Get this thing moving." He ordered to the pilot.
"Yes boss." They complied.
Despite the pilot's awareness of the scenario they were unable to save themselves and their allies. Shao Kahn launched his wrath hammer through the helicopter's windscreen, shattering the glass and murdering the pilot.
"Holy shit!" Kano yelled in shock of seeing the pilot now dead. "We're going down!" He stated the obvious as he searched for something to cling onto.
"I knew this would go wrong." Tremor sighed disappointedly, casually sitting down in a chair despite the helicopter about to crash.
"WOO!" No Face cheered, relishing the adrenaline from the helicopter now spiralling towards the ground close outside the coliseum.
"Grab something you pri-" Kano tried to warn his chaotic ally but was cut off by the helicopter finally crashing into the sand.
"Is... is everyone... okay?" Kano asked, surprisingly sounding worried. The criminal crawled out the helicopter which half of it had been engulfed by the sand. The door was luckily still working, allowing Kano to get out.
"That was wonderful!" No Face celebrated as he soon followed Kano out of the helicopter. "I should pilot next time."
"And end up life that poor bastard?" Kano raised his remaining eyebrow.
"Not an ideal conclusion, but a fine chapter." No Face explained his reasoning, which in fact didn't explain anything about his mind at all.
"Hold on a second," Kano finally realized. "Tremor?!"
There was silence.
"Big ol' Trem's fine." No Face assured.
"Then, where is he?" Kano moved back to the helicopter, seeking for any signs of Tremor. "Shit. I can't see him."
"Did you feel that?" No Face felt a minor earthquake beneath him.
"Feel what?" Kano turned around to see his question soon answered, a pile of sand erupted from the ground like a volcano. No Face was also blasted in the air during this, laughing maniacally while airborne. Tremor then emerged from the sand, dusting himself off as he eyed Kano.
"You had me worried then." Kano sighed in relief.
"I highly doubt that." Tremor dismissed. No Face splatted back into the sand mid Tremor's sentence.
"Again, again!" No Face demanded like a child at a playground.
"Stay focused," Tremor quickly ignored No Face's antics. "We need to escape."
"We just did." No Face corrected, confused as to Tremor's claim.
"Fool." Tremor insulted.
"And you say I'm not focused," No Face rebuked. "Your hypocrisy genuinely hurts me y'know."
"Moving on," Tremor dismissed the accusations. "Shao Kahn's army will be leaving the coliseum to capture us, and we have barely made any distance away from said building."
"Just destroy that damn arena!" No Face demanded. "Use your rock powers or whatever."
"I will not use my geokinesis to harm innocents." Tremor informed. "I can tell that you would be unable to possess the same restraint."
"Oh, piss off you!" No Face went to attack Tremor but was held back by Kano.
"Enough!" Their leader ordered. "We need to move right now."
"Why?" No Face asked, still lacking any concern whatsoever.
"Why don't you take a look for yourself? You drongo." Kano pointed to a mass of Outworld warriors. The group was being led by the General Reiko, whom had just recovered from his loss to Liu Kang.
"Fine, let's go." No Face finally complied. After Tremor and Kano had already began retreating, he began realizing that fighting this army was too risky, even for him.
As the events of the tournament continued, Goro, Reptile and Skarlet had grouped up to aid each other in surviving in the wilderness. They had set up camp in The Highlands, the nearest place for the three to grab high ground and try to figure out where they should be heading. Reptile and Skarlet had made a fire by a cliff side as Goro was looking for food.
"Our third moon together approaches." Reptile noticed the sky turning purple, signalling nightfall. The saurian had removed his disguise shortly after the tournament's conclusion.
"I've never seen the sky do that before." Skarlet was amazed by was she was witnessing.
"Really?" Reptile was surprised. "The purple sky is a result of all the realms that Shao Kahn merged into Outworld. It's uncommon but not that rare."
"I haven't been outside a lot," Skarlet admitted. "Shao Kahn had kept me locked up, occasionally giving me trials. It wasn't until the tournament that I was truly free."
"I'm sorry." Reptile apologized.
"No, don't apologize," Skarlet requested. "I should be thanking you."
"How come?"
"For being a friend," Skarlet explained. "And for helping me off that island."
"Ah, of course," Reptile recalled. "So, Goro said the beach we ended up at is on the east of Outworld."
"Yes," Goro joined them. A HighEna's corpse was being cradled in one of Goro's lower arms. "I caught us supper."
A HighEna was the Outworld equivalent of a Hyena. They bare razor sharp teeth and wicked eyes. The HighEna's get their name from being inhabitants of The Highlands.
"Thank you too, Goro." Skarlet also made sure to thank his other new friend.
"I just wish to see my Shokan brethren sooner than later." Goro explained as he hoisted the HighEna on top of a log that Skarlet and Reptile had placed over the campfire. "So, since the Bay of Maul is where the three of us ended up at then that means Shao Kahn's fortress is somewhere far to our south west."
"Is there a pathway of sorts?" Skarlet queried.
"No, but I can recognize the Living Forest from here. Going near there should be our next goal." Goro pointed out with a large dragon finger.
"Perhaps I can aid you." A fellow Saurian appeared from the nearby bushes. He was a man that Reptile quickly recognized.
"Oculto!" Reptile greeted.
Oculto was the brother of Axoltia, the two being better known as Chameleon and Khameleon, the two Saurians shook one another's hands.
"Sister's lover." He greeted back.
"How did you find us?" Reptile asked.
"Sorry for eavesdropping," He apologised before answering the question. "But I too had to escape the island, in similar scenarios to the three of you."
"You were at the tournament?" Goro asked, surprised. "Shang Tsung never told me of your presence."
"Because he didn't know I was there neither," Oculto explained. "Shao Kahn had sent me to watch over the events undetected and return to him with a report of Shang Tsung's performance. I succeeded in the former but the latter had been... difficult, to say the least."
"The emperor lacks faith in Shang Tsung?!" Goro was surprised. The Shokan had genuinely thought highly of Shao Kahn's second in command, a thought that was not as mutually shared with Shao Kahn.
"I am fond of Outworld," Chameleon informed. "Let me aid in guiding you three home."
"As am I. However, that doesn't mean it's a regular pathway." Goro reminded everyone of Outworld's dangers.
"We'll be fine if we stick together." Chameleon debated as he sat down by the fire. "After all, you are the champion of Mortal Kombat."
"Former champion." Goro corrected, feeling like he had failed his father and his emperor.
"I... I don't think I want to go home." Skarlet considered.
"I understand." Reptile said as he tried comforting her by placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Try not to worry." Goro advised while checking if the food was cooked. "It's almost ready."
"I don't eat meat," Skarlet informed. "I can only intake blood."
"Ah, that makes sense." Goro realized. "Then I'll see if I can drain some from this HighEna."
"Thank you." Skarlet once again said gratefully.
"There is enough meat here to also share with you, Oculto." Goro offered.
"That is very generous of you." Chameleon accepted the kind offer.
"We'll rest here for tonight and then continue our journey in the morning." Goro finalized the plan, taking leadership of his allies.
"That works for me." Reptile confirmed. Skarlet and Oculto also nodded in agreement.
"Then it's settled." Goro confirmed as he began preparing dinner.