Chapter Four: Expect The Unexpected

Somewhere Beyond The Realms…

…

"Where are the Elder Gods, Raiden?"

Shao Kahn laughs as he stalks toward his longtime enemy and picks him up.

"Their pathetic Mortal Kombat shackles me no longer." said Shao Kahn.

He methodically pounds Raiden across the face several times and throws him

across the pyramid top. In mid-flight, an amulet on Raiden's chest falls off

and shatters into several pieces. Raiden crashes onto the floor a moment

later. Kahn draws his hammer, which pulses with magical energy. "They masquerade as dragons, but are mere toothless worms."

As Raiden rolls over, Kahn slams his boot into Raiden's chest. "My venom spreads. It is the end of all things." said Shao Kahn

His hammer now glows with a flaming essence. Kahn himself glows the same

essence, and it is clear he has absorbed the godlike power of Blaze.

Shao Kahn: "Armageddon."

Raiden: "STOP!!"

…

"It is done."

Kahn picks Raiden up once more, "Your time has passed." He says before throwing Raiden aside again. Raiden once more struggles to pull himself up. "Ages wasted in foolish resistance."

Raiden spots the broken amulet.

"Now is the dawn of my rule."

Raiden scoops up most of what remains of the amulet in his hand. He begins

an ancient chant as Kahn walks to his side, laughing. The amulet glows

with Raiden's signature blue lightning as the chant continues.

"Yes. Pray to the worms, Raiden. As your world ends…" As Kahn raises his hammer to smash Raiden into the ground, Raiden finishes the prayer with the following words. "He must win."

Raiden's eyes suddenly flash from red to blue and lightning sparkles from them. Just as Kahn's hammer smashes into his skull, a blue portal of lightning appears. Images of Raiden's past flash into existence;

Raiden fighting Taven.

Raiden speaking with the alliance of Quan Chi, Shao Kahn, Onaga and Shang

Tsung made just before Armageddon.

Raiden reanimating Liu Kang's body.

Raiden fighting with the Deadly Alliance against Onaga.

Raiden fighting the Deadly Alliance.

Raiden telling Earthrealm's warriors (Jax, Kung Lao, Frost, Johnny Cage,

Sub-Zero and Sonya Blade) of the Deadly Alliance.

Sub-Zero bowing before Raiden.

Jax and Sonya opening a portal to Outworld with Raiden watching.

Raiden holding Liu Kang's body.

Raiden forcing up a lightning shield against energy blasts from Shinnok.

Liu Kang in a fighting stance before a beaten Shao Kahn in front of an

Outworld portal.

Tarkatan warriors and gigantic monsters laying waste to a pile-up of cars

in Earthrealm (and the people in them).

Motaro impaling Johnny Cage on a spear.

Raiden and Nightwolf standing before a black portal in the middle of a

desert.

Raiden watching Jax receiving his cybernetic implants.

Liu Kang punching a hole through Shao Kahn's chest.

Kano in shackles.

Baraka commanding Tarkatan forces to attack the Wu Shi Academy.

Liu Kang in a fighting stance before a beaten Shang Tsung.

Kung Lao discarding a disguise and running toward Baraka.

Reptile lunging toward Johnny Cage.

______________________

Present Day: The Realm Of Mortal Kombat

(Shang Tsung's Magical Island)

As the portal then fades into the eyes of Raiden, he gasps and clutches his head. Liu Kang walks up to him. "Lord Raiden! What is wrong?"

"Strange visions…"

When Raiden answered Liu Kang, a crackling of magic eminates from his amulet. He holds it in his hand and sees It has cracked in several places. "Your amulet!" said Liu Kang.

"It is nothing, Liu Kang. The tournament begins." Raiden said as he puts the amulet away. They both turn to witness a procession of monks walking towards them. It becomes apparent they are on Shang Tsung's magical island. Johnny Cage watches alongside Sonya Blade to the left of them. Sub-Zero is slightly behind them with Cyrax and Sektor flanking him.

When Maliza arrives, she walks around confused about the scenery and the people. "Where am i? This gives me a very bad feeling…" She thought until she accidentally bumps into Sonya.

"Hey, watch it…"

Maliza then steps back, "Oh, sorry… I-" Her

The elderly Shang-Tsung walks out, flanked by Kitana and Jade. Baraka enters as well to the left of

them. Nightwolf, who is standing next to Raiden, watches cautiously, while Quan Chi and Scorpion watch them impassively. The monks finish their walk and sit down before Shang Tsung

"What's… going on?" Maliza thought.

"Kombatants. I am Shang Tsung! In the coming days each of you will fight. Some are here of their own volition, others were brought here by chance…" As Tsung continues talking, Johnny Cage looks to his right at Sonya.

"Hey, beautiful. Johnny Cage." He said,

"Good for you…"

"What? "Massive Strike", "Citizen Cage", "Ninja Mime"? None of those ring a bell?"

Sonya looks over to see another kombatant walking out into the arena. "Kano…"

"Kano?... Wasn't in that one…" Said Johnny with a confused look on his face. "You participate in the most important Mortal Kombat in history! This tournament, the tenth after nine Outworld victories, will determine Earthrealm's fate. If you defeat all of your opponents, you will face one final challenge... me."

"Huh! That old geezer's the final challenge? They might as well give me the belt right now. They do have belts, right?"

Maliza, who is confused by the situation, looks next to her and is surprised to see Shang Tsung. "Eh!?"

Johnny turns around to see Shang Tsung standing beside him. "What? How did you–"

Shang Tsung then cuts him off, "Appearances can be deceiving." He levitates back toward his throne. "Our first kombatant will be Mr. Cage!"

Johnny laughs defiantly and strides forward. "That's right! That's right! Who's it gonna be?"

"Reptile!" Said Shang Tsung.

Cage looks toward the rooftop of the arena. Reptile materialises on the rooftop from having been observing while invisible and jumps to the arena floor to the monks applause. "Nice stunt! Who's your agent?"

"Holy… did he just camouflage?" Maliza thought.

"Begin!"

"All right, it's showtime!"

______________________

Meanwhile in Another Realm…

Somewhere in the forest, guards that were sent from the Kingdom called Duloc began prisoning fairytale creatures inside cages while others were sent away in big carriages. The head of the guard sits at a table and pays the people in line for bringing the fairy tale creatures to him. There were cages all around the camp. Some of the people in line were Peter Pan, who was carrying Tinkerbell in a cage, Geppetto who was carrying Pinocchio, and a farmer who was carrying the three little pigs. "Alright, this one's full. Take it away! Move it along!" Said the guard as he closed the hatch of the carriage which contained some fairytale creatures.

"Next!" the captain calls out and the line moves forward.

When a man with a witch approaches the table, another guard grabs the witch's broom. "Your flying days are over!" He said as he snapped the broom in half and tossed it onto the ground.

"That's 20 pieces of silver for the witch." the captain said when he gave the man 20 pieces of silver. "Next" He calls out and the line moves forward.

A donkey who stood in line with an elderly woman who had him on a leash, became uneasy by how distressed the fairytale creatures were as they were being held in cages.

"This cage is too small." Cried the little bear who was sitting in one of the cages which was next to his mama and papa who shared a cage.

"Please, don't turn me in. I'll never be stubborn again. I can change, please! Give me another chance!" Begged Donkey. "Oh, shut up!" The old lady shuts him up.

"Next! What have you got?" the captain asks as Geppetto approaches the table. He puts Pinocchio down onto the table, "This little wooden puppet."

"I'm not a puppet. I'm a real boy." Pinocchio's nose grows out when he lies.

"That's five shillings for the possessed toy. Take it away." Said the captain. "Father, please! Don't let them do this! Help me!" Pinocchio said when the guard took him away.

"Next! What have you got?" the captain asked when the old woman approached the table.

"Well, I've got a talking donkey." Said the old woman. "Right. Well, that's good for ten shillings, if you can prove it." Said the captain.

"Oh, go ahead, little fella." When the old woman removes the leash, Donkey remains silent. the captain raises his eyebrow, "Well?..."

"Oh, oh, he's just...he's just a little nervous. He's really quite a chatterbox. Talk, you boneheaded dolt, talk!" The old lady then raises her hand at Donkey as she tries to get him to talk.

"That's it. I've heard enough. Guards!" Said the captain. "No, no, he talks! He does." The old lady insists and then grabs Donkey's head and moves his lips forcefully. "I can talk. I love to talk. I'm the talking-est damn thing you ever saw." She mimicked Donkey's voice trying to make it seem as if he was really talking but the captain wasn't having it. "Get her out of my sight." He ordered.

"No, no! I swear! Oh! He can talk!" The guards grab the old woman and she struggles with them as they take away.

"Eh! Goodness, this one's feisty!" Suddenly, two guards come up to the captain with another fairytale creature with a brown bag covering its head, who was struggling to break free. "Hey, where did you two get this creature?" the captain asked as the two guards brought the creature to him.

"We found this elf wandering around the forest near our post." The first guard said as he and the second guard put the troubled creature down to its knees in front of the captain. "An elf you say?... Well, remove the bag." the captain commands.

The second guard removes the bag from the creature's head and everyone was surprised to see its appearance, including Donkey.

Turns out it was Kai who was taken in by the two guards who mistaken him as an elf. Some of the witches in the cages were mesmerised by how daring his eyes were and the guards felt intimidated by his gaze as Kai looked up at them before dropping his head back down while breathing heavily.

"Must be some kind of off-colored elf." One of the guards whispered. "Hmph… what's your name, creature?" the captain asked but Kai didn't answer.

"Heh, must be a deaf one…" When the captain turns his back, Kai breaks out of his restraints and knocks the one guard over but when he knocks over the second guard, he gets struck by one of the guards with a spare. "Ugh! Motherf-!" Kai grunts in pain and hits the guard in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

The second guard grabs him but Kai elbows the guard in the face, causing him to fall over Peter Pan and the cage containing Trinker Bell flies and lands on Donkey, making her pixie dust fall onto him.

"Hey! I can fly!" He said as he began to float into the air. "He can fly!" Said Peter Pan.

"He can fly!" The three little pigs repeated him as the witness Donkey slowly levitated into the air. "He can talk!?" the captain asked as he saw Donkey flying higher at the second.

"Ha, ha! That's right, fool! Now I'm a flying, talking donkey. You might have seen a housefly, maybe even a superfly but I bet you ain't never seen a donkey fly. Ha, ha!" Suddenly he begins to slowly float downwards as the pixie dust begins to wear off.

"Uh oh" He falls but Kai catches him. "Ehh?"

"Seize them!" the captain commands. Kai puts down Donkey and they both start running into the forest. They both split up in different paths trying to lose the guards. "I can't believe I'm running from huma-"

When Kai looks back to see if they were still chasing him, he trips and falls down a hill and into the tall grass below. Above the hill the guards looked for him but the grass was so tall, they couldn't see him. "Where is he!? Where did he go?" One of the guards asked.

"Hey, this way!!" The guards then went down the other path where Donkey was running.

Kai gets out of the tall grass and then leans against a big rock trying to catch his breath from running. He looks up at the sky that was blocked by the trees, "Where the fu*k am I?" He thought.

______________________

______________________

Early That Morning: 05:30 AM

"Huh… where am I?"

There was nothing but darkness… Malisha looks around trying to find a way out of the dark place but is unable to until she then begins to hear the sounds of children playing.

"C'mon, Elsa!"

"Heh! I gotcha!"

Malisha looked around the darkness, trying to find where the sounds were coming. "Is anyone there?" She called out.

"Anna, wait! Slow down! Noo!"

"Hang on, Anna… I got you…"

Malisha sees a light in the darkness and follows it. She follows and the light slowly fades. When Malisha walks closer, she sees a girl holding another child in her arms.

"Anna… hang on…"

Malisha walks closer but then stops when the little girl sees her through the darkness. "W-what happened?" Malisha asked, "It… it was an accident, I… I didn't mean to…" the little girl said as tears ran down her pale cheeks. When Malisha kneels down, she sees the ground iced and slippery. She then sees ice forming on the little girl's hands. "You have powers too?" Malisha asked and the little girl nodded yes.

"What's your name?" She asked, "... M-my name… my name is Elsa… This… this is… my sister… Anna…" Said the little girl.

"UUH!"

Suddenly something pulls Malisha back into the darkness, causing her to fall down into the darkness. "No, don't go! Wait!" The girl reaches out but her voice fades away and everything goes black.

______________________

End of Dream…

"AHH!..." Malisha bolts up from the bed. After a few minutes of looking at her surroundings, she sighs and falls backwards. "It was just a dream…" She then looks at her right and sees her hand frozen to the blanket. "Heh… I guess fear is what triggers it." Malisha thought. When she looks at the clock on the nightstand, she sees the time is 5: 57 AM.

She looks at a photo laying face down on the nightstand and lifts it up. It was a family photo of her mother and her two siblings, who looked younger than Malisha's age, with their father standing behind them.

"Naww… Kai looks so cute…" Malisha couldn't help but adore her brother's cuteness in the photo. She looks at Shaina and is surprised to see her not smiling in the photo, "That's weird… How come Shaina isn't smiling here?" Malisha wondered. She examined her sister and realised she was wearing normal clothing and her hair… "Wait… Shaina always said that she used to have white hair too but… her hair looks black here. Not even a strain of white… not even highlights… And she's wearing normal clothes." She thought.

She looks at her mother and father, who was smiling warmly in the photo. "... Mom and Dad look happy here. Shaina always said things weren't easy when they were young but… they look like a normal family…"

Malisha looks at the time and sees the time is at 6: 20 AM.

She then sighs, "Guess I'd better get ready for school…"

To Be Continued…