I repeat what I said in PM, Mychau was totally out of character, here. The word 'Infidel' would NEVER leave her lips, and she never would do a sentai-esque introduction, which would give her opponent a chance to fight back.

After his battle and subsequent defeat from Gemini, Void learned many lessons from her, befriending the Amara personality in the process. He survived an attack from Shou Lee, coming out victorious in that battle. Void continued his search for Sub-Zero when he came across a lady who bared a striking resemblence to Sub-Zero, her name was Kimona.

Void and Kimona introduced themselves and each explained their situaiton to each other. As Kimona explained who she was, Void perked up in interest as he had come across the mother of the man he was searching for. Kimona was a little hesitant to give out information about her son, with the thought in the back of her mind that for all she knew, Void could very well be seeking the destruction of Sub-Zero. Thus, Kimona challenged Void to Mortal Kombat to prove his worth. Void, quickly growing impatient in his thurst for revenge, proved to be quite a challenge for Kimona. Kimona easily outsmarted him, but Void was relentless. He narrowly defeated her.

After proving his skills to Kimona, Void was then able to fully discuss his purpose in finding Sub-Zero, avenging his friend's death, and stopping the Tekunin. In hearing this, Kimona informed the young warrior of a threat he may need to know about. Two new Tekunin have been developed. He learned of Vindicator, who was different from other Tekunin members in that he still has his soul intact. While he greatly looks forward to the chance to destory any machine allied with the robotic clan, he knows it may be a while before he has that chance with Vindicator.

However, another, more complex Tekunin was also developed, and Void sensed that an eventual showdown with this particular machine was soon to be. A battle with the cyborg, Delta, was on the horizon...

I'm sorry if I insulted you, I just felt the need to say my peace. But even if angered Mychau would never use the world Infidel, she would simply attack relentlessly. Please, just understand that. I put a lot of thought into her and don't like misinterpretations.

Also, I wasn't insulting the length of the fight, so the snippy remark about apologizing for the post not being 2 long was unneeded. Also, I never said that Mychau would never be in that situation, I just said that she never would never introduce herself in an attack in the manner that post suggested. You asked if what you posted was okay to me, I was answering the question: It was not. I've said my peace, and I'll say nothing more on it. I don't wish to argue, it'll just lead to a flamewar between us that I just don't want. I will post my own version of the fight.

Hmm, now what was that all about? A suggestion: we should start with the storylines main part when the real matces begin. Untill then let us do those what the perticipants feel neces-sary. Just a suggestion.

LOL bloodmysterio to be honest its really not that serious. No insult here. i respect your opinion and the time you spent on her characterisitic because that aspect of the character is something i think everyone here takes personaly about their concepts so if you say your character would never say anything like that then its not in my realm to have Mychau say that. Yes i did ask your opinion and you gave it so ill delete it.
What i suggest is if you want, Pm me and we can colaborate on a tight @ss fight scene. I dont think anyone has done that yet has there? I repect the seperate fight scenes but it'll be cool to combine them into one that was writtien by both fighters instead of just one fighter writing it or both writing 2 seperate ones.

Anyways the basis of that scene was Mychau fighting out of rage from emanon not killing the land but the spirits that Mychau was bonded with. but consider the scene deleted and i hope you consider the tag-team battle scene. I think it would be hot. reply to my pm if you agree. Sorry bout the misconception of Mychau. i deleted the posts as i assume you will also so that this can get done properly.

When some fights, he does it from compassion. Noone is left untouched by the thrill of battle. At least no living man and woman.

Outside the monastery in the reddish sundown a crow watched a particu-lar battle what would soon commence. The wariors of the Mortal Kombat tournament silently watched as the two fighters examined each other ca-refully. Templar, Lord of Ironhold, faced the mute challenger alone. A pale young man, with brown hair, dressed in an average earthly clothes, no-thing suspicious or outstanding...

...except for the eyes.

Two black holes swimming in the sunlight, completely opaque and dark, without compassion, without feelings. Templar locked his fists firmly. This was not an official battle and thus, it was uncontrolled and wild.

The opponents stood in an open stance. Standing, the legs widely open, the hands left to hang motionlessly. There was an almost unhearable sound that bugging Templars ears ever since the beginning: a faint and constant buzz...

Templar- so then. Begin!

264/stance.mod.988127tch.9.ghst-hnd./commencing/load/full/prog.exe.
A cybernetic eye somewhere in Japan flashed at the data transmitted on
the monitoring scren. It understood everything within a nanosecond.

It moved, or should we say they moved, and intercepted the oncoming slash of the palms edge, modified their weight structure, repositione the hands and stuck at the opening in the chainmail. The fingers sharpened, pushed into the living tissue, aplying pressure at a rib, and creating a bad swelling in this process.

Templar backed, the man just parried and struck at his damaged armors only opening. Incredible. Surely he is a good challenge. So he attacked again: this time sending forward a series of blows, parried of course, but that wasn't the goal. Templar ducked under a counterattack and slammed himelf into the torso, sending the opponent flying backwards a meter. It hit the ground, but suprisingly stoof up faster than his asasulting enemy.

The black mass buzzed, and throwed itself up, taking on a human form again. Templar could only gaze with awe. He was snapped back from the stun with a spinnig kick and a fingertip combo on his breastplate.

Templar changed tactics. He now showed his claymore out of it's cloth cascet, and swinged it across the air. -Snap!- the breastplate just rubbed up his wound, coused by the hooded opponent he encounterednot long ago. The wound was still there, and aching.

This was the opponents chance. According to instant directive 23863/wnd. obs.90, the codenamed colony codenamed as Delta rushed forward and delivered an atack lethal to any man. The five fingers punched through the breastplate, hitting the surface of the left breast, injecting damage to the circulatory systems main functional particle: the heart.

Templar, thrown backward from the thrust, vomited blood on the opponent shoulders and face. It did not caused anything, Delta didnt even bother with wiping it down, since he could see from almost all angles.

His oponent was down, kneeing, a dark strain of blood squirting continu-ously out of his mouth. The stain it left was quite distuinguishable from the blood of normal wounds. It was more dense. Judging from the heavy brea-thing, it came from the heart itself.

delta aproached monotonicaly templar and grabbed him at his hair. However, that was the moment of retribution: a fist broke through Deltas chest, pausing the colony for a second, what tried to reestablish solidness in the area-at the same moment the opponent stood up grasping at his chest, raising his heel over the crouching cyborgs head, and delivered a solid stomp attack.

The air hissed with the electrical discharges when Templar twisted the head into the ground, leaving a good part of the nanocolony practically useless. However the fight wasn't over.

somewhere in cyberspace: command 7838-/693 desp.rsrt. /com.1 priority A 01 commencing. Est. fighting time: 36 sec. obj. termination commencing

... ...

Templar fell. The fury unleashed by the cyborg was unmatched. His body broken, the loss of blood, and the gasping for air was the last thing he co-uld remember. The brain damage only allowed a blurry image of his oppo-nent raising it's arm over his head, and then everything gone white.

The gauntlet fell lifelessly next to the body. The sky rumbled as life passed out of the body. The watchers were silent. Despite their hatred towards the templar, they showed respect, astonished by the fight and the massacre what followed.

***

The ghost of his masters, his superiors, his enemies faded away when everything has became peacefull. No more burden, no more torture. He closed his eyelids. The confort he felt when he was finally dead was good.
He remembered those memories last trnsmitted into his mind by the two damages eyes: Saikas face covered in disbelief, her eyes wide open. Gen-kaku, the Illusion Creator crouching on the rooftops, his face covered by the mask,...the translucent skull that smiled even in it's ....sleep comes at last...maybe.


The eyelids slowly. The broken right arm, forced itself under the torso, pushing it up. The left arm hung lifelessly on his side. The desecrated shell forced it's way slowly on it's feet. The face pale, he took a calm sigh.

Alert: lifesigns from subject:1220accur.4563/card.sig:69/70 mod. analisys commencing: subj.no.203 is functional! Terminate immediatly! C.P.01!
The flashing blue eye under Japan looked curiously at the monitor. The cold mechanical voice hummed something without passion: interesting.

Templar- leave. or be decimated.

The figure paused for a milisecond but it hasn't stopped it in the air, during the punce. However his opponent desintegrated into million silvery strings in a screeching manner, tangled himself around the cyborg. As he lande, he reconstructed himself, grappling into the cyborgs solid form.

He looked at the chromatic steel-white breast of the opponent during the ground combat. He looked at the emotionless face.

Templar- a fighter without compassion is no true warrior.

He slammed his hand into the chest, melting the nanoids during the process and delivered a massive amount of volcaninc heat into the shell. The cyborg screamed with a deafening schreech, delivering an electrical impulse into the body of the templar, electrocuting him randomly on his bodily surface. When the opponent stopped moving, and devolved into a cloud of black flies runnig away quickly, Templar looked up, sighed and fell. This time, for the last time.

Shadow priest- by the gods, it's beyond healing!

He could see the environs one last time: Saika beginnnig to move in the croud, the shadow priests floating closer a bit, and, other than that, there was nothing else of importance.

Templars charred and smoking body slammed into the dusty ground.

Sounds good, actually. (I need to get her story moving anyway.)

==============
Vietnam...
==============

Mychau, wrapped in a cloak, thought long and hard about the current situation as the hooded, robed monk led her to her next opponent.

===============
Back in the Glade...
A few minutes ago...
================

"But master, I cannot participate in this tournament! I must stay and do my duty!"

"MYCHAU. THIS PLACE IS WELL GUARDED EVEN WITHOUT YOU. I CARE ABOUT YOU, AND WANT YOU TO HAVE EXPERIENCE IN THE REAL WORLD. A MONK IS WAITING OUTSIDE THE GLADE TO TAKE YOU TO YOUR NEXT OPPONENT."

"Master, please..."

"IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON, MYCHAU. IT IS WRONG OF ME TO KEEP YOU HERE WHEN THERE IS A WORLD OUT THERE WAITING FOR YOU. NOW GO."

=============
Now...
=============

Mychau sighed wearily, wrapping her hooded cloak around herself and continuing on, the monk leading her silently on. Eventually, the forest started to thin out, revealing a trail. Mychau walked on, smiling at the sweet autumn scent in the air, the leaves crunching underneath her boots. This truly was nice.

But then they came to the village...

Even before they got in, Mychau could tell something was wrong.

Blood and body parts were everywhere, houses were burning. And from the center of the village came wild laughter.

The monk tapped a name on his list, one right next to Mychau's.

Emanon.

"My opponent did this?" she asked. The monk nodded.

Mychau bit back a curse and a demand to know why he didn't stop her. But that could wait. She had a battle to win.

Only after she had slain this villainess would she give the inhabitants of this village a proper burial in a tomb of snow and ice.

She ran into the village, throwing her cloak aside as she went. She quickly made her way to the center of the village, moving as fast as the blizzards she commanded, firing a blast of snow and rushing in behind it...

Templar is loosing blood quickly. His temperature is sky rocketing. Without his consciousness, his body can't maintain a steady balance to keep his power in check. As the crowd starts to swarm around Templar he takes a last look around the crowd before he looses all sense of self and closes his eyes. Above the crowd, a raven sits on a perch and over looks area. The raven takes flight and swoops down landing on one of the warriors in the back. The warrior then hears a strange voice inside of his head.

?????- The raven has marked you for death, and to preserve balance in this tournament, it's wish will be carried out.

The eye of the raven glows red and it then dissapears in a flame. Suddenly, the warrior grabs his head and falls to his knees, slaming it against the ground. The people around him begin to wander what is wrong with him.The warrior begins to cough up blood as it pours out of his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears. The warrior's eyes begin to roll in the back of his head and he begins to claw away at his skin. His bones begin to mangle under his skin, puncturing through his forearms. A black cloak shoots out of the screaming warrior, covering his body from the horrifyed a onlookers. The warrior kneels over on the ground, screaming and vomiting blood. A red light shines from underneath the cloak and the screaming stops. A sudden, sickening crunch is heard, and the cloaked warrior stands up. He cracks his neck from under his hood and walks forward, toward Templar. As he moves forward, a pool of blood can be seen from under the cloak. As he moves forward, the cloak reveals a scortch mark in the middle of the pool of blood, along with jumbled organs and a disjointed skeleton.

The cloaked figure is recognized as the same warrior who fought Templar not too long ago and killed the Shokan before that. Why would he be here? Murmur between the guests begins to spread as the warrior moves ever closer to the fallen warrior. One of the shadow priests moves into his way blocking his path. The warrior turns his head away for a second and then calmly puts his hand into the hood of the shadow priest. Such an action has never been attempted by anybody. Markings on the warrior's arm glow red and fill the hood of the shadow priest. Then a black liquid drips from underneth the priest and the cloak he wore falls to the ground. The warrior continues his way to Templar, now with little ressistance. Even the shadow priests are a little taken back at the fact that he can kill so easily without a second thought. The warrior towers over Templars body then plunges his hand through the chest armor without any resistance but without making as much as fracture on Templar's armor.

-Void-
Templar- At last, I have earned my death, and now, I can finally exhale the heavy burden of battle.

- Are you gving up so easily?

Templar turns around and looks into the blackness, but sees no one.

Templar- You have no idea what I've been through and what I've seen. Now show yourself.

-I thought that a war hero like you would have had more life then this......

Templar- I have no accountance to you. I have finally found peace.

-No, you've taken the cowards way out. My benifactor will not be pleased with this.

Templar looks up above him and sees that the voice is eminating from the cloaked warrior that he fought earlier.

Templar- Ah, I see, it was partialy your fault that I have taken this route with that attack before.

?????- I usually don't get involved so directly in the tournament, my.......benifactor. Prefers for fate to take its toll. However, in the past few tournaments, it has become neccesary to directly determine the outcome. Kilvan had to find this out the difficult way. A shame really.

Templer- So, what do you want with me? Am I one of your benifactors chosen few?

?????- Perhaps.....

The warrior, who is about 20 feet above Templar, hanging upside down from nothingness comes down and lands in front of Templar.

?????- HE hasn't decided yet, but if you accept this, then your soul will not find peace, only oblivion. A man will come when the perlimanries are over. Saika will know him instantly, look for this sign. I won't be too far behind. Until then, I suggest you keep living.

Templar- With my body broken, and the burden of battle coming back to me, what can you offer me, so I decide to keep living.?

?????- We will discuss that later, but my name is one thing.

The warrior creates a ball with a flickering flame.

?????- This is your life, if you let it flicker out, then you have chosen death. If you sieze it then you choose to live. What will it be?

Templar- Very well, but tell me your name.

?????- You'll have that knowledge when you awake.

Templar contimplates the descision, and then thrusts his arm forward, grabbing ball. As soon as he touches it, the ball shatters, and the small flame grows, engulfing Templar.

?????- I'll see you on the other side.... and try to stay alive, atleast, for now.

The next thing Templar remembers is the rush of air filling his lungs and the sight of the dark blue sky above him. He turns his head on the cold floor sees the warrior walking through the crowd, his standard way of departing.

A whisper inside of Templar's head lets him know the warrior's name.
Templar breaks into a cold sweat when he realizes who this warrior is and why he's here. As that sinks in, Saika walks over to Templar and looks at him through her long hair.....

The bloodhaze has lifted, I am alive as well...

Templar first toughts concerning the identity of this anonymous individual left his ill at ease. However there was something amiss. The battle has left him almost emptied from blood, and evil. Shaking from the hypothermia, he grappled into the nearing Saika. She almost gasped when the gauntlet grasped into her shoulder. He had this opportunity. He had no other way of salvation.

Templar: help me...out!

Saika: how?

Templar: the courtyard..now!

As she helped the masssive body to stand up, she could not but hear the pitying aknowledgemens of the warriors surrounding them. No matter, they were meant to die eventually considering Mortal Kombat.

Each step brought aching pain and a new wound upon Templar. But unli-ke most, he embraced the pain, since it kept him together and concious. As they travelled though the pavilions and pillar corridors, he felt a strange exhilaration what burned within his head.

Saika: what are you planning?

Templar: crucifying the pain what dwells in me one final time!

Saika: but...what do you mean I don't understand.

Templar: stop! From this point onward I have to crawl alone.

Saika: no.

Templar: do as I say...please.

The woman stared at his bloodstained face and saw the fierce determina-tion of the warrior. Ever since things started to go bad with him he became more self-absorbed, but this face was unlike anything he saw before.

Saika: very well, I'm putting you down.

Templar: thank thee. Now back off from here. It may get dangerous.

Templar was layed on the passageway leading towards the inner court-yard. His right arm, still capable of moving slammed the door open, and he started crawling towards the gardens. Each step seemed like an eternity, each move ached like hell. ut he already knew hell, and he was not afraid of it. Black rings started to swirl around his sight.

Two times the lies are breaking me,
You're the crowd, why won't give it back to me?
You won't beg for me! Beg for me! Be there for me!

His hand grasped at the corner of the stone wall, the fingers firmly sear-ching for the cracks to hold into. He saw the great stone casket he sear-ched for. He fell, but continued his way towards the casket.

The aparitions started to close on him: each phantasm embodied one of his worst dilemmas. You shall not paaasss! The hisssing sound of the ethereal blades and spears almost made him deaf, but he continuously pulled himself closer towards his goal.

If this is how reason is leaving me, then it is not again!
That is quite deceiving, for my own flesh has made me mad!

The apparitions backed, there were no option to attack him. The prey has aknowledged his well of pain. Self-absorbtion was no more residual in Templar. Each verse he sang in his mind, teared a manifestation of his fears and weaknesses apart. Untill...

Face meeee!!!

Templar hesitated. This pain was not coming from himself. it was the parasite that dwells within him, untill the end of days. how could he face something that wasn't coming from his own mind? It was a separate entity or it has.... GODS! You're not a separate entity! You're ME!

Yesss...you banished me inside the pathetic corridors of your own mind, that was the very reasoon for the Death Yellers to free you from Seido!!!
There was no creature dwelling iside our head, nor a malicious ghost, they sim[ply wanted to brnig me out to the surface! The one part of your self you've refused to be! Freedom! you thought that there was no reason for this to exist in the realm of Order, but you have misssstaken!!!

Freedom is not chaos! freedom is RESPONSIBILITY, RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS YOURSELF! YOU KILLED YOURSELF BECOUSE OF YOUR COWARDICE! -the moment of complete clarity has came at last! One final thought made undistrupted and uninfluenced.

Templar: then it is time to LIVE AGAIN!

The hand reached out one final time! The hand slid down on the stone surface of the side of the contraption, and the runes began to glow in a bright green glow. As his perception gathered enough power to read the runes he smiled for a long time: Best wishes to you Templar. His laughter was pushed aside by the swirling sounds of the energies unleashed. Soon after, the glow devoured the broken body of Templar.

A tremor shook the palace grounds. Only those adept at sensual recogni-tion of the magic knew what happened, or at least tried to phatom: the Sha-dow Priests bowed before this strenght unleashed, and backed.

The hooded stranger somewhere in the shadows far away began to swe-at: IMPOSSIBLE! Such progress and strenght!!! Unthinkable!! -for a mo-ment he steped back from the surge of power. He was in disbelief and dread, the memory of the powersurge burned into his memory forever.

-the swirling ripped off the chains and plates from his body, and penet-rated and infiltrated his bodythrough his wounds, his blood...his blood boiled, like his thoughts. Burned free of sin and unease.It was remade-

Somewhere inside a plane beyond sight, a man smiled: his long fnger-nails swept across his goatbeard and revealed a jesterous smile; So he finally made it good, very good. The eyes engulfed themselves with eme-rald flames as he broke into a laughter.

-the hot magmatic power broke free, it burned everything into nothing less than ashes around him. Hot plates enclosed his body, a new kind of war-rior was to be made. This time, with no known weaknesses- and in sevitude of his names very meaning: Koshaku....Light! Somewhere in Outworld a commander heared something rum bling inside his heart. He stopped and broke into a smile: I know Koshaku, I truly know now!

Saika had to cover her eyes from the engulfing jade flamestorm: despite her shouting Templar did not respond. The surge sweeping through the courtyards was clearly lethal to aporach. but it ended with the haste what stared it in the first place. Saika opened her eyes:

The tall, black figure covered in death dark armor, a helm without face or visor stared blindly at him. The steel covered everything. There was no means of escape, Saika crouched right before the tremendous ironclad ithout protection. She uimmediately asked for his name:

Saika: who are you?

Templar removed his helm with ease. he magmatic steel, more pure than anything known to theese worlds hasn't really cooled yet. Small drops of hot steel fell on his shoulderplates.

Saika gazed in awe: and how do you feel?

Templar smiled with a grin: I'm feeling mean today, not lost, just blown away, I'm irritated and frustrated, self-controll just broke down.....

The eyes opened wide open and a dark orange-yellow glow rose up. The heavy taste of the air, the metalic taste of magic fell on the batlegrounds

....Why is everything so lame, I live my life insane, I'm fabricating and deba-ting who to go kill right now!

At that very moment Saika knew that templar was more than his older self. Something she would love to fight, but never oppose. She smiled with pleasure and despite th hot steel, tapped Templars pauldrons.

Templar: come Saika, let us show theese lessers what Mortal Kombat really means! The two of them emerged from the inner sanctums, and the whole bunch of worthless competitors instantly backed with eyes wide open. Their bravao was nowhere to be found, fake courage only shown when facing a weaker and lesser opponent.

I am Lord Templar! Bow to me!

As Templar and Saika return back to the main chamber of the shadow monastary, the cloaked warrior is being preached to by the Shadow Prophet, yet he acts casual.

Shadow Prophet- Your actions have been inexcusable, you have killed all of your opponents outside of the tournament. This will no longer be tolerated.

The Shadow Prophet shoots out a ball of energy which is used to bind its opponent. However, as it reaches the warrior, he simpley waves it away like a child's toy.

Warrior- Do not test me, my benifactors have a much higher standing. I'd suggest you show respect or my restraints maybe loosend, and those whole realm will burn.

A remark like that would have sealed a person's death for certian, however, the Shadow Prophet sees inside of this warrior's eyes that he is not one to bluff.

Shadow Prophet- Very well, but, you must atleast participate in one match to officialy have a standing. Your opponent is waiting for you.

The warrior turns around and looks at his opponent from under his cloak, it's a tarkatan war lord, a leader of Baraka's rival tribe, Kartarak.
The warrior turns around and grins from under his hood.

Warrior- Alright, I'll give you a match, but, I will choose our location.

The warrior channels a crimson energy through out his body and the famous dragon logo that they stand on begins to crack. Red light begins to seep through and the closed iris of the dragon is blown open, revealing a red portal. The protal's veil is bleeding with a crimson curtian of faces. Millions of screams flow out of portal like a tidal wave.

Warrior- Follow me, if you truely want to test your metel. Though, i can't garauntee your survival.

The warrior steps through the screaming portal, followed by Kartarak. The two warriors are transported the roof of a giant tower, overlooking a city at its feet. There is a full moon in the sky and it is begining to rain.

Kartarak- (Grr) What is this place?

Warrior- This? This is called the Chaos tower. This place, is called Nocturne. A place where there is always constant chaos and anarchy. Those from Earthrealm call it Hell, but whatever label you give it, the location is the same.

Kartarak- You lie, the place those weaklings call "Hell" is the Netherealm.

Warrior- Don't be simple, the Netherealm is nothing more then a small part of Nocturne this place has no limits, it's bounderies stretch under every realm, known as well as yet to be discovered. Now, let's get this over with.

Kartarak- You DIE!!!!! (Growls)

The tarkatan extends his blades and charges the warrior with ferocius speed. The warrior's eyes widen a bit as he takes a quick step to his right, letting his cloak flail in the wind as the tarkatan's blades close in and cut through it's fabric. The warrior pulls quickly, and the cloak wraps itself around the tarkatan's blades, cuffing his entire forearms. The warrior then pulls his opponent in close, and flips him over his shoulder, sending him over and crashing to the ground.

Warrior- (grin) I'll fight you on your own level!!!!! (Multi-tiered voice) GET READY!!!!!!

The warrior grabs the brooch that keeps his cloak on his right shoulder and unclasps it, then tossing it to the side revealing his full figure. For the first time, the ones watching the fight back in Outworld, as well as his opponent can see the warrior's figure.

The warrior has long black hair, and an X shaped scar across his face. He wears a black body suit made of a leather type material. it has armor plates on his ribs, thighs, and shins. He has a huge clad of metal on his back, protecting everything except his spine. His rib shaped gauntlets are also exposed. He wears a belt with a strange buckle that is made of crimson metal. Off of it, he has two red sashes draping down and then coming back up, making two loops. On his left shoulder is a pauladron made to look like a demon's upper half of the skull. Underneath is some chain mail. the warrior wears chains on the bottom of his feet as well as around his upper right bicep. He also has metal plating that goes on his torso. It's not one huge piece, but rather small pieces imbeded into the outfit, highlighting his abs and chest. His chest has a matching buckle like his belt.

Warrior- Now, let's get serious.

The tarkatan rips through the cloak on his arms and charges the warrior once more with rapid steps. The tarkatan moves with incredible speed, leaving a trail of shadows from his movements,but he can't land a single strike on the warrior who effortlessly blocks with his gauntlets.

Warrior- I've had enough of this...

As soon as the tarkatan opens himself up, the warrior extends the spine shaped blades on his gauntlets and strike forward, cutting into the tarkatan's shoulder.

Kartarak- ARGH!!

The warrior moves in and severs the tarkatan's arm clean off.

In pain, but unwilling to give up, the war lord lunges forward with a quick kick to the knees of the warrior, knocking him off his feet and down to the ground. The tarkatan jumps into the air and comes down with a series of rapid strikes, the warrior rolls out of the way as the tarkatan's hand blade drills repeatedley through the ground.

With one hand, the warrior flips him self back to his feet and smirks, his long black hair flowing across his face.

Warrior- You've got greate speed, but it pales in comparison to mine.

With that he lunges forward off his lead leg, leaving an explosion from his take off. The rain has become a down power, and the droplets spread as the warrior closes in on the tarkatan, releasing a sonic boom on the pass by. Immedieatley the tarkatan is flung off the top of the tower's roof and down to the ground. The warrior picks up the tarkatan's arm and dives down after him.

Warrior- Before you die, you learn my name......

The warrior pulls back his hand, and readies to through the tarkatan's arm at him with the blade still extended.

The warrior- My name is Grave, but you wont need one since the splat will scatter you all over this place!

While still runing along side the tower's outside wall, he releases the tarkatan's arm and it shoots down like a comet, engulfed in flames. The blade pierces the tarkatan's chest, causing him to ignite and fall even faster to the ground.

Grave jumps off the wall and falls fast enough to stomp on the screaming tarkatan, and as the tarkatan hits the ground, exploding on contact, Grave flips off, landing on the ground, looking over his shoulder.

Grave- Fatality.

He looks up, and sees the gigantic tower, with a brief surge of power, he leaps back to the top, and picks up his cloak, casting it over him self once more. Since the portal transmits only images, without sound, his name remains unknown with the exception of Templar. The only other one who sharred his name is now dead, with that, Grave launches a bolt of red lightning into the sky and steps through the portal to assume his nameless identity in the tournament.

The deep brown eyes were blinking with anger and disgust. The teacher slowly examined every portion of the towering figure before him. With a quick show of refusal and protest, he spa on the floor before the knight and took fighting stance. The now relatively elderly man screeched:

Shou Lee- you shall be the first to feel my fury, dog! Soon all of Shang
Tsungs servitors will lay broken before my feet.

The motionless figure of the armor moved and with incredible ease tur-
ned to face the chalenger in Mortal Kombat. The clean, cold surface of the visor reflected the mans face in it's opaque shine.

Templar- you are quick to jump into conclusions young one. Even tho-
ugh you look more elderly then me, your soul burns with a vengeance of a
child.

Shou Lee- you don't know nothing! You are a lackey for the sinister sorce-
ror, a maggot what deserves to be crushed. If not by me, then by someone
else! Poetic justice shall be served!

Templar- did you even reconcile with yourself? What about the consequ-
ences you might suffer?

Shou Lee- the only consequence will be your death! You insulted me for
the last time!

Templar- insulted???? Beg pardon, but if I recall precisely, I am the one
being called a maggot.

Shou Lee backed off in a momentary confusion, but regained courage
and continued with the word-battle in an almost silent, whispering tone:

Shou Lee- it does not matter what we say. Let our fists do the talking.

Templar- I admire your devotion if not your intelligence. So be it. Only a fool or a deity challenges me without a backthought. But then again, the greatest rulers and gods are made of the weak-minded.

Shou Lee- you shall perish, unclean one.

Templar- brace yourself, you have the adwantage.

Shou Lee charged almost instantly. His attacks were a mixture of wind flurry and hard hitting rocks. His fists and feet were strong, strong enough to break stones and shatter steel. But not the adamantine strong will of templar. With every bit of confidence, every little peace of will, his armor grew stronger. And the templar had confidence in his victory. He endured the blows, the summoned hurricane winds and storming assaults. His cape, covering his metallic skin was torn apart by the intense fury.

Shou Lee- such defiance is worh mentioning! You are strong in your own
ways unclean one. Fight back -he laughed- fiht if you dare!

Templar- then you doomed yourself to a hard lecture of pain!

Templars arms swam like water around Shou Lees attacks, never striking back, never blocking or parrying. The arms found their way through his limbs, and found the locatuion he needed: the two hands locked in a ter-rible trap, in which were no means of escape. The joint lock rendered the previously highly mobile warrior motionless in a blink of an eye, the tackle was so strong, that Shou Lee lost conciousness within a second. But he had one blink of an eye left: his gaze fixed at the monumental warrior entangling him.

Shou Lee- impossible. Such weigh and burden, yet you move like spring
water....and he passed out.

The crowd was getting used to seeing no bloody corpses in templars matches, but despite their disgust in his weakness, they feared for the-ir lives more than to announce their opinions. Templar was very able to kill... and swiftly if there was any means or background.

Templar placed the unconcious warrior into the Shadow Priests care with the words:

Such is the fate of all who aren'ty grown up to face Shang Tsungs most lowest servitor. Keep him, for he has shown enough zeal. Perhaps he will be able to defeat us all, if he gets wiser. Heal him, and let him go.

Saying so, the templar walked back to refresh himself with the sight of battle, sitting in his chair watching the tournaments rundown. Soon it wo-uld end, but not without him deliveringthe most powerfulest and mightiest blow.

We shall see...

It will finally happen. One of Void's two main targets in this upcoming tournament has been found. After suffering a great loss at the hands of Genkaku, Void has sunk deeper and deeper into a state of anger, hatred, and determination. He realized that he cannot defeat Delta, just like he couldn't defeat Genkaku, in his current state of mind. He is fighting purely out of anger and rage, which works, but only for a short amount of time before he gets outsmarted. Neither Kimona nor Gemini are around for him to turn to for advice. Both of them have a quest of their own to fulfill. Void is once again on his own awaiting for the time in which his showdown with Delta will come to pass.

That day is drawing closer and closer, Void has little time to prepare himself. He constantly plots revenge for the death of his friend, and it only adds to the fire. The anger is both a gift and a curse. To add to all that...he is fighting something he has never encountered before, something one of a kind. Not only does he have to worry about controlling his temper and use his mind while fighting, he must figure out how exactly to kombat a machine like Delta.

After defeating Ipol and April with relative ease whilst crossing the barren plains of the Outworld, Tempest was begining to feel the toll of such a great journey. Outworld was a vast, forsaken land and even though Tempest had been transformed into a demi god by Zaggot, his human essence still resided deep within his soul - as well as retaining human weaknesses - which is why he was starting to tire from his journey. Unfortunately for him, his greatest test was on the horizon...

Weary from the great distances he had travelled, he encountered three vastly different warriors, with differing agendas but all converging coincedently simultaneously to challenge Tempest in the wastelands of Outworld, near the former royal palace of Edenia...

Mychau, empowered by the spirit of the snow, sensed Tempest as a threat to Earthrealm - as he was on a quest to defeat Raiden, and Mychau knew she would have to try and defeat the Protector of the Chaos realm in order to protect Raiden and Earthrealm.

Ahmose knew of Tempest's desire to humiliate the thunder god in front of the elder's, and be crowned supreme Mortal Kombat warrior. Ahmose himself had similar ambitions, as he wanted to prove himself to the elders and rule the realms via winning Mortal Kombat. He had to attempt to defeat Tempest in order to achieve his own personal goals.

Finaly, Jericho - possibly Tempest's greatest challenge thus far - was to be challenged by the demi god of chaos. Neither Jericho nor Tempest posed a threat to one another in terms of conflicting objectives. But seeing as the Chaos realm's protector was to do battle with both Ahmose and Mychau, Tempest felt he must defeat all the obstacles that stood before him, and the addtion of Jericho made this inevitable conflict slightly more challenging.

The three opponents were not prepared for an adversary of such skill and power. Tempest began to summon his mastery over the components of a thunderstorm during his kata, and the onlookers began to feel intimidation as they watched in awe. Suddenly, when Tempest raised his head to look face to face with his enemies, they could see the electricity flowing in his eyes. Inaudible words began to spew from Tempest's mouth, and a dark storm cloud formed high above the challengers' heads. It began to pour without ceasing, creating a vast pool of water at their feet. Mychau, Ahmose and Jericho all lost control of themselves and their balance and began to slip in the muddy wastelands of the Outworld plains. As Mychau and Ahmose desperately tried in vain to gain a decent foothold, Jericho stopped his futile attempt to stand, and looked toward his formidable adversary.
Now electricity was flowing from one of his palms to the other, and Jericho realized what was about to transpire. Unfortunately for him, it was too late. Tempest let out a deafening incantation and thrust his open palms towards his enemies. The electricity hit the pool of water that had engulfed their legs and the foes were electrocuted without mercy. Screams of agony carried across the calm Outlword air, as the pain they suffered was incredible. Tempest, who usualy would have ceased his attack much sooner, was taking sadistic pleasure in this particualr torture. Possibly because of the sheer number of foes who had attemped to challenge him, perhaps also because the length of his journey was begining to bring him annoyance and frustration. But as he finaly left the three defeated combatants to die, one consequence of this conflict had emerged, Tempest's thirst for blood and pain was ever growing. The warrior on a quest for revenge on Raiden was begining to exhibit the same tendencies he had shown when he commited genocide on the inhabitants of the Chaos realm, he was revealing what he truly was capable of; carnge, devastation and above all else - sheer brutality....

After the first several matches held for the perliminary rounds, the near death of Templar, and the appearance of the strange warrior, there was silence. A temprorary rescess has been called to prepare for the next set of matches, during this time, the fighters used the break to collect their thoughts, sharpen their skills and tend to their wounds.
Among the Shadow Monastary's many features, it had hot springs where the contestants where left free to bathe. Saika, feeling tierd and weak, decided to take this opportunity to rest up. She disrobed, and lowered herself in the hotsprings, away from sight with total privacy. Saika takes a deep breath and thinks to herself......

Saika- How could i have lost?

She looks down at her body and sees the new scars across her legs and the rest of her body. She looses herself in deep thought, replaying the events in her head.

Shadow Prophet- Our next match will be the Netherealm figher, Dymune, against the Earthrealm ninja, Saika.

Dymune- I'm going to enjoy pealing the skin of your soft body.
Saika- Don't get too carried away, the match hasn't started.

The portal opened up and they stepped through it. In an instant, they found themselves, standing on a piece of rock, in a volcano's magma chamber.

The next thing that Saika remmebers is Dymune's first strike. A swift and powerful palm to Saika's abdomen. She was caught completely off gaurd, and was unable to block it in time, resulting in her being shot to the ground with a stern, hard thud.

Saika got to her feet, grabbing her stomach and glaring at Dymune.

Saika- I couldn't follow that? Why?

Dymune- The next strike will shoot you into the magma below, ending this fight.

Saika- You'll have to land that hit first.

With a slight smirk, Dymune charges forward with his hand ready to strike.
Saika sees him coming and uses her superior speed to duck out of the way, turning in mid air, then charging a blast and hitting Dymune in the back.

Dymune is shot forward even faster and sees his eminant future in the magma pit. He quickly takes out his Damnation blades and thrusts them into the ground, slowing him down considerabley. However, its not enough to stop him from going off the edge, thinking quickly, he balances on his blades, and flips backwards, causing him to scrape the edge of the platform.

Dymune- Wench, I'll make you suffer!!!!

He falls down to one knee and smashes his fist into the floor, releasing a tidal wave of fire from underneath him, sending it directly at Saika.

Saika quickly uses her tetsuguene and shoots high into the air, avoiding the blast, as soon as it dissapears, she lets go and free falls down to the platform, she extends her kudachi and igintes into fire, aiming her self down at Dymune.

With a simple grin, Dymune reaches back behind him and pulls the Damnation blades out of the ground, and waits. As Saika swoops in, he quickly dodges to the side, and slices upwards with his blades, landing in a kneeling position on the other side of Saika.

Dymune- Ariel attacks leave you open and vulnerable on all sides. Stupid Earthling.

Saika, stunned, and inflicted with tremendous pain, looses focus and tumbles to the ground. She turns to Dymune and inspects her wounds. It felt like two slashes, when it was in fact eight. Her upper thighs are bleeding, and she has deep cuts in her arms that have bleed through her kimono.

Saika- Im......not..........finished yet.
She tries to move but stumbles down to her knees.

Dymune- This was over before it ever started. You're whole species is disgusting, and I will end it all.

He takes out his Damnation Blades and raises them over Saika's head.

Dymune- Know die........ (his eyes glow with a deep red)

Saika sees a brief second of opportunity and slices upward with her kudachi, imbude with her shadow power.

Dymune is stunned, and stumbles back, starring at Saika who glares back at him from under her hair with rage in her eyes, causing them to glow a deep purple.

Dymune looks down at his gold plate, and sees that it has been sliced through. Blood begins to trickle through the crack and down to the ground.

Saika- Gottcha......
With that she collapses to the floor from blood loss.

Dymune, stunned that he has actually been toppled sneers at the passed out Saika.

Dymune- How dare you? How dare you best me? You, a worthless maggot.

He walks over toward Saika, and extends his Damnation blades. Reaching down, he grabs her by her arms and lefts her off the ground, letting her dangle in his grasp. He slowly brings it to her stomach and slices through the kimono, exposing her bare abdomen. He cuts deeper still, causing it to bleed and making Saika moan in agony.

Dymune- Death is not a reward I will give to you slowly. I'll make you beg for it.

He walks over to the edge of the platform and extends his arm, letting Saika dangle above the pool of magma. Just then an eruption commences and shakes the platform. A portal opens up with an image of a cloaked figure inside.(Grave)

Grave- I suggest you let her live and leave while you can.

Dymune- I do what I please.

Grave- If this volcano erupts with you inside, the only thing you'll be doing is screaming as the magma liquifies your body.

Dymune, apprehensively pulls Saika back in and enters the portal, transporting himself back to the Shadow Monastary.

Dymune- Where is he?

The other fighter look at him confused..

Dymune- The being in the portal, where is he?

Shadow Prophet- You speak nonesense, there was nobody from this side that crossed over.

In a fit of anger, Dymune lets out a scream, causing his eyes to ignite with a red glow once more.

That was the last memory Saika had of that match. Her sight focuse back onto her newlt scarred body as she sits in the hot spring and exhales.

Lady Kimona, may I present you our unbveaten champion, Lord Templar? The Shadow Priest was the very definition of gentleness. It is not common that a "godess" participates in the tournament.

Lady Kimona- So you the the fabled Templar, unbeaten champion of the
vile sorcerer Shang Tsung? -Kimona enjoyed the moment when her gaze
coupled with the golden glow emanating from behind the steel veil.

Lord Templar- Yes I am he. It is a blessing to receive you here beautyfull
deity.

Lady Kimona- Well-spoken words -she laughed in joy. However this
matter I am here to attend involves you in another way, knight.

Lord Templar- then grace us with your speech godess, what would you
have the sorcerors aprentice to do?

Lady Kimona- she smiled- I want to challenge you. To test your mettle with
cold steel. What say you? Did Tsung teach you courage as well?

Templar smiled under his eternal veil of the hardest steel ever created.
His knowledge was wast over fighting, but facing a godess? This day was all laughs it seemed.

Lord Templar- Shang tsung teached me more than courage mylady. He
thaught me to look into souls. And I heresay you loose this battle godess.

Kimonas mind raced against time: How he could be so confident in this? And is it true that his words spoke the reality? How could he...

Lord Templar- I did not lie. I gaze into you mylady and see doubts. let us clear the shroud by doing battle. -and while speaking so, he removed his cape revealing the insane amount of plates that guarded his altogether powerfull muscular body. The neckchains and the cheekguard cranked in a weird crying sound as he cracked his neck.

Both of them sunk into battle stance inside the six feet deep pit of hund-reds of old mummyfied Shadow Priests. The rotting bones were overjoyo-us to see a godly battle be done infront of their eyes...sockets.

Lord Templar- mylady, I ask that you begin your onslaught.

Kimona already unnerved by templars presence, and even more, by the menacing look of the frictionless surace of the dual plated faceguard, what had only two openings: for the eyes, from where the golden and sulphuro-us clouds emanated.

Her kicks were formidable and her asault swift. but as foretold by the destiny, templars defense was unpenetrable, even for a lesser God! The onlsaught lasted five minutes during what templar only backed, blocked and parried. After the fifth gongs sound, templar sunk deeper into his jest, his jesterous behavior changed to a strickt and cold stance, and when Kimona exhausted launched his final attack, comnining the icy powers
of her chain of swirling attacksand....

...the arms flew slowly around the air...

...a slight jab at the left wrist...

...the right foot stuck into the others...

...a mousetrap...

...no escape...

Flawless victory! Templar whispered the senctence into the grounded Ki-monas ears as she was pushed down to the ground having her legs and left hand completely disabled by the tackle. Templar released and stood up, helping up the baffled goddess.

Templar- You see my dear, my time is preset and is fading away. For that, i fight with all I have left. And you are certainly not the one to teast my mettle...yet. Farewell icy rose, maybe we meet again. Or not. -and he wal-ked away silently, followed by the group of Shades what were following them from ever since they entered the mausoleum.

i think it was good

As soon as the shokan Saburo fell to the ground, the crowed fell silent and errupted only after a few seconds into the cheering. Lord Templar, the only one of the few survivors of the contest remained unharmed in his status as Tournament Champion. As he saluted to the crowd and raised his hands in victory the nearby Shadow Priest whispered something of great importance:

"the real tournament shall soon begin. Are you ready for the greatest confrontation?"

Templar nodded slightly towards the caped spellcaster and have walked away. As he moved down the corridors the band of Shadow Priests aproached him and talked to him in a serious manner.

Shadow Priest- ..this young warrior seeks your special council at once. We suspect that he is going to be entangled in the fate before us.

Templar- this earthly warrior also seeks to challenge me. I can feel his flame burning through the walls of the monastery. I accept his destiny.

Shadow Priest- very well, I shall then lead you to him. -and saying so, they walked away o the ouer grounds of the aging monastery. Both of the group waiting outside and both the shadow priests were interested in this fight. How will the young chosen one face the lord of Outworld?

***

Templar- I accept thy challenge. -and he slammed the claymore down into the ground. The steel runned down deep into the cliffside, penetrating the rocks without fracture. That was one of the many wonders Seidos power bestowed to the templar.

Void- then let's get this over with! -the black hair waved around his temple like a horde of ravens. The earthly warrior seemed bloodboiled. He was ready to strike. He was ready to unleash wrath, what came out of the hostility in this land. And out of frustration.

Void- let's see, how you bear my anger.

And he jumped. His full might was released, the adrenaline was seeming-ly steaming him up to his limits. The muscles rubbed to each other unle-ashing tension through every blow he delivered. The might was unmat-ched even by earthrealms finest. Indeed Void was stronger than ever. The black chromatic knights appearance has fueled him to deliver his anguish into every little move his body took. He suddenly became omnipresent in his whole body, his nerves were working on the highest capacity. The mad-ness overtook him during the battle.

But it had not worked.

Templar lookes sideways. The earthrealm warriors punch was deflected by his doule plated visor. He looked back, seeing the warrior breathing heavily, sweating, unharmed.

Templar-I weep for thee, for you may now know my hard tutelage.

Fury was unbounded. Templar fists broke bones, shattered the weak defense and allowed the warrior to be cought completely out of guard. One little moment, it was enough to turn the tides. But theese blows were the very manifestation of burrowed pain and complete anguish. Voids arms broke, his ribs cracked as Templar has shown him the true wrath buried inside a centuries old body.

Free of compassion towards self-annihilation Templar has found a new purpose. No longer he sought the death on the battlefield, but e rather shown the true might of a friendship. A friendship that was enplaced inside a most coldened heart of a sorcerer now dead. Now dead! NOW DEAD! DEEAADD! -gasp-

...

Templar stoppped. One more blow and Void would suffer instant death from his blow. The punished body of the broken fighter barely stood on his feet. templars shaking hand lowered, and slowly refined into a smooth movement when the gauntlet offered it's hand towards Void.

Templar- friendship.

Silence. Voids damaged face nodded and fell. his face altough not dama-ged enough to be completely deformed. He smiled. His wounds were serious, and even on earth, they would mean surely perilous lingering between life and death. At least for an ordinary man. But Void was much more than anordinary fighter.

Templar- thou shall heal...

He placed his palm over his face and submerged into the Bonesaw Lith-any and ancient outworldish method of telepathy. It sometimes coused a warm feeling of safety. But it could be especially lethal when used right. It's basic purpose was to express the deepest pain to both sides for their hea-ling. Templar began. The first part of the verse was Voids thoughts.

As the sub-concious Templar whispered the first four lines, it became ap-parent, that Voids greatest fear was for the safety of the cold warrior, the one known as Sub-Zero. A formidable oe and friend he nodded and conti-nued. To save Void he had to reveal his most deepest secrets. otherwise both of them would die.

...feeling so lost and betrayed...
...why does this happen to me every time?...
...stuck in this place inside...
...screaming and clawing from deep inside...

...DEEP INSIDE, I CAN'T HIDE...

Templars eyes opened. The damage was still there, but he ensured that
Voids soul would stick to his body after the ritual. He smiled, as he reali-
zed that the last few words he spoke were coming out loud of his mouth.

Templar- let you Shadow weavers conspire over my faults and errors, I
care less, hahahaaaa....-a small teardrop emerged from his eye as he remembered how sad is that he was so right. He cannot be safe from haunting nightmares ..but..

He looked towards te Soulnado in the dark nightsky -the instant rash of feelings of being watched was now stronger than anything. Or anyone he knew. Somebody was watching him, and his powers weer VAST! To make things even more complicated, the power he felt was familiar. And to add drama too:

the Soulnado was disappearing!! It's tornado like structure was sucked down to the ground by an unknown individual. Templar was shaking as he knew what would this mean! -by the gods, there may be justice after all...

He stared at the horizon even after the Shadow Priests rejuvenated Vo-ids broken body. He was lying on the ground, broken, but healed from peril. templar walked back to him, after he managed to break his gaze away from the sky. The green lightnings were still flickering above Tsungs for-mer palace grounds.

Void- my remedy...

Templar- beg pardon?

Void- the cigaretes, I must have..my remedy. -he nodded towards the box of cigs laying at his feet. It was Marlboro, not the best, but good for the mo-ment. he gave one piece into his mouth.

Void- I ...ahh, forgot the lighter.

Templar- i suggest you need a light aswell -and his fingertips burned up the end of the cigarette, lettin Void smoke his remedy.

Void- you have a... hard way of lecturing.

Templar- I am only what I have endured.

Void- sorry to hear that. By the way, you almost killed me during your lec-ture. This is Outworl, am I right?

Templar- *sigh* you're right, this is Outworld. He tapped on the shoulder of Void helping him to sit up to smoke his cigarette in peace together with him. Void offered the last one for him.

Void- I understand all... Have one.

Templar lightened up a bit, and took the cigarette. However he was not used to bearing the smoking of this object, and soon found himself the victim of Voids hard coughing laughter when he almost choke on the smo-ke he swallowed. After that, both of them laughed. However Templars tho-ughts were elsewhere..spinning around a familiar face he has not seen in ages.

***
Grave walked back from the top of the walls in anger. His facial expres-sion under the hood was another thing, he was suprised, angered, and fustrated. he remembered a situation not so long ago, and what he said, what was it again? ...friend towards Shao kahns rule...both of them fell at my hands...

Impossible, if he is truly making a return...that would only mean trouble for him and his "affiliates". Things were turning out bad. The plan had to be hastened up a little bit. This new power would only be a wildcard in this grandiose game of life and death.

Templar...never seen someone who had so much power and focus over battle controll. His blows were so precise and meaning his thoughts, that he could end up being an entity such as him. transcendence by control-ling the fate through his hands. The dream of a warrior: to be the ruler of every action of his.

His blurry thoughts faded away with him as he left the monastery walls, and made his way to his home plane of death, Nocturne.

***

He who controll the past, commands the future. He who commands the future conquesrs the past. -the sorcerers smile.

Grave walked down the dark corridor which led out to the courtyard and into the Living Forest, on his way, he ran across Templar and Void enjoying a smoke. Graves eyes met with them for a split second as he continued on.

Void got a wierd feeling about the stare that Grave them as he passed by and turned to Templar.

Void- Who is that?

Templar- As of this momment, I am still unsure of WHAT he is, but one thing is certain, his fighting prowes and physical control are that of nothing I have encounter before this tournament started.

Void- Is he really that powerful?

Templar has a concentrated look on his face as he places his hand over his stomach and remembers the scuffle that he had with Grave once before.

Templar-.......Indeed.

As Grave approaches the edge of the Courtyard, he chants something, and his right hand glows with a crimson light. Runic chevrons glow on his arm and the same portal that was seen in the Shadow Monastary opens with a gust of wind. It's force rips through the tiles below it as Grave steps through, closing the rift behind him

Curious, Templar and Void come to the place where the rift was opened. What they see is a small crater, still active with power residue. Void approches it but Templar quickly grabs him.

Templar- That would be ill advised...

Void- Why?

Templar takes a piece of the broken tile and throws it into the crater, the power residue jumps at it and disintegrates it.

Templar- How much power does he actually have???

*Nocturne: Chaos Tower*
Grave approahces an alter and kneels.

????? "........................., ........................ ......"

Grave- Yes, He is returning.

?????" ............. .......... .... ................"

Grave- If you deem it nescassery, then very well.

?????" .............., ............ ..... ........... ..........."

Grave- If that is your desire, then so be it. I will return to the tournament.......

????? "......................................................"

Grave- Yes, we need to find a new candidate. Hatsuma seems willing.. And what of Koga? Do I bring him into this as well?

?????"............................."

Grave- I see. Very well then.

With that, Grave makes his way back to Outworld.

Saika refocuses and looks over her body through the water. She takes a deep breathm sensing that nobody is around she stands up and exits the hot spring. She gets dressed quickly and begins to clamp on her armor while thinking to her self.

Saika" How could I have lost? Well, I guess it doesn't make any difference now. I'll just have to move on."

Saika makes the short treck from the hot springs to the Shadow Monastary.
As she enters, she sees a fight in it's conclusion, to her surprise, it's the cloaked warrior(Grave) who's in the ring right now. She scans the area and notices that Templar and Void are observing from high up above. Using her skills as a shinobi, she makes her way up to their alcove with relative ease.

Templar- Saika, a pleasure to see you again.

Saika bows with respect.

Saika- What's going on?

Void- That guy down their is supposedly being punished for his transgression against the Shadow Priests, apparently, he wasn't supposed to leave the battlegrounds once he was indited into the tournament. He's been seen leaving on several occasions.

Saika- What's his punishment?

Templar-......Death.

Void- Or it's supposed to be, so far, nobody has been able to touch him..

Saika- Does anybody know his name?

Templar- No...

The three fighters look down from the high alcove at the fight.

Grave circles the outer edge of the Dragon logo, using his Command Sambo fighting stance..

Challanger- You die here.

Grave- Just shut up and attack.

The challanger uses a weighted chain as his weapon. He swings it over his head and then launches it at Grave.

Grave puts up his arm and the chain coils around it.

Challanger- Very stupid, no I break your arm.

Silently Grave touches the chain with his other hand it disintegrates.

Grave lifts his hand into the air and a bear like trap comes from the ground, grassping onto the opponet's legs, stapling him to the ground.
Grave walks towards the opponent and looks at him with a cold stare from under his hood.

Grave (sighs)- What a waste of elements. You don't belong here. Grave places his hand on his opponents head and rips him out of the bear trap, skinning his legs in the process. Grave's arm begins to glow red and bolts of energy start shooting through the opponent's body, the bolts begin to twirl and the rest of the opponent is turned inside out. With a bit of pressure applied to the opponent's skull, from Graves' hand, the opponent's body overloads with energy and explodes into pieces.

Saika grimices at the finishing manuever.

Void- Whoa......

Templar- I see. Apparently our mystery fighter is adept at Alchemy.

Saika- What do you mean?

Templar- Back in the realm of Order we were taught Alchemy, but it was always regared as a chaotic art. It has three basic steps: Taking an object, breaking it down on a moleculer level, and then reassembling it as something else.

Void- So what does that mean?

Templar- Apparently, our fighter has the ability to not only transmute objects, but he can stop also stop at the second step. He can break down matter, with a partial transmutation, in this case, killing his opponent.

Grave looks up at the council of Shadow Priests with fire in his eyes.

Grave- I tire of these weaklings. Next time you try and stand against me, I won't take a challanger, I'll come straight for you.

Grave turns into a silohuette and vanishes from sight.

A brief silence and then followed by a gong.

Shadow Prophet- We shall continue with the tournament as scheduled.... The next two fighters approach, Saika and Count Pierre Etienne.

Saika- I guess it's my turn once again.... I hope to see you after the match.

Saika tightens her arm gaurds and fades out in a shadow, then reappears at the bottom of the arena.

Pierre is already waiting for her at the bottom.

Pierre- Such a lovely lady, why not leave before you get hurt?

Saika- That's not going to happen..... I won't loose this fight.

Pierre- You won't have a say in the matter.

Shadow Priest- Enough!!! Let the contest begin.

The dragon portal open's up and the two fighters step through. They find themselves at the foot of an enormous mountain. other mountains surround them, each decorated with enormous stone dragons. Water falls tricking from their tops. Giant Bonzai trees grow from the sides of the rocks. The tips are covered in a rich forest of each mountain. A prestine lake surrounds their arena.

Count Pierre draws his sabre and points the end at Saika.

Count Pierre- Are you ready to die? I give you this last chance?

Saika- I'm sorry, but this is not something I can pass up.

She extends one of her kudachi and sinks into her Ninjitsu stance. The sun rises above them, casting a long shadow at the foot of the mountain and stretches across the gigantic lake.

Pierre is the first to move, his black coat flailing in the wind. He attacks Saika with a quick thrust with his sabre.

Saika deflects the attack with her kudachi and spins behind Pierre, then delivers a quick kick to the back of his knee, sending him to the ground. Saika does several back handsprings and then lounges forward with a sliding kick, carving a path through the rocks beneath, but her attack is quickly evaded by Pierre who lifts himself with his sabre and hand springs over Saika with his Wushu.

The two look each other over and for a split second, there is only serenity in the mountains. The silence doesn't last long as the two charge each other with their blades. Pierre comes in with a lunging strike and Saika blocks with her kudachi once again, then spins in under his saber and extends her second kudachi, slashing upwards, cutting through Pierre's shirt.

Pierre instantly backs of and inspects himself, a red streak is seen down the middle of his shirt, with a build up at his stomach. Outraged that Saika would toy with him like that again, Pierre launches into the air and the comes down with a quick series of strikes at Saika.

Pierre- You can't win. I WONT LET YOU!!!!

The rapid strikes come down but Saika holds her ground. She predicts where the next strike will come and extends her kudachi across the path of her forearm and leans to the side. The two blades meet each other with a loud clang which echoes through the mountains.

Pierre- Wench, how are you doing this? How are you able to predict my movements?

Without saying a word, Saika pushes against Pierres sabre, knocking him back into the air, and then delivers a flip kick, hitting him straight in the jaw, causing him to fall backwards to the ground.

Saika puts one hand on her hip and the other by her side:

Saika: You are agressive, I am calm. You exert force, I merely redirect that force back at you. So you can't beat me.

Count Pierre, now outraged clenches his teeth, blood trickles down his chin, seeing this Pierre wipes it off with a rough motion. He stands back up and puts on a calm front, pulling his sabre back into his sheath. He puts his hands back into the depths of his coat and turns around. With one sudden move he quickly turns back around with a vial and shoots it at Saika. The vile breaks on contact blinding Saika instantly. She grabs her eyes and falls to her knees.

Saika- Aahh! What did you do to me?

Without answering Pierre dissapears from Saika's sight for a second. In reality he's moving very silently behind her and takes out his saber once more and stands behind her. He gets into a strong stance and puts both hands on his sabre. Then with a quick thrust comes down on Saika, hoping to cleave her in half.

Saika's sense the attack and quickly rolls to the side, setting on one leg with the other extended, and her arms on guard.

No doubt Pierres' strike would've killed her since the after math was a small crater in the ground, at the end of the sabre.

Pierre- Impossible, that neuro tocin should've paralyzed most of your sense.

Saika- Cheap chemicals won't work on me. A ninja doesn't need sight to see.

Saika removes her headband placing it over her eyes, leaving only her hearing as an open sense.

Pierre- You've lasted this long, I'll give you credit for that, but now it's time for you to go..

Saika- I'm winning this fight, regardless of what you think.

Pierre shifts his stance, partialy sheathing his sword. He then leans back slightly and then charges Saika with a burst of speed, extending his sword at the last second, hoping to confuse Saika, killing her in the process and ending this fight. This however proves unsuccsessful.

Saika flips over Pierre, hitting him in the back of his head with two kicks, then rotates in mid air, lending in a leaning postion behind Pierre.

The Count quickly turns around, fliping in mid air and goes for his Vichy Strike.

Count Pierre- Die!

In Saika's mind, time seems to stand still. In her minds eye, she can hear the roaring river that the lake leads into, she can hear the slights chirpping of birds. She then hears two specific noises. The first is the air pocket that Pierre's body forms with every movement. The second is actually a million noises rolled into one. She can hear Pierres heart beat, his muscle contractions, his blood rushing, his lungs breathing for every second the attack lasts. With this she's able to pin point his postion and looks up, facing him dead on.

Pierre (How coul'd she know?)

Saika places her hand on the ground leaving small glow on the ground then quickly jumps out of the way.

As Pierre comes down the glow intensifies and then explodes, blasting him back into the side of the mountain. Before he can rethink what happened to him, Saika charges him with great speed, then jumps into the air, rotating with extreme velocity, hitting him square in the chest, she can here his ribs shatter. She leaps off and stands infront of Pierre.

Saika- I win...

Pierre spuse out blood and falls to the ground saying " Curse.....you.."

Saika removes her headband, and opens her eyes. They are good as new. Starring down at it she sheds a tear..

Saika Hatsuma, Koga.... I promise I'll find both of you when this is done.

She puts the headband back on her forehead as the portal opens and she steps through, arriving back at the Shadow Monostary. A few of the lower monks rush through the portal to get Count Pierre, Saika pays them no heed, and finds Templar and Void starring down at her. She gives them a soulfull look in her eyes and makes her way back up to their level.

As she walked away, Templar gazed into the corridors space, staring into the emptiness. Or so did it seem. Void left to check out other fights, and he stood alone inside the cold monastery, below the pulse of the maggot war-riors burst into a rapid tempo. Not that they weren't good fighters or some of them even good people, but they were insignificant.

He moved. Each step echoed as the metallic heels crushed the cold sto-ne beneath him. He hulking armored figure walked with almost extended arms and soon, he began to hasten his steps, and then, run. The armors boots slammed into the ground leaving spider web like cracks.

He runned down the corridor, and jumped through the open arcades into the courtyard. There he fell, and Saika as he walked towards her cham-bers could feel the impact when Templar landed on his feet inside the mo-nastery garden.

Templar watched carefully as the bushes moved and the shadows enga-ged in their mysterious dance - something was amiss. His gauntlets be-gan to shine and the silouettes melted into the opaque yellow glow as his forearm took liquid form. Then all hell broke loose: the second armored figure launched out from the bushes yelling, throwing the polearm weapon at the Outworldish warlord. Templar ducked and the naginata slammed into the wall behind him. despite it's blades curve, the strenght in the throw allowed it to be firmly inplant itself into the yellow sided monastery fortifi-cation.

Templar (urning his head towards his attacker): as always, you insist on cousing me harm.

Hotaru: such is your fate infidel.

Templar: aside from our ranting...how is our plan doing?

Hotaru walked up towards Templar and assaulted him with a sudden attack. His ferocity was not to be underestimated, however Templar reac-ted with care and speed. the first twelve blows could have been deflceted but Hotarus dicversionary moves were legendary. Templar had a hard ti-me defending himself, but not without retribution.

Hotaru: Dairou mislead the rebellion leaders. Bu the Constitution is in still the wrong hands! This wasn't what was supposed to happen!

Templar attacked and an axe kick bashed Hotarus pauldrons downward, sending him kneeing. The tackle following the crush was/would be lethal:

Templar: Dairou knows his ways, and he also has personal mattwers to attend to!

Hotaru glowed up, the armor charred and broke into flaming. The light and the intense heat was familiar to Templar, but Hotaru controlled fire, not metal, like him. The armor though the most resilient entity of existence, could only channel the heat on his master.

Hotaru: what matters could he possibly discuss with that terrorist Darrius?

Templar stopped and lowered his arms. The faceless helmet he wore now for days opened up it's visors darkness, and a thin red light came out of the supposed to be eyes of the templar warrior:

Templar: he has to play along. Darrius commenced his murdering rage for his own selfish goals.

Hotaru stopped also, his eyes filled with suprise but he could have seen it coming. There is always something that shook his beliefs in seidos clean-ness. He was the only one who could undo the damage, but he needed the help of others. Others who he supposed to rightfully destroy.

Hotaru: I..did not know.

Templar: it is bnot the only one error you commited since our separation.
Come, I have to show you something. -both of them walked away inside the sanctuary of the monastery. The cold and alien aura molested Hotaru, but his "counterpart" the former seidan Koshaku had no problems with adjusting. Soon they reached a chamber glowing in jade light. it was circle based, and pillars held a concentric line of ceilings aroubnd a glowing pit in the center of the room. The pit held something inside it, but it was shinig too bright to be made out by mere eyes.

Templar: soon, I shall grabnt you the means of freeing Seido. This shall be my last service, so consider the blood debt fulfilled from my side.

Hotaru: and how exactly... or what exactly are your means?

Templar: i understand your fustration. Yes, I have seen the toll of war, so I shall grant you this right now...

Templar seemed to be smiling behind the iron veil, and his arm pointed at the decorated circular pit in the center of the pillared chamber. The plates answered with a clank, and the hair of the guardsman was blown apart by the intense winds of magic:

Templar: Behold! The end is at hand!

Both of them looked down into the misty pit of the chamber: It was a tunnel heading downward, screams and swirling sounds were filling more than just the air. Anyone not superb to a mere mortal would have died already by his own fears. But the two seidans were more than just humans. One emphatised order and discipline, so he could not and would not fear the horrors lurking below. The other was enthrilled by the presence of death and madness.

Templar: the soul chambers. Thousands of warriors trapped here by my
masters.

Hotaru: it seems that you chose a quite disgusting lord to serve.

Templar: may it be his vileness or curse, it does not matter. Come.

Templar stepped forward and slid down with ease downward into the screaming ethereal vortices. Hotaru stood unshaken, but paused.

Hotaru: *sigh* my friend, nothing can save you from this madness...

When the Seidan High Guardsman jumped down, he could feel the ope-ning in the rift of reality. Not like the portals what connected the realms, but
much like a dome of unbearable coldness and chill.

He slammed down when the tube ended, and Hotaru landed safely on his
feet. He was dizzy, but he stood there unchangedly solid. Only his stomach was about to errupt.

Hotaru looked around. Twisted shapes and darkness everywhere, and the chill became much more irritating. And when the skeletal remains scattered all over the floor began to glow in a pale sick green light, he backed one step.

Templar: do not dread the dead. theese are all servitors. Vessels for the
damned. Theese are the only individuals who regained their concious-
ness from Onagas controll.

Hotaru: the only one who could bring peace and permanent ease to this
sick world.

Templar: perhaps. Perhaps not. All that matters that i want to see my
homeland intact and thriving when I leave into the shadowworld...

..and thus, here are the promised means: SHOW THYSELVES, DAMNED
LEGION, UNDOERS OF EVERYTHING.

The Earth began to shake and cracks spat sulphurous clouds into the air. The pale green light errupted in beams from the floor, and soon, in an in-stant, thousands of skeletal apparitions materialised in the thick air.

Legion: who interrupts our deserved suffering?

Templar: it is I, Lord Templar, Sword of the Setting Sun! I command you to rise, and bow! Bow before the aprentice of SHANG TSUNG!

Legion: we hear you our lord and savior.

Templar looked back and smiled at the appalled Hotaru. He was now in command of no ordinary force. When the invasion of earth was imminent in Shao kahns plans, his powers opened a rift inside the unstable walls of reality and drained souls who hasn't departed yet into the nethers. Theese souls were legion, but only a significant majority could be used to create a warrior suitable for carrying out Kahns will. This warrior was Ermac.

But not all souls weer suitable for the conciousness of the warrior. Ermac rejected those who were unworthy of being a part of him permanently. An army of souls was banished into unliving and undying when Shao Kahn sent those unworthy individuals into a permanent hell of nonexistence-existence.

The Pale Legion was a suitable resource. Countless of undestroyable warriors, cutthroats and madmen who wished o be redeemed...a force that could only be matched by Onagas Undefeatable Army. They were bound to the lifeforce of their leader, so the fallen numbers ressurected after a brief pause whent hey were struck down.

But what happens if the army cannot be hurt at all? The Pale Legion, undo-ers of everyhing phased between nonexistence and existence, so they could simply "refuse" to be destroyed. Their numbers could not grow, and often they failed in battle becouse of their permanent numbers, but they could not be destroyed.

Templar: ...shortly, you and I have an indefeatable armada capable of
obliberating anything in our time.

hotaru was speechless. He knew Koshaku was resourcefull and a little speculating when he was accepted. His skills were focused on ombat and tactics, but as he could see it now: Templar was an excellent strategist al-so.

Hotaru: I underestimatd ou dearly, my friend. But how...?

Templar: Seidos fate it seems is tied into the fate of my master too. If I am
able to run the tournamet down, and gather the required particles of our
grand plan, we may have a chance to turn the tides of this war.

Hotaru: I now know. With this power I...we could batter the ones who
coused the chaos in our world. At last, we can make a difference.

Templar: des that mean you are no longer the pawn of the Council? Do
you aknowledge the fact that you wee steered in the name of justice and
law, despite your intentions, you were a tool for the higher castes?

Hotaru: I do. And now, -he weakly smiled- we shall make history.

The legion of apparitions hissed as the two weer transported back to safety from the swirling darkness that surrounded them. Somewhere in the crowd of souls, the generals were full of joy: for millenias, they can at last fiht another war. No more eternal monotonity, no more peace...

A storm is aproaching. And this is but a segment of the power it shall so-on unleash.

My god, have I been looking at the wrong site :P
A longer story, so don't ask... Anyway, please let my character Camialla join whenever you feel like it!
I would love to see your creative minds embrace my character :P

A letter from Void to Amara (the good side of Gemini):

What a journey this has been! From my first encounter with you that day the Tarkatans tried to ambush you to nearly dying at the hands of Lord Templar only to be granted mercy, a rare thing from him from stories I've heard. Things aren't going so great. I'm not fighting at the level I should be. While Shou Lee and Nickelbopper didn't pose much of a threat, everyone else I've encountered has pretty much dominated me. While I defeated Kimona, I have a feeling she could've easily defeated me had I not been an ally of her son. I was no match for Genkaku. Templar wasn't even phased by my attack. But most of all, what really burns me inside, I could not defeat Delta. My whole reason for entering this tournament was not to win, but to destroy any and all Tekunin. With Delta, I did not even come close. Something has to change. I cannot live with myself knowing that I cannot defeat those responsible for Jason's death. I've learned from many great fighters, even those who nearly destroyed me, like you, Kimona, Saika and especially Lord Templar. I hope things are better your way. While we each have our own missions to fulfill, I made a promise to you that if you ever need me, I am there, and I am very much a man who keeps to his promises. Best of luck in the upcoming tournament. ~ Void

-Shadow Council-
The shadow priests discuss their current standings...

1st Shadow Priest- We have reached the platue. Now, only the best can move on.

2nd Shadow Priest- Yes, but we also have an unexpected entery among the warriors.... what shall be done about him?

Shadow Prophet- For now, we can only hope that he is pleased... If what he says is true, then we have no choice in the matter..

3rd Shadow Priest- But he does as he please, what example are we setting by letting him do what he wants?

Shadow Prophet- Look at the people he has killed.... All of them were his challangers. He, officially has not broken any rules. And others who have tried to defeat hi died as well. With that much power, I have no doubt that he could annihilate us if he so chooses...
.
2nd Shadow Priest- So, what lies ahead?

Shadow Prophet- Silence, we have a an intruder..

?????- You really should scan your paramiters before assuming anything..

1st Shadow Priest- How dare you? Show yourself!

?????- If you insist...

Two red spots appear in the shadows and a silohuette appears.

Shadow Prophet- What business do you have with us now?

?????- To ensure balance....such is the will of the One Being.

Shadow Prophet- And how will you accomplish this?

?????- It's not me who will do this, rather your champions that will accomplish this task. However, one of them was....less then qaulified, so I had to dispose of him..

3rd Shadow Priest- What have you done?!. What shall we do know.

The silohuette's arm glows red, and the Shadow Priest cripples to his knees.

?????- You will go to the furthest reaches of Outworlds existence, the Volcanic Wasteland. There you will unleash a champion worthy of the title. He will carry out his goals with satisfactory results....

1st Shadow Priest- Surely you can't be serious.... even our lord, Shao Kahn feared his power...

With a slight hiss in his tone the silohuette answers- Prescisley.

With that the silohuette fades from sight, leaving the Shadow Council to their thoughts.