Article: 13310 of alt.games.mk
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From: Steve Karstensen <karz@delphi.com>
Newsgroups: alt.games.mk
Subject: Outworld (part 3, unfinished)
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 94 20:09:26 -0500
Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice)
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Message-ID: <5gzwea2.karz@delphi.com>
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               Outworld:
 
         The Kombat Continues
 
               part III
 
 
 
     Mileena's sais were out, being slowly worked in a circle by her expert
fingers.  She sidled around Liu Kang, her eyes narrow slits of scrutiny above
her mask.
     "Strike at me, woman.  Learn what it means to be defeated at the hands of
an honorable monk." Kang unfolded his arms from his parry and stood at the
ready.
 
     Kung Lao moved through the chunky grass, picking his way among the masonry.
 It seemed that Major Briggs was also heading for the castle he had spotted; he
and the Major would cross paths again, and soon.
     But first, where was brother Kang?
 
     Johnny Cage walked among the trees, a puzzled look on his face.  Damn, this
was a new development.  But where to begin?
     He swept his gaze through the woods, then zeroed in on a dot near the
horizon.  A building of some sort.  Looked important.  He began to make his way
toward it.
     A lithe blue form dropped out of the tree nearest him.  He yelped in
surprise and stumbled back.
     "Kitana!"
     "Wrong." His new companion stood before him in a black ninja uniform,
adorned with two blue bands.  Johnny suddenly went cold as he recognized him.  A
quick mental image of the ninja's fist holding Sonya's head aloft, letting her
spinal cord dangle before Shang Tsung suddenly flashed to mind.
     "Hold your ground, pal.  I got no argument with you."
     "Nor I with you.  I have come to try a second time for the life of Shang
Tsung."
 
     Tsung watched this meeting with a bemused expression.  "Sub Zero, you have
returned?"
 
     "Coincidence, eh?" Johnny smirked. "I'm here to talk to Tsung myself.
Bottom line, I wanna go home."
     Sub Zero said nothing, but continued on down the miniscule path.
 
     The bitch was fast.
     Liu Kang had his hands full once Mileena did engage him.  She was a
quick-striking snake, and in the seconds the battle had taken so far, none of
his punches that would have immediately disabled a man even connected.  She
appeared to be playing with him; her booted heels swung in well-placed kicks,
and her cobra-like sai thrusts could have easily disembowled him, but every
attack missed by mere centimeters.
     There!
     Liu ducked at just the right instant to see one of her fists sail over him
in a sidearmed punch.  Her smooth underarm was visible for that second; would
have even been vaguely arousing had she not been trying to kill him.  But for
now, it presented a target.  He struck with an open handed jab, catching her
exposed ribcage dead on.
     A cracking sound was heard, and Mileena's eyes clenched in pain.
     Kang felt his own anger building.  Vent it like a steam valve, he had
learned...and both hands were together as she recoiled.
     The reddish orange tongue of fire that Kang had first launched at Goro over
a week before now bolted toward Mileena.
     And she had recovered too quickly.  Standing erectly, she slipped into the
ground as if there had been none there.  The next thing Kang saw was stars.
     He staggered, noting that she had somehow dropped out of the sky and
planted a kick into his forehead.  He let his fury carry him with a kick...
     But instead of his normal vertical kick, what happened next was quite odd.
Disoriented from the blow to his head, Kang's body twisted.  The next thing he
knew, he was flying at Mileena with both feet out, pedalling furiously as though
he were on a bicycle.
     This unorthodox tactic caught the assassin totally by surprise, and she
took the full brunt of his attack.  both feet pummelled her head and shoulders
viciously before he regained control and landed.
     And the second Kang landed, his windmill kick was in execution.  First one
foot, then the other struck her head as his body flipped over, then his fist
knocked her high into the air.
     Mileena hit the dirt with a thud, and was still.  Liu Kang stepped over
her, and continued on his way.
 
     Johnny suddenly felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck with a very
electrical sensation.  He went cold as he recognized what had made him feel this
way before.
     "Cage." Raiden stepped out from behind a tree into the forest path. "You
and I have to talk."
     "You again?" Cage balled his hands into fists. "Last time you tried to kill
me, bucko."
     The Thunder God's stone-chiseled features were grim, but not hostile. "Take
a lesson from me in that overconfidence can be a dangerous thing.  I paid for my
defeat at the Lotus' hands dearly."
     "I feel so sorry for you." The sarcasm couldn't have been any more obvious
in Johnny's voice.
     "It is worse to survive such painful injuries.  But that is in the past,
Cage.  I-"
     Johnny's hand swung upward as if he were lobbing a softball.  A green glow
surrounded it, which grew until a large ball of energy formed.  It left his
hand, arcing through the air, and struck the God squarely, cutting him off.
     "Damn!" Johnny stared at his hand in amazement for a second.  It was all
Raiden needed.
     "If that's the way it will be...."
     Raiden's body glowed, and when it reappeared he was behind Cage.  His pale
hands grabbed the movie star, and Johnny immediately found out what it was like
to have a few hundred volts course through his body.
     Raiden held Cage for a full ten seconds, his face in a hideous snarl as he
pumped enough voltage into Johnny's body to cause it to glow an electric blue.
     He released his grip, and Johnny tumbled to the ground, weak-kneed.
     Consumed by anger at the sudden strike, Raiden jumped, foot outstretched in
a kick.
     Johnny recovered, and leaped as well.  His form blurred behind him as he
stuck one elbow out in a crude uppercut.  A green, energetic trail followed his
progress as he struck Raiden in mid-air.  The God hit the dirt, and Johnny
landed on his feet, sliding forward with a kick that left the same green trail.
It struck Raiden as he fell, leaving the God groaning.
     "You imbecile!" Raiden snarled, his voice strangled with pain. "You don't
realize what you're doing!"
     Johnny gestured to him with both hands. "Come on, pal...let's see what
you're made of!"
     Raiden rose to one foot, suddenly flying forward with both hands
outstretched.  Johnny ducked the God's flight, and Raiden rebounded off a tree
to land in front of him.  One leg swung upward with a powerful kick.
     Johnny saw it coming, then dropped his height a few inches by doing a leg
split.  One fist stuck out, and connected squarely with Raiden's crotch.
     "ARGH!" The God clutched at his groin as Johnny uppercutted him.
     "FINISH HIM!" The voice was louder here, and edged with more anger and
evil.  Johnny regarded the reeling God with a sadistic pleasure.
     "Later, dude."
     Johnny grabbed Raiden with both hands, one on each side of the God's body.
Feeling a sudden burst of strength, he yanked upward.
     Raiden choked back a cry of pain as his torso separated from his hips with
a wet crunching sound.  Johnny tossed the upper half of the God's body to the
ground, then blew a kiss to the empty sky.
 
     Kitana watched from afar, a twinkle in her beautiful blue eyes suggesting
that a smile lit her face beneath the mask.
 
     Johnny wiped the sweat from his forehead.  He had frozen after his victory
pose, his wits suddenly returning and the bloodlust gone.
     He twirled on one heel, nearly falling over with the momentum as he heard
someone clapping.
     Kitana gingerly stepped out into the path, steering clear of Raiden's
mangled corpse.  His eyes gawked upward without their glowing hue, and in such a
position he looked pitiful.
     She continued applauding Cage as he tried to control the building panic.
     "Well done, my champion!  You see what your skills can bring you in the
Outworld?"
     "I...I killed him!" Johnny poked a shaking finger at Raiden's torso, still
soaking the grimy soil with its blood. "I fucking ripped him IN HALF!"
     "Of course you did!" Kitana bowed with a flourish. "Johnny Cage
wins...Fatality.  And a God, no less.  You should be proud."
     "Well, I'm not." He shook his head grimly. "I have no friggin' idea what
came over me."
     "Johnny, listen to me." She took his chin in one silky, gloved hand, then
guided his face to meet hers.  Her eyes were the easily the loveliest he'd ever
seen. "You have the ability to take on Shao Kahn himself.  Your display here
proves it.  Journey to the palace, and confront him!  Your will not return home
unless you do, as he plans to first enslave, then kill you and all others who
wish to cross him."
     She released him, then stepped away.  Soon she was lost from sight.
 
     "KIIIIIITANA!!"
     Shao Kahn slammed his staff into the marble floor with enough power to
crack it.  It held, though.
     There was a sharp BAMF, and a surprised assassin stood before Shao Kahn.
He rose from his throne in utter fury.
     "Shao Kahn." Kitana extended her fans to bow.  One had to give her credit
for quick recoveries.
     A sudden force slammed her against the far wall of the throne room, and she
gasped aloud at the burning green harpoon of energy that pinned her there.  Her
hands grasped weakly at it, trying to dislodge it from her shoulder as the blood
oozed down her side.
     In her fading vision, she saw the burning red lights that were Shao Kahn's
eyes.
     "Explain yourself, bitch...and it had better be good."
     She whined as the harpoon faded, dumping her uncerimoniously to the floor.
Her wound was making her dizzy.
     "All...acc..." She grunted, trying to keep her eyes focused.  "...according
to..plan, Shao Kahn..."
     "WHOSE PLAN....YOURS OR MINE?!?!" His thunderous voice exploded, shaking
the very halls.
     "Mine...the movie star..."
     Shao Kahn was suddenly very quiet, and that unnerved Kitana even more than
his anger had.  Was he actually listening to her?
     "Easily..agh.." She coughed, and blood dripped from under her mask. "Cage
is...a fool...easily seduced..he.." She paused.
     "Go on." Kahn actually sounded interested.  Or was he playing with her?
     "He...thinks he..can..beat you...wrapped ar.." Kitana fought for a moment
to keep her consciousness. "He..is wrapped..around my finger..."
     As quickly as it had come, her wound closed.  Kitana's breathing became
normal as she shakily regained her feet and picked up her fans.
     "Now, you were saying?" Kahn's voice was the slime of an eel.
     Again, a quick recovery.  She snapped to attention and spoke with
authority.
     "I said, that Cage is a moron.  He has already made two mistakes, my Lord."
     "And they are?"
     "Allowing himself to trust me.  He was easily seduced and led to believe I
want to help him.  Mistake number one."
     "And the second?"
     "His little fray with the Thunder God was fueled by his own fear, temper,
and arrogance.  Now that he has won and seen the extents of his so-called power,
he will further trust me to lead him along on some foolish hero's quest against
you.  And as you know, he can never reach you."
     "Mistake number two eh?" Kahn chuckled.
     "Yes, Shao Kahn.  I plan on stringing him along and letting him think he
has a chance...and his head will roll before he can take two more steps toward
your complex.  I promise it."
     Kahn quieted again, and Kitana tried not to let her nervousness show.
     Then, he laughed.  Loud peals of bellowing laughter rocked the throne room,
then ceased.
     "Kitana, you never fail to deliver, and your methods rival those of my own.
 You have a bright future.  Now, go."
     "Yes, Shao Kahn." She snapped her fans and bowed before leaving, that same
flicker of a sarcastic smile playing under her mask.  Cage or Kahn...who was the
bigger fool?
 
     And as Johnny began to walk along the garden path again, Raiden's eyes
opened.
 
     The Honor Guard shifted at his post, pausing to glance through the iron
gates into Kahn's Arena.  He smiled lavisciously at the woman manacled to the
stone pedestal near Kahn's Throne, then went back to his surveying of the area
near the gate.
     "Gotcha!"
     A fist suddenly dug into his golden robes, and its partner struck at his
face, stopped only by the metal helmet.
     Five times the fist hammered his metal faceplate before he was knocked
backward out of the grasp.
     Jax stood before the Honor Guard, his face a mask of grim determination.
"Open the friggin' gate."
     The Guard shook his head to clear it, then raised his spear.
     Jax responded by raising one fist, his anger boiling up into a glowing fury
that manifested itself by causing a purplish aura to surround said fist.
 
     Kano gasped.
     The pain in his head had subsided instantly upon building to an
insufferable agony, and the last thing he had remembered was Raiden's snarling
visage staring coldly into his.
     And yet how did he get here?
     He had been pondering this silently for quite some time, occasionally
pausing to tug uselessly at the heavy chains that bound him there.
     He stole a furtive, hating glance at Sonya, similarly bound.  At least his
mortal enemy was no longer a threat, at least for the time being.
     A thunderous slam rippled through the ground, causing him to raise his
weary head.  Something was going down outside the gate.
 
     Jax had struck the ground with his fist, just as the spear would have taken
his head off.  Instead it merely whistled overhead as he ducked for the strike.
     The whole earth seemed to shake, and as the guard stumbled Jax charged.
     He had no time to reflect on this sudden power, nor the source it had come
from.  He merely acted.
     His hands closed upon the guard's robes again, and he lifted him high over
his head in a body slamming motion.
     Jax kept his grip as the guard struck the ground, lifting a second time.
     A second time the guard was driven headfist into the dirt, but Jax was
still not through.  Two times more, for a total of four slams, did Jax pound him
down.  When the quadruple slam was finished, the guard lay still.  Jax stepped
over his inert form, then set his sights upon the barred gate.
 
     Kano split his features in a nasty grin.  So, some nigger was here to bash
a few heads, eh?  Who the fuck was he?
     He stole a glance at Sonya, who was also watching the Arena gate.
     Her features were grim, but a flicker of yellow in the wall above the gate
drew Kano's attention away from her.
 
     The iron groaned, but Jax was stronger.  Soon the bars were bent and he was
stepping through.
 
     Sonya screamed as she caught sight of the same flicker Kano had seen:
Scorpion dropping from the Arena wall like a predatory animal.
 
     Jax hit the ground and whoofed in surprise as a fist slammed into the back
of his head.  Hard.
 
     His back hurt.
     Raiden's consciousness flooded back quickly as the numbing agony in his
spine caused him to groan.
     He reached up with one hand, clawing weakly at the air, the electricity
playing between his fingers with a pale static charge.
     The God propped himself up on his elbows to survey the damage.  The waves
of pain rolling through his stomach were horrible: twice as bad as the time he'd
fallen two stories into a bed of steel spikes.  That had been a sharp, piercing
pain, but this...
     He groaned a second time as he saw his legs still standing a few feet away.
 That bastard had ripped him in half.
     Raiden closed his eyes and concentrated.  If Cage wanted to play rough, so
be it.  This would take time to heal, but he could do it, and when he did...
 
     Kitana watched the God struggle in the dirt from her perch in a nearby
tree, then shook her head.  Raiden would be on the warpath if he found Cage
again...and she could not let that happen.
 
     Kung Lao lifted his head to gaze at the castle in front of him.  It was a
hideous thing, with a high stone wall and even higher towers.  The gate in front
of him was a set of iron bars, but they were bent.  He peered into the opening
beyond, and his features clouded over in anger at the activity beyond.
 
     Jax was hauled to his feet to look into the eyes of his attacker.
Scorpion's face was hidden behind his mask, but the two orbs that served as his
eyes flashed, glowing for a brief moment so that the pupils were invisible in
the light.
     Jax used this brief second to both throw off the shuddering wave of unease
that seemed to wash over him at being in such close proximity to the ninja, then
lunged forward.
     Their heads connected, and Scorpion staggered backward, clutching his nose.
 Jax shivered violently.  The ninja seemed to have a palpable...aura about him.
Fear, sorrow, anger, and the cold sense of death all mixed into a soup of
atmosphere that was unsettling to feel.
     Scorpion's fist whistled toward Jax's face, and he ducked sideways,
shivering a second time.  The ninja also seemed to generate no body heat,
either.  It was pretty damn scary.
     The two circled one another, and finally Scorpion leaped.  Jax leaped also,
slipping under the ninja and slinging him across one shoulder.  The two landed,
Jax on his feet and Scorpion with his back bending dangerously as gravity
slammed him downward on Jax's shoulder.
     The clearly audible sound of a spine snapping reached Jax's ears, and he
dumped the ninja to the Arena's dirt floor unceremoniously.
     Kung Lao stepped though the gate, his fighting stance relaxing as he saw
the ninja cease movement.
     Jax stepped over Scorpion distainfully, heading for Sonya's pedestal.
     She sighed audibly in relief as he grasped the chains and snapped them with
a single pull.
 
     Johnny Cage stared up at the castle, a shiver of nervousness running down
his spine.
     "Cage."
     "AGH!"
     Liu Kang waited patiently as Cage calmed down. "I've been looking for you.
We feared for your safety."
     "Yeah, I'm sure you did." Cage snarled, turning on him. "You couldn't leave
well enough alone, could you?"
     "I didn't bring you here." Kang countered. "Someone else is behind this."
 
     Kung Lao watched Jax free his ally, then turned back to the gate. "Liu
Kang!"
     He waved, stepping back through the gate and among his friends.
     And behind him, Scorpion's hand twitched.
 
     Sonya stepped off the pedestal, hugging the Major tightly. "Great to see
you, Jax.  I thought I was a goner."
     "We ain't out of this yet, Lieutenant." Jax looked up at the empty throne.
"We still have to find a way out of this wack joint."
     Twang!
     Jax suddenly snarled in pain and staggered back into an aura of coldness
and hatred.  An arm locked around his throat, and he was pressed against the
cold walking corpse that was Scorpion.
     Jax squirmed, then bucked and bent forward, throwing the ninja to the
ground.  He reached around behind him and pulled the spearhead from his
shoulderblade, tossing it to the ground.
     As Scorpion stood, Jax glared at him.  Scorpion glared back.
     "Enough of your shit, pal."
     Scorpion's response was to throw a punch, which Jax caught by the wrist.
Reaching forward, he grabbed Scorpion's other arm....and with a strength he
didn't even know he had, he pulled.
     A wet ripping sound followed, and Scorpion howled as his arms were torn
from their sockets and tossed to the dirt.
     Jax shielded himself from the blood gouting from Scorpion's shoulders.  A
moment later, Scorpion fell forward with a dull thud.
     Sonya nudged one of the limp arms with the toe of her sneaker. "Ick."