Since our fight against the Tarkata upon entering Xiaohua, we have had no other ambushes on our way to Shao Kahn's arena, which is located directly across from Shao Kahn's palace, according to Kitana.

Upon our arrival, Kitana, Kung Lao, and Liu Kang had taken off somewhere.

"DAMN! This arena's big enough to hold twice the capacity of a typical Lakers game at the Forum!", Cage exclaimed in orgasmic glee.

"More like holding three times the capacity of a Bulls game at Chicago Stadium, or twice the capacity of a Cowboys Game at Texas Stadium!", Jax shouted.

Regardless, this arena was huge. I couldn't even count the seats, even though they were all empty.

Off to the side of the actual fighting area, I saw a throne, and a set of shackles on each side of it, each of which were empty at the time.

"I wonder who's going to be chained there," Smoke said. "It's obvious those shackles were just now installed."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess we'll worry about it later."

Eventually, more and more people showed up. Aside from a few short, but well-muscularly-built Shokan, most of them were rather human-looking.

"And I thought there were no humans on this realm," I thought aloud.

"Actually, Sub-Zero," Raiden said out of nowhere, "humans are not exclusive to Earthrealm. They inhabit just about every realm in existence...including Outworld."

I turned to him. "You're not competing in Shao Kahn's tournament...are you?", I asked him.

"I am, actually. In case you all fail...I will challenge Shao Kahn as a last-ditch effort to save Earthrealm."

I just looked to all the people arriving, just hoping they wouldn't attack us.

"Don't worry, Sub-Zero. These people are actually quite friendly," Raiden assured us. "It's the ones who swear loyalty to either Shang Tsung or Shao Kahn you should watch out for at this point. The same holds true with the Tarkata."

Suddenly, a Shokan approached me. "You must be from Earthrealm," he told me in a growling voice. I nodded.

"Don't worry. I still show respect to my rivals."

"So do I," I concurred.

"So, why are you in Shao Kahn's tournament?", he asked.

"At first, it was personal, but now...I'm not so sure," I responded. "How about you?"

"For the pride of the Shokan. We may fight with brute force, but we still honor our foes like we honor our race. In battle, we are fierce...but only in battle."

"So the Shokan must have some sort of code of honor, I guess." The Shokan nodded.

As our conversation continued, Liu and Kung entered.

"Where's Kitana?", I asked.

"I'll explain later," Liu said.

At that moment, dead silence filled the arena. I looked to both sides.

To my left side, was a MASSIVE-looking Shokan. He was bald, had tiger-stripes down the back-side of his body, and wore a leather body strap. The medallion at the center of it was a skull, and he wore steel shoulder pads that had to have had about fifty spikes each.

Behind him came a strange creature. He had a strip of black cloth wrapped around his head and face, much like a ninja mask. His mouth was not sealed, though, as I saw his mouth open. He had small teeth, but they looked razor-sharp. His skin was green and scaly. His outfit was similar to mine, only his sash and shin-guards were green.

Behind him was another man. His eyes glowed green. He wore a strip of black cloth similar in style to the scaly-guy in front of him, only his mouth was sealed. He wore a traditional red ninja costume.

Standing behind that man was a man dressed almost exactly like me, except his entire outfit was black, not just certain parts of it. His sash, his shin-guards, his battle gloves, his face mask...everything. And not only was his outfit black, but his entire body looked like it was cloaked in shadow. His eyes glowed pale blue. This man just gave me the creeps.

Off to the other side, however, came a Tarkatan. He looked like most of the Tarkata, except he was taller than the rest of the ones we faced, and he looked even more vicious than them. He wore a white sleeveless karate gi with a red trim around it, which was tucked into his black pants. A steel sash draped from his waist. Directly behind him were Mileena, Jade, and...KITANA?!

The eight people turned to face us as soon as the Shokan and the Tarkatan were about as far apart from each other as the ones directly behind them.

From behind the throne, came Shang Tsung, in his black robe. Directly behind him, was a vicious-looking man. He wore a brown leather body strap with a skull medallion in the center. On his lower body, he wore a brown leather belt with a skull medallion in the center, along with what appeared to be a red armored sash draping below it. His red shoulder pads had two rows of three spikes on each shoulder. His steel wrist cuffs had a row of huge spikes going around them. His fighting gloves, similar to mine, had three claws on each of them. His black boots had a pair of red shin guards on them, and a pair of red knee pads, with three curved spikes going upward on each of them. Attached to his shoulder pads was a long crimson cape. And the one feature of this man that shocked me the most...his helmet. It looked like a samurai helmet made from a skull. On top of this skull helmet were the blades of two narrow knives, about a foot long each, going diagonally upward at the center of the forehead with a horn in the center, as well as a set of smaller spikes going up his scalp. Missing from this skull helmet was the lower mouth. His eyes were crimson red. This man took his seat on the throne.

So that must be Shao Kahn, I thought to myself.

Why the hell is Kitana on Shao Kahn's side?, I thought to myself.

"I'll explain later," Raiden whispered to me in my mind, even though I saw that his mouth wasn't moving. Raiden could actually speak to people telepathically?, I thought.

"Greetings, warriors! You have all been gathered here to compete in a tournament called...Mortal Kombat!", Shang Tsung began.

"Behind me is the host of the tournament, and Emperor of this realm...Shao Kahn!"

Shao Kahn rose from his throne. "Tomorrow afternoon, the tournament will begin. I will have the matches posted on the public bulletin board in the morning. Please be aware that if I am not present for a match, a tournament official will be. Also note that some matches will not take place in this very arena, so for those of you who are unfamiliar with the vast plains of this realm, you will be given a map of Outworld, courtesy of myself."

Shao Kahn then took one step forward.

"Allow me to introduce only a few of the competitors that you may face in this Tournament!"

Shao Kahn first stepped behind the shadow-cloaked warrior. "Noob Saibot!"

Shao Kahn took a step to his left, my right. "Ermac!"

Now he was behind the scaly creature. "Reptile!"

He stood behind the Shokan warrior next. "Kintaro!"

Now he stood behind Shang Tsung. "Shang Tsung! Also note that he is a former Mortal Kombat Champion!"

He took a step, and was now behind the Tarkatan. "Baraka!"

Next, he went behind Jade. "Jade!" Then behind Mileena, annoucing her name, and finally, behind Kitana, announcing her name, as well.

"Best of luck to you...because you will all need it!" Shao Kahn turned and stepped away from us, and turned back to us one more time.

"My guards will escort you all to your quarters. Be advised that we do not have enough room for each of you to have your own separate quarters, so some of you may have to share rooms with someone else." With that, Shao Kahn left, and so did everyone else that stood in front of him.

"After careful thinking, Kitana decided to feign loyalty to Shao Kahn...for now. She talked about it with myself, Liu Kang, and Kung Lao." Raiden told me telepathically. I nodded.

I turned to Jax, Cage, Liu, Kung, and Smoke. "You think they have any rooms for six or seven?", I asked.

"Only one," Liu said. "It holds seven, I believe."

"Then we should claim it," I said.

"Turns out I've already pulled some strings to get us in that one," Raiden said. This time, it wasn't telepathic. We all turned to him.

"So we've got that room?"

"We sure do, Johnny Cage. Kitana already has her own private quarters."

Eventually, one of Shao Kahn's guards, wearing an outfit similar to Kahn's own outfit, minus the cape and skull helmet, approached us.

"You must be the group of seven that wants to share the same room, correct?", he asked us. We nodded.

"Follow me."
And so, we did. Little did I know that the next day would be the start of the first major turning point of many in my life...