I awoke to find myself locked in a small cage that would only hold one person. I was still chained by my wrists and ankles, though. I looked around and found Smoke, Jax, and Johnny Cage all locked in similar cages, separately. I also saw three more empty cages.

"They must be here," I heard Liu speak in the distance.

Eventually, I saw Kung Lao and Liu Kang come, only to be greeted by Kitana, Mileena, and Jade, each ready for a fight, and each with their weapons drawn.

"Looks like the only way to save your allies is through us!", Mileena taunted. Her voice just gave me the creeps. In fact, just about everything I've seen in Outworld has given me the creeps.

"Your treachery ends here, whoever you three are!" Kung Lao stepped forward, as did Liu.

Mileena's body faded into the ground below, and suddenly, I saw her come from above, dive-bombing Liu with a swift kick to the face. Sneaky little bitch, I thought.

Kung Lao lept in the air and before I knew it, he was gone. I saw his body rise from the ground behind Jade, and suddenly nailed Jade with a kick to the back of the head, while Liu concentrated on Mileena. Kitana, however, seemed a bit reluctant to fight. I had no clue why.

Liu and Mileena exchanged blows to each other, as did Kung Lao and Jade, and each time Kitana tried to help either of her allies, she'd get hit by either Kung or Liu.

Liu gained momentum after sidestepping a stab from one of Mileena's sais. He then proceeded with a right forearm, a left elbow, another right forearm, followed by a knee kick, a kick to the shins, a kick to her ribs, and knocking her down with a kick to the head. Mileena screamed in agony, but she wasn't finished just yet.

She got back up, and hurled her sais at Liu in a last-ditch effort, while Liu was gathering energy forming in a ball of fire. As soon as he saw the sais flying towards him, Liu crouched, and shot a fireball at Mileena, dodging the flying sais. The low fireball hit Mileena right in the knees, doubling her over. Liu went flying towards her with his bicycle kick before she even had an opportunity to react. Liu finished Mileena with a flying kick, sending her flying into one of the empty cages.

"This evens the odds," Liu said, now facing Kitana. Now Kitana and Liu started exchanging blows.

Meanwhile, Kung and Jade were still deadlocked, trading blow after blow. Kung would gain the upper hand by dodging a thrust from Jade's steel staff. Kung counter-attacked with a left elbow to Jade's face, followed by a backfist with the same arm, an open-handed right jab to her midsection, and the same type of jab with his left hand, a right knee kick, a high kick to the face, and a quick high roundhouse kick that sent Jade flying.

Kung Lao took his hat off, and flinged it right at Jade. However, a strange green aura started glowing around Jade, as she rushed towards Lao. The hat went right through her, and returned to Lao's hands. Lao was caught off guard, as Jade hit Lao in the ribs with her staff. Jade attempted a blow to Lao's head with her staff, but Lao quickly countered that one with a sweep kick. Jade almost lost her balance from that sweep. Kung Lao then hit Jade in the chin with a swift uppercut, knocking Jade down. As Jade recovered, Kung Lao hit her with a roundhouse kick that knocked her out. She attempted to get up, but couldn't.

"Two against one, in our favor now." Kitana looked to Kung Lao, her steel fans drawn.

This distraction was enough for Liu to hit Kitana with a jab to her back with his right fist, a lower backhand with his left, and a weird-looking uppercut with his right fist, knocking Kitana in the air. Kung Lao hit Kitana with an uppercut, followed by a roundhouse kick from Liu Kang. Kung Lao lept in the air and nailed Kitana with a diving kick, while Liu lept and blasted Kitana with an air fireball, followed by a bicycle kick, and one last flying kick.

Kitana was down. She looked straight into Liu's eyes. Liu stared back at her.

"Get it over with! Finish me off!"

"No, I will not. That's exactly what Shao Kahn wants us to do," Liu replied.

At that moment, blasts of lightning hit our box-shaped cells, as well as the shackles binding us by our wrists and ankles. Suddenly, Cage, Smoke, Jax, and I found ourselves free from the shackles even I couldn't freeze and shatter to break free. I looked around, and found Mileena gone, along with Jade.

"I suppose I'll make you an offer you cannot refuse, Kitana." Raiden now stood before Kitana. She looked surprised again.

"It appears you are suspicious about your past."

"How the hell do you know anything?! You don't know me!", Kitana spat.

"On the contrary," Raiden rebutted, "I know more about you than you think...Princess Kitana." Princess? Kitana is royalty? I was so confused at that point.

"Yes. I'm Shao Kahn's daughter!"

"...Or so you think, Princess."

Kitana just glared at Raiden.

"What if I were to tell you that your TRUE father was murdered by Shao Kahn, and his widow was taken as Kahn's bride, and you were taken as his adopted daughter?"

"LIES!", Kitana spat.

"And what if I were to tell you that your so-called 'twin sister' was nothing more than a clone of yourself, created by Shang Tsung using your DNA and a touch of Tarkatan essence to make her more vicious than you?"

Kitana charged at Raiden, fans drawn, only to be pushed back by a small blast of lightning. I swear, it left a cut on her forehead, and I saw blood trickling down.

"Even you know the truth, but you can't accept it...I can feel it in your soul, Kitana."

Just then, Liu approached me. "Got ice?" I nodded, and created a rather large ice cube with my hands. I handed it to Liu, and he took his headband off and wrapped the ice cube with it, and placed it over Kitana's head. Her gaze shifted from Raiden to Liu.

"Why are you helping me, even when I tried to kill you?", she asked, obviously confused.

"That's just me."

"Kitana...surely, you've had visions that Shao Kahn had murdered your father and taken over your own realm. And what Shao Kahn did to your native realm, he is about to do to the native realm of the people standing before you." Her eyes rotated to each one of us, before returning to Raiden. Raiden looked at Kitana with a look in his eyes that told you, You know I'm right, there's no point in denying it. The expression in Raiden's eyes also seemed to be similar to the expression in Liu's eyes; that of comfort and sorrow.

"I understand, Kitana. It's not an easy fact to accept. But you've been living a lie for ten thousand years. It's time to set things right, and by helping us, you can."

Kitana's eyes widened.

"Just a few blocks away from here is Shao Kahn's personal library. Look for books that tell about a realm known as Edenia...there, you'll see the truth. Also, check for some books about cloning an Edenian Princess. And when you've finished, meet me in Outworld's Imperial Capital of Xiaohua."

The Thunder God turned to the rest of us. "The rest of you, accompany her." With that, Raiden disappeared in a flash of lightning.

"The more I see of this realm, the more creepy shit I run into!"

"I agree with that, Jax," Cage replied.

Suddenly, the makeshift icepack Liu and I made melted. Liu took his own headband off of Kitana, and we noticed that the bleeding had stopped.

Liu put his headband back around his head. "Well, I think we should be headed out of here," he spoke to us. We nodded in agreement. Now we headed for Shao Kahn's personal library. I had a feeling we'd be ambushed by some of Shao Kahn's soldiers again...