Within about an hour of leaving Shao Kahn's library, we reached the outskirts of what appeared to be a large city. From the looks of it, this was probably Outworld's capital.

"This must be Xiaohua...", I said.

Kitana nodded.

"Watch your backs from here on out." Again, Raiden showed up out of nowhere. We all turned to him. His eyes seemed fixed on Kitana.

"It appears you were right, Raiden...Shao Kahn's biggest mistake was making his confession in writing." All eyes were fixed on Kitana.

"However, I must warn you, Princess, that taking Shao Kahn down now will cost you your soul, as you probably know by now. You simply are not ready."

"But how else will he pay for his treachery?"

"Patience, Kitana. He will get his just punishment in due time."

"Kitana, you must trust Raiden's judgement. I've known him long enough to know that he's almost always right," Liu cut in.

"He's been right so far," Smoke added.

Kitana looked to each of us, then back to Raiden. She knew then that Raiden was right.

"I understand, Raiden..."

"I understand how difficult it is to maintain your patience, Kitana. I just don't want to see you taking on a suicide mission out of rage." Kitana just sighed.

Suddenly, a horde of Tarkata charged at us.

"This is the first time in a while these sons of bitches started charging at us!", Jax mumbled under his breath.

"LET'S KICK THEIR ASSES, SUCKAS!"

Wasting no time, I put my hands to my right side, gathering Kori, and as soon as I was ready, I shot a long stream of ice at about four of the Tarkatans. All four of them were encased in a thick layer of ice. I slid towards one of them, and upon rising from my crouch, I slapped one of them with an uppercut, shattering him into frozen pieces. I shattered another with a roundhouse kick. I shattered a third with an uppercut, and the last one, I hit with a rising kick.

Kitana drew out her fans. She sliced one Tarkatan after another with her steel fans. And when she had one of them cornered, she knelt on one knee and started twirling one of her fans upward. The wind coming from the whirling fan was so strong that it lifted that Tarkatan in the air. She immediately nailed that one with a deep jumping punch, followed by another air punch, threw one of her fans at him, which cut through his gut like a buzzsaw, but her barrage didn't stop there. As soon as she landed on her feet, she punched the Tarkatan in the knee while he was still airborne, and lept in the air and went flying like a missile with a punch to his face. She threw her other fan at him, cutting through him even more. When she landed, she nailed him with an uppercut. She picked up both of her fans, and as soon as the Tarkatan recovered, he looked like he was seeing stars. Kitana lowered the cloth over her mouth, kissed the dazed Tarkatan on the cheek, and immediately, I saw him freak out. Suddenly, his body inflated for a few seconds, and went back to its normal size. His body inflated again, and again, went back to his normal size. At this point, he caughed up blood. His body inflated one last time, before his flesh ripped wide open, and his bones went flying. I swear, I could see his organs flying, too. And just when I thought I had seen the worst of death, I didn't know shit. Another Tarkatan charged at Kitana, but with one clean swipe of her fan, she cut his head off.

I felt like I was going to throw up at this point. I had never seen someone's internal organs fly out of his body before. But I had to suck it up. There were more Tarkata to deal with, and we had to deal with them fast.

Raiden slapped one Tarkatan with his bare fist, and kicked another in the head. One of them boldly charged at Raiden with his blades, but Raiden negated that one by disappearing in a flash of lightning, and reappearing behind him. Raiden grabbed him by the throat. Suddenly, I saw lightning surround Raiden's body, as well as the Tarkatan's. After a few seconds, Raiden punched him. Another Tarkatan succeeded in stabbing him in the chest, but Raiden pulled the blade out of his body with ease. Blood trickled from his chest, but he didn't look like he was dying at all. He shook it off as if it were a mere papercut to the finger. Raiden grabbed his would-be assailant by the throat, rammed his other hand into his gut, and raised him up in the air. Lightning flashed around Raiden's body. And much more lightning than before. He kept his grip on this Tarkatan tight. I could see this guy's body turn black from the heat of the lightning. Raiden then parted his arms, and tore his would-be assailant into pieces. That Tarkatan's flesh was charred, as well as his organs, but his bones weren't. Another Tarkatan tried the same thing, but suffered a similar fate. Only this time, Raiden shot a long stream of lightning at his head, and kept that stream going for about a minute. Suddenly, that Tarkatan's head burst into pieces. His headless body fell to his knees, then down face-first. What remained of his head was now reduced to bloody pieces of tissue.

Kung Lao had a few Tarkata on him, but he fought them off with such finesse. He headbutted one of them with his hat, then swiped one behind him with a roundhouse kick. Another Tarkatan tried to charge at him with his blades, but Kung lept up in the air, and reappeared from the ground behind him, and pummelled him with a barrage of diving kicks. Taking off his hat, he threw it like a boomerang. The hat flew in a circular motion, leaving gashes on the chests of the Tarkata that surrounded him, and eventually, as the hat returned to Lao, he caught it with his hand and put the hat back on. He attacked from every direction, knocking may of them unconsious. Two of them remained persistent, however. Kung Lao took off his hat, and sliced one of them from the middle of the head, downward. Lao's unfortunate victim had a huge gash going down the middle of his body. He fell to his knees, and his body split in half. Lao nailed the other with a hard roundhouse kick that sent him flying into a brick wall, but he still did not give up. Kung Lao threw his hat at him, and the blade cut right through the Tarkatan's neck. His head fell off, as the hat returned to Lao's hands. Kung Lao put his hat back on his head.

Johnny Cage only had about two Tarkata on him, but they were both fighting viciously. One of them tried to swipe Cage with his blades, but Cage dodged that one in a fashion one could only imagine. He did the splits with his legs right as the blade was about to hit his neck, and right afterwards, Cage punched him in the nether regions. The Tarkatan held his groin in pain, and I can still hear his painful scream in my head now. As Cage recovered, he hit his victim with an uppercut so powerful that it literally knocked his head off. The other Tarkatan, however, proved to be more difficult to defeat. He and Cage exchanged blows on each other, but this Tarkatan didn't have his blades drawn yet. Cage gained the upper hand by knocking his Tarkatan attacker in the air with what appeared to be an upward axe kick. He followed through with a leaping uppercut with a mirage of himself trailing behind him, similar to what I saw him do with a standing slide kick he had done earlier. He then did that same standing slide kick with the flash of himself trailing behind him, followed by another of the same attack. That Tarkatan was then slammed into the wall. Cage nailed him with an uppercut to the chest. As soon as the Tarkatan recovered, he looked dazed. Cage grabbed him with both hands by his waist, and proceeded to twist it. Cage pulled the torso cleanly off his victim's body, and threw it down to the ground.

Jax had the most Tarkata attacking him, but he made the fight easier than it looked. An overhead punch to a Tarkatan's face stunned him for a while, and Jax proceeded to launch him in the air with a rising kick. Jax lept in the air, grabbed his victim, and positioned his spine on his own shoulder. As Jax landed, he slammed the Tarkatan's back onto his shoulder with such force that it actually broke his spine in half. Jax then slammed his fist to the ground, causing a small, but painful earthquake around him. All the Tarkata surrounding him were knocked down, but the ones closest to him were severely injured. One of the Tarkata who still persisted charged at him, but Jax grabbed him, lifted him over his head, and slammed him to the ground on the other side, but that didn't end there. He continued the same thing four more times. Afterwards, I could see some bones sticking out of that particular Tarkatan. Smoke gave his assistance afterwards. He threw a cloud of smoke at about five of them, and proceeded to pound each one of them with a flurry of punches, kicks, and the like. One of them looked like he was going to kill Jax with his blades. Jax clinched both of his fists, and slammed both of them into the sides of his would-be assailant's head. That Tarkatan's head was literally smashed into pieces. With Smoke's assistance, the number of Tarkata attacking Jax was reduced to one. Jax pounded this one with three hammer fists to his face, an uppercut, and an overhead fist to send him flying. Jax followed through with a sliding dash punch to his face. As soon as the Tarkatan recovered, Jax grabbed him by the wrists, and with one jerk of his arms, the Tarkatan's arms were ripped right off his body, and eventually bled to death from the shoulders.

Only three Tarkata remained, and Liu Kang was fighting off each of them. He had been attacking them in a wild frenzy from the start. We probably would've helped out, but the three remaining Tarkata looked too exhausted to be much of a threat to Liu. Liu had hit one of them in the face with both of his forearms, swiped another one with a kick to the face, and hit the third one with a huge uppercut that sent him to a spiked catapult. Within seconds, the catapult launched that Tarkatan into the sky, to...God knows where... Liu finished one of his remaining two attackers with a cartwheel kick to the face and chest, followed by a huge uppercut. This particular Tarkatan was launched high into the air, and upon landing, I could hear all of his bones just shatter. The only remaining Tarkatan, knowing he was defeated, retracted his blades, and swiped his own head off with one of them. We had defeated this horde of Tarkata...my mind told me we could see more vicious hordes.

Dead silence filled the area.

"Well, this sure was a warm welcome," Raiden finally broke the silence.

"I'll bet," Kung Lao concurred.

Liu stepped towards Kitana.

"I have made up my mind, Liu...once this is all over, my home realm will be mine again."

"Don't forget that we have your back, Kitana."

"I haven't forgotten that...nor will I," Kitana said. It appeared that she was smiling underneath her mask.

While this conversation was taking place, I had the feeling we were being watched. I turned my head behind me, and thought I saw Mileena for a split second, but when I turned to that direction again, she was gone.

"I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, Kitana...," I said, "...but it appears we may have been spied on just now."

Kitana looked at me. "All the better. I want Shao Kahn to know that I fucking hate him, and I want him to know that I want vengeance..."

"Patience, Kitana." Her eyes turned to Raiden.

"As I've warned you before, if you go against Shao Kahn head-on right now, you will surely die. Defeating Shao Kahn requires not only a lot of strength, but also a great deal of mental discipline." His eyes then turned to Liu Kang.

"When Kitana is in your sight," the Thunder God said, "protect her."

"I'll do it, Raiden. Not only for you, but for her," Liu swore with a bow.

Kitana's eyes then shifted to Liu, as Raiden stepped forward.

"Shao Kahn's arena awaits...be prepared," Raiden said, before disappearing in a flash of lightning.

"I'll show you the way to Kahn's arena." Kitana stepped forward, and we all followed.

I had a bad feeling that something...or someone...was going to come back to haunt me. And it had to do with my brother. I had a feeling it was going to happen sooner or later, for some strange reason.