That night, Sonya couldn't sleep. She kept thinking about the tournament, and how selfish she had been. But now everything seems clear. She knew what she had to do. She looked over at Johnny, who was sleeping peacefully next to her. She gently kissed him on the forehead and snuggled up next to him, slowly and finally falling asleep.
The next day they enjoyed a hearty breakfast. A huge hall had been set up, much like the one on Shang Tsung's island, only this was much more elegant and sophisticated compared to Tsung's dark, gothic palace. Liu introduced the warriors to Kai. Kai was a black man with white tattoos torn over the edges of his body. Kitana sat at the head of the table and introduced another warrior.
"This is Tanya. She is the daughter of the ambassador to new realms." Kitana said as Tanya sat next to Liu. She was quite beautiful and had very brown skin.
"I’m glad to meet you all." Tanya smiled. "And I must apologize for all of this."
The Earth warriors all looked at her strangely.
"Have you not been told?" Tanya asked and looked to Kitana. Kitana shook her head and Tanya turned to look at everyone.
"Part of my job as the ambassador's daughter is to care for refugees and such. I got a message from one group of refugees fleeing their homeland and were in need of medical assistance. They wanted to know if they could be granted entrance to Edenia, so I let them in. Once the portal was open, I realised my mistake. The refugees were really Shinnok and Quan-Chi. The entered Edenia and with the help of their army, took over. I managed to escape and hide. I heard them talk of how they wanted to take control of our realm. But unlike Kahn, they don't want to destroy it. Shinnok has always found Edenia very beautiful and wishes to keep it in it's current form. He has acted nobly in allowing the princess to remain in her palace, and wishes to decide on Edenia's fate through Mortal Kombat."
"Tanya, you sound like your his manager or something." Johnny said suspiciously. Sonya agreed.
"Yeah, are you working for him?" Sonya asked equally suspicious.
"Don't be absurd!" Tanya snapped. "I was merely addressing the situation." Sonya and Johnny remained suspicious but kept quiet out of respect to Kitana.
"The remaining Earth Realm competitors shall be arriving shortly. Lord Rayden has returned to Earth to collect them, and once they are here, Shinnok shall begin the tournament." Kitana addresses everyone. "Until then you are free to roam the palace grounds, and train if need be. Return here at eleven o'clock." Kitana said and left the table with some of her guards, and Tanya. Johnny and Sonya turned to each other and both spoke at the same time.
"I don't trust that Tanya." They looked each other in the eyes and smiled. Sonya kissed Johnny and stood up from the table, following Liu out into the gardens.
Outside was extremely beautiful. Liu stood silently and stared at his surroundings as Sonya walked up next to him, Johnny trailing behind.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Liu asked without turning his head.
"Yeah. It's hard to believe this was Outworld." Sonya replied.
Just then a loud noise rumbled over the grounds. The three warriors turned to look at the source of the noise. A large portal ripped through the sky, unleashing hundreds of warriors. Only these warriors was human. From Earth Realm. Suddenly Rayden appeared through the portal aswell, just as it closed behind the bunch. Kitana was there to greet them and they were all shuffled off to prepare for the coming battles. It all seemed to happen fairly quickly. Among the crowd, Sonya spotted a familiar face.
"Sonya? What's wrong?" Johnny asked as he had noticed the frown form under the brim of her hat.
"Jarek." She said quietly. Johnny looked into the crowd, but then realised he didn't know who she was talking about.
"Huh?"
Before Johnny could say anymore, Sonya sprinted off into the crowd of people. Jarek soon spotted her and began to run aswell. Sonya pushed her way through the disapproving grunts of the Earth warriors, but Jarek seemed to keep disappearing. The crowd seemed like it was getting thicker around her. Sonya felt as if she was suffocating. She remembered that she had her gun holstered to her hip and pulled it out.
"U.S. Army, everybody on the ground!" She yelled before firing a shot into the air.
"Oh god." Johnny said to himself hiding his face. The crowd all cried out in shock and jumped to the ground, giving Sonya a clear view of Jarek. She aimed her gun at him, right at the base of his neck as he was running away. She was moments away from squeezing the trigger when her arm was knocked into the air by someone.
"Hey!" She yelled, and turned to see Rayden standing there. "Damn it Rayden, I had him."
"No Sonya. I cannot let you kill Jarek." He said as he took the gun from Sonya.
"Not now Rayden. A potentially dangerous warrior just snuck through your portal, and I'm doing everyone concerned a favor by killing him before he can do the same. Or worse."
"No. He is on our side."
Sonya turned to stare Rayden in the face.
"What did you just say?" She asked him flatly.
"He has been allowed through on the grounds that he will fight with Earth Realm."
"And you believed him? Are you insane? Has all that power finally gone to your head? That man is a killer. What could he possibly gain from joining forces with us."
"I told him that he would get immunity from the U.S. Special Forces."
Sonya couldn't believe her ears. She had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from swearing out loud.
"Sonya..." Rayden began but Sonya put her hand up to silence him. She kept her face to the ground as she feared she might say something she would later regret.
"Just....don't talk to me for a while, okay?" She said as she stalked off. ************* Sonya crept along the shadows of a building. She watched carefully as Jarek walked along, admiring the scenery. He had no idea she was there. She so wished that she still had her gun. But she managed to suppress her rage and continue to follow him. She knew that she couldn't break Rayden's trust, and for whatever reason he thought that Jarek was going to help some way. So she thought that she'd just watch him and make sure he didn't get up to anything he shouldn't. Which of course, Sonya knew he would. She was now directly next to him, just close enough to see him bump into someone and steal their wallet. Sonya smiled to herself and started to get closer. Just as she neared the edge of shadow that she hid herself in, she threw her leg up, kicking Jarek in the face. She then quickly grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the shadows and up against a wall, away from the crowd.
"Hi baby." She smiled coyly. "Miss me?"
"Oh, fuck me." Jarek cursed to himself. "What do you want? I haven’t done anything."
"Oh no?" She asked and pulled the wallet from his pocket.
"What? You were following me? I thought this was a free country."
"Yeah well, we ain't in Kansas anymore. Here, anything goes. Something you'll learn soon enough."
"Whatever, I know my rights."
"You don't have the right to shit." Sonya snarled, pushing him up against the wall. "Just know, I'm gonna be watching you like a hawk." She said before letting him go and walking back to give the man his wallet.
"C'mon Sonya. We're working together now. Can't we just kiss and make up?" Jarek called back to her. Sonya simply replied by giving him the finger without turning around. She returned the wallet to the man who had no idea anything had even happened, when Johnny found her.
"Hey, where you been?" He asked. "I've been looking all over."
"I had some...business to attend to." She smiled.
"What did you do?" Johnny asked worriedly.
"I'll explain it all later. It's time to start this thing." She said escorting Johnny to the hall where they ate breakfast. ************* Sonya and Johnny joined Liu and the others at the garden outside the breakfast hall. A huge crowd had gathered and everyone was watching a small podium up the front.
"What's going on?" Sonya asked Rayden.
"Shinnok is coming to open the tournament."
"Oh, great. Let's get this thing over with." She replied looking back towards the podium. Suddenly a man appeared. He was an average sized man, except he was dressed strangely and had blue-grey skin. Sonya lent over to Rayden.
"Shinnok." She whispered as everyone had stopped talking to hear what the man had to say. Johnny, who was behind her, rubbed her shoulders to calm her down. She smiled as it worked.
"Welcome!" Shinnok boomed. "I am pleased to see you all here. I eagerly await the coming days. I am Shinnok."
"Do we really have to stand here and listen to this guy? Let's just fight already." Sonya said bored.
"Sonya, your not taking this very seriously." Rayden frowned at her.
"Well, look at him. I could fight him right now." She scoffed. Rayden became very serious and grabbed her by the arm.
"And you would be killed faster than you can imagine." Sonya suddenly became very attentive. "Shinnok is far more powerful than anything you've encountered before. Twice as powerful as Shao Kahn. If you keep this attitude, you will surely die."
Sonya realised she was being very childish.
"I'm sorry. You're right, I'll take it more seriously." She apologized.
"I hope so." Rayden turned back to Shinnok.
"Tomorrow the tournament will begin. The draw shall be posted here in the morning. I wish you all good luck. For you will need it." He smiled evilly. And with that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The crowd began to dissipate as the smoke, leaving the hero's standing alone in the garden discussing coming events. **************** That night, as Johnny was preparing for bed, Sonya stood on the balcony staring at the sky. The cool breeze gently brushed her hair out of her face, blowing it around behind her. Johnny came up behind her wearing a towel as he had just stepped out of the shower.
"Whatchya doin'?" He asked as he grabbed her around the waist from behind.
"Just thinking." She smiled and closed her eyes as he kissed her neck.
"'Bout me I hope."
"Johnny." She laughed and turned around to face him. "Get over yourself." She walked over to the railing and lent on it.
"That hurts." He replied sarcastically and sat next to her, facing inside. "You okay?"
"Yeah." She replied staring out across the landscape. "It's just, Rayden. He freaked me out a little when he...freaked out a little." Johnny nodded his reply.
"What if he's right. What if we can't handle this. I mean, if anyone, Rayden should know. It is his father."
"What happened to 'I could fight him now'." Johnny smiled.
"He just, startled me a little I guess. Made me see some sense."
"Sonya, we're gonna get through this. Okay? I'll make sure of it."
Sonya smiled and hugged him. As she held him she noticed something moving in the garden below. She furrowed her brow and backed off a little.
"Something moved." She said looking at him.
"Well, that's what happens when two people..." Johnny started, misunderstanding which movement Sonya was talking about.
"Johnny, get your head out of your shorts. Down there." She pointed.
"Oh." Johnny said a little disappointed. He looked down into the dark gardens to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, something was moving around. Johnny turned back to Sonya but she was already tying her hair back and putting her clothes on.
"Where are you going?" He asked coming back into the room.
"To have a look." She replied throwing her nightgown at him. "You coming?"
Johnny sighed, threw his towel to the ground and grabbed his pants.
"God damn it." He said quietly following Sonya out of the room. ************ "Sonya." Johnny whispered after Sonya as she crept along the garden path. She ignored him and kept on heading for the thing in the dark. "Hey!" He whispered loudly.
Sonya finally turned to look at him. He was hopping along, trying to fix his left shoe, when a shadow appeared behind him.
"Johnny watch out!" Sonya called in her normal voice. Johnny moved just in time as a huge blade ripped through the air, missing him by inches. Just then Sonya was grabbed in a bear hug. The felt her attacker's head over her right shoulder and threw her leg up in an axe kick, hitting him right in the face, and causing him to let go. She turned around and could just make out the face of one of the mutant rebels.
"You guys again." She said before being knocked to the ground by Johnny's attacker.
"Sorry!" He called to her as she rolled the unconscious mutant off of her. The other mutant took the chance to get up and run. Johnny gave chase and was quickly joined by Sonya, and the two began to run him down. Sonya tapped Johnny and pointed to some rope, being used as a small fence around some garden. Johnny ran towards it as Sonya kept chasing the mutant. As he got to the wall of the palace, he stopped and turned to face her. Sonya didn't slow, however, and kept running at full pace. The mutant extended his blades and stood in a fighting stance. Sonya got several feet before him and suddenly lept in the air. She flew over his head, flipping in mid air and hitting the wall feet first. She then sprang off the wall and into the back of the mutant, knocking him to the ground. She managed to subdue him and used the rope that Johnny brought over to tie him up. Johnny then dragged him to his feet and against the wall. The mutant tried to run at them, but Sonya simply threw her foot into his chest, pinning him to the wall.
"Who the hell are you!" She yelled at him.
"One soldier, from an army of thousands." The mutant hissed back.
"Why the hell do you keep attacking us?" Johnny asked.
"Because Queen Sindel and her daughter must be killed."
"But why?" Sonya asked, replacing her foot with her hand. "Kitana and Sindel restored your world."
"No. Our world was the one Emperor Kahn created. He even created us. But then you Earth Realm fools killed our master and destroyed out world."
"You've gotta be kidding me." Sonya laughed and looked at Johnny.
"I do not lie." The mutant replied. "As surely as I say that you will soon die."
Johnny grabbed him by the throat.
"Watch your tongue." He warned.
"Who do you work for?" Sonya asked. Just then Sonya heard a noise from behind them. She pushed Johnny back and then backflipped away from the mutant, as the other mutant slammed his blades into him. The mutant looked on in horror, as he pulled his blades from his comrade.
"Woops! My bad." Sonya punned before slamming her foot into his face. He staggered back and was caught and held by Johnny. Sonya punched him hard in the face.
"Okay, lets try this again. Who do you work for?" She asked again.
"Bah! You do not scare me woman. You will all die along with your Queen and Shinnok."
"Shinnok?" Sonya asked confused. "Your not working for Shinnok?"
"Never. We serve our master, Quan-Chi!" The mutant replied proudly.
"This is starting to sound a little tweaked." Johnny said forcing the mutants hand into his back, thus staying away from the blades.
"Your right." Sonya replied. "We need to get him to Kitana. See what else we can get out of him."
Suddenly, the mutant extended his blades, right through his abdomen, killing himself.
"Or not." She said as Johnny dropped the body to the ground.
"We need to tell Rayden. There's something else going on here." He said stepping over the corpse.
"Oh well. So much for a simple tournament." Sonya sighed.
The two walked off to inform the others, leaving a shadowy figure watching from the bushes.
