From alt.games.mk Fri Jul 15 23:16:02 1994 Path: panix!ddsw1!godot.cc.duq.edu!news.duke.edu!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!mustang.mst6.lanl.gov!newshost.lanl.gov!usenet From: yol@lams.lams.losalamos.k12.nm.us (Jonathan) Newsgroups: alt.games.mk Subject: "The Scorpion Saga" (The First Tournament con.) Date: 14 Jul 1994 06:42:39 GMT Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory Lines: 322 Message-ID: <302mov$o0k@newshost.lanl.gov> NNTP-Posting-Host: transitory14.lanl.gov X-Newsreader: WinVN version 0.80 Slowly the numbness in my body begins to subside, and I can move again. The two guards revive Sub-Zero, and he comes near to me. "Ha," he says. "Looks like I won again." I look at him with even more hatred in my eyes. "Well, I didn't actually win," he continues, with no small amount of sarcasm, "but you didn't kill me, Scorpion," he emphasizes my name, giving it a sarcastic and humorous tone. I just stand there and stare, anger building up inside me with every word spoken. The guards move toward us, sensing that there might be trouble. He sighs, "Well, it looks like I must be going now, Scorpion. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings," he says in the most mocking tone he can muster. "Oh, wait. I almost forgot. You don't have any feelings. You're dead. I killed you," he walks off, laughing at me. I cannot take it any longer. I cannot stand to be laughed at by the sarcastic ninja that murdered me. I leap at him, catching the guards by surprise. Sub- Zero is ready for it. He spins around and begins to fire away with high rapid jabs, catching me in the abdomen. This does not faze me at all, however. I lunge at him with vicious attacks that my master never taught me. Attacks that are brutal and deadly with not the least bit of respect or honor in them. But I am not an honorable or respectful man anymore. My death was disrespectful and disgraceful. I wish this ninja's to be the same. We are on the ground rolling in the blood, clawing at each other, pinching each other. I whip out my spear and slice the ninja with it. I do it again, and again. I began to cut him with it, driving it deep into his skin and ripping it out. We are covered with blood, not knowing who's it is. I attack with bloody vengeance, tearing into my enemy's flesh with my spear. I am not aware of anything else except this bloody battle in which the two of us are participating. I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head. I am dimly aware of the warm liquid dripping down from the rear of my head to the base of my skull, and then down my back. This pain, while distracting, does not stop me from carrying out my violent vengeance. I feel the pain again. This time, in my right temple. I fall back. I am dizzy. I see the blurred image of a guard standing over me, bloody spear in his hands. I look to my left. Sub-Zero is being put out by the second guard. I feel myself being lifted and dragged on the hard floor. Then, darkness. When I wake up, I am lying on my bed in my room, a cold thing on my forehead. I reach up to feel it. It is an ice pack. I lift it, and touch my forehead. I feel a cut in the skin, and a sticky substance all around it. Slowly and painfully I rise. I step over to the one shelf in my room, and look at myself in the dirty mirror. I have quite a gash on my right temple. The sticky substance is dried blood. I look down at the bloody ice pack. Ice pack. Ice. I sigh, ice. I remember everything now. I remember the blow the guard gave me on the back of my head. I remove my hood to inspect the wound. Oh, I forgot. I'm dead. Looking back at me in the mirror is a snickering skull. But now the snicker looks different. More. . . evil. I like it. It suits my new personality well. I put my hood back on and look at my eyes. They are a pupil-less red. Bloody red. I smile. I will have my revenge on Lin Kuei, I think. I just know it. I pull out my crumpled and torn battle plan. I stare in amazement. Sub-Zero is in an Endurance match. I will have another chance to fight him. Why did I not see this before? All I have to do now is win the first two Endurance matches, which don't sound too difficult, and Sub-Zero will be mine! But now I have another matter on my hands--the Mirror Match. I am anxiously awaiting this match, as I am interested as to what it is. Tsung said that I would be made to fight myself. But I do not know how this can be done. But with Tsung's strange powers, I'm sure it is somehow possible. I step outside, and see off to my far right, a young man clad in loose black pants practicing kicks. I walk towards him. As I near this man, I find that he is Liu Kang, and he appears angry. "What is the matter, Liu Kang?" I ask. He spins around quicker than I can blink, and prepares to attack. He lets out a sigh of relief and says, "Oh, it's you." "Who did you think it was?" "That devil, Tsung. I swear he is a devil. A monster!" With that he continues to attack the air with wild kicks and punches. I know something must be wrong with this respectful fighter, because I know that he would never be so wild and out of control. "What is wrong?" I ask. "If you saw," he responded in a hateful tone, "what I saw today, you would know." I chuckle slightly. "But I didn't see what you saw today. So I don't know." He stops his wild assault at the air and looks at me breathlessly. He mops his brow with his long wristbands and looks me up and down a few times before responding. "He is a soul thief." "A what?" "A soul thief. A soul stealer. He steals your soul! I saw him do it. This morning. You want to know who's soul he took?" I eye him with an inquiring look. "One of his students. One of those monks in the Courtyard seats." That same look of hatred formed in his brown eyes as he continued. "Tsung had a disagreement with one of his students over the order of the Endurance fights. Tsung didn't like his ideas. So he grabbed his orange robe, lifted him high into the air, and sucked his soul out into the palm of his hand. All that was left of the innocent monk was a green, rotted skeleton, which Tsung tossed on the ground like a dirty rag." I just look at him, alarmed at Tsung's actions. "He is a monster, I tell you!" Kang says. "And I intend to destroy him!" "Is that your only reason for wishing to do so? Because of his witchery?" I ask. "Why are you in this tournament, Liu Kang?" "We all have our reasons don't we?" he says cooly. "Mine is to reclaim the tournament from this devil. And if I'd known what a devil he is, I would have thought twice about my enlistment." "To whom, may I ask, did the tournament originally belong?" "The Shaolin temples. I am a member of the White Lotus Society, and I represent my people in this tournament. Once I destroy this monster, I will restore the true pride and respect of it. These death matches are disgraceful to the Shaolin." I nod. "Why are you here, Scorpion?" "Revenge." I turn and walk away. I can feel his gaze as I retreat back to my room. I make it a point to avoid Tsung after what Kang told me. Even though his stealing my soul would not affect me, as I am immortal, the very sound of it is terrifying. Suddenly I hear his voice behind me. "Are you ready to be destroyed by your own self?" I whirl around to face the source of the voice. Tsung is standing before me, a smirk on his face. I just stare, intent on watching his every move. He continues, "Your Mirror Match awaits." "Did you really steal your student's soul?" He laughs openly, "Of course not. I didn't steal it, I just borrowed it." "What?" Then, right in front of me, he changes shape. First, his body turns a brownish color. Then it takes on a new form. Then, in a period of about half a second, Tsung has become a bald-headed monk, and is standing before me now. I gasp in horror. This wizard has metamorphosed before my very eyes. Then, in the same amount of time it took him to assume the form of the monk, he is his original form again. "You monster!" I scream and lunge toward him, preparing to rip him apart. But he is not there. I spin around and see him standing across the room laughing at me. I charge forward again. But, as before, he teleports behind me. He cackles at me. "Your opponent is waiting for you in the Courtyard." Then he is gone. I am now standing in front of the hundreds of orange and white clad monks in the Courtyard. The four guards positioned just before them look on, anxiously clutching their spears, hands on the handles of their swords. I am facing myself. It is strange. It is not like looking at a reflection in a mirror. Because this man does not move in unison with me like a reflection does. It is just so weird, too weird, even for this place. But I have a strategy. A very good strategy, if what I'm thinking is true. I believe that this ninja has all of my powers, since he is, indeed my mirror image. And I also believe that he has the use of the same combinations that I do. If I'm not mistaken, this ninja's fighting skills are limited by mine. I'll simply use that against him. "Round one. Fight!" I wait for him to attack. He begins to teleport. I am ready for this. I spin around and spear him out of the air. I follow this up with an uppercut. Then I move back, ready for his next attack. He throws his spear. I teleport punch, catching him on the base of the skull. Then I follow it up with a sweep. Then I move back again. He tries to teleport again. Again, I am ready. I duck and unleash a powerful uppercut as he flies towards me on the opposite end of the kombat zone. I move back. He follows me. I teleport punch, connecting with him, and I follow it up with a flip, sending him to the ground, unmoving. "Scorpion wins. Flawless victory!" So, now I have a taste of what a flawless victory is like. I shall have to use this knowledge in getting to Reptile. "Round two. Fight!" This time I teleport. But he is ready, and spears me and uppercuts me before I touch the ground. Then he throws his spear again, which I duck, and counter with my spear. I uppercut him. Then I teleport punch and hit him before he gets a chance to land. I throw my spear, which he ducks. But he tries to round kick me, I uppercut him. "Finish him!!" I approach him and remove my hood. The monks gasp. The sky turns the dark gray color of my skull. Then I unleash a fury of flames down at Scorpion's feet, turning him into a charred skeleton. In a way, I am saddened by this. After all, it is me that I'm killing. Well, not really, but still. . . "Scorpion wins. Fatality." The monks clap. Looking at them, I notice that one seat is empty. Undoubtedly the seat of the monk that Tsung killed. I look up at Tsung. He is grinning like the sick, morbid man he is. "Finish him!!" Raiden approaches me, pauses, and sends a high voltage of lightning that blows my head to microscopic pieces. When I wake up, I am lying on the floor of the Palace Gates, the same place I was lying when Sonya killed me. I think the Palace Gates bring bad luck to me. I just got killed in the first Endurance match. It was tough. No, it wasn't tough to get killed. That was easy. It was staying alive until the third round that was tough. I hate the Endurance matches. The second I beat Johnny Cage, Raiden jumped in and launched his body at me, crushing me into the wall. I didn't even have time to catch my breath. I get up. Tsung appears before me. "No!" I say. "You are a monster. Get away! Leave me!" "Silence! You pathetic fool. If you want to have another chance to win the first Endurance match, and stay in the tournament, go to the Warrior Shrine. Now!" "And what if I don't want to stay in the tournament, Tsung?" I say, adding a large amount of sarcasm to his name. Instead of answering my question, he sends a barrage of flaming skulls my way. I try to dodge them, but I haven't enough time. All five of them hit me, ultimately sending me reeling, weak, to the ground. "I will destroy you," he says evenly. "Okay," I say breathlessly. "I'll go." "Round two. Fight!" I teleport, hitting Cage. Then I sweep him. This Endurance stuff isn't all that hard once you get the hang of it. I won the first round with ease. Now I just have to win this round, and I'll be one step closer to getting my revenge against Sub-Zero. I throw my spear, hitting him, and then uppercutting him. I teleport, but he throws a green flame at me, hitting me before I make contact. He comes close. I try to uppercut him, but he ducks. Then Cage does the splits and jabs me in the groin. "Aaaaaiiiiiiiiiii !!" I scream. It hurts. Then he slides towards me, his foot extended. Behind him are about ten shadows all in the same form. I duck the kick and uppercut him. When he lands, he does not move. I wait for Raiden to appear but he doesn't. Where is he? Suddenly, I feel an electric shock in my back. I spin. around and see that the thunder god has appeared from behind me, and has already begun to attack. I teleport. So does he. We both end up at opposite ends of the Warrior Shrine. He throws his lightning, which I duck, and counter with a spear. "Get over here!" I uppercut him, and teleport punch before he even lands. He throws his lightning again. I teleport, punching him from behind. He tries to do that torpedo move with his body again. But I throw a low kick, halting him in mid motion. Then, while he is still stunned, I uppercut him. "Finish him!!" I rip off my hood and burn him to ashes. I feel the satisfying feeling of an uppercut connecting, as I pound my fist into Sonya's chin, sending her flying. The killing blow. "Finish her!!" I have just won the second Endurance match, and I feel that I did very well. Kano beat me in the first round, but I came back mad as hell and beat him so hard I don't think he'll ever get up. He is still lying there on the bridge above the Pit, as Sonya falls to the ground. I remove my hood, and perform my fatality on her. Finally, I got my revenge on Sonya for killing me earlier. "Scorpion wins. Double flawless victory. Fatality." I am surprised. Did I really win this match without getting hit even once? I must have. But I am even more startled by what I hear next. "You have found me, Scorpion, now prove yourself." It is the voice of Reptile. I remember that voice all too well from when he was eating Kano. I suppose Shang Tsung brings back to life those who have been killed earlier so that they may be members of the three Endurance teams. That is the only explanation I can find for these fighters, who have already been killed (most by me) to be alive here in the Endurance matches. Anyway, back to Reptile. I look down. He is standing far below me, in the midst of the impaled corpses and decapitated heads. He gesture for me to come down into the Pit. Reluctantly, I do. Now I face him. And he faces me. We look identical, except for the different colors of our uniforms. "Round one. Fight!" Before I even get a chance to pull out my spear, much less throw it, I have been frozen. Frozen? Yes, this Reptile seems to have the powers of ice as well. But instead of the ice being blue, it is green. I guess that makes sense. After all, his suit is green. He spears my frozen body and uppercuts me. So, he has my powers as well. I teleport. But he freezes me in midair and punches me repeatedly. Then he spears me before I land and uppercuts me. Then he follows it up with a slide. "Reptile wins!" "Round two. Fight!" This time I am ready. He throws the green ice, which I duck, and counter with my spear. Then I teleport and spear again from behind. Then I uppercut. I try to follow it up with a jump kick, but he jumps away with lightning fast speed, freezes me in the air, rapid jabs me about three times, does a quick jumping kick while I'm still airborne, and then slides me before I hit the ground. "Finish him!!" Instead of performing a fatality, Reptile uppercuts me. I feel indescribable pain as I am impaled on a bloody spike. Next. . . . . . . 'The First Tournament' continued Jonathan