Article: 13217 of alt.games.mk Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!concert!bigblue.oit.unc.edu!jpickett From: jpickett@med.unc.edu (James E. Pickett) Newsgroups: alt.games.mk Subject: STORY: Sub-Zero (04/??) Date: 1 Sep 1994 16:49:05 GMT Organization: UNC-CH School of Medicine Lines: 133 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3450m1$1537@bigblue.oit.unc.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cahaba.med.unc.edu Originator: jpickett@cahaba * * * Note: This is fan fiction. It does not represent the opinions of Midway, my employer, or anyone else I know. Also, sorry if Sub-Zero beats your favorite character, but hey, the story is about him and it wouldn't be much of a story if he lost all the time. :) -Jim Sub-Zero, Part 4 >I don't know how long I ran, but when I stopped to catch my >breath, I was on some kind of forest path. The forest, however, >was not filled with ordinary trees. These ones had faces that >moved. They were alive. I sat down, tired. It had already been >a long day. My adrenalin was pumping too hard to sleep. My stomach was tied in knots and I was too jumpy to even relax. What a strange place this was. The tree I was leaning against growled, startling me. I stepped back and look into it's eyes. It didn't pay me any attention. Were these trees sentient? I picked up a rock and threw it at one. It's pattern of roaring did not change. I guessed that it wasn't aware of it's surroundings. I heard leaves rustling behind me, then a snap of a twig. I turned, only to see a familiar form. "Smoke!" I said. "How did you get here?" "Sub-Zero, you know what you are here to do. Finish your mission and return." "I'd like to, but it seems I have been caught up in some sort of tournament." "That does not concern the Lin Kuie. Your mission is to assassinate Shang Tsung. If you do not, I will kill you myself." He disappeared in a puff of smoke. Rotten bastard. I'd like to see him try to kill me. I'd give him the fight of his life. I sat down again to ponder my situation. For the first time since this all began, I felt alone. Everyone was against me, except Raiden, but I hadn't seen him in quite a while. Even those who were supposed to be my allies had turned against me. Scorpion had a vendetta against my life, and if I were to fail, Shang Tsung would posses my soul as well. My thoughts turned to my brother. His death, that foul demon Tsung stealing his soul, his final anguished cry. My blood started to boil in anger. I felt a strange stress, and suddenly, the anger was gone and once again replaced with fear. What was happening to me? I tried to resist the urge to run back to the portal, filling my mind once again with the visions from my dream. I felt anger, the strength of which was unrivaled in all my life. The fear tried to push it's way back in even stronger. Suddenly, I realized what was going on. It was Tsung. He was using some sort of foul mind control spell on me. I mentally pushed with all my might. Anger, hate, bitterness, rage, they filled my soul. Suddenly, the resistance was gone. I had won. "Show yourself, Tsung, you son of a whore!" One of the trees spoke in a familiar voice. "So, assassin. You have come to kill me, like a thousand others have in the past. Even if you are among the hand full that make it past my minions, I will kill you myself. I shall suck your soul out of you as you breath your last. You and your brother shall be united at last, in everlasting torment, the likes of which have never been seen outside of Hell itself!" I stepped back as the tree broke into a hysterical laughter. I looked into my hand and concentrated, calling forth all of my powers into one small round ball of energy, which I threw into the laughing tree. As it connected, it exploded, ripping a hole through it's trunk. The laughter stopped, much to my relief. I walked back to the path, which continued to wind through the dense living forest. I heard footsteps approaching. Jonny Cage ran out of the darkness, into view. "Another fight? Why the hell not. Let's make it three to nothing, Cage." I turned to walk away. "What's wrong, Zero? Are you afraid? Is my awesome presence sending CHILLS down your spine?" I internally groaned. His puns were getting worse all the time. "No, just perhaps your dull wit." He smiled. "So, you CAN talk after all. Well, what do you say? Wanna go at it? Here and now?" "I am not who you think I am, Mr. Cage." "Oh, no! You're not going to chicken out on me this time. You're just lucky I didn't get to fight you in the first tournament!" I grabbed him by his throat and started to squeeze. "I wasn't at the first tournament, moron!" Cage grabbed my wrist and twisted my hand off of his neck, then pushed me backwards. We faced each other, ready to fight. The voice appeared again. "Round one, FIGHT!" I threw a ball of ice at Cage, but, like Jax, he ducked. He launched a ball of green light at me, which arced through the air. I jumped over it, landing in front of him. I took a swing at his face, only to have him do a split and punch me in the groin. The pain shot through my body like a knife, only to be interrupted by an uppercut to the jaw. I stood up, gingerly. Cage performed his patented shadow kick towards me, but before he could connect, I froze him in mid kick. I swaggered over towards him, and planted a roundhouse kick on the side of his head. I followed it up with my jump-kick, ground freeze, uppercut, slide combo. "Sub-Zero wins." A ball of light appeared over Cage's unmoving form. It entered his body, and he stood up. "Round two, FIGHT!" Cage tried to jump kick me, but I roundhouse kicked him right out of the air. He landed, his back against a tree. As I walked over towards the tree, I caught a glimpse of Smoke looking out from behind it. I reached Cage and repeatedly punched him in the face until he could no longer keep his balance. "FINISH HIM!" Yeah, right. I let Cage fall to the ground. "Sub-Zero wins. Flawless victory." The voice had an almost disappointed sound to it. I reached down to Cage and offered him my hand to help him up. He looked at it with hesitation, but finally accepted. "Why didn't you kill me? I thought the great Sub-Zero always killed his opponents." I told him my story, who I was, why I was here, and how Shang Tsung had stolen my brother's soul. Cage listened intently. "Well, Subby, I'm with you," he said. Together, we can bring Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn to their knees." "Sounds good to me. Just one thing." "Anything, Cool breeze." "Don't call me 'Subby'." More to come .... positively.