A Foreigner’s Tale, Book 1
A Mortal Kombat Fan Fiction
Rated T for violence, language, suggestive themes and potentially disturbing imagery
Chapter 3: Shang Tsung’s Island

My tension from the previous night’s incidents faded while I slept, so when Cecilia kindly woke me up, telling me we would all be taking smaller boats to the island, I felt energetic and cheerful.

We fell into place, naturally, behind Johnny, Sonya, and Liu. While we waited, Cecilia asked:

“Hey, when did you get a ribbon?”

I turned to her. “What?”

She smiled, pointing to her own. “I don’t remember seeing you with one. When did you get it?”

I touched the silken stream, which seemed rather loose. …I’d forgotten it was there, even though it had been around my neck the whole time. “I… I really don’t know,” I whispered. “I only had it when I woke up. Someone else put it there. …Cece, do you think we could talk more at the island, when you and I can be alone? I doubt here’s the best place.”

The angel nodded. “Sure. I understand.”

This embarkation, much like the first, went smoothly. No, check that… There was more trouble with Johnny’s excess luggage, but once that got settled at the bow, we all boarded quickly. Although, admittedly, I wanted to sit near the bow. Boo. Ah, whatever. I’d still have a great view.

The boats themselves were like tiny Netherships, but they were rowboats rather than sailboats. Taking the oars were… mysterious cloaked men? Oh, boy…

But we moved. Shang Tsung’s island already towered in the distance, almost like a citadel of stone. We approached a channel with high cliffs towering above the sea to either side of us. The sun peeked through a thick cover of clouds, and from any distance, the water seemed to sparkle golden.

The entire time, Sonya kept speaking into her radio.

“Blackhawk to Cardinal. Blackhawk calling Cardinal. Is anybody monitoring?” In frustration, she tapped the device twice. Several cries, likely from large birds, came down from the cliffs. “Jax, this is Sonya. Do you copy?”

Johnny, seeming a little distracted, asked: “While you’re at it, why don’t you call my agent?”

Sonya glared at him. “Do I look like your secretary?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle from my space next to her and across from Cecilia. I looked away from the cliffs for a moment and fixed my gaze on a red crystal sitting on an octagonal Key Crest embedded into my friend’s right shoulder. It was a symbol of membership in Cruxis – which I’ve mentioned once before – an angelic organization in Symphonia, once led by a madman, Mithos Yggdrasill. It was unfortunate that I never got the chance to learn the specifics of the organization, much less about Mithos, but I did know that he was once intent on reviving his late sister, Martel.

I noticed the look on her face – fascinated, but a bit detached, faraway. I wondered what she was thinking about. …I wondered if she thought about anything the night before, when I was scurrying back and forth across the decks, looking for Scorpion and Sub-Zero.

“What’cha thinking about, Cece?”

She seemed to snap back into reality, and she looked me in the eye. “Oh, uh…” she shrugged. “Not much. I was just thinking about what’ll happen next.”

I smirked. I would at least give her a hint, but… we were kind of surrounded by kombatants and… Shadow Priests, possibly. So… not yet.

“So… did you think about anything last night?” I inquired.

“Well, I was up thinking about Symphonia and my family, Genis, Regal... oh! And Raiden’s words! Can’t forget Raiden’s words!”

“Of course not.”

“Yeah…” she murmured, lightly scratching the back of her head, “I was actually trying to think about what could be more important than my honor. I hold honor in the highest regard.”

“And doing the honorable thing is important out here,” I agreed, “but wouldn’t Earthrealm’s safety be more important than anything personal?”

Cecilia nodded. “True. …How about you? What were you thinking about?”

“Well… I wasn’t so much thinking as I was exploring,” I admitted.

“Exploring? You were out on the ship by yourself?”

“Yeah. I just looked around…” I paused and briefly deliberated how much to say about my sighting of Sub-Zero. I quickly decided I’d tell Cecilia all about it later. “…and went to bed.”

My friend nodded again. “Good. As long as you slept well.”

I smiled and suddenly wondered which boat Sub-Zero was on. …Come to think of it, how about Kano? …Would Scorpion appear on one of these?

Our ship was among the head of the fleet, and there was no other boat between us and the cliff I faced, and so I turned around, gazing towards all the others.

I must have searched up and down the ranks at least three times before I thought I could glimpse Sub-Zero on a vessel more to the rear. Much to my intrigue, neither Kano nor Scorpion could be sighted. Now, Scorpion I understood, but Kano… that was interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised that he wouldn’t appear among us until the actual tournament, but… how did he do it?

Ah, whatever. I figured I probably wouldn’t find out anytime soon, if at all, so I just turned back around in my seat and waited…

---

The island itself was lush and tropical; all in all, it was lovely, and if we didn’t know what truly occurred here, it would seem peaceful.

As soon as our boat stopped within the waters just near the beach, Sonya leaped right over the edge and began wading towards the sands, where a path was marked by tall red flags embellished with more Chinese characters.

I hoisted myself awkwardly over the edge, nearly sitting upon the ship’s rail before letting myself fall up to my thighs in pleasantly warm water. I was slightly surprised – I thought it would be cold.

As I neared, I looked over my shoulder to see Cecilia wading close by. Liu Kang was not far behind, but  Johnny remained on the vessel, hauling – one guess – his overabundant luggage.

I paused. Oh, boy, did I know what was going to happen… Three, two, one, and…

“Agh!” With a splash, Johnny and his bags fell forward, right into the ocean. I heard several distant laughs, and I chuckled, too, but I couldn’t help but turn back to help the guy out.

He stood, completely soaked, and tried to grab his bags one by one. I soon gripped one suitcase, and then another – one in each hand.

“Ah… thanks,” he panted, scooping up the final case.

I grinned. “No problem.”

We pressed on through the light waves and onto the sands, where Cecilia awaited us, smiling amusedly.

“Do you need help with those?” she offered.

“No, no… your friend’s got enough. I’ll be fine,” the actor insisted. I sighed to myself. I doubted his answer…

We entered the path, where many contenders were already beginning the journey to the top of the island.

No sooner had we caught up with Sonya and Liu Kang than the former asked us: “Where the hell are we?”

Johnny retorted, “Do I look like your travel agent?”

“Fine,” she replied, moving ahead.

Johnny struggled a bit more with his bags. “Okay. …I give up. What’s goin’ on?”

I only looked at him, smiling, and shrugged. Cecilia glanced at me, looking a bit surprised. I winked at her – I did still know what was going on, and the gist, at least, of what was going to happen, but was I really going to reveal a word of my true knowledge in public? She nodded, catching the message.

Liu shrugged as well. “I don’t know. …But what if all the legends were true?” he wondered, glancing around past us, at various little parts of the island’s higher grounds.

He proceeded, passing us, but I watched as Johnny shook his head and scoffed, “What legends?”

I chuckled to myself and teased, “You’ll just kinda…” I shrugged a bit, “pick it up as we go.” I bit my tongue in amusement as I turned and followed, Cecilia by my side.

---

It was a long… long way up the isle’s mountain. We were beyond the rear of the train, and Johnny still had trouble with his luggage, and so by the time we, the chosen five, finished climbing the last few of the bulk of the steps – there was still a small ways to go – Cecilia and I were holding two bags each, my limbs were pretty much either exhausted or asleep, the sun was about ready to set, and Johnny was still behind us – though not for very long, fortunately.

It was a very odd sight; in the distance were the last few flights of narrow stone steps, leading up, at last, to the island’s peak, but between that and us was a long, open corridor with many bizarre and rather grotesque stone statues, mainly of fanged and armored warriors and strange creatures – not even I’d seen anything quite like these. And, to my slight dismay, more of the cloaked men stood to either side of the evident path. I wondered about them… I knew they could hear us, but I wondered how much they’d be listening to. They could gather a lot of knowledge about the contenders here… would they report back to Shang Tsung? How much would they say?

Then, I could hear Johnny panting, and when I turned to look, he was up the last step, stumbling a bit into Sonya. “Ah… Ah-hah! Ah, no more steps!” he exclaimed, lifting a hand and whipping off his sunglasses. He glanced over the odd vista before commenting, “Great. We get to see what the bathrooms look like.”

“Well, it’s an island,” I interjected. “Couldn’t we just go any—“ I stopped. …This wasn’t quite the time, nor did I know the kombatants well enough… “…Never mind. …That was weird of me.” I began to proceed, already flustering.

…Come to think of it, were there any proper bathrooms on that part of the island? …No… not on that part. But I digress. Let’s not go into detail about those, shall we?

As we walked, I began to wonder about… another incident. We were in a version of things where there were elements from both the movie and the actual game. This meant that there was a chance that somewhere to our right, there would be… another kombatant. One who wouldn’t normally show up until the second arc of events, as depicted in the game Mortal Kombat 2. And before that, we’d see a certain statue…

I knew exactly what that statue looked like, and I kept my eyes peeled for it. It would look like some kind of two-legged lizard, with horrifyingly sharp teeth and a long tongue.

I looked and looked… but I couldn’t seem to glimpse it.

Then, we reached the end of the corridor and moved up the final flights… and I still hadn’t seen that statue. It was evident that that appearance… actually, those appearances, would take place akin to the in-game version.

So, with that in mind, we continued…

---

Our hard journey was well-rewarded.

Our final destination was a great dining hall, where all contenders were fed with succulent meats, various fruit and vegetables, and delicious drinks. If there was a single moment on that island that was close to heavenly, that was… certainly among them.

Because eating good food is nothing compared to the sensation of accomplishment or the company of a good friend. Much less both.

When I felt better – less tired and more full – I took to looking around the room again – not necessarily taking in detail, but looking for others… again. However, I must make note of a throne to one end of the room… I also managed to glimpse Raiden himself behind a closing circular stone door, and several tables away, I saw Sub-Zero again, but his back was turned, so I couldn’t see his expression, much less what he looked like unmasked. Boo. And, once again, no sign of either Kano or Scorpion. Dang. Well… I had a good idea of where Kano was, and we would find him later, but Scorpion… by the Elder Gods, how little did I actually know about the guy’s movements!? Well, it wasn’t as if either the game or the movie said much, if what they said was correct, anyway.

So much for that.

It was then that I happened to look to my left, at Cecilia. I was entirely shocked to see nothing on her plate but a little piece of celery which she was playing with. She stared at the stalk nonchalantly. “Enjoying your food?” she asked me.

“Erm… yes… But Cecilia, shouldn’t you have something? I mean… we’re starting this thing soon and…” I trailed.

She shrugged, smiling. “I’m just not hungry.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

A moment later, another contender, a young African-American man, sat down next to Liu Kang. I stared for a moment, slightly confused… who was he?

Only one real way to find out… but it was going to be hard for me…

I lightly cleared my throat. “Hi!” I greeted.

The new contender politely regarded me, but I sure didn’t miss the flash of surprise in his gaze. “Hello.”

“I-I’m Gancena. What’s your name?”

“I’m Art Lean. It’s nice to meet you, Gancena,” he answered, extending his hand across the table.

Oh, yeah! Now I remember! I grabbed it, and we shook. “Nice to meet you, too.”

Okay, so I managed to make an introduction without being overly awkward – for once. Hooray!

But the moment I settled again, the sorcerer himself stepped before the throne. All attention turned to him, even mine. I felt myself scowl a little, but I listened to his greeting words:

“Welcome. You are here to compete in Mortal Kombat. Tomorrow morning, the great kombat begins. Some of you will even have the distinct honor – and pleasure – to face Prince Goro, our reigning champion.

“You are all witnesses to one of the greatest turning points in the history of your planet. Treasure these moments… as if they were your last.”

Because they could be, I retorted silently. The majority of the contenders couldn’t even fathom what was going on, behind the guise of a typical martial arts tournament; they didn’t know what was really at stake, what they were really fighting for.

Just us five, Raiden, Shang Tsung and Goro.

With those words, he sat on the throne with a notably smooth movement. I paused, staring at the sorcerer. As murmurs began to stir around us once more, I began to think frantically.

This was Shang Tsung. He would end up being a hated enemy, that was certain. Let’s see… let’s go over the roster. Kano? Somewhere else, but definitely near. Liu Kang? Here. Raiden? Nearby; we just saw him. Johnny Cage? Here. Scorpion? Oh, don’t bother asking me right now; I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of him on the ship. Sub-Zero? Right over there. Sonya? Here. I was here, Cecilia was here, Shang Tsung was right in front of us… Goro was nearby. Oh, God, he was somewhere nearby. And when the time came, he’d enter the arena, practically mopping up contender after contender – he was that powerful! – and then… Wait! …How much kombat did I know? Not about the story, not about the most prominent or significant kombatants. How much actual, one-on-one, hand-to-hand kombat did I actually know?

How much kombat did I know!?

I shuddered, part out of fear and part out of… something else. As if some other force was prodding around me, trying to get inside my head, my heart, my very soul. …Wait a minute! What was--!

I shook my head a bit, and some of the odd feelings dissipated. It was then I realized that I’d been staring mindlessly at the sorcerer the whole time! In fact, he’d returned the favor! He’d been looking at me!

Was he… was he just trying to… to probe my thoughts!? My feelings!? My spirit!? I was absolutely surprised and… I even felt a bit violated. I dared to glare at the man. I wasn’t going to look away, either; then that would be a small victory for him, and I wouldn’t have that before the tournament even began!

But I only frowned at him for a moment before he rose up again with that same smooth movement and walked, nearly floating, to an exit to his right, behind me. I watched him carefully, curiously… until I heard a sound. Someone was getting up from his or her seat.

“Liu! Liu!” Cecilia called.

I whipped around in my seat to see her watching Liu Kang march towards the exit the sorcerer took. The angel half-slid, half-scrambled out of her chair to follow him. I stood, and Johnny and Sonya, the latter’s eyes narrowed, quickly followed suit. Art remained where he was. The blonde lieutenant was the first of us to leave the table. I saw that Cecilia had Liu Kang’s attention and was about to catch up to him when I finally decided that I should make my move – another encounter was about to begin.

I dashed to Cecilia’s side, past various tables where contenders still ate rather peacefully and past Sonya, just when she began to ask the Shaolin monk, “Where are you going?”

“After Shang Tsung,” he answered.

“Wait, you can’t go after him!” she objected, then adding, in a whisper, “Don’t you remember what Raiden said?”

Sonya and Johnny then arrived, with the former declaring, “Well, he didn’t say anything to me. Shang Tsung knows where Kano’s hiding.” She didn’t stop walking. She barely even slowed. She was already well within the passage when Johnny commented:

“You know, you gotta admire her. When she sets her mind on something…”

Liu Kang leaned in and retorted, “It’s not her mind you’re admiring.” He smiled slyly and continued into the tunnel.

Johnny shrugged. “True.” He, too, entered.

Cecilia widened her eyes at his comment.

“That’s how I felt the first time I heard it, too, Cece.”

She looked at me and then pointed to the exit. “Through here?”

I nodded. “Right through here. Newcomers first.”

She glared at me playfully. “Hey! Don’t give me that! I’m more than four thousand years older than you!”

I only giggled and watched as my friend followed the other kombatants.

But the moment she moved… oh, what a surprise! I caught something in the corner of my eye…

A spot of yellow!

Naturally, my curious gaze dashed right to it, and in the shade of a column on the far end of the room was a man dressed almost exactly like Sub-Zero, but in yellow. One guess, yes! It was undoubtedly Scorpion.

I was struck still for a moment. I couldn’t believe it; I finally saw him! He stood, arms crossed and pale eyes glaring… I followed his gaze and was not surprised at all. He stared at Sub-Zero, his target, his prey.

But when I looked back at him, I was surprised again when he looked to me. And it wasn’t just a glance, either.

I couldn’t tell what he was thinking or what had been so curious that he looked in my direction – or away from Sub-Zero at all – but there was a moment of stillness…

“Hey, Gancena! You coming?” Cecilia’s voice echoed.

I snapped out of the odd trance and, without another thought, I dashed into the mystery of the passageway.

The island’s secrets would soon be ours…