"If someone was responsible for this, they wouldn't be down here with us. They'd be sat high above, watching us from afar, and laughing their sick sadistic fenders off!"

A While Ago...

Shao Kahn◊ sat upon his throne, his massive hammer in both hands. The Earthrealm invasion had been a success so far. One of Earthrealm's warriors, the famed action star Johnny Cage◊, had been impaled upon a Centaur's tail, while another, the ex-Lin Kuei assassin Sub-Zero◊, had been sent to places unknown during a duel with his former ally turned soulless cyborg, Smoke◊. The millions of souls Shao Kahn had claimed in the invasion had made him ever stronger. Yes, Outworld would likely soon claim Earth as its own.

Something, however, troubled the mighty Emperor. His greatest and most powerful sorcerer, Shang Tsung◊, had disappeared during the previous Mortal Kombat tournament's conclusion. Not long after Sub-Zero's disappearance, Tsung's second in command, Reptile◊, disappeared as well. Was it treason? Possibly. Was it their deaths? Also possible. In any case, the events that forced the begininning of Earthrealm and Outworld's merger had to be completed without Tsung, and the Soulnado's resources went to Kahn and his generals rather than Tsung.

Suddenly, a portal opened in the Emperor's throne room. Out came the missing warriors of Outworld, covered in the wear and tear of battle. Shang Tsung had his sword in hand, Reptile his axe. Upon spotting him, the two bowed.

"Shang Tsung, " said Shao Kahn, "Reptile, where in the Netherrealm have you two been? We barely revived Sindel without you!"

"Forgive us, Emperor, " said Shang Tsung. "I was taken by beings known as Nomads, gods even more powerful than the Elder Gods combined. They sent me, along with prisoners from many realms, to realms I had never dreamed existed before for their own entertainment."

"I see, " said the Emperor. "And what of Reptile?"

"Masssster Tssssung required my asssssissssstance, " said Reptile. "He wassss able to ssssummon his ssssubordinatessss while imprissssoned by the Nomadssss, and sssso he brought me to hissss sssside."

"Along with the other prisoners, " said Shang Tsung, "we staged an uprising and broke free of our prison. It was a hard-fought battle, but now we can aid you in the invasion."

"Very well, " said Shao Kahn. "Rise."

The two stood up. They were both wounded, but Shao Kahn's black magic was more than enough to restore them back to full health.

"Come, " said the Emperor. "There is much I must inform you of before I send you out to aid in the invasion."

With that, the three retreated to the Soul Chamber. Little did Shang Tsung and Reptile realize that another on the side of Outworld would be pulled into the affairs and return them to these chronicles of gods...

---

Later...

The Dragon Medallion has been passed down from Grand Master to Grand Master for centuries among the Lin Kuei. The medallion signified leadership of the Lin Kuei, but it did more. When a Grand Master died, his or her soul became one with the Medallion, increasing his or her successor's power. Recently, the title of Grand Master had passed from father to son, but not as time intended. No, this Grand Master had been murdered, and now his son claimed the Dragon Medallion as his own.

This Grand Master's name was Sektor◊, and this Grand Master had a few traits that distinguished him from most Grand Masters. For one, Sektor was ambitious, and extremely so. Sektor was always one to seek and embrace power. That was why he had slain his own father to become Grand Master. Second, and more importantly, Sektor was a cyborg. His father had converted him into a soulless assassin loyal only to the Lin Kuei. What Sektor's father had not counted on was his son's programming beginning to deteriorate. Sektor's old angry, ambitious, bloodthirsty self was returning, and the one thing that made it clear was when Sektor had snuck up on his father and burned him alive.

Sektor was sitting on his throne, surrounded by four assassins he had converted into cyborgs like himself, when a familiar man in blue walked in.

"Kuai Lang, " said the Grand Master.

"Sektor, " said Sub-Zero.

"Why are you here?"

"You know full well why I am here, Sektor. You will not bring the Lin Kuei power. You will destroy it. Give me the medallion."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Kuai Lang."

The assassin turned to his guard. "Leave us!" The guard immediately turned and left the room. The Grand Master turned to his adversary. "I will deal with this impudent mortal myself."

Sub-Zero's eyes met with where Sektor's were hidden by slits in his faceplate. The two struck fighting stances. It was Sektor who would deal the first blow, teleporting behind Sub-Zero with a powerful uppercut. The half-Cryomancer flew into the air, and Sektor fired a homing missile up at him. However, Sub-Zero was prepared for this and countered by freezing it in midair. The missile fell to the ground and shattered harmlessly on the floor. Sub-Zero himself landed and pulled out a spiked club made of ice. Sektor, on the other hand, pulled out a laser pistol and began shooting at Sub-Zero. The ice scepter was able to resist a few shots, but it soon shattered from the shots. At that point, Sektor put his gun away and ran straight for Sub-Zero.

This was a huge mistake.

Sub-Zero froze the Grand Master where he stood. Sektor found himself coated in ice, unable to move. The Dragon Medallion was unfrozen, and so Sub-Zero walked up and stole it from Sektor. Immediately, the cyborg felt weakened. Soon after, a portal opened, seemingly at random. Sub-Zero, Dragon Medallion now around his neck, grabbed the frozen cyborg and threw him straight into the portal. Once Sektor was through it, the portal closed. Sub-Zero knew he would have some rebuilding to do. He would make the Lin Kuei a force for good.

Little did Sub-Zero know that his actions would soon create a new god.

---

A frozen Sektor appeared in one of the cocoons. When it opened, he fell to the ground, and the ice covering him smashed, freeing the cyborg. He looked around, saw the unfamiliar figures around him, got up, and drew one of his Pulse Blades. The blade shimmered with its red light.

"Identify yourselves, " said Sektor. "I repeat, identify yourselves."

edited 24th Nov '11 2:35:50 PM by TestYourMight

The Master is grabbing his head trying to understand anything. "He'd be watching us from above... in the shadows... with a blue box oh that blue box always follows him!"

"Fenders? Blue box? Ugh!" The pale girl brought her hand to her face. "Were I simply in a strange place surrounded by strangers, that would be bad enough. But to be surrounded by imbeciles? This is hell, is it not?"

"Who do you speak of?" said Sektor, turning to the Master.

This man is imbalanced, noted the cyborg to himself. Possibly insane? Must remember to observe further.

The Andalite paced back and forth. As more and more strange creatures pushed their way out of the cocoons and into the ruined courtyard, it was all he could do not to lash out at whatever had done this to him. Were these people friends, enemies, or... something more? Eventually, he spoke- or at least spoke in his own fashion, telepathically, direclty into the minds of all around him. <I see that we are all trapped here together, then.> he said finally. The group he was addressing was a strange one,

<If none of us can remember anything, then are we sure that we are meant to be here? Perhaps there is something elsewhere that can help us find our memories?>

"Who said that?" said Sektor, looking around for where the Visser's voice had come from. "Are you a telepath?"

Stern stared around again,

“I think if this was hell, you'd be regretting it much more.” The brown haired little girl then moved off to the side, heading for one of the buildings. The other two looked at each other, and then followed.

Stern's small steps got her to the base of the building and she looked up its entire length, and then started looking for a way inside.

The robot fixated on the pale girl. "And who are you to talk down to us, you chalk-fleshed brat?" he snapped, "Oh, that's right, you don't know." Then the Andalite spoke. "Where would you suggest we look first...whatever you are?"

The pale girl scowled at the robot, clutching her sword tightly as... Something tried to escape her lips.

"Ex... Ex..." She shook her head, not understanding what she was trying to say, or why. "...I regret it far more than you realise, young one..."

She clutched the temple of her head as she heared the Andalite "speak". "Begone from my head! Speak normally, and you ''will' taste my blade for defiling my thoughts!"

edited 24th Nov '11 2:50:51 PM by Moerin

Soon everyone heard faint laughing......the kind of laughter that was devoid of true mirth, devoid of warmth....the cold, biting laughter of someone staring down into the black abyss of oblivion and found their imminent destruction at hand.......

That laughter came from one of the cocoons.

A gloved hand tore itself out of the cocoon, the laughter becoming all the more louder, echoing throughout the ruined landscape, chilling both the air and the nerves of those who listened. The thin being strode out of the cocoon - "WHOA!!" *WHAP* - and fell flat on his face, the laughter suddenly stopping as well.

.......................................................

A beat.

"FUS RO DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

The intense scream came as the being suddenly rose up like someone rising back up from the dead after being killed.

The being soon around the immediate area, his eyes darting back and forth. To some of the more serious individuals, this human male was clearly ridiculous looking: A full three piece suit, completely purple in color and white gloves, with chalk white skin, ruby red lips, a full head of toxic green hair, and a big smile full of pearly white teeth that seemed incredibly unnatural.

Overall, he was a clown. Most definitely a clown. But his aura....his eyes.....his entire being suggested something definitely off.....something that would put up mental red flags in people that screamed out danger........something to fear with every fiber of their body........

"Well, this definitely looks to be something out of those cheesy sci-fi B movies, " the being said. "Minus the atrocious special effects and obvious rubber foreheads!" He approached the group. "Though I have give props on the alien horseman over there!" he said pointing to Visser Three. "I wanna have the stuff that made YOU!! Might give me another to add to my collection of multiple personalities. HAH!"

edited 19th Dec '11 9:20:30 PM by UdtheImp

The Master turns to the Andalite. "YOU! Get your infernal drumbeat of of my brain!"

Sektor turned to the Joker. He seemed oddly familiar, as though he had visited the Lin Kuei before. Though Sektor did not realize it, he was vaguely recollecting the Dark Kahn incident, which, though he had not participated in it, he knew what it was. At least, he would have if his memories weren't being disabled.

"Identify yourself, clown, " said Sektor, pulling out his other Pulse Blade.

edited 24th Nov '11 2:58:17 PM by TestYourMight

The robot swore he had seen that clown somewhere before.

Flandre had focused on seeing if there was any chance of a sword hiding in her pockets and stopped paying attention to the conversation to the extent that telepathy didn't register as any different from the background hum of voices—or maybe that was her somewhat addled mind finding it to be nothing out of the ordinary. As it turned out, there was a sword in her pocket, one that was rather big.

"Found it!" the vampire announced, pulling the implausibly big weapon out of her pocket. There was no way that that could have logically fit—though at least she only held it upright one-handed for a second or two before it began to sink to the floor.

What are these weapons? What are these powers? I must acquire them.
"A search? Obviously, we should assign groups to fan out towards the North, South, East and West, while others stay in position here. We do not have communications, so we must keep within earshot."

Yes... YES!

The one robot who had for so long eluded his grasp, who had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, lay broken in front of Dr. Wily, his armour cracked and crumbling while his latex "skin" had multiple large lacerations criss-crossing it. Mega Man was barely breathing, his irises dull and filled with static as he laboured to keep his eyes on his opponent. His greatest rival, Dr. Light, clutched despairingly at his creation, weeping gently as he held the robot tight against his body. The icy wind snatched at the mad scientist's labcoat, and Wily gave one last glance at the apocalyptic landscape around him - the crumbling buildings, the sky that seemed to have turned to the colour of a vat of oil... it was all for him. He could rebuild the nations in his image once he had seen to this troublesome machine and his creator.

Survivors clawed their way through the rubble, forlornly admitting that they had been wrong, that Wily had been right - he deserved the accolades that Light had obtained, not that sorry excuse for a scientist. He was the undisputed ruler of all mankind, and he had been vindicated at last. Sweetening the deal further was the fact that he did not even need to rely on his Robot Masters to grasp victory - he had done it all by himself.

A wicked smile turned into a cruel grin. The grin turned into a quiet yet menacing chuckle, and the chuckle in turn metamorphosed into a wicked cackle, causing all present to cower. Dr. Light managed to pull himself away long enough from his broken son of steel and circuits to ask Wily a single question, though it came as a hoarse whisper: "Why?"

Wily stopped laughing, and fixed the "good" doctor - what a lie! - with a malevolent glare. "Why, you ask? Are you truly so ignorant after all this time to not know why I did this?! I did it to get my just rewards, Light! I did it to right the wrongs you created! I did it to get my rightful position as ruler of the world!"

Dr. Light simply responded by shaking his head slowly, and whispered something into the dying Mega Man's aural sensor. The robot shifted his head infinitesimally, and the doctor fiddled with some small control panel that lay in Mega Man's helmet. Without warning, the robot's Mega Buster swung up to point at Wily's chest, and despite its' painfully slow ascent Wily found himself rooted to the spot, unable to avoid the inevitable. The buster charged fitfully for the last time, its' characteristic whirr starting and stopping.

"What?! No! You cannot harm a human being, Mega Man! This is madness, this is worse than anything I have done -" Wily never got to finish his desperate pleading as a white hot agony burned its' way through his torso, felling the insane scientist with one shot. As Wily died, he managed to hear Mega Man speaking, soft and slurred. Light moved to ensconce the robot in an embrace. "No... this is... justice..."

---

Wily's capsule popped open and the scientist stumbled out on to the dry dirt, his face almost as white as his labcoat. Who was he...? What was happening...? Who were these people, these... monsters? Dabbing at his face with a handkerchief that was stuffed into a pocket, Wily asked feebly, "What's... happening...?"

"Of course my good robot!" the Joker said. "I am..........................!"

A beat.

"................................hm. That's odd, " the Joker said, resting his hand on his chin in contemplation. "I have seemed to have forgotten my name......though something tells me this sometimes happens to me actually." The Joker then flicked his wrists, producing a card. "But anyway, here's my card!" He passed it to Sektor.

The card was actually a playing card. The joker in fact. "Go ahead, pass it around, I have plenty!" He flicked his wrists again, producing a whole fan of cards - *SHING*

"WHOA, these are bladed!" the Joker said, amazed. "Talk about giving somebody a paper cut!" Then he saw Flandre pull out her sword. "Sweet sassy molassy, that piece just CAN'T be legal!" A beat. "Where'd you get it, and do they come in green and purple?"

edited 24th Nov '11 3:06:36 PM by UdtheImp

Sektor took the card, careful to avoid its sharp edges.

"Thank you, " said Sektor. "This could be an effective weapon."

Sektor was unaware of where to put his card. His code said to store it in his chest. He created room for himself to store the card. Anyone looking at his chest while he put his card away would see he was carrying a vast supply of rockets and missiles, as well as a compactor.

Everything soon began to increase the adrenaline within the Japanese man. The telepathic bug, the laughing clown, it drove some hidden impulse in him. He soon pulled out something from his jumpsuit. A knife. "What is going on here!?" The Japanese man shouted.

The robot dwelled on the thought of the sword. "You, the girl in the red dress. Could you hold your blade still for a moment? I want to see my reflection."

"We do not know, " said Sektor, turning to the man once the cyborg had stashed away the playing card. "I, for one, suddenly appeared here frozen, then fell out of a cocoon and broke free of my cryonic prison. But...who am I? How long have I been a cyborg?"

"Hold Laevateinn still? Umm... okay... but I don't know where I got it..." Flandre said, clamping her teddy bear between body and arm and using her other hand to hold the sword—though why she knew its name eluded her—still, despite its being around twice as long as she was tall.

The robot went over, looked into the shiny reflective surface, and jumped back in shock. That face! It was the face in his dreams, of the organic he tortured for all eternity. He gingerly touched his fleshy face, hand shaking. It couldn't be him! It couldn't be! ...unless... He yanked off a black glove, horror mounting as he saw a human hand. He yanked off another... and beheld and undeniably mechanical hand. A smile crept back over his face, a smile that grew steadily more malicious. "Yeeeess..."

edited 24th Nov '11 3:30:26 PM by LizardOfAus

Wily practically leapt to his feet and scurried back to his capsule, clinging on to it as though it would come to life and somehow protect him from the confusing and terrifying environment he now found himself in. "I... I see. Could you put your weapons away? It's not exactly instilling confidence."

Hopefully, the others - whoever they were - would listen politely to his request and do as he wished. If not, however, then he would have no recourse but to hide behind the capsule, or maybe write a strongly worded letter to each and every one of them... if there was any paper and a pencil lying around, of course.