Mortal Kombat 9: Ember Edition

Chapter 13: Kung Lao's Five Minutes in the Spotlight

Ember rolled over and hit a rock, yelping, she opened her eyes and stretched her arms. She was on the ground and in the distance could see the dark and gloomy trees of Outworld. Her arms and legs hurt and she noticed several deep red scratches, her bomber jacket and skinny jeans had tears in them and she groaned in agitation--she really liked that jacket.

Flipping over on her back, huffing from the exertion, she frowned at the streaks of blood on the stone wall of Shao Kahn's tower. The blood was in a straight line, aligning with where Ember was laying.

'Is that my blood?' Then she looked to her left and struggled to suppress a shriek of surprise.

Right next to her was Sheeva, the Shokan woman was lying unconscious with her four arms spread out and eyes peacefully shut. There were scratches on her arms and legs similar to Ember's. Then Ember remembered what happened.

As Sheeva and she fell from the tower, they tried to break the fall by latching onto the stone wall. Sheeva wasn't interested in killing Ember anymore, rather wanting to save her own life. While they weren't able to grasp onto the jutting stones to stop the fall, at least it slowed down the speed. The stones cut at their arms and legs, explaining the streaks of blood. Sheeva, being the heavier of the two, hit the ground first and went out like a light. Ember was luckier, landing on Sheeva, though she was knocked out by the impact too.

Suddenly, Smoke was there. "Are you alright? Where are the monks and Kitana?" He asked, kneeling next to her while he helped her up.

Grabbing his arm for support until she felt comfortable with her balance, she let out a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Liu Kang and Kung Lao might be looking for Kitana still--she wasn't in the tower." She hissed as her scratches were irritated.

"How did you get down here? Weren't you ahead of them?" Ember nodded again, watching Smoke stare at the blood on the wall, answering before he asked another question.

"I was ahead of them...but I'm down here because I got thrown out the window." Smoke's grey eyes tore away from the wall to her and he sighed.

"Did you learn your lesson about being impulsive and going ahead of the group, then?" He crossed his arms, almost in a condescending way.

Ember laughed and gave him a cheeky grin, "Nope." Smoke rolled his eyes, she almost died and yet she didn't seem concerned in the slightest.

Regarding her with an amused expression hidden behind his mask, the Lin Kuei jabbed a thumb behind him, "Let's go tell Raiden then...he's at the Coliseum with Cage." He started without her but was sure to walk slowly enough for her to catch up.

She looked over her shoulder at Sheeva, wondering if they should leave her like that, but then shook her head and caught up to Smoke. That crazy Shokan nearly killed her.

As they walked down the path, keeping a slower pace since Ember's legs hurt like hell, the girl noticed something was different about the trees. "What happened to my fire?" She asked.

"We put it out." Smoke answered, letting out a half-laugh as he continued, "Cage refused to leave until the fire was extinguished." At this, Ember laughed.

When the two arrived at the Coliseum, Johnny was fighting--or trying to fight--Ermac. Clearly the multi-souled warrior was winning and it didn't take long for Cage to fall. He was shoved to the ground, groaning at the large bruises and broken bones.

"Ermac wins!" Shang Tsung announced as the blood-thirsty crowd from earlier cheered and went wild. Ember looked around and saw the puddles of oil and specks of blood that decorated the ground of the Coliseum, especially in one area of the fighting circle. A knot formed in her stomach and she grimaced, that was the area where she fought the Lin Kuei cyborgs...and lost Kuai-Liang.