But Kano was still larger and stronger than Sonya. He held her with sheer mass of muscle, despite the leverage she was using. Then he smashed the heel of his right hand forward, aiming for the bridge of her nose.
Sonya ducked under the thrust, rapidly punching high and low. Then she dove, hands straight down in the sand, and launched herself feet first at Kano.
She trapped his neck between her muscular legs and began to squeeze.
Their bodies locked together, Sonya and Kano collapsed in a heap on the sand. No matter what he tried, the crime lord was unable to break free. His face was turning red, his one good eye bulging. Sonya tightened her grip. Kano couldn’t breathe. Soon his struggles grew weaker and more random. Sonya only held him tighter.
“Sonya, stop!” Liu shouted. His voice sounded very far away to Sonya, far away and unimportant. “That’s what he wants!”
“That’s right,” Shang said, his voice exultant. “Finish him! Pay me tribute with his death!”
“Sonya!” Liu called out. “Don’t do it! If you kill him, Shang Tsung will own you!”
Sonya heard another sound, the sound of thousands of voices crying in despair, as they had cried in the Great Hall when Art Lean died. Shang Tsung was calling on his powers, preparing to absorb Kano’s soul as he had so many others.
“No!” Sonya shouted. “Nobody owns me! Nobody!”
She loosened her grip and let Kano slump to the sand.
Rolling away from her opponent, she rose slowly to her feet and walked out of the ring, leaving the fallen Kano behind her.
Shang Tsung blocked her path. “You disappointed me,” the sorcerer said. “That wasn’t wise.”
“You don’t write my efficiency reports and you don’t sign my paychecks,” Sonya said. “I don’t answer to you.”
“But one day soon,” Shang said, “you will.”
He backed away, arms raised, and shouted again at the ranks of humans assembled on the fighting grounds.
“All of you will!”
The sun over the island was high in the sky. Liu and Sonya sat resting in the shade of a tree. The fighters from the Realm of Earth hadn’t been having a good day. Other than Sonya and Liu, most of them had lost their fights.
“I haven’t seen Johnny today,” Liu said. “Have you?”
“Not since morning,” Sonya said. “Do you suppose he’s lost a bout?”
The thought that he might have done so made her sad. And that surprised her.
Suddenly Liu held up his hand for silence. “Do you hear something?” he asked.
“No, I… wait. Someone’s shouting.”
Far away, echoing from the sides of the mountain, someone was indeed shouting.
“Goro!” the voice called. “Goro!”
“Who do you suppose that is?” Liu asked.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Sonya said. “I think I know. Come on.”
The two stood and walked away from the arena area, past the Great Hall, up to the statuary garden where Art Lean lay buried. They were not the only ones heading in that direction, nor were they the first to arrive. A number of others, both human and Outworlder, were in the garden when they arrived, looking in wonder at the man they saw there.
Johnny Cage stood in the statuary garden. He was banging on a metal pan, creating a racket, and in between his drumming he was shouting.
“Goro! Goro!” he yelled. He pounded on the bottom of the pan and shouted again, “Goro!”
Shang Tsung approached through the crowd. The sorcerer’s face was serene, and he was surrounded by his usual crowd of bodyguards and monks.
“Is there something you want?” Shang asked as he drew near.
“Yeah,” Johnny replied. “A Big Mac and a large order of fries would suit me just fine, but I’ll settle for that tub of lard with the four arms.”
Shang shook his head in disbelief. “You’re challenging Goro? You weren’t supposed to fight him yet.”
“Is there something the matter with right now?” Johnny asked. “Or is the big guy taking his beauty sleep?”
“Are you that eager to die?” Shang asked in his turn. “That’s the sign of a true hero.”
“I’m not the one who’s going to die.”
“I see,” Shang said. “You’re very foolish.”
The sorcerer regarded Johnny with burning eyes, leaning closer to look into his soul.
“I see,” Shang said at last. “You think you can protect your friends.”
“So what if I do? Either I can handle it or I can’t. Want to find out which?”
“Make no mistake,” Shang said. He spoke slowly and in simple words, as if instructing a child. “They too will die. After Goro has destroyed you.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Johnny asked. “Bring him out.”
Shang cradled his chin in his hand, thinking. “As absurd as your demand is,” he said at last, looking directly at Johnny, “I will grant it. In return, I reserve the right to challenge the winner, or another of my choosing, at the place appointed by me, for the last battle of this final Mortal Kombat.”
“You got it, pal,” Johnny said.
Shang laughed aloud. And as if in echo, a voice of thunder shouted, “No!”
Lord Rayden forced his way through the crowd in the garden to stand before Shang and Johnny. His eyes were burning with electric fire, and his voice rolled out loud and strong.
“There is no provision for this!” he said in ringing tones. “A champion fighting anyone other than the day’s champion, and the final bout set by any means other than winning a previous match? I cannot allow it.”
“But it isn’t yours to allow or disallow,” Shang said. He smiled at Rayden’s anger. “I command here, Lord Rayden, and the rules are quite explicit. How do they say it in your miserable Realm of Earth? ‘A deal’s a deal’?”
The sorcerer made a mocking half-bow to Rayden, then turned and walked away with his retinue. When he had gone, Rayden turned to Johnny Cage.
“What have you done?” Rayden demanded, his voice booming and his blue eyes flashing.
Johnny turned to face the angry god.
“I exercised my own free will,” he said. His voice snapped with defiance. “I made a choice. This is our tournament, remember? The humans from Earth? The power of life? It’s Mortal Kombat! We fight it, not you. It’s our fate, not yours!”
“Good,” Rayden said. A quick smile broke through his grim expression. He turned to Sonya and Liu, eyeing them both before he went on.
“At last one of you has understood.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It was afternoon on the island. The sun was halfway between the zenith and the horizon. A pleasant breeze rippled the silken banners and stirred and rustled among the leaves.
The fighters from the Realm of Earth were gathered near the statuary garden. Liu Kang stood among them.
He heard a voice behind him. A woman, whispering, secret.
“Liu Kang, your time will come.”
“How?” Liu asked, not turning his head. His attention was fixed on the area the guards were clearing. “Whoever wins this bout, it’s over.”
“No. It’s not over yet.”
Liu recognized the voice. He’d heard it once before, whispering in his ear as he lay pinned in a fighting arena.
“What do you mean?” he asked. “What do you want?”
“Only that you trust me.”
Liu turned. Princess Kitana, surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting, walked slowly away.
Johnny Cage strolled into the statuary garden and leaned casually against one of the pedestals. He was wearing a loose black uniform. He took out a pair of dark glasses from his pocket and slipped them on.
“What’s the story here?” he asked. “Am I going to have to wait all day?”
As if in answer, trumpets sounded from near the mouth of the tunnel to Shokan. Drums beat fiercely. A huge figure emerged. Goro. The Shokan prince halted in the sunlight, raised his four arms,
and bellowed a roaring challenge to the sky, the same cry he had made the night before in the Great Hall, just before he killed Art Lean.
The half-dragon strode forward into the garden, where Johnny was waiting, still apparently unconcerned, with a monk holding a scroll standing beside him. Goro halted a dozen feet from Johnny and once again bellowed his challenge.
Johnny looked at him, unimpressed. “You’re gonna hurt yourself doing that.”
Goro stopped and tilted his huge head to one side, regarding Johnny. He reached up and unfastened the golden buckle which held his cape shut. Dropping the silken fabric, he stepped forward dressed in his loincloth alone. His long hair, bound in a ponytail, swung behind him.
“Strange,” he said softly. “We’ve barely met, and already I don’t like you.”
“Impossible,” said Johnny. “Everybody likes me.”
He looked up at the Outworld champion. The sun’s rays were striking in Goro’s eyes. Johnny took off his dark glasses and held them out.
“Here,” he said. “Want to borrow these?”
Goro took the glasses in his hand and slowly crushed them. He dropped the fragments and ground them into the dirt with his foot. “I’m going to enjoy dismembering you,” he said.
The monk made a mark on his scroll, then turned and walked away, leaving the two fighters alone in the statuary garden. Johnny let the length of chain he’d been practicing with that morning unroll from his right hand. He spun it in a slow circle. The sunlight caught on the links and made them sparkle.
“Let’s dance,” he said.
Goro paced steadily forward. He reached out to grab Johnny, to take him and crush him, but Johnny’s chain whistled in and smashed Goro across the knuckles. Johnny stepped away, even as Goro pulled his hand back with a grunt of pain.
Johnny smiled, and gestured with his left hand to Goro.
“Come and get it,” he said. He sounded amused. “There’s plenty more where that came from.”
Goro rushed at Johnny, all four arms moving at blinding speed to strike his human opponent. Johnny stood for a moment more with the same mocking smile, then did a series of back flips to escape the oncoming giant. The actor vanished behind the statue of Kung Lao.
The other fighters from the Realm of Earth watched from the sidelines. Sonya and Liu stood by side.
“What’s he doing?” Liu asked. His expression was puzzled.
“He said he was working on a strategy,” Sonya said. “I guess this is it.”
Out in the statuary garden, Johnny stuck his head out from behind a statue. He waved to Goro.
“Yoo hoo!” Johnny called. “Over here, big boy!”
Goro turned toward him. Johnny blew a kiss and ducked back behind the statue. Goro howled with rage and rushed to Johnny’s hiding place. But when the Outworlder emerged from the other side of the statue, after having stalked all the way around the pedestal, he was clearly puzzled. Johnny had vanished again.
“This is a strategy?” Liu said.
“I suppose so,” Sonya said. “I don’t know what else you’d call it.”
Liu shrugged. “Maybe he’s trying to tire Goro out.”
Goro was hunting back and forth among the statues. Suddenly a twig snapped. Goro spun toward the sound, hands high, Even as he did so, the chain flashed out and twirled around his upper left wrist. Johnny dived in from behind the statue, twisting the chain in a nutcracker grip. He twisted again. With a sound like a rifle shot the giant’s wrist broke. Johnny rolled between Goro’s legs and sprinted for the pedestal of another statue.
Goro held his injured wrist in his opposite hand. “So the little puppy has a bite,” he gritted between clenched teeth.
He turned to follow Johnny, but the singing chain forced the giant to respect the distance between them. Johnny sidestepped behind another statue and was gone.
The crowd of fighters cheered.
Now Goro was angry. He stalked relentlessly from statue to statue, following Johnny. The entire tone of the match had changed. Where before it had seemed almost playful, with Johnny’s taunts, now there was an air of deadly seriousness to it. The Shokan prince’s face was pale, his dark eyes flashed as he moved more and more quickly after the dodging, elusive human fighter. The edge of the cliff grew nearer.
Goro was forcing Johnny back. With the sea at his back and the giant warrior before him, the human soon would have no more places to hide.
“Johnny!” Sonya shouted. “Johnny! Fight him! Win!”
The chain snaked out from behind a statue, stinging Goro’s upper right arm. Goro turned and stalked toward Johnny with murder in his eyes.
Johnny stood his ground as Goro lunged at him. Then suddenly he leapt and rolled, and the glittering chain wrapped around Goro’s right ankle. Johnny rolled to his feet, and pulled hard on the chain. Goro fell.
The giant caught himself on his hands, rotating his body in an attempt to bring himself back to his feet. Johnny twisted the chain and broke the Shokan’s ankle.
Goro bellowed, his voice shaking the air, and reached down with one of his lower arms. He grabbed the length of chain, yanked it out of Johnny’s grasp, and threw it away. Twisting and sparkling, it tumbled over the edge of the cliff and was gone.
Goro got to his feet, and took a slow, painful step toward Johnny. “Now, little man, you’re mine.”
He took another shuffling step.
Liu turned his face aside, looking away from the combat, and away from where Sonya stood, her fists clenched in tension. He saw Rayden standing beside him. As always, the god’s face was like a mask, revealing nothing.
“Lord Rayden,” Liu asked, “what will happen?”
“Not even the gods know that,” Rayden replied, and Liu turned back to the duel.
Johnny had dodged behind the last statue before the edge of the cliff. Goro approached, dragging his right foot painfully. Then, rather than go right or left around the statue, Goro began to climb the pedestal, using his three good hands to pull himself up and over the top of the statue.
“Idiot,” Sonya muttered. Liu supposed she was talking about Johnny. “Why doesn’t he get away?”
Liu shook his head helplessly and yelled, “Johnny! Look up!”
But it was too late. Goro sprang down from above. Johnny, hiding behind the statue, barely evaded the huge, hurtling body. Even then, he wasn’t fast enough to evade the backhanded blow that Goro delivered to his chest. Johnny flew across the open garden and smashed into the pedestal of another statue.
Johnny got to his feet, holding his side. The blow had driven the breath from his body, and perhaps broken some of his ribs. He remained bent over while Goro approached him with death in his eyes.
“Get away from him!” Liu called. “Remember what happened to Art!”
Johnny turned, but he was boxed in by the pedestals of three statues. Goro came inexorably on.
A moment later, Goro snapped another punch to Johnny’s body. Johnny reeled backward, fetching up against a pedestal. Goro punched him again. Johnny crumbled forward to lie motionless face down on the ground.
Shang stepped forward from his place at the edge of the arena. The chorus of the damned, the howling cacophony, rose around him as his captive souls cried out in torment.
“Johnny! Get up!” Liu yelled, and Sonya cried out, “Johnny! Johnny, please!”
Shang Tsung came slowly forward. Goro saw him, and bowed his head. Then the Shokan knelt, and scooped Johnny up in his lower arms. He stood, and turned to face the demon sorcerer. The howling dissonance increased, swirling fiercely around the fighting field.
Goro stood, battle-weary, before his demon master, not kneeling now, a hint of defiance in his large black eyes. Shang saw it, and stretched forth his hand, while the chorus of enslaved souls grew louder.
“Where is my tribute?” Shang asked.
Goro went down on one knee, holding Johnny’s inert form, lifting it up in offering to Shang. The emperor’s demon smiled, and extended his hand towar
d Johnny.
As Johnny reached Goro’s eye level, the human fighter came suddenly to life, twisting and exploding outward in a powerful karate punch.
“Aiyaah!” Johnny yelled – and struck directly between Goro’s eyes.
Staggered by the force of the blow and by surprised, Goro loosened his powerful grip for an instant, and Johnny tumbled free. As he rolled to the ground he grabbed the long ponytail of the kneeling Shokan. He looped the rope of hair around Goro’s thick neck and pulled back, using all the leverage of his body to increase the strangling force.
Goro surged to his feet, but Johnny’s weight on the loop of his hair only made the situation worse. The Outworld champion’s face reddened and his tongue stuck out. He clawed at his neck, trying to reestablish an airway.
“What’s the matter?” Johnny snarled from behind him. “Having a bad hair day?”
Johnny increased the pressure on the strangle hold. Goro tried to smash Johnny against a statue pedestal. The actor swung out of the way and still kept up the force on Goro’s windpipe.
In a desperate effort, Goro flung himself on his back, trying to crush Johnny with his weight. At the last moment, Johnny sprang free. Goro smashed backward, sprawling full-length on the ground.
The Shokan prince lay wheezing for a moment, trying to regain his breath, but now Johnny had comeback, and was attacking without mercy. Punch and kick combinations rained down on the giant warrior as he struggled to his knees.
Goro flailed away at Johnny with his good arms, but without success. He tried to regain his footing, but his broken ankle hindered him. Johnny kept snapping kicks at his massive head. Goro’s body rocked from side to side with the force of the blows.
At last Goro regained his feet, howling defiance. “Now I will show you no mercy!” he snapped, and dropped into a fighting crouch.
“Whatever you say,” Johnny replied.
The actor stood, readying himself. Then, in an amazing display of skill, he launched his shadow kick at Goro. To those who were watching, Johnny’s body seemed to fade, darken, and elongate as his foot sped forward. Goro’s blocking arms stopped only air. The kick caught Goro in the center of his chest, and knocked him backward. Johnny himself fell on his back on the ground, stunned by the force of his own blow.
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