Led by Ashrah and her enchanted blade, the group walked through the Living Forest with renewed focus, searching for Quan Chi.

The blade glowed subtly brighter and brighter as they continued on their path.

“Quan Chi is close. The emanations of his evil grow stronger,” the repentant demoness said as she observed her weapon.

“That is a powerful weapon,” Baraka commented.

“And my perfect ally,” Ashrah responded. “As I smite the evil it finds, I am further purified.”

“Now, I’ve done steps, so I’m all for self-help,” Johnny said before asking, “But since when does a demoness want to be less evil?”

“I had spent eternity damned to the Netherrealm,” Ashrah began to explain as the group stepped around a stone. “I had assumed that was all there was to existence. But then, I saw Earthrealm, saw Outworld. Saw that there was a better way to live. And to have it I needed to cleanse my soul. My sister demons were furious at my change of heart. Kia and Jataaka were the first to hunt me.”

“Is Quan Chi also a demon?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Actually, he’s an outworlder,” Ashrah answered, surprising the filly. “But he mastered the dark magic needed for unfettered travel to my realm.”

An insect flew in front of Syzoth for a moment, only to fall prey to the Zaterrans' lashing tongue as it was drawn into his mouth. Watching Syzoth’s snack with a small grimace, Johnny asked his next question. “Any idea how he buddied up with Shang Tsung?”

“They share a common benefactor. She plucked them both from obscurity, taught them everything they know,” The demoness explained. “I’ve never met her, but there’s no question she’s a sorceress beyond compare.”

Ashrah’s sword then glowed with a light that seemed to sing with power.

“Quan Chi is near.”

Meanwhile, as the heroes were walking, another group was standing around a large golden structure, one of them casting a spell into it. As the man cut off his magic for the moment, he looked to his companions.

“I am ready for your contributions,” he said.

A woman with red hair, clothing that resembled a mix between armor and a dress and large bat-like wings approached first, handing the tattooed man half of a red jewel.

“Excellent, Nitara.” the tattooed man praised before addressing a more haphazardly dressed man. “I need yours as well.”

The dark haired man looked at the jewel half in his hand. “Darius and I have been thinking, sorcerer-” But said sorcerer interrupted him.

“Do not try to renegotiate, Havik,” he warned.

“We need proof that you’ll deliver,” Havik demanded, only for another male voice to scoff.

“That he has already delivered for Nitara’s Vaeternians is all the proof you need,” said a woman in dark clothes and heels with eyes black as pitch from her place next to the source of the scoff, a large light blue skinned humanoid with pale orange hair, a large blue overcoat and a black bandana, as well as scars adorning the majority of his exposed body.

“Sareena is right,” Nitara agreed. “Because of Quan Chi’s magic, my realm’s people are no longer poisoned by sunlight. We have finally escaped the shadows.”

“Rest assured,” Quan Chi said. “The spells you will receive will bring down Orderrealm’s government.”

“When will we have them, Quan Chi?”

“After the attack on Earthrealm… which could be called off if the soul stealer’s efficacy isn’t demonstrated promptly.”

With that, Havik relinquished the jewel half to Quan Chi.

Putting the two halves together, the sorcerer grinned in satisfaction.

The heroes spotted Quan Chi and his group from around a corner, Johnny stepping forward a little while pulling Kanshi’s hand off his shoulder.

“Well, this plot just got thicker,” he quipped in spite of the concern in his voice.

“Earthrealm is in grave danger,” Ashrah told the group as she turned to face them. “Just one soul stealer can kill hundreds of thousands. If he unleashes a battery of them-”

“Millions will die,” Baraka finished for her, to which Kung Lao nodded.

“He must be stopped.”

“Looks like he’s got an old pain in my ass working for him, too. Bojack,” Rota observed aloud. “He’s a space pirate with nothing but pillaging planets on his mind. Not sure how Quan Chi and Shang Tsung got a leash on him, though. Sweetie, you and I will handle him together. Everyone else, pick a target and take ‘em down.”

The group stepped forward, but Johnny stopped Kenshi for a moment.

“Whoa there, big fella,” he said. “This stops where you get off.”

Sweetie and Rota stopped, looking curiously at the men’s exchange.

“You heard her,” Kenshi argued. “Millions could die.”

“Which is why we don’t want you tripping us up out there,” Johnny countered. “Now. Give me your sword.”

“Why?”

“Just give it.”

With that, Kenshi took his current sword off of his back and held it out to Johnny, who took it… and then took Sento from his back and put it into Kenshi’s hand.

“What?!” The swordsman asked in astonishment. “I can’t- not when you’re-”

“You saved my life,” the A-lister replied in assurance.

“It’s yours.”

After giving Kenshi’s shoulder a pat for reassurance, Johnny walked away as Kenshi seemed conflicted. As the A-lister reached Sweetie and Rota, the Saiyan made a quip of her own.

“You did good, Cage.”

Johnny gave a chuckle as he responded, “Like you said, I can find ways of making back the money.”

The heroes charged toward the clearing that held the Soul Stealer, intent on stopping it from being activated quickly, Rota even going so far as the launch an energy disc at the sorcerers arms, only for Bojack to flicker-step between Quan Chi and the disc and disperse it with a swipe of his energy-covered fist.

“Quan Chi!” Nitara said as drawing the attention of the others toward the heroes, who all readied to drop into battle stances.

Quan Chi addressed his interlopers, starting with Ashrah.

“Ashrah, yet again you evade capture,” the sorcerer said. “And now it appears you’ve found allies.”

“We are joined against you, sorcerer,” Ashrah retorted. “You won’t be stealing any souls.”

With a flourish of the repentant demon's sword, the two sides charged at one another. Ashrah’s blade clashed against Nitara’s claws as Syzoth joined the repentant demon against the Vaeternian while Baraka tackled Havik into the side of the Soul Stealer. The hot-headed terrorist fought back with a knee to the former merchant’s gut followed by a right cross to the cheek. Havik dodged Baraka’s own counter and hit him from the other side.

Kung Lao was facing off against Sareena. The monk came in with a jumping roundhouse kick that the demoness dodged, following up with a kick that was blocked along with a quick flurry and an overhand strike. Sareena then struck back with a blow to the gut into a spinning kick to the cheek followed by another punch to the torso, driving Kung Lao back.

Johnny Cage engaged a dark skinned man with an orange and black outfit and sunglasses with a flying side kick into a spinning back fist. His opponent, Darius, blocked the kick and shrugged off the backfist, then landed a torso punch followed by a rising kick that blew through the A-lister’s attempted block. Spinning with the momentum, Darius hit a right hook on Johnny, only for the A-lister to dodge the next uppercut and lash out with a kick to the head, stunning the terrorist long enough to let Cage to launch a jumping overhand that was barely blocked.

Rota Bage and Sweetie Belle, meanwhile, went straight for the Space Pirate, Bojack, who met their respective punch and kick with a punch of his own, stopping the two dead before they flew back. Only for the Pirate to flicker-step behind them and launch Rota away with a kick before swinging the leg back at Sweetie Belle. The filly weaved under the kick and launched upward, hitting the Space Pirate with an uppercut that sent him stumbling. Rota took off her vest, used a re-equip spell to swap to a sturdier set of full-handed gloves, jumped onto Bojack’s back and wrapped her vest around his face, obscuring his vision and using it as leverage to try and throw him. The Space Pirate simply tore the vest apart by pulling his head forward, making the Saiyan stumble, and allowing him to slam a knee into her torso. Sweetie Belle managed to land a side-kick on Bojack’s cheek, allowing Rota to surge her power and launch a flurry of blows at Bojack, giving him little time to recover. Sweetie Belle, feeling her power slowly return to her as they fought, surged her own power akin to Rota, her aura coming out as green as her magic, and so the filly joined the Saiyan’s flurry, forcing the Space Pirate backwards, finishing their combination attack with a synchronized pair of spinning back kicks to Bojack’s torso, driving him back. Rota took the slight lull in combat to warn Sweetie Belle of an observation she made.

“He’s holding back, trying to stall us,” the Saiyan muttered just loud enough for the filly to hear.

At that moment, Quan Chi completed his spell, activating the Soul Stealer and causing a wave of dark magic to wash over the combatants, halting the battle as all stopped to watch what happened next unfold. A green pillar shot to the sky as the souls of the dead came floating out of the trees around them, leaving the plantlife dead and dying, the faces on the trees replaced by skulls. The souls wailed as they were drawn toward and congregated near the basin of the Soul Stealer.

Seeing the way they were congregating, Johnny said, “My God… It’s a…. soulnado.”

With another incantation, Quan Chi began to fuse the souls into a single being. Rota tried launching another Ki blast to stop him, while Sweetie Belle summoned and tossed one of her cannons akin to a chakram blade. Bojack flickerstepped to protect the Sorcerer, flaring his own power to disperse or deflect the attacks.

“OK, that’s new,” Rota noted with a slight bit of worry in her tone.

“What dark magic is this?!” Ashrah questioned as she stared at the being that now floated in front of Quan Chi. A question answered by the being itself.

“We are Ermac.” It’s voice sounded echo-y, as if multiple were speaking at the same time. “A collection of souls, bound by Quan Chi’s magic.” (“That explains the voice thing,” Sweetie Belle mused mentally.)

“We live to obey his commands.”

Quan Chi pointed at the group of heroes while Bojack stepped aside.

“Kill them,” he ordered.

Ermac floated down to the ground, sending a green bolt of magic at Johnny Cage that sent him flying on impact. The other heroes charged at the new foe, but he launched more magic bolts at them to repel them. Baraka got close enough to make Ermac use telekinesis to send him into the air and then throw him to the ground backfirst.

This last interaction allowed just enough time for Rota to flickerstep up close to the construct and kick it hard enough to send it flying through a tree to it’s right, her left. Ermac recovered quickly and retaliated by using his telekinesis to simply blast away the Saiyan and Syzoth, who tried pouncing on him as Rota rushed back toward him and turned his attention to the approaching Sweetie Belle, though not before striking and throwing Ashrah, who had been tossed the construct’s way by Bojack.

Sweetie Belle recalled her currently summoned cannon, summoned the rest of them, formed them into the whip form and then shifted into staff form. Twirling the staff around her to build momentum, she formed a shield into a striking surface at one end, jumped and brought it down on Ermac’s head.

Or at least, she had intended to, before Bojack caught her midjump and blasted her away with an energy ball to the gut, sending her flying into a tree at the opposite end of the battlefield. Rota saw that, then roared as she ascended to Super Saiyan and, in a fit of rage, punched Bojack hard enough to punch into his chest and nearly come out the other side. She could definitely feel a lung, but she didn’t even bother noting it as she tore her fist out of the Pirate’s torso, and used the momentum to drive a kick into Ermac that sent the construct tumbling toward Kenshi and impaling him onto Sento. The sword seemed to absorb power from Ermac as he remained impaled on it. Bojack, his wound still half open, but healing more quickly than expected, then surged his own power, his wound healing over near instantly the moment his aura flared as Ermac blasted Kenshi and Sento away from him.

With a mighty laugh, Bojack launched at Rota, launching a kick that the Saiyan dodged before catching the return swing of the leg. Rota then spun with Bojack in her grasp and tossed him headfirst into the Soul Stealer, shattering it on impact.

“NO!” Quan Chi cried as he recovered from his own fight with Ashrah.

The furious Saiyan turned to him as the souls still within the basin escaped.

“Oops,” she said to mock him as one of the souls managed to latch onto the sorcerer and drain part of his essence before being destroyed as Quan Chi lost consciousness.

“Since that didn’t kill you, I will,” Ashrah said as she brandished her sword.

“Wait,” Rota said simply as Sweetie Belle managed to get back on her hooves and walk over to beside the Saiyan, who was now calming down at the sight of the filly up and moving.

“He’s too dangerous to let live,” Ashrah argued.

“He’s also our best shot at learning what Shang Tsung has planned,” Rota countered. “Once Liu Kang’s questioned him, then we can see about letting you kill him.”

Ashrah sighed as she brought her blade back to her side. “Very well.”

The rest of the group reconvened around the unconscious Quan Chi.

“Well… clearly, I underpaid for that,” Johnny quipped, referring to Sento. “Did you know what it could do?”

“The legends never mentioned mystical powers,” Kenshi answered. “The souls of my ancestors live within it. They intend to guide me.”

“Just don’t forget who gave it to you, Takahashi,” The A-lister said in reply.

“I won’t, Cage,” the Blind Swordsman promised.

“Alright, now that we’ve got the apparently bound sword addressed,” Rota said as she got up from lifting Quan Chi onto her shoulder, “let’s get this prick to Earthrealm.”

Johnny turned to the Outworlders with the group. “I know home's here for you, Baraka… but Syzoth, Ashrah… you can come with if you want.”

Rota and Sweetie Belle gave a knowing glance at one another as Johnny finished his offer.

“I’m sure Liu Kang will welcome you.”

“I’ve never had a home,” Ashrah said as a smile began to grace her lips. “That would be wonderful.”

Meanwhile, back with the Watching Entity, the being was now keeping half an eye on the plans of Shang Tsung to see if They needed to intervene earlier than expected.

Watching the shape-shifting sorcerer within his base of operation located in a remote fortress in China on Earthrealm, the Watcher saw as Shang Tsung opened a portal to summon another being. Seemingly a woman… but the Watcher saw through the disguise as if it weren’t there.

“Hmmm…. Now this is interesting… A shame you’re more trouble than you’re worth…”

The Void itself, once more, trembled at the ire of the Watcher.

“Though, you may make a decent snack, at the very least.”

Author's Note

Yeah, I'm using Bojack just to have an opponent that Sweetie and Rota wouldn't obliterate instantly, and gave him regeneration to make it more likely he'd survive.
What of it?
Also, I'm sorry it took this long to get this chapter out, but I can't promise it won't take as long for the next chapter.
Damn you to the depths of Baraka's trousers after Chili night, ADHD and Autism, as well as the motivational issues that come with you.

Stay true to you.