Match of the Millennium

Description: The shaman welcomes another visitor to the sorcerer's island. Though drawn to the tournament seemingly by pure coincidence, Sonya Blade will perhaps soon find out that her presence here was fater to be.

[SONYA]
The boat; a creaking and ancient thing, bumped up against the sandy shores of the beach by night. As the diligent cultists, mercenaries and other assorted ne'erdowells undertook their dark work, another figure entirely slid soundlessly into the water, and one more shadow than planned moved across the beach.

That particular shadow took only a moment to identify a hopeful-looking shadowy space amongst the nestled rocks. She had no desire to alert her unwitting transporters to her presence at this late stage, but she was also eager to make contact with the outside world - at some undetermined point in the ocean voyage, communications had dropped out completely rather than being interminably bad.

Her desire was not to be.

Tapping at her wrist-mounted computer, she was met with only a faint static hiss in her ear. No matter how much power she pumped into the thing, she couldn't get a message out.

That made things... complicated.

From her position, Sonya Blade - for it is she! - Risked poking her head up to get a better look at her surroundings. It was difficult, in the gloom, but she could make out the stairs cut into the rock, and she'd seen the sheer cliffs which seemed to make up the majority of the rest of the coastline on the way in. If she wanted in, she either had to scale one of those cliffs (not a particularly enticing prospect) or wait for the coast to be clear.

Ducking back down, she cracked her neck, and then her knuckles. Okay then. Patience wasn't her strongest virtue, but she could wait it out if she had to. It sure didn't look like she was going to run into any help right away...

[NIGHTWOLF]
But help does arrive.

Though perhaps not in the form that one Sonya Blade might expect.

There is another shadowy figure here as well, one that is not part of the zealot cultists of Outworld and those mercenaries that would forsake their homeland of Earthrealm and fight for the other side. In fact, the shadow that slides noiselessly across the sharp rock reefs of the island's coast does not appear to be even human.

There is a short shadow that moves past the evil warriors unseen, too low to the ground to be caught by their notice. Four legs and paws tread the sandy shore noiselessly and the shadow goes by way of circling the unloading boat, hiding behind rocks and tall grass whenever a cultist or mercenary begins to notice there is something wrong.

Moving unperturbed, this shadow draws closer to the woman hiding by the water, and it dips close enough to alert her that there is movement slowly approaching her.

"Hello." A voice is heard, and from atop a rock where Sonya currently finds shelter there she would see a pair of eyes staring back at her.

But the shape is that of a wolf.

Which can apparently talk.

[SONYA]
Some days, Sonya wishes that she could still find it in her to be surprised by weird shit. Talking wolves, for instance, should provoke some sort of deep reaction from her. It should not make her irritated at the prospect of having attention drawn towards her position. She should, instead, be marvelling at the fact that it is, well, a wolf. That can talk.

Unfortunately, Sonya no longer has the luxury of wonder and excitement in her life. Instead, she is forced to consider the practical realities that a talking canine might pose to her current situation.

Well, the obvious one is that she could be attacked - but if she were going to be attacked, it would have been a piss-poor move for the wolf to say hello first. She'd probably be marginally less surprised by the wolf snarling and attempting to rip her throat out, true, but the element of surprise can only get you so far - and as the 'hello' wasn't immediately followed by a warning or a demand for identity, that probably meant she wasn't in immediate danger.

Instead, she reverted to type - going for orders instead of introductions.

"Get into cover and keep your voice down!"

The Lieutenant's voice barely raised above a whisper - but wolves were supposed to have good hearing, right? So presumably that won't be an issue, as she shuffles over to the side to make enough room for the apparently non-hostile animal to make itself comfortable.

"What the hell is going on here?" She'd continue, whether the wolf obeyed her command or not, "And what are you? In that order, and make it quick."

[NIGHTWOLF]
Indeed, wolves are not only good listeners but also quite competent at following orders it would seem. The wolf in question all too calmly complies with Sonya's demands. It moves away from the perch of stone and hides behind it, placing himself next to the Special Forces Lieutenant. This appears to be just in time to be detected by a passing non too friendly looking mercenary.

"There is no need to be alarmed" The wolf tries to reassure the all too hot headed military woman. "I mean you no harm." It tries to explain its intentions if his friendly introduction were not enough to reassure Sonya that this wolf is apparently on her side.

But if its questions that Sonya seeks, then the wolf is eager to answer.

It is after all his job.

"This is the Mortal Kombat tournament, and I am Nightwolf, pupil of Lord Raiden." Questions answered and in that same order, just as Sonya asked.

[SONYA]
As with all the best answers, it just leads to more questions.

Sonya's heart beats a little faster as the mercenary looks in their direction. Her fingers tighten into a fist, and one leg moves into position. She'd got a rough estimate of how many people were on that ship. If she had to go loud, could she make it up the stairs before they managed to catch up and swarm her? How many could she bring down before it was hopeless? Could she call in close air support?

Oh, right, and then there are the answers to the actual questions she'd asked to consider.

Luckily, the mercenary hadn't been able to spot the wolf after all, and they can remain secret a little while longer. How long that state of affairs would continue, nobody could say, but it does let her focus on the matter at hand.

"All of this is for a fighting tournament?" She asks, voice more than a little sceptical. "If that's true, what do Black Dragon have to do with this? And where ARE we?"

The questions come thick and fast. That second is almost as important as the first. Her GPS was acting up, and that just shouldn't be possible after this long. Back home, they'd be looking to try and get satellites into position by now given how long she's been out of contact. Something very weird was going on.

You know. The fact that she's asking a wolf for answers was probably a good hint about that.

[NIGHTWOLF]
That something weird was going on was just putting it lightly.

"Yes, all this for just a tournament." The aptly named Nightwolf answers via way of apparently his mind. It does not appear that the wolf is moving his snout at all, and Sonya will yet still be able to hear him, clear as day. "The Black Dragon have always been on friendly terms with Outworld. They will benefit greatly from Earthrealm's demise.. or at least so they think." Though Nightwolf seems quite willing to be very forthcoming with the answers, the wolf seems to pause when Sonya asks that very crucial question. Just where exactly are they?

"The long and short of it would be; Shang Tsung's island." Of course, that quite possible tells Sonya Blade nothing. "But as you might suspect it gets more complicated than that."

The wolf turns to move away from Sonya, though he keeps his gaze towards her, looking over the shoulder. "Come, I know a way to the island proper where we would be unseen."

[SONYA]
None of the wolf's answers help a great deal. Outworld? Some sort of other terrorist organisation she should be aware of? Earthrealm? The fuck is Earthrealm?

Shang Tsung is a name she tucks away for later. If he owns this island, and this island is being used as a base for Black Dragon organisations, he's going right on the list. That list seemed to be getting longer each and every day, with no end in sight. Still, at least the wolf WAS answering her questions, even if she didn't have all the necessary pieces of the jigsaw to fit them together into a coherent whole just yet. That, presumably, will come later.

"Fine." Sonya replies, "I'll follow. But if you're leading me into a trap, I'll show you a real predator."

Something of a bluff, that, because it doesn't look like her drone is anywhere near communications range right now. And he's a wolf. He probably wouldn't get that a predator is a type of drone anyway, unless he's been keeping up to date on US Military weapons programmes. Maybe holding that piece of knowledge was her way of feeling like she had one up on the wolf.

Not that it mattered. The woman, staying low to the ground and trusting her special forces training, moved to follow. One last muttered grumble under her breath.

"I bet Chun-Li never has to deal with this shit."

Log created on 14:46:04 09/11/2016 by Nightwolf, and last modified on 16:37:03 09/11/2016.