Ultratech Corporation:  Control Room

    Gargos sat in the chair for the main computer terminal.  With his feet outstretched on the controls, he patiently waited for the arrival of Fulgore-X.
    “Don’t worry, he’s coming, I’m sure of it.”  Gargos said to no one in particular.
    Almost as if by cue, the automatic doors of the Control Room slid open, and Fulgore-X walked in slowly.  He was holding his right arm as if he had damaged it.  Gargos could see a few loose wires coming from the arm and flowing out from in between Fulgore-X’s fingers.
    “What happened?”  Gargos asked, not really caring.
    “Training droid difficulties.  But never mind that.  What happens to me is of no concern to you.”  Fulgore-X looked down at his injured arm for a minute, then turned back to Gargos.  “Let’s get one thing straight.  I’m not here because I’m taking an order from you.  I’m only here because there’s nothing better to do.  Believe me, if my feet needed shining, I’d be doing that right now instead of being here.”
    “Nice to see you’re so...motivated.  I don’t want to waste any more of your oh so precious free time, so let me get to the point.”  Gargos turned his chair away from the computer terminal to face Fulgore-X.  “Truthfully, I don’t think that you are going to be a good fighter.  Your predecessors have all been destroyed, by a human no less.  A small one at that.  You’ve shown me nothing to prove you won’t fall to the same fate.  I’m sure you’ve got a nice martial arts program in that ponytailed head of yours, but I don’t think you really have what it takes to be a true champion.  You don’t have any desire or any motivation to win.  But, despite all of that, you’ll probably win the tournament.  You will most likely face Jago in or near the finals, and you just might get lucky and win.  Then, you will have to face me.  Make no mistake, I will destroy you.  So I want to give you the opportunity to live.  Join me, Fulgore.  Join me in my quest to rule this world as the most powerful being on it, as it should be.  Go through the tournament, dispose of all the other unworthy fighters, beat Jago and his wrench sister, then, when it comes time to face me, give up.  Submit to me.  Then, I will not have to destroy you.  And, to show my...gratitude…I’ll make you my Second in Command of the world.  Who knows, you may even get rule of a hemisphere.  You’ll be greatly rewarded.  So, what do you say?”
    Fulgore-X’s eyes narrowed.  “Me…join you?  You have got to be out of your mind.  I’d much rather gut you than join you.  I’d rather gut myself than join you in your ego trip quest.  You know what I think?  I think I will go through the tournament, beat Jago, Orchid, or whoever, face you, and tear you to shreds.  Then, Ultratech will be mine, as it should be.”
    Gargos shook his head.  “Fulgore...Fulgore...Fulgore.  Do you not see that I am actually trying to help you?  Do you really think you have a chance against these other fighters?  You might beat a few of them, but you have no chance against the dedicated fighters.  And do you know why?  You haven’t got any motivation.  You’re just programmed to fight, programmed to win.  But you don’t really want it.  These guys do.  That’s why Jago has beaten both your predecessors.
    “I’m not my predecessors.”  Fulgore-X cut in.
    “He beat both of them because he wanted to win more.  He knew what was at stake.  He was motivated.  You do not have that.”
    “Oh really?  I think I have plenty of motivation.  I’m motivated to beat every thing or creature you throw at me, just so that I can fight you, and when I thrust my claw through your head, it’ll be called a victory.  That’s my motivation.”
    “Hmph.  Even if you do have motivation, you still cannot win.”
    “Is there a point to all of this?”
    “You cannot avoid what you are Fulgore.  You’re a cyborg.  You’re synthetic.  You’re nothing more than parts, and wires, and transistors.  You haven’t got a soul…you don’t have a spirit.”
    “Sprit…there’s no such thing.  Even if there was, there’s no place for it on the battlefield.
    “No Fulgy, you’re wrong.  Soul and spirit lay along the path to victory.  You can take all your martial arts skills, and your training - in your case, programming - and you can throw it out the nearest window.  In the end, the person with the most soul always wins.”
    “Oh please.”
    “Mock me if you will, but it is true.  I have seen many a large fighter, go down to a smaller fighter, because the smaller fighter had more spirit; he wanted it more.  It didn’t matter how many times the smaller fighter was knocked down, he didn’t stay down…his spirit wouldn’t let him.  That is something that you do not have.”
    “Spirit cannot overcome skill.”
    “It can, it has, and it will again.  It always will.  You and your skill will be defeated.  It doesn’t matter how much skill you have, you don’t have the soul to know how to use it.  Are you familiar with the game of poker?”
    Fulgore-X said nothing.
    “I’ll take that as a yes.  Anyway, any experienced poker player knows that the strength of the hand you have gotten is only part of it.  You have to know how to play that hand.  Someone with the strongest possible hand could lose.  Someone with the weakest hand could win.  It’s all about how you use what you’ve got.  Life is a lot like poker...you need not have a good hand to win the game.  All the other ‘players’ in the KI tournament will have weaker hands than yours, but I’m willing to bet that one or two of them will know how to use what they’ve got.  Because they have soul.  They want to win more than you do.  In the end, you’ll be nothing more than a smoking pile of toaster parts, just like the other Fulgore cyborgs.”
    “Hmph.”  Fulgore-X started to walk away.  As he left, he said, “you can take your soul and shove it.  My skill will get me through the tournament.  And once I get to you, may God have mercy on your soul...”  Fulgore-X stepped out the door, then turned around to face Gargos.  Before the doors closed, he said,  “For I sure won’t.”  The doors closed in front of Fulgore-X.
    Gargos stared after him for a few seconds.  He smiled, then turned back to the computer terminal.  He folded his hands in front of him, and looking off to his right, he said, “Did you get it?”
    An out of place, red tapestry began moving.  On the right side of the room, it was tastelessly draped across some computer terminals and monitors.  The tapestry began to slide down, and as it hit the ground, it melted into a red puddle.  As the last of the tapestry melted down, the bright red puddle began sliding it’s way across the floor and over to Gargos.  The puddle stopped next to the chair where Gargos sat.  From the puddle, a head slowly emerged, which was the same color of the puddle.  A neck and torso followed, and more of the body came up until Cinder was standing in place of the puddle.  He was holding some sort of scanner.
    “Man, I love these new powers!  Better regulation of body shape, increased power and control!  I can even bring my body heat down so that I can handle everyday objects without frying them!  Did I ever thank you for this!”
    “All too often.”  Gargos said.  “Well, did you get it?”
    “Yup.  A complete scan of the Fulgore-X system, head to toe.”
    Gargos got up from his chair, an indication that he wanted Cinder to work the terminal.  Cinder took the message and sat down.  He pulled a CD out of the scanner and inserted it into the terminal.  The main computer monitor soon displayed a three-dimensional grid image of Fulgore-X, along with an index of his basic system functions.
    “So, what d’ya wanna look at first...we got weapons, martial arts fighting skills....”  Cinder asked.
    “I want to see the makeup of his cybernetic brain.  Sheridan was very concerned about something in Fulgy’s programming before I killed him.”
    “Okay…”  Cinder began punching the appropriate buttons.  “Anything specific?”
    “Check his directives.”
    Cinder pulled up the Directive Menu.  On the main computer screen, it displayed-
 

    “There.”  Cinder said.
    “There’s gotta be more to it than that, Sheridan was really worried about the Fulgore-X directives.  Run a search for anything else.”
    Cinder ran the scan.  A few seconds later, he found something.
    “Hold on, I’ve got something else...t’s buried deep, deep down under a ton of subsystems.”  Cinder displayed the rest-
 

    “Ugh.  That’s not good.”  Cinder folded his arms.
    Gargos stared blankly into the screen.  “How far buried are these directives?  Are they going to affect Fulgy?  Can we delete them?”
    “Nope.  It looks like someone was trying to bury these far enough to try to delete them, but right now, they’re still regarded as too important to be deleted.  Only way you could is if you held Fulgy down physically and did some manual reprogramming.”
    “Well, are they going to affect him?”
    “Tough to say.  Unlike the other two, Fulgore isn’t binded to his directives; he doesn’t have to stick by them.  They’re more like...guidelines.  Right now, Fulgy probably doesn’t know about that second set of directives.  They’re buried pretty far down.  For Fulgy, recalling them would be like remembering the first time you ever met your wife, and then trying to remember what you had for lunch earlier that day.  But here’s the catch.  If Fulgore-X’s system ever cut out, even for the slightest second, those directives would be brought back up to the top with the other directives.”
    “What would it take for that to happen?”
    “In many ways, Fulgy isn’t too dissimilar from humans.  All it would take is a good kick upside the head to cause a momentary cut out.  His systems are made to be really stable, but there’s always that possibility.  If that happens, he’d have two conflicting directives in his head.  Man, this is the stuff psychos are made out of.  So, are we going to take him out of the tournament?”
    “No.”
    “No?  No?  If Fulgy gets smacked the right way, he becomes a psycho.  We wouldn’t know whose side he’d be on.  It’s too uncertain.”
    “Isn’t it though?  Variety is the spice of life, Cinder.  What fun would it be if we just won this thing without a challenge?  Think about it, if the task becomes a little harder, victory becomes that much sweeter.  And when we tell the story of how we won this Earth, we’ll be able to tell the part about ‘the rogue cyborg.  Designed for evil, programmed for good, no one knew where his loyalties stood.’ And the children will hold their breaths in anticipation to find out just what Fulgore-X does.  It will make the story that much more interesting.  Fulgy stays in the tournament.”
    “Forget Fulgore…” Cinder thought, “Gargos is psycho.  We can’t just let that maniac cyborg loose...God knows what he’ll do...”
    “Now,” Gargos said, “I’d like to have a look at those weapons he’s carrying around.”
    Cinder punched up the Weapons Status Menu.  It displayed some of the weapons capabilities Fulgore-X had.
    “I’m familiar with most of these weapons systems.”  Gargos said.  “Fulgore 2 had most of these.  It looks as if Fulgore-X’s are much more powerful though.  I’m not familiar with the plasma bomb though, Cinder, please get me more info on that.”
Cinder highlighted the plasma bomb.  A text description soon appeared on screen.  After a few seconds of reading, both Cinder and Gargos were shocked.
    “Dear holy mother of Jesus......”  Cinder whispered.  He had to start over and begin reading again, to make sure he hadn’t made a mistake.  The screen read
 

    Good holy God...”  Cinder was stunned.  “Please tell me you’re not reading what I was reading...”
    “Afraid so.”  Gargos said softly.  “But if all that is true…”
    “Then Fulgore-X single-handedly has the power to…”
    “Destroy the entire world…”
    “And then some…”
    “In one shot.”
    “Why?”  Cinder asked.  “Why in the hell would someone make a weapon that could completely annihilate the world?”
    Gargos was still stunned.  “Sheridan’s memory of Dr. Parkins, the Fulgore creator, recalls him to be quite paranoid.  Remember, Fulgore-X was designed to destroy Ultratech and his cybernetic predecessors.  This was probably Dr. Parkins’ way of making sure Fulgore-X had the last word.”
    “Now do you want to take him out of the tournament?”
    “No.  Fulgy’s not stupid, he wouldn’t detonate a plasma bomb over 15%.  Remember, he wants Ultratech, he doesn’t want to obliterate it, or the world.  Besides, this plasma bomb risk will just make our victory that much sweeter.”
 

Ultratech Corporation: MediLab
 

    “Hold still, will ya?”  Jago tried to keep Kim Wu and Tusk from moving on their operating tables.  Glacius attempted to hold them still.  Orchid was sitting in one of the chairs near a medical computer terminal, trying not to laugh.
    Since Glacius’s arrival, Jago had come up with the idea that Kim and Tusk should get internal translators, just like the one Glacius had.  The translator device had three components - two to be positioned in the skull, near the ears, and one inside the larynx.  The ear components picked up spoken word and stole it before it could reach the brain.  It then analyzed the brain patterns of the patient, and turned the speech into brain waves that the patient could understand.  The larynx component took the brain waves that were about to come out as speech by the patient, and turned them into words that matched the language last heard by the ear component.  This is what enabled Glacius to speak to and understand others.
    “Okay Glacius, hold them still, I’m going to try to attempt to implant the translators now.”  Jago went over to the terminal Orchid was sitting at.  “Pieces fitted and formatted, location confirmed, beginning teleport.”
    On a tray next to the tables Kim and Tusk were on, were the components.  The blue teleport beam engulfed the pieces, and then they were gone.  Jago monitored the computer as the teleport took place.  Soon, the message “IMPLANT SUCCESSFUL” flashed on screen.
    “There, that should have done it.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to understand them and vice versa.”
    “Jago,” Orchid said, “when we send them back to the past, won’t these implants affect their past and possibly our future?”
    “I don’t think so.  It’s not like when they die, someone will come along, find the implants, and begin copying them.  Remember, they live two thousand years ago.  They will probably get lost or destroyed.  It’s not like some modern day archeologist will stumble upon them.”
    Jago carefully approached the operating tables.  “Kim, Tusk, how’re ya feeling?  Can you understand me?”
    Kim sat up, looking surprised.  “Yes, yes I can!”  She said.
    Jago smiled.  “We hear you too.  Now we can finally understand each other.”
    Orchid folded her arms.  “I wonder what they’ll have to say.”  She thought.  She didn’t get to wonder for long.  The doors to the MediLab slid open, and TJ Combo staggered in.
    “TJ!”  Jago rushed over to him.  Orchid joined him, while Glacius stayed near the operating tables.  Combo hadn’t been seen since the fights that broke out in Ultratech two thousand years ago, and he had been presumed dead.
    “TJ...what happened to you…?”  Orchid asked, looking at his modifications.
    “They...they did this to me...”  TJ said slowly.  “They turned me into this monster...I’ll get them for this.”
    “Ultratech?  Man TJ...they did a number on you...”  Jago said.  “You feeling OK?”
    “As well as can be expected…considering how I look...”
    Jago helped Combo over to an empty operating table.  Orchid folded her arms.  She hated to think it, but TJ looked powerful in this mutated state.  She thought that now, TJ would be a greater asset in defeating Ultratech.  She actually considered what Ultratech did to him...a good thing.
 

Ultratech Corporation: East Wing Hallway
 

    Fulgore-X gingerly held his right arm.  While training with a battle droid, he was a little slow in activating his plasma shield.  The droid got a good laser shot in which ripped a gash in Fulgore-X’s arm.  He was losing sensation in his arm, and now plasma was beginning to leak from it.  It needed repair.  But where would one repair a damaged arm?  Fulgore-X walked down the hallway, reading the room names on the automatic doors, looking for someplace that might be able to help him.
Weapons Locker.  Experimentation Hall.  Genetic Research.  Earth Satellite Orbit Monitoring.  Nothing seemed to be of relevance.  Fulgore-X continued to walk down the hall, holding his arm, looking for a room that might help him.  Finally he found something.  MediLab.  He pulled up an old memory file from Fulgore 2.  The MediLab was primarily for humans, but it might have something that would help him repair his arm.  Fulgore-X stood in front of the MediLab.
    “Hmm.  What harm would there be to just look around?”
    Fulgore-X pulled his left hand away from his wound, and reached for the wall panel that would open the door to the MediLab.
 

Ultratech Corporation: Inside MediLab
 

    Orchid leaned against the door.  “So, is he going to be okay?”  She asked.
    Jago and Glacius stood around the operating table where TJ Combo was resting.  Glacius was examining his health while Jago was looking at the modifications done to his body by Ultratech.  Glacius put down his scanner and answered Orchid’s question.
    “Physically, he’s fine.  Mentally, I don’t know.”
    Kim Wu, still rubbing her throat from the language translator that was just implanted, said, “he looks like a demon.  It’s hard to believe that a human would do this to another human.”
    “Ultratech is hard to believe.”  Orchid said from the door.
 

Ultratech Corporation: Outside MediLab
 

    As Fulgore-X reached for the wall panel, his memory banks suddenly recalled something.
    There was some sort of...capsule...in a poorly lit room.  There was water on the ground, and spare parts floating in the water.  There were tables and racks on the wall that held many cybernetic type parts.  The memory only lasted a second.
Fulgore-X stopped reaching for the panel.  “Of course, the basement!  There will probably be some materials for my repair there.”  He walked away from the MediLab and headed for the basement.
 

The Next Day
New York: Training Arena
 

    Orchid sat in her usual seat, with her head buried in her hands.  She was dead tired; she hadn’t gotten a good night of sleep since Killer Instinct 7, and all the battles she fought since KI7 left her without much energy.  Orchid hadn’t even been through half of what Jago had.  Jago received the unfavorable task of facing not one, but two Fulgore cyborgs, as well as the rest of the opponents he encountered before his fights with the cyborgs.  Even though Jago showed a lot of energy, Orchid knew that he had to be dead tired as well.  She hoped that Ultratech didn’t have any really tough opponents to throw at them in KI8.  Most of all, she hoped that Ultratech didn’t have any more Fulgore’s stashed away.  But she knew that Ultratech had to have something good, or else Sheridan would have never called for a KI8.
    Orchid could hear the crowd in the arena begin cheering.  She looked up; Shadow entered the arena from the left side.  Another fighter entered from the right side.  He was 6’5, about 250 pounds, and carried a long katana blade.  He wore a standard black karate tunic with a red headband.  Orchid deduced that he was some sort of sword expert.
    The referee entered the ring after the fighters did, as usual, but this time he held a microphone.  He held his right hand up to signal that he wanted attention, then he spoke.
    “Good evening gentlemen, great fighters from around the world!  Welcome to the 2nd Bracket Finals for the Killer Instinct tournament!  Remember, the winner of this match, will win the coveted 2nd open spot in the Killer Instinct 8 tournament!  Now, are you ready for some action?  First, the fighters.  In the far corner, from parts unknown, mastery of a style unknown, he is a ninja of mystery, holding the long staff and wearing the blue boots, he is Shadow!  And in the near corner, from St. Charles, Illinois, he is a 6th degree black belt, as well as a master of the long blade fighting technique!  He is considered the ‘deadly assassin,’ wearing all black and carrying the katana, he is Desmond!”
    Orchid nonchalantly got up and left from ring side.  While all attention was focused
on the ring, Orchid moved silently behind everyone and made her way back into the locker rooms.
 

After the Fight
 

    Shadow moved gingerly through the locker room area.  He could feel three deep cuts on his left arm, two on his right, and there was a small scratch on his forehead.  Shadow’s entire body was racked with pain.  His legs felt like cooked noodles and he was sore all over.  As he slowly made his way through the hallways, people passed by him, patting him on the shoulder and congratulating him.  Shadow gave them all an obligatory smile and continued through the hallways.  He finally got to his locker room.  The tired fighter rested his head on the door for a few seconds.  He slowly turned the doorknob and stumbled inside.  Without noticing anything, he dropped his staff inside of the doorway, shut the door, and made a beeline for the bench.  Once there, he fell on it, and sighed as it felt good to finally stop moving and get horizontal.
    As Shadow relaxed and the pain eased, his ninja senses began kicking in.  Ninjas train their senses to become more acute than the average person’s.  A skilled ninja could have accelerated senses up to five times of what a normal person’s was.  It was these special senses that allowed Shadow to perceive that someone else was in the room with him.
    Shadow sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes.  Whoever was in the locker room, he didn’t want them to know that he knew.  Shadow looked around.  He first looked over to the wall to his right that was basically one big mirror.  As he looked, he could see himself sitting on the bench as well as the lockers behind him.  On top of the lockers, Shadow caught sight of Orchid sitting above him.  Having been discovered, she jumped down in front of Shadow and turned to face him.
    “We need to talk.”
    Shadow fell back on his bench.  “Can it wait?”
    “No.  Slots one and two for the KI tournament are now filled.  Slot three will be filled later on today.  We could be fighting as soon as tomorrow.  You need to know about Ultratech and Killer Instinct now.  ‘Sides, I promised I’d fill you in on everything as soon as you made it in.”
    Shadow sighed.  “Okay, lets hear it.  You won’t mind if I’m bandaging up my cuts during your story, right?”
Shadow pulled himself up off the bench and limped over to a locker across the room.  He opened it up and pulled out a box of first aid supplies.   Orchid sat down on the bench where Shadow got up.  She cleared her throat.
    “It all started around Killer Instinct 4.  It had probably been happening since then, but it wasn’t until KI4 until the authorities started getting suspicious.”
    “What?”
    “The disappearances.  Fighters who participated in KI were disappearing.  Immediately after the tournament ended, no less.  These fighters were always somewhere in the top ranks of the tournament, never the champion, never anyone under 5th rank.  When the police made the connections between the disappearances and the KI tournament, they launched a full investigation.  Ultratech was all too cooperative.  They let every police officer on the east coast search the premises.  They even helped the investigation.  They supplied the police with their security videotapes, clearly showing the fighters leaving Ultratech.  The police investigated as thoroughly as possible, but when they couldn’t get anywhere, they kind of gave up.  The whole thing was swept under a rug.  When another fighter disappeared in KI5, it made headlines for a few weeks, but both the public, media, and police soon lost interest.  But, in KI6, the winner, a Native American named Eagle, disappeared.  Since the champion disappeared, people really started getting interested again.  Even the FBI got involved.  So did our organization.”
    “Your organization?”
    “Yes.  We’re...really secret, you’ll understand if I can’t tell you anything about us?”
    “More secret than the FBI or CIA?”
    “Now, how secret are they if you know about them?”
    “Oh.”
    “Only three people in the world know about us, other than our agents.  Not even the President of the United States is one of those three.  I don’t know why I’m telling you.  Anyway, we got involved.  As usual, Ultratech was more than cooperative, and we couldn’t find anything against them.  So my superiors decided to enter me into the next tournament, KI7.  They ordered me to try to rank second...hopefully, whatever was causing the fighters to disappear would happen to me.  I would be expecting it, and I might be able to escape those other fighter’s fate, and I would have answers.
    “Little did we know that this tournament wouldn’t be like the ones before it.  The fighters assembled would affect the outcome of the tournament in ways never imagined.”
    “Can we cut the melodrama?  I think some of my wounds are beginning to re-open...”
    Orchid gave Shadow a sideways look.  “Anyway, the fighters in KI7 were not like any previous set.  There was Chief Thunder, who was the brother of Eagle, last year’s winner and recent victim.  Thunder wanted to find out what happened to his brother.  Also, there was Jago, a Tibetan warrior monk who wanted to test his skills against the best.  TJ Combo was a disgraced boxer.  Glacius was actually an alien from another planet.  Ultratech captured him and tried to force him to undergo tests.  But Glacius’s shape changing abilities allowed him to avoid the testing.  Ultratech struck a deal with him.  He entered the tournament, and if he beat one of Ultratech’s experiments, a fire being called Cinder, he would be set free.  If he lost, Glacius would have to let Ultratech experiment on him.
    “’One of Ultratech’s experiments?’”
    “More on that in a sec, let me finish.  Oh, you know all the strange fighters that have been appearing in Killer Instinct?  People always wrote it off as a gimmick, to enhance ratings.  Turns out, those fighters were real.”
    “You mean...there really was a werewolf...and a dinosaur??”
    “Yes.  They were Sabrewulf and Riptor.  You see, KI is not all that it appears to be.  As it turns out, the president of Ultratech, Robert Sheridan, is out to conquer the world.”
    “No way!  Why?  How?”
    “It’s said that over 98% of all the world’s technology is either Ultratech made, or contains Ultratech components.  Well, all of this technology has a giant off switch to it, and Sheridan had his hand on the switch.  His plan was to shut off all technology in the world.  The world, who’d then be helpless without it’s technology, would be vulnerable.  Sheridan would give back the technology, only if all the leaders of every country in the world surrendered control to him.”
    “Wow.”
    “That’s not all.  Once Sheridan gave back all the technology, he knew that everyone would launch a counter attack at him to reacquire the world.  He also knew that he could never build an army large enough to repel that attack.  So he had to make one.  Sheridan needed to build an army of super humans beings that would defeat the army of the world, and Sheridan could remain ruler.  Sheridan dabbled mostly in genetics to create this army, crossing the DNA of an animal with a human to create a savage killing creature with intelligence.  In order to test the effectiveness of these creatures, the Killer Instinct tournament was created.  Sheridan could enter these creatures into the tournament and have them fight the best martial artists of the world.  But there were some that were so grotesque, that Sheridan couldn’t possibly pass them off as gimmicks.  So Sheridan would pull aside one or two high ranking fighters, not the champion, that would cause too much of a stir, but rank two or three.  He would offer them a chance to still win what they wanted if they would fight someone else.  They usually agreed.  They had no idea what kind of opponent though.  They were usually killed, and Ultratech used its advanced technology to completely destroy the body, and then doctored the tapes to show that person leaving Ultratech.”
    “That’s unbelievable.”
    “Back to KI7, the fighters Sabrewulf, Riptor, and Cinder were Ultratech experiments.  Spinal was a long dead warrior resurrected by Ultratech, which was another plan to create super soldiers.  Finally, we have Fulgore.  Fulgore was a cybernetic experiment, and Sheridan really thought he hit the jackpot with this one.  It was super powerful, and it could be controlled, or at least, that’s what they thought.
    “I found out about all of this near the end of the tournament.  I told Jago, Thunder, Combo, and Glacius about it and they all agreed to help.  The next fight after that was Fulgore Vs Jago.  Jago went to fight it, but we all watched closely.  Jago ran into trouble when Fulgore temporarily paralyzed him from the waist down, so we involved ourselves in the fight.  Glacius and Fulgore fought a hard battle, and we thought we had gotten Fulgore, but we hadn’t.  He came back and nearly killed us all.  We barely escaped.  From there, we told Glacius to go back home; it was only fair, since this wasn’t his problem.  After he left, all hell broke lose.  The tournament be damned, we all attacked Ultratech.  Fights broke out in the hallways.  Combo fought Riptor, Fulgore and Jago rumbled, Thunder took on Spinal, and I went after Eyedol, who was the champion of the tournament, and also was a grotesque monster pulled from 2000 years in the past.  Somehow, the TV cameras got turned on and they broadcasted the fight, causing the controversy of who won the tournament.  Combo defeated Riptor, leaving the velociraptor outside of the building.  Thunder destroyed Spinal, but he too ended up outside the building.  Fulgore and Cinder had had an argument earlier, and Fulgore beat up Cinder, leaving him outside the building as well.  Jago destroyed Fulgore, just as I barely defeated Eyedol.  Eyedol released massive energies, which triggered the Ultratech TimeShift technology.  The building was ripped 2000 years into the past.  We all assumed Sheridan would just return us all, but he actually intended to stay.  Instead of having to conquer the world, now, in the primitive past, he could mold the world in its early development like a piece of clay in his hands.  He could make himself out to be a god to the natives, and appear as the true ruler of the world.  Sheridan would become legend, and then return to the present and claim his prize.  Crazy, huh?
    “We did manage to get Sheridan to strike a deal with us.  He set up another tournament, and if we won, Sheridan would agree to send us all back to the present.
    “Sabrewulf remained for Ultratech to compete in this new tournament, Killer Instinct 7.5 as we like to call it.  Sheridan resurrected Spinal again, who was much younger this time.  Ultratech soon found a new Fulgore cyborg, Fulgore 2, who was more powerful and deadly than the first.  He was also more insane.  We found out later that he had more control over himself than anyone else knew about.  He plotted to help Sheridan gain control of the world, then he would slaughter Sheridan and take it for himself.  He would create a mass army of Fulgores, make the human race extinct, then create a cyborg utopia.  Then there was the champion, Gargos, Gargos was a demon lord gargoyle.  He too wanted rule of the world, but he had to fight the hard way to get it.  Gargos and Fulgore 2 never got along.
    “As for our side, Jago was with me, as well as Combo.  We also met three natives, Kim Wu, Tusk, and Maya.  We couldn’t understand them too well; Maya was the one we could best communicate with.  She knew a little bit of English, and some Swedish, which was Tusk’s language.  Kim Wu spoke Chinese, and Jago only knew some basic words and phrases.  We got the understanding that those three were after Gargos for their own reasons - Tusk wanted honor and glory, Kim and Maya had to slay Gargos because of their respective clans.  There was also another alien was turned out to be Glacius’s ancestor.  He was in the past, looking for a crashed ship from his planet that could have survivors.  We told him our story and he agreed to help us as long as we would help him find the crashed ship.
    “During this tournament, I learned that Jago was my brother.  I also learned the truth about my past and what happened to my parents.
    “Towards the end, all hell broke loose again.  Jago fought Fulgore 2, Maya and I fought Gargos, Combo and Tusk fought Sabrewulf, and Kim fought Spinal.  We were going to try to send Ultratech into the far distant past, then detonate the stock of nuclear missiles Ultratech keeps, hopefully obliterating them.  Maya beat Gargos, but ended up in the hospital for her efforts.  Glacius had been killed by Fulgore 2 earlier.  Kim defeated Spinal.  Tusk defeated Sabrewulf, but we couldn’t find Combo anywhere, and we had to leave without him.  Jago defeated Fulgore, and we all barely escaped Ultratech.  We thought we had finished them off, but somehow, obviously, they escaped it all.  We didn’t know it until we saw Sheridan and Ultratech on the TV, about KI8.  So now I’m here, along with Jago, Combo, and Glacius, and we’re trying to figure out what Ultratech is up to now, and to stop them.”
    Shadow was stunned.
    “Shadow, I told you all this because I think you should know what you are getting into.  Also, I was wondering if you would help us destroy Ultratech when the times comes.”
    Shadow was still trying to grasp all of this.  “Of course I will help.  I’ll do all that I can.  But right now, I just need a little nap...”  Shadow sat back down on the bench, fell over, and went to sleep.
 

Ultratech Corporation: Orchid and Jago’s Guest Quarters
 

    Orchid slowly opened the door.  It was at least 10PM and she didn’t want to risk waking Jago.  After she finished talking with Shadow, she had gone out into a secluded place outside of the city to be alone with her thoughts.  She lost track of time, and the next thing she knew, it was 9:30.
    To her surprise, Jago wasn’t asleep.  He sat cross-legged on the bed, concentrating.  He was holding some sort of paper.  Orchid moved carefully as not to break Jago’s concentration.  She made her way to her bed, and as she was wondering how to sit down without making a sound, Jago handed Orchid the paper he was holding.  He hadn’t moved except for the arm that held the paper.  Orchid took it and read it -
 

    Orchid studied the paper carefully.  “What does it mean?”  She asked.
    Jago opened his eyes.  “It can only mean one thing Orchid.  Killer Instinct begins tomorrow.”
 

The Next Day
Ultratech Corporation: East Wing Hallway
 

    “You guys all set?”  Jago asked.
    Tusk and Kim Wu nodded.  Kim Wu was wearing her fine, bright red, Chinese silk garment, traditional for fighting.  Tusk wore only his buffalo skin around his waist, and boots that were made out of the hide of some animal.
    Jago adjusted his outfit.  It was a tight fitting blue shirt with no sleeves, and matching pants.  He tied the red belt around his waist.
    “What about you Orchid?”  He asked.
    “I'm ready.”  Orchid replied.  She was wearing a gray sweater, blue jeans, and a black leather trench coat.
    Jago looked her over.  “Right.  Sure.”  He strapped on his wrist and shin guards.
    “Do you really think we're going to be fighting so soon?”  Kim Wu asked.
    “I hope not, but it's possible.”  Jago strapped his sword across his back.  “Okay, let's go.”
 

Sheridan's Office
 

    Cinder, Sabrewulf, Spinal, and Riptor stood in front of Sheridan's desk, where Gargos sat.  Cinder stepped forward.
    “Um...Sir, are we going to be fighting today?”
    Gargos stared at nothing in particular.  “There will be a fight soon.  I haven't decided who will fight it.  I'm really anxious to see what that Fulgore-X can do, he'll probably end up as one of the first fighters.”
    Cinder stepped back, relieved.  He turned around to leave the office.  “If it's okay with you, Sir, I think we should get going, it's time.”
    “Fine.”  Gargos replied.  “I'll be there shortly.”
 

Control Room
 

    As Orchid, Jago, Kim Wu, and Tusk entered the Control Room, there was a set of instructions sitting on one of the nearby computer terminals.  It said that there was a red line drawn in front of the main computer terminal and monitor.  It instructed everyone to stand behind the line, facing the monitor, shoulder to shoulder, in single file.  Jago thought that Sheridan probably wanted to face the fighters similar to the way a drill sergeant faces his troops.
    Glacius and TJ Combo were already behind the line.  They stood closer to the right side of the room.
    “You guys are here early.”  Jago remarked as he came up to them.
    “Yes.”  Glacius said.  “I want to hurry up and get this over with.”
    Jago took his place to the left of TJ.  Orchid stepped up next to Jago.  Kim Wu then followed, then Tusk besides her.  Orchid looked over at TJ.
    “You doing okay?  Are you up to this?”  She asked.
    TJ raised his head.  “I'm as ready as I'll ever be.  I want to hit them hard, get back at them for what they've done to me.”  TJ held his now all-cybernetic arms.
    The sound of the automatic door opening filled the room.  Orchid and Jago casually glanced back to see who it was.  It was one of the new fighters, a man nicknamed Storm who was a champion wrestler.  Storm read the instructions on the computer terminal, then took his place next to Glacius.
    Jago turned to Orchid.  “So, who do you think Ultratech will throw at us?”
    Orchid rubbed her eyes.  “I don't know.  There are some I hope won't show up.”
    “I know what you mean.  I could do without a Fulgore.”
    “You destroyed Fulgore 2, right?”
    “I thought I did.  But we thought we destroyed Ultratech, and here they are.”
    The doors opened again.  Orchid glanced back.  It was Shadow, along with the other new fighter, Jack, who was an advanced master at ninjitsu.  Jack took his place next to Storm and Shadow next to Jack.
    Orchid turned back to Jago.  “Well, I don't know how Ultratech's here, but you probably nailed Fulgore 2.  There shouldn't be anymore.”
    “Yeah.”  Jago said.
    The doors opened.  Cinder, Spinal, Sabrewulf, and Riptor came in.
    “Look what the cat dragged in.”  Jago said.
    Cinder walked like a proud male peacock, sticking his chest out.  He took his place next to an uneasy Tusk.  Tusk clinched his fists and concentrated on the floor in front of him.  Riptor, Spinal, and Sabrewulf stepped in next to Cinder.
Glacius glared over at Cinder.  “I probably should have killed him when I had the chance.”
    TJ put his hand on Glacius's shoulder.  “It's all right.  We will get him this time.”  TJ looked down, wondering how he could have let Sabrewulf live.
    Kim Wu bit her lips.  “I thought I beat Spinal.  How can he be here?”
    Jago sighed.  “This is going to be one hell of a fight.”
    Orchid said nothing.  She glanced down to Shadow, and caught him stealing a look at her.  She turned away quickly.  She wondered what she had gotten him into.  The doors opened again.  Orchid was too distracted to look.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jago look, then his eyes grew large and his jaw dropped.
    “By the Tiger…”  He whispered.
    Orchid turned to see what Jago saw.
    Fulgore-X.
    Fulgore-X stood in the doorway of the Control Room.  Before him stood thirteen fighters.  The three on the far right he didn't recognize.  The next six he had never seen before, but he knew who they were.
Glacius.  TJ Combo.  Jago.  Orchid.  Kim Wu.  Tusk.  Fulgore-X had memories of all these people, but they were Fulgore's or Fulgore 2's memories.
    On the end were the four Ultratech fighters.  “So this is the cast of players.”  Fulgore-X thought.
    Jago held his fists tightly.  “Dammit!  It's a Fulgore!”
    Fulgore-X's eyes narrowed.  He began moving out of the doorway.  Jago swallowed hard as Fulgore-X came closer.  Fulgore-X gave everyone a good staring at, then made his way to the far left.  He passed the Ultratech fighters, and took his place leaning against one of the computers, with his arms crossed.
    Orchid was breathing heavily.  “Is it Fulgore 2?”
    Jago still had his fists clinched.  “Doesn't look like him.  Maybe he got a re-fit?”
    “Yeah, it doesn't look like him.  This Fulgore's armor is different.  And I don't remember Fulgore 2's joints having all that glowing plasma.”
    Kim Wu also stared at Fulgore-X.  “A new Fulgore?  I thought Fulgore 2 was it.”
    “I thought so too.”  Orchid said.  “But I really don't know what that is over there.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.”
    “It can't be Fulgore 2.”  Jago said.  “If it was, we'd be fighting by now.”
    The doors opened.  Everyone was so preoccupied with Fulgore-X, they didn't notice Gargos walk in, inside of Sheridan's body.  He was wearing sunglasses.
    Kim Wu lifted her head.
    “What is it?”  Tusk asked.
    “I feel a powerful presence...someone of great power is approaching…it almost feels like…like…no!  It can't be!”
Gargos walked around Shadow and stood in front of everyone.  He had a half smile on his face.  Kim Wu eyeballed him carefully.
    “Excellent.  You're all here.”  Gargos said.  “Now then, shall we start?”  Gargos paused for effect.  He began pacing back and forth in front of the fighters.  “First, let me reveal a...small..secret.  I may look like Sheridan.  I may sound like Sheridan.  But I am not Sheridan.”  Gargos removed his sunglasses, revealing his all white eyes.  Most of the non-Ultratech fighters gasped.
    “Gargos!”  Kim Wu started to lunge at Gargos.  Thinking quickly, Orchid grabbed one arm and Tusk the other.  They struggled to contain her, as she kicked and screamed.
    “Let me go!  Let me go!  It's Gargos!  We have to kill him now!  Aiiiiiiiieee!  Let me go!”
    Gargos grinned.  “Nice to see you too, Kim.”
    “Aiiiiiiiieee!  I'll get you!  I'll have your head!  Let me go!”
    “C'mon!”  Orchid yelled.  “There's nothing you can do now!  Please calm down!  What's going on!?”
    Tusk said something into Kim's ear.  Kim stopped struggling and screaming, but Tusk and Orchid still held her tightly.
    Gargos displayed a wide smile.  “Well, as my good friend Kim just so...quietly...exclaimed, I am actually the demon lord, Gargos.”
    Kim Wu made another attempt at Gargos, but she couldn't escape Tusk and Orchid.  She eventually calmed down again.  “I should have known, I should have known!”
    “Known what?  Kim please tell us what's going on!”  Orchid tried to reason with Kim Wu.  Kim Wu continued to glare at Gargos.
    “I should have known.  Back in our time, Gargos was trying to win the right to rule the world.  He had the power to take it, but because of ancient tradition, he couldn't without proving he was worthy of having it.  That's why Gargos and Eyedol were fighting.  Then, Eyedol vanished, to Ultratech we later learned, and because Gargos didn't defeat him, he couldn't take the world.  He went on a rage and began destroying everything.  Only moments later, Ultratech appeared.  I should have known, Gargos has assembled this tournament because he wants to take the world, and he needs to prove that he deserves it.”
    Gargos was still smiling.  “Kim Wu is absolutely right.  Killer Instinct 8 will be different.  You will not be fighting for money or fame or whatever petty wish you want to see fulfilled.  The champion of Killer Instinct will be declared the Champion of the Earth.  That person will then fight me for the rights to this planet.  If and when I win, the world will be mine.”
    “What about Sheridan?”  Orchid asked.
    “Gargos has used his spirit form to possess him.”  Kim Wu explained.  “Much like he did with Sabrewulf back in the past.  But usually, Gargos has to fight to maintain control over the possessed.  This time, I sense that he has total control; his presence is just as strong as if he were standing here in his normal body.  Sheridan is probably dead.”
    The new fighter Storm stepped forward.  “Hey!  This isn't what I signed up for!  I want out!”
    Gargos strolled over to him.  “Now, I can't hold the tournament without all my fighters.  If you drop out, I'll be another man short.  I guess I'd just have to cancel the tournament, leaving me as the champion.”
    Storm frowned, then stepped back behind the line.  Gargos moved back towards the center of the line.
    “Now, we must go over the rules of the tournament.  I wanted fifteen fighters, but since Maya is…unable to make it…I've ended up with fourteen.”
    Tusk growled at him.
    Gargos sort of smiled.  He continued.  “I’ve decided to make things a little interesting.  As a result, one of the first round losers will get a second chance.  Who that is will be decided randomly.  Also, there will still be seven first round matches, meaning one of you will skip the first round and go directly to the second.  That person will be decided randomly as well.  This is a single elimination tournament.  You lose, you're out.  The winner is the last person who hasn't lost, with the exception of the second chance person.  The winner will then fight me for the championship.
    “The tournament will be held by secret bracket.  Meaning, you will not know who you're going to fight until you fight them.”
    “Hey!”  TJ exclaimed.  “That's not fair!”
    “In the true field of battle,” Gargos said, “you do not know who your opponent is until you fight them.  You do not get the opportunity to study their style and become acquainted with their moves.  Your opponents will be chosen at random.  Once we have our eight second round competitors, they will be paired off at random.  So will our four third round fighters.
    “Also, fights will not be held by schedule.  Fights will happen at random.  In the true field of battle, you cannot predict when your next fight will be.  You must constantly be prepared.  When it is time for a fight, an alarm will sound.”
    Gargos moved over to the main computer terminal and pressed a button.  A loud alarm sounded.  Gargos shut it off after a few seconds.
    “That is the fight alarm.  When you hear this, it's time for a fight.  To see if you are the competitor, you can check any monitor throughout Ultratech.  If you're not within the confines of Ultratech, the TV Guide television channel has extensive Killer Instinct coverage, as well as ESPN and CNNSI.  They will have the names of the fighters only seconds after they're displayed here.  If you are one of the fighters, you must report to the Ultratech Control Room immediately.  From there, you will be teleported to your fight location.  If you are not here within fifteen minutes, you will be disqualified.  Now, for the actual fight.  When prompted, you will begin fighting.  The fight is over when one fighter cannot continue, be it by knock out, surrender, or death.  When one fighter is knocked down, the other fighter may signal for the count.  This is the signal.”
    Gargos put his right fist on his left shoulder, then dropped it to his side.
    “Once you give this signal, a ten count will begin.  If the other fighter cannot make it to one knee by the time the ten count is over, they have lost.  The other win or lose method is surrender.  Fulgore-X…would you mind demonstrating the surrender signal for us?”
    “Fulgore-X...”  Jago whispered.
    Fulgore-X said nothing; he only stared at Gargos.
    “I'll take that as a no.”  Gargos said.  “Cinder, please demonstrate the signal.”
    “But Sir....”
    “Do it!”
    Cinder stepped forward and turned to face everyone.  While grinding his teeth, he dropped to one knee, put his left fist on his right shoulder, and lowered his head.  He then sprung up quickly and resumed his place in the line.
    “Very good Cinder.  That is the surrender signal.  Once you display that, you have lost the fight.”
    Gargos took a seat in one of the chairs.  “Now, if there isn't anything else, let the tournament begin!  I've turned the fight alarm clock on, so from now on, the fight alarm could go off at any moment.  When it does, two fighters will be randomly picked.  Report here to be teleported, and begin fighting!  You're all dismissed.”
    Jack and Storm exited quickly.  Sabrewulf, Spinal, and Riptor also left.  Fulgore-X teleported away.  Cinder went over to Gargos.  Jago, TJ, Glacius, Kim, and Tusk gathered together to discuss things.  Orchid held back, where she caught sight of Shadow, still standing behind the line.  She went over to him.
    “You were right.”  He said as she came over to him.  “This is some crazy stuff.  I'm a little overwhelmed.”
    “I'm...uh...sorry to have dragged you into all of this.”
    “No no no.  It's okay.  I want to do all I can to help.  So, where are you going?”
    “I'm going back to my quarters.  I'm going to try to rest and when the fight alarm goes off, I'm going to hope it's not for me.”
    “Can I walk you there?”
    Orchid swung her left foot around, almost like a teenage girl.  “Sure.”
    Cinder was saying something to Gargos, who wasn't paying attention.  He held his hand up to silence Cinder.
    “What is it?”  Cinder asked.
    “Take a look at that.”  Gargos pointed over to Orchid and Shadow.
    Cinder watched them leave the room.  He let out a little laugh.  “Y'know, before this happened to me, I was a normal kid.  I went through high school just like everyone else.  And I'd swear that our dear Orchid has a crush on that guy.  Did’ja see the way she carried herself around him?”
    “I most certainly did.”  Gargos got up silently, and without being noticed, slipped out of the room.  Cinder sat in the seat that Gargos vacated.
    “What's he up to?”  Cinder asked.
 

East Wing Hallway
 

    Orchid kept her head down as she walked with Shadow.  Shadow was focused on the space in front of him.  For a few yards, there was total silence.  Shadow finally broke it.
    “I'm not too sure about this teleporting thing.  I've seen a few episodes of Star Trek.  Does this thing take apart all your molecules?”
    Orchid laughed.  “No, this isn't one of those things.”
    “Well, how does it work?”
    “It's hard to explain.  You know about 2D and 3D right?”
    “You mean the 3rd dimension?”
    “Yes.  Well, 3rd isn't the only dimension.  There's at least a 4th, maybe a 5th and 6th too.  When you are teleported, your body is pulled into the 4th dimension, and then brought back in a different location.”
    “Huh?!”
    “Let me scale it down for you.  Imagine a piece of paper on a table.  That's the 2D world.  To move the piece of paper from one end of the table to another, while staying 2D, the paper would have to cover all the surface of the table between it's present location and the goal, just like moving in the 3D world, right?”
    “Okay, I get that.”
    “But what if you could move the paper in a 3D way?  You'd pick it up and place it on the other side of the table.  You've pulled the paper out of 2D into 3D, and then brought it back into the 2D world in a different location.  In the 2D world, the paper has moved from one end to another without actually touching the surface of the table in between the two spots.  Since 2D can't see into the 3D world, it would appear that the paper disappeared and reappeared in a different spot.
    “Oh!  I get it!  That's amazing!”
    “Perhaps.  Too bad Sheridan couldn't use this technology with good intentions.”
    “Yes.  Isn't moving into the 4th dimension dangerous?”
    “Very.  When the paper moves into the 3D world, it becomes ultra fragile and can be crumpled up, something that couldn't happen to it in the 2D world.  When we move into the 4D world, we become ultra fragile and we could probably be distorted in unimaginable ways.”
    “Ugh.  Then why are we using the teleport?”
    “According to the research, you're only pulled into 4D for a very short amount of time, less than two seconds.  Theoretically, that isn't enough time for you to get ‘crumpled up.’ Tests have had objects surviving an average of ten seconds in 4D.  Teleporting seems pretty safe.”
    Shadow smiled.  “If you say so.”
    The two walked in silence again.  After a few minutes, Orchid said, “this is it.  My quarters are here.”  She stopped in front a guest quarter door.  She pulled out her key card and slipped it in the lock slot.  Two red lights flashed on the lock, then a green, and the door opened.  Orchid stepped in the doorway.
    “Orchid...”  Shadow said, “you're tired, beaten, and frustrated.  Please try to get some rest.”
    Orchid rubbed her eyes.  “I won't argue with that.”
    Then, Orchid felt Shadow grab her hands.  He held them gently.  As a reflex, Orchid almost kicked the back of his legs.  Then, she would have tossed him to the ground and delivered a punch to his groin.  But she just stood there.  She looked up at him, then was frozen by his eyes.
    “Do not worry.  I will help you, and you and your brother and the rest will beat Gargos and Ultratech, then we can lead normal lives.  And who knows, maybe we'll share that cabin in the woods...goodnight Orchid.”  Shadow leaned forward and kissed Orchid on the cheek.
    Shadow turned and slowly walked away.  Orchid still stood in the doorway.  She had her hand up to her cheek.  She felt strange, almost as if she were glowing.  She watched Shadow leave until he was out of sight.
    From the shadows of the adjacent hallway, Gargos watched the scene.  He smiled to himself, then, when Orchid shut the door, Gargos stepped out of the hall and started back to the Control Room.
 

Half an Hour Later: Orchid and Jago's Quarters
 

    Jago opened the door and dragged himself inside.  He saw Orchid, sitting cross-legged on her bed, staring at the TV.
    But it wasn't on.
    “So there you are!”  Jago said.  “Where'd you go?  Me and the others were discussing some stuff, you should have been there.”
    Orchid said nothing.
    “That thing we saw...it is a new Fulgore, Fulgore-X.  I don't know too much about it, but I do know it's powerful...Glacius and I are going to sneak back to the Control Room later tonight to see if we can learn anything about it.  You should come.”
Orchid was still silent.
    “This fight just got much harder.  Those four UItratech freak lackeys, plus Gargos and Fulgore!  We've got our work cut out for us.  Things don't look good.  But I guess we should save the worrying for later.  Right now I want to get some rest.  Later on Glacius and I will-”
    Jago was cut short as the fight alarm sounded.
    “Already?  Gargos sure isn't wasting any time.”  Jago walked over to the computer monitors on the other side of the room.
“Let's see who gets to go first.  I pray that it's not me, I'd probably lose.”
    Jago watched the screen carefully.  The screen was black, and it displayed 15 name brackets.  It then zoomed in on the top two.  Two red rectangles with names written in white flew in, from both sides.  The rectangles settled in the name brackets, displaying the first two fighters.
 

Shadow
VS
Fulgore-X
 

    “Cripes.  Talk about bad luck...one of the new fighters gets to face Fulgore-X…not good, not good at all.  We should probably go down to the Control Room and try to follow them to wherever they're fighting.  I'd like to take a closer look at what Fulgore-X can do.  What d'ya say Orchid...Orchid?”
    Jago turned around, to find that Orchid had gone.