Emotion is one of the most influential forces of human life. Bottling emotions leads to severe depression and an eventual explosion of epic proportions. Why do people hold it in what they feel it only leads to depression, paranoia, and rage? People learn to vent their emotions into athletic abilities or working out. For one man the only way he could release his emotions after years of keeping them in was to battle, Mortal Kombat. This man has fought all of his life whether it is in a tournament or for his life. The problem was that his intensive training was always to keep his emotions underneath and never let them out in battle, until the explosion. Lets follow the journey of this man, not only a man but a focal point of emotion, a flaming ball of rage, pain, joy, jealousy. This is MIDNIGHT.

PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH! Booms throughout the duel dojo of father and master. Their stands the son at the age of 21 smashing the bag over and over as his master and his father boom out a monotonical, almost hypnotic PUNCH! Midnight keeps smashing into his heavy bag as his knuckles begin to bleed. He hits the bag five more times ripping his hands open and then he falls to his knees in pain holding his nearly broken hand. “You must never show emotion!” screams his master.

Midnight’s master was a large stern man measuring 6’2” 212, at the age of 75. His father on the other hand was 5’9” 196 at the age of 45, but nonetheless a scrappy fighter himself also was student of this great master only known as master.

“Why do we never show emotion, pain is pain and why can’t we deal with it as it is” Midnight stutters out. “Never talk back to your master” Midnight’s father screams as he backhands him across the face. “Emotion makes you weak; if you succumb to your emotions you cannot fight you will be once and for all a weakling, you shall not live up to the reputation that your family has worked so hard for all of their long lives” Master says in a quiet whisper.

“Of course Master” Midnight says as he pulls himself up and begins hitting the bag again. “You have reached the finals of the most heralded tournament here at Zyanx”. Remember in two short days you must fight for your life, you must defeat your opponent bringing back the title of fame back to your family name” Master says. Midnight continues to punch until he hears the word STOP! Out of his master’s voice, at that point he runs to the locker room cleans and changes.

“No practice tomorrow” Master says, “ but Saturday you will, you must win, you must decimate your opponent in route to the title. “Yes Master” Midnight booms.

Midnight leaves to his house where he shall rest until Saturday where he will fight. Midnight walks into his room and breaks out the book of ninjitsu his family heralds as their own.

Tournament Saturday
Midnight awakes at 7:00 am in preparation to fight at exactly high noon. Midnight quickly jumps into the shower and washes up. Tradition of his village and family state a clean fighter fights honorably and the most honorable fighter fights clean. He then walks into his room and opens his closet. He breaks out a beautifully crafted black ninja suit. It has never been worn and his father bought this for this very occasion. Midnight is anxious to put it on but remembers his training and calms his emotions. Midnight slips on the tight suit and walks into the kitchen where his father has fixed him a breakfast of champions. “Raw Eggs and Cow Steak, breakfast of champions” his father says with a proud look on his face, because this is the day he has been waiting for as his son reaches for the goal of all Zyanx Adolescents. Midnight quickly eats his breakfast out of respect for his father (Raw egg taste like crap) and then goes over strategy with his father as they wait for 12:00 noon.

Midnight walks slowly into the central arena of Zyanx with his father and master right behind. The arena is extremly beautiful with four golden pillars on each corner of the arena. Tournament judges, all once valiant fighters, sit in three big chairs watching the competitors walk in. The head judge (the one in the middle) stands and begins to speak. “On the right representing the family of litodo Octagreen. On the left representing the family of darkolo Midnight”. “Now this is a battle for the one and only spot as master of ninjitsu and the champion of Zyanx.

Both fighters walk into the arena. Midnight first turns to his master and father and bows. He then turns to the judges and nods his head in a downward direction. READY! The judge screams. Both men jumps into fighting stances. FIGHT! Midnight lunges out with a right hand. Octa promptly takes him by the hand flips him over and chops him across the arm. A sharp stinning pain shivers up the arm of Midnight but he suprissingly keeps control. Octagreen jumps on top of him and locks in a headlock like manuver. “You can’t fight worth a damn, and your master and that sissy you call a father, they would’nt know a fighter if it bit them in the ass” Octa says in a whisper. Midnight feels a buble of rage rising but keeps it under control. Midnight flips Octa over by the head and punches him in the nose. Both men get to their feet and circle again. This time Octa leads with a right hand to the ribs of Midnight buckling him over. Octa follows that up with a Scissors kick, knocking Midnight’s face into the ground. Midnight’s face is busted wide open as he gets up he begins fealing intenese pain. He quickly takes a deep breath and pushes it in bottling it up.

Octa charges, Midnight dodges and trips Octa too the ground turns and shoots a small of fire hitting him in the back. Midnight thinks the match is over, but Octa turns around and a blinding light comes from his hands blinding Midnight. Midnight is furious and is having a hard time controlling his rage. All of sudden he is kicked in the back and Octa grabs him and starts cursing at him in a foreing tounge not very common in his land. Midnight regains his sense of sight and pushes away and back to his feet. Midnight almost falls under the weight of his own body, he has been so decimated that he can barley think. There is a sense of rage buliding in his throat.

Midnight can’t hold it in much longer. He begins shaking as Octa begins a mad dash at Midnight. Midnights eyes turn a bright red and the crowd begins the ooooos and ahhhhhs as the torches light up to a new pinaccle. Octa gets to Midnight only to be hit by a glowing right hand in the chin, Midnight follows up with a few more punches converting his rage into this red energy that surronds him.

His father looks on in awe not knowing what to think of this outberst of pure emotion. Master also looks on but is beginning to realize that Midnight using his emotions is more powerful than without.

Midnights feet begin to glow as he hits a wicked roundhous litterally breaking the jaw of Octa. As Octa is about to fall Midnight ducks down and hits an uppercut knocking him halfway up the arena. Midnight charges up and begins shotting up like a fireball. Midnight hits into Octa head first smashing in the ribs of the once great warrior. Midnight turns in mid-air and throws Octa down toward the ground leaving an imprint in the arena floor. Midnight begins flying at supersonic speed down towards Octa. He hits him and the ground and there is a explosion followed by a shockwave that shatters all the glass in the arena from the beautiful stain glass windows down to the glasses of the third judge.

As the smoke clears Midnight is their kneeling but as he turns around he sees Octa fallen, dead. Midnight doesn’t know what to feel, joy over winning or sadnees after killing someone because of his emotion.

Midnight slowly walks up and grabs his medal from the judge and slowly walks back to his father and master. They congratulate him but are short on what to say as this was the total opposite of what he was trained as.

Midnight and his father begin the walk back to their home on the outskirts of town. “You know Midnight there is nothing wrong with killing a man in the heat of battle, and im very proud of you and your new style” his father says. Midnight nods his head as the continue walking. Out of the corner of his eye Midnight sees a golden flash. Midnight pivots on his left foot and turns to see a young golden creature woth a bow in his hand at the end of the path. “Kill Octa will you, well you don’t mess with one of us hehehe you shall see you shall see” the creature says as he jumps off. Strange Midnight says to himself as he turns to his father. “Oh no how could this happen now” Midnights father had been stricken by a golden arrow in the chest and killed. Midnight falls to his knees and just wallows in sadness. Midnight knows what he must do, he must extract his revenge and find away to train his emotions to further enhance his fighting abiltiy to make himself powerful enough to take on the greatest fighters in the world and eventually find the golden.

Midnight leaves his father where he lays as was the tradition of the warrior. Midnight sprints into his house and grabs a small scroll out of his desk. The Pit Vipers. I shall go their to train my skills and to find knowledge about this golden creature. Midnight walks out of his house in search of the PV.

Next Chapter: "The Pit Vipers and The Weapon"