I'm feeling pretty inspired lately, that could mean MANY things but here's TWO chapters for the followers, the favorite-rs and the passerbys XD

II

The Very First Time

Rabbit was surprised at how fast she was and he panicked when she took one of the tantos from her lower back. Her other hand however took something that looked like kunais from the straps on her leggings and threw it at him, particularly his face. He raised one briefcase to shield his face and was satisfied when he heard a thump that could only mean that the kunais embedded themselves on the briefcase and not his face.

His adversary wasn't finished though.

When he lowered his punctured briefcase the first thing he saw was the woman in red leaping towards him, holding her tantos high above her head, ready to slash down towards his mask and Rabbit was sure that those blades could slash through his mask. Instinct took over as Rabbit pummeled her with the briefcases on his other hand. The woman looked surprised for a moment, but she quickly brought her corresponding arm to block the steel briefcase. The attack didn't damage her and Rabbit knew that his counter-attack wasn't that strong but it did what he intended it to do; stop her momentum.

She landed on the ground awkwardly, her leap falling short and her attack failed. Rabbit threw his briefcases at her, hoping those would distract her, and those did, even if it was just for a short moment. She dodged the first one, rolling to the side and slicing the second one in half, and just sidestepping to dodge the last two entirely.

He hadn't expected her speed at first, but he was sure that she didn't expect a veritable hand cannon of a pistol aimed at her face after her masterful dodges. The woman was quite shocked for a moment. Then Rabbit started blasting away.

The results were far from his expectations, and not—totally not—in a good way.

The bullets went past the woman's body as if she was made of liquid, liquid blood at that. Ripples instead of gun wounds was what he saw, and the fact that the woman was now running towards him only cemented the fact that she wasn't in the least bit injured by his bullets. It also cemented the fact that Francis was rightfully scared shitless.

Before he could even blink, the woman was upon him but instead of attacking using her tantos the woman attacked with a leaping side kick aimed at his neck. An attack that Rabbit saw coming even before she started preparing her leg to leap. An attack that Rabbit was all too familiar with using. An attack that Rabbit was very fond of using back in the good ol' days, so it was pretty easy to think that he knew how to dodge that sort of attack, or do something much better; counter it.

Francis jumped and kicked the woman on the chin while her foreleg struck his bicep and not his neck, which would be fatal. Nonetheless, the woman's attack hurt. A fact that he barely registered as his eyes were gazing at his opponent's, his opponent's slightly gazed eyes. He knew his counter-attack would be effective, but he didn't know how effective. Right now, he was greeted by the satisfactory sight of his aggressor falling heavily to the ground.

But not for long.

His eyes widened in surprise as the woman quickly recovered and lunged at him again, slashing his chest twice before he could fully hop backwards. He wasn't given room to breathe as the woman threw kunais at him. Only instinct and his, admittedly rusty, reflexes saved him from having his body pierced. And the kunais even nicked a portion of his suit! His reflexes are indeed rusty. Very rusty.

After he finished rolling, he was greeted to the sight of a foot striking his face. And then, darkness.

…

Skarlet wasn't pleased.

She wasn't unpleased at first. She was glad, ecstatic even, at the thought of fighting this mysterious 'dealer', as the earthrealmers she separately inhabited call. His words intrigued her yet it also confused her and put her on guard, words that were used and said cunningly. If Skarlet would have to compare it to someone she knew, it wouldn't be far from Quan Chi's cunning and mocking tone. And Quan Chi was a powerful being. A very powerful being that rules Netherrealm.

So she thought that maybe this earthrealmer would prove to be a challenging kill.

As it happens, he was not.

She thought, and even believed, that he was at first. That's why she showed herself to him and not assassinating him when he was walking towards the exit with those steel cases full of money. She threw her kunai as her preliminary attack, something that she doesn't do as often as she would have liked, to test this man they call 'Rabbit'.

He passed the test, though not in the way she expected. He had raised one of those steel cases to shield his face quickly but clumsily. That would have clued her on his fighting capabilities but she moved on; dashing and then lunging at him with her tantos. She was upon him when he lowered his improvised shield. He was slow but in her mind, she was egging him on to counter-attack and she honestly believed that this earthrealmer could do more before Skarlet ultimately kills him.

Then she saw the steel case heading towards her from the right and she instinctively blocked it with her right arm, forgoing the lunge to defend herself. If she had known that it wouldn't hurt her as she thought it would, she would have just went along with her attack, but her adversary played with her instincts and her block broke her momentum, making her fall with a thump to the floor. Yet she wasn't worried, instead she was joyful! The counter-attack he just did proved himself to her as a worthy opponent even if the attack was somehow underhanded. She mentally shrugged it off as an instinctive action, seeing that his hands were busy holding those steel containers.

When she looked back up, she was in for a surprise.

That advanced projectile weapon wielded by the Rabbit, 'pistol' as the weapon's creators and wielders the earthrealmers call it was aimed straight at her. Before she could even react, Rabbit fired. For a moment she thought that she would feel pain unimaginable, but her body was special; created from the bloods of warriors and former kombatants. The loud and noisy projectiles phased through her, only living ripples that were quickly gone.

She surely wasn't expecting him to attack that way, but she guessed that it was just how most earthrealmers do combat. Now that she has tested his opponent though, she no longer has to hold back. She dashed towards him and lunged towards him again, but this time using her full speed. Also, this time she tried a different sort of attack. She leapt using one feet and whipped her other towards his head, aimed more specifically at the man's neck.

Then the masked man retaliated, and his retaliation was both unexpected and painful.

Very painful.

She wasn't really sure what had happened, one moment she was in mid-air, fairly sure that her kick would strike her enemies neck quite painfully. The next moment, she was on the ground with no clue of what exactly happened, only that her chin hurt and her mind was a bit dizzy. She found her answer when she looked back at her adversary. The Rabbit's right leg was outstretched in a high kick as he slowly bended it back down.

Skarlet should have been ecstatic that her enemy was indeed worthy, instead she was enraged. How dare this mere earthrealmer strike her?

She lashed out, her tantos sliding out of the sheath almost automatically as she lunged towards her enemy. She settled into a familiar sequence of moves, one neither so complicated nor flamboyant but one that was simply devastating. Skarlet slashed twice at the Rabbit's chest and she threw a trio of kunais immediately afterwards. Her slashes connected but she was momentarily confused as to why he didn't bleed, she then remembered the technological advances of the denizens of this realm.

'His intricate suit must be some highly advanced suit of armor' she thought with a slight frown.

Rabbit made the motion to roll backwards and Skarlet rolled forwards. His roll would probably make him evade her thrown kunais so she attacked. When he finally ended his roll and stood up, Skarlet's reverse roundhouse kick connected with his mask—and by extension his face—with a supremely satisfying crunch.

Skarlet had thought for a while that this weapons dealer was a worthy opponent. Skarlet had thought that his blood might be a worthy addition to the plethora of warrior blood flowing through her veins. Skarlet had thought that there are earthrealmers that could match her and some of the other denizens of outworld in combat. Now she was sure that this realm would be easily taken by her master and creator. To her, the tenth mortal kombat tournament was already over wi—

Skarlet heard a laugh, a maniacal laugh that made her immediately turn around.

What she saw surprised her.

It was Rabbit. His mask dirtied and dented and his intricate clothes slightly tattered, yet he was leaping towards her. The weapons dealer's left knee contracted and ready to whip out and deliver a roundhouse kick. Skarlet raised her left arm to block and braced herself for there was nothing that she could do in return. She was caught off guard and she hated herself for being careless. But still, how could he be standing? Wasn't the crunch she heard earlier his skull breaking?

When his kick connected, Skarlet was surprised again. This time by the sheer power behind her opponent's kick. The woman made of blood stumbled sideways, her block broken but she didn't stay idle for more than a second. She knows that staying idle in a fight would be deadly, and she no longer underestimates the one she's fighting. After she steadied her feet, she delivered a powerful palm aimed at the man's mask.

Rabbit dodged it.

And she found herself doubling over as she received a foreleg striking her abdomen almost as immediate as she attacked. She was shocked to note that her feet left the ground without any action on her part. The force behind his kick was something that surprised her, she never thought that an earthrealmer could put that much power behind a kick. It also gave her some sort of epiphany. As she doubled over in pain, Skarlet realized that she had been underestimating his enemy, and his race in general, even when she thought that she was giving his supposedly unworthy opponent a chance, she still was actually underestimating him.

She resolved to never do it again.

When her feet touched the ground again, Skarlet made her move. She swiped her open palm, the open palm that missed her enemy's head, towards his opponent's temple and on the same time, she tripped his legs. Rabbit didn't fall, as she expected, he turned his fall into a cartwheel. He immediately retaliated with a high kick aimed at her head, an attack which Skarlet dodged by hopping backwards. Her enemy proved to be tenacious as he followed up his high kick with a series of roundhouses that started from her hips, to her ribs, then to her head.

Skarlet got struck in the hips and it hurt, but she blocked the one that was aimed at her ribs while she ducked to evade the kick to her head. She followed her dodge with a quick punch to the head and a palm, her opponent dodged the fist but the quickness of the palm didn't give him that much time to dodge a second time.

Their battle continued like this; a series of attacks and counter-attacks seemingly without end, where the only strikes that connect were those that weren't critical. Skarlet had a nagging thought that Rabbit was sacrificing himself to be struck with the weaker attacks to block, counter-attack or dodge the more powerful and effective attacks. It probably was true, Skarlet was doing the same.

Skarlet's blade nearly slashed Rabbit's jugular, but her masked opponent dodged, he arched his back, in the nick of time. His counter-attack was to kick her fist, also kicking her tanto out of her hand. She didn't let herself be disarmed though as she snatched the tanto in the air while back-flipping. When she returned to the ground, she let loose a ball made of her own dangerous blood. Rabbit obviously dodged it, even she knew that he doesn't exactly know what it was.

They were panting, but they were somehow feeling more alive.

'He was indeed worthy', Skarlet thought as she caught her breath.

Suddenly, Rabbit laughed.

Skarlet simply readied her blade, preparing herself for his eventual attack. Or if he won't, he was preparing herself for her own attack.

She didn't expect him to talk though.

"I find this little dance of ours to be amusing" he stated, opening his arms quite flamboyantly before continuing to pant.

"Don't you find this amusing?" he then asked her and Skarlet found his tone to be slightly annoying. She also noted that his tone held a pinch of slyness, and a pinch of, what seems to be … insanity.

Skarlet narrowed her eyes and answered, "I do not talk with my prey".

He chuckled before he replied, his tone sly and cheeky. "Well you certainly did just now!"

"Enough talk!" she snarled as she dashed towards her enemy, blades at the ready.

"Whatever you say, my dear" was Rabbit's snarky reply before he too, rushed forward to meet her.

Skarlet went in low, her blades ready to carve a bloody cross in his body while her enemy, the Rabbit went in high, leaping when he was near enough and stretching his right leg—his favored leg—skywards, something that Skarlet knew to be a devastating attack when he lowers that leg towards his enemy. She thought that it was called axe kick or something.

Then the strangest thing happened.

Before they could connect with either attacks, a blinding light emerged from all around them. Skarlet knew what was going on, but she cursed the ill-timing. This teleportation spell would deprive her of the only worthy kill she has found ever since she was created. Then she noticed that Rabbit's attack did connect, only that it was blocked by her hands out of instinct. She noticed with a considerable amount of surprise, that his leg was starting to vanish, as were the fists she used to block his kick.

The light was gone and color returned to the surroundings. Dim colors, where lights were coming from fiery braziers and none too bright lamps.

"I find myself confused" Rabbit said, breaking the silence of the place. "Very confused"