Chapter 4
Juvenile Dunce
(This chapter could be one of the most serious chapters in the beginning of this fanfic. Just a little bit more detail.)
(Rashidal is seen in bed looking at the ceiling, deep in thought about the cyborg encounter she had at the store. She sighs, rolls on her side and looks at the wall as she hears Raiden and Scorpion arguing.)
(Downstairs)
Raiden: (sitting on his throne) I just don't see why you're having such a hard time with getting to know her. She might as well not be living here.
Scorpion: (crosses arms) Then please do so.I don't like her, Raiden. I don't like the fact that a young kid is hanging around here with everyone else.
Raiden: If I had known you felt so strongly about this I would have consulted you first.
Scorpion: Well you didn't, as usual. You never ask anybody anything, unless you know it's something you can win at. Well you can't win this time!
(Scorpion walks away, fists gripped and veiny.)
Raiden: Scorpion, get back here at once!
(Scorpion stops for a second, and then obeys.)
Raiden: I know you don't always agree on what I do, but I think it's time I help the situation.
Scorpion: What solution would you have in mind exactly?
Raiden: I'm going to send Rashidal to school for a year. She'll still live here, but with your schedule and hers you'll only have to see her possibly in the morning and the afternoon; with most of the time being yours.
Scorpion: Why are you sending her to school?
Raiden: Not all her education is covered, and with her education status the way it is; she won't be able to get a good job.
(Scorpion studies his hand as Raiden walks over to him, softness in his eyes; as well as drawn on his face.)
Raiden: (puts his hand on Scorpions shoulder) Just promise that you'll be kinder to Rashidal, Scorpion. I want her to learn respect during the remainder of her childhood. There isn't much left.
Scorpion: (glares angrily at his feet, but his eyes soften when he looks at Raiden) I… I promise.
Raiden: Good, now go get that blizzard out of the freezer before Kitana makes a meal out of it.
(As Scorpion walks over to the freezer, Liu Kang walks over to the cabinet and takes a box of Apple Jacks out, and reaches inside with his dirt traced hands.)
Scorpion: Raiden isn't going to be happy.
Liu Kang: Don't worry about it. He doesn't even eat Apple Jacks, he eats Raisin bran.
Scorpion: Still, I don't think… Where is the rest of my blizzard?
(Lights flicker on and off)
Scorpion: (shuts freezer door) I told Raiden that this damned temple is creepy.
(Liu Kang was sorry to note that on the freezer door visible writing was on the frosty shelf where it held fudge pops, and fish sticks, "Oscar was here" was written plain in daylight.)
Liu Kang: Well, Oscar strikes again.
Scorpion: What?
Liu Kang: Nothing. (Digs his hand in the cereal box, suddenly Raiden's voice is heard near the kitchen door.)
Liu Kang: Here! (Hands Scorpion the cereal box) Hide this!
Scorpion: What did I tell you? And here you are scared like baby; trying to hide a dirty cereal box.
(Scorpion hides the Apple Jacks behind at least a half dozen cereal boxes, and sits down next to Liu Kang.)
Raiden: (enters kitchen) I could really go for a box of cereal right now.
(Opens the cabinet and looks through all the cereals and frowns.)
Raiden: Son of a biscuit; I forgot my Raisin bran. (Goes through some more boxes and shrugs while picking up Apple Jacks)
Raiden: These will have to do.
(As Raiden picks out a bowl and spoon, Liu Kang is trying to grab the box off the counter. (What he's going to do with it from there on out, who knows)
Raiden: Liu Kang, stay away from that cereal; haven't you already had some.
Liu Kang: Yes, sir. (Slinks away from the box)
(Raiden sits down and pours some cereal in the bowl, and then pours the milk. As he is fixing to take a bite, he frowns.)
Rqiden: Liu Kang, what have I told you about putting your dirty hands in the cereal boxes.
Liu Kang: I… I didn't do that.
Raiden: Yes, you did. There are mud flakes floating in my cereal. Dag nab it Liu Kang.
Scorpion: Told you.
Raiden: (stands up) And you; what do you mean to just stand there and let him do that?
Scorpion: I didn't know you were going to choose Apple Jacks.
Raiden: Yeah, but you could have said 'Hey, Raiden just a heads up Liu Kang put his dirty muddy hands in that cereal box.
(Raiden gets up and throws his cereal into the garbage then frowns.)
Raiden: The garbage is full and its ten o'clock at night.
(Raiden walks over to the bottom of the staircase and calls upstairs.)
Raiden: Sub-Zero, take out the trash!
Sub-Zero: (upstairs) But it's late!
Raiden: I don't care do it anyways!
Sub-Zero: But there's a dirty opossum that lives right by that dumpster; she's always hissing at me!
Raiden: I DON'T CARE IF SHE ASK'S YOU OUT ON A DATE! AS LONG AS YOU ARE LIVING UNDER THIS TEMPLE YOU WILL DO AS I SAY!
Sub-Zero: But I'm afraid!
(Raiden frowns and goes into a down stairs closet and comes out with a sandal in his hand. Angrily, and as serious as can be he walks to Sub-Zero's room.)
Raiden: I'm getting too old for this.
(Raiden goes into Sub-Zero's room and shuts the door behind him.)
Sub-Zero: No, not the chankla! No Raiden, Nooooo!
(Spanking noises are heard from behind the blue rice paper door. But anyone with eyes could see that with the light in Sub-Zero's room gave an open view of what was going on. (Not to mention a show of Raiden holding on to Sub-Zero's arm smacking him on his butt with a sandal.)
(After awhile the door opens)
Raiden: Now take that garbage out.
Sub-Zero: Yes, Raisin.
Raiden: What!?
Sub-Zero: I mean…yes Raiden. (Snickers going down the stairs and pulls a newspaper out of the back of his pants.) This has saved me since I was twelve.
(Anyways over the night while Rashidal slept the Kombatants had been planning on their schedules while Rashidal would be at school.)
Kitana: I've already planned all her clothing. (Pulls out an overly puffy dress) Isn't it adorable?
Liu Kang: (makes a disgusted face) Are you kidding me? She'll be run out of that school for sure.
Sub-Zero: (walking by) Whoa, where did you get that duffel bag?
Kitana: (insulted) I made this for her, and it's a dress; not a duffel bag!
Raiden: (Stares intently) Maybe you should've taken home education instead of Kombat class.
(While everyone is arguing about Kitana's homemade duffel bag Scorpion just so happened to shuffle in the room in time to know what they were talking about.)
Scorpion: (irritated) No, no, no.
(Everyone looks up at him)
Scorpion: She's going to be in high school, the last grade of her high school life; and you want to send her there like a three year old girl?
Sub-Zero: What do you care?
Scorpion: On the contrary, Kuai Liang. I happen to know enough; if you send her like that she's sure to get mauled.
Liu Kang: So what do we do? She'll have to wake up soon, and we won't have anything.
Scorpion: Well, let's think of it this way… we can't send her in a chicken shirt and pants; maybe something more traditional, and at the same time confident.
(Scorpion walks out of the room only to appear a few seconds later with a red outfit in his hand.)
Sub-Zero: What is that?
Scorpion: My old training uniform when I was fifteen. Maybe this will work for awhile. After all they can't have various outfits in that school. It has to be a uniform.
Kitana: We are going to send her in a boy's uniform?
Scorpion: (looks at the duffel bad form dress) Well, I don't suppose any of you have any ideas?
(Silence)
Scorpion: I didn't think so. Don't worry about it, it's clean.
(Three hours later)
Rashidal: (dreaming and sleeptalking) Sure, I'd like to be a metal woman, I mean cyborg… snores.
(Sub-Zero enters the room quietly then jumps on her bed.)
Sub-Zero: (Jumping on the bed) It's time for school ,wake up! Wake up! Time for school! The last year of your life, until Wu shi academy, that is! Wake up!
Rashidal: I'm up, I'm up, Sub- Zero. Get off my leg.
Sub-Zero: Oh, sorry. (Get's something out of his pocket) Here have some breakfast. (stuffs candy bar in Rashidal's mouth.)
(Raiden comes out into the room and gasps when he sees Rashidal with a candy in her mouth.)
Raiden: Rashidal, get that out of your mouth immediately! (looks at Sub-Zero) And what kind of role model are you?
Sub-Zero: I'm the greatest role model in the world! (Does a back flip into the hall way.)
(Raiden can't help but laugh softly and turn to look at Rashidal.)
Raiden: Well get up my child. It's time for school, and here is your uniform.
(Hands Rashidal the red uniform that was Scorpions. )
Raiden: That was Scorpion's, but Kitana mended it to make it look more feminine. But please do take care of it. He had many plans for that uniform.
Rashidal: I'll take good care of it.
Raiden: (pats Rashidal on the head) Good, now get dressed, and go down stairs for breakfast.
(After getting dressed Rashidal goes down stairs and is surprised to see Scorpion at the bottom of the stairs. He appears dazed, but shakes his head and stares at her instead.)
Scorpion: (stubbornly) Good luck today, and please take care of that uniform.
Rashidal: I will, and thanks.
(Rashidal walks into the kitchen to see some fruit and a couple of donuts on a plate; along with a note.)
Had to leave early this morning. Scorpion made you breakfast. Have a nice day at school; see you later.
Kitana, Liu Kang, and Sub-Zero
& Raiden
p.s Raiden left with us because he needed to get some more cereal.
Rashidal: Well, nothing to do now except eat breakfast.
(As Rashidal ate she looked out the window and saw a few miles away was the school. What waited for her there, she didn't know. If anything she didn't want to know.)
15 min later
(As Rashidal left the kitchen she picked up her book bag and went through the living room to the front door. As she did she saw Scorpion on the sofa reading China times.)
Scorpion: Have a nice day, kid.
Rashidal: Thanks.
(Rashidal walked off the front porch after closing the front door and started to walk. It hadn't been so bad except for the fact that she had to go through a forest before getting close to the school.)
Rashidal: Almost there. After this, I'll be in…
Cyrax: Hi, there!
Rashidal: What the…! What are you doing here?
Cyrax: Just walking with you to that school of torture. I hope you brought lunch money, without you'll starve. Luckily you get to go home after lunch.
Rashidal: School lasts for four hours?
Cyrax: Yeah, if it's your last year.
Rashidal: What a releif.
(Rashidal and Cyrax continued to talk until they reached the school gates. Mostly about his time at school at what to watch out for, such as not to eat the battery cookies they gave out; otherwise your hair gets staticky, and you shock people with your fingers.)
Cyrax: (looks at the front of the school) Uh oh, cyber tarts.
Rashidal: (sees overly beautitized girls who run at the sight of her and Cyrax.) Oh great.
Cyrax: They ain't going to do nothing. They're scared silly.
Rashidal: That's nice to know.
Cyrax: I'll see you later.
Rashidal: See you later.
(Rashidal walks into the small two story school house, and looks for her homeroom. Not that many are in the hallway's but she walks glumly nonetheless.)
Rashidal: Five stinking months of High school, a continuation of hell. What was Raiden thinking?
(Rashidal walks into a classroom with the number 14 on the front; but stops abruptedly when she see's that she is late.)
Teacher: …which seals the fate of the Lin Kuei; possibly being one of the most dist… Oh hello.
(Everybody looks Rashidal way)
Rashidal: Sorry I'm late; I wasn't aware of the tardy bell time.
Teacher: Do not worry, there's a first time for everything. I am Ms. Jade; please take a seat.
(Rashidal sits and one of the girls she'd seen up front of the school passes her a note. Rashidal opens it.)
Hey Freak,
How was it with bucket of bolts?
Sweeney Tilly
(Rashidal crinkles it and throws it in the trash. She looks at Tilly; who is laughing at her along with a couple of others girls. All accept a few good number of students that were chatting together and pointed a finger her way while doing so.)
Rashidal: (Takes a piece of paper out and starts to write.) Fine you wanna write "love notes"? I'll give you a hate letter.
(Rashidal gives the note to someone who then passes it to Tilly, and waits for the look of anger and disgust in her eye's.)
Tilly: (gasps) How… how rude!
Jade: Sweeney Tilly, what could be more rude than interrupting me in the middle of an assignment?!
Tilly: (Get's up in front of the class) That,… rude freak wrote me a threat letter.
(Reads out loud)
Just fine Tinkle face, How's your constipation? You didn't look so well this morning; or do you always look like that?
(Everybody laughs)
Jade: Lovely, now please sit down so we can continue.
(Tilly pouts and screeches angrily)
Tilly: It's not lovely; it's rude and mean. My daddy said I was a princess, and that I don't have to like any of you. I hate you all! (screeches loudly)
(Jade walks to the buzzer button and pushes it.)
(Sonja's voice over speaker) Office?
Jade: I have screeching child in my office, may I send her down there to you?
Sonja: (sighs) Yes, send Ms. Tilly.
Jade: Tilly, go to the office. You can come back when your over your tantrum.
Tilly: It's not my fault it's that…! (Screeches and lunges at Rashidal who packs a punch at her first.)
(Both girls are rolling on the floor, saying insults and kicking desks at the same time.)
Rashidal: You ugly brat! (punches Tilly in the stomach)
Tilly: My daddy is going to sue your daddy! (slaps Rashidal)
Rashidal: People like you are the reason all the realms are in peril! (punches Tilly in Lips, and eyes)
Tilly: I hate you! (Pulls Rashidal's hair)
(The principle Jax, comes in and pulls them apart.)
Jax: Get the hell off eachother! Fighting like this is against the guidelines of the school, ladies! (Looks at Jade) I'll take it from here.
(As they leave classmates give Rashidal the thumbs up sign as Tilly's friends cower and cry.)
(In Jax's office)
Jax: You two should know better; your last year of school, and you can't get along. (Looks at Tilly) I expected the many times youv'e been in here that you would know what will happen to you. (Looks at Rashidal) And you? Raiden, will be ashamed to know that you punched someone on your first day. (press's the secretary button) Sonja, contact Tilly's and Rashidal's parents.
We are going to fix this now!
(What will be the solution? Will Raiden be dissappointed? Will Tilly's lips swell up? And did Rashidal get a bald spot from a screeching blubbering brat? Stay tuned to find out!)