A Crimson Sky of Warning

by Shadow Master

(BtVS/Mortal Kombat/Others) In most timelines the demon killer known as Xander Harris never managed to get past Oxnard on his cross country road trip. However as he would come to realize even the smallest change to the present can lead to a drastically different future.

4. Decisive, Destructive and

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing that at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my work. Therefore I would greatly appreciate it if no legal action was taken against me. I can promise you that whatever you get from me won't cover even a fifth of your legal fees.

The Tournament Island of Mortal Kombat

The Grand Palace

Shang Tsung's POV

He looked down at the docks from the balcony of his palace and wondered which among the foolish warriors of Earthrealm would progress far enough to provide him with some decent entertainment. He knew of Raiden's chosen champion and his spies had gathered much information of the Shaolin's prowess as a warrior. That some referred to the man as the second coming of the legendary Kung Lao of old was in his mind mere wishful thinking. Even if it were true, his champion Goro had already proven himself more than capable of dispatching such a warrior. Not that he intended to let Liu Kang get that far in the tournament, for with Outworld on the verge of its tenth and final victory over Earthrealm he could not afford to fail. As proof of the importance of this tournament his master Shao Kahn had sent two of his newest creations. One would participate openly in the tournament, using his power to overwhelm the warriors of Earthrealm, while the other would serve as spy and, if the need arose, assassin.

The former was a fusion of souls created by the Emperor called Ermac, granting the created warrior potent telekinetic power that, with inventive application, could prove quite devastating. Also since it was a collection of souls given physical form, it could teleport at will to catch its opponent by surprise from a blind spot. Like all creations of power, though, he knew that the Emperor had been sure to insert certain compulsions and mental blocks in order to ensure that the fusion of souls could not betray him.

The latter was a creation that he had a hand in and was, in a sense, the organic counterpart to the first warrior for she was the distilled fusion of numerous warrior bloodlines. Indeed, he'd even travelled to Earthrealm to collect the essence of one of their fabled champions in order to maximize her physical potential as a warrior. However it was her special ability, her connection to blood, that was truly impressive for with every drop of it that landed on her skin she grew STRONGER. Whether the foe was just another human, a user of magic or even a deity, she would gain strength from physically absorbing their blood.

In other words the more powerful the opponent, the stronger she would become and, with the loss of blood from the wounds she inflicted, they would grow weak.

In fact he sensed her approach even now.

Turning towards the door that granted entry onto the balcony, he watched as it opened to admit the crimson haired 'woman' known as Skarlet. She was clad in clothes common to Earthrealm and had travelled on the boat that had docked mere moments ago, delivering the last of those who would be sacrificed for Outworld's glory. He had sent her to gather whatever last minute information could be obtained of Raiden and those under his protection just in case there were any last minute developments. With the aid of his sorcery he had ensured that the thunder god would not notice her presence or guess at her allegiance so, unless she drew attention to herself, the protector of Earthrealm would have little reason to censor his words.

"I have returned," Skarlet said as she went down on bended knee half a dozen feet away from him.

"What news do you have to report of Raiden and his fighters?" he asked, not expecting much but paying attention nonetheless.

"Both arrived aboard the ship with me. The thunder god assessed those being transported for potential allies as you anticipated," she replied, never raising her eyes to meet his. "However there is another matter he was involved with that you may wish to be aware of."

"Oh?" he asked with mild interest.

"One of the passengers on the boat, a servant of Johnny Cage, became involved in an altercation with one of the tournament entrants. They fought and, when the fight turned against the participant, he employed others to ensure that the servant would not fight back at all," Skarlet replied, providing a summary of the event. "When the entrant judged that the servant had contemplated defiance he ordered the others to remove one of the hostage's eyes."

"Is there a point to this?" he asked, growing impatient and wishing to know why the maiming of one of Mister Cage's entourage was worth reporting.

"The servant became enraged and began to generate arcs of electricity around his fist and then later his forearm. He succeeded in striking the entrant's head but did so with enough force to penetrate the skull and come out the other side," she replied, her tone unchanging. "He then began to emit ever greater amounts of electricity and, were it not for the thunder god's intervention, the boat's integrity may have been threatened."

"Interesting. Did you learn the name of this servant?" he asked, wondering if he had overlooked someone.

"Xander," she replied promptly.

Cage's personal assistant? He had seen the boy in his guise as Johnny Cage's former mentor and thought him no more relevant than any other martial arts amateur. Perhaps in time, with the correct teacher, Xander might become a threat to the Outworld and its warriors but that presumed that Earthrealm would be permitted to retain such teachers after Shao Kahn's armies invaded. He knew from what he had learned of the Emperor's past conquests that one of the first things done upon invasion was to eliminate any inhabitant possessing sufficient skill to oppose him. Even if they were no longer physically capable of fighting, so long as they possessed the knowledge that could be passed on to the younger generation they would still be slain.

Now, however, it appeared as though the boy possessed formidable power and, if his initial suspicions were correct, could prove to be a problem with it alone.

Perhaps he could be not only a problem but a potential unwitting fool as well, he thought as he stroked his gray beard.

The young were ever eager to prove themselves and, if they gained power, a few victories were usually all it took to make that power go to their heads. Properly played, he could manipulate Cage's associate into being the final combatant of the tournament only to lose terribly to either him or Goro, thus confirming Outworld's tenth victory. Raiden would no doubt anticipate this plan and attempt to rush the training of the boy in the use of his powers and the martial arts. However any warrior worth their mettle knew that skills hastily acquired did not hold up when pitted against those who'd gained their prowess over time. It was one of the reasons why Skarlet, Ermac and one of his currently in progress projects had their skill imprinted on their minds. The imprints had been taken from warriors possessing near identical physical prowess and body types so that the constructs would not make mistakes when executing their attacks.

Cage's assistant would not have this advantage.

Still… if he could somehow drive a wedge between Raiden and the boy, it would ensure that any words of caution would fall of deaf ears. Then it would be only at the end that Xander would realize the height of his folly before having his body crushed and his soul harvested. Looking over at Skarlet, he smiled as he took in her appearance and an idea began to form within his mind of a possible way in which such a wedge could be both crafted and set into place.

There was, after all, another thing common to young men of the modern age.

A period of observation would be required in order to ensure success but fortunately the preliminaries would provide ample time for that. Indeed, for the next two weeks all that would take place would be the preliminaries in which the weak would be weeded out, leaving only the strong to take part in the final rounds. They would fall, of course, but why dine on refuse when he could absorb powerful souls instead.

Summoning an Orb of Seeing, he placed it on the floor before Skarlet.

"Observe the boy from a safe distance. Learn what you can of him," he ordered as he stepped away from her. "How he thinks, how he acts and most importantly his taste in women. The orb will allow you to communicate with me and, when the opportunity presents itself, will allow me to observe myself. To aid you in this I will provide you with a proper disguise."

With this he raised his hands and used his magic to change her 'civilian' appearance into something that would better conceal her identifying features from sight. It would not do for her to be identified as a spy when the time came for her to get close to the boy and influence his mind so that he would be more receptive to manipulation. When they had all the information they needed to fabricate an appropriate… 'acquaintance'… for the boy, Skarlet would make contact and integrate herself into Raiden's group. If necessary he would send Reptile or Baraka to 'attack' her in such a way that the thunder god and his fighters would dismiss the notion that she could be a spy sent by him.

Yes. This boy will prove most useful indeed, he thought. "Now go and report back to me when you have learned anything of significance!"

"As you command," she said before picking up the orb and stashing it in a pouch tied to her waist.

As the door to his palace's interior closed behind the blood construct, he began to think of ways to guide matters along the desired course and who might need the touch of his magic in order to ensure they did as he commanded.

He could not fail.

Not when his very life required that he succeed.

The Western Island Docks

Xander's POV

"Soooo… what? I'm a human bug zapper now?" he asked as he strolled down the docks behind the other fighters and alongside allies both new as well as old.

"A demigod. Half mortal, half deity," Raiden, the supposed God of Thunder and Lightning, replied with a voice that contained both power as well as wisdom.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little bit skeptical of the being's claim but he had to admit that the weird eyes and the tricks with electricity did favor this possibility. Especially given how the man had managed to keep him from going nuclear on the boat killing everyone onboard. He still felt a little out of it and Raiden had said that it would probably take another few hours before he was completely back to normal.

Though what normal meant for him now was anyone's guess.

He'd managed to get a look in the mirror before they left the boat so one thing in his favor was that he still looked human…ish, but if you looked into his eyes real close you could spot tiny arcs of electricity in them. He hoped they didn't get too much more pronounced, otherwise even sunglasses wouldn't keep people from noticing.

Even on the Hellmouth that'd be a little hard to miss.

As they left the dock they could see more than a hundred fighters, all of whom were gathering around a large stage that was done up in the old Oriental style that stuck with the theme of the tournament. Standing on it just a few feet back from the edge was an old Asian man with the cliché long, drooping mustache, pointy beard and clad in clothes consistent with a feudal lord or advisor. Following Johnny, they joined the crowd, figuring there was probably some sort of announcement to be made before the tournament got underway. From what he'd been told there'd be two weeks worth of elimination matches meant to weed out the weak, leaving only those skilled enough and strong enough to stand a chance against the reigning champion. It'd be a good chance for him and Johnny to get a look at the competition and see just how far up the bar was that the movie star would have to meet in order to play with the big dogs.

He saw a few more fighters that stood out from the rank and file, making him wonder if they were fighters on the side of Earthrealm or if they were fighting for Outworld. After all there was no rule that said that all of the fighters in the elimination round had to be from the former and it'd make sense for Outworld to seed a couple of their people in with the new arrivals. It'd make it easier to get rid of any potential threats without raising too many eyebrows since most people would just consider it a case of the strong disposing of the weak. Most of the fighters probably didn't have a clue about what was really going on beyond the absolute obvious, so they didn't know what was really riding on this tournament. Most would probably be like Johnny was up until the boat ride and dismiss any tales about other dimensions and the invasion of Earth as pure fiction. So unless the hidden Outworld fighters did something flashy that couldn't be explained, the majority of the people present would go with the flow.

Seeing the old man take a few steps forward, he focused on the stage and hoped the guy knew to keep things short and sweet.

Those were the best kind of speeches in his opinion.

"Fighters! First let me first welcome you to my island," the man said with arms outstretched. "I am Shang Tsung, Grandmaster of the Mortal Kombat tournament, and it is my hope that you will fight with skill and honor. However only the truly skilled have the right to compete in the final rounds of the tournament. In order to find out who they are the first hurdle you must overcome is the elimination round. Each of you has received an invitation scroll and on that scroll there is a unique symbol. Find it on this…"

The man turned to the right and a large tarp dropped down, revealing your typical tournament progression chart but much bigger to handle the sheer number of fighters present. At the bottom were symbols where the names of participants would normally be located.

"…and you will find your first opponent." Shang Tsung turned back to face the crowd. "The elimination round is expected to endure for two weeks. During those two weeks as well as the final rounds of the tournament there will be rules that must be abided by. First: once you have reached the final rounds, if a combatant challenges you it is illegal to refuse it. Second: only those fights with tournament personnel observing will be permitted. Any attempt to ambush or assassinate another combatant in secret will result in the perpetrators immediate expulsion. Third: you are permitted to use whatever tools, skills and abilities you possess in your matches but no more than you can carry under your own power. That means vehicles or weapons too heavy for a person to carry are forbidden. There is also a lesser known rule that almost never comes into play but in this tournament the criteria have been met."

Shit! He found out! he thought, realizing what was about to happen.

"If an invited participant is defeated by a noncombatant prior to their arrival on the island then they must take the participant's place… in order to ensure tournament stability," Shang Tsung said with smile veiled in maliciousness. "What some of you might not know is that during your boat ride here a participant from Ireland was defeated by the personal assistant of one Johnny Cage. Alexander Harris! Step forward!"

With reluctance he stepped forward until he was by himself away from the crowd and easily perceivable.

"As a result of your skill in defeating your opponent, you are now eligible to compete in the tournament." Shang Tsung said, his smile that was far from friendly.

Covertly looking around he could see that while some of the fighters were indifferent to the news, he could see a fair amount of them smiling at him like a prime piece of premium meat. No doubt they believed that if they wound up facing off against him they'd get an instant pass to the next round since he didn't look impressive enough to be a problem. Considering that he'd never fought professionally in his life and he had zero rep to intimidate them with, the odds were not good.

"And if I decline or forfeit my first match?" he asked out of pure curiosity.

Sure, he was all about saving the world but he wasn't into pain the way some kinky people were so avoiding it was definitely one of his top priorities. Besides which there were other ways he could help Johnny besides throwing down with whoever his next opponent turned out to be.

"Well, if you choose either of those options I would remind you that I am under no legal obligation to transport you back to Japan, or anywhere else for that matter. We are also in a dead zone so communication with anyone by radio or cell phone would be impossible," Shang Tsung replied, unveiling his leverage. "It is a very long swim back to the mainland. Also, if you or your friends intend to seize control of the boat that brought you here, keep in mind that certain… security measures… will prevent it from leaving without my permission. So you cannot leave without my consent AND you cannot call for help. Do you still wish not to compete?"

"So I'll just hang out here until the tournament is over and catch a ride back home then," he replied, trying to find a way out of participating. "You can't keep all of them on the island against their will."

"You assume that any of the combatants that arrived with you will be leaving at the end," Shang Tsung said with a malicious smile. "This is a tournament where you put your own life on the line and suffice it to say that the fighters representing Outworld will almost certainly choose to kill their opponents upon achieving victory. Given the momentum their group has achieved over the last five hundred years, I think even you must admit that a victory for Earthrealm at this point is a faint hope at best."

"I dunno. I've always been a big fan of the underdog," he said with his trademark grin. "I've seen enough proof that the underdog can win even with the odds against them to take a leap of faith."

"Then perhaps you can prove it to me yourself. Given your lack of experience and training, you could be considered the ultimate 'underdog' here," Shang Tsung said, trying to turn his own words against him. "I admit I am curious myself to see if it can be done. However if finding the answer is not incentive enough, perhaps I can sweeten the deal further. One of the promises I made to another participant was that I would give them a small fortune in gold and jewels if he won the tournament. While I have my doubts that you'll become the new champion, I'm prepared to give you the riches instead if you make it to the final rounds and defeat the man I promised them to. Interested?"

While he'd be lying if he said that gaining riches enough to turn himself into a rich person wasn't tempting, he got the distinct feeling that Shang Tsung was making the offer in the belief that he'd never have to pay up. A part of him would like nothing more than to make the soul stealer eat those words and be humiliated as he turned over the chest full of riches. However the soldier in him mentally smacked this part of him upside the head and reminded him that while working to surpass ones limits was admirable, a person wouldn't get very far if they tried to do more than they were capable of.

That was doubly the case when it came to combat.

"Well, think about it at the very least," Shang Tsung said as he turned half away from the front of the platform. "According to the chart your match will be the eleventh, so you won't have to fight until this evening or early tomorrow morning. You have until then to make your decision."

With that the current Grand Master of the Mortal Kombat tournament walked away, leaving the gathered participants to make their way over to the chart showing them who they'd be fighting first. For a time he just looked at the people walking away but it was when a hand came down on his shoulder he turned to see Johnny looking at him with the eyes of a friend.

"Whatever you decide, Xand, we'll back you all the way," Cage said with surprisingly little bravado or arrogance.

I got some serious thinking to do, he thought as their little party moved to see who would be fighting who. Somehow I think I've already made my decision in my heart.

Tournament Competitor Barracks

Johnny Cage's POV

"Looks like your librarian friend was right about one thing at least," he said as he looked about the room he'd been guided to by a monk. "We did get a modest room."

It was a little too modest for his liking and definitely not done in the American style.

More like the Asian style, with tatami mat floors, tables that definitely required that you sit on the floor to eat at, futon beds to sleep in and lastly, in consideration for Jessie, a painted partition splitting the room in two. No matter where he looked, though, he couldn't see a single electrical outlet in the wall and the only potential sources of light were unlit candles arrayed about the room. It wasn't a BAD amount of lighting but no candle could match the light given off by an eighty watt light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Still, he didn't think complaining would do much good so he picked out a futon and began putting his stuff down at the bottom end of it.

"Could be worse. They could've had us camp outside under the stars with only a single lantern for light," Xander said as he chose the second futon on the right side of the partition. "Think of it as yet another way to prove you're not some spoiled Hollywood actor who refuses to accept anything that isn't five stars and obscenely expensive."

"Hey, I never said I couldn't sleep in a room like this," he said with mild defensiveness as he started to unpack. "I'm just not used to it, that's all. I can handle this."

The last time he could recall staying in a place even remotely similar was back when he was on the martial arts tournament circuit and some genius thought it'd be great to hold one out in the middle of nowhere in some abandoned Shinto shrine. Sure, the place had been restored by the people behind the tournament and outfitted with electronic options that could be packed up at a moments notice but it was still bare bones. He'd managed to get though it well enough but there had been one or two big name fighters who'd stormed out of the place because it hadn't been up to their standards. While he might've come a long way since then, he wasn't so far gone that he'd act like a complete asshole at the drop of a hat. He'd need something pretty damn insulting or offensive for him to bail on a reputable tournament and the room he was currently in didn't qualify.

"So who's your first opponent tomorrow?" Xander asked as he finished putting the clothes he'd brought along into a thankfully present dresser.

"Some ginger chick called Kasumi," he recalled having seen his first opponent looking at the same spot on the chart. "Dressed in some kind of blue and white dress with stockings of all things."

At least he wore something practical when he stepped in the ring: black pants with blue accents, blue shin pads and comfortable sneakers. A dress was something you wore to a party or a formal get together of some kind, not to a match involving professional fighters. The only thing the blue side tie dress had in the lady's favor was that it didn't look like it'd restrict her range of motion at all. It also hinted that her fighting style emphasized both high AND low kicks.

Then again maybe it was just meant to show off her tone legs and distract her opponents.

He'd definitely been distracted for a few seconds.

"Don't let her fashion sense make you underestimate her," Xander said with caution. "I know a girl who kicked ass in a prom dress. Just make sure her high kicks don't… distract you. Too much, anyway."

"Trust me, Xan! I've seen enough sexy bods that it'll take more than a nice set of stockinged legs to freeze up my mind," he said with his trademark cocky smile.

"What about you, Xander? Assuming you decide to fight who'd you be fighting first?" Jessie asked from the other side of the partition.

"According to the chart some girl from Korea named Yuri," Xander replied before lying back on his futon and relaxing. "Caught someone five foot five wearing a cloak looking at the same spot. Only caught a glimpse of her face but that was enough. Girl gave me a case of the heebie jeebies."

"Why's that?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Well for one thing she had this really freaky left eye that was definitely not some glass eye AND the look on her face made her look like a serial killer spotting the perfect victim," Xander replied, shivering in a way that might not be an act. "If it was an act then she deserves an Oscar for it."

"Hmmmm… maybe she'd be interested in a job after the tournament," he thought as he considered possible plot ideas. "A female martial arts serial killer with a mysterious left eye. Sounds like a character to one of my movies."

"And if she really IS a martial arts serial killer?" Jessie asked, pointing out a potential flaw. "Methinks being the one who introduced her to a set full of potential victims wouldn't do great things for your career."

"Mmmmm, guess you're right," he replied after a minute of consideration. "Still, see if you can get some video of her in action. If I can't get the real deal I'm sure the boys back in Hollywood can come up with a copy."

"And if Miss Serial Killer doesn't consider imitation the highest form of flattery?" Xander asked, no doubt causing everyone to come up with some unfavorable imagery.

"Then we just make sure studio security has a sharpshooter in the ceiling with a clip full of tranquilizer darts. Crazy lady goes beddy-buy and then off to the nearest asylum for the criminally insane," he replied, confident that a good sharpshooter could nail just about anyone given the chance.

"Assuming someone hasn't already tried that," Xander said, sounding like he was determined to play devil's advocate. "If someone has, she might be ready for it."

"Then I'll just kick her ass myself," he said, supremely confident that he could come out on top in any fight.

Both Jessie and Xander just rolled their eyes at his statement but he was used to that.

"Well, since there's no electricity there's no TV so who's up to playing a few rounds of poker before turning in for the night?" Xander asked, holding up a deck of playing cards.

"What're the stakes?" Jessie asked, sounding like she'd play under the right circumstances.

"We'll start with whatever money we have on us right now and after that whatever valuable stuff we brought with us," Xander replied off hand, sounding like he'd only partially thought about it.

"And after that?" he asked, wondering if there was a chance he could make things a little more interesting.

"Well, if someone doesn't have anything left to bet with then they're out of the game." Xander replied with a shrug of his shoulders as though that should've been obvious.

"How's about if someone doesn't have money or possessions they can use an article of clothing as a substitute?" he asked casually, in the hopes of hiding his true intentions.

"Shoulda known you'd try to turn this into a game of strip poker," Jessie said with a mix of annoyance and mild exasperation.

"I suppose that'd work but in the interests of fairness any one of us can bow out of the game voluntarily if we don't want to keep going," Xander said, throwing a major monkey wrench into his plans.

Fortunately adaptation and resourcefulness were two of his best qualities.

"Fine. It won't be as exciting but if you're both against it then that's that," he said, feigning annoyance and disappointment flawlessly.

He was an award winning actor, after all, so it was no surprise that they bought his routine hook, line and sinker.

Jessie and him had known each other for quite a while, time enough to learn where a few of her mental buttons were located. If he played his cards right, both figuratively as well as literally, he could manipulate Jessie into remaining in the game even if it meant being reduced to her undergarments.

It'd definitely make the game more interesting.

A Dirt Path on the Island

Xander's POV

"I can't BELIEVE you passed that up!" Johnny exclaimed for the umpteenth time as they walked to the elimination round platforms.

"You win some, you lose some," he said shaking his head at the memory of how last night's game had ended.

It'd started out well enough with all of them betting money and then whatever items in their suitcases they were willing to part with. It was only when he'd finished cleaning Jessie out using the moves he'd learned from Uncle Rory that things had gotten dicey. Just like he'd expected Jessie had chosen that moment to bow out of the game since she didn't have any more money or possessions she'd been willing to bet with. However also just like he'd expected Johnny hadn't been willing to pass up a chance to see one of his friends who was a girl in her bra and panties. Thus began the trading of words, with one side trying to manipulate the other into sticking around while the other tried to talk her way out of it. In the end Jessie seemed to fall for Johnny's provocation but then she did something the movie star apparently hadn't been expecting.

Instead of peeling off her shirt or tossing a sock into the pot, the cameraman used clothes from her suitcase to use as her betting items.

Naturally Johnny wasn't about to be discouraged by this and continued to play, no doubt believing that with his skills he'd be able to get Jessie to burn through her suitcase of clothes so that his original goal could become a reality. Indeed it'd certainly begun looking that way in the beginning as hand after hand went to Johnny but that was merely the bait for the trap. In truth Jessie had just been setting up Cage for a trap because, in the worst bluff routine he'd ever seen, the lady tried to make it look like she was betting everything she had left EXCEPT the clothes on her back on an unbeatable hand. Naturally Johnny had thought that he'd spotted blood in the water and had gone all in as well but then the curveball came when Jessie had thrown in a date where she'd dress up in whatever the winner wanted.

That had caused Cage's brain to jump in the gutter and agree to the terms, putting in the rest of what he had to bet in order to match Jessie's wager of a date.

When the hands were revealed things didn't end at all the way anyone anticipated.

Jessie did wind up having a better hand than Johnny, revealing to the movie star that the lady had some acting chops of her own.

However the person that had the winning hand had been him.

No one had been more surprised than him to find out that not only did he have money and clothes now but also a date with an attractive twenty-something camerawoman where he got to choose her outfit. Jessie, however, hadn't expected not to come up on top so, in a show of competitive spirit, had dared him to give her the chance to win it back. Now he had been a tad offended that a date with him was so stinky that a woman wanted to cancel the only way she could so he'd been determined to make her work for it. Pulling the big guns out of Uncle Rory's bag of tricks, he did everything he could to keep the date with Jessie firmly in his pocket. Before long the camerawoman had managed to win most of the money and all of her clothes but not the piece of paper representing the date of his design.

It was then that he'd unleashed his masterpiece when he said that he was tired and turning in for the night.

After all it'd been made clear at the beginning that any player could walk away from the game at any time if they wanted to.

Now he'd known that it could've backfired on him, Jessie could've submitted to the date and let him walk away, but her previous wins had made the lady thinking that momentum as well as Lady Luck was on her side. Combined with the competitive attitude she'd shown thus far and she'd done the one thing that she'd believed would keep him playing.

She peeled off her shirt revealing her bra-encased boobs for both him and Johnny to see and tossed the article of clothing into the pot. She'd then crossed her arms under her breasts in order to emphasize them as well as make her wager seem equal to the date ticket.

I gotta admit, she has a pretty good rack, he thought as the fighting platforms came into view.

Now if he hadn't suddenly suffered a case of little head syndrome he'd have let it end right there but, like most young guys when an opportunity like this came knocking, he'd chosen to push his luck. He'd hemmed and hahhed about whether or not everything Jessie'd wagered thus far was really equal to the date ticket and, like clockwork, Johnny had chimed in asking what designer label it was. This'd gone on for about a minute before out of sheer frustration and impatience Jessie had stood up, taken off the sweat pants she'd changed into before the first round and then thrown it into the pot. He'd just gawked at her for a moment but when she sat back down on the floor, demanding to know if that was enough to get the date ticket into the pot.

Now while Johnny'd kept egging the camerawoman on in the hopes she'd toss in her bra, he'd been taught better and immediately tossed the date ticket into the pot.

It'd been a tense couple of minutes as they tossed some cards away only to replace them by taking directly from the deck but, when the time came to call, Jessie'd come out with the better hand.

And with that the three of them went to bed but not before Jessie'd looked over her shoulder, sweats over her shoulder rather than on her body, and told him that if he'd pushed his luck just a little farther she'd have given him a little treat.

Then she'd given him this sexy smile and a WINK!

He'd been up for almost three hours with images in his head about what could've been and questions about whether or not the camerawoman had actually been serious.

Speaking of whom, he thought as he spotted the woman in question with her camera on her shoulder, filming one of the bouts.

She'd gotten up early, saying she wanted to film some context shots before shooting Johnny's first match.

"So how're the matches so far, Jessie?" Johnny asked, stopping to stand beside her.

"Not bad at all. The matches have definitely been hardcore," Jessie replied without stopping her filming. "Near as I can tell the fight only ends when someone submits, gets knocked out of the ring, knocked unconscious OR are unable to continue because of their wounds."

"Doesn't sound so bad," Johnny said, letting his eyes go from platform to platform.

"Yeah, well, it looks like Xander was right about the whole killing part," Jessie said, sounding less than happy about that part. "I've see three people kill three other people so far and two of them weren't very gentle about it. Almost lost my lunch with one of them."

As though timed by fate his eyes locked onto the closest fighting platform just in time to see the winner of the fight grab his defeated victim by the hair, yank back to expose the throat, plunge a nasty looking dagger into said throat and then savagely try to cut the head off. For a moment it looked like the man would fail in his efforts but then, with a single savage yank and an equally savage cry, the head came off, splattering blood everywhere. While it was not something he liked, he had to admit that there were times when humans were just as bad as any demon.

This was a perfect example of that fact.

"Yuck!" Johnny said in disgust at what he'd just witnessed. "Definitely not going to watch any more matches than I need to after that messy show."

"Me neither," he said, turning his gaze away from the bloody victor. "There's winning and then there's going overboard."

"Perhaps, young Alexander, but this tournament is meant to resemble a true battlefield as closely as possible," came a familiar and sinister voice from behind him.

Turning around, his eyes narrowed; standing a few feet away was none other than Shang Tsung with two masked guardsmen at his side.

"A bit unnecessary, isn't it?" he asked, not letting any trust enter his eyes. "The whole point of a tournament is to determine who's the best of the best. You don't have to kill your opponent to prove that."

"Perhaps, but some of the fighters that've been invited to compete would not have come had we forbidden lethal force from the tournament," Shang Tsung said as though the thought of keeping the murdering psychos out was a bad thing.

"Some would consider that a good thing," he pointed out even though he knew it wouldn't do any good.

"To each their own," Tsung said dismissively. "Have you reached a decision about participation in the tournament?"

"Yes. I'll compete," he said, deciding right then and there that it was necessary. "If only keep the body count down a bit."

"Excellent," Tsung said with an unmistakably sinister smile. "I am sure Miss Han will be quite pleased to hear this. She's been most impatient about getting her chance to fight and would have been most disappointed if I'd been forced to tell her she would have to wait until the second elimination round."

"So glad I could help," he said sarcastically towards the older man.

The sinister man just smiled, bowed and then left, leaving him to wonder just how above board the tournament really was. Johnny and Jessie had given him the cliff notes of what Raiden had told them about the tournament after he'd woken up, so if that was all true then it'd be in his best interests to expect the unexpected.

And keep an eye out for any dirty tricks used to fix fights since, the second any of the other fighters saw him as a threat, they'd probably try something.

GOD I hope I don't wind up regretting this! he thought as one of the people running the tournament began to advance towards them.

"Mister Cage," the monk said, bowing out of respect. "Your fight with fighter Kasumi is scheduled to begin shortly. Please follow me."

"Showtime, people," Johnny said, sounding like he thought he'd already won the fight and that what was about to happen was just a formality.

Here's hoping I'm not about to see a big fall, he thought as he and Jessie followed the movie star.

Johnny Cage's POV

Time to make a BIG first impression, he thought as he got up on the fighting platform.

To make people look at his muscles he began to go through a series of light stretches that focused people's gaze on specific muscle groups. For those that wouldn't be impressed it'd also give off the impression that he was supremely confident that he'd win the match. To put the exclamation point on the act he took off his sunglasses, tossing them in Xander's direction before bringing both arms up into a proper ready position.

Looking across at his opponent, he could tell that Kasumi was taking the fight entirely too seriously because not only was she not playing to the crowd, something she could easily do with her body, but she also was ignoring the studliness of one Johnny Cage. If there was one thing he could almost always count on whenever he showed up at a beach or did one of those fights for charity events it was that, once the shirt came off, the female screams of adoration began.

Yet for some reason this Kasumi chick wasn't so much as blushing at the sight of his finely chiseled body.

Well then I guess I'll just have to give her an up close and personal view, he thought as he waited for the referee to give the so signal for the fight.

"This match is best two out of three," the monk standing off to the side said, looking at him and then Kasumi. "Should each of you win a round and somehow both be eliminated in the third round, you will fight in a fourth round to decide the victor. Do each of you understand?"

"Yep," he replied, the procedure pretty much standard for any martial arts tournament.

"Hai," Kasumi replied in Japanese, making him wonder if she was from Japan or if it was just her language of choice.

"Then without further delay…" the monk said as he stepped off the platform, "ROUND ONE! FIGHT!"

Bouncing on his feet he decided to see just how good the girl really was because, even though she'd received an invite, there was no way that he was going to go all out if she'd get seriously hurt.

"C'mon, beautiful!" he said with his best lady killer smile. "Show me what ya got!"

"Iku yo!" Kasumi declared before charging him.

For a moment he was taken aback by her speed since she crossed the distance in half the time he'd been expecting and it almost cost him. Much like he'd anticipated, her opening move was a flurry of kicks, with a few punches and elbow blows thrown in for good measure. Instinct allowed him to dodge or evade most of them but one or two succeeded in tagging him, if only partially. What he felt improved his odds because, while he'd definitely rate Kasumi's punches and kicks above some of the more violent women he'd met, they still didn't have a lot of power to them. He could see them having a cumulative effect if she tagged him enough times but he wasn't about to let that happen.

"Not bad. You've got some chops, Kasumi-chan!" he said as he quickly got out of her range. "Now let me show you MY moves!"

With that he began to lay into her, using one of his more successful kick-punch combos, with only a third of the blows landing where he wanted while the rest were either evaded or blocked. This proved to him that her defense wasn't any shabbier than her offensive and that she was used to taking hits from guys as strong as he was. That'd certainly make the fight last longer and that suited him just fine since short of a fight would make the victory less than sweet.

Upping his game to the next level he began to focus on battering her defenses so he could deliver his final combo without resistance but it didn't go quite as smoothly as he'd expected it would. Just as he fired off one of his stronger kicks the world went wonky when Kasumi vanished in a light shower of flower petals, making him hit nothing but air. However, before he could do more than turn his head to figure out where she'd gone, she reappeared, delivering a mid-air roundhouse kick to his jaw, knocking him to the ground for the first time in the match. Part with instinct and part with conscious thought he rolled backwards with the fall so as to bring himself into a crouch, facing Kasumi with his defenses back up.

"What the hell was THAT?!" he asked, wondering how the hell she'd pulled her disappearing act.

Was there some sort of fast acting drug on the flower petals? Was she way quicker than he'd thought she was?

"Ninjutsu," Kasumi replied, a smirk of confidence on her face.

"Oh, it's Game On, girly!" he said, moving back on the attack.

With an excited smile on his face he began to break out the big guns in his arsenal of combos and techniques, determined to defeat this female ninja, vanishing act or no vanishing act.

However, just as he was upping his game, it quickly became evident that Kasumi was getting a handle on his moves as well. With expert evasion and timing the ninja girl was taking full advantage of one of Karate's weaknesses: linear movement. It was one of the bad things about the style in that its moves tended to make the user focus on going in straight line so, when facing opponents capable of doing more than that, things got dicey.

He did his best to wait until he got a solid lock on her before attacking but the way she was dancing around him kept him from being able to complete his combination attacks. In an effort to stop this he began to carefully choose his attacks to maneuver her to the edge of the platform, with the intent of hemming her in so she'd have no choice but to tackle him head on. Once that happened he'd really lay it into her before opening up a straight line to her jaw so that he could KO her and he wouldn't have to mess up her looks any more than he already had. Halfway through his efforts he could tell she'd caught onto what he was trying to do but he'd anticipated this and easily adapted to her efforts to escape his strategy.

He waited until she had only a few feet in any direction to work with before going in for the kill, hammering her defenses while using his own legs to block her kicks, intent on claiming the first round for himself. It took a few minutes and exchanges but eventually a path to her pretty little jaw opened up so he went for it…

…only for Kasumi to leap up, do a handstand on his shoulders and then try to bring both knees right into his face.

Only split second reflexes allowed him to bring his hands up in time to grab hold of her knees and, once he had them, he used the second or two of vulnerability of surprise it bought him to throw her from the ring. She landed with an 'oof' on the ground but that didn't matter to him.

"Round one goes to Johnny Cage," the monk said, pointing to him and bowing.

To her credit the Kasumi girl was quick to get back to her feet and onto the platform, showing her determination to make the next one hers.

Gotta respect a lady like that, he thought with a nod of respect.

Didn't mean he wouldn't take the next round and move on in the tournament, though.

Better luck next time, Kasumi.

Xander's POV

"Anata wa watashi o taosu koto wa arimasen!" Kasumi declared as she once again took up an offensive fighting posture.

"Um… what did she say…?" Johnny asked, looking half over his shoulder at him and Jessie.

"My Japanese is pretty much limited to whatever subbed anime I could get my hands on but I'm pretty sure she's saying you'll never defeat her," he replied after trying to match the words right in his head. "I think."

"Determination! I like it!" Johnny said, sounding like he approved of the refusal to give up.

He had to admit that he liked it too.

While he had nothing against softness or femininity, if he had to pick the qualities his preferred lady would have, mental strength and determination would definitely be prioritized. He'd definitely steer away from the ladies that fainted at the first sign of trouble or lacked the fortitude to make it through a difficult situation with a minimum of bitching. So if Kasumi had the backbone to keep fighting for another round solidly then he had to give her the proper amount of credit.

Still, he'd watched the fight between her and Johnny closely so he had a pretty good feeling about how it was all going to end.

In his opinion while Kasumi was no amateur and could easily be considered a martial arts school graduate, her blows just didn't have the stopping power needed to prevail against Johnny. Her strategy was essentially death by a hundred bee stings but that sort of tactic took time before it'd take full effect. He had his doubts that Johnny would let her succeed and he had the solid enough defense to dull the edge of any offensive Kasumi tried to unleash. If she had knowledge of pressure points then maybe she could've jabbed Johnny in the right spots to make an arm go limp. Once that was done her bug bite strategy had a much better chance of succeeding.

"ROUND TWO! FIGHT!" the monk referee said before removing himself from the stage.

This time around instead of charging at Johnny the ninja girl chose to stay where she was and let the fight come to her. A bit obvious when it came to tactics and it risked giving control of the fight over to Johnny but it could also allow her better counterattack possibilities. Could that be what she was aiming for? Letting Cage create opportunities for her and countering his moves with precise timing? Maybe. From what he'd seen so far the girl definitely had both the speed as well as the skill for it but it'd all depend on how quickly his friend caught onto the tactic. If Johnny figured it out swiftly enough, he could resort to power moves that any smart fighter knew were better to evade big time than block.

Then again big power moves are usually pretty easy to see coming, he thought as Johnny went on the offensive. Short, compact hits are usually a lot harder to deal with.

Once the two of them got within striking distance of one another it was Johnny who made the first move, looking like he was trying for a repeat of the previous strategy: back Kasumi into a corner then pummel her. However this time the ninja girl was ready for them, either parrying them off to the side or evading them altogether. It was just when he thought he was bearing witness to the beginning of a pattern that she did something he hadn't been expecting. Right when Johnny executed a punch Kasumi managed to sidestep it, grab the arm and then flip the movie star onto his back before twisting the arm so that it would lock. For a moment Johnny tried to power his way out of it but when that proved unsuccessful he executed a quick kick that tagged Kasumi in the shoulder, causing her grip to loosen. After that it was simple enough to yank the formerly captured arm free and for Johnny to get back to his feet.

"Well, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Johnny asked rhetorically as the two of them began to circle one another, looking for an opening.

To this Kasumi just came to a stop and then gave the universal 'come get some' gesture, looking like she could smell victory in the air.

"Well I've never been one to turn down an invite from a pretty lady," Johnny said before jumping once more into the breach.

The next exchange of blows was truly something to see since by now both fighters had a pretty good grasp of how the other fought. Johnny was power but Kasumi was speed and agility, with both proving competent in how to use these qualities to their fullest advantage. In the end though the ninja girl's light blows proved to be her undoing because, while more than a few succeeded in hitting Johnny, they just didn't do enough damage. Cage's, on the other hand, would definitely be leaving a few bruises and some of them were affecting Kasumi's range of movement. Before too much longer the outcome of the fight became clear and it was finished with a rising uppercut that sent Johnny's opponent to the ground.

For a few seconds it looked like Kasumi might succeed in getting back to her feet and continue the fight but, when she tried to rise from one knee, a wave of disorientation looked to hit her. She tried once more but only caused a repeat of what had happened before, leaving the monk referee no other choice.

"Contestant Kasumi is unable to continue. The second round and the match go to JOHNNY CAGE!" the monk said, pointing to the movie star who predictably struck a victory pose.

"Oh yeah! You just got CAGED baby!" Johnny crowed even as Kasumi went through the usual emotions that came with defeat.

Disappointment, regret, anger and a bit of sadness all passed over her face before she regained her fighter composure. With great difficulty she forced herself to her feet and, in a manner that implied chance had a say in things, she executed a respectful bow towards Johnny before unsteadily walking towards the stairs that'd let her get off the platform. For a moment he thought Johnny would return the bow but the man just kept on grandstanding, barely even noticing that Kasumi was making her exit.

Guess it was too much to ask that he show some humility and class, he thought with a slight shake of disappointment. Guess it's up to me to do some damage control.

With that he began to make his way over to the other side of the platform, intent on downplaying Johnny's arrogance to the young lady while also reassuring her that she'd fought well. It was true that she'd never compete in another Mortal Kombat tournament one way or another, but there were probably other prestigious ones she could enter.

Never giving up was the key to any fight.

Kasumi's POV

She'd failed.

Failed in what was considered by the clan elders to be one of the most important tasks they had ever known.

It had been only a month ago that the clan seers had experienced their most potent vision ever, foretelling the coming of one whom they had sworn an oath concerning. It was a binding oath to one who had saved her clan from a dire fate in the past, asking for only one thing in return for his aid. Thus for three thousand years they had waited for the signs that they would be able to make good on their oath. The seer's vision had told her father that the one that could allow them to fulfill their oath would be at the Mortal Kombat tournament. It was then that Fate intervened as not a week passed before a representative of the tournament administration arrived at the village gates to invite a warrior from their clan to participate. Her elder brother had been suspicious of the timing but her father chose to take advantage of their good fortune and accepted the invite.

Her brother Hayate had, of course, insisted that he be the one to participate in the tournament but their father had pointed out that the oath specifically stated that it was the firstborn daughter of their clan who would be the key to fulfilling the oath. Naturally her brother had stated that the means they'd been given to verify the identity of the One could be used by anyone. He insisted that he could go to the tournament, identify the One and then bring him back to the village in order to bring about the fulfillment of the oath. It was her mother, however, that point out that the means of identification was keyed to the women of the head family's bloodline, NOT the men.

It took some convincing on her part but eventually Hayate withdrew his wish to participate in the tournament and declared with confidence that she would do the clan proud.

Proud? I have shamed the clan and cost us the best chance to see our oldest oath fulfilled, she thought as she stepped slowly towards the stairs of the platform. There will be only one way to salvage both my honor as well as the honor of my clan.

Pausing to gather once more her strength and focus, she took a moment to let her eyes pass over the other combatants currently fighting as well as those who had yet to do battle. Was one of them the One? Could she still accomplish her mission? That would depend on whether or not defeated combatants were permitted to remain on the island and watch the remaining matches. If it was a rule that the defeated had to leave immediately, then all hope for her future as well as the future of her clan was lost.

Perhaps if I feign that I am too ill to travel they will let me stay, she thought as her mind worked to resolve her present problem. It likely won't work for long but with a little bit of luck it won't need to.

With a course of action chosen she decided to make her first play at pretending to be more injured than she really was. With as much authenticity as she could manage she pretended to come close to feinting as she took the first step down the stairs, letting her body fall while covertly making sure she'd land right. She had no interest in making feigned injuries real, especially if there was a chance that they might reduce her ability to continue her search for the One. Her eyes half closed, she prepared herself to hit the ground hard but instead someone caught her before she fell more than halfway.

Opening her eyes more to see who it was that had caught her, she was surprised to see it was a member of her opponent's party. Why was he here? Why had he caught her?

"Hey! You okay?" the dark haired American asked as he helped her to stand. "I didn't think Johnny'd hit you that hard. Do you need a doctor?"

She was about to add some verbal credibility to her performance when light rose up from below, attracting her attention instantly.

The pendant!

The pendant that had been given to identify the One!

It was glowing!

This could only mean one thing and yet she still had trouble bringing herself to believe it.

She had found HIM!

"I said do you need a doctor?" the One asked, sounding determined to get a response.

"…don't think… need to lie down…" she replied, half recovering from shock and half using what little English she knew.

"Well, I don't see a bed anywhere nearby so a bench'll have to do," The One said after looking about the area.

Gently he guided her over to a nearby bench and she did her best not to let the significance of what was going on distract her too much. She was not entirely faking her unsteadiness and she did not wish to make an unfavorable impression on someone so important to the future of her and of the clan. It took a while but eventually they reached the bench and with kindness he eased her down onto it before standing back up straight.

"There. It's not comfortable in the least but it should do for now," The One said with a satisfied smile on his face. "With a little luck all you need is an hour or so of rest before you're strong enough to walk about on your own. If not I'll be back after my match to help you back to your room. Assuming, of course, I'm in any condition to walk myself."

For a moment she thought that there might be a genuine threat to her mission if the One was seriously injured or slain during his match. She'd seen other fighters brutally murdered by their foes after losing and she could not permit that to happen.

"I will wait," she said, bowing her head respectfully.

"Good," he said with a smile that made her heart flutter a bit.

With that the One who would bring about the fulfillment of her clan's oath strode away, presumably to see to his own battles. However it was only as she lost sight of him that she remembered that she'd forgot to ask one very important question.

SHE FORGOT TO ASK HIM HIS NAME!

Xander's POV

"So… she give you her telephone number?" Johnny asked with plenty of implied meaning.

"No girl worth dating is THAT fast, Cage," Jessie said with reprimand, her camera still on her shoulder.

"Really? A lot of girls gave me their phone numbers after a night of clubbing," Johnny said in his defense, sounding like he believed the opposite.

"And how many of those phone numbers actually worked?" Jessie asked, sounding like she was leading someone dim to the blatantly obvious. "Hell, did you actually manage to get past FIVE dates with any of them?"

At first it looked like Johnny had a reply ready to go but then his brain stalled as he had to think for a moment, and then the moment turned into a few minutes.

"I rest my case," Jessie declared triumphantly, a victorious smirk on her face.

He had to chuckle a bit at this since it didn't exactly put a ladies man like Cage in the best light but a light glare from Johnny made him stop. Inside he might still be chuckling but on the outside he kept his face neutral since he had no desire to cause friction between himself and his boss.

This got rid of the glare well enough, allowing the normal cocky smile to resurface.

"So?" Johnny asked, clearly still interested in any potential relationship developments.

"Nope. Didn't even ask," he replied with a shake of his head.

"What!? A true blue hottie like that and you didn't make a move on her?" Cage asked, sounding shocked beyond words. "Haven't you been paying attention? We went out to enough clubs for you to see how it's done."

"Oh, I got plenty of tips on how to act like a cocky jerk and charm the ladies into a puddle of goo," he said with a nod of agreement. "I also learned that you weren't interested in anything but a one night stand with any of the ladies you talked to. Me? I want to actually get a girlfriend, go steady with her and hopefully get married."

"The old 'picket fence' dream, huh?" Johnny asked rhetorically, with only mild disappointment. "I guess it's okay in a quaint sort of way. Maybe I'll settle down too one day, but only after I've lived life up to the fullest."

"Any woman that actually says 'I do' to someone like you, Cage, will either be saint or a fool," Jessie said with mock seriousness in her voice.

Or she could just genuinely love him, he thought as he noticed one of the monks approaching the group. I know it's a long shot but it's still a possibility.

After all, if Buffy could fall for Angel and he could manage to date Cordelia for a while, then it was proof positive that nothing was impossible where emotions concerned. Still, he'd probably have to see Cage and a woman get serious before he'd actually believe it.

"Mister Harris. It is time for your first fight," the monk said before gesturing that he should be followed. "This way."

"Well, looks like it's my turn to step into the spotlight," he said, not entirely sure how things would turn out. "Wish me luck."

"Just remember the moves I taught you and you'll do fine against psycho bitch," Johnny said, giving him a thumbs up.

"Don't get cocky. I know from firsthand experience how hard it can be the first time you step into the big leagues," Jessie said, adding in her own two cents. "The best way to get through it is to do your best but never forget that everyone else there'll have something you don't. Experience."

"Well let's hope that experience breeds a little cockiness of its own," he said as he began to follow the monk.

"We'll catch up with you later. I wanna scope out my next opponent a bit a first," Cage said as he began to walk in a different direction.

"Don't take too long or you'll miss the show," he said before he got too far away.

Following the monk, he tried to think up a strategy that'd work on someone he knew only one thing about and nothing else. If Juri Han did have an unstable mind then at first glance the right move would be to attempt to aggravate that instability since it could lead to an increase in mistakes. If that happened he would stand a better chance of winning since sloppiness would arise increasing the odds of him landing blows. The question would be how quickly Juri would be able to get herself back under control. If it took her a while to reel herself in once she flew off the handle, winning would be that much easier but if she had enough discipline to clamp down on her urges quickly, his opportunity window would be small. He'd have to make sure that he could inflict the maximum amount of damage with as few hits as possible in that case and that'd likely require getting in close.

Not an easy thing to do, especially if Yuri's fighting style was the sort that excelled in keeping people at a distance.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at the platform and, much as he'd expected, Juri was standing on it, her hooded cloak still obscuring her body as well as most of her face. He could tell the precise moment she spotted him because a creepy smile spread across her face but he didn't let it unnerve him any. Glancing down at his clothes, he found himself wishing he'd come in something a little more fight appropriate but the truth of the matter was that he hadn't made a decision as to whether or not he'd be competing until Shang Tsung spoke. A white shirt, jeans and his favorite pair of army issue boots didn't exactly send a message but it was too late to back out now.

Once he was atop the platform he waited for the monk to step forward to get things started. Juri didn't wait quite as long because a moment later she reached up to a clasp in the neck of her hooded cloak and released it. Dropping to the ground, the cloak revealed a young woman of Asian descent clad in a purple cloth chest thing that reminded him of a backless bustier, baggy white pants and long, fingerless gloves. With hair done up in a two horned style on the top of her head, she definitely looked like the martial artist from hell.

"Hmmmm… you look like you're in good shape," Juri said, executing a few kicks before settling into a posture that left her right leg up and ready to fly.

Another kick centered fighting style, he thought as he mentally adjusted how to handle the young woman. Probably means that if I can duck under or evade as I advance, then she'll be left wide open for a hit. I doubt it'll be that easy but having a plan is better than no plan.

"This will be a two our of three round match. Whoever wins two rounds will be declared the winner. Should each of you win a round and the third round end in a double knockout there will be a fourth round to decide the winner," the monk said, looking at both of them in turn. "Do you understand?"

"Ooohhh! Now you've given me something to aim for!" Juri exclaimed, sounding like someone had told her she could get a bonus even better than first place if she played her cards right.

Great! A sadist, he thought with a roll of his eyes even as he nodded to the monk referee that he was ready. Explains why she's hoping drag things out for as long as possible. Maximum kicks require maximum time.

"Then let the first round begin! FIGHT!" the monk said as he stepped backwards down the platform stairs.

As he predicted Juri was the first to go on the offensive with a whirlwind of kicks that had him kicking his proverbial engine up two gears in order to keep from getting hit. Once he got her rhythm, though, he waited for the best chance before diving in, one arm ready to block any surprises while the other set to slam a punch into her gut. His foresight proved to be good; a second later she hopped off the foot that'd been planted on the ground to bring it around, no doubt kick him in the side of the head. Bringing an arm up to block the blow he continued with his punch, hoping that the girl's own move would add to damage it'd cause her. However just as it would've made contact a hand seemed to reach out of nowhere catching his fist, stopping it's movement dead.

"If you don't take this seriously, I'll have to kill you," Juri said with a smile on her face even as she used the leg from her initial attack to deliver an axe kick to his shoulder. "And that would ruin my fun way too quickly."

The blow definitely had some power in it and if it wasn't for the fact that he was somewhat used to taking hits from enemies several times as strong as a normal human he'd have been floored. As it was he'd barely managed to yank his punching arm free of Yuri's grip in time to put a little distance between the two of them. While keeping himself ready for a follow up assault, he tested the movement of the shoulder that'd been hit to see how much damage the kick had done. He winced slightly since there was some definite pain involved in using those muscles but in his estimation not enough to remove their ability to contribute to the fight. He'd just have to soldier on through whatever pain was caused.

"Ooohh good! Looks like you have a high pain threshold," Juri said, sounding quite happy at this revelation. "Do you have the stamina match?"

"Why don't we find out?" he asked with an aggressive lopsided grin.

"Oh goody!" Yuri said with malicious glee.

As he weathered her next assault he reevaluated his strategy since it was now clear that the girl was aware of the weakness of her style and had developed a solid defense against it. Was it invulnerable? No. He refused to believe that there was such a thing as an unbreakable defense. All you needed to do was analyze your foe enough and come up with a good enough plan. If her kicks were so deadly then all he needed to do was remove those legs from the equation since it only made sense that those who placed emphasis on their legs let arm training slip to varying degrees. If that was the case with Yuri then if he could pin her legs or remove them from the equation, she could wail on him with her fists as much as she wanted and it wouldn't be nearly as effective.

With that in mind he waited for the right opportunity, one where both legs would be close enough to grab and lock down without too much trouble. It wasn't easy since the purple clad girl always seemed to keep one foot out of reach on purpose and that meant that if he snagged one leg he'd probably have to take a hit from the other in order to grab it. That meant forcing himself to endure the pain from the hit and willing his occupied arm to remain locked rather than loosen up enough for the girl to pull free.

He waited, evaded or blocked what blows he could, for the right opportunity to present itself to grab a leg since, if he screwed up, he'd be tipping his hand to the girl. Minutes passed and he was wondering if his arms and reflexes would hold out long enough to do what he wanted but it was when he saw signs that Yuri planned on a move with a lot of momentum that he acted. Timing his evasion perfectly he took half the power behind the kick away, leaving it possible for him to grab it without much trouble.

"You want my leg?" Yuri asked with amusement in her voice. "Then how about TWO!"

As he'd predicted she brought her other leg to bear, looking to nail him in the head, so he braced himself for the impact but it almost wasn't enough. With more power than he'd been expecting from someone of her build the leg hit rang his mental bell. As much as he didn't want to, though, he had to thank Tony and the infernal population of Sunnydale for toughening him up physically. Thus he was able to reach with his free arm to grab the leg that'd hit his head before it could be brought back down to the ground. Fortunately she wasn't all that much heavier than Willow, so he had no trouble holding her off the ground but now that he had her there was one question that needed answering.

What did he do with Yuri now that he had her?

"Well, I must say I'm flattered. It's not everyday that a man sweeps me off my feet," Yuri said with mock glee, "but do you have what it takes to carry me across the threshold?"

For a moment he wondered what she meant because, while she wasn't as light as feather, neither was she heavy enough that he'd have any trouble keeping her off the ground for a few hours. The answer came soon enough when she began to rain punches as well as elbows onto his head in painful ways. Considering the fact that opening his eyes could cause him to lose them, he kept them shut but that didn't exactly solve his problem since he was still getting pummeled in the head. Since letting her go would put him right back where he started, he decided to go with the first thing that came to mind while hoping he didn't screw things up.

Eight steps to the right.

Five steps forward.

A little more and…

NOW! He heaved Yuri off of him with the intent of tossing her outside of the ring.

As he felt Yuri's weight leave his arms, he basked in the feeling that his last minute idea worked…

…and then she managed to grab ahold of him and drag him along for the ride.

The one comfort he had was that Yuri had miscalculated as well since she'd no doubt intended to pull him to the platform floor, probably to put him into an arm lock. However he'd taken them a little too close to the edge of the platform for that to work out, so instead they wound up taking a longer than expected fall, ending with him being cushioned by a purple and white clad Yuri mattress.

"Geez, Xander! I told you to take the initiative with the ladies but even I think you're going a little fast," came a familiar voice, causing both him and his opponent to look to the source.

Standing not more than a few feet away was his buddy Johnny, with Jessie standing next to him, recording everything with camera in hand.

"Edit that out or there WILL be consequences," he said to Jessie, not wanting either Willow or Buffy to see this on TV or anywhere else.

They gave him enough grief about his luck with women as it was.

Johhny Cage's POV

"Well, at least I'm getting some golden ideas for costumes to use in my next movie," he said, watching Xander get back up onto the platform with his opponent. "She's a perfect fit for the bodyguard-sociopath role. Just gotta find the right look for the Yakuza crime boss and the script'll practically write itself."

"That explains a lot about Hollywood if that's how it's done," Jessie said as she centered the camera on the two combatants.

He chuckled a bit at that because there'd definitely been a few times that he'd thought the same thing after reading the latest script he'd been sent from the studio. Max might do a good job at screening out the bad jobs but even he'd gotten snookered every once in a while, resulting in some rather terrible reading. Naturally he'd called up the studio responsible and told them precisely what he thought about the trash they'd sent him and advising them to fire the team of monkeys that wrote it. After the fifth bad one, though, Max volunteered to give whatever the studios sent a once over himself before passing it along.

Turning his thoughts back to the fight about to resume, he recollected what he'd seen as he and Jessie had approached minutes before. The second he'd seen that Xander was still on his feet had been enough to make him feel a little proud of his 'kid brother' since most beginners who entered professional tournaments tended to lose their first and second rounds pretty quickly. Mostly it was due to a lack of experience on the part of the beginner, both as a martial artist and as a person. It usually took three or four tournaments before the newbies gained enough experience to stand a chance of progressing past the beginning rounds. From what he could tell about the last bit of the first round that he'd seen, Xander was holding up better than he'd thought the kid would and had managed a double ring out rather than a loss.

Not as good as a victory but a good first attempt by an amateur.

"Round Two! FIGHT!" the monk said, signaling the resuming of the fight.

It was a bit of a surprise at this point that, instead of charging in strong like he'd been expecting based on the way she fought, the Juri girl just stood there in a relaxed fighting stance. Odd but he had heard of a few fighters who could go from relaxed to ass kicking in the blink of an eye, so perhaps the spider girl meant to lure Xander in and then pummel him. Looking to his personal assistant, he could tell that Xan had figured this to be a possibility and was keeping his distance. While it was true that turning this into a contest of patience could prove advantageous, it could also blow up on you depending on the circumstances. For one thing, keeping your distance allowed you to recover from the damage and exertion from the previous round but that went for your opponent as well. Plus, if the round was on a time limit, then victory might be judged based on the number of successful hits, in which case Xander would come up on the losing side.

Then, of course, there were the spectators, fighters who'd already finished their matches for the day, who were as usual a rowdy crowd that wanted to see a fight not two people looking at statues.

"Sounds like the natives are getting restless, my little Ken doll," Juri said in an amused tone. "You want to kick things off or should I?"

"I've always been told to act like a gentleman in the presence of a lady so I'll let you kick things off," Xander replied with a look on his face that was half serious and half playful.

However there was also a look in his friend's eyes that implied that he was getting a little excited.

"Ahhh, he's got the mojo flowing now!" he said with a happy smile.

"The mojo?" Jessie asked without looking his way.

"A feeling you get when you're fighting and you start getting seriously pumped. You don't care about winning or losing. Just the fight," he replied even as Yuri took on a more serious fighter's pose. "For some guys it's a better feeling than sex."

"You ever feel it?" she asked out of curiosity.

"A few times but it never lasted," he replied honestly for once. "You only feel the mojo when you're fighting someone who can push you to your limits. If it never gets better than a good workout, you won't get so much as a fizzle of the good stuff."

Right now, though, Xander definitely felt it and it made him even more interested in how this next round would go because it was also a fact that when you felt the mojo, your fighting prowess became that much better. You were so jazzed that any doubts or hesitation pulled an instant fade and close calls just pumped you up all the more.

Looking to Juri, he could tell that the lady was also feeling the same kind of mojo but the look on her face told him she was definitely one of those sadist types. He'd seen a few of them during his time on the tournament circuit, as well as at bars, people who were after the hurt more than the win, and he was thoroughly disgusted by them. He might be okay with putting extra edge into his moves in order to teach someone he hated a lesson but he didn't let it drag out longer than necessary, and if his opponent was incapable of defending himself he let it go at that. Juri, on the other hand, looked like she'd keep the fight going for as long as she remained amused and might even think up new ways to spice things up if possible.

Better finish her quick, Xan, he thought as the two fighters met in the ring and began to exchange blows. Types like her can get pretty nasty when they get 'bored'.

Watching the exchange of blows, he could see that Xander was following his advice from the times they sparred back at the mansion but Juri had definitely fought before. Not just in the tournament circuit but probably also in back alley brawler fights, not to mention underground gladiatorial arenas. She knew how to use the fighting area to her advantage and manipulate her opponent into position to deliver devastating combination attacks. At the moment Xander was on the defensive, either evading or blocking whatever attacks came his way with a respectable amount of success, but he could tell that Juri wasn't fighting all out. She was toying with her prey, probing his defenses and inflicting pain when she felt like it. If she cranked it up a gear or two Xander would almost certainly lose, if not immediately then by the time the clock for the round hit zero.

"You know, this has been fun but if you're not going to bring anything new to the table, I'm just going to end things right now," Juri said, sounding like she was seriously disappointed in Xander.

Shit.

He'd thought that the girl would try to make things last at least to the third round before getting bored but it looked like she wasn't in a patient mood today.

Tensing up a bit, he waited to see what the lady meant by 'ending things right now' but predicted it'd just be a big jump in skill as well as physical performance. Up until now she'd probably been fighting at a third or a half of her true maximum fighting prowess. If she kicked it up another level, Xander would likely be facing something closer to two thirds or three quarters of Juri's full power. Not a good thing considering the fact that his friend had been only just able to match her up until now.

"Xander! It's all or nothing time!" he yelled, hoping to spur on his assistant into immediate action.

Fortunately his part time student and friend heeded the advice, charging forward, looking like he was ready to give it his all.

This reassured him… right up until he saw a purple light begin to emerge from Juri's left eye.

It started as a pinprick, no bigger than one of those laser pointers some people used, but it grew with every second that passed until the entire eye socket was filled with the light. For a moment he wondered what the significance of it was and it was a moment later that he got his answer when Juri shot forward with speed that had to be seen firsthand. Before Xander even made it to the halfway point of the former distance that existed between him and Juri the girl was already invading his personal space. At this point he was expecting a series of punches since the distance between the two fighters was too small for any decent kicks to be thrown.

He was wrong.

With a move that was like a backwards flip kick Juri slammed her right foot into Xander's jaw that causing his assistant's head to rock backwards like someone had been yanking on it. For a moment he thought Xan might be able to turn things around if he recovered quickly enough to go on the offensive before his foe could get into a stable fighting stance but that proved to be out of the question. With speed equal to how she'd closed the distance, Juri got a foot into the ground and immediately went into another backwards flip kick, connecting solidly once again. With so little space between blows Xander was actually propelled a few inches off the ground but it was when an impossible third flip kick was executed that some serious distance was created.

Juri paused as Xan hit the ground, eyes still open but looking like his grip on consciousness had been cut in half.

"You're still awake? Guess it's safe to say you don't have a glass jaw," Juri said with mocking praise as she looked down both metaphorically as well as literally on her opponent. "Hope you still have it in you for another round, boy toy, 'cause after the referee declares this round mine I'll need to kick your ass one more time before they'll give me someone new to play with."

Looking at Xander, he hoped that Xander knew enough to stay down and take the time to recover, but even if his friend did he had to wonder if it'd do any good in the third round of the fight. If the purple light was something like a performance enhancing drug then there was no telling when its effects would wear off. It could happen within the next ten minutes or it could take an hour before Juri's body finished burning through it. Xander might have potential but, even with the element of surprise, the gap he'd just seen was too much to overcome.

Better to forfeit the fight and spend the rest of the tournament watching him rise up to claim the championship than be stuck in whatever stood in for a hospital on this island on pain meds.

Xander didn't agree with this, though, and he watched as the young man pushed himself off the ground, a bit of instability in his movements. Bit by bit his assistant tried to get back to his feet but after the third failed attempt the referee raised his arm to end the second round.

"Second round goes to Juri," the referee monk said, pointing his formerly raised arm towards the woman. "Contestant Xander? Are you still able to fight?"

It took two or three more tries but eventually Xan managed to get back to his feet and, with what had to be a marshaling of will, forced the aftershocks of Juri's attack to vanish. Bringing both fists up into a fighting position, Xander showed he had more guts than brains because, even if the readiness was faked, it showed that the high school graduate didn't like backing away from a fight. The referee monk took a moment to examine both his assistant's stance as well as the level of clarity in his eyes before being satisfied.

"Very well. We will proceed to the third round," the monk referee declared before stepping away from Xander. "Should contestant Juri win she will advance to the next round of the tournament. However should contestant Xander emerge victorious we will proceed to the fourth round to determine a victor. Understand? Good. ROUND THREE! FIGHT!"

As predicted Juri went on the offensive once more with the same speed as before but, as he'd predicted, Xander was expecting it this time around and so did a marginally better job than before in both blocking as well as evading. However 'better' did not mean that he could still turn the fight around. At best it meant that his defeat would be that much slower in coming. He couldn't help but growl internally a bit at how things were proceeding because, while he hadn't expected Xander to make it to the final rounds of the tournament, he had predicted that his assistant would get close. He'd wholeheartedly believed that Xan's first three or four opponents would be the equivalent of wrestling jobbers, men who never went anywhere and were often just there to make the stars look good, but Juri was definitely not a jobber.

He'd have preferred that Xan's first hurdle in the world of fighting be a little easier to get over.

The fight progressed but, even as his friend made efforts to go on the offensive, Juri looked more and more like a cat toying with a mouse. She'd make a game of just how close she could let Xander's attacks get before sliding out of the way with unnatural speed and agility. It was with a flying kick that miraculously managed to be combined with two other mid-air blows before either combatant touched the ground again. This time, though, Xan managed to go with the flow enough roll backwards upon landing, coming to a stop in a crouching position.

"Aw! You're fighting better this time!" Juri exclaimed with mock appreciation. "Don't want to look like a complete loser in front of the camera do ya? I think you're a little late for that. I mean, really, you've been a first rate chump this entire round and camera girl would have to be blind not to see it. Still, a slut like that probably doesn't need much to spread her legs, so I'm sure she'll make you feel better once you're out of the hospital."

"Bitch!" Jessie growled, gritting her teeth in anger.

"Chill. She's just trying to mess with Xan's head," he said while trying to keep his own emotions in check.

He knew for a fact that it'd take someone Jessie had well and truly fallen for to make her fuck a guy because he had tried every move he'd had on her and gotten nothing out of it. Those same moves had almost allowed him to go twelve for twelve with last year's MAXIM cover models so he knew they worked. So implying that Jessie was some kind of nymphomaniac was like saying God ran his own brothel: ridiculous and insulting. However, while he knew how to deal with trash talk, Xander was still young and, if things went poorly, would probably fall for the bait.

"Then again that's assuming I leave anything there for her to work with after this," Juri said, speculatively as she glanced down where Xan's package would be. "It'll be hard with so SMALL a target but my sensei taught me well when it came to precision."

"Shut up," Xander growled before going back on the offensive.

"Ooohh! Found a tender spot, did I?" Juri asked rhetorically as she glided away from every blow sent her way. "Got dumped a lot back in high school 'cause of that, didn't ya? Bet the sluts you dated got all hot and bothered but when they looked to get some release there wasn't enough to get even a LITTLE satisfaction."

"Shut up!" Xander exclaimed as he executed a punch-kick combo that on anyone else would've made contact.

"Keep cool, Xander!" he yelled hoping to keep his assistant from blowing his stack. "She's just trying to mess with your head! Stay frosty!"

Sadly the words didn't seem to be having any effect since Xan was still going after the sadist full tilt despite the fact that that approach had yet to bear fruit. A part of him wanted to charge in himself and just get his friend disqualified in order to spare the kid the sadistic beating that was incoming. However a larger part of him knew it would be the same as saying 'I do not trust you to fight your own fight' to Xander and the kid's pride would make things abrasive between the two of them for a while. He knew he'd be sore at anyone who swooped in to rescue him in the middle of a fight, regardless if he was losing the fight or not. Then there was also the fact that he might wind up getting disqualified along with Xander if he intervened. Seeing as how the whole point of entering the tournament was to win it and prove to the world that he was a true martial artist, he wasn't about to turn the whole trip into a giant waste of time.

He'd just have to hope that the referee had sense enough to stop Juri before any permanent damage was done.

Juri Han's POV

Tch! This is getting boring, she thought as she effortlessly glided around the retard's attacks. I know I'm getting paid to let this idiot win but if he keeps this up, I'm just gonna kill'em and screw the money.

She had arrived on the island, intrigued at the possibility of fighting so many powerful toys and indeed she had seen a few that caused a smile of anticipation to take on permanent residence on her face. It had only been later in the evening after arriving on the island that she'd been called before the big shot, Shang Tsung. According to him he wanted to set things up for his side to win the tournament and one of the ways he'd told her it could be done was by suckering the fool trying in vain to hurt her at the moment. The plan was to make all his opponents throw their matches convincingly, or do something to those who wouldn't cooperate that would give the oaf before her a decided edge. The first reward offer had been a chest full of enough gold and precious jewels that just about anyone would drool at the possible uses for it all.

Like she gave a fuck about money or wealth.

Her interests were more intriguing and a great deal easier to come by if you knew where to look.

Strong toys.

That's all that interested her and all that'd drawn her to the tournament in the first place.

Once she'd made that clear to Shang Tsung, the man had told her that if she did as asked he could arrange for her to fight some of the stronger fighters that made it to the final rounds… away from prying eyes, of course. This had her thinking since if the ones the old man sent her after were good enough to make it to the final rounds, then fighting them would be truly entertaining. So in the end she'd agreed to the deal and walked away, hoping that her first fight would at least whet her appetite in preparation for the main course.

Sadly, aside from a few surprises, the boy before her had been little more than a distraction.

After dodging one more combination she chose to end it for good and Tsung could go fuck himself.

Kicking her Feng Shui Engine to full strength, she ducked under another sloppy punch from her opponent before initiating a series of upwards spinning kicks. With every single one that connected she sent her foe higher into the air and, once she was satisfied that they were high enough, she delivered an axe kick to the boy's stomach, sending him back to the ground. For others this would be the end of the move… but not for her. With her engine she unleashed a burst of speed with her enhanced ki, beating the moron to the ground and allowing her to execute a spinning back kick to the spine. She was a little disappointed that she didn't hear the lovely sound of vertebrae cracking but the strangled gasp of pain made up for it.

"That felt good, didn't it?" she said before pivoting and slamming the idiot to the ground face first.

And that was that.

No one had managed to get back up from the Kaisen Dankairaku.

Indeed they NEVER got up again whether it was because she'd killed them or merely paralyzed them for the rest of their worthless lives. Turning away from her defeated foe, she waited for the referee to declare her the winner so she could find something FUN to do. When nothing happened she got ready to turn around to snap at the referee to hurry up and call the match. However it was when she felt an odd sensation coming from behind her that she turned and saw something that she had not expected.

No, it wasn't the fact that her opponent was rising to his feet, though that was a source both of surprise as well as anger.

The unexpected part that had her gaping a little was the fact that arcs of electricity were dancing up and down her opponent's body with a violence that was both frightening yet oddly exciting. Up and up her gaze went until she reached her opponent's eyes, there finding not the furious brown eyes she'd seen before but crackling pools of electricity focused entirely on her. It was then that she realized she was showing weakness and immediately she killed it within her mind as well as within her body. She refused to BE weak or LOOK weak! The weak died and the strong did as they pleased! That was the way of the world and a lesson she'd learned well since she was fifteen. Ever since then she had done all she could to become powerful, to exercise that power to the fullest and make every single one of her dreams come true.

She would NOT falter now.

"Bet you make a great bug zapper," she said condescendingly as she casually started walking to the left. "Or maybe a battery for a vibrator! Guess that explains why your girlfriends kept you around for as long as they did."

"If you won't shut up then I'll shut you up," he said with an otherworldly quality.

"You're welcome to try," she said bringing her leg up in the standard ready position.

FLASH.

With a flash of light her foe went from fifteen feet away from her to less than five and, before she could bring her raised leg into the proper position for defense, he executed a palm thrust to her stomach. The blow itself was more powerful than anything she had received from her foe beforehand and in addition to it a charge of electricity that reminded her of the time she'd been hit with a stun gun. Involuntarily she screamed in pain, both from the blow as well as from the electricity, stopping only after her back hit the platform, though that may have been the result of the remaining air being knocked from her lungs.

She did not let this paralyze her, though, and as soon as she had the strength and the mental coherence she got her feet back under her body. Looking back at her foe, she could see the electricity still crackled across his form and his eyes still held the pools of power, supplemented by an expression of unassailable determination. Anger swelled within her that this nobody, this AMATEUR, had struck her and made her look weak for even a moment. It was intolerable!

With anger she willed the engine in her eye to its maximum output and she charged her foe, intent on showing him who the truly powerful one was. Using a feint kick as a starting point she unleashed a barrage of attacks, intent on battering him into a bloody pulp, leaving him to be scraped off the platform. After all if she killed him some might think she did so believing that she considered the electric idiot a true threat. However if she left him broken but alive it would send the message that he wasn't worth killing and was beneath her. It was during this assault that she learned that while electricity might be bouncing up and down his body, it appeared that only in his fists and his feet was it concentrated enough to harm her. This pleased her for the most part since it meant that she could indeed harm him without harming herself in the process, but it also forced her defense to be comprised only of evasion. She learned quickly that if she tried to block his attacks only the physical side of it would be blunted, leaving the built up electric charge to pass over into her body.

Too bad the speed at which her foe was moving was only increasing even though her eye was at full output.

This is impossible! she thought as she found it harder and harder to evade the incoming attacks. Those fucking lawyers said no one'd be able to match me with this!

It had been the final piece of the puzzle she'd needed for her primary goal in life and, coupled with her mastery of Taekwondo, it should've made her unbeatable.

Yet this amateur was actually gaining ground on her despite her best efforts!

With this in mind she chose to execute a technique she'd developed on her own after receiving the eye implant and, while not complete, it could be her only road to victory. Thus she put some distance between herself and her opponent before preparing herself to channel ki to her legs, then, when all was ready, she attacked. To an outside observer it might look like she was starting her kick too soon but she smiled as the ki field around her attacking foot slammed into her opponent. Deciding if one felt good two would feel even better she immediately fired off another kick aimed for a target a bit lower than the first, sending the idiot staggering back. Her confidence renewed she pushed her offensive hard, determined to make him pay for every moment of pain he'd caused her.

In the end she managed to push him all the way to the edge of the platform and with a final powerful blow she could knock him off securing the win and the match.

However now that she had a confirmed way of attacking him and HURTING him, she didn't feel like letting it end so soon. Thus with one of her back flip kicks she knocked him into the air and then following him up, only to kick him to the center of the platform. He landed with a satisfying bounce so when she landed herself she felt confident that the world was finally spinning right and she could get back to having some fun. Her toy's abilities certainly added some spice to the mix, making him far more entertaining than she'd thought he would be, however now that she had regained her edge she also regained her control. True, she was still at a disadvantage in the area of speed but she made up for that with superior skill and experience. Coupled with her now proven way of doing damage and victory was once more a certainty for her.

Waiting until her foe was halfway to his feet she attacked, delivering a kick to bring his head up while riding the momentum so that she was in prime position to deliver two follow up kicks that were also push offs in order to stay airborne. It sent the idiot back to the platform surface twice and, when he rolled away, she smiled at the sight of blood on the platform tile where his head had been.

It was always nice to know that her hard work was paying off.

"It's a nice change to see a man laid out on the floor. It's usually a woman in this sort of world," she said with malicious satisfaction. "I wonder if it'll be as much fun for me as it usually is for them."

She waited, waited for him to say something defiant or maybe beg for mercy.

They always did.

After almost a minute of nothing she frowned in dissatisfaction at the boy not sticking to the script. Deciding he needed a bit more prompting she went to another improvised technique she'd developed since gaining the Engine, executing a leg sweep that sent a wave of ki at her toy. To her surprise he actually managed an awkward hop over it before unsteadily getting back to his feet with a bloody face but electricity still crackling in his eyes.

Not the look of someone hurting and a step shy of breaking.

I'll have to do something about that, she thought with a feral expression of sadism.

Xander's POV

Guess she's not like Faith after all, he thought as he held into the power that had exploded from within him and allowed him to gain substantial ground against Juri.

He hadn't even been aware at first that the same phenomena that'd saved his ass against Faith had made a comeback until after he'd managed to knock Juri to the ground. He'd almost given into surprise but clamped down on that for fear that it would vanish again. Instead he'd done everything he could to utilize his power to win the round so he could go on to win the match. With every exchange his hopes of winning increased the gap between him and Juri decreased but he should've known that Murphy would rear his ugly head. Out of nowhere his opponent pulled a move out of her hat that turned the tide and had resulted in his current battered state. He knew it had something to do with energy and, considering the martial arts theme, it was probably ki, but whatever it was called it hit him just as hard as a homerun swung.

Now most people would've just called it quits but not him.

Anyone who knew him would probably attribute this to his usual stubbornness but they'd only be half right. He was stubborn about getting as far as he could get in the Mortal Kombat tournament but what made up the other half was something he hadn't anticipated. He'd actually started to ENJOY the match, pain and all. Sure, he helped out where he could with the Scoobies, but he'd never really enjoyed the fight because only masochists actually enjoyed feeling pain. It was more the results of the nightly patrols and weekly saving of the world that he took satisfaction in rather than the pain and injuries he received on the way to getting those results. Nevertheless, that didn't change the fact that in this fight had provoked a feeling of excitement in him that he hadn't seen coming. The closest thing that matched it was when he'd gotten all the way to the semifinals of a contest being held at the local arcade to celebrate the release of the newest game. He hadn't been a star jock or a member of the egghead brigade but the one thing that he both liked and was pretty good at was videogames. So much so that when he needed to supplement the cash he found beneath the couch cushions or skimmed off the change from buying the parental booze, he'd often dare people to play with him for money.

Sure, he had to mix things up a bit in order to keep luring in opponents, but the payoff was well worth the effort.

Somehow I don't think I'm gonna be humming back to my room if I don't pull a hat trick of my own, he thought as he watched Juri stalk towards him in a sexy yet dangerous manner.

Covertly he tested each of his limbs as well as his torso to see just how badly he was hurt and if he could actually pull out a win. Most of the painful points on his body were bearable but there was one that almost overcame his ability to keep it from showing on his face. In his mind this meant that while he'd need the icy-hot after the fight it was still possible for him to beat Juri and move onto the next match.

That, hopefully, wouldn't take place until tomorrow.

With that in mind he tried to think of a way to overcome the new ki improved moves of his opponent and put her down not just once but twice since two rounds of victory were needed to move on. He couldn't risk letting her line him up for another barrage but with whatever power enhancing method she had their speed was pretty much even. Therefore in order to beat her he needed to somehow get out of her field of vision and then dive in to close quarters so he could land deciding blows before the lady could recover. The only tool he had that might do the job was the electricity he now had in abundance. If he could somehow generate a big enough discharge, the light could very well be enough to blind Juri temporarily. Then with speed he could get in her face and land hits that'd take her legs out of the equation, or at least slow them down to the point where they wouldn't be as effective. There was only one problem with that plan.

He had ZERO ideas about how to make the electricity he was putting out do what he wanted it to do!

Everything he'd managed to do since his new powers had manifested had happened as the result of instinct and will more than conscious thought. Still, he didn't have many other options and Juri was getting close enough to resuming kicking his ass, so he had to act fast. Looking within he tried to feel his new power, as though it were a tangible thing rather than just a visual light show. Crunch time proved to be excellent motivation because he soon found something that he had never felt back in Sunnydale. With it located he tried to control it like he would muscles to channel the electricity into his right hand but keeping it condensed once it got there. When nothing happened after the first second he began to worry. When two seconds passed by he was almost ready to just toss his current idea and go with what he knew worked.

It was at the third second that he hit pay dirt as he felt… something… flow down his right arm and, when it reached his right hand, he kept it constricted just beneath the skin.

He waited as long as he dared but, when his time ran out, he lashed out with his right hand, putting it as close to Juri's face as he could before releasing the gathered energy all at once. Through some benevolence from a higher being his desperate gambit worked… a little too well. He got the bright flash he wanted but it blinded not only Juri but also made him see spots, disorienting him for a moment before he realized that he wouldn't get another shot at ending this round. Using where he recalled her being as a reference point along with what little he could make out through her impaired eyes, he went on the offensive.

Using every power move he could execute with sufficient speed, he did everything he could to inflict as much damage as he could before the blinding effects of his powers wore off. Everything from the memories he'd retained from Soldier Boy to what Johnny had taught him during his free time away from being a top movie star. This aggravated the pained parts of his body but it was a necessary evil and so he continued to do his best to bring the hurt to Juri. When his vision was almost completely back to normal he figured that the same could be said for psycho girl. So on a whim more than anything else he grabbed her head in a front face lock, grabbed the waistband of her pants in order to lift her up so that her head was pointed at the ground, and then let gravity take control. As a result Juri's head impacted the stone floor of the platform and, once he felt said impact, he let go of the facelock, allowing the queen kicker to fall free. Rolling himself back to his feet he got to a crouched position, looking towards his foe to see if he could do a victory dance for the round or still had work to do.

Juri was flat on her stomach and, while he could tell she was still breathing based on the rise and fall rhythm of her body, that was about it. No sound came from her lips, nor were their movements of any sort that indicated that she was able to continue the fight. Rising up he watched as the referee came back onto the stage and, after walking over to Juri, bent down to one knee before placing two fingers on her throat. Once the monk confirmed that her heart still beat he pried open her non magical eye, no doubt to look for any sign of lingering consciousness. This apparently did not yield positive results for as soon as he stood back up, the monk extended an arm in his direction.

"Round three goes to combatant Xander Harris!" the monk declared for all to hear. "Also it appears as though combatant Juri has suffered significant harm and is no longer in any condition to fight. Therefore the deciding round and the match go to combatant Xander Harris!"

The crowd that'd gathered to see the fight cheered and he himself felt an even mix of relief and exhilaration at coming out on top even if he didn't win the way he preferred. Though it'd mean more work and more pain for him, he would've preferred to win the final round fighting Juri and proving himself to be the superior fighter. Still, as a bit of lightheadedness caused him to sway, his pride relented and he decided to take the victory for what it was rather than get picky about it.

"I have been instructed by Shang Tsung that, in consideration of your inexperience towards hand-to-hand combat, you will not have to fight again until tomorrow," the monk said, turning to face him entirely. "However be aware that going forward you will be expected to fight a minimum of twice per day. Take this into consideration both as you rest between matches as well as during the fights themselves."

"Sure," he said, comprehending the importance of the advice.

While he didn't know precisely how long the tournament itself was expected to be, his best guess put it around three weeks from start to finish. Two weeks for the elimination round, five for the final rounds with four interspersed during the final rounds, perhaps for rest or perhaps for some sort of traditional ceremony.

I just hope that this divine heritage shtick comes with accelerated healing, he thought as he began to walk towards the stairs closest to where Johnny and Jessie were waiting for him.

"Welllll it wasn't pretty but congrats on your first win in a professional tournament match," Johnny said half genuinely congratulating, half mocking.

"And I got it all on recorded," Jessie said, putting her camera back in its bag. "I'll probably need to do some editing so you can see everything but I can do it after we get back to civilization."

"You'd do that?" he asked, a little surprised as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Sure. Like Johnny said it's your first pro fighting tournament. You should have something to remember it by," she replied with an affirmative nod.

"Thanks. For now though I need an ice pack and probably some bandages," he said as he began to make his way towards the large building where all the fighters were being put up. "I'll try to make it back in time for your next match, Johnny."

"I'll see you then!" Cage declared with his usual cockiness. "It'll be a match to remember!"

Of this he had no doubt.