Disclaimer: I own nothing that is not mine.


Chapter Seven

"Ugh," Tori let out a yell as she was knocked flat of her back, promptly knocking the wind out of her. Scorpion stood over her, a disapproving look on what she could see of his face.

"Get up. We're not done yet." Tori sighed. It had been eight weeks since her training with Scorpion started and so far all she'd learned was hand-to-hand combat. It was weird. It didn't feel like she was learning something new, but rather like she was remembering something she'd forgotten long ago. She'd learned quite a bit over the past eight weeks but she was still no match for Scorpion, and he wasn't going easy on her either. With a grunt she picked herself up off the ground.

'I bet the others aren't having this rough of a time,' she thought as she went back to sparring with the ninja specter. It wasn't but a few minutes later that she was looking up at him from the ground again.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you're going to win the tournament," he said.

"Maybe if you wouldn't treat me like a punching bag for your anger management class I would do better," Tori retorted. Scorpion's eye twitched. 'Ha ha. Got him.'

"I'm just trying to prepare you for the tournament," he said through gritted teeth. Tori snorted. She doubted she'd ever run into someone who slammed a person into the ground as hard as Scorpion did. Picking herself up once more she faced him.

"Fine, let's do this."


Ella stood in the middle of the meadow trying to catch her breath. She'd spent most of the morning training with Ermac and they were taking a break for now. Ermac sat off to the side, watching her. He'd gone easy on her for the most part and so far she'd done well, but he sensed that she didn't see it that way.

"You are doing well," he said to her. "It will only be a matter of time before we start training you with weapons." Ella gave him a surprised look.

"Oh, I don't think I'm good enough to start using weapons," she said with a nervous laugh. Ermac smiled behind his mask.

"You are better than you give yourself credit for. Do not worry, you will be fine."


Emma stood in the field watching as Sub-Zero showed her how to properly defend herself against an opponent. They were practicing in a field close to where Ella and Ermac were, but she hadn't seen them. Sub-Zero had managed to fix his clothes without Emma 'helping' him, much to her disappointment. She had been hoping that she'd get to see him shirtless, but that didn't happen. Snapping from her thoughts she went back to watching Sub-Zero go through the motions of the defensive techniques he was teaching her. She watched how he moved with cat-like grace, how every move was executed perfectly, without flaw, how the muscles in his finely toned arms flexed when he moved, how good he looked in the setting sun, how…

"Emma!" Emma was derailed from her wonderful train of thought by Sub-Zero's voice. She looked up to see him standing in front of her.

"Were you even paying attention," he asked in an annoyed voice.

"Yeah, of course," she said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, really? Then what did I say to you before I called your name?" Emma thought for a minute.

"Um, you said I was a wonderful student and you loved being my teacher…" Sub-Zero's eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Let's resume this tomorrow. By then I expect you to have your mind out of where ever it may be," he said before walking off. Emma sighed. He probably thought she was a total idiot. She glared at where his figure had disappeared into the trees. It was his fault. If he wasn't so gorgeous then she would pay more attention to the lesson. Then again, if he wasn't so good looking she wouldn't want him to be her teacher.

'Oh well, it's not like he's into me or anything,' she thought as she started towards the path to her house. She wasn't drop dead gorgeous or anything, so there was really no reason for him to be drooling over her like she was over him.

"Well well, what have we here?" Emma spun around to see three of the so-called "creepy people" standing there.

"Now what's one of Raiden's chosen warriors doing out here all alone without her guardian," the middle one asked with a smirk. The other two left his side to circle around Emma. Well this was great. The day Sub-Zero teaches her about defending herself is the one day she didn't pay attention. Then these guys show up right after he leaves. They had perfect timing, she'd give them that, but unfortunately for them she had been paying attention to her other lessons. Turning, she punched the guy on her right in the face and caught the guy on her left with her boot in his stomach as he lunged at her. She ran at the third man, taking a swing at him, but he simply dodged the swing and caught her by the wrist. Twisting her arm behind her, he turned her around so that her back was to him.

"Sorry, but I'm a bit better at martial arts than those two idiots," he said in her ear. "Now, let's see what your beloved teacher will do, hm?" Emma looked out across the field to see Sub-Zero standing there. If he'd been annoyed before then he was pissed now.

"Ah, Sub-Zero, so nice of you to join us," the man said in a casual tone. Sub-Zero didn't answer but instead started walking towards them. When he'd gotten within five feet of them the man stopped him.

"Whoa there, friend. I'm going to have to ask you to stop right there. Otherwise, I might have to kill your student, and we wouldn't want that, would we?"

"Let her go. She's got nothing to do with this," Sub-Zero said in a low voice. The man laughed.

"Nothing to do with this? Why she has everything to do with this. If she and her friends die then our plans will succeed. If they don't our plans fail." He paused. "But since you asked, I guess I'll give her back." He pushed Emma towards Sub-Zero, who caught her and pushed her to the ground.

"Hey! What do you—" Emma cut off as she looked up to see Sub-Zero and the man clashing swords, right where she'd been moments before.

'He pushed me out of the way,' she thought as the two began to fight.

The man was good but that didn't surprise Sub-Zero. He had already sensed that this guy was a higher level warrior than what they'd already seen. The fact that he was blocking all of Sub-Zero's attacks was even more proof. Seeing an opening, Sub-Zero swung at the man's stomach, hoping to cut him in half, but the man did a back flip and landed a few feet away. He looked up and smirked at Sub-Zero before disappearing.

"What was that all about," Emma asked as she started to get up.

"Don't move," Sub-Zero shouted. Emma froze. In a split second Sub-Zero was standing in front of her. There was another clash of metal as the man reappeared and brought his sword down across Sub-Zero's

"Hm, you're pretty quick when defending the girl."

"I won't let you lay one finger on her," Sub-Zero growled.

"Oh, getting a bit attached are we," the man asked with a smirk.

"You wish," Sub-Zero said as he threw the man back. With a laugh the man skidded to a stop.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat but I really need to get back and report this. It was fun while it lasted." And with that he was gone.

Emma watched as Sub-Zero turned to her.

"Are you okay?" She nodded. "Good, let's go back." She got up and followed him as he walked back towards the house. He didn't say anything and Emma finally stole a look at him out of the corner of her eye. He was lost in thought, looking at the ground as he walked. His brow was furrowed in what almost looked like worry. Emma didn't want to ask him the question that had formed in her head, but it was nagging at her.

"Are you mad at me," she asked. Sub-Zero stopped and turned to her.

"No, I'm mad at myself for leaving you here. If I hadn't left then they wouldn't have attacked you."

"But I'm okay. I mean, they didn't hurt me or anything," Emma said in an attempt to make him feel better.

"But I can't guarantee that you'll be okay next time," he said. They were both silent a moment before Emma asked another question that had been nagging her.

"What did he mean when he said he needed to report something? What did he have to report?" Sub-Zero was silent for a moment.

"I don't know," he said before walking off. Emma sighed and ran to catch up with him.

Why did she have to ask that? Sub-Zero had a slight idea what the guy was going to report, but he wasn't about to tell her what it was. He didn't quite understand it himself. The man's taunting words lingered in his mind. "Getting a bit attached are we?" That wasn't true in the slightest, but it would be bad if his enemies sought to get at him through her. Raiden had charged him with her care, and he would be failing in his duty if she died. Besides, even if he was getting a bit attached to her, it was in the way a teacher favored a student, nothing more.


The man that attacked Sub-Zero stood in a dark room that was dimly lit with candles. In front of him a figure sat in the shadows. He kneeled down on one knee and spoke.

"I bring word of one of Raiden's chosen warriors'."

"Ah, and which of these warriors do you bring me news of," the figure asked.

"The one under Sub-Zero. All three girls have started their training, but it appears that Sub-Zero's become attached to his pupil, though he appears to be unaware of it himself." The figure chuckled before speaking.

"Well, this is most interesting. I'd never dreamed that something like this would happen. Rokell!"

"Yes?"

"Go and continue to watch these girls' progress. Do not make yourself known to them, I want to wait and see what happens. Be sure to tell me if the others start to show… favoritism towards their student." Rokell nodded before getting up and leaving. Once he was gone the figure leaned back in their chair and smiled.

"Let's see how long you last, boys'."


Author's note: Enjoy!