Disclaimer: Nothing has changed. I still don't own Mortal Kombat.
'What the hell is he doing?!' Sub Zero thought as his eyebrows went up in alarm as he watched his friend, Smoke, shove Wren into the middle of the group of recruits. He watched Smoke pick his best student out of the crowd to challenge Wren. Deciding that he needed to put an end to the display before it got out of hand, Sub Zero came out from his hiding spot and strode gracefully across the courtyard towards his friend.
"NOW LISTEN UP!" Smoke commanded the attention of his students. "Since you are all so familiar with fighting each other and know each other's moves by heart, our new friend Wren here has offered to help me illustrate my lesson this morning." Smoke looked over his shoulder at Wren who looked as if she were about to throw up. "Bijan, you will spar with her. Come forward."
"Yes, Master." Bijan entered the circle and stood opposite Wren. "Are you sure she's up to it Master? She looks a little green." There was laughter from the other recruits.
"QUIET!" Smoke hushed the crowd.
"SMOKE!" Smoke turned to see a very angry looking Sub Zero stalking toward him. Sub Zero seized him roughly by the arm and pulled him away from the training group.
"Well good morning to you too."
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Sub Zero demanded.
"I am training my students, as I do every morning." Smoke's voice sounded slightly amused.
"Not using her as a prop, you're not." Sub Zero started back toward the group with every intention of dragging Wren, and Del who was standing on the sidelines looking completely mortified, back inside temple when Smoke grabbed him by the shoulder causing him to turn back around.
"What!?" Sub Zero snapped.
"May I inquire as to why she shouldn't be allowed to participate in this demonstration?"
Sub Zero glared back at his friend. "Because I say she isn't ready."
"Have you even seen her fight?" Smoke questioned.
Sub Zero let out an exasperated sigh. "No, I haven't. Which is all the more reason why she doesn't need to be subjected to this kind of display."
"You mean to tell me, that you, Sub Zero, Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, brought this girl here to train without even seeing her throw a punch?" Smoke's voice sounded even more amused.
"You know why I brought her here." Sub Zero's anger had lost it's edge.
"Well...I will admit, she is very attractive...maybe a little young, but if she makes you happy..."
"Smoke..." Irritation was creeping back into Sub Zero's voice.
Smoke laughed. "I'm just kidding. I know why you brought her here." Smoke thought for a moment. "You know, eventually, you are going to have to see what she can do. Why not now? It's the perfect opportunity for you to observe. Besides, you said Xiong taught her right?"
Sub Zero swallowed hard. "Right."
"Well then, you shouldn't have anything to worry about." Smoke slapped Sub Zero on the back. "Xiong was a deadly opponent in his day...deadly enough for the gods to choose him to help represent Earth Realm in Mortal Kombat. I'm sure he would have passed down his skills to the younger generation. Aren't you the least bit curious to see her in action?"
"She looks ill..." Sub Zero observed.
"It's just nerves...she'll be fine. They all come in here a bundle of nerves. You know that. Now, may we proceed?" Smoke motioned hopefully back toward the waiting group of recruits.
Sighing, Sub Zero nodded in agreement and slowly accompanied Smoke back to the training group.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Don't worry Beautiful, I won't mess up that pretty face...too bad." Bijan laughed.
Wren just glared at him not even blinking. Her stomach churned threatening to bring her breakfast back up. Her mind was in overdrive. She was trying her best to remember the lessons that Master Xiong had taught her. She wished now that she had paid more attention to his lessons on the art of proper hand to hand combat instead of goofing off with Misato. She had never fancied hand to hand martial arts. She much preferred the weight of a sword in her hand, it gave her a sense of reassurance and confidence. She felt naked when she fought without her jian. Oh, how she wished she had brought it with her now.
'Ok Wren...' she thought to herself. 'You're fine...you can do this...Just look at him. He's full of himself. Remember what Master Xiong used to say about overconfidence...it can spell your death...You have to think slow and move fast, thats all...Use his confidence against him...Breathe...Neutralize your opponent as quickly as possible, remove the threat...Relax, you're fine...God I hope he doesn't kick my ass...'
She glanced off to the side and watched Smoke and Sub Zero debate with each other. She got her hopes up slightly when she saw the Grandmaster start toward the group, only to have them dashed when Smoke stopped him and resumed their discussion. There appeared to be no way out of this situation other than to fight the man standing before her and hope that he didn't bust her up too bad. Wren sighed.
"Hey Snowflake...I'm talking to you." Bijan kicked a bit of the fine white powder covering the ground at Wren.
Wren looked back toward Bijan to see him smirking at her. 'Cocky bastard.' she thought. At the same time Smoke and Sub Zero rejoined the group. Judging by the pleased look on Smoke's face, Wren figured that the sparring match was still on, much to her dismay.
"ALRIGHT PEOPLE. LET'S DO THIS!" Smoke bellowed to his students causing Wren to jump slightly. Wren looked to Sub Zero who was standing at Smoke's side. His face was unreadable, but his intense gaze was fastened on to her. Wren took a shuddering breath and turned back toward Bijan.
"Bow to your teacher..." Smoke began. "Now...bow to each other."
"I hope I don't humiliate you too bad in front of your new Sifu." Bijan said under his breath just loud enough for Wren to hear as they bowed to each other.
'I guess we'll see...asshole...' Wren thought. She watched as Bijan made a big production of assuming his fighting stance. 'Show off...' Wren rolled her eyes. As she thought back to all the lessons Master Xiong had taught her, an idea popped into her head. 'If he wants to think he's so much better than me, then I'll let him.' A wicked grin on her face, Wren unceremoniously crouched into the sloppiest defense pose she could and still somewhat properly defend herself.
Bijan snorted at Wren's awkward looking stance. "Well...this should be quick."
"Yes, it should be." Wren agreed as she clumsily blocked the first swing Bijan made at her head.
"Perhaps I was mistaken..." Smoke watched the girl barely get out of the way as Bijan made another leaping kick that almost contacted with her face. "Maybe I should intervene?"
Sub Zero was still watching her with intensity. "No, Smoke, let them continue."
"First you don't want her fighting. Now she is obviously outclassed and you want her to continue? She hasn't even attempted to fight back. All she has done is block and dodge...very badly I might add." Smoke was becoming as worried about the girl fighting as Sub Zero had been earlier. He thought their roll reversal to be rather ironic seeing as how he was the one who had pushed the issue in the first place.
"I don't believe that she is outclassed." Sub Zero said with growing confidence. He believed he had a pretty good idea of what was going on in Wren's head.
"You are watching the same fight I am?" Smoke looked at his friend
Sub Zero grinned at Smoke. "She's figured out that Bijan is arrogant and overconfident. She's manipulating him. He thinks this is going to be an easy win." Sub Zero watched Wren duck under another of Bijan's punches right at the last second.
"Well, it certainly looks that way." Smoke was still debating whether or not to call a halt to the sparring match.
"Just watch." Sub Zero let out an amused chuckle. "I am beginning to believe that you couldn't have chosen a better person to help illustrate your point."
Wren was beginning to grow tired of this little game. They had been fighting for about twenty minutes. It was time to put an end to this. Bijan threw another punch at her face. 'He is determined as hell to hit me in the face...' Wren smiled inwardly to herself. She waited for the gap in his defense she knew was coming, the one that would give her unfettered access to his face.
Bijan dropped his arms slightly and prepared to launch himself into his next high attack. No sooner had he done that, he felt his nose explode. The punch was hard enough to make his vision go dim for a moment. He felt a warm, sticky liquid pouring down his face. He stumbled backward, his hands flying to his face. As his vision cleared he saw the girl advancing towards him quickly. Before he realized what was happening, another strong punch was delivered directly to his throat. Gagging and coughing, he bent double trying to suck air in through his mouth.
Wren hesitated a moment. She looked at her hand. Her knuckles were covered with the blood from Bijan's nose. Both of her hands throbbed from the impact of her punches. She watched Bijan gasp and wheeze for a moment. 'Need to finish this before he recovers and kicks my ass...'
Bijan straightened himself up as best he could and glared at Wren with a murderous look in his eyes. He breath came in wheezing gasps and his entire face throbbed to the beat of his heart. His nose, he was sure, was broken. He was still in shock that she had hit him...twice. As badly as she had defended herself, he hadn't managed to land a hit. This was impossible...'Bitch made me bleed...' Bijan looked down at his shirt which was saturated with the blood that ran freely from his nose. A primal growl escaping his damaged throat, he lunged at Wren with the intention of making her bleed also.
Wren had seen this coming before Bijan had ever even moved and she was prepared. She ducked under the wild swing that Bijan threw at her and side stepped away. As Bijan turned toward her, she spun forward putting all of her weight behind a kick that landed squarely in his groin.
All of the color drained from Bijan's face as the pain radiated from his crotch to the rest of his body. He crumpled to the ground, defeated, hands clutching protectively around his throbbing manhood. Wren stood over him, victorious.
Smoke looked incrediously at the man lying on the ground and then at Sub Zero, who was obviously very pleased with the outcome of the match. "What just happened here?"
"You were right, Smoke." Sub Zero slapped his friend on the back. "I had nothing to worry about. I hope that Bijan and the rest learned a valuable lesson today. Now, I think you need to go attend to your student." Sub Zero laughed.
"That was just..." Smoke trailed off and shook his head as he made his way through the crowd of students to see what he could do for Bijan.
Sub Zero made his way to Wren who was now standing at the edge of the crowd with Del. "Delilah..."
"Oh my God, I'm sorry Grandmaster. I wouldn't have even brought her out here if I thought..." Del rambled on apologetically.
Sub Zero held a hand up silencing her. "Delilah, its fine. There is no need to apologize." He looked at Wren, who looked like she was still in a bit of shock. "I want you to take Wren back to your room." He looked at Bijan's blood dried on Wren's hands. "Let her clean up and then bring her to my office. Make it quick."
"Yes Sir." Del and Wren hurried back toward doors leading into the temple.
Sub Zero watched them disappear back inside the building. He felt a sudden surge of pride as he looked back at Bijan who was still on the ground, moaning and holding himself. 'Smart girl...he had that coming.' There was much he needed to do. He needed to begin Wren's training immediately. He headed back inside toward his office.
End of Chapter 10
Woohoo! Another chapter posted. A little more action in this one. Sorry it wasn't more detailed...I was a little rushed. Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying it. R&R and if there is anything I can improve on or that you would like to see more (or less) of let me know!