Dear friends and readers. MasterFran is back with chapter 25 of my story "The Lostface". We reach the penultimate chapter before Cassie plunges into the next big adventure with the help of her friends. However, this bonus chapter will be dedicated to a special young man from her team: Kung Jin, who unfortunately (spoiler!) will only get smaller supporting roles in later chapters. The last evening on the farm of the Briggs family comes to an end ... And darkness led two restless tramps into a very interesting conversation...
The night broke in earlier than planned and for the first time it was a bit frosty. The girls repressed as much as possible that Earthrealms year was already at the end of October. From time to time the crystal clear stars flashed through the thick black cloud cover, sending tiny sparks over the last cornfields, still growing on the lands of family Briggs. Only the Shaolin monk hadn't found peace yet. With a robe of deer fur, he protected himself against the swift cold of the autumn night and watched from a distance down from a hill as Jacqui and Cassie, in sweatpants and thick jackets, climbed through a hidden shaft behind the barn and were swallowed by the darkness. They have to plan everything down to the last detail, he knew that.
Nothing was allowed to go wrong in the next 73 hours. And Kung Jin had studied them all, and if Erron Black wasn't the man to give them useful hints and possibly a significant discovery, even he didn't know what to do then.
The relief that his dead-believed teammate and friend returned made him still pause. Of course, he wasn't always in agreement with Cassie, but they were both too stubborn. But with the fall of Shinnok, the release of this rare and mysterious green aura, she had become a legend and undisputed leader. It frustrated him, after all, he had been trained not only by the Shaolin but also personally by Raiden, an elder god, but the qualities of a leader are probably deep out of one.
After her disappearance a few weeks ago, he was named the new team leader after Blake wanted to secure the continuation of the team. This man showed no remorse for the demise of the young Cage. She may have been a young talent, but after being mentally unstable, the soldier was useless, the money was too scarce and other people even endangered by her unexpected paranoid conditions and Takeda had barely escaped death at this madness.
As she stood before him again, she seemed like a substitute, her dirty attitude, the fighting spirit, the glow in her eyes, her… Animality. That's what shocked him the most. How the hell had she done it? No one in more than a quarter of a century had mastered it, so it was mentioned only in the ancient scriptures in the monastery library. He had been busy researching backgrounds, maybe even learning it himself, but maybe that was what set him apart from Cassie Cage. That which helped to bring her back to life and to develop unimagined abilities. A strong self-esteem.
A faint crackle made his right ear prick up. Carefully, he turned his head to one side and stared intently into the darkness. It rustled again and not even thirty yards away he saw a figure sneaking through the undergrowth, with quick tripping motions, something metallic flashing in the moonlight, then a brief, surprised squeak and silence again.
He watched with complete fascination as the Tarkatan woman grabbed the captured body with her sharp teeth and disappeared back into the darkness of the trees. With slight annoyance he pursued her track until he broke through the scrub on a clearing on the bank of the reservoir. And there she sat in front of him, not even twenty yards away now. Mileena had settled in the dry grass, rocking the carcass of a huge brown rat between her hands, before bending the monstrous jaws and slicing her teeth into the rodent's flesh.
With a smacking sound, she yanked a good piece of backbone, muscles, and tendons out of the animal and hauled it down frantically without chewing as her blood ran down her chin.
"I would be careful with the rats here if I were you. Here's another rabies-endangered area." He called as casually as possible behind her back.
She flinched in alarm and spun around, with a bloody mouth and the Sais in an attacking position. Her yellow eyes illuminated in the darkness. He quickly raised his hands while his heart jumped for a moment. "Hey, easy there! It's just me."
"Junior Shaolin." She said absurdly, lowering her weapons slightly. His pulse calmed down again. "I'm… hm… sorry if I disturbed you." He mumbled misplaced. Mileena put her head to one side. Her Sai swords had now been put back to the ground next to her. "The question is rather. Why did you have to bother me?"
"Phew. Well, yes. "He scratched the back of his head. "I thought ..." Damn. That was the only thing he actually thought. His hand gripped the coat, which he always wore in two layers. Quickly he got rid of the upper layer and threw the deer skin to Mileena, who caught it with raised eyebrows. He grinned. "Thought you might be cold."
Jin blew into the cool night and his breath floated away as a cloud of steam. She was still looking at him for a moment of consideration, but finally her eyes relaxed. "Well played, child." She cuddled her upper body under the deerskin and sighed with relief. "That's nice and warm." He had to refrain from a chuckle. Just as she was snuggling her head into the fur, she had something of a baby cat.
"You are probably used to other temperatures." He smiled. Her head shot up again attentively. "We don't know any seasons in Outworld." She sneezes. "Not even dry or rainy seasons. It is absurd for you to hear, but in fact our climate always changes with the respective ruler."
"That's why the sun is shining there every day ..." He was about to draw parallels with her and Kotal Kahn's government, but decided not to provoke her with it. Mileena didn't show his displeasure, much to his relief. Maybe she was annoyed by herself.
He casually put his hands in his shoulder bags and tried to locate the lake in the darkness. "Then you were really lucky to have caught the short heat drops for your trip home." A thin smile played around her lips, and yet she snorted a little mocked. "Cassie is back where she belongs. I've never been welcome in Earthrealm, young Shaolin." Before he could open his mouth to protest, she added softly but with a piercing undertone. "You don't have to prove the opposite to me. We both know what was going on under my tyranny these fifteen years." Then she quieted again and silently turned to the remaining skeleton of the consumed rat and spooned the small milky eyes out of the caves and stuck them like olives in her throat. Did she really call herself a tyrant?
He sat down next to her in the grass a meter away, he didn't want to offend her. "Don't you miss your home?" He asked very carefully. "Outworld. The palace …"She turned her head back to him and eyed him suspiciously, but also thoughtfully.
"You cannot say I don't." she grumbled. For a moment she was silent, then the words burst out of her. "I mean, do you know this feeling, to know where you come from, but then simply not at home because you will be despised by all so that you can finally don't know if it was ever a home to you?" She babbled excitedly.
He grinned. "I was a rough guy. Street child. Thief. Believe me, I know exactly what you are talking about. Maybe our stories have neither the same beginning nor the end. But I understand you completely. But let me guess. Raiden has brought you to your senses, right?"
She winced. "How do you know that?" She asked sharply.
"There is no talk of knowledge. It's too obvious for that." He scratched his forehead lazily. "He did the same for me. Since then I know where my home is. My home is my friends, my clan, my brothers the monks. My family. You carry your home within your heart." He sighed, it sounded almost a bit relieved. "That's how I found my way back, away from street and crime and have actually achieved something in my life."
Mileena studied his face hard. "But it's not enough for you, isn't it?" He opened his mouth to protest, but didn't find the words. The Tarkatan smiled tightly. "You don't have to lie to me, Kung Jin." She sighed her voice. "It's too obvious for that." The boy seemed to be pretty frustrated about that. "I never want to be any better or the leader. Ok, of course I want, but it has another reason. I just… hate standing in the shadow of others! You wouldn't understand that." He murmured dejectedly. "You as a former empress."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her inconspicuously masked figure rise to full height and stride loftily toward him. "Sure, I don't understand it. I, as clone of the most powerful Tarkatan of Outworld and the heir to the throne of the former empire of Edenia. Created as the only worthy successor to the mightiest ruler of Kombat history. But even I must face it: I'm nothing but only a mixed copy with mental issues." She forced a tormented laugh. "I believe, darling, you are not the only one who is struggling with inferiority complexes tonight."
Not only did he looked at her, he looked up at her for the first time. "You can stand on two legs, breathe. You can think more logically than many others, are able to empathize with others, understand others like nobody else. Your shooting skills are worthy of the greatest warriors. You are something special, my boy." Despite the cold air, he suddenly felt unusually warm.
"So stop thinking about what you've never achieved before, but about what you've made unique in your life." Two of her fingers touched his sternum. "That, which is in your heart and guides you."
They care only of what is in your heart, not whom your heart desires.
"Thanks," he muttered. She raised an eyebrow in question. "For what?"
"Your words. Never guessed to hear such wise phrases from you." The corners of her mouth twitched slightly upward. "Every time, kid."
There was a moment of silence between the two, each trying to focus on something else. Mileena slapped the shabby, bony remains of her consumed rat into the lake with a loud splash. Shortly thereafter, the carcass was packed by countless snapping fishmouths and pulled under water. When Jin couldn't stand it any longer, he just blurted out his question, which had been occupying him for so long.
"Who decides which animal will become your Animality?" Mileena's head jerked upwards as if she had been woken up.
"You don't just turn into an animal. It is your inner animal that comes to life outward. Not for nothing only very few master this martial art. But how you interpret your animality, unfortunately, everyone has to find out for themselves."
He folded his hands nervously. "Then why did you receive a skunk as Animality?" To his surprise came a very taciturn "I have, admittedly, never really thought about it. Why I'm just a skunk ..." The words seemed to make them very thoughtful. "Nobody can even stand a skunk." Kung Jin tried to get the words right.
"There we have it. See? Nobody can really stand you." He had hit a very sore spot. "How dare you?!" she snorted angrily. He laughed. "There we have it. I feel confirmed! You see a skunk, you are immediately disgusted with it and it is pissed off of you."
"Pff." She grumbled insulted. He patted her encouragingly on the shoulder. "Understand. By that I mean less that you ... well ... are "special nature"." He shook his head slightly. "No. It's our mistake how we handle it." Silence. "I believe that you have not only proved to me but to all: Let's go with fewer prejudices on things that are foreign to our nature and we are often surprised by the contrary." Jin stuck his head in her direction and whispered secretly into her right Ear. "Just between us. I once raised an orphaned skunk, a short time before I joined the Wu Shi Academy. Hiro was the bravest and most loving creature I have ever met at that time. He had received my courage and willpower in difficult days. Same how you helped Cassie." Mileena's eyes gleamed in fascination. "I never dared to think so about myself. At least not like that." Her teeth reflected the moonlight.
"You are an extraordinary young man, Kung Jin. You forge words of silver, have a heart of gold, and a soul that is purer than your own past. I'll be watching with pride when your own Animality shows up one day."
"You think I'll make it?" She smiled. "When your time is right, I have no doubt about it, little Shaolin!" Together they gazed across the proud lake and despite the cool, silent night, Kung Jin's heart was pounding in his chest.
When he got up this morning everything was as usual. Until Jacqui's message reached him, a message he would never have believed possible. And without Mileena it would certainly not have been possible at all. Jin shook his head over this day and his first real meeting with her, the fearsome, former Empress of Outworld. Expelled, rebellious and finally struck down by the Kahn and D'Vorah. Could he still have guessed that one day she would return full-size and far beyond? Probably not even himself. And yet he had to admit one thing. A better mentor and trusted friend, Cassie could not have found.
I thank everyone again for reading and of course I look forward to some new reviews! I try, as soon as possible to continue the story again, in the actual plot. But this few times, I wanted to take a little step behind the scenes and express unexplored thoughts, fears and feelings of these great characters (that was fun!) See you soon!