Chapter 4- You're what?- Randy Orton.
It would be an hour or so before Benoit returned with the others. Kahn held a large stag over his shoulder as Benoit had a large lump in his stomach as he remained in snake form. "We would have got back soon… if Chris here didn't eat the first kill" Hunter stated.
"Instinct! I told you!" Benoit shot back. Snitsky and Kahn rolled their eyes as they prepared the meat. Sub-zero was getting a fire ready until he turned to me. "Care to get this started boy?" he asked.
"Do I look like I have matches?" I spat back at him. The Ninja glared at me as he took my harpoon out from my hand. He stuck it with a rock making sparks that led to the fire. He glared at me again.
"You lack discipline greatly" he seethed to me. We cooked the meat of the stag; everyone was reluctant at first but hunger set in quickly. Everyone was worried about his or her loved ones at home. What became of them? Would they ever be seen again?
"You mustn't think of that now, we have more important things to worry about" Sub-Zero announced. He proposed to Kahn that he summon a bit of energy. "Enough so whoever is on this island will keep a distance"
Kahn agreed. We were set to sleep for the night, in the little shelters made out of sticks and leaves, I was fast asleep when I felt a hard nudge to my gut. My eyes opened to see Sub-Zero. "Come with me" he whispered.
"I'm tired" I shot back.
He wasn't going to let me sleep. He grabbed me by the foot and dragged me out into the forest. He was really, really, really pissing me off. We stopped at a clearing. "What the hell is your problem?" I growled to him.
"Shut up! Listen to me; you have been given Scorpion's powers. I have faced the Specter many times over and you severely lack many of his qualities. Therefore, I do not wish to see the Scorpion persona die so quickly. I am going to train you until you breathe just as he did when he lived and moved as fast as him when he was dead" he stated. His sentenced made no sense at all. If he were dead… he wouldn't be moving very fast now would he?
Sub-Zero set up a stand as it were. Being held up by ice, he told me to stand on top of it. I did. Not knowing the ice was thin. He set my pose and told me to remain as that. "Keep this stand, and you will not fall though. Move and you will," he explained to me. I thought it was easy enough. Until he started beating me with ice! He would make a kendo stick from the stuff and smash it over my shoulders. I moved of course which sent me crashing to the ground hard!
"Damn it, why did you hit me!" I demanded.
Sub-Zero said as a ninja you learn to ignore the pain and focus on the more important task at hand. "Pain is but a distraction, you must learn to eliminate it!" he whispered in my ear. He set up a new stand. "Again" he ordered.
It was all night I did this and I still didn't even come close to getting it right. I kept falling through and crashing to the ground. Ice shards are damn sharp when you land on them! Until sunrise I did this, my body was battered and bruised. Sub-Zero wasn't upset or anything. As a matter of fact, I think he looked impressed.
"Not bad for someone who hasn't trained in this art before. Come now you can rest" he said.
His hand came down to me, yet I refused it. "No, I want to get it right! Set the damn thing up again!" I shot back.
He nodded as he did just that. I went to the top once more and stood there poised; he began to strike me across the back, shoulders, ribs, legs and stomach. God, it hurt like hell, yet I kept my balance and didn't flinch. My minds kept thinking of Scorpion. How he would have done this. Sub-Zero soon stopped beating me with ice.
"You can come down now. You have done enough," he said. I broke the pose, crashing through the ice once more, yet this time I landed on my feet.
I could feel blood seep through my armor and clothing, I was bleeding bad. Yet I never felt so proud.
"And I thought Mick Foley was a tough bastard" I laughed to him.
Sub-Zero looked to me. "You have but tasted a test, that was the easiest one. Had you been born into my clan, the challenge no doubt would have killed you as a boy" he explained to me.
Sub-Zero went into details on what he had to endure as a child to make it into the ninja clan. By the age of five they were taken to a desert and find their way back on their own. Those that didn't were left to die. Harsh. We went back to the camp sight. Everyone was just waking up. Shao Kahn was already up and caught some food; fish was the choice of today. Kahn could smell blood on me.
"Take that off now," he said in a stern tone.
I looked at him oddly. "What are you, my father?" I spat back.
"Baraka and his forces are attracted to blood, take it off and clean your wounds," he stated. I took off the mask, making the Armor vanish. I was in my wrestling trunks went I went to the water's edge. I didn't realize how badly bruised and beaten I was. Bleeding all over the place. I cleaned the blood off, Sub-zero placed leaves beside me. "They will cover the markings and allow you to heal faster," he said as he walked away. We had a small breakfast of fish; Sub-Zero gave us fresh water to drink from a river. We were left with what to do next.
"No doubt Baraka has more forces on the way and the Oni will be here soon" Kahn stated.
"What's Oni?" asked Ray Mysterio.
Kahn told us they are a nocturnal creature; ogres would be the best way to describe them. "The feed from any flesh, even from their own kind, sick abominations" he said.
"How come none attacked last night?" asked Stephanie.
Kahn shrugged. "Perhaps they don't know we are here yet. They cannot stand light. So we keep bright fires going"
Soon. Everyone stared at me with the bruising. "What in God's name happened to you?" My dad asked.
"I was training" was my reply.
I will prove to this Sub-Zero guy that I can be just as good as the original Scorpion. Perhaps better.
We were sitting quietly wondering what now. Kahn had a strange look on his face. "Do you think he can win?" he asked us.
Our attention turned to him. "Who Kane?" questioned Nitro. "Not a chance" he said, only to be smacked hard in the arm by Stephanie.
"Have faith in them!" she shot back. "Kane's not alone on this"
Kahn looked away for a moment. "I should fight with them," he whispered.
"Damn right" I stated.
I felt someone throw their fish bones at me. It was Triple H. He mouth for me to shut up.
Shao Kahn shook his head to Hunter. "No, he's right. I should be there… But I can't help but feel I couldn't win against Shinnok, after how he tricked me" he explained.
Sub-Zero stared at him. "You can defeat him, you know now he is not to be under estimated."
Kahn nodded just as we heard rustling in the bushes once more. Benoit tongue lashed out picking up a smell.
"That's not demon… but human, I think," he hissed. I got to my feet and was about to put the mask on. Sub-Zero stopped me.
"No, I shall" he said. Sub Zero went into the woods; we heard nothing for a long time. Kahn knew something was up when he didn't return.
"He's been taken," he said.
I stood up off the ground. "How can he be? No one was there!" I yelled back.
"Someone was there… and it had the same skills as a Lin Kuei." Shao stated.
I put my mask back on. "I'll go after him then"
"Are you mad boy? You don't have the skill to deal with a Lin Kuei! You will die" Shao Kahn scolded.
"I am not a boy you can boss around, and quite frankly, you don't see the type that would go after him. So park your ass why don't you, and let me handle it" I shot back as I went into the forest alone. I will prove to him that I am a warrior; I mean I am Randy Orton. And now, I am Scorpion. I looked about the forest for perhaps a clue; my foot came apone a puddle of slick oil. Why would there be oil here? I saw the trail lead up to stairs near the foot of the mountain; I saw how high it went. Into the clouds and perhaps beyond.
"Damn, it had to be stairs" I growled. Yet I started to climb.