Chapter 2: Enter the Dragon

"Leave your luggage alone, huh Cage?" Johnny huffed. He had his hygiene products, including body wash, shampoo, and deodorant. No shirts, but he still had his favorite slacks, sweatpants, and ten pairs of boxers. "Well," he sighed, "at least you can change your underwear."

He looked around. Still no friendly faces, so he chose an unfriendly one. "Hey, pal." Johnny tapped a fisherman on the shoulder. The wrinkled Asian turned. "You got a phone? I need to call the police." The fisherman gave him a blank look. "I have been robbed!" Johnny raised his voice and enunciated each word. "I need to call the POLICE ! 9-1-1? Whatever you guys got out here? Habla Ingles?"

The fisherman shrugged and spoke a slew of Chinese. Most of the bystanders didn't have phones; didn't know how to contact the cops; or didn't speak English. He turned away from the elderly Asian and cursed his chivalrous ways and weakness for hot blondes. If he could go back in time, he'd still do it all over again. He didn't regret saving her life. He just regretted losing his shit in the process.

The chill came out of nowhere. Silence fell among the people, and a haze slowly lifted off the water. Cage and the others looked on. A wooden boat pulled to the dock. A ramp lowered to the pier with a mechanical grinding noise.

"All aboard for Mortal Kombat!"

Cage stared at the boat. "Fuck that." It didn't look sea-ready. In fact, it looked like they had just fished it out of the bottom of the ocean.

Before he could retreat, however, someone yanked his garment bag out of his hands.

"'Eh pretty boy, thanks again!" Cage recognized the Australian accent from earlier. He caught a glimpse of a bald head and white tunic. The thief ran up the ramp. Several seconds later, Liu Kang appeared. He sauntered onto the ship.

Cage chewed his bottom lip. Both robbers were on board. He had a choice: get his stuff back, win the tournament and land the movie role, or stay in the hopes someone would lend him a phone. The workers didn't look too charitable. With his luck, he'd get molested.

Grabbing his two remaining bags, Johnny walked the shaky ramp onto the vessel. It didn't look better onboard. An eerie mist hung over the deck, and a foreboding sensation filled Johnny. Hiiiisssss. The ramp rose, shaking Cage out of his reverie. He rubbed the back of his neck where the tiny hairs stood on end. He had a pit in his stomach.

People of various races, ages and hairiness stood on the deck, talking among themselves. As Liu warned, the only thing that didn't vary was their gender. About a dozen people on the ship, and all were male. Johnny searched the crowd for Liu Kang first. While the Australian stole from him as well, he didn't pretend to befriend the actor first. Liu Kang needed a good ass whoopin'. Johnny pushed his way through the crowd and scanned each face. He paused, however, when a burly man walked into the middle of the crowd. He wore brown pants and a matching leather mask.

"Combatants!" he shouted. He motioned at two similarly-masked men, who hung a yellow paper on the wall. "Your cabin assignments are posted. There are four bunks in each cabin. In-fighting on this ship is forbidden!" he said, "we put the tournament rules on your bunk. I suggest you read it. Ignorance of the rules is no excuse!" He retreated.

"Damn," Cage quipped to the nearest person. "Talk about a sense of hospitality."

"I feel welcome already," the bystander deadpanned. He was a redhead with the sides of his head shaved.

Johnny turned towards the man and offered a hand. "Johnny Cage."

"You're that guy from all those shit movies?" He laughed. Johnny flinched. "Sorry. I don't filter my thoughts." he seemed rather proud of it.

"Uh huh." Cage withdrew his hand. The redhead gave him a haughty smirk and sauntered through the crowd. All the men clamored to read the bunk assignments, hoping to get some shut eye before they got to wherever they hell they were headed. Johnny figured he better follow suit. The crowd didn't part for him, and he was bumping into every man along the way.

"Johnny Cage… Johnny Cage… Johnny Cage…" it took him awhile to find his name-not an easy feat while being jostled about. "Cabin four." He almost headed straight to the cabin, but he got a genius idea. He scanned the paper again, looking for a familiar name. Apparently, Liu's name was spelled L-i-u. Interesting. He was only one cabin down, in number three.

Johnny jostled his way out of the crowd. As he made his way towards the stern, someone bumped into his shoulder. His two suitcases tumbled. "Ugh! Not again!" he snapped, spinning around. "Hey, watch it pal!"

"Hey man, sorry" the raven-haired, dark-skinned male bent over to pick them up. Johnny felt taken aback that he actually found a decent human being. When the man stood up, they both grinned.

"Johnny fucking Cage?"

Johnny grinned, "Nick? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Ahh, ya know, gonna kick some ass. You?"

Johnny grinned. "Same, man."

Nick nodded. "I haven't seen you in forever. How you been?"

"Good, man. Just breaking necks and cashing checks. You?"

"Same! The band starts touring in November." Nick shrugged. "It's a just a few venues. No big."

"'No big?' Puh-lease. I saw you on the Grammys for Christ sake! Congratulations!"

"Yeah, well, you know how it is."

"Yeah, sure do." Johnny said. His smile lost some luminosity at that statement. Nick Durante, illustrious musician and karate master, stood before him with dozens of music awards and karate metals. His accomplishments overshadowed Cage's in every way. The worst part? He was so humble! Johnny wanted to hug him and kick his teeth in at the same time.

Durante patted him on the shoulder. "I need to put my stuff away, but I hear someone has liquor by cabin seven. Meet up in ten?"

"Sure! See you then."

Johnny must have passed his cabin four times before he found it. "Finally," he mumbled. He needed his beauty rest; Kang could wait. Four men sat on the bunks. Cage couldn't see their faces, but he did recognize that one shiny, bald head. He balled his fists and entered the cabin.

The thief was laughing, "Eh, don't worry boys, Mr. Shang Tsung says that bitch is dead if she follows us!"

"I can drink to that!" a bearded accomplice shouted. "to Military Barbie meeting her maker!"

The four men chortled and took sips from their respective mugs. With no thought of being outnumbered, Johnny stalked towards them.

The thief sighed, "Too bad. She was kinda cute, too-"

"Hey, you!" Johnny interrupted his thick speech. "We got some shit to talk ab-"

The bearded accomplice had him pinned against the wall before he could finish. A large butterfly knife landed millimeters from Johnny's nose.

"You wanna talk to Kano?" the alcohol on his attacker's breath gagged the actor. "you gotta earn it."

"Its a'ight, Dociro." the man known as Kano laughed. "Pretty boy didn't know, didja son?"

"I'm not your son," Johnny scowled. "but you're gonna give me my wallet and my suitcase, and you're gonna apologize for the inconvenience."

"I am? Didja hear that boys? Pretty boy thinks I'm gonna give him his shit back," thick fingers grasped Cage's hair and yanked him backwards. Johnny came face to face with Kano. He saw a metal plate. It took up half the thief's face and held a red laser light. Both eyes glittered dangerously. "and what if I don't?"

"Then I'll have to gouge that other eye."

Kano laughed, yanked his knife out of the wall and pointed to the door. "You're sleeping on the deck tonight, pretty boy. Come back in, I'll slit your throat." He turned as though Johnny was a mere speck of dust.

Then Johnny grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "Hey, pal…" Kano's three cronies brandished their knives and stood from the bunks. Kano smirked and kicked Johnny. The cabin door collapsed under him, and he fell on the deck.

"Alright," Johnny hopped up and put up his dukes. "If you insist."

Kano made the first strike. Johnny easily dodged the slash. Growling, Kano sliced at him two more times. Johnny met those with his own attack, grabbing Kano's arm and throwing him. Kano tumbled to the ground. His knife slid away.

Kano stood. "You have no idea who you're dealing with."

"Show me." Johnny winked at the thief.

Kano came back for more. Cage threw a flurry of punches, which landed on Kano's face. When the criminal blocked the fourth and landed his own punch, Cage reeled. Kano was clearly a brawler who relied on brute strength. Johnny blocked the second and third punch. The fourth one hit Cage in the gut. As he bent over to catch his breath, Kano did a move Cage had never seen. The red-eyed thief curled up and flew through the air like a ball, knocking the actor off his feet.

I need to learn how to do that.

Johnny rebounded, putting up his hands and moving back into a fighting stance.

"You aren't too bad," Kano mused, "I guess the tabloids were wrong about you." his men circled around the actor. "let's see how you do now…"