So... gaykombat1 (a.k.a Rose) posted this AU idea, and I really, REALLY liked it. So, I've taken that, and the replies, and am now writing this story.
Am I writing too many stories? Probably.
Is this taking away from the stories people are here to read? Yeah.
Do I care? No.
…let me rephrase that.
Go follow Rose on twitter. She makes some really fun art.
And awaaayyyyyyyyy we go!
The town of Boonton was a relatively small one, located… somewhere. But it was notable for having a nice, serene style in its layout and landscaping. With green grass, and houses of all sizes and styles along the roads that crisscrossed and connected everyone. At the core of it was a decent town square with a bar, an arcade, a hockey rink, and a few other places where people would hang out or work. Honestly, if you happened to find yourself in the town, you'd feel rather relaxed as you strolled through the streets, and feel like this was a place where you belonged… It was calm, clean, and seemed to have everything anyone could want.
Until you met the residents…
"KAHN!" An agitated man shouted.
Looking up from his drink, a teenaged boy wearing brown, worn leather sighed and rubbed his temples. "Great. Here they go again…" He muttered, looking for the cigarette he kept hidden in his jacket.
"What?! What's happening!?" A smaller boy asked, appearing out of nowhere and practically jumping on the spot.
"Nothing 'Bal, just… just go back to whatever you were doing."
"Okaybye!"
Erron 'Deadshot' Black looked across the road to the two houses which were put next to one another, and were seemingly always fighting with one another. Okay, not the houses themselves, the two idiots who lived there.
"What!?"
A giant of a man wearing a helmet that Black assumed meant 'I have severe self-confidence issues' slammed the lid of his barbeque shut and looked across the fence to the long, white-haired man who Black knew all too well.
"Stop spewing that smoke all over the place! Are you trying to give everyone in his town black lung!?"
"That's not even how it works you idiot!" Kahn shouted in response. "Besides! The charcoal I'm using burns clean! So you don't need to get all upset over some disease you think you have!"
"And yet you continue spewing that smog over here when my kids are outside! Do you have no sense of class!?"
"It's not my fault you wouldn't know good taste if it ripped your face off and made you eat it!"
"What does taste have to do with anything?!"
"Oooohh… are they fighting again?" Kabal asked, bouncing back and forth as he shotgunned another slushy. Black looked down at his little 'brother' and raised a brow.
"How many of those have you had today?" He asked skeptically. Kabal looked up, still slurping on his drink, then ran off at inhuman speeds. "Ugh…"
Crossing the street, Black flicked the stub of his cigg into the sewer grate and leaned against the fence on Raiden's side, deciding to watch the argument for the time being.
"Oh… uh. Hi black." A small boy said awkwardly, looking up with at the outlaw teen with a nervous look, as if he wasn't supposed to be seen near him.
"Howdy, Kang." Erron nodded. "So… what they fightin' about this time?"
"I dunno…" Liu Kang replied, rubbing his arm. "Uh… I dunno…"
Knowing he wasn't gonna get any answer from the small Shaolin Kid, Black walked down the sidewalk, casting a glance over at Raiden, who was still yelling at Shao, who was flipping steaks with one hand, and flipping Raiden off with the other. Off to one side, one of Kahn's kids, a small girl wearing blue, was sitting in the grass and seemed to be coloring something, trying to ignore the fight going on.
"Hey, kid." Black called, and when she looked up, Kitana gave him a slightly annoyed look.
"What?" She asked flatly.
"So… what's wrong with Raiden today?"
"I dunno…" Kitana sighed, shaking her head. "Mileena and Lao got into a fight earlier, but I don't think Daddy knows about that." Her eyes widened as she looked up at the teen when she realized what she had said. "Please don't tell him I said that…"
"Hey, don't worry. I'm used to keepin' secrets." Black nodded, tipping his hat somewhat. But now that she had mentioned it, he hadn't seen Mileena or the Kung kid either…
"Get your stupid kids off my lawn Shao Kahn!" Raiden shouted, seemingly still continuing his argument. Black bit his lip and chuckled somewhat, not sure where or why this was happening, but it was entertaining. Kitana looked over with a slight pout, and Black swore he saw Liu Kang look at her with a 'sorry' look on his face. Black shook his head and muttered something inaudible, looking for another smoke. Noticing someone else exiting Kahn's house out of the corner of his eye as he did so.
"Black. What have I told you about smoking around the children?"
"I ain't smoking Tsung." Erron said, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Not right now at least…" That was a bit of a sore spot for most of the parents in this town. Sure, Mr. Briggs smoked cigars, and that Tomas guy was always smoking out of that weird glass thing that made him laugh a lot, but for some reason they had issue when he smoked… It was a load of crap if he was honest. "Also, ain't it a bit early to be drinking?"
"It's eleven." Shang Tsung remarked, swirling his drink around before taking a sip.
"And they're fighting." Erron nodded to the two Alphas, knowing Shang's true reasons. Although he wasn't opposed to drinking whenever the need hit him, and no one was looking.
"Exactly."
The pair watched the argument drag on for another minute. Honestly, their almost daily fighting was something Erron had come to accept as part of life here in Boonton since he moved here about eight years ago. Even before Liu or Kitana were born, they were still going at it…
"So, is there a reason you don't just… move? Like, even down the street or something?" Black asked, a new thought occurring to him for the first time.
"Do you honestly think Shao would ever agree to that? He'd see it as giving Raiden a victory, and you know how he feels about-"
"Yeah… yeah…" Erron sighed, nodding. He cast a glance to the somewhat rundown house he lived in and exhaled. "I know, I know."
"You say that, but you still seem to attempt to start any sort of quarrel you can between them. Is this because you believe one side is better than the other? Or is it simply boredom?"
"Second one."
"Well, I believe this time they're arguing over the- oh there it goes." Shang sighed, noting one of the steaks falling through the grill. "Now that's going to make this whole block smell like rancid meat…"
"It's almost as if he's trying to give Kano ammo to fire off on the community board." Erron shrugged.
"I still think that community message board was a bad idea." The Soul Sorcerer sighed. "The amount of crude posts and inappropriate images that ended up on there not a week after it's conception…"
"You posted most of those." Erron shot back matter-of-factly. Shang's eyes narrowed, as he tried to think of an excuse, but he finally seemed to concede to the teens point.
"Fine, maybe I was somewhat intoxicated at the time. But that's not counting what those idiots at Delta Kunai Ninja House posted. I'm just thankful none of the children had access to the board when that happened…"
"Yeah, I gotta agree with you there…" Erron muttered, remembering the… 'incident'. "Still, funny as hell though."
"To someone who finds such crude behavior amusing, perhaps." Shang Tsung replied, his tone the usual condescending drawl. Honestly, it kinda made Erron want to punch Shang Tsung, but at the same time, he respected him all the same. He was going to say something else when a familiar green brand appeared on the road, and a newcomer appeared.
"Hey Si, hey Django. I miss anything good?"
"Nah, just the usual stuff Chi." Erron shook his head, deciding it was time to move on. Maybe those Shokan's were doing something of interest. He left the two magic users to watch Raiden and Shao Kahn continue yelling back-and-forth, not knowing why this fight had begun, but knowing… well, it was only a matter of time until it had begun.
"As always… it has begun." Shang Tsung sighed, downing the rest of his drink.
"You need me to try and break it up?" Quan Chi asked, raising a brow and offering his 'mediator' services.
"No, no… it hasn't gotten to a physical confrontation yet." Shang Tsung said with a wave. "For now, it seems like it's another battle of the egos."
"Ah. So, the usual?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Shang Tsung was silent for a moment then added: "And stop looking so smug. This isn't that common."
"Sure."
"I thought you were on my side with this, why are you making fun of me?"
"Hey, if I was making fun of you, then you defiantly would've known by now." Quan Chi said in the utmost sincerity. "Also, you guys down to watch Three Ninjas sometime soon?" This got the reaction he wanted.
"You have three seconds to either apologize, or run."
Quan Chi lifted up his sunglasses and smirked, knowing all too well that Shang Tsung wouldn't do anything, but would certainly make threats nonetheless. He had known the magic user for over two decades now, and very rarely did Shang actually follow through on his threats. But when he did… it was something no one wanted to be caught in.
Raiden and Shao Kahn were still arguing, and most likely would be for a few hours, so Shang Tsung decided to let them have at it. Shao wouldn't listen to him, and wasn't going to back down until he either ran out of points or got bored. Both of which would take a long, long time.
Erron opened the door to his place and sighed, opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of cider. Unfortunately, it wasn't the heavy stuff, but it didn't much matter. It was cold, crisp and tasted great. Snapping the cap off, Erron flopped down on his couch and turned on the tv, kicked on Red Dead Redemption, and decided to ignore the argument still going on outside.
"-SMARTER THAN YOURS!"
"-DON'T LOOK LIKE THEY HAVE A CHEESE GRATER FOR A MOUTH-"
"-SOME ALBINO-ASS THUNDER CU-"
"WILL YOU TWO SHUT. UP!?"
Erron jerked up to attention as he looked out the window, knowing who had shouted, and was surprised by that fact. He looked out the window to see the local gym manager, Goro looking out from his home. He was clearly tired and most likely hungover.
"I'M TRYING TO SLEEP! KEEP IT DOWN OR I'LL SHATTER BOTH YOUR SPINES AND MAKE XYLOPHONES OUT OF YOUR RIBS!"
SLAM!
The neighborhood was now quiet, as everyone took in what had just happened. Shao Kahn just flipped Raiden off and went back to his steaks. Raiden growled something inaudible and then left, carrying Liu Kang with him.
"I hate this town…" Erron muttered, noticing his cider had been spilt. Going back to the fridge, he tried to ignore everything around him, but that wasn't gonna happen.
"Hey kid."
"Hey Kano."
"Can you believe that helmeted asshole!?" Kano grumbled, drinking a beer. "There's over seven dozen ways to cook a steak-"
"-and he's doing all of them wrong at once." Erron Black finished, knowing the tirade Kano was about to go off on. Again.
Continuing to mutter and type another angry message to the community board, Erron went back to his game, just trying to relax, and be 'free'. It was harder than you'd expect in this town, but whatever…
Across town, Kabal skidded to a stop outside of one of the houses, and opened his messenger bag. He found a bundle of mail for the residents here and tossed it into the mailbox, then ran off again. He made a note to ask Erron what 'Kyonyū no on'nanoko' meant, as he had delivered a bunch of magazines here with that title. But they were in a gray bag so he couldn't see the covers of the magazines… Regardless, he took off to the next location as one of the residents of Delta Kunai Ninja House came out to collect the mail.
"Just another day…" He muttered, taking the mail and looking around, seeing the residents doing their own thing, he turned around and headed back into his shared home. He knew that the fight between Raiden and Shao Kahn wasn't going to be the only fight today…
"NOOB! Stop leaving your black sludge on my food!" A man shouted from inside the house.
"And… here we go." The man in blue sighed, rubbing his face.
Chapter 1, down. More to come soon!