Ryou sighed as he heard Raiden yell at him, again. That's all the Thunder God seemed to be doing since the teens got there. There was always something wrong. Wrong angle, wrong combo, wrong formation. He was seriously getting mad.
But he knew that Raiden knew what he was doing. This would be his first tournament, and who knows how many Raidens watched.
Groaning, he flipped up and faced his opponent, Kitana. Kitana had her fans out by her sides, obviously ready to attack or defend. Leafs from the trees around the clearing were stuck in her long hair, making Ryou want to laugh. But now wasn't the time.
Kitana threw the fans at Ryou, not holding back at all. Ryou, thinking quickly, flipped over them and countered them with a kick. Kitana blocked, and making sure to have a firm hold on his ankle, turned her body and threw him in the other direction.
Not wanting his whole body to take the impact, Ryou maneuvered his body so that he did a back flip instead of falling full force.
"Good thinking Ryou." He heard Sonya's voice say in the small group to the right.
Bringing his attention back to Kitana, he saw that she retrieved her fans and was about to throw them again. Not wanting to be stuck on the defensive like he has been, he started running towards her. He watched as she threw the fans, and waited for the right moment. When it seemed they were about to hit him, he dropped and slid under the fans. Letting out a grunt as the feel of the hard earth digging into his back, he aimed one leg at Kitana's left leg and the other at the right side of her torso.
He smiled as she became tangled in his legs, and quickly got stood back up with one of her fans in his hands. Holding it curled to her neck, he asked, "Give up?"
"Yes." She said as she smiled underneath the veil that covered her mouth. If anyone had every told her she would be taken out by a teen a few years back, she would have probably kicked their butts. But things have changed since then.
"How did I do?" Ryou asked as him and Kitana walked up to Raiden.
"Your getting better. I would suggest working on ways to counter high and low attacks, that seems to be you weakness.
Ryou nodded, happy that the Thunder God didn't have a whole lecture to give to him.
"Raiden, I think we should call it a day. I mean, we've been working non-stop for six hours. Do you wanna kill our new fighters before the tournament even starts?" Kitana joked and Raiden let a small smile on his handsome face.
"That is true. OK everyone, lets go back to the temple!" Raiden yelled across the temple.
"Actually is it OK if I work here a little longer? I'm feeling kinda restless." Ryou asked and saw Raiden nod before turning back.
"I'll stay to. I wanna have someone one on one time with my old buddy!" Malik yelled and Ryou couldn't stop the laugh. It was true, all the teens knew each other. Hell, they all hanged out at school and on weekends together. Along with a few others, they were best of friends.
"You won't be laughing soon once I beat the crap out of you." Malik joked.
"Oh really now?" Ryou asked as he turned his back.
"Yep." Malik said with a smile. But Ryou fixed that. He quickly spun back around and aimed a roundhouse kick right at the side of Malik's head.
Malik was just barely able to duck under it, when he was met with a upper cut that sent him flying. Ryou, not wanting to let him on the offensive, jumped in the air and did a three punch combo before kicking Malik in the gut.
Malik grunted as he hit the ground. Maybe he should have given Ryou a little more credit. Flipping back up, he quickly aimed a hit at Ryou's head which was easily blocked. He saw Ryou try to counter with a fist of his own, but he docked and swept Ryou's feat out from under him. It was Ryou's turn to hit the ground.
Smirking, Ryou jumped back up and kicked Malik in the gut. Going for another upper cut, he gasped as some type of pure white energy ball met Malik's face instead.
"Now that's just cold!" Malik said when he landed a few feet away.
Ryou just smiled innocently. But it was wiped off when a purple energy blast hit him.
"Not so funny now is it?" Malik asked with a smirk.
"Yes, it's hilarious." Said a dark voice to their left.
Both Ryou and Malik turned and saw two of the most beautiful, and hideous, things they have ever seen.
One was a pretty tall female, who was clothed in a light pink outfit exactly like Kitana's and Jade's. She had shoulder length black hair and piercing gold eyes. She also had a veil that covered the bottom part of her face.
Her partner was male. Or at least it looked male. When ever he opened his mouth, you could see ugly razor sharped teeth that looked like they could rip through anything. Including flesh. His eyes where the same as the woman's, and his voice seemed to come out in a hiss. He had on a tight white shirt and black pants.
"Who are you two?" Malik asked as he took a spot right in front of Ryou, just in case these weren't friends.
"My name's Mileena. And that's Baraka. But you won't be needing to memorize them." The girl in pink said.
"And why's that?" Ryou asked as he walked out from behind his human shield to the side of Malik.
"Because you two will be dead!" Baraka hissed before he jumped at Malik. Malik gasped as the monster kicked him to the side and followed him.
He looked at Ryou and saw him and the woman charging each other. Focusing back in his fight, he stood and blocked a blow to his face. He countered by delivering a elbow right to the things nose. He smirked when he heard a crack and the thing howl in pain. He watched as it staggered back a few feet and looked at Ryou to see how he was fairing.
The first thing Ryou learned about this woman was that she was fast. He was barely able to keep up with this woman who reminded him of Kitana. He watched as she back flipped away and could practically here the smirk that she was sporting underneath the veil when she saw Ryou gasping for breath. She came charging and tried to hit Ryou in the face, but Ryou just used her momentum and blocked the hit before monkey throwing her over his body.
Malik was forced to look back as he saw that Baraka got back on his feet. Baraka seemed even angrier now, and that was a pretty scary sight. However, the next sight was scarier. For in the next instant, twin blades sprout from Baraka's knuckles. And they were sharper and dangerous.
He only had a second to register this before Baraka was charging towards him with the twin blades poised to strike. Thinking quick, he threw and energy blast and jumped. He watched as Baraka focused on the energy ball and didn't see him jump. So when Baraka jumped, he was surprised to see a fist hit him head on. But when it landed, he fell to the ground, unconscious.
When Ryou got back up, he noticed that Mileena was reaching into the pockets of her outfit. Ryou got in a defensive position, ready for any attack Mileena would try. He was surprised though when Mileena pulled out two Sai blades, one in each hand.
Ryou noticed the muscles in Mileena's arms flex for a second, but that was enough of a warning he needed. Ducking, he watched as the two Sais flew over his head and sunk into a tree. Turning back, he was hit with a back fist to his face sending him to the grown.
Looking up from the ground, he saw that she was slowly approaching him with the two Sais she collected. He scrambled backwards, hoping to by him some time. When she was almost on top of him, he knew that he wouldn't live long enough to make it to the tournament. But he didn't want to die! No, he wouldn't die! He refused!
As she rose both her hands up and was about to bring them down, he did a move that he saw Sonya do when she was practicing with him when he was a kid. He quickly moved his body to where he was doing a hand stand and wrapped his legs around Mileena. Using all his strength, he used his legs to fling her over his body. When he was right side up, he turned expecting to see two Sais being thrown. Instead, he saw that she had hit a tree and had fallen unconscious.
"I think we had enough training, does the temple sound good to you?" Malik asked and with a quick nod from Ryou, the pair was running towards the temple in the distance.
End of Chapter
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