Chapter Twelve
After what seemed like a long night, the morning finally came. The fighters in the tournament received their notices of when, where, and what time they were fighting. The only two mysteries to each of them were who they were going to fight that day, and whether or not they were going to make it to round two.
In the cave, the fighters there also got their notices. Earlier, Raiden and Rose, silently working together to avoid any more conflict, collected the mortals' cards and pinned one on each room's curtains for them to see when they woke up. Only three of the fighters in the cave were scheduled for a match today.
"Woo hoo!" cried out Cody holding up his card. "My match is this afternoon!"
"That's nice," replied Guy looking at his card. "I don't fight for another two days."
"That's too bad," said Maki holding her card. "Because I fight today as well. The best part is, the courtyard is near the beach area."
"Big deal, a beach is too generic... too bad that's where I'll be too," Cody mentioned. "But one thing is for sure, I bet we'll kick major butt today."
"I wonder who else is going to fight today?" Maki wondered.
Meanwhile in his room, Wagner was putting on his green tank top. His card indicated that he was going to be fighting in the indoor arena in about two hours. He had hoped that he would have another day or two before his time came, but his wish did not prevail. At least, however, he can get it over with for a while before the next round, if he won today.
Just as Wagner stood up and was about to grab his jeans to put over his boxers, a female voice was heard from behind the heavy velvet curtain. "Wagner, you there?"
He recognized it as Sonya's voice and since they already knew each other, he decided not to bother with putting his jeans on. "Come in!"
Sonya pulled the curtain sideways and stepped in. "Good morning. Did you get your card?"
"I did," Wagner answered. "I'm fighting in a couple of hours."
"Awesome. I won't be fighting today, so I'll be cheering you on at the sidelines."
"Cool."
"Oh by the way," Sonya continued. "I believe that we'll be having a little group meeting tomorrow between your team, my team, Interpol, and the Delta Red team. I had the feeling that Delta Red would be joining us, but it's not anything official."
"That's all right, but I believe that the more help we get for this mission, the better," Wagner said.
"True. Anyway, good luck in your match today"
"Thanks."
Both of them started to turn around, but when Wagner did, he suddenly lost his footing and fell forward. As with any other person's normal instinct, he threw his hands out and when he did, he grabbed on to the side hems of Sonya's thin pajama pants. With the force of his fall, he ended up ripping the legs of the pants and completely shredding them into three pieces.
Sonya gasped as she heard the rip. "MY PANTS!" she cried out. She then saw Wagner's jeans laying on his cot. She kicked off her pants, grabbed them, and put them on before Wagner could even get up.
When he did, Wagner saw that Sonya was now wearing his best fighting jeans. "Hey, those are my-"
"Well, there's no way I was going to go out showing off my undergarments!" Sonya exclaimed. Then, briefly, she looked down at them, then a mischievous grin came upon her face. "You know, I like these, I think I'll wear them today." With that, she quickly left the room.
"Wait!" Wagner cried out, but then realized it was no use. Besides, she seemed like the type who would be dominate in a fight with a guy like him.
Then a thought came to him. 'Damn, I really hope I don't have to fight anyone like her!'
With that, Wagner sighed and walked over to his suitcase to look for another pair of jeans. He pushed some of his clothes over to begin his search. After about a minute, he started to take his clothes out of his suitcase quickly.
I could've sworn I brought way more than that!he thought to himself.
Soon, he got to the bottom of the suitcase and only saw one piece of clothing left… a pair of blue sweatpants. Wagner took them out and instantly recognized them. He hadn't wore them since before he joined the Air Force. It was guaranteed that they weren't going to fit him, but other than the jeans that Sonya just took from him, what else could he wear?
I KNOW I brought my other jeans with me! Then a thought came to Wagner, thinking of a well-known friend on the base, a practical jokester to put it that way. I'm so going to kill Randy when I get back!
Two Hours Later, Indoor Arena
The indoor arena in the palace grounds was filled with a large ground along with four Shadow Priests in each corner of the ring. The entire room, including the ground, seats, even the ropes around the fifty yard round ring, were all made of gold. A few plants surrounded a throne-like chair, the chair that everyone knew belonged to Shang Tsung or whoever else was going to host the matches. Everyone else would be sitting on forty feet stadium seats which surrounded the ring. Those who were fighting that day in this particular arena were given the privilege to get a front view, if they like to, while everyone else sat further back.
People talked amongst themselves. Unfortunately for Wagner, he was trying to hide the fact that he was wearing his uncomfortable pants. The pants were indeed tight, but not tight enough that they were guaranteed to rip… yet. The ankles parts, unfortunately, were above his ankles, but he had the feeling that it would be the least of his worries. With him were Guile, Sonya (still wearing his jeans just to tease him), Cammy and her team. He recognized some of the other contenders from his cave, but none who he knew very well as of now.
Soon, drums were being played. Everyone expected Shang Tsung to arrive, but instead, a figure in a black robe glided to the throne and stood in front of it. It would seem that Shang Tsung had not chosen to host the indoor arena's tournament for the day, but rather a Shadow Priest.
The Shadow Priest looked at everyone at the tournament. "Greetings. The Blood Tournament begins and will last until sunset tonight." It let silence ring through the air for a moment before continuing. "There are only two ways to defeat your opponent. They must either fall into unconsciousness or pushed completely out of the ring. If firearms are found, or you leave the ring with your own will, you will be automatically disqualified from the match as well as the tournament. If you kill your opponent, the match will be considered undetermined and you can no longer participate for the remainder of the tournament."
Another pause came by for a few moments. Finally, the moment the fighters have been waiting for came as the Priest called out the first fighter's name.
"Kira!" it called out.
Kira was surprised that she was going to fight the first of the series of matches that were going to take place, but that surprise soon passed just as quickly. She got herself up and walked to the middle of the ring with out much more thought. She knew that this part of the tournament was going to be the easy part because it was the first of many matches to come.
Soon, the Priest called her opponent's name. "Pandora!"
A tanned woman with long blue hair about her age stepped into the ring. She had her hair tied up in a high ponytail and wore a long sleeve white shirt that showed off her toned stomach. She also wore a white mini skirt with black stockings and white boots. In her hands were two silver batons with blue jewels on each end.
Kira smirked a little, realizing that Pandora was asking for a weapon combat. With that, the red-haired woman took out her two dragon teeth knives from her boots.
On the sidelines, Kabal and Havik, who wore a large hood over his head to conceal his face, watched as their ally got ready for her fight. Havik slightly peaked over at Kabal. "Are you sure she can do this? You had mentioned that she hasn't been with the Black Dragon very long."
Kabal nodded with confidence. "Do not worry yourself. Kira has proven herself worthy to be in the clan. I would not have brought her here with us if I had not believed in her."
"Good. We must continue with our plan for eternal chaos."
The Black Dragon leader nodded to his mentor in agreement.
As soon as the two women got into position, they both waited for the co-host's call. It seemed like forever before the Priest called out, "BEGIN!"
Both women raised their weapons up to their faces, then slowly circled around each other. Neither one of them took their eyes off of one another.
Finally, it was Pandora who made the first move. With only the sounds of her footsteps following, she ran towards Kira, then quickly brought her batons forward in hopes of hitting her opponent. However, Kira was quicker than she thought and the red-haired woman managed to block the incoming attack, the sounds of steal colliding with steal was heard around the room.
Back and forth this went on. It would seem that both women were quite even in their combat skills. Neither one of them weren't able to dominate the other just yet as their weapons continued to collide with one another.
Then, Pandora stepped back a couple of feet. Kira couldn't understand what that was all about. Never the less, she wasn't about to lose right now. But just before she could maneuver towards her, Pandora suddenly threw her left hand down towards the ground. At the last second, Kira noticed the small marble that came out of her opponent's hand, but before the female member of the Black Dragon could react, an explosion was heard, nearly startling those watching the battle.
Smoke immediately surrounded Kira, forcing her into a coughing frenzy. She tried to see through the smoke, but to no avail. The smoke was getting into her eyes forcing her to close them.
Damn it! she thought angrily.
Suddenly, Kira felt a hard kick to her back sending her flying out of the ring of smoke. She let out a small gasp in shock as she landed face first into the ground and losing her grip on her knives. The Black Dragon member quickly rolled onto her back just in time to see Pandora nearly flying out of the now disappearing smoke. When she was just above her, Kira immediately put both of her feet out at the last second and managed to land a blow just under Pandora's chin.
The pain shot through Pandora as though she was just hit by a truck. She yelped in pain as she lost her grip on her batons and fell back. Kira quickly got herself up then. She walked a few feet over to Pandora, then, with as much force as she can manage, brought her foot down to her stomach. Pandora screamed out in pain and quickly rolled away. Kira walked over to her once again and was about to land another blow with her foot, but then Pandora rolled out of the way again causing Kira to step on the ground instead.
With all the strength she had left, Pandora managed to quickly get herself up just as Kira was about to kick her. She blocked the incoming attack and soon the two exchanged various moves, with each woman blocking the other following up with an attack of their own, and so forth.
Finally, after about a minute, Kira managed to get the upper hand and landed a punch into Pandora's face. The small shock coming from her gave Kira the opportunity to be in control of the battle. She landed blow after blow into Pandora with each punch and kick she delivered. At one point, Kira noticed that her opponent was starting to bleed through her nose, but that only made the red-haired woman work in that area to send more pain into Pandora.
It was then that Kira noticed that the two of them were close to the edge of the ring. She remembered that one of the two ways to win the battle was to knock your opponent out of the ring. With that thought, Kira mentally smirked.
With a quick kick to the stomach, Pandora let out a small yelp and flew a few feet back and out of the ring before landing on to the ground. After a quick recovery, Pandora looked at Kira in anger while the red-haired woman smirked at her.
The Shadow Priest stood up then. "Winner: Kira!" It called out.
Those who watched clapped after the winner was announced. Pandora looked down on the ground in shame as Kira made her way out of the ring and back towards her allies Kabal and Havik.
"Well done Kira," Havik whispered so that no one around was to hear him. "I now see why Kabal views you as the greatest of the Black Dragon clan."
Kira kept her smirk as a reply to her leader's advisor.
Meanwhile, nearby, Wagner stretched his arms out. "Can't wait to see who fights next."
"It may be you, kid," replied Guile.
"Nah. I have the feeling that I won't be fighting for a while, knowing how impatient I can get."
After being silent for sometime, the Shadow Priest called out the next fighter. "Myra!" it called out.
A young human woman with long brown hair tied back into a braid stepped into the ring. She wore a red spaghetti-stringed tank top (which nearly didn't cover much), really short jeans, and sneakers. The fact that she was showing off caused most of the men in the audience to whistle at her. However, Myra was enjoying the attention and she replied by smiling and waving at everyone.
"She looks easy to beat," said Cammy. "Too bad I'm not fighting until tomorrow."
"Yeah," said Wagner who thought he was nearly drooling by the site of Myra. "However, seeing that so many men like her, I'm going to feel sorry for the one male to has to fight her…"
"Wagner!" the Shadow Priest suddenly called out.
Wagner paused for a moment before saying, "Oh good, I'm the lucky one." He got himself up and walked into the ring.
"You can do it!" Cammy called out as his allies cheered on for him.
The young Sergeant kept his eyes on Myra, as did she the same with him. He heard the small chuckles coming from the female audience and knew that it had to do with the bottom half of his attire. However, he ignored it. Once he was a few feet away from her, he got into a fighting stance.
Myra let out a small chuckle. "This will be easier than I thought," she said with a Hispanic accent as she got into a fighting stance.
"Don't expect it to be that easy," replied Wagner. "Now, normally I don't like to fight girls, I personally think it's disrespectful. However, if a girl, like yourself, really wants to fight, then let's go."
Once again, Myra chuckled. "I'm glad that I'll be fighting a respectful man then." She then slightly looked down. "My, aren't you a big boy."
Wagner was confused for a second by what she just said. That was until he noticed where she was eying him. Stupid pants, he growled to himself.
However, Myra wasn't about to wait for the Shadow Priest to call out the start of the match. She quickly covered the few feet that was in between then and attempted to deliver a kick to Wagner's head. However, the military soldier managed to counter it just before he was hit.
The first minute of the fight consist of Myra on offense and Wagner on defense. During that time, Wagner noticed his opponent's dance-type moves and was mostly using her legs to deliver her move-sets. Soon, Wagner was able to grab her arm, turn her around, and got her in an arm lock, her back leaning onto his chest.
"Ah!" Myra cried out as she tried to get out of the lock. Wagner applied more pressure on the hold, but then Myra managed to kick back into his right shin. The pain that shot through him caused him to lose his grip on her arm.
The Sergeant held on to his leg, but still kept his eye on his opponent. He noticed the determination on Myra's face, then her stance. With her right arm and leg, she quickly bend her arm forward and brought her right leg across her left. Then, she spread them apart and repeated with her left arm and leg.
Capoeira, Wagner thought as he recognized the stance. Indeed he heard about the fighting style, but he never fought an opponent who used that style before.
While keeping her rhythm, Myra went straight back to Wagner. She attempted another kick to his shin, but he managed to block that as well. He then managed to grab her leg with both hands, but then Myra used her free leg, jumped off the ground with it, and landed a hard kick to his face. She landed back hands first as Wagner let out an 'oof!' and landed hard on his side.
Quickly, Myra managed to get herself on top of her opponent and pin his arms down. "You know," she whispered to him so that no one else could hear her. "Every time I look at you, I think you're getting bigger."
Oy, Wagner thought to himself while rolling his eyes. He knew that Myra was trying to distract him so that she was able to get the upper hand in the fight. He wasn't about to let that happen though.
With the widest grin he could muster, Wagner decided to play along and replied, "I really appreciate you admiring my good looks, beautiful."
Myra was almost taken aback when he called her 'beautiful' and even felt herself blush, but she quickly regained her composure. "Eh... we should continue the fight." With that, she quickly pinched his behind.
"What the-" Wagner muttered as he felt the pinch. However, the quickly distraction worked for Myra and she landed a punch into Wagner's face.
After a couple of more quickly punches, Wagner got back into his senses. He lifted his left foot up, placed it on Myra's stomach, and managed to push her off of him and sent her flying over and on to the ground over his head.
As the Sergeant got up, he realized that he almost fell for his opponent's mind games and felt anger with himself. With the anger coming in, yellow electric sparks began to cover his right hand.
Myra shook off the pain and sat up. She noticed Wagner's right hand and immediately got up.
"Keiyou Handou!" Myra cried out. She lifted her leg and performed a roundhouse kick in the air. As she did, green energy surrounded her leg, and with that, a boomerang-shaped projectile came out from her shin and quickly headed towards Wagner.
Wagner saw the incoming projectile and dodged out of the way, as did the audience behind him. The green energy passed through the corner between the main throne and one set of the stadium seats. Luckily, the projectile missed everyone and everything and disappeared just before it could hit the wall.
Damn it! Myra cried out in her head, but before she could recover from that, Wagner managed to punch her. She felt the shocks from his arm going through her and she felt paralyzed. All she could do is prepare for Wagner's next move.
"Rising Kick!" he called out. He jumped and performed two somersaults bringing himself and Myra about ten feet into the air.
Soon, Wagner landed safely back on the ground and Myra landed hard and falling into unconsciousness. After a brief moment, the Shadow Priest noticed that Myra wasn't getting up, so it got up itself from the throne.
"Winner: Wagner!" it called out. The audience clapped as it dawned on the Sergeant that he won the battle. He sighed to himself in relief and walked back to where his allies were.
"Great job, soldier!" Sonya cried out. Wagner only nodded as he sat back down.
"Hey," Cammy said with a smile. "I think she liked you."
"Uh huh," Wagner replied spitting his tongue out. It was then that he looked past her shoulder. For a brief moment, he noticed a female figure with shoulder-length blonde hair and wore a green attire. He couldn't make out the exact outfit because he was sitting down and everyone was blocking his view. He stood up, but by that time, she suddenly disappeared into the audience.
Cammy noticed the puzzled looked on her surrogate brother's face. "Is anything wrong?" she asked with concern.
Wagner heard her then. He quickly shook his head and sat back down. "I thought I saw someone… but it was just in my imagination…"
Outdoor Courtyard
Shang Tsung stood up from his throne as a fighter was quickly throne out of the ring. "Winner: Cody Travers!"
"Yeah!" Cody cried out in victory as the people around him clapped. However, the truth was that Cody was kind of disappointed by the results of his fight.
His opponent went by the name of Taint, who was a dunpeal… half human, half vampire. Just by that status alone, Cody had thought that he was going to have a very worthy challenge. However, Taint only proved to Cody that he was nothing more than an amateur fighter.
It had to be under two minutes since the match began when Cody managed to throw him out of the ring with a Criminal Uppercut (which created a small tornado that lifted Taint up and out of the ring). He had the feeling that those clapping were the ones who were very relieved that the boring fight was quickly over.
Cody sighed to himself and returned to where Guy was. Along with him was Maki who had Sakura, Asuka, Mika, and Ibuki with her.
"Yay Cody!" cried out Asuka.
"Um, thanks," Cody replied as he stood next to his best friend. He then whispered so only Guy could hear. "Did Maki have to bring her new friends with her?"
Guy shrugged to that. "You know what, she needs some female friends during our time here anyway. I'm sure she gets sick of us after a while."
"Maybe," Cody replied with a shrug just as Shang Tsung began to speak again.
"The next battle shall begin," the sorcerer announced. He then stayed silent for a moment in order to build up suspense for the watchers.
"Maki!" he called out then. Maki smiled, relieved that she was finally next to fight. She took out her batons and walked into the ring.
"Go Maki!" her new friends cried out. As she walked towards the middle, Maki then noticed the Lee siblings, Yun, Yin, and Yang, about a few feet back amongst the audience. In her head, she frowned to herself, realizing that she has not said hello to them since they arrived in Outworld. She decided to take the opportunity then, so she smiled and waved to them.
All three of them noticed the gesture and waved back. She waved to me! Yang cried out in his mind. He then realized what he thought and regained himself, but was thankful that he didn't end up saying that out loud.
It was then that Yin noticed something. "Um, Yang, why are you blushing?"
"Huh," Yang muttered as he turned his head to face his brother and sister. He felt his face turning hot then and cursed himself. "I, eh, it's really hot out, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" asked a surprised Yun. "It's practically freezing. I wish I bought a jacket with me."
"Yeah, the weather is perfect despite the purple sky," Yin replied. Then a thought came to her and she angrily asked, "You weren't thinking about Maki being nude, were you?"
"What?" Yang called out in shock.
He was then saved by the sorcerer when he called out the next opponent. "Master Christopher!"
After the announcement, a tall young man stepped into the ring. He wore nothing by a black speedo with black boots, elbow pads, and knee pads. His muscles were extremely well developed and Yin thought that she was going to faint in a second. That was until he showed off his cocky grin and began flexing his muscles to everyone. Some of the girls in the audience screamed for him in response.
Show off, Yin thought with a roll of her eyes. Then, she heard Yun cough loudly and could've swore that she heard him say, 'steroids' during the second cough.
Despite his muscles and baby face, Maki wasn't fazed at all by him. She had the impression that he was too cocky for his own good by the way he showed himself off to the audience. However, fighting him may be a different story. She would know soon enough.
The two of them exchanged glances and Maki had the feeling that something wasn't right. She quickly shook the thought out of her head and the two of them got into a fighting stance.
"Begin!" Shang Tsung called out after a brief moment.
Not wanting to wait any longer, Maki immediately jumped towards her opponent and aimed her batons at him. With a smirk, Master Christopher grabbed onto one of her batons and with all of his strength, he managed to throw her across the ring.
"Aahhh!" Maki cried out before landing in the sand. She quickly recovered, still holding on to her second baton, and got herself up. She noticed Master Christopher running towards her with her other baton. Immediately, Maki performed a high kick and managed to knock the weapon out of his hand.
"Nice kick, kitten," Maki heard him say before attempting a punch to her face. Maki immediately blocked that move, but then Master Christopher grabbed her arm and quickly turned her back towards him. He managed to wrap his arms around her abdomen and got her in a tight bear hug.
Despite the sheering pain of her opponent's grip, Maki tried her best to get out of it, despite the fact that he was a foot taller than her.
"That's right," Master Christopher sneered. "Struggle for me. I love it when women struggle."
"You sick bastard!" Maki growled. She lifted her free hand and managed to pinch him under his arm as hard as she could. Maki was relieved that the plan worked as Master Christopher growled in pain and let her out of the grip. Maki quickly jumped a few feet back from him to recover.
"Go Maki!" she heard her friends cry out. Just to hear that gave Maki more confidence that she would win this fight, despite the height and weight difference between her and her opponent.
I can do this, she thought with confidence.
It was then that Master Christopher managed to recovery from the pain in his arm and let out a roar before running towards Maki. He attempted various punches and kicks, but Maki was more prepared this time and managed to block them.
This went on for a minute until Master Christopher managed to duck down from one of Maki's punches and performed a sweep kick knocking his female opponent down. The sudden fall forced Maki to lose her grip on her other baton.
With his foot, Master Christopher forced Maki to roll over onto her stomach. Then, he laid on top of her, wrapped his arms underneath her own, then placed his hands behind her neck. Finding herself in another lock, Maki tried her best to get out of it.
"Is this all you can do is grapple on to people?" Maki growled.
Master Christopher smirked. "But you know you like to be grappled," he whispered close into her ear. Then, he grinded his body against her a little. The sleeze balls closest to view noticed this and began whistling.
In the audience, the Lee siblings watched in disgust. "I'd like to know how that jerk got into the tournament," said Yin.
"Who knows," replied Yun. "Probably some stupid friend of his invited him along or something."
Yang decided not to get involved in the conversation. A bit of anger filled within him. He had the urge to jump into the ring and beat the living daylights out of of Maki's opponent himself, but he had the feeling that he would be disqualified. Also, he felt that maybe Maki didn't want him to risk that either.
Surprisingly, Shang Tsung stood up and called out, "Enough of these games!"
Master Christopher looked up in surprise, not even realizing that he had let go of Maki. "I'm not playing any games, you old fool!" he cried out angrily.
Before the sorcerer could do anything about the mortal fool, Maki had grabbed her baton and bashed Master Christopher as hard as she could in the back of the head, immediately blacking him out. His unconscious body fell forward into the sand face first and he soon laid motionless.
Shang Tsung smirked a little. Maki took care of business for him for now. However, he was going to take care of Master Christopher later on tonight. "Winner: Maki!"
Some clapped, others whistled. Feeling humiliated, Maki grabbed her other baton and ran back towards her friends.
"Maki!" her female friends cried out noticing the tears that were developing in her eyes. Cody and Guy both walked up to either side of her to give her comfort.
"That jerk!" Maki cried out. "Why would he do that during a match?"
"Don't worry about him," said Guy. "He may be strong, but he'll never know honor."
"He's right," said Ibuki. "Honor is one that truly matters when you're a warrior."
Maki sighed a little. "Yeah... you're right."
That was when Yun, Yang, and Yin arrived. Maki smiled a little realizing the support she was getting.
"Are you all right, Maki?" asked a very concerned Yang.
It was then that Maki felt tears swelling in her eyes. "I am now, thank you."
"Let's get out of here," suggested Cody. Everyone agreed as the next battle began.
Underground Lair
"My, you're an interesting man," a woman in black ninja clothing spoke as she stepped into the ring. "You're indeed going to be a worthy challenge."
Her opponent, Vega Fabio De Cerna, turned to face her, revealing that he was wearing his infamous white mask in which he used to protect his face from damage. The woman before him was one that was beautiful, but knew by looks alone that she was a deadly warrior. Her dark eyes were filled with determination as she raised her kunais to get herself into a fighting stance. Vega raised his claw and got into his own stance.
Watching from his throne on a balcony, away from prying eyes, was Shao Kahn himself. He looked at both Vega and the girl who went by the name of Jackala (which he assumed was a female form of 'Jackal'). He sensed strong potentials in both fighters, though the truth was that only one of them will win this battle… and that one would be worthy to join his growing forces.
The battles in the underground lair were designed for fighters who Shao Kahn believed would be truly worthy of becoming his generals of his Outworld Forces. The fighters were randomly chosen and were called to the lair near sunset. A few worthy battles have already been displayed in front of him and the small audience.
However, Shao Kahn had the feeling that this next battle was going to be no ordinary one. Both fighters displayed the same drive… and even the same outlook, as the Emperor could sense. Whoever was going to win this battle was going to have the privilege to be a future General, whether they had the choice or not.
After that thought, Shang Tsung (long finished with the battles in the Courtyard) stood up from his own throne and called out, "Begin!"
Without wasting any more time, both Vega and Jackala jumped after each other in what seemed like unimaginable speed. Once they were less a foot away, Vega bounced off the ground and flew high into the air and towards the only wall covering the four corners of the ring. Jackala was a bit confused after that, looking around to see where her opponent jumped off to.
Vega bounced off the wall and headed back down towards the unsuspecting Jackala, claws aimed and ready to taste blood. Jackala turned to face him just in the neck of time. She quickly moved over that he would only pass her. In the process, she slashed a kunai in the air, manage to cut Vega a little in the arm.
However, the pain that came from the cut did faze Vega much… only as long as she didn't aim at his 'beautiful' face.
"Not bad," the female ninja said. "You're much quicker than I thought."
Vega let out a small, high-pitched laugh. "And you are much more beautiful than I thought." He then lifted his claw in the air once again. "However, that will not stop me from slicing you into pieces."
At that, they charged towards each other again. They slashed their weapons at one another only having the other either dodging it or blocking the weapon from contacting their skin.
As the two continued back and forth, Shao Kahn nearly smirked underneath his helmet. He officially declared in his mind that out of all the battles he had seen so far, this took the cake. He even thought that the future battles afterwards may not live up to this one.
But whatever was to happen, he would have the winner as his General… one way or the other.
The sound of metal hitting metal along with some grunts from the fighters were continued to be heard in the room. Another minute went by before Jackala made a mistake. As she aimed her kunai at her male opponent's torso, Vega lifted his claw in the opposite direction and managed to deep cut Jackala's cheek, blood immediately staining on both her face and his claw.
In shock, the ninja shrieked as the pain shot into her. She quickly backed away in order to recover for a moment. She expected Vega to come and attack her, but instead, she heard him chuckle from the other side of the ring. She looked up in time to see him take off his mask, his face now containing a sadistic grin.
"It was about time I got the chance to taste your sweet blood." And with that the matador lifted his claw to his face, then lick some of the blood off the left blade. Jackala stared in disgust as he tasted her own blood.
After that, Vega stared at Jackala and licked his lips. "Sweet, just as I thought."
For a moment, Jackala breathed in short breaths before letting out an angry shriek and charged towards Vega once again. Because of her sudden rage, her focus on the battle decreased, giving Vega a big advantage.
She swung her kunais violently, but Vega dodged them like a fly and a handful of times, he managed to cut her up in her arms, legs, torso, and back. He was careful not to puncture her, knowing that he may end up killing, which was, unfortunately for him, against the rules of The Blood Tournament.
After a while more of fighting, Jackala felt herself getting weaker by the second from the loss of blood. She tried to focus, but the more she did so, the blurrier her vision got.
Vega figured that the end was near. He quickly rolled forward on the ground and jabbed his claw forward leaving another wound in Jackala's left shoulder. The force pushed her back a few feet and she landed on the back into the ground.
The matador stood up as the ninja struggled to do the same. After nearly a minute, Jackala finally fell into unconsciousness with her blood starting to cover the ground.
Once he was sure, Shang Tsung stood up. "Winner: Vega!"
The small audience clapped for the winner. Now Shao Kahn felt the smirk creeping up to his lips as he eyed his winner.
"Excellent," he whispered out loud to himself. "He's indeed worthy to join me."
Even so, he decided not to approach Vega right away. He first wanted to see if there were any others as worthy as Vega was…