Chapter Twenty-Two
The Cave
Raiden sat on the chair in the lounge area and was feeling a bit frustrated. It was only the second day of round two of the tournament and he had hoped by then that they would find something concerning the exact whereabouts of Chishio No Me.
He knew that Shao Kahn was in possession of it and was hiding out somewhere in Outworld. A while ago, during one of the days of the tournament, Raiden, traveling alone, exploring Outworld and ended up in an area where Shao Kahn's original palace stood. He found it mostly abandoned.
It seems that he has moved to another location, the Thunder God thought. But where exactly?
Normally, if he was back in the Heavens, he would've been able to quickly find Shao Kahn's new location. However, even as a God, his powers were weaker here than anywhere else, so there was no possible way for him to find the new location.
He had vowed to find the medallion with the help of the mortals staying in this very cave with him. What he couldn't understand was why the Elder Gods felt that they shouldn't interfere when it was obvious that peril was ahead. He even announced that he would relinquish his status just to secure the realms.
The deity wondered how things would be once he returns to the Heavens.
Raiden was at least thankful that one Elder God understood; his friend Fujin. As a matter of fact, it was Fujin who suggested that he allied with Rose in order to have more of a chance to succeed.
Now why would he partner me up with a crazy woman like her? he thought a bit amused.
"Raiden!" a female voice cried out, sounding a bit angry. Raiden already figured out who it was.
Speak of the devil, he thought as he turned his head to face Rose. The psychic had her hands on her hips and, by the expression on her face, didn't look quite too happy.
"What are you doing sitting around?" Rose asked. "Shouldn't you be helping the boys out with their fishing trip?"
Raiden stared at Rose. "And shouldn't you be helping the girls out with berry picking?"
Rose ended up growling a little. "I was on my way to do that. However, I was told that a certain leader was sitting around doing nothing."
Normally, Raiden would continue with his smart remarks just to rile the woman up, but this time, he wasn't in the mood, not with everything that was on his mind. "Unfortunately, I have other things to do!" he exclaimed as he got up.
Rose watched as Raiden grabbed a heavy dark cloak. "And where are you going?" she demanded.
"I'm going to do something useful," he replied. "Our mission is going quite slow and I feel that we need more recruits. I'll be back in the evening."
With that, electricity surrounded Raiden and he disappeared before Rose could say another word. Once he was gone, she sighed to herself. For once, she actually felt bad for yelling at the Thunder God.
He does care about our real goal, she thought. I just wish that he was more serious about everything else…
Indoor Arena
A near kick sent Yoshimitsu pulling back, barely missing the attack. Another kick came after him forcing him to do two backwards flips before repositioning himself in his fighting stance, katana in hand.
He's a very good opponent to fight against, the katana wielder admitted to himself.
This particular match began only two minutes ago. Yoshimitsu stared at his opponent, the cyborg Smoke, who also got into his own stance, axe in hand. So far, the match had been mainly weapon to weapon with a few kicks coming from each fighter.
After a nearly one-minute stare down, Smoke finally decided to make the next move. He maneuvered himself over towards Yoshimitsu and once again, the two exchanged weapons moves, the sound of two crashing steels reaching the audience's ears. Smoke made a overhead swing, which Yoshimitsu blocked with his sword. They slightly pulled back and the clan leader swung his sword sideways, which Smoke blocked as well.
They continued to swing their weapons and block each other for a little while longer. Soon, Yoshimitsu received the upper hand when he managed to lift his leg, perform a round kick, and smacked Smoke's metal arm, forcing him to lose his grip on his axe. This quickly angered the cyborg. He made one flip forward, then proceeded a handful of swings with his fists at his opponent. Yoshimitsu quickly blocked the moves. He then followed with a left hook, which Smoke blocked.
Smoke then backed away, but not before leaving a cloud of black smoke in mid-air. This was meant to both blind his opponent and force them in an uncontrollable fury of coughs. However, Yoshimitsu saw this just in time and managed to back away a few feet to avoid the element.
As the black cloud evaporated into thin air, Smoke quickly disappeared in another puff of smoke. Yoshimitsu quickly looked around in confusion, but found Smoke too late when the cyborg reappeared behind him and performed an uppercut from the ground up. Yoshimitsu flew up in a diagonal angle, but as he began to fall back to the ground, he managed to catch himself, performing a backward somersault in the air before landing on the ground safely.
Smoke already was on his feet and got himself ready for his next move. However, it was Yoshimitsu's turn to pull off a move. He jumped up in the air, clasps his fists together (with one hand still holding his sword), and came crashing down towards the cyborg. Smoke saw this in time and dodged out of the way.
The cyborg straightened himself after the dodging, but by the time he got himself ready to fight again, he was suddenly met with the butt of Yoshimitsu's sword right to the face. Because of the force of the blow, Smoke was quickly knocked back on to the ground. The blow also damaged an internal mechanism and when Smoke was completely on the ground, he jolted a few times before shutting down.
Yoshimitsu looked down at Smoke as his own name was announced as the winner of the match. He already knew that, with cyborgs or any other type of robots, if they malfunctioned in mid-fight, it didn't count as a death because they were fixable by their rightful superiors. Because Smoke was a cyborg, the katana wielder was able to advance to the next round without worrying about a disqualification.
As Yoshimitsu stared at his opponent, a feeling came over him. Suddenly, he was able to sense something about Smoke. Though he knew nothing about the cyborg, Yoshimitsu felt that something wasn't right with him.
He pondered on this thought for a few more seconds before deciding to forget about it. He would most likely never see Smoke again after today anyway. Placing his katana back in it's scabbard, the clan leader stepped out of the ring and left the building.
That Evening In the Cave Area
After a whole afternoon of picking berries with all the girls in the cave, Yin walked over to the lake alone. When she reached the lake, she dipped her hands in them, whipping away the residue and the stickiness from the berries she picked. She let them stay underwater before rubbing them together.
That's better, she thought to herself.
Her mind wandered to yesterday at the tournament, when her brother Yun lost his match after being thrown out of the ring. She remembered when she and Yang went over to help him out, Yun seemed as though he was in a daze, as though he was…
Nah, couldn't be, Yin thought. Yun has much better taste in girls.
She remembered the time when Yun dated a girl named Hoimei, who once worked at the restaurant the brothers used to work at before Yin came to town. She was a sweet girl, though she could be a bit demanding at times. However, Hoimei and her younger sister Shaomei ended up moving out of the city and Hoimei broke the relationship off, leaving Yun heartbroken for a while.
That was over a year ago and Yun had been over it since. He would normally mention if he spotted a pretty girl, but that was it afterwards. However, yesterday at his match, he gave off a look towards his opponent that would be on anyone's face when they were…
No way! Yin thought while cringing. My brother couldn't be, not that fast!
"Yin!" a voice called out then, interrupting her thoughts. Yin turned around and noticed Maki coming up to her. The blonde woman had a smile on her face as she sat next to her friend.
"Hi Maki," Yin said. "Here to clean your hands too?"
"Yeah," Maki sighed as she dipped her hands into the lake. "As good as those berries taste, they can be really messy to handle."
"Tell me about it," the brunette agreed.
Maki took the time to clean her hands under the water before pulling them out. "I heard Yun didn't win his match. Well, at least I'm not the only loser in the cave."
Yin couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Don't worry about it. I'm sorry to hear you didn't make it though. However, Asuka tells me that you fought a really nice woman."
Maki nodded as she remembered her opponent Kitana. "Yeah. I guess you could say that I was honored to lose to a noble fighter. I hope she makes it far in the tournament. How was Yun's opponent?"
"Well… the opponent was female… tall… pretty… weird… she's not THAT special!"
Maki stared at Yin oddly after that comment. Yin noticed the stare then and felt a bead of sweat go down the side of her head. "Eh, sorry, I got carried away. It's a long story, really."
"That's all right," Maki said. She then looked down and noticed her nails. "Darn, my nail polish is peeling off."
Yin looked down and saw the remaining red nail polish on Maki's fingernails. "That shade of red is really pretty. It almost matches your fighting attire."
"Thanks," Maki nodded. She then looked down at Yin's nails, which weren't painted. "Say, I have an idea. Since this evening is going to be quiet, why don't you and I go inside and we can have our own manicure party."
Yin raised an eyebrow. "Gee, eh, I never had a manicure before."
"Don't worry about it," Maki said as she stood up. "Your nails are going to look really nice after and the best part is that it won't affect your cooking at all."
Yin laughed a little as she stood up as well. "I never said it was going to affect my cooking. Which reminds me… now that we have more berries, I can try to make some pies with them tomorrow."
"Great! Let's get started now before everyone gets back from whatever they're doing."
So the two female fighters began heading back to the cave for their own manicure party.
Main Palace
Sitting on a chair in front of a small lit fireplace, Raven stared down at the fire without any emotion on his face. His chin rested under his left hand as the intelligence agent let himself drift into thought.
It has been eleven days since he arrived in Outworld. Normally at this rate, he would find some sort of clue concerning his mission to find out more about the sorcerer and host of the tournament Shang Tsung. He had attempted to ask those who may be of help. But last night proved to be more dangerous than he expected.
One of the people he asked questions to attempted to assassinate him in the middle of the night. However, being a light sleeper, Raven was able to wake up in time in order to defend himself. The two fought for only a minute before Raven got the upper hand and managed to finish off his would-be killer mercilessly.
Although Raven was able to take the assassin down by himself, this only proved to him that he was putting himself in even more danger. Intelligence back at headquarters were not able to communicate with him due to the fact that their technology was never meant for inter-realm travels. He had been on his own ever since he came here.
It took him long to admit it, but Raven realized, for the very first time, that he needed help.
In his right hand, he held a manila envelope addressed to him. Before he arrived in San Francisco, he was in Miami, awaiting his flight there, when he was met with an officer who gave him the envelope. The officer had told him that he was only to open it if he felt that he was truly desperate.
Raven assumed that intelligence was going to have a situation like this. One thing was for sure… they were right.
Slowly, the agent opened the letter. He held white paper with both hands as he read the letter;
Raven,
This is your first time doing a mission in another world, the first for any of our agents. We are aware that you would be alone in this mission and that, due to lack of our own technology, we may not able to keep in contact with you.
Invitations to the tournament were passed around the world to the best of the best. We were informed that some members of the United States Air Force, the United StatesSpecial Forces, Hong Kong Interpol, and MI-6's Delta Red, were given invitations and will be attending the tournament. These members have been assigned to look into small terrorist groups that may hiding within Outworld and to find out any information behind the tournament.
We recommend that you meet with these members if you are truly desperate for assistance. We are confident that these members will assist you in your mission as you may also assist them in their mission.
We wish you luck on your assignment. Upon your return to Earth, please report to Headquarters immediately for further orders.
Sincerely,
-HQ.
P.S. - After reading, we strongly advise that you burn this letter immediately.
Raven looked up from the letter after reading. Throughout his entire career as an agent, he had never allied himself with anyone before, not even anyone in the same unit he was in. He wasn't too sure about it, but if this was what headquarters recommended, he might as well take it.
However, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to seek out the military and police unit just yet. There were countless fighters in the tournament and any one of them could be members of the police unit or military branch. He would have to search for them and try to get any information on his mission. That way, he didn't end up wasting time.
Following the order in the letter, Raven placed the paper back in the envelope, then tossed it in to the fireplace. The letter was quickly engulfed in flames. Soon after, it was nothing but hot, black ashes.
Underground Lair
"Adon!" Shang Tsung called out. A loud 'Yeah!' was heard as the Muay Thai fighter jumped over the ropes, ready for his match. He stepped towards the middle of the ring and punched the air a few times, feeling a bit pumped up. Adon felt quite confident in himself. He felt that no matter what was thrown at him, he would be able to take on his upcoming opponent.
Soon, his opponent's name was announced. "Havik!"
Adon searched for his opponent, ready to fight. Once he spotted the cleric of chaos, a bit of disgust came over the Muay Thai fighter, noting the missing flesh that should've covered the bottom half of his face. Havik walked over to the middle of the ring and stopped just a few feet from Adon. Silently, he got into his fighting stance.
Not only is he ugly, Adon thought. But he's practically rotting alive! This match is going to be easier than I thought! He then got into his Muay Thai stance, both fists leveled at his face and one leg off the ground.
"Begin!" Shang Tsung announced, interested in how the fight will turn out.
Not wanting to waste any time, Adon jumped forward and attempted quick jabs with his fists before delivering countless kicks to his opponent. Havik, immediately forced on defense, blocked the incoming moves that came. After a little while, Adon began to feel frustrated.
Why can't this moron budge? he yelled in his mind.
Just as his thought finished, he suddenly felt a kick to the side, forcing him to stumble a few feet to the side. Adon looked over at Havik. Even with no lips, he could've sworn that his opponent was currently grinning at him.
"Chaos lies within you," Havik mentioned as he got back into his fighting stance. "Continue to embrace it, for Chaos is the way."
"You're crazy!" Adon cried out.
"Why, thank you!" Havik replied, taking the intended insult as a compliment.
The comment angered Adon even more. He quickly lept up in the air, placed one foot out, and in quick speed, darted down diagonally towards Havik.
"Jaguar kick!" he cried out. To his delight, he managed to strike Havik in the face, sending him crashing onto the floor. Adon landed back on his feet, then followed with a single backflip. As he finished the flip, Havik had rolled back and quickly got back on his feet again, ready for more.
Adon went after him again, throwing speedy high kicks at Havik. Havik was once again forced to defend himself, blocking all the moves that were thrown at him. When he finally found an opening, Havik clenched his fists, spread them out, and twists his torso 360 degrees! Adon was hit twice by the move, forcing him to fall back. The Muay Thai fighter looked at him, stunned by what just happened as Havik returned back to normal anatomy.
"What the hell was that?" Adon cried out surprised.
"You haven't seen anything yet," Havik said. He then took both of his hands, placed them around his head, and managed to break his neck without much effort. He kept it like for a couple of seconds before fixing his neck to it's normal position.
Adon growled in anger, realizing that Havik was taunting him. "No one mocks me!" He got himself up and ran back towards him. In a furious rage, Adon attacked Havik with punches and kicks and had managed to get a few blows on Havik, though it seemed to have little effect on the Chaosrealm native.
Havik once again saw an opening and used his fist to punch Adon. The punch came to Adon as a surprise and he ended up turning his entire body 180 degrees. As his back was turned to him, Havik took out his morning star… a weapon that had a ball with sharp spikes on them.
The Muay Thai fighter felt his lip bleeding, but ignored that fact as he began to turn around. Before he could completely face his opponent, however, he suddenly felt a couple of spikes impale into the left side of his cheek and jaw, blood immediately oozing out from the wounds.
Feeling the intense pain from the blow, Adon screamed and cursed as he held on to his face, the blood now dripping down his hand. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"he screamed out in rage.
Havik quickly grabbed him then. The cleric of Chaos lifted him up over his head, then threw him, sending Adon right out of the ring, the maneuver automatically declaring him the victor.
"Winner: Havik!" Shang Tsung announced.
When the winner was announced, the pain in Adon's face suddenly seemed to go away as his anger began to blind him. He quickly got up and attempted to go back in the ring to attack Havik, but he was then stopped by the viewers surrounding him.
"Get off me!" Adon cried out as they pushed him back. Havik only watched in amusement as Adon was pushed towards the back of the crowd and left the building by force.
"May Chaos live on forever," Havik whispered before leaving the ring.
Outside The Cave
The sun was halfway from setting behind the mountains in the distance for the night. Though it was mostly beginning to get dark, it was still light enough to see one's way around.
Sitting in front of the open campfire, Alex set up the fire stand over the flames before placing the frying pan on it. "Nothing sounds better than chicken and cheese taquitos right now... even though I'm sure the chicken is going to taste like crap."
A can of chicken and a can opener was handed to her. Alex took the two items as she looked over at Kenshi. When she had invited him to join her at the campfire, she was surprised that he took her up on the offer, but she figured it was most likely because she happened to catch him when he was starving. Despite being colleagues, rarely did he accept invites to 'hang out' with the other soldiers of Special Forces, preferring to spend his free time in quiet solitude.
"So where did you get the can?" he asked curiously.
Alex couldn't help but smirk to herself. "Let's just say that I'm quite sure Sonya can survive without one can of chicken." She then used the can opener to open up the can before using a fork to scoop the chicken out and on to the flat tortillas which were on cooking sheets.
"Something tells me that Sonya will notice anyway," Kenshi mentioned.
"I wouldn't be surprised." Alex then rolled the tortillas before placing them in the frying pan. She then took the spatula in her hand and began to wait. She decided to continue the conversation in the meantime. "Wow, so we both managed to make it to the next round."
Kenshi nodded. "You sound surprised."
"Well… you advancing is not surprising, but I didn't think I'd make it that far. Well, I already know that I'm not going to win this tournament anyway. There are so many good fighters… then again, this is my first time actually attending a tournament and I wasn't even invited."
"What matters is that you've made it as far as you did," Kenshi mentioned. "There are many fighters who came to this tournament in hopes of winning, but never even made it to the second round."
Alex nodded in agreement then as she turned the taquitos over. "I guess I should be grateful after all then."
The two fell silent then, unsure of how to continue the conversation. The smell of chicken consumed their senses and Alex took a moment to enjoy the smell. It was the type of smell that would make anyone more hungry. After a few minutes, she decided to add the cheese on top of the taquitos.
"So," Alex began, trying to begin a new conversation with the free agent. She briefly let herself think before she finally came up with a subject. "Do you have any family back in Japan?"
Kenshi sighed to himself. "I did… a long time ago. My grandfather was also a swordsman and had trained me with both the way of the sword and Tai Chi. I lived with him until I was fifteen when he passed away."
As he continued his story, Alex noticed that the cheese was melted. She removed the pan from the fire stand, then set it down on the cooking sheet so that they would have a few minutes to cool off. "What about your parents?" she asked.
"… My mother died when I was young. My father had disappeared before I was even born, so I never knew him."
Alex felt saddened up hearing that. "I'm sorry," she said.
"It was a long time ago." The swordsman continued then. "But it was after my grandfather died that I decided to travel and challenge the greatest swordsmen I can find. I've mostly traveled alone since then without anyone else. Sure, I ran into the occasional traveler, but we tend to go our separate ways not long afterward."
"I assume something compelled you to join us when Sonya and Jax asked you to join Special Forces last year," Alex inquired.
Kenshi was silent for a moment before he answered her. "In a way..." He then quickly changed the subject. "Is the food ready?"
Quickly getting out of her thoughts, Alex quickly shook her head a little once his last four words sunk in. She grabbed two plates and placed the food on them. "Yeah, they're ready. Sorry to say that I'm not exactly a gourmet chef, but I promise that this beats military rations any day."
"I believe that," Kenshi said.
They ended up eating silently as Alex was deep in thought. If she remembered correctly, Sonya had nicknamed Kenshi 'The Rogue Swordsman' because he had been a lone traveler for years and from the new information she got, he had been alone ever since his family's death. For some reason, the thought of it made her sad, but she decided not to comment on it... she was sure that he didn't want any pity from her.
Underground Lair
Match after match came and went. The sun was beginning to set for the night outside of the lair, but even with the sun out, the underground lair would've still been as dark as night had it not been for the lit candles displayed all around.
Soon, a match ended and another winner was announced. Shang Tsung looked over at the list to see which two fighters were up next to compete against each other. When he saw one particular name on the list, an amused smirk came upon his face.
It was the fight he was waiting for all day.
He stood up and announced the first of the two combatants. "Quan Chi!" he called out.
Quan Chi stepped into the ring and headed towards the middle of the ring without a second thought. Once he did reach the middle, he stared at Shang Tsung with no emotion. In reply, the sorcerer sitting on the throne returned the gesture. For a moment, it was as though the stare down would never end and some people in the audience thought that the two would end up having their own combat right there. However, it soon ended when Quan Chi slowly turned his back, awaiting his opponent.
Another smirk came on Shang Tsung's face, fully aware of who Quan Chi's opponent was.
"Astaroth!" the shape shifter announced.
Quan Chi raised an eyebrow in a bit of surprise. He had thought that he would be fighting a normal mortal, but it would seem that he got a nice little surprise.
Astaroth stepped in to the ring, having been hiding in the shadows. The audience fell silent just by the sheer size of the golem alone as he held nearly an equally large axe in his hands. He stopped just a few feet from Quan Chi and stared down at him.
Noting the weapon, Quan Chi immediately took out his two broadswords and got in position. It was well known that very large fighters relied on their strength. The pale sorcerer knew that he would have to rely on his speed during the upcoming match.
"Begin!" Shang Tsung called out.
Immediately, the two fighters unleashed their fury on one another. Quan Chi would dodge from Astaroth's axe whenever the golem would swing his weapon around in different directions. Quan Chi would them lash his own swords out, but Astaroth would bend himself out of the way. Only once did Quan Chi leave a scratch on the golem's side.
Angered, Astaroth lifted his leg and kicked Quan Chi, sending him flying across the ring. The sorcerer lost his grip on his swords and cursed himself when both weapons slid out of the ring. Astaroth ran over to him and attempted to swing his axe again. Quan Chi quickly put out both of his hands, each one glowing green. Then, a large projectile came out of his hands in the shape of a grinning skull. He had hoped that the projectile would hit Astaroth's beating heart, but the golem ended up slightly stepping aside and the projectile hit his arm. It only stung the golem slightly, but other than that, it had little affect on him.
Once that failed, Quan Chi quickly got himself up and attempted various punches and kicks at the golem. Although he was able to land many of the moves on Astaroth, Quan Chi was beginning to feel frustrated as he felt beads of sweat falling on his face.
What does it take to take this thing down? the sorcerer thought in frustration.
After another minute, Astaroth began to have enough. "Worm!" he called out. He took one of his elbows and jabbed Quan Chi in the face. Stars began to surround the sorcerer then as he was kneed in the abdomen afterwards.
Shang Tsung watched in amusement as the fight continued on. He watched as Quan Chi attempted to get back on offense, but it would to be no use as Astaroth dominated him with his strength.
Finally, a hit from the butt of the axe sent Quan Chi flying across the other side of the ring. The impact when Quan Chi fell to the ground was hard enough to render him unconscious, ending the match.
"Winner: Astaroth!" Shang Tsung announced. The audience clapped in union. Each person's facial expression showed that they weren't surprised by the results of the match.
Shang Tsung smirked in amusement... Such a shame,' he thought. Had Quan Chi advanced to the next round… I may have requested for him to face a certain spectre…
Unknown Area
The sun had completely set and the light wind was picking up a bit more. Raiden's navy blue cloak blew forward as he continued to walk around the area in search of fighters with pure hearts and souls. However, no matter who he passed, his small mission had been unsuccessful so far, unable to find the right people.
There must be someone who is good enough to be called 'the chosen one.' the Thunder God thought.
Another few minutes past as he continued moving forward. Fighters would walk by, but none that caught Raiden's interest. He then began to feel that coming out, for now, was useless.
Before turning around, however, he heard what sounded like someone training. Though not feeling positive, Raiden decided to check one more person before returning to the cave. The walk only took less than a minute as Raiden passed some tall bushes. He then saw a clearing and that's when he was able to spot the person training.
The person, wearing a red karate gi and sported blonde hair that was gelled up, continued his training, using an old, dead tree as a punching bag. He punched and kicked at the tree furiously, not caring about the damage he was inflicting on the tree. As he continued, a name came over Raiden's mind.
Paul Phoenix, he thought. The God of Thunder then began to sense it… a pure heart and soul. Not the best of them all, but it'll do.
It was then that Paul mumbled aloud to himself, saying each word in between breaths. "I'm… gonna… win… this… match… tomorrow… and… be… the… best… in… the… universe!"
Raiden slowly stepped forward then, but he ended up stepping on a twig, snapping it in two. The sound caught Paul's attention and the red-clad fighter stopped his training and quickly turned around to face Raiden. He showed a bit of a surprise look at first, but then his expression changed to annoyance.
"What do you want, old man?" he demanded.
Not the best attitude, however, Raiden thought, solving why Paul's pure heart and soul 'wasn't the best.' "Please take a moment to listen to me, Paul-"
"Hey!" Paul cried out, interrupting Raiden. "How the hell did you know my name?"
"Never mind that," Raiden continued. "My name is Raiden, God of Thunder, and I'm here to tell you that the world is in danger."
Once again, Paul cut him off. "Don't give me that crap! You're crazy!"
"Listen to me!" Raiden demanded, now feeling a bit frustrated. "There is much more to the Bloody Eye medallion than you think. It is the most powerful artifact in the universe and it's in the hands of evil. You have been chosen to defend our worlds and make sure that the medallion falls into the right hands."
Paul stared at him for a moment before replying. "I'm not sure whether to take you seriously or not, old man. Besides, even if you are telling the truth, I'm here for one reason and one reason only; I'm here to prove to everyone that I AM the best in the universe! I don't need to defend the realms in order to prove that!
Raiden sighed. "Please Paul, do not be so naïve. I am serious about this and I need your help."
Paul smirked a little. "Maybe when I get proof that the worlds really are in danger. Say, I have a match tomorrow! Why don't you come and see my skills in combat? I'll show you that I truly am the best in the universe!"
Sighing once again, Raiden decided to give up with him, at least for right now. The Thunder God began walking away as Paul continued punching and kicking at the tree.
He is arrogant, Raiden thought. But deep down, he has much better potential than what he displays…