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Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the MK universe or its franchise; it belongs to Netherrealm Studios.
Survival Week: Day Three
Gentle waves, twin to the ones roiling on the opposite side of the forest, bounced over each other in the late 6
morning light. The bright blue, clear waters of the Sea of Pormissus were in stark contrast to that of the Sea of Blood to the north of the Wastelands island. As calm and serene as the sea seemed, the princess observing it knew better; this was nothing compared to how beautiful it used to be. So vibrant and fresh-looking.
She sighed, saying, "This is the only portion of Edenia I fear won't be restored."
Beside her, Jade patted her hand. "It will be. The money will help."
"How can it?" Kitana wondered.
"More money equals more jobs. More jobs equals more workers to come and rebuild here," Jade explained.
"Yes, I suppose that's true." Kitana smiled faintly.
"It's nearly noon," Jade spoke, "We should change locations."
"Alright," Kitana nodded, "Let's get our things."
Her former bodyguard stood and headed over to the shores of the water, and Kitana followed. She and her friend got on their knees in the sand and began to dig. So preciously manicured were the princess's nails, for the occasion of the contest only, but they were soon jagged and full of sand as she worked. Jade, too, felt the grains building under her nails as she wore away at the earth. Soon their fingers brushed past the lacquered surface of the chests that was their luggage, and after they'd hauled those up, they felt for the silk pieces of cloths8. Their flags were indeed still there.
Well, some of them were.
"I don't understand," Kitana frowned, sitting back on her heels.
Jade narrowed her eyes. "How could this have happened? We were here the whole time!"
"Perhaps while we were sleeping..." The princess mused, though she was grasping at straws.
"No." Jade stated, "We would've noticed; we slept in shifts, remember?"
Kitana did remember, but that only served to agitate her further. Because if they'd been so careful, how in the world were they missing two of their six flags?
"Did you hear that?"
The way the hat-clad monk stood rooted to the spot, a stricken look on his face, Liu Kang would say that his friend had, indeed, heard the blood-curdling scream. It sounded like a woman, not too far from where they were.
"Jade," Kung Lao breathed, "She's in trouble."
"It could be a trap." Liu warned.
"It could be a cry for help!" Kung Lao countered, "I know that voice, it's Jade."
"I don't know about this, Kung Lao," Liu spoke warily.
"Liu, she sounds hurt!" Kung Lao insisted.
"I know," the dragon warrior stated, "But you heard about Major Briggs."
"That may have been a rumor." Kung Lao remarked slowly.
"Or it could've been true," Liu reasoned. "Why take the risk?"
Kung Lao tightened his fingers around the straps of his knapsack and thought pensively for a moment. Finally he set his eyes and raised his chin.
"I'll be back," He told his best friend.
It was the bright, noon-day sun that woke the prince. He blinked against the light and rolled onto his side on the ground. It took him a moment to gain his bearings.
"Tani?" He croaked tiredly.
The demigod looked around but the powerful sorceress was nowhere to be found. Nor was his luggage: and upon patting himself down, two of his three flags were missing as well.
Sonya was getting frustrated. She had yet to see 'Jax' again, which only cemented her belief that she'd been duped by the sorcerer. She was on the prowl, trying to find him all day yesterday and this morning, much was the same case. However, it wasn't Shang Tsung she eventually met up with.
As the lieutenant broke through one particular clearing, she saw the top of someone's head as they climbed out from a human-sized fox-hole. This person was far from human, though.
"Great," She muttered, "Just what I need."
To be fair, Scorpion didn't seem too happy to see her either. He had only just planted his feet on the dewy grass when his body slipped into that offensive stance. Sonya cursed her luck; oh wonderful! Not only do I have to stumble upon one of the angriest men, er, spectres in the universe, but now he wants to fight.
Sonya would not disappoint. She readied herself for combat by rolling her neck and spreading her legs apart evenly.
"Small talk?" she tried, just for kicks.
Scorpion turned his head to the left in the smallest of ways before lunging for her. Spryly she avoided him, twisting her body to the left and then coming up behind him. The spectre threw a punch her way, which she foolishly caught, not realizing how fiery his fists were. She bit her cheek against the sting of his skin and pulled him towards her, then brought her knee up into his chin.
Scorpion rubbed his jaw and flipped backwards, nearly catching her with the whip of fire that spurned from his feet. Sonya righted herself just as he shot that hellish spear from his split palm.
"Get over here!"
"I think not!" The woman smirked, hurling her body horizontally so that she cart-wheeled out of the way.
Sonya launched a projectile of her own, blasting the spectre square in the chest. He flailed backwards but skidded to a halt and then popped a squat. The fire that swelled in his clasped hands had come from nowhere, and Sonya had time enough to fall flat against the ground before he shot it towards her.
She felt as if the clothes were going to be singed right off her back from the intensity of the fiery deluge. Her cheek burned, the one that wasn't pressed against the moist ground that is, and she had to grit her teeth and shut her eyes. Finally, when he'd exhausted his flames, Scorpion came over to her. In her pocket, dangling free, was one of her flags. It was only exposed because she'd been bribing people, like Kuai Liang, into telling her where Shang Tsung was. The fact that it was still in her pocket spoke of how much success she'd been having.
Scorpion bent over the prone woman and plucked it from the side of her hip, then bowed as if she'd done him a kindness. Sonya coughed and stood shakily to her feet, then balled her fists at her sides.
"Didn't you hear?" She cried, "You're not supposed to kill other players!"
"I have killed no one." Scorpion spoke with his back to her.
"Yeah, because I hit the deck fast enough," She spoke, "What if I hadn't? That was an attempt on my life! I could...I could report you!"
Scorpion stiffened. He turned his head a bit and set those white-hot eyes on her. Sonya might have shivered on the inside, but outwardly she stood her ground. He wouldn't kill her. This was a contest. He wouldn't take her life for millions of koins, would he?
No.
Scorpion just relaxed his shoulders and hopped back down that fox-hole he'd come from. She rolled her eyes but couldn't count this experience as a loss. She'd taken a chance threatening him like that, she was lucky he hadn't decided to come at her.
He must really need that money, she realized.
As he'd suspected, the cry had to have come from the woman hunched over on the ground. Her long black hair was loose and pooled around her as she sat on a log, holding her knees to her chest like a small child. Her sobs resounded in his ears and broke his heart. Yes, he'd developed something of an...infatuation with her, and so it ate at him to hear those cries.
When he reached her, the Shaolin laid a hand gently on her shaking shoulder.
"Jade?" He asked softly, "Are you hurt?"
The woman peeked over her shoulder and gazed at him, and that's when Kung Lao stopped short. Those eyes were darker than he remembered. That alone made him question what was going on. This grown woman, who he knew to be resilient and battle-wearied, was she crying in the middle of the woods; what on earth had happened? Where was the princess? Why was she alone? He suddenly began to hear Liu's words in his head.
It could be a trap
The woman grinned cruelly and said, "You should have listened to your friend, Kung Lao."
And with that she cupped his face in her hands and slammed her forehead into his. Unprepared, he felt the full force of the blow. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body slumped to the ground. The woman was upon him in an instant, rummaging through his knapsack and then through his pants pockets when she didn't find what she was looking for.
"But of course!" She suddenly cried.
She wrenched off his hat and there, in the bowl of the accessory, were the three white silk pieces of cloth. Having snatched them, the woman stood, transforming along the way. When 'she' was fully on her feet, she turned out to be a 'he'. The sorcerer, Shang Tsung.
He was up to nine of them, nine flags in all. This was shaping up to be a pretty good day for him. So long as he remained invisible, the Saurian found he could get away with pretty much anything. That was how he managed to accrue three times the amount of cloth he'd initially started with.
However.
Invisibility was not to be confused with invincibility: haplessly, Reptile's good fortune had come to an end when he fell into a very deep pit.
It was a trap, lain for him and all others that weren't wise enough to look where they were putting their foot down. He hadn't been paying attention, so he didn't see the obvious pile of branches meant to disguise that gaping black hole he'd fallen in. And how far he'd fallen: it felt as if he'd broken something on the way down. As if this weren't bad enough, he then found himself being laughed at.
"Well, well, well," the malevolent voice chuckled, "What have we here?"
Liu was worried. Not once, but twice that bright golden light had flooded the forest, meaning that two more people had been eliminated. And as much as he hated to admit it, he feared his best friend may be one of them. As he strode anxiously through the woods, he happened upon his friend's knapsack lying ravaged beside a log. That confirmed it. Kung Lao was gone.
Gone home, that is.
It was disappointing. Liu had wanted to have his friend with him, but he supposed this was bound to happen: there could only be one winner. And besides, they were earning the money for the same cause, to support the Wu Shi Academy.
Liu picked up the remains of Kung Lao's luggage and shouldered the bag. He just hoped his brother in arms hadn't been hurt before his departure.
"Do you know how long I've been looking for you?"
"I know-"
"I feared you may have been eliminated or worse!"
"Well, I'm not, so-"
"And with Ermac and Shang Tsung in the midst, I thought surely you'd been hurt!"
"Nightwolf!" The young woman suddenly snapped, "Chill. Out. I am fine."
Said shaman held onto his wife's shoulders and gazed at her critically, as if trying to ascertain whether or not she truly was okay. When he'd been convinced, he pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head.
"You know how much I worry about you, denhoze." He murmured.
She sighed but hugged him back, saying, "I know. You don't have to. This is just a game, alright?"
He pulled back and eyed her sternly. "Not when there's money involved, it isn't."
"Well, I guess," She admitted, "but still. You don't have to worry. I told you before, I can handle myself."
"Yes, but-"
"But nothing." She cut in. "This is why I said we should stay as far from each other as possible. This is why I said competing together wasn't a good idea."
"No, Mileena," Nightwolf stated, "with the two of us competing, our odds of winning are better."
"Yeah, but not if you worry yourself to death." She quipped.
The chief nodded, "Forgive me. If it weren't for the fact that I heard that awful scream earlier, and then saw that two people had been eliminated..."
"Scream?" She frowned, "I didn't hear a scream. Do you know who was eliminated?"
"Kung Lao, that I know for certain." Nightwolf replied, "I saw Liu Kang walking through the forest looking dejected only minutes ago."
"Bummer." She remarked, but on the inside she smirked.
At least it wasn't me.
A/N: Okay, as you know, it only takes one review to keep the updates coming so if you like this so far, tell me. If you don't, neglect to respond and I'll take the hint :)
~DymondGold~