Disclaimer: I own nothing that isn't mine.

Chapter Sixteen

The girls received a break when Shang-Tsung started calling on other warriors from the crowd to compete against each other. The reason for this, as Shang-Tsung had informed them, was because the person who was to fight Tori was busy at the moment. The girls waited, watching the fights, and after they had watched in horror as Shang-Tsung tool the souls of each of the losers, the group began to talk amongst itself.

Ella was ignoring Ermac, who was continuously apologizing, all the while rubbing his head where she'd hit him. Tori was watching them in amusement, not knowing that Scorpion was watching her. When she turned to look at him he changed his expression to a glare and walked off.

Emma sat behind the rest of the group with Sub-Zero. She had stood to watch the other fights at first, despite Sub-Zero's protests. He finally got her to lean on him to take pressure off her leg, and after a while she agreed to sit down.

This was how they were now, with Sub-Zero sitting cross-legged on the ground, his arms crossed over his chest, and Emma leaning against his shoulder. He had closed his eyes, and was in the process of trying to meditate with all the racket going on around him when he heard Emma sigh.

"I'm sorry." Sub-Zero opened his eyes and looked down at her.

"What for," he asked.

"For being weak. For not being able to beat Noob without getting hurt."

"Emma, any one of you three would have gotten hurt if you'd fought Noob. My brother is not to be taken lightly, and if I'd known you would be fighting him I would've been more reluctant to let you fight." He paused before continuing. "But you won, despite your injuries, and you aren't hurt as bad as you could've been. I'm just glad that you're okay." They sat there awhile more before Emma remembered something that Noob had said to Sub-Zero.

"Sub-Zero? Is what Noob said to you true?"

"What part," he asked, already dreading what she would say.

"Where he said you'd fallen for me." Sub-Zero was quiet a moment before answering.

"My brother doesn't know what he's talking about." Emma became quiet at this. She could tell he didn't want to talk about the subject at hand so she left him alone.

Sub-Zero was partially grateful for the girl's silence. He didn't want to answer her question. He didn't even know how to answer her question. He knew he was starting to feel something for her. And he had a pretty good idea that it wasn't a 'just friends' feeling. But there was no way he was going to tell her. She probably didn't feel the same way about him, and he was too old for her anyway, which brought up another question.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"Seventeen, why?"

"No reason." Well, she wasn't as young as he thought, but it was still too young. Out of curiosity, he asked another nosy question.

"How old are Ella and Tori?"

"Ella's my age and Tori's sixteen." Sub-Zero smiled and closed his eyes. At least Scorpion had more problems than he did.

The competition lasted until late in the evening, and by the time Shang-Tsung called Tori up to the arena the sun was beginning to set. Scorpion had come back from wherever he was sulking and now stood with the rest of the group. He watched her walk up onto the arena and realized he was slightly worried. A scowl spread across his face. Why should he be worried about the brat? She was still mad at him for no reason, so she deserved anything that happened to her. He still couldn't shake the bad feeling he had.

"So you're my opponent?" Raising his head to the sound of her voice, Scorpion let out a strangled sound. Across from Tori stood a woman dressed in red and black. Her bright red hair was pulled into low pigtails, and the rest of it hung down over her eyes. Scorpion had had a few run-ins with the Black Dragon clan. He'd never personally met Kira, but he'd heard rumors about her and none of them were good. Kira looked Tori over before putting her hands on her hips.

"You've got to be kidding. This is what Raiden chooses as a warrior? A little girl," she said with a heavy Australian accent. Tori frowned but didn't say anything.

"What's wrong little girl? Did I hurt your feelings?"

"No, you just showed me how incredibly stupid you are." This time it was Kira's turn to frown.

"What did you just say," she asked in a low tone.

"You judge me by my age when you don't even know how I fight. A little full of yourself, don't you think," Tori said. Kira snarled and pulled her two Dragon Teeth knives out of her boots.

"I don't need to be good to beat a little brat like you," she spat.

"Well, when you put it like that you make it sound like you're actually afraid of losing." Kira let out a shriek at the insult before running at Tori.

Swinging one of her knives down in the hope she would slit the younger girls throat, Kira let out a sound of surprise as her blade sliced nothing but air.

"That was close," Tori said as she appeared behind Kira. Kira spun around just in time to be blown off the arena by an unseen force. Tori remained where she was standing and waited until Kira dragged herself back onto the platform.

"Little wretch," she growled. "I'll make you pay for that." Kira disappeared and reappeared in front of Tori, once again swinging her knife at her target's throat. There was a clang of metal as Tori's sword appeared in her hands, blocking the knife that had now come dangerously close to her neck.

"You've got a real obsession with trying to slit my throat don't you," Tori asked. Kira growled.

"Slitting my opponent's throat is the best way to kill them, and it also shuts them up!" Bringing up her foot, she kicked Tori in the stomach, sending her flying backwards.

"Ow," she said as she sat up. She looked up to see Kira about to embed a knife in her chest. Tori quickly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the knife, and jumped to her feet.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Tori said as she blocked another of Kira's attacks. "You want me to shut up!"

"No," Kira growled. "I want to kill you. Then you can shut up!" Bringing her knives up in an arc, Kira broke through Tori's defense and left two bloody cuts running diagonally across her chest. Before the girl could retaliate, Kira attacked again, leaving two slanted cuts along on one of her legs. Dropping down to one knee, Tori looked up when a knife was pressed to her throat.

"Not so cocky now, are we, little girl," Kira asked in a mocking tone. When Tori didn't respond she pushed her knife harder into the girl's neck. A thin trail of blood began to run down her pale skin, staining more of her already blood soaked shirt.

"What? No words of wisdom for me? You at least want to tell your friends goodbye before I kill you, don't you?" A small smile spread across Tori's face.

"Who says I'm going to die?" In an instant, she disappeared and reappeared behind Kira. Bringing down the butt of her sword, she hit Kira on the back of the neck, knocking her out.

"You don't have to kill an opponent to defeat them," she said before turning to walk off the arena. Hearing a noise behind her, she turned back to see Kabal pick Kira up and walk off. Tori turned back around with a small smile and walked off the arena.

Author's Note: Enjoy!