Hello everybody! I'm back! I'm sorry I hadn't updated in so long. School has been a nightmare and getting inspiration for my stories isn't easy -_-' Also I'm very sorry because I don't have a chapter ready for my other story "More than meets the eye". Good news for those who liked Broken Wings! I have two more chapters besides this one. Though the fifth is on process but it'll be posted as oon as possible. Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! And "Éxito" in English "Sucess" for school! On with the story!
Disclaimer: I do now own ANYTHING besides my OC's which are for the moment: Charly, Claire, Carmen and Jennifer.
Claire's POV
I'm never EVER listening to Charly again. About an hour ago Charly passed out. An hour ago and we're still walking. An hour ago I was on my way home. An hour ago I was in MY world. What do I call this? Kidnapping? Saving? Or maybe I'm in the nut house, screaming and kicking.
Honestly I don't trust this guy at all but...he kind of saved us both from the psycho with the blades. I can't see his freaking face though and that me feel very uneasy. Frowning I looked at the bundle in his arms. I was pretty surprised about how Charly acted though. Never had I seen her so violent, and it was to save my life. A smile slowly crept up my face when I thought of Charly. She was my best friend - we were almost sisters. Getting on each others throats - metaphorically of course, Charly wouldn't hurt a fly - but always there for the other when we needed to.
Carmen. She was part of our clique. Not that I wanted her to. It's not that I hated her and wanted to rip her throat out. She's just so... Perfect. Little miss perfect. She is older than me though. Seventeen. While I'm sixteen just like Charly. We met when we we're fourteen and a couple of months afterwards Carmen helped Charly out when she was being bullied by the seniors. If you're wondering, no I didn't ditch her - I never would - I was sick with chicken pox and had to skip for a whole week.
Ever since that time we've been like the three musketeers - or at least that's how Charly likes to call us. Or the C team. All our names start with C, weird huh?
I've always been the most sociable and fashionable of the three. Not that Carmen doesn't have that too but I can definetively take it to the extreme. Truth is we all have something alike with another one of us. Like the fact that Charly doesn't care much about what she wears -though when she does she ain't half bad - and doesn't wear make up unless Carmen and I force her. The time Carmen and I actually team up: To play barbie with poor lil Charly. Even though the girl's shy and none violent, when we start putting loads of make up on her... all hell breaks loose.
There has always been two things I've envied about her: Her long hair and her free spirit. I swear if anybody were to cut that hair of hers... well either you have a death wish or you're just plain dumb. She's not the super girly type but she hates short hair. The only time she ever cut it was when she was going from middle school to high school and it wasn't too much. Also... her parents are christians and I know there are a couple of conflicts going on in her home - she was the older sister with a brother and sister - so I admire how she keeps on going with a smile on her face. She dresses and acts however she wants not caring about what others think. Not only that but she doesn't have a constant style. One day she comes all hippy, the other she's a punk rocker, next she's all gangsta and so on.
The best trait Charly possesses is that she's a listener and whether she recognizes or not she gives very good advice. She listens to you and then helps you solve your problems. A weird little trivia about her though is that she sleeps a lot. Not kidding she goes to sleep at three to five in the morning and then wakes up at 3 or 4 in the afternoon. That's twelve hours. The maximum a human should sleep is eight hours. And then she falls asleep at lunch too. Not always but enough times that I can't count with my fingers anymore.
"We are almost there." A voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see something in the distance. 'Not quite sure what it is... But if it means no more trees and dirt then I don't care what it is.' I have seen snakes, spiders, squirrels with red eyes... And other things I don't have a name for. Looking over at Charly again I sped up a bit to look closer. She hadn't made a sound during this entire time and I was beginning to doubt she was even still alive.
"She's still breathing but do not worry, we will get help for her once we get to the village."
"Still breathing?" I asked with incredulity. That's supposed to make me feel better? And - wait, what village?
"She did get quite a beating." he or... It said with a tone that sounded 'isn't it obvious?'
"I know that. Which is why I'm so worried about-"
A soft, low moan interrupted me and Charly started to stir slightly in the guy's/thing's arms. She lifted her good arm - or tried to - to put it on her eyes. A second after trying she dropped it so that it was hanging limply and buried her head on the... chest of the thing holding her. I saw how it visibly tensed up and went rigid.
"Charly? Charly you ok?" I asked getting closer and for the first time I managed to see how she looked - though it mainly had to do with the light reflecting on her skin. I felt my self go pale. In a place like Chicago or Forks she might've looked a bit colored but in Cali or Australia she probably would've looked like an albino. Right now her skin had no coloration what so ever. It looked snow white. Black bags were getting more noticeable by the minute. Her lips were pretty white too - usually they had a small rosy tint but now they were white with a blueish color. She looked like a zombie for God's sake!
"When are we getting there?" I asked impatiently and very angry.
"Already there." the answer made me look forward and I saw indeed, a little village. Not many houses, but well hidden in the dense forest. There were torches with fire that lit up the place and gave it a slight mysterious air. Not my style.
"Ah, Ermac. I see that you made it. Did you get attacked by anyone." I looked at the owner of the voice. It was a man with weird clothes and a straw hat - a very large one at that.
"Not us." Ermac - that's how the man called it - turned so the man could see Charly. The man's face -what I could see of it - changed to shock for a minute but it was gone the second it came.
"Get her inside with the other one. Quickly." The straw hat man said and Ermac moved in the direction of one of the huts that had stairs. They were all made out of wood. When we pushed past the door - it saw a curtain - I came across something that amazed me. Carmen was here. Apparently injured and with another girl. Carmen was awake though. She was cradling her right arm with a makeshift cast but that was it. The other girl I had never seen before in my life. She had medium lenght blond hair tied with a pink ribbon in a high ponytail with blue eyes. Her skin had a perfect tan and a couple of scratches. Most of her clothes were also pink. Barbie much?
"Claire? Oh my God! What happened to Charly?" Carmen cut the previous conversation she had with Barbie to come running over to me and Charly.
"I have no idea." I said which was kind of true. What was I supposed to say? The Boogie Man with big bad claws came from under her dumbster and scared her? Oh no. Charly's strange sense of humor is rubbing off on me.
"What? How can you not know? Weren't you with her? And how did you get here?-" I cut her off before she could continue.
"Look, what I mean is that I don't know how to explain it and if I don't know where I am how can I know how I got here?" I continued before she could utter another word, "and who's Barbie over there?" I nodded my head towards the girl in question, who turned her head to me.
"Are you talking about me?" she pointed her manicured fingernails to herself while raising an almost invisible eyebrow.
"Her name's Jennifer. She was also brought here." she answered. By now Charly was placed inside another room on a plain matress and there were people around her, tending to her wounds.
"That still doesn't answer my question." I said crossing my arms over my chest.
"Jennifer Fox. I'm about to turn eighteen and was the class president of the senior class in our school-" before she could go on I interrupted.
"Our school?" I asked frowning in disbelief. No way she studied in the same school I did.
"Oh no. I meant where Carmen used to study with me." she said while I took notice of her face, she used a lot of make up.
"Okaaay. How did the two of you get here?" I asked while they looked at each other.
"Well I was almost kidnapped in my own house but this guy in blue came and a another guy soon showed up with Jeni. After that they brought us here." Carmen resumed for me and then Barbie started to talk again.
"And he was definetively not a gentleman." she said shaking her head. My eye twitched when I noticed she had a british accent. Why hadn't I noticed before? Oh ho, if only Charly was awake she would totally agree with me - now though, I notice why she doesn't like it when people give off that accent.
"At least they brought us here, were ever here is." Carmen said and I took the opportunity to change the conversation.
"If Charly were awake I can guarantee that we definetively would know where we are." I said looking over at the closed door that held Charly inside. This one was actually made out of wood.
"Oh your skinny friend?" Barbie asked and I almost slapped her.
"She's not skinny she just has fast metabolism and who are you to call her like that huh?" I asked my nostrils flaring. It wasn't much about the fact that she called her skinny, it was the way she said it. Everything about her just annoyed me.
"Excuse me, but first off all, don't yell at me because that is highly inappropiate. Second, it's the truth no matter what way she digests her food." she said counting off her fingers.
"You know what? I'm gonna look for somebody that knows where in the world I am, and how to get back." I stompted off not listening when they yelled after me.
God knows I can be annoying at times but that girl just down right gets on my nerves. That's a new world record: In less than two minutes she manages to piss me off.
"Excuse me but can I help you with something?" I turned around glad to finally hear a feminine voice other than Carmen's or Barbie's but immediately regreted ever leaving them.
"There are prostitutes here too?" I asked more to my self than to her. This... Woman, had the skimpiest outfit I had ever seen. It was mainly green and showed off more skin and cleavage than necessary. The woman raised an eyebrow.
"What?" she asked putting her overly tanned hands on her equal hips.
"Um... Who... How... Okay, first thing: Where am I?" I asked slowly.
"You are in Earthrealm of course." she answered with a small smile.
"It's official then. I'm hallucinating aren't I?" I asked her while she frowned.
"Not that I know of." she said, "You must be Claire though, right?" she extended her arm in my direction. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jade." at least now I know her name.
Reluctantly I shook her hand and asked her if I could see Charly. She led me into a room. There was Charly who was trying not to panic as she backed up into the far end of the bed and looked at a woman that held something in her hand. Both noticed me.
"Claire!" Charly's eyes lit up and jumped out of bed. Right after, she stopped, hunched over for a minute while holding her stomach with one hand and the other one she held up in the air signaling for me to give her a minute. Then she lunged at me. Thank God she's a little toothpick or we would have met the floor.
"You're okay!" she yelled while clinging on to me.
"And you're not. So go ahead and lay down." She sulked but obeyed all the while keeping an eye on the blond woman.
"Come on Charly! It's for your own good! Besides it's not like it's gonna kill you!" The woman said revealing medicine of some sort.
"I know Sonya but... it smells worse than it looks. How do you think it'll taste then?" Charly said pinching her nose.
'Sonya' looked over at me.
"Is she always like this?"
"Pretty much."
"Hey..." Charly looked at me accusingly but I just shrugged and worded, 'its the truth'.
After some more arguying Charly finally drinked the liquid. I laughed at her expression.
"Bleh. That's horrible. Um... *cough* isn't there something I can rinse my mouth with... Please?" Charly asked while grimacing.
"Nope."
"..."
"Just kidding. Go and ask the guy with shades to lend you somethin' to drink-" I cut her off.
"Uh, isn't it bad for her to move around so much? Heck you aren't even supposed to be awake yet!" Charly looked at me and then back at Sonya.
"I'm kind off also wondering about that." We both looked at her expectantly.
"Well?" Before she could answer me another voice rang through the room.
"I believe I can explain that." We turned and saw the man with straw hat from before.
Oh boy, this oughta be good.
Normal POV
After Raiden came in everybody else filed slowly into the room.
"Okay, so I guess the four of us want some answers." Carmen said while two heads nodded. Charly recognized everybody in the room but she didn't know what Raiden wanted with them. Still she didn't show right away any confusement what so ever.
"You four were brought here for protection and training." Was all he said so Claire urged him to keep going.
"There is a tournament in which you will have to participate-"
"Mortal Kombat." Charly accidentaly let out once she began to realize what was going on.
"Yes. I need the four of you to fight in this tournament for the sake of Earthrealm-"
"Wait what do you mean by 'fight'?" Jennifer asked raising an eyebrow.
"Probably that he wants us to save Earthrealm by defeating Shang Tsung." Charly said distractedly before realizing what she had said. Two slender hands came up to cover her mouth as she looked wide eyed around the room. There was an awkward silence that made her flushed nose and cheeks redden even more - so much as to reach her ears.
"How did you know that? You barely just got here." Cage broke the silence like it was made of butter - thankfully for poor Charly who was already very embarrased about having all the attention on her.
"Um-well, uh... You see I-I kind of...", she blanked for a minute and then turned to Raiden, her face still red, "weren't you about to say why I healed so quickly?" she made a quick and shy attempt to change the conversation.
Clearing his throat he continued,
"Yes, you see there's a reason as to why you four in specific need to win at this tournament. Shang Tsung, as Charlotte mentioned before," Charly was about to correct him on using her full name but opted against it, "will be participating. If he wins... Earthrealm would be at his mercy. Unfortunately, I have received news that he has different plans from the last tournament. I have been searching for the warriors capable of going up against the new threat. All the clues led me to you four." he pointed his arm at them as Charly silently gulped, "Each one of you are supposed to have different, yet very powerful abilities." He looked at Charly who fidgeted under his gaze. "I presume that thanks to those abilities you were able to heal quickly. Perphaps all of you can. I'm not entirely sure yet, since the Elder Gods have not revealed much about you. I will inform you if the Elder Gods inform me on anything regarding this. In the mean time you will spend these seven months training for the tournament." Raiden was interrupted by Claire.
"You mean to tell me that you plan on keeping us here for seven months?" Claire all but yelled wide eyed. The thunder God on the other hand remained relaxed and answered calmly.
"I'm afraid so. I assure you though that once your task is finished here you will go back to your former world." after that there was more silence before Jennifer spoke.
"So... How do we... Unlock... These supposed powers that you speak off." she asked what the other three had been thinking.
"That is what you will find out through your training. It might take you days, weeks and perhaps even months." He continued, "You will rest for today and tomorrow you shall know who each of you will have as your teacher." He was about to leave when a quiet voice interrupted him.
"Teacher?" Charly asked genuinely confused.
"Yes. You will need some help in hand-to-hand combat. Once you uncover your abilities though they shall mainly help you use it in battle and gain control over it."
A lightning struck and he was gone in a flash of light. That left the room in the same awkward atmosphere. Slowly each of the warriors began to go in separate directions. A lot of them went out, while Sonya, Johnny Cage, Ermac and Jade stayed. They went into other rooms - probably their rooms, the girls thought.
"So Charly I guess that you can heal quickly then huh?" Claire asked turning to face Charly, who was sitting on the far end of the little couch they were all in. She got out and sat cross ledged on the floor.
"Yeah... Kind of weird though... I mean, it didn't even leave a scar-"
"Well duh! That's the purpose of healing!" Claire yelled while Jennifer covered her ears. Carmen and Charly barely flinched though.
"For God's sake! Would you please mind keeping your voice down a notch? You are going to wake up everybody else!" Jennifer hissed at Claire, who in turn seethed at her.
"Hey, um if you don't mind me asking-" Charly began but got cut off by Carmen.
"Hey! You two will stop bickering right now. We're in a foreign place with no idea if we're going to wake alive tomorrow! For now I think you should try and get along!" Carmen began but didn't get to finish.
"And who died and made you queen?! You're not the boss of-" Claire was cut off.
"Well it's not like I started it!" yelled Jennifer.
"Hey, wait, can I-" Charly couldn't finish yet again.
"You don't have to bite my head off!" Carmen stood up, Claire following right after.
"Then stop being such a-" Claire was cut off.
"QUIET!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
They all stared at the black haired haired girl as she blushed at her outburst. Taking a deep breath, Charly began to say what she had been trying to get out before.
"First of all, I want to know who she is." She pointed at Jennifer.
"Jennifer Davidson. It's a pleasure to meet you now that you aren't unconscious." she extended her hand for Charly to shake.
"Second, we're not in a "foreign place" because I know where we are." Charly said after shaking hands with Jennifer.
"Then where are we?" Carmen asked crossing her arms.
Charly grinned in a very out of character way before answering.
"Earthrealm, Mortal Kombat. My favorite videogame."