Part 3
Sonya grimaced as Johnny hit the ground, hard. He arched his back in pain as he laid there, groaning. It was fairly safe to say Johnny was not doing as well as Sonya did in her bout. She saw him look over at her, squinting from the pain.
"On your feet, Cage! You do not get to give up!" She yelled at him. Harriet's face flashed in her mind's eye ever so briefly. Cage was a pain in the ass, but she wasn't losing anyone else. She noticed a new determination spread across his face. It was what she had been hoping for.
Johnny raised his legs, and sprung off his shoulders back onto his feet. His opponent ran at him, but Johnny quickly spun to the side, bringing his right leg up to kick his opponent in the stomach, hard. His opponent lurched over and looked up at Johnny. Johnny responded with an axe kick to his opponent's face. Johnny danced around on his feet, staying light and nimble. His opponent tried to throw a sweep kick at him but Johnny was too quick and took a step back. He then pushed as hard as he could off his right leg, throwing a left side kick that was so fast Sonya could swear that he became a blur! The kick connected directly with his chest, causing him to fly so far backwards he hit a palm tree and then fell face first into the ground, unconscious.
Sonya leapt into the air, punching her fist with excitement. She could barely hear Shang Tsung announcing the victory as she ran into the arena to congratulate Johnny. She was so excited she actually gave him a hug, which he excitedly returned and even lifted her up, spinning around in the middle of the arena. She looked into his face laughing, and then realised they had both been caught up in the moment. She tried to compose herself, and pushed away from him. She brushed herself off before punching him in the arm in congratulations.
"Finally." She joked as Liu Kang joined them.
"Well done Johnny!" Liu shook his hand in congratulations. "You were amazing."
"Yeah, well." Johnny responded with a grin which was as close to modesty as he could muster. Shang Tsung stood and addressed all the competitors in attendance.
"This concludes day one. So far, you have performed quite well. I am looking forward to the rest of the tournament." He grinned. There was something in his words that made Sonya cautious. Like he was planning something.
"Day 2 will begin first thing in the morning. I do hope you enjoy the evening's festivities."
With that, everyone began to leave. Raiden approached the three Earth Realm warriors from behind.
"Congratulations to all of you on a successful first day. It appears my initial fears may have been unfounded."
The three of them stared at him for a moment, wondering if they were actually hearing a compliment.
"Well done bud, very inspirational." She smiled playfully, tapping his arm in a playful punch. Raiden seemed oblivious to any faux pas but joined the team as they walked off to take in the night's festivities.
The evening was like an enormous celebration. The whole island was decorated like Mardi Gras. As Sonya walked around with her new team she saw all sorts of small parties and celebrations happening. There were training events scattered around, and food tents on every corner. Sonya wondered how some of these people could even stomach any food, let alone some of the strange food that seemed to be on offer. She decided she would give it a miss for the moment. The last thing she needed during a fight would be an upset stomach!
There were also demonstrations along most of the pathways. Sonya wondered if some of this was more a show of force than a celebration. To be fair, some of them worked on her. She didn't let anyone know that though. For the most part she avoided looking at any of them. Her way of returning a show of force. They weren't getting to her.
As the team continued through the many pathways of events, one figure did manage to catch her gaze. He was standing apart from most everyone else, in the shadows. Laid in front of him was a dirty rug with odds and ends scattered on it and a crude sign that said "Soovaneers".
Sonya raised her eyebrow in suspicion at the sign. The owner turned to face her and she could see something from under his hood. She furrowed her brow and stuck her neck forward, squinting to get a better look and confirm her suspicion. From underneath the hood she could just make out a dull red glow.
"Kano" She growled under her breath. She watched as he was selling something to some unsuspecting combatant. It looked like vases he'd likely swindled from somewhere on Shang Tsung's island. As the 'customer' was pulling money out of his back pocket, Kano happened to glance over in Sonya's direction. She saw him physically deflate when he recognised who was staring daggers into him. Sonya knew better than to let an opportunity slip through her grasp now. Without hesitation, she leapt into a sprint towards Kano. As she left her place, she heard Johnny yelp from behind her, startled at the sudden outburst.
"Hey, Sonya! Where ya goin!?" Johnny called after her. She blocked him out though, she didn't have time to explain. Nor did she care to.
Kano quickly snatched the money out of his mark's hands and turned to flee, the robe he was wearing as an apparent disguise thrown over the prospective customers head to disorient them. As Sonya ran past him she heard him yelling his confused disapproval from under Kano's robe. Unfortunately though, he was in her way. She hit him hard, pushing him back and out of her way as she continued her pursuit of Kano.
She continued her chase, both of them pushing people out of their way to continue their cat and mouse game across the island. As Kano led her through the crowd, she started to lose sight of him. She came to a clearing of people and stopped to catch her breath and regain her sightline. She was scanning the faces of everyone in the crowd, panic starting to creep into her gut. 'No, I'm not losing you, you piece of shit.' Just then, movement on a rooftop above her caught her attention. Her head locked in on it like a hunting dog spotting prey. She took off again, losing Johnny and Liu just as they were getting to her. Johnny was doubled over, trying to catch his breath as she began her second sprint. She heard him groan his objection as she took off. She ran towards a cart that was resting on the ground under the roof line, creating a makeshift ramp. As she got to the top, she leapt in the air and grabbed the guttering on the roof. Using the momentum of her leap as her legs swung under the roofline, she pushed off the wall, swinging her body back the way it came, allowing her legs to swing out and up. Letting go of the ledge, her body continued its swing, bringing her feet to the rooftop and her body righting itself, leaving her standing on the roof. She quickly eyed Kano again and resumed her chase, feeling roof tiles fly out from under her feet. The two of them continued running across the ancient tiles until Kano came to a stop when he ran out of easy roofs to jump to. She saw him turn back to look at her. 'Gotcha' She thought to herself. Kano then took a few large steps back and then took a running jump off the roof and to the next one. He hit the tiles hard, cracking a bunch of them, before getting up and continuing to flee.
Knowing that the next leap was going to take some effort, Sonya planned for it and took the leap at full sprint, thus saving valuable seconds lining up for the jump. However as she flew through the air she saw Kano had flung a loose roof tile at her, causing her to knock it away as she soared through mid-air. This threw her balance off however, and she hit the roof even harder than Kano had, on her side. She both felt and heard the roof crack under her sudden weight. As she dragged herself to her feet to continue the chase, the ground beneath her suddenly gave way, sending her crashing through the roof in a shower of limbs and cracked roof tiles. She hit the ground hard. She lifted her head through the dust and haze and saw herself lying in what remained of someone's table amongst the remains of their dinner as well. The resident was sitting there holding a spoon to their mouth, staring in wide eyed shock at the woman that had just come crashing through their ceiling with a large collection of broken roof and tiles.
Sonya looked around the room, embarrassed.
"Oh." Was all she could muster before smiling awkwardly.
Sonya backed out of the doorway, apologising to the homeowner.
"I am so, so sorry! I'd give you some money, but this thing doesn't have pockets. I hope you've got some more food, that smelt good… when I landed on it, and good luck in the tournament too! And, I, oh…" She trailed off and walked away, leaving the man dumbfounded and standing in his doorway.
She walked away from the man's hut and entered a central courtyard for the area. As she regrouped, she ran her hands through her hair, resting them on her neck and taking a deep breath. Kano was gone. As frustrated as she was, this was by far the first time she had felt this feeling. At the very least, he's here. On a tiny island. She knew she'd get another chance at , she decided to head back to her room.
"Sonya!" Johnny called as he ran over to her.
"Oh, Johnny. Hey. Sorry, I saw Kano and thought I'd…" She trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence or even feeling like she owed him an explanation. "Whatever, anyway, where's Liu?"
"Oh, you know, off talking to his Thunder God." He replied.
"Right, of course. Why wouldn't that be the logical answer at this point." She laughed in response as they began to walk back to their accommodation.
"So Johnny Cage, what exactly brings you to the tournament?" Sonya asked, deciding to at least take a cursory interest in her new companion. 'What's the worst that could happen?' She thought.
"Alright," he took a deep breath, "my whole life I've wanted to prove myself. I was never taken seriously as a kid, didn't help matters that I turned to jokes as a defence mechanism. My Mom got me into martial arts when I was young, and I guess I was pretty good at it, so I kept going. That was probably my first experience with positive attention so no wonder it stuck." He laughed.
"So you got a taste for it." Sonya continued.
"Big time. I won a few tournaments, which started to get some attention. That led to me being able to study with some of the best martial artists in the world. I also had an aptitude for acting at school, likely because it gave me attention and it wasn't maths!" He chuckled at himself. "Anyway, sometimes things align, a talent agent caught one of my fights, and next thing I know I'm in a small movie alongside Jacky Chan! Then, the roles kept coming. Sudden Death, Fatal Impact, Ninja Mime, some of the greatest martial arts caught on film! Certainly rivalling what Jacky was doing, even what Bruce had done before him. But I guess it's more believable coming from someone with an Asian heritage than some white guy. Nobody believed I was doing my own stunts, they all thought it was computers and stunt men. I was labelled a fake."
"Hold on a sec, are you about to tell me you're here to prove to the public that you're not the loser they think you are? That's your noble intention that gets the attention of a Thunder God?" Sonya scoffed.
"I dedicated my entire life to the one thing I was ever good at. The only thing that ever got me any attention from my parents, friends, anyone. To have the entire world then call me a liar after all that, you couldn't possibly know what that's like. You could never know what it's like to work your whole life just to prove a point to someone." Johnny snapped at her. Sonya actually felt bad for offending him.
"Actually, I totally get it. Granted, your situation is a little more unique than just being female, but I see how frustrating it could be." She responded.
"Is that why you're here? Representing womankind?" He asked.
"Nooo!" She responded a little more like a teenager than she had intended.
"You already know why I'm here. I followed Kano. That was at least what brought me here in the first place, now I have no idea what I'm doing. One minute I'm doing my job, the next minute I'm fighting not just for my own life, but for the life of everyone on the planet! Or dimension, or whatever. I mean, it's insane!" She threw her hands up in exasperation.
"It'd make a hell of a movie, right?" Johnny asked with a cheeky grin. Sonya laughed for a moment, then paused and looked him in the face.
"You do not have my permission to use my likeness, name or anything about me for anything you ever create, do you hear me?"
Johnny threw his hands in the air in surrender, laughing.
They continued to walk back through the events, swapping small talk and getting to know each other, at least on a very surface level from Sonya's perspective. She may have judged him a little prematurely, but there were still a few walls he had to get through before she shared anything of any substance.
"Well, this is me." She said as they reached her cabin. "Thanks for the company. I actually had a nice time."
"Well, don't sound too surprised." He grinned. "Guess I'm not a total scumbag, right?"
"I never said that." She smiled, turning for her door. "Night Cage!"
"G'night Sonya." He replied. As she closed the door, she could see his smile. 'Alright! He's handsome, I get it! I still don't trust him.' She admonished herself with her internal monologue. She leaned against the door with her head in her hands. She then shook her head, physically trying to shake the image of his stupid handsome smiling face from her mind before going to shower and head to bed for the night.
Over the course of the next few days, the competitions continued and the body count rose. The large crowd of combatants that had arrived on the first day was dwindling down to a handful from each realm. Sonya, Johnny and Liu had each won multiple fights to their name without any serious injuries. However, the anxiety was starting to creep in the closer they got to the end. It felt like there was this constant wait for some terrible surprise from Shang Tsung. The time spent together had brought them all closer. Curiously, Sonya found herself getting closer and closer to Johnny. The more time she spent with him, the more she started to see the actual person that laid beneath the persona. Perhaps even more strangely, she started to see similarities between them. After all was said, they were both the people they were because they were trying to prove something. Whether to themselves, or to someone else, that was what led them to each other on this island. She decided that warranted at the very least, her attention while they were stuck here. So far, she hadn't been disappointed.
The three Earthrealmers approached an arena beside the beach. It was a simple arena, covered in sand and surrounded by palm trees. It would be beautiful if it wasn't for the random patches of blood that appeared under scrutiny. Shang Tsung sat on a makeshift throne in the middle of the arena.
"Sonya Blade, welcome." He smiled his slimy smile as she entered the arena. She ignored him and began warming up for her bout. She bounced around the arena, getting the blood flowing to her limbs and increasing her heart rate. She threw a few punches and kicks, shadow sparring to both get the blood flowing and to perhaps intimidate any would be opponents watching. After a while she grew impatient however. She turned to look at Tsung to see what the hold up was. Shang Tsung however was preoccupied with one of his female servants standing beside him. Sonya rolled her eyes and yelled at him.
"Hey grampa! You wanna focus up?" She scolded him, her arms crossed. Shang's servants looked astonished, almost in fear of what would come next. Sonya raised her eyebrow at them, pitying their fear at this pathetic old man. She didn't fear him at all, it seemed to impress him almost.
"My apologies Miss Blade. Perhaps I can make it up to you." He oozed at her, making her grimace with disgust at what she believed he was implying.
"Whatever it is? I don't want it." She scoffed and turned away from the old man.
"On the contrary. I believe I have something you've been looking for, for some time…"
This caught her attention. 'Could he be serious!?' She thought to herself. She turned her head back to look at him and saw him motioning off to one side. She followed his gaze and saw the crowd parting to reveal what she had suspected. Her blood ran cold as a shiver ran up her spine. Without her having any conscious input, she felt her face contorting into a snarl, like a wild dog. Her opponent swaggered into the arena, arms up to spur the crowd on.
"Kano…"