Liu Kang felt his nerves tensing up from anticipation. This is it. What the White Lotus Monks have been training him for since day 1. All the moves and movements that he memorized began ringing in his head and ran across his mind.
Kung Lao took notice of his friend's nervousness and placed his hand on his shoulder in reassurance and a smile dawned on his face. "If Master Bo Rai Cho could see how fidgety you're getting he would hit you on the back of your head with his staff." He joked, though it was true. But the funniest jokes are the ones that are true after all.
Liu Kang did not realize he was getting that fidgety, though even being made aware of the problem, he couldn't help it.
Johnny noticed this and tried to help as well, in his own way, of course. "Hey man, I'm sure you'll do just fine, not as well as me of course, but that's a given." His speech turned to light laughter before returning to the sincerity. "Look, even if these Outworld bastards win or whatever, we can always just link back up and go full resistance on their asses like the humans in Terminator."
In a weird way, Liu Kang did feel better, though he felt the need to remind Cage that them all surviving was not a guaranteed outcome. "That is, if we survive, Cage."
Cage, to the confusion of Liu, laughed at this. "Pffth how fragile do you think we are? We'll be fine, injured most definitely, but fine."
Liu and Kung Lao's expressions grew evermore concerned for how much Johnny actually knows of the tournament. "Cage, did not Raiden not tell you of-"
Before Liu could finish the sentence that could save Johnny's life, it was cut short abruptly by an unwelcome interruption.
"Our first kombatants shall be..." Shang Tsung announced. "Johnny Cage, and Kano!"
Upon merely hearing his name, Sonya's already stoic and monotone expression soured. Both from remembering everything Kano had done, and the fact that she won't have the chance to end his miserable life once and for all.
Kano, emerging from the side of the throne that left him covered up to the Earthrealmers, came out with his hands out to embrace the cheers and applause from the crowds. Cage meanwhile, quickly got down the stairs to meet his devilish adversary.
"Kano, leader of the Black Dragon clan. He hails from Earthrealm, but willingly made the choice to join Outworld's effort against Earthrealm's forces. A favor we are most grateful for." As Shang Tsung said this as Kano slowly and smugly paced his way down the stairs to meet his opponent.
"On the other hand, Mr. Cage is an actor, who makes what is known as 'movies' in Earthrealm. He is famous for making low quality trite that the weak minded masses of Earthrealm somehow find entertaining. May his survival be left to his skills." Shang Tsung said.
"Jeez, I've had some biased reports and descriptions about me before but damn that hurt." Johnny remarked to no one but himself.
Kano's face flashed devilish smirk upon seeing who he would be up against. "I'm going against the damn Ninja Mime actor? Hey bub, you do realize this ain't a movie, yes? No wirework or special effects to save your ass now."
As Cage prepared to fight, he stayed light on his feet, with his hands prepared to counter any blow Kano could land and to return it equitably. "Smug talk for someone with one eye, and did your shirt fly away as you were drying it out this morning?"
Kano remained undeterred by Cage's weak and sickly insults. "Says the man wearing sunglasses in a damn martial arts tournament."
"It's a part of my look! My image! I can't just take em off."
A loud gong noise echoed around the arena which died down once it dispersed through the open roof of the courtyard.
"Get into positions, Kombatants." Shang announced.
The two of them got on two sides of the arena, the large dragon emblem in the middle coming in between them. Cage stayed loose and on his toes, while Kano seemed ready to tackle Cage and stab his throat several times over.
The room fell almost entirely silent, the one exception being the noise of the fire within the lanterns on certain parts of the spectator stands burning.
Shang took his time, admiring the air of kombat which he so dearly missed. Then, as he was done, he waited a few moments.
"Round 1, FIGHT"
As the word left Shang's lips, the two kombatants ran towards each other.
Kano lunged forward, attempting to tackle the other and put him on the ground. Cage dived to the left to dodge it, and as Kano was attempting to get up from the ground, Cage delivered a heavy kick to the man's chest, another light one to his stomach, and then an axe kick which fell on Kano's right shoulder staggering him further.
(I had to google the kind of kick I had in my head, it's called an axe kick apparently. Google it yourself to see what it looks like)
As the actor continued to pummel the once intimidating looking crime lord, Shang Tsung's face had disappointment plastered over it, while Kitana's has a sense of validation and satisfaction fall over her.
"Look like I was right about your Black Dragon mercenary, sorcerer." She said to Shang Tsung
Cage kept striking Kano from different areas, with power and swiftly. Despite Cage's fists being quick, Kano was able to block or parry most of the blows or at the very least keeping the damage to the very minimum. Though even then, Kano kept being pushed back while Cage advanced, if this was kept up Kano would soon be backed up into the wall and the match would be over. He decided it was time to go on the offensive. After blocking a few more of Cage's punches, Kano grabbed one of Johnny's hands and twisted it. As Cage focused on trying to free his hand, Kano took the opportunity and headbutted Cage in his nose with the metal plating around his cybernetic eye.
With the lack of anticipation on Cage's part, a gap was open for Kano to fight back. He struck Johnny's gut with the metal guard on his shin, and delivered a blow to the right side of Johnny's skull, which sent him flying to the ground.
Dazed, Cage was kept recovering on the ground, clutching his stomach in pain. Kano ran at Cage at full speed, ready to keep his streak going. Cage rolled backwards rapidly and was back on his feet. As Kano's right hand was already in the process of delivering a powerful strike, Cage's legs turned into a near perfect split. He pulled his right hand back and slammed it directly in the Black Dragon's crotch. It was hard enough to send the poor man a few inches backwards and when the punch landed it made an audible noise.
All the male spectators winced, with the exception of Sub-Zero and Raiden. Raiden due to being a god and not relating to such pains. And Sub-Zero due to having a possible lack of empathy.
While Kano recovered from this most painful blow, Johnny Cage got back up and proceeded to kick him straight in the gut so hard that Kano went flying back for what seemed like 2 whole meters.
Meanwhile, the Earthrealmers sat down in their stands in amazement of Cage's unexpected fighting prowess. Almost everyone.
Liu Kang took a break from observing the fight and turned his attention to Sub-Zero, with the usual stoic and seemingly annoyed expression turned to an even higher degree. Rather than ignore it like he would usually do, he decided to use this opportunity to make conversation.
"You seem more sour than usual, Sub-Zero." He said with a welcoming and warm smile perched on his lips. "Our ally is winning, his opponent can barely even keep up with his strikes."
Sub-zero rolled his eyes dismissively. "He lacks true fire behind any of his attacks. This tournament is known for its brutality and the bloodlust displayed by its kombatants. I already assumed you would be like that, I was hoping the others would be better."
As Liu Kang received further proof that his Shaolin masters were right about the Lin Kuei, Kung Lao overheard him and felt a burning desire to defend his White Lotus honor, or was it his own personal pride? Whichever it was, he spoke up.
"So what? Just because someone doesn't fight like some rabid animal trying to pummel their opponent's head into red mush, doesn't make them any less of a warrior than those who do." Kung Lao told the assassin.
"Is that what you will tell yourself when you decide to show your opponent mercy only for him to take advantage of it and finish you instead?" Sub-Zero responded, much to Kung Lao's rage.
Sub-Zero seemed to have a realization dawn on him as his expression altered to one of curiosity. Before Kung Lao could quip back, Sub-Zero opened his mouth first.
"Tell me, are you by any chance related to the 'great' Kung Lao." Sub-Zero's tone altered to emphasize the word great, and even motioned his left hand lightly. As if he would have made air quotes with his fingers if he had a sense of humor.
Kung Lao's rage morphed to pride at the topic of his ancestor. A smile came upon his mouth. "Why, yes! Earthrealm former champion. Legend of the Shaolin. The Great Kung Lao is my ancestor, and one I take particular pride in in an already prestigious family line."
While the two of them could not see all of Sub-Zero's face due to half of it being obscured by a ninja-mask, the area they could see shifted ever so slightly to an expression that looked like he had the faintest smile someone could have that would still classify as a grin. "Wait, you actually take pride in that? That is just laughable, Kung Lao."
With his pride once again insulted by this Lin Kuei, he got up from his seat to confront properly. "The Great Kung Lao skills were unmatched on the battlefield." He said with such venom as if he was just barely holding back the desire to punch the man in the throat,
"If that were the case, he would have won the ninth Mortal Kombat tournament and saved us all of this trouble. But no, he failed and paid with his life. The best you can do with his memory is learn from his failure." Sub-Zero replied while narrowing his intense gaze.
"HE WAS THE GREATEST WARRIOR THE WHITE LOTUS HAD EVER KNOWN, FAR SUPERIOR THAN ANYTHING THE LIN KUEI COULD MUSTER!" yelled so hard that if it weren't for the fight going on in the arena below them, the rest of the spectators would have looked at him.
"That speaks less to his strength and skills and more to the White Lotus's general lack of it."
As Sub-Zero finished his statement, even Liu Kang felt offended, so one could only imagine how Kung Lao himself felt.
As the two continued to bicker and argue, the fight below them raged on.
Cage was pummeling the other's face into the dragon emblem in the middle of the arena, carefully avoiding the metal playing to not hurt his hands, and once Kano's efforts to get Johnny off of him ceased, Cage stood back up, tired and feeling parts of himself that were bruised.
Shang Tsung and the outworlders observed Kano's motionless body intently wishing he would get back up. The Earthrealmers wanted the opposite. Sonya in particular hoped he would never get up again.
Slowly, Kano's body came back to the world of the conscious. Spitting out a tooth and some blood while dusting off his pants. He stared at his opponent. Some parts angry, most parts impressed..
"Not bad, Hollywood." Kano said while pointing at Cage and walking away to the other side of the arena. "But lightning ain't gonna strike once. I wasn't taking you too seriously, that ain't gonna be the case now."
Kano went back into his stance, readying himself for the second round. His vile smile widened.
Shang Tsung's once confident demeanor and tone slipped ever so slightly after seeing Cage's abilities. Still, he projected an unchangeable faith in Outworld's kombatants. "You may have won once, Cage, but that won't be the case for long."
"Round 2, FIGHT."
Rather than running at his opponent as he did previously, Kano threw one of the butterfly knives that was kept in a holster on the sides of his calves. The knife traveled across the room with blinding speeds. Most people would barely be able to see it as it did. Even more people would not be able to react to it even if they were given 100 tries to practice. Much less some rich, pompous, obnoxious Hollywood actor.
Much to Outworld's dismay however, Johnny Cage was not most people.
Cage caught the knife right as it got to his face, missing the space between his eyes by just a few inches. Despite the impressive feat, one that even Raiden seemed surprised by, Cage was taken aback. Yes, he survived, but if he were slightly less skilled. Or even just a second off on his reaction time, he would be dead. He was lucky that as he was trying to keep his composure, Kano too stayed idle due to sheer disbelief.
"Damn, looks like I underestimated you more than I-"
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Cage yelled furiously after several poor attempts that he either stuttered out poorly or said too softly. "T-THAT COULD HAVE FUCKING KILLED ME YOU CRAZY ASSHOLE." Cage threw the large knife to the ground so hard that it bounced forward a few times, nearly breaking apart.
"Holy fucking shit man-t...that. THAT COULD HAVE FUCKING KILLED ME."
As the Outworlders in the stands watched the actor break down like this, Reiko turned to the monstrous, sharp toothed man to the right of him to whisper something.
"See that? The true reason for how Outworld has proved victorious for so long." He said in a commanding, authoritative tone. "Sure, the Earthreamers can muster up some decent fighters every now and again, but they lack the true warrior spirit to scoff at the face of death that only centuries of war and bloodshed can breed."
The sharp toothed monster nodded in agreement.
No one seemed more surprised by Cage's outburst than Raiden himself, and for the first time, he questioned his decision for who he chose to fight.
Liu Kang became suspicious of how much Cage was informed of the nature of the tournament, and became concerned if his lawyers were as good as he bragged they were.
"Lord Raiden." Liu asked. "You did inform Johnny of the...characteristics of Mortal Kombat, yes?"
Raiden looked to the monk, worrying if he accidentally forgot to, only for his mind to come to the certain conclusion that he did.
"I am absolutely certain that I informed him of the mortal danger, to which he agreed too. I do not know why he would be like this." Raiden asked which only added to the confusion.
As his allies observed with worry for his life, Cage didn't have time to think about it as hard as they did. Even before he fully grasped and could get over what just happened, Kano, with the other butterfly knife in hand, was closing the distance between them.
Kano leaped into Cage's position, with his knife in a reverse grip and ready to finish what the previous knife could not. Johnny dodged leftwards and with the knife hitting the ground instead, he struck the right of Kano's head with his right knee with such force that he momentarily lost his hearing from how hard it was ringing. Cage proceeded to hit him with a non-stop barrage of blows that had far more force and fury within them then the previous round. Every area that Cage could hit, he hit. Every blow left Kano more disoriented and his attempts to block became more and more delayed. As Johnny's anger died down, he decided it was time to end this. After putting Kano at a large enough distance, Johnny delivered a roundhouse kick directly to the right side of his chin. He then grabbed Kano's head and shoved the center of it onto his knee with enough power to break his nose. To finish things off, Cage chose to end it in the usual flashiness his films were known for, and backflipped a kick into Kano's chin. Kano fell down to the ground, immobile. Alive, but barely conscious and the most he could do was open his non–cybernetic and lift his head lightly to inspect and feel out his body's damage now that the adrenaline wore off.
3 of his ribs were broken. His nose was broken and bleeding. Both his legs were damaged so badly that he could not do something as little as bend them without it aching. His shoulder was dislocated. His jaw was the same, along with the bone itself being cracked. The rest of his body was bruised and some parts were even turning purple. With no other choice available for him at the moment, Kano just layed down in pain, unmoving in the worry that it would just make his bad condition even worse.
Johnny Cage, panting, sweating and exhausted looked at his fallen opponent. As the anger and adrenaline that surged through his veins just a moment ago left his body, a wave of unearned sympathy fell upon him. He knew that Kano probably did not deserve such emotion from him, but the mere sight of seeing another human that was damaged because of him activated a natural feeling within his brain.
"I...shit...I think I went too far- I..." Cage said, exasperated.
Shang Tsung's had an immeasurable level of disappointment within the Black Dragon head that built himself up so much. He and all the other Outworld kombatants shifted their gaze to Mavado, which Mavado could feel like daggers thrusted into his soul. The only face Mavado dared directly looking at was Shang Tsung, and from his expression alone, Mavado knew that if he failed his fight, dire consequences would be in his future.
Liu Kang was glad that his ally made it out alive, and even slightly admired Cage's capabilities. Kung Lao shared the same sentiment though felt the need to mention how he would not have allowed Kano to land that many hits.
Jax was relieved that they won the first fight, and both him and Sonya (Sonya especially), were glad to see Kano get beat senseless.
Nightwolf maintained his stoic expression with an added subtle smirk.
Liu Kang, out of curiosity, looked at their Lin Kuei ally. For the first time since they met, Sub-Zero appeared to be smiling. Liu Kang leaned over to Sub-Zero.
"You seem to be happy about something." Liu Kang asked.
Sub-Zero's face reverted back to its typical serious and somewhat annoyed nature, and he stayed in silence for a couple seconds before he formulated a proper response that would not make him look weak, in his mind anyway.
"He finally showed the burning fury a warrior fighting in this tournament must have." He finally replied. "Now, the question remains. Will you be the same, Shaolin?"
The air of casual conversation that Liu Kang hoped for disappeared quickly as it emerged, and reverted back to Sub-Zero questioning his worthiness.
Rather than engage with the assassin any more, he sat properly on his seat once more quietly. Along with extending his to cover Kung Lao to prevent him from trying to get closer to Sub-Zero again.
Back down in the arena, Cage's victory was met with mostly silence and even a few noises of contempt and anger from the primarily Outworld crowd. Right before Cage would turn around to get back up the stairs and take the rest he deserved, he heard Shang Tsung's voice yell.
"FINISH HIM."
Johnny Cage stood perplexed. While the rest of the Earthrealmers froze up, with the exception of Sub-Zero who anticipated it with silent excitement. Liu Kang and Kung Lao nearly forgot that Shang Tsung would demand that from them. Raiden was content with whatever decision Johnny chose, while Sonya silently desired for Johnny to finish off the man who caused her so much pain.
But rather than do it, Johnny just stood there confused. "...W-wait, what? F-finish him?" He said hesitantly. "Look man, I'm not that kind of actor, even if you paid me a lot of money I still wouldn't-" Before Cage could finish his joke, Shang yelled once more.
"KILL HIM."
Cage's body stayed unmoving due to shock and not having a clue on what to do. He looked around, seeing how the people in the stands were taking this. All the Outworlders, including its kombatants, waited for him to finish the job.
He turned around to look at the Earthrealmer's, but was too far to read what any of their expressions were.
After a few more seconds, he finally muttered out a response. "Woah...I...I'm not k-killing anyone."
He rubbed the areas of his chest that had bruises and slowly walked towards the stairs of his side's spectator stands. Two guards picked up Kano's motionless yet living body and brought him through a door that was on one of the walls which had the viewing area on top of it.
Cage's act of mercy gave a variety of reactions. Shang and the rest of the Outworld warriors were annoyed that he would still have to deal with the disappointment that was Kano, Mavado was glad his friend was still alive.
Sonya seemed disappointed that Cage had mercy on who she saw as the least deserving person of any mercy whatsoever. Sub-Zero longed for the "fire" that Johnny Cage displayed when he was pummeling Kano senseless in the second round.
Liu Kang on the other hand felt differently. While he was somewhat impressed by Cage's expertise in kombat earlier; this,
this aversion to killing and treating it with the way one would treat anything irrational or insane, this is what truly filled him with admiration.
As Cage made it up the stairs and looked at them. Liu Kang gave him a supportive smile and nod, which Johnny returned with his own. Right before he instinctively left out the door a few feet behind all of them, he turned his attention to Raiden.
"Why...the hell...DID YOU NOT TELL ME I COULD FUCKING DIE HERE." He yelled with justified anger.
Keeping his composure and authority, Raiden stood his ground that he did inform him of the dangers that laid before him. "I did tell you, Cage."
Cage's anger flared more at what he saw as denial of the truth. "I'M PRETTY DAMN SURE IF YOU DID I WOULD REMEMBER IF YOU TOLD ME I COULD DIE IN THIS DAMN TOURNAMENT."
"I am certain I informed you how dangerous this would be, Cage, perhaps you were not listening to me? Perhaps your mind went elsewhere once I brought up the idea of turning your experience into a motion picture?"
What Raiden thought was a good response, ended up being something he regretted as he realized he never informed the others of this.
"I mean...I-" To his surprise, most of the kombatants did not seem particularly shocked by this, more angry that they did not tell them this earlier.
"Do not worry, Lord Raiden, Johnny already told us, though accidentally." Kung Lao said. "On that note, mind telling us when you were planning to inform us that Cage planned to turn us into one of his silly characters?"
Before Raiden could respond, another voice chimed in.
"You were going to let him what?." Sub-Zero said, his voice dripping in anger.
"Oh yeah, he wasn't there when we were talking about it." Kung Lao quipped.
As Raiden and Sub-Zero began arguing and bickering, Liu Kang noticed Johnny Cage slip away through the exit and feared the worst. So he silently left his seat and went to follow him.
"For our next kombatants." Shang began to announce. "Sub-Zero, and, Kollector!"
Once more, the crowd erupted in cheers.