Water rushed down stream with incredible intensity while Art Lean nervously looked down from a suspended platform. The arena he stood on was held in the air with four large chains holding it in place. Having a combined fear of Heights and water was fairly unlucky for the fighter in this particular situation. However, he stood strong ignoring the sense of urgency telling him to escape.
"Are you alright?" Asked Johnny Cage, seeing through his allies fake confidence.
"I've been better." Replied Art as his eyes tracked the water below.
"This definitely isn't hollywood." Agreed Johnny as the duo nervously waited for their opponents. "At least we're fighting together."
"Yeah, lucky break. We're fighting in a tag team match while everyone else is on their own." Stated Art.
The two had been here only a few minutes before those in question arrived as well. Two Lin Kuei warriors representing Outworld. Typhoon and Cyclone were their codenames. Raiden had warned Johnny about the Lin Kuei after his battle with Sektor, so they were obviously dangerous. The abilities they possessed were unknown, but one might presume they were wind based. Art Lean and Johnny had tried to devise some kind of plan beforehand with Art agreeing to take them on in hand to hand combat and tagging out when superhuman abilities were involved. Now they only waited on their matches proctor to arrive. Since they fought in a more unconventional match, Shang Tsung Decided that their fight required oversight. Others in the preliminary rounds wouldn't have any oversight at all. Mileena was to oversee this particular match. Her seat was carved into the cliffs overlooking the arena. She was Outworld royalty which meant she could proctor matches when Shang Tsung was unavailable.
Art Lean heard little about their enemies, but he'd heard that Mileena and Kitana were the daughters of Outworld's leader. He expected some kind of monster with multiple limbs, several times larger, and armed to the teeth. Imagine his surprise when Mileena did arrive, and she wasn't any of those things. She seemed human with an amazing figure and she showed it off with a revealing outfit. She pulled off her mask to show her facial features were fairly normal. The only thing one may find unattractive were the scars she had from her mouth that went out to her cheeks. Beneath those scars were large tarkatan teeth that Art couldn't possibly have known about.
"I apologize for the delay. I had a match of my own to attend." She stated.
"No worries." Said Johnny Cage with a shoulder shrug as he too was surprised by the woman's beauty. The pair of Lin Kuei bowed in respect and began talking privately. Johnny noticed how Lean still seemed overly nervous and gave him a concerned look.
"I'm good." Stated Art Lean. Johnny Cage nodded, but Art wasn't confident the actor believed him. To be fair he wasn't very confident in that either, but what choice did he have? It was win or die. These Lin Kuei were dangerous and Raiden warned all his champions that they had to fight like their lives depended on it because they almost certainly did.
"You may begin whenever you're ready." Spoke Mileena. "Remember this is a tag team match so you must tag your teammate to swap out. If you break the rules I will be forced to disqualify you." Art quickly took notice of the two masked guards standing on her sides as well as the four masked guards at the end of the bridge that connected the suspended arena to the cliff. Leaving now probably was off the table. Moreover, escaping was probably impossible if they lost.
"You wanna start us off? Might be able to impress the hottie?" Joked Johnny. Art scoffed and walked into the arena where Typhoon was the first to step forward. It made no difference to Art who fought first as he had no idea which was easier to defeat.
Art Lean had to rely his abilities in martial arts for him to survive against trained killers. His opponent offered no bow as Art Lean opted to just take a stance as well. Typhoon rushed in fast with a flying knee. Art caught the knee and threw Typhoon off in another direction. The Lin Kuei stumbled and caught himself avoiding a fall off the side of the arena. Typhoon went on the attack again with a straight palm. Art Lean caught his arm and countered with a straight kick that had Typhoon stepping back. It was clear he didn't think much of Art Lean or he wouldn't be attempting such sloppy attacks. Typhoon reached to his side before quickly throwing a dagger at Art who avoided the blade.
The warm-up was clearly over as Typhoon attacked once again with a combo that started with a right jab. The hit connected perfectly with Art's nose then Typhoon hit with several stomach shots before ending with a high kick that put the earthrealm fighter on his back. Luckily Art rolled away before Typhoon could stomp on his head. He returned to his feet before attacking back. Typhoon was ready for the rush as he swept Art's legs out from under him. He once again returned to his feet only for Typhoon to hit with another fast combo that ended with a hard front kick to his face. An attack that was meant as revenge for the only successful hit Art had landed. He wiped the blood from his face as he returned to his feet once again. Art Lean started devising a battle plan when he saw Johnny Cage was looking to be tagged in. He turned and sprinted to the side of the arena where he tagged Johnny Cage into the fight.
Typhoon seemed happy about this and prepared a dagger. He undoubtedly wanted to kill the man that eliminated his superior, Sektor, from the tournament. So he threw the dagger, but rather than dodge the attack Johnny simply activated his shadow and the dagger bounced off of his skin like nothing. Typhoon, Cyclone and Mileena were all shocked by the actor's abilities as he had only used them once against Sektor. A showing that no one had even noticed as the actor had been engulfed in flames at the time. Typhoon was clearly worried now, and Johnny took advantage of that as he attacked with his signature shadow kick. It connected perfectly and sent Typhoon sliding across the slick fighting surface. The wind was knocked out of him and he'd need a few moments to recover. Johnny had no time to capitalize on this as Typhoon tagged out with his own teammate.
Cyclone stood across from Johnny Cage who was grinning due to his own early success. Cyclone immediately formed some kind of wind ball that he released towards Johnny. He once again activated his shadow as a defense, but the attack's purpose wasn't to damage the actor. Instead he hoped to shove the actor straight off the side of the arena and into the rushing water below. Mileena grew more excited by the match as Johnny slid across the arena somehow staying on his feet and coming to a shaky stop right on the ledge. Art pulled him off the side and used the opportunity as a tag.
Art Lean angrily rushed Cyclone who obviously was shocked to see his own attack hadn't taken Johnny out of the fight. Art attacked with a flurry of kicks that had Cyclone on defense, but just as he was about to connect with an ax kick his opponent utilized a special technique. A small twister formed beneath Art and spun him wildly for a few moments before launching him from his spot. He flew well into the air just out of the ring without the required arm length to catch the edge. Johnny Cage quickly slid across the arena and caught Art's arm just in time. Johnny pulled his ally up quickly and the duo noticed that their enemy had grown just as tired.
"Quite the catch." Commented Mileena. Art was in shock that he almost just fell to what would have been a very unpleasant experience, so Johnny took over.
Johnny attacked with a lunging knee that connected with Cyclones gut before twisting around and catching him with a kick across the face. As he recovered Johnny karate chopped down on the Lin Kuei's head before twisting around again with a back kick this time. Once again Cyclone was sent back this time much closer to the edge. He recovered and prepared to defend himself from Johnny's assault. However, Johnny Cage simply spun around one last time before unleashing a force ball that collided right into Cyclone. The energy carried him over ten feet off the side of the arena before he fell into the rushing water below.
"Oh yeah! You just got Caged." He Exclaimed. Once again Typhoon was at a loss for words as he had his expectations blown away. Mileena was in awe as well as she hadn't expected this from the actor. As for Cyclone, he would likely be fine. The water broke his fall and he would probably wash up later. So long as he didn't drown.
Typhoon had no choice now but to finish the fight himself. He rushed the actor and flew through the air with a side kick. Johnny took the kick right to the side of the head as he was too busy gloating. Johnny Cage recovered only for Typhoon to continue with an assault of rapid strikes. If he had started the fight like this, Art likely would have been eliminated immediately.
"Johnny!" Called Art. Johnny pushed off Typhoon with a front kick and Jogged to his ally for the tag.
Art's shock from before had now turned into pure rage. He rushed Typhoon and tackled him to the ground. They wrestled with Art hoping he could get an easy chokehold on Typhoon, but he slipped free at the last possible moment. He quickly backed up as Typhoon attacked with an acrobatic combo of attacks. Art Lean was left with no choice, except to continue evading backwards towards the edge of the ring. One mistake now and he would be knocked out of bounds. Thinking quickly, Art caught one of Typhoons' high attacks and fell backwards with Typhoon falling on top of him. Then he rolled back and flung the fighter off the side and down into the water below, ending the fight.
"Oh no you didn't!" Said Johnny as he rushed in to celebrate.
"Oh yes I did!" Said Art excitedly as he celebrated his victory with Johnny. They of course looked to Mileena who seemed rather disappointed by the conclusion of the fight. No doubt hoping for another outcome.
"Congratulations on your victory, Earthrealmers." Said Mileena offering a genuine smile. "I may have underestimated what you humans are capable of." She spoke before taking her leave. Art couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the woman. Her smile left a bad taste in his mouth, and a worse feeling in his stomach.