"Okay, I'm good, like I'm fine, but can we admit this is getting ridiculous?" Asked Johnny as he approached his next arena. The bottom of the pit was covered in corpses and blood with spikes littering the ground. The odor alone was strong enough to scare most warriors away.
A few of his close allies had come with him to observe the match, and ensure his safe arrival. "I was saying that after my first fight." Answered Art Lean.
"Yeah, we're right there with you." Stated the recently eliminated Eddy Tobias.
"I didn't know there'd be spikes, but I imagined spikes." Joked Felix as he took in the surroundings of the pit.
"Relax, everybody." began Lance. The last of the small group of spectators. "Ignore the bodies. This is just a fight. You wanna get outta here quick, then win fast."
"Something just isn't right about this." Stated Johnny.
"Are you kidding? Everything is wrong about this." Stated Art Lean taking another look at the pit.
Art Lean was right. The scene before them was disgusting. Many of the bodies were fresh. They were mostly other champions of the realms that fell in this mortal kombat tournament. Johnny hadn't known any of these fighters particularly well, but could recognize some of them from earlier in the tournament or from the pier in Hong Kong.
Johnny reevaluated his situation with him looking to his allies. Art Lean and Johnny became quick friends, and fought well together. If they faced an ambush, Johnny was confident in Art. Eddy was new to the group and eliminated from the tournament, but if Shang Tsung wanted to cheat then he'd be able to jump in his defense. Of course he didn't know Eddy well, but Art had brought him into the fold. While Johnny didn't know him, he did know the name. Eddy Tobias was a mma star across the world some years ago. He and Art Lean were similar in the regard which is likely why the two had become close so quickly. Then there was Felix, the kid had also been eliminated by scorpion, but unlike Art and Eddy he actually had powers. They didn't help him much against Scorpion.
Finally Lance had volunteered to back Johnny up. Lance didn't seem to like Johnny Cage very much. Yet, he had been a key ally for Johnny. He guided him through his battles with the black dragon warriors and had volunteered to help him now. Johnny had assumed it was because they shared the ultimate goal of saving earthrealm which was at least partially true. However, Johnny came to realize that Lance had gone the extra mile for Johnny Cage because of Sonya. It was clear he appreciated Johnny for coming to the defense of Sonya Blade. She didn't, and she didn't want him to face Kano in the courtyard, but Johnny did. Lance respected that Johnny was willing to help her when she had made herself a difficult ally to work with.
Lance spent this time surveying the area. He was looking for an ambush. Johnny could tell from his facial expressions that he didn't see anything, but they obviously weren't safe yet. Would Shang Tsung risk ambushing the four of them? Raiden could teleport to them should something happen. Or at least, Johnny hoped so. He didn't completely understand the gods' abilities.
"Hey, Lance, do me a favor?" Johnny Cage asked. Lance looked over curiously. "I have a brother…" began Johnny.
"Slow down Cage, you're gonna be fine." Stated Lance, cutting the actor off.
"What makes you so sure?" Asked Johnny. Seriously unsure of what he was about to face.
"I've seen you fight." Answered Lance. "You're not losing your confidence now are you?"
"Me? Never." Agreed Johnny, still unsure. "I guess I'll head in then." He finished before stepping off the clean path and into the pit. He started off into the spiked pit as his allies called out words of encouragement.
Johnny Cage couldn't shake the feeling. Would this be his last fight? Would superstar Johnny Cage be killed here? Forgotten like so many earthrealm champions before him. His brother, Jimmy, may never learn the truth. maybe from Lance, but he wouldn't believe the true story no matter who told him. Jimmy was the last family member Johnny Cage had that he gave a damn about. His brother would have no one if he died.
There his ex wife, Christina, was on his mind. He'd been a jerk to her, especially in the end. He wanted to live it up as Johnny Cage so badly that he'd forgotten she married John Carlton. He loved her, and in the end he made her feel like he didn't care she was leaving. He'd missed her every day since she left him just over a year before. Maybe for the best, as she wouldn't need to mourn his death.
Otherwise he had his agent, Chuck. Career wise, he'd be fine, maybe better off not needing to represent an action star who can't get a job anymore. Relationship wise, Chuck was one of his closest friends. He'd take the loss hard. Then there was his bodyguard, Bo, who had become a good friend as well. He'd have no problem finding a new job either with his military experience. Finally, was Johnny's best friend Carlos Pesina. The two of them grew up together, trained together in their youth, and in adulthood Johnny had even gotten him some small jobs in the acting field before he finally settled in motion capture earning the nickname Mokap. His death would hit them hard, and they'd likely never know the truth about Johnny Cage. Even if someone told them, would they believe it?
Johnny couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they lost this tournament. Would his friends back home even get the chance to mourn him? Or would Outworld immediately merge the realms? How many would die in that scenario?
Johnny came to a stop directly under one of the bridges. He was well out of sight from his allies now. He realized the bridge he stood underneath was the same one he and Sonya fought Kano and Jerek on. Strangely his thoughts drifted to Kano and Jerek. He defeated them, the same as Tremor. He had to assume they would meet the same fate of getting their souls consumed. If that was the case then Johnny Cage would be responsible for four deaths. All black dragon mercenaries, but it still didn't comfort him at all.
"You're nervous?" Asked a feminine voice. Johnny Cage jumped and spun to see Skarlet. "You seemed so confident when you took on Tremor, and now your heart is beating so fast."
"What? You're my challenger?" He asked, confused. "I remember you from before my first match."
"You remember flirting with me, you mean?" She asked with a chuckle. "Well you certainly got my attention, Cage. Just not in the way you hoped."
She was right, Johnny was nervous. Liu warned him about her. Her abilities were extremely powerful supposedly. She had daggers strapped to her leg, and a short sword on her back. There was no way that was all she had to work with. All the fighters that made it this far had some freakish abilities. Johnny didn't know what hers were and that gave her an advantage. She'd seen him fight Sektor, and apparently Tremor from the crowd. Skarket knew exactly what Johnny Cage could do. Except she didn't say anything about his match with Kano, maybe she didn't know about his recently discovered red Shadow.
"So why challenge me?" He asked, genuinely curious.
"Whatever power you have, it's strong. And it runs through your blood. Which means you will make a fine meal for me." She says in a terrifying tone.
"What, you're like a vampire?" He asked as he prepared to defend himself.
"No, I'm not a vampire." She laughs. "I'm so much worse than that." She finished before running at the actor.
Unprepared he narrowly dodged her jump kick as he rolled away. When he returned to his feet Skarlet had already thrown a couple daggers that stuck into the pillar near him. He turned back to her as she attacked with precision strikes. Johnny dodged, blocked and countered to the best of his ability
Skarlet lunged, her blades slicing through the air. Johnny sidestepped, ducking under her strike and countering with a sharp kick to her side. She stumbled but recovered quickly, using the momentum to spin and hurl a dagger formed from her own blood. Johnny rolled, avoiding the projectile. "Gross. Ever heard of bloodborne pathogens?" he taunted, throwing a green-glowing shadow kick that slammed into Skarlet's chest, sending her flying into a pillar. Skarlet snarled, dissolving into a mist of blood and reappearing behind him. She slashed across his back, drawing blood. Johnny winced, spinning around with a backfist that caught her across the jaw. Skarlet wiped blood from her lips, absorbing it into her body. With a wicked grin, she unleashed a torrent of blood spears from the ground. Johnny flipped and rolled, narrowly dodging each one. Eventually when he finally got a break he turned to Skarlet who, still grinning, prepared another attack.
"Screw this!" Said Johnny before taking off down the first open pathway, between the maze of corpses and spikes. He quickly climbed a nearby set of stairs he could find as he ended up on the bridge above the pit only to find Skarlet waiting for him. "What? How did you….?"
Skarlet interrupted with a spinning kick, her foot catching Johnny's jaw. He staggered, but as she moved in for the kill, he activated his shadow and headbutt her. Skarlet let out a pained gasp but quickly retaliated with a blood whip, wrapping it around Johnny's neck and slamming him into the ground. She loomed over him, her blades ready.
"I'll drain every drop," she hissed.
"Not today, psycho!" Johnny grunted, summoning his green energy to shatter the whip. He backflipped to his feet and unleashed his force balls. Each missed but as she grew closer she set Johnny up for a perfectly placed shadow kick that turned into a shadow uppercut and finally a flip kick. She crashed into the ground with a thud, and that specific combination would break the back of most opponents, but Skarlet rose to her feet, injured and upset. She grimaced, but turned to a small blood splatter and rubbed her hand across it. The blood was absorbed into her hand as she moaned and a shiver was sent up her spine.
"Your blood is something else entirely. Not at all like the earthrealmers I've had already. You are special…" She said as she became fixated on the actor. She was basically completely healed from only a little bit of his blood and Johnny was almost out of energy.
The fight raged on the narrow bridge above the Pit, and Johnny Cage was in trouble. Skarlet had him pinned near the edge. She wrapped a newly formed blood whip around his neck, tightening with every second. His hands clawed at the tendrils, his vision blurring as he struggled for air.
Skarlet hissed, stepping closer as her blood magic pulsed with sinister energy. "Your blood will make me unstoppable. I'll never go hungry again."
Johnny's knees buckled, his strength fading. For a moment, he looked truly beaten. Then, through the haze, his hands began to glow—not with his usual green energy, but with a fierce crimson light.
Skarlet's eyes narrowed. "What is that?"
Johnny gritted his teeth, his voice a raspy whisper. "It's called... a comeback." Summoning every ounce of his will, Johnny slammed both fists into the bridge beneath their feet, unleashing a red shadow shockwave. The entire structure shuddered violently as cracks spread like spiderwebs. Skarlet's blood whip disintegrated as she stumbled, her balance faltering. The bridge began to collapse, chunks of stone falling away into the pit below. Skarlet lunged at Johnny, desperate to end him before the ground gave way entirely. But Johnny sidestepped at the last second, sending her tumbling past him.
"Not so fast!" Skarlet snarled, grabbing his arm as she fell. Johnny yanked free and jumped to the only remaining solid piece of the bridge as the rest crumbled. Skarlet screamed as she plummeted into the Pit, her body impaled on the jagged spikes below. Johnny stood on the fragment of the bridge, catching his breath as the red glow faded from his hands. He looked down at the wreckage, shaking his head. Without a second thought he found his way down to her apparent corpse.
Oh no….." was all Johnny could manage to say as he came upon his fallen enemy. The sight of Skarlet alone made Johnny violently ill, but the stench added another layer of discomfort for the actor. She had been completely impaled by a single spike at the bottom of the pit. Her blood spilled everywhere and with a single gruesome wound like that it would be easy to miss the limbs bent out of place with protruding bones. Skarlet should be dead ten times over, but somehow she held on, even if just barely. Her breaths were rapid and faint as her death grew closer.
For Johnny the feeling was surreal. His opponent had almost killed him several times and likely would have won their match if it continued any longer. What Johnny really struggled with was what he'd struggled with the entire tournament. He did not want to be responsible for killing anyone. Johnny was able to rationalize the death of Tremor because he technically hadn't killed him. That was Shang Tsung, but in Skarlets case….. Johnny was solely responsible. Of course she would've killed him and done it with a smile. That didn't mean killing her would sit well with the actor. He'd wanted to win the tournament, he wanted to be a hero, to be the best, to be more famous than ever before, but he also wanted to be able to sleep at night when it was all said and done. As he approached her he recalled her abilities to use his own blood against him in multiple ways. She had even managed to use a small bit to heal a minor wound from Johnny's forceball attack.
It wasn't a decision at all, he was going to share his blood with the woman. Within a moment he'd cut his hand open using her dagger and began dripping blood onto her bare skin hoping she'd be able to absorb it into her and heal from her injuries. It took no time at all for her to fly off the spike with her major wounds all healed over. She still looked beaten up, but was probably able to fight again which shocked the actor as he'd spared hardly any of his own blood. Her reaction was so quick she could have easily sliced at the actor who was well within her range. He quickly made sure to back up out of her stabbing and slicing proximity before speaking.
"Your blood is very potent, Cage. Such a small amount of anyone else's blood wouldn't have been enough to heal with. But yours? Even a few drops gives me quite the power boost."
"I don't suppose we're still fighting?" Asked Johnny, mildly concerned.
"No, I don't believe we are." Stated Skarlet in a disappointed tone. "Why not just let me die?" She asked plainly.
"I've never killed anyone." Johnny shrugged. "Didn't want to start today."
"You know, if our roles were reversed, you'd be dead, and I'd be laughing." Reminded Skarlet with a terrifying smirk.
"Yeah, well… do unto others and all that." Answered Johnny to which Skarlet seemed confused.
"You are quite strange, Johnny Cage." Spoke Skarlet. "I do look forward to killing you, but today you've earned my mercy, and your victory." She finished before disappearing into a puddle of blood leaving Johnny alone.
"What the actual….."