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The mood as of late

MY SPOTIFY WRAPPED IS HERE!!

Devil-Chan!

I see no lies here 😜

Reblog if you’re a black girl that loves anime 💁🏽‍♀️

Kiyoko Saihara! A Danganronpa oc!

So Gods Do Exist… (Mortal Kombat x OC) ((Kinda))

Part 4

Kenshi was sitting in a cell. Shang Tsung had thrown all of them into his actual laboratory that just felt like a literal torture dungeon. There was blood and guts everywhere, and some people hanging on shit. Most of those people looked alive just…disfigured.

Baraka, who was also thrown into the cell with them, was banging on the bars trying to force his way out.

“You’ve been at that for hours.” Kenshi noticed, leaning against the wall.

“If you could see, you’d know why.” Baraka says.

“That’s not happening, is it?”

“I’m sorry Kenshi…” Lemon apologized, leaning her head on the man’s arm. “I shouldn’t have walked away.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know.” Kenshi replies. “Why don’t you two talk about your lives before you got here? To help me get my mind off this.”

“Really? I don’t think either of our lives are happy ones.” Lemon mutters.

“It’s just…something to listen to.”

“I was doing well, trading goods up and down the Fartakh coast. My family was comfortable, happy.” Baraka tells. “Then Tarkat came. It took my wife, then my children. Cruelly it lets me live for now. I think it enjoys ravaging my body more slowly.”

“What about you, Lemon?”

Lemon sighs and moves to lean her head on the wall behind her. “I’ve been an orphan all my life. One of the caretakers told me they found me in the middle of the street, crying. And when they picked me up I had a small note on my back that said “Cheri.” So that’s my name I guess. Nobody could figure out who I belonged to or where I came from. I just kinda appeared.” She explained with a shrug. “That’s it. Nothing much.”

“What about your last name?”

“Fake. I don’t have an actual last name.”

Johnny slowly woke up with a groan, holding his head as he sat up. “Ugh…this hangover…” he then looks over at Kenshi and remembers all the shut he just went through. “Kenshi! Goddamnit. How bad’s the pain?”

“Excruciating.”

“You saved my life. I won’t forget that.”

“But you may just regret it.” Baraka chimed in, motioning to what was beyond their cell.

“What in the…” Johnny mutters, standing up.

“Yeah, it’s weird as hell!” Lemon exclaims, covering her ears. “All I’ve been hearing is screams and moaning for the past 3 hours!”

“This is Shang Tsung’s real laboratory.” Baraka explained as Kung Lao started to wake up.

“We’re beneath where we were before.” Kenshi added. “That was a false front.”

“Reminds me of this cheap-ass film I did in my early days: The Flash Pits.” Johnny remembered. “God, that was trash.”

Kung Lao had woken up from all the noise the others were making and once he remembered what happened he immediately reached for his hat, only to touch the top of his head. “They took my hat!” Kung Lao exclaimed.

“Yeah, my rollerblades as well.” Lemon adds looking down at the socks on her feet. “All our shit is gone.”

The door far away from them swings open and a guy dressed in green and black walks in.

“Who’s that?” Johnny asks.

“Our jailor.” Baraka answers. The green and black guy walks past them and to one of the other prisoners. He then tosses a piece of raw meat into the cell for the prisoner to eat.

He then turns back to the group and walks over to them. “How is he?” He asks, motioning to Kenshi.

“His eyes are gouged out. Guess.” Johnny replied, sarcastically.

“This will dull the pain.” The man informs, handing Johnny a red and black jar. Johnny looks at him suspiciously before walking over to Kenshi.

“You’re vile to be part of this.” Baraka says to the man.

“You are Shang Tsung’s prisoner…I am his slave. He has my family. He’ll kill them if I don’t obey.”

“Kinda hard to feel bad for you when we’re most likely going to be tortured to death.” Lemon chimes in, standing up and glaring at the man. She then stepped in something wet and yelped, looking down at her wet sock. “And I have to walk around in this weird liquid shit!”

“Why did he pick you?” Baraka asked.

“So he could learn how I shapeshift.” The man said.

“He learned that from you?” Kung Lao repeated. “We saw him do that. It was unreal.”

“So how does it work?” Johnny inquired, walking back to the others. “You just shapeshift into anything you want?”

“I can shit only between this form and my natural form.” The man turns into a gigantic lizard right in front of their eyes.

“Whoa.”

“Your Zaterran.” Baraka confirmed. “Your race can shapeshift!?”

“None can except me.”

Shang Tsung appeared behind the man who turned back into his human form. “Are they ready? It’s time.”

“There’s our potential villain!” Lemon exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.

“Time for what, sorcerer?” Baraka demanded.

“Replication experiments.” Shang Tsung answered. “They begin with your vivisection. I’ll use your harvested parts to build new creations. The process is fatal, of course.”

“Liu Kang won’t let you get away with this.” Johnny states.

Shang Tsung chuckles. “That presumes he will ever learn what happened. But when I am done, there will be no trace left of you. I shall return soon to check progress. I have other matters to which I must attend.” He disappears and the stranger/man/lizard/guy walks towards another cell.

“You don’t have to do this!” Baraka tries to reason.

“It’s either you or my family.” He opens the gate to a cell full of copies of Tarkatan creatures. “Put them in the chambers.”

The Earthrealmer’s (+Baraka’s) cell opens, leaving them vulnerable to the monsters. Johnny swings on the bars of the cell and kicks one of the monsters before punching it in the face, knocking it out.

Lemon, who was not as physically strong as any of these people, looked around for some type of weapon and found two knuckle brasses with claws at the end, she smiles to herself as she puts them on and immediately starts slicing the copies.

Baraka and Kung Lao were fighting back quite easily, but Kenshi and Johnny got captured and each thrown into a chamber.

Kung Lao was able to find his hat through all the madness and sliced a few clones head’s off.

“You’re really good with those knuckle things.” Kung Lao noticed as he, Lemon and Baraka were all back to back.

“Kinda using them as boxing gloves…” Lemon mutters, running away from the two and continuing to slice and punch the Tarkatan clones. She even cut one of its heads clean off, making her extremely happy. “Yeah, I’m stealing these!”

They had finally defeated all the monsters except for one. Lemon had sliced off its legs but then forgot to finish it off, so now it’s just crawling…

“There is nothing more foul…” Baraka muttered, watching it.

Johnny and Kensni’s chambers started to turn on, conducting electricity onto the bars.

Lemon and Baraka turned back to see who turned the chambers on and spotted the green and black man next to a lever.

“Do you want me to fight him?” Lemon asked.

“We have bigger things to deal with.” Kung Lao denied, motioning to something in front of them. It was a much bigger Tarkatan clone that stomped on the smaller clone's head and roared at the group.

“Are you kidding me…” Lemon grumbled.

They took care of it quickly with Baraka slicing the thing’s head off.

“Enough distractions!” He shouts, running over to Johnny and Kenshi’s chambers, ripping the bars off of both of them. Kung Kao and Johnny helped Kenshi walk out of his.

“I’m ruined!” The green and black guy exclaimed. “Shang Tsung's will punish me for this by torturing my family! You’ll pay for their suffering, Tarkatan!”

As Baraka and the green/black guy were fighting, Lemon looked around for her rollerblades, eventually finding them under a table, putting them on and rolling back over to the group, just in time to jump up on the stranger and wrap her legs around the man’s neck before throwing him onto the ground.

“I found my rollerblades!” She announces to the group before accidentally falling off the stranger as he turns into his lizard form. “Okay, forgot he could do that…”

Baraka quickly knocks the stranger to the ground before he can try to bite the woman. “We are leaving.” Baraka states, helping Lemon back on her feet.

The stranger throws his mask off and looks up at Baraka in sadness and fear. “Then kill me.” He demands. “If I die, maybe he’ll spare my family.”

“No. I won’t murder you.”

“It’s mercy, not murder! Not that what I’ve done deserves yours.”

“You were protecting your family, I would’ve done the same.”

The stranger stands up and suddenly, Shang Tsung appears once again, shocked by the sight in front of him. “What has happened here?” He questions in anger. “Syzoth, you fool! You’ve let them ruin everything!”

Johnny quickly gets Sento from a random table and runs to stand in front of Shang Tsung. 

“We’re going, sorcerer.” Baraka says.

“And we’re taking you with us.” Johnny adds. “Liu Kang would like a word.”

“I cannot be apprehended so easily…” Shang Tsung mutters before chanting a spell and spraying green fog into the room.

“Yeah, I got a bad feeling about this…”

“Is this poison gas?” Lemon questions, covering her mouth.

“I bid you all farewell.” Shang Tsung says before directing his attention to Syzoth. “Cheer up, Syzoth. I’m reuniting you with your family.”

“They’re dead!?” Syzoth exclaimed. “You killed them!?”

“Many moons ago. I do hate loose ends.”

He then disappears, leaving the group to deal with the gas on their own. Syzoth runs to the exit door, trying to open it.

“What’s wrong?” Kung Lao asks.

“The door must’ve sealed when the gas was released!” Syzoth guessed.

At this point everyone was having a coughing fit, with only poison gas going into their lungs.

“Stand aside.” Baraka demands, walking towards the door. He banged on the door multiple times before it finally broke open, letting out all the gas and giving the group a way to escape. “Hurry!”

“Follow me! This way!” Syzoth announced. Johnny and Kung Lao were holding up Kenshi while the other three walked in the front.

“Leave me.” Kenshi says. “I’ll just slow you down.”

“What?” Johnny gasps. “If Shang Tsung finds you, he’ll kill you.”

“Look at me, Cage! I’m useless. Don’t risk your lives to save mine.”

“Hey, you are not giving up. The Taira need you, remember? We are gonna get back home and figure out how to help you. Got it?”

They were outside the laboratory and walking back to Sun Do.

“We can’t linger. We’ll be captured.” Syzoth warned.

“We need help getting Kenshi to the portal at Sun Do.” Kung Lao says.

“I can take you only to the city’s gates.” Baraka suggests. “Tarkatans are forbidden inside.”

“I’ll see you the rest of the way.” Syzoth added. “It’s the least I can do to make amends.”

They were walking for quite a bit, and to pass the time, Lemon rolled next to Syzoth and started to basically interrogate the poor man.

“So…Syzoth…that’s your name right…?” She started. “Do you know how you got the powers to shapeshift?”

“No.”

“Would you only date another Zaterran or are you open to other possibilities?”

“I do not care.”

“Are you into guys?”

“Never truly found myself attracted to them.”

“How’d Potential Villain find you?”

“Finally a normal question.” Kung Lao huffed, earning a glare from Lemon.

“Since I was able to turn into a human, I was forced to leave my people due to them seeing me as nothing but a freak. Starving and beggared, I joined a traveling carnival. Turned out there are many who would pay good money to see my…”gift.””

“Doesn’t that sound similar?” Johnny questions sarcastically, placing his hand on Lemon’s head and laughing a bit when said woman pushed his hand off.

“Back then, Shang Tsung was a huckster. We crossed paths and he saw what I could do. When he began to learn real sorcery, he asked to study me. When I declined, he took my family hostage.”

“Isn’t that an offer you can’t refuse?”

As they continued to walk, Johnny was looking around the forest, seeing how big and colorful it was. “Man this forest reminds me of Wicked Plant. We had this forest in the second act—“

“The manticore battle?” Kenshi guessed.

“Yes! It was a pain to shoot, but man did it come out epic.”

“I can picture it exactly.”

This is the Living Forest.” Baraka announced.

“Aren’t all forests living, Baraka?” Kung Lao inquired.

“No others have trees that house the souls of the dead.”

“What!?” Lemon shouted.

“Whoa, wait a tick. We’re talking ghosts!?” Johnny exclaimed

“Good ones, not evil.” Baraka reassured.

“You guys know anybody here?”

“Some distant relatives.”

“You will find no Zaterrans.” Syzoth informed.

“Why not?” Kenshi asks.

“Warmbloods don’t welcome us. so we keep to ourselves, living underground in Zikandur province.”

A roar was heard a few feet away, causing Syzoth and Baraka to sprint into action and run towards whatever the noise was coming from. Lemon reacted a bit late and looked at the three men behind her with a shrug before following the other two.

There was an opening in the forest where a woman was fighting multiple other creatures that looked similar to Baraka. She then notices Baraka and Syzoth. “Quan Chi sends more demons!?” She exclaims.

“Wait! We’re not–” Baraka tried to explain, but the woman kicked Syzoth in the chest and started to fight Baraka. 

“With each of you I kill, my absolution grows nearer.”

This woman was ruthless and strong when it came to fighting and it caused Baraka and Syzoth to get some scratches by the woman’s sword but thankfully, Lemon finally caught up to the group in the middle of the fight and confused the woman.

“A human?” She questions. “Then what are you two?”

“He’s Zaterran.” Baraka answered, pointing to Syzoth. “I am Edenian. Or I was before my Tarkat affliction.”

“Outworlders!? Apologizes. I’m glad I’ve caused neither of you permanent injury.”

Kenshi, Johnny and Kung Lao came out right after with Kenshi sniffing some of the dead bodies around them. “What is that?” He asked.

“Just keep swimming.” Johnny dismissed, noticing the stranger in front of them. “So. Who’s our femme fatale?”

“I am Ashrah.” The woman informed. “Demon of the Netherrealm.”

“Demon? You look human…mostly. And what’s a Netherrealm?”

“The monks covered that with us. Did you sleep through every lesson?” Kenshi questioned.

“That one apparently.”

“Netherralm’s hell, but real.” Kung Lao answered.

“No shit…”

“I appear nearly human because I’ve purged most evil from my soul.” Ashrah explained. “When I’m done, the last vestiges of my demonic form will fade away.”

“Why were the demons after you?” Kung Lao asks.

“They were sent by Quan Chi. My former master. I was part of his Sisterhood of Shadow. He wanted…still wants…dominion over the realms. I renounced him when I realized that I could not help him defile them.”

“And now he wants you dead.” Syzoth finished.

“Precisely. I followed Quan Chi from the Netherrealm, here. He’s building devices that steal souls on a mass scale. He’s testing the first on the dead that reside in the forest.”

“Why steal souls, Ashrah?” Baraka asks.

“To harness their power. To what end, I don’t know. But I do know that it’s to aid the designs of another sorcerer…Shang Tsung.”

“Why is this man everywhere!?” Lemon exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “And nobody knows what the end goal for these two are. Isn’t that great…”

“So you’re sure Quan Chi is here?” Kenshi asked Ashrah.”

“I’m sure of it. My kriss senses him.” Ashrah answers, holding up her sword. “He’s nearby.”

Kenshi starts to walk forward but Johnny quickly cuts him off. “Nope, no. We’re getting you home.” He states.

“We have a job to do, Quan Chi could lead us to Shang Tsung.” Kenshi argues.

“But shouldn’t we be focused on getting you to safety?” Lemon questions.

“Your Liu Kang is right.” Baraka chimes in. “Shang Tsung’s a danger that must be dealt with. I will aid you.”

“As will I.” Syzoth agrees.

Johnny sighs. “I guess the ayes have it. Motion carries. Ashrah…lead the way.”

“This has been a long fucking day.” Lemon huffs.

So now instead of walking to Sun Do, they were following behind Ashrah who used her kriss as a guide to Quan Chi.

“Quan Chi is close.” Ashrah warns, looking at her glowing sword. “The emanations of his evil grow stronger.”

“That is a powerful weapon.” Baraka noticed.

“And my perfect ally. As I smite the evil it finds, I am further purified.”

“Now I’ve done steps, so I’m all for self-help.” Johnny chimed in. “But since when does a demoness want to be less evil?”

“I had spent eternity damned to the Netherrealm. I had assumed that’s all there was to existence. But then I saw Earthrealm, saw Outworld. Saw there was a better way to live. And to have it, I needed to cleanse my soul. My sister demons were furious at my change of heart. Kia and Jataaka were the first to hunt me.”

“Quan Chi is also a demon?” Syzoth questioned.

“Actually, he’s an Outworlder. But he mastered the dark magic needed for unfettered travel to my realm.”

“So then how did they meet?” Lemon asks before yelping at the sound of a bug near her ear and swatting the thing away. Syzoth quickly caught the thing with his mouth and started eating, not noticing the pure disgusted looks Lemon and Johnny were giving him. “I could’ve gone my whole life without seeing that…” Lemon grumbled.

“Quan Chi and Shang Tsung met due to a certain woman. I have not met this woman, but I am to assume that she’s behind all of this.” She lifts up her sword once more, notching It reacting to Quan Chi’s evil. “He is near.”

They walk to another opening in the forest. This time with multiple people and some sort of spell caster thing with green magic floating around it. There was also someone chanting something most likely controlling the green magic.

“Uh, which one is Quan Chi?” Lemon asked.

“The one who’s creating the soul stealer.” Ashrah answered.

“That’s what that is?”

“Well this plot just got thicker.” Johnny commented.

Ashrah turned to the rest of the group and announced that, “Earthrealm is in grave danger. Just one soul stealer can kill hundreds of thousands. If he unleashes a battery of them—“

“Millions will die.” Baraka finished.

“He must be stopped.” Kung Lao states.

“I will deal with Quan Chi.” Ashrah says, leading the way. “The five of you subdue the others.”

“Whoa there, big fella.” Johnny interrupts Kenshi who was about to follow the rest of the group. “This stop’s where you get off.”

“You heard her!” Kenshi argued. “Millions could die!”

“Which is why we don’t want you tripping us up out there. Now.” Johnny sighs. “Give me your sword.”

“Why?”

“Just give it.”

Kenshi hesitantly gives Johnny his sword. He takes the sword…and hands Sento over to Kenshi who took a second to realize.

“What!?” He breathed. “Johnny I can’t, not where you’re–”

“You saved my life.” Johnny interrupted, putting a hand on Kenshi’s arm. “It’s yours.” He then pats him on the shoulder before following the rest of the group, leaving Kenshi to his own thoughts.

The group runs towards Quan Chi and the soul stealer, alarming a vampire woman who warned Quan Chi.

“Yet again you evade capture, Ashrah.” Quan Chi states. “And now it appears you’ve found allies.”

“We are joined against you, sorcerer. You won’t be stealing any souls!” Ashrah shouts.

The vampire woman goes to attack Ashrah, signaling all the others to start fighting as well. Everyone, excluding Ashrah and Lemon had their own 1v1’s to deal with.

Lemon and Ashrah were honestly double teaming the shit out of the vampire woman, both trying to slice the woman with their weapons. Ashrah at some point cuts the vampire woman’s arm, making the woman groan in pain and back away. “That blade’s enchanted!” She claims.

“It was forged to destroy evil. It’s slain many of your vampire kind.” Ashrah says.

“We can’t help what we are. That we feed on blood doesn’t make us evil.”

Ashrah and Lemon quickly knock the woman out with their weapons. “I am one step closer to redemption…” Ashrah smiles before turning her head to Quan Chi once she hears him chanting magic and activating the soul stealer. A green tornado formed into the sky and souls from the trees started to fly around and into it. Everybody stops their fighting to stare at it.

“My god. It’s a…” Johnny trails off. “Soulnado!”

Once all the souls went inside the green tornado, Quan Chi started chanting once again and a person came out of the tornado, sucking all the green magic intro itself.

“What dark magic is this!?” Ashrah demanded.

“We are Ermac.” The being introduced. “A collection of souls, bound by Quan Chi’s magic. We live to obey his commands.”

Quan Chi points to the group. “Kill them.” He orders.

Ermac immediately blasts green magic at Johnny, Lemon, Kung Lao and Ashrah, sending them crashing either onto the ground…or onto a couple of trees and sticks. They then lift Baraka up with their magic and slam him into the ground.

Syzoth sneaks up from behind them, turns into his reptile form and pounces on the being. Ermac flips him over and blasts him away before quickly stopping Ashrah who was once again running towards them, moving her closer and punching her in the face. They then throw her over their shoulder and leave her to fight against two other strangers.

“Quan Chi must succeed if I’m to liberate Orderrealm. I’ll not let him fail!” One of the men said.

“Killing one realm to free another is a heinous proposition!” Ashrah disagrees. “One I won’t let you fulfill.”

Ashrah quickly takes care of the men and Quan Chi before throwing her sword at Ermac. The being catches it, prompting Ashrah to snatch it out of their grasp and start trying to cut and stab the man.

The rest of the group got up at some point and tried to help her fight but they were quickly overpowered by Ermac’s magic.

“I can’t let them die.” Kenshi says, picking up his sword and running towards Ermac.

Who easily blasts him away.

Kenshi dropped his sword in the process, frantically feeling around the ground to see where it was. Without it, his friends would most likely die right here and now.

“Kenshi Takahashi…”

“What?” Kenshi muttered. “Who is that?”

“Your ancestors. Come to us…”

He slowly crawls over to his sword and picks it up, still hearing his ancestors whispers and moans from the blade.

“In this, your time of need, the Taira will not fail you.”

Kenshi’s eyes glow white under his bandana and suddenly he is gifted with sight. Not perfect sight, but enough to see the ground and Ermac who was dashing towards him. 

Kenshi readies his sword and goes to fight the being. He stabs them in the chest, his sword sucking some of the souls out of Ermac.

Ermac shouts in pain before blasting Kenshi away and blasting more green magic at him. Sento has a mind of its own and starts shielding its owner by itself before handing itself back to Kenshi, who looks at it in surprise.

“It siphoned his souls.” He realized. “It now has his power!”

Ashrah stood next to him. “That was unexpected.”

“You’re telling me. Shall we finish this?”

“Let’s.” She then turns to Ermac. “This fight’s not over. I’ll defeat all of Quan Chi’s minions.”

“We are many. You are one.” Ermac states. “We will destroy you.”

Ashrah and Kenshi kick them to the ground after a few minutes of fighting. The being starts crawling on the ground, trying to get back up. “We are many…You are one…” They repeat with their voice changing every second. “We will destroy you…”

“What’s wrong with them?” Kenshi asked.

“Kombat must have weakened the magic that binds its souls together.” Ashrah guessed.

“Sindel!!! I will find you!!!” Ermac shouted before passing out.

“What was that?” Kenshi asked again.

“Watch him.” Ashrah orders, walking over to the soul stealer. “I’ll shut down the soul stealer.” She stabs her sword into the crystal that keeps the magic running.

“Ashrah, don’t!” Quan Chi shouts.

Ashrah fully slices the crystal in half, sending the souls out into a gigantic blast. One of the souls dashed towards Quan Chi and sucked most of the soul out of him, turning him white and causing him to pass out.

Ashrah walks over to Quan Chi, tightening the grip on her sword. “Since that didn’t kill you, I will.”

“No, Ashrah!” Kenshi shouts.

“He’s too dangerous to let live.”

“Liu Kang needs to question him. He knows Shang Tsung’s plans.”

Ashrah lets down her sword with a sigh. “Very well.”

The rest of the group walked up to the other two, worn out.

“Well…” Johnny trailed off, looking at Kenshi. “Clearly I underpaid for that. Did you know what it could do?”

“The legends never mentioned mystical powers.” Kenshi replied. “The souls of my ancestors live within it…they intend to guide me.”

“Just don’t forget who gave it to you, Takahashi.”

“I won’t, Cage.”

“Okay, cool, happy moments.” Lemon interrupted. She was underneath a big branch that was holding her down. “Can somebody help me!?”

“Shit, are you okay, Lemon!?” Johnny exclaimed as Syzoth (who turned into his Reptile form) and Baraka lifted the branch off of Lemon and Ashrah helped the woman up.

“No, my back hurts.” Lemon grumbled, rolling over to Quan Chi and kicking him in the side. “And it’s all this asshole’s fault!”

“What are we going to do about him?” Syzoth asked.

“We’re going to take him to Earthrealm so Liu Kang can question him.” Kenshi answers.

Johnny turns to the rest of the group to say, “I know home’s here for you, Baraka. But Ashrah, Syzoth…you can come with if you want. I’m sure Liu Kang would welcome you.”

“I’ve never had a home. That would be wonderful.” Ashrah says.

They had snuck into Sun Do and are now hiding in one of the alleyways. Johnny stole some of the clothes from the parade and gave everybody their own “special” outfit.

“Night, Night, Sweet prince of darkness.” Johnny said to the knocked out Quan Chi, putting a hat on his head. He then turns to the rest of the group and smiles at their outfits. “Oh! Perfect. You’ll fit right in.”

Ashrah huffs, trying to keep her hat on. “You couldn’t steal a more functional hat?” She complained.

“What? It hides your face! And honestly…it suits you.”

“I still don’t know about this.” Kenshi worried, glancing at Quan Chi. “Carrying him around will attract unwanted attention.”

“Look at it out there. It’s like Mardi Gras!” Johnny argued. “People will think he just partied too hard.”

“Wish we could enjoy this as friends to Outworld instead of enemies.” Lemon sighs. “It looks so pretty!”

Syzoth jumped down to where they were. He at first, was scouting the area. 

“What’s the word?” Johnny asked.

“Go toward the stage, then right to the portal gate.” Syzoth informed. “But there are soldiers and constables everywhere.”

“Are you sure these are enough?” Kung Lao asked, looking at his outfit. “One person spots us and we’re dead.”

“And that’s why I’ll create a diversion.”

“They’re out for you too, Syzoth.” Kenshi warned.

“To catch me…they must see me.” Syzoth lifts his hands up and disappears.

“Damn.” Johnny said. “You didn’t tell me you could go full predator!”

Kung Lao and Johnny held Quan Chi while Kenshi, Ashrah and Lemon walked in front of them as they walked through the crowd of Sun Do. Nobody seemed to question them and casually walked around the group.

Some of the military started to walk in their direction, worrying the group.

“We could use that distraction…” Kenshi muttered.

A rocket flew above them and onto the lanterns behind them, causing a fire. The crowd screams and rush to get away from it.

“Good work, Syzoth.” Ashrah complimented as they all kept moving towards the portal. Kenshi, at some point, had walked away from the group to help Syzoth escape as well.

Ignoring the fire behind them, Lemon looked at the festival in awe. She had never actually seen one in person and all the bright lights and colorful people left her in awe.

“You’ve never been to a festival before?” Johnny asked her.

“Nope. None have ever been held close to me, nor does the orphanage care enough to take us to anything fun.” Lemon answered.

“Well…if we make it out of this alive, I’ll take you to one.” Johnny says. “I can probably take all of us to one.”

“Really!?”

“Of course! Ashrah, have you ever been to a festival?”

“Sadly, no. So you taking us to one would be a blessing.” Ashrah says with a smile.

“Then it’s official!”

Quan Chi started to wake up and lightly push himself away from Kung Lao and Johnny in confusion.

Kung Lao and Johnny looked at each other, shrugged, and started to beat the shit out of Quan Chi to knock him out again. Quan Chi fell onto the ground after they both punched him in the face, revealing to the group that General Shao had found them and was standing right in front of them.

Quan Chi recognized his face and took that as his chance to run away,

“What about him?” A man next to General Shao asked.

“Worry only about the Earthrealmers.” Shao stated.

“Well shit.” Lemon cursed.

“If this was one of my movies, we’d get saved by a plucky, comic sidekick.” Johnny commented.

Suddenly a loud laugh was heard from above, gaining everybody’s attention. One top of one of the houses was Kenshi and Syzoth who slid down one of the lines the lanterns were on and dropped next to the rest of the Earthrealmer group.

“If we die today…we die together.” Syzoth states.

“Not comic but definitely plucky.” Johnny nods. 

The group fights the military officers, knocking them out one by one (And Syzoth surprisingly takes General Shao down as well.). More were coming in their direction, lead by somebody completely different.

“We must go!” Syzoth announces. “Now!”

Johnny and Lemon quickly punch the guy that knocked them out in Shang Tsung’s fake laboratory as pay back before following behind the rest of the group. They quickly make it to the portal, going straight through it and turning back to make sure nobody followed behind them to Earthrealm.

Thankfully the portal just closes, letting them all finally rest.

Liu Kang comes up from behind them. “Johnny, Kenshi, Lemon, Kung Lao. You have safely returned.” He welcomes.

“Safely…is a bit of an understatement.” Lemon comments as Liu Kang notices Kenshi’s eyes.

“By the Elder Gods!”

“We had a run in with Princess MIleena’s inner demons.” Johnny says.

“She took my sight.” Kenshi adds. “But Sento, in its own way, restored it.”

“I am glad that Sento bonded with you.” Liu Kang says. “Though my hope was that the means would be different this time.”

“This time?” Kenshi repeats.

“Forgive me, Kenshi. I misspoke. Go. The monks will tend to your wounds.”

Kung Lao, Kenshi and Lemon walked away while Johnny stayed behind.

“We found Shang Tsung.” He informed. “But he got away. I can see why you’re twitchy about him. He’s neck deep in some serious shit.”

“Thank you, Johnny.” Liu Kang replies. “But, go and rest. We’ll discuss everything after you all are completely fine.”

“Can I also get a martini? Shaken, not stirred?”

Liu Kang just smiles at him.

“Oh, wait!” Johnny perked up, remembering Ashrah and Syzoth were just standing here. “Meet the newest members of the Earthrealm Players! We wouldn’t have made it back without them.”

“Ashrah and Syzoth.” Liu Kang said.

“You know us?” Syzoth questioned.

“As Earthrealm’s protector, there is much I know.”

“Do you also know of my former master, Quan Chi?” Ashrah questioned. “He colludes with Shang Tsung.

“A new deadly alliance? Come, all of you. You must tell me all you know.”

“Okay…guess I’m not getting that martini…” Johnny mutters.

PREVIOUS | NEXT

MASTERLIST

Picrew link: TOON ME!

Reptile: I was BANISHED from my home because of my ability to take this FREAKISH form *transforms into a hot guy*

Dissociation vs Overstimulation

my fav thing about having ocs is having a basic line of lore for them but as soon as someone asks me about them I completely bullshit everything I tell them. Yeah this wasn't true like 5 minutes ago but now it is

So Gods Do Exist… (Mortal Kombat x OC) ((Kinda))

Part 2

It’s been months since they started training and everybody has progressed significantly. Raiden was currently sparring with multiple other monks, all of them challenging him at once. He was able to easily take them down and give them feedback on things they needed to get better at.

Lemon, a couple of feet away, was fixing her roller blades.

"What are you doing?" Raiden asked, walking towards the teenager.

"Did I ever tell you that one of the monks here is an inventor?" Lemon asked, putting her rollerblades on and standing up. "He redesigned my rollerblades so I could use them in kombat, look!"

She dashed away from Raiden and towards one of the training dummies they had. She then jumps up and goes to kick the dummies waist. The wheels underneath the rollerblades start moving at lighting speed and cut the top of the dummies body off.

Lemon then lands on her feet and turns to smile at Raiden who looked dumbfounded. "Isn't it so cool!?" She gushed, rolling back over to her friend. "Now I can kill people!"

"That's not exactly something to be excited about…" Raiden muttered, chuckling a bit. "But I'm happy you found something for you."

"I am too!" Lemon replied before noticed Johnny in the distance and running towards him. "Oooh, Johnny, Johnny! Record me!"

Raiden sighs and raises a brow in confusion when Kung Lao walks up to him with his hat in his hands. Raiden noticed the blades on the hat and became even more confused. “I don’t see how that’s a smart idea.”

“It’s genius, Raiden! And it actually works.” Kung Lao said, running his hand on the rim of the hat and accidentally cutting his hand. “Ow!”

“Still don’t think it’s smart.”

Kung Lao smirks at his friend and throws his hat to a nearby training dummy. The hat neatly cuts the head off and returns back to its owner who was still smirking at Raiden.

“Okay, I was wrong.” Raiden says with a small smile. Kung Lao smiles back and goes to put the hat back on his head but Lemon skates up to him and snatches the hat out of his hands and twirls it in her own.

“Lemon, stop doing that!” Kung Lao shouted, glaring at the teenager who was inspecting the hat.

“Pretty cool hat, did you make it yourself?” Lemon asked, ignoring the man’s glare.

“Yeah? So what?”

“Nothing, just wanted to recommend to you a guy that I know that can possibly make your hat even better. Just to…you know…give it an upgrade!” Lemon suggested, rolling over to the two and handing Kung Lao his hat back. “And maybe make it even more useful for the tournament we’re going to have!”

“Speaking of that.” Johnny interrupted, walking up to the trio. “When is it going to start!? I can’t base a cinematic universe on Outworld’s monsters and magic if I don’t ever see them.”

Kenshi, who was actually just going to walk past them, paused after hearing that and turned to Johnny in confusion. “That’s why you’re here?”

“Liu Kang said that this gig would change the arc of my life. That’s how it gets done. My ex’ll rue the day she gave up on me!”

Kenshi scoffs. “So selfless.”

“Don’t act like you’re any different, Tattoo. You’re only here for your sword.”

“We all have our reasons for being here.” Raiden chimed in. “Some better than others. But we are not here to fight amongst ourselves. We are here to fight for earthrealm.”

A gong goes off in the distance signaling the return of Lord Liu Kang.

“Finally.” Johnny comments as the five of them walk over to the God of Fire.

“And today, one of you will be chosen to fight for it at the tournament.” Liu Kang states.

“Only one of us?” Raiden repeats. “But isn’t outworld fielding multiple champions?”

“The tournament’s rules give the host realm that advantage. And it is Outworld’s turn as host.”

“You know, I don’t know why I never asked this, but what’s our record at this tournament?” Johnny asked.

“Earthrealm and Outworld have long been evenly matched. But Outworld is gaining strength. Should it win, its more militant factions will be emboldened.”

“But I thought you admired Outworld?” Raiden questioned.

“It is a place of great knowledge, wealth, and beauty.” Liu Kang explained, walking past the champions, motioning them to follow. “We coexist peacefully because Outworld respects our strength. Should we show weakness…our rival will become our enemy.”

“I will not lose, Lord Liu Kang.” King Lao stated, looking proud.

“First you must win the right to represent us. Whichever one of you outlasts the others will be chosen.”

“Okay, then I have a question.” Lemon spoke up. “The champion gets to fight in the tournament, which is cool, but what do the rest of us do? Do we just go home?”

“No, Lemon, you do not. Being Earthrealm’s champion doesn’t just mean you're only here for the tournament, you’re also here to protect earthrealm as a whole. So you will come with us to Outworld as both guests and guards.”

“Hm.”

Liu Kang sits on his chair while the rest of the monks around him hit on their knees.

“Lemon, step forward.” He demands. Lemon does as said and politely bows to the man.

Johnny laughs. “Good call! Send the weak one first.”

“Excuse me?” Lemon questioned, turning to glare at Johnny but then turns back to Liu Kang with a huge smile. “Let me beat his ass, please let me beat his ass.”

“He was going to be your opponent anyway.” Liu Kang responded. “Step forward, Johnny Cage.”

“Let’s gooo!!!” Lemon cheered as she and Johnny went to separate parts of the battlefield.

“Alright, fine.” Johnny smirked, getting into a fighting stance. “But don’t be upset when you're on the floor in pain.”

“Are we forgetting which one of us actually fought in matches before? Have you ever actually punched a guy on set?” Lemon questioned.

The fight took at least 2 minutes. Johnny was more on the offense but Lemon was easily dodging and at some point apprehended Johnny by forcing his arms behind his back and forcing him to the ground.

“Alright, alright! I give up!” Johnny called, wincing at the feeling of Lemon pulling his arms. “Don’t break my arms, you maniac!”

“Oh, crap, sorry.” Lemon apologized, getting off Johnny and putting her hands behind her back. “Force of habit.”

Johnny stood and rubbed his arm while looking at the teenager in shock. “Breaking people’s arms is a habit of yours!?”

“...Yeah, I worded that wrong…”

“Lemon has won this fight!” Liu Kang announced, motioning for the two to step off the battlefield. “Kung Lao, Kenshi Takahasi, you two are next.”

Lemon, at this point, has stopped paying attention to the actual fight (except that one time Kung Lao almost sliced Kenshi’s neck off and started spewing apologies, which was something she thought he couldn’t do.) Anyways, Kung Lao won the fight so now they’re taking a small break before the last two fights.

“You want me to try and fight the man who’s ALWAYS won against me?” Lemon questioned, looking at Liu Kang in shock.

“It sounds like you’re already prepared to lose.” Liu Kang noticed.

“Yes…yes I am. Doesn’t mean I’m not still trying, but I’m like 80% sure I'm going to get my ass kicked.”

“I’m going to take all of that as a compliment.” Raiden chuckled. “But Lemon, you have been getting better and better. Don’t just assume you are going to lose”

“Eh, we’ll see how good I got with this fight.”

Lemon got her ass kicked. 

It was genuinely a pretty close fight, but Raiden has continued to prove that he was the better fighter.

“See?” Lemon sighs, letting Raiden help her up. “You’re just the better fighter, man.”

“Even so, it was an honor fighting you again.” Raiden replied.

“It was fun.”

“Our final battle will be Kung Lao and Raiden!” Liu Kang announces as Lemon walks off the battlefield to where Kenshi and Johnny are.

“Man…I was so close to winning…” Lemon complained, leaning on Kenshi’s arm. “I didn’t even want to fight in the tournament, I just wanted to kick Kung Lao’s ass…”

“Just ask him to spar later, it’s not that complicated.” Kenshi said, simply, making Lemon glare at him.

“It wouldn’t feel the same, I needed to crush his hopes and dreams like I did with him.” Lemon points to Johnny who looked flabbergasted.

“My dream wasn’t to fight in the tournament! It was to make a badass movie about it!” Johnny argued.

“Yeah, but you thought you were going to win against me and I immediately proved you wrong!”

“Shhh!” Kenshi interrupted. “They’re about to fight.” He then lightly bumped Lemon off of him. “And stop leaning on me.”

“Wha!? Loser…” Lemon muttered, crossing her arms and turning to face Kung Lao and Raiden’s fight.

“Fifty bucks says Kung Lao wins.” Johnny bets.

“Make it interesting.” Kenshi suggests. “Bet me Sento.”

“Ha! Not on your life.”

Liu Kang gets up from his seat and walks over to Kung Lao and Raiden saying, “The winner of this match will represent Earthrealm against Outworld. It is a grave duty, not to be taken lightly. You may step back now and suffer no dishonor.”

“I choose to fight, Lord Liu Kang.” Raiden states.

“As do I.” Kung Lao adds.

“Then may the best person win.” Liu Kang says, bowing to the two and sitting back down.

Raiden and Kung Lao face each other, backing away to their own part of the battlefield.

“Concede, Raiden. You have never beaten me, that won’t change today.” Kung Lao gloated.

“No. If the monks have taught us one thing, it’s that the only constant in the universe is change.” Raiden disagreed as they both got into a fighting stance.

Raiden, in the end, proved right as he ended up as the one standing in victory. “There is a first time for everything, Kung Lao.” He said, helping his best friend to his feet.

Liu Kang stands up from his seat and walks back over to the two with something in his hand. “Although you have all trained well, Raiden has excelled. This outcome does not surprise me.” He announces.

“How could I…” Kung Lao mumbled before politely bowing to Raiden. “Congratulations.”

“For the tournament…” Liu Kang started, presenting a small box and opening it. Inside was a blue amulet. “You will need this. Forged by the Elder Gods, it gives the wearer power over lightning and thunder. Go ahead. Try it.”

Raiden took the amulet out and examined how electricity came out of it and into his hand. He then turned to the statue behind him, tightened his grip on the amulet and aimed it at the statue. A powerful blast of electricity came out of the amulet and hit the statue, shocking everybody.

“Holy Arc of the Covenant!” Johnny gasped, recording the entire thing.

“That’s so loud…” Lemon muttered, covering her ears.

“It is incredible.” Raiden breathes, pulling his hand back. “But is it necessary?”

“In addition to possessing great might, the Outworlders you will face also wield great might.” Liu Kang explains. “The amulet levels the playing field.”

“You must be careful, Raiden.” Kung Lao worries, putting his hand on Raiden’s shoulder. “You could get hurt. Even killed!”

“Nobody has ever been grievously injured or killed in the tournament, there’s no need to worry.” Liu Kang reassures. “I would never send my champions unwittingly into mortal kombat.”

Raiden nods in response as Liu Kang announces to the others, “We leave in seven days for Outworld’s capital, Sun Do. The tournament will be held at the palace of Empress Sindel.”

7 days later the group (and a few other people) were standing in front of some sort of gate or teleportation system (whatever it was, nobody really knew). Liu Kang started opening the portal and while doing that explained to the others to stay focused and not feel overwhelmed by all the new changes that he described as intoxicating.

Johnny was, of course, recording everything and even tried to record Kenshi’s reaction. Kenshi slapped his phone away from his face as they all walked through the portal.

Outworld was exactly as the God of Fire described. Intoxicating, a bit overwhelming and colorful. It honestly looked like a true palace and that made Lemon so excited. In front of them were guards and two women. One dressed in pink and one dressed in blue.

“Oh my…” Johnny breathed as the women started to walk down the stairs. “Are those…”

“Empress Sindel’s daughters, yes.” Liu Kang answered.

“They do not disappoint.”

“We are Earthrealm’s ambassadors, Johnny. We’ll show them respect. Not unwanted attention.” Raiden scolded.

“Sure…”

Kung Lao noticed Lemon rapidly looking around at their environment and put a hand on her head to calm her down. “Stay focused.” He reminded her.

“Right. Sorry.” Lemon apologized.

“Lord Liu Kang, welcome.” The pink woman greeted as the Earthrealmers bowed.

“Thank you, Princess Mileena.” Liu Kang replied.

“You remember my sister?”

“Of course, Princess Kitana.” Liu Kang then motions to the people behind him. “May I introduce Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Cheri Carr, who prefers to go by Lemon, Kenshi Takahasi and Earthrealm’s champion…Raiden.”

“I hope you’re prepared, Raiden.” Kitana warned. “Our champions are determined to win.”

“None more so than me.” Mileena added. “It’s been too long since we’ve known victory.”

“Princess Mileena…” One of the guards called, walking over to the princess. “We should be on our way. Empress Sindel awaits.”

“Thank you, Tanya.” Mileena then turns to their guests. “Follow me, please.”

They led them to two carts and asked them to climb on. Both were able to hold four people at a time so Kung Lao, Kenshi, Johnny and Kitana sat in one cart while Raiden, Liu Kang, Lemon and Mileena went in the other cart. They rolled through the village where a festival was taking  place. There was music and people dancing, it was so vibrant and colorful that it had drawn both Lemon AND Raiden’s attention.

“Those are Centaurians…” Raiden noticed, looking at the people in the crowd. “And Shokan!”

“The six-armed beings are Naknadans.” Mileena informed.

“The monks described them, but seeing them in person…” 

“It’s so cool!” Lemon gushed, slightly leaning over Raiden to see outside the cart as well. “I wonder what it’d be like to have six arms, that must be fun!”

“But wouldn’t it be a bit crowded?” Raider questions.

“Yeah, probably.”

“I see that Her Majesty one again spares no expense on the festival.” Liu Kang noticed.

“Should she not?” Mileena inquired. “It commemorates my late father.”

“I admire, Princess. I do not judge. As did all of Outworld, I valued greatly Jerrod’s fellowship.”

“And I thought the academy would be the best thing I’ve ever seen…” Lemon muttered, quietly grabbing Kung Lao’s hand and putting it on her head so she could force herself to focus.

“No offense, Liu Kang, but why bring a child here?” Kenshi asked Liu Kang, eyeing Lemon.

“She’s a warrior, just like the rest of you. She just became one in a shorter amount of time.” Liu Kang answered. “You saw that when she fought Johnny and Raiden.”

“I suppose you're right.” Kenshi agreed.

"Don't let her childish nature fool you."

Raiden was standing next to the two, slightly fidgeting with his fingers and deep in thought. He was worried and not exactly sure if he’d truly win this tournament.

Liu Kang noticed. “Worry expends energy for no purpose, Raiden.” He said.

“But the tournament, if i lose–”

“Focus on your actions, not the outcome. It is all you can control.”

A buff creature with horns walks through the town people, bumping into them without a care in the world.

“Red alert.” Johnny commented. “Incoming stock villain.”

"General Shao." Liu Kang informed. "Do not let him goad you."

The general notices the group and stomps towards them, standing in front of Raiden. "Is it me or is Earthrealm's champion scrawnier than usual?" He asked.

"Would you care to test his strength?" Kung Lao challenged. "Raiden will-"

"Will prove himself eventually." Liu Kang interrupted, pushing Kung Lao behind him.

"Have you still not told most Earthrealmers that Outworld exists?" General Shao asks. 

"It is safer that way, General."

"I suppose so. Your people's frail minds couldn't handle the truth."

"You presume them frail, General? Should you? Given how frequently they win this tournament?"

"We will destroy your champion, Liu Kang. He will taste no victory."

The General then storms off as the Empress walks into the palace along with her daughters, Mileena and Kitana. They showed how powerful they were just by walking to their seats.

"Welcome, members of the royal house. Welcome, our esteemed Earthrealm guests." The empress greeted. "We gather once again to honor my late husband's legacy. To continue the tournament that he founded with Lord Liu Kang in hopes that it would foster peace among the realms. May Jerrod's soul watch over us with pride from its resting place in the Living Forest. Lord Liu Kang.”

“Empress Sindel.” Liu Kang responds. “It pleases me to once again be your guest.”

“Here, you are always welcome. Now. Let us meet your champion.”

“Earthrealm’s champion is Raiden, Your Majesty.” Liu Kang steps to the side to show off his champion. “He has earned his place by embodying the very best qualities of Earthrealm’s people.”

“You seem nervous, young man.” Sindel notices.

“I’m a stranger in an unfamiliar land, here to compete against its greatest fighter. Yes, I am nervous.” Raiden says.

“As you should be. You have a difficult path ahead.” Sindel then stands up and announces, “It has begun!” A woman walks into the palace as Sindel continues to speak. “As tradition requires, Outworld’s initial competitor will be Sun Do’s First Constable…Li Mei. May she defend out realm’s glory as well as she preserves our capital’s order.”

Li Mei walks up to the empress and bows. “Your Majesty, I will honor both the royal house, and all of Outworld with my kombat.”

Sindel puts a hand on her shoulder. “If so, you will vastly exceed my expectations.” She says before whispering, “Remember, were it not for Jerrod’s tradition, you would not be here.”

“All you need do is your best.” Liu Kang says to Raiden. “The rest will take care of itself.”

“Yes, Lord Liu Kang.” Raiden replies. Liu Kang then walks away as Raiden and Li Mei face each other.

“Shall we see what you can do?” Li Mei asks.

“Hopefully, this will be the first of many victories.”

“I will prevail, Earthrealmer. This fight is more important to me than you can ever know.”

The fight ended with Raiden’s first win. Li Mei ended up on the floor in embarrassment.

“Guess Raiden’s really got this.” Kenshi mutters, watching Li Mei walk out of the palace.

“Of course he does. He’s bested all of us in kombat, why wouldn’t he best Outworld as well?” Kung Lao questions.

“My compliments, Raiden, on a well fought match.” Sindel congratulates. “We’ll see how you fare in the next. General Shao, Whom have you chosen as our next competitor?”

“Your Majesty, I have chosen Reiko, my second-in-command.” The General answers. Reiko then walks into the palace. “As a bot, Reiko was orphaned during the Kafallah War. Though Captured, his spirit remained unbroken. He scratched, clawed and survived.”

“He reminds me of Grumpy Cat.” Lemon chuckled.

“After the war, I took him in, molded him into the perfect soldier. Few others are as well versed in the ways of war.”

Reiko stood in front of Raiden and started punching and kicking the air either to show off, or intimidate Raiden (Which doesn’t even work.) He then asks, “In whose army have you served? In what war have you fought?”

“I have done neither.” Raiden admits.

“Then you are woefully unprepared, Earthrealmer. This will be your last battlefield.”

They always have some dramatic speech before Raiden beats them up. At this point it was a bit amusing to see Reiko get beat. Lemon had to cover her mouth to stop any laughs from coming out.

“Felled by a simple farmer.” Raiden brags, leaving Reiko to lay on the ground as he turns to Sindel. “I am ready for my next opponent, Your Majesty. Whom shall I face?”

“Patience, young man.” Sindel says, standing from her throne. “We are adjourned until first light. I hope to see you all at this evening’s banquet.”

“May I ask a question, Your Majesty?” Lemon asked, standing in front of the Empress. Liu Kang was watching from afar to make sure the woman didn’t say anything stupid or offensive.

“Yes, you may.” Sindel replies.

“Why do we say “Your Majesty” instead of “My Majesty”? I’ve always had questions about that.”

Sindel’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. Out of all the questions, she wasn’t expecting that. “You truly are young, aren’t you?” she chuckles. “Majesty means honor. So it’d be a bit abnormal for people to say “My Majesty” because that would mean they have honor, which they do not.”

“Ooohhh. Okay.” Lemon nods, bowing to the empress. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Of course.”

“I could’ve answered that question for you.” Liu Kang says as Lemon walks back to her seat, next to Raiden.

“Really? I just thought it’d make sense to ask the Empress herself.” Lemon shrugs. “Wait, did she just call me young? I’m 17…”

“I’m pretty sure everybody here is older than 20.” Kung Lao comments. “You just have to admit you are the youngest one here.” He shrugs, smirking at Lemon who glared at him.

“Don’t talk to me with your mouth full.” Lemon scoffs, leaning back on her chair and crossing her arms.

“So, what sort of name is Lemon?” Kitana asks from across the table. “Is it referencing the fruit or something else?”

“The fruit.” Lemon answers, her smile coming back to her face. “It’s just a nickname that stuck with me.”

“I still don’t understand how it’s supposed to match with your name.” Johnny chimed in, leaning his head on his hand.

“You’ll figure it out at some point, it’s extremely basic, I promise you.”

Kitana perked up. “Oh! Che–”

“Don’t give him the answer! Keep it to yourself!” Lemon interrupts, holding her hand up.

“What!?” Johnny exclaimed.

“I just wanna see how long it takes you to figure it out.”

Mileena, a few feet away, started to quietly groan in pain as she held her stomach. Tanya walks over to her and puts a hand on her shoulder. “Are you unwell, Princess?” She whispers.

“I am fine, Tanya.” Mileena answers.

“I know I’m to fight Mileena…” Raiden started. “But will I also face Tanya?”

“By tradition, you will not.” Liu Kang responds. “But if you did, you would be challenged.”

“How so?”

“Umgadi, like Tanya, are warrior priestesses. Selected from the first born daughters of Outworld. From infancy, they are trained to defend the royal family.”

“Outworld must see much conflict if the Empress needs such protection.”

“Its past has been difficult. Though the last thousand years of Empress Sindel’s reign have been a true golden age, the memories of the strife still linger.”

Sindel stands up from her seat with a drink in hand. “My husband Jerrod believed that the future of our realms lay together. Let us move forward in open dialogue, letting no secrets tear our bonds asunder.”

Everybody stands up with their drinks as Raiden continues the speech. “Your Majesty, It’s an honor to be here and to meet your people. I can already see there’s more that joins us than divides us.”

Shao lets out a sarcastic laugh and stands up from his seat. “Our people could not be more different, champion.” He disagrees.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Earthrealmers are devoid of all–”

“That’s enough, General.” Sindel interrupts, glaring at him.

“My apologies, Your Majesty. Perhaps I’ve enjoyed too much of this excellent wine. With your permission…”

“You may go.”

The General walks off, knocking his glass off the table. Reiko follows after. The silence was loud after that, with no one daring to say a word.

“I am sorry about that.” The empress apologizes. “I’ll deal with him later. Liu Kang, you can show your warriors to the room you’ll all be staying in.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Liu Kang responds.

The “room” in question was more like a mansion than anything. It was made mostly out of wood but it was able to hold the six of them and the rest of the monks from Earthrealm.

“This just feels like a better orphanage.” Lemon comments, going up the stairs to one of the rooms and looking inside it. There were two pairs of bunk beds inside. “Yep.”

“Oh god, bunk beds!?” Johnny exclaims, looking inside the room as well. “Why would I wanna sleep with these people!?”

The rest of the group ignored them and just decided who would sleep in what room. Raiden, Kung Lao, Kenshi and Johnny were all going to sleep in one room while Lemon slept with, Bi-Han, Kuai Liang and Tomas (She still kept calling him “gray guy”)

Was Lemon happy she had to sleep with a bunch of grown men that she barely talked to? No. But it’s better than sleeping alone in her own room. That terrifies her.

“So, how does it feel to be famous?” Lemon asked Johnny. The two were in the living room with a bunch of other monks who were talking amongst themselves. Kung Lao and Kenshi were also there while Raiden went to sleep early to be prepared for the continuation of the tournament.

“Why are you asking me? Aren’t you famous as well?” Johnny inquired, holding a glass of wine in his hand.

“Well yeah, but I’m assuming that being a famous actor is different from being a famous kickboxer.”

“Sure, I might be famous because of how handsome I am while you’re famous for kicking a person, but I’m sure there’s some things that are similar. Like…can you just freely walk around your neighborhood without someone running up to you for an autograph?”

“No.”

“Do you feel like you need to be perfect?”

“Yes.”

“Do you need to always question who your actual friends are because one of those people could be a jealous asshole?”

“Yeah–Oh.”

“See? We have some similarities.” Johnny says, taking a sip of his wine. “When did you start to become famous?”

“When I was eleven.” Lemon answered, moving to cross her legs on the couch they both were sitting on. “I was already good at fighting but Justice showed me how much people would pay to see “professional” fighting. So…yeah.”

“Do you have any sort of goal?”

“Get out of the orphanage I live in. Take my girlfriend with me. My other two friends already left while we were training with the monks. Then after that…who knows! I just can’t wait until February! Being famous kinda sucks but you get money out of it.”

“True that!” Johnny laughed.

“So, do you have a goal Johnny?” Lemon inquired.

“I’m losing my fame a bit so I’m just trying to get that back. Main reason why I joined you all. I’m gonna make it big once again by making a movie out of this!”

“A movie? About Raiden fighting in the tournament?” Lemon questioned. “Sure, the people here look cool as hell but just making a movie about a tournament is kinda…eh.”

“Well, of course it’s not going to be just the tournament. Something interesting is going to happen at some point. we just have to patiently wait for the drama to start.”

“Patiently? Dude, ever since I’ve met you, you’ve been complaining about how long something was taking.”

“I’m a changed man now!” Johnny insisted.

“Ha! Sure.” Lemon laughs, looking at the table in front of them.

The continuation of the tournament was held outside the palace on the side of it. The seats where the Empress and her daughters were was in front of the area where the audience was supposed to be, so the fights would be right in front of them.

Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kenshi, and Johnny were with the rest of the audience also feeling proud for their champion. Lemon was on top of Kung Lao’s shoulders due to a bet they made (she won), trying her hardest not to accidentally fall backwards and hurt them both. Raiden, as of right now, was standing proudly where he was, having already beaten three other people.

“Only two fighters remain. Are you ready, Earthrealmer?” Sindel asked Raiden.

“I am, Your Majesty.” Raiden assures.

“Then next you face my daughter. Kitana”

The two final fights went like this: Raiden beats Kitana (Mileena was absent for some reason) and Raiden beats General Shao (does this man have an actual name?).

“It’s over…” Raider realizes as a smile slowly creeps up on his face. “I have done it!”

Sindel stands up along with her daughter. “Congratulations, Raiden. Earthrealm wins.” The two walk away as Raiden walks towards General Shao who was on the ground in pain.

“May I assist you?” He asks, lending the general his hand.

“Stay away, Earthrealmer!” The general scoffs, whacking the man’s hand away. Raider backs away, getting his message.

“Well done.” Liu Kang congrats. “You have exceeded my greatest expectations.”

“Thank you, Lord Liu Kang.” Raiden replies.

“Because of you, the Outworlders who would disturb the peace will once again be held at bay.” Liu Kang then puts a hand on Raiden’s shoulder and guides him to the others. “Come. Let us bid our hosts farewell and return to Earthrealm.”

“You did great, Raiden!” Johnny complimented as they all walked off the field.

“Well done!” Kenshi added.

“Thank you, but uh…” Raiden turns to Kung Lao and Lemon in slight confusion. “Kung Lao, why is Lemon on top of you?”

“Lost a bet…” Kung Lao sighs.

“They’ve been making bets since last night.” Kenshi informs.

“You should’ve been awake to see it!” Johnny laughs. “Kung Lao lost every. Single. Bet.”

“He keeps trying though. To prove he can beat me, but he never will.” Lemon smirks, leaning her arms on Kung Lao’s head. “Isn’t that right, Kung Lao?”

“I will win a bet eventually, just wait and see!” Kung Lao announces.

“No. Kung Lao, just stop before she takes all your money along with your pride.” Raiden warned.

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Picrew link: TOON ME!