Tarkat

Chapter 2

Johnny watches the other fights with Kung Lao. They seemed to be enjoying the matches together. Johnny was always a fan of watching fighting matches. He watched wrestling when he was younger and the fights in Outworld seemed to be similar, just less flashy and not as staged.

"Hey, Kung Lao." Johnny says softly as talking hurt his head. "Yeah." Kung Lao replies, watching closely on the fights. "Do you, uhh, remember last night?" He asks, trying to not show his confusion with how his house was in the morning. "Well, we had a late night at Madame Bo's, after a couple of drinks, you invited us all over to your house for a party. I didn't go because it was late." Kung Lao replies, eyes tracing the fighters move in front of them. "Thanks." Johnny smiles slightly. "Are you okay Johnny?" Kung Lao asks after a small silence. "Yeah, why?" Johnny replies, thinking he had said something wrong. "You're being quiet. Typically you would be telling me stories of last nights party." Kung Lao smirks a little laugh. Johnny laughs at Kung Lao's joke. "You want me to talk your ear off?" He threatens. "By the Elder Gods no, you just usually talk a lot." Kung Lao finally looks over to Johnny, still smiling.

"Johnny Cage and Kitana fight in 10 minutes." The voice yells throughout the forest. "That's my queue." Johnny jokes, leaving for the match.

—

Johnny walks into the ring, ready for a fight. His opponent stands in front of him, hidden by her own fans. Kitana was ready to fight.

"I saw that smile at dinner, you like me." Johnny smirks, trying to get onto Kitana's nerves. "Hah, you amuse me Cage." She jokes along with him, smiling under her face covering.

Kitana throws a fan at Johnny, it curls around him. The other fan follows quickly, spinning Johnny up into the air with a tornado. Johnny falls onto his face. He gets up, already feeling weak. As Kitana runs to Johnny, he delivers a kick into her stomach. She crouches a little from the pain, but gets back into her normal posture. Kitana throws her bladed fan into Johnny's abdomen. She swiftly takes it back out. Johnny stumbles back, his head throbs. Johnny starts sweating profusely. "What's happening to me?" he thinks to himself. Johnny tries to get back up, stumbling hard. "What's wrong Cage?" Kitana asks him in an antagonising voice.

"Kitana Wins!" The voice says. Even though Johnny was still standing, it was clear Kitana had won the first round.

"Round 2, fight!" It booms, Kitana running forward to Johnny again. Just as Johnny tries to do a jump kick on her, she slides under his foot, kicking him in the head as he lands. Johnny of course feels the kick, but he felt it harder than usual. "What the hell." Johnny feels weightless, his head pounding in agony. Johnny blacks out, falling onto the floor.

—

Johnny's eyes drift open. "What the fuck?" He moans. Johnny looks around the room, it was his own room. His sleek, white and clean room. To him that was the best thing that could happen. No one went into his room. Johnny looks to the other side, instead of seeing more room, Kenshi was sitting there. He seemed to be waiting for Johnny for some reason. "Kenshi?" He asks. "Did I win?" Johnny asks. "Win what Cage?" Kenshi asks. "The fight with Kitana?" He makes the question seem like a joke, even though he isn't. The only thing Johnny remembered was cleaning that morning. "Cage, I think you know the answer to that." Kenshi smirks. Johnny sighs. "You do know what happened right?" Kensi asks him. Johnny looks away from the swordsman. "You passed out in the ring, you only finished one round. Kitana won." Kenshi explains. "Are you feeling okay Johnny, what happened?" Kenshi asks, very intrigued.

He worried about Johnny from when he passed out in that match. Johnny was his best friend after all.

"You think I know?" Johnny jokes. He sits up in the bed, ready to get out of it. He grunts and says "I don't remember anything from that fight. I can feel it though." He tried to make it sound like a joke, but Pain was coursing through his veins. It hurts to move.

He didn't want Takahashi to see his pain. It was embarrassing to Johnny. He was supposed to be a strong material arts star, not a weak nobody who passes out in fights. He always made his pain sound like a joke so people wouldn't baby or worry about him.

"Tell me the truth-" Kenshi was interrupted by Johnny hurling himself out of bed. He ran into the bathroom that was attached to the bedroom. Kenshi follows the actor slowly behind. It was a good thing that he had Sento with him.

Kenshi can hear the sloppy and gross sounds of his friend vomiting. "I'm glad I can't see." Kenshi jokes, leaning against the door frame. He may have had Sento, but his vision wasn't that far. Johnny sighs, not being amused by the joke. "Sorry, didn't know you didn't like jokes." Kenshi's smile disappears from his face.

Typically a joke had always made Johnny feel better about his situations. Kenshi had thought it would have worked this time.

"Kenshi, why don't you go home, I need to be alone right now." Johnny sounds serious. It was weird for him to sound this way. Something wasn't right and Kenshi knew it. Kenshi had seen Johnny sick before. Johnny typically made jokes of his illnesses. Why not this time?

"Are you sure Johnny?" He asks him. "Yeah." Johnny coldly responds, looking over to Kenshi as he leans onto the toilet bowl. "Okay, I'll leave." Kenshi hesitates with his words, not wanting to leave his best friend alone like this. Kenshi slowly walks away.