Backstage Pass to Mortal Kombat

Chapter 19 - Fight

Dedicated to Gremlin23 for his amazing fight scene he wrote for this story - it's helped me a lot with writing this chapter! Thank you, Grem!

-MissD

Chapter 19 - Fight

This morning I woke up to the sound of a letter being slid under my door. After huffing and puffing for a few moments, I finally rolled off my cot and crawled over to the letter. Once I read the instructions to my first meeting with Liu about my training. Hopefully he would be better than Raiden and Hanzo. Sometimes I think if I would just tough it out then maybe I would be just as good as Liu? With one look down at my slowly healing hands, I knew the answer was obvious; I’m too weak for that kind of training.

Throughout the day I kept to myself; I didn’t want Hanzo to know about the training, it would only hurt his feelings. I also didn’t want to see Leia, since I knew she would give me a hard time for giving up on my chores. After getting out of them for good, I knew I’d never go back. For most of the day, I stayed in my hut, reading the book Hanzo gave me. Once the watch on my wrist reached three o’clock I changed into my black robes and left my hut, walking over to Liu’s, which was near the dining tent, from what his note said. My feet trudged through the sand, but I tried to move as quickly as possible; hopefully Hanzo and Johnny were still in training and wouldn’t see me.

The sun hung high above my head; heating the entire area around me. The sad slightly burned my feet, but I ignored it. The back of my neck and my upper lip began to sweat as I walked to the other side of the camp. When the tent came into view, I sighed with relief, glad that no one had seen me and that I was close. Maybe Liu had some water I could drink.

On the side of the tent stood three huts; Liu’s, Raiden’s, and Bo’s. All of the important people stood close to the tent, where business and meals were held. Standing outside of one of the huts was a figure doing stretches; raising their hands high above their head, their back turned to me. I approached the figure and sighed, “Liu, your hut is very far. Is there anywhere halfway that we could meet?” I asked.

When he turned, I gasped. “R-Raiden, what are you d-doing here?” I stuttered with fear. I wondered how angry he would be. His serious face didn’t give anything away, leaving me to stand there, chewing the inside of my cheek.

Feet traveled in the sand behind me, causing me to turn and look. Liu was smirking, “You didn’t really think I’d train you, did you?” He snorted, as if this should have been obvious. I suppose it really should have been… “If I were allowed to hit you,” He stopped walking right in front of me, leaning in a little closer. His wavy black hair surrounded his sharp face, his jaw sculpted even as he gave an easy grin. “I think I would kill you…and not even on purpose! …More or less.”

I gave a nervous chuckle before turning back to Raiden, who was now grinning. “Oh come now, Zak. I realize where I went wrong last time; I was too rough with you. I thought you were further advanced than you really are and so we did further advanced training. Why don’t we just start with the beginning for the time being? When you feel you’re ready to move forward, let me know.” He gave another warm grin before alternating arms and stretching to the side, stretching his left side.

“So this was a set up?” I asked, still shocked that I had fallen for Liu actually caring. Shouldn’t I have learned by now that he hated my guys, almost as much as I hated his? I think I may hate him even more now…if that’s possible.

“Pretty much,” Liu offered happily, retrieving supplies from the hut we stood outside of. Though Raiden’s words comforted me, agreeing that we would start small, the things Liu was getting out of the hut worried me; swords, knives, hammers, even a couple arm guards.