Chapter Text
The loud swishes of the wind is all Johnny can hear as he rushes past his opponent to land a hit. Blocking here and there, and also being blocked.
Training at the Wu Shi had been a little rough with the monks being on their ass 24/7, but he grew accustomed to the new routines.
A loud eruption is what stopped the training and made all students freeze as they faced toward the golden gong.
There stood the Fire God, Liu Kang, beside the usual left alone gong. “Raiden, Kung Lao, Kenshi and Johnny.” He spoke in a serious yet worried tone.
“Id wish to speak with you all, please meet me in the gardens when you’re done.” And with that he left the group of men looking dumbfounded.
Kung Lao and Johnny side eye each other in sync and then went back to where their equipment was to put it away.
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“What do you think happened?” Johnny gossips beside Kung Lao as they met up again in the hallway to the dorms. “I dont know.” Kung Lao whispers as he locks his door and walks to Johnnys door entrance, leaning on it as he watches the entertainer put away his stuff.
“Did Lord Liu Kang sound…” Kung Lao pauses. “Worried?” Johnny adds and receives a nod from the younger man. “Yeah. Might not be as fun as I thought it would be.” Johnny sighs as he takes out his glasses from his pocket and throws it on his bed.
He finally gets up from his crouching position and walks to Kung Lao. “Okay let’s go, cant keep Liu Kang waiting.” He pats him on the shoulder before slightly nudging him out the way.
Once arrived outside, the two men are greeted by their friends who seem to be waiting on Lord Liu Kang as well. Clearly only Kung Lao picked that up.
“Hey guys!” Johnny greets, and he looks around. “So no Liu Kang yet…?” He puts his hands on his hips and gets a quick glance from Kenshi. “No, he hasn’t come out yet.” Raiden spoke up as he adjusted his straw hat.
“Do you know anything of the situation?” Kung Lao squinted at Raiden. “No.” He sighs in response. Johnny noticed Kenshi about to say something before closing his mouth as he sees the fire god approach.
“Apologies for interrupting… your training. But we have an issue.” Out of the corner of Johnnys eye, he saw Raiden and Kung Lao exchange looks before raising and knitting their brows at Liu Kang.
“An empire, the Lin Kuei, has broken our alliance. The cause is unknown and therefore I need one of you to go alone and figure out the reasoning behind it all.” Liu Kang spoke carefully and watched as the young men chatted amongst themselves. “You will leave Monday morning.” He adds as if he was reminding them.
“I dont think I can Lord Liu Kang…” Raiden says uneasy before the rest can answer. “I must return back to Fengjian, to attend to my sister’s illness.” He earns an understanding nod from Liu Kang.
“Apologies Lord Liu Kang but Sento is still out of control and I haven’t figured out all of its powers. It may still be dangerous for me to attend.” Kenshi spoke next.
Kung Lao added in another excuse. The three men beside Johnny looked at him as if he was gonna deny too.
“I could go.” He ignores the smirk Kenshi and Kung Lao give each other. “Totally open on that day.”
“Very well, you shall begin packing tomorrow. Everyone, except Johnny, is dismissed.” Johnny doesn’t turn to where they go, his eyes focused on Liu Kang.
Liu Kang gazes at him back, waiting for the other men to fully leave before telling Johnny what he needs to know.
“The Lin Kuei empire is a two days trip from here. And they don’t accept newcomers easily.” Liu Kang adds more and more sentences and words that Johnny hardly pays attention to.
Liu Kang stops talking to pull out a paper from his robes pocket and hands it to Johnny. It looks like a… family photo?
“This is who you should be looking for.” He points to a man, seemingly shorter than the rest of men.
They all have color coordinated clothes. Gray, Blue and Yellow. “He is now the Grandmaster and ruler of the Lin Kuei.” More details and such blah blah blah.
Johnny cant help but linger his eyes on the man for a bit longer. He doesn’t know what was so different about him but it was messing with his head.
A few more words from Liu Kang and then he dismisses Johnny, who rushes back to the dorms.
He is met by Kenshi waiting for him. “Need anything tattoo?” Johnny says as he opens his door and walks straight to his bed. Stretching his arms as he sits down on the mattress.
“Just curious.” Added the Japanese man, who eyed him down with squinted eyes.
“Yeah well, too bad I cant say anything about the mission.” Johnny shrugs and lays down on his back facing the ceiling.
He hears Kenshi grunt before closing the door and returning to his room, Johnny hears his footsteps get fainter.
He pulls out the photo again and examines everything he needs to know. The blue one possesses ice. The yellow one, fire. The gray one, smoke.
Johnny wont sit there and pretend like that wasn’t the most badass sh*t he’s ever heard. He cant imagine whats it like to have power of one element.
He glances back at the Cyromancer and he finds himself, for the first time, excited for the mission.
