Chapter Text
One stormy night, Lara had set out on a trip at the sea to look for the mythical Trident of Poseidon. She was navigating in a ship she had rented, accompanied by her partner in crime: Larson Conway. They had been starting to work together lately despite their differences.
“Do you have any idea where we’re heading for?” Larson asked at some point as he held a flashlight over his head to look at a map.
“There should be an island not far from here.” Lara replied, turning the ship’s wheel expertly past the waves.
“I swear I’m killing you if we don’t find anything there.”
“Patience, Larson. I’m never wrong about the places I visit.”
Lara had read about a mysterious island where the powerful weapon was said to be kept. Lara had been to many adventures, and she had survived them all. This one sounded like a thrill and she was never one to dismiss a challenge. She was going to explore this island and uncover its mysteries as well as retrieving that Trident.
After a few more minutes of navigating, they caught sight of a faraway island looming at the distance.
“There it is!” Lara exclaimed.
The more they approached it, the bigger it became. But it looked like they wouldn’t have a very warm welcome…
A big ball of fire went crashing their direction out of nowhere, burning the ship’s sail!
“Shit, they’re attacking us!”
“I knew this was a bad idea!” Larson yelled, trying to figure out where those fireballs were coming from.
They continued on falling from the sky and destroying every part of the ship little by little. It looked like someone in the island was using some sort of catapult to throw them their direction.
Lara struggled to steer the ship away from the projectiles, but they continued on falling nonstop, everywhere. She heard a scream and turned to look at Larson who had been thrown away by a fireball to the sea along with a chunk of the ship.
She cursed and she knew it would be of no use to stay in there any longer, so she took a swan dive into the water. She hoped no one would be able to see her underwater as she swam all the way to safe land.
She pulled out of the water and climbed onto a nearby section of the island, just when something hit her hard on the head and she fell unconscious.
Lara woke up hours later to find herself in a creepy place with dead, bloody and pungent bodies scattered all over. To make things worse, she had been bereft of her pistols and was locked in a big metallic cage. Her head hurt, but she ignored the pain as she sat up and looked around.
“See where your little adventure led us to?”
She turned to look at Larson who was locked in the cage next to hers. He seemed annoyed.
“It could have been worse.” Lara simply said.
“Sure, for you.”
“If all you wanted to do was complain, you should’ve stayed home. I have no time to deal with cowards.”
“I came here just for the artifact, because in case you forgot, I’m a mercenary.”
“A true mercenary would come up with a plan to get us out of here. But as always, I’ll have to do the work.”
“No one is getting out alive!”
A totally different and monstrous voice was heard. A door opened and from it, a man with big, pointy teeth walked in. He was bald, and had a lot of bone-like scales protruding out of his back and arms.
“Damn, you’re one ugly motherfucker.”
Lara expected the creature to get mad at Larson’s comment, but he just stood in front of their cages and examined them both with venomous eyes.
“State your purposes. Why have you two come here? Who sent you?”
“We are archaeologists.” Lara replied. “We travel around the world and its places, to learn about their history. But we came here specifically to look for the Trident of Poseidon, have you heard of it?”
“Tourists. You thought you would have fun in this place?” The man got angry and he raised his arm, from where a pointy blade emerged. “You came here only to die!”
“We can assure you we won’t pose a threat to your people.” Lara said.
“Unless you give us a reason to.” Larson finished.
“How about I devour you two right here before I give you the chance?!” The man said, another blade coming out of his other arm. He slowly approached Lara’s cage as she stepped back and got ready to attack.
“Baraka. Stop.”
A new voice came from the entrance. It belonged to a tall woman with small horns on her head, a shield on her back, but her most astonishing feature were her four arms. She reminded Lara of those statues back in India, only that those were much creepier.
“These are intruders! We can’t leave them wandering around the island!” Baraka protested.
“We can’t just kill them like that.” The woman said, assessing both Lara and Larson from a distance. “They would have to prove their worth first.”
“Our worth?” Larson asked, then scoffed. “Don’t look at me, my partner is the rich one here.”
“We don’t care about how many coins you have in your pockets… We are looking for strength.”
“That’s something I can prove.” Lara said with confidence.
This caught the woman’s attention, so she walked to stand in front of her cage. “Then if you want to survive, you’ll have to test your might in kombat.”
With a blow of her hand, she broke the lock that kept the door of Lara’s cage closed. Baraka did the same to Larson’s, cutting right through the metal with a slash of his blade.
They walked out of their cages. Larson and Baraka stand at one side, while Lara and the four-armed woman stand at the other.
“You’re about to fight Sheeva, Queen of the Shokan.” She spoke, getting in a fighting stance.
“You wouldn’t be the first opponent with more than two arms that I face.”
“I’m intrigued by your history, but let’s save that for later and get to the real business at hand.”
Sheeva was the first one to attack, punching Lara in the face. She stumbled but then hit back with a series of punches and kicks. Baraka and Larson were fighting in the background too, and Larson seemed to be having a hard time dodging Baraka’s angry blades.
In the middle of the bloody fight, Sheeva jumped up high in the air and landed on Lara’s body, stomping hard on her twice! She was heavy as hell, so Lara was a little confused when she stood back up.
“That size of yours gives you an advantage.” She pointed out.
“Not only my size, but my arms too.” Sheeva replied and joined her four hands together, shooting a fireball straight at her.
But Lara was quick to dodge it and then she jumped up to wrap her legs around Sheeva’s head and snapped her neck with them. Sheeva groaned in pain and then threw Lara to the ground, and just when she was about to stab her with her pointy shield, Lara rolled out of the way and swept her leg to throw Sheeva off balance. Then Lara stepped on her back, breaking her spine, and she finished her up with a hit on her nape by her elbow.
She stood up. When she looked at Larson, she caught him in a tight spot. He was on the ground with Baraka’s blade about to pierce his face. She quickly ran his direction and gave Baraka a flying kick to the head, successfully making him let go of Larson.
She helped him to his feet as Baraka and Sheeva stood back up. Baraka seemed angry, but Sheeva nodded.
“Impressive. But you’ll need more than just fancy moves to survive in the world of Mortal Kombat. Although I couldn’t say the same about your partner.”
“Hey, this freak has like two sharp blades in his arms. That’s cheating!” Larson complained. “And y’all have like weird superpowers too.”
“Not all fighters are gifted with powers… Perhaps you’ll be able to meet them and learn their techniques.”
“So you’re letting us go?” Lara asked.
“You’ll be free… For now. Be careful out there, though, you never know when someone is lurking in the shadows, trying to get you killed.”
Lara and Larson were set free, abandoned in the dark, in the middle of what seemed to be a big meteorite crater. Baraka went out too, carrying Lara’s pistols to give them back to her.
“I’m getting fed up of these fighters using guns.” He muttered before leaving.
“Hmm, so I’m not the only one who uses guns here.” Lara thought and holstered her pistols.
“So what now? How will we deal with these people?” Larson asked.
“By fighting, it seems.”
“Do they have to solve all their problems by fighting?”
“Isn’t that what you’re an expert at?”
Larson scoffed, kicking a small rock. “Well, you can stay here and explore the place, take selfies or whatever you want. I’m going to look for the artifact with or without your help.”
“Larson, wait.”
He didn’t listen as he ran into the darkness.
“You litterbug.”