johnny-undead

[johnny-undead]

Lea Kang: The Most Unlikely Champion

The daughter of Liu Kang the God of Fire, protector of Earthrealm, and a literal chosen one was not what anyone expected. While her father trained tirelessly to uphold peace, Lea Kang spent most of her time screaming into a headset at 3 a.m., rage quitting her favorite games, and rollerblading through the Fire Temple like it was her personal skatepark.

Lea was different, and not in the cool, mystical “she’s the chosen warrior” way. No, she was different in the “why is the daughter of the greatest fighter of all time spending five hours a day beefing with strangers on social media” way.

She was blind technically. Her vision was bad enough that she was supposed to wear glasses, but she refused. “A warrior should rely on instinct, not sight,” she once said. Yet, the moment she booted up her game, those glasses were ON. Because, obviously, that was important.

The Worst Best Friendship Ever

Lea didn’t have many friends, mostly because she was insufferable in the best way. But somehow, she had formed an unholy alliance with the worst possible person: Shang Tsung.

Yes. That Shang Tsung. The soul stealing, treacherous sorcerer who had been trying to destroy Earthrealm since before she was born. To everyone’s horror, he was her best friend.

Raiden had once asked how this nightmare of a friendship even started. Lea had shrugged. “He’s funny.”

And, to be fair, she was right. Despite his whole “eternal evil” thing, Shang Tsung was kind of hilarious. Together, they were pure chaos.

They roasted everyone. Mercilessly. Not even gods were safe.

“Fujin dresses like a retired boy band member,” Lea had once said, making Shang Tsung spit out his tea.

“He does,” the sorcerer agreed. “And Lord Raiden looks like a disappointed PTA dad.”

They were menaces. Terrible influences on each other. Somehow, Shang Tsung THE mortal enemy of Earthrealm was not the worse influence in this friendship. Lea was.

“You should turn someone into a lizard today,” she suggested once.

Shang Tsung raised a brow. “Why?”

“Because it’d be funny.”

“…You have a point.”

The Unlikely Warrior

Despite her attitude, Lea wasn’t weak. Being raised by Liu Kang meant that she could fight even if she hated training.

“Why do I need to learn all this? I can just throw my rollerblade at them and run,” she grumbled.

Liu Kang sighed. “Because your enemies won’t wait for you to put on your glasses and press pause on your game, Lea.”

Fair point.

But in truth, Lea was strong. Maybe not in the way everyone expected, but she had an instinct for battle that was unmatched. She just didn’t take anything seriously until she needed to.

One day, when an invasion threatened Earthrealm, the other warriors prepared for battle. Lea was, as usual, on her game.

“Lea, this is serious!” Kitana scolded.

“I am serious,” she replied, slipping on her glasses. “One sec. Just need to finish this match.”

Five minutes later, she was on the battlefield, rollerblading through enemies, dodging attacks with pure chaos energy, and throwing controllers at people’s heads.

And when Shang Tsung inevitably betrayed them because of course he did she simply sighed.

“You are the worst best friend ever.”

Shang Tsung grinned. “I try.”

She still won the fight, though. Because, at the end of the day, Lea Kang was still her father’s daughter.

Just… louder. And much, much more annoying.