I still don't own the Mortal Kombat franchise.

God's damn it all,

Of all the places to fall, Reptile had to land on something sharp. He could feel the sensation of being stabbed in his left bicep, causing him to wince in pain and fear. He was afraid to look and see that his arm was broken, maimed, or even gone.

He finally opened his eyes to see that his arm was, thankfully, still attached. However, there was a long, sharp, wooden spike sticking out of it, stained green with his blood. His arm appeared to have been impaled on his fall down--funnily enough, he didn't remember much of his fall, granted he did hit his head numerous times.

Well, at least I'm on the ground, the Zaterran thought, think optimistically, Reptile.

"Thinking optimistically" would be far easier without a branch in his arm, so he set about removing it.

A ginger touch on the stake brought about an awful pain, causing Reptile to hiss loudly. Evidently, this must be done the hard way. The raptor sighed knowing what was going to have to happen. Reptile quickly grabbed the bloodstained stick and yanked it out of his bicep with a loud growl. He saw birds taking wing overhead, startled by his high-pitched roar.

He threw the branch aside and went about checking his wound. The stick went straight through the scales and muscle in his arm, and he couldn't lift it without major pain. And even with his thick blood, the wound was bleeding quite a bit. He'd have to take care of that soon.

Looking around, he knew instantly that he was in a jungle; the various sounds and smell were similar to that of the Kuatan Jungle in Outworld. However, Reptile knew that he wasnt anywhere in Outworld. He'd hunted and travelled in that jungle many times, but this place was foreign to him.

The smell is that of birds and mammals, he noted, but there's another stench nearby. A familiar stench...

Tying a long leaf around his arm and promising himself he'd get better treatment later, Reptile went towards the peculiar stench. He kept his arm as still as he could, but the hastily treated puncture screamed with every step.

After a few minutes of wandering, the wounded Zaterran was able to identify the foreign odor. He was immediately flooded with relief when he was able to distinguish the smell as that of a mere human. However, the strength of the smell led him to believe there were multiple humans, a lot actually. Having little else to do other than mope over his injured person, Reptile moved towards the smell.

In the end, it was small wonder that the smell of human was so strong; there was a human village in this jungle. Instinct told him to take caution. If he was in the wrong world, the natives may not take in his reptilian appearance with open arms.

He tried to turn invisible with his camouflage ability--a skill rare even in Saurians--so he could observe from a distance, but the pain in his arm was too great to do much more than turn white. It didn't help. He was not reptilian green anymore, but he was still a white raptor. New plan.

He thought of covering himself with leaves and vines, but that may be counterproductive, making him scarier. He considered just walking into the village, playing the poor, wounded, animal card, but he could smell a hot, metallic odor that he recognized as gunpowder in the village, so he assumed they had guns and more more than probably shoot him on sight. At that point, he decided going unspotted would be the best course of action.

As the Earthrealmers say, Reptile thought, no time to present than now--or now is the present. No, no. The present is time for... Forget it. I'm going now.

He grabbed a vine and tied it tightly to his shoulder to stop the bleeding in his arm. Best fix that quite soon. I pray these humans are hospitable.

He carefully crept towards the village, staying concealed in the shadows of the trees. The village was located in a clearing. Actually, it was more accurately at the edge of the jungle, for pass the small village there were no trees for miles. The village was hastily made with jungle wood and woven leaves, however, it seemed that it's residents meant to stay. They had constructed huts well, a few small farms, and what looked to be town hall. Reptile could see children playing in the grassy fields, women gathering water and doing laundry, and men, some playing with their children, a few constructing a new house, and one cleaning his rifle.

Guns, Reptile thought, hissing, I would rather avoid being shot. Pain shot up his arm again and he winced. But I cannot deny that I need help. Soon.

And the only ones here to help me are the humans. I need to find out where I am before anything, though.

He removed the parts of his armor that he could spare to lose. If he was going to communicate with a human, he would rather not be adorned with scale and bone clothing. Even after the removal of his armor, however, he was no more approachable.

Staying low to the ground, but not on all fours due to his arm, the Saurian crept slowly to a clothesline loaded with sheets and blankets. He grabbed a large, black sheet and threw it over himself. He then waited behind a white blanket for a human to approach him.

It was a few minutes until an female human appeared, humming to herself with a basket of clothing. Reptile hastened to make certain that the sheet covered all of him and stepped out from behind the blanket. The woman jumped gasping from the surprise.

"Pardon me ma'am," he said in his friendliest, most polite growl, "Can you tell me where I am?"

The woman responded with what sounded like "kay," but otherwise looked as though she was flabbergasted at the situation. A few more questioning words from her confirmed Reptile's suspicious; she didn't speak English.

While Kotal Kahn could speak numerous Earthrealm and other world languages, Reptile only knew one other than his native speech, and that was English (and he thought he spoke it quite well). However, he recognized a few other languages when he heard them, and, unfortunately, he recognized this one as an Earthrealm language. Had to make sure though.

"Ma'am," Reptile attempted, "do you speak any English?" The woman looked puzzled.

"Inglés?" she responded.

"Yes, yes," Reptile eagerly replied, "English. Do you speak it?"

"Little," the woman answered, trying to get a glimpse of Reptile's face under the sheet, "Who you?"

In any other world, Reptile would have whipped the sheet off, introduced himself as one of the great generals of Outworld, and demanded aid. However, he was in Earthrealm--he assumed--so he had to keep his identity anonymous.

"Unimportant," he replied to her question, "Can you help me? I'm hurt." She responded by quickly speaking in her native language. "No, no! Ma'am, please," Reptile interrupted, becoming desperate, "I need help. I am lost. Lost and hurt."

"Me see you face," was her stubborn response.

"For your own sake, no," that seemed to be too fast or advanced for her. "You may not," he answered instead.

The woman suddenly spun around and shouted, "Matheus!"

"No!" Reptile growled and tackled her out of impulse. In his dash, the sheet flew off, exposing Reptile in all his monstrous glory. The situation was made worse by the appearance of the man with the rifle, whose first sight as he entered the area was some kind of reptilian monster wrestling with his wife.

The man shouted something in his language and fired at Reptile. However, injured or no, the Saurian raptor was fast. He sprung away from the bullet's path and dashed at Matheus. The husband fired again, but Reptile whirled out of the way and pounced on the man. He scratched him once on each side of the face before, hearing more voices, undoubtedly other humans disturbed by the gunfire.

Reptile, in retreat but still in touch with his priorities, sped into the nearest house, shoving aside the women who resided there. He sniffed around the small hut until he found what he seeked; a medical kit.

Before he could dart back to the forest, however, his way was blocked by a male human with a shotgun pointed at his face. Reptile reactively spat acid into the man's eyes--not enough to kill him, but the man was most certainly blind now. The way being clear, Reptile made a mad dash to the trees, ignoring the searing pain in his bicep.

Reptile didn't stop running until he could no longer smell the humans. He was unsure of his ability to fight with the pain in his arm disabling his use of martial arts, preventing him from turning invisible, and being a downright thorn in his side. So this is what Earthrealmers mean when they say, 'hurts like a bitch.'

Setting down the med kit and getting to work on his wound, Reptile could only think to himself. That could have gone better.

Right so Reptile could work on his communication skills.

For those who are wondering, the villagers are speaking Spanish. But unless you guys would've enjoyed watching me butcher an entire language, I neglected to even attempt it.

Anyways, next up is Ferra/Torr. This outa be fun XD

Until the next chapter