Mortal Kombat X

Click here to edit subtitle

One young man's fan fiction: a reboot of the saga of Mortal Kombat, in 7 parts.

My name is John A. Deering, and I've been working on this story, "Mortal Kombat X", since 2002, before the public release of MK: Deadly Alliance.

Before that game was released, magazines had called the upcoming game "Mortal Kombat V", and then simply "Mortal Kombat", a remake, or re-imagining - several years before Batman Begins and the Dark Knight established the "reboot" as a liked thing - in which Mortal Kombat would start all over again, starting with the 10th tournament.

Mortal Kombat had seemed to be a retired series, basically Finished, for a few years. At least, when you're young, a few years feels like plenty of time. But now Mortal Kombat was going to come back completely overhauled for the 2000-on decade - with a remake. This was the first picture shown to the public of MK5, or: Mortal Kombat.

A remake sounded exciting! Kano, dead since MK3, and missing in MK4, could now be back, because the entire saga would be rebooted. Now, apparently, Jax from MK2 would be involved in the 10th tournament, even sporting the metal arms from MK3. So it's okay for things to happen out of sequence from how things happened the first time. Sub-Zero now is older, with gray hair - like Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns' take on Batman?? The possibilities were exciting! However, the game eventually was released as MK: Deadly Alliance, a sequel, an MK5 after all, not a remake.

I was sorely disappointed to learn that the infinite possibilities of the remake would no longer come true. No longer could we see the true, larger-than-life remake of the Sonya and Jax saga, the Sub-Zero and Scorpion saga . . . the game came out as MK: Deadly Alliance, which established the successful MK makeover.

Once I could look past that issue - wanting to see the remake, the re-imagining, the retelling - I learned that the new Mortal Kombat, bouncing back from retirement with an ambitious new plan aiming at higher heights, was going to be seen like never before. First, the 2-D would be replaced by an overhauled 3-D fighting system. Characters would become progressively bruised across the fights, clothes might tear a little, and the Impale move would leave the opponent slowly draining their blood for the rest of that round.

Well, that all sounded kind of awesome, actually. So came the period of time of anticipating the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance - a sequel, but not a remake.

But my mind would not let go of the limitless possibilities that a remake story could offer. And so I wrote an outline summary for "Mortal Kombat X" - my own remake.

The X in Mortal Kombat X means the number 10 in Roman numerals, of course. Tournament 10. This was the one big difference between Regular Mortal Kombat and My Remake. In a tournament of Earth versus Outworld, neither side needs to win 10 tournaments in a row. Rather, only 10 are held in total. Whichever side wins the majority of 10 tournaments wins for all time, or, in a stalemate, the winner of the 10th and final tournament. A big twist. No longer do the tournaments go back hundreds of generations, but only 10 are held total.

Back in 2002, before the release of MK: Deadly Alliance, I got to work writing my remake, which would include characters from MK1 through MK4, yet leave out Deadly Alliance.

Would my story be a remake? A re-imagining? I had thought of 1989 Batman as a remake, with some changes made - Batman wearing all black, rather than blue and gray, and the Joker being the one that killed Batman's parents, a new connection.

2001's Planet of the Apes, also directed by Tim Burton, however, was a re-imagining - a whole separate cast of characters. No Taylor, no Cornelius, no Dr. Zaius, but a whole different cast of characters. Leo. Ari. Limbo. Thade. That's a re-imagining.

In the middle of those two approaches is Ultimate Spider-Man. It's mostly the same - Peter Parker gets bit by a spider and becomes Spider-Man. However, now he's 15, instead of 17. Now it wasn't quite a radioactive spider, but a spider that ingested Norman Osborn's miracle drug Os. Now the spider bite happened at OsCorp, not some random radiation building. I always classified Ultimate Spider-Man as feeling like 1989 Batman. I would later feel like the Dark Knight reminded me of Ultimate Spider-Man.

Anyway, all of Spider-Man's villains are shown with some twist. A new costume, an all black costume, a different-looking form. Kraven is now a TV host, instead of a jungle hunter. So this was the approach I wanted to take with Mortal Kombat - remaking all the characters to be a little different from how you remember them.

2005 had Batman Begins, and 2006 had a James Bond reboot, using a new actor, and being the first movie to be based on the very first James Bond book of all, and to stick to it word for word all throughout.

In 2005 we have King Kong: attempting to stay exactly identical to the original canon, as much as possible, and digging even deeper than the movie into details found only in the original book. It sort of pulls a Dick Tracy - taking place in the 1930's. That means that the original version took place in the "now", contemporary times of the 1930's, and the 1990 Dick Tracy movie, and 2005 King Kong movie, are backward-looking retro pieces. Dick Tracy was like the Dark Knight of 1930's comic strips.

The late-80's King Kong had been focused on "now", with that feeling of being futuristic (advanced technology being put to use), showing you how the "now" times of the late 80's are at SUCH an other level than the times of the original King Kong. Like 1989 Batman, it was more about the "now" late 80's feeling. But in 2005, it became clear that remakes along the lines of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, whose title ditched the name Willy Wonka in favor of the correct title of the book, were becoming more popular than the remakes that make things take place now. The Phantom, a late 90's movie, was also spectacularly successful and takes place in the same 1930's setting as in which the original comic strips ran.

So in 2002, I thought it would be appropriate to write a book remake of Mortal Kombat, telling the one complete entire total saga, starting at the beginning, but in a remade canon where every character would be different.

Sub-Zero would go back to how we first saw him in Mortal Kombat 1 - villainous in appearance, his motivations unknown. He is an antihero who just barely qualifies as a good guy, in my version: an assassin with a bad history who is fighting for Earth in Mortal Kombat. I would try to take that Ultimate Spider-Man approach, so the main character is still Liu Kang, Raiden is still the God of Thunder, the basic details are all based on the games, but the same story will look different when shown in a different way, starting at the absolute beginning and working forward.

So, I decided that, even though my remake would remake and re-imagine every character, my goal would also be to focus on bringing things back that had not been seen since 1992's Mortal Kombat 1 - the Mirror Match, now remade with a new doppelganger species, a fight scene of Sonya versus Red Sonya, the Warrior Shrine having statues of everybody, and other things that would be derived from the first appearance of Mortal Kombat. Ultimate Spider-Man, though changing things for the newer times, also brought back characters who had not been seen since the Sixties - the Enforcers, now hired by the Kingpin. In the Sixties, new characters were introduced one at a time. From 2000 on, with Ultimate Marvel, connections between characters could be shown all along. Spider-Man meets the Enforcers, but learns that they work for the Kingpin, originally a separate villain. (In Ultimate Marvel, Ox is now black. Betty Brandt also seems to be Chinese now.)

So these were my 2002 ideas:

Rain, once the ninja wearing purple, would now be a Shadow Priest, wearing a purple robe, still capable of summoning the lightning (described in the story more as "summoning the rainfall"). This would break him out completely from being stuck in the Sub-Zero costume template. Actually, Rain ended up having a major role in the story. I would shatter any notion of any character being the unpopular or outcast one. Nah. All the characters should be treated as though in the same spotlight as Liu Kang, Sonya, Sub-Zero, Jax. Stryker. Rain. Kabal. Every character will feel equally cool when I'm done, was my goal.

Ermac would have red skin in a black outfit.

Kung Lao could be randomly transported through time by 500 years to end up today, fighting in the tournament just to get back to his own time.

Reptile - in order to keep him a secret background character - would simply wake up alone, with no memory, not knowing his own real name, fighting in Mortal Kombat because, in return, Shang Tsung has promised to look into his soul and tell him who he is.

I had to remember Twisted Metal: Black, a re-imagining-approach remake of the Twisted Metal games from 2001. I always knew Twisted Metal's villain, Calypso, to have blond hair, and to have the same wicked laugh, as people's wishes come true only to backfire. Twisted Metal: Black was a definitive re-imaging, where Calypso is now bald, like Bruce Willis, and all the characters were now found at the same mental asylum (Blackfield), where the people were all invited by Calypso to have one wish granted. Rather than the genie-like power of granting one wish, he simply seems to just have what every individual character needs. He pulls from nowhere a set of keys, the one thing a lady needs, whose mask is literally locked onto her head for life. Characters from several games and many new entries alike made this terrifically done remake, which re-defined the Twisted Metal series and did not feel like a rehash. Axel, for instance, is no longer stuck to his vehicle, and is free to climb on and off.

When writing my summary for my Mortal Kombat remake, I remained completely influenced by the fact that the 2002 game had at first been rumored to be a remake, and by the fact that MK2's Jax and his MK3 metal arms would apparently have shown up at the 10th tournament, along with Princess Kitana, now remade without wearing any veil over her face (MK Gold costume). Now Sub-Zero has gray hair, in the remake, went the rumor for a while - a brand-new, un-heard of change, like Ultimate Spider-Man's villains. My remake would be on-track with that remake that never quite came to light.

In my remake, I had to think of how all the characters in the Twisted Metal games, particularly Black, are personally driven by different motivations for what they would get out of winning the tournament, the one wish that would be granted. The people in Dead or Alive 3 all have different intentions on how to spend their prize money, either on a mansion, or on opening one's own casino, or to save a dying man's life. And it's the casino ending that wins, apparently, because the Dead or Alive Volleyball game follows that ending. In my version, all the characters would have their own motivations for going to this tournament. Reptile is going so that he can learn his true identity. Sonya is going after Kano. Johnny Cage seeks a comeback to his finished Hollywood career, and basically every character seeks something. Only Liu Kang is really going for the reason of fighting for honor and the fate of Earth realm. Only he is really familiar with the legends of the Mortal Kombat tournaments. I would neglect the movie's story of Liu Kang avenging his killed brother, but keep - and significantly expand - the movie's original character Chan, to be no less a part of the Shaolin monk family than Kung Lao.

Nightwolf would be a werewolf - in his human form, a friend, in the Wolf form a monster, the wolf being named Kiva, after the cartoon show's wolf friend. Kabal - this was my favorite part - would be more like Marvel Comics' the Punisher, a crime-fighter who goes after Kano, the criminal, and all the criminals that work under him, a Dick Tracy-like line-up of villains including everyone from the PlayStation game MK: Special Forces, namely No-Face, Tasia, Tremor, and Jarek.

No-Face is simply a character who apparently has no face, or who wears a blank-face mask . . . but that's been done in Dick Tracy, with the Blank. I thought, why not overhaul No-Face with a white Greek theater "happy" mask? Kabal, the vigilante fighting these sick, twisted Black Dragons, would be a fast runner, yet have no actual powers, using two hook-swords to go after the criminals. It would be as if Kabal could be his own character, his own comic book, permanently.

So, at first, I wanted to cover only the story of the 10th Mortal Kombat tournament, the game MK1, including Nightwolf and Kabal in on that action. Rain was more involved in the Shao Kahn prequel content, for I would just write the whole story starting at the absolute beginning and continuously move forward, and that's how it all ended up.

So I ended up with a story that was kind of weird, because it was different, but after a while it becomes logical: you see, first there's the beginning of the universe, the entire mythological cast of the Mortal Kombat Gods and Goddesses working together to help form the Earth (I was deeply into Greek mythology as a youth), a more scientific-minded description of the dinosaur days, the caveman days, the Ice Age, and Raiden's battles with Shinnok from the backstory of MK4, after which time Shinnok decides to create a son, who becomes Shao Kahn. Technically, that part happened at some point in time, according to the second movie - Shinnok decided, hey, I am going to create a son. We have never seen this moment for ourselves, playing the games or watching the movies, but it technically must have happened in the canon of MK somewhere. I focus on things like that - Shao Kahn meeting Shang Tsung, how he came to nominate him the tournament's host. I guess MK: Legacy had a similar approach when they showed Mileena - rather than just showing Mileena walking in to fight, we instead see baby Kitana, and we see Shang Tsung create a clone, after Shao Kahn orders him to do so, and so the clone is Mileena. Canon backstory, prequel, reboot. The way they showed the creation of Mileena, instead of mentioning it in dialogue later, is the way I always intended on showing the stories of how Shao Kahn came to marry Sindel, something we've heard about (particularly again in MK9) but not actually seen.

I did not intend to make Shao Kahn the main character of the story, necessarily, but it certainly unfolded that way. The story of how Shinnok created Shao Kahn leads to the story of Kahn's upbringing, a subject never touched before. I borrowed from Greek mythology, applying attributes of Zeus - growing up on an island - and Hercules/Heracles (half-man, half-God). Taking heroic Greek Gods and applying their attributes to a villain?? Sounded kind of weird.

But years later I learned that Kintaro, MK2's sub-boss villain, is actually named after a hero named Kintaro in Japanese fairy tales. Motaro from MK3 must similarly be named after Japan's Momotaro the Peach Boy, while also being based on a toy John Tobias had as a kid.

So, in short, it seemed necessary to cover the story of Shao Kahn, and how he did all the stuff he did in the games' backstories - killing Edenia's King, marrying the Queen, transforming Edenia into Outworld - but essentially following his point of view for a while. Also, how did he meet Shang Tsung? Once a nice man, like in the show MK: Conquest, driven to darkness by Kahn. So Shao Kahn is the main character/villain, and Shang Tsung is the accomplice, in the prequel stories.

In order to tell the complete story of Mortal Kombat, objectively, outside any ONE character being cemented as the star, it became necessary to shift viewpoints from character to character across the story. Eventually Shao Kahn stops being the character followed and it becomes more about Raiden again, as he must host the tournaments. Later, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya are the main three warriors he invites to the 10th Mortal Kombat tournament. From that point on, indeed Liu Kang is the main character.

When telling the story of Mortal Kombat 1, my dream was to write the first remake of Mortal Kombat made since 1995 (in the year 2002, then 2003, then 2004). But I would go further by working the Mirror Match into the canon of the story by explaining it with German doppelgangers - that is, a German concept of every person having an evil twin from another dimension. That is simply part of the tournament: for each contestant to fight a copy of themselves. Sonya could fight the red Sonya doppelganger. Then the Warrior Shrine could have its statues come to life when filled with the souls possessed by Shang Tsung, to make the Endurance round (which, in the games, is the name of the round of fighting 2 to 3 people in a row). I had plenty of ways to, on one hand, expand and go beyond, and on the other hand simply be going back to MK1.

MK2 had two ideas that never came to light - the rumored character Hornbuckle, and the Green Liu Kang who fights Guy On Fire in the background of the Pit II. Sometimes, Jade pops up at the start of a match and leaves behind clues, one of which was "Hornbuckle Who?", on the Super Nintendo version. People assumed Jade was telling fans that Hornbuckle was a secret, unlockable character waiting to be found, the same person as the Green Liu Kang who fights Guy On Fire in the Pit II. Now that part people had just assumed.

Although the public magazine printings had actually claimed Hornbuckle would look like Liu Kang in blue, a lot of people had it in their heads that Hornbuckle was a man wearing green, seen in the background of the Pit II but also waiting to be unlocked as a fighter. It never really came to light. Hornbuckle has always been the one character that never quite made it to light.

MK: 2011 came to light, and I thought I was finished forever if they were to have everything I'd have done, like Chan/Hornbuckle, and yet in some better way that would make more sense to real life. However, they did not use Hornbuckle, and so I realized that my version was different indeed. Of course - you ask 10 people to write their version of adapting Mortal Kombat's stories and you get a lot of different results.

In an effort to reduce the contradictions between multiple versions of MK, I connect the games' gigantic canon with some ideas and influence from the movies, the novel, the comics, the cartoon show, the live-action show, and even the 1995 Kard Game. That is, my story is an Ultimate Marvel like retelling of MK1 through 4, but is preceded by much prequel content. However, Chan is Liu Kang's brother, like in the movie, Shinnok is the father of Raiden and Shao Kahn like in the second movie, Kiva is the name of the wolf that Nightwolf transforms into (cartoon show had a wolf friend named Kiva), 6 days to merge a realm with Outworld, the fact that Outworld is made up of many provinces (comics), every province being the remains of what had been a whole realm (blended idea), and yet Earth was the first original realm that the others were derived from like in the 1995 MK Novel.

In the 1995 MK Kard Game, Jade had a Finishing Move called Touch of Jade, turning her opponent into solid jade; this could become her main, defining characteristic in my version. I would also work in the character Pearl, from that dream I had.

I always had some ideas for what to do for an MK2 story - turn it into an Outworld version of the classic adventure story, 3 good guys (one of them a girl, Sonya) traveling through Outworld, through various kinds of terrains, wastelands, forest, mountainside, ocean, sky, to reach Shao Kahn's Castle and stop him. (If you count Raiden, that is four travelers - at a time when Raiden is rendered powerless and mortal - kind of like the stories of four heroes on an adventure, like Momotaro the Peach Boy.)

My plan was to use absolutely every character from MK1, 2, 3, and Ultimate, and likely the Chameleon and Khameleon characters from MK Trilogy. I would also work in some of the folks from MK4 and Mythologies: Sub-Zero, and MK: Special Forces, with the thugs that work for Kano.

I changed Mileena from an evil clone into a brainwashed twin sister, although I have since changed it back. I also always wanted to include Baphomet, who, as I remember from magazines - and who can be found in the Krypts of Deadly Alliance and Deception - was a deleted character, an Elder Demon, who never quite made it to the final cut. I would even add unheard-of things to Mortal Kombat, like genies, who are red, made of air or fire, and who are out to betray people on every wish granted, for an unlimited number of wishes. That would be more true to the old stories of genies than to the Disney version (not that I'm complaining about the 1992 movie Aladdin).

I thought, for years, that it might happen: that I might get Mortal Kombat X published as a book, and everyone would read it and be like "!!!"

In 2011, they unleashed a video-game remake called Mortal Kombat, basically bringing to life the remake that was rumored before MK: Deadly Alliance.

It crushed me to learn the remake was being done. I recognized Johnny Cage's outfit of a blue suit and tie with a pink shirt as being the same way he was shown in the MK1 trading cards, back in 1992. If not for my older brother Justin, I'd not know of any of them - let alone all. But dang it, using the trading cards' outfit was something I had wanted to do in my story. :-(

Mortal Kombat: Legacy, a web-show, hit the Internet, and although my dreams of getting published had been wounded by MK9, I was finished off by MK: Legacy. Now my version would NEVER happen.

I had one thing still going for me. My version was called Mortal Kombat X. Making it different.

In 2012, I had to wonder, whatever happened to Mortal Kombat X? So many drafts of the story, over the years. I had gotten the rough ideas pretty well organized while sketching and such during college in my early 20's, '08, '09. A pencil list of all the realms total in MKX, or at least all 9 realms conquered by Shao Kahn - a list I slowly built up, and did not rush. A list of the new characters. But whatever happened to it? Oh, right, 2011 Mortal Kombat made my version unnecessary.

Late 2012, early 2013, I said to myself: you know what, no, I am not finished! Sure, a 3rd remake of Mortal Kombat being published in 2011 would sound kind of stupid. But give it TIME. Give it a few years, and people will be ready for my version, a book called Mortal Kombat X.

Why would people need a 3rd remake? Because of the differences in my version from MK9 - starting off with prequel content, telling the Shao Kahn saga, later interjecting Hornbuckle into Mortal Kombat, Jade's Touch of Jade, Rain's remade role as a Shadow Priest. Rain was missing from MK: Legacy, and from MK9 at first, until he became downloadable later. So my version would be derived from everything Mortal Kombat in the 90's, all collected together, the games, the novel, the card game.

Too bad I could no longer be the first to use the MK1 Trading Cards outfit for Johnny Cage, because 2011 MK did that. Still, I just had to look for what I could deliver that wasn't done in MK9. (It took me months of having given up to come back with this more hopeful attitude.) The Mirror Match, for instance. Sonya up against a red Sonya doppelganger. The Warrior Shrine, where statues of all the combatants stand. So, in short, all the remaining details of anything not seen in MK9 and Legacy. The boat ride to the tournament - seen in the first movie, and the MK Animated Video, and shown in MKX.

In 2013, I wrote a summary of 7 stories for Mortal Kombat X, and expanded the summaries into a 7-part novel. I felt convinced to change it from a book to movie scripts after watching Thor: the Dark World (by myself) and 300: Rise of an Empire (by myself).

Movie scripts up on a web-site, fanfiction for free. Why? Because, really, I had to face it, my book would never be published. No way. It would never actually reach store bookshelves. The final answer was nothing - nothing would ever happen with it. So, a web-site for free, that actually does get SOME eyes, some views. Not as good as my real goal, of my book in bookstore shelves, but it was all I could do at this point. To own www.mortalkombatx.com was good enough.

Being in my 20's, it was kind of fun to still be working on my vision for Mortal Kombat X, which I had envisioned so strongly at ages 14 and 15. Mortal Kombat was something that I had watched grow since 1992, when I was 4 years old. So, why not?

2014 seemed to be a good year. One day, in June, I was shocked to go from a few views to 300 in one day. I figured there must have been some kind of error. Yet, as the minutes went on, my ratings continued to soar even higher!

The next twist was the most unexpected and heart-stopping twist of all. Mortal Kombat X was the name of the next MK game, announced for 2015. I'd had a little bit left of my dreams - now, just dust.

Mortal Kombat X is a cool name. Glad to see the folks in charge are not laughing at that name. Of course, 2011's "Mortal Kombat" is usually abbreviated as MK9, so already it was clear that the next game could be called MK10, or MKX. MK2 was always spelled as Mortal Kombat II, in Roman numerals. It was, in one way, inevitable.

It's just that I called my remake story Mortal Kombat X in 2002, meaning the 10th tournament. Since 2002, age 14, I wrote my version on the side, while the folks in charge delivered to the public MK: Deadly Alliance. Deception. MK: Shaolin Monks. Armaggeddon. MK vs. DC Universe. By this point it's 2008 and now I'm in college, trying to focus on schoolwork, but also having to jot down whatever ideas went through my head before I forgot them. Lists of all the realms in MKX. All the species.

My scribbles and doodles finally took form as a web-site in 2013. I never got my book published, but I did get a web-site up online. Now what? Now that they were making Mortal Kombat X - a third blow to my story - now what would happen? Would my story really become nothing?

Well, I could change the name of Script 4 from "Mortal Kombat X" to "Mortal Kombat Begins", and call Script 3 "Mortal Kombat on Earth" instead of Begins. But all 7 parts form the total saga of Mortal Kombat X. What else could the total saga be called? I don't know yet. But I'll have to think of something. Maybe Mortal Kombat: Silver.

THE CHARACTERS IN MORTAL KOMBAT X ARE ALL FROM:

MK1 - Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Raiden, the Elder Gods, Sub-Zero, the Lin Kuei, Scorpion, the Shirai Ryu, Kano, the Black Dragon, Reptile, Goro, the Shokan species, Shang Tsung.

MK2 - Baraka, the mutant species, Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Jax, second Sub-Zero, Jade, Smoke, Noob Saibot, Kintaro, Shao Kahn.

COMICS - Hydro, Sing and Sang / Siang, six-armed Grum, Goro's father Gorbak (also seen in the Animated Video), Johnny Cage's bodyguard Bo, the Deathstone (which resurrects dead people), the resurrection of Sing and Sang to work for Shao Kahn, and the brainwashed marriage between Sonya and Shao Kahn.

KARD GAME - Jade's Touch of Jade Finishing Move.

MK3 - Stryker, Kabal, Nightwolf, Sheeva, Cyrax, Sektor, Sindel, Motaro.

Ultimate MK3 - Ermac, Rain.

MK4 - Quan Chi, Shinnok, Fujin, Reiko, Tanya, Kai, Jarek.

In the arcade machines, Reiko's ending involves walking into a portal. In the PlayStation version, he puts on Shao Kahn's helmet, sparking the question of whether or not he and Shao Kahn are one and the same. The Game Boy Color version describes him as having ruled the past tournaments. I make him a clone of Shao Kahn, using all human flesh and blood, with the potential to be good.

I should probably also have a Tarkatan clone of Shao Khan somewhere, to fulfill that early-concept art of MK2 in which Shao Kahn's facial features were like Baraka's. The first design for MK2's Baraka was a human holding hookswords, a design that became replicated for MK3's Kabal.

MK Mythologies Sub-Zero - Lin Kuei Grandmaster, Water God (now named Aegaen, after a Greek God), Fire God, Earth God is now replaced by Greek Goddess Gaia, and the game's depiction of the Earth God now becomes a rock golem, to be fought by Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Kia, Jataaka, and Sarena will all be used in the MK4 script, working for Quan Chi.

1ST MOVIE - Chan. Liu Kang's bicycle (which he will ride around the MK Deception village, in my story). Gargoyle statues coming to life also come from the movie.

2ND MOVIE - Shinnok being the father of Shao Kahn, Shinnok being the father of Raiden, Shao Kahn and Raiden being brothers (now just half-brothers). The process of merging Earth with Outworld being "a six-day process". Jade will be more like the movie version than the games' versions.

3RD MOVIE - In the unreleased, unfinished "MK: Devastation", which had finished scripts and some scenes filmed before Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans, Raiden would remain away as Fujin would lead Earth as its new protector. However, the Deadly Alliance of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi would be the villains, with Fujin as the new protector God.

CARTOON - First appearance of Quan Chi. Back then, he looked more gothic, and in every other version since he has not. In the cartoon, he used a red crystalized heart gem, the Gem of Tetsurri, to turn all the good guys against each other. Oniro (Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, and thus a contradiction of Mythologies Sub-Zero's Grandmaster who wears all red . . . I use both, connecting them together as father and son, like Shao Kahn and Shinnok).

ANIMATED VIDEO - Duroc, younger brother of Goro. The emphasis on the boat ride that brings the fighters to the tournament.

DEADLY ALLIANCE - Bo Rai Cho, Kenshi, Frost, Moloch, Drahmin.

DECEPTION - the One Being. Shujinko's village (now shown as Liu Kang's village, since both train under Bo Rai Cho). The name of the Tarkatan species. The history of Shao Kahn usurping the Dragon King.

ARMAGEDDON - Argus, protector God of Edenia, Delia, the vision of the pyramid rising up and everyone fighting to the death.

MK9 - Skarlett, Raiden's vision of the possible bad future where Shao Kahn wins.

MK REBIRTH TRAILER - Johnny Cage fighting Reptile in his own LA home in the darkness (Baraka, in MK Rebirth)

MK LEGACY - the fact that Hydro, from the comics, was converted into a machine.

RUMORED CHARACTERS - Hornbuckle, Pedro (a Stryker-like Mexican S.W.A.T. guy). Skarlett was such a rumored character since MK2, until MK9.

DELETED CHARACTERS - from MK1, Yoshitsune Minamoto, Michael Grimm, Lin Kuei man clad in black, Kitsune, and Rukoro.
- From MK2, kick-boxing champ Tanya.
- From MK4/Gold, Baphomet and Belokk.

SHAOLIN MONKS - Liu Kang and Kung Lao teaming up many times (contrary to my vision of Liu Kang and Chan/Hornbuckle), the game's depiction of the Tarkatans' assault on the Shaolin temples, the giant Shao Kahn statue.

NOVEL - T'ien, from ancient Chinese. Cliff, the name of Sonya's slain fiancee.

ANIME - No anime exists of Mortal Kombat. The MK Animated Video and cartoon show were not Japanese (though the final episode of the cartoon certainly looked Japanese, and *might* have involved a Japanese cast). To my knowledge, Japanese versions exist of Spider-Man, the Ninja Turtles, and other things, but not quite MK. However, Street Fighter II V and the SF2 Animated Movie were both Japanese, and SF2V in particular got me to wonder what a Japanese anime version of Mortal Kombat would look like. A half-familiar, half-changed version, that I try to picture in my head. At times, this is what MKX is inspired by: what an anime MK would or might look like.

Then I noticed MK Legacy Season 1 had Sub-Zero striking the ground with a moving stream of ice; something right out of anime, now connected with MK. In my story, MKX, Part 8, Shinnok, will take on a very DragonBall Z kind of style at some point, with Raiden and Shinnok both flying through the air, pulling energy around, throwing mountains at each other, basically an anime version of MK4. Also inspired by the fan art, made by Japanese MK fans and artists, in 2003 which indeed exaggerated the features of MK characters like Cyrax and Sektor, leaving me to forever wonder what if a Japanese version really was made.

THAT DREAM I HAD - Pearl. I have no doubt that she was inspired by the fan art in the MK2 era, in 1994, when magazines displayed people's fan art pictures and one Kitana-like lady was dressed in white. Back in the year 2000, at age 12, I had written a Mortal Kombat V story for a very short time with Quan Chi as the villain, using the amulet to try to acheive total power himself. He was stuck in the NetherЯealm at first, until Pearl showed up and helped him escape. Sounds pretty cool NOW but chances are anything I wrote when I was 12 was probably lame.

As for the actual dream I had, at age 12, apparently MK Trilogy could be put into the computer, and dissected and edited that way, the same as emulators and ROMs of 80's Nintendo games could do. So, I could not quite create a whole new character, yet could edit the colors and other properties of characters, fireballs, and other such things to create, say, instead of an orange fireball, an edited green fireball, or a horizontally-stretched gray ball. I could edit Jade to become a female ninja wearing white named Pearl, and I made Shao Kahn the main character for some reason, and I suddenly realized that I wasn't sure who was the one main character, Sub-Zero, Raiden, or Shao Kahn, and trying to grasp that there was only one yet might be three was a real clash.

MY OWN BRAND-NEW CHARACTERS:
- Pearl
- Izanami
- Gaia
- Cavemen Enngok and Rawa
- Shao Ming
- Kaylani
- Shadia
- Cryo, the Ice Realm
- Kantarian, the Centaur realm
- Ochanep, realm of aliens
- Ar'qun, desert realm of men and genies
- djinn, or genies
- witches

The backwards R in the NetherЯealm was originally used in MK Deception's ChaosЯealm, but it also seemed to be present in the name of NetherЯealm Studios, the owners of MK since Midway filed for bankruptcy, so I establish the spelling of the NetherЯealm as canon in my story.

The dragon logo, or my take on it, was put together with these two pictures - the asphalt street, and the white rocky ground (to form the white outline), both just outside my house, at 3 a.m. (The red background is from a third photo, as shown in the Blog.)

And this is me.

JohnDeering20@gmail.com

E-Mail Sending Form
* Required

Message sent. Thank you!

Oops. An error occurred.
Click here to try again.

Part 1: Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Raiden

Part 2: Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Shao Kahn

Part 3: Mortal Kombat on Earth

Part 4: Mortal Kombat Begins

Part 5: Mortal Kombat: Outworld

Part 6: Shao Kahn Takes Earth

Part 7: Shinnok

All the scripts have about 50 pages written so far. The intended page length of each script, when finished, will be about 150.

I think this could all make a pretty good Mortal Kombat comic book.

MK comics have not been around since the 90's, except for the game tie-ins for MK: Deception and MK vs. DC Universe. However, no comic book has delivered the Ultimate Marvel like remake of all the stories of the Mortal Kombat games. Take a look at the 2011 comic book remakes of Flash Gordon and TMNT, and now imagine the stories on this web-site as a comic book . . . maybe with a different name?

Now for a small summary of all 7 parts of the story.

Part 1: Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Raiden

The One Being splits into 7 beings to become the Elder Gods, and its remains are stretched out to become the Universe. The Elder Gods create many Gods and Goddesses, who live in outer space, and who are sent into dark, lifeless Earth to fill it with elements and make it suitable for life. Raiden, God of Thunder, and Fujin, God of Wind, are friends as they observe the passing of the Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Mesozoic Eras of dinosaurs. Shinnok summons meteor rocks from space to wipe out all life on Earth. Raiden battles his own father, Elder God Shinnok, but their battles only ravage the world around them, and the dinosaurs are all wiped out. Shinnok, for his destructive ways, is surrounded by the other 6 Elder Gods and cast out forever into the NetherЯealm, where he schemes to eventually have his way.

Part 2: Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Shao Kahn
The Child of Darkness, Shao Kahn, is born. Son of Elder God Shinnok and mortal woman Shao Ming, Shao Kahn is born to do his father's bidding, finding the amulet that contains his Essence. Instead, Shao Kahn carves his own path of power and conquest. He climbs a mountain, finding a hidden temple to retrieve an artifact for himself - a manmade helmet that contains his own Essence. With his newfound power, Shao Kahn opens an entrance to the Nexus of Realms, where he locates Outworld, a wasteland realm owned by the Dragon King. Shao Kahn fights the Dragon King, and takes over Outworld. But when he attempts to take over more realms, the 6 Elder Gods tell him that every realm must be allowed a chance to defend itself. A tournament is crafted. Using the Mortal Kombat tournaments, Shao Kahn conquers the realms of Edenia, Zaterra, Cryo, and 6 others. Next, he sets his sights on Earth.

Part 3: Mortal Kombat on Earth

Thunder God Raiden is sent by the Elder Gods to host the Earth side of 10 Mortal Kombat tournaments. The first of 10 involves silent Shaolin monk Kung Lao, ninja general Yoshitsune Minamoto, London actor Michael Grimm, martial artist Kitsune, nameless assassin Lin Kuei, and African warrior Rukoro. Shang Tsung has recruited Kitana, Mileena, Ermac, Rain, Duroc, and Baphomet, alongside returning champion Goro, to fight at the first tournament. Although Kung Lao and Minamoto fight bravely, everyone ends up losing against Outworld. Tournaments 1 through 9 involve 5 victories for Outworld and 4 for Earth, so the 10th tournament will make or break the whole deal.

Raiden must travel the Earth to find his warriors for the upcoming 10th tournament. He invites: Shaolin monk Liu Kang; Hollywood star Johnny Cage; Special Forces lieutenant Sonya Blade; twin monks Sing and Sang; Lin Kuei assassin Sub-Zero; and blind swordsman Kenshi. Meanwhile, Shang Tsung has recruited wanted criminal Kano, ninja Scorpion, amnesiac Reptile, Ermac, Rain, red genie Belokk with his owner Shadia, and six-armed Grum. Soon, the final tournament will begin.

Part 4: Mortal Kombat Begins

The 10th tournament commences, to decide the matter of Earth versus Outworld. Raiden and his mortals take on Kano, Scorpion, Reptile, Ermac, Rain, Grum, Belokk, Goro, and Shang Tsung.

Part 5: Mortal Kombat: Outworld

Shang Tsung has failed to win the 10th tournament in the name of Outworld, and so he faces the wrath of his master, the Emperor Shao Kahn. Shang Tsung devises a new way to win: by using various forms of manipulation to lure all the survivors of the Earth tournament (Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade) to Outworld, where they cannot be protected by Raiden, and where they will face certain death by Kahn himself, in a deceptive tournament that has no involvement from the Elder Gods.

Part 6: Shao Kahn Takes Earth

Despite losing twice, Shao Kahn has found a way to win with his third plan, resurrecting Queen Sindel using the spilled blood of the warriors who fought in the Outworld battles. Shao Kahn begins the six-day process of merging Earth with Outworld. Alongside an evil Sindel, Shao Kahn storms the streets of the world with his unstoppable extermination squads made of humans, Cryomancers, Tarkatans, reptilian Saurians, Shokan, Centaurs, robots, and vampires. As Earth ties together with Outworld, Raiden loses power, and he fears that his vision of the end of all things, where only Shao Kahn is left standing, will turn true. The mortals, in their darkest hour, must prove that humans can overcome even the worst of all odds.

Part 7: Shinnok

Shao Kahn's father, Shinnok, returns to Earth to fulfill the plan that began with the creation of Shao Kahn. Shinnok's right-hand man, gothic sorcerer Quan Chi, uses the red Gem of Tetsurri to turn all the Earth warriors against each other. As Liu Kang, Sonya, Sub-Zero, and Jax turn against each other, Wind God Fujin leads his own band of mortals - Kai, Tanya, Jarek, and Reiko - to stand up against Shinnok.

Now for a medium-length summary.

In the beginning, nothing existed but the One Being. After enough time, it grew bored and split itself into 7 to become the Elder Gods. These Elder Gods roamed empty space, as the rest of the One Being stretched itself out to become the entire universe. As the Elder Gods flew through the expanding universe, made of galaxies, made of solar systems, made of planets, stars, and moons, the Elder Gods created the 24 Gods and Goddesses to make dark, lifeless planets suitable for life.

Baphomet, God of Darkness, misses the darkness that was once everything, and he fights the Elder Gods in an attempt to seize their power and return existence to the darkness. The Elder Gods do not erase Baphomet from existence, but they banish him to forever remain in the NetherЯealm, indeed a realm of darkness.

Many Gods and Goddesses interact in their work on Earth. Fujin is the God of Wind, Oxygen, and Gravity, and Water God Aegaen fills the world with water, while a molecule of oxygen is necessary to create a molecule of water. Elder Gods Shinnok and Izanami ask Raiden, God of Thunder, to travel to the ocean and spark it with lightning, creating the first living organisms in Earth. He shall forever remain the guardian and protector of all native life on Earth.

Life grows in the sea. Life goes to the air. Life grows on land. Friends Raiden and Fujin observe the Triassic Era. The Jurassic Era. The Cretaceous Era. The Mesozoic Era. Elder God Shinnok, Raiden's father, acts ruthlessly, destructively, and uncaringly, and Raiden takes it upon himself to stop him. Raiden fights Shinnok for much time, and their battles ravage the world around them.

The other 6 Elder Gods intervene. They open a gateway to a new realm, Zaterra, where the dinosaurs may flee. Shinnok is surrounded by 6 Elder Gods, and cast out into the NetherЯealm, which is now owned by Baphomet. Shinnok, stripped of his title of Elder God, is the prisoner of Baphomet, a wrongdoing he cannot forgive. Shinnok schemes to have his way in the Earth realm.

Raiden watches as Man grows on Earth. He does not expect that he will care about these small, dumb animals as much as he cared about the old ones. But, in time, he comes to care about many of the mortals. He observes as two cavemen, Enngok and Rawa, fight to the death in a dispute over land. Enngok wins, finishing off Rawa. Raiden hopes that Man can learn to become more civilized than this. When Man learns to make fire, he becomes more civilized, and eventually full civilization is formed.

Much later, after China is populated by people, banished Elder God Shinnok comes up with a new way. He will use mortals to help him get his way. Shinnok will come to Earth for seven hours, and mate with a mortal woman, to create a son that is half-mortal, half-Elder God, who will do Shinnok's work. The son will become Shao Kahn.

Shao Ming is a mortal woman in China. She is convinced to mate with Shinnok, during his seven hours in the Earth realm. He was able to return to Earth briefly through the help of the Brothers of the Shadow, a cult of humans worshiping Shinnok. By offering him enough sacrificed blood, they allowed him to return for seven hours in a flesh-and-blood avatar, a temporary body to dwell in, before he returns to the NetherЯealm.

Shao Ming becomes pregnant, and later dies in childbirth. The Child of Darkness, Shao Kahn, is born.

As a baby, he is visited by the Brothers of the Shadow, who worship Shinnok, and by the Shadow Priests, who favor Shao Kahn. The purple robed Shadow Priests touch his head with holy water, burning him, and establishing red markings across his head. The baby Shao Kahn screams. But the pain and the suffering will shape him. The Shadow Priests raise him on Shimurai Island, an island 200 miles off the coast of the East China Sea, unknown to the human world. Here, they will raise him to do dark work.

As an adolescent, Shao Kahn talks to Shinnok, still in the NetherЯealm, in his dreams, and learns of his destiny. He was raised as a mortal. His half Elder God essence has been taken away from him, by the Brothers of the Shadow, and kept contained in a manmade artifact: a helmet. The helmet has been placed at the top of a high temple, and only Shao Kahn can reclaim his own Godly essence from it, if he can prove to Shinnok that he can get it by himself with no power. Shao Kahn sets out to find the hidden temple, at the top of a mountain, to fight the monks who guard the artifact, to take the artifact for himself, and to claim his brtihright by absorbing his essence back from the helmet.

Using his newfound power, Shao Kahn brings himself to the Nexus of Realms, where he finds the gateways to all the other realms in existence. He looks into Zaterra, realm of men who evolved from the dinosaurs; Edenia, the perfect realm; Cryo, the ice realm; Kantarian, realm of Centaurs; and Kuatan, realm of humans, dragons, and Shokan hybrids. He settles upon Edenia.

Shao Kahn and his band of Shadow Priests travel through the perfect land of Edenia. Here, men and women co-exist with small fairies, pixies, and sprites, who carry the divine power of healing. Bears attend a picnic organized by King Jerrod, and hosted by his beautiful daughter, Princess Kitana. Queen Sindel sings a song, and all the people, bears, fairies, pixies, and sprites listen attentively. Queen Sindel has a voice that is said to have come from the heavens.

Shao Kahn and his band of Shadow Priests travel through the Whispering Woods, the Blue Fields, the town of Taurus, and finally arrive at the royal palace of King Jerrod and Queen Sindel. Once the yearly Picnic festival is over, they are both sure to return to the front gates, where Shao Kahn waits for them. Jerrod's Masked Guards will not allow Shao Kahn to meet him.

Shao Kahn convinces Rain, a man working for King Jerrod, to work for his own higher power, joining the ranks of the Shadow Priests. Shao Kahn pays Rain in silver and gold to kill King Jerrod. One day, in the King's own courtyard, Rain summons the rainfall and causes the strike of lightning that kills the King. It is blamed on nature. Rain knows the truth. Princess Kitana runs to the aid of her father as he lays dying. He dies before being able to tell her what happened. She is devastated. She runs away, crying, but is found by the ghost of King Jerrod, who explains that Rain summoned the lightning deliberately to kill him. Kitana can't believe that Rain, a loyal friend, would ever do such a thing. But Shao Kahn has come along with a dark path, Jerrod warns her. She and the Queen must run immediately.

Shao Kahn uses brainwashing drinks to manipulate Queen Sindel. With King Jerrod dead, she agrees to marry Shao Kahn. Rain leads them together in marriage, granting him all the power that earlier belonged to King Jerrod. One of King Jerrod's Masked Guards - the entire group now belonging to Shao Kahn - tells him that his treatment of the world is unfair. But he has one thing to say: he is a half-mortal, half-Elder God, and he does have some rights to claim.

Shao Kahn, in his castle that once belonged to King Jerrod, now finds the first significant threat against him in the form of the Tarkatans, a horde of hideous mutants now heading to his castle to attack. The Masked Guards, loyal to Shao Kahn, run outside the castle, and are viciously slaughtered by the Tarkatan hordes. Shao Kahn runs out into battle and begins to destroy them, one at a time, with his hammer. In one day, Shao Kahn kills many Tarkatans, and conquers and enslaves the rest. Now the Tarkatan species kneels down to the ground before him, working for him. They will join the Masked Guards and the Shadow Priests in Shao Kahn's Dark Armies.

The 6 Elder Gods descend from the sky, landing on the ground around Shao Kahn to tell him that his treatment of all things is unfair. Shao Kahn argues that he does have some rights to claim. Argus may be the protector God of Edenia, but Shao Kahn is half of an Elder God. Still, the 6 Elder Gods tell him, he must allow every realm a chance to defend itself. A tournament will be crafted. If he does not agree to this, he will join Shinnok in the NetherЯealm.

Shao Kahn calls his tournament Mortal Combat . . . or Mortal Kombat, after his own great name. The tournament will be held 10 times. Argus (protector God of Edenia) and Shao Kahn will invite an equal number of contestants to compete in Mortal Kombat. Edenia's side and Shao Kahn's side will fight in the tournament, to determine which side will win, determining the future of that realm. Argus realizes that the most important thing is not merely to fight Shao Kahn's contestants himself, but to teach wisdom to his own selection of mortals who will participate.

Argus invites the finest of Edenia's men and women, including the ranks of the Edenian Knights, into battle in Mortal Kombat. 10 Mortal Kombat tournaments are held in Edenia, all of them lost by Edenia, won by Shao Kahn. Much to Argus' deep regret, Edenia is claimed in the name of Shao Kahn, who transforms its beautiful landscape into the dark, poisonous wastelands of the realm he calls Outworld. Now he is the Emperor of Outworld, and Edenia is no more.

But he wants to go on to claim more realms, through the process of Mortal Kombat. He may challenge any realm in existence to the tournament, and if he wins, while playing by the Elder Gods' rules, he will be granted permission to overtake that realm and join it together with Outworld. Slowly, all the things in the universe will be merged back together, to awaken the One Being.

Shao Kahn wins 10 tournaments in Zaterra, taking over that realm, and merging it with Outworld to become one mixed realm. He wins 10 tournaments in Cryo, the Ice Realm, defeating and overtaking their Cryomancer army. Some people flee from Cryo to Earth to find safety, and thus form the earliest ninja clans on Earth. The Lin Kuei clan is formed to recapture the glory of the lost Cryomancers. Shao Kahn now owns Edenia, Zaterra, and Cryo, all joined together as Outworld.

Kuatan, overtaking the Shokan species.
Kantarian, overtaking the Centaur species.
Vaeternus, overtaking the vampires.
Ochanep, overtaking the aliens.
Zaa, overtaking the rainforest realm.
Ar'qun, overtaking the desert realm of men and genies.

Earth will be the 10th realm challenged to the Mortal Kombat tournaments. If Shao Kahn can win the majority of 10 Earth tournaments, he will claim Earth in the name of Outworld. But if both sides reach a stalemate, each winning 5 of 10, then the stalemate will be decided by the winner of the 10th and final tournament.

Princess Kitana has still eluded Shao Kahn, in the Earth realm. But even Earth won't be safe, if he has his way. Shao Kahn sends Rain to Earth, to find Kitana, capture her, and bring her back. Rain travels through Europe in the Renaissance Era, tracking down the ageless princess, and taking her back to Outworld. Just as Sindel became brainwashed to become loyal to Shao Kahn, that same fate now overtakes Kitana. She is told that Shao Kahn is her true father. Now brainwashed, she will fight only for the rule of Shao Kahn.

Shao Kahn meets the nicest man in China, Shang Tsung, and takes him in as an apprentice, teaching the man the dark arts. Shang Tsung learns that far more manipulation of energy is possible than he dared to dream before. He thought he knew everything at age 48. Now he learns that he has only barely begun. Shang Tsung has now become an apprentice who may one day become a sorcerer. The nicest man in China has now become corrupted to become one of the most evil men on Earth. He will host the Mortal Kombat tournaments in Earth realm.

Shang Tsung creates a clone of Princess Kitana, using the flesh and blood of both humans and Tarkatans. The baby, more likely to be loyal to Shao Kahn due to her dark roots, is Mileena. She makes her Daddy, Shang Tsung, proud. As the years go on, Mileena is trained in both unarmed combat and in armed combat with twin sais.

Shao Kahn sits in his throne, formerly the throne of King Jerrod, in his castle, in the realm of Outworld. Now he rules 9 worlds, all fused together into Outworld, and he is ready to take on Earth. Princess Kitana stands by his side, loyal to him. Mileena stands by his side. Shang Tsung stands by his side. Rain and Ermac fight for Shao Kahn as well. Prince Goro, prince of the Shokan species, from the Kuatan province of Outworld, is currently the reigning champion of the Mortal Kombat tournament. Earth is the next target.

Mortal Kombat will hold 10 tournaments on Earth. The first tournament is about to begin. Raiden speaks to the Elder Gods. He must find 7 warriors to fight for Earth. He is allowed to participate, as one of those 7. He will dwell in an avatar body, a body of flesh and blood, where he may be beaten, and even killed - to return to his true essence, an immortal God. Thus, Raiden must gather six mortals from across the Earth to participate in Mortal Kombat. But if they say no, he cannot force them.

Kung Lao - Chinese monk, sworn to silence.
Yoshitsune Minamoto - general of the Japanese Shirai Ryu ninja clan.
Michael Grimm - theater actor in London, known for acting in Shakespeare's "Othello".
Lin Kuei - real name unknown, a ninja-like Chinese assassin wearing all black, sporting shurikens.
Kitsune - daughter of legendary Shang Lao.
Rukoro - African warrior.

Raiden and his six mortals travel by boat to Shimurai Island, in Earth, near China, to get to the tournament, the first of ten to be held in Earth.

Kung Lao fights Rain. Kung Lao wins, but will not kill Rain.
Michael Grimm fights Mileena. He is killed, his face eaten.
Minamoto fights Duroc, younger brother of Goro. Minamoto wins.
Lin Kuei fights Ermac, and Ermac wins. Ermac claims the soul of the Lin Kuei assassin for himself.
Kitsune fights Kitana, and Kitana wins, killing her foe.
Rukoro fights Skarlett, a female assassin wearing red, and Skarlett wins.
Raiden fights Baphomet, and wins.

Only two of the mortals are still alive: Kung Lao, and Yoshitsune Minamoto. The two work together, fighting copies of themselves in the Mirror Match round, and fighting living stone statues in the Endurance round. However, the reigning champion, Goro, beats Raiden in their fight. Goro then fights and kills Minamoto. Only Kung Lao is still alive. Goro fights, and kills, Kung Lao, leaving nobody left to see the end of the tournament, where Shang Tsung, the host, would have provided the final challenge.

Earth has lost the tournament. Kung Lao and Minamoto are dead. Outworld wins Tournaments 1, 2, and 3. By the end of Tournament 9, Outworld has won 5 times, and Earth has won 4, so Earth's only hope for survival is to win the 10th tournament. As the 10th tournament draws near, Raiden must gather another 6 mortals. Sing and Sang, twin fighting monks, are the first to be invited.

Liu Kang. Shaolin monk in the Honan province of China. Training at the Wu Shi Academy, Liu Kang fights for the Order of Light monastery. These monks are the same who once trained Kung Lao. The 9th tournament was held when Liu Kang was 4 years old, and his brother Chan was only a few months old. At age 4, Liu Kang dreamed of growing up to fight in the 10th tournament, as an adult. At age 14, Liu Kang learned the hard way about discipline, from his mentor, Bo Rai Cho, a mentor specializing in both choy lay fut and the drunken style. Now, at age 24, Liu Kang thinks himself definitely ready. Chan wishes Liu Kang good luck. After dinner, they receive a visit from their cousin, Kung Lao. He warns the two brothers that their ancestor, the old Kung Lao, was killed by Goro - and Goro will be at this tournament. He pleads for Liu Kang to not go. Now Liu Kang feels torn.

The next day, Liu Kang finally asks Bo Rai Cho for permission to fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament. But he is told the answer of no. He is still not ready. Sing and Sang, Twin Fighting Monks, have been chosen instead. Liu Kang is crushed. But Raiden meets with him in private and allows him to join anyway. Liu Kang leaves the temple to go to the tournament. He will be thought to be disgraceful, abandoning the temple and its people. But Chan understands.

Johnny Cage. Los Angeles, California. Nobody could forget his heyday of movies. Dragon Fist. Dragon Fist II. The Oscar-winning Sudden Violence. Ninja Mime. The Gist of My Fist. Johnny Cage was known for a basic formula. Characters named Johnny. Action. Comedy. Usually rescuing a kidnapped girlfriend. Above all else: insane stunts. No green-screen, or blue-screen. No wires. No CGI. Sometimes, not even a safety net. Nothing but Johnny Cage's insane, daring stunts - making everyone question what the actor and self-supporting stuntman would try next.

But that was so long ago. It's funny how you can be on top of the world one decade, and a laughingstock the next. Johnny Cage drinks heavily in a state of depression while laying on the floor against the couch in his LA home. But he is invited to the Mortal Kombat tournament by Raiden. Johnny Cage believes that this tournament might bring him the comeback he's been longing for.

Sonya Blade, Special Forces, has been in the military for years. In boot camp, she truly thought she could not make it to the end. She was pushed by her drill sergeants to keep going until she made it. Now she's a mixed package of being hot as Hell and tough as nails. She has been personally trained to break arms and twist legs. Sonya Blade is engaged to Cliff Ladolce, who she met in the military. The two are tracking down Kano, the criminal at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted list of criminals and fugitives. Kano is the leader of the Black Dragon gang. The plan is simple. Track down the location of Black Dragon's headquarters, using captured Black Dragon gang members like No-Face, Tasia, Tremor, and Jarek. Arrest the one biggest fish, Kano, and come back to base to find a celebration. Then Cliff and Sonya will get married. Kano kills Cliff. Sonya's life is destroyed in one second by Kano's knife. Sonya follows Kano, and meets Raiden, who tells her that if she wants to find Kano, she can find him at Shimurai Island, at the Mortal Kombat tournament.

Raiden has invited Sing and Sang, Liu, Johnny, and Sonya to Mortal Kombat. He invites Jax, who declines. But he must find two more mortals in time.

Sub-Zero is the nickname of Bi Han, Chinese assassin affiliated with the Lin Kuei. The Grandmaster, clad in a red robe, walks with Sub-Zero and with their new prospective client, who wants to hire the Lin Kuei to kill an enemy in secrecy. Sub-Zero is just the man for the job. A master of stealth, speed, and the cold, Bi Han has earned his nickname of Sub-Zero. Half his ancestry runs through China, and half goes back to Cryo, the Ice Realm, to the invasion by Shao Kahn, when people fled to Earth and landed in China. Sub-Zero can manipulate ice particles around him into an iceball, which freezes whatever it touches. A master of both stealth and speed, Sub-Zero moves through a building without being seen by any of his targets, slowly freezing everyone in the building in solid ice, completing his job. Later, Raiden invites Sub-Zero to fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament.

Raiden and Shang Tsung both had their eyes on Sub-Zero. Now Shang Tsung invites fellow Lin Kuei assassin Hydro, manipulator of cold water, to fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament for Outworld, but Hydro refuses. Shang Tsung is displeased. He must find enough contestants in time, as Shao Kahn has ordered it. He won't give up. Now he turns to men in the Japanese ninja clan called the Shirai Ryu. They are the enemies of the Chinese Lin Kuei. Perhaps he can exploit the rivalry between the two. In an earlier tournament, Lin Kuei and Minamoto both fought on the side of Earth, against Outworld, setting aside their differences in nationalities and clan affiliations. Now, perhaps Shang Tsung can push people a little more toward the Outworld agenda by exploiting the enemy status of the two clans.

Hanso Hasashi is the leader of the Shirai Ryu clan. He is a loving husband, a devoted father, and a skilled ninja assassin. The same way the police rope criminals, to capture them, Hanso Hasashi ropes his targets. Because he is so vicious, so stinging, he is sometimes called Sasori . . . or Scorpion. Shang Tsung invites Scorpion to the Mortal Kombat tournament, fighting for Outworld. But he refuses. Shang reminds him that a Lin Kuei assassin is fighting in the tournament, for Earth. If he wins, people will say that the Lin Kuei is the best. Unless Hanso beats him at the tournament, fighting not on Sub-Zero's side, but on Outworld. Two people on the same side do not battle each other. Hanso still is not interested. He will leave alone the fact that the two clans are considered enemies. He closes his door, and Shang Tsung walks away.

Shang Tsung will never get his warriors, unless he accepts a little help, claims gray-skinned Quan Chi. Black crows flock to Quan Chi's shoulders. He is a free-roaming sorcerer, able to roam freely between realms while escaping detection by the Elder Gods. He used to be merely an apprentice - back when he looked normal - but he killed his own master, his teacher, the sorcerer, in order to steal his energy. Now, Quan Chi makes a wager with Shang Tsung, a bet in silver and gold coins, that within a matter of days Quan Chi could have Scorpion begging to fight in Mortal Kombat for Outworld. Shang Tsung remarks that he tried with both Hydro and with Scorpion, and though you can lead a horse to the water, you cannot make it drink. Quan Chi remarks that a horse can be made to drink . . . if you starve it for hours, if you work it to the bone, if you run it ragged, it will desperately want water. Scorpion just has to be driven to want to go after Sub-Zero.

Quan Chi goes to China and hires the help of the Lin Kuei. Speaking to the Lin Kuei's Grandmaster, Quan Chi explains that he wants to hire only the best and most highly-skilled. Hydro is one of the Lin Kuei men hired by Quan Chi to come to Japan, to kill men that Quan explains to be crooked, evil. Hanso Hasashi's family is a band of murderers, he claims, and they must be stopped, for the good of the world. Then, Quan Chi hires the help of Shirai Ryu general Hanso Hasashi, Scorpion, to assassinate some dangerous Lin Kuei men only one village away. Scorpion is hired, and he goes to the site where the Lin Kuei are found, in his own country of Japan. Many people kill each other.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Lin Kuei men hired by Quan Chi are killing Hanso's family, while he is one village away. Soon, his entire family is dead. Quan Chi then runs to Hanso Hasashi, and he urges him to come quickly, because something terrible is happening: Sub-Zero is going after the Hasashi family!!

Scorpion and Quan Chi come back to Hanso's home only to find everyone in his family, and many people in his clan, dead. Sub-Zero has orchestrated this, Quan Chi explains. Unfortunately, there will be no way to find him now. Scorpion knows of one way. The Mortal Kombat tournament - the one that Shang Tsung invited him to earlier, the one he declined. Sub-Zero will be there. Scorpion will find Sub-Zero, indeed - at that tournament. Quan Chi is pleased. The next day, Shang Tsung returns to Hanso's door, claiming that he always returns after one day when people say no. He will not force a decision, but is merely asking a second time. This time, Hanso swears that nothing in Earth, the heavens, or the NetherЯealm will stop him from finding Sub-Zero. He will fight in Mortal Kombat - indeed, for Outworld. Now Shang Tsung has lost his wager, having thought Scorpion could not be persuaded, but he is glad to have his final contestant chosen.

Shang Tsung is now ready for the tournament. But one problem comes up. Scorpion, burning with anger, tracks Sub-Zero down to China, and fights him inside the Shaolin temples, where Sub-Zero is talking to the monks. Sub-Zero, fighting in self-defense, kills Scorpion, then leaves the temple and returns to Lin Kuei headquarters. Now, Shang Tsung will not have his final contestant after all. This means that Quan Chi's victory in the wager is nullified. Shang Tsung wants his money back. Quan Chi is angry. He got Scorpion to agree to fight for Outworld, and that was the agreement. Shang Tsung argues that the agreement was to see Scorpion at the tournament, fighting for Outworld. He never made it to the tournament. So Quan Chi promises to fix things by bringing Scorpion back.

Quan Chi travels to the NetherЯealm, not as a damned prisoner, but as a neutral guest, a free-roaming sorcerer. He tracks down Hanso Hasashi, in the NetherЯealm, who is being attacked by demons Moloch and Drahmin. Quan Chi fights off Moloch and Drahmin, offering Scorpion a hand of help. Quan Chi can help him come back to Earth, and settle his unsettled business . . . if he becomes a wraith, a follower of the Brothers of the Shadow, who pledge themselves to the worship of fallen Elder God Shinnok, and the arrangement of his return to Earth. Scorpion refuses. Quan Chi leaves him to his own devices. But Scorpion does then agree to join Baphomet's armies of Hell. In his life, he was a general of a ninja clan. Now, he shall become a general of the undead. Scorpion is brought back to life, by the forces of the NetherЯealm, which make him a specter, a body with little left beyond a skeleton and clothes, who can manipulate fire in the same way that Sub-Zero and the Cryomancers manipulate ice.

Raiden, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Sing, Sang, Sub-Zero, and Kenshi are the 7 warriors who will fight for Earth in Mortal Kombat.

Kano and Scorpion meet Reptile, Ermac, Rain, Grum, and Belokk/Shadia, who are fighting for Outworld. Belokk is a red genie, from the Ar'qun desert province of Outworld, and Shadia is his human owner, who may be granted an unlimited number of wishes.

Two teams of people take two boats to Shimurai Island, to face their destiny at the tournament.

A boat carries Earth's warriors across the ocean to Shimurai Island. A second boat takes the Outworld warriors there.

Liu Kang fights Ermac, in Shang Tsung's courtyard.

Johnny Cage fights Rain, in the Warrior Shrine.

Sonya fights Kano, outside the Honan temple.

Sub-Zero fights Scorpion.

Sing and Sang, the Order of Light's Chosen Ones, fight Grum on the Pit.

Raiden fights Belokk.

Kenshi fights Reptile, at the bottom of the Pit.

Next, it is time for the Mirror Match. Every contestant will fight a doppelganger copy of themselves, who appears slightly darker than the true contestants.

After that, the Endurance Round: the statues in the Warrior Shrine are filled with Shang Tsung's legion of enslaved souls, so the warriors all fight the statues of themselves.

The Mortal Kombat tournament, Earth's defense against Outworld, is meant to be as difficult and grueling of a test as it can be. They do not want Earth to win. After making it through the Endurance Round, any contestant may challenge Goro, the 500-year reigning champion who, in the first Earth tournament, killed Shaolin monk Kung Lao.

Liu Kang fights Goro, and wins, finally ending the Shokan's winning streak and avenging his own ancestor, Kung Lao.

The final contestant is Shang Tsung. Liu Kang fights him. This man is full of confusing tricks. He appears to be Johnny Cage, whom Liu Kang would not fight. He appears to be Sonya, whom Liu Kang would never hit. He appears to be Chan, Liu's brother. Liu Kang is prepared for these tricks. He continues to fight the sorcerer, and the two manipulate energy to produce fireballs to be thrown at one another. At last, Liu Kang defeats the sorcerer, Shang Tsung, and wins the tournament in the name of Earth Realm.

Liu Kang and the others return to their different homes, knowing Earth has won. Liu Kang is greeted by Chan and Kung Lao, who are shocked to see that Liu Kang beat Goro, and they accompany him back to the Shaolin temples. Johnny Cage goes back to Hollywood to make his big comeback. Sonya talks to the soul of her dead fiancee, Cliff. Mortal Kombat was won by Earth.

Although Shang Tsung failed to win the 10th tournament, he is determined to win through fair means or foul. Under the threat of being forever outcast by the Emperor, he thinks of a new way to win: by luring all the survivors of the 10th tournament to Outworld, to fight each other to the death in a fictional tournament happening on Outworld grounds. Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya must all be "convinced" to come to Outworld, believing that the final battles of the tournament take place there.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao come back to their home in the temples of China, only to find them under attack from Baraka and the Tarkatan hordes of Outworld. Baraka runs away, and Liu Kang, Chan, and Kung Lao follow him, to find a large portal that the Tarkatans are running into. Raiden appears, and explains to the monks that there is only one way to set this right: by following Baraka. Liu Kang questions this, because he thought Raiden would lose power in Outworld. Raiden angrily tells Liu Kang not to question him. The three monks run into action, following the Tarkatan mutants into the blue portal, to soon find themselves in the middle of the wastelands of Outworld.

Johnny Cage is in his home one night, in the darkness, when he meets Reptile, who tries to beat him to death. Johnny Cage then follows Reptile outside, through Los Angeles, and into a portal where Johnny Cage and his bodyguard Bo find themselves in the Living Forest.

Sonya knows she saw Kano die, yet she sees a slightly darker version of Kano in public. She chases him to find herself stuck in Outworld, along with Jax.

Baraka fights Liu Kang, attempting to kill all three monks. Chan/Hornbuckle fights a burning Tarkatan on a bridge above the Outworld Pits.

Scorpion killed Sub-Zero, yet he is not passing on to the afterlife yet. Sub-Zero is dead, his soul in the NetherЯealm. Some say his ghost still haunts the Lin Kuei. Shortly after Sub-Zero's death, his younger brother put on the dead man's outfit, to take over the mantle. He and his friend Smoke remained loyal to the Lin Kuei, but the passing away of the Grandmaster was a tragic loss that they feared their clan might never recover from. The new Grandmaster, Oniro, quickly became a mean, sadistic leader. Now, indeed, Sub-Zero's ghost does pass through the Lin Kuei, as the rumors had gone, to keep an eye on his brother and on the clan.

Scorpion is told by Shang Tsung that his family's killer, Sub-Zero, still walks the Earth, leading Scorpion to fight Sub-Zero again. But first, a black, shadowy wraith, Noob Saibot, crashes into Scorpion and fights him. Scorpion fights Noob Saibot, and wins. Scorpion fights Sub-Zero, only to realize, on his own, that this man is clearly not the man who mercilessly killed his family and clan.

Sub-Zero and Smoke are traveling together to find refuge from the Lin Kuei, who is sending its people, now enhanced with mechanical augmentations, after the two. Noob Saibot is a friend to Sub-Zero and Smoke, but an enemy of Scorpion. However, Scorpion vows to protect the younger Sub-Zero, after having killed the man's older brother. The four decide to work together until they can be assured of the end of Shao Kahn's plans.

Noob Saibot reveals who he used to be: Sub-Zero. After dying in the tournament, he was damned to the NetherЯealm, and found by Quan Chi, who made him the bargain of granting him access to Earth if he would become a wraith. After enough time in the inferno, he was convinced. He became a wraith, Noob Saibot, in order to keep an eye on things, and to keep his brother, the second Sub-Zero, safe. Noob Saibot explains to Scorpion that, as Sub-Zero, he had not killed Scorpion's family. Scorpion asks him who did. Noob Saibot doesn't know.

Kano was dead, but his soul became owned by Shang Tsung, who located the man's doppelganger - his Mirror Match - to reunite the criminal's soul with his slightly darker body. Kano leads the marriage between Shang Tsung and Sonya Blade. She is hypnotized into agreeing, just as Sindel once did to Shao Kahn. But Jax won't allow it. He shows up to stop the marriage, and beat up Kano.

Goro may be dead, but Kintaro is the new champion of the Outworld tournament. He rips off Jax's arms. He beats Kitana. Sub-Zero and Scorpion work together to stop Kintaro.

Shang Tsung fights in the tournament. Chan fights Shang Tsung, and wins.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao fight Shao Kahn, and Liu Kang wins.

At last, Shao Kahn's scheme to overtake Earth is foiled.

Shao Kahn steals the souls of the entire population of planet Earth, claiming billions of people his own. Raiden has protected the souls of certain people in the Earth - the survivors of the 10th Mortal Kombat tournament, and the Outworld battles. Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Sub-Zero, Jax, Kung Lao, Hornbuckle, Bo, Kitana, and Kenshi are still alive, due to Raiden's protection. There are four newcomers they must meet: S.W.A.T. officer Curtis Stryker, Native American werewolf Nightwolf, crime-fighting vigilante Kabal, and Sub-Zero's sister, Frost, who was born in China but raised in Colorado.

Johnny Cage is killed by Motaro, leader of the vicious Centaurians. The rest of the group must travel on without him. On the second day of the merging process, the blue sky of Earth is purple. On the third day, it has grown more to red. Raiden has grown significantly weaker, and it becomes time for the mortals to apply their teachings in the world.

Scorpion has still not passed on to the afterlife, but now he has lived in Earth long enough to see its destruction by Shao Kahn. He realizes that this is not ever what he wanted. He never intended to fight for evil, or to fight for the rule of Shao Kahn. Now he sees that this is exactly what his participation in the 10th tournament brought on. Suicide may be the only honorable option left . . . unless he decides to help the Earth warriors stop Shao Kahn. Now, not only is Scorpion working together with the younger Sub-Zero, but he's lending his help to all of Earth, against Shao Kahn.

A small crowd of robots, walking identically to each other, connected to a united network of robots, approach Sub-Zero, the last Lin Kuei left to escape automation. Earlier, the younger Sub-Zero and his friend Smoke had found escape from the Lin Kuei. But Hydro, recently converted to an automated assassin, captured Smoke to have him converted as well. Now Smoke is here to fight Sub-Zero, and bring him back to Lin Kuei Headquarters. Sub-Zero urges Smoke to remember that this is not his will. Smoke is now nothing but a programmed cyber assassin, here to capture Sub-Zero. Removing his mask entirely, Sub-Zero has renounced the Lin Kuei clan entirely. He won his fight with Smoke, but is not happy about it. A deep scar has formed near his eye.

The Grandmaster, clad in all red, would never have approved of this newer Cyber Initiative. But when he had a heart attack, his son, Oniro, took over leadership of the clan. The Grandmaster's heart attack turned out to be staged by his own son, just to take over the Lin Kuei. So Oniro proceeded with the Cyber Initiative, to attach mechanical augmentations to the Lin Kuei assassins and program their minds to be more obedient, more teamwork-oriented, and less resistant. Cyrax refused, at first, and he attempted escape, but he eventually became a loyal Lin Kuei. Hydro and Smoke were both converted after that. Unlike the men who resisted, Sektor liked the idea of upgrading himself, and he underwent the process willingly. Sektor is not resisting the augmentations, and as such, he is taking one step ahead of the rest of the cyber-organisms.

Sektor has gotten his hands on heat-seeking rockets, once sought by the Black Dragon gang, and he is able to add it to his own permanent arsenal.

Kano indeed lives on, his evil soul still bound to the dark body of his doppelganger from the Mirror Match. The two wrestle a little for control of the same body. He is allowed to live, by Shao Kahn, in exchange for teaching his extermination squads how to use Earth's weapons. Kano knows how to use guns, knives, and even the more advanced technology like rockets. Kano teaches the Tarkatans, the Saurians, the Shokan, the Centaurs, the vampires. Shao Kahn demands that they listen to Kano attentively. The Shokan and Centaurs are both angry about having to work together under a low human. Meanwhile, Shao Kahn can see across the Earth, looking for the rare survivors. He wants to track down all the warriors from the Mortal Kombat tournament, and see to it that they be killed.

Sonya and Kano fight each other on the rooftops of Chicago, and Sonya throws Kano off a roof, watching him die a second time. Hopefully, this will end Shao Kahn's attempts to educate his armies with Earth's weapons.

A crowd of robots surrounds Sub-Zero, ready to take him back and perform the automation process themselves. He will become a cyber assassin, and then the cybers will continue to serve the Lin Kuei, and the Lin Kuei will serve Shao Kahn, for he has manipulated their programming through dark magic alone to serve him.

Although Smoke failed to capture Sub-Zero, now Cyrax and Sektor approach him. Sektor fires heat-seeking rockets, and Sub-Zero tries to manipulate ice to protect himself, but he is eventually struck by a rocket and knocked down, to be captured in a bio-net by Cyrax. Kept in containment, he is told by both robots that he will be coming back to Lin Kuei Headquarters to proceed to automation.

Nightwolf, seeing Sub-Zero beaten, transforms into a wolf. Shedding his humanity, he unleashes his animality, the wolf called Kiva. Sub-Zero is no longer a friend, while Nightwolf is Kiva. He attacks Sub-Zero for a second, but is then attacked by a robot, and so Nightwolf takes everything out on all the robots in the area. Sub-Zero is glad to have Nightwolf as an ally. Eventually, Sektor leads the robots away, retreating. Once Nightwolf is done, he begins to calm down. He ends up attacking Sub-Zero again, who freezes the werewolf's legs until he will transform into a human again at sunrise. Still, Sub-Zero thanks Nightwolf for saving his life.

Liu Kang, Sonya, Sub-Zero, Jax, Kung Lao, Hornbuckle, Bo, Kitana, Kenshi, Stryker, Nightwolf, Kabal, Frost, and Scorpion fight together across the city of Chicago, through hordes of Tarkatans, reptilians, ninja-like Cryomancers, and vampires. Working together, they take down significant numbers of Shao Kahn's armies, but it still looks like it will be impossible to win. Mileena, Jade, and Pearl arrive, to tell Kitana to come back with them. Kitana refuses, and fights the three assassins.

Shang Tsung arrives, accompanied by a skeleton crew of human bodies, nothing left but bone, filled with the souls from his own collection. As Liu Kang and Kung Lao approach Shang Tsung, he makes himself look like Kung Lao, and he confuses Liu Kang enough to get him to fight the real Kung Lao. Then, Shang Tsung makes himself look like the old Kung Lao, from the first Earth tournament. Both monks fight the man, who soon is clearly Shang Tsung again.

There will still be no way to take on entire armies of Shokan and Centaurs. However, the mortals manage to exploit their hatred for one another, instigating a battle which becomes a vicious war between Shokan and Centaur. The Earth mortals take this time to escape, while they're busy fighting each other - particularly Sheeva versus Motaro.

Reptile is in charge of leading the Saurian army. Liu Kang urges Reptile to understand that his home realm of Zaterra was taken over by Shao Kahn, and destroyed, causing the near-extinction of his race. Reptile refuses to believe this. Liu Kang is a liar, he has been told: a manipulator, willing to make up anything to have his way. Reptile will not be persuaded by his attempts to lead Reptile against Shao Kahn. The Emperor has told him the story of Zaterra: it was a dying world, on the path to death, before Shao Kahn arrived and offered a new chance for hope for life, by joining it together with his own Outworld. The realm has lived on, as a province of Outworld, due to Shao Kahn's noble actions. Liu Kang is able to eventually persuade Reptile to see the truth, and to lead Reptile to lead his own Raptor men against Shao Kahn, hoping to get Zaterra back in the control of its own people. Reptile has become a friend and ally. All the Raptors are led up in arms against Shao Kahn.

S.W.A.T. officer Curtis Stryker takes on undead banshee Sindel near a wrecked bank. He avoids her supersonic scream, and uses tactical riot gear to deal with her. Now the Bride of Shao Kahn is down, and so is Shang Tsung, and even Sheeva and Motaro. Now Shao Kahn arrives, refusing to let go of Earth. Raiden and Shao Kahn fight. Shao Kahn beats the weakened Raiden, and he laughs as he remarks that now he will kill every person until he and Raiden are the last two left standing.

Finally, it's Noob Saibot who fights and stops Shao Kahn. Once Sub-Zero, and now a wraith, Noob Saibot stops Emperor Shao Kahn from keeping his grip on Earth.

Shinnok arrives, and remarks that his son, Shao Kahn, has done well. He was born and raised to kill and to conquer, and he has done that. Now it's time that Shao Kahn's dimensional breaches allow Shinnok's return to the Earth, finally freeing him from millions of years of banishment. Stealing Shao Kahn's essence and power for himself, Shinnok becomes all powerful. Shao Kahn may be a half-mortal, half-Elder God, but Shinnok is pure Elder God. Now that Outworld has been split apart into 9 realms again, Shinnok will own them all.

Shao Kahn has been taken out of power. Quan Chi serves Elder God Shinnok. Near Quan Chi are Noob Saibot, Kia, Jataaka, and Sareena, four wraiths who have pledged themselves to helping Shinnok.

Being that Outworld has been split apart again, Raiden's power is back to normal. However, Shinnok, his father, is far more powerful than a mere Thunder God.

Quan Chi uses the red Gem of Tetsurri to get Earth's warriors to fight each other - Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Sub-Zero, Jax. They take each other out of the picture, leaving Shinnok free to rule, and even to imprison Raiden.

Fujin gathers his own band of warriors against Shinnok. They are Kai, a White Lotus member; Tanya, daughter of an Edenian Ambassador; Jarek, a Black Dragon member; and Reiko, a clone of Shao Kahn with the potential to be good. Fujin, Kai, Tanya, Jarek, and Reiko must go up against Shinnok while Quan Chi is busy with the rest of the Earth warriors.

Goro's Mirror Match shows up, and Tanya goes up against him, eluding his beatings and striking him in the back when she can. Tanya wins against Goro.

Kia, Jataaka, and Sareena arrive, working for Quan Chi and standing ready to fight all the good guys. Jarek fights Jataaka, Kai fights Kia, and Reiko fights Sareena. The good guys seem to be triumphant. Jarek reveals that he is no good guy, but was just putting his evil side on hold for a moment. He makes a getaway, determined to see the Black Dragon live on, even after the death of Kano.

Although Quan Chi has lost his three female wraiths, he still has the loyalty of Noob Saibot, who helped him to bring Shinnok back to the Earth realm. Quan Chi almost has his manipulative way, but Scorpion finally learns that the true killer of his family is really Quan Chi. Scorpion angrily kills Quan Chi, ending his plans to terrorize the world. Scorpion's unsettled business, to avenge his family and clan, is finally resolved. At last, he passes on to the heavens. Noob Saibot returns to the NetherЯealm.

Wind God Fujin leads Kai, Tanya, and Reiko to fight Shinnok and banish him back to the NetherЯealm. Earth's warriors awaken from their hateful trance to learn that Quan Chi's poisonous influence is gone. Edenia is restored, and the Earth warriors find refuge for a short while here, in the perfect realm, knowing that they have ensured the safety of the Earth realm yet again.

Of course, Kia, Jataaka, and Sarena were from MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero. They worked for Quan Chi, and I describe them as three female wraiths serving the Brothers of the Shadow, like Noob Saibot. Here is a very unknown fact: once, in Game Gear's Mortal Kombat II, there was a female ninja, like Kitana, wearing all black. Only in that version, ever. A female Noob Saibot. I thought that was interesting, so I used Sareena as that female wraith character.

And after that, it might be cool to write movie scripts for MK: Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon . . . possibly if I ever get there. At first I had though no, but then I thought of this idea. Check this out.

One movie script for MK: Deadly Alliance, intended to be a realistic yet fantasy-filled fighting game story with Shang Tsung and Quan Chi as villains, ending in a cliffhanger where the Dragon King awakens.

A Shujinko movie script, following his journey from a teenage boy to an old man, when he collects the final of six Kamidogu. Along the way, he would meet the cast and crew of MK characters. Less Nightwolf, less Sub-Zero, less of anyone seen in MK1-4, just the MK Deception characters like Kobra, Li Mei, Hotaru, Havik, and so on. Just them. In the final 20 minutes/pages, after Shujinko's quest is completed, we return to the fighting game movie script of MK: Deadly Alliance, reconnecting to where it left off, and Shujinko joins the others to take on the Dragon King.

Then, an MK: Armageddon movie script, mostly a Taven and Daegon movie. Back to Argus, Delia, and her visions of the end of all things, due to the overuse of kombat energy. As if 100 tournaments involving kombat energy wasn't bad enough, six more adventures outside the tournaments have involved overuse of kombat energy. Taven sets off on an adventure that ends with him fighting Daegon, his own brother, who has killed their own parents. Less use of Motaro, Goro, Sub-Zero, Smoke, anybody from any game except for MK Armageddon's Konquest Mode itself. Shao Kahn's Guards, Raza, the half-human half-lizard species of red dragons, all those things would be there. So, I would turn Konquest Mode into a logical, realistic, fantasy-filled action movie script, focusing only on the things that Konquest Mode added, like Taven fighting the archers. Toward the end of the Armaggedon script, within the last 20 minutes/pages, Daegon tells Taven that he cannot stop the day of onslaught, and they race to find the Kombat Pyramid.

In the final parts of the Armageddon script, the day seen in visions is almost here. A Pyramid rises, with Blaze at the top. All the kombatants - EEEEVER - will rise to the top and fight each other, taking each other out of the picture, and just kind of end it all with that "end". The beginning of 2011 MK, basically, "everyone laying around dead". Possibly, possibly, end the saga with Shao Kahn hitting Raiden on the head with a hammer, we don't see the impact but cut to black.

I don't actually plan on writing out MK: Deadly Alliance, Deception, or Armageddon scripts any time soon, though. So, again, a comic book would be more viable.

Mortal Kombat team, you will be missing out dearly if you fail to have comic books published that I write, remaking Mortal Kombat 1 through 4, preceded by prequel stories, in an Ultimate Marvel kind of re-imagining. You would be REMISS to dismiss this.

Mortal Kombat X

Click here to edit subtitle

One young man's fan fiction: a reboot of the saga of Mortal Kombat, in 7 parts.

E-Mail Sending Form* Required

E-Mail Sending Form
* Required