The scene at the courtyard was the same as yesterday, with the warriors gathered on one side and the monks on the other, with Shang Tsung sitting above the crowd.

This time, however, it was not Sub-Zero who was in the arena, but Liu Kang. The former monk had a rather simple battle uniform, which consisted of black pants with red stripes and a headband on his forehead to help control his long dark hair.

Suddenly, Shang Tsung spoke:

"Warriors! Today I would like all of you to see the power of the representative of the Shaolin, Liu Kang. For the purpose of properly testing his skills, I would like to have a test of strenght or.... might, if you will."-He gestured towards some wood planks set on a stone table in the middle of the arena. After Liu Kang positioned himself behing the table, he spoke again: "Now, Mister Kang... TEST YOUR MIGHT!"

Liu took a deep breath and exhaled, before raising his hand above his head. He closed his eyes to focus and, after he opened them again, brought his hand down with a chop motion, breaking all seven planks in half.

"Outstanding!", Shang Tsung congratulated. After Shang Tsung's guards took the table away from the arena, he gestured to a warrior, who was dressed in a white and black jumpsuit and had a cloth mask covering his face complimented by messy, brown hair , climbing up the stairs-"Now... you will face... Ghouli!"

Both Liu Kang and his opponent assumed their fighting stances, observing eachother carefully.

"FIGHT!", Shang Tsung ordered.

Ghouli quickly rushed towards the former monk, who tried to kick him, but he ducked and countered with a leg sweep, which made Liu Kang fall to the ground. However the Shaolin monk wasted no time, and while laying down, he made a sweep of his own at Ghouli, which made him, in turn, fall. As both warriors got up, they parried eachothers attacks for a while, until Liu Kang landed a backhand, which made Ghouli stumble back.

The former monk then quickly followed up by striking Ghouli with a gut punch and uppercutting him, which sent Ghouli flying in the air for a few seconds until his bum once again got introduced to Mister Ground. Ghouli got up quickly however, and tried to punch Liu Kang, but the long haired warrior blocked the blow, before countering with a punch of his own. Liu Kang then kneed his opponent in the gut and uppercuted him for a second time in quick succession, which made Ghouli defy gravity for a brief moment until it enforced it's laws upon his body and pulled him back to the floor. Slightly infuriated, Ghouli got up and rushed at Liu Kang again, but the former monk decided to end the fight with one of the techniques he learned during his training.

"DRAGON FIRE!", Liu Kang yelled as he raised his leg and cupped his hands together vertically, with his finger tips touching one another. A fireball then shot from the palm of his hands, hitting Ghouli in the chest, and finally knocking the warrior down.

"Well done, Liu Kang! Now....FINISH HIM!", Shang Tsung ordered.

Liu Kang walked up to the warrior, but on his face he had a look of doubt. He made a fist with his hand, paused for a moment, and put his hand back down, before facing Shang Tsung: "NO!"-He yelled with a look of determination on his face-"I could end the life of this fighter... But unlike you, I'm not a murderer! I grant mercy!"

Ghouli quickly got up and thanked the warrior: "...Thank you..."

"That's very noble of you...", Shang Tsung said while smilling. "Unfortunately..."

Right after he said that, one of his guards quickly went behind Ghouli and drove a spear through his chest-"The fights are to death... so is the most important rule of Mortal Kombat...", Shang Tsung said as he smirked.

"Now, thanks to you, this combatant will suffer a fate worse than death ..."-He said, as he raised his hand towards Ghouli, who was on the floor.-"YOUR SOUL IS MINE!"

The dying warrior's body was then covered with green energy, which quickly moved towards Shang Tsung's hand, who absorbed it, while Ghouli's body became more emaciated as more energy was drained out of him. After the deed was done, all that was left in the arena was Liu Kang and a skeleton covered in a thin layer of rotten flesh.

"You are truly rotten to the core...", Liu Kang said with a sad look on his face as left the arena.

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In the crowd, Johnny and Sonya were staring in disbelief yet again.

"Did he just...?", Sonya asked.

"That must be the sorcery Liu Kang mentioned..."-Johnny concluded-"It looks painful..."

"It is an unfortunate and terrible fate indeed, Mister Cage...", a tall man suddenly interrupted.

"What? How do you know my name? Who are you?!", Johnny spoke as he turned around to face this man, surprised at his sudden appearance.

"My name is not important, Johnny Cage...", the man said.

"Yes it is! Identify yourself at once!"-Sonya demanded-"For all we know, you might be one of Shang Tsung's assassins!"

"Very well...", the man spoke. "All around the world and throughout the course of history, I have had many names. The Greeks called me Zeus. The Romans, Jupiter. The Lakota, Haokah. The Japanese, Raiden. You may pick one. All of those names and many more belong to the deity known as the thunder god, all of those and many more belong to me.", the man finished.

The two warriors stood shocked, without knowing how to respond.

Seeing their shocked reactions, the man smiled and said in a jokingly manner: "Talk about being a polyglot, huh?"

"A what?", Johnny asked confused.

"Someone who speaks many languages.", Sonya explained. She then turned to Raiden. "So, first an ice ninja, and now a thunder god?"

"I find the fact that you are a god hard to believe...", Johnny said, still sceptical-" I doubt a god would just speak to a random guy in a martial arts tournament..."

"You have a giant human-dragon hybrid with four arms, a evil sorcerer who can literally suck out your soul and a cool ice ninja, why not a shocking thunder god?", Raiden joked as he shrugged.

"If you are truly a god, prove it!", Johnny challenged. Almost immediately after he spoke, a bolt of electricity shot from the god's finger, lightly shocking Johnny.-"AAAH, What the fuck, dude?!", Johhny yelled.

"Are you convinced now? If you are not, I can show you more...", Raiden teased as he smiled and shot another bolt.

"Okay, okay I get it! Just cut that out already!", Johnny yelled.

"Good, now, on to more important matters."-Raiden said, as he spoke on a more serious tone-"I'm here to inform you."

"Inform us of what?", Sonya asked as he tilted his head.

Raiden let out a sigh before he continued:

"How do I explain this...?"-He paused-"To tell you the story of Mortal Kombat, I have to start from the very beginning..."

Looking up to the sky, Raiden continued :

"Our universe, the one that houses the planet we call Earth, is only one in a sea of many more. Those other universes can be called many things: planes, dimensions, realms, all of them teetering onto one another, all separeted by a thin, magical veil. All of the realms were originally created in perfect balance. There is Shogai, a realm of pure entropy and chaos. And to counter it, Seido, a realm of law and order. There is a realm of war and destruction, Outworld. And to counter it, there was a realm of peace and harmony, Edenia. And hundreds, thousands of more realms all existing in a delicate balance. Shogai, Seido, Outworld, Earthrealm and Edenia. Those are the five great realms. These are the realms that are prophetized to one day help the champion of the Elder Gods bring peace to all of realities."

"But the emperor of Outworld decided to break that order. The current emperor was the overseeing god of Outworld, just as I'm the overseeing one of Earth. He rose to the throne after killing the old ruler. With this newfound power, his first act was to disrupt the cosmic balance. He invaded and conquered Edenia, merging it with his dark realm. Many other realms soon followed. Upset by this, the Elder Gods created a set of rules to allow the realms a chance to defend themselves: Mortal Kombat. Once Mortal Kombat is issued, it happens every fifty years and cannot be refused. For Outworld to be able to conquer a realm, it has to win ten Mortal Kombat tournaments in a row.

"Shang Tsung is the emperor's second in command. After he took control of the Shaolin tournament, Outworld declared Mortal Kombat upon the Earthrealm. Goro has won nine tournaments so far... this one is the tenth..." He finished.

After Raiden had finished his story, both Johnny and Sonya were looking at him with confused expressions on their faces. Suddenly Johnny spoke:

"Dude... That's one of the most awesome stories I have ever heard! Can I use it as a base for my next movie's plot?", he mocked.

"Yes, I have seen a lot of crazy stuff since I arrived, but that is just absurd!", Sonya said.

"Why would a god lie?", Raiden asked, with a very serious expression.

"That doesn't even make sense!"-Johnny complained-"I mean... this tournament has humans fighting humans! Shouldn't it be humans versus outworlders then?!"

"With five hundred years of nothing but victories, Goro is the only fighter the emperor ever needs, sending anymore would be a waste of good soldiers..."-Raiden explained-"The purpose of the bracket is to determine who is Earth's best fighter, the champion then fights Goro..."

"So, that ugly thing only has to fight once, but we have to fight like... ten matches first?"-Johnny continued complaining-"That doesn't seem fair!"

"Of course it's not fair... it's Shang Tsung's tournament!", Raiden sarcastically answered.

"Fellow warriors, please give a warm welcome, because it may very well be his last, for Johnny Cage!", Shang Tsung suddenly called.

"It sounds like it's your turn...", Sonya said with a bitter smile as Liu Kang stepped down.

"Yeah...", Johnny said without his usual confidence as he left