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 stared in disbelief yet again, as Liu Kang arrived.

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

"Steal his soul? As much as I would like to deny it, the answer is yes...unfortunately...", Liu Kang sadly replied. "He became yet another restless soul who will forever contribute to Shang Tsung's dark power..."

"An unfortunate and terrible fate indeed, Liu Kang...", a tall man suddenly interrupted.

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

"Yeah! Who in the name of the Cage are you?!", Johnny asked.

"My name is not important, Johnny Cage...", the man said. "Meet me at the Warrior's Shrine after the battles have ended. It is there that I shall explain everything", the man said as he walked away.

"What the...", Johnny said, shocked. "We aren't gonna go are we? He could be a serial killer or one of Shang Tsung's assassins for all we know..."

"I don't know... there was something...familiar about him. Perhaps he is one we can trust.", Liu Kang said.

"Come on, you can't actually be considering going!", Johnny said. Ironically, his agent had said these exact same words to him.

However, Liu Kang seemed determined.

"Ugh... Like this tournament isn't dangerous enough already...", Johnny complained.

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Later that day -Warrior's Shrine-

"You came...", the man from before said, while looking at the three warriors walking towards the shrine. The shrine was located high on the island, accessible only by a long staircase. It had a stone floor with a ying-yang symbol in the middle. It had seven stone pedestals on the side, with the one in the center having a statue of Goro, and the other six being empty.

"These empty pedestals will house statues of the six last survivors of this competition, in case you're wondering...", the man said.

"Yeah, yeah, very interesting buddy, but let's cut the chit-chat! Who are you?", Johnny rudely asked.

"Very well, impatient one.", 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.

All three of the warriors stood shocked, without knowing how to respond.

Seeing their shocked reactions, the man smiled and said in a joking tone: "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?"

"Wait... could you be... Feng Lung?", Liu Kang asked with a shocked look on his face.

"Oh, yes, my Chinese name."-Raiden explained-"I prefer Raiden, the japanese one."

"I find the fact that you are a god hard to believe...", Johnny said, still sceptical.

"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?", Liu Kang asked as he tilted his head.

Raiden let out a sigh before he continued :

"The monks didn't tell you everything, now did they?", Raiden concluded.

"What?", a confused Liu Kang asked.

"You know of Shang Tsung's ascension, of Kung Lao's victory and defeat, but even you do not know the details."-Raiden said as he looked to the three warriors-"The Shaolin stopped informing their warriors after their seventh loss, it was useless after all since they all died."-He took a breath-"You do not know the full details of Shang Tsung's takeover. But 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... I've looked into your souls, and you will be part of the six warriors who will decide the outcome of this competition. But not even that is set in stone, and not even I can see past the choices of mortals..."-He finished.

After Raiden had finished his story, all three of the warriors 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.

Johnny and Sonya then turned to Liu Kang, who had been quiet this entire time, until he finally spoke:

"My sifu (teacher/sensei), he said he could not compete because he was an Outworlder...", Liu Kang said quietly.

"Yes, I know about Bo'Rai'Cho... Shang Tsung was once a citizen of Earthrealm, but he sold his soul to the emperor. Goro is an outworlder as well.", Raiden said as he nodded.

"What?! Bro, you can't actually believe this!", Johnny yelled.

"Well... how would you explain Shang Tsung's powers? They are not normal chi-techniques...", Liu Kang said.

"Indeed. The art of Soul Stealing is a forbidden magic taught to Shang Tsung by the emperor until the Elder Gods found out about it. Enraged by this, they cursed Shang Tsung.", Raiden explained.

"Fuck man... first we have to fight for our lives, now we have to fight for the Earth... I'm not getting paid enough...", Johnny complained as he rolled his eyes.

The warriors then heard a gong sound in the distance, every single one of them knowing instantly what it meant.

"It sounds like Mortal Kombat is upon us once again...", Sonya said with a bitter smile.