FATALITY

When the stereo boomed out the words of his twin sister's demise, Nicholas Hale jumped off the couch and pointed at her with a triumphant look on his face. "I want you to say my name!"

His sister, Connie Hale, grimaced. "No."

"Say it!" He set his controller aside and pointed at her with both fingers. "Say the name of the person who beat you three times in a row with the same character!"

"You already know you won, so why do you want me to say it so bad?"

"Because I want you to acknowledge your failure in life and inferiority to me."

The seventeen year old female sitting on the couch, grimaced yet again and folded her arms across her chest. This was the exact reason she didn't want to play this game with her brother. The same reason she didn't want to play any video game with her brother. Every time he won, he acted as though he accomplished something important, and since he was naturally good at video games, she had to hear him go on and on about his greatness all the time. And for whatever reason, the boasting of himself up usually came along with putting her down.

While she wanted to regret giving into his persistent begging of her to play with him, she couldn't do so fully. It was the new Mortal Kombat X game, after all. She and her brother were big fans of the series—one of the only interests that the two could bond over. They'd beaten the whole game just two days after buying it. She thought the story mode was amazing and while her favorite character had and always would be Kenshi, she really liked the new characters as well. Nick thoroughly liked it too; he thought the new moves were awesome, and though he had a weird infatuation with Raiden, he appreciated the new characters too.

"The day I'm inferior to you is the day pigs fly."

"Pigs flew when we were born?"

"No, but your teeth are going to fly right out of your mouth if you don't leave me alone."

He grinned, enjoying provoking her wrath. Grabbing his controller, he sat back next to her and poked her cheek. "You know what your problem is? You keep using that blind swordsman as your fallback. I don't understand why you like him so much, he sure as heck doesn't pose a threat to Raiden. You were better off using one of the new characters."

She knew he was goading her, but she couldn't help but to take the bait; his know it all attitude was truly starting to grate at her nerves. "Just because you beat me a few times doesn't mean you're the almighty. I know what I'm doing. Kenshi is one of the best characters."

Nick gasped and put his hand over his heart. "How dare you say those words with your mouth?! Kenshi can't touch Raiden! Nobody can touch Raiden!"

"Your precious Raiden was five seconds from dying when Shinnok was free!"

Nick frowned. "Are you calling me out? It sounds like you're calling me out! I don't appreciate being called out! But if you're calling me out—"

"Oh my gosh, is there an off button on you anywhere?!"

"No…fun fact, I actually know this from experience. When I was younger, I thought there was, but it turned out that wasn't an off button. It was just my—" He was cut off immediately.

"Don't finish that sentence." When he opened his mouth to continue, she gave him a stern look. "I mean it, Nick. Do not finish that sentence. I don't care what it was, I don't want to know. Not now. Not ever."

Using what little common sense he had, Nick decided to let it go. Instead he turned his attention back to the game. "Let's play another round. I'll show you why Raiden is the Thunder god and Kenshi is but a lowly swordsman."

"No, I'm going to bed."

"Bed? It's only two in the morning."

"I love how you say 'only two is the morning' as if that's an early time for people to be going to sleep."

"It's the weekend though."

"Weekend or not, we still have things to do tomorrow." She yawned then. "Not only that, but it's pouring outside and rain makes me sleepy." As if to help prove her point, they could see a flash light up the sky from the window and loud crack of thunder sounded off seconds later

Nick ignored it and started sniffing the air. "You smell that?"

Connie looked at him, slightly confused. "What?"

"That smell…" He sniffed around a little more, getting closer to his sister before stopping. "It smells like chicken!" He jumped back up and started flapping his arms and pecking at the air. "Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!"

Her face dropped the instant she realized he was wasting her time and her nostrils flared. "And you wonder why you have no job, no friends and no girlfriend."

"Wrong! I don't have those things because I don't want them; if I had a job, friends and a girlfriend, I wouldn't have enough time for Mortal Kombat. Bawk! Bawk! Bawk! Oink!"

"…did you just say oink?"

"Old McDonald had a lot of animals on his farm, Connie. Don't be species-ist."

"Why do this universe allow you to exist?"

"Why does the Mortal Kombat universe allow Johnny Cage to exist? That's the real question. At least my being here adds beauty to the world, but Johnny? All he does is give people headaches." He frowned briefly at the thought of the actor; he would sooner take a shock from Raiden than play as Johnny. His sister shook her head and stood up to walk away, but before she could get too far, he grabbed her arm. "Wait, come on. One more round. If you win, I won't ask you to play with me anymore for a whole week."

She started to tell him to forget it, but stopped when she thought about it. "You can't play it at all for a whole week."

He looked reluctant at first, but a confident smile took its place soon after. "Fine, but if I win…you must address me as Raiden's long lost son, Raiden jr."

Connie looked disturbed and genuinely concerned for her brother's mental health for a moment, but shook it off and shrugged. "Deal."

RAIDEN

It took all of ten seconds for Nick to sit down and choose his character. He grinned cockily at his sister. "Kenshi will fail."

Connie sat back down in her spot as well and grabbed her controller. "Who said I was picking Kenshi?"

RAIDEN

Nick looked thrown off for a second. "It doesn't make a difference. If you cannot control my father properly, then it's pointless."

She ignored the way he addressed Raiden. "I'm going to beat you at your own game, Nick."

"Nick? Who's Nick? My name is Raiden jr."

"I want you to think about this moment the next time you ask me why we're not friends on Facebook."

FIGHT

The fight didn't last long; the first two rounds were over in less than four minutes. Connie wasn't used to using Raiden and up against her brother, she went down fairly quick. It was close to being a flawless victory. However, in the second round, Nick was being so cocky that he didn't even bother to look at his health bar. Before he realized it, Connie's Raiden was standing triumphantly over his Raiden's body. He was thoroughly confused by how this happened, but made sure not to underestimate her in the last round.

And it was in that last round that something had changed. Both twins had managed to bring the other's life down to an extremely low point which left them cautious. They stood on the opposite ends of the screen, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"This is the end," Nick mumbled, formulating a plan in his mind.

Connie didn't respond as she was too focused on the situation. She couldn't lose this. She couldn't give him the satisfaction. And she definitely couldn't call him Raiden's long lost son for a week. Taking a chance, she made the first move, jumping toward him and then using Raiden's torpedo move. Almost instinctively, Nick used the same move to counteract it. Just as they hit each other, an actual bolt of lightning struck their TV. It happened in all of seconds and the impact of the strike sent the twins flying back into the wall.

The screen froze on the two Thunder gods as the lightning continued to buzz around the television. It went white for a few seconds and then returned to the character screen. Several of the character slots turned black as if the characters were being erased, and if that wasn't strange enough, a leg came through the TV. Then another leg. And those legs were attached to a body.

The body of Raiden the Thunder god.

"Oh…my…goofy goobers…" Nick rubbed his eyes in disbelief as he stared at his favorite character, who was now standing in his living room.

He hadn't finished processing what happened before he realized the situation wasn't over yet. Kenshi stepped out of the television next, followed by Jax, Erron Black and host of others. It was only when Mileena came through that the lightning and buzzing faded away. Immediately after, the TV and Xbox One set fire. All was silent for what seemed like the longest minute in history before someone finally spoke.

Mileena looked around wearily. "Where is this?"

Somehow, Nick managed to pick himself and his jaw up from the floor. He slowly walked toward the group of characters with his hands up in a surrendering fashion. "We come in peace."

Despite his words, a few characters got into a battle stance. One of those characters was Scorpion; he took out his sword and growled, "Where we are?"

Connie, who was still on the floor and in a state of shock, slowly started crawling toward the house phone that was on their wall. However, nobody seemed to be paying attention to her as they were focused on her brother who still walking toward them.

"No need for hostility. You all are in my living room."

"How did we get here?" Raiden spoke.

When Nick turned to him, his eyes widened and shined as if he was a kid in a candy store. "…daddy?"

"Excuse me?"

Without a thought for his own safety, Nick opened his arms to hug him. "It's me, your son."

Before he could even lay a finger on the Thunder god, he was grabbed, held in the air and shocked with thousands of volts of electricity. When thrown down, every hair on his body was standing up and he looked incredibly dazed. It took him a little longer to force himself to his feet this time and smoke was coming off of him as he rose. He twitched as he spoke in a softer, slightly less zealous voice. "Okay…you're a little confused…I can understand that."

"Um, are you okay?" Jacqui Briggs asked, noticing his erratic twitching.

He turned to her a nodded, trying unsuccessfully to control his random jerks. "Yeah, I'm alright. My heart hurts more than my body."

"Are you sure about that? You're literally smoking."

"That's just a side effect from being so hot. It happens." It was then that he noticed just how much smoke there was. When he realized half of the smoke was coming from his aflame electronic devices, his eyes practically bulged out of his head. "Oh, snap! Water, water, water! Sub-Zero, you're close enough!"

Sub-Zero narrowed his eyes and looked reluctant, but eventually froze the TV and game system, turning them into blocks of ice.

Nick looked relieved. "Thanks. I owe you one."

"Hello? 911? I need help. My video game's characters are standing in the middle of my living room. What do you mean what do I mean? They came through my television and are about to attack us." Connie had grabbed the house phone and called for help. She started off speaking in a low voice, but when it became apparent they didn't believe her, she grew frustrated and louder. "Stop laughing! This isn't a joke and I'm not on drugs! Mortal Kombat characters are going to kill me and my brother!"

Without warning, but with amazing accuracy, Erron Black whipped out his gun and shot the phone in her hands, causing it to break in several pieces. Startled, Connie let out a scream and quickly dove behind the couch. She was only hidden for a few seconds before Kenshi used his power to lift up the couch and move it away. Now revealed, she curled into a ball and shivered with fear.

"Please don't kill me! Please don't kill me!"

"Connie, get up," Nick said as he looked at his sister. "They're not going to kill us."

D'Vorah took out her pincers, threateningly. "This one thinks we should kill them."

A fearful expression came to both twin's faces then. Connie considered making an attempt to run, at least then she'd have died trying. Nick, on the other hand, considered trying to touch Raiden again, at least then he'd have died by the hands of his favorite character. Before either officially decided to go through with it, Jax stepped in.

"Wait, they look just like us; we're probably in Earthrealm."

"But I wasn't in Earthrealm," Erron Black said, his gun still in hand.

"And I wasn't…alive," Mileena noted aloud.

Immediately D'Vorah turned to Mileena and sneered. "Yes, this one took your worthless life a while ago."

She narrowed her eyes. "Well it's time for retribution."

Mileena took her sais out and the two females began to circle each other, growling. Just as Mileena went to make a move, Erron Black stepped up with two guns. He pointed them at both females, his finger on the trigger and ready. "You're both traitors to Kotal Khan and you both deserve to die." Mileena growled again, but stopped moving as did D'Vorah.

Reptile went to stand at his side in support. "Tear them to pieces!"

"Aw, Erron, what did you break them up for? It was about to be a girl fight." Nick looked disappointed, but it changed to nervousness when the gun pointed on D'Vorah was shifted to him instead.

"Shut it and tell me what realm we're in."

"Earthrealm. I can read them," Takeda answered suddenly. "The girl is crying in her thoughts and he is…" He frowned. "He is thinking inappropriate things about Cassie."

Cassie looked taken aback and Johnny frowned causing Nick to glare at Takeda. "Thanks for throwing me under the bus! Do you all not have a guy code?"

"Earth," Connie spoke finally, but in a soft voice.

"What?"

She cleared her throat and with the speed of a handicapped turtle, rose to her feet. "Not Earth Realm, just Earth. There are no realms; this is one planet. You can't leave…"

They all looked confused, some more than others, but Sonya was the first to make a move. She mumbled something under her breath about the whole situation being ridiculous and then, using her special forces technology, proceeded to make a portal to leave. When she walked through it, the portal appeared on the other side of the room and she came right back in. Her eyes widened in surprise as she balked and she tried again. Raiden looked surprised too and he attempted to teleport out, but also, ended up back in the living room. Kenshi took out his sword and held it up to see if his ancestors would reveal anything.

"I told you, you can't leave. It's not going to work."

"But please continue; I can watch this all day."

GET OVER HERE

Without warning, Scorpion shot his spear at Nick, grabbing onto his shirt and yanking him toward him. When Nick's brain caught up with the rest of his body, his eyes practically bulged out of his head.

"What kind of magic is this?! Do you work for Quan Chi?! Bring him to me! I demand you release me this instant!"

"Nick!" A panicked Connie called out.

"It's okay, Connie. We talked about anger management in Health class; I know what I'm doing." He gave the spectre in front of him a sympathetic look. "Scorpion…do you possibly have unresolved mommy issues? Did she not hug you enough as a child?"

Almost like a ragdoll, Nick's body was thrown across the room and hit the wall with a thud. Scorpion took out his sword and started over to him with the intentions of making him confess what magic was binding them there. Before he was able to reach him, Raiden stepped in front of him and signaled for him to stop.

"Stop Scorpion. They are telling the truth about this being not being Earthrealm. This place is much larger and different. I don't know if they're using magic or not, but they don't work for Quan Chi or Shinnok. I can't even reach the elder gods…" Raiden's voice was thick with uncertainty.

"My ancestors are barely picking up anything; I don't think its magic," Kenshi announced.

Scorpion looked unwilling to accept the idea and he growled, but put his sword away. Meanwhile, Connie rushed to her brother's aid and helped him to his feet. Nick looked dazed once again, but he dusted himself off as if there was no problem. With a slight limp in his walk, he went back over to the group.

"Thanks dad—I mean, Raiden. Now that we've got that settled, let me just lay this situation out so that we're all on the same page." He made eye contact with every character. "Connie and I were playing you all's video game. Lightning struck the TV. You all came through the TV. The TV and Xbox exploded. I saw Jacqui in person and I fell for her instantly. I took her on a few dates and married her a few months later. We had four kids. One was named Raiden the third—"

Connie slapped Nick on the arm and shot him a strange look. "Nick, be serious."

"Right. Sorry, I must've been looking into the future."

Jacqui rolled her eyes while Takeda and Jax frowned deeply. Several of them were beginning not to like him.

"What do you mean, we came through your TV?" Sonya demanded.

"And what video game are you talking about?" Jax asked.

"What do you mean, what do I mean? You came through my TV. Do you not remember doing that a few minutes ago?" He turned to Jax. "And your video game. Mortal Kombat. X, to be specific. Don't you remember saying 'cry uncle'? Geez, you guys' memories are terrible."

Jax and everyone else looked clueless as to what he was talking about. Sonya wasn't finished however; she walked over to him. "People don't just walk through televisions. You must've brought us here somehow."

"Sonya, beautiful, I didn't bring you here on purpose…but if I knew how, I can't promise you that I wouldn't do it again."

His response only served to irritate her more and Johnny had to step up and calm her down. Putting his hands on her shoulder, he gave her an understanding yet confident look. "Sonya, it's alright. Don't worry. We'll get back."

"But coming through their TV and video games…?"

"Honestly, it's not that hard to believe they'd make a video game with me in it."

"Yes it is," Nick mumbled under his breath.

After a few seconds, Sonya calmed down. "Alright, fine. Hypothetically everything you said happened…how do we get back home?"

"Well I think we can rule out the TV," Kung Jin said, jutting his thumb as the frozen cube of a television.

"I don't know how we're going to return to our universe," Raiden answered and the pointed at Nick and Connie, "but I do know that we're going to need the help of these two."

Nick grinned." Yeah. Trust me, we're going to do everything in our power to get you guys back home…just not tonight."

"When?" Sub Zero asked.

"Well judging by the fact that my television was struck by lightning…my Xbox exploded…and the new Mortal Kombat game is probably disintegrated…I'd say about a month. Possibly two."

"What?!" they all yelled in unison, including his sister.

Nick turned to Connie. "Well yeah, it's going to take a while. But don't worry, it's going to be awesome."

"Awesome?" Mileena repeated, disgusted. "What part of being stuck here with you is awesome?"

"All of it. I'm not so bad, babe. You'll come to love me…as I already love you." He winked at her.

Connie punched him this time. She couldn't understand why he was so calm with this situation and comfortable enough to flirt with them. "Stop flirting with the females, Nick."

"I can't help myself…but moving on, since we're going to be here for a little while, I suggest we get to know each other. Let's introduce ourselves."

The characters looked to Raiden with pleading eyes, begging for him to do something about this situation. However, the Thunder god could only sigh and look away, disturbed.

"I'm Nicholas Hale, but you can just call me Nick. This is my twin sister Connie Hale, and you can just call her Connie or Con." He thought about it for a moment. "Or Con-artist…or Conster…oh, but I love calling her Conster-pated. And Con-gress or Con-troversial issues will work too—basically anything negative that starts with Con."

"Connie is fine." She glared at him.

"I like to let people know their options." Nick pointed to Scorpion then. "And you are?"

"I am seconds away from standing over your smoldering corpse," the spectre threatened.

"Okay…no need for introductions, after all." Even though he was a good distance from Scorpion, he took an extra step back as a precaution. "It's not like I don't know you all, anyway. Scorpion, Sub Zero, Raiden, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, Kenshi, Takeda Takahashi, Kung Jin, Jacqui Briggs, Cassie Cage, D'Vorah, Mileena, Erron Black and Reptile."

Unsure what to say, no one spoke for a minute.

"Well then…if nobody has anything else to say…we can all just hit the hay, I suppose…"

"Why do we need to hit hay?" Reptile asked.

"We're not actually going to hit hay—I don't think I've ever even seen hay in real life. It's just another way of saying let's go to sleep."

"Sleep here? I don't know this place; I refuse."

"Um, you don't really have a choice. But if you all feel the need to, you can check out your surroundings. Just don't go in the basement; our dog is asleep down there."

Before Nick even finished the sentence, the group dispersed and starting snooping around the area. All left except Raiden, who was standing still, an unhappy look on his face. He let out a heavy sigh. "I don't like this."

"Don't worry about it, Raiden." Nick walked up to him and gave him a reassuring smile. "Everything's going to be fine. Let your long lost son take care of you."

"What?"

"Shhh…right now, you need to sleep…you do sleep, right?"

Raiden looked at him, but didn't respond.

"Doesn't matter. I have the sleeping arrangements all planned out. Cassie, Sonya, Jacqui, Mileena and possibly D'Vorah will stay in my room. You can stay in my parent's room, because it just seems appropriate. And everyone else can find a spot on the couch or grab some floor."

Connie shot him a look and then punched him in the arm again. "Stop being stupid."

"Right. Kenshi can stay in Connie's room."

"…I'm listening."

"I may not know much about this place, but I do know that those sleeping arrangements don't have good intentions backed up behind them," Raiden said.

"They're good intentions…good for me."

"He's right." Connie shook her head. "All of you will sleep out here and we'll bring down some blankets."

Raiden nodded and then went to sit on the couch. "Thank you Nicholas and Conster-pated Hale."

Connie grimaced and then went off to get the blankets as Nick laughed for a minute. "Good one, Raiden. You can just call me Nick though."

Raiden wasn't listening as he was too busy analyzing one of the Xbox One controllers and Mortal Kombat X game case. "…I don't like this."


Alright, the majority of you all said to redo, so that's what I did. It is more work, but it's fun work to me, so I don't really mind. ^_^ Thanks for all those responses and I hope you enjoyed this so far. I cleaned it up, changed a few things and so on. Let me know.