Disclaimer: Sadly I still don't own.

Summary: See chapter one.

All of the warriors had traveled through portals before, but this was a whole new experience all together. As they exited the portal, they all fell to their knees in exhaustion. Liu looked at their surroundings. They seemed to had landed in the middle of some kind of forest. Even though it looked familiar, he still couldn't place it.

"Where are we?" Kenshi asked.

Jade looked around. The horrifying faces of the trees and the groans coming from them were a dead giveaway. "We're in Outworld. The living forest I believe."

"Outworld? Raiden lived in Outworld five thousand years ago?" Liu said in surprise. "This isn't where I thought we would end up."

"Me neither." Kitana said. "I figured we would just go back in Earthrealm's history."

"That's what I was thinking too, but we can talk about that later." Kung Lao said. "We have to find Raiden and fast. We don't know how much time or how much more information Shang Tsung and Quan Chi have on us."

Unknown to them, the two sorcerers were almost as clueless as they were. Even though they were the ones that had to carry out the plan, the fallen Elder God kept most of his knowledge to himself.

"This is foolish!" Quan Chi growled. "He could have easily told us where to find Raiden, instead he's gonna make us search all of Outworld for him!"

"Take it easy. You wouldn't want this to be too easy would you? It's not everyday we get to kill a thunder god and finally get our chance to take over Earthrealm." Shang said.

"That's true. We've waited for this-" The sorcerer stopped in his tracks and began looking around. "Quiet! Don't you hear that?!"

Shang Tsung became silent and listened. "The sounds of fighting. You think the Earthrealm warriors have found him already?"

"I highly doubt it. They probably don't even know about our plan yet. Come on! It's coming from that clearing over there." The two sorcerers ran over to the clearing, hiding behind some trees. The peering into the clearing and saw and man a little over six feet tall with shoulder length silver hair. They realized the noise had been coming from the tree he had been practicing on, and that he was in such deep concentration that he hadn't noticed them yet.

"Could it really be him?" Shang asked.

"His movements are so familiar. There can't be any other explanation." Quan Chi smirked, "We just found our target. Now stay quiet and we'll corner him. Since he's supposedly human now, he should hardly be a challenge."

They spread out, both of them going opposite ends of the clearing, effectively trapping the oblivious Raiden between them. Shang nodded at Quan Chi, who then made the motions to send a flaming skull at Raiden, just as Shang was about to hit him with a fireball. They fired their projectiles at the same time and both were heading at high speed for the same spot Raiden stood, but instead of hitting the mortal, both of their blasts completely demolished one of the trees.

"What the hell?!" Shang shouted.

"Where did he go? I didn't even see him move!"

As Quan Chi looked around, he was struck hard from behind. He staggered forward and turned back found Raiden, spinning his staff skillfully. "Who are you two? What do you want with me?!" He commanded.

Before he received an answer, Raiden was knocked forward by a kick to his back. He jabbed his staff backward and heard a grunt, knowing he had struck one of them. When he went to pull his staff back, Shang grabbed onto it and used it as leverage to pull him back and punched him in the jaw twice, knocking him off balance and making him lose his staff.

Shang threw the staff to the side and slipped back into his fighting stance. "Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way." He said before charging at him, fist raised. Raiden dodged the hit, but was instantly slammed into a tree by kick from Quan Chi. Slightly dazed, he jumped out of the way right when Quan Chi's fist struck the exact spot his head was, leaving a deep impression in the tree.

Shang came at him next, each of his moves quick and unpredictable. Raiden stayed on the defensive until finally saw an opening. He grabbed Shang's wrist and kicked him once in the stomach before giving him a powerful roundhouse kick to the head, dazing him. He refused to let up, hitting Shang with a strong uppercut that knocked him to the ground. Raiden smirked, "Is that all you got?"

He heard Shang growl before he was once more slammed into a tree, but this time he couldn't force any of his limbs to move. He struggled to get free and glared at Shang as he walked over to him, smirking evilly. "Let's kill him now! I've had enough of this."

Quan Chi stood back a few feet as he gathered his energy, he was gonna make sure he didn't miss this time. As the flaming skull flew towards Raiden, he smirked as well. Why wouldn't he? Everything, for once, was going according to plan. Raiden continued to struggle as the skull grew closer. There had to be something he could do, but Shang's hold was too strong on him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see something that looked like a ball of ice coming toward him, which ended up colliding with the skull and destroying it. The other man that had held him to the tree, suddenly began to glow blue as he was mysteriously raised into the air and thrown across the forest. He looked around and saw another group had joined them and they were the ones that had seemingly saved his life. He stealthily grabbed his staff and prepared for another fight, as he watched the two groups face off.

"I bet you weren't expecting to see us!" Jade shouted. "Did you really think we would let you get to Raiden so easily?"

"You just got lucky this time! There's no way we'll be letting either one of you escape from this time alive!" Quan Chi shouted.

Kung Lao scoffed. "Don't count on it. We've beat you before and we won't have any problems doing it again."

"If you're that eager to die monk, I'll be happy to send you to the afterlife!" As Quan Chi made a move towards them, an arm shot out in front of him.

"Now is not the time. We need to regroup." Shang whispered harshly. Quan Chi shot the Earthrealm fighters one final glare before the two of them disappeared.

"Well at least we know where they are." Sonya said. "Now we have to keep an eye on Raiden." The group turned and saw the future thunder god staring at them in confusion and apprehension. Liu had already begun walking towards him.

"Your name is Raiden. Isn't it?" He asked.

Raiden took a few steps back. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"I'll explain later after we get out of this forest."

"I guess I should repay you for helping me. You know who those two men were that attacked me?"

Liu nodded. "Yes, I do. That's why we need to go. We'll be able to explain more once we get you out of here."

"Fine. Grab your friends and follow me and stay close. I don't need all of you getting lost in here." Liu motioned to the rest of the group and they began to follow Raiden out of the forest. They took note of everything they passed. The sorcerers could have been hiding anywhere.

Raiden led them through a small village and they all tried not notice how the villagers cowered in fear when Raiden walked passed. He led them through a courtyard where there were a two lines of guards int the courtyard, each armed with spear. Finally he stopped in front of two large wooden doors. "Well here we are. You wanted some place safe to talk, didn't you?"

"Where exactly have you brought us?" Sub-Zero asked curiously.

"Home. This is my father's castle." The castle was completely made of stone and looked like it was something out of medieval times. There was another smaller courtyard on the side of the castle where there was another group of guards were standing. Fashioned on the walls were carvings of dragons, that seemed to stare at them so closely that it might be thought they were alive.

"Y-you live here Raiden?" Sonya asked in shock.

"Yes. Is there some sort of problem with that?"

Sonya shook her head. "No. Not at all. I was just a bit surprised."

"Alright. Well come in. We can can talk inside." Raiden pulled opened the doors and the fighters came face to face with two people they were most surprised to see. Shao Kahn and Shinnok stood in front them, standing silently as if they had been waiting for them. Raiden bowed slightly to both of them. "Father. Brother." he said coolly.

"Raiden." Shinnok said with just as little emotion. "I see you've brought some guests back with you. Who are they?"

"I met them while I was training in the living forest. It seems that they had gotten lost and heard me practicing, so I brought back them back with me. That isn't a problem, is it father?"

Shinnok remained silent before giving a slight nod. "It's fine. Now if you'll excuse us. We have some business to attend to. I'll guess I'll be seeing all of you this evening then. Raiden will show you around. Let's go Kahn." With that, father and son walked off, leaving the group in the hall.

"That was tense." Jax muttered.

"No." Raiden said. "That's what I call normal. Now that they're gone, I do believe its time to talk. I don't even know your names. Who exactly are you?"

Liu spoke up first and introduced himself and then the others. "My name Liu Kang, and these are my friends, Sub-Zero, Kitana, Kenshi, Jade, Kung Lao, Jax, and Sonya."

"And I assume you know the two men that attacked me?"

"Yes. They were two very powerful and very evil sorcerers. We've had problems with them in the past."

Raiden nodded. "I see. Well after what happened I'm sure you would like some time to rest up. " He led them down a corridor to another set of heavy double doors and opened them to reveal what seemed to be a library. "People rarely come in here, so I know you won't be bothered. I will be back for you this evening, so please stay here. The guards tend to kill strangers on sight." The doors slammed with a loud bang as Raiden shut them, letting the fighters breathe in a sigh of relief.

Kung Lao sighed. "Liu are you sure what you did was wise? Giving him our names like that?"

"None of them would know us. We're five thousand years in the past. I'm not even sure if our ancestor Kung Lao has is even alive yet."

"That keeps most of us out of danger, but what about Jade and Kitana? We don't know about what Shinnok and Kahn are up to at this time. They could already know about Edenia."

"I don't think so." Kitana said. "When Kahn took over Edenia, Shinnok was out of the picture and he was already emperor. None of that seems to have happened yet."

"Well our identities are safe for now, but along with Shang and Quan Chi we have to worry about Kahn and Shinnok." Kenshi said. "We don't know much about them during this time, and it already seems like they're plotting against Raiden. Something didn't seem right between them back there."

"Obviously. We'll keep an eye out for them." Sub-Zero said. "We have to focus on the deadly alliance right now."

Th doors suddenly opened once again, startling the fighters out of their conversation. Raiden stood in the doorway, as stoic and serious as he looked in the present. "My father has requested your presence at dinner. He seems to be quite curious about all of you." He stepped out of the doorway and a guard appeared. "He will take you to the dining hall."

As the eight warriors walked passed him, Raiden caught on to Liu's arm and pulled him back. "I would like to speak to you for a moment." He gestured to the guard who then began shuffling the others down the hall. "In private if you don't mind."

"Is there a problem?"

"No. Not at all." Raiden glanced out in the hall and made sure it was clear before continuing. "It's just...I need a favor from you."

Liu raised quirked a brow at this. Raiden needing a favor from him? Something didn't seem right about that. "What is it?"

Raiden glanced out of the room again and stared at Liu intently. "I need you to help with my training."

"Training? What kind of training?"

Raiden saw another guard pass by and grabbed Liu's arm and began pulling him down the hall. "I'll explain it to you a bit later. My father is expecting us and he doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Liu followed him in silence. He was still in surprise about what he had seen in Raiden's past so far, but he knew with their luck, it was only bound to get worse.