Mortal Kombat: The Tournament to Save Earthrealm
History
At the very beginning, the was only One Realm of reality. In this realm, all forms of life coexisted. From human, to raptors, to oni, to even mighty dragons. The beings watching over this realm were known as the elder gods. Their purpose was to make sure all aspects of existence were maintained properly. Fearing this One Realm was far too unstable for all these forms of life to exist in harmony, the elder gods created the Kamidogu, gems that could contain enough energy from the One Realm and harness it to create a new realm. With these kamidogu, the elder gods were able to create thousands of realms to house all these different species. They then placed gods in each realm to watch and protect the inhabitants from any outside forces. While wars, plagues, the fall of a fellow elder god, and the natural changes of nature affected the realms, there were long periods of peace and minimal long-term destruction. That was until one immortal's thirst for power grew too large.
For hundreds of thousands of decades, the realm of Outworld had laid waste to neighboring realms of reality. Outworld's Emperor, the immortal Shao Kahn, would invade these realms and merge their kamidogu into Outworld's own, fusing the realms and its inhabitants into Outworld. The unnatural manner in which Kahn and his sorcerers would merge the kamidogu together would morph Outworld from a once beautiful land, into a barren wasteland with unnatural colors and mutating the species caught up in the confusion. But Shao Kahn did not care. Shao Kahn only cared that he had more land to rule and more subjects to oppress.
After the realm of Edenia was absorbed into Outworld, the god of thunder and protector of Earthrealm, Raiden knew Earth would become Shao Kahn's next target and Kahn's army would have no difficulty in conquering it. Raiden pleaded to the elder gods for some way for Earthrealm to stand a chance. Some extra step Kahn would need take before he could invade. The answer the elder gods gave was the Mortal Kombat tournament. The Mortal Kombat tournament forces both the defending realm and invading realm to select the best fighters their realms can gather and pit them against each other until one representative from either realm wins. For Outworld to conquer Earth, Shao Kahn's warriors must succeed ten times in a row. Raiden explained these terms to Shao Kahn, which he reluctantly accepted.
The first tournament went relatively in Earthrealm's favor. Even with all the exotic monsters Outworld could call upon, the fighters of Earthrealm stood strong. Just as Raiden thought Earth was safe, Shao Kahn took note of a strong, yet power hungry fighter from China. Shang Tsung. Shao Kahn took a shine to Shang Tsung's veracious fighting style and merciless nature. The emperor approached Shang Tsung with a deal. Shang Tsung would agree to bound his soul to Outworld, making sure any and all victories he'd achieve in Mortal Kombat would go to Outworld instead of his native realm, in exchange of Shao Kahn teaching him the secrets of soul related sorcery. Shang Tsung accepted, betraying his realm and ensuring victory for Outworld.
As a prize for his victory, Shang Tsung would gain immortality until the next tournament. This gave Shang Tsung all the time he needed to learn the dark arts in Outworld. Shao Kahn watched as Shang Tsung's talents for sorcery quickly surpassed his other magic users. Shang Tsung would learn how to shapeshift, steal and absorb souls, create portals, and shift small aspects of reality around him. As such, Shang Tsung was given the title of Shadow Priest and entered the second tournament even more confident than ever. Except, victory would not come easier for Shao Kahn. An Outworld native named Bo' Rai Cho had grown sick of the emperor's conquests and poor treatment of his people, and decided to dedicate his victories to Earthrealm instead. This caused some panic between Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung as Bo' Rai Cho was a strong fighter despite his alcoholism.
Yet, Shang Tsung came up with a rather simple plan. As Bo' Rai Cho was an Outworld native, he could bound his soul to his home realm without consent. As such, Bo' Rai Cho was forced to forfeit to Shang Tsung, giving Outworld its second consecutive victory. While it was hard to ignore the defeat, Raiden saw hope and potential with Bo' Rai Cho. Raiden invited the drunken master to stay in Earthrealm and help him to form the White Lotus Society, a force comprised of shaolin monks, wizards, and tribesmen with the goal of training the greatest warriors of Earth to protect it from harm.
The next seven tournaments remained in Outworld's favor. Shang Tsung's constant soul stealing allowed him to grow stronger and overcome even the strongest of Earthrealm's forces. It wasn't until the tenth tournament when Raiden's hope was placed in the right person. Bo' Rai Cho's star pupil, Kung Lao, proved to be too much of a match for any of Outworld's forces. Even Shang Tsung's sorcery and martial arts were unable to overwhelm Kung Lao's own martial arts and mastery of his chi. Due to his victory saving Earthrealm from invasion, Kung Lao was given the moniker of the Great Kung Lao.
Shao Kahn was enraged with Shang Tsung's failure, and because Shang Tsung was no longer an immortal, the emperor left the sorcery's age slowly catch up with him. Desperate to regain favor with the emperor, Shang Tsung came up with a plan to ensure Outworld's victory in the next tournament. Shang Tsung would assassinate the monks that acted as the overseers of the tournament and placed himself in charge. Then came the search for a new champion for Outworld. Shang Tsung would find the Shokan, a race of half human, half dragon people in the caves of Outworld. Shang Tsung selected the Mighty Prince of the Shokan, Goro, to act as Outworld's champion. Goro's monstrous strength yet keen mind made him a formidable fighter, and since the Shokan ranked highly in Shao Kahn's favor, he allowed Goro to take part in the next Mortal Kombat tournament.
The next tournament was a disaster for Earthrealm. Shang Tsung's control over the tournament allowed him to easily have most of Earth's fighters assassinated or disqualified for inane reasons. This left the Great Kung Lao as Earthrealm's only hope, but even the master martial artist stood no chance against Goro's might. Goro found Kung Lao to be the only worthy challenger the whole tournament, and gave him the Shokan's traditional warrior's death. Goro claimed victory for Outworld and has remained Mortal Kombat Champion for the next eight tournaments. Shang Tsung was relish in the wealth and souls he acquired while Goro longed for another worthy opponent.
The combination of Goro's might and Shang Tsung's abuse of the rules made victory seem like an impossible dream for the White Lotus. However, Raiden and Bo' Rai Cho held onto hope. They have found two students of the Wu Shi Academy that show promise to stand at the level of the Great Kung Lao. Bo' Rai Cho took the two shaolin monks under his wing and personally trained, something very few could receive. Meanwhile, Raiden had kept his eye open across Earth and spotted fighters with potential to be great assets to Earth's safety. A soldier with fiery determination, a Hollywood action star with untapped potential, a MMA fighter with a family history far more complicated than he could ever know, a kick boxer with abilities with chi even he doesn't understand, and an assassin with abilities considered to be supernatural.
Perhaps these will be Earthrealm's last hope.
I'm sorry if you are all still waiting on my next chapter of my Danganronpa fanfic. I'm just stuck trying to fight the motivation to get to it at the moment. I'M NOT GOING TO DROP IT! It's my most popular fanfic and I want to keep it going, but with the MK 30th Anniversary and just my general love for the series, I felt a need to write this.
I know I haven't even finished my last MK fanfic. I don't if I'll even get back to it, but I like to think that will still serve as the backstory to this tale.
So, this will be another retelling of MK 1, and as much as I'm sure a lot of you guys are sick of that, I do have plans to make things interesting to say the least. Let me know what you guys think in the reviews.