Chapter 1

A month had passed since that battle in China, with only a handful of people to every actually know it took place. One of these individuals who knew of the battle was someone not affiliated with either the Lin Kuei or Shirai Ryu. This individual was Raiden, god of thunder and protector of Earth. The god had two brief encounter the Lin Kuei warrior to discuss how his quest for the map and the Temple of the Elements was far more dangerous than the cyromancer possibly could have imagined. Yet, the two would head their separate ways. Raiden had more important tasks to attend to than follow the foolish assassin.

Teleporting through a bolt of lightning, Raiden arrived at the Wu Shi academy, a shaolin temple closely affiliated with the White Lotus Society. Despite the fact the main temple of the White Lotus Society had been built centuries ago, the stones that formed the foundation and shapes of the buildings had managed to survive the constant changing of the elements and the occasional accidents with chi attacks. The temple even had well-groomed gardens, with the autumn trees still clinging onto their fiery leaves. Raiden took a moment to lean on his wooden staff to watch the leaves flutter in the wind and the children of the temple play games with sticks.

'There is so much to lose,' Raiden thought to himself. The thunder god turned his head forward and walked down to the main courtyard.

There, the thunder god saw the three men he had arrived to meet. The first was an elderly bald shaolin monk with a thin, grey beard holding prayer beads close to himself. He wore the traditional shaolin garb with the mark of the White Lotus stitched above where his heart laid. This man was Master Shen. The second was yet another elderly monk, however he had managed to keep a thicker beard than his compatriot and had fashioned his hair into a long Chinese braid. He wore a dark kung fu button-up jacket with the same White Lotus mark over his heart. This man was Master Wen. The third and final man was a portly man who, despite being older than the other masters, managed to keep his hair dark and long enough to put into a ponytail as well as keeping his beard thick. His uniform was a mix of browns, golds, and dark reds and he wore the logo of the White Lotus on the sash holding his pants up. This man was Master Bo' Rai Cho.

The three was discussing amongst themselves until Master Shen saw the ever-familiar straw hat the thunder god wore. The two others noticed Shen had broken away from their conversation and turned to realize the protector of Earthrealm was in their presence. Both Master Shen and Master Wen bowed their heads towards the god, a sign of respect and worship. Bo' Rai Cho on the other hand, walked past his two fellow teachers and wrapped his arms around the thunder god, hugging him with the strength to crush a bear's spine. Luckily for Raiden, he was far stronger than any bear.

"Raiden!" Bo' Rai Cho said with a golly smile. "It's been too long."

Raiden managed to slip his arm out of Bo' Rai Cho's mighty grip and patted his Outworld ally on the shoulder. "It is good to see you too," he said. As Bo' Rai Cho released his hold, Raiden turned his attention over to Master Shen and Master Wen. "Is everything ready?"

"It is, Lord Raiden," Shen said. "Our two top students are ready for their final test by the arena."

"And thanks to Master Bo' Rai Cho's teachings, I'd dare say they are as skilled as the Great Kung Lao of legend," Master Wen commented.

"Good," Raiden said with a slight sigh of relief. "Then there is still hope."

The four wise masters made their way deeper into the academy and arrived to the back of side of temple where the Wu Shi Academy's arena was. It was a circular lei tai arena, a fighting platform suspended above a deep pit of water, held up by five massive statues of shaolin warriors holding onto the ropes of the platform. In the center of the ring was the logo of the elder gods, the dragon. Hundreds of shaolin masters, students and families had arrived and sat themselves down to spectate the event about to take place. They all turned their attention to the masters as they stopped at the side of a large gong and when they noticed one of these masters was Lord Raiden, all bowed their heads in respect.

"Bring out the fighters," Raiden commanded with a booming yet calm voice.

Master Shen and Master Wen broke away from the group, rounded to opposite sides of the arena and approached their kneeling students. Master Shen's student was a young man in his early twenties. While he wore a usual shaolin uniform with a single sleeve, baggy pants, and prayer beads on his wrist, but the colors were a dark red and black while also having short hair, most likely growing it back after he had not had the chance shave his head for some time. This was Liu Kang. Master Wen's student was another young man in his early twenties. Unlike Liu Kang, he wore a black kung fu jacket with blue kung fu pants while his set of long flowing hair was tied into a traditional Chinese braid, all kept under a wide-brim hat. This was Kung Lao, the descendent of the Great Kung Lao.

Shen and Wen held their hands up and both Liu Kang and Kung Lao rose to their feet. Their respective masters led them to small boats to escort them to the ring before Shen and Wen rowed back and returned to Raiden's side.

"This match will determine which of you will fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament for the honor of Earth," Raiden announced. "The two of you will fight with your hand-to-hand martial arts and chi. No weapons."

Kung Lao rolled his eyes as he removed his hat and placed it to the side.

"Bow to one another," Shen commanded.

Liu Kang pressed his hands together and bowed his head down to his masters and Raiden before turning to do the same for Kung Lao. Kung Lao however didn't abide to Shen's order. He bowed his head down to his masters, but not to Liu Kang.

"Get into position," Wen told his pupils.

Liu Kang stretched his arms out before shifting to a Pao Chui fighting stance. Kung Lao smirked as he shifted himself into his Mantis stance.

Bo' Rai Cho took hold of a drum stick and bashed it against the gong, letting it ring out across the temple grounds. "Begin!"

Liu Kang took his first steps forward, but Kung Lao immediately went on the attack as he dashed forward and attempted a leaping kick at Liu Kang's head. Liu Kang was quick enough to push Kung Lao's leg away, but Liu Kang knew that wouldn't be enough. Kung Lao took to offensive, so Liu Kang had to take the defensive.

Kung Lao immediately regained his footing and spun around with a roundhouse kick which Liu Kang was able to block, but now that Kung Lao was on his feet he could begin his full assault. Kung Lao jabbed his hands towards his fellow Shaolin monk, but he wasn't throwing fists. His hands were outstretched and his fingers straight and stiff. Liu Kang didn't understand why Kung Lao chose that at first. Strikes without properly balling up one's hands could easily break them. Liu Kang attempted to block away these jabs with his elbow, but that's when Kung Lao showed why he striked the way he did. Kung Lao slid his hand around Liu Kang's arm and jabbed his finger under Liu's armpit.

Liu Kang felt a slight flash of pain followed by a numbness in his arm. In fact, his arm actually sagged by his side. A strike to one of his pressure points. That's how Kung Lao was willing to fight. It was smart, to disable his opponent, but it was trouble for Liu Kang. Liu took a step back, but Kung Lao was far too aggressive to escape. Liu Kang did his best to swipe away Kung Lao's hands with his good arm, but even then Kung Lao was able to get a few strikes in. Some of them missed Liu's pressure points while others didn't, leaving Liu Kang with most flashes of pain across his thigh and stomach.

Just to have a chance to create space, Liu Kang kicked Kung Lao in the gut and pushed him back. Liu Kang took a deep breath and stretched his numb arm in an attempt to wake it back up. This did very little to help as Kung Lao kicked Liu Kang at the bottom of his jaw, breaking his concentration, and then immediately kicked Liu Kang's head back down. Liu dropped to his knee and grabbed his head in pain.

Kung Lao smirked down at Liu Kang before turning to the crowd of fellow shaolin and let out a hearty laugh. Most of the shaolin monks gave skeptical looks to the cocky fighter, but the younger watchers in the crowd, particularly Kung Lao's younger cousin, Kung Jin, cheered with joy. Liu Kang slowly let go of his head and turned his attention to Master Shen. With a nod of confidence from his master, Liu Kang waited for Kung Lao to turn around from his gloating, and delivered a swift uppercut to his jaw.

As Kung Lao fell onto his back as Liu Kang rose back up to his feet. Liu Kang rolled his shoulders, breathed through his gut, and stretched his legs out. Finally, the flashing pain and numbness was gone. Liu Kang watched Kung Lao stagger back up to his feet, without only the face of a wounded ego as a sign of any damage. Kung Lao growled as he threw a wild and hasty punch, but Liu Kang blocked it with ease and swept his leg around Kung Lao's before shoving him to the ground once again. Kung Lao growled again and pounded his fist against the mat before standing up once again.

Liu Kang simply planned on punching Kung Lao in the jaw to knock him out, but Liu was surprised when Kung Lao knocked away Liu's fist with his elbow. As Kung Lao rose back up to his feet, he assumed a Wing Chun stance. Both Master Bo' Rai Cho and Master Wen gave curious looks to Kung Lao's choice in style, but Kung Lao smirked with confidence. He lifted his leg up when Liu Kang went to sweep his leg again and managed to catch and lock Liu Kang's arm in place when he went for another punch. With Liu Kang's arm in place, Kung Lao used his elbow to knock him back. Liu Kang was in a slight daze, which Kung Lao took advantage of by sweeping Liu off his legs and onto his back. Before Liu Kang could lift himself up, Kung Lao knelt onto Liu's stomach and launched a barrage of punches at lightning speed.

Liu Kang couldn't get a moment to escape the barrage. Even when Liu Kang attempted to swing his arms up at Kung Lao, Kung Lao would swipe them away without missing a beat with his attacks. Liu Kang groaned in pain and cracked his eye open to look towards Master Shen once again, and once again Master Shen gave his student a nod of encouragement. Liu Kang pushed himself through the pain and managed to slip his fist past Kung Lao's guard and socked him in the nose. Kung Lao leaned back to check if his nose was broken, but that was a horrible mistake. That gave time for Liu Kang to flip up to his feet and shift into a Jeet Kune Do fighting stance. Kung Lao's confidence wavered as he saw Liu Kang enter a new fighting stance as if he had received no damage whatsoever. Kung Lao sighed and returned to his Wing Chun stance.

The two shaolin monks had a standoff, both staring right at each other, looking for any slight movement to prepare to counter. Kung Lao once again took the initiative and ran towards Liu Kang to deliver an elbow to the face, but Liu Kang smacked the elbow away before smacking Kung Lao in the face with the back of his hand. Kung Lao stumbled back, but Liu Kang would not stop. He threw out his own barrage of fists towards Kung Lao's stomach, chest, and face. Kung Lao stumbled back again in a daze and Liu Kang stopped his barrage. He took a step up to Kung Lao, placed his fist an inch away from his chest, then after a few seconds thrusted his fist forward. The sudden burst of energy with the punch caused Kung Lao to go flying back several feet before plopping onto the mat.

Kung Lao grunted as he lifted his head up to watch Liu Kang flick his nose with his thumb. The first sign of arrogance from Liu Kang the whole match and it enraged Kung Lao. He grinded his teeth and stared daggers into Liu Kang. A sudden change in the direction of the wind occurred. During the match, it was gentle and blowing towards the north, but it had shifted violently towards the south where Kung Lao was. The wind spun around the downed Kung Lao until he seemingly sunk through the floor. Liu Kang's eyes widened in confusion as he scanned the area his opponent was at. Suddenly, the wind shifted directions again, back to the north. Before Liu Kang knew it, Kung Lao had teleported behind Liu and kicked him hard in the back.

Liu Kang grunted in pain and spun around to face Kung Lao, but Kung Lao quickly teleported with the wind again. Just as Kung Lao vanished from sight, he appeared behind Liu Kang to punch him in the back. Again, Liu Kang turned around, but Kung Lao disappeared. Again and again, Kung Lao would teleport behind Liu to attack him and disappear again. It was now Liu Kang's turn to become frustrated. The constant attacks from Kung Lao were making him dizzy. Liu Kang looked to Master Shen one final time, and his master gave one final nod of encouragement. With that, Liu Kang knew he could use his chi-based abilities as well. Liu Kang balled his fist up, channeling his energy into it, and when Kung Lao teleported behind him once again, but this time Liu Kang threw his balled-up fist back. His fist was covered by the flames of his chi, while not truly burning Kung Lao, hurt him greater than any of Liu's other punches. Kung Lao stumbled back as Liu Kang finally turned to face him.

Liu Kang balled up both of his fists and arms ingulfed in flames. Kung Lao wiped some sweat from his forehead as he summoned the wind towards him. Liu Kang shot out a fireball towards Kung Lao, but he used the wind around him to create a tornado surrounding him. The fireball landed in the tornado, but was spun around and shot back out at Liu Kang. However, Liu Kang opened up his palms and caught the fire with his bare hands. His fists blazing again, Liu Kang charged at Kung Lao and punched right out of his miniature tornado. Kung Lao was quick to recover and used the wind to lift him up off the ground only a few feet, but it was enough airtime for Kung Lao to deliver a series of three spinning kicks to Liu Kang. Liu Kang stumbled back but was just as quick to recover as he sent fiery chi to his feet and deliver a cartwheel kick to Kung Lao just as he had landed. But before Liu Kang could end this combo with a fiery uppercut, Kung Lao blocked his fist and shoved Liu away.

Kung Lao immediately dashed towards Liu Kang and, with the wind flowing through him, threw out a series of lightning fast punches. However, none of them connected as Liu Kang, fueled by the fire inside him, blocked and parried each of Kung Lao's punches with his own. Neither shaolin couldn't lay a finger on the other. They were in perfect sync with one another. A punch was met with a parry and another punch was blocked. Back and forth the two monks went and neither showed any sign of tiring. If one was to win, it would have to be done outside of their ongoing test of strength. It would need a quick, sudden move. Kung Lao used the wind to suddenly spin around and knock Liu Kang back. As Liu Kang stumbled back, Kung Lao kicked Liu's leg back to send him falling to the ground. Kung Lao jammed his knee against Liu Kang's arm and swung his hand down to chop at Liu's throat while Liu swung his fist up towards Kung Lao's wrist.

Suddenly, Bo' Rai Cho bashed the drum stick against the gong and both Liu Kang and Kung Lao halted their attacks just inches from their foes. "That is enough!" Bo' Rai Cho announced. "The match is now over."

Kung Lao stepped away from Liu Kang held his hand out to his fellow shaolin. Liu Kang graciously took it and was helped up to his feet by Kung Lao. Liu Kang humbly bowed his head down while Kung Lao bowed with a giant smirk across his face.

"The two of you will accompany us with Lord Raiden in the main temple to discuss which of you will fight for us in the tournament," Master Bo' Rai Cho announced.

The two monks bowed to Bo' Rai Cho and made their ways to the sides of the ring where masters Shen and Wen waited for them in their small boats.


Liu Kang and Kung Lao had knelt down in the center of the temple's prayer room. The room could certainly be considered old-fashioned. The only sources of light were from the sun's ray entering the open windows or the lit candles that lined the path to the main alter. Just behind the alter were hand painted portraits. One was of the dragon mark, the symbol of the elder gods. Another was a more detailed painting which showed Raiden leading other gods into battle against demons. Then there were five portraits of legendary warriors the White Lotus had ties with through various Mortal Kombat tournaments. The first was a bald monk with a red headband holding a golden belt with the mark of a dragon in the center while standing over a beaten Shang Tsung. This was a picture of the Great Kung Lao. The second was a Native American woman with face paint over her pure white eyes petting a white wolf. This picture was labeled as "Nightwolf." The third was a Japanese swordsman who welded his sword in its sheath. This was labeled "Sento Takahashi." The fourth picture was of a Scottish knight holding a claymore high above his head. This one was labeled "William MacLeod." The final picture was of another Japanese warrior with long greying hair with a goatee. This one was labeled "Shujinko."

Liu Kang scanned his eyes across all of the legendary warriors that proceeded him while Kung Lao only stared at the portrait of his ancestor. Soon enough, Bo' Rai Cho, Shen, Wen, and Raiden entered the prayer room. Both Liu Kang and Kung Lao turned to their masters and bowed their heads. The four men spoke amongst themselves before turning their attention to the two fighters.

"Both of you showed incredible skill today," Bo' Rai Cho spoke with a soft smile across his face. "You have taken Master Shen and Master Wen's fighting styles as well as my teachings of chi manipulation to make fighting style all your own. I could not be more proud of you than I am now."

"However, only one of you will go to the tournament to fight on Earth's behalf," Master Wen stated. "The other will stay here and prepare for the worst."

Liu Kang and Kung Lao looked towards each other, with Liu Kang having a worried frown across his face while Kung Lao had a confident smirk across his face. When Raiden took a step forward, both monks bowed their heads back down. Raiden stood tall and straight, a symbol of absolute authority over even the two monk's masters. Raiden looked to Kung Lao and then to Liu Kang.

"I have chosen Liu Kang to fight in the tournament," Raiden said.

Both Liu Kang and Kung Lao lifted their heads up and showed looks of confusion to the thunder god.

"F-forgive me, Lord Raiden," Kung Lao spoke up. "But I feel like there must be some mistake."

Raiden sighed lightly and gave a solemn look to the monk. "No, Kung Lao. I have discussed my observations with your masters and concluded Liu Kang is more fit to take part in the Mortal Kombat Tournament."

Kung Lao raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "But that does not make sense. Liu Kang fights well, but I had overwhelmed several times in our match."

"And Liu Kang had managed to have counters for your moves," Master Shen objected. "Even with your wind abilities and your teleports, Liu Kang was able to predict you."

Kung Lao turned to Shen. "But Liu Kang does not have what it takes to fight in this tournament. He doesn't have the killer instinct for Mortal Kombat! I do!"

"You may be more prepared to witness the violence, but you are not ready for a real fight to the death, Kung Lao," Master Wen objected as well. "You are far too arrogant for your own good."

Kung Lao turned to his master. "But…but this is my destiny! It's my family's legacy!"

"I am sorry, Kung Lao," Master Bo' Rai Cho said as he placed his hand on his pupil's shoulder. "But you are not ready yet."

Kung Lao smacked his master's hand away and rose up to his feet. He glared at all of his teachers as he panted heavily. "This is…you've all made a mistake."

Kung Lao then turned to look down at the kneeling Liu Kang. "You're going to doom us all."

With that, Kung Lao stormed out of the temple. Liu Kang, Raiden, and all three masters watched through the window as they saw Kung Lao run towards his parents and Kung Jin. Kung Lao's family had smiles on their faces as they approached him, but Kung Lao glanced back at the temple and shook his head. Kung Lao's parent frown and placed their hands on his shoulders to comfort him while Kung Jin looked as if he was about to cry.

Liu Kang couldn't help but frown at his fellow shaolin's misery. He turned to face Raiden. "Perhaps Kung Lao was right," he said. "I do lack his confidence and I hardly make the first move-"

"Liu Kang," Raiden placed his hand on the shaolin's shoulder, "I had thought this over carefully. I would not have picked you if I did not think you weren't capable of this task. You must have faith in yourself."

Liu Kang took a deep breath and bowed his head. "Thank you, Lord Raiden. You honor me with your praise."

Raiden nodded to Liu Kang before removing his hand from his shoulder. "You should gather your things for the tournament. I've learned from past experiences that it can last for several days."

"Understood, Lord Raiden," Liu Kang bowed his head once again before exiting the temple.

Raiden watched Liu Kang leave his sight before turning to the three teachers. "I will allow you to help Liu Kang prepare for departure. I must seek out the other fighters I have kept my eyes on."

"Ah, so you found fighters on par with our students?" Bo' Rai Cho asked with a smirk while stroking his beard.

"They are all highly skilled in combat, but each of them have untapped potential," Raiden explained.

"Are you sure we can rely on these people?" Master Wen asked. "The outside world has made it a habit to turn people selfish and lazy as of late."

"Even those in that outside world are capable of great things, Master Wen," Raiden responded. "I only hope they can tap into that potential."

"We wish you the best of luck, old friend," Bo' Rai Cho said before leading the other masters to bow to Raiden.

Raiden nodded and raised his staff up into the air. A sudden flash of light illuminated the room with the sound of thunder following behind, then just as suddenly, the room dimmed back to its natural lighting with Raiden nowhere to be seen. Raiden had teleported away to find the rest of Earth's greatest warriors. Bo' Rai Cho, Shen, and Wen were left to pray to the elder gods, hoping that Raiden's faith in these warriors wasn't misplaced.


That took longer than I wished. I'm sensing that will be a theme for all of my work.

Anyways, I wanted to do a lot here. Set up a more concrete reason as to why Liu Kang was chosen over Kung Lao for the tournament which also sets up Kung Lao's jealousy as well as Liu Kang's arc for this story, his lack of confidence. I wanted to give Liu a flaw to overcome for the story without taking away his pure, humble nature. Modern MK has a hard time giving Liu a flaw that isn't just being a villain. I think it will be neat.

I also wanted to fill this section with tons of references to the White Lotus lore while it feeling natural. I feel like I messed up with Kung Jin. I wanted him to be a little kid that idolizes his cousin, but just felt more like a name thrown out of nowhere. I feel ok with how I handled Bo' Rai Cho, Shen, and Wen. I of course gave Bo' Rai Cho the most characterization since he's the most important and interesting of the three.

I like Raiden, but it does seem hard to figure out how else to keep him involved in the story outside of exposition and a mentor role. Him taking part in the tournament is slightly out of character for him, but I'll give him at least 1 fight.

Speaking of fighting, I'm worried about how I handled this fight scene. I don't know if it seems like it dragged too long or if I described it too much or not well enough. I don't know. Let me know what you think.