I don't actually have a Sheeva chapter planned out—I just wanted Shao Khan to interrupt an already scheduled appearance, but I have suggestions for Sonya, Sindel, Nitara, and Kuai Liang. So, I will be writing in that order, and maybe by then I'll have come up with something for Sheeva.

I still do not own the Mortal Kombat franchise.

"And in a related story, 'Norbert' is now the most common male baby name in Outworld, so maybe Shinnok is the biggest evil after all," Syzoth said to the audience's ecstatic laughs. He swiveled his chair to face them dead center, "But in all seriousness we have an amazing guest tonight. She took down Cthulhu, cephalopod leader of the Titans. Let's give it up for Lieutenant Sonya Blade!"

A slender but fit blonde in camo jeans and a sleeveless green jumpsuit shirt walked in to great applause.

Syzoth stood to shake Sonya's hand. She retuned the gesture and took a seat.

"So, Sonya, how are things on Liu Kang's new council of Elder Gods?"

"Oh, they're still trying to decide if my decision to kill the ancient squid god warrants resetting the entire timeline."

"I thought Kronika had already wound things back that far?"

"No, just to the beginning of this universe. The Titans predate the universe, and everyone else on the council believes that Cthulhu was a necessary evil."

"Without him, there is no one to divide the One Being into the six realms,"

"You do know there are more than just six realms, right?"

"Your point?"

"The six kamidogu which keep Norbert from regaining self-awareness are specifically tied to Earthrealm, Netherrealm, Outworld, Edenia, Chaosrealm, and Orderrealm. There are plenty of minor realms that have no kamidogu: Tarkata, for instance."

"Isn't that just part of Outworld?" Sonya asked.

"Not at the beginning of the timeline, any more than Edenia was. Zaterra was originally part of Earthrealm, though."

"Ok," Sonya said, "So there isn't one kamidogu per realm?"

"Not really. They also change from amulets to daggers depending on the timeline. Quan Chi's amulet is sometimes one." He didn't need to specify that he meant Shinnok's amulet. Everyone except Shinnok knew that Quan Chi really pulled the strings in the Netherrealm.

"Ugh, Quan Chi…y'know how much trouble he has caused. If it wasn't for Raiden's counsel, we would've just erased him from the timeline."

"Raiden advised you to leave him intact?"

"Yeah, he was pretty insistent that the Shirai Ryu, Lin Kuei, and revenants would all have radically different lives without him."

"Typical of Raiden to ruin a good idea."

"Apparently, without Quan Chi, Jax would never meet Vera, and Jacqui would just poof out of existence."

Syzoth chuckled and slapped his face.

"And I thought the actor was the dumb one in your relationship?"

"Oh you mean didn't I realize that now that we have the hourglass we could just change how Jax meets Vera? I was the only one to think of that but by then I'd also realized that without Quan Chi, there'd be no checks on Shinnok."

"Hello?" Reptile asked. "Shinnok's an overly emotional idiot that can't even fight. Do you know how much better off we'd all be if he really was the one running the Netherrealm?"

"No, the very fact that he is so pathetic is what makes me scared of him wielding actual power."

"Ah," Syzoth said, considering the possibility Sonya had just raised for himself. He couldn't really speak against it.

"Think about how bad off we would be if we had to depend on my future ex-husband to save the day?"

"It would be sad if all the realms owed their continual existence to Johnny Cage, but I still don't think Shinnok would ever get that far. There's not just Quan Chi to betray him; there's also Devorah."

"The bug lady?" Sonya asked.

"She planned on laying eggs in Shinnok that would hatch once he'd absorbed Earthrealm's Jinsei. Then the Kytinn Hive would've been the unstoppable force from the Netherrealm."

"Ah, but you see there is one timeline where Shinnok succeeds in merging the realms and bringing back Norbert."

"I suppose in an infinite number of timelines it had to happen eventually," Syzoth said while yawning. Shaking his head and rousing himself, he said with vigor, "A juicier topic then. Given that you're merging Cage's more mature self with the younger Hollywood idiot, is there any chance of you getting back with him? For Cassie's sake?"

"We are all Elder Gods now, so Cassie will exist whether I get back with Johnny or not."

"You sound relieved."

"That was future Sonya that was with Cage. I can see myself being friends with a merged past/future Johnny, but that's as far as it goes."

The audience booed.

Must be a lot of Sonya/Johnny shippers in the crowd tonight, Syzoth mused. "I believe your upsetting my studio audience. Far be it from me or them to dictate your personal life, but is there anything you want to say to them?"

Sonya looked at the audience, her eyes cold with military discipline, but betraying a few sparks of determined fire within.

"Yes. Get lives of your own! You know Johnny and future me got divorced."

More boos echoed.

"Come on!" Sonya said. "You know it doesn't work out!"

She was shouting more to be heard than out of anger. Indeed, she was sitting less than five feet away from him, and Syzoth had to strain to hear her over the crowd.

Then…she…. grinned?

"What are you smiling about?"

"Shipping wars, angry fanbases, that's all Johnny's world and he's welcome to it. Drown out my voice all you want and I still don't care."

"Wait a minute," Reptile said, "I'm not a celebrity and I still care what my fanbase thinks about me."

"But Reptile, in Outworld, you are a celebrity. Heck, everyone who's ever been a Kombatant is a celebrity to some degree or another. I just choose not to care about those things," Sonya explained. "I'm first and foremost a soldier doing my duty."

The audience was quiet for a moment, trying to sort through their favorite Kombatant telling them she didn't care what they thought about her, and her stated commitment to professionalism. Disappointment clashed with respect. Finally, a lone Tarkatan rose, extending his arm blade as he lifted his arm into the air.

"Sonya! Sonya! Sonya!" he chanted, and slowly others began to join him. Respect had won.

Reptile looked back to Sonya, "Well done! You've effectively told your fanbase to mind their own business, and they love you for it. You must tell me how you do it."

"This was entirely unplanned," Sonya said. "Just be a professional and these things usually fall into place."

"I'll have to write that down," Syzoth said with complete seriousness.

"Seriously, these tournaments are about preventing Norbert's return, not building fanbases," Sonya said.

"Mostly about stopping the One Being, but there is a little of building fanbases too," Reptile argued.

"I thought finding a female Zaterran and repopulating your species was what mattered most to you."

"It does matter most, but the fanbase matters a bit too."

"How much?"

"Quite a bit ever since I started to regain memories from the original timeline, the one where Onaga possessed me—I was epic back there, and in this one I can't escape being Kotal Kahn's wingman. I admit, having a fanbase has grown in importance to me over the years."

"Yeah and that's why Kombatants like you, Johnny, and Kung Lao always lose."

"Cage did manage to beat Sektor," Reptile said in protest, as beating Shinnok was something anyone could do.

"Please," Sonya said, "Sektor is more obsessed with the fanbase than any other Kombatant!"

Reptile arched his scaly brow.

"Sektor wants an army of brainwashed cyber followers. You can bet they all become Ketchup fans," Sonya said.

"That puts the Cyber Lin Kuei in a whole new perspective, but I suppose it makes sense if you think about it-hey, Cage beat you in the first tournament. What does that say about your theory?"

"There are rare exceptions. I was trying to find Jax, figure out what Kano was up to, I was distracted. That gave Cage an advantage."

"But then there is that other glaring exception—your daughter, Cassie, cares about her fanbase and she never would have made commander if she couldn't beat you?"

"That is neither here nor there," Sonya said.

"But it goes against your theory that being invested in your fanbase makes you lose, unless…" Reptile gasped, "No, you didn't let her win, did you?"

"Different Sonya," Lieutenant Blade said defensively.

"Still counts. You would become her."

"Cassie is talented," Sonya protested.

"…And cares about her fanbase," Reptile muttered.

"In moderation.'

"Which is how much I care, and Cage, who care excessively about his beat both of us, so I think your theory needs some work."

"Maybe, but I'm not going to start dating Johnny just to make the fanbase happy."

"Nor should you. That would actually betray your fanbase image. It's about controlling what fans think of you, not the other way around. If it were, I'd already be paired off with some Earthrealm female who feels sorry for my sympathetic backstory, or with shipped with Kotal by people who don't get it's just a bromance."

"So you put your own goals ahead of your fanbase's?"

"If they don't ship me with Khameleon, they aren't real Reptile fans. Your fanbase has got to get your character."

"Wait, I thought you were trying to repopulate your species and Chameleon is another guy…." Sonya started.

"The other one, with a 'k.'"

"That must be very annoying."

"You have no idea. I didn't know there were two until a few episodes ago, so you can imagine the confusion and numerous jokes I walked right into."

"How could you not know there were two?" Sonya asked.

"Not all Zaterrans know each other. I only heard rumors of there being one other survivor, so I just had a name to go on," Reptile said, shifting the topic, "which is all we have to go on about your nemesis."

"Kano? Reptile, you've worked with him before."

"No, no, the squid titan, Kronika's boss,"

"Ah, Cthulhu. Yeah, giant squid, leader of the Titans, really hates the One Being."

"How could you take him down?"

"It was a group effort. Jax, Jacqui, Liu Kang, Kitanna, Jade, Raiden, Cassie all helped. And Johnny and Kung Lao stayed out of the way."

"But you lead the effort?"

"Of course. As soon as we learned that there were more powerful Titans than Kronika out there I was the first to call for preemptive action."

"What convinced your fellow Elder Gods?"

"The fact that the Titans have been manipulating us all along. All the stuff that happened to the Shirai Ryu, the Mortal Kombat tournaments themselves, our inability to permanently kill Norbert, all of it has been part of the Titan's grand plan."

"How did you know?"

"Scorpion came to see us after a timeline where he beat Kronika. He kept trying to save his family, but a giant ogre titan thing came and fought him when he had almost succeeded."

"Why would the Titans care that much about one particular family?" Syzoth mused aloud, "And how did you learn the squid was their leader?"

"Process of elimination, literally," Sonya said. "We kept defeating Titans and taking their powers until only the oldest and strongest was left."

Syzoth let the lieutenant's words sink in. "So, they are all gone. Only Norbert is left."

"Oh no, they're all still here in most timelines."

"Then why are you wasting time on my talk show? They are probably responsible for my species extinction!"

"There are an infinite number of timelines and the Titans in one can travel into another. Our battle with Cthulhu and Norbert is never going to be over."

"Ah," Reptile felt his heart sink, "That's just depressing."

"Look at it this way," Sonya said, "Life will never get boring."