The tournament was now mere days away. The competitors had been selected and would soon be making their way to Shang Tsung's island - Earthrealmers via the Nethership from Honk Kong, and Outworlders via portal from the Emperor's Palace in Outworld. Shang Tsung couldn't help but chuckle as he walked the grounds of his own palace on the island that existed simultaneously in both realms, yet also in neither. How amusing it was for these mortals to compete for the right to face Goro in a fight to the death. Most beings would sooner compete for the right not to face the undefeated Prince of Shokan, and yet the fighters of Earthrealm would soon be racing towards their own premature demise.
Of course, what choice had they, when faced with the alternative: Shao Kahn's long-awaited total victory in Mortal Kombat, their realm besieged, conquered and merged with Outworld until only a fraction of the realm remained intact as a symbol of The Emperor's power. In the face of such a fate, the sorcerer supposed he might have done the same, had he not been wise enough to pledge his allegiance to the Emperor many centuries ago.
Normally, the Elder Gods would never allow such a thing; a warrior competing against their homerealm in the tournament. However, Shang Tsung had discovered a portal to Outworld and pledged his allegiance to Shao Kahn in the early days of the Emperor's bid for Earthrealm. Such an act of treason was unheard of at the time and the Elder Gods had been left with no recourse but to allow the defection. He supposed the Emperor had always shown him such favour out of an amused respect for his incredible feat of stumping the very creators of their reality. And once it became clear just how capable a warrior Shang Tsung was in his initial victorious streak, the Elder Gods had placed that stipulation into the rules to prevent any similar talent poaching between rival realms.
No doubt, they were now regretting this decision. Earthrealm had always been a largely isolationist realm, with the vast majority of its inhabitants being blissfully unaware of their impending doom, of the very existence of other realms. This left them without allies willing to step in to lend aid, and no option to recruit sympathetic Outworlders, such as Master Bo' Rai Cho.
And without such allies, Earthrealm had managed only a single victory thus far - ten tournaments ago, when Kung Lao of the White Lotus Society had defeated Shang Tsung, only to be utterly annihilated the following tournament by Goro, who continued to reign as Champion to this day, while Shang Tsung had taken control of the tournament and its operations. Why the Elder Gods had yet to step in and return command to the Shaolin was anyone's guess. The Elder Gods were known to be inattentive and irresponsible. But regardless of their reasons, the Elder Gods had allowed this state of affairs to come to pass.
The tournament master stepped closer to one of the koi ponds in his palace's surrounding gardens. He crouched down at the edge and produced a small pouch from his ocean blue robe. He opened the pouch and removed a handful of fish food for the multicoloured fish. He had just about emptied his hand of the stuff when a familiar voice reached his ears from across the garden and caused his signature grin to grow wide.
"I am surprised to see you show any kind of compassion for other living things, Sorcerer."
"You have spent far too much time with your beloved mortals, Raiden," the elderly man replied, betraying no sense of offence or disrespect. Only a toneless calm. "Your view of the world has become oversimplified into a woefully incomplete black and white picture with sharp contrasts, rather than nuanced gradients. You think the denizens of Outworld to be all black with no white, which I do believe flies in the very face of the teachings of your own Shaolin. This lack of nuance and understanding of your opponent is why you find yourself in this last, desperate battle to prevent the Emperor's inevitable conquest of Earth. I hope you have your retirement plans in order. Perhaps you and Argus can find a nice beach to relax in in Seido... until it too becomes a part of Outworld." Shang Tsung's grin was on full display over his own perceived wit.
"You speak so confidently of my weaknesses, and yet, that very confidence is your own greatest weakness," Raiden retorted. While the Thunder God held back on adding 'other than your decrepit body', the words he did let loose caused the sorcerer's grin to falter, seemingly transferring its energy to Raiden's own. "Perhaps, you have some underhanded scheme in play that you would rather I and the Elder Gods not become aware of?"
The grin returned as Shang Tsung shook his head and turned fully to face Raiden, though not quite so wide. "Surely, you jest. Why, in the name of the Elder Gods, would I risk breaking the rules at this late juncture? Even without Prince Goro's reign as champion, I would not be so foolish as to defy the Elder Gods and risk Outworld's disqualification."
"So, you would risk facing your emperor's wrath again instead?"
"Well, of course. The Emperor is a vengeful man, one whom it is indescribably unwise to provoke, but I am sure the Elder Gods, in all their power and splendour, could concoct a far worse fate for me than any living being ever could. We all remember the fate that befell Shinnok, after all."
Raiden seemed to consider this, though he clearly wasn't convinced his dark counterpart was speaking the truth. Likewise, neither one of them bought into any respect the other might try to inject into their conversations. They each knew their roles here, and it would be foolish for either of them to actually trust the other; especially at so crucial a juncture as this.
"Either way, the eyes of the gods will be upon you, Shang Tsung," Raiden said, a tone of finality in his voice indicating his intention to depart. "Be sure that your claims prove true, lest you face the wrath of the Elder Gods. I am sure you don't want to see all your hard work amount to nothing. Again." With a slight smirk, and the words hanging in the air between the two, the Thunder God departed to continue his final preparations for what would no doubt be the final clash between their respective realms.
The sorcerer had waited so very long for this day, for his role as overseer to finally end and allow him more time to work on his own schemes, rather than toiling away making preparations for victories Shao Kahn would claim credit for. Once he had regained the Emperor's favour through this final tournament, Shang Tsung could finally be free to pursue his dark experiments back in the Flesh Pits. He was quite close to a major breakthrough, and this tiring Mortal Kombat business was sapping away his precious research time, much like he himself had sapped away Kung Lao's soul.
Imagining the abominations he could concoct once he had regained the Emperor's favour, Shang Tsung's grin grew the widest it had yet grown for the day.
"It has begun."
About two weeks ago, I was reading a Hollywood Reporter Article from a couple years ago about the first MK movie's production. Mention of planned koi ponds inspired the idea of Shang Tsung having koi ponds on his island, leading to a short about him and Raiden bantering in a semi-respectful way. One thing that changed is that Shang Tsung was supposed to have been allowed to join Shao Kahn due to some all-powerful ritual he performed that transcended the Elder Gods' ruling. I felt the direction I went worked better.
