She was bored.

And when an Elder God is bored, no good would certainly come out of it.

Azriel sat in Corliss' chair, monitoring the island while Corliss left to go get some more snacks from one of the shops. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy it, Azriel was more bothered by the fact that Corliss was taking forever . And she just wanted something fun to do while this timeline reboot was going on.

"Hurry up already…" she grumbles, watching as everyone was gathering back at the courtyard for some more fights, with the exception of Sonya, which Azriel didn't seem to notice. Rei was with Raiden and Liu Kang again, stretching a bit. And judging from the two mens' reactions, she had popped something rather loudly. She chuckles.

"Love that he hasn't decided to be a little curious…" She muses while watching Raiden. Either he noticed and was celibate, he noticed and was being polite and not saying anything, or he was just too damn oblivious. Johnny for a fact must have noticed it, or else he wouldn't have tried to hit on her. While Azriel did recall Rei's last fling with someone with a similar personality, she knew Rei wasn't interested in him at all. Speaking of curiosity, an idea popped into her head, making the Elder God perk up. She looks over at the portal, then at the monitor, a smirk on her face.

"Hmm... "

It wouldn't be too harmful for her to have some fun too.

(30 minutes later…)

"Hey Azriel, sorry I took so long, was talking with General Ori-" Corliss was cut off by the sight of an unguarded monitor, an activated portal, and a sticky note on the screen of said monitor. She sets the bags of snacks and drinks on a table taking her seat back while pulling the sticky note off the monitor, reading it.

I couldn't possible let Rei have all the fun, now could I? So I decided to hop in~

- With Love, your Elder God Azriel.

P.S. I saw what you've bookmarked on your computer. You are lucky General Orion has a sense of humor.

"Oh no…" Corliss looks to be panicking, swapping through the various monitors to try and locate the Elder God, "D-Dammit, Azriel! You could be endangering the timeline with your presence!" She soon found her on the beach area of the island, a shovel in hand and letting the salty breeze of the sea hitting her.

"Azriel, the hell are you doing?!" She says into a mic. Azriel grins.

"About to have a little fun. Is there a problem?"

"Yes, there's a problem! You being in this reboot can potentially endanger it!"

"Lissy, I'm responsible for all magic in the realms. If anything goes wrong, I'll just blow it up."

"That logic doesn't apply everywhere! You did that to the realm of Uekyuu and wiped out the entire Shinigami race!"

"Their fault for thinking I was joking. And it was totally worth seeing Izanagi that pissed."

"Ugh.. times like this make me miss Azael… he kept your tendencies in check." Corliss slouched in her seat, frowning. Azriel just chuckles before she started digging a hole.

"Exactly. I have little impulse control. That's why I have you~"

"Just… please don't blow up anything."

"No promises."

Something felt off. Very off. Raiden just couldn't figure out what it was while the fight between two kombatants whose names he didn't bother remembering took place. Rei was yawning in boredom, pouting a bit.

"Fights back home were much more entertaining and full of energy. There's none of that here." she says.

"These fights aren't meant to be entertaining…" Raiden trails off, unable to shake the feeling that there was a powerful presence on the island somewhere. One greater than his or Rei's, though in Rei's case, he could sense it was weakened. Perhaps her powers were limited here due to not being her home realm? "...do you sense something strange?"

She blinks. "...now that you mentioned it, I do." She looks around, "Should we be concerned?"

"I would be." He frowns, looking around. Rei stops him before he could walk away.

"I'll go look. You stay here." She offers, "Someone's gotta keep an eye Shemp Trash."

Liu Kang stifles a chuckle at that, Raiden nodding, watching her leave the courtyard. It's a few minutes before Liu Kang speaks.

"I'm calling him that from now on." He says with a smirk, Raiden just sighs, shaking his head.

Outside the courtyard, Rei was looking around, the guards still wary of her. The three that she kicked in the groins backed away when she came near, not wanting another kick to the family jewels. She recognized one as Kung Lao due to him not moving away or having his weapon drawn at her, to which she just gave a faint nod as she passed him by.

"Um… Rei?" Corliss' voice says, Rei perking up, waiting until she was far enough from the guards to speak.

"What is it? Did Mom blow something up again? Or did General Orion land a god-tier Lucksman shot again and wasn't gonna tell me about it?" she asks, still looking around.

"No, it's worse than that, and he had video proof of it this time. I'll send it to you after this is done."

"At least he proofed it for once…."

"Rei, I'm not going to sugar coat it…" Corliss says before telling her what was going on.

The resulting scream of terror could be heard throughout the island, some birds flying out of trees and startling everyone at the courtyard, Raiden included, the Thunder God losing his composure for a second.

"That sounded like your new lady friend, Lord Raiden." Liu Kang smirks, Raiden glaring at him.

"Do you wish to feel my judgement?"

"Nope."

"Then silence."

Deep underground, in a prison dungeon filled with rotting corpses, some hanging on meat hooks, Sonya walks in, looking around for something. While she wasn't really unnerved by all that, the smell was just unbearable.

"Jax, Jax, are you in here?" She calls out, hoping that they were here. She peeks into a few of the cells, not seeing anything. She looks over to see the man in question leaning against the bars of his cell, gripping it weakly. He looked like he had gotten the hell beat out of him twice before one more time for good measure. Sonya gasps, running over.

"Oh my god, what did they do to you?!" She asks.

Jax shook his head, looking to be in a lot of pain. "Run, girl…. Run…" he tells her. Sonya doesn't heed it, grabbing at the bars to see if she could do something to free him, not noticing Shang Tsung entering the prison, two guards flanking him.

"Miss Blade! You do not disappoint. I have been expecting you."

Sonya turns around to face him, looking pissed. "Let him go! We're not part of your tournament!"

"On the contrary, you are very much a Kontestant." He corrects, looking smug, "You will face Sub-Zero, of the Lin Kuei clan of assassins."

As he said that, an ice statue formed out of nowhere in the shape of a man before shattering, the Chinese warrior emerging from it. Sonya gets ready to fight, looking angry.

"Now, you feel death's cold embrace…." he threatened before the fight started. Shang watches with amusement before remembering that there's an Asali running around that was potentially planning something. Turning to his two guards, he gives them a serious look.

"Find that Asali. Find her and keep a close eye on her. I do not believe for a minute that she is here to merely spectate the tournament. She isn't to be trusted."

"Yes sir." One guard says, heading out. The other starts to follow him, but seems to be a bit slower in walking. Shang notices, but says nothing.

"I swear she was at the beach earlier."

"She's not here, Corliss!"

Corliss' heavy sigh was heard as Rei walks along the beach again. She was carrying her heels again, looking around to see if she could find Azriel. Rei really hated when Azriel made these kinds of decisions. They usually resulted in things blowing up, some unholy abomination getting created, or some unholy abomination getting created, then getting blown up either by Azriel's hand once she saw the eldritch abomination she created or by Rei and her friends out of sheer terror of what it could do.

"Are you sure she's even in this world at all? She usually makes some sort of grandeur appearance." Rei says, taking a break to look around again.

"She's definitely there, but due to her status, I can't track her reliably."

The Asai groans in annoyance, frowning. Before she says anything, she sees something up ahead.

Up ahead was a shovel popping in and out of the ground, shoveling away sand and digging a hole. "I… think I found her." Rei says, running towards it.

In said hole was Azriel, singing some sort song as she was digging away. "Too late to run, too late to hide~ There is no escape when she's hunting you, and she's hunting you tonight~"

"MOM!" Rei yells as she arrives, standing before the hole that was already as deep as her mother was tall, which was about 10 ft, "What are you doing here?!"

"Oh, hello sweetie! I'm digging a hole, what does it look like?" Azriel answers calmly with a serene smile, Rei groaning in frustration.

"You didn't just come here to dig a hole, I know better than that." She says, tapping her foot on the ground, "You've come to do something, and that something most likely isn't good."

"Oh, you can read me like a book!" Azriel chuckles, stopping to turn to her, "I got bored, so I decided to join in on your little escapade! And by join in, I mean screw with Outworld and maybe bomb Arnyek while I'm at it with glitter bombs. Glitter is Lucifer's Dust after all."

"I'm more surprised you haven't caused the other Elder Gods to go into a tizzy yet." Rei sits on the edge of the hole, watching her mother continue to dig. Azriel was extremely unpredictable sometimes, and Rei really wished she could see what went on in her mother's mind. Then again, after what her brother saw, Rei would always have second thoughts about it.

"Let them get mad, they won't do anything." Azriel sneers, stopping her digging, "They're lazy. They've always been lazy ever since what befell Shinnok. And even if they did, what are they gonna do? Banish me to the Netherrealm? I got my own realm, I'll just stay there."

"I haven't seen the Elder Gods do a competent thing in my entire life. And I was alive at the tail end of the war, albeit I was still a kid." said Corliss as she threw her two cents in. The sound of a can cracking open is heard.

"Lissy, can me." Azriel orders. A energy drink falls out of the sky, Azriel cracking it open herself.

Rei just looks at how deep the hole is already. "...how deep are you making this pitfall?"

"Deep enough."

"Okay then…"

"Make it at least 20 ft to ensure that no one gets out of it."

"Duly noted."

"You both are nuts…" Rei shook her head with a giggle. Azriel just grins, chugging the entire drink in one go, crushing the can in her hand until it was nothing but a tiny metal ball, and with a loud "YEET", throws it in the direction of the courtyard before resuming her digging. Rei just blinks.

"...I oughta get back before they notice I'm gone this long. I already have a feeling Shit Truck's catching on." Rei says, getting up. "Be careful, Mom."

"Careful's my middle name." Azriel beams, "Oh wait… I don't have a middle name!"

"Was gonna say I thought your middle name was Danger, cause that's all you cause when you are not on the throne." Corliss adds, Rei giggling as she starts walking away.

"Say hi to Raiden for me!" Azriel yells after her, Rei giving a thumbs up.

The fight was long, hard, and a little too cold for Sonya's comfort, but she finally had the cryomancer out cold on the floor. Shang Tsung didn't look impressed at all, simply watching her with a look of disdain.

"Done! We're leaving!" Sonya commands, going over to get Jax out of his cell. Shang Tsung moves to stop her, heading her direction. But both were cut off by a flash of lightning, Raiden appearing before her. He had a small wound on his head that he was rubbing, looking very annoyed. In his other hand was a tiny metal ball. Sonya wasn't having it despite being a little concerned.

"Stand in my way and I'll kick your a-"

"A challenge?" Shang Tsung cut her off. Just as that was said, Raiden suddenly gasped. In his mind was a flashback of Liu Kang defeating Shang Tsung with a flying kick. He then got between the two with haste.

"No. You will not be the one to challenge Shang Tsung." He told Sonya. Unfortunately, she saw it as Raiden trying to protect the sorcerer and took a fighting stance once more.

"You want some too? Fine by me!" She spoke before promptly punching the Thunder God in the face, Raiden growling in pain as it just made his head hurt even more. First the metal ball out of nowhere, now this? Now he was pissed.

"Do NOT provoke a God!" He proclaims before they start a fight. Shang Tsung makes the right decision and steps back, watching the fight go on. He felt like he should mention that Raiden shouldn't even be fighting any of the competitors at all due to the rules, but at the same time, he was directly challenged when Sonya punched him in the face, and Shang Tsung was one to see his opposition tear at each other's throats from the inside. So the sorcerer just quietly watched.

"She's always doing this…." Jax sighs from his cell, looking very annoyed that Sonya's temper got the best of her again. He just wanted out of here and needed an e-vac pronto.

Nothing but the sounds of metal clanging and lightning crackling was heard for a good while. During that time, the one guard who walked slowly had returned, pulling his sleeve over a peculiar arm guard with a dragon it. Shang Tsung didn't even know he was there until he spoke.

"Sir, no sign of the Asali yet." The guard says, his voice sounding a bit odd. Shang Tsung doesn't question it. He never really kept track of the guards.

"She'll pop back up eventually." Shang Tsung says right as a loud "thud" was heard, followed by the ground shaking a bit as a result.

"Geez, how much do you weigh?" Sonya pants, looking at the downed Raiden, the Thunder God looking incredibly offended, "I could feel that collision…"

"That is NONE of your concern!" Raiden looks ready to shock her again, but he's grabbed by the shirt collar.

"Enough of this, I got more important things to take care of." Sonya drew her fist back, ready to punch him unconscious. However, Raiden saw it as a perfect opportunity for Sonya to get Jax out.

"Shield your eyes."

"...what?"

"Shield your eyes." Raiden repeated, his eyes crackling with electricity. A blinding flash envelopes the surrounding area, Sonya managing to get an arm in front of her face in time. The others weren't so lucky as they were blinded by the flash. The one strange guard wasn't fazed, getting out of there quickly. With them blinded, the blonde went over and destroyed the bars on Jax's cell with her wave energy blast. She got him out and supported him the best she could.

"Jax, come on! We're outta here!" She told the man.

"'Bout time…" Jax weakly answered as they left. Raiden soon picked himself up, watching as the the lone masked guard went after the two. Shang Tsung looked over at Raiden.

"You aided their escape." he says to the Thunder God.

"You allowed them to escape." Raiden corrects the sorcerer, Shang Tsung just rolls his eyes.

"They will not get far…" He assured before leaving. Once he was gone, Raiden just groans, clutching his head in pain.

"Why must Gods suffer the punishment that is headaches?"

It was now evening time as Sonya struggled to keep Jax moving. The older man looked ready to pass out at any second. "Come on Jax! Move it! That's an order!" She ordered, earning a weak chuckle from said man.

"Oh… so you're in charge now?" He asked. Sonya didn't answer as she spoke into her wrist communicator.

"Special Forces Command, this is Sonya Blade! Where's that evac?"

"Blade, they are en route… coming to you shortly…"

"Affirmative!" She looked at Jax, "Almost home, soldier." Sonya assures. Jax looks relieved, but it's short lived as they hear footsteps approaching them. Turning, they saw Kitana and Jade strutting their way towards them, looking like they owned the place.

"By the order of Shang Tsung, no one leaves this island." Kitana says with authority.

"I don't have time for this!" Sonya says, her patience wearing very thin, "Outta my way!"

Jax was going to help her fight Kitana, but decides against it, just sitting back to watch. Rei comes out from the forest, nearly getting her head cleaved by one of Kitana's fans.

"That's one way to welcome me back…" she frowns, dodging the fighting to go meet Jax, "Also, hello new person~"

"The hell are you?" Jax says, looking at her, "You one of them?"

"Do I look like one of them?" Rei deadpans, pointing at herself, "I dress a little more modest than they do, pal! And hello, my skin's whiter than snow and I got frickin' elf ears!"

"You call that outfit modest?" Jax jokes, Rei huffing and stomping the ground. She could hear Corliss laughing her ass off, but wasn't able to do a thing about it, lest she blow her cover.

"Screw you too." She sits next to him, watching the fight, "What happened to you? You look like you got clobbered with a meat hammer. Repeatedly."

"Heh… that's what it felt like." Jax starts to explain what happened to him, the two occasionally dodging stray projectiles and bullets. Rei listens carefully while making sure nothing hit either of them. By the time Jax got done telling his story, Sonya had Kitana and Jade down on the ground.

"Sure don't need anymore surprises like them." Sonya goes over to check on Jax. She sees Rei, but doesn't comment on it too much.

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine."

"Liar. After I get you back to the base, I'm coming back. Kano's still on this island somewhere."

"Your obsession with him is gonna get you killed."

"...I trusted him."

"We all did."

"Yoooo, Romeo and Juliet, your ride's here." Rei cut in, pointing to the sky.

Sonya looks very happy, waving her arms to get the pilots' attention. However, a giant fireball out of nowhere shoots it down, the three gasping in horror. Rei looks to see Shang Tsung walking toward them, hand still on fire. Flanking him was Kano, who was messing with his knives.

"For once in your life, Sour Tart, can you like, fucking STOP." Rei complains. Shang Tsung ignores her.

"Damn you!" Sonya growls.

"You have a challenger." Shang Tsung says, "Kano."

Kano steps forward, a wicked grin on his face. Rei helps Jax away to a safer distance while Sonya looks extremely done with the world.

"Pretty boy ain't gonna save you now!" Kano declares, getting the first hit in.

"So that's Kano?" Rei asks Jax once they were at a safe distance.

"Yeah… leader of the Black Dragon." He confirms, "We were originally trying to track the leader so we can put a stop to their black market dealings and all that, and Kano posed as an informant to throw us off the trail… lost a lot of good people as a result."

"What a snake…" Rei growls, "People like him would get skinned alive in my realm."

"You speaking metaphorically or literally…?" asked Jax, looking at her with concern. Rei just shrugs.

"Little of both to be honest. Depends on Mom's mood."

"Wait, what?" Jax says, even more concerned. The sound of Kano's pained yell made them both look Sonya's way, the woman having defeated Kano. She looked exhausted.

"You're coming with me…" she pants, walking over to the downed man. Shang Tsung stops her in her tracks via a fireball in her path.

"Kano is not your prisoner." He says, oddly calm.

"Neither is Jax, asshat!" Rei shouts.

"At least help Jax! He needs a medic!" Sonya demands.

Shang Tsung just laughs, Kitana and Jade, having recovered, helping Kano up. The group walks away. Rei looks angry.

"Get your pansy butts back here, ya cowards!" She yells at them, "Don't you ignore me! I'm the daughter of-"

"There she is!"

Johnny, Raiden, and Liu Kang emerge from somewhere, Johnny looking relieved.

"Sonya! You all right?" He sees Jax on the ground, "Looks like you found him. Sup, Sarge?"

"He's a ma- Hey, what are you doing?" Sonya sees Raiden walk by her and towards Jax and Rei. Rei waves, but looks annoyed when Raiden doesn't even acknowledge her.

"What? No hey, hi, or fuck you? I see how you are, Raiden!" Rei huffs, Raiden ignoring her as he got some lightning in his palms. He puts it near Jax, the man starts to glow with a bright blue energy. Sonya wasn't sure about this, but Johnny put a hand on her shoulder as if to say, 'Hey, he's cool, trust me.' The process took a few moments, and once Raiden was finished, Jax was fully healed of his injuries. Jax looks at his arm, completely dumbfounded by what he just witnessed.

"That was amazing!" He praises with a thankful smile.

"He's a God, what do you expect?" Johnny grins. Jax turns to Rei.

"Why couldn't you have done that?"

"I'm a Darkness Deity, healing isn't in the portfolio. I ain't a Healer Class Asali either."

"Not every God is capable of healing." Raiden adds, Rei looking embarrassed. Liu Kang just pats her on the shoulder, Rei swatting his hand away.

"Thank you, Raiden." Sonya thanks the Thunder God. Raiden shook his head.

"Gratitude is unnecessary." Raiden began, "I have foreseen events, like memories of my future…"

"Very good thing they aren't what me and Azriel saw." Rei heard Corliss say, "Now that was nightmare fuel."

"They lead me to believe that you all are connected to Earthrealm's fate." Raiden looks at Rei, the Asali blinking, "All but you it seems."

"Again, visitor coming from a different realm to spectate. Of course I wouldn't be in your visions."

"I'm not worried. I bet you two could win this thing no problem." Johnny slaps both deities on the arms.

"Unless directly challenged, I cannot participate." Raiden tells him. He seemed to glare at Sonya when he said that, the woman looking away to avoid it.

"I came to watch a old geezer get snapped in half, I'm too lazy to do it myself." Rei explained, glaring at Johnny. She was technically telling the truth, yet lying at the same time.

"Well then… what should we do besides standing around, looking pretty?" the actor asks.

"We let the tournament run it's course." Raiden says, looking sagely. Everyone seemed to agree with him.

"Alright then, we're with you, Raiden." Sonya assures.

"All the way." Rei says, hugging Raiden's arm with a sweet look. Raiden blushes faintly, but when he heard Liu Kang go "awww" he zaps the monk, his yelp very unmanly.