Mortal Kombat: Legendary Defenders

by Leonidas1994

When Outworld and Daibazaal unite to destroy the realm of Earth, the finest warriors must gather in the defense of their realm. Together, Keith, Allura, Shiro, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk, must fight with Liu Kang and his ally's against Shao Kahn and Zarkon. (Rates M for there will be a lot of violence, and coarse language.)

1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Mortal Kombat, or Voltron Legendary Defender. Both series belong to their respective companies, Mortal Kombat belongs to Netherrealm Studios and Voltron Legendary Defender belongs to DreamWorks Animation. The characters will have the same design style from Voltron Legendary Defender, but have a more Mortal Kombat style to them. I did make designs for the characters, I have a deviantart account that you can check out, it is Pyrus-Leonidas. But I hope you guys like the story, I know there will be harsh criticism, and I will try to take it with a grain of salt.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

"Mortal Kombat has always been, and always will be. Through each of the realms, the forces of good and evil have been locked in eternal battle for the control of their realms. Some sought to use the tournament to destroy all that is good… others sought vengeance, power, or eternal life. Time after time, each individual threat was vanquished, and the realms have felt a relief of peace for many years. But evil has been growing in the shadows of the universe, stretching out through the hearts and souls of every being that breathes. One being the Outworld emperor, Shao Kahn… his desire to conquer Earthrealm had been insatiable, he vowed that he would not rest until Earthrealm was under his banner, even if it took him another thousand years to claim it. Thus far, his warriors had won nine straight victories against Earthrealm, but most of his best warriors had been killed by many of Earth's warriors in the process. So he sought out the strongest warriors in all the realms… but everywhere he went, none had proven the skills they needed to aid Outworld in the tenth tournament. But one day he came across a powerful race of warriors, known to many, as the Galra. Their strength was only matched by their lust for blood… the greatest among them, was their emperor Zarkon. Shao Kahn came to see this emperor as his equal, and formed an alliance between Outworld, and Daibazaal. Wanting to test the strength of this Galra emperor, Shao Kahn ventured to Daibazaal, to test the strength of Zarkon. But before he could gain an audience with their emperor… Shao Kahn had to face their greatest warrior first."

(~)

Galra Gladiator Arena

The crowd roared for blood as the mightiest of the Galra struck blow after blow against his opponent, who was nothing more than a weakling from the Galra prison camps. The prisoner tried to defend himself the best he could against the brute, but he struck the helpless prisoner across the face, causing his skull to break open, teeth falling out, and blood spilling from both his nose and mouth. He groaned in agonizing pain as the stronger warrior approached him and grabbed him by his neck. He had a sadistic grin on his face as the Galra in the bleachers chanted the words "Finish Him!" The Galra warrior looked to his emperor as he held the prisoner in his hand, Zarkon watched as his warriors chanted, and stood up from his throne looking to his champion. "Finish Him!" He ordered him.

The Galra Champion nodded his head and looked at the prisoner, keeping his evil grin on his face. "Time to die…!" He told him as he raised his claw hand, seeing fear gripping the heart of his next victim, he plunged his hand straight into the prisoner's chest and throughout his back. He then revealed that he was holding the prisoner's heart in his hand as it started beating slowly, but soon… the beating stopped as the prisoner's life faded away. The Galra Champion grinned as he pulled his hand out of his victims body, still holding the heart as he held it up to the crowd, hearing them cheer for his victory. He reveled in glory, being honored by all who cheered for him. He looked to his emperor as he dropped the heart and bowed to Zarkon. "My lord… these prisoner's are nothing but weaklings, grant me the chance to face a worthy opponent." He requested from the emperor.

Zarkon smirked as he stepped forward, holding out his hands to the entire crowd. "Is there anyone here who can face this challenge?" He asked them as every Galra looked to one another, knowing they wouldn't stand a chance against Zarkon's champion. "So that's it? No one here who is worthy enough to stand up to my champion?" He asked them.

The champion sneered knowing he was seeing nothing but a bunch of cowards, but suddenly. "Perhaps I can oblige him." Said and unfamiliar voice as everyone looked to the arena, seeing someone step out from the hall, and into the arena. He stood before the champion, cloaked and keeping his identity hidden. "And should I win, I would like to challenge your emperor." He boldly stated as the crowd gasped in awe and shock of this stranger's request.

Haggar, the emperor's advisor, sneered at this outsider and summoned her magic as she approached her emperor. "How dare you make such a bold request! Who do you think you are?!" She demanded to know the identity of this man, to which he gladly returned in kind.

He ripped off his cloak, revealing himself as a man of pure muscle, eyes glowing red, wearing gladiator armor, and a skull helmet that was enough to put fear into all the Galra in the arena. "I am Shao Kahn! Emperor of Outworld! And you will do well to show me some respect, wench." He said to her, earning a glare from her as she was about to attack him with her magic.

But Zarkon stopped her from attacking, and looked to the Outworld warlord. "Defeat my champion, and your request shall be granted." He said to Shao Kahn as the warlord grinned and looked towards Zarkon's champion, and summoned his wrath hammer. The two warriors stepped to the center of the arena and faced each other, ready for battle. Zarkon sat on his throne to watch the entertainment, knowing this would be quite interesting. "Fight!" He called out as his champion held up his battle ax and charged towards Shao Kahn. He swung the ax at him to make one clean cut at his neck, but as the blade drew closer to Shao Kahn, he immediately blocked it with his wrath hammer.

He took the handle of his hammer and knocked the champion's ax out of his hand and slammed it against his chest, causing him to cry out in pain from it. He glared at the warlord and snarled while charging towards him with the intent to hurt him. He threw several punches towards Shao, landing hard punches against his torso, but to his surprise, the emperor didn't even feel a thing. His eyes widened as his mouth opened with a silent gasp, only to get a hard punch to his right cheek that sent him flying across the arena. This shocked the audience as Zarkon watched with great interest. Shao Kahn walked towards the champion as he staggered to get back into his feet, he jumped towards the warlord landing a kick across his neck, that nearly made Shao budge, but also managed to anger him as he grabbed the Galra's leg and threw him over, slamming him down on the ground with tremendous force. The champion cried out in agony from the sharp pain he was feeling in his spine as Shao Kahn raised him up again and slammed him on the other side, slamming him on his chest, causing it to shatter like glass. The mighty warlord then threw the champion away, seeing him roll across the ground and crash against the wall of the arena. The crowd watched in dread as their favored champion was being demolished by the Outworld Emperor, Shao walked towards the champion to finish what they started. But he was not willing to give up so easily as he pressed against the wall to get back up. "I… am Daibazaal's champion…" He said as he coughed up blood and glared at the warlord, letting out a few panting breaths. "I refuse to be bested by some monster!" He shouted and went to pierce his claws into Shao Kahn's chest.

But the warlord managed to grab hold of his wrist, stopping his attack as it was merely a few inches from his chest. The champion gasped in horror at what he was seeing, he then looked to Shao Kahn, who was smirking at him with much amusement. "You were Daibazaal's champion." He corrected the Galra as he kneed him in the stomach, forcing him to cough up more blood and slammed his elbow against the back of the Galra's head, forcing him to fall to the ground. The fallen champion panted harshly as he tried to get up, but as he was close to getting up, Shao Kahn put his foot across his back and pinned him down. The emperor had a sadistic grin over his face as he summoned his wrath hammer and raised it into the air, slamming it on the champion's head, splattering it as his brains shot out across the arena, with a huge stream of blood along with it. The crowd was shocked to witness what happened to their champion as Shao Kahn pulled his hammer away from the corpse, claiming his victory with an evil grin. "Fatality…" He announced and looked at the crowd. "This… is the strength of Outworld! Now you know what awaits the realms." He said to the crowd and looked towards Zarkon. "Zarkon… are you ready to face me?" He asked him.

The Galra emperor looked at the warlord and narrowed his eyes with a smirk, and stood from his throne and walked from it. Haggar watched but felt that he shouldn't face him. "Sire, I strongly advise against this… do not grant this outsider his request." She advised him.

"Haggar… for too long Daibazaal has had no challenge until now." He glanced towards her. "I will see how the Emperor of Outworld fairs against the Emperor of Daibazaal." He said to her and looked at Shao Kahn. "I accept your challenge, Shao Kahn." He said to him and leaped down to the arena, landing on the ground before the warlord. He stood up to face him and started walking towards the center of the arena. "Long have I waited for a challenge worthy of the Galra… you have bested my champion, what say we raise the stakes?" He asked him.

"I'm listening." Shao Kahn replied to him.

"Should you win this fight, you have earned a new ally in the next Mortal Kombat tournament. But if I win, you must take your rightful place as the champion of the Galra." Zarkon made his terms to the warlord, the crowd was intrigued by these terms, and knew it would benefit them on both terms. Shao Kahn smirked upon hearing the terms, knowing these are quite reasonable. "What say you Shao Kahn?" He asked him.

"I accept your conditions, but know that I will not go easy on you." Shao said to him as he stood ready for battle, Zarkon grinned and stood ready as well. Haggar watched and narrowed her eyes at the Emperor of Outworld, believing he would mostly annihilate her emperor.

The crowd watched in suspense at the spectacle that was about to begin… Zarkon grinned and took the first chance to strike, landing a hard punch across Shao's face, launching him off the ground, and slamming him against the arena wall as he let out a painful cry and hit the ground. He growled and looked at Zarkon, who cracked his knuckles. "Then neither will I." He said to the warlord, Shao Kahn raised himself from the dirt, and charged towards Zarkon, landing a punch, equally strong against Zarkon's face, causing him to stumble. The Galra emperor retaliated by punching him again, then hitting him across the chest and abdomen. He went for a kick, but the warlord avoided it, and slammed his fist against Zarkons thigh and punched him in his ribs, causing him to wince in pain as Shao grabbed hold of his neck and went to slam him against the ground. Bit Zarkon managed to wrap his right arm around Shao Kahn's neck and pulled him down, slamming him on the ground.

The warlord rolled across the ground and raised himself from the ground, glaring at his opponent. "You're more skilled than I imagined." He complimented him.

"And you, your brutal tactics." Zarkon returned the compliment and charged towards him, kneeing him across the chest and slammed his head against Shao Kahn's, causing him to stumble and feel dazed. "But I have been Daibazaal's greatest warrior for ten thousand years, not only due to my own savage might, but also my cunning!" He punched Shao Kahn relentlessly to beat him into submission.

Shao Kahn felt the fury of the Galra emperor's might, but he too had something to offer as he grinned and caught the next punch and kicked at his right leg, and backhanded him in the face. Landing hard punches against his body and headbutting him, knocking him back as the crowd gasped in surprise. "You are not the only one!" He said to him and summoned his wrath hammer, swinging it at him as Zarkon took the opportunity to summon his war mace, blocking his hammer. The two emperors clashed their weapons endlessly to best each other in strength, Zarkon went for an strike by throw his mace like an uppercut, while Shao Kahn swung his hammer down in an overhead swing, and the two weapons clashed, causing a powerful surge of energy to flow around the two emperors. The crowd watched in suspense as to who was winning this fight, even Haggar watched the fight, wondering if her emperor would win.

The two emperors struggled in their clash against each other, but Shao Kahn used the superior strength and weight of his wrath hammer, to slam it across Zarkon's torso as he slammed him into the ground, causing a massive explosion as smoke and debris filled the arena. The crowd coughed from all that had transpired and tried to get a good look through the smoke. Haggar eagerly awaited to see who the victor was, and as the smoke cleared… Shao Kahn was revealed to be the one victorious in this fight. The crowd couldn't believe what they had witnessed, their emperor, defeated by a warlord. Even Haggar could not believe it, she disappeared and appeared standing between Shao Kahn and her emperor. "If you so much as think I will allow you to kill my emperor, you are sorely mistaken." She said to him, holding her magic within her hands.

"Haggar…" Zarkon called to her as he stood up from the ground. "That was never his intention, after all…" He removed his damaged armor and looked to Shao Kahn. "That is no way to treat our new ally." He said to her as he approached the Outworld Emperor. "A deal is a deal, is it not?" He asked him.

"Yes, Zarkon…" Shao Kahn answered and offered his hand. "With our combined might, Earthrealm… no, not just Earthrealm, but all realms shall fall under our heels." He said to Zarkon as the Galra emperor reached and held him by his forearm and shook it.

"This union between our two empires will strengthen our cause… and since your eyes are set on Earthrealm, I have something that you will be interested in. Follow me." Zarkon led the warlord out of the arena, as Haggar watched in spite of the Emperor of Outworld, for she did not trust him. Zarkon led Shao Kahn to his throne room where several Galra, and Altean concubines were awaiting their lord and master, and were intrigued by the warlord's masculine body, forming seductive grins towards him as several others licked their lips, not that he minded the attention. But his focus was on Earthrealm as he followed Zarkon. "Before your arrival here, one of my Galra scout ships came across three Earthrealmers on an expedition to a frozen planet." He explained as he brought up their files, showing them to the Outworld emperor. "I had them processed to see what the druids could learn about them. Apparently they're merely explorers and scientists, we had the eldest transferred to one of our prison camps for scientific purposes. While the two young ones were transferred to another prison, to participate in the fighting arena's." He explained.

"I take it neither of them could stand up to the challenge?" Shao Kahn asked him.

"The youngest apparently, didn't get his chance to enter the arena… observe." Zarkon said to him as Shao watched a video replay of what happened. The older Earthrealmer rushed towards the sentry and snatched the sword from it, and sliced at the younger one's leg, injuring him. "Apparently his time with the druids may have made him go into a psychotic rage and attack him." He explained as he showed footage of the Earthrealmer's fight with the original champion of that particular prison camp. "He is well adept in the art of combat, unlike his friend. He was able to stand up to Myzax, and even risked losing his right arm in the process." Zarkon showed the damage caused to the Earthrealmer's right arm.

Shao Kahn examined it and looked to his fellow emperor. "And where is this boy?" He asked him.

"For the last two decaphebes, or, years as you would call them, we have been keeping him for entertainment, to watch him progress with his new prosthetic the druids fashioned him with." Zarkon told him.

"Then it would seem you created a perfect warrior… but have you been able to gain control over him?" Shao asked him.

"My scientists are in the process of taking control over his mind as we speak." Zarkon replied as a Galra scientist rushed into the room.

"Sire, please forgive my intrusion." He said to him as the two emperors looked towards him. "But the champion has escaped, we don't know how, and Ulaz is nowhere in the facility." He informed his emperor.

Zarkon looked towards the scientist with a stern glare, and grabbed him by his neck. "How did you allow this to happen?!" He demanded to know why.

Choking from his tight grip, the scientist tried his best to speak to him. "The ones responsible for watching over the champion… were unconscious when I found them. I swear, it's the truth!" He swore on his life.

"I believe you." Zarkon said to him and dropped him to the ground. "Now, where is he headed?" He asked him as his eyes glowed.

Panting as he rubbed his neck, he looked at his emperor in his eyes. "His trajectory appears to be headed towards Earth, I recommend that we retrieve him as soon as possible." He said to him, but Haggar stepped up to speak.

"I advise against it, I may have believed he would be a perfect warrior, but now with him gone, he could warn the people of your plan to attack Earth, which is why I recommend sending assassins… no loose ends." She advised him to go with his plan, Zarkon knew this was the best course, so he looked to Shao Kahn to hear his advice.

"And you Shao Kahn? What do you say?" He asked him.

Shao looked at the witch, knowing that she has his new ally's ear. But then again, even he has a powerful sorcerer by his side that could be less trustworthy. So he nodded his head to Zarkon. "Very well, though I would have preferred to bring him back to fight in the tournament. It would be best to keep the impending tournament to ourselves." He said to them, to earn Haggar's trust.

"Then it will be done… send our best assassins after the champion. And kill anyone he comes into contact with." Zarkon ordered her as Haggar bowed to him, and vanished without a trace. "In the meantime… why don't you help yourself Shao Kahn, to anyone that would please you." He said to him as he gestures to his concubines. Shao looked at them as a grin formed across his face, knowing he would surely enjoy having them to himself.

(~)

Earthrealm, Special Forces Garrison

Within the Special Forces Garrison, the cadets were being prepped for their first hand to hand combat training. Everyone was ready, all… except for a group of three who were still inexperienced. Lance, Hunk and Pidge were getting themselves ready, and by ready, Lance was mostly sending flirtatious looks towards the female cadets, while Hunk was twiddling his fingers, and Pidge was scrolling through her phone to find classified information, but quickly looked towards Lance who was so full of himself right now. "Lance, you do realize they're going to be hurting that pretty face of yours right?" She asked him.

"Hurt me? Nah, they wouldn't do that, maybe hit me around my body. But never the face, it's too irresistible to the ladies." Lance proudly said as he earned a disapproving look from Pidge, knowing he is going to get sucker punched first chance anyone gets.

"Oh boy, I'm nervous about this, is anyone nervous? I think I'm hyperventilating, does anyone have a bag?!" Hunk panicked, only to get grabbed by Lance and forced to sit down.

"Easy Hunk, look at me, look at me!" Lance said to him as Hunk looked at him all bug eyed. "Just breathe slowly, breathe in." He inhales deeply with Hunk. "Breathe out." He exhales with him slowly. "Now, how do you feel?" He asked him.

Taking a moment to inhale and exhale one more time, Hunk started to feel relieved as he looked towards Lance. "Surprisingly, I feel a lot better." He admitted.

"Wow, that actually worked." Pidge commented and looked at Lance. "How'd you do that?" She asked him.

"Johnny Cage's acting tutorial, including breathing exercises. Helps calm the nerves." Lance said to her.

"Major on deck!" Called out one of the cadets as everyone formed two separate lines as Major Jackson Briggs walked in with Commander Iverson and Lieutenant Sonya Blade.

Lance noticed her in how smoking hot she is and smirked. "Whoa, who the heck is she?" He asked curiously.

"Lance!" Pidge whispered as she punched him in the arm, earned a painful cry from him and a disapproving look from the playboy.

The major and his officers walked between the cadets, holding a stern look towards them as he held his hands behind his back. "Listen up cadets, this… is no place for little girls." He glanced towards Pidge knowing she was especially hand picked by Sonya. "Some of you may think you're special, but to get to that title is to go through rough training, and believe me when I tell you… Lieutenant Sonya Blade here, has had it far rougher than any of you." He said to them, as Lance smirked while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Rougher, how sir?" He asked as Sonya looked towards him, knowing exactly what he meant by that.

She walked towards him as the cadets knew what was coming, and he was gonna get it. "Care to ask that question again, cadet?" She asked him, holding a stern glare towards him.

"I mean, did you have it rougher on the training grounds, or other activities?" Lance asked her, showing that he was flirting with her. "Cause if you're up for it, I would love to show you some tricks of my own." He offered, unaware that Pidge facepalmed in embarrassment, and Hunk looked away knowing he was gonna get decked.

Sonya scowled at him but smirked. "If that's how you want it… step into the arena." She said to him as she headed to it, and he followed after her.

Jax watched it and exhaled, knowing what she's gonna do to him. "Ohhh boy, that kids gonna get himself killed." He muttered to himself, knowing it would be hard to watch.

The two stepped into the center of the arena, Sonya took the chance to remove her energy blasters, along with her hat and vest. Lance noticed her firm figure, and was quite impressed by it, but soon noticed that she didn't get a pair of gloves or head gear. "What, no protective gear? I'd hate to bruise that pretty face." He asked her.

She took on her fighting stance, ready for combat. "Don't need them." She replied with a glare, Lance was surprised but smiled confidently and tossed his gear away and got into his fighting stance.

Iverson watched as they were ready and stepped between them. "All right you two, I expect you both to fight equally, and if any of you go for any cheap shots? Well… we'll be sure to get you to the medical wing in a heartbeat." He told them as he stepped back, Lance immediately had a look of concern on his face and was about to protest. "Fight!" He shouted before Lance could do so, Sonya charged first and threw a fast punch towards him. Lance immediately reacted and blocked her attacks to avoid getting hurt.

"You got this Lance!" Hunk called out as he watched the fight between the lieutenant and the cadet. Sonya threw another punch towards him, only to see him catch her fist and pull her close to him as he wrapped his arm around her neck to keep her from punching him.

He was soon distracted by a cinnamon fragrance she had and sniffed her, forming a grin on his face. "Wow, you smell good." He complimented her, only to receive a kick from Sonya who raised her leg as high as she can, landing a hard kick against his right eyebrow as he released her and writhed in agony from it. Sonya leaped above him and threw a kick at his left cheek, Lance quickly ducked under it and slid a kick at her feet as she was about to land. He managed to make contact with her foot and tripped her to make her fall down. As she was close to hitting the ground, Sonya landed a hand on the arena to prevent herself from falling completely.

She soon looked towards him as he was about to kick her down, but she saw it as an opening and flipped around and landed a hard punch to his junk. Lance groaned from it and screamed out in agony as all the cadets winced and groan from seeing it, especially Pidge and Hunk. "Oooh, saw that coming." Pidge commented.

"Yep, me too… he really should have worn a cup." Hunk said to her as Lance fell to the ground, and Sonya had him pinned down.

"Get this through your head cadet, no one touches me without permission, you got it?" She asked him.

"Yes ma'am!" Lance squealed in pain as he held his dick, trying not to cry.

Jax let out an amused chuckle. "That's my princess." He commented, only to earn a glare from Sonya.

"I told you not to call me that, asshole." She said to him, stepping away from Lance as he could barely move.

"All right lieutenant, you made your point. At least you could have gone easy on him, we need more troops. Unlike one young cadet, who had a discipline issue." Iverson said to her and looked to Lance, who was helped back up to his feet with the help of Pidge and Hunk. "Besides, we cannot afford to lose anymore, like those aboard the Kerberos Mission, who lost their lives." He said as he lowered his head, but Pidge immediately scowled from hearing it.

"They are not dead sir, there was no evidence of any bodies, and you just won't go looking for them!" She shouted at him, earning his attention.

"What was that?!" He asked her with a stern look.

"You heard me." Pidge said to him, returning the glare as both she and the commander clearly didn't see eye to eye with one another.

"All right, enough!" Sonya got between them and pushed them away from each other, but neither of them broke eye contact as they glared at each other. Sonya turned Pidge around and walked away with her. "Class dismissed!" She told them as everyone excused themselves to head to the lounge, but Lance and Hunk looked to where Sonya walked away with Pidge.

"What do you think that's about?" He asked his large friend.

"I don't know, but I find it best to just leave it alone." Hunk advised him.

"Hunk, you kidding? We barely know anything about Pidge, and the lieutenant seems to know her better than anyone. We got to know what it is." Lance said to him, and headed off to find out what it was.

"Lance, no!" Hunk tried to stop him, but he saw his teammate head off anyway as he let out a groan of annoyance and followed him.

The two cadets headed down the halls to find Sonya and Pidge, trying to avoid any guards that will be patrolling the halls during curfew. As they made a few narrow escapes, they walked towards Pidge's room, seeing that it was left open just a crack. Lance peeked into the room first and saw Sonya and Pidge sitting in the room. "Pidge, I understand what you're going through right now, but you can't let what Iverson said earlier get to you." She said to the young cadet.

"He said that my father, and my brother were dead on their way to Kerberos, Sonya! You honestly expect me to accept that?!" Pidge asked her.

"I'm not telling you to accept it, I'm telling you not to give up. Samuel Holt and my father once served in the Garrison together, therefore I respected him for the man he is. But I am not going to sit by and listen to Iverson's lies, because that is not who I am." Sonya said to her, to motivate her.

It really touched Hunk's heart that she's trying to motivate his partner. "Oh that is so sweet." He said only to get shushed by Lance.

But they were quickly spotted by Sonya as she pulled out two knives and threw them through the food, piercing through their clothes and sticking them to the wall. "WHOA!" Lance cried out feeling the knife was almost close to cutting him as he looked at the door as it opened up, showing an angry Sonya. "Lieutenant Blade, it's not what it looks like." He said to her, to try and weasel himself out of this predicament.

"Then please, explain yourselves." Sonya said to him as she activated her energy blasters. "And don't even think about lying, because that will be your worst decision." She warned him, Lance knew she was serious as he gulped in fear.

"Well, it's like this… Lance was curious as to what you two were doing, and he decided to follow, which I advised him not to. But he never listens, because he's got a mind fixated on beautiful girls that he can't resist without having a hard-on." Hunk explained for Lance, much to the playboy's dismay.

"HUNK!" He cried out, knowing that was really gonna get him killed.

But Sonya sighed, knowing she's seen that kind of behavior before. But she pulled the blades from the wall and their clothes, and put them away and looked at them. "Then I suppose you have a right to know… come with us, there's something we should show you." She told them as she and Pidge walked away as the two cadets followed after them. The group made it outside onto the rooftop, Pidge took the chance to set up her computer equipment to get it running. "We've been at this for two years now, ever since the Kerberos mission went haywire, like Iverson says… Pidge and I were conducting an investigation of our own." She explained to the cadets, while Lance observed Pidge equipment.

"You guys made all of this? Doesn't look like Garrison tech." He pointed out.

"It's old school, Sonya's father was never really into the new tech like everyone else. I made a few tweeks myself, and improved them." Pidge explained, noticing that Hunk was messing with her equipment. "Stop that Hunk!" She shouted as he whined and pulled away from it.

"Lately we've been trying to find answers to why the men on the Kerberos mission disappeared, but we have reason to believe it was more than just a malfunction and a random landslide that everyone cooked up." Sonya explained but saw Hunk going at it again. "Last warning cadet!" She said to him as Hunk panicked in fear of her.

"And we have been trying to get into contact with anyone who may or may not know more about what really happened, and-" Pidge finally had enough as Hunk went for one more reach. "HUNK, STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!" She yelled at him as Hunk whined and got pulled back by Sonya. "And recently, we have been getting a lot of alien radio chatter." She told them, earning surprised looks from both cadets.

"Whoa, aliens?!" Hunk asked her.

"Are you serious?!" Lance asked her, only to soon hear an unfamiliar voice sound off.

"I hate to interrupt your bullshit blondey… but I gotta piss again." Said a man, chained down to a chair that was bolted to the roof.

Both Lance and Hunk looked towards him, giving him a look of surprise and confusion. "What's this, you got a visitor?" Lance asked her as he walked towards him.

"Careful he bites." Sonya warned him, but where's the fun in that?

Lance turned on a nearby light that was hooked up, revealing a man that had a thick scruffy beard, scars across his face, wearing a green vest, a strap over his right shoulder with a gold dragon for a buckle, and dark gray shirt and pants. He even had a dragon tattoo along his arms, which was actually pretty cool to Lance. He groaned from the light, knowing he had been kept in the dark for too long and looked to Lance. "Well hello sunshine." He said to the young cadet.

"Who the hell is this?" Lance asked Sonya and looked towards her.

"That's Kano." Sonya introduced him.

"Kano…?" Lance looked back at Kano with his eyebrow raised. "Kano what?" He asked.

"Kano none-of-your-FUCKING-BUSINESS!" He shouted at the cadet.

Lance was taken aback from what he said, and couldn't help but point out the accent. "Is that Russian? Are you Russian?" He asked him.

Kano was getting fed up with this kid, and wanted to deck him, but couldn't because he was shackled by a chain. "Do I sound Russian to you, ya fucking idiot?!" He asked him.

"He's Australian, Lance." Pidge pointed it out to him.

"Thank you, Princess. Now, new guy, do me a favor and take the key from the lieutenant and let me take a leak, will ya?" He asked him.

"Yeah, no." Lance stepped away from Kano as he thrashed in his chains, glaring at him like a mad pitbull. "What's his story?" He asked Sonya about him.

"He's a mercenary with the Black Dragon clan, arms dealer, drug runner, murder-for-hire, scum of the Earth." Sonya listed all the known topics and traits of Kano.

"I also give really good foot massages." Kano joked around with her, but couldn't get a laugh out of anyone. "Oh come on, that was fucking funny!"

"I had him locked up here to make sure he didn't get any ideas, the new prison cells can easily be hacked." Sonya told them and looked to Kano as she began walking towards him. "But personally… I would rather kill you, here and now." She said to him as she tapped his chin and quickly pulled away as he nearly took a bite out of her. "Besides, fate has better standards to where he's headed." She told them.

"Well lucky for you, I don't have any standards." Kano said to her, only to get sucker punched by her as he nearly spilled blood. Lance and Hunk groaned to see it as Kano spat out the blood that was filling in his mouth. "Not bad, almost felt that one." He said and was about to comment about her punching, only to hear the sirens going off.

"Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All students are to remain in barracks until further notice." Iverson said over the mic as Kano looked and saw something entering Earth's atmosphere.

Kano was surprised to hear it and noticed something glowing in the sky. "Uh, not to be the weather man here, but I doubt the weather forecast foretold the chance of a fucking meteor!" He told them as everyone looked to the sky and saw what was coming.

Pidge grabbed her binoculars and looked through them to get a closer look, but what she saw was not what Kano said it would be. "That's not a meteor, it's a ship!" She said to her teammates, minus Kano.

Lance snatched the binoculars and checked it for himself. "Holy crap! I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours!" He cried out.

"So wait, there really are aliens out there?!" Hunk asked her as he watched the ship fly across the sky and fly over the Garrison, touching down in the fields as it caused a massive explosion.

Pidge got up and started packing her equipment. "We got to see that ship!" She said feeling excited.

"Hold on Pidge, we don't know if they survived." Sonya told her.

"Only one way to find out, right beautiful? Come on Hunk!" Lance ran ahead as Hunk complained.

Kano watched as Lance left with both Pidge and Sonya, and looked towards Hunk. "Hey, big guy! Come on, let me outta here, I can help!" He said to him in hopes he'll let him out.

But Hunk wasn't one to immediately trust him. "Uh, yeah well… sit tight." He told him as he ran after his teammates.

"Oh don't worry, I was just gonna go for a stretch, but I'll just fucking dick around here anyway!" Kano shouted in a fit of anger, knowing he is gonna be there for a long while. That is until a blur ran past him, and his cuff's got sliced off, leaving him in a state of surprise. "Or not."

That is when Kabal appeared before him, burnt skin, wearing a mask, due to Kano leaving him for dead years back. "How's it going you ugly two-faced motherfucker?" He asked him as the leader of the Black Dragon sighed but smiled at him.

"Nice to see you too Kabal, so what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked him.

"We got something big going on, thought you would like to be part of the action. What do you say?" Kabal asked him as his old friend stood up from the chair he was chained to.

"Sure helluva lot better than sitting here all day, I'm in." He replied to him with a smirk.

"Good, also… this might hurt a little bit." Kabal warned him.

"What?" He asked only to get sucker punched in the face, falling down to the ground unconscious.

"That's for leaving me to spend the rest of my life in an iron lung, asshole." Kabal said to him as he grabbed his leg and dragged him away, opening a portal to god knows where as he stepped into it, taking Kano along with him.

(~)

Crash Site

At the crash site, the Garrison was already on sight by the time Sonya and the three young cadets showed up. Lance was surveying the area and took a good look at the ship that landed. "Whoa… what the hell is that?!" He asked as his attention was averted from the ship, and onto a cute girl down there. "And who the heck is she?" He asked with a grin.

"Lance!" Sonya punched him to get him back on topic.

"Ow! Ah right, alien ship…" He looked back to the ship and observed it. "No way of getting past the guards to get a good look at it." He stated.

"Aw man, that's too bad. Well, nothing to see here, let's go back to the barracks and check on Kano." Hunk was about to leave, only to get grabbed in the back of his shirt and pulled down by Sonya. "Or I could just stay here, whatever works." He muttered.

"We're not going anywhere until we find out what's going on down there, and if you want to go back, you'll have to deal with a week's time doing hard labor." Sonya said to him.

"Wait, they got cameras in there, and I think I can grab its feed and…" Pidge punched in a few more keys and managed to open a video feed from one of the cameras to see what's inside. "There."

The feed showed a man strapped to a table, with Iverson, a few doctors, and Jax in the room with him. "Hey! What are you doing?" He asked them as he started to panic.

"Just calm down Shiro, We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you." Jax said to him.

"Jax, you have to listen to me! They destroyed worlds! Killed innocent people, and they're coming here!" Shiro tried to warn him.

Lance watched the feed and recognized him. "That's Shiro! The pilot from the Kerberos mission, that guys my hero!" He said to his teammates and his superior officer.

"Guess he's not dead in space afterall, right lieutenant?" Hunk asked her.

"Apparently not… but the question remains." Sonya looked at Pidge who had the same thought in mind.

"Where's the rest of the crew?" She asked.

"Do you know how long you've been gone?" Iverson asked him.

Shiro tried to collect his train of thought as to how long it's been. "I don't know, months? Years? Look, there's no time. Aliens are coming here, and they plan to conquer Earth! They're probably on their way. They'll destroy us if we don't do something!" He tried to get free.

"Sir, take a look at this." The technician gained Iverson's attention along with Jax's as they looked at his prosthetic limb. "It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic."

"Put him under until we know what that thing can do." Iverson ordered him, but Jax was not fond of sedating one of their own.

"Iverson, you can't do that, he's one of ours!" He protested.

"I'm sorry major, but the orders have already been made." Iverson said to him.

"On whose authority?!" He demanded to know.

"Admiral Sanda's, if that's what you want to know. And if you have a problem with that major, you can take it up with her." Iverson said to him as he earned a stern glare from Jax.

"Oh believe me, I will." Jax said to him as he stormed out of the room.

Sonya glared as Shiro struggled on the table. "Don't, don't put me under! No! No, there's no time! Let me go!" He cried out as the technician sedated him to calm him down.

Sonya clenched her fist and stood up from the ground. "Damn you Iverson…!" She growled.

"They didn't ask about the rest of the crew." Pidge pointed it out.

"What are they doing? The guy's a legend. They're not even gonna listen to him?" Lance said in disbelief of what he was seeing.

"Standard procedure, that's why I hate taking orders from Iverson, least of all, Sanda… the bitch can choke on her medal for all I care." Sonya boldly stated with much anger.

Piege turned to her feeling determined. "We have to get him out." She said to her as Sonya nodded to her.

"Ah, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren't we just watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?" Hunk pointed it out to them, knowing it's a well known fact.

"Hunk's right, but that was before we were properly motivated. We've just got to think. Could we tunnel in?" Lance asked.

"That would take too long, he would already be gone by then." Sonya said to him.

"Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs." Pidge suggested.

But Sonya gave her a deadpan look, knowing her exact height. "Have you checked your height lately?" She asked her.

"Or we dress up like cooks, sneak into the commissary… and have a little late-night snack." Hunk said to them to be the most reasonable of the group.

"No. What we need is a distraction." Lance said to him, and right on cue, an explosion combusted in the distance from the camp which got their attention in a heartbeat.

Hunk panicked believing it to be what he was thinking. "Is that the aliens?! Are—Tha—The—Is that the aliens?! Are they here?! They got here so quick!" He said feeling frantic.

"No. Those explosions were a distraction, for him!" Pidge pointed down because she spotted a man in a red clad ninja suit that was sneaking towards the camp.

Sonya looked at him hiding in the shadows and figured it out. "With the Garrison headed towards the blast, he's sneaking in from the other side… clever." She complimented the ninja on his work to get inside.

Lance meanwhile looked through the binoculars to see who it was, and one look at a certain mullet, he immediately recognized him. "Ohh no, no way…! He is not going to beat us there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!" He said as he ran ahead.

"Who is it?" Hunk asked him.

"Keith!" Lance said to him as he went down hill.

"Who?" Pidge asked in confusion.

This quickly surprised Sonya as she followed after him. "Are you sure Lance?" She asked him.

"Oh, I'd know that mullet anywhere!" He replied to her.

"Who's Keith?!" Pidge tried to get an answer, but never got it as she gathered her equipment and followed after them.

Meanwhile in the camp, the technicians examined the arm to get a good reading of it. "These readings are off the chart." Said one of the technicians, but the door to the outside opened, revealing Keith who wore a red mask over his face as he glared at those inside the room.

Iverson saw him and he and the technicians ran towards him. "Hey!" He went to stop him, but Keith managed to knock him away first and swing a fast uppercut against one of the technicians, then throw a roundhouse kick against the last technician knocking him out cold.

He ran towards Shiro and removed his mask, seeing him as he laid on the table unconscious. "Shiro…?" He said as he pulled out his blade and cut the straps, getting him off the table as he carried his sedated body, till all of a sudden.

"Nope. No you—No, no, no, no, no, no, no you don't. I'm saving Shiro." Lance walked into the room with Sonya and took Shiro's other arm.

"Who are you?" Keith asked him.

"Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance." He said to him, only to get a blank stare from Keith. "We were at the same class at the Garrison?" He reminded him.

"Really, you an engineer?" Keith asked him.

This only managed to infuriate Lance as he had to spell it out to him. "No, I'm literally the best fighter in the Garrison, you and I were like rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck-and-neck?"

"Oh wait, I remember now, you're the guy who is a huge Johnny Cage fan." Keith said to him after remembering him completely.

"Still am, and I became the best fighter in the Garrison, thanks to you dropping out." Lande said to him.

"Yeah, well, congratulations." Keith said to him as he carried Shiro out with his help.

Sonya took Shiro's legs and escorted him out. "Wish I could say it's good to see you Keith, but that would be poor timing, given the Garrison will be back any second." She said to him knowing the Garrison will come back any second.

"Perfectly fine Sonya, but it looks like they already are." Keith pointed out, seeing the Garrison coming back.

"Ohhh boy, and they do not look happy! We need to get out of here, like right now!" Hunk said, feeling panicked about the situation. But a vehicle drove up, showing Jax at the wheel.

"Get in!" He told them as they got Shiro in the vehicle, and got in closing the doors behind them. Jax shifted the gears and drove off like a chicken with its head cut off while the Garrison chased after them. "Princess, you better have a good excuse as to what you're doing here!" He said to Sonya.

"Same as you apparently." She replied to him as she held Shiro steady.

Lance looked outside and saw that the Garrison was getting closer. "They're gaining on us, can this thing go any faster?!" He asked them.

"We could always toss out some non-essential weight." Keith said to him.

"Oh, right!" Lance paused for a moment as everyone was looking at him, and began to realize what Keith meant. "... ... ... OK, so that was an insult. I get it." He said as Jax steered and maneuvered through the quarry trying to lose the Garrison.

The group held on as he made hard turns, Jax looked to the rearview mirror seeing one of the Garrison vehicles coming up. He steered his vehicle and rammed the other, knocking it away as it jumped a small mound and landed on its side. "That's literally going to get me demoted." He muttered to himself.

"Hey, it will be worth it once we get out of here." Sonya said to him.

"Not if they catch us first… and I have just the thing. Jax, once I give the signal, make a hard left." Keith said to him as he leaped out of the vehicle and climbed onto the roof.

"And what signal is that?!" Jax asked him only to look ahead and see a cliff ahead. "Oh shit…" He panicked when he saw it.

Hunk looked over his shoulder and eyes widened. "Guys? Is th-th-th-tha-tha—Is that a cliff up ahead?" He asked them.

Lance, Pidge and Sonya looked and saw it, their eyes widened in shock knowing they were getting closer to it. "Ooooh no, no, no! No, no, no, no—!" Lance tried to take hold of the wheel to steer them away, but Jax kept him at bay to wait for Keith's signal.

He stood on the roof feeling the wind flowing around him as the Garrison drew closer to their vehicle. He smirked and held out three smoke pellets and threw them at the Garrison vehicles. Once they combusted in front of their vehicles, the smoke filled their vehicles, forcing them to lose visual as Keith tossed another explosive in front of Jax as it combusted in a spark flare. Jax figured that was the signal, and made a hard left heading towards a canyon, while the Garrison headed straight for the cliff as they exited. But they quickly hit their breaks and narrowly stopped at the edge of the canyon, finding they had lost sight of the target. Keith got back into the truck and sighed while fixing his hair. "That wasn't so bad." He commented.

"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, WE ALMOST DIED BACK THERE!" Lance shouted at him in pure rage.

"Did you go crazy after you left the Garrison?!" Jax asked him as he drove through the canyon.

"Look, it doesn't matter, right now we need to find a safe place to hide. And I know just where to go." Keith told them as he looked out. "Just follow the canyon until we reach the fields… then from there? Home." He told Jax as he nodded and kicked it into high gear and drove fast through the canyon.

(~)

Zarkon's Fortress

Meanwhile within Zarkon's fortress, Haggar approached the two emperors who were discussing battle strategies together. She bowed her head to show her respect, mostly to Zarkon, not Shao Kahn, given the fact that she does not fully trust him. "Sire, the champion has been found. I have an assassin ready for departure, awaiting your command." She informed him.

"Excellent Haggar, if we are to be victorious, as you said, we cannot afford to lose the element of surprise." Zarkon said to her, and looked to Shao Kahn. "As for the rest of my legion, they will be ready for the tournament as agreed." He said to him as he earned a nod from him.

"It will certainly be a privilege to see your warriors in battle against Earth." He replied and looked towards Haggar. "And it would be wise, that Haggar be a host in the tournament alongside Shang Tsung." He suggested.

"An excellent idea master." Said a voice that came from the shadows, Haggar looked to see who it was as he stepped out to reveal himself as an elderly man, wearing red robes with black and gold around him. "So this is the infamous Haggar…?" He asked with a smirk across his face.

The witch glared in response as her magic flowed in her hands. "And I expected you to be younger." She replied in a sharp tone.

But this merely made the sorcerer chuckle in amusement as he approached her. "Appearances can be deceiving my dear, I'm sure you are well aware of that." He said to her as he took her hand and kissed it to show respect and admiration. But she pulled away and slapped him in disgust, earning smirks from both the emperors as Haggar stormed off. Shang rubbed his cheek as he smirked watching her. "I see her tongue isn't the only thing that's sharp." He said as he looked at them.

"Haggar is not one for flattery… you would best remember that." Zarkon said to him and looked over to Haggar. "Send your assassin, kill the champion." He ordered her, as she nodded her head in response and vanished.

(~)

Desert Shack

The next morning, Shiro was wide awake as he had on a new pair of clothes to replace the prison garments he had. Keith approached him from behind and touched his shoulder. "It's good to have you back." He said to his long lost friend.

"Heh, it's good to be back. Minus the warm welcome I had back there." Shiro replied to him.

"So what happened out there? Where... were you? Everyone on Earth thought you and the team on Kerberos were dead." Keith told him what had transpired on Earth while he was gone.

Shiro couldn't believe what he just heard, but he looked away trying to remember how he got away. "I wish I could tell you. My head's still pretty scrambled. I was on an... alien ship but... somehow I escaped. It's all a blur. How did you know to come save me when I crashed?" He asked him out of curiosity.

Keith gestures to him towards the shack. "You should come see this." He said to him and led him to the shack where everyone was waiting for them. He walks to a wall and pulls down a cloth that hid all his research, images and notes of mythical and historical items and creatures upon the pin board.

Shiro was surprised when he saw them. "What have you been working on?" He asked him.

"I can't explain it, really. After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kinda... lost and... felt myself drawn back to my adoptive home. The Shirai Ryu village." Keith explained.

"The Shirai Ryu village? But, that place has been abandoned since the…" Shiro lowered his head remembering the massacre he witnessed.

"I know, I was there." Keith said to him and touched the garms he wore. "This uniform was the last thing given to me by Grandmaster Hasashi… the one person who I accepted as a father." He said and looked at the pin board. "Since then, I have been doing research, learning as to why the massacre happened. It was an orchestrated attack." He explained.

"For what?" Shiro asked him.

"Turns out it was a rivalry between the Shirai Ryu, and a clan known as the Lin Kuei. Assassins, the night of the massacre was a message, and I saw what happened to my adoptive father, and my little brother. The man who killed them had superhuman abilities… to control ice." Keith told him.

But the silence was soon broken with Lance letting out a laugh. "A man who controls ice? Please, it must have been a dagger or something." He said to his old rival in disbelief.

"I know what I saw Lance!" Keith shouted at him and looked at the board. "He wasn't alone… I have been combing through the archives, finding references to people using ice abilities, others who can use fire, lightning, and a number of things that couldn't be explained. Different cultures, even creatures from our Greek myths and Medieval literature that faced off in an ancient tournament that has lasted for centuries." He explained.

"How can you be so sure?" Hunk asked him, feeling a bit curious and nervous at the same time.

"Because there's another tournament coming, and my adoptive father was going to be a part of it. But someone wanted him out of the way, and I'm trying to find out why someone wants Earth to fail in the next tournament. It has many names, but it is known to some…" He gestures to the photo that has MORTAL KOMBAT in it. "As Mortal Kombat."

Lance looked at the image and snickered. "Okay, you made that up right? Because it sounds super ridiculous, and look, it's spelled wrong." He told him.

"He's telling the truth, I know, because I've witnessed first hand what Earth will be up against." Shiro said to him and looked down remembering all the innocent prisoners who were killed without mercy. "It is too horrible to think of." He muttered but looked at Lance. "I guess I should also thank you for getting me out of there. Lance right?" He held out his prosthetic hand, earning a nervous look from Lance as he hesitates, but he smiled and took his hand and shook it.

Shiro let go of his hand and looked to Pidge and Hunk. "The nervous guy's Hunk. I'm Pidge. So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it's just bits and pieces. That includes the fights." Shiro told her.

Pidge looked down feeling disappointed with the answer she received, Sonya walked up to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. But Hunk stepped up to interject into the conversation. "Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for all of us? Like where are they at this very moment?" He asked him about the aliens that plan to come after them.

"I can't really put it together. I-I remember the name "Raiden". He's some kind of god or something. Whoever he is, I think we need to find him and ask for his help."

"But the question is, how do we find him? He could be anywhere." Jax said to him, knowing it would be near impossible to locate him.

Keith rubbed his chin a bit but soon looked towards an image of a temple that was on the board. "Or he could be in one place." He pulled the image down and showed them. "That's Raiden's temple, the location is currently unknown at this point."

"But what if we found certain references to where it might be, satellite imagery or something that can locate it." Hunk suggested.

Lance was quite impressed with how he came up with that. "Hunk, you big gassy genius. That is actually-..." Lance suddenly paused as he started smelling something, which caused him to cough and cover his mouth. "Whoa, what crawled in here and died?!" He asked as everyone looked around and saw smoke.

Keith's eyes widened and rushed to follow the trail of smoke, and saw a hole in the wall of his shack, large enough for anything to get in, but the edges were covered in acid. Pidge was startled to see it as she stepped up to examine the acid. "Fascinating." She stated as she took a stick and touched the acid with it and saw how quickly it was dissolving the stick and she quickly dropped it. "It's some kind of sulfuric acid, highly concentrated, but it also looks like… saliva…?" She asked in confusion.

Keith heard something moving and looked around. "There's something in here!" He shouted as everyone looked around, but before they could react, something knocked Hunk off his feet with tremendous strength, causing him to scream in terror as he slammed against the wall and hit the floor.

He immediately shot back up looking panicked. "WHOA! What was that?!" He asked, trying to look around frantically, but then something grabbed Pidge and held her up to a wall, choking her.

Sonya saw it as her eyes widened in shock. "Pidge!" She yelled and took her knives and threw one at whatever was holding her. The first blade pierced the back of what it was, as it slowly revealed some sort of reptilian creature as it shrieked. She threw a second knife, piercing its shoulder as it released Pidge and ran off and disappeared.

She coughed as she held her neck. "What the heck was that?!" She asked them.

"Better question, where is it?!" Lance asked and looked around for it. Keith pulled out his blade and looked around for it, unaware that above them, the creature quietly crawled across the sealing. It revealed itself for a moment to use its tongue to pull out the blade in its shoulder. Once pulled out, the creature held it in its mouth and dissolved it with its acidic saliva before disappearing.

Keith saw the saliva dripping down and looked up only to see it wasnt there. "It's toying with us." He said to them while keeping an eye open for it.

"A game of cat and mouse huh?" Shiro looked around and found some flares and grabbed one of them along with a knife. "Then let's give it something to hunt." He lit the flare and held it out, quickly earning its attention as it snarled and charged at him. Seeing its footsteps on the floor as it crushed a few images, Shiro avoided a strike from what was coming and pinned it down as he held the flare to its back and stabbed the knife through it and pierced it into its back as it shrieked in pain from it. "There you are." He landed a few punches across its face to stun it, the creature dodged the next attack and swung his tail, landing a hard hit across his jaw.

Jax saw it and charged at it and landed several punches against the creature in its face, only to get shoved back as the creature crawled across the wall and pin board, burning all of Keith's research. Finally it had enough, it decided to lose the camouflage, revealing itself as a Galra reptilian hybrid. Jax was surprised to see it as it snarled at them. "You are one… ugly motherfucker." He commented as the hybrid snarled in anger and charged at them.

Shiro blocked its attacks and punched it in its ribcage, while Keith landed a roundhouse kick across its face, knocking out a few fangs. But the hybrid used its tail to knock him away as he smacked Shiro down to the floor. It then shot its tongue towards Shiro and snared his neck, pulling him over as he grabbed him by his neck. Snarling at him with every intention of killing him. Pidge got up and glared at it wanting some payback for earlier. "Knife!" She called out to Sonya as she tossed one to her as Pidge caught it and leaped to the hybrid and stabbed it in the chest of the creature, causing it to shriek in pain. Keith flipped his knife up and kicked it straight towards the hybrid's face as it pierced one of its eyes. It cried out in agony as Shiro's prosthetic hand began to glow and he charged at the creature, punching through its chest, rupturing its heart in the process. It cried out from it as Shiro pulled his fist out as it was covered in its blood, he watched it collapse to the floor dead as a doornail.

Keith grabbed his knife and pulled it out of the corpse and quickly grabbed the image of the temple before it could get burnt. "Everyone out, now!" He yelled as he and the group ran out of the shack to escape the blaze. Once escaping the burning shack, Keith watched as his old home burnt down, with everything he once knew.

Shiro walked up to him and touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry Keith, I know how much this place meant to you." He said to him to try and comfort him.

"It can be rebuilt… the only sad part is that all my research can't be replaced." He replied to his friend and mentor.

"So much for finding the temple." Lance commented.

"Knock it off Lance, we have bigger problems." Jax pointed out as everyone looked to see Galra warriors surrounding them. They each had different weapons and abilities showing, catching Lance in disbelief as his jaw dropped in surprise. "Still think Keith was joking?" He asked him.

Lance took a moment to process this, and gulped as he backed up. "Well, maybe a little less now." He admitted.

One of the Galra warriors approached with his hands behind his back as he looked upon the Earthrealmers. "I am Haxus, of the Galra Empire… by order of Emperor Zarkon, and by order of the Outworld Emperor, Shao Kahn. you all are to be executed." He said to them as he formed a grin.

Lance could not believe what he just heard. "On what charge?!" He demanded to know the reason as to why they were to be executed.

"For aiding an escapee, and plotting to prevent your realm from merging with Outworld." Haxus said to him as Lance was literally stiff in learning this, the Galra leader gestured to his comrades to finish them quickly. The warriors grinned as they walked towards the earthrealmers, weapons and powers ready for the kill.

"Well, if this is how we're gonna go down, at least it's among friends." Sonya said to her allies.

"I wish we had more time to get to know each other." Lance said to her.

"Actually I was talking about me and Jax." Sonya replied to him as he gave her a scowl.

"Knock it off, we can make it through this… together." Shiro said to them.

"We better, because I have no intention of dying today." Keith said to him as he held out his blade towards the Galra warriors. "Well? You come here for a fight? Or are you just going to stand there?!" He asked them.

Hunk looked at him with a panicked expression. "Might I suggest not pissing off the aliens that are trying to kill us?!" He asked him as Haxus grinned and stroked his thumb across his neck, gesturing to his warriors to finish them. The Galra warriors advanced to kill them, but before they could even reach them, a strange blue portal opened above the Earthrealmers, catching them by surprise. "Whoa, what is that?!" Hunk asked as his body along with the others began to glow.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's theirs." Pidge said to him as she began to float into the air. "WHOA! What is happening?!" She asked as the others began to float up to the portal.

"The portals pulling us in!" Keith said to her as he reached out to them. "Grab on!" He called out as Pidge reached and grabbed his hand. The others grabbed each other's hands as they ascended to the portal.

"Where does it lead?!" Sonya asked as they got closer to the portal.

"I don't know, but wherever it goes, the Galra aren't following!" Shiro told her as they reached the portal and disappeared.

Haxus watched as the portal closed above them, knowing that it was of Altean origin. He pulled out a communicator to contact his commanding officer, knowing full well how angry he's gonna be. Upon answering. "I'm willing to gamble that you're wishing you could see my face right now Haxus." Said his commander.

"Commander Sendak, the Earthrealmers escaped through an Altean portal. Their destination could be anywhere." Haxus replied to him.

"Then I suggest you find out where, before I come down there and KILL YOU MYSELF!" Sendak shouted over the radio and hung up on him. Haxus knew he was in deep shit, and he needed to remedy this before his neck got in Sendak's claws.

(~)

Arus

Meanwhile on a distant planet, the portal reopened above a field and let the Earthrealmers fall down to it as they screamed before hitting the ground. They groaned from the impact as they slowly began to recover from it. "Okay, anyone wanna get the number on that portal? Because I think I just sprained an ankle." Lance said to them.

"Oh get over it, you'll be fine." Jax said to him.

Keith rubbed his head and looked around the area. "What is this place?" He asked.

"I don't know… none of the terrain looks familiar to me." Shiro said as he looked around.

Pidge looked around seeing where they were, and noticed most of the plant life. "Wherever we are, it's definitely not Earth." She stated as she examined the vegetation. "I may not have a green thumb like my mom, but there are no known species of plant like these anywhere on our planet."

"We need to find out where we are." Sonya suggested and looked around and spotted a plateau that had a good view point. "That plateau should give us a good vantage point, let's get moving." She told them as she led the group to the plateau to find out where they were.

As they traveled, Keith looked around noticing some of the wildlife around them. He noticed just how bizarre the animals were, it was certainly a sign that they were nowhere on Earth. It took almost a couple hours to reach the plateau, but once they reached the top, they looked around and saw a vast ocean, which surprised them beyond belief. "Holy crow… this is… this is amazing." Lance commented.

"And it would seem that we are not alone." Jax pointed out seeing someone silhouetted by the planet's sun.

The team looked at the figure as he was walking on top of a hill and stopped at the top, looking at them as he sensed something from them that he could recognize. He smiled within his shadow, knowing they were ally's. "At last." He started walking down the hill and headed towards them.

Keith watched him approach and went to step forward, but Lance beat him to it as he had fists ready in case of a fight. "All right pal, you better stop right there before I come over there and kick your-" His sentence was cut off when the warrior before him shot a fireball at him, landing a powerful hit against him as he flew back. "WHOOOOOAAAAA!" Lance cried out as he crashed against the ground, letting out a painful groan as Pidge let out a humorous laugh while the rest of the team looked to their acquaintance.

"I'm not your enemy." He said to them as he lowered his hands.

"Well, maybe not ours, but you sure became Lance's." Keith pointed out as he looked to Lance who was putting out some of the flames that were still on him. Keith looked back to the warrior before them, noticing his shaolin garments and looked at him. "Who are you?" He asked him.

"I am Liu Kang." He introduced himself as he bowed to them. "From the Shaolin Order of Light."

"You're human." Shiro said to him.

"Yes, from Earthrealm, like yourselves." Liu responded to him as he approached them. "Coming to seek Raiden's temple, just like you."

"Whoa, whoa, screw the temple! You just shot a fireball out of your hand! How the hell did you do that?!" Lance asked him as Liu looked at him but glanced at the others. "Hang on, hang the hell on… if this tournament is real, does that mean I'm gonna get super powers at any point? It does, doesn't it?" He asked him.

"If you do get super powers, you're likely gonna get one that will annoy everyone." Pidge commented, earning a deadpan glare from Lance as Liu approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"There is much to learn." He told him as Lance looked at him in confusion as Liu looked at Shiro. "But not here… follow me." He walked past him and the team to lead them to their destination.

Sonya followed after him with Jax and the team and stepped up walking next to him. "How did you get here exactly?" She asked him.

"Like you, a portal opened up before me while I was at the Wu Shi Academy in Earthrealm. I knew it was a sign that I had been chosen, so I went through. That's when I arrived here, on this very planet, the same as you. Only you had a much rougher transfer to here." Liu explained to her.

"You can say that again… still can't get this crick out of my neck." Hunk tried to fix it, Liu stopped and looked towards him and walked over to him and got him to sit down on a nearby log. "Whoa, what are you doing, what's he-" Before Hunk could ask, Liu grabbed his head and pulled it up a bit, then turned his head and neck in different directions as a loud popping sound could be heard from Hunk's neck as he let out a small cry of pain.

"Better?" He asked him as Hunk adjusted his neck a bit and found that the pain was no longer there.

"Wow, a lot better. How'd you do that?" He asked.

"Years of practice, come." Liu led the team on as Hunk got up from the log and followed after them.

As they traveled, Lance couldn't help but feel curious along the way. "Hey, David Copperfield, hold on. Show me how you did that, come on, I wanna learn." He pestered the shaolin to tell him his secrets, only to annoy the others in the process.

As they traveled through the land, seeing many landscapes, and seeing the locals which they didn't want to bother, Liu led the team to a hill where they had a full view of what appeared to be a castle, sitting in front of what appeared only to be… Raiden's Temple. The team was amazed to see it and the castle for the first time in their lives, and Liu Kang smiled upon seeing their surprised faces. "This is what you all have been seeking." He told them.

"How do we know you're not leading us into a trap? Forgive me Liu, but I was captured by aliens two years ago, I can't help but feel a little cautious." Shiro said to him in his own defense.

"I understand your reasons for not trusting me, but my sole purpose is to defend Earthrealm from Shao Kahn. For if it falls into his hands… Earth as we know it… will cease to be." Liu said to him.

Jax approached Shiro and nudged him. "We can trust him, Shiro… if anything happens, we'll be ready." He told him.

"I'm with Jax, let's see who's in the castle first, then head to the temple to find Raiden." Keith suggested as the rest of the team nodded their heads in agreement. Shiro knew it was risky given his own experience, but he trusted his friend's judgment, and looked at Liu Kang.

"All right Liu, lead the way." Shiro said to him as Liu nodded his head and led them towards the castle. The team knew that they were in for the most perilous journey of their lives. But they all wondered the same questions… who was in the castle? And why did they bring them to this world?

Author Notes: Hey guys, here is my first chapter. I know it is probably short for your tastes, and probably not really original. But I will leave that up to you guys, because I know there will be some manner of criticism coming my way. But if you guys like the chapter, and have any ideas for the next chapter, let me know, and I shall see you all in the review comments. TTFN (Ta Ta For Now.)