Chapter 13: Wu Shi Academy
Liu Kang and Kung Lao arrived at the Wu Shi Dragon Academy, where the Shaolin Monks and White Lotus are trained. It is also where Liu Kang grew up and was trained. Chosen as the champion of Raiden himself. Liu Kang is willing to protect his friends and all of Earthrealm and remains loyal to Raiden. He has attended every class, unlike Kung Lao. While Kung Lao isn't as kind or skilled as Liu Kang, he is still a good person despite his ego, wanting to be Liu Lang's equal. Kung Lao tends to jump to conclusions far more quicker.
"I perish in the Kolosseum? You on a rooftop fighting Lord Raiden?" Kung Lao questions. "Our future. It is insane."
"Obsessing over it will not change it." Liu Kang said. "There was nothing they would do to change it just by complaining."
"Neither is accepting our destinies as evil undead warlords." Kung Lao said.
"I'm not. We cannot change a future that we do not fully understand. Lord Raiden will guide us." Liu Kang said. He knows that somehow, Raiden will find a way to fix everything.
"Can we trust him? It appears he got us both killed." Kung Lao doubts Raiden. Before they could argue however, they see a dead monk covered in blood on the staircase. They continue upwards and find many others dead, sharing the same fate.
"So many Shaolin. They died defending our sacred ground." Liu Kang feels horrified. "The Neatherrealm will pay."
They continue walking past the dead monks and walk inside and run into one of the first traps; three giant, swinging axes.
"Do you know how to avoid these? The Monks never taught me." Kung Lao claimed.
"More likely you did not attend class because of your laziness." Liu Kang assumed. "Watch the pattern, and pick your moment." Liu Kang instructed. He steps back and waits for the right timing. Liu Kang runs forward and leaps forward past the trap without a single scratch. He recovers and looks at Kung Lao with a mocking smirk.
Kung Lao stares at the trap and smirks and simply throws his hat into the side of the trap and disables it. He walks through and grabs his hat again. "Easy enough. What could be next?"
"Poison Gas, shooting spears, flame jets." Liu Kang said. All a sudden, all of the doors around them have closed shut.
"I did not do that." Kung Lao said. As he said that, a chain spear nearly misses their heads and retracts back to none other than Scorpion, Hanzo Hasashi's past self.
"I did." Last time he was seen before the time merger, he was defeated by Kuai Liang and was spared from death when the Cyber Lin Kuie captured Liang and took him away to turn him into a cyborg.
"Scorpion. Should've know you would survive the time-merger." Liu Kang said.
"You will not stop Kronika. Be thankful she brought you here. She promised me a new clan and my family back. Something Raiden failed to do." Scorpion tells them.
"Kronika? She is the one responsible for the temporal anomalies?" Liu Kang said.
"Indeed. She has many allies at her side. You will not stop her from bringing back what I lost." Scorpion said.
"You lost your chance when you turned against Raiden's promise." Kung Lao tells him.
"If Scorpion doesn't kill us, the traps will. Find a way to disable them." Liu Kang instructs Kung Lao. He goes to do so while Liu Kang confronts Scorpion. "Let's see whose fire burns better."
Scorpion starts with a fiery frontflip kick, which Liu Kang easily blocks with his fiery fists. Liu Kang punches his ribcages and back kicks the left side of his face twice, and kicks him in the chest, sending him backwards, but Scorpion teleports and pops up behind him and spins his chain spears, which Liu Kang avoids and shoots fireballs, but Scorpion teleports again and double kicks him in the back, teleports once more and punches him two times in the chest. Liu Kang slides back to a knee. He puts his hands together and closes his eyes. Scorpion teleports again and spins his chain spears again, but Liu Kang grabs them, pulls him in and does a dragon kick, sending him into a wall, defeating him. He falls to his hands and knees.
"Liu Kang. I stopped them." Kung Lao tells him. They see Scorpion escaping via teleportation. The doors reopen, but for someone else. A rather familiar face, someone they were definitely not expecting. It's Revenant Jade.
"Jade? Is that you?" Liu Kang recognizes her.
"An untimely death, like yours. Raiden is to blame for it all." Revenant Jade tells them.
"You cannot turn us against him. We know about our deaths. It is not Lord Raiden's fault." Liu Kang said.
"Raiden is deceiving you. The truth is, the thunder god betrayed and murdered you." Revenant Jade said.
"Lord Raiden may make mistakes, but he wouldn't just murder his followers. He trained us to fight without fear." Kung Lao said with Liu Kang agreeing with a nod.
"Is it not murder to send ill-prepared warriors to their deaths? Raiden's mistake cost you your life, Kung Lao. Revenant Jade said. "And you, Liu Kang. Raiden killed you because he believed you stood in his way."
"You lie, Jade!" Liu Kang angrily claims.
"Do I?" Revenant Jade smiles before they battle two on one. Revenant Jade spins her staff downward to trip them but they both jump, with Kung Lao throwing his hat at her and misses, but was a distraction as Kung Lao suddenly appears behind her and spins and hits her back with both fists before landing on his feet. She stumbled towards Liu Kang and he bicycle kicks her. Revenant Jade quickly recovers and Liu Kang throws a fireball at her, only for her to use her shadow armor power and it phases through her. At the same time, she throws a razor rang and it almost hits Liu Kang in the face, and Revenant Jade steps in and delivers a kick to the gut, to the chest and a kick to the left cheek and forehead. She then slams her staff into Kung Lao's chest and spins it rapidly, hitting him in the head multiple times and hits him in the chest with the endpoint of it, sliding him down on the ground. Liu Kang slams his nunchucks on the back of her head, making her bounces off the ground face first and fly up in the air. He jumps up, kicks her in the chest twice and Kung Lao grabs her, throws her on the ground, face first, defeating her.
"You will not test our faiths, Jade." Liu Kang said before the two monks move on. They lift the barred door all the way up, leading to the Jinsei fountain.
"What if the next revenants we fight are us?" Kung Lao asked in worry.
"Then we fight, Kung Lao." Liu Kang assures him as they continue.
Beyond the realms, Raiden teleports himself to the Elder Gods, hoping to seek guidance from them about the time anomalies. Things do not seem to be looking good for them.
"Elder Gods. I have come to seek your counseling. The realms are in crisis because of the mysterious time anomalies. All of them." Raiden tells them.
They look at him in silence for a moment before speaking as one. "The crisis is grave, indeed, Raiden. Every being will be erased because of the temporal distortion. Even us Elder Gods. Our powers weaken as we speak." The Elder Gods tell him.
"I will fight. But how can I?" Raiden said.
Cetrion, one of the Elder Gods, speaks up. "You must find Kronika's Keep, where she guards the Hourglass. That is when time itself will be restored." Cetrion said.
"Kronika? I may have heard that name before. A controller of time and space. A one of a kind Titan. The Titans were believed to have been extinct for millennia." Raiden said.
"You heard correctly. Kronika is a Titan and she was once our ally. She is responsible for giving birth to this timeline like all others before this. As time passed, her mind broke, corrupted by countless resets of the universe. Following her betrayel, Shinnok followed in her footsteps. For whatever reasons he made this decision, only time can tell us. She grew into something else. A being called a Titan." The Elder Gods explained.
"I see. Then the danger we face is worse than we realize." Raiden said. He turns his head away, thinking of everything he has been told so far.
Cetrion notices Raiden looking down, having thought of something. "Speak your mind, Raiden."
"Ever since this time-merger, I have learned of my future. My friends and champions falling. That I become a tyrant." Raiden feels worried. "If I defeat Kronika, will I be condemned to this grim fate?"
"The restoration of time will not predetermine your destiny. That is something that only you can decide, Raiden." Cetrion said.
Raiden understands what is going on and what he must do, but he can't help but feel concerned of what has happened before Kronika messed with time. Not only that, he has a strange feeling that something else is up, that Kronika may be planning something else.
Liu Kang and Kung Lao enter the Wu Shi Grotto, where the Jinsei is being kept. Just as Liu Kang has mentioned earlier to Past Jax and Cassie, much to the latter's fear of someone messing with it. They see someone gathering some and filling it in small capsules. "Any point of us asking you to put those back?" Liu Kang mockingly asked.
"They all said you would come, Liu Kang and Kung Lao." Geras said.
"And who would that be?" Liu Kang asked. They turn to their left and much to their horror, it is their revenant selves.
"Welcome to your future. Courtesy of Raiden." Revenant Liu Kang said. The two revenants confront their past selves, who look horrified at what they have become. Regardless, they still try to convince them that their fates were by accident.
"Our future is tragic, but Raiden is not to blame. You've been poisoned by Shinnok's evil." Young Liu Kang said.
"Shao Kahn snapped my neck in his arena during the tournament like the coward he is. Raiden saw it coming and did nothing to prevent my death. He thought my life was not worth saving." Revenant Kung Lao said, making his past self gesture to his own neck.
"I would've killed Shao Kahn. I could have saved everyone and avenge the fallen. But Raiden wanted the glory to himself, and his lightning led me to my demise." Revenant Liu Kang claimed.
"You lie. Raiden defended himself. He did what he thought he could do to save Earthrealm." Young Liu Kang said.
"The thought of us becoming you sickens me, but I won't blame Raiden." Young Kung Lao claimed.
"You owe Kronika. She saved your lives with merging time." Revenent Kung Lao said before fighting Liu Kang, with Kung Lao fighting Revenant Liu Kang.
They are all evenly matched with each other, given the fact that they have trained with each other for years. Revenant Liu Kang throws fireballs at young Kung Lao, who throws his hat to cut through them with ease and fly back to him. Young Kung Lao attempts to roundhouse kick, but Revenant Liu Kang dragon parries it and swings nunchucks on different parts of his body: his right waist, left rib cage, and on top of his head. Revenant Liu Kang kicks him in the chest twice and does a kick to the right side of the face. Kung Lao recovers and knees his stomach and chops him in the head, spins, making Revenant Liu Kang fly. Young Kung Lao jumps high, does a dive kick to the chest, cracking it, does a series of rapid punches to the face and delivers a strong one before rolling off. The revenant chosen one gets back up, only for Kung Lao to front flip over him, grabs his shoulders and knees him in the stomach and does a strong chop to the spine and does a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking him into a wall. Revenant Liu Kang recovers and tries to do a series of fiery dragon punches, but Kung Lao teleports behind him, throws him in the air and and front flip kicks Revenant Liu Kang down and defeats him.
Young Liu Kang fights Kung Lao's revenant. Liu Kang kicks his chest four times and swings his nunchucks at his chest and trips him with the weapon. Revenant Kung Lao rolls backwards and teleports behind his opponent, but Liu Kang elbows him in the crotch, punches him across the face, then the stomach and then sends a palm strike in the face, backhands him in the head, chops his upper spine, and knees his chest and two palm strikes to the chest, cracking it and defeats him with a nunchuck strike to the back of the head and stomps his head.
He and his Kung Lao nod to each other before heading towards Geras. Geras was just about done loading up the dozen viles filled with Jinsei. He walks towards them. "You should've listened to your future counterparts. With the Jinsei, Kronika will remake history."
Kung Lao swiftly throws his hat towards Geras' neck, decapitating him as blood spills out as the hat comes back. "That was easy." Kung Lao said. He should not have said that. Geras' head turns into sand and flows back onto the body and he stands back up, as if he never died to begin with.
"I am Geras. I am a fixed point in time, created by Kronika herself. With every death and rebirth, I become stronger and wiser." Geras said. They both attack him, with Geras hardly feeling a thing, but still flinches. He briefly gains the upper hand and knocks them both back, until the original chosen one managed to knock the Jinsei out of his hands.
"Fetch the Jinsei, chosen one. I must finish what I started." Kung Lao said. Liu Kang nods and goes to grab them.
"You're great, but you are not the Great Kung Lao." Geras said.
"You know my ancestor?" Kung Lao asked.
"He stood a chance against me. You? You have none." Geras said before they fight.
Geras starts by punching him in the face, slams on his shoulder and on his head. Geras picks him up and knees his spine and tosses him. Geras attempts to use a giant fist his summoned out of sand, but Kung Lao knees his gut, does a palm strike to the face, does a strong spin attack, sends him flying. Kung Lao jumps up, kicks him twice and does an eagle kick to the chest, cracking it. Kung Lao does a dive kick, only to be grabbed by Geras and thrown backwards. Kung Lao uses his hat to teleport and front of him and grabs his shoulders and does four punches to the chest and does three kicks to the chest and neck, stumbling him. Geras traps his feet in sand, lifts him up, uses two hammers made out of sand and slams Kung Lao's back and front, cracking his chest. He quickly throws his hat at his right leg, slicing it off, does a dive kick to the chest, and does rapid punches to the face followed by an elbow strike, cracking his jaw. Geras tries to get back up and tries to trap Kung Lao again, but Kung Lao was quick this time and jump kicks him the face, cracking it. He does rapid punches to the chest, breaking it and swings his hat at Geras' throat, and blood comes out, throws his hat behind Geras and it spins like a saw blade, kicks Geras into it, partially slicing his back open. Kung Lao grabs it, throws it in front of Geras, and kicks Geras into it, sending his face through the sharp hat, slicing his head in half, killing him.
"I can't permanently kill you, but that should buy us time." Kung Lao said.
"Well done, for the second best Monk in the Academy." Liu Kang congratulates and teases him.
"I'll let that slide this time. Let's get out of here quick before he resurrects himself again." Kung Lao said.
"Agreed." Liu Kang agreed.
Before they could do so, sand flows around them and Kronika appears before them. Staring at them with a smirk on her face. "Liu Kang. I have waited for us to meet for a long time. The original chosen one in fact."
"You must be Kronika." Liu Kang assumed.
"Correct. I am the Keeper of Time. I must undo the damage that your mentor Raiden has caused. I cannot do this alone without the Jinsei. And you, Liu Kang and Kung Lao." Kronika said.
"Whatever it is you have planned, it will not come to pass. We will not be so easily fooled." Kung Lao said.
"You will not have the Jinsei. You will have to fight us and kill us." Liu Kang said.
"My dear Liu Kang. I do not want to kill you. I have plans for you both, and I do not wish to fight you." Kronika said.
Before they could attack, she freezes time on them, giving Geras enough time to resurrect himself again. Once Geras has woken up, he takes the Jinsei from Liu Kang's hand.
"It is dangerous to let them live." Geras tells his creator.
"We need them. If they die, their revenant counterparts will die as well. They must guard the keep." Kronika reminds him before flowing towards the young chosen one. "You have chosen the wrong fate, Liu Kang."
"What about the other chosen one? You still need him." Geras said.
"Do not worry, old friend. He will play the biggest role for the New Era. For now, my daughter must do her part first. We must return to the Keep." Kronika said before transporting herself, the revenants and Geras away, unfreezing Liu Kang and Kung Lao. They get up and realize that neither Kronika or Geras are seen and the Jinsei is gone. They failed to recover Earthrealm's life source, but they know of their new enemy: Kronika.
Kronika flows back to the Keep to the hourglass where she meets Revenant Kitana, Shao Kahn and Sektor. "I now possess the energy to resculpt the Sands of Time. The Neatherrealm's army will protect the Keep as I work. Shao Kahn. What is the status of your Outworld army?"
"Do not worry. It will be mine once again when I kill Kotal Kahn." Shao Kahn said.
"The Cyber Lin Kuei is modified by your specifications, Kronika. Production exceeds expectations." Sektor reports.
Kronika smirks. She is glad that everything is progressing as she had seen through the hourglass. Time is on her side, because she knows what she must do. Raiden may have his chosen one, but Kronika has her own. She hopes that Raiden will know who it is.
Note: For Scorpion, I gave him his MK9 Skin since I find it better suited for him than the outfit he uses in the story cutscenes. In fact, I use that for one of the two variations of the character. Scorpion is one of the six characters I have two variations for. The others being Cassie with one being her Harley Quinn outfit, Jax, Joker, Spawn and the Terminator. Also, I decided not to include Scorpion in a second fight and have Liu Kang and Kung Lao fight Jade 2 on 1 instead and have them disable to traps. Kung Lao's final move on Geras was his fatal blow from MK11. I had Kung Lao fight Liu Kang's revenant and vice versa since the revenants probably would've just easily defeat their own counterparts via memories. One plot hole I managed to fix. And I gave Kronika a bit of a background story which she never had in MK11.