Disclaimer: I do not own Mortal Kombat or it's characters. All rights belong to Ed Boon, Nether Realm Studios and Warner Bros.
"He. Must. Win."
Images from the future replay backwards leading all the way back to Earthrealms 10th Mortal Kombat tournament in a mans head. This 10th tournament would decide the fate of Earthrealm.
The images stop and the man grasps his head gently to ease some of the pain. A young asian looking man, with jet black hair and red and black warrior monk robes, standing next to him, looks at the man with concern.
"Lord Raiden? Are you alright?" The young man asks.
Shaking his head gently to shake away the sudden pain then looking at the young man, the thunder god, Raiden, answers with slight confusion. "I'm fine, Liu Kang, but I've just gotten... strange visions... from the future it seems." He answers before he suddenly hears an almost silent cracking sound.
Looking at his amulet, Raiden removes it from his chest and glances at it to see a slight crack in the middle of the jewel of his amulet.
"Lord Raiden, your amulet!" Liu Kang exclaims in shock, but Raiden only looks confused before shaking his head lightly ignoring the damaged amulet then looks over at the young monk. "It is nothing, Liu Kang. The tournament is about to begin." He says calmly as he turns his gaze towards the altar when music begins to play.
Among the crowd of fighters, a cloaked and hooded individual stood silently as an elderly asian man walks up with multiple servants, and a few warriors, to the altar to greet the combatants. One of the warriors the cloaked individual instantly recognized, but not the other standing beside her. The other warrior standing to the left of the elderly man, however, he recognizes as a Tarkatan. He didn't care about the Tarkatan at the moment, but he knows that their kind are a major threat.
Looking back at the women, one was a beautiful warrior princess with long jet black hair wearing a blue, and very revealing, attire. The other was equally as beautiful with long jet black hair, dark skin and wearing a green, but also revealing, attire.
"Kitana..." The individual whispers.
Each of the other combatants waited patiently for the man as the servants walked in front of the altar, kneeled down on their knees and bowed their heads low.
The elderly asian man gently motions his hands for the music to stop and it did so. The old man then begins to speak. "Combatants, I am Shang Tsung! In the coming days, each of you will fight. Some are here of their own volition." Shang Tsung motions to one side of the crowded combatants before motioning to the other. "Others were brought here by chance." He says before continuing his speech.
Among the crowd, a young caucasian man with dark brown hair wearing an expensive looking suit and sunglasses, looks over to his right at a young blonde military woman and flashes an egotistical smirk. "Hey there, beautiful. Johnny Cage." He says to her, introducing himself.
The young woman rolls her eyes. "Ugh. Good for you." She says trying to brush him off, but he persists.
"What? Massive Strike? Citizen Cage? Ninja Mime? None of those ring a bell?" He asks her smugly.
The woman just continues to ignore him before she looks over to her right when she sees a familiar face. A man she's been chasing that eventually lead her to this island.
"Kano..." She says calmly, but with hidden anger.
Cage pauses and thinks before shaking his head. "Kano? Wasn't in that one." He says thinking she's talking to him. The young woman just scowls and gives him a side glare. "Not you, dumbass." She says with an annoyed tone.
Cage looks at her, offended. "That was rude." He says before looking back at Shang Tsung, who was still speaking to the crowd.
"You will all be participating in the most important Mortal Kombat in history. This tournament, the tenth after nine Outworld victories, will determine the fate of Earthrealm." He continues to speak as the crowd remains silent and listens. "If one of you manages to defeat all of your opponents, you will face one final challenge..." He continues before pausing.
He examines the crowd carefully before smirking. "...Me." He finally says.
Off to the side, Cage snickers before letting out a barking laugh. "Hah! Him? That old geezer is going to be the final challenge? He might as well just give me the belt now and name me the champion." He says with a chuckle before pausing then looks back at the young blonde woman. "Um... they do have belts, right?" He asks her, but the woman just scoffs and turns her head away from him.
The cloaked hooded individual looks at Cage with a glare, but no one could it, and grits his teeth. "Will this guy just shut up already? He's only spoken a few words to that woman and he's already pissing me off with that ego of his." He thinks to himself before pausing when he suddenly sees Shang Tsung standing right beside Cage.
"Ahem." The elderly man clears his throat, making Cage look to his left and jumping in shock. "What...? How the hell did you-" He begins to ask, but Shang Tsung cuts him off. "Appearances can be deceiving, Mr. Cage." He says with a twisted smile before walking away from him.
"Our first combatant to start the tournament will be Mr. Johnny Cage!" He announces while levitating back to his spot on the altar.
Feeling unsure for a moment, Cage looks over at the blonde woman with uncertainty, but wanting to impress her, he scoffs and walks forward. "Hah! Yeah, that's right! That's right! Who's it gonna be? Who wants to be first?" He asks, turning around to look at the crowd of other fighters while showboating and putting on an act.
The hooded individual was tempted to walk forward and reveal himself so he could shut Cage's mouth and eliminate him from the tournament early to humble him, but then Shang Tsung spoke, stopping him. "Reptile!"
Everyone suddenly heard low growling and looked around to find the source of the sound before a creature standing on the roof of the temple revealed itself.
Shang Tsung's monks began to clap as the ninja looking reptilian creature jumped down the roof and landed beside Cage, making him jump back, once again, in shock.
Cage looked up at the roof then back at Reptile with a slight nod of approval. "Nice stunt. Who's your agent?" He asks him while getting ready to fight.
Johnny Cage vs. Reptile...
"Begin!" Shang Tsung announces.
Reptile sprang forward towards Cage, who just smirked. "Showtime!" He says beforehand dodging Reptiles tackle and delivers a roundhouse kick to his head which sent the humanoid reptile spinning backwards through the air before landing on his back. "Hah! That the best you got?" Cage taunts him.
Getting up with an angry hiss, Reptile glares at Cage before suddenly turning invisible and disappearing. Cage and the other combatants stood in shock at Reptile had just done.
"What the...?! That's not fair!" Cage shouts as he looks around him in a panic to try and find Reptile, who had suddenly reappeared behind him.
Reptile grabs Cage from behind and lifts him up before launching him backwards towards the ground. Getting back up quickly, Cage looks to glare at Reptile, but sees that he is already on top of him.
Reptile claws and slashes at Cage with his sharp claws before finally managing to cut Cage's arm.
"Argh! Hey! Take it easy, pal! No need to get so rough!" Cage complained as he examined his arm, but then noticed his blood on his suit. "Oh, come on! This suit cost six hundred dollars! You know how long it's going to take before this stain comes out?! That's going to cost four hundred dollars to do that! Plus, I'll need someone to patch up that cut! That's an additional three hundred bucks!" He continued to complain while everyone looked annoyed at the man as he continues to complain.
"I know the fate of Earthrealm is at stake here, but fuck it, somebody please kill this idiot before the tournament ends." The individual thinks to himself as he watches the fight.
Reptile just smirks under his mask before letting out a disturbing chuckle. "If you cannot handle the pain, then a weak human like you should not be here. Now, shut up and fight, weakling." He says before rushing towards Cage.
"Alright, I've run out of patience." Cage says quietly before dodging Reptile, who rushes past him and turns around only to have a flurry of punches aimed towards his head and torso before Cage backflips Reptiles chin that sends hims flying into the air.
Before Reptile lands on the ground, Cage jumps into the air with a flying kick that hits Reptile in his torso that sends him crashing against the wall before finally landing on the ground unconscious.
Cage lands on the ground himself and fixes the arms of his suit before adjusting his sunglasses. He looks over at the other combatants, some looked impressed while others looked annoyed that he wasn't dead yet.
"Yeah. That's right, bitches. Mess with the suit or the sunglasses, and you'll get your shit wrecked." He says to them boldly before looking at Shang Tsung, who looked equally as annoyed as the other fighters. "Well?" He says arrogantly.
Shang Tsung sighs deeply before lifting his hand in Cage's direction. "Johnny Cage wins!" He declares.
Cage nods and flexes his arms before looking back at the crowd. "Yeah, that's right! You all better look out, because I'm taking you all down. And you know I will." He claims before looking over at the blonde woman. "You though, I'll be taking you out... to dinner." He tells her and flashes his best smile.
But the woman just looks disgusted and offended. "Ugh."
The hooded individual scoffs and shakes his head. Noticing this, Shang Tsung looks at the hooded figure. "You there! I noticed earlier that you wanted to fight Mr. Cage before I spoke. But I had him fight Reptile before you could challenge him." The old man calls out the hooded figure.
All the fighters were now looking at the mysterious figure with caution. Others, like Raiden and Liu Kang, looked at him with curiosity. "Who is this mysterious warrior? And why is he cloaked? What is he trying to hide?" Raiden wonders before looking back at Shang Tsung.
"Since you are so eager to fight, you shall be the next combatant to fight in the tournament. However, I must ask that you toss away your cloak and reveal yourself. Who are you, young warrior, and what is your name?" He asks.
The figure takes a moment, but just when he decides to remove the cloak, Cage decides to run his mouth again. "Hah! Come on, who are we kidding? This guy is probably ugly as all hell under there! He's not going to take that thing off!" He claims while laughing.
The other fighters ignore Cage's outburst and just watches the fighter with a now sudden and genuine interest, including the two women standing next to Shang Tsung.
"Well, young warrior? Are you going to remove your cloak, or shall I have you removed from my island?" The old man asks the figure, slightly losing patience.
The figure raises its head. "If it means shutting that dumb ass up, fine." They say before removing their cloak to reveal Kurai, wearing all black clothes, but his gloves/gauntlets were a metallic Persian blue color with his right pants leg a blue and white flame as well as his mask that was also a Persian blue color like his gauntlets.
"My name is Kurai and I received an invitation to fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament." He declares to the old man.
The two women, Kitana and her unnamed friend, both looked at each other with wide eyes. The young mans name sounded so familiar to them, but why?
They both looked back at the interaction between Shang Tsung and Kurai.
"Hmm. Show me your invitation, Kurai, because I don't recall sending an invitation to one such as yourself." The old man declares before suddenly catching what seemed to be a medallion with the official dragon logo of the Mortal Kombat tournament in his hand. Seeing this, Shang Tsung nods. "I stand corrected." He says before looking back up at Kurai. "Very well. Kurai, your opponent shall be... Baraka!" He shouts as the Tarkatan that was standing beside him jumps towards the crowd and Kurai.
Landing on his feet, Baraka growls before shooting out two metal looking blades out of his arms then watches Kurai with a twisted and disturbing smirk with his jagged teeth. "Are you ready to face death, human?" Baraka asks him.
Kurai says nothing while slowly walking towards Baraka with a calm demeanor that unsettles the Tarkatan and most of the other combatants. But Raiden looked on with intrigue.
"Begin!" Shang Tsung announces.
Kurai vs. Baraka...
Baraka watched with an uneasy feeling as Kurai stared him down while walking towards him. "What's wrong, Tarkatan? Too afraid to rush at a "human" like me?" Kurai taunts him while slowly walking towards Baraka.
Baraka snarls as he backs away from Kurai and his thousand yard stare. "Hmph. I suggest you make a move before I do, Baraka. Because I don't think Outworld rewards cowards." Kurai continues to taunt Baraka until the Tarkatan finally snaps and springs forward at the young warrior.
Looking to impale Kurai and put an end to the fight quickly, Baraka howls ferociously while trying to cut him down before delivering the final blow. But Kurai dodges each of the swipes from his arm blades before catching one of the Tarkatans arms.
CRACK!
"ARRRGH!!!" Baraka feels his right arm break from when Kurai caught his arm and broke it through his right elbow. Grasping his arm and backing away as quickly as he could, Baraka tries to regroup and think of a new tactic for his opponent instead of rushing in blindly, but Kurai wasn't going to give him that chance.
Rushing forward, Kurai punches Baraka's torso once before uppercutting his chin, stunning him before kicking in his left knee, which bent backwards causing Baraka to cry out in pain before collapsing to the ground.
"ARRRGH!!! I yield, I YIELD!!!" The Tarkatan yells out in pain while using his left arm to clutch at his left leg and try to get as far away from Kurai as he could.
The combatants, Shang Tsung, Kitana, Liu Kang and Raiden all looked on in shock at how quickly Kurai had taken down one of Outworlds best fighters. A Tarkatan no less.
The blonde woman looked highly impressed while Johnny Cage looked quite concerned. "Holy shit... I hope he somehow gets eliminated from the tournament before I have to fight him. Because that... was... oof..." He thought to himself while gulping.
Kurai looks over at Shang Tsung and waits patiently for the old man to call the fight. After processing that Baraka had indeed lost the fight, Shang Tsung raises his hand. "Ahem... Kurai wins! Flawless victory!" He says as he shakily lowers his hand and clears his throat again. "Ahem. Excellent! Two fights and this tenth Mortal Kombat tournament seems like it will very promising, as well as entertaining." He says to the other fighters as Kurai walks back over to his spot where he had stood earlier.
"All of you go and get some rest, for tomorrow, the tournament truly begins. But be warned, you can be challenged at any time during your time here. Trust no one and be vigilant. Because your final moments may just arrive sooner than you expect." Shang Tsung says cryptically with a chuckle before rising from his seat and walking away with Kitana, Reptile and the green clad female warrior in tow behind him.
As the other combatants left the temple to rest up for the night, Raiden and Liu Kang decide to follow Kurai, who had already left the temple to find a place to rest like the other fighters while Johnny Cage follows the blonde woman, who was following Kano.
Before leaving, Shang Tsung took one more glance at Kurai before looking at the warriors following him. "That young man poses a dangerous threat to Outworlds victory for this tournament. If Outworld is to succeed and merge with Earthrealm, we must... do whatever it takes to ensure the Emperors victory." He says to them as Kitana's eyes widen in shock.
"Shang Tsung, what you are proposing goes against the rules of Mortal Kombat. The Elder Gods will never allow such-" She tries to voice her thoughts on the current matter, but Shang Tsung cuts her off. "The Elder Gods, Princess Kitana, are not here at the moment. This is my island, they have no authority here in the space between realms. Besides, I'm not proposing that we assassinate the warrior, I'm simply saying that we shall take matters into our own hands should he get too far into the tournament. We should also keep an eye on that Wu Shi Academy monk, Liu Kang. If not Kurai, then certainly Liu Kang also has a chance to become a threat as well." The old man explains before pausing to think for a moment.
Looking up to see that the warriors had gone, he turns to look at Reptile. "Reptile, keep an eye on Kurai, and Liu Kang as well if you can manage it. But do not engage them unless I say so. We shall see what they are fully capable of before we make our move. Now go." He orders the reptilian humanoid, who nods before disappearing from sight.
Kitana looks at her friend as Shang Tsung walks away. "Jade, I'm not sure I like this. Shang Tsung has become more arrogant over the years and this... Kurai? Who is he and why does his name sound so familiar to me?" She asks her friend, Jade.
Jade shrugs and shakes her head. "Your guess is as good as mine, Kitana, but you're right. Shang Tsung has become far too arrogant for his own good, and Kurai's name sounds familiar to me too. I just can't seem to understand why." She says to her longtime friend.
Kitana looks to where the warriors left before beginning to walk away with Jade. "We'll have to do what is best for Outworld, even if I don't like breaking the rules of the Elder Gods. We can figure out the mystery of Kurai when we have the chance. Maybe after the tournament is over. I'm curious to know who he is and why I have a feeling of familiarity with him, but I've never seen him until tonight." She says, looking over at her friend while they head to their rooms to turn in for the night.
Jade nods in agreement. "Yes, I have that same feeling, but I don't understand why. When I looked at him, a feeling washed over me like I had just seen an old friend I haven't seen in... well, many, many years. But like you, I've never seen him until tonight. I wonder what this could mean?" She wonders out loud.
Kitana just shook her head and stretched her arms with a sigh as they reached the doorway to her bedroom. "Whatever it is, Jade, we won't figure it out tonight. Let's get some rest and we can try to figure it out as the tournament progresses." She says as Jade nods then bows politely.
"Get a good nights rest then, Princess, we'll all need it for tomorrow. Good night." Jade says hugging her friend tightly before walking away.
Kitana sighs again then walks into her bedroom. She closes the door then leans against it while looking up at the ceiling. "Who are you, Kurai? And why does my heart ache?" She wonders.