"Where are you taking me?!" Sonya Blade demanded, her voice laced with aggression. The Masked Guards ignored her protests, dragging her down a lengthy spiral staircase. Eventually, they stopped in front of a door resembling a dungeon entrance.
One of the masked guards unlocked the door with an old rusty key. Despite the ropes binding her wrists, Sonya attacked the other guard with a flurry of kicks, causing him to stumble back. However, the first guard quickly grabbed her from behind and tossed her into the dungeon, slamming the door shut and locking her inside.
After several futile minutes of kicking at the door, Sonya realised her efforts were in vain. She took a moment to survey her surroundings. The dungeon stretched out like a long corridor, with empty prison cells lining both sides. Skeletons scattered throughout the cells which gave Sonya an unsettling feeling. Thoughts began to flood through Sonya's head as she cautiously walked down the dimly lit dungeon.
Is this my fate? To be trapped in one of these cells and rot away? Wait... Is Jax here?
She began power walking down the dungeon, searching for any signs of life. What struck her as strange was that the Masked Guards hadn't bothered to lock her in a cell. Sonya knew she had frightened them, but she still had to wonder… why?
Suddenly, a loud noise interrupted her thoughts. A large creature with four massive arms emerged around a corner, stomping towards her. Sonya's eyes widened in fear as she took in the creature's appearance. Standing over eight feet tall, he was a hulking warrior with a muscular frame intertwined with scales on his back whilst his skin was a tough, leathery shade of light brown. His head was crowned with a series of small but sharp horns.
"Who dares enter my lair?" he bellowed, his orange eyes burning with a fierce intensity.
"Who... what are you?" Sonya asked, intimidated by his imposing presence.
The giant laughed. "I am the legendary Goro, Prince of the Shokan and Champion of Mortal Kombat!"
Sonya staggered back in shock. She had heard of Goro's name through whispers upon her arrival to the island, but she had of course never seen anything like him before. Speechless, she turned and sprinted down the dungeon, only to be abruptly stopped by a swirling orange portal that formed in front of her, revealing Shang Tsung.
"I promised that you would compete," the sorcerer muttered. "Your death will weaken the Special Forces' defences and, thus, weaken Earthrealm."
Sonya attempted to kick Shang Tsung, but he deftly countered by grabbing her leg, twisting it, and pushing her to the floor in front of Goro. The Shokan kept a serious face on as he picked her up and thrashed her back into the stone floor.
"I take no pleasure in this, Shang Tsung," Goro told the sorcerer firmly.
"So?" Tsung raised a bushy grey eyebrow as he looked up at the Shokan. "You follow my orders."
"I am Champion!" Goro reminded him, raising his voice. "Yet you treat me like some beast by having me wait in the dungeon!"
"I don't know what the fuck is going on…" Sonya spoke up as she got to his feet, hobbling on one leg as she fired a pair of energy rings, "but I'm getting outta here!"
One of the energy rings from the technology on Sonya's wrists knocked the sorcerer over whilst the other bounced off of Goro's thick skin, the Shokan remaining unphased. He calmly reached out to Sonya who flipped back, but quickly had her head stomped into the filthy dungeon floors by one of Goro's massive two-toed feet.
"What were you saying?" Tsung asked the Shokan as he helped him stand up, the sorcerer dusting himself off.
"I should be in the palace!" Goro demanded. "I've earned it more than you!"
"I trained you and gave you this opportunity!" Shang Tsung snapped at the Shokan Prince, waggling his finger at him. "I have no doubt that most other Shokan could've risen to this position under my tutelage!"
"Yet I was chosen," Goro growled.
"It's called nepotism, Prince," Shang Tsung retorted berore looking down at Sonya to declare, "you will not be fighting Sonya regardless!"
"Huh?" Sonya and Goro reacted simultaneously. Sonya noticed a crimson light illuminating the dark lair.
"It'll be me instead!" a voice announced with an Australian accent that Sonya recognised immediately.
"Kano..." Sonya muttered, recognizing the leader of the Black Dragon crime syndicate. The Black Dragon clan was notorious for its ruthless methods, a stark contrast to the somewhat more sophisticated Red Dragon clan that they had branched from.
In a chase that took to the seas, the Special Forces had chased Kano all the way to Shang Tsung's Island. It wasn't until the military arrived that they realised the significance of the island, and the Masked Guards that littered the land had quickly split Sonya up from the rest of her squad. Despite the dangerous situation and the grimace in her face at the sight of her nemesis, Sonya was determined to take this opportunity to finally capture her target… or die trying.
"'Ello, Lieutenant," Kano greeted with a punchable grin on his stubble covered face. "Did ya miss me?"
"It's General now," Sonya corrected him, which made Kano scoff.
"Course you get them promotions from doing in me boys," Kano spoke with frustration in his voice.
"They go to prison," Sonya clarified. "You'd know with the amount of breakouts you've tried."
"And you'll be going to a fuckin' cemetary," Kano threatened, moving his thumb along his throat. "Bring her to me!"
"Excuse me?" Goro asked, offended to be given orders by some lowlife Earthrealmer.
"Shoulda kept your snout out me business," Kano told Sonya as he drew one of his butterfly knives. "Now c'mere!"
Goro, irritated by this unexpected partnership, carelessly threw Sonya towards Kano. Kano cut the restraints around her wrists and kicked her back, creating some distance between them.
"Fight!" Shang Tsung demanded, despite Sonya giving no consent to be one of his tournament participants, though the sorcerer couldn't care less.
Despite her injuries from Goro, Sonya charged at her rival, tackling him to the floor and landing multiple elbows to the side of his head. Kano quickly used his cybernetic eye to blast a laser at Sonya, forcing her to back away.
"Sorry, luv," Kano apologized, climbing to his feet with a crooked smirk. "This'll hurt."
Sonya responded with actions, not words. She charged at Kano again, only to be met with a brutal headbutt from his metal-plated skull. Sonya's vision became blurry as she collapsed after a second head-butt. Desperately, she tried to get up, but a third headbutt kept her down.
Kano chuckled. "This was easier than I thought," he said, ignoring Sonya's injuries that had occurred before the fight such as her likely cracked rips at the four hands of Goro.
Kano began juggling a knife as he knelt down beside the Special Forces General, intending to finish her off. "This wasn't as fun as I imagined..." he mumbled as he pressed the blade against her neck.
"You took my deal, mercenary. Now finish her!" Shang Tsung ordered.
"Yeah, of course I will," Kano replied, getting himself ready despite how much he desired to take his time to savour the moment.
Just as he was about to slit Sonya's throat, a sudden blast of lightning made him flinch. Raiden had entered Goro's lair.
"I had my suspicions, Shang Tsung," Raiden said, immediately noticing Kano. "A deal with the Black Dragon? You stoop low, Shang Tsung."
Goro tried to attack Raiden with his massive fists, but Raiden knocked him down with a blast of lightning. He continued to rain lightning down like stalagmites from the ceiling to prevent the powerful Shokan warrior from getting up.
"What are you doing, Thunder God?!" Shang Tsung demanded. "She broke the rules of Mortal Kombat; she must face death."
"And you... are killing and kidnapping Special Forces members," Sonya managed to say, crawling away from Kano. The Black Dragon leader tried to attack her again but was met with the same fate as Goro from Raiden's wrath.
"The punishment for interference is not execution!" Raiden argued as he stared Shang Tsung down. "I know you only do this to feed your insatiable hunger for souls, sorcerer!"
"It was more so to meet the participant quota…" Shang Tsung mumbled to himself.
"Where's Jax?!" Sonya asked, wiping blood from her nose. Instead of answering, Shang Tsung angrily faded away through another portal to avoid further conflict with the Thunder God.
Goro and Kano began to recover as Raiden attempted to heal Sonya. "I'll have your head, Thunder God!" Goro screamed, charging at them.
"What's going on out there?!" a voice called from a distant prison cell.
"Jax!" Sonya recognized her comrade's voice.
Feeling somewhat better from Raiden's healing powers, Sonya hobbled toward Jax's voice as Raiden fought off Kano and Goro. "Jax!" she cried, horrified by his condition. He was barely conscious, covered in cuts and bruises.
"You came?" Jax said, surprised.
"We will get you help, Jax," Sonya comforted him.
Hearing Sonya's cry, Raiden teleported to the back of the room and used his lightning powers to cut off a few prison bars. Goro charged at them, but Raiden grabbed both Special Forces members and teleported them to safety just in time.
"What just happened?" Sonya asked, bewildered. They found themselves outside an old-fashioned house, outdated by Earthrealm's standards but still in acceptable condition.
"I have transported us to the island's guest house. Here you and your friend can rest," Raiden explained. "You can acquire a room for the pair of you. In the meantime, I will use my powers to heal your friend."
"Thank you," Sonya said. "How can you do that?"
"I am Raiden, a Thunder God, protector of Earthrealm. My powers healed you, and I can do the same for your friend," he explained again.
"All this is crazy. I just wanted to find Jax... I had no idea about... all this," Sonya responded, overwhelmed by her experience.
"Fear not. You're under my protection for now," Raiden reassured her.
Sonya headed inside the house and was greeted by a man behind a desk. "Howdy."
"Hello," Sonya replied hesitantly.
"Looking for a room, ma'am?" he asked through his face mask. Sonya nodded.
"All right, let's see what rooms are spare," he said, scanning the small rack of door keys behind him. "Here we are, room 2C, madam," he informed her, gently dropping the key to the room into her palm.
"How much does it cost?" she asked, realizing she had no money.
"Free of charge," the man said, noticeably bitter about it. "Free accommodation for any participants in the tournament."
Sonya wasn't sure if she was even in the tournament now, but she accepted the offer despite her confusion. "I appreciate it," she said genuinely.
"You're welcome," the man replied, tipping his western hat.
Sonya returned to Raiden and Jax, who was already mostly healed. "You're okay!" Sonya said in delight, hugging her friend. Jax reciprocated the hug.
"Thanks for coming to save me... Can't imagine what you went through to get here," he sympathized.
"Well, I wasn't the one in prison," Sonya disagreed.
"Where's the rest of our unit?" Jax asked.
Sonya stood in silence for a moment.
"Sonya?" Jax noticed his friend tearing up.
"The rest of our unit is… dead... killed," she said, her voice shaking.
"Oh God… I'm sorry," Jax apologised and attempted to comfort her by placing a hand on her shoulder. "Who did this? That old bastard?" he asked angrily.
Sonya nodded as the two friends hugged.
"No wonder he had those masked freaks questioning me about the squad," Jax sighed. "I told them nothing of course.
"I thought we'd uncovered a weird Black Dragon base," Sonya shook her head. "This is even crazier…"
"I guess they didn't care to spare the ones of us with fancy rank titles," Jax assessed as he looked down at the badge on his green military jacket that read 'Major Briggs.'
"You have my condolences," Raiden told the pair. "I assume Shang Tsung decided to eliminate your military as a threat to a potential future invasion, it goes beyond mere trespassing."
"Well shit," Jax swore. "What now?"
"Unless an ally of yours can evacuate you, you must stay for the tournament's duration," Raiden said, explaining the situation. "I drained much of my power teleporting around the island, I cannot send you home myself currently."
"No, I can't risk anyone else coming here," Sonya decided. "We'll stay."
"That's fine with me," Jax agreed.
"Very well then," Raiden said. "I must now depart and find my protégé Liu Kang, who will compete in tonight's tournament event. May the Elder Gods watch over you."
"Elder Gods?" Sonya asked, both her and Jax sharing puzzled looks.
"Just stay safe," Raiden wished as he departed to the location of the next set of tournament fights…