Mortal Kombat Storyline

Prologue: The Elder Gods vs. The One Being
Long ago at the beginning of time, there existed only the Elder Gods and the One Being. The One Being gained his power by draining it from the Elder Gods. Eventually the Elder Gods launched their attack on the One Being to save themselves. In the end, the Elder Gods created 6 weapons called the Kamidogu. When they used the weapons, the One Being split into many pieces, although its consciousness survived. The Kamidogu became lost in 6 different pieces of the One Being. Eventually, these pieces became the realms, and life began to grow inside them. There were 6 main realms: Earthrealm, Netherrealm, Outworld, Orderrealm (Seido), Chaosrealm, and Edenia, each with a representative Kamidogu which held the essence of each realm.

The Prophecies of the Future
Not long after the creation of the realms, the Edenian protector-God, Argus, and his sorceress-wife, Delia, had two children: Taven and Daegon. At the time, there were two prophecies which Delia frequently had visions and premonitions of the future. One of the events was The Prophecy of Armageddon. She predicted that the Mortal Kombat warriors one day were growing too powerful and too numerous. If left unchecked, their intensifying Kombat would be weakened and the destruction of all the realms, bringing about the Apocalypse. The Elder Gods demanded that a safeguard be put in place in order to prevent total destruction, one that would make use of the kombatants insatiable bloodlust, like moths to flame, they will be drawn there to battle, and left the task to Argus and his wife. Delia predicted that the climax would take place at a crater within the Edenian Southlands. For this reason, Argus had a pyramid constructed underground at this crater, while Delia created a Fire-Spawn known as Blaze. Blaze would contain the power needed to stop the Mortal Kombat warriors. While Argus wanted all of the warriors destroyed, Delia wished a more merciful approach; stripping the warriors of their powers. They decided that they would put their two children in competition, and whichever one defeated Blaze would be gifted with the power to become the new protector of Edenia. On their way to confronting Blaze, each brother would have to retrieve a sword from one of their father's temples, and a suit of armor from one of their mother's temples, both in Earthrealm. One suit of armor would mean that all of the Mortal Kombat warriors were destroyed, the other would mean that they were stripped of their power. In effect, this would be like a coin toss between Argus and Delia, to decide which outcome would be achieved. Argus initiated the plan to save the realms is to have the two brothers to be summoned to Argus' temple in Edenia, where they were ambushed and placed in stasis. They were both placed within the mountains somewhere in Earthrealm, with a Dragon to watch over them. The Golden Dragon, Orin, watched over Taven, whilst the Red Dragon Caro watched over Daegon. When Blaze gave the signal, the Dragons would wake their protectee from stasis to begin the quest.

Shinnok and the War for Earthrealm
As the Elder Gods watched over the realms, governing the realms with untold wisdom; one such Elder God, known as Shinnok, gave into greed and illusion of ultimate power and wanted the new realm of Earth for himself; however, the Elder Gods had appointed the young God of Thunder known as Raiden to protect Earth. The battle between Raiden and Shinnok was fierce, sending Earth to its near destruction and plunging it into centuries of darkness. Raiden discovered that Shinnok entered the realm through the power of a mystical amulet. It allowed Shinnok to weaken the borders of a realm and therefore entering the realm without challenge and keeping the Elder Gods at bay. Given the choice whether to destroy the allied Saurian civilization or risk handing over Earthrealm to Shinnok, Raiden chose the former and stripped Shinnok of the amulet before, with the aid of Elder Gods, banishing the fallen Elder God to the Netherrealm. The Netherrealm has existed since the beginning of time and has had many names. Whether it's known as Hell, Hades, Gehenna or Pluto, it has always had the same purpose: to act as the final home of those who have done wrong. When Shinnok awoke in the Netherealm, he found himself under attack by Lucifer, the leader of the fiery realm. Lucifer used the souls of those whom Shinnok himself had banished to the Netherealm to attack the Elder God. Shinnok was quickly beaten and found himself in the depths of Hell for eternity.

Another Legendary Prophecy unbeknownst to the Elder Gods was The Return of the One Being. it was decreed that if one were to obtain all six Kamidogu including the Sacred Amulet, would be granted ultimate power in fusing all the 7 weapons into one, and bringing the destruction of the realms. Raiden, in order to prevent this from happening, created a massive temple deep within the mountains of Asia to house the amulet, and appointed four guardians to serve as protectors of the amulet. Each of these guardians represented one of the elements of which the realm was comprised: Wind (Fujin), Earth, Water, and Fire. As long as the amulet remained on Earth hopefully in safe hands, Shinnok was remained and trapped in the Netherrealm.

For millions of years Shinnok laid in torment with and from Lucifer in the Netherrealm, until stumbling across a mysterious sorcerer by the name of Quan Chi. He was once an Oni from the Netherrealm, transformed his appearance upon learning sorcery, even gaining the power to travel throughout all of the planes of reality without detection from any of the Gods.

Quan Chi told Shinnok that he would help him escape from his prison and defeat Lucifer, If Shinnok accepts Quan Chi's proposal in exchange for his help, was power and the right to rule at Shinnok's side. Shinnok agreed, and the two waged a war in the Netherrealm that lasted for centuries. They eventually beat Lucifer and took control of the Netherrealm. Shinnok was now the ruler of the dead realm, but he wasn't happy with his conquest. The Netherealm is nothing more than fire and brimstone, and he only rules over the grotesque demons that inhabit the realm. However, Shinnok wanted more, and what Shinnok wants, Quan Chi must try to arrange.

The Ruling Reign of Onaga
At some unknown point in history ruled an emperor in the realm of Outworld called Onaga the Dragon King. Onaga was the first Emperor of Outworld, uniting an otherwise divided realm.

He began to conquer other realms, merging them to add that realm's power to Outworld and expand his ever-growing empire. Onaga's secret to victory was his undefeatable and seemingly invincible army. Onaga's heart gave him the ability to raise the dead, allowing him to revive his dead soldiers continuously. However, Onaga wished to live forever; using the last dragon egg, his followers formed a spell that would transfer his body into the tiny dragon inside and with it, be granted eternal life. It was at this point, a strike plan was in effect, orchestrated by Onaga's trusted advisor, Shao Kahn. However Kahn, who did not like sharing power, poisoned the Dragon King, and took control of Outworld for himself. Unlike Onaga before, He was not able to rule his domain as a united realm.

The Terror Reign of Shao Kahn
Shao Kahn, like Onaga before him, sought to expand his empire and his power through conquests of other realms. He attacked and conquered many smaller realms, slowly building up power over thousands of years. Eventually, he built up enough strength to conquer every realm equal to Outworld's size, and gain even greater power beyond any mortal imaginings. His first target, is the lush and fertile realm of Edenia. To take over that realm, Kahn had to win the sacred tournament established by the Elder Gods themselves once held every generation known as Mortal Kombat. If he succeeded, it allowed him to merge the two realms.

Despite the Edenian warriors' best efforts, Outworld won 10th consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments and Edenia's blue skies were ripped apart as the portals began to open. Shao Kahn's invasion force entered the realm, merging it with Outworld. Kahn annihilated the ruler of Edenia, King Jerrod, took his wife Sindel as his queen, and adopted her daughter Kitana as his own. After Sindel convinced him of her worth, having the young princess trained as his personal guard, and as an assassin. Sindel however could not bear the thought of being Kahn's queen and committed suicide. But Shao Kahn, not willing to let his beloved queen go so easily, held her soul in Outworld, thus stopping her transition to the afterlife.

The Mortal Kombat Tournament and Realm War I
A few millennia had passed, now with Edenia conquered and other realms added to the Outworld empire, Shao Kahn turned his attention to the conquest of Earthrealm. Shao Kahn sent Shang Tsung to establish the sacred tournament as a competition between his armies and Earthrealm. The prize for the winner of Mortal Kombat would be that the champion would not age for 500 years until the next tournament. Kahn would only be allowed to take Earthrealm if he won ten of these tournaments in a row. Raiden rallied the best fighters of Earth into the White Lotus Society, a group established to discern a champion every 500 years to defend Earth in the tournament. The Great Kung Lao was one such warrior defeating Shang Tsung and becoming Grand Champion. Lao only kept the title for one generation before eventually falling to Shang Tsung's then-new secret weapon, a Shokan prince named Goro. Goro proceeded to win the following eight tournaments, giving the Outworld warriors nine consecutive victories.

Imprisoned in death for centuries after his betrayal by Shao Kahn, the angered Dragon King secretly worked to revive his physical body. By transferring his essence into an apparition, he appeared to Shujinko, a very promising warrior who was set to be the chosen Earthrealm kombatant in an upcoming Mortal Kombat tournament. Claiming to be an emissary of the Elder Gods named Damashi, he tricked Shujinko into embarking on a quest to obtain the Kamidogu from the various realms and placing them in the Nexus, a special location created between the realms to ease the travel of the Champion of the Elder Gods.

Before the events of the next Mortal Kombat tournament, Quan Chi had recruited Sub-Zero the Elder to help him retrieve the ancient amulet. Sub Zero proceeded to venture through Earthrealm, defeating the gods of Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire and obtained the amulet. Sub-Zero then delivered the amulet to Quan Chi. Quan Chi later gave the amulet to Shinnok, which was a fake, whilst he kept the real one for himself. Raiden then confronted the Lin Kuei ninja and revealed to him his mistake by giving Quan Chi the amulet. Reluctantly, Sub-Zero then proceeded to return to the Netherrealm and retrieve the amulet from Shinnok. Sub-Zero was successful and preserved the peace of all reality for the time being.

Two years later, Earth rallied some of its best fighters in order to win the tenth tournament and preserve Earthrealm's freedom. Amongst the established warriors were Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, and Johnny Cage. With the help of Raiden, the Earthrealm warriors were victorious and Liu Kang became the new champion of Mortal Kombat. Scorpion, who was a rival clansman of the Lin Kuei, and the same man Sub-Zero killed years before, fought one another again. In the end however, Scorpion slew Sub-Zero in retribution for his own death by Sub-Zero the Elder's Hands.

Despite Shang Tsung being unable to deal with his failure in the last Mortal Kombat Tournament, Shao Kahn ordered the Tarkatan horde to attack the Wu Shi Academy. The Tarkatan horde raided and killed most of Liu Kang's fellow monks, including his Shaolin Masters. This enraged Liu Kang enough to follow them into Outworld. He was not alone. Kung Lao, Johnny Cage, and Major Jackson Briggs, who was in search of his missing subordinate, Sonya Blade, were also following right behind Liu Kang into the realm seeking revenge, and to compete in the next Mortal Kombat tournament at the same time. But unbeknownst to Raiden and the Earthrealm warriors, the tournament in Outworld was a ruse, a diversionary trap set by the Emperor in an attempt to break the rules set forth by the Elder Gods themselves, and in rescuing Sonya, Shao Kahn scheme was, and has been thwarted and the Earthrealm warriors prevailed. Shao Kahn, However responded by resurrecting Queen Sindel on Earth and stepping across the dimensional portal gates to claim her, thus successfully merging it with Outworld. The Earthrealm warriors rallied once more in a battle for the first time, thus beginning Realm War I, a realm-threatening war between Two Realms. the threat of Earthrealm was over, and as he was severely wounded and escaped back into Outworld, the Emperor was defeated. But most importantly, when Edenia was freed from Outworld, and was returned to a whole realm for the first time since Kahn conquered Edenia so many years ago, Shao Kahn's final attempt to conquer Earthrealm has failed once again.

Merging with the DC Universe (non-canon)
Around the same time as Shao Kahn's defeat, Superman had just defeated Darkseid; however, Darkseid and Shao Kahn's defeat somehow caused them to merge into a single being known as Dark Kahn and cause the kombatants & DC heroes/villians to be consumed by a pure Rage and fight against each other. As a result, the two universes began to merge. Eventually, one member from each side remained: Raiden and Superman. Upon discovering that they both have a common enemy (Dark Kahn), they team up to defeat Dark Kahn, causing him to split back into Shao Kahn and Darkseid, on opposite universes. Shao Kahn would be trapped in the fragmented Phantom Zone, while Darkseid was punished by the Elder Gods and sent to the Netherrealm.

Realm War II: The Return of Shinnok
During his time in the Netherrealm, Shinnok rallied an army of allies to help him avenge his losses. With the help of his disguises and his allies in Earthrealm (Noob Saibot) and Outworld/Edenia (Tanya), Shinnok escaped to the newly restored Edenia, eventually returning to the heavens. Shinnok proceeded to kidnap Queen Sindel and Princess Kitana in the process of Ruling with an Iron Fist as much as he could in his takeover of Edenia for the second time, (the first time was Shao Kahn) as part of his scheme to launch his attack on the Heavens as an audacious act of vengeance, including murdering several of the Elder Gods and many of the lesser gods for his suffering in the Netherrealm for millions of years ago, thus Realm War II begins.

Fujin and Raiden escaped to Earthrealm, where they rallied the Earthrealm warriors. But unlike the last one against Shao Kahn, this time, they are up against Shinnok and his minions. After a long and arduous battle between the Fallen Elder God and Earthrealm's champion of Mortal Kombat, Liu Kang prevailed once again, defeating Shinnok, and emerging victorious in saving both Earthrealm and Edenia, Thus Shinnok was re-banished to the Netherrealm, along with the Sorcerer Quan Chi when he was about to do the same to Scorpion where he was believed to have been killed. However, It was revealed to Scorpion by Sub-Zero, that it was the Sorcerer who was the true mastermind, hired by the Lin Kuei behind the death of his family and clan in his life the whole time. Scorpion was sent to the Netherrealm along with him, and thus the Ninja spectre was on a manhunt for the Sorcerer. This time he is out for vengeance, and in which he vowed not only to protect the Future Lin Kuei Warrior of Good as atonement for killing his brother once more, but vowed to kill Quan Chi for the death of his family and his clan.

The Deadly Alliance
While in and escaping from the Netherrealm using a secret portal, Quan Chi discovers much information about the past, via unlocking the secret of the ancient runestone, including the existence of the Dragon King's seemingly immortal army. He approached Shang Tsung with an offer to join forces, Thus forming The Deadly Alliance. Quan Chi established a Soulnado in Shang Tsung's fortress with the agreement that Shang Tsung would use some of the souls to animate the army. Together with their combined strengths, they planned to overpower their two foes who could one day prevent their total domination of ruling the realms. Their first target, was Shao Kahn. They first approached in a feigning allegiance to the Emperor and attacked him, seemingly killing him in his weakened state. However, unbeknownst to the Deadly Alliance, It was later revealed that the Shao Kahn they killed was a clone, and the real Shao Kahn had escaped death once again. Then they later traveled to Earthrealm via a mystical portal to double-team and kill their next target, the one who could possibly stop them, the Earthrealm's Mightiest Warrior and Champion of Mortal Kombat, Liu Kang.

Raiden once again rallied the Earthrealm soldiers to stop this impending threat. Also included in the battle were newcomers Li Mei and Nitara. Nitara's realm, Vaeternus, had been merged into Outworld against her will, whereas Li Mei was trying to free her land from The Deadly Alliance. Others joined the fight as well, including the newly restored Cyrax (now working for the U.S. Special Forces Unit with Jax and Sonya), as well as Kenshi, a warrior who had been blinded by Shang Tsung's treachery and who sought revenge. Unfortunately, these heroes were unable to stop the Deadly Alliance, as the two sorcerers overcame all foes, destroying the majority of the opposition.

The Return of the Dragon King
It had taken Shujinko years to complete the quest Damashi had given to him but finally Shujinko had collected the sixth and final Kamidogu from Edenia. Shujinko placed the Edenian Kamidogu on the altar in the Nexus with the other five. After the Kamidogu had been collected, the egg Onaga was imprisoned in hatched; the Dragon King resumed his physical form by merging with the ninja Reptile. Back in the Nexus Shujinko began to wonder why the six Kamidogu were not transported to the Elder Gods as he had been told, it is then Onaga emerged into the Nexus to confront Shujinko revealing him to be the avatar Damashi all along. Onaga reveals his true plan of obtaining ultimate control over all that exists once he claims Shinnok's amulet, currently in possession of the sorcerer Quan Chi, while using Damashi to manipulate him 41 years ago. Shujinko's life long quest will finally end here, in death. Shujinko escaped however into the Earthrealm portal.

Meanwhile, Raiden (with his allies laying defeated on the entrance of Shang Tsung's Palace), faced the Deadly Alliance on his own. Despite managing to hold his own for a time, he was ultimately defeated by their combined power. With their victory in hand, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi quickly turned on each other, each looking to grab all the power for themselves mainly for the reason that Tsung wanted Chi's amulet. Quan Chi emerged victorious, but once again, the victory was short lived, as the Dragon King returned to Outworld. Quan Chi proceeded to try to stop him, and the quickly recovering Shang Tsung and Raiden aided as well, forming an impromptu alliance against the greater threat. They were unable to defeat the Dragon King, however, as even Raiden releasing his godly essence and destroying everything around him had little effect on the revived former ruler of Outworld who was now in possession of Shinnok's amulet which had been held by Quan Chi.

Sometime later Raiden's essence, now corrupted from his encounter with Onaga for it was tainted with Onaga's dark magic, soon gathered again in the Earthrealm. He had now became furious with the way Earthrealm's inhabitants had treated their own realm. He became even more enraged when he learned that Shujinko had foolishly unleashed the Dragon King by attaining the Kamidogu of various realms for him. With that, his patience exhausted, Raiden then decided he was going to punish those who placed Earthrealm in harm's way. He tried to brutally slay Shujinko for his errors, but Shujinko was able to survive, Raiden turned his attention towards Liu Kang's corpse.

Removing Liu Kang's body from its grave, Raiden took it to an underground temple that belonged to an ancient sect of necromancers called the Houan, whom he had destroyed centuries earlier. Binding Kang's body with enchanted shackles the Houan had used to control their revived undead, Raiden spoke the enchantments etched into the temple's walls that revived his former ally, infusing it with a thunderclap of lightning. The corpse of Liu Kang was now the enforcer of Raiden's will, and he sent it on a mission to wreak havoc on those he believed did harm to Earthrealm.

Onaga revived the Earth warriors as his pawns and used them and a newly-forged alliance with the Tarkatan horde preventing Edenia's army from interfering with his plans while he searched for the spells that would allow him to fuse the Kamidogu together and grant him supreme power. However, just as he was about to do so Shujinko rallied the remaining warriors against him and in a moment absorbed their combined fighting power. Empowered beyond the Dragon King's own expectations, Shujinko shattered each of the six Kamidogu, the source of his invulnerability. Weakened and in defeat Onaga attempted to retreat only to vanish into thin air. As Nightwolf had carried, ventured, had absorbed all the sins and traveled deep within the Netherrealm itself. Using a method of knowledge passed down to him by his forefathers, the 'Sin Eater', Nightwolf drew a binding symbol on the ground and chanted the ancient words that draws the spirit of the Dragon King's spirit into the wicked place. When the spirit of the Dragon King appeared before him knowing that Nightwolf had carried the burden long enough he released all the sins of his people into the mystic symbol, and their weight bound Onaga to the Netherrealm.

Realm War III: Armageddon
It was during the time of the Dragon King's conquest of the realm, The Prophecy predicted by Delia was fulfilled. However, as Caro mistook the loss of Blaze's contact (possibly when he was kidnapped in order to watch over the Dragon King's eggs) as the signal to begin the race, Daegon had mistakenly been awakened centuries early.

He discovered what the aim of the quest was, and became obsessed with the power which would be granted to him. Daegon set up the Red Dragon clan (to represent the Red Dragon that awoke him) and enslaved Caro in order to use him to create portals.

The Red Dragon's primary aim was to find Blaze and to assassinate Taven set by his brother Daegon in order to claim the prize for himself, although they were also a powerful crime organization. When Taven was finally awoken at the correct time, during Onaga's return, he was constantly ambushed by Red Dragon warriors. Eventually, Taven made his way to his father's temple, only to find the weapon that was meant to be there had been stolen. As he finally made his way to his mother's temple, which was now occupied by the Lin Kuei, he managed to find the suit of armour that had been placed for him. During this time, Quan Chi assembled the other Evil warlords, including Shao Kahn, Shinnok, Onaga and Shang Tsung. Quan Chi had managed to find out about the power that Blaze contained, and the power that would be passed as a gift to the one who defeated him and in the process of discovering this, had killed Orin, Taven's protector Dragon. The Forces of Darkness united in order to claim this power, whilst the Forces of Light united in order to either stop evil, or claim the power for themselves for their own ends, thus culminated in Realm War III, The Battle of Armageddon.

Just as Delia had predicted however at the crater within the Edenian ruins there, The defining prophesized conflict came to a head. As Taven made his way to these ruins, he encountered Blaze who revealed the true nature of this quest: to either use the power to destroy all of the Mortal Kombat warriors, or simply strip them of their power. Daegon not only revealed that it was he who had killed their parents over the prize, with the very weapons their father Argus to be used to fight against Blaze (as it became apparent that Daegon was the one who had stolen Taven's sword), he also told Taven that Shinnok warned him that their parents made the decision to assist Taven and not Daegon, in which he was envious of. As the Sons of Argus fought within the ruins with tremendous ferocity, Taven was victorious at a huge terrible cost. As this happened, the warriors clashing within the crater were suddenly stopped as the huge pyramid placed by Argus millennia earlier rose from the ground, with Blaze, now empowered and huge in size, waiting at the top. The warriors began to make their way to the top, fighting amongst themselves and turning on one another in order to claim this prize for themselves. With Daegon defeated, Taven took his sword and made his way into the crater himself, in order to defeat Blaze. However in the end, It was not Taven who defeated Blaze as he was destined in order to prevent Armageddon to the shock of all the kombatants themselves, It was Shao Kahn.

Return to the Past
After The Battle of Armageddon ended (while the Kombatants from both sides are dead), left Raiden and Shao Kahn, the only two survivors. Defeated and about to be dealt the final blow, Raiden used his last attempt to cast a spell on his amulet, now shattered, to contact his past self and quote "He Must Win!" before he was killed.

In the events of the first tournament, the Raiden from that era appears with Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat tounament hosted by Shang Tsung, now possessing visions of the events from his future self when his amulet cracked. After the first two rounds of the tournament, with Johnny Cage defeating both Reptile and Baraka, Raiden and Liu Kang met with Cage and explained to him the reason and purpose of Mortal Kombat, which he does not believe. Cage then finds Sonya Blade (whom Cage had flirted with earlier) while she was contacting the Special Forces, and he offers to help her out. Initially hostile, Sonya warms up to Cage after he saves her from the Black Dragon mercenary, Kano, during which time Cage begins to understand the truth in Raiden's words. Later, Sonya rescues Jax with assistance from Raiden. The Thunder God then explains to the four Earthrealm warriors his visions and what they foretell.

Later, Raiden receives more future visions whereby he sees the ninja spectre Scorpion killing Sub-Zero and a new warrior forming (now known as Noob Saibot). Raiden confronts him and requests him to spare Sub-Zero's life, offering to request the Elder Gods to restore his clan, the Shirai Ryu, back to the mortal realm, causing Scorpion to accept his request. In Shang Tsung's Throne room, Scorpion later confronts Sub-Zero, (after fighting Sektor and Cyrax), battled him in The Netherrealm and there defeated Sub-Zero. Scorpion then honors Raiden's request not to kill him, until Quan Chi appears and shows Scorpion visions of Lin Kuei forces attacking the Shirai Ryu clan and Sub-Zero killing his wife and child. This enraged Scorpion, thus ignoring his deal with Raiden, and killing Sub-Zero. He returns to the Throne Room in regret holding the burned skull of Sub-Zero and disappears enraged. Cyrax is later contracted by Shang Tsung to kill Johnny Cage, but is rebuffed by Raiden for doing so. Cyrax defeats Cage in their match, but honors Raiden's wish and lets him live. Cyrax is confronted by Sektor regarding the interaction, but defeats him in a brawl.

Meanwhile, Kitana attempts to kill Liu Kang, but is defeated and spared. Later, Kang then defeats Ermac, Goro and Shang Tsung in the tournament. However, despite their short-lived victory, Raiden's amulet cracks further. Disappointed with Outworld's defeat, Shao Kahn orders Shang Tsung's execution, but relents after being given the proposal of holding a second tournament in Outworld. During the events of the tournament, Kitana learns of her true past, while Jax, Cage, and Raiden attempt to rescue Sonya. Along the way, Sub-Zero's younger brother and Smoke infiltrates Outworld to learn of the original Sub-Zero's fate, while Ermac maims Jax. However, due to Raiden's assistance of Smoke, Sub-Zero instead undergoes cybernetic transformation, inadvertently altering the timeline. Raiden attempts to substitute Kung Lao as the champion of the next tournament, only for Lao to be killed by Kahn after defeating Kintaro, leaving Kang to be the champion of Mortal Kombat two times in a row.

Despite Kang's seemingly fatal victory over Kahn, the latter launches an invasion of Earth. Among the response teams would be riot cops Kabal and Kurtis Stryker. Stryker and Kabal manage to defeat Kintaro, Mileena, and Reptile, but Kabal suffers severe burns from Kintaro. Meanwhile, After defeating Ermac(Unbeknownst to Stryker that Kabal disappeared), he was recruited by Nightwolf to aid Raiden in defending Earth. However, It was revealed that Kabal has been recovered by Kano only to escape from Outworld. After defeating Sub-Zero (now a cyborg), fending off Sheeva, and assisting Smoke in helping him, both join Raiden's defenders, composed of Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, Kitana, Cyber Sub-Zero (his humanity having been restored), Jax (now with cybernetic arms), Jade, Smoke, Nightwolf and Stryker. Sub-Zero confronts Sektor and retrieves intelligence from his databanks.

Sub-Zero learns that Quan Chi was sacrificing Earthrealm's souls to merge Outworld with Earthrealm, and confronts his older brother (now Noob Saibot), allowing Nightwolf to halt Quan Chi's ritual. However, the interference causes Shao Kahn's forces to assault the headquarters of the Earthrealm warriors, where everyone (except for Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Raiden, and Liu Kang surviving the ambush), are killed by Sindel, with Nightwolf sacrificing himself to kill the empress.

During these events, Raiden travels to the Netherealm to try to convince Quan Chi to join him against Shao Kahn, offering the souls of all the fallen Earthrealm warriors in exchange for his help. However Quan Chi reveals that he already has these souls as part of Shao Kahn's agreement with him. Quan Chi then summons these souls and pits them against Raiden. Raiden successfully defeats 6 of the reanimated souls when Quan Chi remarks at how Shao Khan has already won, on hearing this statement Raiden realizes that Shao Kahn has to win because by conceding to Shao Khan the Elder Gods would intervene and punish Shao Kahn for merging realms without having won 10 consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments. Raiden returns to Earthrealm and explains his plan to Liu Kang, however Kang, dilusional with grief does not trust Raiden and goes to face Shao Kahn. Raiden, knowing that if Kang wins Armageddon will ensue, attempts to stop Kang, fighting and defeating Kang. However Kang refuses to back down from his goal. Raiden inadvertedly kills Kang while trying to stop him from fighting Shao Kahn. Raiden loses to Kahn voluntarily, only for the Elder Gods to intervene and grant him tremendous power. Raiden defeats Kahn who is attacked by the Elder Gods and is taken away for punishment, and vows to rebuild Earthrealm with Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage, the last remaining Earthrealm fighters. However, Quan Chi and Shinnok decide to use the chaos to their advantage to make their plan successful in order to claim both Earthrealm and Outworld in the name of the Netherrealm for themselves.

25 Years Later: What Would Become of the Future?
This is where Mortal Kombat X begins...