Mortal Kombat (2011)'s Story Mode

The story mode of Mortal Kombat (2011) contains 16 chapters total, telling a cohesive story retelling the events of the first three Mortal Kombat games, with both major and minor changes. Each chapter focuses on a single character (except chapter 11, with Liu Kang as he takes the final fight) from the series, and contains a combination of fights and extended cut-scenes.

Oddly, in Nightwolf's chapter, in the fights held in the cathedral, these feature the Shadow Priest and Meat on the table behind, summoning a curse on the latter, but he is not seen during the cutscenes.

Below is a list that shows the chapters in order:
 * 1) Johnny Cage
 * 2) Sonya Blade
 * 3) Scorpion
 * 4) Cyrax (human)
 * 5) Liu Kang
 * 6) Jax
 * 7) Smoke
 * 8) Sub-Zero
 * 9) Kitana
 * 10) Jade
 * 11) Kung Lao (the final fight of this chapter is fought as Liu Kang)
 * 12) Stryker
 * 13) Kabal
 * 14) Cyber Sub-Zero
 * 15) Nightwolf
 * 16) Raiden

Storyline
The story begins at the aftermath of the Battle of Armageddon, where nearly all of the kombatants have been killed. Only two fighters are shown to have survived, thunder god Raiden and emperor of Outworld Shao Kahn. Kahn has defeated Blaze and absorbed his power, and is currently engaged in a fight with Raiden, where he easily gets the upper hand, destroying his medallion in the process. Realizing the battle is lost, Raiden gathers up the pieces of the medallion and sends a cryptic message to his past self, including the words "He Must Win", moments before Shao Kahn destroys him.

Mortal Kombat bracket
The message, along with a series of mental images, travel back in time to the events of the first Mortal Kombat tournament covered in the series. The Raiden from back then not only senses these visions, but also notices his amulet is cracked. He thinks nothing of it at first as the tournament begins, with Johnny Cage fighting Reptile and Baraka. He is congratulated by Raiden after his victories, but he does not believe the warning that he and Liu Kang give him that Earthrealm is in grave danger. Instead, he leaves to try and ask Sonya Blade on a date. She initially refuses, but accepts him after he saves her from Kano.

Sonya reveals that she is actually looking for her superior, Jax Briggs, who has been taken hostage. As she tries to confront Shang Tsung, the tournament's host, Raiden receives a vision of Liu Kang defeating him. Believing this means something, he prevents Sonya from attacking him and eventually assists her in freeing Jax. Later, he meets up with the Earthrealm forces and explains the images he has been getting. Although he senses a grim future, he decides the best course of action, for now, would be to let the tournament run its course.

The next day, the ninja spectre Scorpion is sent to fight. He expresses a desire to battle Sub-Zero, but is instead made to fight Kung Lao (who Raiden recognizes posing as a Masked Guard) and Nightwolf. Sensing a vision that, if Scorpion kills Sub-Zero, another more dangerous threat will emerge, Raiden confronts him and encourages him to spare his life on the condition that he will ask the Elder Gods to resurrect his clan. Scorpion accepts this agreement and, when he finally does fight the Lin Kuei assassin, refuses to kill him. Quan Chi, however, shows him some images of the Lin Kuei's destruction of the Shirai Ryu, including one of Sub-Zero murdering his wife and child. Despite Sub-Zero pleading that the warrior responsible was, in fact, not him, Scorpion kills him anyway.

A distraught Scorpion later returns with Sub-Zero's charred skull and spine, and leaves soon afterwards. Raiden next speaks to Sub-Zero's former friend, Cyrax, and learns that he opposes the Lin Kuei's plans to turn some of their best warriors into cyborgs. Unfortunately, this conversation leads him to being ambushed by Baraka and Sheeva, who had been sent to kill him by Shang Tsung. Cyrax bests both warriors, then confronts Shang Tsung with Sektor, who explains that Cyrax will nonetheless continue the tournament. Cyrax defeats Johnny Cage, but refuses to kill him, leading him to rebel from his clan, defeating Sektor in the process.

By now, only Liu Kang remains for Earthrealm's forces. It is at this point that Raiden receives the message of "He Must Win". Believing that this refers to Kang, he further encourages him. Later, Kang is ambushed by Kitana, Shang Tsung's bodyguard, but when he defeats her, he spares her life, explaining that their encounter never happened, and that they may meet again "under better circumstances". Kang eventually earns the right to face Goro and, after a long, hard fought battle, defeats the Shokan warrior. With this victory, Kang faces off against his last opponent: Shang Tsung himself. As Raiden foresaw, Kang bests the sorcerer, who concedes defeat, handing victory to Earthrealm. Raiden and the other Earthrealm forces congratulate Kang on his victory, but to Raiden's surprise, his amulet cracks further.

Mortal Kombat II bracket
In order to save himself from being executed, Shang Tsung quickly makes a new proposition to Shao Kahn. He suggests a single tournament, replacing the original system of ten, and that if Earthrealm wins, Shao Kahn will refrain from attempting to merge it again, but if Outworld wins, Earthrealm will instantly be merged. Kahn agrees to these rules, revitalizes Tsung and sends him to Earthrealm, where Liu Kang's victory is being celebrated, to invite Raiden and his Earthrealm forces.

Raiden initially refuses, which results in the Wu Shi Academy being overrun by Tarkatan warriors. In the chaos, Sonya is kidnapped. Raiden receives another image, showing Liu Kang winning the new tournament. He decides to accept the challenge, but concludes that he must change the outcome of this image, as Kang's victory over Tsung had no effect. He sends Liu Kang and Kung Lao to tend to their masters, whilst he, Jax and Cage confront Shao Kahn himself. The first round of the new tournament sees Jax defeating Baraka, but the tournament is briefly called off after Reptile informs Shang Tsung of some "pressing matters". Eventually, Raiden and his allies locate, and rescue, Sonya from the nearby Dead Pool.

Sonya's wrist communicator picks up two readings from Outworld's shores. These turn out to be the Lin Kuei warriors Smoke and Tundra, the latter of who is the younger brother of Sub-Zero. It has revealed he has taken up his brother's rank and name in order to honour him, and avenge his killer. As they split up, Smoke encounters Kano selling some advanced weapons to Shang Tsung. Smoke confronts them, only to be ambushed by Sektor, who is now a cyborg. He attempts to bring Smoke back to the Lin Kuei temple to undergo the same procedure, but is stopped by Raiden, who received another vision. Smoke agrees to join him and Johnny Cage, expressing fears that Sub-Zero may be in danger.

Sub-Zero himself is ambushed by Cyrax, also a cyborg, but manages to hold him off until Jax and Sonya arrive. Surprised to see him alive, they eventually explain the original Sub-Zero's death at the hands of Scorpion. The three are ambushed by Ermac and, in the resulting confrontation, both of Jax's arms are destroyed. Sub-Zero eventually reaches Shao Kahn's Coliseum and demands to fight Scorpion. Sub-Zero wins the encounter, but before he can kill him, he is attacked by various cybernetic Lin Kuei warriors, who offer their allegiance to Shao Kahn in order to take Sub-Zero back to their temple.

As Kitana was meant to eliminate any intruders, she is scolded by Shao Kahn for failing to do her duty. As she leaves, Raiden follows her, and attempts to help her understand her true nature. To this end, he encourages her to examine Shang Tsung's Flesh Pits, somewhere she has been forbidden to go. When she arrives, she discovers a series of clones designed in her image, but also sporting Tarkatan features. One of these, who looks exactly like her, except for her eyes and mouth, ends up attacking her, but she is soundly defeated.

Kitana then confronts Shang Tsung, who she learns made the clones. She informs Shao Kahn about his actions, only for the emperor to not only praise him, but to reveal that he actually killed her real father. He sends Kitana off to be executed, and demands his new daughter, who he names "Mileena", be brought to him. However, Jade, Kitana's best friend, manages to defeat Sheeva and attempts to free Kitana. Kitana urges her to locate Raiden, which she does manage to do after a brief encounter with Mileena first-hand.

After Jade informs Raiden about the events, Liu Kang and Kung Lao head off to the coliseum. Shao Kahn demands that Raiden chooses a champion, but Liu Kang, believing that he is not the "he" who "must win", refuses to compete, and Raiden selects Kung Lao in his place. Lao manages to defeat the combined forces of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, and even defeats Kintaro, but is then suddenly killed himself by Shao Kahn. Enraged, Liu Kang, having freed Kitana, fights him in Kung Lao's place, and defeats him by punching straight through his chest, seemingly killing him. Kang is declared the tournament's winner and, as they mourn Kung Lao, Raiden concludes that Liu Kang was meant to win after all, and Shao Kahn was who he was meant to defeat. Despite this, the medallion cracks even further.

Story Mode Video Playthrough
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