Mortal Kombat 9

Mortal Kombat 9 is the title and name of the 9th (duh?) fighting game in the Mortal Combat series, developed by the newly named NetherRealm Studios.

The game was first hinted at by developer Ed Boon in January 2010, shortly after the happenings of the previous events in real life, the Great Battle in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. On June 18, 2010, Boon confirmed on Twitter and surplus Facebook that they (the company) were performing motion capture for the game and the real event, however, the motion actor would not be Mokap.

Boon also revealed that the game will actually be set in our new timeline, something most of the Earth's population isn't even aware of.

Story
The story begins in the aftermath of the Great Battle back in the original timeline, where nearly all of the combatants have been killed. Only two combatants are shown to have survived: the Thunder God, Raiden, and the Emperor of Outworld, Shao Kahn. Kahn had his powers increased by killing Blaze, and is currently engaged in a fight with Raiden where he easily gains the upper hand and taunts the Thunder God along with throwing him all around, destroying his medallion in the process. Realising the battle is lost, Raiden gathers up the shattered pieces of his medallion and sends a cryptic message to his past self, the words "He must win", moments before Shao Kahn delivers a killing blow on him.

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 current timeline series. The Raiden from the past not only senses these visions but also notices that his amulet is cracked. He thinks nothing of it at first as the tournament begins. The sorcerer Shang Tsung greets the combatants, and introduces himself as the final challenge of tournament. Johnny Cage, after insulting Tsung behind his back, is called forward by Shang to fight Reptile. Cage wins the fight against Reptile, and Tsung calls out Baraka as his next opponent. Cage defeats Baraka and is ordered to "finish him (Baraka)", but does not comply. Immediately afterwards, Cage is congratulated on his victories by Raiden who, along with Liu Kang, warns him that Earth is in grave danger, but he does not take their warnings seriously. Instead, he leaves to try and ask Sonya Blade out on a date.

Sonya initially refuses any attention from Cage. Annoyed, she attacks Cage, leading to a fight between them. Cage wins the fight over her, but eventually Kano appears and throws Johnny off a bridge and is moving to finish off weakened Sonya. However, Johnny manages to fling himself on the bridge and defeat Kano. Sonya thanks him and reveals who Kano is.

She then reveals she is looking for her superior, Jax Briggs, who has been taken prisoner on the island. She separates from Johnny to look for him and finds Jax locked in a prison cell in Goro's Dungeon. As she tries to free him, Shang Tsung reveals himself and tells Sonya that he has been expecting her. She tries to tell him that she and Jax are not part of his plans and demands that he frees Jax, to which Tsung responds that Sonya is indeed a contestant anyway and that she will face Sub-Zero of the Lin Kuei Clan of s.

After Sonya defeats the Lin Kuei, Raiden appears and receives yet another vision, this time of Liu Kang defeating Shang Tsung. Believing this means something, he tries to prevent Sonya from attacking Shang, only to have Sonya defeat him instead. After ordering Sonya to shield her eyes, Raiden assists her in freeing Jax by creating a blinding flash of light. As Sonya and Jax flee, they are confronted by Kitana and Jade, but Sonya manages to defeat them both. A helicopter arrives shortly afterwards, only to be blasted down to crash by Shang Tsung.

Tsung reveals that Kano is challenging her in combat, and Kano mocks her for not having Johnny around to protect her. Sonya, however, defeats Kano and tries to take him into custody, but Shang Tsung intervenes. Kano then leaves with the sorcerer, safely. Raiden, Liu Kang, and Cage show up, with the Thunder God using his magic to heal an injured Jax. Raiden tells the group that he has been receiving visions from the future, about Armageddon, and believes they must work to avert and counterattack this tragedy, starting by winning the tournament. Johnny, Sonya, and Jax all agree to co-op with Raiden.

Later, the revenant Scorpion is summoned from the Never Never Land to fight in the tournament. He expresses a desire to battle Sub-Zero. Raiden, knowing that Kung Lao disguised himself as a Masked Guard, confronts him. Kung Lao, wanting to prove that he is Liu Kang's equal, accepts the challenge against Scorpion, but loses. After humbling Kung in combat, Scorpion once again demands to fight Sub-Zero but is forced to fight Nightwolf instead. Nightwolf tells Scorpion that his aggression is aggression and it's misplaced plus that he should look for other ways to find peace instead of seeking revenge. However, Scorpion simply accuses Nightwolf of dishonouring his own kind and defeats him. Later, Raiden senses a vision that, if Scorpion kills Sub-Zero, a more dangerous threat will emerge. Raiden speaks to Scorpion and pleads with him to spare Sub-Zero's life on the condition that he will ask the Elder Gods to resurrect the Shirai-Ryu Clan if he does. Scorpion reluctantly accepts this agreement.

That night, Scorpion is taunted and harassed by Cyrax and Sektor, leading to Shang Tsung declaring that to be a challenge. Scorpion soundly defeats both in a 2-on-1 fight. Not long after, Sub-Zero shows up and taunts Scorpion, who responds by dragging him to the Never Land where they engage in combat. Sub-Zero is defeated, but Scorpion honours his agreement with Raiden and spares his life. Sorcerer Quan Chi, however, shows him images of the Lin Kuei's destruction of the Shirai-Ryu, including one of Sub-Zero personally murdering his wife and child. Sub-Zero pleads to Scorpion his life and tells him the visions and images are fake, but Scorpion removes his mask with anger and kills Sub-Zero.

A distraught Scorpion later returns with Sub-Zero's charred skull and spine and leaves soon afterward. Raiden then speaks to Sub-Zero's former friend, Cyrax, who vows to make Scorpion pay. In the discussion, Raiden asks about the Cyber Initiative, as well as questioning why the Lin Kuei participate in the tournament to kill Earthrealm warriors. Unfortunately, this conversation leads Cyrax to be ambushed later on by Baraka and Sheeva, who have been sent to kill him by Shang Tsung. However, Cyrax emerges victorious over both warriors.

Cyrax confronts Shang Tsung as he is conversing with Sektor. Tsung scolds Cyrax for having jeopardised his plans by speaking with Raiden. Sektor nevertheless explains that Cyrax will continue his mission, which is to kill Johnny Cage. Immediately afterwards, Cyrax fights and defeats Cage, but refuses to kill him, leading him to rebel from his clan. Sektor confronts him over his disobedience, stating that Cyber Initiative will remove all sub-ordinance, like a Nazi would non-Aryans. Angered, Cyrax fights Sektor, defeats him in the process and declares that he is done with the Lin Kuei.

Liu Kang emerges as the only Earthrealm warrior left in the tournament. Shang Tsung introduces Ermac as Kahn's latest creation and has him fight Liu Kang, but Kang emerges victorious. Watching the fight, Kitana tells Tsung she will ensure Liu Kang doesn't reach the final challenge. While training for the next fight in the courtyard, Liu Kang and Raiden discuss the god's visions more, especially the sentence of "He must win!" Believing that "he" refers to Kang, he further encourages him. Later, Kang is ambushed by Kitana, but when he defeats her, he spares her life, even though Kitana asks him to kill her. Instead, he remarks that they truly had no encounter, and expresses a desire to meet her under more favorable circumstances.

Kang later fights against his next opponents: Scorpion and Quan Chi, defeating them both. He is then sent to Goro's Lair to challenge the reigning champion, Goro. After a long, hard-fought battle, Kang defeats the Shokan prince. 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. The Outworld warriors, along with Kano, leave through a portal, with Kitana taking a last lingering look before departing. Raiden and the other Earthrealm forces congratulate Kang on his victory, but to Raiden's surprise, his amulet cracks further.

Back in Outworld, Shang Tsung is brought before the emperor. Shao Kahn is angered and orders Kitana to execute him. In order to save himself from being executed, the sorcerer quickly makes a new proposition to Shao Kahn.

Liu Kang is then presented at a ceremony as the new champion of the Mortal Kombat tournament, with Kung Lao, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Jax in attendance. At the celebration, Jax is having a victory Cuban cigar while Raiden is confused as to why his amulet is still cracked. Raiden then takes notice of Sektor, where the Lin Kuei proposes an offer from the emperor himself: He proposes a single tournament, replacing the original system of ten, and tells Raiden if Earth wins the tournament, Shao Kahn will forever have to abandon his claim to Earth. However, should Outworld win, Kahn will be allowed to merge Earth with Outworld.

Raiden dismisses the offer, which results in the Wu Shi Academy being overrun by Tarkatan warriors. In the chaos, Sonya and the Shaolin masters are kidnapped and brought to Outworld. 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 tournament, as Kang's victory over Sektor had no effect.

In Outworld, Raiden sends Liu Kang and Kung Lao to tend to their masters whilst he, Jax, and Johnny Cage begin the tournament. Jax steps forward to find Sonya, only for Sektor to declare this as Jax volunteering for the first combat. The first round of the new tournament sees Jax defeating Baraka, but the tournament is briefly postponed after Reptile informs Sektor of some "pressing matters".

Raiden teleports himself and the other Earth warriors to Kahn's Armory after one of Raiden's visions reveals that Sonya was to be executed. Johnny Cage questions Jax about his relationship with her, to which Jax states that he is just her commanding officer, nothing else. Jax becomes increasingly annoyed by Cage's gloating and they get into a fight, which is put to an end by Raiden only after three minutes. Jade also makes an appearance and demands that the three leave the armoury. However, Jax fights Jade and defeats her. After rendering Jade unconscious, Cage and Jax patch things up and the three continue their quest to find Sonya.

They eventually find Sonya tied to a stake in another room similar to Edenia's Dead Pool, guarded by Sheeva and her minions. After killing one of the attacking guards and jumping over the rest of them, Jax fights and defeats Sheeva while Johnny and Raiden deal with the remaining guards. He then frees Sonya. Her wrist communicator picks up two tech readings from Outworld's shores. Since Outworld doesn't possess great technology, Raiden concludes that they might be helpful to look into, and goes with Cage to investigate one of the signals while Sonya and Jax take the other.

These two readings lead them to the Lin Kuei warriors Smoke and the younger brother of Sub-Zero, Tundra, now taking up the mantle of his older brother. It is known that they escaped from Lin Kuei's headquarter and are searching for information about Sub-Zero's death. The two split up, and Smoke is accosted by Kitana, who orders him to leave Outworld. Smoke responds by mocking Kitana, calling her a "maid", then defeats her in combat.

He then makes his way to the Forest of Death, where Kano is seen selling advanced weaponry to Sektor. Smoke confronts his old clan member Sektor and demands the whereabouts of the original Sub-Zero. Kano volunteers to take care of the Lin Kuei for free (no charge) but is quickly defeated. Smoke then confronts Sektor again. Sek however, brings up Reptile for him to combat. Smoke subdues him, only to be ambushed by Sektor, who transforms into his robot form. He attempts to bring Smoke back to the Lin Kuei Temple to undergo the same procedure. Smoke manages to defeat Sektor, declaring that he will never submit to cyber initiative. However, a swarm of Lin Kuei robots show up to take him back by force. Raiden, who received a vision of Smoke being turned into a cyborg, intervenes and takes the robots out with a blast of lightning. A grateful Smoke agrees in joining him and Johnny in their quest, expressing fears and worries that Sub-Zero may be in danger as well.

The younger Sub-Zero is ambushed by a cybernetic Cyrax at the Soul Chamber but manages to defeat him just as Jax and Sonya arrive. Initially believing him to be the original Sub-Zero, they eventually explain his death at the hands of Scorpion. The three then encounter Ermac and, in the resulting confrontation, Jax has both his arms telekinetically ripped off his body. Sub-Zero then engages Ermac in combat while Sonya tends to Jax. After winning over 'Mac, Sub-Zero tells Sonya and Jax a way out to Earth while he goes to Kahn's Coliseum in the hopes of exacting revenge against Scorpion.

Sub-Zero eventually reaches the coliseum and demands to face Scorpion, but is forced to duel Reptile instead. Emerging the victor, Sub-Zero once again demands Scorpion as his next opponent, to which Shao Kahn agrees. Quan Chi summons Scorpion from the Never Land and the battle begins. Sub-Zero wins the match, but before he can finish Scorpion off, he is attacked by numerous cybernetic Lin Kuei warriors, who offered their allegiance to Shao Kahn and even a bigger allegiance to their boss Sektor than ever in exchange for Sub-Zero. Sektor and Kahn allow this.

More to be added tomorrow...

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