Chapter 1: Earth Realm's Last Hope

Liu Kang's zombie-like body appeared walking down a deserted town in China. The streets were littered with dead bodies from people whom he had killed. Everyone was dead except for the remaining kombatants, Kung Lao and Sub-Zero, who had chosen to remain on Earth Realm with Dark Raiden and try to find a way to put an end to the zombie Liu Kang's rampage.

Although this was Liu's body, it was definitely not his soul controlling it. His soul had been twisted and tormented inside the body of the evil Shang Tsung and it remained there until Raiden sacrificed not only himself and Quan-Chi in an attempt to defeat the Empowered Dragon King, but Shang Tsung as well, releasing all the tormented souls inside of him and allowing them to go to the afterlife.

"Liu...my friend..." Kung Lao began, approaching Liu Kang and getting into his Mantis stance, "I'm afraid I cannot let you cause any more harm to these people than you already have..." He hesitated for a moment, just looking at Liu's deformed face, which was just smiling evily and staring at him as if ready to strike.

"What are you waiting for!?" Sub-Zero boomed, taking a step near Kung Lao "destroy him now or I'll do it myself!" "NO!" Raiden interrupted, "this is something Kung Lao must do by himself...if he does not succeed...we will then strike...but for now, its his fight." Kung Lao, head down, suddenly began walking toward Liu.

The zombie Liu just stared at him and began shaking rapidly. Some foam emerged from his mouth as he continued shaking. Kung Lao stared at him in disgust. In a lightning fast motion, he jumped into the air, swung his foot around, and slammed it directly into Liu's jaw. Just as he did, Liu Kang bit down hard.

"AAHH!!" Kung Lao screamed, falling to the ground, holding his bleeding leg, "he...he bit me!!" Enraged, the Shaolin Monk got back to his feet and sent three powerful punches to Liu's ribcage then uppercut him into the sky. As his fist struck Liu's jaw, electricity struck the ground. Liu went crashing down hard on top of a small building.

He slowly got up and shook his head then looked around for Kung Lao. Just as he turned around, a mirage of kicks came twisting and whirling towards him. As they collided with his chest bone, Liu was sent flying off of the building and landed on top of a car. He slowly got to his feet once more and saw Kung Lao jumping off of the building and running towards him.

Just as he got close to him, Liu dodged the monk's attacks and slammed both of his fists into Kung Lao's stomach hard, sending him flying nearly 30 yards across the street, hitting a brick building and leaving a large hole in it. As Kung Lao was getting to his feet and wiping some blood from his mouth, he noticed that Liu Kang was directly in front of him.

"What the...how did you..." he began, but before he could say any more, Liu Kang picked him up by the throat and began to choke him. "Acchh...aargghh...let...go..." Kung Lao choke out, squeezing Liu's icy-cold hand, braced around his neck. "We've got to help him!" Sub-Zero exclaimed, taking a step forward. Raiden stuck a hand out and stopped him.

"This is Kung Lao's fight, if he is not strong enough to defeat this evil, then he does not deserve to live." Sub-Zero just stared at him as if he was insane. "What's wrong with you!? If we don't help he's going to kill Kung Lao!" Raiden just stood tall with both arms crossed. "Fine..." Sub-Zero continued, "if you won't help him...I will, you coward."

In a lightning-fast motion, Raiden turned around, threw both hands into the sky, and struck Sub-Zero directly in the chest with a massive amount of electricity. He then slowly began to walk around him. "You should watch what you say to the god of thunder, foolish one, you just might find yourself dead." Sub-Zero, who was floating in the air and being struck by hundreds of bolts of lightning, slung his head back and spat a large glob of dark watery blood from his mouth.

Satisfied with his lesson teaching, Raiden stopped the electricity and dropped the ninja to the ground. Sub-Zero just lied there for a few seconds, his eyes wide, then he slowly got to his feet, took a quick glance at Raiden, who had his back turned to him, then looked back at the on-going battle. Liu Kang had tightened his grip on Kung Lao's neck and was squeezing even harder.

Blood dripped from Kung Lao's lip as he gritted his teeth and tried to prie Liu's hand loose from around his neck. No matter how hard he tried, his strength was no match for the powerful body of a Champion such as Liu Kang. The evil zombie smiled and grinned as he stared evily into the frightened KUng Lao's eyes.

Suddenly, the monk went limp and loosened his grip on Liu's hand. Liu Kang, thinking it was over, loosened his grip as well and just as he did, Kung Lao took his razor-sharp hat from his head and slung it at Liu's chest. Liu just stared at the hat, lodged into his chest, then pulled it loose and surprisingly swung it back at Kung Lao.

The monk was caught off guard and the hat's razor plunged into his neck. Kung Lao fell to the ground and began flipping over and kicking. After a few moments, he went limp and just lie there, a dark red puddle forming under his body. "It can't be..." Sub-Zero murmured to himself, looking down at the ground.

"Stop mumbling nonsense to yourself and help me. Together, we will defeat him. It should not be that hard." Sub-Zero glared at him out of the corner of his eye. "I can't believe you just let him die like that...he was our friend...one of the only people who chose to fight alongside you, besides me."

"I guess you'll just do the same to me. You know, I'm starting to think you're on the Dragon King's side...otherwise, you wouldn't be so stupid and idiotic...you're not Raiden, you're nothing like the Raiden I used to know...you're a monster...you are just like that disgusting creature," Sub-Zero said, pointing at Liu Kang, who was bent down, chewing at Kung Lao's convulsing body.

Raiden turned to Sub-Zero, smiling, and said, "if you don't shut that mouth of yours and help me, you'll be zombie chow as well..." With this, Raiden turned away and began walking towards Liu Kang, who was still bent down chewing at Kung Lao's pale flesh. With a flick of his hand, the thunder god sent a bolt of lightning towards Liu and knocked him through a building.

Covered in blocks, Liu struggled to get to his feet but just as he did, Raiden shot another lightning bolt directly into his chest, knocking him back down. Raiden continued walking towards Liu's fallen body. As he walked, Sub-Zero just watched, amazed. "He really is a god..." he murmured to himself, feeling regret for talking back to Raiden.

Just as it seemed that everything was under control, Liu jumped to his feet and began throwing small balls of fire at Raiden. The Thunder God easily blocked the first ones but as more and more approached him he was overpowered. Three of the massive balls of fire struck him in the stomach, two in the knees, and seven directly in the face.

Raiden collapsed to the ground, breathing hard. As he tried to get back up, Sub-Zero ran over to him and tried to help. Angered, Raiden pushed Sub-Zero away. "I'm trying to help you!" he screamed. Raiden got to his feet and glared at him. "Never touch me again..." he said. Suddenly, Liu Kang came running towards the two of them and shoulder-charged Raiden, knocking him back towards Sub-Zero.

The alert warrior instantly did a backwards flip, leaving an ice clone where he stood. As Raiden hit the ice clone, it crumbled to pieces, shards of ice going everywhere. Sub-Zero looked at Liu Kang, who was no longer standing like a zombie, but in Liu's actual fighting stance. "I can't believe it," he said to himself, "he has the knowledge of Liu's Martial Arts teachings...if this is so...there's no way we can defeat him...but I've got to try! No way am I giving up!"

With this, Sub-Zero laucnhed an ice ball from his palms. Liu began running towards the iceball as it approached him and just as he was about to collide with it, he did a high frontwards flip and went flying towards Sub-Zero, still flipping. The ice ninja was caught off guard and Liu's feet struck him hard in the chest, sending him flying backwards into a tree.

As he hit, a loud snap could be heard and Sub-Zero went limp, collapsing to the ground. Liu Kang slowly walked over to Raiden, then to Sub-Zero. They were both dead. He had killed them. Satisfied with his victory, Liu began to feast on the two kombatants, chewing on their flesh and ripping off their arms, unaware that someone was watching from the spirit world, his brother, Chan.