CHAPTER 1

Shang Tsung sat in his chamber. He smiled inwardly, knowing that the time of the tournament was once again at hand.

Centuries earlier, he had been banished to Earthrealm. But his banishment had turned out to be a blessing. The Elder Gods had established the Mortal Kombat tournament, allowing a weaker realm to protect itself from a stronger realm via hand-to-hand combat; if a realm could produce just one good fighter every few centuries, it would be safe.

Earthrealm was not safe. Shang Tsung had corrupted the tournament by entering his own champion, a dragon prince named Goro. Goro had won the last nine competitions. Under the rules of Mortal Kombat, Goro's nearly certain victory in the upcoming tournament would open Earthrealm to conquest by Shang Tsung's master, the Emperor Shao Khan of Outworld, giving Tsung the redemption he craved.

Soon, the fighters would gather, and soon, the tournament would begin again. Shang Tsung stood up to begin the day's preparations.

As he stepped out of the chamber, his personal assistant, a young fighter named Ling Nim, was waiting by the door to greet him. This was odd - Nim rarely came to his chamber and even more rarely interrupted him.

"Master Tsung, there is a man here who wishes to speak to you. He's from Earthrealm."

While Shang Tsung's private island was indeed in Earthrealm, he had never considered it so. As far as he was concerned, it was the first outpost of Outworld in this realm; it was physically and magically protected from Earthrealm and nobody who had access to the island would ever have been described as "from Earthrealm" in his presence.

"Who is he? How did he get here?"

"He just sailed up to the dock in a small boat. He is some sort of merchant. He tried to explain it to me, but I didn't understand it. He said he 'buys sports'. I don't know what that means. He said that he came to speak with the one in charge of the tournament, and then asked for you by name. He's not threatening, but since he's the first person from Earthrealm to come here uninvited, I decided to let you handle him."

His curiosity piqued, Shang Tsung walked to the foyer of the temple. He instantly knew which man there was from Earthrealm.

The man was not a fighter. He was probably about thirty, overweight, and did not stand in a fighting stance. Shang Tsung sneered - every man in his temple was expected to be in peak physical condition, and the only outsiders he had seen in his centuries here were the Earthrealm fighters.

He looked out at the dock, where the man's ship was visible. It appeared to be a small sailboat. Its smooth white lines, heavy reliance on metal construction, and plain sails confirmed that it was not of Outworld. There were other men on the boat, and despite their strange clothing and weapons, they stood in a posture that allowed Shang Tsung to instantly recognize them as guards. Their posture was defensive, and they were making no attempt to leave the boat. Unlike the strange man before him, these men appeared to be formidable fighters.

He turned his attention back to the strange man. Despite having lived there for centuries, Shang Tsung knew little about Earthrealm. But he recognized the formal wear that the man had on, what they called a 'suit'. It consisted of a jacket that wouldn't keep out the cold, pants that would restrict movement, and a brightly colored choking device around the neck. This man was not dressed for combat, but for vanity.

Shang Tsung walked over to the man, looked at him, and spoke. "Earther. I am Shang Tsung, ruler of this island and representative of Emperor Shao Khan. You are the first outsider to come here in centuries. You come to my island, uninvited, and ask to speak to me personally. You have found me. Speak. If I am not pleased with what I hear, we are going to have a long conversation about how you found and came to this place."

The man smiled nervously, but there was a genuine current of amusement beneath it. Shang Tsung found himself warming up to this stranger almost immediately.

"Mr. Tsung, my name is Kenneth Walker. First off, about how I got here: the organization I work for has the ability to do what we need to do. That's all I am authorized to say about it at this time." He paused for a moment, and his demeanor changed, becoming more genuinely friendly. "Are you familiar with the Earthrealm technology called Television?"

With that, the man walked over to a table and placed a small black object on it. Shang Tsung watched with interest. He was vaguely aware that the Earth wizards could produce interesting effects with their 'technology', and realized that he was about to get a demonstration.

"This device here is an eye. It sees things. This device here"- The man took a small rectangle out of his pocket. He held it up to his face, staring intently at it and poking it with his fingers. "-shows what the eye sees."

With that, the man turned the small rectangle so that Shang Tsung could see the other side. He was surprised to see an image of the room they were in, complete with the two men! The man explained that the "eye" would see things, and communicate those things to the rectangle, which would then show those same things. Shang Tsung was entranced. He could see himself from outside, in a way that a mirror would never allow. He waved his hands a little bit but managed to restrain himself from acting like a fool. The strange Earther was still talking, but Shang Tsung was barely listening. After a minute, he regained his composure and looked at the man.

"This is very interesting, but I don't understand. Why have you come here and brought this with you?"

Kenneth smiled. Again, Shang Tsung found himself disarmed by this man. Kenneth answered, "I represent an organization called ESPN. In Earthrealm, everyone has devices like this, both small handheld ones and larger ones the size of that tapestry over there. ESPN sets up eyes - we call them 'cameras' - at sporting events, and then people give us money to send images of the sporting events to their homes."

Kenneth continued, "Most Earthers have no idea that Mortal Kombat even exists. Outside of Shaolin monasteries, it's virtually unknown. At most, a person who gets heavily into combat sports might hear rumors about a huge, secret tournament to the death on the other side of the planet. But people should know about it! The fate of our world is on the line. People would certainly want to see such a tournament as it plays out. And ESPN is positioned better than anyone to bring it to them."

"And that's what we want from you. We want to set up cameras at the tournament site and send images to the rest of Earthrealm. We want the exclusive right to do so – you'd agree to not let anyone not from ESPN to set up such a camera. And finally, we want your reasonable cooperation in doing so."

Shang Tsung wasn't quite sure what to say. This proposition was unlike anything he'd heard before. While Mortal Kombat was not exactly a secret, it had never been well-known. Shao Khan, Shang Tsung, and even Earthrealm protectors like Raiden and the Shaolin Monks were all fine with that. The idea of thousands of Earthers - or more - watching the tournament made him uneasy.

"OK, Kenneth Walker o N, why should I let you do this? You've obviously come here to negotiate. But you have yet to offer me anything. What could you have that I want? What could you have that I won't take when my master's armies conquer Earthrealm?"

With this question, Kenneth's smile widened. "I have five hundred pounds of gold on my boat. We're prepared to trade you that for exclusive television rights to your tournament."

Shang Tsung was taken aback and did some quick mental math. His temple's annual budget amounted to less than fifty pounds of gold. That kind of money would instantly make him one of the wealthiest men in Outworld - even Emperor Khan's cash reserves amounted to less than a thousand pounds. But he didn't want to seem too eager.

"If I do this, what do you want from me? What do you expect me to give up?"

"We'd have the right to set up cameras as necessary to view fights, though we would not interfere with them. Naming rights to tournament venues. We'd run cabling as necessary around the facility. Control over scheduling to guarantee maximum entertainment value to our clients. Access to the fighters personally for interviews. Other access to the island as necessary to transmit images back to Earth. And finally, nobody else from Earthrealm would be allowed to set up cameras or otherwise transmit images, accounts or descriptions of the tournament back to Earthrealm."

Shang Tsung considered the list of demands. None of them sounded particularly difficult. Kenneth explained that the 'cables' he wanted to 'run' around the facility were metal ropes that would go from the boat to the combat venues. He also explained that ESPN would have the right to rename the venues; this request seemed odd to Shang Tsung. The Bridge had always simply been called "The Bridge", and the same went for other places where fights were held. He couldn't imagine what ESPN might want to call it instead. He asked about the "control over scheduling". Kenneth pointed out that some fights were going to be more interesting than others, and that his clients would want to watch those in the evening, while the less interesting fights could be held during the day. Finally, Shang Tsung asked about "interviews". Kenneth explained that people watching tournaments would like to learn more about the fighters lives - while it was interesting to watch someone named "Johnny Cage" fighting someone named "Scorpion", it would be far more interesting to watch a movie star who came here to prove himself fighting against an undead ninja seeking revenge against his brother.

Shang Tsung was taken aback by that last answer. "How do you know these things about Mortal Kombat and its participants? Your world barely knows that this tournament exists!"

Kenneth smiled his mysterious smile. "Again, I will simply answer that my organization has access to whatever knowledge it needs. Do we have a deal?"

The deal sounded too good to be true. So Shang Tsung stalled while contemplating it.

"You understand that the fate of your world rides on this tournament? For centuries, the elder gods have protected your realm, preventing any conquest so long as Outworld's fighters could not win ten Mortal Kombats in a row. We have won the last nine. If a competitor from Outworld wins this tournament, the armies of Shao Khan will march across Earthrealm. When we get to...wherever ESPN is, we'll sack your city. If you can bring five hundred pounds of gold here, today, how much do you have there? And why would people want to watch a tournament that will end with the conquest of their world?"

Kenneth's smooth facade dropped a bit, but he quickly recovered.

"Winning Mortal Kombat doesn't give you Earthrealm. It just means that the Elder Gods won't stop you from trying to conquer it. You'll still have to face our armies. But that doesn't change my proposal. If you accept this deal and then win, well, you get wealth that you might have wound up taking by conquest anyway. But if you lose, you still get paid. As for why people would want to watch, it's simple. If the war is going to happen, it's going to happen. The only thing that prevents it is this tournament. Why would they not want to watch? You have spectator areas at every venue. Clearly, you understand that a fight of this importance can be a form of entertainment. And again, this way, even if you don't win the tournament, and have to restart the 500-year conquest-of-earth clock, at least you get a nice gold payment."

Shang Tsung considered this. At last, he spoke again. "Very well. Mortal Kombat will be displayed on ESPN."