Randomly brainstormed bits of this a few days back and decided to try writing it out as a concept for a full-fledged trailer for a hypothetical Mortal Kombat 12.
Earthrealm
The cityscape was desolate from an invasion long ago. Buildings in poor condition, pavement with massive cracks, trash and debris all over.
Three notable landmarks lied on the ground, their shine turned to rust over years of weather:
A four-legged sentry gun, no longer able to stand, covered with dents on its body, and with its nozzle bent.
A bladed Shaolin hat, a cut from the blade to the middle blood-stained, and a fourth of it chopped off and missing.
A fairly bulky mechanical arm with an American flag bandanna wrapped around it, and its fingers locked into a fist.
Orderrealm
What looked like a clean utopia in complete contrast. Beautiful architecture, the floor covered with white marble tiles, and its citizens dressed in luxurious attire.
But amongst the crowds, a figure adorned in a brown hooded robe stuck out even as he tried to keep hidden.
A pair of black boots carefully stepped over the mechanical arm. This man, adorned in faded dark blue, a black protective vest over his chest, a large scarf and goggles covering his mouth and eyes, and with messy brown-blonde hair.
One fingerless gloved hand retrieved a pistol from his holster, the other counting the remaining bullets he had left: only five. He heard the scuffling of trash bags to his side and was immediately on the alert, pointing his gun in that direction.
"Who's there?!"
Finding that the source of the noise was a small band of survivors, most of them children far more ragged and entirely unarmed, the man immediately tried to ease the situation by putting his pistol back and gesturing for them to calm down.
"Wait, wait! It's all right."
The man lifted up his goggles, revealing his eyes, then pulled the scarf covering his mouth down...
...messy brown-blonde facial hair revealed as well.
"Name's Kurtis."
From behind his vest, he revealed his old police badge, having weathered the same conditions as him and with a hole, having once saved him from a fatal blow.
The hooded figure turned to see Seidan guards being met by four blue armored Lin Kuei cyborgs. When one guard pointed in his direction, he knew his cover was jeopardized.
His sandled feet took off, the citizens of the city moving aside to make way for the cyborgs that began to pursue him.
Stryker heard more footsteps from another direction and turned to see four Outworld soldiers approaching, drawing their weapons. From his count earlier, he knew his ammo would be sufficient to take down each foe, but he also couldn't afford to waste any shots, especially if something worse were to follow.
So instead of drawing his handgun, he took hold of batons held on opposite ends of his belt.
Seeing two Lin Kuei cyborgs teleport into his path, arms aiming at him, the figure had his arms outstretched.
The two units suddenly found their upper bodies separated from their lower bodies by blades...
Tarkatan blades.
Stryker had just tripped over the first two soldiers with his batons, then struck both their faces before they could recover. As another tried to stab with their spear, he span to avoid it, then struck their neck with a taser to stun them.
Then as the last Outworld soldier fired, Stryker charged, using the third soldier as a shield.
This Tarkatan was doing the same with a cyborg, except with a blade to the throat, as the last Lin Kuei unit fired shurikens from its wrists. Only one projectile managed to get around the human shield to knock the figure's hood back...
...revealing Baraka's bald head with a massive cut from his scalp to his forehead held together with metal staples.
He tossed the human shield forward, which the cyborg knocked away with ease, only for Baraka to slam into it at such high speed with his blades. The two flew over the balcony down below...
Stryker, however, simply tackled the Outworld soldier to the ground, then punched the soldier repeatedly in the face, seeing his glove covered with blood.
Upon their landing, Baraka noticed the severely damaged cyborg pressing on its wrist for any number of actions. The Tarkatan responded by retracting his blades from the cyborg's torso, then immediately redrew them to slice off both its wrist and its head in one swing.
Seeing only onlookers from above and the path before him relatively clear, Baraka continued his escape.
Once Stryker confirmed the enemy was down, he gestured for the survivors to approach him.
"This way."
But as they approached him, Stryker saw what looked like a stream of fire emerge in front of him. He rolled back, seeing the flames take the shape of a massive dragon, blocking their path.
In mid-run, Baraka suddenly found himself flung backward by what seemed to be strong winds. He stopped himself by putting his blades against the ground, stopping an intended sword stab from reaching his face...
...from Fujin, his hair ragged, skin pale, and his tattoos now glowing an oozing black hue to reflect his corruption.
The dragon then slowly morthed into the shape of a man...
Liu Kang, adorned in light armor of much higher quality than that of the Outworld soldiers Stryker had combated earlier. While entirely human, Liu's face lacked anything remotely resembling empathy for those he approached. Stryker could sense no intent of sparing any of them and turned to the crowd.
"Get out of here! Go!"
Stryker saw that Liu Kang didn't attempt to follow the civilians: he was the target.
Besides the wind god, red thunder struck and from it emerged Raiden, his eyes black and with markings emerging from his neck to his chin. Both their attire differed, but were similarly corrupt-looking.
"You will feel Shang Tsung's wrath!"
While Baraka knew fighting two gods at once was suicide, he discarded his brown robe, revealing metal chest armor over his kombat attire, and roared as he drew both blades once again.
"You and your master are going to pay!" Stryker declared as he drew his pistol and fired.
Liu Kang immediately launched a dragon fire projectile from his hand. Upon the two projectiles colliding, the fireball stopped and roasted the bullet, then rocketed Stryker back.
Upon landing, he pat down on his vest with both hands to put out small flames from the impact. Even then, Liu Kang's projectile left an indent in it, reducing the protection it would offer him.
Baraka charged at Raiden, the thunder god blocking with his staff. As the Tarkatan vyed to get around it, he also had to avoid a flying sword being flung at him by Fujin. Hearing the wind god firing crossbow bolts behind him, he stabbed into a piece of cracked tile on the ground and launched it in his direction.
After seeing Fujin struck, knocking his weapon out of his hand, Raiden left his guard exposed, allowing a stab into his shoulder, then being lifted and slammed into the ground.
Stryker saw Liu Kang running for him and quickly threw down a grenade towards his feet. Liu Kang hopped off a wall to keep clear of it, then went for his biycle kick in midair. Stryker picked up a shield from one of the defeated soldiers and covered himself with it.
It stood up to the assault, after which Stryker bashed Liu Kang back with it. He launched it at Liu Kang, who simply knocked it away with his wrist. Upon ducking to avoid a flying kick, Stryker drew his batons and clashed with Liu Kang, using the batons to protect him in the midst of trading punches.
As Baraka drew his other blade to stab into Raiden's head, Fujin flew right into him. Seeing Raiden teleport back to his feet, he threw Baraka upward, allowing Raiden to electric fly into Baraka's chest.
He let go of the Tarkatan, then a massive bolt of lightning struck Baraka, sending him back down. Before he hit the ground, he saw Fujin swinging his sword with the wind, which cut right through his armor, then flew upward, and swung back down, reopening the wound on Baraka's head.
Stryker managed to throw Liu Kang back and tried to quickly draw his weapon, but found the bladed Shaolin hat flying at him. He approached, but ducked to avoid it, the blades only managing a small cut to his forehead.
He fired, hitting Liu Kang's leg at the angle he was at, but before he could fire again, another dragon fire projectile struck his weapon, knocking it out of his hands. He turned around to try to catch it, then saw Liu Kang teleport in front of him, catching his own weapon and swinging it into his forehead.
Baraka, blood dripping from his forehead and on his knees, was at the two gods' mercy as he watched Fujin ready to fire his crossbow at his head point-blank.
He then saw another blue cyber Lin Kuei land in front of him with a loud clank. The two gods stepped aside and watched as this cyborg opened its chest, revealing a chilling center.
Instead of firing the firearm, Liu Kang continued to strike Stryker's head as he fell to his knees, each impact bloodying the back of his head. To his side, Stryker saw the mechanical arm from earlier.
As the core charged, the gods assumed this was a part of the cyber Lin Kuei's method of forcibly "recruiting" would-be warriors before turning them into cyborgs. They turned away to leave the cyborg to its work.
Stryker rose, taking the next pistol whip to his back before swinging the mechanical arm into Liu Kang's head. As the monk dropped Stryker's gun and was momentarily dazed, Stryker prepped and tossed the arm like a javelin into Liu Kang's face, cracking part of his skull.
The Cyber Lin Kuei suddenly turned its torso completely towards Fujin, the icy blast entrapping the wind god in ice. Just as Raiden tried to aid Fujin, the traitorous cyber Lin Kuei jumped into his path with ice blades, spinning like a top and forcing the thunder god on the defensive.
Baraka crawled towards Fujin, then used the frozen god to lift himself back onto his feet. He saw the thunder god's attention completely overtaken by this new enemy and saw the opportunity in front of him.
Raiden finally stopped the cyber Lin Kuei's offense by catching the bladed wrists to redirect them, then booted it away. He teleported over to Fujin to make sure he was okay, to his horror...
"No!"
Fujin was missing his head, which had been sliced cleanly off. Baraka, Fujin's frozen head in hand, threw it right at Raiden's back, which shattered on impact like glass.
Liu Kang was slow to get up, realizing he was bleeding from his nostrils. He saw Stryker tend to his firearm, ensuring it was still workable.
Stryker watched as Liu Kang wiped the blood from below his nose with a smile: he was enjoying their fight so far. His fists and feet were then enveloped with flames.
Raiden, his brother and comrade slain before him, roared and glowed with an intense red aura as lightning coursed around him.
Stryker blocked the upcoming punches with his batons, but could feel them beginning to wither. With a powerful kick, he saw one of the batons break in two, falling.
As Raiden fired a stream at Baraka, forcing him onto his back, he felt a chill behind him and teleported to avoid a slash. He swung his staff at the guarding cyber Lin Kuei, the ice blades cracking, then with a lightning-enhanced swing, it shattered them and struck the unit's helmet, revealing part of a human face and white-blue hair...
Frost.
Baraka lunged at Raiden, but was kept in place, then lifted up by a stream of lightning. Seeing Frost firing ice at him, Raiden launched the Tarkatan away, then telported behind her, staff in hand, against her neck. He pulled, intending to use his strength to crush her neck, if not decapitate her, but he once again overlooked her torso spinning, an icy blade cutting into his side.
He dropped the staff and immediately teleported to catch it, but found Frost had grabbed it as well. His attention robbed by Fujin's crossbow bolts firing at his back by Baraka, he realized Frost fired ice from her core at the center of the staff. Pulling herself forward, Frost flew into the staff knee-first, breaking it in two while also slamming into Raiden's jaw, causing it to partially dislocate.
Stryker threw two grenades in Liu Kang's direction, then turned around, counting on Liu Kang teleporting. The moment Stryker saw him, he fired two shots, striking Liu Kang's side. A quick step and kick stopped the last shot from firing, and leaving Stryker rolling across.
He knew he was on his last legs, with only one bullet left and completely out of options. Drawing his taser, he pressed a button for an alternate mode, firing at the charging Liu Kang at long range.
Raiden quickly turned and grabbed hold of Frost by her scalp with both hands as she attempted to skewer him with ice drills. He surged electricity through her, intending to fry her and her mechanical body. But a spark from Baraka struck Raiden's back, forcing him to release Frost from his grip.
The thunder god fired a bolt at Baraka, who put his blades together and pushed forward to repel it back at its sender. The projectile, however, harmlessly absorbed into Raiden, who was ready to teleport...
...but he felt an intense pain as Frost plunged an ice drill into his foot, pinning him in place as Baraka ran towards him.
Seeing Liu Kang stunned before him, Stryker aimed his handgun right at Liu Kang's head. But with fire emerging from Liu Kang's body, the taser's wires burned away.
Raiden fired continous lightning at the cross-armed Baraka, whose flesh began to sear, but who managed to deliver two quick slashes in the mark on an x, cutting right through Raiden's armored chestpiece.
Stryker fired his pistol, which cut one of Liu Kang's cheeks due to him moving his head in time as he delivered a crushing punch to Stryker's gut, causing him to stumble back.
Raiden was then stabbed with both blades in the chest, then has both his knees kicked, causing them and the backs of his legs to bend out of shape.
Liu Kang struck Stryker's chest several times before uppercutting him with such a force as to send several of his lower teeth flying.
Raiden was then lifted off the ground and as he slid down the blades towards the staring Baraka, he was head-butted, his nose being partially bent as a result of the impact.
As Stryker was sent flipping upward, bound to land on his front, Liu Kang hopped upward above him, then right as Stryker made impact with the ground, Liu Kang did as well onto Stryker's back, stamping with force to cripple him.
Now back on his feet stumblingly, Raiden's two hands were then impaled by the blades and hoised upward as Baraka's mouth aimed straight for the left side of his face, biting around his left eye, tearing through flesh before tossing Raiden aside.
As Stryker tried to crawl forward, Liu Kang took a single step forward, lifting that foot over his head before stomping on it, causing pavement to chip from the impact.
The battered Thunder God was missing an eye, a massive gash where it once was, as Baraka held that eye between his teeth before biting down on it. While Raiden made it back to his feet, he was now completely drained and dizzied.
Stryker was in the same state against Liu Kang, his face bloodied, his nose practically split, and with several of his teeth missing.
Baraka slashed below Raiden's stomach, keeping his torso barely pinned to his lower body, then sliced off Raiden's arms. During this, Frost had charged up a blast, which then fired as Raiden's arms hit the ground, reducing Raiden's upper body to ice.
Liu Kang began to channel his fiery power into his fists when he looked over at Stryker, who held something in both his hands...
...two live grenades, their pins spat onto the ground.
A punch from Frost shattered the frozen upper body completely, leaving only Raiden's lower body untouched and his spine and head remaining from the impact. Baraka then dug his fingers into Raiden's head and tore it open, the effort minimal as his skin and bone was basically slush at this point. The chilled brain at the center was soon met by Tarkatan teeth.
Knowing Liu Kang was not going to finish him himself, Stryker gave off a bloodied grin as he then let go of the grenades. The massive explosion knocked even Liu Kang back as he saw almost nothing left of Stryker save for miscellaneous limbs and pieces of uniform and flesh scattered across. Among them was his badge.
Both battles had now concluded.
In the aftermath, Liu Kang stood in an unknown realm next to a massive golden throne, where his master resided.
Massive amounts of footsteps approached...
First, a large number of Outworld soldiers, two figures in front of them:
Kotal, merely a warrior adorned in armor similar to that of the soldiers...
And Mileena, wearing much more royal attire and Kotal's superior.
Next was the cyber Lin Kuei, whose helmets began to open to reveal the men and women behind them. A grey cyborg stood in front of them, his helmet only opening partially to remove only what covered above his nose.
All that was revealed was long grey hair and a pale face, the mask spewing streams of smoke. But then there was a figure who was the only member of the clan not turned into a cyborg and whose icy chill across his body was matched only by his piercing white eyes...
Bi-Han. He was now the ruthless and cold-hearted Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei.
Lastly, Seidan guards emerged shortly after along with their heavily armored leader, Hotaru. The heads of Orderrealm had become the latest to join this union.
Everyone present bowed to Liu Kang's master, who towered above all of them in literal size. As the massive figure got up from his throne, he also began to shrink down, reaching a little above their height by the time he touched the ground.
They saw Shang Tsung, the would-be ruler of all the realms, the crown of Kronica sitting atop his head, as he smiled at his allies.
"Welcome..."
A fade to black followed by...
"...to my world."
Mortal Kombat emerges accompanied with Shang Tsung's laughter. The Roman numeral XII is then formed by four slashes.
Pre-order to play as...
Four legs clamp down, as well as a metallic tail, as it reveals the centaur...
Motaro