The Game

Into the Arena

Y/n had been waiting all week for this moment. It was a Friday night, the perfect time to relax and dive into her favorite game, which was none other than Mortal Kombat 11. (She had other favourite games, but this one was the best for blowing off some steam)

She settled down on her couch, with a cold drink and some food, grabbing the familiar, albeit slightly worn PS4 controller. With a quick press of the power button, the console whirred to life—or so she thought. "This is gonna rock...time to kick Kronika's ass all over again" she says excitedly as she had almost completed the game for a fifth time and she had been on Raiden's chapter, as he was one of her favourite characters (and has shipped him and Sindel -her other favourite character- since she had played Mortal Kombat 3)

But as her luck would have it, the game loaded but it was stuck at the title screen, instead, a strange blue light flickered on her controller, flashing repeatedly, and even though she pressed every button on the controller, the game didn’t start. Y/n frowned, her brows furrowing in confusion. That had never happened before. She stared at the pulsing light, hypnotized, as if something was calling out to her.

Intrigued and a little concerned, she pressed the button that powered the console, to try and switch the consol off, so she could switch it on again, but instead that happening, something else happened entirely, something strange.

In an instant, Y/n felt a strange sensation pulling her forward, backwards and side to side. The room around her blurred, the walls stretching and warping, and dripping like water. Panic set in as she tried to let go of the controller, but it was as if it was glued to her hands as if it had a mind of its own. She felt herself being sucked into the TV screen, the world around her dissolving into colors of red, black, yellow and blue.

When she blinked again, she were no longer on the couch. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in her surroundings: she stood in the middle of an all too familiar battlefield. It was then that she realized where she was, she was on board Kharon's Ship itself, she then looks over the side of the ship, and sees the Sea of Blood which looked even more ominous than on the screen.

She then looks up at the sky above her and sees that it had become a stormy swirl of blood-red clouds, with lightning crackling violently in the distance. The ground beneath her feet was a mix of rotting and bloodstained wood. The air smelled of metal and smoke, as if a thousand battles had taken place here.

"This can’t be real," Y/n whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of awe and terror. But it was real—she was INSIDE Mortal Kombat.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she squealed, part excitement and part horror. All around her, familiar characters clashed in brutal Kombat, their bodies twisting and moving in ways that were too visceral, too vivid, to just be a video game. She knew every character, every move. But seeing everything up close, hearing the cries of pain, the sound of metal clashing, the crackling of bones—it was overwhelming.

"Holy SHIT" she says as she ducks a projectile flung in her direction by none other than Shao Khan himself, she had to get answers, so she ran to a safer spot, one not so surrounded with enemies, once she finds one, she spun around, looking for anything familiar, for anyone who could explain what the hell was going on. And then she saw him.

Standing tall in the distance, amidst the chaos, was Raiden. His iconic straw hat cast a shadow over his face, but the piercing blue glow of his eyes cut through the dim battlefield like twin stars. Lightning danced around his body, crackling with power.

"Raiden..." Y/n whispered, both in awe and fear. She’d played as him countless times, but standing before him now made her realize how small she felt in his presence...

As if sensing her gaze, Raiden’s head turned toward her. He raised a hand, and the thunder rumbled in response. In a flash of light, he was standing before her, his eyes glowing with an intensity that made her skin prickle.

“You should not be here,” Raiden said, his voice booming with authority, yet there was a trace of something else in it—concern, perhaps...it sounded almost like a fatherly concern

Y/n took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. “I… I don’t know how I got here. I was just about to start the game, and then—” she gestured around her helplessly, “this happened. How do I get out?”

Raiden studied her for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he seemed to assess her, he then looked at her with a solemn expression, “The realms have been disturbed,” he said gravely. “Your world and ours have been… merged. There are forces beyond even my understanding at play.”

Y/n’s eyes widened. “Merged? But that’s impossible!”

“In Mortal Kombat, nothing is impossible,” Raiden replied, his voice ominous. “If you wish to return, you must survive. You are now part of the tournament.”

Her blood turned cold. “Tournament?” she echoed, her mind racing. This was Mortal Kombat, the tournament where warriors fought to the DEATH. She wasn’t a fighter—she was just a gamer! “But I don’t know how to fight like them!” she exclaimed, panic rising in her throat.

Raiden’s expression softened slightly and he puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Fear not, for I will guide you,” he said. “But you must be willing to face the challenges that lie ahead.”

Y/n swallowed hard, her mind spinning. Could she really survive in this world? She glanced around at the carnage unfolding around her—Kabal dashing across the field at lightning speed, trying to kill Sonya, Sub-Zero freezing Revenant Stryker mid-air, and Scorpion launching his spear into Frost with a fierce, “Get over here!”

This was no game anymore. This was life or death, but something inside her sparked—a determination she hadn’t felt before. She had always dreamed of being in the game, of experiencing it firsthand, and now, against all odds, that dream had come true. She had no choice but to embrace it.

“I’ll do it,” she said, her voice steadying as she met Raiden’s gaze. “I’ll fight for the safety of Earthrealm.”

Raiden nodded solemnly. “Then prepare yourself, Y/n. The tournament awaits.”

Lightning surged around them, and the battlefield seemed to tremble. Y/n felt the energies of the world shift and pulse as she steeled herself, knowing that her next step could be her last—but also knowing that once she was officially under Raiden's tutelage, she would be more than ready to face whatever came next.

Fate had brought her here, and now, there was no turning back.