GUARDIANS OF EARTH
Prologues

by Adam Durham


Series created by Adam Durham, based on concepts, characters, and events
created by Takeuchi Naoko, John Tobias and Ed Boon of
Williams-Bally/Midway, Cstar (cstar@surfsouth.com), Mike "Sailor Cyrax"
Hall (cyrax777@hotmail.com), and Capcom.
(c) 1997 Adam Durham

"Let Mortal Kombat begin!" - Shang Tsung, Mortal Kombat

Prologue 1:
He floated.

He did not know where he was, or how long he had been there.  The last
thing he remembered was the long-haired blonde girl shouting, "Moon Princess
Halation!" After that, he floated.

He heard a familiar, feminine voice calling his name: "Goro...Goro..."  He
tried to move toward it, but he could not, so he just floated.

"Goro!  Wake up!" hissed a voice in his ear.  Groggily, he opened his eyes,
and turned to face the speaker.  A woman, clad in purple, her face a vision
of beauty...above the nose.  Below, it was a grotesque reflection of the
nomadic mutants of Outworld's Wastelands.  Recognition spread over Goro's
face. *Princess Mileena...?* he thought.  *But she was killed weeks ago by
Princess Kitana.*  Then he remembered the pig-tailed girl's energy beam.
*Am I dead, too?*  He turned, trying to regain his bearings.
Behind him was a semicircle of at least a dozen ninjas, all of whom wore
uniforms of the same color as their skin: midnight black.  Not black as in
"negro," black as in BLACK.  *The Brothers of Shadow...I must be in the
Netherealm.*  He continued his visual sweep around the room, his gaze
encountering a man clad in a black karate gi, with a necklace of spheres and
flame-red hair.  *He looks like an Earthworlder...but the power emanating
from him is that of a native of this Netherealm.*  Then he saw the man
standing to the human's left.  He recognized the face, realized that he
must be the reason they were alive, and shivered with fear.

It is not a good sign when Goro is afraid.

Prologue 2:
"Kurtis Stryker to all units, request backup!  These rioters are getting
out of control!"  In New York City, there was panic.  The people didn't
react much to the bright flash in the sky, although the few that did look
up saw a woman appear, nude, curled into fetal position.  Then she floated
down, clothes appearing on her out of thin air, and the men started to run
to her.  Of course, when the red portal appeared in the sky, all hell broke
loose.  Things got worse when people started dropping, stone cold dead, as
shimmering duplicates of themselves -- *their souls?* Stryker wondered --
floated up towards the portal.  Styker noted with some amusement -- but not
much -- that the first to fall were the ones who had flocked to the odd
woman.  Unfortunately, the next to fall were his riot control squad.
"Stryker to all units, please respond!  Dammit, where is everybody?"  He
looked around.  Everywhere was death.  *Guess maybe I won't be needing that
backup, after all,* he noted with rather morbid humor.  "My God, am I the
only person still alive in this entire city?"

"Yes...but not for long," came a voice.  Stryker whirled, to see something
out of fantasy: a gigantic centaur, with a horned head, a metal tail, and
armor plating his underbelly.

"Did you cause this?  What happened to everybody?  Who are you?"

"In that order, no, their souls now serve Shao Khan, and your
exterminator."  The centaur raised his tail, and a red ball of crackling
energy flew from its barbed end toward Stryker.  He dived out of the way,
tossed a gas grenade under the centaur, and ran like hell for the SWAT van.
*I must be insane...* thought Stryker as he started the van and made for the
George Washington bridge.  *Naked women appearing in midair and clothes
appearing on them from nothing; everyone in New York dead but me, their
souls stolen from them; giant centaurs?  This has got to be a bad dream...*

"Oh, it's no dream."

"What the hell?!" Stryker turned to see a tall man, dressed in white, with
white hair, a Chinese "cooley" hat, and what appeared to be lightning
flashing in his eyes, sitting in the passenger seat.  Stryker pulled his
pistol and pointed it at the man.  "Alright, buddy, who are you?  What do
you know about this?  And how did you know what I was thinking?"

"Put your gun away.  I'm Raiden, god of thunder...or at least, I was.  Your
world is being invaded by Shao Khan, an immortal who has crowned himself
emperor of Outworld.  You have been chosen to defend the realm of Earth in
Mortal Kombat.  The fate of billions will depend upon you. Heh, heh, heh."
Stryker just looked at Raiden oddly, and he realized just how
innappropriate that was.  "Sorry."

"What do you mean, you were god of thunder?" demanded Stryker.

"I am powerless in Outworld.  The woman you saw in the sky is Queen Sindel,
Empress of Outworld.  Because she was reborn on Earth, Shao Khan could
enter this realm without winning ten Mortal Kombats.  Now, his realm and
yours are joining, and I gave up my immortality and godhood on Earth as
well as Outworld so I could aid you and the other chosen warriors.  But do
not underestimate me."  Lightning crackled in Raiden's eyes.  "I am still a
powerful fighter.  Now, will you join with me and the Earth's other
protectors, or will you fight alone?"

"Alright, I'm in.  Just point me in the right direction."

A smile spread across Raiden's face.  "Most of the defenders of the realm
are already gathered together.  I will take you to them.  I just have two
more to collect; the rest will come on their own."  Raiden snapped his
fingers (*probably for effect,* Stryker thought), and the van disappeared in
a crackling of electricity.

Prologue 3:
Meanwhile, at Shibakouen Junior High in Tokyo, two friends were talking.

"Are you really going to do it, Sakura?  Go off looking for Ryu?"

"Yup.  He's my hero.  Maybe if I find him, I can get him to train me.  I'm
not going to let a bunch of college guys beat me up again!"

"Well, good luck.  I heard that he and Ken Masters are in Shadaloo City,
helping with the relief work.  Say, have you seen Minako around?  I don't
think she came to school today."

"You know what, Hikaru?  I think you're right.  She isn't here.  But
getting back to Ryu: what's he doing in Shadaloo?"

"Well, I heard that he and Ken were running a scam, and they wound up
getting drafted into helping Colonel Guile from the AN bring Vega down.
Now they decided that, since they helped bring the country down in a way,
they'll help put it back together."

"Ryu helped bring the country down?  NO WAY!  I heard that he and Ken were
like Robin Hood; they were stealing from the real criminals, like Viktor
Sagat!"

"So where does that put them on the food chain?"

Kasugano Sakura never got the chance to answer Hikaru, for at that time, a
bright flash filled the sky.  She shielded her eyes.  "Hikaru!  What's
happening?  Hikaru?"  Slowly, Sakura opened her eyes.  She looked up, and
saw a red vortex in the sky.  She could've sworn she saw shimmering human
forms rising to the portal including one that looked just like...

"Hikaru?  Hikaru!"  She called out to her friend, but got no answer.  She
turned to where Hikaru had been standing, but saw nothing.  She looked
down, only to find Hikaru dead at her feet.  She did the only logical thing
a schoolgirl could do: she screamed.

Her scream was short-lived, however, as she heard a deep bass laugh behind
her, and a voice, saying, "Raiden must be desperate to be sending
schoolgirls after Khan.  Come here, little one.  I promise, this won't take
long."  Slowly, Sakura turned to face the speaker.  At first, she thought
it was a very tall man.  Then she directed her gaze first up to his head,
then down below his waist.  On his head were a pair of curved horns, one
sticking out from each side; below his waist, he was a horse, with a barbed
metal tail and a metal-plated belly.

"Omigod, a centaur?  This can't be happening!"

"Actually, I'm a Centaurian.  And I assure you, little girl, this is
happening.  Well?  What are you waiting for?  Come here so I can finish you
quickly."

Sakura's Shotokan training kicked in just as what the Centaurian said
registered.  Her mouth quirked into a slow smile.  "You want me to go to
you?  Alright, here I come!"  With a cry of "SHO-OH-KEN![1]" she dashed at
the
Centaurian, flooring him with a leaping uppercut.  As he struggled to
stand, she turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Sakura tripped on the skirt of her school uniform.  "Chikusho!  I can't run
in this thing, much less fight!  The principal won't like me wrecking my
uniform, but if I'm gonna fight, I have to."  She grabbed her skirt and
tore.  Soon, she had ripped it all the way around, leaving only a
miniskirt.  *Just like Sailor Moon,* she thought with a grin.  Looking back,
she saw the Centaurian had regained his footing and was gaining on her.
*Uh-oh...I gotta lose this guy, fast!*

As she ran, she came to the Metro Studios building.  *Metro Studios...that's
where Chiba Mamoru works!* she thought.  *I've heard it's like a maze in
there.  Maybe he can help me lose this monster in the studio...if he's
still alive.*  She ducked into the building and ran down a corridor,
barrelling into a tall, dark-haired young man of about college age: Chiba
Mamoru.

"Woah there...Sakura?  What's happening?  I was just in Studio C, and
everyone in the room is dead!  Where's Minako?"
At the same time, Sakura said, "Mamoru, I was just talking to Hikaru, and
now she's dead, and Minako wasn't at school, and this big centaur guy tried
to kill me, and..."

Mamoru held up his hand to stop her.  "Maybe you should start at the
beginning.  Minako wasn't at school today?"

"No, I don't know where she is!  I was at school, talking to Hikaru, and
then there was this flash, and a red portal appeared in the sky, and it
looked like Hikaru was floating up to the portal, but when I looked at her,
she was dead on the ground.  Then this big guy who called himself a
'Centaurian' showed up behind me.  He said something about guys named
'Raiden' and 'Khan,' and the first guy being desperate to send schoolgirls
after the second guy, and then he said he wanted to kill me!  Oh, Mamoru,
do you know what's going on?"

"He doesn't, but I do."  Both Sakura and Mamoru turned to see the new
arrivals: a tall, white-haired man dressed all in white, and a slightly
shorter man in a blue uniform with a ball cap and a gun in a shoulder
holster.  The white-haired man continued to speak, saying, "Shao Khan has
invaded your world, and stolen the souls of all but a select few.  Those
few have been chosen to defend the realm of Earth against him.  The
Centaurian you encountered was sent to kill some of those that were chosen.
 You are among those few, Kasugano Sakura, and you, Chiba Mamoru.  If Shao
Khan is defeated, the souls he has stolen will be returned to the people of
Earth.  It will be as if nothing had happened.  Kurtis Stryker here has
already agreed to join with us.  Will you?"

The man Raiden referred to as Kurtis Stryker said, "Better listen to him.
He knows what he's talking about."

Sakura said, "I don't know about you, Mamoru, but I'm in."  She walked over
to where the newcomers were standing.  "This is our world, and I'm not
going to let them have it without a fight!"

Mamoru sighed, and walked over with Sakura.  "Count me in, too, I guess."

Raiden smiled.  "I thought you'd see it our way.  Besides, Mamoru, once you
see who else is fighting for us, you won't have any doubt left."

"Now what's that supposed to--" Mamoru started, but before he could finish,
they were gone.

[1]Translation: "Blooming Cherry Fist"


Prologue 4:
Johnny Cage backed up.  "I know you!  You're Motaro, the Centaurian that
watched as I fought Kintaro!"

The centaur nodded.  "Quite right, Johnny Cage.  I did watch your fight.
Now I know your moves, your style.  And now, I will succeed where Kintaro
failed.  I will kill you!"

"Not in this lifetime, pal!"  Cage threw a green ball of energy, but it
just bounced off of Motaro's metal-plated belly.  Motaro leaped, but Cage
flew up in a shadow uppercut, catching Motaro's belly and sending him to
the ground.  Cage landed, and clutched his hand.  "Damn!  That hurt!  I
think it's broken!"

"That is not all that I will break, Earthworlder!"  Motaro whipped his tail
around, sending his own fireball flying from its barb.  Johnny blocked it,
and then slid at the Centaurian with a shadow kick.  Motaro grabbed
Johnny's foot, and twisted sharply.  The sound of breaking bones filled the
otherwise empty Hollywood soundstage, mixed with Cage's scream of pain.
Johnny Cage dropped to the ground, but Motaro lifted him effortlessly.
"Now, it ends, actor."  The Centaurian grabbed Johnny's body in one hand,
and his head in the other.  With a single motion, he tore Jonathan
Carlton's head, and with it, his life, from his body.

Motaro's sick laughter was the only sound left in Hollywood.


Sailor Moon (Tsukino Usagi)
KOTONO MITSUISHI

Prince Goro
GREGORY PAUL MARTIN

Princess Mileena
DANA HEE

Officer Kurtis Stryker, NYPD
RON PERLMAN

Motaro; various Centaurians
DERON MCBEE

Lord Raiden
CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT

Kasugano Sakura
MEGUMI HAYASHIBARA

Hikaru
HEKIRU SHIINA

Tuxedo Kamen (Chiba Mamoru)
TORU FURUYA

Johnny Cage (Jonathan Carlton)
LINDEN ASHBY

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/1478/goe.htm
(c) Recycadelic Cacti Productions MCMXCVII