Mortal Kombat: Desperation (New)
is a rewrite of the original story of the same name by FloweryNamesLover.
Sometime after beheading Shinnok, a now-corrupted Raiden lives up to his words of destroying outside threats against Earthrealm by launching a surprise invasion of Outworld. This forces a desperate Kotal Kahn to invoke Mortal Kombat and give his realm a chance to fight back against the rogue Thunder God. Now, friends and foes alike must work together if they are to stop Raiden from bringing the same Armageddon he once sacrificed so much to prevent.
This remake contains the following tropes:
- A Fate Worse Than Death: Raiden subjects Shinnok to this by reducing him to a living head, since Elder Gods cannot die.
- Adaptational Heroism: The author clarified that this fic ignores Mortal Kombat 11’s retcons for Sindel and Kabal, instead sticking with their Mortal Kombat 9 bios.
- Adaptation Personality Change: The following retcons from Mortal Kombat 11 are not featured in this story:
- Sindel has never been evil unless she is brainwashed, thus maintaining her tragic, loving, and sympathetic nature from the previous games.
- Kabal maintains his Mortal Kombat 9 bio as a former Black Dragon who defected and tried to reform by joining the NYPD.
- Skarlet keeps her Mortal Kombat 9 backstory as a Flesh Pits construct created by Shang Tsung from the blood of Shao Kahn’s victims.
- Erron Black retains his Mortal Kombat X bio as a long-lived mercenary granted slow aging by Shang Tsung.
- It Amused Me: Raiden clearly enjoys torturing Shinnok, to the point that the living head is begging for mercy.
- Anti-Hero: Raiden decides that he must become this in order to ensure Earthrealm can be properly protected and saved. He even tells Kotal Kahn, who previously called him a devil, that he must now become a devil to eliminate his enemies, including said Osk—Tekk. That being said, it’s obvious he’s the villain of the story.
- Battle in the Rain: At the start of his invasion of Outworld, Raiden uses his powers to create a thunderstorm. This gives him an advantage against Kotal Kahn, whom he swiftly defeats.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Raiden forces Kotal and Ferra to watch as he tortures Torr, even while the latter tearfully begs him not to hurt her partner. It is also obvious that he enjoyed torturing Shinnok, to the point that the Elder God begged for mercy after being beheaded.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Raiden almost immediately defeats Kotal Kahn and his forces, to the point that the emperor muses that it might as well not have been a real battle.
- Darkest Hour: Kotal Kahn has no other choice than invoke Mortal Kombat to prevent Raiden from claiming dominion over Outworld.
- Rain knows that Raiden will likely target him soon due to him being responsible for Mileena, and later Kotal, stealing Shinnok’s amulet.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ruby has a very sharp tongue, especially around Rain; he admits to being amused by her barbs on the rare occasion when they aren’t directed at him.
- Defiant to the End: Kotal Kahn refuses to grovel before Raiden and invokes Mortal Kombat to halt the thunder god's assault on Outworld.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Rain freely admits to being just as treacherous and selfish as Tanya, who always tries to justify her actions and garner sympathy. Rain has no issue acknowledging his crimes and has been completely honest with their people since the start of their alliance with Mileena, hence why Ruby and the other Edenian Rebels choose to stick with him and leave Tanya to be arrested by Kotal Kahn.
- Evil Laugh: Raiden cackles at the start of his invasion of Outworld.
- Face–Heel Turn: By purifying the Jinsei, Raiden absorbed Shinnok’s dark magik into himself, resulting in him becoming corrupted.
- He Who Fights Monsters: The prologue references the Nietzsche quote, which focuses on Raiden’s new mindset following his corruption.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Raiden captures Fujin, Sonya, and Kuai Liang; he promises to “take good care” of them. He later frames Kotal for their abduction.
- Light Is Not Good: Although Raiden has been corrupted, he does not look nor sound like Dark Raiden.
- The Lost Lenore: Jade is this to Kotal.
- Rain still has feelings for Kitana.
- Mileena seems to be this to Tanya, as she goes silent when Rain reminds her that her deception of Mileena is no better than his own of Kitana in the past.
- Oh, Crap!: Sonya, Fujin, and Kuai Liang when they find Shinnok’s headless body and instantly realize what has happened to Raiden. They try to escape, but Raiden reveals himself and easily subdues them.
- Kotal Kahn when Raiden invades Outworld.
- Rain when he realizes Raiden is attacking Outworld and will likely target him for his role in stealing Shinnok’s amulet.
- Hypocrite: Tanya tries to convince Ruby to join her by reminding her of all of Rain’s crimes. Ruby retorts that Rain at least does not ever deny his crimes and has never lied to her since they formed an alliance. Rain also chew her out by reminding her that he has always been more practical than her and is thus a safer bet for the Edenian Rebels than Tanya.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Rain and Ruby chew out Tanya for her two-faced nature and leave her to be arrested by Kotal like she had intended to do to them.
- Wham Episode: Raiden invades Outworld, forcing Kotal Kahn to invoke Mortal Kombat. At the end of the same chapter, he frames Kotal for kidnapping Fujin, Kuai Liang, and Sonya.
- Wham Line: Raiden concludes the second chapter by lying that Kotal is the one who kidnapped Fujin, Kuai Liang, and Sonya.
