(First of all, I apologize for the size of my answer herein below. I got a "little bit" excited on the subject.)



Hey Luiz!



As I told you last week, it was a happy coincidence for me to see your message once I logged here exactly to check on your new work. It took me awhile to answer because, after reading it, I wanted to share some ideas with you (and with anyone else who reads this – FYI, that's why I'm writing in English) just to know your opinions. But first things first!



Although I enjoy your "Mournful" stories very much, your last work is even greater than them. After reading it, I caught myself realizing that, of all the introductions of Kitana (and consequent meeting with Liu Kang) in MK (ex: MK original timeline, MK new timeline, MK movie, MK Shaolin Monks, etc.), yours was the best I've seen.

I can honestly say that the beauty of the pictures and landscapes you drew contributes a lot to it (page 17 is astonishing), but it is the deep of the characters that has fascinated me. Kitana's subjective reasons and Liu Kang's way to tell her that story were just amazing. In my opinion you have capture their true essence in this work. I hope if Netherrealm Studios ever make a re-edition of MK Shaolin Monks for the new plataforms, they have this work of yours in mind. It is a great piece or art!

(BTW, it is a pit we cannot obligate you to publish a continuation of it soon! Hehehe!!)

Further to that, if you have the patience to read it, I wrote below the way I'd like to see Liu Kang and Kitana’s path going on MK11 (basically just the main plot). It is, of course, different from your ideas on the Mournful series, but it also seems to me a very interesting option for the two characters (Kitana and Liu Kang).

And yeah, it got a little bigger than I thought it would when I started writing, but, as I said, I got a "little bit" excited on the subject. I divided it in 33 points in order to save readers to lose themselves between the paragraphs. So, if you have some free time, give it a go!

And once again, congratulations for your work. I am happy to see that someone with such talent shares my passion for these characters.

See ya man!



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1 - Raiden will be the main antagonist. He will be blind with his new "corrupted" power and shall use the Shirai Ryu as his army to preemptively attack Outworld (endings of Raiden, Scorpion, Kotal Kahn, and Bo Rai Cho on MKX) under the pretext of defending Earthrealm.

2 - Liu Kang and Kitana would maintain a "low profile" in Netherrealm during the beginning of the story, purposelly hinting that they respect/fear the warning of Raiden at MKX’s ending.

3 - Earthrealm's warriors (under the leadership of Fujin, Sonya and Johnny Cage) will be perplexed by Raiden's new relentless, intolerant and dictatorial stance and will realize that they must fight him at any cost. They will seek the help from the Lin Kuei (who shall serve to face the Shirai Ryu), but they shall still need more support to defeat Raiden.

4 – The Lin Kuei will have Frost as a more mature warrior now and Sub-Zero will be proud of seeing how he has managed to teach her to control herself.

5 - The aid that Fujin, Sonya and Johnny Cage need can not come from the warriors of Outworld, because, in addition to the betrayal of the Reiko Accords by Kotal Kahn, Outworld will be fragile and struggling to defend itself from Raiden's attacks. Looking elsewhere unsuccessfully, Sonya and Johnny will accept their last alternative: get the help they need in Netherrealm.

6 - With Fujin's company and protection, Sonya and Johnny would go to the Netherrealm to try to argue with Liu Kang and Kitana, even though they know that the emperors of Netherrealm would hardly accept their union proposal.

7 - Liu Kang and Kitana would seem not to care about their problems, speaking in mysterious tones while refusing their proposal, implying subliminally that they have other plans. When they finish speaking (without letting the mortals to respond), they would summon their demons into the room surrounding the mortals, without ordering the attack, and only warning them not to return to the Netherrealm under the penalty of a horrific death.

8 - Back from Netherrealm, Fujin, Sonya and Johnny would wonder about Liu Kang and Kitana's plans, but they’d agree that the Netherrealm emperors’ help will be essential to defeat Raiden and, in order to do that, they would need to bring them back to the "light", and to do that, they start looking for means to save them. Meanwhile, Raiden would be casting terror against Outworld warriors, reaching even greater levels of intolerance and, in some cases, coming close to Shao Kahn's sadism.

9 - The new warriors (Cassie, Jackie, Kung Jin and Takeda) would journey after other warriors who can help them. Among these, they would locate Sareena, the one with a great chance of helping in their mission, and Kung Lao, who through the aid of Kung Jin managed to "control" his revenant side (endings of Kung Lao and Kung Jin on MKX).

10 - Raiden would take knowledge of the plans of the Earthrealm warriors against him and start to hunt them down, forcing them to flee and to hide until the moment of the counter-offensive arrive.

11- With the aid of the new warriors (Cassie, Jackie, Jin and Takeda), Sareena joins the group and helps Sonya and Johnny Cage to find an amulet* to free Liu Kang and Kitana from the revenant state without needing Quan Chi.

* In MKX's story Sareena says that "emotion" freed her from Quan Chi's spell (implying that the feelings she developed for Bi-Han were the way to return to normal), something I do not think can happen with Kitana or Liu Kang, since the 02 of them are there together. So I thought they might come up with an alternate form, in this case, an amulet.

12 - This amulet would contain a kind of small blade that, when stuck on a fallen being (such as a revenant), would be able to restore its primary life energy. Sareena however would warn them that the power of the amulet was already very weak and that she could not guarantee its effectiveness, so they should not waste time if they wanted to recover the emperors of Netherrealm.

13 - Raiden would find the Earthrealm warriors and a battle would begin. The Lin Kuei would defend them by attacking the Shirai Ryu. Scorpion, who has the essence of the Jinsei in his soul (Scorpion ending on MKX), would be fighting blindly for Earthrealm without listening to Sub-Zero's arguments about the evils that they are causing to the other realms. Scorpion, in a furious rage, would kill Frost, making Sub-Zero also furious and renewing the hatred between them and their clans. A bloody fight would happen between the two, but even after a victory of Sub-Zero, both characters would still be in combat condition and the outcome would not be revealed at the moment*, turning the focus to the other warriors of Earthrealm.

* Here would be an opening for several possible paths of the 02 ninjas.

14 - While Fujin sacrifices himself to contain Raiden, the warriors of Earthrrealm would suffer to pass through his minions. A few would manage to make it to the Netherrealm portal, knowing they would not have much time to get Liu Kang and Kitana back, since Raiden would soon be on their tail.

15 - The warriors who would arrive in Netherrealm would be: Sonya, Johnny, Cassie, Jackie, Takeda, Sareena, Kung Jin and Kung Lao. It is notorious to all of them that the emperors of Netherrealm are plotting something big, but nothing is revealed.

16 – They would go to the palace of the emperors and find the gate closed and deserted. The demons of Netherrealm would suddenly appear from all sides, from the heavens and holes on the ground, keeping enough distance to avoid any combat and only surrounding the mortals. When these had just closed the siege around the mortals, the other still-fallen revenants would appear: Nightwolf, Kabal, Striker and Smoke led Sindel. They would approach the mortals making threats and discussing their return there to die, and in the middle of this Sindel would open space to show another figure: Bi-Han.

17 - Sareena would be shocked to see him and question the reason of him being there, and he would only look aside and give her an evasive answer. A general fight would then begin.

18 - The focus would then pass to Liu Kang and Kitana in a flashback of them returning to the Netherrealm shortly after the defeat of Shinnok in the MKX, showing their frustration with his defeat as well as the discussion and dispute by the throne of Netherealm. The flashback would end with Liu Kang and Kitana emerging emperors and Kung Lao deciding to go on his own (so he wouldn’t be below Liu Kang, something that would hurt his ego, even as a revenant), since without having Quan Chi or Shinnok to obey, they would have a certain autonomy of decision.

19 - Returning to the present time in Netherrealm, having some warriors of both sides fallen and fights still happening in some corners, Liu Kang and Kitana would appear looking strong, still more for the mortals worn out with the battle against the other revenants. Kitana would ask the remaining ones why they are there again and state that they have no chance of getting out of there alive, while Cassie, one of the few still standing, would reply that they have everything under control and that they “all” would leave soon (their purpose still unknown to the emperors).

20 - Liu Kang would them fight with Kung Lao and, once he won, when he would be prepared to end Kung Lao's life he would be hit by Kung Jin who would stick the amulet in his back, thus saving the life of his cousin Kung Lao. Liu Kang would go to the floor and the amulet, now without any trace of energy, would fall in front of Cassie who would see that it could no longer be used. Before Kung Lao can express any kind of thanks to his cousin, Kung Jin would be struck by one of Kitana's daggers (a.k.a. one of her fans closed), that would pierce through his heart. Kitana, with a deep rage for only now realizing the plan of the mortals who struck Liu Kang, attacks Cassie, who got in between her and Kung Jin. While they fight, Kung Lao would comfort Jin in his last moments, devastated to know that Jin lost his young life to save his. Kitana beats Cassie.

21 - Raiden appears in Netherrealm at the height of his hatred. The Oni's and Orochi's advance against him who uses the amulet of Shinnok to exterminate hundreds of them at once, with rays that sweep the sky of Netherrealm. Raiden then would advance toward Kitana and Cassie. Kitana would order him to leave Netherrealm immediately to what he would replies that he does not fear her threats and that he will leave that "hellhole" as soon as he finishes Cassie and the other "traitors" of Earthrealm. Kitana reminds him that he does not give orders in Netherrealm and that then she would force him out. Raiden would attack Kitana with strong lightning bolts and she would be able to dodge them using her wind tornado, but it would end up tossing her away.

22 - Sonya and Johnny would recover consciousness and, even wounded, they would reach Cassie, who is unconscious. Raiden turns to the three of them and says he is sad to have to kill them, but he could never tolerate their lack of loyalty to Earthrealm. Liu Kang then would emerge close to the three mortals, fully restored to his human condition, young as he was when he died at the hands of Raiden.

23 - Liu Kang fights Raiden with great impetus but still does not have the power to defeat Raiden's corrupt power (provided from Shinnok’s amulet) for good. Kitana reappears and also fights Raiden.

24 - After a long fight, Raiden is relatively fragile, as well as Liu Kang and Kitana. Raiden notes that Sonya, Johnny, Jackie, Takeda, Kung Lao and some revenants also recovered and turn against him - the mortals to help Liu Kang; the revenants to aid Kitana.

25 - Raiden analyzes the situation and decides to leave Netherrealm, not without first warning them that all of them would suffer the consequences.

26 - In the silence after Raiden's withdraw, the mortals rush to regroup. Without questioning anyone (and to everyone's surprise), Bi-Han would open a portal to Outworld and tell the mortals to leave soon, for they could still be saved from Raiden there (for now). The other revenants would be surprised by Bi-Han's bold action and would turn to Kitana to see if his action has her approval, but she would not be slightly interested in nothing else then Liu Kang, who she would be staring silently. He would be facing her too.

27 – Wisely, the mortals would not wait for Kitana's decision about them and would rush through the portal while she was still fixated on Liu Kang. Kung Lao would take Jin's body, leaving only Sonya and Johnny behind, who at the edge of the portal would stop to look at Liu Kang and Kitana, still staring eachother in silence and still wounded and tired from the last combat.

28 - After a long time, Kitana would break the silence by extending her hand to Liu Kang and saying only "come back with me" in a direct tone, but "softly" menacing. Liu Kang still confused by the situation (his head in a turmoil of revenant thoughts and thoughts of his own) takes time to respond, and when he does, he would only answer "I can’t" with a tone that tried to sound firm, but that shows sadness. Liu Kang, as well as Sonya and Johnny - still looking at them from the portal - is expecting for the order for the revenants’ attack, but Kitana would remain staring at Liu Kang and, in an even more threatening and firm tone, would just say to him "by your own will or by your “death”, you will return."

29 - Kitana would not order the attack and turn her back to Liu Kang returning to the palace followed by the other revenants. Liu Kang accompanies her with his eyes as far as possible and then joins Sonya and Johnny going thourgh the portal to Outworld.

30 - In a last scene in Outworld, Sonya would question Liu Kang about the plans he and Kitana had in Netherrealm, but Liu Kang says that his head is still very confused and he does not remember exactly, he could only say that it was something very obscure, that would exterminate Raiden and his forces, leaving Sonya and Johnny apprehensive. Liu Kang would end up saying that he needs to save Kitana.

31 - In the post-credit scene, we would see Kitana on a sort of balcony from her palace looking out at the horizon. Seconds later "Jade" (owned by the entity that showed Kitana the outcome of the original timeline at Kitana's ending) would enter, with a different appearance from a common revenant and would stop at her side.

32 - (Here things would be much more hypothetical and variable) -> Kitana would return to the main hall of her palace accompanied by "Jade" and there she would find figures with whom she had made alliances, such as Shang Tsung, an army of tens of Mileenas (which would have agreed to join forces with the "sister" to retake Outworld), her revenants and her Oni's and Orochi's.

33 – Then it would end with the entrance of some potent figure, like (i) a revenant Shao Kahn under the command of the Empress of Netherrealm, stopping in front of Kitana for a few seconds before kneeling to her, OR (ii) with the arising of Onaga, with who Kitana would have made an alliance too. Finally, it would show the entity in Jade's body smiling with satisfaction at seeing the situation going according to her will.



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The 03 reasons that lead me to believe in the backbone of the above plot are:

- The producers said to keep an eye on Jade, so I think she will have a relevant part in the next plot, with Kitana being her greatest connection;

- The entity that got hold of Jade at her ending in MK9 seems to have very dark interests when she says that Shao Kahn's death should be reimagined, and when she took Jade’s body without even asking her permission or explaining her reasons;

- I do not think Liu Kang and Kitana will leave Netherrealm at the same moment, so I thought of Liu Kang being saved first because, (i) I believe Earthrealmers would choose him first, (ii) I fell that, after saved, he would work harder to save Kitana from Netherrealm than she would do for him, considering all her other problems, and (iii)

Kitana as a vengeful reject woman, alone in Netherrealm scares the hell out of me!!

different than Liu Kang would,