The story begins with Johnny Cage recounting the events of the first game's final moments. He explains that Shang Tsung unleashed a horde of warriors on the Earthrealm fighters following Liu Kang's victory over Goro; and that Kano, Sonya, and himself were rushed by Goro at The Pit. Suddenly, an explosion knocked out the bridge from underneath them and everyone fell. Cage was saved, however, by Raiden, who informed him that Liu Kang had killed Shang Tsung and the island, which was held together by Tsung's presence, is self-destructing. Raiden further elaborates that Liu Kang has already escaped and, following the battle with Shang Tsung's army, Sub-Zero was killed by Scorpion, who then burst into flames and burned to ash before Raiden's eyes. The ensuing explosion apparently knocked Cage out and the next thing he recalls is seeing a U.S. military vessel. As it turns out, Cage has been telling the story to a disbelieving Jax and Lt. Steve Beran (a reference to "Mortal Kombat" series art director Steve Beran), who is more open to the story considering Cage has recounted the story five times with exactly the same details each time. Jax does not believe Cage's story on account of a distress signal from Sonya pinpointed to where they found Cage and because he thinks Sonya would never fight alongside Kano, even if, as Cage says, she had no choice. He nevertheless releases Cage due to lack of evidence.