Writer: Juan Carlos Coto Director: Oley Sassone				
Kung Lao, a reluctant warrior who has successfully defended the Earth
Realm in Mortal Kombat, must now decide whether to follow his
destiny or his heart.

Episode opens with the ancient contest in which humans honorably protect
their Earth--Mortal Kombat, a battle where defending warriors face off . If the
Earth Realm warrior is victorious, the planet is saved from invasion; if the
challenger wins, the Earth's portals are weakened and the Emperor Shao
Kahn, leader of Outworld, can cross over and begin wreaking havoc on the
planet and its peoples.

In this particular battle, Kung Lao (series regular Paolo Montalban), the Earth
warrior, crushes Shang Tsung (series regular Bruce Locke), the Outworld
warrior. Instead of killing Shang Tsung, Kung Loa chooses mercy for his
opponent and lets him live--a decision which he comes to deeply regret. The
defeated Shang Tsung is banished to the Cobalt Mines of Shokan, where he
spends his days plotting revenge against Kung Lao and all of the Earth Realm.

Following Kung Lao's victory, Rayden, God of Thunder and Protector of the
Earth Realm (series regular Jeffrey Meek) reveals to him that as the last
defending warrior of Earth Realm, he is charged with training a new army of
warriors to compete against Shao Kahn's henchmen in future rounds of Mortal
Kombat. Unfortunately for Kung Lao, this wasn't what he had in mind--he
figured after successfully defending the Earth Realm, he'd be able to go on
with his life as it was before Mortal Kombat.

Two big parts of this life are the Temple of the Order of Light, which trained
Kung Lao to be a warrior and Jen Reyland, a local Baron's daughter. During
the week that the Temple was celebrating the victory in Mortal Kombat, Jen,
accompanied by her bodyguard Siro (series regular Daniel Bernhardt), went to
make an offering to the temple and its fighters. On the road they were met by
three monks who turned out to be highway bandits trying to rob them. Luckily
for Jen, but not the bandits, Siro is a master martial artist, who not only
defended Jen, but also took one of the bandits, Taja (series regular Kristanna
Loken), prisoner. Taja would eventually become a servant in Baron Reyland's
household.

Turning his back on his destiny, Kung Lao asks for Jen's hand in marriage, but
is quickly rebuffed by the Baron who states that Kung Lao's association with
the Temple and the "Elder Gods" and "Realms" is not a suitable lifestyle for
his only daughter. When Kung Lao protests, the Baron tells him that any
further contact with his daughter would be considered a threat and he'd have
no choice to but to have Kung Loa killed.

Meanwhile, in the Cobalt Mines, Shang Tsung has taken up with the vile
she-prisoner Vorpax (series regular Tracy Douglas). While neither can be
trusted, they need one another as Shang Tsung still has his powers of
sorcery, but cannot leave the mines and Vorpax, although not as powerful as
her partner, is able to cross through portals into other Realms to carry out his
evil deeds. In his first strike against Kung Lao, Shang Tsung enlists the deadly
warrior Scorpion to visit the Earth Realm and begin his revenge.

Through a series of malicious machinations involving Scorpion, Shang Tsung
is able to thwart Jen and Kung Loa's palnned elopement; have Kung Lao
captured by the Baron's guards and sentenced to death; and have the loyal
Siro disgraced and banished from the Baron's household--leaving his fate, as
well as that of Jen and Kung Lao up in the air.