The Way People Treat Girl Characters In Fandom Joker-ifies Me

choose your kaimei flavor

for fanfic writers and readers

as a black girl who loves a lot of different movies and shows, fanfic allows me to read stories that put me in the middle of my favorite things. however, fanfic often (unintentionally) excludes girls who look like me.

i am so sick and tired of reading a fanfiction and having to rewrite it in my brain because a character description immediately implies that the reader is white. if you don't know what i mean, here are some examples.

"your skin turned pink" or "you blushed": black girls and women with darker skin tones CANNOT blush. our skin does not just turn pink

"pulled your hair into a messy bun": my 4a hair cannot be pulled into a messy bun at random. i may be able to do a ponytail if i have braids in, and i might be able to tie it up if I have an old twist-out, but a "messy bun" is often not possible.

"he ran his hands through your hair": yeah...unless my hair is in a silk press (and an OLD silk press), that's not happening

there are a plethora of other examples that would make this post insanely long, so let me get to the point. there are very easy ways to make fanfic a bit more inclusive; all you have to do is tweak a few character descriptions. OR, put in your pairing or warnings that the reader is implied to be white.

and finally: please, please stop tagging your DARK fanfictions "xblack!reader." i am tired of searching for fluff under the black reader tag and finding non-con, dark themes, etc., ESPECIALLY when the fic ends up being for a white reader💀.

the goal of my page is to create a safe space for black girls who love reading fanfiction. i am only one person, so if you'd like to help, here are some ways to do that!

send me fics (preferably marvel and stranger things to start) that are with a black reader

comment some other things in fanfics that imply that the reader is white or that make the fic a little less accessible

REBLOG FICS BY BLACK WRITERS

DUDE, I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE HIM--

He becomes more dangerous with each passing day

So Gods Do Exist- (Mortal Kombat x OC) ((Kinda))

Part 1

A teenager named Lemon was waiting to be called up to her kickboxing match. She’s a dark skinned woman with medium sized hair that was braided and put into a ponytail. As of now she’s in the waiting room with her coach, a light-skinned woman who was the same age as her.

“Alright, Cherry Lemon, you got this!” The coach said, putting her hands on Lemon’s shoulders. “Just remember to stay calm and focused…and fast. Your opponent is taller and buffer than you so yeah…be fast!”

“Got it, coach!” Lemon said, jokingly saluting. “I’ll do my best to make you proud.”

“I know you will.” The coach chuckled.

“Cheri Carr and Elizabeth Warner, come to the arena, please!” The announcer called through the speakers.

“That’s our cue.” The coach states, patting Lemon’s shoulders once more and helping the woman up. “Let’s go!”

“Right!”

“Standing on the left corner is Elizabeth Warner!” The announcer announced.

Elizabeth was a dark skinned woman with long hair that was wrapped into a bun. She looked just like Lemon’s coach said: Taller and buffer.

Could she also add that she was older? Like in her thirties?

“Her record is: 10 wins, 2 losses, zero draws and 3 KO’s! Standing 6’0 and weighing 160 pounds!”

Elizabeth smiled at Lemon who smiled back. They didn’t wanna have any ACTUAL beef with each other. It’s just a regular competition.

“Standing on the right corner is Cheri Carr! Her record is: 13 wins, 5 losses, 3 draws and 5 KO’s! Standing at 5’5 and weighing 135 pounds!”

The referee called both the fighters to get closer and they did. The man told the woman the rules of what to do and what not to do before letting the woman casually talk to each other.

“I’ll be honest, you’re a lot smaller than I thought.” Elizabeth noticed.

“I’ve heard that way too many times…” Lemon muttered. “Not my fault everybody here is just freakishly tall…”

“Hey, if it makes you feel better, the shortest person I’ve met was 2 feet tall…but they were a baby…”

“Oh my god…” Lemon chuckles and raises up her hands to be waist level of Elizabeth. “Let’s get this over with.”

Elizabeth lightly hits Lemon’s fist. “May the best person win.”

The referee told the two to go to the opposite sides of the ring where their coaches were.

“Remember your training and you shall win.” Lemon’s coach said in a fake deep voice. “But for real, stay calm and beat her ass, Cherry Lemon.”

“I shall sensei.” Lemon replied, giggling and fake bowing. She gave her coach a fist bump before walking back inside the ring to face her opponent.

“I admit, you have a very good record and haven’t lost a battle in a while.” Elizabeth said. “But I‘ll be the one to end your streak right here.”

“Go ahead and try.” Lemon taunted, putting her fist up. “We’ll see how long you last.”

(I have zero clue how kickboxing actually goes…so…uh…I’m just going to skip this fight…)

“Cheri Carr wins the match!” The announcer stated.

Lemon wiped some blood off of her lips and reached her hand out to Elizabeth who was laying on the ground in pain. “It was a pretty good match.” She complimented.

“I agree.” Elizabeth said, taking the woman’s hand and pulling herself up. “You’re a really good fighter, Cheri. This was really fun!”

“Hehe! You can just call me Lemon! It’s kinda weird when people, excluding the announcer, call me by my actual name.”

“Alright then, Lemon. May we meet again so I can have a second shot at kicking your ass.” Elizabeth smiled, bowing at Lemon.

“Now that I think about it, I don’t remember needing to bow in kickboxing.” Lemon chuckled.

“It’s just something I was taught to do at a young age, it shows respect.”

“Then I’ll do the same.” Lemon lightly bows back and smiles brightly at Elizabeth.

Lemon was now sitting on their bed, looking outside the window, at the dark sky. They didn't do anything after their match and just decided to stay inside their orphanage and just…exist. Justice (Lemon’s coach whose actual name is “Justine”) came to check on her from time to time and had to force them outside of their room at some point to eat dinner.

“Maybe I should go for a walk.” Lemon whispered to herself, glancing at the rollerblades she had in the corner of her room. She felt a smile grow on her face as she got up from her bed and picked up the rollerblades. “Or a skate. It’ll make it a lot more interesting.”

She puts the shoes on and quietly rolls outside her room, looking around the orphanage. There were a few others still awake but most of the teenagers and children were asleep at this time. Lemon made sure to not get anyone’s attention as she rolled outside the orphanage and on the sidewalk. Justice had told her about a skate park a few blocks away, so she’ll probably spend an hour or two there.

Once she got there she noticed that the entire park was empty except for one person.

"Justice?" She called.

"Hey, Cherry Lemon!" Justice replied, sitting on top of one of the ramps. "I knew you'd be here."

Lemon smiled softly at her friend and they both decided to skate together. They spent at least ten minutes doing as many tricks and acrobatics as she could. Cartwheeling between ramps, doing flips off small ramps (Because Lemon would rather not break a bone this late at night) and doing grinds on the ramps as well.

Suddenly the light went out and someone grabbed Justice's arm, pulling her away from Lemon and into the dark.

"Justice!" Lemon shouted before yelping when someone also grabbed her arm, pulling her to the bottom of the skate park and making her land roughly on the ground.

“What the hell!?” She cursed, looking up at the person who grabbed her. It was a man, that was all she could see in the pitch black of the darkness.

“Cheri Carr, you and your friend will come with me.” The man demanded, keeping his grip on Lemon.

Lemon could hear footsteps above her and guessed this stranger had friends with him.

“Who are you? What did you do to Justice!?” Lemon questioned before huffing. “Don’t tell me you're one of Elizabeth’s admirers and now you’re trying to jump me for being better than her. Come on…”

“That’s not why we’re here.”

Lemon frowns and glares up at the man. “Then why are you?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Wrong answer.” Lemon quickly took a mini taser from out of her pocket and stabbed the man in the arm. “You suck at kidnapping people.” She presses the button on the taser and shocks the man, forcing him to let her go. The light from the taser let her see some of the man’s face and clothes. She noticed his clothes looked very…blue. Especially that weird mask he had.

“Okay, what the hell are you!? And where the fuck is my friend!?” She exclaimed, backing away from the man and taking out her phone, turning on her flashlight to fully see the blue man. “A ninja!? Only ninja’s wear weird shit like that!”

She made sure to back away from the man more before turning around and seeing at least 10 other people dressed in the same way the blue man was, but only three others truly stuck out to her. Two were wearing orange and gray with masks on their face and one was wearing a black cloak, but there was no way she could ignore those glowing eyes piercing into her soul.

“And that’s just fucking god.” Lemon whispered, still moving the flashlight to see around her. focusing her attention back on the blue man right

"Lemon!" Justice shouted, her eyes squinching when Lemon's flashlight hit her eyes. She was held back by the gray ninja who was flaring directly at Lemon.

"Justice!"

Lemon was about to run to her but heard something come her way and dodged a blast of ice. She didn’t really realize what the hell almost hit her until a second later. “Ninja’s have ice powers!?”

She had to block multiple attacks coming from the man and even dodge other ninjas that were trying to help the blue man. She put her phone in her mouth to keep her light and quickly took care of the ninjas that were all dressed in basic black, leaving the other four.

Lemon roughly took the phone out of her mouth and shouted, “Want to explain to me why you want to kidnap us now!? Especially since you know it isn’t going to happen!”

The orange man from above jumped down to where the blue man was, most likely going to help him fight. “We’ve just learned some interesting stuff about you two…so we wanted to see it personally.”

“Fucking weirdos…” Lemon muttered, getting into her fighting stance and noticing that she hasn’t had a stable stance since this all started. “Fighting me while I’m in my roller blades…do you know how weird it is to move in these!?”

The orange man took out some sort of rope with a blade at the end, twirling it in his hands. He then throws it, making it wrap around Lemon’s leg and pull her towards the two.

Lemon reacts quickly and kicks upwards once she’s close enough to the two, hitting the orange man in the face with her rollerblade. She then twists her leg to kick the blue man in the side, giving her the chance to start attacking the orange man and eventually knocking him out. Now she only needed to focus on three other people…thankfully. Then she can call the cops on these freaks.

“Knocked out your buddy.” Lemon taunted, looking at the blue man who was glaring at her. “Now you’re next.”

She once again takes her taser out and tries to strike the man with it, but he quickly freezes her arm and throws her over his shoulder. Lemon looks down at her arm in mild shock before slowly moving it up and down to see how heavy it was. “This could work…” She muttered, standing up and dashing towards the blue man, swinging her arm at the man’s face. The man quickly dodged and tried to sweep under Lemon’s feet, but the woman jumped over him and stomped on his chest, pinning him to the ground. She then took the chance to whack him in the face with her frozen arm, knocking the blue man out but sadly not breaking the ice on her arm.

Lemon takes a second to breath in and out before glaring up at the glowing eyed man and the gray guy. “Let go of Justice now!" She demanded, about to run up to the two.

“Sadly, no.” The glowing eye man stated, turning to the gray guy and saying, “You can hold her down now.”

“Excuse me!?” Lemon exclaimed before yelping as her hands were pulled behind her back. She looked back up at the glowy eyed man and realized the gray man was nowhere to be seen. “Ninja’s can teleport too–!? Actually, that’s not that impressive…” She then perked up once she realized something. "Ha! You're not grabbing Justice anymore! Justice run! Ru-"

She noticed that Justice was peacefully standing next to the glowy eyed guy with her hands in her pockets.

"Okay, I guess don’t run…?” She muttered as Justice and the glowy eyed guy slid down to where Lemon and the gray guy were. The glowy eyed guy pulled his hood down and introduced himself to Lemon.

“Hello, Cheri Carr.” The man said. “I am Lord Liu Kang, God of Fire and Protector of Earthrealm.”

“Yeah, okay, pause. Justice, what the hell is happening?”

“A test.” Justice answered with a smile. “That you passed.”

“Wha…” Lemon was so in shock that she didn’t even notice the gray guy had released her arms and quickly broke the ice on one of her arms, relieving her of the unbearable cold she was feeling. She then yelped as the blue guy started to stand back up, glaring directly at Lemon who looked confused.

“I thought I knocked you out?” She questioned.

“Like a weak hit like that could do anything.” The man scoffed, standing up and walking over to the orange guy to help him get up.

“Weak!?” Lemon shouted.

“They were holding back.” Liu Kang explained, turning to face the blue and orange ninjas. “Bi-Han, Kuai Liang, is everybody okay?”

“Yes. Nobody has any big injuries.” Kuai Liang answered.

“Okay, we need to start from the beginning here.” Lemon demanded and pointed to Liu Kang. “Who are you?” Points to the ninjas. “Who are they?” She then points to herself. “And why me?”

“Right.” Liu Kang agreed. “Like I said before, I am Lord Liu Kang, God of Fire and Protector of Earthrealm. The people you just fought are the Lin Kuei; they are a clan that are dedicated to protecting Earthrealm.”

“You keep saying Earthrealm, aren’t you just talking about Earth?”

“Earth is only a part of Earthrealm." Justice explained, wrapping her arm around Lemon's shoulders in a joking manner. "Earthrealm itself is one of the many realms on the universe."

"The realms are rivals of us and that’s why we need champions like you to protect ours.” Liu Kang added.

“Champions? For what? Are we fighting?” Lemon asked. "And Justice, how the hell do you know these people?"

“Yes. and it is almost time for the grand martial arts tournament between Earthrealm and the realm of Outworld. It’s held once each century and allows each realm to demonstrate their strength. Our realms are at peace but there are some Outworlders who would prefer to be at war with us. If we win this tournament, we’ll calm them down for at least another century.”

And I met them randomly like…6 years ago. They literally just teleported into my room in the middle of the night.” Justice added, smiling at Lemon who looked at her in shock. “They wanted me to help coach you and train you to help defend Earthrealm.”

“What the fu–”

“I know it’s a lot! But you’ll learn and you’ll be in much more interesting fights!”

“Yeah, okay, If I’ve learned anything from fictional books and movies, people outside of earth always have some weird powers and weapons." Lemon then turned to Liu Kang. "Why would you want someone who kickboxes for a living to help you fight people like that? I’m just going to die.”

“I never said you would die and I never said you were going to fight without some advantage.” Liu Kang reassured. “Nobody has ever died or been gravely injured in the tournament so you don’t have to worry about that. Just think about it like your regular fighting matches.”

“And ignore the fact that you basically said that if we lose this tournament there’s a chance we’ll be at war.” Lemon mutters and sighs loudly. “Okay, fine, I’ll help you. There has to be a reason you chose me out of…literally anybody else and I rather not have innocent people forced to fight a bunch of magical pieces of shit if we happen to lose this stupid tournament.”

“Thank you, Cheri Carr.” Liu Kang says.

“Just call me Lemon…”

“Alright, Lemon. The monks await you at Wu Shi Academy to start your training. Some of the people here will take you there while I still have more champions to gath-”

“Actually wait.” Lemon interrupted. “What about Justice?"

“What about me?” Justice inquired.

“I can’t leave you in the orphanage by yourself! What if you get beat up again and none of our other friends are there to help? I can’t risk that!”

“Lemon, I’ll be fine.” Justice reassures. “The shit only happened once, and because of that, I now have my friends/bodyguards around me 24/7. I feel like a celebrity!”

“But Justice–”

Justice wraps her hand around the back of Lemon’s back and pushes her head forward, prompting a kiss from the both of them. Lemon stays frozen in shock before Justice pulls away and chuckles at her friend’s reaction.

“I’ll be fine.” She reassures, lightly kissing Lemon’s nose. “Go and protect Earthrealm. It’s quite literally your destiny.”

“Right…” Lemon mutters before laying her head on Justice’s shoulder with a groan. “But that just made me want to stay even more!”

Justice lets out a laugh and turns to Liu Kang who was smiling at them both.

“She’s ready.”

“No…”

“This is the Wu Shi Academy?” Lemon muttered, looking around. The place was beautiful and calming with its lush greenery and cherry blossoms. “I honestly thought a dojo would look a lot less…peaceful.”

“Some are.” One of the monks said, smiling at Lemon. “Now follow me, we have prepared a room and uniform for you.”

“Uniform?”

“Oooohhhh, you mean the clothes everybody else is wearing?”

“That is what a uniform is, yes.”

Lemon slightly glared at the man who was doing their best not to laugh. “Don’t get all sassy with me.”

“Sorry, sorry!” The man apologized. “Now let’s get going. You’re most likely going to start your training first thing in the morning.”

“Good thing I’m a morning person.”

“AAAAHHHHH, WHY ARE YOU HERE!?” Lemon shouted. She was here, first thing in the morning like the monk said and while she was expecting a bunch of other people to be here, she wasn’t expecting anybody she knew. So seeing Johnny fucking Cage right in front of her scared her a bit, and the man too because his eyes widened at her shouting, same with three other men.

“Do you know her?” One of the men with a sedge hat asked.

“No, but I’m guessing she’s one of my fans.” Johnny answered with a smile, clearly using this as a chance to brag to the others. “I am pretty popular after all.”

“Okay, fan is an overstatement…” Lemon muttered, looking at Johnny in slight disgust. “But my coach...girlfriend...I don't know yet, is one and wouldn’t shut the fuck up about how good you were at fighting. My mind never once thought that you of all people would be one of Lord Liu Kang’s champions.”

“Wait, aren’t you Cheri Carr?” Another one of the men asked. This one had a whole sword with him. “One of the most famous kickboxers in the world?”

“Mhm! I am!” Lemon nodded, smiling at the sword guy. “But call me Lemon!”

“Lemon? What type of name is Lemon?” Johnny questioned.

“It’s just a nickname my coach-girlfriend gave me based on my actual name. But It’s been used so much that it’s weird to hear people call me Cheri. Kinda like how you’d feel uncomfortable if I called you John Carlton.”

Johnny visibly cringed and looked to the side. “Yeah, it’s weird as hell…”

The guy with the sedge hat chuckled at Johnny before politely bowing at Lemon who bowed back. “Well, hello, Lemon. I am Raiden.”

“And I am Kenshi Takahashi.” The guy with the sword introduced, also bowing.

“Nice to meet you both.” Lemon replied. She then turned to the last guy who was also wearing a hat, but she had forgotten what it was called. “And you are?”

“Kung Lao.” The man replied, not bowing but looking at Lemon in confusion. “Aren’t you a bit too young to be a champion?”

Lemon shrugged. “Don’t ask me. Ask Liu Kang whenever he pops up again. He’s the one that pretended to kidnap me and my girlfriend. That almost gave me mental and physical trauma.”

“Well, we’re not exactly here to focus on whether we should be here or not.” Raiden interrupted. “We’re here to get stronger and protect Earthrealm.”

“I guess.” Lemon replied. “But I do have a question for you all.”

“Hmm?”

“How’d you guys get forced into this?”

“Liu Kang and the Lin Kuei pretended they were trying to destroy a restaurant that belonged to someone close to us.” Kung Lao answered. “Turns out it was a test and the owner of the restaurant was also a part of it.”

“She basically trained us our entire lives for this.” Raiden added.

“That honestly sounds like some Hero’s Journey bullshit but is pretty cool.” Lemon commented and turned to Johnny. “What about you?”

“Literally just broke into my house and asked us to join.”

“Us?”

“Oh yeah.” Johnny wrapped his arm around Kenshi’s shoulders, “This guy also broke into my house to steal my sword!”

“It’s my family’s sword!” Kenshi snapped, pushing Johnny off of him.

“Bulllssshhhiiittt!” Johnny laughed. “I still don’t believe it!”

“If that is true then damn, Johnny, we need more interesting lives because these three seem to be more special than us.” Lemon said. “I know, let’s make something up!”

“Like what?

“We’re uh…aliens from a far away land and landed on earth in total confusion. We don’t know what this place is and why we’re here but for the past 18 years we’ve been raised by two human adults that have taught us to be humble and use our very random powers to save others–"

“Isn’t that just Superman?” Kenshi asked.

“No! Because there’s two of us now! We’re twins!”

“There's no way anybody’s gonna believe you two are twins.” Kung Lao laughed.

“They will if I tell them that I just stopped growing in…uh…elementary school!”

“PFFT–HAHAHA! Sure! We’ll pretend that’s true!”

“Kung Lao, stop laughing.” Raiden scolded. “By the way, we’re all late for our first lesson.”

“What!?” Lemon exclaimed. “You could’ve said something earlier!”

NEXT

MASTERLIST Picrew link: TOON ME!

So Gods Do Exist… (Mortal Kombat x OC) ((Kinda))

Part 4

Kenshi was sitting in a cell. Shang Tsung had thrown all of them into his actual laboratory that just felt like a literal torture dungeon. There was blood and guts everywhere, and some people hanging on shit. Most of those people looked alive just…disfigured.

Baraka, who was also thrown into the cell with them, was banging on the bars trying to force his way out.

“You’ve been at that for hours.” Kenshi noticed, leaning against the wall.

“If you could see, you’d know why.” Baraka says.

“That’s not happening, is it?”

“I’m sorry Kenshi…” Lemon apologized, leaning her head on the man’s arm. “I shouldn’t have walked away.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know.” Kenshi replies. “Why don’t you two talk about your lives before you got here? To help me get my mind off this.”

“Really? I don’t think either of our lives are happy ones.” Lemon mutters.

“It’s just…something to listen to.”

“I was doing well, trading goods up and down the Fartakh coast. My family was comfortable, happy.” Baraka tells. “Then Tarkat came. It took my wife, then my children. Cruelly it lets me live for now. I think it enjoys ravaging my body more slowly.”

“What about you, Lemon?”

Lemon sighs and moves to lean her head on the wall behind her. “I’ve been an orphan all my life. One of the caretakers told me they found me in the middle of the street, crying. And when they picked me up I had a small note on my back that said “Cheri.” So that’s my name I guess. Nobody could figure out who I belonged to or where I came from. I just kinda appeared.” She explained with a shrug. “That’s it. Nothing much.”

“What about your last name?”

“Fake. I don’t have an actual last name.”

Johnny slowly woke up with a groan, holding his head as he sat up. “Ugh…this hangover…” he then looks over at Kenshi and remembers all the shut he just went through. “Kenshi! Goddamnit. How bad’s the pain?”

“Excruciating.”

“You saved my life. I won’t forget that.”

“But you may just regret it.” Baraka chimed in, motioning to what was beyond their cell.

“What in the…” Johnny mutters, standing up.

“Yeah, it’s weird as hell!” Lemon exclaims, covering her ears. “All I’ve been hearing is screams and moaning for the past 3 hours!”

“This is Shang Tsung’s real laboratory.” Baraka explained as Kung Lao started to wake up.

“We’re beneath where we were before.” Kenshi added. “That was a false front.”

“Reminds me of this cheap-ass film I did in my early days: The Flash Pits.” Johnny remembered. “God, that was trash.”

Kung Lao had woken up from all the noise the others were making and once he remembered what happened he immediately reached for his hat, only to touch the top of his head. “They took my hat!” Kung Lao exclaimed.

“Yeah, my rollerblades as well.” Lemon adds looking down at the socks on her feet. “All our shit is gone.”

The door far away from them swings open and a guy dressed in green and black walks in.

“Who’s that?” Johnny asks.

“Our jailor.” Baraka answers. The green and black guy walks past them and to one of the other prisoners. He then tosses a piece of raw meat into the cell for the prisoner to eat.

He then turns back to the group and walks over to them. “How is he?” He asks, motioning to Kenshi.

“His eyes are gouged out. Guess.” Johnny replied, sarcastically.

“This will dull the pain.” The man informs, handing Johnny a red and black jar. Johnny looks at him suspiciously before walking over to Kenshi.

“You’re vile to be part of this.” Baraka says to the man.

“You are Shang Tsung’s prisoner…I am his slave. He has my family. He’ll kill them if I don’t obey.”

“Kinda hard to feel bad for you when we’re most likely going to be tortured to death.” Lemon chimes in, standing up and glaring at the man. She then stepped in something wet and yelped, looking down at her wet sock. “And I have to walk around in this weird liquid shit!”

“Why did he pick you?” Baraka asked.

“So he could learn how I shapeshift.” The man said.

“He learned that from you?” Kung Lao repeated. “We saw him do that. It was unreal.”

“So how does it work?” Johnny inquired, walking back to the others. “You just shapeshift into anything you want?”

“I can shit only between this form and my natural form.” The man turns into a gigantic lizard right in front of their eyes.

“Whoa.”

“Your Zaterran.” Baraka confirmed. “Your race can shapeshift!?”

“None can except me.”

Shang Tsung appeared behind the man who turned back into his human form. “Are they ready? It’s time.”

“There’s our potential villain!” Lemon exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.

“Time for what, sorcerer?” Baraka demanded.

“Replication experiments.” Shang Tsung answered. “They begin with your vivisection. I’ll use your harvested parts to build new creations. The process is fatal, of course.”

“Liu Kang won’t let you get away with this.” Johnny states.

Shang Tsung chuckles. “That presumes he will ever learn what happened. But when I am done, there will be no trace left of you. I shall return soon to check progress. I have other matters to which I must attend.” He disappears and the stranger/man/lizard/guy walks towards another cell.

“You don’t have to do this!” Baraka tries to reason.

“It’s either you or my family.” He opens the gate to a cell full of copies of Tarkatan creatures. “Put them in the chambers.”

The Earthrealmer’s (+Baraka’s) cell opens, leaving them vulnerable to the monsters. Johnny swings on the bars of the cell and kicks one of the monsters before punching it in the face, knocking it out.

Lemon, who was not as physically strong as any of these people, looked around for some type of weapon and found two knuckle brasses with claws at the end, she smiles to herself as she puts them on and immediately starts slicing the copies.

Baraka and Kung Lao were fighting back quite easily, but Kenshi and Johnny got captured and each thrown into a chamber.

Kung Lao was able to find his hat through all the madness and sliced a few clones head’s off.

“You’re really good with those knuckle things.” Kung Lao noticed as he, Lemon and Baraka were all back to back.

“Kinda using them as boxing gloves…” Lemon mutters, running away from the two and continuing to slice and punch the Tarkatan clones. She even cut one of its heads clean off, making her extremely happy. “Yeah, I’m stealing these!”

They had finally defeated all the monsters except for one. Lemon had sliced off its legs but then forgot to finish it off, so now it’s just crawling…

“There is nothing more foul…” Baraka muttered, watching it.

Johnny and Kensni’s chambers started to turn on, conducting electricity onto the bars.

Lemon and Baraka turned back to see who turned the chambers on and spotted the green and black man next to a lever.

“Do you want me to fight him?” Lemon asked.

“We have bigger things to deal with.” Kung Lao denied, motioning to something in front of them. It was a much bigger Tarkatan clone that stomped on the smaller clone's head and roared at the group.

“Are you kidding me…” Lemon grumbled.

They took care of it quickly with Baraka slicing the thing’s head off.

“Enough distractions!” He shouts, running over to Johnny and Kenshi’s chambers, ripping the bars off of both of them. Kung Kao and Johnny helped Kenshi walk out of his.

“I’m ruined!” The green and black guy exclaimed. “Shang Tsung's will punish me for this by torturing my family! You’ll pay for their suffering, Tarkatan!”

As Baraka and the green/black guy were fighting, Lemon looked around for her rollerblades, eventually finding them under a table, putting them on and rolling back over to the group, just in time to jump up on the stranger and wrap her legs around the man’s neck before throwing him onto the ground.

“I found my rollerblades!” She announces to the group before accidentally falling off the stranger as he turns into his lizard form. “Okay, forgot he could do that…”

Baraka quickly knocks the stranger to the ground before he can try to bite the woman. “We are leaving.” Baraka states, helping Lemon back on her feet.

The stranger throws his mask off and looks up at Baraka in sadness and fear. “Then kill me.” He demands. “If I die, maybe he’ll spare my family.”

“No. I won’t murder you.”

“It’s mercy, not murder! Not that what I’ve done deserves yours.”

“You were protecting your family, I would’ve done the same.”

The stranger stands up and suddenly, Shang Tsung appears once again, shocked by the sight in front of him. “What has happened here?” He questions in anger. “Syzoth, you fool! You’ve let them ruin everything!”

Johnny quickly gets Sento from a random table and runs to stand in front of Shang Tsung. 

“We’re going, sorcerer.” Baraka says.

“And we’re taking you with us.” Johnny adds. “Liu Kang would like a word.”

“I cannot be apprehended so easily…” Shang Tsung mutters before chanting a spell and spraying green fog into the room.

“Yeah, I got a bad feeling about this…”

“Is this poison gas?” Lemon questions, covering her mouth.

“I bid you all farewell.” Shang Tsung says before directing his attention to Syzoth. “Cheer up, Syzoth. I’m reuniting you with your family.”

“They’re dead!?” Syzoth exclaimed. “You killed them!?”

“Many moons ago. I do hate loose ends.”

He then disappears, leaving the group to deal with the gas on their own. Syzoth runs to the exit door, trying to open it.

“What’s wrong?” Kung Lao asks.

“The door must’ve sealed when the gas was released!” Syzoth guessed.

At this point everyone was having a coughing fit, with only poison gas going into their lungs.

“Stand aside.” Baraka demands, walking towards the door. He banged on the door multiple times before it finally broke open, letting out all the gas and giving the group a way to escape. “Hurry!”

“Follow me! This way!” Syzoth announced. Johnny and Kung Lao were holding up Kenshi while the other three walked in the front.

“Leave me.” Kenshi says. “I’ll just slow you down.”

“What?” Johnny gasps. “If Shang Tsung finds you, he’ll kill you.”

“Look at me, Cage! I’m useless. Don’t risk your lives to save mine.”

“Hey, you are not giving up. The Taira need you, remember? We are gonna get back home and figure out how to help you. Got it?”

They were outside the laboratory and walking back to Sun Do.

“We can’t linger. We’ll be captured.” Syzoth warned.

“We need help getting Kenshi to the portal at Sun Do.” Kung Lao says.

“I can take you only to the city’s gates.” Baraka suggests. “Tarkatans are forbidden inside.”

“I’ll see you the rest of the way.” Syzoth added. “It’s the least I can do to make amends.”

They were walking for quite a bit, and to pass the time, Lemon rolled next to Syzoth and started to basically interrogate the poor man.

“So…Syzoth…that’s your name right…?” She started. “Do you know how you got the powers to shapeshift?”

“No.”

“Would you only date another Zaterran or are you open to other possibilities?”

“I do not care.”

“Are you into guys?”

“Never truly found myself attracted to them.”

“How’d Potential Villain find you?”

“Finally a normal question.” Kung Lao huffed, earning a glare from Lemon.

“Since I was able to turn into a human, I was forced to leave my people due to them seeing me as nothing but a freak. Starving and beggared, I joined a traveling carnival. Turned out there are many who would pay good money to see my…”gift.””

“Doesn’t that sound similar?” Johnny questions sarcastically, placing his hand on Lemon’s head and laughing a bit when said woman pushed his hand off.

“Back then, Shang Tsung was a huckster. We crossed paths and he saw what I could do. When he began to learn real sorcery, he asked to study me. When I declined, he took my family hostage.”

“Isn’t that an offer you can’t refuse?”

As they continued to walk, Johnny was looking around the forest, seeing how big and colorful it was. “Man this forest reminds me of Wicked Plant. We had this forest in the second act—“

“The manticore battle?” Kenshi guessed.

“Yes! It was a pain to shoot, but man did it come out epic.”

“I can picture it exactly.”

This is the Living Forest.” Baraka announced.

“Aren’t all forests living, Baraka?” Kung Lao inquired.

“No others have trees that house the souls of the dead.”

“What!?” Lemon shouted.

“Whoa, wait a tick. We’re talking ghosts!?” Johnny exclaimed

“Good ones, not evil.” Baraka reassured.

“You guys know anybody here?”

“Some distant relatives.”

“You will find no Zaterrans.” Syzoth informed.

“Why not?” Kenshi asks.

“Warmbloods don’t welcome us. so we keep to ourselves, living underground in Zikandur province.”

A roar was heard a few feet away, causing Syzoth and Baraka to sprint into action and run towards whatever the noise was coming from. Lemon reacted a bit late and looked at the three men behind her with a shrug before following the other two.

There was an opening in the forest where a woman was fighting multiple other creatures that looked similar to Baraka. She then notices Baraka and Syzoth. “Quan Chi sends more demons!?” She exclaims.

“Wait! We’re not–” Baraka tried to explain, but the woman kicked Syzoth in the chest and started to fight Baraka. 

“With each of you I kill, my absolution grows nearer.”

This woman was ruthless and strong when it came to fighting and it caused Baraka and Syzoth to get some scratches by the woman’s sword but thankfully, Lemon finally caught up to the group in the middle of the fight and confused the woman.

“A human?” She questions. “Then what are you two?”

“He’s Zaterran.” Baraka answered, pointing to Syzoth. “I am Edenian. Or I was before my Tarkat affliction.”

“Outworlders!? Apologizes. I’m glad I’ve caused neither of you permanent injury.”

Kenshi, Johnny and Kung Lao came out right after with Kenshi sniffing some of the dead bodies around them. “What is that?” He asked.

“Just keep swimming.” Johnny dismissed, noticing the stranger in front of them. “So. Who’s our femme fatale?”

“I am Ashrah.” The woman informed. “Demon of the Netherrealm.”

“Demon? You look human…mostly. And what’s a Netherrealm?”

“The monks covered that with us. Did you sleep through every lesson?” Kenshi questioned.

“That one apparently.”

“Netherralm’s hell, but real.” Kung Lao answered.

“No shit…”

“I appear nearly human because I’ve purged most evil from my soul.” Ashrah explained. “When I’m done, the last vestiges of my demonic form will fade away.”

“Why were the demons after you?” Kung Lao asks.

“They were sent by Quan Chi. My former master. I was part of his Sisterhood of Shadow. He wanted…still wants…dominion over the realms. I renounced him when I realized that I could not help him defile them.”

“And now he wants you dead.” Syzoth finished.

“Precisely. I followed Quan Chi from the Netherrealm, here. He’s building devices that steal souls on a mass scale. He’s testing the first on the dead that reside in the forest.”

“Why steal souls, Ashrah?” Baraka asks.

“To harness their power. To what end, I don’t know. But I do know that it’s to aid the designs of another sorcerer…Shang Tsung.”

“Why is this man everywhere!?” Lemon exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “And nobody knows what the end goal for these two are. Isn’t that great…”

“So you’re sure Quan Chi is here?” Kenshi asked Ashrah.”

“I’m sure of it. My kriss senses him.” Ashrah answers, holding up her sword. “He’s nearby.”

Kenshi starts to walk forward but Johnny quickly cuts him off. “Nope, no. We’re getting you home.” He states.

“We have a job to do, Quan Chi could lead us to Shang Tsung.” Kenshi argues.

“But shouldn’t we be focused on getting you to safety?” Lemon questions.

“Your Liu Kang is right.” Baraka chimes in. “Shang Tsung’s a danger that must be dealt with. I will aid you.”

“As will I.” Syzoth agrees.

Johnny sighs. “I guess the ayes have it. Motion carries. Ashrah…lead the way.”

“This has been a long fucking day.” Lemon huffs.

So now instead of walking to Sun Do, they were following behind Ashrah who used her kriss as a guide to Quan Chi.

“Quan Chi is close.” Ashrah warns, looking at her glowing sword. “The emanations of his evil grow stronger.”

“That is a powerful weapon.” Baraka noticed.

“And my perfect ally. As I smite the evil it finds, I am further purified.”

“Now I’ve done steps, so I’m all for self-help.” Johnny chimed in. “But since when does a demoness want to be less evil?”

“I had spent eternity damned to the Netherrealm. I had assumed that’s all there was to existence. But then I saw Earthrealm, saw Outworld. Saw there was a better way to live. And to have it, I needed to cleanse my soul. My sister demons were furious at my change of heart. Kia and Jataaka were the first to hunt me.”

“Quan Chi is also a demon?” Syzoth questioned.

“Actually, he’s an Outworlder. But he mastered the dark magic needed for unfettered travel to my realm.”

“So then how did they meet?” Lemon asks before yelping at the sound of a bug near her ear and swatting the thing away. Syzoth quickly caught the thing with his mouth and started eating, not noticing the pure disgusted looks Lemon and Johnny were giving him. “I could’ve gone my whole life without seeing that…” Lemon grumbled.

“Quan Chi and Shang Tsung met due to a certain woman. I have not met this woman, but I am to assume that she’s behind all of this.” She lifts up her sword once more, notching It reacting to Quan Chi’s evil. “He is near.”

They walk to another opening in the forest. This time with multiple people and some sort of spell caster thing with green magic floating around it. There was also someone chanting something most likely controlling the green magic.

“Uh, which one is Quan Chi?” Lemon asked.

“The one who’s creating the soul stealer.” Ashrah answered.

“That’s what that is?”

“Well this plot just got thicker.” Johnny commented.

Ashrah turned to the rest of the group and announced that, “Earthrealm is in grave danger. Just one soul stealer can kill hundreds of thousands. If he unleashes a battery of them—“

“Millions will die.” Baraka finished.

“He must be stopped.” Kung Lao states.

“I will deal with Quan Chi.” Ashrah says, leading the way. “The five of you subdue the others.”

“Whoa there, big fella.” Johnny interrupts Kenshi who was about to follow the rest of the group. “This stop’s where you get off.”

“You heard her!” Kenshi argued. “Millions could die!”

“Which is why we don’t want you tripping us up out there. Now.” Johnny sighs. “Give me your sword.”

“Why?”

“Just give it.”

Kenshi hesitantly gives Johnny his sword. He takes the sword…and hands Sento over to Kenshi who took a second to realize.

“What!?” He breathed. “Johnny I can’t, not where you’re–”

“You saved my life.” Johnny interrupted, putting a hand on Kenshi’s arm. “It’s yours.” He then pats him on the shoulder before following the rest of the group, leaving Kenshi to his own thoughts.

The group runs towards Quan Chi and the soul stealer, alarming a vampire woman who warned Quan Chi.

“Yet again you evade capture, Ashrah.” Quan Chi states. “And now it appears you’ve found allies.”

“We are joined against you, sorcerer. You won’t be stealing any souls!” Ashrah shouts.

The vampire woman goes to attack Ashrah, signaling all the others to start fighting as well. Everyone, excluding Ashrah and Lemon had their own 1v1’s to deal with.

Lemon and Ashrah were honestly double teaming the shit out of the vampire woman, both trying to slice the woman with their weapons. Ashrah at some point cuts the vampire woman’s arm, making the woman groan in pain and back away. “That blade’s enchanted!” She claims.

“It was forged to destroy evil. It’s slain many of your vampire kind.” Ashrah says.

“We can’t help what we are. That we feed on blood doesn’t make us evil.”

Ashrah and Lemon quickly knock the woman out with their weapons. “I am one step closer to redemption…” Ashrah smiles before turning her head to Quan Chi once she hears him chanting magic and activating the soul stealer. A green tornado formed into the sky and souls from the trees started to fly around and into it. Everybody stops their fighting to stare at it.

“My god. It’s a…” Johnny trails off. “Soulnado!”

Once all the souls went inside the green tornado, Quan Chi started chanting once again and a person came out of the tornado, sucking all the green magic intro itself.

“What dark magic is this!?” Ashrah demanded.

“We are Ermac.” The being introduced. “A collection of souls, bound by Quan Chi’s magic. We live to obey his commands.”

Quan Chi points to the group. “Kill them.” He orders.

Ermac immediately blasts green magic at Johnny, Lemon, Kung Lao and Ashrah, sending them crashing either onto the ground…or onto a couple of trees and sticks. They then lift Baraka up with their magic and slam him into the ground.

Syzoth sneaks up from behind them, turns into his reptile form and pounces on the being. Ermac flips him over and blasts him away before quickly stopping Ashrah who was once again running towards them, moving her closer and punching her in the face. They then throw her over their shoulder and leave her to fight against two other strangers.

“Quan Chi must succeed if I’m to liberate Orderrealm. I’ll not let him fail!” One of the men said.

“Killing one realm to free another is a heinous proposition!” Ashrah disagrees. “One I won’t let you fulfill.”

Ashrah quickly takes care of the men and Quan Chi before throwing her sword at Ermac. The being catches it, prompting Ashrah to snatch it out of their grasp and start trying to cut and stab the man.

The rest of the group got up at some point and tried to help her fight but they were quickly overpowered by Ermac’s magic.

“I can’t let them die.” Kenshi says, picking up his sword and running towards Ermac.

Who easily blasts him away.

Kenshi dropped his sword in the process, frantically feeling around the ground to see where it was. Without it, his friends would most likely die right here and now.

“Kenshi Takahashi…”

“What?” Kenshi muttered. “Who is that?”

“Your ancestors. Come to us…”

He slowly crawls over to his sword and picks it up, still hearing his ancestors whispers and moans from the blade.

“In this, your time of need, the Taira will not fail you.”

Kenshi’s eyes glow white under his bandana and suddenly he is gifted with sight. Not perfect sight, but enough to see the ground and Ermac who was dashing towards him. 

Kenshi readies his sword and goes to fight the being. He stabs them in the chest, his sword sucking some of the souls out of Ermac.

Ermac shouts in pain before blasting Kenshi away and blasting more green magic at him. Sento has a mind of its own and starts shielding its owner by itself before handing itself back to Kenshi, who looks at it in surprise.

“It siphoned his souls.” He realized. “It now has his power!”

Ashrah stood next to him. “That was unexpected.”

“You’re telling me. Shall we finish this?”

“Let’s.” She then turns to Ermac. “This fight’s not over. I’ll defeat all of Quan Chi’s minions.”

“We are many. You are one.” Ermac states. “We will destroy you.”

Ashrah and Kenshi kick them to the ground after a few minutes of fighting. The being starts crawling on the ground, trying to get back up. “We are many…You are one…” They repeat with their voice changing every second. “We will destroy you…”

“What’s wrong with them?” Kenshi asked.

“Kombat must have weakened the magic that binds its souls together.” Ashrah guessed.

“Sindel!!! I will find you!!!” Ermac shouted before passing out.

“What was that?” Kenshi asked again.

“Watch him.” Ashrah orders, walking over to the soul stealer. “I’ll shut down the soul stealer.” She stabs her sword into the crystal that keeps the magic running.

“Ashrah, don’t!” Quan Chi shouts.

Ashrah fully slices the crystal in half, sending the souls out into a gigantic blast. One of the souls dashed towards Quan Chi and sucked most of the soul out of him, turning him white and causing him to pass out.

Ashrah walks over to Quan Chi, tightening the grip on her sword. “Since that didn’t kill you, I will.”

“No, Ashrah!” Kenshi shouts.

“He’s too dangerous to let live.”

“Liu Kang needs to question him. He knows Shang Tsung’s plans.”

Ashrah lets down her sword with a sigh. “Very well.”

The rest of the group walked up to the other two, worn out.

“Well…” Johnny trailed off, looking at Kenshi. “Clearly I underpaid for that. Did you know what it could do?”

“The legends never mentioned mystical powers.” Kenshi replied. “The souls of my ancestors live within it…they intend to guide me.”

“Just don’t forget who gave it to you, Takahashi.”

“I won’t, Cage.”

“Okay, cool, happy moments.” Lemon interrupted. She was underneath a big branch that was holding her down. “Can somebody help me!?”

“Shit, are you okay, Lemon!?” Johnny exclaimed as Syzoth (who turned into his Reptile form) and Baraka lifted the branch off of Lemon and Ashrah helped the woman up.

“No, my back hurts.” Lemon grumbled, rolling over to Quan Chi and kicking him in the side. “And it’s all this asshole’s fault!”

“What are we going to do about him?” Syzoth asked.

“We’re going to take him to Earthrealm so Liu Kang can question him.” Kenshi answers.

Johnny turns to the rest of the group to say, “I know home’s here for you, Baraka. But Ashrah, Syzoth…you can come with if you want. I’m sure Liu Kang would welcome you.”

“I’ve never had a home. That would be wonderful.” Ashrah says.

They had snuck into Sun Do and are now hiding in one of the alleyways. Johnny stole some of the clothes from the parade and gave everybody their own “special” outfit.

“Night, Night, Sweet prince of darkness.” Johnny said to the knocked out Quan Chi, putting a hat on his head. He then turns to the rest of the group and smiles at their outfits. “Oh! Perfect. You’ll fit right in.”

Ashrah huffs, trying to keep her hat on. “You couldn’t steal a more functional hat?” She complained.

“What? It hides your face! And honestly…it suits you.”

“I still don’t know about this.” Kenshi worried, glancing at Quan Chi. “Carrying him around will attract unwanted attention.”

“Look at it out there. It’s like Mardi Gras!” Johnny argued. “People will think he just partied too hard.”

“Wish we could enjoy this as friends to Outworld instead of enemies.” Lemon sighs. “It looks so pretty!”

Syzoth jumped down to where they were. He at first, was scouting the area. 

“What’s the word?” Johnny asked.

“Go toward the stage, then right to the portal gate.” Syzoth informed. “But there are soldiers and constables everywhere.”

“Are you sure these are enough?” Kung Lao asked, looking at his outfit. “One person spots us and we’re dead.”

“And that’s why I’ll create a diversion.”

“They’re out for you too, Syzoth.” Kenshi warned.

“To catch me…they must see me.” Syzoth lifts his hands up and disappears.

“Damn.” Johnny said. “You didn’t tell me you could go full predator!”

Kung Lao and Johnny held Quan Chi while Kenshi, Ashrah and Lemon walked in front of them as they walked through the crowd of Sun Do. Nobody seemed to question them and casually walked around the group.

Some of the military started to walk in their direction, worrying the group.

“We could use that distraction…” Kenshi muttered.

A rocket flew above them and onto the lanterns behind them, causing a fire. The crowd screams and rush to get away from it.

“Good work, Syzoth.” Ashrah complimented as they all kept moving towards the portal. Kenshi, at some point, had walked away from the group to help Syzoth escape as well.

Ignoring the fire behind them, Lemon looked at the festival in awe. She had never actually seen one in person and all the bright lights and colorful people left her in awe.

“You’ve never been to a festival before?” Johnny asked her.

“Nope. None have ever been held close to me, nor does the orphanage care enough to take us to anything fun.” Lemon answered.

“Well…if we make it out of this alive, I’ll take you to one.” Johnny says. “I can probably take all of us to one.”

“Really!?”

“Of course! Ashrah, have you ever been to a festival?”

“Sadly, no. So you taking us to one would be a blessing.” Ashrah says with a smile.

“Then it’s official!”

Quan Chi started to wake up and lightly push himself away from Kung Lao and Johnny in confusion.

Kung Lao and Johnny looked at each other, shrugged, and started to beat the shit out of Quan Chi to knock him out again. Quan Chi fell onto the ground after they both punched him in the face, revealing to the group that General Shao had found them and was standing right in front of them.

Quan Chi recognized his face and took that as his chance to run away,

“What about him?” A man next to General Shao asked.

“Worry only about the Earthrealmers.” Shao stated.

“Well shit.” Lemon cursed.

“If this was one of my movies, we’d get saved by a plucky, comic sidekick.” Johnny commented.

Suddenly a loud laugh was heard from above, gaining everybody’s attention. One top of one of the houses was Kenshi and Syzoth who slid down one of the lines the lanterns were on and dropped next to the rest of the Earthrealmer group.

“If we die today…we die together.” Syzoth states.

“Not comic but definitely plucky.” Johnny nods. 

The group fights the military officers, knocking them out one by one (And Syzoth surprisingly takes General Shao down as well.). More were coming in their direction, lead by somebody completely different.

“We must go!” Syzoth announces. “Now!”

Johnny and Lemon quickly punch the guy that knocked them out in Shang Tsung’s fake laboratory as pay back before following behind the rest of the group. They quickly make it to the portal, going straight through it and turning back to make sure nobody followed behind them to Earthrealm.

Thankfully the portal just closes, letting them all finally rest.

Liu Kang comes up from behind them. “Johnny, Kenshi, Lemon, Kung Lao. You have safely returned.” He welcomes.

“Safely…is a bit of an understatement.” Lemon comments as Liu Kang notices Kenshi’s eyes.

“By the Elder Gods!”

“We had a run in with Princess MIleena’s inner demons.” Johnny says.

“She took my sight.” Kenshi adds. “But Sento, in its own way, restored it.”

“I am glad that Sento bonded with you.” Liu Kang says. “Though my hope was that the means would be different this time.”

“This time?” Kenshi repeats.

“Forgive me, Kenshi. I misspoke. Go. The monks will tend to your wounds.”

Kung Lao, Kenshi and Lemon walked away while Johnny stayed behind.

“We found Shang Tsung.” He informed. “But he got away. I can see why you’re twitchy about him. He’s neck deep in some serious shit.”

“Thank you, Johnny.” Liu Kang replies. “But, go and rest. We’ll discuss everything after you all are completely fine.”

“Can I also get a martini? Shaken, not stirred?”

Liu Kang just smiles at him.

“Oh, wait!” Johnny perked up, remembering Ashrah and Syzoth were just standing here. “Meet the newest members of the Earthrealm Players! We wouldn’t have made it back without them.”

“Ashrah and Syzoth.” Liu Kang said.

“You know us?” Syzoth questioned.

“As Earthrealm’s protector, there is much I know.”

“Do you also know of my former master, Quan Chi?” Ashrah questioned. “He colludes with Shang Tsung.

“A new deadly alliance? Come, all of you. You must tell me all you know.”

“Okay…guess I’m not getting that martini…” Johnny mutters.

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