Outworld Tournament Arc

This arc took place in the fall of 2013, concluding in late November. It featured a tournament held by the emperor of Outworld, Shao Kahn, in an attempt to take over Rigel Prima.

The emperor seeking new conquest.

Plot

At the beginning of autumn of 2013, a sorcerer named Shang Tsung appeared and made a broadcast to the world, proclaiming that Rigel Prima was about to be invaded by the forces of Outworld. However, the emperor Shao Kahn decided to give the people of the planet a fighting chance. As such, the strongest warriors from around the world were meant to gather in Guilt Edge to partake in a Mortal Kombat tournament. If Rigel Prima won, they would be free from Shao Kahn's influence. If they lost, the invasion would begin.

The gathered fighters were divided into two categories - those who represented Rigel Prima, and those who represented Outworld. The numbers were relatively even, meant to give both sides equal opportunity to win. However, it was merely a ruse. Shang Tsung allowed for each fight to have unusual gimmicks attached to it, often meant to stack the deck against the Rigel Prima fighters. He also acted as the official, ignoring when the Outworld fighters broke the rules of the tournament, and showing clear bias against the Rigel Prima fighters.

Despite this clear display of unfairness, the tournament proceeded relatively normally, until the semi-finals - where Outworld's forces eventually prevailed.

Shao Kahn's Invasion

With Outworld's victory secured, despite the tactics involved, Shao Kahn was given free reign to cross the barrier between the two dimensions, and arrived on Rigel Prima. With him came his invading forces, which wasted no time in attacking key points on Belle'Ayn - primarily The Town, Silver City, Canterlot, and Guilt Edge itself. His armies of Centaurs, Shokans, and Tarkatans proved to be a formidable force for all of their enemies, and left chaotic destruction in their wake.

All was not lost, however. A group of remaining fighters, helmed by Captain America, took the fight to Shao Kahn directly. The battle proved to be very difficult, especially with a Soulnado adding to Kahn's already-massive power. However, the Captain was fortunate enough to destroy this energy source, weakening the Kahn enough to defeat him.

With Shao Kahn's defeat, Outworld's armies vanished, returning to their native world. The allies that Outworld made scattered, leaving the survivors to recover in their wake.

Gorgon

At the same time that this was happening, a mysterious figure appeared among the tournament fighters, quickly making a target of and harassing Xion. Rachel Alucard warned her that this figure was from an alternate timeline, and had somehow discovered a way to cross timelines and universes without the use of the typical rifts. The side effect of this form of travel was that it weakened the barriers between dimensions, and would cause this dimension to eventually collapse the longer he was there. As such, it was imperative that he was defeated.

It was quickly discovered that the figure calling himself "Gorgon" was actually an alternate version of Crona Makenshi, who had fallen deeper into Madness thanks to his knowledge of alternate timelines and of the multiverse, and was psychotically devoted to killing all alternate versions of himself and anyone he knew from the Soul Eater world.

He first faced off against this timeline's Crona in the tournament and soon defeated him, displaying Medusa's ability to neutralize the black blood. He then fought Franken Stein in the next round, only defeating him when he exposed him to the same multiversal knowledge he possessed.

He lost in the next round to Deadpony, but hadn't stopped causing havoc yet. He rescued Alton Sutcliff during the Outworld Invasion, having taken pity on him. He also questioned his devotion to his then-wife Judith briefly before disappearing, not letting on that he was a different version of Crona to the one he knew.

Following that, he attacked Wayne Manor directly, eventually getting into a direct conflict with Xion. He transported her to the Keyblade Graveyard, in an attempt to get into her head and motivate her into killing him. However, the surge of memories from Sora proved to be too much for her to actually put up a fight. Wracked with confusion and guilt, Gorgon took her back to Wayne Manor safely, and then disappeared.

Aftermath

Gorgon has yet to meet with Xion again, making very few appearances in the canon since this arc's conclusion.

Shang Tsung was revealed to be a disguise for Lord Zedd, having instigated the tournament to lure Shao Kahn out and ensure his defeat, eliminating a potential rival in his own plans for conquest. His plan also included weakening Guilt Edge to eliminate another source of power that could've stopped him, paralyzing the nation from having an effect on the rest of the world as a result. This would lead into his own invasion attempt in the following year.

Trivia

• Seras Victoria was introduced in this arc, acting as an ally for Rachel and Slayer, before developing into an individual character.
• The arc was created with the intent to add a plot to what had become a formula for random fights, to see if the mechanics would mesh well. The end result was not very positive.
• Gorgon only reappeared as a means to enact another character's involvement in the following arc.