"Um, what?" Nora tilts her head in confusion at the man standing before them.

"Before you say anything else, shouldn't you introduce yourself?" Weiss asks.

"Of course. I am Raiden, God of Thunder."

"A… God?" Weiss asked, astonished. "Right in front of us?"

"Hold on, why should we believe you?" Jaune questioned.

"Yeah, we've never met you before in our lives. How can we trust you?" Yang asked.

"You can trust me." Qrow says to his oldest niece. "He's a God."

"Usually, that'd be the case, but this is different. This guy is telling us that he's a God of all things." Yang responds.

"I'm sorry uncle Qrow, but I'm with Yang on this one. The idea that a God is standing here is a little far fetched."

"Girls, I understand how it seems, but it's-"

"No, Qrow. Their reluctance is understandable." Raiden says. "I once met a movie star who laughed when I told him the same thing."

"Show us something only a God could do." Sun says.

"You wish to see my power?" Raiden asks.

"Yeah, show us." Nora says, and Raiden's reluctance shows on his face, but it vanishes a moment later.

"Very well. I will give you a demonstration." Raiden looks out the window, where he can see the sun is just about ready to set. "It's a nice day isn't it?"

Everyone's heads turn with Raiden's towards the window to look outside.

"Not a dark cloud in sight." Raiden says, before his eyes crackled and dark clouds rolled in around the beach.

The eyes of everyone who wasn't Qrow and Oscar widened, and then their mouths hung open when a flash of lightning struck the sands just outside their beach house. Heavy rain pelted the house as cracks of thunder shook the house from outside. Some of the windows blew open and everyone could feel the force of the wind, their clothing and hair blowing in different directions as they tried to shield their faces.

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Oscar shouted over the wind, making Raiden come to a stop.

The winds slowly died down, it stopped raining and the dark clouds outside vanished. Everyone brought their hands away from their faces, all of their faces telling that they were in awe of the display that left their hair in a mess.

"Okay. God of Thunder. Got it." Jaune says.

"There's no way that you're actually… the Spring Maiden can do that too." Yang tried to rationalize.

"But, Yang." Weiss interrupted. "He isn't a woman. And to be honest, I don't think your mom could've done that to the same magnitude."

"She's right." Qrow said. "Raven is very powerful, but not even she could've pulled that off. Not without exhausting herself."

"So he really is… a God?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, and I'm here with a message. Or moreso, a warning."

Blake's ears drooped, not liking where this was going.

"A warning of what?" The cat faunus asked.

"Noren, Lyra, it's time for bed." Ren said before Raiden got another word out. "Nora."

"Yeah," Nora got up, her usual cheerful self replaced with a more serious woman. "Excuse us."

"Of course." Raiden allowed them to put their kids to sleep and they returned a few minutes later.

"Go on." Ren said to the Thunder God.

"Alright. To answer your question, Blake Belladonna, in a month's time, a tournament will be held that will invite the best of Remnant's fighters to participate. A tournament known as Mortal Kombat." Raiden explained.

"I feel a catch coming on." Jaune says.

"It's a very big catch." Qrow replies.

"Are you familiar with the seven realms?" Raiden asks.

"Realms?" Ruby questioned.

"Oh, I think I know." Sun piped up. "Realms are different types of worlds right?"

"That's right. There is Earthrealm, the realm I'm the protector of, the Netherrealm, Edenia, the realm of Order, the realm of Chaos, and Outworld, the realm you will be competing against."

"Where do we fall into this?" Weiss asks.

"Remnant is the seventh realm." Raiden explains.

"Wow. I'd heard the stories, but I never thought they were true." Sun says.

"The Mortal Kombat tournament was put in place by the Elder Gods after the emperer of Outworld, Shao Kahn, conquered Edenia. It's to give the other realms a fighting chance if Shao Kahn ever sets his eyes on it."

"What?" Ruby says, sounded disheartened.

"What does that mean if we lose?" Ren asked, fearing the answer.

"Then, Shao Kahn will come into Remnant, and it will be his."

"For what reason?" Blake asked.

"Because Shao Kahn is barbaric, and he conquers realms for the sheer pleasure of it." Raiden explains.

"That's… pure evil." Weiss says.

"Well… who says we have to fight?" Ruby asks. "If we don't enter, then he can't beat us anyway."

"Then you will have forfeited the tournament. And he will still take Remnant." Raiden explains.

"So we don't have a choice is what you're saying?" Nora asks.

"I'm afraid so." Raiden answers. "And I think it's important to mention that he recently failed in his conquest to take Earthrealm."

"That's great!" Ruby says.

"So he's not unbeatable." Yang declares.

"But Shao Kahn does not take failure in stride." Raiden says. "He will be more ruthless this time. He even tried breaking the rules of Mortal Kombat and staging an invasion on Earthrealm. I fear that after he takes over Remnant, his next plan will be to take over Earthrealm once more."

"Oh, but you're a God, aren't you?" Sun asks. "If you fight with us, then we'll have a better chance. I bet you could win, no problem."

"I'm sorry, but as protector of Earthrealm, my duties lie there, and there is a new threat that I must focus on. Besides, even if I could aid you, I am forbidden from participating in the tournament."

"We're on our own, then." Weiss says, to which Raiden nods.

"It will be up to you to defeat Shao Kahn and his forces. I wish there was more I could do to help, but a warning is the most I can do. May the Elder Gods watch over you." Raiden says before he vanishes in a flash of lightning.

The room is silent. For a moment, until the sound of Ren's heavy breathing fills their ears. Everyone turns to face the usually calm and collected young man. His hands were shaking and it looked like tears were brimming from his eyes.

"Ren?" Nora says, putting a hand on his shoulder. He shakes it off.

"I need some air." Ren gets up and walks outside, to the shores of the beach, Nora following behind him.

"Ren! Ren!" Nora yells as she follows him. "Are you okay?"

"No, Nora. I'm not." Ren says, as he turns to her, with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Nora wrapped her arms around Ren in a hug.

"It's not the end. We've done the impossible before. This is nothing." Nora says, trying to comfort Ren.

"But back then, we didn't have Lyra and Noren." Nora backs off of Ren, realizing what his actual concern is.

"No. That won't happen."

"Nora, my father died to save me. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to my mother." Ren's voice breaks. "I don't want them to..."

Ren finds himself cut off when Nora kisses him. Nora breaks it after ten seconds.

"That's not going to happen. I love you, Ren. We've been through too much to let anything stop us. I don't care how big and how bad Shao Kahn is, nobody is going to take you away from me, or Lyra or Noren."

"But-"

"And I'm not going anywhere either. Like I told you already. We've overcome too much together that nothing can stop us. We're going to our children turn into strong and great people. We'll make it through-"

Now it's Nora's turn to be cut off by Ren, who lips hit hers.

In this moment, Ren remembered why he loved this woman so much. For how much she drove him crazy, she was his ride or die, his number one supporter, his best friend. Even in the bleakest of times, Nora found a way to raise his spirits.

Ren breaks away from Nora. Ren looks behind Nora and sees the rest of the gang following them out.

"Ren, are you okay?" Jaune asks.

"I will be." Ren says, "After we beat Shao Kahn."

Nora smiles at those words and everyone else does too. Qrow and Oscar follow them close behind.

"Listen everyone," Oscar says, bringing everyone's attention to him. "Qrow and I have agreed upon ourselves that we're going to fight. That doesn't mean you have to. So if you want to back out, then do it now."

"Not a chance," Weiss says. "I'll be damned if I let my friends fight without me."

"It's our realm. I'd rather die than let some tyrant take it." Blake declares.

"I'm in. I've been itching to bust some heads anyway." Yang says.

"Of course I'm in." Sun says.

"I'll fight with everything I have." Jaune says. "Ren, Nora?"

"You already know my stance." Ren says.

"Let's break some legs!" Nora yells.

"Well, Ruby?" Qrow asks.

"Do I really need to answer that?" She asks.

"I guess not."

"We're all in." Ruby says, "Everybody, Raiden said the tournament will start in one month. So we'll use that month to prepare. We'll train ourselves and each other. And when it's time to fight, we'll win."

"Yeah!" Everyone cheers.

Everyone retreats back inside to rest their eyes for the night. Everyone but Oscar.

Qrow notices Oscar falling behind and turns back to face him.

"What's up, Oz?" Qrow addresses him.

"There's… no way we all get through this." Oscar says, almost hopelessly.

Qrow only looked down at that statement, before he walks back in.