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Shujinko made his
debut in Mortal Kombat: Deception as the game's main hero. He is an adventurer
who, as a boy, dreamed of fighting Shang Tsung.
He has roamed the various realms and studied with many renowned teachers.
His old age has made him wise, but at a cost: he bears an immense guilt
for releasing Onaga into the realms
again, and now that he is discarded by the Dragon King, has vowed to make
up for this mistake. Although he shares some traits with the games' Shaolin
monk characters, such as his great receptiveness, deliberation and ability
to meditate for weeks, he has always been a traveler and a student at heart.
Depicted as a young
teenager in Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat: Deception, Shujinko was trained
by Master Bo' Rai Cho in the
art of Kombat. Soon, however, Shujinko encountered Damashi, who claims
to be an emissary of the elder gods, gives Shujinko the power to copy other
fighter's abilities and tells Shujinko to embark on a quest. It was from
this point on that Shujinko's goal is to find the Kamidogu, or relics that
are hidden in each main realms (Earthrealm, Outworld, Netherrealm, Orderrealm,
Chaosrealm and Edenia) and place them on an altar in the Nexus of the Elder
Gods. In order to be able to do his bidding, Damashi gave Shujinko the
ability to absorb fighting styles and special attack patterns of warriors
he encountered with great ease.
Shujinko's mission
took him more than forty years to complete. By this time, he had missed
out on most major events taking place in the realms, such as Shao
Kahn's invasion of Earth, Shinnok's short-lived
insurrection or the formation of the Deadly Alliance, only hearing about
them obliquely or being involved very loosely. Because of his mission,
it is said he also missed out on the first Mortal Kombat tournament, despite
winning Shang Tsung's approval to participate
after a short fight. When his mission was complete, Damashi revealed himself
to be none other than the Dragon King, Onaga, speaking to Shujinko from
beyond death.
Onaga used to be emperor
of Outworld, and secretly driven by shards, echoes and memories of the
One Being, whose consciousness shattered into the six realms with the creation
of the Elder Gods. The One Being's existence does not allow the existence
of something else, precisely because it is just that. The kamidogu, which
contain the essential keys and essences of the realms, are powerful tools
to merge the realms. The last tool Onaga needed to perfect his strategy
was the sacred amulet that was long in possession of Quan
Chi. After defeating the Deadly Alliance and Raiden, Onaga also had
the amulet. For this, Shujinko assumed full responsibility, and embarked
on a desperate quest to destroy Onaga, believing himself the only person
capable of doing so.
Shujinko decided to
gather every warrior from all realms and, in one moment, absorbed their
fighting abilities to become all powerful. he then marched boldly into
Onaga's throne room and pummeled the Dragon king into submission. But before
he could land the final blow, Onaga's soul was whisked away by an unknown
force (which would be revealed in Nightwolf's bio as the after-effects
of the Sin-Eater ritual he had performed to bind Onaga's soul to the Netherrealm.)
Shujinko was then,
for a time, known as the hero of Outworld. However, he still felt some
degree of guilt of bringing back the Dragon King in the first place. As
such, he didn't feel worthy of their admiration. Some time later, Princess
Kitana requested Shujinko to meet
her at Shao Kahn's fortress, as her Edeinian forces had apparently flushed
out Reiko's elite guard, the last remnants of the old empire.
Shujinko however came
to the realization that he and Kitana parted ways after Onaga's defeat,
as she set out to help the spirit of Liu
Kang. Shujinko thought either that she departed for Earthrealm for
the quest and she came back sooner than expected-or that the invitation
had not come from her at all. Deciding that he would not allow himself
to fooled again, he made the decision to uncover a possible plot of an
unknown enemy to make himself truly worthy of the admiration Outworld has
placed in him. It is revealed that the person who sent the deceptive invitation
was Mileena, who fought and defeated
Shujinko at the behest of Shao Kahn. In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's Konquest
mode, Taven discovers Shujinko
in the dungeons of Shao Kahn's fortress. After freeing him, Shujinko claims
that he allowed himself to be captured on purpose so to as to get closer
to his enemies, as he plans to take on Shao Kahn, Onaga, Shang Tsung, and
Quan Chi by himself. He disappears soon after in the pursuit of his mission,
leaving Taven to regard him an old fool.
 
 
 
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