Raiden of the past receives the first fragments of the message in a series of disjointed images, at the opening ceremony of the first Mortal Kombat tournament on Shang Tsung's Island. He attempts to use these memory flashes to influence events and prevent Armageddon, although his interventions prove to have unexpected and nearly disastrous consequences. Examples of this include provoking Kung Lao to participate in the tournament much earlier than originally, resulting in his defeat at the hands of Scorpion (with his rivalry with Baraka never happening); saving the Lin Kuei ninja Smoke from capture and automation, only for the younger Sub-Zero to instead suffer the same fate (with the Lin Kuei pledging their loyalty to Shao Kahn in exchange for extraditing Sub-Zero); persuading Kitana to re