Present Day
A young woman known only as B. Orchid recieves a call from her superiors. She works for a top secret agency known only as "The Organization." Their job is to ensure the safety of America, and perhaps the world, by any means necessary. Orchid recieves an assigment. Every year, fighters have been disappearing from a top ranked, highly popular fighting tournament called Killer Instinct, sponsored by the Ultratech Corporation. Every year, investigations were launched, but nothing was found. The controversy died down eventually, until the winner of last year's tournament (Killer Instinct 6) Eagle, disappeared. Orchid's mission - participate in the tournament and figure out what's going on, once and for all.
At the tournament, she meets a number of interesting people. Chief Thunder - Eagle's brother - who is doing a personal investigation. Jago, a young Tibetan warrior here to test his own skills. T.J. Combo, a disgraced boxer looking to reclaim his fame. Orchid also meets Ultratech's fighters - the fire being Cinder, the werewolf Sabrewulf, resurrected Spinal, human/dinosaur hybrid Riptor, the alien Glacius, and the combat cyborg Fulgore. She quickly discovers that they're not just gimmicks, as the public believes, but real lifeforms.
After a few fights and some digging, Orchid finds Ultratech's true intentions. The ambitious president, Robert Sheridan, wants to conquer the world to usher in a new era of peace. He could take the world easily, but keeping it would be a problem since he doesn't have a following of soldiers. The solution - create one! Killer Instinct is nothing more than a combat test for all of Ultratech's engineered soldiers. Some creations were too gruesome to be shown to the public, so one or two high ranking fighters from the tournament were given the opportunity to fight them. They all accepted. None survived. Thus, the mystery of the missing fighters was solved.
However, with Ultratech posing a viable threat to America, and the world, The Organization orders Orchid to put a stop to them once and for all. Realizing that she might need help, Orchid enlists the aid of Chief Thunder, Jago, TJ Combo, and Glacius, to battle against Ultratech. The tournament progresses normally, until Jago goes up against Fulgore to determine who would fight in the championship match. It's a real battle - one that Jago is about to lose, until Orchid interfears. She and the others barely manage to escape the enraged cyborg's wrath.
From there, all hell breaks loose. The rules of the tournament are ignored as fights break out everywhere. Jago has a rematch against Fulgore; Chief Thunder battles Spinal, TJ Combo fights Riptor, and Orchid takes on Ultratech's champion, Eyedol. Riptor is defeated, Spinal and Fulgore are destroyed, and Orchid defeats Eyedol. As Eyedol dies, he releases energies that triggers Ultratech's TimeShift technology, which rips the building, and all those inside (everyone except Cinder, Riptor, and Thunder) into the past.
2000 Years Ago
Orchid and the other surviving fighters find themselves stuck 2000 years in the past. President Sheridan decides to stay in the past, so he can shape history to make himself the ruler of the world in the future. Orchid confronts him, and promises to destroy Ultratech to keep him from doing that. A deal is eventually reached - Sheridan will create a new tournament, known as Killer Instinct 7.5, and if Orchid or any of her friends win, Sheridan will return Ultratech, back to the present. However, if any of Sheridan's fighters win, Sheridan is free to do what he wants. It's an agreement Orchid has no intentions of honoring if she loses, but will play along to keep the peace.
From KI7, fighting against Sheridan were Orchid, TJ Combo, and Jago. New friends include Maya, Kim Wu, and Tusk, warriors from this time who had their own agenda. A new Glacius also agrees to help - he's here to find other aliens stranded on Earth, but will help Orchid nonetheless. Sheridan still has Sabrewulf, plus an unexpected surprise - another Fulgore! Fulgore 2 is more powerful than his predecessor, but overconfident, slightly psychotic, a little unstable, and obsessed with killing Jago, thanks to his predecessors last program. Sheridan's new champion is Gargos, a powerful demonic warlord, who uses his powers to resurrect Spinal from this era.
The tournament begins normally. Earth's fighters are doing well; but so are Ultratech's. During the course of the tournament, Jago discovers that his religion, the Tiger Shrine, was actually created by Gargos, for a very different purpose. Orchid and Jago also find that they are brother and sister.
The tournament reaches a turning point when, near the final rounds, Fulgore 2 fights Glacius, and kills him. Unable to save her alien friend, Orchid once again decides to ignore the rules of the tournament and launch an all out attack on Ultratech. This battle will determine who controls the past, and the future of the world. And so begins the Genesis Saga......