AN: In this fic the outfits worn by the characters will be described as the default costumes (for the time they appear in and story mode) for the characters in MK11, I just like those ones better than the MK9 ones, and definitely more than the palette swaps for the Klassic games.
SHANG TSUNG
The flesh pits were damp, cold, and disgusting. But Shang Tsung had never cared. He himself had personal quarters far away, and if he wasn't focusing on an experiment, only had to go down to supervise Skarlet's feeding, and to leave the other prisoner inside some food to split himself throughout the day's passing. Even Shao Kahn himself, although supervising the creations made inside, had never wished to go down.
But Shang Tsung had to every single day, in multiple trips, or his brain would be exposed on the floor in front of his Emperor's throne. His hands shook every time we walked past the prisoner, and to Skarlet, even if Shao Kahn had ordered her to never attack him.
The Sorcerer knew her purpose, to kill those who betrayed him, but only the powerful were reserved for Skarlet. Should the Emperor not desire to execute Shang Tsung himself, Skarlet would likely be the one to do so.
He eventually reached the door to her cell, secured by a unique Skeleton key only he and Shao Kahn had access to, and implanted the key. As soon as he turned it inside, opening the door, he began to hear it.
Skarlet was shaking and pulling on her chains, slamming them into the walls over and over again with movement. Her addiction to blood was akin to Opium during Shang Tsung's time as a mortal, and Shang Tsung only meant one thing to her over the many years of her imprisonment, food.
After one quick turn to the left, Skarlet was visible in her confinement, looking downwards, writhing and pulling on the chains in anticipation.
Skarlet was ready to fight at any time, despite her use never being needed before. In comparison to Shao Kahn's assassins, her skin was unbelievably pale, rendered even more ghostly through deprivation to the sun for years in a row. The blood magik had long since altered her appearance, turning her once brunette hair as a child into a long flowing blood red color, reaching the middle of her back as all had been too afraid to cut it. Her eyes too, had been changed, when she is deprived of blood or actively consuming it, they turn red, bloodshot.
At all times, she was secured by two magical green chains, which Shang Tsung would alternate between holding her arms and feet for practice while feeding, and on the floor was sand, stained by layers and layers of dried blood, with Skarlet's feet submerged in the newest puddle she had created yesterday.
Blood stained the walls and the entire room, and Skarlet's outfit was completely dyed in the substance. Along the walls were crude pictures drawn of blood, painted by Skarlet over and over again in layers, created by running her finger through the puddles created by the dead, and taking them to the walls.
"Skarlet."
"Where is the food?" Skarlet spat, looking upwards to Shang Tsung.
Skarlet spoke in an Earthrealmer accent he had never heard before. Not one he had heard in his former life, or one of the Kombatants, which had mostly been collected from the Earthrealm lands of Asia and North America. She had to be taught to speak like an Outworlder for the Emperor's convenience, despite the magic not requiring her to cognitively understand the directions given.
"You will receive it later. Shao Kahn has a task for you."
"Who must I kill-"
Shang Tsung shook his head. "No one, not yet. You will be brought to the surface, to compete in Mortal Kombat."
"Mortal Kombat?"
God, Shao Kahn really hadn't taught her anything, but that was not too surprising. After all, Skarlet was a slave to be used to kill his most powerful enemies, not a daughter of his like Mileena and Kitana. All knowledge she had was the ability to speak like her captors, how to kill a captured warrior sent into her death cage, and whatever residuals which had not been wiped from her strange past by Shang Tsung himself. Even then, Skarlet herself lacked any useful knowledge about the world but killing.
"I will explain later. I will release you from your bindings, and you cannot do anything I do not explicitly order." Shang Tsung commands.
Skarlet's eyes flash red for a moment, and she stands up, releasing the grips her hands had on her chains. Green Soul magic attacks the chains at his command and they break in an instant.
The flash disappears, and Skarlet is freed from her trance, stretching for the first time since she was a child. Even through her mask, her eyes show a gleeful expression and she unconsciously runs in a circle around her own cage at a full sprint, marveling at her ability to use her hands and feet at once.
"Stop. follow me."
She instantly is paralyzed by the order, and begins mindlessly walking behind the sorcerer. He will take her to the surface, to practice with various commands he could incorporate, and to view her fighting style. The binding power of the dagger is strong. Skarlet is both unwilling and unable to resist. Whether that is from actual loyalty to the Kahn, or due to her lack of knowledge about the world remains to be seen.
The Oshh-Tekk prisoner watches in confusion as the two walk by, seeing for the first time what had been making the noise, and what had been imprisoned along with him.
SKARLET
Skarlet doesn't understand. What's even worse is that Shang Tsung isn't even giving her the full story. But she's never heard the word "Kombat" and in general has a stilted vocabulary in Outworlder, which only consists of the little language Shao Kahn had taught her as a child, her ramblings to herself, and whatever she's heard when others have begged for their lives. And that mostly consists of words that don't hold much weight in conversation.
Despite it being so long ago, Shang Tsung still hears her mumble to herself in an incomprehensible language, the one she had spoke before her abduction.
The dagger's magic had somehow allowed her to perfectly understand those who held power over her however, making Shang Tsung's job a whole hell of a lot easier. Unfortunately this luxury had not been extended to all she had been ordered not to kill.
After allowing her to feast on a recently killed warrior, and allowing Rain to forcibly clean her outfit caked in years of blood, Shang Tsung extended a long list of items. Shao Kahn had only given him vague guidelines, and given she had only received two orders before, he had to outline a large amount of rules for her to follow. This extended to very specific orders to avoid places on the island, and to avoid any injury or even harm done towards both the incoming warriors for outworld, and the obvious, Kitana and Mileena, under most circumstances.
Once Shang Tsung had gained approval for her orders, Skarlet was allowed to roam a very limited area of the training grounds. He set up a wooden dummy, and left soon afterwards, handing Skarlet a single dagger as a weapon, in hopes of eventually narrowing down which she would prefer, or if one was necessary in the first place.
Skarlet stared in confusion at the wooden carving in front of her. Shang Tsung had told her many things, but the only word she had understood was "Kombat", which meant to attack or to fight, as Shang Tsung explained, using the limited words she had understood.
Raising her right arm, the vein at the end of her wrist opened for a moment to dispense some of her own blood. Forming a mass of it, and forcibly drying it, Skarlet sent the blood-spear flying. It carved through the air in an instant, utterly shattering the wooden man. Falling onto the floor, the blood spear became wet once more, and created a dripping red stain.
The blood mage looked to the wooden floor, which had began seeping up her own blood.
She bends over and kneels on the floor, drawing a single stick figure in the negative space of the puddle with her index finger, whose outline is preserved as Skarlet re-absorbs the blood with her touch.
As she finishes the last leg of the crude drawing made of blood, she hears Shang Tsung yelling, harshly scolding her in words she doesn't understand. He calms down soon afterwards, seeing Skarlet's foot begin to drain the blood, reversing the damage she had done.
Trailing the sorcerer was a woman.
She wore a purple outfit, consisting of a mask covering her nose and mouth like her own, and robes wrapped around her waist and over her left shoulder, tied around her neck, which itself had been covered with another thick cloth, to negate it's own weakness in a battle. At the ends of her arms and legs were metal gauntlets and shin guards, both gauntlets gripping on two three-forked weapons.
"Skarlet. To test your fighting, you fight with Mileena." Shang Tsung enunciated carefully, reassuring that Skarlet could understand him.
The blood mage had. Skarlet took forth a fighting position directed towards Mileena, and raised her fists, mimicking those she had feasted on.
Shang Tsung points to his hip, and Skarlet revises her stance, taking up the dagger in a defensive position instead. Mileena responds, preparing herself by crouching on the ground, and sticking both of her weapons to her sides, facing outwards.
"Do not kill Mileena or otherwise mutilate her, Skarlet." Shang Tsung orders. Skarlet's eyes flash for a moment and she is binded to his words.
"Agh! As if she could kill me! You underestimate me, Shang Tsung!" Mileena spits, genuinely offended at his order to Skarlet. "For fathers sake, and yours, She had better be able to take Ermac's place!"
As the two looked at eachother, Mileena with a serious expression, eager to prove Shang Tsung wrong, was in steep contrast to Skarlet, who had remained calm.
"Go!"
Mileena's crouch turned into a forwards roll. Purple energy pooled around her and Skarlet braced for impact. Mileena curled into a ball in an instant, Sticking out the two weapons at her sides.
As a being composed of her own blood, Skarlet quickly liquified into a mass of blood on the floor to avoid Mileena's charge, and she passed overhead, merely running over the puddle instead of colliding into the Blood Mage's legs.
Mileena slows as her momentum does, and she stands back up, in her low fighting position. The puddle underneath Mileena's trail collects into a mass, and turns into Skarlet's form. Skarlet holds onto her dagger tightly, and lets blood flow from her wrist, drying it into a curved sword in her grasp.
She swings the curved sword overhead in the direction of Mileena's shoulder. Mileena dodges out of the way with a quick roll, and with a glowing sai, stabs into Skarlet's raised arm at the elbow, attempting to disable the joint. Once she feels the sharp pain, Skarlet's skin turns red as she attempts to liquify again, but the Sai begins to radiate purple energy as she attempts to.
"It's cowardice to avoid Kombat." Mileena growls. She leaps into the air and with excellent agility twists herself mid-air, hitting Skarlet with Both of her metallic guards as she tries to pull the sai out of her arm.
Skarlet falls to the ground, crouching and guarding with both of her arms.
Mileena steps backwards, and rushes her on the offensive, using a strong forwards kick directly to the sai lodged inside of Skarlet's left arm. It has devastating results, tearing through the tendons in her adversary's arm, and the Sai falls to the floor. The blood-mage breathes heavily, suffering great pain.
Skarlet moves one leg to the puddle, and attempts to absorb it, prevented by the familiar purple energy.
Unable to liquify herself, Skarlet takes a different approach, picking up the curved sword with her right arm, and slashing diagonally across Mileena's torso. The robes are thickly woven, and stop most of the momentum, causing only a shallow gash, which still oozes blood. Mileena's eyes narrow and her yellow eyes dilate. Skarlet slams her foot against Mileena's abdomen, throwing her off of her.
Both rush towards each other, and lock weapons, the curved sword stuck in between the Sai's forks. Skarlet reaches her right hand towards the floor, and collects the mass of spilled blood, forming it into a scythe. Strafing to the right, she swings it upwards, catching Mileena.
The scythe tears through her side and Mileena's bleeding intensifies. Skarlet liquifies the scythe, which returns into the puddles upon the floor as liquid.
As Mileena falters in her stance, Skarlet moves her curved sword forwards, attempting to hold it to her throat.
Once again, the pink-shinobi curls into a ball and evades the curved sword.
Lifting another Sai off of her waist, she leaps onto Skarlet's back, and sinks it into her spine. Over and over she unleashes stabs in the back of her opponent, who falls onto the floor in pain.
Mileena lifts Skarlets head, and presses the Sai to her throat.
"I win!~" Mileena shouts to herself, proud of her accomplishment. She's still bleeding profusely from her abdomen as she does so, yet she pays no attention whatsoever.
Skarlet groans on the floor in defeat.
Shang Tsung watches on. "Mileena, release her."
Mileena lets out a purposefully disrespectful sigh, before putting the Sai back to her hip. She leaps off of Skarlet's back, and clutches a hand to the scar.
She leaves soon afterwards and Skarlet is left alone with Shang Tsung. The puddle of her blood underneath her gradually depletes, and her left arm begins to regain it's tissue.
"Better results than Ermac to the very least. I would expect an agile opponent such as Mileena to be a weak point for her."
The blood mage certainly has powerful magic, but she lies defeated. A strange compulsion wills her to obey him, and especially his master to an even higher degree. Skarlet could enter the tournament at this stage, as Mileena is no easy opponent, but for Shang Tsung's sake, she is to continue her training. Both as a weapon, and to be a viable member of Shao Kahn's court during Mortal Kombat.
AN: Skarlet loses because Mileena is just all-around a better fighter at this stage. Skarlet has been fighting in an enclosed space and Mileena is extremely mobile. Also, Mileena OT and NT will be kind of mixed in the sense that she's created much earlier and not as a direct replacement, although Kitana doesn't seem to care much due to her father's brainwashing. She's still angry Kitana recieves more favor and that she's normal, but she'll retain more of her NT personality as a whole.
Also, Skarlet is Polish. Just as her accent and voice actor are. There's a large amount of headcanons of her being Russian due to the Kold War skin but Poland was also communist during the Cold War and Sonya isn't Russian and still has that skin.
Shang Tsung doesn't even know what Poland is. I guarantee Europe as a whole is a strange point for Outworld, given they only know of warriors from Asia and North America. And Shang Tsung likely never heard of a place so far away as a human.
And there's only one other European fighter, Smoke! Who's related to the Outworld-aligned Lin Kuei.