Professor Sato was in a frenzy in his hidden lab, dashing from one station to the next, racing to activate and carefully arrange every tool and device he had at his disposal. Time was slipping away fast, but he knew he had to press on—this was his life's work, his ultimate creation, his masterpiece.
As he darted around like a madman chased by phantoms, he activated a colossal cage located at the center of his vast, high-tech lab. Lights began to shine down on the cage, illuminating a creature unlike anything the world had ever witnessed.
To some, this creature might be called a monster, a kaiju, or simply a giant beast. But to Professor Sato, it was Asoka. Asoka was not just a beast; it was a key part of his life's work, the culmination of his two-decade obsession and the pinnacle of his scientific ambitions.
Asoka was a fearsome creature that resembled a Tyrannosaurus—a towering, bipedal beast with rows of razor-sharp teeth and deadly claws. But unlike any dinosaur, Asoka could stand fully upright on its two legs, with proportionately sized arms that gave it a more humanoid, lizard-man appearance than that of a traditional dinosaur.
Towering at a massive twenty meters, Asoka stood confined within a specially reinforced cage, bound by thick cables and wires attached to his body, which acted as both life-support systems and restraints.
"Now it's time to send Asoka into the world and let him fight!" Professor Sato declared with a grin as he activated yet another mechanism.
A large screen before him displayed an image of another monstrous creature emerging from the sea near the eastern coast of America. This beast's rise brought forth a massive tsunami, leveling cities nearby and claiming millions of lives in its destructive wake.
"Let's see how well you fight, Asoka. Go!"
With a final press of a button, Professor Sato activated a machine directly beneath Asoka's cage. The device, circular in shape and pulsing with a green glow, began to consume Asoka's form, enveloping him in a substance that resembled a devouring slime before, in an instant, Asoka disappeared without a trace.
*****
Asoka slowly opened his eyes. The world around him felt damp, and the heavy stench of death filled the air. As his vision sharpened, he noticed a creature roughly his size struggling to crawl out of the sea.
The beast resembled a monstrous lionfish, with jagged horns sprouting from its head and a tail that looked strikingly similar to a whale's. It seemed to struggle moving on land, expressing its frustration with deep, angry roars.
"Insolent beast!" Asoka thought, his instincts flaring.
Without bothering to question why he was there or how he had arrived, Asoka charged at the creature, baring his fangs and spreading his claws wide. Each of his heavy steps shattered the asphalt beneath him as he barreled headfirst toward his chosen adversary. The lionfish creature, sensing danger, finally noticed Asoka's approach and attempted to brace itself for the encounter.
The lionfish beast prepared to defend itself, but was caught off guard when Asoka suddenly disappeared, only to reappear directly in front of its face. With fierce strength, Asoka grabbed the creature by its horn, lifting it off the ground and hurling it into a nearby building.
BOOM! BOOM!
The creature crashed into the surrounding structures, crushing them under its massive weight as it struggled to regain its footing. Asoka seized the opportunity and pounced, aiming to sink his claws into the beast's flesh. Yet, the lionfish monster wasn't entirely defenseless.
In a desperate counterattack, the lionfish managed to maneuver its horn into Asoka's path, piercing his soft underbelly. Shocked by the creature's resistance, Asoka leapt back, but a sudden weakness began to spread throughout his body.
The lionfish monster had injected him with a paralyzing venom and now took its time, slowly standing back up as Asoka slumped, helplessly sinking to the ground.
Rage burned inside Asoka, but his body refused to respond. He could only watch as the creature lumbered closer, preparing to end him.
"MOVE! MOVE!" Asoka roared within his mind, desperately trying to will his body into action.
Just as the lionfish loomed over him, mouth open wide, ready to deliver the killing blow, Asoka felt his strength return. In an instant, he swung his arm forward, plunging his claws into the creature's eye. Ignoring its howls of pain, he drove his arm deeper until he felt something soft at his fingertips. With a powerful grip, he tore it apart, reducing the vulnerable mass to a bloody pulp.
Moments later, the lionfish monster fell still, slumping lifelessly to the ground. Asoka withdrew his arm, dripping with blood, and began to lick it clean.
"Hmm, this blood actually tastes pretty good," he thought, savoring his victory with satisfaction.
After enjoying the blood, Asoka continued to munch on the lionfish's flesh, savoring each bite as if it were the finest delicacy he'd ever tasted.
He even consumed the poisonous parts—the stingers along its back and the horns. Like a panda chomping on bamboo, he cracked them open with his teeth, collecting the broken pieces with his claws to enjoy each one slowly.
Before long, a human army arrived on the scene, equipped with tanks and helicopters. Weapons were trained on him, ready to fire the moment they received the order.
Asoka, still midway through his meal, roared in frustration at the tanks and helicopters interrupting his feast. He reached out, trying to snatch a helicopter from the sky, but it was too nimble for him in his currently bloated state.
"Insolent creatures! You dare interrupt me!" Asoka growled internally, unleashing a furious roar aimed directly at the humans.
Just as he prepared to rise and attack, a strange, slime-like substance materialized around him from nowhere, quickly engulfing him, and in an instant, he vanished without a trace.
The last image that flickered in his memory was that of a cage. Then, as his anger slowly faded, his eyes began to close, and he drifted into dormancy, slipping into a deep sleep within the confines of his cage.
*****
"Luckily, I recalled Asoka just in time. He's not ready to face human weapons yet," Professor Sato muttered, a sly grin crossing his face as he glanced around his high-tech lab.
He quickly ran to a large screen displaying Asoka's full-body composition. The data showed that Asoka had absorbed a significant amount of paralyzing poison, various bone materials, and, naturally, meat and scales from his recent battle.
"Now, let's see what upgrades Asoka needs for his next fight. Enhanced claws, absolutely. Maybe a pair of gills? Interesting idea. Increased bone density and body size, of course. Paralyzing resistance or poison glands? Hmm."
Professor Sato paced, weighing his options carefully, trying to determine which upgrades would benefit his prized creation the most.
"Alright, paralyzing resistance it is. He'll need that more than poison glands for now."
With a decisive click, he pressed several buttons, initiating Asoka's upgrade sequence. He watched intently as Asoka's body began to transform; the computer estimated that Asoka would gain around two meters in height, bringing him up to a towering twenty-two meters. His claws grew by several centimeters on both hands and feet, and his frame expanded, becoming thicker with enhanced muscles and bones, evolving him into an even more formidable creature.
"With these upgrades underway, what's next? Ah, yes, let's check the news! It's always entertaining to see how the world reacts to something extraordinary."
Professor Sato turned on his television, tuning into live coverage of the monster clash. The broadcast replayed aerial footage of Asoka in action, fiercely battling the lionfish creature, highlighting the brutal moment when he pierced its eye and ripped into its brain, securing an instant kill.
The news anchor, visibly perplexed, was now speculating on Asoka's sudden disappearance, going so far as to question if he was some kind of hologram that had mysteriously blinked out. Professor Sato chuckled at the anchor's clueless theories.
"These humans are miles behind me in knowledge; they're practically cavemen compared to me! Once Asoka reaches full maturity, they might just keel over in shock! Hahaha!"
*****
Somewhere on the Antarctic continent, hidden beneath layers of ice, lay another secret lab.
This lab belonged to the United World Nations, a facility where the brightest minds from across the globe gathered to tackle world-ending crises that threatened humanity's existence.
In the heart of the lab, Professor Laurel, the lead scientist, was fixated on a news broadcast showing footage of a recent monster battle on America's eastern coast. His face was tense, and he couldn't pull his eyes away from the screen.
"Clarisa! Clarisa! Get over here, now!" he called, nearly frantic, his voice echoing through the stark, sterile lab.
"What's going on, Laurel? Why the shouting?" Professor Clarisa asked, rushing to his side with a look of mild irritation.
"Look at this! Do you recognize that monster's design?" Laurel asked, his eyes wild with urgency.
"Which one? The fish or the lizard?" she replied, studying the screen.
"The lizard, obviously! That design is identical to what that guy was working on two decades ago!" Laurel replied, his voice nearing a frantic pitch.
"What, Sato? The man we executed? You and I were the ones who ensured he died in the electric chair!" Clarisa shot back, her tone laced with disbelief.
"Yeah? So why does this monster look exactly like his creation? Look at that tail, those hands, that head! It all matches!" Laurel exclaimed, his face pale with an unsettling realization.
SMACK!
Without warning, Clarisa slapped Laurel across the face, snapping him out of his manic state. He blinked, momentarily stunned, before shaking his head like a cartoon character clearing away a cloud of confusion.
"Are you calm now?" she asked, locking her gaze with his. "Explain to me how a dead man could make a monster appear out of nowhere and vanish without a trace."
"It's simple," he replied, his voice steady now. "He's not dead. And he managed to complete his teleportation research," Laurel said as he picked up a folder from the nearby table, his expression dark and resolute.
"So, what's our next move?" Clarisa asked, her voice quiet but determined.
"We finish Project Emergence," Laurel declared, his voice firm, "and we send our own monster into the fight."
He pointed to a large cage stationed just outside their lab. Inside it was a creature similar in shape to Asoka, yet bulkier, with shorter arms, a thicker body, and a form closely resembling a bipedal dinosaur.
"But we don't have a teleportation device, Laurel. Our creature can't reach the battlefield before Sato's monster does," Clarisa replied, her brows knitted with concern.
"That's not a problem," he said with a smug smile. "Our monster has something Sato's doesn't have."
Clarisa raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"
Laurel's smirk grew. "It has wings."