Another year had passed.
At eleven years old, Kaiju observed from the comfort of a black leather armchair —perfectly transmuted, of course— the immense holographic projector that dominated the center of the laboratory.
The projection depicted the Pokémon world. But things had changed. The socialist utopia of infinite food and eternal peace that Kaiju had established the previous year had collapsed spectacularly under the weight of its own biological inefficiency. Overpopulation had turned the forests into a suffocating sea of plush toys, and the natural predators, having forgotten how to hunt, had become alarmingly lethargic and depressed.
—Reducing the berry regeneration rate by forty percent. Reintroducing the concept of winter and seasonal scarcity to stimulate migration and territorial instinct.
Tohka's voice echoed in the laboratory. It no longer had that purely metallic resonance of her early years; now it possessed a more natural cadence, although it still maintained its usual seriousness.
Floating in front of the hologram, Tohka raised a hand. Her amethyst eyes glowed with an intense silver-purple gleam—a perfect echo of her creator's Celestial Eyes. With a simple flick of her fingers, she rewrote the weather laws of the entire pocket continent. The leaves in the projection turned orange, then fell, and a soft layer of snow began to blanket the virtual mountains, instantly stabilizing the ecosystem.
Kaiju gazed at her silently, his chin resting on his hand. A mixture of paternal pride and scientific awe throbbed in his chest. For the past year, in his obsession with giving her a true soul, he had been steadily transferring fractions of his own spiritual and divine energy into her. The result was astonishing: Tohka was no longer just a program executing commands. She possessed nearly the same level of authority over space and matter as he did. She was a minor deity in her own right.
"Balance has been restored, Creator," Tohka reported, gracefully descending to the steel floor. She turned to face him, inclining her head slightly. "The species have resumed their survival patterns. They still retain about ten percent of their anomalous docility toward you, but they will no longer die of existential boredom."
"Excellent work, Tohka. I knew my administrative laziness would be in good hands with you," Kaiju said, standing up with a sly smile. "However, fixing my ecological disasters was just the warm-up. Today is a crucial day. Today we will carry out the Trial by Fire."
Tohka blinked, her posture imperceptibly tensing.
—A trial by fire? Are you referring to the thermal calibration of the lab core? Or is it a simulated deathmatch? My armor and Sandalphon are in optimal condition if you require a test opponent.
"No, no. No swords today, my bellicose assistant." Kaiju chuckled, walking toward the kitchen area she'd built into a corner of the lab. "This test will determine whether the months of soul transfer have finally paid off or if I'll continue living with an extremely attractive toaster."
Kaiju turned around, holding a gleaming silver tray. On it rested five pieces of bread, perfectly baked, fluffy, and generously sprinkled with a golden-brown powder that gave off a sweet, toasted aroma.
"Tohka, come closer," he ordered gently.
The AI walked toward him, stopping a meter away. Its eyes analyzed the contents of the tray, scanning the molecular composition in microseconds.
"Analysis complete," she dictated, tilting her head in confusion. "It's baked carbohydrates. Soft bread, coated with toasted soy flour and sugar. Commonly known in the Japanese culture of its original world as 'Kinako Bread.' Its nutritional value is questionable compared to the enriched transmuted earth bars we usually consume."
"There it is," Kaiju thought, feeling his heart pounding.
Kinako's bread was the favorite food of the fictional character on whom Tohka was based. It was her absolute weakness, the anchor of her innocence in the original work. Kaiju wanted to know if, by using the image and concept of "Tohka Yatogami" as the basis for its AI, those latent personality traits would awaken by giving her a soul. It wanted to know if she could feel an irrational, non-biological pleasure from the mere taste of something.
"Your synthetic body doesn't need to eat to survive, Tohka. You get your energy from my mana," Kaiju explained, extending the tray toward her. "But your body does possess functional taste buds. I want you to take one and try it."
Tohka looked into his eyes and then at the loaves of bread. Her logic told her it was an inefficient act. Chewing, swallowing, and processing organic matter only to discard it afterward was a waste of time. However, the expectant, almost pleading gaze of her Creator compelled her to obey. Her primary directive was to please him.
Slowly, he raised a gloved hand and took a piece of Kinako bread. It was lukewarm. He brought it to his lips, opened his mouth, and took a small, hesitant bite.
Kaiju held his breath.
For the first three seconds, nothing happened. Tohka chewed with a mechanical motion, her eyes staring into nothingness as her internal sensors broke down the sugar, the texture of the dough, and the toasted taste of the soy.
"Mental note..." he began, in his usual monotone. "The texture is soft. The glucose level is high. The chemical reaction in my sensors..."
Suddenly, he fell silent.
The mechanical chewing stopped. Tohka's eyes, normally calm and cool pools of amethyst, suffered a monumental short circuit. Her pupils dilated. A soft blush, entirely biological and unnecessary for a machine, bloomed on her pale cheeks.
The fictional concept, the faith, and the soul that Kaiju had implanted in him collided violently with the sensory reality of food.
Tohka looked down at the half-eaten bread in her hand. Her hands began to tremble.
"Tohka?" Kaiju asked, taking a step forward, fearing he had ruined his cognitive core with a sugar overdose.
She didn't answer. Instead, she shoved the rest of the bread into her mouth in one swift motion. She chewed at an alarming speed, swallowed, and with a movement so fast it broke the sound barrier inside the lab, her hands shot toward the tray holding Kaiju.
"Hey, wait!" he shouted, surprised.
In less than five seconds, the other four loaves of Kinako's bread were gone. Tohka devoured them with a desperation and joy that defied all the programming she'd ever had. She wiped a small smear of soy powder from the corner of her lips.
When she finally looked at Kaiju again, there was no trace of the robotic, calculating AI. Her eyes shone like stars, brimming with an emotion so pure, childlike, and dazzling that it left Kaiju breathless.
"Creator... Kaiju..." Tohka stammered, using his name for the first time, her voice trembling with pure gastronomic euphoria. "What... what is this marvel? It's... it's incredible! It's soft, and sweet, and it makes you feel warm inside!"
Kaiju stood motionless, holding the empty tray. A genuine, loud, and liberating laugh escaped his lips. It had worked. Damn it, it had worked!
"Her name is Pan de Kinako, Tohka," he replied, laughing until his ribs ached. "And from what I can see, the trial by fire was a resounding success. You have preferences. You do have a soul, you little glutton."
Tohka, completely ignoring the philosophical and metaphysical revelation of having acquired a human soul, leaned towards him, grabbing the lapels of Kaiju's robe with a force that threatened to lift him off the ground.
"Is there more?" he demanded, his amethyst eyes gleaming with an almost threatening intensity. "Tell me you can transmute more of this 'Kinako.' I demand it as your assistant. I demand it as a living being."
"As many as you want, Tohka. As many as you want," Kaiju conceded, surrendering to the tenderness of the moment, as he summoned the color white in his eyes to transform a nearby block of wood into a mountain of sweet bread.
In that moment of laughter and soy flour, Kaiju felt that his exile was no longer a punishment. He had created a real life, a perfect companion who shared his world.
But in the depths of that victory, fate was already weaving its web. As Tohka devoured the loaves, the immense divine energy Kaiju had lent her throbbed at her core, growing, adapting, and expanding. He had given her emotions, hunger, and a soul.
...
Two more years had slipped away in the stillness of the pocket dimension.
At thirteen, Kaiju had completely outgrown his childhood chubbyness. His body, subjected to rigorous training and fueled by divine energy, was slender yet defined by muscles as sharp as steel cables. The pale scar over his right eye had grown with him, giving him a fierce and mature appearance that belied his biological age.
In the center of Kuoh's immense laboratory, the mechanical spiders had respectfully stepped aside. Before Kaiju was not the familiar dark titanium mirror that led to their peaceful pocket monster paradise.
He had built a second mirror.
This new portal was different. Its frame was forged from an alloy of celestial bronze and massive tungsten, designed to withstand absurd pressures. Instead of a soft, silvery hum, the surface of the crystal emitted a muffled roar, almost like a gigantic heartbeat, and the energy rippling within was a vibrant, violent golden color.
Beside him floated Tohka. She was no longer the empty shell she had been a few years ago. Her amethyst eyes reflected genuine concern, and her gloved hands lightly gripped the hilt of Sandalphon, ready to unleash destruction should anything threaten her Creator.
"Preliminary scans indicate that the physical laws on the other side are… aggressive, Kaiju," Tohka said, frowning slightly. She no longer used the title "Creator" all the time; emotions had given her the confidence to address him with almost human intimacy. "The predominant energy is neither mana nor elemental magic. It is pure, condensed life force. Are you sure about this? Your physical body is still developing."
Kaiju let out a long sigh, crossing his arms as he stared at the golden portal.
"That's precisely why we have to go, Tohka. My Celestial Eyes grant me absurd power over matter and space, but I'm still just a human underneath it all. If I ever face anything in my original world that can nullify magic or overcome my shields... my physical body would be torn apart in an instant."
He clenched his fists. His complete ignorance of the dangers lurking outside his tree in Kuoh City gnawed at him from within. He needed to be untouchable. He needed to learn to fight, not like a god casting spells from the sky, but like a warrior.
"I need a master," Kaiju concluded, looking at the portal. "And I know exactly which universe we must go to in order to find the greatest martial artists that my past imagination can anchor to reality."
Tohka nodded slowly, although the small pout on her lips showed that she was not at all happy about the idea of her beloved creator being hit.
"If anything hurts you, I will reduce their continent to ashes," she promised, in a tone so sweet and literal it sent chills down your spine.
"That's my girl," Kaiju smiled, extending his hand to take hers. "Let's go."
Together, they took a step forward and crossed the golden surface.
The transition was brutal. It wasn't like entering the gentle climate of the monster world. It was like walking through a wall of pressurized water.
When the golden light faded, Kaiju and Tohka appeared suspended several thousand meters in the air. The sun beat down with dazzling intensity, and a warm, salty wind whipped their faces.
Kaiju looked around. There were no clouds. There were no continents in sight. Only an endless, vast, and deep blue ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see.
However, what took her breath away was not the landscape, it was the presence.
Even without using his ocular powers, Kaiju could sense it. The very air vibrated. The life force of this world was so dense and heavy that he could almost taste it. It was a universe where the limits of the physical body did not exist, where a simple scream could make the earth tremble.
"The gravity is identical to ours, but the atmospheric density favors rapid cellular combustion," Tohka analyzed, scanning the horizon with her glowing eyes. "I detect gigantic marine life forms below us."
"Ignore them. We didn't come here to fish," Kaiju said, focusing his one good eye on the vastness of the sea. "Come on. We have to find a very specific energy point. An old man who lives in the middle of nowhere."
With a burst of telekinetic speed, they both shot off, breaking the sound barrier and leaving a white trail on the ocean waves.
They flew for almost half an hour. Kaiju scanned the ocean, guided by its distant memories of another life. It searched for a needle in a planetary haystack, until finally, a tiny dot broke the blue monotony of the sea.
"There," Kaiju pointed, swooping down. Tohka followed closely behind.
As they drew closer, the point became clear. It was an island. But to call it an island was being generous; it was barely a mound of white sand in the vastness of the ocean. Yet, upon that sand rose an unmistakable structure.
It was a small, domed house, painted a striking pink, with a vibrant red roof. Two palm trees flanked the entrance, swaying in the sea breeze.
They landed softly on the white sand. Kaiju felt his heart pound, a mixture of nervousness and pure teenage excitement. He walked a few steps until he was standing in front of the house.
As it approached, it slowed down until it was hovering motionless in the air.
It was a tiny island. So ridiculously small it was a miracle it didn't sink at high tide. There was white sand, a couple of palm trees swaying in the tropical breeze, a sea turtle resting on the shore, and, right in the center, a peculiar bright pink house with a red domed roof. On the side of the house, painted in thick black letters, were the words: KAME HOUSE.
The heart of the self-proclaimed lonely god skipped a beat. His entire facade of a sarcastic, superior teenager cracked for a second, giving way to a raw, childlike, and fanatical emotion.
He stood before the mecca of martial arts training from his past life. The place where legends forged their foundations.
She descended slowly, landing on the warm sand without making the slightest sound. The purple color of her eyes faded, returning to their natural brown.
The young man stood before the main door, swallowing hard. He knew what he was there for. He wanted to master Ki, pure life energy. He could simply scan someone with his eyes and copy their technique, but his fanatical side and his instinct for self-improvement demanded that he do it the right way. He wanted to train here. He wanted to sweat blood under the legendary Master of Martial Arts, meet Goku, and prepare himself for the horrors that his own destiny held in store.
He straightened his clothes, cleared his throat to try to sound as dignified and stoic as possible, and raised his fist to knock on the wooden door.
Before his knuckles made contact, the door burst open.
"Ah, what a beautiful morning to admire nature and the steadfastness of youth!" exclaimed a grumpy but strangely energetic voice.
A short, elderly man emerged from inside. He was completely bald, sported a thick white beard, wore dark sunglasses, a garishly colorful Hawaiian shirt, and had a purple turtle shell slung over his shoulder. He walked slowly, holding a magazine in his hands.
The thirteen-year-old boy held his breath. His muscles tensed. He was standing before Master Roshi himself, the God of Martial Arts, the creator of the Kamehameha. He expected words of ancient wisdom, an aura of immense intimidation, a silent challenge...
"Hehehe! Oh, baby, you sure do have some enormous and juicy talents!" exclaimed Master Roshi, drooling shamelessly as he flipped through the adult magazine, letting out a perverted giggle that destroyed any epic illusions within a five-kilometer radius.
The old man continued walking without looking ahead, completely absorbed in the photographs of girls in tiny swimsuits. He tripped miserably over a small rock, falling flat on his face in the sand with a ridiculous groan as the magazine went flying, landing open right at his feet.
The silence on the small island was absolute. Only the sound of the waves crashing on the shore could be heard.
The teenager, who possessed the power to eradicate entire pantheons, looked at the legendary master lying pathetically in the arena. Then he glanced at the magazine, and finally looked at Tohka, who tilted her head, completely bewildered by the situation.
A vein throbbed violently on the young man's forehead.
"I forgot..." he thought, slapping himself across the face with the palm of his hand, feeling all his admiration evaporate. "This dirty old man is the spiritual grandfather of every pervert in the multiverse. If I tell him I want to train, he'll probably ask me for women's underwear as a down payment."
The young man sighed heavily, mentally preparing himself for what would undoubtedly be the most bizarre, undignified, and frustrating training of his life. The path to mastering Ki and facing existence's greatest threats had just begun, with an old man drooling in the sand.
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Honestly, this was going to be the last chapter of this fic, since I'm very busy with DxD: The Ultimate Pet. But seeing that it has support, I decided to continue the story; it currently has 17 chapters. Well, if you read my other fics, you'll notice that I haven't posted my Patreon request for this one. That's because I haven't uploaded the chapters yet. But I plan to; it will probably be ready tomorrow. With nothing more to say, see you in the next chapter. Take care.
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( ̳• · • ̳) ~ ♡ Thanks for reading ♡
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