The room was thick with smoke. The crackling flames roared, their orange tongues licking the walls of the small apartment. It had been a quiet evening at first—just a man sitting back in his chair, a cold drink in hand, and a sense of anticipation as he watched the latest movie he'd been dying to see: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. It had all the action he'd craved, a battle between two of the most colossal creatures ever imagined. But as the movie played out on his TV screen, an unexpected disaster had struck.
It started with the flicker of a light, then the unmistakable smell of something burning. He glanced around his dimly lit apartment, realizing with a growing sense of panic that flames were already creeping along the edges of his curtains. His heart raced as he rushed to his feet, his mind scrambling to figure out what to do. There was no time to escape, no time to make it out.
The fire was too quick, too powerful. The room was too small, the smoke too thick, the heat unbearable. As the flames closed in around him, he dropped to the floor, covering his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt, but it was too late. The heat became unbearable, his body no longer responding as his limbs felt heavy and weak. The last thing he saw, before the world faded away, was the glowing screen of the TV, still showing the epic battle between Godzilla and Kong—a battle he would never finish watching.
When Shredder opened his eyes again, he felt... different.
Gone were the familiar walls of his apartment, the harsh heat of the fire, and the cold chill of panic that had filled him moments before. Instead, the air was cool, damp, and filled with the earthy scent of fresh soil. His eyes fluttered open, and he gasped, startled by the strange surroundings. The ground beneath him was not the smooth, polished floor of his apartment, but wet, uneven dirt.
What was going on? Where was he?
Panic gripped him again, but it was different this time. His body felt... wrong. He tried to push himself up, but his movements were sluggish and disoriented. His arms were no longer the strong, muscular limbs of the man he once was. They were small—too small. He looked down, only to find that he was no longer human.
What in the world...?
His body was covered in dark, shiny scales, and his hands—now clawed—were not hands at all. He had… paws? He struggled to push himself upright, but as he attempted to move, he felt a strange, unfamiliar weight on his back. His body swayed awkwardly, and he could feel something... wings? His eyes darted upward, scanning the environment around him. He was surrounded by dense trees and massive rocks, the air thick with the smell of the jungle. There was a constant rustling in the bushes, and distant, thunderous roars echoed across the landscape.
The real horror set in when he realized where he was.
This wasn't New York. This wasn't even Earth as he knew it.
The towering trees, the bizarre plant life, and the overwhelming presence of strange creatures made it clear: He wasn't in his old world anymore. A creeping realization crawled into his mind.
He wasn't in a fire. He wasn't watching a movie. He was somewhere else entirely.
Slowly, shakily, he forced himself to stand, his small, dragon-like legs wobbling beneath him. His body—small, yet powerful—seemed to hum with a strange energy, the muscles under his scales flexing in response to his newfound form. But still, the reality of his situation remained as distant and impossible as the thought of returning to his old life.
A soft growl escaped his throat, deep and instinctual. He froze.
What was that sound? What… What was he?
He lifted his head, his eyes wide and filled with confusion. The air was alive with noise, and the world around him seemed so vast, so much bigger than he ever remembered. His surroundings were so alien, and yet... there was something familiar about the strange feeling he now had.
It was then that he saw it.
A massive, lumbering creature appeared from behind a cluster of bushes—a hulking, prehistoric-looking thing. Its head was low, its body covered in thick, scaled armor, and its eyes gleamed with a predatory intelligence. It was a Scrawlcrawler, one of the many terrifying creatures that roamed the untamed wilderness of Skull Island.
The sight of it sent a chill down his spine. He didn't recognize it, but his instincts screamed that this was no ordinary beast.
Before he could react, the Scrawlcrawler's massive head whipped around, its eyes locking onto him. It let out a terrifying, guttural growl and took a step forward.
Instinct kicked in, and he quickly backed away. His heart raced as his tiny dragon-like legs scrambled to move. He had to get away. He had to survive.
As he struggled to escape, the creature's growls grew louder, more threatening. But just as he felt his body begin to give in to panic, something unexpected happened.
A strange, resonant sound echoed from far away—a roar unlike anything he had ever heard. It was deafening, the kind of roar that made the ground shake beneath his feet. He froze, his heart pounding. The Scrawlcrawler seemed to sense it too. Its head jerked toward the sound, momentarily distracted.
In that brief moment of chaos, he turned and fled.
His legs, though small and untrained, moved faster than he expected. As his body darted through the dense jungle, he began to piece together the fragments of his strange new reality. This place—this Skull Island—was a land of monsters. The giant beasts from the movie he had been watching were real, and now, somehow, he was a part of it.
But what had happened to him? How had he ended up here, in the body of something so... foreign? He wasn't human anymore. The thought gnawed at him. It was impossible. Yet, here he was, a dragon—or something that resembled one—fighting to survive in a world where survival meant more than just outsmarting enemies. It meant outlasting the very monsters that ruled this island.
The realization finally hit him with a sickening clarity. He was no longer a man. He was a creature—a beast among beasts.
And in this new world, he had to find a way to survive.
As the night fell and the jungle grew even darker, Shredder—or whatever he was now—stumbled through the underbrush, his mind reeling from the change. He wasn't sure what his next move should be. Should he seek out the towering monsters like Godzilla and Kong that he had once seen on the screen? Was there a way to regain his humanity, or was this his new reality?
All he knew was that there was no turning back.
He was in Skull Island, now, and it would be a long time before he learned the rules of this strange, monstrous world.