American comics: Random transformations

Two obvious gang members were sprinting wildly, chasing after Tian Xiaoban and Jason.

"What kind of idiot would be dumb enough to stop when they hear 'Stop'!"

Tian Xiaoban, while running, didn't forget to mock the two thugs.

After passing through several alleys, he turned to Jason and said, "Follow me, I know a route that will definitely shake them off!"

Jason was also a bit breathless from running: "Huff, huff, lead the way!"

The two of them instantly changed direction, running into a narrow alley with an iron gate in the middle.

Because the gaps in the iron gate were too large, Tian Xiaoban and Jason could easily squeeze through with the tires!

The people chasing behind were in trouble; they couldn't squeeze through the gaps in the chain-link gate and could only watch helplessly as the two kids ran away.

Chapter 5: Tragedy

After escaping the sight of that group, Jason relaxed, the only thing he didn't relax was the constant upturn of his lips.

Twenty meters behind that iron gate was an abandoned factory; the cement floor was cracked and broken, with hardly a flat surface to be found.

The cracks in the cement were filled with weeds a meter tall, and the factory's surrounding walls were dilapidated, with peeling paint, exposed bricks, and several sections where the bricks were completely gone, leaving only lonely stone pillars.

"Go in that direction, pass through the weeds and the walls, and you'll reach a small grove of trees, cross the grove and you'll reach Gotham Harbor."

Jason asked in surprise, "Wow, nice job, Ban! How did you know about this route?"

Tian Xiaoban wouldn't tell Jason that when he transformed into Garurumon, he ran all over Gotham's industrial area and harbor, and he knew the map of this area inside and out.

"I passed by here before and explored all the routes. It's a good escape route!"

Jason nodded as if he understood; he wasn't stupid. Looking at the lush weeds around, without any signs of being broken or trampled, he could tell that this place hadn't been visited in a long time.

Moreover, as they walked, they broke a lot of weeds, but Jason didn't see any traces of anyone else having walked there besides them.

What was Tian Xiaoban doing here?

Although Jason was curious, he didn't need to ask for a reason, so he changed the subject.

"Haha, as long as we sell these two tires to that vampire, we'll have at least five or six hundred dollars, enough for bread for the next week!"

"Right!" Tian Xiaoban nodded in agreement, a smile on his face. Soon he would be able to eat his fill.

Once he exchanged the tires for money, Tian Xiaoban would go and have a big meal!

A growing boy eats his father poor. Tian Xiaoban was at the age where his body was growing rapidly, and he had a particularly good appetite and a huge capacity for food.

It might also be due to the Omnitrix; Tian Xiaoban's own DNA was being subtly optimized and adjusted, which caused his own bio-energy to be consumed very quickly, making him particularly prone to hunger! He needed a large amount of food to complete the optimization of his genes!

Two-thirds of the money he had earned in the past few months had basically been exchanged for bread and eaten, and the rest had been used to pay the rent.

Jason suggested, "Hey bro, how about we hang out together tonight? See if there are any big deals. I remember you just rented a place, you should be pretty short on money."

Jason was obviously getting a little cocky, feeling that today's success could be repeated, and wanted to find another luxury car to target.

Tian Xiaoban waved his hand to interrupt, "No, Jason. I still need to buy some food, you know, I need to fill my stomach first, and then I plan to go to bed early!"

Jason nodded; he knew what a good appetite this brother had. Don't let Tian Xiaoban's thin and small appearance fool you, his appetite was really good!

Once, they made a bet to see who could eat more bread, and Jason watched Tian Xiaoban eat a week's worth of his rations!

"Okay! I'll find you next time."

The two of them passed through the dense grove of trees and arrived at the familiar Gotham Harbor.

Back in the familiar location, Jason Todd took off like a husky off-leash and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

When Tian Xiaoban arrived at the black market shop, Jason had already exchanged the tires for money and was excitedly counting it.

The boss looked at the person coming, Tian Xiaoban carrying the tires, and he laughed loudly, saying:

"Oh! You two are really amazing. Xiaoban, Jason, you always give me surprises! The price is the same, three hundred dollars! Hahaha!"

Tian Xiaoban had heard too much of this kind of meaningless praise; every time he came back after stealing something, the boss would say the same thing.

The more happily the boss laughed, the more money Tian Xiaoban knew they were being cheated out of!

The scruffy black market boss smiled as he took the tires; his rotten teeth, exposed by his smile, were cleaner than his acne-covered face full of grease.

After putting the tires on the storage rack, the boss pulled out a few bills from the drawer of his workbench.

"Here, three hundred dollars, it's really a huge sum of money, Xiaoban, save some!"

Tian Xiaoban, with a wooden face, snatched the banknotes and ignored the boss's awkward smile, counting the money clearly on the spot, fearing that this vampire would cheat him again.

After confirming that the amount was correct, Tian Xiaoban put the money in his pocket and said to Jason, "I'm leaving first, Jason, you can come find me if you need anything."

Jason replied with a smile: "OK, if there is a big deal, I will come and find you!"

… … … …

The time now was 5:30 PM, and Tian Xiaoban returned to his rented house. He passed through the narrow alleyway and turned left into the house.

There were no surveillance cameras around Catwoman's safe house, so Tian Xiaoban often transformed here.

He put down the two bags of bread he was carrying and began to adjust the Omnitrix on his left hand.

Tian Xiaoban would never use the Omnitrix as violently as the protagonist in "Ben 10", turning it into a bomb that could blow through the universe, that was too stupid.

Moreover, this universe did not have the Omnitrix's creator—Azmuth. If he accidentally activated the Omnitrix's self-destruct mode, he would have no place to cry!

Finding someone who could repair the Omnitrix would probably be impossible!

He had always used the Omnitrix carefully and paid attention to it in daily life, fearing any bumps or collisions.

Even if he wanted to crack the internal instructions of the Omnitrix, he would carefully twist the core.

In Tian Xiaoban's heart, there was still a glimmer of hope. What if, like the protagonist of "Ben 10," he could unlock all the permissions of the broken watch by constantly rotating the dial, like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse? Then he could transform into anything he wanted!

At that time, he would definitely become a big shot!

Ending the daydream, returning to reality.

Before using the Omnitrix to transform, Tian Xiaoban filled a large bathtub with water, just in case!

"Hoo——, let's begin!"

Tian Xiaoban pressed the Omnitrix's start button, and the green core rose accordingly; his right hand rotated the dial core, selecting a species (crossed out), randomly turning it a few times.

Then he took a deep breath: "Inhale——exhale——, broken watch, give me a slightly more powerful character!"

His right hand quickly pressed down on the green dial core.

"Transform!"

The Omnitrix instantly burst out with a strong, dazzling green light, filling the entire room.

When Tian Xiaoban opened his eyes again, he felt that his perspective had changed.

He felt that everything around him was so big, and he… …looked down at himself: "Kwa ~" (My hands are so small)!

It turned its head to look at the mirror.

"Kana ~ kana——" (What the hell is this? A little dinosaur?)

In the reflection of the mirror, an orange-red lizard with fire coming out of its butt, oh, no, it should be fire coming out of its tail, appeared!

After carefully identifying the species, Tian Xiaoban understood what he had become!

This was one of the starter Pokémon, a super popular character, a pet with super high growth potential, the Charmander, the young version of Charizard!

"Kana… …kana!!" (Damn it, why not Charizard! I want an invincible Charizard!!!!)

"Kana… ka…" (Can't speak human language, damn it, so annoying, I should undo the transformation first… …)

Tian Xiaoban turned around in front of the mirror a few times, and finally saw the Omnitrix symbol at the base of his tail, that green glowing circular hourglass symbol!

(The normal Omnitrix has a white hourglass icon after transforming, but the one in Tian Xiaoban's hand is still green after transforming, as if the dial is locked to this color.)

"Ka… …na?" (Damn it, what do I do? My hands are too short, I can't reach it! Do I have to run into the wall?)

The Charmander with a tangled expression gritted its teeth, with an expression of being ready to go all out. Its short legs quickly ran backwards, towards the wall.

Bang!

It was fine, but the wall was smashed through… …

The Charmander's little expression suddenly became wonderful!

"Kana——" (It's over, Aunt Selena will definitely ask me to pay for it, my little treasury! It's not going to be saved! No————!)

After five seconds of feeling sorry for his wallet, the Charmander's grief-stricken expression disappeared.

"Kana kana… …" (So that's how it is, strong emotional fluctuations triggered the memories engraved in the DNA, this is… …a Pokémon's inherited move!)

It was as if a max-level Charizard was demonstrating skills in its mind. Tian Xiaoban followed the memory and imitated, using the inherited move!

"Ka—na!" (Brave Bird!)

A dazzling blue dragon-shaped energy rushed into his rented house, and after a second of silence, it instantly exploded!

(Damn it! It's over!)

Tian Xiaoban stared blankly at the ruins in front of him, his happy little house where he had only lived for two weeks! Gone! Poof!

"Ka! Na!!!"

(No————!!!)

The sad dragon roar scared away all the animals around!

Cockroaches, rats, birds, all stayed away from this terrifying place.

Chapter 6 Charmander's Combat Power

[Roar]: Use a loud roar to scare away wild Pokémon. (In the game, the effect is to force the opponent to switch Pokémon.)

Under the complex emotions of suppression, grievance, unwillingness, and despair, the Charmander actually comprehended the Pokémon move, [Roar]!

Its loud roar just now scared away all the creatures around.

"Kana kana kana… …" (Damn, I actually comprehended a Pokémon skill! So I can comprehend skills? Congratulations… …my ass! Damn it, what's the use of this skill now! It's over, it's over, tonight, I won't even have a place to sleep!)

The Charmander hugged its head with its hands in despair, full of regret.

When the smoke cleared, looking at the pile of ruins that looked like it had been hit by three grenades and a rocket, Tian Xiaoban had to admit that the Charmander's combat power was really strong.

Since things have already happened, it's useless to regret it now!

The Charmander seemed to have thought of something, opened its arms, and kicked its short legs, rushing into the house that had become ruins, frantically searching for its things.

Its claws easily pried open the bricks and rubble, and found the bread it bought today in the wood chips and dust… …

"Ka ~ na ~ ~" (Luckily, the bread I bought is hard enough, don't waste it, anyway, I'm in the body of a Charmander now, eating it shouldn't upset my stomach, right… …)

It's still a Pokémon's body, it should be able to digest this dirty bread, right… …probably, although Tian Xiaoban still felt a little disgusted.

"Kana… …" (That's right, as long as I burn off the outer skin of the bread, it'll be fine! Burn it into carbon, and then scrape it off with my claws!)

When it came to eating, its little brain suddenly became clever.

It recalled it for a moment and found that Charmander couldn't breathe fire yet, but there were two skills that made it thoughtful, namely [Ember] and [Smoke Screen].

It opened its mouth and sprayed a little smoke on its claws, smelled it, a charcoal smell, um… there was also a little bit of gas smell.

The Charmander's eyes suddenly lit up!

Carbon powder + gas + sparks = flame jet

Immediately afterwards, black smoke spewed out of the Charmander's mouth, filling the entire bread. While spraying smoke, its teeth touched each other, creating sparks, instantly igniting the black smoke.

Skill [Ember]: Rely on sharp teeth to collide and generate sparks.

The outer shell of the bread was charred in the flames ignited by the sparks, including the wood chips and lime on the surface of the bread.

The Charmander used its sharp little claws to scrape off the coke, and took a bite of the "clean" bread in its mouth.

"Crunch crunch… …"

(You know what, it tastes pretty good!)

One after another, all the bread scattered in the ruins was eaten into its stomach.

The entire ruin was filled with the charred aroma of baked bread.