Hearing the explosion, Lucian turned around.
A high-rise building not far away was engulfed in terrifying flames. The iron railing on one of the balconies had been damaged, with one bar dangling outside, and a figure hung from the broken railing like drifting weed in rough seas. The situation was extremely dangerous.
"It's Kangaroo Commando!" Ben's pupils shrank as he recognized the figure.
"He's in danger. I have to save him!"
Seeing his idol in trouble, Ben did not hesitate for a second and chose to transform.
"Ben, wait..."
Before Lucian could finish, Ben had already turned into Heatblast and shot off on a cloud of fire.
"Oh my God, this doofus." Gwen shook her head helplessly.
Boom!
The raging flames kept devouring the high-rise, and waves of scorching heat came crashing outward.
Kangaroo Commando gritted his teeth and kept hanging from the railing, trying to save himself.
Below, a crowd had already gathered.
"The hero has arrived!"
Heatblast landed at the base of the building and released energy from both hands, forming a huge fire tornado.
In an instant, it wrapped around Kangaroo Commando. Then Heatblast called the fire tornado back, bringing it down beside him.
With a sweep of his hand, Heatblast dispersed the fire tornado.
Even so, the savage blaze was still mercilessly devouring the high-rise.
Heatblast clenched one hand in midair, gathering all the flames into his palm. Then he crushed them at once, shattering them into scattered sparks that vanished in midair.
"Who are you?" Kangaroo Commando asked, his tone unfriendly.
"Me? I'm your number one super fan." Heatblast sounded completely justified.
"Why did you ruin my stunt show?" Anger rose on Kangaroo Commando's face as he demanded an answer.
"Huh?" Heatblast froze. So this had been Kangaroo Commando's act.
"Then I'll put it back the way it was."
Heatblast gave an awkward laugh, then turned around and fired a fireball.
But the fireball happened to bounce off a smooth metal plate, arced through the air, and slammed straight toward the audience stands.
Several fans were still sitting there watching the show. Faced with that fierce, explosive meteor of fire, they all froze in shock and forgot to run.
"This is bad!" Gwen's expression changed drastically. She knew magic, but there was no time to save them.
Whoosh!
A blur shot past her. Lucian's reactions were absurdly fast. The instant he saw the fireball ricochet, he transformed into XLR8 and charged toward the target.
[Ding. Alien Hacker mission triggered.]
[Save Kangaroo Commando's fans.]
[Complete successfully to unlock a random Alien Hero.]
A string of prompt sounds echoed through XLR8's mind as he ran.
Within a single breath, XLR8 reached the stands, grabbed the terrified spectators, and rushed them away, leaving only an invisible gust behind.
Boom!
The blazing fireball crashed into the stands and blew the wooden seats to pieces with a deafening explosion.
For a moment, wood splinters flew everywhere and smoke filled the air.
After rescuing the spectators, XLR8 took them somewhere safe and then returned.
[Successfully saved Kangaroo Commando's fans.]
[Obtained one random Alien Hero chest.]
"Open."
XLR8 hit the Omnitrix and changed back, then gave the command silently.
[Successfully opened Alien Hero chest.]
[Unlocked new hero: Fasttrack.]
"Fasttrack?" Lucian paused for a moment. "That one's pretty good."
Unlike XLR8, Fasttrack had a much higher top speed. At full tilt, he could even catch up to missiles. He also worked well on almost any terrain, since he looked like an upright cat and could both run and leap.
The weakness was that once he got going too fast, it was hard to stop, which made crashing easy. He did not have XLR8's wheels for sudden braking.
In terms of pure speed, XLR8 was faster at the start, but once the race dragged on, Fasttrack became far more terrifying.
That said, XLR8's advantage was also obvious. He could start and stop instantly, and his speed always stayed within a stable threshold.
...
Because of Heatblast's interference, the audience stands had burst into roaring flames. Scorching waves of fire raged wildly like some enormous beast, devouring everything nearby.
Kangaroo Commando leaped up and rushed straight into the inferno. Then he aimed a fire extinguisher at the base of the flames and sprayed white dry powder.
Very soon, the fire began to die down and was buried under the cold powder.
Heatblast had barely opened his mouth when Kangaroo Commando kicked him flat to the ground.
"Wait, that was an accident!" Heatblast hurried to explain from the floor.
"Who sent you? Dean?" Kangaroo Commando pressed aggressively, glaring down at the miserable Heatblast. "That idiot cartoon of his already got my show canceled by the network. I'm mad enough as it is. And now you want to ruin my live show too?"
Heatblast tried to explain again, but Kangaroo Commando was no longer listening. The sled under his feet sprang high into the air, giving him incredible bounce as he kicked at Heatblast.
Heatblast dodged in a hurry. "No, I don't want to fight you!"
"Shut up!" Kangaroo Commando threw a punch at Heatblast.
Heatblast shot upward and landed atop the now-extinguished building, with crowds of spectators below.
Kangaroo Commando leaped after him and landed opposite him. "Come on. Let the audience see our showdown. I'm going to beat you!"
The moment Heatblast heard that, he realized this was a perfect chance to show off.
And on top of that, he got to fight side by side with his idol.
"Awesome, this is so cool!" Heatblast was thrilled as he looked at Kangaroo Commando. "Then let's do it. A real man-to-man showdown."
After that, the two began to fight.
"Are you sure we don't need to help him?" Gwen asked, a little worried. "That doofus. Does he not realize Kangaroo Commando is just an actor?"
"No need. Ben knows where the line is." Lucian smiled faintly.
Of course, he would step in if he had to.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Countless burning fireballs burst from Heatblast's hands and blasted toward Kangaroo Commando with overwhelming heat.
But almost all of them missed.
Heatblast was clearly holding back.
Even so, Kangaroo Commando's moves were genuinely good. Using his astonishing jumping power, he pulled off one difficult maneuver after another and skillfully dodged Heatblast's attacks.
At the end, Heatblast acted enraged and reckless, like a mindless bull, and charged straight at Kangaroo Commando below.
Kangaroo Commando sidestepped perfectly and dodged the attack.
Heatblast, meanwhile, fell awkwardly into the water and sent up a brilliant splash.
"Wow! Kangaroo Commando is so cool!"
"Long live Kangaroo Commando!"
"That was amazing, Kangaroo Commando!!"
"I totally want something to happen with Kangaroo Commando..."
The crowd erupted with cheers, all of them staring up at Kangaroo Commando.
At that moment, Kangaroo Commando stood atop the building with his hands behind his back, alone and inscrutable, every bit the image of a superhero.
Lucian could only shake his head. This felt even worse than watching The Adventures of the Alien Hero Gang.
He was practically curling his toes into the ground.
Thump!
A crimson flash lit up inside the swimming pool.
Ben quietly swam to the edge, poked his head above the surface, and made his way back to Lucian.
"Oh yeah! I'm Kangaroo Commando's partner now!" Ben was ecstatic, like he had just fulfilled a dream.
"Partner? More like his punching bag." Gwen let out a quiet sigh.
Half an hour later.
Thanks to Kangaroo Commando's flashy performance, the Planetary Studios held a special autograph event for him.
Kangaroo Commando was delighted. It had been a long time since he last had a signing event.
He had once been famous, but now he was outdated, like an old movie that had been replaced and mostly forgotten.
Only a handful of fans still supported him. If not for that performance just now, he would probably still be fading quietly into obscurity.
With fans taking photos and spreading them around, plus the company pushing hard, Kangaroo Commando's fame started rising again.
At that moment, Kangaroo Commando sat at a desk and kept signing autographs for his fans.
"Kangaroo Commando isn't just a fictional character. He's my life."
As he signed, Kangaroo Commando smiled and said, "I perform the stunts myself. I even do my own setup and special effects."
The fans screamed even louder, becoming more obsessed with him than ever.
Lucian and the others were there too.
The reason was simple. Ben wanted an autograph.
"Cool! Kangaroo Commando's famous again! Ben deserves a lot of the credit!"
"Show-off." That was Gwen's verdict.
Then an unwelcome guest arrived.
"North, that's pretty low. You actually stole Fiery Buddy to save your stunt show." Dean the animator walked over, furious that Kangaroo Commando had stolen his idea.
Behind Dean stood Handy Buddy and Fiery Buddy, looking aggressive and hostile.
Kangaroo Commando's expression darkened, and he slowly stood up...