Hey guys, I'm back. I got my new phone, but I started feeling really sick and unmotivated to write, so that kinda made the wait longer. Anyway, regular uploads will probably continue soon, next week at the latest.
Also, I went back and found out there is actually a guide on how the system is supposed to work so I read through part of it and I'll work on making it more accurate. It might not be that way this chapter but I'll implement that change more in future chapters. I think I'll make the system go through an update for new features. If you all like I can copy past some of it into an auxiliary chapter.
For example, ability slots are a thing. Normally he should start with one and gain five more after he gains five abilities. I'm just going to start him off with six slots. There is also a guide on how each type of ticket is gained. Some skills, traits, and abilities can also combine or synchronize for stronger effects or to make new ones.
As for things it doesn't really cover like if race changes or traits will pass on to his children I'll just say yes for now. Maybe not all the traits but some of them and we'll cross the bridge of race when it comes to it if he has kids.
Sidenote: Did you know there's no fucking Pikachu in the Pokémon section? It's practically blasphemy, and I'm going to correct that myself later.
Anyway please enjoy the chapter.
XXX
[ Location: Gotham City, New Jersey, Gotham City Orphanage ]
[ Third Person POV ]
Kairo sat atop his bed after another day of school. Beside him Mimi lay open in her bag form his school supplies hanging out of it. He quickly grabbed one of his notebooks a pencil and a few markers.
First, he wrote on the cover "Kai's Super Awesome Notebook of Awesomeness! 1.0" In bright red marker.
Flipping the notebooks open he took his pencil and scribbled the words "Super Awesome Grand Plan Part 1" at the very top. Then using the markers he decorated it playfully with plants, stars, and some rather badass flame designs.
"Alright Mimi lets figure this out," Kai said as Mimi shifted back into cat form. She meowed and nuzzled against him before looking over his shoulder.
"First things first I need to figure out what I want to do with my life. No big deal right?" Kai chuckled.
"Right meow!" Mimi said, leaping up into the air.
"Cool, so this world seems to have a metric fuck ton of superheroes from all sorts of different universes. So far I've identified four: DC, Marvel, Invincible, and My Hero Academia. There's probably more but those are the only ones that I'm familiar with." Kai started noting down the universes he had identified so far.
"I don't know which versions I'm dealing with exactly but I do know that all of those worlds are dangerous. So to survive I'm going to need more power which means more tickets." He nodded opening the system window and glancing at his current tickets. Right now he had five ability slots and three had been filled by his current abilities. He didn't know if he would be able to gain more slots but if he couldn't at the very least he needed to maximize what he already had.
"More tickets meow? Like Mimi meow?" She asked tilting her head.
"Yep that's right and the best way to do that is to do cool stuff. Like… well I'm not sure yet but we'll figure it out. Any ideas Mimi?" Mimi nodded in cat form and then tried to grab one of the markers with her tiny paws. She tried over and over to grab them only to drop them with her paws. Eventually, she grew frustrated and hissed.
"Mimi," Kai said.
She looked at him frowning in a way only a shapeshifting cat familiar could.
"Just shift forms."
Mimi blinked, then smacked a paw into her face.
A few seconds later Mimi shifted forms becoming a mirror reflection of Kai but female. He paused accessing his family's new body. She looked like him, same dark skin, same white eyes, only her hair was longer, and more than that she had a rather large chest for someone who was supposed to be his age.
[image]
His mouth opened slightly, then closed, he decided it was better just to ignore it and continue with his day.
"Mimi writes and talks better in this form," The mimic nodded her head before turning to the notebook in front of them. Then using her marker Mimi noted down the first step.
"Master gets more tickets than master can become a hero," She said cheerfully.
"Well, I'm not sure about becoming a hero. If I'm being honest it kinda sucks. You basically have to balance two lives if you have a secret identity plus people are super ungrateful anyway. Not to mention I'd have to dedicate so much time to it and if I do it wrong I might end up broke and poor like Spider-Man. Sure it'd probably be a good source of points but I'm not sure if that is what I want in life." He started ranting but Mimi just sat there while he ranted, nodding every so often.
"If not her then will the master become a villain?" Mimi innocently interjected. Kai stopped talking and started to contemplate her question.
Kai's thoughts wandered back to that night in the alley where he had taken his first life. He grimaced at the thought.
"No!" he said harsher than he had intended before gulping and taking a deep breath.
"I… I want… I don't know… I want to do... Anything and… well everything. I want to do whatever I want to do. I want to live as I please and be free. I want to be happy." He said his voice was growing quieter and he almost drifted back into his previous life's usual state. Before he could dip back down into that feeling Mimi interjected.
"Master will be happy Mimi will make sure of it!" Mimi smiled patting him on the shoulder before rubbing circles on his back.
"Right, thanks, Mimi," Kai said with a soft smile, then he took a deep breath and smacked his cheeks. Now reinvigorated Kai picked the notebook back up and started writing again.
"Now our first agenda item is to find a way to max out my current abilities then go get more. From what I can tell only my Bloom ability can get stronger right now. Which means I need to know more about plants. Then I need to learn about more poisons as well. I don't have a phone or a computer though hmmm." Contemplating where he could find research materials outside school Kai rolled around on his back for a while. Seeing this Mimi decided to copy him and started rolling around as well.
"I've got it!" Kai shot up pumping his fist into the air. Mimi mimicked him making a strange happy sound.
"I know an effective way to get new powers is through conflict. This is Gotham and sooner or later someone has to set up some sort of meta fighting ring underground." Then Kai slid off the bed and started putting on his shoes.
"Umm, master where are we going?" Mimi asked sliding off the bed as well.
"That's simple Mimi a place where I can learn as much about my current abilities as possible," A wide roguish grin crossed his face.
"We're going" Kai paused for dramatic effect. Mimi held her breath feeling the playful tension.
"To the library!" Kai said raising a fist.
Mimi deadpanned.
XXX
[ Location: The Watch Tower, Space, Meeting Room ]
[ Third Person POV ]
Bruce hummed in affirmation as Superman concluded his current point. They were discussing further additions to the newly constructed watch tower. The current state of the space station was incomplete. They had all taken time out of their schedules to help with its construction. Unfortunately, the Justice League was still new and as a result, they were very understaffed.
The league currently consisted of only ten members and had yet to truly interact with the public in any meaningful way. Not to mention even though he was the one who created the blueprints and also paid for the watch tower at the end of the day he was just a part-time member anyway.
As the meeting continued suggestions for different additional sections came up. Diana suggested a medbay, Green Lantern brought up creating a locker room for changing and quick showers, and Flash had suggested a cafeteria.
Bruce hadn't made any suggestions as it was his job to make sure that all of theirs into reality. Eventually, they had decided that the first thing that they would do was to make the locker room first and place it close to the ship bay. The said ship bay was only 85% percent complete but luckily the teleporter was almost complete as well.
So for now Bruce had been taking the Batplane up and down from the watch tower and unfortunately, it was his turn to give Flash a ride down.
"Do bats know what you've been up to lately?" The sound of crunching popcorn fills his ears as the red and yellow figure of the arguably fastest man alive sits next to him.
Barry Allen is the second speedster to be called the Flash. Using his superspeed powers, he taps into the Speed Force and becomes a costumed crime-fighter. He is also a founding member of the Justice League.
He does tight effective work that is professional for the most part. Emphasis on most, not all, and in this case a particular habit that Batman has observed is occurring. He just. Won't. Stop. Talking.
Berry wasn't so bad compared to some of the others. Wally was an absolute nightmare of a conversationalist on some days.
Luckily Bruce has already mastered the art of multitasking and filtering out all distractions. So instead of listening to Berry he sets his thoughts to solving his next problem.
First, as far as Bruce knows all of his current rogues gallery is fully accounted for and locked away in Blackgate or Arkham Asylum.
So he pivoted to the last issue he was pondering before he went to the meeting. The white-haired boy. Bruce needed more information about when before he was going to engage.
The child was already a murderer however judging from his reaction to killing Victor Bruce concluded it most likely his first kill. Even so, if the boy and his pet monster were left alone they would keep killing. The problem was that if he did manage to capture the child where exactly would he go?
He will more than likely be tried as an adult for his crime however if her chooses to escape Bruce highly doubts there was any juvenile facility on the planet that could hold him.
Depending on how strong his chlorokinisis is the child might end up being sent to the raft or worse but that was a less desirable solution. Judging from what the video recreation showed him he wouldn't be an easy capture either.
Bruce considered different approaches. Against a meta-human, the element of surprise is often the difference between life and death. As for tools well a mix of freezing batarangs based on Mr Freeze's tech and incendiary batarangs based on firefly should be enough to deal with his plants.
In the worst-case scenario would need to bring out the mech form of the Batmobile if necessary. A similar approach to fighting Poison Ivy would need to be applied. Still, perhaps combat wasn't the only way to solve this issue.
Bruce reasoned that the boy was still young and could be molded into a proper member of society. He still needed to pay for his crimes, but he was still young and there was time for him to be reformed.
The ship began to shake as it started re-entry into the atmosphere. Bruce held the controls steady as Berry continued to prattle on about something before starting to question Bruce's piloting skills.
Meanwhile, Bruce continued to plan his approach to capturing Kai. First, he needed to get a better psychological evaluation. A step that would define the terms of engagement. So the first step was deception. He would have to approach the boy not as Batman but as a civilian he would never suspect. He could do it as Bruce Wayne but that would bring far too much attention to his civilian identity if he encountered the bat directly after.
Instead, it would be better if Barbra did it in her civilian identity. He'd be less likely to suspect her and it would be easy to forget a connection with the boy considering he was still in school.
Bruce set the Batplane to autopilot and started sending out the text as soon as they began to lower over Central City. Soon enough it had been sent out and received with an affirmative reply.
Then the plane landed and the bay doors opened.
"Hey, bats thanks for listening, and sorry for talking my mouth off I just think I've got some really good ideas for the league, you know?"
"Of course Flash, I'll take it under consideration for the next team meeting."
Bruce stood up from the pilot's seat and shook Berry's hand. Then the bay door opened and Berry rushed out.
Unfortunately, Bruce would probably have to listen to the recorded transcript of whatever Berry had been saying later.
XXX
[ Location: Gotham City, New Jersey, Gotham City Public Library ]
[ Third Person POV ]
Kairo stepped through the library doors as they thumped behind him. Normally he would have wished to come alone however he had been forced to come here with a group.
He looked around at the group of curious children and shook his head. The oldest of them was 13 and the youngest was 4. All of them had shown an interest in coming to the library and the Matron had no plans on letting them go alone.
Kai understood her reasoning, in a town like Gotham, public transportation was extremely dangerous for the young and vulnerable. Not only that but they didn't have their own private vehicle that could fit everyone who wanted to go.
So they had to walk and there was absolutely no way that he was going to be allowed to go alone. So the Matron had gathered them all together and while it's was still bright out, bright for Gotham standards at least, and took them all out walking towards the public library. Of course, she wasn't unarmed either since it would be way too irresponsible of her in a city like this.
So the matron stayed strapped at all times and I'm not talking about the fun kind. Unless shooting people is something that you consider fun. Which in hindsight, is rather common in Gotham City.
Shifting Mimi on his back in her bag form Kairo took his brand new library card from the red-haired woman's hands and kept moving. Even so, something about her still felt off but he didn't think too hard about it. He had research to do and he needed to focus.
The library was actually a lot bigger inside than at first glance and he was actually having a bit of trouble finding the computers when a young 20-something ginger woman came up to him.
"Hello there can I help with something?" She asks. Kairo looks up at her face to see a pair of bright blue-green eyes covered by black glasses that make the older girl look both smart and beautiful. Even Kai can tell she's pretty even though he's not even old enough for such a level of attraction.
"Oh umm, I'm looking for any computers if you have any." He says hesitantly looking up at her. He does need help but he'd rather figure it out on his own. The last thing that he needs is this woman seeing him googling poisons and different plant types.
"Oh, sure follow me right this way." She says brightly turning around in the opposite direction before taking a left around a shelf of scientific novels.
'They might be useful later.' The thought passes quickly as he follows after her.
Walking over to one of the public computers as the group drifted apart Kairo quickly took a seat and put in his new library card information and logged in.
"So what exactly are you looking for?" She asked looking over her shoulder at him.
'She knows her way around here pretty well huh?' He observes that as she navigates the library, she doesn't even need to look to know where she's going.
"Oh you know, books on plants and things like that," Kai says breaking eye contact to look around the library a bit more. Despite the name and location it's more like a bookstore than a public library. The sign outside was all the explanation Kai needed. Another Wayne Foundation grant. The prince of the city is making another addition to his dream of making this shit town a good place to live.
Besides his main one. Beating the shit out of criminals every night and putting them into the ICU or whatever the Gotham equivalent of health care can afford.
"Really and why is that?" She asked still not taking her eyes off him.
"Just for school." He replies quickly hoping to dismiss her questions and just get on with his planned research.
"For a project then? I can direct you towards some useful materials if you'd like." She says.
"Oh no I'm sure I can figure it out on my own but I'll let you know if I need anything else." He replies once again trying to deflect her help although he's trying his best not to come off rude.
"I see you do seem very smart for a boy your age. How old are you?"
"I'm five mam." He answered truthfully the question seemed innocent enough after all. His current body is five years old though if he does the math including his last life it puts him somewhere in his early twenties.
'Twenty-four to be exact.' He thinks as they near their destination.
'How many questions is she going to ask me?' Something starts to feel off about this interaction to him but Kai can't quite place it. It's as if she wants something from him. But the red-haired woman seems nice enough and it doesn't hurt to humor he questions at least a little.
"Smart and well spoken."
"Thank you for the compliment, Miss?"
"Barbara. And what's your name?" He freezes suddenly as the pieces come together. He hadn't bothered to read her nametag or anything like that. After all, he thought she'd walk away as soon as they reached the computers but now her sudden interest in him makes sense. He instantly dismisses the notion of this talk being any kind of coincidence.
Barbara. In Gotham. Wears glasses. Red hair. The conclusion hit him out of nowhere like a freight train and it took almost all the control he had to not blurt it out loud. This wasn't any old Barbara the librarian. This was Barbara Gordon the legendary once super hero Batgirl. Judging from how she could still use her legs, Kai wagered that she still was Batgirl or would soon be. He hadn't heard anything about her on the news but it was highly likely that she already was a superhero.
"Uh… Kai, it's… nice to meet you." He said hoping she hadn't picked up on his slight hesitation, but who was he kidding of course she had she was trained by two of the world's greatest detectives after all.
"It's nice to meet you too Kai."
She put a hand on his shoulder before brushing it off.
"Well let me know if you need anything else."
"Of course Ms Barbara."
She walked off but he was under no illusion that she had left him alone for now. In fact, he was sure their meeting was absolutely no coincidence. If. No. When their second encounter happened he knew it wouldn't be a coincidence. But as he started making plans a new notification appeared in front of him.
[New Achievement! Meet and Secret Greet!]
[You have met a superhero and identified them in their secret identity for the first time! Reward:(x1) Silver Gacha ticket!]
Silver was good, silver was great, but silver wasn't enough for him. He wanted and needed golden tickets to achieve his goal of living freely.
Still, it was something and something is better than nothing. He wanted to tear it right away and hopefully, it would be able to help him in a fight or something that would make dealing with the female hero and her companions easier. Kairo quickly decided to go to the bathroom which he kind of needed to use anyway.
Taking one of the stalls Kai did his business then took a seat on the toilet lid and pulled up the system screen. He pulled the precious silver ticket out of it, taking a moment to admire its bright silver-white sheen.
Kairo didn't technically need to pull the tickets out of the system in order to tear them, he could do that mentally, but he was starting to enjoy the smooth feeling of the ticket in his hands and he kind of liked the sound of it tearing as well. He smiled slightly just thinking about it.
He admired the slight silver glow of the ticket one more time. Then without further ado he tore the ticket in half, enjoying the pleasant rip of the semi-holographic material between his fingers.
He waited as the system panel turned silver and spun a wheel. He wondered briefly if he could skip the animation, it might be the difference between life and death someday and the last thing he wanted was to die because he got caught in a cutscene.
Soon enough the wheel stopped and played a celebratory animation with confetti before revealing his new reward.
[Dragon Scales]
|Elite Ability|
[Allows you to grow incredibly tough dragon scales over your body, due to the nature of dragon scales they also reduce any elemental damage you take while also being more durable than any human material. Its toughness scales with your physical stats.]
Kairo stared at the system window for a moment assessing his new ability. All around it seemed fairly helpful. He'd been hoping he would get something that would boost his physical abilities but his new scales would at least be very useful for a fight.
He quickly swapped out his hawk eyes ability putting it on cool down and equipping dragon scales.
He quickly checked the bathroom, realizing that it was empty, reasoning that even if someone walked in he could probably just play it off by saying something about his being a mutant or something.
Being a mutant wasn't a crime after all even if they were heavily discriminated against but that was something Kairo had experienced in his previous life as well so it wasn't that big of a change. If anything he just got more strange looks because of his appearance now.
Stepping in front of the bathroom mirror Kai took a deep breath and then he transformed. Suddenly bright silver scales started to appear all along his body growing out from his chest and back and slowly covering most of his skin.
His arms, his legs, his torso, and even some of his face were covered in bright silver-white scales. Some of them were completely flat while others were slightly sharp, and slight spikes grew out of his face from the transformation.
Examining himself in the mirror although he looked very different from the yonko, his transformation somewhat reminded him of Kido himself.
[insert image of dragon scaled form here]
The thought brought a pleased smile to his lips and he almost transformed when he noticed something.
A small bat-shaped device was attached to his clothes.
Kairo went quiet. If the system hadn't confirmed his suspicions before that certainly did. Not only was Ms Barbara Batgirl, but she was also definitely there to spy on him. In fact, Kai was sure of it. Somehow, he had already ended up on Batman's radar this early on in getting his system back.
He sighed, at least he'd been quiet since he entered the bathroom for the most part. He hadn't said anything about his powers or the system and his taking extra time with his bathroom break could easily be explained away by something else.
Even so, he thought it was best to remove the problem now.
Taking the tracker between his silver-scaled hands, Kairo quickly smashed it to pieces and washed it down the sink.
[New Achievement! Tracker no tracking!]
[Congratulations! You have destroyed a high-grade tracking device with your bear hands! Make that creepy stalker of yours think twice about trying it next time! If there is a next time. Reward (x1) Golden Gacha Ticket!]
Kairo grinned, there was the beautiful golden ticket he had been looking for. Taking it out quickly he admired the soft golden aura of the ticket for only a moment before ripping the soft shimmering material.
He didn't have time to wait he needed to get back quickly before Barbara started to suspect something.
The wheel stopped quickly and a new golden panel shone in front of him before a glowing item appeared in the air in front of him before slowly fading into a solid object.
[Grimoire of the Aeromancer]
|Elite Item|
[A tome containing a variety of spells about Wind and Lightning allowing the reader to learn Air Magic from it.]
[insert image of air grimore here]
Kairo took a glance at the system panel he only skimmed the description, he didn't have time to fully examine it so he simply looked down at the book and placed it in his inventory quickly. The book faded out of existence with a quick pop and Kairo washed his hands and started making his way back to the Batgirl.
If Kairo had any hope of not getting ambushed by the bat himself tonight he'd need to carefully navigate the rest of this predicament.
XXX
So I was reading some comments for suggestions on what Kairo's mutant ability should be. Someone suggests Storm's ability and I'm like oh okay that's a good idea. So I go to write the chapter Kairo gets a golden ticket so I head on over to the website and lo and behold it throws that plan right out the window on the first row with the air book. Do you know this is the second time this has happened? His original mutant ability was going to be plant manipulation but then I rolled Bloom and had to change my plan.
Also since the month has passed I can mention that I had my birthday last month so happy birthday to me I guess.
And last but not least recommend some cool wind and lightning spells for the future since I'm fresh out of ideas. I should've watched black clover Yuno would have probably been great material to work off. Anyway, something cost-efficient would be cool as it is an elite item and Kairo is no wizard… yet.
Bye bye