13 Rise of the Dragon
I woke up with a splitting headache, and as I pulled myself off the ground, I took in my surroundings. 'Ah, right I was training...'
I didn't know what it was but I felt strange. Like something wasn't quite right. Pretty quickly I realized what was wrong, I was bigger, a lot bigger actually and a quick scan of my body revealed that wasn't that only thing that was different.
Quite evident by the green scales that covered my whole body and my protruding claws. I reckoned the transformation I was attempting was at least somewhat successful.
I quickly raised my hand to check my face and I could feel that instead of a nose, my face had elongated into a snout.
Strangely I was still humanoid in shape, since I was still standing upright. So whatever I turned into, it seems it was a bit different than what I imagined.
I quickly walked towards a nearby mirror situated in the training room. And was immediately shocked, apparently when I tried to transform into a dragon I turned into the form Shendu had when he was finally revived and was fighting against jackie chan.
" This is so weird." I said with an unexpectedly deep voice.
Seeing as I was alone I began to more thoroughly examine my body and after a bit of flexing and seeing the taut steel like muscles ripple under my skin I reckoned my strength had also increased along with this form.
My thoughts were interrupted by a startled scream coming from behind me. I quickly turned around to see a dark haired boy wearing sunglasses.
His hands went to his belt and before I could blink I saw him throw something at me which burst into smoke followed by batarang shaped projectiles moments later.
' Oh, that must be Robin.' I idly thought as another score of projectiles were thrown at me.
" Hey dude, stop throwing stuff at me I'm..." and, this time he threw explosives at me.
Thankfully my hardened scales and draconic body prevented his attacks from being effective. They still stung though, which admittedly was starting to get annoying.
I didn't know if I was going to pass out again if I tried to transform back, which left me with trying to get Robin to stop and listen to me without attacking me.
Seeing as his attacks were ineffective, Robin decided to retreat for the moment and call for back up. The fact that a lizard looking monster had managed to sneak into the Hall of Justice made him completely forget his supposed meeting with a certain junior fellow hero.
Unknown to him, if it wasn't for Batman catching him snooping on the Bat-computer before he could finish reading his future teammates' file he would have know that one of his abilities was transforming into animals and not just healing.
Frankly he was excited to meet the person who saved Batman's life.
Even though it grated on his nerves that they still didn't have a clue on how tried to kill Bruce Wayne. Other questions, like if Batman's identity was somehow exposed or whether it was just a coincidence still kept him up at night.
For the time being, he threw a couple of smoke grenades to conceal his escape from the lizard monster but was immediately brought to a halt when he slammed into what felt like a solid wall of concrete.
Still disoriented he almost swore that the wall talked, but when he lifted his head to take a good look, for the first time in his life he felt truly helpless.
Towering over him with glowing red eyes and standing at 20 feet tall was the gargantuan beast he was trying to runaway from that now that he thought about it almost looked like a humanoid wingless dragon.
It didn't truly dawn on him how massive this being was until it was standing right in front of him, he almost missed it when it opened its mouth and a deep disgruntled voice said. " For the love of all that is holy, would you please stop throwing stuff at me and listen? I'm not a bad guy, this is just a transformation."
The monster extended his claws towards him and instinctively he flinched and tried to reach for his weapons. But stopped because of what it said next.
" Anyways I'm guessing you're Robin, and since Batman told me you were coming. You should also have an idea of who I am."
The thing pointed a thumb at its chest.
" I'm Zodiac."
Robin could only say one thing in response. "What?!"
.
.
.
.
.
It didn't take long to convince Robin of my identity. Nonetheless the boy couldn't fathom how a 16 year old teenager had the ability to turn into a 20 foot tall dragon.
After he was convinced though, it didn't take too long for him to start asking questions.
Apparently, although he thought my ability was cool, he pointed out it would draw too much attention on missions and any sort of stealth would simply be ineffective.
" Don't worry about it. This transformation will be firmly placed in 'last resort' category. I still have other tricks up my sleeve." I said.
He chuckled. " Again sorry for being too trigger happy. I kind of just panicked when I saw you."
" No worries I should have been more careful. I honestly wasn't thinking all that much when I tried it. I was training and it just kind of happened." I said.
As soon as I said that, as if a switch being flipped I suddenly transformed and became human once more. A feeling of fatigue also hit me and made me falter a bit before I caught myself.
" Hey dude, are you okay. " Robin said.
" I'm fine. I think the transformation took a lot out of me, which is weird since this doesn't normally happen when I turn into other animals." I said.
" Maybe it's due to the difference in mass. You've got to be making up for all that size and weight somehow. " He suggested.
Thinking about it for a moment, I realized he was probably right.
It's probably also the reason I couldn't turn to any other magical creatures, because if we're talking about compensating for mass using energy, it would be probably be magical energy. And, if we're taking into account the energy required to transform into those forms as well as the innate powerful magics these creatures have, it would probably explain why I couldn't transform into them.
Of course that is just one possible explanation and only partially explains it. But, it doesn't explain why I turned into a dragon and more specifically Shendu's form, when I was aiming for the classic western dragon with wings.
" Maybe it is. All I know for now, is that I need some rest. Do you mind if we do this another time?" I said.
" Sure thing, just get some rest and we can talk later and maybe I'll get to tell you about all the cool missions I went on, wouldn't want you to miss out on my awesomeness. "
I chuckled," Yeah, that would be nice. See you later then. "
I left the training facility dead on my feet and barely made it to my bed.
Robin had given me a card with his phone number, which reminded I had to get a new phone, since I didn't want to use the one I had for my business to make personal calls.
I also had a few other things I needed to take care of, I knew I was moving into the mountain soon and with Canon right around the corner I wanted to take care of some stuff in regards to my personal life. The superhero business didn't pay all that well or more accurately not at all.
Yeah, Batman normally took care of the expenses and our food and lodging was pretty much set, but it also made it difficult to be independent. Don't get me wrong I was grateful for all the help and training I was getting, but at the end of the day, nothing was free in this world and one had to be careful.
All that training and me joining the team will help me in getting more experience and who knows maybe I'll get to make new bonds and perhaps even a few friends. Being prepared was just the smart thing to do.
Having said all that, I still had hope for the future, and although there was bound to be danger and even the possibility of death it wasn't all that different to what I had to face everyday since I was born.
I drifted into sleep with a smile on my face. Maybe this time even I'll get to have some fun, before I go.
(Chapter End)
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A/N : Next Chapter Tomorrow
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