Max's worst moment was when he turned into a red Magikarp... and then, in his rented apartment with no water, he spent a whole hour bouncing around on the floor using the "Splash" move.
An hour!
Damn it! He just wanted to slap the Omnitrix to undo the transformation, but he couldn't do it!
Why?
Because Magikarp doesn't have any hands!
And the hourglass icon on the Omnitrix was on the back of his fish head, so even if he rammed into a wall, he still couldn't reach it!
Tears involuntarily streamed from Magikarp Max's big eyes.
After transforming into a useless fish, Max waited until the transformation time was up before finally being freed from his fishy prison.
Since then, before any transformation, Max always made sure to have a bowl of water nearby or find a place near a river, just in case. He didn't ever want to experience that near-death feeling again.
Ahem, back to the main story.
Twelve-year-old Max had just finished eating twelve whole alkaline breadsticks, each as thick as his forearm, and chugged an entire kettle of tap water.
"Burp, I'm about 80% full!"
Ever since he got the Omnitrix, his appetite had grown!
Max glanced at the clock, quickly turned off the TV, and jogged out of his somewhat shabby apartment to get to his job.
...
Are you curious about how this broke kid with barely any experience managed to rent a place?
Well, it was all luck. He rented this apartment from Catwoman, Selina Kyle.
It all started when Max randomly turned into the Pokémon Meowth.
Since it was Max's first time transforming into a four-legged creature, he had spent some time running around a secluded alley to get used to Meowth's body.
And then, he got caught by Catwoman while she was jumping across rooftops…
While leaping across the rooftops, Selina noticed something shiny moving on the ground. Her curiosity was instantly piqued.
She took a closer look and was surprised to see a yellow cat with a shiny gold object on its head.
With her years of stealing experience, she immediately knew this was something valuable!
So, she jumped down from the roof and landed next to Max, carefully observing.
Then, she fixed her eyes on the shiny coin-like object on Meowth's head, instantly convinced it was made of gold!
Without hesitation, she leapt in front of Max and tried to kidnap him, thinking the shiny thing could be worth a fortune.
In theory, people can't outrun cats, especially not a Pokémon cat like Meowth. Even Catwoman couldn't keep up.
However, since Max had only just transformed into Meowth and wasn't fully accustomed to his new body yet, Catwoman was able to easily grab him by the neck.
And then... she took him back to her place.
Once the hour-long transformation time ended, Max returned to his twelve-year-old human form, much to Catwoman's confusion. Max, with no shame at all, demanded that Selina Kyle take responsibility.
Selina didn't want to at first and was pretty pissed that she had been tricked.
But then Max said one thing, and she agreed.
Max: "Catwoman, you don't want your true identity exposed to all of Gotham, do you?"
Bang!
Max felt a smack on his head, so he ducked and covered his head.
Selina withdrew her hand, and her frustration slightly eased.
"Kid, you should call me 'Sister Selina'! And sure, you can stay at my place, but I'm not cooking for you, and you're paying rent!"
"Unless you turn into a cat. If that happens, no rent, and I'll even feed you some cat food every day."
Selina didn't mind much. She had several secret hideouts in Gotham, and this one was fine to let the kid stay in.
Max: "… Damn, I want to turn into a cat too! But I can't! Fine, I'll pay rent, no big deal."
And so, Max started working to pay rent.
...
His "job" was at a black car shop located on the far eastern side of Gotham Harbor, a pretty remote area.
Since it was so far out, the black car shop was actually pretty big and had its own outdoor parking lot.
This place used real materials (they sold parts from stolen cars).
The prices were reasonable (the tires were all stolen, so no money spent on inventory—every sale was profit).
The boss was also pretty generous, offering jobs to orphans (though it was clear that they were all recruited to become "specialists" who learned to dismantle stolen cars here).
Gotham was a terrible place, full of malice for everyone.
For kids like Max, who were only twelve years old, the only way to survive was either through petty theft or by working at a black-market shop (though technically, they were still thieves, just stealing bigger things).
Here, kids around the age of eleven or twelve, being smaller and more agile, could hide between cars.
And they could escape faster than adult thugs, which made them harder to catch.
Rich people were too lazy to deal with these kids (since even if they caught them, the kids wouldn't be able to compensate for a stolen car anyway).
(Boss's exact words: "Dumb, don't bother stealing poor people's cars. They aren't worth much. Steal luxury cars instead! Even stealing a part from one of those is worth more than stealing an entire car from a poor guy! Today, I'll teach you how to recognize license plates...")
But the most important thing was that, for these black-market shops in Gotham Harbor, hiring kids like Max was way cheaper than hiring adults!
They just had to feed them two meals a day and give them a small wage to get these kids working hard.
These orphans were the black-hearted boss's cash cows.
As for Max, he was doing pretty well there.
Thanks to his adult soul, he quickly understood how modern cars were built.
The faster you understand, the faster you can dismantle them. Max was definitely one of the best at dismantling cars!
(The transformation powers granted to Max by the Omnitrix are way too random in strength. Before Max can resolve his own combat issues, he still needs to learn some survival skills.)
What was that classic saying again? — Serious voice: "Play safe, don't rush!"
At least before Max becomes an adult, this phrase is incredibly useful to him!
Interestingly, the kid Max is working with is named—Jason Todd.
Yep, that's the future second Robin, the one destined to die and become the anti-hero Red Hood!
Max often thinks to himself how small Gotham really is, to think he'd run into this guy!
—————
This kid, Jason Todd, likes to wear a red hoodie and worn-out jeans, and he's modified his belt to hold all kinds of car-repair tools.
Jason's strength is like that of a full-grown man, easily able to unscrew car wheels, and he can do the work of two people by himself.
He's a bit stubborn (won't accept losing), with a short temper, and is three years older than Max!
They met because Max saw Jason Todd fighting two big guys who were trying to rob him.
Max stepped in to help, throwing rocks at the thugs' groins. Thanks to his memories from his past life, he can now hit his target every time.
The two thugs screamed and ran off, clutching their groins!
Jason Todd saw potential in Max and tried everything to recruit him as his little sidekick.
They'd race to see who could dismantle a car faster, compete in speed, compete in strength—acting like lifelong rivals.
But unfortunately, Max refused to agree to such unreasonable requests and stuck to his own way of doing things.
However, after spending time together, the two eventually became brothers.
...
"Hey, bro, lunch time! We got fried chicken sandwiches today! I bet that messy old boss won big at the casino yesterday! And he won a lot!"
Jason Todd waved the sandwich in his hand when he saw Max walking up.
Max's eyes lit up—wow! This is a rare treat, way better than bland baguette bread!
"Jason, you're up this early? That messy vampire boss won't pay you for waking up early! Hand one over!"
Jason tossed him an unwrapped fried chicken sandwich.
Max caught it in a flash, almost dropping it. He quickly opened the packaging and took a big bite.
"Hurry up and eat, bro, we've got a big job coming up!" Jason Todd said excitedly, spinning his cross wrench with his fingers, his hands quick enough to make afterimages.
"You got a target?" Max asked, surprised.
A big job! This rundown place even gets luxury cars?
"Yeah, today at the parking lot behind the Kesha Bar. There's a Rolls-Royce there, I checked it out, and the tires are easy to take off. Give me five minutes—no, three minutes—and I can take one off!"
"Whose car is it?"
"Probably some gangsters. Why do you care? We don't care who owns the car; we only care about the car itself! As long as they aren't poor, it's all good!"
"Fair enough, alright, Jason, I'll keep watch, you better be quick!"
...
At the Kesha Bar parking lot.
Max was watching the surroundings and quickly turned to Jason.
"Hurry up, hurry up, someone's coming! Can you move any faster? The janitor's hand speed is faster than yours!"
"Hold on, hold on, Max, don't rush me! … Okay! Go go go!"
Jason quickly unscrewed the bolts from the tires, then with a strong tug, he pulled the wheel off.
By the time they were done, Jason had already removed the left front tire and the right rear tire from the car. If it weren't for the approaching people, he would've taken all four!
With Max's help, the two quickly grabbed one tire each and bolted!
The parking lot manager saw them and immediately started chasing. Not just him—the thugs who heard the noise were running out too.
"Oh damn! Don't let them get away!"
"Hey, kids! Stop right there!"
Two obvious gang members came running after Max and Jason, full speed.
"What kind of idiot would actually stop when they hear 'stop'?"
Max didn't forget to throw a little jab at the thugs while they ran.
Weaving through a few alleyways, he turned to Jason and said, "Follow me, I know a way that'll lose them for sure!"
Jason was panting hard, "Huff, huff, lead the way!"
The two of them made a sharp turn and ran into an alley, where an iron gate blocked the path.
But the gap in the gate was wide enough that Max and Jason could easily slip through with the tires.
The people chasing them were screwed—this gate with its iron chains was too narrow for them to fit through. They could only watch helplessly as the two kids ran off into the distance.