Slice of (magic) Life

Chapter 9 - Axle

Arrgh, why is everyone making me sit out on all the fighting today! Axle's mind grumbled angrily.

"I will deal with these two." Said the newcomer called Mist. Axle crossed his arms and huffed silently. Luckily, Elaine came to his defense.

"Hey! We don't any rescuing you jerk." Axle smiled at this and immediately felt better. Mist was taken aback by Elaine's tone of voice. He raised a hand to signal for the two other teens to pause, to which they surprisingly obeyed.

"Hey, I was just trying to help. No need to be as aggressive as these two over here."

The two red cloaked Mages made angry protests and started casting spells. Mist faced them again without another word and started powering up as well. I can't let them have all the action! I'm a Mage too. Axle thought. But needless to say, he was curious to see how skilled each of the three were.

Axle decided he would wait and see. He moved to the side of the empty street along with Elaine, keeping his arms crossed. There was only a few seconds of stare down before Mist dealt the first strike. He was using basic magic strikes of energy which reminded Axle of his dad's training with him. Then he remembered his dad's critical condition.

I have to get to the Luminary. Axle looked around pensively, as if hoping Miss Monique would just pop right out of one of the abandoned streets. But he was disappointed. He didn't see any sign of her or even her bodyguard.

The battle between Mist and the two gang members was still going on. Julian's side throwing explosive and shadow element magic, while Mist's had a water element imbued in it. Axle rolled his eyes as both parties dodged each other's attacks then threw their own at the opponent. He could have ended the battle by now, if only the blue cloaked guy hadn't interrupted.

The fighting lasted a couple more minutes before Axle lost his patience.

He stepped forward, facing Mist. "Hey kid, get back! You could get hurt." Axle ignored the warning and made an unamused and bored face. "You're taking too long. We need to find Miss Monique as soon as possible."

"Wait... What did you say?"

Axle didn't answer. Instead, he pictured handcuffs and iron bars in his mind. He waved one hand from Mist's direction to the wall on the other side of the street. Almost immediately, Mist was thrown to the wall and a pair of handcuffs and some iron bars bound him to the wall. "Hey!" The teen protested.

Axle faced the two bully Mages and raised both of his hands at them. They knew what was coming so they tried running at Axle while throwing balls of magic energy at him.

"Watch out!" Yelled Mist.

Axle's eyes followed the movement of the two energy balls. He widened his eyes and envisioned the attack turning into two soft throw pillows. Soon enough, it both became as harmless as the object it turned into. They fell to the ground at the sudden weight it gained.

Axle put his focus back to his hands and imagined stronger and heavier handcuffs on both of his opponents. They were yelling their pleas when all of a sudden the handcuffs appeared on their wrists and they knelt to the ground because of the heaviness of the metal Axle put into the cuffs.

It was over in under three minutes. Axle dusted his hands off and admired his work. These guys won't be able to use their magic now. Then he said out loud to all three of them, "You guys rely too much on the movements of your hands and arms to use your magic. That's gonna get you in serious danger if they were disabled."

Elaine ran to Axle's side and put him in a headlock. "That was so cool Ax." Axle received the girls hair ruffling then broke away from her. "That was nothing." He added hesitantly, "Ax huh? How'd you come up with that?"