Why Do I Hear Boss Music?

Upon landing flat on his face on the cold hard ground, Joe quickly stood up. He dusted off his pants and looked around the alleyway.

There was nothing around but a few dumpsters.

Joe quickly noticed his black cloak of space elements and speedily absorbed them. He didn't compress them just yet, as he was in quite the hurry.

He took out his phone and checked the maps app. He was rather far from where he lived. Joe lived in Nevada, and he was currently in California.

He walked out of the alleyway only to bump into someone. It was a young girl, seemingly in high school. She was holding a phone in her hands, nearly dropping it from the impact.

Joe quickly apologized as the introvert he was.

"Ah! Sorry."

"That's alright, but how did you get here? I was pacing around for a while, and I didn't see you here before."

It didn't take long for Joe to formulate a quick and easy excuse.

"I came through the other side."

"But why?"

"Because it's a faster way to get home."

The girl looked at him suspiciously. She quickly pointed out a flaw in Joe's excuse.

"You're coming out of the residential areas by coming through this alleyway. I don't know your face either. What are you really here for?"

The girl clearly lived around here and knew the streets very well. Joe began to sweat. He swallowed his saliva as he spoke.

"Magic?"

The girl put on a frown at this. Joe didn't really expect much out of his response anyways though.

"So you're a scammer?"

"Ah! No! It's just... I..."

Joe kept tripping over his words since he didn't know what else to really say. The girl became even more suspicious watching him.

"If you're really a scammer, I'll have to call the police."

"No! Believe me, I'm really not a scammer."

Joe looked quite unconvincing, especially after saying he was in an alleyway to do magic, and was tripping over his words trying to deny being a scammer.

"I can prove it to you! I can do magic!"

Joe didn't quite know why he said that. Maybe it was his imprinted fear of the authorities that he didn't want to go into custody. He was also in a hurry, so that could've also been a contributing factor.

The girl looked at him with a face that basically said 'Prove it!'

Joe sighed and stared back at the girl. He held out his hand, and tried to gather the magical elements.

This time, instead of setting his hand ablaze, he decided to form water magic instead, so as not to hurt anyone, or himself.

Upon searching for magical elements, he realized that the Earth was extremely barren when it came to magical elements. There was only enough water elements in the air for roughly half a cup of water!

Although half a cup of water was more than enough to prove his magical prowess to this young girl, it was a different story trying to gather them. He couldn't possibly gather every water element perfectly right?

He could probably at most form a layer of condensation on his palm. Even if he did, it would probably be taken as sweat from nervousness.

The seconds passed by, and the water elements had already dispersed after a failed try.

Joe noticed the girl began to call someone to deal with him. His fate was sealed, and if he ran away, he would probably only make things worse. He sat on the ground and waited for their arrival.

However, the minutes passed by and the expected sirens did not come. Instead, a black van showed up.

'Am I going to be kidnapped?'

Joe gulped at the thought.

The girl walked up to the van and spoke a few words.

"He's the guy."

The driver inside seemed to nod his head as he unlocked the doors. The girl turned around to look at him.

"What's wrong? You're the guy aren't you?"

Joe felt there was a misunderstanding about, but he couldn't care less.

"Oh! Yeah, I am."

Joe walked inside, and sat down. The girl turned to look at him. She crossed her arms and legs as she spoke.

"So, you got the goods? I got the cash."

Joe swallowed his saliva. He had to think of a plan, and quickly. The girl and the driver might have guns judging by their looks, and although he was a Wizard, he was only the bare minimum standard, and couldn't take a bullet.

Joe put on a poker face and spoke indifferently. It was completely different from his previous flustered tone.

"I need to confirm you're the person. There are many people who also want this after all. What are the goods?"

The girl narrowed her eyes at that, and her eyes seemed to glow.

"The boom booms."

Joe started to sweat again. He was internally screaming.

'WHAT DOES THE BOOM BOOMS MEAN?! AHHHHHHH!'

It was around this time Joe realized he couldn't talk his way out any longer. He had to find a quick solution. After thinking for a few seconds, he realized the only way out was to fight.

The girl and driver may have guns, so he might get shot running away, so the only thing he could do was take a hostage, and exchange them for his escape.

He quickly tried to sense the elements, and gathered earth elements on his fists. It was a rush job, and there were few elements on Earth, so it was rather messy and there wasn't much rock on his fists.

The girl noticed his short silence and asked about it.

"What's wrong?"

She looked at him suspiciously. She turned around and began to open the small opening between the driver and backseat.

'Now's my chance!'

Joe lunged forward from the back of the van, and socked the girl right in the face.

The girl didn't go down easily though. Even with the cuts on her face from the somewhat sharp rocks, she quickly put up her fists and began a counterattack.

Joe took several hits to the face and chest before landing a good hit on her jaw. She went out cold after that.

However, the commotion wasn't small, as the van rocked a bit during the fight. The driver decided to take things into his own hands and opened the window to check on the situation.

He spoke with a deep voice.

"Is everything alright in there? It's rather loud."

He peeked inside only to see an unconscious employer and a stunned seller.

Joe turned to stare at him saying only one thing.

"I can let the girl go if you let me leave."

The driver sighed exasperatedly. He muttered under his breath.

"Why do I always have to take things into my own hands..."

Joe's eyes widened at that. That sounded like something a strong person would say.

'Why do I hear boss music?'

The driver stopped the car and ripped through the steel van as though it were nothing. He got over to the backseat by ripping through the barrier. Joe gulped at the sight.

He tossed a punch at Joe, who subsequently jumped out of the way.

"Sloppy."

The former driver used his other hand to grab at Joe's arm. He pulled him closer and socked him with his former hand.

'It hurts!'

This thought ran through Joe's head like a herd of stampeding elephants. Joe attempted to throw a punch of his own, but it was easily blocked as he was punched in the face once more.

Soon, Joe stopped resisting and let himself be held by the neck.

"Finally done? I thought you would struggle for longer. Y'know, I really..."

The driver kept blabbering about how he thought Joe would be more impressive since he could beat his employer up. He said something about her being trained in some kind of martial art.

Joe couldn't care less about that however, as he was trying to gather some magical elements in the barren land that was Earth. This time, he didn't gather them on his own palm. He gathered fire elements on the former driver's face instead.

The driver suddenly stopped talking. He frowned. He felt the temperature was subtly increasing around him, but he didn't quite know why.

Joe controlled the elements to gather around his face instead of directly on it, so as to create an instant fiery sensation instead of a slow burn, to increase the shock effect.

Joe quickly willed the ring of fire elements nearby the driver's face to latch on to the latter, and in an instant, his face burst into flames.

"Argh!"

The former driver released his grip on Joe and went to pat out the small flame on his face.

Joe ran over to the back of the van. He slammed on the doors, trying to smash it open. Joe gritted his teeth. It seemed he would have to gather more elements to make his escape.

He quickly gather more earth elements on his fists. Rocks began to cover his hands again as he used his rocky hands to smash open the van door.

'It's not working!'

Upon realizing this, he tried something new. He extracted some of his heart magnet, and applied it onto the van door. Darkness began to cover the entire door.

'Yes!'

The door had shrunk, and freedom was at hand. As Joe was about to step out of the van, he felt a palm grasp his shoulder.

"Not so fast. I've still got some business with you."

It was the driver, with second degree burns all over his face.