Being a superhero isn't as cool as it sounds.

[Lilcross]

I've always wanted to write a superhero story from the prospective of the sidekick. The results are badass. The title is unofficial, by the way.
Chapter 1 - Sparring Practice

Having super powers isn't as cool as it sounds. At least, that's what my best friend Dax says. Unlike me, he has the ability to manipulate ice, which sounds to me like a nerd's wetdream.

Dax is obviously just saying that to make me feel better about not having superpowers. I mean, he can freeze someone solid with a push of his hands. Normal humans don’t stand a chance against him.
That doesn’t stop me from having weekly spars with the bastard, though.

"All you got, Felix?" He asked as he jabbed me in the ribs. It was a solid blow, but I jumped back and shrugged it off. I charged towards Dax to close the distance, but Dax threw an ice blast in my directly in front of me. I instinctively rolled forward, avoiding the blast and effectively closing the distance between us.

"Yep!" I said as I retaliated, moving my right shoulder forward as if I would throw a punch, but then kicking him in the chin. Dax's head bounced upwards from the blow, and when it was on the way down I followed through with an axe kick to the back of his head. "And it's more than enough!"

Dax fell to the ground and clutched his head.

"Dammit, Felix! This is sparing, not an actual battle! Pull your punches a bit, will you?"

I grimaced.

Why should I have to hold back? He’s the one with the powers. If it were me…

I took a deep breath and shook my head.

"Do you want a competent side kick or what? If you can't face me, then how can you face a hardened criminal?"

Dax sat up on the ground and murmured something under his breath, which hardened my resolve.

He has to fight more seriously. He can't lose to someone without superpowers, ever. So far, Dax and I only know one person with powers: Dax himself. As of now, he can handle everyday criminals. But what happens if an actual super villain appears? I have to get him stronger now so he can fight later.

I knew what I had to do.

This is going to hurt me worse than it hurts you, Dax. Trust me.

"What was that, pussy?"

That got him motivated. Too motivated.

Dax bounced to his feet and gave me a hard shove in the chest.

"Oof!" The push nearly blew me off my feet. I flew backward until all my momentum was painfully stopped by a sudden ice wall that appeared behind me. Next thing I know, Dax is in my face with his fist. One punch was all it took to knock me out.

Chapter 2 - With Great Powers Comes…

"I’m sorry Felix. I’m so sorry.” A familiar voice called out.

I came to on someone’s bed. My head was reeling.

"What the hell..." I grasped my jaw. Talking hurt. I sat up and looked around. I was in Dax’s room, on his bed. Beside the bed was a very worried Dax sitting in a chair, fiddling around with a snowball between his hands.

“Are you alright, man?”

I ignored his question and hissed, “Put that away! It’s summertime!”

Wow, I’m impressed. He’s finally made a complete snowball, in this heat no less.

Dax laughed. “My parents are at a conference, as usual. And the blinds are up. It’s fine.”

"Oh.”

We sat in silence for a bit.

“I’m sorry I called you a pussy.”

Dax scoffed. “I’m sorry I lost my temper and knocked you out. I went too far.”

I messaged my jaw briefly. Considering that high kick-axe kick combo…

“I’m not sorry! We finally got that move down. We’d been practicing it for the last two sessions after all.”

“I didn’t even know what I was doing. It just happened you know?”

“That’s the fruit of training, man!”

I smiled, full of pride.

“I told you all this practice was worth it.”

My smile proved contagious, and Dax began to smile, too. We sat in a much more pleasant silence then before.

But I just had to find a reason to bitch.

“I just wish…” I sighed.

Dax caught on. He knows how it feels to want to be special. At least he used too.

Just a year ago, Dax and I would spend hours cooped up in his room just geeking out over how cool it would be to have superpowers. Now that he has them, well.

“Well, if it makes you feel better, if I could give up these powers to you I could, but I can't. I mean, these ice powers are no joke. Without you thinking up all these moves for me…I would have killed someone by now."

Dax was referring to his first crime run. It's a painful subject for him, even to this day.

I suddenly felt very sad. I don't have to deal with the responsibility Dax has to. I'm just a normal kid...albeit one with a near-genius IQ with a knack for martial arts. Unfortunately, I can't call the near-genius IQ thing a superpower, as it's semi-common nowadays for adults to reach that level. And the whole martial arts thing only started a few months ago, when Dax got his powers and I decided to be his sidekick. Sure, I might be good for a teenager and a beginner, but a black belt would still kick my ass.

Any day I could walk away from my role as a side-kick. Dax can’t walk away from his superpowers, ever.

I just wish I could share the responsibility with him. Being a superhero must have a lot of pressure. And here I am, being jealous he has the power and not me.

In order to make sure this never happened again (or at least not as often.), I forced myself to relieve Dax's traumatizing experience; His first crime run and the day he almost killed someone.

Chapter 3 – Dax's Mandatory Superhero Origin Story Part 1

I knew today would be the day my life would be changed the moment I received the phone call from Dax Saturday morning. His voice was bursting with excitement.

"Felix."

"Yo."

"Felix!"

"What?"

"FELIX!"

"What?!"

"Come to my house. Right. Now."

"That was the plan anyway. Are you OK?"

"I'm more than OK. I'm feeling super. Literally."

He hung up the phone.

Deeply intrigued, I threw on some clothes and ran all the way to his house. The trip usually takes me five minutes. I got there in two.

I gasped for breath at Dax's doorstep. The door was opened before I even had the chance to knock.

Dax's smile could have lit up the earth if the sun decided to go out.

He grabbed my shoulder and hauled me in with surprising strength and a cool grip.

"This better be worth it. Winx Club is on in like 20 minutes," I said as I folded my arms.

Dax laughed, hard.

I half-smiled. It wasn't that funny.

"What's got you so cheerful?"

Dax stopped laughing, and then had a serious expression on his face. Then he started laughing again.

"Ok, Dax, tell me what's going on now or I'm leaving," I said impatiently.

Dax's laugh turned into a low chuckle, and then he said, "Come with me."

I followed Dax outside into his backyard. The way he walked alone made him seem more...confident. I mean, more than he usually is.

And he has every right to be. With his amber eyes and brown surfer hair, he has the makings of a celebrity. If it weren't for his complete openness of nerdiness, girls would be swarming him. (In fact, some do already.)

By comparison, I'm not much to look at. With wild black spiky hair and grey eyes, I'm the kind of guy older girls' call cute, but my poor dating record has nothing to show for it.

Still, I try not to let Dax's better looks and social status get between us. After all, who wants a jealous prick for a best friend?

"Alright, so what's the big deal?"

We were in Dax's backyard, which was essentially a wide open field surrounded by a big barbed fence. There are a few fruit trees here and there, as well as a barbeque pit and a pool on the side.

Dax's family is kind of rich.

"This is the big deal, Felix." Dax took a deep breath, then slammed his palm on the ground.

"What? That's it?"

Dax's eyebrows were drawn together in intense concentration.

"No…shut up…"

I crossed my arms and sighed. Then I heard it.

A low crackling, startling sound. At first it was slow, like popcorn first entering the microwave, then it began to sped up, getting louder with each pop. Then I saw it.

A blue-white solid was spreading out from Dax's palm. The primary surface was icy blue, and the more it spread the more white cracks appeared on the surface. As the crackling noise speed up, the blue-white solid began to spread out further, until it almost engulfed the entire yard.

Then it hit me. The solid was ice.

As soon as the crackling sound stopped, Dax collapsed on all fours and gasped for breath. Startled and worried, I started to make my way towards him.

I tried to raise my feet, but I was rooted into the ground, the Ice bending around my shoe only grew tighter the more I struggled.

What the fuck?!

Dax looked up from his position and gave me a broad grin, showcasing his unusually white teeth.

“Ice, ice, baby!”

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

Ooo. I am interested. Very interested. This is quite well-written so far.
You have my attention. Please, continue.

[Random_fan]

I'm liking what's here, though I want to point out that you start off with Felix thinking that Dax is only telling him it's not as cool to have superpowers, then the next scene has him realising Dax is right, you might want to either have the revelation happen latyer or just not put in Felix thinking he's lying at all.

[Lilcross]

I'm liking what's here, though I want to point out that you start off with Felix thinking that Dax is only telling him it's not as cool to have superpowers, then the next scene has him realising Dax is right, you might want to either have the revelation happen latyer or just not put in Felix thinking he's lying at all.

I see what your getting at here, but I wanted to get this trope out of the way for Felix's charcter fast before it started to drag. Too much angst involving him not having powers would get really old really fast. The following paragraph was pretty much an introduction for the scene, and a little insight on why Felix's flaws. I guess I failed?

Thanks Aldraia, will do.

[QuoteMyFoot]

I think you could counter the potential for angst whilst not changing Felix's mind too quickly by making him think, "Okay, maybe it's not so cool, but I'd still love to have superpowers".

Also, I think the lead-up at the end to a flashback is WAY too blunt and, frankly, kind of wince-worthy. I think a better way to do it (that might explain Felix's sudden shift too) is to have Dax tell Felix then about his first instance of crime-fighting. This way, Felix can be hit with a sudden "Woah, I had no idea" and "maybe Dax is right", and we don't have any awkward flashback scenes!

Also also, is Felix supposed to sound a bit tongue-in-cheek when he says he's a normal kid apart from the near-genius IQ and martial arts? Because he comes across instead as a bit of a whiner, imo (of course, this might be intentional).

And finally, two things about this:

Any day I could walk away from my role as a side-kick. Dax is morally entitled to his role as a superhero.

Firstly, I think you mean "obliged" rather than "entitled".
Secondly, this is a really interesting idea here. Dax has to be a superhero because he has superpowers? I'd really like to see what sort of society these guys live in if Felix can state something like that. Because, right now, Felix sounds like the one who feels Dax/himself is "morally obliged", and Dax sounds like the reluctant fighter who would rather just live quietly. Actually, I kind of feel that Felix is forcing him into it. (This isn't criticism, btw. It creates interesting character dynamics, I think, especially between hero-and-sidekick.)

I'm looking forward to reading more of this. ^^ I might not be a comics fan but I'm really interested in the superhero genre. I think you've done a good job!

[Lilcross]

I think you could counter the potential for angst whilst not changing Felix's mind too quickly by making him think, "Okay, maybe it's not so cool, but I'd still love to have superpowers".

Also, I think the lead-up at the end to a flashback is WAY too blunt and, frankly, kind of wince-worthy. I think a better way to do it (that might explain Felix's sudden shift too) is to have Dax tell Felix then about his first instance of crime-fighting. This way, Felix can be hit with a sudden "Woah, I had no idea" and "maybe Dax is right", and we don't have any awkward flashback scenes!

Also also, is Felix supposed to sound a bit tongue-in-cheek when he says he's a normal kid apart from the near-genius IQ and martial arts? Because he comes across instead as a bit of a whiner, imo (of course, this might be intentional).

And finally, two things about this:

Any day I could walk away from my role as a side-kick. Dax is morally entitled to his role as a superhero.

Firstly, I think you mean "obliged" rather than "entitled".
Secondly, this is a really interesting idea here. Dax has to be a superhero because he has superpowers? I'd really like to see what sort of society these guys live in if Felix can state something like that. Because, right now, Felix sounds like the one who feels Dax/himself is "morally obliged", and Dax sounds like the reluctant fighter who would rather just live quietly. Actually, I kind of feel that Felix is forcing him into it. (This isn't criticism, btw. It creates interesting character dynamics, I think, especially between hero-and-sidekick.)

I'm looking forward to reading more of this. ^^ I might not be a comics fan but I'm really interested in the superhero genre. I think you've done a good job!

Oh, don't get me wrong, he'll have moments fighting/fighting alongside a super-powered person and be all like 'Dam, that's cool.' I just want to get rid of the whole 'Man, I don't have powers, Dax does, Man, I don't have powers...etc.'

Yeah, even I thought it was blunt writing it, but I couldn't think of another way to do it. And the thing is, Felix was with Dax from Day 1 of the superhero thing, (And most other things to, xD. Their the whole best friends 4ever thing.) so I don't think that would work.

Yeah, he was. He's also supposed to be a bit of a whiner too, and he acknowledges that by thinking to himself

But I just had to find a reason to bitch, didn't I?

I hope he's not whining to the point of being annoying though. Because that's not the intention, the whining is just to make him more relate-able. I mean, who wouldn't be jealous of their best friend having super powers?

Yeah, obligated sounds better.
Well that's kindathe intention. At first, Dax was as into it as Felix was, but his first crime run kinda got him burned out, which is what makes the next chapter so important and hard to write. I'm really happy someone caught on to that, though. :)

Thanks for your feedback, it helps a lot! (I'm not really into comics either, but the idea of Superhero's have always intrigued me.)

[Lilcross]

Chapter 3 is uploaded!

Oh, and Chapter 1 and 2 edited. You should probably skim over Chapter 2, one part will come into play later.