He had been fine before. In fact, this was the start of the unfortunate series of unlucky events happening now.
The two roommates grinned mischievously at each other. Wally West confidently moved his white bishop across the monotone chess board, smirking challengingly at an amused Elliot Knight. Kid Flash was always much too overconfident for his own good. Elliot smirked teasingly as he arrogantly guided his black rook forwards, an intelligent maneuver by far. Flash gawked incredulously and crossed his arms sulkily, unlike Elliot, who smirked triumphantly.
"Checkmate,"the former villain exclaimed teasingly.
"Huh. I went easy on you, Ellie,"Wally huffed indignantly, before cracking out in entertained laughter and a broad smile, which elicited Elliot to chuckle slightly and grin contentedly too.
Suddenly, Jinx sprinted in out of her gothic bedroom, beaming delightedly at the small smile lingering on Elliot's pale lips at her abrupt arrival. She was wearing her flowy costume, as usual. Instead, Kid Flash was in a designer jacket, branded jeans and ADIDAS trainers and Elliot Knight was in a black, turtleneck sweater (Wally had unfortunately made him like these now), plain, grey jeans and some generic sport trainers with his brushed, black hair that he had lazily just let down. She sat besides Elliot and also smirked as she saw the past events.
"Seriously. Why did you even try, Wally? No one in the Hive has ever beaten him at chess!,"Jinx mocked amusedly, sniggering as Elliot nodded roguishly.
Flash rolled his blue eye in mock exasperation and shook his head as he snickered teasingly,"They mustn't be very smart, then."
"Hey!,"Elliot said playfully, elbowing him gamesomely.
Wally grinned mischievously and puckishly shoved him to his back, Jinx swiftly leaping out the way- Flash did always like to act the immature child. Elliot smirked amusedly and sat up easily, only to be playfully pushed back down. Wally sniggered overconfidently and Elliot saw him gamesomely ready his hands to tickle him. He could elude that with almost ridiculous ease. After all, that was the great advantage of being an sufficient teleporter. He felt the bubbling energy of his dark magic, agogly awaiting his abrupt demand. He focused his mediocre sorcery on teleporting swiftly across the modern room but he couldn't. He tried again and again, but to no avail whatsoever. Wally West was about to enthusiastically tickle him when they all jolted in surprised shock as the raucous crime alert rang. Jinx nodded eagerly to KId Flash, already making her way out of the spacious apartment as Flash peeled away. He beamed roguishly but it soon wavered at Elliot's shaky, horror stricken face.
"Are you-,"the concerned speedster enquired worriedly.
"Yeah, jus-just leave without me,"Elliot Knight stammered mortifiedly, scarcely acknowledging him pelt off reluctantly.
Elliot, formerly known as Kyd Wykkyd, couldn't teleport.
Right now, Kid Flash and Jinx strolled merrily through the bustling streets of Jump City, even if they were a little weary. They had had a fairly tiring battle with Cinderblock and Overload before and both were eager to return. However, a persistent worry was plaquing Wally West- What had been wrong with Elliot Knight before? He had looked awfully petrified, and shaken ever so badly, before ushering the worried speedster away. Jinx seemed completely oblivious to the entire situation, so she was genuinely curious when he snatched out his expensive smartphone and called Elliot concernedly. They awaited in silence as the new phone rang raucously, until eventually it stopped, not answered at all. Jinx and Wally exchanged shocked, fearful frowns: Elliot Knight always accepted a call from Kid Flash. Flash's face hardened and Jinx was already sprinting away to their modern apartment. However, willing to go even swifter, Wally darted with impossible speed, scooping Jinx up in an incomprehensibly fast blur, and raced them as fast as he could. It didn't take long to flee from the open streets, up the vast stairs and finally through the plain doorway of their own homely apartment. He gently dropped her on the comfy armchair. Jinx, though turning green and nauseous from the abrupt burst of incredibly fast speed, jolted to her feet at the sight. Wally West was fearfully checking Elliot Knight's pulse, who was seemingly unconscious on his stomach. She knew that although Wally always played the comical clown, he was actually one of the best heroes to have around in case of any injury, regardless of whether it is fatal or minor. Jinx crouched worriedly beside him as he dutifully checked all the vital necessities, gradually growing more befuddled by the minute.
"This doesn't make any sense...he has a completely healthy pulse and breathing, I've just checked and he hasn't been spiked or knocked out...and...he is...sleep purring? But he'd never sleep like this. He'd sleep on the bed, wouldn't he?,"Flash mused anxiously, evidently talking to himself instead really.
Jinx shoved past him and went to her usually effective method of awakening an unconscious ally. Shake them. And if that doesn't work, well...slap them. It's always worked for her before anyway. Therefore, she flipped him violently on his back and roughly shook him by the shoulders, awaiting hopefully for his amber eyes to snap open or him twitch even in the slightest. Yet alas, it was to no avail. Wally watched disbelievingly at her savage methods and was about to audibly dissent when she slapped his pale face perhaps a little too hard. Kid Flash snatched back her hand before she could do it anymore.
"No! Stop that! Do you really think that's going to work? That's just-,"he spat protectively.
"Wally?"
The two Titans' heads snapped down to worriedly see Elliot Knight scarcely managing to be awake and apparently in no pain whatsoever, which was admittedly an immense relief. Wally frowned more as almost immediately the former villain winced painedly at something clearly mental, rather than physically.
"Elliot! What happened?,"Kid Flash enquired concernedly.
"I-I tried to-to teleport, but...but I cou-couldn't! I kept doing it and...I think I-I just knocked myself out,"Elliot confessed shakily, struggling to sit up.
Flash shook his head disapprovingly and pulled Elliot in a tight embrace. Elliot Knight leaned into the uncharacteristically frightened speedster, much too fatigued to do anything more than weakly wrap his arms around Wally, fearfully noticing his own lack of strength. Flash pulled back but gently positioned him so that he could easily prop on the rapid Titan without using up more of his dispersing energy.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you let me help? Jinx is perfectly capable of dealing with Dr Light on her own. I would have stayed. And you wouldn't be like this,"Wally sighed worriedly.
"Your job is more important than me,"Elliot mumbled wearily.
Kid Flash stiffened and gawked horrifiedly, a similar response to Jinx herself. She spun to face him mortifiedly.
"What? No! I'm not sure if you've noticed but there are quite a lot of Titans to deal with Dr Light, of all villains. We would have helped you first every time,"Jinx exclaimed fervently.
"Yeah. You'd be our top priority! But now. We need to see what's up,"Flash declared dutifully,"I would ask you to show me but...you'll...pass out. So. It's to do with magic, right? Then, we need Rae. She'll know exactly how to fix you."
Jinx nodded agreeingly and was already clicking away swiftly on her small t-communicator. Wally West sighed distastefully, watching anticipatedly as the advanced communicator rang raucously, all three roommates in a tense, maybe almost fearful silence. Elliot Knight felt ever so lethargic and was already feeling his amber eyes droop shut tiredly and himself greatly requiring Kid Flash as his only means of support. Just as he believed he'd have actually fallen asleep, the advanced t-communicator was answered, brusquely snapping him out of his sleepy reverie.
"Jinx,"Raven said monotonously.
"Hey. Look. We need you here. Elliot, Kyd Wykkyd or whatever you want to call him, is a half demon too. He's got something wrong with his magic,"Jinx explained hurriedly.
"Oh. I'm on my way. Just need to tell the others,"she replied flatly, though with a slight hint of keen intrigue.
And with that, the short call ended rapidly. The three all yelped surprisedly as suddenly Raven appeared abruptly in the middle of the spacious living room, dark magic already prepared in her pale hand. Elliot's amber eyes widened fearfully, though it was sedated immensely by his heavy fatigue. She approached them with her usual, unfathomable expression, showing no sign of any acknowledgement at the meek greeting from Jinx or small wave from Kid Flash. She sensed the immense fear, apprehension, discombobulation and concern. And...affection. So very much affection. It seemed Wally and Elliot were much closer than they let on, in fact, even more than they themselves realised. If she hadn't known herself, she'd have assumed they were brothers. Wally smiled nervously.
"Hey, Rae,"he said worriedly.
She decided to plaster a reassuring, almost invisible smile over her pale face (which scarcely sufficed to compose him even an infinitesimal amount) and calmly sat cross-legged beside the two boys, though Elliot had already gradually fallen asleep.
"Tell me,"she prompted serenely.
"Well. We didn't really do anything power related, you know. We just played chess and then I tickled him- don't ask -and then he said he tried to teleport but couldn't. Me and Jinx left to stop Dr Light and basically we came back and El was flat out unconscious, or- errr -asleep? Dunno. Either way, we woke him up and he said that he couldn't teleport, or anything and was all very tired. Umm...as you can see… Anyways, can you...help?,"Wally explained uneasily.
She nodded thoughtfully and slowly extended a pale hand, black sorcery focused powerfully. Raven closed her purple eyes in immediate concentration and she spent a few minutes in tranquil silence. Kid Flash and Jinx shared befuddled, wary frowns, not daring to break the attentive silence. Finally, she opened her eyes with a knowing expression and both roommates huddled closer tensely, awaiting agogly.
"He's having what demons call a power failure,"she explained matter-of-factly, continuing at their clear bafflement,"How do I explain this...hmm...it's almost like growing up. For example, I've already had my power failure and because of it, my powers were increased...got more powerful, if you can understand. It's like a stage. After a week or so of not being able to use his powers, he'll be more powerful. Based on his current prowess, he probably only be able to teleport more people. His demon side clearly wasn't strong in magic."
Wally nodded excitedly and exclaimed brightly,"Cool!"
"Hmm. How long will he be like this, then?,"Jinx requested tensely.
"I'm not really sure. It's his fault for tiring himself anyway. He'll probably just need to sleep for a while,"she replied monotonously.
Raven smiled slightly and with a small wave, she disappeared suddenly, leaving a sleep purring Elliot Knight, a childishly elated Wally West and a slightly conflicted, awkward Jinx.