Teaching her brother how to box was funny. He absolutely sucked at it. He was dog shit at boxing. No wonder he was so good at games instead. But as time went on, he started sucking less and less as her teaching skill rose more and more. It was easier to raise this skill over her other skills for some reason Zoey couldn’t figure it out.

“Am I doing it right?” He bounced on the tips of his toes and threw a sloppy punch at her punching bag.

“Your balance is off after you throw a punch. And always keep your other hand up after throwing a punch. If you throw a punch like that and miss, someone will easily be able to counter you and knock you out in one hit.” Zoey informed.

“But I'm not planning to be a boxer.” He told her.

“Oh yeah. My bad. A demon will be able to kill you in one hit if you punch like that.” She corrected.

He liked that explanation better and threw a somewhat less lousy punch the second time around. She gave him a nod to tell him that was good enough. The two of them went like this for most of the morning and near the end of their teaching lesson, Zoey’s mom burst into the room. She didn’t really burst inside but she sure as hell didn’t knock before coming in. Zoey locked eyes with her mother, she had her phone in her hand. It looked like she was trying to fish out an apology or some feeling of sadness within Zoey but Zoey had no such feelings inside her. She wasn’t sorry that her mother was ignorant and couldn’t understand her.

“Here.” She placed her phone on her desk and soon left after that.

It looks like she wasn’t that ignorant if she knew that Zoey wasn’t going to apologize or act any differently with her. She could cry, scream, or punish her again and Zoey would act no differently. However, since her grounding was over that meant she could level her skills more efficiently now. But this time around, Zoey had to make sure that she didn't get demon blood all over herself again before she returned home. Zoey spent most of her life adapting and improving whenever she got in trouble for something with her mother. Life is a learning experience. A learning experience in how to avoid trouble better!

Zoey called up Alexander and Lindsay to tell them she was no longer grounded. When talking to Alexander, he sounded more excited than her when she told him that she could leave the house again. Lindsay explained that this was because they found a case in the local park. They just learned of the case not too long ago and she just so happened to get off of punishment around the same time. Both of them invited her to the park and she had no reason to refuse.

So, she left the house with her cursed boxing gloves and some casual clothes that wouldn’t hinder her if she got into a fight. Unlike the other times she got involved with daemons, Zoey didn’t plan to fight this time around. It turns out, Lindsay and Alexander needed to deal with daemon if they wanted to grow as magicians. The bringer couldn’t deal with the daemon for them. Zoey thought that was understandable. She did wonder how often the bringers were more effective than the magjistars in dealing with demons in the magic community.

‘Probably not often at all. I should be a freak of nature.’ Zoey felt a little bit of pride in a title like that.

In how many shows or stories could you see a boxer being more effective than a mage? Zero! That’s how many! And this is when she hasn’t even learned any magic to complement her fighting style. Zoey felt like giving off an arrogant laugh when thinking of her future potential with the Box. With the Box, she probably didn’t even need magic!

“Zoey! I’m glad to see you again!” Alexander greeted with a wave and a smile too wide for what they were about to do. Which was committing murder.

“Hello.” She responded back.

“Hey, Zoey.” Lindsay also greeted.

“Hi, Lindsay.” She said to her too.

In Alexander’s hand was a strange purple box. The type of box you’d see used for a jack-in-a-box. It had a wind-up thing and everything too. Zoey wondered if this was that some sort of magic object like that cat from Alexander’s magic teacher. Lindsay had a small little wand in her hand and the young boxer was a little bit confused. It was still daylight out. Were they going to hunt the demon in broad daylight? People were still walking through the park and past it.

“So, uh... how are we going to do this? What’s the plan?” Zoey asked. She was completely lost.

“Leave everything to us this time!” Alexander happily announced.

“If anything goes wrong, we’ll need you to help out though.” Lindsay added.

‘Oh, so that’s why I'm here. Well, being counted on for backup is 10x better than being counted on for being bait for the supernatural creature that has no issues with ripping people apart.’ Zoey shrugged.

Alexander began winding up the jack in a box as Lindsay readied herself to use that little brown stick in her hand. Zoey watched Lindsay as it looked like she was going to be the attacker this time around. She put on her boxing gloves in anticipation of things going wrong somehow. It would be better if she had them on when an emergency happens rather than trying to put them on after something happens. Nothing wrong with a little caution, you know?

The little jester in the jack in the box exploded outward with a creepy clown laugh as a purple mist flowed from its mouth. The mist quickly expanded into something that formed a border around the entire park. Zoey covered her mouth and nose in confusion and panic. Around her, the people walking through or past the park suddenly fell to the ground. She didn’t know if they were just sleeping, unconscious, or something else. Her eyes met Lindsay’s and somehow just with her eyes, she got the feeling that this gas wouldn’t hurt her. Or she’d help her at least. Zoey wasn’t good at eye contact or trying to glean information out of people's eyes.

Once she removed her boxing glove from her mouth and nose, she immediately fell asleep. A state that she would’ve been stuck in if it wasn’t for Lindsay waking her up by injecting a little mana in her body. After waking her up, Lindsay ran off towards Alexander. It took Zoey a bit before she could clear her head. Suddenly going unconscious and then waking up soon after wasn’t an experience that one could just shake off in a few seconds. The brain probably needed some time to understand what the fuck it just went through. Especially since magic was involved.

In the distance, Zoey could see Alexander and Lindsay facing off against a demon together with their cute little stick wands. The demon this time was a fat man with a big round gut and a hairy belly button. Basically, a demon with a dad bod who let himself go and probably loved to drink beer in the morning, afternoon, and night. This was pretty fortunate for the president and vice president who could move faster than the demon with their young athletic bodies. If they had to face off against the tongue demon she went against, they’d be ripped to pieces by now.

“Lightning Volume I: Ray of Lightning!” Alexander shouted as a lightning arc shot from his wand.

“Ice Volume I: Beam of Frost!” Lindsay yelled with a pretty spiral of blue energy coming out of her wand’s tip that spun towards the demon.

‘That’s pretty damn cool even if calling out the name of their spells is embarrassing.’ Zoey had to admit.

The lightning reached the demon so fast that he couldn’t even attempt to dodge it! Alexander’s lightning shocked the demon all the way down to his bones, leaving him open for Lindsay’s attack. Lindsay’s ice spell froze the dad-like demon into an ice sculpture. The two of them looked at each other with an excited smile before chanting the same spell together.

“Basic Volume I: Destruction!” An incredibly slow red line of energy flew towards the frozen daemon.

Zoey watched as the magic penetrated the ice and entered inside the body of the demon before the ice prison it was stuck inside exploded into pieces. Multi-colored particles rose into the sky after its destruction and a sparkling green gem was left behind. The reactions of the two trainee magicians were very funny to see.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” Alexander repeatedly rose his fist in the air at their victory.

“Looks like I haven’t forgotten my lessons at all.” Lindsay picked up the magjishard with her wand by using magic to levitate it.

“Our second case successfully done! We’ll become real magjistars in no time!” Alexander exclaimed.

“Nice work team. How much do you think a case like this is worth?” Zoey congratulated.

“Same as last time.” Lindsay answered.

“You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.” Zoey told her.

Money was one of the most precious things on Earth. The number of things she could buy with this demon-hunting money was amazing. Too amazing! She still hasn’t spent all the money from the money she got last time! Zoey just didn’t know what in the world to spend thousands of dollars on. Don’t forget she was a girl in high school. The things she could buy with all that money were just so overwhelming she couldn’t decide what to use it on first.

“A new phone!” Was her first choice. And obviously, it would be the latest and most expensive phone out on the market right now.