Axl

Story

Axl was born in London, England, during the 20th century to a wealthy family. Growing up around constant gang violence made Axl desensitized to it, but he despised the cruelty around him all the same. Wishing to make his neighborhood peaceful, Axl spent years trying to achieve this goal. Thanks to his natural charisma and talent for martial arts, he managed to settle things without any casualties and, along the way, met his girlfriend, Megumi.

Just when everything was going well, Axl suffered from a time-slip phenomenon that sent him 200 years into the future. Without any idea about what happened, why, and where he was, Axl began searching for a way back. Two years went by before he found his first lead. It was news about a fighting tournament where the winner could receive anything they wanted. 

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a trap set up by the Testament to revive Justice. Axl was lucky enough to survive the ordeal and continued to wander around on his journey. Axl was almost getting used to the new world as time went on, but his irregular powers kept causing him to slip back and forth in time chaotically.

The year is 2191. After some time has gone by, Axl finds himself in Babylon. Out of nowhere, a voice speaks up to him, introducing itself as The Original; and tells him that he needs to deliver a message to That Man to make progress. Shortly after, he slips back to 2187 and gets attacked by Bedman, almost dying until I-No swoops in to save him. The relief is short-lived as I-No tries to kill him herself for knowing too much. However, she fails. Axl explains to her that he was only asked to deliver a message and asks for her help. I-No agrees under the pretense that it might make things more exciting and takes Axl to That Man, where he relays the message.

A week goes by, Axl starts looking for I-No, hoping that she might be able to send him back home. He finds her in the middle of her search for Jack-O and asks for her help, but I-No tells him that it’s impossible for her to send him back. Suddenly, Jack-O appears, and after Axl defeats her in a fight, she reveals the origin of his power. She also tells him that should he return home, the current world he’s in would be destroyed, as it will become a mere possibility.

Axl is distressed with this new knowledge. He’s confronted with two options where both choices would lead to leaving something behind. Unexpectedly, I-No approaches him, and they sit down for a conversation. Trying to comfort Axl, she suggests that he find his own perspective on living because nobody else can do it for him. After some time, Axl decides to stay in the current timeline and become a man Megumi could be proud of. Following his decision, Axl uses his power to help Sol and others to defeat Ariels.

Having made his choice, Axl tries to adapt to his new life and go on without looking back on the past. However, it becomes more challenging, as after gaining better control of his powers, he realizes that he could switch places with Megumi, bringing her to the current world while he goes back. His daydreaming about meeting Megumi is interrupted by the premonition that something terrible is about to happen. To understand what’s happening, he begins to revisit the same place day after day. One of these days, he meets a friendly merchant. The two have a conversation in which the merchant offers Axl advice. He suggests that people lose their way in life not because it went away but because they forgot how to look for it and that getting stuck in the past will lead to missing things in the present.

Suddenly, he is interrupted by a vision of Happy Chaos, who tells Axl that they haven’t seen each other since 2192. Unsettled by this vision, he seeks out Sol and Jack-O to warn them that something terrible will soon happen. He would be right, as only moments later, Happy Chaos destroys a building that housed Nagoriyuki to awaken him from his meditative hibernation. Before any casualties could happen, Axl stops time and teleports the victims away from the catastrophe. In the midst of this, he meets I-No, who seems to be fighting on the side of Happy Chaos. He attempts to talk her out of it to no avail.

Later on, a massive fight happens at the G4 Summit as I-No ascends to godhood. Axl saves Ky from getting killed but refuses to fight I-No, trying instead to talk sense into her. While it fails, their conversation creates an opening for Sol to attack, striking I-No’s weak spot with Outrage. As she lays, Axl begs her to remember anything she can, and his tears seem to rekindle her memory before she fades away. 

Sometime later, Axl sits alone on a park bench before a woman approaches him from behind, relaying I-No’s last message to him and asking if he’s really Axl. He turns around and looks at her in disbelief, seemingly meeting Megumi again after all this time.

Personality

Axl is an incredibly courteous and kind person. While his situation is tragic, to say the least, he remains hopeful and optimistic, letting things take their course as he tries to navigate through life at his own pace. Even when it comes to fighting, Axl despises death and cannot take his opponents’ lives.

Appearance

Axl is a man with blue eyes and long, blonde hair. On his head, he wears a black headband with a white cross pattern. On top, he has a cropped, sleeves, blue shirt with several zipper sliders on it. Over it, he wears a varsity-style jacket with a tartan pattern, and on his arms, he wears brown fingerless gloves. Below he wears dark grey pants with brown boots. On his pants, he has a little pouch with a UK flag print.

Playstyle

Axl is the definitive zoner. The majority of his moves are built for controlling space and harassing enemies at mid to long-range, utilizing a plethora of options for each situation. While getting in on him might seem extremely difficult, that kind of reaction requires Axl players to be very mindful of which option to use. With high whiff recovery and generous blind spots in his attacks, getting reckless will lead to a quick loss.

While his keep-out and zoning are second to none, Axl doesn’t have much that would allow him to fight back in terms of defense. With slower normals and no good reversal options, he must rely on matchup knowledge to regain control.