To say it was a 'bad' day at school would be an understatement. The plant home-room was still suffering from the occasional pixie, which agitated some of the more active plants, some of the bushes were suffering from root-rot, and worse, Boshca was getting bolder with her bullying, again, as sight of the mud and gum still in the dark-hair of the girl. Willow was just happy to have the day almost over so she could meet up with Hunter. He surely would have advice on how to handle almost everything, right?

As Willow opened her locker, half expecting another ladybug infestation planted by Boshca, she was relieved to see that everything was free of the terrifying little insects. Everything in her locker looked normal as well, thankfully. Willow breathed out a small sigh as she started to pack her items away, taking her usual books, looking over the picnic blanket her and Hunter used in the grove, quickly checking her homework list for the weekend, and finally picking up the jar of candy before pausing.

Usually Willow stocked the candy jar with Hunter's favorite Pungent-Blotch Adolescent candy, and her fruit gummy snacks, but this lazy attempt of trickery was honestly just sad. The candy was replaced by just dirt, and what looked to be some different types of worms. Was this really Boscha's last attempt at bullying for the day? Willow rolled her eyes, putting the jar in her bag. " I'll set you guys free when I get to the grove…" She muttered to the jar.

" Willow!" Luz jogged up to her, followed by Amity who was wearing a look of concern. " Jerbo told me what happened!"

Willow looked over to Luz, " Don't worry, Luz. The plants will be fine. It will just be a bit of a recovery for them." She smiled, hoping Luz wasn't talking about-

" But, he saw Boscha releasing the pixies into the Plant Track home-room! She was trying to get you hurt again!"

Willow flicked her ears as she frowned, turning to close her locker. " Don't worry, I can handle Boscha myself...I just need to figure out the best way to go about it."

"Willow…" Amity started, frowning as she stepped forward to be beside Luz, " Even if you figure something out, do you think Boscha will stop?"

The plant-witch shrugged, " That's why I am going to seek advice from...someone." Willow shifted her bag before turning, noticing the small smirk on Luz's face, before heading to the exit.

"Who?" Amity prodded, " I don't know anyone capable of stopping her, even Bump seems content on just letting her restart her reign of terror again."

" Don't worry, Amity." Willow looked back to give a smile to the purple-haired witch, " I have it under control."

Amity furrowed her brow, obviously still worried, but not willing to push Willow further. As the trio descended the steps of the school, seeing Gus chatting with Mattholomule, Willow felt a sense of weight lifting from her shoulders. Something about being inside the walls of the school today kept her on edge, but now being out of there she felt a lot better. As the trio of girls made their way to join the two boys, Willow's feelings were cut short by the hit of an object against the back of her head, making her stumble forward and almost lose her balance on the stairs.

"Hey!" Willow heard Luz yell, she could see Gus running over to her while Amity was already helping her to her feet...oh, apparently she did lose her balance. Wait, where are her glasses?

" Oohh, sorry. I was just returning one of Willow's weird plant experiments!" Boscha taunted from the top of the stairs. Willow could see the blur of Gus moving to get her glasses, before jerking around and jumping.

"Boscha, give those back or else!" Gus turned to the potions-witch.

"Or else what, Illusion-nerd?"

Willow tried to turn to look up at Boscha, but with her glasses gone she couldn't make out much. She felt the back of her skull tingling as well...did Boscha throw something more dangerous at her? She was feeling so dizzy…

"Ooh no, it looks like her glasses are dirty and cracked!" Willow narrowed her eyes at the blop of pink on the stairs. Did Boscha hit her so hard that she cracked her glasses? The answer came when she heard the distinct snap of frail metal, then the crunch of glass under a foot.

The reaction of Willow was enough to make Hunter, who was still on his way to the grove, take notice. He had already changed out of his Golden Guard gear, and decided to walk to the grove today instead of fly. He needed a chance to think things over before meeting up with Willow, and had lost track of time. She could already be there waiting, or was just getting out of school, he was unsure. The path he was on passed close enough to Hexside to check if students were out yet or not.

He felt the rumble of the ground under him before noticing anything. He was close enough to the school now, that as he looked up and peered through the trees, he saw a giant vine of thorns erupting from somewhere nearby, and towering over the school. Hunter turned on his heel, summoning Lil' Rascal's staff, and quickly made his way to the disturbance as he pulled the hood of his jacket over his head. He had a bad feeling about this, but if this was some plant beast or loose wild-magic attacking the school, would he have to step in?

Hunter landed on a strong branch of a tree, looking up at the entrance of the school before pausing. Dozens of kids were all frozen, staring at the same towering thorn-vine that had wrapped another student in its grip, who was struggling as the vines enclosed them. 'Ooh no…' Hunter looked down and over to where he suspected the cause would be, and true to what he knew he would find saw the student responsible. 'Willow!' Hunter stood up, about to mount his staff before a purple-haired girl and a darker-skinned boy grabbed Willow's outstretched arms and moved to pin them at her sides.

He stopped, looking to the entangled student to see who other than Luz the Human was working on forcing the vines off and away from them. 'Ok...think...Willow is obviously in distress, but will going in to try to help this situation make it worse?' Hunter looked back to Willow, yearning to go to her side, but as he saw the two other witches work, he decided it might be best not to. He swallowed, moving to kneel down and observe for now. A flash of red was in his vision for a second before he saw what caused it…

Lil Rascal had other plans.

Hunter gasped, standing up again before realizing that he couldn't give chance to his palisman without summoning The Golden Staff. He was a sitting duck now! As he watched he saw his palisman land right in front of Willow, and started chirping.

Willow felt herself coming back to her head suddenly, the spell of dizziness and anger suddenly subsiding as she heard yells and calls to her, and the sound of a bird chirping? She almost collapsed to her knees as she came to, her hand going to her head as she groaned. A splitting head-ache wrapped her brain and made it feel like mush.

"Willow! Willow! You have to stop!" Luz cried out...but, stop what?

"Willow, just calm down, take a few easy breaths!" Gus said, but she was calm...right?

" Why is that bird chirping- nevermind. Willow, can you hear us?" Amity was next in the line of voices. Wait...what bird?

Willow blinked a few times as she focused on a small blob of red in front of her. Was that...Lil' Rascal? The blob of red suddenly shifted, turning to fly to the bottom of the stairs, and then back to her, hovering just in front of her face. The unmistakable palisman held her glasses in their beak, which Willow hesitated, then took. Her frames were mangled, the glass of one of her lenses shattered but still intact, but the other one was gone completely. As she held her glasses, the memories of what just happened came back to her.

She put on the broken glasses and looked up, Boscha was held upside down in a vine. She looked like she was in pain, and was wide-eyed with a look on her face that let Willow know...Boscha was genuinely afraid for her life right now. "O-Oh my titan!" Willow raised her hand, forcing the vine to drop Boscha onto the stairs before summoning it away. Boscha shifted around, her school-uniform ruined from the attack, and small cuts on her body showing the real damage of what she just went through.

Willow could feel all the eyes on her, people looking at her with fear. She took a step back, away from Amity and Gus. She could hear them trying to talk to her, but couldn't make out the words. All she could do is stare at the girl she almost killed, as Boscha stared back, slowly raising to her feet. She saw Boscha's mouth moving, before seeing that Boscha was yelling, screaming. Willow just wanted to run, but then...she felt something soft on her shoulder and heard the chirps through the noise.

Lil Rascal was here...but if he was then…

Somehow Willow found the strength then, smacking the hand of Amity away and turning as she summoned Clover, and took off. She could hear her friends calling out to her, but she didn't care. She just had to get away from this all! This was just too much! As Willow flew off, Lil Rascal fluttered off her shoulder, hovering for a moment before diving away to the tree line. He took a long way around before landing back on Hunter's shoulder.

'Alright…' Hunter held Rascal's staff up, allowing the palisman to return to it before he mounted and took off, trying to chase after Willow. 'My turn to help, now.'