Angel: I'll take suggestions for voice actresses for Lucila, but I do like Gina Rodriguez, and I can see why she'd be a contender!
Boscha stood in front of a mirror, her trophy case behind her. She took a deep breath as her hair was down. "You are talented. You are a star," She told herself, tying up her hair in a bun. "You may be hated, so long as you are feared," She then stood up with a small smirk, putting on her sports Captain jacket for the Hexside Grudgby team. "Most important of all...you are a winner," She removed the past month to reveal 'Grudgby Season' in huge letters.
She dribbled a ball as she walked to school, people chattering as they watched her. She paid no mind to them, basking in the glory.
"There she goes. Captain of the Banshees," An old witch gestured to her. "Off to win another championship for Hexside."
"Why can't you be more like her?" A mother asked her son, who was in kindergarten.
He let out a deep sigh, looking towards the ground.
As Boscha arrived at Hexside, she saw that a banner had been put up to wish the Banshees luck. She spun the ball and then threw it, her friends joining her side. "All right, girls, you know the drill. Captain goes first," She then opened up the doors. "Hello, Hexside! Your star has arrived. Groveling line starts here," However, she found that no one was in line. "Something's not right. Nobody's here!"
There were yellow and blue balloons as well as banners, but no people. She then heard laughter, looking around the corner to see people standing in front of Willow, who was holding a plant.
"No way!"
"Do me next, do me," A student jerked a thumb to himself. Willow spun around a spell circle, and the sapling grew into an eggplant in the shape and likeliness of the student in front of her. "Welcome to the world, little buddy," He took it happily. "You're the coolest, Willow."
"Aw, shucks," She blushed at this.
"Yeah, Willow rules!" Another student cheered, Boscha walking past with her friends.
"Wow, she has to make friends out of plants. How sad."
Willow looked away with a small frown, but then Amity walked past her. "Oh, please." She then joined the girl's side. "You know, I used to be like you, Boscha, obsessed with status, challenging my competition. But I grew up. When will you?"
Her eyes widened at the question as Amity continued walking without them. Ever since her friendship had improved significantly with both Luz and Lucila, she just found behavior like Boscha's kind of disgusting. She couldn't even believe she used to act like that...
The group of girls glanced back at Willow and the students, who were laughing. She gave a look of anger. "Oh, this is not gonna fly."
Fireworks were going off at Hexside as Eda was dropping off Lucila and Luz. "My first grudgby season," Luz said happily as they were lowered to the ground. "I'm so excited! I have more school spirit than the school spirits!"
"Why do I even bother?" A ghost holding pom-poms nearby asked sadly, throwing down the pom-poms and floating away.
"Aside from hurting a ghost's feelings, you can compensate for me since I'm not really a huge sports person," Lucila told her sister. Thankfully after she confessed to Luz Grom night, the younger Noceda didn't start trying to baby her like she did when she found out about Eda's curse. Though Luz did sometimes check up on her to make sure she was okay, which she greatly appreciated.
"Oh, Grudgby season is the best," Eda explained to them. "You know, I used to play back in my gory days."
"What?" Lucila blinked in confusion.
"You mean glory days?"
"Ah, that too," The woman smiled in acknowledgment. "I was unstoppable on the field. I had the best moves and the best cheats."
Lucila rolled her eyes at this. "Cheating isn't anything to brag about," Luz recoiled back a bit. "How do you know you were any good if all you did was cheat your way to victory?"
"You know what, now the witch duel thing makes sense," Lucila rubbed her chin as she recalled the time that Eda wanted to cheat so that Luz could beat Amity. At least now she knew where Eda got her cheating tendencies from...
Eda scoffed at Luz. "What do humans know with your goodie-goodie attitude? If cheaters never prosper, why was I the star player?"
The two sisters glanced at each other before Luz placed her hands on her hips with a smile. "Well, can't reason with crazy." She then took King out from her hoodie. "Bye King, you little snoozers," She kissed his cheek, placing him down on the staff.
"Bye-" Lucila's crow interrupted her and she sighed slowly in a knowing way. For some reason she didn't understand, the Golden Guard was calling her now before classes, and at this point, she had ignored his calls. She oughta give him a warning the next time she laid eyes on him...
And yet, she noticed that this happened only AFTER Grom...
"Ugh, that thing's been ringing all morning! Were you this popular before?" Eda groaned at her. She pulled out the crow phone and it flew off.
"There!" She definitely didn't want to get detention today because of that thing...
"Who is calling you, hmm? Is it a certain Blight?" Luz teased, nudging her on the arm and she blushed.
"No. Don't worry about those, they're...prank calls," She huffed, crossing her arms.
"Dang it, she caught me," Eda bit her lip nervously since some of those calls were from her trying to prank Lucila just for laughs. The two sisters ran off and King scurried into Eda's hair, groaning.
"Eda, when was the last time you cleaned up in here?" He held out a bag of chips, tossing them. Then he took out a rat. "Get your own scalp, buddy, this one's taken!" He snuggled into her hair.
"All this talk of grudgby has me feeling nostalgic." The woman confessed with a fond smile. "What do you say you and me take a little trip down memory lane?"
"Hard pass," He disappeared into her hair.
"That's the spirit!"
"You mean me?" The ghost from before asked enthusiastically.
"Ugh. Come on!" She flew off on her staff.
"Aww..."
"Over 50 years ago, Emperor Belos appointed a head witch to each coven," The teacher stated, Lucila flinching a little between Gus and Luz. She quickly snapped out of it, though, and tried really hard to not feel a bit awkward learning this.
"I can't wait for grudgby season to start," Luz confessed to them. "I've studied up on all sorts of magical sports like this. Well...with Lucila's help."
"Because you and I both know that you can't study to save your life sometimes," Lucila whispered to her while still keeping an eye on the teacher.
"Not books! This," Luz held up a movie in her hands. "Good Witch Azura 2: The Fields of Deadly Fates. A classic underdog tale."
Willow took the movie to read the back. "Azura challenges Hecate in the smibbitch championship. But will she risk it all by taking a chance on the deadly Thorn Vault?" She opened up the DVD to see the disc.
"Ooh, a shiny cookie," Gus took it and he was about to eat it.
"Not food," Luz took it away from him.
"These are how we view movies, I'll tell you later," Lucila told the boy.
"And this is why...I learn from a God!" He gestured to the girl, who shook her head in amusement. God was a loose term, in her opinion.
"The council headquarters was built and paid for by..." He scoped the class for someone to answer. "Anyone? Willow?" She gave a look of surprise before standing up.
"Uh, the Pixie Dust Taxes?"
"Whoo, yeah! Go, Willow!" A student, who was somehow not in class, shouted from outside. The teacher closed the door using a spell.
"Impressive, Miss Park."
The students chatted amongst themselves about her, except for Boscha and her friends obviously. "What's going on?" Luz questioned with a smile as Willow bashfully sat down. "It's like all of Hexside's caught Willow fever!"
"Ever since I've patched things up with Amity, I've been feeling more confident," Willow shrugged a bit, gesturing to the clip in her hair.
"Honestly, I'd take this over grudbgy," Lucila smiled at the girl, just glad that Willow wasn't being seen as 'half-a-witch.' The clip suddenly floated out of Willow's hair, going over to Boscha as she grabbed it.
"Aww, Willow thinks she's popular now," She mocked at this. "How cute."
"And since when did you feel a need to care?" The older Noceda glared at her. "Mind your own business, Boscha."
"Aww, Grandma's defending her friend. That's equally as cute."
Lucila fumed at this while Willow looked embarrassed. Luz clenched a fist, looking over her shoulder. "Hey, I agree, my friend and my sister are very cute. But give that back!" She tried to snatch away the clip, but Boscha held it away from her.
"It's weird that Amity hangs out with you now. Ever since Grom, she's gone soft. But don't worry, I'm still here to show you who's boss," She then put the clip in her hair, which Gus snatched from her. He then planted it in Willow's hair.
"Here, Willow."
She smiled gratefully at him.
"And Lucila's cooler than anyone else I know," He defended with crossed arms, Lucila taking a deep breath.
"Thanks Gus, but I'm okay," She waved a hand. "Because I just realized that I don't need to lower myself by talking to controlling and ill-mannered children," Lucila smirked, her sister and friends gasping at her jab. Boscha's face turned red in anger at this.
"Oh, the friends wanna get in on this too, huh? And the older human wants to talk down to me?" She spun a spell finger, lifting up Willow's bag. She then dumped Willow's stuff on them, laughing.
"Is that laughter?!" The teacher asked from up front. "Hey! Learning's not supposed to be fun!"
"We are having zero fun, I swear," Luz defended, jerking a thumb to the girl. The three-eyed girl just gave an innocent smile.
"My apologies, sir. I was practicing my aim for grudgby," She then threw an eraser at Willow's head.
"Boscha, how could you throw things at them..." He took a chalk and then drew a circle on his chest. "When you could throw things at me? Am I over here? Or am I over here? Anything for the captain of the Banshees."
Lucila's eye twitched at this. "...I'm sorry, what?"
"Aw, thanks," Boscha took out her gum from her mouth. "But I already have the perfect targets," She flicked it into Willow's hair, who groaned at this.
"Two can play at this game," Lucila murmured to herself, taking out a plant glyph from her bag. She hid it very carefully so Boscha wouldn't see, tapping the symbol. A vine slid across the floor, going right behind Boscha's chair. The vine then pulled at the chair so that Boscha would have her chair away from her body, and she fell onto the ground. The students started laughing at her and she gritted her teeth, clenching her fists. She sat up and got a brief glimpse at Lucila, who gave a small smirk over her shoulder.
"I think all the grudgby practicing is going to your head, Boscha. You're practically falling off your feet!" She teased and Boscha fumed.
"I don't think you should be fighting back against Boscha..." Willow told the older girl.
"I don't care what Boscha does to me, but she shouldn't be picking on you guys and getting away with it," She argued back.
"Don't worry, it's not like she can follow us around all day, right?" Luz whispered to them.
However, Luz took that back as garbage and graffiti covered all three of them as they were sitting at the front steps of the school. Lucila had left to get stuff to clean them off with, and herself as well, but thankfully she found a cloak to wear to hide everything. "She followed us around all day," Luz murmured quietly. "She literally followed us around all day!"
Willow sighed, starting to pick off trash. "I'm really sorry I pulled you guys into this, Luci too. We should have just kept a low profile. Boscha could get away with murder if she wanted to!"
"What's this?" Principal Bump suddenly appeared. "Boscha got away with murder? I can't say I approve, but at least she's trying new things."
"We will find a way out of this," Luz stated as Amity walked past. "Amity!"
The girl blushed, turning around to see Luz running up to her. "Oh, Luz, you're here. I mean, obviously you're here, this is school and you go here now, with, uh, me...your sister hasn't said anything...weird, right? She hasn't pulled you away to tell you a secret? ...I've been talking for too long."
"No, but Amity, we need your help."
"Yes, I can help!" The girl answered eagerly. "...With what, exactly?"
"Boscha won't stop picking on Willow, and no one will do anything about it because she's the Star Captain of the Grudgby Team," She frowned at this.
"Yeah, this time of year, she's extra unbearable," Amity told her. Deep down, she always hated Boscha during Grudgby season. She made everything about her, more so than usual, and she got away with a lot of stuff that teachers wouldn't let slide.
"You're friends with her, can you help us?" Luz asked her pleadingly.
Amity sighed in dismay. "The hard part is there's no reasoning with Boscha," She backed away with a blush, purposefully not looking at Luz. "She only speaks in grudgby terms."
"Mm. Okay, okay," Luz nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm picking up what you're putting down."
Amity looked at her hands, confused. "I'm...not putting anything down."
Lucila was carrying a bucket of water along with a sponge, so that she could help wash the graffiti off her friends and sister...throughout the day, the teasing got worse and worse. And each time, the girl had a comeback for Boscha because she couldn't stand that girl's attitude with Willow. Just because people weren't talking about her, didn't mean she had to act out against an innocent person...
"Luci!" She flinched as she heard Edric's voice, looking away awkwardly. He ran up to her, touching her shoulder. "Hey, I've been looking all over for you."
"Yeah...it's, um, been a rough day for Luz and my friends..." She told him and he raised a brow in confusion.
"Why?"
"Let's just say Boscha and the four of us aren't on good terms," She turned around to show him her graffiti face and he winced.
"Ouch...are you okay?"
"I've been fighting back against her since the others are just taking it. I can understand why, but no one's hurting my friends and getting away with it on my watch," Lucila narrowed her eyes in annoyance. He smiled at her determination, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I-If you want, I could help..."
"It's okay. This is nothing I haven't handled before. You should've seen me when I found out that Luz herself got bullied in sixth grade," She smirked in amusement. "I managed to get the message very clear without even getting caught."
"Whoa, you?" He recoiled back in a bit of surprise. "No offense, but you always seem so...responsible, you know?"
"Well, yeah, but-"
A scream was heard and they whipped around to the entrance. Lucila slammed the door open, turning to her left to see Willow getting trash dumped on her.
"Willow!" Luz and Lucila shouted, running over to the girl.
"What happened?"
"Boscha happened," She looked up as Gus helped her. Boscha was standing at a two story window, holding an empty trash can right above Willow.
"Hey, Willow. I just thought all trash should stay in one spot."
Lucila bit her lip so hard, she could've made it bleed. She was trying really hard to stay calm, but her anger was boiling over. "And maybe ignorant girls like you should get their head out of their egos," Edric called out, Boscha gasping before she glared. She waved a spell finger to make Edric's hair wrap around his mouth. He struggled to get his mouth free.
"Oh no you don't!" Lucila growled at the girl at this.
"That's it!" Luz declared furiously, storming forward a bit. "Boscha! Willow challenges you to...a grudgby match!"
"She what?!" Boscha dropped the trash can in shock.
"I what?!" Willow sounded equally as shocked as the trash can fell over Gus.
"She what?! Seriously, what's going on here?"
Back at the Owl House, Eda was wearing her Grudgby uniform while going through her yearbook, talking to King. "And here's when we took down Epiderm High in the semi-finals," She put down the book, pointing to her picture. She was holding a trophy in the picture. "Oh, I was the youngest on the team, but I had what some call star power. AKA, this," She pulled into her hair, pulling out a lunchbox that said 'Eda's Rad Cheatz.' "This is my cheat box. I have all my best weapons in here. Smoke bombs, sock worms," She kissed it. "You name it! I never lost a game with this bad boy."
The door then opened to reveal Hooty. "Hoot, hoot! Guess who found a special friend in the forest~! It was me," He pulled in Lilith of all people, dropping her onto the ground. She gritted her teeth at her sister, who glared at her.
"Lilith," She put her lunchbox back into her hair.
"Edalyn," Lilith got onto her feet.
"Hooty!"
"Ugh! Scram, Hooty," Eda ordered him as she walked forward to stare the woman down.
"Okay!" He then slithered back to his spot and closed the door. Lilith then finally noticed what Eda was wearing.
"Why are you in your old uniform?"
"...No reason," She crossed her arms. "It's laundry day. What are you doing here?"
Lilith spun a spell finger, bringing up a scroll that had a LONG list of Eda's crimes. She then cleared her throat. "Edalyn Clawthorne, you are hereby under arrest by the order of the Emperor of the Boiling Isles-" Eda smirked at King, casting a spell to make the scroll roll up and hit Lilith in the face. She yelped and then the scroll disappeared.
"You were saying?" Eda asked knowingly.
"Come on!" Lilith groaned, stomping her foot. "I have to bring you in. It's time for you to join the coven. The Emperor has big plans for the Isles, and he wants you to be a part of it all."
"Ooh, ahh," Eda faked excitement while looking at her yearbook and King just looked annoyed at Lilith. "What an incredible opportunity for me."
"What are you even looking at?" She snatched the book away from her younger sister, her eyes widening at the pages. "Grudgby pictures? Feeling sentimental?"
Eda just scoffed in return. "Me? Never. I was just telling King here how good I was," She brought a ball over into her hands.
"Oh, Edalyn," Lilith closed her eyes in fake sympathy. "Not only is the curse affecting your hair, but your memory as well," She pulled up the photo of the young Eda, only to unfold it to reveal a younger Lilith, who had a bigger trophy and medals. Eda growled at this, as while she was the star player, Lilith was team captain. She looked at the ball and got an idea.
"Tell you what, I'll go with you peacefully to the Emperor," She spun the ball on her finger, Lilith giving a look of surprise.
"Really?"
"Sure," Eda then smirked at her. "If you beat me at a game of grudgby," She finished to Lilith. "Luz is always challenging people to things. Why not me?"
Lilith blinked and then gave a confident smile. She stepped forward, humming a little. "Game on."
Boscha gritted her teeth, stomping away from the window. "Luz, what are you doing?" Willow asked Luz with a small frown.
"I'm just following Amity's advice," Luz explained and Lucila sighed a bit as the three-eyed girl started walking down the stairs. "Boscha only speaks in grudgby terms. Trust me, I have a plan."
"Okay, maybe it's the altitude of the second floor," Boscha started off, spinning the ball with her finger. "But I thought I heard you say that Leaf Girl wanted to challenge me to a grudgby match." Lucila glared at the girl, wanting to scrub off the smugness.
"That's right. We'll settle this once and for all on the field," Luz told her as Boscha's friends stood behind her. Willow ran over, standing between them.
"Or we could just talk about our issues," She suggested, but was ignored.
"Let's do this," Boscha smirked at Luz.
"Oh no."
"If Willow's team wins," Luz threw an arm around the girl. "You don't get to pick on her anymore."
"Fine. And when we win, Willow and your team will be our water gofers."
"Ha! That's not even a punishment!" Luz bragged to her. "I love water."
"And we get to use you as target practice," Boscha added in, tossing the ball into the air. She then kicked it it into a tree, creating a hole in it. The three girls gave a look of shock at this, especially since smoke was coming from it. "See you after school, losers."
They watched her leave and then the tree caught on fire. "Whoo-hoo! Willow versus Boscha!" A student cheered at this. Amity, Willow, Luz, Lucila, and Gus walked towards the front steps, and she took the garbage can off of him.
"Luz, this isn't a good idea," Amity starts off, Willow sitting sadly on the stairs.
"Yeah, I've never even played grudgby before!" Willow stated in worry. "How am I supposed to beat Boscha?"
"But you're the better witch," Luz told her, throwing away the garbage can. Then she held up the Azura sports film. "I don't know much about sports, but I do know about sports movies."
"You know, Luz, there's a difference between knowing the sport and actually being good at it," Lucila crossed her arms.
"True, but!" She jumped up so she could face all of them like on a stage or soapbox. "We, too, are a ragtag team of lovable misfits joined together to defeat a powerful enemy. With a little team spirit and a training montage, we can win!"
Lucila and Willow glanced at each other, the former unsure. "Well, if you think this'll work, then I'm in," Willow smiled up at her.
"I'm not sure how this will turn out, but we'll see..." Lucila shrugged up at her. "At the very least, I can read up on the sport to help you."
"How about you, Gus?" Willow turned to the boy.
"In seasons past, these flags have waved in support of grudgby greats," He brought out the same flags that he used when he and his friends wanted to go to the game between Hexside and Glandus. "Now they will wave for the greatest! Me!" He smiled widely, Lucila chuckling.
"What about you, Amity?"
"Me? On a...team...with you? R-Running around in cute uniforms?" She chuckled nervously. "Sweating?!" She then blushed deeply. "I gotta go!" She ran off and Lucila gave a small knowing smile.
"Huh. Well, I guess she's out. Luci, you're runner up, so you'll be on the team!" "In any case," She jumped onto the floor. "Let's get training!"
They stood at the stadium, Luz standing in front of the three. Lucila was reading up on the sport. "So, how exactly do we play grudgby?"
"Well..." Gus started off, spinning a finger to bring up an illusion of the stadium. "There's a ball, and you score by getting the ball through the other team's goal."
"Kind of like basketball," Lucila informed her.
"That sounds easy," She smiled at this.
"It is, except..." Willow spun her own spell finger, summoning a leaf. She then blew it onto the stadium, and it landed on the floor...to avoid fire, vines, ice, and then finally stabbed with spikes.
"Oh, right. Boiling Isles. Should have predicted this," Luz commented and Lucila winced.
"Yeah...and magic is allowed, so that just gives us more of a disadvantage..." She murmured, since she and Luz didn't know as many spells as Boscha's team did. Luz put her phone down and played some music, putting on a headband around her.
"All right! Every great sports story includes a training montage," She started off and Gus raised his hand.
"What's a...montage?"
"Well," Luz rubbed her chin and then they had a montage where she explained the montage. She showed them a football video and then they had a tea party wearing animal onesies.
"Oh, I get it now," Gus smiled in understanding. "Wait, were we just having a tea party in animal jammies?"
"What happens in the montage stays in the montage!" Luz quickly dismissed it. "Now let's hit the field!" She blew a whistle, throwing the ball towards them. Willow was about to kick it when a large vine appeared, throwing the ball into Willow's hand. Lucila paled a bit while Gus and Willow ran off screaming. Lucila ran after them, a hand rising from the ground. It grabbed a hold of Gus while Willow ran off with the ball. The older girl jumped up and set him free, hugging his waist with her arm as she ran after Willow, who was being chased by fire balls.
"Whoo! Go, Willow!" Willow's fan was actually watching them, the only person in the stands. Willow bumped into a trampoline that appeared, being flung across. "You'll get 'em next time!" Willow landed near Luz, sighing tiredly.
"I need a cup of water."
Lucila staggered over to Gus, panting. "Luz, don't you think we're going a little too fast here?"
"Now for our big finale," Luz ignored the question. "Let's try the Thorn Vault," She brought up a plant glyph, tapped it, and then put it against the ground.
"Luz, wait-" The three were catapulted into the air, screaming as they flew across. Willow quickly spun a spell finger to create a large flower for them to land on. Lucila landed safely on a petal while Gus rolled onto the stadium. "Gus?" Willow ran over to him. "Talk to me, Gus!"
He looked up at her. "I-I think something's...broken."
Lucila gasped sharply at this before eyeing him. He didn't look to have any broken bones...He held up a flag and it snapped in half, causing him to gasp in horror. "My flags! I never should have tried to play. You were always enough for me..." He fell to the floor sobbing.
Willow heard a crunch, looking down at her hand to see her hair clip broken. She then closed her eyes. "Come on, Gus. I have some floral tape in the greenhouse," She sounded more stern than usual. "We'll fix them." He sniffled as she helped him up.
"Guys, let's try the Thorn Vault one more time," Luz tried to encourage them as they started walking.
"Not now, Luz. We're tired," Willow called out, Lucila glancing at her sister in sympathy.
"But we're the underdogs, we have to stay upbeat and keep trying and-"
"Luz!" Willow stormed back to her. "Not everything can be solved with a good attitude and a dope music soundtrack. We're going to lose. And no movie can help us against that. The game is off," She then walked off.
"Willow, wait!" Luz called out, but her sister put a hand on her shoulder.
"Luz...it's useless. Without proper training and the skills to back it up, we're gonna be stuck being Boscha's gofers," Lucila gestured to the two. "You can't just make them athletes overnight."
Luz frowned, looking at the broken hair clip. She scooped it up into her hands.
Back at the Owl House, a stadium had been created for the two women to play in. They met each other on the field, Hooty floating between them with an umpire hat on. "You gals ready to hoot? We want a clean game here, so no magic allowed."
"Yes!" King cheered near a scoreboard, wearing a cheerleader outfit. "Now I'll strike fear into my enemies with this armor of intimidation."
Eda snorted in laughter as she convinced him that it was armor, but she just wanted him to wear it so he could look ridiculous. "Yeah, intimidation armor," She then turned towards Lilith. "Pushing paper all day might make you a little rusty. I'll try to go easy on you," She tossed the ball to her sister.
"Remember, dear, sister, you may have been star player, but I was team captain for a reason."
She tossed the ball to Eda, who grunted in response. Hooty then blew the whistle.
Luz took off a bandaid, sitting alone as she placed it over Willow's broken hair clip. Lucila had left to go cool off.
"Tough practice?" Amity walked up to her.
"I pushed Willow, Gus, and my sister too hard," She lamented to the girl. "It's just—I hate seeing Willow get picked on. She's one of the best friends I've ever had. Winning this game is the only way I know how to help."
Amity looked away, giving a small smile. "Did you know before Boscha, I was the grudgby team captain?"
"Really?!" Luz looked up at her in surprise.
"Well, once I left the team, I decided that was a part of my life I wanted to forget. We were playing Glandus High for the Island Championship. We had a move planned, and it was a good one. But, at the last minute, I decided I wanted to do something a bit flashier. I changed our game plan to...the Thorn Vault."
"Good Witch Azura 2: Field of Deadly Fates?!" Luz exclaimed in recognition. "You watched it too?"
"Uh...yeah. It went disastrously wrong," They had gotten the win, but not without Boscha and Amelia getting injured. "My teammates got hurt, all because I had an idea of how things should be. I pushed them too far. I never played again after that day."
She turned to Luz, only to find her really close to her face. She yelped, falling backwards. "Sorry," Luz helped up a red-faced Amity. "I just really love backstories." They looked down to see Boscha and her teammates entering the field. "I know what I need to do to make this up to Willow," Luz smiled gratefully, giving Amity the hairclip. "Thanks."
She walked down the steps, Amity looking at the hairclip. She looked up as she saw Luz approach the gang of girls.
"It's after school. Where's the leader of your loser brigade?" Boscha taunted her.
"I'm here on her behalf," Luz placed her hands on her hips, thinking of what Willow would do. "...We forfeit."
Amity gasped at her decision, the other girls being shocked too. "And I'm here to tell you that I'll take Willow's place as your water gofer, target practice, whatever you need."
"Wow..." Boscha blinked down at the ball in her hands. "You're a really good friend." She then smirked and made the ball on fire. "And a perfect target."
Luz gasped at this. "Think fast!" She then threw the ball, Luz running out of the way. She ducked, and the ball hit a tree, knocking it down. She looked up at Boscha, who summoned more flaming balls. She then flung them, Luz getting on her feet and running off. Amity ran off to go find the others.
Lucila sat down alone on the stairs, sighing slowly. She oughta return to Luz by now...the match was starting, after all...she wished she wasn't doing it, though. She'd much rather do anything else, like write a song, practice a spell, hang out with the Golden Guard...
She blushed at that last one, snapping out of it. He was most likely busy, since she barely saw him in the day time anymore. And even if she did, she wouldn't know what to say to him.
"Hey Luci."
She looked over her shoulder to see Edric descending down to her. "Ed! Hey..."
"You okay?" He asked as he sat next to her.
"Just some stuff with Boscha. She won't stop picking on my friend, so Luz challenged her to a grudgby match, which...in hindsight wasn't a good idea," She pinched her nose. "But that's my sister for ya."
"Well, I'm sure you guys will figure it out. Umm, so about that date-"
Amity ran in, grabbing Lucila's hand and dragging her away. "Sorry Ed, gonna borrow Luci!" She called out quickly, the older girl glancing back with a sheepish smile. Edric sighed slowly at this, looking towards the ground. He felt like he wouldn't get an answer from her because of either interruptions or her not having an answer for him...
Willow repaired Gus' flags. "There. That oughta do it," She handed it to the boy.
"These are flags of surrender now," He lamented, the door slamming open to reveal Amity.
"Luz needs our help! I know she pushed you guys, and she always gets in over her head. She can be so stupid, which I love. I mean hate!" She blushed in embarrassment. "In any case, she needs you right now, which is sweet. I mean, I hate it, and it's dumb!"
The two stared at her, wondering why she was acting weird. Lucila, while amused, was also wondering what was going on. "You lost me," Gus commented after a few seconds.
"Just...here," Amity handed Willow the hair clip, earning a smile in return.
"Can we resist the call to action?" Gus looked at his flags. "No! May the flags be raised once more," He then dragged them off, but they were still attached to the IV. The other three ran off with him.
Eda ran with the ball, throwing it to the goal, but Hooty blocked it. "Hooty! Whose side are you on?" Eda called out in protest. Lilith ran right past her.
"I'm an unbiased participant, hoot hoot!"
Lilith leaped and grabbed the ball, running past her sister. Hooty emerged from the ground, opening up his mouth. She gasped before she jumped, twirling around and getting a goal. This left both women at a tie with five points each.
"Point goes to Lilith," King announced after he marked it. "We're at a tie here, folks!"
The two panted heavily, taking a quick breather. "Time for one more play," Hooty flew by with the ball.
Eda pulled out her cheat box from her hair. "Just one little trick and the game will be mine," Her eyes widened as she found nothing except a note from both Luz and Lucila.
I noticed your lunchbox was getting dirty, so I cleaned it! Love, Luz
More like I took away your cheating stuff so I can figure out what to do with it. Sorry not sorry, Luci
Eda grunted at this. "Dang it, girls! Your nonsense has gotten into my head," She frowned a bit. "Well, I guess I can consider me and Luci even since I kept selling her stuff at that carnival...Well, time to do this the old-fashioned way," She glanced at Lilith, hiding the box back.
"Taking your time," Lilith pointed out. "Nervous?"
"Not today, sister," Eda declared with a smirk, Hooty blowing the whistle between them. They both jumped for the ball, Eda grabbing it and running for the goal. Hooty then popped in front of her, blocking her way.
"It's me again!" She stepped on his face with her foot. "Ow!" Lilith then jumped onto him. "Oh, geez, hey."
"No!" Lilith held out a hand, watching her sister toss the ball into the goal.
"Ha ha! Game over!" King cheered at this. "Team Owl House rules supreme!"
"Yes!" Eda congratulated herself as she landed. "Still got it. Still got the skills to pay the bills."
"NOOO!" Her sister shouted, getting her attention. "No!" She slammed her fists onto the dirt. "I can't go back to the Emperor empty-handed."
The Owl Lady then sighed, looking at her ring. No matter what Lilith had tried, she was still family...She took it off, holding it out to Lilith. "Here." She glanced at it, looking at her sister. "Tell 'em I put up a heck of a struggle."
Lilith then took it. "I will be back for you," She got onto her feet. "And next time, I won't be alone..."
"I'll be waiting," Eda smirked, hands on her hips. Lilith glanced at Eda one last time before walking off towards the forest. Eda gave a small but sad smile.
"I'll be waiting too!" Hooty exclaimed, ruining the moment. "Hoot, hooty, hoot!"
Luz panted, sweating as she kept running past various balls being thrown at her. A wall of spikes emerged in front of her, causing her to stop in her tracks.
"Having fun yet?" Boscha stood a few feet behind her. "Cause I'm just getting warmed up!" She tossed the ball and Luz braced herself...only for a tree to pop up in front of her. The ball went flying back to Boscha's hands. "Huh?"
"Boscha," Willow stood bravely in front of the tree. "Your issue is with me, not Luz. Leave her be."
"Willow!" Luz ran up to the girl. "Willow, I'm sorry I got you into this mess. You're right, I got my head too stuck in that movie biz."
"It's okay," Willow turned to her fully, smiling. "I know you were just trying to help in your Luz way. But now let's finish this..." She narrowed her eyes. "My way. The game is back on."
"You need four players on your team," Boscha reminded them. "Where's your third and fourth?"
The two glanced up at Gus, who was too preoccupied with his flags. "Well..."
"Right here."
They looked in shock to see Amity and Lucila standing there. "You didn't think I'd let you guys have all the fun, did you?" Lucila winked at them and they beamed. Amity walked past Boscha, who felt betrayed by this.
"You just destroyed your social life," She told Amity, who crossed her arms.
"No, I think I've made it better."
"You gonna stand there and be all bark with no bite, or are we playing?" Lucila smiled in amusement as Boscha was fuming.
"Game on!"
Both teams were in grudgby clothes, Lucila wearing a red shirt underneath all the gear. Gus jumped up, waving his flags.
"Go, Willow!"
"There's something on your shoe," Willow told Boscha.
"Like I'd fall for that." As the ball was launched into the air, she jumped to grab it, only to fall because her shoe was wrapped in vines. Willow grabbed the ball, waving a spell finger to drag her underground. Boscha growled, spinning her own spell finger to burn through the ground. Willow emerged before the flames could touch her, tossing the ball to Lucila. She placed down an ice glyph and then stomped on it, propelling her into the air so she could throw the ball into the goal.
As the game went on, Amity and Luz stopped in front of a giant axe. Amity spun a spell circle so that a large abomination hand could stop it. Luz smiled as she ran for it, Amity giving her a thumbs up.
Gus chuckled as he waved his flags, making duplicate illusions of himself to cheer on his friends. Amelia ran past vines and arrows to score a goal. She stopped in front of Luz.
"Nice work," She congratulated the girl, who held out a hand.
"Thanks," She high-fived Luz with a smile, turning back to Boscha. The girl was grumbling with her arms crossed, and Amelia did the same thing.
Boscha threw a flaming ball towards Luz, who used an ice glyph to block it. The ball melted through the ice, landing in Luz's hands...and she saw a glyph left behind on it. "Whoa! Luci!"
She ran over and saw it, smirking knowingly. Luz put a paper over it to copy it, and when she tapped it, she made the ball go on fire. The two gasped at this. "Fire magic! Amity!" She threw it at the group of girls, who ran off screaming. Amity used an abomination hand to punch the ball through the goal.
"Yeah!"
"Alright! Nice, Luz!" Lucila pumped a fist, the two sisters high-fiving each other.
Boscha glanced back at the other team as the two were tied.
"We're doing great, guys," Lucila smiled at them.
"There's time for one more play," Amity told the three.
"And this play could determine whether us underdogs win or lose," Willow smiled a bit, glancing at her friends.
"Here's what I have to offer," Luz showed them all of the glyphs she learned, including the fire one. Lucila showed her own glyphs.
"I think we should try...this one," She pointed to the plant one and Luz gasped sharply.
"The Thorn Vault? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm with Luz on this one," Lucila frowned in concern.
"I'm ready this time," She assured them.
All the Gus duplicates cheered, doing the wave. The two teams met up with each other, the ball flying into the air. Luz caught into her hands.
"Watch out!" Amity pushed her out of the way as Boscha tackled her onto the ground.
"Amity!"
"Luz!"
Luz looked up and saw the other three girls running after her. Lucila ran up to Skara, tackling her. Luz then used the plant glyph, tapping it. She gave the ball to Willow, who jumped onto the glyph, catapulting herself with the large vine. She ran as fast as she could, throwing it into the goal, giving them the win. She fell and landed in a bed of flower petals that she summoned, gasping.
"Whoo!" Luz jumped up into the air.
"Willow!" Lucila whooped as they ran over to her, giving the girl a hug.
"You did it, Willow! We did it! We won!" But then they looked at the scoreboard, and for Boscha's team, 9 increased into 999. "Wait, what?" Luz turned to Boscha, who held up a golden beetle with jeweled eyes.
"Oh, thorns," Willow said in dismay.
"Nooo..." Lucila pinched her nose.
"Wh-what happened?!" Luz stammered in confusion.
"She caught the Rusty Smidge," Willow explained to her.
"The what?"
Boscha looked smug as she stepped forward. "Yeah, while you were celebrating your victory, I caught this guy. It means we automatically win. All magic sports are like this."
"As unfair as it is, she's right. It's in the rulebook," Lucila crossed her arms.
"That just invalidates all our efforts! If catching that thing is so important, why do anything else? There's no reason to watch any of the other players! That's such a stupid rule!"
"Well, we beat them and proved our social dominance," Boscha bragged as she walked off. "All is right in the hierarchy," Cat and Amelia ran right past her. "Hey!"
"Good game, Willow," Skara told her in a friendly way.
"I had so much fun playing you guys," Amelia spoke up next.
"Oh, really?" Willow asked in surprise.
"Willow, you're really good," Cat told the girl. "Would you wanna be on our team?"
Willow glanced at Boscha, who was shocked.
"Hmm, thanks for the offer, but I think I'm done with grudgby for a while," Then she realized that one of them was missing. "Hey, where's-" They looked up ahead to see Amity on the ground, struggling to stand.
"Amity!" The three shouted, running over to her. She groaned, holding her right leg.
"I think I hurt my leg. But I'll be okay."
"Oh, I haven't learned how to heal broken bones yet from Healing Class..." Lucila frowned a bit.
"Are you sure? I could help carry you if it really hurts," Luz offered the girl, who blushed.
"I'm fine!" She exclaimed nervously with a laugh, Willow and Lucila smiling towards each other. "Who's Amity?"
"And...scoop," Luz picked her up bridal style.
"Oh. Wow! Sports."
"Can we have another montage?" Gus suddenly joined them.
"Yeah. Montage, activate!"
During the montage, the four threw the ball through the goal, using flowers Willow summoned. They looked at the scoreboard and Gus changed it so that their team would have one thousand points. They ran to the Owl House, meeting up with Eda and King while stepping over Hooty. King did a little dance in his cheerleading outfit.
"Heh, you're not gonna show this to anyone, right?"
"Of course not," Eda stated while Lucila and her sister were grinning widely. "Keep cheering."
Amity then arrived with a cast over her leg, having a crutch. Hooty threw her onto the couch, surrounded by her friends as they all had tea together.
The Golden Guard slowly closed the door to his room, looking down the empty and dark hallway. He used his staff to light the way. Usually when he snuck off to go teach Lucila, he used the front door since no one questioned it...and also because the guards were usually asleep at that point. He couldn't wait to see her again on the inside...when he saw her in that dress, it got him really curious about what she was doing.
"And just where are you going, Golden Guard?"
He gasped quietly as he turned around to see Kikimora, the Emperor's assistant. She was also not someone he particularly cared for, but he had to stomach her presence since they both worked for the same person. "Heh, and why should that be any of your business?"
"It just seems peculiar that the Emperor's right-hand man would run off at this time of night," She looked at him suspiciously. She had been around the area and heard him close the door, which got her attention. Come to think of it, she barely heard or seen him at all lately for the past month or so...she didn't care most of the time, but she did sometimes wonder what he did.
"I'm just going...for a midnight stroll. Unless you have a problem with that. We both know the Emperor doesn't," He challenged and she growled a bit at that remark before taking a deep breath.
"Well...as long as the Emperor approves, then by all means...enjoy."
He walked off without another word, not noticing her glare towards him. She didn't believe that the Emperor knew about it, or else he wouldn't be leaving in the first place with no one around...
Lucila was leaning against a tree, reading the lyrics the Golden Guard wrote. She smiled to herself, as she couldn't wait to see Cori and Will again. She had so much to tell them when she got back home...her expression faltered a bit as she hadn't explained at all her situation. Cori was currently on a cruise, so she hadn't been texting Lucila much. But she didn't even so much as hint at it like Luz did with their mother. Was she a bad friend for that? They were her best friends after all, she didn't hang out with anyone else...
Suddenly the Golden Guard landed in front of her, dusting himself off. "Hi, Luci. Sorry for being late."
"That's okay," She smiled a little, closing the book. "But you mind telling me why you kept hitting up my crow phone?"
"Uhh..." He couldn't exactly tell her that he wanted to get her away from Edric. "Just...checking on my best student!"
"Uh huh..." She didn't buy it since she was his only student but decided to drop it. "So, fun fact, I saw the fire glyph today, so I'm wondering if we could start getting me to learn-"
"Actually, um..." He cleared his throat, and she looked up at him. "I wanted to ask you a question."
"Oh, sure. What is it?"
"I, uhh...remember you mentioning Grom to me once, and I was wondering...how it is in the human world," He definitely couldn't tell her that he had been watching over her.
"...Oh," She blinked in realization. "Well, in my world, it's not exactly as terrifying as it is here. We don't exactly have to do some tradition, we just have fun, dance, see who gets nominated for Prom Queen...mine hasn't come yet, though."
"That sounds kind of boring," He snorted in response.
"Well, I wasn't thinking yet whether or not I was gonna go," Lucila rubbed her neck sheepishly.
"Could we dance for a bit?" She recoiled back in surprise. "Just to see what it's like." He held out her hand and she felt a bit hesitant. But...she felt like she could trust this just this once...
"...Sure," She slowly grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. He reached out for her glasses and she recoiled back. "Umm, that's not happening. I can't see without them, I'll trip."
He took them anyway and she blinked, looking up in confusion. "I've been wondering if I was missing much without seeing them off you. Turns out I was." She gasped at that a little and looked away, blushing a bit.
"I-I really need those back..."
"Just tell me what to do and I'll lead."
"Um...okay," She gulped nervously, realizing that they would be getting very close. But then again, he was the one curious about dancing. "S-So just take my right hand." He slowly took ahold of it. "Put my other hand on your right shoulder." He did as instructed and she cleared her throat, trying not to be distracted by his hand, but it was really hard. "T-Then you put...your free arm around my waist...and you'll...have to pull me closer."
He flinched at the last instruction for a brief moment, but did so. She gasped at how close they were, and she recollected herself.
"And then we just...sway."
They started to move and Lucila stumbled a bit since she still couldn't see. Then he suddenly got an idea. "You mind if we try something? I read about it in a book," He shrugged casually, confusing her. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. She smiled at the suggestion and nodded. He slowly turned her around and her right leg went in demi-plie. Her left leg extended all the way to his waist as she held out her arms. He grabbed her left leg, lifting it a bit higher.
He gently touched her waist and lifted her up as her legs gently moved in a half-circle. He placed her down and they both swayed their arms outward, the girl sliding to his right. She then spun her right arm over her head as he grabbed her left hand. She suddenly spun around elegantly while en pointe into his arms. He wrapped an arm around her waist as he lifted up her again, both of them spinning around in a twirl. Once he set her down, her back faced him, with her feet still on pointe. He grabbed her extended left arm and spun her back to face him. He let his arms fall back while she gently moved forward towards him, her right leg extending all the way to the top of her head.
She placed it back down and he spun her to be in front of him, the girl holding onto his hands gently. It felt like they were dancing on air with how swift and elegant she felt with him during the dance. She briefly looked up at him, and she couldn't tell by the mask if he was still okay with it.
However, he spun her back again, this time with her facing his body. "So?"
"That was actually kind of fun. I've never danced like that before," She chuckled at him as they went back to the position she taught him, moving themselves alongside the lake. "Didn't think you'd like that, to be honest."
"...I-I just wanted to...try it with the right partner," He cleared his throat and she opened her mouth in shock. She had no idea that...he wanted to do it with her specifically. And hearing him confess that...it made her kind of melt a little, in a good way. And he was just so gentle despite their initial interactions, and him being in the Golden Guard. She just...couldn't stay away from him.
Lucila closed her eyes, resting her face into his shoulder. She hugged his neck and he froze, as he wasn't expecting that from her. But he quickly got used to it and hugged her waist with both arms, both of them embracing themselves in the serenity of the atmosphere and each other.
Kikimora peeked at the two from behind a tree, gasping a little. She pressed her back against it, wondering just what she had witnessed. She then gave a little devious smile to herself. It would be easy to just inform the Emperor about this...
But she could also have the girl turn against the Golden Guard as well...
With that in mind, she walked down the hall and entered the throne room. "Apologies for intruding so late, Emperor," She curtsied to him.
"No trouble," He waved a hand as she faced him.
"I'm terribly sorry to have to inform you of this, but...it seems that the Golden Guard has taken interest in a human girl. He seems to be preoccupied in what looks to be a blooming romance between them, sneaking off every night to see her. Such a shame, really..."
"Hmm..." He gripped the edge of his seat. "It seems as if the girl wants to tread all over our plans...we'll have to remedy that."
"Luckily, I have a suggestion," Kikimora clicked her nails together as she formed a plan.