A/N: Okay, so, I'm a bit further ahead thanks to this new schedule. As far as the Amphibia fic is concerned.
So, bearing that in mind, I'm going to be uploading 2 chaps for Witch to give you guys the complete two part eps so both fics can be where I need them to be for a certain movie in the future.
And don't skip this ep, it may surprise you.
It was a normal day at Hexside, the birds were chirping, the students were gossiping, and there were some random pixies messing around in the Plant Track room. Unfortunately, Willow was alone when the infestation of the things was happening, and she tried to shoo them out. But they were not having it.
"Oh, c'mon, please just go away!" Willow pleaded as she used a broom to swat at them. To no avail.
At that time, Gus was walking by and saw what was happening inside, "Willow, what's going on?!"
"Ugh, some pixies got in and were messing with the plants, I'm trying to get them out of here!" Willow swatted at them again, but the pixies managed to grab the broom and yank it out her hands, causing her to fall on the floor. "But I'm having zero luck right now…"
Gus watched as the little buggers were getting into everything, having zero regard for the plants and the work the other students put into them. That's when the prodigy illusionist had an idea.
"Don't worry, Willow, I got this," said Gus.
Gus drew a spell circle in the air, conjuring his magic and creating an illusion of a Bandersnatch, a natural predator of the pixies. The imaginary beast roared at the pixie swarm, causing them all to cower in fear upon seeing it. With the creatures fear stunned, Willow drew a spell circle, conjuring vines to weave into a tightly knit net so that she could capture the swarm.
"That's great, Gus, keep it up!" Willow exclaimed.
The young illusionist smiled, emboldened by Willow's words as he made the Bandersnatch approach them, growling fiercely, and even having it drool a little for extra flare. However, one of the pixies, in a panic, threw something at the illusion, and unfortunately, all of them saw it pass right through it. That same pixie grabbed something else and chucked it at the Bandersnatch illusion, repeating the same result. The pixie flew over to it, confident in its conclusion as it managed to fly through the illusion. When it did, it noticed the vine net about to come down on them and warned the swarm to fly away.
Willow tried to bring the net down as fast she could, but the swarm already moved out of the way. That's when the swarm surrounded her, glaring at her as if she was the one who did that. "Oh no…"
The pixie swarm became violent and immediately attacked Willow. Gus, in a panic, ran towards Willow and tried to swat away the pesky pixies, but they were having none of it, as some of them grouped together and grabbed Gus by his hood, and tossed him like a ragdoll across the room, striking the wall back first. Gus coughed, painfully, as he tried to get back to his feet. He watched as the swarm continued to hound Willow, forcing her to run out of the classroom.
Gus picked himself up and ran after her, he needed to help her, somehow. The olive-skinned teen created another illusion up ahead of another predator, but the pixies were not so easily fooled, if anything it just made them angrier, thinking that Willow was taking them for fools. The swarm managed to grab Willow, hoist her up over the rotunda in the lobby, and threw her down from the second floor.
Willow hurriedly drew a spell circle, summoning a vine from a potted plant on a column to grow and reach out to her. The Plant witch teen managed to grab it, but it only succeeded in slowing her down just a bit as the pot snapped off the column as Willow hit the floor down below.
Gus panicked and ran to the railing, looking down and seeing Willow on the floor, unmoving. "WILLOW!"
The swarm did not seem to be done as it started to descend towards her, some of the nearby teachers and older students were rushing to Willow, but one student managed to get to her before them. A wall of Abomination goo rose around Willow, stopping them in their tracks. That same goo split apart and began spinning around Willow, forming a rotating barrier that managed to keep the swarm from getting to her.
"HEY!"
The swarm turned and saw the witch who had stopped them, it was none other than Amity Blight.
"Don't you dare hurt my friend!" Amity threatened.
The swarm shifted their anger towards Amity as they flew at her, the young Blight child drew another circle and encased her body in Abomination goo armor similar to the one she made a while back. The pixie swarm tried to bite, claw, punch, and kick at her. But the armor would not yield to them. The little creatures tired themselves out as they panted from the effort of trying to break through her armor.
"Are you done? Good. My turn!"
Amity created goo tentacles that lashed out at the swarm and swatted them left and right, taking huge chunks out of the swarm as the pixies were thrown about and knocked unconscious on the floor. Amity glared at them through the glowing eyes of her Abomination armor, and with the drawing of another circle, Amity summoned a tidal wave of Abomination goo, making it rise higher and higher until it was now hovering over the entire area. With a wave of her hands, Amity willed it to slam down upon everything, catching the swarm in its thick goo as they were brought to the floor.
Amity and Willow were the only ones still standing, fortunately everyone managed to stay on the outer perimeter of Amity's spell and avoided getting swept up in the wave. The green haired witch drew a third circle, making a spherical cage form that collected the remaining pixies and placed them near one of the columns. Amity dismissed her armor and the rotating barrier and immediately rushed to Willow.
"WILLOW!" Amity yelled as she slid up next to her. "Willow, answer me! Are you alright?!"
Willow groaned, but she did not reply.
"Someone help!" Amity begged.
"Amity, hold on!"
The young Blight girl watched as Viney appeared and got down next to Amity, she quickly went to work and drew a spell circle, using her magic to heal up Willow as best she could until a professional could come and help her.
"You'll be alright, Willow, don't worry," Viney promised.
"We got you, just hang in there," said Amity.
Gus was watching from on high, feeling utterly powerless. He tried to help one of his best friends, but only ended up making the situation worse, and now she was hurt. Because of him. The young prodigy ran away, running far to the other side of the school where he sat down and hugged his knees to his chest, hiding his face against his knees. Gus did not know how long he had been there, and quite frankly he did not care. He started hearing approaching footsteps, probably a teacher, of course he should be punished, if it was not for him, Willow would not have been hurt. However, the voice that spoke to him was not a teacher's.
"Hey, Gus, you alright?" Luz asked.
Gus flinched at hearing her voice. "I messed up bad, Luz…I messed up real bad…"
Luz sat next to Gus and waited for him to tell her.
"Willow was having a problem with some pixies, so I thought, 'Oh, I'll just scare them with an illusion!' What a brilliant idea that was!" Gus berated.
"I heard, the pixies got angry when they realized it wasn't real, and thought Willow was the one who did it. So, they attacked her," said Luz.
"I'm so useless…I moved up two grades, Luz! I'm supposed to be a prodigy or something! But what's the use in being good at illusions if I can't do anything good with them?!"
Luz extended her right arm and drew Gus into a half hug. "Don't do that to yourself, Gus. You're a great illusionist, and every type of magic can be useful, you just have to know how to use it right. And there's no one I know better at using illusions than you. Plus, you helped me make my Illusion ring, and Lala said it was flawless. Are you calling her a liar?"
"…No."
"Humph, I don't mince words, his magic helped create a perfect ring. I find it insulting that he would think I'd let him create the ring if I thought his abilities were mediocre!"
Luz giggled a little.
"What's up?"
"Let's just say you ruffled Lala's feathers a bit," said Luz.
Gus chuckled a little and asked, "Is Willow gonna alright?"
"They took her to the nurse's office, her dads will be by soon to take her to the Healing Coven Hospital to get her looked over, but I think she'll be fine," Luz assured. "Now how about we get you to the nurse's office, too. You look pretty beat up."
Gus nodded and got up with Luz, the two began walking, and unknown to both of them, a small crack formed on Gus' back.
"You'll see, by tomorrow, you'll both be feeling better."
"Thanks, Luz."
The crack quickly mended itself.
Gus was not feeling any better, at all. The young illusionist was lying on his floor, his face sporting three different band-aids for the minor cuts and abrasions he suffered from the pixie attack yesterday. Despite Luz's encouraging words, his guilt was still eating at him. His illusion magic was supposed to be something he was good at, something he was told he was a prodigy of, and yet, when it mattered most, he could not help one of his best friends. The crystal ball next to him started to go off, he really was not in the mood to talk to anyone, so he turned his back to it and let it go to record.
An image of King appeared on the crystal ball.
{I'm not reading this!}
{C'mon, King, please?}
{Ugh, fine. Ahem. Is that a six footed pig? Or a floating appendage? Why, no. It's Gus the Illusion Master.} An image of Gus appeared next to King, striking a triumphant pose as King finished in a deadpan voice, {Please leave a message…}
Static filled the orb for a second before Willow's image appeared in place of the previous one.
{Hey, Gus!} The young illusionist quickly flipped around upon hearing his friend's voice. {Thanks for sending me all those 'Get-Well-Soon' illusions, but…}
Just then, three miniature versions of Gus appeared and clung onto Willow.
{Willow how ya feelin'? Do you have a fever?}
{Willow, want me to sing for you?}
{Willow, is this helping?}
{Can you please take them back?}
The message ended there, making Gus feel worse than he already did. He flipped around onto his stomach and drew a small spell circle, and in the next moment, all three of his constructs appeared in front of him.
"Where's Willow?"
"Why are we here?"
"Did we do bad?"
Gus blew on them, making all three of his copy constructs disappear in a rather disturbing way as they broke down and screamed for mercy.
Ugh…what am I doing…?
A knock came at the door, Gus was home alone, which was nothing new considering his father worked for the local news and was on call when it came to the weekends. With that being said, Gus got up off the floor and headed downstairs. The young olive-skinned witch boy opened the front door and saw none other than Luz Noceda.
"Gustopher! Gusteban! Augustabeth! Any of those working for you?" Luz asked.
Gus sighed. "What do you want, Luz."
"Hey, c'mon, I know you're still down, but it'll be alright."
"It's not…I sent some illusions over to help Willow, but they only ended up bothering her. Once again, my illusions help no one," said Gus in annoyed tone.
Luz did not like it when her friends talked bad about themselves, so she decided to be the busybody that she is and help him out. "You know what, let's get some fresh air!"
"Luz I just want to–"
"C'mon!"
Before Gus could even finish his protest, she grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him out of his house. With little else to do and knowing Luz she was not going to let him get away that easily, Gus relented to Luz's offer and the two teens just walked around the town. Luz could see that Gus was still looking down, so she decided to try and take his mind off of it with something she had learned recently.
"Hey, guess what, Eda's mom told me I'm not the first human to come to the Demon Realm. And if that's true, then I might have a way of finally getting back home! I was thinking of heading to the library today to do some research, maybe you could give me a hand?" Luz asked.
Gus shrugged. "Yeah, why not. Rooting through old newspapers is about all I'm good at."
Luz furrowed her brow and got out in front of him as she asked, "Spill it, Gustonimo. What's really eating you? You've been so down since yesterday."
Gus sighed as he leaned on the railing of the bridge. "I-I've just been thinking. What if it's time for me to explore different kinds of magic? You know, something not dealing with illusions."
Luz leaned on the railing as well and replied, "I'm all for trying new things, but what's wrong with illusions?"
"Illusions are just so…" Gus waved his hand in the air as if that alone explained it. "Y'know?"
"Uh, no, no I don't."
A loud roar cut off their conversation, prompting Gus and Luz to look down. That's when they saw a Slitherbeast, the creature was semi-restrained by the same bounty hunters that Luz, Gus, and Willow had foiled before, but now it seemed as if they were having trouble containing the creature. The Slitherbeast broke free of its restraints and barreled through the bounty hunters, running wild through the streets. Luz looked down further and spotted a little demon child with a balloon in its hand, right in the path of the Slitherbeast.
"OH, SHOOT!" Luz exclaimed as she instinctively readied to transform.
"Luz, wait! You can't here!" Gus countered.
However, it seemed the problem remedied itself as two Glandus students appeared next to the child. One was a tall witch boy, with the colors of his uniform lilac in color which showed his affiliation to the Abomination Track, his hair was dark and spikey, and was dark skinned. The second was a demon, sporting the green colors of the Plant Track, with a long arrowhead pointed tail, blonde hair coiffed to the side to cover his left eye, and an aviator's cap. He also had two fangs that protruded down from his upper lip.
The Abomination Track witch boy drew a spell circle, conjuring a pool of Abomination goo right in the Slitherbeast's path, causing it slip and slide. The Plant Track demon drew his own circle, making two roots jut out of the ground and form a vine net. When the Slitherbeast hit the net, it was sent flying in the opposite direction. The Slitherbeast landed hard against the ground, knocking the wind out of it, and stunning it long enough for the third Glandus student to finish it.
The third Glandus kid was a witch girl, she had violet colored hair, amber colored eyes, and freckles. Her uniform sported the brown colors of the Construction Track, and over her shoulder she had a sword slung. The witch girl jumped high over the Slitherbeast, her magical aura flared around her left foot as she channeled that same energy into her right fist, drawing a circle in the air with both as she flipped around and landed with her right fist striking the earth. The spell she cast activated, causing the ground around the Slitherbeast to rise and form an earthen cage around it, effectively capturing the creature.
With her work done, the witch girl gave her fellow Glandus students a thumbs up. "Great work guys!"
"Whoa…" Gus awed.
"Holy cow, that was awesome!" Luz exclaimed. "Yeesh, almost let the cat out of the bag there for a second, eh, Gus? Gus?"
Luz looked around and noticed that Gus had left her, she looked around and noticed that he was already on his way down to see the three Glandus students. Oh-ho-ho, this might be interesting. Luz took out her Invisibility Combo Glyph and pressed it against her chest as she took a deep breath.
Down below the demon child, Braxas, was picked up by Warden Wrath, which made Luz wonder what that was about.
"Son, are you okay?!" Wrath asked.
WRATH HAS A KID?! Aww, he's a single father.
"Yes, Daddy. Thank you, mysterious heroes!"
The witch girl giggled and waved goodbye to the parent and child as she said, "Stay safe out there."
Gus decided to greet them, still awestruck by the trio. "Wow! Just wow! Plants. Abomination. Construction. You guys took down that Slitherbeast like it was nothing!"
"Nah, it wasn't that easy," said the witch girl.
"Pfft, yeah, looked like you had a real hard time out there," the witch boy teased.
Gus gulped. "You guys are Glandus students, right? I go to Hexside, name's Gus."
The witch girl smiled and replied, "Nice to meet you. This is Angmar," she announced as she pointed to the Plant Track demon, "and this is Gavin."
Gavin shot him a wink as he made finger guns. "Hey!"
"And I'm–"
"BRIA!" Suddenly, a loud, but familiar voice cut off Bria. Gus glanced to his right and saw none other than Mattholomule running and stopping next to him, panting hard from his run. "I would've helped, but, like, there was this other baby in danger. You probably couldn't see."
"Mattholomule?" Gus exclaimed.
As if just now noticing his presence, Matt turned to face Gus. His expression shifting from surprise to angered. "Augustus?! Back off, twerp! This operation is Glandus kids only."
Bria waved her hands in a calming motion as she assured, "Hey, Matty, it's all cool. Did you get the map?"
"Yes!" Matt reached in this tunic and pulled out a rolled piece of paper. "And I only had to endure thirty-five noogies from my older brother!"
Bria watched as Matt ran over to her and handed her the map. "Nice work!"
Gus rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little bit out of place. "Well, uh, I can see you guys are busy, so…"
"Wait," said Bria. "Have you ever heard of the Galdorstones?"
"They're powerful relics. Many witches and demons have sought them," Gavin began.
"But they've all returned empty-handed, protected by its guardian. Until us," said Angmar.
"We heard some Coven Scouts talking about them, but it'll be rough going. You said you're a Hexside student, right? We could use the extra strength," said Bria.
Gus smiled, he was happy to hear that they wanted him to join, but he could not abandon Luz like that. "That sounds awesome, but I can't. I promised a friend I'd help her with something today."
As if on cue, Luz removed the Combo Glyph, returning to a state of visibility and startling everyone around her.
Luz gasped, taking in deep gulps of air from having to hold her breath for so long. "Gus, you ran away so fast, but I didn't wanna interrupt so…I think you should go!"
Matt, annoyed, and definitely against Gus' joining on this mission, said, "Well, he can't. Gus is just an illusionist. He'll only hold us back!"
Luz narrowed her gaze at the little jerk before smirking smugly at him. "Hah! Shows what you know. Gus here is a regular super witch!"
"LUZ! Uh, will you excuse us for a minute, thank you!" Gus quickly pulled Luz aside and said, "I see what you're doing and it's really sweet, but I don't actually know any spells besides illusions!"
"No problem, I got ya covered." Luz reached into her pockets and pulled out four of her elemental glyphs and handed them to Gus. "You know I'm all about proving jerks wrong. You got this, Gus."
Gus looked from Luz and then to the glyphs in his hands. Yeah, why not, right?
"Alright. I'm in. Where do we find these Galdorstones?" Gus asked.
"We're journeying to the Looking Glass Ruins in Forearm Forest!" Bria announced. The witch girl ran up to Gus and gently took him by the wrist and said, "C'mon let's get going!"
Gus blushed and only managed a nod before Bria whisked him away, with Gavin, Angmar, and Matt following right behind her. Luz had a cattish grin on her face, noticing that Gus was blushing a bit when Bria took ahold of his wrist.
"Ooh, me likes where this might be going," said Luz.
"And yet, I feel as if you're not going to leave it alone, are you?"
…
…
Lala, you know me too well!
"I am not proud of that fact."
I know Gus will be okay, but…I mean, it couldn't hurt to keep an eye on him, right?
"Luz?"
"AAAH!" Luz jumped forward and turned around quickly, and that's when she spotted Amity. "Oh! Amity! W-What are you doing here?!"
"I heard something happened around here, and I thought I should check it out, you know, if case it was a Phantom, but since you're here, I guess it's taken care of. And with little to no property damage either," said Amity.
Luz nervously replied, "Oh, uh, well, no. It wasn't a Phantom, just a normal kind of danger, a Slitherbeast rampage. But some Glandus students took care of it."
Amity crossed her arms. "Oh, did they? So, what happened after?"
"Well…they asked Gus if he wanted to join them on a little quest for something called the 'Gladorstones,' apparently, they're in this place called the 'Looking Glass Ruins,' ever heard of them?" Luz asked.
Amity cupped her chin as she thought. "I don't think so, what's so important about them?"
"Bria, the Glandus girl, she said that she overheard the Coven Scouts talking about them. I'm generally weary when it means Belos is looking into them," said Luz.
Amity raised an eyebrow. "Well, I get why you would be worried, I mean, the Emperor did try and Petrify Eda, but is there something else that went down?"
Luz fidgeted a little, she had yet to mention to Amity that she and Belos had a one-on-one duel, and that she kind of almost kicked his butt. Although next time, I'm definitely kicking his butt.
"Something you're better off not knowing, for now. Anyway, I'm going to go tail them, just to make sure they're alright," said Luz.
Amity sighed and said, "Alright, I'm coming with you."
Luz blushed. "What?"
"Gus is my friend, too. 'Sides, I don't trust Glandus students," said Amity.
"I see the rivalry is still strong."
"Oh, Luz…" Amity patted Luz on the shoulder. "It never faded."
Luz gulped as she saw Amity's face turn into a fierce expression. Strangely, she found that rather…hot. "Uh, okay! Let's get going!"
Amity and Luz managed to catch up to Bria's group, they had arrived at Forearm Forest and were about to make their way inside. While at the top of a hill that overlooked the treacherous forest, Matt could not help but make a snide comment at Gus.
"What's wrong, Augustus, scared?" Matt teased.
"We're all scared," said Bria. "Who knows what awaits us out there. But we all got each other's backs, right?"
Gus felt his heart skip a beat as he looked up at Bria's smiling face, and the little wink that she gave him only spurred him. "Yeah…Yeah! Yeah, alright let's GO!" Gus yelled as he led the charge down the hill.
Bria, Gavin, and Angmar followed closely behind him, while Matt brought up the rear. Even more annoyed by Gus' inclusion on this quest. Meanwhile, Amity and Luz were close behind them. Luz had used her Invisibility ring to hide their presence from the group, although they decided to hang back a bit, both to give themselves some breathing room, and so that none in the group would notice them.
Amity let out a little chuckle as they walked.
"What's so funny?" Luz asked.
"Nothing, it's just, this is the first time you and I have gone a little adventure," said Amity. "You, Willow, and Gus usually have your own crazy adventures together, and when you've told me about them, they sound kind of…fun. Even if you almost came close to dying a few times."
Luz giggled at the memories. "Yeah, we did cheat death a few times. But I didn't know you wanted to do something like that."
"I mean, it's not like I was hoping it would happen. I know you don't plan on going on wacky adventures, it just sorta happens." Amity nervously gripped the end of her blouse. "I'm just glad I was here at the start of one…"
Luz blushed next and returned her gaze to the group up ahead. "Well, if everything goes right, this will be just some lowkey adventure with minimal stakes, and no life-or-death situations."
"Y-Yeah, here's hoping."
Bria's group managed to enter the forest. The further in they went, the thicker the canopy of leaves and branches became, making it hard for light to penetrate through. There were some gaps that allowed for light to shine through, but overall, it was dim inside. Bria had unsheathed her sword and began to bushwhack, clearing a path through the thicket as they advanced.
Trailing behind them, Luz and Amity kept a few feet behind them. Dodging some low hanging branches, the occasional bug that would creep across the ground or overhead, and generally just trying not to be awkward around each other. They lost track of how many miles they traveled, and Luz was getting worried about how far they were going. For her and Amity, two Kamen Riders, this was not a problem, but if any in the group got hurt, it was a long way back to town, and none of them had staffs to fly on.
Bria slashed through some bushes, creating path forward as she commented, "Whew, this is exhausting. But, once we get the Gladorstones, getting back will be a breeze."
"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask, what exactly do the Galdorstones do?" Gus asked.
"It's said, if you're holding one, any spell you cast gets a ridiculous power boost! It can turn even the simplest spell into a super powerful one," Matt explained.
Angmar, who was playing with some butterflies that had surrounded him, said, "If I had one, I could grow an entire forest, and make my own butterfly sanctuary."
"If I had one, I could grow the biggest Abomination, ever! I bet Dad will pay attention to that," said Gavin, bitterly.
"Whoa…one stone can do all that? And where we're going, there's a lot of them?" Gus asked in awe.
"Yep. But, sorry, they don't do squat for illusions. Can't enhance what's not there," said Matt as he pushed Gus a little.
"Pfft. I knew that," Gus retorted as he pushed back.
Then Matt pushed back again, and then Gus, and it soon devolved into the two of them having an old-fashioned nerd slap fight.
Luz and Amity were hiding behind a tree when they heard all that, making Luz even more anxious about this whole quest.
"Now we know why the Coven Scouts would be looking for these stones."
If they're really that powerful, then Belos could become even more powerful, thought Luz.
"Amity, how much of that do you think is true?…Amity?" Luz looked over her shoulder and realized Amity was not there. "Amity!"
Luz looked back at the group, but in the end decided to look for Amity. The Latina rushed into the woods, searching for any sign of her, while trying not to yell for the witchling or else run the risk of exposing their position.
"OVER HERE!"
"Niña! To your right!"
Luz ran in the direction that La Lechuza told her to go. The young teen kept running and eventually broke into a small clearing where she spotted a huge plant creature. The creature's vines slithered across the forest floor, like a spider-web, spreading across a wide area and waiting for something to trip them and alert it to something to eat.
The creature had Amity wrapped up in its in vine, preventing her from even drawing a spell circle to fight back. The main body of this thing had four huge petals that opened up to reveal rows of sharp teeth, with a hole at the center that was its mouth. Below that was a bulbous body from where the vines grew from.
"LUZ!" Amity yelled.
The monster released Amity over its mouth, where another vine, like a tongue, lashed out and wrapped Amity up, and reeled her into its maw where it snapped its petal jaws shut, followed by a gulping sound as something dropped into the main body.
Luz glared angrily at the monster plant and switched out her spell rings.
[Connect, Please.]
She reached into the portal, and from it she pulled out her WizarSwordGun. Afterwards, Luz activated another spell ring.
[Beast Keeping, Please.]
Luz released her invisibility and yelled out, "HEY!" The plant monster turned to her. "LET GO OF MY AMITY!"
The Latina raised her hand into the air and summoned a fire bee swarm. The construct bees appeared, multiplying at a rapid rate, and creating huge flames in the air. The plant monster roared at her and raised some of its vines, except these ones had sharp barbs coming out of them. The spine covered vines lashed out at Luz, but the fire bee swarm attacked, flying around the vine in a tight circle, turning themselves into a flaming buzzsaw that slashed the vine apart. Luz began running for the creature as it attacked again, but Luz managed to roll out of the way at the last second and fired some her silver bullets at one of the vines until it blew off and released green liquid from it.
Luz willed the fire bees to swarm around her, forming a barrier of fire that made it impossible for the monster to attack her, at least from the sides and above. The ground below Luz began to rumble as another vine broke through the earth and launched her into the air. Six different vines, all tipped with a razor-sharp barb, aimed right for her while she floated helplessly. Or so the plant monster thought.
[Beast Keeping, Please.]
Right before all six vines could hit, flames burst forth around Luz, and from them emerged a phoenix. The firebird screeched as it flew at the vines, incinerating them upon contact, the fire been swarms joined in and began slashing at the monster with their stingers. The phoenix flew back around and let Luz fall onto its back, it flew her down to the ground safely and went back to fighting the plant monster. Luz switched the WizarSwordGun into blade mode and run up on the monster's main body.
"HANG ON, AMITY! I'M GETTING YOU OUT!"
"LUZ, WAIT A SECOND I'M–!"
But Luz didn't wait, she twirled the WizarSwordGun around and stabbed the plant monster. The creature released a screech of pain as it began thrashing about, but Luz was not in the mood to care, Amity was in danger, and she was not about to let her get hurt. Luz began cutting the lower bulb, slicing it horizontally first, then slashing it diagonally from the left, and then right, and finally vertically down the middle. Green juice began to spill from the wound, which only made the monster scream in pain more. At that moment, Amity came sliding out of the wound. Upon seeing her Luz gave a mental command to her constructs to finish it.
Amity coughed a bit and said, "Luz! Wait!"
"No time!" Luz retorted as she grabbed Amity's hand and pulled her along.
The fire bees and phoenix flew high into the air, the bees swarmed around the phoenix, doubling its already intense flames as the swarm and firebird dive bombed straight for the plant monster and flew right down its open mouth. In less than a second, the creature's entire body exploded into flames, silencing its screeches. Once Luz had gotten Amity far enough away, she went back and pulled out an Ice Glyph. After funneling some mana into it, she pointed the glyph at the inferno and released a blast of icy winds, putting out the flames before they could start a wildfire. The young teen released a sigh of relief and headed back to Amity.
"STOP RIGHT THERE, LUZ!"
Luz did as Amity asked, finding it odd that Amity was hiding behind a tree. "Uh, Amity, what's going on?"
"I was trying to tell you…but you didn't listen!"
"W-W-What? Oh no! Did I hurt you?! I-I'll use my Healing ring!" Luz exclaimed.
"NO! No! You didn't hurt me! It's…It's just…" Amity mumbled the rest.
"I didn't hear you," said Luz.
"I said…" Amity mumbled again.
"I'm sorry, Amity, I can't make out what you're saying."
Amity stuck her head out, which was now goremato red as she yelled, "MY CLOTHES ARE GONE, ALRIGHT!"
"….Uh, explanation, please."
"T-T-That thing, its stomach acid was dissolving me! It started with my clothes, and it started to sting my skin before you cut me out! If I was in there a bit longer, I might not have made it, but you managed to cut me out…but not before…you know…" Amity explained.
Luz let her brain process that for a moment. That meant, a bit ago, when she got Amity out of the plant monster's stomach, and she ran with her, Amity was…was…
"Luz?"
The Latina's nose gushed blood, right after, she fell backwards into an unconscious state.
"LUZ!"
"Ah, and here I thought today was going to be boring," said Bast.
"Oh, Bast, you should know better than that."
Meanwhile, the young questers kept their leisurely pace until they stopped before a huge thicket of thorny vines. The vines were weaved tightly together forming a wall that threatened to tear apart anyone who dared to try and go through them. And judging from the column sized thorny trees, it was clear that this place was not meant to be traversed by inexperienced witches or demons.
"Hold up, guys. We've come to our first challenge," said Bria as she looked upon the thorn wall.
Matt glanced at Gus and gave him a shove. "Show us what ya got Augustus. What did that human call you again? Oh yeah, a 'Super Witch?'"
"That's a great idea!"
"Huh?"
Bria walked up to Gus and held his right hand as she encouragingly said, "Go on, Gus. I know you can do it!"
Matt crossed his arms and smugly looked on as Gus walked up to the wall of thorns. Tch, good luck. Just admit you're just a useless illusionist and quit trying to impress Bria already.
Gus reached into his vest and pulled out one of the glyphs that Luz gave him. "Which one was this? Fire, I think." The young prodigy took a deep breath and drew a spell circle in the air as he called out, "Fireball!" Gus touched the Fire Glyph, activating its power as he pressed it between his hands and thrust it forward.
The moment that the flames passed through his circle, the power of the fireball was magnified, tripling in size as it blasted through several layers of the thorn wall in one shot and still kept going until the flames died out further down the tunnel it had forged. Matt's jaw dropped, along with the other Glandus kids. Once their shock wore off, Gavin, Angmar, and Bria cheered loudly for Gus.
"Gus that was freakin' awesome!" Gavin exclaimed.
"You really are a Super Witch!" Angmar added.
Bria walked up behind him and placed her hands on Gus' shoulders. She smiled down at him as she said, "I knew it was good idea to bring you! Good work, Gus!"
Gus blushed again, smiled, and then nodded as he watched Bria and her crew run past him. Luz, you were right! It worked. Better than I thought it would. Huh, does the glyph get stronger when combined with a witch's spell circle? I've only seen a blast that big when Luz goes Rider.
"GUS! C'MON!" Bria shouted.
"Eh, I'll think about later. RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" Gus shouted back.
Matt ran after them and pulled up next to Gus. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm keeping my eye on you, Porter."
After they had left through the tunnel, Luz and Amity arrived.
"A-Amity, like I said, I can just connect us back to your house so you can get some clothes," said Luz nervously.
"And I said we might lose them if we do that!" Amity retorted.
Instead of heading back, Amity had opted to create an Abomination suit that layered over her body. Not only would it act as armor, but it also covered her up. Although, it did little to ease Luz's mind. Considering how…form fitting that suit was. The Latina decided to focus on something else, mainly the giant hole that was burned through the thicket of vines.
"Whoa…"
"Who did that?" Amity asked.
"Gus must've used the Fire Glyph I lent him, but I had no idea it could do this on its own," said Luz.
"Did you charge it with your mana beforehand?"
Luz shook her head. "No, they're just the normal kind, not even a combo."
"Huh…" Amity looked at the damage, wondering to herself how Gus could have done this much with just one of Luz's glyphs. She had seen Luz use her Fire Glyph before, and the only time Luz could do something like this was when she infused mana into it. "Luz…what do you think would happen if a witch like me used the glyph, but with a spell circle added on top of it?"
Luz's eyes flew open as she understood what Amity was getting at. "You're saying a spell circle combined with a glyph can super charge it?"
"It's possible, look at the damage here. Bile sacks are filled with magical liquids that are infused with power, and glyphs are just another way to use that magic. What if combining the two yields this?" Amity opened her arms, emphasizing the huge hole. "When you infuse mana into the glyph, you're able to do different things with the element you're using, and my Abominations are much stronger, and more versatile than before."
Luz's mind was blown. "Wow, this is crazy! I need to talk to Gus when this is over! Anyway, let's catch up." Luz slipped on her Invisible ring and activated it.
[Invisible, Please.]
Luz waved her hand over Amity, and then over herself, now that both of them were camouflaged, they ran after the group as fast as they could.
Things did not get any better, for Luz and Amity, anyway. While they were tailing the group, they were somehow attacked by wild Bandersnatchs, almost got set on fire and stung by some fire bees, and nearly got eviscerated by a wyvern. Meanwhile, Gus, Matt, and the Glandus kids were only encountering minor threats that they were able to dispatch with little effort. Gus had used the Light Glyph to chase away a swarm of bat-birds – don't ask – and he used the Ice Glyph to create a wall to protect them from a Quillstriker, which was basically a demonic porcupine on steroids. For most of the other threats, Bria, Gavin, and Angmar were took care of the rest.
Luz and Amity were panting as they leaned up against a tree, exhausted from trying not to get killed several times over the course of this journey.
"Why is it that we're the ones getting the worst of it?!" Amity asked.
"Better us…than them…at least we have our Kamen Rider forms to fall back on if things get too hairy," said Luz.
"Noted…but I still ask, why us?!"
"The universe seems to love throwing curve balls at us." Like the one that Luz just stepped in. The Latina felt something squishy under her shoe and glanced back at Amity. "Amity…I hate the universe."
Suddenly, the ground erupted as a blue, gelatin-like thing broke through and wrapped itself around Luz's body. That same gelatin-like thing expanded until it was the size of a boulder, prompting Amity to jump back and ready herself for combat. That's when she saw what it was. The gelatin thing had two eyeballs that looked directly at Amity and had a wide smile the broke out across its face.
"Oh, Titan crap it's a slime…" Amity lamented.
A SLIME?! THEY HAVE THOSE HERE?! Why am I surprised? It's the Boiling Isles. It's okay, so long as I hold my breath, Amity will…Estás bromeando, ¿verdad? (You're kidding me, right?)
Apparently, the slime's body had a corrosive effect as it started to eat away at Luz's clothes.
THIS IS NOT HAPPENING! Luz thought. When did I get dropped into an ecchi anime?!
"LUZ HOLD ON!"
Amity drew a spell circle, forming a long spear. She infused the mana from Bast and thrust the weapon forward. The spear suddenly expanded, turning into a hollow, bore drill that spun at rapid speeds. The spear drill pierced through the center of the slime, coring out Luz like an apple and ripping her out of the slime. Amity willed the Abomination drill to turn into a sphere and brought it over to her, she had it disperse, allowing the portion of slime that Luz was in to drop to the ground where it fell apart, having been separated from the main body.
Luz coughed a bit after holding her breath for so long.
Amity, angered, shrunk that sphere until it was the size of a marble, and with a flick of her wrist, she shot it straight into the body of the slime. With another motion of her hand, the sphere exploded with multiple spikes, tearing the slime apart and jettisoning its remains over the trees, bushes, and ground. Amity dismissed the Abomination spike ball and returned her attention to Luz.
"Luz are you al…right…"
Luz's clothes were semi damaged, her shirt was mostly dissolved, exposing her midriff. Most of her leggings were dissolved, revealing bare legs up to her thighs, and the hem of the shorts' legs were dissolved a bit as well, making it appear as if she was wearing short shorts.
"I'm fine, Amity. Uh, are you alright?"
Amity turned bright red and had a nosebleed, thankfully she managed to stay conscious as she quickly turned around and covered her nose. "F-Fine, just fine!"
Luz looked down at herself and made an "eep!" sound as she noticed her current state of attire. "Um…okay…well…at least it's not all gone…Thank Titan I made copies of my clothes."
"G-Good, it's the same with me. I have an extra of the outfit I lost," said Amity.
"G-Good…"
"How did it end up like this?" Amity asked.
"Oh, trust me, this could get a lot worse," Luz warned.
"How much worse could it get?!"
"SHH!" Luz quickly shot to her feet and wrapped her hand around Amity's mouth. "Do NOT tempt the universe! I know exactly where this could possibly go next, and believe me, that is not kid friendly!"
Amity slowly nodded her head, she did not understand exactly what Luz meant, but Luz's warning was good enough for her.
With that acknowledgement, Luz removed her hand from Amity's mouth and said, "Let's keep going, hopefully they're almost there."