The sound of Luz's phone buzzing caught her attention. She turned it on and saw an event marked on her calendar that said, "Event Reminder With Mami". Luz's eyes widened.
"Luzer?" Strix slowly opened the door to the living room. "We're coming in..." Strix, Eda and King entered the room to find Luz rapidly pining pictures onto a cork board. "Luz, are you okay?"
"I feel great! Today's gonna be a productive day of problem solving." She grabbed a list and shoved it in Eda's chest. "Look!"
"'Successfully build a portal to the Human Realm.'? 'Learn every glyph combination.'? 'Figure out what Belos is planning and show him what for.'?"
"Luz, did you stay up all night writing these?" Strix asked with concern.
"Look. I've already learned a new combo. Excuse me, Francois. I call it the safety hover!" She grabbed the stuffed bunny from King and placed a glyph combo on it. She threw it into the air, only for it to stop a few inches off the ground before the spell wore off.
"Ooh! That'll work great when birds try to fly away with me," said King.
"And I'm already on my way to building a second door." She pointed to Hooty, who was holding onto a very flimsy archway, only to have it fall apart when he sneezed. "Uh, it's a work in progress. But look at this!" She took out a penstagram scroll from her pajama pocket.
"Did you steal my Penstagram?" asked Eda.
"I borrowed it because I've got a castle insider getting info on Belos. Willow gave me Hunter's contact. Hehehe."
"I still don't like that kid," said Strix. "I mean, he nearly had our friends turned into zombies."
"Water under the bridge," Luz said as she typed down her penstagram account.
Luz: Are you good now?
Luz: Is Belos evil? You can tell me!
Luz: Also hi!
Luz: It's Luz!
Luz: (bat emoji, lighting emoji, flower emoji, plant emoji, and rainbow emoji)
Hunter: ALONE
Hunter: .person .,.
Accompanying Hunter's text was a picture of Flapjack sleeping in his cape.
Eda and Strix eyed Luz suspiciously. "Alright, I know you, girl," said the latter. "What are you hiding?"
"I am not! Maybe I am." Then she let out a sigh of defeat and handed Eda back her scroll. "Okay, I definitely am." She sat down and allowed Eda to place her old letterman jacket over her. "Every year, me and Mom have this little ritual we do. It's nothing big. I just miss her. That's all."
"What you need is a healthy distractions from your problems," said King. "Like breakfast!"
"Yeah. Okay. I could go for a griffin egg."
"Well, let us know if you need anything, okay?" said Eda.
"I'll meet you guys in the kitchen," said Luz.
Before he left, Strix turned to her. "I know there's more to this story. What is it, Luz?"
Luz frowned at him. "You know, I'd appreciate it if you didn't poke your nose in my personal affairs right now."
Strix sighed. "Fair enough," he said as he started to walk...only to have the door slam in his face as Amity entered the house. "OW!"
"Luz! I have a problem, and it could distract us all day!"
Luz gasped with excitement. "Tell me all about it and don't spare a single detail!"
"Yeah, I'm bleeding here," said Strix. "Don't mind me!"
"Shh! Initiate super-wavy flashback effect!"
Amity went to the basement laboratory of Blight Manor, carrying a poster advertising an even called the Bonesborough Brawl. "Dad, look! It's the Bonesborough Brawl tonight. And since I'm finally old enough to participate, I- I was thinking-"
Alador Blight didn't really pay attention and instead looked at a book called Abomination Creation, written by Darius. He recalled how when they were younger, the future head of the Abomination Coven called him a talentless hack. "Ugh," he groaned in disgust.
"DAD!"
"Ah, Mittens! Didn't see you there."
"Clearly. So do you think you'll be able to take me to the Brawl tonight?"
"No. Uh, tonight they're holding the Emperor's Coven tryouts in town. Your mother already signed you up, and I've prepared a chaperone to make sure you get there safely." Alador threw the book at the Abomiton sitting in a corner of the room, who sliced it in half and picked up Amity. Suddenly, it let out an alarm, which Alador turned off with a remote control.
Amity made a hurt expression. "You mean to make sure I get there. Dad... I don't want to go to coven tryouts. I wanna enter the Brawl, and maybe win the champion belt. Like you did."
Alador shook his head as he picked up a wrench. "I goofed off a lot back then. But you have a bright future and shouldn't waste it on that nonsense."
"But-"
"Good day," he said as he resumed his work.
Amity folded her arms as she was carried away.
"I don't even want to join a coven anymore," said Amity as she finished recounting what happened. "And this thing is so embarrassing, I even tried disguising it."
Strix looked at the Abomiton that was currently wearing all kinds of clothes you can find at a thrift store. "I'm pretty sure Mom made the same outfit."
"The Bonesborough Brawl is the one cool thing my dad did before joining the Abomination coven. It would've been nice to share something with him." She showed the two a picture of her dad as a teenager holding the Brawler's Belt. Below the stage, some of the people among the audience include: Warden Wrath, Odalia, and Darius, who was booing. Eda and Raine were in the background goofing off together.
"He doesn't look particularly happy to see him win," said Strix as he took note of Darius.
Amity chuckled. "Yeah. According to Dad, Darius said he couldn't believe that a talentless loser won instead of him. They've not patched things up since."
"All that over a stupid belt?"
"Well, it's more than that. But that's another story."
"Well, hey, I'm here to help... you ditch the tryouts and enter the Brawl!" said Luz.
"What?!" exclaimed Amity.
"Come on. You should know I always go for the chaotic route," Luz said with a wink.
"And as for joining no covens," Strix said as he reached for something in his pocket. "You can tell your dad you can always join Eda and Luz's coven...Boom!" He held up a Bad Girls Coven t-shirt.
Luz raised an eyebrow. "Do you carry that around?"
"Yep! I've been doing a little advertising around Bonesborough. It's not been really successful though, what with the Emperor's Coven guards chasing after me. That and people think it's for girls only. I keep telling them that boys AND girls can join and that I didn't come up with the name, Mom did!"
"Uh, Strix? How does this exactly fit into my problem?" asked Amity.
"Right. Got off track. The point is, join a coven that you are comfortable with instead of one your parents want you to join. Preferably one that doesn't get you branded..." Amity thought it over.
Suddenly, Eda and King barged into the room. "Did somebody say Bonesborough Brawl?" asked the former. "I used to love going to those. Your pops was great in duels. Plus, if you go, you can get that ugly thing out of my house." She pointed to the Abomiton.
"Hmm. You know what? I'll give it a shot," said Amity. "Strix, your Mask."
"Uh, what do you need it for?" he asked as he handed it to her.
"This," she said as she put it on. Then she bent and stretched and molded her face until it started to resemble Alador's. "Testing, testing, one, two..." At the "two", her voice changed into her father's. "Ahem. Abomination, fetch me, a, uh, rare and- and difficult to find emerald dagger from the Night Market!"
The Abomiton obeyed and walked out the door.
"That'll keep him busy," said Eda.
"I can't believe that actually worked. It didn't even notice you put it on," Strix exclaimed. "Boy, these new Abomitons are sorely lacking in the brains department."
"Lucky me," said Amity as she ripped off the Aladar skin mask and revealed the green Masked face underneath. "But my dad can't find out that I ditched tryouts. Not until I win that belt."
"With that?" Strix pointed to her Masked face.
"No," said Amity as she took off the Mask and handed it back to him.
At the Bonesbrough Brawl arena, the group met a certain duo.
"Hey, Mittens!" said Emira and Edric in unison. Amity groaned in embarrassment while Luz tried to calm her down.
"We're proud of you, sis," said Emira.
"Yeah, you're becoming more of a delinquent every day," said Edric as his bat palisman flew up to his shoulder.
"All right, Ed. Hand over your Concealment Stone."
"Pfft. Like I need one of those." Emira grabbed Edric and pulled him into a headlock. "Hey!"
"Don't play games, Ed. I saw you take one this morning."
"Well you saw wrong!" Edric shouted as he wrestled with Emira.
"This won't take long," Amity whispered to Luz.
"Wait.. What's that supposed to mean," demanded Edric.
Emira reached down his left sleeve and snapped off a blue bracelet from his wrist. "Found it!"
In a puff of blue smoke, Edric's appearance changed. He looked less impressive to say the least. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a cauldron logo, grey sweatpants, glasses, with his hair pulled back with a headband, and he had a little uneven moustache growing out. He groaned in annoyance.
"Here's mine too for a little extra flair," said Emira as she handed Amity a green necklace. In a puff of blue smoke, her appearance changed as well. Her green hair was messier, acne formed on her face and her beauty mark was gone.
Amity grabbed the stones and started to combine them together. Her whole looks suddenly changed within a poof too. She was wearing an abomination-themed dress, boots, with golden earrings and pink shades, and her hair was tied up in a bun. "Not bad," she said.
"Ooh, so pretty!" Luz said as she spun Amity around. The two girls blushed and giggled.
Emira realized Strix was looking at her. "Not what you were expecting?" she asked as she brushed her hair back.
Strix chuckled. "What you look is nothing compared to me," he said as he rolled up his sleeve and revealed silver feathers popping out. "I don't know how much time I have left now. Honestly, I'd like that kiss before that happens."
Nearby were King and Eda, the former of whom had his head sticking out of the latter's big hair. Just then, he saw something rather interesting. He tugged on her hair. "Hey, Eda!" Eda looked where he was pointing. It was the current champion of the Brawl. And guess who it was? None other than Warden Wrath. "Maybe we can find out what Belos is planning," said King.
Eda smirked. "And why Raine was acting weird at the parade." She approached Wrath and tapped his shoulder. "Boo!"
Wrath let out a yelp and turned around, only to regain his composure when he saw who it was. "Oh, it's you."
"And me!" cheered King.
"Been training since my student humiliated you in battle? Hmm. Twice?" taunted Eda. Wrath was about to attack her when she held her hands up in defense. "All right. Chill out, button eyes. Just answer me this: Heard any good castle gossip lately? Maybe something about the Day of Unity?"
Wrath chuckled. "I see. So you finally need something from me, don't you, Owl Lady? But why should I help you?"
Eda grabbed him by his cloak and said, "After chopping off my head..."
"Stealing my crown," pointed out King.
"...and imprisoning my son and my student/daughter, I think you owe me," Eda growled as she turned her fingers into claws.
But Wrath simply snapped his fingers and two security guards appeared. "Sorry, Owl Lady. No fighting outside the ring," one of them said.
"Okay, okay. Watch the goods," Eda said as she retracted her claws and walked away.
"Whoa, you gave up pretty easy," said King.
"Don't worry, King," said Eda as she took a spell book from her hair. "I have a plan." She opened the book and turned to a page with a recipe for Blabber Serum.
"Witches and demons, welcome to the Bonesborough Brawl!" the one-eyed announcer said as the Brawl begain. The audience cheered. "You know the rules. Contestants will fight one-on-one. Not for honor, not for glory, but for the ultimate bragging rights as the toughest dueler on the Isles! Last one standing will get the chance to snag the coveted Brawler's Belt from our reigning champion, Warden Wrath!"
Wrath stepped into the ring and held the belt up high. The audience cheered louder.
"For our first round, we have Scab the All-Knowing..." Scab was a cloaked shadow person from the Oracle coven. "...versus The Mighty Mittens!" Amity went to the arena by riding an abomination to the arena. Amity waved at Luz, Edric, Emira and Strix. They waved back at her, and Luz started blowing Amity kisses. "Now, let the brawl...BEGIN!"
Scab jumped and took off. They then started to blast a ray from their orb to Amity, but she blocked it by using her abomination as a shield. Amity transformed her abomination then launched it behind Scab and it punched them from behind.
Strix leaned into Emira's ear and whispered, "She's good."
As Luz watched, she thought, "Wow! Amity's got this in the bag. Guess I, uh, don't need to do much. I can just sit back and think about... things." Suddenly, her phone started buzzing again, reminding her about the event. Edric and Emira emerged from behind Luz's back, startling her.
"Hey, Luz." said Emira
"Ooh, what's that?" asked Edric.
Luz quickly pressed the ignore button.
"You okay?" asked Emira.
"Yeah! Uh, yeah, I'm fine. 'Cause I just remembered the other part of the plan. Amity's gonna kick butt, like, for sure, but if I was fighting, too, she could get the belt faster. So, I'm also gonna sign up for the Bonesborough Brawl!"
"Wait, how is this supposed to help me?" asked Amity as she, her siblings and Strix watched Luz stretch.
"Think of it like, tag teaming tournament! If I'm taking out contestants too, you have less people to worry about. More chances to win that belt!"
"Is everything okay? Eda and Strix told me it's a special day for you."
Strix immediately said "Shh! Ixnay! Ixnay!"
Luz glared at him. "Did he now?" Then she stammered and said to Amity, "I mean, i- it's nothing for you to worry about. Not even worth talking about." She said that last part through gritted teeth as she glared again at Strix before returning her gaze to Amity. "Really, I- I just wanna help you. Besides, can't let you have all the fun, Blight."
Amity blushed and put a hand on her shoulder. "Just don't get hurt, okay?"
"Emira, do you know any healing spells?"
"I'm on it," she said.
"Well, just in case you need a little oomph," Strix said as he handed her the Mask. "Yeah. I actually remembered to bring it this time. Just remember to wear the Luz skin mask so no one notices."
"Ooh, I can help too. I can make Batric sing for moral support," Edric said as he cast a spell over his bat creature. But nothing happened. "Ah, sorry. New spell. Let me try again." Still, nothing happened.
"Methinks you need some practice," said Strix.
"It's okay, Ed," said Emira. "Maybe you can just cheer from the sidelines?"
"Yeah, okay. Go get 'em, Mittens!" Edric called out as they left. His shoulders slumped in sadness as he walked off. "Man, I can't get anything right." Just then, he saw something odd. A bunch of goreberries circled in a rope. He reached to touch it but Eda and King popped out of a nearby bush and stopped him.
"Hey, sweatpants! Scram!" shouted King.
"You'll scare away the Skin Badgers! We need their dandruff," said Eda.
"Oh! I thought Skin Badgers ate shushrooms, not goreberries. Also, they're strong, so you'll need a fortified rope." He traced a spell circle in the air, then touched the rope, which turned gold. King and Eda looked at each other as Edric stood up. "Sorry. I'm probably messing stuff up. Just forget I said anything."
He was about to leave when Eda called out, "Wait! You know beast keeping magic?"
"A little. It's just a hobby though. Probably not anything good."
Eda and Kings smirked, then nodded at each other. The former said, "Hey! Blight Brother!"
"Edric," the boy corrected her.
"Nah. Too close to Eda. Here's the deal. I'm trying to make a blabber serum. I need to get certain information out of a certain demon. But, without magic, I'm having trouble getting some of these more lively ingredients. Your beast keeping know-how could really help."
"You think I could help? Okay, I'll do it!"
Eda chuckled. "Dang! I didn't even have to offer to pay."
"Wait, what?"
"Let's get started!" Eda said as she dragged Edric off.
Back at the Brawl, the announcer spoke into the microphone, "Let's keep the brawl going! In one corner, we have... the Flexicutioner!" The Flexecutioner was a one-eyed ogre wearing an executioner's hood and carrying an axe. "And in the other, a last minute entry...the Spellraiser!"
An ice pillar grew, launching Luz from it. She then flipped in the air and used a plant glyph to grow vines that wrapped around her and shield her from falling, which met the floor with a loud thud. The vines unwrapped around Luz as she raised her arms as if achieving victory. Below the stage, Amity was shocked and blushed while Emira cheered for Luz. Strix on the other hand, face palmed at the ridiculous name Luz chose. Luz and the Flexicutioner approached the middle of the ring.
"Let the Brawl...BEGIN!"
The Flexicutioner speeds off, leaving a gap from where he just stood, and launched towards Luz, preparing to attack her with his axe, but Luz dodged, giving her the opportunity to slap the Mask on her face. The Flexecutioner slammed the axe down into the ground, sending Luz skyward. Thinking quick, Luz tugged a cord sticking out of her shirt and it turned into a parachute. While she floated down gently, she drew out an ice glyph and changed it into an anvil made of ice before dropping it. It landed on the Flexecutioner's foot, making him yelp in pain and hop around as he held onto his sore foot. He didn't see Luz sneak up behind him and place a fire glyph on his back that sent him launching into the sky and into the ground outside the ring with a crash.
Meanwhile, a skin badger noticed a flower nearby and ran up to chew on it. The flower then transformed into a cover and trapped it inside. Eda plucked off a hair from atop the skin badger's head and crossed off "SKIN BADGER HAIR" from the list.
Meanwhile, back at the venue, Amity faced against the Book Forger from the Bonesborough Library. They rushed towards each other and attempts to push each other back, creating a power force so strong which caused both of them to fly backwards. The Book Forger summoned a large rock from the ground and launched it at Amity. She immediately formed a shield with abomination goo which successfully blocked the incoming stone, but the force of impact was still strong enough to send her flying backwards. She hit the ground and rolled over multiple times, but eventually managed to sit up. She then summons some Abomination goo, which dug itself underground, wrap itself around the book forger's foot, and threw him off the stage. The book forger smashes into a pile of dirt next to them and then falls face down onto the ground. The audience cheered.
Meanwhile below the stage, Emira, wearing the Mask (she demanded that Strix give her a turn with it) and a very skimpy nurse's outfit, applied some bandages around Luz's leg and held up a giant syringe. Luz let out a scream.
Batric was walking sideways on the ground when he heard something and looked up. Somewhere above, a fairy (the same one that tried to eat Luz's skin when she first came here) noticed Batric and rushed towards him. However, it turned out to be an illusion. Two ropes then appeared and tied up the Fairy, causing her to fall to the ground and start crying and screeching. Eda crossed off "FAIRY SPIT" off her list.
Back at the venue, Luz found herself facing down an old she-goat demon. The demon smashed her walking cane into her knee, splitting it in half. She then started shrieking, forming a battle aura around her, Super Saiyan style. Luz immediately took out 2 smoke glyphs from her pocket and smashesdthem together, creating a large amount of mist. She then escorted the demon out of the mist like she was helping her cross a road. The demon pushed her away and tried to walk off on her own, but accidentally fell down the stage instead. The announcer declared Luz the winner and the audience cheered.
Below the stage, Strix patted the Mask on his belt as he and Emira watched with Amity, Luz figuring that she didn't need it this round. Emira rested her head on his shoulder. Who would have thought that watching carnage would be so romantic?
Back with Eda, Edric and King, the trio were preparing the potion after they gathered all the ingredients needed and placed them in the boiling cauldron. "So the Blabber Serum should get your ex to tell you about your other ex? Man, being an adult gets complicated," said Edric.
"WARDEN WRATH IS NOT MY-" Eda shouted before she stopped and sighed with exasperation. "King, can you stop telling people that?" King just laughed. "Wrath may know why my... friend can't seem to remember me. And it has something to do with the Day of Unity. But, with this, he'll tell me everything I need to know. Dang. The fire needs to be hotter. Keep stirring while I find more fuel."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Edric said with a salut as he was given the spatula. As he stirred, King sat on his shoulder and asked, "You're enjoying this, aren't you, Blight brother?"
"It's just... nice to be taken seriously for once."
"Yeah. I know what you mean."
Back at the brawl venue, on stage, Warden Wrath was tossing a contestant in between his hands while laughing. Below the stage, Luz was doing some warm-ups while Emira was trying to cure a wound on Amity's knee with Healing magic.
"Woo! This is a workout! You doin' okay, Amity?"
"Yeah," Amity said with a wince. "This is just a nasty one."
"Ha! Reminds me of the Grudgby match. Oh! Remember when-"
"Hey Luz," said Emira. "Maybe you can talk after? I need to focus."
"Oh! Of course, of course. I'll just... sit quietly... with my thoughts." I just need a healthy distraction. Healthy distraction... The sound of the phone buzzing snapped her eyes open.
"Is it that event again?" asked Strix.
Luz glared at him. "I told you, it's none of your business! Ugh! I'm going for a walk."
The Blight sisters and Strix watched her go with concern.
Luz walked toward the entrance, took out her phone from her pocket and turned off the reminder. "Next time, I am THROWING YOU into the ocean!" She put her phone back into her pocket and then bumped into someone. She looked up and saw it was the Abomaton Amity sent out earlier. "It's you! Geez. Did you actually find an emerald dagger?" It ignored her and walked past her. She tried to stop it by pushing it back. "Hey! Wait! Amity is so close to winning. Just stay back!" It ignored her and kept on walking. Frustration building, she shouted, "Fine! If that's the way you want it..." She formed a bat made of ice and struck it in the head.
At that moment, an alarm popped out of the Abomaton's head, making her even more frustrated. "Get out of MY HEAD!" She formed a plant glyph and used it to spring herself up into the air and kick off the alarm, destroying it.
"Luz!" She turned around to see the Blight sisters and Strix running toward her. "Is everything okay?" asked Emira.
"Hey, guys! Look who I found!" said Luz in a cheery tone.
Amity saw who it was and pinched her nose in annoyance. "Ugh. It's back already! You didn't touch it, right? Dad filled this thing with alarms."
"Uh, of... course not."
"I'll take that off your hands," Strix said as he reached for the emerald dagger. "Thank you."
The kids heard growling and looked toward it. On the stage, Warden Wrath was spouting fire, much to the audience's delight. "Come on, Amity," said Luz. "It's showtime!"
"Sure you won't need this?" Strix asked as he held up the Mask.
"I told you, I don't need it," Amity insisted.
"Your funeral..."
"Now, we're getting close to the end, folks!" shouted the announcer. "Will the Warden lose the Champion's Belt?"
Warden Wrath took off his mask and began to spout fire while growling. He then tilted his head upwards and spouted an even bigger fire. Luz tapped on Amity's shoulder to get her attention, and imitated Warden Wrath's growl in a funny way, causing Amity to burst out giggling. Luz then giggled together with her. After that, the duo gets ready to fight, with Luz patting Amity on the shoulders.
Below the stage, Strix watched with worry. "I think Amity should have worn the Mask. She's going to die out there!"
Emira put a hand on his shoulder. "Have faith in her. I always do. Sometimes."
"That's...not exactly a voice of confidence."
"The Mighty Mittens versus the Warden! Now, let the brawl-"
"STOP!" A pillar of abomination goo burst out of the arena's floor and Alador was right on top of it, glaring at Amity. "This child forfeits the match."
"Dad? How did you find us?" asked a shocked Amity.
Alador was lowered to the ground as the goo returned to the container on his belt. " Not only did you ditch the coven tryouts, but someone set off your Abomaton's alarm. I just followed its signal."
When he held up the broken alarm, Amity knew at once what happened. She turned to Luz with a look of betrayal. "Luz, did you... lie to me earlier?"
Luz nervously stammered, "I didn't wanna worry you."
"THAT'S IT!" Strix grabbed Luz and held her by the shoulders. "You've been acting weird all day ever since that phone started buzzing! What are you so afraid of? Speak!"
Luz got angry and shoved him away. "It's NOTHING! You wouldn't understand what I'm going through anyway! Just leave me alone, all of you!"
Amity gave Luz a hurt look at Luz's refusal to open up. Even to her.
"HEY!" Warden Wrath shouted. "I'm tired of standing around. I came here to FIGHT!" Before he could attack, Alador encased his body in goo, leaving only his head sticking out. "No! No!" He tried to breathe fire, but Alador's goo whisked him to the floor.
"Oh, well, it looks like the Champion's Belt goes to..." The announcer was about to hand it over to Alador, but he turned it down.
"I already have one. Mittens, go round up Edric and Emira. We're leaving."
"But..." Amity stammered.
"And if we beg, maybe we can sign you up for the next tryout."
Amity slapped his hand away and shouted, "No! I'm not going anywhere with you." She snatched an invisibility glyph from Luz. "Either of you." She held her breath and disappeared.
"Amity!"
Meanwhile, King and Edric saw everything from behind a tree. "Aw, weak. Your dad's here."
"But look! Wrath's tied up. This is the perfect chance to give him the serum!"
"But it isn't ready!"
Edric quickly ran back to the campsite, untied a sack and scrambled through the things inside. "No, not this one. Oh!" He found what he was looking for: a jar of fire bee honey. "If the Blabber Serum needs more heat to finish, then this should do just the trick." He poured a drop of it into the potion and it turned green and bubbly. "You find Ms. Eda. I'll head over to Wrath." King nodded and ran off to find Eda while Edric carried the potion with a levitation spell.
"I thought I would find you here," Strix said as he approached Amity, who was sitting under the tree she and Luz created at Grom. "Can I sit with you?" She didn't respond. "I'll just sit here then." He sighed and said, "You know, I thought after all this time, I thought Luz would trust me more with sharing some secrets with me. Not sharing them with me, I understand. But, not sharing them with you? That's a new low."
"I know. You'd think that..."
There was a moment of silence. "Hey, I gotta say, you looked pretty cool out there. I guess I underestimated you. Remind me not to get on your bad side."
Amity chuckled. "Yeah." Then she pounded her fist into the dirt. "Dad! I try so hard, but he still sees me as his little Mittens! I'm tired of him coddling me and I'm tired of Mom telling me what to do!"
Strix frowned. "You're lucky. You at least have a dad that coddles you and gives you cute nicknames. You want to know where mine is?"
"No."
"Me neither."
Amity asked, "Wait, when did this be about you?"
"It's not! I'm just saying that he does it because he loves you! Maybe a little too much, probably, but at least you have it!" Strix exhaled. "I'm sorry. Maybe I'm a little jealous that you got a dad and I don't. Come on, let's go talk to your father. See if we can't get him to change his mind. And if talk doesn't work, you can always hit him on the head with a skillet." Amity giggled. The sound of footsteps made them turn. There was Luz, wearing an apologetic expression. "Wrrryyy..." growled Strix.
"It's alright," Amity said. "She can come." Luz sat next to her as she said, "I've always wanted to enter this Brawl. I thought it would be fun to bring home the belt. And I thought I could understand my dad better. But then you joined the competition. And then you tried to mess with that Abomaton on your own. And then you lied about it." Luz looked away in shame. "You've been acting strange all day. Does it have something to do with the Human Realm?"
Luz exhaled. "Oh, okay, okay. I don't talk about this cause it happened like, a long time ago, and it's like totally not an issue anymore but uh..." She held up the phone and showed her what was on it. A notice that said, "Anniversary at Gravesfield Graveyard. When: 5:00". "Today's the anniversary of my dad passing away." Strix and Amity gasped in shock. "That's, not an excuse for what I did. Like I said it happened a while ago so I, uh... Didn't want to bring it up."
Amity scrolled through the photos Luz had with her parents, eventually the later ones with only her and her mom when she was younger.
"He always brought us flowers on our birthdays, so, after he passed away, we started picking flowers for each other. And then we'd visit his grave, and me and my mom would spend the day together. It's nice. But, this year, I-I'm not with her, and... I don't have any flowers. And when you told me about the problem with your dad, I don't know." She started to cry a little. "Maybe I was jealous or, just, needed a distraction. I was dumb. I'm sorry."
Strix said, "Luzer, why didn't you say anything? I mean, you could have talked to me about it. I know what it's like to lose a dad too."
Luz said with rage building up, "No, you don't! You don't know what it's like! YOUR FATHER DIED BEFORE YOU WERE EVEN BORN! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH?!" Strix gave her a look of shock.
Before Amity could say anything to calm Luz down, the sound of screams coming from the Bonesborough Brawl. Amity and Strix immediately took off, but Luz collapsed after standing and her legs were wobbly; Amity looked back at her. "Whoops, got a case of the ole jelly legs. I'll catch up."
Amity looked from the location of the Brawl to Luz. "I don't know what rituals you have in the Human Realm, but, I'll help you pick some flowers, and we can do something here!"
"And I'll help too," said Strix. "Somehow..."
Back in the arena, people screamed and fled in terror. Eda ran up to Edric, who was looking on in shock. "What the heck happened?"
"I-I added fire bee honey to the blabber serum!" the boy explained.
"You changed the recipe?!" She pulled Edric away as Wrath, now a roaring monster, caused chaos in the arena. Eda changed into her harpy form and flew up to him. "Hey, Wrath! You still in there, buddy?" She attacked him but he blew her away into the forest. Just then, an Abomaton grabbed hold of Wrath, revealed to be controlled by Alador; the Abomaton was knocked away as Alador summoned another abomination.
Strix flew down from the sky, carrying Amity in his hands. "We're back," said Strix. "Whoa! What happened to Wrath?!"
"I...I..."
"Edric goofed," Emira finished for him.
"Dad! I got your back!" But Alador used the abomination goo to push Amity back to her siblings and Strix.
"What the heck, Dad!" shouted Emira as Edric booed at him.
Amity grunted in frustration, "Oh, he just doesn't get it! Are you guys doing okay?"
"For now," said Eda as she landed next to Strix. "But nothing phases this guy, and we have to turn him back to normal."
Edric suggested, "Well, if the heat from the fire bee honey caused the potion to mutate, then maybe something cold would reverse it?"
"Ed, we don't have the time to make another potion," exclaimed Strix.
"You don't need one." Luz appeared, wearing the Mask. "I can handle this. Eda, can you give me a lift?"
"You got it, kiddo."
Luz looked over at Amity and Strix. "Thanks for listening, Amity. I can't wait to pick flowers with you. And Strix, I'm sorry I yelled at you. Think you can help?" Strix nodded as he spread his wings and flew up into the sky. She walks back and fanned some glyphs in her hand, and with her other hand, she reached out and allowed herself to be grabbed by Eda before flying off.
Alador, meanwhile, was having trouble controlling the Abomaton, which was cruelly being smashed by the monster formally known as Warden Wrath. The Abomaton got thrown off and was smashed by Wrath's jelly hand. Just then, another abomination appears and helps the Abomaton. To Alador's shock, the abomination was revealed to have been summoned by Amity. He once again prepared to send her off, but she stopped him.
"I'm making my own choices from now on."
"But-"
"You're welcome!"
"Hold him down!" shouted Edric.
Both Alador and Amity nodded to each other, then dispelled their circles and created another larger one, combining their abominations, which held Wrath in place. Alador looked at Amity, still focused, and he looked back proudly. Up in the sky, Luz, Strix and Eda pressed all three ice glyphs together and with the Mask's magic, it turned into a giant ice bomb. Luz gave the bomb a good hard kick and it flew straight into Wrath's mouth. For a moment, nothing happened. Then all at once, he was frozen in a block of ice.
Eda and Strix landed while the former glared at Alador. "Edalyn," he said indifferently.
"Alador," she said in the same tone.
"Were you always able to do that?" Alador asked as she turned back to normal.
"Don't you have family stuff to clear up? Also, I heard about the factory incident with Luz and Strix. I've got my eyes on you, Blight." She walked over to Wrath and used a fire glyph to melt the ice off him as he turned back to normal. Then she grabbed him by the hood of his uniform and demanded, "What's going on at the castle? What's really gonna happen on the Day of Unity? Have Raine's memories been altered?"
"I don't know! I don't know. I actually got demoted for stealing my coworker's lunches. I just wanted to feel in control again, you know?"
"Wrrryyy..." growled Eda as her hand turned into a claw.
"Okay, okay, okay. I don't know about Raine but I have heard some things. The Day of Unity is supposedly going to unite us with the Titan, but some of us don't think this 'new world' would be very inviting to magickind. Wild or not."
At that moment, Edric ran up to her and said, "Ms. Eda! I am so, so sorry. I messed everything up."
"Are you kidding? Instead of making a blabber serum, you made a horrifying transformation serum!"
"I think I'm gonna puke," gagged Wrath.
"Well, the side effects aren't pretty, but I can sell this." He handed Edric a Bad Girl Coven t-shirt. "Illusions, beastkeeping, and potion magic? Keep it up, kid. You got a future in wild magic."
"Thanks Ms. -"
Emira pushed him out of the way and shouted, " I want a t-shirt too!"
"That'll be fifty snails," said Strix as he flew down beside her.
"What?! That's highway robbery!"
Strix just chuckled.
Meanwhile, Amity was having a VERY needed conversation with Alador. "What? You don't want to join the Emperor's Coven anymore? But that's- that's always been your dream."
Amity shook her head and said, "No, that's always been Mom's dream. And you just went along with it. I bet you didn't even know I was dating Luz! Or that Emira is going out with Strix!"
He was shocked to hear that. "Edalyn's kids?"
"See? You don't talk to us anymore! You're too busy making these monsters for the Emperor, and Mom's been too busy trying to dye my hair green."
"I..." He face palmed as he realized how neglectful he had been lately. It was time to change that. "I like your new hair color. It's abomination-colored."
"Finally someone gets it. Can you tell Mom that?"
"I'll talk to her." He reached to hug her, but Amity grabbed his hand and shook it instead.
"It's a start," she said with a smile.
Back at the Grom tree, Amity walked over to find Luz on a cliff picking flowers, most of which were dead. She sat next to her and asked, "Find any good ones?"
"No, not really."
"Let me try." Amity drew a glyph in the ground, badly might I add, and activated it. All that came out was a small vine. "How do you get it to do what you want?"
"You gotta know what you need," Luz said as she drew a perfect glyph in the ground. "I can't believe I didn't try this first. My head's really on backwards today."
"Exactly," said Strix as he flew down with Emira in his hands. "You never think these things through when you focus on one thing. But..." In his hands was a blue flower. "I understand where you're coming from. I DO know what you're going through."
Luz shook her head. "Sorry about that. I..."
"It's fine. I probably would have said the same thing."
"Hey," said Emira. "I don't know about this whole 'human flowers mourning' thing, but Strix told me and I bought him that. I'm sorry about your loss, guys. Both of you."
Luz and Strix smiled. "Now what?" asked the latter.
Amity summoned abomination goo from the jar in her pocket, and it morphed into a balloon, which she handed to Luz. Luz tied her and Strix's flowers to the balloon and after closing her eyes for a while, she let it float away. Strix felt tears run down his face as Emira held him close and he wrapped his wings around her. The wind kicked up and blew some of his feathers off, making them fly along with the balloon.
"Do you think they'll reach the Human Realm?" asked Amity.
"Probably doesn't work that way, but... it's a nice thought, right?" Luz responded as she held Amity close.
Back in the Human Realm, at the Noceda residence, Camila somberly placed a flower in the vase that was sitting on the windowsill. As Camila looked up at the sky, she sniffs sadly. Oh, deary, she thought. If only you can see how much your daughter has grown. Then she returned to the kitchen where Vee was baking a treat to cheer her up, especially on a day like this.