Hello, readers! WaterDragonMaverick here with the next chapter of my Owl House fic, Palisman Café. Last time was more of a quiet chapter, so I'm going to give this one as much detail as I did with Chapter 3. Especially since Amity is going to be in this chapter. What will happen is something that can work with both canon AND this AU, so get ready to see what it is.
The Owl House is owned by Disney and was created by Dana Terrace
It was a quiet Saturday, so the members of the Owl House were out of the café and worked at a stand Eda set up in the Bonesborough marketplace to sell repaired merchandise to whoever she could give it to. While the Owl Lady dusted off the table and some items, Luz was reading one of her Azura books aloud to King, who was sitting on the table. "Emboldened by the dishonor Hecate had shown, Azura lifted her staff to the cotton-candy skies and shouted, 'I challenge you to a Witch's Duel'," Luz said. "And look, I drew a flipbook," she added as she showed King and made sound effects.
"Ha! I can draw better than that," King declared before looking at himself awkwardly. "Well, uh... You know. If I, uh, had thumbs."
Eda only groaned as she listened. "Please stop reading that. Its flowery language is an insult to the fantasy genre and driving away all our serious customers," she said as she waved her feather duster around.
After hearing what Eda said, Luz looked around. "Um, Eda? What customers," Luz questioned as she looked at their surroundings and saw that nothing else was there but the stone pavement and walls. "I don't even see any other stands around. What's going on here?"
"This is a bad omen," Eda voiced. "There must be something horrible happening today."
Before any of them could make any guesses, Luz heard a familiar voice call out to her. "Luz! You won't believe what's happening today," Gus Porter called out as he and Willow Park came running up to the stand.
"Hexside's annual job fair and advanced science convention is today. Students of the school and their families get to see all the types of career opportunities they could have and see all the amazing new technology that graduates of the school have worked on," Willow explained as she held up a poster. "There's even a mystery guest this year," she added.
"Cool! Job fair! Eda, can we go," Luz asked as she leaned against the woman.
"Absolutely not," Eda immediately replied, making Luz whine as she slumped down onto the ground. "Sure, it looks fun to see everything they have to offer, but those jobs usually mean you're working for some big corporation that's part of a crooked system," she explained. "I have my own businesses. Why would I need to go? Besides, I haven't been to that thing since we were girls."
"We?"
"Uh, duh, I mean," Eda stammered after Luz asked about what she meant.
"Who's we? Do you have a mysterious past? Now we gotta go," Luz declared as she stood up. "And before you say anything, I will have King follow you as he reads from my book if you refuse."
Eda only stared at Luz for a moment before speaking. "You have moxie, Luz. Fine, we'll go. Just help me pack the stand up and we'll go after dropping it off at the café," she stated to everyone, which made the three friends smile.
After putting everything away at the café and making sure the animals were taken care of, Luz and her friends were excited to be at the town's convention center while Eda only groaned. Entering the building, Luz gasped in awe as she saw all the booths and nine large banners with the colors of the Hexside uniforms. "Was I even alive before now? This looks incredible," the Dominican girl voiced.
"Those banners represent Hexside's main nine classes. Because the school teaches from kindergarten to 12th grade, students who do well in their assigned classes can be hired in any career related to those studies," Gus explained to Luz. "But there's plenty of jobs to choose from for internships while in classes to build experience."
"You already know about the Automaton Track and the Botany Track from your first visit, but we can explain the others," Willow said as the group started walking and she pointed at the different banners. "We have the Music Track in red that focuses on the music industry, Healing Track in blue which is healthcare, Beast Keeping in orange for animal studies, Concoction Track in yellow for chemistry and cooking, Broadcasting in purple for information media, and you can see Construction in brown right over there," she listed before pointing out a demonstration by a huge and burly man in a construction worker's uniform.
Luz was amazed at the strong-looking shed that was set up next to the man, who was showing just how much punishment the structure could take. "Yowza-Wowza," Luz said in wonder as she watched a small gathering applaud the work.
"Yowza-Wowza," repeated somebody else that got Luz's attention. Turning to see a pair of teenagers in Hexside uniforms with the same color as Gus', she saw one of them was doing a perfect imitation of her voice. "This is my first time being here, but it's all amazing!"
"I see you're drawn in by the allure of the Entertainment Track. We like to work with a little showmanship," Gus explained as he reached into his pocket and threw a smoke bomb on the ground, distracting everyone as he suddenly appeared with his upperclassmen and more people applauded.
"These all sound great," Luz said as she turned to Eda. "Did you just not want somebody bossing you around?"
"Exactly. I'm my own boss and that's what I've always wanted," Eda stated before she marched on with a prideful expression.
Exploring more of the convention, Luz and the others soon found a number of people heading for a certain area. "Wow. These guys seem popular," Luz remarked as she took note of the gold-colored logo on the top of the doorway.
Seeing it for themselves, Willow and Gus gasped in amazement. "It's Imperial Industries! They're one of the best places anybody in Hexside could join because they have so many different businesses," Gus explained. "You think they'll sign my forehead!?"
"Let's find out," Willow said with as much excitement as Gus before the two ran inside.
"You coming, Eda," asked Luz.
"No way. Out of all the big companies here, they're the worst," Eda stated. "I think I'll just wait out here and grab some stuff."
"It wouldn't hurt to see what they're showing off," Luz stated. "It might help the café if you know what they're doing. We could bring in more customers by talking in the crowd."
"Well, I did bring business cards with me," Eda said as she pulled a card for the Palisman Café out of her hair. "Maybe I can slip them into people's pockets when they aren't looking."
"That's the spirit," Luz exclaimed. "...I think."
As Luz and Eda made their way into the main theater, they found some seats and watched as the lights dimmed and a spotlight shined onto the center stage, revealing Principal Bump appearing from a trapdoor and a swirl of mist from a fog machine. "Hello, Bonesborough," he greeted as the audience began cheering. "Students ask me all the time about the height of achievement in Hexside. It's being selected to join the best of the best. And there's no better example of the employees of Imperial Industries," he stated as the wall behind him soon showed a projection of several scientists working on various robots, medicine, and even entertainment systems.
"Whoa," Luz said as she watched the video presentation. Looking around to see the crowd's reactions, she saw Gus and Willow to her left. They excitedly pointed at Gus' forehead, which had 'Imperial Industries' written on it in washable marker. Luz could see her 12-year old friend was having the time of his life before paying attention to Principal Bump again.
"Imperial Industries has many opportunities in various fields of work. Robotics, entertainment, medicinal studies, and many others. All to usher in a new world of scientific achievement," he stated. "But only the best may ascend to these ranks. And one day, that could be one of you," he added, pointing at somebody under Luz, who she soon saw as Amity Blight. Luz couldn't see her face, but she could tell Amity was excited from her body language and what she thought was a squeal of joy.
"She looks really excited about this," Luz thought to herself as the video presentation ended.
"Now then, to announce the latest technology created by Imperial Industries, it's my pleasure to introduce this year's mystery guest," Bump stated. "I'm happy to introduce, Lilith Clawthorne!" Eda gasped as she heard the name and watched as a flashy laser display create a white raven flying around the theater before perching on the center stage. As it did, a woman with black hair, a black dress, and turquoise eyes soon took its place.
Everyone applauded the guest's appearance, but Luz saw Eda was stunned and soon realized. "Wait, did he say 'Clawthorne'? Do you know her," Luz asked her boss.
"Yeah, she's my sister," Eda explained.
"Thank you, all," Lilith said as she spoke to everyone in the audience as the lights returned to normal. "It wasn't easy for me to rise to the top. I also started from humble beginnings. But now, I am the head researcher for several departments of Imperial Industries. To all you aspiring students, I only have these words to say. Be more and learn what you can to help better yourself and others!" Everyone cheered at Lilith's words before she gestured for everyone to quiet down. "Now, we at Imperial Industries are happy to announce the newest in entertainment technology," she declared as several people began moving a large contraption into the center of the theater floor, which reminded Luz of a pair of giant arcade cabinets put back-to-back. "Behold, 'Dimensional Duel'! This game uses special virtual reality simulation to provide a fully immersive entertainment and combat experience. Observe," Lilith said as two Imperial employees stood on the platforms of the cabinet and the screen came to life with a projection of the gameplay showing on the wall behind Lilith.
Luz watched in wonder as the demonstrators selected through various characters from fiction that she recognized. "I wonder how much they blew on this," Eda remarked as Luz watched the players battle each other with full-body motion controls. Seeing everything in action was breathtaking and Luz could only imagine what it was like to actually play that game.
When the demo ended, Lilith spoke again. "Now, we'll be allowing anybody who is interested to play Dimensional Duel to help with testing. Sign-ups will be outside the theater for the next hour. I hope that we get plenty of feedback," Lilith said as the presentation ended.
As everyone left the theater, Luz saw Eda starting to leave without her. "Eda, where are you going?"
"I'm gonna go home and wash the con funk off my skin," Eda stated. "Maybe steal some swag on my way out."
"Okay, I'm just going to check things out a little more," Luz said as Eda started leaving. "I wonder if I could play that game for myself," Luz muttered as she read a pamphlet before bumping into Amity Blight.
"Watch where you're- Oh, it's you. Willow's fake automaton," Amity said as she turned to snap at whoever bumped into her, but recognized Luz.
"Oh hey, Amity," Luz greeted nervously. "Sorry about everything last week at Hexside. I don't think I really introduced myself. I'm Luz Noceda," she said as she held out her hand.
"I don't care," Amity scoffed as she slapped Luz's hand away. "You're the one that got me in trouble with Principal Bump and I never get in trouble," she stated as she walked away.
"Well, to be fair, you were kind of okay with him trying to cut me apart before Willow owned up," Luz retorted as she walked after the girl.
"You shouldn't even be here," Amity angrily replied as she quickly turned around. "This convention is for Hexside students only."
"Well, Bump said that I could check out Hexside when I could," Luz reminded.
"You still aren't an actual student," Amity stated.
"I could be a student," Luz exclaimed. "I have experience with animals and cooking, so I can be part of a few classes."
Amity just gave Luz a blank stare before noticing something behind her. "Would that be one of the animals you have experience with," she questioned as Luz turned to see King running through the convention hall with a scarf around his neck and a cupcake balanced on his nose.
"Hehehehe! Offerings for the king of demons," King gloated before seeing Luz. "Hey, Luz! Check out what I got when you went around the place without me," he exclaimed before he ended up tripping on his scarf.
As Luz went to see if the dog was okay, King was more worried about his treat that fell on the ground. Before Luz could grab King's cupcake for him, Amity callously stepped on it and made him gasp in shock. "Oops. That was an accident," she said in the same falsely caring tone Luz heard when she first saw her.
"Why are you being so mean, Amity," Luz questioned as she glared at the girl.
"Because you and your pet don't belong here. Not when you obviously don't put in the effort for anything," the green-haired girl replied.
"I am not a pet," King exclaimed as he scratched himself with his back leg before Luz hugged him.
"He's a very good boy and an adorable little prince!"
"King. I'm King," the dog reminded.
"I'll tell you what, Amity, it's one thing to say I don't belong somewhere. I got that enough at school from all those jerks I went to class with," Luz stated as she stood up to confront the girl. "But it's another to bully the first friends I've actually made this summer."
"And just what is your point," Amity questioned as she checked her black nail polish.
"My point is this, Amity Blight. I challenge you to Dimensional Duel," Luz loudly declared, surprising everyone nearby.
Amity only gave a blank look as she stepped forward and got in Luz's face. "I accept," she said as she gave a determined grin. "Let's set the terms for this match, shall we?"
"One, if I win, you apologize to King for squashing his cupcake," Luz stated as King ate the ruined dessert off the floor without a care, but his collar still made sobbing sounds. "And two, you have to be nicer to people."
"Fine by me," Amity replied. "But when I win, you have to stay away from Hexside forever," she said as her terms.
"That's not exactly fair," Luz remarked. "I mean, if we were both learning magic and your part of the wager was me not learning magic, the only way to make it fair is if you help teach me if I won."
"True, but we're not magic," Amity agreed.
"Let's shake on it," Luz declared as she held out her hand.
Amity did so, making sure to have a tight grip on Luz's hand before letting go and the two made their way to the sign-up sheet for testing Dimensional Duel. "We'll be facing off in the theater in one hour," Amity stated as she wrote her name. "Let's see if you actually put effort into anything," she said as she walked away. Luz only glared at the back of Amity's head before she grabbed a pamphlet for the game to study up on the available characters to play as, then went to find if Eda was still in the convention center to explain the situation.
Eda was walking around the convention, browsing through the various booths and swiping samples as she passed. However, she wasn't looking for the exit like she told Luz. When she leaned against a pillar and ate a cupcake, she heard somebody speak to her. "Edalyn? Is that you?" Turning to see Lilith signing autographs for Hexside students, Eda downed the rest of her snack as Lilith approached her. "It's been so long since I've seen you last," she said. "Are you still running that birdcage of a café you turned your house into?"
"Oh, Lily. You know that I can actually spare the time to do things I want," Eda responded to her sister before kneeling down to talk with the students. "You know, when we were kids, Lily was so excited to see Imperial Industries that she peed a little."
The children laughed at what Eda told them while Lilith had a small embarrassed blush on her face when her sister brought up an old memory. "Th-that's all for today," she told the students and guided them off. "Uncalled for, sister," she told Eda with an irritated look on her face.
"Oh please, I still remember when I started a food fight to get back your lunch money in high school. You laughed at me when I ended up getting mashed potatoes up my nose," Eda retorted.
"Why are you even here if you have that café?"
"Eh, I thought I could advertise it," Eda said.
"And here I thought you were going to join Imperial Industries with me," Lilith remarked.
"Sorry, sister. That's not going to happen," Eda told Lilith before blowing a raspberry at her.
"I will not fall for such childish antics," Lilith said as she crossed her arms and turned to the side, only to start pulling down her eyelids and sticking her tongue out at Eda.
"Am I interrupting something, Eda," asked a voice, which made the sisters turn to see Luz looking at them.
Seeing the new arrival, Lilith composed herself and cleared her throat. "Do you know this girl, Edalyn?"
"Oh yeah, this is Luz. She works at Palisman," Eda stated. "I don't actually slum it in the woods with only animals for company like a hermit, you know."
"Eda, I know you wanted to leave, but I'm facing Amity in that new game your sister showed and I wanted you to cheer me on," Luz explained.
Hearing this, Lilith chuckled. "So, your employee has challenged my best protégé to a match? I think it would be in our best interests to watch," the raven-haired Clawthorne remarked.
"Only if we make a little wager," Eda said. "Loser has to clean up the winner's place of business."
"And why would I agree to that," Lilith questioned as she looked at her sister.
"Because I'm sure it would be satisfying to see me cleaning up your office like how I tricked you into cleaning my room before," Eda snickered.
Lilith growled in annoyance at the memory before calming down and agreeing. "Very well. I'll set up the match for the proper time," Lilith stated as she started heading for the theater. "I hope that the girl can handle herself against the intern who helped test the game in development."
When Lilith left, Luz gulped as she heard the last detail. "Oh great, Amity probably knows how to play the game better than me. I'm toast."
"Not yet, you aren't," Eda said. "I'm sure that a prissy little overachiever like her and Lilith will focus on one thing. Tunnel vision is pretty bad when in a serious situation," she explained as she taught Luz. "It's always best to take in your surroundings and use what you have. Be resourceful." Luz nodded as she understood what Eda was talking about, remembering her favorite stories and games. "Come on, let's make sure you're ready to play."
The theater began to draw a crowd as Luz and Amity stood ready with Eda and Lilith behind them as witnesses and supporters. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special match for you today. This demonstration will demonstrate just what we're looking for in our programming and testing departments," Lilith stated. "I'm pleased to introduce, Amity Blight."
The audience cheered as they knew of Amity's reputation as Hexside's best student and a potential hire for Imperial Industries. "Don't let them psych you out, Luz," Eda said. "Deep breathes." Luz listened and did just that to calm down.
"She will be facing Luz Noceda in a three-round match of Dimensional Duel," Lilith explained as Eda stepped aside to show Luz to the crowd. When they saw her, Willow and Gus were worried about their friend. "To make things fair and show the capabilities of the game, characters and series will be locked after each round. We can't have somebody using the same character each time to demonstrate how diverse this game is."
"Okay, at least there's that," Luz said to herself.
"Players, select your characters," Lilith told the two girls stepped onto the platforms and put on special goggles to begin playing.
Looking through various characters, Luz began to think. "Okay, if Eda wants me to take in my surroundings, then I should find a character that's known for traveling around the place," she thought to herself as she searched for an option. Selecting Batgirl, Luz was ready to start the first round as Amity selected her character. "Weiss Schnee from RWBY?"
"I happen to appreciate her skill," Amity stated, but Luz could feel like she liked the character for more than that.
"With the characters selected, we'll choose an appropriate location for them to showcase their abilities," Lilith announced as a stage select screen started to randomly choose a location. When one was decided, Luz watched as an entire urban environment materialized around her. "Now, begin the match," Lilith told the girls.
Looking around the area and at her character, Luz saw a grappling hook on her belt and tested it out. "Let's see if this works," she whispered to herself as she took aim and fired onto a lamp post. With the cable retracting quickly, Luz was pulled up and launched into the air like a slingshot. "Whoa! This is so cool!"
"Only the best from Imperial Industries," Lilith remarked while Eda rolled her eyes.
Landing and running around the rooftops, Luz was amazed at the details she saw in the game before she noticed a white emblem appear in front of her. It began to spin and a large knight with mist coming off the gaps in the armor appeared in front of her. "Time for you to know your place," Amity declared as Luz turned to see her as Weiss Schnee from RWBY Volume 5.
"Uh-oh," Luz said to herself before dodging the knight's sword and was left open to a thrust from Amity. "Ah! Run away," Luz exclaimed as she used her grappling hook and made it to a higher building. When she did, she threw what she could at Amity and her summon. Unfortunately, everything was blocked by Amity's knight and it threw her toward Luz.
When she got close, Amity created several glyphs around Luz and jumped off each, slashing and stabbing at her character while everyone watched Luz take heavy damage from a chain of combo attacks. "I'm not done yet," Amity told Luz as the rapier she held soon ignited and she swung the sword to unleash a wave of fire. Defending herself with her cape, Luz was able to minimize the damage before tossing a smoke bomb at Amity's feet. With her vision obscured, Amity growled as she was soon knocked onto the ground and heard Luz's character running away. "I thought we were dueling," Amity rhetorically asked as she unleashed a gust of wind to blow the smoke away, then saw Luz heading for a water tower. "Gotcha," she said to herself as she summoned a large wasp that shot its stinger at the water tower like a harpoon, puncturing a hole in the structure and causing the water to spill. Acting on that, Amity froze the water and trapped Luz with ease. "What an easy win," Amity remarked as she thrust her sword into the ice, defeating Luz in the first round.
"And Amity Blight wins Round 1," Lilith announced.
As Luz removed the goggles for a moment, she started to think over what happened. "Okay, if all of that was in there, then that means I should go with a character I know best. That means I need magic," Luz thought to herself.
"Is that all you could give? I hardly broke a sweat," Amity boasted. "I think I'll finish this quickly," she said as she chose her next character. "Sorcerer Supreme for a supreme victory," Amity declared as she selected Doctor Strange. "You have no hope of winning against me."
"Well, I'm just getting started," Luz retorted as she put her goggles back on and went to the character selection. "If you're going with him, then I'll go with a character all about hope and magic," Luz said as she selected a character in a black coat and ruby-like armor with a matching helmet that Amity didn't see before. "Kamen Rider Wizard!"
In the audience, Willow and Gus looked at each other as they knew the character was one of Luz's favorites, so she likely had a chance against Amity. "What's happening," King asked as he sat down on Willow's lap.
"Who is that character? I didn't see them in the selection," Amity questioned.
"You just need to know where to look," Luz said as she spun around and held up a hand like she was showing off a ring.
"If both players are ready, we'll begin the second round," Lilith declared.
Soon, the stage was a beach with both characters in sight of each other. "You don't stand a chance against my character," Amity said as she started to unleash a burst of flames at Luz.
Luz was calm and simply put a hand in front of her belt. "Connect, Please," Luz said as she created a magic circle in front of her to defend against the fire, sending it back at Amity when a second circle appeared behind her. Using the same portal again, Luz reached inside and pulled out a gun before she fired it at Amity. The bullets curved around an attempt to defend herself and Amity was blasted back into the water. "Let's try something new," she said before putting the weapon away and replaced the ring on her character. Flipping a switch on her belt twice, she then put her hand in front of it before another spell was used. "Big, Please," Luz said before she stuck her hand through a magic circle and proceeded to slap Amity's character into the water.
"Hahaha! That's my girl," Eda cheered as she watched Luz actually do well in the second round.
As she levitated out of the water, Amity became mad and started using spells against Luz, but the girl was able to have her character dodge them all with acrobatic animation while she simply bobbed and weaved. After dodging the attacks, Luz replaced her ring once again and used the new one. "Copy, Please," she said and a duplicate of herself appeared. Flipping the switch on her belt again with the copy doing the same thing, the two characters became four, then eight. As each surrounded Amity, Luz threw a fiery kick and all eight copies did the same, inflicting heavy damage to Amity's character.
"Enough," Amity shouted as she unleashed a barrage of attacks that decimated the copies and left only one. "Take this seriously," Amity said angrily as through the second round, Luz had been just doing what she felt like instead of actually fighting her.
"Hey, the crowd wants a performance," Luz responded. "But if you want me to get real, then I'll do just that," she said as she replaced the ruby ring on her other hand with a diamond one and flipped her belt's switch once. "Infinity, Please," Luz called out as a dragon made of diamond emerged from her ring and belt, circling around her as her character transformed and music blared from the game. Luz's character soon had diamond armor on and she smirked as she held out her hand. "Come, Dragon!" With a simple order, the same diamond dragon appeared again before it transformed into a mix of an axe and a sword, which Luz used to slash at Amity's character and deal even more damage. "Time for the finale," she said before turning the sword around to use as an axe, then touched the hand icon on the end. Spinning and twirling her weapon with a flourish, the axe began to grow in size and Amity was shocked at what she saw. Jumping into the air, Luz slammed the axe blade down on Amity's character and it was defeated with a huge explosion signaling the end of the second round.
"Ha! In your face, Lily," Eda exclaimed as she pointed at her sister.
Amity and Luz removed their goggles to look at each other before the final round started. "H-how did you," Amity questioned as she never saw anything like that before.
"If you want to call off the bet, I could show you how I know about that," Luz offered.
Amity was silent, but only gave a slightly hesitant glare before putting the goggles back on. "We're tied at one victory each. Choose your final character so we can see who actually belongs at Hexside," Amity said as she searched for her last character. "This time, I won't be overconfident."
Luz sighed as her attempt at stopping the bet was rejected. Cycling through characters, Luz soon found one that made her gasp in excitement. "No way! She's in here," Luz exclaimed as she saw Azura the Good Witch and immediately selected her. At the same time, Amity chose Hecate from the same series. "This is a dream come true," Luz said as she was fangirling over playing as Azura.
"Will you pay attention," Amity shouted. "This is what I don't like about you! You don't know how hard I work to do things, seeing everything as a game!"
"But... this is a game," Luz responded. "Haven't you ever played for fun?"
Hearing Luz's words, Amity was in stunned silence as she couldn't think of an answer, but soon focused on the match and the two witch characters were facing off against each other in a dense forest. As they went to battle, the two were evenly matched as they launched spell after spell at each other, defending and dodging. Remembering the capabilities that Azura had in the books, Luz countered Amity's next fire blast by summoning a pillar of stone, which then became a large snake that tried to eat Amity's character, but she teleported away in a burst of fire. Using another spell on the stone serpent, Luz created several smaller rocky snakes to try catching Amity. However, the other girl countered by using a spell to destroy and reform the stone serpents into an actual living snake monster. "You're a fool," Amity said as she watched Luz stare down the serpent.
"Do not underestimate me, Amity Blight. For I am the Good Witch, Luz Noceda! Warrior of Peace," Luz declared as she reenacted the very scene that was responsible for bringing her to Bonesborough. "NOW EAT THIS, SUCKA," she exclaimed as she crouched wielded Azura's staff like a bazooka, launching enormous fireballs at the serpent. As soon as the snake monster was destroyed, Amity and Luz charged at each other for another clash. But when they did, their vision went black and the screen showing the characters became distorted. "What?"
"Did this thing glitch on us," Amity questioned loudly before the machine powered down.
Looking over everything when she opened a side panel, Lilith groaned as Eda looked over her shoulder. "I'm afraid that there will be no more demonstrations today," Lilith morosely announced. "This is exactly why we have testing," she muttered to herself as Luz and Amity appeared to look for themselves.
"Well, I guess this means it's a draw," Eda remarked.
Hearing this, Amity started heading for the theater's exit and Luz began following her. "Amity, wait," she exclaimed before catching up with her.
"What do you want," she asked bitterly, upset that the match was a draw.
"I wanted to congratulate you. That last round was amazing," Luz told the girl. "You really did well in the first battle, too."
"That's because you were unprepared," Amity countered. "And if I knew about that second character, I would have been able to stop you then."
"I did well in the last two rounds because I knew about those characters. I researched them and enjoyed their series' so many times. But I had fun during the whole thing. Didn't you," Luz told her and asked a simple question.
Amity only looked at Luz as she thought it over. "It was... enjoyable to see how the progress on the machine was going," Amity replied.
"So, are we still doing that bet? Because I think before it glitched up on us, you were winning that last round," Luz questioned.
Amity sighed before she spoke to Luz. "We never signed a blood oath or anything. I'm calling it off. You can do whatever you want around Hexside. I doubt anyone will stop you," Amity said as she started leaving.
Luz only looked at Amity as she left her sight, but felt like she came to an understanding with Amity. "Luz," King cried out as he came running toward the girl with a tote bag in his mouth. "I found this chariot for you to carry me in," he said to her. Luz only giggled as she let King crawl inside and started carrying him to the exit as Gus and Willow showed up to talk about the match in Dimensional Duel.
Eda and Lilith were talking together as the latter was trying to test the Dimensional Duel cabinet. "Do you really have the time to focus on these games," Eda questioned.
"I'm in charge of multiple projects and I have to make sure they all work correctly," Lilith stated.
"Alright, alright. I'm just asking because of... well, you know."
Hearing her sister's hesitant tone, Lilith looked back at the woman. "Eda, I've been working hard to find a cure for your condition. I just have a lot on my plate right now," she said with regret about not being able to find the time to help her sister.
"Look, it's not like I'm a wanted criminal. Even if I'm guilty of petty thefts," Eda remarked with a whisper in the second half of her statement just as a number of items fell out of her hair. Quickly scooping them up, she placed them back in their hiding place as she spoke. "If you want to talk, I can give you my card so you can at least call me about more tests," she told Lilith as she gave the black-haired woman a business card for Palisman Café. "Besides, even you need a coffee break every once in a while. I'll see you when I see you."
Hearing Eda leave the theater, Lilith sighed as she stopped checking the machine and looked at the card. "Oh, Edalyn... This should have happened to you," Lilith said as she remembered the first time Eda's condition revealed itself. "I swear, I'll find a cure. Even if it costs me my own health and job."
And with this chapter finished, I'm happy to have made that little twist to Covention! Originally, I planned on the video game being holographic projections so that Luz and Amity could play Yu-Gi-Oh, but that meant trying to figure out full decks for them. The end result would have been the same with a draw, though. But with the game, it shows off more of the technology focus replacing magic and allows me to make more references. I also added parts of Eda and Lilith's duel from Covention in the last round because I thought it worked best that way. I especially liked adding in the Azura line that Luz said in episode 1. That just had to be put somewhere. XD
Anyways, we also got a look into the relationship between Eda and Lilith in this fic. Rather than fully antagonistic, the two sisters still care about each other and show off their 'peak sibling energy' like in the show. I'm also going to have fun explaining the canon adaptation for the end of Season 1 when I get there, but we'll just be focusing on the other chapters for now.
Now, with this chapter coming to a close, we'll be having some more lighthearted fun with Willow and Gus at the café for some slumber party fun. And don't worry, I'll include Amity and her 'gang' in. After all, I'm trying to stick with canon enough for things to make sense. That will include the reveal and Amity's emotions about her scenes, which I did hint at back in Chapter 3. So get ready to see that and some other moments later.
Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out.