Chapter 4: Unexpected Obstacles
Hey everyone I'm back with a new chapter for Labor Day. I'm also happy to say this story now has over 50 Followers and Favorites! Thank you all for your support. I think you'll like what I have planned. Please Review and Enjoy.
It was early in the morning as the sun was just beginning to rise.
In the park, half of the portal key had been mashed up with other twigs in the bird's nest.
As the bird flew in with more sticks it patted them down and pressed the key causing it to glow.
Chirping confused the bird looks at it when suddenly the key opened a portal and the little bird chirps in fear before flying away as a griffin burst out of the portal and roars.
Flapping its wings, the griffin took off into the air causing the destroyed nest to fall making the key bounce off the ground and land in a basket for an E-Scooter on the sidewalk.
Meanwhile at Eda's apartment, Minato was asleep in his room when the light slowly entered.
Groaning he slowly began to wake up lifting his head up his spiky red hair was all flat.
Making his way to the bathroom he splashed some water on his face before looking at his hair.
"Mmm." Using his wind magic a small gust of wind blew it back to its normal spikiness. "Much better."
Changing into his normal clothes, he puts his goggles around his neck and beanie on his head before walking out to see Luz was sitting on the couch eating a bowl of cereal as she watched some TV.
"Morning." Minato said.
"Morning." Luz said scootching over to make room.
"So what is this?" Minato asks.
"Oh this is that anime thing Soos told us about. Check it out. They have magic users too. I bet we could use some of those tricks." Luz said.
"Really? Cool." Minato said when King came out from the balcony yawning.
"Hey you mind keeping it down? I was in the middle of a catnap." King said.
"King you're always in the middle of those." Luz said as the door opened to reveal a tired Eda.
Groaning she made her way to the coffee pot and poured herself a mug.
"Aw much better." Eda sighs taking a sip. "So looks like Soos is turning you two into little anime fans huh?"
"It's entertaining. Plus it does give us ideas." Luz said.
"Well just don't go too crazy. We don't need you two blowing up the city every time something weird from your world shows up." Eda said.
"Come on Eda, aren't you exaggerating a little?" Luz asks.
"Yeah we didn't do that much damage." Minato said.
"Didn't you two blow up a gas station yesterday?" King asks causing them to pause.
"It was self-defense. Besides how else are we supposed to fight?" Minato asks.
"Well I took out one of your monsters with a sword and a bat. Maybe try doing things like that." Eda said.
"You mean like how you fought?" Luz asks interested.
"Interesting idea, but how are we going to learn?" Minato asks.
"Oh I'm sure I can work something out for you two." Eda smirks.
"Eda we can't waste our magic on turning stuff into gold." Minato glares.
"What? Gold? I was just gonna suggest you two start working around the house, but if you rather just turn something of mine into Gold." Eda said pretending to be shocked.
"What do you want?" Luz asks.
"Either of you know how to cook?" Eda asks as Minato raised his hand. "Perfect, from now on you'll do all the cooking here and Luz you'll be in charge of cleaning."
"Fine." Both sigh.
"Ha ha! You two are now servants here." King laughs.
"Still outrank you furball." Eda smirks.
"Aww." King frowns causing them to chuckle.
Making their way out, they were about to head to Eda's shop when they heard a loud screeching followed by the sound of crashing.
"That does not sound good." Luz gulps.
"Uh kids, you want to meet me at the shop?" Eda offers.
"Sure thing." Minato said as Eda went to her car and the two of them ran down an alley.
In the park, the griffin was screeching at the top of its lungs before barfing out spiders causing all the citizens to scream in horror.
"Someone call animal control! We got a crazy bird thing in the park!" A man said talking on 911.
Charging in, armed police guards in riot gear surrounded the Griffin.
"Alright birdie, nice and easy." One said slowly approaching it, but as he got closer the griffin cries out startling them.
Opening its mouth it barfed spiders at them causing them to cringe in disgust as they swatted them off.
"What kind of messed up bird barfs bugs?" A cop asks when Witch and Warlock fly in from above.
"Clearly you guys don't know much about griffins." Witch said.
"Let the pros step in." Warlock said.
"What in the?" One cop said.
"Hey I saw them on the news." Another cop points.
Swinging her arm, Luz releases multiple fireballs hitting the griffin knocking it back.
"We'll take it from here officers." Warlock said as the griffin screeched at them.
Spreading its wings it took the sky and flew after them.
Flying through the air, Witch and Warlock looked to see the griffin closing in.
"How do these things keep showing up?!" Witch asks.
"I don't know but I don't like it one bit!" Warlock said.
Turning their heads they saw the griffin gaining on them.
"Here it comes!" Warlock said.
Holding out his hand, Warlock blasts it with a bolt of lightning causing it to shriek in pain before plummeting down towards the ground crashing into a bus stop destroying it.
"Uh look out below." Witch cringed.
"Thank Titan no one was in it." Warlock cringed as the griffin shook off the attack and flew towards Witch.
Dodging the attack, Witch dived down as the Griffin pursued her.
Taking out a glyph, she waited until the griffin neared her before holding up a light glyph blinding it.
Screeching in pain the griffin flew right into a small building crashing through the windows and land in an alley.
"Oh geez." Warlock cringed.
"I swear I did not plan on that happening!" Witch said quickly.
"Hoo Hoo." Owlbert said.
"We know!" Witch and Warlock said when they saw the Griffin begin to recover.
"Alright we gotta end this fast before anything else gets destroyed!" Warlock said.
"Let's do this!" Witch nods.
As the Griffin recovers, Warlock drops in first and slams his foot down causing an abomination to rise.
Leaping onto its head Witch slams a fire glyph onto its head before the abomination charges in.
Looking up the griffin saw the abomination ram into it causing a powerful explosion taking them both out but also destroying half the alley.
Cringing both looked to each other in horror.
"She was right! We do blow things up!" Both panicked holding their heads.
When the smoke cleared the griffin was long gone but the damages were still there.
"Oh where's a Construction coven member when you need one?" Warlock cringed when they heard sirens.
Turning around they saw the police heading towards them.
"We can whine later, we gotta move!" Witch said as they flew away.
Landing in an alley a few blocks over, Witch and Warlock pant before two magic circles appeared around them turning them back into Luz and Minato.
"First a Dreadscythe and now a griffin. How is it once we show up tons of problems from our world arrive as well?" Minato asks confused.
"I don't know, but I think Eda was onto something. We gotta learn some new tricks. Our magic works great on the Boiling Isles but when we use it here it's a lot more dangerous." Luz said.
"And suddenly surviving this world just got a lot harder." Minato said as Owlbert and Ayden landed on their owner's shoulders hooting and cawing in concern.
"Don't worry guys we'll figure this out." Luz said as they put their palismans away.
"Hey you!" The cop calls out startling them.
Turning around they cringed bracing themselves for the worst as the policeman came out of his car.
"What are you doing here? It's dangerous." He said walking towards them.
"Uh we were just on our way when we saw that monster and the explosions." Luz said.
"So we ran down this way to hide." Minato said.
"I see…tell me did you kids see any weirdly dressed people fly by?" He asks causing them to breathe in relief.
"No sir, we didn't." Minato shook his head.
"I see. Well here hop on in, I'll give you kids a lift back to school." He said causing them to tense up again.
"Uh school?" Luz asks.
"That's where you two were going right? You weren't cutting classes, were you?" The cop asks.
"Uh…no." Both said nervously.
Back at the park, the mess from the Griffin was being cleaned up when a car pulled up.
Stepping out of it, Lilith looks around.
"Hmm strange. The readings said the attack started here but for some reason the signal is gone." Lilith said walking right past the E-Scooter with half the portal key in it.
"It was crazy, we tried to deal with those things when Witch and Warlock showed up."
Looking over, Lilith saw the cops explaining it to their friends.
"Uh excuse me, but who are Witch and Warlock?" Lilith asks walking over.
"We're not exactly sure, but lately these two masked weirdoes show up every time something weird happens." He said.
"I think they're genetically enhanced cyborgs to look like humans."
"No way man, they gotta be aliens." Another said.
"Ugh." Lilith groans walking away. 'Clearly, these idiots never took magic into consideration.'
As she walked back to her car, Lilith looked at her phone and see the video of the two of them taking out the griffin.
"You two are bound to show up again sooner or later." Lilith said getting in.
Nearby a man walked up to the E-Scooter and using the app rode away on it with the portal half inside.
Soon, Minato and Luz were dropped off at a school called Hexside High.
"Have a good day." He said driving away.
"Oh man what do we do?" Luz asks.
"We gotta contact Eda." Minato said.
"But how? We can send Owlbert and Ayden loose." Luz said.
"I've seen Eda talking into some strange device from time to time. What's it called? Uh…oh a Phone. That's it. We need to find a phone and call Eda at her shop." Minato remembered.
"Okay but where are we gonna—" Before Luz could finish she turned a corner and bumped into someone. "Seriously? Can this day get any crazier?"
Looking over they saw Luz had bumped into a girl around their age with black hair, glasses, a yellow jacket with a black shirt under and pants. This was Willow Park.
"Oh man I'm sorry, I was in a rush." Willow groans getting up. "Hey I've never seen you guys here before. You new?"
"Uh yeah something like that." Luz said getting up. "I'm Luz and this is my buddy Minato."
"I'm Willow. Nice to meet you." Willow said holding out her hand.
Hesitating slightly Luz reached out and shook it.
"High school can be pretty scary if you don't know anyone." Willow said.
"Yeah sorry about snipping earlier, been a rough morning." Luz apologizes.
"Already forgiven." Willow smiles. "So you guys need help?"
"Yeah uh we need to find a phone." Minato said surprising her.
"You guys don't have your own cellphones?" Willow asks.
"Uh we…lost them." Minato said causing Willow to cringe.
"Oof that's gotta sting. You guys are in for it. Trust me." Willow said.
"In for what?" Luz asks confused.
"Uh nevermind. Hey how about I help you guys out? I know where everything is around here." Willow said.
"That would be great, thanks Willow." Luz smiles.
Making their way down the hall, Willow stopped by her locker and put her backpack in there.
"Willow!" Turning around Willow, Minato and Luz saw a teenage boy with dark skin and black hair, a black t-shirt and jeans, and surprisingly the same girl they saved a few days ago at the gas station.
"Hey Gus, Akko, what's up?" Willow asks.
"You're not gonna believe it. Witch and Warlock were at it again today." Gus said causing Minato and Luz to gulp at the mention of their secret identities.
"They were amazing. They took down a huge griffin that was tearing up town. So cool." Akko said.
"Wow so are they like our new resident superheroes?" Willow asks.
"Willow, they're no superheroes, they're witches," Gus said taking out a magazine. "Magic staffs, the source of all a witches power. Why do you think they carry them everywhere?"
"Hmm pretty sure because they're good for flying on." Luz said getting their attention.
"You guys sound like you're big fans of magic." Minato said.
"Are you kidding? They saved my life. They're so cool and amazing." Akko smiles.
"Minato, Luz meet Gus Porter and Atsuko Kagari, but we call her Akko." Willow said.
"Hi there." They waved.
"I'm just taking these two to the Principal." Willow said.
"Well if you two end up joining, you'll have to join our club." Gus said.
"The Magical Research Club." Akko said.
"Sure." Minato said. 'Assuming we can't get out of this.'
Leading them to the principal's office, Luz and Minato were sitting across from a man with long black hair, a scar running down his right eye and a suit. In front of him was a nameplate that said, Principal Bump.
"Hmm I can't find records of you two in any school system." Bump said.
"Uh that's because our guardian has them." Luz said.
"Yeah if you don't mind. Could we call them?" Minato asks.
Nodding Bump hands them a phone.
"Uh do you mind if we talk to her in the hall?" Luz asks not wanting him to hear what he said.
"You better not be planning to steal it." Bump glares.
"No. No, not at all sir." Minato said.
Nodding Bump allows them to walk out.
"Okay how do we contact Eda?" Luz asks.
"Uh let's see." Minato clicks the internet, button. "Eda's Emporium." Minato types seeing the number. "Yes."
Clicking it the number dials her up.
At the Owl Lady Emporium and Fortune shop, Eda was at the counter, with King laying in his bed while Soos was sweeping up.
"Hmm hey Soos you seen Luz or Minato yet?" Eda asks as Soos looks out the window.
"Nope nothing. Wait is that…no just some other kids." Soos said.
"You actually sound worried about them." King said.
"What? I'm not worried." Eda denies. "I'm just surprised it's taking them so long."
"You know if I didn't know any better—" King starts.
"You don't. You're a cat." Eda interrupts.
Suddenly the phone rang getting her attention.
"Owl Lady's Emporium and Fortune Telling, how can I help you?" Eda answers.
"Eda, it's us!" Minato said surprising her.
"We need your help!" Luz said.
"Kids?!" Eda said sitting up. "Where are you? What's going on?"
"We're at a high school." Luz said causing her to freeze up.
"School? What the heck?" Eda asks.
"Look, we took care of the problem but one lie led to another and now we're at Hexside High School. You gotta get us out of here." Minato said.
"Do whatever you guys do, but we need school papers to fool this guy or we're in trouble." Luz said.
"Ugh kids. Do you have any idea how long it'll take me to forge fake school documents? It'll take hours." Eda groans pinching her nose.
"Eda please." They both begged.
"Alright, alright, but you two owe me big time." Eda said hanging up.
"See you do care." King smirks.
"Shut up. If that stupid principal calls the cops on them, they'll trace it back to me and I'll be going back to jail." Eda said.
Back at the school, Minato and Luz walked back into the office.
"Uh it's gonna take her a while to bring you the papers." Minato said.
"How long?" Bump asks.
"Before the end of the day hopefully." Luz gulps.
"Well until that happens. I'm afraid I can't enroll you in any courses just yet. You'll have to listen to some standard courses today."
"Wait, you mean we're staying to take classes?" Minato asks as Bump looks at them with suspicious eyes. "I mean thank you so much."
Walking out they met up with Willow who was by the door.
"So are you guys in?" Willow asks.
"Sorta. We have to wait for a few things, but Principal Bump said we should sit in some classes." Luz said.
"You think we can come with you until everything is sorted out?" Minato asks.
"Sure, follow me." Willow said.
The first class was History and needless to say everything about it was confusing.
As the teacher went on about the Great Depression, Minato and Luz had no idea.
"How does one market failing bring about 4 years of poverty?" Luz asks as they walked out.
"That's the stock market. It can make you rich or poor in seconds." Willow said.
"That's messed up." Minato said.
"Tell me about it." Willow said.
Next class was English and apparently, the book curriculum was monsters.
As they were reading along to Frankenstein, Luz leaned in to whisper.
"Raiding graves to stitch a monster to life? And they call this dude a monster?" Luz whispers.
"Yeah this Frankenstein guy is messed up." Minato agrees.
Finally, lunch came, in the cafeteria, Luz sat down with Willow, Gus and Akko.
"Ugh this was exhausting." Luz groans resting her head on the table.
"Was your old school different?" Akko asks.
"Uh I was home schooled." Luz said.
"Oh wow, what was that like?" Willow asks.
"A lot easier than this." Luz said.
Nearby, Minato was getting him and Luz some sodas.
"I hope Eda pulls through. I don't think I can handle this place." Minato groans holding his head.
Hearing a chirping, Minato looks down to see Ayden pop his head out.
"Ayden, keep hiding. We can't let anyone see you." As Minato turns around he ends up bumping into someone spilling his soda on their jacket.
"Ugh!" Looking up Minato saw he spilled his drink on a girl with violet hair and a basketball jacket. This was Boscha.
At her side was another girl with orange and salmon-colored hair in a jacket and the other was a girl with dark skin and gray hair in a ponytail. These were Amanda O'Neill and Skara her fellow jocks.
"Oh man, I am so sorry!" Minato said.
"Oh you're gonna be." Boscha growls as her gang grabbed his arms.
"Huh?! Hey let me go!" Minato said struggling and ends up pushing Amanda off him causing her to fall back and her sleeve lands in the condiment bar getting ketchup on it.
"Oh now you're gonna get it." Amanda glares.
Looking over Luz, Willow, Gus and Akko see them drag Minato out.
"Minato!" Luz gasps.
"Oh no it's Boscha and Amanda." Willow gulps.
"Who are they?" Luz asks.
"Only the star players of our basketball and track teams. Mess with them and you're thier targets until graduation." Gus warned.
Growling Luz got up and ran after them.
"Luz wait!" Willow said running after them.
At the front of the school, Eda was holding the papers in a file as she looked up at the sign.
"I've had this nightmare before. Ugh of all the schools they had to end up at my old school." Eda groans walking in.
In the hallway, a girl with green hair and a pink shirt was getting books from her locker when her phone vibrated.
"Hmm looks I'm meeting Diana later today." She said when she heard a noise nearby.
"Hey! Hey let me go!" Looking over the girl saw Boscha, Amanda and their gang shove Minato near the garbage.
"You can't just bump into us like that and walk away." Boscha glares.
"I said I was sorry." Minato said.
"That doesn't cut here weirdo." Boscha said grabbing her soda.
Acting quickly Minato pulls his beanie down not to expose his ears allowing her to dump it down on his head.
"That's for ruining my jacket." Boscha laughs when she sees the girl nearby with her phone out. "Oh hey Amity. Wanna join us?"
"No thanks, I prefer to watch." Amity said.
"Alright one down, one to go." Boscha said as Skara handed her another soda.
"You can stop now Boscha." Amity said getting their attention.
"Huh?" Boscha said confused.
"If you ever pick on this boy again I'll show this clip to the principal." Amity smirks as she shows Boscha they recorded the whole thing. "He might even kick you off the team for this."
"He would never!" Boscha snaps.
"Maybe, maybe not. You really want to take that chance?" Amity smirks.
Growling Boscha throws her can to the ground in anger.
"Fine! I can't believe you're doing this for some new kid. I thought we were cool." Boscha said walking away.
"Don't flatter yourself." Amity said.
"Wow, thanks but why did you help me? Minato asks.
"I'm a Blight. That means I can do whatever I want." Amity said turning away.
"That…doesn't really answer my question." Minato said.
"Nope but that's all you'll get." Amity said walking away.
"Well, she's interesting." Minato said.
"Hey! What's going on here?" Minato looks to see Luz and Willow running out.
"Luz? Willow?" Minato said surprised.
"We saw Boscha and her gang yank you out are you okay?" Willow asks.
"Uh yeah I'm fine." Minato said looking to see Amity was gone.
"Well at least all Boscha did was dump her drink on you." Willow said when the PA turned on.
"Will Minato Nakamura and Luz Noceda please report to the Principal's office?"
"I hope that's Eda." Both gulped.
In the office, Bump was looking at the papers as Eda sat across from her with a pencil balancing on her nose and her feet on his desk.
"Been a while since I sat here. I gotta admit, it's weird being in here and not having you yell at me for picking fights or stealing." Eda smirks.
"I can easily change that." Bump said pushing her feet off. "These kids are yours?"
"Not exactly, they're not from here and I kinda took them in temporarily. Here, got the papers right here." Eda said handing them to him.
"Hmm odd that you would actually consider doing something like this." Bump said looking at them.
"What can I say? I'm full of surprises." Eda said as the door opens revealing Minato and Luz.
"Eda." Both smile hopeful.
"Kids good timing." Eda said.
"Hmm, well. I must say these records are impressive." Bump said looking at them.
Smiling they thought they were home free.
"Well with all this in order how can we not let you two in as students?" Bump said causing them to drop their jaws.
"Us? Students?" Luz cringed.
"That's great." Minato cringed.
"We'll see you two here first thing tomorrow." Bump said.
"Well you heard the man, come on kids. We got some things to prepare for." Eda said leading them out.
Meanwhile in another part of town, the E-Scooter with the key in it was being collected along with the others.
When the guy picks up the scooter he throws it onto the truck but the resulting throw caused the key to fly out and land in flower pot near the public library.
That night at Eda's home, Minato and Luz were sitting down with Eda.
"Eda what happened? You were supposed to get us out of school not enroll us." Luz said.
"Hey I tried my best, if you kids were 18 it would be easy but when you're 16 you have to go to school. Trust me I don't like this any more than you do." Eda said.
"Eda, we don't know anything about this world." Luz said.
"Do you know how to do Math?" Eda asks.
"Yes." They nod.
"You know how to write and read?" Eda asks.
"Yes." They nod.
"Congrats, you know how to do half the required courses." Eda said.
Groaning both of them sit down not liking this.
"Hey, maybe this could work out for you two. I mean if you attend school you'll be able to lay low. Plus with all those other teens hanging around you might be able to learn more about being human." Eda said.
"I guess." Luz said.
"That's what I wanna hear." Eda said.
"Wait Eda, there's one more thing." Minato said getting her attention. "We need you to teach us how to fight."
Hearing this Eda turns to them.
"Interesting, what changed your mind?" Eda asks.
"Let's just say we realized how fragile this world is." Luz said.
"Hmm I don't know." Eda said.
Narrowing their eyes both looked around and grabbed a charcoal from the grill.
"Alright on 3. One, two, three." Slamming Fire glyphs against it, Minato and Luz crushed the coal with their magic.
Gritting their teeth both of them sweated as the coal heated up before they smashed it together.
When they opened their hands 3 small diamonds remained.
"Hello." Eda grins with sparkly eyes.
"One for training us." Luz said handing her one.
"Two to make sure we have whatever other required papers this human world needs." Minato said handing her one.
"And what about the last one?" Eda asks.
"We uh kinda want you to get us cellphones." Luz smiles sheepishly as she and Minato blushed embarrassed.
"We need some sort of way to talk to if we're not together." Minato chuckles nervously.
"And they are pretty cool inventions." Luz said causing Eda to burst into laughter.
"Look at you two, acting like normal teens already." Eda laughs as Minato hands her the last diamond.
Nearby King was watching this and snickers. "Yeah she's got a soft spot for them."
