Chapter 56 Part 3; For the Future:

The story opens to show the Titan's skull.

"We've gotta stay together!" Kai said.

Inside the Titan's head, King gave Kai a sad look.

"I'm sorry. Not this time," he said.

Kai's eyes went wide as tears filled them.

"NO!" he cried.

"Kai, I'm so happy, I had you and Luz as a big brother and sister," King said, smiling sadly.

He took a deep breath before letting out a sonic shout, sending Kai and the others through the portal.

"King!" Kai yelled from outside just as the portal door closed and exploded.

King floated in the air with tears streaming down his face.

"Goodbye," he said.

A swirl of sparkles and magic flew around, lifting King higher into the air

"Ah! Ah!" King screamed.

The Collector was flying around as he laughed.

"I'm free! I'm free!" he cheered.

The Collector grabbed King and spun around.

"Oh, this is the goodest I've ever felt in forever and ever! It's like the whole world is singing!" they said.

King looked down at the citizens of Bonesborough. The citizens were all screaming as they ran for their lives, avoiding the falling stars. King grimaced.

"Yeah, I wouldn't call that "singing"," he said.

The Collector turned to him.

"So, tell me about your game, the Owl House. You'd promised to teach me if I stopped the Draining Spell," they said.

King rubbed his neck.

"Well, it's, uh, like playing pretend. We get roles and go on adventures," he said.

He then motioned to the running citizens.

"But this is too crazy. We can't play if you're freaking everyone out, " King said.

"King!" a voice shouted.

King and the Collector turned to see Hooty and Lilith flying towards them, landing on top of a stone structure.

"What are you doing up there?" Lilith asked.

"What's happening?!" Hooty exclaimed.

Lilith glared at the Collector.

"I don't know what you are but stay away from my nephew!" she said, flying towards the Collector.

The child god floated in front of King as if to protect him.

"That's my best friend you're talking to! Heads up!" they said, pulling out a moon shaped sticker and throwing it Lilith.

The raven haired woman gasped.

"Lulu!" Hooty screamed.

He wrapped himself around Lilith to protect her. The moon hit his forehead and in a flash of bright colors, Hooty was turned into a wooden puppet! Lilith gasped in horror.

"Hootsifer!" she screamed before being turned into a puppet as well.

The Collector snapped their fingers and Hooty and Lilith were gone.

"You can't hurt people either!" King said.

The Collector looked at him.

"But they're not hurt. They're safe and sound in our new house," he said, pointing up at a castle that floated above the isles.

He then pulled King into a hug.

"Now, what part do I get to play?" The Collector asked.

Down below, a giant pink star was falling from the sky but was destroyed by a fireball from Kendrick. The red haired man panted as he moved to protect his sister and friend. Raine groaned and Eda looked down at them as they sat up. The two of them exchanged smiles. Kendrick ran towards them.

"You two okay?" he asked.

Eda looked at her little brother with a smile.

"Yeah," she said.

Raine noticed Eda's missing arm and placed a hand on it. Eda gave them a reassuring smile.

"I'm okay, Rainestorm, I promise," she said.

"Is that King?!" Kendrick exclaimed.

Raine and Eda looked up to see King and the Collector floating and spinning around in the sky.

"That is definitely not good," Eda said.

She and Kendrick looked at Raine and they nodded. Eda transformed into her harpy form. Raine looked at her in admiration as they blushed. Kendrick entered his mage mode and the two siblings flew off. The Collector twirled around as swirls of magic, stars and sparkles flew around them before letting out a big shock wave that covered the entirety of the isles in blue grass and other things. Ken and Eda flew through the sky, dodging the falling stars. Eda gritted her teeth as she rushed to get to King when suddenly, her curse started to act up, causing Eda to fall on a stone ledge. Eda reached into her hair to pull out an elixir but saw that the bottle was empty. A hand suddenly grabbed her wrists and Eda looked up to see the Collector holding a worried King's hand.

"You look fun. Wanna play?" they asked.

Eda let out a growl as she teleported away.

"Eda!" King shouted.

A loud thunder clap was heard and the Collector looked up to see Kendrick charging towards them with a very pissed look.

"Let my sisters and nephew go!" he shouted.

The Collector pulled out another moon shaped sticker and launched at Kendrick. The red haired man swiftly moved out of the way of the sticker, still charging at the Collector.

"Ugh! I forgot how fast this little red was!" they groaned.

He then used his finger to stop Kendrick mid charge.

'...Fuck.' Kendrick said in his head.

"Have a fun flight!" The Collector said.

Kendrick was sent flying backwards, falling out of the sky.

"Uncle Kendrick!" King shouted.

Kendrick crashed into the woods, sending out a strong shock wave.

With Kai and Luz:

The two siblings were floating in a black river. Luz and Kai both groaned as they opened their eyes to see that they were in the In-Between Realm.

"Huh?" they both mumbled.

Kai stood up, helping Luz up as he did. They both looked around before Kai looked up.

"Luz, do you see that?" he asked.

His sister looked up and they both saw a mysterious small and winged figure waving at them while jumping up and down. Kai raised an eyebrow before Luz screamed as she was suddenly pulled under the water, taking her brother along with her. On the other side of the portal, Amity grunted as she pulled Luz and Kai out of the portal, sending all three of them to the ground. The others gathered around them.

"Luz, Kai! You two were in there for so long, we thought you guys got stuck behind," Amity said as she helped them up.

Viney cupped Kai's chin to check for any injuries.

"Are you two hurt anywhere?" she asked.

Kai grabbed her hand.

"No, we're okay," he said.

Luz nodded.

"But we saw something or someone but it was probably in our heads," she said.

Kai and Luz stood up.

"Any sign of him?" Kai asked.

Hunter scoffed.

"Oh, come on! It's not like a swarm of ghosts will inexplicably appear if you say his name," he said.

He then paused to think.

"I think…Anyway, if Belos was here, he's long gone now," Hunter said.

Camila nodded.

"Well, he better stay out of our way because mama's hungry for vengeance," she growled.

Gus smiled.

"Now that is a fight I'd watch," he said.

The group started walking through the woods. Willow stayed in front of the group, keeping a lookout for any enemies.

"Okay, everyone, the coast is clear," she said before noticing some plants.

Willow smiled as she bent down beside the plants.

"Oh, hello, red grass! I've missed you! I can't talk for long, we're on a mission to save the Isles," she said, running her hands through the blades of grass.

Hunter watched this scene with a blush on his face as Gus used his illusion to make the red grass hug Willow. Hunter smiled softly before a loud cawing noise was heard, making him jump and look up to see a red bird sitting on a tree branch. He growled as he grabbed at his hair.

"We don't have time for red grass or illusions! Belos had a head start so let's keep moving until we find him," Hunter said, stomping off.

Gus and Willow gained sad looks. The younger boy dispelled the illusions and rubbed his arm. Willow smiled and placed a hand on Gus' shoulder.

"Don't worry. I bet we'll all feel better when we punch Belos right through the face," she said, cracking her knuckles.

"And yes, I mean through the face," Willow said.

Gus laughed slightly.

"Thanks, Willow. You're always looking out for us, aren't you?" he said.

Willow smiled and ruffled Gus' hair.

"Well, someone has to. And it looks like my job here is done," she said before using her magic to make some vines to take her ahead.

Camila chuckled.

"Oh, wow! You kids were really holding back in the Human Realm, huh?" she asked.

"Maybe a little," Amity said.

She then noticed some abomination goop on the ground. Amity used her magic to pick it up, laughing as she spun around.

"Hello, you gorgeous slime!" she said, giggling.

Luz watched with a smile and a blush on her face. Viney had her hands behind her head as she walked before she heard a small squeaking noise. Looking towards it, Viney saw a small bat/bird hybrid that had its wing stuck under a rock. She ran towards it.

"Hang on, little fella, I've got you," she said, kneeling down beside the little critter.

Viney gently lifted the rock off the bat-bird's wing. She then used a healing spell to heal its wing.

"There you go, little guy," she said.

The bat-bird chirped before nuzzling Viney's cheek, making the brown haired girl giggle. Kai smiled as a small blush covered his face before he gained a sad look and looked away from the scene. Camila and Luz noticed and exchanged worried looks.

"Kids, you never told me how pretty this place was. The trees, the sky. Muy extravant-AH!" Camila suddenly screamed.

In front of the group was the giant skull of the Titan. Camila ran in front of the kids.

"Kids, stand back! Who knows if that monster is alive or not?" she said.

"Actually, the Titan Skull is normal. Everything else is…" Amity said.

"Wrong," Luz finished.

The Boiling Isles didn't even look like the Boiling Isles. It was much brighter and everything was blue, purple, pink and other colors.

"Guys, what's on top of the skull?" Willow asked.

Kai looked up to see some sort of castle settled on the horn of the titan's skull.

"I don't know, but maybe we can get some answers in Bonesborough," he said.

The others nodded and moved forward, leaving Kai, Luz and Camila alone.

"Wow! Skulls, bones. I can really see this place helping you with your taxidermy hobby, mija," she said.

Kai and Luz looked at each other before turning to their mother.

"Mama, you're pretending to like this place, aren't you?" Luz asked, smirking slightly.

"No! I love the fact that you two have been living on a giant…carcass," Camila said.

Kai gave her a smile.

"It's sweet of you, really. But I haven't changed my mind. After we save Aunt Eda, Dad and King, I'm staying in the Human Realm. Permanently," he said, walking forward.

Luz looked at her brother surprised.

"Wait what?" she asked.

She ran after her brother and grabbed his shoulder, turning Kai around.

"Kai, you're leaving the Demon Realm? And you didn't think to tell me or anyone else? What the heck?" Luz asked.

Kai sighed.

"It's for the best of everyone's well being, Luz," he said.

"But what about you?" Luz asked.

Kai looked at her with tired eyes.

"It doesn't matter what I want, Luz. I've made my decision and I expect you, as my sister, to support that," he said.

"Kai, of course I support that, but is this really something you wanna do?" Luz asked.

Kai looked away from her.

"We should get going, time is running out," he said, turning around.

"But-"

"Hablaremos de esto luego, Luz," Kai said, a warning tone in his voice.

Luz stayed silent as Kai walked forward. Camila placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Mija?" she asked.

Luz shook her head and moved forward. Camila sighed and followed after the kids.

Somewhere in a different part of Bonesborough:

Stomping through the forest, Belos made his way through the forest, goop dripping from his body. Feeling an unwanted presence, Belos looked up to see the ghost of his older brother, Caleb, staring at him with an empty look.

"Don't mock me. I tried to save your soul. It's your fault this all happened!" he growled.

He let out a screech as he swung his hands. The claws phased through Caleb's body. Belos panted as he looked at his hand to see himself decay. He groaned as he fell to his knees. Belos got to his hands and knees, walking off.

"I need a new body," he said.

Back with the Hexsquad:

Kai led the group out of the woods. He stopped walking and gasped at what he saw before running forward. Luz ran after him, stopping as she looked at the Owl House. The house was covered in graffiti, a few of the windows were broken and it was completely abandoned. Kai looked at the place he called a second home with sad eyes as the others walked towards them.

"What is this place?" Camila asked.

Luz walked forward and opened the door, showing the empty inside of the house.

"Welcome…to the Owl House," she said.

After coming inside, Camila was looking through the kitchen cabinets. When she opened one of them, she saw a half eaten apple and a dead mouse skeleton. Camila shuddered. Gus and Willow were looking out the kitchen window, watching as Hunter paced back and forth in the backyard, their palismen following him.

"So, this is the Owl House I heard so much about?" Camila asked, turning to the two kids.

"Yeah. But don't worry, the food is not usually that spoiled," Willow said.

Camila blinked and looked at the dead mouse.

"Food? Oy…" she said, placing the mouse down.

She walked over to the two kids.

"I need some advice," Camila said.

"First, you have to pluck out all the dire rat's extra heads. The tiny ones that line up the digestive tract might still be bitey, so--" Gus said.

"I-Ah! No. I need advice about Luz and Kai. See, Kai's planning to…make a very bad decision for himself. He's so determined to make himself sad and Luz seems to be more quiet than normal and it's probably because she's worried about this entire situation but they're both distant from everyone including each other and…I don't know how to help," Camila said.

Willow and Gus gave her sad looks.

"That reminds me of when I failed my first school project. I thought I deserved to be grounded so I ran off to live in a cave in the most dramatic way possible! Of course, reliable old Willow finds me and says…" Gus said, pointing to his friend.

"Agustus, it's okay to fail. Look at me. I fail all the time," Willow said.

"Oh yeah?" I said, "Like when?" Suddenly there's this big slimy explosion in the distance," Gus said as Willow giggled and Camila smiled.

"Like tonight. I forgot to chain up my abomination homework," Willow said.

Camila had a slightly perplexed look as the two friends laughed.

'They have to chain up their homework?' she said in her head.

"Maybe Kai and Luz are going through something like that. My dad didn't care if I failed that project. But I didn't want to fail him and…Oh, man, I hope he's okay" Gus said as tears filled his eyes.

Willow wrapped an arm around the younger boy, gently rubbing his back.

"Don't worry, we'll get him back. I'll make sure of it," Willow said.

Camila was about to reach out to them but the sound of Hunter shouting caught their attention.

"Stop!"

The three of them looked outside.

"Stop following me! Belos could be anywhere by now, and we're just sitting here!" Hunter yelled.

A noise was heard from the bushes and Hunter got into a stance as if he was going to summon his staff. He looked down at his hands before growling and walking off. Gus and Willow looked at each other.

"We should make sure he doesn't pace himself into the Boiling Sea," Willow said.

Gus nodded and wiped his eyes.

"Good call. Besides, you're probably the only one strong enough to pull him back up," he said, standing up and walking off.

Willow stood up to follow him but Camila stopped her.

"Willow, hold on. How are you feeling?" She asked.

Willow gave her a smile.

"Don't worry about me. You heard what Gus said. I'm the reliable one," she said.

"It's okay to be scared too. It's not good if you try to hold it all in," Camila said.

Willow blinked but gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine, really. And I think you'll be fine too. You three are a lot alike," she said.

Willow walked off. Camila looked down to see small roots growing out of the ground. Camila looked after her with a sad look. Amity was walking through the hallways of the owl house before heading to Eda's room where Luz was. Amity walked inside to see small balls of light floating around. The Blight girl walked to Eda's nest and looked down with a smile.

"Hey," she said.

Laying in the nest, Luz looked up at Amity with a small smile.

"Hey," she said.

Amity sat down on the ground.

"Did you think sitting in the nest was gonna help your palisman hatch?" Amity asked.

Luz shrugged.

"Maybe. But nothing's happening," she said, sitting up.

Amity gave her a smile.

"Remember what the Bat Queen said. To connect with a Palisman, you need to express your deepest wish," she said as Ghost jumped onto the nest.

Luz looked at her.

"I never asked, how did you connect with your palisman?" she asked.

"Well, after being handed the staff, I said "I want to be a great with" or, duh, I don't know, "I wanna be an author like Mildred Featherwhyle". But she didn't move until I admitted that I don't know what I'm gonna be when I grow up, but I wanna choose the path myself. And that was enough," Amity said.

Ghost meowed as she nuzzled her head against Amity. Luz sighed as she leaned back.

"I wanna be a witch and help my friends and big brother. But doing one always seems to mess up the other. Why did this get so complicated?" she mumbled.

Amity ran her hand through Luz's hair as the Latina girl looked up at her.

"You just need to be patient," she said.

Amity kissed her on the head and Luz gave her a smile.

"But what's going on between you and Kai?" she asked.

Luz sighed.

"Kai's planning on making a decision that he feels is for the best of the group. I know that he doesn't want to make that choice and I want to support him in that decision but I don't know if I can if it's going to end up hurting him," she said.

Amity gave her girlfriend a smile.

"I'm sure you two will figure it out. You always do," she said.

Luz nodded. Meanwhile with Viney, the brown haired girl was walking around when she stepped on something. Looking down, Viney saw a picture on the ground and picked it up. Her ear twitched when she heard something coming from Kai and Luz's old bedroom. Walking inside, she saw Kai lying on the ground, tossing a grudgby ball up and catching it. Viney walked over to him and laid down beside him.

"Are the others doing okay?" Kai asked.

"Willow and Gus are trying to calm Hunter down. Camila's in the kitchen I think and Luz and Ami are in Eda's room," she answered.

Kai hummed. Viney looked at him and turned over, placing a hand on his stomach and feeling the muscles there tense slightly before relaxing.

"But what about you? How are you doing?" she asked.

Kai shrugged.

"Doing better? It just doesn't sit right with me that the place I see as a second home is in ruins like this," he said.

Viney leaned up on her elbow and looked down at her boyfriend.

"That's not the only thing that's bothering you, is it?" she asked.

She showed Kai the picture frame of him, Luz, Eda, King and Hooty. Kai took it and looked at it. He sat up.

"I will find Aunt Eda and King. No matter how long it takes," he said.

"It's Eda and King!" Hunter shouted from outside.

Kai and Viney exchanged looks before running outside where the others were. Luz and Kai looked up to see a shooting star flying across the sky.

"They were on that shooting star!" Hunter said.

"How are we supposed to follow them?" Camila asked.

"Don't worry," Amity said.

She tapped Ghost on the nose and the cat palisman turned into her staff form. The others summoned their staffs as well. Amity gave her a smile.

"I'm a safe flyer," she said.

Camila blinked.

"Flyer?" she asked.

Soon, the group were flying through Bonesborough. Camila kept a tight grip on the staff as she clenched her eyes closed. The group landed in the street of the town and looked around. Camila shakily climbed off Amity's staff.

"Ooh! These things need seat belts," she mumbled.

Kai kept a hand on her back to keep his mother from falling.

"Thank you, mijo," she said.

Kai nodded and the group started walking through the abandoned city.

"Where are Eda and King?" Willow asked.

Gus looked around.

"Where is anyone?" he asked.

The group walked to the town's center. Kai and Hunter walked over to a building and looked around the corner. They both gasped and turned to the others.

"Something's coming," Hunter said.

The others looked at them.

"Demons?" Willow asked.

"Witches?" Gus asked.

Kai squinted his eyes.

"No? It's…sparkles?" he asked.

His eyes went wide and he and Hunter ran to the others as a big blue wave of sparkles came towards them. The others gasped and they all ran off. They ran into an alleyway just as the sparkles passed them before stopping. Kai and Luz peeked out of the corner to see the entirety of the town center filled with strange statues, the buildings were pink and there were rainbows, moons and stars all over the place. Amity looked around before spotting Cat and Amelia frozen like statues. She flinched and looked away. Willow looked around as well before she spotted her father, Gilbert among the statues.

"Dad?" she asked.

Gilbert's eyes glowed yellow as did the other puppets before they all started to run around screaming. Willow shook her head and ran towards her father.

"Willow!" Kai and Hunter shouted.

Willow ran towards her father as he ran off.

"Stop! It's--it's me! Have you seen Papa? Wait!" Willow shouted.

Hunter ran towards her and grabbed her arm. A building behind them exploded and Hunter quickly pulled Willow back to the others. As they dust cleared, the group were able to see the Owl Beast.

"Eda?" Kai and Luz asked.

The Owl Beast roared as she chased the citizens around the city. Gilbert ran off but ended up in a corner as the Owl Beast stood in front of him and lifted her arm, ready to attack. Willow drew her staff out when suddenly a beam of blue light appeared.

"Stop right there, beast!" a voice shouted.

Willow blinked in confusion. The Collector and King, who was dressed in the same clothes as the former, arrived on the same shooting start from before.

"Fear not, citizens of Bonesborough. I am here to stop this mad beast's rampage," The Collector declared.

King gave him a thumbs up.

"I believe in you, Collector," King said.

The Collector returned the thumbs up.

"Thanks, best friend," he said.

Kai and Luz were in both shock and disbelief of what was happening.

"Light glyph, go!" the Collector said, holding up a ball of light.

The light shined, blinding the beast as it screeched and fell to the ground. The citizens cheered. A grunt came from under the beast and Terra Snapdragon crawled out wearing Eda's clothes.

"Oh, hooray. I'm back to normal," she said unenthusiastically.

Kai narrowed his eyes while Luz still looked confused.

"What?" she asked.

Terra stood up and cracked her back.

"Who's got a pint of apple blood? Hoot, hoot!" she said.

'I'm going to have a few words with Terra after this,' Kai said in his head.

The Collector groaned as he raised his hands.

"Ugh, time out, everyone, time out," they said.

The puppets turned off in a way robots do. Collector walked towards Terra.

"Terra, for the last time, Eda doesn't sound like that. She's got more of a--like a cool aunt vibe who pretends to be all coldhearted but actually cares a lot!" They said.

Terra groaned.

"Ugh! You're a real thorn in my side, do you know that? I've had it with you and your stupid dog," she said, pointing at the Collector.

Collector gasped and looked at King before giving Terra an angry look.

"Ugh, whatever. All I have to do is play Eda the Owl Lady, and I don't get turned into one of those things, right?" Terra asked, pointing to the frozen puppets.

She sighed.

"Let's just continue. Oh, like musicians," she mocked.

Kai gritted his teeth and reached for his sword but Viney stopped him by grabbing his hand. The Collector seemed to be not very happy with the situation either.

"You're not being very nice right now," he said, holding up a moon sticker.

Terra gasped.

"Wait!" she exclaimed.

The Collector flicked the moon sticker to her and it landed in the middle of Terra's forehead, turning her into a puppet. The group were in shock at what had just happened.

The Collector sat on the shooting star with his head resting on his knees. King walked towards him.

"Collector, buddy, you gotta stop doing that. Think about what you're doing to these people," he said.

The Collector huffed.

"You're so boring! I'm just playing pretend," he said.

"Even playing pretend has consequences. A cranky, old witch taught me that," King said, looking sad.

The Collector looked at him.

"You mean Eda, right? That's what we need. The real thing. A cranky, know it all mentor figure. No substitutes allowed! Maybe if I ask really nicely, I won't have to turn her into a puppet," he said.

King shook his head as he climbed onto the shooting star.

"No! Her curse is still, um in effect," he said.

The Collector sighed sadly.

"But I can check if she's feeling better," King said.

The Collector gave him a grin.

"You promise?" they asked.

King nodded.

"You can trust me, Collector," he said.

The two of them linked pinkies. Camila leaned towards Kai and Luz.

"Is that the little King guy you've been telling me about?" she whispered.

They nodded.

"Yup. That's my little cousin," Kai said with a smile.

Camila looked at the small demon.

"Que Lindo!" she cooed.

The Collector tapped the shooting star, making it float.

"Come on, King. Let's go back to the Archive House," he said.

The star took off just as Kai and Luz ran out of the alleyway.

"Wait, no! Not yet!" Luz exclaimed.

The two siblings stopped as they flew off.

"King…" Luz said.

The others walked towards them.

"Okay, Okay, so demons, witches and other kinds of creatures are normal but the little space cherub is the danger?" Camila asked.

Hunter ran to the front.

"We should follow them. Belos is probably trying to get back to the Collector," he said.

Viney looked at him.

"Did Kai hit you too hard in the head? It's too dangerous and it could put King in danger if the Collector finds out we're here," she said.

Gus rubbed his head.

"It looked like they were playing some kind of game," he said.

Luz nodded.

"Yeah, with some kind of messed up version of Kai and I's life. It looks like King told him about our adventures," she said.

Gus rubbed his chin.

"Do you guys think everyone who got turned into a puppet is locked in the archives?" he asked.

Kai jumped onto the roof of one of the buildings and looked at the castle atop of the Titan's skull.

"If that's true then we need to find a way to get there," he said.

"You'll never make it," a voice said.

The group turned to see Barcus, Mattholomule and Skara standing on another building.

"Because you guys are losers!" Matt said, holding up an 'L'.

The three of them jumped down from the building.

"Skara!" Willow, Gus and Viney exclaimed.

Skara grunted as the three of them hugged her tightly. She returned the hug.

"Good to see you guys too," Skara said as they broke the hug.

Kai gave her a side hug while Hunter, Amity and Luz just waved.

"What has happened since we've been gone?" Kai asked.

"Woof!(We should talk while we walk. We have to report back to the captain)" Barcus said.

Mattholomule nodded.

"Right! Follow us," he said, motioning to the group.

The group walked out of Bonesborough and down a path.

"After we managed to help the wild witches escape the Conformatorium, we were ambushed by the Coven scouts. A few of the wild witches and teachers got captured but the rest of us were able to escape to Hexside. Since it was too dangerous for us to go back out, Principal Bump allowed us to camp out there. We thought we were ready for whatever the Emperor's Coven would throw at us…but when the Draining Spell hit, Principal Bump and some of the teachers collapsed but we couldn't do anything, not even the healing students. But then it stopped like someone pressed an off switch," Matt said as they walked.

Skara clenched her fists.

"After the adults recovered, that's when the Collector's spies showed up. The Grudgby team had snuck out and tried to hold them back, but… it didn't work. Cat and Amelia got turned into puppets along with Principal Bump and the rest of the teachers," she said. Kai and Luz turned away with guilty looks on their faces.

"We've been living at Hexside since," Skara continued.

Mattholomule ran a hand through his hair.

"And somewhere along the way I went from Mattholomule to Mantholomule," he said with a smirk.

The Hexsquad had unimpressed and weirded out looks on their faces while Camila snickered. Skara suddenly put her hand up, stopping the group from walking.

"Shh," she said.

The others looked up to see one of the Collector's spies. Mattholomule looked around a tree, checking if the coast was clear. Once it was, he motioned for the others to keep moving. Kai looked up at Hexside to see that the outside was completely rundown with some abomination goop and graffiti on it. Matt grunted as he moved a giant wooden plank out of the way while Skara moved some boxes.

"We did a little redecorating these past few months, so let me introduce you to…" Skara said.

Matt opened the door and the group gasped. Hexside looked completely different! The main lobby had stairs that led to the upper level of the school. It looked like there were multiple rooms that could be for sleeping quarters, planning areas or other things. Matt and Skara led the group down the hall. Kai moved back as some kids from the lower grade levels laughed as they ran down the hall, screaming and playing. He gained a small smile before following the others. They arrived at the center of the school where a giant statue of Principal Bump was.

"This is a statue to honor Principal Bump after he risked his life to save ours," Matt said.

Camila smiled.

"It's so nice to see teachers getting the respect they deserve," she said, looking up at the statue.

It turned out it was a statue of Bump on a skateboard.

"Um, sort of," Camila said.

"Hey, everyone! Kai and the others are back!" Skara called.

The group looked up as some students gathered around.

"No way!"

"They're back!"

"Hey, where have you guys been?"

"Who's tall Luz?"

The Hexsquad smiled as they were all welcomed back.

" Viney, Heads up!" a voice shouted from their left.

Said girl turned and she gasped in happiness as Puddles came rushing towards her.

"Puddles!" she said, running towards the griffin.

She hugged Puddles who nuzzled her beak into her hair before licking her owner's face, earning a laugh from Viney. Kai smiled before grunting when Puddles tackled him and started licking him all over his face.

"Ah! Puddles! We've been over this!" he exclaimed.

The others laughed lightly when Eileen came over with a paperclip, mumbling something to Gus.

"No! Human paper clips are not a good meat substitute! Are people eating those?" Gus asked.

Eileen's eye went wide before she ran off. Amity giggled as Viney and Luz managed to get Puddles off of Kai.

"Mittens?!" two voices exclaimed.

Amity turned and saw Emira and Edric running towards her. She smiled as tears ran down her face.

"Ed, Em!" she exclaimed.

The twins picked their little sister up into their arms, hugging her tightly. Amity hugged them back as tears flowed down her face, the three of them laughing.

"You're okay!" Emira said as she and Ed placed Amity down.

"You guys are too. But where's Dad? And what happened to Ed's arm?" she asked, looking at her brother's broken arm.

The twins exchanged sad looks.

"After you guys left to go help Kai and Miss Eda, we and Dad were able to take down the abomatons but…" Edric said before trailing off.

Emira placed a hand on his shoulder.

"The abomatons started a self- destruct countdown and when it exploded Dad pushed us out of the way which caused Edric to break his arm and we got knocked out. Then we woke up here. We have no idea where Dad is," she said.

Amity felt tears in her eyes and Edric wrapped his good arm around her shoulders.

"Hey, don't worry, sis. Dad's tough, I'm sure he's somewhere safe," he said reassuringly.

Amity nodded. Kai looked around the area.

"This place is strangely in order considering that teenagers are the only ones living here," he said.

Skara and Matt chuckled.

"Actually, we had some help from someone I feel like you'd want to see," she said, grinning at Kai.

The hybrid boy raised an eyebrow. Soon, the group was walking down the hall where the auditorium was. Skara opened the door.

"Hey, Commander, we've got some good news," she said, stepping to the side.

Kai's eyes went wide when he saw who the commander was. Right there, in front of the group was Kendrick Clawthorne, looking at some papers as he sat at the desk. Kendrick looked completely different. His curly reddish orange hair was longer and was pulled back into a low ponytail with a few stray curls hanging by his eyes, his face was completely shaven, he looked taller and he's grown some more muscle. Kendrick was wearing dark maroon waistcoat which he left unzipped and untucked, a dark blue shirt underneath, he has brown wrappings wrapped around both of his arms, a belt that went over his left shoulder and ran across his chest, holding his sword, black cargo pants with red tape wrapped around his knees, a pair of elbow pads and dark brown combat boots.

"Not now guys, I'm trying to-" Kendrick said, looking up and pausing.

His eyes went wide when he saw his son and his friends in front of him.

"Kailin?" he asked.

Kai's eyes filled with tears before he ran forward.

"Dad!" he shouted, leaping at his father using his wind.

Kendrick grunted as Kai tackled him to the ground, landing on his backside as Kai hugged him tightly around his neck. Kendrick hugged him back as he held the back of Kai's head. He laughed as he kissed Kai on the forehead before burying his face into his hair.

"My boy. My boy's safe," he said in a choked voice.

The father and son broke the hug as they stood up. Kendrick chuckled as he looked at his son.

"Wow, you've grown some inches. I think you might be taller than Raine now," he said.

Kai laughed lightly. Kendrick smiled at the other kids but froze when he saw Camila.

"Cami?" he asked.

Camila walked towards him with a shocked face.

"Kenny? Is that really you?" she asked.

Kendrick laughed lightly.

"Uh..yep! In the flesh! Hehe," he said, rubbing his neck.

Camila smiled before pulling her sandal out and smacking him hard upside the head with it. Kendrick winced and rubbed his head.

"Okay, I deserved that," he said.

The kids laughed slightly. Kai looked at his father.

"So, you're in charge of this whole team?" he asked.

Ken nodded.

"Pretty much. Of course I have some co-leaders like Skara, Mattholomule and a few others to help lighten the load but…there's some who don't really seem to like how things are being run," he said.

"Who?" Gus asked.

The intercom suddenly chimed as it came on.

"Ahem! Attention. Can Captain Tholomule escort our new guests to the Council Chamber? And make it quick!" a voice said.

Willow raised an eyebrow.

"Captain who?" Willow asked.

Gus gasped.

"Wait. Has Tholomule been your last name this whole time?!" he asked.

Matt shrugged.

With Belos:

The goop monster was crawling through the woods. He walked up to a rock wall and used his finger to shakily draw a glyph combination. Belos placed his hand on the glyph and the wall glowed red before opening. Belos panted as he crawled into the cave, passing by multiple golden guard masks and skeletons. As Belos crawled on the floor, he noticed the spirits of Caleb and the past golden guards staring at them with empty looks.

"Oh, shut up," he grumbled.

He entered a lab where he made the grimwalkers. Belos looked into the dirt beds and found some of them empty.

"There has to be one left," he grumbled.

He then saw a hand sticking out of one of the dirtbeds and jumped onto it. The hand twitched.

With King and the Collector:

The Collector giggled as he and King flew through the air, arriving at the Archives. The shooting star landed in the castle and the Collector jumped off as King followed him.

"Boy, oh, boy! We were gone for a while. I should probably, uh, check on the ol' Owl Beast. Maybe get her something to eat," he suggested.

The Collector floated off the ground and looked at the young titan from upside down.

"What do mortals eat again? Rocks? Fire? Gravity?" they asked.

King looked at Collector like he had just grown two more pairs of heads as Odalia walked down the stairs to greet them.

"Welcome home, Collector. Did you have a pleasant adventure?" she asked with a strained smile.

The Collector floated to stand on the stairs.

"Mamadalia, we need to feed the Owl Beast. Hmm…how about pizza bagels?" they suggested.

Odalia let out a strained chuckle.

"I told you before, Collector. I could be much more use to you than being, uh, Mamadalia. Maybe we can talk about remaking the Boiling Isles into something bigger and better," she suggested.

The Collector narrowed his eyes.

"Pizza…Bagels!" he demanded.

Odalia huffed and bowed. The Collector and King walked up the stairs. The green haired woman walked away.

"Oh, and one more thing," the Collector said as Odalia looked at them.

They snapped their fingers and the puppets from before fell on top of Odalia, earning a scream from the woman.

"Drag those back to the collection room, will ya? Okay, thanks, byee!" Collector said as he and King floated out of the room.

The two of them arrived at a bedroom with a space-like ceiling and two beds and nightstands.

"We've been playing pretend forever, King. It is fun, but what if we switch it up?" The Collector asked, sitting on their bed while King stood.

King looked at them.

"We could play capture the flag! Us vs everyone on the Isles! We could put the losers on the moon," the Collector exclaimed.

King chuckled nervously.

"Hehe! Uh, wow, that is…an idea. But don't you think people would have a hard time breathing?" he asked.

The Collector waved him off as he got under the covers.

"So, they could hold their breaths," he said.

King gained a nervous look.

"Hey, King," they addressed, clapping their hands.

A tall and giant book landed in front of King. The Collector turned over to look at him.

"Can you read me a story?" they asked.

King chuckled nervously.

"Easy," he said.

King pushed the book over and it unraveled to land behind him. King bent down to read the first page.

"Okay. Collectors live long, we watch things pass. To preserve, to observe, we must amass. What flies, what swims, be it predator or prey, seal them up so they may never fade," King read.

He looked at the page to see some of the inscriptions crossed out.

"Uh…" King said.

"No, no! Don't read the next part! Skip to where I fixed it," The Collector said.

"Okay…But playing is more fun, I wanna make friends instead the others stink, boo!" King finished.

He looked up to see the Collector sleeping. King stood up to flick the lamp off, turning it into a blue color.

"King, can I sleep with Francois?" The Collector asked.

King looked at his stuffed bunny and back at the Collector.

"Come on. You know I've only let two other people hold him," he said.

The Collector huffed.

"Right. That human and the hybrid. Can you at least leave him to watch over me? I don't like being alone," they said.

King sighed and placed Francois on the nightstand as the Collector slept. He then floated out of the room.

Back at Hexside:

Mattholomule and Kendrick led the Hexsquad and Camila to the gymnasium. They saw Jerbo talking to Boscha who was wearing a black version of her Grudgby Uniform.

"So, uh, if we get a group to organize more of the supplies, we can keep track of perishables and weapons and that way we won't have any more food shortages," Jerbo suggested. "

Hmm," Boscha mumbled.

A small demon kid leaned over to Boscha.

"Co-commander, if I may be so bold…" she said.

The others seemed shocked to hear this.

"Co-commander?!" Luz exclaimed.

Kai looked at his father and Kendrick shrugged as he rubbed his neck.

"This would take valuable resources away from your guard. You don't wanna be collected like the others, do you?" the girl asked.

Boscha nodded.

"Good point, Miki. Next!" she said, snapping her fingers.

Jerbo sighed as he turned to walk away but stopped when he saw the group.

"Oh my god, it's you guys!" he exclaimed, running forward to hug Kai and Viney.

The couple hugged him back before breaking the hug. Kendrick walked towards them.

"So, I take it she's not listening to any of your ideas?" he asked Jerbo.

Jerbo shook his head.

"No, sorry, I gotta go make sure the kindergarteners aren't trying to ride the Beast Keeping animals around the school again. Last time was chaos," he said, walking off.

He waved at the others.

"It was nice seeing you guys again!" he said.

Gus waved after him. Matt stepped forward.

"Boscha, we found…" he started.

"Ahem," Miki said, clearing her throat.

Matt gritted his teeth.

"Allow me to introduce Co-commander and president of the student council, Boscha, and her trusted guards Miki and Roka," he said in annoyance.

Boscha smiled.

"Welcome to New Hexside! Home to the Future of the Isles and stuff," she said.

Kai threw his hands up.

"What the hell is going on here?" he asked.

"Yeah. Hexside doesn't even have a student council. I would know, I kept trying to organize one but Bump thought I was too "obsessed" and--"

Willow placed a hand on her shoulder.

"All right, girl, take a breath," she said.

Amity huffed and folded her arms.

"And who are you two?" Gus asked, pointing to Miki and Roka.

"My little sister and I were traveling for the Day of Unity but found ourselves hiding here after the, uh, incident. Boscha brought us in, so we joined her in helping establish order over Hexside," Miki said.

"Now we are flourishing," Boscha said.

A loud crash was heard and the group turned to see multiple kindergartners riding on some baby animals with some of the other kids chasing after them.

"Hey, you little munchkins, get back here!" Emira shouted.

Edric yelped as one of the animals grabbed his pants leg, dragging him away.

"Ah! It's got my leg!" he screamed.

Kai grimaced.

"Um…anyway. I would like to introduce you to Kai and I's mama, Camila," Luz said,

Camila flexed her arms as she smiled. Gus pointed to Hunter.

"And honorary Hexoleo, Hunter!" he said, grinning.

Hunter blushed in embarrassment and gave him a small glare. Kai shook his head.

"Long story short. We're here to help," he said.

Luz nodded.

"We're gonna rescue everyone from the Archives and save the Boiling Isles!" she declared.

Her declaration was met with silence.

"Not the reaction I was expecting," Luz mumbled.

"As the Co-commander, the safety of everyone is paramount. And this is a suicide mission. After the horrors her own Grudgby team faced," Miki said.

"Ah! Quiet! I don't need to hear that again. But Miki's right. We're staying put," Boscha said.

Kendrick rubbed his temples.

"Okay…Boscha, I get that you're trying to think about the wellbeing of the other kids," he said.

"Not really," Kai mumbled.

Viney elbowed him to quiet him.

"But, there's only a matter of time before the Collector might catch on to what's happen-" Kendrick said before getting cut off.

Boscha groaned.

"No offense, old man, but I personally don't think we should be taking orders from someone who abandoned his son. Though I can't say I blame you, " she said, looking Kai up and down.

Kai growled.

"What'd you say?!" he shouted.

Hunter and Luz grabbed Kai by his arms to hold him back. Boscha scoffed.

"You all can leave now," she said.

Luz looked at her.

"But--"

"And that's that!" Boscha shouted.

The group was then pushed out of the gymnasium as the doors closed behind them.

"What the hell just happened?!" Viney exclaimed.

Matt folded his arms.

"It's been like this ever since Mike and Roka showed. We all want to fix stuff and do something productive around here but everytime we suggest something, Miki threatens to throw people into the detention pit," he said.

"The what?!" Camila exclaimed.

Kendrick rubbed his neck.

"That girl is stubborn as heck. She doesn't listen to anyone's suggestions and she changes the scheduling plans and patrol teams," he said.

Kai growled.

"Ugh! I swear to god, she never changes!" he said, kicking a locker.

The locker growled at Kai, making him step back. Luz placed a hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Calm down, Kai. Maybe there's another way," she said.

Luz turned to the others.

"I don't know how to get into the Archives, but we may be able to get close, by teleporting directly into the Titan's Skull," she said.

The others looked at her shocked.

Back with King:

The young Titan was walking through a corridor in the Archive. He looked ahead and gasped when he saw Odalia gathering the puppets.

"Ugh. It's getting tangled," she grumbled as King ran towards her.

"Wait, wait. Can you, uh, give me that one?" King asked, pointing to a puppeted Hooty.

Odalia turned to him. Later, King was carrying Hooty to where the puppeted Coven Heads were. Among them was Eda who was pretending to be a puppet. Eda was wearing a maroon vest, a long sleeve blue shirt underneath, light purple pants and long black boots. She also had a bandage wrapped around her missing left arm and her hair was cut to like it was when she first met King.

"Blah!" Eda groaned, pretending to be a zombie.

King sighed.

"Eda, come on. Not right now," he said.

Eda chuckled before moving to step over the line. The line glowed red which caused the Coven Heads' eyes to glow as they moved to attack Eda, spell circles drawn.

"Wait!" King said.

He moved Eda back over the line and they walked inside a forest-like area that was covered with bars.

"You gotta stop leaving your room! The Collector thinks you're still in beast mode," King said.

"I know. I just like visiting Raine," Eda said, smiling.

Odalia grunted as she pulled the pile of puppets before stopping to crack her back. She then noticed the Coven heads and smirked, getting an idea. Back in the Owl Beast's den, Lilith was stirring a cauldron as Eda and King arrived. Lilith's hair was now shorter and had regained her red orange color. She was now wearing a blue tunic-like dress with light green sleeves and her black boots.

"Lily! Guess who King found," Eda said as King held the puppeted Hooty up.

"In a moment, Edalyn," Lilith said.

She picked up a nearby mug and scooped some of the potion inside into it as her younger sister walked towards her. Lilith handed her the mug.

"Drink this. I think I got it right this time," she said.

Eda drank some of the elixir and the feathers on her neck disappeared. Eda gagged.

"Lily, it's actually impressive how the taste keeps getting worse. But it does work! Keep it up and you'll put Morton out of business," she said.

"Great. Now can you do something about this guy?" King asked, holding Hooty up.

Lilith gasped and ran towards him.

"Hootsifer! Is he okay? Can he hear me? Hootsifer, can you hear me?" she asked, tears running down her face.

Her tears landed on Hooty's face and he moved slightly.

"Sequestered at a darkness like unto death, the dulcet tones of an angel wakes me. Be it you? Lulu?" he asked.

Lilith smiled as tears streamed down her face.

"It be! It be!" she said, hugging Hooty.

Eda placed a hand on her hip.

"Hooty, you keep finding new and impressive ways to creep me out," she said.

King walked towards them.

"Maybe the Collector can release him too. Like you and Lilith," he said.

Lilith shook her head.

No! You are already putting yourself in enough risk just for us," she said.

Eda sighed.

"Uh, Lily's right. If the Collector finds out you're lying, we could all turn into puppets for good," she said.

She felt something grip her pants leg and Eda looked down to see King hugging her leg.

"Hey, what's the matter?" she asked.

King sighed.

"I don't know. I just miss Luz and Kai," he said.

Eda bent down and placed a hand on his head.

"I miss them too, kiddo but they're in the Human Realm, you know, with their real family," she said, sadly.

King stepped back and gave her a small glare.

"Don't say it like that. Kai's still a Clawthorne and Luz is a part of the family. Plus, You know you don't mean it," he said.

"What Eda means to say is we'll find a way to defeat the Collector. At least the kids and their friends are safe and far, far away from this madness," Lilith said.

Back at Hexside:

The group walked down through the corridors of New Hexside before arriving at a wall. Kai blinked in confusion.

"It's a dead end?" he asked.

Matt chuckled.

"Not exactly," he said.

Matt drew a spell circle onto the wall and pressed two hands to the circle. The wall glowed before it split in half to show a door on it. The others were slightly shocked while Matt gave a smug grin. The group walked into the Photography classroom.

"This is where Mr. Clawthorne, Jerbo and I have been coming up with plans. We do it here so Miki and Roka won't be able to try to change them and take them to Boscha," Matt said.

Willow walked over to a bulletin board where some memory pictures of the Emerald Entrails and her with her Dads were. Willow could feel tears in her eyes but blinked them away.

"Keep it in. Keep it in," she said.

She then notices a picture of Hunter and Flapjack, smiling together. Willow looked at Hunter who was leaning against the wall before smiling and grabbing the picture. Gus was with Mattholomule looking at the plans.

"Plans to convert the gym to a common space. Schedules for rotating guard shifts? And is that a dinner menu using veggies from the Plant Homeroom?" Gus asked.

Viney looked at Kendrick.

"Did you come up with all this?" she asked.

Kendrick chuckled.

"I've had a hand with it but Matt here was the one who came up with all these plans," he said, ruffling Matt's hair.

Gus looked at Matt with a surprised look.

"Mattholomule, you're actually a decent leader," he said.

Matt chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Was there ever any doubt?" he asked.

"Yes!" the other kids said.

Matt huffed while Camila and Kendrick chuckled. Luz and Kai sat down on some stools.

"All right. Time to take a trip down memory lane. Once, Kai and I saw Philip--I mean Belos use a glyph to teleport to the skull," Luz said, taking her hat off.

"It was months ago so it's going to take some digging to find it," Kai said.

Willow looked at her friends.

"Remember, guys. No schemes, no plots, no ruses," she said.

"And definitely no shenanigans," the three of them finished.

Willow giggled as she held up the tweezers. Camila cringed.

"I'm going to assume those are clean," she said,

Back with Belos:

The grimwalker's hand opened and closed before Belos climbed out of the dirt bed. He let out a screech as his body began to break away. Belos clenched his hand as more goop dripped from it.

"No. It's not ready," he growled.

Belos climbed out of the cave, onto the Titan's horn and inside the Archives. The goop monster looked inside to see Odalia ordering Puppet Raine to put the other puppets away.

"Put that one over there. No, no. Over there," she said.

Raine did as they were told as Odalia sighed.

"Making a deal with that child was a waste of time. I wish someone would see my potential," she said.

Belos landed behind her, standing to his full height.

"Oh, yes. I think you'll prove to be quite useful," he said.

Odalia looked over her shoulder with a hopeful smile.

"Me?" she asked.

"No!" Belos said.

He let out a screech and rushed at Puppet Raine.

"You!" Belos said, going into Raine's body.

Raine staggered forward before lifting their head with a smirk as their eyes glowed blue.

Back at Hexside:

Willow was working on pulling out some of Luz and Kai's memories to try and find the teleporting glyph. She pulled out a photo from when Kai fought Grom and pinned onto a clothing line. Kendrick looked at the photo to see Kai fighting Grom in the form of his late wife, Jennifer. He exchanged a sad and worried look at Kai. Camila was looking at some of Luz's memories and saw a picture of her, Kai and Amity sending off a balloon for the anniversary of Manny's passing. The two friends looked at each other, both concerned about their kids.

"I think we found it," Willow said, pulling the picture out of Luz's ear.

The picture cleared, showing the time Kai and Luz went back to Philip's timeline. Luz looked at the picture.

"Whoa. It's so clear. We can use this to get to the skull," Luz said.

Hunter stood up.

"Finally, we can get moving again," he said.

Willow walked towards him with the picture.

"Before we go, look what I found," she said, handing the picture of him and Flapjack to Hunter.

Hunter took it and looked at the photo. Gus walked towards the two.

"We're all gonna miss Flapjack, but we know he loved you the most," Gus said.

"And we just want to let you know, we don't care who you're supposed to be, 'cause you're one of us now. Never forget that," Willow said.

Hunter looked at them with wide eyes but didn't say anything. Willow and Gus noticed and gained sad looks as Kai and Luz stood up.

"Hunter, are you okay?" Luz asked.

Hunter clenched his fist.

"I-I don't know," he said.

Willow gained a guilty look.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make things worse," she said, backing up.

Roots grew from the ground and wrapped around her feet.

"I, um--I'll be right back," Willow said, walking out the door.

Gus sighed.

"I guess this is my fault too," he said.

Hunter looked at him confused.

"What? How?" he asked.

Gus showed him a picture of the statue back in Gravesfield.

"I've known you were a grimwalker since the Day of Unity. I was waiting for you to bring it up yourself, but I--I don't know. Maybe if I weren't so afraid, none of us would be hurting right now," he said.

"Gus, I--" Hunter tried to say.

"It's okay. You stay here. I'll find Willow," Gus said before walking out the door.

Hunter ran after him.

"Wait. Gus! Willow, Gus, wait up, please!" Hunter called after them.

Willow stomped through the halls, passing by Boscha who was leaning against the lockers.

"Trouble with your team, Captain Half-a-Witch?" she asked.

Willow stopped walking.

"Leading isn't easy, is it? All your time is spent helping the team, keeping people from fighting, planning your next move and titan forbid you show any weakness. Everyone else falls apart," Boscha said.

Willow clenched her fists.

"Not now, Boscha," she said.

"If you want my advice--"

A vine covered fist hit the locker beside her head. Willow glared at Boscha.

"Advice?! From you?! You have been nothing but petty and mean to me since I met you," she said.

Boscha was unphased by this as Willow gritted her teeth.

"What? You want me to give up? You want me to admit how stressed I am?! What advice could you possibly give me?!" Willow asked as her eyes glowed green.

Boscha gave her a smirk.

"Actually, I was gonna advise you to watch your back," she said, pulling a mask over her face.

Willow's eyes went wide and she turned around to Roka standing behind her.

"You never know when your opponent's going to strike," Boscha said, smug.

Back with the others:

Matt rubbed the back of his head.

"Woof. They're not coming back, are they?" he asked.

Camila sighed.

"You kids have gone through too much. Even when we rescue your families, there's still so much to fix," she said.

Kendrick nodded as he ran a hand through his hair. Amity rubbed her arm.

"At least we'll all be together to figure it out. Right, guys?" she asked.

Viney and Luz nodded but Kai had a sad look on his face.

"Um, there's something I need to te-"

Kai was unable to finish his sentence as the door was blown off. The group turned to see Miki and Roka walk into the room.

"Ha! So, the rumors are true. This is where you two are hiding most of the plans without Boscha's consultation, little Mattholomule," Miki said.

Matt threw his hands up.

"Yeah, we were because you guys are the worst!" he exclaimed.

Miki chuckled before full on cackling. Kai and Luz's eyes went wide when they recognized the voice.

"No, not you!" Luz groaned.

Miki tore her and Roka's disguises off as she grinned maliciously.

"Long time no see, human and hybrid," she said.

Kai gritted his teeth as he and his father pulled their swords out.

"Kikimora," Luz growled.

Camila then sniffed the air, smelling a strange scent.

"What's that smell?" she asked.

Kai and Luz sniffed the air and they both gasped.

"Sleeping Nettles!" Luz exclaimed.

Kai coughed and covered his nose as Boscha laughed, walking out from behind the Abomatron.

"Most important rule of Grudgby: Always expect the unexpected," she said, holding a bottle of sleeping nettles.

Kai looked around to see the others falling to the ground. He felt his eyes drooping and Kai fell to his knees. He glared up at Boscha and Kikimora.

"You sons of a-"

Kai fell to the ground, the sound of Kikimora cackling echoing in his ears.

At the Archives:

Puppet Raine was walking through the corridors to the Collector's room. As they walked, green goop dripped down from their eyes. Puppet Raine wiped the goop away as they entered the Collector's room. The puppeted witch floated to stand beside the Collector's bed. Puppet Raine narrowed their eyes and held their hand out, green goop dripping from their fingers. The goop reached to the Collector before he suddenly opened his eyes. Collector turned and held their hand out, launching their cover to wrap around Puppet Raine, trapping their arms to their sides.

"You're not supposed to move on your own. How did you break your spell?" they asked.

"The spell isn't broken, see?" Puppet Raine said, lifting their bangs to show the moon seal on their forehead.

The Collector squinted his eyes.

"That still doesn't answer how you're able to move," he said.

Puppet Raine blinked.

"Well, you take such good care of us Coven Heads, Collector. Keeping us safe in the Archives. It was the, uh, power of your kindness that brought me to life so I could tell you-"

"What is it?" the Collector asked.

"You're in danger, Collector," Puppet Raine said.

Back at New Hexside:

Boscha and Kikimora walked to the detention pit where Kikimora dropped Kai, Luz and their friends in an abomination bubble. Upon making contact with the group, the bubble bursts, making the group fall to the ground. Kai and Luz glared up at Kikimora.

"What the hell, Kikimora?!" Luz exclaimed.

Kai stood up.

"Yeah, are you working for the Collector?" he asked as Kendrick helped the other three up.

Kikimora chuckled.

"The days of Kikimora the underling are over! I prefer partnerships such as ours. We need to establish our own rule for the well being of future generations," she said as Boscha walked in to stand beside her.

Camila rubbed her head.

"Okay, I'm still catching up. What's the little red kitten trying to do?" she asked.

"She's just copying Belos' "scare people into worship" thing because she has no ideas of her own!" Luz shouted up to Kikimora.

Kai nodded.

"And she's also an asshole because she put me in a six week coma and her ass got kicked to the curb because Belos didn't have a use for her!" Kai added.

'This is the person who gave Kai that scar on his back?' Camila said in her head, glaring at Kikimora.

Kikimora chuckled as she cracked her knuckles.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this," she said.

Kikimora jumped into the pit, shaking the ground and making Luz stumble.

"You think I'd just drop you in and walk away? No. I think I'll take you out myself," she said, aiming her cannon at the group.

Kai pulled his sword out as he and Luz stood in front of their friends. Amity looked up at Boscha.

"Boscha, come on. This is a bit much. Even for you," she said.

Boscha looked away from her as she walked off, the pit closing. Kikimora charged her cannon up and fired at the group. Luz quickly placed a plant glyph down, making a vine mess up Kikimora's aim. Luz, Kendrick and Kai ran off as Amity made two spell circles, sending a giant wave of abomination goop at Kikimora. Kikimora used her other hand to absorb the goop before firing it back at the group. Amity and Viney quickly tackled Camila out of the way as the goop landed on top of Mattholomule. Matt gasped as he poked his head out of the pile of goo.

"Ah! I did not sign up for this kind of treatment!" he exclaimed.

Kai and Kendrick ran towards Kikimora.

"Dad, take this," he said, taking his left gauntlet off and tossing it at Kendrick.

His father took it and placed it on his wrist. Together, the father and son used their gauntlets to keep Kikimora from moving forward as Luz used some more vines. Kai grunted as he stepped on the chain, holding it down. Camila looked around before grabbing a bone on the ground.

"I--I--I think I remember the ice glyph," she said.

"Mamá, wait!" Kai and Luz exclaimed.

Camila finished drawing a poorly made ice glyph and activated it. A big blob of ice came out of the glyph and fired a laser, breaking the ceiling and causing rocks to fall. Kikimora used her arms to protect her head. Amity made an abomination bubble to protect herself, Matt and Viney as a rock caused it to roll away. Kendrick grabbed Kai and quickly jumped out of the way. Camila looked up to see some of the rocks falling towards her and Luz rushed forward and tackled her out of the way. The falling rocks caused dust to pick up. As the dust settled, Luz looked around.

"Mama? Uncle Ken? Hermano? Viney? Ami?" she called.

Kikimora climbed out of the pile of works, glaring at Luz.

"Don't think you've won just yet," Kikimora said.

"Hey, Kiki-miki!" Camila shouted.

Kikimora turned to her.

"This is for my son and daughter!" she yelled.

She kissed her baseball bat.

"Bruja toss!" Camila shouted, tossing the baseball at the small demon.

The baseball bat smacked Kikimora in the face, knocking her out. Luz and Camila ran off.

With Amity, Matt and Viney:

"Kai? Luz? Camila? Kendrick?" Viney called as she and the two younger teens walked around.

"Are you guys okay?" Amity called.

The three teens stopped walking as Boscha jumped down in front of them. Viney drew her staff out and got into a fighting stance. Amity glared at Boscha.

"Let us go, Boscha," she said.

Boscha closed her eyes.

"Oh, Amity. I already let you go. Many times. When you stopped hanging out with the group. When you left the grudgby team. When you disappeared for months," she said.

"What are you saying?" Amity asked.

Boscha walked up to her.

"I'm saying…" she said.

To everyone's surprise, Boscha kneeled to one knee, holding Amity's hand, making the purple haired girl freeze as she clenched her dress.

"Please come back!" Boscha said.

"Eh?" The three of them asked.

Boscha looked up at Amity with a smile.

"The others are gone but we can still be a team! We can rule New Hexside together! It'll be just like the old days! Maybe even better!" she said.

Matt leaned towards Viney.

"What is happening?" he whispered.

"No idea, but it's really sad," Viney whispered back.

A loud rumbling was heard and the three teens looked up as some of the ceiling started to break.

"Sorry. We don't have time for this," Amity said as she, Viney and Matt walked past her.

She grunted as Boscha suddenly wrapped her arms around her.

"I won't let you leave again!" she said.

Amity grunted as she tried to get out of her grip.

"Boscha, you're hurting me," she said.

The sound of a spell circle suddenly being drawn was heard before a statue of Mattholomule appeared between them, separating the two girls. Viney used her leg to sweep Boscha's legs out from under, making the three eyed girl fall to the ground.

"Woah, Viney where'd you learn that?" Amity asked.

"A certain hard headed redhead boyfriend of mine," Viney said.

As Boscha was getting up, Matt drew a smell circle.

"Run!" he said, throwing the circle down and making smoke fill the area.

The three teens ran off. Boscha growled, kicking the Mattholomule statue's head off and running after the trio. "Matt" drew two magic circles and made abomination gauntlets, catching the statue head and throwing it at Boscha. Boscha dodged it before pulling out an acid potion and throwing it at Matt, pulling her staff out and charging at the trio. "Matt" put his hands up to protect his face as the acid melted the abomination gauntlets. Boscha used her staff to knock both Viney and "Matt" out of the way. She moved forward and grabbed "Amity" by her wrists.

"Got you now, Blight!" she said.

Matt suddenly appeared in a puff of blue smoke and folded his arms.

"W-what?" Boscha asked.

Matt smirked.

"Cool huh? A little illusion trick I learned from Agustus," he said.

Boscha backed up.

"But…where's Amity? She didn't leave, did she?" she asked.

A puff of smoke was heard from behind her and Boscha turned to see both Viney and Amity standing on a giant abomination.

"I can't be who you want me to be, Boscha. But we can still save your teammates. Will you let us try?" she asked.

With Hunter, Willow and Gus:

The blonde boy was shaking an unconscious Gus by his shirt.

"Hey, Gus. Gus. Gus, are you okay? Can you hear me?" Hunter asked.

Gus groaned and Hunter gasped.

"Gus? Wake up!" he said.

Gus opened his eyes and gasped.

"Ah! Boscha!" he exclaimed, pushing Hunter away.

He was about to run off but Hunter stopped him.

"Wait, Gus! It's okay! It's okay. It's just me," he said.

Gus looked at him before looking at their surroundings.

"What…happened? I remember smelling sleeping nettles," he said.

Hunter looked around as well.

"Yeah. And I think I saw Kikimora, which is definitely a bad sign," he said, standing up.

He pointed to a cave entrance.

"That way is all caved in so-" he tried to say before getting cut off.

"This way. Yeah, I'm ready to kick some New Hexside butt," Gus said, walking off.

Hunter looked after him with a sad look before running his hands through his hair and sitting down, knees pulled up to his chest

"Flapjack, everyone's on edge, and I don't know what to say. I'm supposed to be the oldest of the seven of us, but I can't even do that right. I wish you were here," he mumbled into his knees.

A vine suddenly wrapped around his arm, catching Hunter's attention as he looked at it.

"Huh?" he mumbled as more vines wrapped around his shoulder and leg.

A scream was heard in the direction Gus went and Hunter jumped to his feet.

"Gus!" he screamed, running into the direction.

As he did, Hunter stopped as he gasped. In front of him, both Willow and Gus were covered in vines which could be due to the former. Willow turned to Hunter and the blonde boy saw that her eyes were glowing green.

"Oh, Hunter! I had a little run in with Boscha and got stuck down here. Gus just surprised me," she said.

Hunter ran towards the two younger kids.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Willow shook her head.

"I've got it all under control," she said, using a spell circle to try and help free Gus.

Though it looked like it made it worse as the vines seemed to fully cover Gus' body.

"Uh, I don't think it's working!" Gus said, panicking a little.

Willow breathed heavily and she dug through the vines.

"I can do this. I can do this. I can do this," she ranted.

Hunter moved to walk towards her but the vines wrapped around him as well.

"I can do this. I can do this!" Willow continued before stopping.

She looked around to see that she was alone in the area.

"Hello?" she asked fearfully.

With Kai and Kendrick:

"Cami? Kids?" Kendrick called as he and his son walked through a tunnel.

Kai had summoned a flame so they could see.

"Luz? Ami? Babe? Can you hear us?" Kai called.

He sighed as he looked around.

"Damn, I don't remember the detention being this deep," Kai said.

Kendrick rubbed his head.

"I don't think we're in the detention pit anymore. These walls are too rocky and less acid burning," he said.

Kai huffed. Kendrick looked at his son.

"Hey, um, is everything okay?" he asked.

Kai looked at him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Kendrick shrugged.

"You just look tired and more on edge than usual," he said.

"I am tired. Tired of Boscha and Kikimora's bullshit. As soon as we get out here, Boscha's not going to have three eyes anymore," he said, walking ahead of his father.

Kendrick sighed and turned to his son.

"You know that's not what I mean, Kai," he said.

Kai looked at his father.

"I'm not a mind reader, Dad. What do you mean?" he asked.

Kendrick placed his hands on Kai's shoulders.

"Did something happen during the months you were gone?" he asked.

Kai sighed as he lifted his father's hands off his shoulders.

"Dad, I'm fine. Things have been stressful but I'm getting through it. Now can we please focus on staying away from Kikimora and finding the others?" he asked.

Kai walked forward and Kendrick sighed before walking after him.

"Kailin, you know I can tell when you're lying, right?" he asked.

Kai turned to him.

"How? How can you possibly tell when I'm lying? You've been gone my whole life. You don't know anything about me," he said, his voice raising a little.

Kendrick was about to respond when the footsteps running towards them were heard. Kai and Kendrick pulled their swords out, ready to attack whatever comes near them. Luz and Camila ran towards the two males.

"Mom? Luz?" Kai asked as the mother and daughter ran past them.

"There's a crazy gremlin with a laser behind us so run!" Luz called over her shoulder.

Kendrick and Kai turned just as the wall was blasted down and Kikimora came in.

"Shit…" Kai mumbled.

He and his father ran after Luz and Camila as Kikimora chased after the four of them.

Back with the Collector:

The child god was staring at Raine before laughing. Raine blinked as Collector floated back, laughing his butt off. The Collector looked at them.

"Me? In danger?" they asked.

They laughed loudly as they floated down to sit on his bed. Raine followed them.

"Good one," the Collector said as Raine stood beside him.

"It's true. Someone very close to you is planning their betrayal right now," Puppet Raine said, handing the Collector their cover.

Collector took it and raised an eyebrow.

"You don't mean King, right? I don't know if you noticed but he's my best friend," they said.

"And where is he now?" Puppet Raine asked.

The Collector sadly looked at Francois. In the Owl Beast's cage, the Collector's eyes appeared on the wall but it went unnoticed by King, Lilith and Eda as they were discussing a plan.

"All right, King. According to these, um, borrowed books, titan magic can actually cancel out The Collector's. And that's why his predecessors…well, uh…" Lilith said before trailing off.

"Wiped out all the Titans?" King asked.

Eda and Lilith exchanged looks before looking back at King.

"The important thing is that there is hope to defeat him. Maybe even trap him again," Lilith said.

King shook his head.

"No! We can't do that!" he said.

Back in the Collector's room, the child god lifted his hat up and gave Puppet Raine a smug look.

"Hear that? He's looking out for me," they said.

"Well, why not?" Lilith asked.

"Because it didn't work!" King said.

The Collector pulled his hat back over his head to look back into King's conversation.

"If we want things to go back to normal, the Collector needs to be stopped for good. And I think I know a much more permanent solution," King said.

The Collector lifted his hat back up and looked at the ground sadly.

"That didn't sound…very friendly," they said.

"You know, the human and that hybrid are here too," Puppet Raine said.

Collector looked up at them.

"Luz and Kai?! Why are they back?" he asked.

"Obviously, to help King put an end to you and your little games," Puppet Raine answered, walking away.

Collector shook his head as he stood up.

"No! No, no, no! You're fibbing! You're definitely fibbing!" they cried.

They then got quiet.

"Right?" he asked.

Puppet Raine smirked.

With Eda, King and Lilith:

"The Collector's just a little kid. A scary, powerful one, but also sad and alone," King said.

He sighed as he wringed his hands.

"I don't know. This whole time I was scared of making him mad, but I think I can relate to him," King said.

Eda gave him a small smile. King walked up to her.

"Let me talk to him. Immortal being to semi-immortal being. It's worth a try if no more people get hurt, right?" he asked.

Eda chuckled as she pulled King into her lap.

"Oh, you're growing up too fast for me, kiddo," she said.

She kissed King on the forehead.

Back with Kai, Luz, Camila and Kendrick:

The kids and their parents were still running from Kikimora. Using his earth element, Kendrick made a hole in a wall and the group ran out. Kendrick covers the hole with some rocks. Luz bent over to catch her breath.

"Holy shit," she said.

Kai sighed.

"At least we're able to catch our breaths now," he said.

The sound of laser charging caught the group's attention and using his wind, Kai pushed himself, his father, mother and sister out of the way, sending them each in the different direction just as a giant laser from Kikimora blasted down the wall. The red demon growled as she walked forward.

"Come on out, you ruffians. You can't hide forever," she said.

Down a hill, Camila and Luz kept quiet as they waited for Kikimora to go past. Once they were sure she was gone, Camila sighed in relief. Luz growled as she grabbed at her hair.

"AGH! My whole plan fell apart! I-I messed up again!" she said, taking her hat off and throwing it away.

Camila looked at her.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

Luz shook her head and looked away from her.

"It doesn't matter," she said, moving to walk away.

Camila grabbed her hand.

"No, mija, it does matter," she said, pulling Luz to sit beside her.

Luz buried her face into her knees.

"Does this have something to do with your brother wanting to leave the Demon Realm?" Camila asked.

Luz sighed.

"No. Well, yes. Ever since we were little, Kai and I were always able to help each other with our problems but now Kai's having problems and I can't help him becaus-

"You keep messing up? Messing up is a part of living. You think I never messed up before?" Camila asked.

Luz looked at her.

"Ha! Trust me I have! Once, I scheduled my wisdom tooth surgery the day before my wedding. Oh, then there was that time I got road rage and didn't realize I was cursing out your new principal. And, you know, I sold energy drinks for a pyramid scheme for 3 years. And of course, I was convinced we should move to Gravesfield to be closer to that fancy hospital and you know how that ended," Camila said, tears filling her eyes.

Luz felt tears in her eyes as well and looked at the ground. A loud explosion was heard and Luz looked up as a laser beam flew over the trees.

"And worst of all, I didn't stand up for either you or your brother when you both needed me most. I forgot about the Astral Oath," Camila said.

Luz blinked and looked at her mother.

"The what?" she asked.

"The Astral Oath is a promise made between Captain Avery and his family to love and protect each other just as they are through supernovas and solar winds," Camila answered, grabbing Luz's hat.

Luz smiled.

"Mom, are you a secret nerd?" she asked.

Camila sat down in front of her daughter and placed her hat on Luz's head.

"I had a hard time growing up. I was afraid you would too," she said.

Camila placed a hand to Luz's cheek. Tears filled Luz's eyes as she closed her eyes.

"My biggest mistake was trying to protect you by changing this beautiful Good Witch into something she wasn't," Camila said, smiling.

Unbeknownst to the two Nocedas, Luz's fanny pack began to glow purple. Luz wiped her eyes.

"I think I just realized something," she said.

Inside the fanny pack, the palisman egg was beginning to hatch. Luz clenched the front of her shirt.

"I don't know why it took me so long to figure it out," she said.

Camila looked down as Luz's fanny pack glowed a bright purple.

"The only thing I've ever really wanted was to be understood," Luz said, tears running down her face.

A large beam of purple magic was shot into the sky, catching the attention of Kikimora who smirked evily. Luz looked up in shock as a staff with purple and black energy coming out of it floated in front of her. Luz stood up and walked towards it. She grabbed it as the tip of the staff turned into a purple orb.

"Wow," Luz and Camila gasped.

They both jumped as Kikimora suddenly jumped out from above.

"Found you!" she said.

With Kai and Kendrick:

The two redhaired males grunted as they both rolled down a hill. Kendrick sat up and rubbed his head.

"Ugh! I'm going to feel that in the morning," he grumbled.

Kai gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists. His eyes were flickering from green to yellow and back to green.

"Grr! I DON'T GET IT!" he shouted, slamming his fist into a nearby wall.

Kendrick looked at him surprised. Kai clenched the front of his shirt and fell to his knees.

"Why can't things ever work out?!" he screamed.

Kendrick kneeled down beside him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Kai looked at the ground as tears fell from his eyes.

"No matter how much I try, I can't do anything right! I'm supposed to protect the isles but instead I put everyone in danger! Aunt Eda doesn't have magic because me, Hunter got possessed by Belos and lost his palisman, Viney, Amity, Willow, Gus and everyone in Hexside can't even see their parents, everyone in the isles got turned into puppets, the Collector's still here and Belos is out there somewhere probably causing problems! I broke my promise to Papá to look after Mamá and Luz. I can't even use my mage mode without passing out!" Kai ranted.

Kendrick watched with sad eyes as Kai continued to rant.

"How am I supposed to be the protector of the Isles if I couldn't even save my own mother from a fucking car crash?! If I hadn't distracted her and been so weak, she'd still be here!" Kai cried.

Kendrick grabbed his son by his shoulders.

"Hey, hey, none of this is your fault," he said.

Kai scoffed and looked away from his father.

"Hey, no. Look-Look at me," Kendrick said, squeezing his shoulders.

Kai looked at his father.

"Kai, you don't want to leave the Demon Realm, do you?" he asked.

Kai's eyes went wide.

"How-"

"Cami told me back at Hexside," Kendrick said.

Kai sighed.

"Of course I don't want to leave, but what's the point of staying if I failed to protect it and my loved ones? I keep making promises to everyone that I'll protect them but…those promises keep getting broken," he said.

Kendrick snorted.

"You think you broke some promises? I broke Jennifer's promise that I'll come back to you both. I broke my promise to always be there for you the day you were born. I broke my grandfather's promise to protect the Isles," he said.

He sat down beside Kai and rubbed his neck.

"I may have been a prodigy and the strongest in my grade but the decisions I made in the past were dumb and I regret every single one of them," he said.

He turned to Kai with a smile.

"But it's because of those mistakes that I grew into the person I am today and I was able to start a whole new future," he said.

Kendrick placed a hand on Kai's head, ruffling his hair.

"And I'll make those mistakes again if it means I get to be a father to such an amazing and strong young man," he said.

Kai looked at his father with tearful eyes and Kendrick pulled him into a hug. Kai buried his face into his father's shoulder as tears ran down his face.

"I know you've been through a lot at a young age but I promise Kai, you won't go through something like that again and you're not alone, not anymore," he said.

Kai moved back from the hug, wiping his eyes.

"I think I know why I was so scared to lose everyone I love. It's because I didn't want to be alone," he said.

A bright yellow light suddenly went out through the area, causing Kendrick to cover his eyes. When the light faded, Kendrick gained one of the biggest smiles he's ever had. Kai looked down at his body and gained a surprised look when he saw that he was in his mage mode.

"Woah! I'm passing out!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

Kendrick chuckled.

"So, does that mean you're ready to take down a gremlin?" he asked.

Kai gave him a grin and nodded. Kendrick grinned as well before entering his mafe mode and the father and son took off.

With Willow, Gus and Hunter:

Willow looked around with scared eyes.

"Gus? Hunter?" she called.

A muffled noise came from one of the vine pods and Willow turned to see Gus' hand sticking out. She ran towards him.

"Gus!" she said.

Willow began to try and pull the vines off but because of her emotions getting out of hand, they kept growing back.

"I can do this! I can do this! I can do this! I can do this!" She cried.

Hunter opened his eyes and looked at Willow to see her falling to her knees. Vines began to surround the young girl as she cried softly.

"I can't do this…I can't control my own magic. I can't help my friends," she said.

Hunter felt tears in his eyes as he listened to Willow put herself down.

"Why have I been trying to be someone different? Boscha's right. I'll always be…half a witch Willow," Willow said as the vines covered her completely.

Hunter's eyes went wide before they narrowed in determination. He clenched his fists and in a flash of yellow light, Hunter teleported out of the vines and flew to Willow, knocking her out of the vines as he hugged her tightly. He held her shoulders and looked at her, tears rolling down his face.

"You didn't make anything worse! You didn't do anything wrong! You guys mean the world to me, each and everyone of you do! And I--I didn't know how to say that yet," Hunter admitted.

He clenched his fists as he looked at Willow with a pleading look.

"Just…please…don't call yourself that ever again. You've been holding in a lot, haven't you?" he asked.

Willow's lip quivered as Gus called out.

"Willow! Reliable people need someone to rely on too!" Gus said.

He grunted as the vines covered his.

"Just let it out, we'll be fine," Gus said.

Hearing those heartfelt words from the two boys, Willow began to cry.

"I miss my Dads!" she cried.

As she cried, the area around the three kids were starting to crumble. A small illusion of Gus appeared.

"Hey!" it said.

Hunter grabbed Willow before teleporting to where Gus was. He then teleported himself and the two younger kids out of the Detention Pit before going into the sky. The three teens screamed as they fell, rolling down a hill and landing safely beside one another. They all panted as they recovered from the shock. Gus sat up.

" Hunter, how did you do that?" he asked.

Hunter looked at him confused.

"Do what?" he asked.

Gus laughed.

"Dude, you've got magic!" he said.

"Uhh…the magic of friendship?" he asked.

Willow shook her head.

"No! The magic of Flapjack!" she said, placing a hand to Hunter's chest.

Hunter let out a small squeak before a purple light caught his attention. He quickly teleports him and his friends to the other side of the forest just as a giant beam of purple magic flew by them. Hunter, Gus and Willow looked to the source and saw Luz with a sheepish smile and a staff with a glowing purple orb as Camila stood behind her with a slightly shocked look.

"Sorry! Hehe! I'm still getting the hang of this!" Luz said, rubbing her neck.

"Luz has a staff," Gus said.

"Why does that make me nervous?" Willow asked.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" a voice asked from above.

Camila and the kids looked up to see Kai and Kendrick flying above them in their mage mode.

"Hermano! Uncle Ken! Look!" Luz said, holding up her staff.

Kai's eyes went wide as he landed beside his sister.

"The egg hatched?!" he exclaimed.

Luz nodded as she grinned. Kendrick noticed a huge crater in a mountain and his eyes widened.

"Did she-?" he asked Camila.

Camila nodded.

'Holy crap. This kid's gonna kill someone,' Kendrick said in his head.

Unfortunately, the moment was ruined as Kikimora came out of the trees.

"There you are! I am done playing hide-and-seek!" she shouted.

She charged up her cannon and fired at the group. Willow rushed forward with some vines, protecting the others as the vines blocked the blast. Willow grinned in satisfaction.

"Yep, that's better," she said.

Willow used the trees to trap Kikimora before summoning a vine to grab the Abomatron's arm and slapped Kikimora with it. Kikimora growled and pulled her arm out of the vine, firing her laser at Willow. The black haired girl quickly grabbed her staff and flew off. Kai, Luz and Hunter gapsed while Gus chuckled.

"She's fine. This is child's play for us," he said, making four illusion circles.

Two more Willows appeared as the plant girl flew through the air. Kikimora's laser shot two of the illusions.

"Woah, what did we miss?" Luz asked.

Willow prepared to make another spell circle but some abomination goop threw her off course, causing Willow to fall as she screamed. Hunter ran forward and teleported to catch Willow.

"We missed a lot!" Luz exclaimed.

Kai nodded but he had a proud smile on his face for Hunter. The smile fell when Kikimora stomped towards them. She fired another laser at the beam. Kai and Kendrick ran forward. They both put up a rock shield, blocking the laser. The two of the red heads glared at Kikimora as the others stood beside them.

"I don't need this wretched school to start my own empire. I'll make my own and I'll start by taking you apart. Piece by Piece, brat by brat!" Kikimora growled.

Suddenly, some fire Grudgby balls hit her and Kikimora turns to see Amity and Viney with the other Hexside students.

"Stop right there!" Viney said.

Mattholomule folded his arms.

"Miki, I can't say I'm surprised by this. As for you, Roka," he said.

The robot pointed to itself.

"Me?" it asked.

"I know there's been nothing but chemistry between us. Be that as it may I-"

"That's a robot, Matt!" Boscha said.

Matt shrugged and the hexside students threw the fire grudgby balls at Kikimora. Viney and Amity jumped down to join the others.

"They'll hold her off. Let's get to the skull!" Amity said, grabbing Luz's hand as the group ran off.

Willow looked at Boscha.

"Hey, Boscha, don't think this means I'm done with you," she said.

Boscha rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. I didn't do this for any of you. I just wanna do normal things and look great. And play Grudgby with my team!" She said.

And with that, the hexside students jumped at Kikimora. The group ran ahead before Luz stopped and pulled out the picture of the teleporting glyph. She gained a determined look and bent down to write the glyph. Her staff suddenly lifted her arm up into the air.

"Woah!" Luz exclaimed, laughing.

She smiled as she hovered over the ground.

"I can't tell what you're gonna be but, thank you, little palisman," Luz said.

With the help of her staff, Luz was able to write the glyph. Kai, Gus, Willow, Viney and Amity noticed and used their staffs to help Luz finish the glyph. As Kikimora was fighting off the Hexside students, she saw the group up ahead and growled. Holding out two fingers, Kikimora aimed at the group and fired a lightning bolt at them. Hunter was in the process of helping the others draw the glyph when his ear twitched after hearing the noise and he turned to see a lighting bolt heading towards them! Hunter's eyes went wide.

"Heads up!" he shouted.

The group turned and gasped when they saw a lighting bolt coming at them. Kai ran forward and held his hand out. The lighting bolt struck Kai. He grunted in slight pain as he was pushed back.

"KAI!" the others shouted, worried for the redheaded teen.

Kai gritted his teeth and got to his feet, yellow lighting sparks flying out of his body. The others were in shock at this while Kendrick had a proud smile. Kai held his hand out and aimed at Kikimora, eyes glowing yellow.

"Vete al infierno, hijo de puta," he spat.

With a shout and a flick of his finger, Kai sent the lighting bolt forward. The bolt struck two trees behind Kikimora, causing it to fall.

"Fall back!" Matt shouted.

The hexside students got out of the way as the trees fell on top of Kikimora.

"Yes!" Kai cheered.

"Kai, since when can you do that?" Viney asked.

"Now, I guess," her boyfriend said.

Viney shook her head as Luz finished the glyph.

"Kai, V, come on!" she called.

The couple ran to join the others and Luz activated the glyph. A golden yellow aura surrounded the group before they disappeared in a golden light. The light disappeared and the group opened their eyes to see that they were at the Titan's head!

"We…We made it!" Gus exclaimed.

Willow squealed as she linked arms with Amity and Viney.

"Oh my gosh! Ah! I can't believe that actually worked!" Willow cheered.

The three girls laughed as they walked off. Camila chuckled as she nudged Hunter.

"You really beamed us up, eh, O'Bailey?" she said.

Gus and Hunter gasped.

"Beam us up! Beam us up! Beam us up!" They both chanted.

Kai had a relieved look on his face as he got out of mage mode. Kendrick ruffled his hair.

"Good job, bud," he said.

Kai gave him a grin. Meanwhile, Luz was looking at her staff in awe as she grabbed it.

"Guys," she called.

Gus and Hunter were still laughing but once Luz addressed them, the group turned to her.

"Come meet my palisman," Luz said.

The others gathered around her.

"What kind of magical creature would it be?" Camila asked.

"A dragon?" Kendrick asked.

"A bird?" Hunter guessed.

"Ooh, an otter!" Amity said.

"A spooky bat?" Willow asked.

"Maybe a cat?" Viney said.

"A snake?" Gus guessed.

Luz chuckled.

"You're close…" she said.

Flying out of the glowing magic orb, a creature appeared in front of the group, shifting into multiple forms of different kinds of animals before turning into a snake-like animal. She had dark purple scales with a darker purple stripe running from the back middle of her head and ending in a point near her tail, small pointed ears with dark pink insides, fur like tufts on either side of her neck, small fangs, a dark purple forked tongue, a lime green spherical appendage on the end of her tail, two more purple stripes separating her upper and lower body colors, running from her lower her lower cheeks to the ball on her tail, her lower body and underbelly are lavender, her eyes were dark purple with a lime sclera and her nose and upper snote were white. The little snake palisman flew towards Luz and nuzzled her cheek.

"She's a snake shifter! Her name is Stringbean and she's perfect!" Luz said.

Stringbean flew over to greet the others, earning laughs from the group. Ghost, Blaze, Zazi, Clover, Falco and Emmeline got off their staffs to greet the new member of their group. Camila knelt down to hug all the palismen.

"¡Oh, mira a todos mis preciosos bebés! ¡Venir! ¡Venir!" She cooed in Spanish.

Hunter watched the scene with a small smile on his face when someone grabbed his hand. He looked to see Willow beside him.

"Thanks for what you said back there. You mean a lot to me too," Willow said, blushing.

Hunter's ears turned bright red as he sniffled.

"Happy to help," he said, holding Willow's hand.

Stringbean flew back to Luz and Amity.

"I can't wait to show Eda and King," she said, holding Amity's hand.

"They'll love her. Although Hooty might eat her," Amity said.

Luz blinked.

"King might too," she said.

"Eda might three," Amity said, grimacing.

Stringbean suddenly got off the staff and flew towards Kai. The redheaded boy blinked as Blaze flew onto his shoulder. Stringbean hissed in curiosity as she tilted her head. Luz smiled.

"Stringbean, that's your Tío Kai," she said.

Kai reached his hand out to gently rub Stringbean's head. Stringbean leaned into his touch before slithering down his arm to nuzzle her head against his neck. Kai laughed lightly at the tickling sensation.

"I think she likes you," Viney giggled.

The others laughed as well. Unbeknownst to the group, The Collector and Puppeted Raine were watching.

"What did I tell you? Luz and Kai have come to help King get rid of you for good. What will you do, Collector?" they asked.

The Collector's eyes glowed as they gained an upset look and floated off the ground.

"I think I wanna play a new game," they said.

They snapped their fingers.

TO BE CONTINUED..