Author Note:
Ladies and Gentlemen here is the new chapter of my story with Luz Noceda, the Master of the Omnitrix.
I remind everyone that the reviews and comments encourage me to work better and faster.
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Replies to comments:
neith12: Glad you enjoyed the previous chapter, comedy has never been my strong point. But I appreciate making someone laugh.
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Episode 2: BC Convention (III)
Chapter 5: Everyone goes to the Convention, both the good guys and the bad guys
Synopsis: Eda, Luz and King find themselves in Bonesborough where they are dying of boredom, no one comes to their stall to buy human trinkets.
When they're ready to go back to the Owl House, a friend of Luz's shows up and changes Eda, Luz and King's afternoon plans.
Meanwhile, Doctor Animo, an exiled member of the Beast Keeping Coven, decides to put his grand plans for revenge into action.
XXX
POV Narrator
It's been a couple of days since Luz Noceda got the Omnitrix.
In this time frame, two of the current ten alternate forms of Luz have gained a small amount of fame.
In the top ten releases of the moment, there are several cutscenes showing Chromastone during his battle against golems (drones), followed by a slow-motion cutscene of XLR8 rescuing a large number of people from a fire.
Unfortunately, the residents of the Owl House belong to the category of people who don't have a connection to the "internet" of the Boiling Isles.
This small detail prevented Luz and Eda from finding out about the fledgling popularity of Chromastone and XLR8.
XXX
Somewhere in Bonesborough, Eda, Luz and King are trying to go about their usual routine.
Mrs. Owl had been seriously thinking the night before, whether she should go to work at the Human Collectibles booth or stay at Owl House with Luz and King.
If she stayed home with her brats, the chances of trouble would be greatly reduced and she'd have more time to help Luz understand more about how that magical artifact works.
Unfortunately, feeding three mouths is a rather expensive task, plus Eda doesn't feel like leaving Luz and King alone, especially Luz who can turn into something incredible or horrible.
' The best possible option is to keep my little girl, I mean apprentice, close at hand.
I'm the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles, surely Luz will be better off by my side.' Eda thinks, cleaning her table full of human trinkets (garbage).
Lady Owl looks out of the corner of her eye at her little girl, Luz, who is reading a comic about a group of four super-heroes.
"Fantastic Four is quite a pompous name and their costumes are ridiculous." Comments King, who is sitting on Luz's shoulder to read the comic.
Luz is wearing a new piece of clothing, a purple jacket with white stripes on the left sleeve and the letter L on the right.
Eda gave this jacket to Luz to allow her to hide her magical artifact under her sleeves.
"King, don't badmouth the Fantastic Four, they are among the best super-hero teams." Luz said, trying to defend the honor of this messed up super-powered family.
"I'm glad you stopped constantly reading that book full of flowery language.
But why did you choose to read this stuff, do you have a soft spot for people dressed in tight clothes?" Eda asks, in a joking tone.
Today is a lazy day and there have been no customers, so Mrs. Owl has decided to
"I admit that some Marvel characters have cool looks." Luz said, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, feeling glad she didn't bring out an X-Men comic, with Emma Frost on the cover.
Sure Eda could play pranks or worse, awaken a maternal instinct and force her to talk about… very embarrassing stuff.
"Maybe you don't believe me, but this isn't a pleasure read, it's a study on a topic of great importance." Luz said, telling the truth more or less.
Partly Luz reads the comics because she's a big nerd, the other reason is to get some sort of guideline for how to be a good superhero.
" You're telling me you want to imitate the casanova that catches fire and flies." Eda said, pointing to the comic page showing Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, in action.
The idea of taking a cue from a comic is slightly ridiculous, but we're talking about a nerdy 14-year-old girl with a device that turns her into aliens.
The word ridiculous has long lost its meaning for the inhabitants of the Owl House.
"My study is less about flirting with pretty girls and more about flying and fighting while covered in flames." Luz said, wanting to enhance her abilities with Heatblast.
The human girl is still embarrassed that she caused a forest fire during her first transformation and does not want to repeat the experience.
"If you want to play with fire, I won't stop you, but do it on the beach or in a forest far from my house, even better it can be done near Hexside." Eda said, with a mischievous smile, imagining seeing Heatblast destroying her old school.
"We can go home and see how Luz destroys everything around her while trying to learn something new." King proposes, much preferring to see Luz practice her with alien forms of her.
The little fox/dog demon has a new hobby, cataloging the alien forms of Luz and see what they can do.
"I'm not that destructive!" She exclaims Luz, crossing her arms, feeling slightly offended that she considers her some kind of calamity on two legs.
"Baby, yesterday when we got home, you practiced with your new toy and smashed all the windows." Eda said, speaking in coded fashion, in case someone is spying on him.
The Owl Lady remembers very well how Luz turned into a small, white creature with a tremendous voice.
"And we almost went deaf." King continues, putting his hands over his ears, being able to feel the phantom pain caused by his voice.
"It was my first time using Echo Echo, how was I to know that singing an entrance theme would cause so much damage!" Luz replies, forgetting the comic, starting to get angry with King and Eda.
"Luz, keep your voice down, you risk scaring or killing my clients with your powerful screams." Eda said, not knowing when to stop joking with her beloved apprentice.
"What customers !? There aren't even any other stands around !?" Luz said, raising her arms and pointing to the surrounding area, completely empty.
The entire square is devoid of stalls, passers-by, guards or even animals, as if someone had ordered an emergency lockdown.
"This is a bad omen. Something awful must have happened today." Eda said, placing her hands on her hips, having a bad feeling about what was about to happen.
"Maybe a meteorite fell from the sky, bringing with it an extraterrestrial threat?" Luz asks, having some sci-fi ideas in her head, like a secret Skrull-style invasion or a deadly alien virus.
"Okay ... Luz I think you should go back to reading those books full of flowery language, comics are not good for you." Eda said, in a calm tone, as she grabs Luz's comic and hides it in her wild mane of hair.
" Playing with fire is encouraged but reading a comic is prohibited?" Luz asks, raising an eyebrow, sometimes she doesn't understand how Eda's brain works.
Before the Owl Lady could answer, a friendly acquaintance of Luz appeared on the scene.
Willow Park, Luz's witch friend, is running through the bazaar. But when the young witch caught a glimpse of Eda's stall, she immediately changed course, going directly towards the human girl.
Willow is a shorter-than-average, plus-sized and stocky girl who has light skin, pointed ears, olive green eyes, and short, neat, dark navy-blue hair with a few loose strands.
Willow wears a pair of round gold-framed glasses and the typical Hexside student uniform, consisting of a gray tunic and a dark gray cowl and belt with a gold pin and gray-black short-heeled shoes
"Luz, I'm happy to see you safe and sound!" Declares Willow, hugging Luz tightly, as if they've been separated in the midst of a catastrophe and have just reunited.
Eda being a woman who doesn't support tender scenes in public, decided to cut short the little moment between the two girls.
"Square eyes, I advise you to remove the arms from my apprentice, if you do not wish to lose them." Eda said, perfectly imitating a parent who threatens his daughter's overly attentive friends.
"Hello, Mrs. Owl." Willow said, with a forced smile, taking her arms away from Luz.
The young witch is slightly intimidated by the Owl Lady, who is known in every corner of the Boiling Isles as someone you don't want to anger.
Luz turns in Eda's direction, not knowing whether to love or hate her mother's overprotective attitude.
"Eda, I know you love me and want to keep me safe. But scaring Willow isn't necessary, she's a good person." Luz said, not even wanting to think about what if she should bring a boyfriend or girlfriend to the Owl House.
Eda just huffs and crosses her arms, muttering something under her breath.
Clearly, being a wild witch makes people paranoid about strangers.
Luz having finished talking to Eda for the moment, turns in Willow's direction.
"Willow, why are you acting like this? Did we meet a couple days ago?" Luz asks, particularly confused by the young witch's behavior.
"Yesterday, a classmate showed me this video." Willow said, pulling out her scroll. The small screen shows a cutscene with Chromastone and Eda facing a metallic creature.
Eda and Luz's eyes widen, realizing that the two of them have become "internet stars".
" As always, I am a photogenic woman, if I had become an actress, I would have caused a sensation." Eda said in an arrogant tone, running a hand through her wild mane of hair.
'Man, it's time to lie to my friend to protect her from the dangers of my double life.' Luz thinks, feeling a nasty knot in her stomach.
The nerdy girl doesn't like to lie, but all of her reading over the years has shown the risks and benefits of revealing your secret identity to your friends.
Luz doesn't want to risk ending up as Spider-Man and seeing Willow or anyone close to her end up like Gwen Stacy.
"I was worried you might have been involved in the fight." Willow explains the reason for her anxious behavior about her.
"You worried for nothing, Quattrocchi. As long as they're around, any freak who tries to pester Luz will end up in hospital or worse." Eda said, placing a hand on Luz's shoulder and pulling her close to her.
"If you keep doing this, people will call you Mother Owl." Comments King, finding Eda's protective behavior comical.
"For that sentence, King, you won't eat anything sweet for weeks." Eda said, inventing a threat that sounds very much like a little maternal punishment.
"If Luz is fine and has no plans, can she stay with me for the rest of the afternoon?" Willow asks, wanting the Owl Lady's permission.
"Of course I can go with you, today was a boring day, I'd love to have fun with you." Luz said, with a big smile, wanting to spend time with Willow.
"Perfect, because today is the Annual Conference!
Student witches and wizards are able to see all types of covens before being placed into one." Willow said, holding up a poster discussing the big event.
On the poster are the words "Congregation, which Congregation are you?" with a little witch looking into a bubbling cauldron to see herself as a full witch.
"So it's like a job fair for aspiring witches? Wonderful." declares Luz, in a tone full of enthusiasm, wanting so much to see the Annual Convention.
"Luz, you have nothing to celebrate, because you're not going anywhere except the Owl House." Eda said, in a serious tone.
The Owl Lady doesn't want to let Luz get away from her, especially with that trinket attached to her wrist.
Luz has lost her smile.
"I never joined a coven for a reason. Sure it's like a fun club for witches, but you're also giving up your magical independence to be part of a crooked system." Eda explains why she doesn't want to let Luz go to the convention.
To underline her seriousness, Eda hits the table with her fist causing a shocked look on Willow's face.
"Eh, but, you know, no judgment. In any case, I haven't been to one since we were girls." Eda said, realizing she slightly exaggerated.
"We?" She asks Luz, with an intrigued look, sure she's discovered something about Eda's past.
"I ... the ... I mean ..." Mrs. Owl for once in her life, can't think of an excuse to avoid a problem.
"Who's "we"? You have a mysterious past! Now we gotta go!" Declares Luz, receiving her energetic spirit again, having found a side quest involving her teacher.
"No." Eda replies, not wanting to talk about her youth with Luz for many reasons.
"King, take my Good Witch Azura book out of my backpack." Declares Luz, in a serious tone, ready to use unique persecution methods on Eda.
XXX
Meanwhile the Lady Owl is defeated by flowery language.
Something interesting is happening elsewhere, which will challenge the human girl's path as the first heroine of the Boiling Isles.
After all, every great hero needs a villain, nothing beats the classic mad scientist, right?
In a lair hidden in a swamp, inside a large room that looks like a combination of a zoo, a genetic laboratory and a chemical plant, is Doctor Animo.
The mad scientist is seated at a desk covered in chemical and genetic notations.
In the middle of the table is the alien device Doctor Animo discovered yesterday.
The only thing comparable to his unhealthy and creepy appearance is his superhuman intellect, followed by his petty desire for revenge.
Luz barely scratched the Omnitrix's early capabilities within 60 hours and made no progress with the Power Armor.
In just one day, Doctor Animo managed to fully understand the piece of alien technology he found and devised different methods of using it.
"It pains me to admit it. But whoever came up with this technology is a scientific genius beyond compare." Doctor Animo murmurs, grimacing, feeling great pain to admit that there is a person smarter than him.
"The important thing is that this device has managed to accelerate my plans, years of work done in a single day." said the mad scientist, with a triumphant smile, as he dons his alien device.
Doctor Animo gets up from his desk, but not before grabbing a syringe, containing one of his blueprints, then stands in front of a cage containing some kind of demonic frog.
In another universe, Doctor Animo was a class B mad scientist, because he was a simple human who uses terrestrial animals to carry out his criminal plans.
But in this universe, Doctor Animo is a criminal witch, armed with magic, mad science and wild animals from the Boiling Isles.
"Let's see if this substance can make this amphibian worthy of evolution." Doctor Animo said, giving an injection to the demon frog.
The amphibian's body begins to tremble, its green skin gains a blue tint, a pair of large horns appear on its head and back like ice-like thorns.
"Step number one: accelerate mutations at the genetic level." Doctor Animo said, stepping back, not wanting to be near his lab rat if the result of the experiment gets particularly bad.
The mad scientist rotates the dial on his chest, the machinery of alien origin comes into operation.
Doctor Animo's horned helmet fired a red color ray, hit the mutant demon frog right in the face.
Slowly, the amphibian gains mass and volume, becoming the size of a van.
In an instant the cage was destroyed, unable to hold such an amphibious monstrosity.
"I'm this close to having what's rightfully mine and settling the score with those traitors." Doctor Animo said, with a manic expression.
"All I need is a place where I can find and destroy my enemies in one shot." said Doctor Animo, not wanting to waste her precious time pursuing all of his goals one after another.
At that moment, the mad scientist's crystal ball lit up, showing a short broadcast focusing on the Annual Convention.
"Today is my lucky day. Those traitors I will go to the Convention to brag about their achievements earned from my misery." He proclaims Doctor Animo, ready to go on the warpath at the Convention.
Apparently, everyone goes to the convention, the good guys and the bad guys alike.
Continues ...