The Owl House Holiday Special

by Mando Whisky

A month after the defeat of Belos, Amity, Willow, Gus and Hunter decide to do something for Luz to thank her for being a part of their lives. Celebrating Christmas. The only problem is, they might not know a thing or two about it

4. Four Shopping Witches

It was the 6th of December on a snowy day in Gravesfield, Amity, Hunter, Gus and Willow had gotten off of the bus towards Gravesfield's only mall, Triple Pines Mall after flawlessly avoiding Luz, Vee and Camila shovelling snow in their drive.

Their disguises consisted for Amity, a purple coat, black pants with a ladybug belt buckle, black boots, pink scarf and a purple beanie.

For Willow it was a green puffy coat, a dark green turtleneck, a dark green scarf, dark green pants and some green gloves.

With Hunter it was a orange sweater, a beige jacket, a red scarf and some dark green boots.

While Gus wore a light blue beanie, dark blue coat, blue gloves, a blue scarf and a pair of dinosaur boots.

They stood by the gate so Amity could explain the plan to everyone. "Okay, so here's the plan, everyone splits up so we can search for a gift for everyone. And we meet up during closing time by that statue over there."

Hunter sighed. "Great. Of course it had to be that statue." Turns out the statue was of Phillip Wittebane holding what appeared to be him holding a red cardinal on his finger. "Even in death he is still bullying me."

Willow patted Hunter's back, giving him some comfort. "It's okay."

"Would you like us to find a different meeting spot?" Amity asked.

"I guess…the bus stop would be fine." Hunter replied.

"Okay, we meet at the bus stop." Amity declared. "And if we get lost we use our scrolls to find one another."

"What about that crazy guy?" Gus asked.

"As in Hopkins?" Amity asked. "Don't worry Gus, I doubt he spends his time at the mall harassing customers."

Inside the mall, Hopkins was in fact analysing one of the kiddie rides while speaking into a tape recorder. "Interesting, this little duck ride's numbered are marked 9-9-9. Could it be the English way of dialling 9-1-1? Or could it actually be the sign of-"

"Gosh darn it, Jacob are you going to repair it?!" An old African American man with a round built, greying moustache and a bald head named Powell asked him. "You have an engineering degree right?!"

Jacob stood up and held the man by his shoulder. "Powell, this is important! That kiddie ride has m the exact same model as the rocket one from yesterday!"

Powell stared at him for a bit before shrugged his shoulders. "And?"

"It can't be a coincidence!" Jacob argued. "There has to be something!"

"For gosh sake, man!" Powell exclaimed. "I can't keep vouching for your delusions. Mr Stewart will fire you if you continue this conspiracy behaviour!"

"You don't get it, Powell!" Jacob argued. "There might be threat from another world! There were some living with us for three months and there is a snake demon living among us right now!"

Powell sighed in annoyance. "I can't believe I quit the police force for this. Look, I'm gonna look something for my family and that thing better be repaired by the time I get back!" He walked away to do his private shopping where he bumped into a mail man.

"Sorry." The mail man said.

"It's okay." Powell said before walking away.

The mail man began walking and sighed. "You can do it. Every Christmas something bad needs to happen to me. You can at least get your family something they want." He pulled out a list which included Markira, a red sweater, a Rev Man, a QT5 and something important he needs to remember.

Then the mail man bumped into two guys. One tall with fuzzy hair and another short and with a beanie.

"Hey! Watch it!" The small man spoke in a squeaky voice and responded rudely.

"Sorry. Merry Christmas you jerk." The mail man said before walking away to do his shopping.

"I swear Marvin if I bump into someone else I'm going to be annoyed!"

"It's Christmas shopping Barry, everyone bumps into each other." Marvin pointed out before accidentally bumping into Amity.

"Sorry." Amity said.

"That's okay." He assured her.

Not far, Jacob was searching through his toolbox for the right tool to use to fix the kiddie ride. "Okay, going to need a screwdriver for this and some wire clippers." He sighed. "Maybe Powell was right. I should really give up my obsession with witches."

When he looked behind him, he saw Amity, Gus, Hunter and Willow walking together while discussing the plan.

"And remember, no magic no matter how intense the situation will be." Amity said. "So no pranks, Gus!"

Gus seemed surprised. "What?"

"That stunt on Halloween almost got us caught." Amity pointed out.

"But the crowd did cheer when I turned that guy's feet into hooves." Gus pointed out.

Not far, Jacob saw the witches and looked between the kiddie ride and the witches. "Four shopping witches. What are they doing here?" He then came up with a theory. "Maybe they want to study Christmas so they can exploit humans love for it! Of course!" He stood up with a determined look. "I will stop them!" He suddenly slipped on the floor.

A man with a menorah bade on his breast was standing by a mop and a bucket groaned. "Jacob, come on. This is getting silly."

"Shut up Dale!" Jacob exclaimed. "You wouldn't understand my mission since you don't celebrate Christmas!" He ran away while Dale just went back to mopping the floor.

"It's okay Dale. Hanukkah is only four days away." Dale said.

Amity's Calamity.

Amity's search through the shopping mall brought her to a book store to find a book or manga for her girlfriend.

She started with the manga section where she began reading Markira, a Manga about a biker gang and some psychic teenager. She began to read through it to see if it was good but she was confused.

"What?" Amity reacted. "This doesn't make sense. Who starts their book from the end?" Amity put the book back not aware how Manga is usually formatted.

She then tried a cook book which was something Camila wanted but she thought she could give her the Demon Realm cook book instead.

She tried a math book but she thought that it wouldn't make a good gift for Luz. Maybe Gus might like it.

Her eyes went up when she saw something in the far distance. "Ah! Good Witch Azura!" She cried as she ran through the book store. She accidentally knocked over someone, causing them to trip and to fall into one of the bookshelves, causing it to topple into another and another, causing a domino effect.

Somewhere along the bookshelf, the mailman from earlier was looking through the manga. "Oh that's right. I need to read it from the other way." That was until he was almost crushed by the bookshelf and he quickly ran away to avoid a trip to the hospital.

"Phew, that was close." The mail man remarked before noticing something on the floor. "Markira. Just what my son ordered."

Amity ran toward to where Good Witch Azura was but it was just a cardboard cutout for the next Good Witch Azura book, causing her to sigh. "Oh wait. Coming soon for January 22nd. Titan."

She heard the sounds of bookshelves being toppled over and panicked. "Uh oh." She quickly grabbed the book she thought Gus might like and made a run toward the checkout area and payed for the book.

Then, Amity was looking through a clothing store to see if there was anything Luz might like. "Hmm." She saw a dress but thought Luz wouldn't like it since she didn't seem too much of a dress person.

There was a Good Witch Azura shirt but Amity wanted her gift to mean something to her so she just decided not to buy it.

"Uh…As much as I like Human Realm fashion some of it just doesn't suit what I want for Luz." Amity said.

She began to look at one of the coats that happened to be on for sale and gagged by how horrible it looked. "Uh! Who'd even want to buy this?" When she put the coat back on the hanger, it suddenly fell off, leaving the coat on the floor.

A member of staff carrying a handful of clothes, slipped on the coat causing her to land on her back. "Ow! My back!" The woman cried.

The mail man from before walked toward the woman and saw a red sweater in the pile. "Hey, a sweater!" He picked it up and laughed. "Finally, something for my uncle."

"You're lucky, I was about to discard that." The staff member said.

He smiled. "Ah! This must be my lucky day!"

Then, Amity arrived at a toy store called Mr Wilkins to see if there was anything for her sweet potato but all she found were Begos, terrible Good Witch Azura dolls, Transturners and Boopemons.

Amity didn't like any of them and picked up a box of begos. "I wonder if these blocks would be perfect torture tools though?"

She placed them back on the shelf and left. But unknown to her, she left it hanging on the ledge, causing it to fall off. But for some reason, it also caused all the other boxes of pieces to fall off their respective shelves.

The mail man who was doing his Christmas shopping noticed this and froze. "Woah! Good thing I'm not walking in that." He then turned around and saw a lone Rev Man action figure and smiled. "Oh my gosh! This must be my lucky day!"

Later, Amity was in a video game store while drinking a can of soda she got from the store. She knew Luz could be a bit of a gamer and thought she might like one.

"Hmmm…Super Dario Siblings, Red Fred Resurgence…Hmmm…Master Theft Auto…Hmm, Eda wants to try gaming as well." Amity looked at the rating. "Rating Parents Disapprove. Contains strong language, violence and very naughty consumption of items we shouldn't list that will cause SCP to declare it unsuitable. Perfect for Eda." When she stood up, she accidentally spilt some of her drink. "Oh shoot!" She quickly picked it up before more could spill out.

As she left, the puddle she unknowingly caused was floating towards some display consoles of the QT5 where the mail man was buying the first box.

"So happy you made this purchase." The retailer said. "You bought the first one of the day." Then, the consoles behind him got caught on fire, causing him to panic.

The mail man just stood stunned. "What in the name of spontaneous combustion?!"

The employee sighed in frustration. "Well I think I'm fired. Congratulations sir, you got the last box of the day."

The mail man smiled. "Wow, what a lucky day I'm having!"

Later on that same day, Amity was eating at one of the food court restaurants with Willow, whom appeared to have some cuts and was wearing a white tank top showing off her biceps for some reason. They were currently eating some Connecticut Fried Chicken together.

"What happened to you?" Amity asked.

"You don't wanna know." Willow replied. "Humans can get very violent when it comes to Christmas shopping. I even broke one by flashing my abs."

"Ooookay." Amity said. "Not gonna question how you did that. You got anything for everyone?"

Willow pulled up a tote bag. "My Dads want something for their romance nights so I got them Midday." She showed her a book which had a cover of someone holding an orange in the palm of their hands. "It's about a vampire and a human falling in love. I also got Gus a human lightbulb. I mean, everything that is human would be considered a gift to him."

Amity grinned. "What did you get for me?"

"I got you a-" Willow froze and teasingly pointed her finger at her friend. "Almost got me."

Amity grinned. "I'll get you. Did you get anything for your special someone?"

Willow blushed and pressed her hands against her cheeks. "Don't remind me!"

"What? I think it's cute you like Hunter." Amity retorted.

"Oh man! I shouldn't have said anything about updating our status!" Willow exclaimed. "I was just joking, I thought he probably got better at spotting jokes."

"Maybe he hasn't." Amity sighed. "I'm stuck Willow."

"I've got gifts for everyone except one for Luz." Amity admitted. "I saw a ton of stuff I thought she'd like but all of them were just…They don't say anything about how much she means to me. Any suggestions?"

Willow began to ponder. "Hmm, while I was browsing, I saw something at the Geek's Den." Willow explained. "It was a miniature model of a dancing Hecate and Azura that she could put on her window."

In that moment, Amity's eyes lit up. "Willow! You brilliant genius!" She reached into her purse and slammed a wad of cash on the table and ran off.

"You don't want to finish it?!" Willow asked.

In that moment, the mail man from earlier appeared to have listened in on the conversation. "Hey, bicep girl, where's this store?"

"Next to that video game store." Willow replied.

"Thank you!" The mail man began to run away until he returned a moment later. "Hey, you gonna finish your friend's fried chicken?" Willow shook her head and the mail man took it.

Later, Amity was exploring the mall to try and find this geeky store where along the way, she saw the man in a beanie being chased by Powell and mall security, Gus giving her a wave while he sweated and Hunter strolling happily.

She felt happy that her quest for buying the perfect gift for Luz was almost over. After all, Luz was the Azura to her Hecate of course and that little model was going to show it.

As she looked around the mall, she was suddenly approached by the mail man. "Hey, cotton candy hair!"

Amity seemed alarmed and baffled by his appearance. "Can I help you?"

"Oh yeah you can!" He replied. "But nothing like that."

"Nothing like what?" Amity reacted.

"Okay, you probably don't know stranger danger so…Ya know, don't trust everyone you meet!"

"You should be telling that to my friend, Hunter." Amity retorted. "He probably took a handout from someone."

"Look, we'll talk about stranger danger never again because I wanna talk about what's going on." The mail man explained. "My name is Byron David! I'm a mail man."

"Okay?" Amity reacted with her eyebrow raised. "And I'm Amity Blight. Listen, as much as I'd like to talk, I have Christmas shopping that…"

"Oh! Yup, so do I!" Byron interjected. "Listen, you and I have something in common. We're both after the same product."

"The dancing Azura and Hecate model?" Amity asked.

"Yes! Yes! Listen…I'm a mail man and I don't get payed the same amount…Let's say, an author." Byron reached into his backpack and pulled out a ten dollar note. "But…I do get payed. Not a lot but still…Enough to support my family. My niece loves Good Witch Azura and I would be downgraded to least favourite uncle and that would make me sad. So, why don't you take this ten dollars, buy yourself a soda and leave me to buy the model. Okay?!"

Amity stared at the man with a raised eyebrow. "Firstly: Your niece shouldn't be doing that. Having a favourite uncle is like something my Mom would do. And second: Do you think bribing me with money is enough to stop me from buying that model for my girlfriend?"

Byron cringed. "Yes?"

Amity just shoved the money away from Byron's hand. "That will never work on me!" She began to run as fast as she could but unfortunately Byron was somehow closing in on her.

"Oh no! I'm gonna follow you until I get that model!" Byron declared.

And so the chase began where Amity and Byron began a race to see who would get to the model first. She vaulted over a bench while Byron just ran around the bench since he didn't have the weight.

Then, Amity jumped over a bucket with a single bound. Then Byron followed by just carefully stepping over it.

Amity carefully manoeuvred herself around a crowd that appeared to be trying to see what was going on at some other toy store known as Toys R' You and she did it amazingly. Whereas Byron just had to shove his way through the crowd.

"Move! Move! Move!" He exclaimed while shoving people out of his way. "It's Christmas shopping and I need to fight a child for Good Witch Azura merchandise!"

Then, Amity ran towards an escalator and froze at it going down. She put her foot on the first step and then pulled back once she felt how she moved. "Ah!" She tried again and then pulled back. "Ah!"

Byron ran up to her looking confused by what she was doing. "What's the matter kid? Never been down an escalator before?"

"Just give me time I can…" She tried to put her foot on the first step again. "…OH MY TITAN IT MOVED!"

Byron stood befuddled until he just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that was much easier than I thought." He shoved her out of his way and began riding down the escalator. As he descended down, he turned to Amity and gave her a smug wave.

Amity just narrowed her eyes at him before starting to put her feet on the escalator again and unfortunately, she pulled her foot back. "Titan! How do I get down?!"

She noticed some Christmas tapestry hanging from the side of one of the floors and came up with a stupid yet only plan. "Okay! This might work!"

Reluctantly, she ran over to the edge, vaulted over the banister and jumped onto the tapestry that she slid down off of and landed on her feet. The act itself caused a crowd of people to applaud her.

"Is she a stunt artist?" Someone asked.

"Is this legal?" Someone asked.

Amity began running toward the store until she stopped when she noticed that she had accidentally missed something. She found some stairs that she could have easily walked down, instead of performing that stunt.

"Uh….." She groaned. "Unbelievable."

As she walked, she saw Masha dressed as an elf walking from a direction of the mall with a shopping bag in their hand. "Hey! Masha, right?"

"Oh hey!" Masha exclaimed. "You're that pale girl who needed help with that map."

"Yeah." Amity confirmed. "Listen, do you know a shortcut to the Geek Store? I need to get there before some mail man buys something I need for Christmas!"

Masha grinned. "Sure. Just cut through the grocery store through the fruit & veg section. Then cut through the Mr Wilkins and you'll get there."

"Thanks." Amity said before running away. She then walked back to them and pointed to their ears. "Did you have pointy ears when we first met?"

Masha chuckled. "No, I'm an elf as you can tell."

Amity cringed. "You might want to take those off before actual elves find you. They take great offence towards people dressed as them." She began running again, leaving Masha confused.

"Huh, that scarred boy said the exact same thing to me." They remarked.

When Amity entered the grocery store, she looked at all the aisles to spot the one that would lead her close to victory. She found the fruit & veg aisle and began running through it.

She could see that the toy store was close and could smell the model and imagine how happy her girlfriend would look. That was until, she suddenly slipped over a banana peel and fell on her back.

She groaned as she looked at her boot to see the peel stuck on her sole. She removed it from it and tossed it aside and looked up to see none other than Byron laughing.

"I knew you'd come through here, Amity." Byron began to run towards the toy store.

That was until, he suddenly felt something on his right foot that was causing him to not move, he lifted his foot to see what was causing it and it looked like gum. Dark purple gum.

Turns out, Amity had manipulated some Abomination to shuffle itself towards the unsuspecting mail man. He tried yanking his foot from the floor but he couldn't.

"This is why we have trash cans, people!" Byron cried.

Then, all of a sudden, Amity remove the Abomination from his foot, causing him to stumble into a shelf filled with Christmas cookies, causing the cookies to fall on the floor and on top of him.

Amity stood up and gave Byron a smug smile. "Sorry Byron, but that's the way the cookie crumbles." She began running out of the store and cutting through the toy store.

As she ran through the toy store, she unknowingly passed Vee whom looking at a doll. "Let's see. Did my cousin like Beebie or Jerkz dolls?"

Then Byron, ran towards the basilisk with a panicked look. "Hey, weird girl! Have you seen a pale girl run through here?!"

Vee seemed confused. "Pale? What pale girl?"

"Oh forget it!"

When he ran the remote controlled toy aisle, he was suddenly hit in the face by a toy chopper, causing him to fall on the floor.

"Ow!" He cried. "My nose!"

Amity knew her race was almost over as she saw the geek store coming towards her. It was a small shop but there looked to be all sorts of merchandise dedicated to some of the geekiest franchises of all time.

Cosmic Frontier, Doctor What, Ghost Harassers, Joey's Slightly Weird Adventures and of course, Good Witch Azura.

As she got close to the store, Byron suddenly gained up on her and coughed. "Hey, witch!"

Amity turned to Byron with a scowl. Even though he didn't know she was a witch, the fact he refereed her as one in that tone of voice was still kind of insulting.

"Byron, can't you let this go?!" The tired Amity asked. "Is fighting with a child over a model really worth it?"

"Amity, I once fought a three year old over a stuffed frog." Byron retorted. "I don't fight kids as a hobby. But when there's something I need or want, a man's gotta fight a kid to live in this crazy world."

"Well, someone like me has to fight a grown man to live in this crazy world as well." Amity retorted.

They made small shoves against each other in attempt to slow each other down and to make sure that they don't get to that store.

Not far away from them, Luz and Camila were walking together with bags of Christmas shopping. "Woo! This is a lot of stuff." Camila remarked. "You sure this is enough?"

Luz smiled. "Mam, this is enough for our family and friends."

"Did you get Amity a gift?" Camila asked.

Luz grinned. "Believe me Mama, she is going to love her gift. If only she was here. We could have gone dress shopping for her."

But behind Luz and Camila, Amity and Byron were continuing to shove each other as they got close to the store.

When they got in, they ran toward the cashier, who had a ton of piercings on their nose and lip while reading a magazine about a young college graduate who won a Pulitzer Prize in fiction at the age of 21 years old.

Amity and Byron slammed their fists on the counter. "Where is the model?!"

"The what?" The cashier asked.

"The model of those two witches dancing!" Byron exclaimed.

"Azura and Hecate." Amity said. "Do you still have it?!"

The cashier just gave them a deadpan stare. "No. We sold our last one to some girl."

"What?!" Amity asked.

"You must have some left!" Byron exclaimed.

"Sorry." The cashier said. "But this is how it is. We don't have any left. So…You know, find something else. Or look at our other Good Witch Azura stuff."

Byron groaned while Amity seemed heartbroken. Her quest to find her girlfriend the perfect Christmas gift was a a failure. She felt like a huge failure not just for her girlfriend but to Christmas in general.

"Aww man! My niece is going to kill me." Byron then pulled his phone from his pocket. "Good thing there's online shopping. Which makes me realise how pointless me chasing you over a model was." He patted Amity's back with sympathy. "Sorry kid." He walked out of the store while Amity just stared off into the distance with sadness.

Hunter's blunder

Hunter at the moment was walking with Gus after being split up from Amity and Willow. They were admiring the hustle and bustle of the shopping season.

"Okay, do you think I should get something for my Palisman?" Gus asked. "I feel I'd be mean if I didn't. Emmeline likes more warmer environments. So I should get her the softest blanket I could find." He looked up to see Hunter looking worried and deep in thought.

Gus gave his best friend a smug smile before nudging him in his elbow. "Snail for your thoughts."

Hunter looked a tad bit embarrassed. "Gus…Do you have any idea as to what Willow likes?"

"Willow likes a ton of things." Gus replied. "Sports, horticulture and her friends."

"I want to get her something special." Hunter said. "Something that tells her how much she means to me. How special she is to me."

Gus smiled as he patted Hunter's shoulder. "Yeah, you'll definitely figure it out. You just gotta trust your gut and how much you know her."

"Okay." He seemed hesitant but he decided to go with it to find his gift for her.

First, Hunter started off at a jewellery store to see if there was anything for Willow. He looked at every earring, ring, necklace and jewels but all he saw was just junk he could find at the Emperor's palace.

"Uh…This stuff is no good." Hunter said.

The two suspicious men from earlier looked at Hunter with disgusted looks. "You have no idea what you're talking about kid." Barry said.

"Yeah! This is the kind of stuff guys like us would steal." Marvin's words made Barry nudge him in the shoulder. "I mean, upstanding civilians like us would not steal."

"Do you think someone like any of this would be a good enough for someone I want to be my girlfriend?" Hunter asked.

"Wrong people to ask here kid." Barry said. "Believe me. Me and him, never had any girlfriends."

"Yeah, because me and him dated." Marvin said. "And we're back together."

"No we're not!" Barry screamed. "How many times do I have to reiterate, Marvin?!"

"What? We're working again." Marvin pointed out.

"But that doesn't mean our relationship is fixed!" He hit him in the side.

"Hey!"

"This is what you get for being an idiot! Why in the name of my sanity did I ever date you?!"

Hunter stood in place feeling a tad awkward until he just left on his own term to avoid these weird civilians.

Later, the Grimwalker was walking around the book store to see if there were any books for Willow that she might like. There were books about botany and a history of Greek sports on the shelf. Maybe Willow might want to take up a human sport at some point or bring some human plants into the Human Realm. Heck, maybe they could bring bananas into the Human Realm.

"Hmmm….Uh, this doesn't feel right." Hunter said. "Hmmm, I should put it as a maybe." Then he noticed a book about Human Realm engineering for Darius' new boyfriend, Alador Blight. "This might work."

Then all of a sudden, the shelf was about to topple on top of him. That was until he avoided it by quickly dashed out of the way with his dashing powers.

"Dang, that was close." He remarked. "I wonder what caused this? Plus, I hope no one saw me teleport." Little did he know, Amity was just behind him, purchasing the math book for Gus.

Later, Hunter was in the clothing store looking at some clothes he thinks Willow might like. "Hmm…I don't know."

The member of staff who slipped over a handful of clothes a few minutes ago approached Hunter. "Are you looking for something, kid?" She asked.

"Yeah…I was wondering…." He showed her a red two piece bikini to the staff worker. "…Would this make a good gift for a girl I like?"

The woman seemed shocked. "Uh….Maybe someone over twenty."

Hunter grinned. "Least I know what to get Eda."

Later, Hunter was at a plant store looking for some plants for Willow. Though he questions what a garden was doing in the mall he still analysed each of the plants.

When he noticed a Venus fly trap, he smiled. "Ah! The fly traps from the planet Venus. Hmm, Hooty would have a friend."

In the Demon Realm, Hooty and Lilith were busy working on a museum about the history of the Boiling Isles. Lilith was designing blueprints while Hooty was stirring her tea with a spoon in his mouth.

That was until he felt a chill go up his neck, causing him to drop the spoon into the tea and to look around menacingly.

"What's the matter Hootcifer?" Asked a concerned Lilith.

"Someone is attempting to purchase some competition." Hooty replied intensely.

Back in the Human Realm, Hunter felt a chill going along his spine and quickly put the plant back. "Maybe not."

Later, he was at a random mall store purchasing himself a banana, his favourite fruit from the Human Realm where he noticed Amity walking out with a soda.

"Amity, hi!" Hunter said as some cops ran past in front of them unexpectedly.

"Oh, hey Hunter." Amity greeted back. "How's your search coming along?"

Hunter shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you know, still trying to find the perfect gift for Willow. How's your gift hunting for Luz?"

"Well….Still haven't found the perfect gift." Amity replied. "But I believe I will with the right amount of luck and no distractions."

Byron walked out of the store just behind them with a drink and banana in hand. "Now, what was I supposed to get for my niece?" He looked at his list and his eyes went wide. "Oooooh. Of course."

"What about your gift hunting for Willow?" Amity asked teasingly.

"I mean, she did say if I get her the perfect gift then maybe our status as friends will be upgraded to boyfriend and girlfriend status." Hunter replied.

Amity chuckled. "Hunter, she's probably joking about getting her a perfect gift. I think she does want to be boyfriend and girlfriend."

"But still, as Willow's future boyfriend, I must get her the perfect gift!" Hunter declared.

Amity stared at Hunter with a grin. "Okay. But don't say it won't be hard."

"It won't be hard." Hunter retorted until he began to grin a tad bit nervously. "I got this. Do I?"

And so, Hunter began to run around frantically around the mall to search for any sign of the perfect gift for Willow. He first tried another clothing store but there weren't any clothes that he thought Willow would like.

Then, he tried a gaming store but all he found were a bunch of video games Willow did not know how to play and gaming consoles on fire.

Then, he tried a Mr Wilkins but all he saw were a ton of Bego blocks on the floor. He searched very aisle, every shelf and every top and bottom for anything. But there was nothing he thought would be right for Willow.

As his search continued in an arts and craft store, he found Gus hiding behind one of the shelves. He was about to question what he was doing hiding, but he just went back to finding the gift for Willow.

Then, he tried a small convenience store where two clerks were discussing about Cosmic Frontier. "So wait, O'Bailey and Lieutenant Juniper?" The man asked.

"Yeah." The other clerk replied.

"That's a load of bologna on pizza." The other clerk remarked.

Then, Hunter eventually stopped at a card store where he was looking for a Christmas card to see if Willow would like any of them. But so far, he couldn't find any that would work with her.

He sighed in frustration and pressed his back against the shelf and lowered himself on the floor. At one point, Masha holding a bag in their hand, approached Hunter.

"Do you mind shovelling out of the way?" Masha asked. "I kind of wish to get a card for a girl I like."

Hunter just stared at them with a tired expression. "Sure, go ahead." He shuffled out of their way so they could get a card.

"Thank you." They grabbed a card and began to walk away.

"You know, elves take huge offence to that costume!" Hunter exclaimed. "You might want to take those ears off before actual elves find you. They take great offence towards people dressed as them."

Masha looked confused before walking away. "Huh, that buff girl with the biceps said the exact same thing."

Hunter just groaned in annoyance over his blunder. "Unbelievable. Can't even get the girl you like the perfect gift."

Then he heard a chuckle. "Oh, I've been there."

He looked up to see a middle aged mall security guard with the name tag of Powell packing a Christmas card in a tote bag.

"What do you mean?" Hunter asked.

"Trying to find a gift for a girl." Powell replied. "I've been there."

"You went crazy trying to find a perfect gift?"

The security guard laughed. "I almost committed myself! Believe me, being a teenager in love is not easy. Especially if it's your first. By the way, what's with the band aids on your hands? You wood carving?"

Hunter looked at his hands and looked between them and the man. "Something like that."

Powell sat beside the boy. "And what's so great about this girl?"

"She's tough, she's caring, she's kind, she's protective, she likes sports, enjoys plants and is a killer Captain of Flyer Derby." Hunter replied.

"She does sound special."

"It's just, I feel something will happen to us if I just get her the exact perfect gift." He explained.

"Well, I had that same situation." Powell explained. "You see, when I was around your age, I was in love with this girl. Her name was Josephine Grant. And she was the prettiest girl in Connecticut High and top dancer. I remember when we started to get closer and the Christmas season was getting close. I remember getting frustrated trying to find the perfect gift for Josephine. And I did. I ended up making it by taking up wood carving. It was a perfect wood carving of her being the greatest dancer. That's what I made and I got the scars to prove it." He shows Hunter his hands, revealing his scars.

Hunter looked alarmed for a moment. "And what happened?"

"Well, Josephine was flattered by the gift and we eventually became boyfriend and girlfriend and then she became Josephine Powell 35 years ago. You're going to get together with her. Believe me. If you set your mind and determination, you'll do it. Show her how much you mean to her in your own way not through commercialism."

Hunter began to ponder what the man meant. Try it his own way instead of commercialism. What did he mean?

All of a sudden, Powell's walkie talkie started going off which he answered. "Barry Pesci has escaped custody and is making a run for it. Last location, You Wear. Any units on duty?"

Powell sighed and answered the call. "This is Powell. On my way." He began running out of the store and toward the last known location of the criminal. For a brief moment, he stopped when he remembered what Hunter said. "What the heck is Flyer Derby?" Before he could take another second pondering, he shrugged his shoulders and went to Barry's location.

Once he left, Hunter began to think about what Powell said about finding a right gift. That was until something came to his mind. He looked at his hands and smiled as he figured out what gift he should get for Willow.

Willow Park in Die Slightly Not That Hard

After splitting up with the group, Willow was successfully finding gifts for all of her friends and family. She found a book for her Dads in a book store called Midday, a book about a vampire and a bland human falling in love.

The hardware store for a lightbulb for Gus because it's powered by electricity instead of magic and he wanted to know what it would be like owning one.

She got Luz a manga known as Shine, about an angsty ginger haired kid owning a killer note book while also taking a job as a samurai.

She got Amity a Hecate figurine from a geek store where she noticed a dancing Azura and Hecate model and pondered if Amity could buy that for Luz.

Later that same day, Willow was looking at a list she had in her hand. "Okay, I got my Dads their gift, a gift for Luz, a gift for Gus, Amity, got Boscha that grunge album I think she might might like and that designer shirt for Vee Hunter could design. And speaking of Hunter…" She looks at the bottom of her list and chuckled nervously. "…Yup, Hunter." Her cheeks turned slightly red at the thought of the boy she liked. "Ohhh, boy what could I get him?"

She suddenly bumped into Masha who appeared to be walking to somewhere whilst dressed as an elf. After they composed themselves, they got a look at who they bumped into.

"Hey…I know you." Masha remarked.

"Yeah…Uh…Masha, right?" Willow asked. "You were at the historical society."

Masha grinned. "Staff worker, yes but I prefer Masha. What a brilliant coincidence. Fancy meeting you here. You know, I saw your other friend earlier. He sat on Santa's lap asking for gifts for his friends. Not for himself. Which is kind of selfless as most little kids mostly ask for stuff for themselves."

"Well, let's hope they don't get coal." Willow said.

"Well, I hope some of them do." Masha sighed. "Anyway, do you have any advice on what to get someone you like? You see, I like your friend, Vee."

"Vee?" Willow questioned.

"Yeah, Vee." Masha replied as he began to rub their right shoulder. "She's a really sweet girl and I wish to update my relationship with her. Should I get her a card with the gift? I mean, would she like it?" They saw that Willow was still in front of them and shifted the hem of their elf outfit. "So, doing some Christmas shopping for a boy?"

"How do you know?" Willow asked as her cheeks turned red.

"Gus might have mentioned you like that boy." They said. "So, what's he about?"

Willow began to play with her hair. "Well, he's shy, he's caring and he's absolutely brilliant. What else can I say about him?"

"Hot?"

Willow blushed even harder. "It's a subjective word…But yes…He is. He likes wolves. Like admires them."

"Well, you could go to Toys R You." Masha suggested. "They sell a ton of stuffed wolves there."

"Cool and where is that?" Willow asked.

"On the first floor." They replied while pointing up. "It's very colourful, you can't miss it."

"Okay, thanks." Willow began to walk where the toy store was. But before she left, she turned back to Masha and gave her a stare. "By the way, you might want to take those ears off before actual elves find you. They take great offence towards people dressed as them."

Masha seemed confused before walking away. "Huh, I did not expect to hear that again."

While Willow walked to the toy store, she walked past Barry and Marvin walking out of the jewellery store. Barry was looking annoyed while Marvin looked to be grinning like an idiot.

"Why did you make me perform a scene like that?!" Barry yelled.

"You're making it!" Marvin argued.

"Well, I'm not the one who orchestrated it!" Barry yelled. "I should have gotten Hans Alan! He's great at monologuing and has an attractive accent that I swear isn't German!"

"Okay." Marvin said. "So, we gonna hit the jewellery store?"

"No. We're going to start somewhere small." Barry replied. "Somewhere colourful and bright."

"Ah, Candy Town." Marvin smiled. "You know me so well."

Barry slapped his arm. "No! We're going to rob Toys R' You!"

"Not Mr Wilkins?"

"No! Toys R' You have that brand name, you know? So it's the perfect place to commit a robbery."

"Wasn't Mr Ebenezer hitting up that place as well?" Marvin asked.

"No, he wasn't." He replied. "So, let's go." Barry and Marvin began walking toward the toy store.

"After we rob it, can we steal some candy?" Marvin asked.

"No!" Barry screamed.

Meanwhile, Willow arrived at Toys R' You where she was in amazement by what she was seeing. This wasn't just a toy store, this was a magical wonderland. Like something out of a colourful fairytale.

There were all sorts commotion going on. Cashiers were placing money in the registers, people were busy buying, remote controlled planes were flying, remote controlled cars were being driven, kids of all ages were buying stuffed toys or fighting over the latest toy.

As she walked in, she stopped to let some excitable kids run past with their exhausted parents following from behind.

"Woah!" Her eyes went wide at what she was seeing as she walked deeper into the store.

She looked at such toys that were on display such as a sheriff, a spaceman, a t-Rex, a piggy bank and a potato head. "I hope these don't come to life."

She walked to the next aisle where she saw a toy chopper fly overhead above her that almost hit her. "Watch where you're flying!" Willow yelled. "Tiny humans."

As she walked, she walked past a man in a tailor made suit and a man of Hispanic descent in a black coat and scarf looking like they were pretending to look for something as opposed to anything.

When she got to the stuffed toy aisle, she saw a stuffed wolf on one of the shelves. It was dark grey with a white underbelly.

She smiled at the small little wolf and grabbed it. "Perfect!" She suddenly heard the sound of some of the toys behind her falling. She shrugged her shoulders and walked away with the stuffed wolf to head to the checkout.

When she got in to queue in the line, she was standing behind Barry and Marvin. The tall goon was holding a teddy bear in his hand.

"Remember the plan, Marvin?" Barry asked.

"Yup. We purchase this teddy bear." Marvin replied.

"No! We use the teddy bear to distract them." He whispered.

"Oh, right, I see what you're doing." Marvin said. "So, we whip it out."

"Wait, whip what out?" Willow asked, interjected.

"Oh great, see what happened Marvin?" Barry reacted. "If you'd just listen, we wouldn't have bug eyed little girls staring at us!"

Willow seemed insulted. "Bug eyed?! I mean, the little girl comment sounded insulting enough but I am a girl who happens to be a tad smaller than you gentlemen."

"Ooooh! Look at that Barry." Marvin remarked. "She didn't like you called her bug eyed."

Barry gave his friend a hard stare. "I know, Marvin. Look kid, this is between adults, you wouldn't understand."

"I might." Willow retorted with her brows raised.

"Barry, I don't know how to feel about this kid eyeing us like that." Marvin whispered.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Barry whispered back before turning to Willow. "Look kid, are you buying that wolf?"

"Yes." Willow replied.

Barry snatched the wolf from her hands, causing her to get annoyed. "Hey! Give it back!"

"You want it?!" Barry asked.

"Go fetch!" Marvin snatched it out of his ex boyfriend's hand and tossed it toward the staff only closet. Willow instantly began to panic and began chasing after the wolf.

"Okay." Barry laughed. "Now she's out of the way…We can get to what we set out to do."

Willow arrived to where the goon had tossed the stuffed wolf and picked it up. "Ah, there we go. You're okay."

Back at the checkout, Barry and Marvin were almost there. They just had to get passed the man in the well tailored suit.

That was until the man in the well tailored suit pulled out a weapon from his sleeve which happened to be a water pistol. Then, he realised his mistake and pulled out a dagger and aimed it at the cashier.

"Everyone on your knees!" The Latino man exclaimed while holding a Derf Gun.

Everyone screamed and took cover as the thief made his presence known. Willow saw this and realised what this situation was.

If the action movies she watched in the Human Realm told her enough about action movies, this was a hostage situation.

"That's right, I am taking…Oh, Hans!" The criminal seemed annoyed.

"Mr Ebenezer?" The man in the tailored suit reacted in shock. "What in the name of sanity are you doing here?"

"Wait, Hans?!" Barry exclaimed in shock.

"Hey Hans, hi Ebenezer!" Marvin gave everyone a wave.

"Are you two back together?" Hans reacted in shock.

"Never mind that!" Barry exclaimed. "What are you even doing?!"

"Robbing a toy store." Hans and Mr Ebenezer replied simultaneously.

"What?!" Barry and Marvin exclaimed.

"Okay! Okay! Let's discuss this problem once we get everyone together." Mr Ebenezer said.

"Don't worry, I got it." Hans assured him. "Carl!"

A tall long haired blonde man wearing what looked to be a black buttoned up shirt walked out from the crowd of terrified people and pointed what looked to be a sword toward the hostages.

"Line up." He commanded.

Willow, in her moment of desperation ran toward the staff room leaving her tote bag and stuffed wolf behind.

When she got in, she instantly did the first thing which was run toward what looked like the break room where an overweight mall security guard was napping.

"Sir! Sir!" Willow shook him awake.

"Huh? Huh?" The man woke up and looked at Willow with a baffled look. "What's going on?"

"There's a hostage situation outside!" Willow exclaimed. "You gotta help!"

The mall security guard sat up with a determined look on his face. "This is my chance!" He picked up,a baton and began running toward the door. "I'm so excited to kick some butt! I don't even care that I forgot my walkie talkie!"

Willow began to hyperventilate about the intense situation she was in. "Calm down! Calm down!" Her eyes began to glow green and a nearby plant began to extend. "Aaahhh! Keep it together!" She began to use the breathing method her Dads taught her and eventually calmed down. "Don't worry, Willow. These goons might be scary, but that mall security guard will deal with them."

In the store, the goons were currently arguing while the hostages were sitting in fear. "Why did our schedules clash?" Hans asked.

"Well because my accountant was taking the day off and I got too excited into ruining Christmas for everyone!" Mr Ebenezer replied.

"But I like Christmas." A child hostage said.

"Christmas is made to ruin your mental health as you panic about getting something for your Mama while your step Dad holds a metaphorical gun at your head!" Mr Ebenezer screamed. "One day, you're going to grow up and are gonna have to buy Christmas presents for your family and it's gonna be pressuring because they say they don't know what they want even though they expect you to get something!"

"Man, Mr Ebenezer's sure does hate Christmas." Marvin remarked.

"Oh, wait, there's a problem." Barry said. "How did we clash with these two?"

"Mr Ebenezer told me he'd be robbing Mr Wilkins." Marvin replied.

"Well I had a last minute change of plans." Mr Ebenezer argued. "But that's not the shocking part, why is exceptionally classed criminal Hans Alan in a store like this?!"

"I just wanted to get the thrill of my humble upbringing." Hans replied.

"Oh, that's surprising!" Barry remarked. "Well as you can see, we are a tad bit busy so we should be the one robbing the register."

"No! I should!" Mr Ebenezer argued. "After what Christmas did to me, I should be allowed to rob it!"

Carl marched towards the group. "We should be robbing it. After all, we are exceptional thieves. You're just a sad little boy whom never got a little choo choo train from Santa Claus while you two are just a bunch of bickering exes."

Barry and Mr Ebenezer seemed insulted while Marvin looked confused. "Which is which?" Marvin asked.

"Unbelievable!" A woman hostage exclaimed. "Can't any of you just rob the store so someone can arrest you?!"

"Enough!" Hans demanded. "We must discuss this quickly and swiftly before someone on the outside gets suspicious."

"Yeah, I don't know how long they can buy path to the store being refurbished so it had to be closed off." Carl said.

Outside, someone stopped at the sight of a small fence and groaned as they read that it was being refurbished. "Come on! You're just procrastinating!"

Back inside the store, Hans began pondering. "Okay, I think we should start off by counting how much is in each register." Hans suggested. "Then, we try and split it in fives once we get the total amount. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sure." Barry replied. "Sounds fair."

"Man, I wish you didn't drop from being a hostage negotiator." Mr Ebenezer remarked.

"Thank you." Hans said. "Careful, if I know a thing or two about my hostage situations is that some of these might form an emotional attachment to you. Especially Carl. They seem to really like Carl."

"I would never fall in love with a hunky, beefy, hot, blonde man like that!" A man with glasses yelled in anger.

"Okay, let's get every note and cent from the register and-"

Just then, the door that lead to the staff room burst open to reveal the mall security guard. "Freeze!" Then the door slammed in his face. "Sorry." He kicked the door open and walked out. "Freeze!"

He raised his baton high while the criminals just watched on not looking impressed. This was the best they got?

The mall security guard walked his way past the hostages. "Excuse me." He eventually made it in front of the criminals and aimed his baton the wrong way. "Oh, sorry." He flipped it around while the criminals watched on looking unimpressed.

"Hero cop of the year, folks." Hans remarked sarcastically.

"I will be." The mall security guard said. "If you let me whoop your butt that is."

Mr Ebenezer raised his hands high. "Oh no! Please don't beat me! I surely…" He reached into his pocket, pulled out his gun and shot him in the chest.

"Ah! Officer down!" The mall security guard began choking as he dropped to his knees. He continued to gag while the criminals watched on looking unimpressed.

Mr Ebenezer especially looked displeased. "Come on…" He showed him his weapon. "…It's just a Derf gun. They can't even kill you."

The mall security guard just passed out and groaned, leaving the goons to shake their heads. "So…"

"I swear the bullets aren't real!" Mr Ebenezer used one of the fake bullets to shoot Barry in the head.

"Ow! That really hurt!" Barry screamed.

"Well, I need you as an example!" Mr Ebenezer argued.

"Not one of the hostages?!" Barry yelled.

"Quiet!" Hans demanded. "Put that guard with the other hostages." Carl began to carry the unconscious security guard to be placed with everyone else.

Marvin approached Hans with a worried look. "Uh…Hans."

"What is it Marvin?" Hans asked.

"We have a hostage missing." Marvin said.

"I'm sorry, missing?!" Hans exclaimed.

"And how do you know that?!" Barry asked in annoyance.

"That kid with the wolf." He replied. "She isn't with them."

"She could have left." Barry theorised.

"Without paying?!"

"Since when were you this clever?!" Barry asked in annoyance. "You're actually smart. Why don't you use that thing in your head, more?"

"What thing in my head?" He asked. "You mean my skull?"

Barry groaned in frustration. "Forget I said that."

"Hmmm, it appears that this hostage left her shopping." Carl remarked as he held a tote bag and the stuffed wolf. "She's got a ton of stuff. A lightbulb, Midday, a book about history, even a manga."

"What a diverse shopping list." Hans remarked. "How's about we add a new item? A tombstone."

"I don't know if this mall sells tombstones." Marvin said. "Do you want me to go and check?"

"No!" Hans exclaimed. "No! You dim witted fool! It's code for…You know what, just go around to the back and get her."

"Okay." Marvin said before unsheathing a crowbar from his back and walking towards where the mall security guard had just arrived before entering himself.

Barry walked up to Hans looking a tad bit skeptical. "Are you sure it was a good idea to send Marvin of all people to look for a hostage?"

"No. I just wanted him out of the way." Hans replied. "He's just annoying."

"And you dated him?" Mr Ebenezer asked Barry in frustration.

"Let's…Let's…Let's just…Let's just…Let's just start counting the cash." Barry suggested.

"Alright." Hans said.

Meanwhile, Willow was busy trying to come up with a plan. As far as she was aware of, there were four criminals, each with malicious intent on causing harm to others and she had to find a way to stop them or else something horrible could or will happen to her.

She knew she couldn't use her magic to expose herself to the public so she had to do what humans do, call for help. She saw the walkie talkie and took it off the table.

"Uh…Hello, does anyone hear me in the weird scroll?" Willow asked.

"Who is this? This is Powell."

"Listen, my name is Willow Park, I'm not mall security but-"

"Why do you have a walkie talkie on you? Did you steal it?"

"No! Listen, Toys R' You is in danger it's…" Suddenly, the walkie talkie got cut off. "Hello?! Hello?! Mr Powell?! Mr Powell?! Hello?!"

Unfortunately, the walkie talkie feed wasn't working for some reason. "What's happening?!"

"Oh, I think the batteries are out." Marvin replied. "Believe me, I used those things before to communicate to my boyfriend back when we were breaking into rich family homes in Chicago. Do you want me to search the drawers for any batteries?"

"Why are you trying to help?!" Asked the confused Willow. "Aren't you a crook?"

Marvin came to that realisation. "Oh yeah, that's right. I have to buy you a tombstone."

Willow didn't look intimidated and just stared at the crook with baffled confused. "Uh…Are you trying to kill me?"

"Oh yeah, that's right." He pulled out a crowbar from his long coat and began to approach Willow.

Willow began running for her life. As she ran, she tried to avoid Marvin as he swung his blunt instrument to Willow's direction.

She dropped to the floor on her rear just as the man tried to swing the weapon downwards in her direction. She began to shimmy and crawl backwards to avoid the blunt instrument coming down on her.

Swing after swing, Marvin just kept missing every hit as the girl was somehow faster than him. She threw random objects at him such as a can of paint, an iron, a brick and even a wrench but she somehow missed as each blunt object just flew over him.

Soon, she realised her back was against the wall and she couldn't escape. Marvin stood in front of her while grinning sinisterly.

"Okay. Let's end this quickly, kid." Marvin said. "By the way, have your ears always been this pointy?"

Willow stared at him with confusion until she began to touch her ears and realised that her pointy ears were exposed. She covered them as she made a whimper noise.

"Now, it's time for you to die, kid." Marvin raised his crowbar high. "Before you become a pain in my keister. Any last words? Like could you respond as to why your eyes are suddenly glowing green?"

Willow's eyes were in fact glowing a bright green as her heavy emotions began to take control of everything. The plant that rested by the coffee table's vines shot outward and grabbed Marvin by his neck.

He choke as the small plant yanked him backwards, causing him to crash into a cupboard, shattering it. Marvin groaned in pain before passing out from his injuries.

Willow stood up and panicked as she realised what she did. "Oh no! I just used my magic!" She exclaimed in horror. "Oh no! I'm probably gonna be exposed!" She froze as a thought came to her head. "Unless…They don't believe him due to his stupidity. Oh Titan, I hope that's true."

She began walking toward the unconscious body and checked its pulse. "Oh thank Titan, it's alive." She noticed the plant rested on coffee table with its vines extended and used her magic to retract them back into the soil.

"There we go." Willow said. "That should cover my tracks. Now, about those batteries…"

Willow began to search every drawer and cupboard to find batteries. All she found in each of the drawers were sugar packets, tea packets, tea bags, coffee cups, salt packets, magazines, cookies, candy bars and a DVD for National Shampoo's Christmas Holiday.

That was until she found a pack of batteries with a post stick note stuck on it that read 'Walkie talkie batteries'

"Perfect." Willow said. "Hope I don't have to use my magic again. But they could come in again at some point." She turned around and saw a torso-less dummy on a nearby chair for some reason. That was when an idea came to mind.

Outside, Hans, Barry, Mr Ebenezer and Carl had finished counting every amount of money between them. "Okay, that's 307 dollars in total. And there are five of us so that would make 61 dollars and four cent between us."

"Why can't it be higher?" Barry asked.

"Yeah! I think I deserve it!" Mr Ebenezer argued.

"Why can't each team get their share?!" Barry suggested.

"Yeah!" Mr Ebenezer exclaimed.

Hans sighed. "Okay, so there are three teams all together. Counting Mr Ebenezer's solo act as well."

"Okay, so there are three teams all together." Hans said. "And 307 divided by 3 equals 102.333 multiply the 2 discarding Mr Ebenezer due to being a solo act and it comes to 204.666 dollars. But wait, then all together it would come down to an answer that is too hard for me. Look, can't we just accept the 61.4 so we can go home faster?!"

"What about the other hostage?" Carl asked.

"Huh?"

"The girl who likes the wolf." Barry reminded him. "You sent Marvin after him when I should be the one bossing?!"

"Oh yes." Hans reached under his coat pocket and pulled out the stuffed wolf. "Our little wolf girl. I knew it was stupid for Marvin to go after her."

"I'll get her!" Mr Ebenezer exclaimed as he cocked his Derf gun. "She will not escape me!"

He began to stroll to where Willow went while the other crooks just watched on. "Carl, accompany him."

Carl nodded his head and began to follow Mr Ebenezer, while Barry and Hans get left behind. "Can't we just exclude some people?"

Mr Ebenezer used the barrel of his toy gun to tap on the door. "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"I thought she was wolf girl." Carl pointed out. "Shouldn't it be a wolf call? Or a wolf whistle? Or a wolf-"

"What are you?! Joke police?!" Mr Ebenezer asked angrily.

"I was a comedian." Carl replied before kicking the door open where they saw someone standing in front of them.

"There she is!" Mr Ebenezer began shooting the figure with his Derf gun until there were no ammunition left.

"Unbelievable." Carl groaned. "She made a dummy out of you."

Turns out, he wasted all of his ammo on some dummy wearing her coat and turtleneck. Mr Ebenezer clenched his fists in frustration.

"She can't have gone far." Mr Ebenezer loaded his weapon while Carl began searching the area.

They arrived at the kitchen to see Marvin unconscious and with cuts on his face. Carl ran to check his pulse and gave a regretful sigh.

"The fool is alive." Carl said. "The girl must have done it."

"How?" Mr Ebenezer asked. "It's just a little girl. How can a little girl stop a full grown man?"

Carl turned to his acquaintance with a knowing stare. "It's Marvin."

"Oh yeah." Mr Ebenezer said. "Okay, let's survey the area and find her."

"I'll survey the area." Carl declared. "You stay right here."

"Sure, leave me with the unconscious idiot!" Mr Ebenezer complained. "Great plan!"

"I know!" Carl retorted before running to search the area.

Mr Ebenezer mumbled to himself while his temporary partner ran to search the area for any sign of the hostage.

"Leave me with the idiot." Mr Ebenezer groaned. "Leave me with the idiot."

Unbeknown to the criminal, a vine suddenly appeared behind him and tapped his shoulder. "Did you find the hostage, Carl?" When he turned around he saw ginormous vine standing in front of him. He stared at it with confusion.

"What the?" He was about to grab it, until it started to sway. "What are you doing?" The vine continued to sway back and forth, side to side. Mr Ebenezer was tranced by it and smiled, finding it very hypnotic.

"Huh, it's like a cobra." Mr Ebenezer remarked. "It's freaky, but it's awesome." Suddenly, the vine hit him in the face. Mr Ebenezer was surprised for a moment, before he fell backwards and landing head first on the floor.

The vine retreated to an unopened grate that connected to an air vent and into the plant pot that was stolen by Willow, whom was wearing a white tank top, exposing her biceps.

She stroked the plant with her finger. "Good little human plant. Okay, back to the project at hand." She unpacked the batteries from their pack and used her magic to battery hatch on the walkie talkie and put the batteries in the communication device.

"Yes!" She pumped her fist. "Got it." She pushed on the button and began speaking into it. "Powell? Powell? Is there a Powell?"

"This is a Powell speaking. Probably not the Powell. But Carl Powell's the name."

"Listen, I don't work here." Willow said. "But you have to trust me. My name is Willow and I'm in Toys R' You and there's a hostage situation."

"Okay, can you tell me how many there are?"

"Five, all male." Willow replied. "I took out two of them."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm hiding in a vent. One of the men is looking for me and I think he has malicious intent." Willow said.

"Okay. Listen, Willow, I need you to stay in the vent until a rescue team come in to save you."

"Okay."

"Don't engage with the criminal unless necessary." Powell said.

"Alright. He won't find me. I hope not anyway." Willow said before a hand burst through the vent and grabbed Willow by her leg and yanked her out.

After Willow was slammed on the ground, she saw a tall, imposing man standing above her with his fists raised.

"So you're the problem?" Carl asked. "You're the infamous hostage that Marvin told me about. And I see you've…" He froze when he saw her pointy ears, causing the man some alarm. "…You're not human, are you?"

Willow narrowed her eyes at the man as she stood up with her fists raised. "No, I'm not."

"In that case." Carl kicked her in the face, causing her to stumble. But before she could fight back, he backhanded her to the floor and then kicked her in the stomach.

He was about to kick her again, but then Willow grabbed him by his foot and flipped him on the floor, causing him to land on his rear.

She was about to use her magic to try and wrap him in a vine, but then he tossed a nearby coffee cup in her direction. She thankfully caught it in her hand.

But it was just a distraction so he could punch her in the face. She quickly used some of her magic to make a vine shoot out of the ground and grabbed him by the wrist.

Carl looked alarmed by the sudden appearance by the vine and quickly freed his limb. Willow summoned some more vines as a shield but his fist just went through, causing his fist to hit her face.

She stumbled backwards just as Carl hit her with a few more punches to the face. She quickly blocked the punch to her face and then performed a powerful push kick to his stomach, causing him to fly backwards.

Willow got into a fighting position and flashed her bicep at the man. Carl smirked smugly and stood up on his feet. He rolled up his sleeve and flexed his bicep right back.

She narrowed her eyes at him and flashed her other bicep at the man. Carl flexed his other bicep right back at her. Then he flexed both of them at the same time and did a bit of a pose.

Willow flashed her biceps simultaneously. She might have done it a bit too hard as her vessel led started to show.

Then, Carl took off his shirt and it made Willow gasp at the sight in front of her. The man's entire body was like entirely made of abs. It was more like a hard rock than anything else. He flexed them, causing a bright flash to almost blind her.

"What do you think, alien?" Carl asked while narrowing his eyes at her. "Can you feeble little muscles withstand muscles like these?"

Willow narrowed her eyes at him before sighing. She gave a grin and held the hem of her top. "You have never seen the abs of a witch."

"Wait, if you're a witch, why do you look like an-" But before he could respond, Willow lifted a small fraction of her top, revealing her abs right back at him.

His eyes went wide with horror, his mouth was left open agape, his hair raised and eyes watered in terror and fear.

Outside, Hans and Barry stood in front of a chalkboard. "Okay. Okay. So….We sure we can't leave some people out of this?" Barry asked.

"You know what? Mr Ebenezer is too sad and pathetic anyway." Hans said. "And Marvin is a complete idiot and Carl wouldn't really care so…if we divide the entire money by two than we get 153.5 dollars in total."

"Okay, that sounds fair." Barry remarked.

Suddenly, they heard Carl scream in terror coming from the staff room that the hostages flinched at. Hans pulled out a switchblade from his pocket and pushed a button to ignite it.

"What in the chestnuts was that?!" Barry exclaimed.

"I think our friend is more powerful than we anticipated." Hans remarked.

"She can't be!" Barry exclaimed. "She's just a kid. I mean, I can buy Marvin being beaten by one. Mr Ebenezer…Maybe half and half. But Carl?! I've seen that guy fight a family of wolverines while riding a grizzly bear."

"Hmm, seems odd indeed." Hans said. He noticed the wolf on the counter and picked it up. Then, he put his switchblade to the wolf's neck. "Let's bring her out. Hostage!"

"Which one?" A hostage asked.

"This one on the left."

"Me?"

"Him?"

"Her?"

"Them?"

"This one?"

"None of you!" Hans screamed. "I meant the girl in the staff room! I have your wolf!"

He pressed the switchblade hard on wolf's neck, willing to destroy it and let its fluff spill all over the floor.

"You better listen, if you don't come on the count of three, I will make sure that this little wolf will no longer howl." He pressed the blade closer to their neck. "One…two…..three!"

Willow then ran out in desperation with her hair covering her ears with her hair so that way, she wouldn't be exposed.

"Okay, okay." Willow had her hands raised. "I surrender."

"Good." Hans said. "Stop right there. Take another step and the wolf gets it."

Willow was about to lose her anger which would cause her eyes to glow green. But thankfully, she quickly closed her eyes before he could get a look.

"You know, you caused a bit of trouble." Barry remarked. "You took our four grown men single handedly. How did you do that…Uh…"

"Tell us your name." Hans pressed the blade on the wolf's neck.

"Willow…Willow Park."

"Why do you have your eyes closed?" Hans asked.

"That doesn't matter." Willow replied as she placed her hands behind her head. In fact, she was reaching for the plant pot taped to her back.

"Why not?" Hans asked. "I have you in my grasp and your wolf will be executed if you do anything."

Willow smiled. "I contacted the police about 6 minutes ago."

Hans and Barry froze in shock. "What?!"

"Police!" They heard people outside call.

Because outside the store, a squadron of cops were running through. They ran past Luz and Camila whom were doing some Christmas shopping.

"Ay! Dios mios!" Camila exclaimed.

Inside the store, Hans seemed scared and shocked while Barry looked terrified. "Oh forget this! I'm out!" Barry began running out of the store for his life while Hans narrowed his eyes at the teenager.

"You asked for it, Miss Park!" Hans responded.

But before he could slit the stuffed animal's throat, Willow pulled the taped pot from her back and tossed it straight towards his head.

This caused him to drop the wolf and his weapon before Willow performed a powerful jump kick straight towards his face, causing him to crash over the checkout and into the wall.

The crowd cheered over Willow's display of ferocity and the witch just flipped her hair but quickly putting it back into place so people won't notice her ears.

Everyone cheered wildly over Willow's display of public heroism. The mall security guard, who had just woken up from his nap saw the display of action and stared at her in confusion.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Willow Park….From the Human Realm." She replied before slamming a ton of cash on the checkout. "And trust me, you won't be seeing those guys in Connecticut." She began to walk out of the store while everyone watched on in amazement.

"I swear, everyone in the world is just getting weird." Someone remarked.

Gus Sus

A few minutes after splitting up with everyone, Gus was walking around the mall, marvelling at the magical sights the store had to offer. Unknown to him however, he was being watched by Jacob Hopkins, whom was hiding behind a trash can.

Then he manoeuvred by hiding behind one of the cylinders and then rolling before crawling on all fours towards a bench that he hid underneath.

He pulled out a tape recorder and began recording. "And so my search for the witches of Connecticut continues. I have found the one that humiliated me on Halloween. The little one. People argue I did that to myself, but I suggest otherwise. He is currently lining up to talk to the mall santa. Of course! He thinks Santa Clause will give him the answers!"

In the queue, Gus was waiting to talk to Santa Clause with excitement. A little kid behind him gave Gus a suspicious look and raised a brow.

"Aren't you a little too old to be speaking to Santa?" The little girl asked.

"Aren't you a little too judgey for a child?" Gus asked.

While Gus was in line, he looked over the rope barrier to see something he and the others didn't hope to see, Luz and the entire Noceda clan, shopping. Luz, Camila and Vee appeared to be laughing about something.

Gus panicked. He had to hide. But he'd have to get out of the line and he really didn't want to. He had to think of a plan to hide that didn't involve illusion magic. So he had to do something he thought would never work in a million years.

As the Nocedas walked past the line, they unknowingly walked past Gus who had his hands over his face so they wouldn't see him which thankfully, they didn't somehow.

Once they were out of the way, Gus removed his hands from his face and gave a sigh of relief. "Woo!"

"Next!" Masha called out.

Gus jumped on Santa's lap with excitement. "Woah! Steady little boy!" Santa exclaimed. "You're going to break Santa's knee!"

Gus was completely flabbergasted with what he was seeing in front of him. A Human Realm legend right in front of his face.

"Santa!" Gus began to shake his hand with excitement. "It's an honour to meet you for the first time!"

Santa looked surprised. "Really? You have never met me before?"

As Gus shook his gloved hand, he froze when he realised something. "Why don't you have claws?"

Santa laughed. "Oh, if I had a cookie for every time I heard that joke."

"And is it true that you watch people all the time?"

"While you're sleeping and while you're awake." Santa replied.

Gus narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't. It's just freaky. Like, really freaky."

Santa looked between himself and his elf who just shrugged their shoulder. "Go with it." They whispered.

"Uh…Well, I'll do my best." Santa said. "Is there anything you want for Christmas?"

"As much as I want amazing things like a bucket, I was hoping you could probably help get my friends stuff." Gus said.

Santa looked surprised. "Oh, sure, strange boy."

"Okay, you see me and my friends have had a rough few months and we are hoping to do something special for Christmas so…Pay attention, cause I'm just going to list these once." Gus said. "I wanna get Luz a book on taking care of her pet, my best friend Hunter a self help book, Amity a designer skateboard and Willow a gym set."

"Okay." Santa said. "Santa will see what he can do."

"Thanks, Santa." Gus said.

"Alright you two, smile for the camera." Masha said.

Gus and Santa both shared a smile while Masha took the photograph. "I hope you enjoyed having your picture with me young man."

"I did." Gus said. "Oh! And person who I met before dressed as an elf. By the way, you might want to take those ears off before actual elves find you. They take great offence towards people dressed as them."

He walked away from the two, who just stared at him with wide eyed confusion. "What?" Santa asked. "Masha, what was that boy talking about?"

"I honestly don't know, Edgar." Masha replied.

Meanwhile, Gus was continuing to walk around the mall while carrying his bag which happened to look like a nanny bag.

Behind Gus, Jacob was still on to him. He was manoeuvring his way through a crowd of people before jumping down in a bench and reading a magazine upside down.

Once he was in the clear, he jumped behind a trash can and watched as Gus entered a record store. The mad man pulled out his tape recorder and began talking into it.

"He's going into the record store." Jacob said. "Perhaps he's trying to put a mind controlling spell in the discs so when the stylus of the record player comes into contact, it will release a wave of energy that will scramble with the unsuspecting human's minds!"

Luz walked past and groaned. "Get a life man." After Luz walked past him, she walked into the record store right where Gus was.

Inside the store, Gus was looking at some records which included Jail the Mammoth and the Cranberry Sauce.

"Hmmmmm…." Gus pondered. "I wonder if either Edric or Emira would like these?"

"Vee's been getting into Indie rock bands." He heard Luz say out loud to herself, causing him to freeze in terror.

"Uh oh."

"I hope Jail the Mammoth is somewhere here."

Gus quickly drew a spell circle and turned himself invisible so Luz wouldn't find him. The human witch walked down the record aisle to search for any records that could satisfy Vee's love of Indie music.

"Let's see, the 1995 or the Atlantic Chimps." Luz said as she looked through the records while Gus made a quick getaway.

He turned visible and panted to catch his breath. "Dang. That was close." He looked at the people in the queue and saw Willow lining up behind a ton of people with a grunge record in her hand. "Oh hey, it's Willow. Hey…"

He froze when he saw who was about to join the line. Luz had picked a record and was about to join the line.

Gus panicked as this would expose their Christmas surprise plan and jeprodisring everything Amity was about to work on. He had to think of something and fast.

When Luz got in line, she stood behind a girl with tanned skin and short blonde braided hair with pink ear rings. The girl turned around to face Luz and gave her a nod.

"Hey."

"Hey." Luz said back.

The girl with short hair turned out to be an illusion put up by Gus so Luz wouldn't see that she was actually Willow.

When Willow turned to face Luz, Gus made an illusion of a tanned skinned woman with puffy hair and a smile on her face.

Once they had purchased their respective records, they left the store and Gus made the illusion they were unknowingly hiding behind vanish in front of them.

Though they briefly stopped when they thought they saw the puff of blue smoke but they just continued to shop.

Gus panted. "Boy, that was close. But wait, what if they…." Gus sighed. "Great, I'm going to have to run around the mall hiding them. Guess I could do my Christmas shopping some other day. Right now, I gotta find everyone to hide them from the Nocedas."

Gus ran out of the store and stood on the bench to look out for every one of the Nocedas and his friends. But he accidentally kicked a well tailored suited man's sandwich from his hands.

"Hey!" The man looked at his watch. "Well, I do need to get somewhere." He got off his bench and nodded his head to a tall muscular blonde haired man before departing together.

"Okay, this might take me all day." Gus said. "So I must commence a montage!"

And in a montage, Gus was running around the mall to stop the Nocedas from spotting either of them. Amity was in a jewellery store to see if she could buy Eda anything. She thinks she could add some glimmer and shine to her hook hand.

Camila was about to enter until Gus quickly made an illusion spell of a very hypnotic necklace that the human woman couldn't take her eyes off of.

Amity walked past her with the jewellery in hand with neither of them noticing one another which caused some relief for Gus. All while Jacob followed him without him knowing.

Then, at a scented candle shop Vee was busy browsing some candles while Willow was doing the exact same thing.

Gus quickly made an illusion of one of the candles being lit up which then caused smoke to surround everyone and for everyone to cough as they tried to catch their breaths. Jacob was far behind, keeping an eye out.

Then, he ran into the book store where Hunter was busy browsing through the shelves for any book while Luz was near him.

He was about to cast an illusion spell until the bookshelves began to collapse around them. Which caused the two to avoid it as fast as they could without even noticing each other which was very lucky to say the least.

Luz looked at the collapsed shelves in confusion. "Uh…What?"

A confused Gus popped his head out of a small bookshelf and shrugged his shoulders. "What happened? Oh well."

And for the last couple of hours, Gus jumped from store to store, aisle to aisle, witch to witch, Noceda to Noceda and floor to floor, Gus had to cast a lot of illusions which left him sweaty and exhausted.

Right now, he was sitting on a bench watching the world go by. He saw a happy Hunter strolling around, Willow buying herself a new coat to cover up her biceps, a blonde haired buff man screaming while being carried by the police, a mail man on a phone call and what looked like a girl of Taiwanese descent chatting to her grandma.

Gus groaned as he drank his Boba tea that he brought with his money. "Man, I am exhausted." He sighed. "Who knew spending three hours of my time using up most of my powers would be this exhausting?" He looked at his limp finger and sighed. "I have enough for one more illusion. So I better make it last."

Then, someone sat next to him. "Hey kid."

Gus groaned. "Look, man, whoever you are, leave me…" He looked up to see Jacob Hopkins grinning like an idiot.

Gus narrowed his eyes at the man and raised a brow. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"You might do!" Jacob laughed. "You humiliated me on Halloween!"

Gus' eyes went wide as he recognised him. "I know you! You're the crazy guy that held Vee hostage."

"Crazy?! Vee?!" Jacob exclaimed in anger. "I am not crazy! If I was crazy, would I do this?!" He suddenly grabbed Gus by his shoulder causing him to panic.

"Let me go!" Gus demanded angrily. "Help!" And in an instant, Gus tossed his tea right in Jacob's face and he began to run.

"Oh man!" He exclaimed as he coughed. "Oh! One of the pearls got in my mouth! Oh my goodness, I that tastes good. I should probably buy some at some point."

And so the chase began. Gus, despite his exhausted ran as fast as he could to avoid Gary. He managed to run underneath a ton of people while Jacob just pushed his way through.

Gus vaulted over a bench while Jacob just slowly climbed over the bench and fell. "Oh dang!"

Then, Gus ran around the water fountain and toward the right. Jacob followed behind and fell into the fountain.

He sat up, soaking wet and spat some water and change from his mouth. "Chlorine. Gross."

Gus panted as he hid behind the column. "Oh man. I'm exhausted. What do I do? I don't have enough energy."

He was worried now, he was exhausted and he had no one to help him out of his issue. If only there was something convenient that could get him out of the situation.

In the column next to him, he saw a short man with a beanie staring at him. "Hey kid, why are you hiding?"

"Why are you hiding?" Gus asked.

"Look, I just need to avoid mall security because they think I partook in a clash robbery at Toys R' You." Barry said. "But I'm not him. I swear. I'm not one of them."

In that moment, Gus came up with an idea. He decided to use his last amount of illusion magic for this specific moment.

When Jacob arrived to Gus' last location, he saw Barry pointing to where he was. "Hey, he's over here!"

"What?!" Gus exclaimed.

"Ha! Come back here, you witch!"

"What are you talking-" Gus was about to run, until Jacob suddenly tackled him to the floor. "Let go of me!" Gus screamed as he struggled to escape.

"What?!" Jacob laughed. "No magic? Can't even use a spell to save your skin?"

"What spell?" Gus asked. "Hey! Someone get this lunatic off of me!"

"Soon, I will be a hero!" Jacob grinned. "Tiffany will have to take me back now!"

"Wait! Jacob?!" Gus exclaimed before a huge puff of blue smoke blew up over him to reveal himself as Barry. "What was that puff of blue smoke?"

"Barry?!" Jacob exclaimed in confusion. "What are you doing here? Are you robbing again?!"

"Are you trying to get my sister back?" Barry asked angrily.

When Jacob turned around, he realised the other Barry wasn't here anymore. Meaning that the other Barry was in fact the witch he was looking for.

And then, Powell appeared, looking exhausted. When he saw what Jacob was doing, he gave a surprised look. "Jacob! Nice job on catching him! We've been looking for him!"

Some cops arrived to pick up Barry to cuff him while Jacob stood up to confess to his superior what he did.

"No! No! It's not what it looks like!" Jacob argued while Powell put his hand on his shoulder. "I think Mr Stewart will want to promote you after this."

Powell lead Jacob to his office where their superior could talk to them about what had happened.

Later that day, Amity, Hunter, Gus and Willow were on the bus ride back to the Noceda residence to the portal door back to their Realm.

They looked exhausted except for Hunter who appeared to be the only one smiling. Amity was down about not getting her girlfriend a gift, Gus was exhausted that he was chased while Willow had to fight for her life.

"Okay, that was the first half of Christmas done." Amity said. "Now, the Christmas food."

"How about tomorrow?" Willow asked. "I was in a Die…Something situation and could have died. So no, let's do this some other time."

"Yeah." Gus agreed. "I'm tired."

"I'm not." Hunter said with a smile. "I have an idea on what to get for someone."

Back in the Demon Realm, Hunter had arrived home where his adopted Dad, Darius; Who took him in after the death of Belos.

"Hey Darius." Hunter said to his Dad, whom was reading a newspaper in the kitchen.

"Hello Little Prince." Darius placed the paper on the table.

"Do you have a fresh block of wood somewhere?" Hunter asked. "l need it for an important project."

"Sure Little Prince." Darius said. "But don't chop your fingers off. I can sew clothes. But body parts, I can't."

Later, Hunter was in his room carving on the block of wood with his carving knife. He smiled at what he was doing. "Willow, I'm going to make you the perfect gift. I have all the time in the Realms."