The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 18: Magic School Mayhem Part 1
Flo's Oasis Diner, somewhere on the road of New Mexico…
Flo's Oasis was one of the best eating points when driving down the road of New Mexico. With it's 70s decor, finest food and drink, and some good 60s/70s music to listen to, travelers would stop by at the diner to refuel before hitting the road.
Today, though it was a little quiet, it wasn't very busy today, and a few bikers a couple and a family had come by for some drinks, before preparing to hit the road again.
Just then, another car stopped by the diner, and a new couple, both at the age of 18, entered the establishment.
One was a young African-American woman with short dark hair. Her outfit was a pale orange top with two shoplifting tags on each sleeve and a red and purple triangle pattern on the trim of the sleeves over a pink bra with grayish purple shorts, gold earrings that resemble upside-down exclamation marks, a green fanny pack, purple knee-pads and pale red sneakers.
The other was a young male adult with long, pale blonde hair tied into a ponytail. He had light stubble on his chin. He wore a white sweatshirt over a gray tank-top, a black wristband on his right arm, and beige jeans with the left lower jean ripped off at the knee, revealing a little stubble on the leg showing. He also wore gray-green knee pads and matching boots.
As the two got onto the seats of the counter, the waitress (no doubt, probably, the owner, Flo) approached them as she said, "Heya, newcomers. Welcome to Flo's Oasis."
The couple soon got hold of some menus to have a look, as Flo then said, "What can we get for you two?"
"Hmm, most of these are all quite good," the woman said, looking to the menu, before handing it to Flo as she decided, "I'll have the Choco-Waffle Surprise, please?"
"I'll have what she's having too." the man added, handing his menu to Flo.
Flo smirked, as she then offered, "How about I give you both one to share, seeing the two of you quite cute together."
The duo looked flustered and a little embarrassed, as they looked at each over, then back to Flo.
"Oh, nonono!" the woman stated, a little blushed, "Simon and I are just friends."
The young man, Simon, nodded as he added, also blushing, "Y-yeah, we just… you know… have a good history…"
Flo eyed them, the smirk still on her face, as she said while writing down the order, "If you say so."
"Owen! Order 17, make it a double!" Flo called out, handing the order to the cook in the kitchen.
"Is it possible if we can get some soda to go too, Grace and I won't be staying long." Simon stated.
"Certainly," Flo replied, "Where y'all heading?"
"Oh, we're just on a little, and we're trying to find our way to a place called Brady Oaks." Grace explained.
"Really? I just came from Brady Oaks myself." Flo said, as she continued some of her work, such as pouring coffee for the other customers, "Sweet town, nice forest life, pretty good traditional holidays there and such."
"Well, we're kinda on our way there for a bit of personal business, just to see what we kind find there." Simon stated.
"Oh, I know you're gonna enjoy Brady Oaks," Flo smiled, as the order was made and handed the waffles to Grace and Simon, who began to enjoy them, and said, "whatever the town's got there now, trust me when I say, that it would be quite breathtaking."
Delta Rune, a little far off from the Owl House, just by a lakeshore…
"Well, kids... did any of you ever in your life think you'd see something as breathtaking as this?" Eda happily smiled at the kids, as she gestured proudly…
…To what looked like the body of some sort of slug… it looked like a giant worm with the characteristics of a leech. Its body was cylindrical and tapers towards the tail. Its mouth was a jawless orifice lined with large, pointed teeth and ringed by five stubby feeding tentacles that seemed to be used to grasp food and protect the mouth when not feeding. Large eyes were spread across its back and head and large black spines ran along the back between the eyes located on the head and those on the back. Coloration was dark green across the dorsal surface and light green on its ventral side which was divided into segments like annelid worms.
And it had a bit of trash, slime and other types of crud and sludge around it.
And it looked dead.
Yeah, it was pretty much dead.
The kids were all very much shocked, uncomfortable, horrified and pretty disgusted at this, each of them with one of the mentioned emotions or had all of them.
"I don't like this…" Luz said with a frown, shaking her head.
"Yeah… this is probably the most disgusting thing ever." Patrick said, with an unsettling look, "Of all time."
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Chuckie said, as he tried to hold up his puke, and ran off to vomit.
"Me too!" Callum followed.
"Same!" the twins cried as they joined in.
"Yes, it doesn't get much more inspiring than the trash slug." Eda explained, observing the creature and the rubbish around it, "It makes a home, a life from what others have thrown by the wayside, ponds at parks and other such. Until, blam, it gets washed ashore by either a lake or seaside one day and croaks after being in the sun too long. And then we get to sell the stuff it ate."
As Eda handed a pickaxe to Luz, she flinched with worry as she whimpered, "Please don't make me."
"Aw, come on, Luz." King said, as he laid out a beachtowl and layed down to relax, "It's not every day you get to go to the dump and pick apart a garbage carcass."
"Ah, nuts to you both." Eda said, as she started to get to work, whacking parts of the slug (the circular parts) opening to let out most of the gunk and trash that was in there.
Patrick sighed at what was happening, and then looked to Eda, "Eda, I know that Luz is going to be your apprentice, but need I remind you that you were given a pardon on the condition to help Luz learn magic. Not… whatever you want her to do right now."
"And I want to remind you that I did say that I would help her, but on the condition that she was to help me out on things as well." Eda spoke back, reminding her of what she said.
"Patrick's right, Eda," Hilda said, "it's almost been a week, and you haven't given her anything to do."
"Of course I did give her something to do," Eda said, "I gave her some work to help on my business, and it's going quite well."
Patrick and the others looked a little doubtful and were a little stunned at hearing, until Patrick finally said, "Are you kidding me? Sure it's started out alright, but it's starting to get annoyingly nuts."
The others nodded in agreement, as each of them (and Eda) remembered each incident that happened throughout most of the week.
Incident 1
"This must be the place." Luz said, as she was on another of her delivery runs, now having some of her friends to tag along a bit besides King, as they approached one of the houses they were going to for delivery.
As she pressed the doorbell (oddly shaped like a mouth), however, it was revealed to be a mouth (sort of) and began to slurp up her arm like spaghetti, causing the others to get in a tug-o-war with the door, except King who just walked away, unamused.
"Eda! A little help here!" Patrick cried to the Owl Lady… who was a bit busy counting tons of coins that she got paid with.
"It's alright, you're doing well, keep up with the work." Eda said, seemingly oblivious as she continued counting… only to stop and groan as she said, "Ugh, great, now I gotta start over!"
Incident 2
Inside the Owl House, Eda was busy reading a weekly magazine, called Witch Weekly, only to get a phone call, to which she answered, "Hello, Owl House. Eda speaking."
"Eda, I'm stuck in a trap, and these creeps want to eat me!" Taylor's voice spoke out in alarm, "Call Patrick an-!"
Eda just instantly hung up the phone, disinterested in the conversation.
Incident 3
"Whoever left the spaghetti in the fridge, I'm taking it, because I have the worst hangover right now." Eda said, having scurried through the fridge of a kitchen and found a box of leftover spaghetti, opened it up and began munching away.
"Wait, you drink on a work night?" Chuckie asked, as he and most of the others were in the kitchen with her.
"I'm hungover from this morning, chubbo." Eda stated to Chuckie.
Papyrus soon came in and looked at the box Eda had and cried, "Hey, isn't that my spaghetti?!"
Eda soon groaned angrily as she said, "You know what? I can't take this assault right now! I need to blow off some steam!" she then threw the box at Papyrus knocking him out a bit, before running out of the house (which was actually Papyrus and Sans' home) screaming and created a fireball, shooting it in the air before it landed on a nearby stand, which exploded, sending flaming cabbages flying around a bit of the town.
"My cabbages!" cried the merchant.
Eda then breathed a sigh of relief, "That felt better…"
Incident 4
Once more, back in the Owl House, the phone rang, only this time it was Luz who answered it, after listening to the caller, Luz turned to Eda, who was having a chat with some of her friends and Patrick.
"Uh, Eda?" she said, getting the Owl Lady's attention, "There's some guy on the phone. Says it's urgent and wants to talk to you. Says he's an old flame. Named, uh… Morningstar?"
"Oh, for Pete's sake, it was one time!" Eda groaned, before crossing her arms in a huff and added, "If I hadn't slept with that privileged demonlord of the Underworld, I wouldn't have gained access to the other realms."
There was stunned silence when everyone heard that, until Patrick broke the silence, "You did what now?"
(Speaking in French accent) Flashback…
Hell. also known as the Underworld, ruled over by the Devil himself, also known as Satan, but also by another name as Lucifer Morningstar.
Lucifer resided in his palace with his wife and two daughters.
Inside this grand and wonderful castle-like manor, was the royal bedroom for the royal couple.
However, it wasn't the royal couple in bed at the moment, but Lucifer Morningstar himself, in his known human form, with short black hair, and two black stubs on his back, as where wings were folded in (as he had the ability to fly if he wanted to), and was sleeping naked under the covers in bed.
Eda, meanwhile, had woken up a bit, and was partially nude, wrapped in a robe and wearing bunny slippers, then walked quietly away, the portal case in her hands.
"Got the case, got the case! Got this flipping magic case!" Eda muttered quietly to herself with glee.
As she reached the balcony, Eda carefully stepped over the edge… only for her to feel a bit of pain from her back, "Ah! My back!"
And then she realized, she was over the edge… and lost her grip.
"Oh crud!" she cried, as she and the case fell off the balcony… and landed in a cake that Lucifer's wife and her friends were having, splattering pieces of it all over them.
Upon seeing the Devil's wife staring at her, Eda apologetically said with an awkward grin, "Sorry, I had coitus with your husband."
(Speaking in French accent) End Flashback…
"You what?!"
"Eda!"
"I heard you alrea-!"
"So, what can I do for you today, Lucifer?" Eda said, talking to Lucifer via a makeup compact-styled phone in her bedroom, a little grin on her face.
On the other end of the call, Lucifer, now fully dressed, wearing a white suit, black bowtie, and a red undershirt. He also wore a white hat with a small crown around it, and a blood-red cape as well.
"There's a political candidate causing trouble up on earth for a few of my associates." Lucifer explained from his fancy phone, "He's trying to convince people global warming exists."
"Doesn't it?"
"Well, yes, but it's more fun when people die if nothing is done about it." Lucifer admitted, before playfully saying, "And it gets lonely here."
"Okay, well, yeah, that sort of makes sense." Eda said.
"You know what happens when I'm lonely, Edalyn?"
"Gosh freakin dang it…" Eda mumbled quietly to herself, away from the phone.
"When I'm lonely, I become hungry, and when I become hungry…" Lucifer started to explaining, before instantly ranting, (WARNING: THE FOLLOW DIALOGUE HAD TO CENSORED OUT FOR BEING TO NASTY TO READ, SO INSTEAD HEAR SOME BLEEPS OR SOMETHING, THANK YOU) "I want to snack on that grey ***** of yours! **** your ***** and lick all of your ***** before taking out my ***** and **** with teeth your **** until you're screaming ******** like a ******* baby!"
Eda, having heard the whole rant, now visibly disturbed and shocked at this, hangs up… before breaking apart the phone, smashing it to bits, pulls out a blender, puts the pieces in it, and blends them.
"Here, King, drink this," Eda said, as she offered the King of Demons the blended mixture, before saying, "and you know about that Emperor's Guards station nearby in Delta Rune?"
"Yeah?" King asked.
"Dump off it."
Present Day
Snapping back to now, Patrick looked to Eda, who was continuing getting out the junk inside the beast (while most of his friends returned from being a little sick) and said, "Look, the point being for having a witch's apprentice is to help teach her magic."
"Yeah, like what we could actually do for my apprenticeship," Luz joined in, as she listed out the possible suggestions, "like read ancient scrolls or mix together potions, or-"
Eda only just groaned, "That sounds like a bunch of magic school stuff."
This caught the kids' attention at this, as Patrick looked to Eda and asked, "Did you say, magic school?"
"Yep."
"Wait. Is there a magic school here?" Luz then asked, as she then started to get excited, "Like, winding towers, cute uniforms, dark plots that threaten your life kind of magic school?"
"Mm-hmm. What's worse, they force you to learn magic the "proper" way." Eda said, a little uninterested, as she said the last part with quoting fingers, then looked at the kids and continued, "But magic isn't proper. It's wild and unpredictable. And that's why it's so beautiful."
"I didn't finish school, and look at me!" Eda said proudly, holding her pickaxe over her shoulder with a smile… while standing in the middle of the rubbish pile, "Who wouldn't envy where I am right now?
Luz and the others felt a little uncomfortable at that.
"Speaking of schools, shouldn't you be at school today?" King then asked, looking up to the kids, as today was indeed a school day.
"We were supposed to," Patrick explained, before eyeing the twins, "but some troublemakers accidentally caused damage in science class yesterday, and ended up causing a power outage around the whole school. Said it will take all day today to get it fixed."
"Really? How?"
"You don't want to know…" Patrick simply said.
"Well I wish I could spend today to do magic school…" Luz said, feeling a little down.
Eda looked at her apprentice, and decided to help her out a little, as she approached her and said, "Uh... Hey, here's a lesson. A great witch is resourceful, like this."
Eda then grabbed Luz's hand, and dunked it into a large puddle of goop of the creature, after a good minute, she took it out, revealing to Luz some sort of little ball of sorts.
"Oh, hey. Greasy slimeball." Luz said, a little unimpressed.
"Use your slime ball wisely, young witch." Eda said proudly, before picking back up her pickaxe and said, "Back at it! We'll hit the stink nodes first."
"Actually, Eda," Patrick spoke up, "I think, if you don't mind, if Luz heads back to the Owl House and wait for you to get back and… you know, maybe do a different task besides this."
Luz got what he meant and added, "I don't mind waiting until you're done. I'll enjoy some spare time looking at pictures of animals that are still… alive."
Eda looked at them for the moment, and then shrugged with a smile, "Eh, if you want. More for me then."
"Thanks, Eda." Luz smiled, tucking the slimeball in her pocket before looking to the others, "Thanks, guys."
"No prob." Patrick winked.
As she tickled King goodbye (cooingly calling him a beach-peach) before headed back, Patrick and the others could see her smile, which seemed like a little bit of a sad one, then looked back to Eda, who had then ventured inside the Trash Slug to find more junk to sell.
"Hey guys, perhaps you go and keep her company for the moment, would you?" Patrick suggested.
"Where will you be going?" Callum asked.
"Between us, I'm thinking of going to see Toriel, perhaps she might help sort things out." Patrick explained, "Who knows, maybe she could help out with this magic school thing as well."
"I'll come with you." Taylor volunteered.
"Me too." Chris spoke up.
"I'll go," Chuckie added, "probably a much better place to be than here."
"I'll go check on Luz, if you want." Callum said.
Patrick nodded on that, "Thanks, Callum, be sure to take Hilda and the others with you."
The group soon split into two, as Patrick's group went off to see Toriel, whom they learned was stopping by to say hello to Blinky, while Callum's group went to join Luz back to the Owl House.
Raph and Hazel, meanwhile, looked to both groups leaving, and after a bit of thought, they went with Callum.
Enroute to the Owl House…
Luz was feeling a bit down, looking at the slimeball that Eda picked out for her, until she heard Callum's group arriving to join her.
"Hey guys," Luz greeted them, then looked around, "where's Patrick and the others?"
"Patrick went over to Blinky's with Taylor, Chris and Chuckie to see Toriel, perhaps talk a bit about this magic school." Frida explained, "And we've come by to see how you're holding up."
Luz let out a small sigh, "Fine… I guess…"
"That doesn't quite sound like you're okay." David said, a little unsure.
"Is there something you like to say?" Callum asked.
Luz sighed as she looked back at the slimeball and let out what she thought, "If magic's all about digging for slime balls, maybe I don't have the stomach for it."
"Duh, of course you do!" Raph said.
"Raph's right, Luz," Ezran said, "from what we know, you've been a fan of Azura for a long time, and even wished to be like her too. So there's no doubt that you will be able to learn magic, one way or another."
Hilda nodded at Ezran's statement, as she added her own, "And who cares about what Eda has for you to do, you're going to find a way to do magic and you're gonna be great!"
"You really think so?" Luz asked.
"You can do it! You can!"
"That's good to hear, Hilda, thanks." Luz smiled at the blue haired girl.
However, Hilda looked a little baffled, before saying "That… wasn't me."
Then the group heard it again, a girl's voice, as it said, "I know that you got this."
"What was that?" David asked, a little nervous.
"A mysterious voice of encouragement?" Luz suggested, as they followed the sound of the voice coming not far off.
Looking through a bush, the group spotted the source of the voice.
Sitting by a wheelbarrow carrying a cauldron with a lid, was a chubby girl who had light skin, pointed ears, green eyes, and short, turquoise-blue hair. She wore a pair of round glasses and a gray tunic with a dark gray belt, cowl, and boots. Her sleeves and leggings were a greyish-pink color.
"It's a little witch girl!" Luz gasped quietly.
"She looks so cute!" Hilda added.
"You can do it. Even if you get a bad grade, it's not a reflection of you as a witch." the witch girl said, pacing back and forth, talking to herself, "And my parents are right. There are better opportunities on this track. Now, get to school!"
As she said that, however, she accidentally stepped on a flower, "Oh, no! Oh, little friend! I'm sorry!"
The kids looked as the witch girl then kneeled down, and did a spell circle, just like how Eda did hers, only a green one this time, and whatever the girl conjured up, caused the flower to be healed.
"Whoa… did you see what she just did?" Frida said, quite stunned.
Just then, the witch girl heard something, and looked to see someone coming to where she was.
The group looked also, as arriving and stopping by in front of the witch girl, while riding on an animated wheelbarrow with a cauldron with a lid on top, while reading a book, was another witch girl.
This girl had pale skin, chin-length hair with a ponytail pulling the front hair out of her face, and her eyes were golden colored. Like Eda and the witch girl, she had pointy ears. Her hair was two-toned, composed of shades of aquamarine with brown hair visible at the roots. She also wore a gray tunic with a dark gray belt, cowl, and boots. Her sleeves and leggings being a greyish-pink color. The rest of her attire included wearing triangle-shaped black earrings and black nail polish. She had a star pin on her cowl and she wore dark grey, heeled boots, with a light grey top.
The new girl that appeared stopped reading and noticed the first girl, and let out a smile while putting away her book.
"Willow! Wow. You're so unnoticeable I almost rolled into ya." she said with a chuckle, jumping off the cauldron on the wheelbarrow.
"Hi, Amity." the first girl, Willow sighed, as she looked to Amity, as if she wasn't happy to see her, while the flower she healed wilted again.
"Uh, shouldn't you get to class early to prep your…" before Amity could finish, a strange rattling came from Willow's cauldron, causing it to tip over, spilling out a strange, greyish purple like gunk to the ground.
Willow looked down sadly at this, as Amity then said, "Oh, Willow. You don't have anything to show, do you?"
Hilda and Luz saw what was happening, and looked to each other as both whispered, "Witch drama!"
Willow then brought her hoodie up, blushing mad with embarrassment, as Amity looked to her and said with a sigh, "This is why people call you 'Half-a-Witch Willow'."
"'Half-a-Witch Willow'?" Frida was stunned hearing that.
"That doesn't seem like a nice thing to call someone." David shook his head on that name.
A rattle from Amity's cauldron caught everyone's attention, as Amity went over to it.
"Oh, looks like someone wants to say something to you." she said, as she took the lid off, then, with a snap of her fingers, gave out a command, "Abomination, rise."
At that command, something appeared and took form from within the cauldron. What stunned the group was a creature with a crude humanoid appearance and behavior. It's body, made of the same slimy gunk from Willow's cauldron, had a very poor structure that maintaining a consistent form was a struggle enough.
"What. is. That?" Callum said, quite a bit disturbed.
The creature, this… abomination, looked to Willow and said, as it smudgly drew a star on her forehead, "You're a... star."
"Aw. It's like mine. But much smaller, and meaningless." Amity admitted with a smile, as she pointed to her star badge, the words 'Top Student' engraved on it, then looked to Willow as she (sort of) encouraged her as she added, "As top student, it's my duty to tell you to keep at it. Even you could get a passing grade someday."
Amity then looked to her abomination and ordered, "Abomination, cower." The abomination groaned as it returned inside the cauldron.
"See you in class, superstar." Amity said to Willow, as she put the lid back on and pushed the wheelbarrow on her way, while others looked on to see her go, Luz sticking her tongue out at her.
"Man, I guess that she's 'Miss Popular' where she's from." Hilda huffed at Amity's departure.
"'Oh, see you in class, superstar!' I hate when she does that." the group heard Willow speak, mimicking Amity, before speaking in a fit of annoyance, "I hate making abominations. I hate getting bad grades. Ugh! I can't stand this anymore!"
Suddenly, her eyes glowed emerald green, causing various plant roots to grow fast and spangle around everywhere. One of the roots suddenly grabbed hold of the group, much to their shock, as they got dragged up to the fuming Willow.
The kids instantly screamed as they were dangling by the roots, getting Willow's attention. Upon seeing the unexpected group had got caught in the plant roots, her eyes returned to normal and quickly panicked in shock, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no! I'm so sorry!" she said, as she used her magic to release the group back onto the ground.
"It's okay." Callum said, a little sarcastic as he and the others started to get back up, as he said, "The thorns only went through a few layers of skin."
Willow then looked to the group, and then observed their ears, "So... circly."
"Uh… thanks?" David said, a bit of worry in his voice.
Willow then gasped with excitement, "You're humans! This is astounding! Humans, here in Delta Rune! How'd you get here? What are you doing here?"
Just then, a bell was rung from afar, getting Willow and the group's attention, until the former sighed, "Uh, I'm sorry. I can't stay. I have to go disappoint my teacher." she then turned to leave and wave goodbye, "It was nice to meet you, humans."
"Wait!" Luz spoke up, as she then introduced herself and her friends, "I'm Luz. And this is Hilda, Frida, David, Callum and his brother, Ezran, and twins Raph and Hazel. And you're Willow, right?"
Willow nodded in response.
Luz looked to the others and gestured to Willow, in which Hilda nodded, then looked to Willow as she said, "That was quite amazing magic that you did back there."
"Yeah, it was pretty cool." Ezran added, catching on to supporting the witch girl.
They looked to Callum, and he instantly (sort of) got the jist, and awkwardly added, "It was great with what you did with that flower and those plants, it was... wow."
"Thanks, I, eh, appreciate the compliments…" Willow said, before sighing with a frown and said, "but... I'm not even supposed to be doing plant magic. My parents put me in the abomination track at school."
As she heard the last part, Luz squealed at that, "Like, magic school?"
"Uh… yes?"
"We've kinda heard a bit about magic school from someone," Frida replied, "she said that there was a magic school around."
"There is," Willow explained, "Hexside School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"That's so cool!" Luz smiled, before admitting, "I'm so jealous. I have a teacher, but her lessons are a bit untraditional." she then slumped as she added, "I bet she wouldn't even let me enroll. But I wish I could spend one day there."
"I wish I could get a passing grade for once." Willow sighed, kicking a bit of the abomination slime, "Then people would stop calling me 'Half-a-Witch Willow.'"
The twins had a look at both Luz and Willow, then to the gunk that should be Willow's abomination. And when they looked at each other, they both grinned as they got an idea.
"We think we know how to help you two get what you both want." Raph said to the girls, before pushing Luz into the gunk, and Hazel helped by splashing plenty of the sludge on her, much to the confusion and bafflement of the others.
Once Luz got back up, she was now covered head to toe with the slimy gunk, as Hazel said, "We make Luz YOUR abomination! She'll help you get a good grade, and you can get her into magic school!"
"It's fiendishly clever!" Raph added.
"Wait, what?!" Callum, the other kids and Willow replied.
"Whoa, whoa, wait." Callum said, "Are you actually serious about doing this?! Won't that be cheating?!"
"Well, you saw that other girl's abomination." Hazel said, "It's just chunks of stuff that talks weird. Luz here is chunks of stuff, and she talks weird!"
"That's kinda true…" Luz half smiled.
"I suppose…" Willow blushed, before giggling, "I guess that could work."
"I don't know," Callum said, very unsure, then looked at the kids and said, "what do you think?"
Hilda had a small thought, then smiled and said, "I think it would be nice to see an actual magic school. So, I think it's worth a go."
"Me too," Ezran said, "I bet this magic school is gonna be amazing."
"I'm not sure if this would work…" David said, a little skeptic.
"I'm with David," Frida nodded, "Hilda, maybe we sure think of something else to do too. Don't you remember what happened the last time we went somewhere?"
"Well… yeah," Hilda replied, "but I'm sure that won't be as bad as last time. Plus, we can be able to hide out and take a good look at what goes on in the classrooms."
"Well, Callum, looks like the votes have spoken." Raph grinned, "6 outta 9 vote a go-go!"
"Alright, then, it's a deal." Willow smiled, bringing out her hand.
"This is a great plan." Luz said, taking Willow's hand and shaking on it… only to see that bits of the slime was sticking to their hands.
"Oh yeah, Abomination goop. Sorry." Willow said, resulting in them to try and get the gunk off.
Hexside School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Soon, the group were led by Willow (who was currently wheeling Luz, disguised as her abomination, in the cauldron) to the latter's school, while the others carefully hid within the bushes near the witch girl (who used a small bit of her plant magic to conjure up the bushes for them to use as disguises).
The humans were quite amazed at the sight they saw, as the school was almost like a castle, a manor or even a large mansion, or perhaps, a mashup of all three.
"Welcome to Hexside School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Willow happily welcomed the group, "Try to remember to stay hidden, okay?"
Luz couldn't help but squeal a little giggle, while the others remained amazed at the site of the school.
"Look at all the school uniforms." Frida pointed out, as all the students had the same types of uniforms that Willow and Amity wore, a gray tunic with a dark gray belt, cowl, and boots. The only differences being the sleeves and leggings having a different colour. "They're so cute!"
"That's the typical known school uniform," Willow explained, "the colour of their sleeves and leggings depend on which of the 9 tracks a student is on."
"Really? 9 tracks?" Hilda asked, "Which type of tracks are there?"
Before Willow could answer, a seemingly timid voice spoke up her name, causing the humans to hide in their respective hiding places.
"Uh, H-hey, Willow!"
Willow and the group (still hiding) turned and looked to see a few students heading their way.
One of them was a young boy, at the age of 12, noticeably shorter than Luz and Willow, with brown skin and dark brown hair with lighter shades. He had pointy ears like Willow, Amity and most of the other beings that the humans encountered. Like the other Hexside students, he wore a grey tunic with a dark grey belt, cowl, and boots. And the colour of his sleeves and leggings were cyan. He was also currently reading what looked like a human magazine.
A girl was among them, aged 17, with light chocolate skin, reddish hair that was short from the back and a bit long at the front, wearing a dark purple beanie, and, too, had pointy ears. The colour of her sleeves and leggings of her Hexside uniform were brown.
The other two were brothers, and they seemed to be blue elves of sorts, the youngest, at the age of 16, had dark blue fuzzy hair, brown eyes, and pale pointy elf ears. He also had a bit of a round nose and had a skinny physique. While in his Hexside uniform, the colour of his sleeves and leggings were yellow.
The oldest, a 19-year-old blue elf with a large and stocky build. He had blue skin, pink ear tips and cheek apples, and beard stubble. The sleeves of his school uniform were rolled, showing an armband tattoo on his right arm. He also wore a black beanie and had a rounded face, nose, and sturdy, muscular physique. The colour of his sleeves and leggings were orange.
"Oh, I-Ian, Barley, Dana, Agustus. How are you today?" Willow said in a small surprise, blushing a little as she saw the former during this.
"Doing great, thanks for asking, Willow," the muscular blue elf, by the name of Barley, said proudly, as he wrapped his arm around his little brother, Ian, "my little bro here really liked that gift you gave him back at his 16th birthday! Right, Ian?"
"Y-yeah, Barley," Ian huffed in embarrassment, as he looked to Willow and said with a shy grin, "thanks again for those herb plants, Willow. They really came in handy for some of those potion recipes I was working on."
"Oh. Your welcome, Ian," Willow smiled, as she blushed a little again, "I'm glad that it worked out well for you."
Ian simply blushed a little too at that, while the group in hiding (and Luz) smirked secretly at this.
"I was also able to help Agustus find another copy of these human magazines," Dana stated, with a small bit of interest, "and I have to say I'm a little intrigued."
"Will that mean that you'll be interested in joining today's meeting at the Human Appreciation Society?" Barley grinned.
"Well see…" Dana just smiled, before turning to Willow, "Can you believe all this interest in these humans?"
Willow quickly looked nervous, as she replied, looking a bit to where each of the group were hiding, "Humans? Psh. I haven't seen any. What?"
Dana just raised an eyebrow at that.
"It'll be great to have a few new members," Augustus then said, before looking to Willow, "I mean, take a look at this, Willow. Did you know that humans nail barbed wire to their kids' teeth?"
"But why would they do that?" Barley then asked, "Perhaps it's to make them magnetic."
"Actually, it's for dental hygiene." Luz's voice spoke from the cauldron, much to Willow's nervousness, while Luz's friends just facepalmed. So much for keeping quiet.
Willow's friends looked baffled and stunned when they heard Luz's voice, until Willow sighed as she decided to come clean a little, "Okay, guys. I'm gonna tell you something. But you have to be cool. Can you do that, please?"
"Uh… Sure thing, Willow." Ian replied.
"Okay." said Barley.
"If you say so." replied Dana.
"Sure, I can be spool. I mean, cool." Augustus said, stammering a little on the last part.
"Alright," Willow said, before turning to the caudron, "Abomination, rise."
At that response, Luz popped up with a cheerful voice, "Ta-da! I'm an abomination."
"Luz, that's not how abominations act." Willow stated, as her friends just looked in shock at this, Augustus dropping the magazine in stunness.
"Wait… is that…?" Ian asked, stunned, while Barley had his jaw dropped.
"No. No, it, it couldn't be." Augustus said, stunned, as he looked to Luz, as well as her ears as he felt his pointy ones.
"I think… it is…" Dana said, who didn't believe what she was looking at.
"Hi there, I take it you're Willow's friends?" Luz greeted.
"Y-yeah, we are," Ian replied for them and introduced themselves, "I'm Ian, this is my brother, Barley, and our friends, Dana and Augustus."
"Well, would you like to meet my friends too?" Luz asked, before anyone could speak, she looked to her group's hiding spot and said, "You can come out, they're friendly."
Hearing a groaning sigh from Callum, he and the others popped out from the bushes.
"There's more of them?!" Dana asked.
Luz nodded, then introduced her friends, "I like you to meet Hilda, Frida and David, the twins, Raph and Hazel, Callum and his half-brother, Ezran."
The human group waved a small hello to Willow's friends.
"I can't believe, humans. Here. In Delta Rune." Barley smiled, before turning to Augustus, "Can you believe this?"
Augustus nodded at that.
"He and Barley are the co-presidents of the Human Appreciation Society." Willow explained, "Most wouldn't be able to recognize a human right away. But Barley and Augustus are genuine experts."
"Wow, it's certainly nice to be appreciated," Luz smiled, before looking at the co-presidents, "thanks on that, Barley, Gus."
Augustus looked to Luz and asked, "Who, me?"
"Yep, we knew an Augustus who used to go to our school a long while back," Luz explained to him, "we called him 'Gus'."
"Gus? Nickname? Human nickname? Gus?" Augustus, or in this case, Gus, looked intrigued on this, as he happily said, "Call me it. Wow. Gus. This is the best day of my life."
Barley looked impressed as he looked to Luz, "I gotta say I'm impressed… Luz, was it?" Luz nodded, "To be fair, I was thinking about wanting to give the little guy a better name to say than his usual one."
"So… what brings you lot over here to Hexside?" Dana asked.
"Well, one of our friends mentioned about a magic school here in Delta Rune," Hilda explained, "and we were curious to see what it's like there."
"So, to help us get in, Willow here agreed to help us and in return help her with her abomination work." Raph added, a cunning smile on his face, "It's the perfect plan."
"Uh… wouldn't that be cheating?" Ian asked, curiously with a hint of worry.
"Thank you," Callum said, "that's what I'm trying to say."
"Hey, Callum, do you want our new friend here to keep getting called a 'Half-a-Witch', or are we gonna help her show the school, even that Amity girl a what for?" Raph said to him.
"And besides, if things go south, we'll be there for Luz to get her out and we'll be long gone!" Hazel added.
Callum just sighed at this and muttered, "This'll end quite badly…"
Soon, the school bell chimed once more, alerting the Hexside students that it was the final bell before lessons.
"I've gotta get to spelling class." Gus said, picking up his magazine and getting out his wand, before heading off, "See you guys later!"
"See you at the meeting, Gus." Barley said, before chuckling, "I like that, it rolls off the tongue."
"Let's just get to class, okay, Barley?" Ian said, as he escorted his older brother as he said to Willow and the others, "See you all at lunch, okay?"
"We will," Dana waved, before gesturing to Willow, "C'mon, before we end up on tardy!"
"Okay," Willow nodded as her friend left, before looking to Luz and gave a command, "All right. Into the darkness you go."
Luz playfully hissed, as she slowly sunk back into the cauldron.
Willow looked at Luz's friends and said, "You guys wait outfront of the school, and… well, I suppose you can feel free to peek at the other classrooms. Just make sure not to be seen."
"We'll make sure of that." Frida said, as Willow nodded and wheeled Luz to the school and then through the front door.
"Alright then," Callum sighed, "let's go."
The kids nodded and followed him to the school, but as Raph and Hazel started to follow, Callum stopped them at their tracks, "You stay there."
"What?! Why?!" they both asked in disbelief.
"While, I suppose, we can let you off on this idea, I do not know about having you close to this school, so stay put!" Callum sternly said, before giving them the 'I'm watching you' look before joining the others at a different part of the school to have a look.
The twins soon huffed, "No fair," Hazel said, "we finally got some recommendation for this idea, and yet they don't trust us to join them to see this awesome school!"
"Totally uncool." Raph nodded in agreement.
They both looked at the magic school for a moment, letting out a small sigh during the small moment of silence.
Then Hazel asked, "You think they have potions?"
"Come again?"
"Potions." Hazel replied, "Y'know, with all the types of cool and awesome results, like explosions and turning things into other things."
"Well, it is a magic school," Raph replied, "so they gotta have those… and maybe some other awesome stuff."
Soon, a sneaky idea came into their minds, with cunning grins on their faces, they sneaked towards the school with one thing on their minds. This was going to be fun.
Meanwhile, Blinky's quarters in Trollmarket…
"Trouble with Eda?" Toriel asked Patrick, as she was currently helping out with Blinky in his home, while the six-eyed troll was complaining to AAARRRGGHH that books were not for snacking on when speaking the saying 'ate up any book knowledge'… again.
"Unfortunately, yes," Patrick said, as he, Taylor, Chris and Chuckie arrived to Trollmarket and talked to Toriel, concerned about Luz and Eda, "I know you said that Eda's a close friend of yours, but I'm getting a little concerned that she might not be taking the conditions of her pardon seriously."
"Not to mention that while she promises to teach Luz something, she still seems to keep giving her stuff to help with her work and business instead of this magic teaching stuff." Taylor added.
Toriel let out a small sigh, then looked to the kids and explained, "Look, kids, I know and understand that Eda can be… well… tricky to co-operate with from time to time, but she does mean well… in her own way, I guess."
"I'm still uncertain as Vendel is, having that girl learn magic from an rebellious person like her." Blinks muttered aloud, shaking the drool off one of his books.
"Do you think it could be possible for Luz to learn magic from a magic school?" Patrick then asked, remembering what Eda said, "Eda said that there was one around here."
"You mean Hexside? The magic school of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Toriel asked, a bit surprised.
"I suppose so, yeah." Patrick nodded.
"Do you know that school?" Chris asked.
"Of course, Eda, Asgore and I used to go there when we were young," Toriel smiled, "it's the school where young magical minds go to learn the many types of magic, as well as taking part of different magic track lessons too. Of course, Eda, being a troublemaker she was, was well known for causing a good load of mischief around the school, and we had to be there to bail her out."
"Well I for one really appreciate the wonders of that school," Blinky said with a smile and a small sigh, "how I wish for there to be a night segment there so I could be able to take part in the teaching of the students."
"Yeah, well, it seems that Eda says otherwise," Taylor stated, "she stated that going to that school has you forced to be teached magic the quote-on-quote 'proper way'." She then quoted her fingers as she said the last part.
"That's Eda for you," Toriel sighed, "as I said, she's been known to be quite rebellious at times."
"What type of tracks do they do there?" Patrick asked.
"Well, like most magic schools, at Hexside, when learning magic, you would choose which magic track you wish to take part in." Toriel explained, "The tracks in question include Abomination, Construction, Plant, Potions, Bard, Healing, Illusions, Beast Keeping and Oracle."
"Those are quite an interesting set of courses."
Toriel then looked in thought for a moment, before getting an idea and asked, "How would you all like to have a small little look?"
"A small look?" Patrick asked.
"At Hexside?"
"Really?" Patrick said in surprise, "You'd do that?"
"Of course," Toriel nodded, "I understand how you feel for your friend, and maybe it could help us all out and have Luz go there."
"It's worth a small shot." Patrick smiled.
"I'm sure that you're all going to love it as Luz will," Toriel smiled, "I could just picture her probably taking part in the lessons they do there right now."
Hexside, Abomination 101 Class
Abomination 101 was the main classroom where the Abomination track took place. The same class where Willow and Amity were to do their abomination work as well.
Each student at Hexside must know everything there was to abominations. Created by reanimated matter, abominations serve as labor around or outside Delta Rune and the other realms. Their low sentience ensures abominations will recognize and obey the commands of the witch who made them. Multiple abominations can also combine into a single form to increase their size and power.
The Abomination track is known to be a highly regarded track at Hexside and affords those on it greater opportunities for success upon graduation.
The class was run by the Abomination teacher, Professor Hermonculus, a stubby and short humanoid creature/imp with pointed ears, a round beak-like mouth with two fangs on the top row of his teeth, two claws on each foot, and narrow eyes. He had green, chin-length hair with a large bald spot on the top of his head. He had inward-facing green eyebrows and a small green beard. He wore orange tinted circular glasses with no temples and had defined cheekbones as well.
As for his outfit, the teacher wore a black shirt and pants with an oversized purple coat with a red lining. He wore a light silver bow tie around his neck and was carried by a mauve-colored abomination with a sad and drooping face.
The Professor was currently observing one abomination a student had brought up, though it seemed to have several parts on it.
"Hmm. Too many toenails in unexpected places." Professor Hermonculus criticized, much to the student's disappointment, as salt got added to the wound as he added, "Fail."
As the student returned to her seat, her failed abomination in tow, the Professor looked to the other abomination students with a bit of stern discipline, "Pathetic! The biggest abominations are all of you! If the next abomination is a failure, everyone gets extra homework for a month!"
The students looked nervous and groaned upon hearing this (with the exception of Amity with the smug grin on her face).
Meanwhile, Luz's friend, having a peak through a few windows, reached the class that Willow took part in, and secretly looked at the events that were taking hold, while laying low so they weren't spotted.
"And the next one to come up is…"
"Excuse me, sir," Amity spoke up, getting the teacher's attention, "but I am ready to present my abomination."
Like before, she then gave out the command, "Rise!" and her abomination rose from the cauldron, taking a ballet pose with a moan.
Professor Hermonculus chuckled as he said, "I've always saved the best for last, Miss Blight. You'll have to wait your turn."
"How about…" Professor said with a bit of thought, before pointing to Willow as he chose her, "Willow Park."
Upon her name being called out, Willow brought her hood over her, as she heard her classmates grumble, sigh and groan, calling her 'Half-a-Witch', and complaining that they'll definitely get homework for a month because of her.
"Don't listen to them, Willow." Willow heard Luz whisper from her cauldron, as she gave her a thumbs up to cheer her up, "We can do this."
"I think Willow and Luz are up now." Ezran said.
"Do you think that they can do it?" David asked, a little worried.
"Don't worry," Hilda smiled, "I'm sure they've got this. It'll be a lot like our D&D roleplaying stuff, Luz is a bit of a natural."
"Okay." Frida nodded.
"I suppose you're right." David added.
"They've definitely got this." Ezran smiled.
"Yeah…" Callum just smiled… as he added, "we're all gonna get in trouble for this."
They looked as they saw Willow take centre stage of the class, as she stood with her cauldron on her wheelbarrow, before nervously giving out her command, "Uh... Abomination, rise."
At that, the cauldron lid popped open and Luz jumped out, officially acting like a real abomination, much to the surprise of the other classmates, as well as Amity.
Seeing that they've got this, Willow then did another command to Luz, "Abomination, bow."
Luz did a polite grunt as she bowed before the class.
"Wow, she's doing quite well." David whispered, as Hilda and the others continued watching Luz and Willow continue the charade.
"Very impressive." Professor Hermonculus said, quite interested with the 'abomination' that Willow was commanding, "But does it speak?"
"Uh, I may be your abomination," Luz then said, as she gave Willow a small hug and added, "but you're my a-mom-ination."
The class (and Luz's friends) aww'ed at that (with the exception of Amity, who was still stunned and couldn't believe what she saw).
"I have to admit," Frida smiled, "that was pretty clever and cute."
"'A-mom-ination!' Splendid wordplay." Professor Hermonculus chuckled with a smile, as he then wrote an 'A' and a plus sign on Luz's head, as he added, "Well done, Miss Park. A+!"
As the students clapped and congratulated Willow, the only person not pleased was Amity, as she looked sternly at her and her 'abomination' with suspicion and a small bit of annoyance, thinking that there was something up.
Outside the class, Luz's friends smiled, as Callum said with a small bit of disbelief, "I still can't believe that worked."
"Told you they got this." Hilda grinned.
"Guess you're right on that," Ezran smiled, "I think this plan turned out quite well."
A little later…
As Willow left the classroom, with Luz in tow in the wheelbarrow, Professor Hermonculus stopped her to talk to her.
"Wonderful work today, Willow." he said to her, "Looks like we have a new top student."
Unfortunate time as he said, Amity walked by, and stopped upon hearing this, and didn't do anything to stop the teacher from removing her badge and placed it on Willow.
"Thank you, Professor." Willow smiled, as she and the teacher parted ways… only for her to come face to face with Amity, with a serious and suspicious look on her face.
"You know, last time I saw you, your abomination was mush." Amity sneered, "What did you do?"
"I, uh, took your pep talk to heart, Amity." Willow fibbed, looking a little nervous.
"I bet you did." Amity glared, as she started to leave, before adding, "I've got my eyes on you, Half-a-Witch. That badge is mine."
As she watched Amity leave, not leaving her sight off her, Willow gulped in a bit of worry and muttered to herself, "Uh-oh. I think Amity is onto us."
'I just hope that things don't get out of hand…' she thought to herself, 'how will it go down if Luz's other friends got involved…'
Meanwhile, at the same time…
Like most schools, Hexside has had a fareshare of clubs and get-togehters, one of them being the Human Appreciation Society (AKA H.A.S.), a school club that catalogs human items, artifacts and culture.
Founded by Barley and Gus, the club had been getting a small, but slowly growing, following, as several of the students (being mystical, mythical and what-not) have taken part to learn about the humans that the mystical world has lived next door with.
Today was the usual day, getting to learn much about the new items that were discovered, and learned about by the group.
"This little fellow is one of the humans' most valued objects from their world." Gus was happily explaining to the group, holding what looked like a paperclip, "It aids in the compiling of printed wisdom, the scratching of gunk from under your nails, and my favorite - It even mimics the sounds of the human ocean."
Gus then seemingly strumbed the paperclip, before happily sighing, "Aah… The human realm. So beautiful."
"Thank you for that, Gus," Barley smiled as he clapped, "It's safe to say that the pay-per-clipe is a stunning testament to human ingenuity."
"So, are there any questions?"
Barley and Gus looked to the small group of members that were happily taking part in today's meeting, all of them being different types of species and genders, though it looked like one or two of them were a little bored, one of them starting to doze off.
One student raised his hand, he was a teenage boy with beige skin, dark brown eyes, and straight brown hair which was shaved at the sides. He had pointy ears, like most of the students.
He wore the school uniform, which featured brown sleeves and leggings, which were covered by a grey tunic and a small darker grey cowl over it. He also had his cowl on as a hood.
"Ah! Our newest member: Matthioilomole." Barley smiled, though it was responded with an annoyed frown from the student.
"It's Mattholomule." the student, Mattholomule, corrected, before speaking up, gesturing to the human items on the table, "Barley, can I ask you and Augustus something? Is this what the co-presidents of the Human Appreciation Society think passes as 'Human Artifacts'?" he asked, quoting his fingers on the last part.
"Well, yeah, Mattholomule," Gus replied, "items like these have been quite known throughout the human, all used for everyday basis."
Mattholomule just rolled his eyes and shoved the items aside as he added, "Well, for your info, at my old school, we had real treasures."
He then brought out of his bag one or two things that he considered 'human artifacts', when in reality, were just a shoe made of mud and grass and a rock that was painted like a phone.
"Go ahead. Feel free to admire them." Mattholomule smugged, as most of the members looked curious, "In my club, we didn't even have any dumb rules."
"Hey these rules were made for a good reason." Gus growled, gesturing to the rules of the Human Appreciation Society.
"And this ain't your club, Mathermole." Barley added, taking away Mattholomule's items.
"Mattholomule." Mattholomule grumbled, before letting out a sneaky grin as he asked the other members, "But if you all like, who would like me as president?"
Most the members stayed with Gus and Barley, while a few picked Mattholomule, one even stating, "I'm an undecided voter."
"Well for one thing about you not being president," Gus angrily stated gesturing to Mattholomule's 'artifacts', "these are just fakes!"
"You can't prove that!" Mattholomule angrily stammered, before inhaling a deep breath and remained calm as he grinned, "That's just your words against mine."
As the argument continued, Barley had a bit of thought on helping out proving Mattholomule wrong, until an idea came up. It was crazy, but it might work.
"What if Gus and I brought in an expert?" Barley grinned.
"Yeah, right." Mattholomule rolled his eyes, "Who can you find that's a bigger human expert than any of us?"
"How about… real, actual humans?" Barley announced, much to the surprise of the Human Appreciation members.
"Really?!" said one surprised student.
"Do you think they could be cute?" asked another.
"Show don't tell!" said one excited student.
Gus then got what Barley was saying and thought of what had happened with Willow. If she allowed a human to get into the school and help her out, then it wouldn't hurt for them to do the same for Gus and Barley too.
"That's right," Gus grinned, "in fact, we'll be happy to have them brought here. Right here, right now! And we'll prove it to you all!"
"Ah, sure you will." Mattholomule scoffed, eyeing them, "Sure you will."
Barley and Gus looked to each, with a bit of nervous hope. They were sure that the humans they met could be willing to help them out, wouldn't they?
"Are you seriously crazy about this?!" Callum exclaimed to the two students during the school break, as Barley and Gus explained about the plan.
"Okay, I know that it sounds nuts, but I think that it would be good to meet some fellow followers who appreciate humans as we do," Barley stated, "that, and show that Matthey guy a thing or two about standing against us and being President."
"I don't know about this," David looked a little nervous, "it's hard enough with sneaking Luz in, but with all of us…"
"David's right," Frida nodded, "having more than one person from our group in there could be risky."
"You don't understand. The members were almost going mad." Gus stated, "They were nearly bloodthirsty. They were touching objects."
"Besides, we've already got it covered," Barley then said, getting out several cowls, "we managed to snag a few of these for you lot to wear, just be sure to cover your ears through all this."
The group looked to each other with a small hint of uncertainty (with an exception of Hilda, who was liking the idea), as Gus then added, "That way, we can be able to help you get the chance to look around the school from inside."
Before Callum could respond, Hilda looked to them and said, "C'mon, guys. Beside Luz, don't you want to know what a magic school would be like? It'll be quite cool to see some pretty amazing classes."
"I suppose it's worth a go on having a look inside." Ezran said.
"Really, Ez?" Callum facepalmed.
"C'mon, don't you like to see inside?" Ezran smirked as he nudged his half-brother.
Callum just sighed as he took one of the cowls, and then groaned, "Alright… fine, but don't say I didn't warn you if things get out of hand and Patrick finds out about this… again."
Hilda and Ezran smiled, while Frida and David just shrugged a little, as they put on their cowls, while Barley and Gus escorted them into the school.
'This is gonna work out great!' they both thought.
'This is gonna be amazing!' Hilda grinned in thought.
'This… is gonna be a disaster…' Callum thought, placing fingers on the bridge of his nose, as they all entered the school.
Author's Notes:
I had a bit of fun writing Eda's call with Lucifer, as their relationship is inspired by that Blitzo and Stolas' relationship (especially their hilarious phone calls), I've even had thoughts on how the Portal Door was created and had some fun on it being owned by the Devil himself!
The character, Dana, is based off and inspired by Dana Terrace, the creator of The Owl House, while her in the Construction Track is based off of Dana's answer of the Construction Coven being her favourite Coven she would love to join.
Next time, the school hijinx continues.
Until next time, True Believers!
Excelsior!