It was a beautiful day on the Boiling Isles, the sun was shining over the huge bones of the Titan. The Boiling Sea was shimmering, and lightning was streaking across the sky in a cloudless sky, along with the sound of thunder. A humanoid bird creature was flying across the skies of the Boiling Isles, it was female, with large blue wings, it had black talon feet and hands, and long tail feathers. The creature's body was painted with white markings, giving it a tribal-like appearance. The only place that did not possess feathers was around its mouth, which displayed rows of sharp teeth, its eyes were black as night, with blue glowing dots that sparked with electricity, and two plumes on the sides of its head. The creature's body released sparks of lightning that arced through the sky and struck the ground below at random.

"HA, HA, HA! I love this! Now I can fry so many more people than I used to! Becoming a Phantom was the best thing to have ever happened to me!"

Suddenly, flaming balls of energy came flying her way. The Phantom saw them and nimbly dodged the two blasts before they exploded a few yards away.

"What the Titan?! Oh, crud…don't tell me…"

Just then the Witch Speeder came zooming past the Phantom, the vehicle came to a stop and hovered in the air as Kamen Rider Witch, Fire Style, pointed the front of the Speeder in the Phantom's direction.

"Two weeks of no Phantom activity, and here I thought you guys finally gave up," said Witch.

"Ugh, seriously? Why do you have to be such a buzzkill? Heh, get it? 'Cause of the lightning?"

"Heh, funny, sure. Now why don't you tell me your name?"

The blue avian Phantom curtsied to Witch and said, "I won't tell you my real name, but the name of my Phantom form is called Thunderbird."

"You're 'Phantom form'?" It was then Witch understood what this monster meant. "You're someone who merged with their Phantom!"

Thunderbird blinked and then clapped her hands. "Wow, you are well informed. Let me guess, you already fought someone like me, huh?"

"Yeah, and won, so you won't be any different!"

Witch revved the engine of the Speeder and floored it, heading straight for Thunderbird. The mana blasters on the nose of the Speeder released rapid fire blasts of fire infused mana bolts, the flying Phantom quickly dodged them, but found herself getting buffeted by the powerful explosions of the blasts. So much so that it was disrupting her flight pattern.

"GRRR! Cheap trick!"

"Enjoy my next one!"

[Connect, Please.]

Witch reached into the magic circle and pulled out the WizarSwordGun.

[Extend, Please.]

Witch stood on the seat of her Speeder, riding it like a surfboard as she closed in on Thunderbird. The hero of hope slashed towards the Phantom, causing the blade of the weapon to stretch outwards like a whip straight for Thunderbird. The avian Phantom started dodging in midair as Witch circled around her and slashed at her multiple times, each time Thunderbird narrowly escaped, but not all her dodges worked as she got hit several times around her wings, back, and chest, causing a multitude of sparks to come flying off her body.

"Let's finish this up, I got school in a couple of hours," said Witch to herself.

[C'mon slashing, shake hands! C'mon slashing, shake hands!]

} FIRE, SLASH STRIKE! {

Witch jumped off the Speeder, appearing right over Thunderbird, she spun in the air twice, on the second spin she readied herself to bring down her flaming blade right on top of Thunderbird's head. However, the Phantom merely smirked and whispered, "Gotcha."

Suddenly, twenty meters worth of airspace was blasted with several lightning bolts. Witch used the fire slash to block the strongest bolt but was not able to prevent herself from getting struck by the medium and small bolts of lightning. Her armor released sparks with each hit, making the young teen inside wince from the stinging sensation of the electrical attack. The onslaught didn't stop as Thunderbird flared her wings and released even more lightning into the air. It finally became too much as Witch's WizarSwordGun was thrown from her hands, disappearing in a dispersal of particles.

A second large bolt of lightning struck the hero, causing an explosion in midair. Thunderbird ceased her attack and waited, she didn't have to wait long as Witch's body fell from the smoke cloud and went into free fall down towards the ground. Witch was knocked out for a moment, but when she woke up, she yelled.

"AAAAAHHHH! I'M FALLING! Okay, calm down, just calm down! Uh…Uh…the Witch Speeder!" Witch pointed her left hand towards the sky, the Speeder started coming towards her, at least it was until Thunderbird shot it with a lightning bolt and destroyed it. "OH, C'MON! Okay, plan 'B'!"

Witch reached for one of her rings and was stopped when Thunderbird fired another huge lightning bolt at her. The hero was caught in the blast as her descent was sped up, throwing her into the side of a cliff as several more bolts rained down on her position. A huge dust cloud was kicked up from the attack, obscuring Thunderbird's view of Witch.

"Tch, she ain't all that, those other Phantoms must've been weak." As Thunderbird was about to move, she winced and faltered for a moment. "Damn you, Witch, didn't think you caused me this much damage. Guess my fun will have to take place another time, killjoy." Thunderbird flapped her wings and flew away into the distance to lick her wounds.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Witch was slumped against the ground. The distant sounds of Eda, along with Gus and Willow could be heard calling out to her, but she was unable to hear them. The transformation ended, and left Luz exposed in her civilian state, still unconscious.

"What am I going to do with you, girl?"

Willow, Gus, and Eda hurriedly brought Luz into the Owl House. They laid her on the couch as Eda looked over her. Luz's body was bruised and had some burns on her, but overall, she looked alright. However, what concerned her more was the blood that came from her head. The young girl had seemed to have hit her head hard when she landed during the battle, and now she was unconscious.

"We should take her to the Healing Coven," said Gus.

"And tell 'em what?!" Eda asked.

"Well, we can't just leave her like this, her head is injured, we can't just ignore that!" Willow stated.

King came walking in when he heard all the noise. "Ugh, I'm trying to get some shut eye here, what's–?" King stopped when he saw Luz on the couch. "What happened to Luz?!"

"A Phantom," Gus answered. "She was fighting a Phantom in the air and then got knocked into a cliff!"

"She would've been alright, but the Phantom hit her with a lightning bolt before she could do anything and hit her again when she was on the ground! She was unconscious when we found her, so we brought her back here," Willow explained.

The little demon ran up to his surrogate sister and looked her over, his concern growing when he saw the bit of dried blood on her head. "I-I-Is she still breathing at least?!"

"That much she's doing…" Eda bit down on her thumbnail, trying to decide if she should bring Luz to the Healing Coven or cast a healing spell of her own? "I could try and heal her myself, but I haven't dabbled in healing magic in years."

"Then I'd prefer it if you didn't do anything at all." All eyes shifted down as they saw Luz rise and was now in seated position. "The last thing I need is for you to damage this body any further."

Gus, Luz, King, and Willow were confused. The way Luz was talking was…different, the look in her eyes was not one of her usual optimism, but one of cold strength and boundless pride.

"Uh…Luz, you alright?" Gus asked.

Luz glanced towards the witch boy and said, "Let's just get this out of the way, shall we. I'm not Luz."

"Uh-huh…" Gus waved for the others to back away and huddle together. Once they did, Gus whispered, "I think Luz's personality changed due to the blow to the head."

"Normally I'd say that's a complete load, but after seeing and hearing her, I'm not about to rule that out," said Eda.

"Maybe we should take her the Healing Coven now?" Willow suggested.

"Or we can hit her again and bring Luz back," said King.

"Your conspiratorial whispering is annoying." Everyone yelped as the backed away, not even noticing that Luz had quietly snuck up on them and inserted herself into the huddle. "I am not the human; my name is La Lechuza."

Gus gasped as he pointed at her, "You're the Phantom that lives inside of Luz! The Phantom she draws power from!"

"Correct," said La Lechuza.

Eda summoned her staff and readied to fight the Phantom. "What did you do to Luz?!"

La Lechuza glanced up and down at the Owl Lady and sighed. "Calm yourself, Owl Lady. The damage that she sustained was a bit much, most notably here." La Lechuza pointed to her head. "To protect her, I placed her in a kind of coma, she's more or less in a dream-like state. Until the repairs are done, I'll be in control of her body to make sure that it doesn't get into anymore disarray while my magic heals her."

Willow stepped forward and asked, "H-How long will that be?"

La Lechuza thought about it for a moment and then answered, "A few hours, it was quite the blow. Not to mention that lightning bolt right before we hit."

King glared up at the Phantom with suspicion and asked, "Why are you helping her? I thought Phantoms wanted to make other people into Phantoms?! And from what she told us; you don't like her!"

La Lechuza rolled her eyes. "I despise being trapped in this pubescent cage, but so long as I am trapped inside of her, my fate is tied to hers. Understand? If she dies, then so do I." The possessing Phantom glanced back to Eda. "So, put away your staff unless you're looking to hurt her."

Reluctantly, Eda did as the Phantom asked. It was so weird to hear how Luz was talking to them, she sounded more mature, and her eyes were the most striking. That wide eyed, optimistic mirth was gone, and replaced with cold, cynical eyes. Like the eyes of a predator, sizing up others around them and determining the best way to take them down.

"Okay, so just a few hours…we can make this work, right?" Willow asked.

"Like it or not, you'll just have to," said La Lechuza.

Eda scratched at her head and sighed heavily in frustration. "In that case I better send a letter to Bumpy, tell 'em Luz will miss school today."

La Lechuza looked back up at the Owl Lady and responded, "I don't think that's wise, Clawthorne."

"And why the heck not?"

"Due to this little incident, Luz will not be able to transform, the absence of Witch, and the absence of Luz Noceda, will most likely be noted by someone. The Emperor's Coven is already on the look out for her, and if they can spot a correlation between this girl's disappearance and Witch's, then…" La Lechuza left the question hanging in the air.

"They'll figure out that Luz is Witch!" Gus finished.

"Precisely, my boy."

"And what do you propose?! Are you saying you'll go to school in her place?!" Eda asked as she snickered at the idea.

La Lechuza cupped her chin for a moment, humming in contemplation. "Hmm, well…that does sound a bit intriguing. This girl seems to boast constantly about going to 'Hexside'. Perhaps I should see what all the fuss is about."

Eda's amused expression fell. "You know I was kidding, right? Right?"

She wasn't kidding. After getting cleaned up and changed into the Hexside uniform, Willow and Gus walked alongside Luz (La Lechuza), flanking her on either side. To say that it was odd would be an understatement, she was walking with an air of superiority about her, back straight, shoulders square, her movements precise and calculated, not a bit of movement wasted in her stride. Not to mention the intimidating aura that seemed to radiate off the Latina, it was enough that the other students around them stopped for a moment to gawk at Luz.

As they walked, the trio happened upon Amity. Luz (La Lechuza) smirked upon seeing Amity, she had seen the young girl through Luz's eyes and recalled her past actions from the human's memories. Amity Blight was a witch of high caliber, a noble, and a refined young lady. While Luz Lechuza didn't exactly like humans, she did admit she liked those who were confident in their skills and had the strength to back them up.

Luz Lechuza was about to walk towards Amity, but Gus and Willow quickly steered the Phantom down another hallway. When they were far enough away, Luz Lechuza turned to the two witches and glared at them. "What was the meaning of that?!"

"Um…yeah, why did we take her down this hallway like that?" Gus asked.

Willow knew the reason why, Amity Blight, that's why. If there was anyone in this school who could tell that Luz was not Luz, it was the girl who had a crush on her. If Amity saw something wrong with her, then she might get suspicious and think that she's a Phantom in disguise. Well…she is a Phantom, but not a Phantom. Ugh, this is confusing!

"I just think it's best that we interact with as few people as possible and only who we need to," said Willow. "Now, do you remember the cover story?"

Luz Lechuza rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Last night Eda was messing with some potions, there was an explosion, and the potion accidentally changed my personality, along with sending into a wall and hitting my head. The Healing Coven says it's only a temporary personality shift and that I'll go back to normal after a few hours. Am I missing anything?"

"That sounds about right to me," said Gus. "We just gotta make sure and sell it."

"That won't be too hard, the spot where she's injured is still quite tender…" Luz Lechuza gently tapped on the top right side of her head and hissed sharply. "¡Gah! ¡Eso duele (Gah! That hurts)! I can't wait to find that Phantom, I'll show her who's the ruler of the skies!"

"Yeaaaaahh…ahem…in the meantime, just try not to make too many waves here. Luz likes it here, so please don't do anything that'll get her expelled from Hexside," Willow pleaded.

"I just said earlier that I came here to see what all the fuss is about. If there's any drama to be had it won't be me who starts it," said Luz Lechuza. "But you can be sure I'll be the one to end it. Lo garantizo (I guarantee it)."

Gus and Willow were still skeptical of Luz Lechuza, but there was little they could do to dissuade her. They weren't sure if she could use magic like Luz's Kamen Rider magic, or the glyphs, or even their type of magic, but they didn't want to risk upsetting the Phantom, since she was essentially in control of Luz's body.

"Alright, then your first class is–"

"Abominations 101, I know," Luz Lechuza interrupted, making Gus do a double take at how she knew that. "I may be trapped inside of her, but that doesn't mean I don't pay attention. Now you two go off to your classes, and I'll be off to mine."

Reluctantly, the two witches did just that, glancing over their shoulders every other step until they were gone from Luz Lechuza's sight. The possessing Phantom rolled her eyes at their overabundance of caution around her, their concern for the human girl's wellbeing was cute, but unneeded. Luz Lechuza wasn't lying about keeping Luz's body safe, if something happened to it, then something would happen to La Lechuza, so it was in her best interest to keep Luz alive and well. At least until she could figure out a way to separate herself from the annoying teenager.

"Luz!"

Luz Lechuza glanced over her shoulder and noticed Amity Blight coming her way. Ah, the girl that has a great infatuation with this human. Oh, I shall have much fun with her. Luz Lechuza turned around and smirked coyishly at Amity. "Hello, Amity."

Amity stopped in her tracks, leaving a couple of feet between them. She looked Luz up and down, something about her was different. "Are you okay, Luz?"

"Never better, Ami, why do you ask?"

Amity blushed. "AMI"?! Was that a pet name?! Did Luz just give me a pet name?! Flustered, Amity tried to compose herself. "Oh, uh, n-no reason! Y-You just seem…I don't know…different, I guess."

Luz Lechuza stepped forward a bit, bringing her face just a bit closer to Amity's. "Oh? How so?"

Amity gulped, her heart thumbed against her ribcage, threatening to dislodge itself from the bile sack attached to it. "I-I-I can't quite put it into words…!"

"Hmm, well then, I guess you'll just have to spend some time with me to figure out the right words, won't you?" Luz Lechuza asked.

"Uh…I…"

"Let's go, we'll be late for class if we just stand here for too long," said Luz Lechuza as she began walking away.

Amity snapped herself out of the stupor that Luz Lechuza put her in and hurriedly strode up beside the Latina, keeping pace with a somehow more confident Luz. As the two girls walked down the hallway, they noticed Boscha's group coming towards them. Her group had lost a member in Skara, now only Cat, Amelia, and Bo were left among Boscha's crew. After the Bard Competition, Skara officially broke ties with Boscha and instead started hanging around Luz's group, since Amity was included in the group, her parents wouldn't say much about it since she was still associating with a Blight.

However, that just seemed to make Boscha angrier. While she hadn't done anything lately, they knew it was only a matter of time before the triclops decided to take revenge. Something that Luz Lechuza disliked, an enemy should be stamped out, at the very least, Luz should show the cretin who her true superior was. The whole secret identity thing was a pain in the tail feathers as far as Luz Lechuza was concerned.

Boscha seemed to finally notice the duo approaching, her amused grin changed to disdain as she got closer. "Well, if it isn't Luzzer, and Amity."

"Boscha, nice to see you," said Luz Lechuza in her above all tone.

That very tone threw off the girls, including Boscha. "Normally I can't stand that upbeat, goody-goody attitude of yours. But this tone in your voice really irritates me."

"Tch, that's funny, because your mere presence annoys me," Luz Lechuza shot back.

Amity, Amelia, Bo, and Cat all gasped when they heard Luz say that. Boscha, for her part, was more stunned than angry. "What did you just say, human?"

"I said you irritate me, demon. You don't even bother to call me by my name, it's always 'that human' or 'human' this or 'human' that, or your marginally more creative name of 'Luzzer', ha, like I haven't heard that before!" Luz Lechuza glared directly at Boscha, advancing on her like the predator that she was. "You keep trying to put me down, but only because it's to keep your own sad truth from coming out."

Boscha started to back up, which was astonishing to the other girls as Boscha never backed away from anyone who was threatening to get in her face, but there was something about Luz that didn't feel right, something that made Boscha back away. It was like a primal fear that she couldn't suppress. "What the in Titan's name are you talking about…?!"

Before Boscha realized it, her back was against the locker. Luz thrust out her left hand and slammed it against the locker next to the triclop's ear, causing her to jump a bit from the sudden loud sound in her ear.

"Is that this will be the height of your achievement, tu pajarito pavoneándose (you little strutting bird). Like how you can only feel superior to others within the walls of this school, but out there," Luz Lechuza threw her thumb towards the window that showed the outside. "You're just another weakling."

"I'm not weak!" Boscha growled.

Luz Lechuza's glare intensified, making Boscha shrink in on herself. "Mmm, yeah, keep telling yourself that, demon." Luz Lechuza raised her left hand and flicked Boscha on the nose, making the witchling yelp. "Amity let's head to class, I'm sorry, but it looks like we might be a little late."

Amity started walking towards Luz and then the two of them walked away from Boscha's group. The young Blight girl didn't know what to do or say after that, she never saw Luz act that way. While part of her was concerned about this shift in personality, another part of her was slightly excited by it.

"Luz…are you alright?" Amity asked.

Oh, shoot…I overstepped on that one. "I'll be honest with you, Ami, I'm not…" Luz Lechuza confessed. "I had an accident last night…there was an explosion due to some potions Eda was making, I hit my head, and now…I'm like this."

Amity stopped in her tracks and looked at Luz with wide eyes. "W-What?! A-Are you alright?! Do you need to go to the Healing Coven?! If it's about money, we just need to use my name and they'll do whatever they can!"

Luz Lechuza raised her hands up in a stopping motion and said, "Calm down, Ami, calm down. I'm fine, it's just a matter of waiting it out, I'll be back to normal soon. Or what constitutes 'normal' for me anyway."

"Oh…" Amity fidgeted a bit; she was obviously worried after hearing that. "Are you sure you don't need a Healer?"

Luz Lechuza grinned and stepped closer to Amity, causing her to jump a bit. "I'm very sure, amiga. Unless you want to take me back to the Owl House and personally nurse me back to health? I honestly wouldn't mind that.

Amity's face turned completely red as she began sputtering and trying to form a coherent sentence and failing miserably at it.

Oh, she is such a joy to tease. "Actually, I just had an idea." Luz Lechuza reached out and gently caressed Amity's cheek. "How about we hang out, just the two of us."

Amity's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "J-Just the two of us?!"

"Yep, no Augustus, no Willow, Skara, anyone. Just us."

"J-Just us?!"

"Yes, compared to everyone else in this place I consider you to be the most competent and talented out of the bunch. And thereby, worth my time." Luz Lechuza removed her hand and smiled coyly at Amity. "Now, Ami, let's get going."

Amity was still taken aback by the offer, utterly frozen in place by the words that Luz spoke to her. It was right around this time that Inner Amity decided to put in her two snails.

"Huh…well…that was…uh…wow. I'm kinda speechless on this one. Where was this Luz a few months ago, am I right? Hey, I'm talking to you."

Amity had no response.

"Did you just shut down? Wow, you're a gay mess Little Mess Perfect."

Luz Lechuza stopped and looked over her shoulder, noticing that Amity hadn't budged an inch from the spot where they were. The possessing Phantom grinned and walked back to the youngest Blight, without a word she reached out and gently grabbed Amity's right wrist and began leading her down the hallway to their class.

She's holding my hand…Luz is holding my hand…!

"Technically, she's holding our wrist."

I don't give a flying flip right now!

Luz Lechuza could tell that this girl was smitten with her, well, the owner of this body anyway. She wondered how flustered she get make Amity Blight become before the end of school, and how much more when they had their little outing?

This will be fun; I almost feel sorry for this witch. This human is oblivious as all get out and can't see the signs right in front of her. Oh well, her obliviousness will be my fun. Heh, heh.

A/N: Brace yourselves y'all, in one from this chapter's release, central US time, a new Rider legend will take place alongside our dear Luz. Or, should I say, legends? "Heroes From Another World". Don't miss it!