Bring us hope, Kamen Rider Witch!

by Michael Ravencroft

On a blood moonlit night, Luz is subjected to an ancient ritual that was supposed to pull her into the depths of despair, but somehow she survived. Not long after, monsters known as Phantoms start attacking, threatening those she loves. A mysterious Wizard appears and offers Luz the tools she'll need to defend her friends, and become the hero she was meant to be. It's SHOWTIME!

27. Episode 27: Love Starved FINALE

A/N: Hope you're all caught up on "Heroes From Another World".

OMAC001: indeed on both counts.

starwing1995: I'd have to either rewatch all of Gravity Falls or start it a copule of years or so aftr the main story. But if I were going to do that, it'd be crossedover with Kamen Rider Double (W), I see Dipper as more the brains of Double and Mable the brawn (or body for double).

---

Two days had passed since the incident in the woods and Amelia decided to take up Ezra and Circe on their offer. And she was glad she did, their date was so wonderful, Ezra was kind and quirky, but he wasn't above showing his tough side whenever someone made a pass at Amelia. Circe was confident and bold, and very tactile in her shows of affection, but despite her toughness, she had a gentle side to her that Amelia loved. They were opposites of each other, but were very much in love with each other, Amelia didn't think she belonged anywhere in such a relationship.

However, they proved her wrong, they clicked well, and now, she not only had a boyfriend but a girlfriend as well. This newfound happiness did not go unnoticed at school, while at lunch, Boscha had been staring at Amelia, noticing her obnoxiously giddy smile throughout the day and finally had enough.

"Okay, what's going on, Amelia?" Boscha asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why do you look so freakin' happy? I mean, the only time I've seen you this happy was after we won a Grudgby game, so, again, what's going on?" Boscha asked again.

Amelia wasn't sure if she should tell her group about her new paramours, it really wasn't any of their business, but then again, she was too happy to care what they thought. "Actually, I'm going out with someone."

Boscha, Cat, and Bo all gasped upon hearing that.

"Seriously?! With who?!" Cat asked.

"Is it Andrew?" Bo asked.

"Yeah, seriously, who? You've never mentioned it until now!"

"Well, that's because I just started going out with them," said Amelia with a blush.

The other three girls glanced between each other and mouthed the word, "Both?"

"Don't freak out, okay? But they're from Glandus High, and their names are Ezra and Circe. We're all three going out with each other."

Two out of three of Boscha's eyes twitched upon hearing this. Not only was Amelia going out with someone, but she was going out with two people, and from Glandus. Boscha leaned back in her seat and sighed heavily. "Okay, you know they're playing you right?"

Amelia furrowed her brow. "Ugh, of course you'd say that."

"Because it's true! Look, Glandus is still peeved that we've been kicking their butts at Grudgby, and they know who's on our team! Don't you think it's a little strange that two Glandus kids want to date you?! Who does that?!"

"They do, and they're very open about it. And they're not trying to 'play me', we've been on a couple of dates over the last two days," said Amelia.

Boscha rolled all three of her eyes and responded, "And you think that's enough to think that they aren't planning on messing with you later?!"

Amelia glared at the triclops, rose to her feet, and replied, "They don't even play Grudgby, so there's nothing in it for them, at least where that's concerned! Is it that hard to believe that more than one person likes me?!"

Boscha rose to match Amelia's height, which didn't work quite as well as the Plant Track witch had about a good two to three inches on her. "Someone, probably not. More than one, less likely. Two at the same time, are less than zero!"

"You really are that jealous of a person, aren't you?! You can't stand to see any of us happy with someone just because you're such a…a…WITCH that you intimidate and scare anyone who you could possibly like!"

That triggered Boscha as she reached out for Amelia and grabbed her by her shirt and brought her closer. "How dare you! I'm not scary! Take it back! Take! It! Back!"

"Whoa, Bosh, calm down!" Cat urged.

"If the Choosey Hat fits!" Amelia shot back.

"Amelia, stop it, that's going too far!" Bo insisted.

After a tense minute, Boscha released Amelia, continuing her glare at the tall witchling. "I don't want to see you again."

"Fine by me, now that I have Ezra and Circe, I'm happy! I don't need to hang around you anymore!" Amelia turned to her two friends and added, "Bo, Cat, I'm not angry with you. We're still friends, even if you still decide to hang out with her."

"Tch!"

Amelia grabbed her tray and walked away from their table. Bo couldn't stand this and looked at Boscha. "Bosh, what's with you?! Why did you say all that to her?!"

"Because she's being played! I know she is! And if she's too stupid to see that, then she deserves whatever's going to happen to her!" Boscha exclaimed.

Cat chimed in and said, "Say you're right, are you really okay with them messing with her? They could make her do something she doesn't want to do!"

"She's apparently a big girl, she can take care of her damn self," said Boscha with venom in her voice. "If they plan on humiliating her later, then that's on her!"

Bo and Cat sighed remorsefully and sat back down, though the atmosphere was still tense. Boscha continued to look in the direction where Amelia walked off to, and after a minute she growled and said, "I'm going to the bathroom."

Boscha didn't care if they thought that was where she was going, it wasn't like she needed to justify herself to them. She was going to the restroom, and if she happened to see Amelia on her way there, then, well, she didn't know what she was going to do, but that bridge would be crossed when she came to it.

"She's such a jerk and I can't stand it sometimes!"

Boscha stopped when she heard the familiar voice of Amelia coming from around the corner. She crept along the wall and angled her ear to hear better, but it wasn't working as well as she hoped. The Potion Track witch drew a spell circle near her ear, and suddenly the sound quality and volume got much sharper and louder. She used this spell to help her eavesdrop on other kids in school, at least when she wanted to know the best gossip going around or keep track of her own fame in the school. Boscha angled her ear again in that same direction and was now able to hear what was being said.

"Why can't she just be happy for someone else for a change?!" Amelia vented. "Sorry, for bothering you guys with this…I just needed someone to talk to."

{Hey, that's what being in a relationship means.} Boscha heard a boy's voice, Ezra, she assumed. {You're there for your girlfriend when she's feeling down. Or wants to vent.}

{Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've listened to this one complain about how Mathias keeps doing stupid things that he needs to clean up.} The second was a girl's voice, that had to be Circe.

{He's my big brother, and yet, I'm the one who has to look out for him?! How backwards is that?!}

{Ya sure you still want to be with us? You're gonna have to listen to that a lot,} said Circe.

Amelia giggled. "I'm sure I can manage."

{Anyway, don't let Boscha get you down.} Circe continued. {The girl sounds full of herself, and I doubt she's all that if no one's asked her out.}

Boscha's face reddened with anger. Oh, so they're trash talking me now!

{Seriously, don't let her get in your head. We would never do that to you, Amelia. We want this to work, but…} Ezra let that hang in the air for a moment.

"NO!" Amelia replied. "No, I want this to work! I want to go out with you two! You two make me happier than I've ever been! I won't let what Boscha said get to me, or what anyone else says! I trust you two."

{I had no doubts,} said Ezra.

{Anyway, we should head back to class before they realize we're playing hooky on the roof. See you for our date after school?} Circe asked.

"I'm looking forward to it after all that," said Amelia.

Boscha canceled the spell and proceeded to the restroom. So, she doesn't think those two are tricking her? Tch, alright Ezra, Circe, let's just see how true that is. Then Amelia will see that I'm right, as usual, and she'll come crawling back to me. And I'll let her because I do have a sense of mercy from time to time.

---

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!"

"THAT'S FINE WITH US! YOU'RE WORTH THE SAME EITHER WAY!" Eda shouted.

The Owl House crew started their first bounty hunt, Eda drew up a plan to capture their first mark and they were currently executing it. The bounty was a demon named Flint, wanted for various thefts across the Boiling Isles. His bounty was at least a thousand snails, it wasn't much, but they needed to start small and work their way up as the Bounty Hunter Control Office saw them as rookies and rookies weren't allowed to go after higher ones until they've completed a few low-level bounties.

With that being said, Flint was on the run as Eda chased him on her staff. The Owl Lady had a sash that was strapped with multiple bottles of potions, Eda grabbed one and tossed it like a grenade ahead of the thief. When the bottle hit the ground it exploded, causing Flint to dart the other way, just like Eda planned. Without her magic, Eda knew she had to think of other ways to get bounties and this was the best she could come up with for the time being. Outmaneuvering their prey and taking them down in a trap.

"NOW LILY!"

Flint came to a sudden stop when he saw another witch fly overhead and toss down more of those potion bottles. The bottles struck the ground around Flint, and suddenly vines sprouted from the ground and wrapped around his legs and arms.

"Got him!" Lilith exclaimed as she flew down on her staff.

"You think you got me!" Flint corrected.

What neither of the two Clawthorne sisters knew was that Flint had drawn a spell circle while on the run and had a delayed spell ready just in case of capture. The moment that Lilith was close enough, Flint activated the spell which released a burst of energy that tore apart the vines. Flint drew another spell circle and released a magic bolt right in Lilith's direction, on pure instinct, Lilith began drawing her own spell circle to create a barrier. Unfortunately, she forgot about the curse, and in so doing the circle evaporated before her. The magic bolt struck her in the chest, thankfully it was a non-lethal blast and only managed to knock Lilith off her staff and make her lose her sash of potions.

Now on the ground and without a means of defense, Lilith was at the mercy of the demon. "You're Lilith Clawthorne ain't cha'? The girl what used to be the head of the Emperor's Coven, ya?"

Lilith's was response was only to growl at the criminal.

"Ain't so high and mighty now, huh? Guess it's me lucky day, I wonder if anyone will give me somethin' for bringin' you to the Black Market?!" Flint thought aloud as he drew two spell circles and readied to capture Lilith.

"BURNING EYES!"

Lilith heard that and shut her own eyes tight. Luz jumped out of the bushes and slammed two of her Light Glyphs together and funneled her mana into them, resulting in a blinding flash of light that hit Flint's eyes and made the criminal wail in pain.

"MY EYES! MY BLOOMIN' EYES! YOU WITCH, YOU TRICKED ME!" Flint cried.

Luz took out her Plant Glyph paper and slammed it against the ground. Vines sprouted and wrapped around Flint tightly, and with an extra helping of mana, Luz made the vines bloom flowers that released a blue colored pollen cloud. A few seconds after the pollen was released, Flint became very drowsy, and then went silent, now fast asleep. Luz wiped her brow and sighed. "Whew, didn't think I'd make it in time. You okay…Lilith?"

The older witch picked herself up and dusted off her clothes. "I am okay, Luz…Thank you."

Luz awkwardly rubbed her arm and said, "No problem."

Eda flew in and saw the end result of their work. "Hot dang, we got the creep!"

"Edalyn, you never did say what this demon was stealing that earned him that bounty," said Lilith.

"Oh, I didn't?" Eda asked.

Luz and Lilith shook their heads.

"Eh, probably because if I did you two probably wouldn't come within an inch of him. He's a panty thief!"

"WHAT?!" Lilith and Luz exclaimed in disgust. Both girls closed their legs and crossed one arm protectively over that area out of pure reflexive instinct.

Eda chuckled a bit. "Yeah, this guy likes to sneak into the houses of 'attractive' witches and steal their underwear. He's a slippery little sicko, but we managed to take him down."

"EDALYN! I can't believe you chose this disgusting pervert as our first bounty hunt! And with the child no less!" Lilith scolded. "What if he tried something with her?!"

Eda, strangely enough, didn't bat an eye. "Please, you think I'd bring Luz along if I thought she'd be in danger like that? No. Despite what you may think, I'm not that irresponsible. Besides, this guy has a type, he only goes for mature witches, kids aren't his thing. So, if anyone was in danger, it was us."

"That doesn't make it any better!"

"Calm down, Lilith…don't get your panties in a bunch, HA!"

Lilith's face went red with both anger and embarrassment. "That's not funny, Edalyn!"

Despite the fact that they just apprehended a pervert, Luz couldn't help but find the banter between Lilith and Eda a bit heartwarming. Even though it was Lilith's fault that Eda was cursed, the Owl Lady seemed to have forgiven her, or at the very least, was starting to forgive her.

Maybe I should make more of an effort to forgive her.

"Alright, enough of the fun, time to collect our reward," said Eda.

Luz used her mana to will the vines to cut off and then to regrow to form a tether so that they could drag the sicko off to jail. Eda tied Flint to her staff and had Luz ride on Lilith's staff. Which was awkward considering everything that was still unsaid between them. The ride to the bounty office was just as awkward.

"Are you okay back there? Not going to fast, am I?" Lilith asked.

"No, I'm good, I've gone faster on Owlbert, so you don't need to slow down for me," said Luz.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure if you're used to going fast on a staff…I really don't know much about you, honestly," said Lilith.

Luz was silent for a moment and said, "And that's my fault." The Latina sighed heavily and said, "We haven't really worked out what happened at the Conformatorium, have we?"

Lilith sighed as well. "No, we…we haven't."

The silence returned for a moment before Lilith spoke, "I am sorry, truly, for what I did to Edalyn. There hasn't been a day when I wasn't looking for a way to undo my mistake. When Emperor Belos told me he would cure Edalyn if I brought her into the Coven, I was ecstatic. I thought, 'Finally, now Edalyn and I can be in the Emperor's Coven together like we dreamed, and my mistake can be undone!' Sadly…as you know…that was never his intention. I was just another tool of his, to be used until my usefulness was at its end."

Lilith glanced over her shoulder at the young human girl.

"I don't expect forgiveness from you, because I really haven't forgiven myself for my transgressions…"

Luz gripped Lilith's shirt a little tighter and said, "But, Eda has. Because she's your familia, your sister. A-And I want to forgive you, I just think it's going to take some time."

Lilith smiled a little at Luz and said, "I guess it's a start to admit that we're both trying, at least."

Luz smiled back at Lilith. "Yeah, one step at a time, right?"

Lilith nodded.

Soon the trio made their way back to Bones Borough, the Owl House crew landed in the square and brought Flint to the bounty office with Eda triumphantly saying, "Boom! One panty thief freshly delivered!"

Lilith and Luz wished she didn't say that out loud as it drew some eyes in their direction. The demon running the office looked over the counter and saw Flint still fast asleep. "Huh, didn't think you'd actually get 'em. Guy's more slippery than a greased-up war-hog."

"Doesn't he mean, 'warthog'?" Luz asked Lilith.

"Oh no, you heard him right. War-hogs produce a natural grease, and when agitated, they light themselves on fire and turn into raging fireballs with tusks and sharp teeth. They were mainly used as a means to disrupt enemy lines during battles, hence the name," Lilith informed.

"This world gets stranger each day…"

While Luz was waiting for Eda to collect their bounty, she spotted something that caught her eye, or to be more precise, someone from school. In the distance she saw one of Boscha and Skara's friends, Amelia. She was with two other kids she hadn't seen before, and they were wearing different uniforms from Hexside ones. "Huh, um, Lilith, what are those uniforms?"

Lilith glanced in the direction that Luz was pointing and saw the witch students she was talking about. "Oh, those are Glandus High uniforms, Hexside's rival school. We crushed them, often, in Grudgby."

"Huh…" Luz continued to watch them, and as she did, she noticed how both the girl and boy witch were getting affectionate with Amelia. "Huh…?" She then watched as the trio walked off in another direction, but when they did, Luz noticed Boscha trailing behind them, sneaking around as if she was following them. "Huh? Um, Eda, do you mind if I go, I need to look into something."

"Oh, yeah, go ahead kid. Just be careful!" Eda added.

"I will! Especially with this neat cloak you made me, thanks, bye!"

Luz ran after Boscha, weaving through the crowd and making sure she wasn't seen by the triclops, at least not until she wanted to be. As she followed Boscha, Luz also got to see Amelia and the two Glandus witches continue doing, whatever it was they were doing. Boscha seemed to be keeping a low profile, sticking to alleys and corners, just out of sight, but close enough to see what was going on. The more Luz watched Amelia and the Glandus witches, the more she noticed how they weren't acting like she would around Gus and Willow. Amelia was blushing from time to time, the girl Glandus student slid up next to Amelia to the point that their hips were touching. And the boy Glandus student would playfully tease Amelia, only for the latter to playfully swat at him.

The more that Luz watched, the more she realized that this was more romantic behavior, but…did that mean…? She's going out with TWO people?! Is that why Boscha's watching them?!

"A certain witchling probably wouldn't mind this scenario."

Wait what?

"Nothing, nothing, carry on."

Luz figured this was what was happening, but she needed to confirm it, and right now there was only one person who seemed to be suspicious enough about what she was seeing to ask. Stealthily, Luz made her way over to Boscha, and with quick movements, reached out and drew Boscha back into the alley. The triclops flailed and kicked as she thought she was getting kidnapped and wasn't about to go without a fight.

"Boscha! Stop it! It's me, Luz!"

Boscha stopped her resistance and relaxed a bit, allowing Luz to release her. The triclops demon girl turned around to face the human girl and glared in annoyance at her. "Human?! What are you doing here?!"

"I saw you following Amelia, and I was just wondering what was going on over there. 'Cause it looks like Amelia's going out with both those Glandus students," said Luz.

Boscha rolled her eyes and said, "Because she is going out with them."

Luz's eyes widened. "Y-You can do that here?! Go out with more than one person?!"

"Yeah, of course, why is that so shocking to you?" Boscha asked.

"W-Well, I mean, polygamy is a thing in the Human Realm, but it's not exactly looked upon favorably," Luz explained.

Boscha blinked her eyes. "Wow, your world sounds really backwards. Next you'll be telling me they frown upon girls dating girls and boys dating boys."

Luz hissed through her teeth, but it was obvious that was kind of the case.

"Wow, remind me never to visit your world, human. Now shoo, I'm busy!" Boscha went back to her hiding spot and kept watch on Amelia and the Glandus students.

"So, if your world doesn't have a problem with more than one person dating each other, why are you following them?" Luz asked.

Boscha groaned loudly. "UGH, because Amelia's a naïve little girl who's going to get her heart broken by two kids from our rival school, just to mess with her and our team! And I want to be there when this blows up in her face! She was acting all high and mighty because she's got a girlfriend and a boyfriend, but there's no way two people that hot are going out with her just because!"

Luz placed her hands on her hips and gave Boscha an incredulous look. "And why is that? I think Amelia's cute, is it that hard to think that someone actually likes her for her?"

"No, as a matter of fact, but two people, and from our rival school? No, not in a million years. They're up to something, and I'm going to find out what!" Boscha declared.

Luz crossed her arms over her chest and gave the triclops a deadpan look. "Oh, alright, I see what's going on here. You're jealous, aren't you?"

Boscha turned away from watching Amelia and faced Luz directly. "I am not jealous!"

"Look, it's not unusual to be jealous of someone for having something you don't, especially if it's love related, but you can't just go looking for a reason to break them up," said Luz.

"UGH! Why am I even trying to justify myself to you?! Go fry up owls in the Owl Shack or whatever, I'm busy!"

"Why does everyone think that's all I do at the Owl House?" A question left for another day, she supposed. "No, I'm going to watch with you."

"Why?"

"One: to make sure you don't mess with Amelia or her BF and GF, two: because if they are only dating her to eventually break her heart, then I want to be there to protect her," said Luz with determination. "And to give those two a good thumping!"

Boscha raised her brow at Luz and asked, "Again, why? What's in it for you? Amelia's not part of your Luzer Group, why would you even bother?"

Luz's expression saddened a bit as she said, "Because…no one deserves to be led on only to be crushed later…"

The triclops demon girl felt the pain in Luz's voice. Boscha sighed and said, "Fine, you can tag along, but don't you dare slow me down."

"I promise to be a speedy speedster!"

"Ugh…"

---

A couple of hours had passed by since Luz and Boscha decided to tail Amelia, Ezra, and Circe. There were several instances where Boscha was about to call out Amelia whenever Ezra and Circe did something suspicious, only for Luz to stop her at the last minute to let it play out. And thankfully, each of those instances ended with either Circe or Ezra doing something funny to make Amelia laugh, or in some cases, Amelia teased either Ezra or Amelia, her game was steadily stepping up.

Luz and Boscha finally took a break when those three sat down for a little bite to eat. Boscha grabbed something for herself. Luz looked at the "not dog" she was eating intensely.

"I'm not buying you one, go buy your own," said Boscha.

"I didn't get a cut of the bounty earlier before I left, so I'm a little short…" Luz admitted.

"And that's my problem how?" Boscha opened her mouth to eat the not dog but was getting distracted by the growling of Luz's stomach, and the constant staring. "UGH! Take it, I'm getting another one!"

Luz happily ate the offered food, she didn't ask what the not dog was made of, which was fine, because neither did she ask what a hotdog was made of. Boscha returned not too long after giving the not dog to Luz and sat back down. The two girls ate in relative silence, each one taking turns watching the trio from afar.

"So, human, what did you mean earlier when you said you know how it felt?" Boscha asked.

"Oh…yeah…that's…"

"Look, you don't have to say anything, I'm just curious and bored."

"No, it's okay." Luz said as she took another bite of the not dog. "There was this girl I liked at school, her name's Zoey, she was the captain of the cheerleading squad. She was blonde, with this cute pink streak in her hair, and pale blue eyes that shimmered like stardust in the night."

Boscha put on a coy smile. "Huh, sounds like you had the hots for this girl, and it sounds like you liked to aim high, human."

Luz chuckled a little. "I guess I did…I really didn't care that she was a cheerleader, or popular, I just liked her. And I thought I was reading something from her, you know, getting vibes and signals? One day I was alone in class with her, no one had arrived yet, so it was just me and Zoey. She glanced at me, gave me a smile, and then looked away. That day, I decided to get up the courage to tell her how I felt, so I grabbed a seat in the desk closet to her…"

"Hey, Zoey…"

"Oh, hey, Luz."

"Um…you look nice today, you going to a game later?"

"Yeah, we have a game against St. Isabelle High School today."

"Oh, yeah, that's that preppy private school, right?"

"Huh, yeah, and they think they're better than us because of it, but we'll stomp them into the ground."

"Cool…Cool! Go team!" Luz's face tinted red. "Um…Zoey, I know I've been kind of annoying when I was at cheer squad tryouts…"

"Yeah, that inside out eyelid thing was a bit creepy."

"And I know I kind of went overboard with the sausages when pretended to disembowel myself on stage for the play…"

"Actually, now that I look back on it, that was a nice touch. A little over the top, but a nice touch. You had me going Noceda, I really thought your guts were spilling out."

Luz chuckled nervously. "Yeah, that was a little messed up. B-But I…I can tone it down, you know, if it's for someone…"

Zoey paused and glanced over at Luz. "What are you saying?"

"Zoey…I think I like you. Like-like I mean…"

The blonde's eyes widened. "Oh…Oh…I didn't know you were like that…"

"I like boys, too! I'm not just exclusively into girls! I just…feel like you've been giving me signals and–!"

"Pause right there, Noceda." Zoey interrupted. "Wow, just wow, I mean, I was being nice to you, but I didn't think you had the hots for me."

"Uh…I…I was just joking! Haha! Weird ol' Luz strikes again!"

"Yeah, uh, no, you were totally serious just now. I can't believe I was right about you," said Zoey.

"What?"

"I had a sneaking suspicion that you were a lesbo, and that you were eyeing me, but dang, you really bought it."

Luz couldn't say anything, she didn't know what to say right now.

"Heh, don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone about you. I'm not that much of a witch. So long as you do what I say."

"So, she decided to make me her gofer for a few weeks, and then she let me off the hook and never said anything to anyone. I guess I should be grateful that she kept her word, but…it still stung that she knew how I felt and led me on like that just to find out if I was bi…" Luz confessed.

Boscha listened to Luz's tale and found herself strangely sympathetic towards the human girl. "Wow, that's messed up, and that's coming from me. She used your orientation as blackmail to keep you on a leash. That's…wow, even I'm ticked off about that."

"It's just another reason why I like it here, besides the magic, you guys don't care if I like both or one over the other, because it's just how you all are, you have your preferences, and no one questions them. And that's also why I want to make sure Amelia's safe, no one deserves to be led on like that and have their heart broken," said Luz.

Boscha rubbed the back of her head with her free hand and sighed. "I'm not all about that touchy feely crap, but…if there's one thing I can guarantee I'm not going to make fun of you for, or blackmail you with, it's not going to be that. This 'Zoey' sounded like she wanted to shame you, but you can't shame someone for something that everyone else is doing, not here."

Luz smiled at Boscha, perhaps she wasn't as mean as she let on. "Thank you, Boscha. I know you don't like me, but it means a lot that you at least feel that way about what happened to me."

Boscha glanced away from Luz. "Geez, don't make a big deal out of it, human. Ugh, is this how you lured Amity away? Well, I'm not falling for it." Boscha's left ear twitched, making the triclops turn in the direction of the trio.

"What's wrong?" Luz asked.

"Shh! I can't hear them if you're yapping!" Boscha shot back.

"Well, it'd be nice if I could hear them, too."

Boscha rolled all three of her eyes, she forcibly turned Luz's head to the side and drew a spell circle around her left ear. Once it was done, Luz could now here things a lot more clearly from that one ear. "Now shut up and listen!"

Luz did just that as she angled herself towards where Amelia and her two Glandus lovers were sitting.

"This was really fun, and I needed this after the day I had," said Amelia.

"I'll bet, Boscha sounds like a real, well, you know," said Ezra.

"Seriously, I don't even know why you hang around someone like that, she sounds toxic as all get out," said Circe.

Luz saw Boscha visibly frown from hearing the insults.

"Believe it or not she wasn't always like this, obnoxious and full of herself, always, but like I said, it's like she's recently dialed it up, and for the love of Titan I don't know why," Amelia admitted.

Ezra leaned close to Amelia and draped an arm over her shoulders. "Hey, you don't have to worry about her. You're not her keeper or anything, and she's not the one who dictates who you hang out with."

Amelia smiled up at Ezra and said, "Well, that's true."

"Ez is right, Amy. I think you should dump that girl, leave all that toxicity behind you and start fresh with some other group of friends. You said there was one who broke away and is dating someone she loves. Why not ask them to go out with us, make it a double date?" Circe asked.

Amelia seemed to think about the offer and said, "I'd like that, but maybe a little later, I kinda want you two all to myself for now."

"I don't mind that," said Ezra.

"I feel the same way, cutie," said Circe.

Boscha growled in anger, she needed to expose these two for the fakes she knew they are. Luz however, found the whole thing sweet, but she wasn't oblivious to Boscha's anger. Yeah, it wasn't really nice that they were talking smack about Boscha behind her back, but Luz couldn't exactly blame them. Still, the more that Luz looked at the scene before her, and then to Boscha, the more she thought that this wasn't just about Boscha being right about them, perhaps Boscha wanted to protect Amelia and just couldn't openly admit it to anyone, even herself?

"They're on the move, let's go!" Boscha stated as she cancelled the spell for both of them and started moving.

Luz followed close behind as they continued to track down the trio. A few more minutes of following later and Amelia finally parted ways with them. "Well, we followed them, and they didn't do anything to Amelia other than make her happy."

"Tch, you think we're done following them? The real spying starts now! Yeah, they act all lovey dovey when they're in public and around her, but see what happens when they're alone," said Boscha.

Luz groaned, she could understand looking out for a friend, if Boscha would just admit that it would make this a little more bearable. But nevertheless, Luz followed Boscha, if for no other reason than to prove the triclops wrong. They watched as the two Glandus kids made their way into the woods, off the beaten path. Luz was starting to worry that they might see something inappropriate if they continued, what else would a boy and girl do alone in the woods together?

The two Glandus kids eventually made it to a clearing, where Luz and Boscha hid behind a bush. Boscha used the same spell again on both of them and listened in on their conversation.

"Damn, we have the girl eating out of the palm of our hands," said Ezra.

"It's not like it's hard, she's so desperate to be in love that she's practically starved for it. It would be sad if it wasn't so pathetic," said Circe.

A smug look appeared on Boscha's face, at the same time, a shocked expression befell Luz's. It annoyed her that Boscha was right, but she was angrier at the two Glandus kids who were leading Amelia on.

"What do you think, Inc? You think she's ripe enough to become a Phantom?" Circe asked.

"Ha, easily, we just need to set her up nicely and then – BAM! – hello new Phantom," said Ezra.

Luz's eyes widened further as she realized what they were talking about, even more so when she figured out what they really were.

"Boscha, we need to–!"

"I KNEW IT!" Boscha exclaimed as she jumped out of the bush.

"BOSCHA!" Luz hissed under her breath.

Ezra and Circe turned their heads in the direction of Boscha, who was slowly advancing on them with a look of superiority.

"I knew you two didn't like her like that! You were just using her! And what's all this about Phantoms?! I want answers!" Boscha demanded.

Ezra and Circe glanced to each other and then back at Boscha.

"Huh, she must be that Boscha girl Amelia was on about," said Circe.

"Wow, did you stalk us this whole time?" Ezra asked.

"That's right! I wanted to see if you two weren't just messing with Amelia, and it turns out I was right, you were! Now either you break it off with her, or else!"

The two Glandus kids started laughing hard at the – at least to them – empty threat that Boscha posed to them. At the same time, Luz was facepalming herself, Boscha didn't know what she was getting herself into, and now she was about to put Luz in an impossible situation.

"What are you laughing about?! I'm Boscha Barbtalóne! I'm from one the highest-ranking noble witch families on the Isles! And if I wanted to, I could bury you two!" Boscha warned.

"Oh, Ezra, whatever shall we do?" Circe.

"I don't know Circe, maybe we should break it off with Amelia?"

Suddenly, navy blue light and hot pink light engulfed both Ezra and Circe, making Boscha back away in shock from the sudden display of power. When the light faded, Ezra and Circe were no longer witches, they were something else. Ezra's body was covered in a navy-blue exoskeleton, his toes turned into talons which raked the ground beneath him. Both his fingers were claw tipped, with his shoulders sporting two boney protrusions from them. His head had two long horns that curved upwards, he had no mouth or nose, but his eyes were glowing a bright blue. Upon his back were two leathery bat-like wings, the bone structure matched the coloring of his exoskeleton, while the membrane was a dull shade of blue, and down lower was a long tail with a spear shaped barb at the end. His form looked muscular yet lean, the perfect specimen of a male, built to entice and allure, this was the Phantom Incubus.

Circe's body also had exoskeletal armor, with claw tipped fingers and talon tipped toes. Her body was curvy, drawing attention to her hips, waist, and bust. Her head had two horns like Incubus but curved downwards to give the illusion of having long hair. Her bat-like wings were more petite than Incubus', instead of being attached at the shoulders, these were positioned at the lower middle of her back. Her eyes glowed a bright pink, and like her counterpart, had no mouth or nose to see. She too had a tail, but its tip was heart shaped, and on both of her forearms were boney protrusions like that of Incubus. She was a creature born to induce and invited lust from all who gazed upon her, she was the Phantom Succubus.

"I mean, after all, what are a couple of Phantoms compared to one of the 'highest-ranking noble witch families'," Incubus mocked.

Boscha's eyes widened with fear as she backed away from the monsters before her. "Y-You…Y-You're Phantoms, both of you?!"

"Ding, ding, ding! Give the demon girl a prize, she figured it out!" Succubus also mocked.

"W-Why are you after Amelia?!" Boscha asked.

"Real talk, she's a Gate, which means if we induce enough despair into that girl, she'll crack, and her Inner Phantom will break free. After that, say bye-bye to Amelia and hello to a brand-new Phantom," said Incubus.

"And all we had to do was get her to fall in love with us, and she so easily has, although our joint power may've accelerated the process a bit," said Succubus. "No one can resist us, we're exactly what either gender seeks, we're the perfect specimens. And we just love seeing lovestruck fools fall into despair, it's so much more profound and painful!"

Boscha glared at the monsters in anger as she said, "You damn monsters! How dare you toy with Amelia like that!" Boscha drew a spell circle, and immediately conjured a huge fireball.

"You want this one? Suc?" Incubus asked.

"I think I'll take it, I kinda want to see what she's got," said Succubus as she took a few steps forward. "C'mon, Bosh, hit me with your best shot!"

"YOU WANT IT, THEN YOU CAN HAVE IT!"

Boscha drew another circle, and increased the size of the fireball, funneling more of her magical power into it as she could, filling it with not only magic but her hatred for the monsters that wanted to hurt her friend and turn her into a monster like them. The fireball responded and grew until it was as big as a boulder. Boscha hefted the fireball over her head and threw it straight towards Succubus.

The pink Phantom didn't bat an eye as she grabbed the boney protrusion on her left forearm with her right hand. She pulled on it and it detached, once it did, the detached end began to emit a beam of light. With a flick of the wrist, Succubus cracked her energy whip straight at the fireball and cleaved it in two, sending both halves flying towards the sides and away from both Phantoms. The fireballs exploded once they hit the ground, bathing the area in flames.

Boscha stood there stunned at the display of power, but just then she sensed a stinging pain on her cheek. She placed her hand against her right cheek and found blood on her hand. Boscha just now realized she was cut; she had been cut and she didn't even feel it or see it. The attack Succubus just did must've been when it happened, she not only sliced her fireball in half, but also cut her at the same time.

"Do you get it, Bosh? Your title, your rank, it means nothing to a Phantom. There's literally nothing you can do to stop us."

Incubus stood beside Succubus and said, "You have two choices here, either you fight and die, or you can just go home, stay home, let things play out, and you live to see another day. Either way works for us, even if you told Amelia what happened here, she won't believe you."

Boscha looked down in defeat as she said, "You're right…she won't believe me."

Incubus and Succubus smiled in triumph, but strangely, so did Boscha.

"…If I hadn't been recording our entire conversation."

"What?!" The Phantoms exclaimed.

Now's your chance, human, get that to Amelia! Boscha thought.

Suddenly, a wave of flames and bolts of light came firing at the two Phantoms. Incubus and Succubus weren't scared of the attacks but were made to think twice when the flames and light beams hit them, causing sparks to erupt from their bodies as they took on damage. The two Phantoms were forced to fall back, not understanding how or why they were hurt from such spells. At the same time, a vine lashed out from the bush and pulled Boscha to where she and Luz hiding behind and wrapped itself around the triclops.

Boscha found herself back in the woods with Luz, who also had her Scroll in hand. "What the heck are you doing?! Why didn't you run away! You had everything on the Scroll, you can show Amelia and save her!"

"I'm not leaving you behind! It's pointless if you're dead, do you really think Amelia would be happy if she knew her friend died for her?!" Luz scolded.

Boscha didn't think that far, honestly, she didn't think the human would pick up on what she was doing, but she definitely didn't think that she'd save her like that."

"Let's go before they decide to attack!" Luz urged.

Luz and Boscha began running through the woods, but unfortunately, the Phantoms didn't wait long before attacking. They could hear their mocking, maniacal laughter echoing through the woods, causing both Luz and Boscha to stop in their tracks as they could not determine which direction the Phantoms' voices were coming from.

"You really think you'll get away from us?"

"On the contrary you'll come to us."

Suddenly, a pink mist started to waft through the air, followed by a blue mist. The two mists mingled in the air and had a strange, sweet smell to them. The smell of the mists invaded the nostrils of both girls, burning for a second before stopping. Their heads started to get fuzzy, and their heart rates began to quicken. They started to sweat a bit as if it were a hot summer's day.

"Wha-What's happening…?" Boscha asked.

"I…I don't know, why's it so hot?" Luz asked.

"No one can escape their desires, their lust. Everyone wants someone."

Through the haze of the mist, Luz saw someone, someone familiar. Her eyes finally came into focus, and she gasped when she saw who it was. "Z-Zoey…?"

~"Hey, Luz, it's been a while, hasn't it? You're looking, good."~

"I…I do?"

~"Yeah, you do."~ Zoey walked towards Luz, putting a little sway into her step for Luz's benefit. ~"I'm sorry for acting the way I did towards you, the truth is, I'm the same."~

"Y-You are?! You mean you like girls, too?!" Luz asked desperately.

Zoey reached out and cupped Luz's cheek. ~"I do, I was just scared when you said you liked me. But I got caught up in my popularity and became afraid of what other people would think about me."~

"I-I'm sorry…I should've thought more about how it would've inconvenienced you," Luz apologized.

~"No, if anything, I should be saying sorry. You didn't deserve what I did to you, just to make sure you'd never ask me out again. I should've been stronger and said the words I wanted to back then. So…how about I show you my answer…?"~

The loud screeching of an owl sounded off in her mind along with the words, "OPEN YOUR EYES, LUZ!"

The haze engulfing Luz's mind suddenly disappeared, revealing that the image of Zoey was nothing more than an illusion that faded away the moment she regained her senses. At least some of them, the heat in her body was still distracting her, but at least she was back in the moment.

"GET DOWN!" Boscha yelled as she tackled Luz to the ground.

The tackle came just in time as a pink energy whip sliced through the air, cutting through a tree. The tree started to fall in their direction, forcing Luz to grab ahold of Boscha as she rolled the both of them out of the path of the falling tree. The huge chunk of timber slammed against the ground with a mighty thud, shaking the ground a bit upon impact. Luz panted from the near-death experience, but then realized how close she was to Boscha. She was now on top of her, the demon girl staring up directly into the human girl's eyes. Their faces were red, and their pulses were still moving fast. There was a strong urge between them, an urge that wanted to push them into something, something that they both knew the other didn't want, but at same time felt right in the moment.

Boscha was the first one to come to her senses and said, "Get off me already, human! We need to run!"

Luz snapped out of it for the second time and responded, "Y-Yeah, you're right! Let's go!"

After helping Boscha up, they ran. They ran in a random direction as they lost their bearings while under the influence of the Phantoms' powers.

"Just give in, you two know you want to."

"Nothing wrong with indulging in blissful pleasure. Especially when it's something that your heart yearns for."

The words of the two Phantoms were like honey being poured into their ears, it was an assault on the senses. The mist that filled their noses, the sweet sounds of their voices in their ears, the strange feelings in their bodies, it was all just too much, complete sensory overload. They had to get away from them, away from their influence so they could think clearly and device a plan. Or at the very least, long enough for Luz to get away and transform.

However, neither of the two Phantoms were going to give her that time as the whips of Succubus continuously lashed at them from different directions. All the dodging they did made it hard for them to see what was coming up ahead, a steep drop that had both girls falling several feet downwards. Luz hurriedly took out an Ice Glyph and created an ice slide, both girls followed the slide all the way until it deposited them at the bottom. Now clear of the mist, the affects that it induced on them had considerably lessened.

"Oh man, what was all that back there?! I felt like I wanted to…!"

"Don't even say it!" Boscha exclaimed, her face still beat red. "Just keep running!"

"Look, up ahead!" Luz pointed towards the wall of the trench.

"A cave?!"

"You have better idea?!"

"Nope!"

"C'mon, we were all having so much fun up there! Don't run away!" Incubus stated.

The blue Phantom grabbed both bone protrusions on his shoulders and broke them off. Once he did, the detached ends generated blue glowing, curved energy blades. Incubus slashed the air in front of him and released two spinning crescent blades that spun like buzzsaws towards the two girls. They were nearly at the cave, but Luz quickly pushed Boscha, allowing the demon girl to get ahead of her. The two spinning crescents struck against the top of the entrance to the cave, exploding on impact and sending debris cascading down on the entrance. Luz managed to get inside, but not before a large rock struck against her head and knocked her out as the entrance closed behind her.

Incubus and Succubus landed outside the entrance, now completely covered by rocks.

"Do you think we should go in after them?" Succubus asked.

"Nah, they have no idea where they are out here, plus after inhaling our mist they're going to be messed up in the head for a while," said Incubus.

"Still probably, best we accelerate our plans. Tonight, we'll bring out a new Phantom! I can't wait to see that look on Amelia's face when we dump her!"

The two Phantoms flared their wings and took off into the sky, leaving their prey trapped in the cave.

WITCH

Luz groaned as she came to, her head was swimming and throbbing, she felt a little nauseous too, probably concussed.

"You're awake?" Luz glanced to her right and saw Boscha sitting up against the wall of the cave, an orb of light hovering next to her. "How are you feeling?"

Luz slowly got up and said, "Dizzy…a little nauseous, too."

"You got hit on the head with a rock, you also got a bump on your head too." Boscha slid next to Luz and had the human look at her directly. "I think you have a mild concussion; you should be fine but stay awake for the time being until you see a healer. Can't take chances."

Luz blinked and said, "Wow…how do you know that?"

"When you've played Grudgby as many times as I have, you know the signs of a concussion, both from experiencing it and what you've seen in your teammates. So, like I said, stay awake, and don't fall asleep. I'm not a healer so I can't say for sure how bad it is, but better safe than sorry," said Boscha.

"Okay…" Luz rested her back against the cave and spoke in her mind. Lala, can you hear me? Is it as bad as she says?

"The witch's diagnosis is spot on. It's not bad and I can fix the damage quickly, you'll be okay in a few minutes. But until then, stay awake, I do not want to take over and have to spend time talking to her."

Heh-heh, I got it. Thanks, Lala.

"Those were Phantoms, right?" Boscha asked.

"Yeah, yeah they were," Luz answered.

"That's the second time I've seen a Phantom up close like that. Are they…are they going to do the same thing that those other Phantoms did? Like what they did to Half-A-Witch – er – Willow? And to Skara?"

Luz gave a small nod. "That's what they do, they find people who have Phantoms inside them, ones who can come out if they're brought to despair."

"What will happen if she becomes a Phantom? Amelia. What will happen to her?" Boscha asked in a desperate tone.

"From what I understand, the Phantom inside Amelia will consume her soul, and afterwards, will take on Amelia's form and memories, but the Amelia we know won't be there anymore. She'll be a Phantom who looks and sounds like her but is not her. Just like Ezra and Circe, that's how they can move about so easily. They have all the memories of their hosts, but the soul of their host is gone, only the Phantom remains," Luz explained.

"I won't let that happen to her! I'm ticked at her, but I'm not so ticked that I want that to happen to her!" Boscha pulled out her Scroll and began typing up a message with the recording of Circe and Ezra attached. She hit send several times, but the message wouldn't go through. "UGH! This stupid cave is messing with the signal! I can't even warn her!"

"You can," said Luz.

"How?! We're stuck in here!"

Luz reached into her pocket and pulled out a Plant Glyph paper. "My last glyph, use it to open the cave and go warn Amelia before it's too late."

Boscha looked at the scrap of paper and then back at Luz. "What?! No, this is your magic thing! I can't use it!"

"It's a glyph from the island, your magic is part of the island, too. It should work."

Boscha looked at the paper again and then growled as she said, "Look, I know I'm a royal – you know – but I can't just leave you here like this! You're just a human, you're not like us!"

"I know, but you have to go! Otherwise, we'll lose Amelia! Please, Boscha, go!" Luz begged.

Boscha hated this, she hated having to make such a hard decision. Especially when it came to this human, she hated the human, she despised her for making her look like a fool during their duel. And yet after all that, this human was selflessly telling her to leave and save her friend. "Dammit, you better not die on me human! I don't need your death on my mind for the rest of my life!"

The triclops drew a spell circle, she then shoved her hand through the circle and slammed the Plant Glyph against it. The effect was immediate as powerful vines rose forth from the ground and lashed towards the entrance to the cave. The vines burst through the debris and held the mouth of the cave open to keep it from collapsing any further.

"Wow…" Luz gasped in awe.

"Wow…I did Plant magic…" Boscha looked over her shoulder at Luz and said, "I'll be back for you, human. As much as I don't want you to die, I don't want have to owe you anything for very long either."

With that said, Boscha ran out of the cave and out of sight.

How am I looking, Lala?

"Almost done, Niña ."

Good, and Lala, I think we should have her help.

"Help? Help in wha – Oh no! No, we are not using her for that!"

For all her…Boscha-ness…she's the best Potion witch in Hexside, who better than her?

"Literally ANYONE ELSE, I find her insufferable!"

To be fair, you find me insufferable.

"Our relationship is different! Don't go comparing the two!"

Please, Lala, trust me.

"¡No puedo creer esto! ¡No puedo creer que esté de acuerdo con esto (I can't believe this! I can't believe I'm agreeing to this)! Fine, but I won't like it!"

---

Amelia was asleep in her room but was awakened to the sound of something hitting her window. The young witch girl groggily got out of bed and made her way to the window, only to jump back as she saw Ezra and Circe rising up on a pillar of stone.

"Hey, girlfriend, miss us?" Circe asked.

Amelia giggled and asked, "What are you two doing here, it's night already?"

"We know, we just wanted to see you, is all," said Ezra. "Actually, we kind of wanted to talk to you about something, if you have some time."

"Well…?" Amelia looked at her clock, it was already ten and she needed to get up early to take care of the plants back in homeroom.

Ezra and Circe could sense her hesitation, so they decided to take care of that. With a wave of their hands, the two Phantoms in disguise created a small combination of their mist. It wafted towards Amelia, unseen. The mist was immediately inhaled by Amelia without her knowing, a reaction occurred, making Amelia feel hot inside and suddenly all her worries about her responsibilities tomorrow were forgotten.

"You know what, why not, I don't like leaving Willow in the lurch like that, but I'll make it up to her tomorrow," said Amelia. "I'll just get dressed – whoa!"

Amelia was suddenly grabbed by the waist by a scaly tentacle that brought her onto the platform of the pillar. She looked back and saw that it was Ezra who had transformed his left arm into that tentacle. "No need, Amy, it won't take long," he said with a wink.

Amelia's face burned red; a myriad of thoughts were swimming in her head as to what they could want at this hour. A few things did pop into her mind, things that made her blush harder, but at the same time made her nervous. She didn't think she was ready to go to the next level in this relationship, but Ezra and Circe made her feel safe. If they wanted to do that with her, she could think of no two better people.

Ezra drew a spell circle and created wings on his back, he then scooped up Amelia and took off into the air. Circe broke off the platform they were on and levitated it, flying alongside Ezra as the trio flew through the cool night. Ezra performed aerial tricks, dipping and diving, and looping in midair. At one point he let go of Amelia in the middle of a loop, the green haired witchling screamed for a moment, but stopped when she was in the arms of Circe, the redhead giving Amelia a kiss on the forehead to calm her down. After a few more aerial stunts, the trio arrived at the hill that overlooked the town, right where the "Treasure Shack" used to be, before Luz fell through it and destroyed it. She never did figure out why she was acting stranger than normal that day.

"Nice view, huh?" Circe asked.

"Yeah, it is. But why did you guys bring me all the way out here?" Amelia asked.

"Well, the truth is–"

"AMELIA!"

Ezra, Circe, and Amelia turned to the direction of the voice, finding Boscha standing there, panting, and huffing from how much she had to run to catch up to them.

Amelia rolled her eyes incredulously at Boscha. "For the love of Titan, Bosh, really?! I'm trying to have a moment with my boyfriend and girlfriend! Did…Did you follow us?"

"Yes! You idiot! I ran all the way out here, like a madwoman!"

"Mad is right," Ezra whispered to Amelia.

"You can't…! Trust them…! They're…! They're not what you think! And I have proof!" Boscha stated.

"UGH! ENOUGH! I'm sick of it Boscha! I'm sick of your jealousy, sick of you bossing me around, and sick and tired of being sick and tired around you!" Amelia yelled. "I thought we were friends, but you've become less and less of a friend since Amity left our group! Now you just order me around like some…some damn minion! I followed your lead on the Grudgby field and outside of it, but I'm done! I'm done following you!"

"Amelia, you don't understand!" Boscha pleaded.

"I UNDERSTAND PLENTY! From here on out, I'm through taking orders from you! You can consider this my resignation from the Banshees, and the end of our friendship, or whatever you want to call it!"

Boscha's heart hurt from hearing that, but she had to push that aside, she had to warn Amelia. "Okay…fine…we're not friends or teammates anymore, I'll accept that! But before you do anything! Please look at what I have! I have proof that those two aren't what they say they are! For the sake whatever shred of friendship we had, please, just look! If you do, and don't believe me, then I'll leave, you'll never hear from me again…but just…please, Amelia!"

There was something about Boscha, there was a desperation in her voice that she hadn't ever heard from her, not in all the years she'd known the triclops demon. Amelia sighed as she said, "I'm going to regret this, I know I am. Alright, let's see it, but you better keep your word!"

Boscha smiled and quickly took out her Scroll, she glanced to Ezra and Circe and said, "I'll only show it to you if you come to me first."

"Why?"

"Just…Please, just humor me for right now."

Amelia sighed and said, "I'm sorry, Ez, Cir, I'll take care of this and then we can talk."

Circe reached out and grabbed Amelia by the wrist, causing the green haired witch to look at her. "You don't really believe her, do you?"

"No, I don't care what she has on there, but if it's the only way to get her to stop getting between the three of us, then I'll bite the blade on this one," said Amelia.

Ezra grabbed Amelia by her left wrist and said, "You don't owe her anything, Amy. Don't justify this craziness by going over there."

"I'm not justifying it, I'm just…I trust you two, I don't care what's on there."

"Then stay here, don't give her the satisfaction of ordering you around one last time," Circe urged.

Boscha scoffed at this display. "Some girlfriend and boyfriend, you said I'm controlling, and yet they won't even let you come over here to see what I have and make up your own mind. Are you two scared of what I have to show her? Are you?"

"NO!" Ezra and Circe said in unison.

"Then let her go and let Amelia do what she wants. If she wants to come over here and see what I have, then that's her decision. And it's also her decision whether or not to believe what I have to show her is real or fake. Or do you not trust her as much as she says you do?" Boscha asked with a smirk.

Amelia looked to her two lovers; she could see the hesitancy in their eyes. Something was off. "Guys, I like you. Trust me, I won't let anything she shows me change how I feel about you."

Ezra and Circe let go of Amelia's wrists and slowly backed away from her.

"I see…so that's how it is," said Circe.

"Guess we brought you out here for nothing…" Ezra added.

"No, you guys, no it's not–!"

Circe sniffled as she said, "No…we understand…we're not good enough…I guess it was stupid of us to think that we could make this work, you're too good for us Amelia, we know that you're a kind, and loving person."

Ezra clenched his fist as he tried to remain strong. "The truth is we wanted to see what this was like, to be with another person who cared about us…before we…"

Amelia looked worried, "Before you what?" The two lovers were silent. "Before you what?!"

Circe and Ezra walked backwards until they were at the edge of the cliff.

That's what they do, they find people who have Phantoms inside them, ones who can come out if they're brought to despair…Luz's words echoed in Boscha's brain as she now figured out what the two Phantoms were about to do. "NO!"

"Goodbye, Amelia," said Circe.

"We love you," said Ezra.

The two Glandus witches held each other's hands and dove backwards off the cliff. Amelia's eyes widened with horror as she rushed to the cliffside and screamed, "EZRA! CIRCE!"

The disturbing sound of a thud followed soon after. Boscha rushed towards the cliffside and looked over the edge, there she saw the bodies of both Ezra and Circe, lying there motionless, Amelia could see it, too. The lifeless bodies of her lovers, the first two people to ever say they loved her, and they died in front of her.

"No…No this isn't happening…this isn't happening!" Amelia wailed.

Boscha got down on one knee next to Amelia and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Amelia listen to me! Don't give into despair! They're not who you thought they were! They were Phantoms in disguise! They did that to make you fall into despair!"

"LIAR!" Amelia screamed as she pushed Boscha away. "IF YOU HADN'T SHOWN UP, THEY'D BE ALIVE! YOU CAUSED THIS!" Several cracks began to form on Amelia's body, causing violet ethereal light to pour through them. "I HATE YOU! I WISH IT WAS YOU!"

*Crack!*

Suddenly, Amelia's body was wracked with pain as the cracks became visible to the naked eye. Amelia fell onto the ground and began writhing in pain, the destruction of her Underworld had commenced, and a new Phantom was going to be born.

"AMELIA, NO!" Boscha yelled as she rushed to her friend's side.

Just then, Incubus and Succubus flew up and hovered over them, gazing upon their handy work with glee.

"Wow, she really loved us that much, huh?" Circe observed.

"Well, to be fair, anyone would be driven into despair if they saw someone they love suddenly commit suicide, but this worked out better than we could've planned. And it's all thanks to you, Boscha!" Incubus mocked.

"Tell us, how's it feel knowing that you helped to make your friend fall into despair? To know that you helped us bring a new Phantom into the world?"

Boscha had a few choice words for the Phantoms, but her thoughts were solely focused on her friend. She was in pain, and there was nothing she could do to help her.

"What do you think Suc? Should we kill her now or let the new Phantom have the honors?" Incubus asked.

"Oh no, let's let the new Phantom do it, it'll be so poetic for Boscha to be done in by her former friend," said Succubus happily.

"No one's dying tonight!"

Just then both Incubus and Succubus were struck from behind by several mana bolts, sparks flew from their backs as the impacts threw them forward and into the cliff behind Boscha and Amelia. The triclops looked up and saw Kamen Rider Witch, flying in on her Witch Speeder as she jumped off it and landed next to her.

"How is she?" Witch asked.

"Not good, she saw them fall off the cliff in their disguises and she thought they had killed themselves, and now…"

"It'll be okay, but first I need to deal with them, or I can't help your friend. But you can still help me in some way," said Witch.

"How?! I'll do anything!"

Witch put on her Connect ring and activated it.

[Connect, Please.]

Witch reached into the portal and brought out a magic stone. "Boscha, right? I need a new ring, and by combining your magic and mine, we can create one that'll assist me in taking them down."

"Whatever you need, let's do it!"

"Zero hesitation, I can respect that."

Witch placed the magic stone in Boscha's hands and covered it with her own. Magical energy flowed from Witch and Boscha as dual yellow lights were emitted from the stone held between them. The energy continued to coalesce as the magic stone took shape, and with a burst of energy, the ring was completed. Witch removed her hands and let Boscha open hers, revealing her new ring that was yellow in color, and possessed the symbol of the Potion Coven on it. Witch took the ring and examined it, and La Lechuza confirmed that it was a of good quality.

"Perhaps she's not as useless as I thought."

"Thank you, Boscha, now stay near your friend. I'll take care of this."

Incubus and Succubus tore themselves out of the craters they had made and growled angrily at Witch.

"Tch, it doesn't matter now, that girl is almost a Phantom!" Circe stated.

"The odds aren't in your favor, Witch, and once Amelia turns into a Phantom, it'll be three on one, you have no chance of winning," said Incubus.

"You think so?" Witch replaced her Light Style ring with the Light Owl Style ring. "'Cause I think my chances are good!"

[Shabadoobi touch to henshin! Shabadoobi touch to henshin!]

[LIGHT OWL.]

[KAGA~YA~KUUUUU~!]

A construct of La Lechuza, made of sparkling yellow light emerged and wrapped Witch in her wings. Her armor shifted and changed, granting the power of her Super Form, Light Owl Style. "It's showtime!"

Incubus and Succubus' wings started to glow, then they flapped their bat-like wings and created the mist from earlier that clouded their minds. But Witch wasn't about to get caught off guard twice.

[Lupachi Magic Touch Go! Lupachi Magic Touch Go!]

[Potion, Please.]

A potion bottle appeared in Witch's left hand, the Potion magic ring glowed as Witch waved her hand around the bottle, doing this created liquids around the top of the bottle, swirling about in a kind of atom formation. The mist was getting closer, and Boscha was getting even more worried as she remembered what that mist did to her and Luz. However, Witch wasn't worried. Once the different liquids were made, Witch willed them to flow into the bottle and mix. The potion inside turned into a bright blue liquid upon mixing, and now that it was ready, Witch raised the bottle and smashed it against the ground.

The result created a counter mist that blew in the same direction as the incoming mist. The two mists collided and within seconds the Phantoms' mist was nullified. The mist continued to grow until it covered the entire area, the glow of Incubus and Succubus' wings were now gone as well.

"What did you do?!" Incubus demanded to know.

"A little concoction to neutralize that pheromone mist you two created. The potion's ingredients will cling to all the different molecules, neutralize them, and then use the neutralized pheromones to create more of itself to neutralize the rest until it reaches the source and effectively get rid of it. No mind altering for you two," said Witch.

Despite this setback, they were hardly without a backup. Incubus and Succubus pulled off their bone protrusions and created their weapons, two swords and two whips. Incubus dove in first and slashed at the hero with his twin swords, but thanks to the power of Light Owl Style, Witch was easily able to dodge the attack. Incubus continued to attack with his swords, making Witch practically dance around the battlefield and she made sure the Phantom couldn't land a blow on her.

At that moment, Succubus entered the fray and lashed out with her whips, both of which wrapped around her wrists and hoisted her up before bringing her back down for a slam. Witch snapped her fingers at the last second and suddenly a bright pink foam expanded below her, cushioning her impact.

"WHAT?!"

"You guys really need to pay more attention to your surroundings!"

Incubus looked at the ground and suddenly noticed that it was littered with several potion bottles. Another snap of Witch's fingers made each of the bottles ignite and explode in unison, sending the blue Phantom flying into the air.

"INCUBUS!"

"Don't think I forgot about you!"

Succubus looked up and saw two potion bottles floating down towards her. With another snap of the fingers those two bottles exploded right in Succubus' face. She unfortunately let go of whips and found herself falling to the ground, impacting hard and creating a crater. Witch used the foam cushion as a trampoline and propelled herself into the air, there she intercepted Incubus and delivered a flying roundhouse kick that sent the monster flying down to meet his other half. The two Phantoms impacted against each other and were back in the crater.

Witch took out her Holy ring and slipped on in place of the Potion ring. "The finale!"

[ VERY NICE, HOLY! FABULOUS! ]

La Lechuza appeared before Witch, a magic circle appeared behind Witch's back and the construct light owl flew into it, forming the OwlHead on Witch's chest. The two eyes of the OwlHead gathered its light-based mana energy and in the next moment unleashed twin beams of glowing yellow light that blazed a trail straight down to both the Phantoms. Incubus and Succubus were helpless to stop what happened next as the twin beams bathed them in cleansing light that destroyed them in a twin explosion of pink and blue.

Witch floated down to the ground and dismissed her OwlHead. Now that the two monsters were out of the way, she could focus on Amelia.

[Light, Please.]

[HI~KA~RI!]

The hero of light knelt on Amelia's right side, while Boscha remained on the left.

"Can you help her?!" Boscha asked.

"I can, hope is never lost."Witch took the Engage ring off her chain link and slipped it over Amelia's right middle finger. "I know you're in pain, Amelia. But I will bring back your hope."

[Engage, Please.]

A magic circle appeared over Amelia's body, and the pain she was feeling was lessened.

"I'll save her Boscha, I promise!"

With that said, Witch jumped into the circle and descended into Amelia's Underworld.

~(AMELIA'S UNDERWORLD)~

Witch dove through the tunnel of light and straight into the realm of Amelia's soul, her Underworld. This Underworld looked somewhat similar to Willow's Underworld, only instead of trees it was a field of endless flowers. The flowers themselves were a testament to how Amelia felt when it came to love, there were red roses, crimson carnations, red tulips, orchids, and peonies.

However, this seemingly endless field was marred by scorch marks and blues skies that had jagged cracks in it. Suddenly, the Inner Phantom of this world made itself known, and it was a giant firebird, a Phoenix to be exact.

This actually prompted the simulation of Haruto Souma to emerge next to Witch and say, "Huh, it seems an old foe of mine has reincarnated himself. Guess the Phoenix never truly dies. I'd make sure to stop this emergence otherwise you'll be in for a rough time trying to beat that thing outside."

"Thanks for the tips, Mr. Haruto!"

[OwlRise, Please.]

A huge magic circle appeared over Witch's head and from it flew out the graceful La Lechuza. Her Inner Phantom wasted little time in fighting the living firebird. The two avian creatures slammed into each other in midair and began snapping at each other with their beaks and slashing with their talons.

[Ride, Please.]

Witch called on her Witch Speeder and quickly mounted the hover bike. She took to the skies and began pelting Phoenix with multiple mana bolt shots. Each shot exploded against the Phoenix, making it break off its fight with La Lechuza and come straight after her. Witch twisted the throttle and sped up, now having a giant firebird on her tail. However, in so doing, the fiery wake of this Phantom was causing the land below to burn.

Phoenix opened its beak and prepared to fire a jet of flames at Witch, but at the last second, La Lechuza came in with her talons, struck against the firebird's neck, and slammed him into the ground. La Lechuza flew up into the air and Witch flew beside her, the Speeder went into interlock mode and joined with La Lechuza, activating her light blade wings. Phoenix roared at them and flew up to meet them. The giant firebird released one fire blast after the other, but La Lechuza gracefully weaved around each attack, she then flared her wings and slashed off the right wing of Phoenix.

The firebird plummeted back to the ground, effectively grounded. But the wise owl could tell that it was going to regenerate soon. "Let's end this now!"

"On it!"

[ VERY NICE, KICK STRIKE! FABULOUS! ]

Witch jumped off La Lechuza and allowed her to transform into Kick Mode. Once she was done, Witch dove down in a flying Rider Kick and connected with the seat of her Speeder. The two of them descended on the Phoenix and struck, creating an explosion of yellow sparkling light that washed over the entire Underworld and healed the cracks. The land that was scorched was returned to its former glory, and any trace of the Phantom was gone. Amelia was no longer a Gate.

~(OVERWORLD)~

Witch jumped out of the portal, and when she did, the cracks on Amelia's body quickly mended until they were no longer there. The young witch groaned as she came to and looked around to see what had happened.

"Did…What just happened?" Amelia asked.

"Your friend tried to save you from two Phantoms pretending to be in love with you. They dove off the cliff to induce despair into you and make a Phantom appear," Witch explained.

Amelia looked to Boscha and asked, "You…You did that for me? But…I…I thought you were…?"

"Okay, yes, I was freaking jealous, alright! There I admit it! But…just because I was jealous, didn't mean that I wasn't looking out for you. Those two were sketchy and I didn't like it, I wanted to protect you, because you're…you're one of the few friends I actually have," said Boscha.

Amelia reached out to Boscha and brought her into a hug, surprising the triclops with the show of affection. "Thank you for looking out for me, despite what I said."

Boscha sighed. "Hey, even friends fight, right?" That's when it hit her. "Oh crap! Witch, there's this human girl! She's in a cave in the woods and she was hurt, we need to get to her!"

Witch raised her hand and said, "No worries, I found her while flying around searching for Phantoms, it's because she told me about what happened that I was able to rush over here. She's doing fine, by the way, I took her to those who care for her."

"Oh…okay then, good, I don't owe that human anything now."

Witch chuckled inwardly, she summoned her Witch Speeder and said, "Hop on, I'll give you two a lift home."

---

"Seriously, I'm thinking I need to get you a Scroll," said Eda.

"No, Eda, I'm good, I remember what you said about them, and right now we don't need any more expenses," Luz replied.

"I honestly don't know how you deal with that, Edalyn. If she were my pupil, I'd be worried out of my mind," said Lilith.

"Who says wasn't? I'd say all the worrying you make me do is going to turn my hair gray, but it's too late for that."

That got a chuckle out of Luz.

"By the way, why are we heading to The Knee?" Lilith asked.

The trio of witches were flying high up to The Knee, the magical training grounds for wild witches of old. They had just gotten through with a bounty hunt when Luz told them that she had to go to The Knee quickly. They returned to the Owl House and gathered their warm coats and clothes and headed up to The Knee on Luz's whim.

"I told you, I feel my magic talking to me, it's telling me to go to the place where I first learned my second spell," Luz explained.

Lilith looked at Eda in confusion.

"When Luz needed to learn another spell in order to get into Hexside's advanced courses, we came up here to learn like the wild witches did. I had her listen to the island, and the island, apparently, answered her with a second glyph."

The trio finally arrived at the old training grounds, Luz walked into the relative middle of the ruins, broke off a twig and began drawing a magic circle in the snow. Lilith and Eda watched as the young human girl was lost in her trance, writing down sigil markings to create the magic formula that would grant her a new ring.

"Is it always like this?" Lilith whispered.

"Yeah, but this one's bigger. It's as big as the one she made that time when she got that crazy new form of hers," Eda observed.

Lilith's eyes widened as she asked, "Does…Does that mean her magic's getting even stronger?!"

Eda hummed as she thought and said, "If we're lucky, yes. Belos might eventually figure out a way to destroy the Phantoms, and if that happens, there's nothing stopping him from coming after Luz and us. I hate to say this, but the stronger the kid gets, the better chance she has of beating that blowhard."

Lilith could hardly imagine Luz getting stronger, her latest magical evolution already granted her enough power to match Emperor Belos one on one, to think that she was about to go through yet another evolution, it was kind of scary, but also intriguing. After about five minutes of writing in the snow, Luz snapped out of her trance and wiped her brow.

"Wow…this one's going to be big, and draining, very draining," said Luz.

Eda reached into her bag, pulled out some chocolate, and tossed it to Luz. "Eat up, kid. If this is anything like the last big one, you're going to need the boost before you try."

While Luz munched on her candy, Lilith mounted her staff and flew above the circle to inspect the sigil writing. After a moment of analyzing the magic circle, she flew down and said, "Luz, if you don't mind, I'd like to help you with this."

Luz looked up at Lilith in confusion. "Help? How?"

"I noticed the formula you used, while efficient, could be more so. If I understand correctly, it drains a considerable amount of your mana when you activate it, correct?"

Luz nodded.

"If I may add a few sigil markings, I could offset the drain and have it so that the energy is drawn from the elemental force around it. This one will be based on your Ice Glyph, so why not draw upon what's already here?"

Lala, what do you think?

"I see no reason not to try. If she can make this less draining, then by all means. This is exactly what I meant when I said we can use her knowledge."

"La Lechuza says if you can, go ahead."

Lilith smiled at the chance to help Luz. She took up the stick that Luz used and floated on her staff, with this vantage point, she was able to add additional circles to the outer rim of the main circle and include additional sigils to modify the formula. It took a few more minutes, but it was done.

"Okay, this should work, it should only require half of your own mana, and half from the surrounding mana of the snow and ice."

"Well then, let's try it." Luz took out two crystals and used Owlbert to float herself over the circle.

She placed the two crystals at the center and flew until she was at the edge of the main circle. She knelt before it and touched it with of her hands. The reaction was immediate as the circle glowed bright blue. A construct of La Lechuza rose from the circle and screeched loudly into the open air as a blizzard was kicked up around them. The snow and ice was drawn into the circle, creating a swirling vortex of pure cold for a moment before it all got sucked in and a burst of blue light blinded everyone. When the light faded, the circle was gone, and so was the snow. A large circle of bare land was before them, the rock and dirt that was hidden under layers of snow was now gone and what remained were two rings.

Eda, Lilith, and Luz walked into the center of the snow free zone. Luz bent down and took the rings into her hand and examined them. One resembled a blue version of the Light Owl ring. The second ring was blue as well but sported the image of an owl that was flapping its wings downward, and below it was a snowflake and lines that represented a gust of wind.

"How do you feel, kid?" Eda asked.

"I do feel drained, but not like the first time I made rings like this! Lilith, your adjustments worked!" Luz exclaimed.

Lilith smiled back at Luz and said, "Thank you, Luz."

"Well, if you think you're up for it, we can try for one more bounty before we call it a day. Let's head back home and get changed out these."

The trio of witches returned to the Owl House, Luz marveled at her newest two rings, another mode change for her Super Form, one based on her Ice Style. If it was anything like the normal version, it would make her very fast, but she could only imagine what the second ring could do. Luz finished changing into her normal clothes, but just before she could throw on her cloak, she noticed something in the mirror. There was a shadow, a shadow that seemed to be hovering outside of her window.

"MOVE NOW" La Lechuza warned.

It was too late as the window was shattered, a black tendril shot out of the broken window and wrapped itself around Luz's waist. Before she could anything the tendril yanked her out of her room and tossed her outside. The Latina screamed as she fell from the second story window, thankfully, Hooty heard her screams and stretched out quickly, using his body to catch Luz before she could hit the ground.

"Thanks, Hooty!"

"No problem! Hoot!"

King, Eda, and Lilith all gathered outside when they heard the commotion. Floating above the house was a Phantom, but none like they've seen before. Its body was wrapped in shadows, what parts were visible showed a skeleton body underneath the shadows. It was decked out in various ancient and mystical ornaments, some it was worn on its skeletal body, others were mixed in with the shadow cloak covering most its boney body. The Phantom's head was covered by a deer's skull, with a great crown of antlers that had more magical trinkets hanging from it, some more macabre. In its right hand it wielded a staff, it was made of gray colored wood, and at the head of the staff was a human skull with burning candles atop it. The deer skull's empty eye sockets had a green glowing flame within them that acted as the eyes of this dark creature, and they were fixed on Luz Noceda.

"You, I have finally found you, Noceda!"

Luz looked up at the Phantom, not sure how it knew her name. "Who are you?! Why are you attacking me! I'm not a Gate! No one here is!"

"I don't care for the mundane tasks of these Phantoms! I am my own Phantom; I became this way to end you! I will kill you and show that I am the strongest of all!"

"You'll have to beat me first!"

[Driver On, Please.]

"None of that now!" The skull eye sockets of Lich's staff shined and released a burst wave of dark magical energy that threw everyone back a few feet. Another wave of that same energy wrapped itself around Luz and floated her up to Lich's eye level. "I won't kill you right away, child, oh no. I need your magic first, the great magic that turns despair into hope."

Lich drew a spell circle in front of Luz and with his free left hand thrust his arm into the circle. Luz felt as if she just got punched in the gut, she could feel the skeletal arm of Lich diving deep into the core of her very being, and it felt wrong, it was violating on so many levels that she desperately tried to free herself to get away from him.

"Where is it, I know it's in there!"

"STOP IT!" Luz cried.

Suddenly, a blue doorway opened behind Lich. The undead Phantom looked over his shoulder and stared at the door with confusion.

"What in the name of…?!"

The blue doorway released a shockwave that canceled Lich's spell, forcing him to withdraw his arm. A sudden vacuum effect began to occur, drawing in Lich against his well. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!"

Luz didn't have time to think, she just acted. She felt his magic weaken and took this opportunity to kick Lich in the chest, pushing him back and letting the vacuum effect of the doorway do the rest. The undead Phantom couldn't stop as he was sucked through the doorway, unfortunately, his magic was the only thing keeping Luz in place, and now she, too, was subject to the same effect.

"EDA!" Luz cried out.

"LUZ!" Eda shouted as she mounted her staff and flew as fast as she could towards Luz.

The Owl Lady reached out to her ward, and Luz did the same. But it was too late, Luz disappeared through the door with Eda just mere inches away from grabbing her. Luz watched as the doorway that led to Eda and the Boiling Isles closed before her, now zooming through a tunnel of azure light to some unknown destination. Up ahead she could see something, another doorway. Luz didn't know what was beyond it, but she hoped it wasn't the "bad place".

Luz closed her eyes as the blinding light of the doorway hit her, and then she hit something. She tumbled about, hitting her back hard before falling atop of something relatively soft.

"¡¿A qué le pegué (Ow, what did I hit)?!"

Luz heard a gasp underneath her, she got on her hands and knees and looked down and was stunned. Underneath her was a girl, she wore school uniform, she had light brown skin, dark brown eyes, and a curly mess of hair that had twigs and leaves in it for some reason. But what drew her attention the most was that her ears were not pointed, they were round like hers, which meant…

"You're…You're human," said the girl beneath her.

"You're….You're a human, too," said Luz.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Luz…I-I'm Luz Noceda."

The girl then replied, "And I'm Anne…Anne Boonchuy."