A/N: Just as a notice, Kamen Rider Heka's theme is "Don't be long", by Nana Mizuki. As of right now I cannot find the song just on its own on YouTube, the only vid I could find is a live performance of the song. Just a suggestion in case you want a BGM for Heka v. Troll Round 2.

Yesterday wasn't good, today was not any better. As thought, Penstagram was blowing up with recordings from some witches and demons who were close enough to record the battle between Heka and Troll. It was embarrassing for Amity to see other people watch her humiliating battle against Troll, she even heard some of the Hexside students calling her "lame" or "second rate rider" or the growing popular "#WitchWannabe".

Amity stopped by her locker and lightly pounded her head against it. She had such an urge to tell off those people, to explain to them that she wasn't experienced in Phantom fighting, but that would mean exposing the fact that she was Heka, and then that was a whole different can of worms to deal with. "If Witch has a secret identity, is this what she has to go through whenever someone talks about her?"

The youngest Blight sibling wished she had someone to talk to about this whole Kamen Rider thing, someone she trusted enough to confide in and who wouldn't tell a single soul. Luz came to mind, but then that would mean she would have to tell the human the reason why she became a Rider in the first place. The thought of that made her blush hard. Amity decided to focus on her classes for today, but despite this, she couldn't get over what happened yesterday, especially with everyone still talking about how lame she was. It took every fiber of Amity's being to prevent herself from grabbing someone's scroll and tearing it apart or setting it on fire. Eventually school let out, but Amity was in no hurry. She wandered the halls of the school, trying to think of a way she could improve her skills as a Rider, all while worrying about how long it would be before Troll showed up for round two.

"Henshin!"

Amity stopped when she heard the very word that she used to initiate her transformation, the same as Witch. The youngest Blight followed the sound and found a room that had a sign over it that read "Kamen Rider Club (branch of the Human Appreciation Society)". Amity had heard of this club forming not too long after Witch's arrival, Gus was the president of this club, which was good to hear as she later found out that Gus had been stripped of his position as president of the H. A. S. I'll have to have a talk with him about how he endangered Luz like that. She watched as the members discussed various things about Kamen Riders, things that Amity was woefully ignorant about. Maybe…no, that's stupid.

"Hey, Amity."

Amity yelped and jumped forward when she heard someone behind her. When she turned around Amity saw that it was Viney. "Oh, hey, Viney. W-What are you doing here?"

"I'm a member of the KRC." Viney developed a small smirk as she asked, "The real question is, what are you doing here?"

"Uh, well, I was just…I…" Amity stammered.

Viney's teasing smile changed to a kindhearted one as she said, "Hey, it's okay, I'm just teasing you. Were you thinking of joining the club? It's a lot of fun."

"Oh…I…I don't know. And shouldn't you be Emira right now?" Amity asked.

"I told her I had a meeting at the KRC, so she's off doing something with Edric. C'mon, Am, why don't you come in?" Viney asked.

Amity was going to politely decline, until an idea struck her. This was the only club, possibly on the entire island, that knew anything and everything about Kamen Riders, aside from Luz. If she was looking to improve her skills as a Rider, then there was no better place to do it than here. And Viney just provided her with the perfect excuse to join. "You sure it's okay if I come in? I don't want to be a buzzkill or anything."

Viney smiled and gently took Amity by the hand. "Nah, it's cool. We're always looking to share what we know." Upperclassman witch brought Amity into the room and announced, "Hey, guys, we might have a new member!"

"Amity?"

"Cat?"

Indeed, Amity saw Cat, a girl who was part of her old friends circle, among them.

"Great, another person you know! Hey, I'll be taking over for Gus, he said he had something important he needed to do, so, Cat, why don't you help out Amity and get her feet wet," said Viney as she released Amity.

This was now more awkward than she wanted it to be. Since she left the group, Amity hadn't kept in contact with the girls. Skara was the only outlier, but besides her, Amity had effectively cut ties with most of them. Amity sighed heavily and walked to the table where Cat was sitting and took the seat next to her.

"Hi…Cat."

"Hey…Amity."

"…"

"…"

"This is super awkward, isn't it?" Cat asked.

"Kind of…yeah," Amity replied.

"…"

"…"

"Sooooo…I didn't know you were into Kamen Rider stuff," said Cat.

"Well, I've had a few encounters with Witch, so it kind of got me curious about others like her," Amity responded.

Cat smiled a little. "I wish I could see her up close like that, I mean, it sucks the way you managed to see, but still cool."

Amity chuckled a little. "Yeah, our meeting circumstances were sucky, but being around her is an experience."

Cat lightly tapped on the table and decided to venture forth. "Sooo…was there anything in particular you wanted to know or talk about? There's a lot of things we're still learning about, especially when it comes to each of the different installments in the series, so I may not know as much as Gus or the human."

"Luz, her name is Luz," said Amity in a slightly annoyed tone.

"S-Sorry! No disrespect, I mean, she's helped us learn a whole lot about Riders, the last time she was around. A-Anyway, like I said, anything you're curious about?" Cat asked.

Amity took out a pencil and notepad. "A few things, not sure if anyone can answer them, but I figured it was worth a shot. Have there been any instances where Riders don't have any idea of what to do?"

"Oh wow, yeah, plenty. Not every one of them just puts on the belt knows how to fight, not unless the belt grants them that kind of knowledge, but that's usually seen right off the bat. For instance, Riders Re-Vlect and Sivns (777s), they didn't know how to use their powers in the beginning, or how to fight, but over time they learned how to."

Amity wrote down this information, and it made her feel good that she wasn't the only Rider in history to be a complete novice when it came to their powers. "Okay, so, do the Riders all learn some special fighting technique that allows them to fight against the monsters they face?"

Cat thought about it for a moment and said, "No, not particularly. From what the hu – I mean – Luz told us, Kamen Riders use different forms of 'martial arts', which is a type of fighting style that uses a lot of punches, kicks, flips, and sometimes holds. For instance, Witch doesn't punch when she fights, she usually hits with the palms of her hands, or uses elbow or knees strikes."

Amity once again wrote down the information. I see, so the fighting style is different depending on the Rider. There's not a singular style of fighting that's been developed to combat monsters, it's just what that person already knows or learns along the way. Luz seemed to have learned how to use Witch's fighting style by observation, but then again, she's seen a lot more Kamen Rider stuff, so she probably has a baseline idea of how to make those moves work. Whereas I don't even have that.

Cat noticed that Amity was thinking hard on something and asked, "Hey, you alright, Amity?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, I'm alright!" Amity stated quickly. "Say, um, it's kind of weird that Witch didn't show up to fight yesterday, right?"

That started to catch quickly among the other members.

"Yeah, it was weird," said Luna. "She's usually there whenever a Phantom attacks, and this one was not subtle at all."

"Yeah, and instead we got some knockoff Rider," said one of the male members.

"I mean, does she really think she's on the same level as Witch? That fight against the Phantom was weak," said a different member.

"Secondary Riders are supposed to be mysterious and cool, but Heka was just mysterious and lame," said another.

Amity furrowed her brow a little, once again she was the butt of the joke, problem is no one knew that they were piling on her, so it wasn't like she could get angry at them.

"Hey, guys, c'mon, quit picking on the new Rider," said Viney.

The others looked at her and so did Amity.

"Yeah, was that fight a disaster? Oh yeah, no question, but we should be happy that someone is stepping up to help Witch out. Okay, sure she's not as graceful as Witch is, but hey, how many Riders in these stories had a sucky debut and turned out to be cool as all heck?!" Viney argued.

The others started to murmur, and from what Amity was able to tell, they were murmurs of agreement.

"I say we give this new Rider a chance, I mean, having two Riders on the Boiling Isles, fighting against the Phantoms, I don't know about you guys but I kinda feel safer than before."

Amity felt like she wanted to cry then and there, but she had to maintain her composure. After that little speech, Amity just asked a few questions here and there about Riders, and listened to a few debates about which Rider could beat who in a fight. After an hour had passed the group was dismissed with only Viney and Amity left behind.

"You can go on ahead, I need to clean up the room a little," said Viney.

Amity stopped in the doorway and said, "Let me help you then." The youngest Blight drew a spell circle and summoned a couple of Abominations. "Abominations, clean up."

Viney watched as the Abominations cleaned up the little pieces of trash and stored away their supplies and posters. Amity assisted Viney with putting up the chairs and erasing the chalkboard, and five minutes later, the entire room was clean.

"Wow, thanks, Amity, I'm usually the one helping Gus out with this, and doing this on my own is kind of a drag," said Viney.

"No, problem…" Amity dismissed her Abominations and exited the room with Viney. "That was nice, about what you said about Heka."

"I meant it," said Viney. "I mean, it's not fair to rag on her just because she had a crappy first fight. I mean, If I just got my powers, I doubt I'd be a certified badass right out of the gate."

Amity and Viney chuckled.

"Do you think she'll get better? That she can?" Amity asked.

"I hope so, and really, all we can do is hope. That's what Witch showed us, right? Hope is strong against evil."

Amity smiled, she was right, hope was strong. If she wanted to defeat this Phantom, Amity had to look inside of herself if wanted to get stronger and better at being a Rider. "I'm glad Emira has someone like you, and I hope she knows that."

"Oh, she does, trust me. On that note, when are you and Luz going to get together?" Viney asked.

This was the part where Amity would've done a spit take if she had a drink. "What?!"

"OMT, I knew it! You're blushing up a storm, you do like Luz!" Viney exclaimed.

"Wha-What?! HOW?!"

"Viney!" Amity and Viney looked down the hall and saw Emira happily skipping towards them. The older Blight girl wrapped her arms around Viney and kissed her on the cheek. "Miss me? Oh, hey Mittens!"

"You told her?!"

Emira raised an eyebrow. "Told her what?"

"I thought you said you and Ed wouldn't tell anyone I liked Luz," said Amity in an angry tone.

Emira was confused. "Wait, no, I didn't!"

Viney broke away from her girlfriend and held up her arms as she said, "Whoa, no, no. Your sister didn't tell me anything! I just guessed; I was just playing around I didn't know you really did!"

Amity brought one of her textbooks up, pressed against her face, and groaned loudly into it.

Emira moved closer to Amity and said, "Hey, Am, I would never do that to you. Yeah, what me and Ed were planning to do with your diary was a total loser thing, but even if your diary talked about a crush, we wouldn't have put that up. We're not that mean."

Amity sighed heavily as she dropped the textbook. "Well, nice to know you and Ed have standards."

After that meeting in the club, Amity decided she needed to develop her own way of fighting. She didn't have foreknowledge of any "martial arts", so she needed to develop her own way of combat. And how was she going to practice this? Why, as it so happened, her mother had asked her to test out a prototype of one of her father's latest inventions.

Down in the basement was a testing area that looked like a large arena, Amity had donned her workout clothing and forged a staff made of Abomination goo. The creation, the ProtoAbomaton, was a clunky looking creation, it had gold colored metal parts embedded in it, and a central battery at its core to sustain the Abomination without the use of a spell caster. Odalia had to admit, she was rather pleased with Amity's initiative, as normally her daughter disliked being the test subject of their creations, but since she was the only one with an aptitude for Abomination magic, there was no one else in the family who could do this job better.

Amity twirled her staff around and took a ready stance. "I'm ready."

Odalia nodded and said to Alador, "Activate it."

Alador pressed a button on his remote console, and upon doing so, the ProtoAbomaton came to life. Its eyes glowed green as the power battery at its chest hummed alive. The creation stood about ten feet tall, just as big as Troll, which made it the perfect sparring partner. Amity charged the ProtoAbomaton, but the mechanized goo monster lashed out with its right arm, bringing it down like a whip. The young witchling dodged to the left and continued her charge forward, the ProtoAbomaton lashed with the same arm and struck Amity in the side, sending the young witch rolling on the ground. Amity clutched at her side as she grunted from the impact.

"Impressive, dear," Odalia commented to Alador.

The ProtoAbomaton reformed its left arm into a kind of energy discharge cannon, Amity saw what it was about to do and hurriedly grabbed her Abomination staff, dashing out of the way as the ProtoAbomaton fired an orb of purple energy right at the spot that Amity was at a moment ago. A small explosion erupted when the orb impacted against the floor, Edric and Emira were a little worried by that.

Amity took a deep breath and twirled her staff around as she collected herself and charged in again. The ProtoAbomaton fired consecutive blasts of energy, Amity changed up her strategy as she raised her staff and struck it against the floor, using it to vault straight up into the air, the ProtoAbomaton seemed confused by the tactic and looked up just in time for Amity come down with an overhead strike to the goo machine's head. The ProtoAbomaton's head was squashed from the impact, making it stumble backwards. Amity pressed the attack and jabbed at it quickly and precisely. The ProtoAbomaton raised its arm to attack, but Amity swiftly struck the left arm, severing it in one blow, she ducked low as it tried to hit her with a swing of its right arm. Amity wedged her staff between its legs and ran forward, forcing the ProtoAbomaton stumble and fall backwards.

"Wow, Mittens is kind of a badass today," said Edric.

"Seriously, I never seen her that determined," Emira added.

Odalia liked the fervor in her daughter's actions, but she still wore a scowl at how the ProtoAbomaton was performing. She knew her daughter was skilled, that went without saying, but if their creation – even a prototype – can be out matched by a young skilled witch, then what good was it. "Alador, level two please."

Alador briefly glanced at his wife, they had agreed to set it to level one to gauge the prototype's abilities. And to make sure that it didn't harm Amity. "Dear, I don't think it's wise to go to level two. Amity is not adequately armed offensively or defensively for that."

"Alador, sweetie, it's Mittens. If she can't handle this, then that will tell me that she has more to improve on. Do it, now," Odalia ordered.

Alador sighed and raised the combat level of the ProtoAbomaton to level two.

The goo machine's eyes glowed bright along with the power core at its center. Amity was about deliver a finishing blow, but just then both of its arms grew back almost instantly. Amity's eyes widened when she was grabbed by both of the ProtoAbomaton's large hands and then thrown like a ragdoll across the room. The young witch slammed against the padded wall, making her gasp upon impact. Amity fell face first onto the floor, shaking as she propped herself up.

Amity wasn't given much time to recover as the ProtoAbomaton started charging towards her, both of its arms having turned into large crescent blades. Amity pushed through the pain and rolled out of the way just as the ProtoAbomaton came down with both of its blades, sinking deep into the floor. The young Blight rolled on the floor until she finally got back up, she drew a spell circle in the air and recreated her fighting staff, she could tell that the mechanized creation was now more aggressive and less slow than it was some time ago. The ProtoAbomaton charged for Amity again, swinging its blade left and right, Amity blocked the blades with her staff, being careful to avoid getting her fingers cut by the blades as she did so.

Amity used the staff to vault over the ProtoAbomaton, but it learned from that and quickly smacked her out of the air as one would do a fly. She bounced on the floor a couple of times before coming to a rolling stop, but it wasn't over. The ProtoAbomaton thrust its right arm forward, extending it all the way until it reached Amity. The green haired witch managed to push herself up and away, but not fast enough as the blade sliced her right side. Amity cried out as the sting of the cut radiated through her, she clutched at the wound and saw her own blood.

"Okay, I think that's enough, mom," said Edric.

"Amity's hurt, this needs to stop!" Emira exclaimed.

Odalia sighed, she had hoped her daughter would do better, but she guessed this was the limit. It was disappointing really, perhaps letting her miss all those days of school was the wrong move. "Very well, Alador–"

"NO!" Amity yelled. Edric, Emira, Odalia, and Alador looked at Amity with confusion. The youngest Blight child dragged herself up to her feet, wincing still from the stink of the cut on her side, and hissing from the aches and pains that her body sang of from the beating she received from the ProtoAbomaton. "I'm not done yet! Keep going!"

"Am, c'mon, that's enough!" Emira stated.

"Yeah, it's getting serious now," said Edric.

"Let your sister do as she wishes," said Odalia.

The twins looked at their mother incredulously.

"Mittens, show us what you can do."

Alador looked at his daughter, he wasn't a fool, even he knew that this was getting too serious to continue. But when he made eye contact with her, a kind of silent understanding passed through them. It was in that moment that Alador knew why his daughter wanted to continue the fight, if she could not defeat something like this, what chance did she have at defeating a Phantom. Amity nodded to her father, silently telling him what she wanted him to do.

"Increasing combat level to three."

"What did you say?!" Odalia exclaimed.

The ProtoAbomaton's eyes and core glowed even brighter as it formed two cannons from its arms. Amity walked towards the goo machine, ignoring the pleas from her siblings and even her mother to get away from it. I'm not backing down. The barrels of the ProtoAbomaton's cannons began to glow. I am Amity Blight; I am a Kamen Rider. The two orbs of energy formed at the mouths of the cannons, crackling with restrained might. I got this power to protect those I love, and the one I am in love with!

Amity drew a spell circle, and from it a large glob of Abomination goo floated in her right hand. Far away in the subbasement, the containment unit for the blank rings started to glow. All three rings were glowing, but one glowed brighter than the others as its form started to change.

The twin cannons of the ProtoAbomaton fired off as two orbs of energy flew at Amity. Amity's eyes glowed with a mixture of gold and purple energy; the glob of Abomination goo started to swirl rapidly as it was fed her mana. The orbs struck their target, creating an explosion that kicked up a dust cloud that obscured Amity's form from view.

"AMITY!" Edric and Emira cried out.

Odalia held her hand over her mouth, eyes wide with shock. Alador, however, remained stoic, his expression unchanged.

Suddenly, the dust cloud was pushed away and revealed Amity, a thin aura field layered over her body as she now held a shield in her right hand formed from the Abomination goo. The ProtoAbomaton did not like this and fired another shot, Amity held her ground as she brought up her shield. The orb of destructive power crashed against the shield and exploded, but again, Amity still stood, unfazed and undamaged. The ProtoAbomaton fired another shot, but Amity released a battle cry as she used the shield to bash the orb of light, sending it careening into the floor to her right. In the subbasement, the ring that was glowing brighter finally stopped, revealing itself to have the image of a Sphinx with a shield emblem behind it.

Amity charged, the ProtoAbomaton continued firing its blasts at her, but Amity continued to block them. But she knew she couldn't rely on just defense, she needed to go on the offense. The second ring in the subbasement began to shine bright as it too took form. Amity's shield began to shift, and in a matter of seconds the shield reformed into a saber. Amity took the weapon into her hands, and the moment she did her speed drastically increased as she zoomed straight for the ProtoAbomaton, catching it completely off guard. Amity swiftly sliced off its arms, making it have to reform them, but Amity wasn't about to let it.

The young witch attacked with a flurry of thrusts and slashes, her attacks appearing as streaks of rosy-violet light as each of her swift attacks was tearing a piece out of the ProtoAbomaton. Its goo regeneration was having a difficult time keeping up with the burst of speed that Amity was showing it. At one point it opened its mouth and fired a beam of energy at where she was, but Amity saw it and dodged it, appearing behind the goo machine. In the subbasement, the second ring finished and was now adorned with the image of a scarab beetle with a sword motif behind it.

Amity was ready to end this. She ran around the ProtoAbomaton, slashing at it from different angles, making it hard for the mechanized goo creation to keep up with her. She stopped behind it and jumped into the air, the Abomination goo in her hand changed again, this time growing bigger. The third and final ring shined with its last image, that of a griffon and an ax. That is what formed in Amity's hands, a large, two-sided battle ax. Amity bellowed with a loud battel cry as she brought down the ax on the ProtoAbomaton and cleaved the goo machine right down the middle.

The result of which created an explosion due to the power core getting destroyed. Everyone, even Alador, held their breath as they waited to see what had become of Amity. When the smoke finally cleared, Amity was still, there. She was on one knee, panting from exhaustion and pain, but she was alive and victorious. Edric and Emira rushed towards their little sister and got down next to her, both siblings stating how worried they were and how amazed they were with her skills.

The corner of Alador's mouth raised as a ghost of a smile appeared on his visage.

Odalia released a sigh of relief, her heart rate slowing now that she saw that Amity hadn't died. On that note, "Alador! I did not say to increase the combat level to three!"

"Oh, sorry dear. That was my mistake," said Alador.

"Indeed!" Odalia huffed as she walked over to Amity. "Let me see."

Amity, with some help from her siblings, stood on her feet and showed her mother the cut she received from the ProtoAbomaton.

"Hmm, doesn't look deep. Still, use one of the Healing Glyphs we have and take care of it, we don't need you scaring up now," said Odalia.

The twins clenched their jaws, Amity almost got killed by their creation, and all she was worried about was Amity getting a scar?

"Okay, I will. Ed, Em, mind giving me a hand up the stairs?" Amity asked.

"You got it," they said together.

As Amity was being helped out of the basement, they heard their mother say, "Amity." The siblings stopped and turned around, their mother had her back to them as she said, "I am glad to see that your absence from school has not dulled your skills."

Amity let a small grin appear on her face as she said, "Thank you, mom."

Ed and Em helped Amity into the living room. Emira stayed with her sister while Edric went to get the Healing Glyphs. Once he had returned, Edric tapped the center of the glyph paper, making it glow. He then looked at his little sister and said, "This is going to hurt a bit, Am."

Amity took her big sister's right hand with her left and said, "I'm ready."

"On three…one!"

"AAAAHHHH!" Amity cried as she felt Edric press the Healing Glyph against her wound.

Emira held tight to Amity's hand as the young Blight squeezed it to the point that Emira thought her bones would shatter. Edric pressed another Healing Glyph onto Amity, placing it on her left shoulder, and a third just below her color bone. The three glyphs began to emit a navy-blue light that pulsed over Amity's body. The soothing power of the glyphs started to dull the pain she was feeling, and with their combined energy, the cut on Amity's side started to quickly mend itself. In a matter of seconds, the wound was closed, and not even a sign of a scar was left. With that done, the glyphs went to work healing the bruises and pains that riddled Amity's body from the fight.

"Amity, that was so cool, but why did you do that?!" Emira asked.

"I had to," said Amity.

"Why, Am?" Edric asked. "You almost bit it out there!"

Amity wanted to tell them the reason, she wanted to so badly. But would they understand? She looked into the eyes of her siblings, their concern was heavy, and their love apparent for her. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Edric asked.

"I just thought you guys always disliked me because of how mom and dad keep putting their attention onto me. I know they push you two, but they tended to focus on me more. I always thought you resented me for that…" Amity admitted.

Edric and Emira glanced at each other, a look of guilt forming on their faces.

"Amity…you're right, we did feel that way towards you," Edric admitted.

"We act like the perfect children for them, but we do things like pull pranks and other things just to rebel against them," said Emira.

"Because we all know that mom wants one of us or all of us to become Coven Heads or join the Emperor's Coven. And right now, me and Em aren't on that path."

"So, when they started to shift those expectations onto you, we saw it as a blessing, 'cause now they weren't leaning on us as much. But neither did they expect much from us at the same time."

"So…yeah, we did grow a little jealous and messed with you as a way to get back, but recently…with all the Phantom attacks, and now seeing how much you've changed, we've kinda reevaluated how we should've been acting," said Edric.

Emira smiled at her little sister and said, "We should've been the big sister and big brother you could depend on, that you could come to when you need to talk or need help. We know you've felt alone, but we don't want you to feel that way anymore."

Amity was getting tired; she used a lot of mana in her fight and the Healing Glyphs were taking away the pain and leaving her exhausted. "Ed…Em…I'm Kamen Rider Heka…"

"What?" they asked in unison before Amity completely knocked out.

"Is she…?" Edric asked.

"She's fine, Mittens' just exhausted herself," said Emira.

"After all that, I'd be too." Edric got his arms under Amity and carried her up the stairs and to her room. "What do you think she meant when she said, 'I'm Kamen Rider Heka'?"

Emira shrugged. "She was pretty out of it, maybe she thinks she's a Kamen Rider or wants to be one."

Edric chuckled as he laid Amity down on her bed and used his magic to cover her with the blankets. "With those moves, I could see that. Still, why not say Witch instead of Heka? Have you seen how Penstagram is shredding her?"

"Jeez, it's brutal, I kinda feel sorry for her."

With those words said, the twins left the room so that their little sister could rest.

Amity felt sore from yesterday's test with the ProtoAbomaton, but even with what happened, she felt good. There was a change in her, a kind of confidence formed in Amity, but she still had some lingering doubts about what would happen if she battled Troll again. She heard from her father that her mother wanted him to rework the ProtoAbomaton, Amity had a feeling she'd see that monstrosity again in the not-too-distant future. But at the same time, her father informed her of something that had happened in the subbasement. Alador brought her down there early in the morning and showed her that the other three blank rings he had forged were no longer blank, but now had images on them.

Amity wasn't sure what this meant, but she had a feeling it was connected to the skirmish she had with the ProtoAbomaton. She felt something during that battle, something that resonated with her on a deep level. Regardless, fighting that thing had made Amity aware of one thing, she had no mentor to teach her the right way to fight, so she would have to come up with her own style of fighting that combined physical and magical abilities. Now that she wasn't as bummed out about what happened during her bout with Troll, Amity went to look for Gus and Willow. She never got in touch base with them after they went to the Owl House and she wanted to know how Luz was doing.

Thankfully she found the two witches she was looking for and called out to them, "Gus, Willow, hey!"

The two witches froze up when they heard Amity's voice.

Gus turned around in a rigid manner and said, "H-Hey, Amity! How you doin'?!"

"Um, good, I'm doing good. Hey, I wanted to ask you guys, how was Luz when you saw her? I'm sorry for not showing up, my parents wanted me home right away after the Phantom attack," said Amity.

"Oh, Luz, she's…she's uh…" Gus stammered.

Amity raised an eyebrow. "She's what?"

"On a bounty hunting mission with Eda!" Willow blurted out.

Amity shook her head in disbelief. "Wait, Luz and Ms. Eda are bounty hunting? Why?"

"Well…apparently Ms. Eda can't use magic anymore."

That much I knew.

"So, in order to pay for food and stuff, they've resorted to doing bounty hunting jobs. And since Luz is the only one who can use magic, she goes along with Eda to help out," Willow finished.

Amity grew concerned upon hearing that. Luz never mentioned that when she visited her, perhaps Luz didn't want her to worry about their circumstances. Luz apparently hid this from Willow and Gus until now, so it wasn't done out of spite. "That's terrible…m-maybe I can help? I mean, I do get an allowance from my parents and the snails are usually more than I use, so maybe I could lend Luz and Eda some? Do you think they'll be back later so we can ask?"

"No, uh, they said they'd be away for a couple of days, big bounty job on the other side of the island," said Gus.

Amity hated that Luz was in such a predicament, seeing her train took on a whole different meaning now. Luz wasn't just training to protect her home; she was training to make herself strong enough to take on bounty jobs. Jobs that would send her places and after dangerous creatures and criminals that wouldn't think twice about harming her. "Will you guys tell me the moment she gets back?"

"Of course we will," said Willow.

The bell screamed and announced that it was time to go to class. Amity walked away from the two witches and waved goodbye, and as she did, Willow and Gus shot nervous looks at each other.

"What are we gonna do?! She's definitely going to start wondering where Luz is if she doesn't show up!" Gus whispered.

"One problem at a time, we need to help Ms. Eda and Ms. Lilith figure out a way to get Luz back! I don't want to worry Amity any more than she is now," said Willow. I honestly don't know if she could take it if she knew that Luz was Witch and that she was trapped in another world.

Suddenly, violent tremors shook the entire school. Windows cracked and shattered, the lockers threw up their contents, and students and faculty were thrown to the floor and against the walls. When the tremors stopped, the entire campus was dizzy and groaning from the shaking. Just then, Principal Bump spoke over the intercom.

[Attention all students and faculty, I have just received reports of a Phantom attack. All students are to evacuate and return to your homes, if you cannot return home, please shelter yourselves in the school, we will protect you with all we have.]

"Guess he recovered," said Bast.

Then it's time for a rematch.

"Think you're ready?"

No, but your kind aren't going to wait for me to be ready.

"Now you're thinking."

Amity glanced about the area and hurriedly ducked away and exited the building. She ran as fast as she could down the paved road which led to Bones Borough. About five minutes later she arrived at the town and saw that the Phantom had done a lot more damage than he had done previously. Rock pillars jutted from the earth, while stone glaives pierced through buildings, stands, and carts. Shards of stones had pierced through several objects as well, and the ground itself had become warped from the power of the Phantom. Amity hid behind a building as she saw Troll burst out of the ground, he then pounded his chest and roared into the air in a challenging manner.

"ALRIGHT WITCH, HEKA! TROLL DOESN'T CARE WHICH ONE OF YOU COMES, BUT A RIDER IS DYIN' TODAY! SO COME ON OUT AND FIGHT ME!"

Amity furrowed her brow, it seemed Troll had changed his opinion on her. Amity looked down at her right hand and saw that it was shaking a bit, and the young witchling clenched that hand into a fist. Yeah, she was scared, she was about to fight a monster that she had almost lost to. But all she had to do was think about what it meant if she did not fight, Witch was nowhere to be seen, again, and the town needed someone to protect them against this monster. With her resolve affirmed, Amity reached into her pockets and put on her rings.

[Driver On.]

The MagiDriver appeared over her waist, Amity entered her stance and closed her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Henshin!"

[Ready, Open!]

[Roar of the heavens!]

[The Goddess Descends!]

A violet magic circle appeared and transformed Amity into her alter ego, Kamen Rider Heka. The new Rider calmly walked from behind the building she had hid behind and slowly walked up the road and towards Troll. The Phantom didn't take long to notice her, his lips contorted into a smile, showing off his many rows of sharp teeth.

"HA! Troll thought you'd be too afraid to face him again!" Troll mocked.

Heka stopped when she was at least ten feet away from him, and said, "I'll admit, I'm a new Rider. I haven't done this before, so yeah, I am afraid. But I'm not going to stand by a let you hurt the people of this town, this island, anyone!" It was time to put what she learned from the KRC to use. Heka spun her staff around, channeling her magical power through it as she summoned her magic circle and made it appear behind her. "I am the Rider who has tapped into an ancient magic and fights for the good of everyone! I who fight with grace and honor, will end your evil!"

Heka struck a fighting pose as the magic circle shined behind her.

"The sun's wrath incarnate! Kamen Rider Heka! Let the show begin!"

Troll growled and shouted, "LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN' HEKA, TROLL DON'T CARE!" The Phantom raised both of its arm into the air and slammed them against the ground, causing a land wave to surge towards Heka.

The golden Rider swiftly jumped into the air, she gracefully spin in midair before landing behind the wave and charging straight for the monster. Troll wasn't afraid, he knew that this rookie Rider was inexperienced, and he could easily beat her. The Phantom raised his right fist and hardened it, making it grow jagged rock spikes as he thrust it forward to punch her. Heka focused her mana into her legs do a controlled burst of speed, rocketing her forward before the big lug could throw his punch in time.

"What?!"

Heka appeared before him and then performed a backflip, in the process she kicked him square in the jaw, making the bulky Phantom stumble backwards from the impact. The golden Rider flipped once in the air before landing on her feet and left hand in a crouching position. She then dashed forward again, turning Lady Luck around as she slashed at the monster with the blade of her staff. Sparks flew from the contact, making the monster wince ever so slightly. Heka remembered what Bast said about what her power could do, it had a burning affect just like she said, it didn't take immediate effect, but it was in effect, and the more hits she landed, the more the affects were accelerated.

"That's right Little Miss Perfect. The heat of my power will burn lesser Phantoms, this one should know when to bow to his betters!"

Troll growled as his body suddenly grew several rock spikes in just a few seconds. He then roared and flexed his muscles; the action made all the rock spikes fire off this body in a barrage of stone shrapnel that flew in every direction. Heka went on the defensive as she deflected some of the spikes with her staff and dodged others, a few managed to hit her, causing sparks to fly from her armor as she fell to the ground.

"He's serious, but so am I!" Heka stood up and readied to fight. "No matter how many times he may knock me down, I'll get up each time!"

Just then, a glow was emitted from her left hip. A chain link appeared on the MagiDriver's strap, and on that link were the three rings that her father had showed her earlier that morning. One of the rings shined brighter than the others, as if telling her that she needed to use it. Heka took off the Driver On ring and replaced it with the Sphinx ring, once she had, Heka pressed the ring into the right slot of the MagiDriver.

[Call to Arms: Sphinx Shield!]

Lady Luck disappeared, and in its place a shield appeared around Heka's right arm. The shield had the image of a Sphinx in the middle of the shield, with the outer rim etched with runic markings similar to the ones on her magic circle. Troll fired off another barrage, but this time, Heka raised her shield. The golden shield rang like a bell each time the shrapnel hit it, but something strange occurred. Each time it was struck, the shield glowed, and that glow got brighter the more it was hit. Heka had an idea as she charged at Troll, the monster roared and met her in the middle as he wailed on her with powerful punches, but each hit was blocked by Heka's steadfast shield.

With each hit that was taken, the golden aura grew brighter, the surface rippling like water as it got stronger. After one more hit by the monster, Heka backflipped away from the Phantom and jumped into the air. The golden Rider spun once in the air and then tossed her shield right at Troll. The shining disk whizzed through the air for a few seconds before it struck Troll in the chest, the impact resounded like a loud bell tolling as the kinetic force of the attack threw the hulking Phantom into the air and smashed him through several of his own stone pillars. The shield had rebounded off Troll and flew back to Heka like a boomerang, where she easily caught it and landed back on the ground with ease.

Heka knew it was time to press the attack, so that's what she needed to do. She took off the Sphinx ring and found the next one she needed. After slipping onto her right middle finger, Heka pressed into the MagiDriver.

[Call to Arms: Scarab Saber!]

The golden shield dispersed into particles of golden light before reforming into a new weapon. The blade itself was about four feet in length, with a scarab ornament acting as the guard, the hilt was wrapped in a brilliantly white cloth and with a red ruby pommel at the end. The golden blade sheened in the light of the sun, and one thing that Heka noticed upon holding this weapon, was that she felt much faster and lighter. Heka bounced on her feet, and for a few seconds she floated in the air before coming back down. The golden Rider smiled under her helmet, and then dashed straight for Troll.

Troll managed to dig himself out his own stone pillar, but that's when he saw Heka coming straight for him. The earth attributed Phantom smashed his fists into the ground, causing stone glaives to rise and rush towards his opponent. But Heka swiftly cut them down as they appeared, it happened quickly, having a delayed reaction between when the streak of golden light made the cut and the glaives fell apart. Heka continued forward and used another burst of speed to disappear. Suddenly, Troll was barraged with several streaks of light that assaulted him from the front, causing sparks to fly from his body repeatedly.

Troll had had enough as he roared mightily into the air and caused the earth to rumble beneath him. This caused Heka to back away, afraid to lose her footing. This provided Troll with the room he needed to put some distance between her and him. He then struck his hand through one of his pillars and broke it off, Troll hoisted it into the air and prepared to brandish it like a club. Heka saw this and quickly changed rings to the third and final ring.

[Call to Arms: Griffon Ax!]

The sword turned into particles and reformed into a twin sided battel ax. The blades resembled that of folded wings, and at the top of the ax was the head of a noble and regal looking griffon. The shaft of the ax was wrapped in the same white cloth as the sword, but instead of a ruby there was an emerald gemstone at the bottom of the ax. Holding his weapon made Heka feel a lot stronger than before, and she relished the newfound strength as she took the Griffon Ax into both of her hands. Troll hefted the huge pillar up and then brought it down with the full intent of crushing Heka.

Heka released a loud battle cry as she struck with an upward slash of her ax. The blow sent a surge of energy through the broken off pillar of rock and split it down the middle, causing Troll to release his grasp on it for fear of that surge reaching him and slicing him in two. Troll landed on another one of his pillars, looking down at Heka with anger and annoyance in his eyes.

"How…! How did she get this strong in just a couple of days?!" That wasn't the only issue, Troll could feel that same burning sensation from last time, except now it was even worse, he could feel it burning away at his mana and reducing his power with each passing second, and even his body felt like it was on fire. It might mean using up all of his mana, but he was going to end this. "The heck with it then! Troll will just crush this whole damn town if it means killing her!"

Troll broke off part of the pillar he was standing on and made it float in the air. The Phantom then raised his hands and roared into the air, and not long after doing that did the ground begin to rumble and shake. Suddenly, large slabs of earth and rock began to rise from the ground, they were semicircular in shape, four in total, each one appearing at a different direction of the town. The four halves were starting to get closer, as if they were about to form a dome.

"LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN', HEKA! I'LL BURY THIS ENTIRE TOWN AND YOU ALONG WITH IT!"

"Not on my watch!" Heka remarked. "This is your curtain call!"

Heka widened her stance and with all her might, she tossed the Griffon Ax straight for Troll. At the same time, Heka pressed the Cat ring key into the left slot and activated her finisher.

[ LET'S GO! KICK STRIKE! ]

Heka's right foot blazed with gold and purple energy, using this power, Heka jumped straight up into the air with all her might. The ax soared through the sky ahead of her and made Troll yell in distress when he saw it coming straight for him. The bulky Phantom had no choice but to jump off his rock platform, allowing the ax to smash through it. However, that proved to be a grave mistake as Heka appeared in front of him.

Heka unleashed a flurry of rapid-fire kicks with her glowing right foot, striking the Phantom repeatedly and suspending herself and him in the air while doing so. The golden Rider threw a roundhouse kick that sent the monster flying back down to the ground, Heka dived straight down with a flying kick as she chased after him. The moment that Troll impacted the ground, so did Heka as she drove her right foot into his chest, yelling with all her might as her blazing foot released its power. Troll roared one last time before the power consumed him, and caused a powerful explosion to erupt, creating a crater about ten feet wide and three feet deep. The stone slabs that Troll had summoned had returned to their previous positions, recalled by the island itself.

Those who were brave enough, or dumb enough depending on your perspective, to stick around to record the action waited to see if Heka had truly defeated the Phantom or if it had gotten away. Their answer came when the dust cleared, and the light of the sun shined down on the battlefield. The rays of the sun gleamed against the golden armor of Heka as she walked out of the crater, holding her staff as she took a knee at the edge of crater, clearly tired from the fight, but otherwise unharmed.

Heka raised her head and saw that there some townspeople who were approaching her. She didn't know if this was going to be a good thing or a bad thing, yet. Her answer came when the people all erupted into victorious cheers for Heka and even chanted her name, "HEKA! HEKA! HEKA!"

The new Rider felt her heart swell with pride, she managed to protect the people, and destroy the Phantom. She protected those she cared about, at least for now. Heka stood tall for the people to see as she said, "I am a new Rider, like I said. I still have a lot to learn, but I promise, with Witch and I watching over the Boiling Isles, we will not let the Phantoms win!" The crowd cheered even louder, and with those last words, Heka used her amazing speed to disappear.

Belos had watched this whole battle occur from his crystal ball, across from him the shadow of the Titan formed. The ruler of the Boiling Isles chuckled as he said, "Tell me, oh great Titan, did a second Rider factor into your plans?"

Do not act so smug, "Belos", this unforeseen circumstance doesn't bode well for you either. You know not this one's identity, and neither do I.

"That is true, but…" Belos stood up from his desk and said, "A wild card like this makes things much more interesting."

I'll remember to impart those words to you when your plans come crashing down around you.

"And I you."

Unfortunately, Amity didn't get to see Luz after that. She was exhausted from the battle, and thankfully, classes were cancelled for the day so that the damage to the town could be assessed, and to make sure the multiple quakes that Troll created didn't cause any structural instability to Hexside. Amity had headed straight home and collapsed onto her bed and took a three-hour nap that day.

The following day, things went back to normal, well, normal-ish. The Construction Coven managed to fix the damage that Troll did to the ground and gave Hexside the "all clear" as well. When Amity walked the halls of the school, she no longer heard the students talking her down, oh no, their tune had completely changed since yesterday's events.

"Heka was awesome!"

"Okay, yeah, she had a bad first impression, but she definitely made up for it yesterday!"

"You think Witch and her are partners?"

"She didn't show up, maybe she was testing her to see if she could handle the job?"

"Hey, who you think would win in a fight, Heka or Witch?!"

It wasn't just in the school, Penstagram was blowing up with comments that were much the same. Hashtags were popping up that read, "#NewRider", "#RespectHeka", and then there were a few like this one that made her blush, "#DatemeHeka", and this one, "#SteponmeHeka". Those ones made her cringe.

"Well, aren't we popular now."

I don't really care if I am or not. The important thing is that everyone's safe.

"Uh-huh, right, like you weren't about to tear your hair out with how much everyone was ragging on you."

Amity sighed; she couldn't deny that part. Anyway, it's fine now. People seem like they want to trust Heka, and that's good. Maybe Witch will see that I'm on her side.

"That has got me wondering, what would you do if your hero decided she didn't like having to share the spotlight? What if she told you to stop?"

Amity stopped walking for a moment. As much as she didn't like to admit it, Bast had a point. What if Witch was against having a partner? What if the hero was territorial and saw Amity as competition rather than alley?

"You still don't know what her goals are. For now, she fights against my kind, but what do you really know about Witch? What is her endgame? Why does she fight? Are her actions altruistic or is she in this for a something that neither you nor I can see? What if your hero is really the villain? Can you take up arms against her, even if it meant that you'd turn the entire island against you? Even if it means being hated by the person you love?"

Luz wouldn't hate me; she'd trust my judgement!

"Luz is a diehard fan of the Riders and may even hero worship Witch. It could mean some trouble for you down the road, Little Miss Perfect."

Amity shook her head. It would never come to that, that's what she decided. She put her trust in Witch and in Luz, no matter how things turned out, Amity believed that Witch would defend the Isles and those who live on it. While she, as Heka, would do the same, but also, Amity would protect the person whom she loves the most. Their world was dangerous for a human, and even more dangerous since the Phantoms emerged, but now she was confident that she had the power fight back against them.