A/N: Review time!
Writer of Crossovers: I never got around to answering that. The answer is, he won't. Kind of the thing here. Luz has Wizard, or at least a simulacrum of him in her head, making her the more experienced Rider. While Amity has to learn this stuff on her own, but being the skilled witch that she is, she will learn, especially when the eventual moment happens when they find out each other's identity. And, well, there will many training sessions to be had between them.
OMAC001: I hope you enjoy this then!
DrakeEndrit: Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the ride.
Now it's time for a little quiz. There's a fight scene in this chapter that I copied from one of the Heisei Rider series. Those of you who know will know it when you see it. For everyone else, try and guess. I'll tell you if you're right in the next chap.
A high-seas adventure is what Luz got; the smell of sea water was everywhere as the wind rushed by her. Despite its large size, the ship was fast, so Luz wasn't too worried about Eda wondering where she was. If all went according to plan, she'd bag this Selkidomus and come back home with a sack of snails. For the time being, Captain Salty had not given Luz any assignments. It was true, she was not skilled in the art of sailing, but hopefully the grizzled demon would give her a chance to prove her worth. King perched himself on her arm, both gazing into the open sea as they enjoyed the view.
"When we defeat the Selkidomus and get a boatload of snails, Eda won't have to worry about money for a long time," said Luz.
"King want a cracker."
"ALL HANDS!" Luz heard the voice of Captain Salty and immediately rushed to where he was. Along with this motley crew, she as joined by a large purple demon who had a clam shell for a head, a strange gray colored demon who was missing his right hand, a cyclops demon, and a fishman demon. "Alright, crew. The Selkidomus has been ravaging the coastline. It was last seen in the Simmering Shoals. You know the drill, 'Snag the quarry…'" Salty held out a large sack of snails and dropped it onto the deck for all to see, "'Get the money galore-y.' We all do the work; we all get a cut!"
The crew cheered, with the fishman adding, "I have many debts!"
"'Till then, keep everything shipshape! This ain't no pleasure cruise!" The captain pulled out a push broom from his jacket and tossed in Luz's direction. He then leaned closer to the human girl and glared at her as he said, "Don't be a burden, sea squirt."
Luz smirked back at Captain Salty and replied, "Oh, you won't have to worry about me."
"Heh, heh, we'll see, sea squirt. The rest of ya, get to work!"
The rest of the crew dispersed and went to work, while Luz hurried behind one of the crates and put the broom down. King dismounted her shoulder and looked to see what Luz was doing. The Latina replaced the Driver On ring with the Potion ring, then she pulled up her shirt a little, revealing the Hand Author buckle, and placed her right hand over it.
[Potion, Please.]
Upon Luz's mental command, she created ten flasks in total, and with a wave of her hands she was able to concoct different solutions in each of them. Once she was done, Luz had King help her carry the flasks out into the open. It was right about that time that Captain Salty saw her, he grumbled under his breath and walked over to her with a dissatisfied look on his face.
"Thought I told you to swab the deck, sea squirt," said Salty.
"I'm just about to do that." Luz raised one of the flasks and threw it against the deck, an explosion of suds came rushing out over part of the deck.
"HOLY TITAN!" Salty exclaimed.
Luz took this opportunity to throw the rest into the air, each one exploded at different parts of the deck, flooding it with soap suds that expanded further and further until they coated the entire deck the bow all the way to the stern. Thankfully it only rose to just below the knees, but that still didn't make the captain any less annoyed.
"What is all this?!"
"Cleaning, Sir!" Luz bent down and had King give her the remaining five flasks.
Just like before, Luz tossed each one of the flasks at different parts of the deck. Once the flasks hit the deck, they exploded and released a water-like wave that washed over the entire deck. Salty watched as the suds were washed away, and once they were, the deck was sparkling clean, the whole thing looked as if it were brand new.
"I'll be dipped…" Salty marveled.
Luz saluted the captain and asked, "What else can I do, Captain Salty?!"
The old sea demon shook his head and said, "Okay, okay. Let's see how you handle this next assignment."
Salty led Luz to the edge of the ship, he looked over the railing and prompted Luz to do the same. From their vantage point, Luz could see that the outer haul had a lot of barnacles that were caked onto the ship. "I need you to get them barnacles off the ship. Here." Salty reached into his – at this point magic – coat and pulled out a scraper to get rid of them.
Luz smiled and said, "No thank you, I got this!"
The human girl pulled out a Plant Glyph and created multiple vines which she weaved together to create a rope. She had it wrap around her waist as she repelled down the side of the ship and hung a foot away from the barnacles. The barnacles were apparently alive as they hissed at her, but Luz just hissed right back, silencing them on the spot. The young witch-in-training replaced the Potion ring with the Abomination ring and activated it.
[Abomination, Please.]
Abomination goo formed in a sphere above Luz's right hand. With a wave of the same hand, Luz conjured a larger version of the scraper that Salty was going to give her. She had the Abomination construct hover a few feet overhead before bringing it down and shaving off a large portion of the barnacles from the haul. It took Luz all of three minutes to get the barnacles off the bow of the ship. She moved onto the rest of the ship, seeing that there were more of them. After she was done, she retracted her vine rope and brought herself back on deck.
Once there, Luz hurried and found Captain Salty. "Sir, the barnacles have all been taken care of!"
Captain Salty did a double take, he pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. "What's the meain' of this? You slackin' sea squirt?"
Luz looked at the demon with confusion. "Uh, no, Captain, I finished scraping the barnacles like you wanted."
"No ya can't have, 'cause it normally takes hours to do it, and yer tellin' me you finished in thirty minutes?"
"I promise, Captain, I did!" Luz insisted.
"We'll see about that." Captain Salty walked to the edge of the rail and looked down to see if Luz was telling the truth. To his surprise, the bow was barnacle free. He continued along the railing to the starboard side, going to the stern, and finishing around port. "Well…I'll be…I owe ya an apology, sea squirt. Yer more efficient than I thought."
"It's okay, anything else I can do?" Luz asked.
Captain Salty nodded and motioned for Luz to come with him. The sea demon led Luz to the furnace, he popped the hatch open and took up a shovel that was leaning against the wall. He shoveled some coal into the furnace and said, "Need you to feed the furnace, we need to get to the Simmering Shoals fast like. So, I need all this coal in that furnace."
Luz looked at the furnace and pushed the offered shovel away. With a smirk, Luz widened her stance and threw a Fire Glyph paper into the furnace, she stepped forward and threw in a second, and on her third step, she slapped a third on the inside of the hatch and shut it closed. Not a moment later, the furnace bellowed to life with renewed vigor. The entire ship lurched forward as it got an incredible speed boost from the magical flames.
Salty coughed, having gotten a face full of smoke and soot from the sudden combustion. Then the sea demon smiled at the human and said, "Heh-ha, now that's what I'm talkin' about! That's how ya pull yer wait around here! Arrrr!"
Luz smiled when she heard Salty's praise, she was determined to show the crew and the captain that she was not a burden, that she could contribute a lot to this hunt. Because, if she did not, it would mean that all of this was for nothing, and Eda would have to suffer because she could not do more to help out.
A couple of hours had passed since they left port, Captain Salty had made it official and announced that Luz was officially part of the crew, he even gave her a hearty "Arrr!" of approval. Luz hadn't seen King around for a minute, she figured the little demon was off napping somewhere as he usually did. So long as he was staying out of trouble, she could focus on what needed to be done.
Thanks to Luz's efforts, they arrived in record time to their destination. The cloudless sky was soon overcast by thick gray clouds, creating an ominous atmosphere that dripped with fear. Captain Salty peered through his spyglass and confirmed their location. "We're here. The Simmering Shoals. Eyes peeled, mates."
The crew lined up along the railing, as the ship sailed on, they passed by the smoking wreckage of several ships that had met their end by the Selkidomus. The destroyed ships were fresh, some were still on fire for that matter. Luz now understood why the bounty was so high, how many lives were taken by this monster? How many witches and demons' family members were lost to the Boiling Sea because of the Selkidomus? Luz hoped that they managed to get away safely, but after seeing the wreckages, she would be lucky if they just walked away from this moderately injured. This only lit a fire in Luz, now she was more determined than ever to take the beast down, now it was more than just for money, it was a mission to bring peace to the sea.
"She's close, mates, be on guard," Salty warned.
No sooner had he said that did something violently jostle the ship. The crew was knocked off their feet, while Luz managed to grab ahold of the railing to stay on her feet. She looked down at the water and watched as a large tail rose and then plunged back into the water.
"SHE'S HERE!" Luz cried out.
Despite its large size, the Selkidomus was a very fast swimmer, its fins breached the surface of the water, cutting through it like a blade. The crew brought out their harpoons and threw them at where the Selkidomus was, but the monster dove under the water swiftly. Luz did not think that such a huge creature would be so fast. Just then, the Selkidomus breached, rising out the water and exposing its belly. When it did, the Selkidomus expanded it stomach rapidly, and launched several quills straight for them. Many of the quills embedded themselves in the haul, but one managed to strike the clam head demon's head right off his shoulders.
Normally something like this would freak Luz out, but after seeing Eda's head get severed multiple times, she's grown kind of numb to it. Even more so when the demon reached down and grabbed his severed clam head and put it back on his body.
"Now it's my turn!"
Luz jumped onto the railing and pulled three of her Ice Glyph papers. She infused a bit of her mana into them. Taking careful aim, Luz flicked the first two Ice Glyphs towards the water. The result created two huge icebergs that blocked the Selkidomus' path, forcing it to turn around. With the third Ice Glyph, Luz shot it forward, creating an ice island. The Selkidomus didn't know what hit it as it accidentally rammed itself into the ice island, putting it in a daze. Luz capitalized on this and took out two Plant Glyph papers, with another infusion of mana, Luz crushed the papers in her hands, pressed them together, and pointed her right hand towards the monster.
Huge vines grew out, wrapping around the creature. The giant seal-like behemoth roared as it snapped its jaws at the vines and used its underbelly quills to cut at the vines to prevent them from getting around it. Luz was not about to give up, she infused more mana into the vines and made them stronger and grow faster. The vines were rapidly coiling around the creature, even its thrashing was lessening as it was becoming increasingly aware that there was no way to get free from this.
Yeah, I got you! You're not going anywhere!
Suddenly, a huge explosion went off behind Luz, breaking her concentration. The Selkidomus felt the vines slack and expanded its belly, using the quills to slice through the vines once again, freeing itself, and diving back into the water. Luz lost her balance and nearly fell forward into the Boiling Sea, thankfully, Captain Salty reached out with his left claw and pulled on Luz's shirt, yanking her back where she landed hard onto the deck.
"Ow!" Luz exclaimed.
"You good, Luz?!" Salty asked.
"Ouch…yeah, thank you. What was that?" she asked.
She was upside down, and there was a smoke cloud, but Luz could definitely see someone who looked kind of like a pirate running off with a huge sack over their shoulder.
"Is that a-a ghost pirate?" Salty asked with fear.
"THE MONEY! They're taking it!" Luz exclaimed. "We're being robbed!"
The shadowy figure tossed the money overboard, and the figure was right behind it. Luz and Salty ran to where the figure disappeared and looked down to see that they had gotten into some kind of boat and were quickly headed towards the island in the distance. That thief just cost her and Eda their big pay day, she was not going to let that happen, not after all the work she had done, not when she almost had that monster. Luz took out another of her Ice Glyphs and flicked it towards the water. The result created a huge block of ice that acted as her boat. Luz jumped off the side and onto the ice block, she took out a Fire Glyph and pressed her hand against it, making it act as a jet engine as it propelled her forward.
"AH-HA-HA! Show that specter what for, Luz!" Salty shouted.
Oh, you can count on it!
Right about now, Luz was regretting not infusing mana into her ice block to make it thicker. Because the island was much further away than she realized, and due to this oversite, the ice block was melting due to the heat of the Boiling Sea. By the time the beach was in sight, Luz was riding on a couple of foot sized blocks of ice that were perched under her feet. Luz did everything she could to keep her balance, knowing that if she hit the water, it was game over for her. As she got closer, Luz could see the figure in the distance and their strange boat.
Unfortunately, she was not in the best of positions to stop herself. Luz continued forward until she barreled into the thief, throwing both of them into the sand, and as a result, the bag of snails flew into the air and landed right on the shoreline. A wave came in, and just like that, washed away the money into the sea. Both Luz and the thief got up at the same time and shouted at the same time, "THE MONEY!"
"UGH!" Luz growled. "I can't believe this! Why would you – uh…wait a second." Luz gave the thief a scrutinizing glare.
The thief wore a crimson red jacket, with a belt wrapped around their body that had several potion bottles attached to it. The thief kept their mask up, but Luz could tell who it was.
The Latina slapped the hat off the thief and revealed their identity. "EDA?!"
The Owl Lady laughed sheepishly. "Hey…"
Luz groaned loudly as she ran her hands down her face. "Why are you robbing our ship?! I had the Selkidomus, I was going to get us that money! And-And-And what happened to your legs?!"
For some reason, Eda's legs were not attached to her body. Eda snapped her fingers, and her legs hopped out of the boat-tub and walked their way towards her. After reattaching themselves to her body, Eda said, "It's called 'disguising your tracks'. Now, why were you on that ship to begin with?! You coulda gotten killed!"
The surprises weren't stopping today as yet another unexpected event occurred. The water rumbled and roared as a giant fist made of sand and dirt rose from the scalding hot water and slammed itself onto the beach before the two. When the dirt dispersed, it revealed none other than the Golden Guard, holding a bird cage in his right hand and his staff in the other.
"That can still be arranged," said the Golden Guard. He rose to his standing height and dusted himself off. "Hello, criminals. What's about to happen should be relatively painless if you just do what I say."
Luz glared at the lacky of the Emperor. "And why would we do that?"
The Golden Guard shrugged and answered, "Mmm, 'cause none of you can use real magic."
Eda smirked, it seemed that the Emperor's ace was not as well informed as his master was. "Oh, you really don't know a thing, do you?"
"Maybe not, but I do know you're standing on a plant that eats flesh."
Luz and Eda looked down, noticing smoke rising from below their feet. And much to their dismay, they were standing on a plant that was burning their shoes. Eda and Luz quickly jumped off the plant and stomped their feet into the sand to put out the burning sensation.
The Golden Guard chuckled a little and remarked, "Oh, that was funny. Okay – the human will remain a sailor to repay all the money she lost, while the Owl Lady will be arrested, again, for attacking one of the Emperor's ships."
Luz stopped her stomping as her eyes widened. She was on one of the Emperor's ships this whole time? "Wait, that ship belonged to the Emperor?! And you were robbing it?"
"They're the only ones worth robbing. But more to the point, why are you hunting the Selkidomus?! It's a peaceful creature, and you're provoking it!" Eda accused.
Wait, what?! The Selkidomus wasn't just attacking people at random just because, thought Luz.
The Golden Guard shrugged again. "The Emperor ordered me to slay one. I'm just following orders."
"Okay, I've had enough!" Luz stated as she put on her Driver On ring.
"Whoa now!" The Golden Guard thrust his staff at Luz.
A red aura appeared around Luz's Driver On ring, and then said ring was slipped off her finger.
"HEY!"
The ring flew through the air and into Golden Guard's right hand. "Whew, that was close. I'm not about to go head-to-head with Kamen Rider Witch."
Damn, he did know Luz was Witch!
"The Emperor told me all about you. You can't transform into Witch without this ring to activate that belt of yours," said Golden Guard.
"This brat is every bit as intolerable as his master."
Luz furrowed her brow and waved for Eda to back away. "Don't think I can't use magic without it!" Luz swiftly put on the Illusion ring.
[Illusion, Please.]
The air around Eda and Luz became distorted, and in a matter of seconds the two of them vanished into thin air. Golden Guard raised his staff and readied himself for whatever was to come. Suddenly, he felt a hard strike to his chest, making him skid backwards and come close to the Boiling Sea. Another strike hit him from the side, like a kick, and threw him away from the water. Golden Guard growled and began teleporting around the area, he paused in between his teleports and looked at the sand. He knew of basic invisibility spells; they were magic 101 for Illusion witches. But the problem here was that it wasn't just a simple invisibility spell, the illusion was making a perfect copy of the area, undisturbed by all the activity. Golden Guard struck the sand in front of him, which confirmed his suspicions, she had cast a wide area illusion, which was why her tracks were not visible on the sand.
"I'll give you points on originality; I haven't faced an Illusion witch who could do something like this!" Golden Guard teleported to his original location and twirled his staff around. "But I'm not all that impressed!"
Golden Guard brought down the butt of his staff against the sand, creating a sandstorm that blustered and blew out in front of him. His efforts paid off as the illusion broke, revealing Eda the Owl Lady, but Luz the human was…
[Abomination, Please.]
[Big, Please.]
Golden Guard watched as Luz coated her right arm in Abomination goo and thrust it through a magic circle out in front of her. The moment she did, another circle appeared over Golden Guard, five times bigger than the one in front of Luz. Somehow, her entire Abomination coated fist was the size of a giant. Golden Guard swiftly conjured a giant sand fist and grappled with the Abomination fist coming at him. While Golden Guard was busy with this, Luz ran to her left.
[Connect, Please.]
Luz reached into the circle and pulled out the WizarSwordGun. The young hero fired off several rounds that weaved through the air and straight at Golden Guard. The masked man hurriedly erected a barrier around himself, deflecting several of the silver bullets coming at him. Golden Guard retaliated by firing several magic bolts at her from a distance.
[Defend, Please.]
A barrier of yellow light appeared around Luz just in time as the magic bolts rained down on her position, exploding powerfully with each successive hit. The multiple explosions caused a dust cloud to form around her position, obscuring her from view. A moment later, Luz came dashing out of the cloud firing her weapon at Golden Guard as she closed in on him.
Golden Guard growled in annoyance as he declared. "OKAY, NOW I'M ANNOYED!" With a swipe of his staff, the sand in front of Luz merged together and jutted forward into the shape of blade that pierced right through her chest.
"LUZ!" Eda cried out.
"Ah, shoot, the Emperor's going to be ticked that I did that…he still needed her for the Phantom extermination…But we have that rookie Rider, so do we really?" Golden Guard pondered.
"EAT THIS SUCKAAAAAA!"
Luz burst out of the Abomination fist, she looked small at first, but then rapidly grew into her full size as she came down with her WizarSwordGun in sword mode. Golden Guard saw this barely at the last second as jumped backwards, the blade of Luz's weapon slashed his mask, creating a shallow gash on the left side of it.
"What the – how did – when did you–?!" Golden Guard looked back at the Luz he had impaled. When he did, he saw that it was only an illusion grafted over an Abomination to give it substance.
"Yeah, when you kicked up that dust cloud earlier, I used my Illusion and Abomination rings to create that copy. And then I used my Connect ring to open a portal inside the Abomination fist and used the Small ring to make myself tiny so you wouldn't notice me," Luz explained. "Don't just think it's the rings that make me a Rider, I'm Kamen Rider Witch whether or not I'm transformed!"
Golden Guard narrowed his gaze at the girl, he ran his right hand over the spot where the blade cut his mask. If I was just a couple of seconds slower, she could've taken my eye and wounded my chest in one swing. No wonder Uncle had such a difficult time with her, her magic is something else. But still…
"I'm done with this."
Golden Guard teleported away and reappeared behind Luz and kicked her in the back. He pointed his staff at her and wrapped his red aura around her arms, and then bound them together behind her back. Eda ran at him, but he easily sidestepped her and struck her in the back as well, making Eda fall to the ground next to Luz. "Okay, that was all nice, but how about I leave you to dangle above the Boiling Sea?!" With a wave of his staff, the sand below Luz and Eda shifted and extended out like a platform, having them hover just above the scalding hot water. "Around these parts, just the steam is enough to cause third-degree burns."
Eda immediately grabbed Luz and put herself between the water and Luz, preparing to sacrifice herself if necessary. However, that did not seem necessary as Eda and Luz wrapped in Golden Guard's aura and brought back onto the shore. "But I don't have to be that mean. No one will have to be a sailor or get arrested, if one of you follows those Selkidomus tracks and slays the beast. Here! I'll help!"
Golden Guard's help came in the form of him transmuting a sword for them to use. Luz and Eda looked at the sword, but both still had defiant looks, refusing to do anything Golden Guard told them. The teen genius sighed in frustration. "Ugh, you're making this difficult…Go, or I drown the bird." Golden Guard walked over to the birdcage he had brought with him; he lifted the purple covering and revealed King inside.
"WEH!" Golden Guard released the shade. "Ah, it's dark now." King went back to sleep.
Luz looked to King's cage, to Eda, and then towards the cave entrance where the Selkidomus hid. Gritting her teeth, she asked, "If I do this, will you let us go?"
"All will be forgiven," said Golden Guard.
"Fine…I'll do it."
"There we go." Golden Guard waved his staff and released the binding on Luz's arms.
She walked over and picked up the sword he had made. If she was going to do this, she wasn't about to stain her WizarSwordGun with the blood of that creature. "Don't suppose you'll give me my ring back? This would go a lot faster if I could change into Witch."
Golden Guard tapped his chin for a moment and remarked, "Eeeeeh…that's a no. Good try though. But no, you'll get the ring after you're done."
"I really don't like him."
That makes two of us.
Reluctantly, Luz began her walk towards the Selkidomus cave. Eda was right behind her, yelling, "LUZ, WAIT! LUZ!" But Luz ignored her, as best she could anyway. The two of them entered the dark and dank cave, seaweed hung from the stalactites, while coral grew from the cave floor. As they headed further in, they happened upon a large crevice, and in the crevice was the mast of a ship sticking right up from it. "Luz, please, don't hurt the Selkidomus! We can find another way out of this!"
"We can't, Eda! You heard him, if I'm going to get King back, and keep you from getting arrested, again. Then I have to do this, alone!" Luz stated.
Eda shook her head when she heard that. "What's all this 'I' and 'alone' stuff?! What happened to, 'We weirdos have–!"
"HAVE TO WHAT?! 'STICK TOGETHER'?!" Luz yelled. "Because of me you lost your magic, because of me, we're struggling for money! You can't afford to get the things you need or want because you're too busy worrying about what I need to eat!"
Eda went silent for a moment, but that silence was broken when the Selkidomus bellowed from deep down in the crevice.
Luz sighed and said, "I have to be the one to fix all of this. It's my responsibility. I don't want to be a burden on you anymore. I'll make this all up to you, Eda the Owl Lady. I swear it." Luz held up the sword she was given and fell backwards. She fell deep into the abyss for all of ten seconds before landing on something relatively soft.
The darkness lit up as two glowing eyes peered up at her, the eyes of the Selkidomus. The creature bucked Luz off its head, down its back, and off its tail. Luz rolled along the ground, losing her grip on the sword as it flung and embedded itself a rock formation. The Selkidomus turned its massive body around and released a powerful roar that echoed through the cavern, the seaweed-whiskers and growths on its back started to emit a red bioluminescence, bathing the entire cavern in red light. The creature reared up and puffed out its chest and stomach, firing off its quills straight at Luz.
[Defend, Please.]
A shield of yellow light appeared around Luz, deflecting the incoming quills one after the other.
"Niña, I advise you to think this action through. There must be a reason why they want this creature slain. That mortal doesn't strike me as someone who just wants to kill something for the sake of killing it."
I know, I know! There has to be a reason why the Emperor wants this thing dead, but I can't think about that right now, Lala! I…I have to focus on the ones I can save right now!
Luz ran from around her shield and grabbed the sword, she threw down an Ice Glyph before the Selkidomus and jumped onto it. The moment she did, the glyph activated and created a pillar of ice that acted as catapult, throwing her into the air as she prepared to slash at the Selkidomus. "¡Tengo que hacer esto! ¡Para mis amigos, para Eda! ¡Lo lamento! ¡LO SIENTO (I have to do this! For my friends, for Eda! I'm sorry! I'M SORRY!)!"
However, just before Luz could land a blow, Eda came swinging in from the shipwreck's mast and scooped her up. Eda let go and let the two of them fall straight through a massive pile of seaweed. Luz sat up, and when she did, Eda slapped her across the face.
"You think throwing your life away is going to help me?! WELL, IT WON'T!" Eda argued.
"E-Eda…" Luz stammered.
"You saved me from turning to stone and you even got me talking to my sister again. So, unfortunately for you, my life is pretty great, because I'm friends with Luz, the human! And no matter what happens, I'll always look after you Luz, you're my apprentice!" Eda reached out and cupped Luz's cheeks. "You will never be a burden to me, ever."
Luz couldn't help but shed tears, all the guilt that she had felt over everything finally lifted from her shoulders and her heart.
Eda, with her hands still on Luz's face, smushed her cheeks and said, "Now, your guilt-ridden brain is clouding your judgement. There's gotta be a way out of this, where no one has to get hurt."
"I want that, too!…But how?"
A high-pitched trilling sound caught their attention, that and a gentle green glow coming from a bed made of seaweed. On it was a plump little baby Selkidomus, the seaweed leaf on its head the source of the green glow. It looked at them happily, its tongue sticking out and giving the creature an adorable look.
"Oh preciosa bebe (Oh precious baby)!" Luz exclaimed as she approached the baby Selkidomus and hugged the plump little seal monster. "No wonder she was so aggressive, she was protecting her child!"
"I can relate, but that still leaves golden boy up there," said Eda.
An idea popped into Luz's head as she let go of the baby Selkidomus. She turned around to face Eda and asked, "Eda, do you wanna learn your first glyph?"
Meanwhile, outside of the cave, Golden Guard was standing, patiently waiting for Luz and Eda to finish the task he gave. While they were inside, he decided to amuse himself with the demon in the cage. Golden Guard raised the shade, making King release a "WEH!" before scurrying around in the cage. The Emperor's protégé released the shade and King went back to sleep. He did it a second time and King went, "WEH!" and scurried around again. Golden Guard repeated this a third time before stopping.
"Heh-heh, you're actually, weirdly endearing," he remarked.
"No…I'm not…" King replied in a drowsy state.
Golden Guard's attention was suddenly pulled away from King when he heard a rumbling coming from the direction of the Boiling Sea. "What the heck…?"
His attention was grabbed once again, but this time it directed towards the cave. There he saw the shadows of Luz and Eda battling the Selkidomus. The battle went back and forth for a minute, but in the end Golden Guard watched as Luz used the sword he made to behead the Selkidomus in one swing. Liquid sprayed from its neck before the body hit the ground with a wet "thud". After it was done, Luz dragged the head, her shadow disappeared as the real Luz came into view, dragging something heavy behind her.
Golden Guard sniffed the air a moment and reeled from the stink. "Ugh! Oh, that thing smells awful! Why are you touching it with your hands?! Gross!"
"You're gross!" Luz retorted. "Now give me King!"
"Actually, he smells pretty bad, too. Take 'em."
Golden Guard tossed the birdcage in Luz's direction. The Latina caught the cage swiftly, pulling off the shade to allow King to see what was going on.
"And the ring!" Luz demanded.
Golden Guard held up the Driver On ring, rolling it between his thumb and index finger. "Hmmm…I don't know if I should. Y'know?"
"What?! We had a deal!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know we did. I mean, I can still let you go and not come after the Owl Lady. But after that little scuffle on the beach, I'm starting to wonder if it's really in the best interests of Emperor Belos to allow you have this?" Golden Guard pondered.
Luz furrowed her brow but put on a cocky smile. "Oh, so what you're saying is, you and Belos are afraid of me!"
"I never said that!" Golden Guard remarked with an angry tone.
Luz opened the cage and let King out before continuing. "That's it, isn't it? I cracked Belos' mask, and I cut yours. You two aren't as powerful or as invincible as you think you are. And what's worse for you two, I haven't even reached my Final Form, yet. If Belos thought I was powerful before, neither one of you will know what hit you when that day comes."
"Hmm, yep, yeah, even more reason why I don't want to give this back. And also…" Golden Guard teleported right in front of Luz; a construct energy sword appeared in his left hand as he held the point to Luz's neck. "Don't you dare speak of Emperor Belos like that."
"You're working for a tyrant, someone who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, including lying to those who trust him! Look what he did to Lilith! He promised to cure Eda of the curse if Lilith brought Eda into your Coven, but instead, all he wanted was the portal, and then broke that promise when he didn't get what he wanted! I won't take anything back!"
Golden Guard growled, his hand shaking as he gripped the construct sword harder. Thankfully, something happened that diffused this tense moment. That thing being a giant four pincered crab monster that rose from the Boiling Seas and released a horrible screeching noise. Luz and Golden Guard stared at the monster in shock.
"I'm guessing you didn't know about that thing, right?" Luz asked.
"Nope."
"Still don't want to give me my ring back?"
"Nope!" Golden Guard dismissed his sword and put the ring into Luz's hand. "Thank you for your service! And try to stay out of trouble, the Emperor is not a merciful man. Hope you don't die good luck finding a safe way home okay thanks byeeeee!"
Golden Guard mounted his magic staff, and a moment later, shot off into the sky as a blazing red comet. Luz blew a raspberry at him and made a mental note to kick his butt when she saw him in Rider form. The human girl stared down the giant crab monster scuttling around, it seemed to sniff the air, as if looking for something. It didn't take her long to figure out what it was it was probably looking for.
"I have had a long and difficult day. And I need some stress relief!"
[Driver On, Please.]
[Shabadoobi touch to henshin! Shabadoobi touch to henshin!]
"Henshin!"
[Light, Please.]
[HI~KA~RI!]
A yellow magic circle appeared under Luz's feet, that same circle rose over her body and transformed her into Kamen Rider Witch. The magical hero let the world turn gray for a moment as she let her Rider mentor, Wizard, appear before her.
"Ah, Noceda-chan, how can I – whoa. That's a big crab."
"Yeah, any advice on how to take it out?"
"Hmmm. I do have one suggestion. It's something that a Rider friend of my told me he did."
The conversation was over in a moment. Witch took out her Fire Style Ring and changed her form.
[Fire, Please.]
[Hi~HI~HIIII~!]
A red magic circle appeared to her left, that same circle passed over her and shifted Witch into her Fire Style. She quickly took off the Driver On ring and replaced it with the Illusion ring.
[Illusion, Please.]
With a flick of her wrist, Witch created four different clones of herself. Once that was done, she shifted into her next ring, the Bard Ring.
[Bard, Please.]
All four Witches ran towards the giant crab. The creature released a blast of bubble foam from its mouth, but the Witches managed to dodge it. When the foam hit the ground, it sizzled and burned, indicating that the foam was some kind of acid attack. The original Witch jumped high into the air and pointed her right hand at the monster's back. A circular drum appeared right where she pointed towards, and at the same time, construct gold and red drumsticks appeared. Once Witch Prime landed on the monster's back, she struck both of the sticks against the drum, releasing a concussive blast that made the monster fall to the ground. It tried to get up, but each strike of the drum kept it from rising.
Witch 2 used her Bard ring to create an electric guitar, she jumped up and landed on one of its large pincer arms, and then used a spike at the end of the guitar to pierce its shell and start playing the instrument. The magical sonic vibrations resonated in tandem with Witch Prime's drumbeats, further incapacitating the monster. Witch 3 formed a French horn and began playing, releasing blasts of sonic magical energy at the monster, while Witch 4 created another drum in the air next to Witch 3 and began drumming in rhythm with Witch Prime. Eda came out of the cave, along with the Selkidomus and her baby, several light orbs followed them, illuminating the cave and showing that the Selkidomus that Luz beheaded was nothing more than a seaweed double constructed from Plant Glyphs. King still stood there and watched as Witch and her clones rocked out, the sight was just as much musical as it was strange to witness.
"What the heck is she doing?" Eda asked.
"Uh…killing it with music?" King questioned.
The baby Selkidomus seemed to like it was it waddled back and forth to the drumbeats, lightning its seaweed sprout as if at a concert.
The Witches continued their magical musical assault on the giant crab, at the same time, Witch's magic circle appeared under the monster, and cracks started to form all over its body. Witch Prime raised her two drumsticks high as she gathered her magical energy to the tips, Witch 4 did the same. Energy started to build up at the head of Witch 2's guitar, while the mouth of Witch 3's French horn was building its own power. All four Witches hit the final note of their musical attack, the horn released a large wave of magical energy, the guitar sent a surge of it through the spike, and the two drummers launched powerful concussive blasts. The magic circle under them glowed a bright red as the energy reached its peak and funneled into the giant crab monster, and as soon as it did, the crab exploded, the power that was used barely left anything behind, turning most of it into dust that scattered along the beach. A giant cloud of sand was kicked up from the explosion, obscuring the view of Witch. But not long after all four Witches emerged from the dust cloud.
"Oh man, I needed that," said Witch Prime.
"I know, all the stress of today needed to come out, and that was a good way to do it," said Witch 2.
"You think we might've gone overboard a little? I mean, the crab thing barely got a chance to fight back." Witch 3 asked.
All four Witches looked back at their handywork before unanimously agreeing, "Nah!"
"Let's do that again sometime, maybe we'll treat Golden Dork to a Rider concert," Witch 4 suggested.
"HA! I'd love that, well, adios!" Witch Prime dismissed her Illusion clones. And afterward she dismissed her Rider form. Luz ran up to the group and held out her arms as the baby Selkidomus waddled up to her and jumped into her arms. "Baby! Awww! Did you like my little concert?"
The baby released a trill of approval.
"Awwww!"
"What is this?" King asked as he looked at the baby, and then up to its parent. "What's going on?!"
"Don't worry, King. Once the mother saw we weren't a threat to her baby, she calmed down." With that in mind, Eda looked up at the mother Selkidomus. "This area is dangerous. You need to move further out into the sea."
The mother Selkidomus nodded its head in acknowledgement of Eda's warning. It then started to cough, a lot. On the third cough it vomited out a huge pile of sparkling gold…something. Luz was not sure what to make of it. But it seemed Eda did as she wrapped her arm around Luz and hugged her close.
"Hot dang! It gave you the treasure of the sea!" Eda exclaimed.
"Gold? …Tuna?" Luz asked, utterly perplexed.
"It's selkigris! Ah, people pay big money for it at the Night Market!" Eda grabbed two handfuls of the mess and rubbed it on Luz's face. "Ah, feel that money, Luz!"
"No! Eda! Stop!" Luz begged.
"Luxuriate in it. What, you don't like to luxuriate?" Luz tried to get away, but Eda held tight to her hands. "There's a whole pile of luxury right in here."
Luz could already tell what Eda was thinking. "Nonononono!"
But it was too late as Eda threw Luz into the pile of selkigris, and shouted, "Move over!" before jumping into the pile herself. The resulting plop splattered the pile onto King as well. The little demon emerged from the mess and found a skull in it.
After their fun was had, all three of them scooped up the selkigris into a pile again.
[Connect, Please.]
Luz was ready to port them home but stopped when she noticed Eda sitting on the ground. She watched as her mentor drew a Light Glyph on the piece of paper she gave her, the Owl Lady tapped the paper and watched as it transformed into an orb of light. Luz could see a light in Eda's eyes, and not from the orb. Eda had been magicless for weeks now, but here, right now, she was able to do magic. Luz showed her that her connection to magic was not yet gone, there was another way.
"It's beautiful kid," said Eda.
"It is," Luz remarked.
"Did you feel this way, too? When you first drew this glyph?"
"I did."
"It's a wonderful feeling" Eda got up off the ground, turned around, and hugged Luz. "Thanks kiddo."
Luz hugged Eda back and said, "I promise I'll teach you everything I know. You and Lilith."
With that promise made, Luz, Eda, and King pushed the selkigris into the magic circle, teleporting it and them back to the Owl House.
Golden Guard walked through the halls of the palace, along the way, he unfortunately crossed paths with his uncle's attendant, Kikimora. The little demon woman noticed the cut on Golden Guard's mask and couldn't help but smirk at the damage.
"My, my, was the Selkidomus hunt too much for you?" Kikimora asked.
"Not really, the creature is dead as per the Emperor's orders," Golden Guard assured her.
"Mmm-hmm, and what about that? It seems you had a rather nasty run in with it."
"It put up a fight, what do you expect? Any wild animal will fight its hardest when its back is to the wall. Now, if you don't mind, I need to report to the Emperor. Later, Kiki, lots to do, lots to do."
Golden Guard walked past Kikimora, he knew she was probably throwing a nasty glare his way, but he really did not give a damn. Kikimora was a brownnosing yes demon. She wanted power, she wanted to be his uncle's righthand demon. But his uncle didn't need yes-men, he needed people who could get results, and that's what he did, he got results. Kikimora looked for praise and acknowledgment from his uncle in all she did, if she took the initiative, it was for her sake and for the sake of that praise, not for his uncle's vision and his goals. People like that made Golden Guard sick.
Golden Guard entered the throne room and knelt before the steps to throne. "My Emperor, the Selkidomus has been slain as you requested."
Emperor Belos sat upon his throne; his mask was still cracked from his battle with Witch. The ruler of the isles looked down and said, "Raise your head, Hunter. Let me see you."
Golden Guard did as he ordered.
"What happened to your mask? Are you injured?" Belos asked.
"No, my Emperor, I'm alright."
"Something did happen, though."
Golden Guard sighed and said, "I…I ran into the human girl while on the mission."
Belos stood up from his throne and asked, "I see, you fought the human girl, did you. She did that to your mask."
"I managed to take her ring from her, the one you said that allows her to call on her belt. However…"
"She was formidable despite not transforming into her alter ego." Belos finished.
Golden Guard clenched his right fist and bitterly replied, "Yes…she was."
Belos stood before Golden Guard and rested his hand on Golden Guard's shoulder. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. As you can see, you are not the only one who underestimated the human's abilities. We both must take this as a lesson, to not underestimate her, it would probably behoove us to overestimate her abilities."
Golden Guard stood up and said, "She warned me that she would get stronger, that she would eventually become strong enough to defeat you, uncle! There's no way that's possible! Even if her magic is strange, she's still a human, there's no way she can become that powerful!"
Belos removed his hand from Golden Guard's shoulder and said, "I understand your skepticism. But Witch, Luz Noceda's, magic is strange. It's not like the Wild Magic that Wild Witches practice, it's stronger and more potent. And whatever it is, it's strong enough to defeat the Phantoms that plague our island. For now, she serves a purpose, the Phantoms are still a threat to all we hold dear. We need the human to dispose of them, and to a lesser extent, the newest Rider to enter the fray. Don't worry, all will be right once the Day of Unity arrives. Now rest up, I'll have a new mask commissioned and ready before you next assignment."
Golden Guard bowed to the Emperor. "Thank you, uncle."
Once Golden Guard left the throne room, Belos went behind the throne and down to his underground facility. It was here that the door was being reconstructed, and it was here that all his work would bear fruit. Belos took off his broken mask and picked up his new one that was on a table waiting for him, along with a piece of the doorway. The ruler of the isles walked up to the door and placed the last piece into place, he sensed something in that moment. A feeling of being watched. It was not the Titan, but someone else. Belos smiled a little as he had an idea who it was, he put on his mask and turned around, looking straight into the nothingness, but looking all the same.
"Knock, knock, human."