All characters from Disney and other properties are owned by their respectful owners. The OCs made here are written entirely for the story. Enjoy this fic.

Chapter 132: Hey! Scouts! Leave Those Kids Alone! Part One

Earlier that night…

Emily Tricks was paying a visit to the Night Market while in her Silver Sentry outfit and holding her staff. She passed by wanted posters of Raine Whispers, glancing at them for a moment as she followed Captain Leonte.

"Is this where we meet the tip, sir?" Emily asked him.

"Yes," Leonte confirmed as he moved to reveal a civilian.

"If you want to know where Whispers is, pay up front," he said as he raised his hand. Leonte handed him a bag of snails. "I saw them with, strangely enough, a small child and a weird-looking Abomination at the farthest corner down there. I overheard that they were plotting to invade the Emperor's mind with wild magic…"

"Thank you for your cooperation," Leonte said as he held a pendant, communicating through telepathy. 'Members of BIG in the area, prepare for the apprehension of Raine Whispers.'

In a nearby alley, the trio of Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf had gathered, Raine and Eberwolf wearing cloaks to disguise themselves while Darius tried to pass himself off as and Abomination. After Eberwolf finished drawing spell circles on the ground, Raine then played the flute while Darius mixed a purple liquid in a test tube. Once he placed the tube down, he transformed his left hand into an Abomination hammer and prepared to break it…

"Freeze!" declared Emily, as she, Leonte, Alburno, Joana, Thunder, Scameron, and Le'Belle marched into the alleyway. "For crimes against the Emperor, you're all under arrest!"

"Turn yourself and your conspirators in, Raine!" Leonte demanded as they drew spell circles.

But suddenly, Scameron was blasted from behind by a blast of green energy. "Gaah!" he shouted as he hit the wall. Luckily for him, he activated his bubble spell to shield him from injury. The members of BIG turned and saw that the one who hit him with the blast was Star and with her was Steve.

"Aw, and I thought we were beginning to be friends after that team up," Star declared.

"Steve," Leonte hissed at him, recognizing his former pupil.

"Leonte," Steve responded while getting in a fighting position.

"Come on! Let's get those chumps down!" Thunder declared as the members of BIG charged against the members of CATTs.

Steve flipped over Thunder, who was charging at him, and created a construct to hit Thunder away. Joana charged after him, but she was then tackled by Eberwolf.

"Gah! Let go of me, you feral child!" Joana shouted while Eberwolf mauled and bit at her.

"So that's the Abomination… but who is in control?" Alburno asked as he and Emily surrounded Darius.

Darius's eyes glowed green and he stretched his fists out to slam at the two. Alburno jumped away while Emily flipped over. She used her staff to shoot a light beam at him, but Darius melted down to the ground and slithered around. He rose up and formed his hand into a hammer, swinging at the two. Alburno jumped up in the air as his boots tapped on the wall, drawing a spell circle that shot out a flame towards Darius. The Abomination man dodged the attack, but still received some solid burns on his Abomination arm.

Leonte targeted Steve, creating a sword construct and charging towards him. Steve did the same, as he and Leonte clashed their weapons against one another. Leonte used his other hand to sling some Abomination goop at Steve, who ducked and tripped Leonte, causing him to roll over the ground.

"I see you haven't lost your edge, Leonte," Steve said.

"I haven't, old friend," Leonte said while glaring at him. "After all, I still have to make sure that you'll pay for your betrayal…"

"I guess that's fair. Say, how did you take the rumors of Belos being a Clawthorne?" Steve quipped, which irritated Leonte as he formed an Abomi-fist to try to strike at Steve, who formed a wall to protect himself.

Star was looking around to see who she could take on. She spotted the Silver Sentry, who spotted her. "So you're that Emily Tricks girl I've been hearing. Do you live up to your rep?"

Emily didn't respond. Star looked at her in confusion until she heard something behind her. She turned and saw Emily swinging her staff at her, causing a startled Star to block the attack. She kicked Emily away and turned around, seeing that the 'Emily' she was looking at earlier was gone, just an illusion that the real Emily used to try to get the drop on her. Star fired a magical blast from her hand at Emily, who slid underneath the blast and turned invisible, which confused Star.

"Oh come on! Where did you go?" Star asked while looking around. The invisible Emily then suddenly popped up, kicking Star in the stomach and sending her crashing into some trash cans. After crashing, Star got up and looked around, only to feel Emily's boot against the back of her head. Star cursed as she hit the ground, but she grabbed the lid of a garbage can and used it to block Emily's next attack before trying to blast Emily away from her.

Scameron rejoined the battle as Thunder was launched back. He turned and saw Raine Whispers, who was using their flute to create mini-tornado attacks.

"Careful, man, Whispers will blow you away!" Thunder declared while feeling dizzy.

Scameron looked over to Raine, who prepared their flute. Scameron drew a spell circle to use plant magic to try to tangle up Raine, destroying the flute. But before the vines could tangle up Raine as well, they slapped a fire glyph on them, burning through the vines. Raine then brought their fingers up to blow a whistle, which caused a large sound wave that knocked Scameron back.

Le'Belle stood nearby, watching the chaos of the fight unfold. Alburno was fighting Darius, Leonte was fighting Steve, Emily was fighting Star, Thunder and Scameron were fighting Raine, and Joana had managed to knock Eberwolf off her.

"Alright, you asked for it!" she shouted as she tried to chase the beastly demon, but Eberwolf jumped over her. Le'Belle held up her finger to prepare a stun spell.

"Freeze!" Le'Belle shouted as Eberwolf turned around to look at her.

In a flash, in Le'Belle's vision Eberwolf was replaced by a surrendering Slasher, which made her freeze up. After that flash, she shook her head, right before Eberwolf leapt at her and knocked her to the ground. "Oof!" she grunted.

Emily looked around and spun her staff around to draw a spell circle, causing three Emily duplicates to appear in front of Star.

"Wait, what?!" Star stopped, seeing a duplicate of Emily..

"Hey," Darius said as he saw duplicates of Alburno.

"Tricks is confusing us!" Raine shouted while seeing four Scamerons and three Thunders. Eberwolf, meanwhile, was faced with five Joana and Le'Belles.

"Hey, I look good," Joana said to herself.

"Thanks, Joana," the other Joana responded.

Eberwolf looked at the doppelgangers before Emily showed up trying to blast them with her staff. Eberwolf dodged and hid behind Raine. However, Raine disappeared and was replaced by Thunder, who tried to catch the former Beast Head.

"Gotcha!" Thunder shouted, only to get bitten by Eberwolf. "Yowch!" he cried before being hit by Star's blast.

"I'll dispel these illusions!" Star declared as she, Raine, and Darius tried to fight off the illusions.

Steve and Leonte continued on with their fight as they clashed their spells and weapons against each other. Leonte tried to pin Steve against a wall, but Steve instead used the wall to flip himself over Leonte.

"I've noticed you guys are a few teammates short," Steve mentioned while Leonte launched his Abomi-fist at him, forcing Steve to dodge it.

"Where's Sunny?" Leonte demanded to know. "I know that she was with Raine at the Plant Coven during Terra's exposure!"

"She's doing fine," Steve assured him before shooting a spell at him. Leonte shielded himself with an Abomi-wall. "We have her under protection, for her own safety."

"More like a hostage!" Leonte shouted as he clashed his weapon with Steve's.

"She came willingly, and when she heard about what the Emperor's Coven has been doing, branding children, she knew that was wrong!" Steve shouted while kicking Leonte away.

"It's necessary for the Day of Unity!" Leonte claimed.

"Honestly, I think Sunny is safer with us than in the Emperor's Castle, since there is so much corruption in the covens these days…" Steve said as he and Leonte had a stand-off, their weapons raised.

"Don't make me go all out on you, Steve," Leonte told him "Think about what your family has suffered, especially when you broke your loyalty to the covens…"

Steve narrowed his eyes at Leonte. "Someday, Leonte, I hope you realize that you are on the wrong side," he declared before suddenly a pillar sprouted from the wall, hitting Leonte on the side.

"OOF!" Leonte shouted as he was knocked away from the wall.

The rebels had been cornered by the many duplicates of the BIG members as the Silver Sentry held her staff up. "Surrender now, rebel scum!" she declared before more pillars popped out from the ground, hitting the illusions as well as many of the BIG members in the heads and sides.

"Ah!" "Oof!" "Shit!" they cried out as they got knocked down by the pillars.

Emily tried to dodge them, but was soon hit. Raine saw this as an opportunity. "Retreat!" they shouted as they ran for the exit at the end of the alleyway, Steve running after them.

"Come back here!" Emily shouted while her team groaned in pain from being hit by the pillars. But when she tried to give chase, a wall came together from the walls, cutting her off from the escaped rebels.

Once they were a safe distance away, the rebels stopped and caught their breath. Raine looks around, spotting a cloaked figure coming up in front of them.

"Thanks for the save… Ulrich," Raine thanked as Ulrich Hammers, the Head Witch of the Construction Coven himself, removed his hood.

"Looks like Lilith was right about you being our latest recruit," Steve commented with a smile.

"Just doing my part. I heard that BIG had gotten a tip about your activities and was making a move tonight. I couldn't find Lilith in time to warn her, so I decided to go save you guys myself," Ulrich responded as he opened a manhole. "Sorry that your plan didn't go well."

"Well, there are still other opportunities," Star replied.

"Come, we should… head to… base," Darius responded as everyone headed down to the sewers, placing the manhole cover over their heads and leaving no evidence they were ever there.

After the members of BIG recovered, Leonte was helped up by Alburno and Thunder.

"Are you alright, sir?" Alburno asked him.

"I'm fine," Leonte groaned while feeling up his side.

"What should we do now?" Emily asked.

"Raine and their conspirators are most likely long gone by now… but let's see what they left behind," Leonte said.

The members nodded as they went to the spell circle, investigating it and looking at the test tube. Scameron picked it up.

"This test tube… and this circle, it looks like a spell that would target the mind," Scameron said.

"Why would they cast it here though?" Joana asked him.

"I read that the Night Market is over a petrified organ of the Titan," Scameron explained. "That would give a power boost for this kind of spell, especially when you're targeting someone from a distance."

"Sounds like a pretty close call," Thunder responded. "Man, Barbara's missing out on the good parts…"

Emily looked up at the wall Ulrich had created before turning to Le'Belle. She noticed her standing alone and she walked over to her.

"Are you alright, Le'Belle?" Emily asked her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm um… fine," Le'Belle responded to her teammate, trying to not show what was bothering her.

Emily looked over at the others before turning back to Le'Belle. "Hey um, I am wondering if you can cover for me," she requested as Le'Belle looked up at her. "There's something I need to do before I return to the castle…"

"Thanks for dropping me off here, guys," Donna told Cross and Lindsay as they stood in front of her house.

"I am just glad that we made it home without incident… this time," Cross replied.

"You know, maybe someday you two can tell me all about what happened last weekend," Lindsay said. "Because it sounds like quite the adventure."

"We'll tell you all about it tomorrow. For now, we should hit the hay," Donna said as she hugged the two. "Goodnight, guys."

"Goodnight," Cross and Lindsay responded. After the hug, the two flew off on their staffs while Donna turned to go inside.

"I'm home!" Donna announced before she saw her moms and Auggie on the other side of the door, waiting for her.

"Donna, how was your trip with Luz and the others?" Gladys asked.

"What did you see?" Diana also asked.

"Did Cross protect you?" Auggie asked her.

"I…" Donna responded, initially at a loss of words. As she thought back on the trip, she almost teared up again, her brother's face still fresh in her mind. But she managed to fight back those tears, taking a deep breath as she looked up at her family. "I have a lot to tell you about. Not just about the trip, but about last weekend as well. I didn't tell you right away, but I learned a lot about myself recently. About my uncle, about my origins… and about my twin brother."

Diana and Gladys shared a concerned look as they went over to their daughter, Gladys placing a hand on Donna's shoulder.

"Please," Gladys said. "Tell us everything."

After dropping Lindsay off, Cross finally headed home himself. After he landed outside, he was about to head in… when he heard someone calling for him.

"Cross," said someone from behind his porch. He turned around and was surprised to see who it was…

"Emily?" Cross asked, seeing Emily emerge from the shadows. She was without her Silver Sentry outfit, just in her usual black garb.

"I was waiting for you," she said as she went up to confront him… and give him a hug. "It's good to see you."

Cross hugged her back. "It's good to see you as well, Emily. How have you been?"

"Pretty much the same since you last saw me," she admitted. Once they let go, she noted. "You were out late, why is that?"

"Oh, well I was out of town and I just got back," Cross admitted as he sat on the porch seat. "And you're out late as well."

"Yeah, I had some… Silver Sentry business," Emily also admitted while leaning on the porch balcony. "I'm expected to return back to the castle, but I wanted to see you before that."

"And how is it going at the castle?" he asked her.

Emily sighed. "Well, Graye has made it clear to me that he doesn't want me to see you again… and he told me that you're a Clawthorne."

Cross's eyes widened at that and he suddenly looked nervous. "Oh… he told you that, huh?" he asked while rubbing the back of his head.

"Yep… and I'm actually fine with it," Emily reassured him, much to Cross's surprise and relief. "I mean, I understand why you didn't tell me. When we first met, I was still in my 'blaming Eda and Luz for all my problems' phase. Graye told me because he probably thinks that I still have that grudge against the Clawthorne family, but I don't. He wanted to drive a wedge between us, but I still see you as a friend, Cross. Whether you're a Clawthorne or not."

Cross smiled. "Thanks, I'm glad to hear that, really. Though, I will admit, I am suspicious about how Graye is acting towards you these days," he admitted. "I mean, he was really manipulative and awful toward you before the Brawl. And now he's being overprotective."

"Yeah, even I do think that's a bit weird," Emily admitted. "Not that I'm complaining that he's being a lot nicer to me, but it is weird." She then looked over at Cross. "So how have you been doing since we last saw each other?"

"Well, after Beel's funeral, my sister and a cousin of mine convinced me and mom to attend the Clawthorne family reunion. We all went up there, and Luz was there as well," he mentioned. "She actually didn't know that I was her cousin, I kept it from her just like I kept it from you. But when Luz realized that I'm her cousin, she was actually pretty cool about it. When I said that I was out of town for the day, I was actually spending it with her. She convinced me to go on one of her adventures with her."

"Honestly, that's great," Emily replied, once again surprising Cross. "I'm glad that you and Luz get to spend time with each other. I hope our friendship didn't make things awkward with her."

"It actually didn't," Cross admitted. "To tell you the truth, you didn't really come up that much. She was much more invested in my lovelife. It's even thanks to her that I'm dating Lindsay now."

"Really?" Emily asked in surprise, smiling at him. "That's really great of you, Cross. Congratulations. Though, how did Donna take it…?"

"Oh, um… well, actually the thing is… I'm dating… both of them," Cross said, while Emily's eyes widened. "I mean, both parties have agreed to this. I-In fact, Lindsay was the one who suggested it."

"Huh, does Zee know?" Emily asked, looking quite amused by this.

"Not yet… though, I dread how she'll react," Cross said with a look of dread, which made Emily silently laugh a little.

"Well, good luck to that, Cross," Emily said. "I should probably make my leave. I'll see you around," she said while walking down the steps of his porch…

"Wait," Cross said as he got up, stopping her. "Since you're here and all, why don't you meet my parents?"

Emily turned to him, looking reluctant. "I… I don't know if I should…"

"Hey," he said as he walked over to her and patted her on the shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "I think it's pretty much overdue. And besides, Zee's been worried about you."

Emily gave it some consideration, before she looked up at Cross. "Okay, I'd like to meet with them."

"Great," Cross said as he went to the door. "Oh, um why don't you wait outside for a minute? That way, I can prepare them rather than just spring you on them."

"Wise decision," Emily said with a nod as Cross entered his home and she waited outside on the porch chair. As she waited, she petted her Palisman, Pretty, who nuzzled in her lap. She could hear talking inside, but she couldn't make out the words.

After a few minutes, Cross opened the door and stuck his head outside. "Okay, you can come in."

Emily got up and came inside Cross's home, where Cross turned to his folks. "Mom, dad, grandpa, this is Emily."

"Greetings," Emily replied with a wave. She was nervous, but she tried her best not to show it.

"Oh, it's nice to finally meet you, Emily," Clair said as she walked over to shake her hand. "My name is Clair. I'm his mother."

"It is nice to meet you too, Mrs. Drakescale," Emily replied while turning to Cross's father. "And you as well, Mr. Drakescale."

"It is good to meet you too, Emily," Damien replied as Emily shook his hand. "Cross has told us a lot about you."

"Yeah, I imagine he has…" Emily said, a bit awkwardly.

"He has said a lot of bad things and a lot of good things," Drayden said as he walked over. "But most importantly, he told us that you're his and Zee's friend and we trust their judgment." He extended his hands. "So welcome to our home."

"Thank you, Mr. Drakescale," Emily replied politely as she shook his hand.

"Call me Drayden, or Elder Drake if you like," Drayden responded with a smile. His son turned to him and gave him a look, but Drayden just shrugged. "What? I like to sound wise."

Emily smiled. "I think I can see where Zee's sense of humor came from," she said while looking around. "Where is Zee, by the way?"

"Oh, well Zee is still up in her room," Clair informed her while looking saddened. "She's been up there since coming back from the reunion…"

Zee's room was painted orange with posters of rock bands and models. By the side of her bed was a bookshelf, containing many books filled with encyclopedic knowledge of different beasts. Her room also had posters of many Boiling Isles beasts, including Griffins, Slitherbeasts, and the Selkidonus. There was also a desk containing a crystal ball with a keyboard. On the bed was Zee, who laid face down with two pillows covering her head. Her Palisman, Aqua, was attempting to comfort her.

"Go away…" Zee said with a drained voice when she heard a knock on the door.

"Zee, it's Emily," said Emily's voice, making Zee's eyes widen. "Can me and Cross come in?"

Zee moved her pillow and lifted her head. "Come in," she said, watching as the door opened and Cross came in with Emily. This shocked the Drakescale girl. "Emily…"

"Zee," Emily responded as she saw Zee get up from her bed, walk up towards her… and embrace her.

"Thank Titan, you're here~" Zee said, tears streaming from her eyes, which already had dried tears on them. "I was so, so worried for you after last Splatterday…"

Emily hugged Zee back. "I'm so sorry for making you worry, Zee. I really am. I should've visited you at some point or reached out to you…"

"It's okay," Zee sniffed as she looked at Emily. "I'm just glad that you're here."

"Me too," Emily responded as she and Zee walked to sit on the bed while Cross sat on the desk chair. "And just to let you know, I am now aware of the whole… 'Clawthorne' thing."

"Oh, you do?" Zee asked, looking nervous.

"Yes, but it doesn't change the fact that you and Cross are my friends," Emily reassured her, much to Zee's relief. "Your mom said that you've been cooped up in your room… what happened to you?"

"I-It's nothing big, really," Zee responded while looking down. "I was just having fun at the Clawthorne family reunion. Got to know my cousins, including Eda and Luz… and then my step-grandparents came…"

"You mean… mom's estranged parents?" Cross asked her, suddenly looking worried.

"What… what did they do?" Emily asked her, concerned.

"They were very rude and mean to me from the moment they got here," Zee said, worrying Cross and Emily, "They argued with my parents and then they started throwing insults about my birth mom, and… I just had to get out of here…" She looked down, sniffing. "First reunion I've been to, and it ended on a sour note…"

"Zee… I'm so sorry that happened to you," Cross responded with a sympathetic look. "You did not deserve this…"

"Not at all," Emily said, feeling and looking boiling mad about those so-called step-grandparents. "Who do they think they are acting like that towards you?!"

"They're part of the reason why we don't go to the reunion that much," Cross admitted, looking down. Eventually, he and Emily went to comfort Zee, with Cross hugging his sister, along with Emily. Zee hugged them back. "But it's going to be alright, Zee."

"Yeah, we're here for you," Emily declared, embracing Zee as she patted her back.

"Thanks, guys," Zee responded while trying to keep it together. "After we left, I did hear from Beocrow that cousin Eda pranked them on my behalf," she mentioned after letting them go. "And Great-Uncle Brolin and Great-Aunt Eartha said that we're still welcome at the reunion. I'm still considered family there, at least by them."

"So at least going there wasn't a complete loss," Cross said before looking down. "I wish I had stayed there…"

"Nah, don't worry about it, lil bro," Zee told him, patting his back. "Besides, what's happened, happened. No one could've predicted what would go down but I do appreciate you guys looking out for me… oh! I almost forgot something."

Zee went to grab a bag while she turned to Emily. "I got this for you from the Boardwalk," she said as she brought out her gift to Emily. "I know how much you like knick-knacks, so here's one from Palm Stings."

Emily's eyes widened when she saw that Zee was holding a knick-knack of a small version of Palm Stings. This caused the emerald witch to start crying, alarming the Drakescale siblings.

"Wha-what's wrong?" Zee asked, looking panicked.

"I-It's just," Emily said as she teared up while looking at the knick-knack. "My sister used to give me knick-knacks all the time… and now she's dead…"

Zee gave an apologetic look as she remembered that. "Oh crap… Emily, I'm so sorry for bringing it up."

"It's okay, I'm just…" Emily said as she covered her eyes, letting the tears leak out. This caused Zee and Cross to comfort her while she cried and held her gift.

"Hey um… would you like to stay over for the night? Like have a sleepover?" Zee asked as she held onto Emily.

"I… I would love that," Emily admitted while wiping away her tears. "But unfortunately, I have to go back to the castle before I'm missed."

"Oh," Zee replied, sounding disappointed. "Of course."

"But maybe someday, because I would like to have one with you." Emily said while something popped up from Emily's side, which Zee noticed. Emily turned to see Pretty popping up. "Oh, I should introduce you to my Palisman."

"Your Palisman?" Zee asked with intrigue.

"This is Pretty," Emily introduced while showing her lion Palisman to Zee. "Pretty, this is Zee."

"Hey, nice to meet you, Pretty," Zee replied while Pretty went up and met Aqua, who communicated with him. "Looks like they're getting along nicely."

"Yeah, glad they are," Emily said as she nodded with a smile. "Pretty… was my sister's Palisman. In a way, he's one thing that is left for me to remember my sister by…" she said while Zee petted Pretty.

After a moment, Emily stood up while Pretty landed on her shoulder. "I should get going. I'll take the fast route to the castle." She turned to the siblings. "Thank you, Cross, for inviting me to meet your folks. And thank you, Zee, for the gift. I still appreciate the gesture."

Zee blushed. "I wanted to give you something nice, Emily," she said.

Emily just smiled. "See you guys around," she vowed before she then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Zee was taken aback by this. "What the… did she turn herself invisible or did she…?"

"Teleport?" Cross asked while nodding. "Yeah, it is apparently a new ability of hers."

"Huh, weird," Zee said while scratching her head. For a moment, the two siblings just stared at the spot that Emily had been standing in seconds earlier. Then Zee turned to her brother, since she had an important question that needed to be answered…

"So… how did things with Lindsay and Donna go on your trip?"

"Finally back, huh?" Cross asked Donna the next morning as they both walked through the hallways of St. Epiderm, which was finally filled with students once more.

"After weeks of repairs and with the Grim Goblin and the Tarot Guild not being threats anymore, I'd say it feels good to have a return to normalcy," Donna replied as they walked together. However, she noticed the other students talking amongst each other while checking their scrolls. "Huh, what's everyone talking about?"

"Something on the scrolls," Cross speculated while Kyle rushed up to them.

"Donna, Cross, have you two heard the news?" he asked them, looking distressed.

"We haven't," Cross admitted. "What's wrong, Kyle?"

"Look at what the Media Coven just posted," he said as the two pulled up their scrolls and saw what was trending right now, much to their shock.

"What… what the hell?!" Donna asked with a worried look.

Meanwhile, at Merlin Meadows…

"Check my new remix," Dog Harwitch said to Zee, who listened from the headphones for his music player in his locker.

"Yeah, this is nice, Dog," Zee said while bopping her head. "Did you mix Paria Scary with Sir Wiz-A-Lot with this?"

"Yeah, even added some drum mix with a piccolo solo," Dog explained before spotting Tracy stomping over. "Yo, Tracy, wanna listen to my-"

"Not now, Dog!" Tracy shouted with a furious look, surprising Dog and Zee. "Right now, I'm super pissed off!"

"What happened?" Zee asked her while Tracy held up her scroll.

"This!" she shouted as she pointed to what was on her scroll, her two classmates looking at it and reading the headline of the article.

"Holy shit… is that…?" Zee asked.

"Yeah, and it's really made me pissed!" Tracy declared while looking down, her body visibly shaking in anger while Zee reread the title of the article.

'Diamantos Scandal: Teenage Mom Cover-Up. Written by Felicity Fox. Credit Source: Felicia Fox.'

"Felicia Fox?" Dog asked in shock. "Isn't that-"

"That traitorous, two-timing, clout-chasing fox sold out one of my best friends' secrets after we strong-armed her to not tell a soul!" Tracy shouted while pulling out her own feathers. "Gah! I'm molting over this!"

"I can't believe this," Zee responded while turning to Tracy, looking sympathetic. "Tracy, I'm so sorry about your friend."

"Thanks," Tracy said as she sighed, trying to calm herself down. "But now I'm worried about her and her family, especially now that there's word about her ex being found dead." She leaned against one of the lockers while rummaging through her hair. "Titan's crack, how can things get any worse?"

"Attention students, please come to the Assembly Hall immediately. The Emperor's Coven is now in the school," spoke a voice over the intercom.

"The Emperor's Coven?" Zee asked as she looked up. "What could they be doing here…?"

Back at St. Epiderm, while the students reacted to the news, inside a locked classroom was Tabrella, who was trying to hide from everyone while in a fetal position. Her arms wrapped around her face and her knees and she was crying as she tried to block out all the noises she heard coming from outside the classroom.

'Why…?' she thought while her mascara ran. 'Why is this happening now of all times…!?'

"Tabrella? Are you in there?" Danny asked from outside the door. "It's us, the student council."

Outside the classroom, Donna and Cross arrived to see a crowd that included Danny, Lindsay, Peter, Sarah, Minerva, Andrew, and Riley all standing outside the door, all of them in various stages of concern.

"Tabrella, listen, you're not in trouble or anything," Danny reassured her through the door. "We just want to see you. I even brought Lindsay here with us."

"Lindsay, what's going on?" Cross asked, while Lindsay looked distressed.

"When the news about her popped up, Tabrella ran into her and locked the door," Lindsay said. "I can't believe Felicia would do this…"

"Felicia… why would she post something like this?" Donna questioned.

"I don't know, she even pinkie-swore to Andrea that she wouldn't tell a soul, and yet…" Lindsay looked like she was on the verge of tearing up. "I'm so worried for Tabby…" she said while Cross went over to comfort her.

"We're all worried," Cross told her as he and Donna shared a look. As shocked as they were by the news that Tabrella was a mom, they were more concerned with Tabrella's well-being than anything else.

"This is just so Felicia!" Sarah shouted in anger.

"I mean, even for her this is low. Why the Hell would she tell her mom about this?" Riley asked, just as angry.

"I never thought that she'd cross a line like this, but considering that she was the one who exposed Amity cutting ties from her family and becoming Nameless earlier…" Danny indicated.

While Donna heard everyone talking about Felicia in anger, she came to a realization and decided to speak up. "Hold on, everyone… maybe we shouldn't take this at face value."

"What do you mean, Donna?" Tina asked, who was amongst the crowd.

"Look, I know how everyone feels about Felicia when she used to attend here," Donna said. "She was always about finding juicy gossip and drama in order to get as much attention as possible. She… can be a frustrating witch and I will be the first one to admit that. But I don't feel like she would do this. Not intentionally. And I don't think we should assume that Felicia betrayed Tabrella, not without hearing her out first," she explained while remembering how she took Emily at face value and didn't listen to Nina's side of the story. Or when she immediately believed that her brother was dead according to her uncle, only for that to turn out to be a lie. "For all we know, she was forced to tell her mom, or maybe it wasn't even her and her mom got the information from elsewhere and just slapped her daughter's name on the article. As horrible as this is for Tabrella, we all shouldn't make assumptions about Felicia. Not until we hear her side of the story first. I think she deserves that much. I mean, if Felicia knew for a while, why is she only just now exposing the story? That doesn't add up."

Everyone looked amongst themselves after Donna's speech. Some of the students seemed to be considering this, but others didn't look to be as willing to give Felicia the benefit of doubt.

"I guess… we should hear Felicia's side," Lindsay said..

"I guess, if we can give Nina the benefit of doubt, we could do the same with Felicia," Beocrow mentioned.

"I'm not giving her anything," Sarah said sternly, crossing her arms. "Felicia's not the type to be trustworthy with secrets…"

"Yeah, I'm with Sarah on that," Danny said, rubbing the back of his head. "I still remember what Felicia was like when she ran the school newspaper, she would do anything for a headline…"

"That's why you never trust a fox," Muka spoke up. "Her and her mama are infamous for this kind of shit, y'all remember that Blight trial?"

"Oh come on, guys, she's the one who helped Beel out in busting Snapdragon," Riley pointed out. "Maybe Donna's right, we shouldn't rule her out."

"Is no one going to ask what Tabrella thinks?" Roxy asked, but before anyone could continue this argument, they were interrupted.

"Attention all students," announced Headmistress Midday through the intercom. "Please report to the newly-repaired gymnasium. The Emperor's Coven wants to give an announcement…"

Everyone heard the announcement and was quite surprised by the news.

"At a time like this…" Andrew said.

"We should go and see what this is about," Danny said while turning to Lindsay. "Lindsay, why don't you stay here and try talking with Tabrella when she is ready while everyone's in the gym. We'll cover for you."

Lindsay gave him a nod. "Thanks Danny, I will," she said while everyone else began to head to the gymnasium, Cross and Donna stopping briefly to talk to Lindsay.

"We'll catch up with you later, Linds," Donna said as Lindsay nodded.

"Hopefully it won't be too long," Cross added.

"I know," she replied as she saw the two off while she stayed behind.

Soon all the students of St. Epiderm, except for Tabrella and Lindsay, had gathered in the gymnasium. They spotted Headmistress Midday there and with her were Sham Eaglesnitch, some scouts, and two Coven Heads that the LOWTH members recognized…

"Cutburn?!" Kyle whispered in a panicked tone when he saw Hettie Killington Cutburn on stage, making him sweat nervously.

"And Weevil," Sarah whispered as she narrowed her eyes at Weevil Vitmir Breathton,

"Wonder what this is about?" Donna asked as her friends joined up with her.

"Greetings, students," Midday spoke into a microphone. "I understand that you must be confused or even worried right now, but I can assure you that there is nothing to be concerned about. Eaglesnitch, can you explain?" she asked before she stepped away from the microphone, letting Sham take it.

"Thank you, Headmistress," Sham responded while holding the mic. "Hello, I am Shawm Eaglesnitch, minister of treasury, trade, and negotiations for the Emperor's Coven. Now, it has come to my attention that several individuals, amongst you students, have been disrespecting the authority of the Emperor's Coven by playing vigilante," he announced, which shocked the students as they whispered among themselves.

"Oh no…" Donna whispered as she froze, exchanging nervous looks with Beocrow, Tina, Veronica, and Tyrone.

"Excuse me, but," Danny said as he raised his hand up. "This is a very large accusation. And even if it is true, what do you plan on doing with them?"

"Now, do not worry, since the suspecting students are still underage, they will not be arrested," Sham explained. "They will be disciplined, however, for committing such acts that go outside the law. For which, they will be branded with sigils."

"And anyone who's caught aiding these vigilante students will be branded as well," Vitimir added before turning to Midday and nodding to her.

The students looked at each other and continued to talk amongst themselves. Donna and her friends began to look for exit strategies, but as Donna looked at the stage, her eyes locked with Midday… and she realized why the Emperor's Coven was here.

"You five!" Midday shouted as she pointed at Donna's group. "Donna Masterskull, Beocrow Clawthorne, Tina Ryu, Veronica Rex, and Tyrone Ironwood… please step forward."

The five grew pale while looking at their headmistress as their fellow students backed away from them, all eyes on Donna and her friends. Beck, who was amongst the teachers, looked worried for her students.

"Um… why so, Headmistress Midday?" Donna asked nervously.

"Please, you five started to have more absences just as these vigilantes started appearing in Metropelvis," Midday told them. "The Glandus War, the Scal-Mart bust… you five are the League of Witches That Help!"

"Now, that's quite the accusation, Midday," Tyrone denied while trying not to be nervous.

"Yeah, I mean, we could've been doing something else at the same time," Tina claimed.

"Probably getting high," Beocrow suggested.

"You can cut out the act," said a voice.

A previously invisible Leonte appeared with Thunder, Joana, and several scouts, all now surrounding the founding LOWTH members.

"Headmistress Midday was quite cooperative in revealing who Wonder Witch was… Donna Masterskull," Leonte told her. "And to think, we never suspected you, even though your hair is a dead giveaway…" He then narrowed his eyes at Beocrow. "And of course, another Clawthorne causing trouble…"

All of their classmates were shocked by this, including Danny. He could not believe that one of his student council members was a founding member of LOWTH.

"Alright, don't make this easy for us," Thunder said.

"Don't you mean, 'don't make this hard for us?'" Joana asked before rolling at their feet was a potion glass. The potion glass exploded into a burst of blue and yellow smoke that turned into foam as Leonte, Thunder, and Joana were separated from the founders.

The one who threw it was Sarah and standing with her were Minerva, Andrew, Riley, Kyle, and Roxy.

"They're not the only members of LOWTH you should be worrying about," Sarah declared while forming her suit to be Potion Ranger.

Minerva, Andrew, Roxy, Kyle, and Riley are also suited up using their spell circles, revealing themselves to be members of LOWTH.

"YOU GUYS ARE LOWTH MEMBERS TOO?!" Danny exclaimed in shock.

"Who knew?" Peter Bloomhog asked with a shrug.

"I'll take it from here!" Riley declared while forming a spell circle, casting a bunch of illusions in the area.

"What the-?!" Thunder asked in confusion as he watched the environment suddenly split into a kaleidoscope-like illusion. He and Joana were confused, while Leonte looked annoyed. Especially when the illusion covered other students, making them look like members of LOWTH.

"Aw man!" Joana snarled. "This isn't fun when it happens to us! Now how are we going to find the real ones?!"

"Seal the doors, and don't let them escape!" Sham ordered as the scouts slammed the doors shut, causing the students to gasp. However, a pair of scouts that shut the door suddenly disappeared. "What?!"

As the scouts looked through the students, the illusion vanished, showing that any of the LOWTH members, including the founders, were no longer in the room.

"They're gone…" Danny said while looking around.

"Dammit!" Vitimir snarled as he turned to Leonte. "Captain Leonte! I expected better from your BIG members! You let them get away!"

All of the LOWTH members had managed to escape, thanks to Riley, and were now running through the school hallways, Cross accompanying them.

"Gotta say, the scout illusion of yours was a neat trick, Cross," Riley complimented him.

"Thanks, Riley, but it's nothing compared to your illusions," Cross replied.

"You didn't have to join us, Cross," Donna told him with a worried look. "Now you're involved in this mess…"

"Hey, I'm your bodyguard, remember?" Cross reminded Donna with a smile. "Like I'm going to let them brand you."

Donna smiled and nodded, taking the lead. "Come on, let's find a way out of there."

Back in the gym, Midday confronted Danny.

"To think that most of the student council members were vigilantes," she said to him. "Did you know anything about this, Danny?"

"I-I swear, I didn't know about this," Danny assured her. "I'm just as shocked as you are,"

"I do not have any interest in vigilantism," Peter Bloomhog said when Midday turned to him. "Unless it's a form of performance art, I have no interest."

Midday sighed before she turned back to Danny. "Mr. Dilburn, I need you to gather some students to find Donna and her friends. They cannot be allowed to leave this school."

"All the exits are blocked, ma'am," Cutburn declared while stepping forward. "Even if they try to escape, they won't be finding any way out."

Vitimir picked up the mic. "Also, there will be a reward to anyone who can find these runaway punks and do their part in keeping the Boiling Isles safe!"

The students exchanged shocked looks and whispers at this, while Danny just looked down at the floor with a conflicted expression…

Meanwhile, in the assembly hall in Merlin Meadows, the students and teachers had their eyes on the stage, where they saw Principal Rashwood with the mic.

"Greetings, students, now I would like for you all to welcome Head Witch Osran Pawculus to our school," Principal Rashrood declared, letting the Oracle Head Witch march up to the podium while the audience applauded.

"Greetings, students of Merlin Meadow," Osran spoke to them. "It has come to the Emperor's attention that you students have shown promise. Promise that could make this school be recognized as one of the top three schools of the Isles, dethroning Glandus for the spot."

"Finally," Kevin Shrubs said while leaning back. "It's about time someone recognizes our efforts."

"However, in order to be seen for your greatness, you must pledge your loyalty to the Emperor's Coven," Osran declared, causing many students to look surprised.

"Um, wait, come again?" Fan asked, while Zee looked suspicious of the Head Witch.

"I know you all must be confused, but allow me to explain," Osran clarified. "In light of Terra Snapdragon's betrayal and the approaching Day of Unity, the Emperor has decreed that all students must join into their covens immediately for the Titan's sake. So we'll have to put an end to the multi-tracking as well. But this is still your chance to be recognized…"

The students look conflicted by this, talking amongst themselves about the whole thing. They had been encouraged to keep their options open, to explore different tracks until they were ready to make the decision. This was thrust onto them suddenly, but they did like the idea of being recognized, of being granted legitimacy…

It was then that Helga checked her scroll, causing her to look alarmed. "What the hell?!"

"What is it, Helga?" Brenda asked her.

"I just got a text from my creator," Helga responded. "She said 'Beware of the Day of Unity, magical disaster, they'll drain your magic,' stuff like that." She stood up while holding her scroll. "Is this true?" she asked. "Are you going to drain our magic?"

The room suddenly fell silent as the students looked at Helga, skeptical about her claim. Zee looked very alarmed, while Osran stared at the stitched up girl with a bolt-eye.

"Scouts," Osran ordered as the scouts positioned around the room stood at attention. "Arrest that girl in stitches!"

"What?!" Helga asked, seeing the scouts coming towards her.

This caused her friends to stand up. "Hey! Stay away from Helga!" Ester declared as she, Belawolf, Drusilla, Gnashley, and Brenda stood with their spell circles drawn, causing the scouts to pause.

"What is the meaning of this, Osran?" Rashwood demanded of the Oracle Head. "Is what Helga's saying true?"

"My apologies, miss, but we just can't afford any nasty rumors being spread so close to the Day of Unity," Osran explained while seeing more students standing up and preparing their spell circles at the scouts, while others looked confused and scared about what was going on.

"Hey! Get away from them!" Fan shouted while aiming at the scouts.

"This is crazy, man," Dog said while aiming at the scouts with his spell circles. "I don't want to join a coven yet, I still want to keep my options open."

"Looks like the Emperor's Coven doesn't have our best interests at heart," Zee said while holding her staff up, joining the stand-off with the scouts, who were now hesitating.

"Rashwood, tell your students to stand down," Osran ordered before he noticed her aiming her staff at him. "Et tu?"

"I may not know what this is truly about, but I do know that you are threatening my students. I would suggest that you call off your scouts and leave my school."

"I'll admit, you are bold," he told her. "But unfortunately, that is considered treason and a justification for arrest."

Zee and Kevin turned to each other and they both nodded.

"Time to bring out our beasts!" Zee declared as she created a summoning circle. Coming out were panther-like creatures with bat heads and wings on their backs with four legs. "Banthers!"

"Snorses!" Kevin shouted as he summoned some snake-horses, which was a horse with a snake for a head.

The beasts then started to cause a ruckus. Many of the scouts were tackled by the Banthers and while the Snorses used their necks to tangle up the scouts. Scouts and students began to shout in confusion and excitement, spells already beginning to fly through the air. Some ran for the nearest exit, others stayed frozen in their seats, not knowing what to do.

Dog summoned cymbals and slammed them against the scouts blocking one exit while Ester phased through the door and pushed them open from the outside.

"Come on out, everyone!" Ester shouted as the screaming students began to flee from the assembly hall, flooding the hallways while the beasts summoned by Zee and Kevin continued to distract the scouts. Zee followed the rest of her classmates out of the room, looking back to see Osran on the stage.

Osran glared at the fleeing students before he turned to Rashwood, who had disappeared from the spot. "Looks like we'll do this the hard way…"

Meanwhile, back at St. Epiderm, different groups of scouts, students, and teachers had spread out to look for the members of LOWTH.

"They're not in here," spoke one teacher after checking a classroom.

"They're not here either," Danny said after coming out from another.

"How hard is it to find a group of vigilantes?" Vitimir asked while drinking his potion.

"This is like chasing escaped mental patients," Cutburn said while drinking her tea.

"Keep searching for them," Leonte declared. "They can't hide here forever."

As this was going on, in another part of the school, in a locked classroom, were Lindsay and Tabrella. Lindsay was comforting the girl, the two of them unaware of what was happening outside.

"Are you doing better now, Tabby?" Lindsay asked while hugging the crying girl.

"Y-Yeah, I'm just… upset," Tabrella responded, her voice cracking up.

"Are you ready to talk about it or do you need time?" Lindsay asked her.

"I… I think I'm ready," Tabrella sniffed, wiping her mascara-stained face. "I just don't know what to do right now. When I saw the news, I was shocked about it. Not only about my pregnancy cover up, but also my ex being dead. I had no idea that he had been killed…" She looked down, her body trembling. "I'm scared, Lindsay. I'm scared about what this could mean for my future. What could this mean for Katie and her ability to have a normal life…"

"We'll figure something out, Tabby, and…" Lindsay looked to her friend, briefly hesitating before she decided to confess. "There's something you should know about your ex." Tabrella turned to her, looking confused. "Emily told me that she killed him."

This shocked the purple-haired girl. "What?! Oh dear Titan, I…" She started to shake again. "I can't believe she did that. I hated my ex, but I never wanted him dead." She wiped away more of her tears.

"How do you feel about it…?" Lindsay asked, a bit cautiously.

"Honestly… furious at Emily," Tabrella admitted. "I did not ask her to do that."

Lindsay gave her another hug, nodding. "I know. Emily shouldn't have done that…"

Meanwhile, in another classroom on the first floor, the members of LOWTH were hiding out, Riley camouflaging the door with their illusions to ensure that they were safe.

"Alright, so we are all agreed on this," Donna spoke up. "Since the Emperor's Coven will have the exits covered, Andrew will help us escape by creating an escape tunnel through the thigh. Once we are out, we make it to our safehouse."

"With these claws, I can tunnel us to Borrowton," Andrew mentioned.

Veronica sighed as she sat on a desk. "You know, I honestly thought that we would be able to put the whole LOWTH thing left behind us since the Tarot Guild's gone. Return to being normal teenagers. But I guess not…"

"What could this mean for us?" Kyle asked in worry. "Will we see our families again after this…?" He paused, gasping. "Are they going to be in trouble too?"

"Man, my dads are going to be so disappointed," Tyrone said with a worried expression. "Since they're not a fan of LOWTH and all. I don't know how to face them or if I can face them…"

"I know and this is all my fault," Donna admitted while looking around at her friends. "Guys, I'm so sorry that I dragged you all into this. LOWTH was my idea and now you're all getting into trouble because of me."

"Donna, you have nothing to apologize for," Cross pointed out. He looked over at the rest of LOWTH. "I mean, you all knew the risks, right?"

"Yeah," Sarah agreed. "I mean, to tell you the truth, at least one of us would get in trouble eventually. I mean, I've been experimenting on magic outside my track."

"And I agreed to join because I wanted to help other witches, just like you are doing, Donna," Kyle said. "I would say that it was worth it, even if it did get us in trouble."

"Yeah, you inspired us to take things into our own hands, Donna," Tina said as she walked up to her. "Plus, it was my mugging that inspired you. You don't get to blame yourself and take all the responsibility. We were all on board."

"Yeah, it was our choice," Riley agreed. "Besides, it felt good to help witches even if we were going outside the law. But screw the law, they didn't help us."

"You know we'll do anything for you, Donna," Beocrow declared as Tyrone and Veronica nodded with him. "We are with you the whole way."

"Yeah, so maybe we should just focus on what our next move should be," Roxy said. "Like, let's say we escape and get to your hideout. What then?"

Donna didn't answer right away. Instead, she just smiled as she looked at all of them. Then she nodded. "Alright, so once we're out of here, we need allies. And I believe that Eda could help us."

"Yeah, we should head down to the Owl House for help after we get out of here," Cross agreed with a nod while everyone else unanimously agreed.

Meanwhile, the scouts continued with their search for LOWTH through the school. Amongst the scouts were Clé and Gigit.

"How are you holding up, Clé?" she asked him.

"I'm worried, Gigit," he admitted while looking down. "I can't believe my little brother was a vigilante this entire time. Though, during the Conformatorium break-out, he and his friends really did help us out there. But… is this really the right thing?"

"Yeah, branding them seems a bit much," Gigit agreed. "They're just kids. Kids that wanted to help. Even if they were going above the law, they shouldn't be punished for helping other witches… right?"

"I just don't know how to handle this," Clé said. "Especially with how unhinged Leonte is becoming…"

"What do you mean you haven't found them yet?!"

The two were startled and they followed the noise to see Leonte shouting at Danny, Midday, Thunder, and Joana.

"S-Sorry, sir. But we've looked through the floor, and there's no sign of them," Thunder said.

"Yeah, maybe they got out and have run off somewhere," Joana suggested.

"Not with the exits blocked," Leonte declared. His mask was off, showing his vein popping in anger, impatience, and frustration. "How hard is it to find a group of teenagers?!"

"Calm down, Captain," Midday told him, disapproving his tone.

"Sir, maybe they did find a way out," Danny suggested, causing Leonte to look down at him, making the oracle boy nervous.. "I-I mean, there are secret passages in the school and they could have just made their exit…"

"Oh, I am willing to bet that they are still in this school, we just need to ensure that they don't run away," Leonte declared. "If you need to lure out some rats, you just need the right bait. And since these vigilantes like to fashion themselves as heroes, I know just how to bring them out of whatever hole they are hiding in… by branding their classmates."

"What?!" Midday and Danny asked out of shock.

"Hold up, hold up," Gigit interrupted as she walked up to Leonte. "Captain, you're not serious about this, are you?"

"We have to do this in order to lure out these young criminals," Leonte explained while turning to her. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you against this, Gigit?"

"Unfortunately for you, I am," Gigit protested. "I didn't sign up to brand kids, Leonte, I signed up to help them. This has gone way too far, and I will not take part in this."

"I see, if that's how you feel," Leonte said as he glared at Gigit before turning to Thunder and Joana. "Arrest Ms. Gigit Shores for insubordination!"

"What?!" Gigit exclaimed as she saw Thunder and Joana marching up to her. "W-Wait! You can't be serious!"

"We cannot risk another Steve situation," Leonte told her as Joana cuffed her.

"This is an abuse of authority!" Gigit declared while being escorted away.

"Sir, don't you think this is going too far?" Clé asked.

"You're not thinking of insubordination too, are you?" Leonte asked in irritation, turning to him.

"N-No sir, but if I just-"

"Then do as you're told and stay quiet, Ironwood," Leonte warned him while looking around. "Are there any other objections?" The other scouts stayed quiet, mainly out of fear. Leonte nodded. "Then here's my next order. Go grab some students and start branding sigils on them!"

The scouts looked hesitant, but did as they say as they were told, spreading out to find students. Clé just stood there for a moment, glaring at Leonte before turning to look at Gigit in concern as she was escorted away. Then he just sighed and walked away.

Danny looked shocked by what was happening and he had trouble processing it until he felt Midday pat his shoulder, causing him to look up at her.

"Danny, listen," she said to him. "Go help your classmates. As President, you can get them to go along with this."

"What?" Danny asked. "But… isn't this against the rules?"

"I know, but… we are already on thin ice with the Emperor's Coven," Midday told him. "Just… do as you're told."

As Midday walked away, Danny just looked down, his fist tightening…

Meanwhile, at Merlin Meadows… chaos ensued.

"AAAH!" one student screamed while she was being chased by a scout.

The school hallways were filled with scouts chasing students. The illusionist students tried to hide while some students used their magic to fight back. However, many of the scouts were still rounding up students left and right, some even grabbing them in nets.

Rashwood had found herself in cuffs, while her Palisman had been taken from her. "You can't do this to my students!" she declared to the captain.

"You chose to go against the Emperor," the captain declared while contacting Osran. "Head Witch, we found the principal and arrested her."

"Excellent, Captain," Osran responded. "Now continue rounding up students…"

In another part of the school, Ester attempted to lead the students to safety while using her guitar to knock the scouts away from them. "Go, go, go!" she told them as the students ran. However, something grabbed Ester by her boot. "Huh? Hey!" she shouted before she was suddenly sucked into a crystal ball. "Gyaaaaaah!" she screamed before she was completely sucked in… by Osran.

"You spirits are a lot more trouble than you're worth," Osran commented while with some scouts.

"Get me out of you, you purple-faced, four-armed, bastard!" Ester shouted while banging on the crystal ball.

"What are your next orders, sir?" one scout asked as Osran used his crystal ball, his eyes glowing.

"About ten students are hiding in Room 3B, a few are hiding under the bleachers of the gym," Osran declared. "You can also find dozens of students hiding in the lockers in Hall A, and make sure to ambush some who are trying to escape through the back doors. Keep blocking off more exit doors from the inside and out. Break into the rooms where the students would be held up and arrest the teachers trying to protect them."

"On it, sir," the scout declared as they moved out to do as Osran told them.

In another part of the school, Zee along with Fan, Dog, Kevin, Brenda, Helga, Drusilla, and Belawolf fought off against the scouts, using their magic to protect their students. Tracy Speedemon also showed up, running around and rounding up the scouts left and right, knocking them down and tying them up. Fan used duplicates of herself to confuse the scouts while Kevin summoned firebees to chase away some of the scouts. Dog enhanced his boombox to create soundwaves to knock the scouts away while Zee uses Beast trapping magic to trap the scouts.

As for the Ghoul Girls, Brenda used her bandages to wrap up the scouts, Helga sucker-punched them and knocked them into lockers with her strength, Drusilla hypnotized one scout and ordered him to attack his fellow scouts, and Belawolf summoned ratworms to attack the scouts.

"These guys are not giving up," Fan complained.

"Guys!" Gnashly shouted, popping up from a cloud. "I just got word that Ester's been captured by Head Witch Osran!"

"What?!" the Ghoul Girls exclaimed.

"Osran… crap, he's Head of the Oracle Coven, he's known for his high affinity for seeing potential outcomes," Fan said as they went to a cleared area.

"I just got a text from my sister," Dog said while holding his scroll. "It's not just happening here, but at Hexside as well."

"But… that would mean…" Fan realized. "Could they also be hitting St. Epiderm?"

"Our brothers go there," Zee said while looking worried. "We need to find a way to get out and help them."

"But how? There's too many scouts around and as long as Osran's here, none of us will be able to escape," Kevin said.

"Then… perhaps someone should meet him head-on," Zee suggested. "We could prevent him from focusing on predicting everyone else. That way, maybe at least some of us can escape."

Everyone looked at each other before Drusilla realized something. "But buying time to allow others to escape… we probably won't escape ourselves."

"Yeah, well… I'm willing to accept that," Zee said, looking determined. "If we're going down, at least it'll be going down fighting…"

Back at St. Epiderm, Andrew had managed to dig a tunnel for everyone.

"Okay, I found a tunnel route that can lead us to an underground park," Andrew said as his head popped up.

"Alright, let's move," Minerva said… before hearing the door open.

"Guys!" Danny shouted as the members of LOWTH turned to him.

"Oh crap… Dilburn," Roxy said in annoyance.

"How did you find us?" Donna asked.

"Please, I've known Riley long enough to see through their illusions," Danny replied as Beck came in after him.

"Professor Saltstar?" Minerva asked in surprise.

"What's going on here, Danny?" Tyrone asked.

Danny took a deep breath. "I came here to tell you that the Emperor's Coven is planning to draw you out by branding the other students," Danny told them, which shocked and horrified the gang.

"Branding the students?!" Kyle asked.

"And it's not just happening here, Hexside and Merlin Meadows are being targeted as well," Beck explained to them.

"They're literally going against the rules… breaking their own," Danny said while everyone looked horrified by this.

"This… this cannot be happening," Donna said as she lowered her head, her hand forming into a fist. "We can't let them get away with this."

"Looks like we'll have to stand up against the Emperor's Coven after all," Tina commented.

"Guess we're gonna stick it to the man," Beocrow commented with a nod. "I'm up for it."

"We wouldn't be heroes if we just left," Riley pointed out.

"So are you really going to stand against the establishment, Danny?" Sarah asked as they all turned to Danny.

Danny briefly hesitated before responding. "I just can't stand them doing this to my fellow students, especially before graduation. I always believed that the rules are meant to be encouraged, not enforced. Not like this. And this is them breaking their own rules, branding us before they're supposed to. The Emperor's Coven should be above this and if they're not, well, then they're no better than the Tarot Guild. In fact… I'd say that not even the Emperor himself should be above the law!" he declared, which surprised teen heroes.

"Huh. Well, Danny, looks like this might make you an honorary LOWTH member," Tyrone declared.

"Yeah, you're one of us now," Roxy said as she went over to pat his back, much to Danny's dismay.

"How quaint…" he muttered. "But me and Beck have your backs."

"I've been growing quite distilled about the Emperor's Coven anyway," Beck explained. "With what they did to my cousin, and I haven't heard anything from my younger cousin Boscha since last night, and what they're trying to do to my baby brother at Hexside, I'm not going to allow them to get away with this. My mother would not be happy to see this."

Donna smiled and nodded at Beck before summoning her staff. "LOWTH, let's suit up!"

Everyone drew their spell circles around their waists, the rings splitting up and down, allowing the members of LOWTH to change into their hero outfits. Donna did this as well, but her Wonder Witch outfit had an upgrade…

Replacing the leotard and jacket, Donna now wore blue chest armor with the heart and star symbol on the triangular center, with golden shoulder pads. Her black leotard was replaced with a long-sleeve black top, with a black skirt while wearing a golden belt. Her pink leggings remained intact, while replacing her fur boots were knee-length black heels with gold lines. Her yellow gloves were now golden gloves that reached to her elbows. Her mask now had larger wings and resembled a headdress with a red diamond in the center. And sprouting from behind the chest armor was a blue cape.

"Is that new?" Veronica asked her.

"Well, my moms figured that I needed an update," Donna commented. "What do you think?"

"I like it," Cross said, making Donna turn to him. "It suits you."

"Uh, thanks, Cross," Donna said, blushing a little.

"And hey, at least you won't be called the Burlesque Savior anymore," Roxy, as Rock Hard, pointed out.

Kyle, as Mr. Healer, noticed Cross. "Oh, I guess you're the only one who doesn't have a costume, Cross."

Cross mentally debated with himself for a moment before he sighed. "Well… cause I figured that I wouldn't need a costume," he said as his hands burst into flames, causing him to transform into his full on dragon form in front of LOWTH. Everyone but Donna and Beocrow were shocked by his transformation. "It was bound to happen eventually, honestly. But I understand this will come as quite a shock."

For a moment, everyone was silent as they stared at Cross. Though it was out of fear. Mostly out of surprise, although in some cases… awe.

"I've… never seen a dragon up close before," Riley as Dr. Thriller admitted.

"Whoa, so you've been our school mascot the entire time?" Andrew as Drillborg exclaimed.

"Huh, that does explain your last name," Ghostina admitted.

"… Beel was right," Florella realized, which surprised Cross.

"Wait, Beel knew?!" Cross exclaimed before shaking his head and looking around at the others. "I kept my dragon side a secret cause I was afraid how you guys would react, although Donna and Beo already knew and-"

"Cross," Danny interrupted as he walked up to him. Danny looked Cross up and down, adjusting his glasses while getting a good look at Cross in his dragon form. "I will admit, this is a shock," he said before looking up at Cross. "But you don't have to worry. This…" He gestured to Cross. "This is fine. It will take some getting used to, but it's fine."

"I mean, we understand why you were reluctant to share this with us, but we're cool with it," Tyrone said with a nod.

"You're our classmate, Cross," Minerva as Lunar Tune pointed out. "Dragon or witch, that doesn't change."

"But damn, I thought my secret was big," Sarah commented, which Riley took note of.

"Wait, should we also find Lindsay?" Kyle pointed out. "I don't think we've heard anything from her."

"She probably knows what's going on by now," Beck pointed out. "But I think she is still with Tabrella."

"She can join us if we find her," Donna decided. "Come on, team, we have a school and classmates to save!" She nodded at her friends. "For Beel."

"For Beel," they all agreed.

Meanwhile, at Merlin Meadows, the Ghoul Girls and Dog managed to fight off some coven scouts, tying them up and hypnotizing them thanks to Brenda and Drusilla. This gave them the opportunity to evacuate the students out of the school.

"Hurry! Go to your homes and families!" Drusilla told them as they ushered them down a hallway.

"Contact your parents and warn them about this!" Dog instructed while Belawolf and Helga tackled more scouts.

"Try to get as many of them out as possible," Gnashley told them as she appeared in front of them. "We'll try to buy you the time you need."

Drusilla, Dog, Helga, Belawolf, and Brenda gave her nods, before they followed the other students, helping to get them to safety.

Elsewhere, Osran and his scouts, including Scameron and Barb, were combing the hallways, looking for students who were trying to hide or take shelter from them. As Barb saw the scouts branding the students, she lowered her head.

"Barb, are you alright?" Scameron asked.

"This… this feels wrong," Barbara responded with a low tone.

"Hey, you scouts!" someone shouted.

Everyone looked to the end of the hallway, where they saw Zee, Fan, Kevin, Gnashley, and Tracy standing there. Fan was the one who had spoken.

You guys have a lot of nerve, coming here and branding kids! And without parental approval!" Fan shouted before muttering to herself. "Now I sound like my brother…"

"So you children have decided to go against us?" Osran asked while Barb noticed Zee.

"Well, you guys aren't exactly painting yourselves as the good guys right now," Tracy pointed out.

"Yeah, none of you will be branding anymore kids," Zee declared.

Osran narrowed his eyes at them. "I'll admit, this is a new outcome, I didn't expect you all to be so stupid as to challenge us directly… but the outcome will remain the same," he declared and with a gesture he sent his forces to charge towards the top students.

"Charge!" Fan declared while casting her purple fire magic at some scouts.

Zee used her plant magic to tangle up some guards. Some scouts tried to attack her from behind, but Gnashey threw a smoke bomb to blind them. Then, duplicates of her popped up, kicking each scout in the face. After that, Zee used the smoke, forming it into steam and using her magic to move the steam to fog up the scouts' sight. This gave her the opportunity to use ice magic to knock the scouts down, making them fall back when they can't see.

Tracy knocked over some scouts to the floor with her speed. However, she got entrapped by some Abomi-goo rope, slowing her down. "Oof!" she shouted while being surrounded by scouts. Fortunately, she managed to spread her wings out, knocking the scouts away. "Rock on!"

Gnashley sent out ninja-stars at the scouts, who flinched at her attacks, only for those stars to disappear. They were just a good distraction for Gnashley, who popped up from behind and delivered spinning kicks at the confused scouts, knocking them over. When she saw one scout coming at her, she poofed away and a scarecrow was in her place. This confused the scout until the scarecrow exploded, knocking him out.

Fan used duplicating illusion spells while also unleashing ghosts of her own. The ghosts tackled the scouts, while some charged at the duplicates. The Fans blasted them with each attacks: plants, fire, ice, light, and constructs to knock the scouts away. "Yeah! Stick it to the man!" she declared while shooting flame magic at the scouts. When one scout charged at her, he got knocked out by Tracy. "Thanks, Tracy!"

"No problem, captain!" Tracy shouted, giving a thumbs up as she sped away to knock more coven scouts.

Kevin, meanwhile, was summoning griffins and unicorns to attack the scouts. He also summoned vines to whack at the scouts coming at him and his friends before he then drew a large spell circle, which shot out a gush of water at a group of scouts, washing them away.

"WAAAH!" Scameron cried out as he was flooded down the hall.

Barb jumped away from the water and ended up facing Zee, who noticed her. Zee was about to fight her, but Barb raised her hand up. "Wait! Zee, it's me!" Barb shouted before she removed her mask.

"Barb?!" Zee asked while the battle was still going on around them. "What… why are you here?!"

"They… they called me for a recruitment drive but-"

"Don't you see what's going on here, cousin?!" Zee asked as she raised her hand up, showing Barb the children being caught and branded, while her friends were fighting off the scouts as best as they could. "You can't really believe that you're the good guys in this?"

Barb hesitated, remembering Luz's words, and seeing all of this did make her rethink the situation… until she got knocked out by a blast from behind. "AAAH!" she cried out as she fell down.

Zee turned to see that Osran was responsible for the attack, the Oracle Head holding the crystal ball that shot a bolt at Barb. "You! Why did you do that?!"

"I saw a future where she helped you and the students. It was just a possibility, but I'm not willing to take the risk," Osran said before he shot a bolt at Zee, forcing her to dodge it.

Zee snarled as more scouts showed up to try to contain her until she blew steam at them. They were blinded, allowing Zee to judo-flip and kick them in the faces. After knocking them down, she heard Tracy's cry.

Tracy kept fighting the scouts, even as she felt magic rope grabbing her wings. She ran around and around to get the scouts off, but one scout used their Abomination to collide with her. This slowed down the bird biped as more magic rope wrapped around her, some of it wrapping around her feet to prevent her from running some more.

Kevin kept summoning firebees on the scouts or blasting them with more gushes of water. That was until he felt his legs being frozen by one scout using an ice spell on him. "What the-?!" he panicked, seeing that he was now frozen in place. But this didn't stop him from continuing the fight and he cast spells left and right until the scouts bound him with vines.

"Guys!" Gnashley shouted as she attempted to rush to their rescue, knocking away the scouts trying to capture her. However, she got blasted in the side by a spell. "Ack!" she cried as she hit the wall. She looked up and saw that she was surrounded by scouts. She tried to use her smoke bombs, but was then pinned to the wall by some Abomi-goo. She hissed, trying to release herself until one scout zapped her. "AAAAH!"

Fan kept using her illusion duplicates while shooting ice and fire magic. As she backed away, a scout came to grab her from behind. "Hey! Let me go!" she shouted, headbutting the scout to make him release her. She used more purple and blue flame magic to fight back, but was then knocked out by a magic blast from one scout, making her hit the wall.

"Fan!" Zee shouted before finding herself in front of Osran and his forces. It was now just her alone. She tapped on her oracle stone as she glared at them.

"I know what you are, Zee Drakescale," Osran told her. "You have two options. Surrender now, or be put down."

Zee gave him a smirk. "I'd rather… kick your ass!" she declared while charging at them.

Meanwhile, back at St. Epiderm, Hettie Cutburn led a group of scouts to look around for students, managing to grab one.

"Hey, let go of my Maxine!" shouted the blue haired student with a Potions track outfit and a prosthetic left leg. He was held back by some scouts.

"Maxwell!" cried the brown-skinned healer girl with braided hair.

"Shh," Hettie told Maxine, pressing her fingers against her lips as she held her branding glove. "Don't worry, this will be over soon."

"But… you're a healer! You're not supposed to harm people! That's your Hippocampus Oath!" Maxine cried out as she struggled.

"Yeah, I did take the oath," Cutburn admitted. "But I took another oath. One to Emperor Belos," she said while her branding glove went near Maxine's wrists.

"Hey! Cutburn!"

Hettie stopped herself, turning to see Wonder Witch, Crowbar, Florella, Mr. Healer, Danny, and Cross in his dragon form.

"Let her go," Donna told her before pointing to herself. "You're looking for me? Well, I'm here."

"Masterskull," Cutburn said as she shoved Maxine down, while looking at Donna with interest. "I was hoping to find you…"

At another part of the school, Vitimir led a group that included Ruby and some scouts to grab students. Vitimir used his breath to knock some students out, causing them to pass out.

"Ruby, make sure to brand these students while they're knocked out," Vitimir ordered while covering up his mouth.

"Still haven't brush your teeth, Weevil?"

Vitimir heard someone calling him out and he turned around to see Potion Ranger, Lunar Tune, Ghostina, and Dr. Thriller.

"Makes me think the covens don't have a dental plan," Potion Ranger said.

"Oh we do, Ms. Atos," Vitimir declared, recognizing her. "But I'm going to set aside the fact that you're my colleague's kid while I brand you and your friends…"

Meanwhile, Sham led his own group as he knocked on some doors. "Hello? Is someone in there? This door is locked!"

"Do you mind?!" Lindsay's voice called out. "My friend is having a hard time so please give us some privacy!"

"Oh, sorry miss," Sham replied while stepping back. "Looks like there's nothing in there."

"Uh sir, didn't Leonte order us to apprehend the students to give them sigil brands?" a guard captain pointed out.

"Oh, right," Sham responded before he knocked on the door again. "Open up or we'll break the door down!"

"Hey!"

Sham and the scouts turned to see Beck, Rock Hard, Minos, and Drillgorg.

"You will not mess with those girls under my watch," Beck declared.

"You're one of those teachers here, have you decided to betray us?" Sham asked them.

"You want us, right?" Minos asked.

"Then come and try to get us," Rock Hard responded as she cracked her knuckles.

"Hmm, very well," Sham said before he slapped on a power glyph and buffed out from his shirt, revealing his muscular physique. "Scouts! Arrest them!"

Back with Vitimir's group, the Potions Head and his scouts charge against Potion Ranger and her team, who were all wearing masks in case he tried to use his breath against them. Potion Ranger targeted Vitimir while her friends dealt with the scouts.

Vitimir still tried to use his breath on her, causing Sarah to duck down and throw a potion above her. Once the breath hit the opened flask, the potion exploded in front of him, Vitimir backed away, looking at her in anger while bringing out potions from the chest on his back.

"Why don't you freeze!" Vitimir shouted as he threw an ice potion, attempting to freeze her.

Sarah ducked down again and the potion hit an unfortunate scout, trapping him in an ice block. When another scout tried to apprehend her, she rolled some yellow balls, which exploded and trapped them in a gelatin-like state. She looked back at Vitimir, who brought out more potions.

Dr. Thriller saw Potion Ranger in trouble and they went to help but were met with an Abomination summoned by a scout. They then used their illusion to trick the scouts, as the scout thought he managed to capture Dr. Thriller with his Abomination. However, Riley appeared behind the scout, karate-chopping him on the neck, knocking him out. They saw more scouts coming for them and Dr. Thriller disappeared from their view.

One scout tried to capture Ghostina, who simply phased through them, shocking the scout, who shivered as she felt Ghostina run through her. Ghostina then drew spell circles to freeze the scouts trying to brand the nearby unconscious students. One scout shot a fire spell at her, but Ghostina phased down through the floor, confusing the scout until she rose up behind them and froze their feet to the ground with an ice spell.

Lunar Tune played her cello, shooting out lightning bolts at the scouts. She dodged one of them trying to use a vine to try to grab her, hopping around the walls to the ceiling before she struck them with a music note attack that, when encountered, created a shockwave, knocking the scouts back. Lunar Tune landed on the floor and gave a bow to the knocked down scouts. Hearing a clap, she turned and saw Ruby was doing the clapping.

"Nice performance," Ruby said before charging towards Lunar Tune. She raised her fist, which stretched out towards Minerva, who ducked down and blocked the stretched out fist.

"You can stretch?!" Minerva asked in shock.

"Just a special magical ability," Ruby said before sending out more punches towards Lunar Tune. Luckily for the rabbit biped, she knew some fighting moves as well. She blocked and then kicked Ruby away and when Ruby charged again, Lunar Tune dodged her.

"You never faced someone who knows Bard Kwai Do, have you?" Lunar Tune asked, before sending her fists onto Ruby's back, knocking her back.

"Oof!" Ruby shouted as she turned around and sent a kick to Lunar Tune with her outstretched boot. The rabbit hero dodged and summoned more music notes with her cello, swirling them around and pushing them towards Ruby. The Potions Coven Aide was sent back by the blast, hitting the lockers. Ruby glared at her as she stretched out her hands and wrapped around Lunar Tune, causing her to drop her cello. She used her arms to reel in Lunar Tune close to her. "Not so tough without your cello now, are you?" she asked with a smirk.

Lunar Tune sent her a glare. "I don't need my cello. I have… my friends!" she declared as Ghostina appeared behind Ruby, freezing her back.

"AAACK!" Ruby cried out, feeling ice encase her back and making her let go of Lunar Tune. Ruby groaned until she was met with a boot to the face, knocking her back to the floor.

The rabbit hero looked over to Ghostina. "Thanks, Tina."

"Don't thank me yet, let's deal with those scouts," Ghostina declared before they went to help Riley with the rest of the scouts.

Meanwhile, Vitimir and Sarah continued to throw potions at each other, the vials clashing against each other and exploding. Colorful smoke spread out, covering the hall. Potion Ranger held up her potion gun and blasted potion liquids at Vitimir, who dodged the liquid that would've froze him. Vitimir slammed a green potion on the ground and it spread out large vines towards her.

Sarah shot a liquid to freeze the vines and threw a potion flask that broke and covered Vitimir with a sleeping nettle gas. However, Vitimir looked unaffected by the potion. "Please, I've inhaled enough potions to be immune to sleeping nettles!"

"Shit!" she cried out as she drew spell circles to shoot lightning while throwing more potions. Once the lightning hit them, the reaction from the potions caused a large squid-like creature to sprout and crawl towards Vitimir, grabbing hold of his face. "Hope you like the lightning kalamari potion!"

"GAAAH!" Vitimir screamed before pulling the electrifying kalamari off and throwing it at an unfortunate scout. "No more games!" he shouted before grabbing another potion from his chest and throwing it at her.

"AAAAH!"

Ghostina, Lunar Tune, Dr. Thriller, and the scouts turned when they heard Sarah's screams. They gasped when they saw Sarah down on the floor, smoke coming out from her burned helmet, and her right arm. A sickening acidic steam was burning through her skin…

"Sarah!" Riley, Minerva, and Tina shouted.

"Oh crap!" Vitimir cried out in panic. "Crap, crap, crap! I can't believe Stag's kid is…" He looked around at the few scouts, who saw this. "Okay, let's get our story straight! This… this was self-defense! She tried to attack me!"

"Um, did you read the labels on what you threw?" one scout asked.

"This isn't my fault!" Vitimir declared. "I know my potions! Even without looking at the labels!"

"You're so unfit to be a Head…"

Vitimir paused, slowly turning to see Sarah standing up. What shocked him was that she survived the acid potion… but he saw what was under the layer of her skin…

"My father may have chosen you to be his successor, but one thing that we both agreed on is that more often than not you refused to take responsibility for your own mistakes, preferring to blame someone else. But he picked you because he knew Nicole was the worse option…"

Even her friends were shocked, Riley gasping while Tina and Minerva fell silent. Sarah looked over at her friends while feeling up her face.

"Oh… guess my secret's out," Sarah said, her right side of her face now covered in blue skin with yellow tron lines. Half of her hair was yellow with blue highlights. Her right arm was exposed, showing blue with yellow tron lines, while pieces of her skin were shown affected by the acid. Her right eye showed black sclera with yellow iris and a blue dot.

"Those lines, and your skin…" Vitimir gasped in shock, his eyes widening. "There's… there's no way you're a normal witch!" He rustled his hair and laughed. "By Gorge, he's done it! Stags has succeeded in making a fully grown homunculi!"

Sarah took deep breaths, before her right hand extended claws as the yellow lines glowed. "Great, the spider-cat's out of the bag…"

"You scouts can have the rest of these vigilantes, this one's mine!" Vitimir declared while bringing out potions, mixing them up. "Once I capture her, I'll slap her on a table and perform my experiments on her to discover how Stags did it! Creating a homunculi this large and this advanced… I have to know his secret!" he declared before throwing a potion at Sarah, who dodged it as it hit the wall, exploding into gooey substances.

"Keep fighting, guys!" Sarah shouted in encouragement while trying to slash at Vitimir, ripping away a piece of his clothing. The long nosed witch winced before using his breath against her. She dodged his breath while throwing a potion towards his gaping mouth, sending a spicy explosive in there.

"Gah! Hot!" Vitimir cried out while Sarah swiped his feet, knocking him to the floor.

Dr. Thriller, Lunar Tune, and Ghostina resumed fighting with the remaining scouts. Ghostina drew spell circles that sent a small blizzard towards the scouts. A few scouts managed to remain standing, one of them throwing a potions flask to try to hit them, but Lunar Tune whistled loud enough to break the potion while Ghostina froze its contents in mid-air. Dr. Thriller appeared next to the scout who had thrown the potion, kicking the scout in the side.

Only a few more scouts to deal with. Lunar Tune played her cello again, blasting two scouts away while another scout used their oracle magic to summon a ghost. The ghost lunged at the trio, but Ghostina floated up, intercepting and fighting the ghost. Another scout tried to summon an Abomination that tried to grab Lunar Tune, who jumped up out of reach while firing spells down at the Abomination, blasting it into pieces.

Dr. Thriller got themselves entangled by vines while two scouts tried to capture them. But before they could apprehend them, they got frozen at their feet by Ghostina while Lunar Tune helped break Thriller out of the vines. The ghost Ghostina was fighting tried to attack her again, but Lunar Tune created a sound wave from whistling, dispersing the ghost from her friend. The trio found themselves surrounded by constructs, but Dr. Thriller used their illusions, making them vanish and confusing the scouts until they felt a loud sound wave close behind them.

"GAAAH! MY EARS!" one scout shouts, feeling her eardrum pop before getting knocked out.

"WHAT?!" another asked before suddenly getting knocked out.

Another got hit by an invisible karate-chop. The trio reappeared and when one scout saw them, he panicked and tried to use his construct magic.

"S-Stay back! I'm warning ya!" the scout shouted before Dr. Thriller disappeared from view, confusing the scout. "Huh?!" he asked before Dr. Thriller popped up right in front of him and sent a fist to his masked face, knocking the scout down.

Meanwhile, with Sarah versus Vitimir, the Potions Head threw out more potions at her when she kept dodging. Sarah swiped at the potions with her claws before trying to extend them towards Vitimir. He dodged them while throwing out more potions and cackling. "You know, I have once been wondering about you, since Stags said that he took you in after an old friend of his vanished, leaving you behind," he said while Sarah launched herself towards him. But Vitimir grabbed her wrist, stopped her from using one of her potions, and threw her to the wall. "I never expected that you were a jar baby! Not an Abomination, which are easy to make, and there's a lot of difficulties in making Grimwalkers. But a Homunculus? That's much harder than a Grimwalker!" he claimed while pouring more acid potions on her, causing her to scream.

"GAAH!" she cried while swiping at Vitimir with her claws. She managed to pull away from him while more of her normal skin was melting away, showing more of her blue skin and yellow lines. "That hurt, you son of a bitch!" she shouted while her brown hair turned completely yellow and blue.

"Yehehe! I just wanted a closer look at what I should expect when I dissect you!" Vitimir declared mockingly. "There's no way you'll be able to live a normal life after you've been exposed like this! In fact… I can have my coven scouts apprehend your father for questioning!"

Sarah glared at him and yelled as her fist tightened and she threw a punch, hitting him in the nose. The Potion Head looked mad at this, his nose now crooked. "It's because of you and the Emperor's Coven my dad got hurt!" she shouted in anger, only for a vine to wrap around her leg and slam her on the sticky goop on the wall. The goop then activated, wrapping around Sarah. She grunted while struggling to escape.

"It was your 'father's' own fault because of his pursuit of knowledge," Vitimir mocked her as he walked up to her. "He agreed to perform projects for the Emperor's Coven. He almost got himself killed in that accident. It is his fault that you exist while making you think you'd be able to live some kind of normal school life. And it'll be his fault for hiding the secrets of creating a homunculus like you," he declared while holding up a potion. "This sleeping nettle should knock you out," he said while drawing nearer Sarah…

WHACK!

"Ack!" Vitimir cried out as a large fist slammed down on his hat and the top of his head, making him bite his tongue while his eyes became blank. He collapsed to the floor, dropping the sleeping nettles. However, before the flask hit the ground, another hand grabbed it.

Sarah and her friends, who were coming to help her after they finished dealing with the scouts, saw who knocked Vitimir out. They were surprised… but Sarah wasn't. Instead, she just sighed.

"What took you so long?" she asked.

"Sorry, sister," Ruby responded while standing over Vitimir. "I had to make sure they defeated all of those scouts before I freed myself, since I didn't want there to be any witnesses," she said while her large hands shrank back to normal.

"Wait a minute… aren't you the enemy?" Dr. Thriller asked while Ruby went to free Sarah.

"More like a double-agent," Ghostina realized.

Ruby used a potion to freeze the goo and vines that tangled up Sarah, releasing her from it. "Thanks, Gem-Red. I owe you one," Sarah said with a nod.

"No problem, Blue-Blade," Ruby replied while helping Sarah up.

"Wait, wait, wait," Riley said while looking at the two. "Are you saying… both of you are homunculus?"

"The plural is 'homunculi,'" Ruby corrected, rolling her eyes slightly as she turned to the teens, her face changing so that it resembled Sarah with red hair, surprising the others. "And yes, I am a homunculus, much like my sister."

"Sister?!" the trio asked in shock.

"I have… questions," Ghostina said, raising her hand.

"I can take it from here," Ruby told Sarah before she continued. "I was created in my father-unit's laboratory with the purpose to keep an eye on the happenings in the Potions Coven for him. Staggetarius knew when picking Vitimir as his successor he would need to keep an eye on him, considering his inflated ego and lack of oversight. He knew that he could never trust either him or Nicole Hieron…" She turned to her sister. "Would you like me to kill Vitimir for you?" she asked, forming her hand into an ax.

"Don't," Sarah told her as Ruby's hand changed back. "I appreciate that you asked, but I don't want him dead. And I don't want you to blow your cover, plus a dead Coven Head will only get us into more trouble."

"Hmm, you do make a good point, Sarah," Ruby responded with a nod while she looked down at Vitimir. "I think I'll just alter his memories before he wakes up so that he doesn't remember this."

"So… this is the big secret you had?" Riley asked Sarah, who turned to her.

Sarah sighed and nodded. "Yes, I'm a homunculus. The blue skin is my real skin and my other skin is what I made to disguise myself. It'll grow back," she reassured them.

"Why did she call you Blue-Blade?" Tina asked.

"It's my serial name, and I can turn my fingers into extended blades if I wish," Sarah said while her hand grew with her claws extended before it turned back to normal. "But I was named 'Sarah' after my dad read about an oncology researcher and pioneer named Sarah Elizabeth Stewart. Gem-Red, or Ruby, is named after Ruby Payne-Scott, a human pioneer who studied radiophysics and radio astronomy, and a science-fiction novel called 'Friday', which she used as her surname. She was designed and created as dad's 'eyes' while I was designed and created to be his 'curiosity', to help him pursue and spread our scientific studies." She looked down, feeling a little awkward. "This is probably more shocking than Cross's thing…"

"To be honest, I think I'm just numb at this point," Tina admitted.

"Yeah, I mean you're not so different, Sarah. You're still our friend," Riley pointed out. "So yeah, we're fine with it."

"We're all a bunch of weird bunch, as Andrew would say," Minerva added, forming a smile.

Sarah sighed in relief. "Thanks guys, for understanding," she said, looking up at them with a smile. "You have no idea how good it is to hear that…"

Meanwhile, with Beck's group, they were in the middle of fighting scouts. Minos and Drillborg used their construction abilities to take on the scouts while Roxy focused on fighting against Sham.

Minos slammed his hammer on the floor, which caused a quake. Though some scouts fell over, one tried to tangle up Minos with vines, but Minos grabbed the vines and spun around, resulting in the scout crashing into some trash cans.

When Drillborg was surrounded by some scouts, the armadillo biped simply rolled into a ball and bounced up and down. He bounced off several scouts, an abomination, and some constructs before he knocked down a bunch of scouts like they were bowling pins.

Roxy, meanwhile, delivered kicks and uppercuts which Sham blocked.

"You are strong for your age," Sham noted before he headbutted her.

"Shit!" Roxy cursed as she backed away, glaring at him while feeling her forehead. "For a bird biped, you sure are hardheaded."

"And those fighting moves… your mother wouldn't happen to be…?" Sham asked her.

"Scalp-Metal of F.N.G.?" Roxy asked as she resumed her fighting stance. "So you've heard of her."

"Ah, Rosetta Armstrong, now I see the resemblance," Sham said, nodding. "Such a shame that I'll have to turn you in."

"I like to see you try!" Roxy declared before throwing another punch to Sham.

Beck, meanwhile, was facing a group of scouts who looked scared of her. "What's wrong? Does my resemblance to my mother frighten you?" she asked them with a smirk.

"S-Should we fight her?" a scout asked, shaking where he stood.

"I don't know if I want to fight a Saltstar," another replied. "She may not look that tough, but we shouldn't underestimate her…"

"I can take her!" one scout shouted as they charged at Beck, who summoned a drum. She raised her hand and slapped the drum, causing a huge shockwave that launched the group of scouts back. "AAAAH!"

"Just because I don't look like my brothers, doesn't mean I don't have those Saltstar genes," Beck declared while drawing a spell circle and summoning a large gong. She raised her fist and punched the gong, creating an even bigger blast that toppled the scouts, although both Roxy and Sham were unfazed.

"WAAAAH!" the scouts screamed as they flew down the hallway.

As the scouts continued to fight Beck's group, Minos took down another scout. However, before he could do anything else, Minos found himself grabbed from behind by a large snake. "Gaah!" he shouted as he was pulled back and around a corner of the hall. As he was dragged away, Minos grabbed the snake and managed to pull it off, getting himself free. "Snakes?! Where did you-?!"

"Over here, Tyrone," spoke a muscular scout. Minos turned to him, raising his hammer. "Wait! Wait! Don't hit! It's me!" the scout shouted as he removed his mask, revealing himself to be Clé.

"Clé?" Minos asked in surprise, recognizing his older brother. "What are you doing?!"

"Getting you out of here, Ty," Clé responded. "You attacking the Emperor's Coven is only going to make things worse for you. But I'm not letting you get arrested, so I got you an extra scout uniform you can put on so I can sneak you out of here."

Minos looked at his brother before he removed his mask. "Sorry Clé, but no. I'm not leaving my friends."

"What?!" Clé asked him in shock. "Man, don't you see what is happening right now?!"

"I do, Clé. I'm seeing that these coven scouts are here not only to arrest us because he were just helping people, but they are also branding kids like they're cattle. Right now, they're not the good guys," Tyrone pointed out.

"…I know," Clé acknowledged with a saddened look. "Just earlier, one of my friends was arrested for speaking out against Leonte, who seems to be losing it."

"Then you should quit your job right now and join us to help put a stop to this madness," Tyrone suggested.

"I… I don't know, man," Clé said reluctantly. "I mean, I don't want to do this to our dads," he said while looking at his little brother. "Them learning about you being a rebel is already going to hurt them a lot."

"Yeah, I know," Tyrone said, solemnly acknowledging the fact. "But why is helping people wrong anyway?"

"That's the thing, it isn't," Clé said as he patted his brother's shoulder. "And I just want to say… I'm proud of you, Ty, for what you and your friends have done. Regardless of how this ends up playing out, I want you to know that."

Tyrone gave him a nod and smiled before he put his mask back on. "Thanks Clé, wish me luck," he declared before he ran back to join the battle, leaving his older brother feeling proud of Tyrone… and conflicted about his current career.

"Are you alright, Tabrella?" Lindsay asked, comforting her friend while the battle with Sham and the scouts happened outside their classroom.

"All that noise," Tabrella said while looking distressed. "It's not making me feel well at all…"

"Let me handle this," Lindsay said while walking up to the door and hitting it. "HEY! CAN YOU KEEP IT DOWN OUT THERE! MY FRIEND IS HAVING A HARD ENOUGH TIME AS IT IS!"

Back to the fight, Sham flew up high to avoid Roxy's attacks before launching himself down to slam his arm to her face, knocking her back. This caused her to glare at him while slamming the ground with her fists, causing statue hands to sprout from the floor to try to slap Sham. He dodged the hands and punched through them

"Statue constructs, so you've mastered getting them to move, I see," Sham said while a large head resembling Roxy's sprouted from the ground, trying to bite at Sham. But he just charged through, crumbling the statues. "But as you can see, I have the upper hand!"

"Shit," Roxy said while stomping on the ground, raising a boulder and punching it towards Sham. He dodged it and Sham spun around drawing his spell circle, which sent out a flashing light in front of Roxy's eyes "Gah!" she cried while blinded before she was then tackled in the stomach, sending her flying into the wall.

"Rox!" Tyrone and Andrew shouted, seeing her launched back.

"Give up now?" Sham asked while Roxy stood back up.

"Not until one of us is knocked down for good," Roxy declared before coughing up vile caused by a punch to her abs by Sham, his fist colliding with her stomach.

"You may be strong, but you're not match for my speed!" Sham declared as he instantly appeared behind Roxy, bringing his fists together and hitting her in the back, causing her to hit the floor. "Like I said, as you can see, I have the upper hand."

Roxy turned and slammed her fist on the ground, bringing out structures in front of the eagle demon. But Sham just charged through them and headbutted Roxy again, causing her to hit the wall once more.

"Ooh…" Roxy said as she struggled to get up while Sham flew over to her.

"Let this be a lesson about how you shouldn't go above the law," Sham declared as he was about to deliver the final blow…

"MADSTREAM SAID QUIET!"

Sham was startled, but before he could act he was suddenly tackled by a red-orange behemoth slamming him into the lockers. He couldn't even get up before he got slammed to the ground by Madstream, who looked seriously pissed off.

"MADSTREAM HATES LOUD NOISES THAT UPSET MY FRIEND!" she roared before she began punching and beating down Sham. Her large fists rapidly punched him down into a crater. It was like getting hit by ten trucks every second and Sham felt every one of those trucks.

"OW! ACK! AAH!" he screamed as the scouts and LOWTH members stopped fighting, instead just watching as Madstream beat down Sham.

"Is that…?" Tyrone asked in shock.

"Lindsay," Beck confirmed while Madstream continued beating down on the minister.

The scouts began to panic. "Screw this! Fighting that demon is way worse than taking on a Saltstar!" one of them shouted.

"What is wrong with this school?!" another scout shouted as they began to run.

"Run away!" another responded as the remaining scouts picked up their fallen comrades and all collectively scrammed from the fight.

"Lindsay!" Beck called out, causing Madstream to stop beating on Sham. Beck slowly approached her. "Lindsay, it's me, Beck Saltstar. I need you to calm down…"

"Madstream won't calm down!" Madstream shouted, now standing over Beck.

"I know, but listen," Beck said in a calm and gentle manner. "Remember what my mother, Delara, taught you to do when you get angry like this. The breathing techniques, they can help you. Just… breathe in with me," she said as she breathed in, counted to four, and breathed out.

As Madstream looked down at Beck, she was reminded of Delara, so she began to slowly breathe in, following the technique. She did the breathing technique over and over again while shrinking down, returning her back to normal Lindsay. The cyclops girl felt calmer before stumbling a bit. Luckily, she got caught by Tyrone and Beck.

"Thank you, guys," Lindsay said with a smile while looking around and seeing the unconscious Sham. "Um… what's going on?"

Meanwhile, with Donna's group, Wonder Witch faced off against Hettie while Crowbar fought a group of scouts by turning into a murder of crows, pecking at them through their masks, and Florella used her plant magic to tangle up some scouts as more came at them.

"Are you ready to surrender? Cause if not…" Hettie said as she drew a spell circle, summoning a bunch of scalpels that she launched towards Wonder Witch.

Summoning her keyblade, Donna spun around it, deflecting the scalpels at a very fast speed, causing the scalpels to hit the lockers, walls, and ceiling instead. She glared at her. "Going straight for the kill?"

"Why do you think my middle name's Killington?" Hettie asked with a smirk and a shrug while summoning another scalpel, which she grabbed. "But I do prefer to use my hands…" She launched herself at Donna, who blocked her blade attack with her keyblade. With her other hand, Hettie tried to cast a sleep spell, but Donna dodged the attack while casting an ice spell on her horned headdress. Hettie backed away and threw the scalpel at Donna, who deflected it with her keyblade.

"I got your back, Donna!" Cross shouted as he flew up to breath flames at Cutburn, who used a spell to block the blames but still felt it burn her arm sleeves.

"Gah!" she shouted in pain while ripping her sleeve off, revealing her strong, muscular arm. "I thought this was a school, not a zoo…"

"Hey, that's my boyfriend you're talking to," Donna hissed at Hettie.

"You're a lycan-lover? Wow, and I thought Clayborne was a freak," Hettie snide, getting Donna to fire at her with her keyblade, which she casually blocked.

"To think I actually thought of you of high caliber once," Donna said as Hettie drew a spell circle, pulling the scalpels she used earlier free and redirecting them at Donna, who had to either dodge or block them, though there were a few that nicked her. Hettie smirked when she saw one of her scalpels draw blood, but that smirk vanished when she felt herself get tangled up in vines thanks to Cross.

Hettie looked down at the vines before easily freeing herself and looking up at the green dragon. He shot fireballs at her and she casted ice spells, the two spells canceling each other out. While she was distracted by Cross, Donna tried to get a shot at her with the keyblade, but Hettie saw this and used a spell to grab a scout and pull him in front of her, taking the blast.

This appalled Donna and Cross. "You used your own scout as a shield?!" Donna shouted.

"They're disposable cannon fodder anyway," Hettie said with a shrug while discarding the frozen scout.

"Something tells me most of you Coven Heads are little better than Terra," Cross said while breathing more fireballs at Hettie. She dodged them until one burned the horn of her headdress, causing her to frown. She used an ice spell to smother the flames before giving Cross a disapproving look.

"Now you've done it," she said before several scalpels appeared from her sleeve. She threw them with expert precision, both of them hitting his wings with enough force to pin him to the wall.

"Ack!" Cross shouted as he was pinned to the wall. But Hettie wasn't done yet, getting some other scalpels to fly up and slash across his arms and chest. "AAAH!" he screamed while blood was spilled.

"Cross!" Donna shouted, before she turned to Hettie, glaring at her in anger while charging at the Healing Head. "You bitch!"

"Please, none of those cuts are fatal ones," Hettie said in an annoyed tone as she blocked more of Donna's spells. "I'm the Healing Head, I know how to non-lethally cut someone. If I wanted him dead, he would already be. But luckily for you, I don't want him to die too quickly…"

As Cross groaned, he saw Mr. Healer come over to pull him down from the wall. "Kyle…"

"Hang on, Cross, I'm going to help treat your wounds," he said while inspecting Cross's cuts. "Okay, they're not that bad. I can patch you up," he said while treating Cross's wounds.

"T-Thanks, Kyle," Cross said while taking his time to breathe as he tried to not lose too much blood.

"Just stay awake," Kyle told him while some scouts saw this and approached them, preparing their spells…

Fortunately, a wall, large music notes, and a ghost took those scouts down. Kyle and Cross saw what happened and they turned to see their saviors: the Graux Sisters.

"You scouts better not be hurting our homeboy, ya hear?!" Muka declared.

"You three… saved us?" Cross asked in surprise. "Or do you just not want anyone else to claim the reward…"

"That is how it would usually be, but we're not going to let them hurt Kyle, and to an extent, his friends," Muka said while crossing her arm and turning to Kyle. "It's like I said, we're watching your back now."

Kyle smiled. "Thanks," he said while turning back to focus on healing Cross.

Meanwhile, Danny was helping up Maxine and Maxwell, escorting them and other students away from the battle.

"You're helping us?" Maxwell asked in surprise.

"I would be a terrible president if I didn't," Danny declared while ordering the students to get out of the hallway. "Move! Move! Move!" he shouted while the Maxes and the other students ran to safety.

"Thank you, President Danny!" Maxine shouted while they escaped.

As this was going on, Crowbar spread out his crows to cover the scouts. Using his staff, he drew a spell circle to summon out more demon birds to peck out the scouts. When a scout got too close, he jumped up and delivered a kick at them. As more scouts charged at him, he split off into more crows that flew around before regrouping to form back into himself.

"What kind of magic ability is that?!" a scout asked.

"Never seen magic done by that before…" another admitted before they were hit by a stone pillar.

Florella was tangling and wrapping up any scouts near her, covering the halls with vines and flowers. However, the scouts used fire magic to burn the plants, which weakened Florella. She gasped in pain, but remained standing, her eyes glowing as she summoned more plants. She only paused when she heard singing, a harmonic tone that sent a shockwave towards the scouts, knocking them back while some ghosts dragged other scouts away from her.

Crowbar and Florella looked back to see that the Graux Sisters were their backup.

"You guys are helping us?" Florella asked in surprise.

"Don't get any ideas, we're doing this for Kyle," Muka told them.

"Fine by us," Crowbar said. "The more the merrier."

Muka, Gorlei, and Ashey used their respective magic while joining the two to fight the rest of the scouts. Beocrow and Florella were up front, Florella sending dozens of vines towards the scouts while Beocrow summoned flying demon squirrels.

"AAAAH!" the scouts cried out as they were swarmed by vines, squirrels, pillars, harp music, and ghosts. The demon squirrels were particularly a nuisance, climbing inside of their suits and biting them, causing the scouts to dance around and giving the vines an opening to grab them, swing them again, and slam them against each other.

Back to Donna, she was getting angrier as she fought Hettie, who just smirked at her while casually dodging her attacks or blocking them with her shield spells. After sliding back, Cutburn shot ice spells of her own at Donna, who deflects them.

"You know, Masterskull, I'm very familiar with your medical history," Hettie smirked while throwing more scalpels at Donna. "You were a drug addict, weren't you?" she mocked, making Donna look uncomfortable. "I'm surprised that you survived those dilderleeches, witches your age don't usually survive an overdose like that…"

Donna glared at Hettie. "So what? Maybe I'm just a rare case."

"Hmm, perhaps," Hettie said. "Or perhaps there is something special about you, something that Dr. Pox helped to hide from me."

'Pox?' Donna thought in confusion.

"But you know, your dragon boyfriend is interesting as well," Hettie said, glancing at him while Kyle healed up. "I've never dissected a dragon before, I wonder what makes him tick…"

This made Donna's anger boil over as her eyes glowed blue. "You will not lay a hand on him!" she screamed. She used a snow spell to cloud Hettie's vision, then ran up close to swing her keyblade at her. Hettie casually dodged it while pulling out her scalpel, swiping at Donna with it. "You don't deserve to be a Healing Head!"

"Oh? And why's that?" Hettie mocked as she managed to cut Donna's costume.

"Because you don't care," Donna told her as they clashed against each other with their blades and their ice spells. "You don't care about the lives that depend on you! I thought the things they said about you were just rumors, but I've seen it firsthand. I saw it at the IFWOT and I see it now! You just enjoy the power!" she shouted. "You're just more proof about how corrupt the covens really are!"

Hettie backed away, drawing a spell circle and levitating another scalpel toward Donna's face. But Donna deflected it again before swinging her ice powered Keyblade. With one blast, she targeted Hettie's face, managing to knock off her headdress.

"GYAAH!" Hettie cried out, revealing her face, which included blue hair tied into pigtails and brown eyes. She felt her exposed head freezing up. "Fuck! Brain freeze!"

Donna stepped in front of Hettie, raising her keyblade up. "Here, let me help that," she said, before blasting her with an ice block spell that punched straight into Hettie's jaw, sending her up into the ceiling before she fell back down, completely knocked out. "As a fellow healer, I think you should get some rest."

After Hettie's defeat, Donna turned around and went over to Cross and Kyle, kneeling down next to him. "How is he?" she asked Kyle.

"Stable, a few cuts, but he's going to be okay," Kyle responded as Donna joined him.

"That was… pretty awesome… Donna," Cross said as Donna helped to heal his wounds.

Donna smiled before she heard Muka speak. "He's right, though. You took down a Coven Head all by yourself. Never knew a Healer could be so badass until now."

"Thanks, Muka," Donna replied, nodding at her. "But we still need to find Leonte, he's our main concern now."

"But where is he?" Florella asked.

"Oh we know where he is," Muka said. "He's at the auditorium, where he gathered some students to get branded."

"I wonder how Lilith and Hunter dealt with that guy? He's a class-A corrupt cop now," Crowbar said.

Donna thought about their next course of action before turning to the Graux Sisters. "If you girls want to help, look around for more students and help them get to a safe classroom."

"I can go with them," Mr. Healer volunteered. "If they find anyone, they might need a healer."

"We're gonna help you fight Leonte, Donna," Florella said while Crowbar nodded as Danny came back.

"I'll go too," Danny confirmed. "This needs to end."

"Thanks, guys," Donna said while turning back to Cross. "Do you wish to stay behind, Cross?"

"Nah, I'm fine," he insisted while getting up, covered in healing patches. "There's no way I'm sitting this one out."

"Are you sure?" Danny asked in concern, frowning when he saw the healing patches. "Those cuts look bad."

"Honestly, Cutburn could have done a lot worse to me," Cross admitted before adopting a determined expression. "But I can keep going. That's just how I roll."

Meanwhile at Merlin Meadows, Zee was still fighting the scouts trying to apprehend her.

She used her water spell to cause some scouts to slip then dodged one scout's vine attack while shooting a fire spell at him. As more scouts tried to tackle her, she drew spell circles to mix her fire and water spells into a steam spell, steam that she used against the scouts to blind them before she jumped up to kick them in the masks.

"I know I'm available, but you guys aren't my type," Zee quipped while dodging an Abomi-goo attack and using another water spell to push the scout away. Another scout swung a stone fist at her, but she ducked and delivered a high kick to her jaw, knocking her out. "I was expecting to fight mustache over there," she said while pointing to Osran, "Like seriously, all he does is hide behind you scouts like a coward. What, is he too afraid to fight me himself?"

The injured and standing scouts turned to Osran, doubting him behind their masks. The Oracle Head looked displeased by this as he glanced at the scouts. "Stand back… let me handle this disrespectful student myself," he said, walking towards Zee while the scouts pulled back, dragging their wounded to safety. He narrowed his eyes on her. "Even if it's beneath me to waste my talents fighting a boastful teenager."

"Afraid to get slammed by someone as young? You must be too old to fight," Zee told him while cracking her knuckles.

"Age has its advantages, as I am more experienced than you, little Beast-Tracker," Osran declared as his eyes glowed purple.

"I'm going to make you release Ester!" Zee shouted as she prepared to fight him.

Osran made the first move, sending a purple static zap towards Zee, who jumped to the side to avoid the bolt. She threw a water ball to hit him, but Osran used his crystal ball to shield himself with a force field. The four-armed oracle drew spell circles to shoot more purple lightning at Zee, who dodged the zaps as she sent a steam spell, pushing it in Osran's face.

The Oracle Head did not take kindly to that. He rubbed his crystal ball and summoned some ghosts to try to grab her. Zee smirked and drew a large spell circle to shoot light blasts at the ghosts. The ghosts fled from the light, but Osran kept shooting purple lightning blasts at her. Zee responded by drawing another spell circle, creating more steam that obscured the hallway and made it harder for him to see her.

Osran began to sweat from the steam. He looked down into the crystal ball, hoping to see Zee and figure out how she would try to get the upper hand. It was then he was hit by a fireball from behind, causing him to fall down. He turned around and saw Zee behind him. "Made-ya look," she said with a smirk before retreating into the steam while holding her oracle stone.

Osran noticed the stone, wondering if that was how she was able to anticipate and dodge his attacks. He got up and drew a spell to disperse the steam. His four hands all drew spell circles, shooting purple lightning that almost hit some scouts as they targeted Zee, who managed to dodge the lightning bolts or block them with vines she summoned. She landed in front of Osran and prepared to shoot light spells at him, but Osran's eyes glowed before the Oracle Head suddenly dashed out of Zee's sight, surprising the Drakescale girl before she felt a lightning blast hit her from behind.

"AAAH!" she screamed as she fell down on the floor. She rolled over to dodge another lightning bolt, but while she was avoiding the lightning a ghost managed to sneak up and grab her wrists. "Hey! Let me go!" she shouted as the ghost grabbed her oracle stone and tossed it to Osran. "Hey! That's mine!"

"This stone… where did you get this?" Osran asked her, holding the stone.

"It belonged to my late mother, asshole!" she declared angrily. "It's the only thing I have from her…"

"I see… well, I am afraid that I can't let you keep this unauthorized oracle stone," Osran said as he used his crystal ball to zap the oracle stone, destroying it in front of her while displaying no emotion.

Zee looked shocked and devastated as she saw her mother's stone shattered into pieces. "No…"

"Someone like you doesn't deserve a stone like that," Osran calmly explained while Zee lowered her head. "A girl of your kind shouldn't be messing with mixing magic. Beast-Keeping and Oracle… what nonsense. Your mother must have been quite the fool in giving it to you…"

This angered Zee as her eyes turned azure. "You… BASTARD!" she shouted while breaking free from the ghost, flames bursting around her as she transformed… into a dragon. "RAAAAAAH!" she roared as she charged at Osran with renewed rage.

"Predictable," Osran said emotionlessly before sending lightning attacks. However, Zee dodged them, managing to tackle him down and pin him down. "GAH!" he screamed as Zee punched and clawed him in the face, leaving a nasty scar. "My face!"

"RAAAH!" she roared as she breathed flames at him. Osran used his ghost to protect him, but they got hit by the flames, burning Osran's garb. Zee then shot scalding steam in front of his face, making him scream in pain.

"GAAAH!" Osran screamed before pulling himself away from Zee using his ghosts. He kept shooting lightning bolts at her, but Zee spun around with her wings to deflect them. She glared at Osran and in his eyes, Zee could see some emotion: anger. "Scouts! Now!" he shouted as Zee flew toward him, scouts rushing in to stop Zee from getting to Osran.

The scouts summoned magic chains and rope to nab Zee's arms and then her wings. Zee was pinned down and she began to struggle to get the ropes off of her. She breathed steam and flames, before a rope wrapped her snout and she was bound down. She roared in rage while Osran walked over, glaring down at her.

"Congratulations, you've made me mad," Osran told her before he began shocking Zee with his purple lightning bolts, making her scream in pain.

Ester, inside the crystal ball, watched in horror as Osran tortured her friend. "Stop it! You're hurting her! Zee!" she cried while banging on the crystal ball. But she could do nothing to help Zee from her prison…

And just like that, it was over.

Merlin Meadows had fallen.

Back at St. Epiderm, outside of the school some scouts were stationed, protecting both the exits and their airships. In front of them was Jackie Courtland.

"Sorry, but you can't come in," a scout told her.

"Why the hell not?!" Jackie shouted while wearing an orange parka, blue trousers, and brown boots. "Ah came all the way up here to check up mah friend, Tabby! You either move aside or I'll wrestle you for her!"

"Nobody is allowed in or out of the school while we conduct the search for these vigilantes," he explained to her.

"Ah don't care if yer lookin' for the Owl Lady herself!" Jackie declared, glaring at them. "You better let me in or my boots go up yer asses!"

"She's a stubborn one," the scout told the guard captain.

"Look, why don't we just-" It was then they heard screams and shouts coming from inside the school. They turned around and saw a group of scouts running out. "What the hell are you guys running from?!"

"There's a monster inside the school!" a scared scout declared.

"It just beat Sham down!" another replied in fear.

"It beat… Sham?!" the guard captain asked as they nodded. "What nonsense are you talking about?! There's no way Sham would be defeated!"

"But it's true!" one insisted. "I'm too scared to go back in…"

"Oh come on, are you sure it wasn't like a beast that escaped from their pens?" the guard captain asked. While he and his scouts were distracted, Jackie started to sneak around them. "I mean, what kind of monster was it?"

"It had one eye, about red-orange, and large teeth," one scout described while not paying attention to Jackie. "Though, it looked buff…"

But one scout did notice Jackie and he called out to her. "Hey!" he shouted, but Jackie just run into the building. "Oh great, just great, we let one in!"

The guard captain sighed. "Could this get any worse?"

"RAAAOORR!"

The scouts and guard captain looked up, their eyes widening in shock. Bursting through the trees was the large creature that inhabited the Knee. It was… the Slitherbeast. And on top of the Slitherbeast was the feral former scout known as Zebiel, who glared down at them.

"Bad scouts!" Zebiel shouted, pointing at them.

"AAAAAH!" the scouts screamed as the Slitherbeast jumped towards them.

In the auditorium, a group of students had been rounded up by scouts and were now receiving their sigil brands from Leonte. With him were Peter and Midday, along with Joana and Thunder. An unmasked Leonte had just finished branding Know Doubt of the Bloodwater Gang with a sigil. "Next!"

"Let me go!" Aqua shouted while being brought over to Leonte by some scouts. "You can't do this to me! My parents will sue!"

"This is for the good of the covens," Leonte said as he held his branding glove up, about to brand Aqua's wrists.

"Stop!"

He halted, turning to see that Wonder Witch, Florella, Crowbar, Cross, and Danny had just burst into the auditorium. "Well, it's about time you showed up."

"Danny, are you siding with Donna and her friends?" Midday asked in surprise.

"I didn't see that coming," Peter admitted.

"I'm sorry, Headmistress, I know this goes against the rules about vigilantism, but what the Emperor's Coven is doing is against their own rules," Danny declared while sending Leonte a glare. "I expected the Emperor's Coven to be better than this…"

"Oh please, it's not like they were not going to try to brand us all anyway," Florella commented.

Leonte stepped forward. "Then you'll have to share their punishment, Mr. Dilburn," he declared before looking at Donna. "As for you, Ms. Masterskull. I expected better from you, but clearly you've been hanging out with Clawthornes to be this rebellious…"

"It's called doing the right thing," Donna said while stepping forward. "Leonte, you don't have to do this. Can't you see that you're hurting kids like this? Branding them like cattle? This is downright diabolical."

"The will of the Titan will not be questioned!" Leonte shouted while summoning his spell circles. "Stand down before I make you!"

"Hey, come on, Leonte, see reason," Donna told him. "We're both from the same orphanage, do you honestly think Scooter Crane would go through with this? Are you prepared to even brand the orphans?"

"If Belos told me too… yes," Leonte admitted before snarling at her. "And don't you dare talk like you know Crane! You don't even deserve to use that name! You are a disgrace to his legacy!"

Donna just sighed sadly while she summoned her keyblade. "That's the thing, Leonte," she told him while remembering what Crane's ghost told her. "I'm not…"

Leonte glared at her. "It's bad enough that other schools are rebelling against the Emperor's Coven. I expected this school to be cooperative since you haven't offered track-mixing options like Hexside and Merlin Meadows… but clearly, I was wrong," he said while summoning Abominations. "And those accursed Clawthornes are to blame…"

"Seriously, what is your deal with my family?" Crowbar asked before Thunder and Joana stepped up.

"Looks like it's battle stations," Donna told her friends.

"Attack!" Leonte shouted as he, Thunder, and Joana charged towards the members of LOWTH along with Midday and Peter. Donna used her keyblade to slash through several Abominations while Leonte formed an abomi-club to clash with Donna's keyblade, the two glaring at each other while Thunder faced off against Crowbar and Joana faced off against Florella.

Cross flew up and was about to help Donna when he was almost hit by a spell. Barely avoiding it, he looked down and saw Midday holding her staff and firing spells at him. "Hey! Headmistress! Why are you going along with this?!" he demanded while avoiding the blasts.

"This is for the covens!" Midday declared while firing spells towards the dragon. "St. Epiderm has always set an example for the rest of the Isles, and I'm not going to let its reputation be dragged down by a few vigilantes!"

"Don't you care about your students? These guys are branding them!" Cross pointed out while dodging a blast.

"I do care about my students," Midday said, looking regretful… but only for a moment. "But I care about my school more…" she said while holding up her staff. "If you don't stand down, Drakescale, then I will make you!"

"Midday! Stuff like this will get this school sued!" Danny shouted before he saw that he was facing down Peter "Peter…"

"…I guess I'll be fighting you, Danny," Peter responded while his tail brushed the floor, summoning abstract-looking Abominations.

"Peter, I thought you'd be against this?!" Danny asked. "I thought anti-authoritarianism would be something you'd be really into!"

"Usually, I am," Peter admitted. "But I don't like doing nothing, and I was practically forced into this so… consider this a performance art. Show me your moves!" he declared as he sent his Abominations.

All Danny could do was sweat as he held his oracle pendant. "Well, this is just ironic…"

Crowbar blocked a punch from Thunder, who sent a bunch of attacks as he became charged up with static electricity. "Come on! Have a little taste of my thunder!" he declared while shooting lightning at Crowbar, who burst into crows before the bolt could hit him. The Yellow Scout sent more of his shocks at his crows before one of them was electrocuted.

This caused all the crows to feel the pain before they fell down and regrouped as Crowbar, who was breathing heavily. "You… just woke up my spirit more," he declared as he stood up, his eyes glowing black with red outlines.

Meanwhile, Joana summoned boulder constructs that burst through the chairs of the auditorium. Florella dodged them while using her vines to grab and push the students toward the exits. While the students evacuated, Florella sent out vines to grab hold of Joana's arms. But the Orange Scout just yanked on the vines, forcing Florella to be pulled towards her. When Florella was close enough, Joana stomped on the ground, sending a pillar up to where Florella was and hitting her.

"You gotta do better than that!" Joana declared.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Florella said as she summoned a pan flute. "Never thought I would have to do this…"

Back to Donna, she continued to fight Leonte, who summoned a bunch of illusions around her. Donna took a swipe at his illusions before they were revealed to be Abominations. They tackled her, but she blasted through them with her keyblade. Leonte then appeared behind her, using abomi-goo to wrap around her and her keyblade.

"I don't know what kind of weapon you have there, but the Emperor's Coven will have to confiscate that key-shaped blade of yours," Leonte told her.

"I don't think you'll be able to figure out how it works anyway," Donna responded before freezing the abomi-goo around her. Once she broke free, she used her keyblade to blast him away. But he turned out to be an Abomination. The real Leonte appeared next to her, trying to grab her key. But Donna delivered a kick towards him, which he blocked. He then knocked Donna to the floor while towering over her. "Your days as a vigilante is over, Masterskull…"

"I was actually debating over whether to hang up the cape or not," Donna mentioned as she coated the floor with ice and used to slide away from him before she flipped back up, using her keyblade to block some spells from him. "But that was before you and the Emperor's Coven came here to brand my friends, even though we saved lives!"

"Please, you and your friends are nothing but adrenaline junkies getting off on the thrill and the attention!" Leonte accused her while blasting at her with blue flame spells, which she blocked and deflected with her keyblade. "All you do is get involved in situations that you should've left for the law to handle. The Glandus War, Tarot Guild, and the Breakout, none of you had any business interfering with coven work! You kids should've left it to us!"

"Except we did!" Donna pointed out while swinging her keyblade to spark light spells at Leonte, who dodged them. "When one of my friends got mugged, you guys did nothing to put a stop to what was going on and we couldn't trust you anymore due to the fact that you had been compromised, thanks to Snapdragon."

"Snapdragon was a traitor!" Leonte declared, looking at her in anger. "We are the heroes, not you! We keep the Isles safe!"

"How does that involve branding sigils on kids?!" Donna pointed out. "Me and my friends became vigilantes cause we had to step up when the Emperor's Coven couldn't. If you guys had done your job, then we wouldn't need to put on costumes!" she shouted while dodging another flame attack. "Really, what you're doing is no better than what the Tarot Guild did. Rounding up children to get branded without their consent, as if they were livestock!"

"It is for the Emperor!" Leonte shouted in anger as he blasted at her with spells. "The Emperor knows what's best for all of you!"

"No he doesn't!" Donna shouted as she spun her keyblade to deflect them while jumping to the side and shooting light spells, which he shielded himself from. "But are you and your goons here to brand us because me and my team were making your previous Emperor's Coven look bad? Talk about insecure…"

During this, Crowbar dove into a spell circle, a beast-transformation circle. Thunder stopped when he saw him coming through the circle, Crowbar taking on a new form. A form that turned Thunder's hair white…

His costume was changed to that of a dark cape while his witch form now resembled a white crow with four red eyes with black outlines. He had a black scythe-shaped beak and as he grew larger his arms became large winged hands with extra four wings on his back. His legs were now black talons. And appearing around his body were red extra eyes while Takai flew around him, transforming into a staff. But once Crowbar grabbed him, the staff blackened, transforming into a scythe.

"Now I'm at my peak…" Crowbar declared while looking over at Thunder.

"…NOPE!" Thunder shouted before he quickly dashed out of the auditorium, not wanting to face Crowbar's very scary beast mode.

"Huh… I wonder if this was too much," Crowbar wondered

Meanwhile, Joana had spotted Florella with her pan flute. "What's with the pan flute? Gonna play me a song?"

The plant heroine smirked and blew on the pan flute as it glowed. Suddenly, sprouting from the ground were flowers while Joana looked at them in confusion. She summoned boulders, but the boulders were quickly covered in moss and mushrooms. "What the hell?!" Joana asked as she looked around, realizing that the seats in the auditorium were covered in grass. "What kind of music is this?!"

"A mixture of Bard and Plant Magic," Florella declared while blowing more of her music. The roots and vines began to wrap around Joana, trapping her. "Hexagon Garden!"

"GAAH!" Joana cried out while summoning more constructs and breaking herself free. But when she did, a large flytrap sprouted out, opening its jaws. Joana fell into the jaws and the large flytrap spit Joana onto the ground, where the Orange Scout was quickly wrapped up in the grass around her while one flower sprayed some gas on her face. "Aw shit…" she said before she fell asleep.

Florella looked at her defeated opponent. "Huh, I should play this more," she admitted while looking at her pan flute.

Meanwhile, Cross landed next to Danny, standing across from Midday and Peter. They both put on a fighting stance as they looked at each other.

"Got any plans, president?" Cross asked him.

"I say we combine our moves when the time is right," Danny whispered.

Once Danny whispered a plan to Cross, the dragon gave a nod. Cross then flew up, getting Midday to focus on him. Peter charged at Danny, sending his abstract Abominations at him. Danny held his pendant and coming out of it was the ghost of a woman with a blindfold, a balance scale, and sword. "Spirit of Justice, Justitia, I summon thee!" he declared as the spirit of justice, Justitia, swiped her sword at the Abominations. Peter, however, just painted and summoned more Abominations.

"Is that the best you can do, Danny?" Peter asked as he moved around his Abominations like a maestro. Justitia swiped at the Abominations left and right, slicing them with her spiritual sword. She then swung her scale to hit the Abominations, splattering them. "The mess… the spirit lady… I'm starting to see…. a metaphor…" he commented in awe. He backed away when the abomination gunk splatted towards him, leading him to get close to Midday.

Midday kept shooting spells at Cross. "You better stop this now, Drakescale, since it may look bad for your family otherwise!" she shouted while Cross drew spell circles from the air. Each spell circle summoned ice and plants, the ice blasting Peter's Abominations while the plants tripped over Midday as she and Peter backed into each other.

"What are you trying to accomplish, Drakescale?!" Midday asked as Cross flew next to Danny.

"Just this!" Cross shouted as he blew an ice breath of cold flames while Danny also cast a purple ice spell, their combined spells trapping both Midday and Peter in ice with only their heads sticking out. "Sorry, Midday, but it looks like you lost."

"Are you alright, Peter?" Danny asked him in concern.

"I, an artist, sided with the law, while you, a rule-follower, sided with the rebels," Peter commented as he formed a smile. "This was a true masterpiece performance. I admit defeat, Danny."

Midday just glared at Cross. "If this is how you repay me, Drakescale, then I regret giving you that scholarship!"

"I can't help it," Cross said with a shrug. "It's just in my blood. My Drakescale blood…" He smiled. "And my Clawthorne blood."

Back to Donna and Leonte's fight, Donna continued to pick apart his beliefs.

"You dare mock my beliefs in the Emperor and the Titan?!" Leonte accused while swiping at her with his abomi-club. "You really have lost your way!"

"If anyone has lost their way, it's you," Donna declared while blocking his attack. "I chose to help people, and I believe that you wanted to help people too, a long time ago. But at one point you lost your sense of right and wrong, and now… you're just blind. Too blind to see that what you and the Emperor's Coven are doing are wrong!"

This caused a vein to pop on Leonte's forehead. "ENOUGH!" he shouted in anger while stomping on the ground, sending out a shockwave of magic that knocked Donna back. "I will not be questioned any longer!" he shouted while running up to Donna, shoving her to the ground. She tried to fight him off, but he held her by her neck, choking her. "You are an insolent little brat! A privileged rich girl who thinks she can play hero! But I will not let the likes of you or Steve or those damn Clawthornes question my authority! The Emperor is our righteous leader! Our prophet! He is the only family we need!"

The students gasped as they saw Leonte choking on Donna, who struggled in his grip. Donna's eyes glowed blue as she pressed the keyblade between him and her, managing to blast him off her. Donna then got back to her feet while feeling her neck, holding her keyblade up while drawing a spell circle around it.

"You lost," Donna told him.

"I lost? Like hell I-" Leonte then noticed Aqua standing behind Donna, drawing a spell circle and aiming it at him. With her was Know Doubt, Smashermouth, Potshot, and June, all aiming their spells at him. But they weren't the only ones…

Leonte looked around and saw the auditorium filled with students including Crowbar, Florella, Cross, Danny, Dr. Thriller, Potion Ranger, Lunar Tune, Ghostina, Minos, Drillborg, Mr. Healer, Rock Hard, Lindsay, Tabrella, Jackie, Beck, and the Graux Sisters. Them and everyone else had their spell circles ready. But they weren't aiming at Donna, nor the other LOWTH members. They were just pointing at him.

It was at that moment, Leonte knew… he was defeated.

Shortly after Leonte surrendered, he and the rest of the Emperor's Coven were forced to leave St. Epiderm and return to their airships while the students of St. Epiderm watched. The Slitherbeast growled at the frightened scouts to ensure that they left while Zebiel scowled at the scouts along with him.

Some scouts ended up carrying the unconscious Vitimir, Hettie, and Sham, while Ruby also joined them. Once she had boarded the airship, she turned around and saw Sarah, giving her a nod while Sarah nodded back.

Danny noticed Sarah and turned to her. "Sarah… why are you blue?"

"It's a long story," she replied while her skin was regrowing.

As he helped transport the knocked out and injured scouts to the airships, Cle looked back and saw Tyrone again. He shared a silent nod to his brother, Tyrone nodding at him back.

Midday and Peter were also forced onto the airship, Midday looking down in disgrace while Peter turned around to face his classmates.

"As of this moment, I've officially stepped down from the Student Council," Peter declared. "Peter Bloomhog is no more. As of this day, I will be known as… Paint-Tail, although I haven't decided yet if I shall side with good or evil…"

"Just get in the airship," a scout told him while pushing him aside.

While Leonte got on board with Joana and Thunder, he turned to look back at Donna, who was placing some ice on her neck. He narrowed her eyes. "This isn't over," he told her.

Donna looked unfazed by this. "If you guys ever want a rematch, LOWTH will be ready."

Leonte snarled before he turned away. After everyone finished boarding, the airships flew away from the school, causing the watching students to cheer.

"Hurray! We've defeated the Emperor's Coven!" Smashermouth shouted before realizing something. "Oh shit! We defeated the Emperor's Coven!"

The cheering of the students quickly turned to panic as they feared retaliation from the Emperor's Coven for this. The members of LOWTH also look concerned.

"Even though we won today, this isn't over," Lindsay pointed out. "What are we going to do?"

"Don't worry, that's why we have Danny here," Cross, who was back in his witch form, pointed out while turning to Danny, who looked surprised.

"M-Me?" Danny asked in shock.

"Hey, you're our class president, aren't you?" Cross asked while patting his shoulder. "We need a leader now more than ever."

"That… is true," Danny said, though he looked a little hesitant.

"Come on," Cross said, giving Danny an encouraging smile. "You got this."

At this, Danny nodded while looking more confident and determined. He then stepped in front of everyone. "Attention, everyone," he spoke up, causing everyone to turn to him. "Look, I know that you didn't ask for this, none of us did. So if any of you want to leave, go to your families, and hope for the best… that won't be held against you. But we all know that this isn't the end, this is just the beginning. We made the Emperor's Coven look bad today. We even took out two of their Coven Heads. They will be coming back in order to make an example out of us." The students exchanged frightened whispers. "I am only telling you this because I don't want to lie. I want you to know what to expect. And I want you to know… that I am staying here, at St. Epiderm, to prepare it for a potential siege from the Emperor's Coven. Because I am not going to give up my school without a fight!" he declared. "Anyone who wants to stay and help is welcome to do so, but you should at least get in touch with your families and let them know what happened here."

The students looked at each other before turning to Danny. One started to clap, and more followed. Soon, everyone was clapping from Danny's speech. They then began to talk amongst themselves, discussing their options and whether they would return to their families or help fortify the school.

"Gotta say, Dan, you'd make a great commanding officer," Cross said while patting Danny's back.

"I wonder if that makes me a rebel," Danny said with a worried tone.

"Eh, you'll get used to it," Cross said with a shrug.

"And don't worry, LOWTH will stay here and help fortify the school," Donna said as she walked over. "Because you're gonna need it."

"Yeah, like you said, we took down two Coven Heads and made the Emperor's Coven look weak," Andrew pointed out.

"Belos will not like this," Ghostina said.

"But we really don't have anywhere else in the Isles to put everyone, while St. Epiderm is a fortress," Veronica pointed out. "So we might as well use it as one. We can either make a stand here and be stronger together or scatter and hope that the Emperor's Coven doesn't find us. We might lose either way, but at least the former sends a message, not just to the Emperor's Coven but to the rest of the Isles as well. And we do have time to prepare defenses and make escape routes for when we need them."

Danny gave a nod. "Good, since we should be prepared for the worse."

"Just one more thing though," Tyrone spoke up as he pointed to Zebiel, who was scratching himself. "About this guy…"

"The feral witch from the Knee… Beel's last laugh," Sarah commented

"But why did he decide to show up now of all times?" Lindsay asked as she walked over to confront him.

"Careful Lindsay," Jackie warned while seeing her approach Zebiel.

"Excuse me, sir," Lindsay said as he waved to him, making Zebiel look up to her. "You're the prairie witch from the Knee, right? Why did you come to help us?"

Zebiel could sense that Lindsay wasn't hostile, so he answered in a comfortable tone. "Zebiel… sent to help… students."

"Help? Who sent you?" Lindsay asked him.

"Lilith," he responded, shocking everyone.

"Lilith?" Cross and Donna both asked as they looked at each other. Neither of them were sure what to make of us. They were both confused, as well as uncertain about the future. However, they did find some comfort with each other and they held hands, being grateful that all of them, at least at the moment, were okay.

However, the same could not be said for Zee Drakescale.

She sat in the back of the wagon, her body jolting each time the wagon went over a bump in the road. She cursed loudly while feeling her neck and the incredibly uncomfortable shock collar that was now around it.

Zee was back in her witch form and her eyes were stained with dry tears. But what she hated most of all, more than even the collar, was what she saw on her wrist when she could bear to even look at it.

A Beast-Keeping sigil.

She had no idea where they were being taken. She had not been told. But if she did know, a sense of dread would have overtaken her, for she was being directly taken to the Emperor's Castle and the private dungeon of Emperor Belos himself.

What an honor.

Authors Notes

Hey guys. So a little note that we should address about this chapter. Yes, this is an adaptation to "Labyrinth Runner" and it ended up being a big chapter than we thought it would be. So we decided to split it into two parts just because of how much content we ended up doing. Most of Part Two is already written, but splitting it into two parts will make it easier for you guys.

The reason why the "Labrynth Runners" chapter is so long is because it is the culmination of a lot of different storylines and is the pay-off of a lot of stuff that we have been building up to. In particular, this is the culmination of the St. Epiderm storylines and all the focus that it's received in Luz Clawthorne. But despite splitting the chapter into two, we're still going to aim to finish Book 2 by Chapter 140.

As that's out of the way, some character trivia.

The Maxes, Maxine and Maxwell, are based off of the two background St. Epiderm students seen in "Eda's Requiem" and "Watching the Dreaming". I thought of giving them names flesh them out as a power couple in St. Epiderm. They relate to each other as being named Maxes and are pretty much like St. Epiderm's Lumity. Especially when they're shown to be holding hands at the end of "Watching and Dreaming".

The decision in the twist of Ruby and Sarah turning out to be fully grown Hormonculi was something we thought would make a neat twist. As this would explain why Ruby helps out Lilith in "Shaping Up or Nothing" and why Sarah has a deep rooted hatred to the Emperor's Coven. Both are doing this for their creator and father who suffered from the Emperor's Coven. And we will admit, Ruby Friday is more like the Madame Rouge.

We weren't sure at the time if we should include Merlin Meadows or not. So we talked things out with Crash X Fusion aka Crosshot about it. He suggests Zee vs Osran, which is how we got to that battle. So we wish to thank you, Crosshot, for this wonderful suggestion…

The moment between Cle and Tyrone was similarly inspired by a Moringmark comic with the similar moment between Steve and Matt. We thought that it would be considered a good reference.

We will admit, but we have considered Hettie to be the main villain in the St. Epiderm plot. But then we ended up having Leonte evolving into that role. Like, if we play the rogues gallery game, if Hettie represents the opposite of a healer that Donna seeks out to be, Leonte also shares a connection to Donna in being in the same orphanage but both having different upbringings and views, especially on which side of the law they're in.

Also a little shout out, the Banthers that Zee summons are a reference to the Jaquins from Elena of Avalor. They're basically bat-winged panthers.

Next chapter will be the conclusion of the Labrynth Runners two-parter, with what's going on at Hexside…

Reviews:

Matteso: 1) Yes, they don't really have the time. 2) Abel at least helps Belos when dealing with telling Hunter the truth. The Horned King has him and William trapped in a rubble for centuries. 3) I mean, Luz and Lilith were in disguised when they traveled back in time. 4) Is that supposed to be important or anything? Cause it's not that relevant.

Crash X Fusion: Gonna guessed… Crash Bandicoot 3? Also Maya's first look is based off of Volcancer from Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. And we hope you like the Zee vs Osran…

Franco Almiron: 1) Eventually. 2) No spoilers.

Krypton Writes: You got that right.

Shuffollower: I mean, Bloody Mary doesn't mind Grimhilde used magic to free her. After all, magic did help free Mary from her imprisonment, and she does fulfill Grimhilde's promise. And our hatred on Oracles is understandable, but it's not really that much of breeding villains. I mean, most of the covens also breed villains, it's just complex. And don't worry, Osran will get what's coming to him soon.

Ted671: Why would Jenny send letters to Gus? She doesn't know that he's in the Human Realm since she's imprisoned, and even so Gus made it clear that he doesn't want anything to do with that sleazy bitch. Jenny does not care about him, he was just a tool to her. What Jenny did is never forgivable.

Blue Tagg: Belos didn't need the Horned King to amplify his beliefs that humans should be exterminated.

Spantidem7: A reminder that what Belos did to both Luz and Lilith are an extreme violation. He really did all of this for selfish reasons and if he's really sorry for what he has to do, he should've decided to not go through with it. As for your questions:

1) Nope. 2) I guess right now, "Friends On The Other Side", 3) "Fear No Mort" is my favorite too. 4) We don't know. 5) Because this Horned King is a different entity Alastor knows. 6) TBD. 7) That's a broad question. 8) Maybe.

Alamout: 1) That honor may go to Osran. Adrian at least has a conscious. 2) Osran. 3) She's read the book so yeah. 4) Maybe, since they can go through with Titan Blood. 5) Bird Palismen are kind of a tradition in the Clawthorne family. 6) Purple is just Luz's favorite color.