At the Owl House, the owl demon/security system known as Hooty was getting rather worried. When Luz informed him of the trial, he wanted to try and talk the 14 year old out of it, but even he knew that it would be for naught as once her mind was on something, there was no stopping her until whatever plan she cooks up backfires on her in some way.
And the one who is often considered annoying by those around him ends up becoming the voice of reason, then you know that you should take a step back and reevaluate your plans.
"Oh, I hope that Luz and the others are okay. Hoot, hoot." The bird said as he lamented a bit. "Why did Luz have to take Belos to court?" He asked himself. "Is she trying to get herself and the others killed trying to save King?" He knew that she wasn't, but the owl was a bit more observant than people give him credit for they were just to annoyed by him in general to notice.
He began to think about the court case and the consequences it would have on his friends if they lose. For King, he's tried to be friends with him but the tiny demon only saw him as an annoyance. For Eda, while he often annoyed her with his... well, annoying nature, she knew that she can rely on him when it comes to keeping the Owl House and the people living in it safe from unwanted guests. For Luz, the two had formed a bit of a bond during the whole Moonlight Conjuring incident, sure she was a bit reckless at times, but he still cared for her and while the teen was often annoyed by him, she still couldn't bring herself to really hate him cause she knew that he was trying to be her friend, but was just being a bit too... "Hooty" for her.
Suddenly, a flash of light manifested from the ground up, forcing the door demon to let out a "Hoot!" in surprise as he closed his eyes in a attempt to shield himself from the brightness of the light.
After a few seconds of brightness, the light eventually died down as Hooty opened his eyes.
In front of him was two people, one he knew but he didn't know the other one.
"Ah, I'm definitely feeling that tomorrow." said Amity as she got and dusted herself off as she helped Luz's mother up after the two landed on their sides, most likely causing some internal bleeding.
Hooty screamed in fear upon seeing the youngest of the Blight daughters in front of him, remembering the last time the two interacted as he gained the attention of the two females with his screamed. He had a few nightmares of her beating the tar out of him and in some of those nightmares, Luz wasn't present to attempt to try and stop her.
His fear soon to a paranoid anger as he then spoke. "Well if it isn't the green haired coward!" Amity cringed a bit when he called her that, even though it was partially true. "Come to beat me up again? Cause if so, I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE THAT CHANCE!"
"What? No Bird Tube, I'm not here to-Agh!" The witch attempted to explain but was cut off as Hooty slammed his face into her stomach, sending her flying into a tree.
"Amity!" Camilla said in shock as she witnessed the door demon attack the young witch without giving her a chance to explain herself.
"Stay back, Camilla!" Amity said urgently, gesturing her not to get involved. "Luz once told me that Ms. Clawthorne and some of Belos' guards were once beat up by this door demon. Let try and-Ah!"
Before Amity could finish her sentence, she Hooty wrap himself around her midsection as she was lifted into the air before slamming her onto the ground repeatedly, putting her into dazed state as she felt her brain cells getting scrambled every time her head hit the ground.
After slamming her to the ground a few more times, Hooty then used his elasticity to then throw her into the front of a large, stone tower behind the house.
As Amity was trying to get up, it was difficult due to the pain in her back. Man, was she lucky that she was bit more durable due to being a witch, otherwise getting slammed into the wall would've most likely broken it as well as both of her legs. She considered her options. She could easily disintegrate Hooty or even set fire to him, but that would just prove his earlier point. She wanted to be diplomatic about this as much as possible. And while she could summon an Abomination or two to try and subdue the enraged bird demon, she didn't have any goo on her at the moment. That, combined with Hooty's current level of anger, this was getting even more difficult for the young Blight to deal with.
"Hooty, please stop! I'm sorry for hurting you, okay?!" Amity said, hoping that an apology would calm him down.
Sadly, it didn't.
"No you're not, you're just telling me that because you're desperate, hoot, hoot!" Hooty said, getting ready to attack her again.
"Of course I'm desperate but that's because you're making me desperate!" Amity retorted. "But despite that, I'm genuinely sorry!"
Before he got the chance to, he felt Camilla land on his back as she began to bash his head with her fists.
"¡Aléjate de Amity, pájaro pyscho!" She yelled in Spanish as she hit him with her fists repeatedly.
Hooty then tried to shake himself in an attempt to get the adult female human off of him. "Get off of me, crazy stranger! Hoot, hoot!"
A few seconds passed as Hooty stretched himself all over area, (as much as he could given the fact that he was still connected to the door). If there was something Hooty understood, is that whoever this woman was, she had quite the grip on her.
After a few minutes, Hooty finally managed to fling Camilla off him as the human landed in a thorn covered bush. Before Hooty could attack Amity again, something from the side caught his attention and made him stop in his tracks, not just his but Camilla and Amity's attention too. It also causes Hooty to snap out of his rage.
A weird magic bird type of tornado was coming towards them... before stopping and disappearing as it reveals what or in this case, who is causing it.
It turns out to be an elderly witch with pale skin, a violet colored lower lip, olive green eyes, and rounded-out facial features such as pronounced dimplesher ears are pointed and facing to her sides. Her hair is mostly light gray, with the exception of two patches of white on her sides. She wears her hair in a symmetrical neck-length style, standing upwards on the sides and on top, with two locks falling around her cheeks.
"Whoa." Camilla said in awe at what she just witnessed.
"Who is that?" Amity and Hooty said at the same time.
The witch opened her eyes and noticed the three looking at her confused.
"Oh hello there." The witch greeted. "Am I interrupting something?"
"No, you actually showed up just in time to help us stop Hooty from putting Amity into hospital or possibly worse." Camila said, urgently. "Please help us calm him down!"
Instead of responding, the witch twirled her staff for a few seconds before slamming the bottom of it down on the ground, sending a shockwave of yellow energy before she lifted her cane-like staff as the hawk shaped palismen above her head as the eyes of the palismen glowed a blue color before it shot out like laser beams towards the hostile owl.
Once the magic beams made contact with Hooty, the bird tube was engulfed in an area of blue colored smoke with white sparkles.
This went on for a few minutes before the smoke finally disappeared.
Once the smoke cleared, the once hostile Hooty now seemed to be more... calm. Calm like he usually is.
"Whoa." Camilla said in awe. "What did you do?"
"Oh, I simply used some sedative magic to calm his mind, dear." The witch simply said with a smile. "I could tell that he was in a lot of stress and it was misguided at the two of you."
"Well definitely misguided at Camilla but I don't think it completely misguided at me." Amity said as she looked down in a bit of guilt.
"Wait, so you actually beat him up?" Camilla asked.
"Yes, but only because he was getting way too in my personal space." The young witch explained.
The witch walked over to Hooty and placed a hand on his head. "Are you calm now?"
"Yeah, I think I am." The bird tube said as he looked towards Amity and Camilla in guilt. "Sorry that I attacked you guys, I don't know what came over me. I was just worried Luz and the rest of my friends."
"It's alright, aside from the minor injuries, I don't think you've hurt me too badly." Amity said, rubbing a few spots that hurt to ease some of the pain.
"It's alright, Hooty. We at least understand why. Just know that Amity isn't the enemy right now." Camilla said before turning to the witch who's helped them. " Thank you, miss, um...?"
"Oh right. I haven't introduced myself. I apologize." The witch realized as she held out a hand. "I'm Gwendolyn Clawthorne, though you can just call me Gwen for short."
"Camilla Noceda." The human said, taking the fellow mother's hand and shaking it for a bit before letting go.
"Amity Blight." The young witch introduced herself as she also shook the elder witch's hand before looking at her rather intensely. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Ms. Gwen, but are you perhaps related to Ms. Eda and Ms. Lilth Clawthorne by any chance?"
"Why yes, dear. I'm their mother." Gwen responded. "Also, please just call me Gwen."
"Okay, that's good to know." Camilla said. "So have you met my daughter, Luz?"
"Why yes I have." She answered before her eyes then went wide. "Wait? You're Luz's mother?"
"Why, yes?" Camilla said, a little surprised at her reaction.
"Amazing, Luz has told me so much about you. It's an honor to finally meet you. I must say that you have raised such an amazing and enthusiastic daughter." The witch said.
"Oh... um, thank you?" The human said, not used to such praise for her parenting skills or her daughter in general.
"Ahem." Amity cleared her throat, gaining the elder witch's attention. "Sorry to interrupt Gwen, but what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the trial between Luz and Belos?" Amity asked curiously.
"Well, I was but there's kind of a problem." Eda's mother said as she made a circle before a scroll appeared out of thin air before she grabbed it and showed it to the two women. "It happened just now, so do take a look."
She showed the two women a picture.
It was a picture of the damaged "Hall of Law" but the building had a massive, red colored, magical dome placed around it.
Seeing it caused Amity to gasp in shock and horror. "Oh no!"
"What's wrong?" Camilia asked.
"That dome being up is meaning that we're running out of time!" Amity said, starting to panic. "We need to get there, now!"
"Now, hold on, Amity." Gwen said, putting her hands on the Blight's shoulders. "I understand that you're worried about that human going against the Emperor, but you shouldn't rush in blindly. That dome is impenetrable... except..."
"Except what?" Camilia asked in a rather hopeful tone.
"Except for the underground." Gwen revealed. "However, digging ourselves will take too long."
"Oh, I can help!" Hooty interjected. "I'm great at digging holes to get into places, it doesn't take too long either!"
"Really?" Gwen asked.
"Of course!" The owl said. "Is it okay if I come with?"
"Wait, is there a way for you to?" Amity asked in disbelief that the owl could be mobile.
"Of course, I've been for this day." Hooty said in excitement as he... "got ready".
The three girls watching this had confused reactions at first... then disgusted cringes during the process, then downright horrified gasps of shock in the aftermath of it.
Hooty was now in a portable house that is carriable.
"Porta-Hooty, back in action, hoot, hoot." The owl declared, seemingly obvious to the reactions of the females.
Camilia looked like she was about to lose her lunch and was actively attempting to gag in order to do so, Amity looked so horrified that she wanted to claw her eyes out from what she just witnessed. Gwen looked like she was about to either pass out from pure shock or have a stress induced heart attack due to what she just saw.
Getting on Gwen's staff, the four decided to use it to get to the trial. "I'm about to take off."
"Hold on tightly, you three." Gwen said as she began to levitate her staff.
"Woah, this is really happening." Camilla said in awe as she witnessing this.
"You can say that again. This is my time actually riding one of these." Amity said, also in awe. "How does Luz manage this?"
"If I know my daughter, it must be that her love of fantasy has helped her adapt to things like this." Luz's mother theorized.
"Alright, here we go!" Gwen called out as her staff suddenly shot into the sky at breakneck speed like a rocket, making Camilla and Amity embrace each other as they screamed their heads off as Hooty was doing the same, only without the embracing part.
In no time at all, the foursome of Gwen, Camilla, Amity and the portable Hooty made it to the outside of the Hall of Law, gracefully landing the staff meters from the road.
"Alright, everyone. We're here." Gwen declared.
Camilla immediately hopped off the staff and hugged the ground. "¡Oh tierra! ¡Tierra dulce y sólida! ¡Nunca volveré a aprovecharme de ti!"
"That was... something." Amity said, unable to compile her thoughts into actual words.
"Hooooooot..." was all Hooty could let out as he felt the urge to puke his insides out but was barely resisting doing so.
Once the three took a moment to regaintheir senses, they all stood in front of the Hall of Law, which was surrounded by demons wanting to get in and see what was happening and the building itself covered by the giant dome that Gwen mentioned before.
"Whoa, those are..." Camilla began to say as her mind was trying to process what she was seeing in front of her. "Really demons?"
"Yes, and they're quite ferocious." Gwen explained. "Especially when it comes to the news and... well, this trial going on. You should be careful when you approach one."
"They're blocking the way." Amity groaned before gesturing to Hooty. "Alright, Hooty. Let's see what you can do."
Hooty was ecstatic as launched himself into the air before slamming into ground with such force that he buried himself in it as he dug his way to the underside of barrier.
After a few seconds, Hooty got shock as he let out a hoot of pain before coming back to the three females.
"Ugh, gals. We have a bit of a problem." The owl said, sadly. "The underground is not letting me get in."
"WHAT?!" Amity and Camila shouted in shock.
"But I thought you said you can get in easily?" The teen witch said.
"I can." Hooty clarified. "But when I touched the underside, I felt myself getting shocked. Literally!"
"Oh dear, this doesn't look good at all." Gwen said in a concern tone. "I'm deeply sorry for this."
"So am I." Hooty said in the same tone. "Some friend I turned out to be."
"Now, hold on." Amity said, placing a hand on each of them. "It's neither of your faults. It's Belos' fault if anything." She noticed Camila beginning to walk forward. "Uh, Camila?"
"We've already come this far. I'm not about to give up now!" The veterinarian said as she continued to walk towards the crowd of demon's trying to get inside the courthouse. "My daughter needs me!"
Having reached the crowd, she tapped two rather large demons on one of their shoulders, gaining their attention. "Excuse me, gentle... demons?" She said awkwardly, not knowing how to address them considering that she was new here. "Is it okay if I see the barrier for myself?" She then gestured to Amity, Gwen and Hooty. "My friends and I are in a big hurry."
"Ha! Sure thing!" One of the demons said with a Scottish accent and a laugh. "You won't be able to get in though, we've been trying for the past 30 minutes."
"Not only that but the Emperor's guards are standing in front of it to prevent us from getting to the barrier." The second demon said with a nerdy tone but with a thick Russian accent. "And the trial is almost over!"
Upon hearing that, Camila's heart began to race. The trial was almost over?!
No! She couldn't panic now! The fate of her daughter was at stake!
Thanking the two, the human began to excuse herself as quickly as she could to the front.
Reaching the front, Camila quickly found a spear pointed at her face.
"Halt, stranger!" One of the Coven guards demanded. "State your name and business being here or leave now! We don't need any rowdy citizens causing trouble!"
"I'm Camila Noceda." She quickly introduced herself. "My daughter Luz is in there. Please let me through!"
"I'm sorry ma'am but even if I did, Belos will tear me apart!" The guard said, shaking in his boots. "I suggest you leave as you can not get pass us or the barrier at all."
Upon hearing that, Camila's left eye started to twitch as her breathing began to become hard for her to do as her anger began to rise.
"Move... please." She said with her teeth gritted really tightly.
"Camilla?" Amity said as she noticed the human on the verge of snapping.
"I'm warning you, lady." Another guard warned, pointing his spear at Camilla. "Leave or face the consequences !"
"Move..." Luz's mother said, clenching her fists tightly.
"That's it, guards please remove her from the premi- Aah!" One of the guards began to say before being grabbed by Camila, who's finally had enough.
"I... said..." The human said as she glared through the mask with an anger that could make the sun explode. "MOVERSE!"
With that threat, she executed it by rearing her head back before launching it at breakneck speed to give a ferocious headbutt to the guard in front of her which not only knocked the guard out but also caused the area to go silent as everyone was shocked by what she just did.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" The first guard said as he attempted to attack Camila with her spear.
But he got the chance to, Camila grabbed a hold of the pointy end before smashing her elbow into the woody part of the weapon, breaking it in two as the human mother grabbed the pointy end as she tackled to the guard to the ground and stabbed it into his shoulder, pinning him to the ground as he screamed in pain.
Inspired by this act of rebellion, one of the demons shouted, "Chaaaaarge!" as the crowd let out a bunch of yells as they charged and began to attack the guards, with the latter doing everything that they could to try and fight them off!
As this was happening, Gwen, Hooty and Amity ran up to Camila as she picked up a charging guard and threw him into the barrier, causing him to get electrified before falling to the ground in a heap.
"I don't know what that was about, but whatever it was, it was awesome!" Amity said, being completely surprised by what she just witnessed.
"Why thank you, Amity." Camila said as she began to calm down from her raging rampage. "Now let's find out how to get through this barrier."
"Let me try something." Gwen said as she began to spin her staff. "Stand back you three."
Pointing her staff at the barrier, she fired a powerful blast of fire at it... only for it to be completely unaffected.
"This is one powerful barrier." Gwen said as she stopped firing.
"Let me try." Amity said as she pointed her finger at the barrier, drawing a circle to cast one of her own spells.
Instead of using fire magic like Eda's mother did, Amity chose something different.
She decided to try and disintegrate at least a portion of the the barrier at least enough to get through. A pink burst of magic assaulted the barrier, but to the shock of the four, not even that managed to dent it.
"Seriously?!" Amity said in disbelief as she put arm down. "Wow, the court really doesn't want the trial to get interrupted. This barrier must be imperious to magic or something!"
Upon witnessing the barrier apparently being immune to fire and even disintegration caused Camila to walk towards the barrier with determination.
"Camila, wait!" Gwen said, running after her.
"What are you doing?!" Amity said, running after the human. "Are you crazy?"
"I have an idea." Camila said as she stopped just inches from the barrier. "If this doesn't work, we'll try something else."
Cautiously, she stuck a hand against the barrier, surprisingly she didn't get shocked by touching it. Being even more cautious, she thrusted her arm into the barrier before she managed to penetrate it.
"Woah." She said, surprised at what she was capable of doing.
Camila then thrusted her other hand, penetrating and allowing her to pass through it with seeimgly no issue.
"It worked!" Camila said. She then made an entry for her new friends. "Come on, it's safe."
Running and sliding under Camila's arms, they each thanked her.
"Okay, let's get to that trial. Hooooooot!" Hooty let out as he launched himself at the doors and busted them open with all of his strength.
"Thanks, Hooty!" Amity said as she, Gwen and Camila charged into the Court of Law...
"Alright, has the jury reached a verdict?" The judge said.
"We have your honor." One of the jury demons said. "We find Luz Noceda, guilty of rebellion and treason against Emperor Belos and the Emperor's Coven."
Upon hearing that, Luz felt like she was going to have a heart attack. This is was it. She going to get petrified. Only a miracle would save her and King now.
"Very well." The judge said before turning to the human in question. "Luz the human, for rebellion and treason, I hereby sentenced you to be petrified by the Emperor himself."
Just as two guards were going to escort Luz to a public petrification and just before a fight could break out, the door exploded open, causing everyone to stop in their tracks as they waited for the smoke to clear to see who had the gal to interrupt the proceedings.
As the smoke finally cleared, everyone, especially Luz, Lilth and Eda, were shocked by the four intruders.
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Camila said as she crossed her arms. "If anything's happening to my daughter, is that she is going to have a lot of explaining to do before I ground her sooo much when this is over!"
"MOM?!" Luz exclaimed in shocked that her actual mother was standing right in front of her.
"Hello Luz, it's nice to see you again." Gwen said, waving to her.
"Mom?!" Eda and Lilth said in unison as they were shocked that their mother was also there.
"Don't forget usssss!" Hooty said as Amity waved nervously.
"H-Hi everyone." The teen witch said, blushing at the stares she and the others were getting. "Is it okay if we say our piece?"