Okay, last chapter of 2024. Have a Happy New Years, everyone!

Chapter 10: Master of Your Fate

Several years ago…

In Winkie Country in the Land Oz, a cart was being pulled by a horse through the dark of night. The travelers on the cart looked pretty on edge, especially when they saw a sign ahead.

'Haunted Forest: I'd Turn Back If I Were You!'

"That sounds like solid advice," one of the travelers said to the coachman.

"I told you, we're saving time by going this way, Bibel," said the Munchkin coachman. "Come on, you're not really scared of spooks, are you?"

"It is not spooks that I'm afraid of, Kobi," replied his partner, who was also a Munchkin. "Oz, I hate traveling at night."

"You know why we have to travel in the dark," Kobi told Bibel. "We're going to be very close to the Witch's Castle and we don't want to attract her attention, so best to go through here in the cover of darkness…"

"Even if it makes things more creepy," Bibel said with a shudder. "I hope we don't run into her. I heard the rumors about the Wicked Witch of the West…"

"I've heard those rumors too," the coachman admitted. "I heard that she likes to eat rats for breakfast."

"Rats? I hear she devours children!" Bibel shouted. "Fattens them up and cooks them! My mother told me so when I was a child!"

"I think your mother was telling you about the previous Wicked Witch, Bibel," Kobi said. "But if our luck holds out, we won't have to worry about any Wicked Witches…"

"Hmm, doesn't look like your luck held out then."

The two Munchkins suddenly froze, terrified expressions on their faces. They slowly turned around behind and saw someone standing on their cart…

It was Zara, dressed in her normal wicked attire while sporting a grin at the Munchkins. "I want to set the record straight," she said while walking towards them. "First of all, I do not devour rats nor children, mhmm, I don't do that," she told Bibel before turning to Kobi. "I mean, I occasionally kidnap a child or two, but I wouldn't straight eat them…"

She dropped down and sat down between them, grabbing them and pulling them in closely. "Instead, I prefer to raise them as if they're my own. Hmm. And when they're old enough, like your age… say, you two look like the babies I once took in and raised as my own… Bibel, is that you?"

"Wha… what?!" Bibel asked, shaking in fear. "How… how did you know my name?"

"Didn't I warn you about the witch… son?" Zara asked with a mischievous grin.

"Uuuuhhhh…" Bibel said in a panicked tone while looking at Kobi. "No… no you can't be my mom! I got her pictures here and-" As he pulled up his wallet, he saw the pictures of he and his mother… but in his mother's place was Zara. "No… NOOOO!"

"B-Bibel, you never told me about this!" Kobi cried out.

"Oh? And what about you, Kobi?" Zara asked, turning around to the Munchkin man.

"No… no, I remembered my own mother… she can't be…!" Kobi denied.

"Say, you two look nice and fat… would you two like to join me for dinner?" Zara asked with a wicked grin. "Or would you like this to be the part where you scream and run away?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the Munchkins screamed as Kobi whipped his horse, Zara teleporting off the cart as it drove off into the night.

After she watched the two scared Munchkins flee into the dark, all Zara could do… was let out a laugh.

"EHEH-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!" Zara cackled to herself. She always enjoyed pulling stunts like this, messing with any traveler unfortunate enough or dumb enough to wander too close to her castle. She enjoyed being creative when it came to how she could mess with them. She wiped away a tear. "Oz, those Munchkins are so stupid…"

"Nice trick you did there," said a voice.

Zara stopped laughing when she heard the voice. She turned around and saw a hooded figure standing there. "Oh, another traveler? I hope you're not… alone," Zara said with a smirk, walking towards the hooded figure while raising her hand up, summoning flames

"Huh, green skin and fire powers," the hooded figure said. "Now that's interesting…"

Zara paused. This was not the reaction she had been expecting.

"So you're pretending not to be scared of me?" Zara asked with a frown. "Don't you know who I am?"

"Well, I know that you have your tricks… but so do I!" the figure said as they raised their own hand and snapped their fingers, causing Zara's flames to be put out.

This surprised the green-skinned witch, who looked between her hand and the hooded figure. "What the…?!" she shouted as she summoned her flames again, only for the hooded figure to snap their fingers again and put the flames out again. Zara growled in frustration and summoned more flames, hurling a fireball at the hooded figure. "Have some of this!"

The fireball flew toward the figure, only for it to stop in midair. Zara stared in shock, seeing the hooded figure holding their hand in front of the fireball before sending it back at Zara.

"Yah!" Zara shouted as she jumped out of the way as the fireball flew past her. "What… how did you-?!"

She then had a horrified realization.

"Is that you… Oz?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

The hooded figure just laughed at this. "Please," they said. "There is nobody in this land like me."

The figure snapped their fingers and Zara felt something wrapping around her boots. She looked down in shock, seeing roots had grown out of the ground and wrapped around her legs, bounding her. "Hey! What is this?!" she demanded as she suddenly fell on her back, vines sprouting from the ground, bounding Zara's arms together as she fell. "Hey! Stop! What is this?!" she demanded as the hooded figure walked over to her.

"So you are the Wicked Witch of the West," the hooded figure said as they knelt down and placed a hand underneath Zara's chin. "Huh, you're a lot cuter than I pictured."

"W-What?!" Zara asked with a blush. "Who are you?!"

The hooded figure smiled as they began to remove their hood, allowing Zara to see… the face of a girl who looked to be as old as she was, when in reality she was much, much older.

"You can call me… Mel," Mel said with a grin.

Back in the present, Mel let out a laugh.

"Hehehe, finally… I've been waiting to do this for a long time…!" Mel declared as she grabbed something, lifted it up… and took a bite out of a bagel. "Mmm~! This is so good!"

Mel sat across from Zara, both of them inside a cafe together. Both of them were having some food while the two were catching up with each other.

"Mmm, you know how long it has been since I've tasted bagels like these? Well, they're not as good as the ones from the Human Realm, or 'HR' as the current generation calls it," Mel said with a shrug while eating her bagels.

Zara took a sip of her drink. "So… what exactly have you been up to lately, Mel? Last I heard, you were causing some chaos on the Boiling Isles."

"Guilty as charged," Mel admitted with a smile. "Well, I guess I can do a little TLDR. So there was this witch boy I was dating named Edric. He was cute, nice, and funny, and I caused his parents to end up getting a divorce while I was getting close to him…"

"That's a big yikes right there," Zara said.

"Anyway, after instigating another riot, I took him with me to the Underworld so that I could keep him. But apparently his sister and her friends had a problem with that. They somehow followed me to the Underworld, so I played a little psychological torment on them and got them to fight in the Underdrome. After that, I will admit that things got a little out of hand…"

"How out of hand?" Zara asked.

"I tried to release the Titans from Tartarus, including my grandpa," she explained. "Big mistake, since he wanted to eat me."

Zara spit out some of her drink. "Your grandfather wanted to eat you?!"

"Honestly, I shouldn't have been surprised," Mel confessed. "Eating family is like his entire thing. After he got stopped, I got caught by my parents and they put me in rehab." She sighed and looked over at Zara. "Did you get all of that?"

"Yeah," Zara said with a nod. "So you were sent to rehab?"

"Yup, but I escaped!" Mel claimed with a grin. "After I got off of that forsaken island, I decided that I wanted to hit you up again. And I gotta admit, I was quite surprised to find you here and with…" She gestured to Zara. "…a less eco-friendly look."

"Yeah, that requires… a bit of explaining," Zara told Mel.

Mel leaned back. "I don't mind. What is this new con you're pulling, Zara? I want to know the details."

Zara looked over at Mel and nodded. "Well, it all started…"

Meanwhile, over at Emily's apartment, Emily had woken up and was taking her shower. After finishing her shower and getting dressed, Emily walked into her kitchen, only to see someone already there…

"Good morning, Emily!" Andrea said while fixing up some breakfast. "Wakey, wakey, griffin eggs and bacony!"

"Andrea…" Emily said with a sigh, not even surprised that Andrea had broken into her home… again. "Why are you here?"

"Oh, I volunteered to get you, Emily-Vanilli," Andrea explained. "You see, me and my friends do believe that you weren't the one who attacked Tracy… but instead, we think it was one of your enemies who wanted to make it look like you attacked her," she said as she finished cooking.

"Well… that is a possibility," Emily admitted as she grabbed her cup of coffee brew and drank from it while sitting down. "Honestly, I have so many enemies who would probably want to do something like that," she said while Andrea handed her a plate. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Andrea replied as she joined Emily for breakfast with her own plate. "Back to why I came to get you, we want you to help us narrow down the list of suspects."

This surprised Emily, who almost spit out her coffee. "You all want… my help?"

"Yeah! I mean, you know a lot of these witches who would want to frame you, right?" Andrea asked.

"Yeah, I would…" Emily admitted.

"Then you are the perfect witch to help us solve who attacked Tracy, plus you have the right to know who's trying to frame you," Andrea pointed out.

"I… I think…" Emily said, the hesitance evident on her face. She knew that going to help Andrea and her friends would mean spending time with two witches who definitely weren't her biggest fans, Tracy… and Tabrella. "Are you sure that all of your friends want me to help you?" she asked Andrea.

"We all agreed to it," Andrea confirmed, her own expression hopeful.

Emily stared across the table at Andrea, then sighed. "Alright, I'll go."

"Great!" Andrea shouted with a smile. "Once we finish up breakfast, we can go meet with our friends!"

Meanwhile, in the lobby of a hotel, Donna was holding Katie while Cross was being handed some of Katie's things by Tabrella. Behind them, the trio of Lindsay, Jackie, and Tracy were waiting.

"Okay, here's a list of what she eats and what she shouldn't eat," Tabrella told them as she handed Cross a list. "Katie likes it when her food is mashed, and her baby fangs come out so please avoid giving her anything she could bite into. That's what her stuffed bunny is for."

"Got it," Donna said, Katie in her arms.

"The fridge in our room has several days' worth of milk if she gets thirsty, but here's enough for today along with spare diapers and a medical kit in case she gets hurt," Tabrella listed off, Cross struggling to hold onto everything that she was handing him. She then pulled out a helmet and gave it to Cross as well. "And here's a helmet."

"Why do you even have a helmet?" Cross asked her in confusion.

"You'll never know when you'll need a helmet, dear," Tabrella told him.

"Yeah, take it from my experience," Tracy spoke up. "I crashed into a lot of walls when I was young and spry."

"That would explain a lot, really…" Jackie muttered to herself.

"And I just want to make sure that Katie's safe while I'm away for the day," Tabrella said while walking over to Donna and gently patting Katie's hand. "Please be careful with her."

"Hey, don't worry, Tabrella. She's in good hands with us," Donna reassured her.

"Yeah, we'll keep Katie until you get back," Cross said.

"They're right, Tabrella," Lindsay told her friend as she walked over and gently patted her shoulder. "Katie is in good hands while we're away. You can trust Donna and Cross with her."

"I… I know, just give me a moment," Tabrella said before turning to Katie. "Katie dear, be good to auntie Donna and uncle Cross when I'm away, okay? Mommy will be back once she's done with her business, so be good for me."

Katie gave her mother a nod, as if she understood her, although she was still more focused on chewing on her stuffed bunny.

"Okay, I'm ready to go," Tabrella said after taking a deep breath. She then went to join her friends.

"Good luck," Donna told them.

"Yeah, good luck on the investigation," Cross said. "We'll see you girls when you get back."

Lindsay looked back at her two friends and smiled. "I hope you three have a good time," she said as she waved to them.

"Yes, have fun," Tabrella said. "But only a safe amount of fun!"

"Don't worry, we will," Donna promised Tabrella as she waved back at them.

"Alright, let's go," Jackie said as four of the Mane Five began to leave the lobby. From Donna's arms, Katie watched her mother leave, Tabrella giving her one last look before she passed through the doors of the lobby and was gone…

Meanwhile, at the Health General building, Zee had gone there to check up on her friends.

"Yo, hot stuffs," Zee greeted as she came in. "How are you guys doing? Healed up?"

"We're doing okay," Whitney said while sipping her tea as she checked her Penstagram on her scroll, not even looking up at Zee.

"Yeah," Darcilia responded while reading a book, also not looking at Zee. "Those healing patches worked wonders…"

Zee looked at her two friends, seemingly disappointed by their lack of interest in her. Then she noticed Rebecca, who was lying on her cot and appeared to be in some kind of daze. "Uh, what's with your sis, Whitty?"

Whitney looked up from her scroll and looked over at Rebecca, who was clutching her pillow to her chest while looking up at the ceiling, her face flustered. She sighed. "Oh don't mind her, she's just thinking about your brother again."

"Really?" Zee asked with a smirk as she walked over to her. "Yo, Reb, you in there?"

"I was… in his arms," Rebecca said with a dopey look as she repeated the memory of Cross holding her over and over again. "And he was asking me if I'm alright…"

"Hello? Rebecca?" Zee asked, waving her hand in front of her face.

"Don't even bother, she's been like this since this morning," Whitney told her.

"You should see her drawings that she made," Darcelia teased, which piqued Zee's interest.

"Drawings? Like, she drew herself with my brother?" Zee asked with a grin. "Think you can show me so I can give it to him-?"

"NO!" Rebecca shouted, snapping out of her daze as she threw her pillow at Zee, who got hit by it. "Don't you two dare show my drawings to Cross!"

"Okay, okay, I was just joking, Reb, geez," Zee assured her, while Rebecca gave a pout. "You know, I can skip work today and stay here with you girls if you want. We could hang, play cards, watch some cheesy soaps…"

"That won't be necessary, Zee," Whitney said. "You don't need an excuse to get out of work."

"Yeah, we don't want you to lose some of your paycheck because of us," Rebecca added.

"Come on, I can spare an off day…" Zee started to say before Darcilia spoke up.

"Zee, we appreciate it, but you don't have to worry about us," she told Zee as she looked over her book with a smile. "We're going to be fine. And we will have plenty of time to spend together when you're not at work. Besides, who else is going to keep kids from getting scalded to death in the boiling waters?"

Zee looked at Darcilia, smiling back. "Well, when you put it like that, I guess you have a point," she said with a shrug. "Alright, I'll check you guys back after work."

"Good luck with work, Zee," Rebecca told her.

"Oh, and if I see Cross, I'll let him know you said hi, Reb," Zee teasingly replied, making the Carmine girl blush hard.

Several years ago, in the Land of Oz, Zara brought Mel to the place she called home, an old castle in Winkie Country. It was both the castle of the original and the current Wicked Witch of the West.

"Is this where you live?" Mel asked her.

"Yup," Zara replied while showing her around the castle. "This is home sweet home…"

"Wow… this place looks to be in disrepair," Mel replied as she looked around, noticing the spiderwebs and even a rat passing by. "And I thought my place was dreary," she muttered. "So where are your minions?"

"Minions?" Zara asked.

"You know, like winged monkeys," Mel said. "Or at the very least some Winkies."

"Nah, I have no minions," Zara admitted. "It's just me."

"Really? Well, that's just depressing," Mel replied as she looked around. "I mean, living in a ruined castle all by yourself, it reminds me of my own mom."

"Who's your mom?" Zara asked.

"She's Maleficent," Mel replied casually. "You know, the Mistress of Evil…"

Mel looked over at Zara, expecting a reaction from her. But instead, Zara just looked… confused.

"What kind of title is 'Mistress of Evil'?" Zara asked Mel.

"Wait, you're not familiar with my mom's reputation?" Mel asked.

"I've never heard of her," Zara confessed. "Is she from beyond Oz, perhaps? Maybe she is from Ev? Ix? Noland?"

"Uh, no," Mel said, a bit disappointed. "Well, have you at least heard of my father? Hades, lord of the Underworld?

"Nope," Zara admitted. "What even is an Underworld?

"...Huh," Mel said before she decided to change the subject. "So… how did you get your castle anyway?"

"I guess… I inherited it, in a way," Zara admitted. "It belonged to the original Wicked Witch of the West, after all," she said, which piqued Mel's interest.

"Really? Did this Wicked Witch get melted by a girl named Dorothy with a bucket of water?" Mel asked with a grin.

"Yeah, she did…" Zara said. "You know the story?"

"Of course. Why, in the land where I'm from, that story is quite popular," Mel said before getting an idea and smirking. "Say, would water also melt you as well?"

Zara scoffed at this. "Please, that's just a false rumor that has been spread around about me. Unlike the original Witch, I'm not allergic to magic."

"Well, at least you not having that dumb weakness makes up for how empty your castle is, since the original Witch had guards and freaky winged monkeys," Mel said. "You, on the other hand, have none of those." She looked around, thinking to herself. "I will admit, I was surprised to learn that Oz was even a real place, since where I'm from it's known as a piece of literary fiction." She formed a smile. "I think I'm going to enjoy myself here. Can I crash with you?"

"Eh, sure," Zara said with a shrug. "It's a big castle and I wouldn't mind the company."

"Excellent!" Mel said, clapping her hands together. "And now that I've decided to spend some time here, perhaps you could help bring me up to speed on everything that happened after Dorothy left."

"Uh, sure," Zara said. "I can try, at least."

"First, I want to know who's in charge around here," Mel said.

"Oh, well that's simple," Zara replied. "Everyone knows that the Wizard rules over Oz."

Mel's eyes widened in surprise at this. "Really?" she asked. "I thought the Wizard was just an old human with no real magic, who left Oz in a balloon."

Zara looked at Mel strangely, realizing just how out-of-date she really was with her Oz lore. "You really do need a history lesson…"

Zara brought Mel to another room in the castle. Inside the room was a huge map of Oz, showing the four different counties and the desert that surrounded Oz. The map had model buildings on it, along with model people.

"Behold, the Land of Oz," Zara told the fae-goddess as Mel looked at the map.

"Wow, this is… not bad," Mel replied as she looked at some of the model buildings. "Did you make these yourself?" she asked. "Ooh, and you mapped out the yellow brick road," she said, not giving Zara a chance to answer her first question while she traced her finger along the yellow brick road before picking up one of the tiny Ozians. "Heheh, your fate is in my hands now, mortal…"

"Hey, be careful with those," Zara told her. "Anyway, to bring you up to speed, the new Wizard appeared in Oz during the Nome King's final attack on Oz."

"Nome King… who's that?" Mel asked her, not recognizing the name.

"This is the Nome King," she said while holding up a miniature of the Nome King. He appeared to be a bearded, plump man in a red outfit, a black crown around his pointy white hair, a golden belt, and yellow boots. He was holding a scepter.

"Huh, he kinda looks like Santa Claus," Mel commented. "He doesn't look that menacing… although is that Nome with a silent 'G'?"

"There is no G in Nome," Zara answered. "And don't take him lightly. The Nome King was the largest threat that Oz had ever faced. His true name was Roquat the Red, but most Ozians just knew him as the Nome King. He was the leader of the Nomes, a race of immortal rock fairies who dwelled underground," she said before placing him on the model map. "The Nomes hid all kinds of jewels and precious stones in the ground and they resented the 'upstairs people' for digging them up."

"So Oz's version of mole people then…" Mel indicated.

"The Nome King was infamous for enslaving people and even turning people into ornaments and knick-knacks for his collection," Zara explained. "But it wasn't until Dorothy Gale and the last Ozma took his Magic Belt did the Nome King swear revenge on all of Oz. He schemed against Oz multiple times, but it was his final attempt to conquer the Land of Oz and enslave its inhabitants that was the most successful." She looked down at the Nome King figure, as well as the figures of a princess dressed in green and a woman dressed in pink. "The last Ozma and Glinda both vanished during the invasion, and all of Oz would have fallen to the Nome King… if not for the Wizard."

Mel looked surprised by this story, since it did not line up with what she knew about Oz at all.

"The new Wizard came from another land and he destroyed the Nome King for good. After that, he helped the people of Oz rebuild the Emerald City after it was destroyed and he became Oz," Zara explained.

"Wait," Mel said while looking confused." What do you mean he became Oz?"

"Oz is more of a title for past rulers, since almost all of them have been named Oz or Ozma, depending on the gender," Zara explained. "Our last ruler was a female Ozma, before her was the first Wizard. But unlike the previous Wizard who became known as Oz, the current Wizard possesses genuine magical abilities."

"Really?" Mel asked. "How can you be sure?"

"I've seen it firsthand," Zara said, looking dead serious. "The only one who is even close to being as powerful as the Wizard is Glinda, who returned to Oz sometime after the Nome King's failed invasion. Nobody knows where she had disappeared off to in the first place, but ever since her return she has remained in the Quadling Country in the South."

"Wait, hold on," Mel said, looking even more confused. "I thought Glinda was the good witch of the North."

"Seriously?" Zara asked. "I don't know where you heard that from, because everyone knows that Glinda is from the South, not the North. The 'Good Witch' of the North is a bitch named Tala, my rival."

"Okay…" Mel said while looking over the map. "I think I've learned enough for now."

"So what are you going to do now?" Zara asked her before Mel gave her a smile.

"Easy… I'm going to challenge the Wizard and kick his ass!" Mel declared, shocking Zara.

"WHAT?!" Zara shouted with a horrified expression. "Why would you do that?!"

"What? It is like when you're in prison," Mel said. "You find the biggest guy and you can beat him up to send a message and the Wizard is the biggest guy, right?"

"Well, you can't just go around picking fights with the Wizard!" Zara warned her, sounding panicked. "You don't know who you're messing with!"

"Please, I could turn the Wizard into a swarm of gnats if I wanted to," Mel said.

"You can't kill the Wizard!" Zara told her. "I mean, literally, you can't. I've met him, Mel. The only reason why I'm alive is because the Wizard allows it. If you go after the Wizard, it will only cause trouble for both of us! So please, please don't go try to fight him…" she begged.

Mel looked over at Zara and was surprised to see the fear in her eyes. And it was not just any kind of fear. It was the same kind of fear that her mother had once inspired in others. And that… gave the usually reckless Fae-goddess a rare moment of pause. She let out a sigh of disappointment. "You're really that afraid of him, are you?"

"Yeah," Zara said with a nod. "But only because I've actually met him. He is the real deal, Mel. The real deal."

"Alright, fine," Mel said as she rolled her eyes. "As a favor to you, I won't bother the Wizard. But with that said… what do we do for fun instead? I came here because I was bored, after all."

"Hmm, well…" Zara said as she looked over at the map. After a moment, she formed a smile. "I do have some… ideas…"

Back in the present, Andrea had brought Emily down to the community center, the same one where her birthday party had been thrown at.

"Here we are!" Andrea declared as she brought Emily into one of the rooms of the community center.

"This is… the same room rented out for my party," Emily noted.

"Yup! And the gang's all here!" Andrea said as she threw the doors open. "Hey, gals! I brought Emily with me!"

"Thank you for bringing her over, Andrea," Lindsay said. She, along with Jackie, Tabrella, and Tracy, were all gathered around a table and next to a billboard that was covered in photos. In the center of the board was a picture of Tracy's attacker, a witch who looked like Emily and who was wearing black clothes and a black hat.

"Hey Emily, how do you like our suspect board?" Jackie asked while setting up a red string that connected the photos to each other.

"Hey Lindsay, hey Jackie," Emily greeted as she walked over… only to stop when she saw Tabrella and Tracy, her expression changing into an awkward one. "Um… hi, you two."

"Hello to you too, dearie," Tabrella replied, trying to be polite despite how awkward it was for all of them to be in the same room.

"Y-Yeah," Tracy said as she looked down while rubbing her arm, trying not to think about how the last time she saw Emily was when she tried to kick her butt only for her to now be asking for Emily's help. "What she said…"

Emily then took notice of Tabrella's outfit. "Um, that's an… interesting outfit that you have on, Tabrella," she said, indicating the black long fedora hat with a pink ribbon band, the crimson trench coat, the pink handkerchief on her chest, and matching gloves.

"Oh, this?" Tabrella asked. "Thank you for noticing. I just thought that since we're conducting an investigation and trying to solve a mystery, I might as well look the part."

"The part of…?" Emily asked.

"Why, the part of a private investigator of course!" Tabrella declared as she pointed into the air, getting into character and taking Emily aback.

"Don't question it, it's her thing," Andrea told Emily before turning to her friends. "But now that me and Emily are here, let's recap what we know!"

"That's right, Andrea!" Tabrella declared as the room suddenly went dark and a spotlight shone over her, much to Emily's confusion. "Yesterday, our good athletic friend, Tracy Speedemon, was attacked by who she claimed was Emily Tricks. Hmm, Emily Tricks. The former Queen of Glandus, briefly the Illusions Head, and now a part-time delivery witch. She has put her criminal past behind her… or so she claims."

"Um, is this part of the investigation?" Emily whispered to Lindsay while Tabrella monologues.

"It's best to let her be in character," Lindsay whispered back. "Tabrella… loves mystery novels."

"Ah, got it," Emily said with a nod.

"And yet… Ms. Tricks has a solid alibi for where she was at the time of the attack. One of our other friends, Jacqueline 'Jackie' Courtland, had been shadowing Emily all day while she worked on repairing some houses," she recounted while pacing back and forth. She turned her gaze to the billboard covered with photos. "Jackie never lies, and Emily has no reason to attack Tracy… but it is also out-of-character for Tracy to lie about this. But if neither party is lying, it seems obvious that… someone has been pulling the strings behind the scenes, attempting to frame Ms. Tricks to cause conflict… but who?" She tipped her hat. "And that's when Private Eye Tabrella Diamantos decided to take the case."

Tabrella smacked one of her gloved hands on the table, startling everyone. "Now with Ms. Tricks here, we can begin our investigation properly. Prior to this, we decided to collect photos of the potential suspects, witches and demons who would have it out for Emily and would want to frame her. Many of these photos were pulled from our own heads, including the photo of the witch that attacked Tracy…"

When she heard this, Emily turned her own eyes onto the board, specifically the photo in the center of it. She stared long and hard at the photo… and her eyes narrowed.

"Do you see anyone you recognize?" Tabrella asked.

"Huh?" Emily asked, turning her attention back to Tabrella. "What did you ask?"

"On that board," Tabrella said. "We are trying to narrow down the suspect list, so do you see anyone you recognize?"

Emily looked over the wall of photos, frowning at the sheer number of them. "Yeah, I recognized most of them. Most of them are some of my old classmates…" She then realized something and she turned to the Mane Five, looking confused. "Wait, where did you even get all of these photos from?"

Tabrella, Jackie, and Tracy fell silent, all three of them exchanging awkward glances. Eventually, Jackie was the one who spoke up.

"Well, I didn't mention this before but um… we all, um, well, me, Tabs and Tracy, met and saw them at an… anti-Emily party that was thrown back at the Boiling Isles… that we attended."

"An anti-Emily party…" Emily said before sighing. "Of course that would be a thing…"

"There were like… a lot of witches who hated you there," Tracy admitted.

"How did you even end up at an anti-Emily party?" Emily asked. "Were you specifically invited or did you hear about it elsewhere or…" She shook her head. "You know what, it doesn't matter."

"You're not… upset?" Tabrella asked.

"No, it's fine," Emily replied, trying to not let it get to her personally. "I mean, I've messed with a lot of witches. I can't blame them for wanting to throw a party about hating me and I don't blame you three for attending either…" She turned to Andrea and Lindsay. "Though did you two know about this?"

"Of course," Andrea said. "I know about every party that happens on the Boiling Isles… but I chose to sit out of this one."

"They didn't tell me about the party until after they attended," Lindsay admitted, causing the trio to feel worse before Lindsay cleared her throat. "But back to the investigation, perhaps you could start helping us to identify some of the witches here."

"Right, yeah," Emily said as she walked up to the board and looked at the photos. "I do recognize most of them. Gavin, Angmar, Boscha, Ulka… yeah, it makes sense they'd be there, but I doubt they'd want anything to do with me so they're not involved in this frame-up. Nina… yeah, you can cross her, Tito, and Cain out. There's no way they'd be able to pull this off and I doubt they'd want to anyway." She then saw a picture of Glinda, causing her to frown. "Definitely not Glinda…"

"How about the rest of these characters?" Andrea asked.

Emily looked over some of the other photos. "The Graux Sisters… well, I didn't do anything to them on a personal level. They look like they're just there to sell merchandise at the party, so I don't think they are involved."

"Yeah, and their merchandise was quite expensive too," Tracy muttered before she felt a nudge from Jackie to the side. "Ow!"

"Wait, I do remember him," Emily said as she pointed to a picture of Tex Toother. "Tex… wow, I haven't heard from him in a while."

"Really? What did you do to him?" Tracy asked her.

"He… was a senior when I was a freshman," Emily explained. "Honestly, all I did was beat him with the highest test scores on the HECs Tests, nothing serious or life-ruining. I was… still a freshman and was considered fresh meat."

Everyone winced at that before Emily pointed to some of the other photos. "I recognized Cana and Bela, and there's Merkle," she said as she pointed to a few more. "Caesar Starr, Barb Pestilence, Crane Bolger, Snotweiler, Ray…" She saw another photo and paused, frowning. "Linnia Gardener…"

"Yes, Ms. Gardener was hosting the party," Tabrella noted. "She held quite the resentment towards you…"

"I… don't blame her, or any of them that hold grudges against me," Emily said as she sat down at the table and leaned back. "They were the previous top Glandus students before me, Glinda, Nina, Tito, and the rest… who I'm surprised aren't up there, although I heard some of them became chimeras while Kadabe… I don't know what happened to Kadabe."

"Looks like we're gonna need to add some names," Andrea said.

"Great," Tracy said with a sigh.

"But first, to understand our suspects, we need to understand their motivation," Tabrella said while turning to Emily. "Now then, could you recount why they'd want revenge against you?"

"How bad did you do to them?" Tracy asked.

Emily let out a sigh. She knew that she was not going to enjoy recounting what she did to each of her former classmates, but if it could help them find out who attacked Tracy and framed her for it, then she had to do it.

"Alright, just… I want you to understand something," Emily said. "When you're in Glandus, the first decree is survival to the fittest." She looked down. "During my time at Glandus, I became determined to get ahead… at any cost." She levitated a photo of the twins, Cana and Bela, over to her and she frowned. "Let's start with Cana and Bela," she said as she focused on Bela in the picture. She frowned. "I'm… honestly surprised that Bela's alive."

"Alive?" Lindsay asked.

"Yeah," Emily responded. "This… this is the first time I've seen her since she cursed her sister. Everyone thought she ran into the Forest of Fear after that, but it looks like that's not the case," she said, expressing relief. "I'm glad that she's alive… though I'm surprised that they're together."

"Mind givin' some context about them?" Jackie inquired.

"Oh, right. Well, when I started Glandus, Cana was the Queen of Glandus, the highest rank in the Glandus social ladder. She was seen as the strongest and most influential student, outranking the Top Eight. The Queen is always a junior or a senior, while the Top Eight are juniors or sophomores. It was our own student council," Emily explained. "Bela was Cana's right hand… although everyone in school knew that Cana mistreated her sister. She was a bully, but she was worse to Bela than she was to everyone else, including Nina. Cana was… a bitch, just as I was when I succeeded her. The… part about Bela cursing her sister, well… I did have a hand in pushing her to do so."

"Not surprised there," Tracy muttered.

"I used my illusions on her," Emily said with a remorseful tone. "I knew how much of a pushover Bela was, and I… used her anger and frustrations towards her twin sister to give her the idea to curse her. Cana ended up in the Oracle Institute, while Bela left school. I haven't really thought about them up until recently. It seems like they're somehow on better terms now. I don't know if Bela would want revenge against me, but Cana… she probably would."

"I did spot her stabbin' a cake of you at that party," Jackie admitted. "Her twin sis looked pretty disturbed by it."

"So what about the other suspects?" Tabrella asked as Emily looked at one photo.

"Ray Cuttler, the former captain of our Flyer Derby team," Emily noted, pointing to the picture of Ray. "When I tried out for Flyer Derby, he was running things. Up until his little accident… caused by me."

"What kind of accident…?" Jackie asked.

"I… had him hit the goal post really hard," Emily explained, looking down in shame. "After that, he was put in the Healing Coven, forced to quit flyer derby, and then he dropped out. I… honestly don't blame him for wanting vengeance against me for that."

"Was he an illusionist?" Lindsay asked her.

"No, he was in Beast-Keeping, actually," Emily explained. "Though he was more into hunting Beasts than taming them. I do remember that his father was in the fishing business. Ray… he used to be one of the best flyer derby players out there. We would call him 'The Devil Ray', not just because of his good flying coordination, but also because… of the scandals he was in."

"Scandals?" Tabrella asked, looking uncomfortable just from the use of the word. "What kind of scandals?"

"Yeah, what did he do to be known as… devilish?" Andrea added.

"They involved his opponents and his rivals," Emily explained. "They also had… well, accidents. One incident involved his rival crashing into the audience and once when the Red Rottens lost to the Underton High's Molehogs, he stalked their captain, beat her up, tied her up, and left her to be found by coven scouts. She was too scared to press charges…"

"Titan's crack, that's just poor sportsmanship," Tracy said, sounding absolutely disgusted. "You know, Emily, I'm now glad that you screwed this guy over, because he sounds like the biggest sore loser ever."

"I mean, I wasn't that much better," Emily pointed out. "Not a lot of sports teams at Glandus wanted to play fairly, especially when you have Grease for your coach." She fell quiet as she looked at the photo. "Did you guys ever talk to him? Ray, I mean."

"Well, I did speak to him at that party," Jackie said. "He said that he was now some sort of treasure hunter."

"Oh yeah, dude made himself sound like he was one of those pulp comic adventurers like Doc Scavage," Tracy recalled.

"Well, it sounds like he's doing well at least," Emily noted before looking over at another picture. "Huh, Quizlow's also there."

"Was he one of the tops?" Andrea asked her.

"No, but we were in the same Spelling Classes," Emily explained "Paul Quizlow used to be one of the prodigies at Glandus, which made him an easy target for the encouraged bullying. Quizlow liked to work on problem-solving and he did some work in the Glandus Esquire newsletter, inserting his riddles and puzzles. Of course, his riddles weren't that good to begin with and he kind of started to get on everyone's nerves by trying to get them to answer his 'pop quizzes'. I would've guessed that he'd go into the game show business someday," she said while staring at the photo. "Of course, I did take part in the bullying against him… which he really didn't deserve."

"Oh, care to elaborate?" Tabrella asked her.

"Well, when I was working my way up the ranks, I did… curse him," Emily admitted. "Nothing lethal, but I had it done so that he could only speak in riddles. You had to answer his riddles in order for him to speak correctly, which should be easy enough." She rubbed her arm out of guilt. "I do feel bad for giving him a hard time. He didn't deserved to be cursed that way."

"Geez, whose life didn't you ruin?" Tracy asked, before getting nudged to the arm by Jackie "Ow! What?!"

"Was he also in Illusions?" Tabrella asked her.

"No, he was in Oracle," Emily revealed. "I think he left Glandus to pursue his own career. Last I heard, he set up a start-up coven called 'Quiztal-Tech'."

"I think I heard about Quiztal-Tech before," Tabrella said, stroking her chin. "They're responsible for the creation of the Mirror-Tablets, which have features like a word of the day calendar, games, and graphic arts tools."

"It sounds like he's doing pretty well for himself then," Jackie said. "I mean, what reason could he want in tryin' to get back at ya, Emily? You'd think he'd be too successful to think about takin' petty revenge."

"Not necessarily," Tabrella notes. "It's not uncommon for successful people to, despite leading lucrative lives, linger on some hang-ups."

"Quizlow's mostly harmless," Emily noted before she got up and pulled off another picture, showing it to the designs. "But I do know this one isn't… Merkle Breach."

"Hmm, she looks like a strong gal," Jackie pointed out.

"Not only that, she was Glinda's former tormentor," Emily explained. "She used to pick on Glinda until Glinda used her puppetry magic to get her and her goons off of her back. After that, Merkle kept finding other witches to pick on until she got expelled over one incident."

"Incident?" Tabrella asked.

"Well… an incident I was involved in," Emily admitted, though she sounded less guilt-ridden now. "I've known Merkle since the first day at Glandus, which was when I met and saved Glinda, back when she went by Stella. I saved her from Merkle using my hypnosis abilities, making Merkle beat up her own gang. But that wasn't the last I saw of her." She sighed. "It was around the time I was made the Queen of Glandus, Merkle went up to challenge me for my title in a witch's duel. While I did agree to it… I… didn't fight her."

"You didn't?" Tracy asked her. "But you're supposed to fight in a witch duel!"

"Yeah, I know," Emily admitted. "But I didn't want to risk everything that I had built for myself, so I placed Merkle under my spell. She thought she had fought against me. But instead, she ended up tearing down the gym. It took a few teachers to calm her down and force her to stop. But she ended up crashing through the walls and eventually they had to use a sleeping spell to calm her down. She got expelled that day, and looking back, I didn't think that it would go that bad…"

The five girls did look shocked to hear this, but then Tabrella spoke up. "To be honest, dear, you shouldn't have to blame yourself for this one. It just sounds like this Merkle girl has a lot of issues."

"Yeah, even I would agree with that," Tracy replied. "I mean, didn't Glandus have, like, a school counselor?"

"We actually didn't," Emily admitted. "The school had a mindset that seeking mental help is a sign of weakness."

This shocked the Mane Five.

"Oh my Titan… that sounds horrible," Lindsay said.

"That would explain a lot about my sisters," Andrea admitted.

Emily looked back at the photos. "Next are the classmates who were Top of Construction: Gor and Mek."

"Huh, two Tops for Construction. Very interesting," Tabrella commented.

"They were at the top of their track, and they were the first to go," Emily admitted. "Gor Zinski and Mek Ekkerbocker were friends and rivals in the Construction Coven. However, I used my illusion powers to… make Gor saw off Mek's fingers…"

"Okay, that's just wrong…" Jackie said in disapproval.

"I'm not proud of it either," Emily replied, looking down. "Honestly, I don't know much about them. They didn't have a lot going on and I doubt they'd be the type to pull off a scheme without being ordered by someone."

"Yeah, those two do seem like they'd be the type to be in someone's goon squad," Andrea pointed out before she saw another photo. "Huh, who's that feline gal?"

Emily looked at the photo and frowned. "Barbara Pestilence, she's a cat-biped who was Top of Healing. Back when I knew her, she was interested in all kinds of diseases."

"Diseases? Like, trying to find a cure?" Tracy asked.

"No… like trying to weaponize them," Emily clarified. "Barbara wanted to be the new Healing Head and create bio-weapons for Belos. She would keep her disease isotopes on a shelf… which I knocked over onto her while invisible," she muttered. "She also… knew Nina."

"Nina Fangs?" Tabrella asked.

"Yeah," Emily admitted. "Nina had a soft spot for Healers. Barbara sympathized with Nina's situation because as a cat biped, witches were wary of her as well despite her not being a werecat." She sighed. "Looking back at it now, I probably robbed Nina of a friend she could relate to."

"Does Nina know about what you did?" Jackie asked her.

"Well, I… did frame it as an accident, since I was invisible at the time," Emily admitted rubbing her arm. "But Nina caught on and we got into an argument about it. I told Nina that Barbara needed to go, that eventually Barbara would have betrayed her if I didn't take her out." She looked down in shame. "I basically gaslit her into believing that Barbara was never her friend, just like I used to gaslight Glinda. I… really was a control freak back then…"

A moment of silence fell over the room, since the members of the Mane Five weren't quite sure whether to condemn Emily or not.

"I mean… according to you, Barbara was collecting diseases and planning on making bio-weapons," Tracy pointed out. "Not condoning you gaslighting your old friends at all, but you may have been right about Barbara needing to go."

"Yeah, she does sound a little shady," Andrea noted while the others nodded in agreement.

"Well, since we're talking about shady," Emily said as she pointed to another photo. "There's Crane Bolger."

"The guy with the gas mask?" Tabrella asked.

"Yes, and formerly the Top of Potions," Emily said. "I remember how shady Bolger was back then and how he used living beings as part of his experiments. Whether it be animals or his fellow witches. Freshmen especially weren't safe around him. Bolger's potions could make you believe what you're seeing was real. Some form of fear potion."

"Fear potion…" Tracy said, your eyes widening. "Wait… do you think that what attacked me wasn't actually an illusion…?"

"Some kinds of potions have ingredients that can cause hallucinations," Emily said, giving a worried look. "As for what I did to him, I messed with his cauldron, leading to an explosion. He got kicked out for causing the accident."

"If this Bolger fella could have used his Potions on Tracy, then he could be one of our main suspects," Jackie suggested.

"I did hear about him from Blistera once," Andrea mentioned. "She told me about how he would snatch freshmen out of the hallway and bring them into the Potions Track room so he can test his potions on them. Many of them ended up sick."

"That's just awful," Lindsay said, looking mortified.

"Yeah, I can't really blame you for getting him kicked out, Tricks," Tracy admitted. "You probably made your school a slightly better place by doing so. Especially for the freshmen. Honestly, it is kinda hard for me to sympathize with a lot of your victims…"

"Who else is there?" Tabrella asked Emily.

"Well, there's Caesar Starr, the former Top of Oracle," Emily said as she pointed to a picture of Caesar. "He was one of the brightest minds in Glandus. A star student of Professor Serkis. He had a superiority complex and he and Weaselton would compete with the biggest ego. I placed a spell on him to bash his head…"

"Okay, what's the messed up twist?" Tracy asked. "I mean, the last two either collected diseases and wanted to make bio-weapons or experimented on his classmates, so what's the thing that Caesar did that will make me glad Glandus was destroyed?"

"He went by the nickname 'the Collector'," Emily noted. "He would collect small creatures for his own menagerie. Not just rodents and bugs. I remember seeing Tibbles selling his shrinking potion to him and he used that potion on direwolves and spider-cows…"

"I… don't know how to feel about that," Lindsay said. "Although sorta reminds me of a Beast Keeper who goes around capturing beasts and challenging others into battle…" Her tone suddenly became bitter, which surprised Emily.

"Um… who?" Emily asked.

"She's referring to that Dusty kid," Jackie explained.

"Oh yeah, he goes to Hexside. He's, like, her arch-nemesis," Andrea said.

"Lindsay's arch-nemesis?" Emily asked in surprise, having never thought that Lindsay would have an enemy…

"Um, is there anything else you know about his little, um, collection?" Tabrella asked.

"I did hear rumors that he used the shrinking potion on some biped demons, but I don't think he'd actually go that far… I think," she said, though she didn't sound convinced. She then looked at the board and saw another photo. "Then there's Erik Snotweiler Jr. Top of Abominations. I cast a spell that got his Abomination to turn on him," she recalled. "From what I remember, his family ran a toy-making shop. Erik was known to make Abomination-style toys… which ended up being dangerous."

"I think I've heard about him before," Andrea noted. "His 'Snotplays' toys were briefly on the market. He was selling them at a kiosk stand at the Night Market, but most of his toys ended up being recalled due to being safety hazards."

"Yeah, I did hear that he tended to cut corners," Emily noted.

"And what about her?" Tabrella asked as she pointed to the picture of Linnia. "Linnia Gardener, the host of the Anti-Emily party. She claimed to have pinpointed your location."

At this, Emily fell silent as she stared at the photo. Even more than before, the guilt on her face was evident.

"Emily?" Tabrella asked.

"I remember her," Emily said while looking at Linnia's picture. "She was the Top of Plants until I made her plants turn against her. But she used to be a… completely different witch."

"How different?" Lindsay asked.

"Well… she was a lot like you, Lindsay," Emily pointed out, which surprised the cyclops girl. "She was a more quiet student, timid and shy. It was surprising that she became the top of her track, but then again, she did keep up with her classes and there not a lot were as impressive with and passionate about plants than Linnia. I think that out of everyone on this board, she was the nicest… but what I did to her may have changed that…"

Emily looked down at the floor.

"Maybe some of my victims had it coming," she said in a low voice. "But not her…"

Lindsay walked over and tried to comfort Emily.

"Have you… ever thought of apologizing to Linnia? Or to any of the other witches that you've hurt?" Lindsay asked.

Emily sighed. "I feel like they would sooner try to kill me than let me apologize…" she said. "It's probably too late for an apology anyway…"

While Lindsay tried to comfort Emily, Tabrella looked over at Jackie and Tracy. None of them were exactly sure what to say or how to react. Instead, they thought about what Emily had said. About her laying out her sins to them, her regrets and her guilt, and the sins of her victims as well. It was… a lot to think about.

"So were there any more witches who were at that party?" Emily asked when she was ready to continue the investigation.

"Well, there is this Batters kid," Tracy said while pointing at the photo. "I think he started a cult at one point…"

Meanwhile, in another part of the Inwell Isles, a street fair was being held at the marketplace. There were food carts, promotional stands, and some entertainment.

"For all you newcomers and tourists, welcome to the bi-weekly street festival held on Fang Road and Dripping Blood Ave," Chuck announced from a DJ booth. "Feel free to wander around, try some food, and listen to some music performed by the Inwell Isles Players!"

Amongst the tourists attending this street fair were the trio of Cross, Donna, and Katie, who were sitting at a picnic table together. Donna was feeding some ice cream to Katie.

"Here you go, do you like your ice cream, Katie?" Donna asked her.

"Byah!" Katie responded happily.

"Glad that she likes it," Cross said as he had his ice scream. "Although are you still sure that it is okay to give her this?"

"Cross, we're at a street fair. So little Katie is obliged to have a treat, don't you, Katie?" Donna asked the baby girl, who giggled in response as Donna wiped her chin with a napkin.

"I guess that's true…" Cross replied as he watched Donna cleaning Katie, who had managed to get some ice cream around her mouth and not just in her mouth. "Hey, Donna… how are you feeling?"

"Um, fine," Donna said, turning to look at Cross. "Why do you ask?"

"Sorry, I meant how are you holding up after yesterday?" Cross asked her. "About Lupe."

Donna was silent for a moment, then she sighed. "I'm trying not to think about him right now," she said before she thought of what she could change the subject to. "Instead… Cross, what can you tell me about Rebecca?"

This surprised Cross. "Um, why'd you ask?" he asked her.

"Well, I'm just curious," Donna replied. "Like, out of Zee's friends, she's the only one who is about the same age as you. How long have you two known each other…"

"Oh, probably three years ago, around the time Zee got Yang," Cross explained. "She had also just made friends with Rebecca, Whitney, and Darcilia and had decided to bring them home. Well… she brought Rebecca and Whitney home. I met Darcilia a bit later. I was occupied studying my magic at the time, but Zee pulled me away from my studying so she could introduce me to her new friends. Whitney kept asking about our housing decor, while Rebecca just… seemed to freeze when she saw me."

"She froze? Like how?" Donna asked him.

"Well, you know the Longs I've talked about before?" Cross asked and Donna nodded. "One of them, Haley Long, had a very similar reaction when we first met. Maybe it's just because they're both shy around new people… or me." He thought about it before looking at Donna. "Do I come off as intimidating?"

Donna just shook her head and sighed. "Cross, I'm going to be honest with you… Rebecca and this Haley girl probably both have crushes on you."

Cross was taken aback by this. "Wait, what?" he asked in confusion. "Really? Are you sure?"

"I will admit that I haven't always been the best when it comes to picking up on social cues, but I'm pretty sure," Donna told Cross. "Hell, I don't know if you realized this, but you were a bit of a heartthrob back in St. Epiderm. As in, you were considered one of the top three most attractive witches on the cheer squad."

Cross looked shocked to hear this. "Top three? Wait, who were the other two?"

"Tyrone, and Waldo from Palm Stings," Donna said.

"…Waldo? As in, Waldo Jugulaszinski?" Cross asked in confusion and disbelief. "Didn't he try to eat the snow because he thought it would taste like ice cream?"

"Yeah, he's not bright, but that would be someone's type," Donna mentioned before getting back on topic. "But as for you, Cross, you're both smart and, well, attractive."

"But, I tried not to stand out a lot," Cross admitted. "And I always thought that people would find me weird for eating coal for lunch, and for being quiet…"

"That just means you're cool and mysterious, and girls love that kind of stuff," Donna pointed out. "But back to Rebecca, I can tell that she is going down on you hard, Cross. Like, she's not even trying to be subtle, she was obvious from the start."

After hearing that, Cross thought back to every interaction he had with Rebecca in the past. This included his more recent interactions, like when he arrived at Inwell Isles to meet her or the time she came back from the Inwell Manor or the time he held onto her when she was injured…

"You mean… those times…?!" Cross asked, his eyes widening in realization as it dawned on him how obvious it actually was. "You mean, she… oh Titan, how did I not pick up on that…? Should I do something? I-I don't want to lead her in or anything…"

"Well, perhaps you should talk to her," Donna suggested. "Clear the air with her and make it clear where both of you stand."

"Yeah… I guess that does sound good," Cross replied "But… what if I ended up hurting her feelings?"

"Cross, you're a good guy," Donna pointed out. "You'll do fine. Just… tell her the truth. In the long run, it would do you both good."

"Yeah, I think you're right," Cross said, nodding. He then sighed. "I still can't believe that I was so oblivious around her…"

Donna let out her own sigh. "Yeah, I know what that is like," she admitted.

It was then that passing by them were the two teenagers from the circus, Quin and Reuben. They were both rushing off in the other direction.

"Come on, man! They're having this archery contest down the street!" Reuben told his friend.

"I am! I hope we don't miss it!" Quin replied as they both ran down to the street.

"An archery contest?" Donna asked, sounding curious as she looked over at Cross. "Think we should go and see?"

"Sure, why not?" Cross asked with a shrug as they both got up.

As Donna went to pick up Katie, Cross got out the helmet from his bag, which Donna noticed. "Cross, why do you still have that helmet?" she asked, looking at him and the helmet.

"What? You can't be too careful," Cross responded. "A loose arrow could end up potentially hitting someone in the crowd…"

"Hmm… you know what, Cross? I think you're going to make a great girl dad someday," Donna complimented as she, Cross, and Katie walked together to go check out that archery contest.

Meanwhile, at the Inwell Isles beach, Zee was performing her lifeguard duties.

"Alright, there's a mango bar up at the port," Zee told a few of the beach-goers. "I recommend trying out the mango blood smoothie, it is to die for."

"Thank you for the recommendations, ma'am," said one of the beach-goers before they walked away to head to the bar.

"Excuse me, Ms. Lifeguard," said an elderly witch man who was there with his husband. "Could you show us where the best beach spot is?"

"We want to send a picture to our grandkids and our rivals at the retirement home," his elderly partner added.

"Hmm, let me help you two with that," Zee offered.

Zee went to grab two bench chairs before she led the couple to a certain spot. Once she found the spot, she placed the chairs down underneath a palm tree and set them up. The palm tree's tendril-like leaves offered enough shade for the elderly couple.

Once they had sat down, Zee held up their scroll and took pictures of them. One in front, and the other in the back as they held each other's hands.

"Here you go," Zee said as she handed them their scroll back, the elderly witch men checking out the photos she took.

"Not bad, miss. You got Arty's good lighting," one of them commented.

"Your pose definitely helped, Hoss," Arty replied

"Well, I am just glad to be of help," Zee told them before she started walking back to her post.

"You certainly seem to be doing a good job here, Zinnia," said a voice.

"Huh?" Zee asked when she heard the voice. She began to turn around. "Who said-" When she saw who it was, her eyes widened in shock… and a smile appeared on her face. "Oh my Titan…"

"Hello to you too, Zinnia," said Lilith Clawthorne, who was wearing a black bikini top with a blue button shirt, black bikini shorts, a pink towel around her waist, and sandals. On her back was Hooty in his portable birdhouse backpack. With her were Hunter and Blazer, the former having Flapjack on his shoulder and the latter being in his witch disguise. Hunter wore a yellow beach shirt with blue trunks and sandals while Blazer was wearing a white unbuttoned shirt with black trunks and sandals.

"Hiya, Zee! It's me, Hooty! Everyone's favorite character!" declared Hooty. "It's been so long!"

"Come on, it hasn't been that long, Hooty," Hunter tried to tell the house demon.

"Maybe not in-story," Hooty told Hunter, confusing him. "But out-of-story…"

Hunter decided to not continue to listen to Hooty's ramblings, instead turning to Zee and waving to her with a smile. "Hey, Zee."

"Oh my Titan!" Zee shouted again, overjoyed to see her cousins. She ran up to hug Lilith, embracing her tightly. "Cousin Lily! It's so great to see you here!"

"You too, Zee," Lilith replied with a chuckle while hugging Zee back.

"And not just you. There's Hooty, Hunter, and…" Zee turned to Blazer and paused. "I… have no idea who you are, honestly."

"I'm, uh, Blazer," he introduced himself to her. "A friend of Hunter and Lilith's. I was at Luz's going-away party, but you, uh, you probably don't remember me from there. In fact, I think this is our first time speaking to each other."

"Well, in any case, it is nice to meet you too, Blazer," Zee responded. "But now I wanna know… what are you guys doing here? What brought you all here to the Inwell Isles?"

Lilith began to explain. "Me and Hunter decided to go on a vacation to the Inwell Isles to spend more time together as mother and son, to get away from everything that's happening on the Boiling Isles right now. And Eda said that I needed a vacation, since my last one was fourteen years ago…"

"We decided that the Inwell Isles was the best place to have our vacation," Hunter explained. "Of course, we couldn't leave Hooty home alone for obvious reasons."

"I'm still adjusting to my new living place!" Hooty declared.

"We did ask my parents if they'd like to come with us," Lilith mentioned. "But they declined. However, Blazer was interested, so we let him come along."

"I was curious about what one of the other Titan Islands was like," Blazer admitted.

"Well, I'm just thrilled to see you all here. Seriously, how have you guys been?" Zee asked.

"Oh, I would say we've been doing pretty well. Mainly, we've been adjusting to our new living situation," Lilith explained.

"Yeah, I'll admit that living in an apartment is very different from what I'm used to," Hunter admitted. "But it's great."

"So your new pad is doing you guys good? That's great," Zee replied.

"It totally is!" Hooty shouted while wrapping himself around Zee. "We've already done a lot of sleepovers, I get to go out with Lilith and Hunter during errand runs, I get to say hi to the neighbors…"

"Alright, I think I got the idea, Hooty," Zee said before getting Hooty's tube neck off of her. "So have you just been spending mother-son time together?"

"Um, not quite," Lilith admitted. "I've also been helping out Raine a lot, but they said it was okay for me to take a vacation with Hunter. As important as my work with Raine is, so is being Hunter's mother," she said while putting her arm around Hunter, who smiled. "And I'm trying to be better about balancing work with being a parent."

"I'm happy for you two," Zee told them. "Really, I am."

"Thank you," Lilith said with a smile. "Although I do wish to ask… how is Emily?"

"Yeah, we've been wondering how she's been doing since she left the Boiling Isles," Hunter mentioned. "Honestly, I kinda feel like I should have been there to see her off. Since we were both the Golden Guard at one point…"

"Oh, she's doing good," Zee told them. "Actually, I think she's thriving here. She's a little busy with some friends right now, but she's been doing good with herself and she even got a job here as a delivery witch. But enough talk. You're here for a beach day, aren't you?"

Lilith nodded. "Yes, I believe we are," she told Zee.

Zee grinned. "Then let me show you some of the best spots," she said as she began to lead Lilith, Hunter, and Hooty down the beach.

However, before Hunter began to follow Zee and Lilith, Flapjack chirped in his ear to get his attention. He turned his head and noticed Blazer just standing there on the beach, staring out into the Boiling Seas and the distant horizon. He walked back over to the disguised Hellhound. "Hey, you alright, Blazer?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, just… reminded of the last beach day I had," Blazer responded as he looked around. "It didn't… exactly end well…"

Hunter smiled. "Well, there's no use in dwelling on the past," he told Blazer. "If you focus entirely on what was, you'll never focus on what could be…"

And with that encouragement, the two boys followed Lilith and Zee further down the beach.

Meanwhile, Zara and Mel were still talking as they exited the cafe together.

"You know, it's so good to get to hang out with you again, Zara," Mel said as they walked side-by-side. "Especially with how… disappointing my other friends have been."

"Really? What were they like?" Zara asked.

"Ugh, where do I begin?" Mel asked with a rolling of her eyes. "There was Blazer, this Hellhound that was so pathetic that I had to take pity on him and let him tag along. Perhaps he could have made a pretty good pet, but in the end he couldn't keep up and had to be left behind. Then there's D-Josh, a djinn who was a real mama's boy. He couldn't help but reveal all of my secrets behind my back. So annoying."

"Tell me about it," Zara replied.

"And don't get me started on Serpy and her boy toy Eustace," Mel brought up. "Serpentina may be my cousin, but she only hangs out with me because I'm loaded and she's not while Eustace is a drug addict and a sad excuse for a pirate that Serpy strings along. And yet he thinks that she is totally in love with him. Can you believe that?" She laughed. "Oh, and then there's Jackson. We technically go back a while, but he is just some skunk-smelling Gambit-wannabe who kidnaps girls to be his bride, only for them to get their heads chopped off instead…"

"Seriously?" Zara asked in surprise.

"Yeah, his mom's a fucked up cookie. Probably more fucked up then my own mother… or Blazer's adopted mom, who's in literal Hell," Mel commented. "And then there's Trini…" She paused for a moment, which Zara noticed. But then Mel shook her head and continued. "Trini's a bitch who also talks behind my back a lot. And she tried to get me to cheat on my last boyfriend. Honestly. I don't get why I ever hung out with any of them in the first place. They only ever wanted something from me. Like Blazer wanted someone to care for him and D-Josh wanted his mom…"

Mel then turned to Zara. "But you, Zara, you're nothing like them. You didn't care about who I was or what my family was. You've always been pretty cool for a mortal."

"Um, thanks," Zara replied, a bit awkwardly. "Although… I'm still confused about one thing since you've gotten here. Mainly… how did you know that I'd be here? In this realm and, well, on this island?"

"Oh, well… I just do," Mel claimed. "Like, my 'goddess powers' can tell where you are. I, uh, sensed that you'd be here."

"Really? You… sensed me?" Zara asked her.

"Yeah! I can sense your soul all the way down here," Mel claimed. She then paused, thinking about something. "Say, what else are you doing right now?"

"Well… nothing at the moment," Zara replied.

"Hmm, then maybe we could get up to some mischief, for old times sake," Mel suggested.

Zara paused, immediately being unsure about the idea. "I… I'm not sure, Mel…"

"Come on, maybe it doesn't have to be big," Mel suggested. "We can just throw a spell at a person's feet, or crash into a wedding, or a birthday party, or whatever private party's thrown at."

"I… don't think so, Mel," Zara told her. "I don't want to draw any unnecessary attention to me right now. I have a cover to keep."

Mel gave a slight scoff at this, rolling her eyes some more. "Typical, you were always the cautious-type, even back in Oz," she said. "Even back then, you were too afraid to step out of line and face the Wizard's wrath…"

Zara paused when she learned Mel had said and it got her thinking about a memory that they had once shared together…

Several years ago, Mel and Zara were both flying over a desert together, Zara holding onto a broom while Mel sat behind her.

"So what's the deal with this desert?" Mel asked her while looking down.

"That is the Deadly Desert, which completely surrounds the Land of Oz and cuts it off from the rest of Nonestica, the continent that Oz is a part of," Zara explained. "The only way to cross the Deadly Desert is by either flying over it, or tunneling underneath it, something that the Nome King did a few times."

"Um, why can't it be crossed on foot?" Mel questioned..

"That's because the sands of these deserts turn living flesh into sand," Zara revealed, which shocked Mel.

"Dear Zeus…" Mel while looking down at the desert. "You aren't… going to try to push me down there, are you?"

Zara laughed. "Mel, if I wanted to try to kill you, do you think I would have warned you what the Deadly Desert did instead of just tricking you into stepping foot on it?" she asked her.

"Good point…" Mel said.

Once the two had successfully crossed over the Deadly Desert, they landed in a grove of trees in the land beyond the Deadly Desert. As Mel looked around, her eyes widened in awe. "Whoa…"

They had landed in a grove of trees… that had lunch boxes and dinner pails hanging from them instead of fruit.

"Lunch-Box Trees and Dinner-Pail Trees," Zara explained, seeing Mel's reaction. She pulled down two lunch boxes, handing one to Mel. Both girls opened up their lunch boxes and saw the contents of them.

"This reminds me of the type of stuff I sometimes saw in Wonderland," Mel mentioned as she began to eat her lunch.

"Wonder-what?" Zee asked her in confusion.

"Nevermind," Mel said, shaking her head. "So, um, remind me where exactly we are again?"

"We're in the Land of Ev," Zara explained to her. "A country that neighbors Oz. Ever since the defeat of the Nome King, the Land of Ev has become a lot more prominent thanks to their tinkerers and inventors. In fact, this land is a lot more technologically advanced than Oz and is responsible for all kinds of wonders, like flying machines they use to travel over the Deadly Desert and the mechanical Tik-Toks."

"Tik-Toks? Are they some kind of robots?" Mel asked her.

"What's a robot?" Zara asked.

"Well it… it's kinda… ah forget it," Mel said while eating her lunch. She had a disinterested expression on her face. "You know, I came here to mess around the Land of Oz, not in some other country that I've never heard of and wasn't even mentioned in the old 1939 movie."

"I don't know what that is…" Zara said. "Look, I'm sorry that we can't have some fun at Oz, but we have to be careful to not provoke the Wizard's wrath," Zara told her. "But here in Ev, we have free reign."

"Yeah, I'm starting to think you're not as 'wicked' as I had hoped," Mel said before they heard a squeaking noise nearby. "What's that noise?"

"Sounds like… squeaking," Zara said before her eyes widened and she stood up. "Wheelers!"

"YOU! THIEEEVES!" cried out the creatures that wheeled over to them. They had the form of men with longer limbs, except they rolled on all fours, having wheels instead of feet and hands. They wore colorful clothes, but had freakishly wrinkled faces with large jaws showing their crooked teeth. They were also wearing helmets and goggles.

"What the fuck?!" Mel exclaimed, standing up upon seeing these wheeled creatures.

"You! You dare steal lunch boxes that we had a claim over?!" the leader of the Wheelers accused.

"Let's wheel them to death!" another Wheeler suggested which the others in the group nodded in agreement.

"You ladies are in for it now! We're going to be the stuff of your nightmares!" a third Wheeler claimed.

Mel leaned over to Zara. "What the fuck are those things?" she whispered.

"Wheelers, they're a rare species that are native here to Ev," Zara whispered back while the Wheelers came in closer. "Don't worry, they may look freaky, but they're more of a minor nuisance around here than anything else."

"We heard that!" the leader shouted. "Get them, boys!"

However, Mel and Zara dealt with the Wheelers with little effort, easily using their long limbs to make them trip and fall on each other. Zara threw fireballs at their legs while Mel summoned roots to trip them.

"Yah!"

"Ow!"

"My wheels!"

"Wow, that was easy," Mel commented.

"Like I said, minor nuisance," Zara said.

"You… you all will pay for this!" the leader cried out as he and his gang picked themselves up.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Seriously, you guys aren't that threatening," Mel told them. "I mean, you have no hands to grab, punch, or kick with, no feet to kick with. What were you really expecting to do here? The stuff of nightmares, my foot," Mel mocked while sporting a grin. "But we can go for round two if you want…"

Realizing how out of their league they were, the leader of the Wheelers cried out "Run away!" before he and his Wheelers fled in terror.

Both Mel and Zara gave a laugh at seeing the Wheelers flee from them. Mel then turned to Zara. "You know, I'm no longer bored, I may have been wrong about this place. We could have some fun here after all…"

"I knew you'd come around," Zara replied with her own smile.

Back to Emily and the Mane Five in the present day, they had just finished going over their suspects.

"And that's about it," Emily said. "That's about everyone I know who would probably have a grudge against me and want to frame me."

"Well, that would just leave us with," Tabrella said as she looked over the board, which was filled with even more pictures and names. "Even more suspects than we thought."

"This is not getting us anywhere," Tracy complained.

"Yeah, we barely ruled anyone out," Jackie added. "If anything, the list just expanded."

Emily sighed. "I am sorry for having so many witches that just hate me."

"Maybe we're looking at this all wrong," Tabrella suggested while twirling a pen. "We keep focusing on the 'why' someone would want to frame Emily and not enough on the 'how'. Meaning, we need to figure out who would have the means to make Tracy think that she was being attacked by Emily."

"So how would they do it?" Lindsay asked.

"I'd say another Illusionist could have done it," Emily suggested. "The Glandus Illusionists were pretty much my spies back then, so they could potentially target me for either getting them into trouble or losing the war. It could also be a potion maker like Bolger, since a potion could be used to either mess with Tracy's senses or create a disguise for the attack."

"That would narrow it down," Andrea said.

"Alright, we should focus on any illusionists or potionists that you think could have done this," Tabrella said as she turned to Emily. "So who are your prime suspects?"

"Bolger is definitely one," Emily said before she realized something. She was quiet for a moment, as if considering something that she hadn't thought of before. She looked back at the photo of the witch who had attacked Tracy. "It also… might not be someone from Glandus…"

"Really?" Tabrella asked.

"I don't want it to be her, but…" Emily said before she realized something else. "Wait, there is also a potionist that I haven't considered… Vitimir."

"The former Potions Head?" Jackie asked.

Emily nodded. "Weevil Vitimir Breathton," she said. "He could have a grudge against me for ruining the Day of Unity, and he was never caught unlike the other Heads on Belo's side."

"Do you think he could have ended up here in Inwell Isles?" Lindsay asked.

Emily twirled her finger and created an illusion of Vitimir to look at. As she stared at the image, particularly his nose, she started to remember something.

"He might just have…"

"Yer askin' us about Vinny?"

Emily and the Mane Five were now in a tavern where they met up with Cups and Mugs, who were ordering some fast food at 'McTavern'.

"I know that Friz has had you make deliveries to Vinny," Emily told them. "I want to know where you made those deliveries to."

"Yes, we believe that this mysterious Vinny character may not be who he claims to be," Tabrella said as she placed her hand on their table.

"Sorry, but that's a big no," Mugs declared.

"What? Why not?!" Tracy asked him.

"Our integrity as delivery witches prevents us from selling out one of our clients," Mugs said. "Me and my brother will not share anything that would go against our principles, right Cups?"

"Right, Mugs," Cups replied. "I mean, I don't even remember most of my delivery routes away… unless I get some snails to jog my memory… but yer ain't gettin' nothin' out of me."

Tabrella gave him a nod and placed some snail bills at Cups's side. "Would twenty snails be enough?"

Cups looked down at the bills and took them. "Hmm, you know I think I'm startin' to remember…"

"Cups!" Mugs shouted at his brother. "Our integrity!"

While they dealt with the two Holder brothers, Lindsay noticed something.

"Where's Andrea?" she whispered to her friends.

Andrea was, in fact, sitting by at the bar with one of the locals. "Ooh, you do a lot of lifting?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I work with moving furniture," spoke the strong looking witch.

"Can you lift me as well?" Andrea asked while twirling her hair. "I mean, I can be a little… bottom heavy from the sweets I've eaten, or was it my top?" she asked while swaying her bottom half. "You think you can lift me up with those strong arms?"

"Andrea!" Jackie called out to her. "Let's go! We got a lead!"

"Coming!" Andrea replied before handing a number to the witch. "Call me," she told them before hopping back to her friends.

At the street fair, the trio of Cross, Donna, and Katie had gone to watch the archery contest. They, along with the rest of the gathered crowd, saw several archers lined up, aiming at their targets which they stood across from. One of the archers shot the last of their arrows at his target, which got the crowd to clap.

"Hmm, not bad," Cross commented.

"Yeah," Donna replied before the next contestant stepped up.

"And next up is Dirtmont! Will he beat Barrowman's record?"

Donna's eyes widened. "Dirtmont?" she asked as she stared at the dark-skinned witch man in his twenties. He has dark combed-over hair, green eyes, and a mustache. He wore a white, gold, and violet armored vest, with a red heart on the center. He also wore blue trousers, silver armored boots, silver wristbands, and a purple cape that came from his vest. He had an athletic and muscular build, similar to Tyrone.

"Wait, you know this guy?" Cross asked.

"Know him? That's Tyrone's eldest brother," she pointed out, surprising Cross.

"Eldest?!" Cross asked.

Dirtmont held his bow up and pulled back the arrow. He looked back to warn the crowd. "Stand back," he said before he looked back at the target. He lined his arrow up with the target while sporting a serious expression.

He then released the arrow, sending it flying until it hit the bullseye. He then grabbed another arrow and shot it at the same bullseye, which split the first arrow in half in the process. He did the same thing with the third effort, which also perfectly split the previous arrow shot.

"Wow! That's impressive! But let's see how he does well with the moving targets!"

Released into the air were several moving targets with wings. The targets fly around above everyone's heads, but Dirtmont just looked up with a smirk. He grabbed one of his arrows and began to shoot at the flying targets, hitting them one-by-one.

"Whoa…" Cross and Donna said in awe while Katie looked to be in awe as well.

Dirtmont managed to shoot each flying target, each of his arrows meeting their target with a bullseye, leaving the crowd in shock until he finished.

"Wow! That is amazing!" the announcer shouted. "And the judges agree! Dirtmont Ironwood wins!"

The crowd cheered, impressed by Dirtmont's skills in archery. Cross clapped along as well while Donna helped Katie to clap with her hands.

"I have to say, he's pretty skilled," Cross said.

"Yeah, and we should go say hi to him," Donna suggested. "Especially since I promised Ty that I would see him while I was over here."

Cross and Donna both walked over to Dirtmont, who was receiving his first place ribbon from the judge.

"Good shot, Mr. Ironwood," the judge praised.

"Thank you," Dirtmont replied with a bow. After the judge left, Donna spoke up.

"Excuse me, Dirtmont," she said, causing Dirtmont to turn to them.

"Oh, hey kids," he said with a smile. "Are you here for an autograph?"

"Um, no, actually," Donna admitted. "You see, my name is Donna, and this is Cross. We're friends of your brother, Tyrone."

"Yeah, back from the Boiling Isles," Cross added.

Hearing this, Dirtmont's smile grew even bigger. "Oh hey," he told Donna. "Ty has told me about you. Donna Masterskull. Great to finally meet you," he said as he shook Donna's hand before he turned to Cross. "Wait… aren't you the dragon kid?"

"Yeah, that's me," Cross acknowledged.

"And what about this little lady here?" Dirtmont asked as he pointed to Katie. "Is she yours?"

Donna and Cross both looked surprised by the question and they quickly corrected him

"No, no, she's not ours," Donna said.

"Katie belongs to a friend of ours," Cross clarified. "We're just watching over her for today."

"Ah, I see," Dirtmont replied with an understanding nod. "So what brings you all here then? Are you here on fall break vacation?"

"Yeah, though originally we came here to visit Cross's sister and another friend of his who has been living here," Donna said. "And Tyrone told me that if I saw you here, I should say hi to you for him."

"Well, that's nice of you to do that for him," he replied. "How is Ty doing back on the Isles?"

"Pretty good," Donna said. "Things on the Isles are actually kinda quiet right now. But what about you? How have you been doing, Dirtmont? Anything you've been up to that I can tell Ty about you when we get back?"

"Hmm, there are a few things," Dirtmont replied. "Although, I was actually about to go to meet up with some pals of mine at our usual spot. Would you guys want to tag along?"

"Sure, we can tag along," Donna replied.

"Yeah," Cross added. "Just… nothing too exciting," he reminded both Donna and Dirtmont as he gestured to Katie. "We have a baby with us."

"Oh, don't worry," Dirtmont reassured Cross. "It is just going to be a group of friends hanging out in the woods together…"

Back at the beach, Hunter and Blazer were both building sand castles while Zee was helping them out.

"Here you boys go," Zee said as she flew down with her dragon wings while buckets of water.

"Thanks Zee," Hunter replied as he and Blazer carried the buckets of water. "This should be enough for our sand castle!"

"Yeah," Blazer replied. "You think we should dig and make a, um, whatever you call the thing that surrounds a castle and you fill it with water?"

"A moat? Yeah, we could do that," Hunter agreed as they got building.

"What do you guys plan to build?" Zee asked them.

"Well… maybe we should build a castle like the ones that were abandoned in parts of the Boiling Isles," Hunter said.

"Maybe the Emperor's Castle? Or whatever castle it is now," Blazer suggested. "Or would that be in poor taste…"

"Nah, that's not a bad suggestion at all, Blaze," Hunter assured him.

"Blaze?" Blazer asked, his eyebrow raised.

"I mean, well, I thought that could be your nickname," Hunter responded, rubbing the back of his head. "I-If you don't mind, at least…"

"Hmm, I think I like it," Blazer replied with a smile. "I mean, it's short and simple. So if you just want to call me 'Blaze', I don't mind at all. Especially since nobody's ever called me that before."

"Really? Nobody has ever called you 'Blaze'?" Zee asked in surprise. "Seems kinda obvious."

"I didn't have good friends in the past…" Blazer muttered.

And so the three of them began to build a sand replica of the Emperor's Castle, which soon began to take shape.

"You know, I am wondering…" Zee mentioned while she helped Hunter and Blazer. "What is going to happen to the Emperor's Castle? Has that been discussed at all?"

"I… don't know," Hunter admitted. "I mean, it could be used by the new government, but it would be impossible to unassociate that castle with all the atrocities Belos committed and everything that he and the Emperor's Coven represented, so I doubt it. Maybe the place will be turned into a museum…" He paused. "You know, it is weird to think that I used to consider that place my home. And even after everything… I think I still have a strange bond to it. At the very least, I don't want to see the castle torn down. I-"

"Hey, are you guys done with your sand castle, yet?" Hooty asked, interrupting their conversation. "Cause me and Lulu have made the best one!"

Zee, Hunter, and Blazer turned and saw the enormous sand castle that Hooty and Lilith had made. They noticed something very… familiar about it.

"Hey, doesn't that look like… the Owl House?" Hunter pointed out.

"Yes… well, I did suggest to Hooty that we build a place of significance," Lilith replied. "And he did most of the work while I just helped with the… finishing touches."

"I think this is a life-sized recreation," Zee said while staring at the sand building in awe. "Just… how did you make this so fast, you guys?!"

"That's the power of off-screen! Would you like to come in and look around? Look, I'm in the door now!" Hooty shouted while he appeared through the sand door of the replica of the Owl House. "Hoot-Hoot! Call me Sandy Hooty!"

As Hooty opened the door for them, the three witches (and one Hellhound) walked inside and saw the sand interior. It was an exact replica of the inside of the living room, including the stairs that led to where Eda's room would be.

"Wow, this place looks exactly like the actual Owl House," Hunter commented while looking around.

"Well, Hooty knew the Owl House better than anyone else, since he lived in it long before Eda did," Lilith said before noticing how Zee was staring at the sand walls. "What do you think, Zee?"

"It… it looks amazing," Zee commented while looking at the 'pictures' of the Owl Family, drawn on the sand walls. "This is… about as close as I can get to visiting cousin Eda's old home…"

"Wait, you never got to go into the Owl House?" Blazer asked.

"My brother did, but the place got torched by coven scouts before I could visit it," Zee replied, looking down with a saddened expression. "I'm… honestly jealous that he got to visit the infamous Owl House, while I never got the chance." She turned to Lilith and Hunter. "Have they started rebuilding the Owl House, at least?"

"Sadly, we haven't," Lilith admitted. "So much has been going on in the Boiling Isles that we haven't had any time to start rebuilding it."

"There's still plans to rebuild it eventually, but right now there is just too much going on, especially with the shortage of supplies," Hunter mentioned.

"Wait, there is a shortage of supplies?" Zee asked, concerned.

"It's… complicated," Lilith admitted. "Though at the moment, it isn't anything too serious."

"Oh, alright," Zee said, frowning. "But what about Eda and King? How are they doing?"

"Oh, they're doing great," Lilith confirmed. "Eda's been doing quite well at the orphanage, and King has been a great help there."

"Yeah, he's quite popular with the kids," Hunter said. "Of course, ever since word about him being the son of the Titan got out, Eda and King became Boiling Isles celebrities with their celebrity status easily overshadowing their previous infamy."

"Sounds like they're living the good, popular life," Zee replied.

"Yes… and they hate it," Lilith responded with a chuckle. "Well, Eda didn't mind it at first, but do you know how many witches have been asking her if the son of the Titan could bless their children with good fortune?"

"King kept getting offers to write a memoir about himself, and this one guy built him a throne made out of swords for him to sit on," Hunter brought up.

"A throne of swords?" Zee asked, wincing a little. "That sounds like the most uncomfortable chair to ever sit on…"

"Hey! Leave the Owl House alone, you birds!" Hooty cried out from outside.

Hearing Hooty, the four exited out of the Sand House and saw Hooty outstretching his neck to try to scare off the seagulls that were sitting on the Sand House.

"Back! Back I say!" Hooty shouted before parts of the Sand House started to crumble. "No! Stop! It'll collapse!" he cried as he waved them off before he saw one seagull in front of the eye of the Sand House. Hooty ran through it, which caused the whole Sand House to collapse. "NOOOO!"

They all watched as the entire Sand House fell, reduced to a pile of sand. After a moment, only Hooty rose up from the sand.

"Hey, are you alright, Hooty?" Blazer asked.

Hooty sniffed. "NOOOO! The Owl House… it's gone! Again!" he cried as he rested his head on the sandy pile.

"Is this… new behavior for him?" Zee whispered to Hunter.

"No," Hunter said with a sigh. "Hooty has been keeping a brave face, but… the loss of the Owl House is still hurting him in ways I think he doesn't want to admit."

"Hoostifer, I'm so sorry this happened," Lilith told him as she walked over and patted his head. "I know you worked so hard on it."

"Yeah, sorry for that to happen," Zee said.

"Let us all have a moment of silence for the fall of this sandy home," Hooty said as he, Lilith, and everyone else tilted their heads down in respectful silence. All mourned for the fall of the Sand House… until Hooty raised his head back up. "So is there a tea shop around here? I'm hungry now."

Back in the past, Zara and Mel were now outside the city of Evna, the capital city of the Land of Ev. It was found in a beautiful vale that had many fruit trees and green fields while being surrounded by farmhouses and smooth roads that went in every direction. At the center of the valley was the royal palace with its tall, glittering spires, while the palace grounds were decorated with flowers, shrubbery, and marble statues. Unusually, the building appeared to have only one wing, with two of them being torn down.

"I will admit, this is a pretty land," Mel said as she and Zara admired the palace from a distance. "So who is there?"

"Princess Lanwidere, the occasional regent of Ev," Zara explained.

"Princess… what kind of princess is she?" Mel asked.

"At best, she's vain and lazy," Zara described. "And we're here to steal her head collection."

This piqued Mel's curiosity. "When you say her 'head collection', do you mean…?"

"Actual, living heads," Zara said with a smirk. "Body-less."

Mel smirked, looking definitely interested now. "Ooh, she sounds like someone I know who loves chopping off heads," she commented.

"Langwidere has a collection of about thirty exchangeable heads she keeps in a cabinet constructed of solid gold and studded with gems," Zara explained, going over their little heist. "Each head is said to be extremely beautiful, and instead of changing her clothing like most princesses, she simply changes her head to match her current state of mood whenever she pleases…"

"That sounds morbid… and I love it," Mel said with a bright smile. "It would be really funny to steal her heads."

"So you're in?" Zara asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm in," Mel said.

Later, Mel and Zara had managed to infiltrate the palace without getting noticed. The two snuck down the hall together, heading for Langwidere's living chambers. Mel used her magic to unlock her door, which silently opened and allowed them to get inside the room.

Zara tapped Mel's shoulder and pointed to the bed where Langwidere's body rested. Mel saw that on the glittering bed was a headless body laying still. Zara led Mel to the bed, motioning for her to be silent.

"Do we really have to be quiet?" Mel asked. "If she doesn't have a head, then she shouldn't have ears to hear us, right?"

Regardless, the two mischievous girls spotted the ruby red key that Langwidere wore on a chain around her wrist. Once they were next to her bed, Mel had her shadow retrieve the key, removing it from the princess and placing it in Mel's hand.

"Got the key," Mel said in a whisper.

"Now to complete the heist," Zara replied.

They silently went across the room, Zara leading Mel to a golden cabinet that was studded with gems. Mel used the key to open the cabinet door, revealing that it led into a walk-in closet. Mel stared in shock and awe, seeing the many, many beautiful female heads on display, each with flawless skin and rich hair. All of them had their eyes closed.

"Wow… now this is messed up," Mel commented before turning to Zara and smiling. "We should totally play around with them, right?"

Zara gave her a smirk. "I do love a good game of catch…"

And so, Mel and Zara took several of the heads out of their cases. The two silently laughed as Mel threw one of the heads over to Zara, who managed to catch it. Zara then threw another head for Mel to catch.

"Catch!" Mel said before throwing another head at her side.

Zara barely managed to catch it before it hit the floor. "Got it!"

The two girls continued playing with the heads, Zara grabbing three heads to juggle around as Mel held up one head with her finger and spun it around like it was a basketball. This continued for a while, the girls messing with the disembodied heads… until the head that Zara was holding suddenly opened its eyes and stared at the green-skinned witch.

"Shit…" Zara replied as she and the head stared at each other.

"INTRUDERS!" the head screamed as the other heads opened their eyes and began to scream as well. "INTRUDERS!"

"Quick! Grab as many and let's hit the road, Jack!" Mel shouted while shoving a bunch of the screaming heads into a sack.

"Who are you calling Jack?!" Zara asked as she put the screaming head she was holding into the sack. As they finished collecting the heads, they saw Langwidere's headless body lifting itself up out of the bed and preparing to chase after them. The two quickly ran out of the room, past the headless princess.

"Wait, couldn't we just teleport our way out of here?" Zara asked.

"Nah, running's part of the fun!" Mel shouted as they continued to run while the heads, both the ones in the sack and the ones they had left behind, still screamed and the headless princess chased after them, though it moved more like a chicken that had lost its head.

The two girls easily put some distance between them and the headless princess, but their intrusion had not gone unnoticed by the others in the palace…

"STOP!" shouted a booming voice.

The two paused, slowly turning around as they heard loud, heavy footsteps. They saw a large shadow on the wall as they heard something coming around the corner.

"Prepare yourselves to face the wrath of the Royal Army of Ev!" declared the intimidating voice coming from the other hall.

The two girls got in position and prepared themselves to fight whatever was coming for them, just as it came around the corner…

…and it revealed itself to be a slow-moving copper Tik-Tok with a circular body, a circular head that had a copper bowler hat, teal lens eyes, a mechanical mustache, and jointed limbs with heavy cylinder boots.

"Stop in the name of the princess!" Tik-Tok ordered as he went after the two… slowly.

Very slowly.

After a moment, both Mel and Zara relaxed.

Mel leaned over to Zara. "Should we…?"

"Let's just run, he won't catch us," Zara replied before the two ran away from Tik-Tok.

"Wait! Come back!" Tik-Tok cried out as he tried to chase the girls, but thanks to his slow mobility, they easily outran him.

But as the girls continued to run, they heard footsteps in front of them. And coming out of a door were actual guards.

"Halt! In the name of the princess!" the head guard declared.

"Great," Zara said in annoyance while turning to Mel. "Know how to fight?"

"I know more than twenty ways to kill a man," Mel replied while getting in a fighting stance. "But I won't waste them on these chumps."

The guards charged at the two, who were more than ready to fight. Zara jumped up high to deliver a kick to the head guard, while Mel used her magic to air punch three of them into the wall. A few other guards tried to attack them with their spears, but Mel and Zara flipped over the spears as Mel swung the bag of heads to hit one guard while Zara shot a fireball at the rear end of another.

"AIEE!" the guard cried while he ran off with a flaming behind.

Zara smirked before she saw Mel kicking around some guards, including placing her hands down and spinning herself around, having her legs kick the guards around in a spin before she got back up and drop kicked a guard down to the floor.

"Where'd you learn those moves?" Zara asked.

"From a video game," Mel replied.

"A what game?" Zara asked in confusion, not noticing the last guard coming at her.

"Zara, your left!" Mel cried out.

Zara turned to see one guard raising his sword at her. But Zara didn't move as the sword swiped down at her… only to hit a red smoke instead.

"Huh?" the guard questioned before feeling a tap on the shoulder. He turned around, only to be met with a fist to the face, knocking him down to the floor.

"Nice trick," Mel commented, hoisting the bag back up.

"Thanks," Zara replied, looking around at all of the guards they had managed to knock down. "Think that was the last one for now."

"Halt! By the orders of the Army of Ev!" declared Tik-Tok, who had managed to catch up to them while they were fighting the guards.

"Oh no! Whatever we gonna do?" Mel asked in a mocking tone before she and Zara dashed away.

"Come back here, you scoundrels!" Tik-Tok shouted.

"No way that slow-paced copper is going to catch us!" Mel shouted as she ran.

"Yeah," Zara replied as she looked over her shoulder. "But we should hurry before more guards show up." She then looked back, only to see that Mel was gone. "Mel? Mel?!" she asked while looking around. She saw no Mel, no bag of heads. "Shit! Did she just ditch me?!"

"The thieves must be this way!"

Zara's eyes widened when she heard the sounds of more guards coming her way.. "Craptastic," she muttered while looking around for a place to hide. She saw another door in the hall, and without a second thought she ran into that room.

Once she shut the door behind her, she began to look around. "What the…" she said as she realized that she was in some sort of workshop. A workshop that felt familiar to her…

This room contained all kinds of mechanical wonders and tik-toks, some finished, others unfinished. She saw mechanical animals, mechanical puppets, and a table that was covered with parts, tools, and blueprints. There were also shelves that were filled with books and extra bits of machinery.

"This place," Zara said as she looked around the workshop until something caught her eye, something that was on another table. Her eyes widened when she recognized the object…

A crystal ball.

But not just any crystal ball.

She slowly walked over to the valuable item and once she was closer, she lifted her hand up and began to reach it toward the crystal ball, wondering what it would show her if she touched it once again… when she heard the sound of the door opening.

"Zara?" a voice asked.

Her hand stopping, Zara spun around to see who had come into the room. She instinctively raised her hand up, as if to cast a fireball… but then she stopped when she saw who it was.

"Zara… is that you?" asked the inventor named Morgan…

Back in the present day, Emily and the Mane Five stood in front of a local theater.

"Mrs. Lanz's theater," Emily said, recognizing the location. "Why would Vitimir be hiding here?"

"Hmm… I say we should just break into the place!" Andrea suggested.

"Absolutely not," Tabrella told her. "We're not going to just break into the place."

"Yeah, we don't want to get arrested," Jackie pointed out.

"Yeah, and I don't want to be in handcuffs again," Tracy said, crossing her arms.

"Aw, sometimes you guys are no fun," Andrea complained, pouting slightly.

"What's so fun about breaking and entering?" Lindsay asked, confused.

"Regardless, how are we going to get inside to investigate without drawing suspicion?" Tabrella asked as Emily had a thought.

"I do remember that Mrs. Lanz asked me if I was interested in auditioning for one of her shows," Emily said as she turned to them. "That could be our cover story. We tell Ms. Lanz that we heard about her auditions and we use that as an opportunity to look around the theater."

"Ooh! I love that plan!" Andrea declared.

"Yes, that sounds efficient," Tabrella considered while Lindsay and Jackie nodded in agreement.

However, Tracy had to raise an objection.

"Um, one problem," she said. "There is a chance that Mrs. Lanz is in cahoots with Vitimir, right? So if Emily auditions, wouldn't that potentially tip Vitimir off?"

"I won't be doing auditions," Emily said before twirling her finger to cast an illusion on herself. "But Mildred Tracks will."

"Ah, greetings! What can I do for you girls?" Mrs. Lanz asked Emily and the Mane Five after letting them into the theater.

"Hello, we're here because we heard you were holding auditions for your plays," the disguised Emily explained. "Is that true?"

"Ah, so you heard about my soon-to-be award winning Broomway hit, 'Conformatorium Tango'?" Mrs. Lanz asked as she pulled up a poster which had a drawing of a witch on a chair striking a pose. "It is the tale of a wild witch who is serving her time in the Conformatorium, her life in imprisonment told through interpreted dancing!"

"Oooh, sounds interesting!" Andrea commented.

"Um, yes, we heard about your show," Tabrella said. "You are holding auditions, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes," Mrs. Lanz said. "Though I am not letting anyone see my script just yet. Not until the cast is finalized. But I do have a bunch of exercises we can do where you can show off your acting talents to me!" She clapped her hands together. "Ah, I can't wait to see what you girls got!" she shouted as she led them to the auditorium.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Lanz sat in the seating area of the theater, a clipboard in her hands. "Alright, you can begin whenever you're ready!" she shouted as she prepared to take notes.

Lindsay, who was up on stage first, looked down at the sample script she had been given. "Um… 'Oh, I'm just a bright eyed… um…'" When she looked back up at the empty auditorium and the watching Mrs. Lanz, she suddenly froze up while her eyes widened, her stage fright getting the best of her. "Uh…"

Emily, as Mildred Tracks, cleared her throat as she began her script reading. "By the pricking of my thumbs," she said, giving it her all while dramatically holding her thumb up in the air. "Something wicked this way comes."

"'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,'" Jackie said before she read over the rest of the script and frowned. "This script is a little dark, don't ya think? Anything a little more family friendly? What if there were kids in the audience?"

Lindsay was still standing there, frozen with stage fright. "Um… can I get something with less lines please?"

"This city, this town, this country," Tabrella said while sitting on a chair, her feet on top of a table also placed on the stage. She was holding a bottle of soda, still in-character as her detective persona. "The whole world reeks worse than spoiled salmon on sale at the market. In this world, you either take from others to get higher in life, or you live with what you got. Me? Well, I may have fallen into the middle…"

Tracy held a guitar and strummed it, playing a song.

"Since I was a young bird, I've played some grudgeby ball, from Scooters and Merlin, I've must've played it all!" she sang as she strung her guitar. "But you haven't seen nothing like me in this audition hall, this bard playing bird girl, sure plays a mean skinball!"

Lindsay continued to botch her audition.

"Okay, maybe… I should be a tree," Lindsay said as she held up some branches. "I mean, I don't have to do anything but stand still, right? Or am I a singing tree? Oh, I'm so sorry if I'm wasting time here…"

Andrea was on stage in a black leotard with gray stockings, black top hat, bowtie, white gloves, and black heel boots. She was holding a cane, music playing as she sang.

"Come on, babe, why don't we paint the town?" Andrea sang as she swung her hips. "And all that jazz!" She tipped her hat as she took some steps. "I'm gonna rouge my knees and roll my stockings down," she sang as she stepped on a chair. "And all that jazz!"

"Start the worm, I know a whoopee spot, where the blood is cold but the piano's hot!" Andrea sang while shaking her hips, still standing on the chair. "It's just a noisy hall, where there's a nightly brawl, and all-" She bumped to the left. "That!" She moved her hips to the right. "Jazz~!"

After the solo auditions wrapped up, Mrs. Lanz gathered the girls on the stage while looking at her clipboard.

"Well, you girls do have some acting chomps," Mrs. Lanz commented. "Well, some of you do," she said while glancing at Lindsay, who looked down out of embarrassment. "But… I want to see more of your potential. Acting alone is one thing, acting with others is another. I want you six to be split into pairs so that I can see how well you do with acting with a partner."

"That sounds nice," Lindsay said. "Working with someone would probably help."

"Correct!" Mrs. Lanz declared "And I know just who to pair with who…"

First on stage were Jackie and Tracy, who looked at each other before Mrs. Lanz called them out.

"Alright, Tracy, you are a coach who is helping out your apprentice to win the match against her opponent. Jackie, you're the star skinnis player who doesn't believe she can't do this. Improvisation is encouraged," she said into her megaphone. "And… action!"

Tracy and Jackie both started to get into character, Tracy clearing her throat. "What are ya doin', ya bum? You go out dere and show that bum that yer the best skinnis player!" she shouted while phoning in an accent.

"There's no… way that I… can… go out there- and, do this, coach," Jackie responded, struggling a bit. "I… I'm not so sure… um, that I can… do this?"

"Of course you can! Because…" Tracy tried to think of a line. "Um, that you can!"

"Tabrella, Mildred," Mrs. Lanz said while the two were on stage. "I like your detective character, Tabrella, but let's see how you'd work with a femme fatale character… played by Mildred here, of course."

Tabrella and Emily looked at each other, exchanging awkward glances.

"And… action!"

Tabrella took a deep breath and got into character, looking back over at Emily. "Well, Ms. Tracks, looks like I found you near the scene of the crime again. Strange how you always show up in the most inconvenient places. Makes me start to wonder if it is more than just bad luck that is causing you to keep crossing my path."

Also taking a deep breath, Emily got into character as well, moving her hair over her left side of her face while placing her hands on her hips, "Why, I don't know what you mean, detective. I'm just a… lonesome witch who is just a pawn in someone else's scheme."

"I'd like to believe that, toots," Tabrella said while walking over to her.

"And would you like to put those eyes back as well?" Emily asked while sitting back in a chair while crossing her legs. "Or do you like what you see?"

Tabrella was taken slightly aback by this, but she cleared her throat. "What I don't like is wasting time, which is what your doing right now, Ms. Tracks. You're in the center of my case!"

"Oh no, no, no, Detective! You've got it… all… wrong!" Emily shouted as she stood up, swaying her hips as she walked around Tabrella. "You've got no idea what it's like for a witch like me in a world like this, filled with heartache and betrayal…"

"Oh, I am familiar with the way the world works," Tabrella said as she faced Emily so that they were both eye to eye. "And I am also familiar with witches just like you…"

"I'm not bad, I'm just crafted that way," Emily replied while looking back at Tabrella.

"Hmm, I think you're trying to seduce me, Ms. Tracks," Tabrella pointed out.

"Am I?" Emily asked as she tilted her head, the two staring at each other.

From the seats, Tabrella's friends watched them in awe.

"Woah, those two are really intense," Andrea commented in a whispered tone.

"Yeah, they have surprisingly good chemistry," Jackie said, nodding in agreement. "And I'll admit, Tabs and Emily are a lot better than we are."

"Hey, I thought we did pretty well," Tracy whispered back.

"Oh, I don't feel good about going on after them," Lindsay complained.

Next, Lindsay and Andrea were up on stage, Lindsay looking pretty nervous.

"Andrea, you're a soldier in an army while Lindsay, you are the sergeant who gives command!" Mrs. Lanz instructed.

"Um, exactly what I'm-" Lindsay was about to ask, but Lanz interrupted her.

"Action!"

Lindsay jumped a little before turning to Andrea. "Um… name… private?" she asked, sounding unsure and hesitant.

"Private Andrea Pinkjoy, ma'am!" Andrea shouted while giving a salute.

"Um… okay, um… maybe, I don't know…" Lindsay said as she twiddled her fingers nervously, not sure what she should do.

"I will follow your orders to the T, ma'am!" Andrea shouted, startling Lindsay.

"Okay," Lindsay said. "Why don't you…" She looked over at the empty seats, spotting Mrs. Lanz and her friends. "Um…" She then started to whimper, feeling dizzy in the head. "What were we doing again…?"

Once the auditions were over, Mrs. Lanz looked over her notes. "Hmm, alright," she told the girls, who were all standing on stage. "I'll be right back, I just have to grab something real quick."

Mrs. Lanz left the auditorium, the girls quickly turning to each other.

"What now?" Jackie whispered.

"Now we look around," Tabrella told them. "But I think we are going to need someone to distract Mrs. Lanz while we-"

"Ooh!" Andrea shouted. "I can do it! I can be the distraction!"

Moments later, Mrs. Lanz came back out, but before she could say anything, Andrea popped up.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Lanz!" Andrea shouted, startling her. "I've got some questions that I'd like to ask you, if you don't mind her."

Mrs. Lanz thought about it, tapping her finger on her mouth before giving Andrea a silent thumbs up, telling her it was okay to ask away.

"So when was this theater founded? What got you into theater? Why did you decide to run your own theater?" Andrea asked, bombarding the quiet Mrs. Lanz with questions while the other girls snuck backstage.

"Come on," Tabrella whispered as she, Emily, Lindsay, Tracy, and Jackie walked behind the curtains as Andrea was keeping Mrs. Lanz busy.

"And can you tell me what materials you used to make the seating? And how did you get the balcony built up?" Andrea kept asking her many, many questions while Mrs. Lanz just looked at her strangely.

Backstage, the girls looked around.

"So where would this 'Vinny' be, if he's here at all?" Jackie asked.

"Every theater backstage should always have a dressing room for the actors," Tabrella said. "But even if he isn't there, we could find clues."

Emily spotted a nearby costume rack where something caught her eye. She walked over to the rack and picked up a yellow scarf that was hanging there. "This scarf…"

"What have we here?"

Emily and the girls turn to see Vinny having come backstage, the trenchcoated figure glaring at the five. "You aren't supposed to be here…"

"Oh, um…" Emily said as she backed away. "Sorry, we were just… curious about what things looked like backstage."

"Precisely," Tabrella said, backing up as well. "We had no idea this was off limits, sir."

"Hmm, I see," Vinny said as he looked at them before he narrowed his eyes at the disguised Emily. "Honestly, I was thinking here that I would have to be the one to come to you, 'Mildred', but it looks like you saved me the trouble."

"I… don't know what you mean," Emily tried to deny.

"Wait, what you- AAH!"

"Andrea?!" Tracy shouted as the girls rushed back through the curtains, having heard Andrea's cry.

"Oh no…" Lindsay said, spotting Andrea knocked out on the floor while Mrs. Lanz stood over her, smiling while holding up an umbrella.

"Andrea!" the girls cried out.

"Think fast, Tricks!"

The girls turned to see Vinny, now revealing himself as Vitimir, holding up a potion and throwing it at them.

"Look out!" Emily shouted as they tried to dodge, but it was too late. The potion broke at their feet and they all got hit by the potion's magic…

Meanwhile, the trio of Donna, Cross, and Katie followed Dirtmont into the woods.

"So your friends hang out in the woods?" Cross asked while looking around.

"Yeah, we like to hang out away from the crowds where we can enjoy our privacy," Dirtmont explained as he saw the campsite up ahead. "We're here… in Shriekwood Forest."

Cross and Donna came to a stop, seeing the campsite up ahead. There were a few tents, a fire pit, and a hammock strung between two trees. But despite that, there was nobody there, leaving Donna and Cross confused.

"Um, I don't see anyone," Cross said.

"Are they off somewhere else?" Donna asked while holding Kay.

"Nah, they're here, they're just a tad shy," Dirtmont said before he called out to his unseen friends. "They're cool, guys! They're with me!"

Moments later, four individuals jumped down from the trees, much to the surprise of Donna and Cross.

"Well, well, looks like we got ourselves some guests…" said a fox biped demon woman as she stood up. She had orange fur with blue eyes, bangs to the sides, a blue nose, and a white underbelly from her mouth to her neck. She wore a green poncho with a brown button coat underneath, a red belt, green cargo pants, and black boots. Her tail was sticking out, while her hood was connected to her poncho. "Friends of yours, Irons?" she asked in a serious tone.

"Yeah, they're friends of my little brother," Dirtmont said.

"Little Ty's friends huh? Well then…" she said as she pulled her hood down and gave a bright smile. "Happy to finally meet ya!" She gave a laugh as she held her hand up. "Donna Masterskull, right?"

"Oh, um, hello," Donna replied while shaking her hand. "And yes, my name is Donna, and this is my boyfriend, Cross."

"Hey there," Cross waved to them.

"Nice to meet you too. You know, I've heard a lot about both of you," the fox woman mentioned. "You two have been pretty busy back on the Boiling Isles."

"And you two have a very cute kid," said a blue-haired witch woman with amber eyes and hot pink skin. She wore a brown jacket with a black shirt, a red scarf around her neck, blue shorts, and thigh-high brown boots with flower patterns on them.

"Oh no, Katie isn't ours!" Donna quickly corrected. "She's our friend's kid that we're watching over."

"Yeah, we're just bringing her around with us until we give her back to her mom," Cross said.

"In any case, we're honored to finally meet two members of LOWTH," the fox biped woman said. "The name's Errol, a friend of Dirt's. We go way back…"

"Yeah," Dirtmont responded while patting Errol on the shoulder. "This buzzkill is almost as good a shot at arrows as me."

"Eh?! Bold words from the second best!" Errol told him off. "Are you looking to challenge me again, Monty?!"

"Anytime, Errol," Dirtmont responded with a smirk.

"Come on, guys, let's not fight in front of the guests," said a short badger biped demon with black stripes over his brown eyes. He wore a purple hooded robe with a brown sash. He went to greet Donna, Cross, and Katie. "You will have to forgive them, these two are always like this. Now as for other introductions, I'm Finley, that one over there is Ria."

"Sup," Ria, the blue-haired witch woman, said as she waved to them.

"And I'm James," said a large blackish-brown bear demon who wore a black vest, a metal chestplate, and shoulder armor. He also wore beige cargo pants and black sandals.

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way, are you hungry?" Errol asked the teens. "Because we can share our jerky with you guys."

"Sure, and thank you," Donna said as she and Cross followed Dirtmont and his friends to some logs around the firepit, where they sat down as James passed out some jerky.

"So what do you guys exactly do around here?" Cross asked while eating the jerky.

"Oh, you know, we do a lot of community service," Ria replied while sitting next to Errol, who was eating her jerky.

"That's right," Errol replied. "We like to help witches in need."

"Ooh, that sounds great," Donna replied, sounding intrigued. "I think your brothers would be proud of you for that, Dirtmont."

"Well, they do look up to me," Dirtmont replied as he ate. "So I imagine they would."

Donna then turned to Errol. "But I'm honestly surprised that you've heard of LOWTH," she admitted. "Where did you hear about us?"

"Oh, I've been a fan of your little team since you guys broke up that trafficking ring," Errol explained. "We even heard about it all the way here and since then I have tried to stay up-to-date on your activities. I really admire your work."

"Yeah, you guys are true heroes," Finley said, his tone one of admiration.

"Especially with how you all stood up to the corrupt Emperor's Coven," Ria said with a smile. "Very inspiring stuff, Wonder Witch."

Donna looked fluttered as she gave a small smile. "Well, do it because it was the right thing to do," she admitted. "Because we wanted to help witches. Because we… we had to do something."

"And what about you, Cross?" Ria asked him. "I know that Donna is the leader, but what is your role in LOWTH?"

"Oh, well… truthfully, I'm not an official member," Cross replied. "I mean, Lindsay is…"

"Who's Lindsay?" James asked.

"My girlfriend." Cross replied, causing everyone to just stare at him. "I mean, my other girlfriend…"

"Well, that just got interesting," Errol replied with an amused look. "I want to know more…"

However, before Cross or Donna could try to explain themselves, Ria was staring at Katie, who was still in Donna's lap. "Wait, so if this kid isn't yours, then who does she belong to?"

"Well, she belongs to her mother, Tabrella," Donna replied while sharing some jerky with Katie.

"Tabrella…" Ria whispered as she put two and two together, her eyes widening in realization. "Wait, is she… a Diamantos?"

"Yeah," Donna answered, which shocked Ria.

"Really?" Ria asked as she stared at Katie in quiet shock, the baby innocently looking back at Ria before making a little laugh.

Meanwhile, the group consisting of Zee, Lilith, Hunter, Blazer, and Hooty had gone to a food shack to have some snacks. While there, Zee was recounting her time on the Inwell Isles… and not everyone was happy to hear what she had to say.

"What?!" Blazer shouted, standing up after hearing Zee's recounting of what happened at the circus. "Eustace and Serpentina were here?!"

"Yeah," Zee confirmed. "Although I didn't know their names at first, when I told Cross and Donna about it, Donna recognized them from my description. A pirate werecroc who was a pyromaniac and a sea-witch pirate who held a grimoire. Me and Emily were able to stop them from robbing the circus and hurting anyone, but I don't know where they are now. If they know what's good for them, they would have fled the Inwell Isles…"

"I can't believe this…" Blazer said as he looked down, his hands tightening into fists, causing Hunter to look at him in concern. "Those two… I can't believe they were here…"

"Blaze…" Hunter said as he patted him on the back, helping Blazer sit back down.

"This is concerning, knowing that those two dangerous criminals are still running loose," Lilith said with a frown. "Hopefully, the authorities here will be aware of them."

Zee just scoffed. "Yeah, right. The authorities here aren't much help. They're just volunteers who don't even know how to do their job. Hell, when Kay got kidnapped by goblins, they did nothing but waste time eating at Goonla's restaurant."

"Kay was kidnapped?!" Lilith asked in shock.

"By goblins?!" Hooty asked after eating his bugburger.

"Yes, but don't worry. Me, Emily, and Levi managed to get to the ship where those goblins had Kay and we managed to rescue her," Zee replied while munching on a fry. "Although I had to kill the Goblin King before we got away."

"You killed the Goblin King?" Hunter asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but it was… in self defense," Zee claimed. "But hey, Kay's safe. That's what matters, what? But still, the authorities are useless, especially when led by that dumbass turtle."

"Are they really that bad?" Hooty asked her.

"The worst," Zee clarified. "The only thing they actually know how to do right is to chain up and lock Lupe in prison."

"Wait, Lupe?" Blazer asked in shock. "You mean, he's alive?!"

"That werewolf Donna took out back at the castle?" Lilith asked in shock while Hunter and Hooty looked shocked as well.

"Yeah," Zee responded with a nod. "Before you ask, I have no idea how he survived his death. Me and my friends got clobbered by the guy, but he was finally taken down thanks to Lindsay, who beat that guy down until he was out."

"Lindsay… Lindsay Shystream beat Lupe?" Hunter asked.

"Yup, as Madstream," Zee replied.

"Oh yeah, that makes sense," Hunter admitted. "Honestly, I almost forgot she could Hulk out."

"It is quite impressive that Lindsay was the one who defeated Lupe," Lilith replied while giving it some thought. "Of course, I think I would like to meet with the local authorities here to discuss what should happen to Lupe now that he is in their custody. Lupe… has a lot of crimes to answer for back on the Boiling Isles."

"Well, giving him an execution is probably out of the question, since he could come back," Zee said while looking at Blazer, noticing how uncomfortable he looked with the knowledge that Lupe was alive. "Wait, did you know him? Come to think of it, what is your deal with Eustace and Serpentina?"

Blazer didn't answer right away. He was silent for a moment, letting out a deep sigh before he spoke. "The thing is, Eustace and Serpentina… used to be my friends… in a sense."

This surprised Zee. "They were?"

Blazer looked up, noticing that Lilith and Hunter were both looking at him, but in a non-judgmental manner. This gave him the encouragement to continue.

"You could say that I was part of the wrong crowd," Blazer admitted, with a tone and expression conveying shame. "Do you remember… Mel?"

Zee scoffed in disgust. "Of course I do," she said. "That psycho goddess? Who could have forgotten her?"

Blazer nodded. "Well, I was a part of Mel's friend group," he revealed.

"What?!" Zee expressed in surprise. "You were friends with that bitch?!"

Blazer winced at this. "Please don't use that word," he told Zee. "I really don't like it when others use that word…"

"Oh, sorry," Zee said, though she was confused why that word would mean something to Blazer. "But seriously, how did you end up in a friend group with her?"

Blazer took a deep breath. "Honestly… I was desperate," he admitted. "She came to my home realm, offered me a way to leave it, and I took it, pledging my loyalty to her… and in return she brought me here."

"Wait, you're not originally from the Demon Realm?" she asked him. "Where were you from?"

"Hell," Blazer told her, which shocked Zee. "I'm a Hellhound."

"Whoa…" Zee said while staring at Blazer. "You know, Cross mentioned meeting a Hellhound girl and her Imp father."

"That was probably Loona… or Leni, as I knew her," Blazer said with a sigh before he took off his glamour. He now appeared in his Dalmatian Hellhound form, which surprised Zee. "We Hellhounds can use glamour to disguise ourselves and blend in with the World of the Living. As for my association with Mel, well she offered to take me away from my… from my adopted mother, Cruella, who used me in her schemes to lure other Hellhounds to her to make coats out of them…"

"What?!" Zee shouted in shock. "She sounds… sick."

"Yeah, she is a Sinner from the Human Realm and I would say she is on par with Terra Snapdragon when it comes to her being evil," Blazer explained as he looked down at his own paws. "She declawed me so that I wouldn't be able to fight back. She wasn't allowed to adopt a Hellhound of her own, so she… killed my owners, took me for herself, and told me that I would be killed unless I did her bidding," he said as he looked down in shame. "I was never proud of what I did and I wanted nothing more than to be free of her forever, which is why I accepted Mel's invitation to leave Hell… only to ditch me along with Eustace and Serpentina when she returned to the Underworld… then Eustace and Serpentina sold me off the Tarot Guild for a few snails. I don't know what they planned to do with me, but Lupe would drag me into his ring to beat me…"

After that, Blazer fell silent, not wanting to continue his story.

"Damn, that is rough, dude," Zee said while looking at Blazer. "Eustace and Serpentina are even worse than I thought…" She then looked over at Lilith and Hunter. "Wait, so how did he go from the prisoner of the Tarot Guild to knowing you guys?"

"Well… long story short I found him after he escaped the Tarot Guild compound and eventually my parents decided to let him stay with him," Lilith explained.

"Yeah, I… owe Lilith and her parents a lot," Blazer said, still looking down. His voice was low. "Even though I didn't deserve it…"

As Hunter heard Blazer hear this, he was reminded of what he had thought of himself a few times. And he absolutely could not let it stand.

"Hey, Blaze," Hunter said, causing the Hellhound to look up at him. "Listen to me. You absolutely deserved to be helped."

Hearing this, Blazer looked up at Hunter and gave a smile. "Thanks, man. That means a lot."

Meanwhile, in the General Health Coven, Zara entered Team WZRD's room.

"What's up, girls?" Zara asked while holding up a bag of snacks and drinks. "Guess what I got…!"

"Zara! You're here!" Rebecca declared, perking up when she saw the bag of goods. "And you brought food!"

"Well, I figured these snacks would be a good change of pace after you had to eat the slop here," Zara replied as she walked over to them with her bag. "It was the least I could do when I decided to come check in on you guys."

"Thank you for your kindness, Zara," Whitney replied with a polite smile as Zara held up the bag to her, Rebecca, and Darcilia, allowing them to choose their snacks.

"Ooh, fish crackers," Darcilia said, her eyes lighting up.

"And you got orange blood!" Rebecca shouted as she held up a cap bottle of orange blood while Whitney picked out some chips from the bag.

"You really didn't have to do this for us, Zara," Whitney said.

"Please, you girls saved my life," Zara told them. "I owe you…"

"Hey, don't mention it," Rebecca told her as she began guzzling down her soda. "We're just glad that you're safe from that Lupe guy."

"I still feel bad that you got beat up while defending me," Zara started to say, but she was quickly cut off.

"We'll be fine, we've taken beatings before," Darcilia said while munching on the crackers. "So how about you, Zara? How are you doing? How about your living situation?"

"Oh yeah," Rebecca said, frowning. "Your wagon got burned down, didn't it?"

Zara just smiled. "Don't worry about me," she told the girls. "Fortunately, nothing of serious value was lost and I managed to find a motel to stay in for the moment, at least until I found some more permanent arrangements."

"What about Mr. Dark? Have you talked to him about it?" Darcilia asked her.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to worry the Ringmaster about my situation," Zara told them as she looked around. "So, where is Zee? Has she come in to see you girls?"

"Yes, but she couldn't stay because she had to go to work," Whitney said. "Actually, she wanted to stay, but we didn't want her to miss work for us."

"Ah, yeah, that makes sense," Zara replied as she put the bag of snacks down. "I think I better be going. If she comes back, tell Zee I said hi."

"We'll be sure to relay the message when we see her," Rebecca said as Zara began to leave their room. "Bye, Zara!"

"Later, gal pals!" Zara waved to them as she exited the room. However, once she walked out, she saw Mel waiting for her in the hallway, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"Finally," Mel said, looking slightly annoyed. She scoffed. "You know, Zara, I am starting to worry that you've gotten soft in my absence. Don't tell me those girls are your friends."

Zara's expression changed, her smile vanishing. "They're not," she told Mel. "I'm just trying to gain their trust. It is all part of my plan."

"Really?" Mel asked as the two began to walk together. "Honestly, Zara, this whole thing is starting to sound even more complicated than finding the rest of the texts of the Epic of Gilgamesh."

"Of course you wouldn't understand," Zara said as they came across a part of the building that was damaged. They slowed down, noticing the cracks in the wall and even the holes where something had crashed through them.

"What the hell happened here?" Mel asked.

"Oh, well, you know those girls I visited?" Zara asked. "The short story is that they were protecting me from a werewolf that tried to kill me. The battle happened in this building."

"Really? A werewolf did this?" Mel asked her in surprise.

"Yeah, and he might have actually still killed me, if it wasn't for Madstream finally taking him down," Zara mentioned, which shocked Mel.

"Wait, Madsteam?!" Mel asked, turning to Zara in shock. "Are you saying… Lindsay's here?!"

"Uh, yeah," Zara said. "You know her?"

Mel didn't answer, but as Zara looked at her, she noticed that her expression seemed almost… afraid, which was very unlike her. Mel was even sweating.

"Mel?" Zara asked in confusion. "What's with-"

Before she could finish her question, she heard a loud coughing noise. She turned around to see an old witch in a wheelchair, coughing violently while his nurse tended to him.

As she stared at the coughing witch, her thoughts drifted elsewhere…

Zara stared at Morgan, the man that she hadn't seen in years.

"Zara," Morgan said. "So… it is you."

"Morgan," Zara replied, standing still. "What… what are you doing here?"

"I work here, this is my workshop," Morgan explained. "I build new automatons here while helping to keep the old ones up to date, like Tik-Tok. I see you're still the… um… latest Wicked Witch of the Witch?"

Zara looked away. "Yeah," she confirmed.

"What are you doing here?" Morgan asked Zara. "And more importantly… why?"

"I…" Zara said, having trouble looking Morgan in the eye. After all, Morgan was one of the few people to have treated her kindly. One of the few people who looked past the color of her skin… and he was the man who showed her what happened to her mother…

Her gaze returned to the crystal ball and she thought of her mother. Her mother, who left her and had another child. A child… that replaced her…

Zara's fists tightened as she looked up at Morgan. "Simple… I'm here to take what I want," she said before she turned to the crystal ball and grabbed it.

"Zara, stop! You can't have that!" Morgan shouted.

"Yeah, well… I just did," Zara told him as she was about to walk out, until she felt her ankle getting grabbed by a mechanical hand "Hey!" she shouted.

"I'm not letting you get away with that, Zara," Morgan told her as he began to walk over to her. "Please, hand it over!"

"You better stand back!" Zara shouted as she kicked the mechanical arm away from her. She tried to run, but Morgan grabbed her by the arm. "Let go of me, Morgan!"

"I can't!" he told her as the two got into a tussle over the crystal ball "Not without-"

"Leave me alone!" Zara shouted as she pushed him back. She then felt something on her back and on her head. "Hey!" she cried out as some of the smaller tik-toks climbed onto her. Zara moved around, trying to shake them off while kicking at some off that were trying to hold her down by her boots.

"Zara, quit fighting this!" Morgan told her. "You have no reason to steal from me."

He walked over to Zara, who was now covered in smaller tik-toks, including ones that resembled mechanical spiders or monkeys. Morgan grabbed the crystal ball she was holding and tried to take it back, but she kept her grip. It was like a tug of wall…

"I said… let… go!" she shouted and nearby one of the hanging mechanical puppets suddenly burst into flame.

This startled Morgan, who turned his head to notice the fire. "What?"

Letting her frustration get the better of her, Zara let out a wave of magic, knocking both the tik-toks and Morgan away from her. Many of the tik-toks slammed into the walls, shattering into pieces. Morgan, however, got slammed into a nearby shelf, causing him to cry out in pain while the fire Zara had accidentally started began to spread around the room.

Zara took a few breaths, still hugging the crystal ball tightly to her. Only after she calmed down did she look around the room and realize what she had done, spotting the shattered tik-toks and Morgan, who was on the floor with the shelf having fallen on top of him.

"M-Morgan…" she said, hesitating.

"I heard something!"

"I see smoke… from the inventor's room!"

Hearing the sound of guards coming toward her, Zara began to panic. Looking between Morgan and the door, she decided that she couldn't stay here and she fled, only pausing for a brief moment at the door when she heard Morgan coughing.

Looking back, she saw that he had managed to crawl out from underneath the shelf and was now dragging himself across the floor. However, Zara did not go back for him. Instead, she looked down at the crystal ball in her hands and her expression became stone cold as she ran away.

Thus she left Morgan, whose coughing became worse and whose vision became blurry as smoke filled up the room. Eventually, Morgan passed out from smoke inhalation, his body falling still…

Zara ran down the hallway, only sliding to a stop when she saw more guards. However, they were all on the floor and standing over them was Mel.

"Yo, you made it," Mel said with a wave.

"You… where have you been?!" Zara demanded to know. "I thought you ditched me!"

"Whoa, I didn't, alright? I just went ahead of you to deal with these bums," she told her.

"Right…" Zara said.

"So what do you got there?" Mel asked her, noticing the crystal ball that Zara was clutching.

"I'll show you when we get back to my castle," Zara told her as the two continued to make their escape from the palace.

It was time for them to leave the Land of Ev.

Back in the present day, Emily started to open her eyes.

"Oh Titan… what happened?" Emily asked while looking around. She looked down at her hands… or white paws. "My… my hands! What just-" She looked down at her feet and then realized she had long ears as well. "Am… am I a rabbit?!"

Indeed, Emily had been turned into a small bipedal green rabbit who was tied down to one of the chairs in the seating area of the theater. However, despite her shock, Emily remembered something else.

"Andrea? Lindsay? Tabrella! Where are you guys?!" she called out.

"Right here, Emily," Lindsay said, causing Emily to turn to see Lindsay… in a bat cage, as she had been turned into a yellow furred bat.

"Lindsay! What happened to you?!" Emily asked.

"Better question, what happened to us?" Jackie asked as Emily noticed that the country girl had been turned into a cow. "I can't believe I got turned into a bovine!"

"You think you have problems? Look at me!" Tracy asked as she had taken in the form of a blue-neck bird with a large, black furred body. She had been turned into a cassowary bird. "I can't even fly!"

"I don't have a problem with my form," Andrea admitted, having been turned into a pink, curly haired dog. "I kinda like this form. Arf! Arf!"

"Where's Tabrella?" Emily asked.

"Don't look at me…"

Emily turned to see Tabrella between Jackie and Lindsay in their seats. "Tabrella?"

"I said don't look at me!" Tabrella cried out, having been transformed into an Egyptian cat, a hairless cat breed. "I look… hideous! Like a fur-less Percy! I'm… hideous!" she cried in an over-dramatic manner.

"Oh brother, you're as dramatic as Adrian!"

Hearing that voice, Emily and the others turned to the stage. The lights came on and through a cloud of yellow smoke appeared… Vitimir.

"Welcome to the first ever show starring… the Great Weevil Vitimir Breathon!" Vitimir declared, holding up his top hat while sporting a new outfit. He was dressed with a black tuxedo jacket with a yellow button shirt and black trousers.

"Vitimir!" Emily said with her eyes narrowing at him.

"Ah, glad that you've awakened, Ms. Tricks," Vitimir responded with glee.

"What have you done to us? Why are we turned into… this?!" Emily demanded to know.

"I'll admit, I have been experimenting with my potions more since my exile to the Inwell Isles," Vitimir explained. "And you along with your friends were made for perfect test subjects…"

"Woah, woah, woah, we are not her friends!" Tracy shouted.

"Really, that's what you're focusing on?" Jackie asked Tracy with a deadpan expression.

"Change us back now!" Tabrella demanded before she saw Mrs. Lanz coming onto stage to join Vitimir. "Mrs. Lanz! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Why are you helping Vitimir?" Emily asked her. "Don't you know what he's done?!"

Mrs. Lanz just silently shrugged in response.

"You know, Emily, I haven't forgotten how you robbed me of paradise," Vitimir told him. "How you ruined the Day of Unity, the day that would've made me one of the most powerful witches on the Boiling Isles! It would've been glorious!" he declared before pointing at Emily. "But you had to ruin it, Tricks!" he barked before he became calm again. "Honestly, I'm glad that you came here, since it was very considerate of you to just deliver yourself to me!"

Emily glared at him while Tracy began to shout. "So it was you who attacked me at the park, wasn't it? You must've used your weird potions to make me think Emily attacked me, you long-nosed punk!"

"Alright, first off, you're a rude little punk, almost as bad as the Owl Lady's mouthy brat," Vitimir said. "Second, I had nothing to do with whatever it is you're saying."

"Like I'd believe that!" Tracy shouted.

"I don't know why you haven't just killed me already, Vitimir," Emily pointed out.

"Please, that would be just too easy, not to mention anticlimactic," Vitimir explained while pacing back and forth. "No, I want you to suffer, to be humiliated first! My time here on the Inwells has made me realize that I needed to reinvent myself," he said as he turned to her. "In fact, I've taken a card from your playbook as well, for you see, I have decided to become a… bit of a performer myself…"

"W-what?" Emily asked in confusion.

Mrs. Vanz started playing the piano as Vitimir tapped his talon. "Five, six, seven, eight!" he said before the room was suddenly dark until the spotlights came on over Emily and the Mane Five. Across from them was Vitimir, who began to sing.

"Don't bother getting up, you're only in my control!" he sang as behind him the Potions Coven sigil flashed in multiple colors. "No way for you to fuss and fight!"

"I've taken all your powers, so lucky you!" Vitimir sang as he suddenly appeared behind them, surprising them. "You will be in my show tonight!"

"You think you can defeat me, oh how very droll! Well, Mily, one thing you should know!" Vitimir sang as he pointed to the green rabbit before he suddenly vanished. Their surroundings changed and they found themselves on the literal giant palm of Vitimir's hand, facing the larger Vitimir. "I am the one with magic powers 'round here, I am the one who runs the show!"

The larger Vitimir opened his mouth, dumping the girls into a vortex of illusions. As they fell down, they saw duplicates of Vitimir heads.

"I am the master of ceremonies~!" one Vitimir head sang.

"So let me set you straight!" another sang.

"With just a taste of my potion brew, I'm… Master of your Fate!" a larger Vitimir declared with a grin, his hand twirling as they found themselves inside a potions bottle.

"With just some hocus-pocus and sleight of hand," Vitimir sang as multiple arms appeared from him. "You all are under my command!"

Emily, Jackie, and Tracy tried to break themselves out of their bonds, only to see that they were being surrounded by dozens of big-headed Vitimir with slim bodies, mockingly dancing around them. A larger version of Vitimir's face then appeared above them.

"Put them in their cages! Keep them all apart!" he commanded before Emily and the Mane Five were placed in cages.

"Places, everybody!" shouted a puppet Vitimir who was dressed as a stage manager. "The show's about to start!"

"He is the master of ceremonies!" the big-headed Vitimirs sang around the caged prisoners before each of them got separated from each other one by one. Jackie and Tracy were the first to be taken. "So let him set you straight!" they sang as Andrea and Lindsay were taken as well. "With just a taste of his potion brew, he's…"

"Master of your Fate!"

Tabrella gets taken in by the puppet Vitimirs.

"Master of your Fate!"

Emily was yanked up by a hook.

"Master of your Fate!" a giant Vitimir head sang as a yellow castle was summoned, courtesy of Mrs. Vanz, who had been using her illusions to hype up Vitimir and confuse the heroes.

"Master of your Fate!"

All of the girls were suddenly back to their seats and they saw Vitimir on the front step of his fake castle, tipping his hat and holding his cane.

"Now for the greatest grand finale," Vitimir sang. "And the reason why you're here~!" He turned to his captive audience. "Tonight, I will make you all… disappear!" he declared with a threatening whisper. "Forever!"

Meanwhile, in Shriekwood Forest, Dirtmont and Errol were both shooting at targets with their bows and arrows, standing side-by-side as they did so.

"Your form's quite good, Errol," Dirtmont complimented. "You've been practicing without me, haven't you?"

"I can say the same to you, Monty-boy," Errol replied with a smirk. "Not going to help you best me though."

Dirtmont just scoffed. "I literally just won first place in an archery competition."

"Then I'll try not to bruise your ego too much," Errol countered.

The two glanced at each other before they held their bows up, eyeing their targets. They released their arrows at the same time, both of their arrows hiding their bullseye. They were still tied.

"One more!" the two declared as they both grabbed another arrow to shoot.

"Are they always like this?" Donna asked, turning to Ria as they watched the two young adults trying to top the other.

"Oh yeah, they are," Ria replied with a smile. "They've had this friendly rivalry going on between them ever since the moment they met."

"So how did you guys become friends with each other in the first place?" Cross asked while helping feed Katie her food.

"Well, like Dirtmont, me, Errol, and James were originally from the Boiling Isles," Ria said as Errol and Dirtmont decided to take a break and join in on the conversation.

"Really?" Donna asked in surprise. "Why did you leave then?"

"Well, in the case of me and Ria, our parents sent us both to Inwell Prep, which is where we first met," Errol replied.

"Inwell Prep?" Cross asked. "Me and Lindsay visited that school…"

"Yeah, we were In-Preppies back when we were teens," Errol said as she grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler. "The two of us were sent there by our parents to get a higher education… but also come back as proper boot-lickers for the Emperor."

"And I take it that didn't happen," Cross suggested.

"Yep, neither me nor Errol really fit in at Inwell Prep," Ria said. "Sure, we did learn a lot from it, but ultimately we dropped out."

"You all dropped out? At Inwell?" Donna asked in surprise.

"Yeah, we're considered the 'shame' of Inwell by our peers, but quite honestly we don't give a damn," Errol said with a shrug.

"Yeah, we decided that we'd rather live the life we wanted than live the life that our families expected us to have," Ria added. "When our folks heard about it, we practically got disowned."

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that," Donna replied, offering her sympathies to the two young women.

"Yeah, that was just awful of them to do," Cross added.

"Ah, it's no big deal to us, really," Errol told them. "I was already the family's black sheep anyway, and Ria's folks, well, I wouldn't say they're as pleasant as her."

"Yeah, also a black sheep," Ria said with a nod. "After we dropped out, we started living around here and we met James, who came from the Boiling Isles for a job. He was actually a pretty big deal when he came to the Inwell Isles."

"Really?" Donna asked in surprise. "Why was that?"

"Eh, it was because my great-uncle was a famous Coven Head," James said with a shrug. "You probably know him."

"I'm gonna say… Oso?" Cross asked.

"You got it," James replied, nodding. "Though I don't usually try to use my grand-uncle's name to get stuff, since I'd rather try to be my own witch. I was initially treated well because of who my grand-uncle was, but it was pretty short-lived, since there were plenty of witches here who were wary of us bear demons…"

"Then I met James at a bar one night, and we both got into a drinking contest to see who could drink the most apple blood!" Errol declared as she patted the bear demon on the back.

"Yet you couldn't handle your blood, could you?" James asked her, causing Errol to chuckle.

"Let's just say I'm not nearly as good with a bow and arrow while intoxicated," Errol said before she then pointed to Dirtmont. "And then there's good old Monty right here, who I met through our mutual interest in archery."

"I came here after graduating from Epiderm and joining the Construction Coven, since I thought I could establish a blacksmith business here," Dirtmont revealed. "It… hasn't exactly worked out like I hoped it would, unfortunately. At one point, I needed some extra snails, so I entered another archery contest with a snail prize and met Errol there. We both bonded over our skill at archery."

"How did you two learn archery?" Donna asked them.

"Well, I learned it from my dad, Dirk, who is an expert marksman," Dirtmont explained.

"And I took up archery at Inwell Prep," Errol answered. "They do a lot of sports here, and archery is one of their most popular, more popular than even Grudgeby and Flyer Derby. I was known as the best archer there before I dropped out."

"Wait," Cross said as he looked over at Finley. "If the others came here from the Boiling Isles… does that mean you were born here?"

"Born and raised," Finley said proudly. "I'm actually a monk."

"A monk?" Cross asked.

"A religious position," Finley explained. "I work at the Inwell Isles Temple, where we worship the Titan's deity, Inklop. I met these guys when they helped me out against some bullies who tried to steal from the Temple. We've been friends ever since."

"Wait, who is Inklop?" Donna asked.

"The one-eyed squid god," Finley explained as he pulled out a picture of his god, an illustration of a squid with one eye. "He is a bit more of an obscure deity, since the witches and demons of the Inwell Isles don't worship him like you Boiling Isles witches worshipped their Titan. Inklop was said to be the offspring of this Titan. They say his ink helped the fauna and the flora around here to flourish and that he offered great fortune to those in need. He was a benevolent god of charity, and life." He then looked up at Cross and Donna. "You know, I've heard that the Boiling Isles has an actual living Titan there now."

Donna and Cross shared a look.

"You… did?" Donna asked.

"Yeah," Finley replied. "I mean, Dirtmont told us about this 'King Clawthorne' fella he learned about the last time he was checking up on his family there. Though even before then, there were rumors…"

"Well, we can vouch for that," Cross admitted. "King is a real Titan."

Dirtmont and his friends all looked at Cross and Donna in awe upon hearing this.

"Wait, so you've actually met him?" Finley asked.

"Is he really the King of the Boiling Isles? Like, he is the true King with Belos being the phony ruler of the Isles?" Errol asked.

"Well, King is the son of our Titan, but he isn't really royalty," Cross admitted. "Or at the very least, he doesn't consider himself royalty or the ruler of the Boiling Isles. Actually, he's my cousin."

"Seriously?" James asked, reacting in surprise along with his friends.

"Yeah, Cross and Eda, King's adoptive mother, are cousins through his mother's side," Donna explained. "We're actually both pretty familiar with Eda and her adopted daughter, Luz."

"Luz? As in the Luz Clawthorne?" Errol asked, a smile forming on her face. "The biggest, badest rebel of the Boiling Isles? The one who defeated Belos and his forces, the champion of the Glandus War, and the young witch who helped expose the corruption of those CEOs and coven heads like Hieron, Oscorne, and Snapdragon? That Luz Clawthorne?"

"Um… yeah," Cross said, a bit awkwardly. "You've heard of her then?"

"She's a legend over here!" Errol exclaimed while her friends nodded in agreement. "Well, at the very least she's a legend amongst us."

"We've heard so many stories about her," Ria added. "She's a real inspiration."

"Yeah, she is really… something," Cross admitted before feeling a pat on the shoulder by Errol.

"Haha! You have an interesting family line, dear boy!" Errol complimented him. "You must be proud of coming from a line of terrific and amazing witches. I'd be proud too with a family like Luz, Eda, and King."

After a moment, Cross smiled, "Yeah, I am," he replied, a hint of pride in his voice. "My family is great."

"I bet they are," Errol said. "You know, I'd love to meet Luz someday. I bet she could be of real help to us with dealing with the Inwell Family."

"The Inwells?" Donna asked in surprise, earning a collective groan from Dirtmont and his friends.

"The Inwells are the worst," Dirtmont said. "Rich, elite assholes."

"Yeah," James replied. "They barely govern the Inwell Isles, content to cut themselves and their riches off from the rest of us. If you're not rich, they don't care about you."

"And ever since they disowned the Emperor's Coven and the coven scouts who were stationed here flew the coop, we've had nobody upholding the law and protecting the population besides an ineffectual volunteer force," Ria added. "It's a miracle that this place didn't fall apart already…"

"The Inwells did not earn their wealth, nor did they earn their right to rule," Errol ranted. "They don't do anything for those below them. They have all the power, but want none of the responsibility. All they are interested in is security for themselves. Quite frankly, they're just as corrupt as the old Emperor's Coven was"

"Really?" Donna asked them as she remembered her own encounter with the family. "You know, I have actually met the Inwells."

"You have?" Errol asked.

"Well, the Inwell kids invited me and a few other kids to their manor," Donna explained. "When I met the family, they seemed… nice enough, but even if I could tell that there was something off, I didn't want to make assumptions or anything,"

"Well, there's one thing you and your friends should know, Donna," Ria said as Donna saw her with a dead serious expression. "Never trust the Inwells, no matter how good they try to present themselves as."

"They can't be trusted, Donna," Dirtmont added. "You should be made aware of that."

Donna and Cross looked at them, then turned to look at each other, knowing that they shouldn't take this warning lightly…

Meanwhile, back at the Health General Coven building, Team WZRD had received more visitors to their room…

"Hey, I'm back!" Zee declared, getting all of their attention. "And I've brought some special guests with me!"

"Special guests?" Rebecca asked before her eyes widened when she saw who had shown up with Zee. "Oh my Titan, no way!"

"Greetings," Lilith said as she, Hooty, Hunter, and Blazer came in. All of them were wearing civilian clothing now, with Lilith wearing a green and red sweater, violet trousers, and black boots. Blazer was back in his witch form.

"Lilith Clawthorne!" Darcilia shouted, sitting up in her cot.

"Ms. Clawthorne!" Whitney shouted, also sitting up.

"Ah, you two must be the Carmine sisters," Lilith said, nodding toward Whitney and Rebecca. "I know your parents. It's good to finally meet both of you."

"Oh my goodness! Lilith Clawthorne, the former Head of the Emperor's Coven, is here!" Rebecca squeed in excitement. "You are one of the greatest witches of the Boiling Isles!"

This actually surprised Lilith, who was not expecting someone to still hold her to such high esteem, not after everything she had done. But before she could reply, Hooty spoke up first.

"Yeah, I know!" Hooty shouted while stretching up between Rebecca and Whitney, freaking the latter.

"Gah! What the heck is that?!" Whitney exclaimed.

"Hi, I'm Hooty!" Hooty replied. "I'm Lulu's BOFF! Best Owl Friend Forever!"

"Wow! I've never seen a creature like you before," Rebecca said in awe before noting that Hooty was connected to a portable backpack. "And you're portable!"

"Yup! I was a house demon, but now I'm a portable demon," Hooty declared. "And it is so good to meet a fellow Lilith fan."

Rebecca smiled before she turned to her sister. "Hey sis! I think I'm gonna like this guy."

"Great…" Whitney muttered. However, she managed to keep her composure while she was in front of Lilith, taking a deep breath before turning to the former Head Witch. "It is an honor to finally meet you, Ms. Lilith Clawthorne," she said in a polite tone.

"You too, Whitney," Lilith responded. "I have to say, you have a very strong resemblance to your mother."

"O-oh," Whitney said, taken aback by this. "T-thank you, Ms. Clawthorne."

Lilith nodded. "How are your parents doing?"

"They are doing well, ma'am," Whitney answered before turning to Hunter. "And you're Hunter, right? The former Golden Guard?"

"That's right," Hunter said with a nod. He gestured to Blazer. "And this is my friend, Blazer."

"Hey," Blazer said. "I, uh, don't know who any of you are."

"Well, this is Whitney Carmine," Zee introduced, joining their conversation. "Heiress of the Carmine Trade Company. And this is her sister, Rebecca," she said while gesturing to Rebecca before she then pointed to Darcilia.

"Well Hunter, meet Whitney, and her sister Rebecca, the Carmine sisters." Zee introduced them "And this is another friend of mine and teammate of mine, Darcilia Blackpaws."

The secret werecat smiled and waved at Hunter… before she focused on Blazer. He focused on her as well and once the two locked eyes, they began to glare at each other.

"What are you looking at…" Darcilia asked while narrowing her eyes at him and resisting the urge to hiss at him.

"I could ask you the same thing," Blazer responded with his eyes narrowing at her, his voice almost snarling.

This surprised both Hunter and Darcilia's friends, who stared at them in shock.

"Uh… are you two alright?" Hunter asked them, snapping Blazer out of it.

"I… uh…" Blazer said awkwardly while Darcilia also snapped out of it, looking confused.

"The hell is up with you two…?" Zee questioned. "You two just met!"

Lilith also looked curiously at Darcilia. "Where exactly are you from?" she asked her.

"Um… the Dryad Forest," Darcilia claimed while looking away from both Lilith and Blazer.

"Oh, and by the way, Zee," Whitney spoke up. "Zara came here earlier and she wanted us to tell you that she said hi."

"Yeah, she brought us some snacks," Rebecca added cheerfully.

"Oh, really? That was nice of her," Zee responded.

"Zara?" Lilith asked. "Who is Zara, Zee?"

"Oh, she's a circus performer, an illusionist," Zee replied. "A friend of Emily's, actually…"

Having escaped from the Land of Ev, both Zara and Mel returned to Oz and to Zara's castle.

"Man, now that was great!" Mel declared with a laugh. "This was even more thrilling than messing around with Narcissus's mirrors!" she shouted before turning to Zara. "What do you think we should do with all of these heads?" she asked, only for her to realize that her partner wasn't listening to her. "Zara?"

Instead of paying attention to Mel, Zara was busy setting up the crystal ball on the table. She stared at it for a moment before she waved her hand in front of the crystal ball. "Show me my sister…"

The crystal ball then showed an image of Emily, who was sitting at a table with Stella, Nina, and Tito. They were laughing and smiling, which caused Zara to frown as she realized that her sister was with friends.

Mel came over to see what Zara was looking at and she saw the image of Emily in the crystal ball from over her shoulder. "Who's this? Your 'evil' twin?" she joked.

"My younger half-sister," Zara replied, much to Mel's surprise.

"Really?! You have a half-sister?!" Mel exclaimed, looking between Emily and Zara.

"Yes, and I'm watching her from another realm," Zara said, her tone sounding bitter. "The Demon Realm…"

"Hmm, sounds like there's a story behind this," Mel said, looking intrigued. "Like, how did your sister end up in the Demon Realm and not here?"

Zara looked up at Mel before giving a sigh. "My mother was the previous Wicked Witch. When the Wizard banished her from Oz, she ended up in that realm. For years, I grew up without a mother, grew up rejected by the other Ozians because I resembled my mother too much. I had to steal to survive!" she explained while looking agitated, her hands shaking. "I didn't know what happened to her, until years later when I met someone with this crystal ball and it showed me what happened to her. With it, I learned that my whore of a mother had another child; another daughter to replace me with!" She banged her fist on the table, tears streaming from her eyes.

Mel was taken aback by this, but after a moment she gave Zara… a sympathetic expression. "Oh man… I'm so sorry about that, Zara," she told her in a sincere tone. She reached over and patted Zara's shoulder. "That shouldn't have happened to you."

Zara wiped her tears while looking up at Mel. "Thanks, Mel," she said before glaring at Emily. "Look at her, so happy. She doesn't know how good she has it…"

Mel nodded while looking at Emily through the crystal ball, only to get an idea.

"Say… if I ever go to this Demon Realm, perhaps I could mess with your sister?" Mel asked Zara with a smirk. "What's her name again?"

"Emily Tricks," Zara replied, giving a small smile. "And you know, I wouldn't mind if you did that…"

"Hey, I just want to return the favor after you showed me a good time," Mel replied while patting Zara on the back. "After all, what are friends for…"

Back in the present day, Zara had brought Mel to the motel room she was staying in. She held up her crystal ball in front of Mel, who looked at it in surprise.

"Wow, you still have this thing?" Mel asked while looking into the crystal ball. "Man, this brings back memories…"

"Yes, and with it I continue to spy on my sister," Zara replied with a grin.

"Ah yes, Emily…" Mel said while sitting back in a chair. "You know, I did stay true to my word, Zara. While I was over in the Boiling Isles, I messed with her, even dragged into her own personal hell." She smiled, but after a moment her smile vanished, replaced by a frown. "Unfortunately, she was rescued before I could even break her…"

"Honestly, it's fine," Zara assured her. "Especially since I have my own plans with my dear sister," she said with a wicked grin. "In fact, let's see what she's been up to now." She then waved her hand over the crystal ball, Mel leaning forward to get a better look into the crystal ball… and they both saw a tied up Emily, leaving them confused. Especially Zara.

"What the fuck!?"

Emily and the Mane Five were still tied up at their seats while Vitimir prepared his plans, mixing potions into his cauldron. Mrs. Lanz stood nearby while the girls' staffs were set aside.

"Hehehehe! Once my cauldron mix is complete, I will enjoy some green rabbit stu!" Vitimir declared as he stirred.

"You're going to eat her?!" Lindsay exclaimed in shock.

"I knew that you were a cannibal!" Andrea shouted.

"Hey, I'm not actually going to eat her!" Vitimir said defensively. "I am only going to dip her in my cauldron."

"Pathetic."

Vitimir stopped stirring when he heard Emily and he turned to her. "What was that, Tricks?!" he demanded.

"I said that you're pathetic," Emily responded with a bored look. "I mean, you really just come across as a wannabe showman? I mean, having Mrs. Lanz hype you up? To make up for the fact that you can't do illusions naturally?" She gave a chuckle. "This is beyond amateur hour, you're trying too hard to outdo me. Perhaps you're jealous that I managed to outsmart you, your Emperor, and the other Coven Heads."

"Uh, Emily, maybe do not try to goad the villain who could potentially kill us…" Tracy whispered.

"Yeah, I do agree with Tracy here," Andrea whispered, looking nervous.

"But what I'm saying isn't wrong," Emily said while looking at Vitimir with a smirk. "After all, Vitimir is one of the most useless Coven Heads. He got his ass handed to him at St. Epiderm and he had to run away with his tail tucked between his legs on the Day of Unity. And this is the best he can do now? Petty revenge? He's a C-list villain. He may think he's important, but he is going to be a footnote in history, probably best remembered as a minor player who never said or did anything of great importance, only existing in the background with some of Belos' less impressive followers."

Now this didn't make Vitimir angry.

No, it made him furious.

"Minor player?!" he exclaimed, jumping over the stage and marching over to Emily. "Now you listen here, you snot-colored rabbit! You're nothing! You only became a Coven Head because Adrian was unavailable! You did not earn your position! I did! You had no right to be part of the Day of Unity! And right now, I'm the one who's in control of this show! When I'm done with you, I'm going to enact revenge on everyone else who wronged me, and ruined the Day of Unity! And I'll be the big time witch they'll all have to focus on! What do you say to that, huh?!"

He went to grab Emily and lift her up… only to notice the ropes falling away from her.

"Huh?" he asked while Emily just smirked at him.

PUNCH!

Vitimir was punched in his nose, sent flying back by Emily, who he dropped in the process. The Mane Five stared at her in shock, realizing that she had managed to free herself.

"Emily, you're free!" Tabrella shouted in surprise.

Once Vitimir was down, Emily hopped over to free Lindsay from her cage, untying her bonds "Quick, get everyone else free! I'll recover your staffs!"

Lindsay quickly flew over to chew through Tabrella's bonds, who then used her claws to cut through the ropes holding Andrea and Tracy. While they were doing this, Emily went for their staffs. Mrs. Lanz got in the way to try to put a stop to this, but Emily hopped up to deliver a kick to her stomach.

"Hiya!" Emily shouted, kicking Mrs. Lanz away to give time for the girls to free themselves. She saw their staffs and went to grab them. "Here!"

Once they were all freed, Lindsay, Tabrella, Tracy, Andrea, and Jackie were all given their staffs by Emily and they faced off against Vitimir and Mrs. Lanz, who had both gotten up to see the witch-turned-animals having their staffs.

"This is the last time I've been tricked by you, um, Tricks!" Vitimir pointed out while raising his fist.

"How do we beat him without our magic?" Jackie asked while holding her staff with her teeth.

"I have some ideas," Emily said as Pretty came over to her with Mrs. Lanz's clipboard. "Thank you, Pretty," she said as she began drawing symbols on the papers on the clipboard. "Keep them busy for me!" she shouted, pointing to Vtimir and Mrs. Lanz.

Tabrella gave a hiss as she activated Percy. "Percy, let's show this ghastly brute not to mess with my beauty!" she declared as they both hissed and jumped towards Vitimir, Tabrella scratching up his face as Percy bit his leg.

"Gah! Get them off! Get them off!" Vitimir cried out, trying to shake the cats off.

Mrs. Lanz went to help, only for Lindsay to fly up in her face. "Stop! I am the night!" she squeaked, flapping her wings while Mrs. Lanz swatted at her, only for Tracy to charge and headbutt her away.

Andrea and Jackie saw what Emily was drawing. "Oooh, now I get it!" Andrea shouted, recognizing the glyph symbols.

"You do?" Jackie asked as Andrea used her staff to draw a glyph circle.

"One tap, and-" Emily said as Andrea summoned an ice glyph, which rose up with Andrea on it.

"Weeee!" Andrea cried out as she was launched into the air before she fell down towards Vitimir. "Prepare for a dog bite slam!"

"Huh?" Vitimir asked while getting the cats off of him, only to feel Andrea's jaws bite him in the seat of his tailored pants. "YAAAH!" he cried as he ran around, trying to shake Andrea off. "Get her off of me! Get her off of me!"

"Grrr-yuff!" Andrea snarled as she kept biting onto Vitimir's pants until she ripped it off. "I've always wanted to do that!"

Jackie realized what Emily was doing and she activated Lasso. "Lasso, get more paper for Emily!"

Lasso nodded and ran around the stage, snatching up more pieces of paper, including posters for Mrs. Lanz's show. When he had enough, he returned to Emily.

"Thanks, Lasso," Emily said as she began to draw more glyphs. "Alright, time to take down Vitimir and-" She then noticed Mrs. Lanz getting up and running towards the cauldron. "Wait!"

Before she could be stopped, Mrs. Lanz kicked the cauldron over, spilling the liquid substance all over the stage. The girls were left confused about this.

"Why did she kick it?" Tabrella asked before they heard Vitimir chuckle.

"What are you laughing at, Weevil?" Andrea demanded to know.

"None of you know what potions magic is truly capable of!" Vitimir declared as they all saw something begin to rise out of the potion liquid…

"Raaww!" roared a blob that formed into a humanoid creature with slimy arms, short legs, hollow eyes, and a mouth. Also rising from the potion was a blob with a large claw and four legs. Another potion creature resembled a large snake with a face that was similar to Vitimir's and the last blobish creature resembled a biped reptile.

"Let's see how you far against my own homonculi!" Vitimir declared before he ran backstage.

"Those can't be Abominations… right?" Tracy asked.

"I don't think so," Lindsay replied with a nervous look.

"I'm gonna need some cover while I keep drawing these glyphs," Emily said as the Mane Five stood together.

"We'll take it from here, then," Jackie said as she, Tabrella, Lindsay, Andrea, and Tracy all charged towards the homunculi and Mrs. Lanz, the latter staying to fight them as she pointed her teal umbrella at them.

"I'm taking her on!" Tracy declared as she rushes towards Mrs. Lanz while the rest of the Mane Five went against blob monsters.

Backstage, Vitimir found some levers and he gave a smirk, an idea coming to mind.

"I think it's time for a change of scenery," Vitimir declared as he pulled on one of the levers.

Back on stage, the Mane Five were locked in battle against Mrs. Lanz and the homunculi, all the while the stage started to move on its own around them. The curtains raised up, showing a painted background, followed by a cloud that lowered down.

"What's happening?!" Lindsay asked before dodging a sandbag weight that fell down and nearly hit her. "Eep!"

"Looks like the stage is against us as well!" Jackie replied as she rose up, front kicking the humanoid blob monster away from her, making it back away.

Tracy chased after Mrs. Lanz, who vanished once she ran through to her. "What the-?!" she shouted as she looked up to see Mrs. Lanz overhead, using her umbrella to levitate above her. "Hey! Get back down here!" she shouted before seeing her vanish and reappear in front of her. "Gah!" she shouted, backing away as Mrs. Lanz swung her umbrella at the changed bird, who dodged the attacks.

Tabrella and Percy, meanwhile, were trying to avoid both the trap doors and the Claw-blob. It tried to grab them, but they dodged it due to their reflexes. "Percy, run!" Tabrella ordered as she saw another trap door popping up underneath her, just as she jumped away. The Claw tried to grab her, but it only fell through the trap door instead.

Jackie managed to avoid the trap doors as well, only just barely stopping herself when a pillar of flames burst up in front of her. "Good golly! What kind of stage had that fire power?!" she cried out as she dodged an attack from the Potion-Gator that tried to snap at her.

"Definitely not safe!" Lindsay cried out as she flew around to dodge the flame jets while also dodging the Vitisnake that tried to bite her.

"Anytime now, Emily!" Tracy shouted while trying to fight Mrs. Lanz and dodge sandbags falling around her at the same time.

"Almost…" Emily said as she kept drawing more glyphs while the humanoid monster marched towards her.

"Oh no, you don't!" Andrea shouted as she pulled up a banana peel and slapped it on the floor.

The humanoid potion monster stepped on the banana peel and slipped on it, falling back with a wet-sounding splat.

"Never gets old!" Andrea declared.

"Where did you get that banana peel?" Emily asked while finishing up her glyphs.

"From the trash," Andrea responded.

Emily didn't question it, especially when she saw the blob monster getting back up to attack them. "Freeze!" Emily shouted while tapping on a glyph to freeze the humanoid monster, completely encasing it in ice. "Girls! I got the glyphs ready!"

"Then use them!" Jackie shouted while avoiding the large snake creature.

Emily nodded and hopped over to them while avoiding the flames. She went over to the Vitisnake and the Claw, which had climbed out from the trap door. She placed some glyphs on the floor near the creatures, sprouting ice spikes that forced the creatures to back away. She then handed some glyphs to her allies.

"Use these to counter the homunculi and the stage!" Emily told them as Lindsay grabbed some with her feet, Tabrella and Andrea grabbed some with their fangs, and Jackie grabbed some with her teeth. Emily then hopped towards Tracy. "Tracy, I got some to help you against Lanz!"

"Finally!" Tracy shouted as she kept getting blindsided by Mrs. Lanz. "Cause I'm really getting tired of facing illusionists…"

Mrs. Lanz stuck her tongue out while floating up on her umbrella, all the while the scenes kept changing around them, a standee lowered down to fall towards them.

Emily and Tracy avoided the standee, all the while the stage kept shifting, trap doors opening and flame jets bursting around them. In all the chaos, they lost sight of Mrs. Lanz.

"Where did she go?!" Tracy asked.

Emily looked around, her rabbit ears twitching as she shifted her eyes. She then spotted something, held up the glyph, tapped it, threw it, and shot an electric bolt toward where Mrs. Lanz was, shocking her and sending her flying back.

"Takes an illusionist to beat an illusionist," Emily declared as Mrs. Lanz got up and glared at them while making more duplicates of herself. "Wanna find the real Lanz?" she asked while handing Tracy some of the glyphs.

"Oh yeah," Tracy said while grabbing a couple of glyphs before the two charged towards to the Mrs. Lanz duplicates.

As for the rest of the Mane Five, Lindsay tapped on an ice glyph that melted when it hit a flame jet, the water putting out the fire. She then flapped away as the Vitisnake showed up to try to bit her again, leading the creature over the spot just as another flame jet came up, melting the snake.

"Sorry," Lindsay apologized to the now liquidated snake.

The Claw was tangled up by some plant glyphs thanks to Tabrella. The Claw managed to cut its way through, but then it stepped onto a paper glyph, activating a trap.

"Fooled you, honey," Tabrella said as the Claw became encased in ice.

Jackie used ice and electric glyphs to fight off the Potion-Gator, but it dodged the attacks and due to her bovine appearance, Jackie couldn't do much but remain on the defensive.

"Hey!" Andrea shouted as the Potion-Gator turned to see the dog. "Leave my friend alone, you Gummy knockoff!" she declared while throwing a snowball at the Potion-Gator.

The Potion-Gator paused as the snowball just sank into its body. However, the snowball contained a now activated light glyph, which exploded inside the humanoid reptilian homunculus. "RAAAHH!" it roared in pain as it melted away in a burst of light.

"I think that's all of them," Jackie said while turning to Andrea. "Thanks, Andrea!"

"No problem!" Andrea replied with a smile.

Meanwhile, Emily and Tracy continued to try to fight against Mrs. Lanz, who had proven to be formidable. However, since Emily could tell which of her duplicates were illusions, she helped guide Tracy to dispel them.

"Left!" Emily shouted while zapping a duplicate with an electric glyph. Tracy pecked at the real Mrs. Lanz, who shielded her beak with her umbrella. Mrs. Lanz then opened her umbrella and gave it a spin, shooting beams of light at the two.

"What kind of umbrella is that?!" Tracy asked while dodging, Emily hanging onto her tightly.

"We have to get it away from her!" Emily shouted while tapping a plant glyph, which shot large vines toward Mrs. Lanz.

Mrs. Lanz saw this and rolled away to dodge the vines, casting illusions to make more duplicates of herself. However, Emily kept her eye on her, specifically the real her. "Tracy, there she is!"

"Got her!" Tracy shouted as she ran up to headbutt Mrs. Lanz, pushing her back as Emily hopped over to grab the umbrella. As Mrs. Lanz fell back, she swiped at Tracy's feet, knocking her down as well. She then reached out to grab Emily, who was trying to to get the umbrella only to be pulled by the ears. Tracy then reached out to bite at Mrs. Lanz's arm, making her let go of Emily, who kicked her in the face. Mrs. Lanz responded by swatting Emily across the stage. Emily got up and saw Tracy and Mrs. Lanz wrestling with each other. She tried to go to help, but was stopped when a fire jet got in her way.

"Shit!" Emily shouted as she backed away. She went around the flame jet and spotted Tracy struggling against Mrs. Lanz, who overpowered her and held in a choke hold. "Hang on, Tracy!" Emily shouted as she threw down another plant glyph, which sprouted vines that managed to grab hold onto Mrs. Lanz and pull her away from Tracy.

Mrs. Lanz was thrown across the stage, but she managed to get herself untangled from the vines before she got up. She glared at the two girls and was about to charge at them… only for a sandbag to be dropped down on top of her head.

"Ooh," Tracy and Emily said, both of them wincing as Mrs. Lanz fell onto the stage, knocked out cold by the sandbag.

"Crap," Vitimir said after he saw what happened. "I did not mean for that to happen…"

"Now!" Emily shouted as she and the Mane Five ran backstage. He turned just in time to be met with a kick from the green rabbit, causing him to be knocked away.

"Oof!" Vitimir shouted before he felt both Andrea and Tabrella bite his arms. "Yowch! Not again!" he cried, trying to shake them off. Tracy bit him in the leg and Lindsay flapped around to hit him with a glyph to the face. "What does this do-AAAAH!" he shouted as the light glyph went off in his eyes. "My eyes!" he cried, feeling blind as he waved his arms around. Andrea, Tabbrella, and Tracy let go of him as Vitimir blindly walked around until he ended up in front of Jackie. "I can't see!"

KICK!

Jackie kicked Vitimir so hard that he was sent flying into a stack of costumes. His hat was knocked off and the former Potions Head was left in a daze. "Ugh…" he groaned as he started to see stars.

"Show's over, 'Vinny,'" Emily told him.

Watching this through the crystal ball, Zara and Mel both shared surprised looks.

"I let my eyes off of my sister for one day and this happened," Zara said.

"Okay, I have dozens of questions about this," Mel admitted. "But aren't you glad that this Vitimir fella wasn't able to kill Emily?"

"Of course, I am," Zara said while she glared daggers at Vitimir. "Ugh, it's bad enough that there's a third party going after her. I should've taken that into account," she admitted, her fist tightening. "Fortunately, I didn't have to intervene to save her."

"Yeah, your sister is pretty resourceful," Mel noted.

"Which is why a disgraced Potions Head doesn't deserve to be the one to ultimately defeat Emily…" Zara declared while glaring at her younger half-sister through the crystal ball…

Back in the theater, Emily and the Mane Five surrounded the defeated Vitimir as they tried to decide on what to do next.

"Alright, we've managed to stop the bad guys!" Tracy cheered. "So now what?"

"We should contact the authorities and tell them we have a wanted former Coven Head and his accomplice who conspired with him," Jackie suggested.

"Yeah," Emily agreed. "And we then should find a way to turn ourselves back into our normal selves."

"I say we beat Vitimir until he gives us a potion to cure us!" Andrea declared.

"I second that," Tabrella said with a grin, extending her claws as if she were ready to pounce at Vitimir.

"Wait," Lindsay said as she looked around. "Do you all hear that?"

"Hear what?" Tracy asked as Emily's ears picked up a noise.

"I hear it too, and it's coming from…" Emily said as she followed the noise outside the auditorium, to a broom closet. They could hear someone banging inside the closet.

"Is someone in there?" Andrea asked as Jackie walked toward the door and used her teeth to open it. As the door was opened, they saw someone fall to the floor, tied up and gagged. Emily and the Mane Five all gasped in shock to see who it was…

"It can't be…" Tracy said.

"It is…" Emily realized. "Mrs. Lanz?!"

"Hmm!" Mrs. Lanz muffled through the gag tied around her beak. Lindsay helped remove the gag as Andrea ripped through the other bonds with her teeth. "Thank the Titan you freed me! I was attacked and put in this closet by that impostor!"

"Impostor?" the girls asked before they rushed back into the auditorium, to see where the other 'Mrs. Lanz' had been knocked out… only to see the sandbag, but not her…

'Mrs. Lanz' had vanished.

Outside of the theater, in an alleyway, the fake Mrs. Lanz had paused to catch her breath. She rubbed her sides as her appearance started to shift, starting with her feet and moving all the way to her head. It was a very mosaic-like transformation that revealed her true form…

Standing in the place of the fake Mrs. Lanz was a young witch woman in her early twenties. She had fair skin with a pink left side, with the line between almost looking like a crack. She had monochromatic eyes with the pink left side of her face having a golden eye and the right side of her face having a teal eye. She had brunette bobcut hair with pink and white stripes in it. She wore a colorful outfit consisting of a mosaic-themed short dress that was connected to a collar around her neck. She also wore a pink jacket while wearing black fingerless gloves and black knee-high boots with four white diamonds on each side. In her hand was her umbrella, the same one she carried before.

She brushed herself off, then the mosaic pattern around her body began to shift once more until she was no longer standing there at all, having turned invisible…

Back with Cross, Donna, and Katie, they were saying their goodbyes to Dirtmont and his friends.

"It was nice meeting you, Dirtmont," Donna politely told him. "You and your friends."

"Well, it was nice to finally get to meet you and your boyfriend, Donna," Dirtmont replied with a smile as he shook her hand. "You can tell my brother and the rest of the family that you saw me and I'm doing fine."

"I'll relay the message," Donna promised him.

"Maybe we'll see you guys again before we leave," Cross said as he waved to them.

"Say, 'bye-bye', Katie," Donna said to Katie, having her wave goodbye to them.

"Later, Sir Cross, and Lady Donna, and Young Katie!" Errol shouted, waving them goodbye. "We hope to meet the rest of LOWTH, as well as the Owl Lady and her kids someday!"

After they said their goodbyes, Cross, Donna, and Katie walked off, leaving Dirtmont and his friends in their campsite. Once the three were gone, Dirtmont and his friends looked at each other.

"So what do you guys think of them?" Dirtmont asked.

"I think they're pretty nice," Finley replied. "It was great to finally meet them, especially Donna."

"Yeah, though they sure were an interesting pair," James commented.

Errol then looked over at Ria, noticing her silence. "Anything on your mind, Ria?"

"No," Ria said in a low voice, but Errol wasn't buying it.

"What did you think… of Katie?" she asked Ria, causing her to look up.

"She's… really cute," Ria said with a sigh. "Should I… have said something?"

Errol shrugged. "That's your choice to make, not mine," she pointed out as her friends exchanged looks. "But her mother is apparently on the Inwell Isles right now. So if you want to talk to her, she is there…"

Ria let out another sigh and looked down. "If I had told Cross and Donna, they would have told Tabrella, and… I don't think I'm ready to talk to her yet."

"Still… it must have been nice to meet your baby cousin, wasn't it?" Errol asked Ria.

And at this, Ria smiled.

"Yeah," she admitted. "It was nice…"

Meanwhile, Zee led Lilith's group out of the General Heath Coven building, having finished their visit with Team WZRD. Zee then felt her scroll buzzing.

"Hang on, I think it's-" Zee summoned her scroll and saw who it was. "Ah, Emily's texting me. Huh, apparently, she wants me to meet up with her at the theater."

"The theater? Is she auditioning?" Lilith asked.

"Ooh! Maybe the theater would be interested in my playbook ideas!" Hooty declared.

Zee thought about it before turning to Lilith and her group. "Would you like to come with me and see her?" she asked.

"Yeah, that would be great," Hunter said.

"Yes, I would very much like to see how Emily is doing," Lilith agreed.

"I wouldn't mind," Blazer said with a shrug.

Zee smiled. "Then follow me," she said as she began to lead the group. "I do wonder what Emily has been doing all day though…"

"PFFFTAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH MY TITAN!" Zee laughed upon seeing Emily in her rabbit form. Lilith and her group all shared shocked looks when they saw Emily and the Mane Five into their current state while in front of the theater with Mrs. Lanz. "Oh my Titan, he turned you into a rabbit?!"

"Somehow, this isn't the most humiliating thing I've been through," Emily muttered while sporting a deadpan look.

"My goodness, Emily," Lilith spoke up. "What happened to you all?"

"It's a long story," Lindsay replied while on top of Jackie's head.

"Yeah, but the better question is how do we change back?" Jackie asked. "Because Vitimir didn't tell us."

"What?!" Hunter exclaimed. "Vitimir was here?!"

"So this is where he escaped to," Lilith realized.

"Yes, he was hiding in this theater, but you don't need to fret about him," Tabrella told them. "That ghastly weirdo was arrested by the authorities."

"And I thank you girls again for helping me out," Mrs. Lanz spoke up. "When I first met Vinny, he claimed he was looking for a place with some vacancy and that he was an up and coming actor. I thought he could be part of my shows! I had no idea that he was actually a wanted criminal…"

"You should've seen the look on his face when he gets dragged into the paddy wagon," Andrea said before staring at Blazer, who looked at her weirdly.

"What?" Blazer asked.

"I was just wondering if I could sniff your butt," Andrea admitted, which made Blazer step back a little.

"You look familiar," Lindsay pointed out while flying up to Blazer. "Have we met before?"

"Uh… I don't think I've ever met a one-eyed bat," Blazer responded, a bit nervously.

"Alright, but seriously, how do we change back?" Tracy asked. "Because I don't want to be stuck as this kind of bird!"

"What do you make of this, Lulu?" Hooty asked.

"Vitimir must've given you all a transformation potion," Lilith analyzed. "Luckily, it's curable. We just need the right ingredients and someone to brew the potion"

This gave Emily an idea. "I actually think I might know someone who could help us…"

Sometime later, at Lucille's Dealers, Lucille was looking at Emily and the Mane Five's current state. Also in the shop were Lilith's group and Mrs. Lanz.

"The good news is that you've come to the right place," Lucille told them. "I can whip up a cure real quick, just let me pluck a hair or feather from each of you and I can get right to work."

"Thank you, Lucille," Emily said as she plucked out her own hair to give to Lucille, the others following suit.

"So you're Lucille?" Lilith asked, the woman turning to Lilith.

"Yes, and you must be… Lilith," Lucille responded. "I will admit, I am surprised to see a former Head Witch in my shop…"

"I'm also surprised to see you here," Emily admitted. "What are you doing on the Inwell Isles, Lilith?"

"I'm on vacation with Hunter and Blazer," Lilith explained before turning back to Lucille. "I'm sorry but… have we met? You seem familiar to me…"

Behind her scarf, Lucille smiled. "I get that a lot," she told Lilith before she received all the hairs and feathers. "Be right back."

Once Lucille left to the backroom, the girls turned to Mrs. Lanz.

"We appreciate you following us down here, Mrs. Lanz," Emily told her. "You didn't have to do this."

"It's no trouble at all, Ms. Tricks," Mrs. Lanz replied. "I just want to make sure that you girls are turned back to normal."

"Yes, the sooner the better," Tabrella said. "Because I don't want to look like a hairless cat when I see Katie again…"

"So, um, can we get the full story on what exactly happened to you six?" Hunter asked them.

"Well, we were having Emily help us in figuring out who was trying to frame her for something she didn't do," Jackie explained.

"What?!" Zee asked in shock, turning to Emily. "Someone's trying to frame you?!"

"Yeah," Emily responded. "It happened yesterday, though I guess I forgot to mention it because of everything with Lupe. Someone disguised as me attacked Tracy…"

"Indeed, they did," Tabrella said, getting into character. "We created a list of suspects, but worried that we were going nowhere until we realized we were focusing on the wrong thing and that we were asking the wrong question. It wasn't why someone would frame Emily Tricks. It was how someone could frame Emily Tricks. How someone could make our friend, Tracy Dashers, think Emily Tricks had attacked her, leading us to Vitimir…"

"Wait," Emily interrupted as everyone turned to her. "Your last name is Dashers?"

"Uh yeah," Tracy responded.

"I've always thought that it was Speedemon," Emily pointed out.

"Oh yeah, that is just a little stage name I came up with," Tracy replied. "Dashers is my family name and… you didn't know that, did you?" she realized.

"No," Emily said, shaking her head. "I just assumed Speedemon was your last name. I don't remember if I was ever told otherwise…"

Tracy looked hard at Emily for a few moments, trying to be sure if Emily was being sincere or not. Eventually, she realized that Emily was being truthful.

"Damn, then that really confirms that you didn't attack me," Tracy said with a sigh. "Because whoever attacked me called me 'Crashers', my old childhood nickname. Wait… do you think it was that accomplice."

"Accomplice?" Lilith asked.

"Vitimir wasn't acting alone, you see," Tabrella narrated. "As it turned out, he had an illusionist that posed as the theater's owner, Mrs. Lanz, to cover for him. Vitimir claimed that he wasn't responsible for the attack on Tracy, but perhaps his accomplice did it… either on her own or for someone else."

"While we managed to beat Vitimir, his accomplice got away and we don't even know what they really look like," Tracy grumbled. She then looked over at Emily… and her frown slipped. "I… guess I do owe you an apology for attacking me, Tricks."

Emily looked up at Tracy in surprise. "Um, thank you, Tracy. But you really don't have to-"

"Hey, I acknowledge my mistakes," Tracy interrupted. "For the record, I still don't like you even though you are innocent in this, but I hate being used as a pawn even more. So I'm sorry."

"I forgive you, Tracy," Emily told her.

"Good, now I don't have to feel bad about attacking you anymore," Tracy said with a smile. "And I can go back to disliking you for all the stuff you actually did." She then saw the looks everyone was giving her. "What?" she asked.

"At least that's some progress," Lindsay whispered.

"It is still my fault that you were attacked in the first place," Emily admitted. "Whoever attacked you did it so you would go after me. They were targeting me through you and it could have been for any number of reasons."

"Yeah, that's an understatement," Tracy said before frowning. "But seriously, your impostor is still out there and they know who we are." She looked down. "I think I'm more mad at your impostor than I am at you right now. If only we knew who they were…"

"Yes, if only…" Emily said.

"And they could be anyone…" Tracy added as she gave a paranoid look before Lucille showed up with bottles of elixirs.

"The cures are ready," Lucille said as she placed the six bottles down for them to drink.

"Finally! I can get back to my lovely self," Tabrella said as she grabbed her bottle and drank it up.

Everyone else followed suit, drinking their bottles of the cure as magical sparks surrounded each of them. After a bright, flashing light, the six animals were changed back into their witch selves.

"Finally! I got my wings back!" Tracy said as she flew up a little.

"Glad that's over with," Jackie said with a smile. "Now I can give y'all a big ol' hug!" she said as she hugged both Tracy and Tabrella, sharing a laugh.

"Aw, our clothes are still on," Andrea said, noticing that everyone's clothes were still intact.

"Why is that an issue?" Emily asked.

"I was expecting funny reactions if we didn't have them," Andrea said, which only made Emily look at her with a deadpan expression.

"I don't think anyone would like that," Emily pointed out. She then created a spell circle to make sure that her magic was working properly again. "Ah, so good to be able to cast spells again," she said while the Mane Five also checked their magic.

"Wait, how were you able to beat Vitimir if you couldn't cast spells?" Lilith asked.

Emily just smiled at Hunter, who quickly figured it out.

"Spell glyphs," he realized, smiling back at Emily. "You used spell glyphs."

It was then that Cross and Donna both came into the shop, Donna holding Katie.

"Hey Emily, we got your text about meeting up here," Cross said, Tabrella immediately walking over to them.

"Katie!" Tabrella shouted as Donna handed Katie to her, reuniting mother and daughter. "How was your day with Auntie Donna and Uncle Cross? Did you enjoy yourself, my wittle girl?" she asked happily while Katie just gave baby noises.

"We had a fun outing with her," Donna said with a smile before she noticed who else was there in the shop. "Huh?"

"Lilith? Hunter?" Cross asked, surprised to see his cousins.

"You?!" Donna asked, pointing at Blazer, who recognized Donna and suddenly became very nervous.

"Hello Cross, Donna," Lilith replied to them. "Glad to see that you two are doing well."

"We're on vacation! Hoot-hoot!" Hooty declared.

"Yeah, what Hooty said," Hunter admitted.

"But what is Mel's Hellhound doing here?" Donna asked, causing Lindsay's one eye to widen.

"That's who you are!" Lindsay realized while looking over at Blazer, who was definitely wishing he could turn invisible around now…

Eventually, everyone left the shop, all of them planning to go their separate ways.

"Well, I best head back to my theater," Mrs. Lanz said. "I'll see you all around, and let me know if you all wish to be in any of my shows! Your auditions showed a lot of promise!"

"Goodnight, Mrs. Lanz," Emily said as she waved to her. Once Mrs. Lanz was gone, Emily turned to the Mane Five. "I want to apologize to you girls that we weren't able to verify who attacked Tracy. I wish I could have done more…"

"It's quite alright, Emily," Tabrella said. "We still appreciate your help."

"And I wouldn't call it a day wasted," Jackie pointed out.

"Yeah, we caught a criminal together!" Andrea shouted. "Heck, it's the second day in a row that Lindsay got to help take care of a criminal."

"Well, at least I didn't go Madstream this time," Lindsay admitted.

"So I guess this is goodnight then," Emily said.

"Yeah, we'll see you around," Tracy admitted, which surprised Emily.

"You… will?" Emily asked.

"I mean, we're still looking for whoever attacked me, right?" Tracy pointed out.

Emily then looked over at Tabrella, who looked down at Katie before looking up at Emily.

"Yes, I do think we will contact you if we ever need your help again, especially while the case remains open," Tabrella admitted.

Andrea and Lindsay both shared hopeful looks, while Emily gave a small smile. She said her goodbyes to the Mane Five, who then left with Cross and Donna, all of them heading back to their hotel. Emily watched them go.

"So… today was a good day then?" Zee asked, causing Emily to turn to her.

"Yeah," Emily admitted. "I think it was. I think… I made progress with them today."

"That's great to hear, Mily," Zee said, patting Emily on the back.

"Hey, what did I miss?"

Emily turned around and saw Zara coming over to her. "Zara?"

"Yeah, sorry that I didn't get to call or message you earlier," Zara apologized. "I was too busy with getting my recovered things to the motel." She then noticed everyone else there. "Say, I don't think I've met all you…"

"Oh, that's Lilith Clawthorne, and her son Hunter," Emily introduced. "The tube owl is Hooty and… I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"It's Blazer," Blazer introduced himself.

"And who are you?" Lilith asked Zara, who pretended to be offended.

"What?" she asked in mock shock. "You've never heard of the Great and Terrible Zara?" She then broke into a grin. "I'm a friend of Emily's." She turned back to Emily. "I'm gonna ask again… what did I miss?"

Meanwhile, over at McTaverns, Cups and Mugs had left the place together.

"Boy, now that was some good dining, wasn't it, brother?" Cups asked while picking his teeth with a toothpick.

"You can say that again, Cups," Mugs replied while letting out a yawn. "But man, it is getting late. Time to head home for some shut-eye."

"Yeah," Cups replied. "You know, I wonder if those girls were able to find what they were lookin' for?"

"Probably, since you sold out one of our customers to them," Mugs pointed out.

"Hey, I was helpin' them out out of the goodness of my bile sac," Cups told his brother. "And I was helping us get a few extra snails in our pockets as well. I do wonder why they were interested in Vinny though…"

"Perhaps because he's a former Coven Head?"

Cups gave a nod. "Yeah, that would be something, wouldn't it, Mugs?"

"Um, I didn't say anything, Cups," Mugs said as the two boys looked around for the other voice they had heard. "Although didn't that voice sound familiar to you…?"

"Familiar how?" Cups asked before they both felt someone putting their arms around their shoulders.

"Hi guys!" Mel announced while getting in between them with a smile.

"Mel?!" Cups and Mugs exclaimed in shock and horror.

"Hey, there!" Mel said as she patted their backs. "Sorry that I took a long hiatus, but now I'm back! What have you guys been up to, huh? Still up to your usual mischief?"

"Back off, toots!" Cups told her off as he and his brother stepped away from Mel. "Quit actin' like we're old friends!"

"Yeah! Not after what ya did and attempted to do!" Mugs told her off. "We don't want anything to do with you ever again!"

"Yeah, so get lost!" Cups told her off.

Mel looked at the two boys, a hurt expression on her face. She let out a sad sigh. "Yeah, I get it. You guys are still mad, and I understand that you don't want anything to do with me anymore…" she said as she turned around. "Although… wouldn't it be a shame if word got out about who really murdered Scooter Crane?"

Cups and Mugs' eyes widened in realization.

"Shit! She's got our number, Mugs!" Cups explained.

"That's right," Mel said as she turned around with a smirk, seeing the two witch boys quickly fall in line.

"W-We'll do whatever ya want! Just don't tell anyone!" Mugs exclaimed.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Mel said as she crossed her arms. "Oh, we're going to have some fun… "

Meanwhile, Weevil Vitimir Breathton, the former Head Witch of the Potions Coven… was locked up in a jail cell.

"Get me out of here!" Vitimir cried out while chained to the wall. He was dressed in black and white striped jail outfit, his talons bound to a steel ball. "I shouldn't be here! I am a very important witch! A Coven Head!" When he got no answer, he looked down and started to grumble." I swear that when I get my hands on you, Tricks, revenge shall be mine…"

"I'm afraid that revenge is off the table," said a familiar female voice.

Vitimir paused and looked up, peering between the bars of his cell at the shadows on the other side of the room. "That voice… it can't be…"

"But it is," spoke Kikimora, who stepped out from the shadows. "Hello, Vitimir…"

"Kikimora?!" Vitimir exclaimed in shock. In truth, he had been wondering what became of her, along with many others who had either fled or vanished on the Day of Unity. "What are you doing here?"

"The Inwells are friends of Emperor Belos… and those who serve him," she told him. "They've proven to be… most generous hosts."

"So I could have been living up with them this whole time?" Vitimir asked with a grumble. "But you're… not alone, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Kikimora confirmed. "You and me… we're not the only ones who fled the Boiling Isles after the Day of Unity."

"You don't say?" Vitimir asked.

"There are a lot of us who managed to avoid being captured by the rebels and we have been establishing communications between each other," Kikimora explained.

"To what ends?" Vitimir asked.

"Why, eventually regrouping and retaking the Boiling Isles from the rebels, of course," Kikimora said. "That is why I am here. The Inwells are sympathetic to our cause, but they are not the only ones. We have many sympathizers and allies, not just on the Inwell Isles and the Boiling Isles…" She smiled. "But on other Titans as well. Does any of this interest you, Vitimir?"

"I would be interested in you helping me get out of this cell," Vitimir told her.

"All in good time, old friend," Kikimora said with a hint of smugness in seeing Vitimir in this position where he needed her. "But I do want you to know one thing… Emily Tricks is off limits. You are not permitted to go after her again."

"What?" Vitimir asked in confusion. "But why?"

"Because I said so."

Vitimir's eyes widened when he heard a second familiar voice. "No way… he's here too?!"

Kiki nodded and pulled out a small handheld magic mirror, holding it in front of the former Potions Head.

"Hello, Vitimir."

"No way… Adrian!" Vitimir exclaimed in shock. "I'm surprised to see you up and about!"

"Yes, I was… fortunate," Adrian Graye responded through the mirror. "But before we proceed, I want to make one thing absolutely clear: no harm is to come to Emily Tricks…"

Now that's one big set up…

So to start with the notes, a lot of stuff from the Oz flashbacks like the Land of Ev, the Princess who can swap her heads, the Wheelers, Tik-Tok, and the Nome King are all from the third bood in the Oz series: Ozma of Oz, which is one of the two books that became the inspiration for Disney's Return to Oz, where some of you readers might have first encountered these elements. This flashback is meant to establish that we are heavily drawing from the books for our version of Oz and Mel served as an audience surrogate, since like most of the general public she is only familiar with Oz from the 1939 movie.

As for the introduction of Dirtmont, which has been our plan to have Donna meet up with him at this point. He and his friends are all expies of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, with there also being some inspirations from RWBY. Dirtmont is a combination of Bow from She-Ra(1985), and Gilbert Whitehand while the others are expies such as Errol as Robin/Robyn Hill, Ria as Maid Marian/May Marigold, James as Little John, and Finley as Friar Tuck.

For Ria, as she is based off of May Marigold, we should confirm that she is a trans character. Also to add that like May Marigold who came from a wealthy family before following Robyn Hill, Ria came from the Eadbeaten family, making her Duke and Katie's cousin.

As for the Fake Ms. Lanz, she is known as Mosaic, another new OC who is meant to be an expy of Neopolitan from RWBY.

As for the Vitimir plot, our initial idea was to actually have him appear in the LOWTH spin-off and sing his musical number to LOWTH there, but we've decided to move him and his musical number to B&B because we've realized his grudge against Emily.

As for why Lilith, Hunter, Hooty and Blazer are here, we've realized that Blazer should be part of the storyline with Mel, Eustace, and Serpentina, given what the three did to him. We also remembered a line about Lilith not having a vacatioon since the Book Two prologue… and quite honestly, we thought she deserved a vacation, especially since she and Hooty haven't been used much since the Book Two finale.

We've also thought that it would be helpful to begin explaining what Hunter and Lilith were up to in-between Book Two and Three, given the developments that are introduced in Book Three.

"Master of Your Fate" from the Teen Titans episode "Bunny Raven or How To Make A Titananimal Disappear" is the music number we used for Vitimir to sing against Emily and the Mane Five. Partially because we've headcanon that Vitimir would be voiced by Tom Kenny.

Andrea performing "All That Jazz" from Chicago, both the movie and Broadway, which the 'Conformatorium Tango' is pretty much sounds like a Chicago parody(which happens to be one of my favorite musical movies).

Tracy singing a parody of "Pinball Wizard" from The Who, but also famously known for Elton John playing the Pinball Wizard in the rock opera 1975 film "Tommy", which I recommend it as it has a star-studded ensemble cast, including Jack Nicholson, Tina Turner, Ann-Margaret, Eric Clapton, etc.

Oh, and I wonder if anyone would get that Nickelodeon reference with the Potion Monster slipping off a banana peel…

On the side note, just want to tell you readers to have a happy New Years. We've been through a lot in 2024, and potentially there will be a lot more in what's in stored for 2025. Expect more of Book Three coming soon, more Brimstones and Broomsticks, and the end of Helluva Dad's Wrath Ring arc and beyond. Also expect the start of a new spin-off, The Adventures of LOWTH, as well as the next "Blockbuster Special": The Gates of Hell, which will be like a comic book event for the LCU. It's coming out sometime next year, but we're not giong to give a specific date, no matter how much you ask, we're not telling you when the next Blockbuster Special is.

Review Section:

Crash X Fusion: Maybe.

Shuffollower: That's also a maybe. Could potentially be like a Ghoul School situation…

Matteso585: 1) Probably the same as the main LCU timeline 2) Maybe.

Cooki15xd: Maybe, but not in LC2024, since that story is more of a stand-alone timeline.

SPantidem7: Oh boy, there's a lot to answer…

Okay, first off there won't be any involvement with the Ghost Zone/Ghost World for B&B. To be honest, Mel is not an arc villain anymore so what's the point in her being one again? Second, Pete lied because well, he thought if his saviors knew if he was Lupe's son, he'd fear that they would hurt him. So he ran away out of fear. Third, Rebecca isn't lying at all, and the Huntsclan works quite differently in the Demon Realm, since they only target dragons. As for your questions:

From Ch. 10:

1) No… well, we haven't figured that out if she does or not.

2) No.

3) No.

4) Obviously no.

5) We don't know.

6) Zaraff at least knows, Rebecca doesn't.

As for the St. Epiderm chapter:

1) Don't know.

2) Well, Belos was trusting and he was at his weakness when learning Hunter perished, which gives Terra the opportunity to strike him in the heart.

3) I mean, she didn't attend Glandus so it helps that she's in a much healthier school environment.

4) Yes, and probably friendly terms.

5) Yes.

6) Potentially so.