It was early morning at the Owl House when Luz's phone began to buzz. When she checked it, Luz saw that she had a reminder with Camila and Cruz. She gasped when realization hit of what day it was. Luz lowered her head slowly in sadness.
Up in his tower, Cruz's phone started ringing. When he grabbed his phone. Cruz saw the same notification with Luz and Camila. He grimaced as he put his phone down solemnly. "Maldita sea. (Damn it)".
In the living room, Eda peeked around the corner as King sat on her head.
"Uh, feelin' okay, Luz?" King asked with worry
"I feel great!" Luz said as she looked visibly nervous. "Today's gonna be a productive day of problem solving. Look!" She then handed Eda a list of things to do.
"Successfully build a portal to the Human Realm? Learn every glyph combination? Figure out what Belos is planning and show him what for?"
"Look. I've already learned a new combo. Excuse me, Francois. I call it the safety hover!"
Luz grabbed Francois from King and stuck a glyph combo on its chest before throwing the toy into the air. As it was about to hit the ground, Francois floated for a moment before touching down.
"Ooh! That'll work great when birds try to fly away with me," King said as Cruz walked into the room.
"Should I be concerned about that?" Cruz asked
"Not anymore!" King said happily. "Luz found a glyph combo to help me out."
"Speaking of combos. I found a new one too!" Cruz said as he held up a paper with multiple glyph circles in them and a volley ball.
Cruz put the glyph combo on the volley ball before throwing it into the air as he quickly tapped it. The volleyball quickly shot down to the floor leaving a large dent on the floor startling everyone.
"Gravity magic!" Cruz said happily. "I'm still working some kinks out of it but so far it looks like the spell increases gravity by about 3 times."
"Gotta say that's actually pretty impressive, kid," Eda said. "Not a lot of witches can do gravity magic. It's some advanced stuff."
"Luz and I have been making a lot of progress today. Not just on glyph combos."
"He's right. I'm already on my way to building a second door," Luz said as they looked over to see Hooty trying to stabilize a wooden door. As he sneezed, the whole thing broke apart.
"Ow."
"Uh, it's a work in progress. But look at this!" Luz said as she held up a scroll with Penstagram.
"Did you steal my Penstagram?" Eda asked
"I borrowed it because I've got a castle insider getting info on Belos. Willow gave me Hunter's contact," Luz said as she started chuckling.
Luz started texting Hunter with his username, RULERZREACHF4N.
"Are you good now? Is Belos evil now? You can tell me! Also hi! It's Luz!"
Luz then texted multiple emojis as Hunter responded to her.
" .ALONE"
Hunter then sent an image of Flapjack sleeping in his cloak.
" .person.,."
"Hmm." Eda started to rub her chin. "You're avoiding something. You both are," Eda said as she pointed at Cruz. "Spill it."
"We are not!" Luz protested before her face faltered as she gave them a sad look. "Maybe we are…" Luz sat down on the couch sadly as Cruz joined her. "Okay, we definitely are." Luz hugged herself as Cruz looked away with a sad look on his eyes.
Eda and King surrounded the twins as Eda put her old Grudgby jacket around Luz and King handed Cruz Francois.
"Every year, the two of us and our mom have this little… ritual we do. It's… nothing big. We just miss her. That's all," Luz said
"It's not an easy day… for either of us," Cruz said.
"What you two need is a healthy distraction from your problems. Like breakfast!" King said
"Yeah. Okay, I could go for a griffin egg," Luz said
"Yeah and I could take some toast too," Cruz said as he hugged King.
"Well, let us know if either of you need anything, okay?" Eda said
"We'll meet you guys in the kitchen," Luz said as Cruz set King down before he and Eda left.
Luz inhaled before sighing sadly.
"Never thought we'd miss this day with mamá," Cruz said as he lay on the couch.
"You planning to tell Skara?" Luz asked
Cruz nodded slightly. "I'll tell her later. How about you? You gonna tell Amity?"
"I don't want to bother her with my problems. I mean it's not really a big deal. Right?" Luz asked as she looked at her brother.
Cruz saw the small tears forming in Luz's eyes and felt his heart ache.
"Luz. Don't think your problems aren't a big deal. This day… it's something that hits all of us hard," Cruz said before Amity walked in through the front door.
"Luz! I have a problem, and it could distract us all day!" Amity said as she slapped the front door.
Cruz looked at her in surprise at the convenient timing. Luz gasped happily as she stood up.
"Tell me all about it and don't spare a single detail!"
At Blight Manor, Amity walked into Alador's workshop.
"Dad, look!" Amity said as she held up a poster for the Bonesborough Brawl. "It's the Bonesborough Brawl tonight. And since I'm finally old enough to participate, I- I was thinking-"
Amity stopped as she noticed that Alador wasn't paying attention. He held up a book written by Darius as he looked at it in disgust.
"Ugh."
"Dad!" Amity called out as Alador turned to look at her in surprise.
"Ah, Mittens! Didn't see you there."
"Clearly," Amity said with annoyance. "So do you think you'll be able to take me to the Brawl tonight?"
"No," Alador said with a slight frown as he put his hands behind his back. "Uh, tonight they're holding the Emperor's Coven tryouts in town. Your mother already signed you up, and I've prepared a chaperone to make sure you get there safely."
Alador threw the book towards Amity as the Abomaton next to her sliced the book in half before picking her up.
An alarm started beeping from the top of the Abomaton's head. Amity covered her ears in annoyance. Alador pressed a button on a remote to turn the alarm off.
"You mean to make sure I get there," Amity said with a groan. "Dad... I don't want to go to coven tryouts. I wanna enter the Brawl, and maybe win the champion belt. Like you did."
"I goofed off a lot back then," Alador said as he put the remote away before taking out a wrench. "But you have a bright future and shouldn't waste it on that nonsense."
"Uh, but-"
"You're welcome," Alador said waving her off as the Abomaton carried Amity away.
"I don't even want to join a coven anymore. And this thing is so embarrassing, I even tried disguising it."
Amity had dressed the Abomaton in a very unique fashion. With a tutu, a boa scarf, and a top hat. She'd even covered its face using a drawing.
"Yeah. I actually think Eda has the same outfit," Luz said looking at the Abomaton closely.
"I think she sold it a few months ago," Cruz said
Amity groaned as she looked up at the ceiling. "The Bonesborough Brawl is the one cool thing my dad did before joining the Abomination Coven," Amity said as Luz put her arm around her shoulder. "It would've been nice to share something with him."
Amity held up an old photo of Alador at the Bonesborough Brawl holding the championship belt with a bright smile on his face.
Amity leaned into Luz's shoulder feeling depressed.
"Well, hey, I'm here to help... you ditch the tryouts and enter the Brawl!" Luz declared as Amity looked at her in surprise.
"What?!" Amity said
"Not surprised even a bit," Cruz said with a smile
"Come on. You should know I always go for the chaotic route." Luz winked at Amity as she looked away with a blush.
"I agree with Luz. This should be fun," Cruz said with a grin.
"Are you still mad about my mom trying to expel you guys?" Amity asked
"Not really. I just don't like her. Don't need another reason other than that," Cruz said
"And if you win, maybe you can use it as a chance to tell your dad that… you don't want to join a coven anymore," Luz said.
"Did somebody say Bonesborough Brawl?" Eda said as she and King poked their head in by the door way.
"I used to love going to those. Your pops was great in duels. Plus, if you go, you can get that ugly thing out of my house."
"Wait. Can she even enter? Isn't there some kind of age limit for stuff like this?" Cruz asked knowing he'd hidden his age when he joined the fight club.
"No way! As long as you can fight, then you're good to go," Eda reassured them.
"Hmm. You know what? I'll give it a shot," Amity said as she created a spell circle to change her voice to mimic Alador.
"Abomination, fetch me, a, uh, rare and- and difficult to find emerald dagger from the Night Market!" Amity commanded as the Abomaton left the Owl House.
"That'll keep him busy," Eda said
"But my dad can't find out that I ditched tryouts. Not until I win that belt."
"Don't worry. I got you, boo," Luz as she rested two fingers under her chin.
"I'll go tell Skara," Cruz said as he headed towards the tower. "She said she wanted to check something like this out. I'll go meet you guys there."
"No time to waste," Luz declared. "To the Bonesborough Brawl!"
At the forest, Luz and Amity met up with a pair of people that would help them out.
"Hey, Mittens!" Edric and Emira said happily as Amity looked annoyed and Luz chuckled.
"We're proud of you, sis," Emira said
"Yeah, you're becoming more of a delinquent every day," Edric said
"All right, Ed. Hand over your Concealment Stone."
"Like I need one of those." Emira grabbed Edric as she pulled him over by the collar.
"Hey!" Edric protested
"Don't play games, Ed. I saw you take one this morning."
"Well you saw wrong!"
"This won't take long," Amity said looking over to Luz
"Wait… what's that supposed to mean?" Edric asked
"Found it!" Emira said as she pulled up his sleeve to show a blue teardrop gem.
When she took the gem off, Edric was covered in a blue puff. Edric was wearing a pair of gray sweatpants, a yellow t-shirt, his hair was pulled up with a headband. He was also wearing a pair of glasses with an uneven mustache growing in.
"Here's mine too for a little extra flair," Emira said as she took off the green diamond gem at the center.
A blue puff covered her too. When the smoke cleared, Emira's face had achene growing and her hair was a lot messier and her beauty mark was gone.
Amity put both of their Concealment Stones together as it covered her in a blue smoke.
When the smoke cleared, she was wearing an abomination themed dress, a pair of boots, gold teardrop earrings and a pair of pink shades. She had her hair up in a bun.
"Not bad," Amity said as she looked over her new look.
"Ooh, so pretty!" Luz exclaimed as she hugged Amity and began to spin her around. Luz and Amity blushed as the twins chuckled looking at the two.
"Ooh. Amity that dress looks so good," Skara said as she walked up to them.
"Oh hey, Skara," Luz said
Skara was wearing a pair of black pants with a beige shirt and a maroon jacket over it.
"Have you seen Cruz?" Luz wondered. "He said he was going to meet up with us later."
"He was here a second ago. He said he was going to look around," Skara said as they heard a group of witches cheer.
When they looked over, they saw that the group was standing in front of Cruz as he was wearing his disguise from the fight club.
"No way!" Edric exclaimed in excitement. "I can't believe he actually came!"
"You're right! I thought that they were joking when they added his name to the list!" Emira said equally as excited.
"Wait who is it?" Luz asked
"It's the Mechanical Witch!" Edric said. "He's the champion in the Underground Fight Club. Me and Em have caught almost all of his matches!"
"Wait, when did you do that?" Amity asked
"It happens at night, Mittens," Emira explained
"Have you two been sneaking out at night again," Amity said with annoyance
"Yep!" The twins said together.
"Hey, Amity," Luz said as Amity turned to her. "Look at the top of his head."
Everyone turned to look at the group and saw Gizmo sitting on top the Witch's head.
"So you think it's actually him or is he just pretending to be this Mechanical Witch guy?" Luz wondered
"It's him for sure. There's no way he'd pretend to be someone else just to fight here," Skara said
As the group of witches left, the group all walked up to Cruz as he turned to look at them.
"So how long have you been you doing this, Hermano?" Luz asked
"How'd you even know it was me?" Cruz asked as he took off his mask
"Gizmo is sitting on your head," Amity pointed out.
"Oh, yeah. Probably should've thought of something to cover my tracks," Cruz said as Gizmo climbed down onto his neck. "I've been fighting in the Fight Club since we first met Hunter. It's helped out a lot with my fighting style," Cruz explained
"You could've told me. I would've gone to see your matches," Skara said
"I would've had to pretend like I didn't know you. I didn't want to do that to you. If someone asks here, I can just say I'm a fan and it'll be fine."
"So wait, are you actually going to fight?" Skara asked
"Yeah it seemed like fun and honestly it just gives me an excuse to fight Wrath again," Cruz said as he pointed back towards Warden Wrath adjusting his champion belt.
"I'm not going to make it easy for you," Amity said with a smile
"It wouldn't be a good fight if you did," Cruz said with a smirk as the main announcer walk up to the stage.
"Looks like it's starting," Luz said as she and Amity went up to the stage.
"Let's head over too," Cruz said as he put his mask back on
"I'll be cheering you on from the side," Skara said as they started to head toward the stage.
"Hold up, Cruz," Emira called out as Cruz turned to look at her.
"What's up?"
"Can Ed and I get your autograph after the Brawl is over?"
Cruz looked at her in surprise for a second before chuckling slightly.
"Yeah. It's not a problem at all, Em."
Emira's smile grew as she ran off to join Amity and Luz.
"Is it weird getting asked to sign autographs?" Skara asked
"More than you realize," Cruz deadpanned. "Still, getting recognition for something you do feels amazing. And the fact that it helps bring in snails for my family is a nice bonus too."
Skara smiled warmly at Cruz before she noticed that Cruz's smile had seemed slightly forced.
"Are you okay?"
"Why do you ask?" Cruz wondered
"It just feels like… you're not yourself today. Did something happen?"
Cruz's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, uh, well. It's just that today isn't a good day for either Luz or me," Cruz said as he scratched the back of his head.
"What happened?"
Cruz paused for a moment debating whether to tell her now or not.
"I'll tell you later, Skara," Cruz said with slight hesitation.
Skara nodded, respecting his choice.
When they arrived at the stage, the same demon hunter leader with an eyepatch walked to the center with a microphone.
"Witches and demons, welcome to the Bonesborough Brawl!" The announcer said as the audience cheered.
"You know the rules. Contestants will fight one-on-one. Not for honor, not for glory, but for the ultimate bragging rights as the toughest dueler on the Isles!" The crowd cheered again.
"Last one standing will get the chance to snag the coveted Brawler's Belt from our reigning champion, Warden Wrath!"
Wrath stood on stage as he flexed his belt to the crowd.
"For our first round, we have Scab the All-Knowing…"
Scab appeared on the stage as he traveled through a shadow.
"…versus The Mighty Mittens!" Amity surfed onto the stage using an abomination. She turned around to look at Luz and the twins and waved at them.
The twins waved back at her and Luz blew kisses at her.
"Now let the brawl… begin!"
Scab jumped up into the air as they blasted Amity with energy from their crystal ball. Amity quickly moved her abomination in front of her to block it.
She then moved the abomination behind Scab as it reared its arm back before punching Scab.
'Wow! Amity's got this in the bag,' Luz thought to herself as she began to sweat nervously.
'Guess I, uh, don't need to do much. I can just sit back and think about… things.'
Luz's phone started to buzz again as she got the same notification.
"Hey, Luz," Emira said as she and Edric snuck up behind her.
"Ooh, what's that?" Edric said as Luz stared at her phone before pressing the ignore button.
"You okay?" Emira asked
"Yeah! Uh, yeah, I'm fine," Luz said as she backed away nervously. "Cause I just remembered the other part of the plan. Amity's gonna kick butt, like, for sure, but if I was fighting, too, she could get the belt faster. So, I'm also gonna sign up for the Bonesborough Brawl!"
From behind her, Amity's abomination and Scab flew in the air before they crashed out of the arena.
"Ooh look," Edric said as he pointed at the stage.
"For our next fight, Payne the Bone Crusher…" A large lizard demon with a large sledge hammer stepped onto stage as the crowd cheered.
"…versus, The Mechanical Witch!" The crowd's cheers erupted as Cruz stood on stage.
"Whoo! Go Mechanical Witch!" Skara cheered loudly as Luz and the twins looked over to her.
"Hey, Skara! Come over here!" Emira said as Skara joined them.
"This should be good!" Edric said
"Now… begin!"
Payne rushed towards Cruz as he raised the hammer. Cruz quickly created a shield spell as he blocked the hammer.
Cruz teleported from side to side before teleporting behind Payne. He reeled his arm back before punching Payne off the stage using his gauntlet.
The crowd cheered as Cruz raised his fist into the air.
Luz and Amity stared at Cruz with wide eyes.
"Whoa. I never knew how much better Cruz had gotten," Luz said
"You're right. He's been holding himself back lately," Amity said as Cruz walked over to them.
"That was fun. I'd fought him before. He got a bit faster with his swings," Cruz said. "So who's ready for the next round?"
"I've got an idea first," Luz said
"Wait, how is this supposed to help me?" Amity asked as Luz was stretching.
"Think of it like, tag teaming tournament! If I'm taking out contestants too, you have less people to worry about. More chances to win that belt!" Luz said
"Wait, isn't that what I'm doing right now?" Cruz asked as finished refilling his gauntlets.
"Well… yeah. But this should work even faster!"
"Is everything okay? Eda told me it's a special day for you and Cruz," Amity said with worry.
Skara looked over at Cruz and saw him look away as he clutched his arm.
"She did?" Luz asked in surprise. "I mean, i- it's nothing for you to worry about. Not even worth talking about. Really, I- I just wanna help you. Besides, can't let you have all the fun, Blight."
Amity blushed as Luz nudged her shoulder.
"Just… don't get hurt, okay?"
"Emira, do you know any healing spells?" Luz asked as she walked up.
"I'm on it," Emira said. "Cruz, do you have any more healing tonics?"
Cruz rummaged through his bag before pulling out four bottles.
"Luz, I'll give you a bottle after your match. Just take a few sips and you should be fine," Cruz said as he handed Luz a bottle.
"Ooh, I can help too," Edric said enthusiastically. "I can make Batric sing for moral support."
Edric traced a spell circle but it failed to activate.
"Ah, sorry. New spell. Let me try again." Edric tried the spell again but it failed again.
"It's okay, Ed. Maybe you can just cheer from the sidelines?" Emira said
"Yeah, okay. Go get 'em, Mittens!" Edric said as the rest of the group walked away.
As the group was walking away, Skara pulled Cruz to the side.
"Hey, tell me, is today really that bad for you and Luz?" Skara asked with worry.
Cruz stayed silent for a moment before sighing sadly.
"Yeah… it is. Today might honestly be one of the worst day for us. It's just… right now neither one of us wants to think too much about it."
"Is that the reason she's joining the Brawl?"
Cruz nodded. "Yeah it just helps to get her mind off of it. I can't really blame her, but I just wish she'd talk about it instead. Avoiding it won't help at all."
"Shouldn't you take your own advice?"
Cruz looked at Skara with a sad smile. "You're right. I'll tell you about it as soon as the Brawl is over," Cruz said as he put his mask back on.
Back at the arena, the announcer walked back onto the stage.
"Let's keep the Brawl going! In one corner, we have… the Flexicutioner!"
A large demon with a burlap sack over their head jumped onto the stage holding their giant ax.
"And in the other, a last minute entry..."
An ice pillar grew as it launched Luz into the air. She flipped in the air as she used vines to cover herself like a cocoon as she landed. As the vines parted, Luz raised her arm in the air for a victory pose.
"…the Spellraiser!"
Emira and Skara cheered as Amity blushed
"Let the brawl… begin!"
The Flexicutioner rushed at Luz leaving an indent on the stones as they began to swing at Luz.
She dodged all of their attacks. As she continued to dodge their attacks, the Flexicutioner slammed their axe into the ground sending Luz flying back.
As she was about to hit the ground, Luz slammed a hover glyph on herself.
As the Flexicutioner is about to attack again, Luz uses one of the invisibility glyphs, confusing them.
As the Flexicutioner is looking around for Luz, she reappeared behind them slapping a fire glyph on their back. The glyph activated sending them flying off the stage and into a nearby hill.
The announcer walked onto the stage declaring Luz the winner as the crowd cheered.
Amity faced off against a green demon wearing blacksmith clothes. The two rush at each other as they try to push each other off. As they clash, a shockwave forced the two to back off.
The demon used construction magic to lift a large boulder above him before throwing it towards Amity.
Amity quickly formed a shield using abomination goo. The impact sends her rolling before she sits up. As the blacksmith is standing ready for the fight, he felt abomination goo wrap around his leg before sending him flying.
Luz faced off against an old goat woman. The old woman broke her cane before roaring as flames surrounded her, startling Luz. She quickly slammed two mist glyphs together as the whole arena was covered in a mist.
Luz guided the old woman towards the edge of the arena. The old woman pushed Luz away before walking off the stage. The crowd cheered for Luz.
Cruz's next opponent was a gray demon with two large abominations wearing a broken mask. As the abominations charged at him, Cruz quickly slammed his hands onto the ground and froze them solid before teleporting behind him and punching him off the stage.
Wrath chuckled as he juggled his opponent in the air.
"Woo! This is a workout," Luz said as she was stretching. "You doin' okay, Amity?"
Luz walked up to Amity and Emira as she was healing a scrape on Amity's knee.
"Yeah. This is just a nasty one," Amity said as she grit her teeth.
"Ha! Reminds me of the Grudgby match," Luz said as she pushed Emira. "Oh! Remember when-"
"Hey, Luz! Maybe you can talk after? I need to focus," Emira said as she started healing Amity again.
"Oh! Of course, of course. I'll just... sit quietly... with my thoughts," Luz said as she sat down on her knees.
'I just need a healthy distraction. Healthy distraction...' Luz thought to herself before her and Cruz's phone started buzzing again.
"I need to take a walk," Cruz said as headed into the woods.
"I'll come with you," Luz said as she stood up and followed after him.
Amity and Skara looked at them in concern as they retreated into the woods.
"Stupid phone!" Cruz yelled as he and Luz ignored the event.
"Next time, I am throwing you into the ocean!" Luz yelled angrily before she put the phone back into her pocket.
She ended up bumping into something in front of her. When she looked up, Luz saw the Abomaton that Amity had sent away earlier. It was holding an emerald dagger in its hand.
"It's you! Geez. Did you actually find an emerald dagger?" Luz said
"The Night Market isn't even open yet. Did it just steal that from somewhere?" Cruz wondered as the Abomaton started walking towards where Amity was.
"Hey! Wait! Amity is so close to winning. Just stay back!" Luz said as she ran in front of the Abomaton and started to push on it.
"Fine if that's what you want," Luz used an ice glyph to create a bat.
"Luz! Wait!"
"Hi-yah!" Luz swung the bat at the Abomaton's head. The head wobbled before restoring itself.
A warning bulb popped up from the Abomaton's head as an alarm started flashing.
Luz and Cruz gasped as that alarm reminded the two far too much of ambulance sirens.
"Get out of my head!" Luz yelled as she slammed a plant glyph onto the ground to rise herself up.
She swung at the alarm and shattered it as it landed on the ground. Luz and Cruz looked at the Abomaton in shock as they realized what she'd done.
"Luz!" Emira called out as she, Amity and Skara ran up to the twins. "Is everything okay?"
"Hey, guys!" Luz said trying to sound normal. "Look who I found!"
"Ugh. It's back already," Amity said with annoyance. "You didn't touch it, right? Dad filled this thing with alarms."
"Uh, of... course not," Luz said as Cruz looked over at her in concern.
They all heard growling and looked over to see Wrath breathing fire as the crowd cheered.
"Come on, Amity. It's showtime!" Luz said as she grabbed her hand as Amity smiled.
"Luz," Cruz said as he got closer to her. "If Amity is going to take the belt, she has to do it quick. Alador is probably tracking that thing if he put an alarm inside of it."
"It'll be fine, Cruz. Amity will win and then everything will work out," Luz said
"Listen, you have to tell her about today. Holding it in is only going to hurt you more."
Luz bit her lip as she gripped her arm. "I know. But aren't you doing the same? You're still blaming yourself for… everything," Luz said as she walked to join Amity.
"Now, we're getting close to the end, folks! Will the Warden lose the Champion's Belt?"
Wrath took off his mask as he began to sprout fire while growling. As the crowd cheered, Luz tapped on Amity's shoulder gaining her attention.
She imitated Wrath's growl causing Amity to giggle before Luz began to giggle as well.
"The Mighty Mittens versus the Warden! Now, let the brawl-"
The ground began to shake as the announcer looked down in shock. Luz almost falls but she managed to grab onto Amity's arm.
"Stop!" Alador yelled as he emerged in the center surrounded by abomination goo. "This child forfeits the match."
"Dad? How did you find us?" Amity wondered as Alador was lowered by his abomination before it went back into the container in his back.
"Not only did you ditch the coven tryouts, but someone set off your Abomaton's alarm. I just followed its signal," Alador said as he handed Amity the broken alarm. Luz looked away nervously.
"Luz, did you… lie to me earlier?" Amity asked feeling betrayed.
"I didn't wanna worry you," Luz said as she turned to look at her.
"Well, I am worried! You've been acting weird all day and now I'm in trouble! What is going on with you?"
"It's nothing, really. Seriously, it- it's nothing!" Luz said as she looked away.
Amity looked sad at Luz's refusal to talk about what had been eating away at her.
"Hey!" Wrath yelled as they all looked towards him.
"I'm tired of standing around! I came here to fight!" Wrath said as he launched himself towards them using his tentacle arms.
Before he could attack, Alador encased his whole body except his face using abomination goo.
"No! No!" Wrath tried to breathe fire but Alador slammed him onto the ground.
"Oh, well, it looks like the Champion's Belt goes to..."
"I already have one," Alador dismissed as he walked up to Amity.
"Mittens, go round up Edric and Emira. We're leaving."
"But-"
"And if we beg, maybe we can sign you up for the next tryout." As Alador tried to take Amity's hand, she angrily slapped it away, shocking him.
"No! I'm not going anywhere with you," Amity said angrily before summoning one of Luz's invisibility glyphs. "Either of you." Amity looked at Luz with a hurt look before taking a deep breath and disappearing.
"Amity!" Luz ran off leaving Alador as Cruz climbed up onto the stage.
Alador looked over at Cruz with interest not recognizing him with his mask on.
"You seem familiar," Alador said
Cruz sighed as he lifted his mask. "You're an idiot, Alador," Cruz said as Alador looked at him in surprise. "It doesn't matter if Amity is some kind of prodigy at abomination or not. If you continue to force her to act like a puppet for you and Odalia, then she will hate you for the rest of your lives." Cruz walked off towards the woods to clear his head as Skara followed after him.
In the woods, Luz was panting as she looked around for Amity. She gasped when she noticed Amity's glasses on the ground.
As she continued to walk down the path, she found Amity sitting underneath the tree they had grown together during Grom.
"Can I, uh, sit here?" Luz asked as Amity simply nodded without looking up as Luz sits next to her.
"I've always wanted to enter this Brawl," Amity said. "I thought it would be fun to bring home the belt. And I thought I could understand my dad better."
"But then you joined the competition. And then you tried to mess with that Abomaton on your own. And then you lied about it," Amity said as Luz looked away guiltily.
"You've been acting strange all day. Does it… have something to do with the Human Realm?"
"Oh, okay, okay. I don't talk… about this cause it happened like, a long time ago, and it's like totally not an issue anymore but, uh..."
Luz handed Amity her phone. When Amity clicked on the details for the event, it showed the even location being at the Gravesfield cemetery.
"Today's… the anniversary of my dad passing away. That's, not an excuse for what I did. Like I said it happened a while ago so I, uh…"
Amity looked at her shock surprised that Luz was acting as if this wasn't something extremely important. Luz's eyes widened in shock as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"…Didn't want to bring it up," Luz said hastily.
"Is that why you and Cruz have been so distracted today?" Amity asked as Luz nodded.
"You know what's the worst part? I actually used to envy Cruz. He doesn't forget things. He never does. He has more memories of our dad than I do. But I realized that… it hurts him. Those same memories hurt him even more than it hurts me. He always used to bring us flowers on our birthdays," Luz said as Amity scrolled through the photos of the family.
The first photo had Camila without her glasses holding the twins as they looked at a pair of flowers in amazement with cake plastered on their faces. Their dad was holding the phone with half his face covered.
"So, after he passed away, we started picking flowers for each other." Another photo showed Cruz and Luz handing a flower to Camila.
The last photo showed the twins standing with Camila as she held a bouquet of flowers.
"And then we'd visit his grave, and two of us and our mom would spend the day together. It's nice. But, this year, w-we're not with her, and… I don't have any flowers. And when you told me about the problem with your dad, I don't know." Luz started to tear up as she looked down.
"Maybe I was jealous or, just, needed a distraction. I was dumb. I'm sorry," Luz said as she bowed her head.
As Amity was about to console Luz, they heard the crowd screaming. The two gasped as they looked towards the direction of the arena. Amity immediately stands up as she begins to head towards the arena.
As Luz is about to follow her, she collapses after standing up. Amity glances back as she looked at her.
"Whoops, got a case of the ole jelly legs. I'll catch up," Luz said as Amity looked back towards the arena before looking at her and pointing at her with a blush on her face.
"I don't know what rituals you have in the Human Realm, but, I'll help you pick some flowers, and we can do something here!" Amity declared as she ran off towards the arena leaving a blushing Luz behind.
A woman screamed before running off as Eda ran up to a nervous Edric.
"What the heck happened?" Eda asked him.
"I-I added fire bee honey to the blabber serum!" Edric confessed
"You changed the recipe?!" Eda pulled Edric to the side as Wrath, now having transformed into a giant monster, roared and chaos ensued.
Eda stood up as she transformed into Harpy Eda before flying into the air.
"Hey, Wrath! You still in there buddy?" Eda asked as she dove down to attack him but he knocked her back into the forest.
Alador grabbed onto Wrath's arm using the Abomaton. Wrath simply knocked it away as Alador summoned more abomination goo to grab onto him.
"Edric!" Emira called out as she ran up to her brother when Amity arrived.
"Dad! I've got your back!" Amity said as Alador grabbed her with the abomination goo and moved her back. "What?"
"What the heck, Dad!?" Emira said with displeasure
"Boo!" Edric yelled as Alador continued to try and hold Wrath back.
"Oh, he just doesn't get it!" Amity said angrily as she stood up. She turned as Eda landed next to her. "Are you guys doing okay?"
"For now, but nothing phases this guy, and we have to turn him back to normal," Eda said
"Well, if the heat from the fire bee honey caused the potion to mutate, then maybe something cold would reverse it?" Edric suggested
"We don't have time for a new potion!" Eda said
"You don't need one," Luz said as they turned to look at her. "I can handle this. Eda, can you give me a lift?"
"We'll still need to restrain him. And right now it looks like he's getting more agitated," Eda said
"It's fine," Cruz said as he and Skara walked in. "I can hold him down. You just focus on dealing with him."
"Alright then. Let's fly, kiddo," Eda said as she took off into the air.
Luz walked over to Amity and took her hand. "Thank you for listening. I can't wait to pick flowers with you." Luz stepped back as she fanned a few glyphs in front of her and Eda took her into the air.
"Aim for the glyph circle!" Cruz yelled to the two.
"I'll go help my Dad," Amity said as she ran off to join him.
"What are you planning to do?" Skara asked as a giant abomination started holding onto Wrath.
"Just enjoy the show," Cruz said with a smirk as his eyes began to glow.
Cruz drew a large spell circle. As he pushed the circle forward, a large gold ring appeared above Wrath.
"You're getting way too cocky. Now… bow." As Cruz lowered his right hand quickly, Wrath was pushed down into the area with a crash of gravity causing the arena to crack.
Above the ring, Eda and Luz flew into the air as Luz threw multiple glyphs creating a large circuit. As she tapped them, a large blue spell circle appeared as a giant pile of snow fell onto Wrath.
As the snow landed, Cruz canceled his spell before collapsing onto the ground.
Cruz let out a sigh of relief. "That spell is a lot tougher to hold than I realized," Cruz said with a smile before he and everyone else walked up to where Amity and Alador were standing.
"Edalyn," Alador greeted with a monotone as they stared ahead.
"Alador."
Alador examined Eda as he began to pull down his goggles. "Were you always able to do that?"
Eda quickly turned back to normal with a puff of smoke as she glared at him.
"Don't you have family stuff to clear up? Also, I heard about the factory incident with Luz and Cruz. I've got my eyes on you, Blight," Eda said as she poked Alador's goggles before walking away.
"What ended up doing this to him?" Cruz wondered as Edric rubbed the back of his neck.
"I ended up adding fire bee honey to a blabber serum potion," Edric said as Cruz face palmed.
"You don't go changing the recipe in a potion like that. Or at least not without testing it out in a controlled environment first. Still, it's impressive what it did," Cruz said as he saw Eda push Wrath back into the snow before Edric ran up to her.
"Ms. Eda! I am so, so sorry. I messed everything up," Edric said as Eda turned to look at him.
"Are you kidding? Instead of making a blabber serum, you made a horrifying transformation serum!" Eda said as she moved the snow to the side to show Wrath.
"I think I'm gonna puke!" Wrath said as he started retching.
"Well, the side effects aren't pretty, but I can sell this," Eda said as she pulled a t-shirt from her hair. "Illusions, beastkeeping, and potion magic? Keep it up, kid. You got a future in wild magic."
Eda tossed him a Bad Girl Coven shirt as Edric smiled at it.
"Thank, Ms.—"
"I want a t-shirt too!" Emira interrupted as she pushed Edric to the side.
"Why do you have that in your hair?" Cruz asked
"And do you have another one for me?" Skara asked as Eda pulled out a pair of shirts and threw them to the girls.
"Hey, Cruz!" Edric said as Cruz turned to look at him. "Can you sign the shirt?"
"Ooh yeah! Mine too!" Emira said
"Why do you want my kid's autograph?" Eda asked
"Because he's the Mechanical Witch!" The twins said together
"The what?"
"The Mechanical Witch! He's the champion of the Underground Fight Club!" Edric said before he noticed that Cruz was signaling for him not to say anything.
Cruz chuckled nervously as Eda turned to look at him sternly.
"Have you been going out at night to go fight at the Fight Club?"
Cruz paused for a moment as he tried to come up with something but sighed knowing that any excuse would make it worse.
"Yeah… I've been going to it for a while. It makes for some decent snails and for experience in fights."
"Did you at least tell anyone?"
"I told Hooty."
Eda groaned as she threw her head back in annoyance. "Of course he didn't tell me!"
"To be fair, I bought his silence… with bugs," Cruz said sheepishly
Eda looked at him before smirking. "Alright since you've been able to take care of yourself, I won't try and stop you. But if you come back home too injured I'm putting my foot down. You got it?"
"No problem!" Cruz said happily when his phone buzzed and his mood dropped when he saw it.
Cruz then felt someone tugging on his shirt. When he looked over he saw that Skara was giving him a concerned look.
Cruz smiled at her sadly as he nodded.
"I promised that I would tell you after the Brawl. Let's go somewhere to talk," Cruz said as Gizmo turned into his staff.
"Sorry you've been on the sidelines, buddy. Can you take me and Skara over there?" Cruz said as he pointing to a large hill near the arena.
Gizmo nodded as he turned into a staff.
"I can fly there on Cayenne," Skara said as her Palisman popped up from her bun.
"Copying Eda with the hair thing now?" Cruz said with a chuckle
Skara rolled her eyes as she slapped his arm playfully before the two flew off.
As the two landed on the hill, they looked over and saw the sun setting with the stars starting to rise up into the sky.
"It's beautiful here," Cruz said
"You're right. It really is," Skara said as she looked over the horizon with a smile.
Cruz looked at the horizon with a smile that didn't seem to reach his eyes when he felt Skara grab his hand.
When he looked over he saw that she had a worried look on her face.
"Alright… I'll tell you," Cruz said as he grabbed his phone before handing it to Skara.
"Today's the anniversary of my Dad's death. He was always there for Luz and me and brought us flowers on our birthdays. They were always the prettiest flowers he could find. Luz and I always loved them and looked forward to them every year," Cruz said with a smile before it dropped.
"But when he… passed away, Luz and I ended up getting flowers for our Mom and she did the same for us too. It's been a tradition to bring him flowers every year and spend the day together. But this year… we can't." Cruz's eyes started to tear up as he spoke. "We can't be with her this year and I can't… I can't apologize to my dad either."
"Why apologize?" Skara asked gently
"It's all my fault. If I was better or if I'd done better with my research, I could've found something, anything that would've helped him to survive. I watched him wither away from the disease and I couldn't do anything for him. What good is all my talent for science if I can't do something to help the people I care about when they need it."
"It's not your fault, Cruz. You were young. I know you did everything you could to make sure your dad got better. I'm sure he would never blame you. If he saw all the things you've done up until now he'd be so proud of you."
Cruz looked down at his hand and felt his tears drop onto them as he smiled.
"Thanks, Skara. I really needed to hear that."
"Just remember, the bad things don't always spoil the good things. It's something my mom used to say. I'm sure you've got a lot of good memories of your dad, right?"
"Yeah you're right. He's the one that got me into science and chemistry. He took me to a science museum and that got me really into studying chemistry." Cruz chuckled at the memory. "He even got me my favorite book series," Cruz said as Skara looked at his smile that finally seemed to be back to normal.
"What's the matter?" Cruz asked as he looked at her.
"Nothing… I just love your smile so much," Skara said as she put a hand to Cruz's cheek.
Cruz felt his face heat up before letting out a chuckle.
"Come on Skara, that's so corny. I didn't think you'd say something like—"
Cruz froze when he felt Skara's lips press up against his. When she back up the two looked at each other in surprise at the kiss.
"Ay caramba," Cruz said dopily
"Why'd I do that?" Skara wondered to herself
"Why'd I say that?! Seriously. Ay caramba? I sounded so dumb!" Cruz lamented as Skara giggled.
"You didn't sound dumb," she reassured him through her laughter. "You mentioned a book. If you don't mind, I'd love to read it."
Cruz smiled at her as he looked up towards the stars. He felt a weight coming off of him. One that had been there for years.
"Yeah it's no problem at all," Cruz said as Skara rested her head on his shoulder.