Before the Battle of the Bands, Part 1

Before the Battle of the Bands, Part 1
Season 1, Episode 11
First Aired (USA) February 18, 2025 (FF) February 18, 2025 (AO3)
Episode Guide
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"Before the Battle of the Bands, Part 1" is the eleventh chapter of LC Presents: Brimstones and Broomsticks.

Synopsis

Emily is joined by Donna while making a delivery; Cross talks to Rebecca about her crush on him; Lindsay visits Hendrick and the family he's staying with; the rest of the Main Five check out the Battle of the Bands.

Plot

Somewhere on the Inwell Isles, a figure was skipping through the streets. It was the same witch girl who had impersonated Mrs. Lanz earlier. The girl twirled her parasol while she started to change her appearance with an illusion spell…

She was going to have some fun.

---

It started with a young couple who were holding hands in the park.

"Say, I'm going to head over to get some snacks, you want some, babe?" asked the young witch man.

"Sure, I'll wait here," she replied before the two kissed. She sat on the bench, waiting for her boyfriend as he went to get some snacks.

He found a vending machine near the restroom area. However, he didn't notice Mosaic standing there, leaning against the wall next to the machine. While he put some snails into the machine and tried to buy some snacks, only for the snacks to get caught into the machine, Mosaic was studying him. While he began to bang on the machine, she walked past him, her appearance starting to shift so that she looked like him…

As the girlfriend was looking at her scroll, she noticed her 'boyfriend' walking away from the restroom area. Much to her confusion, she saw that he wasn't carrying snacks and he wasn't even walking toward her… he was walking towards another woman.

"What the hell…?" she asked in shock while watching who she believed was her boyfriend grab another witch woman, dip her, and kiss her. This random witch woman looked just as shocked as the girlfriend, who quickly stood up. "Hey!"

The 'boyfriend' looked over at his girlfriend while giving a smirk. He let go of the rather dazed witch woman and ran off back to the restroom area where the real boyfriend was. The 'boyfriend' then changed into the girlfriend as she went to hide in the bathroom, which the real boyfriend didn't notice her as he was triumphantly pulling out the snacks from the vending machine.

"Finally," he said, oblivious to Mosaic or that his girlfriend was now marching up to him.

"You!" she shouted, getting his attention.

"Hey, I was just-" He turned to face her, only to get smacked in the face by her. "Ow! What was that about?!"

"Like you don't know, you two-faced bastard!" the girlfriend told him, tears in her eyes.

"Two-faced?! What are you-"

"I saw you kissing another witch, then you looked at me all smug and then ran off like a giddy schoolwitch!" she told him off while looking upset.

"I don't know what you're talking about, babe! Really!" he tried to ease her while Mosaic poked her head out of the bathroom before walking out in another disguise, leaving the scene completely unnoticed by the bickering couple.

"Gaaah! My horoscope warned me this would happen! My boyfriend turns out to be a creep!" she shouted as the two continued to argue.

As she walked away, Mosaic looked back at the couple arguing and she gave her a satisfied smile at her handiwork.

She lived for the drama.

---

Mosaic continued to skip through the Inwell Isles while she changed her appearance. Though she was silent, in her head there was a song playing just for this occasion.

'Pain and regret, and frustration and sadness,

Misery, turmoils, and anger and madness,'

In her current form she looked like a nearby kid, whose face was buried in a comic until he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. He looked up from his comic and saw his doppleganger.

"W-what?" the boy asked in confusion.

Mosaic held up a rock, pointed to it, and then winked before throwing it through the window of a nearby shop, much to his shock.

"Holy shit!" the kid cursed while the disguised Mosaic ran off as the furious shop owner came storming out, pointing his finger accusingly at the boy.

"You! How dare you throw that rock through my window!" he shouted.

"But it wasn't me!" the boy tried to explain. He turned to try to point to Mosaic, but she was already gone, leaving him stunned. "But-"

"Come with me!" the shop owner shouted as he grabbed the kid by the arm, dragging him inside.

'The smell of the garbage, the taste of despair,

These simple things leave me walking on air.'

A nearby Mosaic smiled after seeing this before she skipped away, already changing into another disguise. This time she took the form of a bird biped who noticed some large flowers in a garden while an unsuspecting gardener was planting some more flowers, their back turned to her. Noticing some large hedge clippers on the back of the gardener, she swiped the clippers, then cut the heads off of the giant flowers before she skipped, passing the clippers off to a bird biped who was just walking by. She escaped, leaving the confused bird biped looking at the clippers in their hands before they saw the cut up flowers, just as the gardener turned around and saw what had happened.

"My garden!" he cried out before turning to the bird biped and pointing at them. "You!"

"It wasn't me!" the bird biped claimed as they frantically looked around, only for Mosaic to be nowhere in sight, having already changed disguises.

'Toothache and heartburn, and bad halitosis,

Hay fever, bunions, and deep vein thrombosis,'

Changing into a construction member, Mosaic spotted a witch woman looking at her scroll. Seeing her plump butt, she smirked as she skipped along while in her disguise before smacking the witch woman's butt.

"Ah!" she cried as she turned around and saw the 'construction worker' who did it as he ran off. "Come back here!" she shouted while chasing after him, turning around a corner and spotting the construction worker fixing up a sign before he got zapped by a spell.

"Ow! What the-?!" the construction worker shouted before he was tackled to the ground by the witch woman, who started beating him to a pulp. "Lady! Stop!"

Mosaic, who had hid herself behind a cart, watched this with a smile before changing into another disguise.

'A trip to the dentist, the sound of the drill,

These are the things that will give me a thrill!'

Coming out from a nearby grocery store was Torque, who was carrying his groceries as he headed back to his ratworm. His eyes widened in shock and he dropped his groceries upon seeing his ratworm covered in spray paint and performing the act… was Quin.

"Stop! In the name of the law!" Torque shouted before Quin fled from the scene of the crime, forcing Torque to chase after him.

'Quin' ran over to where the real Quin was coming out of an arcade with Reuben. 'Quin' quickly changed into another civilian while dropping the can of spray paint at their feet.

"Hey!" Quin shouted as he picked up the spray paint can. "You dropped this!"

But Mosaic just continued to run as a panting Torque caught up and spotted the two, including the incriminating can of paint stray in the hands of Quin..

"You there! You're under arrest for vandalism!" Torque declared.

"What?!" Quin exclaimed as Torque went to arrest him. "But I didn't do anything!"

'When the milk spills, when your dog's ill,

when all hopes takes flight~!'

Mosaic continued to skip along as she disguised herself as a random civilian, passing by unsuspecting witches and taking their bags of snails right out of their pockets. After pick-pocketing each of them, she walked up to a business witch who saw the disguised Mosaic grab his hand before dancing around him. Though taken aback by this, the business witch found himself smiling and when Mosaic let go of him and continued dancing on her way, he waved at him… only to realize that his wallet was missing.

'When everyone else feels incredibly sad,

my world fills with pure delight~!'

Mosaic twirled around, still in her own little world as she entered a zoo. She looked around at all of the 'No Feeding the Animals' signs and shook her head. No, this wouldn't do for her. Not at all. Changing herself as a zookeeper, she began to go up to each cage and use her spell to erase the 'No' and change 'Feeding' to 'Feed' for grammar purposes. She did this for the cages with the unicorns, manticores, pegasi, griffins, and other creatures. When the visitors saw these changed signs, they shrugged and went to feed the animals.

As Mosaic left the zoo, she could hear the sounds of animals screeching. She looked back and saw the patrons screaming as the animals were beating them and mauling them for trying to feed them while the zoo staff ran around in a panic, trying to reestablish order. Mosaic silently snickered to herself before skipping away.

'When you slip up, when you trip up,

When you stub your toe…'

While in disguise, Mosaic held up her folded parasol as she noticed some wooden blocks in front of the wheels of a cabbage cart, keeping it from rolling away. She carefully nudged the blocks away, then gave a tiny push, sending the cart heading down a hill.

"Hey!" the cart owner shouted, noticing what Mosaic had done. But before he could go after her, he noticed the cart rolling away and he started running after it. "No, no, no!"

Mosaic kept dancing away, listening to the crash that happened behind her, along with the cry of the cart owner.

"My cabbages!"

'I point and I cackle, I clap and I laugh!

And happiness starts to flow~!'

The disguised Mosaic spun around a lamp post while holding her parasol. She then stepped down and headed for an alley, deciding that she had caused enough mayhem and that she should probably slow things down a while. At least that was the plan… before someone confronted her.

"Hold up right there!" someone shouted.

Mosaic turned to see someone emerging from the shadows of the alley. It was… Eustace, holding up his sword.

"Hand over some snails…" he threatened her.

"Better do as he says," said another voice. The disguised Mosaic turned to see Serpentina behind her, the sea witch crossing her arms. "If you don't want to get hurt…"

But Mosaic didn't seem intimidated by this. Instead, she decided to lose her disguise. Once she did, both Eustace and Serpentina's eyes widened upon recognizing her.

"M-Mosaic?!" Eustace exclaimed while lowering his sword. "Oh dear… we're so sorry. We didn't know it was you."

"Yeah," Serpentina replied while rubbing the back of her neck. "We didn't expect to run into you here."

Mosaic just gave a shrug, as if to say 'no harm, no foul'.

"So, um, what brings you here to the Inwell Isles?" Eustace asked her.

Mosaic just smiled.

---

Meanwhile, at the hotel where Cross, Donna, Lindsay, and the rest of the Mane Five were staying, they were currently eating some breakfast together at the breakfast bar near the lobby.

"Hey guys, guess how many kinds of cereal I've gotten in one bowl?" Andrea asked as she held up a bowl that looked to be overflowing with cereal.

"Let me guess… all of them?" Tracy asked, causing Andrea to nod.

"Yup!" she declared with a huge smile while sitting down.

"So what plans do you all have today?" Tabrella asked while feeding Katie.

"Well, I plan to spend some time with my brother today," Lindsay explained. "I plan to go and meet the family that he's staying with… and hopefully he's paying them rent or doing something to pay them back."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't," Tracy muttered.

"Regardless, before I head back to the Boiling Isles, I want to spend my time with my brother and check in to see how he's doing on his own," Lindsay replied. "And I do want to meet the Barks, since I am curious about what kind of witches are, especially since they were nice enough to take my brother in."

"I wonder how long they will be able to tolerate him," Jackie mentioned. "Because no offense, Linds, but your brother is infamous for not being able to keep a stable job."

"I know, but hopefully with the volunteer work he's been doing and his new real estate job, he will be able to support himself," Lindsay said with a hopeful look.

"Henry isn't that bad… is he?" Donna asked while turning to Cross, who just shrugged.

"Let's just pray he doesn't fall victim to another cult," Tabrella said with a sigh. She then looked over at Cross and Donna. "And what will you two be doing with some of your last moments here before returning to the Boiling Isles?"

"Well… I do plan on talking to Rebecca today," Cross revealed.

"Ooh, so you finally figured it out, eh?" Andrea asked with a smirk.

"Yes, it's about time you noticed her admiration towards you, Cross," Tabrella mentioned, causing Cross's eyes to widen.

"What?! Wait, you guys know too?!" Cross exclaimed.

"Please, I've spent enough time with the Carmines to know that Rebecca is sweet on you, Cross," Tabrella told him. "Especially when she gives you those looks…"

"I noticed it too, but it wasn't my place to say anything until Rebecca was ready," Lindsay admitted.

"I didn't know, but then again I don't really know her either," Jackie admitted with a shrug while Tracy nodded.

"Not that it's any of our business, dude," Tracy added.

"But man, now that you know that Rebby has a thing for you, do you plan to include her in your little menage a trois? Or menage a quatre?" Andrea suggested as her eyebrows swirled.

Cross just gave her a deadpan expression. "Look, I just want to clear things up with her. I…. don't think we want the same thing… or, what does she want? To be honest, I'm not sure what Rebecca wants, or what to expect…"

"Cross, just relax," Donna told him while patting his back. "Don't overthink things. Just… be honest with her. Talk to her about what you want out of this."

"Yes," Lindsay said while patting his hand. "Though don't forget to listen to her as well."

Cross smiled at the two and then gave a nod. "Yeah, thanks, you two." He turned to Donna. "Do you think you could maybe help me out with Rebecca?"

Donna shook her head. "No, I think that's something you have to do by yourself," she told Cross. "And I have my own plans with Emily."

"Oh, really? What plans do you have with her?" Tabrella asked.

"I want to find her and talk to her about… well, it's something personal," Donna admitted before she looked at Tabrella and the rest of the Mane Five minus Lindsay. "But what about you four? What are you going to be doing today?"

"Well…" Tabrella mused thoughtfully. "Perhaps-"

"I can tell you what we should do," Tracy said as he pulled up a poster from her shirt and rolled it out. "We should definitely sign up for the Battle of the Bards being held here!"

"Oh yeah, I heard about that," Lindsay pointed out. "I knew that would be something you'd be interested in, Tracy."

"You know me too well, Linds," Tracy replied with a smile. "But you know how I am always trying to get us to be in a band? This is the perfect opportunity for that, especially since it's being held before any of us are returning to Boiling Isles."

"Ooh, sounds fun!" Andrea replied with a smile.

"Um, I don't know about that, Tracy," Jackie said, sounding a bit reluctant. "I mean, we've never played together in public before and you know how you can get when you get competitive. It does sound fun, but I'm not sure about participating in it…"

"She's right," Tabrella said, nodding. "Besides, I got Katie to watch over. I don't think I have the time to partake in a… battle of the bards."

Tracy looked disappointed by this, but she didn't let her disappointment keep her down for long. "Well… how about we at least go over to the outdoor theater where it's being held?" she suggested in a hopeful tone. "You don't have to change your mind about signing up, but we can see the venues and some of the bands that are going to be there."

"Hmm, I guess it wouldn't hurt checking it out," Jackie said.

"Yes, it's just sight-seeing, after all," Tabrella said while patting Katie on the head.

Tracy smiled. "Great!"

"Though just to make it clear, we're just going to see what to expect from this Battle of the Bards," Jackie told Tracy.

"Yes, we're still not sure about signing up," Tabrella pointed out.

"Fine, but at least we'll get to hang," Tracy said, still seeing this as a win.

"Hmm, well, as much as I would love to join you three, I can't," Andrea happily revealed. Before anyone could ask why, she giggled. "Cause I got a busy day of my own…"

Everyone at the table just looked at each other, deciding that it was probably best not to pry into what kind of activities Andrea had planned for herself…

---

Meanwhile, at the Inwell Isles docks, the trio of Mosaic, Eustace and Serpentina were there to meet with someone. They spotted a small boat coming toward them.

"It has been a while since we've seen him," Eustace commented. "Wonder what he's been up to these days…"

"Who knows," Serpentina responded with her arms crossed. "But I know he'd definitely shake things up around here…"

Mosaic was silent as per usual, though she looked… anxious.

Soon, the boat had been docked. Stepping off it and onto the dock was someone with a black cane. "Hello, hello, hello…"

It was a young witch man. He was tall and well built despite his slim figure. He wore a white fedora hat with golden edges and black band around over his curly black long hair. He had pale blue skin and dark green eyes, though only his left eye was shown since his hair covered his right. He also wore a white coat with black buttons, a black glove on his left hand, a sparkling glove on his right, black trousers, and black boots.

"Eustace, Serpy," he greeted with a nod before turning to Mosaic. "Mosie, oh it's been so long," he said with a smirk. "Crawling back to me, I see."

Mosaic responded with a pout, turning away from him with her arms crossed.

This amused the witch man, who gave a chuckle. "Come here, you!" he shouted as he raised his arms.

Mosaic pretended to still be mad at him, but only for a few moments before her happiness upon seeing him again got the better of him as she ran over to the witch man, embracing him in a hug. He laughed as he hugged her back before letting her go.

"Oh, how have you been? Bad as usual, I hope," he said as she rolled her eyes at him in annoyance, though the smile on her lips betrayed her true feelings. "But what are you doing here in a place like this? The most inkiest island in the realm?"

Mosaic responded by shifting into Vitimir, who he immediately recognized.

"Ah, I see," he replied, nodding as he immediately understood what she was trying to say. "You were doing a job here before it all went south, right?"

After shifting back to her regular form, she gave him a nod before she then shifted into Emily Tricks, surprising him.

"No way… she's here as well?" he asked her, Mosaic nodding after shifting back. "Oh this just got interesting…"

"Wait, you know Tricks?" Serpentina asked.

"Who doesn't?" the witch man replied with a shrug before turning to the two pirates. "But I also want to know what you two are doing here as well…"

"Well, first off, it's good to see you again, Mick Jagwick," Eustace declared, giving a bow. "Me and Serpy were on the Boiling Isles, but ever since the chaos with the whole Day of Unity…"

"The Boiling Isles became too hot for us," Serpentina finished. "So we settled down here. We managed to meet up with Mosaic by chance, which surprised us since she was here without you. We know how inseparable you two are, so we thought you would like to know where she has been spending her time."

"Ah yes, well, my little Mosaic's been trying to be more independent these days," Mick admitted while patting Mosaic's shoulder. "She wants to cause some trouble on her own. But she would always come to me when things get dicey, don't you, Mosey?"

Mosaic just gave another silent pout, making Mick chuckle. "Oh, you know how much I love my henchwitch," he said, causing Mosaic to give a cat-like smile before he turned to the two pirates. "Now then, since I've been summoned by you two, I assume that you want something in return? You two are always after some snails…."

"Well, we were thinking of working with you again," Serpentina suggested. "Like old times. Maybe pulling off a heist."

"Yeah, and this place would be easy pickings," Eustace revealed. "There used to be coven scouts stationed here, but since they left the authorities here are a joke."

"Leaving this place vulnerable," Serpentina finished.

This got Mick interested as he formed a smile "Well. it looks like I came here at just the right time," he said before Mosaic tapped on his shoulder, causing him to turn to her as he saw her start to shift. "Wait, who else is here?" he asked while seeing her shift into someone else that he recognized. "Oh… of course…" he said while forming a smirk. "More old friends…"

Mosaic had taken the form… of Zee Drakescale.

---

Meanwhile, outside of the General Health Coven building, the real Zee Drakescale was currently with the rest of Team WZRD, who had finally been discharged and were ready to leave.

"Finally, after so much healing, we're out!" Rebecca declared while stretching her arms.

"Thank Titan," Whitney said.

"Yeah, was getting sick of the food," Darcilia replied with a wince. "Not to mention the smell…"

"Well girls, now that you're all healed up, I say it's time we do some investigating," Zee declared. "I told you about the creature that me and Zaraff fought together, the one that was similar to the first monster that we ever fought together as a group. I was thinking we could go as a group and try to investigate its origins, find out where it came from and if there's any others like it."

"Ooh, yeah, that is definitely something we should look into," Rebecca replied, immediately getting on board with this idea. "I'm all in!"

"Well, not me," Whitney said, causing Zee and Rebecca to turn to her. "No offense, but I'm not feeling like going out on an adventure after we just got out of the General Health Coven. I am in no hurry to end up back there again."

"Yeah, I think I'll set this one out too," Darcilia admitted. "For now, at least.

"Aw, really?" Zee asked, looking disappointed. "I was hoping for the four of us to do this together as a team…"

"Maybe another time, Zee," Whitney said. "Taking it easy for a few days wouldn't hurt."

Zee was still disappointed, but she didn't protest further. "Alright, I guess another time then."

"Zee, hey!"

The four looked up to see Cross levitating down while on his staff. Zee smiled up at jo,. "Cross! I see you're using your staff this time."

"I mean, why not?" Cross asked as he landed. "Besides, Elio deserves to stretch out his wings."

"Despite being a bird Palisman…" Darcilia pointed out.

"So what, um… brings you here… Cross?" Rebecca asked while trying to act cool in front of her crush.

"I actually came down here to see you, Rebecca," Cross revealed, shocking her and surprising her friends.

"M-M-Me?!" Rebecca asked as she pointed to herself. She was still shocked, her face getting a little redder.

"Uh, yeah," Cross replied while rubbing the back of his neck, trying to not make this awkward or uncomfortable. "Um… it's just… I wish to talk to you about something."

Zee looked at Cross, then at Rebecca. Realizing what this was about, she smirked as she waited to see how Rebecca would respond…

"Of course!" Rebecca replied. "Um, I mean, sure, we can talk," she added in a calmer tone while trying to look and sound cool.

"Great," Cross said with a nod. "Perhaps we could go somewhere, or we could just walk and-"

"Yeah, walking's fine!" Rebecca shouted before turning to Whitney. "Um… sorry Whitney, but um… me and Cross-"

"Oh, just go and have your little chat," Whitney said with a wave and a small smile. "I wouldn't want to get in between you two."

"Thanks, sis!" Rebecca replied before she and Cross turned to look at each other.

"So… shall we walk then?" Cross suggested.

"Yeah!" Rebecca confirmed. "I mean, let's go."

Despite both of them being more than a little nervous and the atmosphere between them being more than a little awkward, Cross and Rebecca still walked away together, side by side, leaving Zee, Whitney, and Darcilia .

"Look at them go," Darcilia said while watching the two. "Looks like Cross finally made his move on your sister, Whitty."

"Hmm, of course he'd finally recognize a Carmine's beauty and grace," Whitney replied with a bit of pride in her tone. She then turned to Zee. "And you're going to follow them, aren't you, Zee?"

"You know me too well, Whitty," Zee replied with a grin as she began to walk in the direction her brother and Rebecca had gone in. "I'll be keeping my distance, but you know that I can't miss out on this. Later, gal-pals…"

After Zee left, Whitney and Darcilia were left behind by themselves. After a moment of silence, the two looked at each other.

"Wanna go find a cafe and get something to eat?" Whitney suggested.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Darcilia replied with a smile, prompting the two girls to head in the opposite direction.

---

Meanwhile, at Friz's Pits, the trio of Emily, Cups, and Mugs were doing their duties around the store. Emily was checking on stock while Cups and Mugs were checking expiration dates.

"Say Emily, do you think this is expired?" Cups asked while showing a can to Emily, who was restocking the shelves with some merchandise. Emily turned to look at the can that Cups was holding up and she frowned.

"Cups… that expired a month ago," Emily pointed out.

"It did?" Cups asked while looking at the date. "Huh, it did."

"I hope we didn't sell any of those things to the customers," Mugs replied.

"By the way, are you two… alright?" Emily asked while looking at the brothers. "You seem a lot more… on edge lately."

"W-what do you mean, Emily?" Mugs asked nervously.

"Y-yeah, I'm not sure what you're insinuating," Cups said.

"Do you even know what insinuating means or are you just saying that to sound smarter?" Emily asked while crossing her arms.

Cups glanced away from Emily. "Uh…"

But before Emily could question the Holder brothers any further, Mr. Friz came in while carrying a package.

"Alright, you three, listen up," he said as he set the package down on the counter. He held up a receipt. "I got an order that needs to be delivered to 1775 Mimosa Ave."

"1775 Mimosa?!" Cups exclaimed. "No siree-bob I'm going back up there!"

"Yeah, me neither," Mugs replied with a gulp. "That place gives me the creeps!"

"Wait, are you talking about the old studio?" Emily asked them. "I don't get it. What's so bad about that place?"

"Oh you know, the place is haunted with ghosts and all that," Friz explained. "But I still need a delivery to that address ASAP."

"Just ghosts, huh?" Emily asked with a smirk. "Well, if Cups and Mugs aren't up for it, then I'll go deliver it," she volunteered.

"I knew I could count on you for the job, Tricks," Friz said with a smile. "Unlike these two cowardly bupkis-heads."

"What's a bupkis?" Mugs asked Cups, who gave a 'I dunno' hum while shrugging.

---

Meanwhile, Lindsay was flying on her staff while looking for the address of the house her brother was staying at.

"Gill Valley," Lindsay said as she read a sign for a neighborhood filled with colorfully painted houses. She paused to admire the houses, seeing how nice it looked here. "Now then, to find the Barks home…"

She landed and walked around until she found the address. She stopped in front of a yellow two-story house with the Inwell flag flying from a pole. She then began to walk toward the door as she mentally prepared herself to meet the family that owned this house.

"Okay, Lindsay, time to make a good first impression with the Barks," she said to herself before she took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. An eyeball then shot up from the door. "Eep!"

"Alright, who are you and what is your business with this residence?" the eyeball demanded.

"Oh, um, my name is Lindsay Shystream," Lindsay told the eyeball. "I'm here to visit my brother, Hendrick, who's living here."

"Hendrick… Hendrick… ah, you must be his sister, we have been expecting you," the eyeball said as it moved back. A few moments later, the door opened, revealing that Hendrick was standing on the other side.

"Lindsay, hey!" Hendrick greeted her, giving her a hug when she came inside. "I am so glad you could make it, sis."

"Me too," Lindsay replied while hugging her brother back.

"Come on, let me introduce you to the Barks," Hendrick said as he led her into the living room, the door closing behind them. "Hey everyone, come and meet my little sister, Lindsay."

"Hi, it's finally nice to meet you, Lindsay," a pale-skinned witch woman with blonde hair said as she came over. She had scarlet eyes and pink lips. She wore a pink vest over her green dress that reached her knees and green heels. "Hendrick has told us all about you."

"Only good stuff, I promise," Hendrick said.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Barks," Lindsay politely replied.

"Please, call me Trixie," she responded as Trixie's husband walked over. "And this is my husband, Brock."

"So you're the Lindsay Shystream," Brock Barks said while looking over Lindsay, like he was trying to get a reading on her. He was a broad-shouldered witch man with short blonde hair, complex-skin, black eyes, and a beard. He wore a gray shirt with a black fur tie, black trousers, and black boots. "I don't suppose you have a sigil on you, do you?"

"Um… no, sir," Lindsay answered. "They didn't brand me before the Emperor's Coven fell."

"Oh don't mind him, he used to be part of the Emperor's scouts," Trixie revealed.

"Oh, really?" Lindsay asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I was a big deal back in the day," Brock said with a sigh. "Tracking down and bringing in all kinds of criminals, terrorists, traitors, and other enemies of the throne…"

"You mean innocent witches that the Emperor's Coven branded as 'wild witches', dad?" asked a young witch woman who came walking downstairs. She was around Hendrick's age. She had long blonde hair with a flowery headband and scarlet eyes. She wore a tie-dye shirt with blue bell-bottom pants and sandals. She had beads and wristbands around her arms.

"Fiona, how many times do we have to go over this," Brock groaned as his eyes rolled. "Terrorists are not innocent."

"Enough, you two! Not in front of our guests," Trixie told them off before turning to Lindsay. "Sorry, our eldest daughter, Fiona, has some very strong opinions about covens."

"Because I believe that the coven system was unjust and it shouldn't have been forced upon us," Fiona declared. "Joining a coven should be a choice, not mandatory."

"Wow, I think you and Eda would probably get along well," Lindsay said, causing Hendrick to visibly wince.

"Eda?" Brock asked while turning to Lindsay. "You mean the Owl Lady? You know her?"

"Uh, yeah…" Lindsay said, worried that she might have said the wrong thing.

"Hey, uh, I think there is still someone missing," Hendrick said with a nervous chuckle as he interrupted the conversation. "I don't see Scott anywhere."

"Hmm, you're right. Where is he?" Trixie asked as she looked around. "Scott! Come downstairs and meet Hendrick's sister!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" shouted the teenage witch boy named Scott as he came rushing downstairs. He appeared to be very scrawny. He was about thirteen with bowl-shaped brunette hair, black eyes, round glasses, a blue short-sleeve jacket with a cyan shirt, brown trousers, and blue shoes. "I was in the middle of making the deal of a lifetime, and I was-" He then noticed Lindsay and he smiled. "Hi there, my name is Scott Barks, how do you do, miss…?"

"Lindsay," she greeted the young witch boy. "It's nice to finally meet you all."

---

Meanwhile, many witches had gathered around the Inwell Outdoor Theater, a large stage inside a large clam shell that was in front of large rows of seats. The space was massive and looked like it could house hundreds if not thousands of witches and demons.

It was in this space that Tracy, Jackie, and Tabrella, who was pushing Katie in a baby stroller, walked around, checking out the many bands at this outdoor venue.

"Wow, look at all of the bands here!" Tracy pointed out, seeing everyone gathered around the stage. They were either practicing, signing up, or auditioning.

"I'll say, it looks like about everyone wants a chance to perform up on that stage, whether young or… old," Tabrella said while spotting a group of elderly witches with their instruments.

"Yeah, about everyone alright," Jackie agreed while Tracy continued to look around until she spotted someone that surprised her.

"Say Tabs, doesn't that band go to your school?" Tracy asked as she pointed at one of the bands, Tabrella turning to look where she was pointing.

"You're right, Tracy. That's… the Bloodwater Gang," Tabrella realized upon seeing Smashermouth, Know Doubt, Potshot, June, and Aqua with their instruments. "What are they doing here?"

"Hey, yeah, I think I recognize them. I've seen them around Satorius Acres and St. Epiderm," Jackie mentioned before pausing. "Or was it the SSE? Honestly, there's a lot of teenage mystery gangs on the Boiling Isles. Hard to keep track of them all."

"Come on, we absolutely must go over and greet them," Tabrella said as she led her two friends over to the Bloodwater Gang.

As the trio neared the Bloodwater Gang, June looked up and spotted them, her face becoming delighted. "Tabs? OMT, it's so good to see my cheer sister!"

"You too, June," Tabrella replied happily as she and June hugged each other. "Oh, it has been too long. Though I'm really surprised to see you all here."

"Yeah, we could say the same with you and your friends here," Smashermouth replied.

"We're here on vacation, spending some time here on the Inwell Isles," Tracy mentioned.

"And oh wow, is this Katie?" June asked as she knelt down, seeing the infant Katie in her stroller. "I don't think I've ever actually seen her before!"

"Um, yes, this is Katie," Tabrella confirmed. "I brought her with us."

"She's really cute," June said with a smile. "Hi, Katie."

Katie just gurgled.

"June, I don't think I've ever introduced you to my friends," Tabrella said before she gestured to Jackie and Tracy. "June, these are Jackie Courtland and Tracy Dashers."

"I've seen both of you before," June said with a nod. "You were both at St. Epiderm after the Emperor's Coven was there." She turned to Tracy. "And you fought in the Bonesborough Brawl, right?"

"Yep, that's me," Tracy said with a slightly smug smile. "I could give you my autograph, if you want."

"But didn't you lose to Simon Saltstar?" June pointed out, which caused Tracy's ego to instantly deflate.

"Oh, hey Tracy," Know Doubt said, noticing her. "We missed you at our latest support group meeting."

"Yeah, sorry I missed it," Tracy said. "I've been over here."

"Donna, Cross, Lindsay, and Andrea are also here," Tabrella mentioned.

"Oh yeah, I did hear that Donna, Cross, and Lindsay came over here," Aqua mentioned. "I have been following the hot gossip about them."

"Hot gossip?" Jackie asked.

"Oh yeah, everyone has been talking about them in the St. Epiderm group chat back in the Boiling Isles," Potshot mentioned. "Hey, maybe we'll run into them soon."

"So how has your time here at the Inwell Isles been?" Know Doubt asked.

"Oh, it's been absolutely splendid," Tabrella replied. "The Inwell Isles is very beautiful and it has been nice to spend some time away from the drama going on back home."

"Well, mostly," Jackie mentioned. "A former Tarot Guild member caused some trouble while we were here."

"And it turns out that Vitimir was hiding over here," Tracy brought up.

"Vitimir? Wait, which one was that?" Potshot asked.

"She means the former Head of Potions, Potsy," Aqua reminded him. "But he was really here?"

"Don't worry, he got arrested after we soundly defeated him," Tabrella replied. "But enough about us, how about you all? What brings you here on Inwell?"

"Well, someone from here actually came to the Boiling Isles to promote this battle of the bards," Know Doubt explained. "I think they were hoping to attract some additional tourism and snails, since they are worried that the Boiling Isles may no longer buy their ink now that Belos is no longer in charge, since their treaties were with him."

"Wait, is that really a concern?" Jackie asked.

"I don't know, it was just a guess," Know Doubt admitted. "In any case, we were on Fall Break, and things have been pretty slow on the Boiling Isles, especially in the mystery solving business, so we decided to come over here to participate."

"We honestly thought that the rest of the mystery teen teams like the SSE would come over too, but it looks like it is just us. Apparently, they also got their own things going on back on the Boiling Isles," Smashermouth said. "Guess there's still some mysteries they're looking into."

"Is there anyone else from the Boiling Isles here to participate?" Tabrella asked.

"Well, there's Rosie and the Dirtyrats over there," June said while pointing to the aforementioned werecat band as they were checking their equipment. "They came along with us."

"Rosie and the Dirtyrats?" Tracy asked, tilting her head. "You know, I'm curious about the name now."

"They look like they're from the Torsa Villa," Jackie noted. "I say we go over and meet them," she then suggested, the trio walking over to the werecat band in silent agreement.

"It was nice to see you and your bandmates, June," Tabrella said, waving to them while walking away. "Say bye-bye to them, Katie."

"Ba-ba!" Katie said as Tabrella pushed her stroller.

"Check you later, Tabs," June responded as she waved at them as well. "You too, Katie!"

As the trio walked over to meet the werecat band, Song looked up at them. "Hey, looks like we're attracting some fans," she told her friends.

"Look alive, girls," Rosie told them as they saw Tracy's group walking over to them.

"You three are Rosie and the Dirtyrats, correct?" Tabrella asked them.

"That's us," Rosie confirmed. "I'm Rosie, and my girls."

"Name's Valerie, the punk one," Valerie introduced herself.

"And I'm Song, the… um… cheery one!" Song introduced herself with a giggle.

"Representing the Torsa Villa," Valerie mentioned. "Or, well, what's left of it, a least…"

"Well, I'm Tabrella, and these are Jackie and Tracy," Tabrella introduced them to the werecats. "We're from the Boiling Isles as well."

"Oh, you are?" Rosie asked in surprise. "Are you here to sign up?"

"Hopefully, but that remains to be seen," Tracy admitted.

"So you came here for the competition then, I'm guessin'," Jackie told them.

"That, and we just wanted to get away from the Boiling Isles for a bit," Sunny answered with a sigh. "After the fire at the Torsa Villa-"

"We needed a break," Rosie quickly finished. "When we heard about this Battle of the Bards, we decided to take this as an opportunity to go beyond the Boiling Isles, and spread out music outside the Villa. Expand our audience a bit."

"That sounds wonderful," Tabrella said. "And, um, I am sorry. About what happened to the Torsa Villa, I mean."

"Yeah," Jackie said with a nod. "You were all dealt a rotten hand."

"Um, thanks," Rosie said, looking down slightly.

"How are you all holding up?" Tracy asked.

Rosie glanced at her friends, all of them masking their pain. "Could be better," she admitted. "But it could be a lot worse too, you know? The best thing to do right now is to just keep moving forward." She looked down at Katie. "Cute baby sister, by the way."

Tabrella began to correct her. "Well, actually-"

It was then that they heard sounds coming from the stage. They turned, looked up, and saw a familiar face testing out the mic.

"Testing, testing, one two, buckle my shoe," Koun said while tapping on the mic. "Alright, the mic's good to go, Fu!"

"Excellent, Koun," Fuyuko said while holding the cable wires. "Now to find a way to plug in all these wires."

"Say, ain't they those Reptile Ninja Demons that Felicia knows?" Jackie asked.

"Correct!"

Popping up, surprising Jackie, was none other than Felicia Fox. She was wearing a purple jumpsuit and boots. With her were Josho and Kose, who were both carrying some equipment toward the stage.

"Tabby! Katie! Nice to see you all here!" she shouted while making some cute faces toward Katie, who giggled in response.

"Felicia? My, it is quite the surprise to see you as well," Tabrella commented, though she was pleased to see Felicia as the two hugged.

"It's like everyone we know from the Boiling Isles is here," Tracy commented before pausing. "Well, maybe not everyone, but definitely a whole deck of them."

"Looks like you're already acquainted with Agent Fox here," Valerie said.

"Agent Fox?" Jackie asked.

"That's right!" Felicia declared. "When I heard about this Battle of the Bards, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to find new talent to represent and promote! Like these fine felines wanting to broaden their appeal beyond their humble hometown! And it was my idea to bring the kappas over here as a way to help them boost their public image, now that they are no longer hiding in the shadows. This concert performance was the perfect way to do this, because the only thing that witches love more than marketable superheroes are marketable musicians!"

"We've been trained in the ways of ninjutsu… for this?" Josho snarked while setting down the boxes of equipment.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Kose replied. "Besides, don't you listen to those J-Pop groups-"

"Say another word, and I'll smash your Gundam models," Josho hissed at him while Kose hid his snicker. "I'm warning ya, Kose!"

While the two brothers were setting up the equipment, Felicia turned to Tabrella. "So how has your time on the Inwell Isles been going for ya, Tabs?"

"Well, I'd say it has been quite eventful in the time I have been here," Tabrella admitted.

"Yeah, you could say it has been quite… transformative," Tracy joked, causing Jackie to elbow her. "Ow!"

"Quiet," Jackie told her.

"We've been doing fine," Tabrella told Felicia.

"That's really good to hear," Felicia said, smiling. "And I'm really glad to see you and Katie out like this. I think it's good for both of you. Can I hold her, by the way?"

"Of course," Tabrella said, allowing Felicia to bend down and pick Katie up, Felicia smiling at the baby that was now blowing bubbles in her mouth.

"How about you, Felicia?" Tabrella asked.

"Huh?" Felicia asked while looking back at Tabrella.

"How have you been doing lately?" Tabrella asked.

"Oh, I've been doing fine these days," Felicia admitted. "Actually, things have been great. Which is kinda why I wanted to take some time away from the Boiling Isles."

"What do you mean?" Tabrella asked, confused.

"Well, because of my role in exposing Belos, I've gained a lot of positive attention," Felicia explained. "Which includes tons of new fans and a lot of new job offers, including from witches like Nathan Colorfeathers. It is really great… but it is also very overwhelming," she said as her face suddenly became very, very tired. "So I thought that I could use a break from the Boiling Isles with some of my friends, get away from the media, but only for a few days."

"So it's a vacation for you as well," Tabrella indicated.

"More like a 'workation' with me managing the kappas, the Dirtycats, the DJ, and the Bloodwater Gang," Felicia said. "But another part of the reason for me deciding to come here is because my dad's going to be out for a few days, so he won't be around back home."

"How are you, your dad, and, um, Kitsuni, by the way?" Tabrella asked.

"Well, I'll admit that it's been… weird," Felicia said. "Me, Todd, Kitsuni… I'm honestly still getting used to having a dad at all, let alone a dad who sometimes transforms into a completely different fox." She then had a thoug. "Say, are you thinking of joining the Battle of the Bards as well? I could help you!"

"Well, not really," Tabrella admitted. "Tracy wants us too, but we made no promises. We just came here to check out the bands."

"Hmm, that is a shame, I would have loved to have seen you and your friends take the stage," Felicia admitted.

"You and me both," Tracy said with a sigh before realizing something. "Wait, who's this DJ you mentioned?"

"Oh, that would be her," Felicia said as she pointed to a witch girl holding up a box of records, setting them at a table.

"No way…" Tracy's eyes widened in surprise… while her face broke into a smile. "Nohoho way! I can't believe that she's here!"

"Who, Tracy?" Jackie asked, but Tracy was already gone, flying towards the other witch girl at incredible speeds.

"Synthia!" Tracy shouted as she flew towards the witch girl, who looked up and noticed her. This witch girl appeared to have white skin with blue short and spiky hair with opal stripes. She wore a pair of purple shades and wore a pail of headphones that were shaped like claws. She also wore a white zipped up jacket with a dark-blue belt with a white skirt, purple leggings, blue and white decorative boots, and purple fingerless gloves. When she saw Tracy flying over to her, she immediately jumped up and the two high-fived each other mid-air.

"Oh man, it's so great to see you again!" Tracy shouted as they hugged once they were back on the ground together.

"You know her, Tracy?" Tabrella asked while she and Jackie managed to catch up.

"Wait, I've seriously never told you about her before?" Tracy asked in disbelief as she and Synthia turned to Tabrella and Jackie. She patted Synthia on the back. "Guys, meet the coolest gal I know, Synthia."

"Wow, that's high praise from you, Tracy," Jackie pointed out. "Alright, I'm curious. What's the story here?"

"We go way back, before I met any of you, before I even met Andrea," Tracy revealed. "We were both raised in Scooter Crane's Orphanage together. She knows how to make some record scratchin' music, goes by DJ Bard Wave," she said. "Synthia, meet my friends Jackie and Tabrella. And this is Tabrella's daughter Katie."

Synthia, while using sign language, replied 'Nice to meet Tracy's friends.'

"She said that it's nice to meet you," Tracy translated.

"It's nice to meet you as well, dear," Tabrella responded as she shook Synthia's hand. "You should meet the rest of us sometime, since Lindsay and Andrea have their own things going on."

"So it's just us three," Jackie said while also using sign language.

"Oh, Synthia has already met Andrea," Tracy revealed. "They get along great."

'I sometimes DJ for her parties,' Synthia signed before she turned to Tracy. 'Would you like to catch up?'

"Yeah, I'd like that," Tracy responded before turning to her friends. "Hey Tabs, Jackie, I'm going to catch up with Synthy. Hope you don't mind if I step away a little."

"Hey, it's no sweat, Tracy," Jackie replied. "Go on and catch up with yer friend."

"Yes, we'll still be here," Tabrella told her.

"Great!" Tracy shouted as she and Synthia walked away to hang out to catch up.

"So what would you like to do now?" Jackie asked.

"Hmm, well, perhaps we could look for some refreshments," Tabrella suggested.

"Think I saw a snack stand over there," Jackie pointed out as the two, along with Katie, began to head in the direction of refreshments.

However, someone had spotted them while polishing his trumpet. He specifically spotted Tabrella, making his eyes widen.

"It's her… that Diamantos girl," he said in surprise before sending a glare towards her. He was a dark-skinned witch boy who wore a black fedora with a cyan band. He had teal eyes and a black music note-shaped patch on his chin. He was sporting black shades and a golden earring. He also wore a black vest, a white button short-sleeve shirt, black fingerless gloves, a cyan snake tie, black pants. and boots. He tightly gripped his trumpet.

"Everything alright, Duncan?" asked the witch girl walking up to him. This girl appeared to be a petite werecat with red-orange fur, neon-colored pigtails over her ears, and lime-colored eyes. She was wearing a light-blue crop top over a dark bra and white short-shorts with pink furry leg warmers. She also had rainbow arm-gloves that were fingerless. Her claws on both her hands and pawed-feet had rainbow-colored nail paint.

"It's her, Poptart." Duncan said as he tilted his hat down over his eyes while pointing at Tabrella. "She's here…"

The werecat, Poptart, looked at where Duncan was pointing at and stared in surprise at Tabrella. "Oh boy…"

---

Meanwhile, in a different part of the Inwell Isles, Cross and Rebecca were walking together.

"So, uh, you're all healed up?" Cross asked her.

"Yeah," Rebecca nodded shyly. "After a few days in the general, I'm glad I'm out of bed."

"That's cool," Cross replied as he looked ahead.

For about a minute, neither of them talked.

"So, um, how has your time on the Inwell Isles been so far?" Rebecca asked him, finally breaking the awkward silence.

"Oh, it's… been pretty good," Cross replied. "Recently, me and Donna helped watch over Katie for Tabrella. We took her to a street fair."

"There was a street fair? Oh, I can't believe I missed it," Rebecca said with a sigh. "How was it?"

"It was pretty fun, and we enjoyed ourselves," Cross admitted. "Though, there was something that I learned during the street fair that I wanted to talk to you about…"

"Oh? What did you learn?" Rebecca asked while turning to look at him.

Cross glanced at Rebecca. He knew that this would be the perfect time to bring up what Donna told him about Rebecca's crush on him. And yet…

"Well… me and Donna… saw Tyrone's brother," he confessed.

"Tyrone's brother?" Rebecca asked before looking confused. "Wait, who's Tyrone?"

"A friend of Donna's and someone who goes to St. Epiderm with us," Cross admitted while mentally slapping himself for dodging the topic. "He led us to meet his friends."

"Oh? What are they like?" she asked him.

"Beaumont and his friends are pretty cool witches," he explained. "It turns out that they are actually big fans of LOWTH, and of my cousins: Luz, Eda and King."

"Really?" Rebecca asked. "I didn't realize that you were famous over here."

"Eh, Donna and Luz are the famous ones," Cross told Rebecca. "I'm usually just the one who gets caught up whenever trouble finds them." He shrugged. "Honestly, since I've been hanging out with them more, I've gotten used to it."

"Did you ever join LOWTH?" Rebecca asked.

"Um… I don't think so," Cross admitted. "Not officially, at least. I guess I am an honorary member though, thanks to my girlfriends being in LOWTH."

"Right," Rebecca said, glancing at the ground. "Your girlfriends…"

Cross heard the chance in Rebecca's tone and glanced at her. "Um, by the way, Beaumont and his friends also gave me and Donna a warning about the Inwells."

This piqued Rebecca's interest. "A warning…?"

"Yeah, they told us to never trust the Inwells," he revealed. "They had… very strong opinions about them. You met the Inwells, right?"

"Yeah, me and my sister went to the Inwell manor with Donna and Tabrella to meet the Inwell children," she recalled. "They were… interesting. I thought they were friendly enough, but Whitney said the whole thing was most likely just a ploy for relevance. But I didn't think they were too bad. The kids, at least. Their parents, though… are another story."

"What are their parents like?" he asked her.

"Well… my sister was having a fencing sparring match with Spearubi, the daughter of the Inwells. They both ended up in a draw when they cut each other on their cheeks," Rebecca explained. "When the Inwell parents showed up, both Spearubi and Don Blutholle looked… afraid. Especially when their dad saw my sister and Spearubi's healing patch. When Spearubi told Whitney to vouch for her that it was just a friendly duel, she sounded… desperate," she said as she reflected on the encounter. "I know I shouldn't jumped to conclusions, but…"

Cross gave Rebecca a concerned look. "You think there's something off about that family?"

"Well… they could be a mess, for one thing," Rebecca admitted. "Honestly, I think that would be the case for most wealthy families like that. But maybe we should be wary of them."

"Yeah, we should," Cross said before he realized that he had been narrowly avoiding the topic that he meant to talk to her about. He took a deep breath. "A-Actually, I think I got a little side-tracked from what I really want to talk to you about."

"Yeah?" Rebecca asked while looking at him.

"Um, how do I put it… do you… have a crush on me?" Cross asked while turning to her.

Pause.

"Babababa-what?!" Rebecca exclaimed, staring at Cross in shock. "How did you know?!"

"Well, Donna actually told me when she realized that you had a crush on me," Cross said, trying to make this any more awkward than it had to be. "To be honest, Lindsay and her friends also know. At least, Andrea and Tabrella…"

"Oh my gosh…" Rebecca said as she covered her face, trying to hide her embarrassment. "I wasn't subtle… yet, you only just realized it now?"

"Yeah," he explained while rubbing the back of his neck. "So um… when did it happen?"

Rebecca took a moment to calm herself down, letting out a sigh. "Well… it happened when we first met. Back when Zee invited me and Whitney to your home, and when I met you… I thought you were pretty cute."

"R-Really?" Cross asked her.

"Yeah," Rebecca replied while looking down. "I guess that I've had these feelings for you since then and they have only grown stronger, because you're just… so nice and smart and… well, I guess you know now." She let out another sigh. "So what happens now?"

Cross was silent for a moment, feeling bad for he knew this conversation was going to go. "Look, Rebecca… I do care about you, I really do, but it's just… I don't see you… like that. I just don't feel the same way that you do."

"Oh…" Rebecca said while looking down, her tone soft.

"I-I mean, I'm sorry about this, Rebecca. I already have two girlfriends, which is complicated enough," Cross replied. "But it doesn't mean that I like you any less. I… I'm sorry this didn't turn out the way you expected."

Rebecca didn't say anything in response. Instead, she and Cross fell silent, neither of them making eye contact. The awkwardness started to rise between them and it would have gotten even worse… if not for the sound of an alarm going off nearby.

"That sounds like…" Cross said when he heard the alarm as Rebecca perked up.

"A robbery in progress!" Rebecca pointed out, smiling as she lifted up her arms. "Yes! Thank Titan for the alarm!"

"Yeah," Cross replied, relieved by the interruption. "We should go check it out."

"Right!" Rebecca agreed as the two began to run toward the source of the alarm.

They rushed to the source of the sound, which was coming from a jewelry store. They could tell that a jewel robbery was taking place, not just because of the alarm but because of the tied up or knocked out witches that they could see through the store window.

Seeing this, the two rushed in, Rebecca bringing out her scythe.

"Freeze!" she shouted.

"Stop where you are!" Cross declared while drawing spell circles, aiming them at the thief, who had her back turned to them.

"Hmm?" the thief asked while turning around, her appearance surprising Cross and Rebecca. "Aw, well what do you know, two meddlers here to stop little ol' me."

The thief appeared to be a… literal cat burglar. She looked to be a grayish black panther werecat who wore a white domino mask and had long white hair and yellow eyes. She also wore a white two-piece that showed off her black furred athletic and curvaceous body, her tail sticking out behind her. In her hands were some jewelry she had snatched from a display.

"Are you… a werecat?" Cross asked in shocked, having not expected to see a werecat on the Inwell Isles.

"Whatever she is, she's definitely not window shopping," Rebecca said.

The werecat grinned. "Don't mind me, I'm just here for something shiny…"

Cross struck first as he summoned vines from his spell circle. The vines attempted to snatch the werecat thief, but she quickly dodged them, flipping back and swiping at the vines with her claws, cutting them to pieces. The werecat then drew a spell circle to shoot oval-shaped coins at Cross, prompting him to block them with his arms, which grew scales.

Rebecca jumped up as she folded the blade of her scythe, shooting spell beams towards the werecat. The werecat dodged them, twirling around before kicking Rebecca's weapon away from her hands. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play around with sharp objects?" she asked before dodging some thorns sprouting from the ground. She flipped onto the ceiling, standing upside down.

"We can't let her get away!" Rebecca shouted while drawing spell circles to shoot rose pedals that formed around like a tornado.

The werecat, while on the ceiling, ran toward the exit of the store, avoiding the rose petals as she jumped through the door. She was out of the building and into the streets, about to take off running… until she was wrapped up by some vines, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Not so fast," Cross said as she turned to look at him. "You're not getting away that easily."

"Vining me up, huh? Kinky," she purred as she gave Cross a smirk, the young witch boy looking weirded out by the comment.

Of course, this comment was meant to lower his guard. Using her claws, the werecat easily cut her way out of the vines. Before Cross could cast another spell, the werecat pounced on him, pinning him down to the ground.

"Just who are you?!" he shouted while struggling to get her off of him.

"You can call me Payday, cutie," she told him as she leaned down towards him. "Here's something to remember me by…"

She then gave Cross a straight-up kiss on the lips, causing Cross's eyes to widen just as Rebecca came rushing out of the building with her scythe. When she saw when Payday was doing to Cross, she became angry.

"Get off of him!" she shouted while shooting a spell towards her.

Payday let go of Cross as she jumped up, avoiding the spells coming at her. She dodged several more spells, grabbed a flag pole, and flipped onto it while looking at the two. "Got places to be. Cat-cha later," she said as she dodged another spell from Rebecca before she ran off into an alleyway.

"Come back here!" Rebecca shouted in anger, running after the cat thief into the alley. But when she got there, she saw that Payday was already gone.

Cross got up and went to follow Rebecca. "Did you get her?" he asked.

"No, she ran," she replied before turning to Cross. "Are you alright, Cross?"

"She surprised me, but I'll be okay," Cross assured her.

"Cross! Reba!" Zee shouted as she managed to catch up to them.

"Zee? What are you doing here?" Rebecca asked her.

"More importantly, what happened around here?" Zee asked while spotting the jewelry store. "A break in?"

"Yeah, by a werecat thief," Cross revealed.

"A werecat?" Zee asked in surprise. "Here?"

Cross nodded. "We tried to get her, but…"

"She outmaneuvered us," Rebecca finished. "She escaped with some stolen jewels before we could bring her in."

"Wow, all that trouble with one thief," Zee said as she looked around. "But she couldn't have gotten that far, right?"

---

Meanwhile, Emily had flown up to the address where she needed to deliver the packages.

"Alright, 1775 Mimosa should be here…" she said as she looked at her map and then looked up at the building. "Yep, this is definitely the place."

The large studio in front of her was abandoned. It was a large, three story building that had faded blue paint, while the dark blue rooftop had some tiles missing. Some of the windows were broken, others were boarded up. The corners of the building were covered in black weeds and roots that came out from the ground and crawled up the sides of the building, making it look like veins. There was also some graffiti that was spray painted on the walls of the building. A lot of it was just gang tags, but someone had also left a message saying 'BEWARE!' while another had spray-painted a strange symbol that resembled the letter 'M' but crossed out. The name of the studio was in big letters above the front door, but it looked worn, with some of the letters having fallen off, although Emily could still tell that it was supposed to spell 'INWELL ANIMATION STUDIOS'. There were also some black stains on the tall grass surrounding the building and the cracked walkway leading up to the building, which Emily took note of.

"I can see why this place freaks Cups and Mugs out, Pretty," Emily said as Pretty gave a nod while perched on her shoulder. However, Emily was not easily scared off, so she walked towards the door, giving it a knock. "Hello? I'm here with your delivery!" she called out, but nobody answered.

She knocked again and this time the door opened itself. She looked through the crack at the dark building inside. "Hello? I'm from Friz's!" she called out again, but once again she received no answer. She slowly opened the door. "I'm coming in!"

Entering the building, she found herself in a dark lobby. The floors were made of yellow wood, the boards creaking as she walked across them. The interior of the building was in clear disrepair. After waiting in the lobby for a moment, Emily chose to walk further into the building, going down a hallway and passing by some posters of cartoon characters she didn't recognize.

One character appeared to be a biped white squid with one tentacle waving, black dotted eyes, black shorts with white buttons, and shoes. The poster for this character was labeled 'Slinky Ink'.

Another cartoon character poster showed a horse with dotted eyes and two large front teeth. The character was waving with its fingered hands and it wore only a vest. This character was called 'Silly Saddles'.

Another cartoon character was a pretty witch lady with dotted eyes, black curly hair, and an hourglass figure. She was wearing a short witch dress with gloves and black boots. She was called 'Witchy-Woop'.

"I don't think I would mind having you on my wall," Emily snarked while Pretty rolled her eyes while on Emily's shoulder.

After Emily passed by the character posters, she noticed some other posters. Her eyes widened when she saw a cartoony-looking scout saluting the Emperor's Coven flag.

"Oh, that's right, they did some work for the Emperor's Coven as well," Emily remembered as she looked down and noticed some ink stains on the floor.

Moving down the hallway, she ended up in a larger hall area that appeared even more worn down. Crates were laying around the place and she saw some pipes coming out of the walls while leaking out some ink. She noticed that the character 'Slinky' was present on the walls, either on posters or on signs about workplace etiquette. She noticed that here were some ink stains on the walls, puddles all over the floor, and there was even some ink coming out from the walls, making it look like the walls were bleeding.

"Hello? Anyone here?" she asked as she traveled through the studio. Everywhere she looked, the building appeared worn and Emily couldn't help but wonder why this place had not been stripped down years ago. She then noticed that there was some writing on one of the walls, but it wasn't like the graffiti outside. No, this writing… was in ink.

"SEEK THE KEY, FEAR THE LOCK"

Emily and Pretty stared at this in confusion. "Seek the key… what does that mean?" Emily wondered while turning to Pretty, who was hiding behind her head out of fear. "Don't worry, Pretty. I'm sure there's nothing to be afraid of…"

It was then that Emily felt a hand on her shoulder, startling her. "Gah!" she shouted as she spun around and saw who had snuck up on her.

"Whoa, Emily, wait! It's me!" Donna exclaimed with her hands up.

"Donna?!" Emily asked in surprise. "Titan, you scared me…"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that," Donna said apologetically. "I probably should have given you a warning…"

"Yeah, you should have," Emily said as she calmed herself down. "Just what are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you, so I went to find you at the place you work at," Donna explained. "Your boss told me where you would be going, so I tracked you down." She looked around at the ink stained interior of the studio. "But just… what is this place?"

Emily shrugged. "The Inwell Isles' attempt at Titanwood," she told Donna. "Obviously, it didn't quite pan out." She looked around. "I've heard stories about this place…"

"You have?" Donna asked.

Emily nodded. "Well, I have lived here on the Inwell Isles for quite a while now," she pointed out. "So I know a thing or two about the local history." She then noticed a framed picture on the wall. "Hey, look at that," she said as she moved over to the portrait, Donna following her.

"Who is that?" Donna asked.

"The founder, Warner Meshmer," Emily explained. "Before this place was an animation studio, it was just a printing press that was an easy and convenient way to produc the magic ink that was used to create the Inkids. You've seen those, right?"

"Yeah, those freaky Abominations," Donna said with a nod. "They're made from harvesting the ink, flesh, and bones of this Titan, right?"

"Yep," Emily confirmed. "And a lot of them used to be made here. Before it became a studio, this place used to be kinda like Blight Enterprises. It was called Meshmer's Press back then."

Donna looked up at the portrait. It was an old black and white portrait, both the portrait and the frame it was in looked worn out but Donna could still make out the witch man with black combed over hair, a goatee, and a black suit with white stripes. He sported a bright smile.

"However, one of the previous generations of the Inwell family thought that he could get some good use from Meshmer's press and began working with him," Emily said as she pointed to another framed picture, this one of a balding man with a beak-like nose, a white suit and black tie, and a tendril-like braided beard.

"The Inwells," Donna said softly. "I met them." She looked down, remembering what Errol and her friends had told her. "Not everyone here likes them…"

"I can see why," Emily admitted with a shrug. "They didn't earn their wealth or their power. They inherited it. And they kissed Belos's butt. Most witches here either dislike the Inwells or don't care about them."

"Yeah, I get that," Donna said before looking back up at the portrait. "So who is this?"

"Fletching Inwell, grandfather of Katz Inwell, who realized that he could use Inkids magic to put animated drawings onto pieces of paper. Thus Inwell Animations Studio was founded under the partnership of Meshmer and Inwell."

"Fascinating," Donna said.

"With their magic ink, they produced all kinds of cartoons, including ones about Slinky Ink, who is all over this place," Emily said while gesturing around them. Not only were there signs and posters with Slinky Ink on them, there were even cardboard cutouts of the character staring at them. "I believe that he's some sort of icon for the Inwell Isles, since I've seen him outside the studio as well. There is a lot of merchandise about him."

"You know, I have heard about the Inwell Isles having a squid deity known as Inklop," Donna mentioned, remembering what Finley had said about the Isles's own deity of charity. "Perhaps this Slinky could have been based off of Inklop."

"It could be the case," Emily replied. "He was definitely their most popular creation and he survived the studio being shut down."

"How did that happen anyway?" Donna asked while looking around.

"Apparently, things went a little south for this studio during the rise of the Emperor's Coven. Since the Inwells were allies with Belos, this place was commissioned to create coven propaganda cartoons to spread the Emperor's Coven influence on the young. But because of high demand from Belos, they spent so much money that they ended up cutting corners and failing to make due. Eventually, this place was forced to be closed down and it was left abandoned. Though, technically, this place still belongs to the Inwell family, who haven't had it torn down yet. I don't know why, since they're not using it at all and they've left it abandoned… although apparently it isn't as abandoned as I thought it was…"

"Wait, does someone actually live here?" Donna asked in surprise.

"Well, according to Friz, there is a caretaker who resides here full-time," she mentioned. "Friz sends supplies to him pretty much weekly, but he needed me to make the delivery this time."

"Whoever this caretaker is, it doesn't seem like he is doing a good job," Donna muttered.

"True, I wonder why he didn't order some hardware or paint supplies for here," Emily mentioned while looking into her bag.

"So… what did he order?" Donna asked.

"A lot of food," Emily mentioned. "And strangely enough… small costumes, for some reason."

Donna was taken aback by this and even made a little uncomfortable. "Maybe it's best if we don't know what those costumes are for…"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Emily agreed.

It was then they heard some noises that drew their attention towards the end of the hall.

"What was that?" Donna asked.

Emily began to follow the noise. "Could be the caretaker… or a ghost, since this place is supposed to be haunted."

"Haunted?" Donna asked in surprise. "Nobody told me that!"

"Come on, aren't like half of the buildings on the Boiling Isles haunted?" Emily asked Donna.

"…okay, good point," Donna said. "According to my little sister, even our own house is haunted." She saw Emily giving her a look. "My sister can see ghosts that nobody else can," she quickly added.

Emily nodded, but then paused. "Wait, Nina never mentioned that you had a little sister," she recalled.

"Oh, she's new," Donna explained. "My moms adopted her a week after the Day of Unity."

"Wow, congrats," Emily said. "How does it feel-"

They heard the noise again.

"Oh yeah," Emily remembered.

The two continued to follow the noise. It was a sludge-like noise that creeped Donna out, but she and Emily pressed on until they spotted a door that was slightly open. Once they went up to the door, they saw the faded label on the window.

W. Meshmer, Chief Animator.

"Mr. Meshmer's office," Emily said as she opened the door all the way and looked in. The office had a desk, the desktop lamp having fallen on the floor. There were old filing cabinets, but its contents had spilled out all over the floor as well… and the walls were covered in markings.

"What… what is this?" Donna asked as they entered the room and got a closer look. There was ink all over the walls. Some of it was writing, but it was unreadable. There were also crude drawings on the walls, the shapes hard to make out as well.

"I… don't know." Emily said while looking at the drawings. She reached out and touched them. "I can't entirely make out these drawings… but they were made with ink."

Donna stared at the black shapes, noticing that some of them looked almost humanoid. "These shapes… some of them look like… witches… I think."

"Witches and… tentacles?" Emily asked while seeing the drawings of the tentacles around some of the humanoid shapes… while some of the tentacles looked like they were coming out of the humanoid shapes, which she found disturbing.

Donna picked up some of the papers that she found lying around the floor. Some of them were sketches of cartoon characters, others looked like they were business papers, but many of them were written or drawn over. "Some of these are drawings and some have writing on them."

Donna handed the papers to Emily, who looked over them. The drawings showed more black shapes, some humanoid and some… not. And more tentacles. As for the writing, she sighed. "I can't make out what this is saying."

"Yeah, most of the writing is just undecipherable," Donna said. "I can understand pixie language, but I can't understand this."

"Pixie language?" Emily asked her.

"I picked it up after I became acquainted with Amity's pixie friend, Acorn," Donna explained. "So do you think this is some language we don't recognize?"

"Perhaps… unless the person who wrote this was just crazy and wasn't writing in any actual language," Emily indicated, although there was something about the letters that looked… familiar to her. "Or it could be some code. I mean, I have seen all kinds of special codes and languages, Weaselton used to use them all of the time back in Glandus."

"Yeah, that could be the case," Donna replied as she looked around the room again. "But this Meshmer guy… he seems kinda messed up."

"Yeah," Emily agreed. "I guess when the studio shut down, he just lost it."

Donna then paused, her ears picking up a noise. "Did you hear that?"

Emily heard it well. "Sounds like… footsteps."

The two turned to the door leading outside of the office, wondering if it was the caretaker Emily was supposed to meet. Deciding to drop everything, the two headed out to investigate. They looked around the hall, looking for who made the footsteps… only to find something on the floor right in front of the door they came out.

Black, inky footprints on the floor. And they led away from the door…

---

Meanwhile, back at the Barks residence, Lindsay and her brother sat down with the family.

"Here's some ice tea, dear," Trixie said as she placed down a tray of tea and snacks on the table in front of Lindsay.

"Thank you, Mrs. Bark," Lindsay replied as she received her tea while looking around. "And I would like to say that you have a lovely home here."

"Thank you, we've had this house since before Fiona was born," she revealed.

"Yeah, I bought this house myself with the snails that I earned from working in the Emperor's Coven," Brock flexed while sitting on his couch. "Three bathrooms, one personal, working cauldrons for cooking and washing, and a backyard pool that filters itself."

"Wow, that does sound nice," Lindsay replied.

"Oh, if you think that's amazing, you should check out my room sometimes," Scott added while admiring Lindsay as he attempted to move closer to her.

"She's not that interested in you, ya little creep," Fiona told her brother.

"Mom!" Scott complained to his mother.

"Fiona, be nice to your brother, and Scott, quit bothering Lindsay," Trixie scolded them before turning to Lindsay. "So how long have you been here on the Inwell Isles, Lindsay?"

"Oh, about a week," Lindsay replied while sipping her tea. "I am leaving soon, but I wanted to make sure that I met you before I did. So what can you tell me about yourselves? Mr. Bark, I'm sure you have some stories about being a former Emperor's Coven member."

"I do," Brock said proudly as he began. "You see, back on the Boiling Isles, I came from very humble beginnings, growing up in Lungington."

"Lungington? Isn't that close to Latissa?" Lindsay asked him.

"It is a few miles away, but yes," he confirmed. "I joined the Emperor's Coven after graduating from Lungington High and I became part of the Seers-Eye Aid, or S.E.A. for short. That was one of the Emperor's Coven's secret intelligence divisions. They stationed me on the Inwell Isles, where I tracked down wild witches and other criminals who were trying to flee or hide, sending them back to the Boiling Isles where they would either be forced to join a coven or be sent to the Conformatorium. As decreed by Belos and the will of the Titan."

"Yeah, before everyone realized that Belos was a fraud," Fiona brought up, rolling her eyes.

"Allegedly a fraud," Brock quickly corrected.

"I don't think I've ever heard of S.E.A.," Lindsay admitted.

"Yeah, well, the division was shut down when the former Oracle Head, Apollus, who ran S.E.A., was charged with murdering a bunch of witches he had lured onto dates so he could be alone with them. Because of that controversy, Belos decided to cut S.E.A.'s funding and shut it down, but I was never called back, so I ended up stuck here in Inwell Isles. It wasn't not too bad, though, I got to defend the Isles against some threats, the pay was still good, and being left here was how I met Trixie."

"I had just graduated from Inwell Prep at the time," Trixie mentioned. "Unlike Brock, I was born here. My parents are minor royals who live up at Royal Cupston. I met my Brock when I had to work at a tavern to pay off my student loans after my dad cut me out of his will… still sour that he left it all to my sister." she said bitterly before continuing. "Anyway, the moment me and Brock saw each other, I immediately asked him if he'd like some coffee brew sometimes."

"And then we went on a few dates, got to know each other, and you can figure out the rest," Brock said. "Remember how our wedding started and how it ended?"

"Yeah, we blew the budget on that and settled on a courtroom wedding," Trixie responded with a smile. "After that, I was a stay at home wife most of the time, but then with Brock's retirement, along with having Fiona and then Scott, I knew that I had to go out and seek some work. And since I had worked under the Liquids coven, I decided to start selling my own brand of wine blood, which became a booming success."

"That sounds wonderful, Mrs. Bark," Lindsay complimented.

"Thank you, though I've decided to take up real-estate," she mentioned. "Real-estate's one of the hottest jobs right now."

"That's how I ended up working in real-estate as well," Hendrick said. "Mrs. Bark and I were both going through the hiring process and I had no home to go to. After hearing my story, she invited me to her home for dinner and that's when they allowed me to stay here."

"Yes, I agreed to let him stay here until he had earned enough to have a home on his own," Brock mentioned. "And I only sometimes regret agreeing to that."

"We're glad to have him stay with us for the time being," Fiona said while patting Hendrick's shoulder. "He's been a good guest."

"Aw, it's nothing, really," Hendrick replied while rubbing the back of his neck.

"So what can you and Scott tell me about yourselves, Fiona?" Lindsay asked.

"Well, I can-"

"I can tell you a lot about myself," Scott interrupted his sister as he stood up and cleared his throat. "My worm sign: Rotifera, meaning that I've got strong will, confidence, and am comparable with a Nematomorpha. I'm named after the captain that saved my dad's life against some pirates."

"Scott Skitterbutt, rest his soul," Brock mentioned.

"I did try to get into Inwell Prep, but I proved to be too good for that school, so I settled in for Tendril School of Witchcraft," Scott declared. "As you can probably tell, I am sort of a hot shot there. I am in the Seer track and I plan on getting into the stock market exchange," he told Lindsay. "I can read your future if you would like."

"Thanks, but I'll respectfully decline," Lindsay responded. "I'm more of a… liking surprises kind of witch."

"Well if Scott's finished, I'd like to speak now," Fiona said while pushing her brother back into his seat, much to his annoyance.

"What could you tell me about yourself, Fiona?" Lindsay asked.

"Well, I have graduated from school but I haven't registered any covens yet out of protest. No matter how hard my dad tries to make me register for one," she explained while glancing at her dad. "I'm more of a pro-choice kind of witch."

"And I told you that you needed to register with a coven or else the Emperor's Coven would have had to make you, Fiona," he told her. "We're lucky that you didn't get caught."

"I'm not a citizen of the Boiling Isles, the Emperor's Coven should not have been trying to enforce their values onto me," Fiona pointed out. "Even if we don't get sigils here, I don't want to be forced into one coven when I have a lot of opportunities here. Henry can back me up on this."

"Yeah, if my days of joining cults have taught me anything, trying to pick a coven is hard, especially since you don't want to be stuck doing the wrong thing for the rest of your life," Hendrick said while rubbing his sigiled arm. "I eventually joined the Construction Coven, but even now… that's a choice that I regret. I regret a lot of things, actually."

Lindsay looked concerned for her brother. "Hendrick…"

"Let me finish," Hendrick said. "Because despite everything I regret… there are a few things that I don't regret." He looked up at Fiona with a smile. "In fact, I think I am ready to make an important announcement, if Fiona would allow me."

Fiona realized what he was referring to and she looked surprised, but after a moment she smiled and nodded.

"It's okay," she told him as they touched hands.

"Let me guess, you're found a place to stay?" Brock asked with a hopeful smile.

"Even better, Mr. B," Hendrick said as he held Fiona's hand. "Me and Fiona… are dating!"

Silence fell over the room as everyone looked shocked to hear the announcement. Lindsay in particular was shocked, her one eye having widen upon hearing the news that her brother was dating. "What…?" was the only thing she was capable of saying..

But after a moment, Brock just jumped off from his couch and lunged at Hendrick. "YOU BASTARD!" he shouted while gripping at Hendrick by the neck.

"YAAAH!" Hendrick gasped while getting strangled, Fiona immediately leaping off the couch o try to stop her dad.

"Dad, stop!" Fiona cried out while trying to pull her dad away from Hendrick, chaos stirring up in the Barks household.

Trixie and Scott looked horrified while Lindsay just sat, still sporting an expression of shoc and worry…

---

Back at the open outdoor theater area, Jackie and Tabrella were helping themselves to some of the refreshments, Tabrella feeding Katie a light snack.

"Here you go, Katie," Tabrella said as she tried to feed her daughter small carrots. However, Katie pointed at the nearby snack table. "Nono, you can't have something you can't digest yet, darling," she said, making Katie pout.

"Diamantos!"

Hearing her last name being called out, she and Jackie turned to see Duncan marching up towards her despite Poptart attempting to stop him.

"Duncan, please! Stop!" Poptart shouted as she tried to pull him back. "It's not worth it. She's not worth it!"

"Stop trying to stop me, Pop!" Duncan shouted at her, making her wince slightly, before he turned to glare at Tabrella. "You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Tabrella asked him, getting put off. "This is literally our first meeting."

"Duncan Mallard," he told her, the confrontation drawing everyone's attention to them. "That name might not mean much to you, but your parents ruined my family's life!"

As the bands looked over to see what the commotion was, Tabrella's eyes widened.

"My father, he worked real hard to get his own business up and running," Duncan explained in anger. "He worked for the Construction Coven until he was able to get the resources and the support to found his own mining company. It was his pride and joy… but your parents didn't like the competition, so they paid off the right witches and had the company seized and shut down!" he accused as the crowd stared at them in shock. "We lost everything and my dad was destroyed, but that wasn't enough for your family, was it? No, your parents made sure that we were blacklisted from working for any companies in the Construction Coven. All of the years my father spent building relationships in the Coven and suddenly nobody would have him, forcing us out of the Boiling Isles!"

This came as a shock to Tabrella, but before she could react Jackie walked in front of her. "Now hold on there, you can't be blaming Tabrella for what happened to yer family," she said.

"And who are you? Her bodyguard?" Duncan sneered.

"Her friend," Jackie said in an offended tone.

"Listen, Duncan, right?" Tabrella asked as she stepped forward. "Look, I'm sorry for what happened to your family. I have no idea that my parents did that."

This made Duncan chuckle. "No idea? Are you seriously claiming ignorance? What about all the other families that your parents ruined? The rivals they ran out of business with their shady practices? The witches they exploit in their mining operations? Why should you know? You're only the heiress to their entire company! No, you pretend you don't know so you can still enjoy all the benefits that come from your family screwing over and exploiting witches and demons. It makes you just as bad as your parents!"

Tabrella looked down, feeling hurt. Jackie, however, was angry at Duncan, and she began to roll up her sleeve. "Why when I'm through with you, you're gonna be bruised up like-"

"Jackie, enough," Tabrella said as she pulled Jackie aside. "Look, just let him be angry. He deserves that much."

"But Tabrella-"

"I don't care what he thinks, let's just go," Tabrella told her friend.

"Hey! Don't you dare ignore me!" Duncan shouted, seeing Tabrella walking away with Jackie and Katie. He seethed in anger. "Hey! I'm calling you out over here! I'm challenging you to a witch's duel, Diamantos!"

"I'll just respectfully decline," Tabrella said while ignoring him.

"Oh I see," Duncan scoffed. "Figures that you upper class types would cower when challenged!"

This got Tabrella to pause.

"Yeah, go ahead and run, Diamantos!" Duncan shouted. "Your family name is already a disgrace, you coward!"

Now this… this managed to hurt Tabrella's pride.

"Coward, you say?" Tabrella asked as she turned around, looking at Duncan in anger. "So that's what it is, huh? Going around picking fights with poor, dainty girls…"

"Oh don't you make me look like the bad guy-"

"However, I am not dainty!" Tabrella shouted as she marched over to him. "I accept your witch's duel, Duncan Mallard!"

Jackie's eyes widened at this while Tracy, who had come over after hearing the shouting between Tabrella and Duncan, grinned.

"Oh no," Jackie said.

"This is so great," Tracy said.

Duncan smirked at Tabrella. "Don't like having your pride wounded, Diamantos?"

"If I win, you will take back what you said about me and my family," Tabrella declared.

"And if I win, you will admit that I was right about your family… and you," Duncan told her.

"Deal," Tabrella said as she raised her hand up, "We shall shake on it."

"Of course," Duncan replied as the two shook hands, setting the conditions for their duel.

"I don't like this one bit," Jackie said with a frown.

"Me neither," Poptart replied with a sigh. "We're gonna get disqualified for this…"

"Kick his ass, Tabby!" Tracy shouted while Felicia gave a smile.

"Oh this is so exciting, a witch's duel is about to commence!" Felicia declared while having her scroll up and preparing to record for the duel.

She did not want to miss this.

---

Meanwhile, the trio of Zee, Cross, and Rebecca were in the air, attempting to track down Payday while on their staffs.

"Any signs of her?" Rebecca asked while riding with Zee.

"No, even using my dragon sight, I don't see any signs of her," Cross replied.

"My Four-Nosed Retrievers are on the ground, trying to find her scent," Zee mentioned. "I'm sure they'll find her."

"The sooner we find her, the better," Rebecca said while they continued their search.

Zee looked at Rebecca, then looked over at Cross. "You know, Reba, you could probably go ride with Cross…"

"Um, I'm good, Zee," Rebecca said.

"Wait, you sure?" Zee asked in surprise.

"I said I'm good, Zee," Rebecca told her, not wanting to make things any more awkward with Cross than it already was.

"Alright," Zee replied. "So, um… how was your talk with each other earlier?"

"Zee, why do you need to know-" Cross said as he looked over at his sister before realizing something. "Wait, were you following us the whole time?"

"What…?" Zee asked, while looking away while smiling. "Oh come on, would I ever do that-"

"Yes," Cross and Rebecca both said at the same time.

"You would," Cross pointed out.

Zee sighed. "Okay, okay, so I was following you."

"Zee…" Cross muttered, not liking that his sister was getting into his personal business again.

"Oh come on, Cross, I was only just curious," Zee responded nonchalantly. "I mean, what else were you wanting to ask Rebecca about besides-"

"It's none of your business, Zee," Cross told her. "What me and Rebecca talked about is between us unless Rebecca's comfortable talking about it."

Zee looked at Cross, then at Rebecca, who was avoiding everyone's gaze. "Well, do you want to talk about it, Rebecca?" she asked her.

Rebecca looked up at Zee. After a moment of hesitation, she spoke. "Well… Cross now knows that I have a crush on him…"

"Really? How did it go?" Zee asked, forming a smile…

"He… turned me down," Rebecca admitted.

"What?!" Zee exclaimed before turning to Cross. "How could you turn down sweet and cute Rebecca?!"

"Can we just talk about this later and find Payday?" Cross asked.

"Yeah, I don't think we want to have this conversation right now," Rebecca admitted.

"Fine, I'll change the subject," she said as she brought up/ "So what's with this werecat thief? How did she give you two so much trouble?"

"We… underestimated her," Rebecca admitted. "I guess it didn't help that I just came out of the Healing General, but we were only trying to subdue her." Her expression hardened into a glare. "She's a lot stronger than she looks. We can't let her get away with what she did."

"What she did? Like steal a bunch of jewelry?" Zee asked.

"That and… um, she did… catch me off guard and kiss me," Cross muttered.

"What? She kissed you?" Zee asked in surprise, "Damn, sounds like you just bagged another pretty girl, bro."

"Bag? Zee, I don't even know her," Cross pointed out, sounding serious.

"Was she cute, though? I mean, being kissed by a cute girl doesn't sound that bad," Zee responded. "It sounds exciting and fun."

"Zee, your brother was kissed by a complete stranger against his will," Rebecca pointed out. "I don't think that's something hw should be proud about."

"And besides, I'm not really that attracted to her," Cross admitted. "I mean, who goes around kissing complete strangers? There's a lot of red flags around her without even getting into the fact that she is a criminal."

"Okay, so she's not your type," Zee said. "And okay, she shouldn't have kissed you when you didn't want to be kissed. Now that I think about it and say it out loud… yeah, I can see now that it's bad."

"Arf! Arf!"

"Quartin got something!" Zee shouted, hearing the barking of a Four-Nosed Retriever coming from the ground.

"Let's go," Cross said as the trio lowered themselves back to the ground, where they found themselves in another alleyway. As they looked around, they noticed that some trash cans were knocked over and the walls were covered with magical blast marks and claw marks.

"What happened here?" Rebecca asked as Zee looked around the area.

"Looks like a fight went down," Zee said while checking on the claw marks. "These are definitely werecat claw marks." She shook her head. "What is a werecat even doing on the Inwell Isles?"

"It looks like spells were also cast," Cross said while examining the walls of the alleyway before he turned to the girls. "These are…"

"These are signs of a struggle," Rebecca realized turning to the others. "Looks like someone may have gotten to Payday first…"

---

Inside a warehouse, Mick Jagwick and Mosaic were looking over some blueprints on a table before they heard Eustace and Serpentina come in with a tied up Payday, her claws restrained so she couldn't free herself.

"Let me go!" Payday cried out while she was tied up, held over Serpentina's shoulder as she struggled. "You have no idea who you are messing with! My parents will-"

"Oh shut up, you pussy-ass bitch," Serpentina said as she threw Payday down on the floor so that she landed in front of Mick and Mosaic.

"What is this?" Mick asked, rolling up the blueprints and putting them in his pocket while looking down at the werecat.

"Well, sir, we were staking out a jewelry store, only for this cat in the two-piece to hit it first," Eustace explained while pointing to Payday.

"So we went after her, getting both the jewels and the thief," Serpentina added while holding a bag of jewels.

"Oh come on, I stole those fair and square!" Payday complained "Don't you guys believe in honor amongst thieves?"

"No," Eustace, Serpentina, and Mick said with flat tones while Mosaic just stuck out her tongue at Payday.

"We're cold-blooded criminals, not lovable rogues," Mick said before looking at Eustace. "I mean, Eustace here is literally cold-blooded, but still…"

"So what do we do with her?" Eustace asked. "Cause I think we should stuff her."

"Or we could see if this kitty cat can swim…" Serpentina grinned while looking down on her, making Payday nervous around the criminals.

"Hey now," Payday said. "There is no need for that. I am sure we can work out a deal. I know some witches who would-"

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a loud crashing sound. They all turned to see that barging into the warehouse were Zee, Cross, and Rebecca, who brought out her scythe while the Drakescale siblings held their staffs.

"Freeze!" Zee shouted, only for her eyes to widen when she saw who was there. "What the… you guys?!"

"Shit, it's that dragon girl," Eustace pointed out.

"And the plant boy, what's his name…?" Serpentina questioned.

"You two… you're Mel's cronies!" Cross shouted as he glared at them. "The ones who sold off Donna…"

"Mick…" Rebecca said as she glared at Mick Jagwick, who glared back at her.

"Knightcore," Mick snarled.

"Mosaic," Zee snarled while glaring at the silent girl with a look of hate.

Mosaic looked at Zee with a smile before playfully sticking out her tongue at her.

"Wait, who are those two?" Cross asked while pointing to Mick and Mosaic. "You know them?"

"Those two are wanted criminals, Mick Jagwick and Mosaic," Rebecca explained.

"Those two have given us some trouble back at the Boiling Isles," Zee states while keeping her glare aimed at Mosaic. "Last I heard, you two had been scared away from the Boiling Isles…"

"Ha! Scared away! No, tactical retreat is the proper word," Mick said before noticing something. "Wait, I noticed some of you are missing. Where's the other two?"

---

Meanwhile, in a cafe, Whitney and Darcilia were both seated together at a table, casually eating and drinking croissants and tea.

"You know, I never had a croissant up until now," Darcilia admitted before taking a bite out of one. "Tastes good."

"Yeah, they really are," Whitney agreed as she sipped her tea.

---

"They're not your concern right now," Zee told him off while cracking her knuckles. "We don't need them to take you all down."

"Please, you think you can take us all down?" Serpentina asked before noticing something and pointing it out. "Last I checked, none of us have a sigil limiting our magic."

Zee realized that Serpentina was referring to her and she snarled at her. "Didn't you and croco-boy already get your asses handled by me and Emily?"

"And it wasn't the first time you got defeated either," Cross pointed out, earning him glares from the two pirates. "You two don't really have the best track record.

"Enough talk!" Serpentina shouted as she drew spell circles, summoning pillars of water that she launched towards the three, forcing them to dodge the pillars.

"Let's fight!" Mick declared as he raised his cane up while he, Mosaic, Seprentina, and Eustace (who turned into his werecrocodile form) charged at the trio.

Seeing the villains making their move, Cross and Zee both changed into dragons while Rebecca held her scythe as they went to meet their opponents, both sides clashing against each other.

---

Meanwhile, back at the animation studio, Emily and Donna were following the black footprints.

"What do you think it could be?" Donna asked in a whisper.

"I don't know," Emily admitted. "Though they do look like they belong to something the size of a witch or a biped demon…"

It was then that they heard something down the hall and they both paused, seeing a shadow against the wall. Something was coming around the corner. The girls held their breath as they saw the creature coming into view…

It had the posture of a witch or a biped demon, but instead of anything resembling fur, scales, or feathers. Instead, its skin and body looked to be made out of… well, it was like it was made out of black ink. The creature had big, bulging uneven green eyes, big round circular mouse ears, long arms, and short legs. Wherever it walked, it dripped ink, leaving behind a trail of black inky footprints. The creature when it saw the girls and it stared at them from the end of the hall.

"What… what is that thing?!" Donna asked in surprise.

"I have no idea," Emily admitted as the thing kept staring at them. "But we shouldn't take it lightly. It could be dangerous."

The creature looked at them, its eyes narrowing. Emily and Donna both got into their defense position, just in case the creature was going to attack them… only for it to turn and run away from them, vanishing behind the corner it came from behind.

"Well, that's assuring," Emily said.

"Come on, we can't lose it!" Donna told her as she started to run after the creature.

"What, why?" Emily asked, feeling like it would probably be better to just leave the building.

"You want to know where it came from, right?" Donna pointed out. "In case we need to show anyone. What if this thing is dangerous?"

Realizing she had a point, Emily sighed and ran after Donna, both of them trying to follow the creature through the studio before they lost it. Thankfully, the creature was easy to track thanks to the trail of ink that it left behind.

As they chased the creature deeper into the studio, they began to notice more and more ink puddles on the floor. There were also more pipes coming out of the walls. Pipes that were still leaking out ink.

"How much ink does this building produce?!" Donna asked.

"The real question is where do all these pipes connect to," Emily said as they kept following the creature and its trail.

Eventually, they turned around a corner and found themselves looking at a wall… and a ladder that was attached to that wall. They looked down and saw that the ladder descended into the depths of the studio.

""Do you think it went down there?" Donna asked.

"Maybe," Emily said while looking down into the depths of the studio. She thought she could see the bottom, but only barely. "We should go down there, try to see if we can find its nest or something."

"We are gonna need some light," Donna said as the two began to climb down the ladder, heading down into the depths of the studio.

As they climbed down, they were almost entirely surrounded in darkness, Donna having Whirlwind to shine a bright light from his horn.

"This place is deeper than I thought," Emily admitted while looking down, realizing that she could not even make out the bottom at all.

"I'm sure we'll get to the bottom soon, right?" Donna asked as they kept climbing down… and down… and down…

Eventually, they reached the bottom of the ladder. But they were not in the basement of the studio, which is where they thought that the ladder had been leading. No, instead they were somewhere else entirely…

"Dear Titan…" Donna said in awe as they looked around and saw that they were in a cave system. Using light and fire spells, they went further into the cave and soon found an underground river. However, this wasn't a river filled with water, rather it was a river filled with ink. They also noticed there were pipes connected to the river, these pipes leading up toward the surface far above their heads…

Emily looked around, the fireball in her hand revealing several crates nearby, along with some construction and mining equipment, and an abandoned miner's helmet. She walked over to the helmet, picked it up, and blew off the dust. "This place must be an ink deposit."

"Ink deposit?" Donna asked. "Is… this where the studio got its ink from? You think this could even be where that creature came from?"

"Perhaps," Emily said as she looked around. "None of this construction equipment looks new, I imagine that it was left behind when the studio was abandoned. I think there is a good chance that the studio was intentionally built on top of an ink deposit so that they could use the ink that was literally underneath their feet…"

"And they built these pipes to do just that," Donna realized as she looked around. "Hey, where do you think this underground river leads?"

Emily shrugged. "I can't-"

She was stopped when the two girls heard some noises coming from a side tunnel that was leading away from the river.

"Did you hear that?" Donna asked.

"Yeah," Emily replied as she walked toward the side tunnel. "Come on."

Donna followed Emily, the two of them going down the tunnel as the noise began to grow louder and louder. They then spotted a light coming from the end of the tunnel. The two walked into the light, entering a larger cave, and what they found… surprised them.

Inside the cave… was a party. A party thrown by a bunch of blotling creatures similar to the one they had seen before. Many of these creatures were the same kind as the one they had seen before. But there were also others with different forms. Some were shaped like brooms with green eyes and arms, while others were basically large eyeballs walking with their hands. With music playing in the background, some of these blotlings were dancing while others were wearing party hats.

Emily and Donna could see the blotlings playing games such as playing pin the tail on the ratworm. Some are sitting on a couch playing a skateboarding video game on the CB while others were seen drinking from the punch bowl full of ink. On the dancing floor, the blotlings were dancing like they had Splatterday Night Fever. Some were even holding one blotling upside down so it could drink from a barrel while others were cheering for the biped blotling to chug.

"What in the…" Donna said, her mouth gaping at the sight.

"Fuck?" Emily finished, since neither of them knew what to make of this.

It was then an eyeball, after walking out from a conga line of blotlings, saw the two girls standing at the entrance. Its eye widened and it stood straight up while making a gurgling sound. This sound was an alarm that alerted the others, drawing their attention to Donna and Emily as the music suddenly cut in a record scratch. They all looked at the girls in silent shock, but for a moment nobody did or said anything.

"I think we should go…" Donna suggested.

"Yeah, before things get weirder," Emily replied as they slowly turned around to leave… only to be blocked by something coming through the tunnel. "What the-?!"

Coming out of the tunnel and standing before them was a large blotling creature, easily bigger than the rest of both of them. It had big anchor arms, a wide green mouth, green eyes, a large belly, and short legs.

"Huh?" the big blotling asked in confusion upon seeing the two girls he was not familiar with.

"This one's bigger…" Emily noted with a sweat drop.

"Get behind me," Donna said as she brought out her key, changing it into a keyblade.

However, at the sight of the keyblade, the large blotling and the rest of the ink creatures immediately went from confused to hissing angrily and showing hostility as they all glared at the keyblade, like they somehow recognized it.

"I don't think they're a fan of your keyblade," Emily said, noticing them all glaring at the keyblade, which did not look good.

And before Emily and Donna could plan accordingly, the blotlings launched themselves at the two and began their attack…

---

Back at the Barks home, the chaos continued as Lindsay and Fiona both tried to get Brock to stop strangling Hendrick to death.

"Please, Mr. Bark, stop strangling my brother!" Lindsay begged while trying to pull his arm.

"Dad, just let go of him!" Fiona begged as well.

"I'll let go once I finish wringing his neck!" Brock shouted while trying to strangle Hendrick, who held onto Brock's wrists in an attempt to pull his hands off of his neck. Unfortunately for Hendrick, Brock was much stronger.

Lindsay knew she had to save her brother, so she drew a little from her own anger, not enough to hulk out, but enough to pull Brock's hands away from Hendrick. Once freed, Hendrick fell onto the couch while struggling to catch his breath as Scott went to help him up.

"Are you alright, Henry?" Scott asked as he and Fiona checked on him.

"Just… a little… hoarse," he replied while feeling his sore neck. "Your dad is strong…"

"Let me go!" Brock shouted as he struggled. Much to everyone's shock, Lindsay was lifting him off the ground. She carried him across the room before putting him down in a chair. "What the-?! How are you strong?!"

"Listen to me and pardon my tone, Mr. Bark," Lindsay said to him. "But I'd kindly like to ask you to not strangle my brother… at least not before he explains his new girlfriend that he never told me about before now," she said as she turned to Hendrick, hands on her hips.

"Oh, I uh… guess I never mentioned it before," Hendrick said while awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, then why don't you tell us, Henry," Trixie encouraged. "How did you and Fiona start dating?"

"And choose your words carefully, or I might consider cursing you." Brock said while sending Hendrick a glare.

"Dad…" Fiona said while sending a glare back at her father.

"Okay, it's, uh, a funny story," Hendrick said. "It was during my first week here, when I was getting to get to know you guys. Me and Fiona found that we had a lot in common, such as our reasons for not joining covens. Or in my case, my reasons for not joining before I was forced to join one," he mentioned. "But before that point, I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do with my life."

"Lindsay, your brother has been very open about how lost he was back on the Boiling Isles," Fiona explained. "He told me about all the cults he tried out and joined, how they don't last long, and how unsure he was about joining covens, before his sigil branding…"

"Yeah, and Fiona felt the same way," Hendrick brought up, making Fiona turn to him. "She… didn't know what she wanted to do."

"Okay, Henry, you don't have to say any furth-"

"No, no, what did he mean by that, Fiona?" Brock questioned while looking at his daughters. "I thought you were just protesting the covens because you were against the system and how it treated wild witches?"

"I-I am!" Fiona claimed.

"I thought you told me you wanted to become a healer when you grew up," Trixie remembered.

"I-I did say that, but I still protest joining the Health coven because it's not fair for other witches to join one coven and not get the choice to choose to join another if it doesn't work out," Fiona replied while sounding nervous.

"But I thought you realized that healing wasn't your thing?" Hendrick pointed out. "You were so open about it, when we went to the movies together and when we went on a few more dates…"

Fiona quickly glared at Hendrick before looking around at everyone else and sighing. "Okay, yeah, it's true," she admitted while looking down. "I wasn't just protesting the system. I… I also wasn't sure which coven to join. It was a huge decision and I was worried about making the wrong one…"

"I could've gotten you a job working in the Emperor's Coven," Brock pointed out. "At least then you would have the option to switch to another coven at some point."

"Dad, you know how anti-government I am," Fiona told him, "Besides, I did think that I wanted to be a healer, but I'm just not good at it. So I… tried other types of magic. Even before the whole fall of the Emperor's Coven."

"What?!" Brock shouted as he stood up. "After having to make up excuses and cover for you to protect you from being arrested, you've been mixing magic under my roof?!" he exclaimed in outrage. "How could you do this to me?!"

"Now, take it easy, Mr. B. What Fiona kept from you wasn't too bad," Hendrick replied calmly. "I mean, it's not like she had to pay huge legal fees like Mrs. B had to."

"Hendrick!" Trixie shouted.

"Legal fees? What legal fees?" Brock asked while looking at his wife.

"…Okay! The wine I claimed to have created and sold? Well it's actually… I ripped off the recipe," Trixie revealed, shocking the family. "The company that made the original wine threatened me with a lawsuit and my dad had to cover for me. Now I have to pay him in installment through the loans I keep taking out from the loan firm."

Flabbergasted, Brock looked around in shock and outrage. "Are there any other secrets I should know about in this house?!"

"Hey, come on, Mr. B, I mean you're in the same boat as your wife," Hendrick pointed out. "Like with the mortgage bills-"

"Okay, I think you had enough tea to spill, Hendrick," Brock said nervously.

"Mortgage bills?" Trixie asked as she turned to her husband with a glare. "What mortgage bills?"

"Um, it's… um… well it's just…" Brock looked nervous while his wife glared at him. "Okay, do you know those… hunting trips I often take? Truth is… I've been going bounty hunting to help pay for the house."

"You… you told me we still own this home," Trixie hissed at him. "All these years, and you kept this from me?! And you dare to give me fucking crap about my legal fees?!"

"Now, hon, let's not be hasty about this…" Brock said as he slowly went to hide behind the couch. "U-Uh Scott! Scott, do you have any secrets to share?"

Everyone turned to Scott, who let out a sigh. "Alright… the thing is… every girl I ever asked out, they have pretty much rejected me. I mean, I don't know what I am doing wrong, I'm doing everything that I learned from dad."

"Yeah, I think I can see the problem," Fiona said flatly. "But that's not much of a secret, Scott."

"Look guys, maybe if you think about this differently, you'll realize we all have common ground," Hendrick pointed out. "In a way, we all have our own failures. We're losers together!" he declared, hoping this would get everyone to calm down…

Only for the argument to resume.

"You're the one who told on all of us!" Brock pointed out.

"You're the one who lied!" Trixie shouted as everyone began to argue while Hendrick tried in vain to calm everyone down.

This was all very overwhelming Lindsay, who couldn't take this much arguing and this much drama. It was too much for her, so she got up and excused herself out of the living room, heading to the kitchen instead.

As she entered the kitchen, she took a few breaths to calm herself down. She sighed while hearing the argument continuing in the other room. She took a seat at the table while covering her face.

"Oh dear Titan, this is a mess," she muttered, her face buried in her hands.

"Would you like some more tea, Lindsay?" a voice asked as someone offered her a new cup of tea. "It will help, I promise."

Lindsay gave a nod. "Oh thank you, I'd like that," she said while taking the tea and taking a sip. "Ahh…" she said as she sighed in relief… until she realized who had just given her the tea. "Wait, it can't be…"

"Ah, but it is, my old friend," said a creature known as a draconequus, a being that was a combination of many body parts from different creatures. He had the body of a brown horse, the head of a gray pony, with an ivory deer antler on the right and a turquoise blue goat horn on the left, one long fang, yellow eyes with red pupils, a snake tongue, a black mane, and a white goat beard. His body consisted of the right paw of a lion, the left yellow talon of a brown eagle, the right leg of a green lizard, the left leg with a dark brown hoof of a tan goat, the right wing of a purple bat, the left wing of a bluebird, and a red snake tail with a white tuft at the end.

"Discord?!" Lindsay asked in shock, recognizing the draconequus that was now in the kitchen with her.

"Hello, dear Lindsay," Discord responded with a smile while stirring his own tea. "Long time, no see…"

---

All of the bands and the bards had gathered to watch Tabrella and Duncan's duel, which was taking place up on the stage. The two witches faced each other while Kose was there as referee.

"Alright, I want a good, fair, and clean duel," Kose told them. "No power glyphs, no curses, no secret traps. Got it?"

"No problem," Duncan said while twirling his trumpet as he stepped back. "Cause I don't need those tricks to beat a rich witch."

"We shall see about that, darling," Tabrella replied. "And since you don't have a staff, I won't use mine for this."

"Fine by me," Duncan said with a shrug as he held his trumpet.

"Can't we just settle this with a card game?" Jackie asked while holding Katie in her lap. She was in the seating section with Tracy, Synthia, Felicia, and Poptart. Felicia still had her scroll out and was filming everything.

"I really just wanted to practice," Poptart said with a sigh.

"Win this duel, Tabs!" Tracy cheered for her friend.

"Alright, ready?" Kose asked before stepping out of the way. "And… begin!"

Duncan made the first move, drawing a spell circle around his trumpet and blowing into it, sending out a sound wave towards Tabrella.

Tabrella drew her own spell circle, creating a pearl-shaped shield against the attack, managing to block it. She saw Duncan tapping his foot while drawing more spell circles, casting illusions and summoning duplicates of himself that all blew into their trumpets at the same time, sending out large sound waves toward Tabrella, who quickly summoned more shields to keep them from hitting her.

"He's using both Bard and Illusions?" Jackie asked in shock and awe.

"Yeah, he's in the Symphony Track back at our school," Poptart explained. "But he has been testing out Flash magic to improve his skills. Since they lifted the ban on mix-magic, he's been doing a lot of practice…"

"Wait… Symphony? Flash?" Tracy asked in confusion.

"Oh right, that's what they call their magic here," Felicia said.

Tabrella kept up her defenses while also casting an offensive spell. She summoned diamond spikes, which she sent towards Duncan. The spikes hit some of the duplicates, but the real Duncan dodged them while blowing his horn, creating a portal that he stepped through before vanishing. This surprised Tabrella.

"Where did he go?" she wondered before a portal opened up behind her. She heard the sound of the trumpet and turned around to see Duncan behind her. Tabrella shielded herself with a diamond shield construct, but was launched back by the attack, her feet sliding across the stage.

"How did he do that?!" Tracy asked while turning to Poptart. "How did he make portal magic from his horn?!"

"Trade secret," Poptart responded with a shrug.

Duncan gave a smirk towards his opponent. "Too bad all those snails can't buy you skills," Duncan taunted as Tabrella narrowed her eyes at him.

"I can hardly hear you, dear," Tabrella said while straightening herself up. "My ears must be ringing from your so-called music."

"Then I'll keep them ringing!" Duncan shouted before he blew in his horn to send out more sound waves towards Tabrella, who shielded herself with a larger diamond construct. Duncan then summoned more of his duplicates. They each blew into their horn to send out whirlwinds that came together, forming a large tornado made of sound. Tabrella ran from the tornado as duplicates also appeared around her, blasting at her with their trumpets. Spells went flying while she tried to dodge them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the real Duncan create another portal that he stepped into while his duplicates her busy.

'How can he make portals and appear behind… wait,' Tabrella realized as she brought two of her fingers into her mouth and whistled. It was a whistle that created a huge shock wave that dispersed the tornados and the illusions of Duncan… while the real Duncan, who had been invisible, was knocked back.

"Shit!" Duncan shouted as he hit the floor before he looked up at Tabrella. "Wait, that was…"

"A whistling spell? Yes, I have dabbled in some Bard magic as well," Tabrella said. "And I figured your trick out. You don't travel through portals, you just go invisible and make your opponent think you teleported. It's just a bluff."

Duncan got up, managing to keep his composure "So what if you know? Doesn't change the fact I'm going to wipe the floor with you."

"Well just see about that… darling," Tabrella replied with a smirk.

Duncan held up his trumpet. "Time to change my tune," he said to himself as he blew out music notes. These music notes sparked electricity and they began heading towards Tabrella.

She saw them and quickly constructed diamond shields. However, Duncan blew his trumpet again, creating a gust of wind that blew the electric music notes around her, trapping her as the music notes began to zap her. "Gaah!"

"Tabs!" Jackie and Tracy shouted with worry as they saw Tabrella fall onto the stage.

However, once the winds died down and the electric notes went away, Tabrella was revealed to still be standing. "Don't worry, I'm fine," she said while dusting herself off. However, her hair sparked with some electricity before it suddenly frizzled up and poofed up into an afro. "My hair!" she shouted in shock and horror.

"Whoa, nice fro, Diamantos!" Duncan chuckled along with the audience.

This irked Tabrella, she shot a glare at Duncan. Nobody messed with her hair. It was one thing to insult her family name, but her hair… you only messed with that if you had a death wish.

"He's done it now…" Jackie said while sweating.

"Yeah," Tracy nodded with a nervous look.

"What?" Poptart asked in confusion.

"Laugh, will ya?" Tabrella asked as she drew her spell circle. "How's this for a laugh?!"

It was then that Duncan saw something sparkling around him. "What the-?!" he asked as he found himself in an entirely different outfit… a pink dress.

"Hope you like the dress I made for you, dear," Tabrella said with a smirk, causing the crowd to burst into laughter.

Duncan looked at himself, then at the crowd. Still in shock, he wasn't paying attention, allowing Tabrella to use a spell to knock his trumpet out of his hand, catching him by surprise as the illusion he had on him faded away. "Yo, what…"

"This is what happens when you mess with my hair!" Tabrella shouted before forming more spell circles, summoning more floating constructs that she sent flying towards Duncan.

"Oh shit!" Duncan shouted as he tried to avoid the constructs while they were launched at him. He attempted to reach his trumpet, but Tabrella managed to knock him off his feet, sending him to the ground. As he looked up, he saw Tabrella standing over him, ready to finish him off. He attempted to shield his face with his arms.

"Stop!" he cried out.

Tabrella's constructs stopped an inch before they could hit Duncan. He flinched while glancing at Tabrella, who had stopped her spell. She was breathing heavily, but after a second or two she managed to calm herself down. She no longer looked angry. Instead, she looked… tired.

"I believe this duel is over," Tabrella said before dispersing her constructs. She fixed her hair and then walked over to Duncan, picking up his trumpet from the floor in the process. "Are you alright, Duncan?"

"Uh… yeah," he replied, confused by this before she handed him back his horn.

Tabrella was silent for a moment as she looked down at him and Duncan looked away, struggling to meet her in the eye. He knew he had lost. And he knew what that meant. Tabrella knew that meant as well, yet…

"I've decided… that I am not going to make you take back what you said about my family… and me," she told him while looking down. "You're right about my parents, at the very least," she admitted. "I am genuinely sorry for what they did to your family. Your father did not deserve what happened to him, and what my parents did was wrong. I may not like it… but it is true. And this is no way to settle our differences," she said as she offered him her hand.

Duncan looked up at Tabrella, wondering if this was some sort of trick. But she looked sincere… and she sounded sincere as well. He gave a sigh and grabbed her hand, letting her pull him up from the ground.

"I… accept your apology," Duncan admitted while getting up. His pride was still bruised, but not as bruised as it could have been if he had been forced to take back what he said. "However, it doesn't make you or your family good in my book."

"That's fair," Tabrella said with a sigh. "And you are free to believe that. Quite honestly, beating you up in a duel isn't really any way to change someone's mind."

"So… um, I guess this is a… tie? Forfeit?" Kose asked them. "To be honest, I have no idea how these witch duels work."

"I mean, she did have me cornered," Duncan pointed out. "I would say she won."

"Oh, let's not fret about it and just move on," Tabrella said as they began to walk off stage. "By the way, your father… is he doing better, at least? Since he moved here?"

"Yeah, he's doing better," Duncan admitted with a nod.

After Tabrella and Duncan went their separate ways, Tabrella met with Jackie and Tracy, who went up to confront her after the duel.

"Tabs, are you alright?" Jackie asked before handing Katie back to her mom.

"Oh, I'm fine, thank you for asking," Tabrella replied while holding Katie up in the air and smiling at her.

"I don't understand, why didn't you make him take back what he said?" Tracy asked.

Tabrella was silent for a moment and she spared a glance at Duncan, seeing him reunite with Poptart. She let out a sigh.

"Because… it wasn't worth it," Tabrella admitted.

---

Back in the warehouse, the fight of Zee, Cross, and Rebecca versus Mick, Mosaic, Eustace, and Serpentina was in full swing.

Zee was currently fighting Mosaic, swinging at her with her dragon fists. Mosaic kept dodging the attacks, still smiling as she leaped over the punches. Even when Zee spun around to use her tail to strike at her, Mosaic jumped back, avoiding the attack.

"Stay still!" Zee snarled. She fired several spells at Mosaic, but Mosaic created several copies of herself, the spells hitting the copies instead while the real Mosaic hit Zee across the face with her parasol.

"Ha! I barely felt that!" Zee taunted, only to see Mosaic channeling pink magic through her parasol while pointing it at Zee. Her eyes widened. "Oh."

While Zee was flung across the warehouse, Rebecca was swinging her scythe at Mick, who was constantly moving, always trying to stay a good distance from Rebecca while holding up his cane to blast spells towards her. Rebecca used her scythe to slash through spells before they hit her and then tried to bring her scythe down at Jagwick, only for Jagwick to move aside and Rebecca to stab her scythe into the floor. She tried to pull it out, but it was stuck. As she pulled on it, she turned to look at Jagwick with a glare, the criminal witch giving her a smirk.

"Little Red, Little Red, impulsive as always," he said as he pointed his cane at Rebecca's head, forcing Rebecca to jump away from her scythe to avoid getting hit.

"How's this for impulsive?!" Rebecca shouted as she attempted to punch him. "Hyaaaah-!"

Mick ducked underneath her punch, then slammed his cane against her back. He then kicked her hard, but Rebecca managed to stay standing, drawing a spell circle and blinding his vision with flower petals. Mick coughed as some of the petals got in his mouth as he hired light beams in Rebecca's direction, Rebecca dodging the spells as she ran for her scythe, yanking it out of the ground and using it to deflect another spell.

Meanwhile, Cross was left to take on the two pirates. Serpentina dodged his fireballs as they came at her, Eustace immediately going to defend her in his werecroc form. He grabbed a crate to throw at Cross, who dodged the crate by using his wings to fly over it. He looked down and saw Eustace shooting fireballs up at him, forcing him to fly around to dodge them, some of the fireballs hitting very close to where Serpentina was taking shelter.

"Hey, careful with using those flames, idiot!" Serpentina scolded him.

"Sorry, love," Eustace said as he turned to Serpy, getting briefly distracted, which allowed Cross to fly over to him and punch him in the face. "Oof!"

Cross quickly drew a spell circle, wrapping up Eustace in some vines. He saw Serpentina nearby drawing a spell circle and he swung his tail at some boxes, launching them toward Serpentina, who shouted as she jumped away to avoid the boxes.

"You don't seem like you're much without the big guy," Cross taunted Serpentina, who glared at him while Eustace struggled to free himself.

Back with Zee, she was still fighting Mosaic, who taunted her with mocking gestures while dodging Zee's attacks. Zee hadn't landed a single claw on her, which Mosaic was making fun of her for. And this caused Zee to quickly run out of patience.

"Fuck this," Zee said as she blew a steam cloud towards Mosaic, blinding her. Smirking, Zee launched herself toward the blinded Mosaic… only for the Mosaic in front of her to disappear, having been revealed to be an illusion.

"What?!" Zee shouted before feeling a kick to the back. Zee stumbled and turned around, seeing Mosaic standing there while holding her open parasol over her head. She smiled and then created more duplicates of herself. "Fuck, I really hate it when you do that!"

The Mosaic duplicates responded by sticking out their tongues at Zee, who blew steam towards the duplicates. Most of them jumped back and Zee flew at the duplicates, several of them poofing away when Zee struck at them as she tried to find which witch was which.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and Jagwick were also continuing their fight, Mick giving her a hard time. He was always careful to stay out of striking distance, never staying in one place for too long as he dodged her attacks.

"My, you seem to get rusty since the last time we've met," Mick said while dodging her kicks. "Have you been lazying around?"

"Shut up! I just got out of the Health General," she said as she used her scythe to blast at him with red spell beams, making him run for cover as her spells hit the boxes around him.

"Health General? No wonder you're rusty," he mocked while holding his hat as he moved. He kept shooting spells back at her with his cane, all the while drawing a spell circle with his tap shoes, giving them a boost. Once he saw his opening, he went in for the attack, dodging spells before delivering a powerful kick to Rebecca in the stomach, knocking her into a stack of crates.

Back with Cross's fight, he was locked in hand-to-hand combat with Serpentina, dodging and blocking her punches and kicks. "This is kinda embarrassing," he told him. "I thought you were more powerful than this… or was that only with your book?"

"S-shut up!" Serpentina shouted, keeping Cross distracted while Eustace freed himself from his bonds and then hit the green dragon in the back. Cross fell on the floor and tried to get up, only to feel Eustace grabbing him from behind while Serpentina kicked him across his face.

"Not so easy to beat now, huh, dragon boy?!" Serpentina mocked, landing several more hits. "Maybe we should tear off those wings…"

Eustace began to pull on Cross's wings, making Cross cry out in pain. He opened his mouth and breathed out flames, forcing Serpentina back while he managed to grab Eustace and throw him over his shoulder. He then spread out his wings and flew up in the air, where he knew that Eustace and Serpentina would not be able to follow him.

"Shit!" Cross shouted as he drew some ice spells, shooting ice spikes towards the two, forcing them to dodge the attacks. Eustace then blasted more fireballs towards Cross, which also melted the ice he had summoned.

Serpentina pressed her hand on the melted ice, creating a spell circle to form water balls around her. "I may not have my grimoire, but I can still do this!" she shouted as she encased some spells in the water balls before launching them towards Cross, who tried to shield himself…

BOOM!

Cross was launched back into some crates and he felt some blood coming from his mouth. "Dammit," he said while gritting his teeth.

"Now let's show you the real fireworks!" Eustace declared as he summoned fireworks that he threw in Cross's direction… only for them to go everywhere.

"Hey, hey!" Mick shouted as he and Rebecca dodged the fireworks. "Watch where you're throwing those at!"

"You pirates are reckless!" Zee shouted as she and Mosaic dodged the fireworks as well.

Cross flew around to avoid the explosions while countering them with his own cold flames. He then saw Payday, who was still tied up on the ground struggling as she noticed one of the fireworks heading towards her.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Payday cried out as she tried to squirm out of the way, only for Cross to pick her up and fly her out of danger.

"I got you," Cross said as he took her to a safe spot in the warehouse. He blew his cold flames around them to disperse the flames created by the fireworks. "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Payday replied with a blush. "Thanks for the save.."

"You may be a thief, but I'm not going to let you get kissed," Cross said as he turned to faces\ the two pirates, summoning large vines to create a wall to block Serpentina's attacks.

"I bet my kiss enticed you into saving my fur," Payday suggested.

"Not really, I just don't want to see anyone defenseless get hurt," Cross said. "Besides, you're a bad kisser."

Payday's jaw dropped, since she couldn't believe that he would just outright say that. "Now that's just cold blooded!"

"Give me a break, I have two girlfriends!" Cross argued back, summoning more large vines towards Eustace and Serpentina, who dodged them. "Besides, you're not even my type anyway!"

"Maybe you're not my type, Drakescale," she muttered before she noticed Cross having to strain himself while fighting the two pirates and defending her. "But it looks like you are having some trouble there."

"Yeah, no kidding." Cross said while ducking underneath a flame spell and shooting back with an ice spell.

"Purrhaps I can be of help," Payday offered.

"Help? And why should I trust you?" Cross asked as he dodge another fireball sent by Eustace, the fireball hitting near Payday, making her jump.

"Look, I don't like these guys either, they were gonna throw me into the Boiling Seas," Payday pointed out. "So how about a good old fashioned team up to help even the odds against a shared enemy?"

Cross looked at her before looking back at the pirates. Eustace and Serpentina were using a mixture of fire and water magic… and they were doing it pretty effectively despite how at odds those types of magic were. They were definitely more coordinated now and he couldn't get help from Zee or Rebecca, since they were locked in their own fights. So after a moment of hesitation, he shot another ice spell to give him some time while he went to free Payday from her bonds.

"Alright, fine," Cross said as he knelt down, using his claws to cut through her bonds. "Just this once."

"Thank you," Payday replied as she felt her bonds get cut away. She stood up and stretched.

"Now then, let's take them on together," Cross declared as he and Payday took a stand, facing off against the pirates… only for Payday to immediately dash away from him. "What the-?! Where are you going?!"

"Getting my jewels!" Payday shouted as Eustace and Serpentina saw her running for the bag of jewels that had been dropped at the start of the fight.

"Stop her!" Serpentina shouted as she and Eustace sent spells after her.

Payday used her reflexes to dodge the attacks, doing somersault flips and cartwheels to avoid the aquatic and pyro spells. She drew her own spells to counter them, throwing stoned-coins at Eustace and Serpentina, pelting them as she managed to grab the bag of jewels.

"Gotcha!" she declared as she waved the bag in the air. "Got back my prize!"

"Hey! We were supposed to steal those!" Eustace shouted.

"Too bad," Payday said as she stuck out her tongue at the pirates before dodging another fireball.

"Aren't you going to stick around and fight?!" Cross asked, feeling frustrated over the werecat bailing from the fight.

"Sorry, I got places to be and I am running a little late," Payday said as she hopped onto several boxes before jumping through the window. "Bye, Drakescale!"

After she left, Cross let out a groan. "Crap…" he said as he turned to Eustace and Serpentina, who had recovered from the coin attack.

"Now it's just you and us," Serpentina said while giving him a deadly look as she levitated watery balls around her.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and Zee were still fighting against Mick and Mosaic… and having a very frustrating time while doing so.

Zee took a swing at another duplicate while feeling a magic spell hit her in the back. Zee turned to snarl at her while Mosaic and her duplicates made faces at her.

"Your tricks are getting old, you know?" Zee pointed out.

Rebecca, meanwhile, got sent back by another spell from Mick's cane. She then drew a spell circle and sent vines with thorns at Mick, who calmly drew a spell circle with his cane, using flames to incinerate the vines.

"Oh you gotta do better than that, Little Red," Mick commented before dodging another scythe strike from her. He held up his cane to block the scythe and saw her determined expression. He grinned. "Ah, yes, there's the determination I know! I knew you still had it in you!"

"Shut up!" Rebecca shouted as she kicked Mick in the stomach, launching him back.

"That hurts," Mick said with a frown as he tapped on his cane, which charged electricity. "I suppose this means that it's time to get more serious…"

Back with Cross, he was giving it his all against Eustace and Serpentina, the two having proven more formidable than he had assumed. Targeting Serpentina, who he believed was the weaker of the two, he managed to grab her leg and swing her around before letting her go, sending Serpentina flying through the air,

"Serpy!" Eustace shouted as he charged at him. "You bastard will pay for that!"

Cross turned and dodged a punch from Eustace. He delivered some punches towards his reptilian stomach before delivering an uppercut. But Eustace was nothing if not determined, snapping his jaws at Cross, even while Cross blasted him with an ice spell.

Meanwhile, Serpentina had gotten up and she went to kick Cross from behind just as Eustace managed to punch him across the face, sending the dragon down. While the dragon was on the ground, Serpentina and Eustace didn't want to give him the chance to get up as they began to beat on him.

"Wish you had the cat backing you up now, don't ya?" Eustace asked with a chuckle as he cracked his knuckles, getting ready to resume pummeling Cross…

Until he was struck from behind, a heavy force knocking him away from Cross.

"Eustace!" Serpentina shouted before seeing who had struck her partner-in-crime. Her eyes widened in shock and she backed away. "N-no, not another one…"

Cross shook his head, still dazed from the beating that Eustace and Serpentina had given him. His vision was slightly blurry and his head was hurting like hell. "Ugh…"

"You okay, dude?" a voice asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Cross said as his vision began to return to normal. "I just-"

When Cross saw who was standing over him, his words stopped. Like Serpentina, his eyes widened in shock… and disbelief. "I think I may have gotten hit in the head too many times, because I must be seeing things…"

Standing over him was a purple wyvern dragon with green spiky hair, fins going down his back, and a green underbelly. He had black claws on each of his four limbs, a long tail, and his arms were connected to his wings. He was definitely smaller than Cross and Zee.

"Yeah, this is… not exactly how I wanted you to meet me," the new dragon admitted.

"Another…" Cross said.

"Dragon?!" Zee exclaimed when she saw the newcomer.

"Three dragons now?!" Jagwick exclaimed, seeing how this had changed the playing field. He liked his odds before, but with three dragons in play now… he quickly did the calculations in his head before deciding what his next move should be.

"Well then, looks like we need to cut our losses and leave, Mosaic," he decided as Mosaic gave a nod and leapt over to his side.

"Wait, you're just gonna leave?!" Serpentina asked in shock.

"Afraid so, it's been terrible working with you and Eustace again, Serpy," Jagwick said with a frown. "Thanks for riding me why I hate you two," he said as he pressed a button on his cane, causing it to spread out a mist around the warehouse, covering the area. "Tally-ho, Reba and Zee!" he shouted while Mosaic grabbed his hand as they vanished into the mist.

"Stop them!" Rebecca shouted while trying to wipe away from the mist.

Zee chased after the two criminals through the mists, thinking that she spotted their silhouettes running to the exit. "Oh no, you don't!" Zee shouted while going to tackle them, only to smash into some barrels.

Both Cross and the purple dragon used their wings to fan away the mist while Rebecca swung her scythe like a fan to clear out the area. They saw that Eustace and Serpentina still remained… but Jagwick and Mosaic were gone.

"They're gone," Rebecca groaned before noticing the two pirates. "Which leaves only those two."

Serpy and Eustace noticed the three dragons and Rebecca surrounding them, causing the two pirates to suddenly feel a lot more nervous at their odds…

"I think we can still take them Serpy," Eustace said with a determined tone as he and Serpentina got in position…

…before Cross, Zee, Rebecca, and the new dragon unleashed their magic towards them. Cross blasted them with his plant, ice, and lightning magic, Zee blasting them with her steam, water, and fire magic, Rebecca using her own plant magic and the new dragon blowing purple flames at the two criminals.

After they finished unleashing their magic, the two were barely left standing, covered in burn marks and other injuries. Before they could even think about fighting back or trying to escape, the weakened crooks were quickly overpowered by the sheer might of the four heroes. Cross and the wyvern kicked Eustace to the ground while Serpentina got stomped by both Zee and Rebecca. Cross and Rebecca then finished off the two criminals by punching them into the tails of Zee and the wyvern, who knocked Eustace and Serpentina into some crates, striking them out.

After that good beating, Eustace and Serpentina were left laying on the floor of the warehouse. They were both beaten, bruised, blood, and very unconscious.

"And that takes care of them," Zee declared as the four stood triumphant over the two thoroughly defeated criminals.

"Well, two out of four bad guys is mid, but a win at least." Rebecca declared. "Or… is is two out of five? Payday did get away…"

"I'm sure she'll be dealt with later," Cross said before he turned to the wyvern. "But right now my biggest question is… who are you?"

"Yeah," Zee said while looking at the wyvern. "Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, um, well… allow me to introduce myself," the purple wyvern said as he surrounded himself in purple flame. He started to change back, revealing a short young witch boy. "The name's Raihan, and um… I'm a witch-dragon too."

Cross and Zee stared at him in shock, both of them at a loss of words.

---

Meanwhile, back with Emily and Donna, things were about to escalate between them and the blotlings. The inkling creatures were still hissing from the sight of Donna's keyblade as they charged toward the two girls, trying to rush them.

"Freeze!" Donna shouted while casting an ice wall to stop the blotlings from coming after them, the blotlings crashing into the ice wall instead before they could get to Donna and Emily. "That'll take care of them. For a while, at least."

"What about him?" Emily asked as she pointed to the largest blotling that was still in front of them as it gave a gurgling roar at them.

It threw a punch to the girls, causing them to dodge and split up as they went around the creature. The monster swung at them several times, but the girls dodged easily.

"Let's get out of here!" Emily shouted as the two ran. However, before they could get too far they felt something pulling them back. The two turned around to see the monster with its mouth open as it tried to inhale them.

"It's trying to suck us in!" Donna cried out as she grabbed Whirlwindto keep him from getting sucked in.

"Hang on!" Emily shouted while holding onto Pretty. Shs summoned a fireball and sent it at the monster, the fireball flying into its mouth and down its throat, causing the monster to suddenly stop. It began to choke, causing it to stop its efforts of trying to vacuum the girls in.

"Hey, you two!"

The two girls looked up and were surprised to see a ghost flying right above their heads. He appeared to be a light-blue ghost wearing a blue French military hat… or at least the witch equivalent of it. He also had a pear-shaped head with a pink nose, a round body with limbs, and a teal cape.

"Whatta ya sittin' around for? Follow me if ya don't wanna get clobbered by ol' Slobber," the ghost instructed as he flew down the tunnel.

Emily and Donna didn't question it and instead pursued the ghost, following him to where the ladder they had used was.

"The only way out is up! Hurry!" the ghost told them. "I will be with you shortly. I just gotta calm the Blotlings down first."

"Uh, thanks," Emily told him as Donna went to climb the ladder before Emily stopped her.

"Let's do a shortcut," she told Donna as she grabbed onto her, both of them teleporting away in a cloud of red smoke that dropped them off back up in the studio, where they sat down to catch their breaths.

"That… could have been bad." Emily said while panting.

"Yeah," Donna replied, before turning to Emily. "But at least it is over now, right?"

As if to answer her question, the ghost from earlier phased up from the floor, looking at the two. "Well, glad to see you girls are alright," he said before he began chastising them ."But did you two really have to rile up those Blotlings down there! You put dem up in a frenzy! Just what were yous two doing there in the first place, huh?"

Emily stood up to explain. "Well, Friz had sent me here to deliver something to the caretaker," she said as she held up her bag.

"Caretaker? Oh, well yer lookin' at 'em," the ghost revealed.

"You are?" Emily asked in surprise as Donna stood up as well.

"My name is Ian," the ghost introduced himself properly as Emily began to hand him his packages. "And thank you for bringin' these here for me. These Blotlings have been waiting for the food and costumes."

Emily stared at Ian in shock. "Wait, this is for them?" Emily asked.

"Yep," Ian confirmed. "They love their snacks and they're so cute in their little outfits!"

"What… what even are these… Blotlings?" Emily asked.

"Well, to be perfectly honest… I have no idea," Ian replied with a shrug. "I just found them livin' underneath this studio I decided to haunt one day. I call them Blotlings and I have given each type a name: the Seers are the walking eyeballs, the Splatters are those bipedal bug-eyed little guys, Sweepers are the ones that looks like brooms with arms, and the big guys like the one you avoided back there is a Slobber, cause well, it just rhymes with 'clobber' since they're big and tough."

"Sounds a bit on the nose," Emily admitted.

"Well the more you… nose," he said as he pointed to his own big red nose. Neither girl looked amused by this, so he continued talking. "I do think that these creatures might have been born from the ink, though I can't say anything for sure. They aren't vicious by nature, though it does take them a while to get used to new faces. It took me some time to get their trust and since then I have been trying to teach them all kinds of stuff while looking out for them. They're actually quite smart. Although, I have no idea what you two could have done to set them off like that."

"Well, I think that would be me," Donna admitted while holding up her keyblade. "I summoned this to defend myself with and it might've startled them."

"Huh, what an overly large key you have there," Ian said as he floated over to Donna to get a closer look at her keyblade. "I've never seen something like it before. I can't imagine there are many doors big enough to use it on."

"It's called a keyblade," Donna explained.

"Keyblade? Now what could they think of next," Ian commented. "It is strange, though, but if I were to give you goils a piece of advice, best to leave this place. And please don't tell anyone about what you've seen down here, last thing I want is for anyone else comin' here to bother the Blotlings. Especially after all the progress I've made with them."

"Duly noted," Emily nodded while holding up her bag "We'll be getting out of your hair."

"I don't have hair, but thanks," Ian said. "And in the future, you can just leave your deliveries at the front of the building. I'll find them."

"It was nice meeting you," Donna said, waving to Ian as the two started to make their way toward the exit…

…only for Ian to suddenly pop up in front of them. "Boo!"

"Yah!" the two girls yelped, startled by the ghost.

"Hehehe, sorry, but I'm obligated to scare ya! Hachachachacha," he laughed while rolling himself through the floor.

Donna and Emily just stared at the spot where Ian had phased through, both of them giving deadpan expressions.

"Ghosts," they said with a sigh.

---

Outside the studio, two girls walked together, talking about what they had seen in the studio that was now behind them.

"You know, those Blotlings kinda remind me of the Heartlesses," Donna admitted.

"Heartless?" Emily asked her.

"Oh, they were these shadowy creatures that attacked Bonesborough while the whole Terra drama was going on," Donna explained as she looked down at her key, clutching it with her hands. "They could only be defeated with my keyblade…"

"Wait, do you think these Blotlings are connected to the Heartless?" Emily asked.

Donna sighed. "I don't know," she admitted. "But whatever they are, they really didn't seem to like my keyblade…"

"I… do find them strangely intriguing," Emily admitted. "It makes me wonder if there are more creatures like them around here…"

As they walked, Emily silently thought back to the monster that she, Zee and Zaraff had fought when they were looking for Lupe. Of course, that monster had been very different from the Blotlings, so it may just be a coincidence…

"Oh, I just remembered something!" Donna realized. "The whole reason I followed here! There is something that I've been meaning to talk to you about something, Emily. Something very important."

Emily turned to look at Donna. "What is it?"

Donna gave a determined expression. "I want to ask you to help me find my brother."

---

Back at the Barks household, Lindsay was still in the kitchen, currently having tea with the creature known as Discord, who sat by her at the table.

"And then a bunch of Fae showed up to help defeat Belos's loyalists and the Titan mechs that he summoned, despite everything that Belos's propaganda did to make us believe that they were dangerous," Lindsay explained as she finished bringing Discord up to speed on everything that had happened since they last spoke. "After that, the rebellion won. Belos was dead. Most of his loyalists had been rounded up. And everything finally began to calm down. I even went to see Luz and her human mother before they left for the Human Realm, since we held a big farewell party in her honor. And since then… things have been pretty quiet. At least back on the Boiling Isles. I have had a few adventures since coming here to spend time with Emily, who decided to move here after the Day of Unity to get a fresh start. I fought a werewolf with Cross and Donna and I helped to defeat Vitimir, one of the witches loyal to Belos who escaped during the Day of Unity, with Emily and the rest of my friends after he turned us all into animals."

"I wish I could have visited sooner, Lindsay," Discord admitted.

"So you could have helped us?" Lindsay asked.

"Well, that's one way of putting it," Discord said. "But it also sounds like I missed out on so much fun. Especially the 'turning into animals' thing. You have to tell me more about that later."

"I would rather not," Lindsay admitted. "It was quite… embarrassing."

"Regardless, it does sound like you've been a lot, Lindsay," Discord admitted. "More than I ever could have imagined. To tell you the truth, I am impressed."

"You… are?" Lindsay asked in surprise.

"During my past visits, I enjoyed how… mundane the lives of you and your friends were," Discord admitted. "Especially since I enjoyed disrupting that mundanity so much. You were never one of the more interesting variants… no offense."

"Um, none taken," Lindsay said.

"But now you have just exceeded my expectations," Discord pointed out. "And I am just shocked. Especially with how you took initiative by tagging along with the Clawthornes to save your friend Emily, going through actual Hell and the Underworld in order to face a mad goddess… and then there is everything with the Grim Goblin, this Terra Snapdragon woman, and the Day of Unity… I am surprised that you've managed to keep yourself together."

"I'll admit, all of these recent adventures of mine have been… overwhelming, to say the least," Lindsay admitted while looking down at her tea. "But as long as I have the witches that I care about… plus access to counseling from witches like Dr. Midnight, I'll be okay."

"Well, I'm glad that you're alright, my little Shystreamer," Discord told her. "Truly, I am. Though I think what surprises the most is to hear that you, out of all the Shys I have met, is the one who got into a poly-relationship. And that you were the one to suggest a bold move…"

"I just didn't wish for Donna to feel left out," Lindsay admitted. "But it's a new experience for all of us."

"I know someone with good game when I see it," Discord complimented with a smile. "So what's the deal with your brother? I see that he wormed his way into this good family's home… well, a family that's good as they get."

"Oh, well… he came here after the Day of Unity. Like Emily, he wanted a fresh start. I wanted to spend some time with him and meet the family that he was staying with," Lindsay explained. "And now I've learned that he has a girlfriend."

"Ah, so he has game as well. And how are you taking it?" Discord asked her.

"It's… hard to say it…" Lindsay said as she looked down at her tea, seeing her own reflection looking back at her.

"Say no more," Discord said as he popped up behind her seat and grabbed it. "Cause I can help you express it… visually speaking."

He pushed the chair, causing Lindsay to fall out of it. "Yah!" she cried, but instead of hitting the floor, she fell past under the table… as everything went black and white.

Lindsay, now looking more like an old ragtime cartoon gal, landed inside a glass coffin. The coffin was being carried by rabbits. Jazz music was heard as Lindsay laid inside the glass coffin while the rabbits marched. She pushed the top of the coffin up and climbed out of the coffin. She looked down, finding herself in a black mini-dress with black heels, and a white waist bow.

"Listen up, Lindsay, you gots to tell us sooner!" Discord sang while wearing a zoot suit and holding a trombone, a spotlight over him. "Tell us the story 'bout Henry the Moocher~!"

Before Lindsay knew what was happening, she had begun to sing, her hands behind her back while she moved her hips. "Oh I'll tell you 'bout my brother the moocher," she sang. "He was a cult-chasing moochie-looter. But ease on up on him, he's afraid to fail, cause he's still got a heart like a whale~"

"Hi de hi de hi de hi~!" Discord sang as he played his trombone.

"Ho de ho de ho de ho~!" Lindsay sang as she slid her feet, doing a dance.

"Hee de hee de hee de hee," Discord sang while playing his music.

"Hi de hi de hi de ho~" Lindsay sang.

"He once brought home a gal named Shorski," she sang while cartoons of her brother bringing a girl home to meet with the family appeared. "She was this shady, and chain smokey."

"They borrowed the ratworm and left it up to Latissa," she sang as the cartoon Hendrick brought in an injured ratworm. "And he would end up in a roughneck gang called the Splatas!"

The cartoon Hendrick was shown wearing a biker helmet and jacket while revving up with a gang of ratworm riders.

"Hi de hi de hi de hi~" Discord sang as he danced with Lindsay.

"Whoooaaa~!" Lindsay sang.

"Hee de hee de hee de hee~" Discord sang as he twirled Lindsay around and the two danced to the music. "Hi de hi de hi de ho~!"

"He hopped a cult to another up at Titanwood, he would shave his head, he shouldn't should," Lindsay sang while swing dancing on the floor as Discord played the trombone. "He couldn't keep a job so he mooches off, his family and friends that come along."

A chorus of Discord sang together. "Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi, Ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho!"

"Oh, he's afraid of being truly independent," Lindsay sang hard. "Which is why he's always lookin' for something' he can dependent!"

"Skeedlee-a-booka-diki biki skeedly beeka gookity woop!" the Discords skit-scat. "A-booriki-booriki-booriki hoy!"

"His family, the cults, and now his girlfriend~!" Lindsay sang out loud before singing more slowly. "I'm afraid he'll keep on moochi-choochin to the deep end~"

"Poor Hen, poor Hen, poor Hen…" Discord declared while playing his trombone to finish the song.

Once that was done, the black-and-white world changed back into the Barks kitchen. Lindsay was back in her regular casual clothes and she let out a sigh.

"Feeling better, Lindsay?" Discord asked her.

"Yes, I am," she replied. "Thank you."

"Hey, sometimes a good ol' homage musical number will do the trick," Discord said.

"Yeah, and… I think I'm ready to talk to my brother," Lindsay said as she began to walk towards the door.

"I'll be here, waiting," Discord said.

---

Lindsay came back into the living room. The family had stopped arguing and they were now each in different corners of the room. Hendrick was facing the basement door.

"Um… pardon me," Lindsay spoke up. "But what's this?"

"Oh, after the argument, we all decided to take a time out for ourselves to calm down," Scott replied. "It's something mom and dad does whenever they get into arguments."

"Are you okay, Lindsay?" Fiona asked. "We didn't mean to upset you or anything…"

"It's fine, just… can borrow my brother for a minute?" Lindsay asked.

"I'm available if Mr. B says I am," Hendrick said while turning to Brock, who was facing the other corner.

"What you and your sister have is between you two," Brock said. "I don't think I consider you family… yet…"

Lindsay quickly pulled Hendrick into another room to give them some privacy.

"You know, I think this family definitely needs some group counseling," Hendrick pointed out. "Perhaps I can help set up an appointment-"

"Hendrick, we need to talk," Lindsay interrupted as her brother looked at her. "About you."

"Oh… um, what's there to talk about?" Hendrick asked.

"I think… we need to talk about your habit of being dependent on others rather than helping yourself," Lindsay brought up. "In the past, you always seemed to come back home when you either lost interest in something or you didn't want to commit. And I'm afraid that you're going to fall back into those habits, but with your new girlfriend. That she is going to have to take care of you like we have had to take care of you. And I feel like that is unfair on her."

"Hey, don't worry, sis. I'm in the real estate business now," Hendrick pointed out.

"And have you sold a home since you were hired?" she asked him.

"Well… I mostly help out Mrs. B," he admitted. "Though, I haven't sold a house yet…"

"This is what I'm afraid of." Lindsay said sternly, looking down with her arms crossed. "This is how it starts. You find a job, then you lose interest in it, you end up joining a cult, then you look for someone you can depend on for-"

"Whoa, whoa, I'm not taking advantage of Fiona," Hendrick claimed.

"Well, I'm sure that you're not, but if you're expecting Fiona to help you out, you should do the same for her, right?" she asked him. "Are you even serious about Fiona?"

"I… I am serious about Fiona," Hendrick responded as he looked down. He let out a sigh. "But… I do see your point."

The two were quiet for a moment. Eventually, Lindsay looked up at her brother.

"Henry… I've seen what a talented witch you are. You're good at hair cutting, you're good at making pottery, acting, and… other stuff. The problem is not that you can put in the effort, the problem is… you're afraid of getting your hopes up."

Hendrick gave a nod. "Yeah, that's right," he said while looking down. "I mean, I've been screwing up since as far back as I can remember. Mom and dad already know that I'm just a screw up."

"No, no they don't," Lindsay assured him. "They're just worried about you and they want you to be more self-reliant. And I know you can do that, otherwise you wouldn't have left the Boiling Isles and came all the way here."

"Yeah… I guess it's true," Hendrick replied. "But… what if I fail? What if I fail Fiona and fail my job? Fail at everything?"

"Those are valid fears… but you shouldn't let them stop you," Lindsay told him. "Sometimes you just… have to take the jump. When I went to save Emily from the Underworld, I didn't know if I would succeed or not. I didn't know if I would see you or the rest of our family ever again. I… could have died. But despite that, I didn't let those fears stop me. And since then, I have been doing things that I never thought I would be able to do. Like pounding Lupe into the ground when he tried to harm Zara and my friends."

"Yeah, you sure showed him," Hendrick said with a small smile before he sighed. "I don't know how you do it, Linds. You already know what you want to be when you grow up. You're Top of Beast-Keeping, you got a boyfriend and girlfriend, and you're a superhero. You have direction. But me? I'm just… a slacker who doesn't even try to put in the effort for himself. It's… no wonder that I couldn't gain a Palisman of my own."

"I wasn't always like this," Lindsay pointed out. "I used to be terrified of meeting other witches and of going outside of my comfort zone. I was chronically shy… and although I still have trouble with stage fright, I am definitely more capable now than I was just a few years ago. Some of that is because of my friends, some of that is because of our parents, and some of that… is because of you," Lindsay said, surprising her older brother. "You are my big brother after all, and I look up to you."

"Really?" Hendrick asked her. "Even if I often disappoint you?"

"You'll never disappoint me, Hendrick," Lindsay reassured him. "Honestly, the thing that I have always looked up to you for was your confidence. The way you carried and presented yourself, even. The way you threw yourself into new things, even if you didn't end up sticking with them. I am a lot more confident now than I used to be… and I think you are a big reason for that."

"Aw, thanks, Linds. Although, I'll admit that all of that confidence I had that you admired… was fake," he admitted.

"Yeah, I know," she replied with a smile. "But in the past, I've also faked my own confidence. But it did eventually become more real. You know how the saying goes: fake it til you make it."

Hendrick smiled at this, happy that his sister was following in his example. "You're making this old farm boy proud, sis."

The two shared a hug, patting each other's backs.

"Thanks for visiting, Linds. And hopefully I should be able to make it up to the Barks for accidentally starting this argument," Henry suggested.

"Do you… need my help?" Lindsay asked.

Hendrick shook his head. "My mess, my clean-up," he told Lindsay. "Besides, I have to be more independent and self-reliant, right?"

"Yeah," Lindsay replied with a nod. "But promise me you'll stick with your job? That you'll support your new girlfriend instead of just letting her support you? Please?"

"Don't worry, I'll make you proud, Linds," Hendrick said as he headed back to the living room to speak with the Barks.

Once he had left, Lindsay gave a smile. Behind her, Discord's head popped up in the doorway from another room. "So, did your talk go well?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lindsay replied with a nod. "I think it did."

"Excellent! Say, why don't we make our leave now?" Discord suggested. "I have been meaning to catch up with your other friends… including your new ones you've been telling me about."

"Oh, of course! I'm sure they'll like them, Discord," Lindsay replied happily.

"I'm sure that I'll like them as well," Discord replied with a grin. "Especially this… Emily Tricks."

It was at that moment Scott came into the room. "Hey Lindsay, I have been thinking if you'd like-" He stopped when he saw Discord with her, both of them staring awkwardly at him. His eyes widened in shock upon seeing the creature before him as Discord gave him a small wave. "I… didn't see anything," he said as he turned around and slowly walked away back into the other room.

---

Back at the open outdoor theater, things had calmed down a bit since the duel between Tabrella and Duncan. Currently, Rosie and the Dirtyrats were mingling with Poptart and Duncan.

"So what genre do you three play?" Duncan asked them.

"Well, we usually do a mixture of raggae, ska, and pop," Valerie listed off.

"Wow! We also do ska and pop!" Poptart revealed. "Along with R , jazz, bard-funk, synchro-pop, cabaret…"

"You know, it's pretty cool that there are werecats here," Rosie admitted. "Did you come from the Boiling Isles as well?"

"I… assume I am at least descended from the Boiling Isles werecats," Poptart admitted while looking down. "But I'm kinda the only werecat who lives here and I don't remember where I came from. I was raised by witches who took me in after they found me in a poptart box eating poptarts when I was a kitten."

"Oh, so you're adopted?" Rosie asked.

"Yup," Poptart admitted. "I have no idea who my birth family is and why I was… left alone, but I love the Dojas, the witches who adopted me. You three are… actually the first other werecats that I've met."

"Huh, really?" Rosie asked in surprise. "So there are no other werecats on the Inwell Isles?"

"I guess that makes sense," Valerie admitted. "It was already incredibly rare for werecats to leave the Torsa Villa, let alone leave the Boiling Isles."

"Well… there actually is another werecat who lives here," Duncan revealed as he and Poptart shared a look. "At least, we think she lives here."

"She calls herself Payday," Poptart explained. "She just appeared one day and started robbing stores. Nobody knows anything else about her."

"Huh, that sounds odd," Rosie said. "I wonder if she maybe was from the Torsa Villa."

Poptart looked down. "By the way, I just want to say that I'm… sorry about the Torsa Villa," she said. "I heard about the fire and it sounded terrible…"

"It was," Rosie said with a sigh. "And thank you, Poptart."

"You're welcome," Poptart said with a soft smile. "It was really nice to meet you and your band. It was especially great to meet some other werecats, you know?"

"Yeah! It was nice to meet you too, Poptart," Song declared with a smile.

"Yeah, you're a cool cat to hang with," Rosie said, also smiling. "Along with your friends."

"I'm definitely looking forward to seeing you play," Valerie said.

"Thanks, and I am looking forward to seeing you girls play as well," Poptart replied as both she and Duncan smiled.

Meanwhile, in a different part of the outdoor theater venue, the Mane Three were sitting down together. An awkward silence had fallen over the trio.

"So… you doing alright, Tabs?" Jackie asked her, breaking the silence.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking." Tabrella replied while holding up Katie. "Just never thought that this day would lead me in a witch duel. It has been a long time since I've been in one of those…"

"Yeah, but you gotta admit, you were pretty awesome in that duel!" Tracy declared.

"Please, it was nothing, Tracy," Tabrella responded.

"It was not nothing!" Tracy insisted. "You didn't just show that trumpet guy what you were capable of, you showed everyone here! And after that spectacular performance, everyone is going to pay attention to you. Maybe you could sign up for the Battle of the Bards! Show the Inwell Isles more of what you showed back there, more of what you're made of, what we are all made of!"

"This again?" Jackie asked with a sigh.

"Tracy, we've discussed this before," Tabrella told her.

"Oh come on, signing up isn't gonna hurt," Tracy insisted.

"While I give it to you that it is an enticing idea, I still don't think a competition like this would be for me," Tabrella said. "Besides, it's not like I would have time to do this sort of thing when I have to take care of Katie."

Tracy was about to protest, but then another voice cut her off.

"So you are here… Brella."

Tabrella's eyes widened upon hearing her former nickname. She knew that there was only one witch who would call her that, someone she had not seen in a long time. She turned around.

"Britt," Tabrella said, her tone changing with a hiss.

"Brella, it's been a… long while," Britt said with a smile. With her was her entire Shallow gang, consisting of Juniper, Sienna, Sharon, Scarlota, and lastly… Amary. "I heard the word on the block that you were here. Although I will admit that I am surprised that you would show your face in public after the whole… scandal thing."

Tabrella glared at her as Tracy angrily stood up. "Hey! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Britt Gemstone, heiress of Gems-Inc," Britt casually introduced herself. "Responsible for the mass producing oracle pendants for witches of the Oracle Coven. All of it is going to be mine someday."

"Or at least it was," Tabrella muttered while standing up.

"Pardon?" Britt asked while narrowing her eyes at Tabrella.

"Oh, I have just been thinking that, well, since you have a new baby sister and all, congrats by the way, the role of heiress will probably fall to her," Tabrella said as Britt narrowed her eyes at her. "Why else would they have another daughter while agreeing to send you here unless they are worried that you might not be future heiress material and hence want to keep you… out of the public eye."

"Is that why you're here?" Britt asked. "To let your parents do damage control?"

"I reckon you know these girls, Tabs?" Jackie asked while standing up.

"Let's just say, they used to be my friends," Tabrella said before noticing Amary, causing her to pause. "Except for you. I don't recognize you."

"Oh, she's our… new friend, Amarylis Asavari," Scarlota said while Amary adjusted her glasses. "She attends Inwell Prep with us."

"Amary for short," Amary spoke quietly as she mostly just observed the meeting, standing near the rear of the Shallows.

"Ooh, and I see you brought your baby sister with you as well, Tabby," Sharon pointed out while noticing Katie. "Hey, Britt, maybe your baby sister and Tabrella's could-"

"That's not her baby sister, Shar, that's her daughter," Sienna pointed out.

"So this is Katie," Britt said while looking down at Katie, who looked up at her and the Shallows in confusion. Britt smiled and Tabrella instinctively stepped closer to Katie in her stroller. "She is cute, though I am still surprised that you decided to have her at all…"

Now this… this set Tabrella off.

"Shut up," Tabrella hissed, knowing exactly what Britt was referring to. "At least I would never leave her behind unlike a group of traitorous witches who would abandon their friend at the drop of the hat!"

"Hey, don't blame me that you decided to be a loose witch," Britt retorted. "I tried to tell you to not mess things up with Duke, but you never listened." She scoffed. "You had it good, and now look at you, a teenage mom who spends time with her lessers."

"Who are you calling lessers?" Jackie asked.

"Hey, it looks like some of you can't even use much of their magic," Juniper said while pointing to Tracy's sigiled arm. "We lucked out from that mess."

This angered Tracy, who subconsciously rubbed her sigiled arm. "Now why don't you shove it up your-"

"Tracy, enough," Tabrella told her before turning to the group. "What exactly brings you and the Shallows here, Britt?"

"Um, obviously we're here to sign up for the Battle of the Bands, show these lower class losers a thing or two," Britt said. "We would've been here sooner if one of us didn't oversleep." She shot a glare at Scarlota. "Sienna had to wake you up again."

"I said I was sorry," Scarlota said while rolling her eyes. "Sheesh."

"Lucky for us, we didn't miss the deadline," Sharon declared.

"And if I'm guessing, you're here to sign up as well?" Scarlota asked.

"No, we're just looking around," Tabrella told them.

"Just looking around?" Britt asked. "I heard you actually got into a duel earlier. That sounds like a bit more than just looking around. I can't wait to see the videos of the duel." She smirked. "Still… it is too bad that you're not signing up." She shrugged. "I guess you don't have that much time for yourself anymore, especially with being a mom and all."

"Yeah, I bet those wide hips of yours have stretch marks," Sharon mocked. "You do look… fatter than I remember."

"Oh really? And how are you going to sing with your bad smoking habits, Sharon?" Tabrella snapped back at her.

"Hey, just so you know, I actually had to quit smoking in order to get in I.P.," Sharon told her. "At least I know how to keep my tubes tied…"

"I have heard enough!" Jackie shouted as the two opposing groups began to argue with each other. Everyone was talking now… except for one.

Amary looked disinterested in the drama unfolding in front of her, instead glancing around elsewhere. She didn't care much about the Shallows and their drama with the Mane Three and instead she found herself paying attention to a certain witch boy.

Talking with Know Doubt was a blue haired teenage witch boy. He had pointed ears like other witches, with his hair being spikey, his eyes blue, and his skin complex. He wore a black leather jacket with yellow and blue stripes across the arm sleeves and back of the jacket, a white button shirt, a yellow tie, blue trousers and black boots, and a pork-pie blue hat with a yellow band.

"It's such a shame that you have disgraced yourself even further, considering what happened to Duke," Britt brought up. "I can't imagine how bad your image is back on the Boiling Isles, considering how often your folks collaborated with the Emperor's Coven…"

"Would that be the same with your folks?" Tabrella countered.

"Yeah? At least our folks didn't have a lover killed under your name," Britt brought up, causing Tabrella to tense up. "Hmm, I suppose it makes sense that you wouldn't compete in this competition, since you don't want to further embarrass the Diamantos name…"

Tabrella glared at Britt and the rest of her former so-called friends. All of the Shallows, except for Amary, were smirking at her. Tabrella realized what they were doing, they were trying to provoke her into changing her mind and competing against them, similar to what Duncan did. However, Tabrella refused to take the bait. She sighed while looking… tiredly at them.

"No," Tabrella told them.

"Excuse me?" Britt questioned.

"I know what you're trying to do, and I'm not going to sign up just to try to beat you and the Shallows, Britt," Tabrella told her. "You're just not worth it. Seeing you all again made me remember just how better off I am from when I was with you, since you are just the same spoiled brats that think they're above everyone else even though nobody actually cares who you are. Clearly, none of you have changed for the better since I last saw you." She scoffed. "Though I never expected you all to do so in the first place."

Britt's eyes widened at this, the Shallows sharing the same reaction as Tabrella turned away from them and began pushing the stroller with Katie in it. Tracy and Jackie had different reactions to Tabrella's statement. Tracy looked disappointed, while Jackie just smiled proudly at Tabrella.

"Aw man, I thought we'd get to compete," Tracy said with her head down.

"Way to go, Tabs," Jackie said while patting her friend's back. "You didn't even give them the satisfaction of getting to you."

"Even if I did compete, I doubt it would make much of a difference with them," Tabrella said. "Besides, I have no time to deal with petty squabbles…"

"Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah…"

The trio stopped when they heard the sound of singing. They, as well as the Shallows and the rest of the participants, turned toward the singing.

"Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah…"

At the entrance of the outdoor venue, they saw green mist pouring toward them. Through the mist came three figures, singing in harmony while walking towards the bands.

"Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah…" the trio sang. It was a trio of witches that we had seen before… the Sirens. "Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah…"

"We heard you want to get together," sang the orange haired siren who wore a short pink jacket with pink fingerless gloves. She also wore a purple short romper, a red ruby necklace with a trident symbol. and purple heeled boots. "We heard you want to rock this stage…"

"We've thought of something that is better," sang the aquamarine haired siren with the ponytail. She playfully strummed the guitar on Potshot's back. She wore the same kind of ruby necklace, as well as a purple short-sleeve coat with light-blue buttons, a pink mini-skirt, and purple knee-length boots with pink bows. "Something that would be all the rage…"

"So why pretend we're all the same?" asked the purple twintails-style hair siren as she got in between Poptart and Rosie. She wore a green jacket with ripped sleeves, and wore the same necklace as the other two. She also had on a lime t-shirt, violet pants, purple boots with ruby buckles, and a dark-purple belt with a white skull on. "When some of us shine brighter?"

"Shine brighter…" the other two sang before the leader started to sing.

"Here's a chance to find your flame… are you a loser, or a fighter?" she asked while stroking Duncan's chin, making him flustered.

The three joined together, moving their bodies as one. "Me and you, you and me, why don't we see who is better?" they suggested. "We don't have to be one and the same thing. Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?"

Their singing began to have an effect amongst the bands. It caused some of them to look at each other differently. Rosie and Poptart glanced at each other, their eyes narrowing with suspicion. Know Doubt and Duncan turned to each other with glares. Even Song and Smashermouth were giving each other narrow looks.

"Or are you afraid of failing the audition?" the Sirens sang as they gave a thumbs down.

Tabrella, Jackie, and Tracy listened to the song while they turned back to glare at the Shallows, who glared at them back. Amary was the only one who didn't seem unaffected and she noticed how something was off. One moment, they had all been getting along aside from the Shallows and the Mane Three. But now… everyone appeared to look more… competitive and apprehensive. The air was ripe with tension… and she didn't like it.

"You're a star and you should know it. Yeah, you rise above the rest," the leader of the Sirens sang while caressing Fuyuko's chin, making her blush. "It doesn't matter who you hurt, if you're just proving you're the best…"

"Ah, ah-ah-ah~!" the sirens sang as their harmonic voices spread more conflict between the different bands.

"Battle!" they sang. "You want to win it! Let's have a battle, battle of the bands!" they declared while walking towards the sign-up table, where Felicia, Kose, and Koun were. "Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it! Let's have a battle, battle, battle of the bands!"

"Um, names?" Felicia asked.

"We are… the Sirenz, with a 'z'," the leader said. "I am Barissa Kuda."

"Chroma Green," the real-ponytailed siren said.

"Royo Loreto," said the purple pig tailed siren. "And we're here to…"

"Battle!" the Sirenz sang.

"I can beat you!" Smashermouth shouted to Song.

"Battle!"

"Ha! You wish!" Song replied.

"Battle!"

"Oh, I so want this!" Tracy shouted.

"Battle!"

"Me too," Jackie agreed while glaring at the Shallows.

Tabrella was also glaring at the Shallows. Suddenly, she couldn't let this go. No, she had to show that she was better than them. She began to head over to the sign-up sheet. "I think I would like to sign up."

"Battle!"

"Hey, not if I get there first!" Britt shouted as she ran after Tabrella. At the sign-up table, both of them grabbed the pen and began fighting over it while glaring at each other.

It was then that the Sirenz began their reprise, all of the bands starting to sing along. "Me and you, you and me, why don't we see who is better? We don't have to be one and the same thing. Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?"

"I'm going out and winning the audition!" everyone sang.

"Battle!" they all sang with their arms up as the Sirenz climbed up on stage, taking center.

"We want to win it!" the bands sang as they all turned to each other and pointed. "Let's have a battle, battle of the bands!"

Rosie and the Dirtyrats glared at Poptart, Duncan and the rest of their band, the Bloodwater Gang glared at the Ninja Reptiles, and the Mane Three glared at the Shallows.

"Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it!" the Sirenz sang. "Let's have a battle, battle, battle, battle of the bands!"

The Sirenz smirked as they saw their handiwork. Everyone was turning on each other…

The battle had just begun.

Trivia

• Following this chapter, the story entered a three month hiatus so the authors could wrap up the Wrath arc in Helluva Dad.