Balance

El Goonish Shive Storyline Groups
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Balance is the twenty-second storyline group in the main canon of EGS. It began March 31, 2021 and ended September 30, 2022. It includes the following storylines:

• Part 1: Nanase and her friends find out that their spells have changed and Tedd tries to figure out what has happened. Then the Emissary of Magic visits Grace's dream to inform her that the change is because Magic no longer helps magic users by automating the spells.
• Part 2: Luke refuses to help with Justin's plan to find out if Rhoda and Catalina have magic. Susan's attempt to find out if Catalina has magic fails as Catalina has learned to keep secrets. Thus Grace can't share her secrets with Rhoda. A flashback shows Luke's friends, including Camdin, chasing Rhoda and Catalina, who scared them off, making Luke even more fearful of magic and also angry with the rest of Camdin's group.
• Part 3: A flashback shows Tedd getting to know Arthur. Then, in the present, Arthur asks Tedd to share the technology of Tedd's glove and is not completely honest about his intentions.
• Part 4: When Elliot was a child he befriended Tony. After their friendship ended, Elliot started fighting bullies, starting by defending Tedd from Tony.
• Part 5: Edward, Tedd, Grace and Elliot plan the griffin meeting and who will go; Edward decides to accompany Elliot to the meeting and Grace insists on following them against Edward's will. Edward also decides that Elliot is to be in Cheerleadra form optimized for safety.
• Part 6: Ashley has her first magic lesson with Kevin. Grace and Elliot talk about how they feel about talking to the griffins and Elliot's friends talk about how he can be intimidating.
• Part 7: While Edward, Elliot and Grace are waiting to meet the griffins Andrea and Tara, they are attacked by the griffin Liam, who is under the influence of a mind control spell. Elliot defeats Liam using the new "villainous" variant of the Cheerleadra spell. After Liam has come to his senses, they meet the griffin Dwight, Andrea, Tara and Liam's uryuom friend Virginia and more is revealed about the griffins' world, including the fact that uryuoms are subjected to prejudice and discrimination. Eventually it is revealed that Liam had the mind control situation set up as part of a complicated revolutionary plot.
• Part 8: Edward tells Andrea and Tara that the crystalline turtle frog Steve has told him that the magic energy clog will resolve naturally. Then Edward and the griffins discuss other things and Tara demonstrates her healing magic to Edward.
• Part 9: Elliot and Tedd talk about the villainous Cheerleadra spell. Edward tells Tedd, Grace and Elliot about his relationship with Lavender.

The publication order of the comics departs significantly from the chronological order of the events. The contemporary scenes skip around during the main timeframe of this storyline group, which covers the week following the Saturday evening party in the previous storyline group, up to the following Saturday. There are also extended flashbacks to: events involving supporting characters on the same Saturday night as the main cast were at the party; an appointment between Tedd, Edward and Arthur at an unspecified but fairly recent time before that party; and events in Elliot and Tedd's backstory some years ago.

Part 1

The storyline began with cryptic narration about balance, hinting that the magic change had a cost, and a spellbook was shown becoming thicker.

When Elliot and Edward and a companion were waiting to meet Tara and Andrea in a forest on the Saturday a week after the party (as planned in So A Date At The Mall) Elliot complained about the Cheerleadra form not feeling optimized and Edward reminded them that the plan was for Elliot to flee if the griffins turned out to be hostile.

Earlier, on the Monday two days after the party, Nanase was having trouble reading a book, while her summon Fox (who Nanase had assigned to chores duty) couldn't figure out how to fold clothes. After dismissing Fox Nanase noticed that she could think clearly. Trying to figure out what had changed, she checked her spellbook, then called Ellen, Elliot and Susan, whose spellbooks had also changed, and Tedd, who noted that magic apparently hadn't finished changing earlier (in Sister 3, Part 23, the will of magic decided to make a minor change).

Meanwhile, DGB agent Knight was trying to arrest a suspect. When the agent tried to shoot the suspect with a spell from his wand, the spell backfired and was stronger than normal and Knight was injured. This worried Arthur and Sybil.

The next day (Tuesday) Tedd, Elliot and Grace tried to figure out how the Cheerleadra spell had changed. Tedd found that it wasn't clear from Elliot's spellbook if it had become more or less powerful. The spell now allowed Elliot to distribute points among seven stats to customize the Cheerleadra form, but they didn't know the baseline stats of the original Cheerleadra form. Cheerleadra can get more points by being smaller and sacrificing strength. Tedd concluded that the spells had changed to be more manual, making them harder to use but also more flexible. Then Elliot brought up the meeting with the griffins and Grace suggested asking Edward for advice.

Most magic users noticed the new change or learned about it from each other, but those marked by Pandora, except Rhoda, noticed nothing.

The following night (very early Wednesday), when Grace was dreaming about ancient Rome, the Emissary of Magic visited her dream to give her information for the seers. He told her that she would remember the information clearly after the first attempt. He explained that Magic failed to communicate to the seers what would happen due to its alien nature. Magic used to assist with complicated spells but stopped as part of the change, and due to stopping the support passively, that effect of the change wasn't noticeable immediately. Then Grace asked about Elliot's spell and the Emissary explained how it works. He also explained why Elliot can shrink for more points: it is easier to increase an attribute if one accepts the cost of reducing a related attribute of oneself. He used size magic as an example and Grace asked if Rhoda has size magic but the Emissary didn't know. He then clarified that what counts as reducing an attribute is fixed. Grace asked if there are other attributes to trade for more points in every stat but the Emissary said that such trades would be a bad idea and refused to say more than that. Then Grace asked why she became able to use wands and transform her clothes with herself. The Emissary answered that there used to be restrictions on the use of magic by uryuoms. He also mentioned that uryuoms are not from space but before he could say more, Grace woke up.

In the morning (Wednesday) Edward found a note by Grace about the new information, which made him very surprised.

Part 2

While recovering in a hospital bed, agent Knight thanked his partner agent Bishop for saving him and said that that what happened was better than if he'd harmed or killed the suspect, and that they should have been more careful about spells assumed to be safe. Bishop said that the duties and safety of the agents were too important to care about hurting criminals. Meanwhile, the criminal that Knight had tried to shoot read a threatening message that Bishop had apparently placed at his home.

The next page recapped Grace's desire to find out if Rhoda and Catalina have magic since she can't share her secrets with them otherwise (she had discussed this with her friends at the party in Reflections).

On the Sunday after the party, at Salty Crackers Comics, Justin told Grace about his plan for Luke to use his magic to check if Rhoda and Catalina have magic, which involved persuading Rhoda and Catalina to enter a Magickal Gatherings tournament to let Luke see them. Grace had ethical qualms about the sneaky and privacy-violating parts of the plan. She said that she would ask the Emissary of Magic if she could and Justin was offended by her not trusting Luke with the information about Rhoda's and Catalina's magic.

Then Luke entered the shop. He had hurt his shoulder. He told Justin that he tripped and fell on concrete. When Justin told him about his plan Luke refused to help him as he didn't want to look for people with magic anymore. He told Justin that he had previously sought out Justin to learn more about Cheerleadra (in Squirrel Prophet) and that he and his friends thought they were chosen to be superheroes. He didn't want to use his spell since what he found with it scared him. He also told Justin that he had looked for villains. He thought about Noah (in his shadowy disguise) and another suspected villain in a large, bestial form. Luke also said that Justin and Grace shouldn't try to learn their friends' secrets sneakily - it seemed to be trying to gain leverage. He said that they shouldn't tell their friends about their own secrets at all, if they if they didn't trust them without first knowing their friends' secrets. Then Mr. Tensaided entered the shop and declared that he wanted to defeat Justin at Magickal Gatherings but Justin pointed out that he would be a judge in the tournament, not play in it.

Later that day, when Justin and Grace were alone again, they talked about Luke's refusal to use his spell. Grace said that she understood Luke's feeling of helplessness when he detected powerful magic users.

The same Sunday morning Susan told Elliot that she was planning to tell Catalina that Elliot had asked her what magic she would have based on her personality and say that they thought Catalina would have cat magic. They talked about how Catalina is bad at keeping secrets and yet had apparently kept her and Rhoda's magic secret. Susan said that superhero magic would suit Elliot but Elliot said that they couldn't tell Catalina that. Susan instead suggested dog magic, which confused Elliot. Susan explained that dog was the closest thing to superhero they could tell Catalina. Then Susan asked what magic suited her and he suggested ice magic. Susan asked if he meant that she is cold and Elliot tried to come up with alternative explanations. He didn't convince Susan but she forgave him.

At the Moperville University dormitories Luke met Camdin. Luke was angry with Camdin for an incident where Camdin first ran towards a group of suspected superheroes that Luke had found, despite Luke's warnings, and then, when he panicked, knocked over Luke and left him to die.

Elliot thought about Susan's words about dogs and heroes and considered the ethics of being a hero as he realized that being loyal like a dog can be bad as well as good.

Grace daydreamed about comforting her past self. Then she asked Tedd what he would like to do after college. Tedd said that he would like to do something involving science or engineering, maybe magic technology. Grace said that she hates violence and would like to help the helpless. Tedd suggested that she become a therapist since she had studied psychology but Grace disliked the idea because she didn't understand people, because she would have to keep secrets and especially because she would have to get therapy herself as part of the training. When Tedd asked why she was so opposed to therapy she glared at him. She suggested that she could become a motivational speaker instead.

Part 2-B

The next day (Monday) Susan planned to confirm whether Catalina has magic. She wanted to wait until lunch but she met Catalina in the morning. Catalina was in a good mood. She attempted a backflip and landed on her face. Susan wondered if Catalina's good mood was because of something happening in her relationship with Rhoda, which made her embarrassed.

Meanwhile, at Moperville South, Diane did not intend to do anything to find out if Rhoda has magic as she was confident that Rhoda would have told her if she did since Rhoda had a history of coming to Diane when she had a problem. A man cut the lunch queue in front of Rhoda and when she confronted him he claimed that he hadn't seen her and refused to give up his place in front of her. Rhoda's magic power made her anger intimidating, for (as was noted in narration) magic ability can be subconsciously sensed. When Rhoda told Diane and Lucy about the confrontation they were surprised by her assertiveness.

At lunch Catalina was sleepy and told Susan that she hadn't slept well last night. Susan decided to wait before asking her about magic. After she learned that the spells had changed she thought it was urgent and the next day (Tuesday) she asked Catalina the question she had planned. Catalina didn't reveal her magic but said that the notion that she would have cat magic was boring and instead suggested sonic magic. Sarah suggested that dog magic would suit Catalina and Susan mentioned that she had suggested dog magic for Elliot. Catalina suggested ice magic for Susan, which made her angry. After the discussion Sarah told Susan that she had seen that Catalina didn't have a magic mark.

Grace contemplated about how she couldn't trust Rhoda with her secrets and thought that they couldn't truly be friends. Rhoda texted Catalina to ask her if she had slept well since she had difficulty sleeping after an exciting incident on Saturday. Rhoda was told off for texting at school by a teacher, to whom she responded with more assertiveness, earning herself a detention.

A flashback to the Saturday night of the party explained several things alluded to in the rest of the storyline by showing an incident involving Rhoda and Catalina. While walking home from a movie, the couple were chased by Camdin and others of Luke's friends (Luke had used his magic-sensing magic in the hope of convincing himself that there was nothing dangerous, and drawn his friends' attention to the two girls, asking them in vain not to run after them). Rhoda told Catalina to use their emergency plan. Then Camdin and the others fled and Camdin knocked Luke over as Catalina had changed into an intimidating cat form (looking like the second suspected villain in Luke's mental image from the comic shop). Luke picked himself up and fled as well.

Part 3

On Monday at school, Elliot and Tedd talked about whether they can trust the paranormal police. Elliot was concerned because there is no public accountability due to the secrecy and because of Arthur's reputation for putting secrecy over the safety of individuals (previously mentioned in Hammerchlorians), but Tedd trusted Arthur.

On Tuesday agent Wolf told Arthur by telephone from a hotel in Colorado that two people who were able to use magic completely manually hadn't noticed any changes to their spells and thought the reason others were having trouble was because they didn't have the same command of their spells. Wolf and Arthur talked about the fact that they and their colleagues could no longer trust their magic wands. They also mentioned that Wolf and his companions were on a mission to hunt down Magus. It's implied that one of Wolf's companions was Abraham and another companion, who was referred to as the trainee, was mentioned to be a grumpy woman with strange hair who has a talent for detecting concealment magic. Then Arthur got a phone call from Dr. Germahn, who told him that he had learned from Tedd's notes that Tedd had made a glove that makes it possible to program spells with a computer and that Tedd failed to write good documentation for the glove and dismissed it as a failure after he learned that he is a seer (Tedd's disappointment that the glove doesn't work the way he thought was shown in Sister 3).

On Wednesday morning, after Edward saw Grace's note about what she learned from her dream with the Emissary of Magic, he asked her for more detail. He told Tedd and Grace that he was able to use his magic manually, that he wasn't familiar with the training of the agents, and that agents are supposed to use wands of standardized spells unless they have useful personal spells. He also said that he hadn't heard that uryuoms are not from space but they might be mistaken about their history since they have been on Earth at least since the Bronze Age collapse. When Edward told Tedd and Grace that he was planning to report the dream as his in order to protect Grace, Tedd realized that his father doesn't trust Arthur enough.

Flashing back to a meeting about Arthur's offer of a lab for Tedd (before the party; Arthur first made the offer in Sister 3), Edward told Tedd that he didn't have to accept the offer. He also said that Arthur has a strong sense of right and wrong but believes that the needs of the many may require sacrificing the needs of the few and that he calls himself a monster in service of the greater good. When the meeting began Tedd was nervous. During the meeting Edward was called away to speak with a supernatural being who was referred to as "a flying turtle shell" (whom Edward calls Steve).

When Arthur and Tedd were alone, Arthur praised Edward's ability as a diplomat and Tedd muttered "Oh, the irony". Arthur realized that Tedd had been nervous about the possibility of Arthur mentioning that he had met Tedd in a feminine form. When Tedd talked about his father's disapproval of his transforming, Arthur suggested talking to him about his feelings. Tedd said that he couldn't explain why he sometimes feels like a girl and sometimes like a boy. Arthur suggested that Edward might be worried by Tedd's transforming since he was confused by it and that Tedd should talk to him about his gender identity. Tedd was unwilling to talk to his father about it and refused Arthur's offer to explain it in his stead. He thanked Arthur for his understanding and Arthur said that he doesn't understand gender identity. He explained that he takes pride in accepting differences he can't understand since he sees it as what America should be all about.

Tedd mentioned that he had heard that Arthur sees himself as a monster, which Arthur confirmed. He explained how he sees keeping magic secret as a necessary evil and that it is important to always remember that necessary evil is still evil. Back on the Wednesday when Tedd learned about Grace's dream, Tedd considered whether he can trust Arthur and concluded that he can, since Tedd and his father have important positions, but he still decided to let his father lie about the dream to protect Grace.

Then Tedd told Elliot what they had learned from Grace's dream, including attribute trading. When Tedd told Elliot that the emissary had warned Grace about one possible trade, Elliot concluded that it was about turning evil. Tedd thought it didn't make sense but didn't convince Elliot.

Arthur considered the need for safer wands of incapacitating spells and decided to use Tedd's research on programming wands but keep the objective of making weapons secret. Thus Arthur called Tedd using a special phone with advanced security features that he had given Tedd. He asked Tedd for notes about the glove of enchanting. Arthur told Tedd that the glove is valuable and mentioned Tedd's hope that wands can eventually become common. Arthur asked Tedd for the source code of the glove and Tedd asked Arthur for a wand-making spell in order to improve the glove to work for non-seers. After they ended the conversation Arthur explained to agent Bishop why he didn't mention his intention to make weapons. He also implied that Bishop is planned to have his job eventually.

After Edward was called away from the meeting, he met the turtle that he calls Steve. The turtle said that they had good news.

Part 4

When Elliot was a child he befriended Tony when he misunderstood Tony's attempt to bully him as playful fighting, and after that they would play violently. Tony stopped playing with Elliot when other kids said that they were boyfriends. Then Elliot hit Tony to defend Tedd and became friends with Tedd. After that Elliot would fight bullies. Later he realized that he enjoyed fighting too much, which made him fight less. In the present, he had an idea about how he could turn into a villain for power.

Part 5

On Thursday, while Elliot was meeting Edward Verres to plan the meeting with the griffins, Nanase called Elliot by phone to tell him that her parents had given her a babysitting job so that she couldn't meet the griffins. Elliot told her that Edward didn't want her to accompany them for the griffin meeting anyway.

Edward told Elliot that he had new information about the magic energy clog but wouldn't tell Elliot or Tedd (who was also present) until they met the griffins because he thought Elliot might try to meet the griffins without him. They talked about who could accompany them. Edward mentioned agent Bishop but thought it wouldn't be a good idea to bring her since he couldn't get along with her (apparently she couldn't accept anyone other than her surrogate father figure, presumably Arthur, as her boss). Grace offered to accompany them but Edward refused since it could be too dangerous. Tedd objected that the griffins were friendly and wanted to meet them himself, but the others were all against Tedd meeting the griffins. Grace insisted on going to the meeting and said that she would follow them even if they tried to refuse. Edward conceded and said that Grace is as stubborn as the other women in the family; Grace was happy that he called her family. Thus the three of them planned the meeting, including stats for Cheerleadra optimizing defense, awareness and escape capabilities in case something went wrong.

Part 6

This chapter started with a recap of Ashley becoming a wizard. She had her first magic lesson with the talking training wand Kevin on Saturday morning. Kevin complained about Ashley procrastinating before starting her training. Then he reacted to the magic abilities of the others present: He noted that Sarah is not a wizard and she introduced herself and mentioned that she considers magic wands cool. He called Grace confusing and she explained that she is an alien hybrid. He declared Tedd graduated. He noted that Elliot is not a wizard and already had magic and declared that he was going to ignore him. Then Kevin announced that he would help Ashley, and also Sarah, train their magic strength by letting her cast spells using only her own power. Tedd expressed interest in making training wands, which made Kevin offended that he might be replaced. Then Kevin and Ashley started the training, which was boring since Ashley only had enough power for the weakest spells. Then, when Ashley was somewhat tired from the training, Kevin declared the lesson over and explained that she needed time to recover to become stronger and mentioned the possibility of magic burnout.

Then Edward went down to the basement and asked Elliot and Grace how they felt about talking to the griffins. Grace was happy about talking to people without keeping secrets from them. Tedd noticed that her father hadn't reacted to her being in a feminine form and considered talking to him about her gender identity but decided to wait until later. Elliot talked to Sarah about his worry about meeting the griffins and Sarah concluded that he was scared of the griffins because he wasn't used to meeting someone more dangerous than himself in a fight. She also mentioned that Elliot can be scary. Tedd and Ashley confirmed that Elliot used to be intimidating and Grace said that she used to dislike him because he seemed violent to her antenna senses. That made Elliot sad and Sarah and Grace reassured him that he is a good guy since he mainly fights to protect others. Elliot changed into a short feminine form to look less scary.

Edward talked by phone to someone (later revealed to be Lavender) about telling Tedd and Grace news about someone moving. Edward hadn't had an opportunity to tell them during the previous week as there were always other things distracting them, but promised to tell them next day.

Part 7

Before they went to meet the griffins, Elliot wanted to protect Grace and Edward if anything dangerous happened. However, Edward had a plan that involved Elliot fleeing and sending a distress text message to Arthur in the event of any danger. Grace was happy about meeting the griffins.

While they were waiting for the griffins, Elliot mentioned his visual highlighting spell. Then Elliot sensed someone dangerous who couldn't decide whether they were angry. Then that someone (Liam Tyrant Slayer) flew towards them. Edward ordered Elliot and Grace to flee and cast his barrier spell. The attacker slammed though the barrier and Edward was knocked out. The attacker, a griffin with an owl-like face, sensed that Edward is royalty and flew towards him. Grace carried Edward away and noticed something familiar about the attacker. When the owl griffin almost caught Grace, Grace made one of her tails spiky to make it harder to grab. While the owl griffin was chasing Grace, Elliot decided to change into a villain form, where he would lose his restraint, and dropped his cell phone and coat. The griffin summoned a pair of arms strong enough to destroy trees in their path and was again on the verge of grabbing Grace when Elliot distracted the griffin with a scream and them slammed into the griffin.

Elliot, whose new form looked like Cheerleadra but with mostly black clothing, punched the griffin repeatedly and dodged the griffin's attacks until the griffin fell on the ground unconscious. Meanwhile, Grace, who was still holding Edward since she was unsure if she could find him again if she put him down, realized that the griffin was being mind-controlled as she was reminded of Dex (in New And Old Flames). Elliot, who realize that they would burn out and was worried that the griffin would attack again with no one to fight, decided to kill the griffin but Grace moved Elliot off-course with her telekinesis. Elliot was angry with Grace for carrying Edward back. When Grace told Elliot that the griffin was mind-controlled, Elliot changed back to normal and burned out. Elliot explained that he hadn't sent the distress text since he had dropped the phone because he thought he would need to use his highlighting spell to find Grace and Edward.

Then the griffin woke up, no longer mind-controlled. The griffin explained that he had been compelled to attack royalty and had gone to this world to avoid royalty. He also reassured Elliot that he did the right thing by fighting him. When Grace brought up Edward, the griffin explained that he was not seriously injured and suggested that Edward had by reflex knocked himself out with a spell that made him limp in order to protect himself from getting injured. Then the griffin sensed three other griffins approaching and concluded that they were Andrea, Tara and one of the guards of the passage between the worlds. He told Grace and Elliot to let him move freely as Grace was holding him still with telekinesis. Then Liam, Elliot and Grace introduced themselves and Liam warned that the guard might be rude.

Then a cockatoo-like griffin arrived. The new griffin, Dwight, said that Liam's servant Virginia had made claims that he wanted to disprove: she thought that Liam was under mind control. Liam told Dwight that it was true. Then Tara and Andrea arrived and Tara offered to partly heal Elliot's hand injuries from punching Liam. Dwight said that it was hard to believe that anyone managed to mind-control Liam, that he still managed to partly resist it and that he could remember what had happened. He asked what magic Liam had used, as mind control limits magic, and when he was told that Liam hadn't used anything other than flight and phantom arms, he was convinced. When Liam told Andrea that he had slammed into Edward's magic barrier, Andrea noted that it was surprising that it didn't kill Liam. Then Virginia arrived.

Virginia, who is an uryuom, was carrying Elliot's phone and coat. Dwight was angry that she was holding a piece of technology and threatened her with a fireball. Edward, who had woken up, moved the fireball to himself and then extinguished it and explained what the cell phone is. Dwight said that uryuoms have tried to take over the world with technology. He explained that it happened after an uryuom spaceship crashed thousands of years ago. Andrea said that some historical records suggest that it wasn't so simple. Dwight dismissed that as 'uryuom lies' and Liam explained that some believe uryuoms to be liars because the courts in their world have a way to detect lies that doesn't work on uryuoms. He complained about the prejudice against uryuoms in that world. Dwight was confused and Liam, who realized that Dwight wasn't fixed in his prejudice, tried to convince him that Virginia is trustworthy. Elliot was impressed by Liam and Edward, and resolved to learn diplomacy.

Then Tara said that she had finished healing what she could of Elliot's injuries. Dwight suggested that he, Liam and Virginia should go home to report what had happened to Liam. Liam apologized for going to this world resulting in him attacking Edward. Virginia asked Grace about uryuoms in this world and Grace told her that uryuoms, and also magic, are secret. Grace elaborated by telling Virginia about the will of magic, which made Andrea curious. Elliot further elaborated about how magic used to change in order to avoid being to widely known. Dwight again suggested that he, Liam and Virginia should go home but Liam asked Edward what had happened to him and about his barrier. Edward confirmed that he hadn't been unconscious and that the barrier had been intended to stop Liam without harming him. Dwight again insisted that they should go home so he, Liam and Virginia left. Edward, Andea and Tara talked about the small chances of political reform in the griffins' world.

Then it was revealed that Liam had the mind control situation set up in order to have an excuse to get Dwight away from the portal in order to let Liam's allies cross into this world.

Part 8

The chapter begun with a recap of the magic energy clog. Pandora reset before she could give instructions to remove the clog.

When Edward told Andrea and Tara that Pandora caused the clog, the griffins were surprised that an immortal was that powerful.

The turtle that Edward calls Steve had told Edward that the clog would go away naturally and that the center of the flow of magic would move to Moperville University. The turtle explained that magic can sometimes see what may happen in the future and brought up how they first met and the turtle said that they would become friends. The turtle said that the move of the flow would result in twice as much ambient energy as before the clog, which was still much less than during the clog.

Andrea was astonished that Edward had talked to this turtle-like being (whom Edward calls Steve because Steve had refused to give their real name since it would allow people to summon them) since crystalline turtle frogs such as Steve are considered legendary by the griffins. She told Edward that the flow of magic was normalizing and that nothing had moved on her side and Edward suggested that there is no notion of the same place on the two sides and speculated that they have different geography.

Then Andrea and Edward decided to meet again. Then Edward asked the griffins about royal auras and the griffins told him that royal auras look like crowns, that at least some royalty can only be identified after they have trained their magic, and that some people who are born in royal families turn out to be non-royalty (at which, Edward thought of Tedd). Edward then asked the griffins about healing magic and cut a wound in his hand to let them demonstrate their healing. While Tara was healing Edward, Andrea asked Grace about her seyunolu parentage and Grace told her that she is part lespuko. When Grace told Andrea that she is also part squirrel, Andrea was impressed and said that those who designed her were being reckless. After Tara had finished healing Edward, she slapped him and said that he should pay more heed to his own well-being, as Elliot and Grace needed him. Elliot disagreed as he thought that Edward's actions were necessary. Andrea and Grace talked about the fact that seyunolus, including Grace, can't change into full uryuom forms.

Meanwhile, the revolutionary agents who had crossed into the world (Saou, Mist and Potestas) were running through the forest. One of them was tired so they stopped. Saou tested if they could use a magic device that they had brought with them, and found that they could.

Part 9

After the griffins left Edward's group, Tara told Andrea that she wished they had royalty like Edward.

Edward said that he should have let Grace and Elliot help him defend himself instead of gambling on himself being able to handle any threats in a self-sacrificing way. The only lesson Elliot took from this about self-sacrifice was to make sure that it would work.

While on the way home Edward decided to order pizza in order to help Elliot's hand injuries heal, as he planned to speed up the healing with one of the spells that he had learned from Tara. When they arrived at Edward's house, Grace and Elliot told Tedd what had happened and Edward called Elliot's parents to tell them.

Elliot told Tedd that the villain form worked as he had expected, as it made him unable to second-guess his thoughts urging violence because he was scared. He concluded that he was a coward to use it. He also said that he had been so worried about being helpless without the villain form that he had almost wanted to use it even before he knew of any danger. Grace reassured Elliot that his worry was understandable and that it turned out to be the right choice whereas Tedd said (inspired by his earlier conversation with Arthur in Part 3) that the villain form was a bad option but still the least bad. Elliot (inspired by Edward) resolved to help by "punching with words" and teamwork but realized that he still would have been unable to help Edward fight Liam. When he talked about how badly it could have gone, Tedd became upset and Elliot realized that he has to care about his own safety, as his friends would get hurt if he was killed.

Later, Grace complained about not having talked more with Virginia as she didn't have any uryuom friends. Edward told her that his uryuom girlfriend Lavender would move in and that they were engaged. Grace was happy about getting new family whereas Tedd was confused and ambivalent. Elliot said "Just in time" which confused the others. He clarified that he meant that it would have been harder for Tedd and Lavender to get to know each other after Tedd and Grace move to the Moperville University dormitories. Edward agreed and said that he had impulsively proposed to Lavender for that reason and because he would feel lonely without Tedd and Grace. Tedd hugged his father and said that he understood his reasons. Edward asked if Tedd and Grace were engaged (but they did not answer on-panel). Elliot was happy about helping them with his words.

When Elliot ate the pizza, Tedd fed him because Elliot's hands were sore.

Tedd had made a wand with a spell for Elliot to change his hair color spell back to normal, as he was blond because of the magic burnout, and warned him that strange things might happen if he tried to do magic with a wand that used his own magic energy, like when Nanase tried to use a magic watch while she was burned out (in the storyline Hair). The wand turned out not to be needed as Elliot's hair color changed back to normal when Edward healed him. Elliot confirmed that he was no longer burned out by transforming into his short, busty and blond feminine form but passed out from using the spell. After Elliot woke up he slept at Tedd's house.

When Arthur read Edward's report about the encounter with Liam, he saw through Edward's attempt to minimize Grace's powers and decided to recruit Grace and Elliot.

The revolutionaries from the griffins' world, who believed that all royalty are ruling from the shadows, planned to steal a royal aura for the revolution.