The Dawn

El Goonish Shive Story Arcs
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The Dawn is the eighteenth story arc in the main canon of EGS. It opened Febuary 4th 2013. It followed right after the first major timeskip of the comic.

End Of An Era

The Dawn starts with Elliot and Susan, Susan in a Starfleet uniform, reviewing one of the Star Trek: The Next generation movies. Susan notes how these movies are not considered canon in the Star Trek community and Elliot puts emphasis on on how he managed to find a plot hole.

It is December 23rd, indeed about six months after the end of the previous arc. Elliot and Susan are watching this review on the couch in Tedds basment together with Justin. The three are talking about how Susan was wearing a Next Generation Starfleet uniform, Susan saying it would have been alright for Elliot to tease her about that during the review. Susan accidentally misspeaks here, which makes Justin suspicious about the nature of their relationship.

Nevertheless, Justin quickly changes the subject to Susan's 18th birthday on New Years Day. Susan doesn't want to celebrate this event, mainly because people are already partied out after Christmas and New Years.

Elliot shows his disbelief over the fact that Ellen and Nanase got invited to a party with collge students. It is implied that the two girls have been solving mysteries ever since the There Be Whales Here storylines.

The conversation returns to the topic of Susan's birthday, Elliot says that it simply isn't right to celebrate "the Earth's birthday" and not that of Susan. He comes up with the idea of eating cake and singing birthday songs shortly after the ball drops.

Tedd changes the topic to Nanase's magic, wondering whether her magic is lying dormant on purprose for the sake of having extra power when it activates again. Tedd then reveals that he still worries about magic-using "tourists" with ill intend coming to Moperville, but says that he isn't quite sure about the Whales anymore, as he hasn't sensed them at all during the six months since. However, his father has confirmed the unusual amount of ambiant magic in Moperville.

A flashback is shown in which Tedds father promises Tedd he would never lie to him or feed him misinformation, but tells him that the Whale-story is absurd, confirming that he has no knowledge of such creatures existing.

Tedd asks the group to prepare in case "magic jerks" ever do show up. The comic then moves to Ellen and Grace ready to spar, with Greg as the referee. Ellen shoots transformation beams at Grace, which she gracefully blocks (which, shortly after the fight, she reveals she can only do when standing still). Ellen fires a strong one and Grace gets hit by the full blast, turning her into her Venus-form.

Grace turns her figure back to normal, then asks Greg whether it would be a good idea to go in battle completely flat-chested. Needless to say, Greg didn't have an answer to this question and quickly fled the scene.

Sarah and Nanase are sitting in a restaurant. Sarah reveals that she doesn't want to be in a relationship with Elliot anymore, but wants to stay friends with him. She says that Elliot is a gentleman and a great friend, but that he is simply too "passive" in their relationship. He never does anything new and Sarah feels the relationship isn't going anywhere.

Nanase explains Elliot's abstinence by speculating about Elliot's feelings on teen pregnancies. Apparently, Elliot's mother was still in school when she got pregnant with her son (revealed back in a 2003 comic), which may had an effect on Elliot's view on such things.

Sarah says it would be great if Susan could "take Elliot over" if she ended their relationship (though doubts that Susan is even interested in Elliot), then Nanase casually replies that this was basically what happened when Nanase broke up with him so Elliot and Sarah could be together. Sarah, shocked that it wasn't Elliot that ended their relationship is mad that Elliot didn't even take the initiative to end his relationship with Nanase.

Sarah and Nanase conclude that Elliot is just such a nice guy, which does only make it harder for Sarah to end their relationship. She also wants to wait until after Christmas and New Years as to not ruin the holidays for him.

Diane overhears this conversation and is pleased to hear that Elliot will be single again soon. This marks the first time Diane has shown interest in Elliot.

The comic switches focus to Elliot and Ellen. It's night and they are about to go to bed, Elliot still needs to burn off energy at night and tries to settle on a standard form to use from this point forward. Ellen reveals that since she went out of town for a short while (to solve The Mystery of the Were-Goat), her energy built-ups were over. Elliot, however, doesn't like to travel and doesn't really mind periodically switching sexes anymore.

They talk about how they'll be watching old Christmas specials with Grace and Tedd the next day, since Grace had never seen any of those. Ellen hopes that Susan would come as well, as she would have liked some snarky commentary to go with the movies. Elliot explains she will have to work that day, however, and mentions that it kind-of feels like "cheating" on her when he watches movies without her.

Ellen tells Elliot he needs to be more introspective and figure out why he feels the way he feels, despite his discomfort doing thinking about such things. Elliot tries this, wonders whether his past violence was really justified by his noble intend. However, he starts to imagine Susan justifying his actions, telling him he is maturing and coming close for a... kiss?

Elliot jumps up from his dream and is mad at himself for thinking that way about Susan. He blames his hormones for it (not thinking there might be some more behind it), but still feels like he cheated on Sarah. Ellen implies that Elliot might have a thing for Susan and that, at the very least, he owes it to himself and his girlfriend to figure out his own feelings.

Ellen then starts talking about how 'they' never really loved Sarah in a "true love" kind of way, but stops as she realizes that she is telling Elliot how to feel, rather than to let him figure it out himself.

Later, as Elliot is showering, he realizes he really may just have a thing for Susan. This gives him much to think about and makes him reevaluate his relationship with Sarah. In the next page, he tells Ellen how confused he is about all this and during this conversation, he makes clear that he had considered Ellen family from the first time he saw her.

End Of An Era Pt 2

Sarah is in Tedd's basement with Grace, thinking about how she needs to act normal around Elliot despite her feelings. She feels the need of a distraction, which Grace manages to perfectly supply by being her bubbly self.

Elliot comes in and immediately hugs Sarah, stating that he "just really wanted to hug [her]." Grace notices something is going on and asks Ellen about it, who keeps her mouth sealed. Grace then quickly changes the topic by yelling out to start the party.

The first movie Grace wants to watch is Die Hard, not realizing it isn't really a Christmas movie in the traditional sense. She explains she wants to watch something violent in which the main character triumphs without guilt, despite her own non-violent nature. Elliot is completely into it himself as well after hearing her explanation, as it matches his earlier introspectives.

It is now December 26th and Justin is chatting with Susan. Justins avatar is dressed up like Vault Boy from the Fallout series, while Susan's avatar is dressed up like Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph (including skirt!). They chat a bit about how their respective Christmases were until Justin asks a rather personal question: whether Susan is attracted to Elliot.

Susan confirms, though only by stating that she is a heterosexual woman and Elliot is the only heterosexual man, other than Tedd, she spends any significant amount of time around. Basically, she blames her attraction on hormones, much like what Elliot blamed his feelings on earlier.

She also does not want to risk their friendship or betray Sarah, though her reaction to the question of what she would do if Sarah and Elliot would ever break up is ambiguous.

At the same time, Diane is at Rhoda's house after Rhoda tells her about Elliot's (and Susan's) review show. She mentions Susan being a friend of Catalina, to which Diane replies that she has yet to meet Catalina.

They watch an episode of the review show together. This marks the first time Diane actually sees Elliot and she thinks he's good looking. Rhoda tries to make clear how much Susan looks and sounds like Diane, but she is not buying it at all.

Diane shares her dreams about wanting to meet and marry the perfect man, one that is "rich and handsome, kind and compassionate, independent and assertive, and do everything [she tells] him to do." She realizes Elliot might not be that, but she also believes that dating him would be a good experience. Rhoda doesn't really understand this whole situation.

From this point forward, Diane becomes a fan of the series, enjoying every video, usually watching them in bed on her phone.

It is December 27th, Tedd and Elliot are playing videogames together. Elliot asks a question that has been bothering him for the past few days: what is love? Elliot is unsure of what the line is between friendship and love and asks what it is like for Tedd and Grace.

Tedd explains that, at first, it was just him being nice to her and she being... Well, a girl in his house. It just grew out to something "amazing." Tedd asks why Elliot is asking about this, but then realizes the answer to that question himself.

Elliot says he might want to break up with Sarah, because he doesn't really love her in a romantic way. They worry what it would do with the group, Tedd gets a traumatic flashback to his mother leaving him and Elliot states that he loves Tedd (quickly adding that not romantically), to which Tedd replies quite emotionally.

In the following scene, Elliot says Sarah is "artistic, fun, familiar, cute" and "like a sister" to him, the latter being the moment that he realizes why he isn't romantically interested in his oldest friend.

Absolutely shocked, Elliot calls Ellen to ask whether she felt the same way, to which she replies that she did. Elliot hangs up the phone, still making exactly the same shocked face. Elliot states that he has to break up with Sarah now, but doesn't know how to go about with it. Tedd suggests asking Nanase, seeing as she's experienced in breaking up. Elliot, however, decides not to ask for help and take the initiative for once.

Shortly after, when Elliot is back home, he calls Sarah to ask her to meet her somewhere. Sarah quickly realizes that he might be wanting to break up with her and decides to come over right after a quick shower. During this shower, however, she starts to wonder why it is he wants to break up with her, which breaks her spirit.

Sarah arrives at Elliot's house. He takes the initiative and says they have to break up. Sarah, looking rather sad, asks why he feels this way, to which he replies that she is more like a sister to him. Sarah doesn't take this well, until she thinks about it for a bit. She quickly realizes that it actually makes a lot of sense.

Sarah then reveals that she was planning to break up with him as well for her own reasons. This is also the point where Elliot realizes he is really not a bad guy, as he isn't angry at Sarah in any way.

Sarah and Elliot decide to stay friends, now joking about how no one will ever believe that their break-up went so smoothly. They joke about how they should tell people that Sarah was throwing stuff at Elliot, at least a couch, possibly multiple couches.

Later, Susan is talking with a potential customer in the Video Rental Store. The customer is asking about Susan being in a relationship with Elliot, which she denies. After this conversation, Sarah comes in to tell Susan that she broke up with Elliot.

On the next page, Susan brings up the possibility that Sarah was also starting to become less attracted to Elliot because he reminded her more of her sister since he's been transforming. Sarah, however, does not want to think about this possibility.

Elliot tells his sister about the break-up. Ellen asks whether he should ask Susan out, though Elliot doesn't think this is a good idea, as he doesn't want to settle again that quickly.

Elliot says he wants to take a "break from himself" and then transforms into his Heidi form, simply to play videogames. Ellen notes that using mind-bending transformation to relax may not be wise, but agrees to multiplayer.

The storyline ends with everyone lying in their beds: Elliot and Sarah sleeping well, Susan not being able to sleep at all and Diane, watching a review video of Elliot, stating "You will be mine, oh yes. You will be mine"

Family Tree

Family tree starts with short montage with "mysteries" Ellen and Nanase solved. Based on one of it, Rhea is inviting them to new years eve party (which we already knew about). Nanase is only allowed to go after promising she nor Ellen would drink: she doesn't have problem with that, while Ellen only agrees because she promised.

They arrive early - actually first not counting Rhea, her roommates and sister. The sister is surprisingly Diane. They found out that she's adopted AND that she will have birthday 10 minutes before midnight. Considering they already found Susan and Diane surprisingly identical and now finding out they were born 20 minutes from each other (which is totally possible for twins) they are now sure they are twins. Also, Diane complains about not being allowed to drink.

Diane then goes talking over net with Rhoda (who have Catalina as part of her avatar) and finds out Ellen is Elliot sister. Meanwhile, Nanase is explaining Ellen some details about guardian form. Diana arrives and ask for being introduced to Elliot, talking about the review show. Ellen doesn't get it immediately, but then realizes how dangerous might it be after Elliot's breakup.

Then two hosts arrive, Rick and Elijah. Elijah is big fan of "teen girl detectives" and talks about it, while Diane talks over net again, this time trying to get advice from Lucy. Lucy recommends forgetting about Elliot, saying he's not so special, and Diane admits she may want real relationship for once, which surprises her even more than Lucy. Meanwhile, Charlotte appears and mentions that it was technically her who recommended them to Rhea and others. She offers "sanctuary" upstairs to them hearing they wouldn't be drinking. Of course, when more guests arrive, first think they do is drinking games, so it doesn't take long before they use that option.

Diane tries to secretly get to the punch and is stopped by student with Santa's hat. Meanwhile, Charlotte plays Mario Party with Nanase and Ellen, talking with them about the possibility of real supernatural elements. She mentions she have Nanase's doll (one of those created in Sisters II), and that she was discussing stuff on forum, learning about Guardian form ... and correctly guess that it was attack, attacker was after Ellen and Nanase was the guardian. Then she says she simply want to know who to call if she notices something "truly spooky". Ellen confirms that she can call them and they can either solve it or contact someone who can - probably hinting DGB.

Party continues. Rhea seem to not drink as responsibly as she though ... and if you look at images closely, people start to change, most obviously boys to girls. Diane comes down, talks with Rhea and notices that there is something weird with the guests ... then she realizes some of them who she knows as boys are girls. She is scared by it and talk about it with Rhea, then being even more scared by realizing that Rhea is not reacting normally ... and calls her Lord. Diane tries to order everyone to click like chickens and they do it. She runs upstairs and tries the same on Nanase, Ellen and Charlotte, and is glad it's not working.

Proving that Nanase wasn't always discreet, she then asks her if she can fix it with her magic. Then Charlotte explains that Nanase don't have magic now. Nanase responds that what they should do is call her uncle Edward and find out they don't have signal. Internet is also down. When Diane mentions the guy in Santa's hat owing Diane's sister a favor, Nanase remembers Jerry.

Ellen suggest to go out into snow searching for phone signal. When she also mentions that staying inside house full of people who are apparently getting under control of some magic user may be even more risky, others agree. Everyone will get Verres phone number and they go out. This time, party guests are not only female, but obviously looking very similar to Nanase - except hair and clothes. Diane mentions she considers Nanase coolest person ever and that someone must have grudge against her.

While walking to Nanase's car, they discover two snow angels without any footprints around. Then flying monster lands before them, talking about Noriko Verres. Charlotte recognize him as visitor of her message board. They criticize his form as not looking like the actual Tengu. Nanase notices Diane disappeared, so they continue talking, attempting to give her more time. Not-Tengu confirms that he transformed the party guests and mentions that killing him will free them, but then point out he will not attack them.

Nanase quickly assumes that he don't want to attack because he fears her guardian form. She will get her magic back and explain that the form is about protecting others, not self-defense. Not-Tengu laugh and reply that it was actually manipulation, because he's more confident facing guardian form that any other spells she may have. (Of course, if he knew her spells, he might think otherwise.)

Possibly remembering the two snow angels, Ellen decides to help Nanase by using her copy beam spell on her. Despite things like this not being mentioned in either's spellbook, it works: Ellen first changes to Nanase and then to guardian form. They get some sort of telepathy and agree that their combat instinct are telling them not to attack. Not-Tengu is not attacking either: he assumes the guardian forms wouldn't last long. After talk about ambient magic energy, Ellen get idea that they need to make Not-Tengu chase them and together spent all ambient energy around, which would reverse the transformation of party guests.

The strategy works: they keep flying and evading Not-Tengu, who is chasing them and get more and more angry, threatening to kill Noriko, her ex-husband, her sister, her children (suggesting that Tedd is not only child) ... unfortunately, Nanase nor Ellen can't hear him over the rush of wind past their ears. He continues chase until his flying stop working and he fall down, hitting pavement of parking lot several times.

He is barely conscious, but tries to get up, just to see Grace in try-tail form (but no horns) and Uryuom work suit trying to threaten him. Then he falls unconscious. Elliot in Cheerleadra form arrives next, surprisingly not affected by low temperature despite her clothes. Nanase and Ellen talks to them, then power down the guardian forms, both burned out with Ellen having blonde hair.

Next, Charlotte and Diane arrives. Diane suggest killing "it", quickly surprised by Not-Tengu form wearing off and revealing it was transformed human. She then comments their hair, concludes that they don't have magic and goes stand by the superhero, confusing Elliot.

Finally Mr. Verres also arrives, followed by Agent Wolf and Agent Cranium. Cranium identifies the Not-Tengu (without saying his name), making Wolf surprised they were able to defeat it, saying that last time he was defeated by legendary monster hunter with a long family history of fighting monsters ... both Mr. Verres and Cranium look at him. Then Wolf emphasize the need to keep all this secret. Verres confirm this and when Nanase objects, he takes just her and explain the need of secrecy again, this time providing new super-top-secret informations. Nanase also ask him about Tedd's mother being legendary monster hunter. Verres reacts that telling to Tedd might make him so withdrawn to appear mute again.

They return to the house, Cranium confirms that everything is back to normal and Diane goes inside and hug Rhea. Charlotte, Ellen and Nanase speak a bit, revealing the "Charlotte's Angels" pun, and follows Diane inside. Jerry observes them, looking like teenager, revealing in monologue few loose ends, angry on his previous self that he promised to help Susan.

As sort of epilogue, we see Nanase not telling Mrs. Kitsune what happened, and next day enjoying her magic (flying as fairy) with Ellen and talking with her about their "web of selectively not shared information". They decide that they won't tell Susan about her sister immediately, but wait for her mom doing it, possibly talking to Susan's mom first to get her last chance to talk with Susan before them. They don't agree about Tedd: Nanase suggest to persuade Edward into telling him about his mother, while Ellen believes Edward's explanation.