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 started on December 23rd, indeed about six months after the end of the previous arc (not counting its last two panels), with Elliot and Susan, Susan in a Starfleet uniform, reviewing one of the Star Trek: The Next generation movies. Susan noted how these movies were not considered canon in the Star Trek community and Elliot put emphasis on on how he had managed to find a plot hole.

As Elliot and Susan were watching this review on the couch in Tedd's basement together with Justin, the three talked about how the Starfleet uniform Susan was wearing came from Next Generation rather than the original series. Susan said it would have been alright for Elliot to tease her about that during the review, accidentally misspeaking in a way that made Justin suspicious about the nature of their relationship.

Nevertheless, Justin quickly changed the subject to Susan's 18th birthday on New Years Day. Susan explained that she didn't want to celebrate this event, mainly because people would already be partied out after Christmas and New Years.

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

As the conversation returned to the topic of Susan's birthday, Elliot said that it simply wouldn't be right to celebrate "the Earth's birthday" and not that of Susan. He then came up with the idea of eating cake and singing birthday songs shortly after the ball had dropped.

They asked Tedd, who would be hosting the party, but he had not been paying attention and changed the topic to Nanase's magic, wondering whether her magic was lying dormant on purpose for the sake of having extra power when it activated again. He then revealed that he still worried about magic-using "tourists" with ill intent coming to Moperville, but said that he wasn't quite sure about the whales anymore, as he hadn't sensed them at all during the six months since and his father had ridiculed him for mentioning them. However, he had also confirmed the unusual amount of ambient magic in Moperville.

A flashback was shown in which Tedds father promised Tedd he would never lie to him or feed him misinformation, but told him that the whale-story is absurd, confirming that he had no knowledge of such creatures existing.

Tedd asked the group to prepare in case "magic jerks" ever would show up. The comic then moved to Ellen and Grace ready to spar, with Greg as the referee. Ellen shot transformation beams at Grace, which she gracefully blocked. Ellen fired a strong one and Grace got hit by the full blast, turning her into her Venus-form.

After turning her figure back to normal, Grace asked Greg whether it would be a good idea to go into battle completely flat-chested. Needless to say, Greg didn't have an answer to this question and quickly fled the scene. Grace then revealed that she was afraid she wouldn't be able to do the blocking when flying, walking or moving at all.

Sarah and Nanase were sitting in a restaurant. Sarah revealed that she didn't want to be in a relationship with Elliot anymore, but wanted to stay friends with him. She said that Elliot was a gentleman and a great friend, but that he was simply too "passive" in their relationship. He never did anything new and Sarah felt the relationship wasn't going anywhere.

Nanase explained Elliot's abstinence by speculating about his 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), and that may have had an effect on Elliot's view on such things.

Sarah said it would be great if Susan could "take Elliot over" if she ended their relationship (though doubted that Susan was even interested in Elliot), then Nanase casually replied that this was basically what happened when Nanase broke up with him so Elliot and Sarah could be together. Sarah, shocked that it hadn't been Elliot who ended their relationship, got mad that he hadn't even managed to take the initiative in such a central part of his life.

Sarah and Nanase concluded that Elliot was just such a nice guy, something that only made it harder for Sarah to end their relationship. She also wanted to wait until after Christmas and New Years, so as to not ruin the holidays for him.

Diane overheard this conversation and was pleased to hear that Elliot would be single again soon. This was the first time Diane had shown interest in Elliot.

The comic switched focus to Elliot and Ellen. At night, as they were about to go to bed, Elliot tried to settle on a standard form to use for his nightly burn-off of energy. Ellen revealed that since she went out of town for a short while (to solve The Mystery of the Were-Goat), her energy build-ups were over. Elliot, however, refused this solution, claiming to hate traveling, and mentioned that he was already used to periodically switching sexes, so he didn't really mind it anymore.

They talked about how they would be watching old Christmas specials with Grace and Tedd the next day, since Grace had never seen any of those. Ellen expressed hope that Susan would come as well, as she would like some snarky commentary to go with the movies. Elliot explained that she would have to work that day, however, and mentioned that it kind-of felt like "cheating" on her when he watched movies without her.

Ellen told Elliot he needed to be more introspective and figure out why he felt the way he did, despite his discomfort thinking about such things. Elliot tried this, first pondering whether his past violence was really justified by his noble intent. However, he soon started to dream about Susan in Counselor Troi's uniform justifying his actions, telling him he was maturing and coming close for a... kiss?

Suddenly awake, Elliot jumped up from his dream, mad at himself for thinking that way about Susan. He blamed his hormones for it (not thinking there might be something more behind it), but still felt like he had cheated on Sarah. Ellen implied that Elliot might have a thing for Susan and that, at the very least, he owed it to himself and his girlfriend to figure out his own feelings.

She then started talking about how 'they' never really loved Sarah in a "true love" kind of way, but stopped as she realized that she was telling Elliot how to feel, rather than letting him figure it out himself.

Later, as Elliot was showering, he realized he really might just have a thing for Susan. This gave him much to think about and made him reevaluate his relationship with Sarah. In the next page he told Ellen how confused he was about all this, and during this conversation he made it clear that he had considered Ellen family from the first time he saw her.

End Of An Era Pt 2

As the time of the Christmas special party drew near, Sarah -- already in Tedd's basement together with Grace -- obsessed over how she would need to act normal around Elliot despite her new feelings. Luckily, Grace managed to supply her with a much needed distraction just by being her bubbly self.

As Elliot came in, he immediately hugged Sarah, stating that he "just really wanted to hug [her]." Grace noticed something was going on and asked Ellen about it, but she merely pointed out that the two of them would need time to sort it out on their own. Grace then quickly changed the topic by yelling out to start the party.

The first movie Grace wanted to watch was Die Hard, not having realized that it isn't really a Christmas movie in the traditional sense. She explained she wanted to watch something violent in which the main character triumphed without guilt, despite her own non-violent nature. Once he had heard her explanation, Elliot immediately and enthusiastically agreed, as it matched his earlier introspections.

A few days later -- December 26th, to be specific -- Justin and Susan met up in a chatroom. Justin's avatar was dressed up like Vault Boy from the Fallout series, while Susan's avatar was dressed up like Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph (including skirt!). After having chatted a bit about how their respective Christmases had been, Justin asked a rather personal question: whether Susan was attracted to Elliot.

Susan confirmed this, although only due to her being a heterosexual woman and Elliot being the only heterosexual man, other than Tedd, she spent any significant amount of time around. Basically, she blamed her attraction on hormones, much like what Elliot had blamed his feelings on earlier. She went so far she even created list she should avoid to not seduce Elliot accidentally ... with dressing up as Counsel Troi included. She also explained that she did 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 was ambiguous.

At the same time, Diane was visiting Rhoda's house and Rhoda told her about Elliot's (and Susan's) review show. She mentioned Susan being a friend of Catalina, to which Diane replied that she had yet to meet Catalina.

They watched an episode of the review show together, which was the first time Diane actually saw Elliot, and she found him good looking. Rhoda tried to make clear how much Susan looked and sounded like Diane, but Diane didn't buy it at all.

Diane shared her dreams about wanting to meet and marry the perfect man, one that would be "rich and handsome, kind and compassionate, independent and assertive, and do everything [she told] him to do." She didn't expect Elliot to be that man, but she believed that dating him would be a good experience. As Rhoda expressed her own, more traditionally romantic, views on how to find one's life partner, Diane declared them to be "adorable".

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

On December 27th, as Tedd and Elliot were playing videogames together, Elliot asked a question that had been bothering him for the past few days: What is love? Being unsure of what the line is between friendship and love, he wanted to know what it was like for Tedd and Grace.

Tedd explained that, at first, it had just been him being nice to her and she being... Well, a girl in his house. It just grew out to something "amazing." Tedd then asked why Elliot was asking about this, but immediately realized the answer to that question himself.

Put on the spot, Elliot eventually confessed that he might want to break up with Sarah, because he didn't really love her in a romantic way. Worrying about what it would do with the group, Tedd got a traumatic flashback to his mother leaving him, and then Elliot stated that he loved him (quickly adding that he didn't mean it romantically), to which Tedd replied quite emotionally.

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

Absolutely shocked, Elliot called Ellen to ask whether she felt the same way, to which she replied that she did. Elliot hung up the phone, still making exactly the same shocked face. Elliot stated that he had to break up with Sarah now, but didn't know how to go about with it. Tedd suggested asking Nanase, seeing as she was experienced in breaking up. Elliot, however, decided not to ask for help and took the initiative for once.

Shortly after, once he was back home, he called Sarah to ask her to meet him somewhere. Sarah quickly realized that he might be wanting to break up with her and decided to come over right after a quick shower. During this shower, however, she started to wonder why he wanted to break up with her, which broke her spirit.

Once Sarah had arrived at Elliot's house, he again took the initiative, telling her that they had to break up. When Sarah, looking rather sad, asked why he felt this way, he explained how she was more like a sister to him. Sarah didn't take this well, but thinking about it for a bit, she quickly realized that it actually made a lot of sense. She then revealed that she had been planning to break up with him as well, for her own reasons. This was also the point where Elliot realized he wasn't really a bad guy, as he wasn't angry at Sarah in any way.

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

Later, a potential customer in the Video Rental Store asked Susan about her being in a relationship with Elliot, which she denied. Just after this conversation was finished, Sarah came in to tell Susan that she broke up with Elliot.

Later, and without potential customers listening in, Susan brought up the possibility that Sarah had also started to become less attracted to Elliot because he reminded her more of her sister since he'd begun transforming. Sarah, however, emphatically did not want to consider this possibility.

As Elliot told his sister about the break-up, Ellen asked whether he was planning to ask Susan out, but Elliot didn't think that was a good idea as he didn't want to settle again that quickly. He then explained that he wanted to take a "break from himself" and transformed into his Heidi form, simply to play videogames. Ellen noted that using a mind-bending transformation to relax may not be wise, but agreed to multiplayer.

The parting shot showed everyone lying in their beds: Elliot (still in Heidi form) 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.