Chapter 132: Hey! Scouts! Leave Those Kids Alone Part One
Art by Crash X Fusion: They trespassed on their turf. Now they fight back.
L.O.W.T.H. finds themselves being hunted when the Emperor's Coven comes to St. Epiderm. At the same time, the students of Merlin Meadows must defend their school from the scouts attempting to brand them.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Emily has a silent laugh when she learns Cross has two girlfriends now and is dreading the moment when Zee finds out.
- Adaptation Expansion: We see how the other major schools are handling the Emperor's Coven branding minors.
- Adaptational Heroism: Despite being an Expy of Scarlett, Total Drama's most murderous contestant, Ruby Friday is revealed to be a double-agent for her and Sarah's father, keeping an eye on Vitimir for him.
- Affectionate Nickname: Sarah and Ruby refer to each other as "Blue-Blade" and "Gem-Red".
- Ambiguous Situation: Felicity posted an article revealing that Tabrella is a mom, instead of the origin of Willow's upgrade. Did Felicia change her mind at the last minute, or did Felicity go back on her word?
- Asshole Victim: No one will feel sorry for any of the Coven Heads or former-Headmistress Midday after what they've done in this chapter: their Laser-Guided Karma is well deserved.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Unlike Leonte, Cutburn, and Vitimir, Osran succeeds in his mission to brand the students of the school he was sent to to a degree.
- Berserk Button: Osran provokes Zee by taking shots at Anna Bell, calling her a fool which causes Zee to attack him so ferociously.
- Big Damn Heroes: An attempt by Emily, Leonte, and B.I.G. at the beginning of the chapter to capture Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf is thwarted by the timely arrival of Steve, Star, and Ulrich Hammers.
- Bittersweet Ending: For "Sweet", St. Epiderm has fought off the Emperor's Coven and Danny offers the students shelter for them in case they want to fight against them. Everyone accepts Cross and Sarah for who and what they are, with Cross fully accepting both sides of his family. Plus, LOWTH learns that Lilith deployed Zebiel to help them out, so we know the Clawthornes, Amity, Hunter, and Boscha are none the worse for wear. For "Bitter", Merlin Meadows had fallen to Osran, with most of their students branded and the teachers arrested. Worst of all, Zee has been captured for using her dragon form and had been taken prisoner to the Emperor's castle.
- Bookends: When we first saw Zee, she had been crying over how she had been treated at the reunion by her step-grandparents. At the end of the chapter, she's shown in the same state after losing most of her magic and being put in chains like an animal.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Zee makes use of her cousin's catchphrase when she becomes the last MM student standing.Osran: I know what you are, Zee Drakescale. You have two options. Surrender now, or be put down.
Zee: [smirks] I'd rather… kick your ass! - Broken Pedestal: Donna used to look up to Hettie Cutburn, but after seeing what she's like at the IFWOT, all bets were off.
- Brought Down to Badass: Being branded with a Beast Keeping sigil results in Zee losing all of her other magic. She still has her dragon form, but now that's being suppressed by the Shock Collar she's been fitted with.
- The Bus Came Back: Zebiel is seen for the first time since "Understanding Hunter", but physically returns after his debut in "Tragedy at Eclipse Lake".
- Call-Back:
- After hearing the student council damn Felicia for blowing Tabrella's secret, Donna suggests they hear Felicia out before jumping to conclusions, having learned from when Emily turned her against Nina and Draco telling her that her brother was dead.
- Before they fight, Leonte calls Donna a disgrace to Scooter Crane's legacy, but she calmly says that she isn't. She knows that Scooter sees her as part of his legacy because his spirit told her himself.
- Combination Attack: To detain Midday and Peter, Cross and Danny force them into a back-to-back position where they can double-freeze them in place using ice magic.
- Continuity Nod:
- Having previously provided the C.A.T.T.s with information regarding the Day of Unity, Ulrich Hammers officially joins the group here.
- Zee being insulted by her stepmom's estranged parents and Eda pranking them in her defense is brought up.
- Emily killing Duke Eadbeaton is brought up as it may end up tying in to Tabrella's Teen Pregnancy.
- During the Last Stand Zee uses ice magic, which she told Emily she could do back in "Caught Up". She also makes use of her Smoke Screen again.
- Donna breaks out her new hero costume that Diana had been designing for her. Roxy notes that with it, people will stop calling her "Burlesque Savior".
- Conveniently Timed Distraction:
- To buy LOWTH time to escape, Cross tells Riley to conjure up an illusion and disguise the team as scouts so they can sneak out undetected. It works and they're able to give them the slip.
- Jackie is initially prevented from entering St. Epiderm to check on Tabrella by the scouts guarding the entrance, but those who saw Madstream knock out Shawm distract them long enough to allow Jackie to sneak inside.
- Costume Evolution: Donna's new Wonder Witch costume is shown here. She now has blue chest armor with her symbol in a triangular center, golden shoulder pads, and a blue cape, a long-sleeve black top & skirt with a golden belt, knee-length black heels with gold lines, golden elbow-length gloves, and a mask with larger wings resembling a headdress with a red diamond in the center.
- Crush Blush:
- Zee has one for the first time, stemming from Emily showing her gratitude for her gift from Palm Stings.
- Donna blushes after Cross compliments her new costume.
- A Day in the Limelight: LOWTH, the Drakescale siblings, and the students of both St. Epiderm and Merlin Meadows are the focus this time.
- Don't Call Me "Sir": Not wanting to be called the other "Mr. Drakescale", Drayden tells Emily she can use his name, or "Elder Drake" because he likes to sound wise. This makes Emily see that Zee's sense of humor comes from her grandfather.
- Dramatic Unmask: In taking down Cutburn, Donna knocks off her mask with her ice-powered keyblade, showing us Hettie's blue pigtailed hair and brown eyes.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Shawm initially decides not to disturb Lindsay while she's comforting Tabrella until a scout reminds him that Leonte ordered the capture of all the students.
- Everyone Has Standards: Danny, Gidget, Clé, and Barbara are not okay with branding kids against their will. The former two decide to fight back when Leonte makes the decree, but Clé hesitates after Gidget's arrested for going against orders, and Barbara is knocked unconscious before she even gets to make a choice.
- Face–Heel Turn: Played With. Peter, despite being anti-authoritarian, works alongside the coven scouts to brand his classmates treating the whole thing like a performance piece, and leaves with them after they're defeated.
- Foil: Donna has two: Hettie Cutburn and Captain Leonte.
- Donna and Hettie are both healers, but while Donna earnestly desires to save people's lives with her abilities, Hettie won't hesitate to use one of her troops as an expendable shield to save her own skin.
- Donna and Leonte were orphans who grew up at Scooter Crane's orphanage who wanted to grow up to help people. While Leonte has been corrupted by Belos and his lies, Donna knows the truth about the emperor and sticks to her beliefs. In a sense, Leonte has become a disgrace to Crane's legacy for losing sight of who he wanted to be, while Donna knows Crane is proud of her for what she's done.
- Forced to Watch: Trapped within Osran's crystal ball, Ester can only watch helplessly as he tortures Zee following her capture.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: After seeing the only heirloom she had of her birth mother obliterated, Zee's eyes glow azure right before she goes all out in her dragon form.
- Graceful Loser: Unlike Midday, Peter accepts his defeat against Cross and Danny for the 'performance' they put on in their duel.
- Hat Damage: During the fight against Hettie, Cross hits and burns her headdress using his fire breath. Donna later knocks the headdress off completely when she delivers the final blow.
- Heel–Face Turn:
- Gidget has one when she stands against Leonte's decision to brand the Epidermites just to keep LOWTH from escaping. Her arrest and Tyrone's helping his friends seem to start one in Clé.
- Subverted for Barbara, as Osran sees a potential future when she helps the Merlin Meadows students after Zee talks some sense into her, knocking her out to avoid it.
- Hidden Depths:
- Immediate Sequel: The chapter picks up from "Everything Changes After This", showing Cross and Lindsay dropping Donna off at her home before going home themselves.
- In Spite of a Nail: Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf still can't breach Belos' mind because the teen in charge of the Emperor's Coven stops them from performing the teleportation spell.
- Internal Reveal:
- Emily tells Cross and Zee she knows their family's a branch to the Clawthorne clan and meets their parents and grandfather.
- Cross tells Emily about him going on an adventure with Luz as a bonding experience and that Luz helped him get together with Lindsay on top of still seeing Donna.
- Zee tells Cross and Emily about what she went through at the reunion and that Beocrow told her about Eda pranking Scelma and Marrow.
- Zee meets Pretty for the first time.
- The truth about Tabrella being a mom has been revealed by Felicity.
- All of St. Epiderm learns that Donna, her friends, and most of the student council are LOWTH. B.I.G. learns the truth from Headmistress Midday, who figured it out ages ago.
- Lindsay tells Tabrella about Emily killing her ex-boyfriend.
- Cross decides to tell the rest of LOWTH, Danny, and Beck about his dragon form.
- Tyrone, Roxy, and Andrew see Lindsay as Madstream for the first time.
- Irony: Danny and Peter end up on the opposite sides of the fight against St. Epiderm and the Emperor's Coven than you'd think they'd be on. Danny, officially losing faith in the covens when they decide to brand his classmates, fights alongside LOWTH to protect them while Peter, being forced to comply with branding his classmates, takes him on in a duel. Danny lampshades the whole thing.
- Karma Houdini: After what was revealed about Osran came to light in the last chapter, he becomes this again after successfully branding most of Merlin Meadows' student body and shipping Zee off to Belos. That facial wound she gave him is the closest he gets to karma.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Having gone without comeuppance since capturing the BATT's during the Gland Prix, Shawm is taken down during the assault at St. Epiderm when he's knocked out by Madstream when she gets mad enough. This scares some of the scouts enough to bail out.
- Kick the Dog: After taking Zee's oracle stone from her, Osran destroys it in front of her, insults her birth mother, and talks down on her for mixing magic, all of which makes her lose it. And after she's branded, he arranged for her to be taken to the castle to be locked up in Belos' dungeon.
- Knuckle Cracking: Zee does this right before she takes on Osran.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- Headmistress Midday figured Donna and her friends were L.O.W.T.H. because they were absent the days of the Glandus War and the Scal-Mart bust. Leonte adds that Donna's hair was a dead giveaway to her being Wonder Witch.
- Tina notes that Cross' last name hinted at his true species.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Many members of the Coven System get some.
- Vitimir is knocked out by his own aide for threatening her sister, having his memories altered while he's down.
- Hettie gets KO'ed when Donna uppercuts her through the ceiling with an ice block after she threatens to dissect Cross.
- Leonte loses to LOWTH for threatening them, then their friends just to try and arrest them, taking a direct blast to the chest from Fonna after he tries choking her to death.
- While Osran succeeds in branding several students at Merlin Meadows and destroys Zee's only connection to her birth mother, she wounds him by scratching his face with her claws, leaving a nasty scar.
- After selling out the founding members of LOWTH to BIG and overall putting her pride over the safety of her students, Headmistress Midday is sent away with the scouts in disgrace.
- Many members of the Coven System get some.
- Last Stand: With Osran keeping their fellow students from escaping, Zee, Fan, Kevin Tracy, and Gnashley battle against Osran, buying Dog and the rest of the Ghoul Girls time to evacuate the students. They knew before going into it that there'd be no chance of them getting out themselves, but still made the sacrifice.
- Meaningful Name: Staggertarious named his daughters after female human pioneers; Sarah is named after oncology researcher Sarah Elizabeth Stewart, while Ruby is named after radiophysicist and radio astronomer Ruby Payne-Scott.
- Mirror Character: Vitimir and Nicole, as they both divert responsibility on everyone else for their actions instead of taking it for themselves.
- The Mole: Staggertarious created Ruby to act as his informant within the Potions Coven to keep tabs on Vitimir, thus making her a Double Agent.
- Multi-Part Episode: Part 1 of 2 of the fic's version of "Labyrinth Runners".
- Named by the Adaptation: The Epiderm boy in Potions and the girl from Healing who competed in the Gland Prix are named Maxwell and Maxine.
- Never My Fault: Sarah declares that this is why Vitimir is just as unfit to be a coven head as Nicole had been, because neither of them could take responsibility for their actions. The only reason he got the job is because Staggertarious knew Nicole would've been too much of a power-crazed bitch to be given the position. Case in point, he tries to claim that his accidentally making Sarah's skin melt off is that it happened out of self-defense.
- Not So Stoic: Osran keeps an emotionless face until Zee scars him, and he proceeds to zap her with lightning.Osran: [angrily] Congratulations, you've made me mad.
- Oh, Crap!: Zee panics when she remembers Emily mentioned Sonya used to give her knick-knacks as gifts, seeing that she was unintentionally reminding her of her loss. Luckily, Emily still appreciates her gift.
- Rage Breaking Point: To hurt Zee when she's down, Osran destroys Anna's oracle stone, her only connection to her birth mother, right in front of her. Outraged, Zee takes on her dragon form and hits back hard, even physically wounding Osran by punching and clawing at his face. Sadly, this plays into her defeat as he saw this coming.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: During their battle, Donna gives one to Cutburn about how unethical she is.Donna: You don't deserve to be a healing head.
Cutburn: Oh? And why's that?
Donna: Because you don't care. You don't care about the lives that depend on you! I thought the things they said about you were just rumors, but I've seen it firsthand. I saw it at the IFWOT and I see it now! You just enjoy the power! You're just more proof about how corrupt the covens really are! - Red Mage:
- Sarah, having been experimenting with magic outside her track, uses lightning magic to ignite and charge her potions.
- During the siege at Merlin Meadows, Zee uses her Beast Keeping and Elemental Magic in conjunction. When she's surrounded by scouts and fighting Osran, she uses oracle magic to predict and evade their attacks.
- In order to defeat Joana, Florella uses a pan flute to incapacitate her using her plants, effectively mixing bard and plant magic with her "Hexagon Garden".Veronica/Florella: [surprised] Huh. I should play [the pan flute] more.
- The Reveal:
- Ulrich has joined the Cats Against the Throne.
- Adrian told Emily about Cross being a Clawthorne, thinking that she's still blaming Luz and Eda for her problems.
- Beel knew that the Drakescales were dragons and told Veronica, who didn't believe him.
- Zee could use plant magic, and had been learning oracle magic with Anna's amulet.
- Roxy's mother Rosetta is Scalp-Metal of the Five Nails Guardians.
- Veronica knows how to play the pan flute like her father.
- Sarah and Ruby are sisters, and are actually Homonculi. Staggertarious had Ruby serve as his eyes and ears on Vitimir, who he chose as his successor because he was a less horrible choice than Nicole.
- Beocrow has a Super Form that turns him into a white crow and Takai into a scythe, making them resemble the Grim Reaper.
- Rubber Man: Ruby has elasticity magic at her disposal, using it against Minerva/Lunar Tune in their battle.
- Rule of Symbolism: The destruction of Anna's amulet. It represented Zee's connection to her birth mother, for whom she lived her life how she saw fit, and was her conduit for using oracle magic. Once it was destroyed, it would end up representing the end of Zee mixing magic and never joining the coven system.
- Sanity Slippage: Leonte seriously goes down the crazy route as he desperately stoops to new lows to arrest L.O.W.T.H., disregarding their good deeds as vigilantism as nothing but a thrill rush, strangles Donna for trying to turn him against Belos, and having an unhealthy obsession with detaining the Clawthornes which he directs at Beocrow.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- After seeing Madstream take down Sham, the coven scouts nearby reach their limit in dealing with the Epidermites and race to the exit.
- Upon seeing Beocrow/Crowbar's super form, Thunder shouts "Nope!" and abandons the fight. Beo sees that he may have gone overboard a bit.
- Sealed Good in a Can: Early on in the escape at Merlin Meadows, Ester gets sucked into Osran's crystal ball and is trapped there for the rest of the chapter.
- Secret-Keeper: To Donna's surprise, Dr. Pox knew she wasn't a normal witch and had been keeping it hidden from Cutburn.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: To Cross' shock, both Beel and Veronica knew he was a dragon all along. Well, Beel knew, but Veronica didn't believe him until Cross transforms in front of L.O.W.T.H..
- Sequel Hook:
- Donna decides to tell her parents and Auggie everything about what happened with Draco and Conner, and discovering her origins.
- After what has went down in St. Epiderm, LOWTH has decided not to retire. Instead, they'll make their stand against Belos by fortifying their school.
- Thanks to Zebiel mentioning that Lilith sent him, we know that the Clawthornes, Amity, Hunter, and Boscha survived their encounter with Bloody Mary. The question is, how?
- Zee's now being taken to the Emperor's castle and since she wounded a coven head in her dragon form, odds are the Drakescale men are about to be outed as dragons to the rest of the Isles.
- Ship Tease: Upon seeing Emily again for the first time in days, Zee's first instinct is to get out of bed and hug her. After Emily helps Cross comfort her over what happened at the Clawthorne family reunion, Zee gives Emily her gift and despite some tears, Emily appreciates the gesture and tells Zee that, making her blush for once. Before Emily returns to the castle, she promises Zee they'll have the sleepover the Drakescale sister proposed someday.
- Shout-Out:
- To enter Belos' mind, the rebel coven heads chose the alley in the Night Market to perform the teleportation spell because it lies on top of a petrified organ, which would strengthen the magic required for the task. That was the same idea/theory Raine came up with in A Blight on Bonesborough.
- Dog has Zee listen to a mix track he made combining Pariah Scary with Sir Wiz-A-Lot.
- Sore Loser: Unlike Peter, Midday and Leonte don't take their losses well at all. Midday threatens Cross' family while Leonte swears revenge on LOWTH, which Donna matches with a Bring It warning.
- Synchronous Episodes: The beginning of the chapter takes place during the previous one and the rest of it is set at the same time as its other half.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Cross unintentionally does this for his sister, convincing Emily to meet his parents and Drayden as an excuse to see Zee, who's been worried for Emily after she went back to the castle. After what happened with Scelma and Marrow, Zee definitely needed those hugs she gets from her crush girl.
- Undying Loyalty: The Graux Sisters prove that they'll look out for Kyle no matter what, giving him cover while he heals Cross' injuries and backing up Crowbar and Florella because they're Kyle's friends.
- The Un-Reveal:
- We don't get to see if Zee's reaction to Cross' new open relationship is as hectic as we know it'll be.
- What happened between the Clawthornes, Amity, Hunter, Boscha, and Bloody Mary? Considering that Lilith had sent Zebiel to St. Epiderm to help LOWTH, the Owl Family are implied to be okay.
- Villain Opening Scene: The chapter begins with Emily on BIG duty as she and Leonte meet a lead that spotted Raine in the Night Market.
- What You Are in the Dark:
- Gidget and Clé are not pleased with having to harm the students with Gidget admitting it while Clé (after a talk with his brother) begins reconsidering his choice of work.
- Headmistress Midday puts her school's reputation, her reputation, over the students' safety, selling out the founding members of LOWTH to Leonte and BIG before allowing the rest of them to be branded. Is it really a surprise that she's shipped off with the rest of the scouts in disgrace?
- Leonte, tired of both repeated failures and the Clawthorne family having some kind of involvement in it all, loses his mind and stoops to many lows to capture LOWTH. When Donna attempts to make him listen to reason and turn him against Belos, he tries to strangle her and declares that Belos will be their savior, showing how far gone he is.
- The Worf Effect: After the last time Shawm had been in a fight (which he won), Madstream taking him out shows his glyph-powered state is nothing compared to a Beast Transformation.
- Would Hurt a Child: All the coven heads had no issue with branding students, capturing them, or threatening their friends. In particular, Leonte tells Donna that he'd brand the kids at the orphanage if Belos told him to and tries throttling her when she attempts to sway him into turning against the covens, showcasing his deluded dedication towards the emperor.
