After his traumatic college visit, Bernard retreats to the creek to have a carefree child life like his brother, but it's not as easy as he remembers.
Tropes:
- Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Downplayed. An upset Alexis declares that she and Bernard need to have some "space" after seeing his ludicrous display at the creek.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: Because he has a job and income, Bernard is able to easily buy new cards to make his deck outclass those of the other kids of the Creek. He gets booed for boasting about it.
- Cliffhanger: Maladjusted nerd Mark sees a kindred spirit in Bernard and offers to take him under his wing.
- Cool Big Bro: Bernard becomes this to Craig during his first visit to the Creek.
- Drunk with Power: After one trip to the card game shop, Bernard not only destroys Turner but also dominates all the other players while cackling like a madman.
- Gray Rain of Depression: The creek ends up covered in rain after Bernard runs away upset that his girlfriend wanted some "space".
- Growing Up Sucks: Bernard decides to start going to the creek to hang out with his kid brother, because he's still scarred from a bad college visit.
- Half-Truth: Bernard assures Alexis that he's properly dressed for the day. However, while he's wearing his trademark shirt, he's later revealed to be in only his boxers.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Played with, as Bernard is a teenager. After being beaten by Turner at Bring Out Your Beast, because he doesn't know about how much the game changed since he stopped playing, Bernard's left fuming and ends up not picking up his girlfriend at the airport. Instead, he buys a bunch of new cards, comes back and becomes a cackling lunatic as he crushes Turner in a rematch and then proceeds to crush all the preteens at a CCG, sending them running in terror from the Splintery Butt.
- Shout-Out: Turner and Bring Out Your Beast was already used to reference Yu-Gi-Oh. When Bernard catches up to the new mechanics, he uses his income from his job to buy superior cards to everyone, becoming a pastiche of Seto Kaiba.
- Something We Forgot: After being defeated by Turner at Bring Out Your Beast, Bernard is on his way to pick up Alexis from the airport when he decides at the last minute to go to the mall to buy a new pack of BOYB cards. After defeating all the kids at the Splintery Butt, Bernard is boasting of his victory when he's confronted by an angry Alexis, who waited for hours at the airport and had to be picked up by Bernard's parents.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Turner is a relatively weak Bring out Your Beast player and Bernard has far more skill and experience than her. But Bernard hasn't played in years and doesn't know about the newer mechanics of the game allowing Turner to defeat Bernard with a new type of beast with abilities he's not familiar with. Conversely though, after Bernard learns about the new mechanics and returns with a new deck of cards, Turner doesn't even last one turn against him.
- Who's Laughing Now?: When Turner manages to beat Bernard with a Super Beast, she spurs on the other kids to laugh at him for not knowing about them. However when Bernard returns with a new deck of cards including Super Beasts, he crushes Turner in a rematch, and proceeds to crush all the other kids so completely that they're all sent running out of the Creek screaming in terror.
