Chapter 130: Everything Changes From Here/After This
Art by Crash X Fusion: Set sail for answers!
With Cross, Lilith and a few other guests in tow, Luz, King, and Amity travel to the other side of the world. Back on the Isles, Eda bonds with the Drakescales while Hunter and Willow learn some things about themselves.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Adaptational Backstory Change: The Archivists purged the Titans because their magic could negate that of the Archivists. In the LCU, it was also because of the Horned King possessing a Titan to counter their efforts to defeat him.
- Adaptational Badass: The Titan Trappers step up their game big time, having huge futuristic guns that cause serious physical damage to Harpy Lilith. Because of the Strays, they prove to be too much for even Madstream to take on.
- Adaptational Late Appearance: Captain Salty is finally introduced after a very, very, veeeeeeerrry Adapted Out-influenced delay.
- Affectionate Nickname: Clair calls her husband "Dami" when expressing her admiration of his compassion and dedication to his work.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Donna uses one to get Conner to stop trying to capture King, saying that he's an orphan like them and the Strays and killing him wouldn't be right. This causes a Heel–Face Turn in Conner, and he helps the Boiling Isles witches escape.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: While Eartha displays an abrasive personality, especially towards Eda, she does love her great-niece and still accepts her as family. This is demonstrated by how she teamed up with Eda to run Clair's spiteful parents away after they hurt Zee's feelings.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: When the BI witches meet Raven, she declares she can take all of them in a fight and Luz immediately assumes she could beat her. As Luz later finds out during the escape, Raven isn't all talk and she has to leave Lilith alone to face her to help Lindsay after Madstream falls in battle.
- Berserk Button: The Drakescale adults don't take kindly to someone in their family being insulted, as they make clear when Marrow calls Zee and Anna "Latissa trash from a criminal family".
- Big Damn Reunion: Averted. Donna finally finds her long-lost twin brother, but doesn't figure out he's the Titan Trapper she bonded with until they see they have the same eyes. By that point, Donna is on the other side of the teleporter before it's destroyed and the vortex closes on Conner being subdued by the Trappers.
- Big "NO!": Donna shouts this as Luz and King destroy the teleporter, trying to stop them from cutting (what she believed in that moment was) her only connection to Conner.
- Big "SHUT UP!": As most of the BI witches argue with Tarak over whether or not Titans were evil, Amity (who's still an atheist and doesn't participate in it) takes stock of King's uncomfortableness and gets them to stop by shooting flames and shouting "Enough!" before reminding them that they want to make him feel welcomed. As such, they agree to "tolerate each other's religious shit" for King.
- Big "WHAT?!": Luz and Cross share one when Donna tells them that Conner is Andros, her twin brother.
- Blackmail: Felicity demands Felicia get her the scoop about what's up with Willow. Felicia refuses due to still grieving over Beel, so Felicity threatens to use a story her daughter's been keeping from her: Tabrella having a baby, which would tie into her ex turning up dead and put the Diamanto family in a scandal. Because of this, Felicia spies on Willow all day for info.
- Break Them by Talking: Scelma and Marrow don't see any of the Drakescales as their family, but they cross a line by telling Zee that she's the reason Clair's dragging the family name through the gutter. It hurts her enough to make her cry, instigating retribution from Eda and Eartha.
- Bridal Carry: Cross carries Lindsay's unconscious body this way as the witches race to the teleporter. Luz does the same with Amity after she collapses from teleporting the whole BI party.
- But Now I Must Go: Kitsuni's called back to the Yokai Realm to explain her possessing Todd to her superiors, as possessing a witch has never happened before. Chances are they won't be back until the Day of Unity.
- Call-Back:
- Amity's time working for the Thians family at the harbor comes back up.
- Remember that hooded figure spotted near Marilyn's grave when Lilith and Hunter visited it in "The Obligatory Beach Day!"? Turns out it was Artemis.
- Emily killing Tabrella's deadbeat ex-boyfriend resurfaces, as Felicity learned of the incident, his connection to Tabrella, and how her friends, family, and Felicia kept it hidden from the public.
- Skara's become incredibly anxious since her family's lycanthropy went public and because of it, she isn't comfortable going back to school. Awassi also talks down on her due to her pride and bigotry.
- Once Luz hears that Cross is now dating two girls, she celebrates finally being a love coach, a clear reminder of how she bombed the last time she played matchmaker.
- After failing to visit Lambi, Willow, Skara, and Nina visit Skara's cousin Dotty DeWolf, who was said to live in the same complex as the Lambada family in "Summerween Fright".
- The futuristic guns Donna saw in her mindscape when the Alchemist searched through her memories are used by the Trappers to pin down the BI witches so they can't escape.
- Like in "Everything's Gone Wrong", Eda decides to send her kids to the Human Realm so Belos can't get his hands on them. Unlike last time, Luz agrees to go without complaint. Just like last time, something happens to Luz before it can be done.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Played for Laughs. Drayden blew his family's Dragon Ancestry out in the open not even ten seconds after Damien introduced him to Clair. When Damien attempts to explain, Drayden tosses caution into the sky and turns his arm into a claw, causing Clair to faint in shock.
- Cliffhanger: The chapter ends with Luz collapsing as soon as she sips the apple blood left for Eda, her family and Hunter surrounding her as Amity and King try to wake her up.
- Comically Missing the Point: Lindsay, while making a valid point, doesn't understand why Cross doesn't want Luz calling her and Donna "his girls". Donna on the other hand does, and tries not to laugh at Lindsay's obliviousness.
- Continuity Nod:
- Acorn initially showed up when it's time to set sail on the hopes of seeing her crush Tyrone, but still goes with Amity on the trip because it's something to write her mom about.
- Lindsay mentions the last time she went on an adventure with Luz and is glad to have another opportunity.
- A flashback shows that Todd did explain Kitsuni's possesion of him to everyone that helped defeat Terra and the Inner Demon.
- Lambi's still grounded and Puffer informs Nina of the reason why.
- As Cross talks with Donna and Lindsay, the events of "Thank Titan It's Frieday", "Starcrossed", and "The Alchemist's Mutant Mayhem" are brought up as examples to how rocky Cross and Donna's relationship was up to now, with Lindsay mentioning the advice Zee gave her in the former.
- Le'Belle owns up to the Brooke sisters about stunning their father after the vampire attack.
- When Tarak reveals that the Titan Trappers' leader is named Bill, Luz immediately gets flashbacks of Bill Cipher.
- Luz calls out Eda for lying to her about apple blood being alcoholic, which Jackie confirmed to her the previous day. Eda defends herself by saying she wasn't sure if Luz's system could digest it.
- Contrived Coincidence: The only reason Acorn ends up going to Titan Trapper Island is because she had followed Donna to the harbor hoping she was going to meet up with Tyrone.
- Crush Blush:
- Lindsay blushes when she hears Cross say for himself that he liked her before Donna asked him out.
- Clair had done this after meeting Damien for the first time.
- Deadpan Snarker: Before, it was rarely shown but still subtly clear that Cross has shades of this, which comes with being a Clawthorne. Now it comes out in full force due to putting up with Luz's antics with inviting both his crush and sort of-girlfriend on the expedition to clear up their romantic issues, a fact he wanted to resolve without going on an adventure.
- Distant Prologue: The chapter shows how Ulysses and Draco met Astronema, who came from the stars.
- Easily Forgiven: After their adventure, Luz apologizes to Donna for separating her from Conner and to Lindsay for insulting her beliefs in kindness and forgiveness. Both girls automatically forgive her.
- Expy:
- Conner is clearly one to Prince Adam/He-Man.
- Marrow and Scelma are based off of Nicole's parents, Daniel and Mary.
- Eyes Never Lie: The whole reason Artemis could tell Hunter's a grimwalker too is his unique eye color.
- Facepalm: Performed by Gallantor after the moment in the following trope.
- Failed a Spot Check: Donna and Conner don't see how similar their backstories are (which includes the lost twin sibling bit) until it's too late.
- Faking the Dead: Artemis did this to escape Belos after learning she was a grimwalker by using an abomination filled with guts and an illusion cast by Adrian. After her "death", she left the Emperor's Coven and went into hiding.
- Foreshadowing:
- As he speaks about the Trappers' exploits during his meeting with the Clawthornes and Amity, Bill mentions that they salvage weaponry they find. They turn out to be the same high-tech guns Donna saw in her memories.
- Dotty warns Nina to get her family out of the Torso Villa due to the possibility that it'll become a target because of the civil unrest.
- Given Name Reveal:
- Skara's cousin in the apartment complex is named Dotty DeWolf.
- Clair's parents are named Scelma and Marrow Clawthorne.
- Hate Sink: Scelma and Marrow show themselves to be almost as horrible as Grista and Scanfur, being outright hostile towards Clair and her family to the point of labeling her own daughter the Black Sheep of the family.
- Heel–Face Turn: Thanks to Donna, Conner's the only one of the Strays who comes to see that killing the last Titan is wrong and he keeps the Trappers at bay long enough for Donna and her friends to get through the portal.
- How Dad Met Mom: At Eda's insistence, Clair and Damien tell the story of how they got together. A Crash-Into Hello while Damien was running errands for his fathers led to him healing Clair's scrapes with ice magic, and Clair said he'd make a good healer, which is he decided to study. They end up going to the same school and became friends, Clair having a crush on him for years until they were sixteen and he returned her feelings. They dated but split up after joining their covens, with Clair dating other people while Damien married Anna and had Zee. Following Anna's funeral, the two reconnected and wed eight months later.
- Insistent Terminology: Luz refuses to call Bill by name due to her experience with Bill Cipher and dubs him "Liam". Amity tells a confused Tarak to just go with it.
- In Spite of a Nail: Salty's crew left him after the selkidomus hunt, Luz & King journey to Titan Trapper Island and discover the Collector's connections to them, and someone hopes to recruit the Trappers in fighting Belos but changes their mind when King learns he's a Titan and that his father's the Boiling Isles.
- Internal Reveal:
- Hunter meets Artemis and learns about grimwalker deterioration.
- Donna and Lindsay learn that Cross is a Clawthorne on his mother's side.
- Due to a slip of the tongue, Luz has to tell Cross (and Atticus) about the portal doors, Belos stealing the first one, and her recent trips to the Human Realm.
- Willow, Nina, and the Brooke sisters learn that Le'Belle was the scout who knocked out Slasher when his lycan side was exposed.
- Cross learns that dragons can speak to pixies and that Donna can understand Acorn.
- Not only do Gilbert and Sully come clean to Willow about the memory photo, but that they actually found her.
- Luz and Amity learn about the Horned King creating the basilisks from Lilith.
- Luz and Lilith learn about the Collector being turned into a Fae from Amity.
- Donna and Acorn see Madstream unleashed for the first time.
- I Regret Nothing: While Damien making Anna pregnant out of wedlock was an accident, he doesn't regret having Zee with her.
- Kick the Dog: Scelma and Marrow make it clear they don't hold Clair in high regards for marrying the guy she loved over the one her parents pushed her to choose, but then they insult her husband's deceased first wife in front of their daughter, and then shame her, too.
- Laser-Guided Karma: To get rid of Scelma and Marrow and pay them out for insulting the Drakescales, Eda and Eartha inflict ailments on them using bathrobes laced with joke itching powder, giving Scelma polka-dotted green skin and Marrow a head of cotton candy hair with matching beard.
- Little Sister Instinct: Scabrina won't take the risk of not defending Skara at school, and ends up fighting some kids for insulting her sister as well as their father.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Lindsay only gets the footnotes of what Cross and Donna's relationship has been like in the past few days, despite being intrigued and curious enough to ask but refraining from doing so.
- Mama Bear: Alongside Clair, Eda wastes no time laying into the former's parents when they verbally attack Zee. Eda and Eartha even team up to run the two old farts out of the reunion as payback for what they said to their granddaughter.
- Meet Cute: Damien met Clair when they were kids; he knocked her down and healed her scrapes using ice magic, and a remark from her helped him figure out which track he wanted to take in school. Damien hugged her as thanks and took off, leaving Clair smitten.
- Morton's Fork: Felicia is left with two choices from her mother who manipulates her into getting her a story: tail Willow and figure out what's going on with her, or let the news about Tabrella having Katie go out. Felicia has to choose to betray someone she likes in the end, and decides to go with Willow.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Emily killed Duke Eadbeaton in cold vengeance for abandoning Tabrella and their baby. Now, Felicity is revealed to have caught wind of Duke's death and blackmails her daughter into spying on Willow and learning about her newfound powers, or else she exposes the truth which would put the Diamanto family in a scandal.
- Noodle Incident:
- It turns out that Anna became pregnant with Zee out of wedlock, necessitating a marriage between Anna and Damien.
- Clair's parents tried to set her up with a man named Lance Thunderstone in the period where she and Damien weren't together, but since Clair didn't love Lance, they stayed close friends.
- Not Helping Your Case: Angered by how Awassi speaks to Skara, Willow tells her she's acting no better than Nicole. Awassi is offended and decides that Willow, Skara, and Nina are bad influences on Lambi and threatens to call the scouts on them if they didn't leave.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Damien, when Drayden casually told Clair they were dragons and Clair realized he wasn't joking.
- Clair, when she sees that her parents showed up to the reunion earlier than they said.
- Luz, Amity, Lilith, and Acorn, when Bill reveals that the Horned King was able to possess a Titan. Since Luz has been haunted by the Horned King, this doesn't bode well for her.
- Donna and Conner, when they lock eyes and recognize each other...right as Luz and King are about to destroy the teleporter to Titan Trapper Island.
- King, when he realizes Belos is after Luz because she's connected to the Titan.
- Papa Wolf: Damien jumps right into this when his in-laws say Zee's not a real Clawthorne, and he and Drayden look ready to maul when they call Zee "Latissa trash".
- Please Wake Up: The chapter ends with Amity and King trying to wake Luz up after the apple blood knocks her out, to no avail.
- Point of Divergence: To "Edge of the World": The events in question occur before "Hollow Mind", Hooty is left out of the trip to Trapper Island while Lilith and Amity join Luz and King, and Luz interrupts the ceremony that would've mentally linked King to the Collector, preventing it.
- Rejected Apology: Le'Belle tries to say sorry for what she did to Slasher to Nina and the Brooke sisters, but Skara angrily tells her to 'fuck off' before they all leave.
- Relationship Upgrade: Rather than let Cross and Donna break up so she can date him, Lindsay suggests Cross date both girls to allow them all the opportunity to explore things between them and if they'll work out.
- The Reveal:
- Astronema, Donna's birth mother, came from the stars and was a member of the Colony, a group of hi-tech wielding invaders.
- Amity met Salty while working for the Thians family, and Cups & Mugs have become part of his crew.
- Felicity learned about Tabrella and Katie after getting wind of Duke Eadbeaton's death.
- Artemis faked her death with Adrian's help and went into hiding, having a few encounters with Eda in her youth and occasionally visiting the Clawthorne griffin ranch. She was also the one visiting Marilyn's grave when Lilith and Hunter did.
- Clair and Damien met when they were kids and went to the same school. They dated late into high school, broke up when they had to join their covens, Clair attended both Damien and Anna's wedding and Anna's funeral, and after seeing Zee for the first time, Clair got back together with Damien and they got married eight months later.
- Clair learned about the Drakescales being dragons when Drayden blew their cover before Damien could explain it to her.
- Drayden's dragon form has white scales and blue spikes.
- Damien lacks a dragon form as it skipped his generation.
- According to Bill, the Horned King was sealed in the Titan's bones upon its death.
- Donna's brother, Andros, has been living on Titan Trapper Island after Draco left him there seeking information, growing up under the name Conner.
- Skara's cousin Dotty is a trans wolf biped demon born without lycanthropy. She went by her mother's maiden name in case the Brookes were ever exposed.
- Luz turns out to be part-Titan and with the information about the Horned King, it's confirmed that Belos intends to possess her on the Day of Unity.
- Amity knows how to use Darius' abomination teleportation trick.
- Sam Shin, Willow's godmother, is Samshin Halmang, the Korean Goddess of Life. The reason she gave Willow to Gilbert and Sully (other than their desire to have a child) was because she hoped to leave someone with her magic and a connection to the Titan on the Boiling Isles to help it heal after all the damage Belos, his system, Terra, and the Inner Demon have caused to it.
- Bobby Bones has been living among the Titan Trappers because they had a Planespheric Disc piece in their treasure vault.
- Running Gag: Luz ribbing Cross about his new open relationship with Donna and Lindsay.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After being pranked by Eda and learning that her daughter's a lot like her, Scelma and Marrow decide to leave the reunion and come back on the Day of Unity as they originally intended.
- Sequel Hook:
- Luz throws out the idea of introducing Cross to her extended human family, and he takes it into account as he wants to meet other humans.
- Dotty warns Skara and Nina to not stir the pot as civil unrest from lycans may result in an incident that puts everyone at Torso Villa in harm's way.
- Lilith snatches a map showing the locations of all the Titan Trappers' teleporters and gives it to Donna so she can find Conner again.
- Shipper on Deck: Though she still holds a flame for Cross, Lindsay thinks he and Donna make a cute couple and tells them this after they agree to the open relationship.
- Shout-Out:
- To The Cuphead Show!:
- The Holder brothers working for Salty is a nod to Cuphead and Mugman working for Captain Brineybeard.
- When Cups and Mugs consider moving to the Inwell Isles, the former states that it's just off the coast, maybe twenty-nine miles.
- To enter the Trappers' treasure room, Luz gives the guards a pen which they become mesmerized with, not unlike how Anne paid off a debt to Loggle by giving him a pen as payment.
- Donna and Conner failing to see they're family and Gallantor's facepalming to it is based off Po and Li Shan not seeing they're father and son right away.
- Keeping up with the Drakescale's Shout-Out Theme Naming to Pokémon, it's noted that Clair was once set up with a man named Lance Thunderstone.
- To The Cuphead Show!:
- Skewed Priorities: Deconstructed a bit. Hooty suggests warning everyone about the threat the Titan Trappers pose, but Lilith decides they shouldn't as they're not a more imminent threat than Belos and the Clawthornes have gotten too sidetracked by random villains to afford not dealing with the emperor now.
- Suddenly Bilingual: Cross discovers from Amity that dragons naturally speak pixie, something he didn't know he could do. Before then, he thought whatever Acorn said was just someone muttering.
- Suggestive Collision: Cross ends up on top of Lindsay after the rough landing going through the portal to Titan Trapper Island and immediately gets off of her when he sees it.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Nina believes that Awassi did give her a chance in dating Lambi in spite of her bigotry towards lycans, but began doubling down on it after what happened with Slasher at the art gallery, hence her reaction towards seeing Skara. As previously seen before, fear, pride, and bigotry tend to cloud a person's judgment.
- The Strays were raised in the Trappers' ways and they refuse to believe that King should be spared. Even before Conner's turning on them, he had his doubts.
- Raven is surprised that Lilith took a hit for her, but that doesn't stop her from continuing to capture the Boiling Isles witches.
- Take a Third Option: Lindsay provides a solution to the Love Triangle between herself, Cross, and Donna; instead of Cross breaking up with Donna to date Lindsay or staying with Donna out of feeling obligated to supporting her, he could alternate between dating both girls so all three of them can see how things between them go. With this in mind, the three of them agree to have an open relationship.
- Taking the Bullet: Lilith is injured shielding Raven from a gunfire blast that takes her out of the fight.
- This Is Gonna Suck: After Cross sees that Luz invited Lindsay on the expedition along with him and Donna, he knows things will be awkward between him and the girls until he clears up what he wants with them. Luz doesn't let up on the teasing after the act and by the time they return home, he dubs her as Zee 2.0 and worries about what'll happen if they team up in the future.
- Threesome Subtext: Pretty much Played for Laughs with Cross, Donna, and Lindsay, even with repeated clarification that they're mutually supportive of each other.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After the adult Clawthornes see how Scelma and Marrow treat the Drakescales (even going as far as to saying Zee's not one of them), Eda stands up for her distant cousins and tells Zee alongside Brolin that she's more of a Clawthorne than her maternal grandparents will ever be.
- Trauma Button: It turns out Bill Cipher has become this for Luz, as she immediately goes into a tirade against people named "Bill" the moment Tarak reveals his leader's name.
- Uncertain Doom: Conner and Gallantor/Valgor turned on the Trappers for helping the witches escape instead of capturing them. While Donna refuses to lose faith in finding him again, one can only wonder what will happen to them now.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Lilith ends up Taking the Bullet to protect Raven from a gunfire blast fired in their general direction by Raven's own side. Despite this, she still attacks Conner and Gallantor when they pull a You Shall Not Pass! on the rest of the Titan Trappers in order to get the Boiling Isles residents to safety.
- The Un-Reveal:
- How did Astronema get injured and end up crash-landing in the Isles?
- Before Kitsuni leaves the Demon Realm, Eda asks her to answer one question: what the hell is Julia Traveler? The scene cuts away with Kitsuni too uncomfortable to answer.
- Wham Episode: Cross enters an open relationship with Lindsay and Donna, Artemis turns out to be alive, Samshin reveals her true connection to Willow and what her powerup means, Luz learns that she's become part Titan and that Belos wants her for her connection to the Boiling Isles along with everyone learning King's a Titan, Donna's brother Andros turns out to have been raised as a Titan Trapper named Conner, Bobby Bones obtains the Trappers' planespheric disc piece, and Luz is knocked unconscious after drinking the apple blood that was left for Eda in the last chapter.
- The Worf Effect: For the first time ever, Madstream loses a fight when Crasha/Crash-Land knocks her out. This shows that the Titan Trappers have more powerful warriors on their side in the LCU.
- "You!" Exclamation: Cross does this towards Luz after he figures out what she had planned when Lindsay shows up at the harbor for their journey.
