Jade exchanged glances with Rose at Karkat's request to fill him in about the Dargon arc. "Do you... do you remember Milo?" Jade said. Karkat nodded. "He was in some other episodes after the second time with Dargon. His friends were there too - Carmen and Diego. I know how that other episode ended but after that they decided the adoption process wasn't actually finished yet. It doesn't matter. They team up with Amber and Sebastian and the usual cast of kids. Milo's friends all help with his reading and speaking but he doesn't quite get it. But one day the new parents come."
"Sort of a B-plot, actually," Rose said.
"And so Milo is upset again," Jade said. "So Dargon shows up, and he says that he should wish for his friends to stay. But Milo's stronger now, and he says at once that he's happy for his friends, even though he's sad. You know, the same thing he said the second time around. He says they taught him how to write, so they can exchange letters. Dargon tells him that he's going to be alone, so he repeats from the first one: he'll make new friends like he's already been doing, and together they'll make a new group."
"And it looks like that's it," Rose said. "Dargon leaves and we go back to the A-plot about one of The Colonel - one of the other villains - smuggling... kumquats? It really seems like Dargon showed up just to keep his face out there. At the end of the episode we see Carmen and Diego heading off with their new family."
"...But then," Jade said, almost with a sigh. "Milo gets a letter, at the very start of the next episode. It's from his friends' new aunt, their... mother or father's sister," she explained to the Trolls. "He opens it and..." Jade stalled, began fiddling with her fingers for a moment, until it fell to Rose to continue.
"His friends... died," Rose said. "With their parents. Car crash, just a few days after they all got settled. I suppose I have to emphasize that this is not exactly normal for a children's cartoon. ...Dargon wasn't saying Milo would be alone because his friends would be gone, he was..."
"That's awful," Feferi said, which seemed to give Rose hope that the Trolls at least understood the impact to a Human child to a point.
"So everyone at the orphanage is upset," Jade said, "and so are the Squiddles."
"But not Milo," added Rose.
"No," Jade said. "Milo is angry. He doesn't want to talk to the Sisters, and when the Squiddles try to talk to him-"
Rose cut in. "See, they're sort of inconsistent about this, but some of the writers portray the Squiddles as something you have to believe to see. What Dargon did when he talked to Milo the episode before was to get him to reiterate his believe in what the Squiddles taught him. But now his relationship with his friends has changed for good, and he can't be happy for them. And he's too angry to make friends."
Nepeta shrank away into the couch and filled in the blanks. "So he doesn't believe in the Squiddles now either," she said, with the stress on 'believe,' as though betrayal of imagination cut her as deep as plot.
"Dargon doesn't even have to come to him this time," Jade continued. "Milo just goes to the basement with the artefact, and the Squiddles follow because as far as they're concerned, he's still their friend. So then Dargon shows up and takes his hand, which is... so, so creepy. He says to wish them back, because heck, that thing doesn't actually grant wishes, what does it matter what he says? And Milo thinks and finally he says, very strong and clear, that he wishes he could go to his friends' funeral."
John had long since explained to the Trolls what a funeral was when he tended to their parents' bodies back in the game, and they reacted with only small nods, not really having an emotional connection. Rose picked up from there. "Except... because he was speaking so clearly - speaking for his friends who were teaching him how to improve his writing and his speech - he doesn't have his lisp any more. And it doesn't trigger the artefact and Dargon leaves in a real huff for the final episodes."
Jade smirked, but only for a moment. "That's pretty much it. We've explained the Treasure Island part. There's just the last scene. There's this little girl, and she's new to the orphanage. And Milo's still upset but he realizes that... since his friends are gone, it's his turn to be the big kid, and to try to make friends with the new girl. And he goes over to her and sits with her, and that's how the whole show ends."
"Lack of funding," Rose asserted, but Karkat was no longer listening.
"I'm going to have to watch the whole damn thing," he muttered, like a curse. "The whole gogdammed fucking season from start to finish." It may have just been a trick of the light, but it seemed that his nosebleed had restarted.
"...Can we watch the rest of this episode first?" asked Feferi.
"yes!" said Nepeta, climbing all the way back to the top of Karkat's legs. That finally earned her a shake off, and she landed with her head in Jade's lap instead.
"Whatever," Karkat said with a wave. His mind was clearly on other things. Jade looked to her other friends first, and seeing that Rose and Kanaya seemed ready to stay as well, she resumed play.
The Squiddles arrived on the deck of the Grundy Catchyegrabber and into the arms of their Human friends. The five of them still pulsed with power, lingering far longer than usual, and that same light flowed down to their friends as they laughed and spun about. Plumbthroat growled at them only out of the side of his mouth but otherwise let them be, tending instead to the crates that had been jostled loose in the storm. Only Berryboo sat apart, waiting for the glow began to fade. When it did, it revealed her own purple skin beneath and she breathed a sigh of relief.
But when the glow had faded, a mechanical clack sounded just off-screen and a barrage of nets flew out, quickly pinning the Squiddles and children to the deck. Squiddette reached toward Squibump, but their tentacles were not long enough to reach, and they were left helpless under the weight of the nets. Berryboo looked about - in her privacy, she had been spared the nets, and she locked confused eyes on Plumbthroat. He seemed no less confused than she, and worse when Horse stepped out from off-screen to hold Billy the Bellsuit Diver hostage at sword point.
"Tidier than sea monsters," Ox said with a sneer, the net cannons at his back and the crew behind them.
"Bosun..." Plumbthroat growled.
"You!" Berryboo shouted, springing forward once she saw that the net cannons were all unloaded. "What do you think you're doing?"
"'You'? " Ox parroted. "I thought I was still 'Mint' to ye. Looks like we're half-way there, but I think I ken forgo the rest."
Berryboo tried to ignore him. "What do you want with my friends?"
"Oh... few hundred an ounce, and at least a few dollars a pound for meat once you go dim. How's the market, Skip?"
Plumbthroat grunted in reply, though Berryboo began stammering over the word "meat." Seeing her out of sorts, Plumbthroat sighed and spoke up. "What, princess? Did ye think he was here for the benefits?"
Berryboo was aghast, but her reaction served some purpose. Behind her, safely ignored, Squiddette began to squirm against her ties with the help of the stronger children. But it was still no use: the nets had been securely tied and heavily weighted. As she and the others struggled, Squidradar alone stopped. His eyes up at the sky, he closed his eyes and began to concentrate his hardest.
"I... I don't believe you!" Berryboo shouted. "These were your friends," she said to Ox.
Ox wagged a tentacle at her as though he were scolding a naughty child. "Ye can keep saying that all day, princess, but it doesn't make it any more important to me."
Berryboo edged away from Ox, straight into a crate. "But... that's your brother, and I... I..." She could not say it, and Ox smirked back at her. Instead, she rounded on Plumbthroat, her mood changed fast from sadness to fury. "And you!" she shouted. "Why do you never listen? For a moment today I thought you might have understood, but now?"
Near the back of the ship, Ram tapped Ox with one of his hooves. "Uh, boss?" He tossed another look over the edge of the rail when the bosun did not turn around. Berryboo did notice, however, and her eyes lowered, and she turned back on Ox.
"I don't believe you," she said, "I take it back. Earlier, when I said you were a bully. You're not a bully, you're a monster! When your mom and dad hear what you've done they'll just..."
"Boss!" Ram shouted, but Berryboo's gambit had paid off. Ox pushed the crewman away, and advanced on Berryboo.
"I think, princess, that me folks have long since made peace with what ye'd rather ignore."
Plumbthroat was not as foolish as his subordinate and he ran past Ox and Berryboo at the sight of Ram and the other crewmen's panic. Berryboo tried to edge out in front of him, missing only by inches, but to no worry. Just as Plumbthroat reached the rail, before he could even see what was coming, the ship shook from a powerful blow from below.
"All hands!" Plumbthroat shouted, before another blow rocked the ship. A jet of water shot up into the air just behind he and the crew as the passing whale crested, moments before a third blow. "Get us out of here!"
"What about the prisoners?" Ox shouted over the sudden cacophony.
"Damn the prisoners!" Plumbthroat shouted back. Ox had to strain to listen, and as he did he relaxed his grip and Berryboo swiped in and took away his cutlass. Ox started to go after her before Plumbthroat called again. "Man yer post, sailor!" Ox scowled, but did as he was told.
The camera did a short time skip, showing the Squiddles and Humans having duly freed one another with the stolen cutlass. Squiddette had made a point of shredding the nets before they tossed them and the sword safely overboard. "Skipper!" Berryboo called. Another whale hit, almost knocking the children to their feet. Billy the Bellsuit Diver slammed head first into the floor with a clang!
"Welllll thiiiis is not how I intended to spend todayyy," he said, barely audible above the whales' attacks. The children rushed to help him up.
"Skip," Berryboo said, a growl still on her voice, "we'll call them off if you get us safely back to Billy's boat and let us leave." The boat shook again, and though he stalled for a moment, Plumbthroat nodded. "Squidradar, tell the whales to hold off until Billy's ship is safe."
There was still after that, and the crew looked to Ox and Plumbthroat for their orders. Plumbthroat kept them still. Through the magic of television, it was not hard for the Squiddles and children to unload to Billy's boat, which for all the trouble it had getting out of the whirlpool, was still operational. The boat tugged away, but as it left, Berryboo, Squiddette and Squidradar stayed behind.
"Well, princess," Ox said as he watched the others, including his brother, disappear in the distance. "Looks like ye win this round."
"It does, doesn't it bosun?" Berryboo's voice was dry and tired, and she did not meet Ox's eyes. Instead she hung down and low, as though she might fall from exhaustion at any moment. "I think this is one you'll try to keep in mind in the future."
"Oh, I'll be keepin' it in mind," he said. He ran his hook along the edge of a cutlass he had taken from the stores. Plumbthroat had his back to the proceedings, as though he wished the Squiddles would just go away and leave him to his long repairs. Ox was not so dismissive. "The next time we meet, princess, you'll see just how well I've been keepin' in it mind!"
He levelled his hook at her, but she did not seem to notice. Instead, for just a few frames of animation, her sunken eyes seemed to seize on something far below. "Oh Mint," she said.
The Grundy Catchyegrabber heaved in the water, another spout of water jutting off to the left of the Squiddles. Berryboo's eyes snapped back to Ox, but her haggard expression did not change. "I agree," she said. "I think Billy's boat is safe now."
Squidradar, suddenly realizing how he had been used, did a double take between the whales and his princess. "B-Berryboo!"
Ox, before the Skipper could prevent him, lashed out at Berryboo with his cutlass, only for Squiddette to spring in between them. His cutlass bit deep into her staff. From there, the storyboarder's poor understanding of coral served Squiddette well as she used that new grip to yank the sword from her opponent's hands and toss it after the other, into the sea.
"Bosun!" Plumbthroat shouted, and he yanked Ox back onto the deck. "Get to work, damn ye!"
Ox scowled back at him, but slipped back into order not long after. "Load the nets!" he called the others.
"We already used the nets!" called Ram, and the rest of Ox's plans fell into the muffled background noise of the scene.
Plumbthroat took to the nearby rail as the ship reeled again. "What are ye doin', Yellow?" he asked Squidradar. "Call 'em off!"
"I..."
"No!" Berryboo interposed herself between Plumbthroat and Squidradar, swiftly followed by her bodyguard. "You went too far this time, Eustace," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I can't let you keep going like this."
"So ye'll drown us? Leave us stranded on this shell of an island?" Plumbthroat tossed his hat to the deck in anger.
"Oh, like you get a say," Berryboo said as the ship shook again. "Like you gave us a say when you kidnapped me, or when you tried to have us all killed, only so you wouldn't have to do it yourselves! I thought you were better than that!"
The boat shook again, throwing loose all the crates the crew had already re-secured. Plumbthroat stood his ground solid. "Princess," he said, "this isn't you."
"Well maybe I've learned something," Berryboo said back. "I can't let you get away with this any more, Eustace."
Plumbthroat kept his solid expression. "Well then it'll be a fine afternoon back at home, won't it? First ye sink me ship-"
"You'll be fine," Squiddette interrupted. "You always are."
Plumbthroat ignored her, except to step aside to get a better view of Berryboo. "First ye sink me ship," he repeated, "leave us to starve on your well-wishes. Then ye and yer red friend go to tell the bosun's folks how their oldest boy is a would-be murderer, to use yer terms." Berryboo's eyes lowered. "And then ye go home to yer mother and father, and tell them how their little girl's a hero. Aye. A fine afternoon."
With that, Plumbthroat turned back and started shouting at the crew, his orders coordinating smoothly with Ox's in the background. Berryboo watched him go.
"...Squidradar," she whispered. "Call them off." Squidradar nodded vigorously, already glowing with his power. "Let's get out of here."
By the time the shaking had stopped and one of the whales had taken a parting shot for their own reasons, the Squiddles had gone. The camera swept out from the crew of the Grundy Catchyegrabber and into the seas, which began clearing as the light of dawn rose up behind the clouds.