In a revealing flashback episode, Otto and Dictatious vie for Gunmar's ear while an increasingly paranoid Steve finds an unlikely ally.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Abusive Parents: It is implied that Steve's hostility came from his father.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After wandering around the hideout for hours with no progress, Dictatious grabs a nearby changeling and begs for help, only for the changeling to deny him as an order from Otto.
- Another Side, Another Story: The episode reveals what Steve and Eli were up to during the events of the previous episode. During certain moments, each group briefly encounters the other with little to no context of what exactly is going on.
- Breather Episode: Not only are the main characters relegated to the background, but Steve and Eli's antics end up making them the Plucky Comic Relief Locked Out of the Loop, giving the viewers a break from the struggles of the main heroes.
- Bully and Wimp Pairing: Steve and Eli end up teaming up out a misguided need to investigate the monster activity in Arcadia and Jim's involvement.
- Bullying a Dragon: Throughout the episode, Otto takes extra care to make life for Dictatious as hard as possible, even making it so that no changeling will help him as he struggles to find the exit.
- Collector of the Strange: Wimpy geek Eli has been collecting fireworks and ninja stars for the day when he encounters a vicious monster. If the show were geared towards an older audience, this would be distressing.
- Comically Missing the Point: Steve and Eli's first assumptions about Jim.Steve: Jim is a shape-shifter that's leading a creeper army. He's a maniac that's gotta be stopped.
- Continuity Nod: Eli's first glimpse of monster activity was when the main characters were evading Bular in "Becoming: Part 2."
- Credits Gag: At the end of the episode, the usual intro is played with Steve and Eli singing a goofy "Creepslayerz" theme-song to the usual music, followed by a goofy commentary in the end credits.
- Delayed Safety Feature: When Steve crashes Eli's mother's car (at a relatively low speed) it takes a few seconds before the airbag in the passenger seat to go off, hitting Eli. Steve laughs at the sight and then his airbag goes off as well.
- Foreshadowing: When Eli shows off his String Theory board, it is not as fully fleshed as it will eventually be, but it still has early hints at the bigger picture
of the Tales of Arcadia trilogy. Notably, Eli is already openly speculating about the possible involvement of wizards and aliens. - Gagging on Your Words: Steve does this when trying to tell Eli that Jim is a good guy.
- Heel Realization: Steve's opinion of Jim shifts when he sees Jim manifesting his armor to fight the gruesome and hearing him declare that he is protecting Arcadia.
- Homoerotic Subtext: Steve and Eli are paired off for the Egg Sitting assignment. Things only get weirder from there.
- Inappropriate Speak-and-Spell: Eli has a toy that's half Speak and Spell and half See 'n Say in his room despite being in high school. The goblin tinkers it so it can say the word "kill".
- Internal Reveal: Steve and Eli now know about the trolls in Arcadia and that Jim is somehow a hero involved in all of it.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Due to Dictatious's blindness, Otto takes the time to humiliate him, denying to help him in any way possible (a well as preventing anybody else from doing the same) as he plots to take his place as The Dragon.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: Eli and Steve's name for the various creatures in Arcadia are "creepers." Justified, since they don't know anything about trolls, goblins or gruesomes.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: When Eli and Steve listen in on Blinky, Draal and Aaarrrgghh!!!'s roleplaying game, they think they are planning some sort of massacre.
- Phony Psychic: This episode reveals that Dictatious is making up the claim that he is receiving visions from Argante in order to one-up Otto and get back into Gunmar's favor.
- The Reveal: Toby's flour sack mysteriously survived the previous episode because he missed throwing it at the Gruesome leading to Steve and Eli using theirs instead.
- Right Behind Me: Inverted. It isn't until late in Dictatious's villainous monologue does he realize that Otto stopped listening and has already walked off.
- Scary Flashlight Face: Eli uses one for dramatic effect when he explains his experiences to Steve.
- Secret-Keeper: Eli knows that Steve's mom is dating Coach Lawrence and Steve knows Eli's Embarrassing Middle Name.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Becomes this as he and Eli realize that Jim is somehow connected to all of the weird activity in Arcadia, but keep it quiet because he knows that whatever Jim's secret is, he's on the side of good.
- String Theory: Eli keeps a tac-board beneath his alien poster detailing his "findings" of supernatural activity.
- Synchronous Episodes: The episode takes place during the events of "Just Add Water" from Steve and Eli's end. Alternatively, we receive more context of Dictatious's perspective at the Janus Order's hideout.
- Teacher/Parent Romance: Coach Lawrence is currently dating Steve's mother. He tries to act as a replacement father-figure to him despite his hostility and ends up embarrassing him in public. Eli is the only person who knows this.
- Translator Collar: The goblin uses Eli's speak and spell to communicate, giving them misleading details that Jim Lake is the cause of Arcadia's monster activity and that he's evil.
- Unknown Rival: Downplayed. While Jim and Steve have a mutual contempt of each other, "nemesis" is a bit too strong of a word Jim would use for Steve as Steve does for him.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: They call their duo "Creepslayerz."
