"Maybe this is not my usual comic. I just wanted to send a message to both parents and YouTubers.
It has caught my attention how more and more YouTubers are using guilt and emotional manipulation to make kids feel bad unless they like or subscribe to their content. The excuse is usually: “Kids shouldn’t be watching alone.” And yes, parents should supervise their kids online. But many children are not supervised all the time, and you know that very well. Using that vulnerability to your advantage says a lot about your integrity.
I love that more and more people want to create content. The internet is a huge place, and there’s room for all of us. The problem begins when growth becomes more important than ethics. You should enjoy what you do, work hard, be creative, and grow naturally with time.
And to parents: no, you don’t need to forbid YouTube completely. Supervise them. Limit screen time. Use it as an opportunity to teach them. This is their sandbox. A place where you can talk to them about manipulation, boundaries, what’s right, and what’s wrong.
The day continues with Quest Sprout helping his friends with some minor tasks and Momma Sprout continuing to relax, both of them trying not to think about the nightmares they've been having. They both return by nighttime to sleep again, still refusing to return to the Dream Realm.
Eternal, frustrated that the previous nightmares didn't work, taps into a very big fear that the Sprouts both happen to share: losing each other for good, either physically or by death. Momma Sprout has a nightmare where Quest Sprout slowly dies in her arms, while Quest Sprout has a nightmare about Momma being sucked into a portal, never to be seen again. Quest Sprout wakes up crying, which wakes up Momma, who comforts him as she tries to hold back her own tears.
Morning arrives, and Momma, after discovering that they share the same powers, decides to show Quest Sprout how to unleash certain spells that can help him when he's in trouble. Later, the two get into their own separate things; Quest Sprout goes to play around the forest while Momma Sprout resumes with relaxing.
Both of them, unknowingly, face and conquer their fears throughout the day. Quest Sprout faces a few small monsters, saves himself from sinking in mud, gets possessed by the Foolsblade for the second time and successfully resists*, and lights his way back home when nighttime approaches. Momma Sprout, meanwhile, notices a forest lich stalking her, fights of the lich, and scouts the area to make sure she doesn't get captured and imprisoned again.
At night, the Sprouts finally give in and decide to return to the Dream Realm. Eternal, having finally baited them, turns the Dream Realm into a place of nightmares, and readies himself for the next part of his plot.
The next scene will be the final stand against Eternal, but I'll save that plotline for another day. Sorry if this was way too long. I just like Quest Sprout so much and really hope that the series does him and Momma Sprout justice by giving them the writing and growth they so desperately deserve.
Soon, the Sprouts bid farewell to Lake Queen and begin their journey home, getting into some more side quests along the way. Halfway through the trip, they fall asleep again and have more nightmares. This time, Quest Sprout has a nightmare about being in danger with nobody there to help him while Momma Sprout has a nightmare where she's engaging in battle against a foe and being seconds away from dying. They both wake up slightly more scared, but again, brush it off, thinking that the nightmares are results of the trauma they gained from Eternal's attacks.
Once they return home, the Sprouts decide to spend more time together after being separated for so long. This is where Matthew can showcase their bond as a little family; We could see them playing together, cuddling/giving each other kisses, and just overall being extremely wholesome.
Later on, they sleep again, and we see a third wave of nightmares. In Quest Sprout's nightmare, he's attacked by monsters trying to eat him, while Momma Sprout's nightmare has her being teleported to an unknown, creepy terrain, with no sign of returning home. They wake up more scared, but refuse to return to the Dream Realm out of fear that Eternal will confront them.
For the scenes in this part, maybe Quest Sprout introduces Momma Sprout to his friends. Maybe he and his friends go on another group quest while Momma takes a moment to appreciate that she's back in the Questwood. Maybe she finds Granny and thanks her for looking after Quest Sprout while she was captured.
After going on a quest with Langeschwert, Mincer, Hack, and Hash, Quest Sprout decides to take a little nap. Momma Sprout relaxes around a sunny spot in the forest, and takes a nap too. This is where it can be revealed to us, the viewers, that Eternal is responsible for the Sprouts' nightmares, and that he's creating these nightmares in an attempt to lure them back to the Dream Realm, so he can inflict his revenge on them.
In the 4th wave, Quest Sprout has a nightmare where he sees a vision from his point of view that shows what happened when he was possessed/influenced by the Foolsblade, later being attacked by his jester self. In Momma Sprout's nightmare, she finds herself imprisoned in a cave, restrained via chains and unable to escape.
Before we see the return of Quest Sprout and Momma Sprout, I wanna share a plotline of my predictions for how their story continues.
We saw how the sun was setting when the Sprouts gave the hiltless sword its new hilt.* We don't know how far away Lake Tang is from the Questwood, but I'm assuming the Sprouts are going to sleep halfway through their trip to meet Lake Queen. This can be where their first nightmares happen.
*
Quest Sprout has a nightmare where he's lost in the dark while Momma Sprout has a nightmare about being followed/stalked by an unknown, unseeable figure. They both wake up a bit scared, but brush it off, since it has only been 24 hours since they escaped Eternal Slumber's control.
They eventually reach Lake Tang and say hi to Lake Queen. She and Momma Sprout have a nice conversation about the things they went through in their parts of the series while Quest Sprout plays around the water. The guardians' conversation soon brings up the topic of the Godswords they were supposed to protect, with Momma explaining that she had to give up protecting Bograk's sword when Quest Sprout was in serious danger, and doesn't know what happened to it after that. Lake tells her that all of the Godswords were eaten by the Demon King, and that she reforged Greg's sword to give to Harpe, the Water Champion, who's currently on a quest to defeat all the Demon Swords.
Wondering how their respective gods are doing, Lake and Momma use magic to contact Greg and Bograk, but only Greg responds, telling Lake that Bograk, along with Kargob, were killed when the Demon King was defeated because nobody could become their champions with their Godswords. Lake reluctantly relays the message to Momma, who becomes heartbroken that Bograk's dead. She fears that giving up his Godsword was a bad idea, with Lake trying to assure her that it wasn't. She also becomes extremely fearful of something bad happening to Quest Sprout, but tries to convince herself that she's strong enough to protect him.
