History Recap / AreYouAfraidOfTheDarkSeason2TheTaleOfTheDarkDragon

* ThePowerOfLove: The desperate longing of Keith and Mariah for each other supersedes their respective self-abasement, which, in both, reverses the corruptive effects of the Potion.

In ominous silence, Gary approaches the already blazing fire. With a yell of “surprise” the rest of the Midnight Society observe the birthday of their leader. In honour of the occasion, David has a special story, based on Gary’s favoured theme of magic: magic to dazzle, magic to manipulate, and a deeper magic: the kind that comes from within. Guest starring one of Gary’s magical characters, and submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, David calls this story “The Tale of the Dark Dragon.”

Keith Saunders, in aid of a limp caused by a car accident, walks with a leg brace. In the school library, his friend Mariah takes a break from shelving to happily note his arrival. He discreetly hands her a bag of chocolate coated blueberries, salvaged from his dad’s shop. Delighted by the surprise treat, she asks if he plans to attend the upcoming dance. He wryly disclaims any flair for dance.

In raucous pursuit of a small bean ball arrives Gary, who mentions to a friend his current tiff with nearby girlfriend Shelly. When the ball flies Keith’s way, Gary absently calls for him to pass it back. He quickly apologises.

On the way out, Keith bumps into Shelly, who drops her papers. He apologetically helps pick them up, and asks if she’s going to the Friday night dance. Being in a dispute with Gary, she isn’t sure. She happily considers Keith’s delicate offer to fill in for him. Mariah looks on forlornly.

At the Charcoal Pit diner, Shelly spots Keith, smiles, and approaches. Gary, however, discreetly intercepts her, and they share a reconciliatory hug. Despondent, Keith returns to his magazine, in which he notices a colourful advert for Sardo’s Magic Mansion, which offers a mysterious new potion, purported to stoke self-confidence and to bring out the best in anyone.

He hovers uncertainly in the door of the empty Magic Mansion. Sardo impatiently summons him in, emerges from behind a curtain, and [[{{Catchphrase}} specifies correct pronunciation of his name]]. Keith prompts him to the advertised confidence potion, which Sardo quickly remembers to be his best selling product. From a cabinet, he takes a tiny metal bottle, capped by a star-shaped stopper. Only one drop at a time, he warns, as it’s very powerful stuff. While forty dollars is well above Keith’s budget, Sardo readily accepts an offer of twenty.

In his bedroom, Keith has a drop of Popularity Potion. He wildly convulses, falls to the floor, and rises to his mirror: his hair is now styled with understated smoothness, and his limp is gone. Jubilant, he sets out in a leather jacket. From a neighbouring balcony, Mariah watches.

Back at the Charcoal Pit, Keith approaches Shelly’s table, and debonairly introduces himself as KC, cousin of Keith. They readily invite him to join them. Through the window looks a bewildered Mariah.

The next day, Keith wakes to find the Potion to have worn off - his limp is back. What’s more, his chest has sprouted a growth of dense, bestial hair.

In the bustling school corridor, Shelly eagerly asks Keith if his cousin KC will be at the Charcoal Pit after school. Mariah asks about Keith’s previously unknown cousin. Keith dismissively notes him not to be from around here.

At dinner that evening, Keith’s dad asks about today’s geometry test. To his dad’s surprise, Keith despondently says he flunked it. Seeing a sudden sprout on his hand of Potion hair, Keith excuses himself for homework.

In his bedroom, he flings the potion bottle into the bin. However, a phone call from Shelly, in request for KC, has him reconsider. In the suavely carefree voice of his imaginary cousin, he accepts her offer to come over to watch television. He then has another drop of Potion.

Later, outside Shelly’s, an enamoured Shelly accepts Keith/KC’s invitation to the Friday night dance.

At the Charcoal Pit, Mariah asks Shelly if she’s seen Keith or his cousin. No one has seen either of them that day.

Meanwhile, at the Magic Mansion, Sardo, through a magnifying glass, examines the side effects of the Popularity Potion. He consults his spell book, and finds the relevant entry. Leaning over, Keith spots a further passage: “caution: before bringing out the best, one must fight the Dark Dragon from within.” Sardo nervously admits his ignorance of whatever that might be. However, it looks like Keith is about to find out…

At the Charcoal Pit, Gary asks what time to pick up Shelly for the dance. She coolly reports to be going with someone else.

In his room, Keith convulses, and gives a choked, sickly cry. Mariah knocks on his bedroom door. She calls through, and submits her concern that something is very wrong. Keith rises from his bed. Beneath the hood, his face is utterly transformed: bald and leathery, with a bat-like nose, neanderthal brow, and fangs set in a bestial grimace. His voice is a choked, echoing hiss. Mariah calls through the door, and stresses Keith’s need for help. In this state, Keith believes himself to be beyond all help. Mariah begs to be allowed to try. At his insistence, she quietly leaves. Keith throws back his head in a howl of mental anguish.

In the empty school corridor, Keith takes another drop of Potion. From behind a door, Mariah watches his pained convulsions. He rises as the suave KC, and removes his hooded top to reveal a sharp grey suit. As he leaves for the gym, Mariah makes for his locker…

In the corridor, Mariah opens Keith’s locker, liberates the Potion, and drinks…

In the hall, in Keith's arms, Mariah stumbles before the horrifying effects of the Potion, all of which she confesses to have drunk the entire bottle. In horror, Keith asks why. So that he would desire her, she says. From Keith’s chest, she lifts her face, revealing it to bear leathery protuberances and fangs. Keith despairs at the physical corruption of his friend.

She flees to hide her face before a wall. Keith pursues, and laments his purchase of the Potion. She asks why he did. As she sinks to the floor, he confesses: he wanted to be free of the isolation and rejection imposed by the stares of others at his handicapped leg. Weary of his designation, he wanted to change. Mariah gasps a reiteration of her love for what he is. As she falls limp, he hugs her to his chest, begs her not to go, and onto her shoulder, sheds a single tear.

She dreamily raises her head, her face now clear and fangless. Overcome with relief, Keith realises himself to have conquered the Dark Dragon, which dwelled inside him since the accident, but is now gone. The concerned principal arrives to ask what’s going on. With all to be well, Keith and Mariah return to the dance.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Both Keith and Mariah, when [[spoiler: her overdose of Potion seems potentially fatal.]]

* JustTheWayYouAre: Indifferent to his limp and magical makeover, Mariah still pines for Keith.
** Keith seems to register his love of Mariah not by her Potion-induced makeover, but on [[spoiler: her endangerment by an overdose]].
* ThePowerOfLove: The desperate longing of Keith and Mariah for each other [[spoiler: supersedes their respective self-abasement, which, in both, reverses the corruptive effects of the Potion]].
* SheCleansUpNicely: The aspiration magically fulfilled by the Potion includes instantaneously styled hair.

In the hall, in Keith’s arms, Mariah stumbles before the horrifying effects of the Potion, all of which she confesses to have drunk. In horror, Keith asks why. So that he would desire her, she says. From Keith’s chest, she lifts her face, revealing it to bear leathery protuberances and fangs. Keith despairs at the physical corruption of his friend.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Both Keith and Mariah, when [[spoiler: her overdose of Potion seems potentially fatal]].

* HonestJohnsDealership: Not as much so as in his [[Recap/AreYouAfraidOfTheDarkSeason1TheTaleOfTheSuperSpecs last appearance]], but Sardo clearly isn’t sure about the effectiveness of the Popularity Potion. What's more, he (unintentionally) excluded the fact that Keith's the only one who ever bought the Potion.

* HonestJohnsDealership: Not as much so as in his [[Recap/AreYouAfraidOfTheDarkSeason1TheTaleOfTheSuperSpecs last appearance]], but Sardo clearly isn’t sure about the effectiveness of the Popularity Potion.

* {{Adorkable}}: Mariah’s affection for Keith shows in winsome elation.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: Both Keith and Mariah, when her overdose of Potion seems potentially fatal]].

* ThePowerOfLove: The desperate longing of Keith and Mariah for each other, [[spoiler: supersedes their respective self-abasement, which, in both, reverses the corruptive effects of the Potion]].

* JekyllAndHyde: The story initially resembles a high school teen version of ''The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. [[InvertedTrope However]], rather than unleash a malignant alter-ego, the Potion enhances confidence, refines personal appearance, and seems to heal, at least temporarily, bodily impairment (such as Keith's limp and Mariah's poor vision). In between dosage, however, it manifests, as bestial bodily mutation, the taker’s sense of self-abasement.

* JekyllAndHyde: The story is basically a high school teen version of ''The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. [[SubvertedTrope However]], rather than unleash a malignant alter-ego, the Potion enhances confidence, refines personal appearance, and seems to heal, at least temporarily, bodily impairment (such as Keith's limp and Mariah's poor vision). In between dosage, however, it manifests, as bestial bodily mutation, the taker’s sense of self-abasement.

* TheGlassesGottaGo: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]; the Potion may well have enhanced Mariah’s eyesight.

* JekyllAndHyde: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]; rather than unleash a malignant alter-ego, the Potion enhances confidence, refines personal appearance, and seems to heal, at least temporarily, bodily impairment. In between dosage, however, it manifests, as bestial bodily mutation, the taker’s sense of self-abasement.
* JustTheWayYouAre: Indifferent to his limp and magical makeover, Mariah pines for Keith.

* ThePowerOfLove: The desperation of Keith and Mariah for each other, [[spoiler: on threat of her death from overdose, supersedes their respective self-abasement, which, in both, reverses the corruptive effects of the Potion]].

Through the waltzing couples, Keith dejectedly wanders, to be approached by an initially unfamiliar figure. In a white gown, hair delicately curled, arrives Mariah. Now serenely confident, she draws Keith into a waltz. On her stark change of manner, Keith realises her to have taken the potion. Euphoric, she declares her love for Keith, which, she deduces, the Potion will enable him to reciprocate. She suddenly gasps and convulses. The principal stops by them in concern. Keith leads Mariah out for some air.

In raucous pursuit of an improvised small bean ball arrives Gary, who mentions to a friend his current tiff with nearby girlfriend Shelly. When the ball flies Keith’s way, Gary absently calls for him to pass it back. He quickly apologises.

Through the waltzing couples, Keith dejectedly wanders, to be approached by an initially unfamiliar figure. In a white gown, hair delicately curled, arrives Mariah. Now serenely confident, she draws Keith into a waltz. On her stark change of manner, Keith realises her to have taken the potion. Euphoric, she declares her love for Keith, which, she deduces, the appearance-enhancing effects of the Potion will enable him to reciprocate. She suddenly gasps and convulses. The principal stops by them in concern. Keith leads Mariah out for some air.

Through the waltzing couples, Keith dejectedly wanders, to be approached by an initially unfamiliar figure. In a white gown, hair delicately curled, arrives Mariah. Now serenely confident, she draws Keith into a waltz. On her stark change of manner, Keith realises her to have taken the potion. Euphoric, she declares her love for Keith, which she deduces, the appearance-enhancing effects of the Potion will enable him to reciprocate. She suddenly gasps and convulses. The principal stops by them in concern. Keith leads Mariah out for some air.