IN CALIFORNIA:
A woman identified as Arline Hirsh gets out of the shower, looking around her apartment. Nimbly, she changes into workout clothes, preparing to meditate. She gets a plate with blue salts, and a match, and puts it on the floor in front of her, putting protective gloves on her scarred hands.
A handful of the salts in one hand, she closes her eyes and holds the match up to her face. Focusing, the match lights on its own. She lets the salts fall through the flame, lighting the other salts on the plate, causing blue/green flames to burn in front of her.
Placing the match upright on the plate, Arline begins to meditate, falling away from the world, bursts of light and stars flying around her. Then something weird happens. She hears a voice say her name. She opens her eyes in a realm of pure white, a sand-sized black spec far in front of her. The spec calls her name again, and she beings running towards it, recognizing the voice as that of her Master, whom she thought dead.
Her Master is a man. That's all we know. Neither his name nor face are revealed, the latter covered by a silver mask that shows no facial structure. A long duster jacket covers a multi-layered red and black shirt, black gloves on his hands not allowing any details to be known, creating an all together imposing figure. This doesn't stop Arline from almost crushing him in a hug, coaxing a few chuckles out of him.
She lets go and punches him, upset that he allowed her to think he was dead for ten years before suddenly reappearing again. She tells him he better have a good reason for it, and he says he has two. The first reason is that the Warlock has been tracking him, and if he found out about him teaching students, the students would have gotten involved in the war. Conceding this point, Arline asks for the second reason. He tells her that there wasn't much more he could teach her, and that she had to grow and learn on her own. Arline tells him that that kind of backfired, his students falling away without him there to lead them. He apologizes, but says that his actions more than likely helped his students avoid a war, and Arline says she's not mad at him.
Arline asks him why he appeared now of all times. Her Master conjures a blue portal, showing a picture of a man in a hoodie. He tells Arline that the man is Graupner Kinley, apprentice to the Warlock. He tells Arline that Graupner is even crazier and more dangerous than the Warlock, telling her that he is only 18, but a magic prodigy, also saying his stutter is from a spell the Warlock put on him as a warning about his temper. note
He changes the image in the portal to show Gravity Falls, telling Arline that Graupner is also a prodigy at disrupting the peace. Arline asks what makes Gravity Falls so special. Her Master says the town itself is peaceful and a good place to retire, but the things in the woods around town make it special. He tells Arline that he wants her to go to the town to counter Graupner's efforts.
Arline refuses, saying that she just got her life in order and has a job set up. Her Master tells her that he knows about her teaching students and reminds her about how dangerous the Paths are. She tells him that she was only teaching the martial parts, not the elemental stuff, causing him to change the portal image again to one of Mabel.
He tells Arline that Mabel is learning fast, and that she contacted fire two weeks ago. He changes the image again to show the phoenix attacking the golems, Mabel with burns on her hands watching with the rest of her family. Arline's Master says that she was lucky the phoenix was there, otherwise she might have lost use of her hands. He also says that Mabel's brother shows promise, telling Arline that she did such a good job teaching Mabel, Mabel has been able to teach Dipper in turn.
Her Master tells her the twins are in danger. Without someone there to help them, Graupner's Master will be able to detect their growth, opening them up to more threats from Graupner. He tells Arline to go to Gravity Falls to protect the twins. Arline says that they should get the twins out of the town instead, but her Master says there is more to it than the twins.
He turns the portal into a 3D replica of the woods around Gravity Falls. They look through a curtain of vines into a grove with hundred of gemstones littering the ground, mossy rock in a circle in the middle. Arline's Master says that if Graupner's Master finds 'a relic of the past' that the twins found, he could use it in tandem with something else in town to complete a spell he has been working on for 100 years.
Arline begins to wake up. Her Master tells her to protect the twins in town while he deals with Graupner's Master. The two say goodbye and Arline wakes up, only a few minutes having passed. She starts packing, still upset that her Master pretended to be dead for ten years. As she packs, she realizes something. She doesn't know where Gravity Falls is.
IN GRAVITY FALLS:
Dipper, a beanie on his head to replace the pine-tree cap he gave to Jess, and Yuki, a cap on his head to hide the leaves his species has in their hair, are playing chess and Dipper is loosing. Badly. Yuki is trying to help him, but Dipper is having none of it. He moves, sure it is a safe one, but Yuki quickly puts him in checkmate... for the fifth time in a row. The two reach out to shake hands when an over-excited-even-for-her Mabel barrels through them, tripping and making a mess of everything.
Yuki starts cleaning up while Dipper confronts his sister, telling her that she's already done this nine times. Mabel says she can't calm down because 'he' will be here in a few minutes. Wendy comes in and notices the hyperactive Mabel, commenting that this is the most hyper she has ever seen the younger girl. Stan and Soos come in with bags in their hands, Stan telling Mabel not to break his gift shop with her excitement. Mabel curls herself into a ball and begins to roll around the floor in response.
Stan tells everyone that, with construction of the Mystery Manor completing two days ago and tourist season about to starts for real, things are going to start picking up. Which means that someone has to go out into the woods to hammer up signs pointing to and promoting the building. Yuki comments that Stan's dishonesty to the customers is not good, but Stan brushes him off. The twins, Wendy and Soos all put a finger to their nose, meaning Yuki has to do it. Stan dumps the bags into Yuki's arms and leaves, Yuki heading outside, Soos deciding to help him.
Dipper tries to pick up the chess pieces, but Mabel rolls over them again. Deciding to do something to distract her, Wendy fiddles with the radio, finding a station with a song the three of them know, all three singing along to the music. As the song is winding down, they hear a car door slam from outside.
Mabel bolts outside, a farmer standing by a truck in the driveway. The farmer opens the door of the truck, causing Mabel to squeal with excitement as she and a bigger Waddles run to each other. The farmer, petting zoo owner Mr Marshall, laughs as Mabel and Waddles roll around on the ground, cuddling each other.
Dipper and Wendy come outside to watch the reunion, Dipper complementing Wendy on her dancing idea. Mr. Marshall heads out as Stan comes outside, asking who the farmer was. Dipper explains that Mabel gave Waddles to him when they went back to California three years ago. Stan notices Mabel and her pig, freaking out that he has to deal with the creature again. He screams for help, the yell reach Soos and Yuki in the middle of the forest.
Cryptogram:
Dslhv xfgv, xfwwob, zmw olevh gl vzg zmbgsrmt lm gsv uolli? Hllh!
Whose cute, cuddly, and loves to eat anything on the floor? Soos!
