PART 1:
It is the Fourth of July! Despite this, there are still people shopping around, although there are very few of them. Catching a break, Wendy looks through the newspaper, the headline about the Northwest's helping to rebuild the Bargains Depot. Flipping though the rest of the paper, she sees a strange job advertisement that says almost nothing about what the job is, just asks applicants to meet at a bus stop during the middle of bus routes.
Yuki comes in, looking for Dipper and/or Stan. Wendy tells him Stan is on a tour, but she will go find Dipper as long as he can manage the register. Yuki taking her place, she goes into the main building, finding Dipper half-hidden behind the couch. She walks over to see him surrounded by all three Journals, a notebook with mostly scribbled-out notes beside him.
Wendy tells him he probably can't solve whatever she is, saying Robbie has been trying for almost three years. Dipper says he not Robbie, and if anyone would have been able to find a fix, it would have been Ford, even though everything Dipper has found so far gets contradicted sooner or later. Wendy tells him to take a break, saying he looks exhausted. Stan comes in and also tells him to take a break, telling Wendy he's been going at it for days now. Stan mentions Mabel had gone to the Northwest's to help set up for the 4th of July party before calling Yuki.
Yuki asks Stan if he can take a second job, promising it would be something small. Stan tells Yuki he's not ready for that yet, agreeing to think about it but saying nothing will happen until the end of summer. He tells Yuki to go help Soos in the Gift Shop, Dipper telling Stan that Yuki has a point as the Alien leaves. Stan says he'll let Yuki leave when he's ready before telling Dipper to go do 4th of July stuff with Mabel. Dipper says he's busy, San saying he's just like his brother before leaving.
Dipper and Wendy stare at each other in shock, this being the first time Stan mentioned his brother, the topic a dangerous one after the sacrifice during the events of three years ago. Wendy tells Dipper to take a break and have some fun, dragging him away from his research and into the Gift Shop. She shows Yuki the job advertisements in the newspaper as they all debating going to the Northwest Mansion to check on the party. Dipper agrees to go with everyone later, saying he can have more fun at the Manor than Mabel can be having at the Mansion.
Cut to Mabel at the Mansion saying she is having more fun than Dipper, running around with streamers trailing behind her, barking orders at the people who are decorating. As Omir Steindorf has been harassing them, the Northwest's hired Mabel to decorate for their first 4th of July party, and she is going all out with it. As Grenda and Candy hang streamers and Arline puts up a sign, Pacifica-wearing a purple sundress- and her parents compliment Mabel on her decorating abilities, although the adults really couldn't care less about the party.
Candy and Grenda finish the streamers, getting Mabel's approval, although Pacifica barks at them to dress fancier so they don't ruin her and her family's reputation. Grenda and Candy leave to change as Mabel reprimands Pacifica for yelling at her friends, telling her she can be friends with Candy and Grenda too. Pacifica says she can't- they aren't to Northwest standards, and the only reason she can hang with Mabel is because Mabel isn't local. Mabel realizes Pacifica had another fight with her parents, even though she doesn't want to talk about it, but she agrees to not yell at Mabel's friends anymore.
Zander shows up, Mabel high-fiving him before Pacifica slaps him, she and Arline asking him why he didn't respond when they needed him a few days ago, Arline's questions very direct and explicit. Zander says he was visiting some friends, but he heard about the gas station exploding, although he doesn't appear to have been informed about the almost-war. After getting caught up, he apologizes for not being around, but says he can help now, Arline grabbing him to help with the sign.
Pacifica wonders what Zander could have been doing that kept him out of the loop for several days, Mabel wondering if he got to see his family. Pacifica tells her that he told her they don't talk anymore, and that he said they lived on a farm out east, making Mabel jealous that she knows all that about him. Something in the distance explodes, everyone running towards windows and/or balconies to see a huge fireball coming out of the mountains around town. Zander guesses volcano, but Arline tells him there aren't any around town, asking Mabel if it's the Warlock.
Before Mabel can respond, a smaller ball of flame comes out of the large one and starts flying towards the Mansion. Arline yells for everyone to get down, tackling Mabel as everyone else hides... except Pacifica. Her parents tell her to run, and she starts to comply, but the fireball arrives, and the flaming creature inside grabs Pacifica and flies away with her in tow. As the Northwest's yell at Arline for not protecting Pacifica, Arline tries to defend herself and blame them, and Zander tries to keep the two parties from killing each other, Mabel, Candy and Grenda watch the fireball fly back to the mountain.
Grenda tells Mabel they are coming with her, but Mabel tells them not to, saying the Warlock won't hesitate to hurt people he believes are helping her. She says they don't know how far he is willing to go, Grenda saying that's all the better reason for them to come along. Mabel agrees and turns to the still arguing adults, Arline quickly catching onto their plan. Arline decides not to go, instead opting to stay back and protect the base, Mabel and her friends (whom she dubs Mystery Twin detachment squad Beta) leaving for the fireball in the mountains.
Running through the forest, Mabel almost steps on Jeff as she jumps over a bush. Jeff tells them to run the other way, saying the forest creatures are evacuating the area until it stops flying around. Mabel asks what 'it' is before Jingle-Blossom in a tiny Fairy Firefighter uniform shows up, telling the girls to leave while the Fairies handled the fires. Mabel says they need to get wherever it went and that it took their friend, even though Grenda and Candy don't want to call Pacifica friend. Jingle-Blossom tells them they saw the beast go into an empty cave, Jeff saying the 'beast' is a dragon before taking off.
Jingle-Blossom tells the girls to not start anymore fires, Mabel not-exactly promising before they run towards the cave, the smell of sulfur thick in the air. On the way, they hypothesize that the Warlock was trying to do something to the dragon and made it mad, although they don't entirely understand why an angry dragon would take Pacifica of all people/things.
Arriving at the entrance to the cave, the girls sneak inside, trying to make as little noise as possible, wind coming from somewhere ahead. The eventually hide behind a boulder and peek around, the at least thirty foot dragon asleep in front of them, the wind having been its breathing. Luckily, Pacifica is easy to find, and the four of them begin backing away from the still-sleeping dragon.
Unfortunately, Pacifica's phone starts to ring. Desperate to turn off the volume, she chucks it at the wall of the cave, causing both it and a piece of rock to shatter, the noise waking the dragon. The girls run as the dragon lights itself on fire, the four of them making it out of the cave just before it does. Mabel has enough time to process that the purple creature is over sixty feet long with an even greater wingspan before it again grabs Pacifica, tossing her onto its back and flying towards the lake, the girls following behind.
In the author's note is the cryptogram: Ollp fk 'SGGBW: Nlmhgilfh Mrtsgnziv,' which decodes to: Look up 'HTTYD: Monstrous Nightmare.’ The dragon the girls are dealing with is the Monstrous Nightmare from How to Train Your Dragon.
PART 2:
As soon as the dragon lands on the shore of the lake, Pacifica slides off its back and starts running towards the trees. Arriving at the forest edge, she turns around to see the dragon and the Gobblewonker communicating with each other. The Gobblewonker leaves and the dragon starts drinking from the lake, Pacifica running away farther into the woods.
Arriving in a meadow, she realizes she has no real idea where she is and is completely defenseless. As she tries to remember which way the sun rises/sets, the dragon comes up behind her. As the two of them stare at each other, Pacifica stumbles backwards, the Dragon catching her and helping her regain her footing. She walks from side to side, the Dragon following her movements but not attacking like she expected. She is even able to communicate in some way, the Dragon tilting its head and blinking out-of-sync in response to her questions.
Realizing the other isn't dangerous, the Dragon goes to sleep in front of Pacifica. She is able to get a good look at it, and she quickly realizes a large metal collar is around its neck, like a part of a saddle or restraint system. She then notices the scales on it's belly are burned and fused together in some areas. She touches the melted scales, but the Dragon curls around itself and doesn't allow her to get close. As the Dragon licks its wounds, Pacifica realizes that the Warlock probably has something to do with the collar.
The dragon starts snarling at a boulder, lighting itself on fire and stalking to where Mabel is telling Pacifica to run away. Pacifica jumps in front of the Dragon, blocking it from the boulder the girls are hiding behind, and makes it promise to not burn them. The Dragon agrees and Pacifica leads the girls out, the dragon staring at them suspiciously but not attacking.
Keeping their distance, Pacifica shows them the metal collar and the burn mark on it's belly. With Pacifica keeping it calm, the girls get closer and grab the collar, pulling it apart, the heavy piece of metal falling to the ground. The Dragon begins running it's neck against anything and everything it can, Pacifica included. The girls realize that with the similar color schemes of Pacifica's outfit and appearance, and the dragon's scales, the Dragon thought Pacifica was family. Mabel proclaims the dragon to be named Magenta, the girls all excited that they have a dragon pet.
A stuttering voice from the forest says that that was the idea, Magenta hiding behind Pacifica as the Warlock comes into view, four bodyguards with their hands in their jackets flanking him. He says that he just got lucky in finding the dragon in an old cave, but it freaked out when they tried to tie it up. Mabel asks how he found them, Graupner explaining that the collar had a tracking device in it before telling them to hand over the dragon. Grenda moves closer, the bodyguards pulling out their weapons as Grenda threatens to sic Magenta on them. Warlock reveals that he has friends, a helicopter in the distance buzzing closer.
Quickly communicating to her friends to run for the Mansion if they can, just run if they can't, the girls and dragon take off into the forest, Warlock's bodyguards trailing behind and the helicopter quickly closing in. Two more guards in the helicopter begin shooting large tranq darts at the girls, but missing. Pacifica climbs onto Magenta's back, the girls trying to figure out how to loose the helicopter and guys chasing them.
Booms in rapid succession rock the ground, sticks of dynamite exploding the trees. Mabel realizes that, since one of the ground guards has a walkie-talkie with him, they must be helping the helicopter guys navigate, and that they want Magenta alive. Mabel tells her friends that they need to loose the ground agents by guerilla warfare while Pacifica gets Magenta to safety.
Detachment Squad Beta reverses direction as Pacifica and Magenta continue on. Between Mabel's Paths training, Grenda's wrestling skills and brute force, and Candy's mace and weaponizing a stick, they make quick work of the guards. Regrouping, Candy stumbles and passes out, the Warlock having snuck up and hit her with a tranq from behind. Grenda picks Candy up and they start running again.
Mabel glances behind her once to see Warlock casting a spell on the guards, waking them up and healing them quickly, all five men beginning to chase after her and Grenda. The girls go right around a boulder and start sliding down a hill, stumbling but not falling. They stop short when they reach the bottom and find themselves trapped in a grotto, the only way out the way they just came in, which is now blocked by the Warlock and his guards.
One of the guards uses his walkie-talkie to tell the helicopter pilot to continue chasing Pacifica and Magenta, the helicopter flying away. The Warlock tells the girls to surrender but is distracted by the helicopter pilot coming back on the line, saying Magenta is airborne and flying behind them, making shooting impossible. The helicopter flies over the grotto again, a blaze of dragon fire just missing it. The pilot has just enough time to warn that the dragon is turning around before Magenta barrels through the trees, causing everyone to scatter.
Pacifica and Magenta circle around and start to come in again, aiming for the Warlock, who is conjuring a ball of black flame. Mabel and Grenda begin to climb out of the grotto, but something explodes, sending them flying backwards. Mabel slowly stands up, ears ringing, and sees the trees in the area have been burnt, scorched or on fire, the people present knocked out cold except for Graupner, herself, and Pacifica. The latter however is dazed and has to check on Magenta, who lost part of a wing in the explosion.
She climbs out of the grotto and comes up behind the Warlock, who has realized that the combination of his black flame and Magenta's dragon fire is what caused both this explosion and the first one. Mabel gets his attention, shocking him that she is still up, but gathers himself quickly. He conjures another ball of black flame and aims at Pacifica and Magenta, counting down from five.
Barely thinking, Mabel rushes over and gets between the Warlock and Magenta, blocking his target. He launches the fireball at her, but she doesn't back down. She screams RIGHT HOOK and punches at the fireball, sending it flying into a tree stump, which it quickly devours. She and the Warlock stare for several seconds before the Warlock mentions the Paths and runs away, his guards and the helicopter trailing after him.
Pacifica calls Mabel over, running at the quickly forming bruise on her head. She mentions the fireball wrapped around Mabel's arm, but Mabel says Magenta and getting everyone to safety is the priority right now. They look to Magenta, who Mabel believes will survive but will most likely not be able to fly again. Pacifica says she will make sure Magenta is able to fly again.
Cut to six in the evening, the girls having made it back to the Mansion several hours before. In that time they tended to their injuries, got the party set up, and, after several attempts to sew on new wings, realized Magenta was allergic to latex. Stan, Dipper, Wendy and Arline are staring at Mabel in shock at her story, although Yuki says that makes sense, Zander no where to be seen as Magenta was giving him weird looks the entire time.
Stan leaves to go steal food, Mabel explaining to Dipper that Pacifica is going to keep Magenta as a pet and her family will fix her wing sooner or later. Dipper runs off to try and get Pacifica to introduce him to Magenta so he can add stuff to the Journal, but runs in the wrong direction. Mabel walks over to where Pacifica is agreeing to stop harrassing the clubs at school, Candy and Grenda hugging her before leaving to not steal food. Mabel hugs Pacifica, happy all her friends are cool with one another, before Pacifica leaves with Yuki.
Arline comes over to Mabel and tells her that she has to be more careful. She explains that the Warlock's Blackflame is an ancient spell and he must have very old sources for the magic he uses. She says that Blackflame burns anything and everything it touches, and the scars never heal. But she also says that if what Mabel told her about punching the fireball was true, Mabel manipulated fire earlier, which is impressive for an fifteen year old.
Mabel leaves to find Dipper, Arline surveying the party before the fireworks show begins. A sixth sense tells her she is being watched, and she looks up to see Zander staring at her from the balcony. He leaves as soon as their eyes meet, but Arline's suspicions have been alerted that someone the gang thinks of an ally was listening to a conversation without telling people. She then remembers what Mabel told her about Graupner getting bodyguards, a tracking collar, and a helicopter, all of which cost money. And Zander has a lot of money.
Cryptograms:
D jluo zlwk d Ylnlqj khulwdjh ulglqj d gudjrq? Qhyhu khdug ri wkdw ehiruh.
A girl with a Viking heritage riding a dragon? Never heard of that before.
Nzyvo ovzimvw uriv-kfmxs! Rg'h hfkvi vuuvxgrev! Mabel learned fire-punch! It's super effective!
