That night, Dipper couldn't fall asleep.
Mabel lay snoring quietly in the other bed, with the dark form of Waddles curled up at her belly. The small noises from her weren't keeping Dipper awake. Instead, he couldn't take his mind off what had happened during the day.
Images of the dragon growing uncomfortable as he spoke of Wendy flooded through his mind. If he hadn't been positive about it knowing something before, he was now. He briefly wondered if the creature was sitting outside the Shack, waiting to cause another disturbance. Maybe the animal was as lonely as he was. He remembered reading somewhere that most reptiles are solitary, but the creature seemed to like spending time with him.
He slowly ran his fingers through his hair. He still hadn't gotten another hat, but the young detective was growing used to going without it. He'd probably get another from the gift shop at some point.
Tomorrow, he vowed to himself, I am going to do some research on dragon behavior in this town.
With the promise made, the boy finally began to rest.
The next morning, however, did not start out the way he planned.
He woke with Waddles curled up inches from his face, like a giant pink cat. The young detective mumbled a few drowsy words before pushing away the pig, who hopped onto the floor and headed downstairs. He glanced at the other bed, which was empty. Mabel must have already gone to eat breakfast.
Dipper flopped out of bed and slithered across the floor, pulling on what looked like clean pair of shorts and a shirt. The morning sun shined relentlessly through the window. He grumbled and shut the curtains before realizing he had left the journal sitting on the table in the living room. Great.
Mabel, as he had guessed, was already wolfing down a bowl of cereal in the kitchen. He walked past her, offering a half-hearted wave before finally finding his old tome. As he started to walk back upstairs to start his studies, he sister waved him over to where she was sitting.
"Aw, Dip, you aren't going to spend your entire day cooped up inside reading, are you?" she asked, taking a bite of her breakfast.
"No, I'm actually going out to that internet cafe to research something," Dipper replied, shoving the book into his vest.
"Research what?"
"The behaviour and history of dragons in Gravity Falls," the young detective announced proudly. Mabel swallowed and gave him a slightly doubtful look.
"Uh, you sure you want to do that, bro?" she asked. "I mean, you've been kinda wrapped up in all this dragon biz a whole bunch lately, and, you know, don't you want to take a break?" She smiled and waved her arms around inside her sweater.
"Nah, I'm really close to a break in the case," he declined politely. "But, uh, don't worry though, because as soon as I'm done, I promise to hang out with you!"
This seemed good enough for his exuberant sister. She grinned and tousled his hair, much to his annoyance, and left to empty her bowl out in the sink. He smiled slightly after her before running upstairs and setting his journal carefully on the table next to his bed. "I'll see you later," he declared. As much faith as he had in the old book, he knew that the internet would be far more efficient for finding articles and such on what he needed.
He ran back downstairs and out the door, heading down the dirt road that led into town. The cafe was pretty close to the edge of the village, and he wasn't worried about the distance much. It wasn't like the distance to the mini golf place or anything.
He soon arrived at the cafe. There were no more than ten people there already, most of them eating bagels or simply staring out the window blankly. Dipper frowned a bit, but he really couldn't blame them for being tired. It was around eight or nine in the morning after all.
The young detective sat himself down at a computer and started his search immediately. Most of the big name newspapers didn't have anything on dragons, much less the town itself, but the Gravity Falls Gossiper had its own website. As strange and occasionally incorrect as the paper was, Dipper really didn't have any other choice than to go out and interview every last person on supernatural activity, which he admittedly had done enough of to make everyone turn away his requests. Besides, even though it wasn't the most reliable of sources, the young detective knew that every story did have a bit of truth behind it.
After what felt like roughly hours of searching, the young boy hit the jackpot.
Recent Speculation About The Existence Of Dragons Leads To New Discoveries
He could barely believe his eyes. It was perfect! He got out a pad and started frantically writing down notes.
Ever since the mysterious sighting of what seventeen eyewitnesses claim to be a dragon, somewhat of a reptile mania has swept the town of Gravity Falls. Scientists are putting down work temporarily to study the possibilities, while townsfolk are keeping a twenty four hour watch on the last place the creature was supposedly sighted. Even the local tourist trap, called The Mystery Shack, has set up a series of exhibits showcasing our portrayal of dragons through the ages. However, one scientist and reptile enthusiast Dr. R. D. Morts, has made a connection between the possible existence of the animals and the unusually highly rumoured existence of magic in the area.
"Dragons have been shown to have a connection with magic since the beginning of time," Morts says. "In fact, almost every tale with a dragon contains magic as well. This leads me to believe that there is some sort of system for creating dragons that does not involve ordinary reproduction, specifically, a type of curse."
This guy is full of it, Dipper thought to himself, amused, though not stopping his messy scribbling.
"I believe that perhaps since there aren't enough dragons for an official species, but yet they have been around for centuries, that they don't have any kind of reproduction at all. According to legend, they live as solitary predators for most of their lives. They are powerful, but overwhelmingly alone. Does that sound like a punishment to you? It sure would have to those in the medieval ages. I believe that magicians back then created some sort of protocol, or equation, to bring dragons into existence, and we have just forgotten it. It still happens occasionally by accident, explaining why they are so rare."
Mort's theories are strongly supported by a local cryptozoologist by the name of Dr. S. Ashers, who has spent most of his life studying the behavior and possible existence of Oregon's famed mythical beasts. He believes in a similar theory, but not an identical one.
"Dragons are shown to have very human like emotions, especially ones found in more urban areas," says Ashers. "Strangely, sometimes dragons will show up abruptly after the unexplained disappearance of a human. The connection is too strong to deny - dragons must actually be humans, cursed to remain in reptilian form by either spiritual force or amataur magician. As a matter of fact, my studies show that there is a one out of five chance of a dragon appearing for no reason, not connected to anything particular."
These theories are strongly supported by the newly forming cryptozoologist community of Gravity Falls. However, without concrete evidence, the police department refuses to take part in any investigations of previous disappearances of humans by studying the possible existence of dragons in the area.
Dipper's heart was beating at what felt like a million thumbs per second. His pad was covered in hasty notes. Everything added up. The humanism emotions of the dragon, the obvious concern about Wendy, the rescuing of him when he was injured - the animal had to be a cursed human!
He logged out of the computer and ran out of the cafe at full tilt. A few of the older customers groaned and glared at him, but he didn't slow his pace. He hadn't been so excited in weeks. If he could somehow cure the person, they could tell him what they knew about Wendy!
The young detective sped across a road, annoying a truck driver and scaring a stray dog. He could see the trail leading up to the Mystery Shack ahead, and increased the speed of his sprint. He was growing winded now, but the pure adrenaline pumping through his veins kept him upright and running. The young boy crossed the final sidewalk and shot up the dirt road at speeds that would make a cheetah jealous.
He burst through the front door, startling his sister and making Grunkle Stan look up from his current TV show. "Break in the case!" he shouted breathlessly to Mabel, flailing his arms as he ran up the stairs. Cure. Cure. He needed to find a cure. He was going to find a cure.
As soon as he reached his room, however, his wimpy little body decided to let him know just how realistically painful it was to sprint half a mile. He slowed to a halt in front of his bed, adrenaline still buzzing through him faintly, and began to feel the enormous fatigue settling in.
Dipper slumped onto his mattress, exhausted beyond physical belief. He rubbed his face against his pillow and couldn't help but fantasize how good it would feel to just fall back asleep for a few hours. He dropped his notes onto the table and cuddled up into his cot, snugging beneath the covers…
"Dipper! What'd you find?"
He looked up to see Mabel's grinning face and snapped back into reality. Hastily pushing back his bedsheets, the young detective grabbed his pad of notes and excitedly began to explain.
"You know the dragon? It might not be a dragon at all! Apparently some cryptozoologists think that dragons are actually cursed human beings!" he exclaimed, pointing to a few notes on the top of his paper. "I mean, this is so awesome! If I can find a cure, maybe the person can tell me what they know about Wendy!"
"Or, you know, you can cure them so that they can be humans again," Mabel laughed. "Dip, that's great!"
"I know!" he nearly squealed. "Ok, I need to find a cure as fast as I can. If there were a cure on the internet, I think I would have found it, so that leaves…" He considered his options for a moment before he and his sister shouted out the answer at the exact same time. "The journal!"
"Jinx!" his sister shouted, bopping him on the nose before grabbing the old tome and thrusting it into his hands. "Come on, bro, if it's anywhere, it's in there!"
Dipper nodded and started flipping through the pages wildly. "Gnomes, floating eyeballs, mysterious portal-thingy…" he mumbled under his breath. "Bill, magic crystals, weird mushroom- yes! I think I found something!"
He got into a comfortable sitting position on his bed and started reading aloud. Mabel climbed up and settled next to him, peering over his shoulder as he retold the mysterious page.
"Dragons!" he said excitedly. His face abruptly became a confused one. "Wait, I should have been looking in the journal all along… What a waste of time that was…"
"Just read it," Mabel insisted, leaning against his shoulder.
Dipper cleared his throat. "Previously believed to be no more than an unusual myth," he began to relay, "it turns out that dragons do indeed exist in Gravity Falls in a higher concentration than any other place in the world. According to my studies, this is due to the strangely high quantity of magic, causing more unfortunate wildlife and even occasionally humans to be morphed into them either by curse or accident." He stopped reading for a moment and scratched his chin. "At least we know that's true…
"What makes them so hard to study is that they keep the traits of whatever creature was changed into them, which are most often squirrels and deer. More often than not the traits make them elusive and highly frightened of humans, except in the case that the dragon is a human itself. Unfortunately, because of the townsfolk's fear of the predators, humans looking to reunite themselves with their families are often," the young detective gulped, "shot."
"That's terrible!" Mabel cried. "I mean, what if you were turned into a dragon, and when you tried to go home, your own dad chased you away with a pitchfork?"
"No kidding," Dipper replied. "Ugh, there's nothing in here about a cure…"
"Did you try using the blacklight yet?" Mabel suggested. She was now nearly as excited as he was. Clearly, he hadn't been the only one itching to know what was up with the strange reptile that plagued their home, even if he had been the only one to go looking for it on purpose.
"No, I didn't," the young detective replied. "That's actually a great idea, though. Can you get the lights?"
Mabel nodded and ran over to the door, closing it and switching the already dim bulb on the ceiling off. While she was accomplishing this, Dipper reached under his bed and pulled out a small handheld blacklight, which he switched on and shined on the page he was currently studying. Mabel trotted back to the bed and made herself comfortable as her brother found what he was looking for.
"Of course!" he shouted, nearly dropping the book. His sister, now more eager than ever, poked him hard. "Ow! Ok, ok, I'm reading!
"Any average creature either cursed into a dragon or simply turned into one by a spiritual product of the forest can be easily cured with a simple recipe. However, this will not work to revert an actual dragon into another form, or to break a curse made by particularly powerful race such as fairies or witches." Dipper grinned. "Ok, we need lemon juice, rosemary, lavender, and-" The boy suddenly winced. "The blood of a doe?"
"I don't want to hurt a deer," Mabel fretted. "Do we really have to hurt a deer? They're so cute!"
"Well, I guess we could always try to get some from roadkill," Dipper winced. "That's going to be gross."
"We have to do it, Dip!" Mabel exclaimed. "For the dragon person!"
The boy groaned. "Ok, I'll keep an eye out for any deer carcasses," he gave in. "We won't hurt any deer."
Mabel grinned at him and poked him in the side, provoking a yelp of discomfort from her brother. He gave her a good-natured smile before hopping off his bed. "This is going to be great! Mystery twins!" the young artist shouted, following him.
"You think we should ask around and see if anybody else wants to help?" Dipper asked, sliding the book into his vest. Mabel shook her head before seemingly reconsidering the decision.
"Soos might want to help," she mused, stopping briefly to scratch her head. "I mean, he likes mystery stuff."
"Alright, I'll ask Soos," Dipper mentally added to his list of things to do. "And I'll go out and try to get proof of the dragon being an actual human."
He grinned at his sister, who eagerly returned the gesture. "We can do this!"