Gravity Falls: Once More

by Absolute Rift

Four years after their faithful summer of weird, Dipper and Mabel finally return to the legendary town of Gravity Falls. Despite having new adventures and mysteries to take on, they are still tailed by the challenges that come with navigating teenage life. With friends and enemies, both new and old, the Pines must prepare themselves for whatever awaits them. (Cover by pau sketches)

41. Of Love and War: Part 3

Of Love and War: Part 3

---

Over the course of the few hours since their arrival, Dipper, Mabel, and Pacifica had made their individual contributions to the assistance of the merpeople.

Mabel continued to use her naturally optimistic nature to continue bringing up the spirits of sorrowful merman and mermaids. Her words always seemed to help them, but the idea that they were coming from Mermando's supposed true love was the main reason for their effectiveness in the first place, which had yet to click with her yet. In reality, they were more enraptured by her identity than they were by her words, which truly sounded nonsensical for as uplifting as she could make them sound.

Dipper and Pacifica kept their distance from her, still not over the frustrations she had put them through earlier. Still, they contributed in their own ways. After rewiring several circuits, Dipper managed to fix the damaged radar system. And as tasked, Pacifica designed several earmuffs for Merfolk usage against the manatees' sonic blaster. She had some fashion designing experience in her past, but it had been so long that it would be false to say that crafting with rough seashells and feeble seaweed wasn't hard on her hands.

But it all got done and soon enough, the merpeople had just about everything they needed for battle.

In an open chamber beneath their hideout, several armored mermen and mermaids floated around, sharpening tridents and preparing themselves as they awaited battle orders. Dipper and Pacifica stood in the back behind all of them, simply watching over everyone as they readied up.

"Gotta say- it's crazy how these guys turned around from how they were all looking earlier," Dipper commented. "I mean, they have way more confidence about going into battle now."

"YOU READY TO GET THIS WAR?!" one merman shouted to another just beside them.

"YEAH I'M READY TO GET THIS WAR! ARE YOU READY TO GET THIS WAR?!" the other merman shouted back.

"YEAH I'M READY TO GET THIS WAR!" the first merman shouted before turning to a mermaid that was swimming past them. "HEY! ARE YOU READY TO GET THIS WAR?!"

Unamused by his behavior, the mermaid simply replied with a swift punch to the merman's gut, which he reacted to accordingly. "Grow up," she said as she continued swimming off.

The other merman stared at her in confusion while the main merman groaned in pain. "So does that mean she's ready?"

"A bit too much confidence if you ask me," Pacifica remarked as she turned back to Dipper.

"Well, hopefully, it translates well in battle," Dipper claimed. "Nice work on the earmuffs by the way."

"It better be," she struck back at him, disregarding the compliment. "I broke just about all my nails putting them together. If I wasn't trying to be a good person, I'd be suing these merpeople for the cost of replacements."

"Yeah, well, I'd say good luck trying to file a case against the supernatural," Dipper said with an eye-roll.

"Well, I'll have you as a witness anyway," Pacifica replied. "Considering you've had an intimate experience with at least one of them before."

"Okay, I thought we were done bringing that up," Dipper said with narrowed eyes.

"I promised nothing," she said smugly. "Anyway, where's Mabel? Not that I actually care, but everyone else is here except her."

Dipper sighed. "I don't know. Knowing her, she's probably letting herself get promoted from hype-girl to commander or something."

"Alright, my mer-friends!"

At that moment, Mabel popped into the chamber, riding her porpoise from earlier. Floating above everyone, eyes were drawn toward her and her new appearance. She now sported resplendent pink armor with scaly textures that covered her body, save for her forearms, and her hair was also tied back. Several parts of her armor protruded in varying patterns, which made it look just as over-the-top compared to the rest of the armor types the merpeople wore.

Still, she seemed to wear it with glee as she looked down at everyone else from above.

"WHO'S READY FOR A WAR?"

The merpeople burst out into cheers as they looked up at their potential savior.

"That's what I like to hear!" she shouted. "If you haven't gotten the memo already, my name is Mabel and I'm your commander this battle!"

"YEAH!" the Merfolk celebrated without any negative thoughts.

Dipper and Pacifica, on the other hand, stared up at her the whole time in utter shock.

"Well, that was a bit spot on, don't you think?" Pacifica asked as she looked over at Dipper.

"It was supposed to be a joke," he replied in disbelief.

"Can I get a woop-woop?" Mabel asked.

"Woop-woop!"

"Now just the boys!"

"WOOP-WOOP!"

"Now the ladies!"

"Woop-woop!"

"Now everyone again!"

"WOOP-WOOP!"

"There we go!" Mabel cheered. "Now, we have a war to attend in a few! So let's run down the plan again- we're going back to Sitnalta to rescue all those imprisoned Merfolk from the hands of the manatees! The goal is to attack hard and fast! Remember, we're NOT going there to recapture it." She then thought for a moment. "Though...if we can do that too, then yeah, go nuts. But only after we've freed the prisoners! Got it? Are there any questions?" She paused as she looked around, seeing no hands raised. "Great! Now LET'S KICK SOME MANATEE ASS!"

"YEAH!" the Merfolk cheered, raising their tridents confidently before they all began pouring out of the chamber and onwards toward battle.

"Mabel?"

Before heading out, Mabel turned back around to the call of her name to see Dipper approaching her with Pacifica lingering behind him.

"Oh, hey, Dipper!" Mabel greeted as she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Listen, I've been meaning to tell you…"

"Hold on a second...what the hell is this?" he asked, gesturing at her appearance. "You're commanding these guys into battle now?"

"Oh! Right," she realized as she looked down at her appearance. "Funny story, actually. Hermando was going over war plans with me and we passed by this room with this really pink and sparkly armor and I couldn't resist trying it on. Next thing I know, Hermando asks me something like 'So you wanna be commander then?' And so I was just like 'Sure, whatever that means.' And so now I'm a commander." She paused for a moment to let her explanation sink in before glancing down at her armor again admiringly. "But you gotta admit this armor looks so good on me."

"I won't lie, it's cute. At least compared to the armor the other merpeople are wearing," Pacifica admitted. "But there are still way too many sparkles going on."

"You bite your tongue!" Mabel shouted as she pointed her finger right in her face. "There's no such thing as 'too many sparkles.' It's perfect."

"Mabel, I'm glad you were able to cheer these guys up and all, but you understand war isn't a joke, right?" Dipper asked. "You're commanding these guys in battle. That means their lives are being put in your hands and your word. You can't treat this like a game. If you give a single wrong order, people can die."

"I know it sounds ridiculous for me to be leading these guys after only knowing them for a few hours. But trust me, Dipper, regardless of how stupid it all sounds, I know what I'm getting into. I know what's at stake," Mabel tried to assure.

Dipper hesitated. "I want to believe you, Mabel, but…"

"We don't," Pacifica filled in.

Mabel sighed. "Look, I won't pretend I don't get why you don't. As I was trying to say before, I know I haven't been the greatest person today with setting you both up and all. And I just want to say that I'm really sorry for doing that. I tried the trust of a brother and a friend and involved myself in a problem where I probably shouldn't have. You two have the right to be mad at me, especially after getting us tied into this mess. But now I'm all about cleaning up messes, so as long as we're in this together, can I at least ask for you two to help me get us out of it while doing something good for people who so desperately need it?"

Dipper looked her in the eyes, analyzing just how sincere they were. He knew his sister long enough to know when she's truly guilty, and so he knew her words at that moment were genuine. He felt something inside that said he shouldn't forgive her and that she hadn't earned it. But given their situation, he knew was in no place to drag out their feud longer than it needed to be.

"Honestly, that was all I needed," he replied with a slight smile. "So alright, you got my help."

Mabel's eyes lit up happily as she swam at him and hugged him tightly and gratefully. "Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Hey, chill," Dipper said with a slight chuckle. "We're good now but we're not back to the hugging stage just yet."

"Fair enough," Mabel accepted as she let go of him.

"Seriously?" Pacifica asked, eyes aimed at Dipper. "She's forgiven just like that? You know what she put us through today, right?"

"Of course I do," Dipper told her. "But she's right. If we're all in this mess together, we might as well try to clean it up together rather than letting her clean it all up herself."

"So what? Now we're going into battle too?" Pacifica asked, growing anxious by the thought. "But we don't even have gear like she does! And I'm not risking taking a trident poking through my jacket. It's expensive!"

Mabel grinned as an idea formed in her head. "That can be rearranged…"

---

After a brief moment, Dipper popped out from the back of the armory wearing the same armor as all the other mermen wore. While his jeans and shoes remained on, he had removed his hoodie and shirt, making for a mostly bare upper body with the exception of a hard, scaly pauldron covering his right shoulder with a metallic strap running diagonally across his chest. He also had metal cuffs around his wrists. Mabel, who awaited him outside, scanned his appearance and face of discomfort with slight amusement.

"Look at you, Merman-bro," Mabel poked. "Lack of a tail and abs aside, I think you'd fit right in with the other mermen."

"So, can we talk about just how impractical this armor actually is in the circumstance of war?" Dipper asked. "If I'm presumably supposed to have stuff thrown and shot at me, why is it a good idea to have most of my upper half completely exposed? Where's the logic in this? Oh, and cover up only one shoulder instead of two. What is this? Is this just a trope to show one's attractive attributes? Why does that matter in war?!"

"I don't know, but having been around a bunch of muscular mermen all day today, I sure ain't complaining," Mabel said with a smirk. "Anyway, Pacifica! We don't have all night!"

"I'm not wearing this!" her voice called out from the back.

"You'll look fine! Come on! It's protection!"

"I'd be better protected holding a rock in front of me than wearing this!"

"I mean, why not wear that and hold a rock in front of you?" Mabel suggested. "Eh? That's an option!"

"I'm not coming out like this."

Mabel was admittedly beginning to lose her patience. "Oh, for Pete's sake, just come out already! It's what the other mermaids wear!"

"Keep in mind, you're holding up a literal war because of this," Dipper reminded her.

"UGH! Fine!" she complied with a loud groan.

At that moment, she emerged from another back. In the same vein as Dipper wearing standard merman armor, she wore the same armor the other mermaids wore. Metal cuffs surrounded both wrists while she donned a chest plate that only covered up to the top of her stomach. Both of her shoulders were covered in comparison to Dipper's one protected shoulder, however, the rest of her arms were still exposed. Her hair was also tied back in a similar vein to Mabel's. And just like Dipper, she remained in her jeans and shoes due to the obvious lack of a mermaid tail.

"Ya see? You look great!" Mabel complimented. "And on top of that, now you have protection!"

"Who calls this protection?" Pacifica asked, eye twitching. "Literally what is protecting me if someone throws one of those forks at my gut?"

"Don't start. At least you have chest protection. And armor for BOTH shoulders," Dipper pointed out somewhat enviously.

"Worst comes to worst, you could just use Dipper as a human shield, I guess," Mabel jokingly suggested.

"Don't give her ideas. She'll actually consider it," Dipper claimed, crossing his arms.

"Look at us though!" Mabel claimed as she gestured toward all of their appearances. "We're like Atlanteans! Or Sitnalteans in this case, I guess."

While swimming beside Mabel, Dipper and Pacifica obviously showed way more vulnerability compared to her, given just how much of their skin was exposed. Perhaps it was better to have some actual plating compared to going out into battle with normal wardrobe, but their appearances didn't make either of them feel any less insecure.

"I just wanna know why your armor covers more than either of ours..." Pacifica wondered, comparing their vulnerability.

"Because it's commander armor. And obviously, commanders aren't as disposable as any ol' mermaid or merman," Mabel answered.

Pacifica clenched her fists. "Are you calling me disposable?"

Now Dipper was losing his patience. "Can we just go to this damn war already?"

"Dip's right. We need to go now!" Mabel agreed as she hopped back on her porpoise. "Those Merfolk can't go into battle without their commander!"

"Yeah, good thing you realized that fifteen minutes after letting them go off on their own," Dipper remarked as he hopped on his pre-prepared porpoise.

"Logical thinking clearly isn't her first priority," Pacifica added as she got on her own porpoise as well.

"Onwards, Lundgren!" Mabel commanded the porpoise just before launching off in the direction all the other Merfolk had swum, with her brother and frenemy following behind.

---

Catching up to the rest of the Merfolk didn't take too long for the trio. Eventually, they came to a junction between two large crevices across a distant underwater city. At the junction, the entire group of Merfolk sat, waiting.

Hermando looked up as he spotted Mabel swimming toward them. "Mabel! There you are!"

"Yeah! Sorry for the wait!" Mabel said as she halted her porpoise above them, getting off to swim down and join them. "We didn't miss anything, did we?"

"We've just been waiting on your order," Hermando told her.

"Aw! How nice of you guys!" Mabel replied as she looked around gratefully.

Hermando gave her a confused look. "Well, I mean, it's just standard war procedure and...you know what, nevermind."

Mabel then looked ahead at the distant city, which looked quiet and inactive at that point in the night. "So that's Sitnalta?"

"Yes," Hermando nodded. "As predicted, it's quiet at this time in the night. Our attack should be quite unexpected. We have the element of surprise, but they will still easily outnumber and overpower us once they get themselves together."

Mabel examined the city with intent. "Right-o, right-o. And you're waiting on my command, right?"

"Yes, the plan of attack is your call," he assured her. "However, I have a potential suggestion given what I've been able to examine. Because it's quiet, we should be able to sneak around the back of the central temple where they are likely holding the prisoners in our own prison cells. I think it would be the best method rather than going all-out and through the front door."

"I say we go all-out and through the front door!"

"Yes, that...wait...seriously?"

"Yeah!" Mabel nodded confidently. "I mean, we gotta give it our all or just give nothing at all. If we have the element of surprise, we can catch them off guard and really wam 'em, you know?"

Hermando stared at Mabel with extreme reluctance. "Mabel, you're a well-respected figure to our people, but if I'm being completely honest, this sounds like a really stupid plan."

"Well in my experience, the stupidest plans are the ones crazy enough to actually work!"

"I...err…"

Mabel turned around to two individual mermen, one holding an apparent explosive device in his hands. "Fedimando and Explosives Expert-mando, you two are in charge of getting us through those temple doors! Got it?"

"That isn't my name but okay," said the apparent explosives expert merman.

"The rest of you with me!" Mabel ordered as she swam back up to her porpoise and got on. "On my go, we charge Sitnalta as fast and as hard and as loud as we can!"

A merman looked over at Dipper in confusion. "Wait, she's not serious, is she?"

"Unfortunately for you, man, she is," Dipper replied as he put a wishful hand on his shoulder.

"On my mark!" Mabel announced, prompting the Merfolk to prepare themselves. "Ready! Set! CHARRRRRRRGE!"

Leading the charge, Mabel swam in front of the Merfolk as they all swam at the city, most of them aiming at the central temple.

"I WANNA HEAR YOU SCREAM!" Mabel commanded the Merfolk. "WAKE 'EM UP!"

Her abnormal battle commands continued to confuse the merpeople, but they still attempted to comply with her requests.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh?!" they shouted unnaturally.

Mabel's commands and tactics seemed to be eliciting the response she was aiming for, however. At that moment, several manatees began to come out into the open from various buildings. They looked down at the incoming charge and immediately began to react; particularly, the ones coming from the temple.

Several manatees readied temple defenses, such as cannons and laser blasters that were attached among the tops of temple walls. Soon enough, they began firing at the army of Merfolk. The incoming fire prompted them all to split from their massive group as to not risk them getting taken out in greater numbers.

Once they actually reached the city, it became a fight. Several mermaids and mermen engaged in individual fights with assaulting manatees. The manatees at the central temple continued to fire off their cannons and lasers, trying to pick off different merpeople. They had been largely unsuccessful so far, but of course, the battle had only just begun.

Pacifica found herself in the middle of several different crossfires as she simply tried to figure out what was going on. She rode her porpoise back into cover behind a large rock, where she also found Dipper taking cover.

"Hang on, what are we even fighting again?!" she asked him.

Dipper turned to face her, raising an eyebrow. "What?! Have you not been paying attention to anything?"

"Don't you dare start sassing me while we're the middle of merpeople crossfire!" Pacifica shouted back at him.

"They're fighting manatees!"

Her eyes bulged in shock. "What?! Seriously? How are those giant sea cows any threat to these guys?"

"I don't know! Apparently, they're ruthless killers that can build their own weapons!"

"But I've researched those things! They have no natural predators! They're harmless!"

Not too far out of view from their cover, the two spotted a merman charging a lone manatee with his trident.

"Eat this!" he shouted as he prepared to strike.

Suddenly, the manatee slapped the trident out of his hand the moment he got close enough. It then proceeded to effortlessly and violently pummel the merman in his face, stomach, and chest. The merman was beaten senselessly with very little room to fight back or even defend himself. In the progress, another merman attempted to attack the manatee from behind, only to be slapped away violently by the whip of its tail, sending him flying back. Right after, the manatee proceeded to slap the first merman with its tail downward, sending him drifting into the abyss below.

Weak and beaten, the merman accepted his fate as he fell downward. "I am slain…"

Dipper and Pacifica stared in horror by the ruthlessness of a single manatee against a merman.

"Doesn't look very harmless to me," Dipper replied to Pacifica's last remark.

At that very moment, cannon shots fired overhead from their position behind the rocks, prompting both of them to duck downward.

"Okay, maybe you're right about that," Pacifica accepted

"They must be really pissed about this whole marriage thing," Dipper claimed.

"Aye, mi familia!" Geronimando called out from one of the sidelines of the battle. "Look ahead at the front door! They're bringing out the sonic blaster!"

Dipper's eyes turned toward the front door of the temple, to which he spotted a large weapon being rolled out directly from the front of the temple. Large enough to hold multiple manatees, the thing towered as a menacing-looking machine with a large, metallic ball-shaped tip that occasionally sparked.

"Wow, they really weren't joking about their ability to make weapons," Dipper remarked.

"The earmuffs should still help though, right?" Pacifica asked.

Taking cover behind another rock in the front view of the temple entrance, Fedimando and the explosives expert merman sat watching the manatees bring out the sonic blaster. Having been tasked by Mabel to get them through the door, they watched with the wonder they'd even be able to get through at all.

"The humans have given us anti-sonic blaster gear!" the explosives expert merman reminded Fedimando, pointing toward their earmuffs. "We can take it!"

Fedimando looked up at the earmuffs for a moment before looking him in the eye with a confident smile. He nodded. "Let's get it!"

They exited cover and began charging at the sonic blaster, swimming as fast as they could. The manatees were quick to spot them, however, and immediately started charging up the blaster, which didn't take too long. In soon enough time, the blaster was charged and they fired a sonic wave directly at the two mermen with enough sonic motion to send the earmuffs flying off their heads.

Ears exposed to the ongoing wave, the mermen were stunned by the blast. They then started to spazz out in reaction to the ringing sound with every part of their bodies twitching.

The explosive-handling merman dropped his explosive in the midst of his spazzing, sending it floating away through the waters.

"It was all a lie!" he said as he twitched through the water in his stunned state. "The Northwest girl tried to sabotage us! We should've known!"

Pacifica watched as they floated off, frowning as her biggest contribution immediately caught her even more negative reception. "Aw, c'mon!"

Through all of the combat, Mabel rode her porpoise behind a rock close to Dipper and Pacifica's, getting into cover. "Well, that's a problem."

"Ya think?" Dipper asked as he looked over at her.

"Hey, I thought those ear-thingies were supposed to work!" Mabel shot back.

"Okay, maybe there was poor judgment on everyone's part, but c'mon, you led them right to their doom!" Dipper told her.

"They're capable! But as long as that thing is out blasting their hearing out, they won't be able to show it!" she claimed, gesturing toward the sonic blaster.

Out of nowhere, Hermando suddenly crashed against a rock right between the two, weakened, presumably from the sonic wave that the blaster had given off, which had weakened plenty of other merpeople within its radius.

"Hermando!" Mabel shouted worriedly as she swam to his aid.

"I'm fine," he weakly assured with a sigh. "Though, I think it's safe to say this all could've gone a lot better than it currently is."

"What do you think we do now?" Dipper asked him.

"Well, if we want to have any sort of chance, we need to get past that sonic blaster," he claimed. "It's blocking our entrance to the front door. It's also paralyzing more and more of our troops."

"It took out Ferdimando and Explosives Expert-mando too. They were in charge of getting us through," Mabel added.

At the corner of his eye, Dipper spotted the explosive device that 'Explosives Expert-mando' was preparing to use, floating by within arms reach. He snagged it in his hand and examined it. It was a single trigger charge with a button at the top. Glancing back at the sonic blaster, he formulated an idea in his head. "Maybe Pacifica and I can take over?"

Pacifica raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I mean, if that's what you're suggesting…" Mabel began slyly as she assumed the implications of his suggestion.

"Don't start again," Dipper demanded as he shot a look at her. "I'm suggesting it from a logical perspective. The sonic blaster doesn't get to us nearly as much as they do to the Merfolk. We can probably swoop in close enough to drop off the bomb and clear the entrance."

"That could work. Then again, I don't have any better ideas," Hermando admitted. "Mabel, you can gather up the other troops and command them back while they handle the blaster."

"Right," she nodded before turning back to Dipper and Pacifica. "You two do your thing. And try not to die."

"Right back at ya," Dipper returned as he watched her and Hermando swim off.

"So what's the plan then?" Pacifica asked.

"You're gonna ride around in the open, distracting the manatees and the sonic blaster," he explained. "Meanwhile, I'll speed in from around and drop off the explosive as it's set to go off by the blaster with enough time to swim away before detonation."

"Oh, fun. I'm the bait…" she dreaded.

"Just do it," Dipper said bluntly, getting on his porpoise "I won't take long."

As he rode off, Pacifica groaned as she got on her own porpoise in preparation. "Couldn't I just die wearing something prettier?

She let out a sigh before heading out into the open in front of the temple.

"Hey, thick-skins! Over here!"

Her shouting slowly grabbed the attention of several manatees stationed around the temple and on the sonic blaster. The ones stationed at cannons began firing in her direction, to which she dodged between the shots, riding the porpoise back and forth frantically.

C'mon, where is this nerd...

From an upward angle, Dipper came riding at the temple entrance swiftly with the explosive charge in hand. The manatees had not noticed him yet as they continued to maintain focus on Pacifica, who looked above to see him.

"Alright, here it goes," Dipper said to himself as he armed the explosive, which caused it to start slowly beeping and flashing a red light, indicating an ongoing timer. As soon as he activated it, however, the porpoise bounced up and started swerving around anxiously, throwing Dipper off balance momentarily. "Woah! Come on! What are you doing?"

The serving drew attention to him from the manatees on the sonic blaster. Through her dodging, Pacifica looked up again at Dipper in confusion as to what was happening. Turning back to the manatees, she noticed them beginning to aim the blaster up at him.

"Dipper! Watch out!" she cried out to him.

It was too late, however, as the blaster fired and hit Dipper and his porpoise directly. He heard an intense ringing through his ears as his entire head suddenly began to feel like it was throbbing. His porpoise reacted even less favorably, as it flung him off its back and whacked him downwards before swimming off away from the entire battle. Soon enough, he was left drifting downward into the abyss as his hearing was almost completely shot, all while maintaining a tight grip on the explosive, which began to blink progressively faster.

"DIPPER!" Pacifica shouted worriedly before redirecting herself on her porpoise and zooming down where he drifted.

Just before getting completely enveloped by the darkness of the abyss below, she managed to grab a hold of his arm as she rode past him, pulling him along with her as they went back up.

"Gotcha!"

Dipper was still disoriented from the shot, but he had enough of his senses intact to realize what was going on. He pulled on Pacifica's arm and sat behind her on the porpoise. He was grateful for her rescue, but he knew he was still holding onto the active explosive. "Thanks, but uh, I'm still holding an armed bomb here!"

"You didn't drop it?!"

"Did you not just see me get shot into an abyss a second ago?"

"I thought you had at least dropped it!" Pacifica said as she began redirecting herself, going in a circle around the temple. "How much time is left?"

"I don't know! It doesn't say!" he replied as he examined the explosive, trying to find any indicator of a timer besides the flashing light.

"Hang on!" she shouted as she began zooming directly toward the sonic blaster on the porpoise.

As time progressed, the beeping and blinking of the charge continued to grow faster, making Dipper progressively more anxious. "The beeping is getting faster!"

"I have ears too!"

"Well, we need to hurry or we're both gonna explode!"

Pacifica was growing annoyed by Dipper's continued insistence on stating the obvious. "You don't think I understand that?!"

"I'm just saying! We're running out time!"

"Give it to me then!"

"What?" Dipper questioned with a raised eyebrow.

She really didn't want to argue with him. "I said give it!" she demanded as she swiped the charge away from him.

"What're you doing?!" Dipper frantically asked as he watched her hold the explosive while controlling the porpoise.

"Making you shut up!" she snapped at him as she suddenly made a slight directional alteration to the left.

Floating through the water was a trident, presumably belonging to one of the fallen Merfolk. She rode close enough to it to where she was able to grab it. She then tucked the charge tightly in between two of the prongs as she directed the porpoise back toward the blaster. With whatever strength she had, she speared the trident directly at the sonic blaster.

The weight and guidance of the trident allowed for additional momentum in getting the charge to the sonic blaster swiftly through the water. While it didn't pierce into the blaster, it still successfully managed to reach the blaster at the front of the temple.

"C'mon!" Pacifica shouted as she pulled on the porpoise slightly, prompting it to redirect quickly away from the front of the temple.

The manatees on the sonic blaster looked down at the trident and noticed the rapidly blinking charge, to which they frantically began to flee the area, ditching the sonic blaster and nearby cannons.

BOOM!

Secured behind a rock at their starting location, Mabel had rounded up most of the Merfolk from battle. Lots of them were weakened in various ways from the sonic blasts.

Their attention was drawn back to Sitnalta and the front of the central temple. They quickly spotted the large underwater explosion at the front door. With that, there were no remains of the sonic blaster, nor the front entrance.

"The sonic blaster is destroyed!" a merman realized.

"And the front is blown open!" a mermaid added.

"Yes! Now's our chance!" Mabel nodded as she rose up above the gathered Merfolk, raising a trident. "Everyone with me! All the months of defeat and lost family members are about to crawl back onto their doorstep!"

Despite their state of weakness having not entirely cleared, they still held a strong state of confidence in themselves as they raised their own weapons in unison. "YEAH!"

Mabel pointed toward the temple. "CHARGE!"

At that moment, the entire army of merpeople launched their second strike with Mabel leading ahead of them on her porpoise, all shouting and screaming at once.

From the sidelines of the temple, Pacifica and Dipper looked on at the explosive as it cleared up from the front.

"Ha! Looks like that did the trick," Pacifica said as she turned her head back to Dipper in a slight state of exhilaration.

At that moment, he was in a state of awestruck from Pacifica's porpoise maneuvering, as well as her swift and wise thinking of using the trident to propel the charge forward. He was impressed by her abilities, which he admittedly hadn't expected from her despite having witnessed her past performance again the paranormal. Turning to face her back, he looked on with a smile of admiration as his face warmed up with a slight red, which probably wasn't the most noticeable in a sea of blue.

"Definitely made me shut up," he replied with an awkward chuckle.

Wow, did I seriously just say that? Really? he immediately thought as he began mentally punching himself.

"And blew up the doors. That's two for one: my favorite type of deal," she proudly remarked as she rode the porpoise back toward the front. "C'mon, let's meet up with the others."

They descended through the water before touching down around the front of the temple, where several Merfolk began pouring inside.

"Nice work, guys!" Mabel stated as she caught up with the two. "Really nailed a hole in this place!"

"What's next?" Dipper asked.

"I sent some other Merfolk inside to find and free the prisoners. But you two should probably go inside and give them a hand," Mabel suggested.

"And what're you gonna do?" Pacifica asked, looking around outside.

"The rest of us are going to try to surround and secure the rest of Sitnalta," Mabel claimed. "I wasn't sure about it before, but maybe there's a chance the merpeople can take it back for themselves!"

"Are you sure?" Dipper questioned skeptically. "The manatees have already shown they're no joke. We shouldn't try to push our luck here."

"I got this, Dipper. Trust me!" she assured him. "No matter what happens, I'm gonna make sure this war is solved."

"That's putting a lot of trust in you, you know…"

She glared back at him.

He sighed. "...so you better get us out of this."

She smiled before giving him a nod. "I plan on it," she said lastly before riding off.

Dipper glanced over at Pacifica, gesturing inside the temple. "C'mon, let's find these guys."

As they entered the temple, Dipper led the way down no specific path, having little to no idea of the temple layout.

"We gotta move through this place for a bit," he said. "I think they said the cells were in the back."

"I don't see why we need to 'give a hand' to the merpeople that came in here. They're warriors, aren't they? They shouldn't need any help," Pacifica said as she followed behind him.

Not a minute after she said that, the two immediately stumbled upon a room full of merpeople getting beaten up by a group of manatees.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Pacifica said with an annoyed expression.

Glancing directly across the room, Dipper's eyes set upon the entrance to the temple's prison in the back. "Look! I think that's the cellblock over there!" However, it was apparent that they needed to get across the room full of aggressive manatees if they wanted to get there. "Alright, well, we have some options: we fight our way through this room or we just look for another way to get over there."

Pacifica looked into the room and saw a knocked out merman drifting across from one end of the room to another.

"Okay, so hear me out: I have an idea you're probably going to find really dumb," she told him.

---

As the manatees continued to ruthlessly beat the merpeople in the room, Dipper and Pacifica had individually flung themselves into the room while maintaining stiff stances, as if they were pretending to have been knocked out. Their bodies appeared limp and their facial expressions were exaggerated to the point where they nearly mimicked children trying to play dead.

Dipper already thought he looked ridiculous from his merman armor alone, but he didn't think he could feel more ridiculous than he did at that moment.

"You were right," he whispered over to Pacifica "I do find this really dumb."

"Well, it's working, isn't it?" she whispered back. "Now shut up and play dead!"

As they drifted across the room, a manatee in the process of repeatedly punching a merman looked up at the two and stopped its punching. It looked on skeptically for a brief moment, but it soon dismissed them and went back to slugging the merman

Dipper and Pacifica both had the same instinct to open their eyes slightly to see where they were. Quickly realizing they were right at the prison doors, they broke out of their faked stances and proceeded to quickly shut the open doors of the cellblock, blocking them from the sight of the manatees. They both let out sighs of relief.

"I could go on about how that shouldn't have worked at all," Dipper said.

"But it did, so don't try me," Pacifica told him smugly as she crossed her arms.

The two then looked up as their attention was drawn to a bunch of murmuring. Ahead of them, they saw a single large cell holding a bunch of roughed up merpeople.

"¿Quienes son?" a merman asked, gesturing toward the two while speaking to another merman.

"No se," the merman shrugged.

"Humans? ¿Aquí?" another merman asked.

"Um...hola?" Dipper awkwardly greeted as he tried to figure out how to speak to them. "Err...soy Dipper y Pacifica…"

"You know Spanish?" Pacifica questioned.

"I just took two basic classes to meet the graduation requirement. I only remember the basics though," Dipper told her.

"Amateur," Pacifica rolled her eyes at him before floating ahead of him. "Escucha, gente de los peces! Estamos aquí para liberarte o lo que sea! Así que prepárate y rápido!"

The imprisoned merpeople all simultaneously nodded at her command and began getting themselves together, getting off from the ground and preparing themselves.

Dipper stared at Pacifica, impressed by her seemingly fluent Spanish, but just as confused as to how and why she knows. "Do I have to ask?"

"Growing up, it was important for me to learn several languages to be able to communicate with other rich powers around the world in order to talk business," she explained. "Of course, we could've paid people to translate, but it always looks better to know the language yourself. Spanish, French, German, Turkish…I could go on."

"Wow. All those languages and none of them taught you the word 'sharing,'" Dipper cracked at her, to which she responded by shooting him a dirty glare.

"Wait a moment…Dipper?"

The two glanced to the side where they spotted a lone cell holding one separate merman inside. As Dipper got a closer look at the merman in the cell, he got hit with a sense of familiarity from his familiar voice and appearance.

"Mermando?"

Mermando smiled with his familiar gap tooth smile. "Haha! I thought that was you!" he said extending his hand through the cell bars to shake Dipper's hand eagerly.

"Yeah, man, we had only known each other for like ten minutes," Dipper nodded with a light chuckle. "I wasn't sure you'd actually remember me."

"How could I forget? I have your life-saving CPR burned into my mind whether I like it or not."

Every merman and mermaid in the cell beside them suddenly burst out laughing, much to Dipper's embarrassment.

"Wait, so they do understand English? Really?" Dipper realized. "Also, why do you tell everybody about that?"

"Why wouldn't he tell everybody that?" Pacifica snickered.

Mermando's eyes drew to Pacifica, to which he gave her a distasteful look as he scanned her appearance. "And Mabel…my...you've certainly changed since we last met."

Pacifica's eyes widened. "What?! I'm not Mabel!"

"Oh, you aren't?" Mermando quickly realized. "Phew! That's a relief."

Pacifica was struck by this response. "Excuse me?"

"Well, no offense, but no beauty in the sea compares to that of Mabel," he claimed. "Or at least the memory of her. She's simply one a kind."

Pacifica's eye twitched as her mouth hung agape. "Are you trying to say that Mabel's prettier than me?"

Mermando looked at her hesitantly for a brief moment. "I was trying to lean away from saying it like that, but I mean, basically," he admitted. "The over-conditioned blonde hair is also a bit off-putting."

"OVER-CONDITIONED?!"

"Oh boy," Dipper sighed.

"I'll have you know that Mabel WISHES she could condition her hair as well as me!" Pacifica barked at him as she swam up to his cell viciously. "You have NO taste!"

"Look, this really isn't the time for this…" Dipper said as he began pulling Pacifica back away from the cell.

"Leave him for the manatees! I DARE YOU!" Pacifica shouted angrily as he pulled her aside.

"Yeah, yeah, sure thing," he said with an eye-roll before swimming back in front of Mermando.

A moment of silence ensued before Mermando finally spoke up. "She seems nice."

"Oh yeah, she's lovely," Dipper sarcastically agreed.

"So where is Mabel?"

"Outside. She's commanding the rest of your people in battle right now actually," Dipper informed.

Mermando's eyes displayed confusion. "Commanding? My people?"

"Yep. A very colorful mentality she has."

"How intriguing she is…" Mermando said stroking his chin admirably.

"And insane, but that's beside the point," he brushed off. "Look, we came to get you and your people outta here. How do we open these bars?"

"Oh! Over there!" Mermando pointed across the room. "The manatees have hidden a lever behind that painting!"

Dipper looked where he was pointing, noticing the painting to be one of an innocent cat, much to his own confusion.

"They have an underwater painting of a cat?" he asked.

"Manatees have always had a sort of worship thing for cats," Mermando explained. "It's quite strange if I'm being perfectly honest."

"Pacifica, pull the lever," he commanded her since she floated right beside the painting.

She was reluctant to assist, still heated over Mermando's comments. But nonetheless, she complied to Dipper's request.

"Over-conditioned…" she mumbled under her breath as she took the painting down and pulled the lever.

At that moment, all of the cells unlocked. The many Merfolk began pouring out of their cell, giving cheerful murmurs for their freedom. Mermando also opened his cell door and swam out.

"Agh!" he suddenly cried as he felt aches throughout his body, prompting him to settle himself against a wall.

"You alright, man?" Dipper asked as he approached him.

Mermando groaned. "It's been a rough few months. But I should be fine."

"Human, we need to get out of here right now," a merman claimed as he approached Dipper. "If I'm correct, the lever also triggers an alert directly to the Queen's district."

Dipper sighed. "Well, that might've been helpful to know beforehand."

"It's okay! We have time. Let's just make good use of it," Mermando said as he got himself together and swam toward the door. "C'mon!"

"Mermando, wait!" Dipper called out to him as he realized what he was doing. "There are manatees in that room!"

It was already too late, though, as Mermando still opened the door, gasping as he saw the mermen being beaten up at that moment. "¡Mi familia!" His eyes narrowed as he looked around at the various manatees that soon looked back at him. "You shall not hurt them further!"

Dipper tried to swim after Mermando in time to stop him but didn't make it before Mermando swam off.

"NO! MERMAND-"

Dipper cut himself off as he saw Mermando shoot himself into the room, swiftly ramming himself against every manatee, bouncing off each one into another like a pinball machine. His attacks were too fast for any manatee to retaliate. At the same time, they weren't too violent or brutal attacks in comparison to what the manatees were previously doing to the merpeople themselves. Still, they were quick and effective blows that put each manatee off-guard.

Dipper and Pacifica watched in awe as he single-handedly fought against all the manatees in the room. It was that moment that made Mermando look more like an army than the actual army of merpeople. His fighting was made even more impressive by the fact he was injured too.

"Wow…" Dipper said simply.

"Okay, but why can't literally any of the others fight like that?" Pacifica asked, more irritated by the rest of the army's lack of ability than she was impressed by Mermando's skill.

Soon enough, the manatees themselves began to flee the room rather than make further attempt to combat Mermando. His single force proved too much for them to all handle, and they began to pour out of the room in hurry.

"And stay away!" Mermando called out to the manatees as he swam a few feet after them. His anger then turned into compassion as he turned back to the injured merpeople in the room. "Mi familia..."

"Mermando…" said a weakened merman that Mermando soon came to the aid of.

"You are safe now, mi hermano. All of you are," he assured as he looked around.

"Mermando…it's a miracle...that you're still alive," a hurt mermaid said as she weakly swam up to him, gripping her bruised arm tightly.

"Yes and I'm happy to see all of you again," Mermando nodded with a smile. "But now it's time to turn this fight back around…"

"We shall fight alongside you, brother," a weakened merman said as he swam up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"No. You need to get help after what you've gone through," Mermando told him, removing his hand from his shoulder. "All of you do. The rest of us will handle the fight."

"But-"

"No buts! We will get you to safety," Mermando cut off before turning back to Dipper, Pacifica, and the previously imprisoned Merfolk. "¡Venga! ¡Ayúdalos y vete de aquí!"

The other Merfolk immediately followed orders and began helping pick up the injured and knocked out merpeople. Dipper and Pacifica awkwardly stood by for a moment, not knowing whether to or how to help out for a moment. Soon enough, they both simply swam into the room and picked up merpeople themselves to help and began following Mermando and the rest of the merpeople outside.

"Isn't Mermando a great leader?" asked the injured merman that Pacifica held over her shoulder.

"Sure, and one with terrible taste in hair," Pacifica said, still holding her grudge.

---

In the main palace of Sitnalta, the Queen of the Manatees stood watching over a bunch of manatees at various computer stations. On monitors, they were examining the ongoing war through apparent cameras stationed around the kingdom. The queen appeared anxious as she looked at the monitors, unsure what was at stake.

(What's happening?) she communicated with the manatees through various noises.

(We're being raided. They're also being led by a human.) the manatee communicated back to her.

(A human?!) the queen asked, shocked.

(And there are two other humans inside as well! They've freed the prisoners! Including Mermando!)

Now incredibly distraught, the queen proceeded to let out a vehement screech in reaction. The manatees fearfully backed up from her as she did so. As she settled down, she glanced back down at them.

(Don't let Mermando have an easy escape! Prepare the emergency defenses!) she commanded them.

The manatees nodded, with one swimming out of its station toward a middle station. It pressed various buttons on a keyboard, prompting a red button to raise up from the floor. Swimming over to it, it placed its hand firmly on the red button, pressing down.

---

Mermando continued to lead Dipper, Pacifica, and the other merpeople through the temple, still tightly holding onto injured mermen and mermaids. Eventually, Mermando increased his speed as he caught sight of the blown-up front entrance of the temple.

"There's the exit!" he called back to the others. "Let's get these people to safety and then we can start making our comeba- oh no."

Stopping at the front entrance, everyone looked up and around as the surrounding waters were full of manatees armed with various firearms and other weapons. Other Merfolk were also spotted surrendering while being held in small, helpless groups as they were guarded by other armed manatees.

"Oh boy," Mermando said to himself, losing confidence the more he looked around.

"Maybe we can find another way out through the temple!" Dipper quickly suggested.

Just as they turned around, the entire group were met by another dispatch of armored manatees, which quickly began to push them out from the temple as they forcefully swam up to them with spears in hand that they pointed directly at them.

"Or not…" Dipper realized.

"Well, my English isn't quite perfect, but I believe on the surface, you humans refer to this as being 'screwed,' Mermando said as he looked over at Dipper.

"Something like that," Pacifica replied.

"Mermando!"

Mermando looked up to the side where he thought he heard his voice being called out. His eyes suddenly laid upon his own family; his mom, dad, and little brother; all grouped up and surrounded by manatees. Despite their situation, they all looked overjoyed to see Mermando still alive.

"Mermando!" Claudimando shouted at him happily.

"¡Mi hijo!" Amanda shouted tearfully.

As happy as Mermando was to see them all, he was simultaneously crushed to see them caught by the manatees like everyone else. "¡Mamá! ¡Papá! ¡Diegomando! No!"

"We're okay, Mermando!" Claudimando assured him.

"We're just happy to see you again!" Amanda nodded. "We missed you!"

Mermando was still upset by their capture, but still, he looked on at them with an emotional smile. "I missed you too…"

As Dipper looked around at all the captured merpeople, he started to grow his own concern. "Wait, where's Mabel?"

"Right here!"

Looking up, they soon spotted Mabel being held by a pair of armored manatees that soon swam above the group by the temple entrance.

Mermando's eyes lit up as he looked up at her. "Mabel?"

"Mermando!" Mabel said happily as he spotted him. "I'd normally wave or greet you properly but as you can see, my hands are kinda tied here. Literally. But hey, good to see you again!"

"Mabel, you promised you'd get us out of this!" Dipper intercepted their distant reunion.

"And I'm still sticking to that promise!" she assured him. "I'm trying to at least."

"Yeah, and how's that going?" Pacifica asked in an annoyed tone.

Mabel glanced between the two manatees holding her captive. "Could be better, honestly."

Suddenly, there was a high-pitched, gurgly squeaking in the form of an apparent laugh that neared the scene. As everyone turned, they soon saw the Queen of the Manatees approach Mabel.

(Haha! You tried to free your merfriends and take back your kingdom, but failed!) she said as she glanced back and forth between Mabel, Dipper, and Pacifica.

Her speech took the form of continued squeaks that were incomprehensible by those she was speaking to. Dipper and Pacifica's eyes simply glanced around in confusion.

"Is she talking to us right now?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, but she's just giving the standard evil monologue," Mermando quietly answered. "You're not missing anything."

The Queen then proceeded to swim up to Mermando. (Even with help from the humans, you still can't be saved, Mermando. And this time, your kind have made the foolish mistake of coming back to Sitnalta head on. And it'll be the last mistake they ever make.)

His eyes bulged. "No! Don't kill them!"

(Oh, they won't be killed. We'll just keep them in the jails with intense security forever. Maybe enslave them. However, we could end all of this if you just agree to our marriage.)

"Never!" he refused with narrowed eyes. "I'm not your love. I never have and never will."

(So be it.) the Queen shrugged. (Perhaps a more focused sonic torture will change your mind.)

"Why though?" Mabel suddenly jumped in.

Everybody turned to look at her at that moment, including the Queen, who began to approach her curiously.

(I beg your pardon?)

"Why do this?" Mabel asked her. "Do you have no morals?"

(Get over yourself about morals. You're nothing but a young, stupid human. Get over yourself.) she brushed her off as she turned away.

"No, I won't get over myself!"

Surprised, the queen slowly turned back toward her again. (You can...understand me?)

"You're darn right I can understand you!" Mabel nodded. "And I may be a stupid teenager, but the thing about us stupid teenagers is that we learn from our stupidity. We learn from our mistakes! I've made many mistakes today. Especially when it comes to love. And I've learned enough from them to tell you that what you're doing is wrong."

It was at that very minute that Mabel had the attention of every surrounding merman, mermaid, and manatee, as well as Dipper and Pacifica. All surprised at her apparent ability to understand and communicate with the manatee queen, they watched on intently at their dispute.

"Love isn't something you force," Mabel continued. "It isn't defined by arranged weddings or even blind dates that are unknowingly arranged."

Her nod toward Dipper and Pacifica prompted the two to smile and momentarily glance at one another.

"Love builds on its own. It takes its own course and plays by its own rules. You can't control it. But it can control you. It makes you do crazy things, and I know from experience. Whether it's for yourself or for others, you just can't force love to happen. Mermando doesn't love you. But here you are trying to force him into marrying you. That's not what love is. You don't start a war for love. Love is its own war. And it's a battle that can only be won together, not apart. And in the case of you and Mermando, you couldn't be farther apart."

Mermando smiled as she spoke, enraptured in her wise words. Every surrounding merman and mermaid were also delighted by her speech, looking on at her fondly.

On the other hand, the queen only had confused looks to give Mabel. (What is this about love? I don't wanna marry Mermando for love. The marriage is so the manatees have free access to Sitnalta and a piece of the family fortune.)

"WHAT?!" shouted just about every surrounding merperson in utter shock.

"WHAAAT…okay, no, I'm not gonna lie, I don't understand a thing you say. I've just been taking shots in the dark this whole time," Mabel suddenly came clean at that moment, realizing the queen had said something pivotal that she couldn't interpret differently. "It seemed pretty convincing though, didn't it?"

Claudimando's eye twitched angrily. "This marriage...this war...WAS ALL FOR OUR FORTUNE?!"

"Oh...is that the reason?" Mabel questioned as she turned back to the queen. "Then I'll proceed with my reaction. Ehem...WHAAAAAAT?!"

While all of the merpeople grew furious by this sudden revelation, Amanda was the one who was fuming the most. "¡Voy a destruir a estos bastardos por llevarme a mi hijo por todo esto!"

Suddenly, she struck the manatee guards that surrounded her and her family with her tail, sending them floating away through the water. She then snatched one of the spears they held before charging after the queen directly, who let out a loud, fearful screech before being tackled.

Immediately after, the rest of the merpeople entered a state of frenzy and began combatting the other surrounding manatees as well. Even the injured manatees in Mermando's group suddenly began rising up and rejoining the battle in a fit of anger.

Within moments, another large battle between the merpeople and manatees ensued. However, in their group rage, the Merfolk easily overpowered the manatees in ways they weren't able to before.

Mermando held himself back from battle and instead grabbed Dipper and Pacifica by their arms and pulled them along with him as he tried to swim to safety. "C'mon!"

As they pulled away from the fighting and settled behind a set of large rocks on the sidelines of Sitnalta, Mabel soon caught up with them.

"Well, that surely escalated, didn't it?" she said as she got into cover with them.

As she grouped with them, Mermando remained stunned to see her again as he approached her. "Mabel...it's been so long. And I have to say, I can't say I expected to see you again wearing our commander's armor. But you still look stunning nonetheless."

"Seriously?!" Pacifica complained, growing irked by his taste again. "It's cute, but not that cute! She looks like a pink, scaly disco ball! For as much as I hate this armor, it shows my tan way more than that does on her!"

"Just leave it…" Dipper told her off annoyedly.

"Aww...Mermando…" Mabel said, flattered. "Honestly, this armor has provided me more trouble than anything else, but I'll still take the compliment."

"Mermando…"

Mermando's eyes glanced behind Mabel to see his parents and his little brother approach him at that moment. Turning behind herself, Mabel saw his family and proceeded to swim aside for them to properly reunite.

"Father…" Mermando said as he slowly approached him and his family.

Amanda began tearing up again. "Aye, Mermando…"

They all then shared a group hug, finally reunited after several months of being apart. To each of them, it was a moment they thought they would never get to have again.

"It's been too long," Amanda said as she stroked her son's hair with her hand.

"It has," he agreed. "What happened to the queen?"

"Don't worry about it," Amanda assured him with a smile. "Let's just say no manatee is getting anything from us."

"Now, the mother I like," Pacifica said, relating to Amanda's style.

"Mermando! Cuz" Hermando shouted as he suddenly swam into the scene.

"Hermando!" Mermando greeted as he gladly grabbed and shook his cousin's hand.

"Good to see you again, cousin," Hermando greeted back. "It's been rough without you around. But luckily, I came across the humans on a scouting run. Nearly killed Mabel's brother, but fortunately, she stopped me and I was able to bring her back to turn this war around. Low and behold."

This info brought even more shock to Mermando, who already struggled to comprehend the events of the situation as they were. "Incredible. Thank you, Hermando. You never were one to let the family down."

"Of course, cuz," Hermando nodded.

"I think we have things handled here," Claudimando claimed as he put a hand on Mermando's shoulder. "Perhaps we could go catch up over a swim with the dolphins by the reef?"

Mermando's instinct was to turn back toward the Mabel and the others, who simply stood back and let the family interact as they did. "What do you think? Would you like to join us?"

"As much as I'd love to, we should probably be heading back home about now," Mabel replied. "We still have our own families to go back to."

"Then I'll take you all back," he insisted.

"Oh, you don't have you do that!" Mabel shook her head. "You have a family to catch up with!"

"You're right, but while it may have been months since I last saw them, it's been years since I saw you," he reminded her. "I must have some time to spend with you before going separate ways again."

"Haha, well, if you insist," she chuckled.

"Thank you, Mabel," Claudimando said as she swam up to her and shook her hand. "You're an absolutely terrible commander, but if it wasn't for you, we'd likely have still been sitting around in our hideout instead of being reunited with our son."

"Yes, thank you, Mabel," Amanda nodded in agreement. "You, your brother, and your blonde friend. Especially her, considering she's…"

"A Northwest," Pacifica finished with an annoyed eye-roll, crossing her arms. "Yeah, yeah, I know…"

"Hey, we're just here to help," Mabel claimed. "It was nice meeting you guys. And thank you, Hermando, for not killing my brother."

"Yeah, much appreciated, man," Dipper nodded with a smile.

"It was a pleasure to be stopped," Hermando lightly chuckled. "Come back and see us again soon."

"I don't know how soon, but will do!" Mabel assured them. She then looked down at Mermando's little brother, who still hadn't said a word yet continued to smile up at her. "And take care, Diegomando. Be good to your family. And definitely, don't look for a job in matchmaking in the future. It probably wouldn't look good in the family."

Diegomando nodded while letting out a chuckle as she playfully rubbed the top of his head. As she turned beside her, she noticed her porpoise, Lundgren, looking directly at her. Looking him in the eye, a wave of sadness suddenly overcame her.

"And Lundgren...I'll miss you most of all," Mabel said as she hugged him sorrowfully.

Dipper gave her a weird look. "Uh, Mabel, you know we're still gonna need to ride back home, right?"

Her eyes suddenly opened as she came to the realization. "Oh, right."

---

It took about another half hour ride for the trio to travel from the Pacific Ocean all the way back to Lake Gravity Falls. Rather than separate porpoises, however, they all rode on Lundgren while being guided by Mermando, which made for a slightly more uncomfortable experience. However, before going back, the three had made sure to change back into their normal outfits, returning all their merpeople armor, which provided them some relief, at least to Dipper and Pacifica.

Upon arriving back to Lake Gravity Falls, the three all stepped off Lundgren and placed their feet on the ground as they trudged above the shallow waters. Walking on land for the first time after several hours wasn't as pleasing as one might expect, as their calves were unbearably sore, and they all felt it after the first step.

Mermando made sure to undo Hermando's earlier effects and removed their gills as they emerged from the water, reverting them back to normal, air-breathing humans.

Pacifica took a deep breath as her head poked out from the water, dropping to her hands and knees as she adjusted to being on land again. "Never thought I'd say this in my life, but god, how I've missed air," she said as she felt her neck, assuring that her gills were gone. "I'll never take it for granted again. No more breathing like a fish for me."

Mabel felt her own neck somewhat glumly. "Aw, I actually liked having gills."

Dipper threw himself onto the ground, facing upwards toward the sky as he tried to fight his motion sickness from the porpoise ride. "You're literally the only one."

"Oh well," she shrugged before turning back to Lundgren and stroking his head gently. "I guess it's officially goodbye to Lundgren this time. He's served me well today."

"And you won't have to fear for his safety," Mermando said as he patted Lundgren's back. "He will be quite safe with us back in Sitnalta once we get it under control from the manatees again."

"So, is that it then?" Dipper asked as he sat himself up, holding onto his head. "Is the war over?"

"War's don't end just like that," Mermando shook his head. "But, once the heat settles down, there will be negotiations to end things officially. However, the manatee population may or may not reach endangered status by the time it's truly over.".

"I still can't get over how malicious manatees actually are," Pacifica admitted. "I thought they were sweet, gentle things. Now I know they're just playing it up so they can steal my purse."

"Yeah, but at least now you're free!" Mabel said as she turned back to Mermando with uplifting spirit. "No arranged wedding or being locked behind bars or anything! You're free again. You can be with your family and friends and even meet and be with someone that you truly want to be with!"

"Yes. I can," Mermando nodded with a nervous smile. "That brings me here, Mabel." He then swam up to her and grabbed her hand with both of his. "To you."

She looked down at him with a look of confusion as she made no effort to retract her hand.

"...whaaa…?"

"I won't deny that perhaps this is wrong, but ever since we last parted ways, I haven't stopped thinking of you, Mabel," he admitted. "Your confidence, your kindness, your smile, your laugh, I had never forgotten any of it. And when we kissed, I never felt the same inside. I know we were just kids then, but when the arranged marriage was being discussed and planned, all I wanted was to see you again. It might be odd to hear, but getting stuck in that pool four years ago may have been the best thing to happen to me...because it's where I met you."

Dipper stood beside Pacifica behind Mabel, watching the conversation go on. Based on his interactions with Mermando earlier and his initial predictions for their involvement with the merpeople, Dipper had a suspecting feeling that things would take their current turn. But still, he dreaded the moment all the same.

"Oh...god...dammit…" he said under his breath as he reacted with a facepalm.

"I understand it's been years but my feelings remain the same," Mermando continued. "And I know so even more now that I've finally seen you again. And so, perhaps, if there's still a chance for us…"

Mabel knew she had numerous past experiences with boys under her belt. However, none of them had prepared her for what she was currently facing. Mermando's confession was an honest shock to her and one she didn't expect. With four years since their last interaction, she had figured he had moved on the same way she had. But considering her hand was currently being held in his, that clearly wasn't the case.

Mabel Pines. Mi hijo's true love? Amanda's earlier voice rang through her head.

It slowly began to make sense to her. The numerous family interactions and the reception she had amongst the general merpeople population. Mermando's talk of her had led them all to believe she was his true love. That his devotion to her was one and only. That it was reciprocated.

And maybe it was four years ago. But it wasn't anymore.

Despite her racing mind, Mabel slowly pulled her hand away from Mermando. The action on its own started to spawn a frown on his face.

"I'm...I'm sorry, Mermando...but I can't…" Mabel told him with guilty eyes. "It's been four years and...I've already moved on long ago. And...I'm already seeing someone else."

Mermando could swear that her last sentence gave him physical pain in his chest for a split second. Nonetheless, he processed this quickly without dwelling on it too long.

"I see."

Mabel's guilt was so intense that she could feel herself growing heartbroken for him. "I'm so sorry that it had to be this way. Really. But...I didn't know you'd still feel this way after all this time."

"No, I understand. I do," Mermando said as he turned away from her, beginning to further swim out into the water. He let out a sigh and looked back at her over his shoulder with a poignant smile. "Either way, it was wonderful to see you again. And no matter what, I will always treasure the time we spent together in my hearts." He placed his hand over his chest in gesture. "Thank you all for your help for one last time."

He proceeded to dive underwater, swimming off, leaving a trail of ripples behind. Lundgren soon followed behind, also diving underwater with him. Mabel was left staring out at the lake as she struggled to process everything.

After watching the entire exchange, Dipper and Pacifica both felt bad for what Mabel had just endured. Regardless, Pacifica couldn't help feeling confused for a moment.

"Did he say in his hearts?" Pacifica asked, whispering over to Dipper.

Dipper dismissed her question and simply walked up to his sister, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Mabel, are you okay?"

Mabel gently pushed his hand off her shoulder, not particularly in the mood for physical comfort. She then let out a sigh. "I don't know."

"I'm sorry, Mabel," he said softly. "I know how much he used to mean to you. I can't imagine how much it must sting to have to go through something like that."

She shrugged lightly as she turned back toward the two. "I'll be fine. If anything, I should be the one apologizing again for trying to force you two together. I think I've learned more about love today than I ever have in any of my past relationships or any of my past matchmaking attempts for that matter," she admitted as she rubbed her shoulder. "And...it really isn't simple. I shouldn't have let my extreme matchmaking tendencies make me meddle in anyone's love lives, especially the ones of my best bro and my best frenemy. I should've been more respectful of both of your feelings. I need to be more respectful of everyone's feelings."

Dipper smiled forgivingly. "Well, if it means anything, I think the fact that you're able to realize that is already way more respectful than before."

"Yeah, and I mean, besides all of that, at least we got a kind-of-cool deep sea adventure out of everything in the end," Pacifica admitted. "You can't buy that with a credit card." She thought for a moment. "Actually, you probably can, but they're not as authentic."

"Yeah!" Dipper agreed. "I mean, there were several points where we could've died in the process, but it's not like today was all bad. We're basically underwater veterans now. Spiritually, I suppose. It's not like we got official badges or anything."

"Of course you'd be willing to settle for a spiritual badge of honor," Pacifica said with an eye-roll.

"Heh. That's alright," Mabel chuckled lightly. "You guys have a point. Today was fun. I mean, I was a war commander! Not a very good one, but it still counts!"

"You see? There you go! " Dipper nodded.

Despite looking at things optimistically, Mabel struggled to not feel bad for everything. "This whole thing is still gonna eat me up inside for a while though. I just feel so guilty."

"I mean, sure. You will," Dipper assured her. "And that's okay. Let those feelings run their course. In time, you'll probably be over this whole thing like it never happened."

Mabel glanced at the lake before looking back at Dipper with a smile. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Aaaaand just to be sure, this isn't gonna turn into one of those things where you gain your feelings back for Mermando and that leads to problems between you and Ryland, right?" Dipper asked, somewhat concerned for the future.

"Nah, trust me," Mabel assured with a light chuckle at the very thought. "I've been over Mermando and I'd never betray Ryland like that. Sure, your sis is feeling a little guilty about everything, but she's still got herself in check."

"That's all I need to know," he said, relieved.

"Probably for the best anyway," Pacifica hopped in. "Who wants to smell like fish on their wedding day?"

"I wouldn't mind," Mabel admitted. "Besides, it's not like I need to be with a merman for that anyway." The response managed to get a laugh out of everyone, including Pacifica. "But thanks, guys. I don't deserve your comfort after all I've done today. But I appreciate it."

"Well, I'm stuck with you, so what choice do I have?" Dipper joked in response.

"Oh, shut up," Mabel said as she lightly punched him in the arm. "Mabel's gonna work on herself. You'll see. But first, she's gonna go back to the Shack and try to drown out her guilt with microwaved mini hot dogs."

Dipper chuckled. "Fair enough."

"Yep. I'll see you two lovebirds later."

Both Dipper and Pacifica's eyes shot wide open at her response.

"What?!" Pacifica asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Seriously?!" Dipper angrily asked.

"What have we been talking about all day?!"

"Have you learned nothing?!"

"Yeesh! Calm down! I was just kidding!" Mabel said, raising her hands up defensively as she walked off. "Yikes. Touchy subject."

The two stood together as they watched her walk off on her own down the road leading back into town.

"Your sister annoys me," Pacifica bluntly stated.

"That sounds like the understatement of the day."

"Oh, I could go on," she claimed. "But I've already complained about her enough today. I'd rather save my breath for yelling at my parents about getting me new clothes."

"Yeah, I think it'll take more than a quick wash to clean these," Dipper said as he looked down at his own salt-water soaked clothes. "But I'm sorry you kind of got dragged into all this. I told Mabel to leave it but as you know, she's persistent."

"It's whatever, honestly," she shrugged. "Least she acknowledged it. And besides, I'm actually kind of glad I got involved. I was already kind of upset coming out of another date I had earlier, but this whole ocean adventure kind of turned my whole day around. It was ridiculous, but just the right amount of ridiculous I'd say."

"Yeah, it was pretty ridiculous," Dipper agreed. "But it was cool."

"Definitely. A far better date than earlier," she said, causing Dipper's eyes to bulge. She quickly picked up on her own words and blushingly tried to correct herself. "Not that it was actually a date!"

"Yeah, yeah. I gotcha," Dipper nodded as he rubbed his neck awkwardly. "As I said, it was cool. And you actually handled things a lot better than I imagined you would. You know, for someone that doesn't involve themselves with weirdness that much."

"It's not like I'm completely inexperienced, you know," she said as she sassily crossed her arms. "Don't forget just how many times I've been involved in one of your supernatural situations before."

"I know. I'm just saying. It was a surprise."

"Well, try to have higher expectations for me in the future," she told him. "I don't come along just to be the 'in case things go wrong' girl. I'm worth more than that."

"I already feel bad for the oceanographers that have to put up with working with you later."

"Well, they can deal with it then," Pacifica carelessly shrugged. "Because unlike them, I took part in an undersea civil war. So what do they have to say talking back to a veteran?"

"Oh, right. Good luck convincing them of that, Veteran Northwest," Dipper replied in a snarky tone. "You got a war medal to show them or is it all in spirit?"

"You know, I was beginning to think this was a step up from my last date, but now I'm not so sure."

"Wait...I thought you said it wasn't a date."

Her eyes bulged as she made the realization. "Yeah, it wasn't! Why are you still bringing it up?"

"Woah, what?" Dipper asked, growing confused by her sudden hostility. "You're the one who just called it a date again!"

"That doesn't mean I meant it! It's called being ironic!"

"That's not what that means!"

"What are you? An English teacher now?"

"Wha...What does that even mean?!"

"It means you're a huge nerd."

Finishing on such a comeback couldn't have provoked a larger eye-roll than it did for Dipper. "Oh, wow...didn't see that coming."

"No. You didn't," Pacifica said with a victorious smirk as she looked at him.

It was at that moment that Dipper realized her game and that he had fallen for it. On one hand, he was annoyed, but on the other hand, he was impressed. He really had come to expect less of her, and that didn't work in his favor over their psychological exchange. Now simply impressed, he smiled back at her.

"I'll see you around, Pacifica," he said as he began walking toward the road leading back into town.

"Ciao, loser," she replied as she began walking in the opposite direction of the road.

As the two went their separate ways, Dipper glanced over his shoulder, looking back at Pacifica admiringly for a brief moment before facing forward again. As soon as he turned back, Pacifica did the same to him. As she looked ahead again, she smiled to herself as a sudden warm sensation built up inside, almost making her forget the feeling of the cold, soaked clothes that she wore as she walked out into the night.

---

Later that night at the Mystery Shack, Dipper and Mabel had cleaned up and were ready to settle in for the night. However, before going to bed, Mabel made the effort to toss away her mini diorama of the town into the trash bin, along with all her mini figures.

"There it goes," she announced as she dusted her hands off. "Twelve-year-old me's hard work all in the trash."

Watching her from his bed, Dipper was unsure how to feel about her throwing away her genuine effort, despite her good reasoning for it. "You know, Mabel, you don't have to throw it aw-"

"DIE! DIE!" she shouted as she proceeded to repeatedly jump up and down in the trash bin, crushing the diorama and breaking it apart into many pieces.

"Well, nevermind, I guess."

"It's alright, bro-bro," she assured him. "It's not like I couldn't make a new one in an hour if I wanted to anyway."

Dipper stared at her for a moment. "Do you want to make another one?"

Mabel thought over the question. "Eh, not really," she admitted. She then stomped her foot down in the bin one last time, breaking up the diorama a bit more. Deciding she had damaged it enough, she took a step out of the bin, only to trip over it with her other foot, tipping over the entire thing as she fell down to the ground.

Dipper looked on at her, unimpressed by the mess she made. "You're cleaning that up."

"It can wait until morning," she claimed before leaping into her bed and placing the covers over herself. "But yep. Goodbye matchmaking. Mabel's now on permanent retirement."

"'Good riddance,' said the world," Dipper said gratefully as he lied back in his bed.

"Aw, come on. I had my misses but I also had some hits before," she defended.

"I can't recall any at this moment, but if there were any, the amount pales greatly compared to the misses."

"Fair enough," she said before sighing. "Still, so much for trying to find you someone."

"Hey, don't give yourself a hard time about it," he told her. "For what it's worth, I honestly do appreciate you trying to help me, but I think that part of my life is just something for me to figure out myself for the most part."

"Yeah, I understand," she nodded.

Dipper glanced over at her and thought to himself momentarily. "Tell ya what. If we both reach our seventies and I'm on the verge of dying alone, I'll let you be my matchmaker again. And at that point, I'll let you use whatever method you'd like to find me a girlfriend."

Mabel's eyes lit up as she looked up at him excitedly. "Alright, deal!"

The two then reached across the room from their beds and shook hands, sealing their deal.

"Whatever method, eh?" Mabel questioned as she thought about it. "Hmm...I wonder what type of duct tape they'll have when we're seventy!"

"Okay, the more you think over it now, the more restrictions I'll put in the future."

"Fine," she said, chuckling as she lied back down in her bed. "I still can't believe I was wrong about you and Pacifica. I really thought I had it with you guys. Like, really had it this time. But I guess I was wrong. You two really just can't stand each other."

Dipper stared up at the ceiling, growing slightly uncomfortable. "I...uh...don't know if I'd go that far. I mean, she's...cool."

"Yeah, she is," she agreed as she rotated in her bed and shut her eyes. "Too cool for you now that I think about it."

"Yeah, sure," he said as he rolled his eyes at the thought. "Like I'll spend all night thinking about her and how cool she is."

"If only," she said with a yawn. "Good night, Dipmando."

"Good night, Commander," Dipper responded as he leaned over and turned off the light on top of his nightstand. He settled back in bed and closed his eyes.

He rested comfortably for a moment, laying flat on his back, but soon found himself shifting around. Lying on his side, he attempted to fall asleep but quickly found it not working for him either. Mabel was already snoring by the time he had changed to his tenth position on his bed. Eventually, he found himself lying on his bed completely backward.

He had been forcing his eyes shut the whole time, but eventually, he came to the realization that he was simply unable to fall asleep, for the same single thought wouldn't escape his mind no matter what position he slept in.

The recurring mental image of her smug smile as she looked back at him with her bright blue eyes as her lush blonde hair spread out gracefully through the open waters. The imperfections in her bangs as they slit and floated off her forehead, giving a clearer look at the entirety of her smooth, tanned face. The apparent slowing in time as she blinked, to which her eyes then seemed to look back at him coyly, though he wasn't sure. But for as simple and still as the whole moment was, he couldn't stop replaying it in his mind.

Soon enough, his eyes shot open widely, staring up at the ceiling in a sudden state of dread and horror as he knew what was happening. His mind raced with a billion thoughts all at once, and despite the fact that Mabel was literally snoring away across the room at that moment, it sounded like maniacal laughter in his head.

He knew what his feelings were, and he knew exactly what they were about to take him through again.

"Uh oh…"

---

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(Updated as of June 13th, 2020)

If I've learned anything from writing this episode, it's that you folks love Pacifica. I'm glad because I love her just as much. But yes, I understand it must have been a frustrating wait after Night at the Diner to see her again. I can assure you now that episode-wise, there won't be another gap as long as that one where she doesn't show. As I believe I've said before, her character frequency will increase in the future as time goes on. In fact, you'll be seeing her again sooner than you think.

Speaking of the future, the next episode is quite an important one. So I'd be ready for that.

Next Episode: Red Herring

Until next time!

-Absolute Rift