After a good night's sleep, Varian awakens early in the morning. He pats Ruddiger on the head, who is still sleeping soundly, and then slips out of the caravan without waking the others. He checks on the Rooster, which is still in good condition and working properly. He gets a drink of water, and grabs a bite to eat from the food trunk. Then he sits on the ground and leans against the caravan, enjoying the quiet peace of the morning as the sun rises.
He stares at the trail of black rocks ahead, imagining the route they are about to take. Today they will be traveling to the Great Tree, a gigantic white tree in the middle of nowhere that Adira told them is hollowed out inside. Traversing it will be the fastest way through the mountains that block their path, but something feels off about it to Varian. He can't quite put a finger on it, but he has a bad feeling about this 'Great Tree' and what it may hold in store for them. He has heard legends about it, and he doesn't like any of them.
After a while, Rapunzel and the others awaken and exit the caravan to prepare for the journey ahead. "Okay. The Great Tree is just over that ridge," Rapunzel says, pointing.
"Ya know, I gotta say," Eugene says, loading their camping supplies back into the caravan. "When we aren't fighting bad guys, running from fish people, or being turned into birds, life on the road can be pretty peaceful." He takes the princess's hand in his, and kisses it.
"Yeah, it's especially peaceful really early in the morn—" Varian begins to say. But the peace is disrupted when they hear Lance and Hook Foot arguing inside the caravan.
"Guys! Guys! Guys! What is going on?" Eugene asks, throwing the caravan door open.
"We wanna see who's gonna clean our room by playing Rock, Paper, Scissors, but he keeps tryin' to cheat!" Hook Foot yells, jabbing a finger at Lance.
Lance gasps dramatically. "Cheat? How dare you, sir! He's lying, Eugene."
"Really?!" Hook Foot shouts angrily. "Scissors always beats paper!"
"And karate chop always beats scissors!" Lance retorts.
"I figured they'd just make me clean it, like they always do..." Varian mumbles to Rapunzel and Cassandra.
Hook Foot picks up the nearest item he can find —a telescope— and chucks it at Lance. But he misses, and it soars out the door. Varian has to duck, and Cassandra has to catch it in midair before it collides with Rapunzel's face.
"Hey!" Lance yells at Hook Foot, and the two of them continue arguing.
Varian sighs exasperatedly. "So much for that peaceful morning."
"I concur," Cassandra says. She turns to Rapunzel and adds, "I'm suddenly missing last night when it was just you and me on that scouting trip."
"Yeah, some alone time must have been nice," Varian says, wishing they had brought him along.
"Speaking of last night, Raps," Cassandra continues. "That jump you and Max took..."
"Oh, you mean the jump that won us the race?" Rapunzel says with a smile, striding over to Maximus and giving him a scratch.
"It wasn't a race," Cassandra says. "But, yeah, that one. It was kind of reckless."
"Cass, you of all people should know I can handle myself pretty well out here," Rapunzel says.
"Wait, what kind of jump are we talking about?" Varian asks.
"An impossibly wide one lined with sharp black rocks," Cassandra replies.
"And you guys jumped it?" Varian says to Rapunzel and Maximus. "What were you thinking?!"
"I was thinking Max could handle it," Rapunzel says. "Come on guys, stop being so overprotective! I don't need someone to keep me safe."
Varian shakes his head as Rapunzel begins to head back inside the caravan, but he is stunned when he sees the hurt expression on Cassandra's face. What Rapunzel said seems to have really affected her. He hates to see her look so dejected, and he feels a desire to fix it. "Cass...?" He says, extending his hand to touch her arm.
Before he can say anything further, the ground begins to shake. The horses nicker nervously as it becomes apparent that something large is stomping towards them, closer and closer. They gaze up to the hill behind them, and see a strange man sitting on top of a rhino —a rhino! He also has two binturongs with him, and they growl angrily.
The gang stare fearfully at the strange man and his animals. He has dark, braided hair and eerie, green eyes. He sits atop his rhino, glaring at them menacingly. Varian is frozen in shock, unsure what to do.
"Have no fear, the peacekeeper worked his magic!" Eugene says as he strides out of the caravan, unaware of their visitors. He notices the astounded expressions on his friends' faces, and lets out a yelp when he turns around and takes in the peculiar sight.
The rhino rears up and lets out a roar, preparing to charge.
"Why are we just standing here?!" Eugene shouts. "Run!"
They all hop onto the front of the caravan as quickly as possible, Eugene having to pull Varian up as he scrambles to climb on.
The horses take off, and the man and his animals chase after them. They all speed down the road, the rhino crashing through anything in its way.
"Anyone want to take a guess as to who Rhino Man is?!" Eugene shouts.
"I am happy to hazard a guess," Shorty says, popping out of one of the windows.
"Anyone other than Shorty?" Eugene adds.
Looking behind her, Rapunzel is astonished. "Wow, a rhinoceros! Oh, I never thought I'd actually see one! I gotta say, if it weren't chasing us and our lives weren't on the line—"
"Blondie, it is and they are," Eugene reminds her.
"Uh, right!" Rapunzel says, appearing fearful again.
The rhino rams against the rear of the caravan, knocking Hook Foot out of the door. But Lance catches him just in time, and hauls him back in.
"We can't outrun it!" Varian shouts worriedly.
Up ahead, the path splits in two. "Maybe we don't have to," Rapunzel says determinedly, an idea coming to her. "I hope this works..." She glances at Eugene, and he smiles understandingly. "Ready?"
"One..." Eugene begins to count.
"Two..." Rapunzel says, as Varian braces himself. "Three!"
Rapunzel throws a lever, and the whole caravan divides in half. Eugene directs Maximus along the left path, as the girls lead Fidella along the right path, Varian sandwiched between Rapunzel and Cassandra.
Leaping onto the roof, Cassandra looks behind them and sees the Rhino Man still close on their tail. "Uh, Princess? Watch your flank."
Varian glances above, where Eugene's path has led upward and turned into a narrow ledge. And it seems that he is being attacked by the binturongs. Thinking quickly, Varian climbs (or rather, falls) into the caravan through the window. He grabs a few hiking staffs, some rope, and a large bowl from their supplies. He hastily uses the rope to tie the staffs and the bowl together, creating a rudimentary catapult. He then heads to the roof of the caravan, and uses his catapult to launch a couple of his colorful spheres up to the attacking binturongs, surprising them with alchemical blasts. They leave Eugene alone, and fall back down to their master's level.
The Rhino Man now tosses a spiky ball and chain at the lower half of the caravan. It attaches, and he climbs off his rhino and starts to walk along the chain towards them, carrying a sword. Cassandra stands at the ready, throwing whatever items she can find at him. But he just deflects them all with his sword, never losing his balance.
"None shall enter the Dark Kingdom!" He shouts.
Varian scrambles off of the roof with his catapult, and lands next to Cassandra. He uses it to propel a few more of his alchemical blasts at the Rhino Man, and succeeds in knocking the stranger off his balance. But the man only grips onto the chain, and draws himself back up.
"Keep it up kid," Cassandra says. "You've almost got him!"
Varian digs into his now-empty pockets. "I'm all out!" He says, holding his hands up.
Meanwhile up above, Eugene and Maximus have reached the end of their path. With no other choice, they flip over the edge and land upside-down on the other half of the caravan. "Hello, Blondie," Eugene says with a nervous chuckle, staring down at Rapunzel.
"Hi!" She replies eagerly.
Eugene peeks in through the caravan window at Lance and Hook Foot. "Little help out here?!"
The two of them pop out of the top of the caravan, combining their strength with Eugene's to push the top half of the caravan off of the bottom half. It flips over, and lands right-side up where it is supposed to be.
"What are we gonna do?!" Varian yells as the Rhino Man draws nearer.
Suddenly, Adira shows up seemingly out of nowhere. She slices the chain with the black rock sword, sending the Rhino Man flying into the air. But he only lands on top of the caravan with a smirk.
"Adira..." Cassandra says unenthusiastically.
"I see you've gotten yourself into another situation from which I must rescue you," Adira says, holding on to the side of the caravan. She climbs onto the roof, and points her sword at the Rhino Man. Varian can hear the clanking of their swords against each other, and their fight carries on inside and outside the caravan. Finally, Adira manages to kick the man off, but he lands on the back of his rhino, unharmed.
"You can't protect them, Adira!" The man shouts at her.
"You know this guy?" Cassandra says in surprise.
"What does he want?" Rapunzel asks as the rhino again rams into the caravan, nearly knocking it over the edge.
"Guys, if we don't do something soon we're gonna run off the cliff!" Varian says. He looks ahead and sees a wide gap in the path, with no bridge to the other side.
"If we're gonna go, we're gonna go big," Rapunzel says. She lets down her hair, and uses it to lasso Adira's sword away from her. "I need you to dig deep and put some distance between us and them," she tells the horses. "You can do it!"
The horses comply, trusting that the princess has a plan. They charge ahead, faster and faster, and Rapunzel uses Adira's sword to cut the horses' ropes as they all fall over the cliff.
Up above, the Rhino Man arrives at the cliff and stares down. He sees where the caravan crashed, but what he doesn't see is that Rapunzel has all of her friends tangled up together in her hair, and they are hanging from a stray root growing out of the side of the cliff. Satisfied that he has done his job, he turns around and leaves with all of his animals.
Varian heaves a sigh of relief as Lance remarks, "Seriously, there had to be an easier way for us to hang out together. Am I right?"