It's been... a while. In my defense, this summer has been hell for me. I could barely get anything done, much less an entire chapter.

That being said, we're here now. I hope you enjoy!

"You know," Stan mused, "Now that I know who I am again and all, there's something that really needs to be done before the summer is over."

"Oh?" Ochako looked up from the book she was reading. "What's that?"

Stan grinned, looking particularly vicious. "A special road trip. Or rather, a special revenge trip." He pulled out a small map, and Ochako set down her book to look it over, the other three gathering around. "Every year, my tourist trap competitors prank the Mystery Shack. Last year, one of them duct-taped Soos to the ceiling."

"That was a fun seventy-eight hours!" Soos called out, from another room.

Shouto narrowed his eyes at this new information. "So we're pranking them back then, right?"

"You got it!" Stan took out a red marker and circled a few of the spots along the main road the map featured. "I figure, we saved the whole world, didn't we? What better way to celebrate than messing up a few petty competitors?"

Izuku frowned. "What if they try and prank the Mystery Shack back while we're gone?"

Stan motioned towards the vending machine. "That's where Sixer comes in. He's monitoring everything here, in case they try anything funny. Turns out he learned some pretty sadistic tricks from whatever dimensions he was in that can be used on unsuspecting would-be prankers."

"Sounds like a plan then!"

Mina put a hand in the air. "Oh, can we invite Candy, Grenda, and Pacifica? They'd probably love to come along!"

And Pacifica probably needs an excuse to get away from her parents, went unsaid. They'd all heard the news that the Northwests were selling their mansion. Pacifica had left a short message saying she was okay since then, but Ochako knew she wasn't the only one who was worried.

Stan considered this, then nodded. "As long as they sign some non-disclosure agreements, then sure, why not? The more the merrier."

"Awesome!" Mina stood up. "I'll let them know."

Ochako smiled, watching her go, as Shouto and Izuku looked over the map, Stan explaining the different tourist traps they would be targeting. After the absolute nightmare that was Weirdmaggedon, she couldn't help but cherish a quiet moment like this.

It still felt almost unreal, like she'd blink and the sky would be vomiting nightmares again. She knew she wasn't the only one who'd woken up in cold sweat for the past couple nights, thinking they were back in the apocalypse again.

But they weren't. They'd defeated Cipher. They were safe.

Maybe a road trip outside of Gravity Falls would help her actually believe it.

"And don't forget bug spray! It's perfect for spraying in the faces of hitchhikers!"

"Any hitchhiker who tries to take a ride in this rusty RV probably deserves Stan spraying them," Pacifica said dryly, as they approached the vehicle, where Soos and Stan were finishing loading everything up. "They'd have to be stupid to want to catch a ride in something this suspicious."

"Unless they're the monster trying to catch an unsuspecting driver off-guard," Shouto shot back lightly.

Pacifica smirked. "Then they'd be signing their own death warrant, considering this crazy group."

"You got that right," Stan agreed, coming over. "And speaking of warrants, please sign these non-disclosure agreements." He passed them out to Pacifica, as well as Candy and Grenda, who had arrived with her. "None of your parents are lawyers, right?"

"Nope!" Candy assured him brightly. "Just teachers."

"Not that my parents would care anyway," Pacifica scoffed, signing the agreement. Shouto winced, but followed them inside. The seven teenagers gathered in the back while Stan took the wheel and Soos took the seat next to him. Soon after, they were off.

Candy scooped up some of the travel pamphlets from the table. "You know, I've always had fun reading these. It's like getting a tiny snapshot of whatever these places thought was most important to visitors to know."

"Aren't they usually just tourist-y stuff, and not the actual important parts of the place?" Mina wondered.

"Sure, but it's still fun anyways!"

"You bet." Grenda leaned back in her seat. "This whole thing is so cool, honestly. I've never been in an RV before. It's crazy that we're sitting at a table while on a moving vehicle."

"I always wanted to go on a trip in one of these when I was a kid," Izuku admitted, watching the scenery pass them by. "I never imagined the first time I'd get to ride in one was while in another universe's Oregan, but I guess it's still one childhood dream fulfilled."

"Even if the purpose of the trip is to prank people we've never met before?" Shouto asked, amused.

Izuku laughed. "Especially then."

"Well you're in luck," Stan called out from the front of the van. "We're coming up on our first one now, and this place is run by the most black-hearted proprietor in all of Oregon."

There was a moment of silence where they watched a sign with a sweet-looking old lady on it pass by, advertising the world's biggest yarnball.

Stan seemed to notice their disbelief. "Don't let the face fool you. This woman lit my car on fire on two non-consecutive occasions."

"Old people can be vicious," Mina noted, grinning. They slowed to a stop in front of a massive yarnball, and a sweet pastel-colored house behind it, before disembarking. "Oh, that is a really big yarnball."

"Think we can go inside it?" Candy wondered. Without waiting for an answer, she slipped through the strings. The rest of them looked at each other, shrugged, and followed her.

"Huh. Guess the inside is empty," Pacifica mused, as she passed into the center of the ball. "I wonder how she keeps it in the right shape if there's nothing inside. Maybe there's some sort of wire frame?"

Izuku played with some of the strings, starting to untangle them in order to find an end. "This is a tourist trap. Makes sense that it would be fake." Unable to find an ending string, he shrugged and pulled out his dagger, cutting through one of the threads. "Alright, here we go."

They all slipped out of the yarnball, and Soos watched their back while Izuku tied the string end to the back of the RV. They hurried inside, and Stan hit the gas. Shouto watched through the window as the ball unraveled, leaving behind only the wire frame that Pacifica had guessed might be there.

There was a whistling sound, and a massive nail soared towards them, missing Soos' head by an inch. Shouto could almost visualize the comical expression that Soos would've made if it had nailed him, snorted quietly, then frowned to himself at his own black humor.

All that terror during Weirdmaggedon must've messed up what seems funny. I guess not everything from then could completely fade, even with Stan's memories back.

"Well, that was a complete success," Stan said cheerfully. "On to the next attraction!"

One upside-down house righted, and a cornfield filled with corn weevils later, and they pulled into a stop for the night at a park with pools shaped light hot-springs. While Shouto and Izuku went to get changed into swimsuits, Grenda pulled the rest of the girls into one of the separate pools.

"Girl-talk time!" She said cheerfully. "You know, in all this time you two have been here, you've never mentioned if there were any cute guys back home you had your eyes on."

"You just started this because you wanted to gush about Marius," Candy accused, but she was smiling.

Grenda shrugged, unrepentant. "Hey, we hit it off so well at the party, and he's inviting me to his home back in Austria for a week before school starts. A part of me still can't believe it's happening, you know?"

"Love works in mysterious ways," Mina agreed. Then she nudged Ochako. "Although for Ochako, I'm pretty sure it's not someone here in Gravity Falls she has her eye on. You know, someone with fluffy green hair and healing powers."

Ochako's eyes widened, and then her cheeks went red. The other girls "oooh"-ed, and she buried her face in her hands.

"Don't… don't tell him okay?" She muttered, not bothering to deny it.

"Of course not," Candy agreed. "It's up to you if you wanna tell him. But we did see you two dancing at the party. You weren't the only one blushing. Pretty sure he likes you back."

"Positive he likes you back," Mina agreed.

"...Me too," She admitted quietly. "It's just, I dunno… it's a little embarrassing…"

"Nothing to be embarrassed about," Pacifica encouraged, looking amused. "Izuku's cute and sweet. I mean, out of the two I'd personally prefer Shouto-"

"Oh, would you now?"

"-But Izuku's a great guy," She continued, clearly pretending she didn't hear Mina. "I don't see the problem."

Ochako sighed. "I guess it's just… he's one of my best friends, you know? Even if we both like each other, what if it doesn't work out? What if it makes everything awkward, and then I lose his friendship? Even if it means not getting to date him, I don't want to risk it."

"Fair enough," Mina agreed. "You don't have to tell him. But… I don't know." She thought back a few days (had it been that long? Had it been so recent?) when they were trapped by Cipher and absolutely sure they were all about to die. "The world ended, and we're still here. It can't get much worse than that, right? Why not go for something you know you want?"

Ochako laughed, the blush in her cheeks fading. "That's one way of putting it."

"Hey, whatever you choose we're with you," Grenda encouraged. "You deserve whatever happiness you want."

Ochako took a long look over to where Izuku and Shouto were chatting with Soos and Stan, and then turned back to them, beaming. "Yeah. I - I'll think about it."

"This was supposed to be a simple road trip," Izuku muttered, fiddling with the sky tram as they slowly moved down the mountain, a spider-monster the size of their RV scuttling down the wires after them. "We're not even in Gravity Falls right now. This stuff isn't supposed to happen out here."

Stan shrugged. "There's weird stuff all over the world. It's just concentrated in Gravity Falls. Actually, speaking of which, Ford and I were thinking - look out!"

The tram shook as the spider-monster slammed down on top of it, bending down to hiss at them. Mina pulled out her grappling hook and fired, breaking the glass and slamming right into the monster's face. Shouto's hand's lit up with fire, and it was flung away from their tram, barely managing to grab onto the wires a bit further down from them.

"Hey, your fire's still working how you want it to!" Mina noted idly as the monster started charging towards them once again.

Shouto shrugged. "Most of the time. It still goes wild about thirty percent of the time I use it, and I haven't been able to pull off anything to the extent of what I did in Weirdmaggedon." Still, he readied his flames again, obviously more comfortable with using them than he was before.

"I got it!" Izuku drew back from the reconfigured machinery he'd been messing with, then pulled the lever. They shot down like a bullet, slamming into the spider-monster at high speeds, knocking it far away from them, and descending rapidly towards the ground. As the end of the line became closer, the cyan glow of Ochako's power surrounded the tram, slowing their descent until they came to a neat stop at the bottom, rushing out and back towards the RV.

"Go, go, go!" Stan slammed on the breaks, and off they went.

Izuku made his way back to the table and plopped down at the booth, sighing. "Well, that one could've gone better."

Ochako sat down next to him and nudged him, smiling. "Hey, we all did pretty great! And you basically just hotwired a sky tram, which is awesome!"

Izuku allowed himself an incredulous laugh. "Yeah, I guess I did do that."

Really, it made sense that not all of their monster problems would suddenly go away now that Cipher was defeated. The world was back to its normal, strange, wonderful weirdness.

And despite the momentary fear he'd felt while it was happening, it was really nothing compared to the terror he'd experienced when the bubble's illusion broke (when he killed the fake All Might, when he saw the fake All Might splatter into a bloody mess on the ground because of him-) or when they were facing Cipher.

Would everything be like this now? Would they live their whole lives in a world where nothing could ever be as scary as that one week when they were fifteen?

Did it matter? They were still here, weren't they? Izuku was leaning up against Ochako in a booth inside a run-down RV, with his best friends, on a road trip through Oregon to prank tourist attractions. The apocalypse was over. They were all alive.

(He still dreamed he was back in the bubble. That this was all still a trap. It took watching Shouto light his flames up and seeing no illusion shatter around him to remind himself this was real. He still dreamed about killing All Might.)

They were here, and alive, and they'd be fine.

There was a shifting noise on the roof, later that night. Izuku listened to it for a moment before grabbing his dagger from under his pillow and making his way outside.

It wasn't a monster. It was Ochako, sitting on the roof of the RV and looking up at the stars. There was a moment where Izuku just watched her watching the sky, heart fluttering slightly in his chest, before he shook his head and climbed up next to her.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked softly. She turned to him and beamed.

"Not at all." Izuku smiled back and sat down next to her, swinging his legs over the side of the RV and looking upwards. The park they were staying at was deep enough into the woods that there was barely any light pollution. It seemed like the entire galaxy was visible tonight.

"Can't sleep?" Ochako finally asked him.

Izuku nodded. "Bad dreams again." He didn't need to elaborate. Ochako knew what he meant.

"Me too," she admitted. "I keep thinking about this one moment in the bubble when we were escaping, and I slammed the fake Iida into the ceiling, and then he just… fell to the floor. Like a ragdoll. And we went through so many other terrible things, so I'm not sure why it's that moment that's sticking with me, but it is."

"It was the first time we'd seen Iida in months," Izuku said quietly. "Even if it wasn't really him."

He wouldn't trade Mina or Shouto for the world, and he wouldn't want to subject Iida to the things they'd been through… but Iida had been one of his first friends at UA, alongside Ochako, and he missed him. Him and All Might and…

…Cipher's bubble hurt.

Ochako nodded, fingers lacing together with his. She squeezed his hand tightly. "We'll see him again. The real him. No matter how long it takes, it'll definitely happen."

"Right," Izuku agreed. "We beat Cipher. We can definitely make it back home."

"Maybe we can figure out a way to safely keep a portal open between our worlds while we're at it," Ochako added, clearly only half-joking. "Then we won't have to give up everything we've got here in order to get back everything at home."

"That would really be the best case scenario." Who knew? Maybe it was possible. If it was, Izuku wanted to figure out how. "Then we could introduce everyone here to everyone back home. Although, well, I'm not sure if All Might and Stan would get along well at first. Or Stan and Aizawa… or Stan and anyone. But maybe once we explained they could start getting along. And Iida could join the four of us and Candy and Grenda and Pacifica on adventures. And I can imagine McGucket would make the best support gear ever, and… I'm totally rambling again, sorry."

"You never have to apologize for rambling," Ochako insisted. "It's adorable, and it's you, and I love hearing it."

There was a pause as her words sank in for both of them, and Izuku could feel his heart fluttering in his chest once again.

Ochako was the first person he'd met at UA, and she was sweet and pretty and kind, and even as the initial feeling of being flustered from talking to a girl faded, he found himself genuinely falling for her.

And she called his rambling adorable. The thing that had annoyed everyone his whole life, and she found it adorable.

"...I was talking to the other girls," Ochako began, hesitant, and Izuku startled a little. "And Mina mentioned… the world ended, but we're still here, and maybe we should just… go for what we want, I guess? What - what I mean is…" She paused, clearly trying to find the right words, and Izuku wasn't sure his mouth would work right even if he wanted to interrupt her. "I… like you. I mean, romantically. And it was probably pretty obvious, and nothing has to come of it because I love being your friend and I'd never want to give that up, but I thought you should know?"

"I." Ochako was looking at him nervously, and Izuku was still so stunned- "I'm not still in Cipher's bubble, right? We… that's too good to be true, right?"

There was a pause, Izuku noted with absolute mortification that he'd said that out loud, and then Ochako laughed, bright and clear and one of the best things he'd heard.

"We're not in his bubble," she promised. "We've seen Shouto using his fire, and no illusion being undone, remember?"

"Yeah. Yeah, oh god that was my reaction to your confession, oh god I'm so sorry." He forced himself not to bury his head in his hands. "I, um. Also like you romantically too. And, I don't know how that would work either? I've never dated anyone before. So I guess it's just us being friends, but also going on outings - dates? - as partners and such? Maybe?"

"I think that sounds right," Ochako agreed. Their hands were still intertwined. "So, we're still friends, we could just also be dating at the same time? And we don't have to choose between being friends and dating and such. That… sounds perfect."

"I think so too," Izuku admitted, feeling slightly on air. Because Ochako's friendship was so important to him, and if admitting his feelings didn't diminish their friendship, just added a new layer to it… "You think maybe we should've talked this over earlier?"

Ochako laughed again. "Oh man, probably. We could've just gotten everything out in the open and done this sooner. We're kind of a couple of goobers, aren't we?"

Izuku found himself laughing along. "Yeah, we really are."

Ochako continued to hold his hand, and after a moment, leaned up against his shoulder. Izuku leaned back and they watched the stars together in comfortable silence.

The world had ended, and now it was fine. They were alive, and everything seemed new.

"Ohmygosh YES!"

Ochako laughed as Mina drew her and Izuku into a huge hug. "Haha, yeah. Thanks for giving me the nudge to actually confess."

Izuku chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry it took us so long."

Shouto shrugged. "It's your relationship. It should be taken at your own pace." He was well aware that he wasn't the best at noticing this kind of stuff, but he was happy for them regardless.

"Yeah. Congrats, you two." Pacifica leaned back, smiling, and Candy and Grenda replaced Mina in hugging their friends. There was something almost wistful in their he look, but she blinked it away before Shouto could ask.

"I'd better not hear any thumping from upstairs interrupting my sleep, or I'm kicking you both out," Stan called from the front seat. Izuku and Ochako both went bright red.

"What - no! That's not - it's not like that!"

"Stan!"

"If it is like that, let Mina and I get some noise-canceling headphones first," Shouto requested, and Mina snickered as they both went even redder.

Despite the light teasing, the rest of the drive home passed by quickly. Shouto looked out at the trees that were completely green, under a sky that was blue and not red, and tried to ignore the vague feeling of emptiness in his gut.

We saved the world. Stan has his memories back, and he and Ford are finally getting along. Cipher's gone. He can't hurt us anymore.

Why do I feel so hollow about it?

"You know, that offer to stay with us at the shack is still open," Ochako told Pacifica as the Mystery Shack came into view. "And Stan is still willing to chase your parents out with a broom if they try and take you away."

"Damn straight I am."

Pacifica smiled. "Thanks, really. But it's probably pretty crowded at the shack at this point. I'll be…" She trailed off, looking out the window. "Is McGucket waiting for us?"

Shouto looked, and sure enough, McGucket was waiting on the front steps to the shack, while Ford leaned against the doorframe. He waved, and ran over to the RV as Stan parked it.

The nine of them disembarked, and Izuku offered McGucket a confused smile. "Hey McGucket! Is something wrong?"

"Not a thing!" McGucket grinned, and turned to Pacifica. "You haven't taken your stuff from that big house yet, have 'ya?"

Pacifica frowned. "...No, my parents were dragging their feet. Is there a problem with the person who bought it?"

"Nope! In fact, keep your stuff right where it is!" The old man looked entirely too smug. "Your folks were going on about what a pain it was to sell their ancestral home to some ol' hillbilly like me, and I said if they wanna keep a family member there, you could just stay. They practically jumped at the chance. What a weird couple."

Pacifica's eyes widened, something like hope reflecting in them. "You mean… as in I'd stay, but my parents wouldn't? And I wouldn't have to live with them, and they're fine with that?" At McGucket's cheerful nod, she let out a shaky breath, looking stunned. Shouto put what he hoped was an encouraging hand on her shoulder, and she sent him a brief smile. "You know they're gonna try and convince me into tricking you into selling the house back, right? Are you sure about this?"

McGucket hummed. "That does sound like something they'd do. But I don't think it sounds like something you'd do. I'm absolutely sure! As long as you're fine with most of it bein' filled with my inventions."

"You should do it!" Grenda encouraged. "Take the chance to slide with socks on all those floors and decorate things however you want!"

"You don't have to though, if the house has too many bad memories for you," Shouto added quietly.

Pacifica still seemed a bit stunned, but the initial shock was fading, and she managed a smirk. "And miss out on all my parents' treasured rooms being turned into storage? No way, I've gotta see that." She turned to McGucket. "I… I really want to. Thank you."

"Of course!" McGucket motioned towards Ford, who had walked over to join Stan. "And we were talking about a good place to host that "we survived the apocalypse" party Stan wanted to throw…"

At this, Stan grinned, delighted. "Oh? Tell me more."

"Good morning, Gravity Falls! It's another beautiful day! Of course, every day seems beautiful, now that the oddpocalypse is over.

In other news, the Northwest family has gone broke. After pledging his allegiance to Cipher and then placing all his savings in Weirdness bonds, Preston had to sell his family mansion to preserve his family fortune, and none other than local inventor Fiddleford McGucket has bought the home, as after regaining his sanity, has made millions overnight submitting his patents to the US Government.

Speaking of Which, McGucket is currently collaborating with the local heroes, the Pines Family, who are celebrating the return of Stan Pines' memories, and the defeat of Bill Cipher, up at McGucket's new mansion. But other than that, I can safely say our beloved Gravity Falls is back to normal. And now, Bodacious T, with sports."

"It's called Deathball…"

The party was even livelier than after Pacifica had let the townsfolk in the last time they'd been here. Everyone Mina had met in the past three months was here, young and old, running around and helping themselves to all the food and games.

Mina smiled as she watched Izuku look over one of McGucket's new inventions with him, Candy laughing with Pacifica, and Grenda introducing Ochako to Marius, who'd decided to visit. Stan and Ford were discussing something intently in the corner. Soos had his phone up and was showing Melody around through the screen, and Mina was pretty sure she saw Wendy playing spin-the-bottle in the corner with her friends. Gnomes scattered around the room, trying to steal from plates, while the multibear seemed to be showing the manotaurs some massage techniques, considering the way they were moving their hands. Even Gideon was there, clearly trying to make some friends with people his age.

The last time things had felt this peaceful… was probably before she went to UA. Not that there was anything wrong with excitement, but moments like these were ones to treasure.

"It still doesn't quite feel real." She turned to see Shouto leaning up against the table next to her, frowning slightly. "I don't know why." he continued quietly. Everything's perfect, right? I should be happy, but I just…" He held up a hand, as though trying to gesture at something he couldn't quite explain.

Mina took his free hand and gave it a squeeze. "Hey. We all went through a lot, and while Ochako and I could go back to the shack, and Izuku spent most of that time in the bubble, you were on your own for like four days. We're not all back to normal. It's alright for you to not be either. Pretty sure this recovery stuff takes time."

"Yeah." He gave her a small smile. "Thanks. I mean it."

"Any time." There was a moment of comfortable silence, before Ford's voice rang through.

"Kids! Could you come over a minute?"

Mina turned back to Shouto. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah." They headed over, Ochako and Izuku meeting them there. Both of the Stans were smiling.

"We've been talking," Ford began. "It truly doesn't seem like there's anything in Gravity Falls that can get you guys safely back to your dimension. But Gravity Falls isn't the only weird place in the world, and I've been picking up on anomalies all over the globe that increased in activity after Weirdmaggedon. Just because there's nothing in this town doesn't mean there's nothing in the world that can help."

Stan was beaming. "And we were already talking about sailing around the world anyways. Only fair that you four knuckleheads get to join in. See if we can't find any better portals out there."

"That…" Izuku trailed off, looking at the rest of them with wide eyes. Mina could see her own growing excitement echoed in his expression. "That sounds amazing! We'd love to!"

"When are we going?" Ochako wondered, practically bouncing with excitement.

"We'd head out in a month, at most, Ford told them. "Enough time to get a proper ship with whatever scientific instruments and living comforts we need."

"Plus, while we're gone I was thinking of handing the Mystery Shack over to Soos to take care of," Stan added. "He's been working there so long, he knows all the tricks of the trade."

"He's gonna freak out when you tell him," Shouto added offhandedly. "Make sure we're all there to see when you break the news."

"Ha! Someone's finally grown a sense of humor!" Stan slapped Shouto's back good-naturedly. "You bet. It's gonna be a great announcement." His expression softened. "And an even better trip."

Honestly? Mina couldn't wait.

They were all starting to fall asleep when the question came up. "Hey, guys? Do you think we're like, the best heroes ever?"

There was a pause as all three of them took in Mina's words. Across from Izuku, Shouto blinked. "No?"

"Pretty sure that's All Might," Izuku added.

"Why would we be?" Ochako asked.

Mina looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I dunno, it's just, heroes save civilians and cities, right? A hero saving a major city is a big deal. And we just saved the entire universe. Has there ever been a hero who's done that before?"

There was a pause as that sunk in.

Just a week ago, they'd saved the universe. It was so bind-boggling, Izuku wasn't surprised it hadn't hit him until now. But… wow. Wow.

"The way Cipher was going, it's not hard to imagine that after he'd had his fill with this universe, he would've moved on to others," Shouto said softly. "We may have actually saved multiple universes, including our original one."

"That's…" Izuku trailed off. There really was nothing back home that seemed to compare. Fighting some sort of eldritch demon from another dimension, reversing the apocalypse… that stuff only happened in comic books, not real life.

But it was real, and they'd done just that.

"I don't know about the best heroes ever," he eventually said. "But I think we're definitely real heroes, not just hero students. Even if we don't have licenses or anything."

Ochako hummed. "That's the crazy part too, isn't it? We saved the world, the universe, maybe multiple universes. But outside of Gravity Falls, no one will know. If we make it home, we'll just be known as those missing hero students. No one would believe us."

"That doesn't take away what we did though." Shouto's right hand lit up with blue flames, illuminating the room. He seemed to study them. "Ranking doesn't mean anything when it comes to true heroism. Even if we're never recognized for it, we'll know what we did. And so will Stan and Ford and the others. I think that's enough."

"Yeah." Maybe it was a little disappointing, that their heroics would never be believed back home. But that didn't mean they weren't worth anything. Regardless of what they were called, they'd know that they were already heroes.

"And in about a month we're going to be traveling the world with Stan and Ford." Izuku smiled. "We'll get to uncover all sorts of mysteries and visit amazing places, and maybe find a way home. Or maybe we'll end up saving the world again. Who knows?"

"The mystery crew is going worldwide!" Mina laughed. "It's gonna be awesome. And we're gonna do it together, just like everything else."

Things had changed drastically since they first landed in Stan's kitchen, three and a half months ago. They had changed drastically over those months. The Izuku of before Gravity Falls, while excited to be a hero, could never have imagined fighting demons, befriending an entire small town, gaining a sort of found family, or dating(dating!) his best friend. And even with all the trauma, Izuku found he wouldn't change it for the world.

And soon a new adventure would begin.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on one's viewpoint, the trip to find a possible way home with the global anomalies would be rendered moot.

The next morning, a misty purple portal opened up in the kitchen of the Mystery Shack, and a bandaged teacher with long dark hair stepped out.

...And three guesses as to who that is. Everyone in the comments who wanted to see the Mystery Crew interacting and changing things back at UA, this is going to be a very exciting arc.

I did contemplate having an in-between arc where the four of them joined Stan and Ford on their sailing trip, but unfortunately it wouldn't fit in with the timeline I had planned. At the very least, it got a mention here.

And of course, there's the updated relationship tag. Friendship and family will always be the main focus of this fic, but I figured it really was about time those two actually got to talking with each other about their feelings.

I hope you all enjoyed, and as always, please leave a review, let me know what you tthink, or your predictions for how things will play out going forward. Reading people's comments is an excellent motivator.