"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Shouto asked dryly, as the four friends walked through the woodsy path they had taken some days ago, and towards the lake.

"To get to know the town more, that's why!" Mina hoisted her bag filled with towels and sunscreen further up her shoulder. "We've already spent a while here in Gravity Falls, and we've even gone to the lake before, but we haven't swam at all! I think that's a travesty, one that needs to be corrected as soon as possible."

"Soos is still fixing up the laptop, so it's not like we have anything more important to do right now," Izuku pointed out. Honestly, he was pretty excited himself. A fun activity with his friends where he didn't need to worry about almost dying sounded awesome.

"That's right!" Ochako moved aside some branches to reveal they were at their destination. The beach was more crowded than Izuku had expected, with lots of kids their age working on some sort of arts and crafts project.

Mina eyed them with interest. "I wonder what they're working on. We should go and ask!" Without waiting for an answer, she sprinted down the beach and towards the colorful foldable tables. Izuku adjusted his bag and followed.

"Hello there!" A perky young woman with a worn apron and a sweet smile greeted them as they approached. "Are you here to help with the play?"

"This is the first we've heard of it, sorry," Izuku said. "What sort of play are you working on?"

"We're doing a puppet show, for the little kids in Gravity Falls' daycare center." She gestured around her. "Everyone here is a massive arts and crafts fan, and is either working on the sock puppets or the set pieces. In about a week from now, we're going to be putting on the show for them in the clearing near the waterfall, so they'll be going on an adventure and then settling down to watch."

"That sounds like a lot of fun!" Ochako piped up. "Can we help?"

"Don't we have other things to worry about this week?" Shouto hissed under his breath. "Like the laptop?"

Thankfully the woman didn't hear him. She smiled down at Ochako. "Of course, we'd love some extra hands! "I'm Miss Miller, and I work at the daycare. I'm in charge of this whole show. If your interested in coming again, we start at nine in the morning, and go until three in the afternoon." She gestured to a table where two girls were already working. "Would you mind helping Candy and Grenda with some of the puppets? They volunteered as well."

"No problem," Izuku assured her. "Come on guys." He lead an excited Mina and Ochako, and a reluctant Shouto, over to the table with the two girls.

They looked up from their work as the four friends sat down. "Hey there," One of the girls greeted, voice deeper than almost any man Izuku had heard. She was stocky, with red-brown hair swept into a ponytail and held back by a hello hairpin. "You here to help make the puppets?"

"That's right!" Mina slid down into the seat next to her. "I'm Mina, nice to meet you."

"I'm Grenda," The girl said with a smile. "And this is my friend Candy." She motioned to the other girl, who smiled and gave a small wave. Izuku took a seat across from her and picked up one of the completed puppets. It looked easy enough to do.

"It's nice to meet you." Candy said. She had long black hair and huge circular glasses, which she adjusted at she looked closer at them. "You guys aren't from around here, are you? When you're in a small town like this, you know everyone your age, and I've never seen you before."

"That's right, we just got here," Izuku confirmed.

"Any hopefully won't be here for much longer," Shouto muttered. Underneath the table, Mina stepped on his foot.

"Ignore him," she told the girls. "We're happy to be here. So what are we doing today?"

"Working on these puppet things." Grenda waved the sock she was currently working on in the air. "Most people are busy making the sets, so there's a lot of puppets to make, and not a lot of time to make them. You look awesome, by the way. Super badass," she said to Mina, who beamed at the praise.

"We're so glad you're here," Candy gushed. "If it was just the two of us, there's no way these would get done in time, and then all the little kids would be really disappointed. We don't want to let them down!"

Well now they had to help with this project. Izuku grabbed some of the different fabrics, ignoring Shouto's glare. "Don't worry, we've got your back. Now, what should I do with this puppet?"

Candy grinned and showed him the different ideas Miss Miller had written out, as well as some of their own plans. Mina looked over the different ideas and grabbed a puppet herself.

"This is much better than going swimming," she announced. "I guess we'll be doing that next week."

"Next week?" Shouto sputtered, looking- well, looking kind of furious. Izuku shivered, despite himself. "You're seriously planning on working the whole week on these things? Did you forget about the laptop we have to work on?"

"We didn't forget," Ochako assured him, sounding somewhat taken aback. "But we still need Soos to finish fixing it, and this is something great to do in the meantime, that helps the community. I think it's a good way to pass time."

"So, what's this about a laptop?" Candy asked, gluing googly eyes onto her puppet. The four of them exchanged glances. Izuku wondered how much they should tell these girls. Soos and Wendy already knew, and of course Stan did, but should they just go around announcing that they were from another world?"

"We need the laptop because it has info that could help us get back to our world," Mina said brightly. Well. I guess we are just going to come out and say it.

"Really? That's so cool!" Grenda leaned in closer. "What kind of world is it?"

"It's a world where everyone has superpowers," Ochako explained, and Izuku fought to keep from flinching at that. He knew Ochako didn't mean anything by it, but it was still a harsh reminder that his power wasn't really his. "We're all in training to become superheroes."

"Fascinating!" Candy adjusted her glasses. "That sounds like an exciting world to live in."

"And one full of hot guys," Grenda added. Izuku choked on air. Mina grinned.

"Oh you bet. Want to hear more?"

They returned to the beach at nine o'clock sharp the next morning. Mina stretched her arms over her head as she let out a yawn. "I'm really glad we decided to do this. It's a ton of fun! And Grenda and Candy seem like really nice people."

"And very talkative people." Shouto kicked a pebble. It flew forward and landed in the sand with a soft thump. "Might not be long before the whole town knows where we came from."

"That's not really a bad thing," Ochako said. "Everyone here seems pretty neat. I don't think any of them would mind all that much."

"Maybe not them," Shouto conceded. "But if anyone outside of Gravity Falls found out…."

"They probably wouldn't believe a thing." Izuku gave Shouto a reassuring look. The other boy looked away. "Come on, let's enjoy ourselves! And make some new friends while we're at it." They reached the tables, where a couple of other kids were already sitting down to work.

Miss Miller hurried over to them. "You came again, wonderful! I'm so glad, we need all the help we can get. Those kids will be so happy with all the work you've put in."

"We're really glad," Mina answered honestly. She had enjoyed making the wax Stan figure with Ochako, and was happy for the opportunity to work on some crafts again. The fact that it would entertain a bunch of kids was an added bonus.

"Miss Miller," one of the other teens called out. "We're out of blue paint, and we still need half of the sky background done." Miss Miller let out a small sigh. The woman looked exhausted.

"Shouto and I can go and get it," Mina offered. Said boy looked at her like she had just grown another head. Even Izuku and Ochako looked surprised. "Ochako and Izuku can keep working on the puppets while we go into town and get some paint."

"S-sure, we don't mind." Izuku looked at Mina curiously, then handed her his journal. "Here, I drew a sketch of the town, if that helps. Come on Ochako, let's go." Ochako seemed confused, but let herself be led over to the table they had sat at previously. Mina watched her two friends pick up the socks once again.

Miss Miller clasped Mina's hands. "Thank you so so much! Here, this should be enough to buy the paint." She let go and fished around in her purse, pulling out a few twenty dollar bills. "Can I trust you to bring back the change?"

"Of course! You can count on us! We'll be off now, bye." With that, Mina dragged Shouto away from the beach, and back onto the woodsy path.

"What the hell was that all about?" Shouto demanded.

Mina raised an eyebrow at him. "Honestly? You obviously didn't want to be there, and you were just going to make everyone else miserable, including our new friends. So instead, we're going out to do something 'productive'." She made finger quotes as she said this. Maybe it was a bit harsh, putting it like that, but Mina's patience with Shouto's unrelenting pessimism was starting to wear thin. She understood wanting to get home, she really did. But did he have to remind them every time they wanted to do something fun? And even when they were looking for ways to get home, he stayed skeptical the whole time. Mina was pretty fed up with it.

Shouto didn't respond, other than letting out a soft huff and continuing to walk in stony silence. Mina winced. Perhaps she should've been nicer with her words. Yeah, she definitely could've.

"Shouto, I'm really-"

"We're at the shack," he said, striding forwards. Inwardly, Mina fumed. She understood his anger, but he didn't have to be a total jerk about it! She picked up her pace and followed him into the Mystery Shack.

Stan was there in the gift shop, rummaging for something behind the counter. "Hey there." He stuck up his hand and gave a small wave, not looking up from whatever he was doing. "Have you seen my keys? I need to get to town, and I'm sure as hell not walking." A pause. Then: "Found them!"

And idea popped into Mina's head. "If you're going into town, can you drive the two of us there?" She pointed at herself and Shouto, who crossed his arms and said nothing.

Stan narrowed his eyes at them, then shrugged. "Sure, why not. Don't have anything better to do."

Stan honked at the vehicle in front of him as Mina and Shouto munched on the chips they had found in the backseat. "Come on, what's with all this traffic?" The older man complained, pressing his hand down again and again on the honker. "And why is it all-" Stan narrowed his eyes at the scene in front of him, while Shouto did a double take. "Covered wagons?"

Instead of the usual cars, people were riding down the streets of Gravity Falls in covered wagons pulled by horses, wearing dresses and fur hats on their heads. Maybe it wasn't the most unusual thing Shouto had seen here, but it was still pretty weird.

"Oh no, no no!" Stan swerved and took a sharp turn and the next street, zooming off and leaving a trail of smoke behind him. "Not today, Not today!" He had to push on the brakes hard, because women in bonnets were standing in the middle of the road holding baskets of tomatoes and herding geese. Stan put the car in reverse, and Shouto gripped the edge of his seat as they flew in the other direction.

Finally, Mina spoke up. "Stan, what's going on?" Stan ignored her.

"We gotta get out of here. Before it's too late!" He slammed on the brakes again to avoid hitting another wagon as a bunch of them moved around the car. "They've circled the wagons. We're trapped! Nooooo!"

A cow looked at them with wide innocent eyes from outside the window. Mina looked at it with a little bit of awe and smiled. "I've got a good feeling about today."

Once the wagons moved away, Shouto and Mina exited the car and had a look around. Strings of red, white, and blue flags were strung from all the different shops, criss-crossing the streets. Tepees were set up around the edges of the roads, and everyone was wearing something that made them look like they walked right out of the eighteen-hundreds. A stage made of logs was set up in the middle of the road, in front of the big statue Gravity Falls had. A banner on it said 'Pioneer Day'.

"Oh boy," Stan walked up to them and viewed the town with distaste. "It's Pioneer Day. Every year these Yahoos dress up like idiots to celebrate the day Gravity Falls was founded."

Toby determined skipped on up to them, rolled up newspapers in his hands. Shouto glared at him, not forgetting that he had lured them into Gideon's trap a few days ago. "Welcome to 1863!" He waved a newspaper in Stan's face.

Stan rolled up his suit sleeve. "I will break you, little man!" Toby yelped and scampered off.

Mina took in the whole scene with wide eyes. "Wow, look! Candle dipping! Oh, and gold panning." There was Fiddleford, cackling like usual and shaking a pot in front of awed children.

Shouto squinted. "Woodpecker marriage?" A man with gray hair was being pronounced 'man and wife' with a woodpecker on his arm. "Is that even legal?"

"Actually yeah." Mina pulled out the journal and flipped through it. "In Gravity Falls it used to be legal to marry a woodpecker."

The man must have overheard them because he leaned towards them. "Oh it's still legal," he said. "Veeery legal." Shouto shuffled away a few paces.

"Come, one and all, to the opening ceremony!" someone announced. Mina grinned at him.

"We should go!" She said.

Shouto frowned. "What about the paint?" Mina waved him off.

"We can get that latter. Besides, we're never going to get to participate in Pioneer Day again. We should enjoy it while we're here." She turned to Stan. "Are you coming?"

"No thank you," Stan scowled. "I don't see why you kids would want to waste your time here going to this mess of a 'holiday'. And know that if you come back to the shack talking like these people, I'll never forgive you."

Shouto locked eyes with Mina. As much as she constantly got on his nerves, for once they were in total agreement.

Shouto looked Stan right in the eyes and swung his arms around like someone in one of those old cartoons. "There's a carpet-bagger in the turnip cellar."

Mina grinned. "Well hornswoggle my habersack." In unison, they both spit on the ground.

"I hate you both." Stan stomped away. They watched him go for a moment, then headed over to the stage, where a crowd was gathering.

"That was pretty funny, Shouto," Mina said. "Why don't you have fun more often?"

As if she had any right to talk. Mina got on Shouto's nerves more than anyone else in this town. She was always ready to goof off and do something completely unrelated to trying to get home. It was like she didn't even want to leave. Not to mention how she seemed to be rubbing off on the others. More and more Izuku and Ochako would get distracted by some funny new thing in Gravity Falls and ignore the fact that they were stuck in another universe. Like now with the puppet show, for example. And yet Mina seemed to imply that he was the one in the wrong here.

Shouto didn't bother answering her, just turned and looked at the stage, where one of the cops was standing next to a microphone, and three well dressed people were sitting. "Hear ye, hear ye!" The sheriff called out. Ye ole commencement ceremony is about to commence." The deputy ran onto the stage, screaming and ringing a cowbell as hard as he could.

"Oh no! Police, my purse!" An old woman called out.

The two stared at her for a moment, then smiled. "Ring ring! Ring ring!" The deputy did a little dance.

The sheriff chuckled. "He sure loves that bell." Shouto grit his teeth and looked for where the apparent purse snatcher was, but didn't find anyone.

The sheriff moved offstage, and the blond teenager about their age took the microphone, tapping on it first to make sure it worked. "Howdy everyone," she said. "You all know me, Pacifica Northwest, great-great granddaughter of Nathaniel Northwest, founder of this wonderful town. I'm also very rich." Everyone clapped, including the people onstage, who Shouto assumed were her parents. "Now, if you've got the pioneer spirit, we ask you to come on up and introduce yourselves!"

Mina bounced on the balls of her feet. "I'm gonna go do it! This'll be fun!" Before Shouto could say anything, she raced up onto the stage.

Pacifica smiled blandly. "Our first newcomer is-" she took a look at Mina and cringed. A bad feeling stirred in Shouto's gut.

"Hello everyone, I'm Mina! Let's get this Pioneer Day started!" She pumped her fists in the air. "USA! USA! USA!"

"USA! USA! USA!" Everyone cheered back, repeating the motion. Pacifica seemed to get over her shock just then and smirked. Shouto's bad feeling increased, climbing upwards.

"Sorry, but if you haven't heard Pioneer Day is for humans, not aliens," the blond girl leered. "Maybe go back to your spaceship and let us humans have our fun day."

Mina waved her off. "Oh haha! You're pretty funny. I'm human too, don't worry."

"Really? Pa-lease, I've seen cats that look more human than you." Pacifica leaned over and pulled one of Mina's horns, Shouto's fellow student yelped in surprise. Shouto clenched his fists and started for the stage, but Mina caught his eye and shook her head. "But hey, you've definitely got guts, coming out and trying to interact with society with that mug of yours. I'll give you points for that." She smiled at the crowd. "Give her a hand everybody!" The towns people clapped excitedly, obvious, and Mina jumped off the stage and right past Shouto and the rest of the crowd.

Shouto followed her, unsure of what to say. How did someone comfort another person? What did Fuyumi do when he was down? "Don't listen to her," he tried. "She doesn't know shit. She's not even from our world, she doesn't know a thing about you."

"I know that." Mina smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Thanks for trying. I know you were going to come up and try and stop her, I appreciate it. It's not anything I haven't heard before anyways." Shouto felt anger building in his stomach, directed towards Pacifica. Why? It wasn't like he cared that much about Mina. They weren't friends, just fellow classmates stuck in a bad situation together. Maybe it was just that he hated bullies.

(Maybe it was just that he hated feeling so useless.)

"Why didn't you let me?" He asked. "Stop her, I mean. Why didn't you stop her yourself?" Mina shrugged.

"She's obviously very popular in this town," she explained. "That wouldn't end well. Besides," and this time she managed a more genuine grin. "I think I know of a better way to get revenge on her." They sat down on the steps of the statue. Mina pulled out the journal and started to flip through it, resting on one of the pages. She held it out. "Here."

Shouto took the journal and read the passage aloud. "In my investigations, I recently made a discovery. Nathaniel Northwest may not be the founder of Gravity Falls. I believe the proof of this secret is buried somewhere on the enclosed document."

"See? This is a much better way to get her back then yelling at her in front of everyone." Shouto nodded absentmindedly and took the document out of the journal. It was a triangle, surrounded by odd symbols and filled with small words.

He stood up. "Alright, let's solve this and bring down this fraud of a family."

"Yeah!" Mina beamed, standing up as well. "Let's do this!"

The two of them settled in the library, pulling any books off the shelves they thought could be useful. Mina hummed to herself slightly as she flipped through one about Egyptian hieroglyphs.

"Oh, what about this?" She ventured, holding up the book. "The biggest symbol on here is actually the symbol for flame, so what if we light the parchment on fire? That could reveal the secret message."

"Somehow I doubt it," Shouto absentmindedly folded the document over as he looked through different books. "And if you're wrong, then our only lead is gone for good."

Mina pouted. "Well, when you put it that way." And now Shouto was back to being grumpy and no fun again. It was a really nice surprise, seeing him so angry over what Pacifica had said to her. He had looked like he was ready to punch the blond for Mina's sake. Mina smiled at the thought of that. Even if Shouto denied it, it was pretty obvious he cared.

Not that it made him any less of a jerk. Or that she wasn't annoyed with him anymore. Mina glanced over at Shouto's folding, and did a double take.

"Hey, hang on!" She snatched the document away, to Shouto's protests. "Look at this. You folded it into a map!"

Shouto blinked down at his work with faint surprise. "So I did. Looks like we have our next clue."

"We're on the lookout for two kids who might be reading." They both turned at the familiar voice, to see the Sheriff and Deputy entering the library.

"We're hunting them down for secret reasons. Wahoo!" The deputy rang his bell as loud as he could.

Mina caught Shouto's eye. "Think they're talking about us?" Shouto gave a slight nod and they dove under the table as the two policemen looked around, smacking a few books off the shelves before moving into a different aisle.

"I think we should take this somewhere else," Shouto murmured. The two slipped out of the library. "Where does the map lead to?"

"Let's check the journal," Mina suggested. "Izuku said he sketched a map of the town in there." She flipped open the journal and skimmed the pages until she got to the one she was looking for. He held it out, and Shouto put the map next to it. "Alright, looks like we're going to the Gravity Falls Museum of History."

The two followed Izuku's sketch until they arrived at said museum. Walking in the doorway, a woman gave them both stickers and balloons, and made their way through the exhibit, stopping in front of A strange triangle statue.

"The next clue should be here." Shouto squinted at the painting. "But how does this painting hide a clue?"

"Who knows? Guess we'll have to find out." Mina flopped onto the bench in front of the painting and looked at it hard, but nothing came up. She sighed and flipped upside down, trying to get a new perspective.

"Mina, what are you doing now?" Shouto sighed, sounding exasperated. Mina couldn't focus on that though, not when she had found the next clue!

"Come over here and look at it this way," she instructed.

Shouto looked at her skeptically. "Upside down?"

"Yeah! Just do it." Shouto hesitated, then joined her, gasping when he saw what she was seeing. The painting wasn't abstract, it was simply upside down. And it revealed a very familiar statue.

"I've seen this before," Shouto said. "I know where this statue is. It's in the cemetery."

"Then that's where we'll go." Mina swung her feet around and jumped off of the bench, Shouto right behind her. A high pitched wail sounded from the front doors, and they looked to see the policemen entering the museum.

"So they were after us." Shouto eyed the door. After a moment, the police moved in a different direction. "Let's make a run for it, now."

"The statue must be pointing to the next clue." Shouto looked in the direction of the pointed finger but could see nothing but more gravestones and rolling hills. Nothing that looked like a clue of any sort.

"Maybe we need to see it right from the statue's perspective?" Mina climbed underneath the pointing hand of the statue, bumping her head against its hand as she tried to stand up. "Wa- ow!" She rubbed the top of her head, then looked up in surprise. The pointer finger on the statue's hand had bent at an odd angle.

A rumble sounded from behind them, and Shouto turned around. One of the markers had slid to the side, revealing many steps underground.

"You did it," he marveled aloud.

Mina puffed out her chest. "Of course I did! Now let's go see where it leads." They walked down the steps, traveling deep underground. Eventually, the steps led to an underground tunnel, which they walked down.

Mina looked at a button on the ground, and purposefully stepped around it. "I messed up at the bunker, but this thing's not getting me again," she vowed.

The tunnel ended with another tunnel, which looked more like a slide. The two students shared a look.

Shouto gave a sarcastic bow. "After you."

"Don't mind if I do, thank you very much." Mina knelt down and slid down the tunnel. Shouto crouched and followed after her. The two tumbled through the darkness and skidded into a small room.

Shouto pulled himself to his feet and took a look around. The room was filled with old relics, from a thirteen colonies flag to swords and axes, to telescopes and treasure chests. The whole room was an amazing blast to the past. But what really caught his attention was the documents situated on a small table in the back of the room.

Mina picked up some documents on another shelf. "Check this out. Ben Franklin was secretly a woman in this universe."

"Seriously?" Shouto paused and looked over at the paper Mina was holding. "Huh, who'd have thought. I wonder if he or she was in our universe too."

"Who knows? Guess we'll have something to check out when we get home." The two continued on to the back of the room, where a giant folder read 'NORTHWEST COVER-UP'. "Ooh, jackpot!"

Shouto flipped it open and read it aloud. "Let it be here recorded that Nathaniel Northwest, famous in his native Gravity Falls for standing in the park and hitting himself with a large boating oar until he blacked out...was in fact, a fraud." He scanned the the paper more. "Other hidden historical truths include that Thomas Jefferson was really two kids in an overcoat, Santa Claus is the real president of the United States for eternity, Mount Rushmore is really a bunch of giant robots, there's a time-devouring baby from another dimension trapped in a glacier…."

"So basically Pacifica's ancestor was a huge idiot," Mina summarized with a smile. "Oh, I can't wait for the papers to publish this story." She leaned forward. "Does it say who the real founder was then?"

"The true founder of Gravity Falls was Sir Lord Quentin Trembly III, Esquire," Shouto read.

"Who's Quentin Trembly?" Mina wondered. "Never heard of him."

A light shone on them from behind. "That's none of your business," The Sheriff snapped. The two students spun around to find the two cops standing in front of the exit.

The deputy rung his bell. "Woohoo! We got ya, we got...ya…" he fell over, hitting the ground with a thump, revealing about a dozen tranquilizers in his back.

The sheriff gave an apologetic shrug. "He got his with quite a few of those darts. While the deputy struggled to his feet, the sheriff took the papers from the desk. "I hate to do this, but Quentin Trembly is a matter of national security."

"Seriously?" Mina gaped. "What did he do?"

"And who is he anyway?" Shouto eyed the papers in the sheriff's hands, wondering if he could snatch them back.

The sheriff took off his hat and pulled out an old-fashioned film. "See for yourself." He put it in the projector the room had stored. A black and white video appeared on the wall, showing the US government's logo.

A middle aged man with what Shouto assumed to be grey hair appeared on the wall. "If you're watching this," the man said, "then you are one of eight people in these United States with clearance to view this view this information. In fact, I myself will be shot as soon as the filming is complete." Someone said something off-screen, and the man turned to them. "What no? Ha, that's a relief." The man cleared his throat and started again.

"Of all of America's secrets, the most embarrassing was that of Quentin Trembly, the eighth and a half president of the United States.

"President?" Mina echoed incredulously.

"Eighth and a half?" Shouto looked at the picture of Quentin Trembly. He was….interesting, with a balding head, massive mustache, and circular spectacles.

"After winning the eighteen thirty-seven election in a landslide," and here the video showed a landslide taking out all the other campaigners, "Quentin Trembly quickly gained a reputation as America's silliest president. He waged war on pancakes, appointed six babies to the supreme court, and issued the de-pantsipation proclamation. His state of the union speech was even worse." Here, they had a voice reenactment of Quentin Trembly, saying 'The only thing we have to fear is gigantic man-eating spiders!'

The video continued. "He was kicked out of office, and escaped to an uncharted valley he named, Gravity Falls, after plummeting into it at high speeds. Trembly's shameful term was erased from history, and was officially replaced by William Henry Harrison as president, and local nobody Nathaniel Northwest as founder of Gravity Falls. The whereabouts of President Trembly's body are unknown." The video flickered out, and Shouto took a moment to process all of what he had just heard.

"Until now." And with that the sheriff gestured to another, more hidden corner of the room, where Quentin Trembly himself was standing, encased in some sort of orange-yellow substance. "Fool thought he could live forever by encasing himself in a block of solid peanut brittle."

"That's amazing!" Mina poked the peanut brittle.

"Finding Trembly's body was our special mission," the sheriff continued. "And now, thanks to you, it's complete." He tipped his hat towards them.

"Who knew all we would have to do was follow a pink-looking girl from another universe." the deputy chimed in. So it seemed everyone did find out about them being from another universe. Shouto stole a glance at Mina, who looked ashamed.

"Now that you know the truth, well, we can't let you go around talking about it," the sheriff said. "You'll be coming to DC with us. I'm sure Washington will be very interested to know about two people from another universe."

Mina pounded against the wood of the box they were being kept in. Eventually, she gave up and slid down onto the floor. "Ugh. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry Shouto." And they hadn't even told Izuku and Ochako what they were doing. Would the two come looking for them? Would Mina ever see her home and parents again? Her eyes stung, and she rubbed at them.

Shouto sat down next to her in silence. After a moment, he muttered something under his breath.

Mina turned to look at him. "What was that?" Shouto took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry too. For dismissing you earlier." Shouto fiddled with his pin. "We're all taking this whole 'stuck in another world' thing differently, and I shouldn't have been- shouldn't have been so harsh. Besides, you were the one who figured out most of the clues that uncovered this mystery."

"It's okay, seriously." She assured him. "Besides, you figured out a clue yourself." Mina's hands shook as she pulled her knees to her chest. "You were right. I went around announcing to everyone that we were from another world, and now they're gonna take us away because of it. I thought you were just being paranoid and grumpy, but you were right."

"We both messed up, then. And now we've both apologized." Shouto gave a small shrug. "I think that makes us even."

"Alright then." Mina gave him a watery smile, and snapped off a bit of peanut brittle from Trembly's encasement. "Truce?"

He eyed the brittle. "Isn't that stuff hundreds of years old?"

"I mean, it has held him all this time. It's probably not too bad." After a moment of internal debate, Shouto took the brittle. "Truce. Mystery Crew, and all that."

Mina smirked. "I thought you hated that name, when Soos called us that." Shouto looked away.

"I guess it's been growing on me. And we did just solve a real mystery just now, so I think-" he cut himself off, eyes going wide. "What the hell?"

A cracking sound captured Mina's attention, and she turned to look at what Shouto was seeing. Thin lines were appearing all over the peanut brittle that held Trembly captive. Then the whole thing crumbled down around the frozen man, leaving him in tact.

"It is I!" He announced. "Quentin Trembly!" And with that, he tore off his pants in true patriotic fashion.

Shouto gaped at him. "You're alive. You're actually alive."

"Peanut brittle does really preserve someone's life." Mina waved around the brittle she was still holding for emphasis. "You're actually kind of brilliant!"

"And so are you two!" Trembly smiled. "For following my clues, and freeing me from my delicious tomb!" He took a look around them. "By Jefferson! We seem to be trapped in some sort of crate-shaped box!"

"Pretty sure it's just a crate," Shouto remarked.

"Aha! Good thing I have the president's key, which can open any lock in America!" Trembly moved over to the edge of the crate and jabbed the side with his key, a couple times at first, but then more rapidly, and with an air of annoyance.

"I, ah, don't think that's going to work," Mina offered.

"Wood," scoffed Trembly. "My age old nemesis." He turned to them. "In order to get out of here, this is going to take the silliest plan ever conceived." He pounded his fist for emphasis. Shouto turned to Mina and gave her a look, as if to say: well, this one's on you.

Mina hummed and looked around the crate. "How about….that hole?" She pointed at a small hole in the wood.

"We will leap through it!" Trembly declared. He pounced at the hole, and with a look and a shrug, Shouto and Mina leaped after him. With the combined strength of two teenagers and an adult, the crate gave way around them, setting them all free.

"Wonderful work you two!" Trembly said. "I knew I could count on the siblings!"

"The what- um," Mina coughed awkwardly. "We're not siblings."

"We're not even related." Shouto stared at the man as if he had finally gone bonkers. "We don't even look alike. What gave you the impression that we were siblings?"

"Hmm, are you sure?" Trembly asked. "I was positive that I would be rescued from my tomb by two twins. Are you sure that you aren't them?"

"Pretty positive." Mina patted Trembly's shoulder. "Don't worry, you can't get them all right." She scooped up the documents that had put them into this predicament, which the policemen had left on the floor right outside of their crate. "Come on, we need to get out of here, before we get too far away from Gravity Falls!"

They raced to the end of the car, and opened the door, to find the deputy getting some ice. Seeing them, he dropped the bucket.

"Blubs!" He called out. The sheriff came out of their car, as the three ran to the other end of the car."

"It says 'do not enter!'" Mina said.

"The emergency exit!" Shouto grabbed the ladder rungs and climbed upwards, pushing open the exit door. Mina and Trembly followed him, emerging on the roof of the train-car. Wind whipped around Mina's face as she took a moment to find her footing, watching the trees zooming past them. The three ran down the length of the roof, stopping when the next train car was a bunch of logs instead of a normal cabin.

With nowhere else to go, they turned to face the policemen, who had caught up to them.

"There is, no, escape!" Blubs panted. "I- I gotta take a knee." He fell on one knee, and the deputy took his shoulders with concern.

"Are you okay?" The deputy asked. "Can I get you anything?" Blubs smiled at him.

"Edwin Durland, you are a diamond in the rough."

Shouto coughed awkwardly. "Blubs, are you seriously gonna lock us all away in a government facility, just like that?"

Blubs winced. "I got no choice kid. Our orders come from the very top!"

Mina frowned in thought, then brightened and turned to Trembly. "Hang on. Trembly, did you ever sign an official resignation?" Shouto's eyes widened, and Mina knew he had caught on.

Trembly stood tall and proud. "No sir! I ate a salamander and jumped out the window."

"Then technically, you're still legally the president of the United States," Shouto said. He turned to Blubs and Durland. "So you have to answer to him. He is the very top, after all." The two policemen gasped.

"As president of these several United States," Trembly proclaimed, "I hereby order you to pretend none of this ever happened! A-and go on a delightful vacation." He jumped as a pole sticking out from the side of the cliff they were going past hit his head. "Ow! Nyeah!"

The policemen looked at each other, and Mina hoped they'd take the bait.

"Vacation?" Blubs said with a smile. "What place have you always wanted to visit?"

"Silly Water Fun Slides in Grand Lakes Michigan!" Durland cheered. Mina breathed a sigh of relief.

With the two cops on their way to Michigan, the three got off back at Gravity Falls train station. Mina stretched out her arms, relief filling her body at the fact that they were back in this weird little town. She never would've thought she'd miss it this much.

Trembly knelt down and put his hand on Mina's shoulder. "You done a great service to your country Mina." Mina decided not to tell him she was really from Japan as he rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a foldable top hat. "As thanks, I'd like to make you an official US congressmen!" He placed the hat on Mina's head. She turned to Shouto with a grin.

He eyed her wearily. "Oh no." Mina snickered.

"And Shouto!" Trembly focused on him. "You I cannot make a congressmen, because you are already a member of the secret order of the Pine Trees!"

"The what?" Shouto looked down. "You mean this? This is just a pin I got from the shack's gift shop."

"However!"

"Ah, of course."

"I can bestow upon you this!" He held out his key. "The president's key. To unlock the secrets of this wonderful land." Shouto took it and put it in his pocket. They walked into town together, where the celebrations were still going strong, as Trembly told them some interesting stories about his past.

"-and then he chased me around and spanked me with a paddle for like, three hours! Bottom line, George Washington was a jerk."

"Sounds like one," Mina said sympathetically. They stumbled across Pacifica, who was getting into the car with her snooty parents.

"Aren't you going to show her the documents?" Shouto asked. Mina watched them get ready to drive away. After everything they had accomplished that day, the embarrassment and frustration she had felt at the blond girl earlier was pretty much gone.

"You know what?" Mina smiled. "I've got nothing to prove. All the people who matter think I look awesome. I know I look awesome. Who cares what she thinks of me? I know what really matters."

Shouto frowned. Mina wondered if she had said something wrong, but then- "Well, I just don't like her." And with that, he took the documents and handed them to Pacifica through the window. "Nathaniel Northwest didn't found Gravity Falls, and your whole family is a sham. Deal with it." Mina laughed at Pacifica's screech as the car pulled away.

"Children, I am needed elsewhere." Trembly said. "Just know that I will always be right here: on the negative twelve dollar bill."

Mina took the bill with wonder. "Wow, this is worthless!"

"It's less than worthless, my girl!" Trembly corrected. "Trembly away!" And with that, the eighth and a half president jumped backwards onto a horse, which galloped away. They watched in awe.

"You know," Shouto started, "we were supposed to get blue paint."

"Aw man! I knew I forgot something!" And with that, the two ran off to finally get that paint.

"Your friends were going to get the paint, right?" Candy asked as she fitted one of the puppets with a shirt. Ochako nodded.

"That's what they said. And with Shouto and Mina, they can usually keep each other on track." She glanced at the path in the woods. "I'm surprised they've taken this long."

"They should have been back hours ago." Izuku tapped the table nervously. "I'm starting to get really worried."

As if on cue, the two burst out of the woods and onto the beach, both carrying cans of paint. "We have returned!" Mina announced, flinging her arms in the air for extra emphasis. "And we come bearing paints!" The kids working on the set pieces immediately swarmed them.

"Looks like we didn't have to worry!" Ochako waited for the two to make their way over. "What took you guys so long?"

"We got caught up in a government coverup," Shouto deadpanned.

"We met the eighth and a half president of the United States!" Mina added. "And ran on top of a train, and now I'm a US congressman!"

"We met Stan in town. He was locked up in one of those old-time wooden things for cutting off hands." Shouto pulled out an old looking key. "Apparently the president's key works on locks like that."

Izuku blinked. "Sounds like you guys had a huge adventure."

"And without us? Seriously?" Ochako pouted.

Mina and Shouto shared a smile, and Ochako noticed they seemed much less on edge with each other than before. Maybe this whole adventure was good for them. The two sat down at the table.

Shouto picked up a sock. "Now all we need to do is wait for Soos to fix the laptop, and we're back on track to getting home."

"And we need to finish this play," Mina interjected. "We did make a commitment." Shouto sighed, but it lacked any heat, and Ochako took that as a victory.

The rest of the day passed by quickly, and the sock opera started to take shape.

I hope you guys are ready, because a certain triangle will be appearing in the next chapter. How will having all of this happen so early on in the story affect our heroes? Guess you'll have to wait and see!

I hope you enjoyed, and please review!