Hello again everyone! We've reached season 2 proper of Gravity Falls, and it's going to be a lot of fun.

By popular request, Izuocha will be the official ship for the Mystery Crew. Thank you to everyone who gave their input, and if you wanted something else for Izuku or Ochako, I hope you can enjoy the rest of the story anyways - despite the presence of a ship, family and friendship will continue to be the center of this story. Now, onto the chapter!

"Welcome everyone, to the official grand reopening of the Mystery Shack!" Stan spread his arms out wide as everyone cheered. "After the defeat of that skunk Little Gideon-" the crowd booed at the name. "No, please! Boo harder!" The attendees were happy to comply. "And of course, a round of applause for my employees, who also deserve some of the glory for our victory."

Izuku grinned awkwardly at the cheers that went around. It was still so strange to get used to, being praised like this. Especially in a town such as Gravity Falls.

Toby waddled up. "Smile for the camera everyone!"

"Your camera's a cinder block, Toby," Stan said flatly.

Toby pouted. "I just wanted to be a part of something."

The reporter, Sandra, nudged him aside. "Smile for a real camera everyone." They all grinned and posed as the crowd cheered.

Ochako reached behind the makeshift stage and pulled out a poster. "Don't forget about the afterparty at eight, everyone! It's going to be the party of the year, and you don't want to miss it! Lights, cameras, karaoke! Everything you could ask for!"

Wendy sounded a foghorn. "Buy a ticket, people! We all know you've got nothing else going on in your lives! Come on Pizza guy, don't lame out on me." The eager townsfolk followed her away, and the rest of them took in the moment of calm.

"Things are finally going our way, huh?" Stan commented. "The town loves us, the shack is safe, I finally got that Gideon smell out of the carpet - nice to have things working well for once. It's a good change."

Mina leaned up against the counter, content. "Agreed."

"Since things are going our way and all," Izuku hedged. "Mind if I have the journal back?"

Stan shrugged easily. "Sure, no problem. Already wrote down the good attraction ideas." He leaned under the counter and pulled out the journal, handing it to Izuku. "Here you go, kid." Gratefully, Izuku took the journal back, a bit surprised at how easy that was. "Just don't go messing with that thing when you're supposed to be working, alright?"

"Of course." There would be plenty of other times he could go through the journal in his free time, after all.

"Alright, I hereby call this Mystery Crew meeting into order," Ochako announced cheerfully, as they all gathered in their attic bedroom. With all the money he was getting from the reopening, Stan had finally gotten two more beds, and so Izuku and Shouto had just finished setting their sheets up, both immensely relieved not to be sleeping on the floor anymore.

"Are we really still calling ourselves that?" Shouto wondered.

"Yup! No taking it back now. Anyways, Izuku and I have been working on a little something." She grinned and revealed their own little conspiracy board, labeled "Gravity Falls Mysteries". "Ta-da! Now, I know we decided to put searching for a way home on hold, but that doesn't mean we can't try and look into who the author of the journals is. Clearly the guy knew something about dimensional travel. If we can find him, we'll be on the right track."

"Okay, but how?" Mina wondered. "Everything we've tried so far has been a dead end." All of them studiously ignored the smashed laptop in the corner of the room. "Have you found anything else like the bunker in the Journal, Izuku?"

"Not yet," the green haired boy admitted. "I was actually thinking of asking Stan for Journal 2, since I'm pretty sure Stan took that one as well. Maybe there's something in there Gideon missed, or just ignored."

"Have we looked over the idea that Stan might be the author yet?" Shouto wondered. "I can't be the only one who hasn't forgotten how he first acted when learning we were from another world, or the look on his face when he realized just what Journal Izuku had."

"I've seen Stan's handwriting though, and it doesn't fit with the author's," Mina argued.

Izuku tapped the journal thoughtfully. "He could have purposefully changed his handwriting? But that seems a bit extreme. Then again, this author is pretty paranoid. I honestly don't think it's Stan, though." He flipped through the pages. "Considering how terrified this guy is of Cipher, if Stan were him, he would've been more aware when Cipher was invading his mind."

"That's a good point." Shouto sighed.

"Hey, it was a good theory!" Mina encouraged.

"A bit unrelated, but what about Bill's words on how "everything we love will change?" Izuku offered. "What do you think he meant?"

Ochako frowned. "Hasn't everything we love already changed? I mean, we're in another world, in an attic, solving supernatural mysteries. I dunno about you guys, but that's not how I expected to spend the last… month and a half or so, I think."

They all pondered on this for a moment.

"We've really been here a while, haven't we?" Mina said quietly. "And we haven't heard anything from home. Not even a message."

"Hey, interdimensional travel is probably pretty hard, right?" Izuku offered, smiling and pushing down his own unease and growing fears. "I bet they're working as hard as they can on getting us back. This is UA we're talking about. If anyone could figure it out, it's them."

"Right. Yeah, they'd do whatever it takes to get their students back."

What went unspoken was the traitorous thought that if UA couldn't get them home, they might truly be stuck.

A minute passed, and Shouto stiffened. "Do you hear that?"

"Hmm?" Ochako peered out the window, and startled at the sight of the black car pulling up to the shack. "Well, that's new."

Stan was pacing nervously near the door, and shot them all a panicked look as they exited the stairs. "You kids, go back up! Especially Mina! These are government goonies, clear as day-" the doorbell rang, and Stan balked, making a shoo-ing motion. "Up! Now!"

Shouto exchanged a startled glance with Mina, before the four of them headed further up the stairs, pressing against the walls to listen in.

"Welcome to the Mystery Shack, gentleman!" Stan said. "What can I get for you today? Snowglobes? Keychains? Rare photos of US presidents?"

"I'm agent Powers, and this is agent Trigger," came the unimpressed response. "We're here to investigate reports of mysterious activity in this town."

"Mysterious activity? Well then you've come to the right place! I've got lots of mysterious attractions to show you, it's why people come all this way! If you'd like to pay the entrance fee-"

"Not these sham exhibits, genuine mysterious activity," Powers interrupted. "I don't suppose you could show us any of that?"

"What, like actual magic or something?" Stan scoffed. "Are you guys really the government? Am I being conned here? Alright, who set you up to this? Was it that old hag with the world's largest yarn ball? She's always nasty when it comes to taking down her competition in tourist traps."

"I can assure you, we're the real deal," Powers insisted. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we'd like to conduct our investigation."

"With what arrest warrant?" Stan snapped back. "This is ridiculous. I don't have to stand for this. If you're here for the tour, you can take the tour. If not, get out of my shop."

"And take these complementary Mystery Shack stickers with you," Soos piped up, presumably giving the agents the stickers.

There was a moment of silence, before: "Alright then. We have other spots to investigate. We'll be on our way." Footsteps headed towards the door, which then slammed shut.

The four of them exchanged glances. "So," Shouto finally said. "Time to update the conspiracy board?"

"Time to update the conspiracy board," Ochako agreed. "Come on, let's go do that." They headed back upstairs.

Izuku got out a small piece of paper and a pen. "Okay, government agents Power and Triggers, investigating paranormal activity in Gravity Falls. This means that the government is definitely aware of the supernatural in this world. Or at least, the US government is."

"And they suspect Stan," Mina added. "Is there a history there?"

"They said they have other spots to investigate," Shouto pointed out. "Maybe this place is on their radar simply because it's called the Mystery Shack."

Ochako looked thoughtful. "Do you think they're here now because of what happened with the Gideon-bot? I mean, a giant robot with some sort of magic, at least in the "amulet cancelling" department, showing up out of nowhere and then exploding might be a pretty big deal."

"That's a good point," Izuku agreed, writing it down. "Whatever the case, we need to keep a lower profile while they're around. Who knows what they'd do if they found out where we're from?"

They all looked towards Mina, who shrugged. "Everyone around town knows me by now. Maybe I could just say that I'm a cosplayer?"

"The townsfolk would buy it, but who knows if the agents would. We don't know how weird the rest of this world is. Might just be Gravity Falls that's strange."

"Dealing with people who can think normally is going to take some getting used to." Ochako groaned, leaning back. "There's gotta be ways we can distract them, so they stay away from the shack. We're kind of local media darlings right now, maybe we could have some rumors put in the paper, send them on a wild goose chase?"

Shouto nodded along. "That could work. We should go through the Gossiper, since they're smart, they're probably going to be looking through the less reputable sources for info on the paranormal."

"That would mean dealing with Toby again though." Mina slumped into her pillow. "I don't want to deal with Toby again." She lifted her head up sideways. "Izuku? Any ideas?"

"Maybe," Izuku admitted, looking lost in thought. "I dunno, it just occurred to me, but… we're hiding from the government, and living with a known criminal. That's so… we're planning on misleading law enforcement, and we're training to be heroes."

Shouto winced, noting the uncomfortable looks on the girl's faces as the implications of what Izuku was saying started to sink in. "Not everyone is good just because they work with the law," he finally responded. "Not all pro Heroes are good, even. The world isn't black and white like that."

"Right, I know." Izuku still looked troubled. "It's just… weird to think about."

Seeing as Izuku was chosen to be a hero by All Might himself, Shouto could believe it really was weird for him. He kind of wished he could have that same idealism.

He just couldn't see the world like that. His own idealism when it came to heroes had been burned out of him years ago.

Mina wasn't surprised when Grenda and Candy showed up to the party. In fact, it was great to reunite with them.

"It's been a little while since the puppet show," Candy noted. "Good to see you guys again!"

"Is Shouto still being a grump?" Grenada wondered.

They all winced at the reminder of the puppet show. "Not as much as I was," Shouto finally said, and at this point, they knew each other well enough that Mina could see he was trying not to let his real emotions show.

"Good." And Grenda pulled him into a one-armed hug, nearly squeezing the air out of him. "Then we're all going to have a lot of fun partying hard tonight!"

"Fantastic," Shouto's muffled voice replied.

It also wasn't a surprise to see Wendy's friends show up, all giving their co-worker high fives.

"You seriously took down Gideon and became a star without us?" Nate pouted.

Wendy laughed. "I've seen tons of weird shit working here. It's been awesome." She turned and gave the four of them a cheerful wink, before heading off with her pals.

Some of the other people, like Tyler, Lazy Susan, Manly Dan, and other shop regulars, were expected as well, and all showed up pretty fast. What Mina hadn't expected was that, after only thirty minutes had passed, pretty much the entire town was there to celebrate.

Ochako leaned up against one of the punch counters next to her. "McGucket, that kid who got eaten by the Summerween Trickster, the crazy lifeguard… it's like everyone we've met is here."

"I know, right? Who'd have thought we were so popular?" A small cough made her turn her head, and her smile became a bit more stiff. "Even you two are here! Hello, officers."

Blubs and Durland stared back at her. "We got complaints about the loudest party in town," Durland said.

Blubs leaned closer. "Three words. We. Want. In."

Mina grinned and gave them both a party horn. "Welcome in, boys."

Ochako laughed as they walked past, blowing their horns. "I guess their incompetence is a good thing this one time."

"And they're pretty sweet together, so we can let it slide for now." Up by the stage, Soos finished setting up the Karaoke machine, to the cheers of the partygoers. "Wanna sing terribly together?"

"You bet I do!"

Suddenly, the crowd got a lot quieter, everyone looking towards one of the entrances. The two girls looked in that direction, and spotted a familiar black car.

"Shit," Ochako said shortly, summing up both their thoughts. The two agents made their way through the crowd and towards them, as Shouto and Izuku slipped in right next to them.

"So, you're the kids that were on the news," the man with Agent Power's voice said. "If you don't mind, we'd like to ask you a couple of questions." His eyes landed on Mina, who shifted under his gaze. "Especially you."

After a terror filled second of silence, Mina found her voice. "What, do you like my cosplay? That's really nice of you! I worked hard on it, you know."

Powers and Trigger both blinked and stepped back in surprise. Feeling a little emboldened, Mina continued. "I mean, I dunno why some weird people in suits would want to talk about my cosplay with me, but I guess you should never judge a book by its cover. Are you guys looking for tips?"

Powers huffed and straightened up, recovering. "No. And I doubt that's a cosplay." And he reached out to grab one of Mina's horns.

Quick as a whip, Shouto grabbed his arm, shooting the agent a death glare. "Don't touch her, you self-righteous pricks. You've crossed way over the line, and I have half a mind to kick you out of this party by force."

"I'll help," Ochako said coolly, rolling up her sleeves. "What the hell is wrong with you? You can't invade people's personal space like that!"

"We'll find someone to escort you two out," Izuku said, the only one of them who kept up any pretense of politeness.

"I can do that." They all turned to see Wendy approaching, glaring at the men. "Seriously, it's time for you two to leave."

"Yeah, leave those kids alone!" Someone called out from the crowd. "They helped save the town!"

"Yeah, get lost!"

"We don't want you here!"

Mina bit her lip to stop herself from smiling as she looked out on a sea of defensive faces. Powers and Trigger seemed to realize that they were the targets of what easily could become an angry mob, pulled back.

"I see. We'll leave, then." Powers gave the four of them a scathing glance. "For now. But if nothing else, take this to heart: don't trust Stan Pines. We will be back for him." And with that, Trigger adjusted his suit, and the two were off.

Mina watched them go, then turned back to the crowd, finally smiling. "Alright everyone, who wants to see some awesome dance moves? I've been waiting to show off my skills!" The crowd went wild, and she couldn't help but laugh, before looking back to her friends, warmth building behind her eyes. "Thanks, guys."

"Of course!" Izuku insisted. "That's what friends do."

"We're here for you Mina," Ochako promised. "Just like you are for us."

Shouto gave her a smile, and Mina's heart felt more than full. "Alright, Karaoke time! I'm gonna show off my amazing talent of dancing and singing at the same time, and I want you all up there with me."

"You can dance?" Ochako's eyes practically sparkled. "This I've got to see."

"I can't sing," Shouto protested, as the other three dragged him along. Ochako patted his arm.

"Neither can I," she assured him cheerfully. "We'll be failures together!"

The rest of the night passed in a similar manner, happy, yet mundane. Sometimes magic just wasn't needed for a good time.

I hope you enjoyed, and please don't forget to leave a review, let me know what you think!