And we're back! Let's check in on some of the others, shall we? I hope you enjoy!

"So this is how the world ends," Ford mused, as they stared up at the hole in the sky. "Not with a bang, but with a…" He trailed off, making a funny gesture with his hands. "…Boop-boop."

"Izuku had the rift. It must've broken, somehow." Shouto turned to Ford, visions of Izuku being right where Cipher had appeared running through his mind, what Cipher might do to him. "We need to find him. He would never do this on purpose-"

"Don't worry, I know," Ford assured him. "Listen, we will find him. But right now, stopping Bill needs to be our top priority. Every second he's in our world, his powers grow stronger. If we can end this quickly, we should."

Shouto knew that. He also knew that Mina, Ochako, and Stan were currently safe inside the protected shack. But dammit, he so badly needed to make sure everyone was okay.

My fault. I messed up again, and Cipher got the rift-

No. He couldn't think like that this time. When they stopped Cipher, Izuku would most likely blame himself for whatever happened, and it would be hard for Shouto to convince him it wasn't his fault if he believed the same. This was Cipher's fault, pure and simple.

"How do we stop Cipher?" He asked.

Ford nodded at his words. "If we can blast him back through the rift he came out of, we might be able to stop him before his weirdness spreads across the entire globe. I have something that should do the trick, but we'll need to get up close and personal."

"It seems like Cipher's in town right now." Shouto looked towards the town, which was already starting to go up in flames.

"Then that's where we're heading," Ford agreed.

Gravity Falls was already in chaos by the time they reached it. They passed mailboxes eating squirrels, former trees that were now tentacles, and three-headed demonic-looking birds on their way through the town. Shouto thought he saw that one video game fighting character breaking out of the arcade, but there were more important things to worry about at the moment.

In the town square, Shouto could see Cipher, laughing and surrounded by other demonic beings. Above them, a massive pyramid loomed over everything. Ford motioned inside the church, and they climbed up to the bell tower, where Ford pulled out a long, futuristic-looking rifle. "My quantum destabilizer. I've been waiting a long time to use this." He fired up the gun. "We're only going to have one chance to take this shot!"

There was a moment of tense silence as Ford aimed. "Ready… Steady… And…"

A chill passed through Shouto, and the bell behind them suddenly blinked with new eyes, mouth opening wide in a grin. "I'm alive now!"

Ford jolted and fired early, the shot blowing through Cipher's tophat and completely obliterating the tree in front of him.

There was a long, horrible pause.

Then the tophat, apparently made of flesh and bone and sinew, knit itself together in a grotesque display, and Cipher turned to face them. "Well, well, well. And here I thought today couldn't get any better!"

Cipher formed a finger gun, and Shouto barely had a chance to duck before the roof of the tower exploded around him. He lit his hands ablaze, and, miraculously, his fire did what he wanted, protecting them both from the brunt of the blast.

Ford sent him a panicked look. "Shouto, listen. I know one other way to defeat Bill. It's-" He stopped as Cipher drew near. "Shouto, hide!"

As much as Shouto wanted to argue, now wasn't the time. He ran down the steps of the belltower, watching through the window as Cipher lifted Ford into the air. "Good 'ole Six Fingers! I've been waiting an ETERNITY to have a chat face to face!" He maneuvered Ford so that he was in front of the other creatures. "Everyone, this Weirdmaggedon wouldn't be possible without help from our friend here. Give him a six-fingered hand!" Ford struggled in Cipher's grip as his minions clapped. "This brainiac is the one who built the portal in the first place!"

Shouto slipped out one of the church's broken windows, and hid behind the former statue of Nathaniel Northwest, now just a block of stone with some melted metal on top. He had no idea how, but if there was some chance he could free Ford…

"Aw, don't look so sad, Fordsy," Cipher taunted. "With that extra finger, it's not too late to join me! You'd fit right in with my freaks!"

"I'd die before I'd join you!" Ford shot back. "I know your weakness, Bill!"

Cipher didn't seem bothered. "Oh yeah? And I know a riddle! Why did the old man do this?" He held up his hands awkwardly.

Ford frowned, mimicking the pose. "This?"

Cipher blasted him with a laser, turning Ford into solid gold. "Because I needed a new backscratcher!"

Shouto watched, stunned. Ford was gone. Ford was gone. Could he still be alive? Could whatever Cipher just did be undone? Being turned into gold would stop the brain from functioning. Did he just watch Ford die?

All this time here in Gravity Falls with everyone, even Ford, feeling like he actually had a family that was proud of him, and now Ford was…

Cipher and the demons were laughing, and blood was rushing through Shouto's ears until he couldn't take it anymore, because Ford might be dead.

"That's enough!" There was a pause as the demons turned to him, and Shouto realized he had jumped onto the former statue. "You let Ford go. Now."

"...Now isn't this INTERESTING?" Suddenly, Cipher was right in front of him, eye flashing down on him like a spotlight. "My old puppet is back for an encore! You think you can stop me?" He held Ford out of reach, before manifesting ten more arms and hands, putting them up in front of him. "Go on, Pine Tree! Give it your best shot!"

Shouto definitely hadn't thought this far. The only thing going for him was that Cipher didn't think he could do anything. If he could catch Cipher by surprise and then undo whatever had been done to Ford…

Shouto's fists lit up with fire. Cipher's eye widened.

With one hand, he shot a bolt of fire towards Cipher, who immediately brought up a shield. While he was distracted he reached out the other hand, praying that this would actually work.

There was a light glow around Ford, and then he was back to normal, struggling in Cipher's grip. If Shouto could get him down-

Cipher spun around suddenly, turning Ford gold again, before dispersing the fire. Shouto cursed and got ready to try again, when he was interrupted by the sound of Cipher's delighted laughter.

"AhahahahahAHAHAHAHA. Wow, I really did rub off on you, huh, Pine Tree? That's brilliant! And you using my own power against me? How cute!" Shouto found himself lifting off the ground and flying backwards, crashing into a tree. "Unfortunately, I've had over a trillion years of practice, and you're just a beginner! There was only one way that this could end."

Shouto staggered to his feet as Cipher snapped his fingers. The three journals came flying out of Ford's bag, and all of them burned to a crisp in front of his eyes. "Word to the wise, kid! From one being of chaos to another - don't be a hero." He waved Ford around. "This is what happens to heroes in my world."

Desperate to try at least one more time, Shouto reached out again - only for Cipher to deflect it immediately. The triangle didn't even turn to look at him as he addressed the others. "Now, can anyone tell me why we came here?"

"To get weird!" The one with eight-balls for eyes responded.

"That's right! VIP party at the fearamid. Oh, and Eight-ball, Teeth, you've earned a treat. Have the kid for a snack. Henchmaniacs, roll out!"

Shouto watched as the two creatures' eyes turned towards him, hunger in their gazes.

He couldn't save Ford. He couldn't stop Cipher, not on his own.

Now was the time to run.

It was just when Shouto thought he'd lost the monsters when something snatched him from his hiding spot, and he found himself looking down into Eight-ball's eyes.

"You gave us a good chase," Eight-ball noted. "Four hours! Not bad, for a fleshy human."

"He's got a spark of Bill," Teeth scoffed. "Of course he'd be a little better than the rest."

"That's true. Oh well, down the hatch."

"Hey, split him first! We get to share him, remember? And make sure he's still alive when you do it."

And like hell Shouto was going to die here. These monsters were unnaturally strong, but they didn't seem to be as powerful as Cipher. Cipher could easily beat him in terms of power, but could these two?

Well, it wasn't like he had anything to lose. And if Cipher could turn living beings to gold, theoretically, Shouto should be able to as well.

His hands lit up, and Eight-ball screamed as his face slowly turned golden. He dropped Shouto, clawing at his mouth before falling over as the transformation reached his torso and legs.

Teeth screamed and ran at him. Shouto dodged neatly out of the way and started the process again.

"How-!? You're not-!" Teeth didn't manage another word before he too was gold.

Shouto finally paused to catch his breath, staring at the golden statues before him.

They were going to eat him. They were too physically strong for him to handle another way. This was the only option.

If he was going to feel bad about literal demons that had just tried to eat him alive, he wasn't going to survive this long enough to find Izuku and the others. He needed to steel himself.

The first day, surprisingly, wasn't so bad.

It helped that for once, finally, his fire did exactly what he wanted it to, all of the time. Which was also somewhat concerning, but considering Shouto had to do whatever it took to survive and make it back to the shack, he was just going to chalk it up to part of the Weirdmaggedon strangeness and move on.

The more frustrating part was that every time he tried to head towards the shack, something always seemed to get in his way. The first day, it was the constant stream of monsters that seemed to have it out for him specifically. Or maybe it was Cipher that had it out for him. By the end of the day, he holed himself up in one of the abandoned buildings and hoped for the best.

He should be out there, saving people. Doing something, anything. Instead, it was all he could do to keep himself alive. And even if he were to try and save people, the monsters that kept going after him would find themselves with easier targets.

Mina, Ochako, and Stan were in the shack. They should be safe. But Soos and Wendy weren't. Candy, Grenda, and Pacifica weren't. McGucket wasn't. Ford was gone. And Izuku was still missing.

Day two went a little better, even if Shouto was still unable to make it back to the shack.

At one point, as he was making his way around a more deserted part of town, he heard a thunderous crash, and turned towards the noise.

The being that had fallen over… well, it honestly looked a lot like the depictions of Cthulhu he'd seen. But if it had fallen over, it couldn't be as powerful, right?

The monster rumbled, starting to get to its feet, and Shouto knew he couldn't let that happen. It was already severely injured, so maybe…

He reached out, and the incident with the federal agents came to mind, how half the car had turned into butterflies.

A fiery blue glow surrounded the monster, and seconds later, it dissolved into a swarm of butterflies.

Shouto watched the tiny creatures flutter away, and nearly dropped to his knees with exhaustion. So there is a limit. He was going to have to hide away for a while again and recover his strength.

He was pretty sure it was worth it, though.

"We're day three in this strange cataclysmic event, which some are calling Weirdmageddon, or the oddpocalypse. Weather today calls for black clouds, blood rain, and showers of eyeballs turning people into stone. I'm Sandra Hemendaz, and I just ate a rat for dinner."

Honestly, Shouto couldn't blame the reporter. He listened to the tv that was lying in the middle of the road as he hid from another passing eyeball, and heard his own stomach growl. There wasn't much to eat at this point, with so much of the world having gone strange.

At this point, he was considering making his way to the mall. If it wasn't completely corrupted by the madness, there might still be food in there.

Or people taking shelter. That was also a good possibility.

It was a short run over, and Shouto could see the Pterodactyl he and the others had run into tearing the 'A' out of the mall sign, before flying away. The coast seemed clear, but there was also an unfortunately large stretch of open area between him and the mall. He'd need to make a run for it.

Shouto'd cleared about half the distance when he heard it.

"Hey! Hey, you! Yeah, I want to talk to you! I want to talk to you about getting in my mouth!"

Shouto risked a look, took in the massive hairy face with a singular arm sticking out of its bald head, and ran even faster, reaching the doors to the mall in record time and yanking at them as hard as he could.

Locked.

"Hey, hey, you! I'm talking to you! You don't have to make a big deal out of this! Stop being so rude! I'm just asking you to get in my mouth!"

The doors still wouldn't budge. Shouto's hands lit up, and he moved the doors apart with his fire, just enough for him to get inside, before slamming them shut again right before the monster could make its way in. He let out an involuntary sigh of relief, backing up as it pounded on the doors.

When it seemed clear that the monster couldn't get in, he turned around to inspect the mall. It seemed deserted, with a broken glass roof and a ground littered with debris. If anyone had taken shelter here, they were most likely long gone, along with whatever food they'd found.

Still, it couldn't hurt to take a closer look. Shouto picked his way through the mall noting all the overturned stands and collapsed signs, before the sound of old lighting caught his attention. He turned, seeing a singular plate of nachos sitting in the center of one of the few tables left, surrounded by broken chairs and a singular bush.

It was very obviously a trap. There was no way it could be anything else. Still, at the sight of them, Shouto's stomach rumbled even louder. Hesitantly, he held out his hand and floated the nachos off the table, making sure to maintain his distance.

Sure enough, something snapped, and a net sprang up from the ground. Something popped out of the bush, and Shouto readied himself to fight.

"Shouto?"

Shouto paused, actually taking in the person in the bush, and his fire extinguished itself, nachos falling back to the table. "Wendy?"

Wendy's eyes lit up, and she climbed out of the bush. She had dark streaks of facepaint under her eyes, a crossbow in her hand, and a quiver full of arrows on her back. "It's really you! You're okay!"

Shouto couldn't stop the wave of relief that spread over him, and he found himself smiling. "You're okay too! It's so good to see you."

Wendy grinned. "Right back at you. My dad made me and my brothers do apocalypse training every year instead of Christmas. Who knew it would actually pay off?" A bat flittered by them, and Wendy turned on a time, shooting it down with her crossbow. "Nice! Bat meat." She turned back to him. "Are the others with you?"

Shouto's smile slipped away, and he shook his head. "I was with Ford when Cipher broke everything. Cipher got Ford, and I haven't been able to make it back to the shack. Izuku was outside too, and he was the one who had the rift - what Cipher used to get into our world. I have no idea what happened to him."

Were his hands shaking? They felt like they were shaking.

Wendy walked over and set a hand on his shoulder, giving him a smile. "Hey, it's okay. We have each other now, at least." She winced. "And Toby Determined, who I accidentally mistook for a monster."

Shouto blinked, finally spotting Toby just a bit away. Toby gave him a nod of acknowledgement. "This just in: this arrow in my shoulder!"

Wendy winced again. "We shouldn't stay out in the open for too long. Let me show you my hideout."

"Sounds good." He followed Wendy as she led the two of them to the back of the mall, where graffiti covered a closed down Hot Topic. She bent down and pulled up the metal gate for them to slip under, then ducked under herself and shut it again.

"We were playing truth or dare in the cemetery when it happened," Wendy explained, as she roasted the bat she'd caught over a small fire they'd started in one of the bins. Shouto munched on the nachos and listened. "The eyeballs froze Nate, Lee, Tambry, and Thompson. Robbie almost got away, but had to pause to take a selfie."

"Sounds like him," Shouto agreed dryly. Wendy snorted her agreement, before raising an eyebrow.

"What about you?"

Shouto looked down at his hands. "Like I said, I was with Ford. He tried to blast Cipher back through the rift right after it happened, but obviously that didn't work. Then Cipher turned him into solid gold. I tried to stop him - my fire seems to actually work how I want it to right now - but I can't match up to Cipher. And you're the only person I've found in three days."

Wendy gave him a searching look, before setting the cooked bat meat aside. "C'mon, let's get some fresh air. Toby, you watch the camp."

A dark green curtain from within the depths of the store slid open, and revealed Toby Determined in full Hot Topic glory, with a skull belt, hot pink shirt, and fishnet sleeves, his hair now styled up in a neon blue mohawk. "Don't call me Toby anymore. Call me Bodacious T!"

"Literally no one is ever going to call you that," Wendy snipped dryly. Toby pouted as she led Shouto to the roof of the building.

The two of them found a comfortable spot to sit and watch the chaos. Pixelated video game characters, floating ears and eyeballs, the watertower (now sprouting a toothy mouth and tongue), a giant Gompers, and more all stormed through the destroyed town, under the watchful eye of the massive pyramid and the rift above it.

Wendy opened a soda and sipped it. "The end of the world, huh? Man, those death metal album covers got it shockingly right."

Shouto gazed out at the mess. "What do we do now? The journals are destroyed. Ford is captured. I can't find the others anywhere." Something twisted in his chest. "Cipher said it himself. There's no room for heroes out here."

"It's not over yet," Wendy insisted. "You've beaten Cipher twice before. Why is this time any different?"

Shouto looked down at her soda. It was the same brand as the one Cipher had poured into his eyes so long ago. "Before, he had far more weaknesses. Ford said he knew of at least one weakness left, but he's already been captured. And before… we beat him as a team."

"Then let's get the team back together." Shouto finally looked up at her. She gave him a grin. "Look, I've seen some crazy things this summer. Some were terrifying, and some were amazing. But honestly? The most amazing thing has been you four. I dunno if it's all that hero talk, or just dumb luck, but when you four work together, it seems like there's nothing you can't accomplish. With everyone together, rescuing Ford will be a piece of cake."

And that…

Well, they had been pretty amazing this summer, hadn't they? Even if more than a few of their activities weren't what someone would call heroic, plenty of others were. And they'd accomplished incredible things over the summer, especially considering they'd had three days of official hero training and couldn't use their quirks.

"Alright," Shouto agreed. "Let's find them, and save the universe."

"That's the spirit!"

There was a strange noise, and both of them turned towards the sound. Some sort of blood-red cloud, which had been blocking part of the sky for as long as Weirdmageddon had been going on, finally moved, revealing a massive green sphere with a lightning bolt on it, surrounded with chains.

That shade of green was instantly familiar. "Cipher called Izuku Sparks, when they met," Shouto remembered. "And that's Izuku's green. Izuku was right there when Cipher emerged - if there's anywhere Cipher would be holding him…"

"It's there," Wendy agreed. She smirked. "And I've got an idea of how to get over there."

It felt more than a little weird, sneaking around Bud Gleeful's store for a car they could use. Then again, Shouto mused, considering all of his interactions with the man, they really couldn't be stealing from a better person.

Besides. End of the world. Cars were pretty much open for the taking, at this point.

Wendy seemed to agree. "The abandoned auto-mart. Free cars, ripe for the hotwiring. We just found our ride to Izuku." They all jumped over the fence, even Toby, who was for some reason still tagging along with them, and entered the auto-mart. "I wonder if they have a tank? I've always wanted to drive a tank!"

"I'm surprised this place is so abandoned," Shouto admitted, as they made their way past rows of broken cars. "I'd have figured people would try and use these to get out of town if they could."

Toby looked through the windows of one of the cars and beamed. "Oh, an air freshener! Finally, I'll smell like a person! Stealy-stealy!" He made to grab it, before a dart hit him in the forehead. Shouto winced, but Toby turned to face wherever the dart came from. "Hah! It's going to take more than one dart to-"

A dozen more darts pierced his skin, and he fell over, unconscious.

"Oh shit, Toby!" Wendy hissed.

All around them, headlights suddenly turned on, as the people in the massive trucks that had previously seemed abandoned laughed.

"Well well! Looks like we got ourselves a pair of ground walkers!" One of them, with messy hair and an eyepatch, jeered.

"Hehe, groundwalkers! Ain't got no wheels!" Another, completely decked out in spiked leather armor snickered.

"Listen, discount-auto warriors!" Wendy called out. "We're just trying to head east. We've got no issue with you!"

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong!" One of them, using a megaphone to distort their voice, crowed. "Hands where I can see them! Y'all fellers ain't goin' nowhere."

Wendy squinted. "Y'all?"

"Fellers?" Shouto frowned before immediately catching on and glaring. "Gideon."

"It's Sheriff Gideon to you!" Another light was turned on, showing Gideon, who was standing atop a massive man with massive scars, a massive beard, and spiked leather. Gideon himself was wearing a bejeweled light blue suit and huge cowboy hat. "Under the authority of Bill Cipher, I place you two under arrest!"

More of the leather-clad warriors (former prisoners?) came forwards, pointing spears towards the two of them and shoving them forwards, leaving Toby behind. Shouto contemplated using his fire as they were herded right before Gideon, but decided not too. He'd been using it so much because it was finally working, but it hadn't worked against Cipher, and with Gideon working for Cipher, Shouto wasn't going to take a chance here.

"Look what the apocalypse dragged in!" Mocked Gideon, when they were right in front of him. "Y'all are in a twelve piece bucket of deep-fried trouble now! Ghosteyes, spatoon!" One of the prisoners held out a pot, and Gideon spit a piece of gum in it.

"Is it just me, or has he gotten folks-ier?" Wendy muttered.

"My old pal Bill figured you might try and rescue Izuku, so he appointed me master of these wastelands, and keeper of the bubble! My best friend Izuku is safe inside, and I have the only key!" He pulled out a golden key with a green lightning bolt on it. "Secure and hanging around my… well, I wouldn't call it a neck, exactly, hanging around this little pocket of fat under my head?"

"You have no right to keep him in there," Shouto growled, counting the number of prisoners around them in his head. There were a lot - how many could he and Wendy take on together?

Gideon scoffed. "Bill explained it to me nice and simple. We were always destined to be friends! Now that I have him in a cage, he'll realize it too! He'll realize he doesn't need anyone else! Especially friends like you! I have an eternity to wait for him to figure it out, and he will." He snapped his fingers. "Ghosteyes! Ready to escort these two to Bill's dungeon?"

The man Gideon was previously standing on got up and went over to them, picking Shouto and Wendy up, one in each hand.

Wendy glared daggers at the boy. "This isn't going to work, Gideon."

"Oh?" Gideon smirked, filing his nails. "And why's that?"

"Because after I break Ghosteye's arm and steal that key from your neck, I'm gonna wear your ass on my foot like a rhinestone slipper!"

All the other prisoners laughed at her proclamation. Shouto, who knew Wendy, readied himself.

"And what makes you think you can do all that?" Gideon chuckled.

"Because I'm a fucking Corderoy!" With that, Wendy put her arms on top of Ghosteye's big meaty one and used that weight to flip herself over, pulling the arm back with her and stretching it farther than human arms should be stretched back.

Ghosteye screamed in pain and let go of Shouto who immediately dropped to his feet and tripped the man up, causing him to fall on his face. The two of them ran past the stunned prisoners and right up to Gideon.

"Ghosteyes! My hench-angel!" Before Gideon could do anything, however, Wendy picked him up by the scruff of his neck, tearing the key off of him and holding him out in front of the other prisoners.

"Get back! Get back, or I will dropkick him, I swear!" The prisoners, clearly caring about Gideon's well-being, stayed back as they ran to one of the nearest cars. Shouto smashed the window in, and Wendy stuck a hand inside, fiddling with the locks until the doors opened.

"You'll never get away with this, you hear me!?" Gideon squealed angrily. Wendy just rolled her eyes.

"Guest what? We already did!" With that, she let him go right onto her foot, punting him into a group of prisoners, who all toppled over. "Shouto, get in!"

Shouto dashed to the other side of the car and climbed into the passenger seat, slightly stunned. "Wendy," he said, "You're the coolest person I know."

"I know, dude. Tell me about it later." She stepped on the gas, and the two of them were off, leaving the discount auto-mart in the dust.

It wasn't long before Shouto could hear the rumbling of many moving machines. He turned to see about a dozen cars, motorbikes, and trucks following them. "Think this car is fast enough to outrun them?"

"It'll have to be," Wendy insisted. Her eyes widened. "Arm!" They swerved to avoid the awful face-arm monster that had chased Shouto into the mall. Seconds later, he could hear a crunch, and suspected the thing had finally gotten its meal.

They skimmed over the burning road and passed into an open field filled with bubbles of madness. "Any way around?"

"No time, we're going through." She turned to him. "Can you move them?"

"I can try." His hands lit up, and he concentrated, watching as the bubbles slowly moved out of their path. He wasn't fast enough to save them from the first one - for a moment, Shouto felt a lot more… cartoon-like? As though his dimensions had changed from one type of animation to another, which was extremely weird, but then it was over, and their path was clear. Once they passed the bubbles, he let them go, right into the path of their pursuers.

"We've just got one more stretch to make." Wendy gestured to the massive gap in front of them, clutching the wheel tightly. "Two years of a driver's license, don't fail me now!"

There was a slight incline, and then they were airborne. For one long moment, they soared through the air. Then they were crashing down on the other side, the car bouncing and rolling around, windows all shattering in on them.

They landed upright, and scrambled to get out of the car. Shouto felt bruises everywhere, cuts from glass stinging his cheek and his legs. Wendy looked just as bad.

But they were almost there. Just a few more meters-

"Shouto! Wendy!"

Shouto looked up to see Mina, Ochako, and Soos running towards them.

Soos was covered in a tattered black cloak with a hood. Both Mina and Ochako were wearing browns and reds that blended in with the destroyed scenery. They were all alive.

Ochako's hair looked longer, and white, for some reason, but that didn't matter because they were all alive and okay.

There was a moment where he was hobbling towards them, and they running towards him and Wendy, and then Shouto found himself crushed in hugs.

"You're alive!" Mina sobbed. "God, we were so worried! We saw the whole Cthulhu-butterflies thing but we weren't able to search for you afterwards-"

"It's okay," he croaked. "I'm so glad you're safe too."

"Agreed," Wendy managed, slowly prying Soos off of her. "Uh, Ochako? Why is your hair…?"

Ochako offered an awkward smile. "Oh, right. Looks like I just… overused the amulet, I guess. Now the amulet is gone, and I just have its power. And white hair."

Like Gideon, went unsaid. Shouto might not always be the best at reading a room, but he knew not to bring it up. "Has Soos been with you the whole time?"

"Oh, we just met up here when we saw the bubble," Soos admitted. "I've been wandering the plains, helping people out where I can. I guess there are some folk songs about me now?"

"The unicorn hair worked," Mina informed him, finally letting Shouto go. "The shack is completely safe from all of this. We've been leading anyone and everyone we can find back there. Stan, Candy, Grenda, and Pacifica are all safe, by the way."

Shouto let out a sigh of relief, trying to ignore the way his chest hurt at the motion from all his injuries. "That's good to hear."

"And now we've found you two, so that's almost everyone!" Ochako looked around, as if searching for someone else. "Is Ford with you guys?"

Shouto felt something twist inside him. "No. He got captured. I couldn't - I couldn't save him."

The others looked at him sympathetically. Mina opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the sound of the prisoners finally catching up to them. Cars moved in from all sides, the discount-auto warriors driving them cackling as they came.

Mina immediately backed up against him, gripping her grappling hook in one hand, and one of Ford's guns in the other. Ochako made a fist around where her amulet used to rest, before shaking her head and getting into a fighting stance. Despite every part of Shouto hurting, his hands lit up with fire as well.

Gideon got out of his car and stood in front of them. "Woo-wee! I dare say y'all almost had the jump on me for a second there. But this ain't your Gravity Falls anymore! Out here, I win." He clapped his hands, and was handed some kind of horn, which he blew. "Bill's hench-bats will be here any minute to retrieve y'all. Izuku's mine now!"

"As if!" Ochako practically snarled. "We won't let you keep him like this!"

"Izuku isn't even yours," Shouto pointed out bluntly. "He's in that bubble. Completely separated from you. And we know Izuku - keeping him trapped in there won't make him like you more. In fact, it's hard to make Izuku hate anyone, but you just might make him hate you."

"Shouto's right," Mina agreed. "You can't force someone to care about you. You especially can't force them to be your friend. The best you can do is strive to be someone that they want to care about. Friendship is a two-way street. You both have to put effort into it, or it won't work. Not to mention, you have to be someone who people actually want to become friends with."

"Oh, plenty of people want to be my friend!" Gideon retorted. "These prisoners love me!" Said prisoners cheered their agreement.

"But Izuku doesn't," Shouto fired back. "Because you're selfish, you hurt people he cares about, and you never regret what you've done." He paused. "But you don't have to be that way forever. Bill thinks there are no heroes in this world, but he's wrong. If we all work together and fight back, we can beat him."

"Someone who stands up to a tyrant for the sake of others sounds a lot more like the kind of person Izuku would want to be friends with," Ochako said quietly. "Trust us, we know."

Gideon paused, and, miraculously, actually seemed to be considering it. "Izuku was my first ever real friend," he said, and his voice shook, suddenly making him seem like the thirteen year-old he was. "I didn't want to lose him so fast. I want to keep him safe from Bill. I want…"

After everything Gideon had done, there wasn't much sympathy Shouto could muster up for him. Still, the pitying look Mina sent him seemed genuine. "If this is for Izuku, ask yourself what Izuku would do. What he would want you to do."

Gideon was still for a long moment. Then, "Will you tell him? What I did?"

"Of course," Mina promised.

Gideon nodded to himself, then turned to the prisoners. "Guys, new plan! Bill's minions are gonna be on us in seconds, but I'm not gonna let that dumb triangle be the warden of me! Y'all ready for a good old-fashioned prison brawl!?"

"We're behind you for life, brother!" Ghosteyes promised.

"Fighting children is boring. Fighting a chaos god sounds fun!" One of the other prisoners agreed.

"Let's do this!" Gideon declared. "Warriors, roll out!" He got back in his car, and the gang took off, cheering and blasting rock music all the way.

There was a long pause as they watched them go.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Wendy admitted.

"Neither can I," Ochako agreed. "Wow, it was really that easy?"

"You didn't have to go through the car chase that we did," Shouto muttered. "I wouldn't call that easy."

She laughed, somewhat incredulous. "Fair point." The five of them made their way towards the bubble, trekking up the side of the mountain until they reached the spot where the key could be inserted.

"This is a prison bubble designed by Cipher," Shouto reminded the others. "We need to be prepared for anything."

Soos raised a fist. "Whatever it is, we'll do it together. For Izuku."

"For Izuku," Mina agreed. "Let's do this."

"We're coming, Deku," Ochako promised.

Wendy handed her the key, and she inserted it into the lock, turning it. All of the chains around the bubble fell away.

Shouto, on impulse, grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Mina took her other hand. Wendy grabbed Shouto's free hand, and Soos grabbed Mina's.

Together, the five of them walked into the bubble.

And so, the time to enter Izuku's bubble arrives. What will they find in there, I wonder?

I hope you enjoyed, and please don't forget to leave a review! Even a small one makes my day, and more reviews encourage me to write more.